A card that celebrates giving all year long

A greeting card that does a world of good for children around the world will now be available year-round.

For the first time ever, greeting cards carrying the logo of UNICEF-The United Nations Children's Fund-will be available all through the year at participating Hallmark Gold Crown® stores. UNICEF has been raising money for its programs from the sale of greeting cards since 1949. To date, over 4 billion cards have been sold.

The new collection will feature 20 different varieties of boxed cards packaged in keepsake boxes with an African Kuba-cloth-patterned bottom. Birthday cards, thank-you cards, thinking-of-you cards and blank cards will be included in the collection-the first produced for UNICEF by Hallmark. Most boxes have four designs per box. The cards will be priced between $10 and $20 and come in groups of eight cards with nine envelopes or groups of 20 cards with 21 envelopes.

Since 1947, the U. S. Fund for UNICEF has supported the work of the United Nations Children's Fund by raising support for its programs and increasing public awareness of the challenges facing the world's children.

UNICEF's programs are funded entirely by voluntary contributions and have made a tangible difference in the lives of children in 155 countries and territories. For example:

• $10 can provide a box of 200 disposable syringes for use during immunization campaigns.

• $12 can provide two long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets, protecting families from malaria, which kills one African child every 30 seconds.

• $12 can provide 20 packets of high-energy biscuits, specially developed for malnourished children in emergency situations.

• $17 can immunize one child for life against the six major childhood diseases: diphtheria, measles, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis and whooping cough.

• $20 can buy blankets to protect five small children from the cold.

Kansas City-based Hallmark is known throughout the world for its greeting cards, related personal expression products, and one of television's most honored and enduring dramatic series, "Hallmark Hall of Fame." The company publishes products in more than 30 languages and distributes them in more than 100 countries.

Photography from hobby to your very own business

That’s right. Who could say that there’s no chance that your hobby could also be the foundation of your first business venture? There are a lot of people out there who are in need of a good photographer to capture images of their son’s wedding, their daughter’s graduation or their very own wedding. Why couldn’t you be the one to supply your photography services to their needs?

For the transition of photography from hobby to your very own business, there are several tasks that you have to accomplish first.

Market Your Photography Skills – Sell yourself, in other words! Let people know about what you can do in the field of photography, why they need your skills and why they should hire you. Make sure, however, that you charge them reasonable rates since you’re still more or less an amateur in the field of photography.

To effectively market your photography skills, don’t be afraid of spending a little money on posting ads in the classified sections. Don’t stop there but post about your photography business in as many places as you can.

Join Interest Groups – This could be the local photography club in your community or the association of young photographers in your school. It could also be a Yahoo Group that you could easily join.

Usually, these groups are able to hold regular or annual exhibits of their works and it wouldn’t hurt to expose to the world the beauty of your works in photography.

Join Photo Competitions – Two things that you could enjoy when joining photography competitions: fame and fortune. Both are equally important. Fame would do wonders to your career in photography because it would let the world know about your skills and winning a photography competition may also offer the prize of having an apprenticeship under a world famous photographer. And when it comes to wealth – well, when did extra money ever hurt?

Offer Your Skills For Free to Government Projects – The government is always on the lookout for professionals who are willing to work for free and you should take advantage of this. Offer your photography skills for free because this would give you the opportunity to show them what you got.

Offer Samples of Your Work to Newspapers and Magazines – This is just like joining a photography competition. When you offer samples of your work to newspapers and magazines, you’re improving the chances that you’ll get noticed by the people who matters.

Although we can’t say that the road to victory is easy, never give up, never stop taking pictures and you’re sure to go far!

How to get free annual credit reports from major credit bureaus

If you plan to apply for a mortgage, car loan, credit card or consolidation loan, then you will need to know what is in your credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus. These include TransUnion, Equifax and Experian and each keeps a detailed record of your current and past debts, payment history, along with any information on public record, which may include foreclosures, bankruptcies or judgements.

Each of your credit reports from the aforementioned bureaus will also feature a numeric score, which is what many lenders refer to when determining your interest rate on a new loan. This number, known as a FICO score, is calculated based on a number of factors that will help potential lenders determine your credit worthiness. Your debt to income ratio, balance to credit limit ratio and the number of revolving credit accounts are all taken into consideration when tallying your FICO score. In addition, any bankruptcy or other negative presence will cause your score to be lowered.

Every 12 months, an individual is permitted to request a free copy of their credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus as listed above. There are a number of websites that promise to give consumers free credit reports, but there is almost always some type of a catch to the offer. Among them, enrolling in a trial program or purchasing a product. However, there is one website that is dedicated to offering free credit reports with no cost or obligation to the consumer. Once each year, individuals can visit AnnualCreditReport. com and gain instant online access to one or all of their credit reports at no cost. The basic credit report is free, but the FICO score will not be included unless an additional fee is paid to access that information.

In addition to requesting free credit reports on an annual basis, individuals are eligible to receive a free copy of their file if they have recently been denied credit. This process can be completed by either writing or calling the credit reporting agency after receiving a denial of credit from the lender. Typically, a copy of the credit report will arrive by mail within 7-10 days.

Not every consumer realizes how important it is to keep a close eye on their credit reports, but it is one of the most critical parts of maintaining a healthy credit file and preventing identity theft. It is recommended that individuals check their credit reports every six months and dispute anything that is listed incorrectly, such as addresses, inaccurate reporting of payment histories, account status, etc. After receiving a dispute, the credit bureau will begin an investigation in order to resolve the matter amicably. It is very important that everyone make sure their credit reports are accurate as, quite often, they are the largest determining factor of any loan request.

On microsoft

Microsoft is a difficult situation for me to evaluate. I think the company still has a lot of growth ahead in some areas. But, that depends on where management wants to take it.

There are three core businesses that are already well developed: Windows, Office, and Servers.

The moat in the first two are wide. The Windows moat is huge.

The business model in operating systems is great. You keep upgrading every few years; the hardware needn't progress for you to find things to tweak and get people to buy the next step up. It's insanely profitable.

I think the new launch (Vista) will be bigger than people expect (eventually) in how it allows for cross selling other Microsoft products (but we'll see about that). I expect the press to be very negative at least until well after the launch, because there will always be some bugs and delays.

Games

Eventually, video games will be a big business for Microsoft. I hate the economics of the console business, but love the economics of the publishing (and development) side of things.

I'm sorry to see that Microsoft didn't use its cash pile to buy up an established business here (publishers were cheap in the market a few years ago; an all cash deal would have worked well. Now, everyone thinks video games will be the next big thing).

The console wars are going well for Microsoft. The two keys to establishing a dominant console are launching first and getting good games on your platform. We'll see how Sony (SNE) does this round, but I expect them to be the big loser.

Nintendo may surprise here. I think the Xbox 360 and Nintendo's new console (Wii) will do very well. It'll be interesting to see the breakdown of the consoles in both the domestic and foreign markets. I think Sony may still be strong overseas, but could be in a much poorer position at the end of this round than they were with the PS2.

Search

Long-term I am optimistic about search. I think Google's position is much weaker than most people think. I don't think Microsoft will be the only one to benefit here.

Search is a very natural cross sell with Windows. That's the direction everything seems to be headed in (combining online and desktop search). For future growth in terms of market share I think Microsoft is in a better position than either Yahoo (YHOO) or Google (GOOG).

I also think we might see a couple other (largely unknown) search engines gain some share.

I think Google's strength is its brand. Its dominance helps with advertisers more than users. I don't think it has a lock on users. Also, I think Google has been poorly positioned for doing much of anything outside of keyword search.

I expect to see a lot more in the way of intelligent, social search inspired stuff. Years from now, much of search will have to be helping you find what you didn't know you wanted to find.

Google is dominant in a different business: helping you find what you know you want to find (but don't know the name / location). The two types of search are very different. Both will be important, but the growth in other forms of search will be coming off a smaller base and will likely integrate with keyword search. Google has the most to lose here.

Other Devices

Microsoft wants to perform well on mobile devices and on your TV. Compared to competitors it is very strong in these respects.

The strategy seems to be the one I would favor - to control the point of initial contact wherever software is used and then to only venture into the actual application or content side of the business where it is highly profitable to do so. In video games it will be highly profitable. In other areas it is less likely to be very profitable.

I expect to see more generic, web-based applications. These will be less profitable for everyone. Office should hold up well, but not as well as Windows. Basically, Microsoft needs to take what it has in PCs and import that to TVs, Handheld Devices, Consoles, and the Web.

That should be the strategy. I think that is the strategy. These aren't unrelated businesses that need to be broken up to unlock creativity (as some have suggested). Rather, the profit potential for each is greatly enhanced by being part of Microsoft. If you take these pieces apart they are worth very little. There would only be the three businesses I started off talking about and the console / games business.

Internationally, there is going to be natural growth for Microsoft's dominant businesses. It won't be a tremendous growth rate, but it will be strong and will require virtually no additional investment to secure.

Obsolescence Issues

Overall, I like the future for software a lot more than hardware, because the marginal gains in the quality of hardware will slow greatly in the years ahead.

The question isn't what can be done mathematically in terms of increasing specs; it's what that translates to for the user. We are reaching a point where the individual user will not directly see the benefits of increased hardware performance as clearly as he did in the past.

Much of the research that goes in to this area will only serve to bring down prices and benefit memory intensive businesses - it will not provide as much of a "wow" factor for the user anymore.

This is especially true in games. The situation in desktop applications is already such that improving the software design is where most gains will come from.

Computing power is simply not a scarce resource for most individuals sitting at home or in a cubicle. Advances will benefit some users a lot and will trickle down to the end user (often via the web) through fast responses and cheap services. But, that's a barely noticeable change.

You'll see something here akin to the kind of thing you see in the brokerage business. It won't be obvious, because price competition will never be as great in software.

Generally, you'll just see the prices for doing anything electronically come down. That's very different from what we've seen over the last few decades, where you also had advancements that attracted new users, because they allowed developers to do something differently, not just more cheaply.

This is a very long-term trend I'm worried about. It could weigh heavily on a business like Dell (DELL), because PCs are actually quite durable; once the rate of obsolescence slows, sales will have to slow as the cycle lengthens.

Management

I think Microsoft's management is absolutely the best in the business. In fact, I think it's one of the best in any business.

It would be hard for me to find more than a handful of people I'd rather have managing a business I was part owner of. I also think the current arrangement is a good one.

There is enough of a line between current operations and future investments in the Chairman / CEO split that investors will probably get the greatest benefit from the brilliance of the Chairman this way.

Everyone underestimates Bill Gates. It's easy, because his great triumph came some time ago now. But, he's interested in building something lasting. I trust him more than anyone in tech without a question. He always impresses me whether he's talking about his own industry or some other topic. He has exactly the right kind of mind for someone running a business where the long-run is such a concern.

Qualitatively, I think Microsoft scores close to perfectly. I could cite the profitability stats, but I won't, because you know they're better than almost any other business on the planet – and that's with a huge siphoning off of resources to investments in the future that aren't required to maintain the cash cow, wide-moat Windows franchise.

Valuation

Valuation is a bit more troubling. Microsoft is not at the point on an EV/EBIT basis where I'd be buying the stock if there was a risk of no extraordinarily profitable growth in the future. In other words, at the current price, it clearly makes for a bad bond.

The key is earnings growth. I think you have to believe MSFT will have a real future in search, games, and non-PC devices that will fuel future, highly profitable growth.

I think that future is there. As far as a truly large cap stock (say $10 billion or more) it's about as attractive as anything on the planet right now - and certainly it's the most attractive stock of any very large U. S. business. Even though Intel (INTC) and Dell are cheap looking, I don't like them nearly as much. Dell is an interesting situation, but I don't understand the business well enough.

I have a better idea of where MSFT is headed – and I like it.

Conclusion

I don't own shares of MSFT. I won't be buying any either. I don't normally own such large stocks. I prefer much smaller businesses, because the mispricings tend to get more out of whack. You aren't going to see MSFT trade at an EV/EBIT of 7.5 or something like that, but you do sometimes get those chances in small (high quality) businesses.

There are a lot of chances to find wild mispricings without much of the future being a concern. Those are the situations I prefer to invest in, because businesses like MSFT have an awfully large anchor with the amount of capital they've got – plus, they tend to be less likely to be wildly mispriced.

However, if I had to own one business with a market cap of more than $10 billion and hold it for a lifetime I would buy Microsoft here without hesitation.

The reason i got rid of the toxins in my body

My name is Ralph Morton, I live in God’s Country Beautiful British Columbia.

I arrived here,1964 from England, at the age of 35.

I left school at the age of 14, grade equivalent to grade 6, my work experience consisted of working at the Coal Mines, then I became a Farmer, not exactly the grounding for the rigors of North America, I think you’ll agree.

I came to Canada without any job security to search for a new life. After a while of looking and attending interviews for employment I came across an advertisement where the people were looking for salesmen to sell this fantastic machine. This machine according to the newspaper, had been developed by a Space Research Company.

Off I went, saying myself they’re never going to hire a Grade 6 man. When I got there and saw it was a vacuum cleaner it was quite a shock. I asked myself, how can a Farmer sell door to door. Impossible…

There was however, a feeling in that office, there were salesmen running around, the Manager seemed to project some sort of aura I had never felt before. Something here was entirely different than I had ever experienced before.

Well, the outcome was I tried out as a Vacuum Salesman.

Imagine what my wife said when I phoned her as she was still in England.

The next day, I went to the office and met the whole staff. When I entered I was astonished by the greeting I received from the receptionist, it seem she had known me all of her life, and that she liked me very much. I had never in my life experienced anything like this before. I remembered this, because any receptionist who worked for me in later years always had to become that receptionist of my very first day in vacuum sales.

I was only around these people for just a short time when I realized something was different. I had never been in an atmosphere as this in the whole of my life.

At work we always spent the first hour complaining about something or other, well, I will tell you, even though I was at this office for a number of months I never heard anyone who was successful complain one little bit. Everyone talked the same way positive. Believe me if you mix with positive people, it is impossible to be any other way.

Everyone had a positive attitude, should I say that again. Everyone had a positive attitude. I found for the first time in my life that if you mixed with that type of person you could not help but to change your whole way of thinking.

Here I was, an ex coal miner/farmer who for the first time in his life was mixing with people I should have given half my commission to them just to be called one of their friends.

A few days later the manager gave me Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. He said I was ready. My friends that book has been my bible for last lot of years. I would mention here, I am now doing a refresher with Simpleology 101.This is reminding me of the right path to take.

Just for the record, I went on to become the Top Salesman in Canada for quite a few months in a row.

Also for the record, I went into Land Development, became a millionaire 3 times broke 4.

I still have the same positive attitude I have always had since those days and it always has stood me in good stead.

My whole point of this is, over the years I have always retreated from those people who live their lives complaining about this and that, I just wish they would grow up and see life as it should be, for to me if you don’t have a smile on your face you appear to everyone else as a sour individual.

Don’t you agree with me, aren’t those complainers miserable looking?

I am now on a crusade, I now have found a nitch in life I want make people aware of. People are truly aware of it but have not investigated as they should.

I am talking about Toxins, many things have been written, but we still have a huge percentage of the population obese. How can the organs of our bodies work as they should when they are covered with huge lumps of fat caused by the Toxins.

We clean out our cars, homes, brush our teeth, why, because they need it, however, our organs are in the same state yet 95% of people do nothing about it.

I am here to tell you, once you do a cleanse, the feeling you get after it, is something to behold. It is so long ago our organs functioned as they should, we have forgotten how we felt when we were clean.

To learn from the experts visit http://theteam. isagenix. com on the loaded page on the left, click on ISAVIDEOS click on the one Dr Becky Natrajan and listen.

Next to that video you will find two News Casts, view them and see what the FOX and ABC news thought of Isagenix as a natural body cleanse.

For further information Call Ralph Morton 604-536-6813 or email at noviorbis@telus. net

The jewelry market never goes out of style even in a bad economy

In the post 9/11 economy, things for merchants and retailers have been a little shaky—but not for the many lucky entrepreneurs and businesspersons who earn their livings dealing in the jewelry industry. It seems that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, after all; and it seems that pricy, token gems might never see the day when they are declared: “officially out of style.”

One of the main secret ingredients to the longevity of the jewelry market is that jewelry, unlike many other things on the market, is not a fickle new consumer product and likewise not a passing fad. Styles over centuries change; this much we know is true. But one coveted centerpiece for the wrist and neckline of virtually every temptress from Helen of Troy and Cleopatra to today’s most popular fashion queens is the precious gem, one of natures finest own creations that have been even further perfected by the modern technologies of man. While clothing styles changed and evolved dramatically over time, from the loincloths and togas of our distant past to the poodle skirts and bellbottom jeans of much more recent decades, jewelry is the one and only ornamental element that has survived the weathering, changing times.

A symbol of wealth, beauty, power, and lust; jewelry, in all of its various forms, represents the human psyche, the human will, and even the human spirit. It is as rich as it is luxurious, and it holds a value entirely of its own, a value above the value of money. Of course, every gem does have its price; but remember, jewelry was traded long before the days of proper common monetary exchange—a striking green light to investors and buyers everywhere indicating that jewelry is one of the only goods on the market today that would still have worth, should the economy, as we know it, cease to exist.

In his research, Leon Lazaroff of the Chicago Tribune found that the economic sector devoted to luxury goods, one major category being jewelry, has remained relatively stable and unaffected by recent cutbacks in consumer spending. In today’s ever-tightening economy, studies show that people are beginning to buy less and spend less. But in looking at luxury goods retailers such as New York’s popularly pricy Tiffany & Co., statistics show that jewelry stores are typically not as economically sensitive as other retail stores.

Such findings might be attributed to the fact that, on the whole, those who are the most active jewelry purchasing customers are also those least likely to feel economic strain. The jewelry industry most often caters to the wealthy, a set of customers who are undeniably less prone to cut back on their jewelry spending just to make up for the rise in gas prices and things of that sort. They can afford to maintain their expensive tastes and habits, without much cause for worry on the status of inflation.

Because the government knows that jewelry spending is still on the rise, they continue to invest in it. The Pak Tribune tells us of Pakistan’s recent pledge to achieve $500 million in gem exports to the U. S. by 2010 is yet another a surefire sign that investing experts do not expect the worth of jewelry or the success of the industry to decline at all this decade. The United States’ Agency for International Development (USAID) is working on a new initiative to help increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized Pakistani enterprises. As a result, Pakistan’s Gems and Jewelry sector is now ready to claim its rightful place in the US’s high-level-export international market loop, and the U. S. is guaranteed a steady supply of quality foreign gems to keep quenching the world’s thirst for fine jewelry.

The jewelry industry remains on top, relatively untouched by the unpredictable twists, turns and flux’s of the world economy. This is somewhat due to the fact that the lure of our earth’s most prized and precious stones seems to not vary with the changes of time and circumstance. It is also due to the fact that jewelry is so often relied upon to uphold so many meaningful cultural traditions that have transcended the ages. Jewelry will always be a part of our social fabric, because it has been so deeply interwoven into our customs and traditions. Marriage proposals are met with diamond rings and bands of gold; a tradition so common to most of human history that it is highly unlikely that it will ever change. In an economy where the influx in gas prices means a decrease in sales for types of larger-model cars, it is at lest reassuring that the jewelry industry won’t suffer the same decrease in popularity.

Why some people do not want to have hair transplant surgery

Why Some People Do Not Want To Have Hair Transplant Surgery

Hair transplant surgery is not for everyone. In fact, some people have been so disappointed and even angered about their results that they have filed class action lawsuits against hair transplant surgeons and clinics. There are several reasons they give for their dissatisfaction.

1. Underestimating Procedures. Certain surgeons and clinics underestimate the number of procedures necessary to achieve the desired effect. This leads people to have a false hope of having a full head of hair in a very short time. When this does not happen, they are understandably angry. They did not get what they were promised.

2. Underestimating Price. Surgeons usually do give some sort of estimate of the cost of the entire procedure of a hair transplant. A reputable surgeon will emphasize that it is only an estimate and that things may change once the procedures are started. Also, she will give an honest accounting of what she expects the procedure to cost.

An unscrupulous surgeon, on the other hand, will distort the facts about his hair transplant procedures. He will try to get the patient started by stating that the price will be very low. He will know all along that the procedures will cost much more, but he will lowball the price anyway just to get the patient started so that they have to finish.

3. Creating Scars. All hair transplant surgery will create small scars. Some people find them unacceptable. They want to wear their hair short, and they see the scar peeking out from under their hair, even if no one else does. Of course, there are also physicians with poor skills who create large scars and people who are prone to scarring. Hair transplant scars are a sore subject for man people.

4. Uneven hairlines. Some people who have hair transplant surgery end up with uneven hairlines. This is caused by the oversight of negligent doctors. If a person gets to work with a reputable surgeon, things like this just do not happen. However, if someone has seen a person with this problem, it will likely turn them off to hair transplant surgery for good.

5. Old-Fashioned Plugs. People with the large plugs that look like doll's hair or toothbrush bristles are still around. While this type of hair transplant is rarely done anymore, the effects are still evident among people of a certain age. If someone who knows one of these people has a balding problem, they are not likely to think of hair transplants. The only way they would is if they have some other, good, experience with them.

6. Doctors Who Put Money above the Patients' Interest. Any doctors who make decisions that are not based on the welfare of his patient are following their Hippocratic Oath in its intentions. Doctors are held to a high standard and when a surgeon tries to convince a patient to get hair transplant surgery when it is not best for him, he is not really acting as a doctor should. The horror stories are out there and many people are aware of them.

There is a higher rate of suicide following hair transplant and other cosmetic surgeries. This is partly because the patients are disappointed that their lives do not miraculously change overnight. However, other reasons for their despair are poor results and unscrupulous doctors. People who are afraid of this misery are likely to bow out.