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Before making any specific suggestions to the prospective toaster or toastmaster, let us advise that he consider well the nature and spirit of the occasion which calls for speeches. The toast, after-dinner talk, or address is always given under conditions that require abounding good humor, and the desire to make everybody pleased and comfortable as well as to furnish entertainment should be uppermost.

Perhaps a consideration of the ancient custom that gave rise to the modern toast will help us to understand the spirit in which a toast should be given. It originated with the pagan custom of drinking to gods and the dead, which in Christian nations was modified, with the accompanying idea of a wish for health and happiness added. In England during the sixteenth century it was customary to put a "toast" in the drink, which was usually served hot. This toast was the ordinary piece of bread scorched on both sides. Shakespeare in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" has Falstaff say, "Fetch me a quart of sack and put a toast in't." Later the term came to be applied to the lady in whose honor the company drank, her name serving to flavor the bumper as the toast flavored the drink. It was in this way that the act of drinking or of proposing a health, or the mere act of expressing good wishes or fellowship at table came to be known as toasting.

Since an occasion, then, at which toasts are in order is one intended to promote good feeling, it should afford no opportunity for the exploitation of any personal or selfish interest or for anything controversial, or antagonistic to any of the company present. The effort of the toastmaster should be to promote the best of feeling among all and especially between speakers. And speakers should cooperate with the toastmaster and with each other to that end. The introductions of the toastmaster may, of course, contain some good-natured bantering, together with compliment, but always without sting. Those taking part may "get back" at the toastmaster, but always in a manner to leave no hard feeling anywhere. The toastmaster should strive to make his speakers feel at ease, to give them good standing with their hearers without overpraising them and making it hard to live up to what is expected of them. In short, let everybody boost good naturedly for everybody else.

The toastmaster, and for that matter everyone taking part, should be carefully prepared. It may be safely said that those who are successful after-dinner speakers have learned the need of careful forethought. A practised speaker may appear to speak extemporaneously by putting together on one occasion thoughts and expressions previously prepared for other occasions, but the neophyte may well consider it necessary to think out carefully the matter of what to say and how to say it. Cicero said of Antonius, "All his speeches were, _in appearance_, the unpremeditated effusion of an honest heart; and yet, in reality, they were _preconceived with so much skill_ that the judges were not so well prepared as they should have been to withstand the force of them!"

After considering the nature of the occasion and getting himself in harmony with it, the speaker should next consider the relation of his particular subject to the occasion and to the subjects of the other speakers. He should be careful to hold closely to the subject allotted to him so that he will not encroach upon the ground of other speakers. He should be careful, too, not to appropriate to himself any of their time. And he should consider, without vanity and without humility, his own relative importance and govern himself accordingly. We have all had the painful experience of waiting in impatience for the speech of the evening to begin while some humble citizen made "a few introductory remarks."

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In most parts of the country, enough organic materials accumulate around an average home and yard to make all the compost a backyard garden needs. You probably have weeds, leaves, perhaps your own human hair (my wife is the family barber), dust from the vacuum cleaner, kitchen garbage and grass clippings. But, there may not be enough to simultaneously build the lushest lawn, the healthiest ornamentals _and _grow the vegetables. If you want to make more compost than your own land allows, it is not difficult to find very large quantities of organic materials that are free or cost very little.

The most obvious material to bring in for composting is animal manure. Chicken and egg raisers and boarding stables often give manure away or sell it for a nominal fee. For a few dollars most small scale animal growers will cheerfully use their scoop loader to fill your pickup truck till the springs sag.

As useful as animal manure can be in a compost pile, there are other types of low C/N materials too. Enormous quantities of loose alfalfa accumulate around hay bale stacks at feed and grain stores. To the proprietor this dusty chaff is a nuisance gladly given to anyone that will neatly sweep it up and truck it away. To the home gardener, alfalfa in any form is rich as gold.

Some years, rainy Oregon weather is still unsettled at haying season and farmers are stuck with spoiled hay. I'm sure this happens most places that grass hay is grown on natural rainfall. Though a shrewd farmer may try to sell moldy hay at a steep discount by representing it to still have feed value, actually these ruined bales must be removed from a field before they interfere with working the land. A hard bargainer can often get spoiled hay in exchange for hauling the wet bales out of the field.

There's one local farmer near me whose entire family tree holds a well-deserved reputation for hard, self-interested dealing. One particularly wet, cool unsettled haying season, after starting the spoiled-hay dicker at 90 cents per bale asked--nothing offered but hauling the soggy bales out of the field my offer--I finally agreed to take away about twenty tons at ten cents per bale. This small sum allowed the greedy b-----to feel he had gotten the better of me. He needed that feeling far more than I needed to win the argument or to keep the few dollars Besides, the workings of self-applied justice that some religious philosophers call karma show that over the long haul the worst thing one person can do to another is to allow the other to get away with an evil act.

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In our last lesson we called your attention to the fact that the Yogis devote considerable time and practice to the acquirement of Concentration. And we also had something to say regarding the relation of Attention to the subject of Concentration. In this lesson we shall have more to say on the subject of Attention, for it is one of the important things relating to the practice of _Raja Yoga_, and the Yogis insist upon their students practicing systematically to develop and cultivate the faculty. Attention lies at the base of Will-power, and the cultivation of one makes easy the exercise of the other.

To explain why we lay so much importance to the cultivation of Attention, would necessitate our anticipating future lessons of this series, which we do not deem advisable at this time. And so we must ask our students to take our word for it, that all that we have to say regarding the importance of the cultivation of Attention, is occasioned by the relation of that subject to the use of the mind in certain directions as will appear fully later on.

In order to let you know that we are not advancing some peculiar theory of the Yogis, which may not be in harmony with modern Western Science, we give you in this article a number of quotations, from Western writers and thinkers, touching upon this important faculty of the mind, so that you may see that the West and East agree upon this main point, however different may be their explanations of the fact, or their use of the power gained by the cultivation of Attention.

As we said in our last lesson, the word Attention is derived from two Latin words "_ad tendere_," meaning "to stretch toward," which is really what Attention is. The "I" wills that the mind be focused on some particular object or thing, and the mind obeys and "stretches toward" that object or thing, focusing its entire energy upon it, observing every detail, dissecting, analyzing, consciously and sub-consciously, drawing to itself every possible bit of information regarding it, both from within and from without. We cannot lay too much stress upon the acquirement of this great faculty, or rather, the development of it, for it is necessary for the intelligent study of _Raja Yoga_.

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No woman is worthy to be a wife who on the day of her marriage is not lost absolutely and entirely in an atmosphere of love and perfect trust; the supreme sacredness of the relation is the only thing which, at the time, should possess her soul. Is she a bawd that she should bargain?

Women should not "obey" men anymore than men should obey women. There are six requisites in every happy marriage; the first is Faith, and the remaining five are Confidence. Nothing so compliments a man as for a woman to believe in him--nothing so pleases a woman as for a man to place confidence in her.

Obey? God help me! Yes, if I loved a woman, my whole heart's desire would be to obey her slightest wish. And how could I love her unless I had perfect confidence that she would only aspire to what was beautiful, true and right? And to enable her to realize this ideal, her wish would be to me a sacred command; and her attitude of mind toward me I know would be the same. And the only rivalry between us would be as to who could love the most; and the desire to obey would be the one controlling impulse of our lives.

We gain freedom by giving it, and he who bestows faith gets it back with interest. To bargain and stipulate in love is to lose.

The woman who stops the marriage ceremony and requests the minister to omit the word "obey," is sowing the first seed of doubt and distrust that later may come to fruition in the divorce court.

The haggling and bickerings of settlements and dowries that usually precede the marriage of "blood" and "dollars" are the unheeded warnings that misery, heartache, suffering, and disgrace await the principals.

Perfect faith implies perfect love; and perfect love casteth out fear. It is always the fear of imposition, and a lurking intent to rule, that causes the woman to haggle over a word--it is absence of love, a limitation, an incapacity. The price of a perfect love is an absolute and complete surrender.

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Under the head of duplicate turning have been classified only such models as clearly indicate the necessity of making two or more articles to complete the model or set of articles desired. But it is not intended to convey the idea that other models may not be made in duplicate as in many cases it is very desirable and even preferable that they should be made that way. Whatever the problem may be the suggestions offered at this point may be applied effectively.

Whenever two or more models are to be made identically alike there are always two possibilities of inaccuracies that will render the work dissimilar: First, inaccurate measuring both for length and points of new diameters and also on the new diameters themselves; second, a variation in the curved surfaces either on long convex or concave cuts.

The first difficulty can be overcome to a great extent by the use of a measuring stick. This stick should be made of any soft wood. It should be straight on one edge and about the thickness of an ordinary rule. On the straight edge lay off very carefully measurements for length, shoulders, beads, concaves and all points where calipering for new diameters will be necessary. Insert at each point measured a small brad which has been sharpened at both ends, leaving the end protrude about ?". Care should be taken that all brads protrude the same distance.

After the stock has been turned to the largest diameter, the stick is held in the position of the rule while measuring and the points are forced against the revolving cylinder, thus scoring it. This stick can be used as many times as the model is to be made and the measurements will always be the same.

To avoid dissimilar curves it is well to cut out a full sized templet of the model to be made. This templet can be made of any thin, stiff material, preferably light sheet iron. In some cases it will be necessary to make the templet in several pieces in order to help facilitate the tool operations.

The use of this templet will not only be a help to getting all curved surfaces the same, but will also check up on the various new diameters on the model. The cylinder should never be in motion while the templet is being used.

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As a fire sale magician, your friends, peers and colleagues will be asking, “How did you do that?” They will want to know how you managed to increase your customer base, maximize profits and still have time to spare all in a matter of days.

Not weeks. Not months. Not years.

And what will you tell them?

Well, a true magician never reveals his secrets… but a fire sale magician can and will let others know just how great his or her products are in an effort to explain the seemingly overnight success.

It’s okay to tell others about your fire sale. In fact, you should tell as many people as possible about them! That is how you will gain further exposure and grow your customer base even more.

The bottom line is that you offer quality products at incredible prices to benefit your customers… and your business. It just so happens that your methods may seem a bit unorthodox to unassuming family and friends, but only you truly know and understand the importance of your fire sale approach.

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BADGES--BALLS (PUBLIC). It is customary for men and women on the committees to wear on the left side of the breast ornamental badges, embroidered with the official position of the wearer.

BAGGAGE. If a man is traveling with a woman, he should see to the checking and care of her baggage. See also TRAVELING.

WEDDING TRIP. The best man should, some time before the wedding, see that the baggage of the bridal couple has been checked, and the checks given to the groom. See also BEST MAN.

BALLS. A ball is an evening function, beginning at a late hour, devoted wholly to dancing. The costumes are more elaborate, the supper arrangements more extensive, and the floral decorations more lavish than at a dance.

ACCEPTING INVITATION TO DANCE. While a young woman may accept or decline any invitation to dance, it is considered an act of discourtesy to refuse one man for a dance and to accept an invitation thereafter for the same dance from another.

ANNOUNCING GUESTS. The hostess decides whether or not the guests are to be announced. At public balls it is customary. ANSWERING INVITATIONS. These should be answered immediately, and if declined, the ticket should be returned.

ARRIVING AT. There is no set rule when guests should arrive. In the city, guests should arrive anywhere between eleven and twelve, and in the country, fifteen minutes after the hour set in the invitation.

ASKING WOMEN TO DANCE. A man asks for the privilege of a dance either with the daughter of the hostess, with any guest of the latter, or with any young woman receiving with her.

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Tip # 52When you decide it’s time to start working out, start slowly and don’t get discouraged if you don’t achieve your fitness goals after the first week. If you try to push your body too much in the first few weeks, you are likely to end up with injuries.

Tip # 53 Check your weight before you start a training routine and keep checking for changes, but do not expect a radical drop immediately. It might be a couple weeks before you notice some change. However it is crucial that you continue to monitor your weight. As you're losing fat weight, you're gaining muscle mass, so your overall weight may not change as dramatically as you would like it to. Your size, however, will decrease, so measure your body regularly too.

Tip # 54 When you notice a change, reward yourself...but not with food. Go to a movie or buy yourself something like a new dress or accessories. This can help keep you motivated.

Tip # 55 Take a day off from exercise every week. Your body needs a day or two each week to relax and rejuvenate itself.

Tip # 56 Exercise outdoors as much as possible. It gives your body a chance to get fresh air and sunshine. It also keeps you perked up and it's a break from being inside all day.

Tip # 57 Exercise at home. You don't need to join a gym to exercise. You don't even need to buy exercise equipment. Visit the library or look online for exercises you can do without equipment. If you do want to get some equipment, a Wii Fit is a great investment and it makes exercising a lot of fun.

Tip # 58Exercise with a friend. Ideally, it should be somebody committed to exercising like you or your interest might fade.

Tip # 59Stop when your body has had enough. There is no need to push it. When you have worked out for a considerable time, your body will start giving you signals.

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Social Bookmarking communities and networks allow for people to create quality back-links quickly and easily from authority websites that hold a high page rank (and massive traffic!)

Social Bookmarking websites are basically sites that categorize and store bookmark (links which direct viewers to a specific website). These sites attract millions of visitors that looking for information.

What you want to do first is create an organized system to your social bookmarking campaigns. You do this by creating a “Bookmarks” folder within your Firefox toolbar.

Then, you will create a folder for every day of the week, so that you can easily submit your back-links to the top bookmarking websites regularly, without posting to the same site twice in any given day.

(This is VERY important! An organized system will allow you to get more done in less time while avoiding the risks of being flagged for posting multiple times)