วันจันทร์ที่ 28 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2551
Car Stereos
Hobbies differ from one person to another. There can be little doubt that the most common hobby would be music. Marvelous are the effects of music. There is no limit to it. You can have it anywhere and everywhere, even while you are traveling in your car. Indeed, you can take your favorite music along through your car stereo.A car stereo includes a set of equipment like speakers, amplifiers, and CD or cassette players. Originally, car stereos meant just a radio run on a battery. Slowly, more additions were incorporated to include traffic signal messages and also sizeable memory. The earliest known brand of car stereo was Motorola. There are many components constituting a car stereo. They are amplifiers, woofers, speakers, capacitors etc. You need to know the purpose of each component to select the correct one for your car.Like home audio, car stereo is a fast-growing and ever-changing field with new technologies gaining popularity. By installing the appropriate system in your car, you can enjoy music on the move.There are many leading brands like Kenwood, Blaupunkt, Pioneer, Sony and DLS. There is stiff competition in the manufacturing of car stereos, which forces the manufacturers to constantly improve and update their products and attract more customers.For example, Kenwood invented the amateur radio transceivers T and L Series Products. Innovation is part of the activities of this company. It designed the first anti-theft car stereo.Apart from the appearance of the car stereo, the product is valued in terms of sound quality. Unlike yesteryears, a pair of 10-inch speakers can produce more than 160 decibels SPL, when placed in a closed place. In the recent times, digital satellite radio is experiencing high demand in the form of head units and individual modules.Car Stereos provides detailed information on Car Stereos, Car Stereo Systems, Car Stereo Installations, Car Stereo Speakers and more. Car Stereos is affiliated with Wholesale Car Audio.
Category : Automotive:Mobile-Audio-Video
วันเสาร์ที่ 26 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2551
Five Tips to Become a Soundbite Genius
1. Speak in soundbites to everyone.Getting key phrases for concepts and ideas across clearly is central to all communication. As a fun practice try to shave off any extraneous details during conversation in your everyday life. In Errol Morris' film *Fog of War* former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said, *Never answer the question that is asked. Answer the question you wish were asked.* Begin to train yourself to speak only what you want others to hear. In this way you'll be shaping other's perception of you-which is the essence of good media.2. Answer the first interview question with your sermonette.In a 1989 interview on the NPR show Fresh Air veteran TV journalist David Brinkley said, *Everyone of them [his guests] will arrive in the studio with some little sermonette in mind, and determined to deliver it. So one thing I do is first ask them a dull, boring question like, what do you think about this. And let them deliver their little sermonette. And then we get to the hard core of what we're there to talk about.* Your first and last points have the most impact so plan and deliver your sermonettes no matter what you're asked.3. Frame your ideas for your audience.Jennifer O'Neil, a film producer and director, explained that when shooting background footage (b-roll) she uses a technique called *grounding.* To *ground* the camera must end definitively on an object or scene that signals the viewer that that segment is over. I suggested to her that she probably also used the opening footage to *ground* or shape the beginning of how she wanted a viewer to perceive the scene. In this way you orient your audience to the scene or the material you want them to focus on.You can apply the same concept to soundbites. Your opening words set the stage for what you want to convey, your final words signify the close, how you want your audience to remember what you've told them. Use your opening and closing statements to anchor your audience to the information you want them to grasp. That way you shape the way they think about your product, service or cause.4. Tell people what to do.I love mystery, but this isn't the place for it. Don't leave your audience guessing. Be forthright about the action you want them to take by letting them know why your product or service is necessary for them to have a complete and happy life now. What gap does what you have to offer fill? Be direct in pointing this out so there is no doubt.5. Live your words.Get to the point with clarity and insight. The Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer said of composer Astor Piazzolla's music, *I don't think it's [the music] always about embellishment. I don't think it all can be expressed rightly just gliding on the surface of convenient rhythms. This music can't be in fact performed, it has to be lived. And I always can distinguish if someone is flirting with Piazzolla as a convenient item of our commercial industry or if someone really lives the life or the heartbeat of the music of this great composer.*It's the same with you and your soundbites. Are you living the heartbeat of what you're saying, what you're representing? If not, we hear your false notes, your commercial intent. If so, we know in an instant when your music is true.Learn how to use any interview, any time, on any topic, to get your business, book, product or cause the publicity-and fame you long for in this soundbite teleclass. http://www.prsecrets.com/Copyright(c) 2004 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.You have permission to publish this article in its entirety electronically, in print, in your ebook, or on your web site, free of charge as long as no changes to the content are made and you include my byline, copyright, and resource box. Please notify me of publication by sending an email with a copy of your publication to: mailto:newslettereditor@prsecrets.com. Thanks!About The AuthorCopyright(c) 2004 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.Susan Harrow is a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul* (HarperCollins), *The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah*, and *How You Can Get a 6-Figure Book Advance.* Her clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, millionaires, best-selling authors and successful entrepreneurs who have appeared on Oprah,60 Minutes,NPR, and in TIME,USA Today,Parade, People,O,NY Times,Wall Street Journal,Inc.prsecrets@publicist.com
Category : Business:Audio-Streaming
Good News?
As the man said, "I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. What do you want to hear first?" It was replied, "Tell me the good news first". The good news is that they are going to make some changes in the mutual fund industry reporting to help the investor and the bad news is it isn't going to make any difference in your bottom line.It seems that us small investors are getting the usual window dressing to make it seem that we are getting a good deal, but when you go in the store to try on the merchandise it still doesn't fit any better.Here is what the Securities and Exchange Commission passed as a new regulation for registered mutual funds. Instead of 50% of the Board of Directors being from outside the company they now must select 75% from outside the company. Can anyone tell me what difference that is going to make? The guys who own the fund will pick people who are friendly to their goals. Will they care any more for the investors than they do now? Window dressing.One new regulation I do agree should help a little (but very little) is the requirement to provide more information to shareholders about their contracts with investment advisors and how they are approved. Big deal. The mutual fund industry said this will raise their costs. How? They have the information. All they have to do is add it to their prospectus. Also remember that the prospectus was written for the Dilbert lawyers at the SEC to meet the regulations and not to give you understandable information.Do you remember what happened to your funds from 2000 to 2003? Most investors lost from 40% to 60% of their money. Let's hope they don't hire back those same analysts again, but they probably will. Just their contracts will be different. It is doubtful their results will change.Furthermore these new fantastic, wonderful rules (sic) will not go into effect for 18 months. I guess as one of the 95 million mutual fund owners I will have to wait, but I'm not going to hold my breath.What I did not hear from the SEC was that mutual fund managers should be paid on performance of how well they do with your money. Now they get paid by how much money they have or can get and keep in the fund. Sounds backwards to me. See if you can get your broker to refund all commissions if your fund does not make money. Don't hold your breath on this one either.Eighteen months from now investors are going to feel a lot better when all that good news goes into effect. Yeah.Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy
It!" has helped thousands of people make money
and keep their profits with his simple 2-step
method. Read the first chapter at
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
and discover why he's the man that Wall Street
does not want you to know.Copyright 2005
Category : Leukemia
วันศุกร์ที่ 25 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2551
Teachable Moments: A Brief History of Patronage and the Spoils System
The disaster that ensued in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the President's most recent nomination to the Supreme Court have brought a number of great teachable moments in my history class. In order to assess the danger of political cronyism, we need to take a look at the history of political patronage and its many downfalls.Many believe that the "spoils system" (to the victor belongs the spoils) began under the administration of Andrew Jackson. Not so. The system of political patronage goes back to our first administration. George Washington didn't like political parties, in fact he warned against them in his farewell address. Nonetheless, Washington found it useful to be surrounded by like-minded individuals when performing the business of government.His successor, John Adams, pulled one of the smoothest lame duck moves ever attempted. On his LAST day in office, John Adams appointed dozens of loyal supporters to federal judgeships created by the Judiciary Act of 1801. By doing so, Adams hoped to win Federalist influence in the court for years to come.Thomas Jefferson hoped to pull the plug on this maneuver, and ordered his Secretary of State, James Madison NOT to deliver the commissions to the "midnight judges." At Adams' urging, one of the judges, Stephen Marbury sued the Secretary of State for his commission. Marburg ended up losing his commission and the case but Adams succeeded in leaving a strong cadre of Federalists on the Supreme Court, including the incorrigible John Marshall, who shaped the court for years to come.When Jefferson took over as president, many thought he would sweep the federalists from all important offices. Jefferson could have invoked the spoils system far more than he did, and he surprised many in Washington by retaining federalists in many important government positions, simply because they were good at their jobs.In the 1820's, the spoils system took on tremendous momentum. While all the previous American presidents had dabbled in cronyism, Andrew Jackson brought it completely out in the open, and took it to greater extremes than any of the previous presidents combined.Jackson believed strongly that the spoils system was vital to democracy. Jackson believed that most Americans were worthy of holding political office, but that no one should remain in that office for very long, lest the person become corrupt and complacent. Imagine, a government employee becoming corrupt and complacent!Jackson brought his supporters in by the throngs. Washington society was mortified. Jackson's inaugural ball was referred to as a "drunken brawl." Jackson invited supporters from all walks of life to the gala. The entrenched Washington establishment watched in horror as Jackson put people representing a much wider social spectrum in important government positions, including his "kitchen cabinet," a group of advisors from different sectors in American society who, although not powerful politically, had a great deal of influence on the President's decisions.For all his grandiose talk and intentions, Jackson didn't completely uproot the Washington establishment, but he definitely put it on its toes. Many of the people he put into office were incompetent and corrupt, and milked their offices for all the material reward they could get. Unfortunately, this was the rule rather than the exception.Once established, the spoils system was difficult to slow down. Many politicians groomed the spoils system into well running, but often horribly corrupt political machines. These "machines" like New York's Tammany Hall, dominated the governments of larger cities and even spread their influence into state and national politics. Whereas the pre-Jacksonian Age was call the "Era of Good Feelings," the post civil war age was known as the "Era of Good Stealings."As urban blight and poverty brought havoc and chaos to the nation's cities, progressive reformers began a crusade to reform the spoils system. Muckrakers exposed the corruption of Tammany Hall, and progressive politicians, including President Grover Cleveland, began to support what became known as the Civil Service movement, culminating with the Pendleton Civil Service Act, which required people holding many government jobs to pass a test showing their qualifications. Ironically, President James Garfield, a strong advocate for civil service reform, was assassinated by a spurned office seeker.Patronage didn't disappear completely after that. It never completely disappears in any political system, but the dangers of patronage and spoils have become acutely apparent in light of recent events.President Bush's appointment of Michael Brown to be chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ultimately became one of the costliest patronage deals in our nation's history. Brown no experience in emergency management; he was an influential lobbyist lawyer and a stalwart Bush supporter, and so he became the top man at FEMA. His mistakes and incompetence have been well documented in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.The President apparently didn't learn even the most recent lesson about patronage and spoils. His nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is painful evidence.
Miers has never been a judge. Although John Roberts infuriated many Senators with his lame, vague testimony, he pacified his opponents with his tremendous legal skill and acumen with regards to the constitution. Ideologies aside, Roberts is well qualified for the position of the most important judge in the nation.Miers may bring to the judiciary what Andrew Jackson hoped his appointees would bring to Washington, a new perspective from someone outside the traditional loop of the Supreme Court. It only takes a brief look at Miers' resume however, to draw the conclusion that this patronage appointment, like Brown's, spells potential disaster for the nation.About the AuthorRob Privitere-Coats is a history teacher of 15 years and owner of teachthemasses.com. Visit the site for history teacher resources and experienced teaching strategies.
Category : Entrepreneurs
Food Photography Tips for Newbies
With a focal length of between 60 mm and 300 mm, this is also a perfect lens for the sport enthusiast. The telephoto lens allows you to capture the far away object and can also be used for landscape imagesThe photograph business is one of the most interesting of all businesses, and one of the businesses that has undergone one of the most enormous changes in recent years.And that same sunset behind the mountain that youve seen everyday since you were a kid may look pretty amazing to someone who has never been to the mountains.Most importantly, get as involved with what you love as possible. Learn as much as you can about photography and what makes good photography. Subscribe to magazines, read books, look at winners of photography contests.There are different ways of finding photography jobs, depending on the type of job you are looking for and your experience. You can begin by creating a resume and portfolio of your work.Food Photography Tips for NewbiesTaking great pictures of different food dishes isn't as easy as it appears to be in cook books and food advertisements. Great care should be exercised when taking these shots. Things that need to be considered include the dish's angle, composition, lighting, as well as problems that may arise. Here are some guides to help you improve the quality of your pictures. LightingConsider the lighting in the kitchen or venue where you will shooting the dishes. It is a good idea to know this in advance so that you no longer have to make adjustments right there in the venue. Dark venues may be corrected by using a row of flourescent lighting which possesses diffusers. The drawback of this method is that the image will have a subdued shade of green. Depending on the camera that you have, it may have a setting that neutralizes the effects of flourescent lighting or a magenta filter may be used to compensate. Stability of tripodsSince you are taking pictures of food, every shot is done at close range. Unlike shots taken at a distance, shots done in close up are sensitive to movement. Any sudden moves and the picture will be ruined. Focusing on the subject also becomes easier when using a tripod or even just a stack of magazines. Photojournalism takes pictures of events to support the news story and to create awareness among the people.Do you like to take photos? Are you always standing by with your camera waiting for that moment that is meant to be captured on camera? You may even be taking photography classes or maybe you have already completed a photography course and you want to share your photos with others.In reality, you do not need a studio or the equipment and technical resources to take an outstanding portrait photograph.Aside from the prizes, winning a contest may be your opportunity to showcase your photography skills in a national magazine. Its easy to see why someone would want to enter a contest.Obviously, there is professional photography but even in that choice there are many other smaller options that you have as well.Food presentationTo get that professional look, cut the dish in geometric shapes. Proper arrangement of the food is also important so that you will be able to showcase the dish's ingredients as well as its strengths. Garnishing the food that you will shoot will enhance its natural colors, making it more appealing to the eyes. Focusing on the subjectA rather dull photo will become vibrant and dynamic if care is taken when focusing and adjusting the field depth of the camera. If your camera doesn't have manual focus, depressing the camera's shutter button halfway to lock the focus at that specific depth. Recomposing the focus can be done by changing the position of the camera while the shutter button is still depressed halfway. Automatic cameras usually lack aperture or depth of field. Some purposely adjust the aperture such that the background becomes a blur to heighten the subject's features while others prefer that a wider depth of field is used to capture the whole scene. These are some of the things that you should know regarding food photography. Constant practice will help you produce better shots. Follow your instincts. Sometimes this allows you to take better shots. If you love taking pictures and the idea of a career in photography sounds good to you, just how do you begin finding photography jobs?It is no surprise that underwater photography is a favorite pastime for scuba divers. The idea could have come from those few people that were able to experience the joys and beauty of underwater life and a desire to share that beauty with others.Next to consider, are your technical aspects of your photograph. You are going to want to have excellent composition, lighting, focus, contrast, exposure, perspective and more.Another digital photography beauty is the ability to shoot your people or events and view them ON THE SPOT! This can be done either through your digital cameras viewfinder or by loading onto your computer. When you are shooting special events in your life this is a real plus.More on Malaysia Photographer.When selecting a professional to handle your wedding photography, price will be a factor in your decision. While you get what you pay for, there is no reason to pay more than you have to.More on Wedding Photography Malaysia. More on Malaysia Photographer.
Category : General Hobbies
How To Build A Business Ethics Program
Recent corporate financial scandals have highlighted the importance of business ethics and legal compliance. Yet a recent National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) survey of 280 corporate CEOs and directors found that "only one of three directors felt that they were highly effective in ensuring legal compliance".Ethics in BusinessMost companies realize that they need to develop and implement a business ethics and compliance program.An effective program can:⢠Establish a code of conduct that reduces risk of criminal behavior⢠Detect wrongdoing, foster quick investigations, minimize consequences⢠Demonstrate companyâ™s ethical/legal philosophy during an investigation⢠Reduce fines if company is found guilty of wrongdoing⢠Enhance company reputation and statureLooking at the OptionsBut how do you build an effective program? Companies find themselves with three options to build the program:⢠Develop in-house from scratch⢠Hire an external consultant⢠Use a pre-written manualAnd most of these companies learn a few lessons - sometimes the hard way.Making a Strong Company PolicyDeveloping a program from scratch can be very time consuming and costly. Also, the company might not have the knowledge or understanding of the complexity involved. But hiring an external consultant is not always a cost effective option either. So whatâ™s left?Developing Your Business Ethics ProgramBy using a pre-written template or manual, many companies have found it easier to develop their business ethics program. And to do this, they look for what a strong program needs.A highly effective tool for creating, organizing and implementing a sound business ethics and compliance program should provide:⢠Sample policies and procedures⢠Step-by-step instructions for the development of a program⢠A business ethics training program outline with classroom materials and a detailed session leaderâ™s guide⢠Business ethics and compliance officer position description⢠Templates for employee involvement⢠Sample code of conductImplementing Your Business Ethics ProgramIf the company board has committed to a strong business ethics and compliance program, the next step is to put the manual in the hands of corporate executives responsible for implementation. Used properly under advice of legal counsel, this efficient tool will yield a solid program that the board can understand, endorse, and monitor for effectiveness.With step-by-step guidelines and accompanying examples of policies, procedures, training program, and employee survey, an effective tool provides an excellent road map for implementing an ethics and compliance initiative.Maintaining a Culture of EthicsCompanies should make certain that their ethics compliance manual provides fully editable MS Word files with sample policies, surveys, forms and training session outlines. Also, businesses should ensure their ethics compliance system manual is fully endorsed by The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a tool to maintain a culture of integrity.Chris Anderson is currently the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance.
To learn how to increase your business performance, visit: Bizmanualz, Inc.
Category : Satellite TV