WordPress Ecommerce: 30+ Resources
Published August 3rd, 2010 in WordPressWordPress is one of the most popular content management systems for blogs, portfolios, and other types of sites, but with the right plugins and/or themes it can also be used for e-commerce. While WordPress is not specifically intended to be used for e-commerce sites, the quality of available plugins and themes has increased in recent years. In this post we’ll feature more than 30 resources and tutorials to help you get started with e-commerce for WordPress.
WordPress E-Commerce Plugins:
WP e-Commerce Pluign (free with premium upgrades available)
Shopp ($55)
Other free e-commerce plugins:
Other premium e-commerce plugins:
- WP Affiliate Platform ($39.95)
- PHPurchase ($49)
WordPress E-Commerce Themes:
ShopperPress ($79)
Crafty Cart (free)
Viroshop ($37)
WPA Storefront ($32)
The Furniture Store ($47)
The Jewelry Shop ($47)
The Clothes Shop ($42)
AppCloud ($35)
Kelontong ($35)
Store ($65)
WP Store ($65)
e-Commerce ($65)
Kidz Store ($65)
eShop ($65)
wpShop ($37)
eGoods ($32)
Ecommerce Theme ($79.95)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
WordPress Ecommerce: 30+ Resources | Vandelay Design Blog
Monday, August 2, 2010
Articles.vp.ly » Mutual Funds Make Investing Simple
Mutual Funds Make Investing Simple
If you know absolutely anything about investing, then you have probably heard of mutual funds. Once an obscure investment vehicle, they are now popular with almost all investors. If you ask your average investor whether they have any of their investment dollars allocated to a fund, they will likely answer yes. There are literally trillions of dollars of American money currently invested in mutual funds.
Funds have made investing for the average investor a little less complicated. A person no longer has to sift through stocks individually in the newspaper or spend hours watching the financial news on television. You can simply select a diversified fund that contains a bunch of different stocks of companies that fit into a certain paradigm, such as a fund containing nothing but small cap stocks, mid-cap stocks, large cap stocks, technology stocks, bonds, etc.
A mutual fund is really an investment company in and of itself, with a manager and other officers who administer it. When you buy shares, you are buying a portion of the holdings of the fund, which contains many different stocks and bonds within the portfolio. And, just like with individual stocks and bonds, your shares increase in value when the share price of stocks within the portfolio appreciate, or when interest payments are made on the bonds. As with stocks, you can sell your shares in a mutual fund at any time.
There are many different types of funds. They vary based on composition (stocks, bonds, or fixed income securities such as money market instruments), and strategy. Some funds, as already mentioned, invest in companies that have a particular market capitalization (i.e. large cap, mid cap, small cap).
Other funds invest solely in foreign companies, while some invest in certain sectors within the economy, such as the financial, technology, or industrial sectors. Also, some mutual funds may pick companies based on ideology, such as a socially responsible or environmental fund. There are also index funds that simply invest in companies that are contained within a certain index, such as the Dow Jones, or the S&P 500.
The most important thing to understand when looking for a mutual fund is the cost structure. There are four expenses you need to review before investing. The first is the management expense, which is a charge assed on your money to pay the manager of the fund. The second is the administrative fee, which is usually assessed annually to cover the costs of mailings, postage, etc.
The next fee is the 12B-1 fee, which covers the cost of marketing and promotion. And finally, there are sometimes front-end loads and back-end loads. A front-end load is a sales commission charged as soon as you open the account and invest your money. A back-end load, also known as a deferred sales charge, is assessed on your money when you close the account. Back-end charges vary depending upon how long you have had the account.
I hope this information has helped you to familiarize yourself with mutual funds. Try to set aside some money for investing and start while you are still young. The earlier you begin, the more money you can potentially make down the road. Carefully examine the fee structure and investment strategy before investing and you should do fine.
Oil ETF Investing: Five Ways To Play | ETF Database
Oil ETF Investing: Five Ways To Play
Commodity ETFs have seen a tremendous surge in popularity in recent years, as the marriage of futures contracts the exchange-traded structure has democratized an asset class that was once accessible only to large, sophisticated investors. Oil ETFs have become particularly popular, as investors have embraced the opportunity to bet on one of the world’s most sought after resources.
Because oil is a major cost component for both companies and consumers, many investors have embraced the opportunity to hedge against an increase in costs by establishing exposure to the commodity. And because it is subject to wild price swings–crude has touched both $140 and $35 in recent years–speculators have embraced this resource as an opportunity to generate big profits in a relatively short period of time [also see The Definitive Oil ETF Guide].
Investing in oil through ETFs is not the simple binary process that it once was; there are a number of options offering exposure to a variety of commodities. Each of these resources maintain similar physical properties, and their prices will often be impacted by the same economic forces. But they certainly aren’t identical, as each maintains a unique risk/return profile. Below, we profile the different types of oil accessible through ETFs [for more ETF ideas, sign up for our free ETF newsletter]:
West Texas Intermediate
Also known as Texas light sweet crude oil, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a type of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing and serves as the underlying commodity on NYMEX oil futures contracts. WTI is primarily refined in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S., and maintains its price settlement point in Cushing, Oklahoma [see Oil ETF Gets Boost From IEA Report].
WTI is lighter and sweeter then Brent crude, and generally is $1 more expensive than Brent (and $2 more expensive than the OPEC Reference Basket, a weighted average of oil blends from OPEC countries).
ETFs offering exposure to WTI include:
- United States Oil Fund (USO): This ETF has nearly $2 billion in assets, and invests primarily in near-month NYMEX contracts [see Five Reasons USO Could Be Ready To Soar].
- iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL): This cleverly-named product is structured as an ETN, meaning that it is a senior unsubordinated debt security. The index to which this note is linked reflects the returns that are potentially available through an unleveraged investment in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract plus the Treasury Bill rate of interest.
- PowerShares DB Oil Fund (DBO): This fund is linked to a rules-based index comprised of futures contracts on WTI. Unlike USO, this fund tracks an “Optimum Yield” version of an index that seeks to replace expiring futures contracts with new contracts expiring in the month that will generate the highest “implied roll yield” (either minimizing the drag of contango or maximizing the yield from backwardation).
- United States 12 Month Oil (USL): This ETF also invests in WTI futures, but spreads exposure across various maturities instead of investing exclusively in front month contracts. That potentially reduces the impact of contango, but also makes the fund less sensitive to changes in the spot price [also see What Oil ETF Cash Flows Tell Us About Crude Prices].
Brent Oil
Brent crude doesn’t maintain nearly the recognition of WTI, but is a more important global resource than most realize. The Brent crude oil contract trades in U.S. dollars in London, and is the second most liquid commodity futures contract in the world (it comes in behind only WTI and ahead of gold and natural gas). Brent crude oil often serves as a benchmark for pricing of oil produced in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East that is headed west. Brent is priced at the port of Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands off the North Sea and moved via tanker to its end destination.
Brent crude is accessible through the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO), a relatively new product launched by United States Commodity Funds in June 2009 [also see Finding The Right Oil ETF For A Crude Rally].
Gasoline
Another option for oil exposure is the United States Gasoline Fund (UGA), which invests primarily in RBOB gasoline futures traded on the NYMEX. RBOB stands for “Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending,” and is the raw ingredient used to make different blends of gas. In 2006, the NYMEX phased out trading in unleaded gasoline futures because the product contained a chemical banned in many states for polluting groundwater. RBOB gasoline doesn’t contain the chemical MTBE, and was phased in in place of unleaded gasoline. Prices of RBOB futures roughly line up with what drivers see at their local gas station [see Five ETFs To Hedge Against Skyrocketing Gas Prices].
Heating Oil
Heating oil accounts for about 25% of the yield of a barrel of crude, the second largest allocation after gasoline. As the name suggests, this form of oil is used as a fuel for furnaces or boilers in buildings. Heating oil is used most heavily in areas of the U.S. and Canada where natural gas is not readily available, and is the primary source of fuel in certain countries.
Heating oil futures are traded on the ICE and NYMEX exchanges, and contracts have delivery dates in all 12 months of the year; the United States Heating Oil Fund (UHN) invests primarily in near month NYMEX contracts.
Diversified Oil
In addition to the more targeted funds profiled above, there are a number of broad-based energy products that include exposure to a number of different forms of oil:
- PowerShares DB Energy Fund (DBE): This product tracks the performance of a rules-based index that consists of futures contracts on WTI, heating oil, Brent crude oil, RBOB gasoline, and natural gas.
- ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity Energy ETN (RJN): This exchange-traded note also offers exposure to a diversified basket of energy commodities, with WTI and Brent oil accounting for almost 80% of the related index.
- iPath Dow Jones-UBS Energy Total Return ETN (JJE): The index underlying this ETN is composed of futures contracts on four energy-related commodity contracts: crude oil, heating oil, natural gas, and unleaded gasoline.
- E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Energy ETN (UBN): In addition to WTI, Brent, heating oil, gasoline, and natural gas, the index underlying this ETN includes exposure to gasoil (about 10% of total exposure).
For more ETF insights, sign up for our free ETF newsletter.
Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
-->ETF Database is not an investment advisor, and any content published by ETF Database does not constitute individual investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. From time to time, issuers of exchange-traded products mentioned herein may place paid advertisements with ETF Database. All content on ETF Database is produced independently of any advertising relationships. Read the full disclaimer here.
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10 Effective Ways To Become A Successful Writer
10 Effective Ways To Become A Successful Writer
by Rajni on August 2nd, 2010 No Comments »Writing is an art! Whether you’re writing for your blog or for your personal interest, creativity does the trick. Your writing is insignificant if nobody is reading it! Writing asks for true devotion and lots of practice. In fact at times it seems to be really nerve-wracking. Does that mean you have to be born gifted? No you don’t have to! Just do it!
When you go about writing you should know how to communicate your message effectively. Engaging the interest of the reader is of utmost importance. Creative writing can be really a challenging job, definitely not impossible! There are innumerable key elements that go into creating a successful writing. Much importance is laid to the content. Before you finally sit to write down, you should know well as to what can help make your readers enjoy your write up and stick around!
Shake off your need to write flawlessly, don’t compare yourself to other writers and follow the steps pinned below. Taste your writing! As a writer, you grow with every piece you write. Here are 10 effective ways to become a successful writer. No matter what level of writer you are, these suggestions will help you become a good writer.
1. Put your heart: One of the greatest skills you as a writer can develop is, write from the heart or I must say put your heart in! Write for yourself, write for your readers. Enjoy writing! If you write just for the heck of it, you’re sure to come up with a dull piece of write up. Write in a way that comes naturally.
2. Reading is the fuel: If you want to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader. Learn from the great writers and there is no harm in emulating them. It’s the only way you can find your voice. You can’t be a good writer if you don’t read. Try to read as much as you can! Pick up books that you feel fascinated with, even those you don’t like! Why read what you don’t like. I suggest this, for you never know what you might get out of them. Just read as much you can!
3. Write daily: Write, write and write! Writing is just like everything else. The more you write, the better you turn out to be! If you’ve a blank screen in front of you why not write. Just give it a start! Let your fingers just go about typing. Write anything you want to! Choose any topic and flow with it. You’ll keep wondering how your creative juices just let you move on and stuff keeps pouring out of you!
4. Simplicity is the key: Keep it simple. Pretend you’re having conversation with your friend and write just like that. Simple language, easy words, short crispy sentences do the trick. Write in any format but keep it simple!
5. Planning: Yes, I agree that you should just go about writing in a flow but when it comes to writing for your blog, you gotta go about with certain planning. You should choose your topic well in advance and plan you schedule. If you go about writing a blog post without planning, it might not turn out to be a good write up. While writing for your blog, you should know what your readers want. Planning or thinking before you finally sit down to write is actually helpful. Bit of brainstorming can help you come up with a great blog post.
6. Avoid distractions: If you’re writing with multi-tasking or in the place where there is a noise, you’re sure to be distracted. Some say, even music distracts but I love writing with some mellow music playing softly. When you start writing, turn off emails, IM notifications, cellphone, your phone or anything you think would distract you. Hey, don’t waste much time on removing these distractions for it’s your writing time and devote as much time you can just to writing!
7. Research as much as you can: Excellent writing is rooted deeply in good research. Surf as much net you can before you start to prepare the final draft. You gotta have good knowledge of the topic you’re writing on. If you don’t research well, or you’re not well versed with the topic, your writing is waste. Your readers won’t get the clear ideas as to what you want to convey through your writing. Use net effectively and efficiently. Well researched write-up is sure to be loved by the readers.
8. Play with words: Lemme be clear with what I mean to say. You will end up with a great piece of writing if you know how to use the words effectively. Good vocabulary is always welcome, in case you come up with words that you don’t know; don’t feel shy of looking it up in the dictionary. Use the thesaurus! Right click on a word to use the thesaurus. Do it time and again on the new word and make the best use of your vocabulary.
Seeking out vocabulary building exercises and doing whatever else you can think of can help you increase the number of words you have at your disposal. Rest is your skill of playing with them! This doesn’t mean your article should be full of unnecessary words. Avoid wordiness and use just the words that you think would be apt for leaving an impact on the readers.
9. Proof read & Edit: Laurell K. Hamilton, the author of the wildly popular Anita Blake series once rightly said that “70% of a first draft is garbage and 30% is gold’” So, so true! Editing is the part of writing. You’ll just end up fooling yourself if you think that you can write a piece once and you’re done! Proof read your article, edit it and then compare it with the first draft; you’ll notice the difference yourself.
We tend to make careless mistakes and this definitely can cost you a job by ruining a good piece of writing. Many people hate revising but a good writer should develop the habit of revising. Go back over everything! Look or grammar and spelling mistakes, remove unnecessary words check if your write up is in flow. In short, publishing a post without rechecking is not ideally correct.
10. Readability : Talk to your readers! They enjoy writing that’s contervosial, not wordy, simple, original and easily scannable. If you use tricky words in quest to make your write up extraordinary, it will be a total failure. Write in simple, readable and a manner that makes the readers feel as if you’re talking to them. Write naturally, write creatively!
To conclude, there are no hard and fast rules to successful writing, but applying the helpful hints listed above will ensure you develop the art of writing!
iWon News - 1962 glass could be Corning's next bonanza seller
1962 glass could be Corning's next bonanza seller
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By BEN DOBBINAug 1, 2:14 PM (ET)
CORNING, N.Y. (AP) - An ultra-strong glass that has been looking for a purpose since its invention in 1962 is poised to become a multibillion-dollar bonanza for Corning Inc.
The 159-year-old glass pioneer
is ramping up production of what it calls Gorilla glass, expecting it to be the hot new face of touch-screen tablets and high-end TVs.
Gorilla showed early promise in the '60s, but failed to find a commercial use, so it's been biding its time in a hilltop research lab for almost a half-century. It picked up its first customer in 2008 and has quickly become a $170 million a year business as a protective layer over the screens of 40 million-plus cell phones and other mobile devices.
Now, the latest trend in TVs could catapult it to a billion-dollar business: Frameless flat-screens that could be mistaken for chic glass artwork on a living-room wall.
Because Gorilla is very hard to break, dent or scratch, Corning is betting it will be the glass of choice as TV-set manufacturers dispense with protective rims or bezels for their sets, in search of an elegant look.
Gorilla is two to three times stronger than chemically strengthened versions of ordinary soda-lime glass, even when just half as thick, company scientists say. Its strength also means Gorilla can be thinner than a dime, saving on weight and shipping costs.
Corning is in talks with Asian manufacturers to bring Gorilla to the TV market in early 2011 and expects to land its first deal this fall. With production going full-tilt in Harrodsburg, Ky., it is converting part of a second factory in Shizuoka, Japan, to fill a potential burst of orders by year-end.
"That'll tell you something about our confidence in this," said Corning President Peter Volanakis.
Investors are taking notice. In June, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York raised Corning's projected share price, predicting Gorilla would be its second biggest business by 2015.
"There's a wide range of views on how successful this product will be," said Deutsche Bank analyst Carter Shoop. "But I think it's safe to say that, in aggregate, people are becoming much more bullish. It's a tremendous opportunity. We'll have to see how consumers react."
DisplaySearch market analyst Paul Gagnon said alternatives "obviously scratch easier, they're thicker and heavier, but they're also cheaper." He estimates that a sheet of Gorilla would add $30 to $60 to the cost of a set.
It remains to be seen "whether this becomes a hit trend that propagates to other models and sizes or remains in the confines of a premium step-up series of products," Gagnon said.
"This is a fashion trend, not a functional trend, and that's what makes (the growth rate) very hard to predict," said Volanakis. "But because the market is so large in terms of number of TVs - and the amount of glass per TV is so large - that's what can move the needle pretty quickly."
Based in western New York, Corning is the world's largest maker of glass for liquid-crystal-display computers and TVs. High-margin LCD glass generated the bulk of Corning's $5.4 billion in 2009 sales.
By ramping up volume production quickly in a budding market, Corning is pursuing a well-worn strategy designed to keep rivals from gaining ground. Its patience is also well practiced. Executives know too well the gulf between inspiration and application is sometimes decades-wide.
Corning set out in the late 1950s to find a glass as strong as steel. Dubbed Project Muscle, the effort combined heating and layering experiments and produced a robust yet bendable material called Chemcor.
Then in 1964, Corning devised an ingenious method called "fusion draw" to make super-thin, unvaryingly flat glass. It pumped hot glass into a suspended trough and allowed it to overflow and run down either side. The glass flows then meet under the trough and fuse seamlessly into a smooth, hanging sheet of glass.
To make Chemcor, Corning ran the sheets through a "tempering" process that set up internal stresses in the material. The same principle is behind the toughness of Pyrex glass, but Chemcor was tempered in a chemical bath, not by heat treatment.
Corning thought Chemcor sheets created this way would be the material of choice in car windshields, but British rival Pilkington Bros. intervened with a far cheaper mass-production approach. And another Chemcor adaptation in photochromic sunglasses also fizzled in the retail market.
Fusion draw finally proved its commercial value when Japanese electronics companies, looking for slim sheets free of alkalis that contaminate liquid crystals, turned to Corning's soda-lime LCD glass in the 1980s. Corning rapidly turned into the world's biggest supplier of LCD glass for laptops and that business blossomed around 2003 when LCD technology migrated to TVs.
In 2006, when demand surfaced for a cell phone cover glass, Corning dug out Chemcor from its database, tweaked it for manufacturing in LCD tanks, and renamed it Gorilla. "Initially, we were telling ourselves a $10 million business," said researcher Ron Stewart.
With relatively low startup costs, Gorilla should generate its first profit this year. And now that production is back on, designers are again exploring using it in unexpected places, like refrigerator doors, car sunroofs and touch-screen hotel advertising.
Among the 100-plus devices with Gorilla are Motorola Inc.'s Droid smart phone and LG Electronics
Since the Civil War, Corning has turned out a glittering array of innovations from railroad signals to Pyrex and auto-pollution filters to optical fiber. Allotting 10 percent of revenue to research keeps promising projects brewing at its Sullivan Park research hub on Corning's hilly outskirts.
Optical fiber is another example of an invention that took a long time to come into its own. In 1934, chemist Frank Hyde came up with a practical method of making fused silica - an exceptionally pure glass - in bulk, yet it wasn't put to use as optical fiber until the 1970s. Once there, it helped create the Internet revolution.
In his office lobby, Steiner showed off a 400-foot-long spool of flexible, 16-inch-wide glass that's as thin as a sheet of paper.
"Kind of like Chemcor was back in the '60s," he said. "We're not sure what we're going to do with it, but it's cool isn't it?"
40 Bizarre Statistics That Reveal The Horrifying Truth About The Collapse Of The U.S. Economy
40 Bizarre Statistics That Reveal The Horrifying Truth About The Collapse Of The U.S. Economy
Posted by Admin | Posted in Economy | Posted on 20-07-2010
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Most Americans still appear to be operating under the delusion that the "recession" will soon pass and that things will get back to "normal" very soon. Unfortunately, that is not anywhere close to the truth. What we are now witnessing are the early stages of the complete and total breakdown of the U.S. economic system. The U.S. government, state governments, local governments, businesses and American consumers have collectively piled up debt that is equivalent to approximately 360 percent of GDP. At no point during the Great Depression (or at any other time during our history) did we ever come close to such a figure. We have piled up the biggest mountain of debt that the world has ever seen, and now that gigantic debt bubble is beginning to pop. As this house of cards comes crashing down, the economic pain is going to become almost unimaginable.
Already, things are really, really, really bad out there. Unemployment is at shockingly high levels. Foreclosures and personal bankruptcies continue to set new all-time records. Businesses are being shut down at a staggering rate, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. government continues to pile up debt at blinding speed.
There is no use sugar-coating it.
The U.S. economy is collapsing.
The following are 40 bizarre statistics that reveal the truth about the collapse of the U.S. economy....
1 - According to one shocking new survey, 28% of U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.
2 - A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
3 - There are 9.2 million Americans that are unemployed but that are not receiving an unemployment insurance check.
4 - In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
5 - According to one analysis, the United States has lost 10.5 million jobs since 2007.
6 - China's trade surplus (much of it with the United States) climbed 140 percent in June compared to a year earlier.
7 - This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
8 - According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
9 - According to a recent poll conducted by Bloomberg, 71% of Americans say that it still feels like the economy is in a recession.
10 - Banks repossessed 269,962 U.S. homes during the second quarter of 2010, which was a new all-time record.
11 - Banks repossessed an average of 4,000 South Florida properties a month in the first half of 2010, up 83 percent from the first half of 2009.
12 - According to RealtyTrac, a total of 1.65 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the first half of 2010.
13 - The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes has sunk to a 13-year low.
14 - Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
15 - 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
16 - Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.
17 - According to a new poll, six of 10 non-retirees believe that Social Security won't be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.
18 - 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
19 - According to one survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
20 - According to one recent survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
21 - The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined sharply to 52.9 in June. Most economists had expected that the figure for June would be somewhere around 62.
22 - Retail sales in the U.S. fell in June for a second month in a row.
23 - Vacancies and lease rates at U.S. shopping centers continued to get worse during the second quarter of 2010.
24 - Consumer credit in the United States has contracted during 15 of the past 16 months.
25 - During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.
26 - Things are now so bad in California that in the region around the state capital, Sacramento, there is now one closed business for every six that are still open.
27 - The state of Illinois now ranks eighth in the world in possible bond-holder default. The state of California is ninth.
28 - More than 25 percent of Americans now have a credit score below 599, which means that they are a very bad credit risk.
29 - On Friday, U.S. regulators closed down three banks in Florida, two in South Carolina and one in Michigan, bringing to 96 the number of U.S. banks to be shut down so far in 2010.
30 - The FDIC's deposit insurance fund now has negative 20.7 billion dollars in it, which represents a slight improvement from the end of 2009.
31 - The U.S. federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year.
32 - According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.
33 - The M3 money supply plunged at a 9.6 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2010.
34 - According to a new poll of Americans between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.
35 - One study found that as of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
36 - The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
37 - The number of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line rose by about 15% between 2000 and 2006, and by 2008 over 30 million U.S. workers were earning less than $10 per hour.
38 - According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
39 - For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
40 - A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey has found that just 23% of American voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Doryman: Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building
During the last one hundred years, the Puget Sound in Washington state has held an attraction for people who sailed, built and repaired wooden boats. A number of influences helped establish a wooden boat building culture that is characteristic to the region. Through the efforts of talented naval designers, shipwrights and boat builders, a style of boat building emerged in the early twentieth century which allowed small boat shops on Lake Union, as well as larger shops on the Sound, to build and repair wooden boats quickly and in large quantities. Immigration brought boat building traditions from England, Norway, Japan and Croatia into close proximity on the Puget Sound, allowing a unique borrowing and blending of traditions.The Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building is the only traditional wooden boat building school to teach the distinctive methods developed in the early 1900's by Puget Sound shipwrights and master boat builders. The curriculum assures the historical preservation of the finest and most efficient forms of these traditional boat building techniques.
The school is sponsoring a community event on the water at Port Hadlock, WA.Saturday, August 7th is the date for the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding’s second annual Sail-In.
The event begins at 1:00 pm and ends around 6:00 pm.ALL ARE INVITED! This informal gathering is for people of all ages. There are great things happening in lower Port Hadlock, come see for yourself. No need to RSVP, just show up and enjoy.
