May 2008
Web-based Supplier Collaboration Creates Value With VendorServer
An ETO (Engineer-to-Order) company manufactures highly
engineered boilers and capital energy equipment used by utility
companies. The firm faced key challenges including:
* Reduce cycle times for proposals and products
* Uncoordinated and lengthy purchasing process
* Improve collaboration between engineering, manufacturing and
suppliers
* Lower cost of purchased goods
* Tighten integration with the enterprise application
The business process for collaborating internally and with
suppliers prior to implementing VendorServer® needed
improvement. A seamless process to work with engineering, buyers
and suppliers to shrink the lengthy and cumbersome supply chain
cycle was imperative. The need to communicate with design,
engineering, sales and suppliers to quickly turn opportunities
into proposals, and proposals into orders and executable plans,
was critical. The opportunity for miscommunication throughout
the entire supply chain was significant with countless
departments and external suppliers involved in the process and
extremely complex purchasing activities.
The lengthy and involved designing, buying and building process
is further complicated by time based milestones and the proper
timing of materials that can extend beyond a year. The previous
business process had many manual and disconnected automated
purchasing systems limiting the ability to effectively manage
the supply chain process. There were no provisions for supplier
interaction beyond telephone and fax methods.
Without adopting a more strategic approach, the client was faced
with higher costs, less accuracy, long lead times, higher
carrying costs and lower customer satisfaction. The client
created a 360-degree view of requirements for taking its supply
chain and supplier collaboration to a new level to enhance
business operations in an area with substantial payback.
Visibility Corporation (www.visibility.com) is a leading
developer and supplier of business software solutions designed
for the unique needs of project-based, engineer-to-order and
to-order manufacturers. Visibility’s Enterprise Application
solutions help midsize manufacturers of complex products operate
their businesses effectively.
VISIBILITY.net is an integrated ERP solution and more. Offering
unparalleled functionality and integrated workflow, this
browser-based solution cost effectively delivers the power of
.NET-based Web services for use with either a Microsoft SQL
Server or Oracle® database. Conducting business any place, any
time, any where is a reality, deployable with unprecedented
flexibility.
Visibility Jaclyn Aldrich 978-694-8000
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When Do you Think is the Best Moment to Add Sex Aids In a Relationship?
Sex toys will probably be difficult to use into a long term relationship Some people might well see the introduction of vibrators into a blissful relationship scary and it will often bring up questions such as “is there something wrong with me”? Nevertheless sex play toys will be a fantastic and satisfying endeavour and sex toys also help to build confidence between you & your girlfriend.
Figuring out which vibe to choose will often be an adventure. A time where you and your girlfriend can sit down and converse about what you together want out of the experience and choose a sex play toy together that meets both of your wants. Don?t go straight in for the main huge sex play toys, start off slow.
Once you have chosen a vibrator & have had the eager excitement of unwrapping your new sexual toy you and your partner need to get into the sexy mood. Dimmed light and romantic and sensual music are the perfect platform to start off any sexual adventure. Make the time sensual, unplug the radio, turn off the DVD player & focus fully on your girlfriend. Extended sensual stimulation before bringing out the sex play toy is an incredible idea. Romantic & loving touch increases the sensations and helps towards a very relaxing & satisfying event.
And please don’t forget to get into the zone, have lots of fun and enjoy it. Male Sex Toys come in all shapes and sizes, check them out!
Fight The Fluff!
The first and final rule of quality writing is this: what doesn’t strengthen your writing, weakens it.
There are no neutral words when you’re trying to be persuasive - every word must be doing real work and every sentence must be necessary. Don’t say in two sentences what you can say in one; don’t use five words when you can use three. Don’t use a five-syllable word when an available two-syllable word means the same thing. Take the fluff out of your writing.
Fluff is the often subtle cancer that grows - and ultimately kills - good writing. If your writing isn’t achieving the effects you want, consider a few of the warning signs of a fluff infection:
Redundancy. Analyze your writing for places where you are repeating yourself. It happens often, particularly when the writer isn’t convinced that the reader will get the point without it. Give your reader some credit. Make each point once and make it effectively - and then don’t make it again.
Tangents. A good piece of writing is one that makes a single effective point, supported by other lesser ones; anything that doesn’t directly contribute to that support structure is a distraction and an excuse to stop reading. Don’t take readers on side trips and don’t let them catch their breath. Cut out anything that doesn’t directly advance the final cause.
Ornamentation. Ornamentation happens when a writer is hit with a sudden burst of creativity, and the writing ends up saddled with clever turns of phrase that don’t contribute anything but wit. This is what Hemingway was referring to when he advised writers to kill their darlings - art is all well and good, but make sure it keeps its day job.
Pointless modifiers. Adverbs (words that modify verbs) and adjectives (words that modify nouns) are a little like salt and pepper - useful in very small doses, very bad in big ones. They’re often used by lazy writers in an attempt to convince generic nouns (”the beautiful, voluptuous woman”) and verbs (”he ran very quickly”) to do more interesting jobs. The English language is full of precision nouns and verbs; whenever possible, use the right words rather than trying to modify the wrong ones.
Needless qualifiers and hedging. Phrases like “and yet, on balance” and “it could be considered” destroy more confidence than they create. Be direct and write with strength: boldly write what you know, and leave out what you don’t.
Pretentious language. Occasionally, we all have a crisis of confidence that leads us to think that we need large words and cumbersome sentences in order to be taken seriously. This is when it is time to take a nap and let the feeling pass; “extraneous solutions that minimally impact positive budget modifications” is never going to sound better than “it won’t work because it costs more than it’ll make back”.
About The Author
Robert Warren (www.rswarren.com) is a Florida-based freelance copywriter specializing in the unique marketing needs of independent professionals.
writer@rswarren.com
Beyond Paint: Decorating Walls With Stencils
Painting walls in various colors is a quick and easy way to decorate any room in your home. But when you’re looking for something a bit more artistic and unique, you might try your hand at stenciling.
Stencils come in a variety of forms: Simple geometric shapes to elaborate scenery. Really good stencils can actually reproduce famous paintings and designs too.
A simple room decoration stencil pattern to start with is borders. Stenciling borders can be done in addition to existing wallpaper, or as a replacement. Stenciled borders can be repeated geometric designs, or more detailed repeating patterns such as vines, flowers or leaves. Borders can also be placed at the top of a wall, the bottom, or in dead center for variating effects and design influences.
Stencils allow you to create friezes as well. This is done simply by starting with a strong contrasting color at the top, and carried downward through gradually fading tints until they are lost in the general color of the wall
There once was a pink and silver room belonging to a young girl, where the salmon-pink walls were deepened in color at the top into almost a tint of vermilion which had in it a trace of green. It was, in fact, an addition of spring green dropped into the vermilion and carelessly stirred, so that it should be mixed but not incorporated. Over this shaded and mixed color for the space of three feet was stencilled a fountain-like pattern in cream-white, the arches of the pattern rilled in with almost a lace-work of design. The whole upper part had an effect like carved alabaster and was indescribably light and graceful.
This is an example of very delicate and truly artistic treatment of stencil-work, and one can easily see how it can be used either in simple or elaborate fashion with great effect.
Irregularly placed floating forms of Persian or Arabic design are often admirably stencilled in color upon a painted wall; but in this case the colors should be varied and not too strong. A group of forms floating away from a window-frame or cornice can be done in two shades of the wall color, one of which is positively darker and one lighter than the ground. If to these two shades some delicately contrasting color is occasionally added the effect is not only pleasing, but belongs to a thoroughly good style.
One seldom tires of a good stencilled wall; probably because it is intrinsic, and not applied in the sense of paper or textiles. It carries an air of permanency which discourages change or experiment, but it may take a bit of practice to do well.
About the Author
© 2005, The Do It Yourself Home Decorating Network - A large and growing portal of home decorating and decor articles, tips, advice and excellent home decor shopping sections. This article may be republished on any website, as long as it remains unchanged, carries this copyright and reprint notice, and has a live link to our site.
Banking Online Brings Multiple Advantages
With so much negative publicity in the tabloids about banks closing their doors on the High Street, it is too easy to forget the positive aspects which lie behind these dismal (and over exaggerated) tales. In fact, between the Internet and the debit card, it is harder to say which has revolutionised the use of current accounts more during the past decade in the UK.
Undoubtedly now, however, online banking will be the forerunner of banking change over the next ten years. Already, if you are considering changing your current account, the best and most up to date place to research products and services offered by other banks or even by your own is the Internet. With banks seeking to outdo themselves in differentiating their product and service offerings, the Internet offers a veritable smorgasbord of current account choices combined with the ability to compare different offerings on the same page.
Current account choices range from Premium accounts, offering various perks (at a price) to Intelligent Finance offerings combining the management of savings, mortgage, loans and credit cards into one service at generously low rates of interest.
The Internet also widens the choice of access routes to your bank’s services. Some accounts are Internet only, others offer phone access as well and others again maintain the links to the High Street in addition to their Internet and telephony offerings.
The most interesting developments in which financial organisations such as Cahoot and First Direct led the way are in account self management. This has extended in many cases to cover not only current accounts, but also savings, mortgage, loan and credit card offerings. Some banks now offer a service which covers all your online accounts, no matter which bank they belong to. And some have added share dealing to the range of online services on offer.
So it pays to shop around not only for the most suitable product but also for the kind of services you want to be able to access on and off line.
Applying for an online account is a relatively straightforward affair. Obviously, you require your personal details (name, address, date of birth). You will also need various financial details - for example, your job and salary and any accounts you currently have (particularly if you are intending switching accounts).
You will also be asked for security details and here it pays to be prepared in advance. Common questions are your mother’s maiden name, your favourite colour or pet, a memorable address or date. In addition, you will be asked for a password. You should create your password before you start the application process rather than making it up on the spot. A strong password consists of at least 8 characters and a mix of capital and small letters and numbers. Write it down. Use it during the application process and keep it securely afterwards.
Once you have applied online your details will be sent to you for confirmation in writing. Don’t alter the details on the form you receive. Instead contact the bank or log on again to change them, depending on the bank’s procedure. Otherwise you could invalidate your application.
Some people are worried about security online. However, banking online is as safe as banking on the High Street provided you take a few commonsense precautions. For general information on computer security refer to the government website www.getsafeonline.org .
Tim Day writing for creditmarket.co.uk about bank
accounts and savings accounts. A valuable resource for all UK finance both business and personal.
Buying Baby Clothes On The Web
Buying Baby Clothes Online
Today’s parents have more options available to them when it
comes to finding and purchasing clothes and other items for
their babies than ever before. With the advent of the internet,
shopping for baby clothes has never been easier as there are
numerous online retailers that can provide almost anything a
parent needs. What follows are some of the best web sites for
buying baby clothes online.
Discount Baby Clothes
Not surprisingly, some of the best physical discount stores that
carry baby clothes are also some of the best online retailers.
When looking for baby duds at an acceptable price the kings
online are Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Each company offers
direct sales from their web site, have pretty much everything
you could need in terms of baby clothing and layette needs, and
offer it all at prices that won’t make you spit up your Isomil
formula. Each offers clearance items and baby registry services
as well.
Other good sites with slightly higher, but still mid-range,
pricing belong to Old Navy and Land’s End.
Designer Baby Clothes
If you are a parent that wants to dress little Jane or Brian
with a bit more pizzazz and if you don’t mind paying
considerably more to do so then try E-Luxury, a site that offers
the full line of Baby Dior products and the direct web sites of
several other designers who deal in baby clothing.
Anne Geddes who recently launched a line of her own baby wear
based on her famous photographs.has their own site as does Baby
Phat If you’re looking to shop for as much as possible under one
electronic roof try Chic Baby Boutique, they carry most of the
Mak the Yak and Baby Om clothing lines.
Let Your Fingers do the Walking
There are literally hundreds of other web sites out there that
offer baby clothes at all price ranges and designed to meet all
specifications. If you’re interested in organically grown
cotton, there’s a site that specializes in baby clothing made
from those fibers. If you want punk rock designs on your baby’s
T-shirts, there are sites that offer just that! There are sites
that offer political slogans on baby sized clothing,
“alternative’ baby clothing, and sites for baby & toddler
tuxedos and evening gowns. If you can imagine it, you can
probably find it somewhere on the internet where there is
someone just waiting to sell it to you.
A Look Back At Forex Trading - 3/27/06
I understand that hindsight is 20/20, but I believe that there is still a great deal to be learned by looking back at Forex trading. Although this article was written ahead of the trading action I am going to discuss, by the time you read this the trading activity which we’re discussing will have already taken place.
If you are not familiar with article submission, let me just fill you in on one fact, your article will not be published for several days. I just want to make it clear that none of the information that you are reading has been written after the fact.
We had a strong bounce up on Friday, which if you are not careful could have hurt you. I hope you all saw the reversal indicators, especially on the 4 hour chart.
It gave us a shooting star Doji and a double bottom tweezer. Followed by a sharp angle up reversal of the MACD with eventual cross above the signal line, with the 1 hour MACD already on the buy side of the signal line, and price action going against you, you had to cancel the sell order, if you had placed one.
So much for Friday, what about today. Well the market is banging up against resistance right now trading around 1.7460. This resistance is pretty strong with multiple levels in a tight region which goes from 1.7460 all the way up to 1.7510.
Consolidation should be expected for the next few days with the early bias on the up side, but if the resistance holds below 1.7510 we will expect the price action to resume its downward move towards 1.7048.
As we discussed previously, this is a very tough market to make money in. The daily ranges just get too tight to be able to get in trades and hit profit. There have been very few definable significant trend to ride.
It is all the more important to adhere to your risk vs. reward and money management rules, and you follow what the charts are telling you as far as trend direction and support and resistance, you can be very successful.
The importance of a quality trading strategy is exaggerated in this type of market. The best way to establish a strategy is by education.
Learning to develop your own trading strategy is the most important step you can take in your Forex trading career. Get a quality Forex trading education, whether in the form of an elite Forex trading course, or Forex seminar.
Eddie has trained traders for 10 years. His Forex trading course, or Forex seminar, is the only Forex
trading education you need.
You Must Embrace Life!
—————————
EMBRACE LIFE
—————————
Life, the mystery of our being is to befriended, tamed and mastered
as much as we possibly can. This trinity action is necessary to alleviate
our suffering. One axiom goes thus: “Life deals severe blows to
those who make it their enemy.” Life is very purposeful so you too
should be very purposeful and wise in dealing with it.
Listen, in this game of life there is no fairness. Life will continuously
conjure and spring all sorts of tricks, to weary and wear you down and
out to lessen its load. Life considers you as a burden to be jettisoned at
any given opportunity. That is why you meet obstacles in our progress
in life.
You can now see why you must face life with wisdom so that you can
take its hiccups by your strides, cheerfully surmounting the obstacles
or at least knowing that you are not bound to carry life’s obstacles,
that you can as well ride them till they fade. But many of us play into life’s
hands by giving in to desperation, frustration and depression,
They foolishly hand life the trinity of their undoing. Some even reject
themselves, condemning and accepting to be condemned by others
whose expectations they supposedly do not live up to.
But the truth is that you are unique, a creature of purpose, instead of
sentiment. That purpose is inherent in life, embrace it. Learn to beat
life’s tricks and vicissitudes by not allowing yourself to degenerate
into self-pity or self-hate, despair or depression or frustration. All are shameful
vehicles to premature exit from here.
Listen now, and believe me! YOU HAVE NEVER FAILED. Life
has been consistently disappointing you, trying very hard to will you to
accept yourself as a failure.
Life can be so mean, to the extent of employing other people, too, to
make you, through advises and gossips, feel that you have failed and
are no good, fit only for the grave.
But wisdom, your friend from the source of life, demands that you do
not cooperate in engineering your own failure. To fall is not to fail.
There is no shame in falling, but there is courage and the grace that
comes with getting up and carrying on. After all, life has goodies
too, which it doles out from time to time.
But, you know what?
Depressed self loathers seldom are recipients of life’s goodies, because
life in spite of its meanness, likes a cheerful spirit. And even when life
goes out of its way to dole out any goodies to the depressed, what good
is it when the depressed cannot enjoy anything with their botched minds.
Now, enjoy the below poem and think about yourself positively. You are
unique, you may not be a Thomas Edison, but you have got so much to offer
the world. You are here for a laudable purpose, don’t let life cheat you out
so soon, unfulfilled.
—————————–
BECAUSE IT IS A RED LETER DAY
—————————–
So it turns out a red letter day, ungainly futile and you frown at green thoughts that failed to yield.Your unhappiness fuels hopelessness, and your heart is heavy and aches, because it is a red letter day.
Your wish is wasted on life’s whims and caprices, and so you want your neck in a rope, to pass into nothingness, better than even a sweet day of clean swift achievements, which desires can’t ensure, because it is a red letter day.
Oh! Like the perilous sea is the day; what it throws up you must manage, but unlike in the perilous sea, you can stay afloat.
The night is nigh and the day must close, even on a red letter day.
And morning will surely come with a virgin day defiled, by desires, ladders to summits and, perhaps, a green letter day for you, oh my friend. Stay alive, swim, and don’t sink even on a red letter day.
There are countless proofs that we become our own worst enemy
when we give in to self doubt, despair and depression. Listen well,
my dear friend, don’t carry your situations, ride them till they fade.
Nothing is worth your sadness, you are better than you think.
Don’t ever feel superstitious or hopeless. Have set goals to feed
your hope. Hope is your seat in life. Work your goals to tend your hope.
Believe in both life and yourself. Remember, never
condemn yourself or accept condemnation by other people.
Thomas Edison said: “I never did anything worth doing by accident,
nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.”
But do you know that before Edison achieved any of his inventions
he failed thousands of times? (Experiments)
Patience and self confidence are the twin vehicles that will carry you
to your goals. Edison did not allow his disappointments or failures or
what people said to depress him and rob him of his universal purpose.
How did he do that?
He believed in life and himself. He neither condemned
himself nor did he accept other people’s condemnations. He
never lost focus and, his hope, which he tended with work, persistent
work, came to fruition in many inventions. Above all He embraced life,
in spite of its vicissitudes and
the rest is now history.
So, you too should learn to embrace life and live it to the fullest, in spite
of its vicissitudes. Remember, you have NEVER failed. You may have
fallen a number of times, but even Edison did too. So, it is nothing new.
Success comes to those who persevere. Stay with it!
I am your true friend
Neshah
To ensure sound health and independence in both your youth
and old age, visit http://tianshi.wealthyhealthyways.com
for FREE information.
Yoga As An Aid To Weight Loss
Yoga is wonderful for nurturing a state of mental and physical
well being . It promotes a balanced and healthy lifestyle, and
yoga techniques can be applied also to removing excess weight,
thus bringing you an extra benefit, that is if being overweight
is a problem to you.
Practicing yoga will increase your metabolism. An increased
metabolism leads to an increase in the calorie burning process,
so combining yoga with a calorie burning program may bring you
excellent results. Of course, the use of yoga is no rapid weight
loss method. Used over a period of time, though, it can bring
good results. If you keep to the rigours imposed by yoga
discipline, you should gain a holistic, long term solution to
balance your life style and help you reduce and prevent any
surplus weight. In addition to losing weight, you will also
experience an increased ability to concentrate and focus, higher
resistance to stress factors, and overall a healthier way of
life.
Let me just explain a little more about how yoga will benefit
you. Your metabolism is regulated by the thyroid, a component of
the endocrine system. The thyroid is responsible for the
chemical processes in your body that transform food into energy.
Yoga uses a series of twisting poses that stimulate the work
flow of the internal organs, thus boosting metabolism. This in
turn burns more calories, and reduces your body weight. Improved
local blood circulation is another direct effect of the use of
yoga postures, which leads to a healthier, more energetic body.
When the calorie intake is lower than the calorie output, your
body will start burning fat cells to acquire the necessary
energy. A perfectly healthy and strong metabolism takes this
process even further, and you may well see better results than
traditional weight loss formulas.
To stimulate metabolism, various back bends and forward bends
are used. Poses that affect the neck area, where the thyroid
gland is situated, are particularly helpful if the weight
problem is caused by a hormonal imbalance. These poses can be
those of the camel, rabbit, plow, bridge and shoulder stand.
Moving quickly between a series of poses can accelerate the
process. To those who are well overweight, some of the bends may
prove to be a difficult. If you fall into that category, don’t
despair. You should gradually increase the difficulty of the
postures until you have the confidence to go to more complex
exercises. This is not a test or a competition; you need to be
relaxed and at ease, and just do what you can. Each time, you
will probably find it that much easier, and you can do a little
more.
To strengthen muscles, you use standing poses, such as the
warrior. The use of standing poses will aid a higher level of
endurance, and an increased caloric output. You may energize the
body and increase your metabolism even more by using Kapalabhati
and Ujjayi Pranayama.
A good diet should also be followed to support this holistic
weight loss system. You should try to eat foods that are rich in
fibre, vegetables, fruit, whole grains, while eating less high
fat and processed food items. Balance is essential in all
matters concerning your diet. variety is good, as is modest
consumption.
A gradual approach is essential with all yoga practices. Do not
expect results to be spectacular and immediate, but this is one
of the best long term weight loss methods available. In addition
to weight loss, you can also benefit from an increased
protection against adverse factors through your improved immune
system and sense of well being. Hopefully, too, you will feel an
inner peace that will assist you in losing weight without
succumbing to all the pressures and temptations.
Hair Plug Horror - Revisiting Standard Punch Graft
Standard punch grafting is the procedure responsible for giving the hair restoration industry a bad name. Unrefined in technique and esthetically displeasing in appearance, standard punch grafting is the old “hair plug” method that was popularized in the 1980s.
This hair transplant procedure involved removing skin from the front of the scalp to make room for the large plugs (about 4mm) that were to be implanted. The plugs contained many hair follicles and gave an unnatural, obvious look to the hairline and scalp. Hair plugs were the standard form of hair restoration for many years.
The Problems with Standard Punch Grafts
There are many negative aspects associated with the hair plug procedure:
- Hair plugs contain about 15-35 hairs each and are the size of pencil erasers, giving the scalp an unattractive, “corn row” look.
- Only a small number of hair follicles take root after the plug is transplanted because many of the follicles are severed during removal from the donor area. This is damaging to the patient because it destroys precious hair follicles.
- Punch grafts leave large wounds on the scalp which increases the length of the recovery period. This limits surgeons to perform only 20 to 50 grafts each sitting, thereby prolonging the hair restoration process to many sessions.
Due to the significant negative consequences of punch grafts, many hair restoration surgeons today are being asked to repair hair plug disasters. About 10% - 20% of a surgeon’s clientele requests repair work. Usually, it involves re-transplanting individual hairs from the dense plug into the sparse areas between the plugs.
Today, standard punch grafting has been replaced by a more efficient technique called follicular unit extraction.
About the Author
About the Author - Maggie Kay is a freelance writer from Montreal and is the head researcher and content manager of Hair Transplant Costs - a resourceful site about hair transplant doctors. http://www.hairtransplantcosts.com/