PCADSL BLOG

There is a growing public perception that companies are ignoring health and environmental concerns in their quest to maximise profit and in doing so they ignore other equally important issues such as environmental concerns and local communities.
Businesses such as GuideMeGreen green directory and the co-op offer a real alternative for people concerned with these issues and with businesses that combine a strong ethical dimension in tandem with making profits.
Here are some of the main features of organic farming:
? Organic farming severely restricts the use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
? Instead, organic farmers rely on developing a healthy, fertile soil and growing a mixture of crops.
? Animals are reared without the routine use of drugs, antibiotics and wormers common in intensive livestock farming.

Synthetic dyes and ingredients such as Sudan1 were in the national news in February and can cause cancer. See www.food.gov.uk for further details. Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are not allowed under organic standards.

Why Buy Organic?

It has never been easier to shop for organic food, and there has never been so much choice. Every food category now has an organic alternative. It’s also common sense; organic food is good food. Good to eat, good for the environment, good for the small-scale farmers and the farm workers who produce it.
Chefs across the country are committed to using organic ingredients because plants from healthy soils and organically fed livestock provide us with more flavorful food. Organic foods allow true flavour to shine through unlike other non-organic foods that look and taste good but are often full of E numbers and artificial flavourings and ingredients.

By supporting local, sustainable and organic farms in your local community you also support the larger community of which we are all a part. By eating organic food you are providing the healthiest choice for your family and supporting the farms that provide us with healthy and ecological neighbourhoods.

The ?go local? food movement is flourishing ? over 15% of people buy organic food locally and this number continues to rise as the number of farmer?s markets, box schemes, cafes and restaurants serving organic food increase. GuideMeGreen helps you to find locally produced foods which are fresher, healthier and more economical. It cuts down on transport costs and ?food miles? where an average shopping basket can include fruit and vegetables transported from all over the world.

The bug supermarkets in the UK are about to introduce there own vegetable box schemes. This is good because the supermarket schemes should encourage more people to buy organic food and are likely to raise the profile and public awareness of the benefits of organic box schemes in general. These new organic consumers will hopefully become convinced of the benefits of organic food and become more interested in and aware of the advantages of buying local too. The supermarket schemes could therefore be a positive first step on people’s journey to buying organic, local food generally and perhaps moving on to subscribe to independent box scheme businesses – as well as supporting other local food outlets like farmers’ markets or independent retailers.

The supermarkets themselves may find their businesses becoming subject to more far-reaching changes, as their customers are exposed to the principles and practices which inspire the original local food and grassroots box-scheme movement.

10 Minute Mail offers email addresses which will self-destruct in 10 minutes. By clicking the link on home page, you will get a temporary email address (like mail131065@10minutemail.com) that you can use for next 10 minutes. All emails sent to that address will be displayed on the web page where you got the address. You can even reply to the emails you receive. After 10 minutes everything is gone!

Here is what it has to say about its service,

“Why would you use this? Maybe you want to sign up for a site which requires that you provide an e-mail address to send a validation e-mail to. And maybe you don?t want to give up your real e-mail address and end up on a bunch of spam lists. This is nice and disposable. And it?s free. Enjoy!”

As it says this will be a nice feature to avoid spam. But what about legitimate business owners? Most online businesses collect email addresses promising something on confirmation which is called Email Squeeze Technique and will this kill it?

I don?t think so because this can be easily managed. Usually web forms verify user entered data before processing the request. For an example when you enter your email address, it is checked weather the address is in correct format. This can be done using both JavaScript and PHP which are very popular Client and Server scripting languages used in web forms.

So, it is very easy to avoid email addresses from 10 Minute Mail. All you have to do is modify the script to check weather it is a 10 Minute Mail address. This can be done as follows.

(*) Split the email address at @ sign.
(*) Check weather the right part equals to 10minutemail.com
(*) If so, print a detailed message to the user saying you don?t accept email address from 10 Minute Mail.

Most business owners use third party services for managing email signup and those services will soon adapt this technique. If you use your own script and don?t know how to modify it then contact someone know and instruct him as above.

When you are trying to learn a new programming language like PHP, it can get a bit intimidating, especially if you have never had experience with other programming languages before. But trust me, the toughest hurdle is really the starting point. Once you have gotten over that, it is really just a matter of keeping your focus and practicing. Be patient and learn the steps one at a time and you will get there. Here are some tips to help you learn simple PHP:

Learn the basics.
To learn a new language, specifically a programming language, you will need to have basic computer skills. Before you can learn PHP, you need to have a basic background on HTML. This is necessary to make PHP easier to grasp. Plus, you can alternate between the two later on using the same document.

PHP is a language that uses scripting and often used with HTML to supplement functions that HTML lacks. With PHP, you can collect and process data, make comparisons and calculations things that you can not do with HTML. Using this skill, you can create other functions to produce data that is more specialized.

Get the tools.
To create PHP pages, you will need a text editor. A plain text editor is a program that lets you edit files in plain text. These are the ones that come with extensions such as. php, .cgi, .html, etc. These types of text editors will not save formatting on the file, only the plain text. If you have been using a text editing program for your HTML file, that will do. you will probably use either Notepad (for Windows) or Text Edit (for Mac).

Get an FTP.
A File Transfer Protocol or FTP is used to exchange files from your computer to a remote server. This is the one we use to connect on a LAN or to an Internet site.

Get busy.
Once you have the right tools, you will have to practice creating files using PHP. There are some very important stuff that you will need to learn, including basic mathematics and IF statements and using variables. you will have to go through these first before you can hope to build a reliable PHP file.

Once you know your way around these skills, you can then start learning about loops. Loops are just your basic true or false statements that will perform repetitive actions again and again until certain conditions are met. After mastering the loops, you can then learn how to write your very own functions. Once you have learned how to manipulate the codes to create your desired result, there is virtually no limit to what you can do.

Online resources for learning simple PHP
You can not possibly learn simple PHP from a single short article like this, so it is best to expand your knowledge and turn to other resources like books and online sites. Some sites to check out:

PHP.About.com
There are several articles on this site that discuss the most basic information you need to know to learn simple PHP. This is a great source for web based tutorial that features clear step by step instructions on using PHP, HTML, XML and MySQL databases.

PHP Buddy.com
This site contains Quick Start tutorials on PHP and scripts that will make it easy for you to learn the program easily. This includes a brief introduction and learning basic PHP syntax. There are also valuable tutorials on using cookies, data inscription and working with functions and sessions using PHP.

PHP Freaks.com
This is a site for people who want to learn both PHP and MySQL. The site has 90 tutorials on PHP, more than 400 PHP code examples and nearly 3,000 articles that discuss various information, tips and tricks to make learning simple PHP quick and easy.

Did you know?

You have powers within you which are far greater than any obstacle, circumstance or difficulty, you could possibly meet!

You can easily start to bring forth into your life more power, more success, more health, and more happiness. Your subconscious mind can solve problems for you effortlessly, even while you sleep. It can also free your body and mind – from all kinds of physical and material bondage?

How can you do this?

All you must do is simply discover how to focus, concentrate and then released the hidden powers of your subconscious mind! You will find yourself truly inspired as you generate this new force within, which will enable you to realize and reach your real goals and desires.

Want to know the true meaning of ?practice makes perfect?? It?s simply this?

Your subconscious mind can learn to do tasks for you, once learned, it will make these tasks almost effortless on your part. The more you develop and train your subconscious mind to do your day-to-day ordinary thinking for you, the less you suffer from things such as tiredness, exhaustion and fatigue.

Fatigue and tiredness, are virtually unknown to your subconscious mind – it can therefore never tire or be overworked. All you must do is take the time to first awaken it and then develop it, as this invisible force within your mind is forever working!

The great paradox of life then, is that each of us is a vast ocean of potential…

But we take ourselves to be a small wave on top. We are all mountains of being – but we take ourselves to be only the tips of an iceberg.

Imagine releasing all your problems over to your subconscious mind, to be dealt with by a super mind which works endlessly, with great swiftness, extreme accuracy and without effort.

You can easily gain the necessary knowledge and understanding, to do all this and more, when you discover how your subconscious mind really works and operates!
Your subconscious mind will always expresses what the conscious mind has first impressed on it.

Simply put, what we regularly entertain in our mind creates a concept of who we are. And what we conceive ourselves to be is what we ultimately become.

Your subconscious mind does not possess the power to reason.

It does not judge whether the information sent to it is right or wrong, it has no sense of humor and cannot tell the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image. So the thoughts we hold onto most often and what we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives.

We must mentally concentrate our energy on the object of our desire – when we are concentrating, enthusiastic and focused, we are impressing our subconscious.

This is by no means the only way, but it?s probably the most simple and effective way, and also the most direct way.

There?s more to your marketing campaign than ordering a few hundred giveaway items, and the best business gifts companies recognize that. When you?re looking for a good business gift company with whom to do business, consider their expertise and experience in the field before making a decision.

Promotional items offered by business gift companies offer many benefits for your company. A good supplier can help you reap the full benefits of your marketing efforts in many ways. A knowledgeable professional can offer advice on colors, designs and products, as well as warning you against mistakes and pitfalls to avoid. Among the services and benefits you can expect when you deal with reputable business gifts companies are:

Expert Advice on Product Choice
An experienced account manager can help guide you in your choice of promotional items. If you?re not sure whether to use key rings or rulers as a promotional giveaway for your business, your account manager may have stories to share and advice to offer to help you make a choice. You can also count on an experience professional in the field to keep your budget in mind and suggest products that will offer you the best return on your investment.

Advice on Design and Color Choice
A reputable company employs people who know their products well. A good account manager or representative can tell you if the product you?re considering will show your desired design to its best effect, or suggest a product that is more in line with what you want to represent. No one knows better if white areas on that particular black t-shirt tend to look gray, or how difficult it is to reproduce the bright, sharp lines you want on the binders that you?ve chosen.

Suggestions for Coordinating Items
When you choose a business gifts company with a long history in the industry, you get the benefit of the many lessons that they?ve learned in years of providing promotional items to many different industries. They know the success stories and the dismal failures. If you?re looking for ideas on promoting a new service or product, a promotional gifts provider has the experience to offer you some great ones.

Leads on Other Services
You?ll need more than giveaway gifts to make a real splash at an event or trade show. Your business gifts account manager can often offer you suggestions on where to obtain other services or products that you need.

Finding Hard-to-Find Items
Got your heart set on a particular item that you don?t see in their catalog? A good promotional items supplier has a long reach. If they don?t carry what you?re looking for regularly, they can almost always find who does ? and get it for you at a far cheaper price than you could get it for yourself.

At Ideasbynet our staff has been doing business in the promotional items industry for decades. We have the experience and the knowledge to help you choose the best promotional items for your business, whether you need executive gifts for the holidays, promotional apparel for an employee incentive program or advertising gifts for a trade show. Contact one of our representatives to find out how we can help you shine.

To increase performance these days, some companies send their staff to motivational seminars. These seminars can get good results, but if they are mainly “motivational”, we often see the effects wear off in days or weeks.

Some companies put their staff through training programs to help them handle the details of their post and to relate better to their customers. These can also be quite beneficial.

And some businesses use rewards programs to increase staff productivity. These have varied workability, some work splendidly, others are not so effective.

In this article, you will be given a very simple way to increase the performance of the people who work for and with you. And as the title of the article indicates, it may possibly be the most powerful way to accomplish increases in staff output and effectiveness.

And here it is:

Acknowledge them when they’ve done something right!

People work for all kinds of reasons. We know the obvious ones. A not-so-obvious reason is to be recognized in some way for what they do. Especially when they do something right.

When somebody in your business does something right, LET THEM KNOW IT. Acknowledge them in some way.

Tell your secretary, “Thank you, Mary, for getting that report to me on time.”

Alice would love to hear that she’s been handling the switchboard exceptionally well the last few days.

Even the most seasoned salesperson will appreciate it when you shake his hand after a sale and say, “Bob, you handled that customer very professionally. Great job.”

Before you decide that this is too simple or that it just wouldn’t apply to your business, let’s look at an underlying principle at work here. People just simply appreciate acknowledgement or recognition. Don’t you? Do you not appreciate it when somebody sincerely acknowledges you for something you’ve done well?
Every group (whether it is a family or an organization) is built upon the willingness of the individuals composing it. You significantly increase that willingness when you acknowledge and recognize people for what they do.

This does not mean that you run around all day telling everyone you see how great and wonderful they are. We’re not talking about an airy-fairy or touchy-feely thing here. We are talking about a basic principle that is capable of increasing your staff’s willingness to produce and that willingness is actually your greatest capital.

Should you present year-ending or quarter-ending awards to your staff at a lavish dinner engagement? Sure.

Should you implement an incentive program that your staff agree with and will produce more to achieve? As long as it is viable for the business itself, absolutely.

Wouldn’t these types of programs recognize your staff in an appropriate way? Most certainly.

Those types of programs, however, are not the point of this article. The type of acknowledgement being discussed here is for the day-to-day running of things. When someone in your outfit does something well, say or do something that shows you appreciate that. Even if it’s a fast gesture or nod, it will communicate. Every effort you make on this will pay off.

I realize that some of you may have a hard time acknowledging your staff or expressing appreciation. I understand that. That is the province of another article. If you’re not comfortable acknowledging when others do things well, my suggestion is to implement this principle in small steps. A little here, a little there. I’m not patronizing here – a gradual approach to this will help you accomplish something that could be very valuable to your business.

Businesses perform much better when the people who make up the business are recognized on a day-to-day basis. They are more willing, more eager to do even the small things that are sometimes crucial to success.

You can and should get your staff applying this principle with each other. It will have a ripple effect.

“Alan, you handled that irate customer superbly. Thank you for rolling up your sleeves on that one.” Alan smiles and is more willing to roll up his sleeves the next time.

Does this principle have application outside of a business setting? Could it be used with friends and family? The answer is a resounding yes … but you already knew that.

Thank you for reading this article. I hope it enhances your business and personal life.

American car buyers have always been fond of large vehicles such as pickups and SUVs. For those who love the off-roads, the pickup is the best choice. The wide range of choices for pickup trucks can often lead to confusion among car buyers. Not only are pickup trucks numerous, they are also offered in different variants. For example, for General Motors pickup, not only do they offer different cab sizes or different lengths of bed but also different suspension settings.

But there are attributes that truck buyers look for in a truck that is instantly obvious – for example the towing capacity of a truck. For serious off-road drivers, a truck?s towing capacity is the measure of how good the truck is in real life off-road driving. Forbes recently ranked ten of the best trucks for towing to help truck buyers chose the right truck.

Coming in at first is the International CXT that is developed by the Navistar International Corporation. The CXT is currently the world?s largest pound and has a very impressive towing capacity of 40,000 pounds. The sheer size of this pickup truck is evidence of how much weight it can tow. While this mammoth of a pickup truck looks like it will pass for a commercial truck, one need not have a commercial license to drive it. Impressively, the tough looking CXT is available with a luxurious interior that is complete with plush leather seats, black walnut trim, and a dropdown DVD system for entertainment. It is, of course, obvious that the CXT offers adequate interior room especially with its rear bench which can be folded down. The CXT has a price tag of $120,000.

Number two on the list is the Ford F-350 Super Duty. The truck?s towing capacity is rated at 19,200 pounds. While significantly smaller than the CXT, the F-350 is the largest of Ford?s Super Duty lineup. Along with the rest of its siblings, the F-Series is the best selling lineup of vehicles in the world for more than 25 years. The F-350 is equipped with features which complements its superb towing ability. The truck uses a special transmission with a gear ratio selection specially designed for towing. A telescoping outside mirror also allows drivers to look around trailers. The F-350 comes with a manufacturer?s suggested retail price of $23,525.

Ranking third on the list is the GMC Sierra with a towing capacity of 16,700 pounds. Similar to the Ford F-Series, the Sierra is also a lineup of pickup trucks from General Motors? GMC brand. The toughest of the family is equipped with a massive 6.6-liter Duramax turbo diesel engine. While the Sierra is known for its power, it also offers a luxurious interior for some of its variants. The Crew Cab Denali version for example is equipped with a Bose luxury seven-speaker system and a DVD player with a seven-inch screen which folds down from the ceiling for the entertainment of backseat occupants. For its power and luxury interior, the GMC Sierra starts at $27,340.

Number four on the list is another truck from General Motors – this time, the Chevrolet Silverado with a towing capacity of 16,700 lbs. The Silverado?s popularity is evident in the fact that it is the best selling vehicle of the Chevy brand. Similar to the Sierra, the most powerful engine in the Silverado?s lineup is the 6.6-liter Duramax turbo diesel engine. True to the Silverado being a close relative of the Sierra, it is also offered with the same Bose sound system and a rear-set DVD entertainment system. The Silverado has a starting price of $24,485.

Ranking number five on the list is the Dodge Ram 3500 with a towing capacity rated at 16,400 pounds. The most powerful engine available for the Ram is the Cummins 5.9-liter turbo diesel engine. The company claims that their Cummins 600 is capable of delivering, as the name implies, 600 lb-ft of torque for superb pulling power. The power of the engine is complemented by its reliability. According to Dodge, the engine needs a major overhaul after 350,000 miles. The power produced by this reliable engine far exceeds that of a car equipped with a K&N cold air intake system. The Dodge Ram 3500 comes with a starting price of $47,605.

Next to the Ram on the list is the smaller sibling of the mighty CXT – the International MXT with a towing capacity of 16,000 pounds. Compared to the CXT, the MXT weighs considerably less at five tons while the CXT weighs 7.25 tons. The MXT features a cleaner exterior styling but still exudes the same aura of power that the CXT has.

Number seven on the list is the redesigned Toyota tundra with a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds. The redesign of Toyota’s pickup shows that they are ready to take on the Big Three at their own turf. Since its introduction, car experts have touted the Tundra as an outstanding redesign but needs more in order for it to become a strong contender to the pickups produced by Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.

Ranked eighth in the list is another Asian pickup – the Nissan Titan King Cab with towing capacity of 9,500 pounds. This is another effort by another Asian car manufacturer to be a strong contender in the pickup truck market dominated by the Big Three. The Nissan Titan has a starting price of $23,400.

Number nine in the list is the Cadillac Escalade EXT with a towing capacity of 7,300 pounds. While the Escalade has been known for its luxurious interior its powerful engine is enough to land the Escalade at the ninth spot of the top ten trucks for towing. With a wide array of luxurious features including a Bose sound system and a DVD entertainment, towing has never been more in style. The Escalade EXT comes with a starting price of $54,430.

The number ten spot is occupied by the Hummer H2 SUT with a towing limit of 7,000 pounds. The H2 is currently the leader in Hummer?s lineup and carries on the Hummer tradition of being a superb off-road vehicle with god towing power to boot. The H2 SUT starts at $52,230.

There are many benefits that you can take advantage of by hanging a ceiling fan in your home. In fact, some people love ceiling fans so much that they have on in nearly every room of their home. Although this may be a bit overboard, there are some benefits that may prompt you to hang a couple of ceiling fans in the near future.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of a ceiling fan is the fact that it can cool your home down. A bit of circulation can go a long way in helping to make your living space much more enjoyable when temperatures begin to heat up.

To go along with ceiling fans offering air flow, they can also help you to save on the cost of running the air conditioning. Although you may not be able to get away with only ceiling fans in the summer, there are times when they will work for you. If you can use a ceiling fan instead of air conditioning you will surely save money on your electric bill.

Finally, ceiling fans make for great decorations. If you are looking to spice up any room in your home, a ceiling fan may be just what you have been dreaming of. There are so many models available that you should be able to find one that fits the current scheme of your home. Not only are there many luxury ceiling fans available that are perfect for dining rooms, but there are lower priced models that are great for out of the way rooms that simply need a minor upgrade.

As you can see, there are many benefits of buying and hanging ceiling fans in your home. If you already have one of these you are probably well aware of what it can do for you. But if your home does not have any ceiling fans, why not buy one to see what it can do for you? You may be surprised to find out that your home is cooler, your electric bill is lower, and your interior decorating is to die for!

You can now have your small business and home equipped with video surveillance devices which was initially just for banks, airports, and casinos. Plenty of people are searching for more superior and high-tech video surveillance systems for their home and small business.

New and better video surveillance cameras can be easily hidden inside clocks, plants, wall paintings, and even teddy bears. Getting a video surveillance equipment installed in your homes can increase protection and security, allowing you to check and prevent aggressive activities to worsen in your household such as vandalism, theft, harassment, child abuse, and burglary. Other than home security purposes, video surveillance cameras that are wireless let you to check on your children while you are in a different part of your house. There are also wireless nanny cameras which can be employed to see if your babysitter is doing her job or not.

Small businesses like convenience stores that are open 24 hours a day have also installed video surveillance systems as effective tools against vandalism and theft. Video recordings can be presented in court as evidence. There’s just no way for burglars and shoplifters to be not seen by these video surveillance cameras.

Video surveillance cameras are also employed in offices and commercial buildings. The supervisors can check up on their employees.

Generally speaking, video surveillance can be used by anybody. 2 samples wherein video surveillance is illegal include:

1. Very private places like bathrooms, dressing rooms, locker rooms, and motels are fitted with hidden video cameras. Using video cameras in these places is banned in the U.S. Conducting a video surveillance on anybody in full or partial nudity is forbidden in all states.

2. Video and audio recording is done without the person’s permission. The laws on wiretapping and eavesdropping include the audio picked up by video cams. It is illegal to document dialogues without the knowledge of those involved in the conversation or if you’re not part of the conversation.

There are severe laws prohibiting video surveillance and they vary in each state. Video surveillance is not allowed in some states particularly when you don’t get authorization from the person in charge. Your babysitter can take legal action against you if she didn’t provide any consent to be observed through the use of nanny cams. Additional harassment will be prevented if the nanny knew she was monitored.

Business and home owners can rest easy knowing that their businesses and homes are equipped with the latest technology in video surveillance. So as to comply with the regulations and laws of the state, you have to consult with a lawyer or the police before conducting video surveillance.

The boy’s discovery was considered to be one of the greatest findings as these scrolls opened the new stage in one of the most powerful world religions. The scrolls were not always complete, but the biggest part of them is composed of fragmentary texts or documents of different kinds and they date approximately from the end of the third century B.C. to the seventh or eighth century A.D. The documents are Biblical manuscripts that are believed to be the most ancient copies of the Old Testament. Excluding the book of Esther, we find that all the Old Testament is represented in the documents of Qumran. The mentioned manuscripts gave us a better understanding in what concerns the history of texts related to the bible during the period of the Second Temple.

The scrolls found in the caves are early copies of biblical books which were written in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages, they include chants, prayers, pseudepigrapha, which are Jewish writings that are related to ancient personalities of the bible, such as Enoch or the patriarchs, and documents, as experts believe, correspond to the beliefs of a specific Jewish society that was present at the location of Qumran.

The Essenes, the community that is supposed to have written the scrolls, had an unbelievable capability of correctly predicting the events of the future. They also had a special philosophy different than any other.

The amount of information that the Dead Sea Scrolls carried on to us is enormous. Today, we have a better understanding in what concerns the important time periods of the history of Judaism.