In case you have been hiding in a cave for the past two weeks Judas the Betrayer aka Atilla the Hun has won his appeal in the court of world judgment in The Hague. Based on evidence not available at his trial for selling out the Messiah for 30 pieces of silver, Judas has now been completely exonerated and a float in his honor has been planned for the annual Macy’s Christmas Day Parade. Anna Nicole said yesterday, “He may be old but I really love him. I have enough gold now and maybe it’s time for silver.” The Lone Ranger upon hearing this said, “I will not allow Anna Nicole to appear on farmanimals.com with my horse no matter how well endowed she is.”

Pope Benedict said this week in his Easter Homily dressed in his finest Cinderella outfit, “Judas is still a dirty double crossing Judas no matter what any Gospel says”, sticking to the party line. Benedict Arnold, no relation to Arnold Ziffle, was a General in the army of the 13 British colonies which rebelled against Great Britain. Apparently spell check never watched “Green Acres”. His personal finances running low, and faced with pressure from his much younger second wife, Arnold plotted to allow the British army to capture the American fort at West Point New York. He evaded capture, fled to England, and was still given an award of 6,000 pounds sterling, which in 1780 AD could buy a lot of matzoh.

Until now it was thought that Judas Iscariot had to leave the Passover seder to tell the Jewish authorities where Jesus was hiding. Never mind the minor detail in the fairy tale that Jesus always preached in the open to large crowds in the Galilee and in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus did not exactly hide himself from the authorities. In fact he openly committed the felony of causing a fig tree to never again bear figs, as he rode his stolen donkey into Jerusalem.

While we are all going through this collective cognitive dissonance over the flip flopping in our minds over Judas and his people, who have been mercilessly massacred for 2,000 years for allegedly killing a Jewish Rabbi, let us also point out that prophecy is an inexact science to say the least. For 2,000 years the world has believed that 666 is the number of the Beast, the Anti-Christ, the absolute Devil, Satan Himself. In fact 666 is the number of the Messiah and Savior of 2 billion people, Jesus Christ.

While our collective minds have been temporarily opened due to the Judas scandal, notice that Jesus was the son of David, his grandfather 1,000 years earlier King David. Prince Jesus the King of the Jews who never quite made it to the throne room, scepter in hand, was the rightful heir by virtue of being the direct descendant of King David, who slew Goliath with a slingshot, and sent his girlfriend’s husband off to the Russian front. The world runs on oil today and the Earth only has 40 years of oil left, olive. The upcoming Nuclear World War between the Russian Bear and the American Eagle over the oil in the Middle East, which is 80% of the world’s oil, should make the catfight between Hilary and Lindsay look like one night in Paris. This is why Vladimir Putin and his new pal Hu Jintao will never go along with sanctions against Iran, who they are now cozying up to. China needs the oil for their new Geeli automobile (300 million have been pre sold) which sells for $9,000 and is about to hit American soil to deliver the knockout blow to GM and Ford. President Bush, an oilman, who sits on the board of the Saudi Royal family, couldn’t be happier with the war in Iraq which has sent oil prices and oil stocks through the roof. He is your eggs Benedict, Mr. Ziffle, according to the loose changers.

Try reading this baloney with a Richard Nixon accent while tripping on LSD. Lest I get into trouble with the authorities for corrupting the minds of the children let me clarify. I am referring to Louise Suggs’ Disaster CD. No Mr. CIA, there are no coded messages in this rant to Osama Bin Laden, whose family in Saudi Arabia financed George’s oil company. According to the loose changers and the overwhelming evidence, it was the President of the United States who ordered the hit on the Pentagon, where an airplane the width of a football field disappeared into a hole in the wall the size of a football, or a cruise missile with the letters U.S.A. emblazoned on the side. This gave the President the excuse to make a mad dash for the Middle East oil. Now he is provoking Iran into a war in which he plans to take the nuclear, biological and chemical gloves off and capture the Middle East. We are talking legacies here, and be sure that Laura Bush does not want to go down in history as the wife of another Watergater. She plans on bringing home the bacon.

Getting back to the ancient Jewish Rabbi who created the Universe 15 billion years ago, in a bang the size of a T-Rex climaxing in downtown Manhattan, the royal emblem of King David and his heir King Jesus was the magen david, the star of David, 6 points on 6 triangles on an inner 6 sided object, 666. If Judas can be Mother Teresa, then Jesus Christ can be the Anti Christ. It’s all a matter of deep rooted inner conflict.

Karen Fish is a writer currently living in Los Angeles California. The Temple of Love http://www.thetempleoflove.com/ The World Peace Site

A crate is a valuable and useful training tool. Its main purpose is to provide security, safety and protection for short term confinement while training a puppy or new dog about its own and house boundaries.

A crate may look like a jail cell, but when used properly is your dog’s natural den - a personal space where he’ll feels secure and comfortable. The best place to place a crate would be where your dog can see the environment and family members, hear and smell your house - the kitchen is usually a good spot.

An ideal crate should be large enough to allow your dog to stretch out, stand without hitting his head and be able to turn around. The crate should not be so large that your dog can relieve himself in one corner and play move away to play and sleep in another. If your puppy is still young and is not fully growth, try to block off certain section of the crate with cardboards or wood boards.

To encourage your dog to “like” his new den, you should preferably equip it with soft beddings, a bowl of water and a toy that he likes. (You might want to remove the water at night when you are potty training your dog)

You must introduce the crate slowly to your dog. Crate him in smaller interval, about 10 minutes, and gradually increase over time. Your dog need time to get used to being crate. Never crate him for more than 30 minutes or longer for the first time.

It is not advisable to crate a young puppy for long period of time - about 2 hour and pup should always be exercised before being crated.

It’s quite normal for dogs to kick up a fuss, bark and moan while in the crate. If these things happen, do not give your dog any attention! Yes! Do not even look in his direction.

Dogs are intelligent animals - Don’t let him know that he’ll get your attention when he kicks up a fuss. Simply ignore him! Let your dog out only when he settles down.

*if it’s a young puppy whom you’ve just introduce the crate to, maybe you can offer him a treat in the crate to calm him down. Whatever you do, don’t let him out of the crate at that very moment!*

The exception I can think of is if you think your dog has to relieve himself. Even so, bring it out only after he stops barking. Another exception is when your dog is chewing on himself. Let him out immediately and consult a trainer or behaviorist.

Lastly, dog should not be crate for too long day after day. He’ll develop destructive behaviors and anxiety problems. If you notice that your dog displays hyper active behavior compare to before, you might be crating him for too long!

Most important of all, never ever punish your dog in the crate, he’ll dread going back to the crate. It is meant to be a comfortable and safe space, not where he’ll get punish.

About the Author

Moses Chia is a dog lover and owner of http://DogsObedienceTraining.com - The dog training resource site for a happier and healthier dog. You are welcome to reprint this article if you keep the content and live link intact.

Microfiber cleaning rags have been around for about ten years
now. When I first heard about them they were being sold through
distributors in an MLM business. Since I had a professional
house cleaning business, I couldn’t see how they could benefit
me due to the high cost.

But I’ve been wondering more and more, could these really
benefit the professional cleaners? So I’ve been doing some
research and what I found should certainly be shared.

What is Microfiber? It is an ultrafine synthetic fiber that is
very strong and lint free. Each fiber is split during
manufacturing, providing specific benefits. The density of the
fibers make the product very absorbent with the ability to hold
up to six times its weight in water, and the microbifers have a
positive charge that attracts dirt and dust, which has a
negative charge. Not only do the micrifibers attract dust and
dirt, they hold it tightly so that it is not redistributed while
cleaning.

Does Microfiber Really Work? Absolutely! Not only are the
microfiber towels available, but now you can purchase microfiber
mops to replace both your dust and wet mops.

I purchased a mop that came with three removable mop head pads.
These pads are attached to the mop with velcro. The mop has a
swivel base that allows it to get under and around furniture. I
have wood and vinyl flooring in my house and found the
microfiber mop to work very well and it was easy to use.

While dry mopping, I was able to pickup not only dust but small
debris from the floor and it was not moved around; it actually
was held in the microfiber fibers. Due to the swivel mop head, I
was able to get into corners and along baseboards.

I prefer cotton string mops for cleaning floors, but I found an
immediate benefit to the microfiber. No bending over the water
bucket, no wringing out the mop head and no fibers getting
caught around table legs or split wood edges on cabinets. And I
could still use the figure eight back and forth motion that I
use with string mops. In fact, I found that I could mop standing
up straighter because the mop is lightweight and maneuverable.
Great benefit here to eliminate back pain, shoulder, elbow,
wrist and finger injuries.

The microfibers can hold a lot of water without dripping thus
leaving the floor cleaner with less standing water. The floor
dries much faster, reducing the chance of slipping and sliding.
In fact I used a very dry mop head when mopping the wood floor
and could see the water evaporating as I mopped.

These microfiber mop pads are very durable and are estimated to
last ten times the normal one to two week life span of string
mops used in professional cleaning.

So with all these benefits, are there any areas of concern?
There are a few: initial investment, cost versus quality, not
appropriate for mopping up spills or floods, cannot remove or
spread wax, cannot be washed with lint producing items, cannot
be laundered in industrial washers and some brands are not
recommended for the dryer.

If you’re managing teams or a high number of employees in your
house cleaning business, the initial investment can be double or
even triple the cost of cotton loop and string mops.

You’ll often hear garden writers recommending the use of Epsom salts in the garden as a general rule. First off, I’m not one of those writers. Secondly, Epsom salts are essentially magnesium so if your garden soil is magnesium starved, adding the Epsom salts will seemingly work miracles. If your soil is not magnesium starved, adding Epsom salts is a waste of time, effort and money.

A magnesium deficiency is often a problem when the soil is acidic or composed mostly of sand. So if your soil is acidic because you’ve been heavily feeding with chemical fertilizer or if you are in a housing development where sand is the rule rather than decent topsoil, you may need to add magnesium to boost plant performance. So a short term solution is to add some Epsom salts but the long term solution is to modify the soil pH so that it is less acidic and increase the organic matter content of the soil so it is less sandy. Lime make soils less acidic and you’ll need a soil test to tell you how much to add while compost is the key to solving organic matter problems.

The single best thing you can do and the quickest way to improve your garden’s performance no matter your soil type or problem is to add copious amounts of compost. The old time gardeners used to use two to four pounds per square foot of composted manure. That translates into one quarter to one half inches thick in our modern gardens. Your plants will grow bigger and faster and the blooms and fruit will be bigger and healthier. You can get other vegetable gardening tips here.

So forget the Epsom salts and pour on the compost for best plant performance. And more is better.

Copyright Douglas Green 2005

Doug Green is an award winning garden author of 7 gardening books and numerous articles. A former nurseryman, he now writes full time, gives presentations and enjoys the spring.

Have you ever tried to hire any type of construction trade over
the last 5 years? If so you know that it’s next to impossible
unless you are some billionaire developer with his own T.V.
show. The simple fact is that trades are just like any other
business and follow the money. There is nothing wrong with the
trades trying to please their biggest customer or taking care of
customers that they expect will continue to build once the
housing boom is over. In fact if you want a major non-essential
renovation on your home, you may want to consider waiting until
the housing boom slows down.

Very simply all reputable housing trades want to earn the most
amount of money they can while the housing boom lasts. Again
nothing wrong with this. Ask yourself what you would do in their
shoes? or their boots.

What if you need housework done now? Here are some quick money
saving tips 1. Consider hiring a general contractor vs. doing it
yourself. The idea is that a general contractor will have a full
time loyal crew working for him. Often he is able to pay his
crew less in return for steady work. So by hiring a contractor
its often cheaper that trying to hire the trades yourself
individually. 2. Pair your needs up with a friend and offer the
trade both jobs. DO NOT, I repeat do not insult the trade with
an offer like “if you do a good job on my house I will recommend
you to many others”. When I first started in business I believed
this empty promise and never end getting one lead from anyone
who said this. Now as a seasoned business person I would just
answer that for every new paying customer they bring me I will
deduct X amount off their bill. 3. Due Diligence–there are lots
of way to find new contractors and trades. Try looking online or
searching a home improvement directory

Publicly traded limited partnership Cedar Fair (FUN) will acquire the Paramount Parks business of CBS Corp (CBS) for approximately $1.25 billion. The five parks involved in the deal are located near Cincinnati (OH), Richmond (VA), Charlotte (NC), Santa Clara (CA), and Toronto.

Cedar Fair already operates seven amusement parks and five water parks, including the company’s flagship Cedar Point property on Lake Erie. The company intends to keep all five properties. The deal will be financed by a $2 billion loan from Bear Stearns (BSC). The interest rate charged will be determined once Cedar Fair’s debt has been rated.

The acquisition is quite large relative to the size of Cedar Fair’s existing business. Cedar Fair generated $569 million in revenues during 2005. During the same time period, the Paramount Parks properties generated $423 million in revenues.

In addition to the five parks, Cedar Fair will receive Star Trek: The Experience (at the Las Vegas Hilton) and the Nickelodeon license at the five Paramount Parks.

The Paramount Parks properties encompass about 1,250 owned acres and 180 leased acres. Based on past attendance, the five acquired properties will likely be some of the most visited parks in the new Cedar Fair portfolio. However, none of the new properties is likely to eclipse Cedar Fair’s two most visited properties: Cedar Point and Knott’s Berry Farm.

By far the two largest parks being acquired are Canada’s Wonderland (located near Toronto) and Kings Island (located near Cincinnati).

Cedar Fair’s chairman Dick Kinzel said:

“This acquisition will provide exciting new growth opportunities and the potential for meaningful incremental free cash flow as we realize $20-$30 million in annual cash flow synergies over the next 3-5 years. It will also add significant geographic diversity to our portfolio of parks and improve our position as one of the largest regional amusement park operators in the world.”

The acquisition will require significant debt financing. However, the amusement park business generally has a very high free cash flow margin. Cedar Fair’s existing properties are excellent generators of free cash flow. The company makes large cash distributions to unitholders; the current yield is somewhere around 6.85% (reminder: Cedar Fair is a Limited Partnership). Returns on both assets and equity have generally been quite high.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2006. Most analysts believe CBS will use the roughly $1 billion in after-tax proceeds to buy back shares.

Over the last ten years, Cedar Fair has compounded its book value per share at an annual rate of 8.11% and earnings per share at an annual rate of 6.30%.

Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at:

http://www.gannononinvesting.com

Coffee has been with us forever and dates back for as long as mankind can remember, it is a social beverage and something that most of us simply could not do without during our daily routines. Now if you are a lover of Coffee you will be aware that there are lots of products that are connected with it and all of them can help us enjoy this great drink, the secret is to know where to find them and how to get the best price for them.

The subject of coffee products is one that covers a huge number of goods such as wholesale coffee mugs, Gourmet Coffees and also coffee pots, as with a variety of other topics food and drink information is best obtained from an expert.

A coffee specialist will supply anyone with better information than say a general food and drink directory, specialists know coffee goods inside out will be able to give you better information on merchandise like coffee making machines or even insulated coffee pots.

For many years coffee guides have been published all over the web and the subject of beverages is now easier than ever for buyers to look into, say you wanted a food and drink review on a Kenyan sampler packets, such a thing may appear on one of the many categorised coffee portals.

Also when browsing for a coffee you should think about this, if you purchased a bunn stainless steel coffee blender but was not happy with the item would the coffee vendor be happy to part exchange the merchandise for a barista coffee maker or make a mutually acceptable arrangement? you must select a coffee company you have some confidence in or a coffee vendor that looks professional.

When you start checking out coffee products ensure you make a note of the merchandise you are actually interested in obtaining, for example coffee grinders, gourmet coffee makers, blended coffee packs, be precise as this will be particularly useful later on, then once you have done this you should check out these products by using some of the many beverage websites, by making the list you will save a ton of time because you can easily get lost in a mass of food and drink and coffee connected reviews and write ups.

As with many things in life you should not rush when buying coffee and should take notice of who the real experts are, hopefully now you are armed with the correct information you are ready to hit the net and get some great coffee bargains.

The Free Secret coffee maker report by Carol Hansonly the author of this article can be found at : www.bjcoffee.com

You may be aware of the many choices you have when buying a
calling card. However, have you considered the truthfulness of
the claims that some companies will make in order to get a
competitive edge? Are you aware of the tricks that are played
and the hidden charges that are made?

The minutes that a calling card will offer may look good but did
you know that even if you were to make one continuous call, then
most companies would steal between 10% and %20 of those minutes.
They call this “fluctuation”. Then there are also other charges
to be taken into account; •connection 3p-5p •daily maintenance
5p-10p •rounding up to a whole minutes •second call rate
increase •increasing the rate based on call duration
•overcharging for calls to other destinations not specified

Amongst all of the special offers and discounts there are some
winners and losers, but most often there are tricks we are
unaware of which make us a losers without even realizing it.

The only genuinely truthful calling card that I am aware of is
the Elephant cards by speaknspeak. It offers •True minutes as
described •No connection charges •No daily maintenance charges
•No hidden charges

The Elephent calling card is currently only available from
www.speaknspeak.com

Most salespeople are under the false belief that the lower the price, the
better chance they have at making the sale. Nothing is further from the
truth.

The truth is, your customer will not buy at ANY price if you do not have
value established. When YOU truly believe in your product and YOU
truly believe that it is worth the price, then the customer will believe as
well and the price will become nothing more than a mere detail in the
transaction.

There are a couple of mistakes you can avoid regarding the price of
your product and how you handle it.

Price is not a differentiator; do not pretend that it is. Price is the least
defensible differentiator in business and also the least effective.
Customers understand that a company cannot be the lowest priced and
still be the best. Yet companies still proclaim; ‘We will beat all prices,’
and ‘Dollar over invoice.’ The only reason they are making those
claims is to try to beat their competition, but their competition is saying
the same thing. Therefore, if your company is doing the same thing as
the competition, how are you any different in the eyes of your customer?

Then there are those salespeople who automatically lower the price as
a means of trying to add value. When you lower the price as a means of
trying to ‘add value’ to the product or to your company, you are actually
doing the exact opposite. You are immediately telling the customer you
know the product is not worth what you are asking and you’re willing to
lower the price.

Lowering the price in this manner, you create an uncomfortable selling
environment and set up the customer for a bad case of buyer’s remorse.
If you were so willing to lower the price, what would you have done if
they pushed you harder? They will automatically assume you would
have gone even lower. This means that even though you gave them a
better price, they are more likely to feel like they got ripped off. Seems
counterproductive if you ask me.

In addition to buyer’s remorse, when you start offering discounts, you
are telling the customer this is the type of purchase where haggling is
necessary. Therefore, by lowering your price as a means of adding
value, you actually are taking value away from the product and from
your company.

When you can eliminate using price as a differentiator and lowering
price as a means of adding value, you can focus on what is truly
valuable to the customer. By focusing on what the customer feels is truly
valuable, you will make price a mere detail in the transaction. The
obvious result will be higher margins and happier customers.

You can sign up for Tom Richard’s Ezine by going to http://www.TomRichard.com/EmailFriend.html

The internet is notorious for it’s fast paced evolution of practices, accomplishments and it’s very nature. The evolutionary step, is the blog and the way it epitimizes todays global society generally.

The hype surrounding blogging is absolutely incredible! Everywhere you turn there is someone elses tale about the unpresedented boom in blogging. It appears as if anybody from middle school children to senior people register their own blogs and article after article advocates blogs as the internet’s present “big thing.”

The attention is well-afforded. Blogs are not a minor fad and they are an exceptional means by which one can operate a fruitful online enterprise. The indication for the success of blogs is not appearing in their present “hot” status. Nor is it the byproduct of some Further magical property. If one looks at the underlying nature of a blog, they will find why blog websites present so much opportunity and allure.

At its core, you see, a blog is simply a website. That which distinguishes it from a normal fixed website, however, is its organization and powerful content manipulation system. By breaking down a blog from this perspective, it is easier to understand why these websites can be so fruitful.

It all starts with a distinct word: content. Content is that which constitutes the internet universe and makes it ‘go round’. Content refers to information and material and it is why people go online in the first place. Surfers are searching for content. They may want to be enlightened. They may wish to be entertained. Notwithstanding of their motivation, however, they are looking for content and usually, they also have an opinion.

Search engines, in principle, reward content. Google and its cohorts live with one dominant objective in place: to deliver surfers to the information for which they are looking: Relevant Content. In order to do this, the search engines depend on algorithms that rank the likely value of websites. At the foundation of these search engine algorithms is the extremely basic and definitive belief which holds that websites presenting additional and relevant content on a particular topic are logical to be just what a visitor needs. Accordingly, content produces greater search engine listings, and accordingly, more traffic.

Traditional fixed websites can present content and can be frequently updated to expose new information (another activity definitely smiled upon by the search engines). However, the sequence of updating traditional websites can be rather time-consuming and inefficient to make updates as regular as that which may be optimal. Blogs, on the other hand, display a structure that makes the addition of new content on a regular basis incredibly simple. There is no need to transpose plain text to HTML. There is no necessity to manually upload a reworked page to one’s server. Instead, the blogger need only place their new post and click their mouse. The software which serves as the blogging platform does the bulk of the effort. This brings about a whole new degree of the frequency in which a website is updated.

The end result is a themed content-rich Web page which is consistently and meaningfully added to with new information with search engine friendly regularity. The search engines discover the material fast, list blogs frequently, and reward them for their content with higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPS).

Those who argue blogs are nothing more than a fleeting phase and that “blog” is precisely the buzzword of the times, often fail to comprehend that the fundamental nature of blogs is the real driving force behind their accomplishments. One should not be consider that by blogging they are just trying to cash in on a fleeting fad - blogs are a sound way of creating a profitable website quickly and easily, for sustained growth in almost any niche.

Wayne Smith

For all things blogs, including how to make yours profitable, visit
profit using free blogs.