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"My girlfriend dumped me because she says I 'wasn't there' when we made love. She's not the first to say this. I know something's wrong. Can hypnotherapy help me?"

Your sexual dysfunction means you engage in sex more as an observer than as a participant.

You hold yourself back from entering a trance state; you have difficulty "letting go."

There are several ways in which a qualified hypnotherapist can help you to conquer this problem. Before using hypnosis it is essential that you receive competent medical advice.

Hypnotherapy will have a particular focus depending on whether the problem is organic or psychological.

organic sexual problems require medical intervention. Hypnotherapy may be used as an adjunct, for instance, in helping you to heal faster after an operation.

More frequently, sexual difficulties treated by a hypnotherapist concern psychological issues.

Since the process deals with your mind all sexual activity during hypnotherapy takes place only in your imagination.

What you learn through hypnotherapy is practiced privately elsewhere.

Hypnotherapy may be used to heighten your sensual involvement and to help you to be fully present while engaging in sex.

A common, effective use of hypnotherapy is to lower your anxiety.

The anticipation of failure (particularly for men anxious about their ability to have or to maintain an erection) brings on anxious feelings.

These in turn bring about the failure. Hypnotherapy ends this vicious circle and replaces the anticipation of failure with the certainty of success and confidence.

Traditional sex therapy methods are more readily accepted by you when in hypnosis because the conscious, judgmental, analytical part of your mind is temporarily set aside.

Your subconscious then absorbs the new, positive messages you've asked the hypnotherapist to create.

Precisely because hypnosis taps into the autonomic nervous system, a person can use it to improve or alter functions that normally happen without conscious control, e.g., a man's erection.

Charles, a 27-years-old former sailor and currently an electrician, consulted a hypnotherapist because he was too fearful to have sex with his wife.

They'd been married three years and had had sexual difficulties since the birth of their daughter eight months previously. Charles was afraid he'd been embarrassed once again if he tried to make love.

"Kim laughed at me the first time and now she just gives me a look of disgust." Why? Because he couldn't maintain an erection.

Charles felt humiliated and frustrated; he worried that he'd never again have satisfactory sex with his wife. His dream of fathering a son seemed unattainable.

He told the hypnotherapist that he had no problem masturbating when alone. This was a likely indicator that Charles' problem was psychological, not organic.

As was Charles' report that he always had a firm erection when having sex with the occasional housewife in whose home he was doing electrical work.

To be on the safe side, the hypnotherapist advised Charles to be examined by a medical specialist to be absolutely sure there was no organic cause for his ED.

The doctor confirmed that Charles' trouble was "100 per cent psychogenic," meaning that for some emotional or psychological reason, he could not maintain an erection.

Of course, the more Charles tried, and the more he worried, the more flaccid was his penis.

The hypnotherapist explained to Charles that hypnosis could be used to uncover the cause of his trouble, or to tackle the symptom, or both.

Charles, being the impatient type, and of course eager to end his humiliating experiences, opted for the "quick fix."

Over the course of three sessions of hypnotherapy, Charles relived successful love-making episodes from his younger years as a Navy "stud."

Then the therapist used a melding technique to encourage Charles to see himself (in his imagination, while hypnotized) from now on once again enjoying a full, firm erection well beyond the time needed to satisfy his partner.

Positive suggestions were also made by the hypnotherapist to Charles about his prowess, his confidence and his desirability to his wife.

For three months Charles and Kim had a wonderful sex life. Then he lost an erection just as foreplay had become hot and heavy.

Kim, hurt and disappointed, reacted with sarcasm. All Charles' fears and anxieties rushed back. He returned to the hypnotherapist.

This time Charles agreed to investigate the cause of his impotence.

The hypnotherapist used various approaches -- age regression, age progression (in which the "future" Charles was to explain how he'd conquered the problem) analogue symbolic imagery -- but nothing worked.

In a subsequent session, with Charles relaxed in hypnosis, the therapist told Charles he'd have a dream. His subconscious would provide this dream as a way, either directly or symbolically, to explain the origin of his impotence.

Three nights later Charles dreamed he was outside a factory. It was night time and the factory loomed dark and mysterious.

Charles felt a strong urge to scale the steel fence that surrounded the factory. Then he tried to find away in. All the doors were shut and padlocked. A security guard ("very scary, because he had my face," said Charles) told him to go away.

But Charles persisted in his eagerness to enter the factory. He ran from the guard, to the back of the building. Here was the loading dock. Charles saw a bulldozer there. He jumped into its cab and began to operate the controls.

The guard reappeared, feebly told Charles to get off the property, to go to his own place. In the distance, Charles could see a stately castle which he somehow knew belonged to him.

But his only interest was in the dark factory. The guard shrugged. Charles started up the bulldozer and charged the heavy machine toward the small back door of the factory.

As the bulldozer began to rumble forward, Charles awoke -- with a massive erection.

The dream puzzled Charles. But it enlightened the therapist. To him it revealed that Charles was in the grip of the Madonna/Whore complex.

This is the attitude that divides women into "good" and "bad." Thus, a man's wife and especially mother, are "good." Prostitutes, other men's wives and and women of ethnic groups other than the man's own, are "bad."

"Bad" women are exciting; "good" women are boring. Sex is forbidden with "good" women but possible with the "bad."

A man with this complex may have sex with his wife occasionally, or until she becomes a mother, or while a post-hypnotic suggestion lasts. But his heart is not in it. Neither is his penis.

However, with a "bad" woman he has no commitment, no respect. She is there to be used.

His conscience (the security guard) barely bothers him about penetrating the stranger (the dark factory) but, perversely, does prevent him enjoying "his" woman (the castle).

When Charles heard this explanation, he nodded in agreement. This was indeed his view. And that of his father, uncle and most of his friends. He had no serious interest in changing this outlook, especially since Kim had announced she was pregnant. The hypnotherapist's suggestion that Charles and Kim seek marriage counselling fell on deaf ears.

A lawyer we shall call Mathilde did seek help from a psychotherapist. She had told the referring doctor that she rarely had an orgasm. The truth was that Mathilde never had an orgasm -- with her husband.

She'd been faking it for years. But she had climaxed with previous boyfriends. Also during a two-night stand a few months ago.

Mathilde had been a speaker at a lawyers' convention a thousand miles from home. There she met Roger, a brooding electrical engineer who had been trouble-shooting the hotel's elevators.

"He was not particularly good-looking but he had these soft grey eyes," Mathilde confided to the therapist. She smiled. "He was brutal in bed."

Mathilde was mildly surprised to find herself telling the male therapist details she had not felt comfortable confiding to her female doctor.

There was no question of her wanting to leave the marriage. She loved her husband, had a marvellous life. All that was missing ws the joy of orgasm. It was something she yearned for.

Until she met Roger the lack of orgasms with her husband had not bothered her much. Mathilde had become used to pretending -- and to satisfying herself in secret.

The therapist faced two dilemmas:

i) perhaps, despite Mathilde's conscious denials, there was some problem between her and her husband

ii) the therapist usually worked with couples, not individuals, on such sexual challenges.

He decided that, given the husband was not present and would be unlikely to come to future sessions, he would work with Mathilde, and he would use hypnotherapy. If the outcome was successful, there would be no need to explore possible conflicts between husband and wife.

First the therapist explained a little about hypnosis and how it could help Mathilde. Her first session was devoted to her simply relaxing into hypnosis, and becoming familiar with how safe and peaceful it felt.

In Mathilde's second and third sessions of hypnosis the therapist suggested Mathilde silently relive an earlier experience of orgasm.

In her mind she was to take particular note of the physical and emotional feelings which allowed her to climax.

When the orgasm in her imagination was over she would open her eyes, though remain in hypnosis.

Then the therapist pointed out, and Mathilde confirmed, that she had been internally very relaxed just prior to making love. And that during foreplay and intercourse, she became "lost" in the pleasure.

The therapist asked Mathilde to again close her eyes and this time to imagine herself in bed with her husband. Again she could relive the details silently, no need to tell the therapist anything, except when the imagined lovemaking was over.

When Mathilde compared the earlier experience with how she felt when making love with her husband she immediately noticed her tension.

"I am not relaxed and I don't get lost in the act." Sometimes she thought about cases she was working on and at other times she focused on making sure her husband was satisfied.

In the next part of the session the therapist first gave Mathilde suggestions that she could allow herself to relax with her husband, that she could allow herself to climax with him.

The therapist again waited silently while Mathilde played the scene through in her mind.

When she signalled (with a broad smile) that the scene had reached a successful end, the therapist closed the session with positive suggestions about Mathilde allowing herself to be relaxed, focused on pleasure and allowed to climax when making love with her husband.

And so it was.

* * *

Hypnotherapy has also been used successfully to overcome other sexual problems such as overlubrication, exhibitionism, and to uncover the reason a client became a transvestite.

Before seeking help with a sexual difficulty it is important to be sure it really is a problem. For example, a man may go to a therapist because he believes he suffers from premature ejaculation. But if the man is married to a woman who dislikes sex, indeed "wants it over with as soon as possible," that's exactly what is happening, so where's the problem?

Twenty-five years old Eugene's problem was real enough: he could not become erect. A handsome, single, bus driver, Eugene had had several medical examinations; all the doctors had concluded there was no medical cause for his impotence.

At first, hypnotherapy did not help Eugene. He became more and more despondent about his failure, scared to date and unable to sleep at night.

The hypnotherapist had used approaches one or more of which usually resolve psychogenic impotence:

> positive suggestions
> aversive therapy
> satisfying imagery
> arm rigidity

But nothing worked.

The hypnotherapist finally decided to enlist the guidance of Eugene's subsconscious through finger signalling and direct relay of images in response to questions.

(With finger signalling -- also known as an ideodynamic technique -- a hypnotized person allows the subconscious to answer questions with predesignated fingers that represent "Yes," "No," "Don't Know," and "Not yet ready to answer").

This approach proved fruitful, although at first puzzling.

Hypnotherapist: "I'm going to ask your subconscious some questions. There's no need for you to think about the questions or the answers. Simply allow your subconscious to respond through the fingers it has selected.

You will probably feel a tingling begin in the finger that the subsconscious selects. Then it will lift as though of its own accord.

Now, I'd like to ask your subconscious if there is a purpose served by Eugene's impotence?"

[This question is often answered "yes" and subsequently leads to an explanation such as a desire to punish self or partner for some reason].

[Fimger responses are indicated with ( )].

Eugene: (No).

H: "Does the cause of the problem lie in Eugene's past?"

E: (Yes).

[This response steered the hypnotherapist along the wrong path. He took no account of the literalness with which the subconscious absorbs information. Consequently, the hypnotherapist understood the "Yes" response to mean that there was a specific event, a trauma or a message, that began Eugene's impotence. As was later revealed, the "cause in the past" referred, not to a particular event, but to an ongoing process.]

H: "Did the cause happen before Eugene was 20?"

E: (Yes).

H: "Did the cause happen before Eugene was 15?"

E: (Yes).

H: "Before 10?"

E: (No).

[Now the hypnotherapist, who erroneously assumes some single event happened, switches from finger responses to image responses].

H: "Okay. I'm going to ask the subconscious to present to your mind an image that is somehow connected to the problem we're dealing with."

E: "I'm in a shop. I don't know how old I am but a man picks me up. I'm very scared. He holds me to him. Someone else comes in and tells the man to put me down."

[The hypnotherapist thinks that it is possible something happened in the shop to subsequently cause Eugene to become impotent. However, further questioning reveals that Eugene sees little more than he has already reported. There appears to be no abuse, no negative messages (such as "You'll never be a man.")

The session is drawing to a close so the therapist reverts to ideomatic questioning. He decided to check the medical verdicts].

H: "Does the problem have any medical basis to it?"

E: [Long pause]. (No).

H: "Is there something physical that would help?"

E: (No).

H: "Is there something missing in Eugene's diet, or something he should not be eating or drinking?"

E: (Don't know/don't want to answer yet).

[Eugene snaps out of hypnosis, much to his own surprise. In previous sessions for other problems Eugene had enjoyed hypnosis so much he had been reluctant to emerge. He puts himself back into hypnosis].

H: "Okay. Our time is nearly up. I want to thank your subconscious for its help. I'm now asking it to provide you with a dream that will give you a strong indication on how to solve the problem that brought you here."

[Eugene once again snaps out of hypnosis].

H: "Wow. We're clearly close to something significant, otherwise you wouldn't come out so suddenly."

E: "I don't understand why. But while you were talking about me having a dream something floated into my mind: smoking."

H: [Incredulous]. "You smoke!"

E: "Yes, a lot."

H: "There you are. That's what your subconscious was telling us: the cause of your impotence is smoking! Have you stopped before?"

E: "Yes. For a while."

H: "And did you have erections okay then?"

E: [Thinks back]. "Yes, I did. I did."

[And the shop? Why did the subconscious throw that memory into Eugene's mind? Perhaps because the shop sold cigarettes.]

Copyright (c) 2005 Bryan M. Knight

Bryan M. Knight, MSW, PhD is Canada's foremost hypno-psychotherapist. His vast website "Hypnosis Headquarters" (http://hypnosis.org) offers you information about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy as well as ebooks, CDS, mp3s and DVDs.

Diesel engine generators can offer you more benefits than a gasoline powered generator. While they can be slightly more expensive than gasoline generators, diesel generators usually offer a long lifespan and more efficiency. Below you will find some additional information about what diesel generators can offer for your home, business, construction site or farm.

Why can diesel generators offer a better choice?

- Longevity diesel generators usually offer a longer lifespan

- Lower costs diesel generators usually offer a lower fuel consumption rate, which saves you money

- Lower cost to maintain diesel generators usually offer more reliable engines

- Quietness diesel generators can often times be quieter than other types of generators

Diesel generators offer reliability over gasoline generators. Many times, diesel generators can operate more than 10,000 hours without requiring any maintenance. Because the fuel burns at a lower level than a gasoline generator, there is less wear and tear on diesel powered generators.

Here is a breakdown of maintenance requirements for typical diesel and gasoline powered generators:

- 1800 rpm water cooled diesel units can usually operate on average 12-30,000 hours before requiring major maintenance

- 1800 rpm water cooled gas units can usually operate 6-10,000 hours before requiring major maintenance. These units are built on a lighter duty gasoline engine block.

- 3600 rpm air-cooled gas units are usually replaced not overhauled after 500 to 1500 hours of operation

As you can see from the information above, diesel generators offer a significantly longer lifespan, less maintenance, and more reliability and a gasoline powered generator.

For more information about diesel generators, visit http://www.mammothdist.com

When it comes to providing for your home, business, construction site, or farm, there is no better alternative to the line of power equipment offered through MAMMOTH Distribution. We invite you to explore our site and learn about our gasoline and diesel powered generators, water pumps, and small engines.

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The principle of permanent establishment is very important for avoidance the conflict of law of matter connected imposition of taxation. In the absence of a permanent establishment, a country where goods or services are sold has no jurisdiction to tax the resulting profits. A permanent establishment means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on. The notion fixed means attachment of physical property to a geographic location where the territorial jurisdiction of a state can be exercised. The concept of e-business permanent establishment means attachment of various components of computer or other devices having attached to earth.

The concept of permanent provide the foundation for imposition of taxation and limits the ability of a state jurisdictions to tax profits derived from sales or service performed by electronic commerce means through a Web site or their electronic devices. But the establishment of servers and other computer technologies do not meet the physical requirement, but only to the extent that they are established in the jurisdiction in question. The application of this principle of permanent establishment has been clarified by the OECD in its Commentary on Article 5 of the OECD Model Convention, which provides that a web site in itself does not constitute a permanent establishment and a server where the web site has been uploaded can only regarded as permanent establishment.

To the extent that a foreign person is not engaged in a Pakistani trade or business, then the absence of a permanent establishment is irrelevant since the Pakistan will not tax that person's active business income. However, some persons entitled to benefits under a Pakistani income tax treaty will not be subject to Pak Tax due to the lack of a permanent establishment, notwithstanding the fact that they may be engaged in a Pakistani trade or business. A Pakistani permanent establishment generally requires a fixed place of business in the Pakistan although a permanent establishment can also arise by imputation from the activities of an agent.

The state North Dakota of United States of America confronts enormous administrative problems in seeking to enforce taxes on electronic commerce. As the Court delivered the judgment and construed the provisions of laws in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota , states will often be unable to require the vendor to collect of taxes on goods or services sold in electronic commerce, and, insofar as they seek to do so, they are likely to engender lengthy and inconclusive litigation. What a state needs to see for purpose of imposition of taxation is the presence of intermediaries as source of taxation but an eventuality of facts are that role of intermediaries are so important and dynamic causing its own set of legal issues . The concept of permanent establishment is so important that I am going to discuss it in detail.

oThe presence of a web site itself is not a permanent establishment

Does a web site or home page have a physical presence of some permanence? The best answer is that website can have its permanent establishment if the operator of site is located in jurisdiction of a state. Either home page or linked pages if the operator of pages residing in a state and performing service not delivery goods the where web site has been hosted can be regarded as permanent establishment e-business for purpose exercising jurisdiction of taxation. A web page is consisted of binary or digital code, and is housed on a magnetic surface in computer disk or hard where which is physical in nature. The binary code is viewable using a computer and a communications device. However, even though we can establish a physical presence, albeit a brand new form, the "establishment " exists on the host computer. Therefore, a web page will likely constitute a permanent establishment only in the country where the host computer resides.

The viewer of a web site feel as web site has no actual physical presence and it is existed in cyberspace and, viewer can only feel the presence of the website on his computer and its contents. Presence of employees in country is not essential condition maintenance of the site. The order function of web site or electronic media is same as comparison with ordering done through catalog or a television advertisement, "infomercial" or home shopping channel. It can not be established under present statute that mere extension of interpretation of tax provisions does not create a permanent establishment under existing principles, and it should not when effectuated through electronic commerce.

The way the contents are displayed for mailing or online ordering, the ultimate purpose of these are providing facilitation to customers so that view stock or data are made viewable to them. The web site is analogous to a location being maintained solely for the purposes of displaying the contents of goods and services offered for sale or performance. Moreover, contention of fact for evolving the principal of jurisdiction for purposes of imposition of taxation and proposed construction of status can not accepted as basic principles of electronic commerce jurisdiction on a server only temporarily should not be a permanent establishment.

oThe presence of a server should not Regarded as a permanent establishment

I recommend further clarification that, under above mentioned principles, the presence of a web site alone in a country, without more, is not in itself a sufficiently "fixed place of business" to constitute a permanent establishment for purposes of defining the tax jurisdiction. Moreover, the principles of permanent establishment the existing tax laws conducted by modern states consistently look to the locations of purchaser, employees or dependent agents who are engaged in business transaction in a country as source of imposition of taxation mere presence of server at some location can be regarded ground sufficient for doing that. The negation of fact that presence of personal or employee at some location can not be regarded principle for imposition of taxation. Thus, even if the presence of a piece of equipment such as a server were sufficient to constitute a fixed place of business, the determination of permanent establishment must look beyond the mere presence of the server to the presence of personnel, the functions they perform using the server, and the nature of the activities for which it is used, and other indicated that the business of an enterprise is being conducted through a permanent establishment in the country. Where such activities or functions of computer server are of a discretionary in nature, the server should not constitute a permanent establishment. For example, the database hosted at remote server also should not be deemed a permanent establishment because the act is discretionary which provide enough opportunity for tax payer to avoid the higher tax jurisdiction. I believe that, in most instances, the presence of a server alone is analogous to the presence of a warehouse used solely for the purpose of display or to facilitate delivery of goods and for cost management purposes.

Moreover, No existing tax provision has provided any clarification on this point in cases in which capacity on the server is leased to others. But the parallel circumstance are available which provide clarification that the existing provisions regarding the leasing of storage and display facilities and the leasing of buildings, facilities, equipment, or intangible property apply. Under existing tax provision that principle of storage place can not be constituted as permanent established and reason for imposition of taxation. The presence of equipment in a country that is leased to other enterprises for use in their business does not create a permanent establishment absent a fixed place of business, other than the leased equipment itself, from which personnel carry on the leasing activity. In particular, tax laws we should distinguish the concept of "automatic equipment", exemplified by "gaming and vending machines". Such machines clearly represent a stand-alone business activity conducted wholly within the country of establishment in contrast to a server conducting business possibly in every country of the world and not necessarily in the country of establishment - the entire business cycle is conducted in one machine, including solicitation, order-taking, sale, fulfillment, and collection of payment.

And again, the application such equipment focuses not on the machine's functions but on the place of the personnel. The controlling fact should be whether the enterprise personnel carry on significant business activity that results in the actual realization of profits, other than setting up, operating and maintaining the machines. Finally, a finding of permanent establishment requires a certain element of permanence, given the ability of businesses to structure their electronic commerce operations to move servers, databases, software, and server operations at will, to use mirror servers or server arrays, and to build redundancy into their hardware platforms. Businesses engaged in electronic commerce are relatively indifferent to the location of particular hardware. The consumers are equally indifferent with the functioning of the business and jurisdiction of taxing authorities and are not concern with server location, and an in-country location does not convey any business or economic advantage. Moreover, the use of a server is no more integral to the enterprise's business presence on particular location because of the use of telephone and fax and other electronic connect are sufficient to establish the permanent establishment. The jurisdiction based on the presence of a server alone is thus rather illusory and ambiguous and to treat the mere presence of a server as a permanent establishment would in effect result in new taxation of electronic commerce in violation of the international principles of neutrality and avoidance of double taxation relief mechanism business placed in a certain jurisdiction may be restricted to host the web site and its database within the jurisdiction of taxing state.

I believe that a clarification based on existing principles that a server does not in itself constitute a permanent establishment will contribute to greater enforcement of tax provisions and will also cause enforcement of principles of certainty, simplicity, and neutrality and further more it will eliminate conflict of laws.

oInternet service providers should not be regarded as legal agents for purposes of enforcement of tax provisions

Any arrangement or availing the facility of hosting server or computer network for purpose of hosting of website or data base does not constitute the permanent establishment. For example, when the enterprises web site is hosted by an Internet service provider (ISPs) on the ISPs equipment in the taxing authorities can not exercise tax jurisdiction, although where the enterprise hosting server at particular jurisdiction can be placed under tax net because of services rendered within the jurisdiction of a state.

I make recommendations on this point that hosting of enterprises business can not constituted permanent while the business of ISPs constitute permanent establishment because of installment of computer and networking hardware for purpose of delivery of hosting server and to tax authorities need to clarify that the relationship between a business enterprise and an Internet service provider, acting in the ordinary course of business for facilitating the internet services, will not result in a permanent establishment.

As a legal matter, the relationship of an enterprise with its Internet service provider is simply a business contract for services to be provided to the enterprise rather than to act on behalf of the enterprise as a legal agent and in number of cases the agent are taxed for server rendered to their business concern. In number of case the hosting server come in binding contract with enterprises for acting as agent and entire business activating by these agent. In such manner the putting these servers at tax net will not violate the international tax principles; but in number of cases it certainly would be extremely unusual for an Internet service provider to have any authority to enter into binding contracts on behalf of a business customer. Certainly, these enterprises can not dispose their businesses to server to act as agent which are no more different from a dependent agent than a telephone service provider, a mail courier, or a common carrier.

If in fact there is a legal agency relationship at all, then the Internet service provider currently acting as an independent agency if its function as accepted as legal facilitating the electronic commerce between business and purchase then there must be unlimited binding contract between three parties but in actual world of Internet is legally and physically impossible to do acting in the ordinary course of business and if it is legally and economically independent of the enterprise. I do believe that the legal tax environment the service rendered by these electronic servers and resulting factors would result in a dependent agency is rare. The current tax provisions are not adequately addressing this legal position of server provider. Tax authorities should have to clarify that the existing rules of agency apply to service provider in facilitating the electronic commerce that an Internet service provider which is economically and legally independent of the enterprise, and is acting in the ordinary course of business, is not a dependent agent and will not constitute a permanent establishment of the enterprise.

This analysis also should apply to telecommunications cell services and electronic stock trading and their online facility provide by financial institute for delivery of online services.

The writer is an advocate of High Court and practicing immigration and corporate laws in Pakistan since September 2001. Author can be contacted by Adil Law Company (Advocates and Immigration lawyers) Office No.3 2nd Flr Hafeez Chambers 85 The Mall Rd Lahore Pakistan Telephone: +9242-6306195 +9242- 6360108 Fax: + 9242 6360108 Cell: +92300 4254910 E-mail: adil.waseem@lawyer.com

When you're looking to change your bedroom decor one of the best strategies is to start at the core of the room - your bed. Purchasing a brand new platform bed would be a good way to set the tone for all the support furniture and trimming out the rest of the room. If you pick wood platform beds you will then want to keep the tone warm and inviting. If you pick metal platform beds there are many directions you can go in depending on finishes, colors and styles.

Why Platform Beds?

Why you ask? It's really simple. Platform beds have evolved into high quality furniture that can be used in just about any decor setting. You will find platform bed models made of wood or metal gracing the most expensive bedroom designs as well as the most budget minded designs. There is so much versatility in a platform bed that it would take a good solid book to describe everything. But the basics are as follows:
* Platform beds fit into just about any decor
* There are an infinite number of ways to dress up a platform bed
* You can easily update your platform bedding to reflect a change in the surrounding decor
* You could implement either a warm wood tone or a stylish metal platform bed frame
* You could start your design with a stylish platform bed and then work in the surrounding decor
* Many are up off of the ground which leaves open room beneath the bed for easier cleaning.
* No more need for a boxspring which can often be hard to get around corners or up tight spaces.

What is a Platform Bed?

Simply, platform beds are beds made to accommodate just a mattress and typically use either a slatted or solid foundation beneath the mattress. They use no boxsprings or foundation units. Made popular in both Europe & Asia, they can be as traditional looking in an arts & craft design made popular in mission furniture or they can be sleek and contemporary with modern finishes and designs. No matter what styling preference you have, many manufacturers make platform beds in a variety of styles and finish to fit any decor.

For more information about platform beds visit this website: http://www.platformbeds.com/ to view a variety of models and styles as well as additional information about construction and designs.

Hard Drives: ATA versus SATA

The performance of computer systems has been steadily increasing as faster processors, memory, and video cards are continuously being developed. The one key component that is often neglected when looking at improving the performance of a computer system is the hard drive. Hard drive manufacturers have been constantly evolving the basic hard drive used in modern computer systems for the last 25 years, and the last few years have seen some exciting developments from faster spindle speeds, larger caches, better reliability, and increased data transmission speeds.

The drive type used most in consumer grade computers is the hearty ATA type drive (commonly called an IDE drive). The ATA standard dates back to 1986 and is based on a 16-bit parallel interface has undergone many evolutions since its introduction to increase the speed and size of the drives that it can support. The latest standard is ATA-7 (first introduced in 2001 by the T13 Technical Committee (the group responsible for the ATA standard)) which supports data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. This is expected to be the last update for the parallel ATA standard.

As long ago as 2000 it was seen that the parallel ATA standard was maxing out its limitations as to what it could handle. With data rates hitting the 133MB/sec mark on a parallel cable, you are inviting all sorts of problems because of signal timing, EMI (electromagnetic interference) and other data integrity issues; thus industry leaders got together and came up with a new standard known as Serial ATA (SATA). SATA has only been around a few years, but is destined to become the standard due to several benefits to be addressed in this Tech Tip.

The two technologies that we will be looking at are: ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) a 16-bit parallel interface used for controlling computer drives. Introduced in 1986, it has undergone many evolutions in the last 18+ years, with the latest version being called ATA-7. Wherever an item is referred to as being an ATA device, it is commonly a Parallel ATA device. ATA devices are also commonly called IDE, EIDE, Ultra-ATA, Ultra-DMA, ATAPI, PATA, etc. (each of these acronyms actually do refer to very specific items, but are commonly interchanged) SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) a 1-bit serial evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.

Basic Features & Connections

SATA drives are easy to distinguish from their ATA cousins by the different data and power connections found on the back of the drives. A side-by-side comparison of the two interfaces can be seen in this PDF from Maxtor, and the following covers many of the differences

Standard ATA drives, such as this 200GB Western Digital model, have somewhat bulky, two inch wide ribbon cable with 40-pin data connections and receive the 5V necessary to power them from the familiar 4-pin connection. The basic data cables for these drives have looked the same for years. A change was made with the introduction of the ATA-5 standard to better improve the signal quality by making an 80 wire cable used on the 40-pin connector (these are commonly called 40-pin/80-wire cables). To improve airflow within the computer system some manufacturers resorted to literally folding over the ribbon cable and taping it into that position. Another recent physical change also came with the advent of rounded cables. The performance of the rounded cables is equal to that of the flat ribbon, but many prefer the improved system air flow afforded, ease of wire management, and cooler appearance that come with them.

SATA drives, such as this 120GB Western Digital model, have a half inch wide, 7 blade and beam data connection, which results in a much thinner and easier to manage data cable. These cables take the convenience of the ATA rounded cables to the next level by being even narrower, more flexible and capable of being longer without fear of data loss. SATA cables have a maximum length of 1 meter (39.37 inches), which is much greater than the recommended 18 inch cable for ATA drives. The reduced footprint of SATA data connections frees up space on motherboards, potentially allowing for more convenient layouts and room for more onboard features!

A 15-pin power connection delivers the 250mV of necessary power to SATA drives. 15-pins for a SATA device sounds like it would require a much larger power cable than a 4-pin ATA device, but in reality the two power connectors are just about the same height. For the time being, many SATA drives are also coming with a legacy 4-pin power connector for convenience.

Many modern motherboards, such as this Chaintech motherboard, come with SATA drive connections onboard (many also including the ATA connectors as well for legacy drive compatibility), and new power supplies, such as this Ultra X-Connect, generally feature a few of the necessary 15-pin power connections, making it easy to use these drives on new systems. Older systems can easily be upgraded to support SATA drives by use of adapters, such as this PCI slot SATA controller and this 4-pin to 15-pin SATA power adapter.

Optical drives are also becoming more readily available with SATA connections. Drives such as the Plextor PX-712SA take advantage of the new interface, although the performance will not be any greater than a comparable optical drive with an ATA connection.

Performance

In addition to being more convenient to install and drawing less power, SATA drives have performance benefits that really set them apart from ATA drives.

The most interesting performance feature of SATA is the maximum bandwidth possible. As we have noted, the evolution of ATA drives has seen the data transfer rate reach its maximum at 133 MB/second, where the current SATA standard provides data transfers of up to 150 MB/second. The overall performance increase of SATA over ATA can currently be expected to be up to 5% (according to Seagate), but improvements in SATA technology will surely improve on that.

The future of SATA holds great things for those wanting even more speed, as drives with 300 MB/second transfer rates (SATA II) will be readily available in 2005, and by 2008 speeds of up to 600 MB/second can be expected. Those speeds are incredible, and are hard to imagine at this point.

Another performance benefit found on SATA drives is their built-in hot-swap capabilities. SATA drives can be brought on and offline without shutting down the computer system, providing a serious benefit to those who cant afford downtime, or who want to move drives in and out of operation quickly. The higher number of wires in the power connection is partially explained by this, as six of the fifteen wires are dedicated to allowing the hot-swap feature.

Price

Comparing ATA drives to SATA drives can be tricky given all of the variables, but in general it is the case that SATA drives will still cost just a bit more than a comparable ATA drive. The gap is closing rapidly though, and as SATA drives gain in popularity and availability a distinct shift in prices can be expected. Considering the benefits of SATA over ATA, the potential difference of a few dollars can easily be justified when considering an upgrade. Computer Geeks currently has a limited selection of SATA drives, but several technical sites, such as The Tech Zone and The Tech Lounge, offer real time price guides to see how comparable drives stack up.

Final Words

The current SATA standard provides significant benefits over ATA in terms of convenience, power consumption and, most importantly, performance. The main thing ATA has going for it right now is history, as it has been the standard for so long that it will not likely disappear any time soon. The future of SATA will be even more interesting as speed increases will help hard drive development keep pace with other key system components.

Jason Kohrs Computer Geeks tech tips and computer advice

Youre ready to put your home or land (house, townhouse, condo, apartment, farm, ranch, finished lot, raw land, etc.) on the market as a FSBO (for sale by owner). Youve priced your property appropriately and gotten it ready to show. How are you going to market it so that it gets exposure to enough potential buyers to actually sell?

Signs

In some parts of the county, the real estate market is so hot that you need do little more than buy a for sale by owner sign at the nearest hardware store. Simply put it in a prominent position on the front of your house and stand back.

In other areas, a great deal more marketing is needed, but a for sale by owner sign is a good place to start. Directional signs (home for sale with an arrow) at intersections leading the way to your property are useful, too, if your location lends itself to that.

Classified Ads

A classified ad in your local newspaper is a good idea and is generally not expensive. A short ad repeated a number of times is apt to be more effective than a long ad run once, or only a few, times.

Bulletin Boards/posters

Are there bulletin boards where you work? In neighborhood shops and restaurants? At your church? Any place you, or members of your family, frequent that has something like a bulletin board is a good place to post notices of your propertys availability. If you have the use of a digital camera and a computer, you might want to do a one-page poster with several photos of your house, a description and contact information. Consider having tear-off strips at the bottom with your phone number repeated on each strip.

Magazines & Community Publications

You may want to check the cost of putting an ad in For Sale By Owner type magazines. Most communities have such magazines and you dont have to be a realtor to buy an ad.

Brochures

Brochures or one-page flyers can also be a useful method for marketing your home. You can use the same one you made for bulletin boards or you can expand on it a bit. Use more photos, have captions under them identifying the rooms, garden areas, tennis court, community club, pool and other benefits to buying your home.

There are several things you can do to get your brochures in front of the public. You can buy a brochure holder (typically, a plastic box with a hinged lid on a stick which gets planted in the ground near the curb in front of your home) from the hardware store. Plant it in a prominent place in front of your home and keep it stocked with brochures.

Dont get annoyed when noisy neighbors pick up your brochures. Your neighbors can afford homes priced similarly to yours. They probably have family and friends whom theyd enjoy as neighbors who can afford this price range, too. Smile when you see a neighbor picking up a brochure; another marketing ambassador is on its way.

Also keep a supply of brochures in your home to give to prospective buyers who come to look at it. People looking for a new home usually look at a more than one property, and can get overwhelmed with too many properties. Is this the one with the built-in book cases or was it the one across town? The house whose best features go with them via a brochure with color photos and salient information is memorable. Buyers tend to write contract offers on properties they remember and can visualize.

Consider taking your brochures to your peers at work. After all, you find it convenient to live in your home and work there; might your associates know someone whod find it a similarly pleasant arrangement? Ask them.

Internet

There are several Internet sites on which FSBOs may list their properties for sale. Some of these permit sellers to include photos, information about Open Houses theyre holding, etc. Prices for this service varies. Try fsboamerica.org or go to your favorite search engine and check out a few.

Open Houses

That brings up the notion of Open Houses. In many areas, sales frequently take place because of an Open House attended by potential buyers. If you are in a location with good traffic, an open house can be an excellent tool. You can promote your Open House in any, or all, of the venues weve discussed above. Its also often effective to install an Open House sign with helium balloons tied on with bright ribbons on the day of the Open House.

Whether you use a realtor or sell your home on your own, marketing it is going to be the key to getting a quick sale. It takes some time and access to a few tools, but most sellers can put together a successful marketing program.

Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our "sell my home" page at http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your home for free for one month. Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale by owner.

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Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide. ABC Loan guide is an informational website about various types of loans. The site has informative articles and the latest finance news.