How does Allergic Rhinitis related to Otitis Media with Effusion (OME)

Otitis media is an inflammation that occurs in the middle ear. Middle ear space contains fluid that could be easily infected and the infected middle ear is called otitis media with effusion. The cause of the chronic OME (otitis media with effusion) for most of the allergic rhinitis patients is mainly due to the IgE-mediated allergies. IgE-mediated allergy is the allergy that happens when IgE antibody (one type of the white blood cell) binds with the mast cell. IgE antibody is being produced by the plasma cell when foreign particular from outside of the body entering into the blood through nasal mucosal surface. Once the IgE antibody binds with the mast cell around the nose, histamine is secreted from this cell and it is the main chemical that causes itching and hypersensitive of the nose. According to the publication by a group of scentists, 50% of the children who had chronic OME also had nasal allergy [Acta Otolaryngol (Stockh) 1988;458(suppl):41-7]. Effects of the seasonal allergic rhinitis to the Eustachian tube function and middle ear pressure had been studied by a few groups of medical scientists. According to one of the studies, Eustachian tube of the pollen allergic patients become obstructed increases from 15% to 60% from the starting to the maximum of the pollen exposure. [Ann Allergy 1990;65:206-10]. In one of the studies, ragweed pollen , which is a seasonal pollen, was let it exposed to a group of people. What had been discovered is that it will cause immune reactions in the Eustachian tube and nose [Am J Rhinol 1988;2:155-61.].Apart from this study, the other study reported that house-dust mite, which was a perennial allergen, also caused Eustachian tube obstruction [ ArchOtolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1986;112:840-]. In the same study, they found out that 55% of the adults, who had nasal allergy, experienced the development of the Eustachian tube dysfunction when this group of adult was exposed to house-dust mite. In the following study, new thing that had been found out was Eustachian tube obstruction happened more frequently for the patients who had allergic rhinitis. [J. Allergy Clin Immunol 1987;79:27-31]. In allergen provocation studies, scientist found out that nasal obstruction usually occurred before the development of the Eustachian tube obstruction. In allergen provocation study, individuals who took part in this study were exposed to allergen to provoke their nasal allergy symptom. In this study, researchers also discovered that various of inflammatory mediators such as histamine have been detected in middle ear effusions of the children who had OME [Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1988;114:1131-3]. If Eustachian tube obstruction that was caused by perennial exposure to allergen such as house-dust mite was left it untreated for quite a sometime, it could form middle ear disease, especially, when priming phenomenon occurs in the Eustachian tube. Priming phenomenon happens when mucosa in the organ responds to lower doses of allergen with repeated exposure. Allergic rhinitis could have priming phenomenon too when the mucosa in the nasal passage responds to low amount of allergen that has been inhaled through the nostril. For the Eustachian tube obstruction that was caused by seasonal exposure to allergen such as ragweed pollen, its physiologic hyperresponsiveness could extend beyond the ragweed season.

Studies show that half of the newly occurrence otitis media are diagnosed immediately after patient had been infected by viral URTI (virus that causes flu and common cold). By using traditional standard culture techniques, it is quite rare that viruses could be isolated from the middle ear effusions in the patient with otitis media. However, with the newly developed PCR-based molecular analysis, viruses in the middle ear effusions could be detected and discovered that 53% of the middle ear effusions are positive for viruses [J Infect Dis 1995;172:1348-51]. An experimental, which was carried out by infecting real human with rhinovirus-39, had been carried out in Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to study the effect of this virus to the middle ear pressure and Eustachian tube. Result of this experiment showed a substantial increase of Eustachian tube dysfunction and also abnormal middle ear in approximately 30% of the people who had been infected in this study. However, all these people who had been infected by this virus had less possibility to develop an otitis media disease. In another study, where influenza A virus was intranasally inoculated to a group of peoples, 59% of the inoculated people experienced the development of middle ear under pressure and only 25% of these people developed otitis media [J Infect Dis 1995;172:1348-51]. In this study, one of the inoculated people developed middle ear under pressure followed by purulent otitis media. This patient middle ear effusion was taken for PCR analysis and it showed positive result for both influenza A and Streptococcus Pneumoniae. Streptococcus Pneumoniae is some kind of spherical, Gram-positive, alpha-hemolytic bacterium and it is a member of the genus Streptococcus. In this group of inoculated people, 80% of them who had infected by this virus experienced the development of Eustachian tube dysfunction and 80% of them had middle ear under pressure [Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1994;103:59-69]. With this group of infected people, five of them had developed OME on the 4th day after the viral exposure. One of the patients had dizziness and vertigo symptoms, which is mainly due to the inner ear malfunction. All these studies support the causes of otitis media by URTIs virus and causes of otitis media starting from the development of Eustachian tube obstruction and abnormal middle ear pressure. In the recent publication about the study of a group of children with acute otitis media, micro-organisms in the fluids of the middle ears of the children were isolated by the investigator of this study. They found out that 65% of the fluid samples that had been collected contained both bacteria and viruses. These results show that virus infection in the middle ear creates an environmental that is suitable for the breeding of bacteria. [N Engl J Med 1999;340:260-4].

Based on the information that had been collected from a few recent publications of the studies of the relationships of the allergic rhinitis to the OME (otitis media with effusion), we could conclude that allergic rhinitis or common cold/flu will cause Eustachian tube obstruction and middle ear pressure. When the situation becomes uncontrollable, otitis media with effusion will develop and this may could permanent hearing impairment. Therefore, allergic rhinitis and common cold/flu should be treated immediately without any delay. This is because these common illnesses may become serious and develop to chronic sinusitis disease and otitis media with effusions, which is quite difficult to cure.

Published By : Remy A Singal

3 Positive Steps to discover the purpose of life

If your life is not as passionate as you would have liked it to be, if you lack the zest and energy for living, it is because of the lack of an underlying principle around which one’s life should be organized.

The process of discovering this underlying principle may be the most powerful thing you will ever do yourself, because it will give your life a direction, a purpose. It will provide you with the clarity and focus, that could awaken the unbelievable forces hidden somewhere deep inside you.

In this article we will discuss the concept of life and its underlying principle. We will be going through a step by step procedure, exploring your feelings and options, and by the end of this article, you should have a fairly solid tool you could immediately employ in your life, to give it a meaningful direction.

There are three steps to the process of discovering the purpose of your life:

Understanding the principle of choice
Creating your underlying principle
Aligning your life with the underlying principle

Understanding the principle of choice :

Norman Vincent Peale has this to say about the power of choice. “The greatest power we have is the power of choice. It is an actual fact, that if you have been groping under unhappiness, you can choose to be joyous, instead. And, by effort, lift yourself into joy. If you tend to be fearful, you can overcome that misery by choosing to have courage. The whole trend and the quality of anyone’s life is determined by the choice that are made”.

Choosing is the most important activity of your mind, because by making a choice, you are proclaiming your desires to your subconscious mind. Once the subconscious mind get to know your desires, it is going to do anything to manifest them in your life. The choices you make in your life become your goal. And, if you are sincere in pursuing them, there is no reason why you should not accomplish them.

Indecision, on the other hand, not only creates frustration and anxiety, but can also confuse the subconscious mind about what you want. But it is important that the choices you make are made by you, in accordance with your true desires, purposes and aptitude. A lot us of let others make choices for us, or make our choices according to what we think is ‘correct’, even if that means that we go against our wishes. What is right for someone is may not be right for you, and the way to know this is listening to what your heart says.

So, begin with, make a list of things which interests you; things which you have always enjoyed, which makes you feel better, which inspires you to surge ahead, no matter what obstacles you face. Do you like doing something creative, or something artistic? Do you enjoy nature, do you like the sea? Do you enjoy helping others? Do you get pleasure out of making a difference in other people’s life?

What ever it is that interests you, go ahead and make a list under the following headlines:

Things you love to do:

______________________________________

What is it that you love in this thing and why? How you could do this for money, and make a living out of it?

__________________

__________________

Creating Your Underlying Principle :

The next step is to examine the list you just made and find out if there is any recurring them. Maybe, it is the contribution that keeps coming up, or an effect to seek or give love, or helping your parents cope with old age. Whatever it is try to identify the central them of the things you love to do, and try to put it in a short and precise statement. This will be your ‘Mission Statement’. It may even be a quote by a famous person, or a philosophy that has influenced you. Of course, as you grow up, this statement could evolve, but its soul will remain the same. Now, write down your Mission Statement.

Aligning your LIFE with the Underlying Principle :

The final step in this journey is to map your path to your ultimate purpose. Make the little changes in your lifestyle that would accommodate this principle in your life. LIVE this principle each and every day. It might take a few days, but you will certainly feel the difference in your enthusiasm for life. If you realize that you love being amidst nature, plan out your holiday. Maybe an outing with your children could be enough to recoup with your energy. On the other hand, you might even want to change your job, or start a new business, that is more in line with your mission.

Remember – “Do what you love, and money will follow”.

Try it now..!

How Hypnotherapy Helps With Stress And Anxiety


Stress can be defined as a state we experience when there is a mismatch between perceived demands and our perceived ability to cope. Stress can also be defined as an adaptive response by a body to change in the environment. Stress response evolved to enable humans to deal with life-threatening dangers or stressors such as being confronted with a wild animal or perhaps a hostile human. Situations like this required action – the activation of stress response to wither stay and …

Stress can be defined as a state we experience when there is a mismatch between perceived demands and our perceived ability to cope. Stress can also be defined as an adaptive response by a body to change in the environment. Stress response evolved to enable humans to deal with life-threatening dangers or stressors such as being confronted with a wild animal or perhaps a hostile human. Situations like this required action – the activation of stress response to wither stay and fight or to run away.

Today we hopefully won’t have to face the same dangers as our ancestors but the stress response to demanding situations we face is still with us and our mind and body still prepare for fight or flight when confronted with this equivalent of the wild animal. This is where the problem may begin as activation of the fight or flight response with no physical outlet, such as if we are stuck in a traffic jam and can’t fight it or flee it, or maybe an unfair confrontation in the workplace where once again the response for action may be triggered but we cant vent it by fighting or running away without consequences we would rather avoid. Perhaps both of these events and more are experienced on the same day, perhaps every day, and the stress builds within us until it can damage our health if a solution is not found

Stress isn’t always bad – the stress response was designed to help and protect us and some people even place themselves in stressful situations they know they can handle for excitement and ‘the rush’ as it is often called.

We all experience stress in different ways depending upon our personality type, conditioning and possible training also.

When we face a stressor but perceive we have the ability to deal with it successfully a feeling of success and achievement can be gained. Getting the balance right between good stress to motivate us and encourage us to grow, and our ability to cope with the stress is possibly the key to remaining healthy, positive and active in whatever arena of life we find ourselves.

Our ability to cope with stress can be affected by our diet and the intake of good substances that out body needs to remain strong and flexible and to repair itself when needed. Also we should avoid anything that could cause us to be more stressed or weaker such as drugs, alcohol, smoking etc.

Finally, stress can be external, some event or situation that is causing stress, or internal, attitudes or emotions that lead to stress (anxiety, guilt, low self esteem, fear, etc).

What is the Fight/Flight Response? Why do we still have it ?

The ‘Fight or Flight Response’ is a physiological reaction and is the body’s response to a stressor.

Changes in hormones prepare a person to either stay and deal with a stressor or to take flight/run away. This immediate state of alarm is when the body prepares to take action, and in this state a person will be extremely alert to their surroundings but also very anxious and possibly unable to concentrate.

The body will slow down systems not vital in responding to the stressor, such as the digestive system, which is why a person in a fight or flight situation may have a dry mouth and a nervous/upset stomach. The body will make other preparations such as improved cooling for the body as more energy is used and this will result in perspiration.

The fight or flight response is a very old and very basic response and has been with us for a very long time. It was originally a response to danger that would prepare our ancestors to fight the wild beast or the enemy who might suddenly threaten or confront them, or to take flight and literally run away from the danger.

This response is triggered when we send a message of alarm to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This area of the brain will then send a signal to the glands to release adrenaline, cortisol and endorphin into the blood stream. Increased levels of adrenaline increase heart rate and blood flow which in turn brings extra oxygen and glucose to the muscles. Cortisol causes an increase in amino-acids and sugars in the blood. Amino-acids are crucial for the repair and recovery of damaged tissues which may occur under stress and the blood sugar adds to the availability of glucose (fuel) for the body.

The release of endorphin, which is a morphine like substance only more powerful, provides the body’s natural tranquilizing system. Pain is blocked and a feeling of euphoria may be experienced, both helping to get the body through the situation it may find itself in due to stress.

We still have this response, as it is still necessary to prepare and protect us in times of alarm, such as being involved in an emergency situation of any kind, or being confronted with any form of potentially life threatening danger.

Once the initial stages of this fight or flight response are over, a person will have a psychological reaction to the stressor which will be based upon many variables including, personality type, conditioning, age, physical and mental ability, and their knowledge relevant to the situation to be dealt with.

It is very often the resulting symptoms of this fight or flight response kicking in that we tend to call a panic attack. what actually happens is that we may be in a situation where we can’t fight or flight, such as a meeting or on a train, and so we become more and more anxious and may feel as though we will pass out, or be sick, or any one of a number of responses. What often happens then,is we find we have a desperate need to urinate, and that is another way the subconscious mind will sometimes attempt to gain our attention and force us to leave the arena in which we find ourselves at the time. It is normally the feeling of not being able to escape, and knowing that we might have this strong feeling to fight or flight that causes much of the anxiety and expectation of problems for most people who find they need help to overcome their problem.

Also, many people….no…that should be most people who suffer from panic attacks and anxiety will normally have the need for some Obsessive compulsive actions in their life…it can often be a type of coping, or controlling strategy.

Why hypnotherapy is totally different from any other form of therapy ?

Hypnotherapy is different from any other form of therapy because of the way in which the therapy part happens while one is in hypnosis. Put another way, hypnotherapy is a very effective combination of hypnosis, a trance or altered state of mind and deep relaxation, and the chosen therapy, which might be for example; suggestion therapy, regression, ego states therapy, neuro-linguistic-programming or hypnoanalysis.

Hypnosis allows an individual to enter a state of deep relaxation which in itself is a very useful therapy for combating stress. It also allows one to become calm and focused, as all parts of the mind work together and concentrate on solving the problem at hand, and therefore making the very best use of the chosen therapy as it is applied.

Why it is so helpful in cases of stress, anxiety and panic attacks ?

Hypnosis is a state in which the conscious critical faculty is temporarily suspended or distracted and in which all parts of the mind work in harmony for the good of the whole being.

When in hypnosis an individual can become very relaxed and at the same time very aware and ‘sharp’, mentally focused.

For the computer literate, I would liken hypnosis to the ‘safe mode’ on a computer, where if a part of the system is acting up or malfunctioning, placing the system in safe mode allows for investigation and repair to be carried out safely while minimising the risk to the normal operating systems. In some sports it would be like a ‘time-out’, where all parts of the team come together briefly to review the current state of play, to identify where poor choices may have affected the outcomes and to choose a new strategy to move forward with.

In the normal hurly burly of life we seldom have time to take a time out, or to go into safe mode to pull together our resources and to calmly take stock and plan our best way forward. Hypnosis then, is a safe, relaxing state in which we can let go the tensions in and around us for a short period, and in which, if we desire it, a skilled therapist can guide us through the stages of investigation, discovery, planning and repair we may need.

Hypnotherapy therefore provides relaxation (and clients of good therapists learn self-hypnosis so they can find this deep relaxation for themselves) and is therefore useful at even this basic level, as a kind of first aid. The good therapist will help the client to find any repressed emotions, triggers and false instincts from the past that are a kind of out-of-date, erroneous, or maybe just no longer wanted or needed programming, that loops around once triggered to cause us much anxiety and feelings of panic, but we often don’t know why. Following this, the wonderful power of hypnotic suggestion, and Neuro-Linguistic programming techniques will be used to provide new and efficient programming to support moves forward into a much more positive life with a better outlook on everything..

Some Arab Women Find Freedom in the Skies



Flight attendants at a graduation ceremony last year in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Marwa Abdel Aziz Fathi giggled self-consciously as she looked down at the new wing-shaped brooch on the left breast pocket of her crisp gray uniform, then around the room at the dozens of other Etihad flight attendants all chatting and eating canapés around her.

It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy, where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants. Downstairs are the cavernous classrooms where Ms. Fathi and other trainees rehearsed meal service plans in life-size mockups of planes and trained in the swimming pool, where they learned how to evacuate passengers in the event of an emergency landing over water.

Despite her obvious pride, Ms. Fathi, a 22-year-old from Egypt, was amazed to find herself here.

“I never in my life thought I’d work abroad,” said Ms. Fathi, who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements recruiting young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf. “My family thought I was crazy. But then some families don’t let you leave at all.”

A decade ago, unmarried Arab women like Ms. Fathi, working outside their home countries, were rare. But just as young men from poor Arab nations flocked to the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs, more young women are doing so, sociologists say, though no official statistics are kept on how many.

Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women, just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.

The dormitory here where the Etihad flight attendants live after training looks much like the city’s many 1970s-style office blocks, its windows iridescent like gasoline on a puddle. But there are three security guards on the ground floor, a logbook for sign-ins and strict rules. Anyone who tries to sneak a man back to one of the simply furnished two-bedroom suites that the women share may be dismissed, even deported.

In the midst of an Islamic revival across the Arab world that is largely being led by young people, gulf states like Abu Dhabi — which offer freedoms and opportunities nearly unimaginable elsewhere in the Middle East — have become an unlikely place of refuge for some young Arab women. And many say that the experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their ambitions and their beliefs about themselves, though it can also lead to a painful sense of alienation from their home countries and their families.

At almost any hour of the day or night, there are a dozen or more young women with identical rolling suitcases waiting in the lobby of their dormitory to be picked up for work on Etihad flights. Though several are still drowsily applying makeup — and the more steady-handed have perfected a back-of-the-bus toilette that takes exactly the length of their usual ride to Abu Dhabi International Airport — they are uniformly well ironed and blow-dried. Those with longer hair wear black hair-ties wrapped around meticulously hair-netted ponytails. They wear jaunty little caps with attached gauzy scarves that hint at hijab, the head coverings worn by many Muslim women. Like college students during exams, all of them gripe good-naturedly about how little they have slept.

There are exclamations of congratulation and commiseration as the women learn friends’ assignments. Most coveted are long-haul routes to places like Toronto and Sydney, Australia, where layovers may last many days, hotels are comfortable and per diem allowances from the airline to cover food and incidentals are generous. Short-haul flights to places like Khartoum, Sudan, are dreaded: more than four hours of work, followed by refueling, a new load of passengers, an exhausting late-night return flight to Abu Dhabi and the shuttle bus back to the dormitory tower with its vigilant guards.

Upstairs, scrubbed of their thick, professional makeup, most of the women look a decade younger. They seem to subsist on snack food: toast made, Arabic-style, by waving flaps of pita over an open flame; slivers of cheap, oversalted Bulgarian cheese; the Lebanese date-filled cookies called ajweh; pillowy rolls from a local Cinnabon outlet that one young Syrian flight attendant proclaimed herself addicted to (an expression she used with self-conscious delight, a badge of newfound worldliness).


They watch bootlegged DVDs — “Desperate Housewives,” “Sex and the City” — bought on layovers in Bangladesh and Indonesia. They drift along the tiled floors between their rooms in velour sweatpants and fuzzy slippers, and they keep their voices low: someone is always trying to catch a wink of sleep before her flight.




A Lonely Existence

It is a hushed, lonely and fluorescent-lighted existence, and it is leavened mostly by nights out dancing. Despite the increasing numbers of women moving to the gulf countries, the labor migration patterns of the last 20 years have left the Emirates with a male-female ratio that is more skewed than anywhere else in the world; in the 15-to-64 age group, there are more than 2.7 men for every woman.

Etihad flight attendants are such popular additions to Abu Dhabi’s modest hotel bar scene that their presence is encouraged by frequent “Ladies’ Nights” and cabin-crew-only drink discounts. It is almost impossible for an unveiled woman in her 20s to go to a mall or grocery store in Abu Dhabi without being asked regularly, by grinning strangers, if she is a stewardess.

One evening last fall, an Egyptian flight attendant for Etihad with dyed blond hair and five-inch platform heels led a friend — a 23-year-old Tunisian woman wearing a sparkly white belt who said that she had come to the Emirates hoping to find work as a seamstress — up to the entrance of the Sax nightclub at the Royal Meridien Hotel.

Just inside, in the bar area, several young Emirates men in white dishdashas were dancing jerkily to deafening club music.

Clutching her friend by the elbow, the Egyptian woman indicated one of the bouncers. “Isn’t he just so yummy?” she shrieked. The bouncer, who had plainly heard, ignored her, and the women filed past. Despite appearances, explained the Egyptian flight attendant — who asked not to be named because she was not authorized by Etihad to speak to the news media — sex and dating are very fraught matters for most of the young Arab women who come to work in the Emirates.

Some young women cope with their new lives away from home by becoming almost nunlike, keeping to themselves and remaining very observant Muslims, she said, while others quickly find themselves in the arms of unsuitable men. “With the Arabic girls who come to work here, you get two types,” the Egyptian woman said. “They’re either very closed up and scared and they don’t do anything, or else they’re not really thinking about flying — they’re just here to get their freedom. They’re really naughty and crazy.”

Treated Like a Heroine


Rania Abou Youssef, 26, a flight attendant for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates, said that when she went home to Alexandria, Egypt, her female cousins treated her like a heroine. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she said, “and still they’re always asking, ‘Where did you go and what was it like and where are the photographs?’ ”

Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, they have learned to see themselves as individuals.

For many families, allowing a daughter to work, much less to travel overseas unaccompanied, may call her virtue into question and threaten her marriage prospects. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”

Unemployment levels across the Arab world remain high. As the networks of Arab expatriates in the gulf countries become stronger and as cellphones and expanding Internet access make overseas communication more affordable, some families have grown more comfortable with the idea of allowing daughters to work here. Some gulf-based employers now say they tailor recruitment procedures for young women with Arab family values in mind. They may hire groups of women from a particular town or region, for example, so the women can support one another once in the gulf. “A lot of girls do this now because this has a reputation for being very safe,” said Enas Hassan, an Iraqi flight attendant for Emirates. “The families have a sense of security. They know that if their girls start flying they won’t be thrown into the wide world without protection.”

A Feeling of Displacement

Yet not everyone can make peace with life in the United Arab Emirates, the young flight attendants say. Even the landscape — block after sterile block of hotels and office buildings with small shops and takeout restaurants on their lower floors — can contribute to a feeling of displacement. Nearly all year long, for most of the day, the sunlight is bright white, so harsh that it obliterates all contrast. Despite vigilant watering, even the palm trees on roadsides look grayish and embattled.

Some of the young women tell stories of fellow flight attendants who have simply slipped onto planes to their home countries and run away, without giving notice to the airline.

The most successful Arab flight attendants, they say, are often those whose circumstances have already placed them somehow at the margins of their home societies: young immigrant women who are supporting their families after the death of a male breadwinner, for example, and a handful of young widows and divorced women who are eventually permitted to work overseas after their prospects of remarriage have dimmed.

Far more than other jobs they might find in the gulf, flying makes it difficult for Muslim women to fulfill religious duties like praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan, the Egyptian attendant noted. She said she hoped to wear the hijab one day, “just not yet.” A sense of disconnection from their religion can add to feelings of alienation from conservative Muslim communities back home. Young women whose work in the gulf supports an extended family often find, to their surprise and chagrin, that work has made them unsuitable for life within that family.

“A very good Syrian friend of mine decided to resign from the airline and go back home,” the Egyptian flight attendant said. “But she can’t tolerate living in a family house anymore. Her parents love her brother and put him first, and she’s never allowed out alone, even if it’s just to go and have a coffee.”

“It becomes very difficult to go home again,” she said.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 22, 2008, on page A1 of the New York edition.

Published By : KATHERINE ZOEPF

Forest Plan in Brazil the Traces of an Activist's Vision













Lalo de Almeida

A devastated area of forest used for cattle in March in Brazil. A government plan introduced targets for reducing deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Twenty years ago, a Brazilian environmental activist and rubber tapper was shot to death at his home in Acre State by ranchers opposed to his efforts to save the Amazon rain forest.

After his death at age 44, Francisco Alves Mendes, better known as Chico, became a martyr for a concept that is only now gaining mainstream support here: that the value of a standing forest could be more than the value of a forest burned and logged in the name of development.

This month, Brazil took what environmentalists hope will be a big step forward in realizing Mr. Mendes’s vision. The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva introduced ambitious targets for reducing deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions in a nation that is one of the world’s top emitters of this heat-trapping gas.

The plan promises to make Brazil a more influential player in global climate-change discussions, helping to push the United States and the European Union to agree to emissions cuts and head off the adverse effects of climate change. It could also encourage more pledges from wealthy countries seeking to essentially pay Brazil to preserve the forest for the good of all humanity.

But some environmentalists question whether the new targets, which would reduce Brazilian deforestation by 72 percent by 2017, are achievable in a country that has shown few signs of adjusting its development model as a major food provider to the world, especially in the midst of a global economic crisis.

To achieve the first phase of planned cuts, Brazil would have to reduce deforestation next year by 20 percent, to less than 4,000 square miles. That would be the lowest amount per year ever recorded in Brazil, said Paulo Adario, the Amazon campaign director for Greenpeace in Brazil.

Brazil’s economy is centered on the export of agricultural products, like soybeans and beef, and commodities like iron ore.

“The Brazilian model is to be the food supplier to the world and a big supplier of ethanol,” Mr. Adario said. “The economy will continue to move in the same basic direction. There is no magic in Brazil.”

Up until now, Brazil’s economic choices have driven much of the deforestation in the Amazon, he said. In the late 1960s and the 1970s, the military government encouraged landless families to settle in the region. Road-building, land speculators and ranchers followed, and the forests fell at a quickening pace.

The burning and decomposition of trees produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Mr. Mendes organized tappers to confront crews and flew abroad to confront lenders paying for roads. His efforts to stop logging in an area planned for a forest reserve led to his death. Since his killing, on Dec. 22, 1988, more than 20 reserves have been created, protecting more than eight million acres.

Mr. Mendes was an early advocate of the idea that people who live in the forest could create livelihoods from sustainable forest resources, rather than the one-time economic benefit of cutting down trees. Carbon financing, the compensation of forest dwellers for pursuing sustainable industries, would provide an added incentive, which is vital given the uncertain markets for natural rubber and other non-timber forest products.

“The notion that we in the north will help pay for that climate service is an important development and represents the mainstreaming of the concept that Chico Mendes and those like him were pioneers in creating,” said Richard H. Moss, the head of climate change programs at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington.

The killings of Mr. Mendes and of Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old Catholic nun who was gunned down in 2005 for speaking out against logging in the Amazon, ratcheted up international pressure on Brazil to find ways to limit forest clearing without sacrificing development.

“Brazil was always on the defensive when it came to the question of climate change,” said Carlos Minc, Brazil’s environment minister. “And now it has completely changed, passing a bolder plan than India and China.”

Mr. Minc said the plan would help meet a demand of some of the more developed countries, including the United States, which has said it would not agree to firm emissions targets until less-developed countries that produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases do the same.

Deforestation produces more than a fifth of human-generated carbon dioxide by some estimates. Some 75 percent of Brazil’s carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation, Mr. Minc said.

Brazil’s plan would sharply slice those emissions, reducing them by some 4.8 billion tons by 2018. Some environmentalists contend that deals involving compensation for forest protection could weaken climate agreements in many ways. They also say the plan leaves the most difficult targets to the government that will follow Mr. da Silva’s. His term ends in 2010.

Still, it is viewed by some scientists and climate experts as major step forward. “For the first time we have out in the open very clear goals for reduction in deforestation,” said Walter Vergara, the lead climatologist for Latin America at the World Bank.

The global recession could end up being a godsend by lowering demand for agricultural goods.

But it could also slow the flow of technology needed to make industries more efficient and limit pledges from foreign governments like Norway, Sweden and Germany, whose payments would help preserve the forest. So far, those countries have not suggested that they would reduce their contributions, Mr. Minc said.

“The global recession and the climate crisis don’t necessarily have to be adversaries, with one competing for the resources of the other,” Mr. Minc said.

By : ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

5 Tips For Affiliates Programs Newbies


Wanna be an affiliate and make a lot of money? You got first to learn and then be patient… You must educate yourself to succeed and get advices and tips to accelerate your choices before choosing a product or program.


Affiliate program is the starting place for a big majority of home entrepreneurs and beginners in Internet Marketing, because of the small amount of work involved. There is some elements that you must absolutely look for before you start promoting an affiliate product…

Tip #1 - Promote a unique product to get better results.

Promoting a product which is already being sold by hundreds or affiliates will not give you the same results as if you have a unique proposition. A different product that only some affiliates distribute. That kind of program is a little bit difficult to find because it is not in the interest of the merchant to do so in the short term.

Tip #2 - Powerful and effective affiliates tools.

When you are ready to promote, you may be lost if you are new to affiliates marketing. Actually, most of the beginners take months to make their first sale, because the merchant doesn’t help them in their hard work. So be sure to find a powerful and clear affiliates resource section. That will skyrocket your chances of success. Also, a good communication with the merchant is hard to find, but it is a must.
Try to find these resources, or some of them.

Tip #3 - Example of effective resources :

* Brandable ebooks to give away or sell at a little price with your own affiliate ID links to generate leads… and sales.
* Sales letters provided.
* Templates of the emails to send to your list(s), pre-writen email or even better.
* Free promotional tips provided, to make money without spending thousands in the beginning (a must for beginners)
* Advices and tips for paid promotional techniques (don’t loose all your money in something that don’t bring results).
* Redirect links through your own website. For example: www.yoursite.com/theaffiliatesite/
* Banners

Tip #4 - Good Tracking software.

It is a very important part. You must be able to monitor almost everything in your resources section:
you must be able to track your sales, how many visitors came to your site and to the merchant site, by which page they enter to the merchant site(here is the importance of the redirect links).
You must be able to view your payment history, and also how many people signed up underneath you if it is a two tiers affiliate program.

Tip #5 - Cookies plus IP addresses.

Today, it is a common practice by Internet users to clear their cookies daily or weekly. So if you spend money on PPC or any other paid advertising to get a customer, you do not want to see another affiliate get the commission you should have received. So try to choose an affiliate program with a tracking software which take also the IP address of your future customer. By the way, recurring commissions are a must.

Last but not least, try to find associate programs with generous compensation plan, and give a preference to the two tiers affiliates programs because you will be paid on two levels. Good promotion, and enjoy your affiliate life.

6 Powerful Tips to Creating Testimonials That Sell Your Products Fast

Capture the power of testimonials today. Testimonials can never be underestimated. People, especially nowadays, will only purchase products or avail services which have been referred to them by people whom they know. Discover right now 6 tips to creating testimonials that will sell your products fast.

There are many ways to market a product or a service and providing the potential clients and customers with testimonials is one of the best ways to market.

The power of testimonials can never be underestimated. People, especially nowadays, will only purchase products or avail services which have been referred to them by people whom they know. But most of the times, this is not an option that is in the hands of the business owner, he has to do the next best thing, which is to get testimonials from his past clients.

Testimonials are living statements from past customers or clients which states that they were satisfied by the product/ service. Every business must have testimonials to be able to stand out in the ever crowded markets.

There are many benefits of having testimonials. Here are some of them.

Testimonials appease the target market

Testimonials usually lessen the doubts of the target market. There are a lot of scammers and con artists nowadays, and this has turned the market into a fearsome one. Credible testimonials provide security to the people who are eyeing at a certain product or service. The provision of testimonials gives people a much more relaxed attitude towards a product or service.

Testimonials assure quality

Aside from confirming the existence of a business and lessening doubts, testimonials provide assurance to potential customers and clients of the quality of the product or service. The fact that they took time out to be able to write testimonials about the product reflect their levels of satisfaction towards the product/service.

Testimonials give advantage

Credible testimonials provide a competitive advantage for the product/service. There are many products and services out there and one of the ways to stand out from the rest is the use of credible testimonials.

There are many types of testimonials. Testimonials are usually categorized according to the source. Here are a few examples:

a) Testimonials from satisfied customers

This is probably the most effective type of testimonial. Nothing beats a testimonial from a satisfied customer because it is a picture of what the product/service is all about.

b) Testimonials from experts

Experts can be credible sources of testimonials. If a renowned dermatologist writes a testimonial for a beauty soap, it will surely help in boosting its sales, wouldn’t it?

c) Testimonials from celebrities

In a world that is run by mass media, celebrities have become powerful sources of testimonials. Today, even infomercials are infested by testimonials from celebrities.
People may think that getting testimonials from celebrities will cost a lot, but if it’s a real testimonial, celebrities may even waive their talent fees.

There is much more to making a testimonial an effective tool for marketing than gathering them. Good testimonials are the ones which can be compressed into a few catchy words. “I lost 20 pounds in two weeks time!” is an example of an eye-catching testimonial. However, one must never rephrase or edit what the client had said. How to get the right kinds of testimonials will be discussed later.

Credible testimonials should also contain the complete attributes of the people who gave them. Their titles, location and age should be included whenever possible.

Visual appeal will also be a great help in using testimonials. If the clients are willing, one must insist in taking photographs or videos for their testimonials.

So how does a business owner get started with the whole testimonial thing?

Here are some steps on how to archive testimonials.

1. Before anything else, only products/ services with outstanding quality deserve testimonials, so one must make sure that his product/service possesses exceptional quality.

2. Ask the help of your customers. One must be able to communicate to his customers his need of getting their testimonials. If they are really satisfied with the product/service, they would be more than willing to participate.

3. Interview your customers. Ask them about what they like about your product/service, why they chose your product and other questions like these.

4. Ask them if they are willing to make a written testimonial. You can offer to make the testimonial yourself based on their responses during the interview but the testimonial is still up for their approval. You might want to make the wordings catchy and let them approve the testimonials.

5. Ask them if you could record the testimonial using a tape recorder or video cam. A video testimonial is better, but of course, many people are camera-shy and this can be a limited option for most.

6. Choose the best testimonials. Use the best ones so as to maximize the benefits that your product can get from the testimonials.

Testimonials are very powerful and this is the reason why every business should have them. They provide assurance and security and reflect the real essence of a product or a service.

Under The Radar Advertising Strategy That Pull Sales All Day Long !

Discover the power of using advertorials in your advertising strategy. This Under The Radar strategy has the ability to bring in more qualified buyers than all your other advertising strategies put together. Advertorials lend themselves to a degree of objective credibility to you as the advertiser, as well as make the advertising pitch most believable even to the most skeptical of consumers.
“Sales All Day”…I wish I hear you yell…one sale would be great!

”Under The Radar Advertising Strategy”…sounds like something out of a Star Trek Movie!

You see in the world of advertising as quick as you can say “Beam me up Scottie”; new tools are constantly being created in order to differentiate one company from another. These innovations try to as much as possible, maximize resources, minimize costs, and optimize the results of any advertising campaign.

So much money goes into the brainstorming for these new and innovative tools you could travel around the world on the lunch meeting costs alone. If you’ve worked in the corporate world you know exactly what I mean and if you haven’t count yourself very lucky indeed. Businesses could save themselves a small fortune on advertising campaigns if it looked at previously employed advertising strategies and modifying them to suit their needs.

Some of the most widely used advertising strategies and marketing strategies in existence are multi-level marketing, audio visual advertising, catalogue advertising, telephone advertising, and even person-to-person distribution of marketing tools. One, however, stands out in terms of potential and even capacity to translate advertising strategies with tangible sales.

This my friend is what is known as advertorials. Seemingly a new linguistic concoction, advertorials were in fact first conceived in the early 1960s as a combination of the words, advertising and editorials. This more than sufficiently describes the purpose of an advertorial.

An advertorial is basically an advertising strategy designed to resemble an objective editorial. This would lend the degree of objective credibility to you the advertiser, as well as make the advertising pitch most believable even to the most skeptical of consumers.

How will this necessarily build sales profits?

Advertorials are usually written as special promotional features with a form similar to that of a press release than an editorial. What is most beneficial in comparison to other editorials is the fact that the advertiser has control of the content that will appear on the advertorial.

First, these advertorials are written at times within already well-established columns or sections of a newspaper. These sections, with the following that they already have, assure the readability of the advertorials. Placed in sections where people are predisposed to reading articles close to the form of advertorials, the strength of the promotional approach of the article will not necessarily offend or ostracize any of the readers.
Read that again…”placed in sections where people are predisposed to reading articles close to the form of advertorials”…this is the Under The Radar effective a work!

Moreover, advertorials afford the option of discussing the strongest characteristics of the product and service, and at the same time printing the various locations and contact details of the company or establishments offering the product or service. This means that the moment a consumer finds his or herself convinced of the merits of the product or service, no extraneous effort on their part is necessary in order to find where to get access to it. They can also incorporate another profit pulling advertising strategy by having various testimonies from some previous impressed purchases of your product ore service.

More importantly, advertorials come with the persuasive strength of an editorial, with a simulation of authority and expertise produced in the article. Consumers may be likely to trust the content of the advertorial with this sort of approach and semblance of authority and expertise than an individualized pitch derived from the company purse. Objective and informative information packaged as truth can very well fuel the entire company’s sales!

Another way by which advertorials can help assure business sales is the fact that its content may be screened and approved by the company. While it is not likely that an advertorial will discuss the weaknesses of the product or service, this level of control is still necessary especially when hoping to avoid any sort of dangerous slant or suggestive statement that would imply a weakness or flaw. Moreover, control over the content of the article can assure that the advertorial will be in-line with any and all marketing and advertising strategies that the company is currently employing. This can both strengthen and supplement the collective campaign and create a consistent message that can stick to the consciousness of the consumer.

At the end of the day, these various features of the advertorial help provide the level of recall that will translate to sales if used correctly. Moreover, its very form can best maximize person-to-person referrals, especially when one reader or consumer finds his or herself quoting and referring to the advertorial as a particular objectively written piece. While it may be unpopular with many companies, the potential of the advertorial is very much viable and tangible for today’s companies. It may very well be that innovative new idea that is needed to boost your profits.

Referrals Build Profits: The Best Kind Of Customer Is A Referred Customer

There’s no easier sale than the sale made to a “pre-sold” prospect. This kind of favorable condition can only arise as a result of the shared enthusiasm from another delighted buyer. Word-of-mouth advertising generates top quality referrals. As a marketing tool, it simply can’t be beat. Word of mouth promotion cannot be purchased for any amount of money… it can only be earned.

Referrals happen when one friend willingly shares information with another. What makes referrals so effective is that no true friend would recommend a business, service, or product that they didn’t completely approve of themselves.

The foundation for building your business with referrals is a solid product or service — one that not only meets, but exceeds your advertising claims. One way to achieve customer satisfaction is to “under promise” and “over deliver”.

It doesn’t mean you should weaken your advertising materials. Simply focus on providing more for you customers – more than you promise. That’s another formula for success. People are always thrilled to get a little something extra with a purchase they’re already happy about.

Write powerful sales copy that clearly positions your product as the overwhelming favorite. Make a huge promise… and deliver even more.

Treat your customers as the most important component of your business. Customers are vital to your success – even to your very existence. People want to be treated fairly, with respect, and courtesy. The golden rule still applies – treat people the same way you like to be treated. Remember, nobody likes to wait beyond a reasonable amount of time for an order to be filled.

When you get in the habit of delighting customers, you’ll find that people are only too happy to tell others. As word spreads about your product or service, you’re business is propelled to new heights.

Your success in business is predicated on your ability to satisfy customers, and to continuously grow your customer base. In all your communications with customers, you need to encourage them tell others about all the benefits your product or service offers.

Let loyal buyers know that you’re always seeking new customers. Remind readers that you’ve built your business by thoroughly satisfying customers and having those customers tell others in turn.

Ask buyers if they know anyone who would like and could benefit from your catalog. As soon as a name is provided, fire off an information package… and send a thank you note to the customer who fed you the lead. Referrals make it easy to grow your business.

Provide discount cards for new customers. Offer a 10% to 15% discount on their first purchase and then make these available to your existing customers for distribution to others. Give them an extra reason for handing these discount coupons out.

Offer points towards free gifts, free premiums, for each discount coupon redeemed, or simply acknowledge them as a “builder” of your organization, complete with their picture and certificate, proudly displayed for all to see.
The best way to get customers to refer others is “in the moment” — when they’re still enamored with your product or your high level of personal service.

While customers are enjoying these positive emotions about your company, that’s the time to ask for a little favor. Ask… “Is there someone else you know, who might want to… grow their business by 37%this year? … get that older car looking showroom-clean? … transform any weed-filled lot into a lush green lawn and garden?

Simply fill in the end of the sentence with the big benefit you’ve just delivered on. Plant the seed of referrals and referrals will come your way.

Differentiate Yourself And Attract More Attention, Sales, and Profits

How to sell more of anything via effective, cheap, useful, fruitful and intelligent advertising. Specific strategies to increase your sales in any type of business, online or off, without spending a fortune on copywriting.

Differentiate and you stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Present your uniqueness and emphasize your rare attributes in your sales copy and promotions and you’ll capture the imagination and interest of those you want to reach

In a world of copycats, it pays to be an original. It’s usually the creator of a new concept who gets the most mileage from it. Innovative entrepreneurs often become market leaders while competitors keep doing things the same old way – until change is forced upon them. Differentiate or die.

Challenging the way things have always been done can lead to creative new options that reward you with a windfall of profits.

Differentiate your business and you attract attention. It’s new, different – even revolutionary – and it’s the kind of thing that generates excitement and creates a stir in the market. After all, few new customers would be drawn to you — if you were doing the exact same thing, the exact same way as everyone else.

Consider this question… “What Could You Do To Differentiate Yourself, Your Business, Or Your Product In A Way Prospects and Customers Would Appreciate?” Another thought to ponder is this… “What Traditions Could You Break That Would Capture Attention And Interest?”

Putting an effective new spin on your business should be done with the needs and desires or your customers and prospects in mind. Differentiate from their point of view.

What changes can you implement that would make customers say “Wow!”?

Think in terms of what people want. Essentially, they want to be served better, faster and with more convenience. They want to be entertained. They want to solve problems with less effort. They want instant gratification. They want respect and to be treated as VIP’s (which customers are, of course). They want to do business with companies that care about them, their environment, and the world at large. Differentiate in a way that appeals to these desires.

Look at every facet of your business and compare the way you do things to the way competitor does. Are you operating in a similar manner? How might you do things differently? What changes could you make in that area that your customers would truly appreciate and value?

Differentiate and you gain a huge advantage.

Re-invent your business operations and marketing materials as though you were the customer. Design everything from the customer’s point of view. Take “tradition” and turn it upside down. Recast your business. Make it more user-friendly and benefit-oriented. Blaze a new trail… even if it means re-inventing your entire industry.

Let’s look at a few simple examples.

Many retail stores have their cash registers right up front – near the entrance. Couldn’t that prime real estate be better used to display enticing new merchandise and lure in more customers? PJ’s Pet Centres does this well. They’ve cleverly placed a large cage of adorable puppies right outside the front entrance. Few people can walk by without a short visit… and many of those are drawn inside the store.

Some entrepreneurial-minded restauranteurs do the same thing with their kitchens. Patrons find it interesting and entertaining to watch the chef expertly prepare a multitude of culinary delights. At the same time, most competing kitchens are at the back of the restaurant and out of the way, so no one ever sees inside.

East Side Mario’s has done something unique to differentiate itself. They know that desserts are among the most profitable items any restaurant can offer. So they don’t employ the traditional dessert tray or standard menu. Instead, they present beautiful color slides of their delicious, mouth-watering creations in a View Master. A View Master is a small plastic toy — about the size of a camera – that you hold to your eyes and click to change the image shown. Who can resist viewing each one of their specialties? It’s a fun, novel way to unveil delicious treats. Everyone gets a chuckle out of it the first time around and I’d be willing to bet that more people buy dessert because of it.

Take a close look at your business and industry. What is considered “standard practice”? How might business be done differently? How could you change things in a way that creates interest, desire, curiosity, and more sales?

In a world of apples, it pays to be an orange.

The Power of Targeted Marketing

When marketing to an audience of people who all hold the same interest in the product/service being offered, every single person in your audience is much more apt to respond to the marketing efforts.

Occasionally I read some really compelling information regarding business strategies and I’d like to share with you a concept in the power of targeted marketing that has really caught my attention. The idea in this concept is for a person to focus his/her marketing efforts toward a specific audience who holds an interest in the very product/service being sold. When marketing strategies of this nature are applied, the results are exceedingly more beneficial than when a more generally targeted strategy is used. For example, if marketing to a general audience who holds interests in a wide range of products/services as apposed to a targeted, specific product/service, the results in sales generated from this effort would be greatly diminished compared to the results in sales realized through focusing on a concentrated interest among an audience. The reason for this is because within an audience of people with a large range of interests only a few of the people will find interest in the product/service offered to them. Conversely, when marketing to an audience of people who all hold the same interest in the product/service being offered, every single person in your audience is much more apt to respond to the marketing efforts. This concept can be likened to a ship at sea that is focused on a specific destination (or target.) If the ship maintains it’s aim toward the specific target, the ship will effectively reach its target because of the concentrated effort. However, if the ship is aimed in a wide range of directions, the ship’s target will in effect be missed and there will be a great deal of effort and energy wasted as the ship meanders here and there. Targeting a specific audience with a specific interest enables you to avoid wasted marketing efforts, time and money. And this is the true power that is found in targeted marketing.

I hope this information will enable you to concentrate your efforts for effective results.
By : Joe Clinton

iStylista Combine Blogging With Keyword Research To Double Sales In 4 Months

by Rachelle Money

Blogging is not just an important way to connect with your audience, it's also a great way of including keyword rich content on your site. Online personal stylist service iStylista.com found that their sales had doubled in just a matter of months, after they had launched their blog. Wordtracker spoke to its co-founder Hayden Allen-Vercoe to find out how he did it.

The idea of having a personal stylist is usually only confined to the rich and famous. These days stylists have become famous in their own right, with the likes of Rachel Zoe, Carson Kressley and UK's Gok Wan taking their fair share of the column inches and television slots.

It's got a lot of men and women thinking about their own style. Hayden Allen-Vercoe, co-founder of iStylista.com, saw a gap in the market where people wanted to know more about personal stylists but felt self-conscious about actually hiring one or unsure about whether they could afford one.

Last May iStylista.com was born, with fashion stylist Chantelle Znideric, and creative marketer Allen-Vercoe at the helm. The online personal stylist service offers 'style theory' on what clothes to wear for your body shape, what colors to wear, how to accessorize and how to conceal those areas of your body you aren't proud to show off.
Online PR

iStylista have never advertised themselves - instead they have produced excellent online PR from their blogs and their networking skills around the blogosphere. Allen-Vercoe says their success was bolstered by starting to write a keyword rich blog just four months ago, a blog which has pushed their rankings and doubled their sales.

“We do keyword research for every article we post. We look at what the competition is doing, and we use Wordtracker to death. We search for things like 'maxi dress' and I'll get all these keywords and then write the article around the keywords.”

Although this is a relatively good technique, Allen-Vercoe warned against writing articles which look staged. Your blog entry needs to have flow and make sense to the reader without feeling labored by your inclusion of keywords.

“We always knew we wanted to rank highly with 'personal stylist', but we knew that it would take time to get there,” says Allen-Vercoe.

“We built the site with the intention of introducing keywords at the right stage.

“Because the service is unique, we focused on a number of keyword strings which we got from Wordtracker and it drove a lot of organic traffic to our site, which in turn got other bloggers talking about it.”

iStylista have managed to build a good reputation in the blogosphere through their networking capabilities. They leave comments on like-minded blogs, and their reviews of new products are often linked to by bloggers.
Be the first to review products

Allen-Vercoe has worked on getting the website onto a variety of press lists so that they are the first to know about product launches.

“We are constantly being sent information on new products, and we are asked to review new lines or ranges, which has helped us write our blog posts. We often write to the brands and ask to be put on their press lists or newsletters, so we are always kept in the loop. “

This level of new material coming into iStylista's inbox means they have a steady stream of ideas to blog about. They write about three entries per week on a range of issues such as new hair-dryers, perfumes, television shows and competitions.
Blogging success

Allen-Vercoe says the blog has led them to double their sales.

“Since we launched the blog it's taken us two months for us to bed down in Google, but we have doubled our sales and we can track that through the blog. We find that people will type something like Babyliss hairdryer into Google and we'll come up - they read our blog which may have reviewed that product, and then they have a closer look at our site and finally, make a purchase.”

Allen-Vercoe says their winning combination is Wordtracker and a resource called ResponseSource.com which is a free service for journalists, and paid-for for PRs. The website allows you to find out more information about certain brands by putting in a request for information. If you are a journalist you can put in a request and the relevant PR company will send you an information pack on the products you are looking for.

As well as leaving comments on blogs that have a high visitor rate, and networking on social forums, Allen-Vercoe has found he can drive more traffic through the site using Yahoo Answers.

“Although it's read by a lot by teenagers who don't have the money for our product we have converted a few sales from it.”

Using analytics, iStylista found that 'personal stylist' singular doesn't create sales for them, but 'personal stylists' plural has produced a 50% conversion rate.

Allen-Vercoe believes that this is because “people who are searching for personal stylists aren't looking for anyone in particular and it's fascinating for us to get the lion's share.”

The iStylista team are now focusing on long tail keywords they have discovered through Wordtracker's keyword research, which reflect the kind of person who would be interested in the website. This more focused attention on keyword research will inform their new online changing room, a service which will launch in the new year.

About Rachelle Money

Rachelle Money is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, UK. She graduated from the Scottish School of Journalism in 2005 where she was awarded an internship with two national publications - The Sunday Herald newspaper and The Big Issue magazine. Rachelle has been working with Wordtracker since August 2007 and is a regular contributor to the newsletter.

Man United seek more silver at Club World Cup final


YOKOHAMA, Japan (AFP) - Manchester United go into the Club World Cup final against Liga de Quito on Sunday driven by their desire to claim more silverware, and the odds are heavily stacked in their favour.

No British team has ever won the tournament, with Liverpool coming closest in 2005 when they made the final but were beaten by Sao Paulo 1-0.

Sir Alex Ferguson had some concerns with his side's defensive lapses against Gamba Osaka on Thursday when they conceded three late goals, and is aware that Liga used lightning counter-attacks to break down Pachuca in their semi-final.

With that in mind, he is taking nothing for granted, knowing through experience that games against South American opponents are never easy.

"I'm very pleased that we're in the final, but we will be facing a stern test, as Liga de Quito are very strong defensively," he said of the Ecuadorians.

"My assistant Mick Phelan and I saw a video of their semi-final against Pachuca and also had them watched by a scout. Quito are a typically South American side -- solid at the back and dangerous in front of goal.

"It will certainly be anything but an easy match, but it is the final of the Club World Cup so you can't expect an easy ride."

Ferguson said Saturday that striker Dimitar Berbatov had still not fully shaken off a virus but will be on the bench, adding that he would likely make changes to the team that played Thursday

"I've not decided on my team but I may go for fresh legs this time," he said, confirming only that Park Ji-Sung was a definite starter.

The South American champions know they are clear underdogs against their European counterparts, but vowed to pull out all the stops for the biggest match of their lives

Their Argentine coach Edgardo Bauza, who will be in charge for the last time before quitting the team, remains confident.

"It will be the match of our lives," he said.

"Even though we are not favourites we will be at the top of our game and do our best. I don't know how we will handle the best team in England but I know my players will give everything they've got."

Ferguson has repeatedly drummed into his squad the importance of winning this tournament and it seems to be rubbing off, with the players excited about lifting a trophy no British team has ever got their hands on before.

Written by : AFP

Arts - Leisure Special Section: The Year in Culture

In the Big Picture, Big-Screen Hopes By MANOHLA DARGIS

Abbot Gensler/Sony Pictures Classics

Philip Seymour Hoffman with Michelle Williams and Tom Noonan in “Synecdoche, New York.”

At the risk of sounding stoned on hope, I offer the following heresy: The movies are fine. Sometimes they’re great; occasionally they’re magnificent.

The Year in Movies: A.O Scott / Stephen Holden

Theater

Import ’Em, Revive ’Em, Dress ’Em Nice By BEN BRANTLEY

This was the year of trans-Atlantic theater in New York, when Anglo-American cooperation produced a hearty crop of expertly mounted productions.

Art

Out With the Fat, in With the Hungry By HOLLAND COTTER

Here are some notable events from 2008, a year that may go into the history books as the first catastrophic fall, but also the first vital correction, for art in the new century.

Television

Politics Gets the Entertainment Vote By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

The campaign provided the most compelling television moments of the year, sweeping all categories — comedy, drama and reality — though there were other top contenders.

The Year In Television : Bill Carter / Ginia Bellafante

Music

A Mix of Vocals, Lyrics and Styles By JON PARELES

The Times’s chief pop music critic chooses releases by TV on the Radio, Portishead, Toumani Diabaté and Erykah Badu as some of his favorite albums and singles for the year.

The Year in Rock and Pop Music: Ben Ratliff / Nate Chinen / Jon Caramanica

Dance

A Romantic Artist and Dead Choreographers By ALASTAIR MACAULAY

New York is still waiting to see some of the year’s best choreography, not to mention last year’s.

South Korean actress Ok So-ri gets suspended term for adultery

South Korea's popular actress, Ok So-ri (hangul= 옥소리; 'Ok Bo-gyeong' - 옥보경), age 40, was convicted Wednesday of adultery, for an affair she admitted having with a well-known 38-year-old opera singer. She blamed it on a loveless 11-year marriage.

Goyang, Gyeonggi Province Regional court Judge Cho Min-seok ruled that, "The accused deserves to be blamed. But we took into account her husband's indifference to his wife and she has already gone through immense mental agony since the trial started." Her husband, Park Chul (박철), a radio talk show personality, sought the maximum sentence of two years imprisonment, while the prosecutors were seeking 18 months. She was sentenced to eight months in prison, but avoided jail because the sentence was suspended for two years. The Court imposed upon her lover a six-month suspended term.

In September 2008, a lower court had declared both partners jointly responsible for their divorce, and awarded custody of their nine-year-old daughter to Mr Park. Ok had been trying to overturn a 1953 law that criminalizes extramarital affairs and can send a person to jail for up to two years for adultery. Her lawyers alleged in a court petition: "The adultery law ... has degenerated into a means of revenge by the spouse, rather than a means of saving a marriage." For this purpose she brought a case before the Constitutional Court of Korea, which ruled against the actress and in handing the decision said that society would be harmed if it overturned the law and that the "two-year jail term is not excessive when comparing it to responsibility." The Constitutional Court of Korea (헌법재판소 , Heonbeop Jaepanso) is an independent and specialized court, whose primarily role is the reviewing constitutionality under the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

The Korean Times says that "in the past three years about 1,200 people have been indicted annually for adultery, but very few have been jailed." Minwoo women's rights group leader, Lee Hye-kyung opined that "the law is problematic in that it focuses only on the technical aspects of sexual intercourse and allows the government to intrude on the most private part of adult sexual life."

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The Interviews to Eric Saussine, director of the James Bond fan film Shamelady

Shamelady film poster

The James Bond film series is one of the most popular and successful, having grossed over US$4 billion worldwide. The suave, sophisticated secret agent has secured his place in popular culture as the definitive action hero that has appeared in twenty-three films between 1954 and 2006.

Daniel Craig was announced as the seventh actor to portray 007 in late 2005, making his debut in the 2006 smash hit Casino Royale. While fans await Craig's second outing in Quantum Of Solace, due later this year, they have been able to watch Shamelady, a fan film made by the French film production company Constellation Studios.

Shamelady is a tribute to Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels on which many of the films are based, and EON Productions, the makers of the official 007 films. The film was first released in 2007 and runs just under an hour long. It can be downloaded from Constellation's website or viewed on YouTube.

Legally, the filmmakers cannot profit from Shamelady, but they didn't make it for the money, rather the thrill of creating an original Bond film. The plot is fairly simple, and reminiscent of Casino Royale. Bond is sent to a casino to nab a vicious crime lord, but gets betrayed by a fellow agent in the process. Viewer reaction to the film was positive for the most part, and Constellation Studios has now planned a sequel to Shamelady, which director Eric Saussine speaks of in the interview below.

Although having made several other movies, Constellation Studios is best known for the acclaimed James Bond fan film Shamelady. Tell us about it.

Eric Saussine: Shamelady attempts to be a true James Bond adventure, except in length. Our 007 lasts 54 minutes. The story takes place in Iraq, England and France. James Bond is sent to the south of France to buy information about a secret organization that terrorizes Great Britain. During the operation, a couple of killers put a deadly stop to the exchange. Bond escapes, whereas Mangin - who provided the information - is killed. For MI6, it's vivid evidence that S.P.E.C.T.R.E. - the criminal organization to which James Bond was formerly opposed - is back. From this point, Bond goes to the casino of Luc-sur-Mer, Normandy, in search of Descarpes who is suspected of being the number 2 of the organization. Bond challenges Descarpes at the roulette table and seduces Anna Raykova, a mysterious Russian woman working for his adversary. Our favorite spy escapes several murder attempts but, in a nod to Casino Royale, he soon realizes that he is being betrayed. Anyway, the bad guy dies in the end! Some things are eternal. Shamelady is a tribute to the men at the origin of the myth: original author Ian Fleming and James Bond producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli.

Why did you make this film? Where did the inspiration for Shamelady come from?

Eric Saussine: In 1953, Ian Fleming created James Bond and therefore the myth we all know. In 2003, for the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Ian Fleming's hero, I thought that it was time to pay tribute to this literary and cinema myth . In September 2004, I called his friend Pierre Rodiac, a former president a French James Bond fan club. I talked to him about my idea to adapt Casino Royale, the only Ian Fleming James Bond novel that was not seriously adapted by Eon, holder of the movie rights. Pierre was excited by the project and he started writing a synopsis. We worked alternatively on it. It gave way to a script which I wrote and Pierre corrected, that was a faithful adaptation of the novel, with all the trademarks of the movie franchise. Then I immediately started the search for actors and locations.

On February 3, 2005, Eon Productions announced that Martin Campbell would direct the 21st film of the series. The title was... Casino Royale!

I was happy because I had always wanted to see that. I went back to work on my project. I decided to preserve the general plot, change the names of the villains, the bad guy's plan, a few scenes and re-introduced a well known terrorist organization and its chief from the Bond films and novels : S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Ernst Stavro Blofeld. I wrote a new script in a couple of months and found its title : Shamelady. Pre-production started in 2004. Filming started in 2005 and went on in 2006. Post-production took place in 2007 and the release date was December 11, 2007.

Last summer, you announced that Constellation Studios is at work on another Bond film, Shatterhand. Tell us about it.

Eric Saussine: Well, the team was so happy to do Shamelady. At the end of this movie we were tired but response from the team members themselves that the first of them, Serge Rotelli (Bond) asked that we do another one. Of course I had many ideas going wild in many directions in my mind. So following that wave of enthusiasm I decided to renew the experience and launched the production of a new James Bond 007 adventure. This time, the film will be our way to celebrate Ian Fleming's hundredth birthday.

The plot will stay close to Fleming's literary works and will be derived from the short story Octopussy, the last third of the novel You Only Live Twice, hence the title, Shatterhand, which is Blofeld's pseudonym in that adventure. The new film also includes an original ski chase in the pre-credit sequence and an explosive action finale. Some shots were done for real in Japan. We will probably miss the Fleming centenary in 2008 and will probably release it one year later.

Is this the beginning of a series of non-profit fan films? After Shatterhand, can we expect to see more Bond films from you?

Eric Saussine: It was never seen as a series, but when we released Shamelady, Shatterhand's production was already half-way, and the people at the premiere kept saying to me that they wanted to participate and that I should do a trilogy. Nothing's worth a trilogy. So given the extraordinary willingness of some people we are thinking about one final chapter. Of course my ever-boiling mind has some idea ready. I can tell you that part of a final chapter could take place in Switzerland and that we might see Piz Gloria again for a few seconds. Other than that I am still in the middle of Shatterhand so all this stuff about a third movie is just wishful thinking.

Do you have any advice for amateur filmmakers reading this?

Eric Saussine: Never, ever abandon your project. Too many projects fail or disappear because people don't have the will to go til the end of their ideas and realize that it is much more complicated than they thought it would be and then they drop it. It is a pity. Another advice : steal from the best i.e. the Bond movies for Bond productions, Spielberg, Kubrick and all the others for all movies. Mozart stole from Haydn and transcended him. Why not YOU?

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