Students Of Success

A good example of this tradition is Fortunato Pio Castellani, who opened his Italian jewelry workshop in Rome around 1814, first creating fashion jewelry from the popular designs. By the 1830s, he had become inspired by the Etruscan discoveries of ancient Italian jewelry. Castellani became the first 19th-century jeweler to create works closely modeled after classical Italian and Greek prototypes, thus creating a new fashion trend.

Castellani was inspired to pursue the ‘granulation’ technique, which was perfected by the Etruscans in the 9th to 4th centuries B.C. and made Italian jewelry of this period so unique. Castellani’s passion for excellence became close to an obsession and resulted in the revival of many ancient techniques which have become some of the greatest contributions to the history of Italian jewelry making.

Fortunato Pio was joined by his two sons, Alessandro and Augusto in the 1850’s, creating and marketing their Italian jewelry designs to local, international patrons, artists and educated tourists visiting Rome. By the 1860s, popular demand for their unique styles, prompted Alessandro Castellani to establish a workshop in Naples in addition to opening shops in London and Paris. The Italian jewelry of this family won widespread acclaim leading to international expositions in Florence, London, and Paris, ultimately becoming the design that every jeweler throughout Europe wanted to duplicate. The fame of Castellani’s designs reached America in 1876, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and the next year the much-praised Italian jewelry collection was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The granulation technique used in creating Italian jewelry by the Castellani family and others are just one of many that every aspiring jeweler must learn. The incorporation of fine detailing and meticulous finishing are the foundation for the luxurious effect that is difficult to find in any other jewelry.

Beside the impact of history and tradition, the reputation of Italian jewelry is supported by its quality standards for silver and gold, which are amongst the highest in the world. The silver grade of “925″ is not the only consideration taken into account. There is also an extreme amount of care given in the production of the alloy and through each step until the finished jewelry piece is completed. Whether the item is crafted by an individual jeweler or from a large jewelry company, silver Italian jewelry production is treated with passion and respect.

The variety of designs you can choose from in silver Italian jewelry covers every style; classical, modern or avant-garde. You can find replicas of designs from different periods in history, such as the Renaissance or you can have your own custom design brought to life.

Uma G. Bennett works as part-time copywriter for SAK Jewelry that offers fine fashion jewelry from Italy featuring natural stones and Swarovski crystals.

With the overwhelming amount of information out there regarding internet merchant accounts, how do you know you’re getting a good rate and with a good company? In this article, I will show you some key things you need to know before you open a merchant account with anyone, whether or not it’s for an Internet store.

The first thing most people don’t realize is that all credit card processors pay the same amount to Visa, MasterCard, etc. when a transaction is processed. These are called interchange rates, and while they vary based upon the type of merchant, the rates are all standardized.

For example, when a customer at a retail store pays $20 with their Visa credit card, Visa charges the merchant’s processor 1.64% ($0.33) plus $0.18, for a total of $0.51. The actual interchange rates can be found several places on the Internet. The current rate for eCommerce merchants is 2.05% + $0.18 per transaction.

It is up to the processor how much to charge the merchant. Usually, this will be around 1.79% plus 25 cents per transaction. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it adds up for large merchants or if the processor has many merchants.

The second thing you should know is that when applying for a new merchant account, you have exceptional bargaining power, even if you’re one of the little guys. For example, the first things to avoid are monthly minimums. There is no need for a processor to charge you a minimum fee per month in addition to their other monthly fees. Cardservice International is fond of this scheme.

Finally, keep in mind that if you’re dealing with a trustworthy agent and processor, you should always be able to negotiate the best discount rate (%) and monthly fees based upon your business needs. Larger clients will probably want lower discount rates, and smaller clients will want lower monthly fees, especially for when sales are slow.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next insider tip!

Brian C. Wiles writes for the Internet Merchant Account Info column and is the founder of Poldon Industries, a company that provides a wide range of services to the merchant account and eCommerce industries. He teaches others what he initially learned from starting a company where people can buy movies on DVD.

I’ve been engaging in reciprocal linking with other websites
for some time. I’ve always been aware that a single incoming
link from a high PR website is worth far more than many links
from low PR websites (the actual ratio is known only to God).
I’ve also always been aware, at least over the last couple of
years, that incoming links from non-relevant websites is not
only valueless but can, in fact, have a negative effect on your
Search Engine ranking (*as opposed to PR).

I’ve written previous articles about linking, one or two of
which have been specifically about the practice of requesting
and accepting links from anybody and everybody. However, I’ve
never been armed with any ‘hard evidence’ with which to support
my plea for some sensible thought about the way in which some
people handle their linking practices. This time around, I have
this little offering from Google, the people who are responsible
for the whole ‘PR’ caboodle.

“How is PR effected if you have text links on a page that is
irrelevant to the website? Links from a non-related site will
still pass PR, but will have little or no effect on the SERPs.
Too many of these might even have a negative effect on SERPs.
Remember, PR matters when all other things are equal, but that
is never the case. You are much better off getting back links
from a relevant PR4 page (and site) with targeted anchor text
than getting back links from an irrelevant PR6.” - Ref:
http://www.prlookup.com/faq.htm

There you go. You may not have heard it here first, but it is
out of ‘the horse mouth’, so to speak. I don’t know how long
this particular piece of information has been available at
Google for all to see (I don’t spend much time in Google’s
‘support’ pages) but it’s there now and I hope that it becomes
common knowledge very quickly.

To some it may not be a revelation. It won’t be of any great
concern either, because like many, they have always been a
little particular about the ‘relevance’ of the websites from
which they accept or request reciprocal (or incoming only)
links. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about being ‘tight’
or ‘mean’ about linking with lower PR websites. I have always
agreed to link with any website that has relevant content.
Provided the website has the same (or related) subject matter, I
don’t care about the PR.

You see, that’s what it’s supposed to be about - supplying
worthwhile links and even alternatives to your users and making
your website available to users of other related websites. How
is this purpose served by supplying users with links to (and
accepting links from) totally unrelated material? Google, along
with the rest of us, tends to think there is no purpose served
at all, hence the possibility of negative effect on your SE
rankings for thinking otherwise.

I know there are many thousands of websites, which use software
to manage their ‘Linking Programs’. Some of this software is
‘automated’ and allows links from anyone who is willing to fill
in a form and post a link to their website first. This type of
‘Linking Program’ has turned many websites into ‘Mini
Directories’, with pages of categorized links which have
absolutely nothing to do with the theme of the website
whatsoever.

What good is a high PR if it doesn’t help your SE rankings, or
even hurts them?

I know this will be disappointing for those who have spent money
on these facilities (especially recently), as well as those who
have had them installed for some time. I feel for those who have
been doing what they have thought to be, or have been advised is
the right thing to do. But I’m sorry, it’s very clear, judging
by Google’s own advice, that these programs have been in the
very least, achieving nothing for the SE rankings by collecting
so many irrelevant links and it’s also possible that in so
doing, they have been “tying a millstone around your necks” and
your website may well have been penalized for it.

That’s not to say that the programs have somehow not done their
job. I believe they are for the purpose of improving ‘link
popularity’, and this is exactly what they have done. However,
link popularity ALONE is not a consideration in the SE ranking
algorithms when the PR has been established with unrelated
links. Remember - “Links from a non-related site will still pass
PR, but will have little or no effect on the SERPs”.

Every day, I still get emails requesting a reciprocal link from
an unrelated website, in which the sender informs me that
“reciprocal linking is a very effective way to increase your
website’s PR and SE rankings”. I hope now that we can all
realize and agree that when it comes to linking for the purpose
of improving SE rankings, it only works if it’s done properly.
This means, as with everything else, there is no quick way and
no ‘automated’ answer. You have to check each website that you
are considering linking to, in order to ascertain if it’s
relevant and consequently, of value to your users (and your site
to it’s users) and the Search Engines.

I wonder if there’s a software program that can quickly and
effortlessly remove incoming links from unrelated sites? I
seriously doubt it, considering it would involve removing
content from websites belonging to others. I feel that for most,
this will be the most difficult problem to deal with as once
they are there, they are there to stay. How do you undo so much
hard work?

For people who truly want to meet someone for a special relationship, sometimes a careful examination of traditions and expectations of each possible partner is necessary to give the relationship a chance, to bring trust in the relationship and avoid being disappointed.

What about a Russian Bride? Russian women are much more traditional minded, caring, loving, and loyal in their views of love and marriage. They stand proudly in times of hardship, and will devote their love and trust to you for a lifetime.

Another truth about Russian girls is that are more “dressed up” when you see them on the street anywhere in Russia. “Will they continue the custom once they are settled in their new country?” The answer is frequently YES.
A Russian girl would most likely marry a man with whom she felt a high level of trust, honesty, love AND some financial security as well. Please keep in mind that financial security might be defined by many of these Russian girls as the man’s ability to pay monthly expenses and have some money left over for discretional spending.

Filipina girls have been brought up in a culture where stability in a marriage is most important, that’s why so many of these girls marry older foreign men. There’s not a lot of jobs for Phillippine men so naturally the girls are receptive to older stable foreigners.

To the Filipina girls the ideal relationship is a series of stages over a long period of time. Engagements more often last for several years. When courting the Filipina you are not courting just her, you are courting the entire family. She will also expect this from you. They have a very high regard for marriage and view being married as a life long commitment.

I am sure that you have heard about Romanian woman that she is a wonderful mom, is proud but not squeamish. She take good care of how she looks without spending $2,000 per month just for clothes and hair styling. When her husband is coming back home late, she is waiting for him with love and patience and she knows to appreciate him and his work.

Imagine that you are going home, after a long day of work and stress, and a gorgeous women is embracing and kissing you, happy to see the master of her heart and her life. The dinner is prepared and it smell so good while she is all over you in order to make you feel good and forget all about stress, work or problems.

Another interesting thing about Romanian women is that they are used to go to work and don’t like to be only a housekeeper. That’s because most of them have spent a lot of time in schools trying to become someone able to make good money. In Romania life is difficult and without a College degree it’s hard to obtain a good job.

But don’t even bother to find and contact a Romanian women if you have drink problems or if you don’t know how to respect and appreciate a woman.

Good luck to you and… FOLLOW your Heart!

Visit the largest database of Romanian brides at http://www.eBridex.com

Everyone wants a huge chest, plain and simple. It is all too common to see inexperienced lifters slaving away on endless sets of bench presses and cable crossovers in search of full, thick pecs. The reality is that there is nothing complicated about building an impressive chest. The bottom line for huge chest gains is consistency, effort and steady progression in weight and repetitions.

The chest is made up of two main heads, the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor. To stimulate the chest using weights you will be using one of two motions: a press or a flye. If you want the greatest bang for your buck from your chest workouts, the true gains lie in your pressing movements. Flyes may have their place from time to time, but nothing can compare to the overall anabolic effect of high intensity pressing movements. I’m talking about the basic, bread-and-butter lifts such as heavy barbell presses, dumbbell presses and wide-grip dips. Save the pec-deck and cable crossovers for the pencil necked geeks on the treadmill; real men train with real lifts.

Like I said before, building a thick and well-developed chest is fairly simple. There are no secrets, magic formulas or killer techniques that will “shock” your chest into massive growth. Stick to your basic presses, focus on overload and progression, and I promise that you will see impressive gains. Here are the most effective lifts for packing muscle onto the chest:

Flat/Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press:

A standard barbell press is the meat and potatoes of any effective chest routine. This basic compound movement will allow you to handle the most weight through the given range of motion. The incline press will shift more of the stress to the upper region of the chest while the decline does the opposite, targeting the lower/outer region. The flat bench press works the upper and lower regions equally. I highly recommend a standard barbell press as a basic component of your chest routine.

Flat/Incline/Decline Dumbbell Press:

Dumbbell presses are another basic and highly effective movement for stimulating chest development. The main advantage that they have over the barbell is that they allow you to move through a more natural range of motion, helping to prevent shoulder injuries. They also prevent strength imbalances from occurring since one arm can’t cheat for the other. The only drawback is that you are not able to handle as much weight. Overall, a standard dumbbell press is an awesome movement that allows for great chest stimulation.

Wide-Grip Dips:

An amazing movement for the chest that is often overlooked. Make sure to use a wider grip and lean forward to shift the stress from the triceps onto the pectorals. If pressing your own body weight is not sufficient then you can always add weight using a weight belt. Dips are an excellent compound movement for overall chest development.

Here are a couple sample chest routines:

1) Flat Barbell Bench Press: 2 x 5-7
Incline Dumbbell Press: 2 x 5-7
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 x 5-7

2) Incline Barbell Bench Press: 2 x 5-7
Wide-Grip Dips: 2 x 5-7
Flat Dumbbell Press: 2 x 5-7

All sets should stay within the 5-7 rep range and should be taken to complete muscular failure. Write down the details of each workout you perform and focus on progressing in either weight or reps from week to week. There is nothing more to it than that. Good luck!

Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert and writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. If you want to learn how to build the greatest amount of lean muscle mass and strength in the shortest period of time possible, visit his website: www.MuscleGainTruth.com/

If you are about to start University, then it pays to know about the student loan process. Most students take out some form of student loan during their study to help them pay for their fees and living expenses. If you are unsure about how student loans work, then this guide will be able to help you.

How are loans paid?

Student loans are paid in three instalments each year, usually once each term. The first payment is usually made by cheque, and then after that payments will go straight into your bank account.

How much can I receive?

The amount you will receive depends on where in the country you are going to attend University, as well as the financial status of you and your family. You can opt to get a fixed amount per year, or you can be income assessed and the maximum amount you can receive will be determined. You can take as little or as much of this amount as you want. On average the amount you can receive ranges from £1,500 to £4,500 each year, depending on your financial status.

How do I pay back the loan?

After you have finished University, you will begin paying back the loan. Repayments will start from the April after you graduate, although you only need to repay money after you start earning above £15,000 per year, calculated on a monthly basis. The amount you pay back will be taken out of your wages just like tax, at a sliding rate. You can also pay back more than this if you wish, by sending money to the appropriate authority.

What is the interest?

The interest on student loans is subsidised by the Government, and so you only pay back the same amount that you borrowed, adjusted for inflation. However long it takes you to pay back the loan, you will only pay back the same amount in real terms that you borrowed.

What are the advantages of taking out a loan?

The advantages of taking out a loan are that you have money in order to pay for your living costs whilst at University, meaning that you can concentrate on your studies rather than having to work to earn money. This will help you to achieve better grades and give you more free time. Also, taking out an interest free loan is better than getting into debt on high interest credit cards. These debts are more serious and have to be paid back or they will keep increasing.

Are there any disadvantages?

Obviously, the major disadvantage of taking out student loans is that you will come out of University with a large amount of debt. This can seem troubling at first, but you should remember that most students have the same problem, and because you are not paying interest the debt is not going to rise. You should think of the student loans as an investment in your future that will help you to achieve your career goals.

Inexpensive paper plates are the basic ingredient in how to make party hat creations for your kids party. If you have a unique party theme and can’t find hats to match, just make
your own. The kids will enjoy the hand-on approach and you’ll save a few dollars in the process.

Paper Plate Party Hat

Start with a quantity of inexpensive paper plates, the kind with the scalloped edge. The entire outer edge of the plate will form the band which goes around the child’s head. The center of the plate will be colored, drawn on, or otherwise decorated

Start by just cutting out the headband part, leaving the circular interior portion of the plate flipped up to decorate. Simply stick on a picture which pertains to your party theme. This could be a Barbie picture, a race car, or
whatever. It’s easy to copy pictures you find on the internet, or in children’s coloring books, and let kids color them in.

Another easy paper plate hat design is a heart shape. Fold the plate in half and draw half a heart on it. Keep the plate folded and cut around the heart, leaving it connected to the scalloped band. Then just open the plate and bend the heart up. This same method could be used to make a pop-up birthday cake hat, castle hat, choo-choo train hat, kitty cat hat, you name it! Designs with symmetry work best.

Try cutting out the entire inside of the plate, and simply glue or staple on bits of tulle, ribbon, streamers or whatever around the edges. This works well for Easter bonnets or fancy dress-up party hats.

Another option is to cut out the inner circle of a paper plate. Staple a paper bowl to the paper plate. Decorate with silk flowers, fabric, tulle, felt, ribbons, markers. Add
ribbon or light elastic to opposite sides of the plate to secure on the head.

You can even take an intact paper plate, and decorate with a daisy, sunflower, sun, or ladybug design. Paint the plate in the desired color and let dry. Cut out flower petals, sun’s rays, or ladybug spots in the appropriate colors and let kids construct the design of their choice. As always, run a knotted ribbon through a hole on either side of the plate to hold the “bonnet” on.

Paper Plate Crown

Place a 9 inch plate on a 10 3/4 inch paper plate and trace around it. Divide the 9 inch circle on the larger paper plate into 8 equal parts, like a pie. Start at the center and cut along each line 3 inches. Bend the triangle shapes up
like a crown. Paint and decorate with glitter or foil cut-outs.

Paper Plate Visor

Make a visor hat by cutting out the center of a paper plate to make a band to fit on the child’s head. Then cut the round plate center into a half-circle and staple it to the band. Decorate as desired.

Paper plates aren’t just for eating! Use these ideas to make one-of-a-kind kids party hats for your next kids party.

Copyright 2005 Kids Party Paradise All Rights Reserved

Patricia B. Jensen is a mother of three and kids party enthusiast. She is the webmaster and owner of Kids-Party-Paradise.com - a complete resource for kids party ideas including invitations, cakes, decorations, games, costumes, favors, and food.

For all the latest party news, read her Kids Party Blog.

One of the most talked about communications tools of today, VoIP
(Voice Over Internet Protocol) makes it possible for you to make
a call from anyplace so long as you have a broadband connection,
making it well-suited for traveling.

Teleconference VoIP software can make a teleconference more
productive and run more smoothly, as the software has features
that will provide teleconference participants with more
flexibility and interactivity. VoIP web conferencing may also be
among the features provided by a typical VoIP software vendor.

Learning More About What VoIP Can Bring To Your Company

Most traditional phone companies charge extra for additional
features. However, these features usually come with the VoIP
software. VoIP software features include caller ID, call
waiting, and call transfer. The VoIP software also allows for
repeat dialing, return call, and three-way dialing. For
conferencing, you might need separate conferencing software, but
there are many available teleconferencing VoIP software
solutions available, some of them also offering web VoIP
conferencing.

Some VoIP service providers provide advanced call filtering
features that allow you to decide how to handle your outgoing
calls based on the caller ID. These software features include
forwarding the call to a different number or a voice mail.
Software features also allow you to give the caller a busy
signal or play a “not-in-service” message.

In addition, some VoIP service providers allow you to check your
voice mail over the internet or attach messages to e-mail sent
to your computer or PDA. When signing up for a VoIP service
account, be sure to check out the VoIP features included in the
package and how much the VoIP service costs.

Among the cost-saving benefits that come with VoIP technology is
the ease of maintenance, as only one network has to be
maintained instead of two. The portability of the phone system
is simplified, and VoIP system configuration can be performed
using a web interface.

With a VoIP system, multiple offices in different locations can
share many VoIP features, such as one single receptionist, auto
attendant facilities, and voice mail system.