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Gifts are sent for many reasons, but the most common are life’s big events. Everyone has a birthday, and we have birthday gift basklets for kids featuring toys, coloring books, candy, and more. For adults, our offerings are as varied as their tastes, from birthday cakes to giant cookies, gourmet food gifts to popcorn, and of course a huge selection of birthday gift baskets. For those with a sense of humor, we even have a whole line of over the hill gifts.Another popular purchase from our company is get well gifts. Everyone can use a little cheering up when they’re feeling under the weather, and nothing comforts like food. Whether it’s a cheerful cookie bouquet to lift their spirits, or an activity gift basket to keep them entertained while on the mend, we’ve got a huge selection from which to choose.There are many more of life’s events that are occasions to send a gift. High school or college graduation is a great milestone in a young person’s life and worth celebrating. Similarly, congratulations are in order for getting engaged or getting married. Wedding gifts, housewarming, new baby gifts, and anniversaries are all popular reasons to shop All About Gifts & Baskets. In the unfortunate circumstance of needing to send a bereavement gift, we offer a full line of sympathy gift baskets that are particularly suited to this event.

In addition to our full line of gourmet gift baskets and gifts for life’s events, we also offer an extensive line of corporate gift baskets. These are a great way for businesses to say thanks to a good customer, recognize an employee’s achievement, or keep the company name in front of a prospective client. Thank you gift baskets are a particularly effective choice for these situations, and we can even include a company logo in gifts for a personal touch.

From the joy of a new baby, to birthdays, graduation, weddings, housewarming, get well, and sympathy, we have great gift ideas that are suitable for family, friends, or business associates. So whenever you are looking for a memorable gift and pleasant shopping experience, visit us online at All About Gifts and Baskets.

• Baby

  • Developmental

  • Immunization

  • Pediatrician

  • Examinations

• Care

  • Bathing

  • Day Care

  • Diapering

  • Twins

• Parenting

  • Grandparenting

  • Motherhood

  • Fitness

  • Health

  • Obstetrician

    • Labor

• Social

  • Pets

  • Siblings

Bathing Your Baby

Most babies come home from the hospital with remnants of the umbilical cord still attached to the belly button, or the umbilicus. Until this falls off give your baby only sponge baths. Clean the navel area twice a day or so with a cotton swab dipped in antiseptic. Do this gently but thoroughly, making sure to get to the base of the cord stump. Watch for yellow matter, a sort of “weeping” that may develop, and for redness. These are signs of possible infection-notify your doctor if they persist. Keeping the top edges of the baby’s diaper folded down below the navel will help to keep the area dry. When the cord falls off, usually within ten days to two weeks after the baby’s birth, it is not unusual for a few drops of blood to be left on the navel. No bandage, binding, or tape is required. If the umbilicus doesn’t dry up in a few days after the cord comes off, an umbilical granuloma may be present. This is a little nubbin of tissue in the umbilicus at the junction of the old cord and the new skin. Your doctor can remedy the situation easily at the baby’s first checkup. If there is much bleeding or a foul odor coming from the cord, consult your doctor earlier for any special instructions needed.

For a sponge bath, you will need a warm, draft free room, a basin of lukewarm water, and two big towels-one to bathe the baby on, and the other to wrap him in after the bath. If your baby cries when totally undressed, give him a bath in stages, removing only part of the clothing at one time. Many babies love the feeling of being totally naked, though and enjoy waving their arms and legs about freely. You don’t really need soap for a newborn, some parents don’t use it for several months. If you can’t bring yourself from skipping it altogether, use very little because soap will dry up your baby’s delicate skin. Ordinary scented soap may trigger an allergic reaction, and it will disguise the wonderful “baby smell” that lets everyone in the house know that an infant is present.

Infants do not need to be bathed every day. The diaper area is of course, cleaned frequently, and two or three full baths a week are sufficient.

Diapering and Dressing

You’ll probably feel a little awkward and clumsy the first few times you diaper and dress your baby, but with a little practice, you’ll be handling him with ease and confidence. Use a waist high table of some kind even for a tiny baby so you won’t have backaches. An old dresser with a pad on top will now, but modern changing tables have built-in safety straps to hold your baby when he is old enough to squirm and resist. If you use disposables, diapering is almost automatic: lay the baby on the diaper, fold the front half of the diaper up over the baby and fasten it with the convenient attached tapes. [Those tapes sometimes tear, instead of throwing a diaper away, mend it with masking tape.] To keep wetness from soaking into outer clothing, use disposables with elasticized legs and turn the plastic top of the diaper to the inside. A cloth diaper can be given a figure eight twist at the crotch for both double thickness and a tighter fit. Pin the back of the diaper over the front, slipping one or two fingers between the cloth and the baby’s skin to keep the pin from sticking the baby. Use a pincushion or bar of soap to hold diaper pins [do not use ordinary safety pins, and keep them out of the baby’s reach] Never hold pins in your mouth. Whichever kind of diaper you use, lay an extra one over your baby boy to avoid being squirted while you change him.

The kinds of clothing you select for your baby will reflect your own taste and inclinations. Some parents are willing to spend the extra time necessary to iron natural-fiber, woven- fabric because they like the look of a dressed up baby; others opt for simple knit clothing that needs little care. Whichever kind of clothing you prefer, look for garments that will be easy for you to put on and take off the baby-those with few, if any buttons, necklines with large enough openings to fit easily over the baby’s head, and sturdy crotch fasteners that make diaper changing easier.

• Alfalfa

• Allspice

• Aloe

• Angelica

• Anise

• Apples

• Balm

• Barberry

• Basil

• Bay

• Bayberry

• Black Cohosh

• Black Haw

• Blackberry

• Blue Cohosh

• Boneset

• Buchu

• Buckthorn

• Burdock

• Caraway

• Cascara Sagrada

• Catnip

• Celery Seed

• Chamomile

• Chaparral

• Cinnamon

• Clove

• Cocoa

• Coffee

• Coltsfoot

• Comfrey

• Coriander

• Cranberry

• Dandelion

• Dill

• Echinacea

• Elecampane

• Ephedra

• Eucalyptus

• Fennel

• Fenugreek

• Feverfew

• Garlic

• Gentian

• Ginger

• Ginkgo

• Ginseng

• Goldenseal

• Gotu Kola

• Hawthorn

• Hop

• Horehound

• Horsetail

• Hyssop

• Juniper

• Kelp

• Kola

• Licorice

• Marjoram

• Marsh Mallow

• Mate

• Meadowsweet

• Mints

• Mistletoe

• Motherwort

• Mullein

• Myrrh

• Nettle

• Oregano

• Papaya

• Parsley

• Passionflower

• Pennyroyal

• Psyllium

• Raspberry

• Red Clover

• Red Pepper

• Rhubarb

• Rose

• Rosemary

• Saffron

• Sage

• Sarsaparilla

• Savory

• Senna

• Shepherds Purse

• Skullcap

• Slippery Elm

• St Johns Wort

• Tarragon

• Tea

• Thyme

• Turmeric

• Uva Ursi

• Valerian

• Vervain

• White Willow

• Wild Cherry

• Witch Hazel

• Yarrow

Although previously mentioned, it is desirable again to point out that many plants have been omitted which, though medicinally valuable, are too poisonous to be considered as home medicines. Others are of questionable value. Nor has it been possible to tell here about the medical flora of the great Southwest or of California, which differ greatly from the common flora of East, South, and Midwest.

It is hardly a deep excursion into the science of botany to point out that all plants belong to families. The knowledge of plant families may seem unimportant to the amateur herbalist, and yet it may be helpful to know relationships. For instance, if you know that a particular plant belongs to the Mint family you could assume it is aromatic; to the Cashew family, that the plant might be poisonous; to the Composite family, that the flower is daisylike.

The line illustrations are intended partly for identification but mostly as a reminder of some of the characteristics of leaf and flower.

We have in this country a great variety of good medicinal plants which may be administered to the people with great advantage, if properly adapted to the season, age, and constitution of the patient… If their virtues were well known… then those very herbs or roots, I suppose, might continue or increase their reputation.John Bartram - Philadelphia, 1751 in an introduction to a work by Thomas Short

To provide a measure of uniformity, the nomenclature throughout is that of Gray’s Manual of Botany, eighth edition, except where the plants have fallen out of the range of that book; in those cases reliable regional authorities were consulted. Set on separate lines, the botanical name is shown in boldface italics; the family name in caps and small caps; the common name in italics.

The remembrance of these astounding folk discoveries… should sober our thoughts when we criticise too freely the old pharmacopoeias. It is easy to make fun of medieval recipes: it is more difficult and may be wiser to investigate them. Instead of assuming that the medieval pharmacist was a benighted foot we might wonder whether there was not sometimes a justification for his strange procedure. — George Sartori, Harvard Professor and Author

DISCLAIMER: Green Papaya offers Home Remedies with specific annotations to health and well-being. Such remedy advices are offered as emergency first aid and are governed by the Good Samaritan Act. Under the common ‘Good Samaritan laws’ - “a citizen is obliged to provide first aid when necessary and is immune from prosecution if assistance given in good faith turns out to be harmful”. Within our developing “wireless world” there comes a time when the only immediate assistance is that offered through the Internet. Green Papaya therefore feels that obligation and thereby offers this resource of Home Remedies as necessary.

Green Papaya’s home remedies are meant for temporary relief and first aid measures; for the average person without any special needs or uncommon or compounding medical conditions. Green Papaya’s advice, regardless of the situation, IS NOT a replacement for professional care and consultation. Please consultant with your family doctor or any emergency service immediately.

Preparing Plants for Medicinal Use

It is medicine, not scenery, for which a sick man must go a-searching.Seneca, Episiolae Civ. 18

Consideration of the use of wild plants as medicine must include a few words on collecting and preparing the plants. The freshness of herbs is related to potency, as is also the time of year when each plant or plant part is gathered and processed.

Collecting Plants

Primarily it should be understood that an armamentarium of drugs cannot be acquired on one trip nor at one season. The plants whose medicinal values are confined to the root system will usually be most potent in the spring before much growth takes place; the properties of bark will be available when the plant is in an active growing state; buds, which are often highly potent, can only be obtained in the spring; pollen will be obtainable only during a short season; the strength of drugs obtained from leaves and stem tips will probably be best when the plants are just about to come into flower; and seeds of value as medicine obviously can only be obtained when the fruit ripens. Hence, those who wish to secure and prepare their own plant medicines must get out in the open the year around.

The collection of plants will have values other than that of healthful tramping in the woods. It will sharpen your senses, for plant gathering requires the use of the eyes for keen observation, and your senses of smell and taste. It is probable that the professional herb gatherers of the Blue Ridge Mountains depend a great deal on finding the plants through smell and the completion of certification by tasting. Thus is sharpened those senses otherwise too often neglected.

Another observation which the searching herbalist is apt to find interesting is the extent to which there is an effect of soil and climate on the potency of drugs. Present-day botanical explorers and herbalists of earlier generations are agreed that specimens of the same plant grown in different localities will vary infinitely in the proportions of the medicinal principles yielded. The ability of plants of any kind to secure mineral properties from the soil or rocks on which they grow is remarkable. As proof, taste the difference in apples from, say, the state of Washington against those from the rocky soils of the Hudson Valley or Vermont. Or consider the different tastes of wines pressed from the same varieties of grapes, but grown on different soils; differences, for instance, such as one will find between some of the merely palatable California wines, as related to many of the flavorful wines from mineral-rich soils of New York’s Lake district.

Similarly, there are also identifiable differences between plants growing wild in the natural humus of the woods, and those same plants transplanted and grown in a garden with chemical fertilizers.

Basically the successful gathering of herbs is dependent on correct identification of the plant desired. Here one may have to rely on knowing friends or go on the collecting trip armed with a well-keyed floral guide to the region. Professional herb gatherers of the Appalachians and other sections accumulate their knowledge from childhood, while even botanists who work with plants all their lives are puzzled at times by the members of one or another genus; hence the amateur should not feel discouraged in his hunt for, and identification of, some of the herbs he will need. If at all in doubt about the plant, let the decision be negative, until an expert can decide.

Having identified the plant, the collector must then be certain that he knows which part of the plant is used for medicinal purposes. There is small use in collecting whole plants if only the roots are used, nor is conservation served by digging up the roots of a plant when only the leaves are needed. Consult Chapter V for specific gathering and identification information on over 160 plants.

Patent Medicine Era

Some Americans who appreciated the combination of Indian and Colonial herb practice wrote about it. One such, Dr. Samuel Thomson (1769 - 1843) of New Hampshire, in 1822 produced an 800-page manual at the then almost prohibitive price of $20.00.

Dr. Thomson is worth more than passing mention. He was not a quack; although self-taught, his prescriptions were so useful that they were widely copied. In 1813, having found certain compounds of plant medicines valuable in easily diagnosed circumstances, he had them patented, and thus started the vogue for patent medicines. This patenting, he claimed, was not for personal profit nor credit, but to protect the public from the misrepresentations of his imitators.

It can easily be understood that a doctor without credentials in the early nineteenth century (or in any century for that matter) would be a thorn in the side of the graduates of medical schools, and Dr. Thomson’s life was filled with litigations. But, curiously, the years seemed to have justified his beliefs. For example, one claim made by the doctor was for the peculiar efficacy of Lobelia inflata, a plant which soon appeared in the United States Pharmacopoeia and has remained a reputable drug until the present time. In fact, of 65 major plants from which his medicines were compounded, at least 50 species are still valued.

Returning from Washington with his patent, Dr. Thomson stopped in Philadelphia to discuss his ideas with Dr. Rush, and especially with Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton (1766 - 1815), a physician and scientist who had written Materia Medica of the United States. It is from a work such as his that we know a great deal of the Indian medical lore.

The successes of Thomson and the writings of Barton and others focused public interest on medically useful American plants. Soon there appeared other works on the subject, some scientifically founded, others purely popular. Of the former, notable was Good’s Family Flora, which was issued in parts (as was the custom of the time), by Peter P. Good of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Another was The Complete Herbalist, or The People Their Own Physicians By The Use Of Nature’s Remedies, by Dr. O. Phelps Brown of Jersey City, New Jersey.

The circulation of such writings stimulated the use of plant drugs, but there were few sources for their purchase in quantity, except as people went into the woods themselves or grew the plants in their gardens. For a good description of the gathering of medicinal herbs by settlers in isolated areas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we turn again to an article by Joseph Chase Allen, September 1, 1961, in the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette.

Not quite all the herbs they collected were to be found in the swamps … The thoroughwort, still heavy with its greenish-white blooms, kidney wort, with its pink clusters, and bloodwort, also pink, these were to be found rooted in the soft, black mud … Celandine, with its tiny orange trumpets, grew almost in the water … and withe-wood, the bark of which was saved and dried for the annual spring tonic. Long before sulphur was available, the rude forefathers of the hamlet had mixed up pulverized withe-wood bark and either steeped it or blended it with molasses to be taken as a conditioner … On their way to and from the very wet places, the herb gatherers collected other things. Catnip, in its second bloom, apt to be heavier, and certainly with more and larger leaves … There were tansy, leaves and blooms, yarrow, both the pink and white, and baskets of wild cherry twigs. These last, steeped while yet green, produced a bitter tea … for the appetite, they said.

On the higher, drier land, they gathered pennyroyal, which was always regarded as a “woman’s medicine.”

Somehow the preparation and even the application of herb remedies never appeared to attract any particular attention. It was accepted as a part of life…

• Baby Gifts

  • Baby Gift Baskets

    • Twin Babies

    • Baby Boy Gifts

    • Baby Girl Gifts

  • Baby Toys

• Personalized Baby Gifts

• Gift Wagons

  • Radio Flyer

• Mommy & Me

• Sibling Gifts

  • Big Brother Gifts

  • Big Sister Gifts

• Testaments

• Baby Advice

  • Potty Training

  • Tantrums

  • Baby Shower

• Parenting

  • Fatherhood

  • Motherhood

  • Breastfeeding

• Mommy Advice

  • Postpartum

  • Pregnancy

  • Caesarean Section

You ache any time the nurses take her for tests, and you deny offers from well meaning friends and family who offer to hold her while you get some sleep. All you want to do is be with your new baby, and you’ll forego food, water and sleep to do just that!

Ten fingers, ten toes, a rosebud mouth, and a turned up nose…Your new baby is nothing short of a miracle. As you watch them sleep, you think, I want to give them the perfect life… something they’ll cherish as much as I cherish them.At Cuddles ‘n Gifts, you can find that perfect gift.

Personalized blankets and lovies are destined to become your child’s constant companions. Baby gift baskets and Radio Flyer “Welcome Wagon” sets provide the new arrival with everything they need to feel loved. Baby book gift baskets satisfy baby’s curiosity and feed the imagination.

Need more than just a baby gift? Search our store for a charming gift to congratulate those new parents with! Whether pampering or celebratory, new parent gift baskets let Mom and Dad revel in their new status.

Babies don’t stay small for long, but Cuddles ‘n Gifts helps you catch the cuddles while you can!

Cuddles ‘n Gifts, an established online retail store, specializes in ‘Creating Worlds of Joy and Babies’ First Smiles!

In the United States of America, 3,000,000 babies are born each year and that number increases each sequential year by another half million. As a proud mother of two young children, a realization of the potential market and a dream to fulfill a niche in the gift industry, Lee-Anne Robert founded Cuddles ‘n Gifts in 2003. Since then, she has gained enormous pleasure from bringing happiness and joy to people’s lives through gift-giving.

In February 2004, Cuddles ‘n Gifts was proudly awarded the ‘Parenting Site Golden Seal’ from the American Baby Contest. The Parenting Site Gold Seal Award was established to recognize quality websites that are family friendly and are of interest and use to parents.

Cuddles ‘n Gifts’ gift line expanded in the spring of 2004 to include a wider selection of gifts for consumers to choose. The Company now offers an impressive selection of gift baskets and gifts for holidays and special occasions.

With a vast assortment of over 200 different gift selections ranging in price from $15 to $250, their online catalog is designed to meet the needs of every budget, taste and occasion. There is something for everyone!

Cuddles ‘n Gifts’ gift line expanded again in the fall of 2005 to include a nursery and parenting essentials including: strollers, car seats, cribs, basinets, and color coordinated boys and girls nursery furniture.

On January 2, 2008 Cuddles ‘n Gifts relocated to Carson City, Nevada.

Cuddles ‘n Gifts caters to new parents, family and friends for all your (their) baby needs.

• Composing

  • Editing

  • Planning

  • Revising

  • Word Processing

  • Writing a Draft

• Grammar

  • Adjective

  • Adverbs

  • Clauses

    • Adjective Clauses

    • Adverb Clauses

    • Noun Clauses

  • Conjunctions

  • Interjections

  • Nouns

  • Phrases

    • Absolute Phrases

    • Appositive Phrases

    • Prepositional Phrases

    • Verbal Phrases

  • Pronouns

  • Propositions

  • Sentences

    • Complements

    • Objects

    • Predicates

    • Subjects

  • Verbs

• Paragraphs

  • Development

  • Transitional Words

  • Unity

Words in Transition was designed for editors and writers who want to develop their skills in applying the principles of effective writing to the editing of nonfiction book manuscripts. It focuses on two phases of substantive editing: line editing and developmental editing. These types of editing focus on the art of proposing editorial changes other than those required to correct errors or to achieve a consistent editorial style. You learn how to edit for clarity and concision, how to identify problems of cohesion and coherence (logical flow), and how to refine and invigorate an author’s style.

Editors must have a strong command of English grammar, syntax, and mechanics in order to edit the work of others clearly, confidently, and correctly. This resource provides a practical understanding of grammar and the logic governing syntax and punctuation use. Topics include the basic terminology necessary for analyzing grammar and syntax, sentence structure, verb tenses, punctuation, capitalization, transitions, and word usage.

Diagnostic tests are provided for review purposes, with practical exercises, and quizzes.

A good prose composition, regardless of its length, is purposeful and well organized. In the following essay Harold Krents uses examples from his personal experience to argue for an enlightened understanding of people’s abilities and limitations.

Darkness at Noon

Blind from birth, I have never had the opportunity to see myself and have been completely dependent on the image I create in the eye of the observer. To date it has not been narcissistic.

There are those who assume that since I can’t see, I obviously also cannot hear. Very often people will converse with me at the top of their lungs, enunciating each word very carefully. Conversely, people will also whisper, assuming that since my eyes don’t work, my ears don’t either.

For example, when I go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for assistance to the plane, he or she will invariably go to the phone, call a passenger agent and whisper: “Hi, Jane, we’ve got a 76 here.” I have concluded that the word “blind” is not used for one of two reasons: either they fear that if the dread word is spoken, the ticket agent’s retina will immediately detach or they are reluctant to inform me of my condition of which I may not have been previously aware.

On the other hand, others know that of course I can hear, but believe that I can’t talk. Often, therefore, when my wife and I go out for dinner, a waiter or waitress will ask Kit if “he would like a drink” to which I respond that “indeed he would.”

This point was graphically driven home to me while we were in England. I had been given a year’s leave of absence from my law firm to study for a diploma in law degree at Oxford University. During the year I became ill and was hospitalized. Immediately after admission, I was wheeled down to the X-ray room. Just at the door sat an elderly woman-elderly I would judge from the sound of her voice. “What is his name?” the woman asked the orderly who had been wheeling me.

“What’s your name?” the orderly repeated to me. “Harold Krents,” I replied.

“Harold Krents,” he repeated.

“When was he born?”

“When were you born?”

“November 5, 1944,” I responded.

“November 5, 1944,” the orderly intoned.

This procedure continued for approximately five minutes at which point even my saint-like disposition deserted me. “Look,” I finally blurted out, “this is absolutely ridiculous. Okay, granted I can’t see, but it’s got to have become pretty clear to both of you that I don’t need an interpreter.”

“He says he doesn’t need an interpreter,” the orderly reported to the woman.

The toughest misconception of all is that because I can’t see, I can’t work. I was turned down by over forty law firms because of my blindness, even though my qualifications included a cum laude degree from my university and a good ranking in my law school class.

The attempt to find employment, the continuous frustration of being told that it was impossible for a blind person to practise law, the rejection letters, not based on my lack of ability but my disability, will always remain one of the most disillusioning experiences of my life.

Fortunately, this view of limitation and exclusion is beginning to change. The federal government has issued regulations that mandate equalemployment opportunities for the handicapped. By and large, the business community’s response to offering employment to the disabled has been enthusiastic.

I therefore look forward to the day, with the expectation that it is certain to come, when employers will view their handicapped workers as a little child did me years ago.

I was playing basketball with my father in our backyard according to procedures we had developed. My father would stand beneath the hoop, shout, and I would shoot over his head at the basket attached to our garage. Our next-door neighbour, aged five, wandered over into our yard with a playmate. “He’s blind,” our neighbour whispered to her friend in a voice that could be heard distinctly by Dad and me. Dad shot and missed; I did the same. Dad hit the rim; I missed entirely. Dad shot and missed the garage entirely. “Which one is blind?” whispered back the little friend.

I would hope that in the near future when a plant manager is touring the factory with the foreman and comes upon a handicapped and nonhandicapped person working together, his comment after watching them work will be, “Which one is disabled?”

Writers like Harold Krents do not rely on luck or inspiration to produce an effective piece of writing. Good writers plan, write, revise, and edit. Keep in mind, however, that the writing process is rarely as simple and straightforward as this. Often the process is recursive, moving back and forth among the four stages. Moreover, writing is very personalno two people go about it exactly the same way. Still, it is possible to describe steps in the writing process and thereby have a reassuring and reliable method for undertaking a writing task and writing a good composition.

• Aquaculture

• Careers

• Fisheries

• Hydrography

• Marine Chemistry

• Marine Ecology

• Oil Exploration

• Teaching Guides

Throughout history, the ocean has played an integral role in shaping the identity of Atlantic Canadians. It was the mainstay of the first people on this land, the natives; it brought the first Viking explorers, as well as later adventurers, to our shores; it lured the first Western European settlers here with its rich bounty of fish. Even today, the people of this region use the ocean as a source of transportation, recreation, employment, and food; not to mention as a source of inspiration for our songs, stories, poems, paintings and carvings. If you go to any fishing village along our coastline you will see, hear and taste the impact this rich resource has on our lives. No other force has shaped this region’s culture and people as much as the ocean.

The oceans sector continues to be a great contributor to the economy of Atlantic Canada. Activities such as commercial fishing, oil and gas exploration, tourism, and shipping rely on the ocean directly or indirectly and contribute to our Gross Domestic Product. It is estimated that these activities and other ocean-related industries injected over 3.3 billion dollars into Atlantic Canada’s economy in 1996 alone!

This strong lure of the sea has lead Atlantic Canada to become a leader in oceanography, the study of the oceans. This website is designed to highlight some of the vast research that is taking place, and to introduce the careers of the people involved in this research.

• Business Dictionary

• Improved Success

• Learning a Second Language

• Choosing a Career

• Study English Literature

• Problem Solving

• Geography Dictionary

• Most from Lectures

• Hong Kong Education

• IELTS Exam

• IB Resources

• ITS Educational News

• Plagiarism Checker

• SAT Preparation

• UK Common Entrance Exam

• Information Background

• Writing a Research Paper

• Strategies for A Grade

Not only does a good education give you the tools that are necessary to be a success it opens up the doorways that allow you to use the tools. Good grades are an important step into good schools and good universities. A qualification from a good university is an excellent start to a successful and well paid career.

Possibly the single biggest lifelong gift a parent can give their child is access to a good education. A quality education will allow a person the freedom to chose their job, travel the world and gain the most out of the hand of cards dealt to them. Private tuition is a way for parents to give their children that competitive edge over their peers.

Students gain considerable advantages from private tutorial classes with individual tutors. Lessons are specifically tailored to what the student needs. Strengths can be developed and weaknesses minimized. A greater degree of extension work can be carried out to help a student understand the context of academic material in the wider world. Tutors often become mentors and role models for students planning their future. Individual student motivation and satisfaction with their schooling improves. Self confidence and self belief is enhanced.

Private tuition is not just of use to a weak student, it is also of vast benefit to strong students. Private tuition can help students achieve scholarships, ace their exams or strengthen their abilities in their weaker subjects. Young people that star at their schooling are more likely to be happy in their schooling. This means they begin their university with a head start and a much more positive attitude. Tutors have also taught the students improved study skills and better exam taking, essay writing and research skills. In dealing with a variety of adults on a professional level in one-to-one or small groups, maturity levels of young people also grow. Students learn to be much more questioning of their peers’ attitudes and therefore are less likely to be lead astray.

Private tutoring does not stop with students. Adults and businesses can also gain great benefits as well. Investing in upgrading your skills or learning a new language can be very beneficial to your life. The individual focus from a dedicated professional that is tailoring the content to the person is likely to see an accelerated pace of learning. The ability to ask questions and have issues clearly explained immediately allows the individual to fully understand concepts much more quickly than being part of a larger class.

Businesses that invest in training for their staff are likely to see a good return on investment. Training staff both helps with motivation and productivity. Staff members appreciate the fact that the business values them enough to invest in training. Well trained staff increase productivity and deliver greater levels of customer satisfaction. This can translate into more return business and greater word of mouth recommendations. It is important to remember “People do business with people… not with businesses”. Businesses that invest in their people are businesses that are investing in their future.

Education and training can also be enhanced by emersion courses and study holidays. These structured programs are a great way to mix learning and fun together. These courses are of greatest benefit for those learning other languages. Being immersed in another culture and country and using the language you are learning is a great way to make substantial improvements very quickly.

Maps Then & Now

Maps and models of the world that surrounds us have been around for a very long time. In this section, you can explore a timeline of maps and mapmaking from ancient times to the future of mapmaking.

The idea of where there is from here is one that has fascinated people the world over. Maps and the rules of making maps have changed and developed over time. Investigate the timeline of mapping development in five periods:

Global perception maps are just as dependent on individual values as neighbourhood localized mental map. For instance, some families are very aware of their heritage and ancestors, so their mental map of the globe may be very accurate in the area where their family originally came from.

But what shapes the values that shape our mental maps? The media advertising such as in newspapers, magazines, and television is a huge part of how our values are shaped. If people were asked where they would like to travel for a vacation if they could go anywhere in the world, one place might be Australia. Find Australia on a world map. Newspapers and television make Australia sound like a wonderful place to go to the beach, see different wildlife and plants, and certainly it is a wonderful place to go and see all those things.

But what about Africa? Countries in Africa like Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa (find these countries on a map) are located at approximately the same latitude as Australia, and all but Botswana have coastline but how often do you hear someone saying how much they’d like to go to Namibia for a vacation? Why is that? One reason is that Namibia isn’t marketed to us as a vacation destination.

Hands on Activity

Draw a mental map of the world. Examine your map, what does it show? Trade mental world maps with someone else? What does their map show? Why would their map be different than yours?

Cartography

Cartography is traditionally defined as the art and science of maps. Cartography is also much more than that; it is the making, the study, and even the use of maps.

Cartographers are all sorts of people. They are teachers and educators, map curators, and librarians. They work in governments, in schools, and in private businesses. Cartographers provide a very important service in the world today, as they have for thousands of years, in creating a visual representation of the world in which we live.

Explore this section to learn more about cartography, who cartographers are, what skills they have, and what kind of subjects they studied in school. Throughout this section, click on the video clips to listen to interviews of real cartographers, and other professionals who use cartography in their jobs every day!

• Birthday

  • Children

  • Messages

  • Party

  • Sweet 16

• Surprise

  • Surprise Gifts

  • Surprise Party

If you’re planning to have the party at the recipient’s home, it will take some skillful planning to get him or her out of the house so that you can decorate and await the arrival of the guests before bringing the birthday person back into the house. One possibility is to have a close friend or family member invite your party guest out for the afternoon of the party so that you can prepare. You don’t want to make it too obvious, so if you have a friend or neighbor who is willing to store the food for you until the day of the party, it would surely save you some time. You will then have everything completed when the party guest arrives from his or her afternoon out enjoying some birthday activities.

If you’re having a surprise party at a venue or someone else’s home on a Saturday, it’s much easier to find an excuse for leaving the house - at least for a female. You work all week and tend to use Saturdays to run all of your errands, so your spouse or partner would not find it out of the ordinary if you left the house early on Saturday morning and didn’t return until late afternoon. The only problem might be to find an excuse to get him to leave the house so that you can finish the preparations. If you finished everything in the afternoon, or you have help from the house that is staging the event, it might be as simple as telling him that you are taking him out to dinner for his birthday but need him to help you pick something up from “Mary’s” before you go to the restaurant.

Surprise parties are a great deal of fun, but they do take more work than your average birthday party since there is so much secretiveness if you are to prevent the recipient from finding out what you are planning. It is definitely much easier to plan a surprise party for someone who doesn’t live in your home than it does for your spouse, siblings, or children who live with you. If you decide to host a surprise party, do make sure you can enlist the help of others so that you will be able to pull it off without any problems.

• Baby

• Gifts

• Graduation

The key to knowing the appropriate gift to buy someone you are seeing is time—in other words, the longer you are involved, the more likely you are to know what to buy. The longer you date, the more informed you will become concerning the type of things someone likes. Some people, for example, do not like others choosing their clothing no matter what it is, and if you know that, do not buy your dating partner a sweater or pair of jeans even if you have been dating for a year. Likewise, do not buy chocolates for someone who is dieting or flowers for someone who is allergic to flowers.

For women, perfume and jewelry are usually always appropriate selections. There may be occasions where a woman will prefer certain fragrances, but you should become aware of this early in the relationship. For men aftershave and cologne are good choices early in the relationship. Certainly both CDs and DVDs are always appropriate and though appreciated, lack the intimacy of gifts one can choose when the relationship is at a greater depth. If you pay attention, you will find it very easy to choose a gift that is not going to send the wrong signals while you are building a relationship.

When choosing a gift for Christmas or a birthday, it’s certainly easy enough to simply ask for suggestions, but if you want to give something for no reason, you will have to look for signs. You may have to watch things such as the following:

• The kind of music your partner likes
• The jewelry he or she likes to wear
• Is there a certain kind of candy or flowers he or she seems to prefer
• What fragrance does he or she use?
• What kind of movies does he or she like? Is there a particular movie that has been mentioned as missing from the collection?

It is quite easy to choose a gift even early in a relationship if you allow yourself to pay attention to the other person. You have to know when the relationship has reached the point where more intimate gifts are appropriate or you may cause discomfort for your partner. For example, do not buy under garments unless you are sharing a bed and only if it is acceptable to your partner—some women, for example, do not like men buying them undergarments under any circumstances. Choosing gifts that are too personal too early in the relationship can destroy it before it begins.

• Cats

• Cat Funeral

• Stories

I didn’t think I’d ever hear from her again, but a few days later she called me up and said her cat had died. She said she would like me to do more than just help her close the casket: she wanted me to arrange a complete funeral for her cat. It would take place at her house, but she asked me to provide a hearse and a limousine. I also found a minister to say a few words at the graveside service.

I went over to the house the night before the funeral to deliver some prayer cards the family had ordered. The house was lit with candlelight, and in the center of about twenty glowing candlesticks lay the cat in his casket. It was the most interesting thing I have ever seen. I was impressed with how the cat had been placed in the casket, sort of lying on his side. He looked very peaceful. I wouldn’t have been sure how to put a cat in a casket if they had left it up to me.

The family had made all the arrangements with the cemetery themselves and told me that they had purposely let the cemetery officials believe that they were burying their own child instead of a cat. Although they asked me to keep their secret for them, I explained that I wasn’t going to lie.

Except for the fact that it was for a cat, the funeral was like hundreds that I had performed before. After I solemnly closed the small casket and placed it in the hearse, the somber procession drove to the cemetery, where the catholic priest gave a eulogy. There were only a handful of mourners. After everybody left, the gravedigger came over and asked me for a burial-transit permit. A burial-transit permit is the legal paperwork needed to bury a person, which obviously I didn’t have.

I said, “This is a cat.”

He seemed very surprised, but the cat got buried anyway.

To this day, whenever I meet a new minister, I ask him if he would ever do a funeral for a pet. I never know when I might be in that predicament again.

I’m also on the look-out for pet verses for the prayer cards, because there doesn’t seem to be a very good selection.

• Seafood

  • Lobsters

    • Appetizers

    • Chowders

    • Entrees

    • Luncheons

We have provided signposts on your journey, with expert advice on how to prepare, cook, clean and store crab and lobster to attain the most tender, mouth-watering tastes. A few secrets revealed will mean you can determine whether your seafood is fresh, and other tips will ensure that your results match those found in even the finest, silver-service restaurants. So prepare yourself for the gustatory delights of the deep.

• American Indians

  • Indian Legends

  • Indian Nations

Prior to the arrival of the white man, the Indians, “spartans of the plains and forests; lived happy, healthy, and adventurous lives. They were brave, stoic, simple and complex, warlike and peaceful, loyal, and self-sacrificing for family and friends. The code of the Great Confederation of the Iroquois, followed by the hundreds of their chiefs, was to be brave, truthful, patient, unselfish, chivalrous, generous to a fault, helpful to their people in every way without accepting anything in return, and to work united for peace and in all things, calling upon the Creator to help them in their undertakings.

American Indian storytellers and their tales date from the time that the Indian was able to communicate intelligibly and intelligently. Many of the “modern” retellings of these legends, myths, and folk tales date from 1600 to 1760, when they were collected by the Jesuits. Since the early seventeenth century, legends have also been gathered by English, French, Dutch, and Spanish explorers and travelers, and set down as told by native storytellers. The tales have not materially changed, in reliable retellings, up to the twentieth century. This is remarkable, since setting down legends accurately was often difficult, chiefly because reliable interpreters were scarce. The early chroniclers had to be wary of would-be interpreters who ignored objectivity and sometimes embellished the tales passed down by the ancient storytellers or tried to build into them some of their own personality or beliefs.

In translations made by white men who had insufficient knowledge of the Indian language, some legends lost authenticity, meaning, and Indian flavor. Fortunately, the majority of such misleading tales have been discredited through study and comparison with legends set down in the Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology and other anthropological and scientific sources.

An amusing instance of taking liberties with translation occurred when the editor of this volume set down the legend of “The First Blackfish” for his book, Talking Stick Tales. The old Tlingit chief relating the tale said that the hunter rode on a sea lion’s back. Having previously heard the legend from a well-known Haida storyteller, the author suggested that it was not a sea lion but a gull. The Tlingit reluctantly replied: “What you heard about sea gull may be right; but because you write story for white people, maybe they believe it more if you say hunter went on back of sea lion-he much stronger than sea gull:’

American folklorists are greatly indebted to Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a pioneer in the field, who collected many tales and legends during his thirty years’ stay with the Indians. His first book of Indian legends was published in 1839. Several of his best stories appear in this book. But it was probably Longfellow’s lengthy narrative poem (of rather un-Indian tempo), The Song of Hiawatha (1855), that first aroused public interest in the Indians of North America.

The authentic records of unlettered peoples are usually short-lived, reaching back only in the memories of their oldest men. Among the Indian tribes, traditions and folklore were handed down orally and entrusted to those who showed a special aptitude in remembering them. Regarded as tribal historians, these men in turn instructed the boys.

The Indians evinced little or no interest in recording unvarnished historical facts, hence they were often embellished by fantasy or embroidered with the supernatural, so that it was almost impossible to separate fancy from reality. The differences and distortions apparent in legend variants were often due to reinterpretations.

Many long, detailed, verbal accounts of legendary lore have been almost entirely lost because only certain chiefs, medicine men, and storytellers were privileged to recite and explain some classes of traditions, especially sacred ones. Tribal rites, customs, songs, and dances were often based on such legends and myths. Some folklore was preserved in the form of songs adapted for use on suitable occasions. The primary myths, regarded as having sacred association and significance, were highly respected and were usually told in hushed voices, after dark, by specially appointed story-tellers, many of whom embellished their tales with prayer, song, dance, and wonderful mimicry. Some legends are of the classical type and display real literary art in their composition.

• SEO

  • On Page Optimization

• Submarines

• Marine Archaeology

• Marine Life

• Q Routine

• Sonars

• Submersibles

• Subsea Habitats

Over the past 300 year 400+ ships have become victims to the island shoal where the waters surrounding Sable Island are scattered with their remains. In reflection of this Sable Island is commonly called “the Graveyard of the Atlantic”.

For many sailors, this sandy island hidden by waves, storms and fog meant death and destruction.

Since 1583 there have been over 400 recorded shipwrecks on Sable Island. While the number of shipwrecks has decreased with the development of modern navigational aids, but the island and it’s shoals continues to provide a hazard to shipping. The last vessel wrecked on the island was on July 27, 1999, the small yacht Merrimac.Until recently, sextants were the instruments used to figure out a ship’s position. Sextants are accurate, but they worked by taking a sighting from the sun or stars.

They were useless in dense fog or under cloudy skies.In bad weather, the Captain navigated by “dead reckoning” - using ship speed and direction to estimate his position. But even in good conditions this was educated guessing. Currents and storms confused the calculations of the best skippers.

Many accounts of ships wrecked on Sable report that the Captain simply lost his way - he had misjudged his ship’s position and bumped into Sable Island by mistake.

After World War II radar and other advanced navigation equipment became widely used on merchant and fishing ships. Sable ceased to be a major threat to shipping.

Fig 1.1 Map of shipwrecks surrounding Sable Island (Click to view).

• Gifts

  • Gift Giving

  • Gift Ideas

• Parenting

  • Relationships

• Communication

This gift giving or granting of a gift or boon lead to a curious saying; “the quality of mercy is unstrained.” It means that if you are giving a gift or doing someone a favor then it makes great sense to do so in a way that is not dramatic or strained.

It was originally spoken by Portia, in “The Merchant of Venice”, written by William Shakespeare in 1596.Shakespeare actually wrote:

“The quality of mercy is unstrained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven;
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes;
“Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes;
The throned monarch better than his crown;”

What Shakespeare was writing about was the concept of mercy being a good thing. Over time this came to be taken for granted and the term of a ‘quality’ example of ‘mercy’ came into being. Giving a gift that requires a return gift or some future obligation makes the gift giving of a strained nature. When giving boons or granting boons became a popular obligation of the nobility, the granting of them in an unstrained manner makes the person granting the boon nobler than their position or title. The problem with this is that in a Monarchy, your Count votes, while in a Democracy, your vote counts.

This concept of mercy being unstrained was somewhat undermined by the idea of ‘Noblesse Oblige’. “Noblesse oblige” is generally used to imply that with wealth, power, and prestige come social responsibilities. The granting of mercy or boons was considered an obligation of the better off people in society. The term has also been applied to those who are capable of simple acts to help one who is less fortunate.

As an example in the US Marines officers are issued a book called, “The Marine Officer’s Guide”, where it states that, “As an officer, you demand a great deal of your men. But they in fact demand much more of you. If you let down one of your Marines, you are letting down the entire Corps. Noblesse oblige is the private motto of every officer of Marines.”

The granting of mercy or helping those of us who are less fortunate is becoming the territory of our elected officials. Many of whom would not know what you are talking about when you ask them about a favor or a boon. One of the advantages in a democracy is that if you were to ask one person how much a telephone book weighs, you may get anything from 2 ounces or 56.7 grams to 20 lbs. or 9.07 Kilograms. But if you ask 2000 people you will get an average answer very close to the exact weight.

However when electing public officials or politicians it is useful to note that the weight of a telephone book does not change until the next year, but the public official or politician will change sometimes daily. So predicting whether you will get and accurate judge of a politician when you vote may be more difficult than getting the accurate judge of the weight of a phone book.

The good news is that there is a solution and here is a gift for you. If you can convince the voting regulatory board in your jurisdiction to change the voting regulations, you should be able to get better candidates to run and better more merciful people to be elected. The change is really quite simple. Instead of every eligible voter getting one vote, they would, after the change, get 3 votes. In order for their vote to count, they would have to indicate who they want to finish in first place, who in second place and who in third place.

The person or candidate who gets the first place vote gets 2 points. The person who gets the second place vote gets 1 point and the person who gets the third place vote will get zero points. The person with the most points after the election wins. The interesting thing about this concept, first proposed by a French Mathematician in 1776, is that the candidate with the most second place votes will normally win the election. This means that he or she may not be some of the voter’s most popular person, but they will be all of the voter’s second place choice. It doesn’t take away peoples right to vote, but it does take a way their right to vote without thinking.

As soon as potential candidates realize this they will come out of the woodwork and start running as candidates and then you can see who will be the most merciful and best at granting boons and thus is most deserving of your vote.

• Dogs

• Dog Health Issues

• Dog Training

• Life Companions

• Choosing A Dog

Spend as much time as possible with the youngster, of course allowing him to sleep undisturbed as much and as often 80S he will, for the sooner you gain an insight into his particular individuality the better. Watch the pup intelligently and you will see gradually developing traits and peculiarities-inquisitiveness, boldness or shrinking at sudden sounds and new sights, etc. - a knowledge of which will be of great value later on. Nor is this close association advised merely that the work of teaching may be made easier and more successful through an understanding of the pupil’s personality: it will also tend to stimulate and increase very materially the intelligence with which the dog is endowed by nature.

If the pup is inclined to be timid, take especial pains not to let him be frightened in any way whatever. A young puppy is extremely impressionable, and a severe fright will have a far more lasting effect on him than most people imagine. Do not, on the other hand, make a. mollycoddle of the youngster; simply accustom him by slow degrees, always showing him that he is under your protection, to those sights, sounds and experiences which he does not understand.

Probably, if yours is a normal, healthy pup of any of the more active breeds, he will, at the age of nine or ten weeks, show a propensity to worry, tear and chew curtains, shoestrings, and anything else soft and dangling that is within reach. This is but the awakening of that instinct which in a natural state makes a dog’s jaws and teeth his most valuable assets, so do not lose patience. On the principle that “out of sight is out of mind” remove either the temptation or the dog. If this does not suffice, and the habit grows worse,