S. J. V. Chelvanayakam

Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam (March 31, 1898 - April 27, 1977) was a SriLnkan politician and leader of the Tamil community.

Early life Chelvanayakam was born in Ipoh, Malaysia, but returned to Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) at the age of four. He studied at Union College, Tellippalai, and St. Thomas' College. At age 19, he had a bachelor's degree, and by 25, was called to the bar. He married Emily Grace Barr Kumuarakulasinghe two years later.

Political career Chelvanayakam became active in the All Ceylon Tamil Congress during the drive for independence, becoming the party's deputy leader. He was elected to Parliament in the 1947 elections.

The ACTC was torn between Chelvanayakam and G.G. Ponnambalam, who pushed for greater cooperation with the United National Party government. Chelvanayakam broke with Ponnambalam in protest over the latter's support for the denial of citizenship to the estate Tamils in 1949. He went on to found a new, more aggressive party, the Federal Party.

In the 1956 election, the Federal Party emerged as the leading party in the Tamil regions, but the new prime minister, Solomon Bandaranaike, pushed through the Sinhala Only Act, which met with stiff opposition from the Tamils.

Chelvanayakam led a satyagraha protest against the new law. The campaign succeeded at first in swaying the government, which negotiated the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact which agreed to provide government services in Tamil and devolve powers to a set of provincial councils. Bandaranaike abandoned the pact after stiff opposition from Buddhist monks.

After his fruitless experience dealing with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party governments of 1956-65, Chelvanayakam turned to the UNP. After that party's victory in the 1965 election, the Federal Party joined the government of Dudly Senanayake. He signed the Senanayake-Chelvanayakam Pact which also provided for Tamil services and district councils.

Senanayake's regime failed to implement the Pact and as a result, Chelvanayakam and the FP left the government in 1968.

By the 1970s, Chelvanayakam had grown bitter over his failure to win any meaningful concessions from the Sinhalese, and became sympathetic to the cause of Tamil separatism. The FP and other parties merged into the Tamil United Liberation Front towards that end, with Chelvanayakam as their leader.

Death His health was increasingly poor; he had suffered from Parkinson's disease and growing deafness since the 1950s. In 1961, Chelva underwent surgery in Edinburgh to relieve the stress from Parkinson disease at the hands of a neurosurgeon, Francis John Gillingham and the operation "proved successful." Despite the success of this operation, he died in 1977 at his home and was buried in Jaffna.

Profile

Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front In office1972–1977

Leader of the Federal Party In office1949–1972

Deputy Leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress In office1944–1949

Member of the Sri Lanka Parliamentfor Kankesanthurai In office1947–1952 Succeeded by Subaiya Nadesan, UNP

In office1956–1977 Preceded by Subaiya Nadesan, UNP

Born March 31, 1898(1898-03-31)Ipoh, Malaysia

Died April 27, 1977 (aged 79)Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Political party Tamil United Liberation Front

Spouse(s) Emily Grace Barr Chelvanayakam

Alma mater Union CollegeSt. Thomas College

Profession Lawyer

#1 Quantitty Surveyor

Ten years later, bronze 'special' for U.S. gymnast Dominique Dawes

It may be 10 years since she competed in the Olympics, but gymnast Dominique Dawes is thrilled about the new medal she will soon add to her collection. Dawes and her teammates were given the bronze after China was stripped of their 2000 Olympic bronze medals because they fielded an underage competitor, Dong Fangxiao.

Dawes, who has worked with Yahoo! Sports for the past two Olympics, heard the good news from another reporter.

"I got calls from fellow reporters before receiving an email from the [Gymnastics International] Federation," Dawes told Fourth-Place Medal. "I also got a call by my coach, Kelli Hill, to congratulate me on the medal."

She said that getting the medal puts a positive ending on an Olympics that had been disappointing for Team USA, which had been shut out of medals.

"It was very difficult not just for the gymnasts, but the coaches as well. When we got to Sydney, we didn't have gold medal on our minds, but we knew there was a possibility for us to get on the podium. It is good to know that now, 10 years later, we did achieve the goal that we had set out to do."

In 2000, though there had been whispers about Fangxiao's age, Dawes avoided the gossip to focus on her performances.

"As an athlete, when you're competing, you're not focused on the things you can't control," Dawes said. "Of course, I heard about the speculation of the athletes being underage. However, once I heard it, I quickly forgot about it. It was really something I didn't want to affect my performance in a negative way."

Dawes contacted teammate Elise Ray immediately after hearing about the medal, and though both women are ecstatic, Dawes can't help but find it bittersweet.

"When I look at it, there are two things that bother me. One, my teammates. This is their first medal and they didn't get to stand on the podium and have those medals put around our necks and have America watching on TV and be so proud of them, and number two, it's the Chinese gymnasts. The one thing that everyone's ignoring in this situation is that these gymnasts don't have a voice. They don't have a say. They're told that they're going to compete, and they're supposed to say they're a certain age, and it's sad. They are stripping these athletes, and they don't have a voice."

Still, Dawes said that this win will hold a special place for her among her other accomplishments in gymnastics, which includes an Olympic gold, three Olympic bronzes and three world silver medals.

"It does definitely add something different and special. I had taken a year off prior to those Olympics, and I came back after just training for four months, and I really did it for the fans because they had been such strong supporters of me throughout my Olympic career. It really is a sweet moment for me, because I was 23, I was over-the-hill, I was done, and I was really saying farewell to the fans."

Insights On Year End Bonuses

Upper Saddle River, NJ - February 2, 2010 - 2009 was a tough year for many businesses. For those who were able to survive and, in some cases, turn a profit, many were faced with another problem - how to distribute bonuses.

Year-end bonuses allow a company to share in the profitability and successes that it achieved during the year. Unfortunately, since the bonus determination is an after-the-fact process, it is very similar to the biblical "manna from heaven"; we don't fully understand where it came from, but we're not going to give it back. The problem with bonuses is two-fold: there is little or no linkage between the payout and performance, and it tends to become an expectation, and, therefore, an entitlement.

Incentives, on the other hand, have a clearly identified cause and effect relationship. By setting the expectations up front, not only is there a much greater probability of achieving those goals, but the rationale for the payments is understood. On the other hand, if the desired performance is not met, the lack of results supports the lack of any rewards.

One issue with implementing incentive plans over after-the-fact bonuses is that the organization must determine performance goals up front. Without identifying specific performance measures and targets, there is no way of defining when success is
achieved. It would be like playing football without any of the field markers, lines, or goals. It may be an exciting game, but there is certainly going to be a lot of bickering on what happened. Surprisingly, many organizations don't establish their "goal lines",
but still expect their employees to know what they are supposed to do. However, once
a company has determined its expectations and communicated these to its management and employees, it is much easier to develop the reward mechanism which will pay for performance. In very simplistic terms, this is how incentive plans work.

Since we have organized through 2009 and are now starting a new year, companies
should now finalize their 2010 objectives and convert their year-end bonus programs
into much more effective incentive plans. Call a member of our consulting staff to
discuss how we can assist your company to eliminate entitlements, and introduce real
pay-for-performance programs.

Setting Floor Tiles Is Not So Hard

To lay floor tiles in a room you need some specific tools. You will need floor tiles like ceramic tiles, tile spacers, adhesive, chalk or a chalk line, a tile cutter, a notched spreader, a grout float, a sponge to dampen and wipe the grout, and a clean cloth.

How to Begin
To start take some time to lay out the floor tiles. This step is important it is known as setting out or laying out the floor tiles. Mark the mid-point of the walls in an intersecting line onto the floor with chalk. Begin laying out the floor tiles and spacers and making adjustments so as to not have cut tiles nearest the wall that is seen as you walk into the room are that are clearly visible. Try and use as many whole floor tiles as possible.

The next step is to lift the floor tiles and begin applying adhesive starting in one corner of the room using the notched spreader. Start laying the floor tiles beginning in the centre where you had marked the chalk lines and work your way towards the walls. Walls are rarely straight and should never be used as guides.

As the floor tiles are laid use spacers in between the tiles, continuing outwards. Follow this method until all of the whole floor tiles are laid throughout the room, leaving only the cut floor tiles needed to fill the gaps. Using the tile cutter, cut the floor tiles and make sure to allow for the grout spacing in all your cuts. Once all of the gaps have been filled the adhesive needs to set over night.

Grouting
After about 12 hours or so depending on the adhesives instructions, you will be ready to grout the seams of all of your floor tiles. Mix your grout accordingly, and apply liberally using your grout float ensuring to get even amounts inside all of your floor tile seams. The excess grout can be wiped away with a damp sponge and the floor tiles can be cleaned in the same manner and wiped with a clean cloth. In the end you should
have a beautifully laid and professional looking tiled floor.

Inexpensive and Long Lasting

Do it your-selfers love saving money and take pride in their own work. Tile flooring
comes in so many colors textures and styles that it is hard to imagine not finding
something to suit your taste. As well there are always good prices in tile flooring that
makes it such a great deal.

Why Use A Web Presenter For Your Site

There are over 1,733,000,000 Internet users around the globe and over 235 million
searches done on Google a day. The Internet has become rich pickings for companies wishing to market there products, services or ideas to a global audience. With so many businesses now online, it is a critical decision for the company, to be first found, and
second to keep the user on the site long enough to capture there attention and get them to carry out a call to action, whether that be buy a product, sign up for a
newsletter, or join a forum.

One of the most influential ways to capture a user, is through video and especially a web presenter. It has been proven that visitors to a website, normally have a very short attention span. Seven seconds to be exact. This means the website owner, has seven seconds to captivate there audience before they leave, or worse leave and purchase from a competitor. By the use of video on a site, the customer is naturally
drawn to the image, and will pick up more than 30% more information than if they just
read just content on a site.

Web Presenters Capture The Attention

One way to capture the customer is by the use of a walk on web presenter. Walk on
web presenters are usually professional actors/actresses or for a special touch some webmaster will take the role of web presenter themselves. Usually all that is needed is for the web presenter to walk on from either the left or right hand of the screen and deliver a short welcome message and brief introduction of the site pointing out the key features.

Web Presenter Video Tour

Another idea is to use video as a marketing tool for a companies products and services. This can be either in the form of a direct advert about the company offering a walk through of the store, interviewing staff members and even the owner of the business or a instructional/how-to-video solving an every day problem, for example changing a car battery. This engages the user without it feeling like there forced into a sale.

This can be seen as a daunting and difficult task for the business owner, but it need not be. A video production company can outline the steps needed to product a successful video, and help with scripting, editing, filming, casting and more. Some will even distribute your video content.

STUPID QUESTIONS WITH THE SMART ANSWERS

BOY : May I hold your hand?

GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!

BOY : You love me...

GIRL : If we become engaged will you give me a ring??

BOY : Sure, what's your phone number??

GIRL : I think the poorest people are the happiest.

BOY : Then marry me and we'll be the happiest couple

GIRL : Darling, I want to dance like this forever.

BOY : Don't you ever want to improve??

BOY : I love you and I could die for you!

GIRL : How soon??

BOY : I would go to the end of the world for you!

GIRL : Yes, but would you stay there??

Leadership And Motivation

Motivation should never be taken as being constant as it can change on a moments notice. So how do you as a leader affect motivation?

People's lives change in an instant, one minute they are happy and doing a great job and the next minute they are depressed and upset. You as a leader have to constantly observe your team and their level of motivation.

It could be a phone call that was bad news, a rude customer, argument with another team member to name a few. When you notice a change it is important that you immediately take action. Why you ask, I am not a counselor. You are far beyond being a counselor, you are a leader and leaders take initiative and fix problems immediately.

Here is a true life example: Cristina comes to work motivated and full of energy, several hours later you notice that she is reserved and through her body language you see a totally different person. What are you going to do, ignore it or take the initiative to find out what the problem is?

If you ignore it then you will have an ineffective person for at least the remainder of the day or you can take action and talk with her to find out what the problem is.

In some cases they will tell you there is nothing wrong, don't buy into this and then there are the ones that will freely open up to you. The particular example I am speaking of was incredibly simple, Cristina had a major sale but the customer credit application was denied.

The reason she was so upset was her department would have made the daily budget as they have been having a bad week. It took all of 5 minutes to motivate her about there would be other opportunities' and we need you.

Motivation is never constant but you can have a major affect on your team if you are observant, engaged and above.

How You Can Lose Weight The Natural Way

Losing weight is not hard. The diet industry has led people to believe that you either need to starve yourself or spend your life in the gym in order to lose weight. The truth is that losing weight is simple. It is just takes some time to do it naturally. Most people want to lose weight immediately. They want to drop ten pounds for their next month's vacation. They eat very little, they work out constantly, and after the vacation they do not understand why they gain back the weight they lost. The only successful diet is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change. To permanently lose weight, you need to make fitness and good diet daily habits.

Many individuals think that going to the gym for a hardcore workout is the only legitimate way to get exercise. This can backfire. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to go to the gym several times a week, especially if you have a busy life. Additionally, if you ever need to cut back financially the gym membership is often the first expense to be cut. Exercise is important, of course. However, in order to see long term weight loss results, you need to think outside the gym. It can be easy to blow off going to the gym. If your home is your gym, however, it is easier to stay on track.

Instead of depending on the gym, look for ways to incorporate fitness into your daily routine. Buy a small set of weights and do a few reps during commercials. Do some sit ups in the morning when you wake. If you do just fifty sit ups every morning, you will see results in just a couple of months. Walk whenever possible and make sure that you walk for at least thirty minutes three or four times a week. It takes about six weeks for most people to form a habit. If you give yourself time and keep working at it, your daily fitness practices will become second nature to you. Working out will no longer be a chore but just another part of your life.

In addition to exercise, you need to eat the right foods. Eating right does not mean you need to give up all your favorite foods. Remember, the perfect is often the enemy of the good. Do not eat only junk food because you think you could never eat a perfectly healthy diet. Concentrate on making better choices instead of best ones. That way, you never feel deprived. Try healthy snacks until you find some that you truly enjoy. Never force yourself to eat diet food that you hate. This will only cause you to give up and return to your old habits.

Plan on giving your body a year to adjust to your lifestyle changes before you see real results. If you live a healthy lifestyle, you will not have to worry about losing weight or dieting. You will have the body you have always wanted and the freedom to truly enjoy it.

Cricket Is A Religion That Unites India

Cricket in India is more than a sport; it is appropriate to call it the religion of India. Over the years, especially after India's rather unexpected triumph in the 1983 World Cup, cricket has emerged as the de facto national sport of the nation, displacing hockey from its long-held position. The volume of crowd pulled by cricket in India be it a test or one dayer is much higher than anywhere else.

You don't even need to visit the place where India is involved in a cricket match with some other country. The whole country gets into the 'cricket pulse'. Schools, colleges, offices, homes, tea stalls anywhere and everywhere you will find people engrossed in discussing cricket. Everyone seem to have an opinion on whatever happens on the field. If not that then what is India's cricket pulse?

Obviously cricket news draws lot of attention in print or in electronic media . Considering the huge fan following and importance of cricket in India media houses also give lot of emphasis on cricket news. Cricket news is now often treated as a lead item, something almost unimaginable a few years ago. Sachin Tendulkar's latest century does not attract eyeballs if shown as a most important news on TV or newspaper. It just goes to show how deep India's cricket love is.

Cricket fans who fail to make it to the field keep track by following live cricket scores. Nowadays you can check the live cricket scores either on TV or going online . Your TV or computer enables you to catch up on what's happening in the field.

Many cricket lovers miss the action being in office or working late. Keeping such people in mind, many sports channels telecast cricket highlights in which the important portions of the game is shown. Intelligent planning of cricket highlight enables the cricket fans to have a complete idea of the action that happened on the field.

Poor performances by the Indian Hockey team relegated its status to a lesser ranked sports than cricket. Owing to the consistently good performance by Indian cricket team it has become very popular in the country. In ICC rankings India ranks no 1. Till now it 's all hunky dory but what about when they'll perform poor. With the excellent on field performances of the Indian team they have also been ranked the No.1 test team in the world as per the ICC test rankings, this has given another fillip to the cricket frenzy in India.

5 Reasons Why Your Blog Does Not Make Money Online

Do you know why you are not able to make money online with your blog with all your efforts going in vain? Keep on reading this post as this post covers top 5 reasons that are directly applying on your blog due to which you are not able to monetize your blog traffic effectively:

1.The first impression is that last impression. If you have a spammy homepage with a dozen ads that promise thousands of dollars in a week, there is a high chance most visitors will be put off. Your visitors like a website to be elegant and not filled with loads of blinking banners across the face of their screen. A spammy looking website simply does not look professional or gain the trust of your visitor.

2.Your recent posts seem to date three months back. And your latest post is a lame post on how sorry you are to not update your blog regularly. Reasons such as "Busy", "Note felt Like" are hardly pleasing to read. If this how your visitor is welcomed to your blog, then rest assured that you have lost a reader and may be a potential money making opportunity.

3.An "About" page is very important, the lack of these pages take away any credibility to the content you produce. No matter how good they are. Most people are quire curious to know the author behind the blog. It adds a personal touch and an "About" page is a great way to connect to readers. Lack of Contact page is perhaps the most unprofessional thing you can do.

4.Most bloggers fail to optimize the revenue potential of their blog. On some blogs PPC ads simply do not work. The point is to understand what kind of monetization works best for your content. Maybe selling affiliate products would fetch you more money than the regular PPC campaigns.

5.There is no point trying to make money if the articles you post do not offer value to the readers. Unless you provide your readers with some information that they can use, they will never care about your blog. Readers want something they can use or something which makes them happy.

Project Management-005

Using a Project Management Methodology

What is a Methodology?A methodology is basically "a set of methods or steps that you use to deliver projects". The key point is that you repeat the same steps for every project you undertake, and by doing that you gain efficiencies in your work.

What will it do?

When you use a project methodology (like MPMM), it gives you:

• A defined set of steps to follow for delivering projects.
• A set of templates to help you do things quickly.
• A suite of case studies to help you learn.
• The ability to customize the methodology provided.
• The option to import your existing methodology into it.

What will it not do?A Methodology is not a silver bullet. It will not fix your projects by itself. And it's fair to say that no methodology "out-of-the-box" will be 100% applicable to every type of project. So you need to customize your methodology to ensure it fits your project environment.

Why use a Methodology?A methodology will help you by giving you a clear roadmap for achieving project success.

It will tell you and your team what has to be done, how it should be done and by when, to deliver your project on time.

Using a methodology you can:

• Startup and plan projects
• Monitor time, cost and quality
• Control change and scope
• Minimize risks and issues
• Manage staff and suppliers

You can choose to use the elements of the methodology that are most suitable to each project you undertake. For instance, when managing smaller projects, you can use simple lightweight steps to deliver your project. And when managing large projects, you can use more heavyweight steps to monitor and control every element of your project.

By following the same generic steps for every project you undertake, you'll become more efficient, work smarter and reduce stress. You will also have a clear roadmap ahead, giving you the confidence you need to succeed.

Home Interior Design-Series-021

House Proud Book – 19th Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection

Interior Design Who was studying the art and craft of Interior Design, watercolor drawings of interiors were one of the staple images they worked on. That’s why they was naturally attracted to a book such as ‘House Proud’ which is a collection of nineteenth century watercolor images from the Thaw Collection. The book is a celebration and example of the large collection given to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, the only museum focused on contemporary and historic design in the US.

It was fashionable in the 19th Century Europe for aristocratic and upper-class families to commission artists to represent their home interiors in watercolor paintings. These were collected in albums and became heirlooms to be passed down from one generation to the next. The most beautiful were also given to visiting guests especially if they were royalty. The House Proud book showcases these 19th century watercolor interiors together with historical facts on the social, political and economic developments of interior design for the domestic home.

‘House Proud’ is an ideal gift for someone you know who admires 19th Century Interiors and who has an interest in this period of time, particularly in Europe. The splendid cover of the book means it will make a wonderful coffee table book which can be displayed for casual reading when guests and family visit.

Passive smoking

("Second hand smoke")

Passive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), from tobacco products used by others. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Scientific evidence shows that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes disease, disability, and death.



Passive smoking has played a central role in the debate over the harms and regulation of tobacco products. Since the early 1970s, the tobacco industry has been concerned about passive smoking as a serious threat to its business interests; harm to "innocent bystanders" was perceived as a motivator for stricter regulation of tobacco products. Despite an early awareness of the likely harms of secondhand smoke, the tobacco industry coordinated to engineer a scientific controversy with the aim of forestalling regulation of their products.



Currently, the health risks of secondhand smoke are a matter of scientific consensus, and these risks have been one of the major motivations for smoking bans in workplaces and indoor public places, including restaurants, bars and night clubs.


The term thirdhand smoke was recently coined to identify the residual tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished and secondhand smoke has cleared from the air. Preliminary research suggests that byproducts of thirdhand smoke may pose a health risk, though the magnitude of risk, if any, remains unknown.


Long-term effects


General:
Overall increased risk; reviewing the evidence accumulated on a worldwide basis, the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded in 2004 that "Involuntary smoking (exposure to secondhand or 'environmental' tobacco smoke) is carcinogenic to humans."

• Lung cancer
• Breast cancer
• Renal cell carcinoma (RCC)
• Pancreatic cancer
• Brain tumor
• Ear, nose, and throat: risk of ear infections
• Circulatory system: risk of heart disease, reduced heart rate variability, higher heart rate

Kid’s Toy Box

Making Your Own Kid’s Toy Box:-4 Points to Consider

After the bed, your kid’s toy box is going to be the most important item of furniture in their bedroom. With this in mind it is important to bear in mind a few considerations before beginning to construct a new toy box for your child. Below collected together five tips to contemplate when designing the new piece of furniture for your son or daughter.

Materials

Most toy boxes in stores come in either plastic or wood. My preference has always been wood as it lasts longer, can be adapted with paint and just looks nicer.As well as this, wooden toy boxes can be re-painted and re-furbished for use with a younger child, perhaps of a different gender, at a later date.

For most people, wood is also easier to work with than plastic if you’re constructing a furniture piece from scratch. With basic carpentry skills, you’ll be able to put together an attractive toy box for your child that will last for many years and even become an heirloom.

Size

The benefit that comes from making your own toy storage box is that you can choose the size to fit the room and requirements. It can be a chore trying to find the right size box for your child in the stores and more often than not one has to settle for a size which is either too small or too big. This will largely depend on how many toys and games you need to store.

The dimensions also come into play depending on extra functions you require the toy box to have. Some can also be used as benches to be placed beneath a window or to the side of a bunk bed. These requirements will need to be measured so as to allow for comfortable sitting space for two or three little children.

Shape

The shape of a children’s toy box will merge somewhat with the theme considerations mentioned further down the page. Most toy boxes throughout the centuries have come in the regular rectangle or cube shapes. However, if you have some talent in carpentry and design, then a toy box can be any shape you so desire including circular, oval or even an abstract wavy form.

Themes

When it comes to themes, the sky really is the limit. Children’s furniture lends itself beautifully to a wide range of subjects, styles, colors and themes. There are so many characters on television and in popular childhood stories to take inspiration from. This too will largely depend on what your son or daughter asks you to create.

Little boys tend to like action heroes, airplanes, cars and fire engines whilst little girls prefer themes along the lines of princesses, fairytale castles and friendly animals. More neutral themes can also be employed such as toy boxes painted in one color such as blue, pink, red or even left as natural wood. Small stencil art can be applied if you want a more understated decorative design.

Home Interior Design-Series-020

Buying Loft Bunk Beds for Children

When it comes to its most basic format, a loft bed is defined as a bed on stilts. It makes use of an elementary twin size bed frame connected to the inner braces of the construction. That’s why, if you decide you basically need to elevate your youngster’s bed so that you can regain floor space, it is possible to produce your very own loft bed.Obviously, a loft bed (like the Dufur Full Loft Bed in the picture above) doesn’t have to be constructed from scratch.

There are many loft options which might be purchased at the local household furniture store or online. Most of these are made like a bunk bed devoid of the lower bunk. Loft beds have proven to be most regularly occurring within college dorm suites.

Having space at a premium, moving the bed off the actual ground is going to ensure enough room for a couch or possibly a laptop or computer table. At the same time, loft beds have moved into the home in support of added versatility with regard to kid’s bedroom furnishings.

This unique open space offers a good deal of opportunity. Many loft beds are fashioned with an added attribute set up beneath the bed. A few have a futon for the purpose of seating which can readily morph into another bed, handy for sleepovers. This spot might also be employed to keep a toddler’s room organized with the addition of closets, compartments, chests, and other storage spaces. A loft bed that has a table could possibly convert into the most effective study zone.

In the event you obtain a loft bed that doesn’t come with one of these elements, you can always purchase your own desk or chest of drawers or perhaps a futon. Alternately, it can be left entirely open to your child’s creativeness.

Project Management-004

Completing a Feasibility Study

A Feasibility Study needs to be completed as early in the Project Life Cycle as possible. The best time to complete it is when you have identified a range of different alternative solutions and you need to know which solution is the most feasible to implement.

Here's how to do it...

Step 1: Research the Business Drivers

In most cases, your project is being driven by a problem in the business. These problems are called "business drivers" and you need to have a clear understanding of what they are, as part of your Feasibility Study.

For instance, the business driver might be that an IT system is outdated and is causing customer complaints, or that two businesses need to merge because of an acquisition. Regardless of the business driver, you need to get to the bottom of it so you fully understand the reasons why the project has been kicked off.

Find out why the business driver is important to the business, and why it's critical that the project delivers a solution to it within a specified timeframe. Then find out what the impact will be to the business, if the project slips.

Step 2: Confirm the Alternative Solutions

Now you have a clear understanding of the business problem that the project addresses, you need to understand the alternative solutions available.If it's an IT system that is outdated, then your alternative solutions might include redeveloping the existing system, replacing it or merging it with another system.Only with a clear understanding of the alternative solutions to the business problem, can you progress with the Feasibility Study.

Step 3: Determine the Feasibility

You now need to identify the feasibility of each solution. The question to ask of each alternative solution is "can we deliver it on time and under budget?"

To answer this question, you need to use a variety of methods to assess the feasibility of each solution. Here are some examples of ways you can assess feasibility:

Research: Perform online research to see if other companies have implemented the same solutions and how they got on.


Prototyping: Identify the part of the solution that has the highest risk, and then build a sample of it to see if it's possible to create.

Time-boxing: Complete some of the tasks in your project plan and measure how long it took vs. planned. If you delivered it on time, then you know that your planning is quite accurate.

Step 4: Choose a Preferred Solution

With the feasibility of each alternative solution known, the next step is to select a preferred solution to be delivered by your project. Choose the solution that; is most feasible to implement, has the lowest risk, and you have the highest confidence of delivering.

You've now chosen a solution to a known business problem, and you have a high degree of confidence that you can deliver that solution on time and under budget, as part of the project.


Step 5:


It's now time to take your chosen solution and reassess its feasibility at a lower level. List all of the tasks that are needed to complete the solution. Then run those tasks by your team to see how long they think it will take to complete them. Add all of the tasks and timeframes to a project plan to see if you can do it all within the project deadline.

Then ask your team to identify the highest risk tasks and get them to investigate them further to check that they are achievable. Use the techniques in Step 3 to give you a very high degree of confidence that it's practically achievable. Then document all of the results in a Feasibility Study report.

After completing these 5 steps, get your Feasibility Study approved by your manager so that everyone in the project team has a high degree of confidence that the project can deliver successfully.

6 Career Killing Facebook Mistakes

With more than 400 million active visitors, Facebook is arguably the most popular social networking site out there. And while the site is known for the casual social aspect, many users also use it as a professional networking tool. With that kind of reach, Facebook can be a valuable tool for connecting to former and current colleagues, clients and potential employers. In fact, surveys suggest that approximately 30% of employers are using Facebook to screen potential employees even more than those who check LinkedIn, a strictly professional social networking site.

Don't make these Facebook faux-pas they might cost you a great opportunity

1. Inappropriate Pictures
It may go without saying, but prospective employers or clients don't want to see pictures of you chugging a bottle of wine or dressed up for a night at the bar. Beyond the pictures you wouldn't want your grandparents to see, seemingly innocent pictures of your personal life will likely not help to support the persona you want to present in your professional life.

2. Complaining About Your Current Job
You've no doubt done this at least once. It could be a full note about how much you hate your office, or how incompetent your boss is, or it could be as innocent as a status update about how your coworker always shows up late. While everyone complains about work sometimes, doing so in a public forum where it can be found by others is not the best career move. Though it may seem innocent, it's not the kind of impression that sits well with a potential boss.

3. Posting Conflicting Information to Your Resume
If you say on your resume that your degree is from Harvard, but your Facebook profile says you went to UCLA, you're likely to be immediately cut from the interview list. Even if the conflict doesn't leave you looking better on your resume, disparities will make you look at worst like a liar, and at best careless.

4. Statuses You Wouldn't Want Your Boss to See
Everyone should know to avoid statuses like "Tom plans to call in sick tomorrow so he can get drunk on a Wednesday. Who cares that my big work project isn't done?" But you should also be aware of less flamboyant statuses like "Sarah is watching the gold medal hockey game online at her desk". Statuses that imply you are unreliable, deceitful, and basically anything that doesn't make you look as professional as you'd like, can seriously undermine your chances at landing that new job.

5. Not Understanding Your Security Settings
The security settings on Facebook have come a long way since the site started. It is now possible to customize lists of friends and decide what each list can and cannot see. However, many people do not fully understand these settings, or don't bother to check who has access to what. If you are going to use Facebook professionally, and even if you aren't, make sure you take the time to go through your privacy options. At the very least, your profile should be set so that people who are not your friend cannot see any of your pictures or information.

6. Losing by Association
You can't control what your friends post to your profile (although you can remove it once you see it), nor what they post to their own profiles or to those of mutual friends. If a potential client or employer sees those Friday night pictures your friend has tagged you in where he is falling down drunk, it reflects poorly on you, even if the picture of you is completely innocent. It's unfortunate, but we do judge others by the company they keep, at least to some extent. Take a look at everything connected to your profile, and keep an eye out for anything you wouldn't want to show your mother.

Facebook Can Help You Get Hired … or Fired

The best advice is to lock down your personal profile so that only friends you approve can see anything on that profile. Then, create a second, public profile on Facebook purely for professional use. This profile functions like an online resume, and should only contain information you'd be comfortable telling your potential employer face to face. Having a social networking profile is a good thing it presents you as technologically and professionally savvy. Just make sure your profile is helping to present your best side not the side that got drunk at your buddy's New Year's party.

Puthandu Messages and Quotes

This is a collection of favorite Tamil New Year Quotes, messages and greetings that we have read, received and some which we have sent and also some that we made for this Puthandu. Tamil New Year is observed on the first day of Chitirai month. People greet friends and relatives by saying Puthandu Vazhtukal.

This is a time of new beginnings and for the celebration of life – Puthandu Vazhtukal

Let this Puthandu bring peace and prosperity in the lives of all.

May this Puthandu be a good one for all of us.

Let this Puthandu usher in a Good and Sweet Year, both materially and spiritually.

Puthandu Vazhtukal! Let this be a delightful year, filled with delightful things in each of its days.

From this Puthandu let us go forward with great hope that all things will be possible.

Puthandu Vazhtukal, let this year be filled with the things that are truly good.

Puthandu stands for new and fresh – Life is always new and fresh – Let us strive to make all days Puthandu.

Let this Puthandu give you the strength to do all that you dreamed to do during last year but didn’t dare to do.

Let us welcome this Puthandu with great hope, eagerness and anticipation. Let us lookforward to a plentiful year of joy, satisfaction, peace and prosperity.

Let us vow to take life in our stride this Puthandu and make it tolerable as well as beautiful by accepting sorrow and happiness with sanity.

Puthandu Vazhtukal. Let this New Year herald new optimism, zeal and cheer.

I hope this Puthandu will bring cheer, prosperity and peace in your life. Let us pray that we gain enough strength to accept the highs and lows of life with equanimity.

Puthandu Vazhtukal! Wish you a happy and prosperous year with love, peace, hope and joy for the year ahead.

From this Puthandu let us only spread love, peace and laughter. Puthandu Vazhtukal!

Another Puthandu here, Let us banish our worries and mistakes and start afresh. Puthandu Vazhtukal!