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Fall Festival at the Tri-State

by Rick Amorey

Whenever October comes around, different people are put into mind of a lot of distinct things. Some people would immediately think of the cooler weather, the red and gold autumn leaves, and Halloween. In the Tri-State, however, October is when the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival will take place. The festival is a week long and covers both sides our four city blocks, and brings with it an allure of food, rides and games.

The Evansville civic organization, West Side Nut Club, is responsible for organizing the event. The first ever festival was held back in 1921, but it has since changed to become the second largest street festival in the whole of the United States. It has also been among the top 100 events for 2009 by the American Bus Association.

In the eyes of a lot of the participants, the biggest attraction of the festival is the food. See if you can imagine 126 food booths lined up along both sides of Franklin Street. Festival staples are, of course, present: corn dogs, caramel apples, hamburgers, and the like are all here. However, what makes it exciting is the fact that a lot of the booths offer food that you wouldn’t expect to see as food in a festival. Care to try some bean soup, maybe? Or fried green tomatoes, or crab Rangoon.

You may challenge your taste buds if you are feeling particularly adventurous by sampling some really exotic delicacies. Fancy some brain sandwiches? Or how about alligator stuffed potatoes? You’ll see frog legs and chocolate-covered insects, too. If you want to go to the other extreme of the spectrum, there are some safe, grease-free snacks there, too. Vegetarians can indulge themselves on all the olives, green beans and salads.

You can take a break from all the food selections and eating by talking a walk down to the crafts exhibit. You will find a lot of items there that are testament to the talented individuals from the Tri-State. There are various blown glass works, wood carvings and handmade jewelries here.

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May 31st, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

Claymakers Exhibit

by Mara Hernandez-Capili

As a kid I am fond of playing with my Play-Doh. It gives me great satisfaction to be able to create different kinds of objects using my bare hands. Playing with Play-Doh promotes sharp brain developments for kids that will utlimately determine their critical thinking skills as they grow up. Play Doh is indeed a great educational toy that is highly recommended for parents to buy for their kids.

Clay is Play-Doh for the grown-ups, at least as far as skilled sculptors and claymaker artists are concerned. Claymakers are also what you call the pot or earthenware makers. They are given with this piece of workable material where they can create any shape they want out of a boring and shapeless mold. This skill takes long to perfect and could only be achieved if the person is diligent and patient enough to learn.

At Durham there is a Claymakers exhibit where artworks of local talents are displayed on an annual basis. In here spectators and clay enthusiasts will view the product of the hard works of the Claymakers. Different sculptures will be on display and some of them are even for sale, to benefit the local chosen charity. Prices will be a little higher than usual because some items are intricate works of art and would never be seen at any Clay shops.

Let us veer away from the topic and let me introduce this recipe to stay-at home moms reading this entry. If you would like to create a homemade play dough for your kids to enjopy that is safe and very economical then here are the instructions. Ingredients consist of common kitchen staples like flour, water, baking color and baking scent. Mix them all together to create your one of a kind play dough.

For all aspiring Claymakers out there, a visit to Durham will be a great idea to learn about the basics of Claymaking.

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May 31st, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

Easy Traffic with Online Video Marketing

by Alexis Jameson

Online marketing has been the vital role in bringing visitors to your site. Many several tactics of online marketing have been employed in this online industry and each has got its pros and cons. Online video marketing has proved to be the best marketing strategy which has got more advantages. In this article we will focus about online video marketing and how effective it is. In order to receive traffic to your website you have to make use of any online marketing campaign that is available.

A new technique has immerged in the online marketing industry and it has successfully produced great results. The new technique is about online video marketing. Other marketing strategies such as email marketing, article marketing and others do not stand a chance in bringing thousands of visitors to one’s site as compared to video marketing. Video marketing is actually a combination of many online marketing strategies placed in a single unit.

Visitors are easily drawn to a site if it has got what they are seeking for. When visitors reach your site they should not have difficulties in having to find information on your several pages of the site. It should be made simple and easy for them to quickly understand. The majority of the audiences prefer a website which briefly explains its entire information and this is when video marketing come in to effective use.

Instead of visitors having to go through the entire site reading information, video marketing has actually made it simple for them because all you have to do is visit the site, seat back, watch and listen. Video marketing actually describes in detail what the site has got to offer to its prospective clients. Most online video marketing have got a tutorial guide on how best you can navigate through the entire site. This in turn leaves the customer/ visitor fully certified and s/he may start to bookmark your site so as to return back anytime soon.

With online video marketing you will certainly receive great traffic to your site. When you are employing this marketing strategy there are certain guidelines and procedures you have got to follow so as to make this marketing strategy work progressively.

When using online video marketing you should bear in mind that not all users make use of the same software to play videos, some visitors have got slow internet connections, the quality of the video is essential, and your video should be compatible with many formats. For users with slow internet connection you may provide an option for users not to play the video directly online rather they should download the video.

Submitting your video to various social video network sites such as YouTube and Google videos will eventually increase your traffic tremendously. Make it a point to include you website link and also you email address in your video so that it can become easy for visitors to get to your site.

Penetrating the online industry will certainly become easy for you especially when you make use of this marketing strategy. All you have to take into consideration is that you should be able to briefly explain the products or services that you are offering so as not to confuse your prospective visitors.

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May 31st, 2009 - Posted in Online Marketing | | 1 Comments

Whether You Are An Apple Or A Pear - Fat Loss Tips

by Alice Stewart

Obesity and being overweight is reaching outbreak proportions these days. Many people need to lose weight. Some people want to lose weight for visual reasons, so that they can look decent in a bikini but other people need to lose weight so that they can maintain their health.

Dissimilar bodies store fat differently. A person who stores all of the spare fat in their thighs and butt has different problems than a person who stores all of their spare fat in the middle or the abdominal area. When you carry your fat in your thighs and butt you are shaped like a pear and when you carry your excess fat in your abdominal region you are shaped like an apple. The way that you carry your fat has a great effect on your health.

Women who are pear-shaped and hold all of their extra weight in their butt and thighs have a health advantage over the women who are apple shaped. They may fight more with finding the clothes that fit and they may still have body image issues but they do not have the health troubles that trouble the apple-shaped women. The fat that accumulates on your butt and your thighs is not inevitably a health concern.

On the other hand the fat that accumulates around the mid section puts the person at risk for such things as heart disease, diabetes and other health risks. The trouble is that the fat in the middle collects around the internal organs. This prevents their organs and their bodies from optimal role. Pear-shaped individuals do not have this same problem because none of the internal organs are found in the butt and thighs.

To decide if you are an apple or a pear, you must compute your waist-hip ratio. Divide your waist in inches by your hips in inches and if the result is o.8 or less you are considered to be a pear. If the result is more than 0.8 then you are an apple shape. For instance a 28 inch waist divided by a 38 inch hip is 0.73 a pear, while a 32 inch waist divided by the same 38 inch hip is 0.84 or an apple.

A pear may have body image issues and she may struggle with her body type but she is not really facing grave health risks, which is not the case for an apple-shaped individual. If you are apple-shaped it is much more essential that you drop the weight. Try increasing your cardio exercises and focus on consuming a fiber-rich diet with more fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes and lean protein sources such as fish and skinless chicken.

One benefit that an apple-shaped woman has is that the fat that accumulates in the abdominal area tends to come off much sooner than the fat that accumulates in the butt and thighs. The fat in the butt and thighs is much more tenacious and it will require much more diligence with dieting and exercise to finally come off.

The type of body that you have is not something that you can control but you can do whatever is necessary to lose the excess fat or even better, of course, is to not gain it in the first place.

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May 31st, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 1 Comments

Pleasant Hill Middle School in Oregon: Oliver!

by Mara Hernandez-Capili

2009 is the year where we will all be witnesses to the talents and showmanship of the youth in Pleasant Hill Middle School as they feature the musical Oliver! This timeless and famous musical garnered wide acclaims from theatre goers and crtiics worldwide.

The musical is loosely based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Oliver! is a British produciton and its music and lyrics are created by Lionel Bart. It was first seen in 1960 at London’s West End. The story is about a boy named Oliver who was first seen as an orphan, not knowing that his family is rich.

He was a lonely orphan before who was mistreated and half-starved by their cruel caretakers. The theatre tells the story of how Oliver’s adventures on the streets ultimately lead him to the family he never knew existed. He managed to escaped the place after he got several beatings and ended up working as a slave to a cruel coffin maker and his equally cruel wife. He then escaped and got into a gang of pickpocketers.

He met Nancy, the girlfriend of cruel Sikes and immediately kind-hearted Nancy developed a motherly affection for Oliver. They became friends together with Nancy’s sister Bet. When it was time for Oliver to practice his pickpocketing skills (he actually does not know that they are pickpocketing- he thought that they were doing handkerchief tricks), he got Mr. Browlow a wealthy old man as a victim. He got arrested but was released when found not guilty. At that time a locket was found from Oliver containing his mother’s picture (Mr. Browlow’s granddaughter) indicating that Oliver is sole heir ot the old man’s riches.

Nancy found out about the locket and set to bring Oliver to Mr. browlow but was waylaid and murdered by Sikes. The plot ended as Mr. Browlow was reunited with his long-lost grandson.

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May 31st, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

Blogging and Advertising For Lawyers: How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Blog

by Jeff Berman

If a lawyer asks me how to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services to generate more clients, one of the first things I ask is if they have a blog. Even though social media can be very powerful promotional tools, having a blog gives you something to promote.

Advertising for lawyers with your blog: How fast can I get results?

I think all of us would prefer the shorter easier path if given the option. Unfortunately, this isn’t the best route to take for lawyer marketing with social media. Even though posting an update on Twitter or Facebook can share your thoughts with others, it doesn’t provide the depth that writing a good blog post does. One of the best uses of social media is sharing your blog posts with other Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn users.

If your lawyer marketing efforts are simply status updates on Twitter and Facebook, without any longer, thought out content of your own, then you will be making comments about many things, but adding nothing of substance to the conversation.

When you maintain a blog that provides valuable information, this serves two important purposes when used with social media:

1. You can promote your posts through social media. This gives you a voice in the community. You are actively getting involved and contributing. People will check out your blog where they can be turned into potential clients.

2. People will come to respect your expertise. Posting your thoughts and professional opinions on a blog will help you develop a reputation as a thought leader in your field. Status updates or short comments will not achieve the same level of respect.

The point is that this involves some amount of work on your end. You have to write thoughtful, engaging content. But when you accomplish this, sharing your blog through social media is terrific exposure.

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May 30th, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

Why and How you Should Compare Auto Insurance Rate!

by Guiscard Mathurin

If you are comparing free auto insurance quotes, then there must be many questions that come through to you. Here are solutions to few of them.

There are many reasons why people compare auto insurance. However, before you do that, you need to know what goes behind the scenes when companies give free auto insurance quotes. While comparing the free auto insurance quotes, please note the area that you live is a major factor that affects the free auto insurance quotes. If the area that you are living in has high number of crime & thefts, then the rate will shoot above the roof for sure. If you prove to the insurance company that you have parked the car in your garage & has installed an alarm system that might help you lower the quotes.

Getting the best rate is one of the main reasons for you to compare auto insurance. The Internet provides the best answer to compare auto insurance quotes. All you have to do is simply enter some important information and the quotes for you to compare auto insurance are ready. It has been noticed that if you compare auto insurance & study it well, it will surely be beneficial for you in many ways. And for those who compare auto insurance, and do it well, they save a lot of dollars.

Now, when you compare auto insurance policies, you do that with the free auto insurance quotes that you would have got, either online or over the phone. The key is ” The source from where you get these free auto insurance quotes. If it is credible enough, trust you would get good quotes for your perusal.

There are many things you could do to get quotes for the insurance coverage. While some of them may seem time-consuming to you, it is important you spend this amount of time. At stake is ” The best and the most affordable auto insurance coverage for your vehicle.

Saving money is one part of the deal, but you also need to ensure you choose a respectable company when you compare auto insurance. At the end of the day, the free auto insurance quotes will only tell you certain things, and credibility of the company is definitely not something it will tell. This is for you to find out!

Getting free auto insurance quotes is not a tough ask at all. All you have to do is log on to the Internet, and get some quotes from different websites. One thing you should avoid is getting quotes from the same company, else you would spend a lot of time to compare auto insurance and yet not get anywhere.

If you do the compare auto insurance activity well, you would realize how profitable the free auto insurance quotes are for you. For starters, you will easily be able to save at least hundred dollars on your insurance coverage. Not a bad incentive that!

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May 29th, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 1 Comments

Membership site retention - Why are they leaving ?

by Trevor weir

If you are running a membership site, one of the most important areas of concern for you is membership retention. However, while this is certainly one of your key issues, your members may be having a different problem and that is, quite frankly a perception of value for their time and or money.

Giving the impression of value is very important if you want to get members and keep members. People want to feel like they have gotten more than they paid for. It’s true that some may not gripe about getting fundamentally good information, however this should not stop you from attempting to raise the perception bar significantly. Nothing is more potent that word of mouth advertising

There are a couple of ways to increase this perception and one is the offer of special bonuses. Try making a few of these surprises and others predetermined. Pleasant surprise offerings can be a way of letting your members know that you care. So, what kinds of bonuses would your site members think are great? What about bonuses related to additional material such as Private Label products related to your niche that you might pick up inexpensively. These are quite inexpensive for you to buy, but your members will be thrilled with them!

Other things one might do is offer more than one format of content. That doesn’t mean you need to create new information for each form of content. For example, you could create an article, a video, and audio that all get the same basic information across, but in different formats. Having audio, video and text enables the material to find resonance with many different audience learning styles. Your chances of giving user satisfaction is much higher this way.

A great way to make this as easy as possible is to create a video. From there, you can extract the audio. It is also possible to get a rentacoder or guru.com writer to transcribe the audio track into text and now you have 3 different medium forms from the one source!

Another thing you can do is make sure your site looks professional. While you might be able to get away with a very basic site, doing simple things like adding graphics and having a nice layout can go a long way to giving a great impression of value.The old saying goes that “you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” but we all know that people end up doing that anyway! When your membership site looks nice, people will likely have a better impression of it.

Doing these things will help to build value that can really impress your members. If the membership costs $20 per month, try to give $200 dollars worth of value each member each month.The first 60 days are the most critical, this is when more than 80% of your members typically re-question whether they are getting value of their money.

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May 29th, 2009 - Posted in Online Marketing | | 1 Comments

Poetry and Candy at the Craft Show

by Rick Amorey

We were at the Cherry Blossom Festival located at Wooster Square last weekend, and we had such a good day there. I am shouting out a big thank you to our wonderful volunteers: Laura, Pam and Vi Phan. They were such a big help with meeting and greeting the people who stopped by our booth. And, I’d also like to thank the people who dropped by to hang out and chat about other upcoming fairs.

The Festival is currently getting ready to hold the Favorite Poem Project, as you may be well aware of. It is with the partnership of the Connecticut Library Consortium, and some other explosive community groups whose names escape me right now. A lot of people from the Cherry Blossom Festival have been invited to drop by our booth when Sunday rolls around. If you are an aspiring poet, craft your verses and recite them on camera. Or if you’re too bashful, copy it out onto the poetry journal instead.

To attract a crowd, one of our methods that we will use on Sunday, is to offer people some of the homemade sweets Laura has made. This method has proven effective at catching people’s attention, and as kids and adults will enjoy the sweet treat, we are satisfying both their mental and actual sweet tooth with candies and compositions.

It is not too late to join in on the fun! You, too, can find the inner poet in you; who knows, you may even have an outburst of literary genius during the event. Stop by our table in one of the upcoming fairs and festivals.

All you have to do to get a complete schedule of craft shows in your area is to go online and make a casual search on the Internet. It’s easy to find details for fairs and festivals these days. And once you know which one you’re interested in, we’ll see if we can have a booth there as well.

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May 29th, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

Compare Auto Insurance Rates before buying Auto Insurance

by Guiscard Mathurin

Nothing can get more important than the auto insurance rates, when you think of buying auto insurance plans. And why not! As they are considered to influence how much you would end up paying. Thinking of auto insurance rate is thus considered to be the foremost thought people have.

One of the first thing people do is compare auto insurance rates. Doing so is not a tough activity at all, because all insurance companies have to furnish the auto insurance rates of their plans before hand. Declaring the auto insurance rate of an insurance plan thus gives the correct picture to people as far as their payments for the plan are considered.

You may have faced a situation where your friend could have got an auto insurance plan at A auto insurance rate, and you end up getting the same plan at a different auto insurance rate altogether. Dont be surprised because many underlying factors influence the pricing of an auto insurance plan. Remember, auto insurance rates hinge on how old you are, how good your driving history is and a lot of other factors.

So, what are the factors that influence insurance companies to present their auto insurance rates to people? For starters, your driving history will be taken into count before you get the auto insurance rate from the company. If your driving has been bad all this while, then chances are that you could end up paying a higher auto insurance rate.

Secondly, how old you are, and where you would be driving could also cause an impact on the auto insurance rates. If you are a senior citizen and would be driving on the rush hour roads of the city, the chances of you getting a low auto insurance rate is marginal. Quite surprisingly, you will find that women get insurance plans at a lower auto insurance rate. If you belong to the men folk, there are chances you may feel aggrieved, but you might just have to put up with this fact.

Fishing for auto insurance rates from insurance companies is not a tough ask. All you have to do is log in to the Internet, and within minutes, you will get quotes for auto insurance rates from auto insurance companies. The key though is for you to consider the factors mentioned above.

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May 28th, 2009 - Posted in Blogging | | 0 Comments

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