The Refresh Orlando Heirs

My son slipped a penny in the slot, cranked the machine, and turned his (or was it mine?) penny flat. He can’t spend it now, but who uses pennies these days? We have drawers full of them. Watching him made me think of Thomas Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History Of The Twenty-First Century (an easy recollection since I was reading the book).

Friedman writes for the New York Times editorial department. He has written Longitudes and Attitudes and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. The World is Flat completes a trilogy that validates Marshall McLuan’s maxim, “We now live in a global village…a simultaneous happening.”

Friedman makes global observations with wise criticism and keen understanding. For example, listen here to Friedman talk about the Iraq War, “If you don’t visit a bad neighborhood in a flat world, it will visit you, ” and it did.

11/9 and 9/11 I won’t give away the entire content of Friedman’s book. I couldn’t do it justice, and it is too long (471 pages). I will tell you that two events hinge the world for Friedman. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of Windows95, and the fall of Windows on the World. Oddly, the first happened 11/9/1989 and the last 9/11/2001.

Finding Flat Pennies The world is flat because nothing is proprietary. What can be made, learned, constructed, and used in America can be made, learned, constructed, and used almost anywhere. Information and innovation are not constrained; the Internet, the cell-phone, and imagination have global instincts. Almost anyone can flatten a penny.

What a flat world means to your investment choices Friedman does not address foreign investing. He emphasizes collaboration between scientist, analysts, researchers, academics, and corporations. I encourage you to read the many examples of outsourcing, insourcing, and infosourcing articulated by Thomas Friedman. If we are to maintain a viable international presence, we must involve ourselves with other nations, their betterment, and our mutual benefits.

We can make one keen observation. Investments are not ethnocentric. Intelligence is not either. Every investor must accept a future that involves opportunities in China, India, and Singapore (oriental not occidental). American companies scramble for this opportunity; the Congress and the President should avoid quasi-protectionist acts.

My Son Must Do More Than Flatten Pennies Fortunately, he does! While doing homework, he types messages to his classmates (discovered girls recently). I told him, “When you spend time sending messages, a young man your age in China or India is working on his next math problem. He is your competition.” Americans are not entitled. Encourage and warn your children and grandchildren.

“The flattening of the world is moving ahead…nothing is going to stop it. But what can happen is a decline in our standard of living, if more Americans are not empowered and educated to participate…. This is not a test. This is a crisis, and as Paul Romer has so perceptively warned, ‘A crisis is a terrible thing to waste’” (The World Is Flat, page 305f).

Ray Randall serves clients as a registered investment advisor with his firm, Ethos Advisory Services, Essex, Massachusetts Ethos Advisory Services. He has wide experience within the financial services industry, writes a weekly newsletter for Ethos Advisory Services, and coordinates the developments at Echievements.com. Ray holds a Masters Degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, MA. You may call Ray (617-275-5565).

So you want to be successful, healthy, happily married, and
rich? Do you feel like a successful, healthy, happily married,
accepted, rich person? Or do feelings of resistance,
frustration, anxiety, insecurities and deceit shadow you? Are
you still feeling needy, lost, rejected and deprived? Do you
“see” wealthy people as scavengers ready to gobble up the goods?
Are you envious of what another has? Do you feel guilty and
identify with poverty and failure? Are you surrounded by people
who don’t believe in you?If you feel negative about money,
success and yourself, you are not resonating from the
fulfillment of your prosperity dream. You are still being
defined by lack. If so, your desire for success will remain just
that -a desire. If you continually feel depressed, annoyed,
upset, and irritated with yourself or the outside world, you are
generating negative vibrations. If you are someone who is used
to suffering and not getting what you want from life, you are
still living in a poverty/ failure vibrational frequency.If your
old mental and emotional habits don’t feel right anymore, stop
wearing them, the way you would stop wearing a pair of shoes
that don’t fit. It is up to you to create an alternate future
and set forces to work for you rather then against you. Habits
are like clothes, you wear them. They fit your personality and
self-image. Some clothes make you feel like a million dollars
while others make you feel fat. So often, we wear the same old
clothes just because we are use to them.The same can be said for
mental habits and feelings. Over 90% of your thoughts and
reactions were learned. Whenever a situation arises that reminds
you of the past you tend to interpret it through old emotional
responses. If for example, you were whipped a lot, you have to
help yourself move through your fearful feelings every time you
see a whip. When you free this blocked emotion, whips are just
whips. When you deal with your feelings using the Principle of
Imaging you will heal your past memory and move into the present
moment. Instead of being reactive you become proactive! Here are
10 steps to Feeling Prosperous and Fulfilled. 1.Listen to your
inner conversations. What are your mental habits telling you? A
poverty mindset knows why things can’t work out. A successful
mindset always steps up to the plate and looks for a way to work
through a crisis. Start having discussions with yourself the
moment you feel a hysterical reaction coming on. If you get in
the habit of intervening on your own behalf you will proceed to
hold a correct attitude and change your emotional reactions.
2.Meet the Challenge. If you have a melt down and lose your
focus, freak out, and go into an emotional tail spin, once it’s
over go back to your image and refocus. You don’t have to beat
yourself up because you lost it. A fall out doesn’t have to
become a major set back. You are learning to identify when you
are vibrating from an error pattern. Things may still scare and
upset you for awhile .You are in the process of building self-
trust and self-confidence. You will be able to meet an obstacle
every step of the way once you develop a good relationship with
your deeper Self. 3.Congratulate yourself.Give yourself credit
when you react to a negative situation as an opportunity rather
then a setback. Get in the habit of comforting and nourishing
yourself when things don’t go right and you will not succumb to
destructive emotions. Each time you do this you will make a
deposit into your emotional security bank. And feeling safe and
secure is the vibration that attracts prosperity. Keep investing
in yourself and you will resonate with abundance and optimism.
Before you know it, you will start feeling entitled to having
good relationships and success! 4.Throw off the old you like a
snake shedding its skin. If something happens that threatens
your peace of mind reassure yourself that all is well. How?
Direct all of your attention to that which is good. Focus is the
winner’s companion. In time you will learn how to keep your cool
when the boogie monster shows up. 5.Treat yourself well.You
don’t need to prove that you are a failure anymore. You need to
treat yourself like someone you love and care about. Once you
get in the habit of feeling lovable and acceptable you will
repel abusive people. 6.Let go.It is time to clean house and
surrender your concepts of lack. Why allow negative people to
scramble your brain? Why keep reminding yourself of painful
uncomfortable times? Let go and let the Power work for you. Let
go means let go! Make room for the money, success, healing, and
fulfilling relationships you desire to be drawn to you. You
deserve to feel like you are # 1. If you need to have a good
cry, have it. Once your eyes have dried persist to let the “old
you” go. Do this and you will invite (vibrate with) the
fulfillment of your dream into your life. 7.Accept
Responsibility.Make changes gradually and you will start feeling
better about yourself. Just image. How many times should you do
an image? Do it and do it and do it until you change your
emotional point of attraction. 8.Commit to new results.Keep your
partnership between your conscious and subconscious mind strong
and success will be your closest companion. 9.Feel like a
million bucks.Feel good. The Power to Create is anchored in the
present moment. If you want to realize your dream for success
start feeling grateful about your success. Accentuate the
positive and you’ll build up your vibrational frequency.
10.Don’t look back!Once you have consciously imaged a new result
don’t turn your attention back to your former concept of
yourself. If you do, you will re impress yourself with what you
don’t want and go back to a lower emotional frequency. Success,
health, happiness and wealth don’t just pop in. Most visionaries
who are wealthy, successful, healthy, and happy have certain
things in common. These people have a certain mindset that
include big dreams, good habits, imagination, strong positive
beliefs, unshakable inner confidence and a connection to The
Source of All That Is. They don’t just “talk the talk, they walk
the walk”.Someone who uses Spiritual Principles to attract
positive outcomes simply focuses his or her conscious mind and
absorbs new ideas until he or she feels entitled to the gift of
a new experience. This type of person loves and enjoys the
adventure of life. They attract money, opportunities, good
people, and harmonious situations that reflect their mindset.
They are passionate about feeling their joy the way some people
are passionate about their golf game.People who know how to
vibrate from higher emotions do not attract negative people who
cling to them like lead weights. They attract people who believe
in them and are in harmony with similar creative results. Once
they know how to apply the Principle of Imaging, it wouldn’t
matter if the money went away. Their awareness of how the
Universe operates and their confidence would simply get them to
start imaging all over again. Knowing that the Law of Identical
Harvest is always at work, they would simply step up to the
plate and hit a home run.The only thing standing between you and
the fulfillment of your dream is an opposing belief and feeling
not bad luck or a past life.If you truly want to bring the
object of your thought into manifestation you have to make a
decision to get in the habit of feeling prosperous, happy,
grateful, accepted, healthy, loved and successful here and now.
Remember, there is no one to change but yourself!© 2002, Melissa
Zollohttp://www.presentmemory.com

Over the past few months, things in my life have been better than ever. New home, new friends, and wonderful career. Yet I found myself uncharacteristically asking, “Self, why am I feeling so frustrated? Why am I getting upset at the smallest of situations?”

I did a little digging (soul searching, if you will) and realized that as wonderful as things were going at the moment, like most of us, I had some unfinished business out there.

There were a handful of people and negative relationships that were still on my mind and wanted to do something about it.

What I came up with was the realization that out of all the people or things I was angry with, none of them (did I believe) truly meant to cause me harm. In other words, they had no intent for malice; it was only the interpretation of the event or situation that caused me anger and pain.

Think about this for a second. How many times have you gotten into arguments over the silliest of things, only to later realize how foolish you were being and to acknowledge that you’d simply gotten caught up in the moment?

After pondering this question for a bit, I decided to do something I should have done long ago. I thought about the few relationships in my life that were less than perfect or had ended on a sour note. I then committed myself to research what had caused the upheaval and to do my best to rectify the relationships that lacked a harmful intent.

I asked myself whether my ex-wife had really intended to slander me with the things she said, or whether she’d been speaking through her frustration and uncertainty of losing a relationship that she had shared for over half her lifetime. Had my father intended to discard our relationship, or was he simply avoiding me to save himself from having to deal with his own ex-wife who may have said some terrible things to him as well?

Get the picture?

Now, as personal as this is, I share it with you this month because what happened next was truly amazing. By taking action toward repairing the past and eliminating the negative feelings I was carrying, I rekindled some of the best relationships I’d ever known.

Look, I’m not asking you to play God and pretend to know what people think. However, you can use common sense and make an educated guess. For example, if someone borrows your car and crashes it, ask yourself whether they meant to do it. More than likely, they didn’t, so why end a relationship over it? However, if someone takes a bat to your car and smashes it to pieces, you’re probably safe in assuming they had a negative intent.

Now let me ask you, do you have any relationships that may have been severed from an accident or misunderstanding? In retrospect, do you think the person truly intended to destroy, upset, or provoke you? Was a bat involved, or just angry words and misguided thoughts? If you can’t find evidence of a harmful intent, pick up the phone, say hello, and let go of your resentment.

Best wishes, and keep smilin’…..

Gregory Scott Reid, #1 best-selling author, speaker and Radio personality.
Please visit my website at http://www.AlwaysGood.com and sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

The answer would have to be — that depends.

If they continue to be called handbags — then they may well not catch on at all.

Call them something else and they more than likely will!

As the speed of business and everyday life continues to grow, men too are going to need something small enough to carry the various daily bits and pieces in, without subjecting their pockets to a barrage of seam bursting bits and pieces.

For the majority of the week, men are catered for quite adequately with the briefcases or laptop bags. Many now cut straight to the chase and pile everything into a backpack, caring less for appearance and more for practicality of being able to walk around easily.

But consider for a minute those trips where a business case isn’t required.

Maybe they aren’t going out and about with their laptop or files of papers for the day. Would they still need a laptop bag or messenger bag?

Unlikely!

So maybe the advent of man carrying some form of male handbag isn’t that far away.

Indeed, designer names such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Tommy Hilfiger already market bags specifically for men. They obviously believe the market is the there and that it’s worth tapping into sooner rather than later.

Nor are they just your standard duffle or messenger bags.

They are specific, cut down versions of these, more suitable for carrying wallet, car keys and mobile phone easily than lugging big and heavy items. Slip in a PDA or iPod and you’re away.

The styles and materials used are still very pointedly masculine. With thick leathers and rough looking suede they still shout out “manly” rather than ‘girly’. The cut and style are purposely made to appear different to anything else gone before.

The Dior line for instance — thinned down and mini sized messenger type bags that aren’t messenger bags but men’s handbags.

And that’s the whole crux of the matter.

Men will start to carry the man’s handbag — for want of a better name — just so long as it doesn’t destroy their perceived likeness to John Wayne or the Terminator.

But if it has any likeness to a true handbag as touted by millions of women then they’ll run a mile — fast! It’s that word, you see. Strikes fear into even the biggest man.

“Handbag.”

It just sounds girly. It’s a word all men associate with their mom. Nothing wrong with that, you say! I agree — but although most men love and respect their moms — they don’t want to dress like her. That includes the ‘handbag’.

Then you’ll have the diehards who wouldn’t touch a handbag for their wife, let alone themselves. These men, I suspect, would rather see NASCAR racing made into a non contact sport and the NFL forced to impose a non violent tackling rule before they ever handled a real, live handbag!

Mark you — I bet these are the same men who, as soon as they get the car parked on a family trip out anywhere, turn to their wife and say “Gee honey, can I put my keys in your handbag??”

“And my cell phone?”

“Will my wallet fit in as well, do you think?”

Tch. MEN!

Copyright: Rufus Steele — 2005

Rufus Steele is the author and creator of the Louis Vuitton Handbags website, a site dedicated to all things Louis Vuitton and designer handbags.

As a regular author on a leading SEO specialty blog, I have the unique opportunity of corresponding with some of the greatest search engine optimization minds on the planet. Many of them provide outstanding tips. Recently I came across ten that could make or break your ranking. I’ve been given permission to share them in this article, so here we go…

Buyer Beware! Choose your web hosting company carefully. Be aware of the following:

1. Avoid free hosting, since search engines don’t like it.

2. Make sure the IP address of your future server is static, meaning that it doesn’t change over time. Some top engines don’t like changing IP’s due to numerous technical problems that often result.

3. Don’t host with companies that host banned websites, such as spammers or pornography. Search engines might penalize, or ban you for being associated with such sites.

4. If you are seriously considering getting good search engine rankings, you need to have a private static IP address.

Linker Beware! Watch for the following scams and pitfalls when reciprocal linking (a.k.a. doing a link exchange):

5. A site might link back to you, but then get rid of the link, or move it to a different part on their site, that isn’t ranked as highly.

6. A Webmaster might place a “rel=nofollow” attribute in his ling to you, which makes a spider ignore the link when crawling the page.

7. Your link might be placed on a link page that exists on the site’s server, but doesn’t have a link from the actual site to it. That way a spider is highly unlikely to reach it. And if it does, due to manual submitting for example, it will not give it a high rank, no matter how popular the main page is.

8. Some webmasters will point the link to a script on their page that will redirect to your site. Since spiders don’t read scripts, this link is useless SEO-wise.

9. When purchasing links, some sites will place the link on every page of their site. Google has recently begun ignoring such schemes.

Think Before You Link…Most current search engines analyze your inbound links before considering them. Many will give links that contain a string after “?” only a fraction of their normal importance, since these are often used in commercial affiliate linking. URLs with longer strings may even be ignored entirely.

Search engines work hard to ensure people cannot buy link popularity through offering affiliate promotions, or purchase advertising on other sites.

10. If your website is dynamic, it might make sense to create a separate page for each logical section of your site, rather than using URL string identifiers.

These tips came from some of the best SEO pros I have ever dealt with. For any of them who may be reading this I offer my sincere thanks for sharing this incredible information.

Mike Small is a former Harvard University computer specialist
and regular contributing author at http://www.seopartner.com
- a specialty blog offering free SEO tips and unbiased SEO software reviews to
the public.