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Free Love Tarot Reading

May 31st, 2010

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Free Love Tarot Reading

I used to have a friend with a very strange hobby . Her favorite thing to do was to Dress up like a gypsy in robes and scarves, set up a stand outside school, and offer free love tarot readings. Sometimes, she would do it in a fake, corny accent, while other times she would simply be herself. She never charged a single cent, although sometimes she would ask to barter for things if she saw someone wearing something she liked. One time she got a free necklace out of it, for example, and another time she got a new pair of shoes.

I think the real thrill for my friends was being able to give out the free love tarot reading and get people’s reactions. I’m not sure she really believed her psychic readings were authentic, but her customers definitely did. Sometimes they would blush as she told them things about themselves that they thought were secret. Other times, they would laugh or stare. Occasionally, they would get really angry at her. No matter what reaction she got to her free love tarot reading, she would always have a good story to share with us the next day.

She tried giving live astrology readings, psychic palm readings, and a variety of other things, but for some reason none of it ever have the same appeal to her. Eventually, She refused to do anything but a free love tarot reading. When I asked her why, she explained that it was the cards themselves. There was something so neat for her about seeing someone’s life randomly dealt out on the table as a sequence of pictures and symbols. It seems somehow poetic to her in a way that astrology never did. I’m not sure if she believed in her work after the fact, but it looked like she did what she was doing it.

I Actually had her give me a free love tarot reading once, and I was pretty surprised by the results. I’m definitely what you would call a hardened skeptic, but at the very least my friend was good at cold reading. There were certain things that she revealed in that free love tarot reading that I’ve never told anyone. When I asked her about it, she smiled but kept her lips shut. Apparently, for her part of the fun was the mystery. She loved to keep people wondering how she did it and whether she was psychic.

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If your Last Financial Expert let you Down, who will you call next – an Investment Advisor or a Broker?

May 31st, 2010

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If your Last Financial Expert let you Down, who will you call next – an Investment Advisor or a Broker?

Maybe you haven’t really tapped into it yet, but investment reporters have long argued over a position on who we are to go to for advice in financial matters: is it an investment advisor or an investment broker that’s better? But that debate that we always tried to sit out, needs active consideration now. The “professionals” we trusted with our money the last three or four years certainly let us down in the meltdown of 2008. We couldn’t just nonchalantly go back and trust just anyone without thinking again now could we? And it isn’t just the investors thinking through this either: the advisors and brokers wonder now which profession is the best belong to right now.

So, to dip your toe into the waters of the big investment advisor or broker debate, what exactly is the difference between these two? It’s really something regular people rarely are aware of or understand if they are told. Investment brokers are required to keep to a certain Financial Industry Regulatory Authority code of conduct. It’s called the Suitability Rule, and it requires that when the broker invests your money for you, he believes in good faith, that his advice is the best he knows of. Investment advisers on the other hand, have to answer to an even more specific and higher moral ethic. They have an ethical contract to put their clients interests before their own in a deal.

The brokers work for a firm; the firm needs each employee to bring in a proper line of commissions all the time. If investing in a cheaper product is in your best interests, they are not really required to tell you that. They just tell you whatever will earn them the best commissions. Investment advisors on the other hand, will never let you hear enough about how they don’t work for anybody but you. And if they let you down anyway, you can always sue them. You couldn’t ever sue a broker. Brokers argue, that the investment advisor doesn’t really have the backing and the resources of a huge firm to give you the best advise possible. And that if a broker wants to be this honest and do something with your money, you have the entire brokerage firm to hold responsible. If you hold an investment adviser responsible, he doesn’t have any assets.

In fact, people are so mixed up over this, that Congress is debating a new law to set this to rest once and for all. The new law will require brokers to sign an undertaking too that they will act in your best interests, and not in those of the firm. To make matters worse, some brokers moonlight as investment advisor on the side, and vice versa. So if you got to choose, what would you do? Would you choose the fast dealer, the broker who had access to all the computers, the books, the leads, of the large brokerage firm, or would you go with the honesty of an investment advisor who might operate on a more modest scale, but who operates for no higher authority than you?

But then ultimately, everything depends on self-interest. Even if an investment advisor is not paid a commission by the deal, he is paid overall on general performance. A person on a salary, is always hooked to doing what he needs to, to keep his job. If he can flatter a client going a certain way, he’s going to have to do that. All of which seems to disgust people so much, they just decide to do a little reading up themselves and take care of their own business.

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Fun Gadget Gift Ideas Online

May 31st, 2010

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Fun Gadget Gift Ideas Online

To me, one of the best parts of living in modern times is the technology that goes into making our lives easier, more convenient, or just plain fun. I’m not even talking about the truly useful or necessary technological advances in computer science or medical equipment; I’m just talking about consumer gadgets that we all covet and crave after seeing a friend showing one off or reading a feature on a website. It could be that pair of sunglasses with a built-in MP3 player that you saw on a jogger this morning or that laser pen your co-worker couldn’t stop playing with at the afternoon meeting. Since everyone loves these things, gadgets are the perfect gifts for Christmas, birthdays, graduations, and similar occasions. You just have to get an idea of what’s out there and where to buy these high-tech toys.

The best place to go for gadget gift ideas is the internet. There might be a store or two at the local mall that carries tech toys, but there’s no question you’ll find a much bigger selection online. If you’re looking for a specific product, then of course you can search for that item in your favorite search engine and generate a list of websites that sell it. If you want to browse — which is always more fun because you get to see all the newest products that are available — then simply type a phrase like gadget gift ideas into the search engine to come up with a bunch of technology related sites and stores that offer the toys you’re looking for.

Often, gadget gift ideas are nicely categorized to make it easy to find items for men, women, colleagues, friends, teens, and even pets. For example, if you’re shopping for something for dad, you’ll likely see recommendations such as a digital golf scorecard, a stand-alone wireless stock market ticker, digital grilling thermometer, picture-taking binoculars, or an ultraviolet razor sanitizer. Gadget gift ideas for mom might include a digital message center for the home, a standup digital recipe reader, a voice recognition shopping list generator, or an instant beverage warmer/chiller. The possibilities are truly endless!

A great thing about looking for gadget gift ideas online is that you can often get a great deal on whatever device you want to buy. Once you find the perfect present for the person on your list, it only takes a few more minutes to run comparative price checks to confirm that you’re getting the best bargain. Just make sure to read the store’s return and exchange policies prior to making your purchase so you know what to do if something goes wrong with the item.

If you’re tired of always giving boring gifts like clothes or video games, then chances are your recipient is tired of receiving them too! It’s time to start checking out gadget gift ideas online so you can make that next birthday or holiday event more interesting.

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How I learned to Unlock my Cell Phone – my iPhone 3GS

May 31st, 2010

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How I learned to Unlock my Cell Phone – my iPhone 3GS

At one time, when I was asking around trying to unlock my cell phone, I found out that I should probably word it better when I say that. There is a difference between unlocking iPhones, and jail breaking them. They are two completely different hacks, that give you control over your iPhone in completely different ways. Unlocking, the more popular of these two terms, is the trickery that will let you buy your iPhone from AT&T, and hack into its protective features that keep other networks, like T-Mobiles out. Jail breaking is a hack that will let you use third-party apps on your iPhone, ones Apple doesn’t approve of. And this is something you’ll need to learn to do, as one of the steps on your way to learning to unlock your iPhone.

Now the iPhone 3GS has been impregnable until was recently. Usually, it is a group of self-styled experts that does all the pathbreaking unlocking and jail breaking on the iPhone – called the Apple Dev Team. With the iPhone 3GS however, a motivated dude named George Hotz beat the Dev Team to the line – with purplesn0w, the latest unlocking tool I found to unlock my cell phone with. The most impressive quality purplesn0w has to recommend it though is that it does its deed with the minimum carnage possible. It only alters three of the iPhone’s original files to get the job done.

I found out how to unlock my cell phone, well, my iPhone 3GS anyway, in just a couple of steps. Let’s assume that you have the jailbreaking process out of the way (using the purplera1n jailbreaking code), and just concentrate on the unlocking process at this time. Before you start with the actual unlocking, make sure you backup iPhone’s contents, because you can never really tell what happens with these risky procedures. If things go awry, we’ll need to reset your phone, an action that would certainly return your phone to the way it was out of the box – no content or numbers at all.

Make sure that your iPhone is properly activated on your real provider first. And then, on the iPhone, you open Settings, then General and finally Network. When you jailbreak your phone with the right software (with purplera1n), it installs on your phone, a strange sounding piece of work called Cydia. You’ll need to use it now. Turn it on, pick the Manage setting. Follow the route Sources – Edit – Add, and then key in a string of nonsense called apt.geohot.purplesn0w. You follow up that beauty with a tap on the Add Source button and the Done button, and, you’re done. I thought that I was good to go with this, but I found out that to unlock my cell phone required one more step and a reboot.

That’s kind of an important step – installing Purplesn0w. You’ll need to search for the package com.geohot.purplesn0w on Cydia on your phone, then install it. Once you’re done, you reboot, and there you go. This is how I’ve learned to unlock my cell phone. Hopefully, this will work for you too, for a good long time.

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Great Caribbean Villas for Rent

May 31st, 2010

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Great Caribbean Villas for Rent

Nothing beats a great vacation in the Caribbean. You get surf, sun, white sand beaches, crystal clear waters, bikini clad beauties everywhere, great parties, dancing all night, fantastic restaurants, adventure tours and much, much more. You can go every year to a different destination and not have the same experience twice or you can find a favorite location and go there year after year. Some people love it so much they eventually retire to one of the lovely Caribbean islands. A great way to test if this kind of life is for you is to rent one of the great available Caribbean villas instead of going to a resort or staying at a hotel.

Travelers may think that renting a villa will be more expensive and if you are traveling solo or as a couple it may be a little cost prohibitive if you want to stay at one of the better Caribbean villas. Many of these vacation homes can sleep six to ten people however so if you plan it right with a few of your closest friends you can actually have a much more enjoyable and private Caribbean vacation experience. Imagine staying in your own master bedroom with a sweeping view of the majestic Caribbean or stepping outside to your private pool and hot tub. With many of these Caribbean villas you can be right on the beach so you basically have a private beach at your disposal.

If you are interested in renting one of these luxury villas you first need to figure out which island you would like to stay at. If money is not an object then you can stay at Black Pearl villa in Shoal Bay East on the island of Anguilla. This 4 bedroom and 4 bath incredible luxury villa overlooks the ocean and has its own private pool. For 8 persons the cost is a cool $2300 per night and includes maid service.

Cocunut Ridge #5 villa at Porter, St. James on the island of Barbados is cheap in comparison and 6 guests can sleep comfortably in the 3 bedroom, 3 bath villa for only $750 per night. This incredible home has a private plunge pool and awesome westerly views so you can watch the sunset while sipping daquiris with your friends. Situated in the hilltop development of Sugar Hill, you and your guests will be able to use all of the community?s many amenities. This is definitely one of the most beautiful Caribbean villas you can rent.

Escape is one of the beautiful Caribbean villas located on the posh island paradise of St. Barts in the French West Indies chain. This is a 3 bedroom home located steps from gorgeous Lorient beach and the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean. The nightly charge for 6 persons is only $875 per night during the high season and only $630 in low season.

Wherever you decide to vacation, Caribbean villas are available if you have the dough. If you can get a bunch of friends together you can make this one of the most memorable vacation experiences you will ever have.

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Buying Safe Baby Cribs

May 30th, 2010

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Buying Safe Baby Cribs

Your baby is going to spend a lot of time sleeping during the first few years of life. The place where most babies sleep is the crib, even if they start out in a bassinet or co-sleeper. Because you baby is going to be sleeping so much, you want to know you have chosen from among the safe baby cribs out there on the market. Cribs are recalled all of the time because of some safety hazard, so be sure that you are looking your choices over very carefully and doing your research before you choose the one you want to bring home.

Safe baby cribs are definitely on the market. There are many great models that not only look good but are safe for your baby. You are going to be losing enough sleep getting up to feed your baby at night as it is, you do not want to lose more sleep worrying about the crib in which they sleep. The first thing to do is to find and print out a list of recalled baby cribs. Most of these should not be available for sale in any store, but sometimes a few slip through and are purchased by consumers. Have a current list with you when you go shopping.

Think about what makes safe baby cribs good for baby to sleep in. The slats that make up the sides of the crib can be a problem if they are too far apart. Make sure they are no more than two or three inches apart. There should be no way that baby can get their head in between the slats to get stuck. Also, think about the adjustable parts of the cribs. Many drop side cribs have been recalled. Even if one has not, perhaps you should not take a chance and go with one that does not have that feature.

Do not be afraid to shake and push on any model of crib you are interested in buying. If the floor model is not stable, see why. Are the screws loose? Is it a construction flaw? It could be that the store did not put it together properly, or it could be that the parts are substandard and this is a model that you should not buy. Safe baby cribs have to take abuse and remain as safe as they were the day you bought them. Always look any crib over from top to bottom for potential problems before you decide which to buy.

If you are getting used cribs, you have to be just as careful. Many recalled cribs end up in second hand stores or are passed down from family and friends. Look up the crib, even if used, to see if it has been recalled for any reason. Also, check all moving and workable parts for anything that could be dangerous for your baby. Some things could be fixed, but you want to be sure you are getting safe baby cribs no matter from where they are coming. Any crib that has been taken down and put back up many times can simply be worn out as well. Take that into consideration too, as well as the possibility for lead paint. All are dangers worth thinking about with a crib.

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List of Reality TV Shows that Dont Suck

May 30th, 2010

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List of Reality TV Shows that Don?t Suck

Let?s face it, Reality TV is generally horrible. MTV should change its name since it really does not show music videos anymore but instead has a long list of really bad reality shows like ?Tool Academy?, ?Bad Girl?s Club? and ?From G?s to Gents? (which I actually like but still realize that it is horrible). Some of these bad shows are like watching a train wreck. It is hard sometimes to switch the stations. Other shows are so bad that they are easier to avoid like ?The Karadashians? or ?Real Housewives of Orange County? or ?Jersey Shore?. Some shows are not even worth mentioning such as ?The Surrreal World? and ?I Love New York?.

But some reality TV is still compelling and the following titles are on my list of reality tv shows that don?t suck.

One of the best reality shows of all time is still ?Survivor?. No matter where they dump off these people we are fascinated to watch as they live off of rice and fish (or sometimes bats and rats like James did with relish) for thirty days straight. The infighting is still real juicy and even after years the show still ranks high on the list of reality TV shows on the networks. When they go off to tribal council and someone gets blindsided, you realize that the trick is how the producers decide to edit the show. But as Eisenstein showed us many decades ago, every movie or TV show is created from whole cloth in the editing room.

Another in my short list of reality tv shows that don?t completely suck is the great and long running ?American Idol?, which is arguably the best of the bunch. This is an amazing feat because in essence all it really is is a talent show with lots of production value and better contestants for the most part. The best part of the show each season is the very beginning when people line up for hours and hours to be heard by the panel. These ?audition? shows are great because you get to hear the worst and funniest singing in the world. People are hilarious and it is because they are completely deluded. This is where you can see just how crazy the general public is and believe me, it is frightening. But, like bad karaoke, you can?t turn away from it or switch the channel. Once they get well into the show it usually becomes more boring, but the beginning is golden.

Although reality TV had been around in one form or another for many decades, it really gained momentum during the writer?s strike in the mid 1990s. The producers had to fill up air time and that gave us a few really good shows, and dozens more that were horrible beyond words. Let?s just hope that the writers stay on for a little while longer. On the other hand, I would much rather watch ?Tila Tequila? than ?CSI: Miami? any day of the week.

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Take Care Of Yourself After Birth

May 30th, 2010

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Take Care Of Yourself After Birth

Having a baby is hard on the body no matter how in or out of shape you feel you are. Some women can bounce back rather quickly, but you should always give your body what it needs after birth so that you are fit and ready to go when you need to be. Your new baby will sleep and eat a lot, which will leave you feeling very tired, and if you try to do everything else along with caring for your newborn, you are going to take longer to heal and you may even have some complications. Take some time to care for yourself and allow others to help you. This is one time when you don’t have to be superwoman.

After birth, you are going to be tired and sore. Walking will be a problem if you had some pain relief while you pushed. You will have to wait for this to wear off before you can get up, and once you do, the first place you will go will be the bathroom. The nurses that helped you through birth will be there to help you when you use the bathroom. You may think you can do it on your own, but you are weaker than you think after birth and all the pushing. Allow them to help you. If your baby was taken somewhere else in the hospital, allow them to put you in a wheelchair to go see him or her. Don’t walk.

Once you get home, you are going to have relatives and friends that want to come see the baby. If they have had children of their own, they understand how you feel after birth, and they may offer to cook and clean for you. Don’t stop them. Let them help you in any way that they can. You concentrate on resting and sleeping when the baby sleeps. If you try to do everything and don’t sleep, you are going to be so exhausted in the weeks after birth that you can not care for your baby properly. You care for baby and let everyone else take care of everything else.

Your doctor will tell you to take six weeks off from any sex after birth. You may think you feel fine, and your bleeding may have stopped, but you really do want to wait. Birth does a number on the body, and if you try to have sex before healing has occurred, it will be painful and could cause more problems. If you had a Cesarean, you may think that sex right away is okay, but you still want to wait a while for your incision to heal properly. You run a huge risk of infection if that incision is not given time to heal and pops open. Ask your doctor how long to wait for sex after birth if you had a C-section.

Take your time working back into your normal life after birth. Your main concern should be taking care of your new baby and taking care of yourself. Relatives and friends will stop by for a while, but after a while you may be on your own. It will then be up to you and your spouse from then on. You want to take advantage of both help and healing time after birth so when you do need to do it all again, you have the energy to tackle life head on once more.

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It Took Years to Find a Liability Insurance Quote That Made Me Happy

May 30th, 2010

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It Took Years to Find a Liability Insurance Quote That Made Me Happy

I see these ads for car insurance on television, and I still wonder why I paid so much for so many years. My rates were higher than all of my friends’ rates for nearly 10 years, even though I had a perfect driving record and no accidents, and the only type of insurance I had on the car was liability.

I remember when I went to receive my first liability insurance quote. I was 18 at the time, driving a 1980 Chevy Caprice Classic with well over 100,000 miles on it, and was quoted at more than $100 a month. I was very inexperienced with such matters at that time in my life, but I remember coming home and telling my parents, and they looked shocked.

?That’s really high,? my mother said.

I didn’t know how to react, so I called the insurance company and told them what my mother had said. I asked them why my liability insurance quote was so high, and they really could not give me any kind of satisfactory answer. I figured I would stay with them for a month or two, and then move on to another company.

In the meantime, I called some of my friends and asked how much they were paying, and some told me that they were not paying that much more than I was paying for full coverage. I had one person tell me that he was paying about a third of what I was paying, and could not believe that I was being charged as much as I was.

I started calling around to other companies, and every liability insurance quote I received seemed to be very high. I got it knocked down a little bit from what I was paying with the first company I chose after a few tries, but I was still paying a lot more than anybody else I knew.

I figured that I would just wait out, keep a perfect driving record with no tickets or accidents or any other traffic violations, and it would go down on its own. I did all of those things, but the price never went down, and this was after years.

By the time I was 28 years old, I had finally managed to get the amount I was paying down to $77 a month, when I finally learned why I was being charged so much. I was told that how much you paid for car insurance was due in part to your credit rating, and my credit was bad at the time. Even though I had never had any kind of problem, and I had never missed a payment, I was still being penalized for my credit score.

I did some research online, and found an insurance company that did not base your rate on your credit score, so I went in for a liability insurance quote. I was very pleased when I was told that I would only have to pay $37 a month for liability.

If anyone has received a liability insurance quote that seems high, I would check into this and find out why. There is almost always a reason, and sometimes you are not told the reason unless you ask the right questions.

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People are Mad for the Basketball NCAA Tournament

May 30th, 2010

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People are Mad for the Basketball NCAA Tournament

Every March, we always hear about the basketball NCAA tournament, all of the 64 teams that are involved, which team has the best shot at winning it all, who some of the dark horses are, and so forth. There is a reason it is called March Madness.

I’ve often wondered why there is so much hoopla around the basketball NCAA tournament and not as much around other sports, such as baseball and hockey. The tournaments in those sports certainly have large and loyal followings, but not nearly to the degree that basketball does.

There is definitely something to be said for the fact that basketball is the most-played sport in the United States. It makes sense when you think about how little it takes to get a basketball game going compared to other sports.

I think part of the appeal of the basketball NCAA tournament is the fact that it lasts for so long as well. In sports like hockey and baseball, the tournament does not carry on the way the basketball tournament does, and you don’t get to see as many games.

Another aspect of the basketball NCAA tournament that makes it intriguing to a lot of sports fans is that there is always the chance that the underdog will surpass everybody’s expectations. It seems that every year, there is a Gonzaga, George Mason or some other team that nobody thought would get past the first or second round, but makes it to the final eight or four.

I also think that the names they have for the different rounds, like the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and the Final Four, are catchy, and in terms of sports terminology, they have become household expressions for most basketball fans.

The thing that I hear the most about college basketball fans, however, is that basketball at that level is still fun to watch. The players at the college level are still willing to learn and grow, and most of them are unselfish and play a team game.

These players have not become self-absorbed millionaires who care more about their image than their teams’ record. Now, I’m not saying that all players in the NBA are that way, but the young men and women that play college basketball play because they love the game.

The basketball NCAA tournament boasts the best of the best in the country when it comes to the sport of college basketball, so naturally it is going to draw a massive following.

I have to admit that I am not the biggest basketball fan in the world. As a matter of fact, out of the four major sports, it is probably my least favorite. I do know, however, that when it comes time for the basketball NCAA tournament, televisions at my friends and family member’s houses will be on virtually non-stop, and mine might come on every once in a while, too.

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