Writers aged over thirteen from all countries are encouraged to enter East India Press Short Story Writing Contest. You should submit your story by March 1, 2012. There is no entry fee, and they accept fiction in any genre. The contest is sponsored by East India Press, specializing in the publishing of books in multiple formats. New York Times bestselling author, David Farland, with over fifty published novels, will be the judge. For more information, please visit www.nightingalenovel.com.

Bibiana was the only daughter of Baron Von Landshort. When she was born, all the neighbors assured her father that she was the most beautiful girl in Germany. She had, moreover, been brought up with great care by her aunt, Katrin. She was skilled in all areas of knowledge necessary to the education of a fine lady. Under her care, Bibiana grew in her abilities. By the time she was eighteen, she was excellent in making little ladylike things of all kinds. She also played a number of melodies on the harp and knew many ballads by heart.

Jancsi was up bright and early that morning. He didn't sleep well last night, as Cousin Kate was coming today. She was the only cousin he had, and she was a city girl. A real city girl from Budapest. Ever since the letter came from his uncle, he was walking around with his head up on the big Hungarian plain. He was the only boy in the neighborhood who had a cousin in the city, and she was coming today to stay for a long time. He decided to tell everybody about her at school.

Touring caravans are mobile homes which are connected to the back of your family car and towed to where you want to go. These caravans, which can have two to six beds, can be moved and many families enjoy traveling from place to place on holidays. Many families can go anywhere they want if there is a camp site or caravan park open. Touring caravan parks have basic services such as shower blocks, toilet blocks, and perhaps a small shop. It is up to the family to make sure they have food, water, electricity, gas, and whatever else is needed during their stay.

Skateboarding is one of the best ways to replace snowboarding when there is no snow. They are almost the same in that the actions include riding and performing tricks using a board. However, the difference is that in skateboarding, the asphalt tends to hurt much more than snow when you fall on the ground. Be sure to wear protective equipment such as a helmet, wrist guards, and elbow pads even if your friends point and laugh. Skate parks provide the safe environment without cars to keep your board skills improved. Also, a long downward road without cross streets could be the perfect area where you practice basic skills.

It is said that you never forget your first love. But you should, because memories of it can destroy your relationships for life. Sociologists found that the happiness of young love can become an unreal standard by which all future romances are judged. According to a report, the best way to make sure long-term happiness in a relationship is not to stick to your first love. People with a more practical view of relationships tend to have more successful long-term ones. Because they don't try to recreate the strong passion they once shared with a past lover.

It often feels reasonable to give a range. With a customer, that may mean saying I can do this for between $10,000 and $15,000. With a new employee, you could be tempted to say, You can start between April 1 and April 15. But that word between tends to suggest that you will take a step back, and any clever negotiator will quickly focus on the cheaper price or the later deadline. In other words, you will find that, by saying the word between, you will get disadvantaged without getting anything in return.

Pick up a water bottle, remove the label, and fill it with any water that's not too cloudy from a river or rainwater. Place the bottle on a building's metal roof in full sunlight. In six hours the sun will kill viruses and bacteria in the water, making it safe to drink. This method is now being used all over the world to provide drinking water for some four million people. It's simple, free, effective, says a principal in Tanzania. In 2006, her school started using the method to clean its dirty tap water. The result? The rate of diseases by water, such as diarrhea, dropped greatly.

Every day, I type passwords into programs and computers many times. I keep checking emails over and over. And one day, I realized that what I used for my password became a part of me, due to repetition. My password was tennis, and although I did not always think about tennis on purpose, I found that it was my favorite activity. It was what I put a lot of time and effort in, and it was what I did most outside of work. I later changed my passwords to a goal I've been working on. They became regular reminders of my dreams.

No matter where you work or what you do, becoming an expert in recognizing patterns of behavior can help you reduce the stress in your life by removing unnecessary problems with others. If you take a careful look at the people you work with, you will probably agree that most people are likely to show repeated reactions. In other words, we tend to be bothered by the same things, be annoyed by the same situations, and argue over the same sets of facts. Indeed, for most of us, our reactions to life, particularly stress, are fairly easy to guess.

There's a reason a dog is a man's best friend. Your puppy is always happy to see you. He doesn't care if you failed a math test ― he jumps all over you and treats you like the best thing. So what's going on here? Your dog never sat through a psychology lecture, but he automatically knows the way to your heart: to make you feel important and loved. Now imagine how well people would respond to you if you showed them that kind of attention. It's the number one way to strengthen relationships. When you show people your true interest in them, the results will show easily.

In their efforts to control infection, hospitals are turning to disposable medical equipment and products. Using these medical products controls infection and disease properly. Besides, it ensures safety to staff and patients. Today, infections in hospitals create serious problems for the healthcare industry. A study shows that in the US the average number of hospital-related infections each year is as high as 1.7 million, which results in about 100,000 deaths! This is simply a shocking number. Thus, it is very important for medical centers to fight this growing health-security issue. Using disposable medical items is the best solution in hand.

I had just finished writing a TV script and was rushing to print it when my computer froze up. No cursor. No script. No nothing. In a panic, I called my friend Neil, a computer consultant. It turned out that I had a bad spyware, and that's what was causing my computer's breakdown. He asked if my machine was slow, and if a new toolbar had suddenly appeared ― signs of spyware. I'm not exactly sure how I got it, but Neil removed it. We take our cars to the mechanic for regular checkups. Why do we expect our computers to run normally without the same care?

My brother, the mountain climber, once took me and a friend up the 13,776-foot Grand Teton. It was terrifying! As we climbed, the mountain went straight up. At that point, we tied ourselves together with ropes to save our lives if one of us fell. That rope kept me from taking thousand-foot falls to my death two times. By helping each other and trusting in the ropes, we finally reached the top safely. You will do a lot more in life if you rope up and borrow strength from others. The more ropes you have, the better your chances are for success.

My wife and I were running an ice-cream shop. Staying open so late at night wasn't such a big deal because we made good money. After a while it didn't work. Closing at 1:00 am and then coming back to open the store again at 11:00 am was physically painful. Those extra few dollars earned at midnight just weren't worth it when we looked at what it did to us. So we closed our doors at 9:00 pm. By forcing ourselves to close on time, our customers showed up before our closing. We spent more time with our kids and got good rest. We were also better prepared to go to work the next day.

What I learned from a man who runs a non-profit organization is Free advice, free upgrade, and free entry. None are valued. Free advice is seldom wanted. A free upgrade is something you are going to get anyway. Free entry? The band playing tonight must not be any good. People link the value of a service with the amount of money that is exchanged for it. Most people accept that lawyers can charge them $400 an hour. They naturally guess that if it costs an arm and a leg, then it must be worth it.

The above chart shows the percentage of global energy which was consumed in 2008. Of all energy sources, the percentage of fossil fuels is the largest, which is about four times as high as that of renewables. The renewables including traditional biomass, hydropower, biofuels, etc. make up 19 percent of global energy consumption. Of this 19 percent, traditional biomass is a bigger global energy source than hydropower. The rate of biofuels is 0.6 percent, which is less than that of nuclear energy. The rate of hydropower reaches 3.2 percent, which is higher than that of biofuels.

Cesaria Evora was born in 1941, grew up in a poor family, and was raised in an orphanage after her father died. She began performing as a teenager at sailors' restaurants and on the ships at the harbor in Mindelo. She gave up music in the 1970s because she was unable to make a living. But in 1985, she came back on the stage, and won the Grammy Award in 2003. She was known as the Barefoot Diva because she always performed without shoes. Cesaria Evora, who brought the music of the tiny Cape Verde islands to a worldwide audience, died in her native country at the age of 70.

If you are looking to improve muscles, it can be very tempting to really push your body beyond its limits. Many people seem to agree that exercise should be painful. But the truth of the matter is that this is a very dangerous idea. Fatigue and pain are your body's ways of saying that it is in danger and is being overworked. While a good workout should offer pressure and challenges, it should absolutely never be painful. Likewise, you should never be pushing your body every day.

My mother and I are walking to Fanelli's market. A neighbor calls to my mother. As they talk, I wander to the backyard of the neighbor's. Suddenly, a German shepherd jumps at me. Awowwow! It is tied with a chain. I am screaming. My mother runs to me and asks, What is it? I say, It's a dog! She asks, A dog? Around there? I nod, crying. She marches me around the house. The dog yells again. Awowwowow! I jump back. But my mother pulls me forward and she barks back at the dog. She makes the best barking sound I have ever heard a human make. The dog cries and runs away. My mother turns and says, You have to show them who's boss!

Donna had been feeling very depressed. She had just broken up with her boyfriend. She had even been in the hospital with a knee injury for several days, and the time alone certainly was not helping. Her misery made her disappointment at herself worse. She could not stop crying all the time. Early one morning, Donna received a phone call with some terrible news: the younger brother of her best friend, Mary, had been killed in a car accident. Donna had known them her entire life, and she was extremely sad. However, Donna quickly pulled herself together, got in the car, and drove to her friend's house to be there with her. Over the course of the funeral, Donna was 100 percent present for Mary. She held her close while Mary cried endless tears. And she slept next to her to make sure she did not wake up alone in the middle of the night. At that time, she hardly felt any pain in her knee and none of the depression she had been experiencing. Several weeks later, her life began to return to normal. Donna came to realize that her great support for Mary made her forget her own pain and sadness in her dark time. She learned the lesson that when she supported others, she was also, in fact, supporting herself.