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Combat Veterans Outreach Rolls into Barber./
(6/17/13) Upper Arlington, OH
Veterans Empowered Through Motorsports (VETM) disabled combat veteran crews roll into Barber Motorsports Park this weekend. Local combat veterans will be placed in two AMA Pro Road Racing teams this weekend; the #70 Harley-Davidson of James Gang / Hoban Brothers entry in the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series and with M.O.B. Racing.
Paul James, who rode the #70 Harley-Davidson to a top-10 finish at Road America, will host a combat veteran and her care giver from Fort Benning, GA area.
"This is our third race weekend working with the Veterans Empowered Through Motorsports program, and we look forward to another rewarding experience as we work together as a team to compete in the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson series. We're top 10 in points going into Barber and looking forward to continuing our momentum there," said team co-owner and rider Paul James.
Adding to the outreach this weekend will be New Jersey's M.O.B. Racing. Team owner Dennis Espinosa will place combat veterans from the Tennessee and Alabama area within M.O.B. racing.
"Veterans Empowered Through Motorsports has done some great things by utilizing these men and women in the AMA Paddock. From what we've seen this is fantastic idea! Having worked with and employed many combat veterans in the aviation industry, I know first-hand the attention to detail and dedication they bring to work with them, which is the same they used to defend our country around the world. I'm honored to have them join our team and want to thank Pete (Cline) and his organization for making it possible," said Espinosa.
Peter Cline, Founder VETM, added, "We are really looking forward to Barber this weekend. We learned quite a bit at Road America when we worked within the SuperSport class. As an outreach program we are always looking to improve, and we are going to bring in some additional veteran components this weekend. Working with James Gang / Hoban Brothers this season has been critical for us. And now for Dennis (Espinosa) at M.O.B. Racing to ask us to come in and assist them is great."
About Veterans Empowered Through Motorsports (VETM): VETM is a recognized 501c3 tax exempt outreach program. VETM places combat veterans into motorsports events that are team-oriented, purposeful and goal driven with actual hands-on time. Motorsports by nature is a high energy and adrenaline-filled sport, and by engaging combat veterans we work with established skills and tools they acquired while deployed. VETM ensures our combat veterans are empowered and engaged; making them central components to our team operations and including as many care givers, peers and family members as possible.
VETM supporters are: Oxford Consulting Group, Drippin'Wet, Ellanet, Midwest Motorcyclist, Motion Pro, Optimum Print Solutions, Portfolio Creative, XR1200 Owners Group.
To learn more about VETM please visit them on the web at www.tor-vetm.org or follow them on Facebook at http://facebook.com/TeamOhioRacing, Twitter @TeamOhioRacing or Pinterest at pinterest.com/teamohioracing/
Tax-deductible contributions can be made here http://www.crowdrise.com/vetm


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SIMPLE: effortless food, big flavours
Octopus, Aug 25, 2016 - Cooking - 10 pages
No-one is better than Diana Henry at turning the everyday into something special. Here is a superb collection of recipes that you can rustle up with absolutely no fuss, but which will knock your socks off with their flavour.
Peppered throughout the book are ingenious ideas such as no-hassle starters and sauces that will lift any dish. From Turkish Pasta with Caramelized Onions, Yoghurt and Dill and Paprika-baked Pork Chops with Beetroot, Caraway and Sour Cream to Parmesan-roasted Cauliflower with Garlic and Thyme, Diana takes the kind of ingredients we are most likely to find in our cupboard and fridge - or be able to pick up on the way home from work - and provides recipes that will become your friends for life.
What people are saying - Write a review
SimpleUser Review - Publishers Weekly
Henry (Roast Figs Sugar Snow) takes a low-key turn in this elegant cookbook focusing on simple, tasty recipes for all times of day that can be prepared with a minimum of fuss. She delivers on that ... Read full review

subset: commoncrawl


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Official SOE Podcast #143 is LIVE
Join hosts Maggie "Luperza" Krohn, Colette "Dexella" Murphy, and Tony "RadarX" Jones as they chat about Valentine's Day, Planetside 2, DCUO Fire and Ice, and more! Also listen in as Dexella chats with Kyle "Kander" Vallee, Brian "Omougi" Ferguson, and Kenneth "Terrogaunt" Roecks about the February 26th update coming to EverQuest II! They talk PvP, inventory, and new raid content! Let us know what you think at email@example.com or head over to the Station Forums to share your opinion with the community!
You can download the MP3 file directly, or subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the button below. We have both high- and low-bandwidth versions available. Or if you have iTunes installed, select iTunes Store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!


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Physicians Who Treat Herpes Zoster Who Accept Ambetter Sunshine Balanced MRF Near Tampa, FL
Herpes Zoster
Shingles (herpes zoster) is an infection caused by the virus responsible for chicken pox. Shingles initially causes a painful, red rash that is usually located on one side of the body. This rash is followed by small, fluid-filled blisters. The blisters dry up in a few days and form crusts that typically fall off after two to three weeks.


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Rocky assembled the upper of this Fort Hood Duty work boot with full-grain leather (the material will feel amazingly smooth yet maintain exceptional durability) and panels of 1000-Denier nylon (very breathable, lightweight, yet remarkably strong). The leather on these black boots is polishable, so you can keep them looking in top form. The lace-up design is great for adjusting the fit of these work boots, but a convenient side zipper allows you to get the footwear on/off quickly.
The padded collar helps prevent these 8 " boots from digging into the back of your legs and feels very comforting. Although, terrific peace of mind stems from having Rocky Waterproof construction; this guarantees that the interior of these men's work boots will remain utterly dry, which allows you to feel comfortable working in unfavorable weather conditions. Also, during the scorching hot days, you'll appreciate wearing a non-insulated boot, because this will prevent you from feeling overly warm.
The non-metallic stabilizer provides fantastic steadiness and allows you to maintain a much more solid stride. You will be pleasantly pleased with the amount of flexibility and comfort that derives from the hard-wearing rubber SWAT outsole.
Are you seeking a lightweight, durable and downright comfortable service boot? If so, this Rocky Fort Hood Waterproof Duty Boot (#2149) is a great option for you. Get your pair today!
- Guaranteed Rocky® Waterproof construction
- Full-grain leather
- 1,000 Denier CORDURA®
- Non-insulated
- Non-metallic stabilizer
- Rubber "SWAT" outsole
- Side Zipper for Easy On and Off
- 8 Inches in height
Rocky Men's Fort Hood Zipper Waterproof Duty Boot - FQ0002149
- Brand: Rocky
- Product Code: Rocky-FQ0002149
- Availability: In Stock


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Contact Us
Becoming a Customer is Easy!
- Register at one of our branches, agents, through our Call Center or Online
- Contact us to request a quote, choose the country to which you want to send money and book your payment.
- Transfer the amount booked to one of our accounts. When we receive the funds, we will process your payment.
- Provide your beneficiary with the confirmation code (MTN) and check your payment's progress.
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This video is ancient in internet terms, nearly a week old—but fuck you, I like to catch up on my French rugby union news on Fridays.
This is Valentin Courrent, scrum-half for FC Grenoble, scoring a try early in the match only to pop up and get a boot in the face from a tumbling teammate. Courrent would have to head to the hospital to get 26 stitches.
There's a photo of Courrent's lip before getting stitched up. Warning: It's super gross. Click here if you want to see.
[Rugby Dump, h/t Kevin]


text:
Preparing for a certification exam expands your understanding of dance concepts, improves your verbal and presentation skill, teaches you precise vocabulary for describing technical elements of figures, sharpens your knowledge of musical terms, and enhances your choreography skills.
Upon successfully passing an exam, you will receive a certificate proclaiming your expertise to the world. You will be a highly valuable employee in studios across the country. This is a must have for independent instructors wanting to proclaim their aptitude as this is a national recognition of your skills.
ProDVIDA certifications are recognized by the National Dance Council of America (N.D.C.A.), the highest governing body for dance professionals in the United States. Certification is required for individuals interested in becoming an examiner or working towards the credentials to become a judge for Dancesport competitions.


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Ron5566 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 321 diseños de 88 diseñadores freelance.
http://www.rvranch.com / Currently RV Ranch, changing names to Rustic Creek Ranch.
We are currently named RV Ranch. Started in 2000 as a top RV Park near Dallas, Texas. We currently have 250 Luxury sites, 4 clubhouse buildings, 2 large pools, playground, etc.
We have recently added 37 luxury cabin cottages and would like to change our name and image to describe our overall park better. We are no longer just an RV Park.
We have a nice little creek that runs through the place and a few rolling hills. Also a very old little wooden house built in the 1920's.
Our theme is Luxury Rustic Ranch throughout and we would like the logo to reflect that.
Customers who stay in our cottages appreciate a wonderful place to stay for a night or a week. They like rustic luxury, such as spa tubs, rock fireplaces, flat screen TV's with surround sound and very unique furnishings.
We cater to individuals, family reunions, business meetings, wedding parties and church groups.
The RV Park is highly rated within our industry and has grown to be very popular.
Thank you for the wonderful ideas. Very creative.
The group would like to change directions. Going with the idea that "Less is More", we would like to look at a logo using only the name and branding iron. No hills, creeks or other icons.
The name could be completely on one line or stacked. If stacked, we think using different font would look better.
We like the following three different logos at these websites and in this order.
Like the simple line through Rough Hollow's "R" that might look like a creek as well.
We would like to extend the contest and add $ to the prize to allow for additional time to get these new ideas in.
Please don't withdraw your design, as we would like to talk with several of you about purchasing your design even though you may not win the contest.
Thank you very much,
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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P. V. Narasimha Rao
|The Honourable
Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao
|9th Prime Minister of India
In office
21 June 1991 – 16 May 1996
R. Venkataraman
Shankar Dayal Sharma
|Preceded by
|Chandra Shekhar
|Succeeded by
|Atal Bihari Vajpayee
|Minister of Defence
In office
6 March 1993 – 16 May 1996
|Prime Minister
|Preceded by
|Shankarrao Chavan
|Succeeded by
|Pramod Mahajan
In office
31 December 1984 – 25 September 1985
|Prime Minister
|Rajiv Gandhi
|Preceded by
|Rajiv Gandhi
|Succeeded by
|Shankarrao Chavan
|Minister of External Affairs
In office
31 March 1992 – 18 January 1994
|Prime Minister
|Preceded by
|Madhavsinh Solanki
|Succeeded by
|Dinesh Singh
In office
25 June 1988 – 2 December 1989
|Prime Minister
|Rajiv Gandhi
|Preceded by
|Rajiv Gandhi
|Succeeded by
|V. P. Singh
In office
14 January 1980 – 19 July 1984
|Prime Minister
|Indira Gandhi
|Preceded by
|Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra
|Succeeded by
|Indira Gandhi
|Minister of Home Affairs
In office
12 March 1986 – 12 May 1986
|Prime Minister
|Rajiv Gandhi
|Preceded by
|Shankarrao Chavan
|Succeeded by
|Sardar Buta Singh
In office
19 July 1984 – 31 December 1984
|Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
|Preceded by
|Prakash Chandra Sethi
|Succeeded by
|Shankarrao Chavan
|Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
In office
30 September 1971 – 10 January 1973
|Khandubhai Kasanji Desai
|Preceded by
|Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
|Succeeded by
|Jalagam Vengala Rao (after President's Rule)
|Personal details
28 June 1921
Vangara, Karimnagar district,[1] Hyderabad State, British India
(now in Telangana, India)
23 December 2004 83) (aged
New Delhi, India
|Cause of death
|Heart attack
|Political party
|Indian National Congress
|Satyamma (d. 1970)[2]
|Alma mater
Osmania University
University of Mumbai
Nagpur University
Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996.[3] His ascendancy to the prime ministership was politically significant in that he was the first holder of this office from a non-Hindi-speaking region, belonging to the southern part of India. He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India.[4] Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, as this came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.[5] He is often referred to as the "Father of Indian Economic Reforms".[6][7] Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the License Raj, reversing the socialist policies of Rajiv Gandhi's government. He employed Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to embark on historic economic transition. With Rao's mandate, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's globalisation angle of the reforms that implemented the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to rescue the almost bankrupt nation from economic collapse.[5] Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to steer tough economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government.[8][9]
According to a former Foreign Minister of India Natwar Singh, "Unlike Nehru, his knowledge of Sanskrit was profound. Nehru had a temper, PV a temperament. His roots were deep in the spiritual and religious soil of India. He did not need to 'Discover India'". 11th President of India APJ Abdul Kalam described Rao as a "patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political system". Kalam acknowledged that Rao in fact asked him to get ready for nuclear tests in 1996 but they were not carried out as government at center got changed due to 1996 general election. The tests were later conducted by Vajpayee-led NDA government. In fact Rao briefed Vajpayee on nuclear plans.[10]
Rao's term as Prime Minister was an eventful one in India's history. Besides marking a paradigm shift from the industrialising, mixed economic model of Jawaharlal Nehru to a market driven one, his years as Prime Minister also saw the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a major right-wing party, as an alternative to the Indian National Congress which had been governing India for most of its post-independence history. Rao's term also saw the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh when BJP's Kalyan Singh was CM which triggered one of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots in the country since its independence.[11] Rao died in 2004 of a heart attack in New Delhi. He was cremated in Hyderabad.[12] He was a versatile personality with interests in a variety of subjects (other than politics) such as literature and computer software (including computer programming).[13] He spoke 17 languages.[14][15]
Early life
PV Narasimha Rao had humble social origins. He was born in a Niyogi Brahmin family in a village Laknepalli , Narsampet Mandal, in Warangal District, now in Telangana, but later adopted and brought to Vangara village of Bheemadevarapalli mandal of Karimnagar district in Telangana, then part of Hyderabad State, when he was three years old.[1] His father, Pamulaparthi Sitarama Rao, and mother, Pamulaparthi Rukmini (Rukminamma), hailed from agrarian families.[16] Popularly known as PV, he completed part of his primary education in Katkuru village of Bheemdevarapalli mandal in Karimnagar district by staying in his relative Gabbeta Radhakishan Rao's house and studying for his Bachelor's degree in the Arts college at the Osmania University. P.V. Narasimha Rao was part of Vande Matram movement in late 1930s in the Hyderabad state. He later went on to Hislop College, now under Nagpur University, where he completed a Master's degree in law.[17]
Rao's mother tongue was Telugu, and he had an excellent command of Marathi. In addition to eight other Indian languages (Hindi, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil and Urdu), he spoke English, French, Arabic, Spanish, German and Persian.[18][19] Along with his distant cousin Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao, Ch. Raja Narendra and Devulapalli Damodar Rao, PV edited a Telugu weekly magazine called Kakatiya Patrika in the 1940s.[20] Both PV and Sadasiva Rao contributed articles under the pen-name Jaya-Vijaya.[20][21]
Narasimha Rao was married to Satyamma Rao, who died in 1970. They had three sons and five daughters. His eldest son late P.V. Rangarao was an education minister in Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy's cabinet and MLA from Hanamakonda Assembly Constituency, in Warangal District for two terms. His second son, Late P.V. Rajeswara Rao, was a Member of Parliament of the 11th Lok Sabha (15 May 1996 – 4 December 1997) from Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.[22][23]
Political career
Narasimha Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement[24] and joined full-time politics after independence as a member of the Indian National Congress.[17] His tenure as Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is well remembered even today for his land reforms and strict implementation of land ceiling acts in Telangana region. President's rule had to be imposed to counter the Jai Andhra movement during his tenure.[18] He rose to national prominence in 1972 for handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.[17] In fact, it is speculated that he was in the running for the post of India's President along with Zail Singh in 1982.[25]
Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was the assassination of the Congress President Rajiv Gandhi that persuaded him to make a comeback.[26] As the Congress had won the largest number of seats in the 1991 elections, he had an opportunity to head the minority government as Prime Minister. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years, the first to hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also the first from southern India.[4][27] Since Rao had not contested the general elections, he then participated in a by-election in Nandyal to join the parliament. Rao won from Nandyal with a victory margin of a record 5 lakh (500,000) votes and his win was recorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records and he was Prime Minister of India at the time when he was MP from Berhampur, Ganjam, Odisha.[28][29] His cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strong contender for the Prime Minister's post, as Defence Minister. He also broke a convention by appointing a non-political economist and future prime minister, Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister.[30][31] He also appointed Subramanian Swamy, an Opposition party member as the Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade. This has been the only instance that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party. He also sent Opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to represent India in a UN meeting at Geneva.
Elections fought
Narasimha Rao fought and won elections from different parts of India such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.[32][33]
|Took Office
|Left Office
|Member of Legislative Assembly
|Andhra Pradesh[lower-alpha 1]
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
|Andhra Pradesh[lower-alpha 1]
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
|Andhra Pradesh[lower-alpha 1]
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
|Andhra Pradesh
|Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
- 1 2 3 On 2 June 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split to form two separate states. Both Manthani (Assembly constituency) and Hanamkonda (Lok Sabha constituency) are now in the newy formed state of Telangana.)
Economic reforms
Adopted to avert impending 1991 economic crisis,[7][34] the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. Rao's government's goals were reducing the fiscal deficit, Privatization of the public sector and increasing investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao wanted I.G. Patel as his Finance Minister.[35] Patel was an official who helped prepare 14 budgets, an ex-governor of Reserve Bank of India and had headed The London School of Economics.[35] But Patel declined. Rao then chose Manmohan Singh for the job. Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a central role in implementing these reforms.
Major reforms in India's capital markets led to an influx of foreign portfolio investment. The major economic policies adopted by Rao include:
- Abolishing in 1992 the Controller of Capital Issues which decided the prices and number of shares that firms could issue.[34][36]
- Introducing the SEBI Act of 1992 and the Security Laws (Amendment) which gave SEBI the legal authority to register and regulate all security market intermediaries.[34][37]
- Opening up in 1992 of India's equity markets to investment by foreign institutional investors and permitting Indian firms to raise capital on international markets by issuing Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).[38]
- Starting in 1994 of the National Stock Exchange as a computer-based trading system which served as an instrument to leverage reforms of India's other stock exchanges. The NSE emerged as India's largest exchange by 1996.[39]
- Reducing tariffs from an average of 85 percent to 25 percent, and rolling back quantitative controls. (The rupee was made convertible on trade account.)[40]
- Encouraging foreign direct investment by increasing the maximum limit on share of foreign capital in joint ventures from 40 to 51% with 100% foreign equity permitted in priority sectors.[41]
- Streamlining procedures for FDI approvals, and in at least 35 industries, automatically approving projects within the limits for foreign participation.[34][42]
The impact of these reforms may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew from a minuscule US $132 million in 1991–92 to $5.3 billion in 1995–96.[41] Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing. Industrial regulation was rationalised.[34]
National security, foreign policy and crisis management
Rao energised the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. It is speculated that the tests were actually planned in 1995, during Rao's term in office,[43] and that they were dropped under American pressure when the US intelligence got the whiff of it.[44] Another view was that he purposefully leaked the information to gain time to develop and test thermonuclear device which was not yet ready.[45] He increased military spending, and set the Indian Army on course to fight the emerging threat of terrorism and insurgencies, as well as Pakistan and China's nuclear potentials. It was during his term that terrorism in the Indian state of Punjab was finally defeated.[46] Also scenarios of aircraft hijackings, which occurred during Rao's time ended without the government conceding the terrorists' demands.[47] He also directed negotiations to secure the release of Doraiswamy, an Indian Oil executive, from Kashmiri terrorists who kidnapped him,[48] and Liviu Radu, a Romanian diplomat posted in New Delhi in October 1991, who was kidnapped by Sikh terrorists.[49] Rao also handled the Indian response to the occupation of the Hazratbal holy shrine in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists in October 1993.[50] He brought the occupation to an end without damage to the shrine. Similarly, he dealt with the kidnapping of some foreign tourists by a terrorist group called Al Faran in Kashmir in 1995 effectively. Although he could not secure the release of the hostages, his policies ensured that the terrorists demands were not conceded to, and that the action of the terrorists was condemned internationally, including Pakistan.[51]
Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, the United States, and China.[52] He decided in 1992 to bring into the open India's relations with Israel, which had been kept covertly active for a few years during his tenure as a Foreign Minister, and permitted Israel to open an embassy in New Delhi.[53] He ordered the intelligence community in 1992 to start a systematic drive to draw the international community's attention to alleged Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism against India and not to be discouraged by US efforts to undermine the exercise.[54][55] Rao launched the Look East foreign policy, which brought India closer to ASEAN.[56] According to Rejaul Karim Laskar, a scholar of India's foreign policy and ideologue of Rao's Congress Party, Rao initiated the Look East policy with three objectives in mind, namely, to renew political contacts with the ASEAN-member nation; to increase economic interaction with South East Asia in trade, investment, science and technology, tourism, etc.; and to forge strategic and defence links with several countries of South East Asia.[57] He decided to maintain a distance from the Dalai Lama in order to avoid aggravating Beijing's suspicions and concerns, and made successful overtures to Tehran. The 'cultivate Iran' policy was pushed through vigorously by him.[58] These policies paid rich dividends for India in March 1994, when Benazir Bhutto's efforts to have a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir failed, with opposition by China and Iran.[59]
Rao's crisis management after 12 March 1993 Bombay bombings was highly praised. He personally visited Bombay after the blasts and after seeing evidence of Pakistani involvement in the blasts, ordered the intelligence community to invite the intelligence agencies of the US, UK and other West European countries to send their counter-terrorism experts to Bombay to examine the facts for themselves.[60]
Challenges faced in office
Economic crisis and initiation of liberalisation
Rao decided that India, which in 1991 was on the brink of bankruptcy,[61] would benefit from liberalising its economy. He appointed an economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as Finance Minister to accomplish his goals.[4] This liberalisation was criticised by many socialist nationalists at that time.[62]
He is often referred as 'Father of Indian Economic Reforms'. With Rao's mandate, then finance minister Manmohan Singh launched a series of pro-globalisation reforms, including International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies, to rescue the almost-bankrupt nation from economic collapse.
Handling of separatist movements
Rao successfully decimated the Punjab separatist movement and neutralised Kashmir separatist movement. It is said that Rao was 'solely responsible' for the decision to hold elections in Punjab, no matter how narrow the electorate base would be.[63] In dealing with Kashmir Rao's government was highly restrained by US government and its president Mr.Clinton. Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA),[64] India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and directed the Indian Army to eliminate the infiltrators from Pakistan.[65] Despite a heavy and largely successful Army campaign, Pakistani Media accuses that the state descended into a security nightmare. Tourism and commerce were also largely disrupted.
Babri Mosque riots
In the late 1980s, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought the Ram Janmabhoomi issue to the centrestage of national politics, and the BJP and VHP began organising larger protests in Ayodhya and around the country
Members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demolished the Babri Mosque (which was constructed by India's first Mughal emperor, Babar) in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992.[66] The site is the supposed birthplace of the Hindu God Rama . The destruction of the disputed structure, which was widely reported in the international media, unleashed large scale communal violence, the most extensive since the Partition of India. Hindus and Muslims were indulged in massive rioting across the country, and almost every major city including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal struggled to control the unrest. [67]
Later Liberhan Commission, after extensive hearing and investigation, exonerated PV Narasimha Rao. It pointed out that Rao was heading a minority government, the Commission accepted the centre's submission that central forces could neither be deployed by the Union in the totality of facts and circumstances then prevailing, nor could President's Rule be imposed "on the basis of rumours or media reports". Taking such a step would have created "bad precedent" damaging the federal structure and would have "amounted to interference" in the state administration, it said. The state "deliberately and consciously understated" the risk to the disputed structure and general law and order. It also said that the Governor's assessment of the situation was either badly flawed or overly optimistic and was thus a major impediment for the central government. The Commission further said, "... knowing fully well that its facetious undertakings before the Supreme Court had bought it sufficient breathing space, it (state government) proceeded with the planning for the destruction of the disputed structure. The Supreme Court's own observer failed to alert it to the sinister undercurrents. The Governor and its intelligence agencies, charged with acting as the eyes and ears of the central government also failed in their task. Without substantive procedural prerequisites, neither the Supreme Court, nor the Union of India was able to take any meaningful steps."[68]
In yet another discussion with journalist Shekhar Gupta, Rao answered several of the questions on the demolition. He said he was wary of the impact of hundreds of deaths on the nation, and it could have been far worse. And also he had to consider the scenario in which some of the troops might have turned around and joined the mobs instead. Regarding dismissal of Kalyan Singh (government), he said, "mere dismissal does not mean you can take control. It takes a day or so appointing advisers, sending them to Lucknow, taking control of the state. Meanwhile, what had to happen would have happened and there would have been no Kalyan Singh to blame either."[69]
Latur earthquake
In 1993, a strong earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra killed nearly 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.[70] Rao was applauded by many for using modern technology and resources to organise major relief operations to assuage the stricken people, and for schemes of economic reconstruction.
Purulia arms drop case
Narasimha Rao was charged for facilitating his safe exit of accused of 1995 Purulia arms drop case.[71] Although it was never proved.
Corruption charges and acquittal
Rao's government was facing a no-confidence motion in July 1993, because the opposition felt that it did not have sufficient numbers to prove a majority. It was alleged that Rao, through a representative, offered millions of rupees to members of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), and possibly a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, to vote for him during the confidence motion. Shailendra Mahato, one of those members who had accepted the bribe, turned approver. In 1996, after Rao's term in office had expired, investigations began in earnest in the case. In 2000, after years of legal proceedings, a special court convicted Rao and his colleague, Buta Singh (who is alleged to have escorted the MPs to the Prime Minister).[72] Rao was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption. "I sentence the accused PV Narasimha Rao and Buta Singh to rigorous imprisonment up to three years and a fine of 100,000 rupees ($2,150)," the judge said in his order.[73] Rao appealed to the Delhi High Court and remained free on bail. In 2002, the Delhi High Court overturned the lower court's decision mainly due to the doubt in credibility of Mahato's statements (which were extremely inconsistent) and both Rao and Buta Singh were cleared of the charges.[74]
Rao, along with fellow minister K.K. Tewary, Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal, were accused of forging documents showing that Ajeya Singh had opened a bank account in the First Trust Corporation Bank in St. Kitts and deposited $21 million in it, making his father V. P. Singh its beneficiary. The alleged intent was to tarnish V.P. Singh's image. This supposedly happened in 1989. However, only after Rao's term as PM had expired in 1996, was he formally charged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the crime. Less than a year later the court acquitted him due to lack of evidence linking him with the case.[75]
Lakhubhai Pathak, an Indian businessman living in England, alleged that Chandraswami and K.N. Aggarwal alias Mamaji, along with Rao, cheated him out of $100,000. The amount was given for an express promise for allowing supplies of paper pulp in India, and Pathak alleged that he spent an additional $30,000 entertaining Chandraswami and his secretary. Narasimha Rao and Chandraswami were acquitted of the charges in 2003 and before his death, Rao was acquitted of all the cases charged against him,[76]
Later life and financial difficulties
In spite of significant achievements in a difficult situation, in the 1996 general elections the Indian electorate voted out Rao's Congress Party. Soon, Sonia Gandhi's coterie forced Mr. Rao to step down as Party President. He was replaced by Sitaram Kesri.
Rao rarely spoke of his personal views and opinions during his 5-year tenure. After his retirement from national politics, he published a novel called The Insider.[77] The book, which follows a man's rise through the ranks of Indian politics, resembled events from Rao's own life.
According to a vernacular source, despite holding many influential posts in Government, he faced many financial troubles. One of his sons was educated with the assistance of his son-in-law. He also faced trouble paying fees for a daughter who was studying medicine.[78] According to P. V. R. K. Prasad, an Indian Administrative Service(IAS) officer who was Narasimha Rao's media advisor when the latter was Prime Minister, Rao asked his friends to sell away his house at Banjara Hills to clear the dues of lawyers.[79]
Rao suffered a heart attack on 9 December 2004, and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he died 14 days later at the age of 83.[80] His family wanted the body cremated in Delhi."This is his karmabhoomi", Rao's son Prabhakara told Manmohan Singh. But it is alleged that Sonia Gandhi's closest aides ensured that the body was moved to Hyderabad.[81] In Delhi, his body was not allowed inside AICC building.[82] His body was kept in state at the Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad. His funeral was attended by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then Home Affairs Minister Shivraj Patil, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L.K. Advani, the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and many other dignitaries. Rao was a long-time widower, since his wife died in 1970 and he was survived by his eight children.[83] The Government of Telangana declared his birthday to be celebrated as a Telangana State function in 2014.[84]
Support for Bharat Ratna
Many people across the party line supported the name of P.V.Narasimha Rao for Bharat Ratna. Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao supported the move to give Bharat Ratna to Rao.[85] Even BJP leader Subramanian Swamy supported the move to give Bharat Ratna to Rao.[86] According to Sanjay Baru, PM Manmohan Singh wanted to give Bharat Ratna to Rao during his tenure.[87]
Literary achievements
Rao had great interest in Indian literature among 16 languages. He was very fluent in many languages including his mother tongue Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, English, Tamil, Urdu, Kannada, Oriya, Sanskrit, French, and Spanish. He was able to speak 17 languages.[14][15] Due to his college education in Fergusson College in Pune, then an affiliated college of the University of Mumbai (but now with Pune University), he became a very prolific reader and speaker of Marathi. He translated the great Telugu literary work Veyipadagalu of Kavi Samraat Viswanatha Satyanarayana into Hindi as Sahasraphan. He also translated Hari Narayan Apte's Marathi novel Pan Lakshat Kon Gheto? (But Who Pays Attention?) into Telugu. He was also invited to be the chief guest of Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sanmelan where he gave speech in Marathi.
In his later life he wrote his autobiography, The Insider, which depicts his experiences in politics.
"Sonia Gandhi praised contributions of all Congress prime ministers except P V Narasimha Rao in her speech ... Making no mention of Rao in her 15-minute speech, she said Rajiv Gandhi scripted the course of economic policies that were followed by the government (headed by Rao) for the following five years."
"Even today, the Congress leadership shows extreme reluctance to acknowledge the role PV Narasimha Rao played in appointing Manmohan Singh as his finance minister and giving him the freedom to unveil the economic reforms package to bail the Indian economy out of an unprecedented crisis. The Congress leadership was correct in blaming Narasimha Rao for his political misjudgment on the Ayodhya issue. But it is now time the same leadership also acknowledged Narasimha Rao's role in ushering in economic reforms."
The Pratibha Murthy Lifetime Achievement Award, to former prime minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.
- The Quest For Peace with Kotha Satchidananda Murthy (1986)
- The Great Suicide written pseudonymously (1990) [88]
- India and the Asia-Pacific: Forging a New Relationship (1994)
- The Insider (1998)
- A Long Way: Selected Speeches (2002)
- Ayodhya 6 December 1992 published posthumously (2006)
- 1 2 http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/people-hail-decision-on-pvs-birth-anniversary/article6146786.ece
- ↑ http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Rao-And-His-Sons-Uneasy-Ties/201598
- ↑ "Prime Ministers of India". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.. Indian PM's official website. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- 1 2 3 "Narasimha Rao – a Reforming PM". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 23 December 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- 1 2 Arvind Kumar, Arun Narendhranath (3 October 2001). India must embrace unfettered free enterprise. Daily News and Analysis.
- ↑ "PV Narasimha Rao Remembered as Father of Indian Economic Reforms". voanews.com. VOA News. 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012.
- 1 2 "Narasimha Rao led India at crucial juncture, was father of economic reform: Pranab". 31 December 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- ↑ V. Venkatesan (1–14 January 2005). "Obituary: A scholar and a politician". Frontline. 22 (1). Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "PV Narasimha Rao Passes Away". tlca.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
- ↑ How PV became PM, The Hindu, 2 July 2012.
- ↑ "BBC On This Day, 1992: Mob rips apart mosque in Ayodhya". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News.
- ↑ "Narasimha Rao cremated". thehindubusinessline.com. 26 December 2004. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
- ↑ "The meek inheritor". India Today. 15 July 1991. Archived from the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
Rao was one of the first converts to the new technology. Today, he is so adept with the machines that along with the 10 Indian and four foreign languages, Rao has also taught himself some computer languages and is now able to programme them.
- 1 2 "PVN – Obituary". 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- 1 2 "'PV': A scholar, a statesman". 23 December 2004. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
A Sahitya Ratan in Hindi, Rao was fluent in several languages, including Spanish.
- ↑ https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=R2yCDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PT15.w.18.104.22.168.1
- 1 2 3 "P. V. Narasimha Rao – A Profile". Indian PM's official website. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009.
- 1 2 "PV Narasimha Rao". The Daily Telegraph. 24 December 2004. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ↑ Derek Brown (24 December 2004). "PV Narasimha Rao". The Guardian.
- 1 2 "Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao". M. Rajagopalachary, Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao Memorial Endowment Lecture. kakatiyapatrika.com. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "With PV". kakatiyapatrika.com. 31 October 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "Biographical Sketch of P.V. Rajeshwar Rao". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "Sri. P.V.Rajeswara Rao". Matrusri Institute of P.G. Studies. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "A Profile of P.V. Narasimha Rao" (PDF). Embassy of India in Washington. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2010.
- ↑ "The Lonely Masks of Narasimha Rao". mjakbar.org. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
- ↑ John F. Burns (21 May 1995). Crisis in India: Leader Survives, for Now. The New York Times.
- ↑ Observations on Indian Independence Day. Subash Kapila. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Rao's world record. rediff.com. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "Indian Political Trivia". Archived from the original on 6 February 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2007.. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
- ↑ "Rao takes oath in India, names his cabinet". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 22 June 1991. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "Profile: Manmohan Singh". BBC News. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ↑ "Ramtek voters in tepid mood". 15 March 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ↑ "orissa". Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "India's Pathway through Financial Crisis" (PDF). globaleconomicgovernance.org. Arunabha Ghosh. Global Economic Governance Programme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- 1 2 Time To Tune In To FM. Indiatoday.com (25 February 2002). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ Securities and Exchange Commission Act. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992". Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2012.. vakilno1.com.
- ↑ "India's Economic Policies". Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2007.. Indian Investment Centre. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Ajay Shah and Susan Thomas. How NSE surpassed BSE. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ J. Bradford DeLong (July 2001). "The Indian Growth Miracle". Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2007.. berkeley.edu.
- 1 2 Ajay Singh and Arjuna Ranawana. India. Conflict of Interest. Local industrialists issue a broadside against multinationals. Asiaweek. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ FDI in India. Kulwindar Singh. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Narasimha Rao and the bomb. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Clinton stopped Rao from testing nukes. sify.com (5 February 2004).
- ↑ The mole and the fox. Shekhar Gupta. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Punjab Assessment. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ National Security Guards Archived 29 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ 5 Years On: Scarred and scared. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ↑ Bishwanath Ghosh. "Held to ransom". Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2007.. newindpress.com.
- ↑ Profile of Changing Situation. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "Al Faran and the Hostage Crisis in Kashmir". Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2007.. subcontinent.com (10 March 1996).
- ↑ Indo-US relations. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "Strategic Partnership Between Israel and India". meria.idc.ac.il. P.R. Kumaraswamy. Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "Pakistan and Terrorism". saag.org. Archived from the original on 5 December 2006.
- ↑ Never trust the US on Pakistan. rediff.com (21 July 2006). Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Narasimha Rao and the `Look East' policy. The Hindu (24 December 2004). Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Laskar, Rejaul Karim (July 2005). "Strides in Look East Policy". Congress Sandesh. 7 (11): 19.
- ↑ "India and the Middle East". photius.com. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Samuel P. Huntington, New World Order. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Lessons from the Mumbai blasts. rediff.com (14 March 2003). Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ "India's economic reforms". findarticles.com.
- ↑ John Greenwald; Anita Pratap and Dick Thompson (18 September 1995). No Passage to India. Time. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Quiet Goes The Don. Outlookindia.com (17 January 2005). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ "Terrorism & Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act". satp.org. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Meredith Weiss (25 June 2002). "The Jammu & Kashmir Conflict" (PDF). Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2007.. yale.edu.
- ↑ "Flashpoint Ayodhya". archaeology.org. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ P. V. Narasimha Rao 2006, p. 58.
- ↑ "Rao govt was reduced to position of helpless bystander". indianexpress.com.
- ↑ Tearing down Narasimha Rao. Indianexpress.com (28 November 2009). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ "Latur EarthQuake of 30 September 1993". Archived from the original on 7 March 2005. Retrieved 17 February 2007.. imd.ernet.in.
- ↑ "Purulia arms drop had govt sanction: Davy".
- ↑ "Rao, Buta convicted in JMM bribery case". The Tribune. 29 September 2000. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ SOUTH ASIA | Ex-Indian PM sentenced to jail. BBC News (12 October 2000). Retrieved 28 July 2013.
- ↑ Ex-Indian PM cleared of bribery. BBC News (15 March 2002). Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ St Kitts case: Chronology of events. The Times of India (25 October 2004). Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Nirnimesh Kumar (23 December 2003). "Rao acquitted in Lakhubhai Pathak case". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
- ↑ Rao, P V N (2000). The Insider. Penguin;. ISBN 978-0140271171.
- ↑ "Nindalapaalaina Aparachanukyudu-2". Telugu.greatandhra.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ P V Krishna Rao (4 January 2010). PV made scapegoat in Babri case. newindianexpress.com
- ↑ Narasimha Rao passes away at the age of 83. Hindu.com (24 December 2004). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ Sitapati, Vinay. "Day after Babri Masjid demolition, Narasimha Rao kept tabs on Sonia Gandhi courtesy the IB" (24 June 2016). The INdian Express. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ↑ Narasimha Rao's final humiliation. Rediff.com (31 December 2004). Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ↑ Nation bids adieu to Narasimha Rao. The Hindu. Retrieved 2 March 2006.
- ↑ "PVNR Birth Celebrations a State function". Deccan-Journal. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/kcr-bats-for-bharat-ratna-to-narasimha-rao/article6158106.ece
- ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Swamy-seeks-Bharat-Ratna-for-ex-PM-PV-Narsimha-Rao/articleshow/46329563.cms
- ↑ Manmohan wanted to give Bharat Ratna to Atal, Narasimha Rao but failed: Baru
- ↑ Rao, Singh and the Great Suicide
Book sources
- P. V. Narasimha Rao (2006), Ayodhya 6 December 1992, Penguin Books India, ISBN 0670058580
External links
|Wikiquote has quotations related to: P. V. Narasimha Rao
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to P. V. Narasimha Rao.
- P. V. Narasimha Rao at Find a Grave
- Narasimha Rao, Sonia Gandhi and the Congress: Vinay Sitapati and Sanjaya Baru in conversation with M.K. Venu on P.V. Narasimha Rao's rise to the post of prime minister and how he handled the Babri masjid demolition. The Wire on YouTube.com
- Appearances on C-SPAN
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text: The default copy method that is used when you create a Solaris Flash archive is the cpio utility. Individual file sizes cannot be over 4 Gbytes. If you have large individual files, you can create an archive with the pax copy method. The flarcreate command with the -L pax option uses the pax utility to create an archive without limitations on individual file sizes. Individual file sizes can be greater than 4 Gbytes.


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I'm all about simplicity. To me writing should be fun and all of the talk about business this and business that can be overwhelming and also suck the fun out of your writing life. So today I thought it'd be fun to discuss some not so technical things that you can do easily and go from Author to Authorprenuer.
From the EC Mental Dictionary
"An Authorpreneur (play on Entrepreneur) is a Self-Published author who has turned their work as a writer into a full blown business.
Authorpreneur is a term that is being used more and more everyday. With the explosion of the Self-Publishing Industry, authors are claiming the title to represent their work as serious business people. Below are 8 ways you can join them:
Legalize Your Name
OK, I know that sounds weird, your name is already legal! Right, but here I'm speaking of your business name. Decide on a name for your business. If you write under a pen name, register it as a business. You can file the paperwork easily through Legal-zoom under an LLC, Sole Proprietorship, or S-Corporation (please Google these terms for further understanding on what they are). Or, you can just get a DBA. A DBA is a doing business as name that gives you the opportunity to legally write and conduct business under your
pen author name. You'll be able to set up a bank account to separate your author royalties from your regular income, use a debit card under this name, and even set up a PO Box.
Register Your ISBNS
This means you have to first invest in purchasing a block of your own ISBN numbers. You can get them from Bowker or Publisher Services for your books and register your ISBN with your company name as publisher. This will look more professional as your business name and ISBNS are now connected and will show up on Amazon or whichever platform you use, as publisher instead of Createspace.
Obviously, you probably don't have a brick and mortar unless you're a bookstore owner already, but you can set up a PO Box in your new business name. This will make it easier (and safer) to send and receive packages without having to give away your home address. It also looks more professional on your business cards.
Business Cards
Go to Vistaprint or a professional print company and print some business cards. On them, use your new business name and PO Box.
Company Email
Set up a company email address. Gmail is the best email service provider but you can surely use others. If you have a website, your provider probably offers you a unique business email. email@example.com.
I keep saying this and maybe its just because I'm weird but in my opinion a blog is not the same thing as an author website. A blog is a blog. I mean sure, most of your readers are here but its my personal opinion that having both just looks more professional. Your website is the yourdomainname.com type of place without the constant stream of posts. It's a place that showcases your work on a grand level without any other distractions as a place people can go to purchase your books. It may be wise to incorporate your blog into your site. Setting up a website means you'll have to register a domain name. The most common sense thing is to register a domain name matching your business name.
Set Up An Inventory System
Using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, keep track of your inventory of books. This can also work as a basic accounting system. You can use it as a very simple way to track and record your business finances and products. After you finish writing your story (after since a good story is most important), calculate the cost to publish this book. How much will it cost to purchase an ISBN number for it, book cover design, editing, marketing, and print. It sounds like a lot but its not. You may find someone to do most of the work free or very low cost.
Last but not least, set up a newsletter where you can add the contacts of those who are interested in the business of you. Most people recommend sending emails once a month. I do not think you have to follow this advice. Times have changed and sending an email newsletter once a month is old school. It still works, but in today's techno world people are sending emails whenever they have something important to share. It's OK to send emails every two-three weeks as long as you're providing quality. Send your emails whenever you have something important to say but monitor them to see if your strategy works.
Yecheilyah is an Independent Author, Blogger, and Poet. She writes Black Historical Fiction, poetry, and books that inspire. Learn more at


text:
Virginia striatula
6-12 inches. Gray, tan, brown or slate gray above, pale yellow or whitish below; faint, pale collar may be present; scales keeled and in 17 rows.
Rough earth snakes burrow in leaf litter and wood pulp, but may also be found under trash and other surface objects, chiefly in wooded areas. They thrive in yards in urban and suburban settings, where they conceal themselves in leaf litter, mulch and groundcover plants. They give birth to 4-9 young.
Throughout the state in wooded and forested portions, but absent from the marshes, Mississippi River bottom, and the region south of Lake Pontchartrain.


text:
Filing Claims
Learn what you need to do to file a claim.
Check Claim Status
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Get paper mail online
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Documentation & Reporting
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Activity Prescription Form
This form communicates an injured worker's physical restrictions and ability to work as well as the provider's treatment plans.
Protest L&I Decisions
Learn what you need to do to file a a protest or appeal an L&I decision.
Out of State Care Coordination
Find out how to coordinate care for Washington injured workers residing out-of-state.
HIPAA and L&I
Find out about HIPPA & L&I.
Drug Lookup
Find out whether a drug is covered under workers' compensation.


text:
Irish mass-goers at a Bronx church on Good Friday expressed their disappointment and upset at the recent admissions of child sex-abuse cover-ups in Ireland.
"My faith is still strong in God and I'll continue to go to Mass as long as I'm able, but my heart breaks every time I see in the news about the awful, unexplainable abuse that happened in Ireland, and here I suppose too, over the years," said Ann Daly after attending the Stations of the Cross at St. Barnabas Church in the Bronx on Friday last.
Daly, an immigrant from Co. Roscommon who has been living in the Bronx for more than four decades, was visibly moved when she spoke about the abuse that many of her own generation suffered at the hands of clergymen back in Ireland.
"I suppose it was going on right under my nose back home when we were kids and I didn't even know about it," she speculated.
"We were told to respect the church and what it stood for, and by God we did just that."
Daly, who lost her husband, Joseph three years ago, attends Mass at St. Barnabas every Sunday without fail.
"Do I look at the priests preaching from the alter in the same light I did back when I was younger, or even back before all these scandals broke out? No, but I still respect my parish priest, he is still the man representing God up there and I follow his lines," she added.
Daly, who has three grown daughters, feels faith is essential in living life.
"I couldn't do without it, and my three daughters are pretty good at going to Mass on Sundays although the youngest one doesn't always get out of bed on a Sunday morning," she laughs.
Deborah King and Laura Shields, both in their early twenties, spoke to the Irish Voice after "doing our Good Friday" duties.
"To be honest we don't go to Mass every week but it's Easter so we said we would make the effort," smiles Shields, whose parents are from Co. Leitrim and Co. Cork.
King, whose grandparents are also Irish immigrants, said she would go to Mass more regularly if she wasn't as "turned off" since the sex abuse scandals.
"I've no problem speaking out about this," said King, a nurse.
"A lot of people don't want to upset the priests because you can't paint everyone with the same brush, and I don't do that, but it's just absolutely disgusting what went on behind closed doors, and it's all only coning to light now."
Shields, like her friend, is equally upset.
"My mother's niece back in Ireland was abused for years and she didn't tell anyone until she was in her late 30s, which was only about six years ago," said Shields.
"I better not say the town in Leitrim but the parish priest there, who was a family friend would you believe, used to sexually abuse my young cousin after school and during church events."
Shields, an office worker, added that her cousin has been getting counseling and has successfully managed to sue the church in Ireland.
"Well, it's not about the money, is it? These creeps took advantage of young kids when their parents thought they were in trusty hands, and it messed them up for life," Shields added.
The ladies said they continue to go to Mass more out of "Catholic guilt," but they do admit they benefit somewhat from it.
"I like the sermon I have to say. It sometimes gives me hope when there is none," said Shields.
"Me too," agreed King. "But if I thought for one second that any of the priests I listen to at Mass were in any way responsible -- either by covering up or being an -- what would you say -- attacker, abuser I suppose -- then I wouldn't be coming back here again," said Shields.
Donal Tierney, a retired sanitation worker originally from Co. Limerick, goes to Mass as often as he can, but it's bitter sweet for him.
Tierney told the Irish Voice he shed many a tear for the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy over the years.
"When the news first broke about the awful goings on I was shocked," admitted Tierney.
"Then I was angry, and as the years went on and the news kept coming that young children were harassed, beaten and raped by these men of God I was hurt too, and that's being honest."
Tierney, who knows people abused by priests but said he would not discuss it, continued to go to Mass, but he has given up one thing.
"I've stopped going to Confession. I used to be a man who would go at least once a month because that's what was drilled into us, but I stopped a few years ago because of all this," he said.
"I don't want to have a relationship with any priest, even if he is a good man, which I'm sure our parish priests here at St. Barnabas are. They are lovely men and do a great job, but I'd rather just go to Mass, listen to the word of God and then do my own thing."
Irene Coffey, who stopped to see why Tierney was being interviewed, was more than happy to give her own opinion.
"Do you know what's worse?" asked Coffey, a cleaning lady in her mid-sixties originally from Co. Donegal.
"The fact that the archbishops and the fellas higher up the ladder covered it up when these children came forward. They sent priests, monsters I call them, to different parishes around Ireland, and some of them ended up here in the U.S. doing exactly what they did back home, abusing children, boys and girls," said Coffey angrily.
Referring to a recent story in the Irish Voice about Father Brendan Smyth, one of the Catholic Church's most notorious' sexual offenders, Coffey said, "That woman your paper interviewed, she was very brave to come forward. He ruined the life of her family, did you read it?" she asked Tierney, who responded with a sad nod.
"See, that's what I mean. He was sent over here because the church at home was trying to cover up his wrong doings, and he violated young ,innocent American children."
Coffey, who attends Mass every Sunday, will continue to go because "it's my tradition," but she added, "It doesn't mean I have to like what went on all those years ago."


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Solara Model 61202SL Sling Chaise Lounge
Height: 32"Width: 27"Depth: 78"Seat Height: 17"Stacking: NoMaterial: Frame - Aluminum / Sling - PVC coated polyester
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Aluminum & Welds
Ten (10) years against aluminum & weld breakage.
Polyester Powder Coating
One (1) year against manufacturer's defects or fading & discoloration with normal care and maintenance.
100 % Virgin Vinyl Strapping
Three (3) years against breakage & strap pullout.
One (1) year against discoloration with normal care and maintenance. Strap replacement due to discoloration is at the vinyl supplier's discretion. Labor is not included.
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Three (3) years against material defects.
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Styles: 750FMA, 750FA, 750DT, 900FMA, 900FMA-MV, 900FMA-SQ, 900FMA-Z and 900FMA-Z-SQ
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Proclamations of a "united Arab effort" are inescapable on the streets of Damascus today. But as Syria prepares to host its first-ever Arab League summit, the gathering of states across the Middle East and North Africa has become an expression of division, rather than unity.
Syria is more isolated now than at any moment in recent history, publicly spurned by Egypt and Saudi Arabia – the traditional big Arab players – who are only sending low-level delegations to the prestigious gathering that opens Saturday. Lebanon is boycotting altogether.
The United States and its allies in Riyadh and Cairo accuse Syria of using its influence in Lebanon – particularly with the Hizbullah militant group – to block its adversaries next door from coming to power, and thus scuttling any political solution to that country's deepening factional crisis.
Syria is also spurned for its ongoing support of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories and for standing shoulder to shoulder with Iran as the Persian Shiite nation grows increasingly assertive across the Middle East.
"It would have been unheard of a few years ago to imagine a summit where the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia would not only boycott, but would make it very public that they are not coming because of Syrian meddling in Lebanon," says Rime Allaf of Chatham House, the London think tank.
Syria, which has called on Arab states to attend the meeting in order to discuss the various regional problems, places the blame for the pre-summit spat between nations squarely on American shoulders.
"The United States has been at a loss as to how to put pressure on this summit," said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. "These are all attempts to torpedo the summit because it is a summit that the US has nothing to do with, neither in its agenda nor in the decisions it will take."
Even as the summit threatens to be an embarrassing failure, Syria has refused to disown its allies, projecting itself as the leader of an alliance that is countering US and Israeli interests in the Middle East.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dubs his country the heart of this "axis of resistance" that unifies Damascus, Hizbullah, Hamas, and Tehran in its defiance of Western and Israeli interests in the region. Representing part of this union, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is one of the more notable dignitaries to have already confirmed his attendance at the summit.
"We do not care what others say about us," says Suleiman Haddad, chairman of the Syrian Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Haddad says Syria represents the true majority in Lebanon and that it will continue supporting the "resistance" in the Palestinian territories.
Analysts, however, say Syria's position of opposition to Washington is dictated more by practical realism than ideological fervor. From its perspective, Lebanon is seen as the back door into Syria that cannot be left in the hands of a pro-American, anti-Syria government while a hostile administration remains in the White House.
"When you want to threaten Syria, when you want to create problems for Syria, you begin in Lebanon," says Samir Altaqi, head of the Orient Center for Studies in Damascus, pointing to the recent deployment of US Navy warships off the Lebanese coast.
Syria's influence over militant groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip is also considered leverage in its struggle to regain control of the Golan Heights territory, which was occupied by Israel in 1967.
But while Syria says it is part of an opposition axis, the country remains ready to cut a deal, too, says Chatham House's Ms. Allaf.
She points to Syria's willingness to attend the recent Annapolis, Md., peace conference hosted by President Bush as a clear sign that Syria is ready to negotiate. "There is no carrot for the Syrians at the moment," she says. "Clearly the Syrians are not just going to dump their allies."
For the moment, however, deadlock rather than dialogue is seen as the most likely scenario in Damascus.
"Syria thinks that being stubborn will pay off and that the US effort in Lebanon will collapse," says Joshua Landis, a Syrian expert at the University of Oklahoma.
He compares the situation to the long Lebanese civil war in the 1980s. After the Americans and other regional players withdrew, Syria was the last country standing.


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Tennis Court Bomber Jacket
Tennis Court Bomber Jacket
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Don't bet on GOP's 2016 presidential nominee being a member of Congress
Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad brought one of his party's shining stars to this presidential crucible last Saturday night before nearly 800 important Iowa Republicans, stoking speculation that the guest, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was testing the 2016 waters.
But moments after Ryan's speech, Branstad nixed any thought that the 2012 vice presidential nominee should be his party's next standard bearer. "Leadership is gonna come out of the states, not Washington. Look at the governors," Branstad said in an interview.
That refrain has been echoed repeatedly around the nation in the past week, with many GOP leaders now viewing the congressional Republican brand as so toxic that only chief executives in state capitals should be contenders in 2016.
Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., said on ABC's "This Week" that neither his friend Ryan nor other rising Republican stars in Congress should run for president, saying "it's got to be an outsider" as the nominee. Another of Ryan's closest friends, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ruled out any member of Congress. "I don't think anyone should become president if they haven't been a governor first," he told MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" last week.
This growing chorus from party elders comes as the Republican Governors Association convenes this week in Arizona, providing a showcase of GOP talent not associated with Congress.
It's also the culmination of a roller coaster ride in Washington. Both political parties have been whipsawed by strategic policy mistakes that have battered their images. First the public lashed out at Republicans for forcing the 16-day government shutdown last month, driven by the GOP's single-minded focus on trying to repeal President Obama's health care law.
Then voters recoiled from Obama and Democrats as they found a health-care Web site that wouldn't work and several million of them received notices informing them that their current insurance plans would be terminated.
Obama's approval ratings plunged precipitously, while Congress hit another record low.
To Republicans, the Obama decline is akin to what President George W. Bush suffered in late 2005, when the Iraq war and the GOP administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina combined to create the broad sense that his administration had lost its ability to govern. This created a huge opening for Democrats in 2008, when Obama used his new stature in Washington to run as an outsider who would change the way business was done in the capital.
Congressional Republicans have several relatively youthful lawmakers who are considering 2016 bids and who might try to follow Obama's own outsider path, but with conservative characteristics: Ryan, 43, and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, 42; Marco Rubio of Florida, 42; and Rand Paul of Kentucky, 50. Cruz, Rubio and Paul are all in their first Senate term, just as Obama was when he announced his presidential bid in early 2007.
But party elders increasingly view this crop as badly tainted by the nearly three-year run of congressional crises in showdown after showdown with Obama. Instead, they're looking at governors who can win elections in states that also supported Obama, and then have demonstrated how to govern effectively in those blue-leaning states.
"These governors are examples to our party of successful governors in Democrat states and being able to succeed in getting Democrat and independent votes. I think it should be an example to all of us," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the GOP's 2008 presidential nominee, told reporters.
He singled out Republican Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, John Kasich of Ohio and Susana Martinez of New Mexico as potential contenders he would support.
McCain summed up his view in one number: "Look at the approval rating of Congress, 9 percent."
By the time the shutdown ended in mid-October, disapproval of the way Republicans in Congress handled budget negotiations jumped to 77 percent of voters, up from 63 percent just three weeks earlier, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll.
Some congressional GOP contenders have grown agitated by the conventional wisdom about governors. Ryan was particularly displeased when asked if the 2016 nominee had to be a governor.
"No," Ryan said Tuesday at a Washington meeting of corporate chief executive convened by The Wall Street Journal. "Next question."
After a pause and some laughs from the crowd, he added: "The resume is not as important to me as the person, as the quality of their ideas, as their track record of reform."
Back in Iowa, however, Branstad disagreed. One of Ryan's biggest supporters, the Iowa governor brought the House Budget Committee chairman to the state knowing it would serve as his first big foray into the state that serves as the initial presidential testing ground.
But Branstad was adamant that he doesn't want Ryan to run for president and instead wants him to keep up the fight in Congress.
"I really think he's a sincere man. He's one of the few people in Washington that gets it and understands what needs to be done, and I'd like to see him play an important leadership role in getting our nation's finances under control," Branstad said.


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Reader Tom sent us the video you see above, and it is of what he describes as a "fucking epic" celebration that took place at The Republic in San Francisco after the final out of the World Series. We're inclined to agree with Tom's description, and now we'd like to see more videos and pictures of Giants fans celebrating their team's victory. If you've got one, share it with us down in the discussion section.
Giants Fans, Show Us Your Celebration Pictures And Videos From Last Night


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Hi all,
Im here with the usual newbie story! Been programming in VB for about 2 years now but Ive been asked to convert one of my VB apps to something that is cross platform and a little bit tweaked. Ive got a few weeks so I thought, might as well learn JAVA!
Ive got myself a pile of books, net beans installed and about to commence with the fun. So expect bombardments of frustration from here on out!
My first little project will be batch image resizing and watermarking so if anyone fancies playing mentor hit me up
Happy coding,


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This article originally appeared on FoxNews.com.
We all know that U.S. websites offer some of the best content and functionality found online. What happens when one of these websites goes multi-lingual and is offered in Spanish? The story of Amtrak.com provides a surprising illustration of how companies – and even government agencies – can expand sales beyond their "home markets."
An Unexpected Source of Sales for Amtrak.com
In 2006, Amtrak began offering its complete website in Spanish. Its goal: to serve the large and growing Spanish-speaking audience in the U.S. The site was an immediate success and quickly turned a profit.
While Amtrak's Spanish website accomplished its goals within the U.S., an Amtrak analyst discovered significant Spanish website sales originating from customers in Spain, Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries.
In 2007, Amtrak called MotionPoint – the company that operates the Spanish site – to request a German version. Chuck Whiteman, the senior vice president of client services at MotionPoint, remembers, "We were surprised. Amtrak doesn't operate trains outside the U.S. and, as far as we knew, wasn't marketing outside the U.S. either."
Allen Sebrell, director of e-commerce at Amtrak explains, "The second most spoken language in Europe is German. In addition, outside of North America, Germany is one of Amtrak's top markets. Our data showed that a high percentage of visitors accessing our website did so from German-speaking countries. For these reasons, in 2007, Amtrak launched a German version of Amtrak.com, which includes all the content and functionality found on both the English and Spanish sites."
"Both the Spanish and German sites have been very successful and have generated much higher returns on investment than we ever anticipated. They continue to generate strong year-over-year revenue growth," Sebrell says. Amtrak added a French site in 2010 that, like the Spanish and German sites, has also been very successful.
Latent Demand for "World-Class Websites"
Amtrak's experience is not uncommon. According to Whiteman, "Our clients are often surprised by the traffic their translated sites attract from around the world – even from markets they don't ship to."
English speakers, in general, enjoy the best the Internet has to offer because they happen to speak the primary language of the world's largest market. When an English website offers another language, previously underserved users often find the deep content, robust functionality and more competitive prices appealing. While the worldwide Web connects people with websites from anywhere in the world, users more often find, use, and make purchases on sites that they can read and understand in their own language.
Customization Engine
MotionPoint measures user behavior across a range of industries, markets and languages due to the fact that it operates localized versions of websites for hundreds of well-known brands such as Best Buy, Urban Outfitters, and Victoria's Secret.
Whiteman describes his company as a "customization engine for websites" even though a casual observer might think of MotionPoint as a "translation company." But with everything that goes on behind the HTML of an international website, a "customization engine" better reflects what MotionPoint does, including search engine optimization, content management, website hosting, and geo-localization.
"Domestic Spanish-speakers online represent the lowest-hanging fruit for U.S.-based retailers," Whiteman says. "In fact, we typically see higher conversion rates and average order values among U.S. Hispanics because they've historically been so underserved. They react very well when they experience a world-class website in Spanish."
Once a website is translated into Spanish, Spaniards or Latin Americans often find U.S. sites in Spanish through search and, increasingly, social media, and want to make purchases. For example, Best Buy accepts international credit cards because of the demand the company discovered from Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
MotionPoint translates websites into 36 languages, of which Spanish is the most popular among domestic e-tailers. Since MotionPoint hosts its clients' translated websites, the company gathers deep insights into global e-commerce. Its Web analytics team reports that international, non-U.S. audiences often spend more time on its e-tailer client sites than domestic audiences. Since fewer options on the Web exist south of the border, when Latin Americans find a website with high-quality content in Spanish, they spend more time there.
The same is true of sales conversions online. MotionPoint's clients see that U.S. Hispanics' purchase rates typically supersede the domestic average. In contrast, international users normally face barriers like international shipping costs and higher taxes and therefore often have lower conversion rates. But when they find a translated site that has been customized into a local currency with an explanation of shipping costs and logistics, international purchase rates approach domestic ones.
E-Commerce Growth in Latin America
Many of MotionPoint's U.S. Hispanic e-tail sites receive 25% and sometimes even a majority of their traffic from Latin America due to the enormous growth in the region. According to Euromonitor International, Latin America achieved the highest growth rates globally between 2006 and 2011 with a 27.9% compound annual growth rate and total sales reaching more than $15 billion in 2011. North America and Australia saw the lowest. Looking ahead, Latin America will register the strongest e-commerce growth globally during the next five years reaching more than $29 billion in 2016. An increase in online users and improvements in infrastructure will drive online growth in Latin America with such advances as faster broadband services, higher household PC and laptop penetration, and improvements in payment and delivery services.
Sears Holdings owns and operates three Spanish-language websites: its U.S. Hispanic website, its site for Puerto Rico and its international website. Oscar Castro, the director and general manager of international e-commerce at Sears Holdings, says, "Given how much of the world's population lives outside of the United States, international e-commerce is clearly a big opportunity. Technology provides people unprecedented access to goods, information and other people. As market leaders in e-commerce, we at Sears Holdings leverage technology to serve customers around the world, in multiple languages. We are proud to offer more than a million products to more than 90 countries worldwide." Following is a screen shot of Sears' international website.
Global E-Commerce Challenges
While the benefits are clear, international e-commerce may introduce complexities for retailers such as managing pricing in different currencies, vendor restrictions, collecting tariffs and duties, accepting different payment types, managing fraud and returns, as well as overcoming complexities in outbound fulfillment and product delivery.
Vendors like FiftyOne enable retailers to eliminate many of these complexities so that they can transact with cross-border shoppers in the more than 100 markets it delivers to worldwide. FiftyOne makes these transactions more fluid between the customer and retailer by not only providing currency conversion, but also managing international logistics and actually taking control of the inventory for part of the shipping process.
For example, a customer from Mexico will typically see the Mexican flag on the upper right corner of a FiftyOne-enabled website and all of the prices will be displayed in Mexican pesos. Oftentimes, a landing page welcomes the international visitor – explaining shipping or credit card policies. FiftyOne is also able to suppress products that are not available for international shipment.
Kevin Frisch, the senior vice president and general manager consumer with FiftyOne Global Ecommerce, says that after six months of fine-tuning an internationally optimized website, its clients begin generating international sales results, which grows to about 10% of its clients' total e-commerce revenues.
As an example of FiftyOne's work, Williams-Sonoma's website offers shipping to more than 95 local markets.
Fewer Returns
On the upside, FiftyOne finds that cross-border shoppers rarely return their purchases, according to its recent study of more than half a million orders that the company fulfilled. Why don't cross-border shoppers return as much as domestic online shoppers? International returns can be more complicated and costly. In addition, research suggests that buyers outside the U.S. simply aren't accustomed to returning what they order.
Claim Your International Customers
Translating and optimizing your site for international e-commerce unlocks latent demand from global consumers. Amtrak.com was surprised that it could grow its sales with not only Spanish, but also German and French-speaking consumers – something the company never expected.
Google launched country-specific versions of its websites early in its history so that no one would copy them. In contrast, Groupon spawned international copycats and subsequently had to buy several of them to maintain a leadership position globally. Will you claim your international market? Or will someone else claim your market by duplicating your business in new languages and currencies?
Finding the Right International Markets
In conclusion, identifying the right target markets isn't as simple as pulling a list of the largest economies. The opportunity is a function of your current offering as well as analyzing the number and quality of your competitors in every market.
When developing a business case for your international sales, break out the non-U.S. traffic coming to your English website. "If you see a significant amount of traffic coming from a particular country, use that as a reason to dig deeper," Whiteman says. "Current existing traffic from foreign countries to a company's English website reveals latent demand. By comparing relative traffic volumes with direct competitors, you can identify markets where your brand already has a foothold and latent demand is the strongest."


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All living things depend on proteins. Yet I sometimes wonder just how many people pause to consider just how amazing proteins are. Consider your own body. If you dig deep enough, it's often as if a major organ system is centered around the function of a protein or small subset of proteins. Your muscles? Think of actin and myosin, the contractile proteins. Your brain and nerves? Think of the membrane receptors and channels that generate and transmit electrical signals. Your blood? Think of the hemoglobin that transports oxygen. Your digestive system? Think of the enzymes that break down all the food molecules (which, of course, include proteins). Your bones and joints? Think of collagen that binds things together. Your skin and hair? Think of that tough protein, keratin. Your glands? Think of hormones and the receptors that detect them. Your immune system? Think of the antibodies that guard your body.
See proteins as design material and suddenly you are struck by their immense versatility, as if they represent the ultimate, all-purpose substance for generating function.
They can generate light, detect light, or use light to generate ion gradients and chemical energy. They can act as a signal or detect a signal. They can impart movement and function as motors. You can use them to bind things together and to unbind things. They can be used to catalyze thousands of chemical reactions, transport tiny or bulky molecules, transmit signals across great distances, and/or proofread. They can exist as everything from a simple fiber to a complex, sophisticated molecular machine. They can function alone or as part of a circuit. Combine them with lipids, and you have a controllable barrier, perfect for compartmentalization. Combine them with DNA and you have a chromosome that can be regulated and packaged. Combine them with RNA and you have machines that can make proteins and perfectly splice genes. You can use them to evolve things, as the deeply influential processes of gene duplication, recombination, and horizontal gene transfer are dependent on, you guessed it, proteins. You can even use proteins to form the hard turtle shell, soft bunny fur, and the flight feathers of a duck.
One then wonders if there exists a more versatile design material in the entire Universe. But it gets even better. At the heart of all this mind-numbing functionality and versatility that has served Life for billions of years is the very same manufacturing process. Now that's a design material: one manufacturing process coupled to thousands upon thousands of functions.
This all raises some interesting questions. For example, without proteins, and their manufacturing process, what becomes of the blind watchmaker? Without proteins, and the latent functions contained within, might not the blind watchmaker exist as the impotent, crippled, blind watchmaker with no one to notice its existence? If so, how much credit does the blind watchmaker really deserve?
Of course, if it all began, as they say, by coopting certain amino acids to act as catalytic groups, or fortuitously latching on to small peptides to function as cross-linkers, it was perhaps the Most Lucky Event of all that such humble material contained within it the latent potential to turn the blind watchmaker into a rather impressive designer-mimic.