How to Create a Post on Google+

Posting on Google+ is quite easy, and you can post text, links, photos, videos, and even your current location. However, you need to become familiar with a few things that are a bit different from social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

If you're used to other social networks, you should already be familiar with posting messages to your friends. Just click the Share What's New box and enter text in the box. Here are the types of things you can share:

• Text: Just start typing. That's it! If you include a link in your text, Google+ should automatically detect it as a link, and if your link points to a video, Google+ will automatically attach a video.

  
  

  You can bold, italicize, and strikethrough text in Google+ if you know the syntax:

  
  
  
  

  • To boldface a word, place an asterisk (*) on both sides of it, *like this*.

    
    
  
  

  • To italicize, surround your text with underscores (_), _like this_.

    
    
  
  

  • To strikethrough, surround your text with hyphens (-), -like this-.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Graphics: You can easily upload images from your hard drive to include in your Google+ posts. You can include static images, and Google+ supports animated gifs as well. To share an image, click the image icon in the post box. You can then choose to upload a new image, or if you're on a phone, upload from your phone's camera.

  
  
  



• Videos: You can either upload your own video or link to a YouTube video and it will be embedded right alongside your text. Google owns YouTube, so the integration is seamless. Just click the video icon and then choose whether to upload from your computer or phone or link through YouTube.

  
  



• Links: You can either type or paste a link into the Share What's New box or click the link icon and insert your link there. Google+ will pull in explanatory text from the link's target page.

  
  
  

  Google+ will also pull in thumbnails of images from the page your link targets. Before you click Share, use the left and right arrows above the image to choose which graphic you want to include in your post, or click the X to remove the image altogether.

  
  



• Share your location: If your browser supports it, you can also attach the location of where you are posting alongside the status update you shared. If you include the location with your update, a little map will be attached to your post, showing where you are.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-create-a-post-on-google.html

Price Guides for Coin Collectors

When you’re ready to buy or sell coins, a price guide is essential. By subscribing to NumisMedia (phone: 949-362-3786), you get weekly updates on price and availability. When you decide that you’re serious about U.S. coins, Coin Dealers Newsletter (phone: 310-515-7369) becomes a must-have as well. Most professional coin dealers and serious collectors get both.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/price-guides-for-coin-collectors.html

Organizing For Dummies

Avoid organizing nightmares and save time every day with these easy organizing tips like. Learn to purge, reduce clutter, and find the right spot for your things to tidy up your space.

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Timesaving Tips for Getting Organized

If you keep these tips handy (by your desk, on the bulletin board, on the fridge), you’re guaranteed to save time everyday and be more organized. Practice makes perfect!

• Set goals. Prioritize. Plan.

  
  



• Make lists.

  
  



• Avoid procrastination.

  
  



• Handle interruptions.

  
  



• Use a tape recorder, especially when driving, to dictate notes.

  
  



• Use deadlines wisely: a) Impose them for every project. b) Plan backward to meet them.

  
  



• Follow routines and time them to your personal rhythms.

  
  



• Learn to say “No” when you have too much to do.

  
  



• Take an early or late lunch and work through the usual lunch hour to avoid interruptions.

  
  



• Make appointments with beginning and ending times.

  
  



• Use the telephone or e-mail as much as possible, matching the medium to the message.

  
  



• Keep supplies on hand.

  
  



• Keep active files within fingertip reach.

  
  



• Clean off your desk every night.

  
  



• Put away a project before beginning a new one.

  
  



• Continue learning how to use your computer better.

  
  



• Carry a “To Read” file.

  
  



• Be prepared.

  
  



• Reward yourself.

  
  



• Plan today for tomorrow.

  
  

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Helpful Hints for Organizing

Getting rid of unwanted clutter and getting organized is easy if you remember these acronyms to keep you on track when it comes to tossing things, cleaning up your space, and organizing your stuff.

Using the W-A-S-T-E way to decide whether something’s worth keeping

Are you consumed by clutter? Deciding what to pitch or keep is simple if you work through these questions, and be honest:

• W — Worthwhile? Do you truly like the item?

  
  



• A — Again? Will you use it, really?

  
  



• S — Somewhere else? Can it be borrowed or found somewhere else if you need it?

  
  



• T — Toss? Will the world end if you get rid of it?

  
  



• E — Entire? Do you need the whole thing or just part of it?

  
  

Using R-E-M-O-V-E to clear off your desktop

Do you have a desktop disaster? Clear your desktop and get your desk set up for success by looking at the items on your desk and using these simple steps:

• R — Reduce distractions, like knickknacks.

  
  



• E — Everyday use items stay on top of your desk.

  
  



• M — Move items to the preferred side, like the right side if you’re right-handed.

  
  



• O — Organize together, keep similar items grouped together.

  
  



• V — View your time, keep a clock on your desk.

  
  



• E — Empty the center so you have a clean workspace.

  
  

Putting everything in its P-L-A-C-E

Is there stuff everywhere? Use these tips for de-cluttering, getting items organized, and making your space nice and neat:

• P — Purge: Get rid of it, especially by making a donation.

  
  



• L — Like with like: Create a center for things, such as sewing or tools.

  
  



• A — Access: Create a spot that is easy to get to your things.

  
  



• C — Contain: Use containers to create space and keep things together.

  
  



• E — Evaluate: Does this organizational layout work?

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/organizing-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

ETF Saving Goals: How Much Is Enough?

A reasonable accumulation goal of how much you should have invested (in ETFs and other investments) for most couples is 20 times the amount you spend in a year. To reach that goal, you may have to set aside a minimum of 15 percent of your salaries for a minimum of two to three decades.

For more accurate (but still ballpark) numbers, there are a number of online retirement calculators. Note that none of these is perfect; you should try several. Take note that you’ll get different — in some cases, vastly different — numbers. Consider each a ballpark figure. Average them for another ballpark-of-ballparks figure.

• Good (and quick!): Employee Benefit Research Institute

  
  



• Better: AARP

  
  



• Best (but still not perfect): FIRECalc

  
  

Note: If you use the first calculator, be realistic about your expected rate of return. (The AARP calculator and FIRECalc will help figure out a realistic return for you.)

If you use FIRECalc (FIRE stands for “financial independence/retire early”), please contribute a few dollars. But take note: Although this guy’s free website is great, his assertion that you will need less to live on after retiring than you needed before isn’t true for everyone.

It may hold true for Canadians and Brits, but most people in the United States are likely going to be shelling out small fortunes on healthcare in their older years. Even as baseline inflation has remained in the low single digits, premiums for health insurance, as well as the costs of healthcare, have increased by double-digit percentages every year for many years.

Recently enacted healthcare legislation may help, possibly, but it will not address the core of this problem: unfettered greed. You should expect the trend to continue, at least for a while.

One more bit of advice for getting the most out of FIRECalc: When the program asks you for the total annual investment expenses (as a percentage of total value), type in 1.4 percent if you currently have most of your money in mutual funds (or even if you don’t). Note how much of a difference that one change can make in your retirement projections!

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/etf-saving-goals-how-much-is-enough.html

How to Hire Competent, Trained Accounting Personnel

Bookkeepers and accountants, like all other employees in a business, should have the skills and knowledge needed to perform their functions. You shouldn’t try to save a few bucks by hiring the lowest-paid people you can find. What good is meticulously collecting source documents if the information on those documents isn’t entered into your system correctly?

Here are some qualifications to look for when choosing the right people to enter and control the flow of your business’s data and for making sure that those people remain the right people:

• College degree: Many accountants in business organizations have a college degree with a major in accounting. However, as you move down the accounting department, you find that more and more employees do not have a college degree and perhaps don’t have any courses in accounting — they learned bookkeeping methods and skills through on-the-job training.

  
  

  Although these employees may have good skills and instincts, they may tend to do things by the book; they often lack the broader perspective necessary for improvising and being innovative. So you want to at least look twice at a potential employee who has no college-based accounting background.

  
  



• CPA or CMA: When hiring higher-level accountants in a business organization, you want to determine whether they should be certified public accountants (CPAs). Most larger businesses insist on this credential, along with a specific number of years’ experience in public accounting.

  
  

  The other main professional accounting credential is the CMA, or certified management accountant, sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Unlike the CPA license, the CMA designation of professional achievement is not regulated by the state. The CMA is evidence that the person has passed tough exams and has a good understanding of business accounting and income tax.

  
  



• In my opinion, a business is prudent to require the CPA or CMA credential for its chief accountant (who usually holds the title of controller), or a business should regularly consult with a CPA in public practice for advice on its accounting system and on accounting problems that come up.

  
  



• Continuing education: Bookkeepers and accountants need continuing education to keep up with changes in the income tax law and financial reporting requirements, as well as changes in how the business operates. Ideally, bookkeepers and accountants should be able to spot needed improvements and implement these changes — to make accounting reports to managers more useful, for example.

  
  

  Fortunately, many short-term courses, home-study programs, and the like are available at very reasonable costs for keeping up on the latest accounting developments. Many continuing education courses are available on the Internet, but be sure to check out the standards of an Internet course. States require that CPAs in public practice take 30 to 40 hours per year of continuing education in approved courses to keep their licenses.

  
  



• Integrity: What’s possibly the most important quality to look for is also the hardest to judge. Bookkeepers and accountants need to be honest people because of the control they have over your business’s financial records. Conduct a careful background check when hiring new accounting personnel.

  
  

  After you hire them, periodically (and discreetly) check whether their lifestyles match their salaries. Small-business owners and managers have closer day-in and day-out contact with their accountants and bookkeepers, which can be a real advantage — they get to know their accountants and bookkeepers on a personal level. Even so, you can find many cases where a trusted bookkeeper has embezzled many thousands of dollars over the years.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-hire-competent-trained-accounting-personnel.html

How to String Christmas Lights on Outdoor Trees

2 of 9 in Series:
The Essentials of Decorating for Your Christmas Party

Have trees in your yard? String them with Christmas lights to create holiday magic. The best way to string Christmas lights on outside trees is by starting at the base of the trunk and following these instructions:

1. Test the lights to make sure that they’re working, and then leave them plugged in while you work to get an accurate idea of how the lighting will look.

   
   



2. Secure an extension cord supplying electricity to the tree at the base by staking a dowel rod into the ground.

   
   



3. Tape the female end of the extension cord to the dowel rod with electrical tape.

   
   

   After plugging in and stringing lights, you may cover this part of your extension cord with a plastic bag; tape the bag to the dowel rod to prevent moisture from seeping into the connection making it a fire hazard.

   
   



4. Start winding lights up the tree.

   
   

   You don't need to wind lights on every single branch, although the more you do the better it looks. Look at your tree with a critical eye and decide which branches get lights; keep in mind how the tree will look lit up at night.

   
   

   Keep adding strands as necessary, making sure to wrap each connection thoroughly with electrical tape.

   
   

Make sure that you string a maximum of only three strands of lights or less to one extension cord to reduce fire hazards. You don’t want your holidays to go up in smoke, or all your hard work to just short out only moments after lighting it up.

To cover shrubbery, look for the type of lights that are netted together. They’re perfect for giving a unified look, and you won’t have to worry about stringing the right coverage of lights on a particular shrub. Netted lights do the design work for you.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-string-christmas-lights-on-outdoor-trees.html

Modeling Good Sportsmanship as a Coach

As a youth basketball coach, teaching kids the importance of good sportsmanship can be challenging. What makes teaching (and modeling) good sportsmanship particularly tricky is that youngsters are bombarded with images of older basketball players trash talking, showboating, and disrespecting opponents and officials. However, keep in mind that you're fighting the good fight: Good sportsmanship is one of the healthiest ideals you can instill in your players.

Incorporate the following suggestions into your coaching philosophy. They can help make your team one of the most liked and respected teams in the league (and your players the envy of all parents in the stands):

• Talk about sportsmanship outside your team. While your players are going through warm-ups, you can discuss a game they watched on television and ask whether they saw any displays of good sportsmanship. Praising these displays and subtly reinforcing their importance goes a long way toward instilling the right qualities in your players.

• Set a positive tone on game day by shaking hands with the opposing coach. The players, fans, and opposing coaches will notice your gesture of sportsmanship. Plus, it will remind everyone that basketball is just a game and you're all there for the kids.

• Always be a model of good sportsmanship. Don't yell at officials or question their judgment. If you aren't a model of good sportsmanship, you can't expect your players (or their parents) to be good sports. Your players will take their cue from you, so if you rant and rave about a call, expect your players to show disrespect toward the refs as well.

• Shake hands after the game. Regardless of the outcome, have your players line up and shake hands with the opposing team and its coaches. If your team won, your players should tell their opponents that they played a good game, and if your squad lost, your players should congratulate the opponents on their victory. Another classy move is for your players to shake the officials' hands following the contest.

• Recognize good sports during your post-game talk. Perhaps one of your players went out of his way after the game to congratulate an opponent who played a strong game. Recognizing such displays reinforces to your players that how they behave during and after games really does matter to you and to all the spectators.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/modeling-good-sportsmanship-as-a-coach.html

How to Manage Foundational Issues with Cloud Computing Virtualization

Managing a virtual environment involves some foundational issues that determine how well the components function as a system. These issues include how licenses are managed, how workloads are controlled, and how the network itself is managed.

In cloud environments, customers request additional CPU cycles or storage as their needs grow. They’re protected from the details, but this protection doesn’t happen by magic. The provider has to do a lot of work behind the scenes to manage this highly dynamic environment.

The foundations have to be in synch between the two worlds. And when your company reviews different cloud options, management must understand how the cloud provider deals with foundational issues:

• License management: Many license agreements tie license fees to physical servers rather than to virtual servers. Resolve these licenses before using the associated software in a virtual environment. The constraints of such licenses may become an obstacle to efficiency.

  
  



• Service levels: Measuring, managing, and maintaining service levels can become more complicated simply because the environment itself is more complex. When cloud computing is added in to the mix, the cloud consumer is responsible for establishing service levels for both internally virtualized environments as well as those living in the cloud.

  
  



• Network management: The real target of network management becomes the virtual network, which may be harder to manage than the physical network.

  
  



• Workload administration: Set policies to determine how new resources can be provisioned, and under what circumstances. Before a new resource can be introduced, it needs to be approved by management. Also, the administrator has to be sure that the right security policies are included.

  
  



• Capacity planning: Although it’s convenient to think that all servers deliver roughly the same capacity, they don’t. With virtualization, you have more control of hardware purchases and can plan network resources accordingly.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-manage-foundational-issues-with-cloud-compu.html

Wireless Network Administration: Rogue Access Points

One of the biggest problems that network administrators have to deal with is the problem of rogue access points. A rogue access point is an access point that suddenly appears out of nowhere on your network.

What usually happens is that an employee decides to connect a notebook computer to the network via a wireless computer. So the user stops at Computers-R-Us on the way home from work one day and buys a Fisher-Price wireless access point for $25 and plugs it into the network, without asking permission.

Now, in spite of all the elaborate security precautions you’ve taken to fence in your network, this well-meaning user has opened the barn door. It’s very unlikely that the user will enable the security features of the wireless access point; in fact, he or she probably isn’t even aware that wireless access devices have security features.

Unless you take some kind of action to find it, a rogue access point can operate undetected on your network for months or even years. You may not discover it until you report to work one day and find that your network has been trashed by an intruder who found his or her way into your network via an unprotected wireless access point that you didn’t even know existed.

Here are some steps you can take to reduce the risk of rogue access points appearing on your system:

• Establish a policy prohibiting users from installing wireless access points on their own. Then, make sure that you inform all network users of the policy and let them know why installing an access point on their own can be such a major problem.

  
  



• If possible, establish a program that quickly and inexpensively grants wireless access to users who want it. The reasons rogue access points show up in the first place are (1) users need it, and (2) it’s hard to get through channels. If you make it easier for users to get legitimate wireless access, you’re less likely to find wireless access points hidden behind file cabinets or in flower pots.

  
  



• Once in awhile, take a walk through the premises looking for rogue access points. Take a look at every network outlet in the building and see what’s connected to it.

  
  



• Turn off all your wireless access points and then walk around the premises with a wireless-equipped notebook computer that has scanning software, such as NetStumbler, looking for wireless access. (Of course, just because you detect a wireless network doesn’t mean you have found a rogue access point — you may have stumbled onto a wireless network from a nearby office or home.)

  
  



• If your network is large, consider using a software tool such as AirWave to snoop for unauthorized access points.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/wireless-network-administration-rogue-access-point.html

How to Follow Up with Hiring Managers the Right Way

If you encounter a non-response or slow response from a hiring manager, be sure to follow up in an appropriate way, without pestering him. Hiring managers may not be able to get back with you right away after an interview or a request for an informational interview.

What do you do if you haven’t heard back from a hiring manager after a week? Keep in mind that a non-response or a slow response may have nothing to do with you. Before you jump to any conclusions, consider some of these possibilities:

• The person may be very busy.

  
  



• You may have picked the wrong person to talk to about the opportunity.

  
  



• The person may not check his LinkedIn messages very often.

  
  



• The job position may be very competitive and the person has chosen not to respond.

  
  



• The person’s HR department may forbid her from responding.

  
  

One hiring manager was very busy and also very clear in setting expectations with candidates. One time, he told a candidate that he’d get back to her in about five days. But this candidate called the next morning, then e-mailed, then called again the day after that. Her persistence turned into peskiness and showed the hiring manager that she couldn’t take direction.

If you don’t hear back after your first attempt to get a hiring manager’s attention, hold off a week before trying again. When you do try again, it’s better to assume that he’s busy, not that he thinks you’re inadequate.

For example, your second communication may start off with, “It seems like things must be really busy for you right now. I can appreciate that, which is why I’d be even more appreciative of just a few minutes of your time at your convenience to discuss . . .”

After making three attempts to follow up with the same hiring manager, with at least a week between each attempt, give up and try someone else.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-follow-up-with-hiring-managers-the-right-wa.html

Create a Mom Blog Page for Brand Representatives

A great way to lay out the welcome mat for brand representatives is to direct them to a page created just for them on your mom blog. You can call it your Press page or Brand Inquiries page, or whatever works for you.

This is like a second About page — but with a bio and information relevant to brand representatives, which is not the same as what your readers are interested in. Brand representatives don’t have a lot of time to sift through tons of information to determine whether or not they want to contact you. Put the most important information (from their point of view) first — and keep it short and sweet.

The things you would include on this kind of page are

• Professional bio: Three to five sentences on what makes you different from the other bloggers — and specific past experience that strengthens your street cred.

  
  



• Blog description: Three to five sentences on what your blog is about, the kind of readers your blog attracts, and what your blog offers to brands and advertisers.

  
  



• A media kit: A simple brochure-style document with information on your traffic, your readers, and specific advertising opportunities.

  
  



• How you work with brands: A list of the ways you are willing to work with brands — this can include anything from reviews, giveaways, product placements, spokesblogger opportunities, advertising, social media promotions, consulting, freelance writing — anything you want to be hired for.

  
  

As much as many of us would like to be hired for “all of the above,” list only the things you are 100-percent confident that you can do and do well. For example, if you want to be a spokesblogger but don’t know anything about what this kind of commitment entails, leave it off your list until you have enough experience to deliver the value you promise.

If you’re okay with publishing your phone number, put it on your Press page. Again, this is making it brain-dead easy for brand representatives to contact you. Most will e-mail you, but some prefer to pick up the phone.

Make sure you place a link to your Press page in your site navigation or in your sidebar. Also mention it on your regular About and Contact pages so that brand representatives can find the page they want from multiple places on your blog.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/create-a-mom-blog-page-for-brand-representatives.html

Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics: Defining the Terms

The emerging importance of probiotics and their role in human health brings with it some potentially confusing terminology. This article aims to differentiate and define the most basic terms.

Probiotics: The good bacteria

The World Health Organization defines probiotics as “live microorganisms, which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

What that means is that probiotics, which can be found in food and taken as supplements, are bacteria that your body needs. Your digestive system is full of bacteria — good bacteria — that help your immune system, work to keep your digestive system healthy and efficient, and do numerous other positive things in your body. But bad bacteria, too, can get into your body, and if the bacteria balance get out of whack, probiotics add good bacteria back into your system.

You’ll find probiotics in fermented foods such as yogurts (with live, active cultures), sauerkraut, and kimchi. Keep in mind that most of the time, you can’t get enough probiotics through eating foods alone, and you’ll need to take a supplement.

Prebiotics: Fiber food for bacteria

Prebiotics are basically food for probiotics. Taking prebiotics helps probiotics work better and more efficiently. Prebiotics not digestible by humans, but they stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria. Common prebiotics are inulin and carbohydrate fibers called oligosaccharides.

Prebiotics are found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Prebiotics are an emerging field of study, and many researchers believe their potential to help you stay healthy may be as important as probiotics.

Synbiotics: Combining probiotics and prebiotics

A synbiotic is a supplement that contains both probiotics and prebiotics. It makes sense to make sure any supplement you take contains both pro- and prebiotics, because the two work in tandem to make sure your system has enough of the healthy, beneficial bacteria it needs.

Other probiotics terminology

CFUs: This stands for colony-forming unit and is the way probiotics are measured. You want to take a supplement with as many CFUs as you can find — in the 1 to 10 billion range.

Genus, species, and strain: These are how bacteria are identified. The genus is the first word in a bacterium’s name; it’s the large group to which the bacteria belongs. The species is the type of individual bacteria. Some bacteria have several strains, or differentiations of the species, and this is identified by the last part of the name. Here are a couple examples:

• Lactobacillus rhamnosus (Lactobacillus is the genus, and rhamnosus is the species)

  
  



• Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 (Lactobacillus is the genus, acidophilus is the species; and DDS-1 is the strain)

  
  

Dysbiosis: This is the medical term for when the good and bad bacteria in your body get out of balance. Taking probiotics and prebiotics can help correct dysbiosis.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/probiotics-prebiotics-and-synbiotics-defining-the-.html

How to Write Good LinkedIn Recommendations

2 of 7 in Series:
The Essentials of LinkedIn Recommendations

When you know how to write a good LinkedIn Recommendation, you’re in a better position to help others write good Recommendations for you. And the easiest way to get LinkedIn Recommendations is to give them. Every time you make a Recommendation and the recipient accepts it, she is prompted to give you a Recommendation. Thanks to the basic desire that most people want to be fair when dealing with their network, many people will go ahead and endorse you in return.

Recommend only those people whose performance with which you’re actually happy. Your reputation is on the line. Recommending a real doofus just to get one Recommendation in return isn’t worth it!

Here’s a great question to ask yourself when deciding whether to recommend someone: Would you feel comfortable recommending this person to a best friend or family member? If you say no, well, then, you have your answer.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when trying to make your Recommendation stand out from the rest of the crowd:

• *Be specific. Don’t just say the person whom you’re recommending is great: Talk about her specific strengths and skills.

  
  



• *Talk about results. Adjectives and descriptions are fluff. Clichés are also pretty useless. Tell what the person actually did and the effect it had on you and your business. It’s one thing to say, “She has a great eye,” and another to say, “The logo she designed for us has been instrumental in building our brand and received numerous positive comments from customers.”

  
  



• Tell how you know the person. LinkedIn offers only the very basic categories like colleague, service provider, student, and business partner. If you’ve known this person for 10 years, say so. If she’s your cousin, say so. If you’ve never met her in person, say so. Save it for the end, though. Open with the positive results this person provided, or the positive qualities the person exhibited in your interaction; then qualify the type of interaction.

  
  



• *Reinforce the requestor's major skills or goals. Look at her profile. How is she trying to position herself now? What can you say in your Recommendation that will support that? That will be far more appreciated by the recipient.

  
  

  For example, if you read her profile and see that she’s really focusing on her project management skills as opposed to her earlier software development skills, your Recommendation should reinforce that message because that’s what she’s trying to convey on her profile.

  
  



• *Don’t gush. By all means, if you think someone is fantastic, exceptional, extraordinary, or the best at what she does, say so. Just don’t go on and on about it.

  
  



• *Be concise. Although LinkedIn has a 3,000-character limit on the length of Recommendations, you shouldn’t reach that limit. That should be more than enough to get your point across. Make it as long as it needs to be to say what you have to say, and no longer.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-write-good-linkedin-recommendations0.html

Snow Leopard Server Keyboard Tips for Windows Users

There are several keyboard and mouse actions that you use frequently in Snow Leopard Server’s administration tools. Mac users may be familiar with these techniques, but they may be new to Windows users:

• Make multiple selections in a list:

  
  
  
  

  • Shift-click lets you select a range of items at once. Click an item to select it and then Shift-click another item; all the items in between will be selected.

    
    
  
  

  • Command-click lets you add items to those you selected, in any order.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• To right-click, hold down Control while clicking. Or, use a mouse with two or more buttons. On a Mac notebook, click the trackpad with two fingers to right-click.

  
  



• When you close the window in Server Preferences and System Preferences, the application quits. However, closing windows doesn’t quit the app for Server Admin, Workgroup Manager, and iCal Server Utility (and any application that can have more than one window open). Use Command-Q to quit these applications.

  
  



• System Preferences is the equivalent of the Windows Control Panel. It holds settings (such as IP addresses) for the individual machine hosting the server. Server Preferences is for configuring and managing services and user accounts.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/snow-leopard-server-keyboard-tips-for-windows-user.html

How to Determine What Green Travel Means to You

The greenest vacations are sustainable, ethical, and eco-friendly. If you want to be truly green, make sure your trip is as kind as possible to the environment and benefits the local community and economy at your destination. Unfortunately, no single certification program or standard guides the way the travel industry describes green travel. That means that it’s up to you, the traveler, to assess how eco-friendly a particular business trip or tour really is.

Some standard green travel descriptions include:

• Sustainable vacations are careful to avoid negative impacts on the environment and may or may not include a focus on local cultures.

  
  



• Ethical or responsible travel is sustainable but usually includes a focus on treating the local people fairly and equitably. Much of the income generated by tourism in the developing world never reaches the local people; an ethical vacation ensures that the money you spend goes into the local economy rather than to a multinational corporation.

  
  



• Geotourism is a term coined by the National Geographic Society to describe travel that encompasses natural, cultural, and economic sustainability for local cultures.

  
  



• Ecotourism is sustainable and ethical travel in a natural environment.

  
  

You’re likely to see terms such as eco-, ethical, green, and sustainable tourism used to describe travel that’s environmentally aware. It’s up to you as a consumer to go beyond the words, however, and research exactly what the travel organization means by them. Ask the company about its environmental and cultural policies, and examine the trips that it offers so that you can assess whether or not the company actually lives up to its marketing materials. Just because a business calls itself green, environmentally friendly, or eco-aware doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s as green as you’d like it to be.

You can consider a range of issues in deciding exactly what green travel means to you — this is truly an opportunity to put your money where your heart is:

• Greenhouse gas (carbon) emissions

  
  



• Carbon offsetting programs initiated or offered by the tour company, destination, or hotel

  
  



• Contributions to the local economy

  
  



• Protection of the local environment

  
  



• Conservation of wildlife

  
  



• Support to local, indigenous cultures

  
  



• The overall impact of travel to that region and whether it’s over-traveled

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-determine-what-green-travel-means-to-you.html

Administering Cloud Computing Services

2 of 17 in Series:
The Essentials of Services in Cloud Computing

When managing cloud computing services, a company has to ask itself many questions about the various services’ effectiveness. The administrators must know if the performance is at the right level, and they must be able to tell if data that has been deleted is really gone.

Solving these problems isn’t easy. Investigating the reliability and viability of a cloud provider is one of the most complex areas faced when managing the cloud. The advent of cloud computing will be accompanied by disappointed customers and lawsuits for sure — some as a consequence of unrealistic expectations and some as a consequence of poor service.

It’s particularly important for IT departments to enable administration systems that let them monitor every dimension of the service they’re getting.

In theory, the cloud service provider can build and provide a very stable service that is less expensive than a customer can implement internally. However, there can be a serious gap between the actual service and the promises made in the provider’s sales literature.

You have to do your homework when evaluating the providers.

Here are some of the issues to consider:

• What vendors are available to solve your problem?

  
  



• How effective are the providers in managing their own environment?

  
  



• Do they provide repeatable services?

  
  



• How do these vendors handle an outage?

  
  



• What’s their experience in dealing with customer issues?

  
  

In addition to finding a good partner, it’s always a good idea to have more than one provider as an alternative.

Service level agreements and monitoring in cloud computing

Every company that buys any service from a cloud service provider must either accept a standard service level agreement (SLA) from the provider or negotiate such an agreement. A service level agreement is a contract that stipulates the type of service you need from providers and what type of penalties would result from an unexpected business interruption.

No organization should commit mission-critical systems to the cloud without negotiating an SLA that includes significant penalties for not delivering the promised service level.

Support in the cloud computing environment

Support problems don’t disappear when applications or infrastructures move to the cloud. You have to make sure that support targets are agreed on in advance with a cloud services provider. Therefore, your company must align its internal support team that deals with internal customers with the cloud provider.

Billing and accounting for cloud computing services

One cloud benefit is that, as a customer you can acquire just as much capability as needed. For this to work, billing and account management must be automated. Customers, therefore, need to be able to monitor what they’re using and how much it costs.

Potential problems arise if service level penalties aren’t clear and if the provider adds too many incidental charges. Customers can run up unexpected bills if they can’t accurately track usage.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/administering-cloud-computing-services.html

Exercises for Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010

Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010 offers 18 explosive exercises that are designed to make use of either the Wii Remote or optional Balance Board. Performing exercises explosively can increase your strength and heart rate, as well as facilitate greater fat loss by helping to push your body beyond its usual capabilities.

Exercise Name	Accessory	Body Part Trained
Back Kick	Wii Remote	Glutes, Shoulders, Lower Back
Bicycle	Balance Board	Abdominals
Boat Pose	Balance Board	Abdominals
Closed Push-Up	Balance Board	Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Abdominals, Core
Crunch	Balance Board	Abdominals
Hip Twist	Wii Remote	Abdominals, Obliques
Jumping Back	Wii Remote	Cardiovascular System
Lunge Kick	Balance Board	Quadriceps, Glutes, Abdominals
Oblique	Wii Remote	Obliques
Pelvic Thrust	Balance Board	Glutes, Abdominals
Push-Up	Balance Board	Chest, Triceps, Shoulders
Running	Wii Remote	Cardiovascular System
Side Lunge	Wii Remote	Quadriceps, Glutes
Side Plank	Balance Board	Core
Sledge Swing	Wii Remote	Quadriceps, Glutes, Anterior Deltoids
Squat Jacks	Wii Remote	Cardiovascular System, Quadriceps, Glutes
Swing Kick	Balance Board	Glutes, Adductors
Water Pump	Wii Remote	Quadriceps, Glutes, Shoulders, Trapezius

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/exercises-for-jillian-michaels-fitness-ultimatum-2.navId-323479.html

Optimizing Video-Sharing Sites for SEO

Because search engines can’t directly parse the contents of multimedia, you must take advantage of all opportunities to use your relevant search terms in every video title, description, and ALT tag or any other option you find.

You can often use existing keyword research, meta tags from your website or blog, or optimized text that you’ve already created. For more information on indexing multimedia, see Google.com/Webmasters.

Take advantage of context and form fields, included on video-sharing sites, to make your videos easier to find. Here’s a list:

• Title and title meta tag: Try to attract viewers by including relevant search terms in your title and meta tags.

  
  



• Category or directory: Select or name a category that draws your target audience. It never hurts if the label is a keyword.

  
  



• Filename: A name such as video12 doesn’t help with SEO as much as tabby-cats-sing-jingle-bells does.

  
  



• Tag: Use relevant keywords, just as you would with other social media.

  
  



• ALT tag: Use this type of tag for a short description with a search term — for example, guided meditation mandala.

  
  



• Long description meta tag: Try to incorporate four to six search terms, just as you would with the page description meta tag on your website.

  
  



• Content: Surround embedded multimedia elements on any web or social media page with keyword-rich, descriptive content.

  
  



• Transcription: Transcribe and post a short excerpt from a keyword-loaded portion of your video.

  
  



• Anchor text: Use keywords in the text link that opens your multimedia file.

  
  



• RSS and XML: Expand your reach with media RSS and site maps.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/optimizing-videosharing-sites-for-seo.html

How to Use Facebook for Investing Online

Face it, online investors need access to information and it’s helpful to find ways to talk with other investors. Facebook might not seem like a place where much business is taking place, but Facebook can offer some help to online investors, including the following:

• Keeping up with developments at your broker: It’s common for online brokerages to host a Facebook page, and if you indicate you like the brokerage, you’ll get a glimpse of what’s new at the firm. Some brokers make market commentary available to Facebook members who are its fans. Most of the major brokerages maintain pages on Facebook, including Charles Schwab, Vanguard, E*TRADE, and TD AMERITRADE.

  
  

  It’s pretty easy to become a fan of a brokerage firm. After you’re logged on to Facebook, enter the online brokerage firm’s name into the search box at the top of the page and click the magnifying glass icon. You’ll see a link to the firm’s Facebook page. Just click the ”Like” button, which has a thumb’s up icon on it.

  
  



• Communicating with your broker and other customers: Sure, you could always pick up the phone and call your broker. But some online investors might want to connect in a more public and online way. For instance, you can either applaud or criticize items on the brokerage’s Facebook page and see whether any other customers agree with you.

  
  



• Having a conversation with other fans: It’s not common yet, but some online brokerages, such as Zecco, maintain community groups on Facebook. Community groups are corners of Facebook set aside for members to discuss topics of interest. To join one, just search for the group and click the Join button.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-facebook-for-investing-online.html

Transparency in Exchange-Traded Funds

A key to building a successful portfolio that includes exchange-traded funds (ETFs), right up there with low costs and tax efficiency, is diversification. You cannot diversify optimally unless you know exactly what’s in your portfolio.

In a rather infamous example, when tech stocks (some more than others) started to go belly up in 2000, holders of Janus mutual funds got clobbered. That’s because they learned after the fact that their three or four Janus mutual funds, which gave the illusion of diversification, were actually holding many of the same stocks.

Style drift: An epidemic

With a mutual fund, you often have little idea of what stocks the fund manager is holding. In fact, you may not even know what kinds of stocks he is holding. Or even if he is holding stocks! This is called style drift, which occurs when a mutual fund manager advertises his fund as aggressive, but over time it becomes conservative, and vice versa.

One classic case of style drift cost investors in the all-popular Fidelity Magellan Fund a bundle. The year was 1996, and then fund manager Jeffrey Vinik reduced the stock holdings in his “stock” mutual fund to 70 percent. He had 30 percent of the fund’s assets in either bonds or short-term securities.

He was betting that the market was going to sour, and he was planning to fully invest in stocks after that happened. He was dead wrong. Instead, the market continued to soar, bonds took a dive, Fidelity Magellan seriously underperformed, and Vinik was out.

One study by the Association of Investment Management concluded that a full 40 percent of actively managed mutual funds are not what they say they are. Some funds bounce around in style so much that an investor would have almost no idea where her money was.

The Parnassus Fund, for example, was once placed by Morningstar in the small cap blend category. Then it moved to small cap value. Later it moved to mid cap blend. Later still, the fund was reclassified as mid cap growth.

ETFs are the cure

When you buy an indexed ETF, you get complete transparency. You know exactly what you are buying. No matter what the ETF, you can see in the prospectus or on the ETF provider’s website (or on any number of independent financial websites) a complete picture of the ETF’s holdings.

See, for example, either CEF Connect or Yahoo! Finance. Go to either website and type the letters IYE (the ticker symbol for the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector ETF) in the box in the upper right of the screen, and you can see in an instant what your holdings are (if you hold stock in the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector ETF).

You simply can’t get that information on most actively managed mutual funds. Or if you can, the information is both stale and subject to change without notice.

Transparency also discourages dishonesty

The scandals that have rocked the mutual fund world over the years have left the world of ETFs untouched. There’s not a whole lot of manipulation that a fund manager can do when his picks are tied to an index.

And because ETFs trade throughout the day, with the price flashing across thousands of computer screens worldwide, there is no room to take advantage of the “stale” pricing that occurs after the markets close and mutual fund orders are settled. All in all, ETF investors are much less likely ever to get bamboozled than are investors in active mutual funds.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/transparency-in-exchangetraded-funds.html

How to Find Square Numbers

You get a square number by multiplying a number by itself, so knowing the square numbers is a handy way to remember part of the multiplication table. Although you probably remember without help that 2 2 = 4, you may be sketchy on some of the higher numbers, such as 7 7 = 49. Knowing the square numbers gives you another way to etch that multiplication table forever into your brain.

The following figure shows the first few square numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, and 25.

From here, you can determine more square numbers:

36 49 64 . . . .

Visual aids can help you find square numbers. The tastiest visual aids you’ll ever find are those little square cheese-flavored crackers. (You probably have a box sitting somewhere in the pantry. If not, saltine crackers or any other square food works just as well.) Shake a bunch out of a box and place the little squares together to make bigger squares, as shown in the above figure.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-find-square-numbers.html

Delivering the Pre-game Talk to Your Junior Football Team

What you say to kids before their football game, and how you say it, makes a big difference in how they approach taking the field. Here are some helpful pointers to prepare them for competition.

• Speak in a calm and relaxed manner.

  
  



• Be brief.

  
  



• Conduct the talk away from any distractions.

  
  



• Stress the importance of having fun and displaying good sportsmanship at all times during the game.

  
  



• Stay away from overused clichés; speak from the heart to get your point across.

  
  



• Avoid pressure phrases like ‘Let’s score five goals today.’ Kids can give you their best effort, but they can’t control the outcome of games.

  
  



• Be enthusiastic with your tone of voice and body language. The kids will be more responsive.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/delivering-the-pregame-talk-to-your-junior-footbal.html

What It Means to Be an Emotionally Intelligent Person

Emotional intelligence has to do with a person’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage his or her own emotions and the emotions of others. Emotions can help us solve problems and guide our relationships, both at home and at work. Some people (with high emotional intelligence or EQ) harness the wisdom of emotions better than others. Emotionally intelligent people are easy to spot because they tend to:

• Successfully manage difficult situations

  
  



• Express themselves clearly

  
  



• Gain respect from others

  
  



• Influence other people

  
  



• Entice other people to help them out

  
  



• Keep cool under pressure

  
  



• Recognize their emotional reactions to people or situations

  
  



• Know how to say the “right” thing to get the right result

  
  



• Manage themselves effectively when negotiating

  
  



• Manage other people effectively when negotiating

  
  



• Motivate themselves to get things done

  
  



• Know how to be positive, even during difficult situations

  
  

Even if your EQ is low, you always have the potential to improve. So don’t fret — with practice, you can build on your existing skills to become more emotionally intelligent.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-it-means-to-be-an-emotionally-intelligent-per.html

How to Regulate Insulin and Blood Glucose with a Low-Glycemic Diet

A low-glycemic diet helps regulate insulin and blood glucose levels that become unstable due to either a health condition or consumption of an excess amount of carbohydrate calories. Anytime you eat foods containing carbohydrates, your body naturally breaks those carbs down into blood glucose (blood sugar), releasing insulin in the process. Insulin acts like a key that unlocks your cells’ doors to allow blood glucose to enter in and provide your cells with energy.

Even though insulin transports blood glucose to your cells, your body doesn’t turn all of that blood glucose into energy at once. When blood glucose levels rise above normal, insulin signals your liver, muscles, and other cells to store the extra. Some of this excess blood glucose gets stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen, and some of it gets converted to body fat.

Regardless of whether blood glucose is being spent or stored, the influx of blood glucose in your blood can create spikes and crashes depending on what you eat. This process leads to food cravings, moodiness, and fatigue — all of which can make weight loss difficult to accomplish.

Low-glycemic foods play an important role in keeping blood glucose levels down. Your body coverts these foods into blood glucose more slowly and over a longer period of time. That means your body needs less insulin to get the energy into your cells, so your pancreas is spared from being overworked. It also means there’s less excess insulin just hanging around as fat storage. That’s a plus for weight loss!

High-glycemic foods, on the other hand, get converted to blood glucose very quickly, causing a rush of blood glucose into the body in large amounts. The result? You feel satisfied and revived for about 30 minutes following a high-glycemic snack, but after those 30 minutes are up, you start to feel fatigued and hungry all over again. Eating more low-glycemic foods helps reduce fatigue and hunger and prevent chronic high blood sugars.

What’s wrong with chronically elevated blood sugars? Over time, too much sugar in the blood for too long can damage the blood vessels and nerves, leading to kidney disease, blindness, nerve damage, heart disease, and foot problems.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-regulate-insulin-and-blood-glucose-with-a-l.html

Between Lagers and Ales: Hybrid Beers

Beers can have mixed parentage. These types of beers have been dubbed hybrid beers, and they exist due to brewers’ flouting of conventions by fermenting a beer with lager yeast at ale (warm) temperatures and fermenting a beer with ale yeast at lager (cool) temperatures.

Warm fermentations with lager yeast

Finding the exact temperatures used to produce hybrid beers and how long the beer is fermented and aged isn’t an exact science. The processes vary from one brewer to the next, as do the beers they create.

Not a lot of beer styles represent this type of hybrid. The most famous style is known as Steam Beer, but because the San Francisco brewery that popularized the style also trademarked the name Steam Beer, the style is now generically referred to as California Common Beer. (The Steam Beer style is also recognized as Dampfbier in Germany.

Though it can no longer be confirmed, one theory suggests that the origination of the steam label had to do with the vigorous warm fermentation that caused the vessel to hiss, or steam, while venting the increasing carbon dioxide inside it.

Cold fermentations with ale yeast

Ale yeasts, when fermented at warm temperatures (the usual process), tend to produce fruity flavors and fruity or floral esters (aromas). When beers are fermented with ale yeast at colder temperatures, however, the yeasts’ production of esters is reduced, thereby producing a beer with a more subdued aroma and refined flavor that mimics lager beers.

Because brewers tend to have individual ways of doing things, pinning down the exact fermentation temperatures or lengths of fermentation of these beers is difficult. Thus, you can expect individualistic beers from these guys as well.

The three most common beer styles in this hybrid category are Altbier, Kölsch, and Cream Ale. The first two styles are of German origin, and the last one is uniquely American.

Baltic Porter is kind of in a class all its own. Typically, Porter is considered an ale and is warm fermented. Many brewers who make Porters in the Baltic States like to cold ferment their beer, though — most often with lager yeast but occasionally with ale yeast, too. Go figure.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/between-lagers-and-ales-hybrid-beers.html

Logical Levels of Change in Business NLP

The Logical Level model in Business NLP contains a number of different levels, and a hierarchy which illustrates the relationship between the parts. Change can happen at one or more of six levels:

• The environment level describes the situation. This level answers the questions where? when? and with whom?

  
  



• The behaviour level refers to what people say and do within the environment. It answers the question what?

  
  



• The capabilities level includes the skills and knowledge that direct people’s behaviour in the environment. This answers the question how?

  
  



• The beliefs and values level encompasses those things that are true and important to people within the situation. They answer the question why?

  
  



• The identity level is people’s sense of self or their roles. It answers the question who?

  
  



• The purpose level is about how people connect to something bigger than themselves. It answers the question what for?

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/logical-levels-of-change-in-business-nlp.html

Riding Green on Public Transportation

Using buses and trains is greener than driving because there’s strength in numbers: The amount of polluting gases emitted divided by the number of passengers means that each person is responsible for much less pollution than a single person in a single vehicle. (Buses and trains also cut down on traffic congestion, which otherwise wastes your time and money.) All told, using public transportion reduces the carbon footprint of your journey.

People give several reasons for not using public transport, but others give just as many reasons for loving it.

Arguments For and Against Using Public Transportation

Cons	Pros
Concerns about safety and security	Trains and buses can be safer and more secure than vehicles because passengers benefit from becoming part of a community with other passengers.
Extra travel time involved	Passengers have time to read the papers, do the daily puzzles, and do needlework.
Unreliability and lack of nearby service	Most major cities have consistent service during morning and afternoon rush hours on the most heavily traveled routes.

Realistically, safety is a concern in some places and at some times, and reading a full-sized newspaper in a packed subway car can be challenging. But many objections to public transportation can be alleviated by choosing routes and times carefully: Leaving 30 minutes earlier for your commute to work, for example, may give you some much-appreciated elbow room.

If public transportation is reasonably effective at getting you where you need to go, think seriously about switching — if even for just a few days a week.

To find the best option, check your local transportion service provider’s Web site to see whether you can get from home to work (and other destinations for that matter). Most providers have excellent Web sites that can help you plan your journey; you can find timetable information, route maps, fare information, ticketing options, and destination information.

If HopStop services your city, you can use the site to navigate public transit more easily. HopStop gives you all kinds of options for combining different forms of transportation, including walking.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/riding-green-on-public-transportation.html

Smart Safari Settings for the iPad

When you want to take action to protect your privacy and maintain your security, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen and then tap Safari. Along with the riches galore found on the Internet are places in cyberspace where you’re hassled.

The following settings enable you to tell your iPad what you want to be private and how you want to set your security options:

• 
  

  Search Engine: Tap the search engine you desire (just as long as that search engine happens to be Google, Yahoo!, or Bing).

  
  


• 
  

  AutoFill: Safari can automatically fill out web forms by using your personal contact information, usernames and passwords, or information from other contacts in your Address Book. Tap AutoFill and then tap the On/Off switch to enable or disable AutoFill.

  
  

  Turning on AutoFill can compromise your security if someone gets hold of your iPad.

  
  

  Finally, tap Clear All to permanently delete all saved AutoFill names and passwords.

  
  


• 
  

  Open New Tabs in Background: Enable this, and when you open new tabs in Safari, they’ll load, even if you’re reading a different page in another tab.

  
  


• 
  

  Always Show Bookmarks Bar: Enable this option to always see Safari’s Bookmarks bar between the Address field and Tab bar.

  
  


• 
  

  Private Browsing: Enable this option and Safari will stop tracking the pages you visit, so your History won’t reveal a trace of where you’ve been.

  
  

  The history of pages you’ve visited can be useful and a huge timesaver, so don’t forget to disable this option again when you’re done doing whatever it is you don’t want people to know you’re doing.

  
  


• 
  

  Accept cookies: Cookies are tiny bits of information that a website places on the iPad when you visit so that the site recognizes you when you return. You need not assume the worst; most cookies are benign.

  
  

  You can Tap Accept Cookies and then tap Never. Theoretically, you will never again receive cookies on the iPad. A good middle ground is to accept cookies only from the sites you visit. To do so, tap From Visited. You can also tap Always to accept cookies from all sites.

  
  

  If you set the iPad so that it doesn’t accept cookies, certain web pages won’t load properly.

  
  


• 
  

  Clear History: Tap this button to erase everything in Safari’s History, leaving nary a trace of the pages you’ve visited.

  
  


• 
  

  Clear Cookies and Data: Tap this button to clear all your stored cookies (see the earlier bullet on cookies for more details).

  
  


• 
  

  Fraud Warning: Safari can warn you when you land on a site whose producers have sinister intentions. The protection is better than nothing, but don’t let down your guard. The Fraud Warning feature isn’t foolproof. The setting is on by default.

  
  


• 
  

  JavaScript: Programmers use JavaScript to add various kinds of functionality to web pages, from displaying the date and time to changing images when you mouse over them. However, some security risks have also been associated with JavaScript. If you do turn it off, though, some things might not work as you expect.

  
  


• 
  

  Block pop-ups: Pop-ups are those web pages that appear whether you want them to or not. Often, they’re annoying advertisements. But at some sites, you welcome the appearance of pop-ups, so remember to turn off blocking under such circumstances.

  
  


• 
  

  Advanced: Unless you happen to be a developer, don’t pay much attention to this setting. It lets you turn a debug console (showing errors, warnings, tips, logs, and similar details that developers find useful) on or off.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/smart-safari-settings-for-the-ipad.html

Deciphering Error Values in Excel 2010 Formulas

You can tell right away that an Excel 2010 formula has gone haywire because instead of a nice calculated value, you get a strange, incomprehensible message. This weirdness, in the parlance of Excel 2010 spreadsheets, is an error value. Its purpose is to let you know that some element -- either in the formula itself or in a cell referred to by the formula -- is preventing Excel from returning the anticipated calculated value.

The following table lists some Excel 2010 error values and their most common causes.

What Shows Up in the Cell	What’s Going On Here?
#DIV/0!	Appears when the formula calls for division by a cell that either contains the value 0 or, as is more often the case, is empty. Division by zero is a no-no in mathematics.
#NAME?	Appears when the formula refers to a range name that doesn’t exist in the worksheet. This error value appears when you type the wrong range name or fail to enclose in quotation marks some text used in the formula, causing Excel to think that the text refers to a range name.
#NULL!	Appears most often when you insert a space (where you should have used a comma) to separate cell references used as arguments for functions.
#NUM!	Appears when Excel encounters a problem with a number in the formula, such as the wrong type of argument in an Excel function or a calculation that produces a number too large or too small to be represented in the worksheet.
#REF!	Appears when Excel encounters an invalid cell reference, such as when you delete a cell referred to in a formula or paste cells over the cells referred to in a formula.
#VALUE!	Appears when you use the wrong type of argument or operator in a function, or when you call for a mathematical operation that refers to cells that contain text entries.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/deciphering-error-values-in-excel-2010-formulas.html

Finding Items by the Pallet to Sell on eBay

If you are looking for large amounts of merchandise that you can buy cheap and sell on eBay for a profit, here's a secret you should know about. Some suppliers take the risk and purchase salvaged merchandise by the truckload. They then break up each truckload and sell the merchandise to you a pallet at a time. You'll probably find some local liquidators who offer this service, or you can go online to find one. Here's the rub: finding the right person to buy from.

As in any business, you'll find both good-guy liquidators and bad-guy liquidators. As you know, the world is full of e-mail scammers and multilevel marketers who are in business to take your money. No one trying to sell you merchandise can possibly guarantee that you'll make money, so beware of liquidators who offer this kind of promise. Carefully research whomever you choose to buy from. Use an Internet search engine and search for the words salvage, liquidation, and pallet merchandise.

Some liquidation sellers sell their merchandise in the same condition that it ships in to their location, so what you get is a crapshoot. You may lose money on some items while making back your money on others. Other sellers who charge a bit more will remove less-desirable merchandise from the pallets. Some may even make up deluxe pallets with better-quality merchandise. These loads cost more, but if they're filled with the type of merchandise that you're interested in selling, you'll probably write better descriptions and subsequently do a better job selling them.

Getting a pallet of merchandise shipped to you can cost a bundle, so finding a source for your liquidation merchandise that's close to your base of operations is a good idea.

When you find a source from which you want to buy merchandise by the pallet, check out a few things before spending your hard-earned cash:

• Does this vendor sell mostly to flea marketers (you might not want that kind of merchandise because you're looking for quality at a low price) or closeout stores (more retail-oriented)?

  
  



• Did you get a reply within 24 hours after calling or e-mailing?

  
  



• Does anyone you speak to appear to care about what you want to sell?

  
  



• Are the available lots within your budget?

  
  



• Are the lots general or have they been sorted to include only the type of merchandise that you want to sell?

  
  



• How long has this liquidator been in business and where does its merchandise come from?

  
  



• Does the source guarantee that you will make money or state that you can make money by buying the right merchandise?

  
  

  No one can guarantee that you'll make money.

  
  



• Does the supplier offer on its website references that you can contact to find out some usable information on this seller's items and the percentage of unsalable goods in a box or pallet?

  
  



• Is a hard sell involved? Or is it a matter-of-fact deal?

  
  

Before you get dazzled by a low, low price on a huge lot and click the Buy It Now button, check the shipping cost. Many so-called wholesalers will lure you in with bargain-basement prices, only to charge you three times the normal shipping costs. Do your homework before you buy!

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/finding-items-by-the-pallet-to-sell-on-ebay.html

Fruiting Trees You Can Grow in Containers

Apples, peaches, and other tree fruits are ideal candidates for containers. Beautiful spring flowers followed by luscious fruit — what’s not to love? Fruit trees do require a bit more care than other fruits, especially when it comes to managing insects and diseases. The results are well worth the extra effort.

If you want full-sized fruit on your apple, peach, plum, or nectarine tree you have to remove some of the fruit by hand, which lets the tree focus its energy on the remaining fruit. When the fruit is about the size of a quarter, pinch off all but one fruit per cluster, leaving the remaining fruit are 6 to 8 inches apart.

• Apples: Most apple varieties are available grown on a nice selection of dwarfing rootstocks that allow you to choose almost any size tree. One of many good rootstocks for containers is EMLA 27, which usually gives you a 5- to 7-foot-high tree.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Most apples need cross-pollination, so you may need to plant more than one variety. Trees need regular pruning. The fruit must be thinned.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: If you choose the right varieties, apples can be grown almost anywhere temperatures don’t fall below –20 degrees Fahrenheit

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Apricots: Apricot trees generally get too big (about 15 feet) to grow in containers for any prolonged period. However, some catalogs sell varieties on dwarfing rootstocks.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Some varieties need cross-pollination to produce fruit; others are self-fruitful. Trees require annual pruning to remain healthy and fruitful. The fruit must be thinned to reach full size.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Apricots have a rather limited range of adaptation, preferring areas with long, dry summers. In other areas, they’re prone to disease. Trees also bloom very early, making the blossoms subject to frost damage.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Citrus: Where winter temperatures don’t fall much below 26 degrees Fahrenheit, many varieties of citrus make excellent container plants year-round. In other areas, trees can be brought indoors. Some of the naturally smaller citrus that can thrive in containers for years include Meyer lemon, Bearss lime, and the hardier Nagami kumquat and Satsuma mandarins. Otherwise, grow just about any variety grafted on Flying Dragon dwarf rootstock for the perfect 6- to 8-foot-high container tree.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Most varieties are self-fruitful and don’t need to be pruned to remain productive. Feed with fertilizers that contain zinc, iron, and manganese to avoid micronutrient deficiencies

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Varieties vary by cold hardiness and the amount of summer heat that they need to ripen fruit. In very cool summer areas, grow acidic fruit like lemons and limes.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Cherries: Normally quite large trees (upwards of 35 feet), most sweet cherries are not well-adapted to growing in containers. There are bush cherries available, such as Jan and Joel, that get 4 feet tall and wide. You need two varieties for cross-pollination.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Most varieties must be matched carefully with another to ensure cross-pollination. Some, like Dwarf Northstar, are self-fruitful. Prune annually to keep trees healthy and productive.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Local variety adaptation is very important. Cherries are best grown in areas with mild, dry summers. In other areas diseases can run rampant.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Figs: With beautiful, large, lobed, tropical-looking leaves, figs are really eye-catching in containers. Although they’re normally quite large trees (up to 40 feet high), severe pruning can keep them more pot-size — and they still bear fruit. Figs are only hardy to about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but they can be brought into a cool garage to get them through cold winters.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Figs are pretty much carefree — just keep plants watered, fertilized, and if necessary, protected in winter

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Other than the sensitivity to cold temperatures, figs are widely adapted.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Peaches and nectarines: Both types of fruit are available in genetic dwarf varieties, like El Dorado, Garden Gold, and Stark Sensation peaches and the nectarine, Nectarcrest. All are perfectly suited to container growing. They’re attractive trees with a compact, muscular-looking appearance. They reach about 4 to 6 feet high in a container and are self-fruitful.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Prune the trees annually to keep the center open. Thin heavily to ensure large fruit at harvest time.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Peaches and nectarines are best adapted to areas with hot, dry summers. They can be grown in other areas, but diseases are more troublesome.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Pears: Pears are available on dwarfing rootstocks, but the result is still a tree that can reach 10 to 15 feet high.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Fruit thinning usually isn’t necessary. Some varieties need cross-pollination. Otherwise, pears are pretty easy to care for.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: European varieties like Bartlett, Bosc, and Comice are best adapted to dry summer areas that have fairly cold winters. Hybrid pears, like Kieffer, often have lower chilling requirements.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Plums: Plums are generally too large to remain healthy in anything but the largest container for more than a few years. Even dwarfing rootstocks can get over 10 feet high.

  
  
  
  

  • Growing tips: Prune regularly to keep them healthy and productive. Thin to maintain fruit size.

    
    
  
  

  • Adaptation: Plum trees are widely adapted but subject to diseases in areas with warm, wet summers.

    
    
  
  
  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/fruiting-trees-you-can-grow-in-containers.html