Challenges For Women in Trucking

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Each year, about 50,000 new truck drivers are wanted to keep up with the growing demands of the transport industry. To fill this demand, the amount of female truck drivers is steadily rising and there are now more female truck drivers on our roads than ever before. Not only are women in trucking becoming local drivers but also a growing number is deciding to become long haul truck drivers.

Truck driving is a job in which many women make the same kind of salary as their male counterparts. Some drivers make over $60,000 their first year on the job. That is better than the first year salaries of most top graduates with professional academic degrees! As you get expertise and long driving hours, there’s an excellent opportunity to further increase your wages.

How to Begin a Career in Trucking

There are two steps required in your pursuit of getting into the truck driving profession: training and then getting a commercial driver’s license (CDL). You’ll need to locate a school that is located nearby where you live and get registered in a CDL training class. It is not surprising to see as many as one quarter of the classroom to be females. In addition to this, many future female truck drivers appear to out-perform the bulk of their male pupils on written and actual driving tests! The truth is that women can make for excellent truck drivers, sometimes arguably even better than their male co-workers.

Tips for Choosing a Career in Trucking for Women

You must prepare yourself for the lifestyle you are going to lead once you get hired. Remember that since you will be traveling long distances to deliver various things, there will be weeks or days or months when you’ll be away from your family and close friends.

You also need to take special steps to stay secure. Females should be especially careful of their security when driving by keeping their doors locked at all times. Other guidelines require that you don’t wear lavish jewelry, which can attract petty thieves. In fact, it’s better to avoid using a purse altogether, and instead use a pocket wallet to hold money or other valuable goods. All in all, it wouldn’t be a good idea to carry any large sums of money with you as that can be asking for trouble.

Truck drivers are also notorious for eating plenty of junk food from truck stops and fast food restaurants. This can lead to major problems with one’s health including heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes. If you’re capable of snatching some healthful snacks like fruits, low sodium products, this can help reduce the possibility of heart disease and diabetes.

So, do not hesitate to reach your dreams of becoming a female truck driver. Now is the heyday to get started as so many truck-driving businesses supply many employment opportunities for both women and men.

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Source by John Jeffrey Hill

Factors to Consider in Meal Planning

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Meal planning is a technique that every household should utilize. It is a very comprehensive plan of what to eat and the products or ingredients necessary in cooking. It is an organized system of identifying recipes and for a certain period of time. It requires a skill to identify needs of a person of his entire family and taking into consideration of several factors that would affect planning activity.

Factors would include: health needs, economic factors, religious practices, dietary concerns, environmental factors and time and ability to cook.

Health needs.

It is necessary to include all the food groups to ensure optimum nutrition. It is very important that we include in our meals the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that our bodies require.

Economic factors.

We have to consider our budget and the prices of the ingredients. Budget is foremost the principal factor because you cannot cook what you cannot afford.

Religious practices.

Some religion or faith has restrictions on what they are allowed to eat. Muslims cannot eat pork and Jews are obliged to observe Kashrut practices. Hindus do not eat beef because of the view of the that cows are sacred.

Dietary concerns.

Certain diseases such as diabetes and hypertension restricts or limits an individual’s food intake. They are not allowed to eat fatty foods and even sweets. Another consideration would be allergies that would yield unwanted reactions when trigger foods are consumed.

Environmental factors.

This would include the kitchen materials and equipments that would give you the capacity to cook certain food.

Time

If you have ample time to prepare food then you can go ahead and cook extravagant dishes, however when you have limited time you can opt for easy to do recipes than relying on fast food or instant products.

Ability to cook.

The most modifiable factor. They say you cannot cook if you don’t know what you are doing. However you can research videos or follow cook books to help you prepare the dish that you want.

When you have considered all the factors of course you make sure that your cooking in variety while also acknowledging your family’s preference. Play with texture and color as well as temperature. Add fun to the activity by making it a recreational hobby which involves family members.

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Source by Ralph A. Miller

Ignoring the Rejection Rocket

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I love to read, and I love to write as well. I would also like to share my two cents on a book that I am presently reading. I would like to share with you my feelings if you will this week as I explore the book “Your First Year in Network Marketing” by Mark Yarnell and his wife Rene Yarnell.

Now I just started to read this book, but from the start of it, this book is right on time and I would recommend EVERY network marketer go out and check this book out and suggest the same for your downline. The book gives tons of situations and examples that will give a new network marketer insight on how to handle situations. They even have a summary at the close of each chapter just to let the reader know what you should have learned, and if you didn’t, read this and learn it.

Chapter One is titled: Ignoring the Rejection Rocket. Oh I can not tell you how many more people I would have in my team, or still have on my team if rejection was not such a big, big deal. People generally wear their heart on their sleeves. Its not a bad thing actually but it does set one up who is in network marketing to get their feelings hurt. And they shouldn’t really, but its something that has to be taught. When a new network marketer goes through the motions of approaching a friend, or even a stranger and get shut down it can do damage to their soul and self esteem. This chapter talks about how rejection is your ally, not your adversary, and if your prospect was approached properly they will only reject your offer if the timing is not right, in which case you try them back in 6months time. The chapter goes into discussing that the people are not rejecting you, they are rejecting the offer. People take someone saying “No!” personally and its really not about them at all.

Me, I’d rather a person tell me “No!” straight out and upfront without me having to give a whole bunch of information that will lead up to a no. When I hear No, I rejoice, because I know that that No, is leading up the a Yes! People in network marketing need to realize that its a numbers game. My mentor told me once that as you grow as a marketer, your Average of Numbers will increase. So, say your first time going out in the field if you will with network marketing, you may talk to ten people today and no one be interested. A little discouraging, but if you increase your numbers, you can see how you can improve. If the next day you speak and talk with 20 people, and you get one person interested, now you have something to work with. You are now batting with 5%. 🙂 So even if you are not motivated do more, you at least know that if you speak with 20 people, you will get one. That’s valuable information, and better than speaking with 10 and get none. So the following day you may decide to try and improve your percentage and speak to 20 people, and get 2. Then you’ll be at 10%. But its all a numbers game. The more people you speak with, the more sales or folks you will likely have to join your business. So, what I do is rejoice when I got that No! cuz I knew for instance that that was just one of the other 19 who’d be disinterested, but I know a Yes! is right around the corner. And I press on, with a positive attitude and not let that No break my spirit because you will carry that with you onto the next person you meet and it may impact that next person and their answer.

The chapter also goes into how important it is that when you are new into network marketing to not try and be an expert on the business and half share what you think you know to your wife, friends and family. No matter how much you know, its always going to sound better from another person’s mouth, so its important NOT to share what you think you know, but to get your sponsor on the phone or better yet get your family, friends to a meeting and let them see the business in the same fashion it was explained and shown to you. If you mess that up, it can wreak havoc in your home, or put a strain in your personal life with friends and family.

All in all, the book speaks the truth, and this Chapter hits a home run.

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Source by Jasmin Anderson

Types of Wheat and Its Flours

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The following types of wheat are classified based primarily on color, hardness of the kernel, and time of year the wheat is planted.

  • Hard red winter
  • Soft red winter
  • Hard red spring
  • Hard white
  • Soft white
  • Durum

Generally, flours that are milled from hard wheat have high quality gluten and are considered strong.

Due to the difference in quality among many types of wheat, millers typically blend flours to achieve a consistent product time after time. Readily available to most home bakers, all purpose flour is actually a blend of hard and soft wheat flours.

Regardless of the type of wheat, milling the endosperm of wheat berries or kernels yields white flour. This process also removes so much natural nutrients and vitamins that subsequent enrichment can never completely replace them. Therefore, enriched white bread is by no means nutritionally equal to whole wheat bread.

In addition, “wheat bread” on the label does not mean that it is made from whole wheat flour. It is just to distinguish the bread from those made from other types of grains.

Breads made from whole wheat flour should normally have “whole” or “100 percent whole” before the term “wheat bread”.

Compared to whole wheat flour, white flour

  • Has a longer shelf life
  • Contains more gluten proteins per weight
  • Is more digestible

To produce whole wheat flour, the entire wheat kernels that include the fibrous bran, nutritious and fatty embryo or germ, and the starchy endosperm are ground uniformly.

Although whole wheat flour and graham flour are often used interchangeably, there is a minor physical difference. In the milling of graham flour, the outermost part of the wheat berries(bran) is not as finely ground as the germ and endosperm.

Finally, all flours tend to lose moisture during storage. Moisture content also varies by brands and seasons. Therefore, as home bakers of breads, cakes, and cookies, we may sometimes need to adjust the amount of flour used in a particular recipe. This is to maintain a desirable flour to liquid ratio.

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Source by Trinh Lieu

Tips for Your Police Promotional Resume

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One of the fundamental documents utilized in the police promotional process is your professional resume, however, there is nothing fundamental about constructing an effective one. Your professional resume is significant in a number of ways. It serves as an illustration of who you are and what you have done, but more importantly, creates the first impression-good or bad-of your ability and readiness to promote to the higher ranks within your organization. If you were to think of your professional career as a movie, your resume would serve as the preview. Resumes require great attention to detail. They must be absolutely free of mistakes and the content must be crafted specifically for the position you are vying for. Naturally, the content of your resume is paramount, however, its aesthetic appeal is also highly important, in that the formatting, style, font, spacing, and use of varied print (bold, underlined, italics) achieves visual written symmetry.

While the art and technique of writing a resume can fill a book, her are a few insider tips to answer common resume questions.

  • Can a resume be longer than two pages? Of course, but only if there is a real need. Cut out fluff, repetition, and minutia and all the training courses that have no link to your new position. Be concise and summarize, covering the highlights, not the details. Less is more.
  • Candidates turn in their resumes printed on quality paper. The nice resume is copied and placed in the officer’s personnel file. The cheap Xerox copies are provided to the oral panel. To avoid this, turn in at least four copies on the quality paper so the panel gets the best version.
  • Stick with bright white, off-white (bone, eggshell, ivory, etc.), or light tan colored paper. Use 24-32 pound grade that is 100% cotton or linen finish paper.
  • Use underlined, bolded, and slightly increased font sizes to add punch to portions of your resume, but don’t overdue it. Include periods at the end of bulleted lists when they are written in sentence form. Think clean, concise, and simple. Don’t use clipart or gimmicky graphics. Concise bulleted lists are preferred over lengthy paragraphs.
  • For in-house promotions, there is no reason to include your home address, phone numbers, or email addresses unless directed to do so. This information is for entry-level personnel. The oral interview panel will not call or write to you and Human Resources already has this information.
  • For the purpose of clarity, ease of reading, and resume space, avoid unnecessary wordy phrases. Consider replacing “in order to” or “so as to” with “to.” Replace “due to the fact that” or “for the reason that” with “because.” Replace “by means of” or “through the use of” with “by” or “with.” Replace “at this time” or “at this point in time” with “now” or “currently.
  • Use a single concise sentence to illustrate what your primary objective is. “Promotion to Sergeant” or “To provide outstanding leadership as a Lieutenant for the Los Angeles Police Department” or similar variation will be sufficient. Avoid large cerebral words or descriptions that are obviously intended for show and not content: “To introduce my value-driven leadership persona to the ever-changing paradigms of the 21st-century law enforcement workplace.” Wordy and over-written sentences like this are not only ineffective, but will also be viewed negatively.

Let this information serve as an introductory springboard to self-directed learning in how to make your resume dynamic and representative of a professional. Test well!

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Source by Andrew J Borrello

Blackjack: Is It a Team Sport?

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In its strictest sense, Blackjack can be considered a purely solitary sport. The game, after all, is between you and the dealer, and what other people you are at the table with do has no direct affect on the outcome of your game. You’re not playing for the group or for anyone else in the table – you’re in it for yourself. But that’s what other people may think.

For Blackjack can indeed be a team sport and many have done and have proven that this may be so. Normally, players would only pay close attention to what they are playing in their hands and entirely disregard what other players in the table have. But if every player does so, the house will take in the greatest advantage and every player in the table will eventually lose. But the table can work together to actually affect the decisions and outcomes of every deal – players will have more chances of beating the house and winning.

Learning from History

One of the greatest masters in blackjack team play is Tommy Hyland, who is known not only as an exceptional blackjack but more so as an effective blackjack team manager – one of the most successful in the history of the game. Tommy constantly improved his game by reading and studying other players, and from this he came to the conclusion that an effective blackjack team is necessary to reach much achievement in this game.

His first team had reached much success in a short period of time, although there were several challenges and issues along the way. He never gave up though, although many of his team members left. He soon moved on to work with other players and managed them to a long-running success that was attributed to his great organization skills and loyalty to his members that eventually gained their trust – a vital ingredient for achieving success in this game.

Tommy Hyland and his team were not the only ones who achieved great success in working as a team to bring down the house. There was Ed Thorp who tested his blackjack theories with two-couple teams in Las Vegas. Another one is Ken Uston who earned millions from the casinos through his elaborate but structured network of players who worked with him for several years. Most famous among these teams are the MIT math students who brought down the house with their exceptional computer-enhanced card-counting skills that earned them more than $400,000 in a single weekend.

Working with a Blackjack Team

So how did they achieve this? How did these team managed to beat the house? Although their primary weapon in their arsenal is their card counting skills, it’s not the thing that could ensure them success in these games. Teamwork, proper coordination, proper positioning and honing each other’s skills, they should also maintain effective communication methods in order to share information on card counts as well as pool whatever resources they have to have bigger bet values.

Although there is no need for each member of the blackjack team to be exceptional in card counting techniques, every member does have a specific role to play to ensure success for the team. There is the back spotter who counts cards and signal other teammates, particularly the “gorilla” that moves from table to table. And then there’s the “big player” who eventually handles the bets at a table with more favorable card counting odds.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Blackjack Team Play

There are certain benefits as well as pitfalls when trying to work with a blackjack team. There are definite advantages that would entice other people to leave their solo play behind and work with a team. But there are disadvantages as well that would make one rethink their strategies in playing this game.

Team Play Advantages

  • Pooling your sources together will enable each player to have a bigger bankroll that they can use to afford playing in higher-staked games and bet larger amounts of money. The larger the bets, the larger revenues everyone would eventually win.
  • Instead of going solo, you now have a good team working with you, behind you, and supporting you all the way. You can all learn from each other’s strengths and weakness, allowing each member to eventually improve their own game – and have fun doing so

Team Play Disadvantages

  • Friendships could be strained or damaged should things not work out well with the team. A team member might panic in the heat of the game and do things his way apart from the team’s original gameplan.
  • There could be chance for betrayal, particularly for team members that you really don’t know that well.

The Composition of a Good Blackjack Team

The total number of players in a blackjack team is not fixed although it would only be logical to start with four members. The key thing here is to stay under the radar of the casino lookouts. Although team play and card counting is not illegal, casinos frown on this practice and will eventually blacklist any team identified of doing so.

The characteristics of a good team that will have better chances of beating the house and winning the game of blackjack are as follows:

  • Team members should be honest and trustworthy
  • Members have specific skills and playing abilities depending on the part they play
  • Each player should share the same philosophy and expectations
  • Like-minded and aiming for the same goals

Lastly, the team should have someone who is willing and able to take on the task of leadership and as manager of the team. He is the one responsible for ensuring that everyone in the team sticks to the gameplan and follow rules that everyone has agreed to. He would also be the one to make the final decisions that would be inline with the team’s objectives and goals.

Having all these elements together and properly in place, everyone would be on their way of getting financial success in this team sport called blackjack.

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Source by Martin Zimerman

News Media Interviews – 7 Tips on How to Prepare For Mainstream News and Feature Media Interviews

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Today, many business people are focused on social media, new media and on-line media. While these efforts are important and necessary for marketing, traditional media outlets are still important and can play a major role in your business success.

So, the question is, “Will you be ready when Oprah or Donny Duetsch from The Big Idea calls?”

You will be if you prepare now. Following are 7 tips for conducting successful media interviews:

  1. Define your agenda: decide what you want the audience to do. Buy your services? Attend your event? Support your cause?
  2. Know your story: to effectively assert your agenda, you must deliver your message confidently, calmly and concisely. You are the expert on your topic. Stay focused on your agenda during the interview.
  3. Develop key talking points with supporting proof points: prepare three key points you wish to make during the interview. Then support each talking point with three points that offer tangible proof including stories, case studies, and other examples.
  4. Know the interviewer and the media outlet: before agreeing to an interview, do your due diligence. Research the media outlet and the interviewer. A quick Google search will give you an idea of what to expect and how to best prepare for the interview.
  5. Prepare the interviewer: reporters are very busy and anything you can do to help them is greatly appreciated. To this end, provide background information as well as sample questions on your topic. You will often find that they will use these exact questions.
  6. Anticipate questions and controversy: Your preparation is not complete without anticipating questions and controversies that could arise in the interview. Create a list of all anticipated questions. Then answer each question. Be sure to include the ones that could be asked – remember; “if you dread it, you’ll probably get it.”
  7. Practice, practice, practice: nothing takes the place of practice. It alleviates pre-interview panic and post-interview remorse. To hone message points and to prepare for actual interview questions, even the most polished spokespeople find there is simply no substitute for practicing out loud. Better still, role play with a buddy or coach. Are your answers coming across? Are they concise? Are they believable or do they need more support?

Follow these tips and you will master mainstream media opportunities. And, who would not want to be interviewed on the Today Show?

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Source by Amelia Brazell

Fortnite "Application Could Not Start Correctly" (0xc000009a)

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The 0xc000009a error (otherwise known as the “Entry Point” error), shows because an application cannot load a required DLL.

It’s typical that DLL’s from the likes of DirectX or Graphics Packages are not available to games such as Frotnite. These systems require them, meaning that if they’re unable to locate them, they’ll stop working – typically citing the error you’re seeing.

To fix this, the simple solution is to get the DLL file on your system, and make sure it’s accessible.

Causes

To understand why the error shows, you need to appreciate the roll of DLL (Dynamic Link Library) files in Windows.

As the development of operating systems heated up in the 90’s, all parties introduced a number of methods to access “libraries” – third party software packages which allowed developers to use standardized code/functionality within their own applications.

Such libraries as Visual C++, DirectX,.NET and a variety of others became the standard on Windows – with most applications – even today – relying on them.

The secret to these files was the deployment of particular DLL files onto your PC. These files could be re-used by different applications, so long as they called the correct functions etc.

Unfortunately, if the files are missing, out dated or corrupted, errors such as the one you’re experiencing will appear…

  • The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000009a)
  • Starting BattlEye Service…
  • [INFO] Blocked loading of file…

The main issue here is that your application doesn’t have access to the DLL’s it requires, although there are other concerns:

  • DLL files not accessible
  • Antivirus may be blocking your application
  • Windows may have corrupted or damaged DLL’s
  • Other programs may have overwritten the DLL
  • Your system may have a virus

The way to resolve this is to ensure the DLL’s exist on the system, and then that they’re entirely accessible.

The steps below will guide you through this process…

Solutions

Like many issues in Windows, you need to go through a number of potential causes of problems and fix them one-by-one.

In the case of the 0xc000009a error, the following is recommended:

1. Uninstall BattlEye + Verify Fortnite

The first – and most effective – step is to remove the “BattlEye” application from your system.

BattlEye is an anti-cheat system shipped with Fortnite – it’s essential to get Fortnite working, but can sometimes cause errors:

  • Press “Windows” + “E” keys on your keyboard
  • Browse to “C:/Program Files/Epic Games/Fortnite/FortniteGame/Binaries/BattlEye”
  • Click on “Uninstall_BattlEye.bat”
  • Let the CMD file run
  • Exit and load the Epic Games Launcher
  • Under the “Fortnite” tab, click on the “cog” icon next to the “Launch” button
  • Select “Verify”
  • Let the process run

After this completes, it’s worth restarting your system.

If it does not resolve the problem, it means that there is a problem with one of the third-party libraries on your system.

2. Reinstall VC++

The next step is to reinstall VC++.

As mentioned, Visual C++ was Microsoft’s way of standardizing a number of core features for software, and has become a staple of the Windows ecosystem.

To ensure this is not the problem (which is highly likely), you need to re-install any Visual C++ packages on your system:

  • In Windows 7, click on “Start”, followed by “Control Panel” and then “Programs and Features”
  • In Windows, right-click on the “Start” button, select “Apps and Features”
  • From the list, scroll all the way down to “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable”
  • There will probably be a large list of many different packages
  • Make a list of each year + architecture (x64/x86) on a piece of note paper
  • Uninstall each
  • Now, browse to your favourite search engine
  • Search for “Visual C++ redistributable download”
  • Click the first link (should be Microsoft)
  • For each of the packages you had previously, download new ones from this site
  • After doing this, install each of them
  • Restart your PC
  • Try your game again

Whilst this is actually quite likely to work, it may not be the solution for some…

3. Update DirectX / Graphics Drivers

Next you need to see about updating DirectX and (perhaps) your graphics driver.

DirectX is the graphics library that Windows uses to process 3D imagery. Almost every game on the platform uses it.

Whilst you cannot “re-install” the DirectX engine, you *can* repair it and ensure your graphics driver is working properly…

  • Search online for “DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer”
  • Click onto the first Microsoft link that shows
  • Click onto the orange “Download” button
  • Follow the steps & save the file to your PC
  • Open the file and let it run
  • Let it repair the current DirectX installation
  • Restart your PC

After doing this, you may wish to re-install your Graphics driver:

  • Go online and search for “DDU” (Display Driver Uninstaller)
  • Download the file you can find from Guru3D
  • Restart your PC into “safe mode” (instructions below)
  • Once in Safe Mode, run DDU and let it remove your GFX driver
  • Restart your PC into “normal” mode
  • Let Windows download the latest driver for your graphics card

To access Safe Mode, it depends on which version of Windows you are using (Windows 10 made it difficult to access for some reason):

  • In Windows 7, restart your PC as you would normally
  • Press F8 continually before Windows begins to load
  • Select “Safe Mode” with the appropriate number on your keyboard
  • In Windows 10, click on “Start” button
  • Select the “Power” button (left charms menu)
  • Holding SHIFT, press the “restart” button
  • This will bring up the blue “Windows Recovery Environment” screen
  • Click on “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” > “Startup Settings” > “Restart”

4. Manually Download File

This will only work if you have a direct notion of which file is missing / inaccessible.

If you don’t have this, you’ll be best looking at something called “Dependency Walker” – a free application which allows you to determine which files are required by different pieces of software…

  • Click onto your search engine of choice
  • Look for “DependencyWalker”
  • Click the first link and download the application
  • Run it
  • From the top menu, select the “open” (folder) icon
  • Browse to the executable file that’s causing problems and select it
  • The system should highlight which files are require in the left menu
  • If any of these files appears “red”, you will need to ensure it can be accessed
  • Some applications will bundle the DLL files
  • If you look online for the DLL file name, you’ll quickly find out which package it belongs to
  • If you can find the package, see if you can install it (you may just need to get the new version)
  • If cannot see a package, you’ll need to download a fresh copy of the DLL file itself

Once you download a new version of the DLL file, you basically need to put it into the C:/Windows/System32 folder.

After doing this, you should try the application to see if it will work now.

If not, it generally suggests a deeper issue within the OS.

5. Update Windows

This probably won’t do much – but might give the system some way to fix itself:

  • Windows 7
  • Click onto “Start” > “Control Panel” > “System & Security” > “Windows Update”
  • Click “Check for Updates”
  • Windows 10
  • Press “Windows” + “I” keys on your keyboard
  • Select “Update and Security”
  • Click “Check for Updates”

Once the update process finishes, restart your PC and see if the error is resolved.

If you’re still experiencing the error after doing the above, it suggests you have a more acute problem with Windows.

Unfortunately, one of the restrictions of Internet articles is that I cannot see exactly what your system is doing, and hence am unable to provide any sort of specific advice. If you are still at a loss, I would strongly recommend going to one of the large question/answer communities (Reddit/Super User/Microsoft Answers) to gain a more specific set of responses.

If you need even further help, you’ll want to talk to someone with hands-on access to your system – which typically means getting a local repair guy to look at it, or perhaps someone on Fiverr.

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Source by Richard Peck

Things Senior Citizens Do to Enjoy Life

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What do you think most senior citizens do for fun? Well, that can be a long list with so many, but I’m sure it would be a fun one. Considering most seniors citizens grew up in an era that didn’t need technology or a lot of people to have fun. I want to look at some of the ways of those who came before us and even reflect with those who are senior citizens. I like to call them the young at heart.

One thing that remains the same is the health of most baby boomers. I have always wondered what their secret was to a healthy and enjoyable life and talking to a few seniors I’ve uncovered some of those things.

One of the things most seniors say keeps them going is Music. Music in the years was filled with several dance steps that most still enjoy to date. I can remember watching aunts and uncles at weddings, birthday celebrations and when the music comes on they are up and on the dance floor “cutting a rug” as they call it. The music and dancing was a mere means to get the exercise that they needed while having fun.

Some seniors even enjoy the everyday nature aspect of life. Fishing, hiking and gardening are a few of the top things that most enjoy. You see them even every movie or television show that comes on. Someone in the park taking a stroll and some young person bumps into them. I’m sure you have seen the water scenes and you notice two older men in the background on a small boat with fishing rods hoping for a catch. To date more and more older women enjoy just going outside and getting down and dirty gardening. There’s nothing like peace of mind when it comes to living a stress free life.

I can’t recall seeing people in my generation being able to just enjoy the simple things as fishing, hiking or even gardening. Those things are to old school for my generation.

More and more seniors are starting to get into journaling. I remember clips showing people writing letters in older films showing how everyone use to communicate with each other and wait for the letter to come in the mail. I didn’t realize that it helped penmanship and helped stimulate the thoughts in our heads to express what we felt. In this age we email and text. There’s no communication outside of that.

There are also some senior citizens who enjoy technology and learning how to use different forms of it. The sentiments during the technology boom for most seniors were they didn’t understand any of it, however, over time that all change with a new appreciation for it.

One of the last things I’ve seen in most of the elderly is there love of outdoor games and sports. I’ve seen more seniors with playing “Hopscotch and Kick Ball,” in the past few months than I have since I were a kid in the 1980’s. I guess it’s another great way for them to enjoy the fresh outdoors and keep their heart rate pumping.

Maybe, everyone can take an example from there book when it comes to enjoying life and making every moment count.

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Source by Julia McCartney

Astrological Choices – Equal and Unequal House Systems

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I don’t know if you can tell it or not, but I’m on a mission in this series of articles to provide basic explanations for the rudimentary principles of astrology. This is my fourth Astrological Choices article having already presented tropical or sidereal system, heliocentric or geocentric perspective, and types of charting available. For this article we will look at the tropical system of both equal and unequal houses. I am not a sidereal astrologer so please rely on someone who is skilled in the sidereal system for an explanation of sidereal house layouts.

The outside of a typical astrology wheel shows the positions of the zodiac for a single date at a specific moment in time, at a specific longitude or latitude. If any of those four elements, date, time, place by longitude and latitude are changed in any way, the zodiac positions around the wheel itself will change. No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time so an exact duplication of charts is not possible unless a team of doctors do something amazing and that would present a conundrum to astrologers everywhere. The universe emphasizes individuality and this specificity of birth based on the four elements given allows for the individuality offered by the universe to be mapped. Within our solar system it takes just under 26,000 years for a pattern to apparently repeat itself exactly. By that time we will have moved so far along in the galactic spin that no real duplication is remotely possible. Individuality is the norm; only mankind works hard to develop conformity out of individuality.

There are two general types of tropical house systems, equal and unequal. The equal house system divides the 360-degree circle into 12 equal compartments of 30 degrees each. I don’t know your experience of life but mine is that life certainly is not equal, just look around you at the variety of possibilities and the rampant inequality. While I can see value in any house system (they could all serve a specific yet perhaps unknown purpose), I do not practice the equal house method. One of the best personal readings I ever received was from an overlay of equal and Placidus, I do not discount the value of the equal system, but it is my choice to read the unequal.

It is important that you understand the difference between the Midheaven (Medium Coeli – MC) and Zenith as well as the Immum Coeli (IC) and Nadir, which are different in measure and application but are often confused with one another, In order to do this we will assume an accurate Ascendant, let’s just say 29 Gemini. If I look straight overhead to 29 Pisces, that is Zenith. If I look straight down at my feet at 29 Virgo that is Nadir, each an exact 90 degrees from the Ascendant. The opposition to the Ascendant is the Descendant in all house systems, in this instance 29 Sagittarius. All the houses would read 29 degrees starting with the Ascendant proceeding counterclockwise around the wheel in zodiac sequence. This is an equal house chart. You may choose to “float” the traditional Midheaven if known to you in the house it naturally falls or you may choose to ignore it. Personally, I can’t imagine life without a Midheaven!

The Earth revolves on its axis while it orbits the Sun, a dual motion that is in play every moment of every day. This orbital path is called the ecliptic (path on which eclipses occur) and it travels through the middle of the 12 zodiac constellations we use astronomically and astrologically. The rotation of the Earth on its axis is not in a 90-degree relationship with its orbit, instead Earth is tilted approximately 23 ½ degrees to the path of its orbit. This tilted rotation causes the Earth to spin in and out of that exact 90-degree relationship with the center of the zodiac, distorting the way the zodiac is experienced here on Earth. The reality of the situation is the natural distortion that reflects itself in the unequal distribution of space for houses. The Midheaven may or not be at a 90-degree angle to the Ascendant. My own is almost a trine (120 degrees).

In tropical tradition the IC is the exact opposition to the MC including sign, degree and minute. The Midheaven represents the highest point to which a planet can rise before it starts to descend toward the western horizon, termed setting. The IC represents the lowest point to which a planet can fall before it starts to ascend toward the eastern horizon or rising. This distortion produces an unusual and unique distribution of zodiac degrees around the wheel of the chart that reflects in the unequal house systems. Technically next would come the division of that distortion by either space or time but that will have to wait for another article as it requires more space than I have available. This article is only intended to help you understand equal and unequal houses.

Date, time, and place are the three essential ingredients to a unique birth map. Date is easy, place is given by longitude and latitude; time is defined by the time standard in play at the moment and place of birth. The Ascendant is set for the moment of birth intersecting a specific point of the zodiac on the rising (left) side of the wheel, the rising sign. That point may be empty or occupied by a planet. Empty of a body has no particular meaning that I can determine; it essentially allows that point of the zodiac to operate as the “ruling” or dominant energy in that person’s life. When I mention the degree of the zodiac as dominant, it is the “ruling” planet of that zodiac degree that assumes dominance. If there is a physical planetary body present at that degree, the zodiac degree ruler and the planet in question “co-rule” or are dominant energies in that person’s life. Is there more than one planet at that rising zodiac degree? Now the chart gets really interesting as the dominant qualities more or less vie for top dog position.

In my own wheel, the first house contains only 19 degrees, the second house only 20 degrees, the 3rd house only 24 degrees, or about 63 degrees for that first quadrant. That is accurate. The closer you are to the equator, the more equal the houses are. The farther you move off the equator north or south, the less equal the houses are. This variation is what causes interceptions in houses. Close to the equator there are few if any possibilities of interception. As you move north or south from the equator for a birth location the distortion of the houses increase and the probability of interception also increases. As you move into the latitudes of say northern Europe, the British Isles, the northern part of EurAsia, etc. multiple interceptions are possible. The same is true of the southern hemisphere although the population density decreases as you approach Antarctica.

The closer you get to the more heavily populated north polar countries, the Midheaven and the Ascendant can be on top of each other. This is cause for equal house proponents to show the inadequacy of unequal houses. To the contrary I believe this proves the validity of the unequal house system. As we travel northward (or southward) toward the polar regions life gets more difficult and hostile in nature. Since the Ascendant represents our physical self and the Midheaven represents our goals in life, I believe to have them close to conjunct would translate to personal survival as the goal of existence. That close proximity of the Ascendant and Midheaven would squash the 11th and 12th houses into that physical survival mode.

Since all intercepted houses are a pairing by axis the same situation would be true as the IC cozied up to the Descendant with the 5th and 6th houses squashed into that tight grouping. It is not my intention in this article to define intercepted houses, but it is important to your understanding of equal and unequal houses that interceptions occur naturally but only in unequal charts.

Equal houses are easier to construct. Unequal houses take math skills or a good computer program. Equal houses are more generic in quality but quite effective if you are doing quick min-readings such as a fund-raiser, a psychic fair, radio or television work. The pairing of equal with unequal as mentioned previously was an extraordinary reading for me. Each astrologer chooses what works best individually but that is not a judgment on a system, it is a personal preference. Each has value, each has a place in your skill set, but you will choose one as primary.

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Source by Marilyn Muir