ZimZum

With ever new technological innovations including digital TV, High-Definition Television, Freesat & home cinema systems, if you’re current television set is greater than 5 years old, then now a great time to get a new television. Nevertheless, as equipment is improved more or less day by day, purchasing a new TV set may be awfully tricky & puzzling. John Lewis sells Cheap TVs from top brands such as Sony and Panasonic.

This television guide strives to describe all the latest advancements that will guarantee to take your TV enjoyment to a superb new intensity.

Hi Def TV: Maybe the most important improvement to TV since colour technology, Hi Def (HD) telly provides detail, clarity and colour, with images frequently 4 times as sharp as those from conventional TV devices. To witness the benefit from Hi-Definition television programmes you have got to have a High-Def Ready television. Sky & Freesat have already begun broadcasting high-def television series therefore you can now take pleasure in a variety of your much-loved programmes, films and sporting occasions with marvellous realistic images.

Incorporated Digital Tuner: A television with an integrated digital tuner (more commonly referred to as idTV) permits you to receive all free to air digital stations, including the likes of: E4, BBC3, Sky News and many more without the demand for another set top box.

Freesat: A new digital satellite TV service offered via a partnership between the BBC & ITV, supplying you free High-Def Television programmes at no added fee. Freesat has no weekly contract, no payment subscription, just one solitary payment for the television, satellite dish and installation. Plus because Freesat is transmitted via satellite, its obtainable to more or less every family in the UK. Freesat telly is currently only available through Panasonic TVs.

LCD or Plasma TVs: Although LCD and Plasma televisions function in completely different ways, the gains of both are awfully alike. Nevertheless, it’s very important to keep in mind that when picking between a Plasma or LCD TV, it is actually just a question of size. LCD is at its optimal performance up to & including 32″ whilst Plasma TVs offer optimum performance at thirty-seven inches, and above. So, if you are wanting to acquire a small flat panel television, then (short for Liquid Crystal Display) provides the superior performance, while on the other hand if you are searching for a larger display size, then Plasma is the best choice.

In evaluation its important to consider when choosing the most suitable TV for you, to consider your available funds, your viewing distance, the style you fancy and if it is to be an LCD or Plasma television.

The recipient of 25 Golden Globe and 110 Emmy nominations, including seven for Outstanding Drama Series, ER is considered one of the best “reality” dramas in television history. First airing in September 1994, the hour-long NBC trauma ward series vividly depicts the intense stress typical of a hospital emergency room. Created by Michael Crichton, the author of such bestselling books as Jurassic Park and Timeline, ER fulfills Crichton’s vision of an up-close and personal glimpse of the technologies and humans who run America’s ERs…

The ER (Season 3) DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the season premiere “Dr. Carter, I Presume” in which Carter begins his internship at the ER with a difficult day filling in for Peter as the ER surgery consultant. Meanwhile, several plotlines related to the staffers’ personal lives take twists when Carol runs into Shep and his new girlfriend and Peter runs into an old friend at a barbecue… Other notable episodes from Season 3 include “No Brain, No Gain” in which Peter fights to save the life of a gang member already declared dead by Doug, and “The Long Way Around” in which Carol is held hostage during a robbery at a local store…

Below is a list of episodes included on the ER (Season 3) DVD:

Episode 49 (Dr. Carter, I Presume) Air Date: 09-26-1996
Episode 50 (Let the Games Begin) Air Date: 10-03-1996
Episode 51 (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) Air Date: 10-10-1996
Episode 52 (Last Call) Air Date: 10-17-1996
Episode 53 (Ghosts) Air Date: 10-31-1996
Episode 54 (Fear of Flying) Air Date: 11-07-1996
Episode 55 (No Brain, No Gain) Air Date: 11-14-1996
Episode 56 (Union Station) Air Date: 11-21-1996
Episode 57 (Ask Me No Questions, I’ll Tell You No Lies) Air Date: 12-12-1996
Episode 58 (Homeless for the Holidays) Air Date: 12-19-1996
Episode 59 (Night Shift) Air Date: 01-16-1997
Episode 60 (Post Mortem) Air Date: 01-23-1997
Episode 61 (Fortune’s Fools) Air Date: 01-30-1997
Episode 62 (Whose Appy Now?) Air Date: 02-06-1997
Episode 63 (The Long Way Around) Air Date: 02-13-1997
Episode 64 (Faith) Air Date: 02-20-1997
Episode 65 (Tribes) Air Date: 04-10-1997
Episode 66 (You Bet Your Life) Air Date: 04-17-1997
Episode 67 (Calling Dr. Hathaway) Air Date: 04-24-1997
Episode 68 (Random Acts) Air Date: 05-01-1997
Episode 69 (Make a Wish) Air Date: 05-08-1997
Episode 70 (One More for the Road) Air Date: 05-15-1997

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the ER (Season 3) DVD.

I’ve listed shipwrecks that caused more than 23,000 deaths in total.

So was the Titanic the most costly in human life?

Some think so.

They are wrong.

Ship Wrecks (over 1000 killed)

April 27, 1865: The Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis. The boilers were faulty which made steamships dangerous. (1450 deaths) Read about the Sultana at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/sultana.htm. This site claims that there were over 1700 deaths.

April 14-15, 1912: The Titanic sunk after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic. Deaths were caused by the shortage of lifeboats, the mishandling of lifeboats, waiting too long to drop lifeboats, and the failure of certain other ships to quickly respond. The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. If the liner had hit the iceberg head-on rather than a side-splitting glancing blow, it probably would not have sunk. Lower-class passengers suffered the most. (1503 deaths) Read about and see photos of the Titanic at: http://www.titanic-online.com/. You can read the radio transmissions at: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cauldron/5807/Titanic/message.html.

May 17, 1915: The Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off Ireland. The Germans claimed that the ship was carrying armaments. Recent dives indicate that it was. (1198 deaths) Read about the great ship and the political intrigue at: http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html.

February 26, 1916: The French cruiser, La Provence, sank in the Mediterranean. (3100 deaths) Don’t confuse with the battleship much later. Read about the ship at: http://www.greatships.net/provence.html. This site claims that the number of deaths was over 900. You can have fun researching that discrepancy. It was carrying troops, but many were saved. Losses were partly caused by rough seas hindering the launch of lifeboats. A German submarine sank the ship.

December 16, 1917: The Mount Blanc, Imo, a French ammunition ship collided with a Belgium steamer in Halifax Harbor. (1600 deaths) This is one of the most fascinating events in history. Not only was the ship in danger. Read about it at: http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he2_ruins/he2_ruins_countdown_catastrophe.html. Here is an excerpt: “The steel hull burst sky-high, falling in a blizzard of red-hot, twisted projectiles on Dartmouth and Halifax. Some pieces were tiny; others were huge. Part of the anchor hit the ground more than 4 kilometers away on the far side of Northwest Arm. A gun barrel landed in Dartmouth more than 5 kilometers from the harbor.”

November 1948: Chinese army evacuation ship exploded off Southern Manchuria. (6000 deaths) I found nothing of interest on this disaster. It is covered in some book but I couldn’t find a good web site. If you find one, please email me. I learned at http://liners.greatnet.us/shipwreck_timeline.htm that the ship was carrying Chinese Nationalist Soldiers from Manchuria.

December 3, 1948: Chinese refugee ship exploded south of Shanghai. (1100+ deaths) I found no web site on this either. At http://liners.greatnet.us/shipwreck_timeline.htm I learned that these were refugees fleeing Communist China.

September 26, 1954: The Toya Maru, a Japanese ferry sank in the Tsugaru Strait. (1172) Some U.S. military personal died in this disaster.

December 20, 1987: The Dona Paz, a Philippine ferry sank after colliding with an oil tanker in Tablas Strait. (3000+ deaths) Read more at http://www.hazardcards.com/card.php?id=14.

Feb. 17, 1993: The Neptune: triple-deck ferry capsized off southern peninsula of Haiti during a squall. Over 1,000 passengers believed drowned. About 300 survived the sinking.

September 26, 2002: Senegalese state-run ferry, the Joola, sank off the coast of Gambia. (1800 deaths). Read about the aftermath at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2290490.stm.

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine, Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)

They’re real, but few survive. High risk investing is dangerous to your bank balance. The process toward extinction is that an angel risks money in one venture. It fails. Then, he joins a group of angels and risks money in another venture. It fails. At this point, the angel usually hands in his or her wings.

To be an angel, you must have considerable discretionary income. This is why most angels are attorneys, accountants, medical doctors or successful small business people. Attorneys and accountants often form angel groups from their client base. Their goal is to take the ride on the roller coaster without paying for the ticket. Their clients invest in the project and they get a piece of the action. Since the action is usually bad, all they get from the effort is a reduced client base.

Angels want to invest within fifty miles of their location. This allows them to visit the office or plant of the investment on a regular basis. As the company starts to fail, the proximity card encourages the angel to try to take over the business investment. This mistake is often made by successful small business people.

I’d defer to a study on the odds of attracting an angel to your company. However, my experience suggests that an angel will invest in about one company out of every three hundred that send the angel their business plan. My experience is based upon working with San Francisco Bay Area Venture Capital Clubs over a decade ago. Given the greater investment interest today, your odds may be better than 1-in-300.

Eighty-five percent of small businesses fail. Among the 15% that succeed are franchises and professional offices. My guess is that an angel has about one chance in ten of making money on a risk capital investment. The angels think they can beat the odds. They’re wrong.

Most attorneys, accountants and medical doctors achieve their social position and income by believing what they read. As a student, if you question the data in a textbook, you are unlikely to pass the final exam. This pattern of read and believe gets the student from first grade to medical school or law school. Believing what you read in a business plan is often a mistake. Professionals tend to believe the written word. Doing so as the basis of a risk capital investment is fatal. As more than one professional has told me when they turned in their wings, “I guess I’ll have to raise my fees to offset my business loss.” I’ve often wondered if barring professionals as angels wouldn’t lower legal and medical costs.

Small business owners believe they are “smarter than the average bear.” It’s their ego that often clouds their judgment. If you don’t believe that you’ve made a mistake, you’ll dump more money into a black hole investment. It’s this group that are most likely to turn in their wings as they file for Chapter 11. “There’s a time to hold them and a time to fold them.” Successful small business people don’t believe in folding.

There are always angels coming into the Market. We live in boom times. The population of angels is growing. If you can catch a nearby angel, do it. It’s best to catch them before they see the financial fire that awaits most of them.

As with buying lottery tickets, there are a few successful angels. I’d like to see a study of how long they last, if they beat the investment odds.

Published February 2000

About The Author

William Cate has been the Managing Director of Beowulf Investments [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/] since 1981 and is the Executive Director of the Global Village Investment Club [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/globalvillageinvestmentclubwelcome/]

Investor’s responsibility when he is alone in the market.

In today’s market environment, the best remedy for this situation is for you to get more involved in your own investing decisions.

The problem is that most individual investors do not have the knowledge, resources, or time to spend doing their own research, stock selection, execution, and position management.

The development and expansion of the internet has solved part of this problem in that the internet now provides timely information and resources, right at the fingertips of the individual investor.

Earnings reports, income statements, balance sheets, charts, graphs, research, chat rooms, and even CEO video conferences are easy to obtain online. Now, investors have all the tools necessary to make their own decisions.

However, for many the problem still exists. Why? Because, all the tools in the world are no good to you, if you don’t know how and when to use them. The truth of the matter is that most investors are not qualified or properly trained to interpret the use of these tools, and are therefore ill equipped to use them in making their own investment decisions.

So now what should investors do? The answer is to find someone to help you help yourself. Not to make your decisions for you, but to assist you in making your investment decisions and to help educate you as to the `how` and `why. `

You need to become more involved, and the first step in the involvement process is education.

Education is the key to successful investing for the individual investor in the market of the future.

All of us who invest in the stock market know that there are three possible outcomes after we make a stock purchase.

First, the stock can go up and this is generally a good outcome.

Second, the stocks can go down and this is usually a bad outcome.

Third, the stock can go nowhere - which is also generally a bad outcome.

It is bad because not only could you have put that money to use in something with less risk that might have produced a return, but you also incurred commission costs on the way in and out which added to your loss.

So, we see that there are three things that can happen when you take on a new stock position, and two of them are bad.

Now, what if we tell you that by employing a certain strategy correctly, you can improve your chances dramatically?

Instead of having two of three scenarios possibly go wrong, you would have two of three scenarios that could go right. And, the third scenario, the bad one, wouldn’t be nearly as bad.

It can happen by using just one of the many strategies involving teaming stocks with options.

Sound interesting?

Great, but let’s start at the beginning and build a solid foundation first.

Nominated for 5 Golden Globes and 7 Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture of the Year, Million Dollar Baby opened to widespread critical acclaim and excellent audience reviews. Director Clint Eastwood, whose career spans multiple decades in Hollywood, creates perhaps his greatest film to date, and co-stars Morgan Freeman (Shawshank Redemption) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry) light up the screen with their deft character portrayals and unique charisma. Combining all the inspiration of Rocky with all the drama of a Greek tragedy, Million Dollar Baby is well-deserved of its Best Picture victory (despite the many protests of competing directors who think Eastwood won based on nostalgia for his heralded career and his personal likeability)…

Million Dollar Baby focuses on tough-skinned boxing manager Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), proprietor of a local training gym who has long been estranged from his lone daughter and seems to have only one friend of note - Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris (Morgan Freeman). Eddie lives in and helps manage the gym, and he was once one of Frankie’s fighters. With Big Willie Little (Mike Colter, who once appeared in ER) under Frankie’s management, the gym hosts the daily workouts of a legitimate heavyweight title contender. But Frankie’s reluctance to move Big Willie along prompts him to switch to a less conservative manager, and Frankie must watch his years of hard work pay off for someone else.

Meanwhile, 30-something Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) has scraped together the pennies and nickels necessary to train at the gym on a daily basis. Despite Frankie’s advice to quit making a fool of herself, she borrows equipment from Eddie and works out until all hours of the night…

With Big Willie out of the picture, Frankie finally confronts Maggie and agrees to train her. Over time, the two develop a close relationship akin to father/daughter. Maggie rises in the ranks of the female circuit until she reaches the title fight where a cheap sucker punch leads to tragic consequences… With emotional depth and colorful characters, Million Dollar Baby brings one of the most controversial issues of modern society into the forefront for an up-close-and-personal glimpse of the conflict and struggle experienced by trauma victims and their loved ones. Hilary Swank’s Oscar winning performance is on full display, and Morgan Freeman is his usual mesmerizing presence…

In the end, Million Dollar Baby beat out a number of excellent films in order to claim the Oscar for Best Picture - Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways, and The Aviator (which prompted director Martin Scorsese to flee the awards ceremony in a huff). A case could be made for each of these fine films, but needless to say, Million Dollar Baby’s victory is highly indicative of the film’s enduring value. Each of the main characters comes across as likeable, the relationships as believable, and the storyline as inspirational and stirring. Million Dollar Baby is one of those rare films that stays in your head for hours on end long after you’ve walked out of the theater. Its subject matter is serious fodder for debate, and few viewers will fail to develop a strong emotional connection to Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman as they spring to life on the big screen. Quite simply, Million Dollar Baby is one of the best films of the decade and one you won’t want to miss…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Million Dollar Baby (DVD).

With the compensation culture increasing around the globe, possessing professional indemnity cover is turning out to be more & more obligatory. If you don’t presently have public liability insurance incorporated into your building cover, then now is perhaps the time to look into acquiring enhanced insurance. Here is some suggestions about why you require cover, & what to watch out for. Buy public liability today.

What is professional indemnity insurance: Public Liability cover is an insurance contract that shields you from claims that other people may well make against you in the occasion of an accident. If somebody damages their possessions or hurts themselves in or around your property or business then the professional indemnity insurance will shield you for any costs that could come about. Cover can range from ?250,000 up to ?1 million.

What are you covered for: Insurance will insure you against accidents or loss that other individuals might suffer in or around your home or organisations site. You are protected from claims from thief’s and injury that might possibly arise to anyone from falling objects or employees carrying out maintenance. If an accident occurs on your grounds & someone claims against you, your insurance contract will help you to pay any compensation.

What’s included A number of contents or property insurance policies include integrated liability insurance. You ought to check with your insurance firm if this is the case, & what degree of protection you have. Even if the insurance is already included, you need to guarantee that you are adequately protected for any particular accidents that might come about.

Payment: The premiums that you are expected to have to pay depend on the specific level of protection you desire. If you simply protect your home, then premiums are extremely likely to be less than if you are wanting to cover a business. Although, payments are comparatively cheap inexpensive the level of protection that you get, and it is therefore crucial for any individual running a business.

So, you are contemplating a European cruise. You are looking for the cruise to be a luxury travel vacation. Europe tours must be part of the vacation package. Then the European cruise travel vacation for you is a European river cruise!

One of the best ways to travel Europe to see and experience the magnificent and historic sites are the river cruises aboard the luxurious cruise boats. Fly to your departure destination and board the boat. Unpack once, then relax and enjoy!

Virtually all of the major rivers in Europe have luxury cruise vacation packages available on them. These magnificent boats cruise the mighty rivers through the indescribable scenery that is steeped in history. Each day you can visit another town, city, village or point of interest - all without travel in uncomfortable surroundings and the packing and unpacking required by other means of European travel.

Many of the cruise itineraries have special cruises available depending on the time of year. Art and music cruises are available. Wine tasting cruises are available taking you to some of the vineyards and wineries in Europe’s wine country. See the fall colours or watch as spring “bursts forth”. Many of the “shore excursions” provided by the river cruise lines are included in your ticket price. Now that’s value added!

These cruise boats offer luxurious surroundings. Many offer common areas with the likes of cherry wood, burnished brass and exquisite fabrics. All have comfortable deck areas for viewing the passing scenery.

Some staterooms offer floor to ceiling viewing windows. Some have separate bath and showers. Most of the stateroom amenities you would expect in the magnificent ocean cruise ships are provided on these luxurious river cruise boats.

The cuisine aboard river cruise boats is exquisite as well. The chefs often make use of local fresh ingredients to provide mouth watering fare. The dining room is set for dinner in elegance.

The pampering service one would expect on any luxury cruise is met and exceeded on these cruises. Luxury travel vacations would simply be travel without the marvelous service bestowed upon the river cruise passengers. The cruise staff are friendly and personable and are definitely there to please!

No matter which European river you choose to cruise, you’re sure to be astounded. Luxury, pampering service, excellent cuisine, and a relaxed atmosphere all provide European river cruisers an experience of a lifetime.

Brian A Schmidt is the author and web publisher of a1-discount-cruises.com your #1 source for cruise information, discounts and great deals! Visit http://www.a1-discount-cruises.com to book your fabulous romantic gift cruise vacation! For more interesting articles visit our Article Map pages.

Here’s what trading and investing legend, Richard Dennis, has said about making money in the markets…

“I always say you could publish rules in a newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is
consistency and discipline.”

The above quote is from the book, “Market Wizards” by Jack Schwager. Dennis is a guy who, as a trader, took a measly $400 and grew it into an estimated $200 million dollars in a matter of years — not decades — by being disciplined and following his rules. He is such a legend that several other “Market Wizards” interviewed in Schwager’s book described Dennis with the comment, “I’m not in his league.”

There are probably thousands of investment and trading systems that make money. Some make big money. But the truth of the matter is that few of the users of these systems will ever make money.

Why?

Few people have the discipline to stick with a winning system or strategy. They’ll go through an inevitable losing period and get impatient. They start tinkering with their rules or abandon them altogether.

Have you ever seen one of those mountain charts marketed by the mutual fund companies that show that if you had invested $10,000 in 1950, or whenever, your investment would have grown to $10 million or so by 2005? I’ll bet you don’t know one person who ever did that. And it’s not because it’s not true. It’s the absolute truth. It’s not hype. That’s what the investment would have done. But that’s not what the investor would have done.

The typical investor would have bailed out within a couple of years as soon as the market took a downturn or as soon as the money was needed to buy a boat or some other toy. Or the typical investor might have kept switching into whatever the “hot” investment was as any given time, always buying at the peak price.

As Dennis says, the key is consistency and discipline. So don’t spend time looking for the Holy Grail of investments or trading systems. It doesn’t exist. The Holy Grail is within you. It’s not the investment that’s going to determine success or failure. It’s the discipline of the investor.

Larry Holmes invites you to visit http://www.Money-Management-Wisdom.com/
You will learn how to become debt-free, save and invest money, cut taxes, manage risk, and achieve financial freedom in a much shorter time than you dreamed possible.

When I was a kid I got educated in the way of the animal life, by a series of card and books that were sent in the mail. I think that I got new cards every few weeks. It was called the Wildlife Treasury. I don’t know if things that still exist, with all of the info that you would ever need, is right there at your fingertips in the Internet. Every week I would get a bunch of cards that had a picture or pictures of anomalous on it. It also had the scientific name, the species, and if it was a mammal or reptile, or bird, or what ever it its. The card would also tell you lots of facts about the animal like, where they are found and live. Information on how many of them are left in the world and what they eat was also found. This was great for leering and getting kids interested in the animal kingdom. I really need to check and see if there are things like this for kids now. I could see how, a great thing like this would, “go out of style” in much the same way that the newspaper all over the world are going out of business. But the simple fact is that not everybody wants to spend all their time online, and lots of us still like to have something tangible to touch and feel. Nothing can replace a good set of flash cards or a good book for learning.