How to Order Wine in a Restaurant

Ordering wine in a restaurant is not much different than buying it in a wine store. The main difference is that you have an audience. Yet ordering wine in a restaurant can be intimidating especially if the wine list is extensive.

Experiment or Homework
Keep in mind that even the experts will not be familiar with every selection on a wine list. If you are a novice and your are going on an important date, you should do a little homework to get some idea of what you might want to order. Unless you are feeling extremely adventurous, a restaurant is usually not the place to try something new since the mark up can range from 100 to 200%.

The Wine List
Today, most restaurants have a wine list, but expect a myriad of shapes and sizes. Some establishments might simply offer just a house red or white, while others have a daily blackboard to outline their rotating selection. Most wine lists are presented as a printed menu, with the wines arranged by color; red, white, and rose and the region of country. Additionally, many establishments will number their wines on the list, which helps big-time if you do not know how to pronounce the wine. You can simply say, "I will have the number 8".

Before you order, you are going to want to factor in what you are going to be eating. Unfortunately, not a lot of menus give advice on food pairing. If you need some help talk to the wine steward, or sommelier. They are there to help you make the best decision for your occasion, and a good one will not try to take you out of your price range.

Getting the Best Wine for Your Money
? Skip the house wine. Unless you are familiar with the house wine, don't bother because they generally carry the highest mark up.
? Scan the wine list too quickly to get an idea on the average price of a bottle. Try to stay within this median price range where the mark ups tend to be average.
? Choose a wine from the same region as the restaurant's food specialty. A good French restaurant, for instance, should have a solid selection of French wines.
? Ask the server for a recommendation. Just ask if they have any special values currently.
? If two or more at your table are going to have a few glasses of wine, it is cheaper to order by the bottle than the glass.

Corkage
Many restaurants will open and serve a bottle of wine brought by the patron. A quick call to the restaurant will confirm if this is possible, and if so, they will charge a corkage fee. They usually charge between $5 and $15 per bottle, although some restaurants will charge a lower fee if the wine brought is not on their wine list.

Contributor: Stuart Glasure [A wine enthusiast and publishing member of the wine source: http://www.WineDefinitions.com.]

Gambling Income and Expenses - Tax Requirements

Hit a big one? With more and more gambling establishments, keep in mind the IRS requires people to report all gambling winnings as income on their tax return.

Gambling income includes, but is not limited to, winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse and dog races and casinos. Unfortunately, gambling income also includes the fair market value of prizes such as cars, houses, trips or other non-cash prizes.

Generally, if you receive $600 ($1,200 from bingo and slot machines and $1,500 from keno) or more in gambling winnings and your winnings are at least 300 times the amount of the wager, the payer is required to issue you a Form W-2G. If you have won more than $5,000, the payer may be required to withhold 25 percent of the proceeds for Federal income tax. However, if you did not provide your Social Security number to the payer, the amount withheld will be 28 percent.

The full amount of your gambling winnings for the year must be reported on line 21, Form 1040. If you itemize deductions, you can deduct your gambling losses for the year on line 27, Schedule A (Form 1040). You cannot deduct gambling losses that are more than your winnings.

It is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling winnings and losses. To deduct your losses, you must be able to provide receipts, tickets, statements or other records that show the amount of both your winnings and losses.

Face it, the IRS gets you coming and going. Well, I'm off to play poker.

Richard Chapo is CEO of http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses by finding overlooked tax deductions and credits through a free tax return review.

Winning in Business - Lessons from Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong this week won an unprecedented 7th Tour de France victory, confirming him as one of the greatest cyclists of all time. The fact that he won more Tour victories than anyone else in history is remarkable. But more incredible is that had to overcome life threatening cancer to dominate the Tour de France like no other athlete has ever done. From the Lance Armstrong story, there are many lessons we aspiring business champions can learn.

What are you capable of?

In beating cancer, Armstrong discovered within himself a depth of capability that he realised he had not been using. After recovery he was more aware of that capability and set himself a much greater challenge - to win the most prestigious cycling race in the world. We owe it to ourselves to make the most of our opportunities and capabilities. What are you capable of and have you set yourself a big enough challenge? Most of us are far more capable than we think and could achieve much more if we decided to.

Where is your focus?

Armstrong's goal was always to win the main event. He was not so worried about winning the daily stages. He knew when to put in extra effort and when to hold back, how to keep energy in reserve for the ultimate victory, rather than waste precious energy just to win the day. In business our focus is all too often on the short term. We are worried about getting through the day rather than being confidently working on our long term strategy. If we are not clear enough about the long term goal, we default to putting in all our effort to win the day. This short term focus sometimes takes us away from long term success. Is your long term goal clear and in your constant focus? Most of us need to decide what it is we really want and then to focus clearly on that long term goal.

How committed are you?

Armstrong learned that when the going gets tough, there is always a bit more you can find within yourself to give. Most people would have given up had they faced many of the challenges Armstrong faced. His life challenge taught him to keep going when he felt like giving up. Commitment to your goal means never giving in. How do you respond to challenges and difficulties in your business? Do you have the courage and commitment to keep going when it gets tough. Ultimate victory is never easy. But we can dig deeper and find the resources we need to keep at it when we feel like the effort is beyond us.

Do you really believe you can?

Armstrong, like all of us, had to overcome self-doubt. If anyone had an excuse to achieve less than the norm surely it is Armstrong. After all, how much do we expect from cancer victims? Just living to tell the tale is surely enough. So despite the new awareness of his capability, Armstrong still had to overcome the self-doubt that told him that it was too much to expect that someone like him could achieve more than most healthy people would aim for. Self-doubt is normal, but you don't have to believe the doubts. Armstrong chose to live above the doubts and chose to really believe he could achieve. What about you? What will you choose?

Do you match your tactics to the situation?

Armstrong mastered the art of clever tactics to suit each situation he was in. He didn't always go into a race with the same game plan. He was not totally predictable. He outfoxed his competition by using his brain as well as his efforts. How often do you think about your approach to business and how you compete? Are you predictable? Do you keep trying the same things, expecting different results? How can you develop tactics to keep you ahead of the pack? Do you spend enough time working on your business rather than just working in your business? We need to spend time to develop winning tactics, rather than spending all our efforts just trying to keep up.

Are you prepared to win?

Armstrong learnt that the race was never won in July, when all the riders were on the road competing. For Armstrong, the race was always won well before the event, by riding when others weren't willing to be on their bikes. Armstong puts his dominance down to the preparation he put into each event. He says, "If you want to do something great, you need a strong will and attention to detail." Armstrong learnt that nothing could compete with the hours of training and preparation he put in before the race began. How often do we go to work in our business not properly prepared? Have we spent enough time to learn the skills of selling, of leading other people, of managing our time, of managing our finances, of monitoring our performance? Have we prepared the tools to enable us to work at our best? Have we set up systems to monitor our results, so that we can see if our performance is improving or getting worse. Armstrong credits his success to all of these details. How can we expect to succeed in our business unless we are prepared, by putting in the time an effort that our competitors are not willing to give? Give yourself a fighting chance, by being prepared to win before you go to work.

Do you lead a great team?

You can't win the Tour de France by your own efforts. It is very much a team sport, even though there are individual winners. The team must be inspired by the leader to sacrifice their own efforts to put the leader into the best position to win. The leader tries to win for the sake of the team. Everyone on the team invests themselves in each other and inspires mutual belief. How much do you invest in your team to assist you on the road to success? Does your team understand and work for win-win outcomes? How important is your leadership in getting the best out of every member of your team? Do you enrich the lives of those around you? Or are you trying to win by your own efforts? We can't win the business race on our own. We can build a winning team to assist us to greater heights.

We can all learn lessons from Lance Armstong. We are all extremely talented, but we choose what we do with that talent. We can choose to cruise and achieve less than our full potential, like Armstrong before cancer. Or we can choose to give life our best shot, because we only get to do it once. What a shame if we don't make the most of it. We all have a gift that is our unique contribution to this planet and its people. Why not learn the lessons Lance Armstrong can teach us, to make every second count and be your best? Who knows what you could achieve?

Greg Roworth is the Managing Director of Progressive Business Solutions Limited, a business development consultancy firm with branches in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. Greg has created a unique business development program that assists business owners transform their business from a state of total dependency on them to a state where the business works so well they don't have to.

Greg is also the author of "The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential," which describes the fundamental keys a business needs to achieve this transformation. Find out more, get 2 free chapters, or buy the book online at http://www.small-business-success.ws

What Is Faith?

1. Faith is a "spiritual substance" on the inside of you that can either grow or wane (decrease). The Bible says that:

"Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

I believe that this verse is telling us that faith is literally a "spiritual substance" that operates on the inside of us and that it is capable of "growing or waning."

2. The Bible also tells us that we are all given a "measure" of faith in which to work with. The verse that tells us that is: "... God has dealt to each one a MEASURE OF FAITH ..." (Romans 12:3).

The best way to understand faith and how it operates on the inside of you is on a scale of 1-10. "10" being the most amount of faith you can have and "1" being the lowest amount of faith you can have.

Most people start out at the lower end of that range - in the 1-3 category. And that is just fine with God! One of the most amazing insights that I feel God has given me on this subject is the following:

I felt like this really came from the Holy Spirit. He said to me: "If the Bible says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain, what do you think faith the size of a golf ball could do? Or faith the size of a baseball? Or faith the size of a basketball?" This means that your faith is capable of growing or waning.

The mustard seed is supposed to be one of the smallest of all seeds. The above analogy tells us 2 things:

That your faith can "grow" with and in God over time - from a mustard seed size - to a golf ball size - to a baseball size - to a basketball size, etc. The verse that specifically tell us that our faith levels are capable of GROWING is:

"... because your FAITH GROWS EXCEEDINGLY." (2 Thessalonians 1:3) However, look closely at the above analogy. The Bible says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains! That means we do not have to have faith up in the 5-8 category to get God to become active in our lives. All we need is a very small amount of faith to get the "show" going with God.

In other words, on a scale of 1-10, all you need is a "1" amount of faith to get God to start moving in your life - and just about everyone has at least a "1" amount of faith when they get saved. When you witness to others, explain this analogy to them. Explain to them that they do not need to have great or large amounts of faith to get God to become very active in their lives. God will take whatever amount of faith you have to start off with and He will start the building process with your life with just that small amount of faith!

How to Increase Your Faith

Now here is how faith is "built up" in the higher ranges over time. The Bible says:

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17)

"Hearing" means that the Word is entering into your mind either through "reading" the Bible or "hearing" someone preach or teach about the Bible. Either way, the Word is entering into your mind where you receive it.

What the Bible is trying to tell you is if each person will spend some good, quality time trying to read and understand the Bible, then the low amount of faith that you have started out with will start to grow. Why?

Because your mind is receiving information and knowledge about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all of Their ways. As you start to read all about God in the Bible and all of the miracles that He has done in the past with other people - your own levels of faith will start to grow and build up on the inside of you because you are actually starting to believe what you are reading. The Holy Spirit will also be bearing witness on the inside of you that what you are reading is real "God truth." The other catch on this is that I feel that it is really the Holy Spirit who will be the one to "build" up your faith on the inside and cause it to grow into the higher ranges. This is something He "magically" does for all of us. All of a sudden, your faith has just gone from a "1" to a "2."

Then a little further down the road, your faith will grow from a "2" to a "3" - and so on and so on. However, the Holy Spirit will not cause your faith to grow unless your are seeking after knowledge about God. And the Bible is the #1 source of knowledge that we have about God on this earth.

If you don't continue to seek after knowledge about God, your faith will "stagnate" - it will stop growing!

That is why the Bible says that your faith grows by "hearing the word of God." In other words, your faith grows as you increase your knowledge about God - especially through the study of Scripture. When you are "hearing the Word of God" - you are increasing your knowledge about God and that is what will cause the Holy Spirit to raise your levels of faith to higher levels on the scale of 1-10.

A good example on all of the above are the healing verses in the Bible. Sometimes it may take faith up in the 3-4 category to pull down a healing miracle from God. The way that is done is that the person needing the healing needs to meditate on, chew on the verses pertaining to divine healing. When you start reading all of the healings that Jesus did, all the healings that the apostles did and all of the prayer verses on how God can heal and answer your prayers - your faith will start to grow and build up on the inside of you. Maybe from a 1 to a 3 or 4. That 3 or 4 may be just enough faith and belief that God needs to heal you. But before He will heal you - He wants your faith built up to that range.

And it is built up to that range by "soaking" into all the Bible verses pertaining to healing. Your faith is growing as you are "hearing" the Word of God on this issue. "Hearing" in this case means you are "reading" the verses for yourself and believing what you are reading.

It's the "Word and the Spirit" working together that will really cause your faith to increase over time. When you start reading and studying Scripture in order to increase your knowledge about God, and at the same time establish a personal relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit - you have set a fuse to powerful bomb - a "1-2 punch" so to speak.

You have to have both - "knowledge" that the Word gives you and "power" that the Holy Spirit will flow through you by establishing a personal relationship with God and studying the Bible for increased knowledge about God. Do both of those, and over a period of time your faith levels will eventually grow from the 1-2 levels to the 8-10 levels.

Smith Wigglesworth was called the "apostle of faith" because his faith levels were operating in the 9-10 range with God. That is why he had such dramatic miracles in his ministry. He had the higher levels of faith to believe God for bigger miracles and God would do the bigger miracles for this man - just simply because he had his faith levels operating up in those higher ranges. And the only book he had ever read was the Bible!

That is why getting your faith levels up in the 5-10 category is so powerful. God will be able to do mightier and more powerful miracles through you if your faith is operating at those higher levels!

But your faith does not grow to these levels overnight. This is a "building process" that occurs over years - not months. That is why the apostle Paul calls our walk with God the "fight of faith." We have to fight for, to strive for, to press further on to get our faith levels to increase over time with God.

How Your Faith Can Decrease

Just as your faith can grow, it can also wane or decrease. Bad things can happen to you. Adversity has just struck. You felt like you just got hit with a two by four. All of sudden, you'll feel your faith "drop" from a "5" to a "2." Then you have to "fight" to get it back up to a "5." You do this the way athletes do when they go into slumps. They give themselves "pep talks." It's the same way in God's realm. From time to time, you have to give yourself a "pep talk" to keep from letting your faith levels drop too low for too long of a period of time when adversity hits you. You have to tell yourself that you are not nuts, that God has been with you all this time, that there is a reason for this adversity, that you can't give up and that God will eventually bail you out.

Pretty soon, your mind will start believing what your "pep talks" are telling you to believe, the Holy Spirit then starts to move back up on you and you feel your faith start moving back up to the level where it just knocked off of. That is how you "stay in the game."

And from time to time, God will arrange to test your faith levels - to see if you will still believe in Him and what He wants to do with your life. He will sometimes "allow" adversity to hit you. It is easy to have high levels of faith when everything is going great. But let adversity strike, and a lot of Christians will all of sudden "lose their faith" in God. How could God do this to me? I must be on the wrong playing field.

The story of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness is a perfect example. All of the Israelites over 20 years of age did not make it into the Promised Land because their faith was not operating at a high enough level to "believe" that God could overcome the "giants and strongholds" they saw in the Promised Land.

Since they did not have enough faith and belief in God to overcome their enemies in the Promised Land, God would not allow them to enter in and only allowed Joshua, Caleb and the younger generation under 20 years of age to go in there - all because they did have high enough levels of faith in God that God could overcome these giants and give them this land! And God proved them right! Joshua was victorious in gaining every ounce of land that he stepped foot on. All because his faith and belief in God was so strong.

Article written by Michael Bradley, author of over 100 articles which can be found at http://www.bible-knowledge.com.

For a complete and clean copy of this article can be found at http://www.bible-knowledge.com/What-is-faith.html.

Copyright ? 2005 by Michael Bradley

How Bill Cosby got it Wrong

Bill Cosby got it wrong. His many speeches regarding the plight of poor blacks in this country and their lack of personal responsibility were not only off the mark, but completely irresponsible.

Cosby failed to take into account many mitigating factors, in what became his regular rants on poor blacks in this country. For example, the last of the civil rights laws was passed in 1965, so it's been forty years since the physical signs of government sanctioned racism have been in place. Please explain to me how in forty years we are to undo centuries of terror and government sponsored segregation, emasculation and murder?

While I don't believe blaming the white man for your problems is the answer, preaching to a roomful of upwardly mobile blacks who are probably doing nothing to help those who are less fortunate then they are is pointless and doesn't do anything to help the cause of those you're complaining about. Poverty is a hard cycle to break; especially if you're black and suffer a history where, in the not to distance past, if you dared to assert yourself as an entrepreneurial, educated black person you could find yourself hanging from a tree.

This is a country that used to burn blacks alive for fun. That not to long ago raped a man with a broom handle and two years ago sent a young black boy to prison for having sex with a white girl. This is a country where there are several states that have never sent a white man to death row for killing a black man but routinely send black ones to death row for crimes that they may not have committed, look at Illinois, and that is not even a southern state.

Now as a young black woman who was raised by a single mother, one who was welfare and who only has a GED, I could so easily be one of those non English speaking, uneducated loud dressing, black folk he was talking about. But I'm not. I'm well educated and I am quite familiar with the English language. But guess what, I've been denied jobs and treated horribly because I am black and for no other reason. And if Cosby or anyone else thinks that that doesn't have an effect on those who are not blessed to have a parent who recognizes the value of an education and who adequately prepares you for the racist country in which we live, then he and everyone else who feels that way are sadly mistaken.

Cosby failed to mention the sorry state of secondary education in many of the poor neighborhoods in this country and how that impacts the lives of the poor and black in this country. Our tax based system for supporting public schools leave many in poor areas with inadequate buildings, teachers, textbooks, and curriculum. Can someone explain to me how kids get to high school without the ability to read or do simple math? That isn't simply their fault, or their parents fault but the fault of a system that will simply pass kids along and believe them incapable of learning and not really caring whether they learn anything or not.

How about a high school system that offers classes that are useless for entrance into college? Or where kids graduate and haven't taken a single algebra class? High school is supposed to prepare you for college, regardless of whether the teachers or administrators believe the students are capable of a college education. You can be a very responsible person but if you were never given the proper building blocks for success then that responsibility will get you nowhere.

America and apparently Bill Cosby has a short memory. And while blaming the white man is pointless, and waiting for racism to end is pointless, personal responsibility alone isn't the answer. You can take all the personal responsibility you want but if you're born black and poor in this country, then you have a lot of odds stacked against you and more then likely will succumb to that environment. Poverty alone is a hard cycle to break, add being black and the weight of a history that has routinely stripped you of your identity and self worth and you've got what can seem like, and for many people are, insurmountable odds. Forty years and a ranting, wealthy black man isn't going to change that.

To read more articles by Tamika Johnson or to have you book, music or film reviewed visit http://www.prologuereviews.com

What about Potassium?

Information on potassium

When you read about potassium and senate document report 264 you'll life should be changed forever. You're going to discover that the biggest fallacy most people aren't aware of is that if we eat a balanced diet, (the four food groups), we get all the nutrients we need to stay healthy and live a long life. The truth is, this has been a matter of public record for the past 60 years. Fact is that our farming soils are severely depleted of these so important minerals such as potassium.

Without adequate mineral intake whether through supplements or certain foods the vitamins our bodies take in are worthless. We need this important mineral as it assists in muscle contraction and in maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance in body cells. Various surveys would have us believe that we get adequate amounts of daily intake but in truth how's that possible according to the senate document.

We're taught that potassium rich food does the trick but in reality that really can't be so. Fruits and vegetables are mostly depleted of nutrients ? yes they still look good in the stores for sure. A little fancy treatment makes good marketing sense for the venders but not for us. As we contemplate the issues it makes us really wonder who's needs are being met with so many conflicting reports.

The giant supermarkets aren't concerned about our nutrition; it's the cash register that dictates the bottom line. Plant foods are harvested before they've even ripened; many are gas retarded from ripening, trucked across the United States, and then gas ripened. By the time the food gets to our dinner tables there's little or no nutrition left. But they sure look good.

No longer can we rely on a "balanced" diet with merely so many calories or certain vitamins or fixed proportions of starches, proteins and carbohydrates. We know for certain that our diets must have a score of minerals. And potassium along with many others just isn't there.

Senate doc 264 and liquid vitamin supplements

10 Valentines Day Tips for Spouses Who Want to Improve Their Marriage

The best and most valuable gifts are often not material ones. While many spouses focus on Valentine's Day gifts such as jewelry or candy, spouses who are willing to invest the time and energy can give one of the most precious gifts possible-an improved, satisfying marriage.

Long after the romantic card is tucked away and the box of candy is empty, this marriage-enriching gift will still be appreciated and enjoyed. Follow these ten steps to give yourself and your spouse an unforgettable Valentine's Day gift:

1. Direct your energy into becoming the kind of marriage partner you'd like to have. It's easy to criticize a spouse for not being perfect while we overlook our own imperfections.

2. Focus on how you need to change in order to be a better partner. The only person you can ultimately change is yourself.

3. Accept responsibility for your own actions. You take a giant leap forward in growth the day you can say, "I'm sorry for my actions" instead of rationalizing and offering excuses.

4. Minimize blame and resentment. They are toxic and can poison your marriage and your life.

5. Practice forgiveness, not to let your partner off the hook, but because you want to move forward without carrying the weight of past hurts.

6. Break your marriage goals down into small steps and begin taking action. It'll be easier to continue moving forward when you start seeing progress.

7. Adopt the philosophy expressed in the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me serenity to accept what I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

8. Focus on what you can do and give instead of keeping tabs about who is doing the most or making the greatest effort in your marriage.

9. Strive for balance in your own life between family, friends, work, sports, hobbies, recreation, and other interests. Then you won't be as likely to obsess about the imperfections in your partner.

10. Reward and praise yourself often for hanging in there in a challenging situation. You deserve it!

Nancy J. Wasson, Ph.D., is co-author of Keep Your Marriage: What to Do When Your Spouse Says "I don't love you anymore!" This e-book is available at http://www.KeepYourMarriage.com, where you can also sign up for the free Keep Your Marriage Internet Magazine. Nancy can be contacted at Nancy@KeepYourMarriage.com.

Daphnes for Scent and Colour

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of plants knows that daphnes have wonderfully fragrant flowers. And because some of them - usually the most scented - flower in winter, they're the sort of must-have plants that are usually among the first planted in any new garden.

There are around 50 species of Daphne, many of which are choice garden specimens. They are widespread lot, ranging from Europe and North Africa to temperate and subtropical Asia. Most of them are evergreen or nearly so, but a few are deciduous, often flowering before the foliage expands.

The plant everyone calls daphne is Daphne odora, particularly the cultivar 'Leucantha' , which is often misspelt 'Leucanthe' . This shrub, a native of China and Japan, sells in vast numbers, mainly on the strength of its perfume, but also because it's a reasonably hardy evergreen bush. It grows to around 1.5m tall with leathery, deep green leaves up to 80mm long. From mid-winter on into spring it produces clusters of small, starry, pale pink flowers. Several flower and foliage forms are available and the variety with yellow-edged leaves, 'Variegata' (sometimes called 'Aureomarginata' ), is often hardier and easier to grow than the species.

Daphne odora can be quite particular about soil conditions and is slightly frost tender in cold winter areas. It does best in cool, moist, humus enriched, well-drained, acid soil in sun or light shade. Work in plenty of compost or similar organic matter - it's impossible to use too much - and feed regularly with liquid fertilisers and an occasional side dressing of acid fertiliser. Kept healthy, D. odora develops quickly and is attractive even without flowers, but it isn't a long-lived bush. You can expect to have to replace it at least every 8-10 years.

Because daphnes are so popular, nurseries propagate thousands of them every year. For many years the plants were nearly all cutting-raised and with repeated propagation by this method the cutting stocks declined and became badly infected with viral diseases that were transmitted to their progeny. Around fifteen years ago Daphne odora 'Leucantha' was refreshed by producing new plants by tissue culture, thereby eliminating most of the disease problems. At the time, the improved appearance of these virus-free "high-health" plants was remarkable. Although since then new batches of tissue cultured plants have been introduced, many of the original high-health daphnes were used as cutting stock and now these plants are showing viral problems. When buying 'Leucantha' try to ensure that you get a tissue cultured plant or a first or second generation cutting from cultured stock.

Several other species are similar in appearance to Daphne odora and are well worth growing as slightly different alternatives to what everyone else has. Of these, Daphne bholua and Daphne laureola are the most commonly available.

Daphne bholua occurs in both deciduous and evergreen forms, but here they all seem to behave as semi-evergreens (or semi-deciduous if you like). It is shrub up to 3m tall, sometimes rather narrow and open in habit, that like Daphne odora flowers in winter and spring. The flowers are strongly scented, white-tinged-pink and open from deep pink buds. Black fruits (drupes) follow the flowers.

First classified in 1825 but slow to enter cultivation, it is one of a group of four species known as paper daphnes because in their home range paper and ropes were made from their bark. It was first recorded in gardens in 1938, but didn't really become at all widely grown until the late 1960s to mid 70s.

Native to the eastern Himalayas, it is somewhat tougher than Daphne odora under New Zealand conditions. Though strangely, British references often rate it as slightly less hardy. Whatever the reason for its local success, just be happy to know that in most of our gardens it thrives.

Daphne bholua is difficult to raise from cuttings and although it can be grafted, seed is the best method of propagation. The seed germinates well and while the seedlings are slow to start into strong growth, they gain vigour with age and usually flower in their fourth year.

Hydronic vs Forced Air Heating and Cooling

Hydronic, or hot water, heating has been standard for years in many parts of the U.S. It is seeing a surge in popularity at present, mainly because of the increasing use of radiant floor heating, which is known for providing even, comfortable heat. Yet contrary to popular belief, not every home in the free world needs hydronic heat to achieve this level of comfort.

Apples to Oranges

Hydronic heat is sometimes touted as more comfortable than forced-air heat. But since the typical hydronic system is significantly more expensive than the typical hot-air system, especially if cooling is included, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison. Customers willing to invest in a quality hot-air system, rather than a bare-bones package at the lowest price, will find that forced hot air can be as comfortable as hydronic heating. Unfortunately, if the heating system is hot water and the home owner doesn't spend the extra up front to cool their home, their finished home may be still too expensive to add the cooling system later and probably imposable to even install without doing even more expensive and inconvenient remodeling to accommodate such an install. Or the homeowner may have to add a window air conditioner instead to each of the rooms in the home. Another system maybe a ductless system that is not as efficient as the central split system design on a standard forced air install.

The least expensive forced-air system usually includes a single-stage furnace with a single-speed blower motor. The entire house is ducted as a single zone, and therefore has just one thermostat. If the system is sized by a contractor who uses a rule-of-thumb formula to estimate heat loss and heat gain, the homeowner can end up paying higher-energy bills for a noisier, less efficient system that provides uneven temperatures from room to room.

A quality forced-air system would probably include a Coleman two-stage furnace with a variable-speed blower motor.

The house would be separated into several zones, I recommend Arzel Zoning Systems, with separate thermostats, and the air would be distributed through well-sealed, insulated ducts. In many cases, such an upgraded hot-air system will still cost less than a hydronic system.

About The Author

Daniel Gipe is President of Yours By Design Heating and Cooling, Inc. in Blaine, Minnesota. Website: www.ybdhc.com

sales@ybdhc.com

10 Ways to SCREW-UP Your LIST

Just in case you don't know, your 'LIST' ? is you list of optin subscribers who have taken the time and effort to personally subscribe to your newsletter or ezine???..

Treat them like GOLD!

However, after nearly 7 years online, seeing quite a few classic examples of how to use, abuse and lose your list (including one or two made by myself) ? and of course, the mega-hype (and well deserved it is) about the rock-solid, vital importance of your list?? people still mess things up??..

Here are my Top Ten ways to avoid getting things Soooooo wrong?.

1. Backup your list of subscribers regularly. Don't expect your web-host to do this for you, or to be reliable. If the server crashes, is hacked, infiltrated with a virus, blows-up?? your list could be gone forever. I personally lost 12,000 subscribers because one host I used simply closed down without notice.

2. If you spend half your time building up genuine optin subscribers, only to be tempted into buying a 'ready-made' list in order to boost your numbers?? watch out! Unless you are paying Top-Dollar per subscriber name on one of these lists, the chances are the list is useless, worthless and has been harvested by a spammer. This will result in spam complaints, and have you closed down.

3. Deliver WHAT you say. If you tell your subscribers that you will send them a newsletter or ezine, which contains new informative articles, plus possibly guest articles, maybe on a certain subject, perhaps maybe tips, jokes, Q&A section, special offers or discounts which are only available to subscribers (and nowhere else) ? then DO IT. Look, if you promote your newsletter as providing great content targeted at say, 'Female Bodybuilders' ? don't include content on non-related subjects, or even subjects that may be considered unrelated, but which you think have a tenuous link.

4. Deliver WHEN you say. If you say your newsletter or ezine is published monthly, then the subscriber is within reason to expect 12 copies a year. If you then send them 37 copies ? or even 3 in a year, that will disappoint them. Some publishers chose daily ? that's fine, providing you tell your subscribers, and the daily newsletter isn't too long, and has quality content. You must also be one time (within reason). A Monthly Newsletter should be sent on roughly the same day / date each month. Weekly, on the same day if possible.

5. Don't offer free ads to new subscribers. This is a HUGE pitfall by many publishers. In order to get more subscribers, they offer a free classified ad to each new subscriber. I have seen newsletters / ezines which do this, and because they do, they must publish each new subscribers ad. The reason why it's so wrong is simple. Firstly, it is typical for someone ONLY to subscribe, in order to get a free ad. If so, they are worthless on your list, because they are not interested in your content, or for that matter, interested in anything else apart from getting THEIR ad in your newsletter ? they will never read the rest of the content ? just look for their own ad. Next, if you have a number of new subscribers, and each one has submitted a free ad for your to publish, this will simply fill-up your newsletter with free ads, which most people won't even read. I've seen ezines with up to 200 free classified ads. Would YOU read each one? No.

6. Limit your paid advertising. Unless you are providing a newsletter or ezine which is completely aimed at providing advertising, and your subscribers WANT to see all adverts, don't cram it full of Ads. A few well placed, chosen adverts to break-up the newsletter or ezine is fine - after all, if you can make a few bucks without reducing the quality of your content, that's fine. But if you really think that subscribers really will actually READ your newsletter from top to end, every issue, which has more adverts and less valuable content ? you are sadly mistaken. Here's another tip?.. as subscribers get bored with high levels of ads, and lower levels of good quality content, they will read less, which means they will not click on ads (even the good ones), the advertisers will notice that the click0thru rates are low, and will not be willing to pay to advertise in your newsletter or ezine. It's a vicious circle.

7. Multiple Newsletters. If you run multiple websites, it may be that you try to get subscribers from each one. Perhaps one website is Female Bodybuilders, another is Niche Marketing for Mums, another could be Homeworking Secrets, and then perhaps Direct Mail Tips. Whatever the categories, it is likely that they are all different, and if you promote a newsletter which is meant to target each category, make sure the newsletter content really is targeting correctly. Too many publishers / marketers use this multi-list approach, but abuse it by sending the exact same content to different targeted lists. If you sign up for the Females Bodybuilders Newsletter, and receive content aimed at Niche Marketing?.. wouldn't you be annoyed?

8. If for some reason you decide to move web-host, this of course, means a new server, with a new email server, new IP address?. etc. The chances are, you will use a shared server, meaning other people will have their website(s) on the same server as you, or others have shared the server before. What this means???..could be trouble for you. Many of the anti-spam agencies, black-list or block emails which are delivered from certain servers or IP Addresses. If by chance, the server you are on, has been used previously by some moron spammer, it may be that it's the server / IP Address of the server which is blacklisted. This means anyone else (other than the spammer) trying to legitimately send email / newsletters / ezines, could also be blocked. Check first with the web-host provided if their servers are blocked or blacklisted anywhere. If they can't or won't tell you, ask them for the server IP address which you can check with certain spam blocking services to see if its already blacklisted. If you web-host won't even tell you this, find another host.

9. Don't treat your subscribers as if they are Money-Banks. Some publishers think that they should squeeze cash out of everyone, and do it multiple times a year. Not everyone will buy products or services from you, not everyone will click on the advertising? it might be difficult to believe, but some just like reading articles and good content!

10. If you exclude your readers, you will alienate them. Ask them for feedback, questions, comments, even articles ? and use them or at least reply to them. Readers like to see you showing an interest in their opinions.

? 2005 All rights reserved worldwide.

Another article by Gary Durkin Founder of the Internet Advice Center? http://www.InternetAdviceCenter.com

Gary has more than a decade of offline international business success behind him - each day controlling millions of dollars of investments world-wide, and has been doing business online for 6 years.

If you would like to join thousands of subscribers to his newsletter 'Delivering Success' - send a blank email to deliveringsuccess@kioskcities.ws

You are free to distribute this article, providing it remains unchanged and with the resource / bio box attached.

Two for One Dinners: Beef

If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night. There are a six articles in this series, today we are going to look at what you can do with beef.

DINNER - NIGHT ONE: Pot Roast

Make a slow-cooked pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes. Give it a flavor boost with bottled horseradish. Serve it over mashed garlic potatoes with a green salad. Put the leftovers in a tightly covered container, or ziplock bag in the refrigerator or freezer.

DINNER - NIGHT TWO: Vegetable Beef Soup

Chop the leftover beef into cubes and mix with a packaged beef broth with frozen mixed vegetables (i.e., green beans, carrots and corn) for a simple, and filling soup. You can find in your grocer's frozen food section packages of "soup mix" vegetables as well. Serve the soup with cornbread or biscuits on the side. This soup also makes a great lunchbox item that you can warm up and put into an insulated thermos.

Publishing Rights: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. Copyright 2005, Michele Webb. All Rights Reserved.

Michele Webb owns her own website and is a member of a number of organizations for women Netpreneurs and business owners. She has over 20 years experience in health care, clinical trials, management, project management and software development. She currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada USA with her two dogs.

You are invited to visit her website at: http://www.ebooksnstuff.com. Or, you can email the author at: support@ebooksnstuff.com

Detoxification and your skin

Learn to help your body glow from the inside out. Nourish it with foods that are pure and natural. Remove harmful substances from your diet and you will notice a difference in the way you look and feel.

What is detoxification?

Detoxification is the process of removing toxins or poisons. We all know that toxins are harmful and cause damage, potentially even death if taken in certain levels. Living cells, whether in plants or in the body, are constantly in the process of bringing nutrients and fresh substrates in while eliminating by-products and waste that is not useful to the organism. Therefore, detoxification is a natural, ongoing process in our bodies.

Keeping your body healthy requires maintaining all of its systems in good working order. Minimizing the amount of toxins you take into your system is one way that we can detoxify our bodies. Benefits of detoxification may include increased energy and improved health, better breath, reduced allergies, and potentially fewer aches and pains.

Wastes leave the body in the form of gases, solids, and liquids. Carbon dioxide is the gas that we exhale. We excrete other waste from the body after it accumulates in the bladder and in the bowels.

Other organs that play a major role in detoxification include the:

- skin

- liver

- kidneys

- lungs

Blood also plays a critical role in the detoxification process. It carries dissolved gases like carbon dioxide to the lungs, and then it is traded for oxygen through respiration. Both the liver and kidneys help to detoxify the blood by removing wastes and sending them to the urine. In the form of stool, unused solids are carried away.

Benefits for your skin via detoxification

Your skin is a barrier but it is not impermeable. Just as products that you use on your skin are able to enter your body through this physical barrier, toxins are also able to leave your body through the skin. Free radicals and UV light in the environment also damage the skin which over time cause it to show signs of premature aging.

How can detoxification help your skin? By minimizing the number of chemicals in your body, you help you body to function more efficiently. Eating well is one way to maintain healthy skin with a smooth texture, elasticity, and a proper level of moisturization. Skin complexions troubled by acne and imperfections can also benefit from the inside out with detoxification methods. For example, vitamin A reduces the amount of sebum produced by the skin cells and therefore pores are less likely to become blocked.

Ways to detoxify your body

Some of the best ways to detoxify include:

- eating a balanced diet

- juicing organic fruits and vegetables

- exercising regularly

- exfoliation

- using organic products for personal hygiene

Before trying any detox method always be sure to check with your doctor. People with serious medical conditions should also consult a doctor as these methods are not recommended. Pregnant women should not try these methods.

Eating a balanced diet

Nutrients in foods contain many elements that can help your body and especially your skin to remain in good condition. When your body is 'happy' and 'efficient', through detoxification, it will show on the outside.

Your skin needs:

- essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) found in oily fish and flax seeds

- antioxidants vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene to retaliate against the damaging effects of UV light and free-radicals

- minerals zinc and selenium to build tissues and heal wounds. Find these minerals in foods like seafood, nuts, grains, and vegetables

- vitamin B6 to balance hormone levels, particularly for women that have pre-menstrual break-outs

- vitamin A to help reduce sebum levels on the skin

- potassium to help maintain elasticity, water to maintain hydration and flush toxins from the body

- water to maintain hydration and flush toxins from the body

Juicing organic fruits and vegetables

Have you ever tried freshly squeezed juice? It is delicious and nutritious. You get a truckload of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. The enzymes contained in vegetables and fruits help to digest your food so try drinking these natural cocktails with meals.

One important thing to remember is that you should always start with organic fruits or vegetables. Because most fruits and vegetables are sprayed with pesticides, using non-organic products means that you will be ingesting harmful pesticides too. Keep these toxic chemicals away from your cells in order to maintain their proper functioning.

Exercising regularly

Oxygen is vital to life. Incorporating exercise into your lifestyle brings this element into your body and skin. Studies at the University of Wisconsin have shown that oxygen reduces the effects of free radical damage and premature aging.

Sweating encourages the release of toxins from the skin. Working up a good sweat during your exercise program will help in the detoxification process. You could also try saunas and steambaths to encourage the excretion of toxins.

If you are not currently exercising choose something that you enjoy doing. Walking is a great way to increase your heart rate and pump oxygen through your lungs. Other ideas include yoga, swimming, cycling, and running. Whatever you do, choose an activity that you will be motivated to do on a regular basis.

Exfoliation

Shedding skin cells is a continual process. Dead skin cells sit on the uppermost level of the epidermis and they make the skin look dull and less healthy. Our clothes play a big part in helping to remove cells on a daily basis. By sloughing off dead skin cells from time to time, you can stimulate the skin renewal process. Try any of the following methods once a week to naturally exfoliate your skin:

- briskly towel off after a shower

- use an organic scrub during your shower

- use a washcloth during your shower

- use a loofah (Important: keep it dry when it's not in use to minimize bacterial count)

Using organic products for personal hygiene

Decreasing the number of synthetic chemicals entering your body through your food and personal products is yet another way to help detoxify. Modern research at the Herb Research Foundation found that the skin absorbs up to 60% of the chemicals in products that it comes into contact with directly into the bloodstream. This means that chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens, are entering your body and potentially causing unnecessary harm.

The next time you need to stock up on personal hygiene products, look for alternatives to the chemically items offered in most stores. Using organic products decreases the number of preservatives and chemical additives your skin comes into contact with and therefore, that may enter your body.

References:

- www.meriam-webster.com, accessed October 26, 2004.

- www.detox.org/skin.aspl, accessed October 26, 2004

- www.saga.co.uk/health_news/article/D2164785-92E3-11D6-B8AC-00508BAEC55C.asp?bhcp=1, accessed Oct. 26, 2004.

- Farley, Josephine. Organic beauty: look and feel gorgeous the natural way. Dorling Kindersley, London, 2001, page 66.

- http://www.naturalcosmetics.ca

Lori Stryker has been researching and developing all natural skin care and make-up for the purpose of offering men and women safe, natural cosmetics for everyday use. She brings to her research a specialist in human biology from the University of Toronto, coupled with a professional home economics degree and an education degree from the University of British Columbia, fusing chemical and biological knowledge with food, family and textile sciences.

You may use this article but any modification or publication of this article for fiancial gain must be approved of by the author. The author's name, Lori Stryker and her company's name, The Organic Make-up Company, needs to by noted when used.

A Website Model That Makes Money

by: Michael Keenan
I would like to share with you one simple stratergy in creating income
with your own website. This is just one method out of simply millions that
you could create for yourself. Remember the internet provides no limits.
This is one example that does work for me, and may give you an insight
into exactly a website model, that you may like to put into action for
yourself. Affiliate marketing and/or sales of any kind on the internet,
requires a real commitment, as I am sure you do already realize. The
internet is really one of the greatest training grounds in the world for
sales. You can try and fail many times, until you find that system and
approach that will work for you. But the commitment that you show in
meeting this challenge, will be a lesson that you will always remember.
Success is always achieved in no matter what you do, through simple hard
work. There is no easy path to success, but when you achieve the success
you are after, there is no greater feeling. So lets begin. In this example
my website, which for the purposes of this article i will call '????'. I
will give you the exact profit breakdowns.

With this website I treat all my affiliate products as purely residual
income, much like adsense. Adsense itself generates for me, on this
website, on average around $2 per day. I also use various other companies
affiliate products, which generate around $200 per month. Also within the
website, I sell e-book informational products, which I own the full resale
rights for, which generate around $700 per month. And here lies the answer
to making money online, no matter what you sell. The products, that
generate the most income, are the ones that you will own yourself.
Certainly I should be making more from the affiliate info products that I
sell. But I lose commissions through simple affiliate url tampering.
Commissions that are stolen or lost are a real pain. You can try every
method in the book to protect your affiliate codes. But after all the hard
work is done, you still lose that valuable income. The people who sell the
original affiliate product know this, which is mostly why a high
percentage of the sales price is offered to an affiliate to begin with.
Because they realize that a very high ratio of sales made on their
products will give them the total profit back. The reasons why people
change affiliate product codes etc, could run into pages. Lets just say it
is inevitable. This is the reason why I treat all my affiliate based
products as purely residual income.

But as you can see in this example clearly where the highest return on
investment lies. And that is in the products that you actually own. You
can purchase resale rights for info products easily, and it involves not
much money at all, most products are available for under $50. Or if you
have the time and patience to search the internet. You can find amazing
e-books that have free resell rights and the information they contain is
really valuable. You will find these types of treasures occasionally, and
the lights will start flashing in your eyes when you do. The information
that you have just discovered is of value and that is a real key to
success. This is why I, at this point, strongly emphasize the importance
of this one principle. Only sell products that you feel strongly about and
you know that will be of great value to the person who may purchase it.
That includes products you have bought the resale rights for, or a free
product, you have discovered with resale rights.

If you sell strong products with real informational value consistently you
will always succeed. Your customers will return, quite simply because they
know where the value of the information they seek is the greatest. And
that is at your website. Always remember to put yourself into your
visitors shoes. Ask yourself the question? Would you buy the products you
are selling? Answer this question with a Yes. And you will be really on
the start too online success.

About the author:
Michael J. Keenan (CEO - SitePromotionNow) Worked in affiliate sales and
website construction for over 5 years. email: mickyk703@hotmail.com
website: http://www.sitepromotionnow.org