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The Frost King Thermoplastic Rubber Self Stick Weatherseal is resistant to extreme climates. It is flexible, waterproof and washable. It is made of long lasting UV resistant materials. Use to seal windows and doors to block drafts.
|3/8" x 5/16" x 20 ft
|3/8" x 5/16" x 20 ft
|3/8" x 5/16" x 20 ft
Q: How do I install Foam Tape?
It's quick, and it's easy to install the Frost King Home Weather stripping tape. You can print out our easy to use instructions, or take a quick look at the handy guys video.
Q: Should I clean the window or door before I install the Foam Tape?
A little warm water and soap should be enough to clean off any loose dust or oil from your window sill or door jam. It's generally good practice to clean any surface before you put down Frost King Tape. Not only will the seal be stronger, but the tape will adhere to the surface for a longer stretch of time.
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Air Conditioners that leak cold air into the summertime heat can cost you money. Frost King Foam Tape and Air Conditioner Accessories are the perfect complement to your home AC Unit. The entire line of Foam Tape can be used around the edges of your AC unit to keep the cold air in and the heat out, plus The Handy Guys can show you what else Frost King can do for your Window or Central Air Conditioning Unit.
Reusable-Adjustable Geckskin Technology Weatherseal
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Silicone Weatherseal
Top-quality weatherseal fills gaps tightly enough to act as a smoke seal. Has built-in memory and is guaranteed not to harden, crack or freeze for 10 years.Learn More


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The media has once again proven itself to be one giant double standard. I know. Shocking, right? So what is it this time? Coverage of Israel? Ranking on Conservatives? Nope. This time, it is policing within media circles. Let's go all the way back to last Tuesday. There is an ongoing hotly debated topic on Capitol Hill over whether or not the whistleblower who reported potential corruption between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should be revealed to the public. Amid these debates, CBS News invited the executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, John Kostyack, on to explain some the protections that are and are not afforded to the whistleblower.
When asked to explain the rights afforded to the whistleblower, Kostyack explained that "One of the most important protections all whistleblowers have is the right to be protected against reprisal and retaliation. There's a long and horrible history of people losing their jobs, having threats to themselves and their family because they spoke out." Remember that because it will be extremely important later. So the establishment of the protection against whistleblowers was to combat the history of people being targeted for reporting inappropriateness within their own company or government.
Let's fast forward all the way to that same day: Tuesday, November 5. Project Veritas, a corporate and media watchdog agency, released a video of ABC News anchor Amy Robach talking into a hot mic to someone off screen explaining that she had already done the legwork to expose Jeffrey Epstein as "the most prolific pedophile this country has ever known," and his apparent connections to the Clinton family and the Royal Family of Great Britain. In the video, Robach mentions that she had testimonies, pictures, and actual accounts from victims already taped and ready to go. She had been sitting on this story for three years and the higher ups at ABC squashed the story, remarking, "Who was Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story."
Robuch tried to do a bit of damage control after the video was released through a statement: "As the Epstein story continued to unfold last summer, I was caught in a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts [Giuffre] didn't air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC's editorial standards about her allegations. The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn't air, didn't meet our standards. In the years since no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story." The idea that the story did not meet journalistic standards obviously contradicts the reasons given on the video, and have done little to quell the notion of a cover-up protecting Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton at ABC.
So what was the response from ABC? Well, obviously they also tried to do damage control, but the more glaring issue was that they began to investigate the leaker. They wanted to know who sent the video to Project Veritas, and in doing so brought all this negative attention. According to the Washington Examiner, ABC has identified the individual as Ashley Bianco (who denies being the leak, by the way), a former producer for Good Morning America, and who, as of last month, was working for CBS. She has now been fired from her position with CBS, yes that CBS. The same CBS who had the executive director of the National Whistleblower Center explain the day before the firing that "There's a long and horrible history of people losing their jobs, having threats to themselves and their family because they spoke out." So to recap, CBS asked an expert why whistleblower protection is so important, and then proceeded to ignore the answer by firing the person who exposed a different company.
It's at this point that we must acknowledge that Ashley Bianco was not a legally defined whistleblower. She did not report the information through the proper channels, and the company that fired her was not the company on which she had spilled the beans. I understand that CBS wouldn't want someone with a history of leaking incriminating information to work for them, and since she didn't go through the proper channels, firing her and ruining her career was totally legal. We should also point out that as a network, by not coming out with this information three years ago, ABC allowed Epstein to continue to run his operation for an additional three years and causing harm to all those innocent victims. Bianco was definitely right to come forward with this, and ABC definitely has some answering to do.
The irony here is the way in which the media is currently attacking Republicans on their impeachment proceedings strategy. House and Senate Republicans have been calling out Democrats for their methods for impeaching President Trump. They claim that the whole process has been a sham, and therefore everything uncovered by the sham is by definition tainted. Outlets such as The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, The Guardian, Vox, and even the Washington Post and New York Times all ran headlines ripping on Republicans for attacking the process instead of the facts because the facts all seem to be damning to the president.
Oh, how the irony writes itself. The only thing protecting CBS from legal action right now is the process. Ashley Bianco decided to spill the beans on ABC, and that decision was definitely warranted. ABC squashed an important story, a decision that cost many victims three years' worth of torment. Had Bianco gone through the proper channels in reporting this story, not only would she still have a job, we wouldn't know her name. She would be protected under the law. So while the media can claim all they want that Republicans are leaning on process as a defense, ABC and CBS exclusively have process to thank for ruining the life of a whistleblower.
So let's recap. The media doesn't want to reveal the name of the whistleblower against Trump. They do want to retaliate against the whistleblower against the media. They don't think process is a good defense, except, of course, when the process benefits the media. That, my friends, is a double double-standard.
By Izzo Zwiren
Izzo Zwiren is the host of The Jewish Living Podcast, where he and his guests delve into any and all areas of Orthodox Judaism.

subset: commoncrawl


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April 9, 2015
New Delhi: Saudi Arabia, the largest supplier of crude oil to India, is keen to participate in the Make in India initiative of the Narendra Modi government and has asked its business people to explore the opportunities in India under the scheme, the kingdom's envoy has said.
April 9, 2015
New Delhi: Saudi Arabia, the largest supplier of crude oil to India, is keen to participate in the Make in India initiative of the Narendra Modi government and has asked its business people to explore the opportunities in India under the scheme, the kingdom's envoy has said.
"I think it is a very good idea the initiative of Make in India, and because with the thinking or policy that we do have and follow vis-a-vis our relations with India, we encourage our business people to come and invest in India. And the embassy is there to help in any way to provide any assistance to promote investments between the two, make it smooth and efficient," Ambassador Saud bin Mohammed Al-Sati told IANS in an interview here.
He said that Saudi Arabia is inviting its business people to explore the opportunities and "take part in the major projects announced by the Indian government," and added that the Saudi private sector is participating in various sectors of the Indian economy.
"In principle we encourage business people and investors to come and invest in India. We do have some framework agreements on that and ongoing talks and efforts to make it easier and smoother, and vice versa, and to invite and encourage Indian investors to come and invest in Saudi Arabia. The presence of Indian companies in Saudi Arabia is positively observed. Hundreds of Indian companies are in Saudi Arabia in various sectors of the economy and trying to promote it and further increase it," he added.
According to official data, Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trading partner. The two-way trade in 2013-14 was over $48.62 billion, and it has touched $29.90 billion during April-November 2014. The import of crude oil forms a major component of the bilateral trade.
There are over 2.8 million Indian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia. They are employed in the entire spectrum of the Saudi economy – from high end scientific and research jobs to construction sector and contribute majorly to the Saudi economy. They play a vital role in strengthening the India-Saudi bilateral ties.
On the Nitaqat or naturalization programme, that had caused some worries over a year ago, the envoy said that the issue has been resolved.
He said Nitaqat has been "completely misunderstood by the media, especially in India. It is not to do with any particular nation, it is nothing except to hire one Saudi out of 10 workers". He said since the policy was implemented the number of Saudis in jobs in the kingdom has increased.
The envoy said that Nitaqat was being "confused with corrective measures taken regarding illegal persons who reside there. This is a completely different issue."
Courtesy: IANS (Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at email@example.com)


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Barbie Restoration & Matted Frizzy Hair. There are plenty of things you can do to restore a Barbie.
How-To's On Hair Styles. Introduction This article covers dressy hair styles such as the French Twist which is a classic updo.
It's in response to all the email I receive from people of all ages who want to try something different with their hair for dressy hair events such as homecoming, Prom, the Christmas Holidays or for weddings. They want to wear their hair up in a new twist or updo or they want to add special touches such as flowers or hair accessories. Sometimes they just want to try something completely new. I can relate. Recently I spent a couple of hours with my hairstylist experimenting with some updos, braids and new looks. Tutorials - Tips & Tricks For Doll Hair - By VALKYRIE. The Doll Restoration Wizard. Doll Restoration ● Past Contests and Events ● Miscellaneous Articles Doll Restoration The Doll Restoration articles are listed here as well if you know what you need and don't need to use the Wizard: Doll Anatomy 101 This is "prerequisite" reading for the other articles here.
The Body Swap ~ An Illustrated Guide. Barbie "Shoulder Replacement Surgery" Tutorials - Hair, Bangs, Eyes, Makeup Painting. Quick & Dirty Reroot - Tension Method. Rerooting With A Rerooting Thread. Doll Restoration: What You Need To Know. "DOLL RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW" > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, "Conservation differs from restoration by aiming to preserve and clarify what survives, rather than replace what is missing.
" "Conservation is a race against time" "Do nothing that cannot be undone" (Bettyanne Twigg, UFDC President) There is an epidemic in doll collecting--an epidemic of doll restoration. This epidemic has been fostered by the easy, open market of eBay and other online auction houses, which has allowed collectors to easily sell items from their collections (as well as their garage sale and estate sale finds). A Quick Introduction To Painting Faces.
Doll Restoration Tips & Tools - This Old Doll. Nothing's more frustrating than trying to do a good job with the wrong tools.
Sorry these pictures don't look new like on the store shelves, but I really do use them! Milliput Super Fine White I use this to fill and replace composition and hard plastic. It comes in two rolls, both white inside. I can sculpt new fingers and feet, fill dents on a face and push into cracks and under lifted paint. It sets up in about 3 hours. Plast-T-Pair by Rawn Company, Inc., Inc.I first saw this product being used while I was waiting at the TV repair shop. It's very similar to what is used to make acrylic fingernails and sets up into a very hard plastic. Scratch Out by Kit from Northern Labs, Inc.It's used on automobiles for minor scratches and is generically called "rubbing compound". Rubbing Compound #7 This is great for smoothing a rough texture on compo or for really deep cleaning of hard plastic, vinyl and bisque. Dawn & Pippa Restoration. A Pippa Wash And Brush Up - Cleaning Pippa.
The Dawn Spot - Rerooting Your Dawn's Hair. Longlocks with re-rooted hair, eyelashes, and custom gown.
Rerooting Dawn's Hair There are a few methods I have seen, and the one that I have used the most is the knot method, where each plug of hair is secured with a knot on the inside of the head. Sometimes this creates a headful, but holds well. Below are slightly modified instructions from a site I once visited on Geocities. The instructions are included here because I cannot get in touch with the owner of that site. Dyeing Dawn Heads. Here are some directions for using Rit dye to revive pale-faced Dawn dolls (with many thanks to whomever first posted the recipe on the newsgroup!) Followed by photos of the process: Buy one box each of Rit powdered dyes Peach and Rose Pink. (You may have to look in a craft store to find them. Rit has a color chart online at if you want an advance peek.) Empty both boxes into a lidded glass jar or other container; close it tightly and shake well to mix the colors completely.
When you are ready to begin, bring water to a boil and pour one cup of hot water over 1/8 teaspoon of the dye mix in a container (I use a small stainless steel or glass mixing bowl) and stir. Restore Dolls - Vinyl Dolls - Reborn Dolls: DIY Tips & Tricks. Krista's Vintage Barbie Doll Restoration. Copyright 2013 dollrestoration.com All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed The information, photographs and writing contained in this website are the property of the owner of this website. I retain sole and exclusive rights without limitation which may not be granted to another without my written permission and consent. How To Repair Sindy Fashion Dolls. Doll Restoration, Cleaning, Care & Repair Tips. Doll Cleaning & Care Tips. Hints for Cleaning Vinyl Dolls & Their Clothes.
Here are a few hints that I have accumulated from working with my dolls, and I thought that you might want to read through them and see if any would work for you.
First, the worst enemy that you have with your doll is dirt. The years of dirt sit in the doll's hair, and fabric of their clothes and rubs against each other, breaking down the fibers of the fabrics. The first thing that happens to my dolls, is bath time at the house. My doll's clothes have been washed in a strong solution of Era in the kitchen sink or a dishpan, EXCEPT FOR ITEMS THAT ARE MADE OF PROTEIN, SUCH AS SILK, LEATHER, ETC. Era likes to eat silk blouses, trust me.
For the doll's hair, I usually spray it with De-Solv-it, which I find in the cleaning isle at Walmart. How To Remove Stains From Vinyl Dolls - eHow.com. Removing Ink Stains From Vinyl Dolls - ThriftyFun. Children love to draw on just about anything including their toys.
This is a guide about removing ink from vinyl dolls. Solutions: Removing Ink from Vinyl Dolls.


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Long Distance
Meghann just moved to Los Angeles, leaving her boyfriend Craig back in New York. The trailer for a webseries about two people whose nightly Skype conversations give them just enough to remain sane when work and the stress of living in a big city push them to their limits.
Meghann starts work, Craig helps Meghann work her computer.
Craig cooks, Meghann parks.
Craig gets a roommate, Meghann sees a homeless guy.
Meghann doesn't get any messages, Craig doesn't contemplate suicide.
Meghann sees a homeless guy again.
Meghann confronts her neighbor, Craig "considers" moving to LA.


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"Forced marriage is an appalling crime that has no place in Britain"
UK's Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has announced a new campaign of strict and mandatory measures to tackle forced marriages and to help victims.
The new method will allow forced marriage victims to report anonymously. The report and information provided by the victim can then be used legally against an individual trying to enter the country and in turn, as a spouse, have their 'visa blocked'.
Javid hopes that this approach will help women who are facing the crime of forced marriage, saying:
"When women have the courage to come forward, and inform us that they have been forced to sponsor a spousal visa against their will, we will not only protect their anonymity, but we will also do everything we can to deny and revoke that visa," Javid told a political conference on Tuesday."
About 2,000 forced marriages cases were reported in 2017 to the UK's Forced Marriage Unit and a majority of the cases involved young women with backgrounds from South Asia.
Official forced marriage figures show that they are the highest in the West Midlands and Birmingham, and are linked to Pakistan, where the marriages take place.
Javid of British Pakistani background himself said:
"Forced marriage is an appalling crime that has no place in Britain, it is not compatible with British values and we will not tolerate it."
The new measures are to help British born victims who have had their freedom and choice taken from them, said Javid:
"This range of measures will build on our work to protect those at risk of forced marriage, so everyone in Britain has the freedom to choose who they spend their lives with.
"Supporting victims will be at the very heart of these new proposals to give them confidence to speak out knowing the government is on their side."
The move is also to make it much harder for potential immigrants from countries like Pakistan to enter the UK under the premise of marriage with victims of forced marriages.
The new measures announced by Javid ensure that a person reporting the matter will be protected and the information they provide will be usable as closed evidence to refuse a visa and that the refusal will be acceptable in an appeal court.
In addition, there will be a communications campaign to highlight the issues of forced marriages, accompanied by a series of roadshows promoting how the protection orders will be used for forced marriages.
It is hoped these measures will make it easier for victims to come forward and the process will protect their identity in the process.
Therefore, helping them to stop forced marriage partners to enter the UK or continue to stay in the country.
This has been a major issue for victims currently because immigration rules require them to write a public statement in order to get a marriage visa of a spouse blocked.
This leads to significant safety problems for victims as the executive director of Karma Nirvana, Natasha Rattu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation:
"Many victims do not report forced marriage.
"This is largely down to the fact that by doing so, the potential spouse and family will be alerted.
"This can increase potential risk of harm and likelihood of being disowned and ostracised from the community".
Talking about the new measures, Rattu said:
"By allowing victims to report forced marriage anonymously not only increases potential reporting levels but provides better protection to victims".
Aneeta Prem, head of Freedom Charity, reacting to Sajid Javid's announcement and said:
"We have campaigned to see this change and are pleased that victims can report while protecting their identity."
"Having spoken to many of the very vulnerable victims, they said if this was available (sooner), they would have used it and prevented the abuse they received at the hands of their husbands they were forced to marry."
Whilst Javid wants to encourage victims to report more of these crimes to the police anonymously, he also wants a mandatory reporting duty for forced marriage by professionals.
Consultations will take place between the Home Office and professionals working in support of victims as to how mandatory reporting can be implemented which match other crimes against women like female genital mutilation.
Forced marriage was banned in Britain in 2014. However, only two convictions have taken place against offenders.
With the new measures in place and announced, it is hoped there will be more convictions against perpetrators and that they will act as a deterrent to those using forced marriages as a means to enter the country.


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"I highly recommend this course to anyone on the fence – it is the richest parenting course I've ever come across."
"I have found all of your courses have improved our family, but I suspect I will look back on a Beautiful Childhood as life changing."
"I feel like your course is the best thing I have done since becoming a parent. I absolutely loved it. It's opened my mind and my heart to my girls in so many ways and allowed me to invest my time and heart into them, and not feel shame and doubt about wanting to give them my best or allowing them to see my worst. Thank you!"
"Isn't funny how being inspired can make you feel? I feel awakened and confident in my abilities and knowledge as a parent and practitioner; and that is with thanks to Eloise." (You can read her full review here!)
"Thank you very much for the Beautiful Childhood course. I have learned so much and have really enjoyed getting to know these different approaches and philosophies. It feels like just the beginning but I am enthused as to where this will continue to take us as a family."
"I am so thankful that I found A Beautiful Childhood Course. I was longing for something that was more eclectic, peaceful and less dogmatic and something that I could customize to meet our families needs. You helped to confirm that I can follow my instincts as a mom and lay a broad feast for my child. I somehow started believing that I had to follow one approach to learning or I would fail and my daughter along with me and now I know that I can pick and choose what works for us and enjoy the ride. Thank you so very much for speaking to not only my mind but my soul. I am very appreciative. I have to add that I am still so surprised at the amount of information and lifelong access you provide for the price. The benefits far outweigh the cost. You are truly giving us a gift."
"Thank you for this course! It was truly the most inspiring online course I have ever taken. I loved the beautiful materials and the pacing – I felt like it is just the right amount of ideas to digest each week, also I really enjoyed the mix of resources (handout, videos, podcasts, blogposts…). You did an incredible job of making all concepts and philosophies accessible and appealing, and your own ideas, reflections and examples added a richness I never would have gotten by just reading "all the books". The Facebook group is an amazingly kind, supportive and gentle place that I will definitely return to again and again. My husband joined in on the course and stuck to it because he was just as drawn into it as I was – we had so many great conversations thanks to your thoughtful questions. I love how non-dogmatic you are and that you really encourage us to think deep, take what fits our family and leave the rest. Finally, you inspired us to actually implement some small steps each week and we are still inspired to do more. You were always available for questions so that it felt tailored to us, I so appreciate it. I see myself returning to these materials and this community again and again. Thank you for all the work and passion you poured into this course, it really has an impact on us!"
"This course was all kinds of inspiring. Before the course when pondering all the different types of educational philosophies, and how to incorporate them into our lives, I felt so overwhelmed and confused as to what had meaning for our family. Eloise makes each focus for the week so easy to understand and makes everything so accessible. This whole process has been incredibly supportive and nurturing, being in a group of likeminded parents has been invaluable when implementing some of these approaches in our own life. Eloise was always on hand for advice and tailored support on any areas that were difficult to understand, or just to offer a lovely supportive comment as you worked through. I highly recommend this course to any parent, it has completely exceeded my expectations and I am so excited to use much of what we learned as my daughter grows."
"I just wanted to say that this course is exceeding my expectations in ways I can't even describe. It is by far the most valuable course I have ever taken since becoming a parent. I am loving the deep dives into the various methods and philosophies, pulling resources and making small changes into our daily life. My implementation of it is not perfect and will require multiple iterations but I feel so happy and empowered. I have also never met an online course instructor who is as generous, honest and knowledgeable as Eloise! So, thank you for offering this to the world! Your contribution will shape the lives of many parents and children!"
"I love your course, there is so much knowledge and resources. In all honesty, I was very nervous when I signed up, afraid I was wasting my money. But this course has provided so much value and I'm so grateful for you creating it and providing the help and support across the weeks. I feel there is so much information to explore, I've only just touched the surface, so I'm very grateful for the lifetime access to work through it all. The videos and podcasts have been really helpful to absorb on the go."
"Brilliant course as always. Loving it all a second time around: full of passion, information and energy that makes me want to constantly dive into the materials again and again."
"I wanted to thank you for your Beautiful Childhood course, which I have recently completed. You have put together a thoroughly well-researched and inspiring course, which has empowered me to take an even deeper interest in philosophies of and approaches to child-rearing and education (I feel like a Masters in Education is now a new potential avenue for me to explore in the future). And while you couldn't possibly have foreseen a pandemic in putting such a course together, I found taking it this year all the more valuable due to being at home with my family since March. My husband and I have already implemented so many positive changes in our parenting approach and home environment, since taking your course and reading Extraordinary Parenting, and I know these are both resources that we will revisit time and again. So thank you for the insight you have provided, and the genuinely thought-provoking discussions you have inspired this summer."
"Thank you so much for this course! My husband and I learned a lot! We liked the questions on the first week, it was the first time we sat and start writing about what values we want for our family. We were already doing Montessori at home but we are really happy with the new additions to our rhythm. We've been reading poetry during morning time, we've been spending more time outside, our house is surrounded by living books, flowers, and candles, we've been enjoying art together, we are now more comfortable with loose parts play, and everything because of this course. Thanks so much Eloise! BTW, every week I was listening to the videos and I felt like a friend was talking to me so even though you don't know me, I feel like you are a friend."
"Thank you so much Eloise. I haven't made it to the end yet but have been enjoying it immensely. I have picked up so many like nuggets that I am already using. What a fantastic wealth of knowledge you have and what a pleasure to be able to benefit from it."
"Eloise provides an incredible wealth of resources distilled into approachable content. She caters to all styles of learning by creating both written guides and videos, in addition to a rich bibliography… In a few months time I've taken a deep look at the ways the parent-child relationship can manifest itself and learned so much about what children need to feel fulfilled as individuals. I didn't think it would be possible to receive personalised attention in an online course but Eloise does Q&As that feel like mini coaching sessions if you take proper advantage of them! Thank you Eloise!"
"Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart for this course! This was absolutely incredible and you just saved me SO much time in research."
"Thank you for this course. The quality and the depth of the videos and guides were beyond my expectations, even though I'm already a fan of yours. You're very generous with your time and it's just a pleasure to see how committed you are to share your knowledge with us. You speak and write in a way that is clear, smart, straight to the point but never too simplistic. You always elevate the discussion and make me want to keep learning, keep thinking and mindfully enjoying every single aspect of this crazy wonderful adventure that is motherhood and parenthood."
"Your beautiful childhood course was stunning. I took so much more from it than I expected to (having been fairly well researched) and having your insight was invaluable. Basically, if you're doing it then I'm in."
"I've really enjoyed the course. It's been so informative and has taught me so much that I had no idea about until recently. It has given me so many ideas of things I can include in our daily lives, even as a family who isn't homeschooling. I looked forward to the videos every week and the course handbooks are brilliantly put together and easy to digest. Thank you so much for opening up a whole new world of education possibilities!"
"I am truly grateful for all of the incredible work you do for families. This course has made motherhood feel more manageable and less lonely."
"Thank you for such a thought provoking and enjoyable course and for being so available in supporting us through it. Really looking forward to working with you again."
"I would like to say THANK YOU for this course. It gave me an overview of different alternative approaches to learning. I really appreciate the detailed guides you provide, other resources such as books or blogs you put at the end of each of them are so useful and let me go even deeper. And your videos? I feel inspired, I question myself, I get motivated and curious. I can feel that behind all this is a lot of research done by you and your own experience. You don't try to convince anybody that one approach is better than the other, instead you point out that each child is unique so we need to observe and propose him what we feel will help him grow."
"I am very grateful for all your inspiration and for the great content you shared in this course. I am considering homeschooling and I took the course to get a better idea on the different philosophies and I feel I gain much more than a general view. You shared experience, insights, detailed information, valuable resources and it made me feel very empowered to do this journey. I enjoy the way you explained even difficult topics in a very clear way. Definitely there is a lot of information that I will keep on revisiting on the next months to keep on learning and implementing at home. What I really value is how throughout the course you asked questions to us so we could reflect on where we are, what are our family values and goals and how to find ways to do what suits best to our family without getting overwhelmed. This is something we sometimes forget in the everyday life but so important to keep coming back to this. I highly recommend this course to any parent! Thanks again Eloise. I have also signed up to the Rhythm course!"
"A Beautiful Childhood has helped me in so many ways. The depth of your knowledge in this area is just incredible, and having you talk so passionately about each philosophy not only helped me further my understanding of each school of thought, (and in some cases introduced them to me full stop!) but it also reignited my enthusiasm for alternative education and gave me the confidence to continue on this path. I think what is unique about this course is the way you approach learning Eloise. I felt after completing this course all the pressure I previously felt to 'be' a label or comply to a set of rules, (ie Montessori/Waldorf etc) just dissipated, and I felt able to incorporate and enjoy aspects from each of the philosophies into our lives. This has been so helpful to me as I often find myself feeling really overwhelmed about what it is I'm actually trying to achieve (do we do fantasy, or don't we? Can I make my child's breakfast, or is that stifling independence? And so on!) but now I am happy to pick and choose all the bits that feel right for my family, and go with the flow a bit more! It's hard when, like me, you don't have a close group of like minded parents in your daily life to bounce ideas off, meaning you're left with only Instagram squares to compare to. This group made alternative parenting REAL, and that for me was invaluable."
"Thank you so much for this amazing course! I have truly enjoyed it, and well, still enjoying it as I keep revisiting the group for the videos and materials. I have grown a lot as a mother thanks to the course, and well, in general to YOU! Thank you for being so generous with sharing your knowledge and taking the time to be the soul of all conversations here and in your main group. I love whatever you do: we feel that you put all your heart into your blog, your facebook group and your courses, and that parenting is a social issue for you indeed (not just a product you sell). It also means a lot that you don't only offer knowledge, but also a real village, a tribe to belong to. You connect likeminded mums, and in many cases it is worth so much more than the actual knowledge. Whenever you're going to have a new course, I'm on board!"
"I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Before the course, I was only familiar with Waldorf and Montessori, but this course has been very inspiring and mind-opening. It made me realise how little I thought I knew and that there are still many creative possibilities I could go for regarding my son's education. Especially the Unschooling topic, all the information provided and discussed are very thought provoking, which remind me of how unsatisfied I used to feel about school when I was a teenager. It also makes me think, this is exactly why I took this course, that as adult I'm still a natural learner and I strive to continue to learn everything that is in my interest, and that would also be how I wish my son to learn, to always have the passion and desire to dig deeply into his interests. Thank you again, Eloise!"
"I got so much out of this course! I knew a lot about most of the various philosophies, but for each one still discovered new aspects and inspiration, and found new ways to weave the philosophies more deeply together into our version of a beautiful family life. I think the content is fabulous, I am so glad I jumped in despite being on the fence and think it is such a beautiful and valuable product you have put together for us!"
"Just wanted to thank you for all your amazing work on the A Beautiful Course. I loved being a part of it and all your research was fantastic. It was easy to read and digest and was on a level that worked where I had some existing knowledge and when I was coming to things as a complete novice. While I didn't participate in the group discussions due to time and commitments, and trying to limit time on social media, I did really enjoy reading what other parents and yourself had to say, and found lots of experiences that I could relate to."
"I've just finished the Reggio portion of the course (I was really excited to hear about this addition as it's an area that I found a little hard to get a grasp on theory-wise) and I'm left feeling sad it's all over! I bought your course on a bit of a whim as a Christmas present to myself and have been blown away at the depth and richness of what it has entailed. You are eye-wateringly (surely not a word but I want to say it anyway) well read and each week I've been so struck by the generosity and power of this course, especially in our current education and global climate. I dived into many parts of these theories, particularly when my son was younger, but never in such a cohesive and digested way, and I know I'll look back on your beautiful guides for years to come!"
"I wanted to take a moment to thank you so much for all your amazing work, both in the Beautiful Childhood course just these past few weeks and more generally. I feel so sad at the thought that I might not have discovered the beautiful thought cloud you are creating had my friend not mentioned you. I would almost certainly be a slightly different parent. I love the sense of company I feel when watching your videos – it's so nice to hear from someone so knowledgeable and so personable. Both valuable and fun!
Thank you so much once again."
"Thank you Eloise so much for this course. I loved it and I learned so much during the last weeks! My schedule wouldn't have allowed me the time to do my own research so this detailed summary was just what I needed!"
"This course has been an invaluable experience. I've learnt a ton and I feel very motivated and curious to keep learning and trying & applying new things at home. This workshop has helping me not only to learn more, but more so — to deeply & sincerely observe my son, to see what kind of set up and materials, would be the best for *him* to thrive, regardless how much *I* might love this or that philosophy. and honestly, this has been the most important lesson for me. He is still very young (21 months) but I'm just so excited for him and what's coming! Thank you, for everything, Eloise! I miss the course already! Here's to a beautiful, slow and fun childhood!"
"I have really enjoyed this course and have appreciated the detail in the guides and your approach to making these complex ideas assessable via the videos. It has helped me see the parts of each which resonate with me and my values."
"We are loving the course so thank you very much for all the work! In fact we enjoyed it so much we signed up for the next Rhythm in the Home one too."
"I would just like to say a massive thank you Eloise. My husband and I are working through everything together with a view to how we wish to homeschool in the future and learning what things we can implement now. It's been so insightful, informative and on a personal level got my husband involved a lot more in homeschooling for us. Up to now it's been me reading materials and telling him about philosophies. We have sat at nights watching your videos, reading through materials and doing our own tasks to work out our way through homeschooling."
"So grateful for the thoughtfulness and love you put into A Beautiful Childhood. I've learned a lot, reflected , and confirmed some of my beliefs on children development. My son thanks you and I do too."
"I just wanted to say I'm immensely enjoying the course and will be sad to see it come to an end this week! It's helped me massively with my homeschool vision and where I want to prep from here in readiness for another year or so."
"The course 'A Beautiful Childhood' is so beautifully written and reflects such knowledge, and passion, from Eloise. The course is delivered in a way that makes complex philosophies become understandable, and manageable, as Eloise empowers you to incorporate them into your own lifestyle. I was so honoured to feature in the Montessori section of the course and I feel privileged to have learnt about other theories, such as Waldorf, from this course. If you want to open your approach to raising children to incorporate a delicate mixture of a multitude of alternative philosophies, then this is definitely the course for you! Thank you for all the work you do, Eloise, and for enriching the lives of so many children who will ultimately form 'A Beautiful Society'."
"I loved this course: well thought-through, inspiring, going beyond the 'here is the theory' with practical tips, interviews and a nice online community which is very supportive. I wish I had done it earlier! Eloise, you have created something really inspiring and I would love to re do it!"
"I have loved the course! Still a bit to go through but I feel my mind has really been opened to lots of different philosophies. I really feel in safe hands with you knowing the research that goes into everything."
"I very much enjoyed the course, it helped me a lot to finally understand where things that I've been instinctively doing are actually coming from and what major philosophy/ideology is the underlying core. I feel I need to work on letting my son "be free"/not intervening too much and I got some very useful background info regarding this specific matter."
"Just wanted to say a big thank you for the Beautiful Childhood course. It really has made a big difference for me (and my son, hopefully!) – I've had a thousand ideas and even actioned a few! It's helped me to be more thoughtful and intentional in my parenting. Loved your ideas and accessible explanations, loved the conversational style video recordings, loved having the Facebook group to nudge, prompt, share and deepen learning."
"I really loved to follow your Beautiful Childhood course! It was interesting with a lot of new info for me. I liked the combination of PDF and video. My English isn't very best so it worked well for me to read the new content before watching the video. The Q&A video's were also interesting."
"What a brilliant course. At the time that I took the course I knew of Montessori, Waldorf, forest school, unschooling and project based learning but learned so much more from you and discovered an absolute love of reggio art set ups. I've been able to bring something of all of the philosophies to our lives through your course. In the summer when you ran the course again, adding in the classical approach I watched along and updated myself on everything but, being heavily pregnant and with my older son not quite being 2, nothing really changed at home (other than my amazon book wishlist!). When I first took the course my son was just shy of 18 months old and definitely not a Montessori child, not in the way that I can see some children are, and also was not a Waldorf child, not fully. The value of this course though is that recently I've seen a change in him. Probably a developmental leap. In which suddenly he wants to do things for himself and work on practical life activities such as cleaning his own teeth, hovering up his own mess, setting the table, putting things away properly and carefully (Montessori). Equally, I'm seeing more of a Waldorf side to him in his love of certain aspects of our routine, loving candles at mealtimes, a sudden interest in painting (particularly with watercolours) and reciting rhymes and songs. We've created more of an art space with varied tools/resources/loose parts through my knowledge of reggio attelliers. After a couple of months with not much change (he's been obsessed with trains and train tracks for AGES) we've had a massive rotation of toys and resources all carefully done with all the knowledge I now have I can go back to what we've done, rewatch videos, reread the workbooks and look at the book recommendations as my children change and develop and it's just fantastic value for money!"


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Monday September 8, 2014, 94 miles (151 km) – Total so far: 5,079 miles (8,174 km)
It's that time of day when all of the vehicles still have their headlights on, but the drivers heading east are blinded by the low angle of the sun. The steady stream of commuters heading into Casper all have their car's sun visors down but still squint into the glare. I wish those low angle sun rays landing on my back could reach out and give me a push, because the westerly wind is a formidable force this morning as I head out of town. I slowly climb up the long hill that heads over the end of the anticline. I look at some of the nice homes built on the side of the hill and wonder if they ever get a calm day – they are built right where the wind funnels through.
Once over the hill, the wind dissipates and the day comes good. We follow the river through the bright reds of the Chugwater Formation and into the shadow of the anticline. The colours of the vegetation and the surrounding rock walls bleed out and turn grey as we travel through the bulky shadow. Then we pop back out into the sun, round a long corner and find ourselves on the outer reaches of the Laramie Mountains. Not far down the road, we turn left to follow the arc of the mountains south. Highway 487 is new to the crew and me, so our smiles widen.
The road is wide, and the shoulder is ridiculously wide for a road where only a car or two passes me every 10 minutes or so. If Wyoming can do it, I'm sure other states can, too. The road travels along the valley of Stinking Creek. To our right, the little creek is sometimes close and sometimes far away. It meanders down the valley in no rush or hurry. When you are the only source of moisture in miles, the vegetation and the fauna come to you. Indeed, the sinuous line of green is the only source of vibrancy in the lower landscape. You must look up onto the long ridges above the road to find other shades of darker green. Pine trees populate the ridges' upper slopes. The trees trickle out downslope and give way to big sage.
The wind is back. It's not too bad just yet, but it is winding up like a pitcher about to throw on a full count with three runners on base in the ninth inning. It's a crosswind, though, so it is not demoralizing like a headwind. All along the road, the ridges reach down to the west from the main range behind. These high, rocky spurs are substantial enough to have names on the map. They provide topographical relief in a landscape of low hills and sparse sage vegetation. The rocks underlying the valley are Cretaceous shales of the Steele Formation – more drab, muted colours deposited underneath an extensive, shallow seaway about 70 million-years-ago.
We are just cruising along today. I think a lot about how much bicycling has always been part of my life in one way or another. I think about riding up and down the block on cold, blustery January days when I was a kid and just couldn't get enough of being outside. I think about the angst and energy expended in my early BMX days, all of the rides with the guys in college that pushed me to develop bike handling skills, and all of the touring miles that this decade has seen.
Through the long, beautiful, silent miles we pedal up Stinking Creek this morning, I also think about how I've grown in confidence since my first long tour in 2010. Back then, I was afraid my asthma would hinder climbing passes, so I used my mom as SAG that year in Colorado. Then, last year, I rode 20 passes solo and fully-loaded all over Colorado and Wyoming. This year, I took it further and attempted a pass that last year I thought might be too hard (Beartooth). In 2010, a day with no services for 70 miles was a bit intimidating. Now, those days are my favourite ride sections, and I hope to seek out more of them in the future. Today there is a rest area with water, shade and toilets at mile 49 but nothing else between endpoints on today's 94-mile ride. I love days like this! And I hope I can continue to push my boundaries on future rides.
Further south, low, flat-ish ridges feature eroded cliffs of the Oligocene White River and Eocene Wind River Formations. The bright white walls are layers of ash from volcanic eruptions further west 55 to 25 million years ago. As we roll into the rest area underneath more of those cliff exposures, I think about all of the other places where I've seen rocks of similar age in the past couple years. I also think about how the rock I'm standing on was deposited in the Cretaceous. Between me and the rocks in the cliff was the end of the dinosaurs, the end of the major period of mountain-building for the present-day Rockies, the eruptions that caused the Heart Mountain Detachment further north, and the beginnings of the mammals that would dominate the Miocene and Pliocene.
The wind is nasty enough that I cannot see fighting it all day on the 'backroad'. Hwy 77 branches off from the main highway just a mile or two north of here. The original plan had been to come down, fill up all of my water bottles, then head back to 77 and ride down that for a bit until I found some public land I liked to camp for the night. However, rain is forecast for this evening and all of tomorrow. And the wind is whipping hard enough that none of that seems like it will be too pleasant. So I wimp out and decide I'll just refill all of my water bottles and stick to the main road. If I see some public land along the way attractive for camping on the wide expanses of the basin, I'll go for that. If not, I'll just ride on into Medicine Bow.
I spend some time fuelling up and drinking as much water as my stomach will hold, before I refill my water bottles. I hunker down in the shade and out of the wind behind the maintenance building. I'm feeling so fantastic today. This is just the type of riding I love – out there in the middle of nowhere with few people around and interesting, but subtle, geology. I need more days like this on future tours – I had way too little of it in Montana this year. After we left the Plains, it just seemed like there were people everywhere all the time.
Not long after we leave the rest area and begin a climb up Hunt Creek to the top of those strikingly white layers of volcanic ashes, I hit the 5,000 mile-mark. Yippee! I don't ride for the miles, but this is the furthest I've ridden, so it is cause for a photo or two. I use the gorilla pod thingie to grip my camera to a reflector post to get a couple shots. I laugh at myself – my pony tail is indicating a left turn in the hefty wind!
After we climb over the rim, we emerge onto a high flat ridge with absolutely massive views down over the basin. The Laramie Range rises far to the east. The bulk of Laramie Peak is distinctive. I love that I've now seen that landmark from both sides of the range. To the right, the Shirley Mountains poke above the rich grasslands of the mixed grass prairie. Fantastic!
I go cruising along this high ridge, continually buffeted by a wind that is as pushy as a drunk man down the end of the bar who is a bit more confident about his machismo than he should be. I love the feeling of being high in the landscape with the views just flowing out before me as the road begins to drop down.
Off to the left, the road to the old uranium mine and mill takes off around a hill. Uranium deposits can be found in the Eocene Wind River formation about 300 feet below the surface. The uranium here was discovered in 1955. Production began in 1960 and was both underground and open-pit. The funky, out-of-place heaps of earth and hill off to our left attest to that. It is estimated they moved 22 million cubic feet of earth to get at the uranium deposits. They began milling the ore on-site in the 1970s. Between 1971 and 1992, when the mine closed, it was estimated to have produced 28 million pounds of uranium yellow cake. Even after its closure, the mine still received and disposed of byproduct from other mines. Then, late last year, Ur-Energy, a uranium mining company with other interests in Wyoming, bought the mine in anticipation of uranium prices rising in 2016 when Japan restarts its nuclear reactors. There is still an estimated 10 million pounds of low grade ore to go digging for beneath the surface.
It creeps me out, of course – some things I think should just be left in the ground. A risks and benefits analysis, in my mind, leaves uranium untouched. But my mind is not motivated by greed. Still, it is part of the landscape, and that is what I'm out here to see. The rich mixed grass prairie excites me much more, though.
As I head down off the high rim and ridge, the road gently rises and falls. All along the road, huge snow fences are set perpendicular to that blasting wind. They are not built in a continuous line, but in long rows that extend for some distance and then stop. Set some feet back from the first fence, another fence starts. After that one ends, another one starts a few feet forward of the last. I don't know if I've seen a more extensive set of snow fences – they continue for at least 40 miles.
The most hilarious aspect of this part of the ride is crossing the draws – drainages that form shallow v-shaped dips which cross the road. Whenever I hit one of these dips, the wind funnelling through pushes me incredibly hard toward the road. I begin to anticipate the blast and start to lean into it just as the downslope begins. It gets so ridiculous – both the wind and the number of draws – that I'm laughing out loud after about the fifth one. I have to lean so far into the wind through the dips that I feel like I'm riding through a corner at speed rather than trying just to stay upright going forward. I would love to have seen myself from behind. It had to have been somewhat funny, because I notice the passenger in an on-coming car lean forward and take a photo of the poor touring cyclist on the other side of the road!
After the horizontal blasting coming down off the ridge, the road turns west and we fight into the wind toward the Freezeout Mountains. Finally, we reach the junction with Hwy 77 close to the slopes of smooth, sculpted ridges. Sometimes these types of landforms make me think of a kid in a sandbox who has scooped up all the sand from the centre of the box (the basin) and piled it along the edges, then ran the back side of the shovel along some of the mounds.
The road winds along the edge of the hills through white outcrops of the Frontier sandstones. I love it. Days like this make me feel like I was put on earth to ride a bike. I could just do this forever and ever. Every other part of my identity shifts to dark recesses and my heart explodes with the joy of being a cyclist. It is just me, the crew, the bike and the road. Nothing else matters but the revolutions of the pedal. None of my personal baggage from the past, or the things I hope to build in the future, matter. I am just Em. And I ride.
Further south, turbines from a wind farm spring up, cluttering the long view to the mountains thrust up along the edge of the Hanna Basin. It is industrial and loud and ruins the aesthetic. The more I ride in the West, the more I don't like wind farms.
There are more hills to climb on the outskirts of the Freezeout Mountains – perhaps my favourite name ever for a mountain range. After several climbs that push me back into easy gears, I get a fantastic view down to Medicine Bow and the bright reds in an anticline down below. I can see the road fall and climb to get there. The anticline is a fairly famous one called the Flat Top Anticline. It was thrust northward on a fault line and curves a bit like an elbow almost fully extended. The road travels through different ages of rock which you can pick out in the road cuts as different colours and textures. In the middle, the bulky grey Tensleep sandstone is bookended on both sides by the bright reds of the Triassic Goose Egg and Chugwater Formations.
Six miles later and we're pulling into the sad little town of Medicine Bow. We first see the ball fields which, humorously, look like they've been sent out to left field to languish as weedy and overgrown diamonds. Maybe they don't look so forlorn in baseball season. Then we pass five or six blocks of dirt roads that form the residential area of town. Off to the right a new senior centre and health care clinic are the only signs of investment since about 1965. Out on the highway, a motel advertises nightly and weekly rates. Then we ride past a collection of buildings in all states of dilapidation. The bar may still be open, but the building is in danger of being overtaken by vegetation which has already claimed several other nearby businesses and rotting carcasses of camper trailers.
I ride all the way to the other end of town – it is not far – to the gas station. Next door is a liquor store. The gas station has a convenience store. I go in to buy some choc milk and am immediately confronted with a wall of cigarette smoke emanating from two older gentlemen with cowboy hats sitting at a table by the window. I hold my breath and look for milk as quickly as possible. I garner several dirty looks and contemplate just setting the milk down and not buying anything at all. I manage the cash exchange and return outside only needing to have taken one breath inside. Never mind the smoking laws out here in bum-f*#k.
I head down to the Virginian Hotel – a huge three-story hotel opened in 1911 to service cowboys, railroad crews and the tourists expected to come when Highway 30 came through in 1913. When I walk in to the dark and musty room, it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. The woman at the register is helping a man, so I look around the old place. It doesn't really look renovated – it just sorta looks like history has dribbled down the years and pooled into the present. A guy sitting at a nearby table has food that looks like it came from a school cafeteria. Then I see the waitress touching her face and pulling back her hair before picking up a bowl of soup to deliver to a guy at the bar. Um, definitely not going to eat here. But I do want to ask about the motel rooms down the road because I couldn't get a hold of Nigel last night. Plus it is supposed to rain tonight and all of tomorrow – so at least starting the day dry sounds attractive.
The woman at the register has the State Fisheries guy sign for his room then directs him down the road to the motel. When I ask about a motel room she says, "Well, they are $75. You might want to go have a look upstairs first."
I reply, "No, I was interested in a motel room down the road."
She says, "Those rooms aren't available. Those rooms are for crew members. You can go have a look upstairs if you want a room."
Fire roils up from my belly. She just doesn't want to rent me a motel room – she has them available. If I'm desperate enough, she is prepared to rip me off for a tiny room up two flights of stairs with a shared bath down the hall for $75. On their website, these rooms are advertised for $35 and motel rooms are also advertised. We are off-season, and it is not a weekend. Plus, I've stayed in other motels that were built for Union Pacific Crew, and they rent out spare rooms to the public. Besides, the sign outside the motel down the road even advertises this. They have a total of 32 motel rooms, and I am 100 percent certain that they will not all be filled by crew and public service workers tonight.
I say, "The sign down the street says there are nightly rates available."
She says flatly, looking at me with at totally featureless expression, "The rooms upstairs are $75 and that is what I'm offering."
I'm pretty angry inside, but I just say, "No thanks. I wouldn't want to give my money to people who discriminate against cyclists and have such shabby business practices."
Then I walk out, mount the bike and ride down through the rough, dirt streets past small, sad houses back to the city park. The woman in the house across the street comes to the front screen door when she sees me sit down at a picnic table. She waves. I wave back. She may be the only friendly person out of the 324 that inhabit Medicine Bow. It makes me feel a teeny bit better about camping in the park of a creepy little town with locals who could easily visit you in the night and make you disappear.
I dig down in my bag and pull out a feast of food. As the clouds roll in and the sky grows dark, I set up the tent and reflect on what a tremendous day it has been. With the exception of the unfriendly locals in town at the end of the day, I would do this day over anytime. It will be one that I repeat in my head for many years to come.


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Finding and Acquiring Competitor Backlinks
Author bio:
Alex Petrovic, Advanced SEO strategist – Dejan SEO company
Main activity – Link building team leader.
Personal twitter account: http://twitter.com/Alex_DejanSEO
Company twitter account: http://twitter.com/dejanseo
Competitor Backlinks
Acquiring competitor backlinks should be one of the top priorities in your search engine optimisation campaign. One-way backlinks are one of the major factors in determining your search engine ranking.
The backlinks that your competitors currently have may hold clues as to who you can contact for backlinks. Even if those particular competitor backlinks do not give you direct dofollow links, they still provide valuable insight as to what types of links your business will need in order to do well in the search engines.
How to Find Competitor Backlinks
A simple search of backlinks using any number of free available tools can easily show you the backlinks of your competitors. The problem is that many of these links are unique to your competitor, and may include clients, or some other personal relationship that may be difficult for you to break into.
The secret to finding competitor backlinks that are relevant and have value for your company is to study the trends of the top ranking backlinks of many of your competitors. Chances are that if a backlink appears on many of your competitor's lists, then it is a backlink that you should and can also have.
You can simply perform a background check on the top URLs that show up for your target keyword. You can then export these results into a spreadsheet of your choice in order to sort and do some trendspotting.
Some advanced operators in Google also have the ability to give you this type of backlink research. However, the secret is, not simply to copy your competitors, but to do better than they have.
When you search for backlinks using Google, try searching for the keywords for which your competitors were trying to get ranked, and the ones in which they actually did. This "spread" represents where you can step in and get ranked higher for valued keywords.
Analyzing Link Priorities
As stated before, you want to go for the backlinks that show up in a number of your competitor's profiles.
The first step is to really analyze and hone the keywords that you need for your business. This may best be done by a carefully monitored PPC campaign.
After this, your top priority should be to analyze the newest tactics that have worked. Therefore, hone in on your youngest, yet most recently successful competitor. Their tactics are the most likely to still be valid.
After this, hone in on the aforementioned "spread" between the on page and off page keyword targeting that your competition is doing. If your competition is not ranking highly for a keyword that is relevant to your business, and they obviously wanted to, this is your opportunity and should be your top priority for keyword competition.
Acquiring Competitor Backlinks
Once you have analyzed the backlinks of your competitors, it is time to start grabbing some.
The first and easiest method is simply to analyze the broken link pages that your competitors still have up. This may be a disgruntled client or a broken relationship upon which you can capitalize. Check all of the 404 pages on the web sites of your competitors.
Check your competitor's web sites with old links that are broken. If they are going to advertise their past relationships, it is worth it for you to explore.
The Bottom Line
Proper backlink research and execution requires adding something to what your competitor has done. If you simply copy what they do, you not be able to top them. Your content, your relationship building, and your research should allow you to leapfrog your competitors and create an even stronger backlink web.
In addition to finding and acquiring competitor backlinks, you may want to build some links to your website using Linxboss and at the same time get 125-150 FREE LINKS to your website. See our Linxboss Review for further information.


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Maybe you've noticed, the underlying romantic theme of "Titanic" are the hands of Rose Calvert nee DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson. Throughout the movie, there are numerous scenes in which the hands of the two characters touch, are drawn or are referred to in some way. Below are a number of scenes from the screenplay where hands play a major role. [Note: There may be differences between the script, printed below in red, and what actually appears in the movie. Also, the "Titanic" screenplay that I've linked above is not what I originally used when I wrote this webpage; however, it should be a useful reference.]
Scene 17: "Outside it is a quiet morning in Ojai, California. In the studio, amid incredible clutter, an ANCIENT WOMAN is throwing a pot on a potter's wheel. The liquid red clay covers her hands... hands that are gnarled and age-spotted, but still surprisingly strong and supple... The old woman's name is ROSE CALVERT. Her face is a wrinkled mass, her body shapeless and shrunken under a one-piece African-print dress. But her eyes are just as bright and alive as those of a young girl. Rose gets up and walks into the living room, wiping pottery clay from her hands with a rag."
Scene 28: "Laid out on a worktable are fifty or so objects, from mundane to valuable. Rose, shrunken in her chair, can barely see over the table top. With a trembling hand she lifts a tortoise shell hand mirror, inlaid with mother of pearl. She caresses it wonderingly... Rose picks up an ornate art-nouveau HAIR COMB. A jade butterfly takes flight on the ebony handle of the comb. She turns it slowly, remembering. We can see that Rose is experiencing a rush of images and emotions that have lain dormant for eight decades as she handles the butterfly comb."
Scene 34: "The Renault stops and the LIVERIED DRIVER scurries to open the door for a YOUNG WOMAN dressed in a stunning white and purple outfit, with an enormous feathered hat. She is 17 years old and beautiful, regal of bearing, with piercing eyes. It is the girl in the drawing. ROSE." [Note: In the movie, as Rose leaves the car, she offers her hand to the chauffeur.]
Scene 36: "JACK (jaunty): 'Hit me again, Sven.' Jack takes the card and slips it into his hand." [This line of dialogue was deleted from the movie.]
Scene 41: "JACK AND FABRIZIO burst through a door onto the aft well deck. TRACKING WITH THEM as they run across the deck and up the steel stairs to the poop deck. They get to the rail and Jack starts to yell and wave to the crowd on the dock."
Scene 66: "CAL: 'What made you think you could put your hands on my fiancée?! Look at me, you filth! What did you think you were doing?!'"
Scene 73: "She [Rose] studies one drawing in particular, the girl posed half in sunlight, half in shadow. Her hands lie at her chin, one furled and one open like a flower, languid and graceful. The drawing is like an Alfred Steiglitz print of Georgia O'Keefe. ROSE: 'You liked this woman. You used her several times.' JACK: 'She had beautiful hands.' ROSE (smiling): 'I think you must have had a love affair with her...' JACK (laughing): 'No, no! Just with her hands.'"
Scene 79: "Cal comes down the stairs, with Ruth on his arm, covered in jewelry. They both walk right past Jack, neither one recognizing him. Cal nods at him, one gent to another. But Jack barely has time to be amused. Because just behind Cal and Ruth on the stairs is Rose, a vision in red and black, her low-cut dress showing off her neck and shoulders, her arms seethed in white gloves that come well above the elbow. Jack is hypnotized by her beauty. CLOSE ON ROSE as she approaches Jack. He imitates the gentlemen's stance, hand behind his back. She extends her gloved hand and he takes it, kissing the back of her fingers. Rose flushes, beaming noticeably. She can't take her eyes off him. JACK: 'I saw that in a nickelodeon once, and I always wanted to do it.'"
Scene 83: "GRACIE (rising): 'Well, join me for a brandy, gentlemen?' ROSE (low): 'Now they retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being masters of the universe.' GRACIE: 'Joining us, Dawson? You don't want to stay out here with the women, do you?' Actually he does, but... JACK: 'No thanks. I'm heading back.' CAL: 'Probably best. It'll be all business and politics, that sort of thing. Wouldn't interest you. Good of you to come.' Cal and the other gentlemen exit. ROSE: 'Jack, must you go?' JACK: 'Time for my coach to turn back into a pumpkin.' [In the movie, Jack says, 'Time to go row with the other slaves.'] He leans over to take her hand. INSERT: We see him slip a tiny folded note into her palm. Ruth, scowling, watches him walk away across the enormous room. Rose surreptitiously opens the note below table level. It reads: 'Make it count. Meet me at the clock.'"
Scene 85: "Jack ... dances with 5 year old Cora Cartwell, or tries to, with her standing on his feet. As the tune ends, Rose leans down to the little girl. ROSE: 'May I cut in, miss?' [Actually, Jack has to persuade Rose to dance in the movie.] JACK: 'You're still my best girl, Cora.' Cora scampers off. Rose and Jack face each other. She is trembling as he takes her right hand in his left. His other hand slides to the small of her back. It is an electrifying moment."
Scene 88: "ROSE: 'They're such small
people, Jack... my crowd. They think they're giants on the earth,
but they're not even dust in God's eye. They live inside this little
tiny champagne bubble... and someday the bubble's going to burst.'
He leans at the rail next to her, his hand just touching hers. It is the
slightest contact imaginable, and all either one of them can feel is that
square inch of skin where their hands are touching." [This
scene was cut from the movie.]
Scene 99: "TITANIC STEAMS TOWARD US, in the dusk light, as if lit by the embers of a giant fire. As the ship looms, FILLING FRAME, we push in on the bow. Jack is there, right at the apex of the bow railing, his favorite spot. He closes his eyes, letting the chill wind clear his head. Jack hears her voice, behind him... ROSE: 'Hello, Jack.' He turns and she is standing there. ROSE: 'I changed my mind.' He smiles at her, his eyes drinking her in. Her cheeks are red with the chill wind, and her eyes sparkle. Her hair blows wildly about her face. ROSE: 'Fabrizio said you might be up--' JACK: 'Sssshh. Come here.' He puts his hands on her waist. As if he is going to kiss her. JACK: 'Close your eyes.' She does, and he turns her to face forward, the way the ship is going. He presses her gently to the rail, standing right behind her. Then he takes her two hands and raises them until she is standing with her arms outstretched on each side. Rose is going along with him. When he lowers his hands, her arms stay up... like wings. JACK: 'Okay. Open them.' Rose gasps. There is nothing in her field of vision but water. It's like there is no ship under them at all, just the two of them soaring. The Atlantic unrolls toward her, a hammered copper shield under a dusk sky. There is only the wind, and the hiss of the water 50 feet below. ROSE: 'I'm flying!' She leans forward, arching her back. He puts his hands on her waist to steady her. JACK (singing softly): 'Come Josephine in my flying machine...' Rose closes her eyes, feeling herself floating weightless far above the sea. She smiles dreamily, then leans back, gently pressing her back against his chest. He pushes forward slightly against her. Slowly he raises his hands, arms outstretched, and they meet hers... fingertips gently touching. Then their fingers intertwine. Moving slowly, their fingers caress through and around each other like the bodies of two lovers. Jack tips his face forward into her blowing hair, letting the scent of her wash over him, until his cheek is against her ear. Rose turns her head until her lips are near his. She lowers her arms, turning further, until she finds his mouth with hers. He wraps his arms around her from behind, and they kiss like this with her head turned and tilted back, surrendering to him, to the emotion, to the inevitable. They kiss, slowly and tremulously, and then with building passion. Jack and the ship seem to merge into one force of power and optimism, lifting her, buoying her forward on a magical journey, soaring onward into a night without fear."
Scene 105: "TIGHT ON JACK as his eyes come up to look at her over the top edge of his sketchpad. We have seen this image of him before, in her memory. It is an image she will carry the rest of her life. Despite his nervousness, he draws with sure strokes, and what emerges is the best thing he has ever done. Her pose is languid, her hands beautiful, and her eyes radiate her energy." [In the movie, the first recognizable part of the drawing is her left hand.]
Scene 111: "Rose, fully dressed now, returns to the sitting room. They hear a key in the lock. Rose takes Jack's hand and leads him silently through the bedrooms."
Scene 120: "Jack and Rose enter and run
laughing between the rows of stacked cargo. She hugs herself against
the cold, after the dripping heat of the boiler room. They come upon
William Carter's brand new RENAULT touring car, lashing down to a pallet.
It looks like a royal coach from a fairy tale, its brass trim and headlamps
nicely set off by its deep burgundy color. Rose climbs into the plushly
upholstered back seat, acting very royal. There are cut crystals
bud vases on the walls back there, each containing a rose. Jack jumps
into the driver's seat, enjoying the feel of the leather and wood.
JACK: 'Where to, Miss?' ROSE: 'To the stars.' ON
JACK as her hands come out of the shadows and pull him over the seat into
the back. He lands next to her, and his breath seems loud in the
quiet darkness. He looks at her and she is smiling. It is the
moment of truth. JACK: 'Are you nervous?' ROSE:
'Au contraire, mon cher.' [This line of dialogue was deleted
from the movie.] He strokes her face, cherishing
her. She kisses his artist's fingers. ROSE: 'Put your
hands on me Jack.' He kisses her, and she slides down in the seat
under his welcome weight."
Scene 124: "PUSHING IN on the rear window of the Renault, which is completely fogged up. Rose's hand comes up and slams against the glass for a moment, making a handprint in the veil of condensation. INSIDE THE CAR, Jack's overcoat is like a blanket over them. It stirs and Rose pulls it down. They are huddled under it, intertwined, still mostly clothed. Their faces are flushed and they look at each other wonderingly. She puts her hand on his face, as if making sure he is real. ROSE: 'You're trembling.' JACK: 'It's okay. I'm alright.' He lays his cheek against her chest. JACK: 'I can feel your heart beating.' She hugs his head to her chest, and just holds on for dear life. OLD ROSE (VOICE OVER): 'Well, I wasn't the first teenage girl to get seduced in the backseat of a car, and certainly not the last, by several million. He had such fine hands, artists' hands, but strong too... roughened by work. I remember their touch even now.' [From Jack's second line on ("I can feel your heart beating"), this section was deleted from the movie; however, it reinforces the element of the hands as an integral part of the story.]
Scene 193: "Jack has climbed up on the bench,
and is hugging the water pipe. Rose wades in, holding the axe above
her head. ROSE: 'Will this work?' JACK: 'We'll
find out.' They are both terrified, but trying to keep panic at bay.
He positions the chain connecting the two cuffs, stretching it taut across
the steel pipe. The chain is of course very short, and his exposed
wrists are on either side of it. JACK: 'Try a couple practice
swings.' Rose hefts the axe and thunks it into a wooden cabinet.
JACK: 'Now try to hit the same mark again.' She swings hard
and the blade thunks in four inches from the mark. JACK: 'Okay,
that's enough practice.' He winces, bracing himself as she raises
the axe. She has to hit a target about an inch wide with all the
force she can muster, with his hands on either side. JACK (sounding
calm): 'You can do it, Rose. Hit it as hard as you can. I trust
you.' Jack closes his eyes. So does she. The axe comes down.
K-WHANG! Rose gingerly opens her eyes looks... Jack is grinning with
two separate cuffs."
Scene 221: "LIGHTOLLER: 'Quickly, ladies. Step into the boat. Hurry, please!' JACK: 'Go on. I'll get the next one.' ROSE: 'No. Not without you!' She doesn't even care that Cal is standing right there. He sees the emotion between Jack and Rose and his jaw clenches. But then he leans close to her and says... CAL (low): 'There are boats on the other side that are allowing men in. Jack and I can get off safely. Both of us.' JACK (he smiles reassuringly): 'I'll be alright. Hurry up so we can get going... we got our own boat to catch.' CAL: 'Get in... hurry up, it's almost full.' Lightoller grabs her arm and pulls her toward the boat. She reaches out for Jack and her fingers brush his for a moment. Then she finds herself stepping down into the boat. It's all a rush and blur. LIGHTOLLER: 'Lower away!'"
Scene 222: "ROSE'S PERCEPTION... IN SLOW
MOTION: The ropes going through the pulleys as the seamen start to
lower. All sound going away... Lightoller giving orders, his lips
moving... but Rose hears only the blood pounding in her ears... this cannot
be happening... a rocket bursts above in slow-motion, outlining Jack in
a halo of light... Rose's hair blowing in slow motion as she gazes up at
him, descending away from him... she sees his hand trembling, the tears
at the corners of his eyes, and cannot believe the unbearable pain she
is feeling... Rose is still staring up, tears pouring down her face.
SUDDENLY SHE IS MOVING. She lunges across the women next to her.
Reaches the gunwale, climbing it... Hurls herself out of the boat
to the rail of the A-Deck promenade, catching it, and scrambling over the
rail. The Boat 2 continues down. But Rose is back on Titanic."
Scene 251: "Jack and Rose clamber over the A-Deck aft rail. Then, using all his strength, he lowers her toward the deck below, holding on with one hand. She dangles, then falls. Jack jumps down behind her. They join a crush of people literally clawing and scrambling over each other to get down the narrow stairs to the well deck... the only way aft."
Scene 274: "'JACK: 'We have to move!'
He climbs over the stern rail and reaches back for Rose. She is terrified
to move. He grabs her hand. JACK: 'Come on! I've got you!'
Jack pulls her over the rail. It is the same place he pulled her over the
rail two nights earlier, going the other direction. She gets over
just as the railing is going HORIZONTAL, and the deck VERTICAL. Jack grips
her fiercely. The stern is now straight up in the air... a rumbling
black monolith standing against the stars. It hangs there like that for
a long grace note, its buoyancy stable."
"The final relentless plunge begins as the stern section floods. Looking down a hundred feet to the water, we drop like an elevator with Jack and Rose. JACK (talking fast): 'Take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into the water. The ship will suck us down. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Don't let go of my hand. We're gonna make it Rose. Trust me." She stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder. ROSE: 'I trust you.'"
Scene 288: "ROSE: 'I love you, Jack.' He takes her hand. JACK: 'No... don't say your good-byes, Rose. Don't you give up. Don't do it.'"
"JACK: 'You must do me this honor... promise
me you will survive... that you will never give up... no matter what happens...
no matter how hopeless... promise me now, and never let go of that promise.'
ROSE: 'I promise.' JACK: 'Never let go.' ROSE: 'I promise. I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go.' She grips
his hand and they lie with their heads together. It is quiet now,
except for the lapping of the water."
Scene 291: "IN A HOVERING DOWNANGLE we see Jack and Rose floating in the black water. The stars reflect in the mill pond surface, and the two of them seem to be floating in interstellar space. They are absolutely still. Their hands are locked together. Rose is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling above her. The music is transparent, floating... as the long sleep steals over Rose, and she feels peace."
"Rose lifts her head to turn to Jack. We see that her hair has frozen to the wood under her. ROSE (barely audible): 'Jack.' She touches his shoulder with her free hand. He doesn't respond. Rose gently turns his face toward her. It is rimed with frost. He seems to be sleeping peacefully. But he is not asleep."
Scene 293: "ROSE struggles to move. Her hand, she realizes, is actually frozen to Jack's. She breaths on it, melting the ice a little, and gently unclasps their hands, breaking away a thin tinkling film. ROSE: 'I won't let go. I promise.' She releases him and he sinks into the black water. He seems to fade out like a spirit returning to some immaterial plane."
Scene 310: "THE WRECK OF TITANIC looms like
a ghost out of the dark. It is lit by a kind of moonlight, a light
of the mind. We pass over the endless forecastle deck to the superstructure,
moving faster than subs can move... almost like we are flying. WE
GO INSIDE, and the echoing sound of distant waltz music is heard.
The rust fades away from the walls of the dark corridor and it is transformed...
WE EMERGE onto the grand staircase, lit by glowing chandelier. The
music is vibrant now, and the room is populated by men in tie and tails,
women in gowns. It is exquisitely beautiful. IN POV we sweep
down the staircase. The crowd of beautiful gentlemen and ladies turn
as we descend toward them. At the bottom a man stands with his back
to us... he turns and it is Jack. Smiling he holds his hand out toward
us. IN A SIDE ANGLE Rose goes into his arms, a girl of 17.
The passengers, officers and crew of the RMS Titanic smile and applaud
in the utter silence of the abyss." [This scene was obviously
shot in a reverse angle, Rose going up the staircase instead of down to
meet Jack.]
Copyright © 1998, 2005, 2009 by John J. Dunne
Last Revised: 28 October 2009
Very special thanks to Jackie Egan Fritsche who provided the idea and did all the research!