Monday, July 17, 2006
The leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations met over the weekend in St. Petersburg in Russia for the 32nd G8 Summit, held under Russia’s presidency, to discuss the ongoing Israel-Lebanon crisis, the stalled world trade talks and other issues. They also met with other world leaders, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy.
Submitted by: Sherry Borsheim
When used to its full potential, Microsoft Outlook is a powerful tool for productivity! However it can quickly become a source of stress and frustration for those who aren t sure how to use it. This series of articles will help you increase your productivity by teaching you about
organizing Microsoft Outlook.
Microsoft Outlook categories allow you to group contacts, making it easier to find, sort and filter your contacts. If all you are doing at this point is adding contacts to your list without organizing them, I suggest taking it a step further by using categories to make Microsoft Outlook work harder for you. Some recommended Contact Categories are Vendor, Client, Prospect, Advertising, Resource, Family, Personal, etc., of course you should tailor your categories to your needs. It is easy to add, delete, and change categories as your needs change.
Why it s important to organize Microsoft Outlook Contacts
Organizing your Microsoft Outlook Contacts is an important key in making Microsoft Oulook work for you. Using categories makes easy work of sending emails to defined groups of people just drag and drop an entire category and email addresses automatically appear in the To field of your message. Quick tip: make sure you cut and past the email addresses into the BCC field before sending, it s common courtesy and you may run into privacy law issues if you don t. Using categories also makes it easy to view and analyze your contact list, or export your contacts to another program.
The most important reason to use contact categories is streamline your marketing and follow up efforts. Remember: the fortune is in the follow up! For example, you could create a category labeled Prospect and flag it for a specific day to remind yourself to follow up. You can alternatively create an appointment from the contact selecting the date you want to follow up. Another tip is to create a category for specific events (e.g. fundraising event, Christmas party, product launch). After the event, sort your contacts by category and send a follow up thank you card to each person who attended that event.
How to set up and use Microsoft Outlook Contact Categories:
The following is a suggested three step process to get you started.
1. Plan out the categories you think you will use on paper first.
2. Set up your new categories in the Master Category List.
3. Assign your contacts to the category or categories that they belong in.
Creating categories:
1. Select Categories from the Edit menu
2. Click Master Category List
3. Type a category name in the new category box
4. Click Add
5. Follow steps 3 and 4 to create additional categories
6. Click OK two times
Assigning a category when creating an item:
1. With the item open, click on Categories (if you are already in an email click Options, then Categories)
2. Click on the boxes next to the applicable category or categories in the available categories list.
3. Click on OK
Assigning a category to an existing item:
1. Select the item you want to assign a category to.
2. Click on Categories on the Edit menu
3. Click on the boxes next to the applicable category or categories in the Available categories list
4. Click on OK
A few quick Time-Saving Tips
1. Microsoft Outlook allows you to assign several categories to a single Contact. For example, you can have a vendor who is in your Vendor category, as well as you Fundraiser 2010 category.
2. When exporting your Contacts to another database program, make sure you export the Category field. This way the Category will transfer over into the new database saving you data entry time.
3. Categories and follow-up is critical to an effective Contact list, whatever your situation. When you receive emails from new leads it is important that you create a system to follow-up!
Take some time to organize Microsoft Outlook by planning and creating your categories today it is sure to save you time and money in the future!
About the Author: Sherry Borsheim has been creating business organizing systems to help businesses and individuals get organized for over 23 years. She specializes in organizing Microsoft Outlook, and streamlining paper, email, time and space workflow issues. She recognizes that each client s situation is unique and works with them to create custom, effective organizing systems. Get your free e-kit “7 Ways to Organize Your Workspace” by visiting
bizorganizing.com
now.
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isnare.com
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Whole Foods Market, a natural food grocery chain based in Austin, Texas, announced that it intends to use wind energy for all of its electrical needs. This will make the company the largest business to use renewable energy in the United States.
“It’s a sales driver rather than a cost,” Michael Besancon, a regional president for the company, said. “All of those things we do related to our core values: help drive sales, help convince a customer to drive past three or four other supermarkets on the way to Whole Foods.”
Since utility companies send power directly to the national utility grid, Whole Foods will purchase energy credits equivalent to 100% of the energy they use, a total of 458,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy credits per year from Renewable Choice Energy. That’s enough electricity to power 44,000 homes for a year.
Steve Quinn. “Whole Foods commits to wind energy” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 10, 2006
Alyce Lomax. “The Wind Beneath Whole Foods’ Wings” — MSNBC, January 10, 2006
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Associated Press (AP) announced yesterday that it will charge its members for online content, starting on January 1, 2006. The decision occurred at its annual board meeting.
Until the new pricing arrangement takes place, news sites that purchase AP content for their print editions have been able to use the same content on their websites at no additional charge. No pricing scheme has been announced, but the AP did say that it would increase its fees less than usual this year to ease the transition.
Burl Osborne, the chairman of the AP’s board, stated that since the creation of the internet, the “AP’s philosophy was to promote member efforts to develop this new medium, and to give those fledgling online efforts time to grow.”
The price increase was not the only plan mentioned at the meeting. According to an AP report in the New York Times, “The AP also plans to introduce a new multimedia package designed to appeal to young adults, a prized advertising demographic deeply immersed in the Internet and other digital media.”
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Speaking before an audience of 750 soldiers and airmen on Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US President Bush began an effort to shore up waning support for military actions in Iraq.
The president again attempted to link the September 11, 2001 attacks with his decision to invade and occupy Iraq(The U.S. official 9/11 Commission report concluded that Saddam and Iraq were not involved in 9/11 in any way). Right from the opening of his speech, he mentioned the 9/11 attacks and also did it on four additional occasions. During the speech, Bush did not refer to the now-relinquished hunt for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. The U.S. has failed to provide any convincing evidence for the existence of a WMD, even though this was one of the chief reasons President Bush cited to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Democrats criticized the president for trying to link 9/11 with the war in Iraq;”The president’s frequent references to the terrorist attacks of September 11 show the weakness of his arguments,” Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader, said. “He is willing to exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq.”
Opinion polling conducted this week by USA Today, CNN and Gallup found for the first time that a majority of Americans, 50% to 47%, see the Iraqi war as something separate from what Bush is calling the “global war against terrorism.”
The speech comes as more bad news regarding the Iraq War, amid rising IraqI War casualties (1,740 killed, 13,000 wounded), and damaging testimony to the U.S. Congress about Halliburton fraud in Iraq, and the Downing Street Memo. In addition, vice-president Dick Cheney‘s claim that the Iraqi insurgency was in its “last throes” was contradicted in Senate testimony by General John Abizaid, who said “In terms of comparison from six months ago, in terms of foreign fighters, I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago.”
In his speech, Bush discussed the question of setting a timeline for withdrawal of troops, or sending more troops. “Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why don’t you send more troops? If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job,” Bush said. US Commanders have previously commented on the problems caused by lack of coverage at the Syrian border.
The president said the war effort is a two-pronged strategy using military and political pressure to install, “a free, representative government [in Iraq] that is an ally in the war on terror.” The U.S. and multi-national Iraqi military coalition goal is an offensive campaign to take the fight to terrorists and insurgents in the region. The elimination of Saddam Hussien was a necessary step to build, “institutions of a free society, a society based on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and equal justice under law.” Bush cited the free national elections held in January and the establishment of a Transitional National Assembly as progress on the political front, and now calls for the drafting of a constitution with the involvement of Shia, Kurds and Sunni groups.
The speech was received by the usually spirited troops in an atmosphere of quiet that only once interrupted his speech with polite applause near the end when Bush said: “So we’ll fight them there, we’ll fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won.”
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Submitted by: Pat Munro
Getting that desirable item at an auction can be daunting at best. There are tricks that any experienced bidder knows and uses to get their bids to the winners circle. Its easiest to get a grasp of the way to win bids at a live auction. There, you can oversee the people and their bids to get a sense of whether or not to raise your bidding amount depending on the competition and what the item is worth. Online however, you do not have the luxury of sizing up the competition. Youre in a no-mans land (or the badlands) of the auction environment and anything goes in this territory, as long as its legal of course. Here are some easy tips to understanding and winning an online auction.
What is Proxy bidding or Hidden bidding?
Online auction sites such as Ebay have implemented a Proxy bid option which allows the bidder to secretly enter a top bid amount into the system which is not displayed to any other bidders. This maximum proxy bid will not be listed until it has been out bid by another bidder. Other bidders can still bid on an item, but will soon discover that every bid they enter is out bid by the proxy top bid amount.
Done properly, proxy bidding is considered a closed auction, meaning other bidders cant see the highest bid until it has either been outbid or sold. To succeed in proxy bidding, the bidder must be knowledgeable on the actual value of the items they are bidding on. Otherwise, you may either lose a bid, or pay far more that the items actual worth.
One note about the danger of proxy bids is the sellers fraudulent system to sniff out the proxy bid amount and increase it for the original bidder to increase their top bid. This is called maximum bid fishing or shilling. The best way to avoid being duped by such a scheme is to snipe the item, avoiding being drawn into a bidding war.
What is Sniping?
Bidding wars are great for the auction seller, but bad for the bidder. Experienced online bidders prefer entering their bids in the last minutes of an auction to avoid upping the bidding frenzy created by current highest bid one-up-man-ship. As well, there is the psychological phenomenon of encouraging others to bid on an item solely because someone else has bid on that same item.
Online auction sniping may not be illegal, but most people frown upon it. Why? Because it gives the sniper the upper hand at the end of the auction to steal an item you thought youre going to win, right out from under you. Sniping is big business my friends, and if your not in the know on how to do it, you will lose at least half the time. Economists have determined that auction sniping is a price minimizing strategy for auction bidders as long as the auction has a rigidly fixed end time and the bidder can see the previous bids to gain a better knowledge of the real value of the auctioned piece.
Some online listers have tried to prevent this snipping phenomenon from happening on their listed items, to even out the playing field. One way some listers prevent sniping is by ending their auctions at random times. This involves not disclosing the actual end time in the last hour of the listing. This act has thrown a few snipers into a frustrated fit, but ultimately snipers are furtively working on ways to overcome that too.
Check out Online Sniping Services
These new online sniping services are quite new, in fact there many new sniping services being developed every day to try and gain your business. Finding a good sniping provider is of utmost importance to avoid the waste of time it takes in finding one which works for your sniping/bidding needs. The use of bid groups and advanced search features seem to be the key to getting the auction items that you want at the price that you want. Also, a good sniping service will support Search Capabilities so the search & bid process is simplified, they will lists price comparisons and competition, offer a free trial offer, offer ease of navigation of their snipe site and provide the ability to import your watch lists and manage and organize your bids. The following is a list of sniping services which have been rated and approved by well seasoned bidders.
Good sniping services you may want to try:
Prospector Lite by http://MoxieProxy.com
AuctionSniper.com
PowerSnipe.com
Esnipe.com
Always remember, any sniping service worth its salt will offer either a money back guarantee or a free trial. So do some research, and try out a couple of different sniping companies to find the right fit for you and your bidding needs.
The last tip I can offer is to do your homework. Research the product you are looking to bid on, in order to get an idea of the top price the item is actually worth. Go to eBays tutorials to better grasp the ins and outs of how all of the aforementioned information on proxys and sniping. Its also worth your while to get involved in the discussions on eBay, real people discussing their experiences and giving out free advice on any thing to do with online auctions. Good luck, you too can be the winner of any auction with these helpful tips. Get out there and start bidding.
About the Author: Visit http://www.madisonsauction.com/ for
collectible auctions
,
appraisals
and
liquidation
.
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Friday, June 16, 2006
Former American Idol winner Ruben Studdard has won a lawsuit and $2 million against his ex-manager Ronald W. Edwards and Edwards’ promotions company, Sez Inc. The lawsuit was for misappropriating the singer’s money and credit cards. The suit claimed Edwards misused more than $246,000 of the singer’s money. According to the judge’s ruling, Edwards stole money from Studdard’s checking and other bank accounts, improperly used his credit cards and even used Studdard’s money to repay a $10,000 bank loan.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell awarded Studdard $500,000 for actual losses and another $1.5 million in punitive damages. Vowell dismissed Edwards’ promotions company from the suit because it was bankrupt and had no money or assets. Edwards filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 17, 2005. Studdard has sold 2.2 million records, but because of the damage done to his credit by Edwards, it is now even hard for Ruben to buy a home, said Vowell.
Monday, December 31, 2007
What would you tell your grandchildren about 2007 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 year’s time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2007, what would the question be? The year that you first signed on to Facebook? The year Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse fell apart? The year author Kurt Vonnegut or mime Marcel Marceau died, both at 84?
Let’s take a look at some of the international stories of 2007. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in bold.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
A woman, who was taking the road test to become a licensed school bus driver, crashed a bus into a utility pole in White Plains, New York, today. The wreck occurred on South Kensico Road between the intersections with Minevera Place and Oakley Avenue.
The Journal News reported that the accident occurred at 11:30 a.m. EDT (UTC-4) and that neither the student driver nor the examiner from the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was injured.
According to The Journal News the road was closed in both directions. Police and workers from the utility company, Con Edison, were on the scene inspecting the damage. The utility pole had snapped at the bottom and it was leaning on the bus.
Wikinews went to the crash site and found that Con Edison crews were still working to replace the pole. Nearly five hours after the crash, a new pole had been installed and the old one was being held parallel up against it. Workers were transferring the wires onto the new pole.
Kensico Road had been reopened, but only in one lane. Workers let traffic pass alternating between one direction and then the other. Ironically, the green sign that is affixed to the pole reads “DMV test site starts here.”
The Bad Credit Remortgage
by
James Copper
When looking to remortgage your aim is to switch to a deal that is more beneficial to you and saves you money/increases flexibility etc, whether this be sticking with your present lender or changing to another.
The process of remortgaging with bad credit is the same as getting other mortgages, the difference being you are not purchasing a property. What Are The Benefits Of Remortgaging? Remortgaging is a chance to switch from an inadequate mortgage and take full advantage of current products available such as fixed rate, tracker or discount mortgages which can offer you more competitive rates. Choosing the right deal for you is just as important when remortgaging as it was the very first time. Consideration should be given on your prediction of future interest rates, your own risk assessment, your income and the balance of the loan outstanding. You will also need to weigh up your monetary needs and present circumstance. Bad Credit Remortgages also enables you to cut loose from a dissatisfactory lender as there is nothing to say you should stay with the same one. Doing either of these things when remortgaging may considerably reduce your monthly out goings. This is just one benefit of deciding to remortgage. Say for example you have a loan of 100,000 and are paying a rate of 7.5% interest; you then switch to another lender which has a rate of just 7% interest. This would mean you would be saving 31 each month, thats nearly 400 per annum. Sometimes the money tided up in the house could be put to better use else where. For an amount larger than what is needed to repay your original mortgage, remortgaging can release some of this equity to put towards investing in a new business venture or maybe even another property. How Long Will The Process Take? The process of remortgaging tends to be faster than that of a normal mortgage (but slower than bad credit loans) as in this case youre not buying a property. The whole process without considering individual circumstances should take on average six weeks. The Cost of Remortgaging As with your original mortgage, a survey to confirm the value of your property will need to be done as the first one will no longer be valid. Add onto this solicitors fees and administrative costs, however these will be lower than mortgaging for the first time and depending on your lender, they may be able to recommend certain people in association with them that could lower your costs. There maybe early repayment charges on your existing mortgage. This is when there is a penalty if you redeem the mortgage within a fixed period of time after commencing. For example this could be additional pay of three to six months or a percentage of the loan amount. When looking at the cost of a bad credit remortgage you also have to look at the possible longer term benefits of the process and the money you could save. Quick Action Plan If still indecisive on whether remortgaging could work for you, run through the following points: First of all communicate with your existing lender and ask for a redemption statement. This indicates what, if any penalties you will be charged in the event of remortgaging, it also states the amount still left to pay on your current mortgage. When looking at a new mortgage deal be sure to look at all the small print and ask for the lender to show you clearly what your potential repayments would be. It is always useful to ask for something in writing to use as a reference. Add up all costs payable with any new lender i.e. the arrangement and administrative fees. Legal fees should also be added on, these will vary depending on where you go and the value of your property. Armed with these facts and figures you should then weigh up whether remortgaging will benefit you, whether the long term savings will outweigh the immediate costs of remortgaging.
James Copper enjoys writing on areas of personal and commercial finance. He works for Adderson & Co. who are specialists in the
Bad Credit Remortgage
Article Source:
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