Golden rules are those that really apply. You want to have them in mind and do not forget them. Like stars to navigate by, they are permanent markers to guide us and keep us moving in the correct course.

Golden rules really exist to be applied, to be implemented, to direct you. Regardless of what your primary goal is or what problem you confront, the principle is there. Just consider the golden rule that applies and follow it…

With that in mind, I thought of life in Alabama and a number of of its unspoken “golden rules”. Listed here are five of the top “Golden Rules” that apply to residing in Alabama.

Golden Rule 1 Choose Between AU or UA! (Some people may well declare it’s most important!): You must choose between Alabama verses Auburn. The reason, that you might like to do that, is simply because everyone you encounter in Alabama will in all probability ask you who “you are for” and it is always between Auburn & Alabama. Other local college schools like UAB, Troy, JSU, UNA, South Alabama are merely a blip on the radar to the majority of residents of Alabama. You must select from one of the iron bowl opponents. Remember, if you don’t pick, its virtually worse than being for the other side. You are regarded a fair weather fan.

Golden Rule 2, You Have To Eat Corn Bread… Cornbread is as southern as gigging frogs on a hot summer night at the local pond. Remember that cornbread is real good with pinto juice poured on it or even butter..

Golden Rule 3, Go To Church. At least two times a year, on Easter or Christmas, it is expected that you go to a local church. People will invite you repeatedly if you don’t go at all. So get used to it.

Golden Rule 4, Be Polite! Here in the south, we treat people like we would like to be treated and will go the extra mile to help a stranger. . When we are talking to others, we are sure to say please, thank you, & you’re welcome when the need arises. Also, we address our elders by No Sir/Yes Sir and No Ma’am/Yes Ma’am.

Golden Rule 5, Alabama Based Music Gives You Pride! You have to love any music that has something to do with Alabama. This would certainly include every song that the country music group, Alabama recorded, especially “My Home’s In Alabama.” Also, don’t forget Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Sweet Home Alabama.” It is like a state anthem here!

Follow these golden rules to living in Alabama and you will probably find your life here much better in the heart of dixie, and you will live at peace with most Alabama folks, except maybe the fans from the other team! Personally, I am a roll tide man, myself!

Amazon, using their Kindle reader family as a vehicle, has been a major player in the development of both the e-book reader and e-book market. The first Kindle was released in November of 2007. In February of 2009, the updated and enhanced Kindle 2.0 hit the market, quickly followed by the large format Kindle DX in the summer of the same year.

The Kindle readers dominated the market and took a 60% share of all e-book reader sales in the USA. The Sony reader, which was actually launched in 2006 before the Kindle, followed in second place with a share of around 35%. Other companies saw the potential of the e-book reader market and launched or updated their own readers to get a slice of the pie.

Manufacturers like Bookeen, Plastic Logic, Sony and Barnes and Noble worked hard to get their share of the rapidly developing market, but the dominance of the Kindle seemed pretty well established, if not unassailable. It was only when Apple launched their iPad that the Kindle faced any credible competition – despite the fact that the two devices were very different and, you would think, aimed at different target markets.

Nevertheless, since the release of the iPad, e-book reader prices have pretty much gone into free fall. The Kindle 2.0, which retailed for $ 359 at its February 2009 launch is now priced at just $ 189. The Kindle DX, which has just had a mini makeover and now sports a new higher contrast screen, has had its price slashed from $ 489 to $ 379. Still a pricey piece of kit, but a lot cheaper than before and also way cheaper than even the entry level iPad (which also has a monthly connection fee associated with it). The price of the Barnes and Noble Nook reader has also dropped to just $ 199.

Although the iPad seems to have provoked a round of price cuts among the manufacturers of e-books, the same cannot be said about the price of the e-books to read on these devices. Prior to the launch of the iPad, Apple had negotiated a deal with the major publishing houses which let them set the price of their e-book editions at pretty much whatever they wanted – as long as they did not allow the same e-book to be offered cheaper on any other platform. This was seen as good news by the publishers, who had been unhappy with Amazon’s policy of selling all e-books for $ 9.99 or less.

Amazon may have had to abandon their low e-book price policy – but that wasn’t necessarily a disaster for them. Considering the way that Amazon have made it possible to read Kindle books on such a wide variety of different devices – you can use the PC, the Mac, the iPod Touch, the iPhone, the iPad, your Blackberry and any device which runs Android to read Kindle books right now (and no doubt there will be further additions in future) – it must be obvious that Amazon are more interested in book sales than hardware sales. The latest downward price movement for e-book readers and simultaneous price increase for e-books means that they can now sell the hardware for less and make their profit by selling e-books over the life of the hardware. The same will apply for Barnes and Noble and Apple themselves of course.

It may be that the future pricing of e-book readers and e-books will tend to favor such companies over manufacturers who are involved only in hardware production. Looking at the number of different devices which Kindle books can be read on, you would have to suspect that, whether or not the iPad becomes the reader of choice for many users, Amazon will continue to have a huge say in the future of books and e-books for the foreseeable future.

The wedding dress is just about the most crucial item in the wedding ceremony apart from the vows and the rings. The bride wants to look her best and the groom wants to look his best too. A beautiful wedding dress will help the bride’s dream to look stunning come true.

Therefore, it is important to select the wedding dress with care, as every bride knows. However, there are a few items that are not as clear as the wedding dress just looking stunning and we will list the most important of these below.

Besides individual taste in fashion, the most essential consideration has to be the time of the year. Which season are you going to get married in? What temperature is it likely to be? Could it rain? If it is likely to be cold, you should wear a heavier cloth than if it is likely to be hot. You might also permit the season to have an influence on the colours you wear, but that is a matter of personal taste. For example, winter colours could be slightly darker than summer colours.

Another vital factor when choosing the colour of the wedding dress is the skin colouration of the bride. This matter is also true of the accessories. The bride will also need a head-dress, a veil, gloves and a bouquet, all of which should compliment the wedding dress and the bride’s hair and skin colouration.

Try to get a wedding dress that fits perfectly. This sounds obvious, but it is easy to think that you can make minor alterations yourself later on. However, making changes is not as easy as it sounds and you could end up making matters worse rather than better. In any case, you do not want to be worrying that a stitch you made will break or come undone at the wrong moment. It is far more important to get a good fitting wedding dress than to get the precise colour that you want.

It is important to bear in mind the quality of the picture of the wedding dress, if you are buying or hiring from a catalogue or website. You also should leave plenty of time to be able to return the dress if you have to. The fact is that photographs are not always true to life and packers do make mistakes, so if your choice is not what you expected, when it arrives, you will need to have a couple of weeks to return it and receive a new one. Allow at least three weeks for the exchange; longer if you can.

White has always been the most popular colour for first time brides, but it is not a rule. Off-white or pastel shades look very good too and they will set you aside from the norm. Apple white or blush pink are very effective colours for a wedding dress, but as I said before, everything should be colour co-ordinated with the colour of the bride’s skin and hair and the bouquet, if you are dead set on carrying a certain bouquet of flowers, like, say, gardenias.

The Razor kick scooter is the present-day counterpart of the sort of scooter that has been around for 50 years or more. In fact, children have probably been attaching boards to wheels ever since abandoned wheels became obtainable. As with those archetypal scooters, the Razor kick scooter is driven forward by foot power. That is, you place one foot on the board and push forward, or in other words kick back on the ground with the other.

This way of propulsion makes the Razor kick scooter an idyllic mode of transport, training and fun for children of all ages. In fact, Razor do not advocate a Razor kick scooter for the under fives unless supervised and say in their manual:

“Children under age eight (8) should ride with adult supervision at all times. All children and preteens should ride with adult guidance at all times”.

This seems somewhat harsh to me and is most likely an instance of over-vigilance because of the litigious culture we live in. Just try suggesting to a twelve-year that you have to exercise guidance on all of his or her trips!

Having said that the Razor kick scooter comes in approximately seven different guises. There is the Kiddie Kick scooter for the under fives. It is constructed of tough plastic and has a third wheel for added stability.

Then there is the ‘A’ series of Razor kick scooter: the A, A2, A3 and AW. These models are roughly equal to a child’s growth in size, competence and experience, although the maximum recommended weight for all three models of Razor kick scooter is 65 kilos or 143 lbs.

The Razor kick scooter Pro is a leap up in expertise and so has more capabilities. It can be ridden for extreme sport and will carry a rider weighing up to 100 kilos or 220 lbs.

Last, but not least, is the Cruiser Razor kick scooter. It will carry 79 kilos (175 lbs) of weight and has bigger wheels as it is designed for leisurely cruising about. The larger wheels signify that you won’t feel any uneven terrain beneath you while you are on this Razor kick scooter.

All of these Razor kick scooters share comparable characteristics. All of these models of the Razor kick scooter are of very rugged manufacture and all but the Razor Kiddie Kick scooter are made of high-grade aluminium and are built to last.

These Razor kick scooters boast extendable steering rods, which means that they can be pulled up to expand with your child or can be shared by kids of assorted sizes. They also share a tough braking system which is applied on the rear wheel, rendering them ultra-safe for use around pedestrians.

A Razor kick scooter starts at about $40 and so is an economical method for you to ensure that that your child gets regular exercise, gets out from behind his computer, gets some fresh air and sunlight and learns about politeness while having enjoyment being mobile. Apart from all these benefits, a Razor kick scooter will give your child tender reminiscences to look back on for the rest of his or her being.

Teen rooms are a headache for mothers everywhere. It’s not even like when they were younger. In those days, if their rooms were in a mess, you could shout at them and get them to tidy it up, and, if that didn’t work, you could go in and do a good job yourself. However, when it comes to teens and their rooms you’re dealing with something whole different.

Yes, you could go and ask them to tidy up their rooms. And true, you could shout at them a bit, if you wanted to, or go and clean the room yourself. However, that’s when all hell breaks loose. Teen rooms are private places and not to be interfered with unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Woe betide the person who dares to move even one inch of that mess on the carpet. It was there for a good reason and you had absolutely no right to move it. At least, that will be the argument of most teens, and you being the patient, caring mother that you are, will just roll your eyes and tell them that the whole pizza and day-old shirt thing just don’t go well together and you were just rescuing them from the revenge of the walking pizza slice.

Your teens will in turn roll their eyes and scream, that no it wasn’t about to grow legs and walk off on its own, and if it was then wouldn’t that be a great science project. You keep cleaning and they keep putting things back. End of story, and you’re basically right back to square one.

Of course, one way that you could deal with this bomb site is to redecorate it. Teen rooms might be sanctums to them, but even they would like it if you gave their rooms a great makeover.

That’s not to say that the room will be any cleaner once you’ve finished and they’ve moved back in, but at least you’ll get to see the inside of the room long enough to satisfy you for the next couple of years. That is unless you’re thinking of redecorating their rooms every year.

But now you come to your next problem. Since teens are famously different with regard to their rooms. You might find that your teen rooms are decorated very differently from that which you had expected and that which you would have done first of all. This is where a comprise ought to be struck, if your teen wants black walls for his room, then say you want another colour too that will offset the black.

Be prepared to give in a little on your ideas no matter how ridiculous their ideas are. After all, they’re only a teen for a while and later they will look back with horror on what bad taste they had.

So, it is your duty as a parent to allow them these fleeting moments in their lives so that they can look back on them with mock horror and disallow their own children from doing the same to their own teen rooms.

The sphere of Martial Arts is one of the most important contributions of Asia to the world. Who will forget Bruce Lee and the fact that he was first and foremost a martial arts competitor before becoming a movie star? Martial arts pictures are a huge hit with the ever-increasing popularity of Asian cinema like ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and more recently ‘The House of the Flying Daggers’.

The Chinese are the first nation that come to mind when it you think of these things, but the Japanese are equally as sporty with a rich heritage of body contact sports in their past. Modern Japan still gives honor to the martial arts by holding tournaments and marketing their sports abroad,

One of these is Aikido. It is interesting to note the fact that the word comes from three Japanese characters from which one derives the meaning of the one word. Ai signifies ‘joining’, Ki signifies ‘spirit’ and Do means ‘way’. From this we can see why Aikido lies beyond merely the physical talents of it students, particularly since its first proponent, Ueshiba, focused on the spiritual and philosophical improvement of his students.

In Aikido, one is not taught violence as a substitute, one is trained to be in concord with the opponent so that you are able to defeat him more easily. This might seem strange but it actually works. In approaching an opponent, the aim of the Aikido practitioner is to be one with the adversary so as to be able to tackle him where he is weakest and in so doing, deflect or immobilize him, but never to kill him.

This is where Aikido becomes an art form. Art is something beautiful to look at and something positive and Aikido is all that. At least one of the people involved in the combat is searching for harmony and concord can only be achieved if there is elegance in the actions. The moves may be calculated, but there is an air of elegance in performing these movements. Not a feminine grace, but a grace that emanates peace. The ‘art of peace’ is what they call it in Aikido and it is one of the most affirmative influences of Aikido on its students and to everyone else who chooses to learn about this Japanese martial art.

Some of the techniques in Aikido include the following techniques.

Ikkyo is the first technique. Using this technique, you manipulate an adversary by using one hand to hold his elbow and one to hold near the wrist. This action is supposed to allow you to pin your opponent down to the ground.

Nikyo, the second technique, is when you perform a wrist lock that allows you to turn the arm of your opponent which will in turn cause nerve pressure.

Sankyo, the third technique, is a technique that creates upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder. There are many other techniques but the first three are enough to give you a basic insight.

When learning Aikido, it is vital to remember that, along with building physical strength, you will need to improve your mind to be able to overpower your adversary. Just like in any art form, it takes a great deal of practice and discipline to reach the summit of the art of Aikido. The important thing to remember is, that anyone who wants to get into the art, should have the strength of mind to give honor to the art by performing it in the best way possible.

Hybrid cars are on everyone’s lips these days. $20, $30, $40 or even $50 for a tank of petrol? Who really wants to pay that sort of money? But, frustrated, the fuel customer sighs, but pays up. However, hybrid vehicles are being richly applauded for the small amount of petrol they need to operate, and they are flying off the lots of car dealerships each and everyday in ever increasing numbers.

So, what about a plug-in hybrid? Most consumers have heard that these vehicles are fantastic as well. Then, someone might be asking him or herself, what exactly a plug-in hybrid is? How they work, and what the difference between a plug-in hybrid and a regular hybrid is?

Plug-in hybrids are capable of running solely on batteries, but they can run on gas also. These types of hybrid cars share some of the features of hybrid vehicles. They are also very similar to all-electric vehicles.

Plug-in hybrid cars must be charged externally by plugging them into an electrical power source. The combustion engine of plug-in hybrid vehicles is engaged only as a back up. These cars can run only on batteries if so desired, but it is to be expected that these types of hybrid cars be plugged in daily.

Hybrid cars travel just as many miles as a conventional car. Designed to go the extra mile where fuel-mileage is concerned, hybrids can be driven on the highway, in cities, or wherever else a person needs to travel.

On the other hand, plug-in hybrids are designed to handle commuter-type distances, meaning about twenty to sixty miles between destinations. This way, the plug-in hybrid does not have to use its back up combustion engine, but plug-in hybrids can go further using fuel too.

Hybrids help to minimize pollution, but they still pollute the atmosphere. Compared with plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars still have a long way to go where pollution is concerned. Since plug-in hybrid cars can run solely on their battery power, they don’t have to emit waste gases. That means that plug-in hybrids don’t need to pollute the air.

Plug-in hybrids actually do cut total greenhouse gas emissions and plug-in hybrids use practically no oil at all, imported or not. Studies have shown that electric hybrids emit at least 67% less greenhouse gases than diesel cars. Since the electric used to power plug-in hybrids is completely renewable, the difference in greenhouse gas emissions may be even greater than the study indicated.

So there you have it – those are the major differences between plug-in hybrids and regular hybrid cars. It could make a big difference, but you would be surprised at how little it actually matters at the moment, but that’s only because plug-in hybrids are not being marketed to consumers yet! But this article should make you enthusiastic about the wonderful plug-in hybrid car, coming soon to a forecourt near you.

And it’s going to be a great debut too, since people already like the regular hybrid car models, but they haven’t seen anything yet until they see the new plug-in hybrid cars. However, for now, maybe we should just be happy with what we already have, because who knows? Before plug-in hybrid cars are brought out onto the forecourts, something even better might be introduced onto the market.

Who are the predators? Predators are Cyber Stalkers, serial killers/rapists, rapists, paedophiles, women beaters, child abusers, thieves and so on. Predators often have mental disorders that prevent them from behaving correctly in normal society. Children with mental illnesses are often the victims of these predators, and sometimes children with mental disorders are the predators themselves. In fact, the creator of one of the most dangerous viruses online came from an eighteen-year old from England.

Dangers mental disorders: Not everyone with a mental illness is a danger to society. Generally, predators with mental illnesses are plagued with sociopathic, psychopathic and anti-social disorders, oppositional defiance, conduct control disorders, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorders (BPD), and psychosis. While there are a few other mental disorders that pose a threat to our society, this is a list of the most common potential dangers that lurk on the streets and on the Internet.

How to save a child with mental disorders from dangers : Never treat your child as if he/she has a mental disorder. Treat your child as special, yet avoid treating the child as if he/she is mentally ill, because a lot of mentally ill patients are extremely intelligent. Teach your child the same rules that other children have to live by and stick to the rules. Do not leave room for movement when danger is present. Teach your child respect by showing respect yourself.

Children with dangerous mental disorders will often want to watch pornography, violent images, content, et cetera. This makes it difficult as a parent to defend your child. However, it is important that you enforce the laws. Never put yourself in danger while enforcing these laws, since some children with dangerous problems can be violent.

If the child refuses to listen to you, bring the police in and make sure that they do their job to help you enforce the rules. You may pay court fees and go through headaches, but I promise you it will benefit you in the end. As a mother raising two boys with dangerous mental problems, I can tell you it isn’t simple, but it can be done.

Children with mental disorders often have brilliant minds that can usually get past any parental controls and will do so without you even knowing. Take more time than normal to monitor your child’s behaviour online. Teach your child that giving out personal details is restricted and encourage them to request your permission when considering divulging name, phone number or other information online.

Allow your child to take some responsibility and always encourage your child to participate in family discussions that concern them. Furthermore, encourage the child to be safety conscious by telling them to report any crime committed against them.

One of the most difficult things you’ll ever have to do while raising a child with mental health issues is teaching him/her to avoid violent images and pornography. It is next to impossible to keep them away from this rubbish. Still, it can be done, if you set a good example for the child.

It is important that you keep talking and listening to your child. Allow your child to express concerns, opinions, ideals, theories and so forth without demeaning the child. You will be amazed at the knowledge children with certain mental illnesses have, if you will only listen to them.

The best advice I can offer you for dealing with children with major mental disorders, such as psychopathy, is to seek help and stand firm. For additional child safety tips for children with mental disorders get advice from a qualified professional.

Note Well: Children learn what they see and hear.

Vacationing on a cruise liner is rightly considered to be elite and luxurious. It is certainly the best kind of vacation that I have ever had. The luxury far surpasses staying in a five star hotel. On the other hand, it is like an elite all inclusive holiday, because once on board, all the entertainment and all your food is free. Alcoholic drinks must be paid for, but then they are duty free.

If you have never been on a cruise before you really must try it. I would not recommend it as a family vacation, but I have seen families on cruises. Cruising might suit a family with older children or you might find a cruise which is designed with children in mind. However, in my experience, the average cruiser is over 50 and married.

I know that they do 18-30 cruises and all manner of themed cruises, but if you just go on a normal cruise, most of your fellow passengers will be older. Many of them are commemorating something too – retirement, Golden Wedding Anniversary, 70th birthday, that sort of thing. These people want a peaceful time and do not really appreciate children running around and jumping in and out of the pool. Dinner can be late and the evening’s entertainment is not child orientated either. If you want to take children, look for a specialty cruise.

A cruise is tranquil and all about pampering. Luxury and pampering and world class food. I put on five pounds on a two week cruise and friends said that was abnormally little! I will tell you about the food on my last cruise.

Breakfast lasted from 7 AM to 10 AM and there was a buffet with food from all around the world: fruit, porridge, toast, bacon and eggs, ham, cornflakes and all the variations, sausages, rice, Chinese food, prawns, fish and more. Elevenses started at 11 AM and had tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits, help yourself.

Lunch was a two hour event starting at 1PM consisting of four courses. There was a choice of set plans, but if you wanted to mix and match you could – I think the plans were only to make it easier for the elderly to make up their minds. With 1,200 people to feed in two sittings, the waiters try to speed selection up in very clever ways, but never outwardly. High tea was from 4 to 4:30PM: tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits and sandwiches.

Dinner was at 6:30PM and was a five course meal in the same vein as lunch and at midnight there was a barbecue on deck until 2AM. Everything that was presented was first class and there was no constraint at all on how much you could eat.

Entertainment was after dinner and there were two shows to match the two dinner sittings, but you could sit there for both shows if you liked. There was a different show every night varying from solo artistes to bands. There were theater plays and musical shows, it was very majestic. There was also a piano bar playing jazz and a disco every night

I would recommend a cruise to anyone, but it is a good idea to check what sort of cruise you are booking as some are themed and if you do not like the cruise’s theme, you may not get the full enjoyment out of it.

The second most essential part of a good home theater set-up is its loudspeakers. You simply cannot attain that authentic theater environment, if you do not have good speakers. It goes without saying too, that the amplifier and player must be equally as good, because any system is only as good as its weakest element.

However, if you do it right, you can easily reproduce the sound quality achieved in a full size movie theater. Unfortunately though, many people seem to get baffled about which speakers they need, when they go to buy for their home theater in order to create real surround sound.

The minimum requirements for a good set of surround sound speakers are a left and right channel speaker, a centre channel speaker and a sub-woofer. The following are the basic speakers that are required to complete a good home theater: front left and right speakers, a centre channel speaker, surround sound speakers. Sometimes people try to do without the centre channel speaker, but this speaker provides a good proportion of the soundtrack in a lot of movies as well as adding depth to the dialogue.

The surround sound makes the film sound more realistic. It is what makes the difference between watching TV at home and going to the movie theater. The option of having this at home has only lately become affordable. The most frequent systems are: 5.1 channel, 6.1 channel, or 7.1 channel surround sound. The first figure refers to the number of normal loud speakers and the second one to the number of sub-woofers. The amount of speakers that is the best for you, depends on the size and shape of the room you are using. The more is not always the merrier.

The sub-woofer is the cause of the deep bass sound that underlies so many movie soundtracks and these are the sounds that are responsible for heightening the drama in a film. A good sub-woofer is an vital element of your home theater speaker package, if you do not have one, you will miss out on this.

There are many makes on the market and some are cheaper than others, but it is essential that you pick speakers that will work well together. They have to be compatible. If you do not know how to make certain that they are, the best choice for this is to buy all your speakers together in one package by one maker. It may be tempting to save money by mixing and trying to match speakers, but if you get it wrong, you will not create the true quality of sound you are hoping to achieve in your home theater.

Some speakers are made to place on the floor and others are made to hang on the wall. Floor standing speakers are the best for home theater, but they also take up the most space and can have wires running everywhere. If this is not a problem to you, then fine, but if it is, you can solve it by purchasing wireless speakers.