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Besides the stress of knowing that she is pregnant, there is also the fact that now she has another life to think of and care for. Girls that engage in unprotected sex often end up confused, lonely and in great need of guidance in coping with teenage pregnancy. This seems to hold true for almost 34% of all teenage girls in America who get pregnant before the age of 20.

Even more shocking is the situation in England where one out of every 5 births recorded is to a teenage girl. Since these statistics alone prove that these teenagers are lacking in knowledge and are participating in unprotected sex, there needs to be action taken, more of a community approach to providing proper knowledge to teenage girls about pregnancy prevention.

Even in this modern age, people are still embarrassed to talk to their children about sex and its consequences. While this is natural and difficult initially, in the long run it would be very help the teenager avoid making a serious mistake. Having an open-minded, educational talk will not only prevent your teenage child from getting pregnant, but might also eliminate the possibility of sex at too early an age. It will also educate your child about the various sexually transmitted diseases [HIV, aids, etc.] and make them more cautious about engaging in sexual activities. Your child will be a lot more aware of the consequences and will be prepared to take appropriate action.

There are various ways for women to avoid pregnancy, using contraceptives being one.

Contraceptive birth control pills, This is the form of birth control method where “pills” are taken by girls to stop production of certain hormones that cause ovulation. While this is a useful technique, requiring the person to take a pill everyday to prevent ovulation, it does not eliminate the chances of getting infected or infecting someone else with a sexually transmitted disease.

While it may be portrayed socially and by the media that contraception completely eliminates the chances of pregnancy, it is not true. There is still a 3-5% chance of getting pregnant. So the best possible way to prevent teenage pregnancy is to practice abstinence.

Abstinence means not having sex at all. By abstaining from sexual intercourse, many unwanted births will be prevented. This is the best way to avoid being infected by sexually transmitted diseases and possible infections in the vagina and uterus. While there is a good chance that their friends might pressure them into having sex, having the right knowledge and the courage to say no is all that matters.

Overall, the young people today are being bombarded by the television and advertisements everywhere on sexual issues, the natural feelings and the teenage drive many to make costly mistakes, what is needed is better understanding of the consequences of early pregnancy and the information about trying practicing safe sex. Since it is sometimes difficult to approach teenagers, the young people should make their own decisions out of the knowledge they have gained.

Celia Nemart writes about family and medical issues on the internet, Celia is a dedicated mother that is aware of the dangers of the lack of information about Teen Pregnancy pregnancy.healthandcosmetics.com http://pregnancy.healthandcosmetics.com

AFP - China and Iraq have reached an agreement on a landmark three billion dollar deal to exploit oil in the Middle Eastern country, the Iraqi embassy in Beijing said Thursday.

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The Departed - 4 Stars (Excellent)

Let me get to the most important thing first: Director Martin Scorsese won an Oscar for The Departed .

Scorsese, one of the most accomplished directors of our era, has been nominated for 7 Oscars-5 for Best Director and 2 for Best Screenplay-before winning with The Departed.

He had also received 7 Golden Globe nominations-6 for Best Director and 1 for Best Screenplay-and won for Gangs of New York before winning again for The Departed this year (2007).

The Departed is simply the best mob film since Mario Puzo’s original Godfather in 1972.

Besides Scorsese, The Departed won for Best Picture, Best Screenplay (William Monahan) and Best Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), giving The Departed 4 Oscar wins to The Godfather’s 3 (Marlon Brando for Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola).

Mark Wahlberg was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Sgt. Sean Dignam.

The Departed also picked up 45 more wins and another 45 nominations, including another win for Scorsese (Best Director) and nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg) at the Golden Globes.

In short, The Departed brought home more hardware than a Home Depot shopping spree.

The icing on the cake for Scorsese was his best box-office opening ever ($26 million), his highest grossing film ever with $132 million nationally and $288 million worldwide through March 2007, and $48 million more in VHS rentals. The film’s budget was $90 million.

The all-star cast of DiCaprio (Billy Costigan), Matt Damon (Sgt. Colin Sullivan), Jack Nicholson (Frank Costello), Wahlberg (Sgt. Sean Dignam), Martin Sheen (Capt. Oliver Queenan) and Alec Baldwin (Capt. George Ellerby) did not hurt a lick.

The story takes place in Boston where Irish Mob boss Frank Costello (Nicholson) embeds Colin Sullivan (Damon) as an informant with the Massachusetts State Police. Simultaneously, the State Police assign Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) to infiltrate Costello’s crew.

When both sides figure out the situation, it is left to Sullivan and Costigan to discover each other’s identity.

Along the way, 22 people get whacked (this is a Mob flick), the f word is used 237 times (about 235 times too many), and we get a study in relationship psychology as the only real love interest-Madolyn Madden-is a criminal psychiatrist who is wooed by both rivals.

The Departed kept my attention riveted for 151 minutes. The three main characters (Costello, Sullivan and Costigan) all show their anguish in balancing survival, winning and conquering the moment.

There are apparently two versions of this film. I saw the longer version that is rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, and some strong sexual content and drug material.

This film is not for children or young adults, not that young adults do not hear the same f word dozens a time a day at high schools all over the country, but who needs the f word 237 times in 2.5 hours? Nobody.

I managed to tune out the cussing and concentrate on the story, acting and presentation that were excellent for an action flick with Mob presence.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley’s Blog Publishes Original Articles on Current and Past Events with Analysis and Commentary on Movie Reviews, Sports, Lessons in Life, Movies, Sports, Jobs and Careers and Internet Marketing intended to Delight, Inform, Educate and Motivate You the Reader. Find Ed’s Blog at:

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Buckingham Palace stands in its own grounds in the heart of London, England. It is possibly the number one ‘must see’ of the thousands upon thousands of tourists that visit London each year.

With its ceremonial guards with their red tunics and tall, bearskin hats, Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British royal family as well as being a base for visiting dignitaries and Heads of State. So you would expect security at the palace to be nothing less than top notch, and today it probably is.

However, in the early 1980’s it was perhaps a different story.

Early in the morning of July 9th, 1982, unemployed Michael Fagan somehow managed to scale a fourteen-foot wall, set with spikes, in a remote corner of Buckingham Palace. He was actually spotted climbing over the wall by an off-duty police officer and the alarm was raised. However the intruder was not found by a search of the grounds, and it must have been assumed that he had climbed back over the wall and made his escape.

But Michael Fagan was still at large within the palace, in fact he found an open window and clambered in. It was not the intruder’s intention to steal because inside the room was a stamp collection valued at a cool $20 million which he left alone. Finding that the door leading from the room to the rest of the palace was locked the unemployed man climbed back out of the window.

Amazingly an alarm had been triggered both when Fagan climbed in the window, and when he climbed out again, but the in-house police officer attending the alarm made the assumption that it had malfunctioned and twice switched it off!

Michael Fagan was determined that his adventure at Buckingham Palace was to continue because he managed to find another open window, this one with a convenient drainpipe leading to it. Up he went. This window brought Fagan into the room of the man who was responsible for the security of Queen Elizabeth II, and this time the door leading out of the room was unlocked.

The intruder was then able to wander unchallenged along the vast corridors of the palace, as he did so he admired many of the valuable paintings that adorn the walls. He entered a few unoccupied rooms and then, by chance, entered the bedroom of her majesty the Queen.

Does all this have anything to do with the security of your home? It does, read on.

The Queen’s bedroom should have been guarded. At night an armed police officer stood in front of the door but his shift had ended and he left before being relieved by an unarmed footman who guarded the room by day. The footman was delayed because he was out walking the Queen’s corgis.

When Fagan disturbed a curtain the Queen awoke and, although she must have been extremely shocked to find a stranger in the royal bedchamber, remained calm. News reports of the time stated that Fagan sat on the end of the bed and chatted to the Queen, mainly about family matters. After about ten minutes he asked her majesty for a cigarette. This gave the Queen reason to reach for the telephone and she was able to summon a footman who restrained Michael Fagan.

You can imagine the outcry about the insufficient, and lackadaisical, security at the palace this incident caused, the British press was full of the news for some time. Imagine too, the further panic caused when it was revealed that this was actually the second time that Michael Fagan had unlawfully entered Buckingham Palace. Just one month previously he had helped himself to a bottle of Prince Charles’ wine.

Naturally, this led to a complete review and upgrading of security at all royal residences, the British monarchy determined that no similar incident should ever happen again.

So where does you and the security of your home fit into this story? No doubt that your home is a nice one. It may not have the ceremonial guards, the staterooms, royal treasures and endless corridors of Buckingham Palace but it is a palace to you and your family. Is your home security insufficient and lackadaisical? Could an intruder enter your home as easily as Michael Fagan had entered the royal residence?

Remember that an intruder would likely have far more wicked intent than sitting on the end of your bed chatting to you. Make a review of your security now. Are you doing all that you can to ensure that your home is as best protected as it can be? Don’t be like the British Monarchy and leave it until after the event.

Martin Underwood writes about all aspects of home security. He is a regular contributor to www.surveillanceforsecurity.com http://www.surveillanceforsecurity.com The site that presents reviews and information about the best in home security, personal security and vehicle security.

AP - Former President Clinton gave his full-throated endorsement to Barack Obama’s bid for the White House on Wednesday, telling delegates to the Democratic convention that Obama is “ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world.”

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How do you see yourself as a parent? How would you want your children to grow up? But before you answer that, here are three categories that you might generally classify yourself into, as a parent:

The Dictator - Parents who give orders for children to obey without hesitation. They don’t want their children to ask questions.

The Friend - Parents who suggest orders, but their children can participate in the rule-making process. Thus, consensus is reached upon making the decision - a typical ‘give and take’ relationship.

The Listener - Parents who just listen to their children’s desires.

Believe it or not, a rising number of families in the West are letting their children take control over their households. Many parents just desire to be encouraging dads or moms and want to make their children happy. However, most of them end up answering to the whims and wanton wishes of their children.

This doesn’t mean that parents have to be very strict and non-compromising to their children. The point is to incorporate discipline and proper values into children during the initial stages of their growth (around 4-6 years of age). The way the children are raised during this period will shape their personality and behavior.

At this specific period of development, children are not supposed to make decisions for the parents. They might get confused about who’s really in charge, making them insecure and anxious. They may end up distrustful of their parents whenever they feel that the parents should be the ones protecting them or making the decisions as mature adults. As parents, you must make it clear to your children that they are as important as you are, without imposing too much authority.

Here are the five most important tips in raising your children:

1. Teach your children to call you “dad” or “mom.” Don’t let them call you by your first name. Proper way of addressing is the first step in reinforcing respect and authority.

2. Don’t focus on the negative: whenever they’re using uncalled words or acting in a bad manner, instead of saying, “That’s bad!” you should say, “That’s not good.” This will give them an idea that adults or parents pay less attention to children with bad behavior or manners. Focus more on children who show good behavior. Children will notice how you reward good behavior and will strive to do what’s right.

3. Always show them you’re in charge and conscious of household management. It is impossible to guide children and seek their approval at the same time. When you ask your kids to do their tasks, don’t say, “Do your homework, okay!?” A better approach would be, “Do your homework, kids.”

4. When you make rules, think about them carefully before carrying them out. Once you do, don’t change them quickly. Stand by your rules. Children won’t take your rules seriously if you’re not consistent with them.

5. There is no need to compare your children. They have their individual weaknesses and strengths. While one may be good in the arts, another may be good in words or in sports. Comparing them worsens the inferiority complex of the disfavored child.

Over time, parents may shift from the category of being a “dictator” to a “friend” and so on. Just make sure you start adopting leniency at the appropriate age, during that time when a child starts to mature mentally and emotionally. But while children need your care, support, and most especially your guidance, make sure you act like a parent, not just a friend.

Lisa J. Allen

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Computer recycling nowadays is easy to do and very commonplace as computers can be easily refurbished in order to provide 3rd world countries with older yet functioning models of computers. Disposing of computers properly is extremely important because if you sell your computer or give it away then the person who receives it has unlimited access to all of your personal information that was stored on it. If you leave your computer in the street for anyone to take away, then they would be able to access this private information as well.

In a day and age where it is easy to steal someone’s identity with such a small amount of information, and companies are reaping the benefits of “ID Theft Prevention” plans, it is sad to think that a smart adult would forget how much personal information they’ve got stored on their computer. Every time you enter and save a small piece of personal information into a computer, it remains in the hard drive and usually takes a computer expert to wipe your computer clean of all of the tiny bits of your personal information. Any time you save a password or send an e-mail, that information remains no matter how many times you clean the “cookies” and free up some memory.

Any time you order something over the internet using a credit card number, that number gets sent to the company and is usually stored in their memory so that the next time you visit their website, shopping and paying is quicker and easier. As many as 9 million Americans have their identity stolen every year, but sadly, most of these victims are cautious consumers who happen to be targeted because of one little mistake. Disposing of your computer the wrong way could be the one little mistake that your creepy neighbor is waiting on in order for them to gain access to an abundance of your personal information.

With your personal information at the tip of their fingers, identity thieves can easily commit fraud by opening up new credit cards under your name and billing address, using your social security number to obtain illegal employment, get a loan or mortgage under your name, or even just an ID card with your name and their picture. There are no limits to what an identity thief can do with your personal information, and their reach stretches further if they have access to your e-mail accounts and internet pay systems.

The best way to protect yourself against identity theft is obviously to be a conscious consumer when it comes to using your credit cards, watch your credit history and make sure that details such as billing statements coincide with your personal records. It’s important to watch what and where you spend your money, and to make sure it’s only you doing the spending with your accounts.

It’s okay to save personal information on your computer, as long as your computer remains in your hands. Once you are done with a computer either because it’s old or broken or you’re ready for an upgrade, there is only one safe way to dispose or recycle your old computer. In order to insure safety of your personal data and comply with environmental standards for computer disposal, your computer must be sent to a computer disposal or recycling company. Businesses such as those will properly dismantle a non-useable computer or will remove all of your personal information so that the computer is ready to be refurbished. Either way, years worth of your personal information that you entered into your computer will be properly wiped away and the theft of your identity via your trashed computer will no longer be a concern.

Sam Brown, a environmentalist, specializes in solutions to help reduce waste. His primary interest lies In www.recycleits.com http://www.recycleits.com computer recycling & finding easy www.recycleits.com http://www.recycleits.com pc disposal businesses.

Reuters - The Federal Reserve must be “very vigilant” amid strained financial markets while exercising patience over interest rates as it waits for inflation to ease, a top Fed policy-maker said on Wednesday.

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Computer Forensics is the process of investigating electronic devices or computer media for the purpose of discovering and analyzing available, deleted, or hidden information that may serve as useful evidence in supporting both claims and defenses of a legal matter as well as it can helpful when data have been accidentally deleted or lost due to hardware failure.

However, this is a very old technique but now it has been changed a lot because of technological advances, modern tools and software’s which makes Computer Forensics much easier for Computer Forensic Experts to find & restore more evidence/data faster and with more accuracy.

Computer forensics has change the way digital evidence is gathered & used as evidence of a crime & it is done using advanced techniques and technologies. A computer forensic expert uses these techniques to discover evidence from an electronic storage device for a possible crime. The data can be from any kind of electronic device like Pen drives, discs, tapes, handhelds, PDAs, memory stick, Emails, logs, hidden or deleted files etc.

Most of us think that deleting a file or history will remove it completely from the hard disk drive. In realty, it only removes the file from the location but the actual file still remains on your computer. It is easier to track what has been done on your computer but difficult to say by whom though it is possible to alter or delete the data completely from your storage device. It depends on computer forensic expert’s skills how well he can find and restore the data without any loss or change.

Computer forensics got widespread attention during the Enron scandal widely believed to be the biggest computer forensics investigation ever. Nowadays Computer Forensics & Electronic discovery is becoming a standard part of litigation of all types, especially large litigations involving corporate matters in which there are large amounts of data.

Computer forensics can be used to uncover a fraud, unauthorized use of a computer, violation of company policies, inadequate record keeping etc… by tracking e-mails, chat-history, files, tapes, sites people browse or any other form of electronic communications.

Data security is one of the biggest issues that the corporate world is facing now by publishing company’s internet/policies & consequences for violations, signing of compliance documents by employees. Businesses can initiate monitoring their own computer systems to avoid legal consequences in future. Making employees aware that monitoring software and Computer forensics personnel are available could prevent workers from wrong doing.

With the use of computers in everyday life and increasing amount of hi-tech crimes, Computer forensics is a growing niche in the litigation support sector. Unlike many jobs in information technology sector, chances are that computer forensics services will not be outsourced to other country because of the confidentiality of the data business which will not allow it to travel just to save a little cash.

Kevin Cohen is an international computer forensics consultant. He is president of Data Triage Technologies, LLC.( www.datatriage.com http://www.datatriage.com ), a Computer forensics and Electronic discovery firm based in Los Angeles, California .

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Being a party consultant can be a busy career. People who want help for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, Christmas, and other holiday parties call me every time. A few of them even need help for baby shower decorations. Only a few people have enough experience for this type of party because baby showers are not celebrated as often as the annual occasions like Christmas or birthdays. Most people only go to one or two baby showers in their lifetime and some people never even get to attend one at all. This means that baby shower decorations would often require more planning than other kinds of parties.

Because baby showers are few and far between, people who need assistance for baby shower decorations have few expectations. People would also not expect to have an extravagant baby shower as oppose to what they would expect to have on more significant occasions like a graduation or a wedding. This gives you the freedom to come up with ideas on how elaborate you want a party to be, how much attention you need to devote to decorations, and the general theme for the baby shower. Light and tasteful baby shower decorations in my experience, work most of the time.

Other people on the other hand might consider this as an opportunity to explore innovative and creative ideas for baby shower decorations. Out of these world table settings elaborate ribbons, and custom made banners can make a baby shower special and memorable. If you want an extraordinary baby shower, seek advice from a party consultant such as myself are willing to serve you.

If your experience with decorations are limited only to standard decorations like ribbons and bows, napkins with cute prints of puppies, or cakes, and you feel the need to supplement your decorations don’t hesitate to seek help. If you are having doubts with your baby shower decorations or if you want to make sure that your baby shower will be one f a kind, try consulting a party consultant. Perfect baby shower decorations are the key to hosting an exceptional baby shower.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning baby. Learn more at www.thatsbeautifulbaby.com/baby-information/baby-information/great-ideas-for-baby-shower-decorations.html http://www.thatsbeautifulbaby.com/baby-information/baby-information/great-ideas-for-baby-shower-decorations.html

Reuters - The Federal Reserve must be “very vigilant” amid strained financial markets while exercising patience over interest rates as it waits for inflation to ease, a top Fed policy-maker said on Wednesday.

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One of the first steps in building your website is choosing a domain name. There are several important things to consider when deciding on a domain name for your website.

Following are a few tips to keep in mind when selecting a new domain name:

If possible, opt for a domain name that is easily recognizable and describes your business. This will be helpful when you promote your site.

Keep your domain name as short, simple and easy to remember as possible. The shorter it is, the easier it will be to remember. Although a good number of the short and simple .com domains are likely already taken, you may have the option to purchase a domain with a different extension, like .net or .us.

Your domain name can be 2-63 characters long (excluding the extension), and can contain the characters a-z, 0-9 and ‘-’ (dash). However, domain names cannot begin or end with ‘-’ (dash).

If your first choice is not available, try to utilize synonyms, rearrange the words, add dashes, or use abbreviations or acronyms to find an alternative.

You now have several options to choose from for extensions as well. Following is some information about some of the extensions you can choose from:

.com denotes the word commercial, and it is an unrestricted global domain name extension. Many businesses prefer a .com domain name because it is a highly recognized symbol for having a business presence on the Internet. However, the number of available .com domain names is shrinking as more and more businesses go online.

.net represents the word network, and is an unrestricted global domain name extension most commonly used by Internet service providers, Web-hosting companies, or other businesses that are directly involved in the infrastructure of the Internet. Additionally, some businesses choose domain names with a .net extension for their intranet web sites.

.org represents the word organization, and is an unrestricted global domain name extension that is primarily used for non-commercial sites. However, many commercial entities register the .org extensions corresponding to their .com domain names in order to protect their brands.

.biz is a restricted-use global domain name extension used for business web sites. As a relatively new type of domain, .biz offers a company the opportunity to get the domain name it really wants and enhance its presence on the Web with a domain name that means business.

.info is an unrestricted domain name extension that creates an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience with information about your business and ideas. .info is growing in popularity, but still has many great names available.

.us is a restricted-use country code that may be used by any individual or organization with residence in the United States or its territories, including foreign organizations that do business in the US.

What about .TV, .WS, .FM and .CC?

Although often marketed as such, .TV does not mean television and .WS does not mean web-site or world-site. .TV is the country code extension for Tuvalu a small island country located in the Western Pacific Ocean with a population of approximately 11,000 that gained independence from the UK in 1978. .WS is the country code extension for Samoa. Samoa, also in the Pacific, gained independence from New Zealand in 1962 and has a population of around 180,000.

.FM masquerades as the TLD (top level domain) for radio stations, but is actually the country code for Federated States of Micronesia. .CC is the Internet country code TLD for Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory, but has been promoted for international registration as the next .com .

Teresa Frady is webmaster of several sites including www.webmastertips.us http://www.webmastertips.us where you can purchase domain names, learn about webhosts, view webmaster related articles, and shop for webmaster products including computers, books, software and more.

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To be profitable, a business must charge more than its breakeven point for the services it sells. When it comes to pricing a job, what often hinders a contractor from carefully considering the markup for overhead and profit is the competitor who does not take these things into consideration. So-called “low balling” does not assure long-term business success.

You can take your business beyond the breakeven point by knowing your overhead percentage and calculating it into the bids and sale price you offer for your services. Most of us know that overhead is the cost of running a business and includes items such as rent, utilities, office supplies, staff and officer compensation. When you know your overhead percentage, you will know exactly how much to mark up the cost of goods or direct expense to break even. Any markup after that is profit. By using the correct overhead percentage you will produce more consistent results.

To calculate the overhead percentage for your company, you take your overhead expenses and divide them by the cost of goods sold: Overhead Expenses/Cost of Goods Sold = Overhead %.

A common mistake that can lead to miscalculating overhead percentage is listing liability insurance as an overhead expense rather than where it appropriately belongs as a cost of goods sold.

Marking up cost of goods by this percentage, will just break you even. In other words, it will produce just enough money to cover your overhead. Example:

Example A - Breakeven - no Profit Example B - Net Pre Tax Profit of 8.68%
Income $4,027,500 100% $ 4,410,112 100.00%
Cost of Goods Sold $ 3,222,000 80% $ 3,222,000 73.06%
Gross Profit $ 805,500 20% $ 1,188,112 26.94%
Overhead $ 805,500 20% $ 805,500 18.26%
Net Pretax Profit $ 0 $ 382,612 8.68%

Overhead % Calculations: $ 805,500 / $3,222,000 = 25%. The overhead percentage is 25%.

In this example, to reach the breakeven point you would need to mark up cost of goods sold by 25 percent to cover overhead. When doing this calculation for your company, use income statement figures for at least a six month period of time, ideally 12 months.

If you are a sole proprietor, your percentage will be lower, as you do not have officer compensation on the Income Statement. To come up with a more accurate breakeven point, it is recommended that you add an amount for your compensation to the overhead expenses. As an owner, you need to be earning adequate compensation to be successful.

By knowing your overhead percentage, you can more accurately bid on jobs by adding it to your estimated cost. Using the 25 percent overhead from the previous example, you can

calculate the bid/sales price like this:
Estimated cost: $275,000
Overhead % x 1.25%
Subtotal to Breakeven: $343,750
Profit % x 1.13%
Bid / Sales Price $388,438

Many contractors have different markups for labor and materials, use flat rates or unit prices in bidding - any one of these could leave you wondering how to apply this in your company. If you are doing bidding in any of these ways, make sure to do the numbers in reverse before applying markup for profit. This will ensure you are covering overhead, leading to more consistent profits for your company.

In flat rate and unit pricing, it is a good idea to check these figures periodically and ensure the costs are accurate all the way around.

Knowing your overhead percentage will take you beyond the breakeven point and help you more accurately bid on jobs. Ultimately, profitable jobs will boost your bottom line.

Vicki Suiter-McNickle is president of Suiter Financial Systems ( www.suiterfinancial.com http://www.suiterfinancial.com ). For more than 15 years, she’s helped construction and contracting companies discover their breakeven point and realize an appreciable increase in profitability and cash flow. Contact her at vicki@suiterfinancial.com vicki@suiterfinancial.com .

AP - A military panel took evidence Wednesday in a hearing aimed at determining whether two U.S. soldiers should face a court-martial in the deaths of four Iraqi men last year.

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Judging from the listings in our Abillionbooks online bookstores, the whole world is in love with jokes, and books of jokes to such an extent, well, almost as much as it loves Paris Hilton.

But what jokes exactly? We did a random search at Abebooks, that new and usedbook giant that changed the face of the book trade worldwide, and came up with some interesting results.

Using the keyword “jokes”, it was an eye-opener when Abebooks found 54540 books involving listed in its database. This was kind of strange in a way.

When last did you check out a friend’s book shelf at their place? We are prepared to bet that books of jokes did not feature much, if at all. Most likely there were relationship books, car manuals, sports books, glossy novels, a gift books, unopened textbooks.

Perhaps there was a ragged cartoon book at the end of the shelf and one in the bathroom.

So what are all these listed joke books exactly?

At the bottom of the price range ($1) we found Spongebob, Rugrats, Dumb and Dumber Garfield and hundreds in the 101 Jokes series: 101 Vacation Jokes, 101 Telephone Jokes, 101 Pet Jokes - you get the picture. Some jovial publisher obviously figured out also that the entire world loves a good joke or more than a hundred preferably.

It is interesting too that so many of the books of jokes in this price range are aimed at kids. Books containing “Children’s good clean jokes” is a recurring theme here.

At the $15 level the joke books are more adult (O’Brien and Fitzgerald Walk into a Bar: The World’s Best Irish Jokes) and edgy (the “Extremely Gross Jokes” series).

And here’s a joke for you. Our search threw up “The Joke” by Milan Kundera. Funny huh?

Then there is the fabulously interesting title “The Jokes of Sigmund Freud: A Study in Humor and Jewish Identity” by Elliot Oring. Not a joke book to take to the pub perhaps but you can feel the laughter well up even so.

Then I came across the title “I Give you Texas! 500 Jokes of the Lone Star State”. I have always had a yearning to live in Texas although I know very little about it. I reckon Texan jokes should tell me all I need to know. So I got sidetracked and ordered the book.

Of course there is a dark side to the joke industry - the academics who Take It All Very Seriously. Consider the title “Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor”. This kind of title should not really be thrown out by a search for jokes. It’s not fair and it’s not funny.

At the top of the price range ($100 and more) there were interesting discoveries, such as an album of 50 saucy not blue postcards from World War II. My grandpa had some of those.

Published in Poland in 1931 was “I Laugh at You”, in Yiddish, by Joseph Tunkel. Mr Tunkel left Poland in 1939 when the laughter stopped.

For $300 you can have David Henry Thoreau’s “Cape Cod” in two volumes, reportedly Thoreau’s sunniest, happiest book. It bubbles over with jokes, puns, tall tales, and genial good humor, the bookseller says.

If you are prepared to stump up $77 500 dollars for a laugh, you can have the complete autograph manuscript of Chapter 23 of “A Tramp Abroad” by Mark Twain. It was the most expensive that came up under the search term “jokes” on Abebooks.

The bookseller supplies a painstaking description of the item (revisions, repairs, smudging, fingerprinting and all) and says: “The subject of the chapter is, in large part, reminiscence from Twain’s days as a printer’s apprentice. Nicodemus Dodge, a seeming yokel from out of town, is hired at the printer’s shop where the young Sam Clemens is working. The locals hope to make Nicodemus the butt of their jokes only to find (as Twain notes in a phrase that was ultimately deleted), that they ‘had fished for a sardine and caught a whale’ “.

The old jokes are often the best.

About the author: Justine Nofal is a journalist and owner of a brick-and-mortar bookstore. She is also an online bookdealer and booksite specialist. See her blog at SearchBookSites and website aBillionbooks.com http://aBillionbooks.com

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