How to Improve Your Game

It is a mistaken belief that playing chess is a god-gifted art and barring reaching an ordinary ‘cognizable standard’ you cannot improve. The ‘cognizable standard’ means you are reaching to the standard which makes you only recognize the good and bad points of the game but without any ability to develop your game accordingly. No doubt, it is a game of superior intelligence. The alertness of the mind, capacity to contemplate on and select the right future are some basic requirements of this brainy game. Of course, you cannot cultivate talent only with the help of your labor but if you have a little of it you can surely bone it. Do not forget the age-old maxim that genius is five percents inspiration and ninety-nine percents perspiration. Moreover, hardly any human being is totally devoid of the element of talent. Only when we fail to perspire for making it develop that we lag behind the others who do. This is what we purpose to do with this article.

There are times when in the absence of the right kind of guidance our talents wither. Since they don’t know how to properly irrigate and fertilize this plant of talent, this get withered away. Remember that like any other discipline, chess also needs your unwaivering devotion. The young boys normally don’t know how to utilize their free time, especially those who have the potentials. Follow the guidelines given ahead and become a good chess player.

1. Read Chess-books and Magazines

After playing some games, read the book carefully. Play more games and the read the book. Each time you absorb some points that seemed previously obscure or did not grip you.

The way you improve most is not by playing opponents, but by playing over well-annotated games. Cover one side’s move usually the winner’s) and think out of each move before looking.

If you are eager to improve your play rapidly, write down the moves of all your games, not only the competitive one (in which recording is compulsory). It is best to write them in chess scorebooks, as loose score-sheets are easily lost. Afterwards, play each game and jot down critical comments. This how the grandmaster developed his skill in chess and became proficient in a short time without any coaching. It is surprising how much the game became clearer when you see every position a second time, in the light of what happened first time. You become your own tutor. If, after writing your comments you submit some of your games and your comments to a competent coach or top player for assessment for a suitable fee will improve more rapidly still.

Reading chess books by standard authors will also help. Try to follow the notations in a particular style. In case you get hold of those old books in which the notations are not in algebraic form, try to convert it in that form. Even this conversion exercise would give you a good peep inside the intricacies of the game. Write them down in a separate exercise book and the same way you do to develop you ability, say in Mathematics. This is very enlightening exercise. Just keep a small chess board with pieces alongside and convert descriptive notations into Algebraic notations. It is necessary because the algebraic notation was devised only a couple years ago while the earlier chess-books where only written in descriptive style. Remember that it is not a time consuming and boring exercise but a very rewarding one.

Besides doing this read some good magazines or newspapers having chess columns. Nowadays there is hardly any good journal or newspaper not having chess columns. Read those problems and solve them. Your intention while solving them should be to prove the given solution to be wrong! The idea is that you should independently try to attack the problem. In the process if you happen to hit some different solution deem it that you are on the right path of progress in your chess studies. You may join a club having the facility of chess. You might develop you chess skill in the company of the other learners.

Of course, you can enjoy chess without worrying about improvements. However, this is a natural tendency of an awakened mind to improve one’s performance in any sphere. By following the methods recommended here, almost anybody can become a strong player in a fraction of time normally taken.

Doctor Emanual Lasker (World Champion 1897-1921) considered that given a logical approach, a person of average talent would not need to give chess more than 200 hours to reach a stage where a master player who conceded him or her handicap would surely lose.

Lasker’s 200 hours was an underestimate, no doubt, but certain it is that most players could reach in months a standard that usually takes them years to attain.

Some newspapers publish regular chess columns in which composed chess problems are a feature. In a problem, an artificial position is setup and a solver is required to find a way to check mate in a specified number of moves, usually 2 or 3, no matter what replies the defender makes. In these, for the sake of uniformity, White always makes the first (key) move. In 2-move problems, only the key move is required. In 3-move problems, the second moves are required for correct solutions. As the composer’s purpose is to make the task difficult, the key move is usually on that would be unlikely to occur to a player in an actual game, and is never capture (except of a Pawn) and never a check.

2. Play Handicap Chess with Senior Players

The often given advice to play against stronger players has two distinct drawbacks. Firstly, it is discouraging if you invariably lose. Secondly, it is painful boring for the opponent if the different in skill is great. The strong player would be too polite to tell you this, but will find some excuse to stop playing. To fore stat this, ask the opponent to give you a handicap (give you odds in the chess parlance) e.g. to remove a Knight, a Rook, a Rook plus Knight, or even the Queen. Once the right odds found, both players can have exciting game. When removing a Knight or a Rook as a handicap, convention decrees that it shall be the one on the Queen’s wing.

Another kind of handicap is possible with the use of chess clocks. The expert can play with a very short time limit, his opponents at a much greater one. If the difference in skill is not too wide, this sort of handicap is better, as there is no alteration of the starting position. If the difference in skill is very great, it is a good idea to use both systems.

For single games, you cannot use a time handicap unless you have chess clocks. However, in simultaneous exhibitions, a time handicap operates automatically.

Here the expert opposes a large number of players seated in a circle or rectangle, each with a board and pieces in front of him or her. The expert steps from board to board, making a move at each one. Obviously, the expert can take only a fraction of time that opponents take, as the master may have to make 10,20,30,40 or more moves in the time that each opponent has for one move.

Simultaneous exhibitions have provided, from time immemorial, an excellent opportunity for a large number of players to oppose a master under conditions that give the amateurs some chance of bringing off a draw or even a win.

3. Have chess software

Playing chess against a well-programmed computer also helps in your developing chess-skill.

It was inevitable in our age of electronics that chess would engage the attention of computer engineers.

The real revolution in computer chess was brought about by the introduction of portable, relatively inexpensive microcomputers. These have been steadily improving and the latest models feature up to sixty-four levels of play, programmed openings and games, a voice announcing moves, and sensitized squares to eliminate the need for a keyboard. Most can play a reasonable game, while the more advanced models complete successfully in open tournaments.

As hinted before, microcomputers are most useful to players who have a problem in finding an opponent. Teaching level with programmed opening variations and suggested best moves are provided to help the students.

For top players computers provide a convenient way of storing information on openings and end games. Most top players use personal computer for this purpose.

4. General Advice

You should start playing preferably with another beginner, as soon as you have learned the moves. Do not be discouraged if you are slow in remembering the rules. With a little practice, you will get accustomed to the moves of the pieces and will be able to start working things out without trying to remember how each one move and capture.

Chess is competitive and a desire to win is its strongest motivation. This is why you should play with another beginner whom you have a chance to defeating. It is better if you have an instructor who can supervise the game to make you sure that the rules are observed and to point out where you went wrong after the game.

Textbook dealing with all aspects of the game in one volume, vary in scope and price. Some chess manuals are written by champions, others by chess teachers – they all help the beginner to delve deeper into the mysteries of chess. Later the person wishing to improve skills further more can specialize by studying various aspects of the game and here there is a vast choice of aids.

Books dealing with openings range from comprehensive manuals in several large volumes, not recommended for beginners, to books designed to explain the reasons why the openings are played in a certain way.

The Middle game is dealt with by explaining the basic strategic principles and by giving examples of tactical combinations. There are many books dealing with this subject.

The end game is part of the game, which all aspiring players should study. Here again there is a choice of many books. Best for beginners are elementary books, which explain basic principles that are most likely to occur in practical way. For advanced players there are books, which deal with specific ending in depth. Finally, we come to collection of games of great players. We recommend the books with detailed comments, especially those designed for beginners.

The young learners are advice not to rely heavily on chess problems to acquire mastery in this game. These problems are as removed from as crossword puzzles are from literature. Surely, they bone one’s power of visualization of the moves. Play as many actual games as possible and solve chess problem to keep your mind alert in the chess-sense. Remember in chess (the actual game) the object of the game is to defeat the opponent, the means by which this end is achieve or the time is takes, being unimportant. In problems, however, the opponent represents by time. Mate must be effect with in the stipulated number of moves. Since the position given in the problems is frequently quizotic, most of the seasoned chess players dismiss then as situation unworthy of consideration. On the other hand, the problemists maintain that game involves too much laborious and profitless wood shifting, and that the artistry of fifty games can be compound into a single artificial position. Nevertheless, the best courses open for young learners to have the judicious mixture of the two.

About the Author

The author is the site admin of Chess Learning . If you want to read and learn more about the game of chess, check out http://www.chess-learning.com

Exercise for Weight Loss: Carving a Healthy Sphere of Life

Weight loss has become the trend of the modern day scenario. Owing to the unhealthy lifestyle we lead in the contemporary world, most of us fall prey to obesity and overweight. Are you an obese or overweight individual? Take some concrete steps to shed excessive weight before it becomes too late. You must have heard the proverb ‘Health is Wealth’, which implies only a healthy body can be competent enough to achieve higher goals like wealth, rather than one who is unhealthy.

If you are thinking of losing weight, there is nothing better than exercise. Doctors and dieticians often recommend a regular exercise regime for healthy living, but most of us hardly bother to take heed of this advice. Lack of exercise forms ground for accumulation of unwanted bodily fat. Don’t make excuses for skipping regular work out, because if you love yourself, you would surely take out some time for your well-being. Exercise is essential for weight loss, as it keeps the body’s metabolism at an optimum level facilitating it to burn calories.

Even 20 minutes workout each day can help you in lose weight provided it is done with sincerity. Brisk walks, swimming, running, aerobics, bicycling, indulging in sports like soccer or basketball, workout in the gym are just to mention a few options of exercises which can facilitate weight loss. It is to be noted that workout in the gym should be undertaken under professional supervision. Speak with a medical professional prior to beginning with any option for work out.

Doctors recommend a regular work out even if you are consuming Diet pills, in order to achieve better weight loss results. Growing consciousness for fitness has encouraged man TV channels to broadcast special programmes especially focusing on exercise for weight be it yoga, aerobics or simple workout tips. Every now and then you would see TV programmes marketing exercise equipments which can facilitate Weight loss. With the usage of internet on the rise, many websites have been designed especially to educate obese and over weight individuals about workouts.

Don’t get over indulged into exercising, initiate with simple exercises to let you settle in the mood for it. If you are still not motivated enough to go ahead with exercise for weight loss, think about the adverse effects it can have on your health. Unwanted bodily fat can make you prone to health related risk factors such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. Make a wise decision of exercise for weight loss, because health matters.

About the Author

Clarence Carter received training as a health care scientist. She has been working in the same field and writes informative articles, weight loss being her pet subject. To find Diet pills, Weight loss drug, Weight loss, Xenical, Acomplia, Reductil visit http://www.weight-loss-drug.co.uk

SEO Is The Turbo Of Targeted Internet Marketing

This the idea of targeted internet marketing, which will bring you tons of free, constant traffic. The key to success is to use hundreds of targeted keywords in your internet marketing.

Why? Because keywords are your markets and the more markets you can cover the more business you get. So simple. Do you want to market on one market or one hundred markets. Do not answer, it is self clear.

Here are the best tips for targeted internet marketing. Optimize all what you write. This means for example, that if your page has 500 words and you use from 2 to 3 keywords, each keyword must represent from 1 to 3 % of the amount of total words on that page.

Why? Because search engines must put the search results in some order to be able to do targeted intenet marketing. So SE must choose which site is number one, number two etc. They must have rules according to which they serve the searchers.

Now the 1.000 euros question is, how search engines put sites in certain order, if you know that, you can reach the numero uno position. Unfortunately or fortunately no one really know these criterias.

However tons of analyzes have been made about number one sites and compared them to find out the common factors, so I am quite sure, what they are. And to make targeted internet marketing, which is the most effective way to promote, keyword optimized pages are very important.

Search engines simply think that when keyword is mentioned many times, but not too many, the content of that page is important for the searcher of that keyword.

But off page optimization is still the most important. Search engines simply thinks that the more popular the site is in the internet, the more important or useful it is also to the searchers.

What is the popularity in this connection? Popularity means, how many links from other sites are pointing back to this site. Links are seen like votes, so other webmasters vote that site and the more votes the site has, the more useful it is in the eyes of the search engines.

It is naturally important, what is the quality of linking sites. Are the links from high page rank or low page rank sites and are the sites related?

In targeted internet marketing the key target is to beat the number one site of certain keyword. To make it simple, your site must have more and or better links than the present leader.

Good thing is that you can get other webmasters to link your site. The best long term way is to have a quality content site. That is the core of targeted internet marketing, because other webmasters really want to link to your site as a service to their website own visitors. Of course this will take time, we speak about months.

More rapid way is to write articles and distribute them by some software to hundreds of directories with one click. By this way you get links from hundreds of sites and also targeted traffic.

To use targeted internet marketing, use different ways. One manual way is to type add ur or submit site on Google search bar and submit your site to hundreds of sites. Remember that you neeed thousands of links to reach first page position. Internet marketing is a numbers game.

Of course you can buy a software, which will submit your site to hundreds of directories more rapidly.

After you have optimized your page and built enough links, it will take time before search engines will find and raise your site to the targeted position but when you have reached it with many pages, you will get tons of regular, targeted and free traffic. What a JOY.

About the Author

I am a full time internet marketer.Get SEO Made Easy, free ebook and more SEO tips.

Improve Conversion Rates – How To Turn Your Visitors Into Customers

Its pretty well documented that the most cost effective way to generate more sales on your website is to convert more of your visitors into buyers. After all, you’ve done most of the hard work (and probably spent a great deal of money) getting them there in the first place.

Here are our Top Tips that we’ve learned over the years at http://www.totsplanet.co.uk to increase conversion rates (in no particular order):

1. Homepage – Make an impression; its your shop window

You’ve only got one chance and a matter of seconds to draw your visitor in; so get it right!

Let’s assume that if someone has landed at your store, as a result of your highly targeted marketing campaign they are actually looking for something that you sell.

Half of the work is therefore done – all you now have to do is ensure that they can see that they are in the right place, as soon as they hit your homepage. Here’s how:

- Stick to standard navigation practices. Make sure all departments/categories have meaningful names and are clearly visible either in the left hand nav bar or across the top of the site.

- Have a search box prominently displayed – but consider not having one if your range is not that big as you dont want many searches producing n0 results)

- In your main middle section (above the fold) make sure you display clear, descriptive and eye-catching images alongside explanatory text links – arty pictures not related to what you’re selling and too many ‘more info’ or ‘view all’ links are not interesting to a fleeting eye.

- Display a best sellers list (as by their very nature they will probably be recognized by your visitors).

- Have some sort of link to your Clearance or Bargains page. You can bet that a % of your shoppers will be specifically looking for a deal.

- If there is a seasonal event related to your offer, create a category containing relevant products and link to it from here. Chances are your shoppers are looking for something for this event (e.g. a ”Valentines Gifts” page if you are a lingerie store)

- Don’t make the page too busy – i know it sound like a contradiction but this is very important – if you have everything you think you need on the page but the layout is too busy, the visitor will feel under pressure to take it all in and will likely lose interest. Here’s a great resource for modern homepage layout design

2. Landing Pages – are also your shop window (but often forgotten)

Although the majority of people will arrive at your homepage, many will arrive at a product or category page – especially as a) you will no doubt be running an effective PPC campaign that links to targeted destination pages, and b) your site is built in such a way that Google has indexed all of your pages and you are top of the search results for the entire long tail of keywords and phrases that relate to your products…

So, now that is established you’ll understand the importance of making sure the landing pages follow the same principles as the homepage in gaining the customers attention and their confidence that they have landed at the right place.

- Keywords – as the visitor is likely to have come to this page from some type of search, make sure this page clearly display images of what the search was for and that the keywords or phrase that they used to search for is nice and prominent . It also doesn’t hurt to repeat the word/s a 2 or 3 times on the page (but don’t over do it)

- Call to Action – again, as the visitor has landed on a product or category page, they are arguably even more likely to make a purchase as their search was probably quite specific. So make sure you have some sort of ‘buy’ or ‘add to basket’ button available.

- Route back to the homepage or related items – Bear in mind that a visitor may hit the landing page mistakenly, or may not actually like what they see but are interested in seeing what else is on offer. Always provide clear links back to the homepage and to similar items or related categories. 3. ‘Findability’ – help customers find what they’re looking for

A simple and easy to use navigational structure is important to cater for those visitors who like to browse , not search – but , unless you display a vast list of categories (which I strongly advise against – see Point 1), not every category will contain items for everyone. People naturally have different tastes and criteria. So how do you put the right products in front of them? The answer is in refining and sorting the results to suit the users needs.

This feature is probably best described in pictures and one of my favourite sites to utilize these tools in Bluefly – a US fashion site.

In this example I’ve visited Bluefly because I’m looking for a black t-shirt. I could search for a black t-shirt but i don’t really want to see womens black t-shirts and there is a t-shirts category in the men’s section, so i think i’ll browse.

In the first screen shot you can see I have selected T-Shirts as the category I’m interested in. There are 6 pages of results; so quite a lot to browse through to get to what i want, and then it may not be available in my size anyway.

This is where the refining tool comes into its own – you can see that i’m able to narrow the displayed results down to my desired size, colour, price and even brand if i’d like. When my results are displayed i can then sort by price, bestsellers or the newest items.

So, back to the point – I’ve found exactly what I’m looking for in seconds and am now extremely likely to now buy something from here!

4. Product, Product, Product

Scrap everything I’ve just said!

Well, don’t, but hear this. Product, Product, Product – if you don’t have the right product to cater for the demand of your target market, you may as well forget it.

I cannot stress enough that is it is the product that makes the sale – not pretty graphics, an easy to use site, or anything else for that matter – if the product stinks, people wont buy it – there, I’ve said it.

For the sake of carrying on and not pressing ‘delete post’, I’ll assume you have the hottest products in your sector!

5. Something for Everyone – the long tail….

So you’ve got the hot products (!) and you’ve got a hot refining tool to quickly get people to what they want – now its time to expand the range. Fill up your store with everything your target market could possibly want. The wider the range, the more likely a visitor will buy something. Its simple really. And this is where the Internet comes into its own. You may have a warehouse with space limitations and overhead costs; I do appreciate that; but its nowhere near the cost and space limitations of a high street store – use this to your advantage and become a one-stop shop for your target market – why should they go anywhere else?

6. Price Competitively

Basic retailing rules still apply – if your not competitive people will go elsewhere – on the Internet your competitor is just a click away. Do your research, and keep it up.

7. Simple checkout – make it easy to buy

So you’ve given the customers what they want – well done. But it is well documented that this is in fact a waste of time when it comes to at least 1/3 of them (some sources say 70% or more), who abandon their shopping baskets without making a purchase.

Granted, some people just change their mind, but there is undoubtedly a large % who just cant make it through the Checkout process. When reviewing your shopping basket , make sure you:

- Don’t hide any extra charges such as Delivery costs or VAT Provide the customer with a clear indication of where they are in the checkout process

- Give customers the option of not creating an account – Make it clear that your checkout pages are secure

8. Easy customer & contact information – be available

There are thousands of sites out there. You probably don’t have the luxury of being a household brand, so you need to stand out from the crowd as a retailer of quality and integrity.

Be open and honest with your customers. Let them know how to contact you and what all of your policies are, every step of the way. They are far more likely to trust you if you trust them with this information.

9. Accreditation to consumer watchdogs – for peace of mind

On a similar note, a good way to provide peace of mind for your customers – and therefore a greater propensity to buy from you – is to join an industry body and advertise this on your site.

They generally act as a middle man for any dispute that may occur between you and a customer, and provide a code of practice that you must adhere to. The fees to join these (around £100) are well worth the peace of mind that their logo on your site provides customers.

In the UK I would recommend the IMRG and Safebuy schemes. We at http://www.totsplanet.co.uk are members of these schemes as they provide peace of mind to our customers.

About the Author

James Hart has 10 years experience in the e-commerce industry, helping to build and promote high-profile sites including most recently the UK baby e-tailer, http://www.totsplanet.co.uk

Camping with Kids

There’s nothing 6 year olds or older kids love more than being in the outdoors. Camping is an outdoor recreational activity involving spending one or more nights in a tent, a primitive structure, a travel trailer or recreational vehicle at a campsite with the purpose of getting away from civilization and enjoying nature. National parks and other publicly owned natural areas are popular venues for camping. Camping is often restricted by law to designated sites in order to prevent campers from damaging the environment.

You can use camping to teach the kids independence and self-sufficiency. Survivalist campers set off with little more than their boots on the roughest of trails–the idea being to really gut it out. However, you might prefer to set up a tent within a few hundred feet of a campsite. This can serve as base camp from where you can set out on nature hikes, which include fishing and swimming.

Camping usually is a breeze with kids this age. They can help set up the tent and unload the car and can be trusted to remain nearby without continual supervision. One thing though–every child must have their own flashlight! Everyone loves making cool shadows on the tent walls and all hell breaks loose if sharing is required. Kids enjoy looking at the different kinds of insects that they can find. They might even catch frogs and minnows near the lakes and streams. You could let them examine these creatures and return them unharmed to the wild. Also, carry bug jars, nets, and buckets.

Hiking with six to eight year olds is generally a comedy of errors. Buy some of those disposable cameras or provide your kids with cheap cameras at the start of a hike. The novelty of being able to carry their own cameras will get you through your travels that day. Get the photos developed at a one-hour place if possible while you are still traveling – and then make a huge deal about their incredible pictures. Alternatively, you could provide them with some of the latest digital cameras that give an instant printout–however, you better be a “richdad” if you decide to make this choice. The next time you hike, the kids will be eager as long as you provide them with enough batteries and enough film or digital storage media!

Pick a theme for the trips. It helps you organize activities around a central concept. Much easier! Some favorites are “Western” including a chuck wagon meal, corn bread muffins and tea. You could come up with 20 ways to use a bandana around camp and practice tying knots with one-foot sections of rope. At night, you could have a small campfire with twigs and sing old western cowboy songs, try some cowboy poetry and learn a little about the stars.

The “Survivor” theme is another hit, focusing on back-to-the-basics camping essentials. Children this age can grate cheese, stir a cooking pot, fetch water, hand wash and hang laundry, clean up around camp and even pitch the tents with a little help. They love to hike (1 to 2 miles) with frequent breaks. Be sure to take along a trail mix snack the kids can make themselves. You could even make it a bit of a competition. Kids love competitions.

“Explorer” themes like Lewis and Clark are great for this age group, too. They naturally love to explore. Take along magnifying glasses, containers, nets and plastic cups to catch and examine insects. Set a firm, no touching policy for reptiles, insects and plants until they’ve been identified–this saves a lot of worry. Use handbooks to make identification.

Always involve the kids in the basics of the camp. If the adults do all the preparing, cooking, and cleaning, the kids don’t learn. The look on children’s faces is priceless when they’ve made their first wood campfire or pitched their first tent. The best advices is plan with the kids, but always leave plenty of room for running, swimming, biking or just kicking around a ball. Kids love to comb beaches, draw in the dirt and gather rocks. Always have paper and crayons handy, cards are good, too – but don’t worry about entertaining the kids 24×7. Camping is all about learning to entertain you without TV and games. Throw in a book or favorite magazine for yourself, and use your imagination to fill in the rest.

If the kids behave well, reinforce their behavior with a prize. The prizes can be simple little things usually picked up at the local five and dime store…i.e. bubbles, a comic book, a toy car, a box of crackerjacks…etc. You could also shop for your prizes online. Wrap the prizes to make it even more exciting. Gift wrapping material is available in an assortment of colors. With the short attention spans kids have, the new prize will tide them over ’til the next stop.

Take the illuminated “glow” sticks (the kind in the foil cover that you break and shake) to use at bedtime for night lights. Tie one to the ceiling of the tent when the children retire and untie and lower it when you retire. Bring one for each night of camping. The soft glow becomes softer as the night wears on and is gentle on adult eyes! You may prefer the green ones versus the red one–the red are brighter it seems.

The camp journal. Take plain white paper – about 5 sheets per kid. Get you kids to fold the pile in half and hold it together with a paper clip. Get them to color the front cover and title it My Camp Journal. Kids are very proud of their journal. If there are some kids who can’t read or write yet, tell them to do pictures instead of writing in them. They will have a nice memory of their first trip.

Bring cards. You can play many games with a simple deck of cards. They can even be a deck that is missing cards. Young kids don’t know/care. Go fish, and war, and let the kids explore their wild side under controlled conditions.

Pack lots of socks for each child–at least two pairs or more per day. If there is a drop of water, or mud puddle of any kind to be found, they will find it! Don’t expect the socks to come clean even with the best of detergents.

If you have an FRS (family radio service walkie talkies), one of the neat things you and your kids could do, is a game of high tech hide-and-seek of sorts… they can hide out, and you have to find them (providing they can see you when they hide, for safety’s sake)… and vice versa… lots of fun, and you can use the walkie talkies all the time, in stores when you go shopping and she is with her stepmother, or other times. A walkie talkie is a wonderful little gadget for kids!

Just use your imagination and remember what it was like to be a kid… ideas of things, little things you can do to make anything more fun will fill your mind almost instantly! One last thing, when talking with a kid about anything serious, get down to their level! Squat down or get them up on something high so they can see eye to eye with you and not feel intimidated… hug your kid, and be thankful everyday for the blessing they truly are… they can be a challenge, but they are there for you too… remember that.

For more information about parenting dads, please visit: http://www.greatdad.com

About the Author

Paul B

How To Build a Portfolio Without Giving Your Voice Away For Free

There are many practical and rewarding ways to go about gaining experience and prospective clients. When I had a few moments at VOICE 2007 to myself (very rare moments, I assure you), I got thinking about ways that you could create a respectable voice over portfolio without undercutting for work, or worse, giving your voice overs away for free to people who could pay for the service you provided but had chosen to take advantage of you instead. Many beginner voice talent find themselves in a bit of a quandary. They can’t get an agent because they haven’t received any work, and they need an agent (or so some may think) in order to get the work in the first place!

It’s the age old question: What came first? The Chicken or the Egg? I’ve always subscribed to the philosophy that the chicken came first. If not, how would the egg have survived? There are many dangers out there for aspiring talent just waiting to take advantage of them. When you think in terms of being the chicken as opposed to the egg, you are given a variety of choices and the ability to pick the best solution for you to carry you through the longterm when building a voice over career. I often say and reiterate frequently that voice over is not an easy business or a cakewalk. It’s a business first of all and one that demands vocal talent as well as technical skills in order to succeed as a work from home or independent studio operation. One of the best ways to gain experience in both the voice over and recording process (that is of no cost to you) is to volunteer and learn from others who can mentor you. Here are some ideas to gain experience in specific voice over niches:

1. Narration and Audio Books

If you’d like to try your hand at recording for audio books or narration pieces, consider starting with some public domain material available at Project Gutenberg. This database contains tens of thousands of works that are in the public domain that you can practice with or record that are royalty-free and no cost to you to download. Another resource available to you in this field is to join the community at LibriVox.org. I happen to have met the founder, Hugh McGuire, at PodCamp in Toronto. Essentially, this is a community of people who are dedicated to producing audio books that are in the public domain. These audio books are accessible for people to download. The service acts as a creative outlet for many, community, and a means for amateur voice talent to record audio books and receive reviews from others on the website.

2. Children’s Books and Voice Acting

Volunteer at local libraries, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and so on. Oftentimes, these organizations are more than thrilled to accept your offer to volunteer and you have the opportunity to make a direct impact on individual people or a group of people. This is also an excellent way to get comfortable with reading aloud and developing characters. Your audience will let you know how you are doing and you may find yourself feeding off of them, becoming a better storyteller and voice actor for it.

3. Character Voices and Animation Voice Overs

Join a small voice acting or theatre group that performs radio and or audio drama. There are several groups that you can be a part of online if you are looking for international communities and others that are locally based. Elie Hirschman is a member of Darker Projects, a community of voice talent from around the world who produce audio dramas. Elie has mentioned this group before in his Biz segments on the VOX Talk podcast. Dave Johnson runs a voice acting group in San Diego called the Amateur Voice Acting Group. You can build a credit list through roles that you have performed and count it as voice acting experience.

4. PSAs and Commercials

To try your hand at this kind of work, you could volunteer at non profit organizations or charities. You could look at this volunteering as a form of community service or as a donation or gift. A great example of some serious VO donating was shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck. Voice talents including Peter O’Connell lent their voices in PSAs created for the American Red Cross to help spread the message and encourage financial donations to help facilitate rescue and rebuilding efforts.

5. Technical Skills

If you need to hone your technical recording and editing skills, see if you can arrange to be mentored for a brief time by a professional audio engineer or voice over professional who is a proficient audio engineer. A few hours in their presence, watching, learning and applying what you’ve discovered, coupled with study in online forums or books will greatly help you to develop your audio editing skills. Internships or volunteering on a regular basis at actual recording facilities is also a good idea if you have the time and opportunity to do so.

Volunteering your time and talent, although still providing a service without charge, is quite different from giving your voice away for free. When you volunteer, you do it on your own terms and for the good of others, receiving more than you gave in return. Referrals (or treasures) will be more likely to spring for you professionally from the seeds that you had sown when volunteering your time and talent.

About the Author

Stephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the voice over marketplace hosting more than 10,000 professional voice talents. Stephanie is also the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.

The Secret of Getting Ahead !

“We are what we think!” ~ Robert G. Allen, author of all time best seller Nothing Down, One Minute Millionaire and Cracking the Millionaire Code.
Do you know research has shown that an average person communicates to himself/herself for about 50,000 times per day?!!! In these inner conversations, most of them are about himself/herself, and psychological researchers have found that 80% of our self talk is negative … things like … I shouldn’t have done this… How foolish am I to cause this … Why am I so stupid … Doing these will kill me … Do you know these negative thoughts have a huge impact on us? Research has shown they affect our attitude, our physiology and our motivation to act! In experiments using polygraph (lie-detector) they have shown our thought patterns change our body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, muscle tension and how much we sweat. In short, every cell in our body response to every thought we create and negative thoughts affect our body negatively. It weakens us, creates tension within us, changes our mood causing us to feel tired and procrastinate over things. While positive thoughts change our body in a positive way making us feel more relax, centered and alert. Also, positive thoughts induce the secretion of endorphins in the brain that help us to reduce pain and increase pleasure.

In order for us to manifest abundance, we had to stomp those ANT! So, what is ANT? According to psychiatrist Daniel G. Amen, ANT are those limiting thoughts we hear in our heads repeatedly…. Automatic Negative Thoughts. So how do we get rid of them just like the real ants that irritate us in life? According to Dr. Amem, we must learn how to stomp the ANT. How??? We must first acknowledge their present, shake them off and stomp them by confronting them. The final phase to eradicate them is by replacing them with positive and empowering affirmation. Remember the law of attraction? …. We are what we think!

First, one has to know is that we are the master of our thoughts. We have the ability to agree or disagree with what we say to ourselves. So how do we judge what to agree and what not? You start by asking questions … Is what is communicating to me empowering or impoverished? Do they lead me to my ultimate dreams or my ultimate nightmare? How do you feel about your inner conversation … are they peaceful, loving and joyful feelings or are they energy draining, tension generating, anxious and uptight feelings? See, our subconscious mind do not communicate to us with words like good or bad…. but it uses feelings as a bridge to reach our conscious mind. So, if we feel good, then continue with that thought, like wise, if we feel terrible then tell ourselves, ok ANT, I know you are here, but there is no place for you right now, please leave. If the ANT is so stubborn and it still persist and affect us emotionally, then I suggest to go thru’ this 2 minute process which I find it very helpful in release negative feelings and emotions that I learnt from the Sedona Training …..
1) First, take a deep breath…. breath in and then out for 3 times.

2) Ask yourself this question….. “Could I let it go?”

3) Ask yourself the second question…. “Would I let it go?”

4) Ask yourself the final question….. “When?”

5) Answer the last question with…. “Now!’ … release it and let it go!”

Last, do positive affirmation every day to reaffirm positive beliefs. Below are some of the positive affirmations that I do….
1) I am a conduit of wealth to God to serve his children.

2) I am that all powerful self that is here to love, to give to create.

3) It is my divine destiny to be successful.

4) Making money is fun, enjoyable and allows me to help more people.

5) Multiple streams of income come to me in a consistence and continual basis.

6) I am a genius and a creator of ideas.

7) I have the skills, knowledge and resources to live my dream.

I take good care of myself and am rich in Body, Mind and Spirit.

9) I am constantly attracted to similar like-minded and action oriented people to my life.

10) I live every day with joy, fulfillment and empowerment.

The more you perform positive affirmation, and visualize on what you really want with feelings and emotions, the more you will saturate your sub-conscious mind with empowering desires and the sooner will those ANT find no place in you. Also, there are accelerated learning techniques that one can employ to turbo charge these cognitive processes in a quicker and more permanent ways. They are now been used by “The Secret” teachers, information and motivational gurus like Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Stephen Pierce and many more. For more information, you could perhaps visit my site.

About the AuthorBrightnSunny is a follower of the Law of Attraction and a keen student in accelerated learning by leveraging the sub-conscious. His passion in life is in inspiring and empowering like-minded people to love, to give, to create and to achieve the fullest potential in one’s higher self. You can visit his web site at www.abundancemanifesting.com/freereport for a free exclusive report with Bob Proctor on the science of getting rich!

Website Design for Small Businesses

Designing for any online business is a vital and serious issue as it says a lot about the business, its owners and product or services. It is the thing which keeps a customer on a website and its easiness compels and convinces him to buy a product. So it’s important to have a professional look.

No doubt launching a website for small business is a hilly task. To achieve it you better do some research on your needs; the site purpose, the target audience and finally look for skilled website designers, developers and graphic designers or a designing company. There are many different website design companies, offering different facilities. However for gaining an effective internet presence what should be the look of site of small businesses? This article will guide you in understanding the structure for your site specific design. Keep this article as a reference point. When you go through the process of development then check out each part to have an effective web site for your products and services in accordance with your target audience. Choosing web designer- Don’t go by the cheap web design. This will certainly diminish your professional image among potential customers other than financial losses. To have a professional web design, don’t compare web designers by their price; always look at your requirements regarding the type of service, internet marketing and updates you needs w.r.t. growth. Domain Name Choose simple, short and relevant domain name for your site. Don’t get settle down on anything to get your web space as every word on your web site has relevancy in its success. Being a serious online venture you should register it for at least two years. You can get your own domain name by paying as little as $ 17-18 for 2 year registration with ICANN approved sites such as Register . You can find out if the name you want is still available by using the free search tool on the sites. Web Hosting Web hosting can be obtained free of cost from content portal sites such as Yahoo! Geocities . Such sites invite users to establish Web sites on their domain in order to create a critical mass of core content on their online property. The user does not have to pay for service because it is subsidized by banner advertising. As they do not charge, they offer limited service depth and relative quality. They do not even provide customized hosting services where domain names are personalized. So, avoid getting lured by the free hosting providers as nothing is really free. It mostly retards the downloading speed of web pages. Even avoid messing around with small time web hosting. Affiliate yourself with a reputable company that provides top-notch service and have the resources to provide fast and reliable servers. Text Content Content of the site deserves utmost attention as it’s the words that people read, it’s the words that call people to action, and it’s the words that sell. The rest also helps, but a site with poor content is an as bad as a site without any words. Keywords Order to end up high on search engine use the relevant keywords and place them accordingly on a web page. The number of times each word appears on a web page is the factors that determine how high you end up in search results. Regarding resolution Sure that your pages should work at any resolution, from 800×600 to 1280×1024 and beyond. Currently the most widely used screen size is 1024 x 768. Of course, the general guideline is to optimize for your target audience’s most common resolution, so the size will change in the future. You shall see the statistics for the month of January for the last 2 years provided by w3schools seem to reflect the general trend we are seeing on the Web. Year Higher 1024 x 768 800 x 600 640x 480 Unknown 2007(January) 26% 54% 14% 0% 6% 2006(January) 17% 57% 20% 0% 6%

It’s always safer to keep your web site at less than 750 pixels wide as you don’t want to alienate your visitors by having them scroll to see the whole page. Make sure that that your web pages show up the same in all web browsers.

HTML Tags

You will have to make sure that your title, description, and keyword meta tags are bang on with the text on each web page you build. The linking structure of your website should have to be good as it’s easy for the visitors as well the search robots to understand the details. All of your optimized pages must be linked from the home page itself.

Graphics

It’s good to place web graphics in context with the information being presented. If you have product descriptions on your web site, then you should have the related graphic depiction next to them. Avoid using graphic that has no any relation with your text. Overusing graphics will only make the site look amateur. Make sure if you use web graphics as links that they work at all times. There is nothing worse than clicking on a graphic that does not work.

Conclusion

Basic tips for small business website are just the tip of the iceberg. You should also have to provide correct contact information plus regular updating w.r.t. your products; which I already explain in detail in my earlier articles. Web design can make or break your business. So always remember to create a site that is appealing and easy to navigate.

Your website should be like an investment and for that you are certainly going to receive a return.

Alex Roderick

The Author is the owner of a web site design Company, and providing Web Design and Development Solutions to clients across USA and UK for affordable and sensible prices.

About the Author

Alex Roderick The author is Business Head for The Web Design Company, www.webdesigningcompany.net It deals in web site design, website redesign, flash, 3D animation, logos, Banner Adds etc.

Driving While Texting May Soon Be Banned

The safety of the millions of motorists all over the world has always been the concern of numerous government agencies. In the past, drunk driving is seen as one of the leading causes of traffic accidents in the United States and in countries across the globe.

To reduce the cases of drunk drivers operating their vehicles, car manufacturers have developed devices which prohibit a driver from starting his or her car if the person is under the influence of alcohol. Aside from these devices, the various communities around the globe have also been educated on the risks of drunk driving.

These efforts have resulted in reducing the number of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving. Recently though, a new threat to traffic safety has shown itself with the advent of personal communication technology.

It is a common knowledge that mobile phones are important tools for this age. But using these phones during driving has resulted to traffic accidents which have claimed numerous lives. In response to the increasing number of accidents caused by inattentive driving, legislators have passed laws banning drivers from speaking on their mobile phones while driving. That is why car manufacturers have increasingly offered hands-free features for new vehicles.

But a bigger threat than speaking on mobile phones has attracted the attention of lawmakers. Washington State Representative Joyce McDonald is now pushing a bill to prohibit sending text messages, or texting, while driving on the said state. The lawmaker stated her reaction to the popularity of texting among teenagers. “I was really a bit shocked to learn just how much these kids text each other, including when they are driving,” says McDonald. “I mean, I’m a talker. I can’t understand why in the world you would send your friend a text message rather than just calling up to say hello.”

This has led the lawmaker to create a law which will prohibit texting while driving in the state of Washington. The bill is currently gaining support after an accident in Mercer Island, Washington was publicized widely. The said incident involves a man who caused a five-car pileup at the said area after he was reportedly distracted by a text message on his mobile phone. The bill is now on its final passage and is expected to be passed into a law which will make Washington as the first state to have a law which prohibits reading or sending text messages on mobile phones.

While the state may become the first with the said legislation, three other states are also working on the same law. These three states are New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. These three states have already laws prohibiting drivers from talking on the phone while driving.

These steps on the part of the country’s lawmakers are necessary to protect the road bound citizens of the United States. Talking on the phone is already a dangerous thing to do even if the driver’s sight never leaves the road. While texting, the risk is doubled since motorists will have to look down at their phones to see what they are typing. In cases like this, even highly efficient EBC pads cannot protect the driver from accidents. While a law may not stop drivers from texting while driving, the fines that accompany these laws may have these drivers thinking twice before texting while driving.

About the Author

A new law banning texting while driving may be passed in the state of Washington. The bill is created by state Representative Joyce McDonald and is currently on its final passage to become a law.

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