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Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results to any given query, Google has become, indisputably, the best search engine on the Internet. On the last count, Google has indexed over 4 billion pages and tackles around 200 million searches a day! A cluster of 100 thousand servers are used to store, crunch and spew out the query results with lightning speed that you are so accustomed to see.

This phenomenal growth has made Google from a garage startup to an Internet behemoth faster than any company has done before. The prodigies behind this unique search engine, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the process already got enlisted themselves in billionaire club.

Google is no longer a mere search engine! It is increasingly broadening its offerings to include great new services and excellent tools. Among these services, most notables are News - a news aggregation and searching service, Blogger - an online journal-keeping solution, Froogle - a marketplace for comparison shopping, Groups - online discussion groups, Answers - a place to get hard-to-find information for a price, etc.

Google also recently unveiled two more programs. Orkut - a social networking service and Gmail - a free web mail service. Orkut is an online community, where a person can participate in it by invitation from a member only.

If you constantly frown over limited space of your hotmail or Yahoo accounts because they get filled up with junk mails and force you to delete old messages frequently, you will love Gmail with its 1 GB of storage capacity. There are several great features available in Gmail system too. One of them, dubbed as Conversations, allow you to view all exchange mails with somebody, once you select one of the mails. Sorting and searching emails also become much easier with Gmail. The only catch is Gmail displays relevant ads - based on the keywords found in your email - on the right side of the screen when you view an email, much like Google displays ads when you view search results.

Although, Google is constantly adding new and extremely useful features, most of us unfortunately do not use all the capacities of the search engine itself. The following tips will make your Internet browsing more effective if even you are an avid net user.

Choose most specific search words

Google returns web pages that contain all the words in your query. If you would like to see the most relevant pages on the first page of your search result, be very specific with your choice of words. For example: if you would like to research on former NHL hockey player Makarov, you should start your search with Makarov not hockey player. Even better if you search for the words: hockey player Makarov. Because just the word Makarov will show web pages on "Makarov" a Russian-made handgun and numerous other people and products with the name Makarov. Refining your query in Google means adding more specific words to your initial search. In this example you will hit the right web pages if your search contains: NHL hockey player Makarov.

Sets - a new feature

What if you are looking for a pair of Valentino designer jeans but can't recall the name of the designer? Query on Italian designer jeans may bring you the right result; however, there is a better tool that Google is planning to implement soon, called "Sets".

Fill up the names of some designers that you remember in the given form such as Levis, Wrangler, Versace and click either of the two buttons and voila! You will get a list of designers name and probably, Valentino will be there. But bear in mind that this feature is still at Beta stage.

Calculator

The other day, I was sitting in a colleague's office. She needed to calculate some basic stuffs and looking for her calculator on her desk. Much to her dismay, she could not find the calculator and started to fumble through her computer programs in her attempt to find Microsoft calculator. I noticed that she was online and the browser was open. I, politely, asked her whether she knew that Google could actually calculate most common mathematical expressions. It came out to be, she did not! She was just amazed after trying it herself. Google is even capable of unit conversion! Give it a try!

Definition

If you are looking for a definition of a particular word or a phrase, Google is the best place to get it. In Google search box, write "define: the word or phrase" without the quotation marks and click search button. If there is a definition available for your search term you will, most certainly, get it. It's a very useful feature for students and people, those who write research papers.

Synonyms

You may think that search engines are too dumb to show query results of the synonyms of your search term. It's not so! At least, in the case of Google! If you use tilde "~" in front of a keyword in your search term, Google will bring results on the synonyms of that word as well.

Searching within a website

Another great feature of Google search engine allows you to make your query within a specific website. First you write your search term in the Google search box and then write "site: the website or domain name". For example: if you are looking for word "Microsoft" within the websitewww.micromedia.com you will write: Microsoft site: micromedia.com.

Check backward links to your website

If you have a website, Google search engine also has a nice feature to show you which web pages are linking to yours. In the search box, write: Link: you website address.

Other important tips to remember are:

There is no need to use "AND". Google always relate all the words in a search term with Boolean "and".

However, if you would like to make your query for two words - one or another - you can use "OR". You have to write "or" in capital letters to give it Boolean value.

Google is not case sensitive. You can write your search terms either in capital or in small letters. You can even mix them up.

Google omits most of the very common words, such as the, in, etc. If you, indeed, need to add a specific word forcefully, use plus (+) sign in front of that particular word. Same way, you can exclude a word from your search expression by putting minus (-) sign in front it.

If you would like to make a search on an exact phrase or expression, put the words within quotation marks. That way, your search result will show only those pages where the exact expression was found. In order to search the phrase: For whom the bell tolls, write "For whom the bell tolls" in the search box. I'll also suggest you to download the Google Toolbar. Apart from the search box and its ability to block pop-ups, Google Toolbar also shows the pagerank of the website you are visiting now. Pagerank is a system of evaluating web pages - developed by Google founders and used as the core of Google's search engine algorithm. The Toolbar also includes feature with the ability to fill up online forms from stored information automatically. You can also keep your daily journal or blog right from the toolbar.

Much to net users delight, Google, in accordance with its ambitious mission statement to organize world's information and make it universally useful and accessible, so far doing a great job by providing us the best search engine and extremely handy features and services. We can only hope that the flow of innovative ideas from Google will not slow down in future, when it becomes a public company.

Youve heard the phrase in numerous dramatic programs about politics.

A public figure is delivering a talk or being interviewed, and one of his handlers, remarks with alarm: Hes off message!

What this means is he is wandering into dangerous verbal territory, or falling into a trap that has been set by a wily and hostile interviewer or by a heckler.

The same thing afflicts salespeople: Its easy for us to wander from our main talking points, whether theyre features and benefits or the customers needs, into perilous territory, about which we know little, but dont refrain from offering an opinion about it.

The non-technical seller who shoots from the hip, instead of calling his own help desk for support regarding a technical question, is off message.

The ex-jock who insists on telling the Notre Dame alum that USC has a better football tradition, is way, way, way off message!

So, what can you do when youre irresistibly enticed to stray from the proven path?

Do as politicians do. Bridge back to your main message by saying, Im glad you brought that up because it reminds me of something relevant to the sales talk!

Do this check-up from the neck up, as Zig Ziglar might call it. Ask yourself, when you sense youre getting far astray, am I on message or off?

Then get back to your main point!

In this article we are going to discuss 10 things that you should definitely expect from a daycare center that is providing care for your child while you're at work.

Child care centers are not clones. Each one will have different things available to the child depending on the budget the center has. Some will have many activities and others will have very few. But there are 10 things you should expect from any child care center no matter what their operating budget is.

1. Open Access To Their Center - Parents must be able to call on or walk in on a daycare center at any time unannounced. The provider should also allow the parent to make any amount of reasonable phone calls in order to check up on their child. The provider and the parent should work out a schedule for those phone calls to find out the times that are best and also agree on how many phone calls in a day are reasonable.

2. Safety For Your Child - The daycare center where your child is staying should be in a safe environment. All possible precautions should be taken to make sure that your child is safe such as, plugging electrical sockets, keeping knives and sharp objects in a safe place and out of reach, closing off stairways and using only safe and well maintained equipment. If your child has to travel, the provider should also use safety seats and seat belts when traveling.

3. Honesty And Confidence - Providers should not promise things that they can't do. They should be honest about the care that will be given. Also, there should be confidentiality about your child even being there. Nobody should be given any information about your child if strangers should call unless you specifically say it's okay.

4. Acceptance Of Parent's Wishes - Centers should make every effort to comply with the wishes of the parents such as the food the child will eat, activities the child will or won't participate in and any special care that needs to be given to the child. If the parents don't want people smoking around their child then the environment should be kept smoke free.

5. Advance Notice Of Any Changes - The center should give the parents plenty of advance notice of any changes that are going to take place that may affect the care of the child. This way the parents can make plans to have the child moved to another center if they are not happy with the proposed changes.

6. No Interference In The Child's Family - The child care provider should not talk to the child about any problems the parents may or may not be having. It is not for the child care provider to meddle in the lives of the family. The first and only responsibility is to care for the child.

7. No Advice Offered And No Judging Of Parenting Practices - If a child care provider does not agree with some of the parent's methods of raising their child it is none of their business. They are only to offer advice if asked.

8. Assurance That Everyone In Contact With Child Is Trustworthy - If it is a large center and there are many people there then each one should be certified to be trustworthy and safe. A center should take all reasonable precautions when hiring staff and should provide the parents with information on how workers are hired and what screening process everyone goes through.

9. Open Communication - The provider should keep the parents constantly posted of any instances at the center that they should be aware of including the child's progress or lack of progress. The parents should be kept in the loop regarding all activities the child participates in and those the child has problems with. It should be as if the parent is right there observing.

10. Finally, No Surprises - This means that the provider should not suddenly tell you that they have taken a part time job elsewhere and their teenage daughter will now watch the child. Or if at a center you don't want to hear that your child's teacher suddenly disappeared with no reason given.

If you are confident about all 10 of these items than more likely than not you have found a child care provider that you can feel confident in.

5-5,

Defense;

5, defenders,

The soccer team has new positional dynamics with this formation.

The addition to this defensive style is a central defender who can control the play from the back line.

This defender could also be an attacking player who will feed through balls to the striker. In addition to this the play maker will help create and initialze an attack from the defensive edge of the mid-field.

It can be thought that this player is also a mid-field player when the attack is mounted.

In real soccer, when your team has the ball, everybody becomes an attacker.

This team has this formation of positions in order not to lose.

They do not want goals scored against them and are usually willing to have a single goal scored for them and will to play for a draw albeit 0-0.

It is also possible that their goalkeeper is not the "best" in the league.

It is however possible that this team has also be set up to play a strong attacking team.

This would mean that the coaching staff has done their homework and scouted the opposition.

All in all this team is more prepared to defend as opposed to attack.

This team is an opportunistic attacking team and usually against the run of play.

This happens when the opposing team has made or been forced to make a mistake.

5, midfielders,

Two outside/wing players who dominate the sides of the field. They also act as attackers creating many scoring opportunities for their teams.

These are hard working players and a usually super-fit. However sometimes after a few runs on the side these two can switch with the two inside players for a rest.

If this is possible, the team can keep their opponents confused and always looking for changing plays and positions.

This type of positonal play can not be defended by a man-on-man team defense. This requires a good zone defense and a constantly communicative team.

The 2 inside players are usually defensive in their roles but will become part of the attack when their team has possession. They will generally use the central midfielder to create plays and control the tempo of the game.

The tactical aspect of this team is to play within 2 thirds of the field at a time.

When defending they will remain in the defensive and middle thirds of the field.

While the attack is on the defense tries to occupy the middle third.

This is to gain space and pressure the opposing team to remain in their own defensive end.

This allows for an attack of the goal by 5 players at a time. Not that other systems doesn't allow this, but it is systematic in its nature and creates these opportunities.

Thar be fun pirate birthday party ideas ahead me buckos...AAARRRH! So haul in the gang plank, trim yer sails and be watchin' for ships flyin' the Jolly Roger.

"Avast and ahoy maties, this here be yer captain speakin to ya... Captain Grandpa Mike says me."

Yer birthday child and all their guests will be havin' a swashbucklin' good time with this here adventure on the fun kid birthday parties high seas!

Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas - Invitations

Yo Ho A Pirate's Treasure Map

Your party guests will really get into your Pirate theme when you send them an invitation that looks like an old Pirate Treasure map...

Cut a brown paper bag into a square.

Then, with a black marker write something like "Captain__________'s (insert your birthday child's name) treasure map"...

"Ye be invited to a swash-buckling good time matey... (then give the party date, time, length of the party and any other details) then close the invitation by saying something like...

"If you dare, you'll be findin the party by followin this here treasure map... And remember this me buckos... "X" marks the spot!"

The map is actually directions to your party location and the "X" is the actual birthday party address...

Then crumble up the paper so your map looks old and mail it to your guest... You can even be creative with the envelope.

Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas - Treasure Map

Have some fun with your Pirate Party Invitation buy constructing another treasure map for a real treasure hidden somewhere at your party location.

Cut this map up into puzzle pieces (one for each child you're inviting).

Include a piece of the treasure map in the envelope and instruct your guests to bring their piece of the treasure map to the party.

When your guests arrive, have them put their puzzle pieces together, then they can all hunt for the treasure you've hidden...

Make sure you keep a copy of the map in case one of your guests doesn't show up.

For treasure, put some chocolate coins (always a big hit with our kids) in a box and hid them somewhere for your guests to find together with their map.

Fun Kid Pirate Costume

Your birthday child will love wearing a special pirate costume at their party.

*A Tip From Grandpa Mike

When I was a boy, one of my favorite Halloween costumes was a pirate costume.

You can find a head bandanna at your local thrift store, a colorful old shirt and grey stripped pants.

Cut the shirt sleeves to 3/4 length and fray the edge of the sleeves so they look worn... Cut the pant legs to 3/4 length and fray the edges so they look worn and "ship wrecked".

You can make an eye patch out of a small piece of black card stock or black cloth... Attach a black string or shoe lace to the eye patch and tie it around your child's head.

A wide black belt with a large buckle (you can make a buckle) can be cut to fit around your child's waist.

Fun Pirate Make-Up

You can complete your child's pirate look by putting black smudges on their face with an eyebrow pencil. Smear it around to look like a beard on a rough pirate face.

Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas - Decorations

Black, red, yellow, orange, blue and white are great pirate colors.

Use streamers and balloons to decorate your party area.

You can also pick up some pirate flags and make treasure maps and swords to put on the walls.

Fish nets, star fish and sea shells will help give yer party a sea goin' look.

Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas - Pirate Pinata

Imagine the fun when one of yer ship mates breaks open a pirate treasure chest pinata aaarrrh, an all kinds ah "treasures" fill yer pirate ships cabin. You can easily find online stores that feature pinatas for just about any party theme.

Fun Pirate Birthday Party Ideas

With these ideas to get your creative juices flowing, you'll be able to come up with lots more great ideas that will make your child's Pirate birthday party adventure a great success.

"Shiver me timbers, this be Captain Grandpa Mike sayin have a swashbucklin' fun Pirate birthday party, AAARRRH!"