How to Set Up Your Triathlon Transition Area

Transitions are an important part of any triathlon, and how well you prepare for them and practice going from swimming to biking to running can help you cut minutes from your overall time. Follow these simple steps to set up an efficient transition area:

1. Find your transition area by race number

   
   

   You may be assigned a spot or you may be free to choose an open spot.

   
   



2. Rack your bike.

   
   



3. Set up your bike with filled water bottles in the cages and a nutrition bar or gel pack taped to the handlebars.

   
   



4. Pump your tires to the correct air pressure, if you haven't already.

   
   



5. Lay down a towel next to your bike and set your cycling shoes at the bottom of the towel, closest to you, and your running shoes at the top of the towel.

   
   

   Open the shoes as wide as possible to make it easy to slide your feet in. Place your socks, if you'll be wearing them, on top of your cycling shoes.

   
   



6. Set your helmet on the handlebars of your bike, with the chin strap open and pulled to the outsides of your helmet.

   
   



7. Place your sunglasses with the arms straddling the saddle, in a way similar to how they go on your head, so they won't fall off if someone bumps your bike.

   
   

   You can also place them in your helmet so you can take them out first and put them on before you strap on your helmet.

   
   



8. If you'll be wearing gloves, open the glove for your right hand and slide that onto the end of the handlebar on the right side of your bike; put the glove for your left hand on the left handlebar.

   
   

   Be sure the gloves are as far up on the handlebars as they can go so they won't fall off if your bike is bumped.

   
   



9. Secure your race number to your race belt if you'll be using one, and place it across the top tube of your bike or on top of your cycling shoes.

   
   

   You can also use the safety pins in your race packet to pin your race number to the back of the shirt you'll wear while riding or running or ask someone to pin the number onto the back of your tri suit. Don't pin your number to your wetsuit.

   
   



10. If you'll be pulling on a shirt after your swim, place it on your saddle or across your top tube.

    
    



11. Go over your transition area visually.

    
    

    Imagine coming back to the stall after your swim. Lay your eyes or your hands on every piece of equipment you'll need in the order in which you'll use it. Do the same for when you return from cycling and need to get ready to run.

    
    

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-set-up-your-triathlon-transition-area.html

Looking Into Why Search Engines Like Links

Thousands of site owners have experienced the frustration of not being able to get search engines to index their sites. You build a Web site, you do your best to optimize it for the search engines, you register in the search engines, and then nothing much happens. Little or no traffic turns up at your site, your pages don't rank well in the search engines, and in some cases, you can't even find your pages in the search engines. What's going on?

Here's the opposite scenario. You have an existing site, and you find a few other sites to link to it. You make no changes to the pages themselves, yet all of a sudden you notice your pages jump up in the search engines.

There's a lot of confusion about links and their relationship to Web sites. Most site owners don't even realize that links have a bearing on their search engine positions. Surely all you need to do is register your page in a search engine and it will be indexed, right? Maybe, maybe not. And if it is, it may not be ranked highly.

Using link popularity to boost your position

A few years ago, pretty much all you had to do to get your site listed in a search engine — and maybe even ranked well — was to register with the search engine. Then along came Google in 1998, and that all changed. Google decided to use the links pointing at a site as another factor in determining if the site was a good match for a search. Each link to a site was a vote for the site, and the more votes the site received, the better a site was regarded by Google.

To rank well today, you need to use links to vote the site up in the search engines. Links pointing to a Web page do several things:

• Links make it easier for search engines to find the page. As the searchbots travel around the Web, they follow links. They index a page, follow the links on that page to other pages, index those pages, follow the links on those pages, and so on. The more links to a page, the more likely the page is picked up and indexed by the search engines, and the more quickly it happens.

• Search engines use the number of links pointing to a page as an indication of the page's value. If lots of pages link to your page, the search engines place a greater value on your page than pages with few links pointing to them. If you have lots of links from sites that are themselves linked to by many other sites, search engines conclude that your site must really be important. (Google calls this value the page's PageRank, but Google is not the only search engine to use links as an indication of value.)

• Links provide information to the search engines about the page they're pointing to. The link text often contains keywords that search engines can use to glean additional information about your page. The theme of the site that is pointing to your site also gives search engines an indication of the theme of your site. For example, if you have links from hundreds of rodent-related Web sites, it's a good bet that your site has something to do with rodents.

• Links not only bring searchbots to a page, but also bring people to the page. The whole purpose of your search engine campaign is to bring people to your site, right?

Links are very important. Sometimes they mean the difference between being indexed by a search engine and not being indexed, and between being ranked well in a search engine and not being ranked well.

Getting back to link basics

Backlinks are an integral part of the optimization of your Web site. A backlink — this may surprise you — is a link back to your site. Search engines look at backlinks to figure out what your site is about and how important it is. Links aren't something detached from your site; they're an integral part of your site. Think of your Web site in terms of a regional map: Your site is the major city, and the backlinks are the roads bringing traffic into the city. A geographer looking at the map wouldn't regard the city and roads as separate entities; they are all part of the same economic and social system. So don't think of the links pointing to your site as something "out there;" they are a critical part of your site. Here's an indication of just how important Google considers links to be: The original name of the Google search engine, in January of 1996 (before it was officially launched), was BackRub, so named for its ability to analyze backlinks.

The search engines are trying to figure out what site or page is the best match for a search. Search engines use links as one way to determine this. As with content though, using the number of links to and from a site to measure significance is an imperfect method. A page can conceivably be the best page on a particular subject, yet have few links to it. Just because you publish a page today, doesn't mean it's worse than a page that was published five years ago and now has many links to it. However, search engines have difficulty figuring out what the searcher needs, so they have to use what information is available to them. Using links is a way of recruiting Web site owners to help point out useful sites and pages. The strategy is imperfect, but that's the search engine world we're living in.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/looking-into-why-search-engines-like-links.html

How Your Body Uses Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin essential to a healthy diet. This important antioxidant nutrient protects cells and tissues from damage by free radicals generated by chemicals and oxidized fats.

Vitamin E is best taken with vitamin C. The two form a team, and vitamin C can actually “reactivate” vitamin E, allowing it to keep on working to deactivate free radicals. Vitamin E is one of the best-researched and most widely accepted supplements in the medical community.

Free radicals are unstable molecules with extra “free” electrons looking for a connection. They can latch onto a cell membrane or blood vessel lining and create constant inflammation, leading to eventual damage. Antioxidants neutralize these electrons by actively binding with them, reducing their damaging effects.

Oxidized fats are fats that are adversely changed by aging, interaction with oxygen, and damage by free radicals. Consumption of oxidized or rancid fats is known to promote cancer and heart disease.

Check out these key uses of vitamin E:

• Practitioners have long prescribed vitamin E to support and protect the sexual and reproductive organs, but research doesn’t prove this theory. Vitamin E is sometimes referred to as the virility vitamin or antisterility vitamin.

  
  



• Used particularly for its antioxidant function in preventing degenerative diseases of the cardiovascular and neurological and respiratory systems. Vitamin E may also be an important protector against cancer.

  
  

Vitamin E is a natural preservative found in vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, dark green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. Common levels of intake are 200 to 1,600 IU, with usual amounts about 400 to 800 IU.

Toxicity is very uncommon, while deficiency makes you more susceptible to free radical damage from environmental and food chemical exposure. Vitamin E protects the tissues of your blood vessel linings and your sexual glands from damage by chemicals from the many pesticides, food chemicals, and inhaled toxins that you are exposed to.

Tocopherols [ta-COH-fer-alls] are the natural protective chemicals that actually make up vitamin E. Make sure to choose vitamin E supplements that include mixed tocopherols, which are rich in a substance called gamma-tocopherol, rather than just alpha- or another single tocopherol. Recent research shows that this more natural form of vitamin E works much better in your body than do the less expensive synthetic versions.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-your-body-uses-vitamin-e.html

How to Authenticate Mac OS X in Lion Server

In Mac OS X Lion Server, directory services also provide the authentication that allows users to access other services. The common authentication backbones of many prevalent directories are Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Kerberos. These two technologies are built into Apple Open Directory and Microsoft Active Directory. The descriptions here just scratch the surface of LDAP and Kerberos.

Although directory services facilitate user authentication through passwords, the passwords are not usually stored in directories. That’s because anyone with access to the directory can usually browse its information. In Mac OS X Server, passwords can be stored either in the Open Directory Password Server database or in a Kerberos realm, which is a kind of holding place. When authenticating, Open Directory checks with the Kerberos realm first.

In Mac OS X Server, Open Directory never even reads the passwords. Each account password is stored as encrypted value called a shadow hash for each user. When the user submits a password for authentication, Open Directory runs it through the hash and compares the values of the hashes. If they match, the user is authenticated. Open Directory doesn’t read the actual password.

When authenticating a user, Open Directory checks the user account stored in the directory to determine whether to use Kerberos authentication, the Password Server, or other supported methods. You can change that setting for a user account in Workgroup Manager. A user account can also specify both Kerberos and Password Server. In this case, Open Directory will try Kerberos first.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-authenticate-mac-os-x-in-lion-server.html

How to Set Up a Payroll Item List in QuickBooks 2012

The Payroll Item List in QuickBooks 2012 identifies items that appear on employee payroll check stubs. If you’re using an outside payroll service bureau to handle your payroll — and this isn’t a bad idea — you don’t even need to worry about the Payroll Item List.

If you’re using the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll Service, again, don’t worry about the Payroll Item List. (In either case, the QuickBooks folks set up the payroll items that you use for recording payroll.)

And in the case of the Intuit’s full-blown “we-do-everything” Payroll Service, you don’t even need to track payroll inside QuickBooks because the QuickBooks people do it at their office location on their computers.

If you do need to add payroll items, follow these steps:

1. Choose the Lists→Payroll Item List command.

   
   

   QuickBooks displays the Payroll Item List window.

   
   



2. To add a new Payroll Item, click the Payroll Item button and then choose New from the Payroll Item menu.

   
   

   QuickBooks displays the Add New Payroll Item dialog box. You can choose to set up a new payroll item either by using the EZ Set Up Method or the Custom Set Up Method. If you want QuickBooks to help you and you’re setting up a common payroll item, click the EZ Set Up button, click Next, and then simply follow the on-screen instructions.

   
   

   If you want to perform a custom setup of a payroll item, click the Custom Set Up button and then Next. QuickBooks walks you through a multiple-screen interview that asks you about the payroll item to set up.

   
   

   For example, the first dialog box that QuickBooks displays asks you to identify the type of payroll item that you want to create. You answer this question by selecting one of the radio buttons and then clicking Next.

   
   



3. Name the payroll item.

   
   

   After you identify the type of payroll item, you name it. QuickBooks provides another version of the Add New Payroll Item dialog box that includes a field you fill in to give the new item a name.

   
   



4. To finish the payroll item setup, click the Next button to move through the remaining payroll item setup questions.

   
   

   You identify the name of the government agency to which the liability is paid, the taxpayer identification number that uniquely identifies you to the taxing agency, the liability account that you use to track the items, the tax form line that you use to report the item, the rules that QuickBooks should use for calculating the item (such as whether the item is subject to taxes), and a couple of other miscellaneous pieces of data.

   
   

   After you supply all this information and click the Finish button (which appears on the last version of the Add New Payroll Item dialog box), QuickBooks adds the new payroll item to the Payroll Item List.

   
   

   The Payroll Item menu supplies commands that are useful for working with the Payroll Item List. In addition to the commands that you use to add an item to the list, the menu supplies commands for deleting payroll items, renaming payroll items, making payroll items active, and printing the list of payroll items.

   
   

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-set-up-a-payroll-item-list-in-quickbooks-20.html

How to Track Down Spammers

The internet is flooded with spam, but after you learn a few tricks, hunting down a spammer's base of operations and getting him kicked off the web is usually simple. To track down spammers in your email, follow these steps in order:

1. Look at the e-mail headers in the message.

   
   



2. Follow the flow of Received headers backward from your ISP.

   
   



3. Identify the owner of the last verifiable e-mail-handling server.

   
   



4. Look for URLs and e-mail addresses in the contents of the spam.

   
   



5. Track down the correct addresses for everyone who should receive the complaint.

   
   



6. Send a firm but politely worded complaint.

   
   



7. Await responses.

   
   



8. If complaints bounce back, continue complaining upstream.

   
   



9. If your complaints are ignored, report the spammer to a blocking list.

   
   



10. If all else fails, complain to your ISP.

    
    

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-track-down-spammers.html

Concluding a Conflict Resolution Meeting between Coworkers

How you conclude a conflict-resolution meeting depends on the outcome: the conflict is settled, temporarily settled, or not settled. Whatever the outcome, be sure to offer feedback and clear direction for the future.

Coming to a settlement

When things go smoothly, celebrate! And put your employees’ efforts at the forefront. Let them know that you

• Appreciate their hard work

  
  



• Applaud their efforts

  
  



• Hope that their agreements will yield a stronger work dynamic for themselves and those they interact with on a daily basis

  
  

These conversations can dramatically change relationships. And when one relationship in your workplace changes for the better, it has the ability to radiate to the rest of the group.

Choosing an interim agreement

Not all agreements are fully realized and ready to become full-blown written settlements. In fact, sometimes writing a full agreement may be premature and can become a potential problem down the road. This is where interim agreements shine. Interim agreements are temporary in nature, such as trying out a new communication model for a period of time, or adopting a new policy in the workplace and testing to see its effects.

When you help employees construct such an agreement, both people should understand that it’s for a specific amount of time. Be sure that they’re clear about how long this agreement will last, how they’ll know it’s time to reevaluate, and when they’ll address the outcomes of the interim agreement.

Leaving without a settlement

No matter how hard they try, your employees may be unable to come to a solution. Impasse happens even when employees have the best of intentions and you’re relying on a strong process and skill set. Your employees (and even you) may leave frustrated and disheartened.

As long as you’ve stuck to the process, asked good questions, and encouraged the co-workers to talk with one another, you’ve done all that you can. The process belongs to you, but the solution belongs to your employees. Yet, it’s frustrating to know that you’ve done everything in your power, and still found a roadblock at the end of the trail. End the meeting on a positive note, discuss the next steps that will be taken, and don’t close the door on resolving the situation.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/concluding-a-conflict-resolution-meeting-between-c.html

Excel for Mac 2011: Add a Picture to a Worksheet Background

Behind the cells on each Excel worksheet in Office 2011 for Mac is a background layer that you can format. Excel for Mac 2011 doesn't offer a lot of customization to this feature, but you can place an image on the background layer by following these steps:

1. Choose Format→Sheet→Background from the menu bar, or go to the Ribbon’s Layout tab, find the Page Setup group, and click Background. (This button may not appear on the Ribbon if your workbook window is small in size.)

   
   

   The Choose a Picture dialog appears.

   
   



2. Click the Browse button and navigate to a picture you want to use as a tiled background.

   
   

   While you can use any image, keep in mind that Excel will tile the image, which may not be the desired effect. Also, images that are busy or too dark will make it hard to read any data in your worksheet. You may want to stick to light-colored, simple images.

   
   



3. Click OK to place the image.

   
   

If you decide you don’t like the image in the background, you can remove it by going to the Ribbon’s Layout tab, and in the Page Setup group, click the Background button. Remember that this Background button is a toggle.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/excel-for-mac-2011-add-a-picture-to-a-worksheet-ba.html

How to Join an eBay Group

11 of 11 in Series:
The Essentials of Joining the eBay Community

If you’re the friendly type and would like an instant group of new eBay friends, you can click the Groups link in the Connect area of the main Community page (which you can access by clicking the Community link at the top-right corner of any eBay page). There, you can find thousands of user groups hosted on eBay but run by eBay community members. They may be groups consisting of people from the same geographic area, folks with similar hobbies, or those interested in buying or selling in particular categories.

eBay groups may be public clubs (open to all) or private clubs (invited memberships only) with their own private boards, accessible only by members of the group.

Joining a group is easy: Just click any of the links on the main Groups page, and you’re presented with a dizzying array of groups to join. Your best bet is to participate in chats or discussions and find other members that you’d like to join up with.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-join-an-ebay-group.html

Conducting a Background Check during Your Childcare Search

If you're planning to hire a nanny or other in-home child-care provider or are considering placing your child in a family day care, you should insist on reference checks and background checks. In the case of a family day-care operation, also request a police check on any other adults living in the home. You don't want to find out later that the family day-care provider's boyfriend or adult son is a convicted pedophile.

After the reference checks out of the way, you need to decide which types of background checks to run on the family day-care provider or nanny.

Although you may feel like a big creep requesting these types of background checks of someone who's likely a wonderful human being, you shouldn't feel embarrassed or awkward at all. You're just doing your job as a parent. Besides, you're not asking any more of a prospective employee than the guy who operates the local burger joint asks of any new worker — and all he's entrusting to that person is what's in his cash register, not the health and well-being of his nearest and dearest! Plus, you're not alone in your decision to do this. The number of criminal reference checks performed on child-care workers skyrocketed between 1973 and 2000: Seven times as many checks were performed in 2000 as were three decades earlier.

Any child-care provider who's genuinely concerned about your family's well-being understands why you need to do these checks, both for the sake of your child as well as your own peace of mind. If the child-care provider in question gives you a hard time about any of this, she's done you a huge favor by proving without a doubt that she's not the right person to care for your child.

What follows is a list of some of the specific types of background checks you may want to request. Some of these checks can be ordered by the child-care provider for a nominal fee, and others are more readily conducted by a third party, such as a detective agency or security firm. (As a goodwill gesture, you should offer to pick up the tab for any out-of-pocket expenses the child-care provider incurs on your behalf. Asking the child-care provider to cover these fees out of her own pocket isn't fair.)

• Criminal-record check: Contrary to popular belief, doing a nationwide criminal-record check isn't possible — unless, of course, you happen to be in the FBI. Even private investigators have to conduct record checks on a statewide or countywide basis, which can get quite involved if the child-care provider you're considering has lived and worked in a number of different jurisdictions.

Some states forbid statewide searches, and others require fingerprints to process a search request. Some states are so slow processing requests that your child can be looking for childcare for her own kids before you find out whether the child-care provider in question is legitimate. These are the unfortunate facts when attempting criminal-record checks. Assuming it's possible and practical to conduct one, you can either ask the child-care provider to supply you with a copy of a criminal-record check obtained through the local police department (it costs about $20), or you can hire a private detective or security firm to do the necessary digging on your behalf.

• Court-record checks: Criminal history information and civil records are public information. You can access this information, provided you know where to look and can go to the courthouse or state repository in person. A private detective can help simplify this process for you, but if you already have some serious inklings that the child-care provider in question may have a dubious past, looking for a more suitable candidate may be simpler and cheaper.

• Department of Motor Vehicles check: Although you may pick up bits and pieces of information about the child-care provider's driving record by doing a criminal-record check, if you want the true lowdown on her driving record, you need to hit up the Department of Motor Vehicles for information. Policies, procedures, and fees vary from state to state, but you can expect to fork over a nominal fee — usually in the $5 to $15 range. Once again, you want to make a phone call or two to find out about the rules in your particular state.

Although you may be tempted to skip the driving-record check if you don't intend to have the child-care provider drive your children anywhere, bear in mind that a driving-record check can reveal other important informant about a child-care provider, such as a string of drunk driving convictions. Some states automatically notify the child-care provider that you've requested a copy of her driving record, so you want to be upfront with her about your intentions.

• Credit-report check: A credit-report check can give you a solid indication of how mature and reliable a person is. After all, if the child-care provider you're considering has had repeated difficulties remembering to pay her rent or her mortgage, she may be equally irresponsible in other areas of her life. If you decide you want to see a credit report, you can either ask the child-care provider to authorize you to order the credit report on her behalf or you can ask her to provide you with the report herself. It's a fairly inexpensive proposition and shouldn't cost you more than about $35.

• Social Security Number trace: A Social Security Number trace is the worst nightmare of a child-care provider who's attempting to hide parts of her past. The trace allows you to find out where she's lived for the past seven years — information that can be invaluable in turning up any inconsistencies in her employment history. A Social Security Number trace can be conducted on your behalf by private detectives and the growing number of online search firms offering people-search services. You don't need the child-care provider's permission to conduct this particular search, and some online firms do it for under $20.

• Workers' compensation check: Want to find out whether the child-care provider in question has made a career out of making fraudulent workers' compensation claims? You should! Otherwise, you can be setting yourself up to be her next victim. In most states, after an employee's claim makes it through the state system or Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the case becomes a matter of public record. Be careful not to hold the fact that the child-care provider in question has made any legitimate workers' compensation claims against her: That's against the law.

• Health-record check: If you want to be assured that the child-care provider in question is physically and mentally fit to care for your child, ask her to undergo a medical exam (at your expense) or to provide you with a letter verifying that she's in good health.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/conducting-a-background-check-during-your-childcar.html

Using a MIDI System with Your Digital Keyboard

An acoustic piano does one thing — produces piano notes as you press the keys. But, with a MIDI system attached to a digital or hybrid keyboard, you can connect to and communicate with other keyboards, your computer, or other digital equipment and produce a vast array of piano sounds and non-piano sounds. MIDI (musical instrument digital interface, if you were wondering), pronounced mid-ee, can change your musical life.

Suppose you have three keyboards. You select the first one to be the controller and set it to sound like a piano. You connect the other two keyboards to the controller and set each of them to different sounds, perhaps a flute and a tuba. As you play the controller, the other two keyboards are sent MIDI messages (binary codes) telling them which notes to play, how long, how loud, and so on. But it sounds like three players are playing three separate instruments, instead of just you on a piano.

But that’s not all MIDI can do. By connecting a MIDI cable to your computer, you can record, edit, and notate your music using software programs on your computer. You can buy MIDI-recorded CDs and hear the songs played with the sounds of your own keyboard. Hybrid pianos and player piano systems also use MIDI to communicate with other digital equipment. MIDI software and recordings have become quite popular teaching aids because you can follow along note for note as your keyboard plays the songs.

Keyboard to computer

Digital keyboards offer you a host of options that help you record your music. You can record directly on your keyboard, or you can record by connecting your keyboard to your computer using MIDI cables. If you use MIDI, you can record exactly what you play without any fancy recording equipment. The MIDI messages you send from your keyboard as you play can be recorded in a computer or sequencer. Later, all you do is push “play” on the sequencer and hear note for note, volume for volume, exactly what you played.

Digital recording and sequencing programs allow you to record on several different tracks. So, you can record yourself playing the melody of a song with a piano sound on Track 1, followed by the drum part on Track 2, and then the guitar part on Track 3. But you never use any instrument other than your keyboard and the sounds that came with it. Play back the recording, or sequence, and it plays all three tracks at once, which sounds like a four-member band.

Software programs allow you to edit, transpose, speed up, or slow down what you’ve recorded. You can also alter the volume levels on each track and add sound effects, like reverb, to enhance what you’ve played. But wait! There’s more! You can purchase or even download MIDI files that you can load into your recording software so you can play along with files and add new tracks on top.

Keyboard to keyboard

You can connect your MIDI keyboard with another MIDI keyboard, or build a chain of three or more. Set each keyboard with a different sound patch, and play all the keyboards at once from your main, controller keyboard. See what it sounds like to combine piano and string sounds, brass and electric guitar — you name it.

MIDI and music notation

Music notation programs are a great tool to help you learn and improve your music reading and writing skills. When you hook up your MIDI keyboard to a computer and open up notation software, you can write music, read music, and play back whatever you’re working on. Plenty of educational programs are available to help you with the basics of music notation; some are interactive and make learning fun. And don’t forget that you can use notation programs to write out your latest opus so you can share your music with other musicians.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-a-midi-system-with-your-digital-keyboard.html

Magazines of Interest to Coin Collectors

Most coin collectors read at least one trade publication to see what’s happening in the industry, who has coins or currency for sale that may interest them, who’s buying what, timely coin prices, coin show and auction schedules, and similar current information and news. The following list contains links and some info about the periodicals you’ll want to add to your reading list:

• Coin Prices is published six times per year.

  
  



• Coin Values is a monthly magazine.

  
  



• Coin World is a must-read weekly newspaper that’s been published since 1952.

  
  



• Coins is a monthly magazine.

  
  



• Numismatic News is a weekly newspaper that has been published since 1952.

  
  



• Numismatist is for anyone with any interest in coins. It has been published monthly since 1888 and is included in the American Numismatic Association basic membership package.

  
  



• World Coin News is a monthly magazine.

  
  



• WorldWide Coins is a magazine published six times per year.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/magazines-of-interest-to-coin-collectors.html

Connect Your What If Scenarios to Your Strategic Plan

In the beginning of your scenario planning phase of your strategic plan, make a strong connection with scenarios and strategy by choosing a decision or issue that has significant strategic implications to your organization. After doing that, use one of the following four approaches (listed from easiest to hardest) to connect your scenarios with strategic decision making:

• Evaluate a specific strategic decision. For some short-term uncertainties, you may need more fully developed scenarios to help you arrive at a definitive decision or action. Decisions may include investing in a new plant or entering a new market.

  
  

  This question is likely the same as you previously called out, but the outcome is clearly defined to help you reach a go or no-go decision based on possible operating conditions developed in the scenarios.

  
  



• Evaluate your existing strategy. Determine your strategy’s effectiveness in a range of business conditions by testing its success under each of the four scenarios you developed when you were building alternative futures for your plan. Identify modifications or shifts that require attention.

  
  



• Develop your strategy based on a single scenario. This approach is based on selecting one of the scenarios as a starting point and focus for strategy development and then using the other scenarios to test the strategy’s viability and assess the need for tweaks.

  
  



• Develop your strategy to address all scenarios. This approach is the most robust to linking scenarios to strategy because it requires the development of a resilient strategy that can deal with wide variations in business conditions found in the scenarios you developed earlier. You can expect this strategy development to require additional time because a repetitious process is necessary to create a comprehensive yet coordinated strategy.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/connect-your-what-if-scenarios-to-your-strategic-p.html

Editing Your Marketing Video

Editing a marketing video (or any video) is much more than just cutting out the unwanted scenes. The editing process is as important for telling a story and getting your message across as writing the script.

Take the following steps to edit an effective marketing video:

1. Organize your footage.

   
   

   Import all your footage to your computer and organize your clips in folders to group clips that belong together. Then watch all your footage and take extensive notes. Make sure to discard clips that are clearly unusable and to mark the very best clips.

   
   



2. Revisit your script.

   
   

   Go back to your original script and check to see if you have all the footage you need to convey your story. If you need to reshoot something, now would be the best time to do that.

   
   



3. Collect additional material.

   
   

   Your video might need photos, graphics, and sound effects. Collect all these additional assets and prepare them for editing.

   
   



4. Make a rough cut.

   
   

   Assemble your footage in sequence to create a first-draft version of your video. To do this, go through your script, find the best clips for each scene, and put them on the editing program's timeline in the right order.

   
   



5. Start refining.

   
   

   Go through your video several times and make improvements to the timing of your edit by cutting your clips more tightly or rearranging the order of clips. Be patient — finding the right rhythm for a video is a process that takes a few iterations.

   
   



6. Polish your edit.

   
   

   Once your video's timing is solid, add transitions to make scene changes more visually appealing. Fill gaps with b-roll footage. Use color correction to get the best out of your footage.

   
   



7. Add bells and whistles.

   
   

   Add music, sound effects, and a voiceover narration track if you need one. Append titles to the beginning and end of your video. If you need more complicated visual effects, put them in at the end when your edit is already perfect. This will save you a lot of time.

   
   



8. Get feedback.

   
   

   Make sure to get feedback before you release your video. You will be surprised by what other people see in it. The most useful feedback comes from people who are as close to your target audience as possible.

   
   

Video editing is a fairly time-consuming process. If you don't want to spend the time yourself, you can always use a professional video services firm that will edit your video footage for you.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/editing-your-marketing-video.html

Greeting Your Singing Audition Accompanist

The audition pianist can be your friend or foe, based on how you behave. Most of the time, the pianist who is at the singing audition is a really swell person who plays like a dream.

A few simple actions that seem harmless to you can really set off an accompanist, so here are a few tips:

• Don’t try to shake hands with the audition pianist, even if you think it’s good manners. Shaking hands translates to squeezing someone’s hands, no matter how gently. The pianist doesn’t want swollen fingers after shaking hundreds of hands during a long audition day.

  
  



• Smile and address the pianist with respect when you provide your tempo or point out the road map in your song. Briefly, but very nicely, describe what you’ve highlighted or point out any tough spots. Your conversation with the pianist has to be quick — be brief and to the point. Practice briefly describing your tempo and the road map of the song, and practice how you’ll indicate to start.

  
  



• Never snap your fingers to give the accompanist the tempo. Snapping may be an easy way to describe your tempo, but many accompanists take offense to it. Instead, quietly speak a few words at the speed you want to sing.

  
  



• Explain how you plan to indicate that you’re ready to begin. You can nod your head or look up to let the pianist know that you’re ready to begin.

  
  



• You can hope that the audition pianist can transpose at sight, but you can’t assume this skill. Feel free to ask whether she can transpose, but if she hesitates or says no, choose something else to sing.

  
  

  Reading music on the page and transposing at sight are two different skills. Unless someone is used to transposing a song, it may not be her strongest skill. You may also hear more wrong notes as the pianist attempts to read it in your favorite key.

  
  

  Be safe, and get the song transposed and written out well in advance of your audition. Better yet, choose a song that’s already in the key you can sing well.

  
  



• Thank the pianist just before you leave. You may not know the pianist personally and may assume that he’s just a really cool person who only plays the piano. But the audition pianist may be the musical director. Be sure to read the suggestions on how to prepare your music for the audition so that the pianist enjoys meeting you and playing your song.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/greeting-your-singing-audition-accompanist.html

How to Stay Safe on Etsy

Because Etsy is so popular, it isn't just home to artists and crafters; it's also a place where of con artists and shafters look for innocent shoppers and craftspeople to scam. As you use Etsy, be on the lookout for scams.

Most fraudulent activities on Etsy involve the use of money orders or cashier's checks. For example, if someone contacts you with a vague offer to buy something in your Etsy shop via money order or cashier's check, but offers to pay more than is necessary to expedite the item or includes some other weird request or instructions, beware. This interaction is typically an attempt to relieve you of your merchandise without compensation.

Given how many scams involve the use of cashier's checks and money orders, you may reasonably choose not to accept those forms of payment for items in your Etsy shop.

Some of these scammers operate by purchasing an item — usually something expensive — and indicating that they'll pay by money order or cashier's check, but they tack on a substantial amount along with a request to, say, buy them a new notebook computer and ship it to them along with your valuable piece. The catch? The money order or cashier's check is really a forgery. The end result: Not only does the scammer effectively steal your item, but you reward her by buying her a computer!

If anyone asks you to front her some cash or some other expensive item, pronto, your answer should be a polite but firm No.

If you get taken on Etsy, contact your financial institution on the double. Second, report the situation to Etsy. You may also opt to alert your local law enforcement.

Here are some other safety tips:

• Lurk before you leap: Before jumping into a forum or team discussion, monitor it for a while. See whether the Etsians engaged in the discussion are people you want to interact with.

  
  



• Don't hesitate to exit stage left: If a discussion goes south, simply disengage. Heavens to Murgatroyd, life's stressful enough! Why embroil yourself in a conflict on a site that's supposed to be fun?

  
  



• Limit personal information: Don't share your digits or other personal details, such as where you live or work, on Etsy's forums, teams, or other public spaces.

  
  



• Avoid oversharing: If you wouldn't be comfortable sharing something with, say, your boyfriend's grandmother, then it probably doesn't belong on Etsy, either.

  
  



• Think before you connect in real life: If you do decide to meet in person, pick a neutral public place — somewhere you'll feel comfortable. Tell a friend or family member your plans, and be sure to bring a cellphone.

  
  



• Be nice: If you're kind to others online, others will be kind back. Not only is it bad karma to knowingly insult or harass another Etsy member, but it's against the site's rules. Abusive behavior can get you kicked off the site for good.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-stay-safe-on-etsy.html

How to Start a Scrapbook

Before you start a scrapbook, spend some time planning it. Start by collecting items for your scrapbook, and organizing your materials and thoughts so that your finished scrapbooks have the look you want.

Deciding on your scrapbook's purpose

Some people scrapbook because they love the craft. Others care more about highlighting their current family events — for the enjoyment of those living now. Still other scrapbookers focus on preservation and the archival aspects of scrapbooking — always thinking about how long their albums will last.

Understanding your general and specific purposes for scrapbooking focuses your decisions about the direction of your work. The following list helps you determine what your own purpose or purposes for scrapbooking may be:

• Documenting events and milestones: Scrapbookers make pages and albums about every conceivable event and life milestone. The industry creates themed products that work well with all your events. Whether you want to scrap graduations, birthdays, confirmations, weddings, or travels, you can find stickers, stamps, and plenty of other materials to go on your pages.

• Focusing on individual biographies: Perhaps you want to scrapbook the life of one family member, an illustrious ancestor or some relative who lived in an interesting historical era.

• Giving a gift or gratitude book: You can make a mini scrapbook album relatively quickly to give as a gift for a special event (such as a birthday or anniversary), to say thank you, or just because you want to help someone feel better.

• Illustrating an autobiography: Some of the best scrapbook albums are illustrated autobiographies. No one knows the details of your life as well as you do.

• Promoting healing: Many a scrapbook served as therapy for people experiencing pain, suffering, and loss by reminding them of the many wonderful experiences they and their loved ones have had and of the sheer fullness and diversity of their lives. The terminally ill often scrapbook their own lives, and many people scrapbook the lives of lost loved ones.

• Recording an illustrated family history: These albums are like glorified genealogies that chart a family's history as far back as possible.

• Setting examples: Your purpose may be to use scrapbooks as places where you can make your voice heard and where you can influence your children, your grandchildren, and many others. With photos and journaling, the albums you make document your own and your family's travels, successes, school activities, relocations, deaths, and other experiences that illustrate life's challenges and triumphs.

Choosing memorabilia and photos for your scrapbook

At the backs of drawers and shelves or somewhere tucked away in the corners and crevices of a garage, attic, or closet, you have a hidden treasure that we call your M and Ps — your personal and family memorabilia and photographs. When you begin scrapbooking, just finding your M and Ps may require a major effort. But be resolute! Press forward! Your goal is to gather all the memorabilia and photographs together in one place — the bigger the place, the better. Try Print File's drop-front, metal-edge containers for this initial gathering effort. Professional photographers and museums use these lignin-free, acid-free boxes — which range in size from 8-1/2 x 10 inches to 20 x 24 inches and are priced from $10 to $19.95. You can order them direct online at Printfile.

You don't want to store your M and P treasures in just any big cardboard box you find in the garage. Corrugated material in some of those boxes is not good for your photos, and even though your intentions are noble, you may not get all of those M and Ps out of the box and into archival-safe photo boxes or page protectors straightaway.

Your memorabilia can include anything you've saved that's small enough to put in a scrapbook: matchbooks, airline tickets, keys, house deeds, and so on. Collecting memorable items can add dimension to your daily life. When you're constantly on the lookout, you come upon memorabilia stuck in the most unlikely spots — and probably smile or shed a few tears as you put an item in your memorabilia holding place.

After you put all the photographs and memorabilia you can find in the same place, you need to go begging. Ask family members and friends for photos or negatives you may want to use but don't have. Negatives are better because both parties then can hold on to the photos. Whenever possible, make prints from negatives rather than copies of photos because photos made from negatives always are clearer than copies of photographs.

If you're missing documents, such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, call the counties where the events took place. County officials usually are glad to send you copies of the documents you need for a nominal fee.

Creating a cohesive scrapbook

As you get ready to select the items you want to put into a particular scrapbook, ask yourself this question: Does this item contribute to or detract from the unified look of the album? Unity is as critical in scrapbooking as it is in any creative work. You want your scrapbook to look cohesive and to convey a sense of purpose and order. You achieve unity when each part of your scrapbook becomes essential to the whole.

Following the suggestions we give you in the list that follows can help you narrow your item choices and ensure that you choose items that contribute to the unified look of your album.

• Decide on a theme. Choose the event or experience that you want to scrapbook @ --  your infamous vacation, for example. Find all the M and Ps from that vacation and put them into page protectors. Then you can select an album (think of the album as your first item) that goes with your vacation theme.

Just because you put all the big vacation M and Ps into your page protectors doesn't mean that you're going to use all of them in your scrapbook. The selection process is about refining and sifting through the many to finally decide on a choice few.

• Select the same photographic look. "Photographic look" doesn't mean that all photos you use in your album are exactly the same size or that they all have exactly the same colors. But if you want to create a historic, old-world look with black-and-white photos, use black-and-white pictures throughout the album. As a general rule, using black-and-white photos alongside color photos doesn't contribute to the unified feel that an album needs. But modern scrapbook stylists experiment with breaking a rule and do so successfully. Scrapbooking is full of rule-breakers.

• Choose a color scheme. You may get ideas for your color palette from your album cover, from one or a series of your photographs, or from some other source.

• Choose memorabilia related to your purpose and storyline. Look at all the memorabilia that may go into your album and then use the items that best complement the purpose, theme, story, photographs, and colors you've decided to use. A mix of types of memorabilia can add interest: maps and other flat items on some pages and bulkier items on others.

• Use materials consistently. Choose stickers, papers, and other materials that go well with your photos and memorabilia, the colors in your palette, and each other. Careful thought when making these choices pays off big time in the finished album. Pick an ink color (or colors) for journaling that complements the M and Ps and other items on your pages, and make sure you use quality materials like journaling pens with pigment-based inks.

Just because you bought out the scrapbook store doesn't mean that you have to use everything in one album. Gather a few goodies that coordinate with your theme and color scheme and have at it! Make it fun and keep it simple, especially when this is your first album. Even seasoned scrappers get carried away when choosing album materials.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-start-a-scrapbook.html

Delving Into the Enterprise JavaBeans Deployment Descriptor

Two major versions of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) deployment descriptors are currently in circulation. The EJB 1.1 deployment descriptor describes the structure and assembly of EJB applications built to the EJB 1.1 specification. The EJB 2.0 deployment descriptor adds a number of tags that are necessary to describe the additional features of EJB 2.0 applications. While EJB 2.0-compliant EJB containers are required to support EJB 1.1 applications, EJB containers that haven't been upgraded to support the 2.0 specification won't support EJB 2.0 deployment descriptors.

Note that every EJB deployment descriptor must be named ejb-jar.xml.

This article touches on developing EJB applications that conform to the 2.0 specification. Thus, when selecting an EJB container, you should use support for the EJB 2.0 specification as a selection criteria. Leading EJB container vendors — including IBM's WebSpere, BEA's WebLogic, and the open source JBoss Application Server — are good places to start looking.

The root element of an EJB deployment descriptor is <ejb-jar>. All tags must be nested inside the <ejb-jar> tag. Within the <ejb-jar> tag are three subelements:

• <enterprise-beans> : This tag contains descriptive information about the EJB components in an EJB application. When an entity bean needs to make references to external resources, system resources, and other entity beans, those resources are described in this section.

• <relationships> : This tag describes the relationships between entity beans using the container-managed relationship support for EJB 2.0 applications.

• <assembly-descriptor> : This tag is used to describe assembly information for an EJB application. While bean providers may supply some assembly information, application assembly is a responsibility that primarily falls on the application assembler's shoulders. The two major elements of application assembly are describing transactions and describing security.

The <enterprise-beans> tag contains descriptions for each kind of enterprise bean that can be defined in an EJB application. It has three subelements: <session> for session beans, <entity> for entity beans, and <message-driven> for message-driven beans. Session, entity, and message-driven beans share several XML tags in common. Here's the lowdown on these general tags:

• Logical name: Every EJB component has a logical name that identifies the name by which each bean is referenced in the rest of the deployment descriptor. The logical name is contained in the <ejb-name> tag. It must be unique for the scope of the ejb-jar file in which the component is packaged. The <ejb-name> tag is a subelement of the <session>, <entity>, and <message-driven> tags.

• Enterprise bean class: The enterprise bean class is the class that implements all the business methods and lifecycle management methods of the EJB component. This class must be identified by the <ejb-class> tag. The <ejb-class> must have the fully qualified class name of the EJB class. The <ejb-class> tag is a subelement of the <session>, <entity>, and <message-driven> tags.

• Component interfaces: Session and entity beans also can have both local and remote component interfaces. The EJB container needs to know which classes implement the component interfaces for the session and entity beans. The <remote> tag is used to identify a remote interface and must contain the fully qualified class name of the remote interface (if one exists). The <local> tag is used to identify a local interface and must contain the fully qualified class name of the local interface (if one exists).

An EJB component doesn't have to have both remote and local interfaces, but it must have one or the other. The exception to this rule is message-driven beans, which can't have remote or local interfaces. For entity beans and session beans, you can have both local and remote interfaces. For each component interface, the deployment descriptor must define a corresponding home interface for an enterprise bean.

• Home interfaces: Home interfaces can be defined for session and entity beans. The local home interface provides local access to the enterprise bean while the remote home interface provides remote access to the enterprise bean. The local home interface is identified by the <local-home> tag in the deployment descriptor. The remote home interface is identified by the <home> tag in the deployment descriptor.

• Transaction type: Every enterprise bean component has a <transaction-type> tag. The <transaction-type> tag is used to describe whether the enterprise bean's transaction service is managed by the bean or by the EJB container. The two allowed values for the <transaction-type> tag are Bean (for bean-managed transactions) and Container (for container-managed transactions).

Bean-managed transactions can be very complex and are certainly beyond the scope of an entry-level EJB programmer.

• Description: Each EJB component can have an optional description tag that describes the purpose of the EJB component. The description element is demarcated by the <description> tag, which should include documentation about the purpose of the EJB component.

• Build tool tags: There are several optional tags in each enterprise bean used to provide additional information for build tools. Build tools provide a graphical interface for creating EJB applications. Build tool tags are used to improve the presentation of enterprise beans in the build tool's user interface.

• <display-name>: This tag identifies the name under which the enterprise bean component should be displayed in a build tool.

• <large-icon>: This tag identifies the path to a 32 pixel by 32 pixel icon used to display the enterprise bean. The image must be in either a JPEG or GIF format.

• <small-icon>: This tag identifies the path to a 16 pixel by 16 pixel icon used to display the enterprise bean. The image must be in either a JPEG or GIF format.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/delving-into-the-enterprise-javabeans-deployment-d.html

Edit iWeb Pages with Keyboard Shortcuts

An iLife ‘11 iWeb page is just a blank window until you start editing it to add content. When you add and format text, these iWeb keyboard shortcuts help you polish the look of it in no time. Simply select the text you want to format and use the keyboard shortcut to issue the desired command in iWeb. The instant results are almost as magical as the Internet itself.

Key	Function
Command+Option+I	Show or hide the Inspector
Shift+Command+L	Show or hide layout
Command+T	Show or hide Font panel
Shift+Command+C	Show or hide Colors window
Command+ +	Make selected text bigger
Command+ -	Make selected text smaller
Shift+Command+ {	Align text flush left
Shift+Command+ }	Align text flush right
Shift+Command+ |	Center text
Option+Command+C	Copy paragraph style
Option+Command+V	Paste paragraph style
Shift + Return	Insert a line break
Command+ Return	Turn off text editing and select text box

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/edit-iweb-pages-with-keyboard-shortcuts.html

How to Insert a Memory Card into Your PC

To use a memory card, just plug that memory card into the proper card slot, located either directly on the PC's console or via a memory card adapter attached to a USB port. Windows instantly recognizes the card and mounts it into the computer system, making whatever information is on the card instantly available.

Don’t force a memory card into a slot! If you can’t get the memory card into one slot, try a different slot.

Memory cards are inserted label side up. For vertically mounted memory card readers, try label-left (although this may not always work).

After inserting the memory card, you may see the AutoPlay dialog box displayed (shown in this figure). Use the dialog box to choose how to view the card's contents, such as choosing the View Pictures option to view images stored on the card from a digital camera.

>

>

This dialog box lets you choose how to view the files on your memory card.


>
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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-insert-a-memory-card-into-your-pc.html

How to Use Investment Advisors Wisely for a Trust

Investment advisors can make your life as trustee easier. They spend all their professional time researching companies and reading balance sheets and annual reports. Their job is to be on top of whatever type of investment they specialize in so that you don’t have to. When hiring an advisor, you should set boundaries, make sure you get the right kind of advisor for your trust, don’t limit yourself to one advisor, and remain in close communication with the advisor.

Your job is to be very specific as to what your expectations are when hiring an investment advisor. When hiring an advisor, keep the following points in mind:

• Set boundaries. If you don’t give an advisor parameters, you are giving the advisor too much responsibility. You can reasonably assume that the advisor probably doesn’t want to lose your business, but unless you show them otherwise, they’ll probably assume you have no idea what they’re doing, won’t be able to read their reports, and won’t bother to ask questions.

  
  



• Make sure that you get the right kind of advisor for your trust. Not all advisors specialize in all types of investments. You can find advisors for every type of investment and combination of types. If you’re looking for income production but aren’t too bothered if you don’t see huge capital gains in the account, you want an advisor who specializes in bonds.

  
  

  Perhaps the trust doesn’t yet have an active income beneficiary, and all the income is accumulating in the trust. In that case, you may be more likely to want an advisor who specializes in growth companies, which usually pay a very small dividend and concentrate on increasing the size and value of the company.

  
  



• Don’t limit yourself to one advisor. You may need only one advisor, or you may want more than one. If the trust is large, you may not want to put all your eggs in one basket with one advisor. If you sense you’re not getting the service or results you require from any particular advisor, don’t hesitate to take the trust away from him or her.

  
  

  It’s not his or her money, so he or she has very little at stake. You, on the other hand, have to answer to the income beneficiaries and the remaindermen who receive whatever’s left in the trust after the income beneficiary’s interest ends.

  
  



• Remain in close communication with the advisor. Any investment advisor worth his or her salt sends monthly or quarterly reports. Read them carefully. Although he or she works for you, money often leads people to behave badly, and these advisors have access to lots of it.

  
  

  If something doesn’t look quite right to you, such as fees that seem high or huge numbers of purchases and/or sales, often for very small numbers of shares of stock in the same companies, ask questions. If you’re not absolutely satisfied with the answers, ask for an opinion from a professional you trust.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-investment-advisors-wisely-for-a-trust.html

Playback in the Corrections Dialog Box in NaturallySpeaking

A good reason for playing back your dictation is so that you can properly correct Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You want to be sure that the text you type in the Correction menu box is what you actually said!

One way to ensure that your correction matches your spoken word is to click the Play That Back selection in the Correction menu box. NaturallySpeaking then plays your original speech for the phrase being corrected.

If you like this feature, you can tell NaturallySpeaking to play the recorded speech whenever you use the Correction menu box. Choose Tools→Options from the NaturallySpeaking menu. In the Options dialog box that appears, click the Correction tab and click to place a check mark in the Automatic Playback On Correction check box. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

Other playback buttons and hotkeys can help you make corrections more efficiently. Here’s what they do:

• To stop the playback: Click the Stop button (with the square) in the toolbar or press the Esc key (or Ctrl+1).

  
  



• To play back at high speed: Click the Begin Fast Forward button (with the > symbol).

  
  



• To skip forward in your text: Press the right-arrow key until you reach your text.

  
  



• To skip backward at high speed: Click the Begin Rewind button.

  
  



• To skip backward in your text: Press the left-arrow key until you reach your text.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/playback-in-the-corrections-dialog-box-in-naturall.html

Planning Quick and Easy Dairy-Free Menus

Planning your meals ahead of time can help make the transition to a dairy-free lifestyle that much easier. When you plan your menus, look for ways to add dairy-free variations in flavor, texture, color, and food temperature (hot and cold) to each meal. Variety adds interest and helps to ensure that your meals include a range of valuable nutrients.

The samples in the following list vary in calorie content, but they’re all low to moderate in calories. Mix and match these simple meal ideas to create your own healthful dairy-free menus:

• Menu ideas for Day 1:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: Two whole-grain waffles with pure maple syrup, a scoop of vanilla soy yogurt, and a handful of sliced strawberries

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A small green salad with vinaigrette dressing, a slice of quiche, and a small whole-grain roll with trans-fat-free, dairy-free margarine

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A small green salad with vinaigrette dressing, vegetable lasagna, a thick slice of Italian bread with garlic spread, and a small dish of nondairy ice cream

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 2:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: Shredded Wheat with rice milk (plain or vanilla-flavored), two slices of whole-grain toast with trans-fat-free, dairy-free margarine and jelly, and a small glass of orange juice

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A bowl of potato and leek soup, several carrot and bell pepper sticks with hummus dip, and several whole-grain crackers

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A cup of soup, plate of whole-wheat spaghetti with marinara sauce and nondairy Parmesan cheese, a slice of whole-grain bread with trans-fat-free, dairy-free margarine, and a dish of nondairy ice cream

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 3:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: Yogurt parfait made with layers of vanilla soy yogurt, fresh berries, and granola

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: Two slices of nondairy cheese (or cheeseless) pizza and watermelon chunks (when in season)

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A panini filled with nondairy cheese and sautéed vegetables, a scoop of nondairy cole slaw, and a cup of dairy-free chocolate pudding

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 4:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: A breakfast burrito made with a whole-wheat flour tortilla wrapped around a scrambled egg, black beans, cooked potato chunks, avocado slices, and salsa, and a cup of fruit salad on the side

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A nondairy cheese and spinach quesadilla, a small green salad, and a piece of in-season fresh fruit

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A black bean burrito, steamed broccoli, and melon slices (when in season)

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 5:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: A bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and almond milk (plain or vanilla-flavored), and a small glass of orange-pineapple juice

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A dairy-free grilled cheese sandwich, a cup of tomato soup, and apple slices

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A small green salad, shrimp paella, and a slice of banana bread

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 6:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: Two whole-grain pancakes with pure maple syrup and a slice of fresh cantaloupe (when in season)

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A big bowl of marinated three-bean salad, two slices of whole-grain toast with trans-fat-free, dairy-free margarine, and a glass of unsweetened iced tea

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: Vegetable curry with steamed rice, steamed bok choy or Chinese cabbage, and a dish of nondairy rice pudding

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Menu ideas for Day 7:

  
  
  
  

  • Breakfast: Two slices of French toast with pure maple syrup, fresh orange slices, and a cup of coffee or tea

    
    
  
  

  • Lunch: A luncheon-sized plate of nachos and a cup of in-season fresh fruit chunks

    
    
  
  

  • Dinner: A bowl of chili, a square of cornbread, broccoli florets and carrot slices with nondairy Ranch-style dip, and a frozen fruit bar

    
    
  
  
  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/planning-quick-and-easy-dairyfree-menus.html

Elements of an Effective Mission Statement

Your mission statement serves as a guide for day-to-day operations and as the foundation for strategic planning and future decision making. Make sure that your statement includes the following criteria:

• Focuses on satisfying customer needs: Focus the business on satisfying customer needs instead of spotlighting your product or service.

  
  



• Based on your core competencies: Base your mission on a competitively superior internal strength or resource that your company performs well in comparison to your competitors. For example, McDonald’s core competency is providing low-cost food and fast service to large groups of customers.

  
  



• Motivates and inspires employee commitment: Your mission statement should be motivating. Don’t base it on making more sales or profits but on employees’ significant work and how the mission contributes to people’s lives.

  
  



• Realistic and clear: Avoid making the mission too narrow or too broad. A mission needs to contain a purpose that’s realistic to avoid mission creep, or expansion outside of your intended boundaries. Many organizations can go off on tangents that aren’t core to their purpose and are unrealistic because their mission isn’t clearly defined.

  
  



• Specific, short, sharply focused, and memorable: Write a precise statement of purpose that describes the essence of the business in words your employees and customers can remember you by.

  
  



• Clear and easily understood: Develop and write your mission statement so you can quickly and briefly tell people you meet at a party or on an airplane why your company exists. If you keep that concept in mind, your statement can automatically be short and comprehensible. Make sure to give your company team a profoundly simple focus for everything it does as a business.

  
  



• Says what the company wants to be remembered for: In the end, a mission statement leaves a lasting impression. How do you want the world to think of you? Your statement can provide simple insight into why you do business.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/elements-of-an-effective-mission-statement.html

How to Cut Down on Spam in MySpace

4 of 8 in Series:
The Essentials of Staying Safe on MySpace

You can manage MySpace spam by clicking the Spam link in the main Settings Account window to open the Settings: Spam window. Then use the following check boxes to turn certain MySpace spam options on and off:

• Spam Presets slider: This sliding scale of predetermined spam settings can go from Low to High to Custom, depending on how tight you want your profile’s spam protection to be. This setting is a quick and easy way to tighten up your profile’s security, and it will show you what options are turned on and off with each slide of the scale, as you slide it.

  
  



• Messages: You can turn the Allow Non-Friends to Send Me Messages option on or off depending on whether you want complete MySpace strangers (nonfriends) to be able to message you.

  
  

  Making it so that only friends can message you is definitely safer, but it’ll also make it harder for those who may want to send you a random message to get in touch with you via your MySpace profile.

  
  

  There’s also a CAPTCHA option, which requires nonfriends to enter a random code before they can message you. This option tries to make sure that the message isn’t from a spammer, but it also may make it more difficult for the new people who are legitimately trying to contact you.

  
  



• Friend Requests: Whoever wants to send you a Friend Request will be prompted to fill in either your last name or your e-mail address — which basically means you won’t be receiving Friend Requests from complete strangers. This option is unchecked by default. There’s also an option to require all friend requesters to enter a CAPTCHA code before requesting your MySpace friendship. You can also block comedians, filmmakers, and bands from friend-requesting you.

  
  



• Comments: In the MySpace world, the content displayed on your page isn’t always posted by you. A popular example of this is the Profile Comment, used regularly to communicate with fellow MySpacers. You can require all comments to be approved by you before they’re posted to your profile.

  
  

  The CAPTCHA option is available on this setting as well, just in case you want to tighten up your security even more. Also, if you want to limit your potential blog comments to friends only, that option is available to you.

  
  



• Group Invitations: Moderators of new MySpace groups can invite any other MySpace user to join their groups; all they need is your e-mail address. If you want only your friends to be able to use this option to invite you to groups, check the Allow Only My Friends option. You can also block all group invitations or any group invitations from bands, comedians, and filmmakers.

  
  



• Event Invitations: Many MySpacers post events on MySpace as a way to let others know what’s happening on a day-to-day basis. Although it’s great to stay in the loop on some of these events, you may find that you’re getting overwhelmed with invite after invite.

  
  

  If you feel like you need to manage your incoming invitations, you have the option of limiting your incoming invitations to only those that are coming from your friends, comedians, bands, regular MySpace users, and Filmmakers so that you’re only getting the invitations that you want to know about. Don’t feel like getting any invitations? There’s an option for that too, and don’t be afraid to use it.

  
  



• IM Invitations: If you want nonfriends to be able to invite you to an IM (Instant Messaging) conversation, you can keep this option checked.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-cut-down-on-spam-in-myspace.html

How to Evaluate a Stock&#8217;s Potential Return and Risk

If you’re investing online in a stock, you’d better get an ample return to make it worth your while. To increase your chances of getting a solid return, you can evaluate the potential return and risk of stocks before you invest.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results, but studying how stocks have done in the past can help you get a very crude handle on what to expect. To find how stocks have done previously, you need their total return in previous years. You can get a stock’s total return by the following methods:

• Checking the company’s Web site: Some companies include total return calculators in the Investor Relations section of their Web sites.

  
  



• Calculating it by using online stock price downloading services: You can download a stock’s annual stock price for different years. Add the company’s stock price at the end of the year to the amount per share it paid in dividends during the year. Divide that sum by the stock’s price at the end of previous year and multiply by 100, and you have the total return for the year.

  
  



• Using Morningstar: The investment tracker provides stock’s total returns going back for five years. Just enter the stock’s symbol into the Quote field, click the Quote button, and then click the Performance link at the top of the new page that appears. Ideally, you’d want more years of data than Morningstar gives you, but it’s a start.

  
  

After you get the stock’s total returns for many years, enter them into Horton’s Geometric Mean Calculator. After doing that, Horton’s Geometric Mean Calculator shows you how much you would have gained in the stock each year on average and also how risky it is. If the stock’s returns are lower than the stock market’s and the risk is higher, it might not be a good fit for your portfolio.

Before you decide that a stock is too risky or the returns are too low, you should compare its movements to the rest of your portfolio. If a stock rises when your portfolio goes down, it might actually reduce your portfolio’s total risk by offering diversification.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-evaluate-a-stocks-potential-return-and-risk.html

Restaurant Menu Lingo That Sells

The menu is the center of your restaurant's universe. The menu conveys the restaurant's overall concept to your customers and should express the passion and care that goes into the food you're serving. The following advice can help you design a great menu:

• Many attractive menu-item names start with the preparation method. Words like braised, seared, pan-fried, oven-roasted, wood-fired, and poached lend a level of prestige to a dish that increases a diner's perception of its value.

  
  



• Incorporate reasons that a dish is special, different, or unique into the name. Is your beef dry aged? Are your eggs farm fresh? Is your bread baked in-house each morning? Is your produce locally grown or organic?

  
  



• Great ingredients make for great descriptions. Are there any standouts or hard-to-find items? Does a dish contain seasonal items that you should highlight?

  
  



• Highlight where the ingredients come from. Kansas City beef and South African cool-water lobster mean something to people.

  
  



• Be more specific. Sure you're serving pasta, but what kind of pasta? Tell the guests whether it's fettuccine, linguine, capellini, or radiatore. And that sauce you're serving tonight is probably great, but be more descriptive — ragout, coulis, demi-glace, or reduction, for example. Getting down to specifics has the dual advantage of providing more information and enhancing the diner's perception of the dish.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/restaurant-menu-lingo-that-sells.html