text:
TOKYO – A major amphibious warfare exercise off the California coast is not intended as a dress rehearsal for combat in the Japanese islands — but it could work out that way.
For the first time, troops from all three Japanese armed services are practicing how to seize and defend remote islands, and conduct combat operations in close coordination with the U.S. Navy and Marines. It is the latest, biggest – and potentially most troubling — step in expanding the roles and missions of the Japanese Self Defense Force since China began aggressively pressing claims on Japanese administered islands in 2010.
Japan has sent three large warships and some 250 ground troops to take part in Dawn Blitz 2013, which officially kicked off this week. The exercise includes some 5,000 troops – mostly U.S. Marines and sailors, but a small number of ships and soldiers from Canada and New Zealand, as well. Seven other countries, including Australia and Singapore, have sent observers.
The exercise is part of the U.S. pivot, or re-balance, to the Asia-Pacific region. The host unit is the California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which was activated in late 2009. It is designed to bridge the gap in size between Marine expeditionary units – which comprise about 2,200 troops – and Marine expeditionary forces, which can include as many as 50,000. All three groups are designed to deploy quickly to overseas battlefields and – being Marines — to fight their way ashore, if necessary.
Although Dawn Blitz has been held annually since 2010, this year's exercise was re-organized in recent months to accommodate a larger and more ambitious Japanese role. Japan Ground Self Defense Force troops will practice beach landings, helicopter and small-boat raids, conduct live-fire and mock warfare exercises (against Marines), and train for a variety of other tasks related to fighting from the sea.
For the first time, Japan Ground Self Defense Force helicopters will operate from Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ship, and ground troops will call for live gunfire from ships offshore – a more dangerous and difficult task than it might appear.
In another first, Marine V-22 Ospreys will practice landings and takeoffs from the Japanese helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga, a carrier-like vessel designed for anti-submarine warfare, but adaptable for other missions, as well. For both the Japanese and Americans, learning how to function as a single team is another goal of the exercise.
"The very first landing of an MV-22 Osprey on a Japanese ship is a historic moment," said Brig. Gen. John Broadmeadow, the 1st MEB commander, in a statement this week.
The Japan Air Self Defense Force sent several observers and liaison officers to Dawn Blitz 2013, though not any warplanes. That's partly because of logistical challenges, and partly because learning how to drop bombs near ground troops was seen as one task too many this time around.
(How difficult is "close-air support"? To keep from hitting their own troops, the Marines take highly-trained fighter pilots off flight duty for a year or more and assign them to ground units, for the sole purpose of calling in air strikes. It's not clear whether Japanese fighter jocks will rush to sign up if they are asked to do the same.)
The exercise has not gone unnoticed in China, which harbors bitter memories of Japanese occupation during World War II and views any increase in defense capabilities as evidence of a return of Japanese militarism. According to the Kyodo news service, Beijing asked Japan to cancel its participation in Dawn Blitz, but was told No.
Japan likewise views with suspicion China's growing military power and territorial ambitions. Chinese government patrol boats have sailed in or near Japanese-administered waters around the Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu, almost daily since December.
A PLA Navy warship locked its fire control radar on a Japanese destroyer in international waters near those islands earlier this year; no shots were fired, but the incident demonstrated the risks. Japanese leaders increasingly have asked how Japan, with little equipment or expertise in amphibious warfare, would respond if China were to seize one of Japan's thousands of remote islands.
The U.S.-Japan Security Treaty obligates the United States to respond of Japanese-administered territory comes under attack, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would take the lead in any islands crisis.
Until recently, there's been little need for the Japanese armed services to work together, particularly in amphibious warfare. The current interpretation of Japan's pacifist constitution forbids offensive operations, and the air, ground and maritime forces generally have operated alone, with strictly defensive and carefully separated responsibilities.
At least some of that will have to change if Japan wants to succeed at amphibious warfare. Soldiers will have to learn how to live aboard ships and protect their equipment from salt air; sailors must to learn to maneuver their ships in shallow water and fire at shifting targets ashore; pilots will have to sacrifice the thrill and glamour of air-to-air combat for the dirty work of flying low and slow, searching for targets on the ground.
All of that is in U.S. national interests, says Jason Wheelock, a Council on Foreign Relations-Hitachi International Affairs Fellow in Japan.
"For the first time, the Ground Self Defense Forces and the Maritime Self Defense Forces will be practicing what they call 'joint fires," says Wheelock, who is also a visiting fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo. "That's a key evolution and if they can get this right, I personally would like to see Japan taking a larger role in providing and actually exporting security in the region and allowing the U.S. to maybe array its forces around Japanese forces… that would be a better use of scarce defense resources."
And could put Japanese forces deep in uncharted waters.


text: Listed below are the upcoming system training opportunities available to you. Click view to display additional information and RSVP for the class. Classes require that you RSVP to attend. If after registering for a class you anticipate being unable to attend, please cancel your RSVP to free up the slot for others who are interested in taking the class.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Problem 44788. Find the right number make the equation
Solution Stats
Problem Comments
9 Comments
Interesting. I've solved several more puzzles in the Community group after this one, but I still can't see your solution, Binbin. It's obviously much smaller than mine is, which is why I'm interested in figuring out how you did this.
@ James
To unlock all solutions of this problem, you must solve a newer problem than this one, not older problems.
@James, my solution is very simple, it is pure number.The challenge is from Fermat. Because the big number, it is hard to test. I want use Java's Big Integer, but it has no sqrt operation.
My program gives a wrong answer for n=1, but passes the tests due to insufficient precision. How big is the smallest solution for n=1?
@Tim, it is about 13 digitals. I want to submit another problem use char array as output and avoid to precision.
@James, @Tim, Because of precision, the problem have no meaning, so I have fix the test suits. The output must be char array. Thank you for your support.
I was using the method to parameterize Pythagorean triples (a,b,c) in terms of s and t. Since we're looking at c^4 instead of c^2 (to make sure that c itself is a perfect square), I can see why the numbers got quite large. My solution for n=2 was for larger numbers than my n=3 solution, although even my n=1 solution had the magnitude of a as 10^16 and b was 10^21. I didn't find anything on the order of 10^13.
@James, I think the following link will help you.
Very nice link, Binbin. That is was exactly what I was trying to do, only they didn't include the math error I made in my calculations. :)
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text:
On Sunday, The Financial Times reported that the recent drop in Eastman Kodak's share prices may be the final, overt sign that the photography giant is nearing its end.
For a company that spearheaded innovation—in 1885, founder George Eastman invented roll film, which benefited the motion picture industry and inventor Thomas Edison—the only sign that may be left that Rochester, NY, was once the home of something great sits midway down East Avenue where the George Eastman house sits.
In the late 19th century, Eastman sparked up an idea and a patent before dashing to market. A blue-chip, global enterprise once valued at an estimated $200 billion is now a pale contrast of its former self. On Friday, Eastman Kodak shares were valued at an estimated 54 cents per share, losing half of its value in a single day.
So what happened? Kodak competitor Fuji is still profitable and cash flow is healthy.
The answer may be in Kodak's embedded culture of over-greatness. Over-greatness is a pet name I have given to the phenomenon plaguing Kodak—when a majority of people in an organization are feeling and acting over-inflated to the point of insularity.
By sequestering itself, the organization created the anti-culture of success. The culture it carved out disabled "fresh," innovative thinking. Product development, for example, requires market engagement. Kodak didn't even attend the Consumer Electronic Show (or CES) until 2004—amazing evidence of their lack of consumer orientation.
My suspicion is that Mr. Eastman—Rochester's dear friend and philanthropist who built up the University of Rochester with his kind donations and redid the Cambridge campus of MIT—is spinning about in his afterlife, if you believe in such a place. Imagining him right now fuming or simply shaking his head in disdain is all I can envision.
Culture is powerful; it is behavior bending and can be fatal. For Eastman Kodak—a company that was once rich with entrepreneurship and mission—time has ticked by. Disruptive cycles are required these days to spark creativity and new product proliferations.
The days of Theory Z—the days prophesized by psychologist Abraham Maslow—are here. According to Maslow's book, Maslow on Management, "Theory Z presupposed that people, once having reached a level of economic security, would strive for a life steeped in values, a work life where the person would be able to create and produce."
Kodak's culture seems to have worked against Theory Z. Leaders and managers may be rich in value-based living but, without creating, companies fade from our minds and new replacement products take their place.
Some may say Kodak's high level of quality and over attention to perfection prevented product development, but I posit that its culture of insulation drove it to be worth a mere 54 cents per share on Friday.
It's a sad day in Rochester, NY. For me, the University of Rochester was my springboard to finding value in psychological research connected to motivation theory and organizational development. That experience would not have been possible without the generosity of Mr. Eastman. His grants fueled a majority of my education in New York—thank you, George.
Let's be sure, folks, that next time we find another Eastman, we encourage his new organization with systems knowledge, cultures research, collaborative practices and leadership that encourages participation from outside and inside the company.
It's amazing that we can have a technology company last 119 years without such thinking, but Kodak is a pretty strong case that it can happen—for a while, not forever.
Read other posts by Dennis Rebelo
Keep up with our community: Facebook | Twitter | Saybrook's Organizational Systems Program


text:
The wreck of a Roman ship was discovered 25 years ago, and nobody could explain why a large lead pipe was smashed through the hull. Now we know it's just another example of Roman engineering prowess. Specifically, it's a fish tank.
It's easily taken for granted, but the idea of transporting foods over long distances is a relatively modern concept. After all, any meat is going to rot without refrigeration, and it's not easy to place the necessary cooling equipment on a moving vessel. Of course, you can just use nature's way of keeping meat fresh by transporting live animals, but that presents its own set of technical challenges.
That's where the ancient Roman fish tank comes into play. Historians had long assumed that any fish caught in ancient times were eaten nearby. But this ancient shipwreck reveals an ingenious method for keeping fish alive indefinitely, and the Romans could have taken their fish all across the Mediterranean Sea.
The lead pipe through the hull would have allowed water to be pumped in and out of the boat, but you don't drill holes in your boat unless you've got a very good reason to. This particular ship was small - only about 54 feet long -
making it unlikely that the sailors made it to drain bilge water or fight fires as they might have done on a larger boat. However, containers recovered from the wreck have the remains of processed fish like sardines inside them, indicating it was part of the fish trade.
That's where the fish tank hypothesis comes from. Writing for Nature, Jo Marchant explains how the tank would have worked:
The researchers calculate that a ship the size of the Grado wreck could have held a tank containing around 4 cubic metres of water. This could have housed 200 kilograms of live fish, such as sea bass or sea bream. To keep the fish alive with a constant oxygen supply, the water in the tank would need to be replaced once every half an hour. The researchers estimate that the piston pump could have supported a flow of 252 litres per minute, allowing the water to be replaced in just 16 minutes.
Now, to be fair, it's possible that the researchers have dismissed the other possibilities a little too quickly, and there certainly is no evidence of the tank itself. But this finding does fit with primary sources about ancient Roman trade. Pliny the Elder mentions that live parrotfish were shipped all the way from the Black Sea to Naples, where they were then placed back in the sea in the hopes of establishing a new population.
What's particularly intriguing is how small the boat is - if it really did carry a fish tank, then that's a good indication that the practice was commonplace, and even small-time merchants made use of the technology. It's just more evidence that perhaps the ancient world wasn't quite so ancient after all.
The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology via Nature. Image of a Roman shipwreck via


text:
LONDON — Verizon Communications was poised yesterday to finally take full control of its United States wireless business with a $130 billion deal that would buy out Vodafone and bring an end to a decade-long corporate standoff.
The British firm said late on Sunday it was in advanced talks with Verizon to sell its 45% stake in the Verizon Wireless joint venture for cash and common shares in what would be the world's third-largest deal of all time.
People familiar with the situation told Reuters they expected a full announcement to come after the London stock market closure yesterday and after the board of Verizon meets earlier to vote on the proposed transaction.
The move to sell the jewel in Vodafone's crown closes a heady expansionist chapter for one of Britain's most famous companies, which grew rapidly over the last 20 years through a spate of aggressive deals to operate in more than 30 countries across Europe, Africa and India.
The new Vodafone will be smaller, less profitable and more reliant on its core, mature European assets, but it is expected to use the huge windfall to rebuild via smaller acquisitions and higher network investments.
Speculation had already begun that Vodafone could itself become a bid target, and news of the pending deal sent its shares up 4% to a more than 12-year high in early London trade yesterday.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Vodafone would get $60 billion in cash, $60 billion in Verizon stock, and an additional $10 billion from smaller transactions that will take the total deal value to $130 billion, two of the people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
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To fund the cash portion of the deal, Verizon has lined up as much as $65 billion in financing from four banks: JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, they said. The banks have committed to the financing which is expected be split evenly among the four, two people said.
If the deal is concluded, it will end one of the longest-running corporate standoffs, which has at times seen both partners seek to buy out the other in times of weakness. For Verizon, it means that it no longer has to share the billions in cash generated by Verizon Wireless.
On the Vodafone side, chief executive Vittorio Colao will get a war chest of cash to reward shareholders and potentially carry out acquisitions to strengthen the group's European and emerging market operations.
Vodafone shares have risen 13% since news of the deal emerged on Thursday.


text:
This is my first column written on a Mac – ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot.
But now, I've had it. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
In the coming weeks I'm going to keep a diary of an experiment my company began at 6 p.m. April 29, 2005 – an experiment predicated on the hypothesis that the WinTel platform represents the greatest violation of the basic tenets of information security and has become a national economic security risk. I do not say this lightly, and I have never been a Microsoft basher, either. I never criticize a company without a fair bit of explanation, justification and supportive evidence.
I have come to the belief that there is a much easier, more secure way to use computers. After having spent several years focusing my security work on Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless, I also have come to the conclusion that if I'm having such security problems, heaven help the 98 percent of humanity who merely want a computer for e-mail and multimedia.
Even though I'm a security guy going on 22 years now, my day-to-day work is pretty much like everyone else's. I live on laptops and use my desktops at home and the office for geeking and experimenting. My two day-to-day laptops (two, for 24/7 backup) are my business machines. I don't need them to do a whole lot – except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel.
I want my computer to function every time I turn it on. I want my computer to not corrupt data when it does crash. I use a handful of applications: Microsoft Office, e-mail, browser, FTP client and some multimedia toys. Regardless of format, they should work without crashing.
I live on the 'Net. I do not want my browser to eat up all of my memory. In the WinTel world I need an assortment of third-party tools to try to keep my PC alive. That's just crazy.
Why does WinTel have these problems? I have heard all sorts of explanations, and I don't subscribe to any of them. I've come up with my own (hopefully rational) reasons WinTel will fail – and has to fail:
Windows is complex, trying to be everything to everyone. This complexity comes at a terrible price: downtime, help desks, upgrades, patches and the inevitable failures.
When a new operating system or service pack is released, there are tons of changes to the functionality.
WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS They are not all equal, nor do they all have the same level of compatibility.
Some Windows software applications are well written; others take shortcuts. Shortcuts may work in some environments, but not all, and ultimately the consumer pays in lost time, availability and productivity.
Hardware. There are hundreds of "WinTel-compatible" motherboards, each claiming to be better than the next. Whatever.
Memory. Not all RAM is equal. Some works well. Cheap stuff doesn't.
Hard disks. Same problem: cheap or reliable. Your call.
Here's my answer to the WinTel problem: We need an open Simple Operating System (SOS) that meets the needs of the majority of people who buy PCs for everyday home and enterprise tasks. Get rid of the complexity and simplify the interface between SOS, BIOS and hardware. In other words, KISS. You know what it means. KISS SOS.
Because SOS doesn't exist yet, my company has given up on WinTel. We have successfully moved to Mac in less than two days. Think about it: a security-friendly alternative that works and doesn't require gobs of third-party utilities to safely perform the most mundane tasks. Please follow the details of our experiment at www.securityawareness.blogspot.com. It's already way more interesting than I thought it would be.
Schwartau is a security writer, lecturer and president of Interpact, a security awareness consulting firm. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
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Public Health Emergency - Leading a Nation Prepared
MSCC Handbook
The primary role of Federal resources in providing medical surge capacity and capability (MSCC) is to support, not supplant, State, Tribal, and jurisdictional response efforts. When the NRF is triggered by a Presidential declaration of a major disaster or emergency under the Stafford Act, Federal assistance generally is provided at the request of the Governor (or his/her designee) of an affected State.
In a catastrophic event, however, Federal assets may be mobilized and deployed to Federal installations in advance of a formal request for assistance. The Catastrophic Incident Supplement of the National Response Framework (NRF) establishes the policies, procedures, and mechanisms by which this may occur. The Federal Government closely coordinates this proactive mobilization with affected States, Tribal Nations, and jurisdictions.
On behalf of the Secretary of HHS, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) coordinates all aspects of Federal public health and medical assistance under ESF #8. The HHS Secretary's Operations Center (SOC) is the hub of information management and strategic-level command and control for ESF #8. During an emergency, the HHS Emergency Management Group (EMG) operates out of the SOC to coordinate the ESF #8 response. The ASPR may request that liaisons from the ESF #8 support agencies and HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs)* be provided to the SOC to ensure a coordinated ESF #8 response.
The HHS Incident Response Coordination Team (IRCT), which is mobilized by the ASPR, coordinates all deployed ESF #8 assets. All field communications to the SOC flow through the IRCT, which is typically led by an HHS Regional Emergency Coordinator. The IRCT team leader is accountable for executing field activities for the ASPR. In a large-scale or complex incident, the Secretary of HHS may also deploy a Senior Health Official (SHO) to be his/her direct representative in the field. When deployed, the SHO is responsible for overarching coordination of deployed ESF #8 assets and provides guidance and leadership to the IRCT. The SHO serves as the senior-level ESF #8 liaison to State, Tribal, jurisdictional, and other Federal officials, including the Department of Homeland Security appointed Principal Federal Official (PFO). The SHO operates at the strategic level and reports to the EMG. Typically, the SHO is part of the PFO Coordination Cell and coordinates with the IRCT leadership.
As the primary Agency for ESF #8, HHS has developed a Concept of Operations Plan (CONOPS) that provides the framework for its management of the public health and medical response to an emergency or disaster.
Learn More about HHS Concept Of Operations Plan (CONOPs) FOR ESF #8
* HHS OPDIVs include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Indian Health Service (IHS); Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); National Institutes of Health (NIH); Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); Administration for Children and Families (ACF); and Administration on Aging (AoA).
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text:
We all know the usual names of companies that are doing well in social media. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the lesser-knowns and why they've had success, either on an ongoing basis or with some one-off efforts that stood out.
And since infographics are all the rage, what better way to look at them? Of course, for SEO purposes, I've listed them here as well.
- Dell is presented as a master in the art and science of listening.
- Morton's made headlines with its surprise-and-delight effort with influencer Peter Shankman recently, but goes beyond that with helpful information regularly.
- Unisys uses social media internally for effective collaboration and a boost to company productivity.
- KLM is using Twitter and Facebook for real-time customer service and encouraging customers to submit ideas.
- ABC is having fun with the way viewers can engage with their new show Pan Am by providing some goodies on Facebook.
Please feel free to share this post or embed the image on your own site. The code is provided below.
Copy and paste the code below to embed this graphic
This infographic was created by Voltier Digital, a content marketing agency based in Florida, specializing on the creation and promotion of impactful content marketing campaigns for businesses of all sizes.
Image credit: Marco Lazzaroni (Flickr)


text:
A new government study reports that while fewer kids and teens are getting exposed to secondhand smoke while riding in the car, rates of exposure are still high enough to warrant concern.
The authors recommend that more parts of the country ban smoking in cars carrying kids—laws that are on the books in four states.
In a survey of middle and high school students, close to one-third said they'd driven in a car with someone who was smoking in the past week.
Researchers said parents and other drivers may not realize that even when the windows are down, smoking in a vehicle can create toxic levels of circulating smoke.
"The concentrations just get very high—they get as high as in a very, very smoky bar," said Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, who has studied secondhand smoke in cars at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
"It's important for children, definitely, but it's a problem for everybody," Navas-Acien, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.
Even for smokers' own health, she added, "It's really important for them to realize that they should not smoke in such a small, confined space."
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that four states— Arkansas, California, Louisiana and Maine—have bans on smoking in cars carrying kids younger than 13 to 18, depending on the law. Puerto Rico also bars the practice.
Navas-Acien agreed with the authors that extending those laws to more of the country is necessary to protect kids from health problems linked to secondhand smoke, such as asthma and respiratory and ear infections.
For the new study, Brian King of the CDC and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted nationwide in more than 20,000 kids in grades six through 12 every couple of years between 2000 and 2009.
Students were asked if they smoked themselves, as well as if they'd been in the car with someone who was smoking in the past week.
By 2009, almost nine in every ten youth said they didn't smoke.
During the study period, the number of participants who reported recently being exposed to secondhand smoke in the car dropped from 48 percent to 30 percent overall.
Among smokers, that rate fell from 82 percent to 76 percent, and in non-smokers, from 39 percent to 23 percent.
King's team speculated in its study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, that those declines may be due to more smoke-free laws and fewer people smoking in the United States in general, as well as a changing public attitude about the appropriateness of smoking near kids.
But more needs to be done, researchers agreed.
"The alarming fact of it is, there's about one in five (non-smoking kids) that are still exposed in this environment," King told Reuters Health.
"We have evidence that there's no safe level for exposure" to secondhand smoke, he added.
"People are recognizing the importance of protecting children in cars, and that the amount of tobacco smoke in cars reaches levels that are quite high," said Geoffrey Fong, a tobacco researcher from the University of Waterloo in Canada who didn't participate in the new research.
He said that most provinces in Canada have also passed laws prohibiting smoking while youth are in the car.
"I envision that we are going to be seeing these kinds of laws passed throughout North America... and throughout the world. It makes sense," he told Reuters Health.
"Smoking in cars constitutes a significant public health hazard—that's quite intuitive."


text:
In MLM, it's not what you know, or even who you know. It's actually more about who knows you. If you're at all serious, you've got a list of subscribers to your blog, an RSS feed, an email newsletter or other services. Whether 10 you've got just 10 people on your list or 10,000, the object of the game is to build your list! After all, you've probably heard a thousand times…
"MLM is a numbers game!"
And making those numbers work for you is vital to your success. It's not going to happen without hard work, "Rome wasn't built in a day". You can bet that any of the current crop of mlm gurus have lists in the tens of thousands — but they're not resting on their laurels. They keep on building.
That's why you've heard of them
Here's How You can Become One of Them
1. Make it easy for visitors to subscribe.
Easy forms are a must. You don't need to collect anything beyond their name and email. Think about it – they're signing up because they want to –and asking for any more information might just make them think it's too much work to subscribe.
2. Make it easy and painless for subscribers to unsubscribe
One day your subscriber will lose interest and want to move on – and if you keep contacting them, that's when you become a spammer. At the end of every message you send, include a user-friendly way for them to stop receiving messages from you.
3. Offer an "ethical bribe" – something valuable in exchange for their contact information
A free report,
a free e-book,
a free coaching call with you
a multi-part training course,
a webinar or audio series, or a weekly or daily newsletter are among the best ways to "bribe" people to subscribe.
Just make sure what you're providing is unique, valuable, and well-produced.
4. Solve your visitors' problems.
If your blog is public, provide great problem-solving content that makes your visitors want to keep coming back for more.
Provide a way for them to subscribe to your RSS feed so they get the latest content.
5. Participate in forums and groups relevant to your niche.
Find out where your target market "hangs out" online, and join those forums and groups.
Offer pertinent content, contribute meaningfully to the conversations in progress, and provide a link in your signature to direct people to your site. (But DO NOT spam these communities with irrelevant links or huge signature lines!)
6. Don't "give away the store"
When offering your services, don't be afraid to tease – use juicy, compelling headlines, bullets, and copy that hints at the value they'll get if they join your list.
Be confident in charging for your services however. If you give everything away for free no one will value you.
7. Create a sense of urgency
Use an "expiration date" to motivate your visitors to opt in to your list right away.
You don't need to get complicated — just mention that your special offer expires at a certain time on a certain date.
Psychologically, your potential subscriber will then be forced to make a decision quickly.
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text: rainbow Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 Hi All I havent posted for a while, been having a rough time of it lately, so I thought i would cheer myself up and hopefully you to by sending the joke to the group. Hope you like it Rainbow. A married couple was on holiday in Jamaica. They were touring around the market place looking at the goods and such when they passed this small sandal shop. From inside they heard the shopkeeper with a Jamaican accent say, ?You foreigners! Come in. Come into my humble shop!" So the married couple walked in. The Jamaican said to them, "I have some special sandals I think you would be interested in. Dey make you wild at sex." Well, the wife was really interested in buying the sandals after what the man claimed, but her husband felt he really didn't need them, being the sex God he was. The husband asked the man, "How could sandals make you into a sex freak?" the Jamaican replied, "Just try dem on, Man." Well, the husband, after some badgering from his wife, finally gave in, and tried them on. As soon as he slipped them onto his feet, he got this wild look in his eyes... something his wife hadn't seen in many years!! In the blink of an eye, the husband grabbed the Jamaican, bent him violently over a table, yanked down his pants, ripped down his own pants, and grabbed a firm hold of the Jamaican's hips. The Jamaican then began screaming, "YOU GOT DEM ON DE WRONG FEET!!! YOU GOT DEM ON DE WRONG FEET!!! Quote Link to comment