Cults may do this in the most dramatic way with an end result that even Jack’s family members agree “This isn’t the Jack I know.”

The methods that cults use can be used by anyone in any group setting and can be thought of as a “Management system” or a technique of motivation. Thus there is a benefit to applying this knowledge in other areas.

ISOLATION
An obvious way a cult does this is through isolation from other social networks. The extreme of a cult does not have to be applied. If this is applied to a work setting then the stated rule is “This is work. Leave the other parts of life at the door.” Likewise the person can go home and leave work at work. The result is a “work personality” and a “home personality”.

ENLIST THEM IN A CAUSE
Nothing is quite so motivating than to be involved in a glorious cause. To do this make the success of the group linked to the individuals success. Make the cause lofty and ideal and progressive always on the wave of the future.

DESCRIBE FOR THEM THE QUALITIES OF A “GOOD SOLDIER”
Once you’ve enlisted them in a cause you can now tell them how best to serve the cause. By describing the qualities of “good soldier” you create an ideal of behavior. On the one hand it’s important to point out qualities that they already have to affirm their part in the cause. But it’s also important to describe qualities that they will have to work to develop. These qualities can be actual behaviors or they can values that you wish to impose on them. Either way you are holding them to an ideal and letting them know that they play a vital role in the cause.

DRILL THE “GOOD SOLDIER” INTO EXISTENCE
A cult may do this process with intense drills and exercises that emphasize the qualities and values of a good soldier. They will create scenarios and situations where these qualities can be tested and followed up with feedback and correction when needed. You can do this in a management setting much the same way. The goal is to make them WANT to bring on this new personality and do it without prompting. This is done mostly by creating a high standard and through a subtle application of rewards and punishment.

CREATE A GROUP MYTH
Nothing will solidify the new personality than getting a group of “good soldiers” together and having them work with some great purpose in mind. By getting your employee, staff, cult member involved in a group and putting them into action as a group you help create an “esprit de corp” that unifies them and helps solidify the newly created personality. Thus, find tasks that your group can do together. It could be a project, a field trip or anything where they have to work together as a group.

Every one of these tactics can be used and applied in your business and social settings.

If your response to this is to recoil at the idea of using cult strategies then stop it. These strategies are used all the time in many different setting and situations. A good manager is a person who would make a good cult leader if they choose to do it.

The benefits of this strategy include highly motivated people who support the team and, when needed, can put work on hold to develop a personal life.

How cults create an artificial personality in their followers (and how you can do it too). is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Bond agents provide the co-signer or the defendant with the receipts and copies of all signed documents and the information regarding the status of the bond and changes, if any, in assigned court dates. They should provide clear documentation regarding the status of any costs due, which were imposed by the court. The bail agent must be able to provide the timely return of collateral upon exoneration of the bond.

Bail agents charge about 10% of the total amount of the bond, plus the actual, necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in connection to the transaction. The amount of the bail bond has to be determined by the court. The co-signer is responsible in the case of an absconding defendant. In such cases, the bail agent will charge for all the expenses incurred while searching for the defendant from the co-signer. The co-signer must be employed and must be living in the same area for some time, in the event a collateral is not provided.

To become a bail bond agent, the applicant must be 18 years of age and either a citizen of the United States or resident alien. The applicant must have no criminal record in any jurisdiction for the past ten years. An application must come only through a licensed bail bond agency where the applicant is employed, or be licensed as a bail bond agency. The applicant must be able to bear the requisite fee.

Bail Bond Agents is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

This year following the great success of the inaugural Academic School Year in 2005, Scuola Leonardo da Vinci will feature the Academy School Year course in Italy in all its school centers (Florence, Milan, Rome and Siena).

The “Academic Year” is a 32 week language and culture course for students who wish to experience living and studying in Italy. The course combines not only language courses with Italian culture classes at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci but the syllabus also incorporates the fundamental elements of level C2 of the European Language Portfolio. “All in all, the course offers students the opportunity to see at first hand the various aspects of Italys rich history and culture”, said Chiara Poggi, the Head of Studies of the Italian School in Florence.

Needless to say, lessons are taught only in Italian from the very start. “At the end of the course, the student is ready to write a final dissertation on a topic related to Italian culture (art, history and business Italian)”, said Wolfango Poggi, director of the Italian language school Leonardo da Vinci in Milan.

Created to provide an opportunity for motivated and deserving students to experience the magic of study abroad one year, the Academic Year Program in Italy aims to:

• progress from the Beginner and/or the Elementary level to the Intermediate stages, working on the basics of Italian grammar (articles, prepositions, present and past tenses) to more complex subjects such as the subjunctive.
• develop speaking and listening skills through daily conversation classes.
• give an introduction to the everlasting beauty and charm of Italian art.
• take you through the world of business and current affairs and the world of fashion: a sector where Italian artists are at the leading edge, where we aim to reveal some of the secrets behind the Made in Italy label.
• allow you to understand the mixture of tradition and change which characterizes contemporary Italy.

When asked about her experience, Sanda S., who studied in Milan with Scuola Leonardo da Vinci last year, commented: “I was delighted at the chance to travel to Italy and attend Scuola Leonardo da Vinci for 32 weeks. I believe the programme helped me to improve my Italian in a friendly and supportive environment. I really enjoyed meeting people from around the world. Being able to study in Italy also helped me gain an understanding of the Italian culture. It was certainly an experience I will never forget and intend to repeat in the future.”

Program details and supporting information, including students opinions and histories on the Academic Year Experince in Italy, may be found on the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Web site at http://www.scuolaleonardo.com/gap-year-in-italy.php. Next Starting dates, as written on the Web Site, are 02 January, 08 May and 25 September 2006.

For 29 years, Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, the market leader in in-country Italian language courses, has been exclusively dedicated to the teaching of Italian to foreigners. Each year the company welcomes students from 60 countries to its schools in Florence, Milan, Rome and Siena. The companys Web site, http://www.scuolaleonardo.com, an Italian language portal offering informations and pages of Italian language courses, culture and resources on 12 languages, receives more than 3,000 visits daily.

For general business-related questions, contact the Marketing Office of Scuola Leonardo da Vinci.

Information and Registration Center (Florence, Italy)
Tel.: +39-055-29.03.05 – Fax: +39-055-290396
http://www.scuolaleonardo.com – scuolaleonardo@scuolaleonardo.com

Gap Year in Italy, the ideal program to study abroad in Italy is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Step 1
You don’t necessarily have to do a lot of incredibly complicated exercises to build chest muscles, they can even be built using press ups. Although their effect will be barely noticeable if you are already involved in more advanced resistance training, press ups can help give your muscles definition. Press ups are good for people who are just starting to think about building their bodies. An inclined press up is even better.

Step 2
One general piece of advice that you would do well to heed is to build chest muscles using free weights rather than a weight machine. It is sad to note that free weights are losing popularity in many gyms to the weight machines, but using free weights is still the best bet for the serious bodybuilder. Your muscles benefit from a more comprehensive workout the weight is lifted through several different angles, and more muscles are exercised in this way, leading to a more even development.

Step 3
Treat your muscle groups separately. The muscles in your chest belong to diverse groups, and if you can work each in turn, you will gain better results than average bodybuilders who ignore this factor. The chest has an upper and lower part. Inclined dumbbell flys and inclined barbell presses are effective ways of developing the upper chest, while the lower part responds well to declined barbell bench presses and dips on the parallel bars. The chest is also divided into an inner and outer section. The inner section can be worked with standing cable crossovers, and the outer section with flat bench press and flat dumbbell flys.

Step 4
Lift right up to your limit. By far the most effective way of maximizing the effect of your training time when you build chest muscles is to lift until you simply cannot lift any more. This can be a problem if you don’t take care, and you should ONLY attempt this if you can find someone prepared to spot for you. The other person is then able to grab the bar and stop it doing you any harm, or pinning you down.

Your chest muscles are very noticeable, and one of the first parts of the body that people look at when they know you’re bodybuilding. You now know how to build chest muscles for yourself.

Build Chest Muscles In 4 Simple Steps is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

A high school education does not need to be received in the traditional high school setting. With todays technology, there are many ways in which to get an education. One of the best means of receiving a high school education is to participate in an online education program. Many are low-priced and offer choices to the participating student.

Online high school education provides the student access to as many classes as they need to receive their high school diploma. Whether the student needs credit in science, social studies, English, math, or a foreign language, an online education program will have them available. These online high school education classes also allow the student to learn at their own pace. If the student is working during the day, they can access their classes in the evening. The fact is online education makes it easy and convenient for the student.

When helping your loved one to choose an online high school education program, youll want to make sure it is accredited. This means the school has been officially recognized as a qualified education program and your student will receive a quality education from it. Youll also want to make sure that your loved one has all the details and understands how the program works. You dont want them to feel frustrated again and quit halfway through their program. Providing all the details up front is important.

If your loved one has not received their high school education, provide them with the opportunity and support they made to finish out their high school education. It may be they are simply too scared or lacking the confidence to continue. When you give them the encouragement, they will thank you for it and greatly appreciate all of the support you gave them.

Encouraging Your Loved One To Finish Their High School Education is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Lets start with bathrooms and kitchens. While well-maintained and nice-looking kitchens and bathrooms do add value to a home, theres nothing to say that they have to be the very latest thing. An older room that is well looked-after and wasnt a complete abomination to begin with can often help the value just as much as a newly-installed one.

Extensions, on the other hand, almost always increase the value of your home, as they make it bigger. A four-bedroom home can be significantly more valuable on the market than a three-bedroom one, as a bigger family can live in it. However, you need to watch out for building too far out into your garden if you only have a small one: get rid of too much of your garden, and you could knock even more value off your home than you gain from the extra bedroom.

Although it might seem strange, this same rule also applies to garden features such as swimming pools and ponds. While you might like them, not everyone does and youve just taken a piece of garden that could be used for almost anything and turned it into a single-use feature. Also, swimming pools especially can be very expensive to maintain, which can put off potential house buyers.

Overall, its a bad idea to make home improvements just to make money, as you will almost always fail. Instead, just make the improvements that you want, while avoiding any that will really hit your houses price.

Can home-improvements increase the value of your house? is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

The newest way to get a degree is attending the University of Phoenix online. The University of Phoenix online offers their students a list of courses, a personal admissions counselor, and classes that are fit around your already hectic schedule and lifestyle. With almost sixty online courses and approximately thirteen campuses spread throughout the country, the University of Phoenix is the leading site for getting a college education online. They offer everything from a Bachelors degree to a Masters degree and even offer single classes instead of an entire degrees worth. They also offer financial assistance for those who are not able to afford an online education. The financial assistance plans that they offer range from helping out a little bit, to making the payments affordable for those that have families and large monthly bills.

There are other web sites that offer the ability to obtain an education degree online. Most sites are affiliated with accredited universities and colleges. However, these sites require that you go to the university or college in order to take the exams issued regularly, as well as the mid-terms and final exams. The internet sites that are linked to accredited universities tend not to offer an affordable education degree online. Sometimes their courses can cost just as much as if you were to attend the classes in person. Be sure to check out as many sites as possible when deciding to get your education degree online and definitely make sure to check out the University of Phoenix online or call one of their toll free numbers. This will ensure an easier way to getting a college degree online.

An Easier Way to Getting A College Education Online is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Basic Nutrition: Nutrition is about more than what the label on the back of a package tells you. In fact, food labels can be appallingly misleading. Your body needs a host of vitamins and minerals every day in order to maintain its good health, as well as other things such as calories and fiber. Unfortunately, food labels are usually geared to sell, and can sometimes confuse and mislead consumers.

Think, for example, about the subcategories listed under the total carbohydrates: sugar and fiber. Often, however, these amounts dont add up to the total carbohydrates. What does this mean? How do sugar and carbohydrates differ?

In addition to confusing packaging labels, you have to worry about how to ensure that your family is getting the necessary amounts of nutrients, even though many of the vitamins and minerals we need arent listed on most food labels. How do you make sure that a meal is nutritionally sound, yet still delicious and satisfying?

These are the kinds of nutritional questions that an education from a culinary school can answer.

Chemistry: A cooking education will also teach you about chemistry. However, were not talking about beakers and smelly chemicals, like in high school. At a culinary school, you will learn about applied chemistry.

Every time you cook something, whether it is meat, vegetables, or pastries, a chemical reaction happens. That chemical reaction can change or enhance the flavor and texture of the food. For instance, the chemical reaction can be as simple as the softening of tough vegetables when you boil them in water, or as exotic as lighting the top of a pie or an alcoholic drink on fire.

Being able to control these chemical reactions is an important part of being a good cook. A culinary school will teach you different ways of cooking foods, and how each method can affect the taste and texture of the food.

Spices: Spices are a mystery for most people. Indeed, many people never venture beyond salt, pepper, and maybe some basil and parsley. Cooking with spices is an art, however, and can be used to change and enhance the flavor of food in any number of ways.

There are dozens of different spices to choose from, though, so how do you know what spices go best with what foods, let alone with each other? An education from a culinary school will teach you how to use spices to the foods best advantage, enabling you to enhance flavors in ways you never dreamed were possible.

Visual Arrangement: Youve probably heard it said before that cooking is an art. Well, the culinary art is about more than simply preparing the food. It is also about how you arrange it. The visual presentation of a dish can make a difference between your basic restaurant food and an exquisite dining experience.

Visual arrangement is a vital skill for professional chefs. A culinary school can teach you how to arrange food to look the most pleasing and artistic, delighting your guests and enhancing their enjoyment beyond mere taste sensations. Even if you arent going to pursue a career as a chef, however, food arrangement can be a valuable skill. Just think about how you could impress your friends and family, perhaps even coaxing a picky child into eating his or her vegetables.

Wine: Connoisseurs know that the ability to match the perfect wine to an exquisite meal is one of the finest culinary arts. Choosing wine is a study in subtlety, as every wine has a slightly different taste. The minor variance can make all the difference in whether a wine goes better with fish or pasta, steak or chicken.

It is vital for anyone in the culinary industry to be knowledgeable about wine, but many people are interested in wine regardless of their cooking skills. Wine has always been a symbol of culture, with connoisseurs attending wine tastings and collecting exotic wines in their own homes. Taking classes from a culinary school is the best way to learn all about wine, its subtleties and how to match it successfully with different foods.

As you can see, an education from a culinary school has value for many people, whether you intend to pursue a culinary career, cook for your own pleasure, or provide delicious and balanced meals for your family. You can sign up for just a few cooking classes, or for the specialized degree, but either way you are bound to learn things you never knew before.

5 Things Youll Learn In Culinary School is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Enceladus is a small moon 314 miles across that so bright it reflects nearly one hundred percent of its heat. For this reason, it is a very cold moon, with a temperature of near minus 330 degrees Fahrenheit. Its orbit is influenced under the large gravitational pull of Saturn as well as the gravitational influence of large nearby moons Tethys and Dione. Previous voyages by Voyager as well as Cassini have shown it to be a moon having sharp geological contrasts over its surface for a moon of such small size.

It has long been speculated that Enceladus has somehow been responsible for the E ring of Saturn. An ice particle stream propelled by water vapor was first detected through the use of the High Rate Detector (HRD) of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) on Cassinis approach of 286 miles in July. However it was not confirmed until November 26, 2005 when Cassini made the closest approach of any of Saturns moons yet. This orbit of 109 miles used infrared detection to confirm the ejection of ice particles in a plume from the south pole.

This plume of ice particles confirms a theory proposed that Enceladus is a source of the fine ice particles responsible for making up one of Saturns rings, the E ring. The E ring is composed of ice particles near the 3 micron range. The average size of particles emitted by Enceladus is in the 10 micron range. However, this theory is still consistent because the largest particles are believed to be too large to escape the moons gravity. The medium-sized particles probably leave the atmosphere but are pulled back before fully escaping. Only the finest, tiniest particles of the plume make it out to form the E ring.

Enceladus is very similar to a comet in the way it ejects ice particles. The difference lies in the fact that in a comet the ice is warmed by sunlight. The source of Enceladuss heat is largely unknown. Some sort of internal mechanism, possibly a tidal force or a radioactive mechanism, is creating an enormous amount of heat for such a small moon. This is the wonderful unsolved mystery behind Enceladus, and the ultimate reason for the existence of Saturns E ring.

1) Enceladus Erupting A Nasa Report 12-7-05
2) Enceladus Plume Jet Propulsion Laboratory 12-6-05
3) Possible Source of E Ring Bill Arnett 2-17-05
4) Saturn: Moons: Enceladus Nasa: Solar Systems Exploration 10-6-03
5) Enceladuss Tiger Stripes are Really Cubs Nasa Release

Cassini Confirms Enceladus Plume Responsible for E Ring of Saturn is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News

Who are HSP’s and What Are They Like?

Who are HSP’s? We’re the thinkers, the cautious ones, the conservative people; the ones that say “Hey, wait a minute. Let’s think this through before doing something rash.”

Every society needs highly sensitive people, just as we need the warriors, the leaders who are ready to take the risks. However, we’re the ones that help to temper the not-so-sensitive types, the ones who can be bold, rash and impulsive and may have not thought things through to the consequences of their actions. Highly sensitive people are most often the people found in the roles of advisors, counselors and advocators for restraint.

Unfortunately, in western society, we’ve also been labeled as somewhat “defective”, according the way non-hsp’s see us. We’re considered “too sensitive, too cautious, too shy, too timid, too introverted, too fearful.” What needs to be realized is that these are not “problems” that need to be corrected and fixed with sensitive people. It’s the labels that are attached to us that cause the problems. Many non-sensitive people are also shy, timid, introverted and fearful, while there are many highly sensitive people who are out-going, super-friendly, extroverted, and risk-takers. We just tend to think things through first and weigh all the factors that our senses pick up on before forging ahead.

Traits and Characteristics Misinterpreted

So, what are some of the traits and characteristics of a highly sensitive person? Let’s look at some of the facts and the mythical labels that have been attached to this special group.

Shyness – You’ll probably find a larger portion of shy people in the HSP group. That does not mean that everyone is shy. That’s a myth. A lot of non-sensitive people are also shy. Sometimes, what’s mistaken as shyness is actually a sizing up of the situation and the people that we have just met. We’re cautious. If our senses are saying something isn’t right about the person, we won’t be so open to them. First impressions count. It’s not just the way the person is dressed, but their whole demeanor, aura, attitude and other little subtleties that we absorb with all of our senses. We process the thoughts, feelings and sensations that we receive in each new situation. This may make some of us appear “shy”, when we’re not.

Introverted – Another myth. You’ll find many HSP’s can be extroverted, out-going and fun-loving. You’ll also find many non-sensitive people as being introverted. Don’t mistake deep-thinking and inner-reflection as introversion. We do require much more alone time. This is because our nervous systems can go into over-load in a situation that a non-sensitive person would find somewhat stimulating. If we become frazzled and over-stimulated, we need to find a quiet spot as soon as possible to settle back down. This is why many HSP’s tend to stay at home more often than not, rather than go out to party. It’s not that we don’t want to… we just know our systems can’t handle the overload for too long a time. If we can’t get away, we’ll pull into ourselves, as a sort of protective shield, to try to reduce the noise, sights, sounds and smells that are bombarding us in order to calm down.

Fearfulness – Unless you’re completely unemotional and have a lack of conscious consideration toward others, who can say that they’ve never been fearful at times? This is not an exclusive trait of sensitive people. New experiences often cause butterflies, fearful thoughts and inner-turmoil in most people. HSP’s just tend to feel those emotions more deeply.

Timidness – Caution, careful evaluation of the situation, needing the see the “entire picture”, and the possible resulting consequences of our actions is just in our nature. If everyone heedlessly rushed into everything, we’d have even more chaos in our world than we do now.

Too-Sensitive – Yes, this is our major trait. We assimilate everything around us at once. Lights, noises, smells, energy vibrations, they all get absorbed, processed and evaluated. Unfortunately when there’s too much activity and noise around us, we can’t handle it for a great length of time. For example, what may be a low to moderate level of music for a non-sensitive person could sound like the level of a rock concert to us. Emotionally, we’re affected by much of the disharmony in the world. We feel another person’s heartache, we are aware of low levels of anger or resentment in a room, we empathize with other people’s problems, and feel great sorrow over horrific tragedies.

What Does All This Mean?

A highly sensitive person will pick up on subtleties in the surroundings that many non-sensitive people can’t see or feel. This can give us some great advantages. It can save us in many situations where there’s trouble brewing. Our abilities can keep us from making disastrous business or personal decisions, if we follow our instincts. And because of our deep sense of the environment around us, we’re often the ones that make others aware of potential environmental problems that unscrupulous companies ignore for their own benefits. HSP’s are often the ones that push for reforms and changes in government law for the better good of everyone.

As with anything, it’s good to know that you’re not alone, that there are others out there that have to deal with the same types of situations and “labels” as you do. True, it doesn’t hurt any less, but you know there are similar types that you can seek out and talk to…and they’ll understand. Yes, we do tend to exhibit more of the above traits and characterisitcs than non-sensitive people do, but we’re not exclusive owners of them either. Sometimes, it’s a misinterpetation of what’s really going on in the mind of an HSP by non-HSP’s. Only another highly sensitive person could really understand. The good news is that highly sensitive people have been around for as long as man has walked the earth… and we’ll always be here, working to make the world a more understanding, considerate and peaceful haven for everyone.

Highly Sensitive People – Traits and Characteristics is a post from: Consumer IST Forums Education News