Viewing Your VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) Settings

VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) changes the VLAN database of your switch; therefore, you will not see VTP settings in your running configuration. This is sometimes confusing because whenever you make changes in Global Configuration mode, the changes show up in your running configuration — except your VTP settings. To see the VTP settings, use the show command. Passwords are listed with the password command.

Switch1>enable
Switch1#show vtp ?
  counters  VTP statistics
  password  VTP password
  status    VTP domain status

The most useful option probably is status, which shows you the VTP configuration — minus the password — for your switch. Note that you see the revision number here, as well as the mode and domain name:

Switch1>enable
Switch1#show vtp status
VTP Version                     : 2
Configuration Revision          : 1
Maximum VLANs supported locally : 128
Number of existing VLANs        : 11
VTP Operating Mode              : Server
VTP Domain Name                 : edtetz.net
VTP Pruning Mode                : Disabled
VTP V2 Mode                     : Disabled
VTP Traps Generation            : Disabled
MD5 digest                      : 0xBC 0x8C 0xD6 0xE4 0x2F 0xA4 0x5D 0x28
Configuration last modified by 192.168.1.243 at 3-20-11 22:27:26
Local updater ID is 192.168.1.243 on interface Vl1 (lowest numbered VLAN interface found)

counters is a little less useful — unless you are not seeing any of the VLAN updates from neighboring switches. In that case, counters is very useful because it shows you the advertisements that you sent and received. If you are not receiving these, check the Trunk settings.

The last thing you see in counters is the pruning information, which again will be useful if you have VTP pruning enabled because it shows where the pruning occurs on the network.

Switch1>enable
Switch1#configure terminal
Switch1#show vtp counters
VTP statistics:
Summary advertisements received    : 6
Subset advertisements received     : 1
Request advertisements received    : 0
Summary advertisements transmitted : 7
Subset advertisements transmitted  : 2
Request advertisements transmitted : 0
Number of config revision errors   : 5
Number of config digest errors     : 0
Number of V1 summary errors        : 0
VTP pruning statistics:
Trunk            Join Transmitted Join Received    Summary advts received from
                                                   non-pruning-capable device
---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------------------
Fa0/1               0                0                0

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/viewing-your-vlan-trunking-protocol-vtp-settings.html

How to Write Content with Keywords for Search Engines

Your blog posts and pages on your WordPress website should contain keywords to ensure that search engines display your content in the first page of results so that people will find your site.

Those results can change from day to day, so someone else may very well have take over those coveted positions in the first page. The reality of chasing high-ranking search engine positions is that they’re here today, gone tomorrow. The goal of SEO (search engine optimization) is to make sure that your site ranks as high as possible for the keywords that you think people will use to find your site. After you attain those high-ranking positions, the next goal is to keep them.

When search engines visit your site to crawl through your content, they don’t see how nicely designed it is. They look for words that they grab to include in their databases. You, the site owner, want to make sure that your posts and pages use the words and phrases that you want to include in search engines.

If your post is about a recipe for fried green tomatoes, for example, you need to add a keyword or phrase that you think people will use when they search for the topic. If you think people would use the phrase recipe for fried green tomatoes as a search term, you may want to include that phrase in the content and title of your post. You can apply the same technique to pages that you create on your website.

A title like A Recipe I Like isn’t as effective as a title like A Recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes, right? Including it in your post or page content gives the search engines a double keyword whammy.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-write-content-with-keywords-for-search-engi.html

The Best Natural Food Sources of Vitamin D

11 of 12 in Series:
The Essentials of Vitamin D Basics and Dosage

You might think that you'd be able to get enough vitamin D by eating animals and plants that are rich food sources of vitamin D; however, it’s not that simple. With rare exceptions, the vast majority of foods don’t have enough concentrated vitamin D to get you to 600 or 800 IU per day.

Scientists have tried to “fortify” certain foods by adding more vitamin D. But because of limits that the Food and Drug Administration has placed on the amount of supplemental vitamin D that can be added to foods, even that practice doesn’t produce a food that can supply your daily needs for vitamin D by itself.

So enjoy some foods with vitamin D in them. Many are D-licious foods that you want in your diet anyway. But depending on your vitamin D needs and your skin production of vitamin D, you may need more than your food will give you.

Vitamin D is a substance that dissolves in oil and not in water (nutritionists call it a fat-soluble vitamin). This means that oily foods like wild salmon or animal blubber are the best sources of vitamin D. The following table lists the richest sources of vitamin D, from highest to lowest.

Richest Food Sources of Vitamin D

Food	IU per Serving
Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon	1,360
Salmon (sockeye), cooked, 3 ounces	794
Mushrooms exposed to UV light, 3 ounces	400
Mackerel, cooked, 3 ounces	388
Tuna fish, in water, 3 ounces	154
Milk, nonfat, reduced fat, and whole Vitamin D fortified, 1 cup	120
Orange juice, fortified, 8 ounces	100
Yogurt, fortified, 6 ounces	80
Margarine, fortified, 1 tablespoon	60
Sardines, in oil, 2 sardines	46
Liver, beef, cooked, 3.5 ounces	46
Ready-to-eat cereal, fortified, 1 cup	40
Egg, 1 whole, vitamin D in yolk	26
Cheese, Swiss, 1 ounce	6

Although several of these foods have quite a lot of vitamin D, not many people eat fatty fish every day, and few consume the traditional vitamin D–rich diet of animal blubber seen in the far north of Canada. Many people know that milk is fortified with vitamin D, but few people drink the 5 to 6 cups of milk a day that would be needed to get all your vitamin D from milk.

You might have noticed that even though cheese is made from milk, it isn’t a great source of vitamin D because vitamin D is added only to fluid milk that’s going to consumers, and not to the milk being used for cheese.

It’s also important to realize that food fortification practices differ between the United States and Canada. For example, fortification of milk and margarine is optional in the United States but mandatory in Canada.

Breakfast cereals can be fortified with vitamin D in the United States but not in Canada. The labeling of breakfast cereals will indicate whether vitamin D is added, but be careful of what it is telling you. In Canada it means that if the cereal is consumed with a cup of milk, you will obtain the specified amount of vitamin D, but not if you eat the cereal dry.

The recommended level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in your blood is 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L), and the new recommended dietary allowances say most healthy adults need 600 IU of vitamin D per day to reach this if you are getting no vitamin D from the sun.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-best-natural-food-sources-of-vitamin-d.html

How to Remove Demo and Trial Software from Windows PCs

Bonus software has crept into the basic PC configuration. The demonstration and trial use programs accumulated into what is now known as bloatware. You’re free to remove the software at any time, which generally frees up disk space and potentially speeds up your computer. Removing bloatware is done just like uninstalling any PC software.

To remove software, you need to follow these specific directions for Windows 7 and Windows Vista:

1. Open the Control Panel.

   
   



2. From beneath the Programs headings, choose Uninstall a Program.

   
   



3. Select the program you want to remove.

   
   



4. Click the Uninstall button on the toolbar.

   
   



5. Heed the directions on the screen.

   
   

Follow these directions in Windows XP:

1. Open the Add or Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel.

   
   



2. Select the program you want to remove.

   
   



3. Click the Change/Remove button that appears to the right of the selected item.

   
   



4. Heed the directions on the screen.

   
   

• Some bloatware arrives uninstalled. For example, online Internet services generally avail themselves by using Install icons in a special folder or on the Start menu. Just delete those icons if you don’t plan to use any of the services or programs.

  
  



• Be careful! Some of the bonus software on your PC might seem to be bloatware but isn’t. Software such as custom utilities or BIOS upgrade tools for your PC or laptop may be required. Other items, such as error reporting programs or manufacturer advertising, aren’t needed.

  
  



• To help you determine which manufacturer bloatware you need or don’t need, disable programs before you uninstall them.

  
  



• No, you don’t have to live with the antivirus software preinstalled on your PC. You can remove it, but do so only after any “free” or prepaid term has been completed.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-remove-demo-and-trial-software-from-windows.html

Emerging Markets in Egypt and Morocco

Sometimes referred to by the acronym MENA (Middle East-North Africa), this region of emerging markets is one of great risk offering potentially huge returns. Many, although not all, of the countries in the region draw their economic power from petroleum, and many, although not all, are subject to political instability resulting from religious tensions. Open wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created floods of refugees and fears of terrorism.

Many African countries have markets classified as frontier — a step below an actively emerging market.

Egypt

• Type of government: Republic

  
  



• Major industries: Cement, chemicals, construction, energy, food processing, hydrocarbons, light manufacturing, metals, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, textiles, tourism, transportation

  
  



• Currency: Egyptian pound (or gineih)

  
  



• English-language newspaper: Daily News Egypt

  
  

Independent since 1952, Egypt’s 80 million people make it the largest nation in the Middle East and a formidable political and military power. The country doesn’t have a lot of farmland, nor does it have oil. Tourists have been scared off by terrorist attacks that target them. Still, people are investing in energy, transportation, and telecommunications, and the government is working hard to sustain the progress made since independence. The fun of investing in emerging markets is trying to figure out which way a country will go, so Egypt is fun. Keep an eye on it.

Morocco

• Type of government: Constitutional monarchy

  
  



• Major industries: Construction, energy, food processing, leather goods, phosphate rock mining and processing, textiles, tourism

  
  



• Currency: Moroccan dirham

  
  



• English-language newspaper: Morocco NewsLine.com

  
  

Morocco has limitations on the press, and Islamic law is important. (Almost everyone in Morocco is Muslim.) But Morocco’s King Muhammad VI and his government have worked hard to keep the economy stable and to upgrade the country’s infrastructure. It hasn’t been easy, as only about half the population is literate, and the recession in Europe has hurt Morocco’s market for exports and tourism.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/emerging-markets-in-egypt-and-morocco.html

How to Display Text On-Screen in C with puts() and printf()

The things that a C program can do are limitless, but when you're first learning the language, you need to start small. One of the most common functions you'll want your C program to do is display text on the screen, and there are two ways to do so: puts() and printf().

puts()

Puts probably stands for put string, where a string is a bit of text you put to the screen. Regardless, here's how it works:

puts("Greetings, human!");

The text to display — the string — is enclosed in the function's parentheses. Furthermore, it's enclosed in double quotes, which is how you officially create text inside the C language, and how the compiler tells the difference between text and programming statements. Finally, the statement ends in a semicolon.

Here's how puts() might fit into some simple source code:

int main()
{
    puts("Greetings, human!");
    return(0);
}

The puts() function works inside the main() function. It's run first, displaying the text Greetings, human! on the screen. Then the return(0); statement is run next, which quits the program and returns control to the operating system.

printf()

Another C language function that displays text on the screen is printf(), which is far more powerful than puts() and is used more often. While the puts() function merely displays text on the screen, the printf() function displays formatted text. This gives you more control over the output.

Try the following source code:

 #include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("Sorry, can't talk now.");
    printf("I'm busy!");
    return(0);
}

Type this code into your editor and save it to disk as HELLO.C. Then compile it and run it.

Sorry, can't talk now.I'm busy!

You probably assumed that by putting two printf() statements on separate lines, two different lines of text would be displayed. Wrong!

The puts() function automatically appends a newline character at the end of any text it displays; the printf() function does not. Instead, you must manually insert the newline character (\n) into your text.

To "fix" the line breaks in the preceding HELLO.C file, change line 5 as follows:

printf("Sorry, can't talk now.\n");

The escape sequence \n is added after the period. It's before the final quotation marks because the newline character needs to be part of the string that's displayed.

So save the change, recompile HELLO.C, and run it. Now the output is formatted to your liking:

Sorry, can't talk now.
I'm busy!

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-display-text-onscreen-in-c-with-puts-and-pr.html

How to Borrow from Your 401(k)

You can borrow from your 401(k) only if your plan document allows you to borrow for the specific reason you have in mind. Some 401(k) plans permit borrowing for any reason, but most permit loans only for certain specified reasons. To borrow from your 401(k)

• Get details about your particular account loans. Check out your summary plan description, or talk to your benefits office or 401(k) plan provider.

  
  



• Figure out how much you can borrow. The government sets the limits on how much you can borrow. Generally, you’re allowed to borrow no more than 50 percent of your account value up to $50,000 maximum. However, government rules theoretically permit borrowing 100 percent of an account up to $10,000. But most plans don’t allow this; they limit all loans to 50 percent of the account value for the sake of simplicity. Some plans also impose a minimum loan amount because administering a loan for only a few bucks isn’t worth the hassle.

  
  



• Determine how much interest you have to pay. The interest you pay on your 401(k) loan is determined by your employer and must be a level that meets IRS requirements. It’s usually the prime rate (the interest rate banks charge the most creditworthy companies) plus 1 or 2 percentage points. In most plans, the interest you pay goes back into your account, so you’re in the interesting position of being both the borrower and the lender.

  
  



• Find out the repayment period. You normally have to repay the loan within five years, but you can repay it faster if your plan permits. Your employer may permit a longer repayment period if you use the money for a home purchase.

  
  



• Ask about repayment methods. Employers usually require you to repay a loan through deductions from your paycheck. The loan repayments are taken out of your paycheck after taxes, not pre-tax like your original contributions. Then, when you eventually withdraw this money in retirement, you pay tax on it again.

  
  

This point bears repeating: You pay tax twice on money used to repay a 401(k) loan.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-borrow-from-your-401k.html

Three Ways to Change Your Business Plan Focus

Don’t wait until your business is upended by change before you refocus your business vision. Stay proactive by annually assessing how well your product, location, distribution, staffing, and operations suit the market situation you face today and tomorrow.

Here are three areas within your business you can look to when it’s time to reshuffle the deck.

Business refocus #1: make product changes

To assess whether your product is in need of a minor-to-major overhaul, go to the Product/Service Description Checklist you developed for your business plan, this time completing it with change in mind.

• 
  

  Summarize your product and its features, this time frankly assessing whether the features of your offering are still competitive in your marketplace and, if not, what new features you could add to address changing wants and needs.

  
  


• 
  

  Then summarize your target customers, assessing whether your current products might appeal to different groups, within your current market area or in new market areas, in order to provide the sales volume you seek.

  
  


• 
  

  Next, summarize the benefits your product provides, asking whether customers still value those benefits and, if not, how you could revise your offering to create a different value proposition.

  
  


• 
  

  Finally, consider whether your company could adapt to its changed market environment by creating and offering an altogether new product, so long as that product fits with the capabilities of your business and your company’s brand image.

  
  

Business refocus #2: move your business

Whether your location is online or in a bricks-and-mortar building, sometimes a move is necessary to address the wants and needs of your primary customers and to kick-start lagging business. As you weigh your situation, assess how a change to your location could benefit your business.

• 
  

  Consider where your business could be located — physically and online. Can you achieve greater success in a different location or market area? Can you realize higher profit margins if you shift the nature of your location, reducing or eliminating physical inventory in favor of virtual inventory?

  
  


• 
  

  Outline what would be involved to physically revamp or relocate your business, or to establish an additional location.

  
  


• 
  

  Outline how you could achieve a stronger Internet footprint — by improving your own site, expanding your online social networks, establishing online marketplace affiliations, or establishing new ways customers could access your products online.

  
  

Business refocus #3: revamp your operations and processes

Some business reinventions involve changes to the very way companies operate. For example, a manufacturer that can’t achieve competitive pricing due to high costs might orchestrate a major business redesign by licensing proprietary designs for manufacture by third parties.

A business that can’t keep full-time staff productive might revise operations from an employee-based business to a virtual workplace staffed by freelance contractors. A business that requires large volumes of supplies or services may decide to create new business divisions in order to provide such components internally.

• 
  

  Consider whether your business would benefit from a major change in how it’s equipped. Would adding equipment allow your business new production options? Would selling equipment and subcontracting through third-party suppliers provide your business with higher profit margins?

  
  


• 
  

  Assess whether your business might benefit from a redesign of the way it’s staffed and organized.

  
  


• 
  

  Reconsider how you produce your product, how you handle inventory and delivery of your product, and how you maintain and guarantee product quality.

  
  

Business refocus #4: alter distribution channels

If your business planning is motivated by the need to turn your business around, consider how you might overhaul how you distribute your offering.

• 
  

  Outline new ways your product might reach your marketplace. If you’re currently a bricks-and-mortar operation, consider what an all-online distribution model might look like. If you currently sell through an internal sales force, consider how you could benefit from shifting to sales through wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives, auctions, or other altogether new sales approaches.

  
  

  If you currently sell directly to consumers, assess whether your business might benefit from strategic alliances with intermediaries that might purchase in bulk for resale to consumers.

  
  


• 
  

  Consider whether the market area you serve is sufficiently large to sustain your business, or whether you should expand or shift emphasis to new markets.

  
  

Especially if your business is about to undergo major changes, define in your written business plan how you plan to shift your business focus by altering your product, location, distribution, staffing, operations, and marketing.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/three-ways-to-change-your-business-plan-focus.html

Choosing How to Hold Your Online Investments

The biggest factor that influences how your online investments will make their way to Wall Street depends on how you hold your shares. Street name ownership is the most common with most online brokers.

Street name ownership is so common that unless you tell your online broker to do otherwise, your broker will assume that you want your shares owned in street name. Holding paper stock certificates is the old-school way of owning stocks. Direct registration is when the company that issues the stock holds your stock for you but lists you, not your broker, as the owner.

Street name ownership for stock investments

If you’re not sure how to hold your shares, street name ownership is probably your best bet. For most investors, the advantages of this form of ownership outweigh the few negatives:

• Easy handling of dividends: Dividends paid by companies you own stock in are sent directly to your online broker, which then deposits them to your account.

  
  



• Central source of company documents: If you’re like most online investors, you probably own shares of several companies. When you own the stock in street name, all the paper correspondence sent out by the companies first goes to your broker. The broker then forwards it to you.

  
  



• Security: It’s up to the brokerage to safeguard your stock.

  
  



• Easy to sell: If your online broker has your shares on hand, you can sell them anytime you want without having to mail in a paper certificate first.

  
  

Street name ownership does come with a few disadvantages:

• Potential delays in dividend payments: Some brokers are quicker about crediting dividends to your account than others.

  
  



• Hassle if your broker fails: Getting stock certificates transferred back to your name might be harder if your brokerage becomes insolvent.

  
  

Paper certificate stock ownership

The advantages to paper certificate ownership include the following:

• Cutting out the middleman: Company materials come straight to you. This can reduce the time it takes to get some documents.

  
  



• Using certificates as loan collateral: When you have the actual certificates, you might have a little easier time using the stock value to secure a loan.

  
  



• Having actual certificates makes it easier to give them as gifts or for display: A paper certificate can be framed and given to young investors as a present. There’s something nice about having an item to wrap.

  
  



• Being in control: With the certificates in your possession, you know where they are and can decide who can have them.

  
  

The following disadvantages to paper certificate ownership far outweigh the advantages:

• Difficulty in selling: Paper certificates must be mailed to your broker or to the company or a firm it hires to handle such matters so the stock can be sold. Some online brokers may charge extra to process paper certificates.

  
  



• Burden of keeping your contact information current with the company: It’s up to you to make sure that the company has your current address.

  
  



• Responsibility for safekeeping the certificates: You’ll probably have to spend money to get a safe deposit box. And when you send them through the mail, you will need to insure them in case they get lost.

  
  

For more details on what to do if you lose a stock certificate, the Securities and Exchange Commission maintains advice about lost certificates.

Direct registration of your stocks

You get several advantages from having directly registering your stocks:

• Company correspondence comes straight to you.

  
  



• You can sell shares without mailing certificates to your broker.

  
  



• You don’t have to worry about keeping the certificates safe.

  
  

Direct registration has two main downsides:

• Inability to sell shares immediately: You may instruct the company to sell the shares, but your request is generally put into a pool and executed later in the day, week, or month. You may also sell your shares by instructing the company’s transfer agent to electronically send the stock to your online broker. The transfer process can take a few days, so the price might change by the time you’re able to sell the stock.

  
  



• Pool of stock choices is somewhat reduced: Most companies offer direct registration, but not all. Many of the stocks you want to buy might not offer direct registration.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/choosing-how-to-hold-your-online-investments.html

How to Use Virtualization with Cloud Computing

Any discussion of cloud computing typically begins with virtualization. Virtualization is critical to cloud computing because it simplifies the delivery of services by providing a platform for optimizing complex IT resources in a scalable manner, which is what makes cloud computing so cost effective.

Virtualization can be applied very broadly to just about everything you can imagine including memory, networks, storage, hardware, operating systems, and applications. Virtualization has three characteristics that make it ideal for cloud computing:

• Partitioning: In virtualization, you can use partitioning to support many applications and operating systems (OSes) in a single physical system.

  
  



• Isolation: Because each virtual machine is isolated, each machine is protected from crashes and viruses in the other machines.

  
  

  What makes virtualization so important for the cloud is that it decouples the software from the hardware.

  
  



• Encapsulation: Encapsulation can protect each application so that it doesn’t interfere with other applications. Using encapsulation, a virtual machine can be represented (and even stored) as a single file, making it easy to identify and present to other applications.

  
  

To understand how virtualization helps with cloud computing, you must understand its many forms. In essence, in all cases, a resource actually emulates or imitates another resource. Here are some examples:

• Virtual memory: Disks have a lot more space than memory. PCs can use virtual memory to borrow extra memory from the hard disk. Although virtual disks are slower than real memory, if managed right, the substitution works surprisingly well.

  
  



• Software: There is virtualization software available that can emulate an entire computer, which means 1 computer can perform as though it were actually 20 computers. Using this kind of software you might be able to move from a data center with thousands of servers to one that supports as few as a couple of hundred.

  
  

To manage the various aspects of virtualization in cloud computing most companies use hypervisors. Because in cloud computing you need to support many different operating environments, the hypervisor becomes an ideal delivery mechanism by allowing you to show the same application on lots of different systems. Because hypervisors can load multiple operating systems, they are a very practical way of getting things virtualized quickly and efficiently.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-virtualization-with-cloud-computing.html

Controlling the Volume of Your Hair

You can create more volume or fullness with even the limpest of locks by manipulating the roots of the hair.

• If you want the hair to be full at the crown, blow-dry the hair forward (toward the face) until it's nearly dry, and then brush it back.

• For longer hair or spiky hairdos, dry the root area with the head bent over and the hair hanging upside down.

• For shorter hair types or for slightly less volume, hold the hair straight up from the scalp or straight-out from the sides, while drying the roots.

Kick it up a notch

Styling aids, such as sprays, mousses, and gels, naturally enhance all these techniques. You can find endless brands and varieties of styling aids on the shelves, but the majority of them fall into three formulations: light, medium (or normal), and firm (or strong) holds. Within all three of these categories, you can also choose to use volumizing or smoothing products. All these formulations are easy to spot, by the way, because the holding factor and purpose of the product is mentioned on the front label of nearly all styling products.

The natural abilities of the hair and the amount of fullness you desire determine which formula to use on the roots of the hair. If the hair is particularly limp, for example, you'd choose a medium-hold volumizing product for a moderate amount of fullness and a strong hold volumizing product for even more fullness.

The trick is to concentrate the majority of the product on the root area where the most lift is needed. If you decide that a firm formula is the way to go, consider using a lighter formula on the balance of the hair to avoid a stiff finish to your style (unless, of course, stiff is the look you're going for).

Following are some tips for getting the best volume and overall style with various hair types and styling aids. The styling aids really pump up the hair, and superimposing these products over amplifying shampoos and conditioners creates far better results.

• With fine hair textures, avoid using any type of gel at the root area because this type of product has more weight and often creates more sagging than lifting. Instead, use a styling spray or mousse.

• For medium hair textures, use either a light gel, lotion, styling spray, or mousse to create lift at the root area. If you want to use a gel, put a nickel-size amount of the product in the palm of one hand and rub your hands together. Use your hands to apply the slick of gel to the first inch or two of hair next to the scalp. This method allows you to spread the product more evenly throughout the root area.

• For coarse or curly hair textures, use a medium to strong gel to create a slight lift at the roots, and a smoother texture overall. Choosing a formula specifically made to "smooth" the hair shaft gives the best styling results.

To apply the gel, put a nickel-size to quarter-size application of product in the palm of one hand and rub your hands together. Use your hands to apply the slick of gel to the first inch or two of hair next to the scalp. Next, run the remaining product residue left on your hands through the shaft and ends of the hair. By applying the gel this way, you allow the product to spread more evenly, while helping to smooth and better control the hair.

If the hair is moderately dry, do what the pros do by mixing two or three drops of a leave-in conditioner with a nickel-size of gel. Mix the two products together in the palm of your hand and run it through the hair.

Take it down a notch

Some people can't get their hair to stand up, but others can't seem to get it to lie down. If you have to deal with hair that has too much volume, you can use certain products and techniques to make that hair behave better.

First, you need to make sure that the hair is richly conditioned — including using a leave-in conditioner just prior to styling. After you take care of the condition of the hair, you can control volume by following the growth of the hair. If the hair is supposed to hang straight down from the head, for instance, blow-drying the hair in that direction helps discourage excessive lifting. And for a smoother, flatter top, blow-drying the hair in the exact direction of the style can do wonders for controlling buoyant hair. Using a classic styling brush, rather than a round or vented brush, also encourages the hair to remain close to the head.

Hair that's naturally too full can be troublesome, but you can easily tame it by using good blow-drying techniques and the right products. These products help calm the excitable nature of buoyant hair, while smoothing the cuticle layer — something that's frequently open in this type of hair, making it difficult for the hair to retain moisture. Sealing the cuticle layer is particularly important for dry, damaged, or frizzy hair because these hair types don't normally lie smoothly or possess even a semblance of shine.

To control overly full hair, you need the following products:

• Deeply moisturizing shampoos and conditioners: These two items provide a good foundation for improving the behavior of too-fluffy hair.

• A leave-in conditioner: This product is helpful when you use it just prior to blow-drying the hair. The brands you choose to use should add moisture, provide better control, and tame frizzies.

• A medium or heavy gel: A styling aid with this kind of strength helps manhandle hair that's overly full because the sheer weight of it keeps things under better control.

• A styling serum for curly, full, or frizzy hair: Use this excellent product to smooth the cuticle layer. Make sure to follow the application instructions on the bottle because many of these products are extremely concentrated! Some styling serums also have thermal heat protectant ingredients, which is beneficial to all hair types but particularly to those that tend to become dry.

If you're using a heavy gel at the roots, apply your serum, beginning 1 inch away from the scalp to prevent over-coating the hair with product.

• Pomade, wax, or styling paste: Finish the hair with one of these products to give it superior control. These heavy products help calm frizzes, while encouraging the hair to lay the way it was styled. When applying pomade, put a pea-size of product in the palm of one hand and then vigorously rub your hands together. When applying this product to the hair, skip the first inch of hair next to the scalp as this can cause the root area to be excessively oily. Never use a body-enhancing product on this type of hair.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/controlling-the-volume-of-your-hair.html

Paid versus Nonpaid Offers in Location-based Marketing

There are several ways that you can reward your customers for checking-in at your business on a location-based service (LBS). Some involve items of monetary value, but sometimes, your most valuable offers can come in the form of customer recognition and experience.

Paid offers

Paid offers have some monetary value, whether they are discounts, free t-shirts, free coffee, or gift cards. In many cases, these rewards are great at driving check-ins. Here are some of the major categories of paid offers you can use in your offers:

• Free merchandise: You can offer cups of coffee, dessert, photos, picture frames, t-shirts, posters, or tchotchkes.

  
  



• Discounts (fixed): Provide a straight discount for anyone who checks in. Vary the discount by which check-in it is (first, second, and so on) or by the level of engagement.

  
  



• Discounts (sweepstakes-style): If you really want to make things exciting, give away a different level of discount as a variable any time someone checks in.

  
  



• Contests: Anyone who checks in is entered into a contest for valuable prizes.

  
  

Nonpaid offers

Sometimes, the best offers you can make are those of the nonpaid variety. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore paid offers, but sometimes simple acknowledgment, a virtual good, or an experience will do the trick. The following lists nonpaid offers that you can incorporate into your LBS marketing campaign:

• Acknowledgement: When customers check in, comment on their check-in or thank them for coming. Remember, don’t be overly eager. Sometimes letting some time elapse (at least a few hours) is a good idea.

  
  



• Customer recognition: Put a plaque on the wall that lets others know who your mayor, leader, or frequent tip contributor is. Consider posting this information on your website and your Facebook Wall as well.

  
  



• Virtual goods or badges: If your customers engage in the gaming aspect of location-based marketing, offer them virtual goods or badges that they can then show off to others.

  
  



• Experiences: For your most valuable customers, offer them a tour of your establishment. Or invite a number of your most regular check-ins/contributors to a VIP wine tasting. You might even ask them to become part of a formal or informal advisory board.

  
  

To get people excited about sharing their check-ins with their networks, offer the same (or a similar type of discount or offer) to anyone within a customer’s network on Twitter or Facebook. To protect yourself, you can bind the offer or discount by location or time frame.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/paid-versus-nonpaid-offers-in-locationbased-market.html

Playing Eights: Simple Is as Simple Does

What could be simpler than Eights? Until you add a few complexities, Eights is not a challenging game.

To play Eights, you require the following:

• Two or more players

• At least one standard 52-card deck of cards: No jokers are used in most versions of Eights, but you may well need at least one more deck of cards, because the game can be adapted to large numbers of players.

• Paper and pencil for scoring

The object of the game is to be the first to dispose of all your cards. Everyone plays for himself, rather than in partnership, no matter how many players participate.

The first player to go out scores points according to the cards left in his opponents' hands. The first player to reach 250 points wins.

Dealing the cards

The players cut for the deal, and the person who draws the lowest card deals the cards, one card at a time, clockwise and face-down. Thereafter, the deal progresses one place to the dealer's left.

Each player starts with the same number of cards:

• With two to four players, each player gets seven cards.

• With more than four players, each player gets five cards. When the number of players climbs above six, add a second deck.

Playing your cards right

After all the cards are dealt, the dealer puts the remainder of the stock face-down in the middle of the table and turns over the top card to start the discard pile. The player to the dealer's left has the first opportunity to play a card. He has three distinct choices about which card to play:

• He may play a card that coincides with the suit (clubs, spades, diamonds, or hearts) or the rank (2s, jacks, and so on) of the top card.

• He may play an 8: All 8s are wild — meaning that you can play an 8 at any time, no matter what the previously-played card was. Moreover, when you play an 8, you can nominate any suit (but not a rank), and the next player must play a card of that suit or put down another 8 in order to earn the right to name a new (or the same) suit. If he can do neither, he must pick up a card from the stock. (If the first card turned over is an 8, then the first player can play whatever he likes.)

• He may pick up the top card from the stock and add it to his hand if he is unable or unwilling to play a card.

If the first player plays a card, he places his card on top of the discard pile, and his play now dictates what the next player, to his left, can do. That player has the same three choices: He can follow suit or match the rank of the card just played; play an 8; or pick up a card from the stock.

And so the play goes on. For example, if the card turned over is the 7 of Hearts, the first player can play the 7 of Diamonds. That card allows the second player to play the Queen of Diamonds. The third player must next play a diamond, a queen, or an 8 — or he can pick up.

In Eights, it isn't necessarily right to play just because you can. For example, you may not want to let go of an 8 at an early moment in the game; you may want to keep the 8 to dictate what suit is played at the end of the hand. Also, you may sometimes find that building up a supply of cards in one suit (or cornering a suit) early in the game is an advantage — doing so may allow you to make a series of moves at the end of the game when no one else can play and has to pick up cards. However, life isn't that simple. The last thing in the world you want to do is to be left with a bunch of cards as the game winds down.

Paying the price when your opponent goes out

The game concludes when one player gets rid of all his cards. At that point, the damage is assessed on the other players:

• Each court card (the ace, king, queen, and jack) is worth 10 points.

• All other cards, except the 8, are charged at their face value. For example, a 2 counts for 2 points.

• The 8s come in at a painful 50 points each.

The winner collects points from everyone else. Folks usually play that the first player to 250 points wins and that the winner receives an additional 100 points.

When the game is apparently reaching the finale, make sure to unload your 8s as fast as you can, because the penalty for still having an 8 at the end of the game outweighs the tactical advantage in keeping an 8 to play later.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/playing-eights-simple-is-as-simple-does.html

VoIP: Counting Up the Cost Benefits

By using VoIP (voice over Internet protocol), companies immediately save money on toll charges. Also, you don't pay any additional per-line feature charges because VoIP runs on your computer network. Regulatory fees, surcharges, and taxes are applied on a per-line basis. As you reduce the number of lines, the line-cost and recurring charges go with them.

Reducing or eliminating phone lines

If you can eliminate one or more of the lines that you lease from the carrier, the call feature charges, the regulatory fees, and the taxes are also eliminated. Reducing the total number of lines really makes a cost difference. In the plain old telephone service/public switched telephone network (POTS/PSTN) way of doing telephony, you get additional lines as you need to increase your capacity. In the VoIP way, you can upgrade your bandwidth on your dedicated line to increase capacity.

There are several disadvantages for companies that use POTS/PSTN rather than VoIP telephony. POTS-related lines are leased from a carrier. Just leasing a single line incurs added expenses. For example:

• Each line usually has a nominal startup charge.

• Each line has a monthly recurring access charge.

• For each POTS line, the company must pay monthly recurring usage charges.

All recurring charges are based on a rate per minute per line. When you add up all the minutes from every line in operation at each of your company's locations, the monthly costs can soar.

Taking off your add-on charges

Traditional phone service normally includes costs that apply to every single line you lease. Just like any other service, traditional telephony lines and services are taxed. Depending on your location, you could have one or more taxes in addition to all the other monthly charges. Taxes are based on the total cost of your line access and other services. For instance, for each line's total service cost, you can add the following taxes to the bill:

• Federal tax (about 4 percent)

• State tax (varies by state but the average range is 5 to 7 percent)

• 911 emergency surcharge fund (flat rate of $1 per line)

Taxes obviously affect your bottom line. VoIP, however, doesn't come with any taxes or surcharges. VoIP is unregulated and operates over your existing computer network. Therefore, taxes don't apply to your monthly bill.

Deregulating your telephone costs

POTS/PSTN lines and services also involve other monthly regulatory fees. These are charges that go to various government entities. These fees are based on a percentage of each line's monthly access cost:

• Universal service fund (3.5 percent)

• Interstate access surcharge (20.9 percent)

• Telecommunications relay surcharge (0.1 percent)

These charges are based on a percentage of the monthly per-line access cost, but before you draw any conclusions about these costs being nominal, add up the number of lines and the total cost. Depending on your location (especially if you're a multi-site business), these regulated fees will vary. For a corporate customer, if you take about 4 to 7 percent of your total monthly access costs, you can get a close estimate. If you're a consumer, these add-on fees can be as high as 20 percent of your total monthly telephone bill.

With VoIP, you pay regulatory fees for your dedicated network transports, but you already pay these in support of your computer data network. VoIP runs over your packetized computer network, so you have no more taxes, add-on costs, or other regulatory costs for VoIP telephony.

Using free call features

Calling features include items such as voice mail, call forwarding, call transfer, return call, and three-way calling. Traditional telephony requires you to pay a monthly charge for call features. These add-on charges may not apply equally to all the lines you lease because the features are optional.

Some call features are so popular, many people think they're a part of the telephone service and are expected to come with the access line. Voice mail, for instance, is considered an essential with any telephone, but you still have to pay the carrier $7 to $9 per month per line. If you use the popular call-return feature (*69), you can pay $1.00 to $1.50 for each use.

You can reduce the total cost of call features by setting up a bundled plan with the carrier. However, you don't have to add any call features to any line; they're truly options like a moon roof or climate control in a car.

VoIP comes with the usual call features that you have to either bundle with your traditional lines or pay à la carte per line as you use these features. But with VoIP, you don't need to worry about the cost of call features; they're all included at no extra cost.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/voip-counting-up-the-cost-benefits.html

Outlook 2007 Toolbars

Using an Outlook 2007 toolbar is a super timesaver. Many toolbar buttons disappear when they’re not needed, so it’s not unusual if your toolbars look different. Outlook has three toolbars (Standard, Advanced, and Web) to choose from, choose View→Toolbars.

Inbox tools

This is the mail toolbar you’ll see in Outlook 2007:

Calendar toolbar buttons

You’ll see this toolbar when you open the Calendar in Outlook 2007:

Contact toolbar buttons

When you open contacts in Outlook 2007, you’ll see this toolbar:

Tasks toolbar buttons

This is the task toolbar in Outlook 2007:

Notes toolbar buttons

When you open Outlook 2007 notes, you’ll see this toolbar:

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/outlook-2007-toolbars.html

TCP/IP Definitions

Knowing your way around TCP/IP is key if you want to manage a network successfully. The definitions in the following list explain the basics, such as what an IP address is, and they also clarify the various nets you deal with — extranets, intranet, and subnetting — as well other key terms.

• CIDR (Classless InterDomain Routing): A way to conserve on IP addresses. An IP addressing design that replaces the traditional Class A, B, C structure, CIDR allows one IP address to represent many IP addresses. A CIDR address looks like a regular IP address with a “suffix” on the end, such as 192.200.0.0/12. The suffix is an IP prefix.

  
  



• extranet: A private/public hybrid network that uses TCP/IP to share part of an intranet with an outside organization. An extranet is the part of an intranet that outsiders can access over the Internet. Be sure to have good security practices if you have an extranet.

  
  



• intranet: An organization’s private network. If your intranet is built on TCP/IP protocols, applications, and services, it’s also an Internet.

  
  



• IP address: The 32-bit (IPv4) or 128-bit (IPv6) numeric address for a computer. You must have an IP address to be connected to the Internet. An IP address consists of two parts: the network piece and the host piece. An IPv4 example: 127.0.0.1; an IPv6 example: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 (::1 for short).

  
  



• loopback address: IP shorthand for you — actually, your computer. The loopback is a special IP address (127.0.0.1) that isn’t physically connected to any network hardware. You use it to test TCP/IP services and applications without worrying about hardware problems.

  
  



• Network Address Translation (NAT): Helps the Internet not run out of IP addresses by translating an IP address (perhaps not unique) on one network to another IP address on a different network — usually, the Internet. IPv6 does away with the need for NAT address help, but NAT, unintentionally, also provides firewall security.

  
  



• subnetting: Dividing one large Internet into smaller networks (subnets) in which they all share the same network portion of an IP address.

  
  



• TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): The guts and the rules of the Internet and World Wide Web. A set of protocols, services, and applications for linking computers of all kinds.

  
  



• Virtual private network (VPN): A private network that runs over the public Internet. You can build a VPN at low cost by using the Internet (rather than your own system of private — and expensive — lines) with special security checks and a tunneling protocol. Companies are beginning to use a private virtual network for both extranets and wide-area intranets.

  
  



• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP): Are you spending too much on phone calls? Get rid of your phone service. You can make phone calls from anywhere to anywhere that has a computer, free VoIP software, and a fast Internet connection. Even better, it’s free. You can call from Buenos Aires to Nairobi for free with VoIP. It doesn’t have to be computer to computer, either. You can also use VoIP to call a regular telephone number.

  
  

Are you acronym challenged? If you don’t know what a particular acronym means, visit WhatIs? where you can find thousands of definitions for Internet and security acronyms.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/tcpip-definitions.html

Editing in Word 2007: Track Changes and Review

Writing is a lonely art . . . that is, until editors show up. They'll make revisions by adding to your carefully written work, moving stuff around, and deleting text (ouch!). There's no way to identify your original text from the modified text — unless you use Word 2007's Track Changes tool.

Tracking changes as you make them

To note changes on the screen as they're made, simply activate Word's revision-tracking feature: Click the Review tab and then click the Track Changes button. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+E.

With revision tracking turned on, simply start editing the document. Any new text you add appears in red underlining. Text you delete is colored red with strikethrough. (Those aren't really text attributes, but rather are Word showing you which text has been messed with.

To turn off revision tracking, click the Track Changes button again.

• The only clue that you've properly activated revision tracking is that the Track Changes button appears highlighted.

• It's common for Word users not familiar with revision tracking to be frustrated with unexpected red-underlined text. This is simply revision tracking, which someone has enabled. To disable it, click the Track Changes button in the Review tab's Tracking group.

Reviewing the changes

It's understood that you want to scrutinize every change made to your document. Word makes the task easy, thanks to commands in the Changes group found on the Review tab. Here's how things go:

1. Press Ctrl+Home to start at the top of the document.

Ensure that you're looking at the compared document, not the original or edited version (refer to the preceding section).

2. Click the Next button to locate the next change in your document.

• To accept the change, click the Accept button. The change is approved, and you're taken to the next bit of modified text. Or:

• To reject the change, click the Reject button. The change is removed from your document, and you're taken to the next location where text has been modified.

3. Save the final document.

When you've found the last change and fixed it (or not), a dialog box explains that your quest is over. The document has been reviewed. You should now save it to disk by giving it a new name so that you know it's the result of combined efforts.

Going through this process removes all the revision marks from your document. Here are a few more pointers to keep in mind:

• Use the X buttons to close various task panes that are open for the reviewing process.

• When you're in a real hurry, you can use the drop-down menus beneath either the Accept or Reject command button to choose either the Accept All Changes in Document or Reject All Changes in Document commands, respectively.

• When you goof, you can choose Edit --> Undo, just as you can undo any other boo-boo.

• You can right-click any revision mark to accept or reject it.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/editing-in-word-2007-track-changes-and-review.html

How to Inspect the Blower-Fan Belt on a Furnace

Regularly inspect blower-fan belts for any sign of damage and replace the belt if it’s damaged. Knowing how to inspect the blower-fan belt improves furnace efficiency.

Furnaces need monthly maintenance and many do-it-yourselfers overlook the blower-fan belt. A worn, wimpy belt isn’t dangerous, but it makes a squealing noise that may drive you crazy and, more important, cost you money. If the belt isn’t tight enough, it slips, and the fan won’t turn as it should. You get less hot air for your money.

• Inspect the belt for wear and tear. Look for signs of cracking or weakness. If the belt is frayed or looks worn, replace it right away. In fact, as long as you're buying a new blower-fan belt, buy two. Keep the extra one in a plastic bag on a nail by the furnace for those middle-of-the-night, all-the-stores-are-closed, the-house-is-freezing, blown-fan-belt emergency.

  
  



• Check the tension. Even if the belt looks good, if it has more than 1/2 inch of give either way (1 inch total), tighten it by taking up the extra slack by using the motor adjusting bolt.

  
  

  Don’t tighten too much — a too-tight belt damages the motor and fan bearings and makes a big, expensive mess of things.

  
  



• Adjust the pulley alignment. While you’re in there fooling with the belt, check the pulley alignment too. The pulleys should line up perfectly. If you see any twisting in the belt, loosen the motor pulley mounting bolts and make an adjustment.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-inspect-the-blowerfan-belt-on-a-furnace.html

When to Call the Veterinarian for Your Greyhound

Knowing how your greyhound behaves when he is healthy can prevent some emergencies. If your ex-racer greyhound does show any of the following symptoms, call your veterinarian immediately for help or so the vet can be prepared, if needed, for your greyhound’s arrival:

• Any loss of appetite that continues for 24 hours.

  
  



• Vomiting or diarrhea that persists for more than 24 hours, or any vomiting or diarrhea in a dog more than eight years of age.

  
  



• Symptoms of bloat, such as unsuccessful attempts to vomit, rapid shallow breathing, a distressed appearance, and a painful or enlarged abdomen.

  
  



• A first seizure, recurrent seizures, or any seizure that lasts more than three minutes.

  
  



• Body temperature above 104 degrees or below 100 degrees.

  
  



• A serious fall or blow to head, chest, or abdomen even if there is no apparent injury; any injury to the eye, no matter how minor; or any encounter with a moving vehicle.

  
  



• Any open wound or injury in which bleeding continues for more than five minutes, despite your efforts to control it.

  
  



• Difficulty breathing.

  
  



• Collapse or unconsciousness.

  
  



• Snake bite.

  
  



• Heatstroke.

  
  



• Poisoning.

  
  



• Burns, no matter how minor.

  
  



• Straining or difficulty urinating or defecating.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/when-to-call-the-veterinarian-for-your-greyhound.html

Potty Training at Daycare

Some kiddos' potty programs are thrown off track by outside caregivers who really, truly mean well — but they just don't get why you think consistency from home to daycare is such a big deal.

However, whether caregivers understand or not, most are willing to listen to your comments. Tell them that you believe that changing approaches will mix up your tiny tyke who is barely used to using the toilet, anyway.

Getting all caregivers to be consistent

Go ahead and assume that most outside caregivers have their own ideas on potty training, so inform yours — right after Potty-Training Weekend — that you have a potty plan for your child.

Telling the caregiver, "Here's what we do" at the very beginning is so much easier than trying to back track. (Think how much you've liked bosses who made their expectations clear upfront, versus those who told you what they wanted after you'd screwed up.)

Daycare workers tend to use a one-size-fits-all method that works well with kids who are totally ready to cooperate. And your tot may not fit in that category.

A center's method is usually based on the owner/director's potty-training beliefs, so the approach can range from as rigid as Nurse Ratched of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to as quietly nurturing as Mr. Rogers from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Basically, you can bet that few daycare centers do much personalizing of potty training. On the other hand, their method probably won't be counter to the Potty Training For Dummies way, except for being a bit less flexible and a bit more blame shifting. Most daycare personnel simply don't have the time for one-on-one teaching.

Instead of asking a daytime caregiver what approach she takes with kids in potty training, just give her your handout and ask her to follow it. Otherwise, you'll have to say, "Your way doesn't suit me." Yuck. Ouch.

So clearly, emphatically, and tactfully state your desires: "Please, during the day while I'm at work, follow this plan for helping potty train Tommy. She needs help, of course, but no forcing or punishing. She's going to make mistakes, and pressure just won't help — I'm sure of it."

Youngsters can get confused easily. So, the best way to handle the possibilities for divergent ideas is to jot down the 1-2-3 of your child's potty regimen and hand it to caregivers. Leave no room for improvisation. Perhaps that will stave off the dicey situation of discovering that someone's doing things differently at daycare, and your kid is getting terribly confused. That forces you into a corner where you must ask for their cooperation and a switcheroo back to your way.

If relatives or friends also care for your child from time to time, make them copies while you're at it. Let your child know what you're doing and why. "This way, Aunt Camilla and cousin Gina and Mrs. Fritz at daycare all will know what you like to do when it's time to go potty."

Giving all caregivers the page

Make a big point of giving your lead caregiver a page of instructions. You may want to set up an appointment so you'll really have her attention. Explain that you think you've found the best way to potty train your child, and you'll appreciate her compliance with the plan. Even go so far as to point out that you don't want anyone who takes care of Ava to meet you with a negative report at pickup time: "Your child was a total pee-renegade today — she wet her pants!" None of that stuff, thank you very much.

But do ask your caregiver to jot down an end-of-week progress report so that the wee lassie's potty deeds won't be discussed in front of her — unless, of course, we're talking rave reviews. Request four weeks' worth of progress reports, and be sure she knows you mean simply a quick rundown — nothing elaborate or typewritten.

Tell your caregiver, nanny, or relative: "I'd appreciate it very much if you'd follow this plan because we started it over the weekend, and Ally is doing just great. Otherwise, I'm afraid she'll get confused. Thanks so much, in advance, for your help."

Emphasize that you know this person (relative, nanny, caregiver) will be a major player in helping your child succeed. "I really appreciate you being up for this."

Here's the written plan that you can hand out:

1. Take the toddler to the potty every two hours if possible. (If she refuses, don't push it.) Be sure she potty-sits shortly after eating and drinking. Gentle prompting is fine.

2. Ask the child to tell you when she feels like she needs to go.

3. Give praise, even if nothing happens during the potty-sit. Don't apply any pressure. If she goes, she goes; otherwise, just say you're glad she tried.

4. Please don't make the child feel guilty if she messes up her pants. Just change them, and put on fresh clothing (if necessary). And, please say that you bet she will get it right the next time.

5. Let her pull up underpants and clothes, even when these efforts are sloppy and awkward. Don't jump in and straighten up. She needs to feel as if she's succeeding, so right now, tidiness doesn't count.

6. Tell the toddler that she has done something very good when she actually pees or poops in the potty.

When you hand over the poo-and-pee-plan for your child's day, make sure the caregiver understands that you have faith in her attitude of teamwork. Word this in a way that shows your faith in her: "Of course, I never doubted for one minute that you wouldn't be on board for this, but I just thought I'd write it down, for your convenience. I know you have a million things on your mind every day."

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/potty-training-at-daycare.html

Speedy Quicken 2010 Shortcuts That Save You Time

Want to save time working with the Quicken 2010 program? Consider using and memorizing a handful of the keyboard shortcuts listed in the table here. Learning to use Quicken keyboard shortcuts — although a bit of memorization work upfront — usually pays back rich dividends in the form of data entry time savings.

Shortcut	Why You Want to Try Really Darn Hard to Remember This
Ctrl+S	Displays the Split Transaction window (so that you can use more than one category to describe a payment or deposit).
Shift+Delete	Cuts out the selected text in a field and moves it to the Windows Clipboard (so that you can paste it into some other field).
Ctrl+Insert	Copies the selected text in a field to the Windows Clipboard (so that you can paste it into some other field).
Shift+Insert	Pastes what's on the Clipboard into the selected field.
Ctrl+P	Prints the contents of the active window. (Well, almost always.)
F1	For those times when you just have to say, “Aaagh! Help! Help!”
Ctrl+O	Lets you open another Quicken data file.
Ctrl+K	Displays the financial calendar.
Ctrl+B	Puts you on the fast track to backing up your data.
Ctrl+A	Displays the Accounts List window.
Ctrl+W	Displays the Write Checks window.
Ctrl+L	Displays the tag list.
Ctrl+T	Displays the memorized transactions list.
Ctrl+J	Displays the scheduled transactions list.
Ctrl+U	Displays the Portfolio View window.
Ctrl+Y	Displays the security list.
Ctrl+H	Displays the Loans window.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/speedy-quicken-2010-shortcuts-that-save-you-time.html

Vermicomposting: Creating Compost with Worms

1 of 4 in Series:
The Essentials of Worm Composting

Vermicomposting, having worms break down table scraps and paper into nutrient-rich fertilizer, is an ideal way to deal with small amounts of household waste and is perfect for creating compost if you don't have much outside space. A worm farm is basically an aerated bin in which you combine worms, paper bedding, and compostable food and paper scraps. The worms munch the vegetable and fruit peelings, paper, and cardboard that you put in the top of the worm farm, and they process it through their digestive systems to come out the other end as worm castings — very effective compost.

Follow these steps to create your worm composting system:

1. Buy a worm farm kit or box from your local municipality or garden center or from a supplier over the Internet.

   
   

   The farm often resembles a household plastic storage bin with holes punched in the top and a lid.

   
   



2. Follow the kit's instructions to create a bed for the worms, usually from a mix of shredded newspaper, leaves, cardboard, dry grass, and straw.

   
   

   The bedding needs to be moist, but not wet. If it feels like a well-wrung sponge, it's right.

   
   



3. Gather the necessary start-up material: red earthworms.

   
   

   Your kit probably comes with the worms; if not, buy them from a worm supplier, which you can find at garden centers and via the Internet. For a worm farm to work properly, you need the right type of worms; most experts recommend red earthworms.

   
   



4. Every few days, or as your kit's instructions indicate, add food scraps to feed your worms.

   
   

   Compostable material such as vegetable and fruit scraps, tea leaves, and coffee grounds are great worm food. Chop up the larger scraps to make the worms' job easier. Add the material to the bins (you usually need to bury it slightly in the bedding).

   
   



5. Harvest your compost after three to six months.

   
   

   When you notice that the food and bedding has become quite a bit darker, and you can see that it's being converted to compost, it's time to harvest. If you shine a light into the bin, the worms will move away from it, allowing you to scoop out the compost in the top layers.

   
   

Many kits also provide a way to collect the liquid produced in the composting process, which is known as tea and can be used as liquid fertilizer for plants. After the harvest, start your composting again by adding fresh bedding and food to the bin.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/vermicomposting-creating-compost-with-worms.html

Repairing Stains, Nicks, and Scratches in Hardwood Floors

If you have small areas of damage in your hardwood floors, you might not have to refinish the entire floor. You may be able to repair stains, nicks, and scratches. Stains are the toughest fix when it comes to hardwood floors. One stain or water ring can ruin the look of the whole floor. Unfortunately, refinishing the entire floor is sometimes the only way to get rid of a stain or ring. But before you rent a sander and start using language that would make a sailor blush, try to get rid of the stain. Doing so requires using a gentle touch and the right materials, but it’s worth a shot.

Most stains on hardwood floors are very dark, even black. You don’t need to try to get rid of the entire stain in one try. Getting rid of the blemish may take several attempts, but you may be successful.

Follow these steps to remove a stain:

1. Sand off the old finish.

   
   



2. Mix oxalic acid crystals (sold at home centers and paint and hardware stores) in water, following the package directions.

   
   

   Be sure to wear eye protection and acid-resistant rubber gloves.

   
   



3. Soak a clean white cloth in the acid mixture. Then press the cloth on the stained area and let it set for about an hour.

   
   



4. Lift the cloth and check to see whether the stain has been bleached away. If it hasn’t, repeat the process.

   
   

   This may take several applications, but eventually the stain will be bleached away.

   
   



5. After the stain is gone, rinse the area with household vinegar to neutralize the acid. Wipe away any excess moisture and allow the area to dry completely.

   
   



6. Apply a matching oil-based stain lightly to the bleached area.

   
   

   Use several coats, if necessary, to match. Don’t try to match the color with only one application. You can always darken the area with additional coats, but you can’t lighten it after it’s gotten too dark. If you think the stain is too dark, wipe the area immediately with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. Doing so will remove some of the stain and lighten the area.

   
   

   After you’ve achieved the desired color, allow the area to dry overnight.

   
   



7. Apply the topcoat finish and blend into the adjacent areas.

   
   

   Once again, you may not get a perfect match; however, it may be good enough to avoid having to refinish the entire floor. If it doesn’t match enough to suit you, refinish the floor.

   
   

You can usually cover up nicks and scratches with color putty sticks. Simply clean the nicked or scratched area thoroughly and rub the putty stick over the damaged spot. Let the color dry for a few minutes and then wipe it with a clean cloth. Most of the time, getting color into a nicked or scratched area is all you need to do to make the damage disappear — at least to those who don’t know that the area was damaged before. Use the same stuff to fill nail holes in a patched floor after the top coat is applied.

If a nick or scratch is really a dig or gouge, you face a whole different type of repair. It involves using wood filler and stain and trying to match the existing floor color. If your floor is really showing its age, consider refinishing the entire surface instead of spending time and energy on smaller fixes that really are better handled by redoing the entire surface. You’ll like the final results a lot more!

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/repairing-stains-nicks-and-scratches-in-hardwood-f.html

Thin Is In When It Comes to HDTV Displays

Flat-panel TV technology — super-thin HDTVs that you can hang on the wall like a painting — have really taken off in popularity. A big-screen, flat-panel plasma or LCD TV has become the status symbol almost everywhere. There's good reason for this mania — flat panels provide a large viewing area with almost no intrusion into your HDTV viewing room, and they can offer a very high-quality HDTV picture, as well.

Loving your LCD

If you have a flat-panel display for your PC, a laptop PC, a PDA, a cell phone, a Game Boy — or just about any digital device with a display, you have an LCD display. LCDs have been around for decades, mainly in lower-resolution formats and smaller sizes (such as phone screens), but they are getting larger all the time — and growing sharper in resolution.

The LCDs being discussed are direct view LCDs — in other words, LCD HDTVs where you look at the LCD display itself. In contrast, projectors with LCD microdisplays have teeny tiny LCDs that are used to project a bigger image on a screen.

Even as they get bigger, however, LCDs tend to be the smallest HDTVs available on the market (so they may not be big enough for a true home-theater environment). Most LCD HDTVs on the market are smaller than 30 or 32 inches — smaller, in other words, than projectors or plasmas, and smaller than many tube-based CRT HDTVs.

However, advances in LCD manufacturing, as well as new technologies, such as O-LED (Organic LED) and SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Displays), promise LCD-like displays in ever-bigger sizes in the future. In addition to the "super-skinny-hang-it-on-the-wall" attribute, here are other reasons LCD displays are so appealing:

• Excellent color: LCDs can display millions of colors, and do so accurately (meaning the color coming off the screen is faithful to the color in your broadcast or recording).

• PC-monitor-capable: Many LCD HDTVs can also be used as big (huge!) PC monitors. This trick is especially cool if you have one of those neat Media Center PCs.

• No burn-in: HDTVs that rely upon phosphors, such as CRTs and plasmas, can, under certain circumstances, experience burn-in, where ghost images are permanently burned into the screen. LCDs are immune from this phenomenon.

Besides a size limitation, consider a few other issues before you choose an LCD HDTV:

• Limited viewing angle: LCDs typically have a poor viewing angle — the angle you can sit away from perpendicular and still see a clear image on-screen. Manufacturers have been working diligently to improve this characteristic (with some success). Check the specs before you buy — most LCD HDTVs will have viewing angles listed in their specifications.

• Slow pixel response time: Another area that LCD HDTV makers are working overtime to improve is the pixel response time of their TVs. Basically, the individual pixels within an LCD HDTV take a slight amount of time to change color and intensity. For really fast-moving video content (particularly in a 720p picture, where every pixel can change as many as 60 times per second), an LCD TV can end up with some artifacts (visible flaws) where the picture from a previous frame is still slightly visible on-screen as the new one is being drawn. Typically, this isn't a huge and noticeable deal, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that you might notice it.

• Limited brightness: The LCD is a transmissive system — light is shined through the liquid crystals — some of that light gets absorbed or reflected back away from the viewer. This means that LCD displays are not as bright as CRT, plasma and even some projection TVs (DLP, for example) — this could be a factor in a brightly lit room.

Everyone's crazy about plasma

The really hot spot in the HDTV technology market is the plasma TV. Plasma TVs combine a thin, compact chassis with a truly large (even huge) screen size, and then add beautiful high-definition pictures to the mix. For many potential HDTV buyers, plasmas really fit the bill.

A plasma screen contains literally millions of gas-filled cells (each one acting as a single image pixel) trapped between two pieces of glass. An electrical grid zaps these cells and causes the gases to ionize (and ionized gas is plasma — hence the name). The ionized gases, in turn, cause a layer of phosphor on the viewer's side layer of glass to light up (just as the electron gun in a CRT causes the phosphor to light up on the front of the tube).

Despite their compact dimensions (in the "depth" direction at least — many plasmas are only about 4 inches deep), plasma HDTVs are available in 42-, 50-, and even 60-plus-inch sizes. Imagine a 4- or 5-inch-deep HDTV that spans 5 feet diagonally, and you can see the instant appeal of plasma.

Other benefits of plasma displays include:

• Excellent brightness: Plasma HDTVs are second only to CRT direct-view TVs in terms of picture brightness — plasmas don't rely on a light bulb shining through or reflecting off of something. In some ways, plasma brightness is even better than CRT's because the picture is uncannily evenly bright across the entire screen. In a CRT, there always is some difference in brightness as the electron beam reaches different parts of the screen.

• High resolution: HDTV plasma TVs can often reach higher horizontal resolutions that CRT-based direct-view sets just can't match. The finest plasma TVs have such high resolutions (and such smooth images) that they look like nothing more than beautiful film images.

• Progressive by nature: Like LCD displays, plasma systems don't use a scanning electron beam to create a picture. Instead, all the pixels on the screen are lit up simultaneously. Progressive HDTV sources (such as 720p) and non-HDTV sources (such as progressive-scan DVD players) are displayed to full advantage on a plasma HDTV.

• A wide viewing angle: Plasma displays have a good picture even when you're sitting "off axis" (not perpendicular to the screen surface). This is a huge benefit for smaller rooms, where viewers may sit relatively far off to the sides of the screen, at wider angles.

Plasma's not perfect, of course:

• Susceptible to burn-in: Any system that uses a phosphor screen to display video can fall victim to the phosphor burn-in mentioned earlier in this chapter. If the Xbox is a primary HDTV source in your home, consider something besides a plasma — maybe an LCD HDTV or a rear-projection microdisplay HDTV.

You can minimize burn-in on any display by calibrating the set properly and reducing the brightness from its (usually too-high) factory setting.

• Shorter life span: Another phenomenon of any phosphor-based display system is that eventually the phosphors "wear out" or lose their brightness. This is a subtle and slow process, but it inevitably happens. If you've saved up to buy an HDTV to last you a lifetime, well, don't get a plasma unless your personal actuary tells you that you're close to the end of your rope.

• Less-than-perfect color reproduction: Although plasma displays are capable of producing a breathtaking array of colors, all the sets built to date have had an unfortunate tendency to make red colors look more orange than true red.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/thin-is-in-when-it-comes-to-hdtv-displays.html