Making clothes for backpacking

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Making clothes? If you enjoy backpacking AND sewing, go for it. As for myself, I started buying gear again after the first hundred tedious hours of sewing . Then I discovered that there are some backpacking clothes you can make cheaply and quickly.

Making Hand Warmers

Stick your hands inside a pair of socks and mark where your fingertips and thumb-tip are, using a pen or marker. Then cut holes where the marks are. You now have hand warmers that leave your fingers free. Mine weigh about an ounce, but this depends on the socks that you use. You can use these under other gloves or mittens in colder weather, and when you remove your mittens to tie your shoes, you won't totally expose your hands.

Instant Insulated Vest

Buy 1/2" poly batting at any fabric store. I bought mine at Walmart. This is the stuff that is used to make pillows, stuffed animals and quilts. It comes as a big sheet, rolled up in a bag, usually for less than ten dollars.

Open it up it and cut a piece out, roughly two by four feet. Cut a hole in this for your head, and wear it like a tunic, but under your jacket. Making clothes doesn't get any easier than this, and the vest will be among the lightest backpacking clothes you own. My own weighs just four ounces.

My vest, along with my homemade balaclava, kept me warm as I went over glaciers, to the top of 20,600-foot Chimborazo, in Ecuador. It also went to the top of Mount Shasta in California, and on other trips. Originally, I made it as a disposable vest, but it's held together for years now. Wear two for extra warmth (always under a wind-breaking layer) and you'll have more insulation than a sweater would give you, for half the weight.

Making A Ski Mask From Old Clothes

Use any old thermal underwear top or bottom, preferably made of polypropylene. Just cut off a leg or a sleeve, then pull it over your head. Mark where your eyes and mouth are with a pen or marker, cut the holes and cut off the extra length. You just made a balaclava.

I used a sleeve from a very stretchy polypropylene top for mine. It weighs less than an ounce, lighter than anything I can buy. You can sew the top shut, as I did, or just pin it shut with a safety pin. Making backpacking clothes doesn't get much simpler than this.

I collect ideas for backpacking clothes or equipment that can be made at home, but if it can't be explained in a paragraph, it's probably too complex and time consuming for me. I prefer backpacking to sewing. When it's as easy as the three items here, though, even I will start making clothes.

Internet banking - are you online

Internet banking has changed the way we manage our money forever. Instead of having to call the bank, go there or wait for a statement to find out how much money we’ve got or where it’s all gone, we can now just log on at the bank’s website and find out instantly. It’s a huge money and time saver, for both the customer and the bank.

Yet Internet banking has had a bad press recently, primarily due to concerns about the security of accessing your bank accounts over the public Internet. Stories abound of hackers stealing account or card details and going on exotic shopping sprees, with the unsuspecting customer left to chase their bank for the money they lost. These fears have contributed to many people switching back to phone banking, for fear of becoming a victim of identity theft.

Many fears of Internet banking are unfounded, however. The most common way fraudsters get account details is not by hacking the bank, but instead by sending out scattershot spam to millions of people telling them to click a link and enter their account details for some reason, in the hope that a few will. There’s always someone who knows little enough about how the web works to enter their details into an untrusted website, not even realising anything happened until the fraudsters drain their bank account.

Very basic education can stop this threat in its tracks, however, and make your Internet banking experience almost 100% safe. The easiest piece of advice is not to click any link in an email that claims to be from your bank: instead, use your web browser and type in the address of the bank’s website yourself. Also, when you are asked for your account details and password, make sure to look at the address bar in your web browser, to check that you are looking at your bank’s website and not an impostor.

If you’re still scared, remember that Internet banking fraud makes up a tiny percentage of all bank fraud. You’re much more likely to become a victim when you hand your credit card over in a restaurant than you are when you bank online. Just like any other kind of fraud, your bank should cover you for any money you lose, but it’s really very unlikely that it will ever happen.

A relaxing vacation in altea spain

Altea, Spain is a small town in the Costa Blanca and is located roughly nine miles north of Benidorm, a popular Costa Blanca city. Altea is one of the few villages in the region that has maintained the atmosphere of a fishing village, creating a tourist area without sacrificing its natural beauty. This small village offers its visitor an atmosphere much more peaceful and quiet than the larger cities. The mountains surrounding the village keep the climate comfortable in the summer months as well as the winter months when the mountains help protect the village from cold winds.

Most visitors to the village fly into the Alicante airport located about an hours drive from the town. There are buses and trains available at the airport to take you to the village, or you can rent a car from one of the car hire companies at the airport. With real estate growing in Altea, you will find many new hotels and apartments in which you can stay.

Altea is the perfect destination for a quiet, relaxing vacation in one of the most beautifully landscaped areas in the Costa Blanca region. Many writers and painters come to the village for its tranquility and beautiful surroundings. The length of stay varies, but most visiting writers and painters stay in the area surrounding the old church, Nuestra Senora Del Conseulo. This church was built in 1910 and has a beautiful Mediterranean style design with its hand-painted tiles and blue dome roof. In fact, the church’s roof is a landmark in the area.

Walking tours are the best way to experience Altea and are available in the town or the surrounding mountains. You can take a private tour or a guided tour of the trails around the village. If you enjoy nature, the mountain walking tours are a great way to enjoy the beautiful surroundings in a tranquil environment.

A short distance from the beach and harbor area is a selection of small stores for shopping. Many stores break for an afternoon siesta from 2:00 p. m. until 4:00 or 5:00 p. m., but the stores are generally open from 10:00 a. m. until 9:00 p. m. Larger stores may stay open all day. There is also a craft market open from Easter through September, offering another opportunity for shopping. You can find a wide variety of reasonably priced handmade items for sale at the market. The market is near the harbor area.

Despite its small size, golfers will still be in luck with the Altea Golf Club offering a great course for visitors to the area. The beautiful climate in the area is great for golfing, especially with the comfortable summers and mild winters. Finally, for some nightlife or more popular tourist attractions, you can take a trip to the nearby city of Benidorm where you will find vibrant nightlife, theme parks and water parks. You can travel to Benidorm by car or by train.

Being safe you ll be sorry

Why People Are Afraid To Take Risks & Leave Their Comfort Zones

When we consider actually moving toward our heart’s desire, a part of us automatically looks ahead to the possible consequences - especially the negative ones. Our “comfort zone” glooms onto these negative consequences. The comfort zone argues it’s the actions that will bring on the negative consequences.

The comfort zone’s emotionally backed recommendation: No Action

The comfort zone stays fairly quiet as long as we don’t seriously contemplate action. We can want our dream all we want; we can think about someday getting it as much as we like; we can tell everyone we know how we’re one day going to have it at every opportunity. We can even make commitments we don’t really plan to keep. The only thing we can’t do is DO IT!

If we begin to do it, the comfort zone goes into overdrive - hyperdrive, actually - and gets us back on track. “On track” to the comfort zone is what we’ve always done before, which means heading (again) toward B, even though our dream rests with A. Why are the consequences of action so uncomfortable? Let’s take a look:

1. When we choose, we must let other choices go. For example, if we have enough money for one popsicle, and we choose cherry, we must let go of grape, orange, tangerine, banana supreme, watermelon, and passion fruit. Naturally, we don’t want to let go of all of those other flavors that we love. All that loss! We’re miserable. We should have stayed at home. No, the storekeeper won’t let us have a bite of each. No, there’s no credit. We keep picking up and setting down one flavor after another, feeling rotten, until we get frostbite. When we make our big choice and go for the Big Dream, it means letting go of all the other Big Dreams, even though those dreams may be as appealing as grape, orange, tangerine, banana supreme, watermelon, and passion fruit. If we make no choice, we end up with nothing.

2. When we choose, we risk losing. If we boldly walk into the store and say, “I want a cherry popsicle,” we run the risk of the storekeeper saying, “We’re all out,” or, even worse, “We sold the last one five minutes ago. You just missed it.” (Why do people say things like that? Why do they add torture to torment? We don’t know why, but they do.)

If we commit to the one Big Dream, we might not get it. We might lose. And not only will we know, but everyone else will know, too. It’s the “agony of defeat.” Ugh! How horrible. When we never really choose - never really commit - if we don’t get it, we can always say, “Oh, I didn’t really want it anyway.”

3. When we choose, we risk winning. We stride in! We put down our money! We get the cherry popsicle! We claim it! It is in our hand! It is ours! The store - keeper says, “Congratulations!” Now what?

It’s the big “Now-What?” that many people find more intimidating than “the agony of defeat.” Defeat is part of most people’s comfort zone. But winning? “What would I do? What would happen to me? How would I cope?” It’s called the fear of success. Not only do we have to make changes to become successful, but success itself brings additional changes. The greater the success, the greater the changes.

An untapped source of eternal energy what is solar energy

The most exact definition of Solar Energy is plainly – “the energy from the sun”. It is a term used to classify the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun and intercepted by the Earth. It is the world’s most permanent and reliable source of energy and the most copious.

The uses of solar energy on earth include solar heating for buildings, solar heat for manufacturing or industry and electricity production. So what is solar energy? How does it affect us?

Solar energy is responsible for weather systems and ocean currents. It provides light, heat, and energy to all living things on Earth. It has many uses. It supplies electricity; it can be used to power cars.

Solar energy is also used as a power for satellites in space and in space shuttles. It could also power boats, generators during emergencies, toys, and even security systems.

The amount of solar energy that the earth receives is about 770 trillion kilowatts (kW), an amount 5,000 times bigger than the sum of all other energy, may it be terrestrial nuclear energy, geothermal energy or gravitational energy.

There are two types of solar energy. These are:

1. Thermal Energy

2. Electric Energy

What is the difference between the two types energy?

Thermal energy is kinetic energy. It is everywhere. It makes the earth hot and even heats up our homes. It helps us to dry our clothes. It is used as well to heat up water for household use or even pools. That is why thermal energy is called the heat energy because it is stored in the center of the earth as well.

Electric energy is widely known to us as the electricity. It is an essential part of nature and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. This uses sunlight to power ordinary electrical equipment, such as household appliances, computers, and lighting.

Most applications of solar energy depend on systems including collectors, storage and controls. Storage is needed for a reason that solar energy is only available at daylight hours, but the demand for energy is needed both day and night. Controls are used to guarantee that the storage system works safely and efficiently.

The accessibility of solar energy is determined by three factors:

• The location is usually measured by latitude, longitude and altitude.

• The time.

• The weather.

Aside from knowing that solar energy is a free energy still, you have to realize that it also has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are:

• Solar energy is almost limitless; it will be available for as long as there are still humans in the earth.

• It is abundant. You will not worry of running out of it.

• It could provide more power than all known fossil fuel reserves.

• Solar energy is available during the day when electricity usage is really important.

• It is the most inexhaustible, renewable source of energy known to man.

• Solar energy can be absorbed, reflected, transmitted, and insulated.

• It can be collected and stored in batteries.

The disadvantages are:

• It is not suitable in cloudy areas.

• It is not available at night time.

• And it may require large land areas.

As a reminder, solar energy levels are lesser the farther north the site. Considering geography, season is an important determinant of solar energy levels because the Sun’s position and the weather vary greatly from summer to winter.

Learn hindi language online

Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world following the Chinese. Geographically, people who speak Hindi are scattered all over the world including in the United States.

There are many reasons why it's gaining popularity. These events show some evidences.

1. Edison schools get funds to add Hindi classes

The township school district has received a federal grant that will help introduce a Hindi language course in the curriculum in September 2008.

The first-year grant is $197,500 for 2007-08 to develop the curriculum. Additional grant money will be available to implement the program.

The curriculum will be modeled after courses taught in Texas schools. The Texas Hindi program, which begins in ninth grade, has been taught for the past few years.

The plan for Edison is to introduce and adapt Hindi for grades nine through 12.

Approximately 45 percent of the students in Edison are Asian. The Asian-Indian community was eager to start the less commonly taught subject.

2. Cameron University to offer Hindi class

Cameron will offer Hindi language courses for the first time in the fall, taught by a Fulbright Scholar from India.

"We are offering it because India has become an increasingly important player in a global economy, making the language useful for those in business and finance,” said Margery Kingsley, chairman of the foreign languages department. "Lawton also has a vibrant Indian community, and making the Hindi courses available will, we hope, contribute to local awareness of Indian culture, literature and films of India.”

Because many residents of India speak English well, the American business community has not been hard-pressed to learn the language. But knowing it can lead to more genial business relationships, and be helpful as a means of breaking the ice.

About 5,000 Asian Indians live in Oklahoma. Many second and third generation families only speak English but would discover more about their culture and ancestors by learning Hindi.

3. World Hindi Conference In New York - July 13 to 15, 2007

Eighth World Hindi Conference is being held in New York from July 13 to 15, 2007. It is being organized in cooperation with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New York. The Conference will deliberate on issues relating to the growth and presence of Hindi in the world including teaching of Hindi in foreign countries, use of information technology and necessary measures to increase its popularity.

So far seven World Hindi Conferences have been held at Nagpur (India), Port Louis (Mauritius, twice), New Delhi (India), Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago), London (UK) and Paramaribo (Suriname). This time the conference is being organized in the Americas where a large number of Non Resident Indians (NRIs) or People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are settled.

The conference will be inaugurated at the United Nations headquarters on 13th July. A large number of distinguished guests and senior dignitaries from various countries are expected to attend the conference along with eminent Hindi scholars, writers and poets from across the globe.

Learn Hindi Language Online

If you are interested, then get started and learn Hindi online at hindilearner. com/

The site is designed to help Hindi language learners. The site visitor can use the growing collection of tutorials and other resources available at this Hindi site that makes learning Hindi language quite easy.

Teaching to build your opt-in list

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If you are in the business of selling online, then you are in the business of building an opt-in list and remarketing. Many website owners find that collecting opt-in subscribers is extremely expensive and involves running advertising or renting e-mail lists.

These methods can be effective – especially if you happen to sell high-end products with a very limited market size. But regardless of your organization’s size or the cost of your products, finding more cost-effective ways of generating leads is extremely important. For many website owners, providing free information products is an excellent way of improving opt-in subscription ROI.

Teach Them And They Will Come
The single most popular commodity on the Internet is information. People are starving for it. In fact, information is so important to many people that they spend an enormous amount of time educating themselves online so they can stay informed. Many view this form of continuous education as a competitive advantage they have over their peers, and feel that without it, their careers would suffer.

Here’s an example: A CEO schedules a meeting with his technical staff to talk about installing a Voice over IP (VoIP) system in the office. Because he likes to do his homework, the CEO spends an hour or so preparing for the meeting by doing some quick research on the Internet. He searches for “VoIP” on Google, and finds a ton of information about the different types of technologies. With this information he can develop a game plan for his meeting.

The company (and website) that does the best job of educating him about VoIP stands a very good chance of getting an opportunity to bid on the project when it gets approved.

In this case, the website doesn’t just create a lead for the VoIP company. It actually does something more important – it teaches the prospect to value the unique selling points of the company that provided the educational material. And in the case above, it actually influenced how the project was going to be presented to the prospect’s management team.

Later that week, when a competing company calls on the prospect to try to get an appointment, the CEO will be prejudiced against their solution because it does not possess the qualities he has learned to value from the first company.

Understanding this dynamic is crucial to building your opt-in list, and it should go a long way in determining your overall online strategy.

Effective Methods to Teach Online
Depending on your industry, there are a number of ways you can effectively teach online. Following are a few rapid-fire methods we have used in the past that brought great results.

White Papers – Inexpensive to produce and with an established distribution system on the Internet, white papers are a great way to get the word out about your organization’s products. These types of publications are primarily used in more technical industries such as software, hardware, medical, and engineering. A couple of distribution channels are: bitpipe. com and knowledgestorm. com, but you can also distribute them on your website.

Video Tutorials – An emerging method of teaching, video streaming allows organizations to not only teach a prospect about the industry, but also to demonstrate their products. Currently, video tutorials are a favorite among computer software and hardware manufacturers, but their use is rapidly spreading to other areas such as marketing and healthcare. Video tutorials can be marketed through Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns on search engines as well as a number of new online video search services (Google has recently released a service here: video. google. com/).

EBooks – Because they are relatively inexpensive to produce, eBooks are a favorite form of lead generation for those website owners who have the talent or resources to write long-form text. Ebooks are generally viewed as more educational than white papers, and so may be viewed as a more valuable resource to some people. Ebooks do not need to be hundreds of pages long. In fact, most eBooks are between 50 and 100 pages, and can be promoted through dozens of online directories and distribution portals.

Web-based Tutorials – The most flexible method of delivering online content is on your website itself. Using this method, you create password-protected areas that require surfers to register in order to access your information product. The primary benefit of web-based content delivery is that the content can be easily updated at any time. Web-based tutorials are ideal for industries and topics that change often, or where the product itself is delivered via the website. Web-based tutorials can be promoted on your website, through PPC ads, and via your corporate newsletter.

If you are in the business of selling products or services online, then it could actually be said that you are also in the business of educating your market. When it comes to your industry, you are the expert. Your prospects are the students, and they have a vested interest in understanding as much as they can about how they can use your products and services to improve their businesses.

The companies that build their opt-in lists fastest are usually the ones that do the best job of educating their prospects about their industry. By following this method, you gain a valuable database of leads, and the prospect base learns everything they need to know to be able to purchase your products confidently.

Matthew Coers has 11 years of experience helping entrepreneurs build websites and make money online. Visit ProfitChoice. com and download our free report, "7 Days to Website Success" to learn seven low-cost strategies that can help you quickly boost your website's performance.