The Spirit's Self-Help Book by Power of Visualization CEO Glenn Poveromo Slated For Release

Historical Novel about New York Firemen Says Early Volunteers Invented Baseball

As the opening of baseball season draws near, countless stories will be written about Abner Doubleday creating the game America loves on a farm at Cooperstown, N.Y. But a new historical novel tracing the heydays of the New York City Volunteer Fire Department has a different tale to tell about baseball's beginning.

In "The Volunteers," Doubleday, a noted Civil War general, has been replaced by a New York City volunteer fireman as baseball's creator. The fireman, who spread baseball's popularity westward when he joined the 1849 California gold rush, went on to become a noted Honolulu fire chief.

"The Volunteers" by Donald L. Collins, is a novel about the rise and demise of the New York City volunteer system during the turbulent period from 1830 until 1865, when a paid fire department was established in the city. The 500-page novel is based on exploits of noted firemen of the period.

It centers around the development of the steam fire engine, which most east coast volunteers rejected as "unmanly." They preferred to continue using hand-pulled and hand-pumped apparatus. The battle pits politically-powerful volunteer firemen from all walks of life against corrupt politicians and an insurance industry pushing for a paid fire department using steamers.

One of those firemen was Alexander Cartwright, a member of Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12, one of the city's most prominent volunteer organizations. The son of seaman, Cartwright developed an interest in the English game of rounders. His father found many variations of the game being played in lands he visited and taught Alex the game.

Cartwright decided to take the best features of many versions of rounders and gradually combined them into a new game. In 1845 he founded the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club. The club charter set down the detailed rules of the game which provide the foundation of the current game. He also pioneered development of a cork centered, stitched ball to replace the crude ball used in rounders.

New York firemen liked what they saw and began forming their own baseball clubs. The Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 and Engine Company No. 9 were early ball clubs. On June 19, 1846, the first baseball game, under Cartwright's rules, was played at Elysian Field in Hoboken, N. J., between the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine clubs. Cartwright's team was beaten badly in the match. The Mutuals went on to became one of the city's favorite teams.

Abner Doubleday's promotion as founder of baseball has been an ongoing controversy. Now, however, Cartwright is recognized at the National Baseball Hall of Fame as "the father of modern baseball."

A former weekly newspaper editor and Marcus Hook, Pa., volunteer fireman, Collins tells the story through the eyes of a fictional reporter for the New York Herald. He uses contemporary accounts of major New York fires of the period to highlight daring rescues and the tragic losses of firemen.

Among those blazes is and the heroic struggle to save the city in the Great Fire of 1835. The blaze, during a minus 17-degree blizzard, leveled much of the same area as the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center. U. S. Centennial historians in 1876 cited the fire as one of the most significant events in the first century of United States history.

In the 35-year period covered in "The Volunteers," Collins covers the firemen's roles in relation to the industrial revolution, immigration, the telegraph and newspapers. An interesting story line traces the metamorphosis of a firemen's song written in Philadelphia in 1853 to what became one of the most recognized songs in the nation. The original song, "Hey Bummers will you meet with us today?" was commissioned by visiting Charleston, S. C. firemen as a gift to their Philadelphia brothers, and ironically evolved into a Union army marching song.

Finally, the Civil War drained most big cities of their volunteer firemen, making the steam fire engine a necessity to replace large numbers of firemen drafted into the army. New York State legislators settled the volunteer vs. paid firemen dispute for the city when it created the paid Metropolitan Fire District in 1865.

Good Character Press Celebrates September as Teen Awareness Month

Good Character Press celebrates Teen Awareness Month. We will celebrate by offering our book, Character Keys to a Bright Future, at a great discount. Instead of $10.95, we are offering this treasure for only a mere $8.50 until October 10, 2006. You may order this book through PC Publications: http://www.pcpublications.org/ This book is popular with home school teens and has also been utilized in private and public schools, as well. Sometimes a grand parent buys it for a grandchild.

Evangelicals have named September as Teen Awareness Month, as of March 6, 2006. This day was designated to empower and engage teens, according to Lillian Kwan, a Christian Today Correspondent. Ms Kwan also tells us that teens can be empowered to stand firm against the negative influences of our pop culture. Please read her article below:

Teen awareness month to give wake up call to teen trends. (Select here to read this valuable article). Evangilicals have named September for this timely cause.

Unique International Songwriting Collaboration

Aspiring songwriters from around the world have completed a song collaboration which began one year ago (http://www.songtheworldwrote.com). This unique contest was designed to achieve two goals - bring people together to promote love, peace and paying it forward and to help win the battle against cancer.

The BC Cancer Foundation will be the grateful recipient of a percentage of the net proceeds from publishing, along with another international cancer research organization. (to be determined).

The idea to put together a worldwide songwriting effort originated when Lucy DeLima-Wilson and her son Johnny DeLima decided it was time to unite the world in spreading cheer and goodwill to others. Today, that dream became a reality as the final radio-ready demo was completed.

Lucy DeLima-Wilson states, "This collective brainstorm demonstrates what can happen when people join together without boundaries to create something magical to perpetuate positive change worldwide."

DeLima is in pursuit of Celine Dion as the recording artist because Celine will be opening the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

"The Song the World Wrote" is upbeat and inspirational and represents several countries, as do the Olympics.

The song's title "Oceans of Love - The Song the World Wrote" and its first line were written by multiple Emmy Award Winning Songwriter A.J. Gundell and the world wrote the rest of the song. The song boasts writers from Canada, USA, Ireland, Lebanon, Argentina, England, New Zealand, China, France, Germany and India.

About Lucy DeLima-Wilson and Johnny DeLima:

Johnny is a performer/songwriter in Vancouver. He survived major brain surgery as a teenager and awoke with a newfound commitment to life and giving back. Lucy is a social worker in Toronto who enjoys spreading the ideas of love and unity to others. She believes strongly in diversity and paying it forward.

More information about the contest and a sample of the completed song can be found at the Web address below:

http://www.songtheworldwrote.com

For an interview or more information, please contact Lucy DeLima by phone at

(416) 519-6000 or Johnny DeLima at (604) 518-4893.

Web Address: www.songtheworldwrote.com

PlayingTag.com Launches New Site - Welcomes Upscale Living Magazine - Game On

Upscale Living Magazine has enlisted PlayingTag.com to support the Magazine in reaching new marketing partners and defining the final advertising identity.

Through a combination of strategic advertising partners and highly focused distribution, the magazine is reaching an upscale reader with monthly frequency.

Travel, Living, Arts & Entertainment, Health, and the "finer things in life" will be regular features for this publication. Unpretentious, but certainly upscale.

In an effort to create a long-term (and elegant) presence in the area (Metro Boston/Providence initially) the magazine has placed high demands on the first year of publication:

60 full color pages on heavyweight (70#) glossy paper, life enriching articles, and worldly sensibility with hometown intimacy.

This "local" magazine is a portal to a wider lifestyle community... (specific attention given to the Florida/Boston travel & lifestyle correlation).

SofTrek Corporation Introduces Free Instructional White Paper -- How to Deploy Oracle® Software on the Internet

SofTrek Corporation, a 17-year-old computer software company based in Amherst, NY, published a free white paper to help companies develop complex Internet database applications using Oracle® software. SofTreks proven know-how and experience, as well as its access to the resources available through the Oracle PartnerNetwork as a Certified Partner, enable them to create a white paper to help companies get the maximum performance from their Oracle environments.

SofTrek recently launched a new service that provides hosting of custom Oracle Database applications for small to mid-size organizations. Marketed under the appitat name, the service provides both infrastructure and staff to support Oracle Database applications out of SofTreks state of the art datacenter located near Buffalo, New York.

M.I.S. Unveils the MIS Specification v1.1 for Multimedia Files, a Solution for .XXX, and Updated Products

McGrath Info Solution (M.I.S.) announces version 1.1 of the MIS specification to make it easy for consumers to have information about their multimedia files and for other types of files/information. We offer our own solution to the .XXX problem and announce software updates.

The MIS specification will help with the exchange of information(metadata) for many type of contents (music's, pictures, videos...) between creators, distributors and users.

The MIS specification now have more than 200 tags of which: notes, multiple chapters, subtexts, goofs, questions, website links, resume playback from a video/audio file, tool tip for pictures, software error, multiple languages... We added new tags, updated tags and added the following types: Computer playlist, Website info, Humour, Stamps.

With the recent rejection of ICANN of the .XXX top level domain, we offer our own solution to this problem. We added WEBINFO.MIS (free, no license needed) that use the current tags of the MIS specification so that Web browsers and filtering software could read that file in the root of the web site and determine what kind of site it is and what is the recommended age. Thus, an adult entertainment site will have an age-rating of 18/21 but an anatomy site may have an age-rating of 12,14 ... This way, adult entertainment providers will keep their investment in their current domain and Web browser and filtering software will only have one file to deal with when WEBINFO.MIS is found. This will save time and bandwidth for both parties as they won't have to go thru the whole website.

Painting Contractors Hungry for Kramer Industries' Corn Cob Grit

The problem is as old as paint itself. What's the best way to remove a cracked and peeling finish from a wood exterior home?

Scrapping was the only answer until sand blasting and chemical stripping came along. But now there's a new solution that is less abrasive, takes much less time, costs less money, and can even be used on surfaces like cedar shakes.

Can you say corn cob grit…without cracking a smile?

It's no joke. Just ask a few of the professional contractors who have gained a competitive edge and are outbidding their competitors by using corn cob grit blasting, many of whom are customers of NJ-based Kramer Industries.

A Strong Internet Marketing Business Model Can Work To The Success Of A Multimillion Dollar Business Empire

Matt Bacak is one of the Internet's most successful entrepreneurs as his teachings have resulted in the financial success of many Internet Marketers spread through the country. Matt Bacak's newest system called "the seven golden keys to success" are a stepping stone for any entrepreneur to integrate these tactics through their business enabling them to construct a multimillion dollar empire.

According to Matt Bacak's strategies, one of the major "golden keys" consists of creating a business system for an entrepreneur's venture. Matt Bacak mentions that a strong business system is mandatory for any business to gain profit as it is meant to help stabilize any entrepreneur's time, money and assets.

KlipTech Introduces EcoClad Sustainable Exterior Siding

Sustainable surfaces pioneer KlipTech™ today announced the introduction of EcoClad™, a revolutionary new exterior cladding product for residential and commercial applications, made from post-consumer recycled paper/wood fiber and bamboo fiber.

"The building products world thought we were crazy when we came up with the idea of using recycled paper to make siding," KlipTech president Joel Klippert said. "And EcoClad is truly an industry first: a totally sustainable exterior-grade siding derived from recycled bio-based material that rivals metal, brick and stucco in durability."

Major National Occupational Health & Medicine Conference Invites General Public to Attend and Learn of an Unfolding Crisis

Asked the nature of the crisis to be addressed at the OEMAC conference, conference chair Dr. Noel Kerin stated that it is both a human crisis and a looming economic crisis for industry. “Currently, one third of manufacturing costs are devoted to human capital” said Dr. Kerin, “and mismanagement of human capital can drive that figure to 40+% of total costs. At that point, trying to manage a profitable business in the global market is a downhill slope. From the human aspect, the impact of chronic diseases on workers, families and employers is a legacy which modern industry must address effectively.”

Dr. Kerin noted that this conference is of particular importance to all parties involved in Human Capital Management. “By opening the conference to non-medical people and industry” Kerin said, “we can bring all t 558 he workplace stakeholders together—unions, management, insurance, and WSIB—with a forum where they’ll be heard on issues.”

Cell Phone Recycling Giant Casts Solid Vote For The Environment

PaceButler Corporation, a major player in the cell phone recycling industry based in Edmond, Okla. announced today the company's plan to integrate its marketing operations with those of recyclers coming from other industries and with organizations and local communities advocating for waste reduction and environmental protection.

"This is one solid vote for the environment," says Michael Arms, spokesperson for PaceButler Corporation. "We have contributed significantly to the cell phone recycling industry since we entered the business in 2002. We will continue to do so, working with our partner companies and charities."

Colorado's Academy District 20 Selects eCollege as Best Solution for New Online High School

High school students across Colorado will soon have access to education anytime and anywhere, the result of a new partnership between eCollege and Academy District 20, the school district serving residents of the U.S. Air Force Academy and parts of northern Colorado Springs.

D20 Online, a diploma-granting online high school currently in its pilot phase, offers courses to allow students to earn their diplomas on a more flexible schedule than traditional schools. Since August, D20 Online has been serving local Academy District 20 students, including traditional, non-traditional and home-schooled students.

NUMMATUS Captures Attention of Potential Commercial Real Estate Investors

Nummatus Investments announced that it is now sponsoring investor groups to buy commercial real estate not previously afforded most individual investors. Individual investors can now own high-quality commercial real estate anywhere in the country and realize all the benefits large investors have enjoyed for years.

"In addition to high net worth individuals, we now offer accredited and sophisticated investors a no-hassle way to buy, hold, and benefit from commercial real estate," stated Larry Glick, Nummatus Investment's co-founder and Principal Investor. Mr. Glick is also the Principal of Guarantee Funding Company, a company he established over a decade ago to help businesses and real estate developers improve their cash flow.

NuSil Technology to Unveil Line of High-Purity Gels at Sensors Expo

NuSil Technology (http://www.nusil.com), a cutting-edge manufacturer of silicone-based materials for aerospace, aircraft, electronics and photonics industries, will release a new line of high-purity gels at Sensors Expo 2009 next month in Rosemont, Ill. LS-3354, LS2-3354 and LS3-3354 are high-purity gels that reduce moisture permeability by 80 percent when compared to other silicone gels used for encapsulation. Samples will be available to view at NuSil's booth #1009.

LS-3354, LS2-3354 and LS3-3354 are designed for potting, encapsulating, backfilling and dampening applications requiring a soft gel with optical clarity. These gels have a refractive index of 1.54 and are available in a convenient 1:1 mix ratio. With viscosities ranging from 3,500 cP to 8,000 cP, these gels are excellent for dispersing phosphors to obtain a high-brightness white light. Cure can be achieved at ambient temperatures with humidity or accelerated with the addition of heat.

SeedANeed is a Program to Spread Good Deeds Nationwide

The up and coming project called SeedANeed.com has done it again. Since there launch this March the "good deeds" project has done a lot for the local community and is looking to branch out.

SeedaNeed.com

Project director Eddie Struckman says the project is all about first helping others, then encouraging and teaching others to do the same. So far since the launch the SeedANeed.com team has passed out free Chap Stick at the cardinals opening day game, gave away free food at Arby's, launched a huge good deeds campaign at the University of Missouri, did free oil changes for veterans, and an Easter egg hunt for needy children. According to the SeedANeed team this is only the beginning.

Organization Releases Platform to Counter Islamic Extremist and Other Threats in U.S.

Today the United American Committee announces its platform to deal with the threats which face America from within. The topics of the platform cover border security, visa restrictions, all the way to addressing the issue of Americas dependency on foreign oil which originates from nations with high levels of terrorist activities. One point addresses American organizations being funded by foreign governments; No organization of any kind deemed to be promoting ideals which endanger the American populace shall receive funding by any foreign government or other foreign source." as point seven states, this pertaining to influence and funding from Saudi Arabia on American based organizations, says U.A.C. sources. The entire platform can be found on the groups website under the agenda section at www.UnitedAmericanCommittee.org

Hospitality Job Board Launches Industry News Channel

Caterer.com has launched a hospitality news portal that will report on the latest developments in the hospitality industry.

Caterer News Site

The vertical job board, which specialises in recruiting for the hotel, restaurant, contract catering and pub/bar sectors, launched a news channel that allows jobseekers to select news stories by industry sector and up to 14 different regions across the UK.

The news site will take a hospitality recruitment angle, delivering stories about job opportunities across the sectors right down to a regional level. Readers can stay up to date with relevant news stories from hotel, restaurant, contract catering and pub/bar industries.

Stainless Steel Bevel Gears from QTC Are Stocked in 24 Sizes in Modules 1.5~3

Precision 20° pressure angle stainless steel bevel gears from Quality Transmission Components are stocked in 24 sizes in modules 1.5~3. These gears, identified as the SUB Series, are made of SUS303 and conform to precision grade JIS B 1704 grade 3 standards. They are stocked in sizes ranging from Module1.5 to Module 3. Number of teeth range from 15 to 45. Bore sizes range from 8 mm to 20 mm and hub diameters from 25 mm to 80 mm. In addition to these stainless steel bevel gears QTC stocks a wide variety of bevel gears in other materials including: plastic, injection molded, sintered metal, steel, and in specialized types including: Bevel gears and pinion shafts, finished bore, and spiral bevel gear types.

Growing up Is Never Easy: The Pains of Recession Should Lead to More Mature Financial Practices

Urging the country to put away childish things, President Obama could have been talking about poor spending habits. Like children, this nation demanded instant gratification. The retail concept of lay-away, so popular just 30 years ago went the way of the drive-in movie. No longer satisfied with buying only what is affordable, Americans embraced run away equity lines and defined themselves by what could be bought on credit. But those days are no more - and maybe it's for the better.

According to Patricia Hinds, founder of Granite Financial in St. Cloud, "Faced with plummeting investment accounts, declining home values, and the real prospect of job loss, Americans suddenly are doing what they've needed to do all along - spend less and save more."

In fact, in the last three months of 2008, the government reported Americans' savings rate, as a percentage of after-tax incomes, rose to 2.9 percent. That's up sharply from 1.2 percent in the third quarter and less than 1 percent just a year ago. Today, a shopping spree no longer appears to be the initial response to a wave of bad news. In February, the Commerce Department reported consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December, dropping 1 percent amid worries about surging layoffs. The hunkering down trend likely will continue. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™ plummeted further in February reaching yet another all-time low. The Index now stands at 25.0 (1985=100), down from 37.4 in January. According to The Federal Reserve, although consumer borrowing rose slightly in January, economists still expect borrowing will remain weak this year with news of the unemployment rate surging to a 25-year high.