The Game begins NOW – WIN a Gift Voucher from Future Bazaar.

Investorline Services – Diversified Editions

The Game begins NOW – WIN a Gift Voucher from Future Bazaar.

We are pleased to launch our own Mutual Funds NAV system at- mutualfundsnav.blogspot.com where you can access the latest Net Assets Value (NAV) of all Mutual Funds in India (AMC wise).

Its been a short journey since Dec-2007 when we first launched our Life Insurance blog  and then slowly moved ahead and launched the below blogs-

 

India Investor- http://india-investor.blogspot.com/  - Information on Investment Industry in India and helping Investors in making the right Investments decision. Subscribe to Investor

 

News Alerts- http://india-news-alerts.blogspot.com/ - Latest News happenings from the most reliable and trusted Newspapers and News reporting sites. Subscribe to News Alerts

 

Investorline Services - http://investorline-india.blogspot.com/ - Mutual Funds and Life Insurance Advisory Services. Deals in Mutual Funds investments and insurance solutions. Subscribe to Investorline performance reports and research & analytical reports from the MF & Insurance

 

India Insured - http://indiainsured.blogspot.com/- News related to Insurance industry in India and Life Insurance Policy details, research and analysis of all the insurance companies in India. Will help you find the right Insurance policy for you and your Family. Subscribe to Research into Insurance- India Insured.

 

Capital Market Basics - http://indian-capital-market-basics.blogspot.com/ - Want to learn and invest in the market but don't know where to go, then come here. It will provide you some of most basics concepts for beginners and advanced strategies for the veteran markets analysts. Its subscriber base includes analysts and employees from some of the best known banks and investment groups. Subscribe to Capital Markets Knowledge Center

 

Mutual Funds NAV - http://mutualfundsnav.blogspot.com/ - Get the Latest NAV report on all the Mutual funds in India daily. Subscribe to Latest NAV Reports.

 

Me-Outsourced - http://me-outsourced.blogspot.com/ - Anything that relates to society, Country, or People, you or me with the content topics that ranges from anything to everything for all the age groups across all the countries on earth. Subscribe to Me-Outsourced

 

Forwarded Emails - http://email-forward.blogspot.com/ - Some Funny stuff (sometimes learning based) – A collection of some of the best mails ever forwarded across the colleges, offices, countries, friends, enemies, kids, people, boss to the employees and to you and me. Subscribe to Forwarded Emails

 

India Job Explorer - http://indiajobexplorer.blogspot.com/ - A center stage for all the job portals, we will post the job postings from all this sites with the detailed information for that vacancy. (Still Under construction). Subscribe to Job Explorer.

 

World Festivals - http://world-festivals.blogspot.com/ - A cultural and religious stuff. Will include some basics information & the interesting facts and resources to some of the festivals celebrated across the globe. Subscribe to World Festivals

 

We would appreciate if you could provide us valuable feedback so that we can improve the quality of our posts and serve you better.  We would also like to invite the articles from you for all the blogs listed above. The Best article will win Rs 500/- gift Vouchers from Future Bazaar (Future Group Company). The Game begins NOW.  

 

Last date of entry- 10 May, 2008.

Email us at- Indiainsured@gmail.com

Write Subject as: Contest – 4408

Do not forget to mention your Name, Email, contact address, and phone.

 

The winning post will be posted on our blog and will be sent to all our subscribers across all the blogs.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Investorline Services

For Mutual Funds Investments contact us at rajesh@investorline.co.in

 

PS- Please send only original articles, failing which you will be disqualified from the contest. Feel free to forward this contest to anyone.

Yahoo Launching Site for Women 25-54

NEW YORK (AP) — Yahoo Inc. is launching a new site for women between ages 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current Yahoo properties.

 

Monday's launch of Shine is aimed largely at giving the struggling Internet company additional opportunities to sell advertising targeted to the key decision-maker in many households. Yahoo said advertisers in consumer-packaged goods, retail and pharmaceuticals have requested more ways to reach those consumers.

 

Amy Iorio, vice president for Yahoo Lifestyles, said internal research also shows women are looking for a site to aggregate various content and communications tools.

"These women were sort of caretakers for everybody in their lives," she said. "They didn't feel like there was a place that was looking at the whole them — as a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter. They were looking for one place that gave them everything."

 

Yahoo is entering a market already served by Glam Media Inc. and iVillage, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. It is Yahoo's first site aimed at a single demographic, although other Yahoo sites like Finance and Sports already draw specific audiences.

 

With Shine, Yahoo plans to expand its offerings in parenting, sex and love, healthy living, food, career and money, entertainment, fashion, beauty, home life, and astrology.

 

Shine likely will replace the existing Food site over time, although Yahoo plans to keep its Health site operating to serve men and other age groups as well as women.

Yahoo is partnering with media companies like Hearst Communications Inc. and Rodale Inc. for content exclusive to Shine. Hearst publishes Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and other magazines aimed at women, while Rodale publishes a range of magazines on sports and recreation, including Women's Health.

 

Yahoo also has hired a team of editors to produce original material and to seek out items of interest from elsewhere in Yahoo.

 

Unlike most other Yahoo sites, Shine will be presented in a blog form, with newest items on top and commentary from an editor.

 

Short Sex is 'Better' -- But Men Like it Longer

Premature ejaculators of the world, take heart. Scientific research is now on your side.

 

According to a new study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the best sex should last between seven and 13 minutes. The report, which surveyed a random sample of Americans and Canadians, also found that most people considered sex lasting three to seven minutes "adequate," and most thought sex for over 13 minutes was "too long."

 

Other recent studies show that while most people in the United States expect sex to last between 15 and 20 minutes, it is generally over in about half that time.

Interestingly, in response to the survey, Australian sex therapist Jane Howard noted that women are generally happy with a quick hit, while men tend not to be.

"There is a major gender difference in this area," Dr Howard is quoted as saying. "Usually women are quite happy with short intercourse, and are not bothered about prolonging it at all, but nearly all men want it to be much, much longer."

The money shot: Let's hear it, boys. Do you like it longer or shorter than ten minutes?

 

Want to make those 7-to-13 minutes weird?

 

In Wal-Mart We Trust- Helpline for the victims of Hurricane Katrina

In Wal-Mart We Trust

Who did the most to help victims of Hurricane Katrina? According to a new study, it was the company everyone loves to hate - Post from national Post by Colby Cosh

 

Shortly before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005, the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, gathered his subordinates and ordered a memorandum sent to every single regional and store manager in the imperiled area. His words were not especially exalted, but they ought to be mounted and framed on the wall of every chain retailer -- and remembered as American business's answer to the pre-battle oratory of George S. Patton or Henry V.

"A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level," was Scott's message to his people. "Make the best decision that you can with the information that's available to you at the time, and above all, do the right thing."

 

This extraordinary delegation of authority -- essentially promising unlimited support for the decision-making of employees who were earning, in many cases, less than $100,000 a year -- saved countless lives in the ensuing chaos. The results are recounted in a new paper on the disaster written by Steven Horwitz, an Austrian-school economist at St. Lawrence University in New York. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency fumbled about, doing almost as much to prevent essential supplies from reaching Louisiana and Mississippi as it could to facilitate it, Wal-Mart managers performed feats of heroism. In Kenner, La., an employee crashed a forklift through a warehouse door to get water for a nursing home. A Marrero, La., store served as a barracks for cops whose homes had been submerged. In Waveland, Miss., an assistant manager who could not reach her superiors had a bulldozer driven through the store to retrieve disaster necessities for community use, and broke into a locked pharmacy closet to obtain medicine for the local hospital.

 

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart trucks pre-loaded with emergency supplies at regional depots were among the first on the scene wherever refugees were being gathered by officialdom. Their main challenge, in many cases, was running a gauntlet of FEMA officials who didn't want to let them through. As the president of the brutalized Jefferson Parish put it in a Sept. 4 Meet the Press interview, speaking at the height of nationwide despair over FEMA's confused response: "If [the U.S.] government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis."

 

This benevolent improvisation contradicts everything we have been taught about Wal-Mart by labour unions and the "small-is-beautiful" left. We are told that the company thinks of its store management as a collection of cheap, brainwash-able replacement parts; that its homogenizing culture makes it incapable of serving local communities; that a sparrow cannot fall in Wal-Mart parking lot without orders from Arkansas; that the chain puts profits over people. The actual view of the company, verifiable from its disaster-response procedures, is that you can't make profits without people living in healthy communities. And it's not alone: As Horwitz points out, other big-box companies such as Home Depot and Lowe's set aside the short-term balance sheet when Katrina hit and acted to save homes and lives, handing out millions of dollars' worth of inventory for free.

 

No one who is familiar with economic thought since the Second World War will be surprised at this. Scholars such as F. A. von Hayek, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock have taught us that it is really nothing more than a terminological error to label governments "public" and corporations "private" when it is the latter that often have the strongest incentives to respond to social needs. A company that alienates a community will soon be forced to retreat from it, but the government is always there. Companies must, to survive, create economic value one way or another; government employees can increase their budgets and their personal power by destroying or wasting wealth, and most may do little else. Companies have price signals to guide their productive efforts; governments obfuscate those signals.

Aside from the public vs. private issue, Horwitz suggests, decentralized disaster relief is likely to be more timely and appropriate than the centralized kind, which explains why the U.S. Coast Guard performed so much better during the disaster than FEMA. The Coast Guard, like all marine forces, necessarily leaves a great deal of authority in the hands of individual commanders, and like Wal-Mart, it benefited during and after the hurricane from having plenty of personnel who were familiar with the Gulf Coast geography and economy.

 

There is no substitute for local knowledge -- an ancient lesson of which Katrina merely provided the latest reminder. - ColbyCosh@gmail.com

 

Google's New Ad Tool: What Exactly Does It Mean For Industry?

Google's New Ad Tool: What Exactly Does It Mean For Industry? - Posted By: Yahoo News

 

Online advertising is the fastest-growing segment of the ad industry. Standard offerings like TV commercial and print ads are all trying to keep advertisers interested, but it's online ads that are measurable, offering complete accountability.

And being the ad giant that it is, Google is constantly thinking of new ways to expand its already significant search marketshare. The latest strategy keeps websurfers on that Google search page longer--though it's not necessarily good for everybody.

 

While Google has traditionally allowed users to search for information and products by directing them to other sites, now Google allows users to search within sites including Washingtonpost.com and bestbuy.com, while staying on its own webpage. Google profits from that extra time on its site, and it says makes searches for information and products easier.

 

But some of those companies are protesting, saying that Google is not only potentially directing users away from their sites, luring them with ads from different companies, but it's stealing hits from their sites. Google Best Buy or Newyorktimes.com, and up pops up a window to extend that search on the Google platform. Try searching for Amazon, and it doesn't happen. Google says it does honor requests to drop the search-within-a-search approach.

 

Google isn't the only company trying new approach to snag more online ad dollars. Traditional media companies like Conde Nast, CBS and Viacom have been building their own ad networks--selling inventory to sites other than their own--to offer advertisers deeper inventory on a single topic like style (Conde Nast) or music (Viacom's MTV). And today Forbes is expected to announce that it's launching an ad network for financial sites--selling ads on some 400 blogs.

 

Traditional media companies are looking to compete online, and when their own content isn't sufficient to satisfy advertisers needs, they'll look elsewhere. And don't forget, advertisers like the fact that they can trust a company like Forbes to find appropriate content, and to place the ads in the same savvy way they do on their sites.

 

Can these old school media companies newfangled online ad networks work? Well, they do have big competition in the behemoths Google, Microsoft and Yahoo

 

 

Great Depression lesson

With the Bush administration set to unveil an overhaul of the nation's fragmented financial regulatory system today, and Congress likely to offer a counterproposal in the coming months, it might be tempting to tune the whole debate out. After all, this is a topic unusually rich in detail and complexity.

 

But the question at its core is really quite simple. Should financial institutions capable of doing great harm to markets or necessitating taxpayer bailouts be left alone to decide what level of risks they wish to undertake? The answer is just as simple: no.

 

The government learned that lesson in the Great Depression, which was triggered in part by runs at undercapitalized banks. It set up a system requiring banks to maintain sufficient reserves. It also created federal deposit insurance to give people confidence that their money would be safe.

 

But since then, a parallel universe of unregulated financial institutions has come to be and taken over much of the business of financing. In this universe, the traditional bank lending its own money to people it knows has been replaced by a series of impersonal and interdependent institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds. These firms have turned the basics of banking — lending, borrowing, managing risk — into a system of readily tradable, but impossibly complex, securities.

 

This system has been a failure. Rather than spreading and diversifying risks as intended, it has enabled certain institutions, such as Bear Stearns Cos., to place enormous bets in housing and other areas, without the government, shareholders, or even top executives fully appreciating the risks involved or knowing whether the institutions have the means to cover their losses. That is a scary proposition given how Wall Street's largest houses can have a domino effect if they fail.

 

An enhanced government role in overseeing these institutions need not be overly regulatory. Washington should have little interest in signing off on every new financial instrument issued. But if it is going to rush in when large institutions get into trouble, it has an interest in keeping them out of trouble in the first place. This entails requiring them to maintain adequate reserves should their financial conditions rapidly deteriorate. It also entails some way to promote greater transparency and simplicity in credit markets.

 

There's no sense in allowing so much of the financial world to play by its own rules when times are good and expect a bailout when they are not. That lesson was learned in the 1930s, and needs to be relearned now.

 

8 Careers to Help Lower Your Stress Meter

8 Careers to Help Lower Your Stress Meter

It's 11 p.m. on a Sunday night, and you're glued to the computer screen, biting your nails, pulse racing. No, it's not an exciting moment in your weekend-long Halo 3 tournament, or even a big sell on eBay. You're trying to meet yet another deadline for work. Sound familiar? If long hours and an unwieldy workload are stressing you out, maybe it's time to consider a career change.

Understanding the Enemy

Job stress is one of the most common complaints among Americans, and research indicates that it has become a more widespread problem in recent years. In 1992, the United Nations named job stress "The 20th Century Disease," and the World Health Organization has called it a "World Wide Epidemic." Also, studies have shown that too much negative stress can contribute to health problems ranging from migraine headaches and depression to life-threatening illnesses such as heart attacks. Is that pension plan really worth it if you won't be alive to cash it in?

 

Turn Off the Career Pressure-Cooker

What's an overworked guy or gal to do? Though it may seem out of the question after a 60+ hour workweek, redirecting some of your energy toward identifying and training for a new career may be the best investment you can make. The careers listed below are not anxiety-free (every job by nature has some elements of positive and negative stress), but they do offer a combination of freedom, creativity, and personal satisfaction that can help keep your pulse rate normal

 

1. Accountant

If you're well-organized and have a knack for calculations, a balanced profit and loss sheet can offer a restful escape from the stress of complex office politics. You don't even have to leave your computer to earn an online accounting degree, which can be found at hundreds of accounting schools nationwide.

 

2. Preschool Teacher

Working with young children can definitely be a challenge. Yet introducing preschoolers to the world of education through art projects, group play, and music can be extremely therapeutic as well. Earn your degree in early childhood education and you could get paid to help three- and four-year-old kids on a daily basis. Even if you have to stay up late to get a teaching degree online, you can make up for that lost sleep when your students enjoy their post-lunchtime naps.

 

3. Nursing Assistant

Caring for patients as a nursing assistant delivers the feel-good perks of a medical career without the stress of med school or week ends on-call. A nursing degree could set you up to enter a career field projected to see 264,000 new job openings over the next 8 years.

 

4. Financial Planner

Though spending your own money can produce high levels of anxiety, helping others manage their funds can be just the opposite. A degree in finance can help you learn the basics of tax law, insurance, and investing principles to assist others as they prepare for retirement or plan their estate. To minimize the stress of funding your own education, keep costs down by researching your financial aid options for an online finance degree or an MBA.

 

5. Massage Therapist / Physical Therapy Assistant

Whether giving and receiving backrubs at a massage therapy school, or practicing flexibility techniques in a physical therapy assisting program, you can learn how to help people maximize relaxation. And if you incorporate some of these exercises into your own daily routine, you could have a recipe for a tension-free workday.

 

6. Pastry Chef

It's hard to get stressed when your office smells of butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Although some pastry chefs work odd hours, the love and creativity they put into their work can be extremely liberating. Most pastry chefs get their start in culinary school, where they can refine and hone their artistic skills.

 

7. Graphic Design

Being creative under pressure isn't easy, but earning a graphic design degree could help you join the ranks of the designers who are self-employed. Working for yourself can give you a tremendous amount of flexibility, and allow you to balance your personal and professional lives as you see fit.

 

8. Desktop Support

Desktop or computer support specialists use their expertise to help the rest of us deal with the stress of malfunctioning technology. With a bachelor's degree in computer science (or simply experience and technical training for some positions), you could enjoy low-stress super-hero status by saving hard drives from evil viruses.

 

Derail Your Stress Train

Though many factors can contribute to on-the-job stress, remember that you always have some control over how you react to it. As you begin your journey toward a lower-stress career, make sure you cultivate some personal stress-reducing habits as well. A little career training can go a long way in helping you launch your new low-stress career.

 

 

Warren Buffett Invests Like a Girl

For as long as I can remember, adding the phrase "like a girl" to the end of whatever you were saying was a put-down, an insult, something to come to fisticuffs over. Little boys the world over hated being told that they, for example, "threw like a girl." I'm not defending the statement, and as a member of the fairer sex, I certainly don't agree with its intent, but hey, that's been the case from the playground on up.

When it comes to investing, though, you could do a whole lot worse than learning to "invest like a girl." And that's why I'd bet Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B), wouldn't get offended if I told him to his face that he invests like a girl. In fact, he'd probably thank me (and perhaps slip me a box of See's Candies). Hang on to see why -- and stay tuned for our soon-to-be published book on this very topic.

What makes Buffett Buffett

What is it that makes Warren Buffett such a consistently phenomenal investor? Is it that he's zigging and zagging along with the market's every move? Is he trading all the time, buying this and selling that, racking up taxes and commissions all the while?

No, no -- what makes Warren Buffett the investor whom every investor wants to be like is that he approaches investing differently from the way most men do. He's patient and does thorough research. He waits for the right price to buy. He seeks to never sell the companies he invests in. He's the anti-trader, if you will.

Yep, you heard it here -- Warren Buffett invests like a girl. And that's a very good thing.

Women and investing

So how exactly do women invest? Check out these characteristics of female investors that distinguish them from their male counterparts.

·         Women spend more time researching their investment choices than men do. This prevents them from chasing "hot" tips and trading on whims -- behavior that tends to weaken men's portfolios.

·         Men trade 45% more often than women do, and although men are more confident investors, they tend to be overconfident. By trading more often -- and without enough research -- men reduce their net returns. But by trading less often, women get better returns and also save on transaction costs and capital gains taxes.

·         A study by the University of California at Davis found that women's portfolios gained 1.4% more than men's portfolios did. What's more, single women did even better than single men, with 2.3% greater gains.

·         Women tend to look at more than just numbers when deciding whether to invest in a company. They invest in companies they feel good about ethically and personally. And companies with good products, good services, and ethics tend to have better long-term prospects -- and face fewer lawsuits.

These are some of the traits that make female investors more like Buffett and less like frazzled, frenetic day traders, with their ties askew, hair on end, and eyes bleary. Patience and good decision-making help set women apart here.

Trend-spotting
Women also have a keen eye when it comes to identifying companies poised for greatness. They typically look beyond the shiniest, newest bio-techno-gadget and focus instead on retailers meeting their needs, on products that they can't live without, and on consumer goods they buy in their day-to-day lives. And that type of insight can pay off. Buffett's long-standing investments in Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Gillette (now owned by Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG)) meet this standard of easy-to-understand investments with competitive advantages.

Legendary fund manager Peter Lynch has famously credited his wife with discovering pantyhose maker Hanes, which at one point was Fidelity Magellan's largest holding. And he's also written about watching the shopping habits of his then-teenage daughters to discover investment ideas.

Shoot, even our own Bill Mann has told us that his wife shone the light on Swedish clothing phenom Hennes & Mauritz (OTC BB: HMRZF), better known as H&M, which went on to be a great performer for him.

Look at a company like recent Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation Coach (NYSE: COH), which started turning around several years ago thanks to fresh designs that drew customers in like moths to a flame. The stock's stumbled over the past year and remains beaten down today because of ongoing fears about the economy and the "strength of the consumer," but the fact remains that it's a solid, well-run business with desirable products and a growing market. I'll bet you could have talked to any number of female shoppers early on who could have clued you in that the company's products were much improved -- and that the financials couldn't be far behind.

So what if you're not a girl?

It's possible, dear reader, that you're of the male persuasion, but don't fret. By focusing on the traits that created superinvestor Warren Buffett -- patience, the willingness to dig deep, the ability to wait for the right price, and the desire to buy and hold instead of trade, trade, trade -- you can awaken the feminine side of your investment psyche. Consider it. Your portfolio will thank you for it.

For further Foolishness on all things Buffett, check out:

·         Buffett's Words of Wisdom

·         The Optimistic Prediction of Warren Buffett

·         What Could Warren Buffett Have Been Thinking?!

 

10 Ways to Punch Your Own Timeclock--And Make Great Money

Recent studies indicate that today's working professionals desire control of their time even more than a bigger paycheck. Job seekers can often uncover flexible jobs in businesses that serve customers around the clock, and in industries with a backlog of projects to process. Telecommuting offers professionals the ability to eliminate long commutes without cutting connections from clients or colleagues. Flextime gives workers the ability to set their own hours. Job sharing is a relatively new form of work flexibility, allowing two or three team members to share a single set of responsibilities.

According to United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, these ten careers offer great job flexibility potential:

1. Medical Transcriptionist

Complex insurance regulations combined with a backlog of patient data mean a surge of jobs for certified medical transcriptionists. Because most doctors' offices outsource this vital step in the health care process, most medical transcriptionists earn $28,000 or more each year working from home. Medical administration training courses can be completed in just a few months, opening up the potential for a lucrative side job or a highly flexible full-time career.

2. Financial Manager

Bank branches, stock brokerages, and other financial companies have radically changed the way they do business to appeal to today's active consumers. Earning an MBA in finance no longer means settling for banker's hours. In fact, companies are actively recruiting financial managers willing to work when customers need them the most. An online degree in finance can qualify you for jobs that frequently pay more than $81,000 per year.

3. Nurse

According to government analysts, a nursing career is as close to recession-proof as most professionals can get in the next three decades. The nation will rely on nursing school graduates for everything from rehabilitation to hospice care. Most nurses can choose their own shifts, or work for agencies as flexible contractors. A nursing degree can help you net $52,000 or more per year.

4. Database Administrator

If you prefer an IT career with a focus on hard data, train for a job as a database administrator. Companies of all kinds need detail-oriented professionals who know SQL, Oracle, and other platforms that keep data organized. A degree in information technology and an independent certification can qualify you for jobs paying $60,000 or more.

5. Accountant

Just because you count money doesn't mean you need to do it from nine to five. Not only can you earn an online accounting degree on your own schedule, you can work with clients in your office or theirs, at times that suit you both. With an online bachelor's degree in accounting and a few years of experience, you can earn a salary of $50,000 or higher every year.

6. Software Developer

Several years after the "Web 1.0" bubble burst, Silicon Valley is hiring professionals with computer programming degrees at a brisk pace. This time, instead of lush campuses with free lunches, employers offer perks that job seekers desire: flexible hours, job sharing, and telecommuting. Within a few years of earning your software development degree, you could take home an annual salary of over $74,000 - without actually leaving home most days.

7. Physical Therapist Assistant

As medical technology helps more of us live longer and survive trauma more frequently, demand for physical therapist assistants has grown. At physical therapist assistant school, students learn skills to assist physical therapists with patient work in the office and at the homes of patients. Earning a physical therapist assistant degree doesn't take very long, and can qualify you for jobs that often pay over $37,000 per year.

8. Paralegal

While industry analysts note the shrinking job market for new attorneys, the number of paralegals finding full-time work continues to rise. Most paralegal schools allow students to attend classes part-time, while building skills that can help graduates land flexible jobs that pay over $39,000 per year. Online paralegal degrees offer even more flexibility for students who crave a law career without earning a Juris Doctorate.

9. Graphic Designer

Thanks to new technology, a degree in digital graphic design opens doors to flexible jobs in a variety of specialties. Whether you work part-time at an advertising agency or run a freelance graphic design practice, you can join the ranks of creative professionals who often earn over $38,000 per year. Many graphic design degrees now include business management and marketing training electives to help graduates build flexible, creative careers.

10. Private Investigator

Although many private investigators work part-time hours, most detectives-for-hire earn over $32,000 per year. An online criminal justice degree can help you understand how to conduct effective private investigations without breaking the law or tampering with evidence.

Finding Flexibility

While many companies are starting to explore the idea of job flexibility, finding a career path where work/life balance is the norm and not the exception is a great first step toward your long term professional satisfaction.

 

10 Things I Learned From My Second Marathon

10 Things I Learned From My Second Marathon

"The marathon can humble you." - Bill Rodgers

Do you know that you guys were in my head for almost my entire marathon on Sunday? I thought about you guys — your encouragement, what I would say to you about my marathon, not wanting to report back that I had failed.

You helped me get to the finish line, and for that, I am again indebted to you all.

And it was a success! Not only did I finish, and run a relaxed race (well, until the last few miles), and have a great time — I improved on my first marathon time by nearly 50 minutes! I was extremely happy with my race, both in terms of enjoyment and performance.

Summary of my first marathon: I ran it only a year after getting into running, and was probably ill-prepared; I started out at a pace that was too fast; ran out of gas by mile 18; cramped up after mile 20; had an extremely hard and grueling time finishing; came in about an hour slower than I had hoped, at 5 hours and 3 minutes. It wasn't the most enjoyable first marathon (at least, the last 8 miles weren't) but I finished, and I was proud of it.

This time, I was better prepared. I had lower expectations, and just went out to do it for fun. I ran a more relaxed pace, and ended up doing much, much better than I expected. I came in at 4 hours and 14 minutes — not a fast race by any experienced runner's standard, I know, but an excellent time for me. I was just hoping to break 5 hours, and if I came in at 4:30, I'd be thrilled.

I had planned to run a 10-minute/mile pace — a very relaxed and easy pace for me — but I ended up going at about 9:30 in the beginning. It still seemed very relaxed, and I had a few other runners going at that pace so we stuck together. I was feeling very good at the halfway point, so I kept up the pace. In fact, even at mile 20, I was feeling strong at that pace, and it wasn't until the final 5K that I felt like slowing down or walking.

 

Those last three miles were tough, but I pushed myself to finish strong. I kept up my pace (between 9:30 and 10:00 per mile) and actually passed a bunch of runners at the end (I didn't worry about competitiveness this time, but those runners were struggling, understandably). The final mile I did at under 9 minutes, so I was very proud of that.

Of course, I nearly collapsed at the end, and had to pour water over my head and nearly strip naked to keep from overheating, and had to lie down for awhile when I got really dizzy. But it was worth it, because I did my best.

A note on the Guam Marathon: it gets very very hot and humid on Guam after 7 a.m., especially if you've been running for a few hours already, so we start at 4 a.m. If you are a slower runner, and come in after 4 hours (like me), you are at a huge disadvantage, because by then the sun is beating you down, and you lose fluids rapidly, and you are at a huge risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. That happened to me in my first marathon, and it started to happen this time too, but I got a little lucky because for about 30 minutes there was a light rain and overcast skies. I can't wait to run a marathon in a cooler climate!

Another note: besides you, my faithful readers, my biggest supporters were my wife Eva, my kids, my mom, my sister and her kids. Also, my friend Glen gave me a wake-up call at 2 a.m., and that was a big help. I couldn't have done this marathon without any of you! Thank you!

And now I thought I'd share some of the things I learned this marathon:

 

   1. Running experience matters a lot. One of the biggest differences from my very tough first marathon, and this more successful second marathon, is that this time I've been running for more than two years, and that time I'd been running for about a year. The difference is that my body is more adapted to running higher mileage and longer distances, and I had a much easier time. When I started training for my first marathon, I hadn't run anything more than a 10K in my life, and so each of my long runs were very difficult for me. This time, my long runs were a bit tough (only because I hadn't run long in awhile) but still enjoyable. Another point to make: I have two friends in their 50s who ran their first marathon a couple years ago, but had been running competitively for years. They each did their first marathon in well under 3:30, and though it wasn't easy, they were obviously better prepared for doing a marathon than I was the first time. I expect to get better as I continue to do marathons.

   2. Pacing is huge. The next biggest factor is going at the right pace for the first half of the marathon — a time when you feel great, and can easily run faster than you should. It's difficult to know what pace you should run, as you run shorter races at a much faster pace. There are online calculators that will tell you your marathon pace if you enter the pace for shorter races, but I've found that for me, their estimates are too fast. I found that out my first marathon, when my 8:30 pace for the first half exhausted my energy stores, and I ran the second half on fumes. This time, I ran a much more relaxed pace, and ended up being able to hold that the entire race.

   3. Extra weight also matters a lot. Probably the third most important factor for me that made a difference between my first marathon and this second one was my weight. I ran my first marathon about 30-40 pounds overweight (although I had lost about 20 pounds at the time). It made things more difficult — running long is hard to do when you're carrying extra weight. This time, I'm still a bit overweight (I could lose another 10-20 pounds) but I'm about 15 pounds lighter than I was last time. I hope to lose another 10-15 pounds by my next marathon (either at the end of this year, or next March).

   4. Be relaxed and have fun. For most of us, a marathon is an experience, not a race. We're not racing against the other runners — we're joining them in a life-changing event. If you go out with the attitude that the marathon should be something to enjoy, you'll have a much better experience. At one point, running past the choppy ocean waters with the colorful early morning light surrounding us, I said loudly, "What a great time to be alive!" I smiled and cheered on my fellow runners. I had a blast.

   5. Test out your gear beforehand, on a long run. This is an obvious one, and I knew it before this marathon, but I violated the rule anyhow. I had tested out my shoes and running clothes and watch in my 22-miler, three weeks before the marathon, so all of that was fine. But I ordered a footpod to go with my running watch a couple weeks before the marathon, and it didn't come in until a few days before the race. I knew I was taking a risk by wearing the footpod during the marathon, untested except for a light 2-mile run two days earlier, but I really wanted to be able to have pace information in my running watch, so I wouldn't run too fast. It actually helped, I think, but the footpod bothered me the entire way, and I now have a bruise where the footpod dug into my foot. Next time I'm getting a GPS running watch.

   6. Keep your upper body relaxed. This is something I often forget. I will go a few miles before I realize that I've been tensing up my upper body. Then I take some deep breaths and relax, shake out my arms, stretch my upper body a bit while running. But the tensing takes its toll over such a long race, and drains some of your energy reserves. My upper body, from my abs to my shoulders and back, are very sore right now.

   7. Plan your day before well. I know very well that you're supposed to rest the day before the marathon. However, my kids had soccer games and there was a wedding show we really wanted to go to, and my daughter had a school performance that evening … so I ended up walking around much more than I had hoped, and staying up later than I had planned. End result: I was tired the morning of the marathon, which isn't smart. Also not smart: playing soccer for about 45 minutes with my son and daughter after their practice two days before the race. It was fun though. No regrets!

   8. Having people to talk to is great. For the first 12-13 miles, I ran with a few guys who were going my pace. I didn't know them, but we just happened to be going the same pace. It was nice to have people to talk to, as the race is long and your mind needs distraction. I might never see them again, but we now have a bit of a bond from running 13 miles together. I also ran another five miles or so with another guy, and that was useful. I ran the final 8 miles by myself, and those just happened to be the miles where you start to question whether you really want to be running this fast for this long, but I really enjoyed having people to talk to for the first 18 miles.

   9. Have a reason to keep going at the end. In the final 5K, there were many moments when I felt like quitting. I thought how nice it would be to just walk for awhile. It was hot, and each mile seemed to take an eternity. But I thought of you guys, I thought of my wife, and my kids (who were there at the end to cheer me on), and my mom and sister who were also there. I thought of how proud I would be to finish strong. I thought of how much training I had put into this, and thought about how I would regret not giving it my all. If I didn't have good reasons to keep going, I would have stopped.

  10. The long run is your marathon training — speed work doesn't matter (much). My training for this marathon consisted almost entirely of my long runs on Sundays. I also ran during the week, but my mileage wasn't very high and I did almost no speed work. I did some intervals on the track a few times, but not much. It was almost all the weekly long run, and it turns out that that was enough. Sure, I probably could have run a little faster if I had done more mileage and more speed work, but I don't think it was necessary. Next time, I will probably do more mileage and start training earlier (I just started in January), but I don't think I'll do speed work.

    "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter

Courtesy - Zenhabits

 

Insurance Mania - Insure My Butt: Literally!

Insure My Butt: Literally!

Our society is far too insurance happy. For example, I have car insurance, health insurance, homeowner's insurance, travel insurance, disability insurance and even an insurance policy on my mobile phone should the dog eat it. Where do we stop?

However, my insurance pales in comparison to that of the wealthy and famous. Whether it's the ultimate display of ego or a very expensive PR stunt, body-part insurance seems to be a rising trend with the super rich and famous.

Here's a list of 13 that is by no means meant to be complete. If you know of any others please leave a comment. I'd love to hear about it.

Heidi Klum insured her legs for $2 million. If priced by attittude alone, this is probably a bargain.

Bruce Springsteen insured his voice for $1 million. I think he sold himself a little short.

Mariah Carey had her legs insured for $1 billion. Mariah, I hope you are the sole beneficiary as this could give even the best of people thoughts of tripping you.

Sir Tom Jones had his chest hair insured for £3.5m ($6.9 million). At 67 he can still turn up the heat, but I'm not sure it's from the brush on his breasts.

Ilya Gort, Dutch winemaker, had his sense of smell insured for $8 million. That's an expensive nose, but can he dig for truffles?

Jennifer Lopez had her butt insured for $27 million (unconfirmed). Based on protrusion, this is a bargain.

David Beckham had his legs and feet insured for $70 million. Worth every penny.

Michael Flatley's legs are insured for $47 million. Not worth every penny.

America Ferrera's smile is insured for $10 million. Really? It's a good smile, but come on! In fact, the insurance was taken out by Aquafresh White Trays. She is said to be working with the manufacturer on a charity campaign for free dental service for jobless women.

Ken Dodd's teeth are insured for $7.4 million. A testament to the British dental system.

Keith Richards has the middle finger on his left hand insured for $1.6 million. If you ever get "the finger" from Keith, you should feel honored.

 

Cricket player Merv Hughes took out a £200,000 policy on his mustache. I would imagine his barber shaves him very gently. I wonder does it make him play cricket better?

Rumored to have started this insurance trend is the late Ben Turpin, who was famous for his crossed eyes. He took out a $20,000 policy in the 1920's against them becoming uncrossed. However ridiculous all this insurance is, if there are wealthy people willing to buy it and Lloyds of London willing to insure it, I'm sure the best is yet to come. Source- http://divinecaroline.com