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Ministers to agree new global road safety agenda to 2030

Government ministers and senior officials from over 100 countries will meet in Stockholm, Sweden from 19-20 February to discuss new steps to halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030, in line with global targets agreed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The fact that an estimated 1.35 million lives are lost every year due to road traffic collisions is an outrage. It is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29 years, according to WHO’s most recent Global status report on road safety.

More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. The risk of a road traffic death remains three times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. Moreover, as many as 50 million people experience non-fatal road injuries, which impose human suffering and major economic losses.

“Most road traffic deaths and injuries can be prevented, using tried and tested strategies,” added Dr Tedros. “This conference is an opportunity for the world to embrace a new agenda to radically reduce the number of lives lost on our roads and re-think how we can provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all.”

Progress in road safety

Many countries have already made progress through effective road safety management and focusing on better legislation and enforcement around key risks such as speeding; drinking and driving, and failing to use seatbelts. They have also improved infrastructure through measures such as safer sidewalks and dedicated lanes for cyclists; implemented vehicle standards such as those that mandate advanced braking and electronic stability control; and enhanced post-crash care.

Improvements have occurred when a number of sectors have been involved – including transport, health, urban planning and law enforcement, among others. Success has also depended mainly on strong leadership and political will at the highest level of government and in close collaboration with civil society and the private sector.

The Stockholm Declaration

Hosted by the Government of Sweden in collaboration with WHO, the 3^rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety offers delegates an opportunity to share successes and lessons learned, chart future strategic directions for global road safety, and define ways to fast-track progress around proven strategies to save lives.

The Stockholm Declaration will be presented as the final outcome document of the Ministerial Conference calling for strong political will and international cooperation as well as partnerships across many sectors of society. The Declaration will lay out key recommendations for accelerated action to drive progress towards halving global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.

Beyond preventing human suffering and major economic losses, addressing road traffic deaths and injuries has positive impact across all aspects of society and development ─ including those linked to environment, climate change, education, employment, energy, poverty, human rights and equality ─ as outlined in the SDG targets.

Note to editors:

Road safety is reflected in the SDGs agreed in 2015, with two dedicated targets: (a) 3.6 aimed at preventing road traffic deaths and injuries and (b) 11.2 providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all.

Achieving these targets would lead to increases in walking, cycling and using public transport, in other words, those modes of transport which impact most favorably on noncommunicable diseases like heart and lung diseases, cancer and diabetes. It would also contribute to reducing environmental risks, such as air and noise pollution, and steering sustainable urbanization, with less congestion and universal access to safe, inclusive and green public spaces.

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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/07-02-2020-ministers-to-agree-new-global-road-safety-agenda-to-2030

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February 27, 2020
Smart Bill Paying Tips for Online Families
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Back in the analog days before personal computers, the internet and smartphones, paying monthly bills was an event! Bills arrived in the mail and were collected in a specific location and saved for that special day each month when they were paid. The bills were reviewed to make sure all expected items had arrived and each check was written out with a corresponding entry added to the (paper) check register. It was a manual exercise requiring good organization, basic math skills and the concentration to ensure the accounting was properly logged. Mailing out the checks and tracking them in the register wasn’t the end of the process – it was imperative to scrutinize the monthly bank statement and balance the checkbook to ensure that there were no math errors, the checks hadn’t gotten lost in the mail, they were actually cashed by the creditor and correctly credited to the account. Because there was always a lag between the bills coming due and the bank statement arriving, sometimes it was difficult to avoid unpleasantness such as the power or telephone company threatening to turn off service due to a clerical error or post office delay.

Since that time, things have changed dramatically. First was the introduction of financial software that could help with monthly budgeting and bill-paying. Computerization increased organization and cut down math errors, making it easier to keep control of monthly obligations. Today’s consumer has a wealth of tools at their disposal to pay bills, track accounts and keep their personal finances organized. Instead of a shoebox full of paper and a checkbook, bills can be paid with a computer or smartphone connected to the internet. Payments made using either a checking account or credit card can be monitored almost in real-time. Even the role of the post office has diminished considerably because of changes in the bill-paying process. Many people utilize automatic bill payment options that are available directly from vendors such as the phone company or insurance company, as well as from many banks. Consumers may still have a checkbook in their possession, but most of the time it gathers dust on a shelf or in a drawer while bills are paid in a variety of other ways.

Automatic bill payments are the most convenient of all, with options to pay each vendor directly from a bank account or credit card. Auto-pay is great for convenience and flexibility, but the responsibility still falls to each consumer to ensure the process works as expected and to maintain control of their finances. What are some things to be aware of with auto-bill pay and what are some tips for keeping control of your budget while still taking advantage of the automation available?
- Choose the payment method that works for you: Many people find it more convenient to set up their auto-pay on a credit card instead of having the money deducted instantly from their checking accounts. That way, monthly bills appear together in 1 place, and there is less worry about cash flow during the month. And with credit card accounts accessible online, the balance can be monitored as needed. Many credit cards can offer consumer benefits such as frequent flyer miles, free merchandise and other perks. Using a credit card as the payment method is great for organization, but be careful!! Accruing charges on a credit card makes it easy to exceed your budget and get into trouble at the end of the month. Only use this method if you are prepared to pay off the balance on your credit card each month to avoid paying high finance charges on your fixed monthly expenses. If you’re on a very tight budget or have trouble limiting credit card spending, paying bills directly from your checking account is a better solution.
- Be prepared for changes: When using a credit card to pay most monthly bills, if your credit card is stolen or hacked, or when it expires and a new card is issued, be aware that any auto-payments you set up using that card will no longer process. Keep a list of accounts that use auto-pay, including which credit card is used as the payment method for each account. This way, you can quickly update them all when a new credit card is received. If you’re tempted to just check your most recent statement instead of keeping a list, remember – some bills come monthly, others are quarterly and still others are annual so they won’t all appear on your most recent statement. Keeping a list is most efficient way to easily update all applicable accounts.
- Stay involved in the process: Many banks help in the process and provide alerts when an expected bill arrives or does not arrive when scheduled – bill payment is a great feature of online banking and can help you stay on top of your obligations! Make time to review the bills each month to make sure there aren’t any unforeseen or erroneous charges; especially if you are on a tight budget and paying directly from your bank account. Unanticipated charges that are automatically deducted from your account can cause unexpected drops in your bank balance.
- Be smart when it comes to cash management: If possible, don’t set up auto-pay on bills that can vary greatly from month to month, such as credit card bills. And always avoid paying off the balance of one credit card by adding it to the balance of another.
- Keep your credit rating in good standing: Due dates for items such as credit cards, health insurance, mortgage and auto payments are typically due on the same day each month, making it easy to ensure that auto-pay bills arrive on time. However, the due date on some bills may vary. Be sure the payment date that you set up for each bill allows sufficient time for the creditor to process the payment in order to avoid late charges. Similarly, if using your bank’s bill-paying service, for some vendors there is a lag between the date paid and the date received – make sure you allow sufficient time to stave off late fees and avoid bad credit.
The most important concept to remember is that even though paying bills has become extremely convenient and paper cuts are much less common these days in the bill-paying process, you are still ultimately responsible for your finances, your bills and your credit rating. Monitor closely, take advantage of the online tools available from your bank and your creditors to help you keep track of your finances and remember to dust off that checkbook once in a while! Regardless of the method you choose for paying bills, it is highly recommended that you keep a current register of all checks and debits, making a deduction for each item immediately (as soon as you have issued or authorized an item for payment), including any associated fees. This will allow you to have an accurate, up-to-the-minute checking account balance from which to work. This will also help prevent incidences of insufficient funds and their associated fees. Accurate and timely account records never go out of style!

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Source by Ellen Debboli

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February 10, 2020
Combine Language Learning and Technology to Explode Your Teaching and Learning Success

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Are you looking to boost your English language teaching or learning skills to yet ever higher levels? Would you like to stimulate more interest in your language classes or break out of a slump or plateau? Combine the use of a variety of language learning techniques with continually developing technology to spur your successes. Here are some useful ideas and web sites to get you started.

BLOGS

A Web Log or Blog, is not unlike a dairy you keep online. You can write instructions, an essay or post any type of information you want. Graphics and images can be included to illustrate the written material. Sound and audio-visual files can also be placed into a blog for added impact. A teacher can post a reading or assignment where students can comment right online. No papers, no clutter and you can view it almost any time. Blogs are becoming easier to use and access and many sites allow you to set one up for free.

ONLINE VIDEO / AUDIO

Most professionals have an e-mail address or two. Your e-mail can now become a communicative tool between you and the learners. E-mail can now also include the use of images and sound or audio-visual clips, as well as the message text. Learners can send in assignments as attachments or pasted into the body of the e-mail. They can ask questions and receive timely feedback without waiting for the next class session. Teachers can send out instructions, updates or other information to learners individually, or as a group also without having to wait for the next scheduled class session.

No computer? No problem. In many parts of the world e-cafes are so cheap they’re actually a viable alternative that students can easily afford. Whole “communities” of young learners are based on hangouts at e-cafes in some cultures. Talk to your students about it. You might be surprised.

USE OF ONLINE RESOURCES for TEACHING / LEARNING

The use of online games, EFL practice sites student and teacher forums, communities and activities has exploded in recent months in many parts of the world. Virtual communities and online reference libraries now enable learners to problem-solve, research a paper or to more quickly complete assignments that formerly would have taken disproportionately large amounts of time to complete. For example, a few sites worth mentioning include:

o http://www.books.google.com/

A web site which offers free access to books that can be read on-screen

o http://www.universia.net.co

This is a site which has a lengthy listing of virtual libraries in almost any genre and connects more than 900 mostly Spanish language libraries

o http://www.redclara.net

This site interconnects an advanced academic network of Latin American libraries

o http://www.lablaa.org

This site allows you access and read a large number of its collected works online and contains exposition pages

o The official Project Gutenburg web site contains an extensive listing of literary works in English which have entered the Public Domain. It’s online at: [http://promo.net/pg/]

Try some of these useful ideas and web sites to get you started in combining the use of a variety of language learning techniques with continually developing technology to explode your English language teaching and learning successes. If you need to know more about using these or other new technologies to boost student interest and motivation making your English language teaching more effective, feel free to e-mail me at the address below with questions or comments.

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Source by Larry M. Lynch

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February 9, 2020
MLM Business Plan: How Can You Use One To Profit ASAP?

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Although getting a plan together is a genuine necessity, you’ll be pleased to know it’s actually rather simple to put one together or to make a few changes to your existing plan.

Many online marketers understand that getting a plan together is a genuine necessity, you’ll be pleased to know it’s actually rather simple to put one together or to make a few changes to your existing plan.

Although it is easy to create an MLM business plan when you know what your goals are, creating a profitable one is a different story altogether. To create these type of plans to actually turn a profit in your business, the main focus needs to be on how effective your marketing strategy is when it comes to generating commissions and sign ups in your downline.

There are two main ways in which you can advertise online to turn a profit:

1) Free marketing: social networking or content marketing are king here, basically any user generated content or anywhere in which you can interact one on one with another person within your circle of friends (or associates).

This is a fun way to incorporate marketing into your MLM business plan, but it can be time consuming and without a large amount of people following your content, you have no real leverage and therefore no immediate profit.

2) Paid marketing: this is an obvious one, but basically anywhere you pay to post an advert. For online marketing, adverts on other people’s blogs or sending solo ads to other marketer’s email lists are the most cost effective although there are more popular paid marketing methods such as Facebook advertising.

These get immediate and targeted traffic, but without the proper education on paid methods you will certainly break the bank before you profit. With this option, you must also understand that this is an investment and there are times when you may even lose money, especially if you promote your offer to the wrong target market.

Finally, you must analyse what you’re spending in your business. Is the product, service or event you’re about to invest in something that can be monetised, for example what will you learn in the training you purchase that will cover the cost of your investment? Or can you become an affiliate for what you’ve just purchased and sell copies of it to earn commissions?

In conclusion, when you’re piecing together your MLM business plan you’re going to need to take a common sense approach. Forget cutting corners to save money, make sure the focus is on providing value to your potential customers in your marketing efforts whilst making your advertising cost effective.

Lastly, ensure that the amount of advertising you will be implementing reflect on your goals e.g. number of sales a month so that you stay consistent with both your goals and marketing to avoid getting overwhelmed in your business, especially if you’re new to the MLM industry. Now that you have a basic understanding on how to profit quickly with an effective MLM business plan, what are you going to incorporate into your plan?

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Source by Seb Brantigan

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February 7, 2020
Larry Ellison – Here Is A Terrifyingly Good Rags To Riches Story

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Born to an unwed Jewish mother and an Italian American US Army Air Corps, Larry Ellison did not have a fairytale childhood at all. Unable to raise him properly, his mother gave him to her aunt for adoption at the age of just 9 years. Larry had a severe bout with pneumonia at that time. His adoptive father was a Government Employee who lost all his earnings in the Great Depression.

Raised in a Reformed Jewish home, Larry respected people who believed in religion even though he did not believe in that stuff at all. A dropout from the University of Illinois-Champaign, Larry completed his education at the University of Chicago. This was his first tryst with computer designing.

Larry realized that his heart was with computers. At Amadhi Corporation and Ampex Corporation, he learned the ropes of the trade. One of the projects done by him was preparing a database for the CIA. He named it ‘Oracle’.

The year 1977 saw him venture into the business arena when he founded Software Development Laboratories along with two other friends with an initial capital of $2000. This company was rechristened ‘Oracle Systems Corporation’ in 1982. This company had its share of near bankruptcies before ruling the regional database market along with Sybase, Informix and Microsoft.

The years 1994 to 2010 was the golden period for Larry Ellison and Oracle as they acquired Sun Microsystems and expanded their grip on their domain. Larry has the power of being the CEO of the company until 2014 after which he assumed the post of The Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer.

Imagine a person starting a company with a meager sum of $2000 ending up as the seventh wealthiest man in the world in February 2017 with a net worth of $55 billion, according to Forbes. This is a true rages to riches story.

Is It Possible For You?

The answer to that question is yes. All you must do is get educated on the industry you will like to become affiliated with. Luckily for you, there are organizations of experts who offer free reports to help those who are in need of some information on how to multiply their income like how Larry did.

Obviously, there are a lot of resources of the internet, but the main thing to take away is the proper method on how to capitalize on the right investment.

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Source by Marc-Eddy Drouinaud Jr

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February 5, 2020
Some Straight Talk on Affiliate Marketing

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My wife and daughter are out of town today so I was going to get caught up on my favorite TV shows: Supergirl, Flash, Supernatural and Legion.

I definitely like the superhero shows. I grew up watching Christopher Reeve’s Superman films and reading comics.

But when I got home, I decided to take a nap…

… and that nap turned into sleeping through the night!

Remember, yesterday I gave you a taste of how Internet Marketing works. Click here if you missed it so you can catch up!

I know there’s one that’ll suit your interests and complement your skills.

In reality, the Internet can give you countless possibilities in business and earnings. I’ll focus on the most proven ones.

These are known to have launched thousands of Internet businesses all over the world and helped local brick-and-mortar businesses see profits early.

And today I’ll start examining for you the 3 Internet Marketing (IM) models for you to choose from, starting with Affiliate Marketing.

This model is all about you joining forces with an online seller or retailer. I’ll refer to them as merchants for the rest of this article.

The revenue will be shared by you and the merchant.

How does it work EXACTLY?

Well, income is usually generated through visitors clicking through to your landing page via an ad you posted. Or through purchases from clients, who have visited your landing page.

How you’re compensated, ultimately, depends on, one of three types of Affiliate Marketing you choose to work with:

1. Pay per Sale Affiliate Marketing – this will allow you to earn income from sales finalized through advertisements you post.

The merchants will monitor your activity through these sales.

Every time they close deals originating from your ad, you’ll receive a percentage of the income or a fixed commission, depending on the number of sales finalized. One example is ClickBank.com.

2. Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing – this model is all about linking the merchant’s website to your own website. Say the merchant pays to have their ad posted on your page. Every time a visitor clicks the link that leads to your affiliate merchant’s page, you’ll earn a fixed amount.

3. Pay per Lead Affiliate Marketing – In this case, you’ll accept advertisements posted on your website. When leads originate from the ads or links on your website, you’ll get compensated.

How are payments made?

Payments are made instantly, weekly, bi-weekly or on a monthly basis. The payments you receive will be determined by the commission rate your merchant gives affiliates.

Personally, the affiliate program Dahl Integration Marketing prefers uses Click Bank for payments. I have it set up to pay us weekly.

There are several ways to get your payments:

One is via electronic banking by way of payment or financial websites.

Money can also be wired through to your personal or business bank account – this can also be done online or through direct bank deposits.

A regular check can be mailed to you.

Another popular way to receive payments is via PayPal.

What Skills Are Required to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business?

You need to know pay-per-click advertising, email marketing and copywriting.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing:

1. Generally speaking, you don’t need to spend a lot of cash to get started. Most Affiliate Programs are free to join although they’ll ask you to apply.

That said, there are Premium Affiliate Programs where affiliates pay a licensing fee of $1,000 or more.

2. You can earn money while you sleep. Who doesn’t want to earn more cash in the middle of the night?

When this first happened to me I felt an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders because income wasn’t always dependent on my time.

3. It’s one of the easiest ways to earn income (when you compare it to creating and marketing your own products) because you shorten the time to market.

When you create your own products and services you’re on the hook to prove that it can sell. This initial test campaign can cost thousands of dollars to prove your offers’ feasibility.

Conversely, you can simply promote a popular product that’s already proven successful and skip all the trial-and-error and initial ‘cold-hard’ cash outlay.

Whether you’re in this as a part-time source of income or as a long-term business, affiliate marketing is still one of the best ways to earn income without all the typical hassles of managing a business.

4. If you’re successful, you’ll always be up-to-date with what’s going on in the world of Internet marketing. This is a great opportunity for you to find or create different products and services to feature on your website.

5. You’ll also have opportunities to work with other affiliate marketers and increase your earnings together.

The Downsides to Affiliate Marketing

Although you can make a living with affiliate marketing, there are a couple of downsides to this model that you should know.

Once you have all this information, you can devise plans to help you avoid these potentially costly problems:

1. As an affiliate, you may fall victim to shady businesses and, in turn, you may be accused of deceiving clients.

To make sure that you keep this from happening, you have to screen all your merchants. Verify their products and check if their actual businesses are legit.

A rule of thumb is to first become a client of the merchants you plan to work with. What’s more, it’s always easier to sell a product or service you believe in, because you’re a client and can speak from your own experience with the product.

You also need to read the fine print in the contract of affiliation before finalizing the deal.

2. You’ll stop earning without prior notice. This can happen if you do not regularly communicate with your merchants.

Merchants can stop or discontinue production of products without informing their affiliates (and in some cases go out of business) so be sure to stay in touch with your merchants to avoid this problem.

Today, I examined the ins-and-outs of Affiliate Marketing and tomorrow I’ll examine for you the opportunity existing in online shopping centers.

Namely, eBay and Amazon.

Stay tuned for tomorrow…

In the meantime, if you’d like to take the guesswork out of growing your business online then click here to get the ultimate shortcut.

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Source by Eric T Dahl

Views: 0

February 4, 2020
How to Select the Right Hair Transplant Doctor

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1. Do your research

Before selecting a doctor for the job, it is very important that you do your research. Use the Internet as well as referrals from your friends and family to make a list of at least 4 to 5 best hair transplant surgeons for hair loss treatment in the town.

Note: Though the best way to find the right surgeon is through a referral, avoid referrals from your hairstylist. Friends and family are the most trusted sources in any case.

2. Find the right doctor

Once you have prepared the list of doctors, book consultation with all of them to have a better understanding of their skills and the services they offer. During the consultation, judge your physician for his approach towards hair restoration. He or she should have holistic approach towards the surgery and must be able to help you evaluate your hair restoration options, both surgical and non surgical. Also make sure that hair restoration is the primary focus of your physician’s practice.

Based on the above facts, choose the best physician out of the list.

3. Find the right clinic

Besides choosing the right doctor, it is also important that you choose the best clinic in the town that is patient focused. Check if the clinic has made investment in state of the art equipment as well as in hiring the most skilled staff that is dedicated and trained for all types of Hair Transplant surgeries.

4. Ask for references

Another thing that helps in selecting the right doctor for the procedure is his score. Ask your doctor how many patients he has produced for excellent results. It will be very good if the surgeon could give you a couple of references – the patients he or she has operated over the last few months. You can meet them to know their experience. This will give you a better idea of the surgical skills as well as patient handling of your prospective surgeon.

5. Before and after pictures

After references, the best source to check the surgical skills and the results the surgeon has produced in the past is the “Before and After Pictures” of the patients your prospective physician has operated in the past.

6. Read the reviews

You can also have a better understanding of the physician’s reputation in the hair transplant industry by reading the patient reviews on different hair transplant related discussion forums on internet. A vast majority of patients participates in these online discussion forums and post not only their experiences but also their before and after photos.

7. Don’t let low prices tempt you

Having that said, never let the low prices tempt you. Nurse practitioners and assistants are also performing hair transplant surgeries nowadays, at quite cheap rates. But don’t compromise on the quality of the services just to get the surgery done at cheaper rates.

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Source by S Muddassar Shah

Views: 0

February 3, 2020
How Drug Detox Can Help Improve Relationships
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Alcohol and drug abuse is the root cause of many problems in an individual’s life. From developing severe mental health issues and physical troubles to encountering serious challenges in one’s relationships, abuse of illegal substances is linked with innumerable adverse effects.

It is a widely known fact that long-term, committed relationships and substance abuse do not go together. Having a partner who is engaged in drinking or abusing drugs can be an insurmountable challenge, with the negative effects rippling and influencing all the near and dear ones. In worst cases, substance abuse problem can take a heavy toll by causing an emotional distance between the partners, which eventually results in frequent fights and violence at home.

Sadly, a person fighting substance abuse is deprived of the emotional connect with his or her partner resulting in the loss of trust and affection. Overall, such couples have a tough time dealing with this downward spiral, wherein a person drinks or uses drugs to reduce tension arising out of frequent conflicts, and vice versa.

Substance abuse and impact on relationships

A person abusing drugs is very likely to have a poor sex drive and may fail to maintain a healthy sexual relationship. This is because when someone is addicted to any substance, there is no room left for anything else. Some of the telltale signs that the substance abuse problem is negatively affecting one’s relationships are:
- Not taking care of responsibilities or staying out late.
- Rising instances of domestic violence.
- Isolating from friends and relatives to hide the drug or alcohol problem.
- Experiencing financial problems.
When it comes to intimate relationships, believing that one can prevent problems by avoiding sexual relationships post sobriety is incorrect. A complete recovery is possible only when a person gets enough love and care from his or her partner. Since intimate relationships are considered one of the most rewarding parts of human existence, a lack of it can leave people feeling unwanted and incomplete.

For a person recovering from an addiction, lack of sexual relationships might lead him or her to revisit the places that had triggered drug or alcohol abuse.

How detox can be helpful in restoring relationships

When a person fighting substance abuse enters a detox program, he or she needs to work harder to recover from the addiction and regain his or her ability to enjoy fruitful relationships with the loved ones. While undergoing treatment, it is important for a person to not just focus on maintaining sobriety but also reshape his or her habits and old attitudes that could act as a barrier to his or her interpersonal or intimate relationships.

While detoxification might pave the way for a person’s recover from an addiction, it is important to ensure that it also brings back his or her sexual drive. With low self-esteem and confidence, it becomes difficult for the recovering individual to even think about any personal relationship. Undergoing a detox program can be a great help in gaining enough confidence to deal with relationship problems.

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Source by Barbara Odozi

Views: 0
February 2, 2020
The Versatile Ranch Style House

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Over the years I've designed and drawn many different styles of homes for clients. I've had the honor of making plans for stately Colonial Manors, Cottages, Modern Contemporary, Federal Style, Mediterranean, etc., but the most versatile of all these layouts is the American Ranch Style home.

Conceived in the US in the 1920s, and patterned after the Midwestern homes use by ranchers and farmers in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hence the name: "Rancher". The Rancher was also known as the "Tract House" because this was the style of choice for developers creating large sub divisions. Thousands of these homes were built in subdivisions across the nation. If you've ever watched the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart at Christmas time, about 45 minutes into the move you'll see a whole bunch of these Ranch styles in the back ground.

Simpler because of its single story design, the Ranch House can be made into a large rectangle with a long central hallway. But the house can also be built in a "T" or "C" shaped configuration, a "L", and even an "E" or even a double "E" layout. This gives this design an ability to adapt to the needs of the family living in it and fit the terrain, no matter what the topography of the lot it's built on.

The foundations or basements are also a simple matter for these homes. That's because we have the simple rectangular design. With a rectangular layout, there's always an easy way to support the floor system with all the piers or post evenly spaced.

Roofs on this style also can vary in shape. The most common roof for the main rectangle of the home is the simple gable, hip, half hip, or even a flat roof. But if the other appendages are added, you can have multiple roofs in whatever direction the homes extensions happen to go. I've seen some built with angled appendages at 30 to 45 degrees.

But the design even lends itself to more class by adding a steep roof pitch that another ½ story can be added to the house making it a story and a half. From that steep roof, dormers can be placed to add even more beauty to the home. One of the prettiest Ranchers I've ever seen had this steep roof configuration with a large center dormer and smaller dormers on each side of the large one. It was also decorated out with many of the classic brick work, columns, and trims of the colonial homes. It was a sight to behold and the owner was very proud.

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Source by Tim J. Davis

Views: 0

February 1, 2020
Affiliate Marketing 2018 – 3 Points To Consider

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Affiliate marketing is the process of offering products for sale on the Internet, and having your own account remunerated for any sales made.

The beauty of the system is that you don’t have to put any money down for inventory – you’re able to sell someone else’s product for a cut of the sale.

Obviously, like all business opportunities, a number of unscrupulous individuals brought the market into disrepute with nefarious practices… but having said that, the majority of affiliate marketers are legitimate folks looking to share good products.

If you want to know it in 2018, this tutorial should give some insights…

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Role Of Affiliate Marketing 2018

The Internet landscape has changed markedly since the inception of the model back in the late 90’s.

With the rise of Social Media, “influencers” have become the mainstay of most people’s Internet experience – leading a huge number of purchase decisions to be based off their recommendations.

Whilst this has brought its own problems, one of the most important things it’s done is expose the general Internet community to the process of buying products on recommendation.

This recommendation process is what lies at the core of affiliate marketing, and is basically how anyone who does it gets paid.

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The point that needs to be made is that when you “make money” online, what you’re really doing is getting people to buy things online.

This purchase process lies at the core of all earned dollars – be it through the Internet or locally. The way through which it’s facilitated is what determines its profitability etc.

To this end, when the Internet started achieving commercial value in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, product/service owners realized that they could multiply their revenue by simply allowing others to sell their products.

The model was designed to encourage cross-promotions etc – and it worked.

By 2010, the market was teeming with products, services and companies who all offered a variety of affiliate referral programs.

There were even some “networks” who managed the process for everybody involved.

Although this works well, the main problem it had was that it lead to a number of problems – typically with people feeling they had been ripped-off by referrals/vendors.

Thus, by 2018, whilst it’s still effective to have the likes of Google affiliate sites, it’s more effective to carve out an “influencer” role in a market – and let that determine who enjoys what you’re offering.

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1. Remove Necessity

As mentioned, there are a number of reasons why affiliate marketing wasn’t seen in too bright of a light – the main being that “thin affiliates” had jumped on the bandwagon, trying to take advantage of market demand for their own gain.

The best way to make progress with referrals in 2018 is to use your own face.

Creating content around a particular topic that you have expertise/experience with, and actually giving a damn about whether the content is effective, is what constitutes to a successful affiliate strategy in 2018.

If you create your own content, have the relevant social media channels (which you populate with actual content), you’ll want to look at then incorporating referrals into your strategy.

Any referrals you make are NOT “sponsored” content – they need to be presented as you would use them yourself – which typically means the creation of content specifically aimed at the core reason for the product.

For example, if you’re in the software/computer business, you’ll find that people will respond to either your recommendations or industry news. You’ll do very well by not only covering the relevant news, but then linking to “further resources” in the various descriptions you have.

The best affiliate marketing strategy for influencers is to direct readers to a website (rather than the products directly).

This gives you the ability to present various other offers, coupons and information about any referral links you may create – without the need of being overly careful to not break the rules of the various platforms through which you reach your audience.

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2. Reviews Aren’t Dead; But They Need CONTEXT

It used to be the case that if you created a simple reviews website, bought some traffic, you’d get decent sales.

Those days are all but gone.

The big equalizer is social media — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram have changed consumers’ expectations markedly.

They want to know WHO is making the recommendation and WHY.

This is where “reviews” have headed – they need “context” that can only come from a valid story.

If you want to write any reviews for products, you need to buy the product first – go to lengths to properly review its effectiveness, and then post the RESULTS of what you discovered.

Unless you’re on the first page of Google (which is now a LOT more difficult unless you have actual content on your website), getting referral traffic really needs to have a lot of quality put behind it.

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3. Focus On Providing A Service

The best thing you can do is to focus on “getting paid” by doing something that people will be willing to pay you for.

I’ve tried many different things, but I’ll tell you now that it’s those who continually have “something to do” who are attractive.

The guys who are relying on affiliate marketing to make money are likely going to fail. Even if they do well, it’s typically short lived.

The best recommendation I give to people is they look for ways to “create money” of their own, and then use their downtime at evenings or weekends to create websites/videos on various products they thought were good.

By doing this, you not only give yourself actual income up front, but you also do the magical thing of being non-needy.

Needy businesses are weak businesses. Strong businesses take their time to get their products done properly.

If you consider your referrals as a “business”, think about the investment you might need to make it effective, and then consider how you could improve it. This is where the value of affiliate marketing in 2018 really lies.

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Source by Richard Peck

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January 30, 2020