A sloped mansard roof dotted with dormer windows. Gothic-inspired gables and Victorian balustrades meet reliefs and etched figures in peach-colored sandstone and brick. These are just a few of the features that frame the impressive Dakota building. Few luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan are as famous. Located at 1 West 72nd Street, at the intersection of 72nd Street and Central Park West, The Dakota boasts an impressive German Revival structural design. Its interiors follow the French style. The spacious rooms connected by several corridors are ideal spaces for parties with catering service. High ceilings and large windows make these units a peaceful haven for their owners. Most apartment floor plans at The Dakota range from three to ten bedrooms. No two units in the Dakota are exactly alike.

CNBC has called the Dakota “the most unique building in New York.” Famous residents of The Dakota include actress Lauren Becall, author Harlan Coben, host Connie Chung, and actress Judy Garland. Dakota has been the setting for the book Time and Again and the movie Rosemary’s Baby. The Dakota is probably best known for being the site of Beatle John Lennon’s murder by a crazed stalker in 1980. Lennon had lived with his wife Yoko Ono in The Dakota from 1973 to 1980, and Ono still lives there today. The Dakota is home to notables and consummate celebrities, but residents nonetheless feel that the white-gloved doorman and full-service building exude a sense of warmth. , so say hello… It’s really a very friendly and relaxed building.” Dakota is an 87-unit luxury co-op apartment that also offers residency. It has a private patio and numerous building community events throughout the year. Recent sales at Dakotas include a 3 bed 3 bath apartment for $5.65M and a 1 bed 1 bath for $2M The Dakota building is currently priced at $2725/sq.ft (Nov 2012).

The immaculate appearance of the Dakota may make it hard for some to believe that it was built in the late 19th century. The Dakota construction, from 1880 to 1884, was the brainchild of Edward Clark, the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The same architecture firm behind the Plaza Hotel, Henry Jane Hardenbergh, designed the Dakota building. Since its completion, the Dakota Building has sparked a sense of wonder in the hearts and minds of all who saw it. It was the first truly luxurious apartment building on the Upper West Side, built at a time when the Upper West Side was still a mostly empty plain. It even had a garage for horse carriages, complete with elevators! The success of the Dakota cemented it as a trendsetter for future luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan. Originally a 93-unit building, over the years a few apartments have been combined so that The Dakota now houses 87 units. The Dakota was named a New York City Landmark in 1969. Seven years later, in 1976, the Dakota was recognized as a National Historic Landmark. The Dakota continues to be in demand, and when units do come onto the market, they are bought up fairly quickly.

Digital technology has come a long way in leaps and bounds in the last five years. Cloud computing, smartphones and multi-touch tablets are the innovations that revolutionized our personal and work lives. Well, it’s just a start. The technology will get even better. In the near future, we could lead a life like in science fiction movies.

So get ready to slice Ninja fruits through your gestures and control the desktop with your eyes, print your own physical product and enter the virtual world and experience virtual reality. Here’s the roundup of the top 10 real-life gadgets and technologies that will change the world.

google glass

Augmented reality is here in the form of a simulated educational and experimentation app. But Google has taken several steps forward by launching Google Glass. Theoretically, you can see your texts, social networks, Google Maps and navigate via GPS. You can also get updates on the ground. Currently, it is offered only to some developers at $1,500. But other tech companies are working and trying to build an affordable variant for commercial sales.

Form 1

3D printing could turn any digital design into a real life product. It is nothing new for the mechanical industry, but a 3D printer is certainly a revolutionary idea. Everyone can create their own product with their unique design and you don’t need any company’s approval. Even the Aston Martin in a James Bond movie was a 3D printed product that crashed for a scene.

The Form 1 is a personal 3D printer that you can buy for $2,799. It seems like a very high price but you can produce your own prototypes with it. Imagine a day when any professional can mass produce their own physical products with no limits.

oculus rift

Oculus Rift is a 3D viewer that would bring virtual reality to life. It allows you to feel like you are actually in a video game mentally. In your virtual world, you can see the world on HD screen with very low latency just by turning your head. Various premium products can do the same thing, but Rift delivers that experience for just $300. It’s the start of the next-gen gaming revolution.

The world is bombarded with virtual reality devices. So, it is the right time to plunge into the whole virtual world. Oculus Rift is the first step in reaching that level of realism.

jump motion

The concept of a multi-touch desktop fails miserably because hands can get too tired for prolonged use. But Leap Motion could come up with a more innovative idea. You can control your desktop with your fingers, without having to touch the screen.

Unlike a regular motion sensor, Leap Motion allows the user to zoom in on photos and map, scroll a web page, sign documents, and also play FPS games with just finger and hand movements. A smooth reaction is a very important part of this. This technology of the future could be yours for just $70. You could buy a premium PS3 game title for this price. If it could work with the Oculus Rift, it could definitely give your games a real-time makeover.

smart stuff

In most of the devices, the existing problem is that they work independently and the technology leaders need an effort to partner with each other and create products that can connect with each other. With Smart Things, you can make every digital connect, whether it’s digital or not. You can easily get your humidity, vibration and pressure sensors, and smoke alarms to detect things and alert you using your smartphone.

You can also track who’s been in your house, turn on the lights when you enter the room, and lock the doors and windows when you leave the house, all with a device that could cost around $500.

Eye Tribe

Eye tracking has already been actively discussed by tech lovers, but it’s not that simple to implement. But not so for Eye Tribe. They successfully created a technology that can allow you to control the tablet, play flight simulator and even play Fruit Ninja with just eye movements.

It’s basically just eye-tracking technology that can be combined with a front-facing camera and some serious computerized algorithm. At LeWeb, a live demo was held this year and we may see it in action in the future. The company is still looking for a partnership to bring this technology to market.

Firefox operating system

As we all know, there is no competition for Android and iOS. But both have their own policies and rules that inhibit developers and their creative efforts. Since then, Mozilla decided to develop a new mobile operating system from the ground up, which will focus on freedom, true openness, and user choice.

It’s Firefox OS, which is based on the Gecko, Gonk, and Gaia software layers. It means that it is completely open source and carries HTML5 and CSS3 technologies.

Developers can release apps without the lock-in needs set by the stores. Therefore, users can also customize the operating system according to their needs. Currently, it is available for Android compatible devices. It can be used to perform basic tasks that you do on Android or iOS devices, such as browsing the web, calling friends, playing games, etc.

Fiona Project

Razer’s Project Fiona is supposed to be the first generation of gaming tablets. It’s seriously built for hardcore gaming. Tech companies can also develop their dedicated gaming tablets. It features Intel Core i7 CPU to play all the PC games you love in the palm of your hand. Razer has developed a tablet-only user experience, along with a magnetometer, 3-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, and multi-touch user interface.

parallel

It will clearly redefine the way computers are made. It is simply a supercomputer for everyone. It is an energy-saving computer built to process complex programs efficiently and simultaneously. It will make the holographic display screen, real-time object tracking and voice recognition even smarter and stronger.

Google driverless car

We have all imagined that a driverless car would be real one day. Finally, Google has made it possible. It works with artificial intelligence that receives information from video cameras, a sensor on top, and some position and radar sensors in various positions on the car. Much research and development has been done to mimic human intelligence.

Just imagine that your business has access to all the working capital it needs. It seems impossible? Not really…if you have a solid understanding of your options and your company’s ability to qualify or execute those options.

Whether you’re Canada’s largest corporation or a small startup (and everything in between), your business needs working capital. In Canada, small business financing loans and working capital arraignments are limited to a handful of possibilities, but being aware of what they are and qualifying for them could be the solution to your constant focus on cash flow. cash through some type of working capital loan.

It’s probably easier than you think to make sure you’re addressing the cash flow challenge correctly; what becomes somewhat ‘thorny’ is finding a solution to the problem or locating an expert who can provide him with the business financial assistance he needs.

Two key elements of your first step working capital assessment are your gross margins and your turnover. That’s the big problem we have with textbooks/academic working capital solutions: They point you to the textbook calculation, give you a formula that essentially has you subtract current liabilities from current assets, and voila! ! the inference is that you have working capital. However, our clients have never paid a vendor or completed a company payroll with an index!

To properly assess your working capital needs, focus on understanding your turnover: how much inventory you have, what days are outstanding on inventory, and most importantly, your accounts receivable turnover. Have you noticed that for many companies 80% or more of the total of all business assets they have are tied to accounts receivable, inventory, and on the other size of the balance sheet, let’s not forget accounts payable?

So can you be financially successful based on your new knowledge and analysis of your cash flow and asset turnover? We think you can.

Canadian business financing solutions for small business financing loans really revolve around a couple of viable solutions. Generally, in our experience, Canadian chartered banks cannot meet the working capital needs of your business, if only for the reason that they rarely fund inventory and require significant merit in your overall financials, profitability, external guarantee, personal solvency, etc.

So where do you go from there? The other solutions are very viable and can lead to a potential 100% change in cash flow: they include working capital financing as a combined line of credit on accounts receivable and inventory through an independent finance company. For businesses that are larger, we believe the best tool is an asset-based line of credit that provides high-leverage spreads on all of your business assets. Other more esoteric solutions, but still very viable although somewhat misunderstood, are securitization, and purchase order financing for new contracts and orders. (Your suppliers get paid directly for the orders you have in hand, what could be better than that?)

Finally, going up the road at the speed of light is factoring and invoice discounting. We mention them last, but they are probably the most popular method, gaining ground every day. Our favorite is confidential invoice financing, which puts you in control of your financing.

So there you have it. He has identified new ways to determine need; We’ve outlined 4-5 solutions that will take the guesswork out of working capital. These loan and financing options are available with a little research and, if you wish, speak with a Canadian business financial advisor who can provide timely and valuable assistance with your cash flow needs.

I write all about gifts for men, and one of the most common questions I get asked through my website is “what gift do I buy my man? He has a lot of money and buys what he wants, so he already has everything wants”. .

This is of course quite common. A lot of men just go out and buy something if they want it, they don’t drop hints around the birthday in the hope that the hint will be picked up and acted upon. Almost by definition, if you want it, you already have it.

Not always, of course, it’s often a matter of cost. There are men with a list of needs that they would like to fulfill, but just can’t afford. If your man is like that and you can afford those gifts, then he asks him and see what he says, he will probably take the opportunity to tell you about the things that he would like the most but that he can’t buy. for the same.

But let’s assume for a moment that your man can afford what he wants, so he’s kind of stuck on ideas for unique and unusual birthday gifts or Christmas gifts that will make it work.

Here are 7 gift ideas for him. I may love them all, I may not love any of them, but I doubt it.

There will be at least one gift for him that he will love. Some are extremely expensive and some are not.

1. Lingerie. Now, it’s not entirely a unique gift idea, but it will almost certainly work. Men love lingerie. Worn by their women, of course. I have seen many lists of favorite gifts for men and there is a common gift theme. Lingerie is always up there.

No matter how many pieces of beautiful lingerie a woman has, if she selects well and chooses the right piece, I can guarantee that her man will love it, provided of course that she wears it for him.

It is almost a gift that cannot fail.

And there’s wonderful lingerie available for women of any size, so ladies, that’s no excuse to say you’re a little big. If your man loves you big, he will love you big and you will look great in sexy lingerie.

2. Adventure gifts. Most men love adventure and adrenaline. Not all, but most. And many women are not.

aware that there are some excellent companies out there that cater to this extremely well. It is possible to find all kinds of adventure gifts for men and women that you would never have thought existed.

And for all kinds of tastes. Would you love to make your first parachute jump? Try whitewater rafting?

Drive a tank or a supercar? Go to zero gravity like astronauts do in training? You can give her a gift of any of these things and thousands more, from the extreme adrenaline rush gift to the soft, invigorating and cuddly gift. Adventure gift companies cater to all tastes in outdoor activities, adventure and adrenaline, including beautiful and luxurious days like wine tastings and spa days. There is something for everyone.

3. An ecological vacation. There is a growing worldwide movement towards charity and voluntary and green work and travel. Instead of just buying him a vacation to Europe, which is a bit boring, why not buy him a volunteer trip with a difference? There are many companies that offer adventure travel with a twist, volunteer work that helps those less fortunate than us, both people and animals and the environment.

You may end up on a research ship in the waters off Mexico counting turtles or in the wilds of Africa measuring the distribution of African animals. The destinations are almost always exotic. There’s work to be done, but it’s so interesting, adventurous, and invigorating that you probably won’t even see it as work. It’s fun, exciting, adventurous and gives back to the environment and to many less fortunate than us by helping scientists who are committed to their research.

It costs, it’s not free, but it’s an extremely unique and fabulous party that’s unlikely to get any better.

4 Chinese art. This is one of my favorites because I lived in China for a while and I love Chinese art. We have so many pieces that we don’t have enough space to hang them all. From beautiful Chinese wall hangings to the absolutely fabulous and unique Yixing teapots, there are so many pieces of Chinese art that would go very well in many of our Western homes.

And it’s so cheap. For the man who loves his art, Chinese art is a different kind of art gift.

5. Men’s jewelry. Now this is a gift for a man who likes to wear jewelry obviously and you need to establish this first. However, for a man who likes his jewelry, there are some extremely trendy and impressive pieces of jewelry available online now at very competitive prices. And they’re made exclusively for men using some of the finest and most masculine jewelry metals. like titanium. If you haven’t checked out titanium jewelry for men online lately and your man likes jewelry, you should. It is a wonderful and sometimes extremely romantic gift for the right man.

6. An elephant painting. Another for the man who likes his art. Painted by a real Asian elephant on paper that is made from elephant dung. Now, before you wonder if I’ve lost my mind, check it out. The elephants really do the painting, I have a video on my website. And believe it or not, they paint recognizable objects. The paintings look great, are extremely inexpensive, and would make a great piece of art to hang near the table to spark late-night conversation with your friends.

And in Thailand, where many of the elephant paintings are made, they also make the most impressive wallpaper out of elephant dung. And yes, again I have links on my website to sites where you can see how it’s done, it’s not a scam. It’s a beautiful paper, and you can make your elephant painting on elephant dung paper.

7. And for the man who has absolutely everything and who won’t like anything from numbers 1 to 6, then buy him a whale. It is perfectly possible to do it. Actually, he doesn’t get a paper-wrapped whale to unwrap on his birthday. However, there are organizations like the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust that track and identify individual whales and dolphins, and allow you to name your own whale or dolphin. There is a real whale or dolphin named after him.

The money helps in the protection of our whales and gives you a unique and unforgettable gift.

So there you have it, 7 great gift suggestions for the man who has everything. Priced anywhere from $50 or so, to very expensive.

Now you have no more excuses to say “I have no idea what to get her for her birthday.”

Spitting cobras, emus, and a Gila monster were just a few of my life companions in the 1970s. Ironically, I’m not that much of an animal lover, it’s more than I tolerate animals. If you had told me that one day I would live among exotic animals within the confines of my own home, I would have run the other way. For four years I endured cohabitation with a strange husband and his strange business at home. I put my ex-husband in Tennessee. We dated for a short time and during a crazy moment, I agreed to leave my family and friends and run away to Florida with him. We packed all of our belongings into my Datsun truck and headed off. Our destination was unknown. For a week our home was in a tent in the Okefenokee swamp. Our neighbors were raccoons that devastated our meager food supply every night. Mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds buzzed us relentlessly. Of course, there were alligators galore lurking at the water’s edge. Once, we rented a sixteen-foot flat-bottomed boat and put in a good few miles through the murky waters of the Okefenokee swamp. In places, it was like walking through a jungle with the occasional alligator eyes peeking at us above the surface of the water. Everything seemed fine and almost relaxed until we ran out of gas and were upriver from base camp. The sun was setting and there were no other ships in sight. All we could do was row. Me with the oar in the back paddling from one side, then the other. My ex was up front paddling to drive. My paddling job was the more strenuous of the two, but there was no way I was putting my arm in the water as alligator bait. Fortunately, after about an hour a loan boater was returning to camp and seeing our dilemma he cast us a line and towed us back to shore.

With no regrets on my part, we headed out of the swamp in search of a more stable home environment. Next stop was a small town called Lake City, Florida and a job offer for my spouse as an alligator wrestler in a place appropriately called Alligator Town. It was a paycheck that provided us with our first roof over our heads, a travel trailer at a nearby trailer park. The trailer was so small that if anyone came to visit us, we all had to sit outside. The belongings that we had packed in my truck stayed in the truck. The bathroom in the trailer wasn’t much more than a spigot in a small closet. One week was all I could stand. After that, we continue down the road to a larger trailer… Wow! At least this place had a toilet and bathtub in the same room. The guest bedroom was used to house our ferret, named Freddie. The living room was quite spacious, therefore my husband set up a large aquarium for his python (or maybe it was a boa constrictor), I forgot. Whatever large snake it was, it escaped during the night. Can you imagine having to tell your neighbors that if they find a fairly large nine-foot snake, please return it to us? It brought us notoriety. The local newspaper found out and published an article. Fortunately, the snake was found and returned to its aquarium with extra concrete blocks on top to keep it inside. My neighbors did not visit me.

To supplement our meager income, I got a job and we were able to locate a house in the country for us and our growing menagerie to move into. The house was horrible, but beggars can’t choose. It was at home that my husband decided to become an entrepreneur. He formed the Suwanee Zoological Society and the guest bedroom became home to rattlesnakes, pythons, cobras, copperheads, lizards and whatever else he could get his hands on. If I try really hard, I can conjure up memories in that house that nightmares are made of. One in particular was when I was sleeping and I heard an unusual noise. I got out of bed and headed down the hall to the door to the guest bedroom that housed all the bugs. Like hundreds of other times, I opened the door, reached in and flipped on the light switch. The first thing that caught my attention were the overturned cages on the bedroom floor. My next move made my heart stop and all the blood drained from my head. I looked up from the ground, turned my head slightly, and came face to face (probably within two inches) with a boa constrictor. Apparently he had broken out of his cage and in doing so knocked over anything that slipped in. Slowly backing away and closing the door, I went back to bed and slowly pulled the covers off my husband and then with a hard smack in the middle of his back, woke him up. Over the next few days, I found baby snakes all over the house, some harmless, some poisonous.

My best friend was not put off by our strange habitat and visited frequently. On a whim, we decided to cook dinner for the gang. Bustling around the kitchen, we gather our ingredients and kitchen utensils to make dinner. She was unable to locate a particular size pot in a lower cabinet. I told him I’d find it and searched the cabinet and again experienced another heart-stopping moment when I realized my arm was floating over the head of a coiled rattlesnake. Knowing well enough not to make a sudden move, I backed away slowly and when I knew I was out of range I started yelling at my husband. Hearing the panic in my voice, he hurried into the kitchen and focused his attention on where I was pointing my finger. Breathing a sigh of relief, he said, “So that’s where she’s been hiding.”

The house we lived in needed a lot of work. The kitchen was probably the worst room as it needed new linoleum, new wallpaper as what was in it was occupied and horrible and the ceiling had a hole leading to the attic. The hole was covered with a thick piece of butcher paper. It was from this point that he hung a six inch baby cobra and it was I who noticed this anomaly. Once again calling for immediate help, my husband entered the room and carefully removed the small poisonous snake from the ceiling. Looking at me with the utmost sincerity he said, “I was going to tell you about the loss of this snake.”

Snake hunting expeditions took my husband and his friends for days. For the most part, he was only home for a few hours each night because he worked two jobs. All he wanted was a shower and a few hours of sleep before the next shift started. The times when I was alone in the house usually didn’t bother me, except for one. A recently acquired addition to the animal inventory was a Gila monster, which is a very dangerous reptile. I gave instructions to feed the animal…carefully. Honestly, I tried, but he pounced and scared the shit out of me. The Gila monster didn’t eat dinner that night and was apparently mad at me. Although he was in a cage in a locked bedroom, he was making a terrible noise by banging against the cage and making threatening guttural noises. I couldn’t afford to go to a motel and I had nowhere to go, but I was determined not to stay in the same house with this creature; so I took my blanket and pillow and slept in the car for the next two nights.

One day a package arrived at the house of a fellow reptile lover. Tokay geckos were supposed to be in the box, but we weren’t sure how many. The tape was carefully cut and the outer packaging was peeled off. The lid of the box was lifted and in a split second, hundreds of Tokay geckos were out and running at the speed of light in all directions. They are fast little lizards. For the duration of our stay in that house, we found Tokay geckos everywhere. Our neighbors, who didn’t particularly like us being there, also reported geckos in their houses. It wasn’t all bad because they loved to eat cockroaches and palmetto bugs (which abounded) and spiders, which I despise. However, it was disconcerting to lie in bed and feel the gecko run across the sheets or be woken from deep sleep by its croaking. The reason they are called Tokay geckos is because that is what they actually say, ‘Toe-Kay’, over and over again.

My most memorable moment of self-awareness living in an insane asylum was one of those days when my husband was on a reptile hunting expedition. He was home alone and it was pouring rain, a veritable ravine washer. A van pulled up and a man with a big plastic trash can stood at my door. I opened the door and he asked me if this is where anyone bought snakes. I said, “yes, but you’ll have to come back later.” He said he couldn’t, that he had a big rattlesnake and if we didn’t want it, he’d go somewhere else. Well, I had seen my husband carrying a sack containing snakes hundreds of times. I didn’t see the harm in giving the guy money and putting the snake, still in the bag, in the “snake room” until my husband got home. Well, this particular snake wasn’t in a bag. The man wanted him to put the snake in a bag. When he took the lid off the trash can, all I saw was the huge body of the largest rattlesnake he had ever seen. “No way, man,” I told him. In fact, he was angry that he wouldn’t take the snake off his hands and pay him money. He said a few choice words and went off with his snake. When my husband returned, I told him about the event. His response was, “Are you crazy? … Do you know how much money that snake would bring?” Did I feel foolish because my priorities were not clear? No. This was the beginning of the end of our four-year marriage.

I realize that all creatures are put on this earth for a reason. Everyone has their place in this world and my guest bedroom is not one of them.

So, you want to talk dirty, right? The most important part is to feel comfortable with it. The more comfortable we are talking dirty with our partner, the more intimate it becomes and with that your inhibitions will drop.

Talking dirty is like a secret with your partner, a secret that only the two of you know and that is something very powerful and intimate in itself. As you learn to talk dirty, a whole new world of possibilities opens up. You and your partner will learn things about each other that previously seemed impossible.

Dirty talk examples are easy to find if you put your mind to it. Here are a few things that will help you get more comfortable with dirty talk and help you bridge the gap between desire and implementation.

Dirty Talk Example One: The tone of your voice contributes greatly to dirty talk. The next time you’re in bed and you and your partner are making love, try saying something simple like “I love when you touch me there” or “I love how you feel against my skin.” These simple sayings can be said in bed as they don’t look dirty and are the first steps to getting comfortable.

Dirty Talk Example Two: If you haven’t talked dirty to your partner, surprising them could be a turnoff. Take small steps to find out where you stand by doing the following. Get a good naughty book and read it while watching TV or right before bed. When he realizes what you’re reading, get up next to him and read a couple of verses. If you like it then read on, if not then you know where you stand on it.

With many kids starting school again (or starting school for the first time!) over the next few weeks, parents across the country will be ready with their own New School Year Resolutions on how to help their kids with essential skills they need. will use every day as reading and writing. Here are some easy tips to help your child learn to read and learn to love reading!

Books, books and more books. My kids have more books than a small library and they are all easily accessible. There are some in their bedrooms and the rest in the living room. They both see their dad and me reading and we both read to them. We encourage both Baby Boy and Top Ender to read to us, they may not use the words in the book but tell us what is happening in the pictures or tell us what they remember from the story. The important part is that they enjoy using a book, even if it’s just the pictures they’re using.

My daughter loves the Rainbow Fairy series of books (they are easy to read and only take 30 minutes as an adult to read aloud) and they have sparked her interest in reading because she knows that if she wants to read the stories and I am busy she she will have to do it herself! I’ve found that finding books on topics she likes means the books get read, even when the books aren’t that easy to read. I have many young children who read books and my daughter has read them a few times before returning to her favorite and loved books. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from trying to slip in some books on things I’d like my daughter to learn about things like “How to make your mom happy” or “How to tidy up your room.”

I have found that my son loves stories about cartoon characters he has seen or things he owns or loves (his favorite book is Jill Murphy’s What Next as it combines bears and a rocket). I have brought him several books based on movies because then he already knows the story and I see that he is more willing to read the book. I don’t think it matters that I have memorized the books I read to my son or even do the voices for the movies, what I am trying to teach, other than how to read, is that reading is FUN!

When I was little, I remember listening to stories that my grandparents and aunts had recorded for me and I had a great selection of reading books (when you hear this sound *Jingle* turn the page). I listened to the stories at night, reading only with the book that came with the tape (I was born in the ’70s, we didn’t have CDs when I was young!). We have brought several reading books and CDs for our children and even made our own thanks to the wonder of video editing.

I think this is a great way to help a child learn to read independently and it has been enhanced with the Leap Frog Tag reading system. My daughter was lucky enough to have this brought to her by Granny a couple of years ago and she is often found reading one of the Tag books just using the pen if she gets stuck on a word. It’s a great system and we have a Tag Junior for our purpose, he still likes to have someone else read with him.

I believe that all children love to know that they are loved and appreciated and that is why I started writing notes to my daughter and leaving them in places for her to find. There are the usual lunch notes (which were written in hieroglyphic style at first), there are notes left under his pillow, slipped under his door, and then the more advanced notes that lead us all on a hunt for a prize like our treasure map !

I have flashcards, not just from stores, but I’ve also made. I have made ones with numbers on one side and the word on the other, I have made ones with images of emotions on one side and the word on the other and then the ones that I have brought or been given over the years. I keep a pack in my bag, there’s a pack in the car, and I even have a downloaded version on my iPod touch. This way, wherever we are and whatever the time, I can get something out to keep daughter and son entertained, and it’s a bonus that it’s also a teachable moment!

I made clear index cards for my daughter in pink pen (she thinks pink and purple are the only colors worth writing in) that were scattered throughout the house. I don’t think there was a surface that didn’t have a card attached to it indicating what it was. I figured if the words were there, I’d learn them just by looking at them repeatedly.

I often put subtitles on when we’re watching a DVD or TV show (mostly I do it for myself because even though I’m not deaf, it’s easier for me to read and hear what’s going on!) and I’ve found that my daughter often reads a word or three like this, it helps with the debates we have about what a character just said! It also helps when I put on a Studio Ghibli in the original Japanese, as my daughter might have learned a song in Japanese, but there’s no way she’s going to speak it fluently!

Some of the first words my daughter could read were the names of stores she saw when we were in the car. She was determined that this was not reading, that she only knew what these signs said because she was smart. I managed to convince her in the end that recognizing a word like this was what reading really was when I wrote some store names in my handwriting instead of the logo format I normally saw and she could still read them. This has turned into a game where we have to read the names of the shops or the words on the signs or the names of the streets we pass by and again it is something to keep us entertained and a good learning experience!

I also use shopping as a learning experience for reading by giving my daughter the shopping list and asking her to read aloud what is on the list and then cross off what we put in the cart. Of course, this doesn’t always work if someone in the shop is eager to help or if you’re shopping alone without the kids.

The library is a great place to take children whose love of books you want to foster. I could spend hours looking at the different books, selecting which ones I want to read, which ones I want to take home, which ones I think are worth buying, what else is by the same author, but it tends to be a very quick affair. these days with me trying to keep daughter and son in the children’s section and quickly grabbing a stack of books for myself from the recently returned section. Having a library card not only teaches responsibility but also opens up the opportunity to read new books!

Exercise is an important part of any weight loss regimen. But with busy schedules, we all want to know which exercises will help us lose the most weight fast.

Generally speaking, there are two types of exercise: aerobic and strength (or anaerobic), and each contributes differently to weight loss. Aerobic exercise burns calories from fat while you perform the exercise itself. On the other hand, strength training primarily contributes to weight loss by helping to increase the speed of your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the number of calories your body burns while at rest. Your RMR actually increases (ie you burn more calories) the more muscular your body is because it takes much more energy to maintain muscle than it does to maintain fat.

Important note: Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so some strength training exercises will make you healthier and more attractive without necessarily contributing to weight loss. However, muscle is a “good” type of weight and you should aim to build more muscle to help keep body fat at bay.

Here are 5 exercise tips, both aerobic and strength, that you can do at home to lose weight fast.

Tip #1: Squats: Your buttocks and leg muscles are the largest muscles in your body. Every day in front of the mirror, place your feet shoulder-width apart while facing forward and squat down and up 10 to 20 times for 2 to 3 sets. This will strengthen the muscles in your legs and buttocks. As you build strength, try holding 2- or 5-pound dumbbells in your hands while you exercise. Be sure to warm up first and stop if you notice any sharp pain in your knees.

Tip #2: Pushups: Push-ups are a form of strength training: during a push-up your arms have to support up to 70% of your body weight. Do 2-3 sets of 20 push-ups to strengthen your arms and increase your RMR.

Tip #3: Jumping Jacks: Jumping jacks are a great full-body aerobic exercise that you can do at home. Do 4 or 5 sets of 20 jumping jacks, or as needed. Tip: If you live in an apartment or stay in a room on the second floor, be considerate of your neighbors by going out or doing this in a room on the first floor.

Tip #4: Walk fast: While walking is itself a great aerobic exercise, brisk walking is even better for burning fat. Be sure to stretch first and warm up with regular walks. Once you start walking faster, try to maintain as high a speed as possible for as long as possible. If you get tired, try intervals of brisk walking followed by short periods of slower walking.

Tip #5: Step by step: Walking is a great way to get your heart pumping and burn calories. You can use your stairs at home, but for best results I suggest buying specialized stacking mats and stacking them up to at least 15 inches (38 cm). Do 2-3 sets of 20 steps each to start. Although you may not feel like the step-by-step is helping, it is! This exercise will not only help you lose weight, but it will also help you shape your butt and legs.

An important element in a strategy to lose weight quickly at home is to do a combination of exercises that build muscle (strength training) while burning fat (aerobic exercise). Start a regimen of most or all of these exercises 2-3 days a week and watch the unhealthy fat melt away.

INTRODUCTION:

Any relationship between two entities, be they persons or institutions, cannot be established except in accordance with some set of rules. These rules may be inapplicable norms or customs of a group or society, or some explicit laws that have a binding and enforceable authority. A contract is a formal structure of a relationship between two or more parties, uniting them in a contractual relationship; and by imposing certain obligations and granting certain rights to each other. In case of any problem with these obligations or rights, the law of the country would take action. But if the contracting parties belong to different lands, then the question would arise which law should come into force. If the contracting parties do not have a prior consensus on this issue, then the problem is more likely to remain unresolved; and one or more parties would suffer the loss. Hence, the need to decide at the time of entering into the contract, as to which law would be followed.

CHOICE OF LAW IN SYNDICATED LOANS AND BONDS:

Similar is the case of the financial contract. ‘Any legal issue under a financial contract must be determined in accordance with a legal system. An aspect of a contract cannot exist in a legal vacuum.'(1) Syndicated loans and bonds are mostly international in character. They typically involve borrowers and lenders from multiple countries; and ‘the greater the number of countries involved, the greater the number of municipal legal systems that must be considered’. (2) Since there is no single set of international laws that can effectively govern syndicated loans and bonds, it is necessary for the parties to these contracts to choose an agreed legal system.

A syndicated loan agreement is normally contracted between highly sophisticated institutions such as banks, corporations, state corporations and even sovereign states themselves. It is a series of legal systems (even a single bank operating internationally may be subject to different legal systems)(3). International bond issues also involve issuers and investment banks from different countries. In some respects, international bonds (Eurobonds) are even more ‘international’ than syndicated loans, as they are sold to the general public, and are bought and sold by individuals and other entities in numerous jurisdictions. During this course of business a series of transactions involving numerous legal documents takes place. With these transactions, rights and obligations move from one entity to another very frequently. When it happens in different legal systems, it creates ambiguity about which law should be applied in which case. This ambiguity makes the business vulnerable to unpredictable situations. Finally, the entire business market suffers serious damage.

“In order to minimize such uncertainty, it is intended in practice to apply one legal system to the transaction and to exclude, as far as possible, the applicability of other legal systems with which the transaction may have any connection. This generally it is sought to be achieved in practice through a ‘choice of law’ clause that subjects to a governing legal system _ ‘the law itself’ _ the validity, enforceability and interpretation of the contractual documents and other legal documents that constitute the transaction” . (4)

The practicality provides the opportunity for the lender to have preference in the ‘choice of law’, since in the event of a dispute, it is their money that would have to be recovered. In the case of euro bonds, where an investment bank helps sell securities(5), the situation becomes different, as lenders appear on the scene after the bond is issued under certain terms, including the issue of the choice of law. In any case, in exercising the choice, it is preferred to opt for a system that is familiar to the parties, so that the tendency to use certain types of financial transactions is not modified. In addition, the treatment of both legal and commercial issues could be convenient. It is also important that the chosen system is very mature and that the relevant jurisdiction has a good reputation for impartiality. The political stability in that specific jurisdiction and the convenience of the language are also important factors in the choice of a certain system of law(6). The incident of the freezing of foreign currency accounts following the imposition of the emergency after the atomic tests in 1998(7), the stock market suffered such a huge loss that it took years to recover. In such a situation, no serious financial activity can grow without fear of the occult. Although the application forum is not a less important factor; The most significant factor in having the choice of law clause is the “insulation of the loan agreement from legal changes in the borrower’s country.” (8)

When drafting the contract, some of the essential documents would be prepared; for example, in the case of a bond issue, the subscription agreement, the trust deed, the agreement between administrators, the group sales agreement and the bond instruments themselves, and in the case of the syndicated loan, the loan contract. All of these legal documents would require validity, enforceability and, where necessary, interpretation.(9) This could only be done under an agreed legal system.

The determination of rights and responsibilities and the interpretation of legal documents would involve a series of laws relevant to different subjects. These may include securities law, principles of contract, contract interpretation law, insolvency law, negotiable instruments law, and the like. All these laws must be related to a legal system, to make their interpretation and implementation possible.(10)

There are more than 310 jurisdictions in the world, which are grouped into nine classes, i.e. Traditional English, American Common Law, Mixed Roman/Common Law, Germanic and Scandinavian, Mixed Franco-Latin/Germanic, Franco-Latin Traditional, Emerging Jurisdictions , Islamic Jurisdictions and Unassigned Jurisdictions(11). These categories are further combined into three main types: common law, Napoleonic, and Romano-Germanic jurisdictions.(12) This large number of jurisdictions naturally has the potential to create problems in the case of international syndicated loans and bonds where different legal systems would apply. involved. Therefore, it becomes imperative to have a ‘choice of law’ clause in legal documents.

CONCLUSION:

The term international, in syndicated loans and bonds, implies multiple laws, forums and jurisdictions. The conflict of laws, in such a case, is natural. Combining laws, given their different approaches, is not a viable proposition. The harmonization of financial laws at the international level remains an idealistic suggestion. So, to form, interpret and execute international contracts, it is necessary to adopt a unique legal system. This, the parties to a contract can choose at the time of the conclusion of the contract. This is done to ensure the validity, enforceability and interpretation of all legal documents relevant to the syndicated loan and bond agreements. It helps eliminate the uncertainty and unpredictability of the fate of a contract. Ideally, it is an external law, which has the potential to insulate the loan agreement from legal changes, especially in the borrower’s country. English law worthy of playing such a role. There is another advantage of choosing it: it does not require any connection of the lender or the borrower with England.

The fundamental importance of the inclusion of the ‘choice of law clause’ in international syndicated loan contracts and bond legal instruments, is to remove uncertainty about expectations about the contract, providing a viable legal mechanism to resolve all the legal issues that would arise from time to time.

REFERENCES:

1). Wood, PR (1995) International Securities, Bonds and Loans Regulations; London: Sweet & Maxwell P-61

two). Slater R (1982) “Syndicated Bank Loans” presented at the Conference on ‘The Transnational Law of International Business Transactions’ in Bielefeld, West Germany, October 5-7, 1981, in Journal of Business Law pp 173-199

3). Cranston R (2003) Principles of Banking Law; 2nd Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; p438

4). Tennekoon R (1991) International Finance Law and Regulation; London: Butterworths; p16

5). Mishkin F (1992) The economics of money, banking and financial markets; 3rd Ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers; page 286

6). Paul C & Montagu G (2003) Banking and Capital Markets Fellow; 3rd Ed. London: Cavendish Publishing; p.94

7). Washingtonpost.com, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/southasia/stories/pakistan052998.htm accessed 05-14-2005

8). Wood PR (1995) Regulation of International Loans, Bonds and Securities; trading quote

9). Tennekoon R. op cit

10). Slater R (1982) op cit

eleven). Wood PR (1997) Maps of World Financial Law; London: Allen & Overy; p. 9

12). Wood, PR (2005) Oxford and Cambridge Introductory Lectures of Financial Law, op cit

When it comes to yeast infections and the best ways to treat them, there seems to be an ongoing debate about whether or not sugar is a cause of yeast infection and a contributing factor. Some believe that sugar plays no role in causing the infection, while others believe that it is the enemy. Read on to learn more, about their discussion, and how you can finally get rid of your yeast overgrowth for good…

Do we need sugar? We may love the taste of sugar and numerous sweets that use sugar as the main ingredient, but do we need sugar in our diets? Is it good for us? Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is NO! Small amounts of sugar in moderation won’t do much harm to your body, but too much sugar in your diet can actually lead to diabetes.

Our bodies don’t really like sugar, and every time we eat it it gives us a brief boost of fake energy. After eating things like chocolate bars, we experience a short-term high, but it’s usually very short-lived. This is because the blood sugar level has increased and the body has to produce additional insulin to cope with this increase.

Sugar that has been refined has no nutritional benefit, and the body has a very hard time dealing with it. White sugars in particular are a poison to the body and too much will start to weaken your immune system over time.

Do yeast cells love sugar? Sugar not only rots your teeth, causes diabetes, and weakens your immune system, it can also cause a yeast infection. Eating a diet high in sugar is often all it takes to trigger a yeast overgrowth. And, the more sugar you eat, the stronger the infection becomes.

Yeast cells just love sugar, in fact they thrive on it. Many women with vaginal symptoms are most affected by a high-sugar diet, and their symptoms are often worse after consuming large amounts of sugar.

Beat a yeast infection by changing your diet… Many yeast sufferers have found that changing their diets and cutting out sugar is the only effective way to fully treat their infection. A sugar-free diet helps starve yeast cells, and an increase in nutrient-dense, yeast-friendly foods helps rebuild the immune system, allowing the body to fight off infection.