Dasukigate Doyin Okupe denies being investigated by the EFCC

The Special Assistant to former President Obasanjo (Media & Publicity) and Senior Special Assistant to fmr President Jonathan (public affairs) took to his Facebook page to deny reports hes being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into his alleged involvement in the payment of N2.1 billion from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, to the former Chairman of DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi. He wrote:

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Kids Love Comics at the 2014 Baltimore Comic Con!

Baltimore Comic-Con Offers Interactive Kids Comics Area with cartoonists, comic creation, capes, and light saber training!

 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - August 6, 2014 - Kids 10 and under get in free at the Baltimore Comic-Con September 5-7, 2014 at the Baltimore Convention Center -- and show organizers are once again presenting a kid-friendly comics area, full of all-ages comics, as well as the artists and writers who make them. Creators from such companies as Archie, Scholastic, Disney, Simon & Schuster, First Second, Marvel, and DC will be on hand to sketch, say hi, and help to teach young ones about the magic of comics through mini-How-Tos through the weekend, right at the Kids Comics Pavilion! Plus, kids can take part in comic crafts, game shows, and more!



 Activities in this super cool section of the show include:
 * Interactive Comics Talks from some of Kids Comics top creators, such as Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl), Andy Runton (Owly), Mike Maihack (Cleopatra in Space), and more!
* Design your own super hero cape and mask
* Doodle Scribble Draw! Kids Drawing Gameshow!
* Creator sketches and autographs
* Kid-Safe Star Wars Light Saber Training
* Puppet making with Chris O>Matic! 

"The Baltimore Comic-Con has always been a welcoming, family-friendly show, and every year, we aim to make the Kids Love Comics Pavilion inspiring to young comic fans. Not only do we want kids to read comics, we show them how they can create their own! I wish there was an event like this when I was a kid," said Mark Mariano, creator of the Happyloo graphic novel series, and co-organizer (with John Gallagher) of the kids section. "Its so cool that I bring my own family here every year," added Gallagher.

 Heres a rundown of the Kids Love Comics Pavilion Creators:

 Harold Buchholz - Archie Comics archiecomics.com

 Frank Cammuso - Salem Hyde, Ottos Backwards Day, Knights of the Lunch Table cammuso.com

 Jamie Cosley (Saturday only) - Cody the Cavalier, Zucchini
Tyler Cosley (Saturday only) - AlakaZach, Ninja Squirrel jamiecosley.com

 Franco (Appearing Saturday and Sunday) - Aw Yeah Comics!, Tiny Titans, Itty Bitty Hellboy awyeahcomics.com

 Jay Fosgitt - Bodie Troll jayfosgitt.com

 John Gallagher - Zoey and Ketchup, Buzzboy, Roboy Red
Katie Gallagher -Zoey and Ketchup skydogcomics.com

 SL Gallant - GI JOE slgallant.com

 Chris Giarrusso - G-Man, Mini-Marvels chrisgcomics.com

 Jimmy Gownley - The Dumbest Idea Ever!, Amelia Rules! jimmygownley.com

 Ben Hatke - Zita the Spacegirl, Julias House for Lost Creatures benhatke.com

 Jason Horn - Ninjasaur ninjasaur.com

 Jamal Igle - Molly Danger, Supergirl, Firestorm jamaligle.com 

 Lora Innes - The Dreamer thedreamercomic.com

 Mike Maihack - Cleopatra in Space cowshell.com 

 Mark Mariano - The Other Side of Hugless Hill, Happyloo, Flabbergast mypalmark.com

 Mark McKenna - Banana Tail, Star Wars, Marvel, DC markmckennaart.com Jamar Nicholas - Leon: Protector of the Playground jamarnicholas.com

 Chris O>Matic - The Chris O>Matic Show! omatics.net 

 Chris Otto and Ben Taylor - A Dogs Life adogslifecomic.com 

 Dan Parent - Archie, Kevin Keller danparent.com 

 Andy Runton - Owly owly.com

 Gregg Schigiel - Spongebob Squarepants Comics, Pix hatterentertainment.com 

 Jeff Schultz - Archie Comics archiecomics.com 


 Kids Love Comics joins our previously announced guests, including: Eddy Barrows (Earth 2); Marty Baumann (Pixar artist); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Marguerite Bennett (Batgirl); Christina Blanch (The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood); Mark Buckingham (Fables); Dave Bullock (Batman Black and White); Jim Calafiore (Leaving Megalapolis); Darrenn Canton (Tunnels & Trolls); Greg Capullo (Batman); Richard Case (Sandman); John Cassaday (Doc Savage); Bernard Chang (Green Lantern Corps); Jo Chen (Buffy the Vampire Slayer); Sean Chen (Amazing Spider-Man); Jimmy Cheung (Infinity); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (X-Men: Battle of the Atom); Amy Chu (Girls Night Out); Richard Clark (House of Gold & Bones); Steve Conley (Bloop); Mike Curtis (Dick Tracy); Jeremy Dale (Skyward); Alan Davis (Wolverine); Rachel Deering (In the Dark); Todd Dezago (Tellos); Tommy Lee Edwards (Star Wars); Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys); Ray Fawkes (Constantine); Tom Feister (G.I. Joe); David Finch (Forever Evil); Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (All-Star Western); Gerhard (Cerebus the Aardvark); Dave Gibbons (Watchmen); Keith Giffen (The New 52: Futures End); Bryan JL Glass (Mice Templar); Michael Golden (The Ravagers); Allan Gross (Road Song); Cully Hamner (Animal Man); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Fred Hembeck (Garfield); Marc Hempel (Sandman: The Kindly Ones); Adam Hughes (Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan); Justin Jordan (Luther Strode, Green Lantern: New Guardians); Dan Jurgens (The New 52: Futures End); Chris Kemple (Red Vengeance); Denis Kitchen (Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary); Barry Kitson (Empire); Aaron Kuder (Action Comics); Norman Lee (Iron Man Special); David Mack (Shadowman); Kevin Maguire (Guardians of the Galaxy); Pop Mhan (All New X-Factor); Alex Maleev (Moon Knight); Billy Martin (Vitriol, The Hunter); Ron Marz (Witchblade); Mike McKone (Ultimate FF); Bob McLeod (X-Men: Gold); Tradd Moore (Deadpool Annual); Mark Morales (New Avengers); Dan Parent (Archie, Veronica, Kevin Keller); David Peterson (Mouse Guard); Joe Prado (Justice League); Brian Pulido (Lady Death); Ron Randall (Trekker in Dark Horse Presents); Tom Raney (Incredible Hulk); Ivan Reis (Aquaman and The Others); Budd Root (Cavewoman); Don Rosa (Donald Duck); Craig Rousseau (Perhapanauts); Joe Rubinstein (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe); Andy Runton (Owly); Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man); Louise Simonson (Power Pack); Walter Simonson (Thor); Andy Smith (Superman #23.1: Bizarro); Allison Sohn (sketch card artist); Charles Soule (Thunderbolts); Jim Starlin (Thanos: The Infinity Revelation); Joe Staton (Dick Tracy); Paul D. Storrie (Sheena, Queen of the Jungle); Ben Templesmith (The Memory Collectors); Robert Tinnell (The Wicked West); Peter Tomasi (Batman and Two-Face); John Totleben (Swamp Thing); Herb Trimpe (GI Joe: A Real American Hero); Billy Tucci (Shi); Rick Veitch (Saga of the Swamp Thing); Mike Vosburg (Lori Lovecraft); Mark Waid (Daredevil); Lee Weeks (Daredevil); Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster); Bill Willingham (Fables); Renee Witterstaetter (Joe Jusko: Maelstrom); Rich Woodall (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Kelly Yates (Amber Atoms); Thom Zahler (My Little Pony); and Mike Zeck (Secret Wars).

 Tickets General Admission and VIP Package tickets for Weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are now on sale! Visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com/tickets/ for more information and to purchase your advanced tickets now! In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Harvey Awards, industry exclusives, and programming. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

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Should you wear a hazmat suit when you operate an elevator

In their quest to culture every object on planet Earth, researchers have found that hospital elevator buttons are more contaminated with bacteria than restroom surfaces.

Of 120 randomly cultured elevator buttons, 73 (61%) grew bacteria. Washroom surfaces were cultured 96 times with 41 (43%) showing microbial growth.

As is customary with papers like this, the media sensationalized the findings with headlines like "Why you should never ever touch that hospital elevator button."

Most stories eventually mentioned the fact that the authors said the majority of bacteria found ”had low pathogenicity," but some, including Vox.com, mrsaidblog.com, newsok.com, and mynews13.com, did not. In fact, the MRSAID blog also confused the benign streptococcus found in this paper with the pathogen that causes strep throat.

Ive written several posts about the culturing of various inanimate objects and pointed out that disease transmission has not been documented for almost all surfaces on which bacteria are found. If you click on the "Infection" label to your right, you can read as many as you wish.

Like most papers in this genre, this one has some flaws. You can read the full text here.

It was published in an open-access journal called "Open Medicine." It is not among the top 40 internal medicine journals listed by impact factor. It has no discernible impact factor at all and is not listed PubMed.

The title of the paper "Elevator buttons as unrecognized sources of bacterial colonization in hospitals" overstates the case a bit.

This table shows the types of bacteria found on both the elevator buttons and surfaces in the restrooms.

You can see that pathogens were few. Multiple organisms were found in several instances accounting for some of the numerical discrepancies. I could not figure out how the percentages were calculated. In neither column did the percentages add up to 100%.

Samples of restrooms surfaces were taken "a few months" after the elevator buttons were cultured. The authors conceded that this may have confounded the results.

Washroom sample swabs were taken from the exterior and interior entry-door handles, the privacy latch, and the toilet flusher. They did not swab toilet seats, which previous studies have shown are the gold standard to which all inanimate surfaces should be compared.

It may surprise you to learn that most of the bacteria found on elevator buttons and restroom surfaces can also normally be found ON YOUR HANDS!

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You Can Import a Fortune from Right there at Home by Marc Charles

9:01 AM

Hi Gang:

Its true.....

My program is updated, improved, revised and made even more relevant....

Have fun....

Marc

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Tattoo Business Plan Review by Marc Charles

Good morning all......

Ive enclosed a business plan I developed for a startup venture in Australia.

The outline that was submitted to me was pretty rough. So, there was alot of editing, revising and simplifying to make in one page.  

If you need help with your business plan drop me a note, or buy my book on Amazon: Free Business Plan Review.

Marc  

Business Plan

Ben Jarvie – Founder

Rank2bank

13 Allambie Drive Eltham

3095 Victoria Australia

-----[MCS1] 

www.austattoosupplies.com

Executive Summary

Rank2bank (the Company) is a web-based startup that owns and operates several high traffic websites offering a full line of tattoo supplies to parlours and tattoo artists worldwide

Products and Service

The Company offers a full line of top quality tattoo supplies to parlours and tattoo artists worldwide. Rank2bank also owns Tattoo Designs Live,a world-class design portal for professional tattoo artists and enjoys more than one hundred thousand unique visitors a month

Market[MCS2] 

The tattoo market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the personal care market. The value of the worldwide tattoo market is expected to surpass $2 billion by 2014 according to Forrester Research, a leading market research firm

Competition

The tattoo market is a rising trend. The Company is positioned to leverage the market opportunity online. The Company has identified three primary competitors:

http://www.tattoodirect.com.au/
http://www.bstattoo.com.au/
http://www.professionaltattoosupplies.com.au/

Competitive Edge[MCS3] 

Financials[MCS4] 

Management
[MCS5] Ben Jarvie – Founder

Marketing Strategy[MCS6] 

The Company leverages the Internet, search engines, social media and direct marketing to acquire new wholesale customers and professional tattoo parlour owners. The Company also utilizes search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) techniques, as well as video testimonials to help us spread the word across YouTube, Facebook and other platforms. The Company also leverages a viable online dealer network

Capital Requirements[MCS7] 

Rank2bank seeks a $50,000 investment, loan or business grant, at market rates, with a four year note. The Company shall provide security and collateral as required. The Company also seeks a verified merchant account from an established lender.

---

 [MCS1]You can insert your phone and email here

 [MCS2]You can insert your market stats here. I found these on Google. But I was unable to find facts or stats with regards to your particular model. You will need to research your market to find the appropriate figures

 [MCS3]You will need to determine why your company is unique, special or better than the competition.  I do not have this information or insight

 [MCS4]You can insert financial information here. It doesn’t need to be extensive, and especially for a startup. But it is usually good to list assets, liabilities and operating expenses.

 [MCS5]You can insert your name and a short bio here. If you have other people helping you or managers you can insert his or her names here as well. The bios should be short and emphasize expertise as it relates to THIS venture.

 [MCS6]You can insert your marketing strategy here. Most entrepreneurs wait until the last minute to address marketing issues and strategies. I think it’s the FIRST thing that needs to be addressed. You can work on your marketing strategy. But I wrote an example.

 [MCS7]If you are seeking investors, financing or business grants you can insert your requirements here. It is best to round off amounts, and show investors or banks how and when notes will be repaid. I wrote an example.

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How To Do Forum Post At Microworkers

I have posted an article about Microworkers few days ago. There I explained inside and out of that website. Here all jobs are very easy but some people find difficulty to do forum post. Many people post thread in forum and submit the link to get paid. But after that, there job is declined. Because admin of that forum has removed your thread before you get approved. In this article we will see step by step how to do forum post at Microworkers. This article also teaches you how to create backlink.

So you have entered into your account and saw available jobs. Now select one of the jobs by clicking it.

Now you can see the Job details. Read well. I am now writing job details for you as an example.

Job details:

What was expected?

Important:
This job is different from many other forum posting jobs. You cant just post a new thread with your existing account from forums you are familiar with. I only accept comment from existing relevant topic.
1. Go to http://www.itgot2be.com/aditional-instructions/ (Password: microworkers)

2. Learn about our services and check the additional instructions

3. Find a forum thread relating to the keyword shown at http://www.itgot2be.com/aditional-instructions/ "2. About the post"

Important:
- The forum must be in English and PR2+ 
- If there is already a comment about our service in the same thread, go and find another post.
- Make sure you know what anchor text is and how to make anchor text in a forum.

4. Reply with a 30 words+ positive comment in a current relevant thread

Notes:
- The comment should include one or more keywords shown at http://www.itgot2be.com/aditional-instructions/ "4. Keywords to be included.". Use one of the keywords as anchor text and make a clickable link to our website.
- Do not start a new thread.
- Do not comment on a thread that has already got a comment about our service.
- Do not link to http://www.itgot2be.com/aditional-instructions/. You need to visit the link to find the real website we are promoting.
- Do not try to cheat me by submitting non-related URL. I check manually. As a worker, you need to keep your successfully rate above 75%, so dont take the chance.
- Do not copy other comments.
- Do not spam the thread.
- Do not post comments on non-related thread.
- Do not post illegal, offensive, negative or harmful information.

Start Working:

So we have read the job details now it’s time to complete it. He has given a link and I visited the link and get description of his website. Now we have to find a forum which is related to his keyword. And the forum must be PR+2. You can check the page rank of a website by this link.Check PR.

It will take huge time to check every forum manually. So follow these steps.

Step 1: 

Go to Google and search Seo Quack addon for Firefox. Download and install it. Then you will see a SQ icon in the bottom of your Firefox browser. Click it once to activate it and click once again to deactivate.

Step 2: 

Now go to tools/Seo Quack/preferences. You can also go there by right click on the icon. A dialog box will appear. Now go to Parameter and put mark on the google. You may deselect others. See the picture.

Step 3:

Now go to Google and type Keyword+ forum in the search bar. Make sure your Seo Quack is on. Now you will see a list of website and below them you will be able to see there page rank. See the Picture

Step 4: 

Now select a forum that has high page rank. Create an account at that forum. Sign up is simple so I am not showing this. I suggest you to create a different gmail to do this type of work. I don’t do this work by my personal email. Also ensure another thing that the forum allows you to put link. There are few forum which doesn’t allow to give link. See some post before sign up.

Step 5: 

Now we have to find a thread that tells about poker game. I have found this thread and created a comment. Try to ensure that your comment is natural. You can read the comment that I made from the picture.

Step 6: 

Now our job is done we will give username and the link of my comment in the box. Now click the button I confirmed that. Your task will be approved within 2-3 days.

I think you enjoyed this article. If you face any problem to work in Microworkers then please make a comment and I will create an article for you. You may also share your opinions and your experience of work in Microworkers. I am waiting for your response.  

  

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Facebook and unprofessional behavior among surgical residents

Have you ever wondered about the behavior of surgical residents on Facebook? I have. A study from the Journal of Surgical Education posted online in June 2014 looked at the issue.

The paper, "An Assessment of Unprofessional Behavior among Surgical Residents on Facebook: A Warning of the Dangers of Social Media," identified 996 surgical residents from 57 surgical residency programs in the Midwest and found that 319 (32%) had Facebook profiles.

Most (73.7%) displayed no unprofessional content, but 45 (14.1%) exhibited possibly unprofessional material. Clearly unprofessional behaviors were noted in 39 (12.2%) resident profiles. The paper said, "binge drinking, sexually suggestive photos, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations were the most commonly found variables."

There were no differences in the rates of unprofessional behavior between male and female residents or by postgraduate year.

I have blogged previously about the ill-defined nature of professionalism, and the papers authors acknowledged that it can be subjective. Some of the behaviors they felt were potentially unprofessional such as photos of residents holding an alcoholic drink, holding a gun while hunting, or making political or religious comments are debatable.

They referenced another paper that found similar rates of unprofessional behavior (16%) on Facebook among applicants to an orthopedic surgery residency program.

A 2005 New England Journal of Medicine case-control study found that practicing physicians disciplined by state medical boards were significantly more likely to have had documentation of unprofessional behavior in medical school as well as lower Medical College Admission Test scores and poorer grades in the first two years of medical school.

Unprofessional behaviors listed in the New England Journal paper were irresponsibility, diminished capacity for self-improvement, immaturity, poor initiative, impaired relationships with students, residents, nurses, or faculty, impaired relationships with patients and families, and unprofessional behavior associated with anxiety, insecurity, or nervousness.

Some of those seem a bit vague. Are diminished capacity for self-improvement and poor initiative really unprofessional behaviors?

Facebook unprofessional behavior and the unprofessional behavior documented in the NEJM paper which pre-dated the widespread use of Facebook may not be comparable.

But I suppose one could say that some of the Facebook behaviors could be categorized as immature or irresponsible.

Until stories about residents being rejected for jobs after training start emerging, there probably wont be a change in the way they use Facebook or other social media.

Or maybe society will change.

In 1987, politician Gary Hart had to withdraw as a candidate for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination because he had an extramarital affair, and just a few years later, the president himself had a dalliance with an intern in the White House and survived.

Who thought marijuana use would ever be legalized?

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Work From Home

Many people work from home. It is also a dream of millions of others who would like to do so, but dont know how to start. Those who work from home usually work for themselves. In other words, they run their own business.

This may not be for everyone. It means that you and you alone, are responsible for your income. If you dont work, guess what - you dont earn anything. On the other hand, if you find a way to make money by working at home, and you work hard, you will probably a lot more than you did in your old job. It really is up to you. 

Getting started is the difficult bit. You need a plan, one that works. You need ideas, ones that are not glorified scams, but good, solid ideas that others are using to successfully work at home. Here are a few ideas that work, ideas that you can use too to work at home. 

1. One of the easiest ways to work at home is to sell a service. What are you good at? Can you write well? You could write articles. Millions of webmasters need good articles. The pay isnt high, at least to start with, but you can earn as much as $30 for a 500 word article. 

Dont expect to start out at this rate. You will almost certainly have to work up to it, and that may take a few months. But it can be done and it has been done. Try learning about search engine optimization, or SEO. Essential SEO can help you in that respect.

Once you feel you know what SEO writing entails, try contacting SEO companies find them through http://www.Google.com/ and offering your services as an SEO content writer. Its just a fancy name for an article writer who knows how to inject the necessary SEO elements into an article. You will find to your delight that SEO companies are happy to pay, and pay well, for results.

2. You could set up affiliate websites and promote other peoples products. Go to an affiliate network like Commission Junction or ClickBank , sign up and choose a product to promote. Set up a small website using the free Squidoo platform or the Bloggerplatform.

Write an article pre-selling the product. Dont try to hard sell it here. Just write what you think the product is like. Include a few bad points, but not too many. That can make your review sound much more real and honest. Conclude your article by suggesting that the reader may like to check out the product for themselves, and include your affiliate link. You can learn more about being an affiliate from Affilorama: http://www.affilorama.com/.

Flipping websites is big business. Learn more at Website Flipping Advice and download their free report. You can build small websites and sell them for money. It can be a very lucrative business model, and easier than you may think. Websites like Flippa are dedicated to buying and selling websites. Take your time and browse through it and learn what sells and what doesnt. When you are ready, start flipping!

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How To Do Web Research Job At Odesk

I have written an article about creating account at Odesk. I hope you have opened account and made your profile 100%. If not then please see my article. Now it’s time to work. The aim of today’s article is to show you a way to complete web research job at Odesk. Here we will show some tips. This article will teach you how to do web research job at Odesk. We will see an example today.

Apply for the Job: 

Go to your odesk account and select administrative support. You will see web research sub category. Only select this to see only web research job. Now click the apply button.

Now set your hourly rate. And write a cover letter. Don’t copy others cover letter. Your cover letter should be unique. Give some time to write. See the picture what I have written. You should give your previous job history and portfolio. Don’t forget to tell him to call you interview. According to my opinion cover letter should not be big. Client has not much time to read all cover letter. Try to summarize the whole thing within 2-3 sentences. Now click apply.

Start working:

Suppose you have got the job. You may have to give interview before getting job. If it is a hourly job then you should download Odesk Team Room Software. No need to open this software in case of fixed job. We will see details in another article.  

Example of Job at Odesk:

Job Title:  Collect 500 Business details at Sydney.

Details:  I need details of at least 500 Electronic companies at Sydney. I will need the following details presented in an Excel file Business Name, Business Owners Name (if able to find), Phone number(s), Website, E-mail, Operating hours,

I need this done within 2 days. Only apply if you can start now.

How to complete:

Now we have read the details, we have only 2 days 2 complete. We can’t get huge information by google search. Here I am giving tips to complete.

First we have to go to yellopages It is a business directory.  Here many businesses are listed. After going there you just put search terms in the fields. It will show you thousands of website. See the picture below.

From here you will get business name, website link, phone number, email, address. You may not get owner name or some information. To get this information I will suggest you to go their website. 

Other business directory:

There are many websites like Yellowpages. I am giving few of them.

• Yelp 
• Whitepages 
• Manta 

I will make a tutorial of how you can work here and talk about its features.

Tips for finding email address and owner name:

1.  1.     Open the website and try to find “contact us” page. You can find it in the footer, or in the side margins or in the header area of the page. If you can’t find the page then try to find page that says “Feedback”, “About Us”, “Our team”, “Where to find us”. You can find email address and owner name of that business.
2. 
   
3. 2.     If you can’t find these page then check “Privacy”, “Disclaimer” or “Terms and Conditions”.  You can find these page in the footer area.  Finding owner name is difficult  in my opinion.
4. 
   
5. 3.     Sometimes client give sheet where name of person is present you just have to find email.  For example the name of person is “Hasim Amla” In that case you can search for Hasim Amla @domain.com
6. 
   
7. 4.     You can use the public WHOIS database when the above procedures are not useful. Here ‘s how to do it. Go to http://www.whois.com/whois/  type the domain of the website by removing   "http://" part.

      

      Well you will not be an expert in one day. Try hard and practice more. I am also learning, I will share more tips in near future. If you know some techniques then please share with us.  

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Photos from Singer GT The Guitarmans Marriage Introduction

Singer GT The Guitar man who proposed to his longtime girlfriend Annie on January 12th this year, had his marriage introduction on Sunday March 6th. Congrats to them. See more photos after the cut.

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Earn Money By Uploading Picture

Image from Flickr

Do you love to take pictures? Though many of us are not expert at photography but we keep capturing our special moments by taking picture. Now we all have a smart phone which allows us to take high quality pictures. Keep doing this because it can become your income source in near future. There are several websites which are waiting for your pictures. Some of them are given below.

Photodune:

Here you can upload pictures and if they are approved by them then they will show you on their website. You will get percentage for per sell. It is under envatomarket. With this account you will get the access to work in other areas like themeforest, activeden etc. Join here.

Requirements:  Your image should be at least 2 megapixel and they must be in RGB and JPG format. 

If you do not follow the rules your files will be rejected though they are good. You need to use FTP upload to upload 5 photos at a time. Visit their website and see the quality of those pictures and cross that limit. Main advantage is that you can download one picture for free per month as a member.

Shutterstock:

Here you can sell both pictures and videos. Your picture should be at least 4 megapixels and must be in JPG format. You can also earn by referring others. Join here.

Dreamstime:

After creating account you will submit pictures for approval. After approval you will get 25-30% per sale as a contributor. But exclusive photographer receives more than that (60%). Minimum payout is 100$. Join here.

iStockphoto: 

You will be given a quiz after creating account and you will be asked to submit your 3 best photos to get approval. Join here.

Fotolia:

Here credit is used to buy and sell photo. 1 credit = 1.4$. Minimum payout is low only 2$. This site supports paypal. Join here.

Tips for taking good picture:

Don’t zoom with smartphone: Modern smartphone gives you the opportunity to zoom your photo. But it doesn’t have any physical lens like Camera. It actually crops your image before taking picture and you lose pixels which decreases the quality of the picture. Go close to the object rather than zooming.

Use back camera: Always use back camera of your smartphone as its quality is much better than its front camera.

Take some time: Don’t take picture quickly. Focus the object and make sure everything is in the frame. Take few pictures of same object from different angle and then choose the best picture.

Take advice:Join any photography club and take advice from the experts.

Backgrounds:You always concern about a particular object but it has some backgrounds. This can influence the beauty of the picture. Suppose you have taken a picture of a person and with him you also took a picture of dustbin. Just think how bad will it be? Always create a relation between background and the theme of the image.

Don’t shake:Hold your camera in a correct way and don’t shake.

Take your camera everywhere: Don’t keep your camera at home. Take this where you go. Take picture what you like around and capture every moments. By doing this you will be able to take many pictures and become an expert one day.

Use of software: You can use image editing software like Photoshop to enhance brightness, crop, and give effects to pictures. 

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Taking Shots at Maine Business by Marc Charles

1:15 PM

Greetings:

Ive talked about doing business in Maine, and Maine startup ventures many times.

Im not being negative or being all "doom and gloom".

The reality is.....Maine is a terrible place to do business. I could have never stayed here or raised a family here if I was dependent on the local economy for business.

The biggest problem in my mind is young families and entrepeneurs are NOT moving here. Thats a BIG PROBLEM.

It means Maine has the oldest population in the country. But its not even close to being a retirement "haven" like Florida, Texas, North Carolina or Arizona. And those areas have plenty of problems too! I lived in all of those states.

There was ONE venture capital deal in Maine last quarter....and it was for peanuts.

And you forget about voting for the  next great politicians. Politicians are not entrepreneurs. They feed on peoples ignorance and taxes.

Angus King said Maine is like Switzerland. Really? How so? Banking privacy?

Anyway, youll NEVER see this happening with a complete and total breakdown of government depedance.

But you could turn Maine into something close to Switzerland by doing five things:

Secede from US
Eliminate all income and retail (as well as hundreds of other taxes)
Offer World Class Tax incentives for companies and entrepreneurs (not crumbs)
Slash new state government expenses, payroll and welfare by 70%
Make Maine the greatest learning center in the world

Just a thought......

Marc Charles

by Lori Valigra MaineBiz

 

Tilson Technology Management Inc., a Portland-based provider of telecommunications services, was the only Maine company to raise venture capital in the third quarter, pulling in $250,000 in a later stage deal, according to a report released Friday.
By comparison, in the second quarter, Maines venture capital deals more than doubled in value and deal numbers over the same quarter last year, though the funding amounts and deal numbers still are small compared to total U.S. figures.

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Amazicon Proves Unprofessionalism At Its Finest

Ever find yourself dealing with someone who labels themselves a "professional" only to discover that their behavior is anything but professional? Its certainly sad indeed when a grown adult acts like a toddler who is in desperate need of a diaper change. Harsh but true. Take the Amazicon Convention, taking place April 4th, 5th and 6th at the Clarion Hotel in Essington, PA. I met the owner of the show this past January at the Philadelphia Comic-Con at the Clarion Hotel where I was a guest. I was summoned to the Amazicon table. Someone was sent over and told me the owner of the convention  wanted to meet me. I was escorted to him and the owner made his pitch and said he wanted to me attend his show. I offered to help with the Costume Contest and we were booked.




Flash forward to late March with a little over a week prior to the convention. After returning from Orlando, Florida I wrote on my personal Facebook Page how I had many charity events, birthday bookings and trips coming up and life was good. Almost immediately I received a scathing email from the owner of Amazicon ripping me apart because I did not mention his show in my Facebook status. Well, read for yourself friends:

Now is this anyway to conduct a business? What gives him the right to tell me what I should be posting on my personal Facebook account, which is not public but private? Why get upset that I referred to his show as a local con when that is in fact, what it is? Why on earth is he saying that Awesomecon does not care about their attendees and doesnt want me there (when in fact, they do want me there as a member of the press)? Mike and Connie you have a lot to learn about running a business but furthermore, you have a lot to learn about communication. This is not how you talk to people. This is not how you treat others. I hope you both take this as a valuable lesson and learn from it particularly if you want your show to survive. I have been attending conventions all over the country for 11 years as a simple con goer, a member of the press, a cosplay guest and working for vendors. I have never in my 11 years seen such outlandish behavior. The Amazicon show should be embarrassed. 

A source reported to me that Amazicon has been getting emails regarding this manner from people scrutinizing them saying they are now refusing to attend, thus stressing the owners out. 

After removing Amazicon from my friends list, they continued to message me and I had to block them. They seemed particularly peeved that I said I was going to show everyone  what they said and then resorted to saying that I was in fact, the unprofessional one. Well as you said, Facebook is public, the internet in public. So let the internet see what you did, shall we?

http://amazicon.net/

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Willow Smiths look to Chanels presentation at Paris Fashion Week

The 15-year-old actress, singer and dancer rocked up to Chanels presentation at the Paris Fashion Week alongside mother, Jada, dressed in a black, clinging, mesh-like, track-top and leggings to match...more photos after the cut...

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great,halloween,parties,in,sf

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Can cholecystectomies safely be done at night

A new study from surgeons at UCLA found that laparoscopic cholecystectomies done at night for acute cholecystitis have a significantly higher rate of conversion to open than those done during daylight hours.

Nighttime cholecystectomies were converted 11% of the time vs. only 6% for daytime operations, p = 0.008, but there was no difference in the rates of complications or hospital lengths of stay.

The study, published online in the American Journal of Surgery, was a retrospective review of 1140 acute cholecystitis patients, 223 of whom underwent surgery at night.

The authors advocate delaying surgery until it can be done in the daytime, but this conclusion needs to be examined.

Although the percentage of gangrenous gallbladders was similar in both groups, it wasnt clear from the data how many patients were semi-elective and how many were true emergencies.

Operative procedure durations were 110.5 minutes for nighttime and 92.4 minutes for daytime cases, and 1.5 and 2.0 days elapsed respectively before the patients were taken to the operating room, both p < 0.0001. The hospital lengths of stay were similar at 3.7 days for the night group and 3.8 days for the day patients. The causes for these lengthy operations, delays in operating, and long hospital stays were not explained in the manuscript.

The authors acknowledged that patient follow-up was no better than 50%.

Unreported confounders such as variations in the level of skill of the surgeons or whether or not a resident did the procedure could have influenced the results.

Another recently published study from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston found that although there was a slight but significant increase in complication rates [mostly retained stones and superficial wound infections] for patients having cholecystectomies at night, conversion rates of day and night surgery were similar.

Durations of operations averaged about 80 minutes [a more realistic figure than those in the UCLA study] in both groups. Hospital lengths of stay were significantly shorter [2 days vs. 3 days] for the nighttime patients. The authors acknowledged that a limitation of their study was that severity of gallbladder disease was difficult to accurately assess.

The decision about timing of cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis depends on the availability of operating rooms, the severity of illness, the presence of comorbidities such as diabetes, and the surgeons schedule and other responsibilities.

Most surgeons agree that the sooner patients with acute cholecystitis undergo surgery, the more quickly they will recover and get back to normal activities.

In my own practice as a solo community hospital surgicalist taking care of emergency cases only, any patient with acute cholecystitis who I was consulted on before 6 or 7 pm had surgery that same night if an OR was available. If not, they always had the operation within 24 hours. The length of stay (LOS) averaged under 48 hours and the median LOS was 1 day.

Because one of the two hospitals involved in the UCLA study is a major trauma center in Los Angeles, the papers findings may not apply to other institutions where nighttime OR availability may be better.

Based on these papers, surgeons and patients should not be wary of undertaking cholecystectomies during evening hours.

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How much money can you make cosplaying

"How much money can I make cosplaying?"

Within the last few years, this question has been asked by a large group of people. Many seek to get into the hobby as a job; something they can be employed at. Many feel it is an avenue to not only internet fame but fortune as well.  So how much money does the average cosplayer make? What can you expect in terms of increasing your financial status? I have complied a list for those who are seeking an answer to their question.



If you want to know how much an average cosplayer makes, you have to ask them what their day job is. Yes, I said day job.

FACT: COSPLAY COSTS MONEY. If you are making your own costumes and props or if you are hiring someone to commission it for you, its going to cost money. You have to pay for it. Wigs costs money. Makeup and body paint costs money. Shoes, boots, the list goes on.

FACT: TRAVELING AND ATTENDING CONVENTIONS COSTS MONEY. Food, gas, hotel, round trip plane ticket, luggage, round trip train ticket, you get the idea. If you want to attend conventions in your area or across the country, get ready to save up. Its not cheap.

FACT: YOU CAN MAKE MONEY COMMISSIONING COSTUMES AND PROPS. I know many talented individuals who have a side business and make incredible pieces of art for paying costumers. Many of them do have day jobs. Others are so successful that it has become their primary job. These gifted men and women are costume and prop makers.

FACT: YOU CAN SELL PRINTS AND CALENDARS AND MAKE MONEY but dont expect to quit your job. Its side money at best.

FACT: YOU DONT GET HEALTH INSURANCE OR A 401K BY COSPLAYING.

FACT: SOME SHOWS WILL COMPENSATE YOU FOR BEING A GUEST BUT OTHERS WONT. I know a number of people who have attended a comic-con as a cosplay guest or judge but they paid out of pocket to be there. Not every show is going to pick up all of your expenses (hotel, plane ticket and food) however some of them will. It really depends on the convention organizers.

FACT: MAJORITY OF COSPLAYERS HAVE DAY JOBS.


FACT: SOME COSPLAYERS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TURN THEMSELVES INTO A BRAND. This means that they not only sell prints, but items such as warbla and all ready made props and accessories you can purchase. They thought outside the box therefore their sales are higher compared to someone who only sells prints. They are more of a Cosplay warehouse. Can you quit your job and rely on online sales? Only if you turn yourself and your online store into a brand. Many women bill themselves as "full time cosplayer" however it is difficult to say if they are paying the rent/mortgage or if their significant other/spouse is. If they have a partner who brings in a forty hour per week paycheck, that explains why they can cosplay "full time" but realistically you cannot dress up and expect money to pour in.

Everything I have listed here is based on experience, observation and Intel.  

Hopefully this gives everyone a realistic perspective on how much money you can make cosplaying. 

Visit me on my Official Facebook Page

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Earn Money By Answering Questions

Answering questions may not seem to be an obvious way to make money online, but it can be. You may be familiar with Yahoo Answers where you can pose a question and invite others to answer you. Its a bit like that, but if you are the person who supplies the answers, you will get paid. 

Unlike Yahoo Answers, the sites that answer questions and pays those who supply the answers screen their experts a lot more closely. Anyone can supply an answer to any question on Yahoo Answers, but only those approved to do so will find themselves answering questions for pay. 

Some of the sites that pay you to answer questions are general and cover most subjects. Some of them are more specific and target a particular niche only. There are a growing number of these kinds of sites and some pay quite well too. 

However, it is quite intensive work as you will have to be present at your computer and online waiting in real time for people to pose a question that you are qualified to answer. You may also have to do some initial research to come up with the answer. While you are likely to know most things in your chosen field of expertise, you cannot reasonably be expected to have everything right at your fingertips every time. 

One popular question and answer site is Just Answer . They have over 100 categories with experts to answer questions in every one and more. For example, while researching their site they claimed they had 159 experts on hand, ready and waiting for questions to be posed to them. This number will likely vary at different times, but this is an indication of their popularity. 

The experts on these sites are often subject to a feedback system. This means that customers rate them according to how well their questions were answered. A feedback rating of 100%, for example, would mean that the expert concerned would have fully satisfied every customer with the answers they provided. In this way customers can choose the expert they feel is most likely to provide the best answer.

To earn money answering questions you will have to undergo an expert screening process. You will be expected to be an expert in your chosen field, and you will be tested on this. You may also be scrutinized by customers as well as by other experts as this is the real test of your skill. 

If your knowledge is in a subject that is taught at college or even in school, then you may be interested in Student Questions . This site is geared towards students who need the answers to questions concerning their homework. There are certain ethical questions in this regard, but you will have to answer those for yourself. 

If your expertise is in small business, then Small Biz Advice could be ideal for you. This is a site where people pay to receive business advice and answers to their perplexing business questions. 

One site that is slightly different from most of the others is ChaCha . They accept questions from people using cell phones. This means that people may ask questions that are area specific, such as, "Where is the nearest gas station?" They would of course have to also provide their geographical location and you would then have to provide them with an accurate answer.

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