Strawberry

Yummy...I had strawberries for breakfast today. I realized that this fruit may not be available to everyone and that is why I want to share the pictures and some notes about this fruit. Usually I like to have them with yoghurt or ice cream but I didn't have any of those this morning, so just fresh strawberries on its own!

Etymology- Wikipedia

The name is derived from Old English strēawberiġe which is a compound of streaw meaning "straw" and berige meaning "berry". The reason for this is unclear. It may derive from the strawlike appearance of the runners, or from an obsolete denotation of straw, meaning "chaff", referring to the scattered appearance of the achenes.


Interestingly, in other Germanic countries there is a tradition of collecting wild strawberries by threading them on straws. In those countries people find straw-berry to be an easy word to learn considering their association with straws.


There is an alternative theory that the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon verb for "strew" (meaning to spread around) which was streabergen (Strea means "strew" and Bergen means "berry" or "fruit") and thence to streberie, straiberie, strauberie, straubery, strauberry, and finally, "strawberry", the word which we use today. The name might have come from the fact that the fruit and various runners appear "strewn" along the ground.



Photo caption: The traditional North European way of gathering strawberries

Some chill out music - Yanni

Santorini



Aria



Love is All-Yanni Live at Taj Mahal, India



One Man's Dream (My favourite piece)




Some of his music literally brought tears to my eyes because they are so beautiful to the soul...

4 Ways to Keep Your Friends Close

Evidence suggests that intimate friendships help banish stress and improve mood. English researcher Tirril Harris studied the effect of having a confidante on 86 depressed women. After a year of regular meetings with "befrienders" who were assigned to them, 65% of the women recovered from their depression, compared with only 40% of those who'd been assigned to a waiting list. The positive effects of friendship were comparable to those of antidepressants or cognitive therapy.

When women get stressed, our instinct is often to find a friend and talk things through. Both touch and talk release the hormone oxytocin (yes, it's the same stuff that initiates labor in pregnant women and then the flow of milk). Oxytocin is profoundly calming—a powerful balm for body and mind. No wonder we feel better after talking to a friend. The ongoing Nurses Health Study conducted at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston reported that the more friends a woman has, the less likely she is to develop physical impairments with age.

However, the demands of modern life make sustaining friendships difficult. Here are four of the most common reasons friendships lapse and some tried-and-true suggestions for overcoming them.

I'm Too Busy
Although friendship reduces stress, you may feel too stressed by time pressures to nurture relationships. This catch-22 often comes up for the young career women who attend my seminars. I gave Ellen, a hard-driving junior executive, a simple prescription for relieving her tension headaches. Instead of "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning," we settled on "Connect with two friends weekly and call me in 6 months." She soon found her headaches improving—and that made her more productive, not less.

They'll Take Advantage
If you worry about being drained by other people's needs, set realistic boundaries. Work at home? Tell friends to call after 5 pm. Does your pal Jen keep hitting you up for loans? Tell her that she can borrow money only when she's paid back the last one--or not at all. If she's a real friend, she will appreciate your candor because enabling bad habits is not a friendly thing to do. And if your friend Cindy's neediness is starting to overwhelm you, be kind but honest. Say something like: "I love you, but I'm taking on your stress, and that's no good for either one of us. Until you feel stronger, let's just check in with each other once a week" (or whatever interval is reasonable).

It may help to know that as long as giving doesn't drain you, it not only helps you feel good but also can help you live longer. A 5-year study of older adults, carried out by the Institute for Social Research, found that providing emotional support for family, friends, neighbors, and spouses significantly reduced the risk of death.

My Friend Is Unavailable
When your best friend--the one you've talked to every night for years--falls in love, your relationship inevitably changes. She's now sitting on the sofa, staring into her beloved's eyes, instead of talking on the phone with you. Maybe you're happy for her, but you miss her and feel left out. Decide together on times when you can connect, and cherish them. After the hormones of infatuation wear off, your friend will have more time for you again, but your connection will continue to evolve in response to the other people in your lives. That's not the end of a friendship, just a new phase. You need similar flexibility when a friend moves away, which means more phone or e-mail communication and less face-to-face time.

We're at Different Places in Life
We often make friends when we're drawn together by common interests. But over time, your pursuits may change and circumstances shift. Sometimes that means the friendship will fade away—there's no rule that it has to last forever. Other times, your bond may strengthen as you grow in different directions. You're single. She gets married and has a baby. So much for those after-work tête-à-têtes at the coffee bar. But if you're willing, you can help with the baby and become a member of the new family. A healthy friendship can accommodate every phase of life and many different relationships. And remember: The baby will get older, and you'll have time alone with your friend like in the old days. Friendships are special graces because they teach us about love—what it is and, just as important, what it isn't. Even when change separates us from friends who were once close to us, they remain forever as teachers of the heart.

How Blogs Can Be An Excellent Promotional Tool

Blogs as an online promotional strategy if done right could save you huge dollars in reaching out to people. This is also a medium where you need have absolutely no dependence whatsoever on any professional help and you can do everything yourself. That is money saved right from the beginning.

So what is a blog and how does it work? Blog is simply a web log or a diary which you maintain online posting various comments every day or even several times a day. In all aspects it is like a web page. With small differences. No more the fancy html pages, page links, graphics etc.

While you can have all these, the purpose is not show design excellence but to provide juicy information, news, and happenings from your specific industry. Each posting is like a web page technically atleast as the the Search Engines looks at it as a separate page. We will see more on search engines later. The posts also carry links to other similar pages where you can direct people who visit your blog. Your visitors too can post comments and you have the option of editing it or even deleting it.

How does one use a blog as an online promotional tool?

You are a specialist in the area of your business. You also have people working for you with specialized domain knowledge of that particular area. You make hundreds of observations during the course of a week, you come across useful news and articles, websites, all which if collected in one place could act as the source of information for your customers, your public and even the trade and competition.

All you need to do is write a couple of lines in a conversational tone as if you are speaking to someone close about what you feel and think about anything you come across and provide the links for more details.

There you got a web page rich in key words! Key words to put it simply are a lot of specific words about your trade which is how the search engines find you and list you.

Blogs offer features like linking, pinging, RSS feeds etc. which are very simple features about which you can learn as you build your blog. However the idea is not to get technical. Remember we are here to talk about promotional strategies that could save you money and explode your sales.

Blogs are a comparatively recent phenomenon. There are an estimated 5 million blogs growing by the thousands every hour. Don'??t despair. 5 million is nothing compared to billions of web pages and website available on the www. You are still far ahead of your competition. And in your area of business or profession you may be the first. That means you just occupy the top slot in search engines.

So get in right away and post all the rants, ravings and all that you ever wanted to say but couldn'??t.

How does a blog help you earn revenues or improve your sales?

Now let us say you have set up your blog. Ask yourself as a person of the trade or as a customer what all you would like to know everyday. Whatever is your answer is what you post every day. You also come across news or websites which you think might be useful to your customers. Simply make a mention of it with a link to the news or website. The idea is to make people come to your blogs every day seeking information. So you become famous as a specialist in that area. All your visitor are in a way interacting with you everyday and begin to accept your words and your recommendations if they see the benefits. But be sure to be very honest and transparent. It is like your personal or social relationships where any dishonesty would make people shy away from you.

You can always put in a few posts about your work, your employee who got a promotion or birth of a daughter or anything which also makes it a little warm and personal. You can post about your launches, your predictions, products which are running out, and even promote products not moving well but you feel can benefit the customer.

What you blog can reach millions globally within hours. As an illustration take the example of the recent Tsunami which hit parts of Asia. I am from the southern part of India which is one of the worst affected areas. While the conventional media was struggling to reach their reporters all over within the hour bloggers flashed the news including the details of the people lost and found, mobilized resources for the affected and the world wide web was abuzz with all the bloggers picking up and linking and connecting everything and everyone. This is an illustration of a social cause for which blog was put to good use.

Similarly there have been many instances when business news have been picked up by the industry and consumers through the RSS feeds.

The possibilities of using a blog is endless. The key to building a successful blog is listed below.

Remember to be focused on a topic that relates to your area of work.

Your entries must be in a conversational tone speaking directly to them as if you are sitting across with a friend in a restaurant or playing golf to add personalization to your marketing effort.

Post entries or comments which would benefit people.

Post as often or frequently and keep the blog updated.

Encourage visitor participation. Ask for comments and feedbacks.

Create a huge web of outside resources and other similar blogs to help you achieve both outgoing as well as incoming links to enhance search engine popularity. This also shows your customers that you are widely knowledgeable and clued in on your field of expertise.

While it may be a good idea to post a few photographs to break the monotony keep the blog simple and straight without too many graphics and photos.

Content is the key to making your blog successful and encourage repeat visits. In the beginning you may not have many visitors but as the content improves there would be a lot of traffic as well as inbound links.

This is truly a gorilla marketing tool that can make a huge difference to your total marketing efforts.

R.G. Srinivasan is a Certified Trainer, Writer and author of eBooks with more than two decades of managerial experience. He is featured as an expert author by leading content syndication sites. You can view his home-business resources blog at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com for online marketing tips, resources, opportunities and online promotional strategies.

Songs to make your feet move

Maahive >>> Oh my love



Naksha You and I



Bolo Bolo - Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein

Blog Problems

What in the world is up with the world of blogs? Blogs are meant to be this great new technology where people can share their ideas and interests with others around the globe. As far as I'm concerned the state of blogs is one of chaos, confusion, and anti-interactivity.

The other day I decided to do some research on the Web and try to connect to some blog writers out there that interested me. Let me tell you it was not an enjoyable task as I had envisioned. I spent four painful hours surfing through around a thousand on-line journals, and I found only a few that interested me.

What are we doing out there people?

First of all, just getting to a blog can be a pain in the arse. For example, you type in the words 'Philosophy blogs' and a whole bunch of sites come up. Some are conglomerate sites with thousands of journals, but the area you're searching for may have only one blog in it! This is because they separate the blogs into a million different categories, like 'love', 'lovers', 'lovable' etc. Why not have just a few main categories to choose from?

The next problem is the content. People with 'philosophical' blogs are having personal chats with their mates about the local dance competition on Tuesday! Why not go to a chat room if you just want to talk to your friends?

Blogs are supposed to be a personal viewpoint expressed to the whole Web community. Wouldn't you actually like to meet more people like yourself? How is this going to happen if you talk in strange uncommon slang and acronyms that you and your friends can only understand? Please stick to the subject at hand, and take it at least half seriously. Another major problem is the fact that you can find a really cool blog that sparks an interest, but then find that the writer hasn't added an entry in over a year! What's it doing on the Net? Have these people passed away?

I seriously doubt it, as there are so many blogs in this 'lost' state. Having a blog is a responsibility; it's a shared diary for the whole community. How can someone form a relationship if you only write in your blog once a millennium?

Back to the subject of content: These on-line journals are a real chance to communicate regularly with others with similar views to yourself. We can learn a lot from each other, as each human is an individual with special traits and skills that only they have. So why do we see so many blogs just talking about trivial nonsense like 'Who the coolest movie actor is.' Humanity is an intelligent species evolving everyday towards a higher consciousness. So where are all the thinkers out there, the people who have taken us to the next levels of spirituality and scientific exploration? I'd really like to hear what you've got to say, but all I can find are philosophical beliefs on why died pink jeans express one's true inner self.

The issue of making comments on someone's blog is also a controversial one. Why have comments sections if you're not going to reply to people who have expressed an interest in what you've had to say? How is this community going to function if all the conversation is one-way!

Come on people, wake up and smell the onions! Let's change the blogging community into the awesome structure of shared knowledge that it was intended for. Please don't let it turn into the small-talk world of chat rooms.

Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a concerned human attempting to inform his fellow people of the real possibilities hidden in the Internet.

Vegetable Growing for Beginners

If you have never grown vegetables before the first thing that you need to decide is where to plant them in your garden. Most vegetables need 6-8 hours of sunlight a day although greens can manage with less. Choose a site in an area that will not be shaded by buildings or trees and one that is near to a water supply. You will not want to have to cart water any further than absolutely necessary. Protect the site with a fence to keep out dogs, rabbits and other animals which can damage your crops.

To grow vegetables successfully the soil needs to be fertile, deep, friable and well drained. Unless you are very fortunate your soil is unlikely to meet these criteria, but over a period of time you will be able to increase the fertility of the soil by following good cultivation practices.

The first task is to dig over the whole of your site. Dig to a depth of 8-10 inches and continue working the soil making it loose and friable. Do not dig when the soil is too wet. How do you know? Squeeze together a handful of soil. If it sticks together in a ball and does not readily crumble under slight pressure by the thumb and finger, it is too wet.

The soil will be improved by the addition of organic matter. It helps release nitrogen, minerals, and other nutrients for plant use when it decays. Well-rotted compost or manure can be dug into the soil. Alternatively a mulch of partially rotted straw, compost or crop residue on the soil helps keep the soil surface in good condition, slows water evaporation from the soil, and suppresses weeds.

Before you you start to plant your seeds there is one futher consideration - the layout of your beds. The standard practice has been to plant your crops in rows some eighteen inches apart or just wide enough to allow you room to walk between the rows. This means that every time you walk on the land your soil is being slightly compacted. The alternative is to create a raised or wide bed. In this method you divide your site into a number of beds about four feet wide with a narrow path in between. This allows you to reach the center of the bed from either side without treading on the soil.

If you grow the same crop year after year in the same bed, there is an increased risk of disease infecting your crops. To minimise the risk you should avoid planting crops of the same family in the same soil for three seasons. You can achieve this by having a four bed rotation and moving the crops on to the next bed each year.

When choosing seeds it makes sense to choose disease resistant varieties where these are available. Saving your own seed is not always a good idea for at least two reasons. Firstly because seed saved from plants grown from hybrid seed will not come true, and secondly your home saved seed may have become cross-pollinated from other crops grown on your land.

In the warmer parts of the United States most seeds can be sown directly into the beds. You will have to cultivate the soil to a fine tilth and then sow the seeds at the depth recommended on the packet. In cooler areas, or where you want early crops, seeds will need to be sown in trays or flats indoors. Overhead light, either natural or artificial using flourescent tubes, and warmth is needed to ensure satisfactory germination and growth. Before they can be planted out in the beds, the seedlings have to be hardened off by placing them outside for longer periods each day so that they become accustomed to the outdoor temperature.

Once your crops are all planted out in the beds they will require regular watering, weeding and fertilizing. On average your plants will need one inch of water a week. If this is not provided by rainfall, you will have to make up the difference. It is better to give the garden a good soaking once a week rather than applying small amounts of water every other day. The best time to water is early in the morning. Hoe your beds regularly to control the weeds and leave the soil in a loose, friable condition to absorb later rainfall.

If you follow this advice, you should be rewarded with a fine crop of vegetables which will be far fresher and tastier than any that you buy from your local supermarket.

Hugh Harris-Evans is the owner of The Garden Supplies Advisor where you will find further articles, gardening tips and product reviews.

http://www.garden-supplies-advisor.com

Relationship Boundaries

You might ask yourself, I have heard this word boundary, but I do not know what it means. Boundaries are often mentioned in terms of relationships. Boundaries are a simple concept, but they can vary from person to person. Boundaries essentially keep the good stuff on the inside and the bad stuff on the outside.

Now, I just mentioned that everyone has boundaries whether they realize them or not, and they are meant to keep the good stuff on the inside, and the bad stuff on the outside. Now boundaries can keep the good people close to you, and the people that will hurt you away. Think of boundaries as an invisible property line around yourself, and that those boundaries should keep the good things in, and protect you from things you do not want in.

Examples of violations of your person boundaries include: the loss of freedom of oneself, being with the wrong person, control issues, the inability to say no, doing too much within the relationship at the expense of yourself. Boundaries are your beliefs and ideals that make you especially unique. Infringing upon your boundaries only serves to make you an unhappy person.

How do you know what your personal boundaries are? You need to know yourself. Shakespeare said "To thine own self be true." You do need to know what is important to you. What qualities do you like in yourself, and want from others. For example if you value honestly, being with someone that is not honest will not make you happy in the long term. You will need to be strong enough in your personal character to eliminate people who do not exhibit honestly in their words and in their actions.

Now looking at just you being honest with yourself requires some homework on your part to acknowledge what is important to you, for you to be willing to uphold your ideas, and then you must communicate your ideals to others. You need to communicate your expectations about a relationship clearly. When that other person may violate your expectations you need to be willing to discuss these ideas head on, and if need be you need to be willing to set that relationship free.

Boundaries are really meant to protect you. They are meant to keep you happy, and safe in relationships, whether these are friendships or relationships that may go further. You do have some ownership in knowing what things are important to you, they may be honestly, personal character, not using drugs and or alcohol. Once you know where your standards are you can communicate these to others and position yourself around people that will not violate your personal boundaries.

Stephanie Manley is the editor for http://www.copykat.com, she also writes a variety of articles on relationships at http://romancelessons.blogspot.com.

Simple Syndication (RSS) -- Wheres The Payoff?

How RSS really does pay off...

Have you heard of RSS (Really Simple Syndication)? Did you know you can syndicate your news stories from your website? You probably have seen some orange buttons around the web with the letters "RSS" on them. They allow other websites to link to your news stories with just a click. Simple. Syndicate.

Ok. Now, you know about Really Simple Syndication... but where's the payoff? Let's look at the ways that RSS can pay off for you. And, pay off, it does -- when you use this emerging technology effectively.Now by "emerging technology," we mean it is relatively new, and people are still learning about it. But already many savvy webmasters are "aggregating" RSS feeds -- pulling common topic feeds together at their websites. And, big players like Yahoo, and Amazon are offering up RSS solutions. You can "subscribe" to a selection of news feeds on your personalized home page at Yahoo, for example.

Feed me... feed me...

There's even a search engine just for RSS feeds, called Feedster.com, that currently returns over 4,645,164 feeds indexed and fully searchable. Last August, there were only a quarter of a million feeds. Feedster reports that around 5,000 new feeds are being added... per day. Someone's hungry. And this hunger for feeds is being fed by millions of "blog" websites that use automated "Content Management Systems" to turn out their RSS news feeds. At Feedster.com, you can simply search through millions of them, or you may "subscribe" there to the feeds of your choice, creating a sort of customized electronic newspaper for yourself.

Looks like RSS is here to stay, so what does a "pay off" from RSS mean? Will it mean increased traffic to your website? Yes. Could it mean an increase in sales of your services or products? Yes, but probably not as immediately as direct advertising would. What about P.R. value? Yes... most definitely.

Traffic Boost: It's key to understand that when your stories are well-written and of interest (two major considerations -- write professionally for your best success), people will subscribe to your RSS "feeds." They will want to read them. Next, when they like your story, and its focus, they will naturally be curious to learn more. Include links to your site in your news. From this you can boost the traffic to your site. This is a sort of new generation of what was known as "reciprocal linking" where, in its simplest form, you got more traffic to your site by exchanging links with other websites covering similar material. Now instead of a link... you provide full articles which may reference your products, services, websites, and perhaps those of your clients.

Public Relations Value -- the P.R. Factor: Does your firm have a Public Relations strategy? It should. Does it include RSS? It must. You see Public Relations professionals are already talking about RSS in glowing terms like how it is "providing additional channels to amplify supportive messaging." Hey... translated this means any word you can get out on the street makes your business and its market offerings stronger and much better known. What's that worth to you? Advertising execs are talking about how this can help boost "brand loyalty". Huh? Hey, if you're in business, your company identity gets branded (or not, unfortunately) into the minds of customers and prospects. A good brand wins loyal customers. RSS news feeds, done properly, do precisely this for your company. And one more thing... RSS installed on your site automates a process that can cost quite a lot done manually by a big P.R. Agency. Shsssss.

So where are the sales? The formula is simple: the more your company and its offerings becomes known and favored by customers and prospects alike, they more sales will result. How many sales? To take a shot at a preliminary answer, I did searched for it using... you guessed it... a search of RSS feeds about advertising results. I'll end this article with an overview of articles reporting on those results, but please be clear about one thing -- people want NEWS in their RSS feeds -- news they can use. Advertising is secondary, and many sites are reporting the rejection of blatant and direct ads. Remember, banner ads are dead. "Product placement" (like when you see an Apple computer in a movie) -- mentioning of related products and services in news, blogs, and RSS feeds is not dead. It's working.

Initial RSS Marketing Results... proceed with caution Here are a couple of links to articles that have studied the results of RSS, and ads in RSS feeds:

1. RSS Advertising Case Study. Overview. Pheedo reports that by integrating online advertising into an RSS feed, a new online advertising technique, it has achieved measurably better results than e-mail for its client. Read More at: http://www.pheedo.info/archives/000057.html

2. Blocking of Ads in RSS feeds already envisioned. Of course. People want news to be news. They might put up with informative links, but not blatant, outright, defiant, in-your-face advertising. You can read a blog of comments on this issue at Kottke.org

What are you serving?

The feed goes on. Advertising and no advertising. Straight news articles, and Public Relations pieces with positive spins on your company and its products. The bottom line? If you're going to have a website and write professional content, why not syndicate the news articles and greatly extend your reach and influence? It's really simple, and it doesn't cost that much.

Scott Frangos is a writer, designer, and eCommerce marketer with over 20 years experience in Advertising. He has taught eCommerce, HTML, and Business courses at the college level in Portland, Oregon, and currently is Managing Partner of WebFadds.com - http://www.webfadds.com

Abhishek Bachan and Aishwarya Rai's Engagement Confirmed

Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS) Bollywood's hottest and most talked about pair Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan were engaged Sunday.

Confirmation of this came from none other than Abhishek's father, film icon Amitabh Bachchan, at whose residence here the engagement took place.

There was no immediate word on the wedding date, industry sources said, adding Abhishek popped the question after the international premiere in Toronto Friday of Bollywood film "Guru" featuring the duo in the lead roles.

Speaking to reporters at Toronto, Aishwarya, a former Miss World, had pleaded with them not to jump to conclusions about her relationship with Abhishek, saying an announcement would be made at the appropriate time.

Aishwarya had in the past been romantically linked to actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi. However, reports had been flying thick and fast for the past few months that she and Abhishek were about to tie the knot.

These reports gained added currency after Aishwarya accompanied Abhishek and his parents to perform rituals at a Varanasi temple in November 2006.

Stress Management: 5 More Things to Clean Out of Your Mental Closet

Resentments

A wise friend once said that holding onto resentments is like trying to crush a sandspur between your fingers. You might eventually do it, but it sure is going to hurt you in the process.

Life tip: Forgive. Release yourself from the pain and focus on the future.

Procrastination

"I'll do it later" has to be the biggest con job we can run on ourselves. Procrastination fosters the belief in "someday," which never comes because it just isn't on the calendar.

Life tip: The next time you are tempted to procrastinate, simply put it off. Procrastinate about procrastinating. Do it now, procrastinate later.

Rationalizations

While excuses hold us back from doing the things we know we need to do, rationalizations sear our conscious to allow us to do the things we know we should not do.

Life tip: Another way to spell the word rationalize is "rational lies." Tell yourself the truth. There is no good rationalization for doing something you know is wrong.

Expediency

The desire to get things done quickly can be a good thing. But when expediency takes the place of effectiveness, watch out. This happens often with parents and kids. Sure we could do it quicker and better, but what are they learning?

Life tip: Don't sacrifice effectiveness for expediency. Slow down enough to do a job well or to show someone else how to do a job well.

If onlys

If onlys come wrapped in the package of regrets. I've worked with people whose entire lives were wrapped around one or two if onlys, as if focusing on if onlys could change anything.

Life tip: Take one good long hard last look at all of your if onlys. Lift out what you can learn from them to use in your future, the rest of your life. Then, taking these learnings with you, turn around and head into your future.

I was feeling a little stressed today about my tuition student. So I thought of reminding myself with a stress management article today.

Goal Pooling

Ever hear of goal-pool with friends or acquaintances?

Get together with a group of friends or co-workers and host a logistical brainstorming party where all the invitees lay out the goals they'd like help with and make plans to meet them, with the help of the rest of the group. The result might look something like this:

Every Monday the whole crew gets together for a half-hour after work to help Barbara make fund-raising calls for her charity (and in exchange, everyone gets invited to the hoity-toity, networking-heaven Year-End party held to thank the donors and volunteers).

On Wednesdays, Bob hosts a scrap-booking dinner where he provides the food in exchange for mooching supplies, equipment and techniques from his more scrap-savvy cohorts.

On Sundays, June hosts a brunch where everybody eats high on the hog in exchange for honest feedback on her catering recipes and presentation/marketing ideas.

Continue goal-pooling until everyone involved has met their goals ? unless everyone decides to keep going and move on to the next batch of goals!

Umrao Jaan

Cast

Aishwarya Rai ... Amiran/Umrao Jaan
Shabana Azmi ... Khannum Jaan
Abhishek Bachchan ... Nawab Sultan
Suniel Shetty ... Faiz Ali
Divya Dutta ... Bismillah
Himani Shivpuri ...
Kulbhushan Kharbanda ...
Ayesha Jhulka ... Khursheed


Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A little girl, Ameeran, from a lower-middle-class Muslim family in Faizabad, is kidnapped and sold to a brothel in Lucknow. Played by Rai, she grows up to be the most famous nautch girl of her times and is re-christened Umrao Jaan.


While performing her first mujra, she falls in love with Nawab Sultan (Bachchan) and vows to be loyal to him all her life. However, fate decides otherwise, and Umrao ends up having to wait for him to make a life for them, after the Nawab's father throws him out of his home. Umrao decides to wait for her lover, even as the dacoit Faiz Ali (Shetty) wants to woo her.


Faiz Ali takes her away to Gari, with the hopes of marrying her, but she thinks of looking for her lover, Nawab Sultan. She finds out Faiz Ali was the most wanted robber, and is taken to jail. There she re-unites with Nawab Sultan, but he breaks her heart as he tells her he cannot see her anymore, because he is getting married.


She returns to Lucknow, and is raped by her childhood friend who was always in love with her. She is then told to flee and is taken back to her hometown of Faizabad. She sees her mother and brother once more, but they tell her she cannot be seen with them because of her reputation of being a prostitute. Devastated, Umrao returns to Lucknow, where she lives a lonely life, only taking solace in poetry.


The film is a journey of a woman who is living a life born out of circumstances, and has no control over her own destiny. Though the courtesan wants to live like any other woman, this is not her destiny; she believes that she was just born unlucky.

Claypot Chicken Rice

Ingredients :

* 1.5 kg Thai Fragrant Rice
* 50 gm oyster sauce
* 300 ml light soy sauce
* 60 gm dark soy sauce
* 10 gm five-spice powder
* 10 gm white peppercorns, ground
* 10 gm ginger, grated
* 60 gm sugar
* 100 ml water
* 10 ml sesame oil
* 1 kg chicken, cut into pieces
* 2.3 litre water
* 50 gm salted fish, sliced and deep-fried
* 50 gm spring onion, sliced
* 30 gm red chillies, sliced

Instruction :

Wash and drain rice well. Combine oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, five-spice powder ground pepper, grated ginger, sugar, water and sesame oil in a bowl and mix well. Add in chicken and marinate for 5 to 6 hours. Keep chilled. Divide rice and water into 10 individual clay pots. Bring rice to a boil and reduce to a simmer. When rice is almost cooked, add in salted fish and chicken pieces with liberal amounts of the marinade. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked. Remove from heat and garnish with sliced spring onions and chillies. Serve hot.

Serves : 10

Type of rice : Thai Fragrant rice or any super white rice

Cooking time : 1 hour

This is extremely tasty and all cooked and served in one pot! Yummy!

Cash In Your Blog - 4 Ways to Profit From The Hidden Revenue In Your Blog

Most webmasters and online business owners know that a blog can bring you additional revenue from advertising, and more traffic from search engines. Then there's the additional benefit of having a great way to spark productive dialogue between you and your prospects.

But did you know that your blog itself may be worth thousand of dollars to you in its present form?

The day I learned that my blog held such hidden treasure was one of those happy accidents that can make life such a fun adventure. All I wanted to do was find out why some of my newsletter subscribers had not crossed over to my blog audience.

In an informal poll, I found that many of the fans of my newsletter were overwhelmed with the amount of free information on my site, and felt that they'd never catch up to reading it all.

This led to several discoveries about how I could find a way to make the information more accessible to them without disrupting the enjoyment of my feed subscribers.

If your blog has export capabilities, you can use any of these techniques to generate revenue from your blog and make both your newsletter and blog subscribers deliriously happy.

Method One: Monitor Your Popular Blog Topics as Ideas for Future Products

As you begin to monitor which topics have the most responses, you'll be able to see a pattern that tells you what your audience likes the most about your site. These themes often give you clues about what your next product could be.

For example, as I continue to cover free Google tools, tips and news in my blog on Tuesdays, I've noticed that this is the day that I tend to have the most subscribers reading every entry. With that information I was able to create a free Christmas gift for my audience that they'll be able to use as a reference guide.

Your next best selling software idea, book or tool could come as a result of watching topic popularity, if you learn how to track audience response.

Method Two: The Subscription Model

When you're blogging daily, sometimes several times a day, and much of the information on your blog continues to be useful months after you publish it, your audience is probably aware of this.

Search engines may be doing a fine job of helping your fans find the information they're looking for at your site, but you'll also find that a cross-section of them would rather digest a periodic collection of your posts for use at a later time.

Should you find this to be the case, instead of purging your archives, you can create a "Best of" compilation on a weekly or monthly basis, and charge for electronic distribution. Or you could charge advertisers to be featured in these periodicals the same way you would a newsletter, and offer them to your audience at a discounted rate, as a premium version of your present ezine.

Method Three: Turn Your Archives into an Ebook

With a blog that focuses on a narrow, popular theme, you could be sitting on a gold mine and not even be aware of it. Whether your blog contains tips for newbies in your field, expert advice for veterans, or success strategies that build on each other, you could be in the position to supply a demand for needed information.

There are a couple of tricks you'd have to learn to convert your archived blog posts into an ebook, but you'd be surprised about how easy this process can be.

Method Four: Make Your Entire Blog Into a Printed Book

I know what you're thinking. "Why would anyone pay for my blog as a book when it's free at my site?"

Under certain circumstances, you'd be surprised to find how many people would rather have a portable collection of your blog posts when the quality is consistent. The online version of your blog is the ultimate free trial. Many sites have been using this logic long before the web log came along to allow users to preview their services.

For example, the sheer volume of the free traffic generation tips on my site was repeatedly described during my informal poll as "overwhelming". It's one thing to try and read 2000 web pages in front of your computer, but it's not as daunting to peruse a 400 page book in the comfort of your home.

Converting your blog into a yearly volume may be a viable solution if consuming the amount of data in your archives is a daunting task. And there are ways to accomplish this that have no start-up costs.

If you're still not convinced that it's not worth the set-up to convert your blog into a periodical, ebook or printed edition, consider this.

On Monday morning I issued a press release regarding the transformation of my blog to a book, as a test to measure interest. It's almost 4 a.m. Pacific time as I write this, and so far it has been read over 23,000 times, resulting in a distinct increase in general traffic, not to mention the best initial sales debut of any product at my site since this past summer.

Just imagine what that kind of interest could do for your site - and how much money you may be leaving on the table right now. Making your blog available in other formats is worth a look.

You can learn low-cost ways to turn your blog into an ebook or preview Tinu's 400 page Free Traffic Tips printed edition and ebook at FreeTrafficTip.com .

Instant Menaces or Instant Messengers?

Many vendors offering Instant Messaging (IM) services have added new capabilities such as voice messaging and file sharing. Among others, AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo offer these IM services.

Clients of Instant Messaging services are also easy prey for the community of hackers. Using a simple monitoring program, the plain text from Instant Messaging can be easily captured and creates vulnerability to electronic eavesdropping. .

In one version of AOL's Instant Messenger, aka AIM, a user was found to have been the target of a hacker attack. The villainous hacker had crafted a URL which, when clicked by the user with AIM on their desktop, allowed the hacker to execute a virus on the victim's system. What is particularly sinister about this is that AIM does not have to be running for this type of virus to deploy.

Another avenue of attack is when victims are simply sent an HTML email with a link that when clicked will execute one or all of the following: a privilege elevation attack, a denial of service attack, or the installation of a backdoor for later use, to name a few.

Using a computer phone service that operates on secure lines with high end encryption codec on proprietary patented technology that features IM capability will optimally protect you against these vicious hacker attacks.

The above information is an excerpt taken from an in-depth and exclusive Report entitled "Why Hackers Love Computer Phones ? A Shocking Report You Must Read!" by Dee Scrip available only at http://www.whypay4calls.com/gtp/to.pl?l=ART-01

MOTORAZR V3

At only 13.9 mm thin, 53 mm wide (the width of a credit card) and 98 mm long, the Motorola RAZR V3 is one of the slimmest phones on the market yet still rich in functions, performance excellence and design innovation. It provides the user with a total sensory experience – from the innovative metallic finishes and use of materials to a truly revolutionary, chemically etched keypad created from a single sheet of nickel-plated copper alloy. The Motorola RAZR V3 is the ultimate, beautiful slim-phone.

Tactile and Totally Recognisable
Take time out to enjoy the feel, touch and finish of the model RAZR V3. The metal materials and finishes
create a smooth, easy-to-use phone that has real visual impact. The spun metal finish of the keypad is designed to gently reflect the light, whilst a blue electro-luminescence panel defines each character and key, creating an unmistakable RAZR V3 signature.

Capture the World
Create high quality images with the Motorola RAZR V3’s brilliant picture capture and review. The VGA camera’s effective 4 x digital zoom and quick exposure controls delivers excellent results. Capture the world in style.

Visual Communication
Watch MPEG 4 video clips in bright colour with 22kHz polyphonic speaker sound. Bring the 176 x 220 pixel 2.2” color display and 3D graphics engine to life with your favorite digital imagery. It’s innovation in the palm of your hand.

Intersection of Style and Technology
Exceptional form meets effortless connectivity with the Motorola RAZR V3’s Bluetooth® technology. Enter a wireless world where voice, image and video are easily transmitted without wires. Simpler, smarter and ever-so stylish.

Travel Around
Jetset around the world without missing a call. The quad-band technology keeps you connected in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Key Features

• External dimensions: 13.9 x 55 x 98 millimeters
• Weight: 95 grams
• External color display
• Picture caller ID
• Nickel-plated copper-alloy chemically-etched keypad
• Internal display: 2.2 inch 176 x 220 pixel 64K color TFT display
• External display: 96x80 pixels 4k color CSTN CLI
• EL keypad illumination panel
• Internal quad-band antenna
• Integrated VGA camera with 4x zoom
• Integrated Class 1 Bluetooth® wireless technology
• 22kHz polyphonic speaker with MP3 ringer support
• MPEG4 video Playback
• 3D Graphics Engine
• Java™ MIDP 2.0\
• Dedicated Messaging & Browser keys

The Motorola RAZR V3 is currently available. For more information on pricing and product availability in your region, please check with your local Motorola representative or visit http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/razr/.

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. Java and all other Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Motorola is under license.
© Motorola, Inc. 2004.

My new camera phone but I am not a techno savvy person and having an extremely hard time learning how to use the camera and getting the photos on my laptop and for posting purposes... :(

Painting of Jolie draws notice

By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 5, 6:57 PM ET


RALEIGH, N.C. - A North Carolina artist intrigued by the public obsession with celebrity has found herself feeding that obsession with a painting of actress Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary hovering over a Wal-Mart check-out line.

Kate Kretz has painted for 20 years but none of her previous work has garnered the attention given "Blessed Art Thou," showing this weekend at Art Miami, an annual exposition of modern and contemporary art.

The painting has gotten much attention from celebrity web sites and blogs. Since the buzz started, the number of daily unique visitors to Kretz's own blog has jumped from an average of 30 to 15,000 on Wednesday.

"My intention was to ask a question and get people to think," Kretz said in a telephone interview Friday from Miami. "I had no idea so many people would be asking a question and thinking."

The painting — acrylic and oil on linen — depicts an angelic Jolie in the clouds, holding her newborn daughter, Shiloh, with children Maddox and Zahara at her legs. Below them is a Wal-Mart checkout line. The painting is for sale for $50,000 through Chelsea Galleria in Miami, which represents Kretz.

On her blog, Kretz, 43, said the painting addresses "the celebrity worship cycle." She said she chose Jolie for the subject "because of her unavoidable presence in the media, the worldwide anticipation of her child, her 'unattainable' beauty and the good that she is doing in the world through her example, which adds another layer to the already complicated questions surrounding her status."

Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik, asked to comment about "Blessed Art Thou" on a Post blog, was unimpressed. "Once you've deciphered it, there's not much chance of giving it a second look," Gopnik wrote.

Copied from Yahoo News

Chocolate: A Health Food?

Headline grabbing stories in 2002 about chocolate's new-found health benefits stemmed from a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.1 The study was small, comprising only 23 subjects, and it was funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute. The abstract (summary) of the article, which is what most people read, stated that cocoa and chocolate, when added to a healthy diet, provided antioxidant benefits and increased the good HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol. One antioxidant benefit was to impede the harmful, atherosclerosis-accelerating oxidation of LDL (low density lipoprotein cholesterol, the bad cholesterol). These were the findings that the media trumpeted.

But a closer look at the article wasn't quite as encouraging. The authors acknowledged that the beneficial effects from chocolate were small at best. "It is important to note that the clinical significance of these small differences in indexes of oxidation status remain to be clarified." Meaning that the small differences might have no significance at all. And regarding the so-called benefits of increasing HDL, these weren't significant, as the researchers noted: "the cocoa-chocolate diet had neutral effects on lipids and lipoproteins."

"I'd certainly like to believe that chocolate is good for me.
And why not? Even Andrew Weil says so."

In fact, as if anticipating that this study might be over-hyped, the journal headed the issue with an editorial to put the findings in perspective. In "How good is chocolate?" nutrition expert Paul Nestel noted that plants supply many thousands of healthful substances to the human diet. It is well known that soy, grapes, tea, onions, apples, citrus and many others are rich sources of antioxidants, so it's not surprising that cocoa contains an antioxidant, too. How important is the antioxidant in chocolate? Nestel questioned the importance of chocolate's modest effects on LDL oxidation. He further asked, "Given that there are thousands of flavonoids in the foods that we eat ... should each new finding be greeted as an encouragement to eat that particular source because it contains a special flavonoid?" 2

"Unfortunately for chocolate lovers, chocolate's high content of stearic acid puts it in the same category of risk of coronary disease as meat and butter -- i.e., pathogenic!"
-- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Also not mentioned was that chocolate contains a high amount of stearic acid, a saturated fat, and saturated fats are directly linked to elevated LDL cholesterol levels and to increased risks of coronary artery disease and coronary death. Chocolate supporters claim that stearic acid isn't like other saturated fats. Yet, in the Nurses' Health Study Involving more than 80,000 women over 14 years, the saturated fat in chocolate was shown to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by as much or even more than other, proven-harmful saturated fats.3

Stearic acid also appears to reduce the protective HDL and may increase tendencies toward fibrin and plaque deposition in the development of atherosclerosis. Based on these and other findings, a 1999 editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded: "Unfortunately for chocolate lovers, chocolate's high content of stearic acid puts it in the same category of risk of coronary disease as meat and butter -- i.e., pathogenic!"4

Let's put chocolate's "benefits" into perspective. First, you can get similar antioxidants from almost any other plant-based foods. Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are much better sources of antioxidants, and also contain many other healthful nutrients. And unlike chocolate, they won't increase your waistline with extra calories from sugar and fat.

Just three ounces of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate contain 420 calories, 210 (50%) from fat and 168 (40%) from sugar. And the saturated fat and simple sugar in chocolate are the kinds you want to avoid the most. Indeed, even if cocoa contains some healthful flavonoids, only 10% of the calories of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate come from cocoa. The rest is junk.

Food industry-funded studies notwithstanding, the bottom line on chocolate is this: Chocolate is a terrific food, but it isn't a health food. Use chocolate -- dark chocolate, not milk chocolate -- in moderation. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, who is a cardiologist, a colleague, and also a chocolate lover, suggests one ounce of dark chocolate a few times a week. I can live with that.

One ounce of dark chocolate three times a week.
Stephen Sinatra, M.D., cardiologist.

In fact, you can indulge yourself a lot more by using products and recipes that combine cocoa with healthier fats and sweeteners rather than manufactured chocolates. The food industry should work on this. Providing "healthy chocolate" made of cocoa and healthy ingredients would tap a big market of health-conscious chocolate lovers like me. Maybe then I could write a truly enthusiastic article about chocolate.

References
1. Wan, Y, Vinson, JA, Etherton, TD, et al. Effects of cocoa powder and dark chocolate on LDL oxidative susceptibility and prostaglandin concentrations in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov. 2001;74:596-602.
2. Nestel, PJ. How good is chocolate? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov. 2001;74:563-4.
3. Hu, FB, Stamp, MJ, Manson, JE, et al. Dietary saturated fats and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease in women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dec. 1999;70:1001-1008.
4. Connor, WE. Harbingers of coronary heart disease: dietary saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. Is chocolate benign because of its stearic acid content? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dec. 1999;70:951-952.

Copyright 2003, Jay S. Cohen, M.D. All rights reserved.
Readers have my permission to copy and disseminate all or part of these articles if it is clearly identified as the work of: Jay S. Cohen, M.D., The Free Underground MedicationSense E-Newsletter, July-August 2003, www.MedicationSense.com.

Calming The Voice of Stress

But how can this happen to someone?

Let's concentrate on how these illnesses affect the way we value the self. Of all of the destructive patterns of behavior these illnesses cause, the way a sufferer talks to the self is the fuel that maintains their illness.

I have experienced depression from two sides. For 5 years, a series of traumatic events triggered a personal nightmare I believed would never end. One of these events came when my lover was diagnosed with depression. At this time, I too had entered into the spiral of anxiety-induced depression. Both of these experiences have given me an insight into how sufferers destroy any value of the self.

Let me give a couple of examples. With my partner, if I'd arranged an evening out with friends, she'd say:

"No, I won't come, you go without me. I never have anything interesting to say. I just bore people. They'll find me an effort to be with. I'll stay here."

If I made a mistake, I'd say to myself:

"I'm useless. I'm no good at anything. Everything I do I get wrong."

This self-deprecation then spreads into other areas of life. You begin to criticize the way you look, the decisions you make or don't make, and you focus solely on the downside of life. Each time a little bit of self-worth, a little bit of self-respect and a little bit of self-confidence are eroded. Eventually, they are lost completely. When I reached my lowest point, having lost everything and everyone I loved, I'd say to myself:

"If I died tomorrow, no one would know and no one would care."

So, what helped me to come out of the fog?

Well, the reason I thought I'd become depressed was because of a series of traumatic events occurring at the same time. I was wrong. The root cause of my depression lay in the ways I reacted to them. One of the ways I'd reacted was to blame myself for events I couldn't control. The more I blamed myself, the more I beat myself up. The more I beat myself up, the more my self-esteem decreased.

The phrases I have used to briefly illustrate self-deprecating phrases we continually use against the self are mild. I'm sure you realize that many people use much stronger phrases than I've given here. The point is that these phrases would be totally unacceptable to say to others. You wouldn't tell a person that they were boring, an effort to be with and that everyone found their company dull and it would be better for everyone else if they kept away from people.

Agreed?

Yet, if I say to people:

"Pay yourself compliments. Accentuate your good in all areas of your life. Write down your good points, your triumphs, your achievements. Remind yourself as often as possible about all the good you have done."

They look at me like I'm an alien and say they'd feel stupid. Or uncomfortable. Or even embarrassed.

Yet they don't feel any of these emotions when they talk to themselves using emotionally charged, self-deprecating phrases! And like rust upon metal, these phrases gradually erode our self-esteem and our confidence.

OK, here's the bottom-line. I'd like you to inscribe what you are about to read into your mind over and over again until it is permanently etched there:

It is NEVER acceptable to talk to myself in a way I know is inappropriate and even offensive if I spoke in the same way to others.

Time for me to sign off, but before I do, here's a phrase I say to myself every single day without fail. Please use it, it is very powerful:

"If you put yourself down, down is where you will stay."


Chris Green is the author of the new book "Conquering Stress", a special program which will show you how to conquer stressful illnesses such as depression, anxiety, panic and worry permanently and without taking powerful drugs. You can learn more about this new book and purchase it at http://www.conqueringstress.com

Be Creative: 10 Easy Steps To Increase Your Confidence, Creativity and Cash In The Attention Economy

In Australia at the moment we are celebrating the Australian Innovation Festival.

This years theme is Innovation and You.

The festival was established to celebrate the best in Australian innovation.

According to the official brochure innovation can be defined as "a process that transfers ideas through business activity into saleable goods, processes and services".

I have been proud to present a range of seminars as part of the festival and attend the official launch.

I was impressed by guest speaker, John Howkins who is a leading figure in global communications, media and entertainment. I'm currently reading his groundbreaking book The Creative Economy.

As I sat, listened and then reflected on his presentation, here is my analysis distilled down into my Top 10 Tips:

1. Create a Confidence Culture. Don't rely only on your own individual talent to have and implement ideas. When you have ideas you need to convince people to invest in those ideas. This relies on your confidence and ability to persuade people to turn a dream into reality. If you're not confident in your idea how can you convince others to invest time, money and resources in it?

2. Sit and Think and Look and Question. The best answers to problems are solved by observation, analysis and insight. Take time out to practice these too often lost skills. Appreciate time working on your own. As Dr Karl Kruszelnicki says in his IQ case study on Nobel Prize Winners (who by the way have normal IQs around the 120 mark), "its not the answers that get you to the blue hall, but the questions!"

3. Attitude. Ideas are available to anyone. All you need is your brain because it is made up of perceptions and memories which form inherited ideas. Put the priority on ideas rather than data. In our democratic and populist societies, we're seeing the rise of the individual. Be an individual to stand out from the crowd and nurture your uniqueness, but also be a team player. This unique combination is essential for success.

It is a credo I live by. Framed hanging on the wall in my office in a prominent position is a poster with my logo and this message:

"OUR CORE VALUES. The following values are actively fostered, encouraged and central to the way we do business: Creativity Excellence Service Teamwork"

Have an attitude, live it and be consistent.

4. Be Competitive and Tough. The barriers of entry for new ideas are extremely low, even non-existent. You need to outsmart your competition and understand patents, copyright, trademarks and other intellectual property laws that protect ideas. What business is about, is not the technology, but about ideas and the application and protection of ideas.

Howkins compares the examples of two brilliant men, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and inventor of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee. Gates protected his idea and is now the wealthiest man on the planet. Berners-Lee didn't and yet his invention has changed the way we communicate.

5. The Ability To Change People's Mind. Being part of the creative economy is about changing people's minds. If you want your ideas to be taken seriously, you need to have outstanding persuasion and influence skills.

6. Learn Endlessly. Ideas are about doing something different and better. Borrow. Innovate. In beautiful Perth where I live, as well as the low cost of living, stunning lifestyle and great weather - we have another advantage. I call it the isolation, ideas and innovation factor. We live in the most isolated city in the world and this is both a negative and positive. The positive is remoteness breeds creativity. When you stop learning, you stop being creative.

7. Excel In The Attention Economy We now live in an economy where creativity, the media and entertainment dominate. It seeps into every crease, fold and cranny in our lives. Learn to excel in this economy. Understand the pressures and the principles of living in this age.

I call this a time when the Three C's of Change are on the increase:

Chaos, Clutter, and Competition Chaos - Our lives are getting busier and busier and more and more chaotic as we sift through the masses of information coming at us.

Clutter - This mass of information is getting held up, like grains of sand in an hourglass, and the sheer volume is cluttering up our lives and decision-making processes.

Competition - It is an increasingly competitive marketplace now, with me too brands, look at me brands, and global brands dominating the marketplace. It is increasingly difficult to be truly unique and standout from the crowd.

8. To Make A Mistake Is Not To Fail. There's a well-known saying along the lines of "a mistake is only a mistake if you don't learn from it". The rate of failure is high within an economy built on ideas. That failure can be at a personal, company or even Government policy level. Learn how to deal with failure and manage it. Traditionally bureaucrats have focussed on policy and businesses avoid risk.

When a senior executive at the ABC, I always found this a challenge as a manager. A delicate balancing act was required to encourage creativity to make good programs on the one hand, while working within a dinosaur-like, bureacratic, public service culture where policy and process dominate. I learnt the hard way there is an unstable relationship between creativity, innovation and bureacracy. You can read a full article about these challenges originally published in The West Australian newspaper in November 2000 here.

9. Build A Powerful Personal Brand. How creative you are, whether your ideas are accepted and how often you fail will impact on your personal identity. Your identity is how others see you. Manage these perceptions and build a strong personal brand that is resilient, reliable and real.

10. Have Ideas, Make Fun, Make Money. Ideas are the currency and rules by which we get access to capital. If you have the right idea, with the right support, you can have great fun and make a huge amount of money along the way.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.

You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.