| Learn secrets about direct mail
FISHERSVILLE Learn five direct mail secrets and mistakes at a seminar conducted by the Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce. Marketing coach Nate Hagerty of Virginia Business Success will show ways to get direct mail opened and read, what not to do when communicating with clients and the real numbers to think about when advertising. .
Guitar Hero II can be riff riot
In publishing the Guitar Hero series, Activision has legitimized faux jamming and made it about a hojillion times more fun than strumming air. The series has finally made its way to the powerful Xbox 360 with a slew of new songs, a fancy-schmancy new X-Plorer guitar controller and the promise of much more downloadable content to come via the online Xbox Live service. I've heard these phrases muttered recently in reference to Guitar Hero II (muttered by folks who didn't get past Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" on Easy mode, by the way): "Why not get a real guitar and learn to play for real?" "Every skill can be trivialized." But I submit that mastering GHII can improve your guitar skills. In fact, learning some of the more complex riffs possible on a real guitar might actually be easier than flowing through the rapid successions of notes thrown at you in GHII's Expert mode.
Ted Porter Elementary School has a magical night of family literacy
In classroom B-106, first grade teacher Beatriz Hernandez stressed "Read, speak, write," while in B-105, Nichole Micciche and her three children, read together and learned magic tricks together.Hernandez and Micciche were among the many participants in Ted Porter Elementary School's "Family Literacy Night" on April 12.The school's classrooms, library and cafeteria buzzed with activities designed to bring children and their parents together to stress the importance of reading together at home."Not only reading together, but sharing and reflecting on what they read and what they learn," said Hernandez. "Read, speak, write; it's important to make that connection."To help make the connection, Hernandez handed out story sacks to parents filled with a journal, art supplies and a book for parents and children to share in activities at home.In room B-105, first grade teacher Donna Cash and her husband Paul Cash, a professional magician, held an audience of students and adults in rapt attention as he taught magic tricks with playing cards, paper clips and spoons.
Life hard for young inmates
Dozens of child convicts serving time at the juvenile correctional center in Purworejo, Central Java, are living in substandard conditions, with half of them forced to sleep on the cold floor. Their sorry state caught the attention of East Java Legislative Council member Anik Amikawati, who discovered that half of the center's 84 child convicts, aged between 10 and 17, slept only on thin mats. "Their condition is a cause for concern. They are children who have to face a hard life in jail. They should receive better treatment since we hope they will return to normal life with their families once they finish their jail terms," the member of the council's commission on welfare issues said in Semarang, Central Java. She said the Purworejo penitentiary was a "scary" place for children.
Walkers honour Kokoda heroes
IT was nowhere near as gruelling, frightening or intense as the real thing, but walkers at yesterday's Rotary Kokoda Memorial Walk will never forget the men who fought the Japanese on the Kokoda Track. Dozens of veterans and supporters completed the 27km journey from Canungra to Carrara where they were joined by families for the final leg to Broadbeach. They all wanted to honour the brave men who served in Papua New Guinea during World War II and in particular, those who fought in the battle to stop the Japanese. Dianne McGrath, from Ashmore, wanted to make Australia's wartime history personal for her children by involving them in activities like the walk. She will also take Seth, 6, and Darcy, 5, to an Anzac Day service. "I understand how important it is and I want my children to learn about Australia and the things this country has been through," she said.
What it takes to be a top woman
With men continuing to clinch the majority of top jobs, what can women do to redress the balance? Ruth Addicott tracked down three high-flying business women in Sussex to find out how to get ahead of the game. Despite decades of fighting for the same rights as men, women are still losing out on the top jobs. According to the Equal Oppor-tunities Commission (EOC), there are nearly 6,000 women "missing" from more than 33,000 top jobs in Britain. Women represent just ten per cent of directors at FTSE 100 companies and unless something is done, it could take 60 years to secure an equal split of company directors. So what does it take to reach the top? Gina Citroni, 48, is the tough-talking, charismatic commercial director of electronics engineering company Amplicon in Brighton.
Fit: Learn Latin Love
YOU'VE BREAK-DANCED, popped and locked, b-boyed and gotten krunk. But you probably haven't yet experienced the newest twist on hip-hop, a fusion incorporating Latin, the other hot dance trend around. » WHAT IT IS: Instructor Juli Calderon knows her traditional hip-hop. She's opened shows for Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott and toured internationally with Mya. "But I love my Latin roots," says the dancer, who moved here from Colombia as a child. Her choreography blends her heritage into her moves, and she started her class at Joy of Motion to show others how to do it. Although the music she plays comes from way down south (reggaeton, Latin pop, etc.), this isn't actually how Latin Americans dance to hip-hop, she says. Her style is still heavy in North American attitude, which her fellow countrymen don't quite get.
Lots of venom but no hate
On Aug. 14, 2003, Erec Toso met up with a rattlesnake in his front yard as he walked back from an evening swim with his sons, Kyle and Sean. The encounter was not the one desert dwellers come to expect: a startled jump to the side and a pounding heart that calms after the strangers go their separate ways. No, this warm summer night was different. There was a bite, a venom-filled, serious bite. The moment would change his life. Now, 31/2 years later, Toso recounts the experience in the book "Zero at the Bone." .
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