How to Tie a Bow Tie: An Illustrated Guide
by Brett & Kate McKay on April 16, 2012
https://artofmanliness.com/2012/04/16/how-to-tie-a-bow-tie-an-illustrated-guide/
Month: December 2012
Over the ‘fiscal cliff’ we go….
Over the ‘fiscal cliff’ we go….
December 31,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, President Barack Obama began his afternoon remarks at the White House by saying, “I realize that the last thing you want to hear on New Year’s Eve is another speech from me.” But he suggested “progress” has been made on a “fiscal cliff” deal.
President Barack Obama vowed Monday to seek additional revenue next year through tax hikes alongside spending cuts.
House Republicans notified lawmakers that the chamber will miss the midnight deadline to vote on a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.” President Obama had said earlier today that a deal is within sight, but is not yet done. It’s still unclear if the Senate will vote on a deal tonight.
Five Things You Can Do Instead of New Year’s Resolutions
Five Things You Can Do Instead of New Year’s Resolutions
Fresh alternatives to help you celebrate 2012 and get to your 2013 goals.
Published on December 29, 2012 by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. in The Science of Willpower
Tired of the traditional New Year’s resolution to lose weight, get fit, or get out of credit card debt?
Below are five fresh alternatives to help you celebrate yourself in 2012, and get to your goals in 2013.
1. Write yourself a letter from your future self, dated 1/1/2014. Imagine looking back at 2013, from a place of having achieved your most important goal for the year. In your letter, thank your present self for all you did to achieve your goals—and be specific. Or give yourself some compassionate advice from your wiser, 2014 self. Research shows that connecting to your future self in this way can help you make a difficult change and succeed at your goals.
2. List your favorite memories and triumphs of 2012, including the challenges you faced with courage or humor (even if things didn’t turn out the way you hoped). Studies show that remembering your strengths increases future perseverance and willpower; and reminiscing about the past increases future happiness.
2013: the first year of the rest of my life
2013: the first year of the rest of my life
by Paulo Coelho on December 31, 2012
No one can go back, but everyone can go forward.
And tomorrow, when the sun rises, all you have to say to yourselves is:
I am going to think of this day as the first day of my life.
I will look on the members of my family with surprise and amazement, glad to discover that they are by my side, silently sharing tha little understood thing called love.
I will pass a beggar, who will ask me for money.
I might give it to him or I might walk past thinking that he will only spend it on drink, and as I do, I will hear his insults and know that it is simply his way of communicating with me.
I will pass someone trying to destroy a bridge.
I might try to stop him or I might realise that he is doing it because he has no one waiting for him on the other side and this is his way of trying to fend off his own loneliness.
Instead of noting down things I’m unlikely to forget, I will write a poem.
Even if I have never written one before and even if I never do so again, I will at least know that I once had the courage to put my feelings into words.
I will keep smiling, because it pleases me to know that people think I am mad. My smile is my way of saying: ‘You can destroy my body, but not my soul.’
https://paulocoelhoblog.com/2012/12/31/2013-the-first-year-of-the-rest-of-my-life/
Happy New Year from John and all the members of NhN
Happy New Year from John and all the members of NhN
John R. Fugazzie
December 30,2012
3:22 PM
I just want to take a short minute to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year and to thank everyone who attends and helps others with our pay it forward job search group.
Our extensive list of friends of NhN who allow us to hold meetings in their libraries, the professional coaches who come speak pro-Bono, the businesses, organizations, and government officials who support us and the significant number of media who help us get the word out to others, and those who take the time to send job leads and support our program and membership.
I want to specially thank all the facilitators, co-facilitators, board members and special advisor to me that have helped this organization grow, create an impeccable reputation, and become national recognized.
I want to wish all of you and your family and friends a Happy New Year and hope for many many more of our members to create their success story to add to our ever growing list…which stands at 217 as of today.
This job search process is not easy but we hope that the support that all of our member groups provide will help each week be motivated to do the things you need to to to land. Please spend time our our web site as it is loaded with helpful links and resources that keep being donated to us to help all of our members. make sure you click the more tab and visit each and every one of the tabs.
A very exciting moment will occur at 7pm on Wednesday night when we open our first NhN meeting location outside of NJ.
The opening of our Boston group will be a milestone for our organization’s national expansion. We have Abby Kohut to thank for finding these great volunteers and this great group of volunteers for establishing the relationship with BPL to allow us to have weekly meetings in their historic building…take a look at our page even if you are not from Boston.
https://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/nhn-boston-ma.html
A few upcoming events i want to mention:
We will have a table at the Rutgers New Brunswick Main Campus Job Fair on Thursday Jan 3rd.
Here is their brochure. All members can attend, and we are looking for volunteers to help us staff the free NhN table we will have there. from 9:30- 3:30pm at the Student Center.
https://www.crmpubs.com/CFGsFinal/NJCCDG_Jan13_Online.pdf
2 Years and Counting …
I am working with other Volunteers on our 2nd annual anniversary seminar and will hope to have finalized the Venue and the Guest Speaker list by end of week. We will be either at Bergen Community College or Bergen Academies. As last year when we had 320 members we ended up with 200+ attending at Ridgewood Library, one year later we have 1100 members from 8 NJ counties and 217 success stories at our last count. My plan is to have a series of speakers who can address job seekers interestes.
We will have well recognized professionals who are from each of the outreach areas we are working on to increase our membership and our networking opportunities. Government, Colleges, Business, Non Profit, Green and Sustainability, and a well traveled friend of Nhn will be presenting.
Please keep the day of Jan 25th free with thoughts of a 10-3 meeting seminar. I would need some volunteers to help me with this as we are getting short in lead time.
While is it amazing to look back and see all the great things NhN has done, we really want to look forward to the things we will accomplish in the year and years to come.
Sincerely
John R. Fugazzie MBA
Founder – President – Group Leader
Neighbors-helping-Neighbors USA, Inc.
www.nhnusa.org
Are We Helping Poor Americans?
Are We Helping Poor Americans?
Jennifer Marshall
December 31, 2012 at 8:38 am
At the end of the year, many people take time to make charitable donations. But caring for those in need is a year-round responsibility—and when it comes to public policy, conservatives have an important opportunity to articulate an effective response to poverty and social breakdown in America.
A half-century into the War on Poverty, liberals can hardly declare victory. But they can claim the dominant anti-poverty narrative: Fight poverty by spending more, by starting another federal program.
Americans seldom look to conservatives for policy answers to the problems of poverty.
That’s not to say we don’t have answers. To the contrary, we’ve had important policy successes. The 1996 welfare reform rises to the top. School choice, which allows low-income parents to get their children out of failing and often violent public schools, is another a vital example of a policy that can help lift those in poverty and give them a chance at a different future.
But we’ve made precious few attempts to string these single notes of success together into something larger. We have yet to popularize a competitor to the prevailing tune about how to meet the needs of our neighbors.
It’s time to change that—first and foremost in the interest of our neighbors.
A single mother on welfare may reflexively accept liberal policies. But if we believe that long-term government dependency doesn’t do justice to her dignity, we ought to be able to explain that in a way that taps into her aspirations for a better future — particularly for her children. Anyone who thinks that’s not possible should consider how low-income parents have clamored for school choice.
In 2012, The Heritage Foundation hosted an anti-poverty conference to bring leaders together from around the country. About 90 policymakers, policy implementers, researchers and program evaluators, service providers and ministry leaders, representatives of philanthropy networks, and communicators gathered. Fourteen leaders of state welfare agencies participated.
Our objective is to help more Americans escape poverty by promoting work, marriage, civil society, and welfare-spending restraints.
The many disciplines represented at that conference on Capitol Hill reflect the complexities of the human needs we seek to meet. But because we work in different disciplines, we might not often think of ourselves as a cohesive anti-poverty movement. And if we don’t, that means the public certainly doesn’t.
But we share a commitment to principles deeply related to the flourishing of all Americans. Evidence and experience testify to it. Marriage reduces the probability of child poverty by 80 percent. Work-based welfare recognizes that personal responsibility is essential to human dignity. If these realities are not yet widely understood, we owe it to all our neighbors to make that message clearer, appealing to their best intentions and their best interests.
In advancing a conservative agenda to fight poverty, we’ve got five Big C’s to conquer:
Communication. We are being defeated by straw men in the poverty debate. If we don’t talk in our own terms about overcoming poverty, our opponents will caricature our position. Conservatives need to go on offense, explaining why the welfare state has not done justice to the poor and pointing the way to upward mobility. That means communicating facts and stories in every possible venue — from op-eds to congressional hearings and town halls to state agency press releases.
Content. Conservatives need to offer a concrete description of our near-term objectives: We want to build on the success of the welfare reform of 1996, which reformed just one of 80 federal means-tested programs that in total are now funded to the tune of $1 trillion annually. We seek to secure the safety net for those truly in need — and to ensure that it encourages work and marriage rather than long-term government dependency. And we look to civil society to transform lives and communities and restore the path to upward mobility.
Courage. Policymakers need conviction, coupled with the confidence that comes from being equipped with the facts and seeing firsthand the life-changing alternatives to the status quo. They need to meet the former addicts restored through Jubal Garcia’s work at Victory Fellowship in San Antonio, or the couples who have built healthy marriages thanks to Bishop Shirley Holloway’s House of Help/City of Hope in Washington, D.C.
Credibility. Showing up, learning, and listening are top priorities. When the Republican Study Committee launched an anti-poverty initiative this fall, their first order of business was to hold a summit where they listened as neighborhood leaders from across the country — Jubal and Shirley among them — told of challenges and successes in exercising effective compassion.
Critical mass. We need others to join in to begin to change this tune. At The Heritage Foundation, we’re committed to linking arms with a growing coalition of leaders to build a conservative anti-poverty movement.
Our challenge is to sound the notes that ring true to human need, to arrange them in a way that reminds listeners of what human dignity demands, and to make the music compelling enough for others to join in.
That’s one of our resolutions for 2013 and beyond. Will you join us?
A version of this piece originally appeared in National Review Online.
In 2012, Many Felt the Market Was Rigged
In 2012, Many Felt the Market Was Rigged
By Michael Santoli | Yahoo! Finance – Mon, Dec 24, 2012 1:37 PM EST
In 2012, investors’ long-harbored suspicion that the stock market was a rigged game became something of a majority opinion.
This year, exasperation over the predominantly electronic mechanics of trading stocks, in which hyper-fast computer algorithms maneuver against one another for fractions of pennies collected over microseconds, boiled over. The level of disgust has gotten broad enough, in fact, that authorities might be prepared to rethink some of the basic rules and processes driving the system.
The opaque and complex structure for trading stocks electronically across dozens of exchanges and alternative networks has long been justified by industry leaders and regulators as the messy but logical result of investor-friendly reforms. Technology has enabled mind-melting speed, unfathomable communications capacity and brutal competition for order flow – all of which have made trading cheaper and faster than ever.
Yet by squeezing out traditional market makers who once collected low-risk, protected profits by mediating among buyers and sellers, rules and technology have tilted the power toward “high-frequency traders.” And in 2012, the fragility produced by so much layered complexity became too obvious, and produced too many market-jarring failures, to be considered merely the price of progress.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/in-2012–many-felt-the-market-was-rigged-183735394.html
Cyber Criminals Target Your Smartphone: McAfee
Cyber Criminals Target Your Smartphone: McAfee
CNBCBy Justin Menza | CNBC – 7 hours ago
@cnbc on Twitter
As more people use their mobile devices to access their bank accounts, make payments and store financial and other types of data, cyber attacks are on the upswing, Michelle Dennedy, Chief Privacy Officer for security software firm McAfee, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”this week.
According to McAfee’s 2013 Threat Prediction report, “Cyber criminals and hacktivists will strengthen and evolve the techniques and tools they use to assault our privacy, bank accounts, mobile devices, businesses, organizations and homes.”
Cyber attacks on mobile devices can take two forms, Dennedy told CNBC. In addition to the traditional hacking and malware threats that plague traditional PCs, cyber criminals are now exploiting a mobile phone’s near-field communications, which is how consumers use tap-and-pay mobile wallet services.
“Crooks are able to walk through crowds and literally bump into your phone and your steal information,” she warned.
The McAfee report also predicted a rise in “ransomware” where criminals hijack a users’ ability to access data or communicate to extort a payment from victims who hope to have their access restored.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cyber-criminals-target-smartphone-mcafee-055202725.html
The Secret to Getting Your New Job in the New Year
The Secret to Getting Your New Job in the New Year
Peter Guber
December 28, 2012
CEO, Mandalay Entertainment, Owner Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Dodgers, #1 NYT Bestselling Author, Tell to Win
If you think just the most impressive resume wins the job offer, think again.
While resumes may help you to the door, it’s the purposeful story you will tell that often gets you through the door and into a new office with your name on it.
Executive search guru Bill Simon told me that lack of preparation in order to tell a purposeful and compelling story about themselves is the number one reason why candidates fail to win over prospective employers in job interviews. Simon is a senior client partner and managing director of the media, entertainment and convergence sector at Korn/Ferry International, the behemoth search firm that specializes in high-level global recruitment and talent management. I’d engaged him on several occasions to headhunt top leadership candidates for my private and public companies, so I knew he only represents individuals who are supremely qualified and experienced.
That made his remark all the more alarming. If these folks haven’t prepared to get themselves hired, how will they be prepared to effectively lead organizations, persuade customers, manage employees, and sell products? According to Simon it’s because arrogance and self-righteousness can mislead potential candidates into thinking they don’t need to prepare. Doing the advance work helps shine the light on their attitude which every employer looks for. Aptitude is on the written word on the resume. Attitude is in the story and how they tell it to persuade others of their passion, purpose, and capability.
Failing to realize that the emotional resonance of the conversation is what HR execs, recruiters, managers, and every other decision-maker who you need to convince to hire you remembers, rather than the facts, data, and information on your resume will be the fatal flaw in your interview. It’s not that the facts, information and data aren’t important. They are critically important. But they’re already on the page and now you’re on the stage. When you tell a purposeful story demonstrating your attitude and passion, suddenly the data, facts and figures of your resume become memorable, resonant and actionable because your story has given your listeners something they can hold onto, remember, and tell forward.
Before your next interview, come armed! Not with resume bullets, but with the belief and conviction that the story you tell will hit your listeners’ hearts and stay top of mind long after you’ve left and the plethora of other candidates attempt to sell themselves on the backs of their resumes alone.
Offers fly, but still no ‘fiscal cliff’ agreement
Offers fly, but still no ‘fiscal cliff’ agreement
Last-minute deal elusive despite GOP concessions
With hours to go, President Obama and Congress barreled toward the New Year’s Day “fiscal cliff,” trading last-minute offers and narrowing the range of options Sunday, but reaching no deal.
“There’s still significant distance between the two sides,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, announced Sunday evening, though he said there was still time to reach agreement by Monday’s midnight deadline. “We intend to continue negotiations.”
Talks were so broken at one point Sunday that the top Republican negotiator, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, bypassed Mr. Reid to speak directly with Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
The blockade seemed to lift somewhat when Republicans dropped their demand to change Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment formula, and both sides traded offers on the income level at which taxpayers will see an income-tax rate increase and debated what other incentives would be included.
“You can’t win an argument that has Social Security for seniors versus taxes for the rich. So we need to take it off the table,” Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said in explaining why the party decided to forgo demands for entitlement reform.
A deal would have to clear not only the Senate, but also the House, where conservative Republicans hold sway.
Read more: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/30/cliff-roadblock-now-senate-democrats/#ixzz2GdSg2oQL
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Hillary Clinton hospitalized after doctors discover blood clot
Hillary Clinton hospitalized after doctors discover blood clot
By NBC News staff
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was admitted to a New York City hospital on Sunday after doctors discovered that a blood clot had formed, the State Department said in a statement.
Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary, said in the statement that the clot stems from a concussion Clinton sustained several weeks ago.
Reines said that Clinton, 65, is being treated with anti-coagulants at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. She will be monitored there for the next 48 hours, he said.
“Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion,” he said. “They will determine if any further action is required.”
Settlement on red-light camera suits but it’s nothing to shout about
Settlement on red-light camera suits but it’s nothing to shout about
Because of a class action lawsuit over red-light camera tickets, close to 500,000 people who got tickets in New Jersey will partial refunds. But don’t send out for the helium balloons. Ingle, Asbury Park Press
Jen Bissu Fine Art
Cruising down main street, meeting friends at the local car hop, doing the Lindy and the Jive to the jukebox, going to the drive-in and barely watching the movie…these are some of the images invoked by the retro and automotive pop-art-flavored paintings of Jen Bissu. Strong composition, unique points of view, and striking color and contrast are hallmarks of her work. Driven by a passion for an era before her time, Jen Bissu’s paintings take the viewer back to the excitement-charged days when Elvis was King and a chrome-laden car was the coolest. “I can’t even explain what got me so interested in it,” Bissu says. “I just have this deep passion for the fifties embedded in me. There was a kind of magic to the era, a romance, that you can’t find anymore. Going to drive-ins in these gorgeous cars, sharing a Coke with two straws, going steady…it was so romantic! And the music of the era captures it perfectly. That’s what I strive for in my paintings, too…to capture the romance and excitement of the Fabulous Fifties.”
Born in a New Jersey town directly across the river from Manhattan, Jen Bissu had the art c
apital of America at arm’s reach during her formative years. Visiting museums and attending art classes in New York City schools added fuel to the creative fire burning inside her from her earliest days. By age six, Bissu could be found standing in the bustling corridors of NYC’s Chrysler Building, selling her drawings (both prints and originals). She began studying art formally by age nine, and knew right away it was to be her calling. She took art classes at several New York City schools including the United Nations International School, The Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and Pratt. Bissu went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Visual Communications/Illustration and M.A. in Fine Art Education from Kean University.
From childhood to now, Jen Bissu has delved into several art forms from drawing to watercolor to photography, and dabbled in several three-dimensional media as well. In a college Intro to Painting class, she discovered her medium of choice. Bissu immediately fell in love with the way the buttery acrylic and oil paints glide over the painting surface, and the rich colors they produce. Over the years, Bissu has flirted with many themes in painting: portraits, still life, landscape, even dilapidated buildings. But above all, her love for the roots of Rock’n’Roll and classic mid-century American culture has fostered a need to create art about classic cars, chrome, candy shoppe fountains, greasers, and pin-up cuties. Jen Bissu’s paintings embody the wholesomely sinful spirit of the 1950s and bring about a deliciously nostalgic feeling, even for those born too late to experience firsthand the magic of the Fabulous Fifties.
Twitter @JenBissu
NYE2013 Events
photo by ArtChick for NJ Venues
New Year’s Eve Singles Social / Dancing, Bibi’z Restaurant / Lounge, Westwood, NJ, Sat, Dec 31
Monday, Dec 31 9:30p
Bibi’z Restaurant & Lounge, Westwood
Mix and Mingle NYE in the Lounge reserved for PBSN and Dance into the New Year. Invite your friends. Meet many singles from the local area. Cash bar. The Kitchen will be open until after Midnight…
New Year’s Eve Singles Dinner Party / Dancing, Bibi’z Restaurant / Lounge, Westwood, NJ, Mon, Dec. 31
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Bibi’z Restaurant & Lounge, Westwood
Enjoy a 4 course NYE dinner, party and dancing. We will gather in the private dining area next to the dance floor. Sharp dressy attire. Champagne toast at Midnight! Cash bar…
New Years Eve 2013
Monday, Dec 31 6:00p
46 Lounge, Totowa
New Years Eve 2013: Monday December 31st at 46 Lounge Join in on this year’s balldrop at New Jersey’s hottest spot, 46 Lounge…
Bliss New Years Eve
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Bliss Lounge, Clifton
Countdown to 2013 NJ’s Only Latin NYE Celebration Music by DJ’s Luna Comotion VNyce Anythony Rey Jumpin Jay Mad Quest & More Surprise Guest DJ’s Hosted by AJ El Kallejero Bliss Packages: Basic $25/…
The Silver Ball: New Years Eve Edition
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
((Boom)) / Double Tree Hotel, Mahwah New Jersey, Rutherford
 Here’s The Deal… And its the Best Deal Around… All inclusive… All included….
New Year’s Eve at New Jersey’s Hottest Club 46 Lounge
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
46 Lounge, Totowa
Join in on this New Year’s Eve balldrop at New Jersey’s hottest spot, 46 Lounge. 46 Lounge is an ultra-chic lounge with flavors of Manhattan, Miami and Los Angeles packed into one exciting venue…
NYE 2013 with DJ Camilo at Studio 4
Monday, Dec 31 8:00p
Studio 4 Ultralounge/Megavenue, Fort Lee
Monday December 31st NYE 2013 Bring In The New Year In Style Tickets ONLY $30 Includes: 12am Champagne Toast,Noise Makers,Party Hats,Continental Breakfast,Guaranteed Entrance, NO WAITING ON LINE…
New Year’s Eve Raine Lounge NYC
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
Raine, Bronx
www.Gametightny…
New Years 2013 at Hudson River Cafe
Monday, Dec 31 9:00p
Hudson River Cafe, New York
 New Years 2013 at Hudson River Cafe  Hudson River Cafe 697 West 133rd St New York, NY 10031  212-366-0752  Join us at New Years 2013 at Hudson River w/  jinx paul, LMP guys, D anny S, F irs…
Afrojack at 4Sixty6
Sunday, Dec 30 9:00p
4Sixty6, West Orange
Event Details: Buy Tickets At: https://www.kicktickets…
The Long, Strange History of the Christmas Tree
The Long, Strange History of the Christmas Tree
December 23, 2012, 8:08 AM
Trees may bear blossoms, fruits, or pinecones, or the weight of birds and squirrels, or just plain snow. They are not normally found in houses, nor are they decorated with candles, straw stars, tinsel, or glass balls. And most trees have roots that stretch deep into the ground beneath. But the Christmas or Holiday tree as we know it today usually has only its crown and trunk – and its place is in the home. It has developed a life of its own, and there is an entire ritual surrounding it.
Is it really just a pagan remnant – as common mythology has it? What can account for the imaginative combination of natural and cultural elements, for our splendid Christmas tree? It seems like different traditions came together: Wood has been used for thousands of years in celebrations of the winter solstice in northern Europe. To honor the gods, it was set alight to scare away the spirits. And mid-winter greenery was thought to radiate and summon life force and fertility, to keep harm at bay. The custom of celebrating the changing year with greenery was already known among the Romans, who used bay branches. Some of the objects used as tree decorations have long been found in the context of Christmas. For instance, in the 10th century it was common in the German lands for children to give apples as presents at Christmas time – a custom that soon also included other foodstuffs such as bread and cheese.
The solstice evergreen, a freestanding tree usually found next to the village well, was much loved in Northern and Central Europe. It was freed of its bark and branches, while leaving the treetop. Sometimes this was later replaced by a new treetop and the tree was then decorated with string, small figures, and blown eggs. This tree had an established place in the life of the community – the girls of the village formed a round dance, singing and dancing around it.
https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/12/23/the-long-strange-history-of-the-christmas-tree/?mod=e2tw
