Archive for March, 2010
Time well spent
by Donna Doyon
Your Time
The Precious Moments clock that hangs on my kitchen wall topped running weeks, maybe even months ago. I never bothered to change its batteries because it’s difficult to reach and I usually checked the clock on the microwave oven for the time. But a few weeks ago a visitor saw the wall clock and nearly panicked. She thought she was late! I thought it amusing that she focused only on the minute hand and didn’t notice how many hours off the clock was. I assured her that she still had plenty of time to meet whatever deadline she faced. We chatted for a few more minutes and then she left. But traces of that experience have lingered in mind.
Time… it’s the great equalizer. Each of us has the same amount of time in a 24-hour period. One week is the same length of time for the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, celebrities and people like us. What we do with our time is our decision. How we manage our time is our decision. I’ve noticed that oftentimes I let time manage me. I like schedules and I like to know when things are going to occur. I always plan to arrive at an appointment or event at least 10 minutes early. To me being “on time” is late. But I’ve noticed other people act differently in regard to time. Some people don’t seem to consider it at all. They classify time by adding an “-ish” to the end, like I’ll see you at 10-ish. They may arrive early, but more than likely they will arrive late because something else distracted them. They act like there is always time to get things done and never seem to panic when a deadline looms. Sometimes they don’t seem to take time seriously and laugh when others become angry or frustrated with them. Sometimes they don’t even seem to care how their irresponsibility impacts others.
Some people seem to think time belongs to them. These are the people who use time to their benefit. They accomplish a great deal in their 24 hours each day. But these people won’t hesitate to interrupt your day with their crisis and then expect you to deal with it immediately. They own their time and try to own other people’s time too.
There are also people who are on time all the time. They plan their days to meet any deadline or arrive at an appointment at precisely the right moment. But these people may also resist scheduling too many specific activities so that there are few commitments they must keep. But once they’ve made a commitment, they keep it.
Each of these time-managing practices has its benefits. If we can learn how to use each method occasionally we should be able to be more productive and more relaxed in our lives. But most of us tend to stay with one form that fits our personality and our own needs best. This would be the time management practice, or lack of, that feels natural and comfortable. But when we remember that we only have 24 hours each day, the same 24 hours that everyone else has, we can change the way we view time and start to use it differently.
For instance, if you hold tight to your rigid calendar and schedule everything you want or need to accomplish, you will be extremely productive. But when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or a carefree, casual afternoon of spontaneity is offered to you, you may turn it down because it doesn’t fit into your schedule. Learning to be flexible with your time will help you experience things that you would otherwise miss.
If you are so casual with your time that days slip away without your accomplishing some minor or major steps toward your life mission, then you are squandering a precious gift from God. You can never regain the days you’ve wasted. Making a commitment to put enough order into your schedule so that you can set aside time for important people or projects will help you live a life of fewer regrets. You will be able to have fun and be spontaneous while also being somewhat productive.
If you control your time based on what you need at the moment, you will keep busy and look like you are accomplishing a great deal. But your lack of planning and respect for the time commitments of others may leave you spinning your wheels as you wait for information someone else has. Planning and communicating your need for information or action before the deadline will help you perform more efficiently. You will have all the pieces to your puzzle before you start to put it together rather than scrambling around trying to find them all at the moment the puzzle should be completed. This will free up blocks of time that you can use to accomplish even more.
If you rarely schedule appointments or make firm commitments of your time, you may be missing out on opportunities to grow and develop. The self-discipline you develop from being involved and making commitments can be useful in relationships, careers, and the community. While more people would benefit from a clutter-free calendar, your lack of commitment may be working against you.
Every day you have 1,440 minutes to spend on the things you must do, want to do, and perhaps should do. The choices you make will determine whether you live a rich, fulfilling life, or one that may be filled with regrets. As you look back over the past year, do you wish you had achieved more? Do you wish you had spent more time with loved ones? Do you wish you had read that book on the best-seller list? Are you using your time wisely?
Do you ever say that you are “spending time” doing this or that? Do you put the same value on time as you do your hard-earned dollars and cents? Or do you squander your time as freely as a child putting quarters into a gumball machine at the grocery store? Money is something that we can gain more of if we are willing to work more for it, if we get lucky and win a lottery, or if we are good at borrowing money from the people around us. Time is something you cannot collect more of, borrow, or put in a bank account for future use.
Every day you have 24 hours to use as you see fit. You must sleep, work, play, laugh, cry, eat, exercise, and do every other thing you do within that time period. What you don’t do today may get pushed off until the next day, and then the next until you feel like you can never catch up on all that must be done. Today you have 86,400 seconds to use as you see fit. Are you using them to your greatest advantage? Are you making time and then taking time to meet your spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial wants and needs? Isn’t it time you did?
Written by: Donna Doyon
The author may be contacted at http://www.donnadoyon.com/ donna@donnadoyon.com.
Five Tips to Avoid Tax Time Stress
TAX TIME
Filing your tax return doesn’t have to be stressful. The IRS has put together five stress-relieving tips to help you.
1. Don’t Procrastinate Resist the temptation to put off your taxes until the very last minute. Rushing to meet the filing deadline may cause you to overlook potential sources of tax savings and will likely increase your risk of making an error.
2,. Visit the IRS Website In 2009, more than 296 million visits were made to IRS.gov. Make 1040 Central your first stop to learn the latest news and find answers to your questions.
3. File Your Return Electronically Last year, two out of three tax returns were filed electronically. More than 800 million tax returns have been processed safely and securely over the past 20 years. Use e-file and direct deposit to get your refund in as few as10 days. E-filed returns have a much lower error rate. Taxpayers receive a fast acknowledgement that the IRS received the return, a service not available to paper filers. You can e-file through your tax preparer or commercial software. Or, you can use Free File, a service offered by the IRS and private sector partners to prepare and e-file your federal return for free. Again, see IRS.gov for more information.
4. Don’t Panic if You Can’t Pay If you cannot pay the full amount of taxes you owe by the April 15th deadline, you should still file your return by the deadline and pay as much as you can to avoid penalties and interest. You should also contact the IRS to discuss your payment options at 1-800-829-1040. The agency may be able to provide some relief such as a short-term extension to pay, an installment agreement or an offer in compromise.
More than 75 percent of taxpayers eligible for an Installment Agreement can apply using the Web-based Online Payment Agreement application available on IRS.gov. To find out more about this simple and convenient process type “Online Payment Agreement” in the search box on the IRS.gov homepage.
5. Request an Extension of Time to File – But Pay on Time If the April 15 clock runs out, you can get an automatic six-month extension of time to file until October 15. However, this extension of time to file does not give you more time to pay any taxes due. If you have not paid at least 90 percent of the total tax due by the April deadline you may also be subject to an Estimated Tax Penalty. To obtain an extension, just file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. The easiest way to file a Form 4868 is through Free File at www.irs.gov/freefile. Form 4868 is also available at IRS.gov or you can call 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) and have a paper form mailed to you.
The World’s Billionaires
| Net Worth: | $10.0 bil |
| Fortune: | Self Made |
| Source: | oil |
| Age: | 65 |
| Country Of Citizenship: | Saudi Arabia |
| Residence: | Jeddah, Ethiopia |
| Education: | NA |
| Marital Status: | Married, 8 children |
Mohammed Al Amoudi
Born in Ethiopia to Saudi father and Ethiopian mother, Al-Amoudi claims to be investing more than $3 billion into Ethiopian agriculture and industry with the aim of modernizing farming and eventually exporting much of the output to Saudi Arabia. Also owns mine in Ethiopia that puts out 5 tons of gold a year. Started investing in Sweden in 1974; stakes there now comprise half his fortune: Preem operates two refineries; Svenska Petroleum produces crude oil in the North Sea and west Africa. Construction company Midroc operates in Europe, Africa and Middle East. In recent years completed estimated $30 billion contract with Saudi Arabia to build vast underground oil storage caverns.
Edited by Luisa Kroll, Matthew Miller and Tatiana Serafin
Source: Forbes.com
On the trail of Ethiopia aid and guns
Images of the famine in Ethiopia moved millions of people around the world to reach in to their pockets and donate to international aid efforts. But as Martin Plaut has been discovering, there is a disturbing allegation few would choose to confront.
It was the early 1980s. The famine, which would soon devastate much of northern Ethiopia, was already evident. I had gone on the long, difficult journey through Sudan and into Eritrea with rebels who had been fighting the government for more than 20 years. My wife, Gill, had come with me. As a nurse she was fascinated by the way the rebels were treating their injured, carrying out difficult operations in makeshift wards dug into the mountains. But now it was time for me to go up to the frontline and for her to go home. It was late at night, and I remember wondering to myself what I would say to her mother if anything went wrong as Gill got into one of the aid lorries rumbling their way back to Sudan. Sitting in a bunker, I had no idea where we were in this vast, arid landscape. I was entirely reliant on the rebels who had brought us in. Live Aid
For years the rains had failed and by 1984 millions were starving. Thanks in no small part to the help of Bob Geldof and Live Aid, people responded as never before. Millions of dollars were raised. Food was brought in. Many died, but the worst was averted – or so I thought. But a year ago, I began hearing a different take. I was contacted by Ethiopians who said we had all missed the real story of how money given with such worthy objectives had ended up being used to buy weapons. I began making enquiries. Gun money Aregawi Berhe is the former army commander of the rebel movement that operated in the Ethiopian province of Tigray. He now lives in a modest flat in the back streets of a Dutch town. He insisted on making me coffee. Then he told me his version of what took place all those years ago – how the lightly-armed rebels he led took on the mighty Ethiopian army which had all the latest Soviet weaponry. He told me that as the money began flowing in to feed the starving, a bitter debate had taken place inside the rebel movement. There were divisions over how the cash should be spent.
He also explained how the aid money was diverted not just to buy weapons his troops needed, but also to build a hardline, Stalinist party – the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray. This initiative, he said, was led by a young ideologue, Meles Zenawi. In the bitter infighting, Aregawi and his allies lost out. Money that was being channelled through the rebel side went to the party and to buy guns. In 1985, Aregawi told me, just 5% of $100m (£65m) they received went to the starving. It was an extraordinary tale, but perhaps Aregawi and his associates were just embittered men, trying to blacken the names of their former comrades? After all, Meles Zenawi went on to become Ethiopia’s prime minister and served with distinction on the Commission for Africa set up by former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Secret CIA reports So over the next months I spoke to people from Alaska to Australia, from Scandinavia to Palestine. I accumulated evidence from secret CIA reports. Former ambassadors supported the story Aregawi had told me. Facts were found in the dusty back issues of obscure newsletters. Even former Ethiopian government officials, who had been on the government side of the conflict said they believed it was true. Was it significant that so many people refused to speak about these events, including civil servants, academics and politicians like Meles Zenawi? Even Bob Geldof, who is not usually reluctant to talk, turned me down. It became clear that 25 years on, this was still a subject too sensitive to be discussed openly. Money trail One person who did talk to me was Max Peberdy. He is an aid consultant, who had carried nearly $500,000 (£331,00) worth in local currency into Tigray to buy surplus grain to feed the starving. Despite telling him the evidence I had collected, he insists the money did not go astray. I pointed out that he had been entirely reliant on the rebels to take him in, and that their Marxist-Leninist ideology ran counter to every notion of an independent aid operation.
I also explained that he had been unable to monitor the distribution of aid in the Ethiopian highlands that were the scenes of the most intense fighting. As I left his London home I thought back to when I waved goodbye to Gill with an Eritrean fighter by my side. I thought about just how isolated I had been – entirely dependent on the rebels who had taken me in. And how I had failed to ask the right questions at the time. Although I was now finally following the trail of the money and the rebel guns, I am only too aware that I was making these enquiries 20 years too late. The aid workers who did so much to help those suffering back then had not asked those questions either. But perhaps they would not have saved so many lives if they had. Source BBC |
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Money that was being channelled through the rebel side went to the party and to buy guns 
Ten Facts about Claiming the Child Tax Credit
Tax Facts
The Child Tax Credit is a valuable credit that can significantly reduce your tax liability. Here are 10 important facts from the IRS about this credit and how it may benefit your family.
Amount – With the Child Tax Credit, you may be able to reduce your federal income tax by up to $1,000 for each qualifying child under the age of 17.
Qualification – A qualifying child for this credit is someone who meets the qualifying criteria of six tests: age, relationship, support, dependent, citizenship, and residence.
Age Test – To qualify, a child must have been under age 17 – age 16 or younger – at the end of 2009.
Relationship Test – To claim a child for purposes of the Child Tax Credit, they must either be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendant of any of these individuals, which includes your grandchild, niece or nephew. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.
Support Test – In order to claim a child for this credit, the child must not have provided more than half of their own support.
Dependent Test – You must claim the child as a dependent on your federal tax return.
Citizenship Test – To meet the citizenship test, the child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
Residence Test – The child must have lived with you for more than half of 2009. There are some exceptions to the residence test, which can be found in IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit.
Limitations – The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000. In addition, the Child Tax Credit is generally limited by the amount of the income tax you owe as well as any alternative minimum tax you owe.
Additional Child tax Credit – If the amount of your Child Tax Credit is greater than the amount of income tax you owe, you may be able to claim the Additional Child Tax Credit.
For more information, see IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit, available at the IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).
Ethiopians honour victims of Mengistu Red Terror
DERG
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia inaugurated a museum on Sunday in memory of the victims of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam’s so-called Red Terror purge which killed tens of thousands in the 1970s
Dozens of family members and government officials attended a sombre ceremony at the memorial in Addis Ababa to remember their loved ones, whose bodies were mostly dumped in mass graves.
The museum took three years to complete and honours the dead with photographs of the 1977-78 campaign of state terror carried out under the orders of Mengistu to wipe out his opponents.
“Our aim is to promote unity and tolerance. Ethiopia has had a troubled past, and we don’t want that suffering to be experienced again,” Ayne Tsige, chair of the organising committee, told AFP.
Mengistu, now in exile in Zimbabwe, was sentenced to death on genocide charges two years ago along with 17 of his henchmen following a decade-long trial in Addis Ababa.
The former army lieutenant colonel was a member of the Marxist junta known as the Derg which ruled Ethiopia from between 1974 and 1991 after the ouster of emperor Haile Selassie.
Experts say as many as 100,000 people were killed during the campaign as Mengistu sought to transform the country into a Soviet-style workers’ state.
The regime, then battling a number of insurgencies throughout the country, used several tactics to scare opponents, one of which was leaving dead bodies on streets as a warning.
The corpses were later exhumed from mass graves. A number of their belongings are exhibited in the museum.
Eighty-five year-old Tedla Zeyohannes, whose son was killed by the regime called on African leaders to press Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to hand over Mengistu.
“I’m very happy with the sentence, but Zimbabwe should hand over Mengistu. He is a convicted criminal who must face justice,” he said.
Source: AFP
Ten Rules for More Effective Advertising
Smart
Leahy’s Law states that if a thing is done wrong often enough, it becomes right, and as a result, volume becomes a defense to error. When advertising fails to sway consumers, most advertisers follow Leahy’s Law by increasing the frequency of the advertising hoping that more of what is not working will somehow work when consumers are subjected to more of the same.
Use the following 10 simple rules to evaluate the advertising you encounter. You may be disappointed, but don’t be surprised when you discover that most advertising fails to follow any of the rules.
1. Does the ad tell a simple story, not just convey information?
A good story has a beginning where a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation, a middle where the character confronts and attempts to resolve the situation, and an end where the outcome is revealed. A good story does not interpret or explain the action in the story for the audience. Instead, a good story allows each member of the audience to interpret the story as he or she understands the action. This is why people find good stories so appealing and why they find advertising that simply conveys information so boring.
2. Does the ad make the desired call to action a part of the story?
A good story that is very entertaining but does not make a direct connection between the desired call to action – the purpose of the ad – and the story is just a very entertaining story. The whole point of the story in advertising is to effectively deliver the desired call to action. If the audience does not clearly understand the desired call to action after seeing the ad, then there is no point in running the ad. Contrary to popular belief, having an entertaining story and clearly delivering the desired call to action are not mutually exclusive.
3. Does the ad use basic emotional appeals?
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the experiences are important to remember. There are eight basic, universal emotions – joy, surprise, anticipation, acceptance, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust. Successful appeals to these basic emotions consolidate stories and the desired calls to action in the lasting memories of audiences. An added bonus is that successful emotional appeals limit the number of exposures required for audiences to understand, learn, and respond to the calls to action – people may only need to see emotionally compelling scenes once and they will remember those scenes for a lifetime.
4. Does the ad use easy arguments?
“Jumping to conclusions” literally gave our ancestors an advantage even when the conclusions that made them jump were wrong because delaying actions to review information could have deadly consequences. Easy arguments are the conclusions people reach using inferences without a careful review of available information. Find and use easy arguments that work because it is almost impossible to succeed when working against them.
5. Does the ad show, and not tell?
“Seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words” are two common sayings that reflect a bias and preference for demonstrated behavior. This is especially true when interests may not be the same. Assume audiences are skeptical about any advertising and design advertising that shows and does not tell.
6. Does the ad use symbolic language and images that relate to the senses?
People prefer symbolic language and images that relate to the senses. People are far less receptive and responsive to language and images that relate to concepts. Life is experienced through the senses and using symbolic language and images that express what people feel, see, hear, smell, or taste are easier for people to understand, even when used to describe abstract concepts. The language and images used in advertising should “make sense” to the audience.
7. Does the ad match what viewers see with what they hear?
People expect and prefer coordinated audio and visual messages because those messages are easier to process and understand. Audio and visual messages that are out-of-sync may gain attention, but audiences find them uncomfortable.
8. Does the ad stay with a scene long enough for impact?
People have limited mental processing capacities. Quick cuts to different scenes require people to devote more of their limited resources to following the cuts and less resources to processing each scene. It takes people between eight and ten seconds to process and produce a lasting emotional response to a scene. Camera movement or different camera angles of the same scene can engage people through their orienting responses while providing enough time for them to process the scene.
9. Does the ad let powerful video speak for itself?
Again, the processing capacity of our brains is limited and words may get in the way of emotionally powerful visual images. When powerful visual images dominate – when “a picture is worth a thousand words” – be quiet and let the images do the talking.
10. Does the ad use identifiable music?
Music can be a rapidly identified cue for the recall of emotional responses remembered from previous advertising. Making the same music an identifiable aspect of all advertising signals the audience to pay attention for more important content.
These rules take into consideration consumers’ out-of-conscious processing systems. To learn more, go to The Scintillating Grid.
Source: American Research Group, Inc.
Seven Things You Should Know About Checking the Status of Your Refund
Tax refund
Are you expecting a tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service this year? If so, here are seven things you should know about checking the status of your refund once you have filed your federal tax return.
1. Online Access to Refund Information Where’s My Refund? or ¿Dónde está mi reembolso? are interactive tools on IRS.gov and the fastest, easiest way to get information about your federal income tax refund. Whether you split your refund among several accounts, opted for direct deposit into one account, used part of your refund to buy U.S. savings bonds or asked the IRS to mail you a check, Where’s My Refund? and ¿Dónde está mi reembolso? give you online access to your refund information nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s quick, easy and secure.
2. When to Check Refund Status If you e-file, you can get refund information 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your return. If you file a paper return, refund information will generally be available three to four weeks after mailing your return.
3. What You Need to Check Refund Status When checking the status of your refund, have your federal tax return handy. To get your personalized refund information you must enter:
Your Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
Your filing status which will be Single, Married Filing Joint Return, Married Filing Separate Return, Head of Household, or Qualifying Widow(er)
Exact whole dollar refund amount shown on your tax return
4. What the Online Tool Will Tell You Once you enter your personal information, you could get several responses, including:
Acknowledgement that your return was received and is in processing.
The mailing date or direct deposit date of your refund.
Notice that the IRS could not deliver your refund due to an incorrect address. In this instance, you may be able to change or correct your address online using Where’s My Refund?.
5. Customized Information Where’s My Refund? also includes links to customized information based on your specific situation. The links guide you through the steps to resolve any issues affecting your refund. For example, if you do not get the refund within 28 days from the original IRS mailing date shown on Where’s My Refund?, you may be able to start a refund trace.
6. Visually Impaired Taxpayers Where’s My Refund? is also accessible to visually impaired taxpayers who use the Job Access with Speech screen reader used with a Braille display and is compatible with different JAWS modes.
7. Toll-free Number If you do not have internet access, you can check the status of your refund in English or Spanish by calling the IRS Refund Hotline at 800-829-1954 or the IRS TeleTax System at 800-829-4477. When calling, you must provide your or your spouse’s Social Security number, filing status and the exact whole dollar refund amount shown on your return.
Refund checks are normally sent out weekly on Fridays. If you check the status of your refund and are not given the date it will be issued, please wait until the next week before checking back.
Source IRS
