Another Diversification of Laughter

Laughter also can be divided into following groups:

Basic Laughter

Normally they are performed every day and all the other laughter’s are based on this i.e. mixing up of one or two laughter to create another one. 

Warm up Laughter

HO HO HA HAA HA – Chant in the beginning with claps to assemble all who are walking or enjoying some other activity on and around venue.

HO HO HA HO HO – Anchor person say 1, 2 and 3 looking at three different direction giving starts, so all members on oneness throws their hands in front at shoulder height and chants HO HO repeatedly looking at members standing opposite to them.

HA HA HA HAAA HI HI HI HA – All laughter members are need to throw their hands twice up chanting HAA HAA and bring their hands down chanting twice HI HI , this are done repeatedly and then increase the speed of chanting with hands movement gradually and then at the end every one break down with family laughter and looking at each other banging hands with each other.

Spontaneous Laughter

In this mouth will be wide open raising both the hands with maximum sound, all the members look at each other to have eye contacts and bang hands with each other so as to have close look for person so that will act as stimulant to increase the length of the laughter to around 30 seconds or more according to practice. We will feel something is jogging inside and biochemical reaction taking place producing positive hormones.

Jokers Laughter

It is the same as Spontaneous laughter only difference is no sound only facial expression indicating happiness on the face. When we perform this we will have effect of producing positive hormones. 

Etiquette Laughter

In this we have not to show teeth and to make humming bees’ sound or pigeon sound, rest of the things remain same as spontaneous and jokers laughter’s. We can have variation by blowing our chicks. When we perform this again we will have effect of producing positive hormones.

Baby Crying Laughter

A partly nervous kind of laughter that we have all been guilty of at some time in our lives when we have said the wrong thing. Laughter like this is a distressing display to watch because it mimics a baby crying rather than an adult laughing. The mouth is pulled down at the edges in an expression of sadness and the laugh emerges in staccato gulps of the type a baby makes when it needs feeding. The unhappy-sounding giggling keeps on coming out of the mouth in a bid to drown out the mistake.

Suppressed Exploding Laughter

Suppressed exploding laughter occurs when someone tries to smother their laughter, creating a pressure cooker effect – leaking out small, seemingly helpless explosions. This kind of laughter is prompted by guilt that produces feelings of naughtiness, which in turn intensifies the laughter need.

Types of Laughter: from Belly to Cruel

Laughter is a social structure, something that connects humans with one another in a profound way. People usually are 30 percent more likely to laugh in a social setting that warrants it than when alone with humor-inducing media. That means that you're more likely to laugh with friends while watching a comedy together than when you're watching the same show or movie by yourself.

There are many ways to laugh, from giggles to guffaws and from chuckles to cackles. Humans laugh for many reasons, some of them odd. About 90 percent of our laughter is related to jokes or humor.

There are some of the different types and reasons for all the laughter.

Belly Laughter

Belly laughter is considered the most honest type of laughter. It may also be the hardest type to experience, because we have to find something truly hilarious before we'll let go with the kind of laughter that has us clutching our bellies and gasping for air. Of course, that's not the only description for true belly laughter; as you might guess, we all laugh differently. Researchers found that men are more likely to grunt or snort at something they find funny, while women let loose with giggles and chuckles. 

It's good to take note of what tickles your funny bone, however, because it just might save your life. The laughter can be used to fight near incurable illness. Ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and can give at least two hours of pain-free sleep. 

Etiquette Laughter

At the end of a long day, you and your colleague together in the elevator. Instead of talking up your latest accomplishments, though, you find yourself laughing at everything you are talking about. You sounded like a fool and you did just fine. People rely on laughter to get along with others, so whether we're with our colleagues or friends, we tend to laugh at things that just aren't funny.

In a study of laughter episodes, is found that people tend to laugh at perfectly bland statements like "Can I join you?" or "See you later". Laughter could have developed in our ancestors before full speech, so the sound is merely a way to communicate and show agreement.

We tend to laugh with anyone who can help us out, which is why a group of undergraduate students may guffaw at a professor's bad joke, while a job applicant's attempts at humor may fall flat with those who are already gainfully employed.

Contagious Laughter

You're out for dinner with a group of friends. Someone tells a joke and gets one person laughing, which gets a second person laughing, and so on. Catching laughter is like catching a cold. It's very likely. In research experiment is found that nearly half of his 128 undergraduate students giggled on first response to a simulated laugh. And they did this despite knowing the source to be an artificial laugh-simulator. 

Contagious laughter raises the possibility that humans have laugh detectors. In other words, people are made to respond with laughter on hearing laughter itself, much like the mystery of spreading a yawn. Contagious laughter isn't necessarily a laughing matter. Laughter among the group can spread to the much wider community. And it suspected to be a case of mass hysteria.

Nervous Laughter

There are times when we need to project dignity and control, like during presentations to the CEO or during a funeral. Unfortunately, these are the times when uncontrollable nervous laughter is likely to strike. 

During times of anxiety, we often laugh in a subconscious attempt to reduce stress and calm down. However, nervous laughter usually just heightens the awkwardness of the situation.

Nervous laughter is often considered fake laughter. Researchers advised women to stop this kind of laughter immediately. Researches recommended spanking young girls who were developing such a bad habit, told women that once they broke themselves of nervous laughter, they would wonder how people even stood their company before.

Silent Laughter

Those of us who work in cubicles may think that silent laughter is a skill we've perfected. Mindfully practicing silent laughter, though, can have real benefits because it involves the same type of deep breathing that comes with belly laughter.

Teaching sick kids the art of silent laughter enabled them to go back to sleep after waking up from a bad dream. The children got the calming benefits of the rhythmic exhalations without waking up any roommates.

This type of laughter is also practiced in laughter yoga and laughter therapy, where it's often called joker's laughter. To try it on your own, freeze your face into a smile, and then let your belly do the work of pushing air in and out as if you were laughing out loud.

Stress-relieving Laughter

Laughter is a skill we've perfected. Let's face it, life can be tough sometimes. The end of a workday doesn't mean everything's peachy keen. Muscles are still tight. It's a sign you're still carrying the stress of the day. Stress is one of the most important reasons to find something humorous. Laughter is a sure cure for stress. Stress builds tension in the human body, and that tension has to go somewhere. Usually it's the muscles. So what to do? Yes, you could get a massage, but have you ever considered a good laugh? Stress-relieving laughter can encompass many forms, but it's usually found in an outburst, much like belly laughing.

Pigeon Laughter

Say you're out for a walk with a friend when something falls from the sky: pigeon droppings. You're splattered, but your friend is untouched. This event is anything but funny to you, yet your friend can't stop laughing. This is not pigeon laughter. Pigeon laughter, which is often practiced in laughter therapy or laughter yoga, involves laughing without opening your mouth. By keeping your lips sealed, the laughter produces a humming sound, much like the noises a pigeon makes. It's also been compared to the humming of bees, so if you're still angry at those darn pigeons for dropping poop on you, feel free to call it bees' laughter.

Snorting Laughter

When you aren't actively trying to practice the art of silent laughter, odds are some kind of sound will occur when something strikes your funny bone. Most laughter is, after all, a string of vocal ha-has or ho-hos. But what if you're one of the roughly 25 percent of women or 33 percent of men who laugh through the nose? Then you'd be a snorter. 

We all knew the kid in elementary school, the one who blew milk out his nose when the class clown cracked jokes in the cafeteria. You can guess his kind of laughter.

If this is your kind of laughter, you're either blowing air out or sucking it in through the nose when you laugh. There's nothing wrong with this - but you may want to drink in sips for those times when your friends try to catch you off guard with a new joke.

Canned Laughter

Canned laughter is another term for what's commonly referred to as the "laugh track." Canned laughter is real laughter - it just happens to be laughter taken completely out of one context and placed in another. 

Because of laughter's social connection, television producers understand that placing canned laughter over the soundtrack to programming increases the chance of an audience finding humor in the material - or at least laughing in response to it. Of course, the laughter has to "sound" genuine to the audience; humans can quickly tell the difference between genuine and fake laughter.

Cruel Laughter

You've probably heard some motherly person say, "It isn't polite to laugh at others' expense." That probably hasn't always stopped you, either. Let's face it: Whether you were a bully in school or the kid getting picked on, you've found yourself breaking this rule at some point. We may think of cruel laughter as insensitive and out of touch today, but it's been around for a long time.

Add to that derisive laughter's place in ancient texts. Cruel laughter isn't just a thing of the ancient past. In cultures like the Inuit of Greenland, contests of derision and ridicule were their only judicial procedure, even for serious cases.

I Love My Family - International Day of Families

I love my family. Today is special.

Today is the International Day of Families, May 15. It is celebrated at the United Nations headquarters and around the world. The family is a microcosm of the global community and the most intimate social unit, the school of love. Let us strive to strengthen these small but critical units found in every society so that we may advance as one human family toward greater progress.

Use of Water

After breathing, the most important thing we need to do is to drink water.
Water has many crucial duties in our body. The most important are:
-We need water to detoxify our cells from accumulated waste. Without this function, our cells will slow down and stop producing energy. Water is the garbage collector, going through cells to exchange waste for minerals.
-We need water, as electrolyte, to receive and deliver chemical messages in our body.
-We need water to thin our blood and lymphatic fluid and lubricate our eyes.
-We need water to flush out waste from our Digestive system and help the Kidneys to filter and detoxify our blood.
-Without water we would not have saliva, blood, lymphatic fluid, mucosal membrane and our joints would dry out.
-Without water we could not sweat and clean our detoxifying organs.
Without adequate quality and quantity of water, we will slow down, get sick and age early.
You may know that filtering drinking water is a smart thing to do, but do you know that the more you filter your water you will take out not only the “bad things” but all the active ingredients as well. Filtered water, without re-added minerals is “dead” or empty water! Empty water cannot communicate with your body and ends up over diluting your extracellular fluid, causing fluid retention and metabolic slowdown.
There is much confusing and false information about drinking water. Here are some that are not only confusing, but nor right:
Drink as much you can, as soon as you get up, is false.
You should drink not more than a glass of water upon arising otherwise you will dilute your digestive acid and wash most of it down to your small intestine, causing inflammation and reduce the effectiveness of alkaline pancreatic enzymes to break down carbohydrates. Furthermore, by emptying the stomach of gastric juices you will incapacitate the stomach to break down protein, the most desired food for Breakfast. Doing so, you will set yourself up for the development of digestive disorders and will end up with less energy.
Do not drink when you eat, is half true.
One should not drink a large amount of any liquid when you eat, but should sip on up to 150 ml of room temperature water, tea, etc. to help lubricate dry food and increase the quantity of gastric juices. If you eat other than soup or some liquid based food, than you will be better off sipping on some water or other liquid.
Sip at least 2 L of water, every day, is not true.
It depends on the size of your body, your metabolic speed, kidney function, activities and microenvironment as to how much you should drink per day. The best practice is to drink gulp a glass of water every 2 hours to systematically help your kidneys to filter your blood. Only when you are doing moderate to heavy exercise, should you sip water – to help your muscles, introduce sweat and lubricate your body.
Swimming in the ocean and or having regular baths is a blessing for a body, giving it the chance to self-regulate it’s fluids. Having regular foot-spas when you can’t swim or bathe is the next best thing to do, especially when you indulge yourself with few tablesp

oons of Magnesium-oil or chloride crystals.
Most people’s bodies are acidic, so drinking alkaline water and bathing with magnesium could help balance your pH (acid/alkaline). Cancer can develop faster in an acid environment.

Aquatic Biodiversity

  Marine, coastal and inland areas support a rich assortment of aquatic biological diversity that contributes to the economic, cultural, nutritional, social, recreational and spiritual betterment of human populations. Life originated in the world’s oceans and over the millennia has spread inland and evolved into the diverse forms used today by a variety of stakeholders, including commercial and artisan fishers, fish farmers, developers and tourists.

Maintaining aquatic biodiversity in capture fisheries is fundamental to guaranteeing the productivity of the world’s fish stocks, their resilience and their adaptability to environmental change, including climate change. The world’s capture fisheries harvested an estimated 1 938 aquatic species or species groups in 2011. The majority of this diversity was fin fishes (1 402 species), followed by crustaceans (194 species), mollusks (150 species) and other species. As such, capture fisheries use a greater variety of biological diversity than any other food production sector.

Genetic biodiversity in aquaculture provides the raw ingredients that allow breeders to improve the production, efficiency and marketability of species of aquatic plants and animals. Over 360 species of fish, invertebrates and plants are farmed around the world. This represents a wealth of genetic diversity both within and among species that helps make aquaculture one of the fastest growing food production sectors. Humans began to domesticate terrestrial plants and animals about 12 000 years ago, however more than 90 percent of all cultured aquatic species have only been domesticated since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Although aquatic biodiversity plays a vital role in livelihoods, it is being threatened by factors within the fisheries sector, such as overfishing, destructive fishing practices and introduction of alien species, as well as by external factors such as habitat loss and degradation mainly caused by land-based activities. It will be essential to reduce these threats to continue providing high quality nutrients and economic opportunities to the millions of people that depend on aquatic biodiversity.

The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department is responsible for maintaining information on capture fisheries and aquaculture production, and the development of knowledge, policy and intergovernmental instruments devoted to the promotion of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices. In 2007, the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department published the Technical Guidelines on Genetic Resource Management. These Technical Guidelines were developed to support sections of the FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries on aspects of genetic resource management in aquaculture. The effective management of aquatic biodiversity can help promote responsible aquaculture by increasing production output and efficiency and help minimize adverse impacts on the environment.

Forests Biodiversity

Forests are among the most important repositories of terrestrial biological diversity. Together, tropical, temperate and boreal forests offer very diverse habitats for plants, animals and micro-organisms.
Biological diversity is the basis for a wide array of goods and services provided by forests. The variety of forest trees and shrubs play a vital role in the daily life of rural communities in many areas, as sources of wood and non-wood products, as contributors to soil and water conservation, and as repositories of aesthetic, ethical, cultural and religious values. Forest animals are a vital source of nutrition and income to many people, and have vital roles in forest ecology, such as pollination, seed predation, dispersal and germination, and predation on potential pest species.
Forest biological diversity is one of the seven thematic elements of the concept of Sustainable Forest Management approved by the General Assembly of the UN in 2007, together with the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests.
Forests provide more than 10% of the GDP in many of the poorest countries. It is estimated that the forestry sector provides formal employment for 10 million people and informal employment for additional 30 to 50 million people in developing countries. Notwithstanding such a relevant role in world economy, progress towards sustainable forest management is still limited, and there is continuing loss and degradation of forests in many developing countries. Losing forest diversity means missing opportunities for medicines, food, raw materials and employment opportunities, in one word: welfare.

The FAO Forestry Programme focuses on how to maximize the potential of forests, trees and related resources to improve people’s economic, social and environmental conditions while ensuring that the resource is conserved to meet the needs of future generations.

FAO works to improve the knowledge on sustainable forest and wildlife management, and supports the development and implementation of appropriate policies and practices to ensure forest and wildlife protection in order to maintain or improve their capacity to produce wood and non-wood products, sustain wildlife populations, conserve biodiversity, safeguard wildlife habitat, mitigate climate change, and protect soils and watersheds.

Plants Biodiversity

About 7,000 species of plants have been cultivated for consumption in human history. The great diversity of varieties resulting from human and ecosystem interaction guaranteed food for the survival and development of human populations throughout the world in spite of pests, diseases, climate fluctuations, droughts and other unexpected environmental events.
Presently, only about 30 crops provide 95% of human food energy needs, four of which (rice, wheat, maize and potato) are responsible for more than 60% of our energy intake. Due to the dependency on this relatively small number of crops for global food security, it will be crucial to maintain a high genetic diversity within these crops to deal with increasing environmental stress and to provide farmers and researchers with opportunities to breed for crops that can be cultivated under unfavorable conditions, such as drought, salinity, flooding, poor soils and extreme temperatures.
Plant genetic resources are the basis of food security and consist of diversity of seeds and planting material of traditional varieties and modern cultivars, crop wild relatives and other wild plant species. These resources are used as food, feed for domesticated animals, fibber, clothing, shelter and energy. The conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA is necessary to ensure crop production and meet growing environmental challenges and climate change. The loss of these resources or a lack of adequate linkages between conservation and their use poses a severe threat to the world’s food security in the long term. The potential of plant genetic resources for food security, sustainable livelihoods, adequate nutrition and adaptation to climate change is enormous, if managed in a sustainable manner. 

FAO is dedicated to improve knowledge and conservation of plant genetic resources to ensure the sustainable provision of food in the long term, and contributing to make full use of the genetic resources available, including wild relatives of main crops currently used.

The most obvious reason for maintaining plant diversity is because we rely on plants for food, and a blight that targets a major crop could have serious implications. Unfortunately, the world's major staple crops have been greatly homogenized over the years, and that's not a good thing. Many countries have lost agro-biodiversity (or the diversity of their agricultural crops), which puts the cultures and livelihoods of the poorest populations at even greater risk.

Innovative new medicines are another reason to maintain biodiversity among plants. It's a dangerous world out there and plants, being for the most part immobile, have had to evolve some particularly fiendish and unique defenses that scientists can use for medicinal purposes. Even animals, mobile creatures that they are, have had to develop some pretty potent defenses that can help scientists cook up new medicines. But in the most basic sense, the reason we need plants - along with organisms like algae and cyano-bacteria - is because they're essential for a properly functioning planet. We wouldn't even have the oxygen that we're so fond of breathing, for example, without photosynthesis.

Fortunately, conservationists had the insight to begin conserving plants in the 1950s. Some plants are maintained in their original habitats and others are held in gene banks, cell cultures and at various zoos and botanical gardens [source: FAO]. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lists 20 major plant gene banks around the world. These banks house various types of seeds but also back up one another in the event of natural and manmade disasters. 

Botanists use two methods to preserve and store a plant's genetic material. Drying and freezing seeds mimics the natural process of winter. Seeds stored by this method survive for decades. But frozen seeds must be thawed and planted to produce seeds that will grow crops. Cryonic freezing is more expensive, but it keeps stored genes "fresh" much longer than conventional drying and freezing. At cryonic temperatures, molecular action stops. Think of it as suspended animation. The frozen seed stays in the same condition, not changing or aging. The genetic seed banks around the world use these methods to store genetic and seed samples from hundreds of plants.

Victory - 9 May, 22th Anniversary

May 9, the 22th Anniversary of SHOUSHI’s Liberation, due to which Nagorno Karabakh Stopped being an enclave in 1992.
God Knows what would have Happened to this Land, and who would be Populating it Now if on May 9 of 1992 the Armenian Forces of Self-Defense did not start the Shoushi Operation. 
On May 9 Armenians Gained Total Control over the Shoushi Fortress. 

This is the Legacy of the Liberation Movement. The Struggle to Determine Own Destiny, to Protect Own Homeland and to Ensure that Armenian Nation will Persevere.

Sanctions vs. Russia May Seriously Affect European Economy

Imposing economic sanctions against Russia may seriously hurt the European economy, according to Siim Kallas, interim European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.
At a news conference devoted to the spring statistics forecast of the European Commission, Kallas said that they were thoroughly analyzing the possible consequences of imposing (trade and economic) sanctions on Russia. He noted that there were three possible scenarios, the worst of which envisioned serious losses to the European economy.
Nevertheless, the commissioner outlined that in case such sanctions against Russia are adopted, their impact on the economies of European countries would be unequal: some countries like Finland or Cyprus would be more exposed to negative effects, the others - to a lesser extent.

South Stream or Renewable Energy

Diversification of gas transportation routes and the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline are in line with present-day international trends, Austrian Minister of Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner said.
“The current international trends indicate that in the long term we should diversify not only the sources of energy but also its supply routes. We will come closer to this goal when the South Stream gas pipeline comes to Baumgartner. The project will not only ensure Austria’s energy security but will also strengthen its positions as a European energy hub, which is provided for in our energy strategy,” he said after signing a memorandum on the construction of a section of the pipeline in Austria.
Austria is already the fourth largest producer and consumer of renewable energy in the European Union, but it takes time to restructure the energy sector. Gas will serve as a transitional fuel. Over the past several years, additional gas pipelines such as Nord Stream were built and underground gas storage facilities increased their capacities. But in order to become less dependent on non-renewable energy in the future, Austria has to improve energy efficiency and keep developing renewable energy production, the minister said.
Austria has made the decision to rejoin the South Stream project. Initially, in 2010, Austrian OMV signed a basic agreement on cooperation with Russia’s Gazprom. Subsequently it was reported that OMV was engaged in negotiations with Gazprom on a contract for the supply of gas by the South Stream pipeline in the amount of 6 billion cubic metres a year.
However later OMV joined the alternative Nabucco project, which was supposed to bring gas to Austria and Germany from CIS countries. When the project was suspended, Gazprom began considering Austria’s participation in it again, but Italy remains the final destination for the time being.

Russian South Stream Gas Pipeline will Ensure Energy Security in Serbia

Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic said he was interested in intensifying work on the South Stream project plans to pipe gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and then ashore for onward transit to Greece, Italy and Austria.
“This is a project which should ensure Serbia’s long-term energy security and enable substantial progress in the national economy," Nikolic said on Tuesday at a meeting with the speaker of Russia’s State Duma Sergei Naryshkin.
The meeting with Nikolic became the last venue in the program of Naryshkin’s two-day visit to Serbia. Nikolic and Naryshkin “expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between Serbia and Russia, particularly with respect to joint economic projects”, the Serbian president’s press service said.
“Russia has a correct understanding of Serbia’s position on the Ukraine crisis,” President Nikolic said. Russia also understood Serbia’s willingness to become a European Union member, since the EU was the most significant trade partner for Russia as well, the press service quoted Naryshkin as saying.
Belgrad, May 06

South Stream Pipeline

The South Stream Offshore Pipeline will run through the Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria and have a total length of 930 kilometres. An environment impact assessment (EIA) in accordance with national environmental legislation is being conducted in Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria. In addition, South Stream Transport is undertaking an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in alignment with the standards and guidelines of international finance institutions. This will involve an ESIA Report for each Sector of the Project and a consolidated document for the entire South Stream Offshore Pipeline to ensure a consistent approach.
South Stream, initially conceived ENI and Gazprom, later joined by Electricite de France and German Wintershall AG, will eventually take 30 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year to southern Europe.
The project stipulates for the offshore gas pipeline section to run under the Black Sea from the Russkaya compressor station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coast. The total length of the offshore section will be around 900 kilometres, the maximum depth - over two kilometres and the design capacity - 63 billion cubic metres. There are two optional routes for the onshore gas pipeline section: either northwestward or southwestward from Bulgaria.
In order to feed the required amount of gas to South Stream, Russia’s gas transmission system throughput will be increased through the construction of additional 2,446 kilometres of line-pipe and 10 compressor stations with the total capacity of 1,473 MW. This project has been named South Corridor and will be implemented in two phases before December 2019.
The construction of South Stream started on December 7, 2012 is scheduled to be completed by 2015. The overall capacity of the marine section of the pipeline will be 63 billion cubic metres a year. Its cost is about 16 billion euro.

Writing a Book. 3 Self-Publishing Options

Self-publishing is no longer for fringe projects. With the mega-success of self-published books such as James Altucher’s Choose Yourself and even the Fifty Shades Of Grey series, self-publishing has gained support and respect worldwide. This is also because of the advances in the self-publishing world over the last few years. Now all you need to self-publish is the time it takes to write and set up your project. 

Being an author gives you credibility as an expert in your field. This doesn’t mean throw any old words on the page and expect success. If you truly have the time and experience to be an expert, writing a book will give you a competitive advantage.
If you’re thinking about writing a book, self-publishing will help you save time and money. You can create your book and set it up for printing quickly. No writing query letters or filing rejections -- just you writing and marketing your book. 

If you really have the social network to support it and your book is valuable, you’ll also make a lot more money going the self-publishing route, as the cost-split between author and self-publishing printers is much more favorable for you than the financial arrangements common to traditional publishing. 

If you're considering this route, here are a few of the major self-publish options you’ll want to check out along with what’s good and bad about each.

1. CreateSpace allows you to set up a self-published, print-on-demand book for free, if you’re willing to do the work. It’s an Amazon company, so once your book is loaded and ready to go, it’ll assign you an ISBN number and get you set up with your own Amazon page where fans can buy a paperback copy of your book. For the tech savvy, this can be a great option. It’s not particularly hard to use, as CreateSpace offers templates and free customizable covers, but it does require patience to format and edit your own work. The great thing about CreateSpace is at the basic level, it is entirely free of set-up costs for paperback. If you decide you want a Kindle edition, that’ll cost you $69 to set up, but then everything else is taken care of. The cost of printing and shipping comes out of each book’s price at the point of sale, but the profit margin split is favorable and varies depending on the price you set for your own book.
2. Author House is a nicely supported self-publishing option. For those that don’t want to go it totally alone, the Author House team has copy editors, graphic artists and other experts who can help tailor your manuscript to the right audience, catch any grammatical errors and provide support. However, that support will cost you. Currently, an e-book-only version package starts at $799 up front and 50 percent royalties from all books sold. A bookstore version of your book in soft or hard copy will start at $1,299 up front and requires a 25 percent royalty for each copy sold online or 10 percent royalty for every copy sold in brick-and-mortar stores. The costs are higher, but the support is there for those who want expert help.
3. Xlibris is the global leader in self-publishing. Like Author House, it operates on a hybrid model of self-publishing freedom with traditional-publisher support. Its basic e-book packages start at $499 for set-up costs with the same standard 50 percent royalty payment on each copy sold. From there, Xlibris provides many types of packages to choose from, ranging from black-and-white soft-copy printed books for around $699 and 25 percent royalty splits, all the way up to a fully-designed, color-printed and professionally-marketed platinum-level package for your book starting at $15,249. Xlibris definitely has the most variety to choose from to accommodate any budget and desired amount of support.
A few other things to keep in mind when you’re self-publishing are first, to be aware of the printing costs. For platforms such as CreateSpace, printing is on-demand, which means copies are only printed when paid for, so there are no up-front costs to you. That is not exclusively the case with Author House or Xlibris, so check with your self-publishing choice ahead of time to find out what paying for the books up front might cost.
Also, bear in mind if you go the CreateSpace route, you won’t have any cover design, copy editing or professional feedback about your book from the basic, free option - so consider the additional costs of hiring help for those services carefully when factoring in the true cost of your decision.
Finally, most self-publishers require an EIN number from the IRS for tax purposes.

Self-Made Billionaires Who Remain Grounded

 Remaining humble and grounded might be just as challenging as obtaining riches and success. In life, most of us seek out wealth and power, but if we can remain humble and wise along the journey, then that is the true reflection of successful life. There are many success stories, but few who have chosen to be humble and show the world that status symbols are not the real definition of their achievement. Here are self-made billionaires who remain grounded and humble with their feet planted firmly on the ground:
Warren Buffett - The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s net worth may be $46 billion dollars, but he still lives in his 50-year old home he paid $31,500 for in Omaha, Nebraska. Known as one of the wealthiest individuals in the world and possibly the most successful investor of the 20th century, he has managed to stay grounded and humble. He has made giving an art form and recently donated a great portion of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to be used for philanthropic purposes.
Tony Hsieh - CEO of Zappos. Hsiesh cares more about people than he does money. After selling a company to Microsoft for a reported $265 million, he didn’t set his sights on retirement, but rather he turned his focus on investing $350 million of his own worth into his online business to vitalize a tech hub in Las Vegas.
Karl Albrecht - Worth $25 billion, the founder of Aldi, a discount supermarket chain in Europe came from a working class family where his frugal upbringing provided him and his brother Theo, co-founder of Aldi, the foundation for living a modest lifestyle regardless of success and riches. At the age of 93, Albrecht attributes his humble beginnings to working at their mother’s corner grocery store after World War II, transforming it into a large retail chain with low prices and no frills.
Alexander Lebedev - This former street fighter turned Russian businessman is worth $1.1 billion. He is notorious for being frugal, but ever since September 2011, he has been in the spotlight for punching a fellow guest, billionaire property developer Sergei Polonsky on a Russian television program. Since the incident he has been been charged with hooliganism.
David Cheriton - With a wealth of $1.3 billion, this Stanford professor capitalized on his early investments in Google, but that doesn’t mean he is driving around in high-class style…he prefers his 2012 Honda Odyssey and favors comfort over luxury. He told the Edmonton Journal in a 2006 interview. “These people who build houses with 13 bathrooms and so on, there’s something wrong with them.” Instead of hanging his hat in an obscene mansion, he’d rather have his name on the side of a building, contributing to the education of others. On November 18, 2005, the University of Waterloo announced that Cheriton had donated $25 million to support graduate studies and research in its School of Computer Science. In recognition of his contribution, the school was renamed the “David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.” Chuck Feeney - This Irish-American businessman and philanthropist made his fortune as a co-founder, with Robert Warren Miller, of the Duty Free Shoppers Group. Born in New Jersey during the Great Depression, Feeney came from a modest background of blue-collar Irish-American parents. When he sold DSF Group, he set aside $26 million to give to 2,400 long-term staff. Having given away most of his wealth, he is only worth about $2 million. Feeney has said, “I had one idea that never changed in my mind—that you should use your wealth to help people. I try to live a normal life, the way I grew up.”
Amancio Ortega - The founder of Zara is doing quite well with a net worth of $57.5 billion. In early 2013, Forbes ranked him as the third richest person in the world. The youngest of four children, Ortega was born in Busdongo de Arbás, León, Spain. His father was a railway worker and Ortega didn’t shy away from helping out his family financially. In his early teens, Ortega found a job as a shop hand for a local shirt maker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruña. This experience would lead him down the road to riches, founding Confecciones Goa, which crafted quilted bathrobes in 1972. Ortega gets around in his Global Express BD-700, a private jet designed by Bombardier that carries a price tag of $45 million, but considering his humble apartment in Spain and modest Audi A8, why not splurge when traveling?
Azim Premji - The fourth wealthiest Indian, Azim Premji is a business tycoon and philanthropist worth $17.2 billion. The chairman of Wipro Limited, founded Azim Premji Foundation in 2001, a non-profit organization whose vision is to significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education that facilitates a just, equitable, humane, and sustainable society. In December 2010, he pledged to donate $2 billion for improving school education in India. How does he have the ability to give so much? He keeps a tight rein on employees at the Wipro headquarters by demanding that staff conserve essentials such as toilet paper and electricity.
Tim Cook - Following Steve Job’s resignation from the position of CEO in August 2011, Tim Cook became the face of Apple. Cook has an estimated net worth of $400 million. Living modestly in Palo Alto, Ca. he bought his 2,400 square foot condo for $1.9 million in 2010. In the book, Inside Apple, he was quoted as saying, “I like to be reminded of where I came from, and putting myself in modest surroundings helps me do that. Money is not a motivator for me.” Son of a shipyard worker father and homemaker mother, he stays true to his philosophy of living grounded and humble regardless of his success and wealth.
Ingvar Kamprad - The founder of IKEA, as of March 2007, Ingvar Kamprad was the fourth wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine. He has an estimated net worth of $33 billion. According to an interview with TSR, the French-language Swiss TV broadcaster, Kamprad drives a 1993Volvo 240, flies only economy class, and encourages IKEA employees always to write on both sides of a piece of paper. He reportedly recycles tea bags and is known to pocket the salt and pepper packets at restaurants.” He was quoted in his view of social philosophy: “It is not only for cost reasons that we avoid the luxury hotels. We don’t need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!”
The question remains, how are the wealthy viewed by average society? If the self-made billionaires of our time have the ability to use their wealth for the good of others, people tend not to begrudge the rich if they can see diligence and generosity in their story. The moral of the story is that money can win you friends, but greed will only buy you enemies.