Who was the first president to mar the finish of the Oval Office floor with metal Golf Cleats?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"John Rogers, a resourceful Reagan aide now nominated to be undersecretary of state for management, found in an attic pieces of the old cork floor from the Oval Office. Some had cleat marks from Dwight Eisenhower's golf shoes (his putting green was just outside the Oval Office). Rogers put them in lucite with the inscription: "This fragment of cork was part of the floor installed in the White House Oval Office in 1934. The floor supported six Presidents of the United States before it was removed in 1969."
China Tours - My Unforgettable Chinese Kong Fu Tour
If you are looking for Chinese Kong fu excursions, Shaolin, the legendary name always comes into your mind first. Shaolin temple in Dengfeng, Henan province is considered as the origin of Chinese martial art, Kong fu and the Zen Buddhism movement.
Day 1: We arrived at Zhengzhou airport at a sunset afternoon as scheduled. Our tour guide Jenne, a lovely young lady was waiting us then escorted us to Dengfeng Tianzhong Hotel, a four star hotel with nice service and facilities. Our first night at Dengfeng was super exciting.
In Dengfeng, there is a great Shaolin Kong fu performance with 3,000-seat stadium. The performance is supposed to take place every night at 8:00 Pm if the weather permits. We were lucky that day with a good weather and had a chance to see.
The theatre is located in Daxian Valley, south suburb of Dengfeng City, and is 7km far from Shaolin temple. This is not an ordinary Kong fu performance, but put on by the best directors and actors on the stage that you can not imagine until you actually see it through your eyes. The main stage is a valley, and the mountains lie vertically, with clear marks of near, middle and far scenes. There are brooks, forests and bridges in the valley, all of which are factors forming the practical performance. We can sit on prayer mats around the brook in the wind, watch the water, hear the music of zen and appreciate the performance, with our mind eased and relaxed. This incredible performance is something that words cannot describe. It is worthy to see.
Day 2 we got up early and our destination was definitely Shaolin temple. The first interesting thing in the early morning that day was to see thousands of students practicing outside in the grassy fields. They are from different ages, the oldest one is over 70 and the youngest one is only 5 or 6 years old. But everybody looks so concentrate and serious. It is amazing to watch them.
Long before I visited China, I was told that all martial arts (Kong Fu) were from Shaolin. Shaolin temple is my dreaming place. I believe that each martial art fan will be immediately inspired by the first sight of the Shaolin temple. A beautiful old red colored temple with green deviations welcomes each visitor and the broad stone stairs say "Come in". Above the entrance is a sign "Shao Lin Si" in Chinese characters. The board with the golden inscription was already written in the Qing dynasty by emperor Kangxi (1662-17721). We spent a whole morning to feel the atmosphere of the Chinese kong fu in the temple.
There are many cultural relics inside Shaolin temple. There are over 300 ancient stone inscriptions, some of them by famous calligraphers. The Forest of Pagodas is the must-see on a Shaolin temple tour. There are 232 pagodas from different dynasties and the oldest pagoda was from the Tang Dynasty. The pagodas were the tombs of the celebrated Shaolin monks.
Recommended 4 days and 3 nights China trip including the Shaolin Temple:
Day 1: Arrive in Zhengzhou
Arrive in Zhengzhou. Be met at the airport & transferred to your hotel.
Day 2: Zhengzhou - Dengfeng
Visit the Yellow River Scenic Area, Shaolin Temple and enjoy the Zen Music Grand Ceremony at night.
Day 3: Dengfeng - Luoyang
Visit Longmen Grottoes, White Horse Temple and Guanlin Temple
Day 4: Departure Luoyang
Free at leisure until to be transferred to the airport for your next destination.
About the Author
china tour - Professional China Tour Operator with tailor made service. Come with us to see China with your own eyes and touch this ground with your hands. All services are private and in small group with English speaking tour guide and license driver.
MJ Fans: What's your favourite performance from the BAD tour?
I've been watching them all day and I just wondered if you guys have any faves? If you have a link that would be great too!
Shake Your Body In Yokohama!
NAMIE AMURO TOUR PERFORMANCE + exclusive pregnant interview
What exactly is a brand? It's a question that has confounded the academics for decades and eluded the most erudite of scholars. So, coming from the trenches of the real world of branding, we've defined the term and given it a comprehensive meaning.
What is a Brand? A Definition:
"A brand is a product or service with a unique mark, symbol or logo that has a defined set of attributes and characteristics which create a unique experience for the consumer/user."(c)
Let's break this definition down into pieces that you can use to create and further develop your own brand.
A brand consists of eight basic building blocks:
- The Name
- The Logo (brand icon)
- The Brand's Colors
- The Slogan and Brand Messaging
- The Sound of the Brand
- The Overall Look and Feel = The Brand's Position
- Packaging the Brand
- The Brand Experience
Is a product the brand? No.
Is a symbol the brand? No.
Does the brand really exist in the slogan? No.
If I don't remember the Brand, but I remember the color; is that the Brand? No.
Is the brand mostly represented by its packaging? No.
Does every Brand have a unique sound? No.
So, we are left with the real question? What then, is a brand?
"A brand is a product or service with a unique mark, symbol or logo that has a defined set of attributes and characteristics which create a unique experience for the consumer/user."(c)
A Brand is the greater sum of its parts. It is always more than just the nuts and bolts, the pieces; great brands are always the result of the whole equaling more than the sum of its parts.
Take Nike, for example. As a consumer, I've been a user of their Brand for a long time. As a marketer, I've been an observer for a long time. I've studied long and hard to determine why "Just do it" has worked for consumers for over 20 years. As an academic marketer I couldn't get it. But as a consumer, the visceral message of getting up in the morning, rain or shine, want to or not want to, and going out and running - no matter what - "Just do it" is a slogan that works. I'm not a runner, but I walk every day and just getting out there or on the treadmill and "just doing it" is an important part of my lifestyle.
But would Nike be what it is today without Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods?
Probably not.
And that's where the Brand Experience comes in.
A Brand is beyond the product; it's beyond shoes or clothing or sports equipment - it's all about being a "member of the club." It's about belonging. It's about the coolness factor. Tiger Made Golf cool. He took it from being an "old white man's sport" to being the coolest, hottest sport any kid could image.
Branding is about making me, the consumer or buyer, more hip, more in the "know," more cool than anybody else. We are a generation and a nation wanting to be special. We want to be richer, more beautiful, better dressed and more effortlessly gorgeous than any other generation that we know. (But then, we are a bit narcissist and would discount any other generation!)
At a time in our economy when everything comes from Wal-Mart, via China, it seems as though the low price wins. But, au contraire. Branding is at an all time high and it's precisely because we don't want to be just low-price buyers. How pedestrian, after all. We want the world to mean more than price. More than money. We want everything to mean more. We want everything to have meaning.
That's why we flock to the reality shows. Why we love "The Apprentice" and "American Idol" and other top realistic shows. We crave authenticity in this age of fabrication and falsehood. We "just want to be real."
We want to be able to trust what we buy and whom we buy from. That's why Coke is still the number one brand in the world. The more we know about a brand, the more we trust it. The more we trust it, the more we buy it and continue to experience it. The more we experience it, the more loyal we become.
Loyalty is the currency that cannot be traded for dollars.
When you have a loyal consumer, you have the world and Branding is the way to conquer the world.
(c) 2007, Kae Groshong Wagner.
About the Author
Kae Groshong Wagner is the CEO of North Star Marketing, a brand consultant, author and speaker. She can be reached at kgwagner@northstar-m.com or 717-392-6982 x.105 For free articles, case studies and marketing tips visit http://www.northstar-m.com
New Nike Golf Commercial SQ 5900 (R Sharp Entertainment)
South Africa has two species of rhino, the Black rhino (Hook-lipped rhino) and the White rhino (Square-mouthed rhino). Of the two species, the white rhino has the highest population, numbering +- 4000 in the Kruger National Park and only 400 black rhino. It's hard to believe that less than 100 years ago there were fewer white rhino's than black rhino's. The reason for such a low population of rhino in the park was as a result of excessive hunting and poaching. In the mid-70s’ a huge effort was made to boost their numbers by introducing rhino from Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve into the southern part of the Kruger National Park. Another possible reason for the black rhino being so low in numbers could be the fact that they are very anti-social compared to the white rhino which are often seen in large herds of 10 - 15 and even more. Black rhino breed less frequently as a result of being so anti-social.
White Rhino are grazers. They have very broad, flat mouths which makes it possible to chew off large tufts of grass while feeding. They spend a lot of their time grazing in the early morning and late afternoon as well as during the night. On warm days they move into the shade to sleep or cool down in mud wallows or dams.
White Rhino bulls are very territorial and on a daily basis they patrol their territories, chasing out intruding territorial bulls, as well as scent-marking the area to show its' presence. The male scent-marks by spray-urinating on trees and on the ground. After urinating on the ground the bull often drags his feet over the urine covered sand to spread it over a larger area. The urine under the feet also helps to spread the males' scent even further as he walks through his territory. The bull also has a number of middens within his area. A midden is a large collection of dung left by the rhino in the same spot. Every day the bull will try re-mark as many of these as possible. After dropping fresh dung into the midden, the bull drags his feet over the dung to break it up into smaller pieces, often spreading it out to increase the size of the midden. Just as he does with spay-urinating, he spreads the scent of the dung under his feet when walking through his territory.
During the dry winter season or drought the more dominant male will often allow neighbouring territorial bulls that have no water in their territories to enter his territory for a drink of water, as long as they leave right after drinking.
The females and young sub-ordinate males that are not territorial wonder quite freely through the different male territories.
Reproduction:
The female White rhino gives birth to a single calf after a gestation of about 16 months. They are often seen accompanied by two or three generations of their own young. The female often chases her older calves away before giving birth to another calf. After 3 or 4 months when the newborn is strong on its legs, the mother will allow the older calves to re-join her once again. The female calves will often spend most of their lives with their mother. Male calves tend to wonder off a bit more the older they get, eventually leaving their mother to try establish their own territories.
Senses:
White Rhino have extremely poor eyesight but are very capable seeing moving objects. They have an excellent sense of smell and hearing. A rhino's ears are always moving to pick up any sound made around it. Even while sleeping their ears still move to pick up any sound.
About the Author
I am an ex-game ranger from South Africa. I have 2 awesome blogs packed with information on all sorts of wildlife in Africa. I also talk about encounters with dangerous game while doing bush walks. Visit my Blogs to find out more: www.safari-stories.blogspot.com and www.southafrican-wildlife.blogspot.com
What is the song in the commercial with the dog worried about a large white bone?
In the commercial the dog burries the bone in the backyard. He can't sleep worried that something will get it. He then takes it to the Smithsonian and places it in a vault. All through the commercial someone is singing a blues type song that keeps repeating the word "trouble". Does anyone know the song and who sings it? Thanks for your help.
To make your own primitive looked hang tags to attach on presents or jar gifts is a creative and fun way to add a personal touch to your gift.
Here's how. Take some cardstock, white, Off White or any color you wish. Make some strong coffee and let it cool to room temperature. Cut or tear your cardstock in the shape and size you want. Be mindful if you plan to use a printer to print on it afterwards, or if you'll be drawing by hand. You can also use the scrapbooking decorative scissors to make certain shaped edges it you'd like. You'll also want to decide if it'll be a single side, double sided, or folded hang tag.
After you have determined the size and shape of the hang tag, take a paintbrush and lightly paint the coffee on the first side of the paper. Set it on waxed paper and allow it to dry (make take overnight). Once dry, turn over the other side and repeat.
Once the cardstock is dry on both sides you're ready to begin the artwork. If you're using a printer, simply print the picture you desire on the card. If doing this by hand, extra fine tip black Sharpie markers work great for primitive look hang tags. One thing nice about the prim look, is that it's difficult to mess up. Start with the wording on the hang tag that you want. A quick way to make your writing look primitive is by adding a small dot at each ending and beginning point of each letter.
If your hang tag is too plain by now you can either hand draw some type of border around the outside of the wording, or a small drawing of a country item somewhere on the label. Some things that are popular is a bow, a farm animal, a country jar, a star, snowmen, mittens, etc. Again, a rustic primitive look is very forgiving, even for the person who can't necessarily draw otherwise.
Now use a hole punch and either jute string or raffia or some other type of primitive material to tie a knot to attach to the gift. These are really cute on gifts in a jar as well. Experiment with the look and have fun!
By Valerie Garner
Drop by her site today with many ideas and resources to help make family life more comfortable and stress free. Lots of ideas for things to make for the home or gifts as well.
how do big brand T shirt companies get their logos on the tags of their shirts?
I would like to start my own silk screen business and sell t shirts and other articles of clothing over the internet. However, I don't want the tag of my t shirts to say Hanes or AAA, i want them to have my logo on them. how do i do that?
check this site out
http://www.apparelsearch.com/main_labels_2.htm
Also, let me know if you would like to stick to selling the shirts and let me do the printing.
Matthew
matthew@digitalmayheminc.com
US $6.49
![NEW Wilson [K] Tour Performance Tennis Racquet (Pre-...](http://www.iwrband.com/images/e/150475825031_0.jpg)
