tech+info+resources underground

Welcome to the second part of my special report of 4 awesome German castles!

As I already have told, we have a long history here in Germany and very medieval castles. You can find them all over the country, but those four I have focused on South Germany, so that you do not have to travel hundreds of kilometres/miles and lose valuable time.

I am sure you are hot to get to know them now, so I go straight forward to them:

3. Stuttgart

Stuttgart area has, believe it or not, seven (yes 7!) castles and palaces. I only explain one of them, the new castle, because it is soooo huge, awesome and one of the most beautiful German castles.

The New Stuttgart castle was built in 1746 as a representative baroque residential palace for “Duke Carl Eugen von Wuerttemberg” (long silly name, isn’t it). After over sixty years of construction with repeated interruptions, the interior and exterior were completed in 1807. So much to the history.

When you are finished with the visit of this castle, downtown is not far away and you can explore this too. You will find many interesting restaurants, pubs and cafés.

4. Rastatt

This town is located close to the city Karlsruhe, 70km in the south of Heidelberg (I mention Heidelberg, because it’s one of the most known German city).

The Rastatt castle is huge too and you have lots of things to explore there. It is the oldest baroque residence on the Upper Rhine River and has been completely preserved since being built from 1700 to 1707 (yeah, in the year 2000 it had its 300th Anniversary!).

The area is very beautiful and the town spends lots of money in this incredible castle. After your walk through this residence you have a really short way to downtown and to its nice pubs and restaurants.

I hope you enjoyed this special report of 4 of the most beautiful and incredible German castles. If you want to get to know some more insider tips of Germany or more of the rest of our TOP 40 German castles, go to my website and sign up for my monthly Special Report at www.smart-travel-germany.com/smart-travel-guide.html. It’s free but with high valuable content.

AND you’ll find some photos of those castles on my site here: www.smart-travel-germany.com/german-castles.html .

I also really look forward to your experiences and discoveries you have made here in Germany. Send me a message and when they are valuable I will post them on my website, so that the world can participate on them too.

I appreciate you and wish you a great day!

Marcus Hochstadt
© Copyright www.smart-travel-germany.com, All Rights Reserved
You may use this article in its entirety with the Author Bio and links.

About the Author:
Marcus Hochstadt travels extensively to countries, continents and Germany itself as a sales manager and entrepreneur for more than 14 years. He knows in almost each German city the points of real interest. In his free monthly Special Report at www.smart-travel-germany.com/smart-travel-guide.html he reveals more valuable insider tips and travel secrets.

A traditional kids summer camp is one that generally begins in June and continues through August. This type of recreation is a popular activity among children of all ages as it gives them the opportunity to experience new things, meet new people and embark on a journey of independence. With that being said, the following are 5 popular reasons to enroll your child in a traditional kids summer camp.

Independence. During their experience at a traditional kids summer camp, children will experience their first taste of independence. Being away from home for the first time can be scary, but new friends and fun activities will help to make the transition easier. This will also be an important step toward college preparation, which often requires that the child leave home for months at a time.

Responsibility. A traditional kids summer camp will teach children to be responsible in a variety of ways, including the organization of their personal items. While away, they will be personally responsible for maintaining their living quarters and personal items. In addition, they will be required to pack their belongings at the end of their stay and will have to learn the responsibility of organizing their items for the trip home.

Teamwork. One of the most important experiences at a traditional summer camp is that of learning to work together as a team. Whether it be during a sports event, a canoeing trip or other group activity, teamwork is often required. Much like in adulthood where teamwork is essential to everyday life, children will learn the valuable lessons of working with their peers toward achieving a common goal.

Friendship. While at a traditional kids summer camp, new friends will be met and there is plenty of fun to be had. Learning to make friends and how to be a good friend is an important life lesson that is not only important at a traditional summer camp, but also in every day. Situations are always presented when individuals are placed with new faces in school, the workforce, families, etc. Therefore, it is important for children to learn the value of friendship and how it can make every day a little brighter.

Experiences. Traveling to new places, embarking on an exciting journey and exploring the wilderness are all a part of what makes a traditional kids summer camp so special. A nature hike, sailing on a blanket of calm water or sitting around the campfire with friends are just a few of the experiences that a child may encounter while enrolled in a traditional kids summer camp.

For more information about kids summer camp please visit www.kids-summer-camp.com

Are those fine lines and wrinkles worrying you? Before you do
anything drastic…

Do you know that just taking care of your skin routinely can
make a noticeable difference in its appearance?

There are five little steps for creating and maintaining healthy
skin. They are to cleanse, exfoliate (lightly), freshen or tone,
moisturize and protect. Treat your face, twice a day, to steps
one through four. Seem too complicated? Some skin care products
combine the first three into one timesaving step so all you have
to do afterwards is moisturize. (Once a week, exfoliate your
face more thoroughly to get rid of any build up of dead surface
cells which can dull the appearance of your skin. Then carefully
hydrate the newer cells to replace any lost moisture.)

Each morning, add step five to your regime. Protect your skin by
using a sunscreen or sun block and then adding a foundation.
Foundation helps to shield your face by providing a layer
between your skin and the environment. The first trick it to
match the color as closely as possible to your jaw line and
neck. The second trick is to put on just enough foundation to
smooth lightly and easily over your face (preferably with a
sponge). Instead of covering up signs of aging, thick foundation
settles into and emphasizes the fine lines and wrinkles you want
to minimize.

There’s an urban myth that each time you sleep with your makeup
on your skin ages by 11 days. Scary thought, isn’t it? Within
two weeks of establishing a routine of caring for your face, you
should start to reverse the effects of bad habits and see the
results in clearer and smoother skin.

Once the appearance of your skin improves, makeup can be used
as an enhancement rather than as a “mask.”

Like foundation, too much concealer will detract from its
intent. Concealer should be applied very lightly on under eye
circles and blemishes and then blended well with your foundation

For eye color, choose warmer tones over cooler ones, lighter
shades over darker, and matte consistencies over those with
sparkle … they’re less aging and “kinder” to your face.

For eyeliners and eye brow pencils, select a shade of gray or
brown or a complementary color rather than black. They’re more
natural (unless your hair is black) and look much softer. To
emphasize your eyes, line only the top lid and apply extra
mascara on your lower lashes. Then “open” your eyes with an
eyelash curler.

For cheeks and lips, the most becoming colors are usually the
ones that complement your natural warm skin tones.

Highlight either your eyes or your lips (but not both) then
enjoy the visual effect of clearer, smoother skin with subtle
makeup!

Sources: Mary Kay Inc., Robert Jones (simple beaute)

© Copyright 2005. Charlotte Maddox. All rights reserved.

Be treated to a $10 GIFT CERTIFICATE for the holidays (through
December 31st) by registering on Charlotte’s web site:
http://www.marykay.com/charlottemaddox

Also receive a seasonal catalog with the latest looks plus
samples!

There are many opportunities to gain from delivering a powerful presentation to an audience. The presentation you deliver can help clients understand the value your company provides, which can lead to new business, and additional business opportunities. It can also elevate the image of you and your services by showing your expertise and professionalism. It’s a way to reach many people who may be interested in buying your product.

There are many elements to preparing an effective presentation. It starts with creating a powerful opening. Those first few minutes you speak are crucial because that’s when the audience decides whether they like you or not. Here are some tips for creating a powerful opening that will “Wow” your audience.

1. Know the Objective of Your Presentation. As you create your presentation, be clear what the point of your talk is about. What do you know about your audience? How well are they educated about your product? What do you want your audience to walk away with at the end of your talk? What is the outcome? Do you want them to take action or are you informing them of something?
2. Position Your Presentation. Every audience wants to know 3 things: Who are you? Who are you to tell me? What’s in it for me? Give listeners your background or say something personal about you, tell them your agenda, and the benefits they will receive from the session.
3. Set the tone. How you begin your talk sets the tone for holding the audience’s attention. Grab the audience’s attention right from the beginning by speaking with enthusiasm and energy. Emphasize key words and increase your volume. As you speak, look at people in the eye rather than scanning the room. People will pay attention when you look directly at them. Always remember to smile, at least at the beginning and end of your presentation.
4. Engage the Audience. A good way to engage the audience at the beginning is by either asking a question or telling a short story. Asking a question will engage the audience immediately. If you’re telling a story, make sure it relates to your presentation and practice it several times over so you say it with ease. The audience assesses your presentation style in the first few minutes and decides whether or not they like you as a presenter. Also be careful about telling jokes. You don’t know how it will land for some of the people. Unless you’ve told the joke many times and have received positive response, it’s best not to tell jokes.
5. Creating Visuals. When creating your visuals for a PowerPoint presentation, keep your visuals simple. Your visuals are the lead-in for what you want to say to the audience, not to tell a story. If you have a lot of information, put it in a handout, not on the visual. Too much information on a visual is overwhelming for the audience, and you will lose their attention. There is a rule for creating visuals. KISSKeep it simple sweetie!

ASSIGNMENT

• Write an outline of your presentation starting with the subject of your presentation or speech, the points you want to cover, and the action you want your audience to take.
• Write an introduction about yourself and your background, the agenda (points you’ll cover), and what your audience will learn from the session.
• Practice your presentation in the mirror several times. Notice your facial expressions, tone, and body movement. I also recommend taping yourself speaking.
• Create a question to engage the audience, and a brief story to tie into your presentation. People love stories.
• Using your outline, design clear and simple visuals. Use graphics as much as possible.

(c) All Rights Reserved.

If you would like to use this article on your website, or for your own ezine, not a problem; however, there’s one thing you MUST include: Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System(TM), a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit http://www.SalesBreakthroughs.com.

Copyright 2006 Grout Getter Company

Homeowner’s today are constantly faced with maintenance and
repair projects on their home. With an estimated 125,000,000
housing units in the USA, one can only imagine the number of
hours, material and labor force required to maintain and protect
the quality of these homes.

An ever increasing number of homeowner’s are discovering the
advantages of learning simple and not-so-simple repairs around
the house and the cost saving benefits of, “doing it yourself.”

Tile grout repair has been placed in the homeowner’s category of
“do not attempt” for far too long and for those homeowners with
willingness to learn and repair items around the house, it’s
really not rocket science!

Although a complete tile or stone installation is best performed
by a professional in the trade, homeowner’s can take on the
ensuing maintenance and small repairs necessary for the
longevity of their tile and grout.

Some of the most common grout problems homeowner’s face is
around the sinks, tubs and showers. Where grout abuts differing
materials like porcelain, sheetrock, metal or wood, this
scenario introduces a set of factors that can affect the
strength and foundation of the grout at those particular points.
Expansion and contraction of the differing materials can cause
cracking and chipping of the grout. The settling and movement of
the house and foundation through the years can also cause
cracking and splintering of grout joints as well as the tile
itself.

A thorough investigation of the tiled surfaces in your home
should include all the edges or ends of the tile and grout, all
corners (where grout is likely to crack), tile and grout around
windows, ledges and fixtures, and where tile grout meets various
other building materials.

Repairing these cracks and chips can save you money in the long
run, especially in the wet areas where water can seep through
the damaged grout and rot the wood framing or underlayment. Home
inspectors always look around the tub and shower for these water
problems because it’s such a common problem, and when selling
your house can be a very expensive repair.

If you can clean your grout, you can repair your grout! It’s as
simple as that. With the proper instructions, tools and products
available today, homeowner’s no longer have to wait for a
repairman or spend big bucks on a tile-man. They can now,
“Do-It-Themselves”!

So you’ve decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo that’s right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you are happy with your choice.

1. Decide where you want to purchase your stock photography. There are large agencies and small independent photographers. While the agencies will have more to chose from and sometimes lower prices an independent photographer will offer more personalized service and opportunities for you to have custom work done, if that is what you need.

2. Don’t go in expecting to find an exact image that is in your head, a large agency or an independent photographer will not have the man in a blue suit, holding a cell phone, next to the white blinds nor will they have the beach landscape with the green and white striped chair. You need to have a clear idea in your head of the message that you want to convey and search for an image that creates the message that you want. (If you want something specific you’ll have to pay for a photographer to shoot to your specifications.)

3. Make use of a free comp image to try out the image and make sure that it fits with your project or web design. Most stock agencies offer some sort of free comp image for position only so that you can make sure that you like what you’re going to buy. Please use this option, if available, and make sure that the image is going to convey the message that you want it to.

4. Pay for what you need. Don’t pay for a 300 dpi image for a web design, and don’t buy a 72 dpi image for something you intend to print. Make sure that the agency or independent photographer offers at least a printable and a web version of every photo. Buy only the size image that you need for your job.

5. How much do you want to pay and for how long to you want to use the image? This comes down to royalty free or rights managed. If you don’t want the chance of your competitor using the same image or you plan to use the image on or for a product you may want to look at rights managed. This will cost you more but it will lessen the chance of your competitor using the same image. Keep in mind that if you’re using the image for an extended period of time you will have to pay for the use of the image every year or so. If you don’t feel that your competitor using the same image is a threat or you dont have the money for rights managed photos look into royalty free photography. This product is also great if you’re planning to use the images for an extended period of time.

I hope these tips help to get you started in choosing stock photography for your web site, business, or product. Remember to shop around and look for what you need. Also if an agency or photographer doesn’t have what you need ask, you may be surprised how helpful they can be even for specific requests. If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Dieting to some is like AA to alcoholic. The formation of Weight Watchers was formed on this very concept where weekly meetings are held holding its members accountable while providing a support group throughout the process.

Unfortunately for some after reaching their ideal weight the problem arises of having loose skin and relaxed muscled in their abdomen area. With today’s modern medicine a procedure known as the Tummy Tuck can reduce the amount of excessive skin and fat left in the abdomen area.

The ideal patient for Tummy Tuck Surgery is a non-smoker and who is close to their ideal weight.

Many patients develop a sense of well being and improved self esteem after having Tummy Tuck Surgery performed. Simultaneous tightening of the abdominal muscles resulting in a tighter, flatter abdomen after Tummy Tuck surgery has been performed is another benefit that affects many patients.

Two well know procedures for the Tummy Tuck surgery are the Tummy Tuck and the Mini Tummy Tuck the difference being the lengths of the incision and the amount of the skin removed.

Traditional Tummy Tuck Surgery
Traditional Tummy Tuck surgery the skin is pulled downwards enough where it is necessary to reposition the belly button to keep it centrally located. Dramatic improvements in the abdominal are achieved while leaving a circular scar around the belly button. This procedure is recommended for most patients.

Mini Tummy Tuck
A Mini Tummy Tuck is designed to improve the area below the belly button removing subtle skin and excess fat. Unattractive scars from previous surgery such as a C-section can also be removed. Tightening of the muscles in smaller amounts below the belly button can be achieved however only a small percentage of patients qualify for this surgery and Traditional Tummy Tuck surgery is mostly performed.

As with all surgeries there are certain risks and complications. In order to remove large amounts of skin and fat, long incisions are necessary. Possibilities of bleeding, infection slow healing wounds, skin necrosis or widening of scars. Patience may experience numbness of the lower abdomen which may not improve over time due to nerve damage caused by removal of excessive fat and skin.

Dennis M. Driscoll
Resides in Northern Michigan and is a contributing author and creator of several webites.

Websites Created By Dennis Driscoll
Tummy Tuck Resources and News
Nursing Resources For the Student And Working Nurse

Google has implemented a cutting edge method of crawling web
site for its search engine index. This unprecedented method of
indexing web pages is known as Google Sitemaps, and it is
quickly growing in popularity among webmasters and SEO agents
and managers due to its ability to get entire web site indexed
quickly and to pick up errors in the links coming into and out
of these web site.

Google Sitemaps consists of placing the URLs of your pages along
with important information regarding how Google should index
them into an XML document. This information is then read by the
Google Spider and the pages are normally indexed quite quickly
assuming that they are coherent to Google’s standards for
indexing pages (and also assuming that the sitemaps conform to
Googles Sitemap Criteria which will be explained a little later).

There are two primary types of Google Sitemaps. The first is a
list of pages in a website and the second is a list of sitemaps
in the website. Google has limited the number of URLs in its
sitemaps to fifty thousand URLs. This may sound like a lot, but
for some of the more intricate web site, fifty thousand URLs may
not even make a dent in what they want indexed.

This led to the advent of the Google Sitemap index file which
can index up to one thousand sitemaps. If you do the math, this
means that you could have one thousand sitemaps with up to fifty
thousand URLs in each sitemap which allows for fifty million
URLs to be placed in your Google Sitemap scheme. But wait,
there’s more. Who ever said that you can’t have an index of
indexes? You could actually make an index of a thousand index
files which are all indexes of a thousand index files.
Basically, there is no limit to the number of URLs that you can
hold in your Google sitemaps.

Now that you understand the power of the Google Sitemap you’re
probably asking yourself how to create and implement a Google
Sitemap. The first step is to simply create your sitemaps. Here
are the templates which are also available at HREF=http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ rel="nofollow">http://www.google
.com/webmasters/sitemaps/

For a sitemap file use the following format:

http://www.example.com/
2005-01-01 monthly 0.8

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii rel="nofollow">
http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii
weekly

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zea
land rel="nofollow">http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zea
land 2004-12-23 weekly

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=74&desc=vacation_newfoun
dland rel="nofollow">http://www.example.com/catalog?item=74&desc=vacation_newfou
ndland 2004-12-23T18:00:15+00:00

Those of you not familiar with the latest on SEO now have at
least a basic understanding. But there’s more to come.

0.3

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=83&desc=vacation_usa rel="nofollow">htt
p://www.example.com/catalog?item=83&desc=vacation_usa
2004-11-23

Everything here is pretty self-explanatory with the exception of
the changefreq and the priority aspects. The changefreq asks how
often you think the page will change on average. The possible
values for the changefreq option are: always, hourly, daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. The priority aspect
basically just asks how important the particular page is in your
website. The value can be anywhere between 0.0 and 1.0. If you
decide not to specify a priority it will default to 0.5.

To create a sitemap index file follow the following format:

HREF=http://www.example.com/sitemap1.xml.gz rel="nofollow">http://www.example.co
m/sitemap1.xml.gz 2004-10-01T18:23:17+00:00

HREF=http://www.example.com/sitemap2.xml.gz rel="nofollow">http://www.example.co
m/sitemap2.xml.gz 2005-01-01

This is all pretty straight forward but it leads me to my next
point. You notice that the file names all end in .gz. Google
allows you to compress your sitemaps so that they take up less
of your disk space when you place them on your site and less of
your band width when Google downloads them (which it seems to do
approximately once every 9 hours or so). You may only use .gz
compression. If you try .zip, it won’t work.

Now all that you really have to do is submit your sitemap to
google. In order to do this you must go to HREF=https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login rel="nofollow">https://www
.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login and log into your
Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can
create one. Once you log in you will be allowed to submit your
sitemap into the google index. At some point within about 24
hours of your submission, Google will give you the option to
place a small HTML file onto your website so that it can confirm
that you do, indeed, have access to editing the site. Once you
have done this it will begin to provide you with statistics
regarding your google sitemap. (Note that even without this
feature you can see when google downloaded the sitemap last and
what the status of the sitemap was at that time.)

How Google Sitemaps Fits Into Search Engine Optimization.

According to Google, the Sitemaps utility is free and will
continue to be - yet it’s almost as good as the paid inclusion
service offered by rival search engines. So how can you take
advantage of this great service?

First of all, you should create a Google Account. Although you
can still use Google Sitemaps without an account, you need one
before you can use Google’s tools to check your site
submissions. Once you do that and go to HREF=http://sitemaps.google.com rel="nofollow">http://sitemaps.google.com,
you’ll be guided through the process.

Google Sitemaps has a very helpful question and answer page that
will give you the help you need - the answers to most questions
people have can be found right there. Good luck!

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth
of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s
word on SEO.

Gone are the days of mid 50’s and 60’s when a family could
survive upon a single income. Today the inflation and economic
factors are such that survival on two incomes has become hand to
mouth. Going by this trend we can very well imagine what the
future holds for us. Two incomes certainly will not be enough.
It’s best to prepare for the worst and expect the best instead
of vice versa. Its best then to have multiple incomes flows into
your finances than to have an insecure future. The concept and
importance of extra income becomes all the more apparent.

People who have been well-to-do have always known and taken care
of this. If one income dries up, one can always fall back upon
the other streams of income, and if all go well you can only get
richer, no harm in that. Ordinary and average living people have
always been in a dilemma regarding this. Loss of one income
really affects them adversely and it would take years of hard
work before any normalcy returns. Not to mention, the rippling
effects of financial distress that could cause a lot of
heartburn and unwanted emotional disturbances.

Having diverse sources of income or extra income gives you a
backup to fall back upon. If one source vanishes, you should not
feel the difference. One should have enough time to reorganize
and regroup, that’s it, and you are back on the happiness
highway, safe and sound. The importance of extra income and
extra sources of incomes is not lost on anyone today, therefore
the want and rush.

Extra Income can be of two kinds - Linear and Residual.

Linear income is the extra income you earn on an hourly, daily,
weekly or monthly basis. There is no more future commitment
attached to it from your end or form the receiver’s end.

Residual income is an extra income where you work hard once and
reap the fruits of it all for many years in the future. The
reward for the same effort paid over and over again.

In normal course of a career, any individual earns a linear
income through a job or a profession. You are earning only for
the time you can spare on work on a daily basis. Some earn a
higher linear income. Most smart people try to shift to residual
incomes from their linear incomes through extra income routes to
have a secure retirement and future. Starting with one residual
extra income effort a year would be a good idea.

Internet gives a lot of options in the extra income route. One
has to be careful in selecting the right one from them by
recognizing the hype form the straight talking ones.

Almost all these programmes have residual income components in
them. Select one and give it everything you can, when you can
earn the residual from it, time to start off with the next one.
All the best.

As we all know that the legal industry is one of the most competitive industry today. Larger law firms often invest good portion in their marketing department to make sure that they are always in the public eye. Now with the help of Internet, Small law firms can reach out to public and give a good impression about their firm.

Here are some of the marketing tips that could be useful:

1. Create a website with your own domain name (i.e. www.yourname.com). Do not go for a one page profile that many sites offer with sub domain name (i.e. yourname.somesite.com). These days creating and maintain a small site is cheaper than ever. You could have someone create your site for $100-$300 and host it for $5-$10 per month.

2. Make sure the site looks professional and user friendly. I recommend studying some of the related sites on the Internet before having someone create yours.

3. Submit your site to all major search engines such as Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, iWon, Ask.com, Excite. Most traffic come from these top Search Engines. You don’t have to submit your site to thousands of search engines. Try to do manual submit to these Search Engines.

4. Make sure your business card has your website address (URL) and your email address (you@yoursite.com).

5. Try Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaign on Google or Overture (Yahoo) with as low as $0.10 per click. Make sure to use targeted keywords in these campaigns rather than generic. For Immigration services in Los Angeles, CA, “Immigration lawyer in Los Angeles” keyword would be more effective than “Immigration” or “Lawyer” keywords.

6. Find local community websites and advertise your banner on their website. These sites are cheaper and more effective since most people visiting the sites are local.

7. Make sure to keep your site up-to-date with the current information. List your achievements on your website. Ask your clients to give feedback and ask them if it is ok post them on the website.

About the Author

Sarfaraz Nasir is the founder of http://www.CoolLawSites.com - Home of best legal resources. The site provides links to informative legal sites and free legal classifieds where anyone can post their ads.