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When I was a little child, my grandpa always sat next to me and told some stories about the legendary of Hakka. I was very interested Designer Replica Handbags in these kinds of stories and learned a lot from that. Until then, I started to know I’m a Hakka and also felt proud to be a Hakka.

Hakka, we call it “KeJia” in Chinese, which means “guest family”. When I first heard this word, I felt very confused why we are called guests, are we guests coming from other place? I finally got the answer from my grandpa. He told me sincerely and earnestly that, we, Hakka are the people who emigrated from the north of China in Jin Dynasty. The flooding, grasshopper plaques, droughts, famines and war drove our ancestors move to the south in China. Throughout the whole period, they suffered a lot and finally settled here.

According to this, I felt Hakka is really a great ethnic group. But for their perseverance, hard-working, how could they still exist in the most adverse environment. It is so surprising!

As I gradually grew up, my admiration to this culture increased, my understanding of Hakka was not merely from the little words of my grandpa, but from what I have heard and what I have seen.

When referring to the culture of Hakka, the first thing you will think about is their dialect. Because our ancestor came from different places in the north of China, moreover, when they settled here, their dialects more or less mixed with the dialects of native people, they created so many dialects. I felt intensely about this point. When I was in my middle class, all my classmates are Hakka, who were just from different villages and towns, but the dialects of them were different from each other. Now, you can imagine what a showplace of dialects it was!

Then I want to tell you another treasury of the culture. Let’s begin it with a true story. It sounds interesting. In the sixties of last century, when a foreign reconnaissance satellites flew throw the Fujian province, it took a Gucci bags picture of a building of cylindraceous structure which was once mistaken by a launching base for rockets. Until an old couple walked into it, the riddle was finally undone①. That was the round building of Hakka. From then on, Hakka people can show their own culture to the world. It is Hakka’s time!

The round building is usually 3 to 4 stories tall with a large inner open space (single ring) or double rings. Why is it so big—that’s another cultural reflection . Because of the historic reason, Hakka people don’t want to be apart any more. They always live in big family, and usually with several generations. As for this point, I feel more deeply, especially, when it comes to the end of a year, the Spring Festival. Because at that time, I will go home and enjoy new year with all my relatives. To show my respect and love, I must call them (it’s also a tradition), that’s so hard for me, “Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle…” This often lasts for more than 5 minutes. But, on the other hand, I really admire the warm and fragrance feeling with all my relatives!

Above are the cultures that I have heard and seen, it’s only a corner of a whole thing. But just from that I can feel the deep and proud of our culture!

Now, from the mere surprise and then the admiration, I started to be proud to be a Hakka and feel delighted here to introduce our culture to you. The holding of the “World Hakka Fair” in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Prada Scarf province, the construction of the “Hakka Town” in Ganxian, all the Hakka people are making an effort to spread the culture. I should also do something. Because, for us, it is Hakka’s moment!

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If I asked you were it possible for you to get into the best shape of your life, we could agree that it is. If I asked you were it possible for you PRADA Handbags to become smarter than you’ve ever been, I think we could agree that you could work hard, study, learn, and practice more than you ever had. But strangely, the idea of becoming the “perfect version” of ourselves seems so unobtainable. It seems impossible.

But it isn’t. It just requires you to work harder and more diligently than you ever have before. Is it worth it? Just ask yourself this. Would you like to be the smartest, best looking, fittest, funniest, best dressed, most compassionate, loving person you’ve ever been? Would you like to be your own definition of the perfect person?

If, like me, you answered yes, then you’ve taken the first step to becoming your best self. The journey is long, the obstacles hard. The plan, though, is simple. Define, plan, execute, redefine, plan again, execute again, etc. Let’s go over the plan in a little more detail.

Plan – think about your perfect self. What does he or she look like? How does he speak? How does he think? How does he eat? How does he interact with others? What do people think of him? What is he capable of, that you aren’t? Define your perfect self in adjectives that are measurable and obtainable. Things like “he is lean and strong, with a low body fat percentage and a good amount of visible muscle,” or “she speaks well, avoids idle conversation, and is listened to and respected by all of those that she communicates with.”

Take those descriptions and plan out how long it would take for you to achieve each and every one of them. For instance “if I am at 17% body fat, and I can lose 1 lb per week, it will take me 20 weeks to get to my goal body fat percentage,” or “I speak often without thinking about what I’m saying. This lends to people not caring about my thoughts or respecting my opinions. I need to spend the next 3 months focusing on my idle talk.”

Health Top Tips Nutrition Love Lifestyle Happiness Weight Loss Then implement a “snowball method” towards becoming your perfect self. Start with the shortest timed goals. “I will floss every day” will only take about a week or two to perfect, whereas “I will be able to run a marathon” might take much longer. As soon as you’ve made a description habit, move to the next one (while continuing the first, of course). With each habit you introduce into your newly constructed lifestyle, you will be 1 step closer to your perfect self. You will also gain momentum with each goal, which will motivate you towards the next goal. By the time you reach the goals that could take months or even years to implement, you’ll be so full of new skills and motivation that you’ll tackle them with no problem.

Remember that each of your goals should have purpose. You may found as I have that a couple of months (or years) down the line that a certain goal of yours no longer suits your best interest. Maybe there is no good purpose for being 10% body fat, but instead you find it important to have functional strength and cardiovascular stamina. In this case you would align your plan to fit your new goals. Instead of focusing on body fat percentage, you would plan workouts that focused on increasing strength and stamina. With the victory of each goal implemented into your lifestyle you’ll be one step closer to becoming your vision of your perfect self. Each victory will mark a decision you made and plan that you carried out, work that you did to make yourself better. You’ll feel better about yourself with each victory, and with the learning of each new skill or the discipline of each new focus, you’ll find it that much easier to move to the next goal.

It’s a long journey to Hermes Wallets the top of the mountain, but it’s completely obtainable, and totally worth the effort. Start climbing today, and you’ll be well on your way before you even start feeling the pain. Good luck, and I’ll see you at the top!

5 Things to Know About Personal Finance

Oh money. It makes the world go ’round. It’s one of the biggest reasons for divorce. It either frees us or enslaves us. It is the commodity of all commodities. And yet, as much as many of us make, most of us know so little about how it works. I blame our parents. They should have known. They should have taught us. Well, either way, I’m about to give you a quick crash course in cash money 101, and how personal finances should work. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. Hopefully you’ll be enlightened.

1. How a credit card works

Credit cards are an interesting commodity. They can either work for you or against you, depending on how much you know about them and how smart you are with them. The biggest problem with credit cards, though, is that we gain access to them before we know enough about them. Your parents should have taught you how they work, but sadly, many adults don’t even know exactly how they work. This article should help. Read it. Then read it again.

2. How to create a budget

Budgeting is something that people either love or hate to do. Personally I hate it. But I keep a general budget because it’s important to know where my money is going. A friend of mine knows where every dollar he spends goes. I’d rather divide my money into 2 different accounts, business and pleasure. I give myself an “allowance” to do whatever I want with monthly, and the rest stays in my “business” account for bills and other living expenses. Need a crash course on building a budget? Check this out.

3. The time value of money

The time value of money is a simple principal to understand: basically it states that any amount of money is worth more today than the same amount of money in the future due to it’s earning potential. This means that if you have $100 to invest today, it’s worth more than $100 a year from now, because it could be gaining value through investments for a year. Let’s assume you average 9% on your investments… Your $100 today will be worth $109 in a year, whereas getting $100 a year from now is only worth about $91, due to the value of money lost in the year.

This is very important when you consider the next point…

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4. Start investing early

Take a look at this chart. Basically what it states is that when Saver B starts investing earlier on in life, the time value of his money allows for gaining potential so much greater that even though Saver A invested more than 4 times the amount of Saver B, Saver B has gained more than $400k more than Saver A by retirement.

Moral of the story? If you start investing now, you’ll have much more than if you wait till you make more money, even if you invested more in the years to come.

5. Let your money work for you

We were all taught that it is important to gain a good education and to learn valuable skills to enter the job force and start a good career. But here’s what few of us have learned: more important than having a good job is learning how to make your money Designer Replica Handbags work for you. Consider this: if you can save $500k, and you average 10% on your investment portfolio, you will gain $50k annually without doing anything other than having the money. $2 million will earn you $200k per year (earning 10%). $10 million will earn $1 million per year. The more you invest, the more you’ll make, without lifting a finger (well, other than managing your money, of course).

Sure it’s important to have a good job. But it’s even more important to be investing your money, no matter how much you’re making. If the goal is financial security and freedom, it doesn’t take rocket science; just a little discipline and sacrifice early on. And what you’ll gain is so much more than what you could buy today.

One last note: $1 at age 18 can’t get you more than a coke, or maybe a dollar menu burger. But $1 at age 18 is worth $54 at age 60 (assuming 10% again). Keep that in mind the next time you stop at Starbucks. Your cup of joe is actually taking more than $150 out of your retirement fund.

Spend wisely.

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If Facebook really cared about protecting your data, it would make features opt-in, not opt-out

Everyone knows that privacy isn’t profitable

Parents of Designer Replica Handbags young children can spot an insincere apology from miles away.

“Sorry,” your tot mumbles, after you find the dog half-shaved and your Xbox full of jam.

“Sorry for what?” you’ll say. “Sorry for shaving the dog and putting jam in your Xbox,” he’ll say, looking at the floor. But he’s lying. He’s only sorry that he didn’t get away with it.

Facebook’s much-reported apology in the Washington Post is a bit like that. “Sorry,” says Mark Zuckerberg. “Sorry for what?” the internet asks.

“Sorry for invading your privacy and making things confusing and stuff,” Zuckerberg says. “Can I have an ice cream now?”

In his article, Zuckerberg explains the “principles under which Facebook operates”. Number one? “You have control over how your information is shared”; number two, “We do not share your personal information with people or services you don’t want”. Number three, “We do not give advertisers access to your personal information.”

Principles are good things, but only if you stick to them.

You have control? Facebook doesn’t share with people you don’t want to share with? Then why did EU regulators warn Facebook earlier this month that its most recent privacy changes, which made private information public by default, were “unacceptable”?

Why do we need a stand-alone bit of software to work out what we’re sharing and with whom? As for not giving advertisers access, here’s a story about, er, Facebook accidentally giving advertisers access to people’s private information.

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If Facebook really cared about protecting your data, it would make features opt-in, not opt-out: it would say “here’s your stuff, and we won’t share it unless you want us to” rather than “we’re sharing all your stuff with everyone until and unless you can find the right options to stop us”.

But it won’t, because the fifth principle Zuckerberg describes – “We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone” – means that the only way Facebook’s going to make money is by invading its users’ privacy.

Forget Zuckerberg’s claim that Facebook’s mission is about “giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected.” Facebook’s mission is to make money.

Facebook isn’t sorry. It says it’s sorry, but it isn’t sorry. Sure, it’ll come up with tweaked privacy settings to defray criticism, just Gucci bags like it did in December 2009. And in August 2009. And in March 2008. And in December 2007.

But make no mistake. Mark Zuckerberg has his eye on your Xbox, and he’s got jam jars in his hand.

Bacteria can make you happier AND smarter!

Mycobacterium vaccae bacteria are already known to decrease anxiety, but it might have even more dramatic properties. Recent studies on mice suggest the bacteria, commonly found in the soils of people’s gardens, also increases intelligence and the ability to learn.

Dorothy Matthews and Susan Jenks, both of The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, sought to build on previous experiments in which dead strains of the bacteria were injected into mice, spurring the neurons of the mice to greatly increase serotonin production. The more immediate effect of all this extra serotonin, of course, was decreased anxiety levels, leading the earlier researchers to conclude M. vaccae has antidepressant qualities.

But Matthews was interested in a more indirect effect:

“Since serotonin plays a role in learning we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice.”

To assess this, Matthews and Jenks had two groups of mice; the experimental group was fed live specimens of the bacteria, while the control group was not. They were then tested in a maze to see how well the two groups could navigate the challenge.

The difference was striking:

“We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice.”

The mice were retested twice after the bacteria was removed from their diet. When they were tested almost immediately afterward, they weren’t quite as proficient, but still got through the maze much faster than their control counterparts. Tested a final time three weeks later, the mice were still a little faster, but not to a statistically significant extent. This suggests the effect of the bacteria on learning is temporary, although humans with their greater cognitive capacity might be able to derive more lasting benefits from exposure to M. vaccae.

Certainly, Matthews thinks it’s an idea that’s worth following up on:

“This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals. It is interesting to speculate Prada Scarf that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.”

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Many of us obsess about the health of our skin, but how many pay the same attention to the health of our hair? We color, brush, and style it, and Designer Replica Handbags we blast it with heat and chemicals. Some hair takes a significant amount of abuse, and the result of all that mistreatment is a mane that’s dull, lifeless, frizzy, and prone to breakage.

But not all bad hair habits are created equal. Many people would confess to the occasional dalliance with the “hot” button on their hair dryer, but how does that compare with the occasional bleach job? Which causes more damage? We’ve ranked the most common hair no-nos, from the slightly sinful to the dangerously damaging.

Temporary Hair Color Products like Level 1 rinses, washes, stains, and color-depositing shampoos cause virtually no damage to the hair. Since they do not contain chemicals that allow the color molecules to penetrate the hair shaft and interact with the hair’s natural pigments, they merely sit on top of the strands until they wash away, in about six to ten shampoos. Threat Level: Damage-Free!

Hot Showers In addition to being bad for skin, washing with hot water is a poor choice for hair. It rinses away natural protective oils and accelerates the fading process for colored hair. It’s a myth that a final rinse with cool water will close the hair’s cuticle, but using tepid water in general is much gentler on hair. Threat Level: 1 out of 10 (with 10 being the highest threat level)

Brushing When Wet When hair is wet, it’s significantly weaker, and brushing it in this vulnerable condition leads to increased breakage. The individual strands can’t handle the tugging and tension, so they stretch until they snap. To detangle wet hair during or after the shower, gently use a wide-toothed comb, working from the ends upward. Better yet: use your fingers. Threat Level: 2 out of 10

Demi-Permanent Color Non-permanent Level 2 color, a popular at-home option, is generally safe for hair, but it’s not 100 percent gentle. Demi-permanent dyes (like Clairol’s Natural Instincts) contain no ammonia, but they still have a small amount of peroxide to open the hair cuticle and deposit the color molecules. Even though demi-permanent color cannot lighten hair, it still causes a small amount of damage, especially when compounded by other harsh styling practices. Threat Level: 3 out of 10 Perms

The principal chemical used in permanent waves, ammonium thioglycolate, actually loosens the bonds between the molecules of the hair shaft and Gucci bags allows the hair to take whatever shape it’s set in—in the case of perms, on rollers. While any chemical process causes some amount of damage, perms are considered one of the more reliable treatments, as long as the hair is healthy beforehand. Threat Level: 3 out of 10

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Permanent Hair Color

Since permanent hair color involves significant amounts of peroxide and ammonia, it can cause significant amounts of damage, including dryness, breakage, and dullness. The most potentially damaging color transition is in lightening dark hair, which requires two separate processes, the removal of the original color and the depositing of the new color. After this much chemical meddling, hair is in a significantly weaker state than it was when it started. All bottle blonds should take care to condition their hair regularly and treat it gently. Threat Level: 4 out of 10

Blow-Drying/Flat-Ironing

The occasional blast from a hair dryer won’t harm hair too much, but the heat from daily use of a blow dryer or flatiron causes hair to become extremely dry and brittle. Hair in this weakened condition is more susceptible to damage from other stressors, leading it to lose elasticity and break. For daily dryers, stylists recommend allowing hair to partially air-dry before blow-drying, or blow-drying it until it’s only about 80 percent dry and then allowing it to air-dry the rest of the way. Threat Level: 4 out of 10 Tight Hairstyles

Sporting the occasional ponytail is harmless, but the tension of constantly wearing extremely tight hairstyles can trigger a condition called traction alopecia, which can actually cause individual strands of hair to break off. Even if you’re not wearing severe hairstyles every day, repeated use of elastics, combs, or other implements can still cause hair to break. Signs of traction alopecia include scalp pain, thinning hair (especially in the front and back), and breakage near the hairline. African American women, who are more likely to wear extensions, weaves, or braids, are more susceptible to this condition. Luckily, if caught in time, traction alopecia is reversible. Threat Level: 6 out of 10

Chemical Relaxers

These curl-easing products use extremely harsh chemicals, including sodium hydroxide, a product found in drain cleaners. Relaxers work by penetrating the hair shaft and literally rearranging the structure of the molecules. While this technique may loosen curls, it also affects hair’s elasticity and strength. Let only a trained technician apply a relaxer; even if it’s done properly, hair is still left fragile and susceptible to damage. Threat Level: 7 out of 10

Thermal Conditioning

This straightening process uses chemicals similar to those in perms in order to rearrange hair’s molecular structure. But what makes this treatment particularly harsh is that in the second phase of the application, hair with the active chemical on it is brushed and blow-dried so that it sets in a new alignment. That’s a hair-hazard trifecta: chemicals, heat, and tension. Even when Prada Scarf a qualified technician does it for you, this process has the potential to cause serious or catastrophic breakage. Many people find the treatment effective, but even healthy-looking hair is left fragile and extremely porous. Threat Level: 9 out of 10

Many of these hair damagers do their worst only in combination with other bad habits, such as regularly blow-drying dyed hair, or coloring hair that’s already been relaxed or thermally conditioned. The potential for damage also depends on the innate qualities of the hair itself. African Americans and people with curly, fine, color-treated, or coarse hair are especially susceptible to breakage and damage.

Human hair has more tensile strength than strands of nylon, but it’s not invincible, and it doesn’t take much to turn your tresses from beautiful to blah. Avoid these mane-mangling habits and treat your hair kindly and gently to ensure that it’s healthy, strong, and elastic enough to bend—not break.

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Reto Schmidli, a Designer Replica Handbags police officer and part-time student in Arlesheim, Switzerland, is the only person who has “double-bageled” Federer.

There may be only one tennis player in the world who wishes he had taken it a bit easier on Roger Federer. Reto Schmidli, 31, a police officer and part-time psychology student in Arlesheim, Switzerland, is the only person who has “double-bageled” Federer, that is, beaten him, 6-0, 6-0.

The fact that the drubbing occurred in Federer’s first tournament match, when he was just 10 years old, is not lost on Schmidli.

“I was just thinking about winning the match,” remembered Schmidli, who is now a recreational player ranked No. 715 in Switzerland. “I wasn’t thinking about being nice to him, but if I had to do it over again, I should have given Roger a game.”

The beating took place at the Grüssenh?lzli tennis center in Pratteln, Switzerland, in August 1991. Federer was scheduled to compete in the 10-and-under tournament, but there weren’t enough entrants, so he was forced to square off against Schmidli, who was nearly 13. Schmidli had a significant size advantage and quickly overpowered Federer without dropping a game.

The match remains memorable for Federer. After notching a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Gastón Gaudio in Shanghai in November 2005, he was asked if he had ever blanked an opponent before. “No, but I lost, 6-0, 6-0, in juniors once,” he told reporters, adding, “I didn’t think I played that badly.” Federer later told Chris Bowers of the BBC: “I actually played pretty good. I lost, 6-0, 6-0. I left the court and I wasn’t even disappointed.”

Give Federer credit for having a sense of humor, but his account of being untroubled by the loss does not square with reports of his hypercompetitive Gucci bags on-court personality in his early years. “He was a really bad loser,” said Madeleine B?rlocher, Federer’s first coach at the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel. “After he’d lose a match, he’d sit under the umpire’s chair and cry for half an hour sometimes. The other players would already be in the clubhouse eating sandwiches, and he’d still be crying on the court.”

B?rlocher recalled her joy in seeing her beloved protégé cry after he won Wimbledon for the first time. “I laughed because it reminded me of how he used to cry as a child,” she said. “Then he cried when he lost, now he cries when he wins.”

But victories have been hard to come by for Federer since his triumph at the Australian Open in January. For the first time in a decade, Federer has failed to win a tournament between the Australian and French Opens. Early departures at Indian Wells, Miami, Rome and Estoril, along with Sunday’s loss in Madrid against his rival, Rafael Nadal, have raised doubts about his ability to defend his title at Roland Garros this month. And yet, even during his spring “slump,” he has managed to extend two little-known streaks, both of which bolster his claim to being tennis’s greatest player.

In 864 professional matches, spanning 2,117 sets, Federer has been shut out in a set just four times, and three of those occasions came within a two-month span in 1999, when he was 17 years old. He then went nearly a decade without being bageled before losing the 2008 French Open final to Nadal, 1-6, 3-6, 0-6.

Federer has avoided a shutout in 99.9 percent of the sets and in 99.6 percent of the matches he has contested. He has not come close to being double-bageled since the Schmidli loss in 1991, and for a two-year stretch from 2003 to 2005 he not only avoided shutouts, but also avoided 6-1 losses, which are known as breadsticks.

What makes those statistics even more remarkable is that Federer has never retired from a match during his professional career.

By comparison, Andre Agassi was bageled 25 times and retired from 11 matches, and Jimmy Connors was bageled 15 times while retiring on 14 occasions. Even big servers like Pete Sampras and Boris Becker were shut out more frequently.

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Players sometimes tank in a set to conserve energy for the rest of the match, or retire with injuries real or imagined when things look bleak, but Federer does neither. (The only time Federer has been accused of tanking a set came in 1998, when he was fined $100 by a tournament referee in Küblis, Switzerland, for lack of effort.)

“The idea of trying to conserve energy for the next set never arises because he’s never really that tired,” said Chris Bowers, author of “Roger Federer: Spirit of a Champion” and the forthcoming “Roger Federer: The Greatest.” “If he’s leading, 6-0, 5-0, 30-40, he’ll be desperate not to lose that one game. That’s why you find so few bagels with Federer. For him, every point is competition.”

Tennis is known as a gentleman’s game and serving up bagels, or bicycles, as a 6-0, 6-0 result is called in Switzerland, was once viewed as bad sportsmanship. Players occasionally gave an opponent a game during a rout. “I don’t think it happens anymore, ever,” said Cliff Drysdale, a former player who is a commentator for ESPN. “In my era, sometimes we’d throw a guy a bone. We didn’t have Prada Scarf the hangers-on, the psychologists, coaches, trainers and stringers that players have now. We just had each other. That’s why we were more likely to have some compassion on an opponent.”

When Schmidli had the chance to bicycle the boy who became the greatest champion in tennis history, he took it. If the two played again, Federer would certainly return the favor.

If Schmidli pulled Federer over for speeding, there would be no gift for Federer, either.

“As much as I admire Roger, I would have to give him the ticket,” Schmidli said. “In Switzerland there are no free passes.”

A motto Roger Federer has lived by.

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It’s a common belief that if you’re feeling blue, a little “retail therapy” may do the trick, but just make sure you don’t go off the deep end and make PRADA Handbags yourself feel worse by buying the farm. So say the experts, who cite either academic studies on the effect that moods have on one’s finances, or are armed with anecdotal evidence from years of experience.


Many studies have shown that mood and finances are deeply intertwined, and that how people feel about themselves can dramatically influence their success, says Dr. Srini Pillay, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and chief executive of NeuroBusiness Group, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm that coaches business executives on communication skills.


Pillay pointed to one 2008 study by T.A. Judge and C. Hurst, “How the Rich (and Happy) Get Richer (and Happier),” published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, which showed that higher core self-evaluations were associated with both higher initial levels of work success and steeper work success trajectories. “As a result, people have more ascendant jobs and careers,” Pillay said. “Many other studies have confirmed this finding as well—that happier people are more likely to be more successful.”


An “Emotional Buzz”


Mood can also affect spending behavior, says Pillay. According to a 2008 study by Oono Takahashi et al. published in the scientific journal NeuroEndocrinology Letters, depression may lead to being more impulsive in one’s financial decisions. Another 2008 study of the brains of depressed people by B. Knutson, J. P. Bhani et al. published in Psychological Bulletin, showed that when people are depressed, they are less able to discriminate between gains and losses, and when anticipating gains, their brains go into a state of greater conflict. “This can significantly affect their financial decision-making,” Pillay said.


“Stressed people tend to spend more money,” says Christine Moriarty, a certified financial planner and president of MoneyPeace Inc., a personal finance education firm in Bristol, Vermont. “My conclusion from coaching individuals and seeing what they do is that they tend to spend money to solve problems, save time, and make things easier,” Moriarty said. “However, they Hermes Wallets are so stressed out and over time-committed that they have no idea how this affects their full financial picture.” While physically touching money actually lowers stress, most stressed people spend money on credit cards, so the actual touching of money is not involved and hence, charging can give them an “emotional buzz,” she says.


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Watch Out, Glass Half-Fullers


Susan Bruno, a certified financial planner and principal at Beacon Wealth Consulting LLC in Rowayton, Conn., said that people who feel that the “sun will always come out tomorrow,” can sometimes be the ones who ignore long-term planning, because they believe they will always be able to fend for themselves in a pinch. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are those who may feel so negative about the future that they feel it’s pointless to plan for it.


“Those who are in the middle of the spectrum tend to be very pragmatic in their planning for the long-term,” Bruno said. “While they are fairly optimistic about the future, they know they still must plan accordingly, versus those who think, ‘Why should I bother?’”


Many Americans are overly optimistic that they will be able to afford a comfortable retirement but are doing too little to prepare for one, according to the 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey released in March by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the American Savings Education. According to the survey, fewer than half of workers (46 percent) report they and/or their spouse have tried to calculate how much money they will need to have saved for a comfortable retirement by the time they retire.


Our Neighbors, Our Moods


The collective mood of the country can also affect the national economy overall, says Lauren Lyons-Cole, LearnVest’s financial planner in residence. “The better Americans feel, the more likely we are to think our economy—which represents our collective success as a nation—will improve over time.” The national mood seems to be improving, according to the latest Conference Designer Replica Handbags Board Consumer Confidence Index. The Index, which had rebounded in March to 52.3, increased further in April to 57.9, and is now at its highest reading since September 2008, when the economy hit the wall.


Let’s just hope we don’t get so rosy-eyed again that we forget the need to prepare for our futures.

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Happy is the house that PRADA Handbags shelters a friend! It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day.

Happier, if he knows the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law! He who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first-born of the world are the competitors.

He proposes himself for contests where Time, Want, Anger, are in the lists, and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of his beauty form the wear and tear of all these.

The gifts of fortune may be present or absent, but all the speed in that contest depends on intrinsic nobleness, and the contempt of trifles.

There is an important element that goes to the composition of friendship, that is Truth. A friends is person with whom I may be sincere.

Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, hat I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another, only to the highest rank, that being permitted to speak truth, as having none above it to court or conform unto.

Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.

We parry any fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs.

We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds.

Each day is special

A friend of mine opened his wife’s underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:

“This, – he said – isn’t any ordinary package.” He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

“She got this the Hermes Wallets first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion.

Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothings he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:

“Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion”.

I still think those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything. I spend more time with my family, and less at work. I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses every day. I’ll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if i feel like it. I don’t save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to. The words “Someday…” and “One Day…” are fading away from my dictionary. If it’s worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.

I don’t know what my friend’s wife would have done if she knew she wouldn’t be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.

She might call Designer Replica Handbags old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I’d like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favourite food. It’s these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come. I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would meet, letters… letters that i wanted to write “One of this days”. I would regret and feel sad, because I didn’t say to my brothers and sons, not times enough at least, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives. And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

Lawmakers, advisors urge to protect personal info

Chinese lawmakers Gucci bags and political advisors have called for legislation for comprehensive protection of citizens’ personal information.

Their call came just days after the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, approved a criminal law amendment banning government and corporate employees with access to personal data to sell or leak such information.

But for some lawmakers and political advisors, the amendment is not quite enough.

Xu Long, an entrepreneur-turned deputy to the NPC, urged for a privacy protection law which would appoint a specialized administration responsible for personal information safety.

The privacy protection law should also specify compensation for damage caused by personal information leakage, Xu said.

Lack of regulation to protect personal information had led to widespread harassment in China.

An online survey conducted last year showed nearly 89 percent of the 2,422 people polled claimed they had suffered because personal information had been leaked.

Anonymous messages, phone calls and spam were listed as the most reported means of harassment after personal information was made known to unauthorized agencies and individuals, according to the survey.

Zhu Zhengfu, a lawyer from the southern province of Guangdong and also a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political advisory body, backed Xu’s call by telling of his own experience of being a victim to leakage of personal information.

“I registered some of my personal information a couple of years ago when I purchased a car and bought insurances for it,” Zhu said. “Ever since then, every year when the insurances near expiration, I would receive dozens of calls trying to sell me insurances, and Prada Scarf they knew everything about my car model, my plate number, even my address,” he said.

The criminal law amendment did not clearly define “personal information”, which could cover a wide range of concepts, Zhu said.

A privacy protection law, or a legal explanation to clearly define the concept of personal information is our top priority here, he said.

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Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It PRADA Handbags came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to Hermes Wallets take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as Designer Replica Handbags the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Gucci bags Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that Prada Scarf day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

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Once upon a time the heir of the King of Eirin shot a raven, and when he saw it Iying dead on the snow he made a vow that he would seek PRADA Handbags all through the world for a maiden with hair like the raven’s wing and cheeks like the raven’s blood in the snow.

So he travelled east and west, and north and south, looking for this maiden. One day he saw a number of people going into a place like a church, at the door of which a dead man was Iying; and he noticed with horror that the people just walked over the body. So he questioned a man as to why all the passers-by should do this terrible thing, and he was told: “Well, this is the reason. He is a man who did not pay his debts, and he will be left to lie there until someone does it for him.”

“Oh well,” said the King’s son, “be the sum large or small I will pay it rather than see what I have seen.”

So the dead man was buried, and the Prince paid his debts and went on his travels again.

He began to get very tired; and while he was looking about for a place in which to rest he saw a woebegone creature approaching him—a red-haired youth, bareheaded and barefooted, who came and asked him:

“Do you want a man-servant?”

“Indeed, I haven’t the means enough to keep a man-servant,” the Prince said. “I’m only wandering about looking for the lady who is to be my wife.”

“Well,” the young man said, “I won’t be the one to ask much from you,” and he pressed the Prince, who at last agreed to take him as his body-servant; and they went on their way together. Now, they found themselves approaching a large cave, and the Hermes Wallets man-servant said: “A giant lives in that cave and no one gets past him alive, but if you do as I say we may be able to trick him. Stay you here and pretend you are putting an army through its drill, and make as much noise as you can—as if there were many with you—while I go into the cave.”

When he got to the cave entrance, there was the giant, licking his lips.

“Ha! I’m glad you have come, for I’m ravenous for fresh meat!” he roared.

“Wait, wait! You needn’t be in all this hurry,” the man-servant said, “for the son of the King of Eirin is out there with his army, and he has come to put an end to your life, Master Giant!”

And sure enough, when the giant looked out, there was the Prince at the corner, drilling away at men the giant supposed must be round the corner.

So he came back into his cave right quickly, and he said to the man-servant: “Och, och! but you’re right, and I like this not! But listen to me: I’ve two brothers far worse than me that you must encounter yet. Now, if you will hide me under this great stone I’ll give you a magic quilt that will make you invisible, and you can escape my brothers that way.”

“All right, then,” the man-servant said, and he took the quilt from the giant, who lifted the great stone in the cave and got himself into the hole.

And the man-servant rolled the stone over and let it down edgeways on the giant so that it ground him to powder!

Then he and the Prince filled their pockets with treasure that was in the cave and went on their way.

They soon came to great rocks and precipices, and the man-servant told the Prince that there was another and bigger giant amongst those great rocks; and that he’d better do as before, and pretend to be drilling troops. And while the Prince was at his shouting and his ordering, the man-servant went on among the rocks and saw the second giant parading up and down.

“Ha, you have come!” he said. “I am without food, and I’m right glad to see you! You will at least make my dinner, and you might Designer Replica Handbags even make my supper as well; so I’ll just go and sharpen my knife!”

“Have me or want me,” said the fair man-servant, “but indeed it would be better for you to look out and see what you can see—the son of the King of Eirin drilling the troops he has brought to capture and kill you!”

Out rushed the giant, and he saw the young man drilling away with a great noise, at troops he supposed were just around the corner—and back he came in great trouble of mind.

“What am I to do, and where am I to hide?” he said.

“Well,” the fair man-servant said, “I hid your brother yesterday, and he gave me an invisible quilt as a reward. Now what will you give me if I advise you also.”

“I will give you a pair of shoes of quietness,” the giant said, “and when you put them on no one will know you are walking near them at all. But if I do, will you promise to let me down to the foot of this cliff out of sight of the Prince and his army?”

The man-servant agreed, and he took the shoes of quietness; then he put a chain round the giant’s middle and began to let him down the precipice. And when he was just nearing the bottom he let the chain go, and the giant was dashed to pieces at the bottom of the rocks!

And then the Prince and the man-servant went to the giant’s house and helped themselves to quantities of gold and silver and jewels before they went again on their travels.

And the road was smooth before them until they reached the place where the last and greatest giant lived. In front of it were five spikes, on four of which were the heads of people the giant had killed.

A beautiful maiden came out Gucci bags of the house to meet them, and whenever he saw her the Prince knew that this was she whom he was seeking—the maiden with hair like the raven’s wing and cheeks like the raven’s blood on the snow; and his heart was singing for joy! In her hand was a spoon, and she told the Prince that he was going to be put to a test, and if he couldn’t meet the giant with that spoon in his hand to-morrow morning at sunrise, then his head would occupy the fifth spike!

“Then just give me the spoon,” said the Prince.

“No, no,” she said, “that is not the way the giant will have it. He would kill me if I did that!” And she went away to the seashore by herself and buried the spoon deep down among the sand. And the giant chuckled and laughed, for, said he:

“The sands of the seashore are miles long and miles wide, and who will know where to dig ? ”

But the man-servant had put on his invisible quilt and his shoes of quietness, and had gone behind the maiden; so when she had gone away from the spot where the spoon was buried he just dug it up again and took it to the Prince.

And oh! the rage of the giant when the Prince met him at sunrise with the spoon in his hand!He sulked all day, and at evening he thought of another test; and he took out a silver comb from the maiden’s hair and said to the Prince:

“Unless you can replace that comb in the maiden’s hair at sunrise your head will be on the fifth spike,” and he went away to the shore to bury the comb himself this time.

Again the man-servant donned the invisible quilt and the shoes of quietness, and followed unseen and unheard; and again he dug where the giant had buried the comb and took it to the Prince. And when the Prince replaced the comb in the maiden’s hair at sunrise the giant foamed at the mouth in his rage!

Then came the third night, and the Prince said to the maiden:

“Why will you be waiting on here with the giant? Come away with me and we will be married.”

But she said with a sigh: “No, that cannot be, for I am under a spell and cannot leave this place unless someone will cut off the five heads and five necks of the giant; and who can ever do that?”

“Well,” the Prince said, “let us ask this clever fellow of a man-servant of mine.”

The man-servant said to her to go and tell the giant he was going to fight him, and she did so.And the giant laughed, “Ho, ho!” and he laughed, “Hee, hee!” and he rolled with laughing, and took a mighty sword in his hand; but he didn’t know that the man-servant was there in his invisible quilt and his shoes of quietness—until he felt a sword flashing about among his five heads; and then he cried, “Oh, oh!” instead of, “Ho, ho!” for he couldn’t see his opponent. Off went head number one, and off went head number two, and so on, until all five heads were severed from the giant’s five necks!

And the fair man-servant placed them on a string and slung them over his shoulder and carried them all to the Prince.And now the King’s son was able to marry the maiden with hair like the raven’s wing and cheeks like the raven’s blood on the snow; and they stayed on in the giant’s house and enjoyed the wealth and the treasure of the three giants, and were very hap.At the end of a year the fair man-servant came to the Prince and said he must now be leaving him- and the Prince said: “What reward will you take for all the fine service you have rendered me?” “What reward will you give me?” said the man-servant.

“Whatever you choose to ask from me, even should you ask my wife herself,” said the Prince.

I will not ask any Prada Scarf reward or gift from you,” the fair man-servant said, “nor will I ask your wife or your treasures. But do you remember the man whose debts you paid who was lying at the door of the church.”

“I do that,” said the Prince.

Then I am that man, and I came back to earth to pay my debt to you for bringing me to rest. The debt is now paid and I am wishful to return to the place from which I came to you: so fare you well, master, for ever!”

And where he had been standing there was now but a misty cloud! And they never saw the fair man-servant again, but they lived for many years to enjoy the wealth of the giants he had killed.

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A man stabbed and bludgeoned his Hermes Wallets sister and her husband to death in El Cerrito in 2006 because he thought the couple were too liberal, were raising their children wrong and because they hadn’t invited him over for Christmas, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Edward Wycoff, 40, of the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights coldly planned the slayings, including getting Lasik surgery and using night-vision goggles so he could find his way around the house where Julie Wycoff Rogers, 47, lived with her husband, Paul Rogers, 48, prosecutor Mark Peterson said.

He also purposefully picked the date for the killings – Jan. 31, 2006 – Peterson said in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. That was 20 years to the day after Wycoff’s grandmother, whom he hated, left his home after breaking her hip, the prosecutor said.

Wycoff regarded his grandmother as “evil” and thought his life improved considerably after she left, Peterson said.

Because he believed the couple had also been making his life miserable, he chose that date to break into their home on Rifle Range Road overlooking Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, stab them repeatedly with a knife and bludgeon them with a wheelbarrow handle, Peterson said in his opening statement in Wycoff’s murder trial.

Although Wycoff was also armed with a gun, he didn’t use it because he didn’t want to boost the cause of gun-control supporters, the prosecutor said.

Wycoff, who is serving as his own attorney, told jurors that he still hates the couple “a little.”

“They owe me a life,” he said. “This has ruined my life, and Julie and Paul owe me for that.”

Wycoff agreed with the Designer Replica Handbags prosecutor that he resented members of Paul Rogers’ family for their liberal politics, and that he thought the couple were at times “too easy” when they disciplined their children.

He also said that “it wasn’t just Christmas” when he wasn’t invited over. It was also Thanksgiving in 2005, the year his and Julie Rogers’ father died. “When someone does that, they hate you – they’re out to destroy you,” Wycoff said.Peterson said Wycoff had planned to adopt the couple’s three children after he committed the killings.The prosecutor played for the jury the 911 call made by Eric Rogers, then 17, after the killer broke into the home about 4:30 a.m. The boy’s sister, Laurel, then 12, could be heard screaming in the background.

The children tried to help their father, who told them, “I love you all” before dying, the prosecutor said. Eric Rogers brushed his father’s hair, telling him, “I love you, papa.”

Peterson said Julie Rogers’ last words to police were, “Kids OK?”

The children were not harmed. A third child, then 15, was not living at the home at the time.

In an interview from jail after the slayings, Wycoff, who is 6 foot 5 and weighs 300 pounds, said he had tried to disguise himself during the killings by wearing a motorcycle helmet and attaching a ponytail with his late mother’s hair.

In a poem, Wycoff wrote, “My sister, I gutted her like a fish,” Peterson said.

“And in fact, he did,” the prosecutor added, “and he’s proud of it.”

Wycoff was arrested after he turned up at a hospital in Placer County, seeking treatment for a gash on his leg that he probably sustained while breaking into the home, Peterson said.

Wycoff is charged with two counts of murder along with the special circumstance alleging that he committed more than one murder. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Wycoff’s opening statement Gucci bags indicated he would try to justify the killings to the jury, rather than deny he committed them. At the close of his remarks, Wycoff told the “few fans” in the gallery to contact his advisory attorney, David Briggs, if they wanted autographs.