Steel spring hinges provide much of the same function as overhead door closers at a more affordable price. Prices for basic overhead door closers start at around $115. A spring hinge can cost as little as $40. The weight and size of your door determines the number of spring hinges required.

The Stanley 2060 line of 4 ½ inch spring hinges accommodate doors weighing from 80 pounds to 180 pounds and widths from 3 feet by 7 feet to 4 feet by 8 feet. This is a heavy duty hinge that can be used singly in conjunction with two normal hinges on doors up to 80 pounds, saving you more than half the cost of an overhead door closer. Here are the recommendations for the number and style of 2060 hinges to order:

• Doors up to 80 pounds and 3′ 0″ x 7′ 6″ x 1 ¾” use 1 each of No. 2060R, RD2060R or RD2068R with 2 each anti-friction bearing hinges of same size
• Doors up to 130 pounds and 3′ 0″ x 7′ 6″ x 1 ¾” use 2 each No. 2060R, RD2060R or RD2068R with each anti-friction bearing hinges of same size
• Doors up to 180 pounds and 3′ 0″ x 7′ 6″ x 1 3/4″ use 3 each No. 2060R, RD2060R or RD2068R
• Doors up to 180 pounds and 4′ 0″ x 8′ 0″ x 1 3/4″ use 4 each No. 2060R, RD2060R or RD2068R

These hinges are labeled for fire doors, stairwell doors, motel and hotel guest room doors and apartment unit entrance doors. In addition, the hinges meet NFPA80 standard for 3 hour fire doors when 2 spring hinges are used on labeled doors.

The closing speed is adjustable up or down by an internal ratchet mechanism which eliminates loose adjustment pins. Like all commercial grade Stanley hinges, the 4 ½ inch 2060 hinges are covered by a limited lifetime warranty.

Apparition of an angel and devil

A week before the youth camp, I told myself “I want to feel closer to God, I want to grow more in my relationship with God.” Then I told God “Lord, please use our “youth camp” to destroy the wall (sins) in front of me. Help me to be closer and closer to you. Lord, please save me!”

April 20, 2011, the first day of our camp. Everybody was exhilarated to meet our Lord. Subsequently, a guest speaker shared the gospel and God confirmed to me that I am at the stage of being “worldly”. Then, I prayed to God, “Teach me to follow your path, Lord”.

April 21, 2011, the most heart-warming day of my life! In the morning session, the youth were divided according to their gender. All the females were assigned to Pastor Jesse Viloria and all the males were assigned to Sister Kaye Poore. In our session with Pastor Jesse, we were discussing about SINS and that we should give up our own evil desires (And yes, I felt that God spoke to me.)

In the afternoon session with Sister Sarah Habacon, she shared that “IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE CLOSER TO GOD, YOU HAVE TO KNOW HIS HEART AND YOU HAVE TO GO LOW BEFORE HIM. If you need to crawl before him, then do it!” (So, everything are illuminating in my mind, in which through God is laying the conditions here in my heart).

We had an altar call after she shared the gospel. Mujee, my good friend, encouraged me to go upfront for the BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. When I was already with sister Sarah and Mazi, they told me not to have fear or to hold back. Then, I was amazed because they knew exactly what I was feeling. I told sister Sarah, “If the only way to be closer to God is to lay on the ground and crawl, I will do it!” For the first time, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit while sister Sarah and Mazi were praying for me.

After that, Mama Beth Reyes was asked to lead a closing prayer for Mr. and Mrs. Habacon. While all heads are bowed and eyes closed, I knew everybody felt the Holy Spirit, too, and when I opened my eyes, I saw BEAUTIFUL ANGELS, PRAYING and SMILING (Lord!! This is PEACE!!) I told Mujee, “Muj, I can see ANGELS!” Then he told me “Cess, that’s true! When God appointed someone, you can see an angel in them.” Brothers and sisters in Christ, it was beyond AMAZING.

The most important part of my testimony was in the evening session of April 21, 2011. We had an altar call, and again, I went upfront to Pastor Jesse and Tita Marge. Pastor Jesse told me, “Princess, you are God’s princess, you are a daughter of a King! You are more beautiful in the inside, always remember that!” Afterwards, they told me to let go of the worldly things. LET GO OF THE WORLDLY THINGS. Then I went back to my seat, bowed my head and cried. In some portion of the ground/sand, an evil/satan just formed. Yes, it was terrifying. I hurried and went back to Tita Marge and informed her what I saw. She said, “Princess, you have one serious sin. You need to be specific and repent.” Then she prayed for me. While my arms were around her, I felt very weak. She told me, “If you want to sit down, go ahead.” So, I sat on the ground in a blink of an eye. She said, “If you want to lie down, go ahead. Think that you’re just laying in God’s chest.” I laid down and Tita Florence came and prayed for me. A few minutes after, I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was the ground. Then sister Sarah just came into my mind. I recalled what I told her in our morning session, that if the only way to be closer to God is to lay down/crawl, I will do it! See how God is amazing? How He hears and answers our prayers? God asked me, “You really want to follow me? OK, go ahead and lay down!” and BOOM! I imagined myself laying on the ground with peace in my heart. I allowed the Holy Spirit to kindle my mind, heart, and soul.

Psalms 73:26 “My body and my mind may fail, but You are my strength and my choice forever!”

Psalms 119:18 “Open my mind and let me discover the wonders of your Law.”

Psalms 119:37 “Take away my foolish desires, and let me find life by walking with You.”

Romans 12:11-12 “Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.”

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

“Use your beauty to glorify GOD!” -Dad Arnel and Mama Beth Reyes

A night that God prepared for me. He gave me a new life, a new beginning, a crown of beautiful flowers! I love you, Father God!

My wife is cold and distant. You likely never imagined you’d be one of the millions of men saying that. When you and your spouse married you probably imagined your bond would remain as strong and unbreakable as it was that day. But that changed somewhere along the way. In some ways you may even feel that your wife isn’t the same woman you married. She’s now distant and reserved and won’t share herself with you in any way. You feel like you’re living alone in your marriage and although the thought of divorce makes you cringe right now, you know that you can’t continue to live this way forever. Something must change soon and you’re the person who has to initiate that change. If your marriage is important to you, you need to set out to save it starting today.

Before you can change anything you have to come to terms with why your wife is cold and distant. It may be difficult to pinpoint exactly what happened that changed your connection with her but it’s important to give it some careful thought. Consider when you two first were married and how she treated you then. Did she change after the children arrived? Does she ever make comments about the fact that she’s dissatisfied with herself or is she struggling with some stress at work? Anything like this can have a dramatic impact on the way a woman treats her husband because he’s the person she feels closest to and feels most comfortable with allowing her feelings to show. Unfortunately, that also means you take the brunt of her moodiness and anger.

You have to break down the barrier that your wife has built around herself. You’re going to do that by overwhelming her with love and devotion. It’s very likely that you’ve pulled back from her as well as a result of the way she’s been treating you. That’s understandable and to be expected. You have to break free from those feelings now though and put your wife’s needs first. That’s not easy when she’s being cold and distant with you.

Start by telling her you love her more often. Help her more with the things that add stress to her life. Go out of your way to do things that will bring a smile to her face. That might include just calling her in the middle of the day to say how much you value her presence in your life or stopping to buy her a small gift on your way home from work. If your goal in life becomes making her happy, her entire demeanor will change for the better. Sometimes all a woman needs is to feel that her husband still appreciates and loves her just as much as he did the day he proposed to her.

There is no doubt that Brooke and Leah Barrettsmith of Spring Grove had the adventure of a lifetime competing on Fox’s megahit TV show American Idol. Before we explore their experiences, here is a short description of how the show works in case you’ve never seen the show.

Before getting a plane ticket to Hollywood, a contestant must first endure three days of grueling auditions in one of the major U.S. cities chosen to host the preliminary auditions. The producers of American Idol are well aware that the success of the show is based on people without talent as well as those who have IT. Many people tune in just to see the judges ridicule a contestant to the point of tears or to watch the contestant’s angry reaction to being sent packing. For example, in this year’s show two male twins are feature because they are very outspoken about the judges and verbally protective of each other. Another contestant called “Cowboy” jumped on the judges’ desk to sing part of his song.

The camera is focused on the expressions of the American Idol judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson as much as on the contestants. Cowell’s scathing comments are now ritual and crowd-pleasing. Abdul and Jackson regularly criticize Cowell. At times the contestant’s talent is so obviously second rate that all three judges can barely contain their laughter.

Contestants must be U.S. citizens and between the ages of 16 and 28. This year 16 year-old contestant Kevin Covais revealed that talent transcends age. At the opposite pole is prematurely gray 28 year-old Kevin Hicks whose unique voice might carry him to the finals.

The top 24 semifinalists are removed from public contact much like a secluded jury. The must take drug tests. Some contestants have been disqualified during the show for failing these tests. All contestants must sign a contract that prevents them from using cell phones except for family calls and emergencies and the Internet where they might discuss the show in a chat room. They may not watch TV news shows or listen to radio shows or read the newspapers. TV fans take over the voting on the phone at this point. The judges are consulted and make comments on performances but they no longer vote at this level.

The “finalists” are the last 12 contestants. The drama heightens after weeks of further eliminations until a single contestant is chosen as the winner

The adventure of Brooke and Leah Barrettsmith began on a cool day in September, 2005. They arrived at Soldier Field in downtown Chicago at 5:00 am escorted by their father, Rev. Scott Barrettsmith. “We needed to be there early enough to get a good place in line,” said Brooke. Nearly 20,000 contestants auditioned in Chicago that day. Some of them were from New Orleans because that city was picked as an audition center but it was washed away by Hurricane Katrina.

Contestants were led into the Soldier Field in groups of 300. Brooke and Leah wanted to audition together so they held hands. “Don’t separate us!” they said to American Idol employees.

Only 300 hopefuls survived the first day. Brooke and Leah were relieved to be one of them. “There were thousands of totally depressed people there,” said Scott. The Barrettsmiths spent their nights at a nearby hotel. “We literally got the last available room,” said Scott.

Days two and three were as hectic as the first. American Idol executive producers told the Barrettsmiths the “needed personality” to move on. “I had no problem showing personality,” said Brooke. Brooke befriended Mandisa, a semifinalist from Tennesse. “I can tell you are a Christian,” said Mandisa. “Girl, let’s pray!” When told that Leah planned to sing a Christian song called “Blessed” the producers said they preferred secular songs. “They did not want to show favoritism,” said Leah. During the audition, though, Leah sang “Blessed” anyway. “I was having trouble with my first selection and just stopped and switched,” said Leah.

“We asked to go into the audition together,” said Brooke. In an unusual move the producers permitted that. In an televised interview Leah said, “I believe in my sister and she believe in me just as much so I love her and we are going to do this together as much as we can.”

For the first time Brooke and Leah confronted the now famous American Idol judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

Brooke led off and sang a short section of her Shoop Shoop song. Then Leah sang. Randy said to Leah, “I like your voice I think you are good. I would say yes to Leah.” Paula Abdul said, “I think you are both talented and different in your own ways, so I’m either going to say ‘yes’ to both, or ‘no’. Simon said, “Well, I would say ‘no’ to both of you.” There was a short silence. Then Randy said, “We have a quandary, judges.” Simon said, “I am going to apply Randy’s ‘yes’ to both of you, so now it is down to Paula.” Paula said, “I love my sister. I love the fact that you are here together supporting each other. I think you both need to work, but you can do that and come back to Hollywood.” Brooke and Leah reacted with happy exclamations and a big hug. Meanwhile Randy said, “Welcome to Hollywood, sisters, sisters!”

Brooke and Leah told the producers about the Richardson corn maze. Sensing a good story the producers sent a camera crew to Spring Grove to film the sisters playing in and around the corn maze. “The filming took about 10 hours including dinner with the crew,” said Brooke. “All that for a two minute segment.”

In Hollywood

The next stage of auditions began on December 4th in Hollywood. “About 200 people out of tens of thousands made it to Hollywood,” said Brooke. Brooke and Leah made the trip without parents or relatives. They spent the first day touring Hollywood with half of the contestants while the other half went through auditions. They wore distinctive American Idol tags to promote the show in Los Angeles. They stayed in a hotel, two to a room. “The show did not skimp on the accommodations,” said Leah.

Both were successful in their first audition. In the second audition Randy said to Leah, “You didn’t bring it today. It’s the end of the road.”

Leah was surprised by the action. “What you see on television is not always the way it actually happened,” said Leah. “They do a lot of editing to make the show more dramatic. When I was singing, for example, it appeared that the audience was bored and quiet on TV. Actually the audience was cheering and clapping while I sang. They were yelling ‘let her through!’ ” At another point you see Leah looking startled on TV as though she was reacting to the negative decision. “That shot was totally taken at another time and edited into the space,” said Leah.

The show puts the contestants into small groups for one segment. “I don’t know why they make us sing with a group,” said Leah. “It really has nothing to do with why we are there. I think they are trying to put a lot of stress on the contestants for the TV cameras. They are very strict. You better not be a minute late for a meeting. They treat you like dogs.”

Brooke backed up Leah’s concerns. “They love the crying and the drama. They love to frighten you,” said Brooke. “Sometimes the judges are totally acting. They seemed to be faking.”

“I think they are pushing for a guy to win this year,” said Brooke. “They are focused on guy talent.”

American Idol rules say that a contestant cannot be signed professionally. The show makes the contestants sign a contract that restricts their professional activity for one full year. “We are locked up until August,” said Brooke.

Leah will soon be moving to Nashville to continue her singing career. “I will be doing more mainstream music,” said Leah.

Brooke is committed to remaining in the Christian music scene. “Christian music is much more relevant now,” said Brooke. “My career has taken a turn for the better. God used American Idol to change me. I am now even more into music ministry.”

Around 355 BC Plato described an ancient, exotic island kingdom catastrophically buried beneath the sea when its once-virtuous people angered the gods with their indulgence in sin and corruption. The city of Atlantis was a marvel of architecture and engineering. The city was composed of a series of concentric walls and canals about 9000 years before the time of Plato. When the people of Atlantis became corrupt and greedy, the gods decided to destroy them. A violent earthquake shook the land, giant waves rolled over the shores, and the island sank into the sea, never to be seen again. In Plato’s book, Timaeus, a character named Kritias describes that an account of Atlantis has been in his family for generations. According to the character, an Egyptian priest told the story to his ancestor, Solon.

The first thing to realize is that it would be surprising if the description of Atlantis by Plato is precise and accurate, not because Plato was not accurate, but because the story had been passed down through thousands of years, initially verbally and not through writing. This description reached Plato through Egyptian Priests. It would be difficult to pin down the exact date of the submergence of Atlantis for the same reason. However there is little doubt that any truth in the story would be prior to 3300 BC. There is no instance of writing of full descriptions prior to 3300 BC. Some evidence of writing brief description with pictorial symbols of consignments is all that exists in the form of writing from a period before 3300 BC. The names, sizes and time spans are possibly inventions or modifications as the story was handed down the centuries.

The essence of the story, that of an ancient well-planned and prosperous city that preceded known civilizations on earth may however be true. In fact archeologists and historians have postulated the existence of such a civilization. Planned cities and other technologies suddenly began to spring up in the Indus valley, Mesopotamia and Egypt in the period 3500-3000 BC as if they had dropped from the sky. Since design and construction of these cities involved engineering skills that take time to develop it has been suspected that they came from an already developed civilization that has not yet been discovered. Various suggestions have been made as to where Atlantis might be located ranging from the Antarctica to South America and even other planets.

A relevant line of enquiry is to find where the Egyptian priests got the story of Atlantis. The most probable direction is Sumer or Ancient Mesopotamia. There is also the possibility that the first dynastic priests of Egypt were in fact Sumerian-Akkadians. The first dynastic Pharaoh of Egypt – Menes united upper and lower Egypt, and constructed a new capital at Memphis by diverting a part of the Nile. The engineering skills required for all this appears to be from Mesopotamia as well. It takes considerable time and apprenticeship to develop the required engineering skills even if one is very brilliant. There is no evidence of these skills existing in Egypt prior to Menes (or Manas, the Egyptians did not write vowels and these have to be guessed). Menes as well as his priests and engineers were probably all Mesopotamians although of the work force was local. In any case, even if it is contested that Menes and his engineers were not from Mesopotamia, it cannot be contested that ancient Egypt had several links with ancient Mesopotamia that went beyond just trade.

Further, the likelihood of the Atlantis stories being of Sumer origin is strengthened by the fact that the submergence of ancient cities was a strong part of the Sumerian mythology. It dominates their historical tradition. The destruction of the ancient city as a result of sin was also a part of their beliefs. Therefore, there is a strong probability that the ancient city of Atlantis is an ancient submerged city of the Sumerians.

If one traces the origin of the story of Atlantis to Sumerians one may enquire as to who the Sumerians were and where they came from? They were not local people because they spoke a language foreign to the parts. For a long time it was thought that their language was an isolated one, unrelated to other languages. However, the picture has now changed as a result of further studies. The study of their language along with anthropological examination of Sumerian skeletons helps to trace out their origins.

It has been found that the Sumerian language is an Austric language spoken by a group of ancient Australoid people found in India, South East Asia and Australia (The Austric Origin of the Sumerian Language, Language Form, vol. 22, no.1-2, Jan.-Dec. 1996.). An examination of ancient Sumerian skulls has further confirmed that the ancient Sumerians indeed belonged to the Australoid race. An evolved branch of the same tribe appears to have established the Indus civilization as well as the Sumerian one after the submergence of their coastal cities. In North-western India they would have encountered Neolithic people of Indo-European origin with which manpower they established the Indus cities. An analysis of skeletal remains from Indus valley confirms this mixture. The Sumerian language persisted side by side with local languages as with the official language of the rulers being Sumerian. In the Indus valley, Sumerian would have persisted along with local Aryan languages. So far scholars have been trying to decipher the Indus script based on a comparison with Dravidian and Aryan languages, and failed. A more fruitful attempt may be made if they used Austric for this purpose. Just as in Mesopotamia, ancient Sumerian was eventually replaced by the language of the majority (Akkadians) in the Indus valley it would have been replaced eventually by an Indo-Aryan language.

If we assume for the moment that the Sumerians originated on the west coast of India and that their ancient capital city was submerged then we have to enquire if any such evidence has been found. The recent discovery made in the Gulf of Cambay, made some sit up and watch with interest. It clearly established the existence of an ancient civilization that was submerged in the sea. The methodologies adopted to study this find, were novel and different, wherein advanced marine technologies and the most modern scientific applications of various disciplines were put to use. Most of the structures that were discovered in the Gulf of Cambay had many similarities to the Citadel, Great Bath, grid pattern habitation, granary, etc. of the Harappan civilization. But many of the artifacts and typology were different and distinctive and with the presence of many micro tools appeared to be much older than the Harappan. The northern metropolis has well made pottery pieces, wattle daub etc. from about 7506 BP onwards. It indicates well-organized city living. Hence it is possible that this metropolis came up after 8450 BP but much before 7506 BP. After the submergence of the southern metropolis, the ancients appear to have shifted and founded the northern metropolis. This wonderful twin prehistoric metropolis of Cambay lasted from about 13000 BP to about 3000 BP making it the most ancient and largest city civilization not only in Asia but also in the entire world. Scientists described, in a manner similar to Plato, the submergence of the city due to violent earthquakes and ensuing floods. The existence of a submerged circular harbor as described by Plato has also been found in a neighboring site. What is more the area has gold, elephants and coconuts just as in Plato’s Atlantis. The existence of other cities in the region may yet be discovered through further undersea explorations.

An important question to ask is if Atlantis indeed existed in the Indian Sub-continent then there should be some records of it in India itself since India has had a written literature from ancient times. In Mahabharata, an ancient and well know Hindu Scripture there is a specific account about the submerging of a city by the sea which reads thus:

“The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. The sea rushed into the city. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city. The sea covered up everything in the city. Even as they were all looking, Arjuna saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one. Arjuna took a last look at the mansion of Krishna. The sea soon covered it. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake. There was no trace of the beautiful city that had been the favorite haunt of all the Pandavas. Dwaraka was just a name; just a memory.”

The significant thing to note here is that the city is described by Arjuna of Aryan origin as a city of Krishna who was dark like the dark Sumerians. Thus based on this study the author feels that ancient Atlantis is a city submerged of the west coast of India. Not all the evidence and arguments for this analysis could be presented here because of the brevity of this article. The actual capital city of Atlantis is probably not yet discovered and may require further exploration of the coastal region.

If you think that your favourite material is come from leather, so it is perfect for you to choose Tano handbags. All tano handbags products were made of leather. The chick designs and colors will make you a dedicated follower of these stylish bags that are fashionable and trendy.

Tano handbags is a family owned business that owned by Alexandra Brandstrom, 37, a self-proclaimed Tano handbag fanatic and mother of three. She admits that she is a Shopaholic and started with the company as a buyer. The company headquarters are based in New York and the products are sold internationally.

The owners describe the purchase of their handbags as a sensual experience. They want consumers to touch and feel their handbags and absolutely adore them before deciding to buy.

The company values the exclusivity of their designs and do not want the woman who just carry another bag and buy mass merchandisers. They pride themselves on crafts and exclusive designs and colors. So that’s why Tano products was strictly a boutique bag with a ‘no department stores’ policy and are sold in specialty shops and boutiques. They have a website musthavebags.com and exclusive products can be purchased directly online.

If you are in love with leather Tano is definitely worth the price. Most of Tano handbags cost only around $150 to $250 as you see in here. They are made of, simply, “leather, leather, leather”. Several of their design as describe as below:

The Boogie Bucket is very popular purse. It is made of a soft and silky skin and has a matte finish. All handbags are covered. This bag has a shoulder adjustable strap and comes in some vibrant colors like green, melon, ocean blue and orange flowers.

The Jet Setter is made of Italian leather label and has a very soft texture. It’s very lightweight and portable. It is available in brown and blue.

Oversize handbags. These bags are hand-stained to give them a rich tone on tone watch. There are small pockets for cell phones with an adjustable strap.

Other popular handbags are Misunderstood bag, Depeche bag, Lhasa Apso, Sid Delicious, Miss Congenialty, Lost Art, Stevie Kicks, Bottle Blond, Hollywould, Crackberry, Three Fer, Butane Jane, Mona Lethal, Love Boat and Sex Bomb.

Did your toilet just make a weird sound? Was it just your imagination, or did you keep hearing a dripping sound all night? If so, then there is certainly some plumbing issue in your home that needs attention. When plumbing goes bad, it creates a nuisance at home and disturbs all work. You just can’t live in peace. It may be time to call in a professional plumber to take a look at things, more so because they may start getting worse if not addressed in time.

A brief list of plumber services that are offered by agencies is as follows. Almost all the plumbing contractors provide these services.

If your washbasin is clogging up somewhere you can’t reach, a plumber needs to be called in. You don’t know the pipes and drains as well as a plumber, so refrain from trying things out yourself. You don’t have the primary tools required for this job and may end up hurting yourself. Nowadays the plumbers have also become professionals and have started using things like cameras and digital devices to actually look inside pipes. Whatever is stuck in the drain will come to light soon enough. You cannot manage this on your own, not as efficiently. Any possible cause of clogging can be cleaned up using a device called “sewer snake”. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is a device that plumbers employ to clean up clogged drains easily. Additionally to this, it also helps clean roots that grow inside a drain.

Water leaks are the most annoying plumbing problem in the history of humanity. There is nothing as irritating as the constant dripping sound of water going nowhere, slowly ending up on your bills. Not only that, it can go seeping somewhere causing structural problems in your home in the long run. This problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Spotting a pipe leak is easy for an experienced plumber, and he will have your system running up and smooth in a jiffy. The leakage may be the outcome of your fixtures getting old and worn out – your plumber will let you know, get new ones for you and fix them in place for you. This may help save overall cost of having to repair everything in the end.

More complicated problems that are inherent in the fixtures itself are also addressed by plumbing service providers, if they have the personnel for it. Not only on a residential scale, but on a commercial level also the services of plumbing assume the highest importance. When you go to shopping malls, the toilets are all in their top working condition. Plumbing contractors are approached when such a commercial zone is being constructed, and they are contracted for a certain number of years for the upkeep of all the pipes and drains in the building. This ultimately gives the commercial complex a good image in all respects. No one likes a leaky place.

With the attention of the boxing world focused on American, Mexican and British fighters, it is easy to discount the boxing scenes in other nations. I am going to take a look at the boxers in different countries and have a look at their stand out fighters.

This week I have chosen Ghana. Why? Because I watched the Joseph Agbeko – Abner Mares fight and despite his loss, Ghanaian Agbeko was very impressive. Ghana is a rich source of tough, technically proficient fighters, with several boxers competing at the top level. Let’s have a look at some of their best:

Azumah Nelson – Ghanaian National Hero

39 Wins

6 Losses

2 Draws

28 KOs

Azumah “The Professor” Nelson fought from 1979 until 2008 when he made an ill advised comeback. In his career he picked up three WBC world title belts, two at Super Featherweight and one at Featherweight. He beat some of the best fighters of the day and was known for having a punch that could knock out an elephant (although there was never an experiment conducted to prove this).

Nelson retired in 1998 after a loss to American former World Champion Jesse James Leija, the man who beat Mickey Ward among others. In 1998, Nelson was 39 years old and had a run of two defeats. He was slowing down and many felt it was a good time for him to quit. He heeded their advice and hung up his gloves, but nobody could have seen what he would do ten years later.

In 2008, age forty nine and ten years after his last match, Azumah Nelson announced to the world that he was ready to fight again. Many scoffed at the thought, after all he was much too old to win anything of significance. But Nelson was undeterred, and fought his old rival Jeff Fenech to a ten round majority decision loss. He didn’t win the fight but he went the distance, and Nelson could retire having given a good account of himself. Today, he is one of Ghana’s most celebrated heroes.

Joseph Agbeko – Ghana’s Best Today

28 Wins

2 Losses

0 Draws

22 KOs

Thirty one year old Joseph Agbeko (28-2 22KOs) is the best boxer fighting under Ghanaian nationality today. Nicknamed King Kong, he has a strong punch for someone at bantamweight and he is rated at #3 in The Ring’s bantamweight rankings. In Sogakope, Ghana, he has been made a Warrior Chief in honour of his boxing exploits.

Agbeko has held the IBF Bantamweight title twice in his career, and only lost it August 13th to Mexican Bantamweight Abner Mares. It was a controversial decision, with Mares landing and getting away with several low blows, but on the night Agbeko was out-boxed.

Throughout his career, Agbeko has consistently put himself forward for fights with the best. He has beaten Yonnhy Perez in a rivalry that also seen him lose a fight, and in 2009 he scored a win over former undisputed WBA, WBC and IBF Super Flyweight World Champion Vic Darchinyan.,

What Next For Joseph Agbeko?

Having just lost his IBF belt to Abner Mares, Agbeko will need to get over the injustice of the decision, pick himself up and move on. He is making sounds that he would like a rematch with Mares, and in turn Mares has indicated he would be willing. This is a rematch no-one will miss, with Agbeko looking for a revenge and Mares wanting to prove himself the worthy winner.

Osumanu Adama – Current IBO International Middleweight Champion

19 Wins

2 Losses

0 Draws

14 KOs

Osumanu (19-2-0) is Agbeko’s main contender for the throne of Ghana’s best boxer. The thirty year old middleweight has a classic boxing style and has a good KO record, having most recently beaten Marcus Upshaw by technical knock-out.

Adama is still relatively young so a lot more is expected to come from him, and he needs to fight against a better quality of opposition to really progress up the ladder. In case the whole boxing thing doesn’t work out though, he has a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering that he earned at Kotobabi Technical College.

Joshua Clottey – The Hitter

35 Wins

4 Losses

0 Draws

20 KOs

Former Welterweight Champion Joshua Clottey is perhaps most famous for his loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2010 in what was dubbed “The Event”. The fight was for the WBO World Welterweight Championship and Clottey was only used as a replacement when the Pacquiao Mayweather fight fell through. Clottey lost by decision after twelve rounds.

Clottey has fought some big names and has some great wins to his credit, including a victory over former undisputed Welterweight Champion Zab Judah in 2008. His style relies on speed and power to win him fights, twenty of them coming by knock-out. He is also a hard man to knock down himself – having never lost by knock-out.

What Next For Clottey?

Well, not much. His last fight was his loss to Pacquiao in 2010 and he doesn’t have another one scheduled yet. Assuming he fights early 2012, that leaves a gap of two years between his last fight. He will definitely need a tune up fight and assuming he wins, who knows. He is young enough to get in shape and get back to challenging for belts. Don’t bank on it though, he got paid so much for the Pacquiao fight he probably doesn’t need to fight ever again.

Raymond Narh – Current WBC USNBC Light Welterweight Champion

25 Wins

2 Losses

0 Draws

21 KOs

Raymond “Sugar Ray” Narh (25-2 21KO’s) is a heavy hitter punching out of the Light Welterweight Division. He is a capable fighter and one of Ghana’s top three boxers. At thirty three he has never won a world title and it is safe to say that kind of success is beyond him now. The best he can hope for is to climb the rankings and challenge for some lesser belts.

A recent loss to Mike Alvarado set him back on this score, and as well as this there are better fighters than him in his division. Fighters like Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan are completely beyond him, making a move down to lightweight his best hope for success.

Narh has a fight coming up on August 27th for the WBC International Light Welterweight title against Thai Prawet Singwancha. Narh is fancied to win against thirty four year old Singwancha, and he hopes it will put him back on track for a world title. His hopes may be in vain, however in May 2011 he said:

“I’m still the WBC USNBC champion and greater things are coming our way like the Zion train.”

The growth and advancement of technology helps business communities in effective & efficient communication. Today, CEO of a company can have a 30 minutes video conference call with all country head saving huge travel cost and time. Conference call helps business to take quick decision, confront business emergencies, saves time. Advent of computer technology enables web based conference call which integrates everybody within the organization. CEO can now address her hundreds of employees across from corporate office and her employees at different locations and time zones can watch it using web based conference.

A video conference call brings the people in distance to your room. This enables quicker exchange of information and makes person to person links a quicker and more natural occurrence. Latest conference call equipments provide several value added services like recording of call, on line office assistant with less cost. Conference call is a blessing to business and family both.

In most business meetings today, especially large corporate houses that have offices at various major cities across the globe, Internet conferencing is commonplace. Decisions are made among key officials during the conference call, while certain departments publish their monthly performance report to the proper authorities via Internet-based presentations.

Internet conference typically consist of co-browsing activities of internet explorer, Microsoft Power Point presentations, sharing of word and excel sheet. Entire conference call can be stored in a media center and later can be reviewed. In case of video conference call, participants need to go to video conference room. Quality of video conference is better than web based conference but this is also costly services.

In short, conferencing is not just an effective business tool, but also a wonderful way of bringing families closer together and strengthening relationships. Conferencing breaks the distance and bring people closer but sometimes it eliminates the sincerity that comes with person to person interaction.

Internet conferencing or web based conferencing can never replace face to face meetings, but it can work wonders at improving the value of communications.

3 simple conferencing buying tips

1. Ensure you know how to get technical support if you face any problem.

2. Make sure you hang up the call properly otherwise you will be charged.

3. Avoid dialing tool free number.

The Joy Luck Club is a film that dispels stereotypes about Asian women and culture overall. For the most part, this film presents complex female characters who have in depth background stories, wants, desires and challenges that they go through when trying to obtain their needs and the relationships that they want.

I could relate to several of the female characters at different times throughout the film. For example, I could relate to the daughter with her mother, she thought whatever she did was never good enough for her mother. I could also of a relate to the situation between the mother who taught her daughter to value herself, not to beg for a husband’s attention and forgiveness when he is not worthy of such love and affection.

Although the most of the male roles were minimal, and simplified in this film, I enjoyed seeing the father’s gentle love for his daughter, who played the lead female role in this film, as well as the love that he had for his wife and his wife’s first-born daughters in China, even though they were not his biological children. Chinese men are often portrayed as either harsh to their women or unable to support their family in the way that they would like to be able to support them. Thus, the Joy Luck Club provided a great alternative view of a men of Asian descent.

I saw many stereotypes that were addressed, broken, explained and dealt with. For example, the mother who wanted her daughter to play piano well, and the mother who wanted her daughter to continue to excel at chess. The film showed that the children aren’t just automatically smart. The film also showed that Asian parents can be just as competitive as any parent who may have a genuine desire for helping his or her child hone their natural ability. Parents, no matter what their race or ethnicity, tend to get competitive with other parents whose children excel in similar areas because all most humans naturally want to be able to brag on their kids. This film brings out the real and various human reasons behind why a stereotype could have evolved, but that at the end of the day, its only a stereotype because as when can see by the complex issues surrounding the stereotypical images presented in the film. The Joy Luck Club is a film that breaks several stereotypes, because the instances of the stereotypical behavior are not oversimplified in the film, but instead, complex. The film reveals to viewers the actual individual stories behind why each girl or woman in the film is facing what she is facing and behaving the way she is behaving.

Many major stereotypical images and ideas in this film are given room to be developed and made complex. As a result, the audience gets to see a view of Asian Americans that encourages us to use critical thinking when understanding the character’s motivations in the film. I think that this type of detail in addressing stereotypes in filmmaking can go a long way in helping individuals in society use their critical thinking skills and emotional abilities to see past stereotypes when interacting with people in the real world. I have learned: In order to avoid creating stereotypes in the media, try not to simplify the an action or idea just because it may be easily accepted by the public in general based on a stereotypes that have been broadcast and digested.

If anything make the ideas and images presented more complex. Even if in the end of the film or piece of media, the “stereotype” may happen to come off as true, viewers will know the reasoning behind why this instance came off true. Viewers should be able to recognize the humanness in the decision process of the character’s actions.

It is the human similarities in the circumstances surrounding the decisions, outcomes and actions of the characters that allow viewers to understand that they may have done the same thing if in a similar situation of likeness to that portrayed in the film or media sample.

I theorize that viewers are able to go through a mental process of critical thinking, understanding, and comprehension that can ultimately contribute to the breaking of stereotypes in one’s mental psyche. Especially, if this method is used and practiced often as a standard method in creating films that are intended to celebrate diversity, culture and similarities among humans and circumstances. It’s that aspect creating a path for the viewer’s mind to connect, understand and relate to the character on the screen, and the viewer being able to use that achieved receptor (linked) (neuron) path (open mind) to automatically want to relate and understand people in the real world, and not accept simple answers at face value now that the mind and critical thinking in that aspect has been opened and developed.