Liven Up Your Cooking with Versatile Sea Salt

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According to a recently published report from In-Stat, even if the worldwide economical climate has been a harsh one lately, the market of base stations has been on the rise due to an increase in demand for smartphones, regular phones, and wireless broadband services. According to the research firm, the total number of newly deployed macro cellular base stations is expected to register a growth of around 10 percent during the ongoing year.

At the same time, the research firm's report also shows that the largest amount of new macro cellular base stations shipped is represented by WCDMA solutions. On a global scale, these base stations are expected to account for 50 percent of the total base station revenues. Moreover, the percentage is on the rise, In-Stat notes, forecasting that the WCDMA base station shipments will reach revenue in excess of 70 percent of the total revenues in the market by 2013, while LTE base stations will only account for 20 percent of the total revenue.

“WCDMA/HSPA base stations will be the work horses of wireless data networks,” says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. “Many operators, worldwide, are in the process of rolling out, or enhancing, their current CDMA networks, including a very large rollout of CDMA by China Unicom. China Unicom was awarded the WCDMA contrac… (read more)

White, whose huge repertoire includes the bass-baritone roles in operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Henze, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Debussy, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and others, will be performing King Marke’s part in Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde.”

The famous bass part by White will be accompanied by Mariinsky Theater soloists Edem Umerov, Larisa Gogolevskaya, Leonid Zakhozhaev, Olga Savova and Yury Alekseev. Maestro Valery Gergiev will conduct the concert.

White was born in Jamaica and started studying opera singing there. He later moved to New York, where he soon became a soloist at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Now the singer also performs at the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera and many other theaters.

White’s best-known acts are the part of Mephistopheles in “Faust,” Kutuzov in "War and Peace" and Bluebeard in "Duke Bluebeard's Castle."

He received the title of knight of the British Empire in 1995.

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Now that gourmet sea salt has become readily available at most of the major grocery and mass market stores, using wondrous sea salt in recipes is easier than ever. Gone are the days of searching high and low for a particular type of sea salt. Stock up on all you can find, because they do not expire.

My all time favorite gourmet sea salt is smoked sea salt. It is made by taking evaporated sea water, usually by means of an open fire that features various woods like cherry and oak. This gives the smoked sea salt it's distinct smoke flavor, that is excellent used in recipes featuring beef and chicken. Can also be used on any other food where a smoke flavor is desired.

Sea salt differs from conventional salt in the fact that sea salt often retains the flavors of the area to which it was extracted. For example, Portuguese sea salt often has a strangely sweet taste to it. It can be used in almost any recipe, and it is terrific as a table salt.

One thing you should remember when cooking with any type of sea salt, is that it has a stronger flavor than regular salt. This is particularly true of rock sea salt, which is coarse and rather big. If a recipe calls for a half teaspoon of salt, and you are using sea salt, just put in slightly less. It is always better to not use enough than to use too much.

A wonderful way that I have found to use sea salt is for turkeys. Instead of everyday plain salt, substitute coarse smoky sea salt. Along with cracked pepper, the smoked sea salt takes the bird from ordinary to marvelous.

Hawaiian sea salt is red or pink in color, because it is harvested from areas in Hawaii with an abundance of clay. It is superb when used on grilled foods, especially seafood, because it gives the food a more mineral, less salty taste, and really livens up the natural flavor of the fish.

When you use gourmet sea salt instead of table salt, no matter what dish it is, you bring interesting flavor and texture into every meal. Try out the different types of sea salt that are available to you, and you will discover a new world in eating enjoyment.

Another use for sea salt is it's ability to dry foods, such as ham and beef. The salt stops germs from forming in the meat, and gives it that signature salty flavor, that many people love.

No matter what you use gourmet sea salt on, you are sure to create a dish that is both delicious and memorable.

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The National Transportation Safety Board was sending four investigators to San Diego, said department spokesman Peter Knudson. They will examine damage to both vessels and determine whether there were any radio transmissions from the Coast Guard boat.

The 33-foot Coast Guard patrol boat was responding to a report of a grounded vessel on Sunday when the accident occurred while a Christmas watercraft parade was under way in San Diego Bay, authorities said. Neither boat was participating in the annual event that was expected to attract as many as 80,000 people.

DeWeese said the people aboard the 26-foot Sea Ray had just finished watching fireworks and were waiting for the parade to begin. He said he recalls hearing the Coast Guard boat coming from behind but couldn't estimate its distance.

“He was the only boat that was going so fast in the harbor,” said DeWeese, who was released from a hospital. “His bow was up way high.”

Bob Furry and Barbara Maloney said they were in their sixth-floor hotel room when they saw a boat traveling west with a blue flashing light on its bow, going much faster than the rest of the boats in the harbor.

“We thought it was some kind of hot-dogger,” Furry said.

Furry didn't see the crash but heard a crunching noise.

“You could tell something had hit really hard,” he said.

He didn't see any fire or an explosions.

DeWeese's father, Roger, who owns the boat, said he went to the hospital and talked with his daughter-in-law and others, who told him the Coast Guard vessel was heading east at high speed then turned around before the crash.

He said his boat was equipped with a light on its stern and he had made sure all the children had life preservers before the boat went out on Sunday with three families aboard.

Roger DeWeese has fond memories of his grandson Anthony, saying he was an ice hockey goalie and was confident and intelligent.

“He was a spark plug,” DeWeese said. “He liked just about everything.”

He wondered how the Coast Guard operators couldn't see his boat on Sunday but believes the crash was a tragic accident.

“Nobody did this on purpose,” he said. “It's just one of those weird twists of fate, a cruel one.”

___

Associated Press Writer Greg Risling in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

If you’re a boat owner you need to know where to purchase top quality boat gear including boat trailer parts and accessories. All boat owners know that by using a top quality boat trailer towing their boat is not a chore. Around the country pontoon boat owners are looking for the best boat trailer parts and accessories to make that welcome addition to their boating pleasure. Recognizing this need, parts manufacturers have responded and there is now a wide selection of boat trailer parts available at boating stores and chandleries. Some boating stores may not sell boat trailers, but some outfits that focus exclusively on boat trailer products will carry an extensive selection for their customers to choose from. There are many different places to go to obtain quality trailer parts and chances are that the keen boater will find a store nearby.

Boating Retailers

Boat retailers or specialise in boating products will have a range of boat trailer models on the grounds of their showroom. Most retailers maintain a selection that provides all boating requirements including pontoon boat trailers that the boater can select for transporting their vessel. A selection of of pontoon boat trailers can be found here, allowing the customer to choose from a wide range of designs, sizes and materials.

The staff will be able to show you the different types of boat trailer available and show you how to tie down your boat correctly. Perhaps a trailer may require to be set at a certain angle or have some adjustments made to it to operate properly. Knowledgeable sales staff with a thorough understanding of the available trailers are key to buying the best boat trailer for your pontoon boat and one that will meet your boating requirements well into the future.

Transportation Stores

Stores that sell different styles of transportation equipment may have a section dedicated to trailers and hitches where you may find boat trailers. Such stores may have only a limited supply of trailers because fewer people look in these places to find boat trailers and accessories. People that do purchase items for their boats from these stores choose to do so because they are located in convenient areas to travel to and they can shop for different types of items at the same time. The selection of pontoon boat trailers in a business like this may be more limited than that found in a specialist boating store.

Many boaters have recently discovered the benefits of personally fitting or installing boat trailer parts on their own boat trailers. Boat trailer tires are one spare part that can be installed by the boat owner. Parts for a boat trailer should be made to the highest industry standard and are widely sought by boater with a sound knowledge of boat trailer products. Parts are produced in many styles and may be used to improve the functionality of your boat.

It is common for boat owners to prefer shopping for boat trailer parts online as this gives them access to a wider range of products – often with free delivery – without leaving home. When boat trailer parts are ordered from a website they will generally be shipped to the purchaser, however in some instances the buyer may place an online order and collect their purchase from the store.

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Ting Pang, an Arizona State University senior chemical engineering student, has drawn international attention for her research after her recent project presentation at a major chemicals industry conference.  

Only well-established researchers typically are invited to make presentations at the annual Sulfur International Conference, but an exception was made for Pang, said Jerry Lin, a professor in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical and Materials Engineering, a part of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The conference is the main annual event for the sulphur industry, hosted by leaders in the metals and mining, power and cables, fertilizer and chemicals industries.

Pang’s project, “A New Process for Sulphuric Acid Production,” is attracting interest because of its potentially major significance for those industries, Lin said.
 
Sulphuric acid is one of the most important inorganic chemicals, and is widely used in phosphate processing, petrochemicals production, mining and many other industries.

Pang’s project involves a new sulphuric acid production process using pure oxygen as the oxidant.

Conventional processes emit significant amounts of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, resulting in pollution that poses environmental problems and legal risks for companies.

Pang is proposing a new process that recycles the gases that result from sulphuric acid production process and reduces the pollution effects.
The Bayer Corporation and MECS Company are among those showing particular interest in her work, Pang says.

She has applied for a patent on the new production process and also is applying for awards for technology advancement and new inventions from the government of her homeland in China’s Sichuan Province.

Pang began her undergraduate studies at Sichaun University before transferring to ASU.
 

Ting Pang, an Arizona State University senior chemical engineering student, has drawn international attention for her research after her recent project presentation at a major chemicals industry conference.  

Only well-established researchers typically are invited to make presentations at the annual Sulfur International Conference, but an exception was made for Pang, said Jerry Lin, a professor in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical and Materials Engineering, a part of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The conference is the main annual event for the sulphur industry, hosted by leaders in the metals and mining, power and cables, fertilizer and chemicals industries.

Pang’s project, “A New Process for Sulphuric Acid Production,” is attracting interest because of its potentially major significance for those industries, Lin said. Sulphuric acid is one of the most important inorganic chemicals, and is widely used in phosphate processing, petrochemicals production, mining and many other industries.

Pang’s project involves a new sulphuric acid production process using pure oxygen as the oxidant. Conventional processes emit significant amounts of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, resulting in pollution that poses environmental problems and legal risks for companies.

Pang is proposing a new process that recycles the gases that result from sulphuric acid production process and reduces the pollution effects.
The Bayer Corporation and MECS Company are among those showing particular interest in her work, Pang said.

She has applied for a patent on the new production process and also is applying for awards for technology advancement and new inventions from the government of her homeland in China’s Sichuan Province.

Pang began her undergraduate studies at Sichaun University before transferring to ASU.
 

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Are you like me, love mineral makeup but hate the prices? It's hard to know which brand of mineral makeup works well because there are so many out there now. It use to be that there were only a few and most people automatically went straight to Bare Minerals. I've seen the prices on Bare Minerals products and yikes! Times are tough and most of us are watching our spending but that doesn't mean you have to trade quality for affordability. Prior to trying out E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows for myself I had done a lot of research and read many reviews, most of it was positive so I thought it was worth trying out.

There were several things that I liked about E.L.F's mineral eyeshadow. The first was definitely the price, each shadow only costs me $3. I bet you can't find $3 eyeshadows by Bare Minerals. The other thing I really liked about this product was that it's cruelty-free. I don't believe it's ethical to test cosmetics on animals and if I know for a fact that a brand of makeup was tested on animals I avoid it completely. E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows were designed to look and work just like Bare Minerals so they come in a round, plastic sift container. I find the product easy to use, mess free and long lasting. I absolutely love all the colors that E.L.F. offers, all twenty of them. E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows are very pigmented , so a little goes a long way. I also find that this mineral eyeshadow blends very well. I liked that this product contains vitamins A and B, and that the ingredients are 100 percent mineral based. The best part is that E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows are now sold in Target stores.

Moving on to the cons to this mineral eyeshadow. I find that it doesn't crease or fade heavily but it still does. Of course that could be due to my eyeshadow primer. I believe with a good eyeshadow primer that it's less likly to fade as quickly or crease. At present, although Target now sells E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows they're not yet sold individually or offer the full color selection.

Overall though I thought that E.L.F. offers a great selection of mineral eyeshadows. It's not the best and it's not perfect but it's a pretty good mineral eyeshadow that comes in rich colors and is affordable. When you're on a tight budget there's not a whole lot of room to complain. I think that E.L.F's mineral eyeshadows are a great deal, just invest in a quality eyeshadow primer.

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Conducting Break Even Analysis for Improved Success in Evaluating New Business Ideas

Heard it all before? … Joe McElderry from the X Factor sings The Climb

Joe McElderry has a great deal to look forward to in the coming months, not least a style overhaul so aggressive and merciless that it will make the process of metal being injected into Wolverine's skeleton look like a pat on the bum from Gok Wan. But while a new look Joe will emerge blinking into 2010's autumn sunshine, for the time being the old one is No 1 on iTunes with The Climb, a song first (and very recently) made famous by Miley Cyrus.

With its plinky piano intro, chorus about challenges and overall feel of what we might term “generic inspirational chat”, The Climb is already proving something of a controversially uncontroversial choice. It's too predictable, some argue – although last year the producers went for a Leonard Cohen tune and all Hell broke loose, so quite what would be deemed “permissible” remains unknown. Perhaps some viewers are disappointed that Joe isn't tackling Bow Wow Wow's (I'm A) TV Savage; perhaps they have forgotten that lots of people simply enjoy massive ballads about being positive. Ballads and positivity have never been particularly cool, after all.

While The Climb might be a suitable choice for a winner's single, the fact that it's a cover of such a recent song means that it's still slightly odd. Despite modest success as a single, the song, which was debuted on 19 January and hit the UK top 20 in April, has become something of a sleeper hit and is already approaching “modern standard” status. Simon Cowell will presumably have first noticed its charms when the song emerged as the surprise choice for kids auditioning in this year's American Idol and, as befits any modern hit of the people, there are countless covers and pastiches knocking around the social media. There has even been a little controversy, as the tune was nominated for a Grammy then withdrawn over eligibility issues.

The Climb songwriter, Jessi Alexander, has some interesting thoughts on the tune in an interview, explaining that it was originally a spiritual song, sung in the third person, about events she and cowriter Jon Mabe had encountered in the music business. As a winner's song, however, there's something slightly nihilistic about the choice, particularly when coupled with last night's eerie studio performance by this year's finalists of Take That's Never Forget, which, with its shrug that “someday soon this will all be someone else's dream”, is a song about celebrating the moment and being resigned to an uncertain, perhaps rather less exciting future.

Listening to the lyrics, The Climb's message is potentially more depressing. Lines about “uphill battles” and having to lose do seem to talk of Joe's probable future. Despite the fact that he thrashed Olly Murs by almost 2:1, there's already web chatter that Joe's album will “obviously” be crap, not to mention the spectacularly negative internet campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to No 1 simply to deprive Joe of his lap of honour. Nice.

What's most interesting about this release is that, at one point or another during the autumn, the annual Syco email will have been sent to songwriters and publishers asking for anybody in possession of a potential winner's song to cough it up sharpish. The fact that the show's producers ended up plumping for a cover version – a very obvious cover version – suggests that nobody on the Syco songwriters list was capable of coming up with a suitable song (or was willing to hand one over), or that someone somewhere decided to jettison that whole A&R angle completely. The decision was clearly made that a modest UK hit for one artist should not prevent a song from being recorded by someone else. This approach to pop did all right for artists in the 50s and 60s. In 2009, however, it looks somewhat lazy.

Just about everyone knows about zombie master George A. Romero, the director who effectively created the standard pop culture image of zombies. I haven't seen much of his stuff: I watched a really poor public domain version of Night of the Living Dead a couple weeks ago, and it didn't do much for me — though some of the suspense may have been lost because the picture quality was so wretched. (The catatonic woman whose boyfriend was killed in the first scene was really, really hard to watch, though.) I enjoyed Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead (rating: 75) in a vacuum. It's long past time that I started watching the master in action. Even at the age of 69, few are capable of getting more out of a dollar. When Hollywood finally gave him $15 million to come back to the zombie genre after 20 years, he came up with a winner.

Romero's never been known for subtlety: when he's commented on racism and American consumerism in his previous movies, you know exactly where he stands. Land of the Dead is, for better or worse, his Iraq movie: John Leguizamo talks about a jihad, and bad guy Dennis Hopper gets to say, “We don't negotiate with terrorists.” The main thrust of the plot follows Riley and Cholo, former partners in zombie killing who both want to find peace but choose different ways to do it. Riley plans on getting a car and driving to Canada, where there are supposed to be no people or zombies; Cholo decides to steal a high-powered battle tank and attempts to extort money from Hopper by threatening to destroy the human enclave that Hopper runs. And, of course, there are zombies everywhere. Hopper claims to have patterned his character on Donald Rumsfeld, and the zombies — who are capable of communicating with each other and learning, and appear to be remembering some of their lost humanity — are pretty clearly the insurgents. There probably are no real-life counterparts for Baker, Leguizamo, or Baker's sidekick Asia Argento.

The thing is, it's basically just a good action movie. There's tons of blood, gore and death, some of it really icky, and make-up maestro Tom Savini has a cameo. (So do Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright of Shaun of the Dead, one of Romero's favorite movies, rating: 90.) It's pretty astonishing that this movie was made for $15 million, because film budgets have become so strongly stratified over the past few years and particularly since the writers' strike and recession: blockbusters cost $80 million and up, and indie dramas and quirky comedies cost $40 million and below. Romero's a special case, because he's a legend and a cult hero, and he'll always be able to find someone willing to give him a million to make a new movie. (His 2007 follow-up, Diary of the Dead, was made for $2 million.)

It certainly isn't a perfect movie, but it's barely an hour and a half long, which makes up for a lot of flaws. The plot has a couple more threads than it needs, as Baker's pursuit of Leguizamo detracts from the more general question of how these humans live in a country in which they are completely surrounded by evolving zombies. Because they're out on the road killing zombies wherever they see them, it's different from the more claustrophobic thrills in Night of the Living Dead. It really is hard to consider this a horror movie; it's an action movie by a horror director. But it's a fun one.

Rating: 78

Crossposted on Remingtonstein.

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Introduction

Creating a break-even analysis may sound difficult and complicated however it is the responsibility of every businessperson to prepare it as one of the first steps in evaluating a new business idea. It is necessary for any businessperson to get to terms with using cost estimates and profit margins as standard tools of business as it is one of the critical success factors in business. A practically understanding of these factors in the preparation of the analysis is a must.

Once the analysis is prepared using realistic financial data it can be used to forecast whether the new business idea is a definite winner, an absolute loser or, like most business ideas, needs amendments to make it a success. This type of analysis will also be useful once the new idea progresses to a potential business that requires preparation for implementation as it should be included in the business plan.

Uses

The analysis is primarily used to calculate at which sales volume the variable and fixed costs of producing a product will be recovered. This technique is also used to solve managerial problems. This includes the setting of price levels, the establishing of optimal variable and fixed cost combinations and the determining of the financial attractiveness of different product options for the company.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantages of using this tool is that it is simple and quick to do, it is easy to understand and interpret, especially when it is used in conjunction with a graphic representation. The analysis can also assist in easily spotting potential problems

The disadvantage of this methodology is that it is based on a forecast and it assumes that all products that are manufactured are also sold. In addition to this the cost used in the analysis may change. The technique is also not very good for analyzing the services because prices vary significantly.

Information Obtained From the Analysis

A break-even analysis provides a clear picture of the financial implications of the business idea. It shows the entrepreneur the revenue required to cover the expenses, before profit can be generated. This information can then be utilized to establish if it will be realistic to expect that the business idea will generate profits under normal market conditions. Profits will be generated once sales surpass the break-even point.

Many experienced entrepreneurs use this type of analysis as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business. The good news is that such an analysis forms part of every business plan, so if you start by doing the analysis now, you'll have already started work on your business plan.

Using It as a Sensitivity Analysis Tool

In business it is important to analyze an opportunity while considering various scenarios. If one dimension is changed at a time it will be obvious which dimension will have the largest impact on the profitability of a business idea. The break-even analysis is ideally suited to do this. For example, by adding an additional laborer to the payroll to increase the production volume it can be calculated what the extra sales volume will have to be to recover the extra salary expense. If a different production material is used that is less expensive but the production units will be reduced for the same number of laborers in the production section the analysis is the ideal tool to establish the impact on the profit.

It will be wise to conduct the analysis before spending time on the drawing up of a comprehensive business plan. As soon as sufficient production costing and market intelligence information is available it is recommended to proceed with the conducting of the break-even analysis to get an insight into the potential success of the new business idea.

How to Prepare the Analysis

To conduct an analysis of this type an informed estimate of the expenses and income related to the new business idea should be made. To obtain reasonably accurate information about this some research needs to be done. This includes a comprehensive analysis of the market segment where the product will be positioned in. in order to determine the estimated sales volume of the product the market share needs to be determined.

It is also necessary to determine the expenses as accurately as possible. There are a number of good articles that provides direction on how to make reasonably accurate income and expense estimates.

Conducting this type of analysis requires a number of input dimension. This includes the fixed cost, sales price and volume and variable cost associated with each product.

The fixed cost includes rental, insurance, water and electrical overheads, and other predetermined expenses. Another way of looking at it is that it is the sum total of all the costs required to produce the first unit of a product. This amount does not change along with production variances within a predefined band of production. In order to go beyond this production level, capital expenditures will be needed. When the fixed cost is not accurately available may be a good idea to increase the amount by around 10% to cover unforeseen fixed cost items.

The expected unit sales are the number of units of the product expected to be sold over the evaluation period. It is important to be realistic in this regard. The biggest source of inaccuracy of a break even analysis is the expected sales units. Sometimes the person conducting the analysis also utilizes a different time frame that will result in inaccuracies. The unit expected sales number should be determined for a specific unit price. To perform a valid analysis, the sales forecast must be based on the volume of business realistically expected and not on how much the company needs to sell to make a good profit.

The unit price of the product is the amount of money received from the customer for a single unit of the product or service. This is also known as the per unit sales price.

Variable unit cost is costs that vary directly with the production of one additional unit. It includes items like raw material, production labor cost and other costs that are directly associated with producing a particular unit.

The total variable cost is the total variable cost value of product unit sales. This is calculated by multiplying the total unit sales with the variable unit cost.

The total cost is the sum of the fixed cost and total variable cost for any given level of production. This is calculated by adding the fixed cost to the total variable cost. Care should be taken when calculating this number for later use to ensure that the production number is equivalent to the expected unit sales.

The total revenue is calculated by multiplying the expected unit sales by the unit price. This is then used to determine the Profit or Loss for the scenario that is being assessed. The profit is defined as the monetary gain remaining of the total revenue after subtracting the total cost associated with the sales.

Calculating the Break-Even Point

In practice managers will use figures from the profit and loss projection and use the expected annual fixed and variable costs.

This type of analysis is a tool that provides insight into the big picture. For this reason it is recommend that expense categories are combined to stay within limits. It is important to remember that different categories of expense may either be fixed or variable, but not both.

Once all these dimensions have been determined the break even point can be calculated. This is the point where the number of units that must be sold in order to produce no profit. In other words the point where the total sales revenue will be sufficient to recover all costs associated with the sales.

The formula used to calculate this is as follows:

Break Even Point = Fixed Cost / (Unit Price – Variable Unit Cost)

This point is a useful value but is only one point on a line. Transferring the information for each of the levels of output for fixed cost, total cost and total revenue onto a graph will reveal a lot of useful business information.

An example of such a graphic can be found here. On the graphic it is clear that the break even point is where the total cost is equal to the total revenue. This point can be expressed as a number of units or a value. On the graphic it is 100 units on the x axis or a value of 4000 on the y axis. The red area represents the losses that will be made at the various output levels and the blue area represents the profit.

Should the projected number of units to be sold falls below the break even point it must be clear that a loss will be made. On the other hand if the number of projected units sold is above this point, a profit will be realized.

The relative inclination of the total cost and total revenue lines will also provide insight into the sensitivity of the business model to changes in volume.

Conclusion

The use of break even analysis in business for the evaluation of new business ideas will improve the potential for success. No model can include a sufficient number of variables to replicate reality. For this reason the use of any model should be limited to the dimensions of the model. Once one knows the limitations of a model it can be used with ease as long as these limitations are remembered.

© Carl Marx 2009

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Steve McNair Found Shot to Death – Football Star 'Air McNair' Found Dead in Nashville

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"We just want to know that when we come home, America has our back," Chase said. "That's the biggest thing. Women are over there. You want to feel like you're coming home to open arms, rather than to a public that doesn't acknowledge you for what you've just done and what you just sacrificed."

Rachel McNeill, a gunner during hostile convoys in Iraq, said she was so affected by the way people treated her when they learned she fought overseas that she even started to question whether she was a veteran.

She described the attitudes as "Oh, you didn't do anything or you were just on base," said McNeill, who suffers from postconcussive headaches, ringing in her ears, and other health problems related to roadside bomb blasts. The 25-year-old from Hollandale, Wis., was a sergeant in the Army Reserves.

She said she seemingly even got that response when she told the VA staff in Madison, Wis., of her work. She said she was frustrated to see in her VA paperwork how what she told them had been interpreted.

"It would say like, 'the patient rode along on convoys,' like I was just a passenger in the back seat," McNeill said.

Other women have had similar complaints. The VA leadership has said it recognizes it needs to do more to improve care for these veterans, and as part of changes in the works, female coordinators are in place at each medical center to give women an advocate. The agency is also reviewing comments on a proposal to make it easier for those who served in noninfantry roles — including women — to qualify for disability benefits for PTSD.

Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee, recently asked VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ensure that service members' combat experience is included on their military discharge papers, so later they can get benefits they are entitled to.

Research has shown that a lack of validation of a soldier's service can make their homecoming more difficult.

"What worries me is that women themselves still don't see themselves as veterans, so they don't get the care they need for post-traumatic stress syndrome or traumatic brain injury or even sexual assault, which obviously is more unique to women, so we still have a long ways to go," said Murray, D-Wash.

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Nashville news outlets have announced the death of former Tennessee Titans star Steve McNair. McNair, 36, who was found shot to death at a condominium complex on Second Avenue South in downtown Nashville along with a second female victim identified as Sahel Kazemi, a friend of McNair's. According to news reports, McNair suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head as well as other gunshot wounds and Kazemi, who was found with a pistol next to her body, was found with one gunshot wound to the head. No suspects are being pursued at this time.

Steve McNair and the Tennessee Titans

Anyone who lives in Tennessee is familiar with the name Steve McNair. Quarterback Steve McNair played 11 seasons with the Tennessee Titans and helped lead the team to the Super Bowl in 1999. He was originally drafted by the Houston Oilers in the 1995, where he led the team in rushing touchdowns. When the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee and became the Titans, Steve McNair became a household word in the state where he was known fondly as “Air McNair.” McNair was part of the “Music City Miracle” where Steve McNair helped the Titans pull off a win at home during the playoffs against the Buffalo Bills in a Wild Card game. That alone would have cemented his name in local lore, but Steve McNair went on to lead the team to many other victories. He transferred to the Baltimore Ravens in 2006 where he remained until his retirement in 2008.

Steve McNair and DUI Arrests

McNair had his share of trouble with the law. In May 2003, Steve McNair was charged with a DUI and with illegal gun possession. In May of 2007, McNair was charged with a DUI for being a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving. The pickup truck in question was registered to Steve McNair, and under Tennessee law, a vehicle owner is prohibited from letting it be driven by someone who is inebriated. Two days ago a black Cadilac Escalade registered to both Steve McNair and Kazemi was stopped for speeding on Nashville's Broadway. Kazemi, who was war driving, was arrested for DUI. McNair was a passenger in the car when Kazemi was arrested.

The Steve McNair Foundation

Steve McNair was also the founder of The Steve McNair Football Camp for children and The Steve McNair Foundation, both dedicated to serving underprivileged children through programs that focused on sports. He came under fire in Nashville earlier this year when he sponsored a pap rally for the Baltimore Ravens to benefit Ronald McDonald House.

Steve McNair's Family

McNair leaves behind a wife Mechelle and four sons: Junior, Steven, Tyler and Trenton. Son, Steve Jr. is a wide receiver at Hattiesburg Oak Grove High School in Mississippi, the state where Steve McNair grew up.

McNair joins the growing list of recent celebrity deaths. See also:
Michael Jackson King of Pop Dead at 50
Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer – Charlie's Angel's Golden Girl Takes Flight
Pitchman Billy Mays Dead at 50 – King of Infomercials Billy Mays Joins List of Recent Deaths

Sources:
Local radio news reports
Blog and Facebook Reports
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McNair

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Learn How to Make Soy Candles in Just a Few Simple Steps

Colin Tipping is the author of Radical Forgiveness, a book that literally saved my life after the passing of my son in 2003.  If you have not yet ready my story, you will find it here:

Beyond a Mother’s Nightmare to Radical Forgiveness

The principles of Radical Forgiveness have changed the way I look at the world… so I was very happy to receive this article about what is expected to happen in 2012.

I will let you read the article for yourself and I hope it brings you peace…

2012 by Colin Tipping

As the movie ‘2012′ plays in theaters this week I am reminded that in 1999, I wrote the following as my mission statement: “my mission is to raise the consciousness of the planet through Radical Forgiveness and create a world of forgiveness by 2012.”

Even then I thought, who the hell did I think I was to imagine I could make this kind of a difference? How grandiose of me!  Was I really being serious?

Well, yes, but only up to a point.  I had heard about the Mayan calendar coming to an end on December 21, 2012, and I had also read about the predictions about earth changes made by Nostradamas in 1503 and those of Edgar Cayce in 1940s and so on, but still the whole idea didn’t seem very real to me.

I’d also been taken in a few times before.  Remember how California was supposed to fall into the sea somewhere around the late 80s?  I bought into that one and sent letters out to all my friends on the west coast suggesting they relocate.  Fortunately, they ignored my rantings and simply wrote me off as a new-age weirdo.  I had also spent a fortune stocking up in preparation for Y2K and stood by waiting for the world to collapse into chaos as the millennium turned, only to find myself on January 2nd feeling a little silly.

But even if December 21st passes without incident, I will not be cringing in the corner curled up with embarrassment this time.  That’s because it is pretty obvious to me that, 2012 notwithstanding, we are definitely heading for a dramatic shift in consciousness in the very near future.  Everything points to it and as a matter of fact, I think I was pretty much on target by seeing it occurring somewhere around 2012 and I still do conceive of it being a transition from a world based on separation, fear and greed, to one based on love, harmony, peace and oneness.

However, whether it be exhibited in nature, in the social order or as pure consciousness, any breakthrough to a new and higher order of complexity is always preceded by a major collapse of the old.   In 2003, I wrote a book called, A Radical Incarnation, in which I wrote a story about a soul who was being prepared for a very special mission. He wouldn’t be very bright but that would be perfect because his mission was to become the president of the U.S. for two terms during which he would proceed to create the conditions for total collapse to occur.  Not only would the breakdown occur in America but throughout the world.  Isn’t this what we are now going through?

The story then went on to describe how, once the old world order and the mind-set that had sustained it had completely collapsed, mass consciousness would undergo a great transformation and an awakening to the truth of who we were.  We would at first be hoping for a great new and charismatic leader to help take us through the awakening process but we would soon realize that it would be up to each and every one of us to make that choice for ourselves and to be there to help others.

I think there are many that have reached that point of choice, but how do we actually make it and in what ways can we actually make a difference in how the transition actually occurs.

A lot of the predictions focus on the idea that the transition will be cataclysmic.  However there are many writers who point out that it need not be cataclysmic so long as we make the choice now to shift our consciousness. The process needs to be accelerated. At this time, there is an insufficient number of conscious people on the planet to create the critical mass necessary to break us free from our limited world-view. The prevailing mass consciousness, with its focus on materiality and its addiction to the victim archetype, continues to hurtle us in the direction of economic disaster, self annihilation and planetary destruction.

This means that we who are conscious and ready to take the lead in awakening humanity, must come together in sufficient numbers to create a powerful singularity of intention to raise the mass vibration so that the Awakening can occur. We must begin to align with each other NOW to make it the reality so we can truly make a difference.

We have the technologies to make it happen if we choose to use them. I believe that the best technology out there is Radical Forgiveness, but if you have your own favorite method of shifting your consciousness, (e.g. the Kabbalah, Transcendental Meditation, etc.), then by all means, use that.

However, it is vitally important that we do our own personal work as well.  No one who is not willing to release personal grievances and emotional holdings from the past will be able to contribute to the raising of the consciousness of the planet, no matter how good their intention.

I urge you therefore, to make a list of all the grievances that you are holding, no matter how large or small.  Then go to http://RadicalForgiveness.com and download a free Radical Forgiveness worksheet  Make copies and begin working through your list in order to literally dissolve all your grievances and clean out your emotional closet. You will feel the energy move almost immediately and you will feel lighter for having released the energy once invested in that grievance.  To get a better understanding of the process, you might want to read my book, Radical Forgiveness.  This explains the philosophy of Radical Forgiveness.

Just reading the book and doing the worksheets will raise your vibration and enable you to practice living your life from LOVE and gentle acceptance of yourself and others while at the same time raising the consciousness of the planet.

I would emphasize the words ‘at the same time,’ contained in the last sentence for I am not saying that you cannot do the planetary healing work until you have done your own personal work.  That would be impossible, for who among us could ever say that we were completely free of any grievances?  If we had to wait for us to be totally clean, we wouldn’t even get started.

The point is that just making the commitment to work on ourselves is sufficient. Then we can, in all integrity, turn our attention to raising the consciousness of the planet as well and becoming the difference we want to see.

Colin Tipping
http://RadicalForgiveness.com

Please share this article.

Many blessings for your prosperity and well being.

Linda Miller
828-652-4714

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Early returns show a slim margin between the two candidates in the hotly contested Houston mayoral election Saturday, in which the city could elect its first openly homosexual mayor.

With just over 98 percent of the early and absentee ballots counted, City Controller Annise Parker had 51 percent of the vote to former city attorney Gene Locke’s 49 percent, according to the Harris County election Web site. Ballots cast Saturday had yet to be counted.

The election battle leading up to Saturday’s balloting was marked by fierce campaigning and anti-gay rhetoric. Parker is a lesbian who has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. If she wins, Houston will become the largest U.S. city to ever have an openly homosexual mayor.

Parker’s sexual orientation became the focus of the race in recent weeks after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed the 61-year-old Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker’s “homosexual behavior.”

Meanwhile, gay and lesbian political organizations nationwide have rallied to support the 53-year-old Parker by raising money for her campaign and making calls urging people to vote.

Locke, who would become the city’s second black mayor if elected, has been trying to distance himself from the anti-gay attacks while courting conservative voters who could tip the race in his favor.

Although Locke has condemned the divisive rhetoric, two of his key supporters contributed money to a conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay mailer this month, urging voters not to pick Parker because she was endorsed by the “gay and lesbian political caucus.”

Campaign finance reports show that Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke’s campaign, and James Dannenbaum, a member of the campaign’s finance committee, each gave $20,000.

Parker and Locke, both Democrats in the nonpartisan race, made it to the runoff after garnering more votes than two other candidates on Nov. 3. They are vying to replace Bill White, who is term-limited after serving six years and is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Several smaller U.S. cities have gay mayors, including Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I., and Cambridge, Mass.

Houston, the country’s fourth-largest city, is predominantly Democratic and about one-fourth black and one-third Latino. About 60,000 of its 2.2 million residents identify as gay or lesbian.

Congratulations, Annise Parker.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/13/MNQK1B3D00.DTL#ixzz0ZbENNXRE

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Soy candles can be used as one of the main attraction to your show cases and parties. There are a few simple steps by which you can make your beautiful soy candle. Each step is to be followed carefully if you really care about the quality of your outcome.

Before starting the procedure, one has to decide what type of soy candle they want to make.

The initial step in making soy candle is to measure the soy wax according to the size and type of soy candle you wish to make. In this article I am concentrating on votive candle. This needs 2 ounces of soy wax for each candle. For easy calculation, it is better to make an even number of candles, so when 4 soy candles are needed 8 ounces of soy wax is used.

The second step is the melting of soy wax. You can either use a wax meter or a double boiler for this purpose. Both wax meters and double boilers are easily available in the market.

The third step is adding colour to the soy wax. This can be done by adding dye to the soy wax and stirring with a wire whisk. A candle dye is used for this purpose. Other dyes such as food dyes will damage the consistency of the final product.

The fourth step is to add fragrance to the soy wax which makes the final soy candle more attractive. One and a half ounce of fragrance material is added and stirred for 2 minutes for the proper blending of fragrance material with the soy wax. The temperature should be maintained at 170 degree Celsius, or else the fragrance will not be mixed properly with the wax.

In the next step, the temperature of the wax is reduced to 150-155 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the mould is also increased to a little above room temperature by keeping in an oven. This improves the smooth finish of the final soy candle.

After cooling the soy wax into appropriate temperature, the wax is poured into the moulds carefully by using a pouring pot or a Pyrex measuring cup. The soy wax should be filled up to the top of the mould. Once the wax is cooled and a thin layer of skin is formed at the top of the mould, wick is placed. Wick is made of thick cotton threads.. Hold the wick at the top centre of the mould that is filled with wax and press it down straight to the bottom. Check if the wick is at the centre and is straight.

The final step is to correct the imperfections over the soy candle made. The depression formed at the top of the candle while pushing the wick can be made proper by slightly remelting the wax over that area. This can be done easily by holding a lightened candle over the top of the soy candle. It is to be done carefully by not damaging the wick.

Allow the candle to set by cooling it for 5 minutes. Once the candle is cooled properly, gently pull out the candle form the mould.

Now your soy candle is ready. Enjoy it!

References:

http://www.soya.be/soy-candle-making.php

http://www.ehow.com/how_2042985_make-soy-candles.html

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Tiger Woods and Cheating, Why is it Such a Big Deal?

But Matishov compared his work unfavourably with that of the US, where
scientists “drop their animals from helicopters into enemy waters and then
the animals place mines on installations, make videos of what they see along
an enemy shore or use a special gauge to measure radiation”.

The article was in response to the news that from 2010, the
Pentagon will be using dolphins to guard the Kitsap-Bangor naval base in
Washington .

In Soviet times, military operations involving sea mammals were more common. A
research centre at Sevastopol on the Black Sea was rumoured to train
“kamikaze” dolphins.

These animals were said to use spears attached to special muzzles to kill
intruders, and carry mines which would explode upon contact with an enemy
hull.

The programme ended with the fall of the Soviet Union, and it was reported in
2000 that the animals’ trainer, Boris Zhurid, had sold 27 of his former
charges to Iran. Iran’s plans for the animals remain unknown.

Matishov’s work, funded by the Russian Academy of Science, is one of the only
remaining military research projects on animals in Russia.

By contrast, the US navy’s marine mammal programme, which dates back to the
1950s, is still flourishing. Based in San Diego, California, it currently
includes 80 dolphins, 82 sea lions and one beluga whale. It is the programme
from which the Kitsap-Bangor dophins will be taken.

Spokesman Tom Lapuzza said that although the number of marine mammals used had
decreased since the end of the Cold War, more had been introduced in recent
years, and the programme now both buys and breeds animals for military use.

He added that teaching the mammals was a lengthy process. “Training begins
straight away when the animals are pups. It takes two to three years to
teach the animals to respond to basic commands, and four to six before they
are able to identify mines.”

In 2003, the programme’s dolphins were deployed in the conflict against Iraq
to seek out mines on the seafloor around Umm Qasr.

According to Professor Ian Boyd, a marine biologist at St Andrews University,
and director of the Natural Environment Research Council’s sea mammal
research unit, marine mammals’ usefulness in military operations is due to
their possession of “sensory capabilities that mean they can be used in
specific situations”.

Dolphins’ biosonar is far more developed than any man-made sonar system and
allows them to locate objects such as mines extremely quickly. Sea lions
have excellent underwater vision and an ability to manoeuvre in tight
spaces.

Professor Boyd added that the animals’ obedient nature also makes them a
valuable navy resource, as they can be “easily trained to carry out quite
complex, repetitive tasks”.

Dr Emma Creaser, associate professor of marine biology at Unity College, Maine
said: “Any trip to Sea World will show you how intelligent these creatures
are. Various marine mammals have been shown in any number of behavioural
studies to grasp concepts such as ‘less and more,’ as well as discriminating
between two or more objects or remembering a visual or auditory cue
precisely over time.”

Combined with the ability to dive deeply, repetitively and without the
decompression sickness suffered by human divers, these qualities make marine
animals a perfect war tool.

The use of the animals for military operations has attracted strong opposition
from animal welfare groups. Cathy Williamson, captivity manager for the
Whale and Dolphins Conservation Society, says that “Military dolphins are
held in captivity, causing them mental and physical stress and are often
subject to frequent transportation which further risks their health and
welfare.”

Furthermore, the fact that the dolphins are known to belong to the military
means trained and wild dolphins “may be susceptible to harm from anyone who
suspects they may be dangerous”.

Peta, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation, believes
that though marine animals are intelligent, such operations cannot “provide
the armed forces with reliable surveillance or a reliable defence” and are a
cruel process which “may cost lives rather than save them”.

The marine mammal programme, however, insists its animals are well cared for
and a useful asset.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said that Britain does not use marine
animals for military operations, and has no plans to. Professor Boyd,
however, commented that trained sea mammals have a wide variety of uses
outside the armed forces, many of which are yet unexplored.

There is, for example, “the possibility of using animals to help carry out
research on some of the very elusive marine mammal species, such as beaked
whales. Though people find it difficult to approach these animals, sea lions
or dolphins could finally allow us to get close enough to attach instruments
for observation”.

Lawyers and family react at the conclusion of the Meredith Kercher murder trial Link to this video

Amanda Knox returned to her cell in Capanne prison on Friday night with one crumb of comfort: the jury that handed her a 26-year sentence for fatally stabbing Meredith Kercher rejected a request by prosecutors that she serve the first nine months of her sentence in isolation during daylight hours.

The American student will, therefore, keep the company of her three current cellmates, a Kosovan, a Chinese and a Roma woman, who reportedly greeted her after the guilty verdict with a cup of hot milk. “They have facilities to cook together in the cell and watch TV, with about four to five hours spent outside the cell every day,” said Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga.

Knox's parents were due to visit Capanne, near Perugia, yesterday to console the 22-year-old, who told the court during final arguments: “I could face years in prison and could be pulling out my hair, taking apart my cell, but I just take a breath and try to be positive at important moments like this.”

To ensure she does not now tear her cell apart, or even attempt suicide, prison officers are likely to check on her every 15 minutes at the start of her term, as is custom in Italy.

>Apart from the initial checks, life will not change for Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was jailed for 25 years. “Moving from being a suspect to convict does not mean a change in prison regime,” said one Italian police officer.

“With good behaviour, and assuming there is no change in the sentence in appeal, she could get daytime release from jail in 15 years, including the time she has already spent in jail,” he said.

Knox can expect regular meetings with her lawyers, who are allowed unlimited visits, as planning starts for her appeal, which must be requested within 45 days and is likely to be held in the second half of 2010, a prosecution source said.

Until then she will settle back into the routine built up in the two years since her arrest, including polishing the Italian she spoke so fluently in court. “There are also the German and Chinese lessons, the gym and two hours outdoors a day,” said Ghirga. “In her cell she is writing continuously and is allowed to keep up to eight books at any given time.”

A film shot by a local director at the jail, part of a re-education project for inmates, allowed Knox to recite Shakespeare to camera, earning her good reviews, although the film was banned from a Perugia film festival after a political outcry.

>To keep an eye on their daughter, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas will be allowed to visit up to 10 times a month, hugging their daughter in a room without glass barriers, if they can afford the mounting travel bills they now face.

“It's cold here,” Knox stated shortly after her arrest and incarceration at Capanne, as winter settled in two years ago. “I try to cover myself but I am always shivering. I miss music above all and I really let go when they let me out in the courtyard, singing loudly and trying to stay in the sun as long as possible before heading back under the artificial light.”

Squinting at books under poor light has made Knox short-sighted, her family has since claimed.

Sollecito has been locked up at Capanne alongside Knox during the trial, but may now be transferred back to Terni prison, which holds more violent offenders and has a reputation for keeping a stricter eye on inmates.

As he tries to continue his studies for a virtual reality degree, a return to Terni would mean heading back to a one-man cell in a section for sex offenders.

Life with the same category of inmate has not proved peaceful over at Viterbo jail for Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast-born man who was convicted last year for participating in the murder of Kercher. While playing football during exercise hours, Guede was cornered by an Albanian and a Romanian prisoner who kicked and punched him to the ground.

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I don't understand what all the fuss is about with Tiger Woods, and his cheating or infidelities. You could say the same for Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, John Edwards and the list goes on. Personally, I think that anyone who is trying to live by religious or moral codes of ethics that originated 1500 years ago plus, (back when women were owned by their male family members or husbands, weren't educated or mobile, and the average life span for them was 39), is setting themselves up for failure. Cheating just means someone is not being honest about their wants and needs.

I consider myself somewhat of a marriage expert, as I've been married three times. I was raised as a Catholic where divorce is considered a sin. And even though I denounced Catholicism when I was 12 years old, the decision to divorce at 22 still was not an easy one. My first time was terrible, particularly because I had a young daughter to think about. I didn't have my families support at the time because they couldn't understand why I would divorce a man who worked, could read and didn't beat me.

He was a good man, just not the man for me. The thing was there were warning signs before I married him, but I was naive and stupidly thought that once we were married, things would change. About six months after our daughter was born, I remember thinking as he walked up the steep driveway behind our car, if I just released the parking break, the car might roll back over him and then I wouldn't have to worry about the negative stigma of divorce. You know the old adage, 'til death do us part. Fortunately I realized that that was really sick thinking and it gave me the impetus to get out. I was afraid to be a single mother, afraid of the financial obligations but I was also afraid that putting my daughter in a continuously negative atmosphere would be equally detrimental to her well being.

When you get divorced, there are things that you discuss such as property disbursement, child care, custody and health insurance requirements. These are also the things that should be discussed upfront, long before marriage bells ring. Rich people often have a pre-nuptial that discusses financial terms should the marriage dissolve, but there are so many other topics that should be discussed ahead of time and annually, thereafter.

When I married my second husband, my eyes were at least opened to the possibility that things wouldn't get any better and that I would have to accept him for what he was. A few years in, he became a gambling a man, and after that, all bets were off. I physically couldn't work hard or fast enough to keep him in money to piss away, and after a while, I thought, this is insane – why am I even trying, and why I am putting myself through this emotional hell? I finally got up the gumption to get out after five years and vowed, I would never again get married. I felt like I was a failure at relationships but I didn't know why.

For me, the 3rd time was the charm and I can honestly say I have been blissfully happy and married for over 10 years now. The difference this time was that we established a contract that we both could live with. We discussed our sexual terms and the fact that neither one of us felt that it was reasonable in this day and age, to be monogamous.

We were very open when we discussed the terms that we felt we could live with and we agreed to them. We also discussed responsibilities such as who was going to cook, clean, do the laundry, shop, earn the money, take care of family matters, etc. By having an open and honest discussion, we set the boundaries that we could live by, and annually, or when something changes, we discuss where we are at and where we are going and what we can tolerate and what we cannot. My husband is my best friend and my favorite lover but that doesn't mean he will always be the only one or that having sex with another person would be grounds for divorce.

I am convinced if people took a serious look at what they expect out of a marriage compared to what they really want, they would find that the term cheating is only cheating if the other person is not privy to the behavior. Why we think one person in a lifetime is going to satisfy our sexual urges for all time, is beyond me. I recently read online that men are “wired to cheat”. Perhaps some feel entitled, neglected or bored, but that should give rise to a renewed review of the marriage contract. I say this equally for men and women, as I believe woman are just as unfaithful, but they might be better at keeping it discreet.

If someone really and truly cares about another person, I think honesty is the best policy. If you are someone like me, who thinks monogamy is for the birds, there are others out there that feel the same way. No one likes to be lied to and that is why cheating is bad.

However, if you can find someone that you can really be yourself with and be honest about what it is you want from them, it is the best! In my opinion, an honest and open discussion around the contractual terms of your own marriage (not societies' 1500 year old expectation) is the best way to stay happy in a marriage. If you ask my husband the same thing, I am sure he would agree.

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It took Hanukkah celebrants more than 2,000 years to hit upon the dish that's now considered the quintessential holiday food.

Potato latkes, as inextricably linked to the wintertime festival as dreidels, menorahs and chocolate gelt, are such a relatively recent addition to the Hanukkah canon that food writer Mimi Sheraton — who grew up in a Jewish family in Flatbush — was 30 years old before she realized the oily pancakes were connected to the holiday.

“Though my family observed that holiday with the weeklong lighting of the silver candelabra … I never knew those marvelously crisp, hot, onion-scented latkes had anything whatsoever to do with the celebration,” Sheraton wrote in 1981.

For many years, they didn't. While food plays a ritual role in many Jewish holidays, the only edible tradition associated with Hanukkah was the rather loosey-goosey custom of eating something with oil in it.

The practice — intended to commemorate the miracle at the heart of the Hanukkah story, in which one day's worth of oil burned for eight days — was variously interpreted by Jewish communities across the globe: Jews in Greece celebrated with loukoumades, little orbs of deep-fried dough soaked in honey; Jews in Spain made yeasty bunuelos; Jews in Russia ate buckwheat pancakes and Jews in the Middle East enjoyed fried jelly doughnuts.

When a New York Times reporter interviewed a Tangiers native about Hanukkah traditions in 1959, he discovered “the nearest she could come to remembering specifically the foods served was to describe a pastry that was something like a fried doughnut, dipped in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.”

To the reporter's evident exasperation, his other sources provided similarly unsatisfying insights: “Several persons, asked what they remembered about the foods they ate for Hanukkah when they were young, had only the haziest recollections,” he wrote.

The collective culinary obliviousness that took hold of Sheraton and the unnamed Moroccan immigrant was probably rooted in Hanukkah's official status as a very, very minor festival. Long observed by only the most devout Jews, Hanukkah is the religious equivalent of Flag Day.

“Not even the Zionists make a fuss about Chanukah,” the American Jewish Chronicle confirmed in 1916, in a passage quoted by Jenna Weissman Joselit in her definitive “The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture, 1880-1950.”

Hanukkah might have slipped off the modern Jewish calendar entirely were it not for a lucky stroke of timing. Although Hanukkah's starting date moves with the moon, it almost always falls in December, when most Americans are fixated on Christmas. Eager to lure their congregants away from the Christian holiday, rabbis in the early 1900s began touting Hanukkah's charms.

Since no holiday celebration is complete without treats, Jewish homemakers scrambled to create dishes that might conceivably compete with roast turkeys, plum puddings and mincemeat pies. Joselit quotes from 1941's “The Jewish Home Beautiful,” which included recipes for egg salad sandwiches trimmed to resemble Maccabean fighters and “menorah fruit salad,” a molded cream-concoction shaped like the holiday's signature candelabra.

But mostly they made latkes, a fixture of Ashkenazi cookery since the 16th century, when potatoes first appeared in Eastern Europe. Potatoes were so plentiful in the Pale of Settlement that when Rabbi Abraham Shemtov's family couldn't afford a menorah, his father “cut a hole in a potato, and poured the oil into the potato,” he told the Times in 1977. Eastern European Jews ate potato pancakes year-round, but the delicacy — typically fried in schmaltz, or goose fat — almost always surfaced around Hanukkah. American Jews seized on the practice, making latkes a compulsory component of holiday celebrations by the 1950s.

By 1958, Los Angeles' Montebello Jewish Educational Center had begun throwing an annual latke party, featuring songs and dances from “The Nutcracker” and “a traditional meal of potato pancakes and all the trimmings.”

The “trimmings” probably weren't as fancy as the Los Angeles Times implied — latkes are typically accompanied by just two condiments: applesauce and sour cream. Among eaters who made their first super-greasy latkes as children under the tutelage of a patient Hebrew School teacher, serving potato pancakes with ketchup is still considered as uncouth as smearing mayonnaise on white bread.

But the conservatism that clings to latke condiment selection doesn't seem to extend to the latke recipe itself, which has been updated and tweaked thousands of times over the last half-century. Jewish publications have taught their readers to make spinach, eggplant and ricotta cheese latkes (a dairy variation that harkens back to the pre-potato Diaspora.)

Yet the single greatest innovation in the latke's short holiday history occurred in 1973, when Cuisinart introduced the first food processor for home use.

“Lately, knuckles skinned on the grater are no longer the battle scars of the devoted latke maker,” Florence Fabricant crowed in 1977. “With a food processor, you can ply your family with latkes for each of the eight nights of the holiday. The machine grates the potatoes in a twinkling. They do not even require peeling.”

Armed with their tater-grating machines, Jewish-American cooks churned out latkes at an unprecedented pace, solidifying forevermore the brand new bond between Hanukkah and a plateful of oil-drenched potato pancakes.

I see the troughers in the DUP are still enjoying the delights of taxpayer care of the latest batch of expenses revelations…

The documents show that once again some DUP figures, including the party leader Peter Robinson and Ian Paisley, claimed the maximum food allowance of £400 a month.

£400 a month for food. And how many days per month are spent in Westminster? And what are their salaries again? Nice to see that Peter Robinson enjoys his food so much but I am worried that his rich diet may cause him indigestion. That said, I wonder how his electorate in East Belfast can stomach any of this troughery?  

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An early test for preeclampsia could be just 5 years in the future, allowing for earlier intervention and monitoring, according to researchers at Bristol University and the University of Liepzig.

Between 5 and 8% of all pregnancies lead to the condition known as preeclampsia, a hypertension condition potentially fatal for both mother and child. Currently, the testing method available is only accurate around the twentieth week of pregnancy – long after symptoms may have already started, and dangerous rises in blood pressure are already occurring.

Conservative estimates put the number of deaths worldwide from preeclampsia at around 76,000 mothers and 500,000 infants a year.

According to Dr. Victoria Bills, who led the research team, they may have discovered a unique protein in the mother's blood that might let physicians know that the mother is at risk of developing preeclampsia much earlier in pregnancy.

“I would certainly hope that within my lifetime as an obstetrician – potentially in the next five to ten years – that possibly we may be able to develop a simple blood test which we can offer to women as early as 12 weeks in order to quantify whether they are at high-risk of developing preeclampsia later on in that pregnancy ,” Bills told the BBC.

Why preeclampsia occurs is unknown; however, the discovery of this unique protein has researchers hopeful that they will be able to ferret out the root cause – and find a way to block it if it occurs. Women with preeclampsia were found to have lower levels of the protein during the first trimester – when current tests are unable to detect the condition.

Preeclampsia only occurs during pregnancy, and currently the only treatment is low-dose aspirin which helps alleviate some of the symptoms. Symptoms of preeclampsia include swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision. However, in rapidly progressing preeclampsia, the only symptom might be the characteristic rise in blood pressure. The Preeclampsia Foundation estimates that 200,000 cases occur in the United States every year, and is a leading cause of infant and maternal death during pregnancy. It impacts the lives of about as many women as breast cancer every year.

Starting prophylactic doses of low-dose aspirin early helps control the condition, and decreases the likelihood of preeclampsia becoming more severe. Preeclampsia can affect a patient's renal function (kidneys), liver, and other vital organs. If untreated, preeclampsia can lead to seizures (eclampsia), cerebral hemorrhage (stroke), heart or kidney failure, and death.

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Meredith Baxter, Star of the '80s Sitcom 'Family Ties,' Says She is a Lesbian

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Conventional wisdom has it that Democrats risk alienating
the liberal base by supporting an increase in troops, but by opposing
it they oppose the president and could, in some cases, hurt their
general-election prospects.

The candidates seemed acutely aware of this conflict, but they took different approaches to it.

While centrist Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) opposed the increase, his
netroots-friendly primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) said he
would support it. And Illinois Senate front-runner Alexi Giannoulias
stood behind the proposal, while his primary opponents stood against it.

Specter was the most blunt in his opposition. “It is unrealistic to
expect the United States to be out in 18 months, so there is really no
exit strategy,” he said. “This venture is not worth so many American
lives or the billions it will add to our deficit.”

The Kentucky Democratic primary was more nuanced. Lt. Gov. Dan
Mongiardo supported the plan late Tuesday night and Attorney General
Jack Conway said Wednesday morning he has “reservations.”

“I do not feel President Obama has adequately explained how he will
get Pakistan involved in the effort to combat al Qaeda,” Conway said.

Conway wasn’t the only one to reserve judgment. Rep. Paul Hodes
(D-N.H.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) also sounded skeptical, but
didn’t say no. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) called Obama’s speech a
step in the right direction but said he still has questions.

Others were clearer. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher followed primary foe
Jennifer Brunner’s lead in opposing the increase, and Sen. Barbara
Boxer (D-Calif.) opposed it as well.

The top two candidates in next week’s Massachusetts Senate election, Martha Coakley and Rep. Michael Capuano, also said no.

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and Missouri Secretary of State Robin
Carnahan both said they supported the president and his proposal.

“President Obama’s strategic review and subsequent policy decision
on Afghanistan puts us on a course for success that we lacked for many
years,” Meek said.

Fisher said “defeating al Qaeda does not require 30,000 additional troops be sent to Afghanistan.”

Fisher is a heavy favorite in his primary with Secretary of State
Brunner and has raised far more money, but his position suggests he is
still concerned about her. Bennet and Specter also have to watch their
left flanks because of primary challenges, and they appeared to be
doing so after the speech.

Giannoulias’s decision suggests he is confident in his primary
prospects; former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman and Chicago
Urban League President Cheryle Robinson Jackson both said they opposed
the increase. Of course, Giannoulias also might just want to say that
he stood with his home-state president, whose Senate seat they are all
seeking.

In the House, the best illustration of the differing approaches was
a group of 47 freshman Democrats who drafted a letter in 2008 asking
for a renewed focus on Afghanistan. Of that group, Reps. Steve Kagen
(D-Wis.), Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) weren’t
ready to commit after Tuesday’s speech, while Reps. Michael Arcuri
(D-N.Y.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) expressed
support.

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Meredith Baxter, former star of 1980s sitcom hit Family Ties, has made the announcement today, at 62, that she is a lesbian. On the Today show with Matt Lauer she confirmed rumors that she is indeed a lesbian and has been living as a lesbian for the past seven years. She has been involved in a four-year relationship with contractor Nancy Locke.

Baxter went on to say that she did not discover her sexual identity until later in life but it seemed to answer a lot of questions about why her previous three marriages had failed.

In the interview with Matt Lauer she went on to say that her children have been supportive of her choices and that it was far easier to tell them then she ever thought it would ever be.

Her former co stars from Family Ties are aware that she is gay. She has maintained a close friendship with Michael Gross and his wife throughout the years. She went on to say that she, her partner Nancy, Gross, and his wife often go out for dinner together.

When Baxter was asked by she has chosen to come out now after all these years she stated that she did not want a tabloid to write the story with a bad spin so it was better to just make the announcement herself.

I commend Baxter for coming forth so late in life with her announcement. No one should ever be ashamed or embarrassed about who they are. I think that many attitudes are changing today as more and more people can walk forward proudly to announce they are gay without fear of discrimination.

Baxter joins the ranks of such notables as Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes, Lindsay Lohan, Jodie Foster and Cynthia Nixon. All of these women have been brave enough to step forward proudly and make the announcement that they are also lesbians. Other Hollywood notables such as Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore have publicly proclaimed their bi sexuality without hesitation. None of these announcements have seemed to effect the popularity of these talented actress or even swayed public opinion. This shows the forward thinking that the American public exhibits today verses twenty or thirty years ago.

I think its wonderful that more people are accepted for their talent and who they truly are instead of having sexuality even remotely play a part in anything. A persons choice in a partner is a serious issue. These women should be commended for being open and honest. We should also feel happy that so many of them seem to have found a relationship that truly works because we all know that in Hollywood that is no easy task. Relationships seem to come and go there on a daily basis with no real commitment even if it is a marriage.

I believe that whatever works and makes someone happy is perfect and ideal. Baxter has made a bold step forward late in her life which must have been extremely scary for her since her generation did not openly accept being gay as the generation of Lindsay Lohan and others.

I'm sure that the vast majority of American people wish Baxter nothing but the best and her sexuality plays no part in marring that fact that she is a talented actress.

Sources:

http://omg.yahoo.com/
　

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