Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse (December 31, 1869 - November 3, 1954) was a French artist. He was born Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse in Le Cateau, Picardie, France, and grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois. In 1887 he went to Paris to study law. After gaining his qualification he worked as a court administrator in Cateau Cambresis. Following an attack of appendicitis he took up painting during his convalescence. After his recovery, he returned to Paris in 1891 to study art at the Académie Julian and became a student of Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau. Influenced by the works of Edouard Manet, Paul Signac and Paul Cézanne, and also by traditional Japanese art, he painted in the Fauvist manner, becoming known as a leader of that movement. His first exhibition was in 1901 and his first solo exhibition in 1904.

His fondess for bright and expressive colour became more pronounced after he moved southwards in 1905 to work with André Derain and spent time on the French Riviera, his paintings marked by having the colours keyed up into a blaze of intense shades and characterized by flat shapes and controlled lines, with expression dominant over detail. The decline of the Fauvist movement after 1906 did nothing to affect the rise of Matisse; he had moved beyond them and many of his finest works were created between 1906 and 1917 when he was an active part of the great gathering of artistic talent in Montparnasse. In 1941 he was diagnosed with cancer and, following surgery, he soon needed a wheelchair; this did not stop his work however, but as increased weakness made an easel impossible he created cut paper collages called papiers découpés, often of some size, which still demonstrated his eye for colour and geometry. Matisse lived in Cimiez on the French Riviera, now a suburb of the city of Nice, from 1917 until his death in 1954. He is buried there in the Cimiez Monastery Cemetery. Working in a number of modes, but principally as a painter, he is considered one of the most significant artists of the early 20th century. Unlike many artists, he achieved international fame and popularity during his own lifetime. From his early shows in Paris, he attracted collectors and critics. Today, a Matisse painting can sell for as much as US$17 million. In 2002, a Matisse sculpture, "Reclining Nude I (Dawn)," sold for US$9.2 million, a record for a sculpture by the artist. Partial list of works Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi (1902), Green Stripe (1905), The Open Window (1905), Le bonheur de vivre (1906), Madras Rouge (1907), The Dessert: Harmony in Red (1908), The Conversation (1909), Dance (1910), L'Atelier Rose (1911), Zorah on the Terrace (1912), Le Rifain assis (1912), La lecon de musique (1917), The Painter and His Model (1917), Interior At Nice (1920), Odalisque with Raised Arms (1923), Yellow Odalisque (1926), Robe violette et Anemones (1937), Le Reve de 1940 (1940), Deux fillettes, fond jaune et rouge (1947), Jazz (1947), Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire (1948, completed in 1951), Beasts of the Sea (1950), L'Escargot (1953).

Betty Grable

Ruth Elizabeth "Betty" Grable (December 18, 1916 - July 3, 1973) was an American actress, singer and pin-up girl, whose famous bathing suit poster was an icon of the World War II era. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, she was propelled into acting by her mother, who insisted that one of her daughters become a star. For her first role, as a chorus girl in the film Let's Go Places (1930) Grable was legally under the age to act, but because the chorus line performed in blackface, it was impossible to tell how old she was. For her next film, her mother tried to get her to sign a contract using false I.D., but when this was discovered, she was fired. It was at this time that she was photographed in the pin-up poster that was so popular among American GIs ten years later.

Grable finally obtained a role in Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor and eventually played in some twenty films by 1939, including the Academy Award-nominated The Gay Divorcee, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

In 1937, she married another famous child actor, Jackie Coogan, but Coogan was under considerable stress due to his lawsuit against his parents over his earnings, and they divorced in 1940.

In 1943, she married jazz trumpeter and big band leader Harry James. They divorced in 1965.

Grable's later career was marked by feuds with studio heads, who worked her to exhaustion. At one point, in the middle of a fight with Darryl F. Zanuck, she tore up her contract with him and stormed out of his office. Gradually leaving movies entirely, she made the transition to television, and starred in Las Vegas.

Betty Grable died of lung cancer in 1973 at the age of only 56 and was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Profile of President Barack Obama

On November 4, 2008, 47-year-old Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the United States, after a hard-fought two-year presidential campaign. He was sworn in as President on January 20, 2009.

On October 9, 2009, the Nobel Committee announced that President Barack Obama had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama (D-IL) was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2004, after serving 7 years as an Illinois state senator.

He's the author of two best-selling books. Obama was named by Time magazine in 2005, 2007 and 2008 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The Obama Persona:
Barack Obama is a independent-minded leader with an even-keel temperament, charismatic speaking skills and a knack for consensus-building. He's also a talented, introspective writer.

His values are strongly shaped by his expertise as a Constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney, and by Christianity. While private by nature, Obama mingles easily with others, but is most comfortable addressing large crowds.

Obama is known for being unafraid to speak and hear hard truths when necessary. Although armed with shrewd political sensibilities, he's sometimes slow to recognize viable threats to his agenda.
Major Areas of Interest:
Sen. Obama's areas of special legislative interest have been in support for working families, public education, health care, economic growth and jobs creation, and ending the Iraq War. As an Illinois state senator, he worked passionately for ethics reforms and criminal justice reform.

In 2002, Obama publicly opposed the Bush Administration's push for the Iraq War, but supported war in Afghanistan.
Senate Committees in the 110th Congress:

Practical, Progressive Thinking on the Issues:
In 2002, Barack Obama publicly opposed the Iraq War, and continues to call for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. He urges universal health care, and if elected president, promises implementation by the end of his first term.

Barack Obama's voting record and stances as US Senator and Illinois State Senator reflect a "practical, common sense progressive" thinker who emphasizes increased support for teachers, college affordability, and restoration of meaningful federal support of veterans. Obama opposes privatization of Social Security.
Prior Experience:
Barack Obama served 7 years as an Illinois State Senator, resigning to assume U.S. Senate responsibilities. He also worked as a community organizer and a civil rights attorney. Obama was also a Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at University of Chicago Law School.

After law school, he aggressively organized one of the largest voter registration drives in Chicago history to help Bill Clinton's 1992 election.
Personal Data:

* Birth - August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii
* Education - B.A. in international relations, 1983, Columbia University. J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first black Editor of the Harvard Law Review
* Family - Married on October 18, 1992 to Michelle Robinson, a Chicago native, also a Harvard Law School graduate. Two young daughters, Malia and Sasha.
* Faith - Christian, United Church of Christ

Shen the Senate is in session, Obama returns to their Chicago home from D.C. every weekend. Obama is a Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears fan, and an avid basketball player.
Growing Up Barack Obama:
Born Barack Hussein Obama, Jr, son of a Kenya-born Harvard-educated economist and Ann Dunham, a caucasian anthropologist, was 2 years old when his father left them.

His father (deceased in 1982) returned to Kenya, and only saw his son once more. His mother remarried, and moved Barack to Indonesia. He returned to Hawaii at age 10 to live with his maternal grandparents. He graduated from the respected Punahou School with honors. As a teenager, he scooped ice cream at Baskins-Robbins, and has admitted to dabbling in marijuana and cocaine. His mother died of cancer in 1995.
Memorable Quotes:
"You can't have No Child Left Behind if you leave the money behind."

"I do agree that the Democrats have been intellectually lazy in failing to take the core ideals of the Democratic Party and adapting them to circumstances.... It's not just a matter of sticking in a quote from the Bible into a stock speech."

"There has yet to be a serious conversation about health care on the floor of the United States Senate."

"...as parents, we need to find the time and the energy to step in and find ways to help our kids love reading. We can read to them, talk to them about what they're reading and make time for this by turning off the TV ourselves. Libraries can help parents with this. Knowing the constraints we face from busy schedules and a TV culture, we need to think outside the box here - to dream big like we always have in America.

Right now, children come home from their first doctor's appointment with an extra bottle of formula. But imagine if they came home with their first library card or their first copy of Goodnight Moon? What if it was as easy to get a book as it is to rent a DVD or pick up McDonalds? What if instead of a toy in every Happy Meal, there was a book? What if there were portable libraries that rolled through parks and playgrounds like ice cream trucks? Or kiosks in stores where you could borrow books?

What if during the summer, when kids often lose much of the reading progress they've made during the year, every child had a list of books they had to read and talk about and an invitation to a summer reading club at the local library? Libraries have a special role to play in our knowledge economy." -- June 27, 2005 Speech to the American Library Association

King of Saudi Arabia

     Upon his ascension, Faisal still viewed the restoration of the country's finances as his main priority. He continued to pursue his conservative financial policies during the first few years of his reign, and his aims of balancing the country's budget eventually succeeded, helped by an increase in oil production.
Faisal embarked on a modernization project that encompassed vast parts of the kingdom and involved various public sector institutions. The pinnacle of his achievements in modernizing the Kingdom was the establishment of a judicial system, a project led and executed by an international lawyer and judge, the former Syrian Minister of Justice, Zafer Moussly.
The improved financial situation allowed Faisal to pursue various reforms and modernization projects. Several universities were established or expanded during his rule, and he continued to send a great number of students to foreign universities, especially in the United States. These students would later form the core of the Saudi civil service.
Many of the country's ministries, government agencies, and welfare programs were begun during Faisal's reign, and he invested heavily in infrastructure.^[15] He also introduced policies such as agricultural and industrial subsidies that were later to reach their height under his successors, Khalid and Fahd. In 1964, he issued an edict that all Saudi princes had to school their children inside the country, rather than sending them abroad; this had the effect of making it "fashionable" for upper class families to bring their sons back to study in the Kingdom.^[16] Faisal also introduced the country's current system of administrative regions, and laid the foundations for a modern welfare system. In 1970, he established the Ministry of Justice and inaugurated the country's first "five-year plan" for economic development.^[15]
Television broadcasts officially began in 1965. In 1966, an especially zealous nephew of Faisal attacked the newly-established headquarters of Saudi television but was killed by security personnel. The attacker was the brother of Faisal's future assassin, and the incident is the most widely-accepted motive for the murder.^[17] Despite the opposition from conservative Saudis to his reforms, however, Faisal continued to pursue modernization while always making sure to couch his policies in Islamic terms.
The 1950s and 1960s saw numerous coups d'état in the region. Muammar al-Gaddafi's coup that overthrew the monarchy in oil-rich Libya in 1969 was especially ominous for Saudi Arabia due to the similarity between the two sparsely-populated desert countries.^[18] As a result, Faisal undertook to build a sophisticated security apparatus and cracked down firmly on dissent. As in all affairs, Faisal justified these policies in Islamic terms. Early in his reign, when faced by demands for a written constitution for the country, Faisal responded that "our constitution is the Quran."^[19] In 1969, Faisal ordered the arrest of hundreds of military officers, including some generals,^[1][20] alleging that a military coup was being planned. The arrests were possibly based on a tip from American intelligence,^[18] but it is unclear how serious the threat actually was.
Faisal also put down protests by Saudi workers employed by the international oil company, Aramco, in the Eastern Province, and banned the formation of labor unions in 1965. In compensation for these actions, however, Faisal introduced a far-reaching labor law with the aim of providing maximum job security for the Saudi workforce. He also introduced pension and social insurance programs for workers despite objections from some of the ulema.^[21]

Biography of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung), was born in San Fransisco in November 1940 the son of a famous Chinese opera singer. Bruce moved to Hong Kong when he soon became a child star in the growing Eastern film industry. His first film was called The birth of Mankind, his last film which was uncompleted at the time of his death in 1973 was called Game of Death. Bruce was a loner and was constantly getting himself into fights, with this in mind he looked towards Kung Fu as a way of disciplining himself. The famous Yip Men taught Bruce his basic skills, but it was not long before he was mastering the master. Yip Men was acknowledged to be one of the greatest authorities on the subject of Wing Chun a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts. Bruce mastered this before progressing to his own style of Jeet Kune Do.

At the age of 19 Bruce left Hong Kong to study for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter's job and also began to teach some of his skills to students who would pay. Some of the Japanese schools in the Seattle area tried to force Bruce out, and there was many confrontations and duels fought for Bruce to remain.

He met his wife Linda at the University he was studying. His Martial Arts school flourished and he soon graduated. He gained some small roles in Hollywood films - Marlowe- etc, and some major stars were begging to be students of the Little Dragon. James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin to name but a few. He regularly gave displays at exhibitions, and it was during one of these exhibitions that he was spotted by a producer and signed up to do The Green Hornet series. The series was quite successful in the States - but was a huge hit in Hong Kong. Bruce visited Hong Kong in 1968 and he was overwhelmed by the attention he received from the people he had left.

He once said on a radio program if the price was right he would do a movie for the Chinese audiences. He returned to the States and completed some episodes of Longstreet. He began writing his book on Jeet Kune Do at roughly the same time.

Back in Hong Kong producers were desperate to sign Bruce for a Martial Arts film, and it was Raymond Chow the head of Golden Harvest who produced The Big Boss. The rest as they say is history.

Benazir

Punjab CM suspends MS Benazir Hospital

Punjab CM suspends MS Benazir Hospital
Rawalpindi—During surprise visit, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has expressed severe annoyance over non availability of facilities for dengue patients and poor arrangements of the cleanliness at Benazir Bhutto Hospital and suspended Medical Superintendent Dr Zaman Khan Niazi and ordered to initiate disciplinary action against him. Chief Minister Punjab was going to Punjab House from Islamabad airport but he suddenly ordered to turn the vehicle towards Benazir Hospital without any schedule, where he enquired about the dengue patients, where eight patients of lethal virus were admitted. He asked them about the healthcare facilities being provided to them but they as well as their attendants complained CM that they were not being treated well in the hospital.

On which Chief Minister snubbed MS Dr Zaman Niazi by saying that the administrations’ behaviour does not reflect that emergency measures were taken for dengue patients.

Hillary: Global Economy Depends on Women

Sep 16, 2011 12:45 PM EDT

The world must match its words with its wallet and its will when it comes to women not just because it is the right thing to do, but because the ailing global economy depends on it. That is the message Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered Friday to delegates from the globe’s most powerful economies gathered in San Francisco for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC)  Women and the Economy Summit.

“To achieve the economic expansion we all seek we need to unlock a vital source of growth that can power our economies in the decades to come,” Clinton told a ballroom filled with women—and some men—gathered in the same city where the original United Nations Charter was signed in 1945. “By increasing women’s participation in the economy and enhancing their efficiency and productivity, we can have a dramatic impact on the competitiveness and growth of our economies.”

Striking themes reminiscent of her 1995 address in Beijing to the Fourth World Conference on Women in which she famously stated that “women’s rights are human rights,” Clinton urged policymakers to back up their rhetoric about the importance of women with concrete steps aimed at tackling barriers to economic and political participation they face across APEC economies. Together the APEC nations, which include the United States, Russia, Japan and China, account for more than half of global GDP and 40 percent of the world’s population.

Clinton: Women Are the Key to Economic Growth

 “When it comes to the enormous challenge of our time—to systematically and relentlessly pursue more economic opportunity in our lands—we don’t have a person to waste and we certainly don’t have a gender to waste,” Clinton said. “Here, at the beginning of the 21st century, we are entering the Participation Age, where every individual, regardless of gender or other characteristics, is poised to be a contributing and valued member of the global marketplace.”

Today women entrepreneurs face challenges obtaining capital, reaching markets and accessing networks. Fewer than 3 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the United States have a female CEO. And in much of the world laws that bar women from owning land or inheriting property keep women from accessing financial services. A 2007 U.N. report noted that the Asia-Pacific region is “losing $42 billion to $47 billion per year because of restrictions on women’s access to employment opportunities—and another $16 billion to $30 billion per year because of gender gaps in education.”

All of this, Clinton argued in her speech, is an unnecessary drag on a global economy facing the very real threat of return to recession. It is time, Clinton will say, to reverse these numbers—for everyone’s sake.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets members of the Working Women’s Forum, a grassroots network of over one million women that provides training, networking and business skills, in Chennai, India on July 20, 2011., Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

“There is a stimulative and ripple effect that kicks in when women have greater access to jobs and the economic lives of our countries: Greater political stability. Fewer military conflicts. More food. More educational opportunity for children,” Clinton said. “By harnessing the economic potential of all women, we boost opportunity for all people.”

In the past a lack of hard data was part of the problem with pushing political leaders to address the opportunity gap between men and women. Now the numbers tell the story—and more of them are needed.

“Unlocking the potential of women by narrowing the gender gap could lead to a 14-percent rise in per capita incomes by the year 2020,” Clinton said.  “For every one percentage point increase in the share of household income generated by women, aggregate domestic savings increase by roughly 15 basis points.”

But not enough is being done to measure what works and what doesn’t when it comes to tapping women’s economic potential, Clinton said.

“At the governmental level, we routinely measure unemployment, job growth, our national debt, GNP and our balance of trade,” Clinton pointed out.  “Shouldn’t we be at least as attentive to collecting, analyzing and publicizing the facts as we seek to move women into the mainstream of economic life in our nations?”

And that mainstream includes politics.

“We must support the rise of women leaders in the public and private sectors because frankly, they are more likely to have firsthand knowledge and understanding of the challenges women face,” Clinton said. “Their perspectives add value and insure that we shape policies and programs that are not just ‘window dressing’ but successfully eliminate barriers and bring women into all our economic sectors.”

10 World Longest Serving Leaders

1. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah     Brunei  1967

General Haji Sir Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah GCB GCMG (born 15 July 1946) is the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the 29th Sultan of Brunei and the first Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam. He was the eldest son of Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the 28th Sultan of Brunei, and Pengiran Anak Damit.

2. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi Libya 1969

Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi; (born 7 June 1942) is a Libyan politician and revolutionary, who has led the Libyan state since he overthrew King Idris in a 1969 bloodless coup and established the Libyan Arab Republic. His almost 42 years in power make him one of the longest-serving rulers in history. Gaddafi incorporated Arab socialist and Arab nationalist ideas into his political philosophy, which he published in The Green Book in 1975. In 1979, he relinquished the title of prime minister, and was thereafter called "The Brother Leader" or "The Guide" in Libya's Socialist Revolution.

3. Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said Oman 1970

Qaboos bin Said Al Said; (born 18 November 1940) is the Sultan of Oman and Dependencies. He rose to power after overthrowing his father, Sa‘id ibn Taymur, in a palace coup in 1970. He is the 14th-generation descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Sa'idi dynasty.

4. Prime Minister Khalifa ibn Salman Al Khalifa Bahrain  1971

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa (born 24 November 1935) is the Prime Minister of Bahrain since 1971, hence is the longest-serving unelected prime minister in the world. He still retains his post, although under the 2002 Constitution he has lost some of his power on paper, with King Hamad having the authority to appoint and (along with the Bahraini parliament) dismiss ministers. He is known to be the richest member of the ruling family and one of the biggest merchants in Bahrain.

5. President Jos Angola 1979

José Eduardo dos Santos (born August 28, 1942) in Sambizanga, Luanda, Angola, then a Portuguese territory), is the second and current President of Angola, having served in that position since 1979. As president, José Eduardo dos Santos is also the commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the MPLA (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola), the party that has been ruling Angola since independence in 1975.

6. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Equatorial Guinea 1979 

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (born 5 June 1942) is the President of Equatorial Guinea, having served since 1979, and the Chairperson of the African Union. He deposed Francisco Macías Nguema on 3 August 1979 in a bloody coup d'état. Macías was placed on trial for his activities over the previous decade and sentenced to death. His activities had included the genocide of the Bubi. He was executed on 29 September 1979 by firing squad.

7. President Paul Biya     Cameroon  1982 

Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo, 13 February 1933) has been the President of Cameroon since 6 November 1982. Since the death of Omar Bongo in 2009, Biya has been the longest-sitting national leader in Sub-Saharan Africa.

8. King Mswati III Swaziland  1986 

Mswati III (born Makhosetive Dlamini on April 19, 1968) is the King of Swaziland and head of the Swazi Royal Family. In 1986, he succeeded his father Sobhuza II as ruler of the southern African kingdom. He is generally considered to be one of the last absolute monarchs in the world, as he has the authority to appoint the country's Prime Minister, members of the cabinet, and the judiciary. However, he is bound to a certain degree by Swazi traditions and he does not have the authority to choose his heir.

9. President Yoweri Museveni Uganda 1986 

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (born c. 1944) is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986. Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985. With the notable exception of northern areas, Museveni has brought relative stability and economic growth to a country that has endured decades of government mismanagement, rebel activity and civil war. His tenure has also witnessed one of the most effective national responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

10. President Blaise Compaoré Burkina Faso 1987

A presidential election was held in Burkina Faso on November 13, 2005. The incumbent president, Blaise Compaoré, was re-elected with about 80% of the vote. Compaoré has been in power since October 1987, was first elected in 1991, and was re-elected in 1998. In August 2005, he announced his intention to run for a third term as President. Opposition politicians argued that Compaoré could not run in the election because a constitutional amendment passed in 2000 limits a president to two terms. The amendment also reduces the term length from seven to five years. Compaoré's supporters, however, argued that the amendment could not be applied retroactively. In October 2005, the Constitutional Council ruled that because Compaoré was President in 2000, the amendment would not apply until the end of his current mandate, thereby allowing his candidacy in the 2005 election.

10 Simple Steps To Meet And Gain New Friends

Perhaps you've just moved to a new town and you don't know where to go to meet new friends. You want to gain new friends but are afraid to be turned down. There is a force within you that's pulling you to strike up a coversation with the person sitting next to you. You just can't think of a topic to start a conversation or worse, you just cannot talk! These are just few of the situations that you can encounter in trying to meet new friends.
Although it may seem simple for some to gain new friends because they are just naturals at connecting, there are also those who are timid and are not comfortable meeting new people. There are simple tips that you can follow to gain new acquaintances and eventually, friends.


Listed below are 10 tips to meet and gain new friends
1.) First and foremost, you should evaluate yourself. Examine the types of people you want as friends. Decide if you want to be join people with the same hobby, taste, age or gender as yours. Another strategy is to search out people with diverse intersts who can introduce you to new things.
2.) Always bear in mind that a person's name is the most important and the most beautiful word one can hear. Speaking the person's name to them a couple of times or noting the name on a piece of paper can help you remember the name. Greeting a person by name is very important.
3.) If you just moved into a new area, put yourself out there in a position you can meet people. You can choose a mall, bar, sporting event or just about anywhere people meet. When in a bar, you can introduce yourself to a group by safe lines such as 'I just moved to the area, can you tell me which places can I visit here?' or 'Can I join you? I don't know anyone here yet.' Just keep the conversation light until you build the bond.
4.) Pick an appropriate time to introduce yourself. Make sure that you will not interrupting a serious conversation. You don't want to offend them by being too pushy or assertive.
5.) Always wear a smile. Being and looking pleasant is the best way to show your desire to gain friends. A smile can brighten you up and can add to your personality. One warning though, is don't fake it! Fake and unnatural smile are always readable and will be a big turn off for other persons.
6.) Be confident and be positive. Do not slouch when you're walking or look at the floor when someone's talking to you. Have confidence, but just enough so as not to sound too boastful. Be courteous and appreciative of other person's conversation.
7.) Develop an eye contact and listen attentively. Do not look elsewhere when talking to someone because this may a sign of disinterest. Eye contact is one nice way of showing your desire to know them. Listen carefully; answer each person's question in a polite and friendly way; ask questions as well.
8.) Be interested! Finding a common topic to begin with is difficult sometimes but the common theme would be food, movies and sports. Show your interest in what others will have to say. You can empathize or present your views of the matter too.
9.) Be yourself. Laugh if you want! Being yourself can be a test if the people whom you're trying to befriend will like you. A useful tip is never to do things which you don't like. Go on and search for a circle of friends whom you can be comfortable with.
10.) Although your prime purpose is to gain new friends, you should also look out for your safety. Give out your number only when you are really comfortable, and not because you are being asked. Trust your gut feelings always. When you feel that there is something wrong with a person then move along.
While trying to win new friends it is also essential not to lose touch with your old friends. Attitude is always important to meet and gain new friends. Being natural, having fun and enjoying talking to someone new will always lead to a comfortable conversation which can lead to the lasting friendships you always looked forward to.

10 Guides to Discover your Passion

Following your passion can be a tough thing. But figuring out what that passion is can be even more elusive.
This guide won’t be comprehensive, and it won’t find your passion for you. But it will help you in your journey to find it.
Here’s how.
1. What are you good at? Unless you’re just starting out in life, you have some skills or talent, shown some kind of aptitude. Even if you are just starting out, you might have shown some talent when you were young, even as young as elementary school. Have you always been a good writer, speaker, drawer, organizer, builder, teacher, friend? Have you been good at ideas, connecting people, gardening, selling? Give this some thought. Take at least 30 minutes, going over this question — often we forget about things we’ve done well. Think back, as far as you can, to jobs, projects, hobbies. This could be your passion. Or you may have several things. Start a list of potential candidates.
2. What excites you? It may be something at work — a little part of your job that gets you excited. It could be something you do outside of work — a hobby, a side job, something you do as a volunteer or a parent or a spouse or a friend. It could be something you haven’t done in awhile. Again, think about this for 30 minutes, or 15 at the least. If you don’t, you’re probably shortchanging yourself. Add any answers to your list.
3. What do you read about? What have you spent hours reading about online? What magazines do you look forward to reading? What blogs do you follow? What section of the bookstore do you usually peruse? There may be many topics here — add them to the list.
4. What have you secretly dreamed of? You might have some ridiculous dream job you’ve always wanted to do — to be a novelist, an artist, a designer, an architect, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a programmer. But some fear, some self-doubt, has held you back, has led you to dismiss this idea. Maybe there are several. Add them to the list — no matter how unrealistic.
5. Learn, ask, take notes. OK, you have a list. Pick one thing from the list that excites you most. This is your first candidate. Now read up on it, talk to people who’ve been successful in the field (through their blogs, if they have them, or email). Make a list of notes of things you need to learn, need to improve on, skills you want to master, people to talk to. Study up on it, but don’t make yourself wait too long before diving into the next step.

6. Experiment, try. Here’s where the learning really takes place. If you haven’t been already, start to do the thing you’ve chosen. Maybe you already are, in which case you might be able to skip to the next step or choose a second candidate to try out. But if you haven’t been, start now — just do it. It can be in the privacy of your own home, but as quickly as possible, make it public however you can. This motivates you to improve, it gets you feedback, and your reputation will improve as you do. Pay attention to how you feel doing it — is it something you look forward to, that gets you excited, that you love to share?
7. Narrow things down. I recommend that you pick 3-5 things from your list, if it’s longer than that, and do steps 5 & 6 with them. This could take month, or perhaps you’ve already learned about and tried them all out. So now here’s what you need to ask yourself: which gets you the most excited? Which of these can produce something that people will pay for or get excited about? Which can you see yourself doing for years (even if it’s not a traditional career path)? Pick one, or two at the most, and focus on that. You’re going to do the next three steps with it: banish your fears, find the time, and make it into a career if possible. If it doesn’t work out, you can try the next thing on your list — there’s no shame in giving something a shot and failing, because it’ll teach you valuable lessons that will help you to be successful in the next attempt.
8. Banish your fears. This is the biggest obstacle for most people – self-doubt and fear of failure. You’re going to face it and banish it. First, acknowledge it rather than ignoring or denying it. Second, write it down, to externalize it. Third, feel it, and be OK with having it. Fourth, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Usually it’s not catastrophic. Fifth, prepare yourself for doing it anyway, and then do it. Take small steps, as tiny as possible, and forget about what might happen — focus on what actually is happening, right now. And then celebrate your success, no matter how small.
9. Find the time. Don’t have the time to pursue this passion? Make the time, dammit! If this is a priority, you’ll make the time — rearrange your life until you have the time. This might mean waking earlier, or doing it after work or during lunch, or on weekends. It will probably mean canceling some commitments, simplifying your work routing or doing a lot of work in advance (like you’re going on a vacation). Do what it takes.
10. How to make a living doing it. This doesn’t happen overnight. You need to do something, get good at it, be passionate about it. This could take months or years, but if you’re having fun, that’s what’s most important. When you get to the point where someone would pay you for it, then you’re golden — there are many ways to make a living at that point, including doing freelance or consulting work, making information products such as ebooks, writing a blog and selling advertising. In fact, I recommend you do a blog if you’re not already — it’ll help solidify your thinking, build a reputation, find people who are interested in what you do, demonstrate your knowledge and passion.
I told you this wouldn’t be easy. It’ll require a lot of reflection and soul-searching, at first, then a lot of courage and learning and experimentation, and finally a lot of commitment.
But it’s all worth it — every second, every ounce of courage and effort. Because in the end, you’ll have something that will transform your life in so many ways, will give you that reason to jump out of bed, will make you happy no matter how much you make.
I hope you follow this guide and find success, because I wish on you nothing less than finding your true passion.

10 Ways to have a Thrifty Living

10 Ways to have a Thrifty Living

Saving money isn't all about whether or not you know how to score screaming bargains.
It has more to do with your attitude toward money. Just think of those who don't fit the filthy-rich stereotype. People like Warren Buffett.
As explained in the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, personal finance has as much to do with people's traits as it does with money. Many millionaires, in fact, have frugal ways. Understanding how personal traits can influence your finances is an essential ingredient for building wealth.


10. Don't buy things you don't need.
To get the most from the money that you have, it's essential to have a basic understanding of the difference between wants and needs. Chances are that a lot of things that you assume are needs are only wants you have disguised as needs in order to justify purchasing them.
Basic needs are food (including water), shelter and clothing plus the essentials needed to work so that you can provide those basics. That means that the TV (and virtually every other gadget in your house) is a want and not a need. Having the willpower to buy only those things that you really need (being frugal doesn't mean being stingy, but it does mean that any wants you do have are specifically saved and budgeted for as opposed to impulse purchases) is essential to getting the most out of frugality. Simply put, if you don't need it, don't buy it, no matter how good the price.


9. Buy when you have the money.
One of the basic premises of frugality is having the money to pay for the things that you buy. By budgeting and saving for those things that you want and paying for them with cash rather than using credit card, you ensure you aren't paying far more than you should be for the products and services that you buy.


8. Purchase by value, not price.
One of the biggest misconceptions about being frugal is that those who are frugal only purchase things that are cheap or the very lowest price. The truth is that those who are frugal always try to buy the best value taking into account other factors such as the life expectancy and additional upkeep costs that come into play beyond retail price. This often means looking at the long term cost of an item rather than just the initial purchase price.


7. Always be patient.
Those who embrace frugality rarely have the latest and greatest gadgets that have just hit the market. Instead, those who are frugal wait for the early adopters to embrace the technology until the point at which the price falls to a reasonable level as the gadget makes its way to the masses. Those who are frugal are usually a generation or two behind on the latest gadgets, but they still perform the functions that need to be done and they get them for a fraction of the price.


6. Do buy used.
A basic tenet of frugality is to get the best value from what you purchase, and this often means purchasing products used. Those who are frugal are more than happy to let someone else pay full retail price and absorb the premium pricing for products that are depreciating assets (think of the difference in price between a brand new car and a two-year-old vehicle, as an example).
Used products are often a fraction of the price of the new models and in many instances perform the needed task just as well.


5. Look for alternatives before buying.
If you need something, automatically going out and buying it is not an approach that a true frugal person would take. Instead, before spending any hard-earned money on something that may only be used a few times, consider alternatives.


4. Ignore the Joneses.
Part of living a frugal life is understanding that life isn't a competition over who has the most stuff. It's important to concentrate on your and your family's needs, and not what others are spending their money on. Just because your neighbors bought it doesn't mean that you need to go out and buy something on par or better.


3. Don't pay full retail price.
When you are going to make a purchase, you should never pay full retail price for it. There are a number of ways to avoid paying full retail such as using coupons, finding discounts, waiting for sales and negotiating a lower price. With a bit of preparation and forethought, there is never a reason to pay full retail price for anything you purchase.


2. Never waste.
One thing that those who are frugal hate is waste. While this obviously includes the waste of money, it also goes beyond money to such areas a wasted resources and wasted time. Efficiency is a frugal person's friend, and those who are frugal tend to follow the green mantra of reduce, repurpose, reuse and recycle for the things that they do possess.


1. Do things yourself.
When something needs to be done, the first choice to perform the task should be yourself rather than hiring someone else to do it. Frugal people tend to be do-it-yourself experts and do not pay others to do things that they can easily do by themselves. When they don't know how to do something, they research it to see if it is something that they can do with the proper instructions or something sufficiently complicated that it's best to let an expert handle. While it may take some practice at first, getting these 10 ways down will make your savings account look a lot healthier in the new year.

10 Rules for Being Human

You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."

There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

"There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

You will forget all this.

10 Interesting Records on Guinness World records

The most Stretchable Skin

Harry Turner (Garry Turner) from Britain could spread to the abdominal skin to see 15,8 This is due to a rare disease known as syndrome Elersa- Danlosa violation connective tissue, affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs. Collagen, strengthens skin, and is responsible for its elasticity, damaged, which, among other things, is the weakening of the skin and joints razboltannost. In more severe cases, this can result in the destruction or rupture of blood vessels, leading to death.

The longest dog ear

The longest dog ears and see the size 34,9 34,2 cm-right and left, respectively, measured on September 29, 2004 They belong Tiggeru (Tigger), Jr., whose owners Brian and Christine Flessner (Bryan and Christina Flessner) lived in the city of St. Joseph, Illinois

The biggest hamburger, which can be bought

The biggest hamburger weighing 35.6 kg. included in the menu bar grill Bob's BBQ & Grill on the beach in Pattaya, Thailand on July 31, 2006.

The largest number of needles in the head

One 1,790 needles for acupuncture was votknuto in the head and face Shengchu Chinese Wei (Wei Shengchu) on March 23, 2004 in the city of Nanning, China

The longest fingernails on both hands
Nelvin Feyzel Booz (Nelvin Feizel Boothe) from the city of Pontiac, Michigan, not strig nails 25 years, bringing the total length of 1910 amounted to 931 nails.

Smallest and most of the living horses

On July 7, 2006 the smallest of the living horses were Tambelina (Thumbelina) , miniature mare, whose growth was 44.5 Bobcats see Her owners, Kay and Paul Gesling (Kay and Paul Goessling) live on a farm in Goose Creek the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Growth Radar (Radar) - Belgian upryazhnoy horses, has been measured with Horseshoe on July 27, 2004 and amounted to 202 see Radar owned firms Priefert Manufacturing Inc. city of Mount Pleasant, Texas. Both horses are brought together for a photo in the Guinness Book of September 3, 2006.

The biggest pick-up

Height truck Bigfoot 5 is 4.7 m height tires-3 pm-weight 17,236 kg. This is one of the 17 pickups such established Bob Chandler (Bob Chandler) from the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It was built during the summer of 1986, he is now permanently berthed in the city of St. Louis and occasionally appear on the local festivities.

The most hirsute men

Victor "Larry" Ramos Gomez (Victor "Larry" Ramos Gomez), pictured in the photos, and Gabriel "Danny" Gomez (Gabriel "Danny" Gomez) (both from Mexico) belong to one family, consisting of 19 members, has five generations which are rare disease known as a common congenital Ray, and characterized by excessive hair on the face and Volvo. Traits cover women's family can be described as a light or average, while 98% of men covered with thick body hair, except for the hands and feet.

The strongest vypuchivanie eye

Kim Gudmen the United States can vypuchit eye of the eye of 11 mm. This fact was recorded in the television show "Guinness World records : Praymtaym" June 13, 1998.

The heaviest apple

The heaviest weighing 1,849 kg apple. Chisato raised Iwasaki (Chisato Iwasaki) for its apple farm in the town of Hirosaki (Hirosaki), Japan, which was thwarted by October 24, 2005.