I think that if you are emigrant, tourist, hard truck driver or student, you often need to call to your family and friends. And what will you do if your home located on other continent and you have no enough money to call from hotel? Yes, right way is internet! This article will help you to find ease way to make domestic and international calls at lowest rates.
So, you use search engine and find many sites, that selling prepaid phone cards. How make a choice? One way is to ask your friends; maybe they have used prepaid phone cards yet. Another way is find site with simple tool that can help you find best rates to your direction! For example you want to call from US to Europe: choose countries and push button find. It’s all! Program finds best rates for your destination and shows you large quantity of calling cards. One of shops cheap-cards.com looks interesting and have hundreds of calling cards and rates!
If you have international business and often call to overseas countries you can buy refillable phone card and add funds where your balance is low. It’s very convenient because you need to remember one address of online shop where you buy card and one pin. You can call from your mobile phone from anywhere and any time, because phone services work 24 hour a day and 7 days a week. There are pin less phone cards: you register one phone number (for example your cell phone number) and add funds to your number where balance is low. I think that it’s most simple and convenient method.
In some shops you can find online phone cards on sale. So you can save on certain cards from 1$ up to 10$! Always check news of telephony. Prices on international calling cards continuously drop and now 1 minute from US continental to Netherlands (for example) costs 1 cent. It’s very cheap! Also you can find plastic phone cards on shops, railway stations, airports and etc., but they are very expensive! Do you now why phone cards online much cheaper then plastic cards? Because in case online cards you pay only for talking time; you get pin on email and you at once can call. In second case you pay to couriers, shops for their work and phone companies fore producing “real” plastic cards! Calling cards is really best answer!
In conclusion I want to say that times when you paid 10$ for 10 minutes of talking send away. Living alone in foreign country is not easy, so it is important to you to keep in touch with your family and friends.
Role of the World Bank's International Development Association
The Monterrey Consensus, in addition to framing commitments for increased ODA, “codified” the call for development effectiveness. This call was reinforced in July 2002, when donors to the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)—the world’s primary source of confessional (near-zero-interest) finance for development in the low-income countries—made replenishment contingent on the establishment of a results-based measurement system for IDA programs. IDA provides assistance to the world’s 82 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. It is the single largest source of donor funds for basic social services in the poorest countries.
Donors agreed in March 2005 to a 14th replenishment of IDA worth $33 million in new resources over three years. Now the 15th replenishment of IDA is on the horizon, with donors expected to decide on contributions for the next three-year cycle by December 2007. IDA is at a watershed, in part because of debt relief contributions-- IDA is providing $54 billion in debt relief to poor countries: $18 billion under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and $36 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).This represents one third of IDA’s total resources and it lowers available credit reflows. Without additional resources, IDA would need to cut its financial support for poor countries currently benefiting from debt relief. For this reason, a generous replenishment of IDA is crucial.
Through its leadership on harmonization and alignment, IDA also leverages the assistance of other donors in support of country-owned programs and projects. These efforts are forging stronger partnerships between aid providers and recipient countries.
Given its unique capabilities and its track-record, IDA serves as a cornerstone of the international aid system in many poor countries. IDA’s platform ensures that aid is less fragmented, more predictable, and increasingly results-focused, which is fundamental to countries seeking to achieve the MDGs.
Harmonization, the Results Agenda and the Bank’s role
Central to the international community’s more unified approach is a concerted focus on development results.
The Third Roundtable on Managing for Development, held in Hanoi in February 2007 and involving the World Bank and a range of other donors, built on the findings of the 2004 Marrakech Second Roundtable on Better Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing for Development Results. The Hanoi meeting enabled delegations from selected developing countries to compare their experiences and to initiate a country action planning process, with targets for steps to be completed in advance of the Ghana High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in September 2008. The Hanoi Roundtable provided compelling evidence that country partners are eager to improve the effectiveness of development assistance and domestic resources by strengthening systems to enable information on expected and actual results to be used in decision-making.
The inter-agency Common Performance Assessment System, or COMPAS initiative is developing common systems that all multilateral development banks can use to monitor their results orientation. Its 2006 report found that: efforts to implement country strategies are still weak in some cases; that performance-based grants are on the rise; that efforts to apply operational lessons of experience are not systematic enough and that multilateral development banks are starting to link salary increases of staff to the accomplishment of agreed objectives.
Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entrepreneur and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management, merchandise, ownership, internet entrepreneurship, investments, media and writing amongst others. Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com, http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com
Donors agreed in March 2005 to a 14th replenishment of IDA worth $33 million in new resources over three years. Now the 15th replenishment of IDA is on the horizon, with donors expected to decide on contributions for the next three-year cycle by December 2007. IDA is at a watershed, in part because of debt relief contributions-- IDA is providing $54 billion in debt relief to poor countries: $18 billion under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and $36 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).This represents one third of IDA’s total resources and it lowers available credit reflows. Without additional resources, IDA would need to cut its financial support for poor countries currently benefiting from debt relief. For this reason, a generous replenishment of IDA is crucial.
Through its leadership on harmonization and alignment, IDA also leverages the assistance of other donors in support of country-owned programs and projects. These efforts are forging stronger partnerships between aid providers and recipient countries.
Given its unique capabilities and its track-record, IDA serves as a cornerstone of the international aid system in many poor countries. IDA’s platform ensures that aid is less fragmented, more predictable, and increasingly results-focused, which is fundamental to countries seeking to achieve the MDGs.
Harmonization, the Results Agenda and the Bank’s role
Central to the international community’s more unified approach is a concerted focus on development results.
The Third Roundtable on Managing for Development, held in Hanoi in February 2007 and involving the World Bank and a range of other donors, built on the findings of the 2004 Marrakech Second Roundtable on Better Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing for Development Results. The Hanoi meeting enabled delegations from selected developing countries to compare their experiences and to initiate a country action planning process, with targets for steps to be completed in advance of the Ghana High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in September 2008. The Hanoi Roundtable provided compelling evidence that country partners are eager to improve the effectiveness of development assistance and domestic resources by strengthening systems to enable information on expected and actual results to be used in decision-making.
The inter-agency Common Performance Assessment System, or COMPAS initiative is developing common systems that all multilateral development banks can use to monitor their results orientation. Its 2006 report found that: efforts to implement country strategies are still weak in some cases; that performance-based grants are on the rise; that efforts to apply operational lessons of experience are not systematic enough and that multilateral development banks are starting to link salary increases of staff to the accomplishment of agreed objectives.
Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entrepreneur and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management, merchandise, ownership, internet entrepreneurship, investments, media and writing amongst others. Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com, http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com
Civil Society
Civil society has grown exponentially over the past decades and today is recognized as an important development actor throughout the world; monitoring public policies, providing technical expertise, and partnering with governments to provide community services.
The Bank has greatly increased its cooperation with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the past 20 years, and today it is estimated that CSOs are involved in 72 percent of new Bank-financed projects each year.
The Bank funds thousands of civil society initiatives each year in areas such as: post-conflict reconstruction, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental protection, and poverty reduction.
More than 120 civil society specialists work at the World Bank to ensure the views of CSOs are considered and to encourage CSO involvement in Bank-financed projects. The Growth of Civil Society
The Civil Society sector – composed of non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, trade unions, indigenous people’s groups, charitable organizations, community groups, and foundations among others – has emerged as a major force in international development in the past 20 years. There has been a dramatic expansion in the size, scope, and capacity of civil society which has come in the wake of growing democratic governance throughout the world. The number of international NGOs was reported to have increased from 6,000 in 1990 to 26,000 in 1999. CSOs have also become significant players in global development assistance, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reporting that as of 2003 at least $12 billion in international assistance flows through CSOs.
CSOs’ have demonstrated an increased influence and ability to shape global public policy over the past two decades. This dynamism is exemplified by successful advocacy campaign movements which have mobilized thousands of supporters around the world on issues such as: the banning of land mines, debt cancellation, and environmental protection. The most recent example of the vibrancy and importance of civil society was the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), which was organized by a coalition of international CSOs to influence the discussions on debt and trade at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005. The campaign was estimated to have mobilized over 100 million citizens around the world to demonstrate their concern for global poverty by wearing white wristbands, attending concerts, and lobbying their government officials.
The Bank has greatly increased its cooperation with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the past 20 years, and today it is estimated that CSOs are involved in 72 percent of new Bank-financed projects each year.
The Bank funds thousands of civil society initiatives each year in areas such as: post-conflict reconstruction, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental protection, and poverty reduction.
More than 120 civil society specialists work at the World Bank to ensure the views of CSOs are considered and to encourage CSO involvement in Bank-financed projects. The Growth of Civil Society
The Civil Society sector – composed of non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, trade unions, indigenous people’s groups, charitable organizations, community groups, and foundations among others – has emerged as a major force in international development in the past 20 years. There has been a dramatic expansion in the size, scope, and capacity of civil society which has come in the wake of growing democratic governance throughout the world. The number of international NGOs was reported to have increased from 6,000 in 1990 to 26,000 in 1999. CSOs have also become significant players in global development assistance, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reporting that as of 2003 at least $12 billion in international assistance flows through CSOs.
CSOs’ have demonstrated an increased influence and ability to shape global public policy over the past two decades. This dynamism is exemplified by successful advocacy campaign movements which have mobilized thousands of supporters around the world on issues such as: the banning of land mines, debt cancellation, and environmental protection. The most recent example of the vibrancy and importance of civil society was the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), which was organized by a coalition of international CSOs to influence the discussions on debt and trade at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005. The campaign was estimated to have mobilized over 100 million citizens around the world to demonstrate their concern for global poverty by wearing white wristbands, attending concerts, and lobbying their government officials.
"KINSEY" -- a smart movie on sexuality
I was pleasantly surprised by the movie Kinsey. I had expected a hagiography, but instead found a remarkable, relatively balanced portrait of the famed sex researcher, a movie which lends itself well to good conversation. And, I believe, an important movie for gay men and lesbians.
WARNING--this post contains spoilers, so if you have not seen the movie and don't want to know how it turns out, read no further.
The movie shows Kinsey emerging from his own sexual inhibitions to become almost a crusader for sex without inhibitions, but shows, through the drama of his story, the consequences of unrestrained sex. A virgin when he married, Liam Neeson's Kinsey takes up (after he has been married) with a fetching research assistant, played by the always-brilliant Peter Sarsgaard while on a research trip to Chicago. He tells his wife, played by the ever-amazing Laura Linney. While he inveighs against sexual restraint -- seeking a society free of all his inhibitions, she notes that "those restraints are there to keep us from hurting one another." As she has been hurt by his dalliance -- and will he be hurt by her dalliance with the same man.
Kinsey defends his research in the name of science, but his wife wonders if he is using science to justify infidelity. Linney's words (well, actually the words are those of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Bill Condon, but she speaks them) and Neeson's acting really help show the tension between the ideology of uninhibited sex and our emotional make-up. Waiting on the stairs for his wife to finish up with the sexy Sarsgaard, Neeson's Kinsey is trying to pretend that he is not affected by her infidelity, but his face (and the tone of his voice) shows that he is. Each spouse is hurt by the other's infidelity.
This sequence alone prevents the movie from being a hagiography and shows that no matter how much scientists and philosophers try to rationalize uninhibited sex, the human heart has impulses which science cannot measure. Indeed, writer/director Condon addresses this in the concluding sequence, where, in a mock interview with Kinsey, one of his researchers asks him why he doesn't deal with love. Neeson's Kinsey replies that he is a man of science and science involves measurement, but you can't measure love.
While acknowledging the accusations of Kinsey's flawed methodology, the movie does not delve into their specifics. His biographers, including James H. Jones in Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life and Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy in Kinsey: Sex The Measure Of All Things note how Kinsey oversampled prison inmates and single people while attempting to exclude those with strong religious views. In his chapter ("Science!") in Intellectual Morons, despite some overheated rhetoric, Daniel J. Flynn addresses some of flaws in Kinsey's research (as well as some unusual aspects of the scientist's private life).
Despite the flaws in his research, the movie makes the case that Kinsey did some good in moving us away from that limited view of sexuality that dominated American society (indeed, dominated most societies) up until the middle of the last century. In a touching monologue by the brilliant Lynn Redgrave (playing a lesbian), the film shows the meaning of our move away from the narrow view of sexuality. After reading his book, this woman realized that her feelings for a female co-worker were not unusual. That book helped give her the courage to approach that co-worker -- and learn that the feelings were reciprocated. A loving relationship resulted.
It is that story which helps make the movie worthwhile even as it undermines one aspect of the real ideology of Alfred C. Kinsey--his zeal to root out all sexual inhibitions. The story of Lynn Redgrave's character is not of a woman seeking wanton sexual relationships with a great variety of women, but of a woman finding an intimate relationship with one particular woman.
Kinsey has helped moved our society away from a narrow view of sexuality where we only condoned sexual relations in married couples. But, his zeal to create a society free of sexual inhibitions created the kind of emotional entanglements he and his wife experienced when each had an affair with the same man. In short, Kinsey attempted to throw out the baby with the bath water. We see the results of his ideology throughout the gay community where too many of us seek sex without strings. Where it is all too easy to get laid, but much more difficult to find love. Where we attempt to explain away the emotional emptiness that often follows a "hook up."
While we, as gay people, should be grateful (as is Ms. Redgrave's character), for Kinsey's research showing how normal our sexuality is, we need to be wary of his ideology. Sex cannot be reduced to mere science, as Kinsey would have liked. I believe our sex drive an aspect of the true erotic (and by erotic, I refer to the Greek Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love), that human longing for connection.
We all need to find a balance between our sexual drives and our emotional needs. This movie does a good job of showing the limitations of Kinsey's reliance on science as a tool to understand sexuality. Other authors have wisely quoted poetry in their studies of sexuality. It is one thing to throw off the inhibitions of the past. It is quite another to deny their meaning altogether. We, as gay people, need to understand that acceptance of our sexual difference does not mean abandonment of all sexual mores. We need to find a way to keep our sexuality attached to its emotional roots. To discover that our sexuality does not merely mean physical attraction to those of our gender, but also involves an emotional longing for a real human connection.
WARNING--this post contains spoilers, so if you have not seen the movie and don't want to know how it turns out, read no further.
The movie shows Kinsey emerging from his own sexual inhibitions to become almost a crusader for sex without inhibitions, but shows, through the drama of his story, the consequences of unrestrained sex. A virgin when he married, Liam Neeson's Kinsey takes up (after he has been married) with a fetching research assistant, played by the always-brilliant Peter Sarsgaard while on a research trip to Chicago. He tells his wife, played by the ever-amazing Laura Linney. While he inveighs against sexual restraint -- seeking a society free of all his inhibitions, she notes that "those restraints are there to keep us from hurting one another." As she has been hurt by his dalliance -- and will he be hurt by her dalliance with the same man.
Kinsey defends his research in the name of science, but his wife wonders if he is using science to justify infidelity. Linney's words (well, actually the words are those of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Bill Condon, but she speaks them) and Neeson's acting really help show the tension between the ideology of uninhibited sex and our emotional make-up. Waiting on the stairs for his wife to finish up with the sexy Sarsgaard, Neeson's Kinsey is trying to pretend that he is not affected by her infidelity, but his face (and the tone of his voice) shows that he is. Each spouse is hurt by the other's infidelity.
This sequence alone prevents the movie from being a hagiography and shows that no matter how much scientists and philosophers try to rationalize uninhibited sex, the human heart has impulses which science cannot measure. Indeed, writer/director Condon addresses this in the concluding sequence, where, in a mock interview with Kinsey, one of his researchers asks him why he doesn't deal with love. Neeson's Kinsey replies that he is a man of science and science involves measurement, but you can't measure love.
While acknowledging the accusations of Kinsey's flawed methodology, the movie does not delve into their specifics. His biographers, including James H. Jones in Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life and Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy in Kinsey: Sex The Measure Of All Things note how Kinsey oversampled prison inmates and single people while attempting to exclude those with strong religious views. In his chapter ("Science!") in Intellectual Morons, despite some overheated rhetoric, Daniel J. Flynn addresses some of flaws in Kinsey's research (as well as some unusual aspects of the scientist's private life).
Despite the flaws in his research, the movie makes the case that Kinsey did some good in moving us away from that limited view of sexuality that dominated American society (indeed, dominated most societies) up until the middle of the last century. In a touching monologue by the brilliant Lynn Redgrave (playing a lesbian), the film shows the meaning of our move away from the narrow view of sexuality. After reading his book, this woman realized that her feelings for a female co-worker were not unusual. That book helped give her the courage to approach that co-worker -- and learn that the feelings were reciprocated. A loving relationship resulted.
It is that story which helps make the movie worthwhile even as it undermines one aspect of the real ideology of Alfred C. Kinsey--his zeal to root out all sexual inhibitions. The story of Lynn Redgrave's character is not of a woman seeking wanton sexual relationships with a great variety of women, but of a woman finding an intimate relationship with one particular woman.
Kinsey has helped moved our society away from a narrow view of sexuality where we only condoned sexual relations in married couples. But, his zeal to create a society free of sexual inhibitions created the kind of emotional entanglements he and his wife experienced when each had an affair with the same man. In short, Kinsey attempted to throw out the baby with the bath water. We see the results of his ideology throughout the gay community where too many of us seek sex without strings. Where it is all too easy to get laid, but much more difficult to find love. Where we attempt to explain away the emotional emptiness that often follows a "hook up."
While we, as gay people, should be grateful (as is Ms. Redgrave's character), for Kinsey's research showing how normal our sexuality is, we need to be wary of his ideology. Sex cannot be reduced to mere science, as Kinsey would have liked. I believe our sex drive an aspect of the true erotic (and by erotic, I refer to the Greek Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love), that human longing for connection.
We all need to find a balance between our sexual drives and our emotional needs. This movie does a good job of showing the limitations of Kinsey's reliance on science as a tool to understand sexuality. Other authors have wisely quoted poetry in their studies of sexuality. It is one thing to throw off the inhibitions of the past. It is quite another to deny their meaning altogether. We, as gay people, need to understand that acceptance of our sexual difference does not mean abandonment of all sexual mores. We need to find a way to keep our sexuality attached to its emotional roots. To discover that our sexuality does not merely mean physical attraction to those of our gender, but also involves an emotional longing for a real human connection.
Top 7 Tips to Beat High Gas Prices
Do you cringe every time you pull up to the pumps to fuel up your car? I know that I do, and it seems like the gas prices just keep rising and rising. You may think that there isn't anything that you can do to curb those prices, but in fact there are ways for you to effectively shave money off of your gas bill by adding efficiency to the way that you burn it. Here are the top ways that you can start to smile a little at the pumps again.
1. Drive with Style - There are several ways that you can improve your fuel burning by driving with some style. Avoid jackrabbit starts and stops and stay within the posted speed limits.
2. Check under the hood - Keep you engine tuned and the oil changed. This will help you to burn fuel at a slower rate.
3. Check the Tires - Did you know that you could improve your gas mileage by up to 3% just by making sure the tires are properly inflated? This also will save you money by not having to buy new tires prematurely.
4. Get Gas - Don't get gas that is too expensive. Most cars only need regular gasoline. The way to tell that you need a higher octane gasoline is if your engine is knocking.
5. Haul Less - Do you have junk in your trunk? Get rid of it. Hauling around extra weight wastes gas.
6. Drive Smart - Plan your route before you leave the house, try combining errands or carpooling.
7. Buy Cheap Gas - Go a little out of your way to get gas at a lower price. You can also save some money sometimes by using a gas card.
Enter for a chance to win a $1,500 Gas Card at http://www.snagafreebie.info/gascard.html
Tim has been leading people to free stuff online for 10 years, and owned one of the first freebie sites on the Internet.
1. Drive with Style - There are several ways that you can improve your fuel burning by driving with some style. Avoid jackrabbit starts and stops and stay within the posted speed limits.
2. Check under the hood - Keep you engine tuned and the oil changed. This will help you to burn fuel at a slower rate.
3. Check the Tires - Did you know that you could improve your gas mileage by up to 3% just by making sure the tires are properly inflated? This also will save you money by not having to buy new tires prematurely.
4. Get Gas - Don't get gas that is too expensive. Most cars only need regular gasoline. The way to tell that you need a higher octane gasoline is if your engine is knocking.
5. Haul Less - Do you have junk in your trunk? Get rid of it. Hauling around extra weight wastes gas.
6. Drive Smart - Plan your route before you leave the house, try combining errands or carpooling.
7. Buy Cheap Gas - Go a little out of your way to get gas at a lower price. You can also save some money sometimes by using a gas card.
Enter for a chance to win a $1,500 Gas Card at http://www.snagafreebie.info/gascard.html
Tim has been leading people to free stuff online for 10 years, and owned one of the first freebie sites on the Internet.
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