1,000 People A Year Cured Of ME Thanks To A Lightning Strike

Close to 1,000 people a year are recovering from ME and other similar debilitating conditions after taking a 3 day training program in North London.

It's not unusual for residents of Weston Park, Crouch End, to see someone wheeled down the quiet street in a wheelchair, and two days later see the very same person walking with ease down the road unaided.
The Phil Parker Lightning ProcessTM is a training program which is producing amazing results where other 'treatments' for debilitating conditions, such as ME, have failed.

Devised by Phil Parker, Osteopath, personal development coach and author, the Lightning Process is helping thousands of people considered 'lost causes', by the medical profession, resolve chronic back pain, headaches, migraines, digestive problems depression, anxiety, panic attacks and ME.

Esther Rantzen's daughter resolved her well publicized battle with ME after a three day trip to visit Phil Parker. Ex-England Rugby player Austin Healey has spoken of the joy he felt after his wife resolved five years of her debilitating fight with the illness which literally lays sufferers' lives to waste. Austin Healey says: 'We'd been searching for five years to find a cure for my wife Louise's ME. We found the Lightning Process delivered that cure. Louise is now completely recovered and our future is brilliant again. Having seen the Lightning Process in action, I'm convinced it is the most powerful way to make rapid and lasting changes in any area of your life'.

ME currently affects 250,000 people in the UK and it is generally understood by the Medical profession that there is no cure. Over 1,000 clients a year can attest that this is not the case. In fact, the Lightning Process has been so effective, a large number of former ME sufferers (helped by LP) have since retrained as practitioners and now teach the Lightning Process throughout the UK.

These 25 people all recovered from ME using the Phil Parker Lightning Process. Their combined number of years of illness was 330.

The Lightning Process was devised by Phil Parker and combines concepts from NLP, Hypnotherapy, Life Coaching and Osteopathy. Parker says: 'The Phil Parker Lightning Process is the result of my research over the last decade into why, when problems occur in people's lives, some of them hit a wall and get stuck and others seem to be able to deal with the difficulties in a different way and move forward.'

Parker developed the innovative Lightning Process and has gone on to help thousands of sufferers, including Vikki who was housebound for many years. (see Vikki's former life-story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2007/05/08/features_me_vikki_feature.shtml ) Vikki is now well and has just returned from her first holiday abroad in 18 years.

How can a self-development coach help 1,000's who've been failed by the medical profession?.

The story of the creation of the Lightning Process began with failure. Parker says: 'I had studied with some of the best personal development trainers in the world, read the most cutting edge books, become a highly respected authority in the world of change, and yet there were still some clients, who I felt I should be able to help because of my advanced skills and depth of experience but for whom nothing seemed to work.'

Many of these were ME patients and I began to dread treating them. It's frustrating as a practitioner to fail your patients. And for me, taking them on and not providing results was a failure.'

Parker took his worries to other professionals, and he says: 'This didn't surprise them, dozens of other professionals had tried and failed- they had become resigned to ME sufferers being a hopeless case. This in many cases also extended to patients suffering problems such as low self esteem, self-doubt and even self-hatred, anxiety and depression'.

Parker knew that while he could help many people resolve their issues, there was a hard-core element that weren't able to resolve theirs. Parker says: 'I kept wondering, "What was the difference?" and if we could identify this difference, could we retrain those people "stuck" in their own personal hell, to get unstuck.'

Understanding the mind/body link

The research undertaken by Phil Parker looked at how the brain and body become trapped in a number of damaging unconscious responses, which blight health and stunt lives. Using a powerful combination of techniques uniquely developed using the philosophies and research of NLP, osteopathy, self hypnosis and life coaching, Parker began to achieve amazing results with clients by training them to successfully replace old unhelpful responses and start to regain their health, their sense of self and their future.

How does it work?

Using the LP's technique of combining particular body movements and postures with a set of precisely targeted questions many people have got their health back into balance, quickly and successfully recovering from real illnesses that had troubled them for years.

The Process is specifically tailored to an individual's needs and abilities, and the trainee is supported and assisted by an experienced trainer throughout the seminar and afterwards as required.
The 3 day training program teaches, step by step, how to influence key body systems such as the immunological, neurological and muscular skeletal system.

Is it Positive Thinking? No, unfortunately Positive Thinking on its own is unlikely to make you recover from ME.

Everyday Zen

Zen can be a difficult concept to understand. Translated by many as meaning "meditation" or "a state of mind", Zen can be perceived as a new understanding on how to live one's life. Demanding persistence, patience and discipline, living a life of Zen everyday is not an easy process but can ultimately prove to be extremely meaningful and worthwhile.

Zen is not a religion. Zen does not tell you what to do. Zen is an approach that has been refined through many years that can be practiced everyday by anyone. The main aim of Zen is to develop self-awareness and an understanding of everything around you. Through the course of one's life, people are conditioned into believing things without thinking about them too deeply. Zen encourages you to release lifelong conditioning and preconceptions and enables you to find a deeper understanding of yourself and reality. Zen frees your mind to live a life of heightened awareness which in turn enriches and improves your daily life experiences.

Achieving complete Zen is known as the process of enlightenment. As mentioned above, it is the process of discovering a new viewpoint on life and discovering ones inner truth. Discovering this complete inner truth comes from persistent practice and getting to know the true you. This can be achieved through daily meditation as well as through trying to live a life of deep respect and compassion for all things around you.

Zen meditation is one of the techniques that have assisted many in the Zen path. Setting time aside daily to meditate aids in allowing one to focus and receive clarity on the world and oneself. This clarity comes with practice and patience and there are numerous meditation techniques that can be used to assist you in this process. It has been mentioned countless times by many how the way one sees the world is often very similar to how one sees oneself.

Consequently, Zen living is to live a life with respect for all living things and can be utilized in every aspect of one's life. Zen deals with the present and things that have practical relevance in one's life and ignores concepts of things that do not have an effect on ones daily experiences. Zen encourages one to live for the moment and to look at things in different ways in order to make them take on more meaning and in turn provide greater enjoyment.

Practiced for thousands of years and an approach that is available to everyone. Zen can either be practiced daily or its ideas can be incorporated into one's lifestyle, to assist in encouraging a more fulfilled and pleasure filled life.

Private Practice Strategies: How to Develop Multiple Streams of Psychology Income

Mental health professionals have a wealth of valuable, even crucial, information and expertise in which many people are in need.

One-on-one therapy is only one way we can deliver this expertise and help.

There are a number of possible ways therapists can create revenue streams while sharing their talents, expertise and skills with people in need.

Some of these ways are traditional and common, but others are rather innovative ways therapists are beginning to put their abilities to good use. In doing so, they are creating revenue streams.

Traditional Services

Although its time for therapists to think out of the box and develop new services that creatively meet the felt needs of niche markets, there is a place for the traditional therapeutic services.

These include psychotherapy for the DSM diagnoses, psychological testing and evaluation, marriage and family therapy and behavioral health care.

And, yes, people will forgo managed-care reimbursement and pay out of pocket for services that are of higher value because they are higher quality, offer real privacy and are truly customized for the individual needs.

One of the frustrations I hear from mental health care service consumers is that they can't find a specialized therapist in their managed-care insurance network.

It's as if managed care's philosophy is, "We'll help you obtain access to psychotherapy, but we don't care whether the therapist we connect you with is a specialist. A generalist is fine."

Set yourself apart and demonstrate your true value in the marketplace through specialization. Many people in the market for therapy value specialization.

Getting Published

A book is a powerful way to affect lives. It is also a good way to establish credibility, highlight your practice and services and position yourself in your niche.

And, it's easier than you think if you self-publish. It has become very affordable to do so, and it puts you in charge of the content, price and reprints.

It can actually be more profitable, too. You keep every dollar above your costs. If you went through a major publisher who sells a few thousand books, you would only receive the author's fee. You can make as much selling a few hundred copies of a self-published book yourself.

If your book is successful, you may even attract a large publisher to take over your book.

Writing a book opens doors to speaking engagements, media opportunities and a reputation in your niche market.

It also helps you to crystallize your thinking and enhances your effectiveness as a practitioner; it's a great exercise in that sense. You will learn a lot both in breadth and depth.

Take the opportunity now to brainstorm ideas for a book that's inside you.

It doesn't have to be long. One hundred pages is plenty.

Teaching

Teaching courses part-time at a local college or university can be an attractive stream of income.

I have been teaching as adjunct faculty in the Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) program at Widener University outside Philadelphia for several years and find it both rewarding and enjoyable.

Think about areas of special interest on which you could teach a course. Courses that adjunct faculty teach can be core curriculum in a graduate program, an undergraduate course or an elective.

I find that part-time professors who are practitioners have a lot to offer because they are immersed in what they teach. Students seem to appreciate this as well.

E-books

E-books are another medium in which you can package and share specialized information.

And e-book is a written piece of information that is distributed via the internet electronically. It is offered free or for a cost (typically $10 to $30) on a web site.

You can also submit an e-book to web sites that list hundreds of e-books to make them available to the public.

Tens of thousands of e-books are downloaded each year, and are changing lives for the better.

Perhaps you can make yours one of them.

Do you have a solution to a specific problem or can you research the answers?

The best e-books share answers to a specific problem.

E-book topics I have heard of recently include: how to write a eulogy, how to cope with a hysterectomy and the topic of recovering from fibromyalgia.

These are e-books written by non-mental health professionals. Imagine what information psychotherapists can offer in this just-in-time format.

E-books cost very little to produce and nothing to distribute. You can attach the file for an e-book to an email or make it downloadable from a web site.

A great e-book is not long. Many of the best are 10 to 35 pages long.

E-books offer short answers to problems readers want to solve, and are available to people quickly.

Good e-books are specific and do not contain general information. The key to marketability is communicating your precise answer to a specific problem.

E-Courses

E-Courses are similar to e-books, but they may be lengthier and delivered to readers one segment at a time. As the name implies, these can be formatted as guided self-study programs.

E-courses allow for the content to be integrated over a specific period of time. Each lesson can be a simple article or more in-depth with guided self-study. Write between five and 10 lessons, and you have a good e-course.

Written by a professional, a good e-course can bridge the gap between a reader learning new information and the reader applying that information to his/her life and making a behavioral change.

Personal Coaching

In sports, coaching is important to help an athlete develop a winning strategy, develop skills and execute the plan. The coach knows how the athlete can progress and move forward. He/she urges the athlete to set high goals and provides motivation, support, focus and encouragement.

Over the past 10 years, the field of professional coaching in personal development and business arenas has grown tremendously.

What is coaching? Personal coaching is a one-on-one professional relationship in which a client is assisted in achieving a personal, business or career goal.

What is the difference between coaching and therapy? Although coaches sometimes assist people with challenges and problems of various kinds, they do not try to help people overcome problems related to diagnosable conditions as found in the DSM.

Rather, coaches assist well-functioning people to attain greater levels of achievement and satisfaction in their personal lives, businesses or careers.

While therapy is remedial and restorative, coaching is developmental and growth-oriented.

Therapy heals mental and emotional infirmities, while coaching helps healthy individuals achieve more or reach important goals.

Personal coaches work with clients on a wide range of issues, such as coping with a problem or crisis, focusing their efforts on achievement, making career transitions, living more fulfilled lives, achieving life goals and building better relationships.

Other coaches assist people with business development or managerial or leadership development. These coaches are called business coaches or executive coaches.

While coaching is not always based on psychology, it often is. And many of the skills a coach uses are the skills in which therapists are trained. So, there is considerable overlap between coaching and therapy.

This is why many psychologists, counselors and therapists have found coaching attractive and transitioned into coaching either entirely or as a part of their practice mix. I am one of them.
In many ways, therapists have an ideal background to be coaches. But the differences between coaching and therapy are significant and important to keep in mind.

Therapists can make great coaches because of their insights into human motivation and behavior, their understanding of human development and life transitions, their communication and relationship skill and their sense of professional ethics, knowledge base and experience in helping people.

Live Workshops, Retreats, Trainings

Presenting live events such as seminars, workshops, retreats and training programs can be a very lucrative stream of income.

And, it can be a powerful way to affect peoples' lives.

The group setting allows learners to engage with your material and benefit from the collective knowledge and experience of the group.

Live programs can also be an introduction to your other services. Brief programs, such as a "lunch and learn," can be delivered for free as a solid marketing vehicle for your practice.

As a therapist, if you have developed and packaged your message into a program as recommended earlier, you have the makings of a great seminar or workshop.

Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Promoting a workshop or retreat is promoting your practice at the same time -- and may be psychologically easier to do.

Consider adding a post-training element to your program. It could be a follow-up mini-workshop, a series of workshops or one-on-one work.

You can leverage the energy of a live event in many ways for additional revenue streams.

And, it is likely that some participants will choose to work with you after the event is over.

You will want to casually present your other offerings at the event. You may make it easier for them by having a sign-up sheet.

Teleseminars

A teleseminar (also called a teleclass) is a seminar held over the telephone, like a conference call.

The advantage of a teleseminar is the convenience. No one has to commute and the consumers dial to a bridge line at the specified time. No physical accommodations need be arranged; you only need to rent a telephone bridgeline.

Teleseminars can include people from all over the country, even internationally, at the same time.

Classes are typically 60 minutes long, but can vary. Often teleseminars are offered in a multi-class series.

Teleseminars are another way to offer your packaged content and introduce people to your services. Teleseminars can be offered for free to attract prospective clients and let them sample your services.

See [http://www.teleclass.com] for examples of what various professionals are offering. Or, do a search on Google for teleseminars or teleclasses. There are hundreds to browse and attend.

To get a better feel for how to conduct a teleseminar, attend some yourself.

Consulting

The goal of this book is to help mental health practitioners build thriving managed-care free private practices.
One of the themes I hope I have conveyed is that psychology is not just for DSM diagnoses.
While we have discussed ways to market traditional services, diversification is important, as it increases the chances we can generate sufficient income to operate outside of managed care.
Multiple streams of psychotherapy income can be developed in one's practice.

When I decided to build a manage-care free practice, I gave considerable thought to how

I could provide private-pay services. I explored how I could use my skills in ways that people would readily pay.

Many psychologists and other mental health professionals are successful in consulting in the workplace for the benefit of employees and employers. Business consulting can be a very lucrative income stream.

Like many practitioners, I found my skills could be applied in the business arena. Today, through a business I started called Leadership Concepts, I offer services in the areas of business consulting, executive, business and career coaching and seminars and workshops for businesses. This has proven to be a solid and growing income stream for me, and it is work I really enjoy.

Other ways to diversify into consulting include behavioral medicine, forensics and sports psychology.

Consulting is a very broad and diverse area, so I won't scrape the surface of the possibilities here. But perhaps I can give you good directions for exploration.

If this area is new for you, you will be surprised to find out the many valuable ways our psychology and mental health expertise can be of benefit to people in the workplace.
Our background makes us capable of assisting businesses with many different barriers to productivity.

To familiarize yourself with this terrain, I suggest you do a Google search using the keywords "business," "consulting" and "psychologist" and browse the web sites that come up.

Forensic Consulting

Another specific type of consulting is worth considering separately.

Forensic consulting has to do with psychological or mental health service specifically related to the court system.

Often times, a court has to deal with issues that impinge on mental health issues.

Some of these include:

Criminal cases

• Competency to stand trial


• Mental status at time of offense


• Mitigating factors in offenses


• Risk assessments, violence

Civil cases

• Emotional damages in personal injuries


• Assessments for malingering

Family cases and other

• Child custody evaluations


• Court-ordered psychological evaluations

In addition, attorneys often need help sorting out the issues when questions of a psychological nature occur in their cases. They retain psychologists and other experts to review files and help them prepare for depositions or cross-examination of experts.

Psychologists and other professionals can inform the court on issues, perform assessments and testify as experts.

Consultants in this area testifying as experts typically receive $1,000 to $2,000 for their testimony.

I find that this niche is an attractive one for several reasons:

• It is completely managed-care free


• It is interesting work


• It makes good use of our background


• It is lucrative


• It is a specialized area that many professionals find intimidating,
  which means less competition

If you find this an interesting prospect as a part of your practice, then I encourage you to begin taking some training workshops to familiarize yourself with the terrain.

Web sites

Revenue streams can be active or passive. Therapy sessions, therapy groups, workshops and consulting services are all active forms of revenue streams. You exchange your time and skills for a fee.

Passive revenue is revenue from streams that do not involve service delivery, but once set up, occur automatically 24/7. A common form of passive revenue is income from products sold on a web site.

Can you see the advantages of passive revenue? Can therapists develop passive revenue streams? You bet!

Therapists can productize their most useful expertise and offer information products to benefit others.

Some of these we already looked at, like books, e-books and e-courses. These can all be offered on a web site for web seekers to obtain and utilize to fill their needs.

There are other possibilities as well, such as licensing programs.

As an example of a passive revenue web site effectively offering information products to a specific niche, see TeachMeTeamwork.com.

Passive income streams utilizing the internet via web sites are a burgeoning area for many service professionals, but few mental health professionals are taking advantage of the potential so far.

This will be changing soon.

Active income streams can also be marketed on the internet.

Web sites can also be effectively used as a marketing tool for your fee-for-service practice. More and more therapists are putting up web sites and for good reasons.

A web site is your practice brochure, available any time, day or night, to seekers on the internet. People you meet, people who hear you give a presentation and people referred to you by another professional, can be directed to view your web site, find out more about you and, hopefully, be stimulated to contact you.

A simple, attractive, intriguing postcard sent to a mailing list can direct your niche market to your web site. Or, your yellow page ad in the phone book can include your web address.

A web site is much more than a brochure. It is also a potentially powerful marketing vehicle, when combined with internet marketing strategies.

If you decide to have a web site for your practice, or for a particular niche service, make it full of resources (articles and free information) that will attract people to it and make them want to spread the word.

Although beyond the scope of this article, internet marketing strategies can be developed to drive people to your web site.

Increasingly, people are beginning their search for products and services on the internet.

The yellow pages are not the first choice for many.

Are you effectively represented on the Internet?

Licensing Programs

After you have developed effective structured programs for your niches, you can license the use of these programs to other professionals.

Other therapists have been doing this for years. Psychologist Dr. Daniel Dana, a conflict resolution specialist, certifies mediators and licenses his program at MediationWorks.com.

Another example can be found at DifficultChild.com, as we mentioned previously. Howard Glasser, M.A. offers a parenting approach and program, as well as other materials, for ADHD children. His program involves a book, a training program for parents and a training and certification program for therapists.

His program is called "Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach."

One of my coaching clients is certified in this program and speaks highly of it.

Howard Glasser's web site actually models several streams of income, including a book, workshops, training other professionals, licensing or certification and internet marketing for all the above including his practice.

These "programs in a box" are typically complete turnkey therapy, counseling or consulting programs that therapists can purchase. They are usually complete, including the structured program itself, instructor materials, workbooks and also include marketing pieces you can use to generate business.

For those of you who want to do niche marketing but prefer not to do the creating part, you may want to find out whether someone has developed a program you can utilize to serve your niche.

Someone may have done the work for you.

If you can find a program suitable for your niche market, you could be a few days away from having a marketable service in your repertoire.

Training Other Professionals

When you have developed an effective program, you can leverage it by training others in your approach and methods.

Innovators in therapy have been training others for years. If you develop a specialization, program or niche service in a growing area, you may find many other therapists would like to learn from you.

Sometimes the innovation is mainly in how a service is packaged.

You can train other professionals via live workshops, self-study program packages and teleseminars.

Diversification by developing a number of streams of psychotherapy income increases the chances you can create sustainable income and can be rewarding in other ways too.

Gaia: The Mother Of All Aliens

The asexual and sexual reproductive biological skills of the ancient Greek Mother Goddess Gaia is impossible as related. Her reproductive skills are akin to a human female giving birth not only to humans but to all sorts of other animals and even numerous monstrosities. No writer of mythology as fiction even back then would make such a fundamental error if he wanted his fiction to be credible. And that's just the point - it wasn't written to be read as fiction. The ancient Greeks didn't interpret Mother Goddess Gaia and her offspring as make-believe. What did they know that we don't today? What's the alternative? Aliens - a misinterpretation of what was actually extraterrestrial activity. The ultimate stories behind Mother Goddess Gaia's reproductive abilities centre around two rival alliances of various extraterrestrial races battling over Planet Earth, or at least their allocated part of it - Italy, Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea.

In the beginning there was Chaos according to ancient Greek mythology. Chaos was neither a deity nor a personality, just an all encompassing dark void, lifeless matter with no distinguishing features which is as good a view of the cosmos as any by the ancients. Chaos might just as well have been their shorthand for explaining life, the universe and everything; the creation of life, the universe and everything, and probably was.

Chaos gave rise to Planet Earth, among other cosmic attributes, like darkness and energy. Planet Earth was known as Gaia (or Gaea). Gaia as Planet Earth is obviously a physical product, a natural creation of the cosmos. However, Gaia (Terra in the Roman pantheon) was also considered to be the daughter of Chaos, a mother goddess. We need to separate the two concepts (Gaia as Earth (the planet) and Gaia the Mother Goddess). Chaos as a formless void would have to via natural physical processes form independently Planet Earth first before the arrival of the Mother Goddess that would represent Planet Earth, Tellus or Terra, alternative names by which Planet Earth is known.

On the biological as opposed to the planetary side of things, Mother Goddess Gaia (representing the Earth, or of the Earth) had siblings called Nyx (which represented night), and Erebos (representing underground darkness). Later on down the track Chaos formed other siblings in the form of Eros (representing desire/energy) and Tartarus (the underworld).

Asexually, Mother Goddess Gaia gave rise to her two sons Uranus (Ouranos) and Pontus and the ten Ourea (Aitna, Athos, Helikon, Kithairon, Nysos, Olympus 1, Olympus 2, Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus). Asexual reproduction is reproduction without benefit of a partner, usually termed parthenogenesis.

Mother Goddess Gaia does however ultimately take a husband and sexually mate - with her son Uranus (representing the sky or of the sky). From that union comes:

*The three elder and original Cyclopes: giants with one eye: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges.

*The original first generation six male Titans (Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus) and the original first generation six female Titanesses (Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys): all human looking. [Now the original Titans then did their 'be fruitful and multiply thing' and produce the second generation of Titans, making Mother Goddess Gaia a grandmother. These second generation Titans included Atlas and Prometheus - in case you were wondering if I had forgotten these important figures.]

*The three Hecatonchires: giants with 100 arms and hands and fifty heads apiece: Cottus, Briareus and Gyges.

Mother Goddess Gaia's son and hubby, Uranus, then met an uncomfortable fate at the hands of his son Cronus when the latter castrated the former!

Mother Goddess Gaia then, via a not-so-immaculate conception, being splattered with blood from the severed genitales of her son/husband Uranus, conceived:

*The three Furies (Erinyes): Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone though their actual number maybe however indefinite. The Furies were winged hags with snakes intertwined in their hair.

*The Gigantes: a race of giants born in full armour with spears.

*The Meliae: the ash tree nymphs. Nymphs tend to be beautiful eternally youthful amorous maidens (sounds like my kind of aliens) who attend to the needs of more senior deities. Nymphs are a sort of yeoman figure.

Mother Goddess Gaia mates sexually with her other son Pontus (representing the sea or of the sea). From that union came Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia, all relatively minor sea gods and goddesses. They appear pretty human looking.

However, later generation descendents of Mother Goddess Gaia's and Pontus's minor sea god and goddess were not quite so humanoid appearing. They include:

*The Harpies, predatory monsters; a woman's head on top of a vulture's body, wings and claws.

*The Graeae, a trio of swan-like women with grey hair who shared one eye and one tooth between them.

*The 50 Nereids who at least retain their maritime heritage being nymphs of the sea.

*The Gorgons, who on the other hand, were monstrous sisters with wings, claws and serpent hair, the most famous being the Medusa.

*The Muses, nine human-looking goddesses of the arts.

*Chiron - a centaur.

Mother Goddess Gaia also mates with Tartarus to produce the mother of all monsters, the Typhon (which Zeus later defeated in battle).

Mother Goddess Gaia mates with her first generation Titan offspring Oceanus. That union gave rise to Reousa/Creusa (a naiad or type of water nymph) and Triptolemus (a primordial man who flew across the land in a winged chariot and educated the whole of Greece in the agricultural sciences after being instructed himself by the goddess Demeter or Ceres if you're Roman).

Mother Goddess Gaia mates with Zeus (her grandson). Their offspring became Manes, the first king of Maeonia otherwise known as Lydia in western Asia Minor. The odd bit here is that two deities apparently have produced a mortal and not another deity!

Mother Goddess Gaia also mates with Poseidon (also her grandson). That produces offspring we know as Antaeus (a half-giant) and Charybdis (a sea monster).

The Python, that earth-dragon of Delphi is alleged to have a genetic type relationship with Mother Goddess Gaia - mother being the operative word. The daddy is unknown; perhaps this is another example of parthenogenesis in action. Python, as you'd guess from the name, is a serpent. The Greek Olympian deity Apollo did Python a mischief in mortal combat. Alas, Python is no longer among the living! Neither were the original Cyclopes as Apollo bumped them off which didn't please Zeus one little bit as the Cyclopes assisted him and his fellow Olympians in their war against the Titans, providing the high-tech necessary for victory (see below).

While that's not the absolute end of Mother Goddess Gaia's bedroom romps (actual or suspected), the above covers the basics and shows that Heinz has no monopoly on varieties, 57 or otherwise. Now Mother Goddess Gaia is not the be-all-and-end-all of the varieties of presumably extraterrestrial species that are part and parcel of Greek mythology, but I think it's safe to now at least conclude this segment on Mother Goddess Gaia remarkable reproductive prowess!

So how can there exist a whole multitude of species of deities, from those appearing human or humanoid, to the hideously monstrous, and yet are all genetically related to Mother Goddess Gaia?

Now I maintain that if you (or any other animal) produce offspring, while they would not of necessity all be identical, they will be fairly similar in appearance and conform to your own basic body plan. You're not going to produce one kid that will grow up to be ten feet tall while another attains only four feet. One kid won't have two eyes, the next three. The odds that your first born will have one head and two arms, but that your second born will have ten heads and twenty arms, is unlikely in the extreme. As this like-begets-like reproductive rule of thumb applies to you, I strongly suggest it should have applied to Mother Goddess Gaia.

IMHO, the ancient Greek Hesiod, who wrote up the origins of the Greek deities including Mother Goddess Gaia, and the world in his tome "Theogony" ["the birth of the gods"], should have and would have known better that to invent such outlandish sexual tales producing such an outlandish diversity of offspring. Presumably the people who read all of this also knew better - they knew that like-begets-like - just like the Norse hero Siegfried knew the dwarf Mime was lying to him about being his father because they didn't look anything remotely alike. Siegfried knew from observations of animals and their babies in the forest that like-begets-like. Mime got his comeuppances!

I conclude from all of this that Hesiod and whoever else came up with all this mythological reproductive nonsense was warped in the extreme; really puffing on the good stuff. Or perhaps, as in all mythology, there's a true kernel of corn in the mythological haystack waiting to be uncovered. Perhaps both Hesiod and his readers couldn't think of any other interpretation of reality but that Mother Goddess Gaia really did mate and produce offspring as wildly divergent as nymphs, 50 headed giants and the Cyclopes. Perhaps they had no concept of the extraterrestrial!

All of these collections of beings (Titans, Cyclopes, Meliae, etc.) are so different that each is unlikely in the extreme to be related to each other. Each is probably an alien race in its own right - alien as in various extraterrestrial intelligences.

So here's my alternative scenario. Chaos (the void, the cosmos) ultimately formed our Sun and solar system including 'Gaia' as Terra/Tellus, the Planet Earth. Eons ago that other but biological flesh-and-blood Mother Goddess Gaia and her sons (Uranus and Pontus) along with a host of her species (probably the Titans) arrived on Planet Earth as part and parcel of their boldly going, exploring the Milky Way Galaxy exercise. Liking what they found, they settled down, perhaps thinking of Planet Earth as an R&R spot, perhaps as a colony planet. Things then proceed pretty much according to Hesiod's mythology, except for one incorrect translation. There were no real acts of Mother Goddess Gaia reproducing which resulted in the creation of a high and unlikely diversity of other biological species. There were only those like-with-like sexual reproductions as in the original Titans creating the next generation of Titans (Atlas, Prometheus, etc.). Mother Goddess Gaia wasn't so much a mother of extreme biological diversity as a hostess (with the mostest) to that rather wide diversity of extraterrestrial species.

Mother Goddess Gaia threw out the welcome mat for other alien species that came to visit, or were invited to visit, just like parents might play host to a much broader diversity of humans than their offspring would typify. Their dinner party might include guests short and tall, old and young, black and white, normal and handicapped, as well as other species - cats, dogs and aquarium fish - for the sake of wide-ranging diversity, etc. In the case of Mother Goddess Gaia however, things got a bit more serious as Mother Goddess Gaia and the various extraterrestrial races she's associated with IMHO formed a block of allies against another block of allies - the Olympians (offspring of the original Titans and thus related to [Grand] Mother Goddess Gaia. The 'War of the Titans' was on the horizon and inevitable in a power struggle of epic proportions.

The extraterrestrial Cyclopes and that alien race, the Hecatonchires, which were once allied with Mother Goddess Gaia and the Titans, changed sides and supported the Olympians led by Zeus in their war against the Titans (the Titanomachy). Some Titans like Prometheus also switched sides and supported Zeus. In fact only about five of the original dozen Titans took up arms against Zeus and company. The Titans were actually led mainly by second generation Atlas (as first generation Cronus, Zeus's daddy, proved not to be so invincible when Zeus freed his swallowed brothers and sisters, and therefore wasn't really available for a leadership position). Zeus, as leader of the winners, however reserved a special punishment for Atlas as we all know. Atlas ended up with the weight of the world on his shoulders. As an aside, the 'War of the Titans' apparently happened in that region of Greece known as Thessaly.

It should be noted, in support of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, that the Titanomachy was a high-tech war, at least high-tech relative to what the ancient Greeks had. It was not a war fought with bows and arrows, slingshots, spears and swords, even though it did last an entire decade plus. Zeus had his thunderbolts - lightning, or perhaps in today's terminology, lasers or particle-beam weaponry. Hades had a 'magic' helmet providing invisibility - the ultimate form of stealth technology and camouflage. Poseidon had his 'magic' trident which he could use to produce storms (weather modification), earthquakes, tidal waves/tsunamis, floods and all manner of 'natural' disasters - and he was noted for having a very bad temper with a very short fuse attached.

The Titanomachy was also noted for the hurling of massive boulders (missiles?); the rumbling earth which became scorched with flame and the vast forests that were levelled. The oceans and rivers, probably courtesy of Poseidon, swelled and steamed and boiled. And of course the heavens shook as well. If extraterrestrial, I'm sure the Titanomachy was as much a 'star wars' as a terrestrial one.

Now all of this probably happened in Planet Earth's pre-human era. That's because 'humans' back then probably weren't the Homo sapiens we know today. Our modern species was created out of clay (as the ancient Greeks had no concept nor phrase for 'genetically engineered') by Prometheus (of gift of fire fame), a second generation Titan, and that 'clay' event probably happened way after the original extraterrestrial 'gods' (like Uranus) and 'goddesses' (like Gaia) arrived to set up shop. Thus, we probably have no actual eyewitnesses to what actually happened regarding the Titanomachy, as well as no real first hand accounts of Mother Goddess Gaia's reproductive prowess, only what happened can not be taken literally as it violates fundamental principles of reproductive biology. The tales were probably all handed down way after-the-fact to the ancient Greeks by the Olympians - the winners - with a lot of understandable mistranslation and misunderstanding in the nitty-gritty details eventuating.

But that's not quite the end of the story. Mother Goddess Gaia had another go at dethroning Zeus and his Olympians, the location allegedly shifting to Italy and the Phlegraean Fields. This time she threw the Gigantes (Giants) against them (the Gigantomachy). So, round two - it was Mother Goddess Gaia and the Gigantes versus Zeus and the Olympians, but with a little help from the demigod Hercules, the Fates and even Helius (the sun-god), Selene (the moon-goddess) and Eos (the goddess of the dawn, known to the Romans as Aurora). Now since Hercules was the offspring of a deity (Zeus) and a mortal, humans had to have been around to witness round two. What was the upshot of Mother Goddess Gaia's second attempt to grab power? All of the Gigantes became the late Gigantes, and nothing was ever heard from Mother Goddess Gaia ever again! In my version of the tale, Mother Goddess Gaia and those Gaia supporters who survived the Titanomachy and the Gigantomachy tucked tail (if they had one) and headed back to whatever planet(s) they originally came from. Eventually, for reasons unrecorded and unknown, Zeus and company ultimately did the same, or at least boldly went elsewhere.

One other observation is required. Normally, sexual relations between mother and son; mother and grandson; mother and just about anyone and anything else without benefit of a wedding ring, is considered taboo. That's of course according to human morals and ethics. However, if my premise is correct, and all and sundry belonged to various species of extraterrestrials, then we can't hold them to, or impose on them, our standards.

The Notion of Time in Dealing With a Dementia Patient

The notion of time is an acquired taste. We are not born with it, kids spend years trying to deal with it properly (i.e. to their parents' satisfaction), some people never learn to manage it, and dementia patients lose it even if they were previously very organized and excellent planners like my mother.

As a caregiver though, I was thoroughly convinced that time exists and must be obeyed. Silly me! In my defense, I must say that I was coming from a professional career and that I do have a bit of a reputation as a control freak. Moving in with my mother who has dementia was quite a lesson in how people who have no notion of time, live. It can definitely be done and actually, once you learn to do it, it changes your whole perspective on day-to-day living. Nothing is stable and making plans is almost a gratuitous exercise.

When I first arrived, my mother's physical condition was quite poor so she had many appointments for doctors, tests, rehabilitation, etc. Unfortunately, her mental condition had deteriorated so much that I also had to take over the role of parent to my own mother. Initially it is a disconcerting feeling, but soon you realize that it is essential and you just get down to it. Every morning at breakfast, I would announce what visit we had that day (I never scheduled more than one per day so that she would not get totally stressed). An hour before we were scheduled to leave, I would go in to help her choose her clothes and get dressed. Then I would let her rest. At departure time minus 20 min., I would go to get her only to find that she had fallen totally asleep (she was taking a lot of meds for pain) and it would take more than 15 min. to get her to a semblance of "awake". At this point, I was literally dancing around trying to get us out of the house and on our way. I was snappish and brusque. My mother would get her "deer in the headlights" look, she was totally lost. Almost from one minute to the next, she could forget that we had an appointment.

Eventually we would get into the car and I would see that we weren't too late. (I come from Switzerland where we believe on being on time!!) I would heave a deep inner sigh of relief, then my mother would announce that we had to go back home: she was not feeling well or had to go to the bathroom again, etc. Usually this would happen about two miles from home and was due to fear of the unknown. With no recent memory, she would feel totally destabilized at the idea of going somewhere unfamiliar, or even familiar since she couldn't hold on to the idea of where we were going. My usual "because the doctor said to" was not always successful. I would try to cajole/bully her into waiting until we got to the appointment (nothing is really very far from where we live), but she would become panicky and we would often wind up returning home and missing the appointment. Some of my U-turns were less than smooth! I was doing neither of us any good: I was still driven by a clock that was becoming more and more meaningless and my mother could sense my tension and annoyance. We were having very unpleasant moments, all because of my notion of time.

Finally, as I adapted my mindset to my new situation, I realized that in our little world, the notion of time can be taken with a grain of salt. If we are late to a doctor's appointment, then we just have to sit in the waiting room longer; no one really minds and we have nothing to do for the rest of the day anyway... I now pack books for us to read in case this happens and we take little walks if my mother gets stiff. If we are late to the senior gym class, the instructor just smiles broadly at us and thanks us for coming; classmates move seats so that we can have two seats together. If we are late to our occasional social luncheons, everybody hustles to make room for us and says how great my mother looks. They also give me a wink and whisper in my ear what a great job I am doing. Time such as I knew it, is becoming irrelevant. If we miss a gym class or a luncheon, it makes no difference since my mother won't even remember that we missed it. I am learning to live differently. I can't imagine trying to have a responsible outside job in this way, but I have come to realize that since I came here to help my mother live out her last years pleasantly, I should keep that in mind at all times.

I am convinced that the lack of memory causes the poor notion of time. How can you situate yourself if you cannot remember what just happened or what is supposed to happen soon? How can you get from one point in time to another with no memory? How can "cause and effect" exist when cause is completely forgotten by the time effect happens? It means that dementia patients believe that things happen for no apparent reason and that can be very scary.

Also, in my mother's case as for most, it is the short term memory that goes first. The long term memories from her youth are still there, creating a hodge-podge of ideas and concerns that seem very present and worrisome to her. I remember one day early on when my mother lowered her voice to confide in me that when "Maman" and "Papa" (her parents) died, the house would be "ours". I pointed out, yet again, that the house was hers, that she and my father had had it built 30 years ago, that her parents had never come to this country and had died years ago, and that my sister and I would inherit the house when she died and that we would worry about it then. She needn't worry.

It might sound a little brutal, I could just say "uh-huh", but in my thinking, much of her memory bank is a blank slate wiped clean by her TIA's or her stroke(s). When I explain things to her, I always try to put things in context and in a positive light, so that she can mull them over, without becoming alarmed. It's a repetitious job but I think that she is responding. Her short term memory is still gone, but her reasoning seems to be coming back. The other day, I was showing her the baby blanket I am making for my next grandchild and I said that I might like to add one more row of crochet. She actually looked at me and said: "Will you have enough wool?" Wow! What awareness! I was thrilled and, smiling in my heart, I said: "Probably not, we'll have to go to the store to get some." She was quite pleased , the knitting goods store is very familiar and she likes going there. (Can I even hope that this was the reason that she asked the question? ) The trip would be something that she could look forward to, if only she could remember it. On the other hand, this way she has a little jolt of pleasure every time I mention that we have to go or are on our way to the knitting goods store.

It's a strange way to live, I find I am becoming remarkably zen. As I let the importance of time drift away, my mother seems less fearful, more accepting of living in only the present moment.

Cluster Housing Environmentally Friendly, Socially Supportive

For the past fifty years, towns and cities in the state of New Hampshire have worked to impose zoning restrictions on lands within their borders, in large part to protect against overdevelopment. Some towns require building lots of anywhere from a half-acre to five acres for a detached single-family home. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of this regulation has been that real estate developers have subdivided large parcels of land into smaller plots and leveled forested areas, filled in swamps, and generally degraded the ecosystem of the property in favor of rows of houses, all with their own little front and back yards.

Cluster housing, which is beginning to be considered in New Hampshire, uses a different approach. If a town requires that a particular piece of land have a two-acre minimum for building sites, a traditional developer would subdivide the land into ten units and build a home on each unit. A cluster development, however, involves concentrating those same ten houses in a single area on perhaps four acres of the land, leaving 16 acres relatively undeveloped, thus preserving natural wildlife habitats and forested areas that can be enjoyed by the residents.

The Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, a new housing development project in Peterborough, New Hampshire, takes the cluster housing concept one step further. Twenty-nine small single-family homes will be augmented by shared areas on the 113-acre site, which will also include a small working organic farm. The shared facilities offer places where the community's residents can interact. This co-housing concept, which originated in Denmark, offers community support while utilizing the land in an environmentally sustainable way.

The Peterborough project is a great idea, one that will hopefully spread throughout the state. The down side is that the housing units are expensive; according to a June 19, 2006, article in the Keene Sentinel, prices start at $278,000 for an 849-square-foot home and extend to $580,000 for a 1334-square-foot home - very reasonable considering the amenities, but far beyond the reach of many working-class families.

Perhaps as the Nubanusit project succeeds other communities will learn from it and take the cluster and cooperative housing concepts into account when developing new residential projects. Combining low- and middle-income housing, both for families and single people, with elder and assisted living facilities makes sense, for instance, providing a community atmosphere for those who often find themselves isolated because of financial, age-, or health-related circumstances. Ownership of single-family homes could be augmented with small rental units or even a cluster of low-cost single-occupancy rooms with common cooking and living facilities, with the rent going to pay the expenses of the rental units themselves and possibly helping pay general expenses for the community.

Cluster and cooperative housing can potentially offer solutions to a lot of problems. Thoughtful cluster housing development may actually allow New Hampshire to sustain its recent growth while meeting the needs of all its citizens and preserving the natural environment that draws people to the state in the first place.

History of Educational Technology

There is no written evidence which can tell us exactly who has coined the phrase educational technology. Different educationists, scientists and philosophers at different time intervals have put forwarded different definitions of Educational Technology. Educational technology is a multifaceted and integrated process involving people, procedure, ideas, devices, and organization, where technology from different fields of science is borrowed as per the need and requirement of education for implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems involved in all aspects of human learning.

Educational technology, broadly speaking, has passed through five stages.

The first stage of educational technology is coupled with the use of aids like charts, maps, symbols, models, specimens and concrete materials. The term educational technology was used as synonyms to audio-visual aids.

The second stage of educational technology is associated with the 'electronic revolution' with the introduction and establishment of sophisticated hardware and software. Use of various audio-visual aids like projector, magic lanterns, tape-recorder, radio and television brought a revolutionary change in the educational scenario. Accordingly, educational technology concept was taken in terms of these sophisticated instruments and equipments for effective presentation of instructional materials.

The third stage of educational technology is linked with the development of mass media which in turn led to 'communication revolution' for instructional purposes. Computer-assisted Instruction (CAI) used for education since 1950s also became popular during this era.

The fourth stage of educational technology is discernible by the individualized process of instruction. The invention of programmed learning and programmed instruction provided a new dimension to educational technology. A system of self-learning based on self-instructional materials and teaching machines emerged.

The latest concept of educational technology is influenced by the concept of system engineering or system approach which focuses on language laboratories, teaching machines, programmed instruction, multimedia technologies and the use of the computer in instruction. According to it, educational technology is a systematic way of designing, carrying out and evaluating the total process of teaching and learning in terms of specific objectives based on research.

Educational technology during the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age
Educational technology, despite the uncertainty of the origin of the term, can be traced back to the time of the three-age system periodization of human prehistory; namely the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.

Duringthe Stone Age, ignition of fire by rubbing stones, manufacture of various handmade weapon and utensils from stones and clothing practice were some of the simple technological developments of utmost importance. A fraction of Stone Age people developed ocean-worthy outrigger canoe ship technology to migrate from one place to another across the Ocean, by which they developed their first informal education of knowledge of the ocean currents, weather conditions, sailing practice, astronavigation, and star maps. During the later Stone Age period (Neolithic period),for agricultural practice, polished stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks largely by digging underground tunnels, which can be considered as the first steps in mining technology. The polished axes were so effective that even after appearance of bronze and iron; people used it for clearing forest and the establishment of crop farming.

Although Stone Age cultures left no written records, but archaeological evidences proved their shift from nomadic life to agricultural settlement. Ancient tools conserved in different museums, cave paintings like Altamira Cave in Spain, and other prehistoric art, such as the Venus of Willendorf, Mother Goddess from Laussel, France etc. are some of the evidences in favour of their cultures.

Neolithic Revolution of Stone Age resulted into the appearance of Bronze Age with development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the adoption of permanent settlements. For these practices Bronze Age people further developed metal smelting, with copper and later bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, being the materials of their choice.

The Iron Age people replaced bronze and developed the knowledge of iron smelting technology to lower the cost of living since iron utensils were stronger and cheaper than bronze equivalents. In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last period before the development of written scripts.

Educational technology during the period of Ancient civilizations
According to Paul Saettler, 2004, Educational technology can be traced back to the time when tribal priests systematized bodies of knowledge and ancient cultures invented pictographs or sign writing to record and transmit information. In every stage of human civilization, one can find an instructional technique or set of procedures intended to implement a particular culture which were also supported by number of investigations and evidences. The more advanced the culture, the more complex became the technology of instruction designed to reflect particular ways of individual and social behaviour intended to run an educated society. Over centuries, each significant shift in educational values, goals or objectives led to diverse technologies of instruction.

The greatest advances in technology and engineering came with the rise of the ancient civilizations. These advances stimulated and educated other societies in the world to adopt new ways of living and governance.

The Indus Valley Civilization was an early Bronze Age civilization which was located in the northwestern region of the Indian Subcontinent. The civilization was primarily flourished around the Indus River basin of the Indus and the Punjab region, extending upto the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, (most of the part is under today's Pakistan and the western states of modern-day India as well as some part of the civilization extending upto southeastern Afghanistan, and the easternmost part of Balochistan, Iran).

There is a long term controversy to be sure about the language that the Harappan people spoke. It is assumed that their writing was at least seems to be or a pictographic script. The script appears to have had about 400 basic signs, with lots of variations. People write their script with the direction generally from right to left. Most of the writing was found on seals and sealings which were probably used in trade and official & administrative work.

Harappan people had the knowledge of the measuring tools of length, mass, and time. They were the first in the world to develop a system of uniform weights and measures.

In a study carried out by P. N. Rao et al. in 2009, published in Science, computer scientists found that the Indus script's pattern is closer to that of spoken words, which supported the proposed hypothesis that it codes for an as-yet-unknown language.

According to the Chinese Civilization, some of the major techno-offerings from China include paper, early seismological detectors, toilet paper, matches, iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge, the wheelbarrow, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the raised-relief map, the blast furnace, the propeller, the crossbow, the South Pointing Chariot, and gun powder. With the invent of paper they have given their first step towards developments of educational technology by further culturing different handmade products of paper as means of visual aids.

Ancient Egyptian language was at one point one of the longest surviving and used languages in the world. Their script was made up of pictures of the real things like birds, animals, different tools, etc. These pictures are popularly called hieroglyph. Their language was made up of above 500 hieroglyphs which are known as hieroglyphics. On the stone monuments or tombs which were discovered and rescued latter on provides the evidence of existence of many forms of artistic hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt.

Educational technology during Medieval and Modern Period
Paper and the pulp papermaking process which was developed in China during the early 2nd century AD, was carried to the Middle East and was spread to Mediterranean by the Muslim conquests. Evidences support that a paper mill was also established in Sicily in the 12th century. The discovery of spinning wheel increased the productivity of thread making process to a great extent and when Lynn White added the spinning wheel with increasing supply of rags, this led to the production of cheap paper, which was a prime factor in the development of printing technology.

The invention of the printing press was taken place in approximately 1450 AD, by Johannes Gutenburg, a German inventor. The invention of printing press was a prime developmental factor in the history of educational technology to convey the instruction as per the need of the complex and advanced-technology cultured society.

In the pre-industrial phases, while industry was simply the handwork at artisan level, the instructional processes were relied heavily upon simple things like the slate, the horn book, the blackboard, and chalk. It was limited to a single text book with a few illustrations. Educational technology was considered synonymous to simple aids like charts and pictures.

The year 1873 may be considered a landmark in the early history of technology of education or audio-visual education. An exhibition was held in Vienna at international level in which an American school won the admiration of the educators for the exhibition of maps, charts, textbooks and other equipments.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952), internationally renowned child educator and the originator of Montessori Method exerted a dynamic impact on educational technology through her development of graded materials designed to provide for the proper sequencing of subject matter for each individual learner. Modern educational technology suggests many extension of Montessori's idea of prepared child centered environment.

In1833, Charles Babbage's design of a general purpose computing device laid the foundation of the modern computer and in 1943, the first computing machine as per hi design was constructed by International Business Machines Corporation in USA. The Computer Assisted instruction (CAI) in which the computer functions essentially as a tutor as well as the Talking Type writer was developed by O.K. Moore in 1966. Since 1974, computers are interestingly used in education in schools, colleges and universities.

In the beginning of the 19th century, there were noteworthy changes in the field of education. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), right from its start of school broadcasts in 1920 had maintained rapid pace in making sound contribution to formal education. In the USA, by 1952, 20 states had the provision for educational broadcasting. Parallel to this time about 98% of the schools in United Kingdom were equipped with radios and there were regular daily programmes.

Sidney L. Pressey, a psychologist of Ohio state university developed a self-teaching machine called 'Drum Tutor' in 1920. Professor Skinner, however, in his famous article 'Science of Learning and art of Teaching' published in 1945 pleaded for the application of the knowledge derived from behavioral psychology to classroom procedures and suggested automated teaching devices as means of doing so.

Although the first practical use of Regular television broadcasts was in Germany in 1929 and in 1936 the Olympic Games in Berlin were broadcasted through television stations in Berlin, Open circuit television began to be used primarily for broadcasting programmes for entertainment in 1950. Since 1960, television is used for educational purposes.

In 1950, Brynmor, in England, used educational technological steps for the first time. It is to be cared that in 1960, as a result of industrial revolution in America and Russia, other countries also started progressing in the filed of educational technology. In this way, the beginning of educational technology took place in 1960 from America and Russia and now it has reached England, Europe and India.

During the time of around 1950s, new technocracy was turning it attraction to educations when there was a steep shortage of teachers in America and therefore an urgent need of educational technology was felt. Dr. Alvin C. Eurich and a little later his associate, Dr. Alexander J. Stoddard introduced mass production technology in America.

Team teaching had its origin in America in the mid of 1950's and was first started in the year 1955 at Harvard University as a part of internship plan.

In the year 1956, Benjamin Bloom from USA introduced the taxonomy of educational objectives through his publication, "The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain".

In 1961, Micro teaching technique was first adopted by Dwight W. Allen and his co-workers at Stanford University in USA.

Electronics is the main technology being developed in the beginning of 21st century. Broadband Internet access became popular and occupied almost all the important offices and educational places and even in common places in developed countries with the advantage of connecting home computers with music libraries and mobile phones.

Today's classroom is more likely to be a technology lab, a room with rows of students using internet connected or Wi-Fi enabled laptops, palmtops, notepad, or perhaps students are attending a video conferencing or virtual classroom or may have been listening to a podcast or taking in a video lecture. Rapid technological changes in the field of educational have created new ways to teach and to learn. Technological changes also motivated the teachers to access a variety of information on a global scale via the Internet, to enhance their lessons as well as to make them competent professional in their area of concern. At the same time, students can utilize vast resources of the Internet to enrich their learning experience to cope up with changing trend of the society. Now a days students as well teachers are attending seminars, conferences, workshops at national and international level by using the multimedia techno-resources like PowerPoint and even they pursue a variety of important courses of their choice in distance mode via online learning ways. Online learning facility has opened infinite number of doors of opportunities for today's learner to make their life happier than ever before.

Integrating the Elderly and Disabled With Personal Support Worker Training and More

A very modern challenge is integrating the disabled and the elderly into daily life and helping them lead independent lives. While in the past, institutionalization and isolation was the norm, today it is considered to be healthier for society and for the individuals to be able to work, live in non-care home or alternatively structured care-home environments. There are many factors that have gone into this, from sociological research, medical break throughs and the rise of careers like community service worker or for people with personal support worker training.

Some of these concepts are not new. In the distant past, before there was anything close to modern hospital and social infrastructure, disabled people and other people who needed care and assistance were generally looked after by family. Institutions began as a mercy operation for the impoverished or people like veterans, who were being rewarded with care in exchange for their military service. Usually this was part of a religious organization's charitable mission. At this time, excepting nuns, professional nursing was not seen as a respectable profession. People with the resources could hire servants to look after their needs, but even the role of doctor or surgeon was on the cusp of respectability.

With the primitive medicine of the time, it took better results before healthcare became more respected. That was followed by a zealous trend towards institutionalization. Meanwhile alongside a growth in nursing there was also a growth in social work, from which we get the professional community service worker.

At this time, even in the home, there was still an unfortunate trend to hide away sick or disabled people. Disabled persons were seen as being better off in a structured environment where they could receive medical attention. But while this dealt with physical problems efficiently, it created emotional problems. Psychological and sociological research discovered better health results and quality of life. As treatments extended life and increased mobility, disabled and elderly patients became capable of functioning better without constant help.

Meanwhile social values shifted towards more respect for diversity. Simple adaptations like wheelchair ramps were added to many locations. It was discovered that with only a few hours a week from someone with personal support worker training, many of these people could stay in comfortable home networks. Employers are also encouraged to make allowances for disabled workers, increasing their efficacy.

On the other hand, institutions tried to become more like the world outside their walls. Today a retirement community encourages social involvement and resembles a luxury apartment complex more than a hospital. True there are plenty of healthcare workers, but also usually even small stores and hairdressing services. And people are brought in from outside the community for mutual benefit, from school kids to people there to learn from seniors.

Simple Living - High Thinking

What is the source of all happiness? Is it money? Or is it power, name, fame and recognition? Nothing appears to be true as most of the wealthiest, famed and powerful people are no happier than the ordinary people. If it is true, why do we all strive to achieve these material goals to achieve happiness?

The answer seems simple. We always crave for what we do not possess in the anticipation that once we get what we want, we should feel happy. This concept seems to have originated from our basic desire to satisfy our hunger. When you are hungry, you desperately seek food. You feel satisfied once your stomach is full, yet the craving returns after a few hours once the food is digested.

No animal except man has understood this simple truth. Hence man did not feel satisfied after satisfying his hunger as he learned that the craving will come back. Hence he anticipated the future by using his thought, and started cultivating and storing food and grains so that he would be free from the necessity of satisfying his basic need. Once he had taken care of his basic needs, he started thinking high about larger things of life like the understanding of the material world and even thoughts of God or the Creator of the universe.

Jesus said that a man will not live for bread alone. It is because man is the most superior creation of the world and he cannot be satisfied by merely living to eat and reproduce. He eats only to live. The goal of his life is to think high, as high as the thoughts of God.

Then, why most human beings are not happy? The answer seems to be that they fail to follow their nature and seek happiness in satisfaction of their basic instincts just like any other animal. In order to feel happy he has to think high, not only for the human being but also for all the creations of the universe. It is only by developing proper understanding of the world that we can feel happy as happiness can come only if we are able to know the minds of the people and understand the reason for their action. Improper understanding of the world causes frustration since we always find that actions of other people to be wrong and unreasonable.

Creativity

Right knowledge is necessary to understand the world. Yet knowledge is often available in the form of written words which are created in a particular context. Since the world changes with every passing moment and we never deal with the same people and the same situations again, we can never use old knowledge to solve new problems. We have no option but to create new knowledge for ourselves taking help from the old knowledge. The new knowledge must be useful for understanding the present world and solve the present problems. This capability of human beings to create new and useful knowledge is often called "Creativity".

Creative people not only solve their own problems but they also help other people and societies in solving their problems. The world always seeks people who can create new knowledge for the present realities of the world based on the knowledge of the past. These people are able to create knowledge as they can understand the secret of knowledge and modify it to suit changes in time and values.

Creative people are capable of thinking beyond the obvious, beyond the written words of literature or beyond the senses? What are the necessary conditions for creating such thoughts which are relevant yet eternal? How do people create such thoughts? What motivates them to create new thoughts? How can one become such a high thinking person?

Maslow's Law of Hierarchy

This theory was best expressed by Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation". The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied.

Maslow believed that the most essential need of man is physiological needs or the deficiency needs. As per this theory, man can think high, viz. the stage of "self- actualization", only after all his lower level needs like food, water, security, confidence, self-esteem and respect by others are satisfied. These needs are called as the worldly needs since they are material in nature.

After man has satisfied all his worldly needs and he has reached to the top of the world in power and riches, he may still not be satisfied as he seeks to grow further beyond the world, i.e. near to God. Maslow termed it as growth needs associated with psychological needs. It was termed so because it is unique in each individual and this need is non-materialistic in nature. As per the theory, these innate growth forces constantly create upward movement in the hierarchy unless basic needs remain unmet.

The Validity of Needs of Hierarchy

Mysterious are the ways in which the world functions. For every theory, there seems to be a counter-theory. Often, thoughts that sound logical and satisfy our commonsense, turn out to be nothing more than an illusion created by logic and accepted by man without application of his mind.

It appears that most of the creative men made their best creations when even the basic needs were not met. For example, Einstein wrote three best papers on photoelectric effect, Brownian motion and theory of relativity at the young age of 25 when he did not have a decent job, had no recognition, had little wealth and had been facing the worst period of his life financially and emotionally.

All through history, people reached to the self-actualization phase not as the last step of the ladder of their development but often in the first step itself and the rest of the stages followed thereafter.

It appears that satisfaction of worldly needs is not the beginning of creativity or high thinking but often the end of it. Even the greatest creators lost their creativity once their worldly needs were satisfied and they got recognition and respect, power and wealth from the world. Thus worldly possessions seem to be the biggest enemy of creativity as they kill creativity as soon as they meet each other. They are like antiparticles that annihilate each other as soon as they are brought into contact with each other.

Indian thoughts on Creativity

Indian philosophers realized, many thousand years back, the need for creation of a separate class or caste for creation of knowledge. They understood that worldly desires can only create materialistic knowledge which can make rich people richer, powerful more powerful and create an unequal society. The materialistic knowledge can only create a materialistic society where people would be fighting with each other for more wealth and power. The purpose of true knowledge is to unite the world and bring peace, happiness and prosperity to all and not only to a few.

They discovered that worldly possessions are in reality the biggest enemy of the true knowledge. They, therefore, attempted to create a class members whereof could be kept away permanently from the worldly pleasures, so that they could focus on the creation and distribution of knowledge. They called such professionals as Brahmins or the "knower of the universe" and gave them the highest place in the society but without any material achievements.

Brahmins held the responsibility for acquisition of knowledge and wisdom for the world. They wrote the earliest books for mankind. The Vedas are now accepted as the oldest creation of human mind. The earliest Veda i.e. Rig Veda originated around 3500 BC- 1500 BC. The Vedas were followed by the Upanishads and then by the Bhagavatdgita, the most famous treatise of the Indian philosophy.

However, the life of a Brahmin was the most difficult. As per the Shastras (holy books) their duties comprised of teaching, learning, performing Yajna (vedic rituals), accept charity and give charity.

The typical daily schedule of a Brahmin, according to the Sastras, is described as following:
o A Brahmin must get up two hours before the sunrise (Brahma muhurta).
o After getting up, he cleans his teeth, bathes in cold water and performs prayer
o Next he performs rites or sacrifices to the gods
o Next is the daily study and chanting of the Vedas
o In the second part of the daytime, the Brahmin must teach his disciples the Vedas
o Afterwards he must gather flowers himself for the worship he is to perform.
o Since he is not expected to earn a salary, he must beg for his food and also for the materials for the conduct of various sacrifices.

Shastras gave Brahmins the right to beg for their food and other requirements. They were not expected to accumulate wealth and own lands. They must donate excess charity to the priests. Brahmins were permitted to eat only Sattvik or simple food which included raw fruits and vegetables, milk, and limited cereals.

The daily schedule, eating habits and duties prescribed for Brahmins, were based on long experience of Indian philosophers. They had understood that the only method to create divine or eternal knowledge was to rise above the worldly pleasures of senses.

Simple Living: the only method for high thinking

The proof of any theory lies in the real-life examples of the world. We can ourselves see that all great thinkers of the world led a simple life. Some of them continued to remain simple and hence, they maintained their creativity till their last moment, while others fell prey to the worldly temptations and lost their genius.

Gautama Buddha is one of the greatest philosophers of the world, who was born in 563 BC. He founded Buddhism, one of the greatest religions of the world. He was the son of King Shuddodhan and was brought up in luxuries of life. He got married and had a son. However, at the age of 29, he renounced all the material possessions including his family and became a monk. He wandered in all places and meditated for six years before he got enlightenment or true knowledge at the age of 35.

Jesus Christ was the founder of Christianity, the most popular religion of the world. He was born at Bethlehem from Joseph and Mary. He assisted his father in carpentry. His parents escaped to Egypt to protect their child from the reach of the Judean king, Herod the Great. Jesus was lost at the age of 12 and no account of his life is available till he attained the age of 30, when he was baptized. Following his baptism, Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. During this time, the devil appeared to him and tempted Jesus thrice. Each time, Jesus refused each temptation. He started his public discourses thereafter, which attracted a large number of people and gradually gave birth to Christianity.

Albert Einstein is widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century and even of all time. He could not find a teaching job due to his unconventional thoughts. The father of a classmate helped him obtain employment as a technical assistant examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in 1902. The job barely provided him enough salary to make both ends meet. During these years, he stayed in a single room apartment with bare minimum facilities. Yet in 1905, he wrote four papers that changed the world forever and gave birth to modern physics. Most physicists agree that three of those papers (on Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect, and special relativity) deserved Nobel Prizes. He was awarded Nobel Prize for his paper on Photoelectric Effect in 1921, i.e. 16 years after its publication. Despite being world-famous, he maintained a simple life-style and lived in a small apartment at Princeton University. He limited his wardrobe so as to save time in selecting his dress.

We can find similar lifestyles among all great thinkers and philosophers like Mahatma Gandhi, Darwin, Newton, Mirza Galib (Urdu Poet), Tusidas, Kabirdas and innumerable other great thinkers of the world.. In the history of mankind, no king, or dictator, or rich man has ever earned recognition as a creative genius, though they had fulfilled all their physiological needs.

Conclusion: The time to think high is now or never

Most people believe in the Maslow's law of hierarchy, which stated creativity or self- actualization as the last stage of fulfillment of human needs, only after all the worldly needs were satisfied. They, therefore, strive in their life to satisfy all their worldly needs in the hope that after they have achieved all their worldly goals, they would strive for self-actualization or doing things which interest them most or the things they love most. In the process, their life is passed and they never get time to understand and acquire the right knowledge of the world, which is necessary not only for the spiritual quest of man but also for making him happy. Since happiness is the goal of every man or woman, hence, the right time to start thinking high is now or it would never come.

The Future of 3D Animation - The Virtual World on Steroids and Life As Simulator

The future of animation is nearly upon us, where you become your own avatar in a virtual world, interacting with characters and becoming one yourself. Let me explain, a few years backy I met an interesting Gentleman at a Coffee Shop, Robert V. Ries, was his name. Bob expressed to me that he felt our life experience was nothing more than a really good simulator which put us into organic bodies to experience the Earthlings Realm and to test our will and strength of character in a variety of situations.

He went on to say that we were interacting with many other is the same simulator. We talked for hours and his theories seemed somewhat far-fetched, although he did go into a long scientific explanation of how this might work. He explained our advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Simulation, Electronic Gaming, as well as modern day movies such as Vanilla Sky, The Matrix and Fight Club. We discussed the Department of Defense's Net-Centric Battlespaces where your targets came up in augmented reality and how your night vision and eye-tracking systems became human brain-mind-eye interfaces with the silicon world in a 4D world where you could see below, beyond and 360 degrees.

He explained paradigms of time, space and mind. Additionally I brought up other concepts which assisted the conversation; concepts of NASA's ten screen Air Traffic Control Simulators, Sci-Fi writer Ben Bova's insights on the future of Mars and space for entertainment tourism, Bill Gate's investment in Six Flags Magic Mountain and DARPA's research with mapping of a human life studying the experiences, emails, movies, conversations and events from birth to death.

The discussion in fact went through all the technologies of simulation from truck driving to first responders. It became apparent to me that even if the life experience was not a simulator, well with the rapidly approaching technology, it certainly could be. We also discussed issues of one in a state of animation where their bodies did not move but they remained in the life simulation event, which they had chosen, and their bodies were flipped over and biometrically watched as to prevent entropy; similar to the movie Coma.

We decided that perhaps it would not be such a bad life as you could chose your dream or simulation, rather than facing a reality. Another thought came out of the conversation which is intriguing and that is the use of a human collective of minds of those who were currently in their simulator. Since many parts of the brain would not be used they would be hooked together at a quantum level to work on problems and being fully exercised while the other parts of the brain were fully engaged in the simulator. In fact we determined by lengthening the dreamtime of the participant we could extend their life by ten fold and still borrow some of their brain capacity while idling the body.

We further surmised that we could use brain in the simulator during their pretend dream times and take them down to 1-5 Hz frequency for super immune healing of the body, blood filtration cleaning and ion-therapy. Meanwhile while operating at such low frequencies the mind would be straddling what we perceive as time. We could then send others into the simulator for brief visits to ask questions of the participant to see how their life simulator was progressing, interact with them and then report back the findings and possible futures that their brains had picked up on.

When the person woke up they would feel younger, be in perfect health, be many years forward in their actual life and then return to society free from psychological issues, health issues and in the future. But who would volunteer for this? Rather who might pay for this. Our thoughts were anyone dying of a disease, anyone who could not cope, anyone who felt that they were living in the wrong time period or anyone who really wanted to experience an extreme in life. Extreme pleasure, adversity or challenge seekers would be worthy candidates, also it would be great for offenders of society or prison rehabilitation as they would be donating brain capacity to the collective for important projects, learn a new lesson, be cured of their disruptive behavior and so on.

Our conversation ended abruptly as he noticed he needed to get to the airport top catch his plane back to the UK, although I had not gotten his email address for further dialogue to continue this conversation, perhaps me passing it on to you may be just as good. Think on this for me.

Giving From Your Heart

Giving back to your community is a powerful way to share your skills, talents and blessings with others. Even though you might not have anything of monetary value to give others, if your intention is to make another person's life more enjoyable simply by your kindheartedness and helping hand, you have given more than money can buy.

The encouragement and care that you are able to give is infinite and caring for another is more significant when it is done through the kindness of your spiritual self. Contributing to the life of another person will deepen the desire to make the world a better place as you strengthen your connection to your spirit.

Being of service to others not only makes one feel valuable, it also is a way to share the abundance of your joyful heart. Volunteering to help in a community center, assisted living home or doing something for people in your neighborhood can give you a feeling that your skills, talents and blessings are contributing to the betterment of others' lives as well as deepening your sense of connectedness with people. While you are helping other people, if you keep in mind that your help is simply an extension of the universal spirit that connects us all, you will find what you do is more meaningful, not only for yourself, but for those you help. When you give from the heart, your energy vibrates at a higher level, and is experienced by others as warm, nourishing and energizing to them.

Feng Shui Tips to De-Clutter and Downsize

One of the highlights of my summer 'vacation' was to downsize!!! Many of my real estate clients are downsizing in order to, for example: 1) hang up the lawnmower and spend less time on yard maintenance, 2) move into a smaller home, town home, or condo with a master bedroom on the main level - for stair-free living, or 3) move to some type of assisted care facility - for an easier, less-stressed lifestyle.

For a number of different reasons, I decided to move from my approx. 1650 sq. ft. home into a 1-BDR apartment! Wow - for sure, this would be an "extreme makeover" - not to mention an "extreme exercise" in downsizing and de-cluttering! However, moving into a new space became a perfect opportunity for me to employ Feng Shui guidelines for de-cluttering.

Here are 7 questions I asked myself - to help de-clutter and downsize in to my new, much smaller digs! And to acknowledge the source of these 'Seven "Clear the Way" Questions,' they are listed on p. 21 in the book written by Terah Kathryn Collins, The Western Guide to Feng Shui - Room by Room. For all the items that I was about to move (or get rid of), I asked:

1 - Do I love it?

2 - Do I need it?

3 - Does it reflect who I am and who I'm becoming?

4 - Does it act as an energy-boosting affirmation for me?

5 - What positive and/or negative thoughts, memories, or emotions do I associate with it?

6 - Does it need to be fixed or repaired, and am I willing to do so now?

7 - If it's time to let it go, am I going to sell, lend, or give it away, and when?

The reality of the situation was that I had to be moved in by August 1st - so I had a specific deadline I had to meet. This was a good thing, of course - because now I was forced to face all of that stuff - in my closets, drawers, attic, and, garage.... boxes of paper, items of clothing I had not worn in years, multiple sets of dishes, old pieces of furniture that I will paint "someday," etc.

My good friend and professional organizer, Katrina Solomon, has a favorite definition of clutter that I have adopted: clutter is postponed decisions and delayed action. And all of the clutter that I had accumulated over the years had become invisible - until now!

One of the reasons I embraced the challenge of moving to a much smaller space was because - like so many of us today - I had begun to feel very overwhelmed and stressed with trying to keep up with a variety of personal and professional obligations and commitments. And I knew intuitively that when I began the process of simplifying and organizing that the net effect would be a feeling of being more in control, less stressed, more inspired - and there would be more time and energy for new projects and creative initiatives. Well, it has all worked out beautifully! I have new-found energy, excitement - and truly feel re-energized and rejuvenated.

20 Questions With a Monaco Jet Set Concierge

The following is an exclusive interview with Michael Costache a Jet Set concierge living and working in Monaco.

1. Where did you grow up and who influenced you most in your formative years?

I grew up in a lot of cities around Europe because of my father's job. My father had a really big influence on me. He taught me how international business has to be managed and all the difficulties that comes with globalization and all the benefits that you can take from it. He also taught me that business is seen and developed differently considering where you live. I learned how important it is to keep that in mind when dealing with world wide clients because the trends that inspire them, their needs and their expectations radically differ from place to place.

2. When Americans think of Monaco we see a fairy tale land of royal families, castles, Grace Kelly and James Bond, how does our view differ from a locals' perspective of Monaco?

Monaco is a magical world for a lot of people around the globe. It symbolizes a luxurious lifestyle, the jet set, the royal family, the Formula One Grand Prix and of course a great history with Grace Kelly and Prince Albert. The principality attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists throughout the year. Actually, living here all year long these elements become quite normal and just a part of everyday life. The Monegasque experience is totally different if you are a tourist or a local. People living in Monaco have their favorite spots when dining or chilling time comes. We all know each other and visit each other without even paying attention to the glamorous environment that the tourist or foreigners see on TV. As I said, it is totally normal to see a Ferrari or a Bentley at every street corner, meeting Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher or even contemplating the most sumptuous yachts on the port all year long.

[Note from Rob: Monegasque is a romance language and a dialect of the modern Ligurian language, which is spoken in Monaco.]

3. How is living in Monaco different from living elsewhere?

Well, Monaco is located on the edge of Europe and across the Mediterranean and is synonymous with luxury, perfect weather and a certain lifestyle that you couldn't find anywhere else. It's just a very special place that attracts a lot of new potential citizens every year, because unlike other tax havens Monaco is associated with a very specific image. Once you've lived in Monaco it will never be the same as living in Switzerland or Andorra for example.

[Note from Rob: Monaco attracts high net income people such as movie stars, athletes etc. to become residents of the Principality in order to benefit from personal income tax exemption. Also, you may never have heard of Andorra but it should be on your list of countries to visit. It's located in the North East portion of the Pyrenean mountain range which separates France and Spain. The key attraction is it's tax haven status.]

4. I understand that there are a lot of economic advantages (you mentioned a tax haven) to being a citizen in Monaco, could you explain further?

Sure, Monaco is famous around the world for its image of a tax haven. In effect, the residents of the principality can enjoy no income tax, no tax on large fortunes, no local tax, no housing tax and no tax on property gains.

Moreover, in addition to the strong fiscal advantages, Monaco offers an exceptional living environment thanks to its security (1 policeman for every 100 citizens- the highest rate worldwide) and personal safety features combined with a very well-managed health and educational systems, an outstanding infrastructure for travel and transport and many cultural and sporting events such as the Formula One Grand Prix, the Tennis Master Series and the World Music Awards.

5. How would you describe the Jet Set side of Monaco?

From the beginning, Monaco has known how to mix all the ingredients for an exceptional Jet Set lifestyle; perfect year round weather, safety, famous casinos, 5 stars palaces, world-known nightclubs and last but not least the name Monaco has become a brand in it self that exemplifies Jet Set.

Unlike other well known Jet Set places like Saint Tropez or Sardinia, celebrities can be seen all year long in the principality and that is due once again to the fiscal policy present here. Very wealthy people obviously prefer to live and save their money in a no tax country so it is very common to see the top celebrities and the millionaires from all around the world in the same shopping mall or at the supermarket as you. It is just part of everyday life.

6. Would you describe some Jet Set parties and events you have attended in Monaco?

Monaco [as well as the French Riviera] are hosts to numerous jet set parties and events year round. For example, I was invited to the 50 cent pre-party prior to the World Music Awards at Zebra Square (which is a very famous and prestigious lounge bar in Monaco). There were lots of other celebrities in attendance (like Akon and Ciara ) which really made that night very, very special. The after party was fantastic too because most of the performers from the show were invited to "Jimmy's" (one of the most famous nightclubs in the principality) and I got an opportunity to party with G-Unit, Mika, David Guetta and Avril Lavigne.

I was also invited last summer to the Armand De Brignac Jay-Z official party organized by the famous Champagne brand and to the P. Diddy party in Cannes at VIP ROOM during the film festival. I can assure you that these parties are like nothing you've ever seen before. The atmosphere, the organization and the people present make them truly unique.

[Rob: Armand de Brignac is the name of an ultra luxury high end Champagne brand that's sold in opaque metallic bottles and is identifiable by a distinctive gold bottle with a pewter Ace of Spades label. You can see it in the climactic scene of Jay Z's video for "Show Me What You Got".]

7. There seems to be a certain circle of hot spots that Jet Setters are traveling to around the world- what do you consider to be the 5 hottest destinations now and why?

In my opinion, a hot spot for jet setters has to combine awesome parties where you can see and be seen, a big number of celebrities present, but also a bit of privacy, along with a luxurious environment and outstanding service.

So this would be my ranking :

1) Saint-Tropez (the choice was very difficult but Saint-Tropez is definitely still number 1: no summer without hearing about Diddy's or Jay-Z's famous parties)

2) Barbados

3) Santorini

4) Dubai

5) Marbella

8. What would you consider to be the next most up and coming jet set destinations that's all the buzz in your world?

From having heard a lot about it in the past year and having received very positive feedback from my friends who already went there, I would say that Hvar in Croatia is definitely becoming the New Saint Tropez. Celebrities really like this island because it actually manages to keep an authentic landscape with well managed infrastructure and building construction that preserves the fabulous nature present there. In addition, Hvar allows the Jet setter to organize really big and awesome parties in a very private way (in contrast to the French Riveria as an example). My feeling is that celebrities just feel much better in Croatia because of the high privacy the island can procure for them.

9. What is your company Quintessentialife?

Quintessentialife is an ultimate luxury goods finder. We are here to save your precious time by fulfilling your most extravagant luxury goods needs. We know that you are busy men and women, so why not let us take charge of your luxurious lifestyle wishes? The company has built a large web of partners and suppliers all over the world in order to assure that you are receiving your dream goods in the shortest of time possible. We believe you deserve uniqueness, so if your wish is a unique mobile phone, a diamond encrusted car, an exclusive platinum watch or whatever other uncommon luxury good, send us an inquiry on www.quintessentialife.com [http://www.quintessentialife.com] and we'll find the one unique piece that best corresponds to you because for us, real luxury is exclusivity.

10. How did you get started as a Jet Set Concierge?

I would call myself more of a luxury goods finder. Being in Monaco and traveling around the world in hot spots like Dubai, meeting wealthy people, talking with them about their needs and wishes and analyzing the worldwide trend showing that the number of millionaires and billionaires keeps increasing year after year. I've decided to launch this company because I really saw a market for the services provided. Moreover, in analyzing the competitors already on the market I figured out that most of them were basic concierge services. Quintessentialife is more than that. We are specialized in finding uniqueness, exclusivity, because you surely don't want to see your neighbor having the same watch or car you just bought for hundreds of thousands dollars.

11. Would you describe how a transaction works with your company?

People who are interested in having unique and exclusive luxury goods send me their inquiries through our website. As an example, they may want a watch encrusted with a special sort of diamond or maybe luxurious designer furniture for their villa or something along those lines. I then consult with my contacts around the world and begin searching for the items that best correspond to my clients needs. The next step is for me to send my propositions to the client (after fully analyzing them) and he just has to tell me if one corresponds to his needs to conclude the deal.

12. Describe your ideal client?

The most important thing for me is to find the goods that will make my client completely happy and satisfied. So, my "ideal client" would be someone who has a clear idea of what he wants. Of course, we can advise him on the current luxury trends around the world but in my experience to have a fully satisfied client you must have a precise and clear inquiry.

13. What is the most difficult request you've had from a client (and were you able to fulfill it)?

The most difficult request was definitely a Bentley Continental GTS with a gold roof. The technology was just launched and the suppliers were very difficult to find. Today, in the streets of Moscow or Dubai, you can see a few cars with gold roofs or doors but a couple of months ago these cars were non-existent. We did succeed in finding a supplier in Germany who made it for us and the client was really happy because he was one of the 3 people worldwide to possess this kind of good.

14. Do you have clients worldwide (or just in Monaco)?

Most of my clients are from the BRIC group of emergent countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China and also from the Middle East and Dubai. These countries are the ones that have shown the biggest increase in their number of millionaires in the last decade.

15. What aspects of your business are outsourced and which parts do you handle personally?

Of course, as you understood, since I cannot be in America, Asia, Middle East and Europe at the same time to search by myself- most of the research is handled by my partners all over the world in order to find the piece that best corresponds to the client's needs. Also,The IT portion of my business will be very soon outsourced to India."

16. Would you say that being based out of "Jet Set Monaco" has assisted your company's growth? If so how?

Definitely. In this business, the network you build is the most important factor in getting new clients, meeting trusted suppliers and finding new partners- as well as discussing new and emerging luxury trends. So, being based out of Monaco (and the French Riviera in general) gave me the opportunity to meet all these affluent people from all over the world and build important networks. Moreover, when dealing with luxury goods- having a "Monegasque etiquette" definitely gives you a lot of credibility.

17. I understand that you are currently living abroad in Bangkok. What types of technology are you using to leverage your business (for ex. Skype, E-lance, etc)?

I am indeed currently living in Bangkok until January. South East Asia is booming and as you can imagine, the demand for luxury goods keeps increasing. Basically Skype is my best friend to leverage my business from all over the world. I have to spend hours phoning clients and suppliers in order to be sure that the goods will completely match the client's wishes. Of course, being able to send and receive emails is crucial for me, that's why I have been using the blackberry services for a couple of years because that gives me the opportunity to be online 24/7.

The accounting side is outsourced in Mumbai, India. I'm planning to also outsource to India the management of my website and email server because as we all know, Indian workers are reputed for their high skills, rapidity to work and perfect results in these domains. I can assure you that these guys are doing a really good job and are available for you and your business day and night.

18. Are you a member of ASMALLWORLD and if so how has it helped you with your company?

I do have an account on ASMALLWORLD. This network has brought and I'm sure will continue to bring, a lot of good things for me and Quintessentialife. Besides the fact that I can obviously talk about the company and find new clients through the network- ASMALLWORLD gives me the chance to find trusted partners and suppliers. I can follow the trends of the luxury industry and check out what business concepts are emerging throughout the world and of course make new friends that will become potential clients.

19. How has ASMALLWORLD helped you with your company?

Just to give you an example, I wanted to find the best way to advertise Quintessentialife in Kazakhstan (which has seen its number of millionaires increasing a lot in the last few years thanks to the petrodollars) having no connections in that country I decided to post a thread on the ASMALLWORLD business forum. The answers I received helped me greatly to set up an advertising strategy. The best thing with this network is that the people are very serious and trusted- so real information can be sought and exchanged and real partnerships can be set up.

20. What do you see for the future of Quintessentialife?

In the business of luxury goods, the satisfaction of the clients is of the utmost importance to me. In fact, if someone is fully satisfied with our services (they will without any doubt) tell their entourage that Quintessentialife is a trustworthy company and by consequence bring the company new clients and markets. So, with the increase of the demand for luxury goods we have noted in the last few years, I'm sure that the company will grow more and more- month after month. I want it to become an unavoidable actor of the luxury goods industry.