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Many people don’t know how easy it really is to run a successful newsletter. They also don’t realize how important having one is either. There are two main types of newsletters: those that are free and those you pay for.

Newsletters are the best way to generate sales and will be for years to come. It is critical that you offer a FREE subscription to a newsletter on your web site and every person you meet. Your subscription information should be on your web site and in your signature file.

People that subscribe to your newsletter will become very loyal customers as long as you show them you are honest, credible, and that you know what you are talking about. They will not only buy from you now but they will buy from you in the future because you built a good rapport with them.

You may be thinking, “I don’t have a newsletter.” Well, you will want one because they bring in tons of cash if you use them right. Think about this situation:

Someone is surfing the web for accounting software and comes across your web site, and you happen to be selling the software they need. If you don’t stir their interest in the first few seconds, they will be gone.

But what about this situation:

This person surfs to your web site and sees the offer of a free monthly newsletter on tax tips and accounting software shortcuts. They sign up, which retains the person’s interest in your site a little longer, and it gets them interacting with it. Even if they move on you have their email address so you can send them your newsletter and other offers each month.

Remember, as you get subscribers for your newsletter, they are potential clients with whom you have built credibility. By doing this you have established a base to offer your other products and services.

Ok. I know I have to create a newsletter. What should I call the newsletter? The name you come up with should tie into what you are providing at your site. It should highlight you as an expert in your field of endeavor.

The information contained within could be articles, tips, anything of interest about your field or occupation. Of course, no matter what you put in the newsletter make sure you put in a blurb about one of your products and/or services.

To run a newsletter you need a place or person to run it. One such company or site is Listserve or Majordomo. You can go to http://www.listserve.com for this service or just type in majordomo in any search engine.

The second way to run a newsletter is through a program called Mailloop (http://www.mailloop.com/). With Mailloop you can run the newsletter yourself. Mailloop will automatically subscribe, unsubscribe, and send out your monthly newsletter.

You can also offer it as a paid subscription type of newsletter. Some people charge up to $200 a year for their newsletter. If you have something of great value that people really can’t get elsewhere, they will pay you for it.

When you run a newsletter you can decide on whether to have it as a weekly, monthly, or yearly newsletter. Most common types of newsletters are published, printed and mailed out every month. In the case of the Internet and e-zines, you don’t have printing cost, postage cost, none of that. All you need is your email program and a dial-up account to get online.

The components that make up a newsletter are the header, table of contents, articles and information, teasers, and sponsorships.

The header should be at the top with the name of the newsletter, date, title of the topic, and your contact information.

Table of Contents organizes your newsletter and lets the reader decide what he or she wants to read.

Articles and information should not be more than 60 characters per line. If it is too large, offer it in two parts.

The Teaser is used to inform your reader of your next issue so they will be looking forward to reading it with interest.

A Sponsorship is a great tool. Just don’t overdue it. Usually you should have just one sponsor because it will clutter your newsletter.

Use dividers to separate sections like dots (……….), underscores (______), asterisks (****), dashes (——), or equal signs (======).

Creating the newsletter is one big hurdle, but now comes an even bigger hurtle-attracting subscribers.

1. Make sure to create a web page devoted to your newsletter, including subscription information and anything else that is needed. Then, have a link from your main page to that page. Even have a link from all your other pages to your newsletter page. This way they will see your subscription offer everywhere.
2. Another way is to post an offer for a free subscription in related newsgroups.
3. Offer a free subscription in related email discussion lists.
4. Offer a free subscription in related emails.
5. Offer a free subscription in classified ads.
6. Offer a free subscription in forums and BBS postings.
7. Offer a free subscription in your signature file.
8. Do press releases to get publicity for your newsletter.

As I said before, newsletters are very good and very powerful. Create one and use it to great advantage. You’ll be glad you did.

Harry Husted is a freelance writer, copywriter, instructor and computer expert, living in Edison, NJ. He has published a computer repair and copywriting book. His Web site is http://www.thecomputersociety.com. You can write him at husted@thecomputersociety.com.

Should you be scanning for the best offer on Dishwashers, looking on the world wide web can be a fantastic method to make sure you don’t waste valuable time and money. If you’re tired of trawling all around high-street retail outlet after high-street store scanning for your new dishwasher then why don’t you jump on your laptop and get on line and begin shopping.

You should constantly acquire your new appliance from shops you very much trust, still, if you are presented with a scattering of unknown brands on the world wide web this will probably be challenging. A tremendous way to stave off using poor quality shops is to shop with on line shops who additionally own a strong high street presence. You very much should additionally be certain to thoroughly scan the terms and conditions of every one of the web sites you’re seriously pondering purchasing from.

Yet another approach to pick out a well respected web retailer When you are scanning for quality dishwashers is to check whether the web-site have a dispassionate and illustrative shoppers handbook. Consulting a buyers guide can often furthermore throw up a lot of issues you could not have considered if you were merely shopping independently. These could possibly include; energy usage, further features and storage capacity amongst other things. Grab great value dishwashers here.

Be extremely wary of concealed costs - VAT and home delivery fees that are tacked on at the payment stage might regularly transmute that first unbelievable price that you found for your families dishwasher into something wholly unremarkable.

Some internet shops are quicker than others - if the speed at which you get your families dishwasher is really not a problem then this should not bother you a great deal. Nevertheless, if you’d rather not be manually washing the knifes and forks and pans over Xmas then you might want to pick a retailer which gives guaranteed home-delivery times.

Dishwashers can ofttimes look the business when they are in a showroom or on a site but end up disappointed when they reaches your house. So be sure to check the returns policy of the web-site you are ordering from.

Ah, well, now, wasn’t that all very pleasant, eh? A few alco-pops to celebrate a year with my sweetheart, yes, an anniversary in other words, and, ooh, I feel a bit sick all of a sudden, and, oh, heck, I seem to be spewing black blood down the pan. Hmmm. Not so good after all. Well, hmmm, uh, I guess, well, I know, I’ll just pretend that didn’t happen
and maybe all will be ok. Well, actually, no, I ought to tell someone.

So, when my sweetheart had got back from town that morning, I let it slip. Big mistake. Before I know where I am,
there’s a doctor doing some bedside vigil, blood pressure performance. My blood pressure was fine. Well, to be
honest, I felt kind of glad that I’d let people know, cos, well, it could have been serious.

Well, he was concerned, and wanted me to get to the hospital straight away, and, though I didn’t really want to, I was driven there, where, due to it being an emergency, I saw a nurse in a room adjacent to the waiting room who took my blood pressure, which was fine. Due to the urgency of there having been blood in my vomit, I was told to go to the waiting room, where I would be seen to immediately.

Three hours later, my name was called and I was given a bed in the A and E department, where they took my blood
pressure. It was still fine. I was told to wait, as due to there having been blood in my vomit, I would have to stay in for the night, so my condition could be monitored, so, another three hours later, due to the urgency of my case, I was put
into a wheelchair and wheeled to the Emergency Medical Unit, where I was to have my bed for the night.

Once there, because of the emergency that had happened 10 hours ago, they felt it imperative to take my blood
pressure, but, phew! against all odds, it seemed fine. That was a close one.
I don’t like needles, and, because I have quite small veins, the extraction of blood can be a quite lengthy process, but, when the doctor came to see me an hour or so later, she sent me to tourniquet hell, but seven attempts later, a droplet was ceremoniously, and carefully, allowed to dribble down a test tube, where it would be sent for analysis. As I said, I don’t like needles, so I was kind of done in when she came to take my blood pressure, but even the recent trauma of a needle, allowed her to proclaim proudly, that all was fine. That’s ok, then.

You may remember that I had been sick several epochs earlier. I tend to feel a bit thirsty after a drink the night before, but due to the askew frantic nature of the day, I hadn’t had a drink of water, but, thank the lord, I was now allowed one.

I had spewed last night’s tea up earlier, but hadn’t been allowed to eat anything. I was a tad thirsty and mightily ravenous, but, I ended the day, with a sip of water and Ronnie Corbett’s autobiography, where, for such a little fellow, his chapters seemed unnaturally fixated on what he eats at certain golfing functions.

I tried to get some sleep, but, regrettably, there was a bloke in his 90s in the next bed, named George, from Geordieland (I’m not even going there, don’t worry), in a lot of pain, so, I was kept awake that night, by him shouting: “Let me die! Let me die! Let me die!” Whatever he said, he repeated three times, so, sometimes it was the “let me die” one, but
this was augmented with “Get me to heaven x3″, “Hell will do x3″, or, in a complete turnaround, after morphine, again, repeated three times, the less pressing: “Aaah, that’s heaven.” (Well, he’d got his wish, then.)

Breakfast was served the next morning at seven. I was shattered, very hungry, so was relieved to have two slices of toast, and a cup of tea. After that, my blood pressure was taken (yes, it was fine), and I was told that, later that day, I
would have a tube go down into my stomach, to see what the cause may have been. Jesus H! All I wanted was to go home, and get some rest. I felt fine.

Well, throughout this, my sweetheart was great. She’d come over the evening before, with the kids, and stayed til
10:30, and through the tedium of the next day, she was, once again, there as soon as she could be, so we faced the boredom together. We bought a chess set, did some crosswords, and waited. Then a nurse told me that I would be allowed to go home, and come back, as an out-patient, to have the stomach scan. This was fantastic news. All I had to do was hang around for the ward doctor to just check up on me, then I could go. By 2:30, that afternoon, he still hadn’t seen me, and Tracy had to go, to get the kids from school.

Typically, he saw me soon after she had left, where, despite what the nurse had said, I was told I would have to, after all, stay another night, as I might have to wait ages for the scan, were I an out-patient. Jesus Christ, this was getting
absurd. Never mind, I agreed to all he said, and, carried on reading Ronnie. At least the chapters were becoming less painful to read, due to my being allowed food.

I was all mentally prepared, my hatches battened down for another stint, when, yet another nurse came over to my bed, told me it wasn’t serious after all, and I could, after all, get the hell out. Well, for god’s sake, I could have told them all that, over a day before, but there we are, I was given some antacid pills, told to go and see my GP when I got home, and that was that. I had felt fine the whole time I was there, and all I came away with was some jumped up Andrews Liver Salts.

My blood pressure was fine
throughout…

Freelance Journalist: can be contacted at: holmes@worrytheenot.com.

Personal website: worrytheenot.com

Here are some general tips from an advanced player for all of you who are looking for an edge in this game. You may know some or all the things in this article depending on your skill level. Even if you are an expert player this article should help you remember the fundamental that make you a good player. This article focuses on individual fighting tips, perhaps a future article will address team strategy.

Weapon Combos:
From close range you can hit for a lot more damage when holding two weapons. From a distance, the battle rifle is the weapon of choice if you cannot get your hands on a sniper rifle. My favorite combo for quick kills is the plasma rifle/smg combo and the pistol/smg combo. If you aim at the opponents head and they don’t aim at your head, like most people, they will be wondering how they died so fast. The plasma rifle combo is better against multiple opponents and the pistol is more effective against single opponents. This is because the pistol runs out of ammo quickly. If you can find a plasma pistol, the plasma pistol/smg combo is not bad, but it leaves you vulnerable if you miss the charged shot or if there are multiple opponents.

Plasma Pistol/Battle Rifle:
This in my opinion is the ultimate combo. If you are at close to medium range, hit them with the plasma pistol and shoot them in the head with the battle rifle. At long range, pick them off with the battle rifle. This is a frustrating combo to fight against when the opponent is good. This is one of the reasons you see a lot of Human Slayer games now.

Grenades:
This is one of the things that separate good players from weaker ones. It takes a lot of practice to become an expert with grenades, but it is one of the easiest ways to kill someone. Use common sense, throw the grenade where the player will be not where they are right now. If you see someone running towards you, backup behind a wall and throw a grenade in their path. If you are surrounded, try to get off two grenades and you will sometimes get several kills. If you hit someone with a frag grenade, and you hit them in the head with a battle rifle, they die in one shot.

Melee:
If you are shooting someone and you can walk up to them, melee them if you can. Sometimes it is better to back up rather than melee. For example if you are dual wielding and did not get the first shot off against a single wielder, back off so you kill him rather than get meleed. Don’t forget that you lunge slightly when you melee, so use that to your advantage.

Where to walk:
Try to flank people as much as possible. For example if you are on top of big base sniping and you see someone on the radar coming up, look through or jump through the hole behind you and take them out. On ivory tower, if you are at the top and see someone coming from dark side, jump down a level and flank them. Do not run into rooms with more than one enemy, let them come to you or weaken them with grenades first, it is much easier to kill them that way.
Summary: The #1 tip I can give you is to aim for the head no matter what weapon you are using, except the shotgun. You will kill them a lot faster. Other than that, learn the maps and the weapon combos that work best in different situations.

About the Author

Tony James is a supporter of freeware games and runs (Freewaregames.net-free fullversion games) a well known freeware resource with the hottest free games

Laminate flooring imitates the aspect of traditional wood. Their biggest advantage is that they are very easy to install and very durable. Laminate flooring are suitable for many of your rooms: hallways, family spaces, bathrooms, kitchens. Also they are perfect for an active home.

At first look, laminate flooring seems to be a natural wood floor but in fact is a layer of paper under a tough protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. There are also types of laminate planks that are installed over a moisture barrier which levels any uneven areas of the floor. You don’t need any glue or nails for them because the planks snap together.

Before choosing a laminate flooring material you should think about the type of traffic in your house. One other advantage for laminate flooring is the durability. So this type of floor is one of the best choices for households with heavy foot traffic, kids, or pets. But, best of all, laminates will look like new for years.

Laminates are also highly resistant to stains, fading and moisture and many laminate flooring manufacturers offer warranty protection against them for a long period of time (usually from 10 to 25 years).

If you already have a type of floor this doesn’t represents a problem for you. Laminate flooring can be installed over floors like wood, tile, vinyl or linoleum because most of them are floating which means they do not fasten directly to the subfloor. Also, at this moment, many manufacturers offer snap-together laminate flooring systems.

A typical laminate flooring is and extremely economical solution, if you take in consideration the costs of alternate flooring solutions. Solid hardwood floors will require 4-5 refinishings and carpets and vinyls will need to be replaced at least twice (depending on traffic loads), while laminates don’t require anything.

Laminates come in different styles an types. You can find transition strips, end caps, stair nosings, moldings and baseboards. Almost anything you need you can find at a laminate flooring manufacturer. There are companies that offer floor registers for heating and air vents.

Laminate flooring provides a much cleaner and healthier living environment when compared to other floorings such as carpets, with regular cleaning cycles. It accumulates less dust, pet dander, allergens and it doesn’t hold residual stain contaminants on the surface. Allergic people will often be recommended to remove the carpets from the living space.

In conclusion laminate floors are a very good choice for your home because there are durable, resistant, economical and easy to install.

Laminate flooring enthusiasts unite! Installation, maintenance, selection, e.g., Harmonics, Pergo, Shaw, Mannington - you name it, we are talking about it. Join us at http://laminateflooring.oncloud8.com

Movie and record producers alike are saying file-sharing networks that permit its users the ability to make copies from other network member’s computers are infringing on the copyright laws and costing billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The recording industry claims to have lost 25% of it’s revenues since computer, so called thieves, have been using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to obtain free music downloads.

The two latest file-sharing companies to be targeted by these copyright lawsuits are Grokster Ltd, known for its Grokster file-sharing software and StreamCast Networks Inc. from which the Morpheus free music downloading software is distributed.

Unlike Napster, Grokster and Morpheus put a spin on the popular file-sharing phenomenon. Instead of indexing the shared files like Napster did, these file-sharing products enables it’s network members to build their own indexes - thus allowing others within the network to download free music and movie files.

While some musicians are protesting they are being cheated by these illegal free music downloads - others are speaking out backing how music, movies, pictures and copy are being shared over the Internet.

Some music lovers actually use the file-sharing networks to check out an artists latest release before paying up to $18 for a CD that may only have one good song on it. You still will have those that will never make a purchase and continue to take advantage of the free music download networks.

Many file-sharing network users have said that using these networks is good for the music industry. File-sharing can bring listeners to smaller, independent bands that they may not otherwise hear on radio or in the mainstream.

With the likes of Apple’s iTunes store many have turned their backs on file-sharing networks paying 99 cents per song - Apple claims to sell more than 1 millions songs everyday. Although iTunes is limited still, thus giving file sharing networks a void to fill the unlimited access to music and movies that may otherwise not be able from iTunes.

In late 2003 record companies started suing individuals that were downloading free music. With file-sharing networks like Grokster and Morpheus it will be much harder for the recording industry to track down files that are uploaded by individual users.

With the Supreme Court now involved they are expected to make some type of ruling in June 2005 on what if any action should be taken against the makers of file-sharing network software.

The wrong decision could discourage the future development of products like the iPod or other file-sharing software programs that could be used for legal purposes.

Since Grokster and Morpheus do not monitor or have any knowledge of who or what is being downloaded, a federal judge in Los Angeles and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the copyright infringement charges against both these file-sharing networks.

Based on the 1984 ruling of the Supreme Court that stated the use of Sony Betamax, which allowed users to make copies at home of copyrighted TV programs, was legal.

The recording industries angle last week was that the approach companies like Grokster and Morpheus are making by advertising their software will provide access to free copies of copyrighted materials should allow them to be sued and shut down.

While the jury may be out on this one for sometime - file sharing networks and free music downloads will continue with most users not really worrying about getting sued, since most do not download free music in excess of a few files per month.

Copyright 2005 - Tim Somers, 3G Enterprises, LLC

MusicHoncho.com
Your Leader for free music downloads, MP3s, CDs, Music Movies and Electronics and many other music related products and services.
http://www.musichoncho.com

Here is a case in point- 2004 was a strange, if not bad, year for movies. Now, I’m not talking about the quality of films, they were probably right on par. But, Hollywood has been growing scared. Scared to create films that fall away from standard conventions and afraid to try films that may tilt a couple heads or raise a few brows. If it wasn’t for a few HUGE films in 2004, including some that distributors were afraid of, everybody may have felt that Hollywood was losing us. However, it seems that Hollywood is willing to turn a cheek and come stronger than it ever has this century [never mind Lord of the Rings] with the bringing in of 2005.

2004 Poor for Movies
I can understand how it may be hard to fathom that Hollywood did not have one of its best years during 2004. Sure, the film companies were still able to pull in film revenues with a little over nine billion, but ticket sales were actually DOWN by a startling two percent. Now, I know this doesn’t sound like much, but it is! For the year of 2004, distributors were planning on conquering the box offices with films such as Troy, Alexander, The Whole Ten Yards, The Village and Van Helsing. However, all of these films flopped [Van Helsing is doing great with DVD though]. No matter how impressive the battles or sequences, audiences left the theatres feeling unsatisfied. So what was wrong with the films? And who saved 2004?

Four of the biggest hitters of 2004 came out of either CG animation or children’s tales. Shrek 2 began with a bang and was able to gross somewhere just under $450 million in ticket sales. Then we had Pixar’s The Incredibles, which proved that animated films with adult-style action and subject matter can still be successful [~$275 million gross]. Last of the animations was Spider-Man 2 [the fights were almost entirely animated]. I can call this an animation as the fight scenes were well animated and the film seemed to run like a perfect animated comic [~$370 million gross]. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, based of the ‘childrens’ book [I beg to differ], couldn’t lose with a darker atmosphere set up by Alfonso Cuaron [pulled in $250 million]. Obviously, the four listed films were expected to do well in the theatres and all three performed gracefully. But what about the films that nobody wanted or were afraid to touch?

The two films that were handled like boiling water were Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Even though these films caused a lot of tension amidst their distributors [Einstein was pissed!], the two films managed to pull just under a combined $500 million in ticket sales. So that would make five big blockbusters for the year; not nearly enough. While Passion and Fahrenheit were more than plesent surprises, what about the other films?

The best thing to come out of 2004 is the amount of surprise hits that were able to maintain some theatre presence longer than just opening weekend. The only thing that hurt most the surprise hits for 2004 was the invisible barrier that would not allow a lot of films to break the $100 million mark. Here are some of the films that were able to break that mark [with a brief thought on how they were]:

Shark Tale- I would hope this out of a high cast CGI animation
I, Robot- I still don’t know if I liked this film or not. Seemed a little rushed.
National Treasure- One of the best surprise films all year.
The Village- Only got passed $100 million thanks to hype.

Luckily, Hollywood did not have to rely on only these films. Even though the industry hoped to have at least double the number of films to get passed the $100 million mark, there were some other sleeper films that helped maintain high 2004 numbers. Some of these films include Mean Girls [a teenie bopper that anybody could like], Man on Fire, and The Notebook, Friday Night Lights and Napoleon Dynamite.

What’s Wrong with Movies in 2004?
Eternal Sunshine takes you on a journey through love and the mind.The best example to give for what happened to movies in 2004 is the upcoming Academy Awards. Take a close look at the nominated films, what we have are dramas and bio-pics. People are losing interest; our top rated films are the ones that few people saw. We don’t have a Lord of the Rings this year, or any other film that people want to sit down and root for. Want further proof? Why do you think Chris Rock is stepping in as host in order to atract a younger crowd?

Also, where the hell is Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind? I know it has a few nominations, but it deserves a few more. The film, starring Jim Carrey, only grossed $34 million in ticket sales [domestically] and was probably one of the most unique and plain out cool films of the year. Forget the biographies and the straight forward dramas, Spotless offers up an extremely unique outlook on love and the new ways to handle it. And, mind you, it falls entirely away from the simple conventions overly used in films during 2004.

In conclusion– Hollywood needs to get people back in the theatres and buying tickets for films that deserve hyped attention. The best way to do this is by creating blockbusters that can actually remain in theatres longer than an opening weekend or two. Viewers are tired of films that just go through the motions and are now seeking something extremely polished or unique. Films of 2004 had lost the ability of ‘word of mouth’, but I expect that 2005 should regain all of this– as Hollywood now seems ready to take some chances.

About the Author

Ryan Parsons
Owner of CanMag.Com
Check out Movie Trailers for more articles
Article use by permission with backlink to CanMag.Com

Remaking a classic song that was originally recorded by the Queen of hip-hop and soul takes a great deal of confidence. But to remake the classic in Reggaeton N’ B, a new genre of music, requires great talent. This summer, Thalisha, La Princesa of Reggaeton N’ B, delivers and shines the spotlight on this new genre when “Real Love” hits airwaves.

Reggaeton N’ B is a fusion of the sounds of Reggaeton and the soul of R&B. Reggaeton is the Spanish language dancehall music blended with Reggae rhythms and influenced by hip-hop. The genre exploded on the music scene in the mid-90s and continues to gain international popularity.

This single marks the first time that the 17-year-old vocal powerhouse has collaborated with hit-making producers Elijah Wells and Lionel Birmingham, also known as The Jettsonz. Wells and Birmingham are best known as the driving force behind Nina Sky’s mega-hit Move Ya Body.

Although Thalisha has released several club-friendly favorites, including 2004’s Dance Floor, Real Love will be the first of her many Reggaeton N’ B releases. Some of Thalisha’s other earlier successes include Oh and NY, NY.

Thalisha continues to be a passionate live performer, entertaining her fans nationally and internationally. Earlier this year, she opened for Jadakiss, one of hip-hop’s platinum-selling artists, and returned to Europe for a Switzerland tour.

In addition to working on her forthcoming album Growing Pains, Thalisha will be promoting Real Love throughout the United States.

About The Author

Karen Sears is a freelance writer.

The word is spreading. Sign language is a great way to communicate with pre-verbal babies and toddler. New moms everywhere are grabbing American Sign Language books and absorbing them feverishly. Pregnancy classes are full of moms teaching each other basic sign language and day care centers across the country are training their teachers in sign language.

Why would you do such a thing?

Some of the benefits of signing are:

Less frustration for baby - Imagine how it feels to grunt and point and not be able to ask for what you want. Put yourself in your baby’s shoes. You’re a baby. You’ve been playing and squealing and laughing and now your mouth is dry and you’re really thirsty for milk. You grunt and point and whine for milk — and your mother misunderstands and gives you a dry cracker instead, thinking you’re hungry for a snack. You feel very frustrated and possibly angry. You might even throw the cracker back at your mother or hit her out of frustration. What if, instead, you could simply sign milk and get milk? Pure bliss!

Bonding with Parents - Babies who sign are able to interact and be acknowledged at a younger age. Picture you and your baby looking at a book about elephants. She can show you that she understands the story by signing “elephant” to you well before she could say the three syllable word “elephant”. You know that your baby understands and is benefiting from the story and you can respond “yes, it is a big elephant”, thereby rewarding her for her efforts.

Sibling bonding - Older siblings are given the tools to bond with their new brother or sister sooner, because the baby can sign, well before speech is possible. Not only is there a bond, but I’ve witnessed a sense of camaraderie because the older sibling can act as an interpreter for the baby in situations with non-signing adults.

How to start
You may, at this point, feel overwhelmed. After all, you are learning a second language — with no one to teach you. Please don’t worry. First of all, you only need to learn a few words to being signing with your baby.

Begin with 4-6 words — choose a few words that are of importance to you (words that will make your life easier, like eat, milk, more, etc.) and also choose some that are of interest to your baby (for instance, airplane, ball, book, dog, cat, baby, etc.). This ensures that both of you are rewarded for your efforts.

Once you choose a few words, you can begin signing whenever you say those words. When your baby cries, you say “Do you want milk?” Then, sign milk at the baby’s eye level so she will begin to associate the cause and effect and realize hands MEAN something!

At what age should you start? You can start from birth on. The earlier you start, the more time you, as the parent, will have to get comfortable signing. Babies 6 months and older will begin to watch your hand movements. Babies 8 months old may begin to make very rudimentary attempts to sign back to you. By one year, your baby will likely be signing regularly.

If you have an older baby or toddler who is having frustration issues or is a late talker, begin signing. Start today. Toddlers pick up signing very quickly.

Don’t think you have to learn an entire language for this to work. Just learn one sign today and get started. Enjoy the gift of communicating with your baby!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Dean is the owner of www.showkidsthefun.com/baby.html , a fun resource for parents to spend time with their children.
For more help getting started signing, check out SIGN with your BABY Complete Learning Kit (link to http://www.showkidsthefun.com/signkit.html )

The Good Old Boy system has lead to incompetent people in powerful positions!
Bureaucratic Red Tape & Incompetence are the symptoms of systematic CORRUPTION:

These career politicians must be loyal to their organizations, clicks & parties above the law (the Constitution) in order to remain a “Team Player” & not a potential Whistle Blower (a threat to the good old boys).

This Corruption leads to the promotion of individuals who are promoted based on their loyalty to the organization & not their job performance. This leads to incompetent & corrupt individuals in positions of power. The Good-Old-Boy System is to blame and these federal blunders are just the tip of the iceberg!

National Security is the last job that we can afford someone incompetent to be placed in! Well, actually the last job that we can afford someone incompetent in is the Presidency! Another good old boy promotion.

Bad intelligence can lead to unjust wars!

The moral of the story is that this wouldn’t happen if people would remember that “A Patriot is Loyal to the Constitution! Not a Party or Career!” and hold their elected officials to the Constitution!

About the Author