Entertainment comes in all forms and fashions, from taking a walk in the park to going to your local movie theater. A wonderful form of entertainment that many people seem to overlook is performing arts entertainment. Performing arts entertainment is a great choice for all ages and all types of people. It offers a type of entertainment that going to a movie cannot fulfill. The inner feeling of seeing your favorite musical or play performed by live people is simply exasperating.
When it comes to choosing an event for a group of people, performing-arts entertainment reaches out to a large audience. Whether it is Monday date night and you need something to do together, or a place to take the class for a field trip. Performing arts offers plays for the young and the old ranging from dramas to comedies. The environment is suiting for the entire family and provides a great atmosphere to all.
It is important to not let culture die. Modern day people tend to resort to entertainment from areas that are killing tradition and leading to a dying breed and lack of diversity. The arts will take you back in time and make you feel as if you were sitting in the same room with people of the past in a wonderful indoor setting.
Performing-arts entertainment is put on hold because many people tend to think they cannot afford it. Plays and performances have lowered drastically in price and offer many packages and memberships to satisfy your needs. Remember, if you're looking for an inexpensive way to feel the culture alive than take the family to a performing arts production.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The GI Bill And How It Helps Veterans Further Their Education
WWII had ended and troops were returning home to the United States, ready to jump back in to civilian life. Something needed to be done to allow the troops to be reinstated into American life without flooding the job market. The government feared a breakdown of the economy causing another depression. A solution was found in the establishment of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944; more commonly called the GI Bill.
The GI Bill has evolved into the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Currently, veterans of the US Armed Forces have access to funding for postsecondary school through the for certificates programs, vocational schools and colleges.
The original GI Bill included provisions for education and training, guaranteed home, farm and business loans, and unemployment pay. The educational benefits of the bill are the most commonly known. Approximately one-half of the 16 million WWII and Korean War veterans used the educational benefits by the time the bill expired in 1956. The diversion of thousands of vets into college kept the influx of workers into the job market manageable.
In 1966, the GI Bill was re-instituted as the Veterans Readjustment Benefits Act, later known as the Vietnam Era GI Bill. A higher percentage of this era’s veterans used the educational benefits of this bill than any previous generation. However, with the onset of the all-volunteer military, the GI Bill ended for those entering the service after 1976.
Enactment of the Montgomery GI Bill
Education benefits remained an outstanding recruiting tool for the military and benefits were provided with the contributory Veterans Educational Assistance Program and the Montgomery GI Bill. The passage of these two programs ensured that veterans would be able to take out home loans and also provided veterans scholarships and matched educational contributions up to 8 times the amount the serviceman provided. The Montgomery GI Bill also allows benefits to be transferred to a spouse or children of the veteran.
Post September 11 GI Bill
In the summer of 2008, Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which expanded educational benefits for those serving after September 10, 2001. The new bill provides tuition payment, a stipend for books and supplies, a housing allowance and other benefits for vets attending college, vocational school, trade school, or pursuing a certificate program. The benefits are tier-based on the amount of active duty time served since 9/11 and vary from state to state based on the cost of attending a public college.
Without the GI Bill many veterans would be unable to continue their education. The GI Bill continues to help veterans eliminate or lower the cost of education and provides for enough living expenses to make an additional income unnecessary for most veterans.
The GI Bill has evolved into the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Currently, veterans of the US Armed Forces have access to funding for postsecondary school through the for certificates programs, vocational schools and colleges.
The original GI Bill included provisions for education and training, guaranteed home, farm and business loans, and unemployment pay. The educational benefits of the bill are the most commonly known. Approximately one-half of the 16 million WWII and Korean War veterans used the educational benefits by the time the bill expired in 1956. The diversion of thousands of vets into college kept the influx of workers into the job market manageable.
In 1966, the GI Bill was re-instituted as the Veterans Readjustment Benefits Act, later known as the Vietnam Era GI Bill. A higher percentage of this era’s veterans used the educational benefits of this bill than any previous generation. However, with the onset of the all-volunteer military, the GI Bill ended for those entering the service after 1976.
Enactment of the Montgomery GI Bill
Education benefits remained an outstanding recruiting tool for the military and benefits were provided with the contributory Veterans Educational Assistance Program and the Montgomery GI Bill. The passage of these two programs ensured that veterans would be able to take out home loans and also provided veterans scholarships and matched educational contributions up to 8 times the amount the serviceman provided. The Montgomery GI Bill also allows benefits to be transferred to a spouse or children of the veteran.
Post September 11 GI Bill
In the summer of 2008, Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which expanded educational benefits for those serving after September 10, 2001. The new bill provides tuition payment, a stipend for books and supplies, a housing allowance and other benefits for vets attending college, vocational school, trade school, or pursuing a certificate program. The benefits are tier-based on the amount of active duty time served since 9/11 and vary from state to state based on the cost of attending a public college.
Without the GI Bill many veterans would be unable to continue their education. The GI Bill continues to help veterans eliminate or lower the cost of education and provides for enough living expenses to make an additional income unnecessary for most veterans.
How To Purchase A Computer
It is far easier to buy your next computer than it is to purchase your first one, because those who've bought and operated a computer in the past already have an idea of what they require in a new computer, but those who are new to the computer world can easily become lost in the multitude of choices to be had.
The brief answer to "What should I buy?" is "the best". Of course that response is completely biased because "the best" to one person is not going to be the best to another. Our meaning of "the best" is the fastest and with the largest memory, but even that can leave the computer newbie puzzled. Here's a quick rundown of what the computer novice should do and why.
1. Purchase a computer that includes all the fundamental components. Every computer arrangement can be broken down into four major components: CPU unit, screen, keyboard, and mouse. For the novice, it's best to buy a computer that has all of these peripherals incorporated so that when it's taken home, assembling the computer is a uncomplicated affair of plugging the bits in where they belong. Save the individual purchase of these peripherals to those who have more understanding.
2. Make your mind up what you'll use the computer for. If you want to use your computer for cruising the web, sending email, or doing simple word-processing or spreadsheet tasks, a computer with the main peripherals that we just described plus a printer should be sufficient. If you want to use a computer to help with a career in multimedia however, you're going to need to increase your system with maybe a scanner, digital camera, tablet, or digicam as well for instance. If you want a computer to help with a career in music, you might need a quality microphone and set of loud-speakers.
3. Create a budget and adhere to it. How much can you afford to spend on a new computer? Although the price of computers is declining, they can still be rather a large outlay especially if you want further peripherals as described previously. In addition, you'll have to factor in expenses for Internet access, maintenance, servicing, and insurance.
4. Start comparison shopping and search for the quickest and largest. By fastest and biggest, we imply the computer with the quickest processor, the quickest modem, the largest memory, and the biggest hard drive capacity. Even if you consider that you'll never need the amount of speed or space obtainable on the market today, it's important to have in the event that you truly do require that much in the future. Having such a large reserve will cut down on expenditure when the time comes to upgrade.
5. Stay with the better-known makes. Venturing off the trodden path with lesser-known brands is again an adventure for those who have more familiarity with computers. Although those better-known brands might be a tad more costly, the computer greenhorn will be grateful for the comfort of purchasing a computer from a shop that has a long history of building quality products, and that has the funds on hand for fulfilling returns, trades, servicing, and guaranties.
6. Choose a quality store. Once you have an idea of what you need in a computer and what sort of computer that you want, the only task left to do is to choose the place where you want to purchase it. There are many places, which embrace computer stores, online stores, auction sites and operated computer shops. For the computer beginner, we advise purchasing a computer from a bricks-and-mortar store. In a physical store, you have the chance to see the computer of interest itself and pose questions. New computer buyers will also have a store guarantee, returns, trades, and services.
These recommendations ought to give the computer newcomer a handy start in choosing a good computer for the first time and these recommendations apply to both Windows computers or Apple Macintosh computers. After making these decisions and eventually picking one that fits your needs, you can then venture into the spellbinding world of software - a world that is just as impressive as the world of hardware!
The brief answer to "What should I buy?" is "the best". Of course that response is completely biased because "the best" to one person is not going to be the best to another. Our meaning of "the best" is the fastest and with the largest memory, but even that can leave the computer newbie puzzled. Here's a quick rundown of what the computer novice should do and why.
1. Purchase a computer that includes all the fundamental components. Every computer arrangement can be broken down into four major components: CPU unit, screen, keyboard, and mouse. For the novice, it's best to buy a computer that has all of these peripherals incorporated so that when it's taken home, assembling the computer is a uncomplicated affair of plugging the bits in where they belong. Save the individual purchase of these peripherals to those who have more understanding.
2. Make your mind up what you'll use the computer for. If you want to use your computer for cruising the web, sending email, or doing simple word-processing or spreadsheet tasks, a computer with the main peripherals that we just described plus a printer should be sufficient. If you want to use a computer to help with a career in multimedia however, you're going to need to increase your system with maybe a scanner, digital camera, tablet, or digicam as well for instance. If you want a computer to help with a career in music, you might need a quality microphone and set of loud-speakers.
3. Create a budget and adhere to it. How much can you afford to spend on a new computer? Although the price of computers is declining, they can still be rather a large outlay especially if you want further peripherals as described previously. In addition, you'll have to factor in expenses for Internet access, maintenance, servicing, and insurance.
4. Start comparison shopping and search for the quickest and largest. By fastest and biggest, we imply the computer with the quickest processor, the quickest modem, the largest memory, and the biggest hard drive capacity. Even if you consider that you'll never need the amount of speed or space obtainable on the market today, it's important to have in the event that you truly do require that much in the future. Having such a large reserve will cut down on expenditure when the time comes to upgrade.
5. Stay with the better-known makes. Venturing off the trodden path with lesser-known brands is again an adventure for those who have more familiarity with computers. Although those better-known brands might be a tad more costly, the computer greenhorn will be grateful for the comfort of purchasing a computer from a shop that has a long history of building quality products, and that has the funds on hand for fulfilling returns, trades, servicing, and guaranties.
6. Choose a quality store. Once you have an idea of what you need in a computer and what sort of computer that you want, the only task left to do is to choose the place where you want to purchase it. There are many places, which embrace computer stores, online stores, auction sites and operated computer shops. For the computer beginner, we advise purchasing a computer from a bricks-and-mortar store. In a physical store, you have the chance to see the computer of interest itself and pose questions. New computer buyers will also have a store guarantee, returns, trades, and services.
These recommendations ought to give the computer newcomer a handy start in choosing a good computer for the first time and these recommendations apply to both Windows computers or Apple Macintosh computers. After making these decisions and eventually picking one that fits your needs, you can then venture into the spellbinding world of software - a world that is just as impressive as the world of hardware!
Number That Dares To Speak Its Name
WESTPAC has jumped on board the rapidly growing vanity phone number bandwagon just months after the industry was opened to competition. Some predictions suggest the embryonic industry could grow to be worth $100 million a year.
The bank has signed a deal to link its brand to a dedicated number that will allow customers to simply dial 1300westpac rather than have to commit a number to memory.
The bank has done the deal with Jack Singleton and his Phone Name Marketing, which has been agitating on several fronts for the past six years to open up the vanity phone number market in Australia.
Singo the younger is president of the Australian Phone Word Association and has invested nearly $5 million to get the business started, including buying 2000 numbers. The signing of Westpac, his first significant client, is the culmination of a long-fought war with Telstra and government bureaucrats to allow trade in vanity numbers that began with the standardisation of telephone keypads in the mid-1990s.
Westpac head of brand and marketing Phil Gunter says the bank is trialling the number with home loan advertising, but even early results suggest the new number could be extended across the entire bank.
“We are seeking customer and staff feedback and at the moment both think it is a great way of advertising our number,'” Gunter says.
“I'm from the UK and have been keen to use these for a long time. We want to be early adopters.'
The use of vanity numbers in Australia remains limited, with companies such as Qantas, Subaru, Big Pond, Hayman Island and Roses Only among the first users.
Research in Canberra last year, which matched overseas findings, revealed that 89 per cent of people were aware of alphanumeric dialling. A split run of commercials on television and radio, one with a name and the other with just a number, found the vanity number produced an increase in calls of 190 per cent on TV and 450 per cent on radio.
“Calls to the phone number stopped as soon as the ads stopped,' Singleton says. “Calls to the phone name kept coming for weeks after the ads stopped.'
In all, the Australian Communications Authority has released 10,000 numbers that could each command $1000 per month rental or more. Singleton has snared 2000 of them. Other operators include Telstra, 1300 Words and Alpha Phone Words.
In the US brokers have been buying names for up to $US100,000 ($134,000), then leasing them to companies. There has also been illegal auctioning of numbers on eBay.
The bank has signed a deal to link its brand to a dedicated number that will allow customers to simply dial 1300westpac rather than have to commit a number to memory.
The bank has done the deal with Jack Singleton and his Phone Name Marketing, which has been agitating on several fronts for the past six years to open up the vanity phone number market in Australia.
Singo the younger is president of the Australian Phone Word Association and has invested nearly $5 million to get the business started, including buying 2000 numbers. The signing of Westpac, his first significant client, is the culmination of a long-fought war with Telstra and government bureaucrats to allow trade in vanity numbers that began with the standardisation of telephone keypads in the mid-1990s.
Westpac head of brand and marketing Phil Gunter says the bank is trialling the number with home loan advertising, but even early results suggest the new number could be extended across the entire bank.
“We are seeking customer and staff feedback and at the moment both think it is a great way of advertising our number,'” Gunter says.
“I'm from the UK and have been keen to use these for a long time. We want to be early adopters.'
The use of vanity numbers in Australia remains limited, with companies such as Qantas, Subaru, Big Pond, Hayman Island and Roses Only among the first users.
Research in Canberra last year, which matched overseas findings, revealed that 89 per cent of people were aware of alphanumeric dialling. A split run of commercials on television and radio, one with a name and the other with just a number, found the vanity number produced an increase in calls of 190 per cent on TV and 450 per cent on radio.
“Calls to the phone number stopped as soon as the ads stopped,' Singleton says. “Calls to the phone name kept coming for weeks after the ads stopped.'
In all, the Australian Communications Authority has released 10,000 numbers that could each command $1000 per month rental or more. Singleton has snared 2000 of them. Other operators include Telstra, 1300 Words and Alpha Phone Words.
In the US brokers have been buying names for up to $US100,000 ($134,000), then leasing them to companies. There has also been illegal auctioning of numbers on eBay.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Simple Do-It-Yourself Invitations for Your Child’s Birthday Party
Party time’s coming up and you need to shout it out since it’s only a legitimate party bash when you have guests, so never EVER overlook the importance of the seemingly humble party invitation! The most common way is to send out invitation cards informing your guests about the upcoming party. However, here are a few interesting suggestions for creative invitations for your child’s birthday party!
Make your very own card
Nothing beats something specially customized so why not make your very own party invitation card? It’d be a fun bonding process too instead of using generic store-bought birthday invitation cards, which lacks that special touch! More importantly, this also creates a perfect avenue for important family bonding!
There are essentially two ways of going about this fun process – using the computer with fun, user-friendly design software or the more traditional method that involves your usual scissors, markers, colored papers and glue. Once you’ve decided which approach to go for, rope your child in to start the creative process! Ask them vital questions that make them feel important because they are doing what adults do – making significant decisions! Plus, this is for their all-important, once-a-year birthday party and they are the star! Some questions to ask your child during this family bonding creative process could be:
1) Do they have a special theme in mind for the party?
It could translate into the design of the card, .e.g a fairy princess theme for girls or an action super hero one for boys
2) What’s the principal color theme they want for their birthday card invites?
If they wish to incorporate their favorite color, e.g. orange, you could add complimentary colors to their card like bits of yellow and white to jazz things up.
Once you’ve designed the cover, you’re almost halfway done! If you’ve chosen to use the more traditional way of putting it together with cut-outs, drawings or origami stuck on the front, be sure to scan a high-resolution copy of this to print out later for the actual cards – you don’t have to replicate this for each and every invitation card!
Send an e-Card via email
Since you’ve already have a softcopy in your computer of the special art-work design from above, you may choose to send out the birthday invitations as an e-card through email instead. This could be as an attachment or embedded in the body of the email, along with the necessarily information regarding the party.
Do ensure that you have everyone’s email addresses. Also, do note that not everyone might have an email account (children in lower primary or younger) so make arrangements to print out a hard-copy and pass it to those who do not have access to one, or alternatively, send the e-card invitation to the email account belonging to the parent/s of the invited child.
If you intend to use e-cards as the novel way of sending out invitations (after all, we live in the new millennium!) there are fun, user-friendly 2D & 3D animation software that you could use to certainly spruce up your child’s party invitation. It may be a bit time-consuming, but you can be sure everyone would be raving about it once they see your labor of love!
Send a Picture Text Message or MMS
It is amazing how many children own mobile phones these days, with the number growing bigger every day as more parents see the need to stay connected with their restless youngsters. A simple idea for a modern casual party invitation is to take a picture of the birthday child in all smiles, or use a generic birthday party icon that comes as a template or as a downloadable MMS. Send this picture along with the party details and just sit back to wait for their RSVP via your own mobile phone.
While this is convenient for you, the only disadvantage is that not all children own a mobile phone so you may have to find their parents’ numbers instead to send the information accordingly.
Important Party Details to Include
Now that you’ve got the finalized design of the all-important birthday party invitation (be it snazzy 3D animation to be emailed out, a super-cool 2D design using the computer to print on cards, an eye-catching MMS or something put together the more traditional way), don’t forget to include the essential party information! While the front of the card shouts out the message, i.e. YOU ARE SPECIALLY INVITED TO (BIRTHDAY CHILD’S NAME)’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!, details within the party invite should entail the following:
Name of invited guest (is this just the child, or can their parents come as well?)
Name of your child, their (age, e.g. 8th) birthday party
The day/ time & venue of the birthday bash
Indication of any particular theme/ dress code
RSVP with your contact details
So an invitation card to your child’s classmate Chriss would look like this:
“Dearest Chriss
You are specially invited to Elizabeth’s 8th birthday party on Saturday, 16 October at 2pm at No. 15 Raffles Park Avenue.
Please RSVP by 9 October to Mrs. Vivian Chua (Elizabeth’s mother) at 91998181.
Thank you and here’s looking forward to seeing you at Elizabeth’s birthday party!”
What’s next?
So you’ve duly sent out the invites to all your guests, with at least a week before the RSVP date… now what? Give your guests some time to respond and keep your RSVP list close to you so you can update it as and when you get a reply. Make a call one day before your indicated deadline to the invited guests who have yet to respond.
Make contact again on the RSVP date itself to finalize attendance and explain that you need to gather the confirmed number so you can go ahead with the catering and party planning. Be polite when speaking with other parents as you communicate that their kind co-operation is essential in allowing all the kids to have fun.
Remember, putting together the birthday party invitations should be an enjoyable family bonding process for you and your child. Let their creativity flow and listen to any suggestions they have, as wacky as it may be! Make them feel special and allow them to take charge since it is for their very special day.
Make your very own card
Nothing beats something specially customized so why not make your very own party invitation card? It’d be a fun bonding process too instead of using generic store-bought birthday invitation cards, which lacks that special touch! More importantly, this also creates a perfect avenue for important family bonding!
There are essentially two ways of going about this fun process – using the computer with fun, user-friendly design software or the more traditional method that involves your usual scissors, markers, colored papers and glue. Once you’ve decided which approach to go for, rope your child in to start the creative process! Ask them vital questions that make them feel important because they are doing what adults do – making significant decisions! Plus, this is for their all-important, once-a-year birthday party and they are the star! Some questions to ask your child during this family bonding creative process could be:
1) Do they have a special theme in mind for the party?
It could translate into the design of the card, .e.g a fairy princess theme for girls or an action super hero one for boys
2) What’s the principal color theme they want for their birthday card invites?
If they wish to incorporate their favorite color, e.g. orange, you could add complimentary colors to their card like bits of yellow and white to jazz things up.
Once you’ve designed the cover, you’re almost halfway done! If you’ve chosen to use the more traditional way of putting it together with cut-outs, drawings or origami stuck on the front, be sure to scan a high-resolution copy of this to print out later for the actual cards – you don’t have to replicate this for each and every invitation card!
Send an e-Card via email
Since you’ve already have a softcopy in your computer of the special art-work design from above, you may choose to send out the birthday invitations as an e-card through email instead. This could be as an attachment or embedded in the body of the email, along with the necessarily information regarding the party.
Do ensure that you have everyone’s email addresses. Also, do note that not everyone might have an email account (children in lower primary or younger) so make arrangements to print out a hard-copy and pass it to those who do not have access to one, or alternatively, send the e-card invitation to the email account belonging to the parent/s of the invited child.
If you intend to use e-cards as the novel way of sending out invitations (after all, we live in the new millennium!) there are fun, user-friendly 2D & 3D animation software that you could use to certainly spruce up your child’s party invitation. It may be a bit time-consuming, but you can be sure everyone would be raving about it once they see your labor of love!
Send a Picture Text Message or MMS
It is amazing how many children own mobile phones these days, with the number growing bigger every day as more parents see the need to stay connected with their restless youngsters. A simple idea for a modern casual party invitation is to take a picture of the birthday child in all smiles, or use a generic birthday party icon that comes as a template or as a downloadable MMS. Send this picture along with the party details and just sit back to wait for their RSVP via your own mobile phone.
While this is convenient for you, the only disadvantage is that not all children own a mobile phone so you may have to find their parents’ numbers instead to send the information accordingly.
Important Party Details to Include
Now that you’ve got the finalized design of the all-important birthday party invitation (be it snazzy 3D animation to be emailed out, a super-cool 2D design using the computer to print on cards, an eye-catching MMS or something put together the more traditional way), don’t forget to include the essential party information! While the front of the card shouts out the message, i.e. YOU ARE SPECIALLY INVITED TO (BIRTHDAY CHILD’S NAME)’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!, details within the party invite should entail the following:
Name of invited guest (is this just the child, or can their parents come as well?)
Name of your child, their (age, e.g. 8th) birthday party
The day/ time & venue of the birthday bash
Indication of any particular theme/ dress code
RSVP with your contact details
So an invitation card to your child’s classmate Chriss would look like this:
“Dearest Chriss
You are specially invited to Elizabeth’s 8th birthday party on Saturday, 16 October at 2pm at No. 15 Raffles Park Avenue.
Please RSVP by 9 October to Mrs. Vivian Chua (Elizabeth’s mother) at 91998181.
Thank you and here’s looking forward to seeing you at Elizabeth’s birthday party!”
What’s next?
So you’ve duly sent out the invites to all your guests, with at least a week before the RSVP date… now what? Give your guests some time to respond and keep your RSVP list close to you so you can update it as and when you get a reply. Make a call one day before your indicated deadline to the invited guests who have yet to respond.
Make contact again on the RSVP date itself to finalize attendance and explain that you need to gather the confirmed number so you can go ahead with the catering and party planning. Be polite when speaking with other parents as you communicate that their kind co-operation is essential in allowing all the kids to have fun.
Remember, putting together the birthday party invitations should be an enjoyable family bonding process for you and your child. Let their creativity flow and listen to any suggestions they have, as wacky as it may be! Make them feel special and allow them to take charge since it is for their very special day.
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