UND-Pilsa Blog

Of all the many shoe styles you could choose, high heels are the one that would give you the most benefits.

You’ll discover that shoes with a heel are an absolute must if you are looking to give yourself a makeover.

There isn’t another shoe style that can completely transform the way you look or provide as many advantages as a high heel does.

The advantages are all in the heel itself and specifically the height of the heel. It doesn’t matter which style of heel you choose whether it be a stilletto, wedge or even a block heel.

Provided you have the height you are going to get the benefits.

If you team your heeled shoes with the right clothes you can completely transform the way you look.

“Nothing has been invented yet that will do a better job than high heeled shoes at making a pair of legs look great.”
- Stuart Weitzman [Shoe Designer]

Ultimate Benefits

Harpers Index report that wearing high heeled shoes will lift your bum by 25%.

When you wear heels they alter your walking gait and because of this your hips are forced to move at a different angle each side. This creates a sexier look overall.

By wearing high heel shoes your legs appear slimmer and longer than they actually are.

By gaining height you are ultimately gaining a little confidence.

What to wear with your heels

Heels are one of those shoe styles that work with most styles of clothing. There are, however, some that they compliment better than others, giving you maximum results in altering your appearance and the way you look.

High heeled shoes are not just for stick thin women. A woman who is conscious of her weight or perhaps does not like her legs particularly will probably benefit the most from high heel shoes.

Heels not only lengthen the look of your legs but also slim their overall appearance dramatically.

If you want your legs to look longer, wear a pair of high heel shoes with a skirt that sits just to the knee. The shoe will in effect lengthen the lower part of your leg.

A heel with a pointed toe will add greater length to your legs.
Heels are the perfect shoe to wear with jeans or trousers. Not only will they add a little glamour to the overall style but if worn right will lengthen and slim your overall look. Your jeans or trousers should always sit just at the bottom of the heel itself. Again, adding a heel with a pointed toe will of course lengthen this look further.

If you have the legs for it, wear heeled shoes with shorter skirts to create that elegant long legged look.

If you have chunkier ankles avoid ankle ties or straps. This will create a look that only enhances your ankles.

“Not diamonds but heels are a girl’s best friend.”
- William Rossi[Shoe Scholar]

Styles and Designs

There are so many different variations of heels now its hard to know what to choose.

If you don’t particularly find them easy to walk in, choose a wedge heel because you get all the benefits of the height and walking in them is a breeze.

Choose a few pairs and vary your heel heights. This will create options with your clothes and colours.

Remember your benefits are all in the height of the heel itself. Get this and the rest is easy.

For more information visit the Womens Shoes Guru at http://www.womens-shoes-guru.com/womens-high-heel-shoes.html

The Womens Shoes Guru website provides a comprehensive guide to choosing womens shoes online.
Visitors are given information on the benefits of womens shoes, the history of shoes and a clear understanding of shoe designs.
For more information visit the Womens Shoes Guru
http://www.womens-shoes-guru.com

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For example it would not be illegal to consider criteria for a particular role in a movie that has a disparate impact on age if the part calls for someone of a particular age. In reaching its conclusion that the employer has the burden to prove the reasonable factors other than age defense the Supreme Court looked at another provision of the ADEA the bona fide occupational qualification defense. As long as the adverse action is based on reasonable factors other than age. The Supreme Court has previously recognized that the employer has the burden to establish the BFOQ affirmative defense. Thirty of the 44 salaried employees the company laid off were at least 28 years old. Twenty-eight of those 60 employees sued under the ADEA claiming Knolls illegally fired them because of their age. It then used those totals to decide who to lay off. It has the burden to prove that its decision was based on a reasonable factor other than age. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit initially affirmed the jurys findings but after the United States Supreme Court asked it to reconsider the Second Circuit reversed itself and ruled in favor of Knolls. In other words the ADEA permits employers to discriminate based on age considering age is legitimately necessary under the circumstances. In Meacham Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was planning to lay off a number of employees. The Supreme Court ruled that if an employer seeks to rely on that defense. Even if the employment action is otherwise prohibited by the ADEA. Knolls totaled those scores and gave the employees additional points based on their years of service. The BFOQ defense states that it is not unlawful for an employer to take adverse employment actions otherwise prohibited by the ADEA where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business. The Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case and eventually reversed the Second Circuit and reinstated the jurys finding that Knolls policy unlawfully discriminated because of age. Specifically the jury found that although the plaintiffs did not prove that Knolls intentionally discriminated against them they did prove that Knolls method of deciding who to lay off disproportionately harmed older workers. The company had its supervisors rate their subordinates based on their performance flexibility and critical skills. A lawyer from Zandvoort won from a advocate in Midland Michigan In that case Meacham versus Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory the Supreme Court interpreted a provision of the ADEA that permits an employer to take an adverse employment action against an employee. At the trial a jury found Knolls had violated the ADEA because its layoff procedure had a disparate impact based on age.

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So you’ve screwed up. You’re drowning in debt. Maybe the credit card was burning a hole in your pocket and you just had to get the HDTV. Or maybe you or a family member had a medical emergency while you we laid off. It doesn’t matter to your creditors; they lent you the money and now they want it back.

The lender will try to work with you for a while and its best to try to negotiate with them at this stage. If you can’t work something out or just don’t pay, they will send your file to either an in-house bill collector or, more commonly to an outside agency.

Bill collectors are a tough bunch. They have heard all the sob stories and aren’t interested in yours. They mostly get paid on commission, so they just want to get money out of you and move on.

There aren’t many laws to get you off the hook as far as the debt goes (bankruptcy is your only choice). But there are laws that prevent harassment and abuse by bill collectors. Debt collectors tend to try to ignore these laws, but if you know your rights and insist on them, at the very least you might be able to collect damages if the bill collector persists in ignoring them.

The major law protecting you is the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Some states have their own versions of this law.

The law does not prevent a bill collector from contacting you, but it must be at convenient times. Contact can’t be before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., unless you agree. A debt collector also may not contact you at work if you tell him that your employer disapproves of such contacts.

If you don’t want to be harassed, get the name, address and telephone number of the bill collector. Then send a certified letter, return receipt requested telling the collector to leave you alone. Once the collector receives your letter, he can not contact you again, except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that the bill collector or the creditor intends to take some specific action against you, such as sue you or report your delinquency to a credit bureau.

The bill collector can contact friends, relatives or neighbors, but just to find out where you are. They are not supposed to be spreading the word that you’re past due on your debts.

Within five days of first contact, the collector must send you a written notice telling you the amount of money you owe; the name of the creditor to whom you owe the money; and what action to take if you believe you do not owe the money. You have 30 days to dispute the debt, in writing (certified mail RRR again). The bill collector is then not allowed any other contact with you until he is able to send you proof of your debt.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the agency charged with enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act:
Debt collectors may not:

• use threats of violence or harm;

• publish a list of consumers who refuse to pay their debts (except to a credit bureau);

• use obscene or profane language; or

• repeatedly use the telephone to annoy someone.

Debt collectors may not use any false or misleading statements when collecting a debt. For example, debt collectors may not:

• falsely imply that they are attorneys or government representatives;

• falsely imply that you have committed a crime;

• falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit bureau;

• misrepresent the amount of your debt;

• indicate that papers being sent to you are legal forms when they are not; or

• indicate that papers being sent to you are not legal forms when they are.

Debt collectors also may not state that:

• you will be arrested if you do not pay your debt;

• they will seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages, unless the collection agency or creditor intends to do so, and it is legal to do so; or

• actions, such as a lawsuit, will be taken against you, when such action legally may not be taken, or when they do not intend to take such action.

Debt collectors may not:

• give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit bureau;

• send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency when it is not; or

• use a false name.

Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not:

• collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge;

• deposit a post-dated check prematurely;

• use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams;

• take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally; or

• contact you by postcard.

However, as I said before, a lot of debt collectors will ignore this law whenever they can. So it is very important that you build a case against harassing debt collectors. Send repeated certified letters outlining what they said or did.

Tape the phone conversations. Tell the collector you’re doing so. If he continues to talk, he’s considered to have consented to the taping.

If you contest the debt, ask that you be sent proof of it in writing. In many cases, neither the creditor nor the collector can produce this.

Check your credit report and, if you see false entries, contest them right away.

If you do owe the debt, negotiate calmly and in good faith. Because it gives you more time to think, I would try to carry out all negotiations in writing or hire an attorney to do them for you. This will also give you a paper trail if you have to proceed in court.

Do not be bullied into rushing into an agreement and do not make any payments unless the agreement is in writing. For example, if the bill collector agrees to take half of the amount you owe as full payment and report the debt paid to the credit bureaus, get it in writing. If the collector won’t send you a letter, send him a certified letter accurately stating all the terms of your agreement.

It is not unknown for bill collectors to settle the case with a debtor and then sell the rest of the debt to another collection agency, which will try to collect the unpaid balance. This is why it is very important to have a paper trail.

If you have old debts that have apparently gone away, beware of the zombie bill collectors. They are buying unpaid debts for pennies per hundred of dollars of debt and then trying to harass debtors to pay. Even if they only get a few dollars, they make money.

The problem is that in many cases the statute of limitations on collecting the debt is run. If you make a payment, you can reopen the statute, the debt can be reported to credit bureaus as freshly delinquent and you can open yourself up to all sorts of problems. Sometimes even saying the wrong thing to one of these guys can be considered an acknowledgement of the debt, allowing them to reopen the statute of limitations.

If you have any old unpaid debt become familiar with the statute of limitations, generally 4 to 6 years, in the state where you live now and, if applicable, in the states you lived in when you ran up the debt.

The best way to handle a zombie bill collector is to refuse to speak to him. Just hang up the phone.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is rather vigorously enforced by the FTC and state attorney generals. Make complaints to both is you feel you being unfairly treated.

Also you have a private right of action against the debt collectors. You can sue a bill collector in a state or federal court within one year from the date the law was violated. If you win, you may recover money for the damages you suffered, plus an additional amount up to $1,000. Court costs and attorney’s fees also can be recovered. If you need a lawyer referral, go to National Association of Consumer Advocates website. http://www.naca.net.

Also I would suggest you buy or borrow from the library Money Troubles: Legal Strategies to Cope With Your Debts (Solve Your Money Troubles) by Robin Leonard, if you have a lot of debt. It best to know what you’re facing and how to handle yourself going in.

Remember, even if you can tame the bill collectors, your debts do not go away. The next step will probably be lawsuits and garnished wages. That is why the best course of action is to negotiate with your creditors from the very beginning.

Chris Cooper is a retired attorney who has spent several periods of his life deep in dept. At http://www.credit-yourself.com he tries to pass on some of the knowledge he picked up in his journey to become debt free.

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Are you in a blogging rut? tired of posting to your blog? as they say sometimes a change is as good as a holiday, and anytime is a good time to give your blog a spring clean, both as a way to improve your visitor experience, and to inspire you to be a better blogger.

1. A splash of paint
Try that new color you’ve always picture having on your blog, or spruce up the existing color.

2. New header
If you’ve got a generic text header I want to track you down and shot you….well, ok, no I don’t but there’s never been a better time to try putting up a custom designed header. If you’ve not got Photoshop or similar give The Gimp ago for all your image editing needs, its open source so its free as well. Sites like Freephoto and Freestockphotos give a wide variety of pictures you may be able to use as part of your header.

3. Clean up your links
There are programs that can monitor the accuracy of your links but I don’t use one so this is on my spring cleaning list for the next week. Check your blogroll and make sure everyone’s still there and blogging.

4. Edit old posts
Update old posts where you are getting traffic into them to add value to your site and to your readers. I’ve done this with old posts that were getting a lot of traffic from people looking for info on a similar topic, and by adding links to the newer content from the post the reader is able to find the information they are looking for, as well as staying longer at your blog.

5. Sign up to an affiliate program
Expand your horizons outside of Amazon to the wonderful world of affiliate mega sites such as LinkShare.com and Clickbank. New ads on your blog can equal big dollars if targeted well and both these services give you this power

6. Take a stroll, be inspired
Take a random look around the blogosphere, or even follow some of the links here and take some notes, what do you like about other blogs, what don’t you like. You’d be surprised how easy it is to pick up new ideas for your own blog.

Duncan Riley is the Editor of The Blog Herald: more blog news more often, the web’s leading source of blog news.

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The United States Senate passed a law on March 10, 2005 that changes the bankruptcy laws in America. It is expected that the House of Representatives will look to pass the same bill in April, which will send it to President Bush for his signature. Since it is well known that President Bush will sign the bill into law, a new bankrupcty law is just one step away from ratification. This law makes it much harder for Americans to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. So for those of you trying to decide whether to file bankruptcy in the next few weeks, realize you may not have the same options in a couple of months time.

This bill is a pure win for the credit card companies. Since the bill was written by credit card company lawyers, you can imagine how advantageous it is to the credit card industry. It means that Americans will pay their earnings to creditors for many years to come, with little help from the U.S. government. Of course, creditors say these are bills charged up by the debtors. But since the credit card industry is one big legal trap, it amounts to the federal government helping bankers and lawyers trick average citizens out of their money. As I always say, if a person has been paying their minimum monthly payment for a few years, the creditor made a huge profit on their original loan years ago. That applies even if a debtor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The real shame is that 50% of Chapter 7 bankruptcies happen due to medical and health issues. With the loss of jobs overseas and the subsequent loss of health insurance, many Americans are slipping into debt to try to pay their medical bills. Twenty percent of bankruptcies come from single mothers who children have deadbeat fathers. In other words, the mother filing bankruptcy is not to blame, but is the victim of an ex-husband who refuses to pay his debts to his children. The new law will leave the mother on the hook to the credit card industry.

Now is the time to do your homework when looking for debt consolidation loans and other consumer credit counseling advice. It looks like the public sector is no longer a friend of the consumer, so you have to look at the private sector to help you out of your troubles. Do your research. Choose wisely. There are ways out of your financial crisis, but one of the most used options just got undermined by the politicians in control of legislation at the moment.

You can read more about personal finance and debt issues at the Debt Consolidation blog.

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Stupid ideas come in all sorts of packages. Bad debt, various loans, purchase decisions, and delayed savings. Most people reach the age of 65 with little or no savings. They live off social security and what little else they have. Is it any wonder the golden arches are filled with workers in their golden years?

Anything that wastes your money or prevents you from becoming debt free can be a stupid idea. The best way to save and invest money does not include sending it to creditors each month. Only when it’s yours to keep can you put it aside to work for you as hard as you worked for it.

It is not your job in life to make your creditors rich. The goal is to make you rich. If you are going to make that happen, stay away from bad decisions. Decisions, made in the absence of good, or even any, information. Time pressured, desperate decisions are seldom made with enough information.

Anything that slows down spending and requires you to think twice before parting with your money is a good idea. Fill out a Purchase Checklist for any decision that requires spending more than what you find in your pocket. Look at these questions you need to answer:

Cost?

On sale?

Need or a want?

Can you pay cash?

Where will the money come from?

Do you know the cost of credit?

With that cost added in, is it still worth buying?

Could you justify this purchase to another person?

Would you accept these reasons from someone else?

Stupid ideas abound when ignorance, greed and pride, (definitely not the common sense triplets) form the basis of your decisions. Ignorance is simply an absence of knowledge or information. Greed is nothing other than wanting more than you should. Pride is caring what your neighbor, or someone you don’t even know, thinks of you.

So, knowing there exists no winner in the contest to see who is the most stupid, here are some things to avoid in your financial life.

Bad Debt. Any debt other than a home mortgage, education loans and some business debt. Bad debt needs to be avoided. If you have it, getting rid of it should be your number one priority. Then get rid of your other debt. The more money you can put away as opposed to sending to your creditors will make a dramatic difference in your financial progress.

These particular types of bad debt need to be avoided at all costs.

Auto title Loans

Payday Loans

Rent To Own Stores

125 Loans

Credit Cards

Pawn Brokers

If you find yourself even considering using any of these, call a friend and have them talk you out of it.

Other bad ideas include some of our habits. This is not moralizing here, just a hard look at how bad habits drain your financial resources. Smoking, alcohol consumption, buying coffee and a donut on the way to work, lunches at work, and anything else which has become a habit can cost you a tremendous amount of money per month. Money you could be putting away.

Make a fast calculation of what you spend each day on these habits. Then times it by the number of working days in a month (usually around 22). This is the money you waste each month. You need to put it in your pocket, not in the pocket of someone else. And let’s face it, you will feel better too.

There are plenty of people willing to benefit from your stupid ideas and bad decisions. If you find you have already embraced some of these stupid ideas, change your choices. Don’t double your mistake. If you make a stupid decision, you don’t need to stick with it. Learn from it and move on. Decide if you are going to have some burned fingers or a ruined life. Live and learn from the burned fingers, let someone else ruin their life.

David Wilding has for ten years, worked one-on-one and with groups to change attitudes toward personal debt. Visit his website http://www.debtattack.com to print out a purchase checklist. Use it to avoid those impulse purchases.

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B&B Casa del Capitano is a bed and breakfast in Rome, located in Piazza Barberini, 2

La Casa del Capitano is located in Piazza Barberini inside a historical building in the main center of the city. It has a unique view, infact, from the house you can admire the "Tritone Fountaine" a superb example of roman baroque, a work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. On one side of the square you can access the Via Veneto, a famous symbol of the roman "Dolce Vita" and a gateway to Villa Borghese, the most popular and loved park of the city. Walking through this beautiful street you will find historic cafés, elegant shops and restaurants. This is just one of the itineraries from Piazza Barberini that I’ll be able to recommend to you upon your arrival in our home.
In our house, you’ll find a warm and cosy atmosphere and you’ll immediately soak up some history.

There are two rooms available for our guests, both nicely furnished and with en suite bathrooms. A refined continental breakfast is available as well as internet and satellite television. One room can host up to 3 people. Whilst the other is a double room.
Third Floor, no lift. Children allowed, no pets, no smokers.

Quality at a cheap price in Rome? Book online and save your money: browse our list of Rome cheap hotels, or compare price for cheap Rome hotels, or make a reservation for a tour in Rome by Bike

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Often when we take vacations, we spend several months planning where to go, where to stay, and making all of the necessary arrangements to make the vacation enjoyable for all. When we get back, we have rolls of film that eventually get developed and then stuffed in a drawer. When we next pull them out, we’ve forgotten the reason for taking half of the pictures and much of the meaning of the photos has been lost.

Here are some suggestions to help in creating your vacation scrapbook:

Keep all maps from the trip.

Take a small notebook with you and write down a little bit of the data about the photos you are taking. There is a reason you are looking at something. There is a reason you are snapping the photo. Take a moment and jot down a few sentences that will trigger your memory once you return home.

Grab a few postcards from the place(s) you are visiting. This will add to your scrapbook and also help you remember where you’ve been and what you saw.

If you have children, consider giving them disposable cameras that they can use while on vacation. They may see things that you don’t and their photos will make a great addition to your vacation scrapbook.

If you will be in one town for a few days, consider developing some of your photos at a one hour photo processing business. As you look at your freshly taken photos add anything into your journal that you’ll want to put into your scrapbook.

If you visit museums, zoos or any other establishment, save your ticket stubs. Pick up any brochures of the establishment you are visiting.

While you are gone, will you be visiting any relatives? In addition to taking photos bring a list of questions you want to ask these relatives to put into both your family history scrapbook and also your vacation scrapbook.

Consider visiting the visitor’s center in the city or cities you are visiting and pick up information about the city that can be included in your scrapbook.

If you will be gone for a long period of time, consider bringing some basic scrapbook supplies with you and put together some pages while still on the trip. With one hour photo developing and basic supplies, you can return home with some pages already complete.

Vacation scrapbooks bring back wonderful memories. Enjoy your trip!! Bon Voyage!!

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Card making is a popular craft that anyone can enjoy without spending alot of money. Most of the supplies needed for card making can be found around in your home. Look in your childrens’ rooms or schoolbags and you should be able to gather the basic tools and materials.

Listed below are some basic card making supplies that you need to make your first card.

1. A4 size white cardstock

2. double sided foam tape

3. a pair of scissors

4. color pencils, watercolors, or crayons

5. steel ruler

6. cutter

7. rubber stamp

8. black inkpad

9. black writing pen

First, cut the white cardstock into 2 pieces. Fold one piece of cardstock into half at the centre to make a single fold 4″ x 6″ greeting card and put it aside. Then ink your rubber stamp with the black inkpad and stamp on the other piece of white cardstock. Color the stamped image and trim around the black outline. Now attach the colored image onto the front of the single fold card with double sided foam tape. Place it in the middle of the top portion of the card. And finally, write a greeting below the stamped image. And voila … your first handmade greeting card.

Now make more of these and send them to your friends. Let them know how much you love and treasure them and their friendship.

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Gone are the days when pasting photos, postcards and memorabilia in a plain paper scrapbook album are the only options for showcasing your memories.

Now, more than ever, scrapbooking is one of the most popular pastimes for a great many people. Craft and hobby stores as well as many chain stores carry a wide selection of every imaginable item for making professional-looking scrapbooks. Scrapbooking is not just a hobby anymore, but is an art form.

Getting the whole family involved in scrapbooking projects is great for those rainy winter days or hot summer afternoons when outside activity is limited. What better way to get closer to each other than to reminisce about all the adventures you’ve had in the past.

New techniques and special tools are helping people save all their treasured mementos attractively. You don’t have to be an artist or extremely creative to make a nice scrapbook. Ready-made materials such as embellishments, special paper, and glue dots may be purchased to create a unique and well-presented scrapbook album.

One good thing about scrapbooking is that any leftover material you have from other projects can be incorporated in your layout such as fabric, paper, ribbon and other materials. This is very economical and certainly makes your album personal and unique. Also, using a digital editing software program anyone can easily cut, crop and resize their photos for placement in their own scrapbook album. With a click of a button the ability to print out photos and edit them to our liking has made scrapbook presentation more professional-looking.

There are some important things to learn when embarking on your first scrapbook project. Just throwing together photos and mementos in an album isn’t the best way to showcase all your memories. Before you get started, try reading about the subject. With all the choices out there, this will help get the creative juices flowing, and save time and money in the long run.

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Jane Karwoski is a musician/songwriter and publisher of the e-book, “Scrapbooking Made Easy”. To discover the latest tips, tricks and helpful hints on scrapbooking and how fun and easy scarapbooking can be, sign up for the newsletter at www.scrapbooking-made-easy.com

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