February 22, 2012

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The Leading Trend for Financial Tools

The leading trend for financial tools is a combination of software, services and practices that encourage self-sufficiency. Whether you trade CFD, run your own business using specialized accounting software or buy stocks using a mobile phone application, autonomy is the latest trend when dealing with finances.

Business Budgeting as a Protective Measure

One of the simplest ways to self-sufficiency as a business owner is creating a sound business budget. Whereas a new business owner may ignore this aspect of entrepreneurship and hope for the best, establishing a financial contingency plan will help to sustain a business. Using business accounting tools to create both a short-term and a long-term budget gives business owners the confidence and assurance that their business model is sustainable and manageable.

Making Investments Independently

Before the days of advanced technology, investors had to call their stock brokers to place trades. These days, you can trade CFD, currencies, stocks, commodities and more using an electronic trading platform from the comfort of your own home. When on the run or on your way to your meetings and errands, your mobile phone application replaces the conversation with your stock broker. With a simple click, you can unload a particular stock or take advantage of a dip in price and make a stock purchase.

As business leaders become more evolved and knowledgeable in their budgeting practices, planning strategies and using technological devices and software, the potential for greater business profits increases. These new tools and practices save time and money, allowing businesses to prosper and become more sustainable.

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4 Benefits to Enrolling for an Online Education

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If a student has access to the Internet and financing, then online education is a possibility that should be explored. The benefits of online education depend on what part of the world a student is accessing it from. Online education is global and gives the middle class in many countries access to what only the privileged or rich had rights to in the past. A quiet revolution worldwide is happening before our Western eyes.

Benefits of online classes in the western world are many, but center around convenience. Convenience for a student means that classes occur across the western nations, 24/7 on nearly any day of the week. Course format comes as your typical college semester, as six- or nine-week courses, or everyday for a month. Classes are synchronous where the teacher is present and guides you in real-time or asynchronous where the set-up is such that you access the teacher as needed. Course mediums are video, audio, or graphics along with text.

Let’s talk about benefits of enrolling from the eastern world perspective. In this context, elearning benefits are about increasing production and profit levels for industry. Most elearning comes from the western realm so businesses having relations with the west benefit from training their workers with the western perspective. More education equals more money all around for everyone involved.

From many eastern government perspectives, online education is a means to dismantle some social and structural problems. By providing funding in selected industrial areas a government can influence the path of trade, nature of the economy, and the incentive to change. Participating in such a program provides a respectable life, and honor.

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Quote the Source

Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as: “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.” Because the above sentence has been quoted and referenced back to Dictionary.com, everyone reading this article knows that this author did not create that definition. It has not been plagiarized.

If the author had said that plagiarism is the unauthorized use and close imitation of the language. And left it at there, then they would have been plagiarizing the meaning from Dictionary.com. There was no quote showing where it began or ended and no reference to the source.

But you changed the “or” to an “and” as you “rewrote” the quote. This is a simple change but nothing from the original quote really changed in the second. This would still have been plagiarism.

What if someone else wrote the material and then I turned it in as my own, but the other person never published it? Yes, that is still plagiarism because the work is still someone else’s and you have turned it in as your own. This is a moral and ethical issue. Did you do the work? Did you create the turn of phrase? Copying a phrase here and there from the other source, but filling it in with mostly your own material can still be considered a form of plagiarism.

If you are not sure if you are plagiarizing then the safest and best thing to do would be to cite your sources. If you are wondering if you should cite where you received the ideas then cite the source. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

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Citizen Journalism Outlets

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Recent trends in the newspaper industry have seen the demise of many printed dailies while their online counterparts are flourishing. The advent of Internet news sites and the accessibility of blogging programs and applications has given birth to a new type of journalist: the citizen journalist. These involved and interested individuals are filling a gap in American news media by publishing news as it happens, opinion and editorial-type pieces and anything else they choose to share with their readers. While many in the publishing industry are mourning the death of a number of daily newspapers, others are taking advantage of the current climate and becoming citizen journalists.

One of the biggest complaints against citizen journalism is the lack of education or training that these independents receive. However, with such a tough crowd reading their every word, it stands to reason that only the most literal and insightful citizen journalists will garner much of an audience. That fact alone speaks to the concern of an uneducated journalist. Also, while jobs are lost in the newspaper industry, citizen journalists are able to earn a tidy living by selling advertising on their blogs. Even those who refuse to write for an established news source and only publish their pieces on their own websites can earn a nice annual salary.

C​itizen journalism is not just an American phenomena. There are a number of citizen journalism outlets in nearly every country of the world. In countries where the media is governmentally controlled, citizen journalist may have a great deal more freedom in what they can publish and the opinions they are able to communicate. This may be the most compelling argument for citizen journalism. Additionally, the participatory nature of blogs, with their comments and responding blog posts, contributes to a much more involved populace in the news and current events. While there remains criticism of the citizen journalist’s claim to objectivity, their power within our communities cannot be disputed.

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Growing Problem of Plagiarism among Journalist

Plagiarism is essentially copying another person’s work and claiming it as your own. Many people have plagiarized without realizing they have done so. It is actually easy to do. You may read material for research and when writing your work, you may inadvertently pass off your work as original. This happens every day all around the world.

Many public officials have faced plagiarism scandals and in the past few years, numerous journalists have been caught in scandals. The problem seems to be growing among journalist. Many of them resigned from jobs at prestigious newspapers.

Getting caught plagiarizing can sometimes end a career in journalism. This is not necessarily the case for public officials. One man that was involved in a plagiarism scandal is now Vice President of the United States. For journalist the penalty for such an offense is immediate dismissal and an end to a promising career. Although, there are some journalists that did recover from their plagiarism scandal. It does, however, take years of hard work to regain the status of a reputable journalist.

Plagiarism on the Internet is so common that anti-plagiarism software has been developed. There are numerous plagiarism checkers that can quickly search the Internet for possible violations. Journalists know this and yet they still risk their careers and plagiarize an article.

To avoid plagiarism, you simply have to give credit to the person whose work you are using to write your article. Journalists have a difficult time coming up with a valid excuse. Many journalists may take the risk hoping they will not be caught. Journalists are competitive and the dream of every journalist is to get that one big story that will catapult their career.

If you are dedicated to your profession, the big story will come. Plagiarizing will only destroy a career.

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Making a Living as a Journalist or Writer

Each year thousands of graduates armed with degrees in journalism or English, set off on the path to becoming a great writer. Their minds are filled with ideas for investigative reports or the next American novel. They search the Internet and job boards scouring the ads for promising writing jobs. Resumes are sent to newspapers, magazines and television stations.

In the meantime, student loans are coming due and rent needs to be paid. So, many of them end up with jobs they are not really interested but it pays the bills. Their hopes are quickly crushed and they wonder if they will ever write again.

Many will set up blogs in the hopes of creating a massive following and racking up GoogleAdsense dollars. Months go by and they realize all of their efforts only made them $7.63 in adsense dollars. Not even close to the $100 payout requirement.

Out of desperation, they succumb to signing up with an Internet content provider to make extra cash doing what they love. Diving into the work, they diligently write article after article. The joy they feel from being a paid writer is immeasurable.

The joy quickly turns to frustration. How many articles can one write about “Favorite Cookie Recipes” or “How to Get a Date.” The rent is due again and articles must be written to be paid. They hope their hard work will pay off one day and their dreams will manifest into reality. Writing is in their blood and at least writing content is great practice.

There are advantages to selling their writing skills. They can work at home and work when they choose. No need to take a shower, just roll out of bed and start writing. It is a world only writers understand and few others know exists. The world of writers and journalists is competitive. The jobs are few.

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Respecting Addiction No Matter the Addict

Celebrities are all the rage these days. The public is consumed by them and every facet of their lives. They want to know the way they eat. They want to buy the same clothes and follow the same diets they do. When they break up with a high-profile celebrity, it’s all the world can seem to talk about. It’s a trend that has gotten bigger over time. The world gets smaller and smaller for celebrities.

One of the things that fascinates the public more than anything is when a celebrity deals with addiction. They know that being a celebrity is a tough life and, when the pressure gets to big and the spotlight too bright, they turn to drugs and alcohol to ease the pain and the pressure. For those celebrities it’s a dark time that leads to more problems down the road. Unfortunately,these battles against drugs and alcohol are fodder for the tabloids. It’s the top story on the news. It’s the gossip that the public can eat up. It’s not enough to know there is suffering. The public always wants more — more details, more pictures, and more videos of someone living in excess and out of control.

We forget that these people in the spotlight have families. They have friends. They have people that love them the way anyone is loved by their support system. Suffering is not news. It’s truth and it hurts, and it’s painful to watch when someone is really in deep into an addiction.This is also a constant reminder to the public that if they have their own addictions, or know someone who does, now is the time to get help. Websites like TheCyn.com and other addiction hotlines are there to help whenever needed. It’s not enough to want to get help. It must be sought out to save lives. Drugs are no game, even for a celebrity.

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MyBook and FaceSpace

Actually it’s ‘MySpace’ and ‘Facebook’. To be even more accurate, the CURRENT names are ‘My_____’ (clever there!) and simply ‘facebook’ (lowercase, and honestly they’ve retained that since they started, but you have to admit it looks funny in lowercase!). We have the premiere social giants of this decade, nay, century! And everyone always asks this timeless question, a question to define the ages. It’s for sure that it has been asked before, but there hasn’t been a definitive answer.

Until now. Await these words of wisdom, friends. The answer is nigh.

With the change in times and social media growing larger and larger by the day, it’s very difficult to even compare the two. A half decade ago, it was easier. Now, not so much. The obvious question always in social mogul minds is this: which site is better? Keep in mind that the question isn’t ‘which site is more POPULAR?’. Sources would say that currently, even regarding profits and traffic, that ‘facebook’ is now the leader of the pack with MySpace running a close second.

This isn’t a popularity contest, though. Be objective here and consider the characteristics carefully:

The answer to this age-old question, ‘which one is better?’, is none other than the philosophical, existential saying of “depends on who you are and what you do!”. That’s your answer. Think about it.

If you look at both sites right now, you’ll notice a demographic for both. It’s very distinct. Surf the sites, and you’ll find that MySpace has obviously geared its bits toward the entertainment industry to some degree. Music artists, playlists, professional MySpace pages, the whole nine yards. Likewise, what ‘facebook’ has developed is a more social background–one filled with online games and fun solo games, trivia, and a more creative approach to marketing.

Both sites have earned their niche well. All that awaits now is the Twitter onslaught. Watch out for it. Very soon in this digital age it’ll be a 3-way contest.

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