Minimal resolutions blog

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Broadway producers are finding it tough to attract investors for new productions as the global financial crisis begins to take a toll on the Great White Way.

And sluggish tickets sales have caused the closure of shows, adding to the sense of gloom on Broadway.

While several shows traditionally close at the start of the year to make way for new productions ahead of the Tony Awards, more than usual are taking their final bow — 12 shows have finished and another four are due to close by Feb. 28.

The economic turmoil “certainly had an impact on my show and on a number of shows that might have made it through this coming summer,” said producer Margo Lion, whose show “Hairspray” closed on Jan. 4 after more than six years on Broadway.

Several shows could not secure the financing needed to open in the coming months — “Godspell,” “Vanities” and “For Colored Girls” — and producers blamed the economy, said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of trade group The Broadway League.

“It’s not uncommon for shows not to get financing if they’re not sure-fire hits in tough economic times,” St. Martin said. “Even in great times, a lot of shows don’t get financed.”

“Hair” was a hit on Broadway and London’s West End in the 1960s, but Andrew Hamingson, executive director of New York’s Public Theater, which will bring “Hair” back to Broadway in March, said lining up investors for the show was difficult.

“At the time we were out looking for investors for the show it was at the same moment … when all those companies (like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch) either disappeared or they were acquired by other companies,” Hamingson said.

Continued…

Permanent link to this post: http://blog.yourfinancelink.com/2009/01/feature-broadway-finds-show-fundraising-tougher-amid-crisis/

Spicy and sweet

Pacheco was born in Mexico City and moved to California as a teenager. His Mexican roots come through in dishes that can be quite piquant — layered with heat and spice and sometimes surprising bursts of sweetness. One night, the soup du jour was a rich, dark puree of black beans with a pronounced chile kick, topped with tortilla strips and a drizzle of cilantro oil. Grilled Caesar salad is an appealing mix of long sections of charred romaine, creamy-spicy dressing and crunchy garlic crostoni. Pacheco’s signature sesame crusted salmon is nicely cooked, combining a crispy crust and moist, pink flesh. And a green curry beurre blanc makes a tasty accompaniment. But a strawberry red onion ragu, layered between the salmon and a scoop of sticky rice, is a rather jarring, pickled-sweet contrast.

Other entrees include airline chicken breast, grilled flank steak with chimmi churrie sauce, panned seared snapper or sea bass, and grilled lamb loin with couscous.

Starters range from deep fried calamari and mini fish tacos to avocado spring rolls and a duck quesadilla.

House-made ice cream, such as cinnamon and vanilla raspberry, is a feature of the dessert menu.

Besides the usual omelets and Eggs Benedict, the Sunday brunch menu displays Latin and New Orleans influences, with shrimp and grits, huevos and chorizo, and enchiladas suizas.

Red plum sangria and a Key lime martini are among the offerings on the bar menu, along with a thoughtful selection of mostly California and South American wines.

AT A GLANCE
• Where: 913 Bernina Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-584-7275
• Signature dish: Sesame crusted salmon
• Entree prices: $17-$27
• Hours: Dinner: 5-10 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays; 5-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Brunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
• Reservations: Yes
• Credit cards: Yes
• Online: parksedgeatl.com

Google’s latest privacy flap emerged this week when it announced its “interest-based” ads, which are behaviorally targeted banner ads based on a user’s web-browsing activity. It’s nothing particularly new or ground-breaking, and the company was kind enough to give people a way to opt out, but the way the company presented the new system to users was a little odd. It titled its blog post announcing the new system “Making ads more interesting,” and it later said, “We believe there is real value to seeing ads about the things that interest you.” But are better-targeted ads really something that delivers any benefit to users? The benefit to advertisers and marketers is obvious, but it’s hard to see users really caring enough to forfeit some privacy just so they can help out advertisers.

But web browsing is just the tip of the iceberg: lots of marketers are looking at how to take information generated by mobile phones to hit users with targeted ads. They’re not talking about the worn-out Starbucks example of hitting people’s phones with a coupon when they walk past a store, but building profiles of people based on their travel patterns, favorite applications and web sites, and even gender, age and income information. Again, all of this info given up for the sake of seeing “better” or “more interesting” advertising. That really doesn’t benefit the user, so why should they give up — or be forced to give up — all of this information?

Source

Your brain clock is a cluster of brain cells in the hypothalamus that determines your sleep-wake time and is regulated by light and darkness, explains Delwyn Bartlett, a sleep psychologist with the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. Here’s how to keep it on track:

* Wake up at the same time every morning, even on weekends. This is more important than going to bed at the same time every night. “Waking up at the same time cues your brain to release sleep-wake hormones at the right time,” she says.

* Get the light right. Melatonin, the sleep hormone that gets your brain ready for sleep, needs diminishing levels of light to help it kick in. Bright light - or staring at your laptop - can delay its effects. Keep lights in the bedroom low before you go to sleep. Have curtains that let you wake up to morning light.

* Check your blankets. To feel sleepy, your body temperature needs to fall. An overheated bedroom or an electric blanket turned up too high can make it hard to sleep. But a warm bath an hour before bed can help your temperature fall. The warm water artificially raises your temperature, which then has to come down once you’re out of the bath.

* Think about what you drink and eat before bed. Drinks containing caffeine - coffee, tea, cocoa and cola - can keep you awake. Although caffeine’s stimulant effect is strongest in the first hour or so after taking it, it can still be in your system eight hours later. While alcohol helps you doze off quickly, drinking too much too close to bedtime can backfire. One drink might be OK but too much can fragment your sleep because of falling blood-alcohol levels that can wake you up later in the night.

* Eat earlier rather than later. Have dinner at 9pm and your body will still be digesting it when you’re in bed - and keeping you awake. As for a good bedtime snack, aim for something easy to digest that includes carbohydrates - warm milk or soy milk, wholegrain toast or a banana.

* Create a sound barrier. Earplugs can help, as can white noise, which means using sounds such as a fan to mask more disturbing noises. The fan can help cool you down if you overheat.

* Get regular exercise - being physically active can help you get a better night’s sleep. But not too close to bedtime - exercise can perk you up and make it hard to nod off.

* Have a snoring refuge. I’d never suggest couples sleep in separate rooms but having a spare room to retreat to occasionally when your sleep is broken because he’s snoring or you’re overheating - or both - can really help.

What about pills to help you nod off?

On prescription

Prescription drugs, such as benzodiazepines, have their place for the occasional sleepless night, to help you cope with jet lag or for short-term help with grief. But taking them continuously for more than two weeks can make you develop a tolerance to them so they don’t work as well.

Over the counter

Valerian is a common ingredient in herbal sleep remedies but studies of its effectiveness are mixed. An Ayurvedic herb, withania somnifera, has a traditional use as a sleep-inducer but, as with other traditional herbs, it often pays to get a therapeutic dose prescribed by a good herbalist rather than to self-prescribe. Other over-the-counter remedies are based on sedating antihistamines - prolonged use isn’t recommended as they can make you drowsy during the day.

source article: theage.com.au

Generally 70 million homes have pets in the USA and the average American spends about 150 dollars every month on pet supplies. This amounts to a enormous amount of money. In fact, the pet industry is selling about 40 billion dollars worth of pet supplies online every year.

Assume if you were able to just get the smallest slice of this ridiculous amount of money!

The good news is that you can. You could be selling pet supplies from conversant with in a very short space of time. Whether or not pets are your passion, the pet industry could provide you with a great income working from domestic.

Selling pet supplies from home is made easy because there is a pet supply company called ilovepets that has done all the hard trade for you. They have created ready made websites with inventory for you to use as your own online pet store business of selling pet supplies from home.

When you vestige up, you will get a free start-up kit that will supply you with a pre-built online pet store that has many different pet supplies in a variety of categories for you to promote on it. You don’t have to worry about storing and shipping the pet supplies because ilovepets does all that for you. All you have to do is concentrate on selling the pet supplies and picking up your profits which are in the configuration of commission.

The more customers to your site mean that you are going to have more profit in your pocket. Ilovepets provide many guides and the marketing director explains how to drive visitors to your online pet store in various ways.

It’s totally up to you how much that you want to espouse selling pet supplies from home. You could just keep it as a secondary income or drive more customers to your site and create a full however income. Some people drive huge amounts of traffic to their sites and bring in enough profit to give them financial disrespect.

The other guides provided are there to help grow your online pet store with general business aspects like banknotes flow, accounts, taxes and wealth and retirement issues. Everything is supplied to you that will enable you to create a large selling, flourishing online pet supply store.

The wonderful thing about selling pet supplies from home from your pet store, is that once it is up and on-going and you have enough customers to provide you with your required income, you can just leave it. It will basically run itself.

Selling pet supplies online will prepare for you with a constant stream of money 24/7, when you are on holiday, asleep, keeping fit or whatever you fancy doing. You are going to have to vouchsafe your pet store site, marketing etc occasionally but that doesn’t take long, only a few hours per week. You will have no customers to deal mush to face with. You will have no awkward employees and employee related issues and no wages to pay.

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sourse: www.eurambank.com