http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/chocolate-worth-its-weight-in-gold-2127874.html?service=Print

Chocolate – we can’t get enough of it. But cocoa farming can’t keep up with our appetites, and in the future a single bar could cost us £7, warns Anthea Gerrie

Monday, 8 November 2010

Fancy a bit of chocolate? An afternoon Kit Kat with your cup of tea? A chunk of fruit and nut? Go on, you’ve earned it.

Except that in the future, chocoholics might have to work quite a bit harder to pay for their fix. The world could run out of affordable chocolate within 20 years as farmers abandon their crops in the global cocoa basket of West Africa, industry experts claim.

“Galaxy, Creme Eggs, every kind of £1 chocolate bar will be a thing of the past,” warns London chocolatier Marc Demarquette, who believes a bar at £7, or its future equivalent, will be more like it. And Demarquette, who worked as an advisor for a recent BBC Panorama documentary on the troubled West African cocoa fields, is not alone. John Mason, executive director and founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, has forecast that shortages in bulk production in Africa will have a devastating effect: “In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won’t be able to afford it.”

The reason for this unimaginable shortage – which has been presaged by the doubling of cocoa prices in six years to an all-time high over the past three decades – is simple.

Farmers in the countries that produce the bulk of cocoa bought by the multinationals who control the market have found the crop a bitter harvest. The minimal rewards they have historically received do not provide incentives for the time-consuming work of replanting as their trees die off – a task that usually means moving to a new area of canopied forest and waiting three to five years for a new crop to mature.

“It’s hard to maintain production at high levels in a particular plot of land every time, because of pest problems that eat away at the yields and the farms need to be rejuvenated,” explains Thomas Dietsch, research director of ecosystem services at the Earthwatch Organisation. “Although research into new varieties and better management methods could solve those problems, the other challenge is that cocoa is competing for agricultural space with other commodities like palm oil – which is increasingly in demand for biofuels.”

Meanwhile, as the supply of the raw material diminishes, millions of new consumers in the developing world are becoming addicted to the sweet energy-fix at the end of the processing chain. “Chocolate consumption is increasing faster than cocoa production – and it’s not sustainable,” Tony Lass, chairman of the Cocoa Research Association, told the annual conference of Britain’s Academy of Chocolate last month.

Despite price rises on the trading floor, precious little reaches the smallholders who make up 95 per cent of growers, according to Mr. Lass, a former Cadburys trader and ethical sourcing advisor who has co-authored a book on the cocoa industry.

“These smallholders earn just 80 cents a day,” he says. “So there is no incentive to replant trees when they die off, and to wait up to five years for a new crop, and no younger generation around to do the replanting. The children of these African cocoa farmers, whose life expectancy is only 56, are heading for the cities rather than undertake backbreaking work for such a small reward.” As harvests diminish on the Ivory Coast, by far the world’s biggest cocoa producer, crops in Indonesia, the third largest producer, have been hit by a change in weather systems, forcing cocoa prices sky-high.

Demarquette, who makes chocolate for Fortnum’s and has a shop in London’s Fulham Road, adds that, to make matters worse, the soil in Africa’s traditional cocoa fields is rapidly becoming depleted. “In Ghana and Ivory Coast the earth is dead where trees have already been harvested – there are no nutrients left in the soil,” he claims. And some farmers in West Africa have turned to child labour to compensate for the manpower shortage.

“Production will have decreased within 20 years to the point where we won’t see any more cheap bars in vending machines – unless they are made with carob instead of chocolate,” he says. “It’s because the growers in West Africa only see 2p for every £1 bar. Even if you double that, it’s no incentive for the next generation – which rightly expects decent working conditions. Those young people are heading for the cities. They won’t stay around just so schoolchildren and commuters can continue to get their quick fix.”

The good news for consumers is that cocoa, which can only be grown in latitudes within 10 degrees of the equator, is also being produced in South America, the Caribbean and Asia.

However Demarquette says it looks doubtful that those areas will be able to satisfy increased demand, “given the speed with which consumption is growing, with new markets like India and China coming along behind and following Western tastes”.

There is already an upward trend in retail prices for quality chocolate, he notes: “With growers of premium cocoa beans already getting up to 45p per bar to look after their crops properly and fund their future, chocolate will go back to being what it used to be – a rarefied treat.”

Perhaps the world will be happy to live with that. Mintel figures released last month show that all the growth in the £3.6bn chocolate market is in the premium sector, which means chocoholics may well be prepared to dig ever deeper into their pockets for their fix.

“We are currently selling a 70g bar for £7 – and the price will go up, as there is ever more demand for properly cultivated beans,” says Demarquette.

“Of course,” he adds, “there is all the difference in the world betweendecent chocolate and confectionery that is so full of sugar and palm oilthat it doesn’t deserve to be called chocolate at all.”

Sara Jayne Stanes, chair of the UK Academy of Chocolate, believes foodies will save the chocolate industry from extinction by paying whatever it takes for the good stuff: “I do not believe we will run out of cocoa beans, as sustainability is something that affects us all,” she says.

“Over the past 10-15 years, growing curiosity and interest in the fine-chocolate end of the market has created an understanding of how it is different from chocolate confectionery,” she says. Consumers must appreciate that “fine chocolate, like fine wine, will cost considerably more, as cocoa farmers stop leaving the land in search of better-paid jobs in the cities. The result will be more careful cultivation of the crops, and a greater supply of fine cocoas.”

A spokesman from Cadburys doesn’t deny the shortage of cheaper cocoa, but suggests scarcity might be averted through Fair Trade initiatives.

“Together with other manufacturers and the wider cocoa industry, we have been working on a number of agricultural initiatives to both increase and improve yields,” he says. “Our move into Fair Trade was a separate step, to both pay a better price to farmers, and to encourage the next generation of cocoa farmers to stay within the industry.”

The crisis may well be averted in Ghana, Cadbury’s supply heartland and the world’s second largest producer, according to Divine Chocolate, a Ghanaian manufacturer that is 45 per cent owned by a cooperative of 45,000 cocoa farmers. “The Fair Trade system helps ensure that the value of farming is delivered directly to the farmers and their communities,” says its managing director Sophi Tranchell.

“The best route for sustainability is for farmers to organise themselves into larger units, to be able to manage their own farming improvements through improved remuneration, and to put them in a position where they have more influence in the cocoa supply chain. Why else should they continue?” She believes Divine Chocolate has found the right recipe: “Fairtrade – and particularly the Divine ownership model – delivers sustainability into the hands of the farmers, not the hands of the global buyers.”

But it is in the Ivory Coast, by far the world’s largest source of cocoa, where the future of the crop is much more uncertain. “Fair Trade doesn’t really exist here,” says Ange Aboa, a reporter based in the country’s largest city, Abidjan, who specialises in covering the industry. “Young people are moving away from cocoa into rubber, whose price is more stable. And on top of that we have cocoa diseases like swollen shoot and black pod, which have caused a 10 per cent drop in production.”

The biggest hope, he says, is a Nestlé project to replant 10m trees over the next decade: “But these are only for the cooperatives with whom they work, and the replanting will make up for about a quarter of the trees which have been lost. Their goal is to buy only from the cooperatives in future, and not top up by buying from local exporters”.

This should result in better quality beans, he says, but the question of whether there will be enough of them to continue to perpetuate the world view of chocolate as a cheap energy-fix is much more questionable.

“It’s hard to imagine a world without a demand for chocolate, but whether it remains the low-cost snack food it is now may well change in time,” says Earthwatch’s Dietsch. “If the demand for biofuels pushes up the price of the oil-palm crop it may well supplant cocoa – unless measures are taken for those farmers who still grow it to remain in cocoa production.”

But one cause for optimism, he says, is that “the cocoa industry is far ahead of other commodities, like coffee, in putting programmes in place that seek to ensure sustainable supplies”.

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THE REAL REASON CANNABIS HAS BEEN OUTLAWED HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ITS EFFECTS ON THE MIND AND BODY.

MARIJUANA is DANGEROUS. Pot is NOT harmful to the human body or mind. Marijuana does NOT pose a threat to the general public. Marijuana is very much a danger to the oil companies, alcohol, tobacco industries and a large number of chemical corporations. Various big businesses, with plenty of dollars and influence, have suppressed the truth from the people.

The truth is if marijuana was utilized for its vast array of commercial products, it would create an industrial atomic bomb! Entrepreneurs have not been educated on the product potential of pot. The super rich have conspired to spread misinformation about an extremely versatile plant that, if used properly, would ruin their companies.

Where did the word ‘marijuana’ come from? In the mid 1930s, the M-word was created to tarnish the good image and phenomenal history of the hemp plant…as you will read. The facts cited here, with references, are generally verifiable in the Encyclopedia Britannica which was printed on hemp paper for 150 years:

* All schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s; Hemp Paper Reconsidered, Jack Frazier, 1974.

* It was LEGAL TO PAY TAXES WITH HEMP in America from 1631 until the early 1800s; LA Times, Aug. 12, 1981.

* REFUSING TO GROW HEMP in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries WAS AGAINST THE LAW! You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769; Hemp in Colonial Virginia, G. M. Herdon.

“I grew Hemp”, George Washington

* George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; Washington and Jefferson Diaries. Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America.

* Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp. Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow’s export to England; Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer.

* For thousands of years, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from hemp. The word ‘canvas’ is Dutch for cannabis; Webster’s New World Dictionary.

* 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.

* The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross’s flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp; U.S. Government Archives.

* The first crop grown in many states was hemp. 1850 was a peak year for Kentucky producing 40,000 tons. Hemp was the largest cash crop until the 20th Century; State Archives.

* Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back to ancient Egypt.

* Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.

* In 1916, the U.S. Government predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down. Government studies report that 1 acre of hemp equals 4.1 acres of trees. Plans were in the works to implement such programs; Department of Agriculture

* Quality paints and varnishes were made from hemp seed oil until 1937. 58,000 tons of hemp seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935; Sherman Williams Paint Co. testimony before Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

* Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel; Popular Mechanics, 1941.

* Hemp called ‘Billion Dollar Crop.’ It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars; Popular Mechanics, Feb., 1938.

* Mechanical Engineering Magazine (Feb. 1938) published an article entitled ‘The Most Profitable and Desirable Crop that Can be Grown.’ It stated that if hemp was cultivated using 20th Century technology, it would be the single largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

The following information comes directly from the United States Department of Agriculture’s 1942 14-minute film encouraging and instructing ‘patriotic American farmers’ to grow 350,000 acres of hemp each year for the war effort:

‘…(When) Grecian temples were new, hemp was already old in the service of mankind. For thousands of years, even then, this plant had been grown for cordage and cloth in China and elsewhere in the East. For centuries prior to about 1850, all the ships that sailed the western seas were rigged with hempen rope and sails. For the sailor, no less than the hangman, hemp was indispensable…

…Now with Philippine and East Indian sources of hemp in the hands of the Japanese…American hemp must meet the needs of our Army and Navy as well as of our industries…

…the Navy’s rapidly dwindling reserves. When that is gone, American hemp will go on duty again; hemp for mooring ships; hemp for tow lines; hemp for tackle and gear; hemp for countless naval uses both on ship and shore. Just as in the days when Old Ironsides sailed the seas victorious with her hempen shrouds and hempen sails. Hemp for victory!’

Certified proof from the Library of Congress; found by the research of Jack Herer, refuting claims of other government agencies that the 1942 USDA film ‘Hemp for Victory’ did not exist.

Hemp cultivation and production do not harm the environment. The USDA Bulletin #404 concluded that Hemphemp produces 4 times as much pulp with at least 4 to 7 times less pollution. From Popular Mechanics, Feb. 1938:

‘It has a short growing season…It can be grown in any state…The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect condition for the next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, 8 to 12 feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. …hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.’

In the 1930s, innovations in farm machinery would have caused an industrial revolution when applied to hemp. This single resource could have created millions of new jobs generating thousands of quality products. Hemp, if not made illegal, would have brought America out of the Great Depression.

William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane) and the Hearst Paper Manufacturing Division of Kimberly Clark owned vast acreage of timberlands. The Hearst Company supplied most paper products. Patty Hearst’s grandfather, a destroyer of nature for his own personal profit, stood to lose billions because of hemp.

In 1937, Dupont patented the processes to make plastics from oil and coal. Dupont’s Annual Report urged stockholders to invest in its new petrochemical division. Synthetics such as plastics, cellophane, celluloid, methanol, nylon, rayon, Dacron, etc., could now be made from oil. Natural hemp industrialization would have ruined over 80% of Dupont’s business.

THE CONSPIRACY

Andrew Mellon became Hoover’s Secretary of the Treasury and Dupont’s primary investor. He appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Secret meetings were held by these financial tycoons. Hemp was declared dangerous and a threat to their billion dollar enterprises. For their dynasties to remain intact, hemp had to go. These men took an obscure Mexican slang word: ‘marihuana’ and pushed it into the consciousness of America.

MEDIA MANIPULATION

A media blitz of ‘yellow journalism’ raged in the late 1920s and 1930s. Hearst’s newspapers ran stories emphasizing the horrors of marihuana. The menace of marihuana made headlines. Readers learned that it was responsible for everything from car accidents to loose morality.

Films like ‘Reefer Madness’ (1936), ‘Marihuana: Assassin of Youth’ (1935) and ‘Marihuana: The Devil’s Weed’ (1936) were propaganda designed by these industrialists to create an enemy. Their purpose was to gain public support so that anti-marihuana laws could be passed.

Examine the following quotes from ‘The Burning Question’ aka REEFER MADNESS:

*

a violent narcotic.
*

acts of shocking violence.
*

incurable insanity.
*

soul-destroying effects.
*

under the influence of the drug he killed his entire family with an ax.
*

more vicious, more deadly even than these soul-destroying drugs (heroin, cocaine) is the menace of marihuana!

Reefer Madness did not end with the usual ‘the end.’ The film concluded with these words plastered on the screen: TELL YOUR CHILDREN.

In the 1930s, people were very naive; even to the point of ignorance. The masses were like sheep waiting to be led by the few in power. They did not challenge authority. If the news was in print or on the radio, they believed it had to be true. They told their children and their children grew up to be the parents of the baby-boomers.

On April 14, 1937, the Prohibitive Marihuana Tax Law or the bill that outlawed hemp was directly brought to the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the only one that can introduce a bill to the House floor without it being debated by other committees. The Chairman of the Ways and Means, Robert Doughton, was a Dupont supporter. He insured that the bill would pass Congress.

Dr. James Woodward, a physician and attorney, testified too late on behalf of the American Medical Association. He told the committee that the reason the AMA had not denounced the Marihuana Tax Law sooner was that the Association had just discovered that marihuana was hemp.

Few people, at the time, realized that the deadly menace they had been reading about on Hearst’s front pages was in fact passive hemp. The AMA understood cannabis to be a MEDICINE found in numerous healing products sold over the last hundred years.

In September of 1937, hemp became illegal. The most useful crop known became a drug and our planet has been suffering ever since.

Congress banned hemp because it was said to be the most violence-causing drug known. Anslinger, head of the Drug Commission for 31 years, promoted the idea that marihuana made users act extremely violent. In the 1950s, under the Communist threat of McCarthyism, Anslinger now said the exact opposite. Marijuana will pacify you so much that soldiers would not want to fight.

Today, our planet is in desperate trouble. Earth is suffocating as large tracts of rain forests disappear. Pollution, poisons and chemicals are killing people. These great problems could be reversed if we industrialized hemp. Natural biomass could provide all of the planet’s energy needs that are currently supplied by fossil fuels. We have consumed 80% of our oil and gas reserves. We need a renewable resource. Hemp could be the solution to soaring gas prices.

Hemp

THE WONDER PLANT

Hemp has a higher quality fiber than wood fiber. Far fewer caustic chemicals are required to make paper from hemp than from trees. Hemp paper does not turn yellow and is very durable. The plant grows quickly to maturity in a season where trees take a lifetime.

ALL PLASTIC PRODUCTS SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP SEED OIL. Hempen plastics are biodegradable! Over time, they would break down and not harm the environment. Oil-based plastics, the ones we are very familiar with, help ruin nature; they do not break down and will do great harm in the future. The process to produce the vast array of natural (hempen) plastics will not ruin the rivers as Dupont and other petrochemical companies have done. Ecology does not fit in with the plans of the Oil Industry and the political machine. Hemp products are safe and natural.

MEDICINES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. We should go back to the days when the AMA supported cannabis cures. ‘Medical Marijuana’ is given out legally to only a handful of people while the rest of us are forced into a system that relies on chemicals. Pot is only healthy for the human body.

WORLD HUNGER COULD END. A large variety of food products can be generated from hemp. The seeds contain one of the highest sources of protein in nature. ALSO: They have two essential fatty acids that clean your body of cholesterol. These essential fatty acids are not found anywhere else in nature! Consuming pot seeds is the best thing you could do for your body. Eat uncooked hemp seeds.

CLOTHES SHOULD BE MADE FROM HEMP. Hemp clothing is extremely strong and durable over time. You could hand clothing, made from pot, down to your grandchildren. Today, there are American companies that make hemp clothing; usually 50% hemp. Hemp fabrics should be everywhere. Instead, they are almost underground. Superior hemp products are not allowed to advertise on fascist television. Kentucky, once the top hemp producing state, made it ILLEGAL TO WEAR hemp clothing! Can you imagine being thrown into jail for wearing quality jeans?

The world is crazy…but that does not mean you have to join the insanity. Get together. Spread the news. Tell people, and that includes your children, the truth. Use hemp products. Eliminate the word ‘marijuana.’ Realize the history that created it. Make it politically incorrect to say or print the M-word. Fight against the propaganda (designed to favor the agenda of the super rich) and the bullshit. Hemp must be utilized in the future. We need a clean energy source to save our planet. INDUSTRIALIZE HEMP!

The liquor, tobacco and oil companies fund more than a million dollars a day to Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other similar agencies. We have all seen their commercials. Now, their motto is: ‘It’s more dangerous than we thought.’ Lies from the powerful corporations, that began with Hearst, are still alive and well today.

The brainwashing continues. Now, the commercials say: If you buy a joint, you contribute to murders and gang wars. The latest anti-pot commercials say: If you buy a joint…you are promoting TERRORISM! The new enemy (terrorism) has paved the road to brainwash you any way THEY see fit.

There is only one enemy; the friendly people you pay your taxes to; the war-makers and nature destroyers. With your funding, they are killing the world right in front of your eyes. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY TOBACCO. HALF A MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR ARE CAUSED BY ALCOHOL. NO ONE HAS EVER, EVER DIED FROM SMOKING POT!! In the entire history of the human race, not one death can be attributed to cannabis. Our society has outlawed grass but condones the use of the KILLERS: TOBACCO and ALCOHOL. Hemp should be declassified and placed in DRUG stores to relieve stress. Hardening and constriction of the arteries are bad; but hemp usage actually enlarges the arteries…which is a healthy condition. We have been so conditioned to think that: Smoking is harmful. That is NOT the case for passive pot.

Ingesting THC, hemp’s active agent, has a positive effect; relieving asthma and glaucoma. A joint tends to alleviate the nausea caused by chemotherapy. You are able to eat on hemp. This is a healthy state of being.

{One personal note: During the pregnancy of my wife, she was having some difficulty gaining weight. We were in the hospital. A nurse called us to one side and said: ‘Off the record, if you smoke pot…you’d get something called the munchies and you’ll gain weight.’ I swear that is a true story}.

The stereotype for a pothead is similar to a drunk, bubble-brain. Yet, the truth is one’s creative abilities can be enhanced under its influence. The perception of time slightly slows and one can become more sensitive. You can more appreciate all arts; be closer to nature and generally FEEL more under the influence of cannabis. It is, in fact, the exact opposite state of mind and body as the drunken state. You can be more aware with pot.

The pot plant is an ALIEN plant. There is physical evidence that cannabis is not like any other plant on this planet. One could conclude that it was brought here for the benefit of humanity. Hemp is the ONLY plant where the males appear one way and the females appear very different, physically! No one ever speaks of males and females in regard to the plant kingdom because plants do not show their sexes; except for cannabis. To determine what sex a certain, normal, Earthly plant is: You have to look internally, at its DNA. A male blade of grass (physically) looks exactly like a female blade of grass. The hemp plant has an intense sexuallity. Growers know to kill the males before they fertilize the females. Yes, folks…the most potent pot comes from ‘horny females.’

The reason this amazing, very sophisticated, ET plant from the future is illegal has nothing to do with how it physically affects us…..

…POT IS ILLEGAL BECAUSE BILLIONAIRES WANT TO REMAIN BILLIONAIRES!

ps: I think the word ‘DRUGS’ should not be used as an umbrella-word that covers all chemical agents. Drugs have come to be known as something BAD. Are you aware there are LEGAL drugstores?! Yep, in every city. Unbelievable. Each so-called drug should be considered individually. Cannabis is a medicine and not a drug. We should DARE to speak the TRUTH no matter what the law is
By: Starmarie Jones

Resources: http://www.hempseedshop.com/

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It sounds like you have little snitch blocking software update, as the default is to ask. Check the Little Snitch Configuration and delete the entry for software update, then it will prompt for any connection. If that doesn’t work you could try whitelisting software update:

Go to the Little Snitch Configuration, click the Plus button, Chose the application (/System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update), allow any server any port any protocol.

If you want to be more strict than that this is what I have. I just did it by adding whenever software update tried to use it. I imagine you blocked

action: allow
process: /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/MacOS/Software Update
destination: swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net
port: 80
protocol: 6
help: wants to connect to swcdn.apple.com.edgesuite.net on TCP port 80 (http).

action: allow
process: /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/MacOS/Software Update
destination: swquery.apple.com
port: 80
protocol: 6
help: wants to connect to swquery.apple.com on TCP port 80 (http).

action: allow
process: /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/MacOS/Software Update
destination: swscan.apple.com
port: 80
protocol: 6
help: wants to connect to swscan.apple.com on TCP port 80 (http).

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1. Call your state’s Department of Licensing, and ask whether or not you need a special license to start a travel agency business. Many states do not require such licensing. If your state does require you to obtain a travel agency license, expect to pay a fee for it.

2. Obtain a general business license for the area in which you live or plan to operate your business. Most cities and towns require such licensing of all businesses, even if they are home based.

3. Find a host agency to work with, such as Dugan’s Travel or Nexion. A host agency can allow you to book travel for your customers using its established accounts. You will earn commissions for your bookings, but you should expect to pay a percentage of your commissions for the privilege of booking through its accounts.

4. Get training to ensure the success of your travel agency and avoid common pitfalls. Remember, one mistake could cause your clients major inconvenience, so you’ll want to know exactly what you’re doing before you start booking travel. You could take an online training course or classes at a brick-and-mortar school, but many host agencies offer free training when you sign on with them. The Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN) offers training information, as does the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA).

5. Advertise your new travel agency business. Shout news of your grand opening on travel-based messaged boards and search engines. Put up flyers and take out newspaper ads, and establish a website.

6. Begin to book reservations for your clients using the Internet and your telephone. Most travel suppliers make it easy for agents to contact them, as they want their business. If you work with a host agency, you’ll probably receive a list of suppliers, complete with contact information, to make your job easier.

Here’s a brief look at the five different types of travel service businesses covered in this article, and in Travel Services start-up guide:

1. Homebased: If you want to keep your overhead low and your profits high, this could be the type of business for you. Thanks to the internet, homebased agents have at their command all the same tools that used to be available only at a traditional brick-and-mortar travel agency. The internet also has delivered another important advantage to homebased travel services: Such businesses are no longer expected to be brick-and-mortar. After years of buying books online, bidding and selling in online auctions, and paying bills online, customers today are very comfortable buying all kinds of services via the internet-and in fact, they look rather askance at companies that do not have an internet presence since they want to surf for information day and night.

It’s also important to note that it’s possible to run any of these five types of businesses from the comfort of your home, although specialty/niche businesses, corporate businesses and franchise business are the most likely to be based in a brick-and-mortar facility.

2. Independent contractor: If you like working in a traditional travel agency but love the freedom of being your own boss even better, then working as an independent contractor in the travel industry could be the right move for you. Independent contractors make their own hours (with the needs of the travel agency in mind, of course), build their own client list, and are solely responsible for paying their own way at tax time. At the same time, they benefit from having a physical office where they can meet with clients, pick up walk-in business, and drop the name of an established agency when they make cold calls or follow up on leads. That gives you the type of credibility that can be very valuable when you’re just starting out on your own.

But you don’t have to be present physically in someone’s office to be an independent contractor. Some travel agents, like Bill Jilla, an independent contractor in Florida, handles travel arrangements and other services for an established company right from the comfort of his home office, although he also has worked as an independent contractor in a brick-and-mortar travel agency.

3. Specialty/niche business: Since leisure travel makes up 80 percent of total sales in the travel industry (according to Plunkett Research), there are plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to offer specialty travel services. You can get into the field in more than one way. First, you can offer tours and packages tailored to the interests and needs of particular groups. Second, you can choose to offer very specialized niche services that will appeal to a very narrow demographic. For example, California entrepreneurs Michael Chu and Ying Liu offer a highly specialized set of services to business travelers to China. Third, you can offer luxury travel services. For example, on entrepreneur we’ve met offers charter airline services to top-level business travelers and another arranges stays in luxury villas in both the United States and abroad.

4. Corporate travel: Actually a type of niche travel service, corporate travel has been singled out in this book because of the various opportunities it offers. But beware, it can be difficult to break into this particular field. A lot of companies already have their own in-house staff or have been dealing with the same travel agency for eons. However, new companies of all kinds with no previous travel agency ties spring up all the time and may be open to the idea of having their own travel service, while others may be looking for a new company because they aren’t entirely happy with the job their existing travel agency is doing. Conversely, you might be able to land a spot as an independent contractor or homebased agent on a travel agency team that already has an established clientele. Either way, there is money to be made for the right entrepreneur.

5. Franchise: If you like the idea of launching a “plug and play” business that is ready to go right out of the box, then a travel services franchise could be your ticket to success. With a franchise, you purchase the rights to use a tried and true concept, as well as the name recognition and business procedures that come along with it. However, you do have to conform to the franchisor’s established methods of doing business. In addition, the best franchisee is a person who has been successful in a previous career, because, of course, franchises don’t run themselves and a basic knowledge of established business practices is necessary.

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defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add ‘{tile-data={}; tile-type=”spacer-tile”;}’

Repeat this step for each separator you would like, and make sure to press Enter each time to execute the command.
To add a separator to the right side of the dock (the document side) enter this into the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add ‘{tile-data={}; tile-type=”spacer-tile”;}’

Repeat this step for each separator you would like, and make sure to press Enter each time to execute the command.
Now you need to reset the Dock, which can be done by entering this into the terminal:

killall Dock

–Removing the Separators–

If you ever decide that you don’t want the separator(s) anymore there are two fast ways to get rid of them. Just like most other Dock items you can drag each one off the Dock to have them removed, or you can Ctrl+Click (a.k.a. right-click) on them and select the remove option.

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“For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture of young people and the impact it has on their futures.” – Mark Bauerlein

Who is concerned? Whose world is it? And what kind of world was left to them?

Could it be that, as with each successive generation, today’s youth have taken a good hard look at preceding generations and come to the conclusion that they’ve been left holding the bag? I mean look at shape the world is in.

Why would anyone, especially a generation who should be looking forward to all that life has to offer, buy into that which hasn’t worked? Isn’t that the definition of stupid?

The more seasoned among us may disagree and reiterate the same criticism about youth that has been going round since Adam had Cain – that kids today don’t quite measure up to expectations. Funny thing is that the kids may be thinking the same thing about their parents’ generation.

Mark Bauerlein’s book is said to lay out a compelling vision of how “we” might address this generation’s deficiencies.

My question is – deficiencies to whom?

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by Ben Mattlin (NPR’s MORNING EDITION, April 28, 2010)

I get a lot of recommendations to join Facebook groups with names like Fight SMA. I never respond.

SMA stands for spinal muscular atrophy, and I was born with it. I’ve never walked or stood, and over time have lost the use of my hands. It’s a progressive, neuromuscular weakness. It occurs in one of every 6,000 births, and is the most common cause of genetically based neonatal death. So fighting it is a noble cause, and I feel for parents who’ve lost their babies, but it’s not my cause. I can never support a group that aims to cure me.

My disability is part of who I am. It’s all I’ve ever known. Who would I be without it? It doesn’t define me, but it has informed every aspect of my life. Even as a child, I never dreamed of walking. Flying, yes. I wanted to be a superhero, but I never wanted to be just like everyone else.

My big brother, who doesn’t have SMA, once asked me what I’d do if there were an operation that could fix my muscles but risked leaving me worse off or dead. No thanks, I said. Even then, it was the thought of losing my trademark wheels that terrified me, not death.

I can see that being able to do more physically would be helpful. I’d like to be a little less dependent on other people and machinery. But when I try to picture myself stripped of my disability, it leaves me feeling cold and lost. My Facebook friends might not agree. Many people with SMA do feel more physically vulnerable than I do. Yes, I know I wouldn’t be here without scientific progress.

Yet I can’t help having a mental block against medicalizing disability. It just doesn’t square with my particular form of disability pride. After all, if you dream of a cure, aren’t you saying we’re not okay as we are? And if we focus on medical fixes, don’t we risk misdirecting our energies away from the external inequities that we can and must end: the barriers of architecture, attitudes and economics that truly handicap us.

Disability is a fact of life. It’s here to stay, so why not celebrate it as another part of human diversity? Call me crazy, but I sort of like myself just the way I am.

http://home.earthlink.net/~bmattlin2/id46.html

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We, in our own lives, have everything we need to discern the truth. If we cannot glean truth by critically and unashamedly assessing ourselves, then how do we know truth?

How do we relate to truth we cannot apply in our own lives? And if we cannot apply it in our own lives, how is it true to us?

“To thine own self be true”, may not be canonical, but does, in my opinion, respect the uniqueness God has created in each individual.

Even the process of studying requires us to contextualize the information studied based on our own life experiences, without which we would be unable to understand.

Now some may argue that you don’t have to understand to believe. (i.e. Daawee may not understand how I can take over his computer in Chicago while I’m in Indianapolis. But if he is CONVINCED I am doing it, he believes it.

On the other hand, if Marc comes to me and tells me he’s just been abducted by aliens, I may want to believe him, but will have a hard time doing so if he cannot provide me with evidence or information that MAKES SENSE TO ME.

We can never be sure we see exactly the same thing. Take Jenny, who is color blind and is ashamed of it, and hasn’t told anyone. She has learned over the years to distinguish gradations of color through HER eyes. When I ask her which tomato is reddest, she can tell me – BUT WE DON’T SEE THE SAME THING.

Two people looking at a flag pole that is painted two colors can argue all day long about what color the flag pole is. Until they step away from their vantage point, they may never realize that the other person’s perspective is just as correct as their own; but none of them, until they stepped out beyond their own perspective to EXPERIENCE the other perspective could completely ascertain the Truth.

Do you and I’ll do me. After all, who am I to dictate what is good for another person? Is my life so perfect that I can tell someone else how to live a perfect life?

Each of us is like a needle in a ball of needles, all connected at the core. Each of us represents and offers a perspective of life that is uniquely legitimate. Our lives are enriched through relationships with others – sharing our perspectives with each other and learning from each other, broadening the horizon of our understanding.

It reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said, “where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am also.”

Iron sharpens iron. When we come together, let us reason with one another in the spirit of truth, which is, of course, the spirit of love…

When we do this, we not only see others more clearly, but ourselves as well. Believe it for yourself.

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What was that song from back in the day from “School Daze”? “I Can Only Be Me” by Keith John.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6laIAWUzg8

I understand that there is an argument based on scripture that says we must deny ourselves (our own base proclivities) in order to realize our God given potential.

Paul said “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

That’s a supposed to be a good thing, right? Free from our instincts, fears, and carnal desire – and reborn into a “new world” with a new perspective, clear sight, new vision, and unmistakable purpose.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? – Matthew 16:24-26

Each individual is responsible for his/her own decisions… for his/her own soul. We know that we reap what we sow. Its up to you whether you want to follow man or God. The other alternative is to become your own god.

Man = flawed.
You = flawed.
God = perfection.

But what if you don’t know God to be perfection? What if you aren’t sure there even is a God?

I cannot make anyone believe anything. I believe that God reveals himself to people – and that it is up to the them if they want to believe. It is THEIR choice.

Most of the people in the Bible I can think of – who KNEW God to be God – allowed their own imperfections to get in the way of their belief in God.

Adam didn’t love God… and God was right there with him!

Moses had a self esteem issue, kneeling before God!

Jeremiah didn’t want to waste his breath, though he had witnessed for God many times!

Samson was irreverent, though he knew he was ordained by God!

Jesus sweat blood! Though he knew Whose he was!

So I can understand how difficult it is for people to develop a relationship with an INVISIBLE being who is supposed to be the Creator of the Universe.

But nobody else’s experience can substitute for my own relationship with God. Not my Dad’s, or my Grandmother’s, or my daughter’s. That is MY responsibility, whether I choose to embrace it or not.

Life has shown me that relationships, on any level, require work. I don’t expect that it is ay less true with my relationship with The Almighty. Maybe even more so…

See what you done started!

I did want to say that there are semantics at work with regard to religious terminology which I think can be misleading. True believers practice Islam and are Muslims by literal definition.

The world’s definition of these terms and the true meaning of the words are often diametrically opposed as they contradict each other. Is this intentional?

KKK members called themselves Christians.

Kunta was called Tobe.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

As it is written, so shall it be done.

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