The Prism Scandal

The Spying PRISM

The electronic surveillance data mining program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is called PRISM. The National Security Agency’s desire to address the agency’s need to keep up with the immense growth of the social media gave birth to PRISM. The growth of government surveillance began under the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and since then has expanded under the Obama administration.

The revelation of the existence of Prism in the US by the former NSA computer specialist Edward Snowden created a stir the world. He reveled that the government is collecting data of all Verizon customers’ phone records in the US and overseas too. It has also been found that the federal government has been collecting information on foreigners overseas since six years from nation’s largest internet companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, in search of any national threats.

On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, confirmed that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people”. “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information - not just in the United States, but in some cases threats here in Germany," he added.

The Prism scandal has dissolved any trust business partners could have in the privacy of US-based companies. According to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the US could end up losing out a lot of dollars in the cloud-based computer businesses.

European government is now demanding the private investigation of the spying program PRISM and the extent of the surveillance effect on the world. US have confirmed that it has filed a criminal case on Edward Snowden who has admitted giving away classified information.

Your Artbay

YourArtBay – Online Crowdfunding Platform for Art lovers and Artists Alike

It may sound a little strange at first, but crowdfunding through art is a new platform that is on the go now. People who love Artwork and the real creative and hard working artists come together on this platform to invest and create respectively.

YourArtBay is one such crowdfunding platform which appreciates Art and Antiques and helps in buying and selling Artwork. The sellers don't pay any commission for selling here, unlike on other crowdfunding sites. The sellers are asked to register for free, and create a Pitch to fund the Art. YourArtBay reviews the pitch, facilitates valuation of the Artwork, and authenticates the artwork. Once through with all this process and approved, the seller is all set to sell.

The buyer gets the accessibility to buy art and antiques through YourArtBay . Long term capital growth awaits the buyer and also gives the buyer an exposure to the International market of Art and Antiques. The buyer gets affordable equity in the Artwork funded for and gets to choose the right Art of interest.

Check out this UK based online Crowd funding platform to Buy & Sell Art Shares -www.YourArtBay.com . The Art lover in you would come alive for sure!

The Aromatic and Colorful Saffron

“The saffron of virtue and contentment
  Is dissolved in the water-gun of love and affection.
  Pink and red clouds of emotion are flying about,
  Limitless colors raining down.”

The botanical name for Saffron is Crocus sativus Linn. The name ‘Saffron’ is derived from an Arabic word za’fran which means ‘to give fragrant flavor and vibrant color to’. Saffron is the slender, dried, reddish-brown, flattened stigma of a lavender flower of the iris family.

Saffron is sold in two forms, powder and threads. Pure saffron is made up of tiny, bright-red threads. The quality of Saffron is measured by the brightness of the color, the more the color, the more pure it is. Powdered Saffron though from the same pure strands is less used as it is mostly sold adulterated with the mixing of turmeric.

The active components of Saffron have medicinal values and so saffron is used in anti-septic and antidepressants. The red stigma of the lavender flower has anti-oxidant properties and also disease preventing properties for diseases like Cancer.

The fragrance of saffron in milk puddings and other sweets, made in some countries revives the senses and the taste buds alike. Some vibrant and fragrant rice dishes are topped with strands of Saffron to give it a royal look. Use of Saffron always measures the richness of the dish as this little colorful strand is way too expensive for daily use.

Saffron is to Food as Happiness is to Life-both enhance the quality of the other!

Baby Boomers VS. Gen Y Women!

“Just like the ocean, each wave covers the one before.”

This is very true in the corporate sector with women employees throughout the world. The new generation called the Gen Y is taking over the reins of any company from the hands of the older generation.

From approach to work, to being technology friendly, the younger generation women are more in demand than the older generation today. Experience is expensive and so the more the experience the less the chances of getting a job is the new scenario of the corporate world.

Growing old in a company is taking a toll and it is becoming difficult for the higher authorities to terminate them without a sense of guilt. Nevertheless, they do it because they want more efficient young college graduates who have new ideas and new technology to boost the value and profits of the company.

Gen Y women recognize work as an integral part of life. They take care of work and personal life equally well and expect the employers at the workplace to acknowledge the different facets of their life. The older generation was reluctant to talk to the world about their personal lives and thus, their balance of work and life got entangled which in turn, at times, affected their work.

From their comfort with technology to their multicultural perspectives, to their insatiable desire for making a difference, Gen Y is expected to revolutionize the workplace. There is a sense that Gen Y’s approach to work is different from previous generations. Baby Boomers or the older generation “live to work,” whereas the younger generation or the Gen Y “work to live.” And thus, the choice is made to hire a young lady instead of an experienced woman! Fair enough, right?!

Another Royal Baby has graced the Earth!

He was supposed to be a Leo, a leader for the next generation of the Royal family! He is still a leader, an heir to the royal family though a Cancerian! At 4.24Pm, on July 22^nd, a healthy royal baby was born to Prince William and Lady Catherine in London.

George Alexander Louis!

The royal baby of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is named George Alexander Louis. The name ‘George’ is after Queen Elizabeth’s father King George VI. ‘Alexander’ is a Greek name which means ‘the defender of men’. ‘Louis’ was the first name of Lord Mountbatten, uncle of George's great-grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mentor to Prince Charles. It means ‘renowned warrior’. A true leader in the making, the royal baby is aptly named.

Britain and the whole world are celebrating along with William and Kate, the birth of an heir for the new century. The next day of the birth of the royal baby boy, he was taken home. On Tuesday, June 23^rd, when the baby was coming out of St. Mary’s hospital in the arms of his ‘dad’ Prince William and his ‘mom’ Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, taking turns in holding him, the media and well wishers were waiting outside to see the new heir to the British throne. It was an event to be remembered as the proud parents showed off the royal baby and the media waved gleefully to the royal innocence cuddled up in a cream color blanket, oblivious of the world. 31 years ago Lady Diana and Prince Charles had walked down the same steps of the hospital with their new born baby.

"He's got her looks, thankfully," William said, joking with the reporters. "He's a big boy, he's quite heavy," he added as he held the royal baby in his arms. "It's such a special time," Kate said. "Any parent will know what this feels like." Like any normal parents who show off their baby to friends and family, the Duke and Duchess debut their royal baby, the third in line to the throne, to the media and well wishers. The couple looked relaxed and had broad smiles on their lips as they talked to the photographers and reporters, joking that the royal heir had more hair than his ‘daddy’!

When the 81 year old great grand mum, Queen Elizabeth met the royal baby prince, it was an event in itself. The Queen spent half an hour with them. The new royal baby, the first Prince of Cambridge to be born after 190 years, weighed 8lb 6oz. The Duke and Duchess spent a happy first day with their royal baby as Congratulation messages flocked from all important names across England and the World. As is always done for every birth of a prince or princess, gun salutes were fired on the arrival of the prince into this world. Prince William and Duchess Catherine registered the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis on August 2^nd.

Branding Small Companies

All companies today want a lot of publicity at a low cost and in effective time. And the best way they do that is by advertising on the web. Every company now has a website and a blog to benefit their company. Online businesses, small businesses, small scale industries and startup companies essentially need a website if not to grow their business then to prove that they are real.

In a world where there are n numbers of companies sprouting up every second, the brand that you portray to the world is the first important thing. Branding is what remains in the subconscious minds of customers and hence it is how you sell your brand that is important. For example, when you see a tick mark, you think of Nike and when you see a horse and a man, you think of Polo shirts. Logos are not the total branding but they create a place in a person’s mind and so are important. Branding for you is something which captures your sub consciousness and doesn’t let it go.

First impressions are the best impressions. When you have a website for your company, it is very important that the writing style be unique and uniform throughout. Just as they say that a person gets to know about you in the first few minutes of your meeting, so also is a website. If the first page doesn’t attract the person or grab his attention, he wouldn’t be interested in proceeding further.

The background and colors of the website should be consistent too and should in some way go with the flow of the website. For example, if it is a website promoting the restaurant, it is necessary that the colors that you might have used in your restaurant should be the colors that you use on the website.

The domain of your website should be easy to read and remember. It should be original and have a feel of what to expect from the website or the company that it is portraying. Share your domain name and your website link in social networking sites and also at local businesses to grab more attention and get more customers.

It is not easy to run a business or a company, but with a little effort these days, it is easy to advertise your company and brand so as to reach a larger audience through the web. You could just be an online company or be a company that is in a remote country, even then, it is now accessible to people all over the world through websites.

Cute Dresses

There was a time in the recent past, when people didn’t like the word ‘cute’ except for babies. Now it is a ‘cool’ word used for everything and everyone! Isn’t that cute?

If revamping your wardrobe is on your mind now, you need to revamp it with a style. I came across some cute dresses recently and was impressed by them. The skirts, the blouses, the shirts or the tops, everything looked so fashionable yet so cute. And the best part is that they are at reasonable prices not exorbitant prices.

On a ‘cute’ day, wearing one of the cute but sexy short skirts with the cute bamboo viscose white top would make a woman look chic. The chevron print blouse on any slacks of your choice would flatter your figure and make you look sensuous.

From elegant blouse to colorful top , for every woman of style, for all sizes and body shapes, there is one for everyone over this cute site. Taking care of the summer, the spring or the winter is done in a jiffy if you care to spend some time and money for an unique experience of shopping with free shipping always.

A sexy Everly baby doll dress would make you stand out instantly to your boyfriend, wouldn’t that make you run into his arms?. The super stylist Dakota jacket is soft and warm and is all you need on a cool date evening to go with your jeans, did I mention the first impression that it would create?!

Cute indie dresses are for everyone, irrespective of their shape, size and color, for you get to turn yourself into cuteness personified if you tend to wear these cute dresses that are made keeping in mind the woman of style!

Laptops Vs. iPads

‘iPaid’ or the ‘Laptop’

There was a time when computers didn’t exist and then, desktops came into being. And then a time came when the desktops were pushed aside from the desks, giving way to a portable computer called laptop. Laptops lured people into buying them by becoming more user friendly, and losing weight to become sleek!

But in today’s world, laptops are slowly becoming old man’s computer, and the youth have taken to the tablets. iPads and Surfaces are creeping up everybody’s ‘desks’ and ‘laps’. They compliment the Youth and have become the identity of the new generation.

But when a deep thought is set upon the laptops and the iPads, it is obvious that it is a war of one against the other. They can’t exist together nor can they be different, as they try to cater to the same purpose. It is difficult to use the laptop everywhere, especially in buses and cars, and hence the iPads came into existence. But not all features of the laptop are available in the iPad and hence the laptop is co-existing. Not all apps are usable on iPad and not all laptops can be used easily by the old generation people like the user-friendly iPad can.

Space or lack of space used to be a problem with iPad, but not anymore. The new versions have 16GB and 32 GB too and hence the space problem is solved. But, when one is doing serious work on iPad, one gets distracted with the games, networking sites and messages. iTunes is another useful as well as distracting app on iPad.

Laptop is too good when it comes to note-taking and editing documents, which is not very convenient on iPads. And now that touch screen laptops are on the shelves, the laptop is in no way left behind the iPad.

Debates continue as to which is better and more useful, the laptop or the iPad, but then, debates are healthy too. Every kid likes anything that comes new in the market, but adults need to think carefully and invest in the right gadget for the kid, unless they can afford both. Looking at the pros and cons of both laptops and tablets gives a person more opportunity to know which is useful for whom and for what purpose.

Leadership Vs. Management

“A leader can manage all things; A manager can’t lead everything” –Anonymous

If management is doing things right, then leadership is doing the right things. Clichéd but true.

A leader has a vision and he leads everyone behind him in the path of that vision effectively influencing them to follow the dreams, and fulfill them too. A manager tactically plans, organizes and delegates things to have a smooth flow of work. A manager is forever focusing on running the organization efficiently.

For me, leadership plays a more important part in the betterment of an organization than management. Managers of organizations forget sometimes that it is the people who run the company and not the company that runs the people. People management is more of a leader’s job as it is the leader who leads people to dream big about the company. People who get a feeling of ownership of the company strive hard to make it a better one and this is what a leader influences them to do.

Not all managers can lead a team and I have seen that even very responsible managers can be bad leaders.  They direct people to reach their goal, but do not inspire them or motivate them like a leader would do. On the other hand, I have seen people who have a mindset of a leader, remain employees of a company.

I do agree that for the progress of a company a leader and a manager should go hand in hand. A good manager would makes things work for the leader and make him/her look good to the outside world. And for this, a good leader searches profoundly to hire a good manager who understands his vision and works towards it. 

Mother's Day Gifts

Mother is a precious jewel in one’s life. So this Mother’s day, which is on May 8^th, buy your mom some sparkling diamonds or glittering gold. You would definitely thank me for suggesting this when you see tears of joy in her eyes and immense warmth in her hugs when she opens your gift.

There are a lot of jewelry shops in and around Seattle. The five best ones are listed below, to give you an idea of what you can expect where.

1.       MACY’S

If you happen to stay in Bellevue, you could step into Macy’s at the Bellevue square mall. Macy’s is renowned for its genuine jewelry and rates. You get what you pay for and you will not regret it later. If designer fashion jewelry is your need, then you must have a look at the best bracelets, rings and earrings here.

2.       ZALES

Zales diamond store is the best girlfriend for your mom. It is located in the South Center Mall in Tukwila. You can custom make any ring or necklace of your choice here. Or you could simply pick one out of their vast collection of those beautiful sparkles in their display. You could buy silver and pearls jewelry also here though they specialize in diamonds. The diamonds are genuine and the designs are unique.

3.       ALANA

Alana antique and estate jewelry is a unique Jewelry shop located in Northgate Mall in Seattle. It is known for its wedding jewelry but has a huge collection of antique jewelry pieces worth a look and a buy. You would be surprised to see how well they maintain their shop with extremely pretty necklaces and engagement rings. Gem stones, silver, gold, diamonds, you name it  and they have it here.

4.       SWAROVSKI

If crystals are your choice then there is never a better shop than Swarovski in the Lynwood Mall. They have genuine crystals, glass crystals, decorative crystals in the form of necklace sets, statues and bracelets, to name a few. These beautiful crystals will adorn your mother’s neck beautifully and you wouldn’t for sure regret the money you spent.

5.       FRED MEYER

Last but definitely not the least is the jewelry department in any Fred Meyer. And believe me; they usually have a sale for Mother’s day. A lot of people hesitate to buy jewelry from a grocery store as Fred Meyer is generally known as, but jewelry is good here. They have excellent designs of gold jewelry and affordable rates in their small shop. They carry limited amount of pieces but they are of good quality.

Have a good buy folks, and make your mom happy! Happy Mother’s Day!

Macrame' Plant Hangers

Macramé is a way of textile making using knots instead of weaving or knitting. Macramé is believed to have come from the Arab weavers. Macramé is now used widely in making hangers which are used for wines, plants and pots.

In summers, when the big trees block sunshine into the house, the house plants die, so it is essential that such plants should have hangers. What better hangers than the harmonious form and great functionality macramé hangers?!

Macramé plant hangers are available now in beautiful designs made in beautiful colors and materials. These macramé can be accented with colorful beads. You could get double hangers or simple single hangers made of jute or nylon with or without beads, wooden or plastic. The cords used in making macramé are jute, hemp and nylon. Each hanger is artistically crafted with hand using excellent cords.

They can be used as gifts for friends and family who are basically interested in plants and are able to use them as hangers. With beautiful color combinations and elegant knots, these macramé plant hangers would be an instant hit with friends and family. Long macramé or short ones handsomely knotted with love and affection could be used indoors or outdoors in the patio as well.

Hanging plants are the trend and so are the macramé plant hangers, so far as interested plant growers are concerned. If buying beautifully made macramé is one thing, learning to make them and proudly showing off the handmade ones is another. It is not very tricky and once you get the hang of it, you bet your house would be full of colorful macramé hanging plants of your choice everywhere in the house. If going green is the trend, then go green with colorful macramé plant hangers!

Getting Married on October 31st

“Love is a flower which turns into a fruit at marriage.”  -Finnish Proverb

Love is always in the air everywhere and the loving air slowly transcends into a marriage. The wedding bells, the ring ceremony, the decorations, the bouquets, all lead you into a magical world! Every couple wants to have a unique wedding which would be remembered by everyone, near and dear, friends and relatives, alike.

It is a fad now to have themed weddings and enjoy the marriage atmosphere in a fun and frolic way. One such theme would definitely be a Halloween theme wedding, which would be unique and fun too, for the bride and bridegroom as well as the guests.

A lot of superstitious people think that getting married on October 31^st is unlucky as it is Halloween day; especially the bride who feels that not wearing a white dress would be inauspicious. And some fear that guests with kids wouldn’t turn up for the wedding giving up trick /treating.

But there are people who have fun loving friends who get excited thinking of a themed wedding and would eagerly await the wedding day. They buy costumes as they would for Halloween if they get to know that it is a costume wedding. They imagine the bride in a red kitty dress and the bridegroom in a black cat tux and look forward to the fun they would have.

 The colors for the Halloween theme would obviously be black and orange, with flowers of different shapes and sizes adorning the place. For such themed weddings and the themed flowers, Sarah Flowers is the right place, where custom made decorations and flowers are available at affordable prices and fabulous colors. Now they add small plastic pumpkins too in between the flowers to add fun to the October 31^st wedding!

Empower Network

The saying, “Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” By Peter F. Ducker holds good for a work-at-home mom doing a work from home job. The first step is the right step in the direction of building a career along with bringing up the kids. The decision to stay at home and still contribute to the finances of the house is surely a big achievement in itself.

 In a time when working is essential but commuting to work is a pain, the telecommuting jobs are on the high. It is a boon to women who are stay-at-home moms, to take up a job which facilitates them to work-from-home. It not only gives them the flexibility of time to look after their kids, but also gives them financial independence.

I had registered into a lot of work-at-home job sites but to no avail as most of the jobs posted there do scams and the others want experience. Well, it is again the same old story of ‘the egg or the hen first’ situation. I would get experience only if I get a job but the employers would give me one only if I have experience.

That’s when I came across Empower Network and my life has changed since then. The Empower Network is a blogging affiliate marketing system devised by David Sharpe and David Wood, two experienced internet marketers that have made tons of money in their field. It is based on blogging and the bloggers get 100% commission on any sales that are made.

E very such business should be given one chance. I would suggest that if you are looking for an online business which gives you enough income to even leave your job and work from home, then it is worth a try. Empower Network is one such business, and I’m sure a lot of people have by now given up their regular jobs to take up this blogging business seriously ,and earn money from the comfort of their home.

The support system, the training material and other tutorials are a real help for everybody who enrolls into Empower Network. They help you to succeed as much as they motivate you to succeed. Though it is not for free, it is really affordable. And for the little you pay, you gradually earn a lot more than what you would want for a living.

You won’t have to worry about getting dressed and driving to work. If you do cold calling, going to meetings or teaching to kids, designing programs, no worry of any of these. All you need is a computer, internet and your creativity in writing, and you are ready to sit in your PJs and earn. Check out David’s Empower Network and see for yourself. Get into the Network and Empower yourself!

Go Green!

Go green!

True, plants not only look good in the house, but they are also beneficial to humans. After all, we get oxygen from plants, right?! Houseplants also help absorb airborne toxins while releasing fresh air into the atmosphere. Adding just a couple houseplants throughout your home can make a world of difference in terms of air quality. Well, if just home décor is what is in mind, then artificial plants would also do. But, that discussion is for another time, now, let’s go green!

The apartment homes in high rise buildings have large columns and so the corner behind that looks odd and empty. A good green plant like the palm or bamboo is all that is needed to add shape to the corner of the room. The green color incorporates with all the neutral colors as well as the browns present in the room.

And, there are those small bonsai plants or cacti that can be placed anywhere in the room, be it a windowsill or a small crevice in the corner wall. It adds its charm, though the plants are small and hardly noticed when placed outdoors.

A little color, a little fragrance will always do a lot of good to the people living in the house. Well, that’s what the flower pots are for. Seasonal flowering plants are best when placed in the middle of the living room or on the kitchen platform, thus adding beauty to the room and an aesthetic taste to the whole home décor.

'Google' please!

“ … and for everything else, there is Google” ! – A quote in a movie!!

That is Google, a search engine that searches anything and everything, at the snap of a finger. Google is fast, reliable and result oriented.

‘Yahoo!’ tried. ’Dog pile’ tried. ‘Duck Duck go’ (from about.com) tried. ‘Ask’ tried. But Google ‘searched’ (read walk) away with the accolades. It is surprising to note that when ‘Bing’ was launched by Microsoft, people were half-pleased only. They didn’t want another search engine to come into being, as they were happy with what they had. Google! Every man was so used to using Google that thinking of another search engine was next to impossible.

Amusing and amazing too that the most searched thing on Bing, even by Microsoft employees is ‘Google’. As they don’t have access to Google search engine on their Microsoft computers, they just type in Google in their Bing search engine and go to google.com. Believe it or not, this is true, and so shall it be till ages, I suppose.

Google’s page is neat and clear, and has relatively less outside advertisements unlike other search engines. The speed with which we get the search results is because of the crawling it does over the net. The search is always fast and relevant too.

The other Google sites that are necessary are available on the Google page itself. Like, Gmail, YouTube, Google plus, Google play, Google maps, Google books, Google blogger, everything related to Google is just a click away from the search engine site. This is a very convenient feature that Google has added to itself.

Search anything in the world, search from anywhere in the world, Google is sure not going to disappoint you. You could ‘Ask’, you could ‘Bing’, you could ‘Yahoo!’, but ultimately, you would end up ‘Googling’ it for sure!

How clean is 'Cleanliness'?

Clean Home, Clean Mind!

A magnet on my refrigerator, which is stuffed inside and really needs a spring-cleaning, says      “Housework won’t kill you, but why take a chance”! And believe me that is my favorite magnet so far, if my kids don’t kill me for saying it, as their picture magnets are there too.

Monotonous burdens are always there for almost everyone in their life but wish everyone had an ‘extra hand’ to share their burdens too!! So a maid to do all the household chores would be a perfect gift to everyone. But labor is very expensive in the US and so affording a daily maid is expensive!!

On a daily basis, managing the house, kids, work, and of course, the husband, at times, takes a toll on the homemaker. The laziness that comes with the dishes sitting in the sink rolls over to the clothes in the basket crying to be folded. Trying her best to keep the house clean makes her lethargic to do the carpet cleaning. When in one of her depressed moods, thanks to the gloomy weather at times, one would earnestly wish to have a helping hand even to cut the vegetables or empty the dish washer!

Relaxing in a clean house is the most attractive thing for anyone. And not having to do any hard work to make it attractive is all the more fun. Time to afford a maid maybe! All you need to do is make a phone call, keep your checkbook ready or simply withdraw cash, and you would have a good cleaning agency at your doorstep in no time.

A clean house is the mirror of a clean mind and so all of us should order cleaning services, if not daily, at least once a week. 

Facebook, Facebook and more Facebook!

“If it is your last day on Earth, what would you do?”Rosy asked. “Well, I would first update my Facebook status as ‘about to die’”, Susan replied. Bad joke, but true. Such, is the addiction people have today towards social networking sites like the Facebook.

There are hundred and one such Susans all over the world who have an addiction to Facebook. According to the dictionary, ‘Addiction’ means ‘great interest in a particular thing to which a lot of time is devoted’. And that is what Facebook is to a lot of women in the world.

It might sound weird but women are more prone to addiction of Facebook than men are. It might sound offending to women, but it is proved that women, especially working ladies, spend hours on networking sites. It is the best way of fulfilling their social needs with minimal effort to catch up with friends and family.

Curious cats (pun not intended) that women are, they need information and gossip about their fellow beings, which Facebook caters to. They get to know ‘who is who’ and also ‘who is with who’, as much as ‘who is working where’. Of course, not all ladies fall under this category, some are more family oriented. They want to see their family, their cousins, their cousins’ kids grow up, their achievements, anything to keep them connected to their extended family, though virtually.

Facebook has also become a forum to cater to our constant journey down the ‘Ego’ lane. Good comments, compliments for pictures, for announcements and achievements boost our ego so much that, unknowingly, we crave for more. And more.

When I call it addiction, I mean that it becomes so much a part of our daily routine that we can’t do without it.  We wake up with Facebook and sleep after bidding ‘goodnight’ to Facebook, sometimes literally, in the form of a goodnight or a good morning status update! Psychologists say that this addiction is the result of loneliness (not solitude), and an urge to be accepted by one and all.

Being a social animal is not bad, but being the voyeuristic animal is bad. Keeping in touch with family and friends at one portal is not bad; desperately waiting to be accepted by all of them is bad. Social networking is not bad, addiction to it is.

Lake Charles

A serene place like no other, Lake Charles in Louisiana is located on the bed of three Rivers, Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. It has a population of around 71,000 people and is considered a major center of petrochemical refining, manufacturing companies and education. It is home to beaches, trails, casinos, golf courses and of course, culinary delights.

Pre-dominantly influenced by British and French, Lake Charles is a place of Cajun cuisine. A lot of Cajun kitchens adorn this lake city. Cajun food consists of spicy dishes such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffée, and a lot of such dishes which might be difficult to pronounce but easy to swallow. Bell peppers, onions and celery are called the ‘holy trinity’ which is used in any Cajun cuisine blending them with spices and herbs. The good Cajun cuisine restaurants in Lake Charles, to name a few, are Cajun Café, Hackett’s Cajun Kitchen, and Leonard’s Food Quarters.

In the downtown of Lake Charles, there is a relaxing park which is worth a visit. It is called Bord Du Lac Park and has trails for walking, picnic tables, and children’s playground. It is a replica of the first oil well in Louisiana and has a memorial of 9/11 too. If not anything else, a walk by the lake would freshen up your senses!

If golf is your cup of tea, then Contraband Bayou Golf Club at L'Auberge Du Lac is the place to be. The flora and fauna at this flat 18 holes course is, as interesting to look at, as playing golf here. It is next to a beautiful resort L’Auberge Du Lac which houses a casino to enhance your experience.

Kids and adults alike love the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu located on Kirby Street, Lake Charles. This museum is a must visit to see some of the most fantastic costumes ever on display. The museum has the largest collection of magnificent and colorful Mardi gras costumes on the Gulf coast. Highlights of the museum are the animated mannequins that tell the story of Mardi gras and the talking chickens.

The Mcneese Cowboys are from Lake Charles and they host football games at the Cowboy Stadium, which is also referred to as ‘The Hole’. This stadium can seat around 17,000 people and the field has artificial turf. An art of the state stadium double the size of this one is being constructed now, which would have a climate controlled seating.

To show off your groovy dance moves or just to have a happy hour, ‘Cowboys Nightclub’ is a popular bar in the area. And ‘Yesterdays’ is a country music bar to satiate your palate of a glimpse of country life in a bar. Casinos are in plenty too for burgeoning nightlife adventure. People in Lake Charles love to party, as much as, they love to eat. You would find something to do each and every night when you are down here in Lake Charles.

How ‘Spicy’ is your Allergy?!

It is sad to see people suffer from food allergies. I have always seen people especially kids, allergic to milk, allergic to peanuts, allergic to cucumbers, allergic to walnuts, but have you ever seen people allergic to spices? Spices? Well, there you go! Though it is hard to believe, spice allergies are on the high these days.

Allergies to common spices like garlic, paprika, cinnamon, and fennel does affect millions of people around the world. But, not everyone might ever know that these are allergies. A lot of us might feel that our digestive system gets upset when we eat certain food, or that we have a tummy ache when we eat out a lot. It is difficult to pinpoint that the reason for these conditions are spices.

 The symptoms could be hives, stomach ache, diarrhea, itching of the lips; the symptoms could be like any other food allergy. But the fact is that there is no blood test or skin test which can diagnose these symptoms. You could have all of the above symptoms but may never know that it is spice allergy. These allergies affect you internally and you only get to know when it becomes critical.

All that can be done is to prevent ourselves from getting these allergies. Always buy good brand foods, buy fresh spices, and herbs and as far as possible eat home-made food. The frozen dinners might be good once in a while, but the list of spices is not given in detail on them and so might harm your intestines in the long run. Read the labels of the ingredients well enough to note that there is nothing in it that could upset your system. 

Even if you buy the same brand of things, be sure to check the ingredients every time you buy it. The company could have changed the ingredients when making the new batch, so always check it out first!

If you want to try to test your spice allergies, try noting down all that you eat prior to getting any kind of allergic symptoms or any kind of stomach upset or ache. Try this test for months with all kinds of combinations and in the end you might be able to pinpoint the culprit of your allergies. When conditions persist, see a certified allergist, keep track of your food and inform them of it.

Even if you get to know the spice that causes your allergies, it is difficult to standardize rules for it. The way you cook it and the other ingredients that you use it with might alter the effects. What could trigger an allergy in a restaurant might not trigger when cooked at home. Some spices’ allergy causing agents might be destroyed on cooking and some may become strong on cooking.

It is a strange allergy that doesn’t leave its tracks behind when it attacks. So trod slow and be steady, and you might be able to catch hold of your allergy triggering spice sooner than later. In the meantime, buy fresh spices and enjoy cooking them at home with your favorite dishes. After all, who doesn't love spices?! And as it is a very rare allergy, you might not be the one to get the allergy at all!

Your Page Needs to Lose Wait...

If you like a site and tried to open it, but the site takes a lot of time to open, what would be your reaction? You will definitely close it. Your site speed should be a priority as slow sites decrease customer satisfaction and research has shown that an improvement in site speed can increase conversions.

Google announced “Using site speed in web search ranking” in April 2010. Since then, website owners, bloggers are all trying all ways and means to make their page load time optimum. The page load time is very much dependent on the visitor's internet connection, ram ,and CPU speed.

Improving a site’s page loading time can be a rather laborious task; it requires thoughtful planning, significant resources, benchmarking, flawless execution, thorough testing and evaluation. Particularly for enterprise sites planning and testing can take several months and requires collaboration between different teams. You need to first measure the page speed of your website or blog, and accordingly you have to optimize your codes, files and upgrade your server in order to increase your page load speed.

A sluggish site discourages browsing and if there are similar sites offering the same service, providing a fast browsing experiencing may just be the deciding factor as to where your visitors end up browsing / buying. Slow loading pages can also have a direct negative impact on indexation. The bottom line is that getting more pages in Google’s index has the potential to increase traffic. Having more pages indexed means that there will be more keywords with ranking potential.

Page load speed does not always effect rankings, but it may affect the visibility and popularity of your site is it is really slow. You should not be obsessing too much about the rankings or the page load speed, but given a chance, time or budget, try to speed up your site.

Paid Survey

In a time when working is essential but commuting to work is a pain, the telecommuting jobs are on the high. It is a boon to people who are stay-at-home parents, to take up a job which facilitates them to work-from-home. It not only gives them the flexibility of time to look after their kids, but also gives them financial independence.

Sometimes, all you need is a little extra income which you can earn in your spare time. A lot of online money earning options has cropped up in the recent times and one such option is a paid-survey. These are sites which ask you to give your opinion or take a survey for money. When a certain amount adds up, you have it sent to you in the form of a check. People have discovered that this is a simple way of earning some extra money by spending just 10-15 minutes of their time in their PJs.

You could write your opinion about a product or a movie and get paid. You could just answer a few questions in general in a survey to earn a few bucks. It might not be a potential earning job as such, but then a few extra bucks to pay your social network membership or to buy a book, would always be welcome.

To know if a paid-survey is legit or not, you need to take care of a couple of things. Firstly, if you have to pay to become a member, avoid it, it might not be legit. Secondly, see to it that you would be paid in cash not kind. And to top it all, when you do get a check for the surveys, just hope that it doesn't bounce!

The Right Home Decor

 “Every person has a right time and a right place. Ours is here.”- Anonymous.

Every home is different and every family living in it is different. But one thing that is common is that every family wants to create the right atmosphere in the house for them to live in happiness and peace. And this is where the home décor comes into place!

Living room, in my opinion, is the soul of the house as this is where you and your guests spend most of your valuable time. It is the first place that everybody gets to see and so needs to have the best décor possible. Sitting, lounging or entertaining guests is best done in a well-designed living room.

Choosing warm and neutral colors for the walls of the living room makes it soothing to the eyes and creates an atmosphere of happiness. Having the best furniture that  fits well into the space that the room has is exciting to all. Lighting of the room is very important and so if there are bright lights, it brightens the room and the family’s moods too.

Decorating the mantel piece above the fire place, if there is one in the room, shows the aesthetic sense of the family, and so does a good painting on one of the walls. The living room can be made more dramatic with an accent wall which could be in a contrasting color to that of the other walls. The right décor of the house creates the best atmosphere for any family living in it.

Retirement Business

Be busy after you retire!

There are two meanings for the word ’Retirement’ in the dictionary:

1. The action or fact of leaving one's job and ceasing to work.

2. The period of one's life after leaving one's job and ceasing to work.

I would add a third meaning to it by saying that ‘retirement’ is the beginning of a new life: A life where your job stops and making your hobby your work begins.

A lot of people think that earning money is ‘done’ when one retires. But, there are others who turn their hobbies and interests into a business and succeed in life all over again. Life after retirement is supposed to be a life of leisure and enjoyment and if one has a business which has their interest in it, then the business thrives on fun and enjoyment too.

There are a lot of such businesses that people can do after they retire. I know people who have taken up Astrology as their home-based business; they read people’s horoscopes and give predictions upon payment. There are people who become freelance writers or ghost writers and earn their living decently after retirement.  They blog on different subjects and earn enough credibility to start it as a business, blogging for others.

If a person has always talked a lot and has had friends swooning over his long speeches and interested in debates, they could think of becoming professional speakers and infuse interest and creativity into their earlier work place. They could go into the industry they have been in and give guest lecture to corporate people.

There are retired people who enjoy food and entertainment and so start a bed and breakfast places or take up franchises of food chains. It not only gives them immense pleasure and satisfaction but also earns them good money making them financially stable.

People, who have always thought of doing some social service and haven’t been able to do so because of their jobs, take the opportunity of their retirement to do so. They start up an old age home, and start other services for older people, like making them computer literate, thus making their ends meet alongside  their mental satisfaction of ‘giving back to the society’.

Retirement is not the end of the world, nor is it a stop to people who still have the enthusiasm to make a living or follow their dreams. A lot of businesses today run successfully, and they are run by retired people.

Dallas-a place to live!

Dallas, in Texas, was founded along the Trinity River. The city's prominence is because of it being a center for the oil and cotton industries. Dallas is home to 12 Fortune 500 companies including Exxon Mobile.

The good weather, the jobs in abundance and the low cost of living are good reasons for people to migrate to Dallas. The increase in hiring employees has been on the high in the past couple of years in Dallas. Young couples come over here to start their life anew and settle down, partially due to the beautiful city and mostly due to the immense job growth even in the age of recession. The school districts are very good in Dallas and so parents with kids prefer this place and so migrate at the right moment when their kids need a good education.

Real- estate is quite tricky in a city like Dallas. The prices for homes are very low and so are affordable, but the problem would be that the equity of the house doesn't go up reasonably. And in addition to that, the rents are pretty low. Because of this, people tend to rent homes or apartments instead of buying a house, though they could buy a house for as small an amount as $140,000.

But on the flip side, people who want to own a home, no matter what; Dallas is definitely an affordable place. For the amount that you pay elsewhere, in other states, for a decent family home, in Dallas, the same home would be half that price. Dallas was low interest rates which brings home buyers here, not only from other States, but also from neighboring cities in Texas.

For more reasons than one, in the past couple of years, Dallas has become a place to live and love!

Ergonomic Evaluation

“Have a back pain? Your neck muscles have become stiff? Is that because you sit in an awkward position at your work station? You need an ergonomic evaluation and we do that for you.” Does this advertisement sound familiar?!

Ergonomics is the science of fitting work places to people’s body. Ergonomic evaluators focus on designing workstations to suit your body, with an eye toward safety, efficiency and comfort. Effectual ergonomic design gives comfort, reduces workplace injuries and increases productivity in your job.

Acute and chronic musculoskeletal complaints and work-related injuries are on the rise in companies these days, especially if it is a sedentary job. People sit in awkward postures, and/or have repetitive motions of the upper body that creates a massive amount of spinal and muscular complaints.

A thorough ergonomic evaluation consists of an initial assessment, which includes looking at the overall posture of your head, neck, back, upper body, forearms, wrists, hands, legs and feet , and if or not they hurt! The professional will then determine your risk factors, of pains, poor eyesight, muscular pulls, etc. The next step in an ergonomic assessment is to re-design the work space, and workstations that fit you specifically.  Lastly, a good ergonomist will recommend job modifications.  This is done through assessing work space, modifying your seat, looking at your monitors, keyboards, mouse, etc.  The number one goal should be to improve productivity while decreasing risk for injury. They also recommend a consistent break schedule and a stretching routine.

In today’s world, there are a lot of Ergonomic consultant companies who come to your company or work place and do the ergonomic evaluations for all the employees and after the assessment recommend changes to your work atmosphere. Thus your pain goes away and your work efficiency improves!

Domestic Violence!

Every tear in the eyes of a woman is worth a kiss!

When man is capable of giving and getting so much of love in this world, inflicting pain on fellow human beings is a very sad state of things. And that too, when a couple is wedded to be there for each other and love each other unconditionally, domestic violence is the height of brutality! And the sad part is that not everyone is open about it and so suffer in silence, silent to the world and silence from the world.

There are wives who have been married for years but don’t know what to do and how to come out of the ‘hell’. The husbands torture them in more ways than one, they burn them with cigarette butts, spank them, drag them by their hair or worst still, rape them every day. Most of these girls do not have the financial independence and some of them live in fear because they have kids to take care of.

It is very important that any girl in this world have self-esteem at all times. And when I say self-esteem or self-respect, I mean not taking anything that humiliates you or your identity lying down. Your dignity should be important to you as much as it should be to your spouse. And if the husband shows his male chauvinism and tries to control the wife by inflicting pain on her, it is not something to be tolerated.

There are a lot of institutions, a lot of NGOs who are there to support victims of domestic violence and so it is important that every girl be aware of them at all times. Every girl should also know her rights as a citizen of any country and should know how to preserve them while preserving her dignity and self-esteem. 

Hop, Skip and Jump

Hop a little, jump a little,

One two, three;

Run a little, skip a little,

Tap one knee;

Bend a little, stretch a little….

Isn't it amazing that even a nursery rhyme teaches us to exercise?! Yes, exercising should start at the beginning, the beginning of our life-childhood! And of course, kids do have a lot of exercise, as long as they are kids!

Exercise is very important, be it at any age. It not only refreshes you but keeps you going through the day. Just one hour of exercise keeps you healthy and young.  You could jump rope, run around with your pet, climb as many stairs as you can, bike to the office, the choices are enormous. Or just walk. Walk, walk and walk to a blissful health.

Have you ever heard someone talk about exercise and not talk about dieting? Not possible.

But, I never believed in dieting! For me, exercise was everything. It was more because I couldn't control my cravings. But one day when at a friend’s place, one of them talked about a particular diet and my curiosity was aroused. I searched for it and came across a wonderful site, where I read comments and feedback of other diet followers; and I was amazed to know that it worked.

The menu for the seven-day diet was also interesting. Before I knew it, the seven days were through. By the end of the seven days, not only did I lose 10 pounds, I lost a lot of appetite too, which obviously was good. My intake of food has pretty much decreased since then. It was amazing!

Dieting may not be for everyone, but healthy eating is. Anyone and everyone can lose weight or control their weight gain by eating right, and eating healthy. Indulgence and weight-loss are two enemies who would never get along together! It is but natural, when one is around, the other doesn’t appear.

On a serious note, eating what you want and whenever you want is totally indulgence. It is not heard in the history of mankind that you eat so much and still lose weight. But then, there is a method to this madness too. Small meals! Plan ahead what you want to eat, keeping your calories in mind. Losing weight is not the only criterion in this small meals plan, staying healthy is also included. If you eat small meals and eat more often, you would never have acidity problems nor would you get ulcers in the stomach! And of course, you would never go hungry!

Eat healthy, and exercise a little. Sounds cliched but it is true. Just as you plan your menu before cooking, or plan your plot before writing, you need to plan ahead of time, how you would keep yourself healthy as you are ageing. When you eat small meals but at regular intervals, exercise a little but regularly, mark my words, your body would never grow old. Or rather, you would never feel old!

Nuclear Threat in Essay Writing

Essay writing is a very interesting writing task. It makes use of all your capabilities of reading, thinking, imagining and writing in a perfect grammatical way. But sometimes, the topics that you come across in your tests or All-school-write may not be as simple as you would like them to be. Let’s consider a very recent piece of news:

Two months back, the supreme military leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, issued a nuclear threat  to the US. North Korea is improving its nuclear power and very soon would be in a position to carry out the threat on US. Japan, China and South Korea are equally disturbed and are preparing themselves and their military for the worst to come.  Investigations are on to gauge the authenticity of the threat. America is silent on this issue as they want to wait until they get to the genuineness of the news before commenting on it. Every country is of the theory that North Korea has bad economic situation and hence to get attention of the world, Kim Jong-Un has issued the threat.

Taking this hot and happening topic, you need to think about different kinds of essays that can be written.

1)      Think of yourself as being a citizen of North Korea and develop a narrative essay of the happenings in the country.

2)      Now you have to think about the situation as a student and write an essay about the economic situation of North Korea and the reason for it. You need to write it like an article for the newspaper.

3)      Do you think that the threat is real and would be carried out? How do you think your essay would inspire the US government to take action? Attempt an exploratory essay on the situation.

Aging with Botox

Aging is inevitable for anybody, but aging beautifully is a different thing. But when the natural youthfulness dies down, and wrinkles crop up along with laugh lines, it is time to enhance your beauty cosmetically. Face lifts by Botox have become a common vocabulary in a woman’s life today.

When Botox became available as a beauty treatment six years ago it was hailed by many as nothing short of a miracle. Botox injections may sound like scientific wizardry, but they are a natural solution. The name comes from an entirely safe natural protein called Botulinum Toxin. Botox is a non-surgical treatment .Doctors, dentists and nurses are all suitably qualified to perform this treatment. I am a nurse and even I can perform this simple yet effective procedure to set the wrinkles straight and erase laugh lines.

The procedure is painless and it takes about a couple of weeks for the Botox to become effective with full force. There are no side effects whatsoever and all you need is to avoid alcohol and strenuous exercise.

First time patients always have doubts and questions about the effectiveness and the longevity of Botox. As a nurse, I reassure them and explain in detail about Botox treatments. It is a simple way of obtaining quick and long lasting results to make one look instantly younger. Botox is effective for three months and can be repeated without any issues. I always provide general advice to clients regarding alcohol consumption, exercise, flying and head position everything that effects the treatment.

Hot Coffee vs. Steaming Green Tea

Imagine a foggy dawn and an aromatic cup of coffee! Imagine a cold evening and a cup of tea! Both sound equally tempting and inviting. But, some prefer coffee and some prefer tea!

Coffee is known to stimulate your mental senses and draw you out of fatigue. Since ages we have been hearing that coffee has invigorating properties and it helps in blood flow to the brain and hence, is good for health. Recently, we have been hearing a lot about tea being a healthy drink compared to coffee as it doesn't have caffeine. But not many know that it is the green tea which is not brewed, fermented or boiled that is good for health. Otherwise, if it is boiled with milk and sugar, it loses all its properties and is as good or as bad as coffee.

Coffee stimulates bowel movements, helps in digestion and has a protective effect on colon cancer. It is not known that it causes any harm to pregnant ladies either: Never heard of birth defects or miscarriages due to drinking of coffee. Caffeine in coffee helps people in losing weight, as it reduces appetite. Tea calms your nerves and boosts your mood. Tea helps in shrinking your fat cells and builds your muscle cells.

To wake up and feel fresh, the caffeine in coffee is helpful and keeps you going through the day. But, if you would rather drink fermented green tea, then you are healthy too, in addition to the little caffeine you get.

Business Enhancement Through Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites are the norm of the day. People eat, sleep and drink with them. Social media marketing strategies are the need of the hour today for businesses. People tend to relay on these social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and the like to promote their business.

There are a dozen such platforms and umpteen numbers of businesses that use them. But, there should be proper planning for using these networking sites in order to grow the business better.

• ·         Set a goal and work towards completing it and evaluating your progress
• ·         Be aware of who your audience is and will be. Map their profiles and think of ways and means to make them your customer through the networking site
• ·         Select the best social networking site that would suit your business better. See to it that your social business strategy works for your benefit
• ·         Think as to what is it that puts you apart from your competitors, use that USP making it relevant to your target audience. Your USP should define you and your business to the customers
• ·         Have the proper themes, content and the required strategy to know how and when to post what. You should have the proper blogs with adequate material and images to advertise your business

Once everything is planned you should then try to engage your audience. You should start branding your business generating awareness of it to your network of people. Social media is very powerful and if you have the right network of people, your marketing approach would yield results sooner than later.

Benefits of Crowd funding

Everybody who wants to start a business knows that getting business loans is like going to the moon! Venture Capital application success rate is below 1% and the guarantee that you would get the funding for sure is another 2%. That is the reason that these days crowd funding is another way to get investments for your company. Crowd funding is a crowd of individuals who invest in your company in exchange for a small share in the company or a percentage of ownership in the company.

For any company, crowd funding is not only a way to raise money, but it is also a good way to gain visibility, to gain validation of the genuineness of the company and also, to grow your customers online. Small businesses and enterprises benefit immensely from the crowd funding industry.

The objective of crowd funding is to build an audience .When you verbally tell random people about your company and ask them to donate, they wouldn’t be interested in doing so. A successful Crowd funding campaign provides entrepreneurs with the funds needed to launch or expand their business. Online communities and social networking sites also increase the visibility of their project and hence help in getting donations and funds faster.

People in your neighborhood might know about your business. But not everyone would become your clients nor would any of them think of investing in your company just because of your acquaintance.  Launching a Crowd funding campaign and allowing them to become investors brings forth loyal customers and word-of-mouth marketing of your company right in your neighborhood. This social proof is also one fine way of showing customers and clients the validity of what you are doing. It gives everybody an outlook of what you and your company are all about.

After-School Clubs

After school clubs and activities are the norm of the day specially for working parents. They are also important for those kids whose parents can’t afford any other kind of activity outside of school. And above all, kids have loads of fun.

After school clubs are the safest kind of day care for children of working parents, as they are in the safe premises of the school until the parents can pick them up. This is just one of the reasons, the others being team work, creativity and fun for the kids. Whatever be the club the kid is in, they tend to spend more time with their friends without the stress of studies. They play, talk loud, interact with the other children of other classes and of course, learn something new every day in these clubs.

The different kinds of after school clubs that interest most of the kids are Lego, painting, Clay art, chess and dance, among others. It is interesting how these classes are taught with a little knowledge to be gained and a lot of fun things to learn. Team work is usually the main motto of these clubs as much as time management is. The mental strength of children grows along with having fun.

 The best after school activities are definitely sports and outdoor games, which help children in their physical development as well as make them stress free after a long day at school. If some parents can’t afford sports outside of school, after school sports clubs are the best choice for them.