Everyday, e-mail users find their inbox overflowing with messages from people they don’t know offering things they don’t need. Due to spam, e-mail users waste time everyday deleting junk mail from their inboxes. Sometimes, important e-mails get lost because the capacity of the e-mail account has reached its maximum due to the unsolicited messages.
Even if e-mail users ask the senders of unsolicited messages to stop bothering them, some spam just won’t go away voluntarily. The good news is, you can fight spam. There are several techniques available to defend your inbox from unsolicited e-mail including blocking addresses and tracing key words that are generally included in unwanted messages. There are techniques that work automatically and techniques where the user has to train the filter. Listed below are common ways to filter spam and keep it away from your inbox.
White-list and Blacklist:
In this system, also known as blocking, the user organizes a list of trustworthy addresses or domain names and these white-listed e-mails go straight to the user’s inbox. On the other hand, the user can blacklist addresses or domain names that send unsolicited messages and make these e-mails will be blocked and go directly to the trash folder. These lists can be maintained at the mail server or on the user’s computer.
Fingerprint:
With this technique an algorithm assigns all characters in an e-mail a numeric value, which it uses to calculate a numeric representation. This “fingerprint” is checked against the database of known spam fingerprints. The algorithm also accounts for whether an e-mail is identical to others received multiple times, generally a good indication of spam.
Heuristic filtering:
This kind of filter checks e-mails against a list of spam like keywords and phrases. The more words or phrases are found, the higher the e-mail score.
Bayesian filtering:
This filter is trained by the user, who categorizes received e mails as spam or not spam. The filter assigns probability values to each “token” (a word, a phrase, a symbol, or HTML code) based on how often it occurs in spam as opposed to regular messages. An e-mail’s score is an average of the token scores. This mechanism has a high rate of success as a filtering technique.
Summary:
Currently, you cannot completely eliminate receiving spam, but you can utilize spam filters to reduce the amount of messages you get every day. The #1 way to fight spam is to enable a mail filter which will watch your incoming mail, search it for indications of unsolicited content, and help you keep you inbox clean.
ITX offers a robust spam filter that will enable you to manage e-mail more efficiently and effectively. Unlike traditional spam filters, ITX’s filter utilizes a combination of mechanisms: advanced statistical analysis based on Bayesian filtering, blacklisting, and anti-virus scanning.
About ITX Corp:
ITX Corp is a business consulting and technology solutions firm focused in nine practice areas including Business Performance, Internet Marketing, IT Staffing, IT Solution Strategies and Implementation, Technical Services, Internet Services, and Technology Research. To learn more about what ITX can do for you visit our website at http://www.itx.net or contact us at (800) 600-7785.
About Jonathan Coupal:
Jonathan Coupal is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of ITX Corp. Mr. Coupal manages both the day-to-day and strategic operations of the Technology Integration Practice Group. Mr. Coupal and his team build a high level of trust with clients, establishing ITX as their IT partner of choice.
Posted by admin as Internet Network Resources at 7:38 AM CST
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There are three important differences between investing and trading. Overlooking them can lead to confusion. A beginning trader, for example, may use the terms interchangeably and misapply their rules with mixed and unrepeatable results. Investing and trading become more effective when their differences are clearly recognized. An investor’s goal is to take long term ownership of an instrument with a high level of confidence that it will continually increase in value. A trader buys and sells to capitalize on short term relative changes in value with a somewhat lower level of confidence. Goals, time frame and levels of confidence can be used to outline two completely different sets of rules. This will not be an exhaustive discussion of those rules but is intended to highlight some important practical implications of their differences. Long term investing is discussed first followed by short term trading.
My mentor, Dr. Stephen Cooper, defines long term investing as buying and holding an instrument for 5 years or more. The reason for this seemingly narrow definition is that when one invests long term, the idea is to “buy and hold” or “buy and forget”. In order to do this, it is necessary to take the emotions of greed and fear out of the equation. Mutual funds are favored because of they are professionally managed and they naturally diversify your investment over dozens or even hundreds of stocks. This does not mean just any mutual fund and it does not mean that one has to stay with the same mutual fund for the entire time. But it does imply that one stays within the investment class.
First, the fund in question should have at least a 5 or 10 year track record of proven annual gains. You should feel confident that the investment is reasonably safe. You are not continually watching the markets to take advantage of or to avoid short term ups and downs. You have a plan.
Second, performance of the instrument in question should be measured in terms of a well defined benchmark. One such benchmark is the S&P 500 Index that is an average of the performance of 500 of the largest and best performing stocks in the US markets. Looking back as far as the 1930’s, over any 5 year period the S&P 500 Index has gained in price about 96% of the time. This is quite remarkable. If one widens the window to 10 years, he finds that over any 10 year period the Index has gained in price 100% of the time. The S&P500 Index has gained an average of 10.9% a year for the past 10 years. So the S&P500 Index is the benchmark.
If one just invests in the S&P500 index, he can expect to earn, on average, about 10.9% a year. There are many ways to enter this kind of investment. One way is to buy the trading symbol SPY, which is an Exchange Traded Fund that tracks the S&P500 and trades just like a stock. Or, one can buy a mutual fund that tracks the S&P500, such as the Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund with a trading symbol VFINX. There are others, as well. Yahoo.com has a mutual fund screener that lists scores of mutual funds having annualized returns in excess of 20% over the past 5 years. However, one should try to find a screener that gives performance for the past 10 years or more, if possible. To put this into perspective, 90% of the 10,000 or so mutual funds that exist do not perform as well as the S&P500 each year.
The fact that 10.9% is average market performance for the past 10 years is all the more remarkable when one considers that the average bank deposit yield is less than 2%, 10 year Treasury yields are about 4.2% and 30 year Treasury yields are only 4.8%. Corporate bond yields approximate those of the S&P500. There is a reason for this disparity, though. Treasuries are considered the safest of all paper investments, being backed by the United States Government. FDIC regulated savings accounts are probably the next safest while stocks and corporate bonds are considered a bit more risky. Savings accounts are possibly the most liquid, followed by stocks and bonds.
To help you calibrate the safety and liquidity question, the long bond holders are comparing bond yields they now receive with next year’s anticipated stock yields. Consider that next year’s anticipated S&P500 yield is around 4.7% based on the reciprocal of its average price to earnings ratio (P/E) of 21.2. Yet the 10 year annualized return of the index has been 10.9%. Bond holders are prepared to accept half the historical yield of stocks for added safety and stability. In any given year, stocks may go either up or down. Bond yields are not expected to fluctuate widely from one year to the next, although they have been know to do so. It is as if bond holders want to be free to invest short term, as well as, long term. Many bond holders are thereby traders and not investors and accept a lower yield for this flexibility. But if one has decided once and for all that an investment is for the long term, high yield stock mutual funds or the S&P500 Index, itself, seem the best way to go. Using the simple compound interest formula, $10,000 invested in the S&P500 index at 10.9% a year becomes $132,827.70 after25 years. At 21%, the amount after 25 years is more than $1 million. If in addition to averaging 21%, one adds just $100 a month, the total amount after 25 years exceeds $1.8 million. Dr. C. rightly believes that 90% of one’s capital should be allocated over a several such investments.
Now that you’ve allocated 90% of your funds to long term investing, that leaves you about 10% for trading. Short to intermediate term trading is an area that most of us are more familiar with, probably due to its popularity. Yet it is significantly more complex and only about 12% of traders are successful. The time frame for trading is less than 5 years and is more typically from a couple of minutes to a couple of years. The typical probability of being right on the direction of a trade approaches an average high of about 70% when an appropriate trading system is used to less than about 30% without a trading system.
Even at the low end of the spectrum, you can avoid getting wiped out by managing the size of your trades to less than about 4% of your trading portfolio and limiting each loss to no more than 25% of any given trade while letting your winners run until they decrease by no more than 25% from their peak. These percentages can be increased after there is evidence that the probability of choosing the correct direction of a trade has improved.
Intermediate term trading is based more on fundamental analysis which attempts to assign a value to a company’s stock based on its history of earnings, assets, cash flow, sales and any number of objective measures in relation to its current stock price. It may also include projections of future earnings based on news of business agreements and changing market conditions. Some refer to this as value investing. In any case, the objective is to buy a company’s stock at bargain prices and wait for the market to realize its value and bid up the price before selling. When the stock is fairly priced, the instrument is sold unless one sees continuing growth in the value of the stock, in which case he moves it over into the investment category.
Since trading depends on the changing perceived value of a stock, your trading time frame should be chosen based on how well you are able detach yourself from the emotions of greed and fear. The better one can remove emotions from trading, the shorter the time frame he can successfully trade. On the other hand, when you feel surges of emotion before, during or immediately after a trade, it’s time to step back and consider choosing your trades more carefully and trading less frequently. One’s ability to remove emotions from trading takes a great deal of practice.
This is not just a moral statement. An entire universe of what’s called technical analysis is based on the aggregate emotional behavior of traders and forms the basis of short term trading. Technical analysis is a study of price and volume patterns of a stock over time. Pure technicians, as they are called, claim that all pertinent news and valuations are imbedded into a stock’s technical behavior. A long list of technical indicators has evolved to describe the emotional behavior of the stock market. Most technical indicators are based on moving averages over a predefined time period. Indicator time periods should be adjusted to fit the trading time frame. The subject is far too large to do it justice in less than several volumes of print. The lower level of confidence involved in trading is the reason for the large number of indicators used.
While long term investors may use only a single long term moving average with confidence to track steadily increasing value, traders use multiple indicators to deal with shorter time frames of oscillating value and higher risk. To improve your results and make them more repeatable, consider your expectations of changing value, your time frame and your level of confidence in predicting the outcome. Then you will know which set of rules to apply.
James Andrews publishes the Wiser Trader Stocks and Options Newsletter. Information on selected stock market trading systems, including those of Dr Stephen Cooper, can be found at http://www.wisertrader.com.
© 2004 Permission is granted to reproduce this article, as long as, this paragraph is included intact.
Posted by admin as Better Investment at 2:26 PM CST
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Credit cards are convenient financial means for hundreds of millions of people all over the world. However, personal use is not the only way credit cards come in handy. Credit cards can also be a major benefit for covering business expenses. If you own your own business, you may want to consider applying for a business credit card. Most credit card companies offer a number of options for companies interested in opening a business credit card. The type of business credit card your business applies for may depend on the size, age, income and financial needs of your company.
Business credit cards typically have larger credit limits than personal credit cards. This is because businesses typically have a larger budget than an individual person or family would. Businesses can handle larger credit lines because they can keep up with larger payments. Many credit card companies offer business credit card customers a variety of rewards programs that can help their company appeal to businesses trying to select which of the many credit card companies to do business with. Larger companies may have more leeway than smaller companies in shopping around, doing research and selecting which company has the right program for them.
Most credit card companies are quick to sign on large companies as customers because they know they will be able to keep good credit and most likely be able to stay on as long term, loyal customers. Most credit card companies also offer business customers low interest rates and in some cases a 0 APR credit card. Even though most of the time the 0 APR applies only for an initial period of six months to a year, this can be a huge selling point for any size business.
Large companies and corporations are not the only businesses that use credit cards though. Small businesses can find it extremely convenient to apply and receive a small business credit card. Small business credit cards are ideal for small businesses that need a way to manage the many finances that a small business can face. For small businesses just starting out, a small business credit card can be a great way of getting the business on its feet. Handling initial expenses with a small business credit card will allow a small business owner to begin business, make a profit, and pay for expenses in monthly payment increments rather than having to foot huge bills all at once during a time where expenses will surely be high.
No matter what the size of your business, a business credit card can be a great choice for you. Business credit cards help companies manage finances, cover expenses and survive in the competitive business world.
Peter Sissons, Retired Bank Manager and Student Credit Cards advisor - focusing on Best Credit Card and Secured Credit Cards
Posted by admin as Mathematics Management at 1:35 PM CST
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Portable mp3 players are taking the music world by storm. They offer convenience, portability, and ease of use, all in a small, feature rich package. There’s not much to not like about them. But mp3 player models are constantly changing. Therefore it’s a good idea to know what features are most important when you are trying to choose a portable mp3 player for your own use. Here are some tips to consider:
* Consider how you plan to use your mp3 player before buying it. Will you be using it on very long trips where you have no access to your computer song collection? If so, you may want to opt for a portable mp3 player that uses a hard drive to store songs as they can hold thousands of songs at a time and you can go for a long time without hearing the same song twice. In many cases you may be able to have your entire song collection on your mp3 player that way. However, most people will probably be using their portable mp3 player just for a few hours at a time on shorter trips. In that case a flash memory player should work just fine. They can usually handle 50- 75 songs at a time and that may be all you need.
* The best portable mp3 players also allow you to be able to upgrade the operating system of the unit whenever needed. This can be very important as the mp3 player equipment is changing constantly because it’s still a relatively new technology. So you want to be able to keep up as advancements are made, and newer file formats or compressions are introduced. Otherwise you could wind up with an obsolete player very quickly.
* Before you buy any portable mp3 player be sure that you personally physically inspect it. This is especially critical for smaller players as they can be so small and compact that some folks with larger hands have a difficult time operating the controls. You also want to be sure that the display will meet your needs too, as some players display more information at a time than others do, and some are more readable even in low light situations than others.
* The best portable mp3 players conserve power well too. This can be an important issue as you will most likely not have a permanent power source when you are on the go, so your battery is all you have to power the unit. Some players can go for days on a set of batteries and others can only go a few hours. So make sure that the player you choose will fit the way you intend to use it. Also be aware that some players use a battery that is rechargeable but also can’t be removed, and so must be sent back to the factory for an expensive battery replacement. The best portable mp3 players use batteries that are easy to find and change, such as AA or AAA batteries.
Since mp3 players are still fairly new to the marketplace, many people are not as familiar with them as other pieces of electronic equipment like CD players. So it’s good to understand what features are important in the best rated mp3 players in order to make the best choice. Hopefully, the tips above can help you make the best choice.
Thad Pickering writes on many consumer related topics including audio and video. You can find out more about best portable mp3 players and best rated mp3 players by visiting our Home Theater website.
Posted by admin as Web Of Products at 10:30 AM CST
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A month or two back I was in an online discussion with someone who had had an article of theirs printed and quoted from without their permission, and without the proper copyright notice. The author was up in arms and was wondering what to do about it.
No matter how much inventory you have, or how large your customer base, the viability of your business depends on the flow of your thinking, your creativity, your presence. What do you do when someone steals your hard work?
Send a thank-you note.
Remember the Grateful Dead? I was never a big fan, more into punk myself, but I was always intrigued by friends who had dozens and dozens of “bootlegs” of Dead shows- recordings they personally made, or bought from someone else.
What many people don’t know about the Grateful Dead is that early on they made a decision to treat the band as a business, and made many decisions to leverage their success, without compromising their values.
They noticed that their fans were recording their shows. Unlike many other bands and industries that tried to stop this nefarious activity (remember Napster?), the Dead encouraged it. Why?
Have you ever tried to act like someone else? How long could you keep it up? The last time I unconciously started writing like someone I admired, I started getting unsubscribes and complaints like crazy, and I had to come back to my own authenticity in a hurry.
The Dead, by smiling at bootleggers who were making “unofficial” copies of the shows, were actually encouraging the growth of community. More people attended their shows just to record bootlegs. It created a “collection” mindset. It was a big deal to say that you had a particular bootleg, and even more of coup to say that you had been at that show.
And, their official records, more than 50 live and studio releases, were a part of the ‘collection mania’ and had strong, profitable sales over 30+ years.
Instead of spending your time and energy trying to police your “intellectual property rights,” put your attention on your heart and your authenticity, and encourage others to make the best use of your materials and ideas. Trust that your customers can tell your authentic presence from someone else who is just riding in your draft.
Are there times when it’s worth it to protect your stuff?
Keys to Hippie Protectionism
• It’s not thieving to be in the morphic field.
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake originated the “morphic field” theory in modern science (something that has been observed spiritually for eons). The basic theory is this: genetics alone doesn’t explain why a plant grows in a particular form. Why do oak leaves all have basically the same shape?
Sheldrake advanced a holistic theory that “morphic fields” hold the pattern for structures. In a similar way, it’s not uncommon to find scientists, writers, researchers all working independently on similar ideas, remote from each other. Read his article.
If you are “inspired” by a particular idea, and you notice others taking up the flag as well, don’t fret about being stolen from, or someone getting “there” faster than you. Instead, rejoice that the morphic field is making your inspiration more accessible and understandable to the general public.
• Creative Commons Licensing
Instead of a regular strict copyright, you can use the Creative Commons licensing approach to be more flexible and generous in approaching your “intellectual property.”
In their own words: “Creative Commons offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. We have built upon the ‘all rights reserved’ of traditional copyright to create a voluntary ’some rights reserved’ copyright. We’re a nonprofit. All of our tools are free.”
For more information, check them out. http://creativecommons.org/
• Wholesale stealing of your entire show.
I have seen instances when someone has copied a website completely, word-for-word, including the free give-aways and bonuses. I always feel a little sad the very, very few times I’ve seen or heard of this, because someone is so clearly shut-down in their heart, and feeling desperate. Their business won’t last sustainably like that, but it is good to take official notice so you don’t have problems later on.
In these instances it’s often easy to send a note to them telling them you’ve noticed them and they need to cease and desist. If they don’t respond, you can look up their website registration on Whois.
Generally, an email sent to the company where they have registered their domain name will result in some action.
If you want to track certain words and phrases on the web, you can use Google Alerts.
However, this is an extreme case, and you will probably not encounter it.
Let your heart rest easy about “borrowers.” Stay in your authenticity, keep letting your heart move you forward, and rejoice that what you are inspired by is resonating so strongly with other people. This means you probably have a very viable and profitable market for your business.
Mark Silver, founder of Heart of Business, is author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How money, marketing and sales can deepen your heart, heal the world, and still add to your bottom line. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
Posted by admin as Martial Arts Hub at 1:28 PM CST
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This is the last article in this series, with the last two life skills, and three additional benefits that children receive from attending Karate classes, on a regular basis.
Self-Confidence
Many adults struggle with self esteem, so it is natural that children would also feel a lack of confidence. Also, children of parents who have self-confidence issues will copy their parent’s example.
This is one reason why the self-confidence CD we have in our Pro Shop is so popular with adults. This CD is actually a form of self-hypnosis for adults, but Karate is a much more effective self-confidence tool for active children.
So, how does a child find self-confidence through Karate practice? Self esteem is built on a foundation of daily accomplishments that each child experiences within his or her Karate class. This is a form of programming confidence into a child’s personality. As a child becomes more proficient at Karate, self-confidence is not far behind, and will carry into all of his or her activities.
Social Skills
There is such a social skill deficit with children these days. Having manners, showing courtesy, and displaying mutual respect are part of every Karate class. It is nice that we have become “technically advanced,” but we do not have to leave tradition behind. As children grow, the child who displays manners, courtesy, and respect will succeed in life.
A lack of these qualities is considered anti-social, rude, or arrogant - and rightfully so. Some adults who display these forms of behavior do “get by,” but diplomacy can carry us a long way. Therefore, social skills are positively reinforced in each Karate lesson.
Let’s cover a few bonus benefits that children receive from regular attendance to Karate classes.
Self-Defense
“A fly on the wall” would learn adequate self-defense skills, if it hung around a Karate class long enough. Children who continue to practice Karate will be able to take care of themselves and should develop enough awareness to stay out of trouble.
Nutrition
Any child, or adult, who practices Karate will excel athletically and will watch what they eat. Within any form of mind and body exercise, proper nutrition is contagious.
Meditation
The “Kata” or (Karate form) is meditation in motion. The adult or child Karate student learns to focus and quiet his or her mind in daily Karate practice. Steady gaze, and breath awareness meditation techniques, is taught to Karate students at our North Providence facility.
Needless to say, children who practice Karate, on a steady basis, will be very well rounded and poised for success in life. If you want to give your child a gift that lasts a lifetime, visit your local martial arts center and find a program that fits your needs. Compare at least two martial arts schools to make an informed decision.
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Yoga: The Key to Self-Mastery. http://www.kids-karate.com
Posted by admin as Martial Arts Hub at 8:32 AM CST
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