The problems and advantages of a lifetime loan

If you think that a mortgage is beyond you because even with a term of 25 years the payments are too high, then maybe you should consider getting a lifetime loan. These loans are literally for life, unless you pay them off before your death. They allow you to get property that you might otherwise struggle to finance, whilst keeping your monthly payments low. Although they have some benefits, there are risks involved too. If you are unfamiliar with lifetime loans, then here are some facts about their problems and advantages.

What is a lifetime loan?

A lifetime loan is just like it sounds; a mortgage loan that you can use indefinitely without paying back regular payments. You take out the mortgage and then pay back a minimal amount each month. If the mortgage is not fully paid by the time you are dead, then the remaining money is taken from the house’s value.

Flexibility with money

One of the primary advantages of a lifetime loan is that it allows you flexibility to pay back your mortgage. If you can afford to pay back large amounts at some point, then you can do so. However, if you do not wish to pay back more than the minimum amount you do not have to. This allows you to be flexible with your spending, and can help you to maintain a good level of cash flow throughout your life. This is especially useful when you are older and do not have a large regular income.

Costs of a lifetime loan

In general, lifetime loans have similar rates to other mortgages, with rates between 6 and 8%. Although you can probably find a cheaper rate with a traditional repayment mortgage, the rates for lifetime loans are very good considering the flexibility they offer you.

Drawdown facilities

Another advantage of lifetime loans is the ability to borrow more money at a later stage of the loan. Once you have paid back some of the equity into your home, or your house price increases, you can withdraw more money. This allows you to get a cheaper loan than you would normally, and can save you payments on credit cards and other loans. Some lifetime loans only allow you to borrow more money in the first ten years, although more and more are allowing people to withdraw more funds at any time, as long as they have the equity in their home to do it.

Paying after death

The biggest problem with lifetime loans is that you end up leaving your debt to someone else. In the worst-case scenario, your house price reduces, meaning your relatives are left with debt even after the house is sold to pay off the mortgage. Although it leaves you flexibility, unless you pay off your mortgage your relatives will be left with little in the way of inheritance, and may even inherit your debt. Lifetime loans can be a great in terms of flexibility, but if you want to leave something for your relatives you either have to pay off the mortgage when you can or you need to find a different type of mortgage loan.

How to care for your animation art - 5 common questions

Can we handle Animation Cels? Unframed Animation Cels should be handled as little as possible, preferably not at all. When handling your cel, it would be best to use clean cloth gloves. With or without gloves, cels are best handled by the edges.

Where can I store an unframed Animation Cel? Store it upright, in a cool room, away from sources of direct heat or sunlight. Cels seem to store better in moderate humidity: not too dry and not too moist. Do NOT store in a Kitchen, bathroom, loft or cellar, unless properly insulated.

Where should I not hang a framed piece of Art? Do not hang any art where direct sunlight can cross it and neither hand it above a radiator. Watch for hot-spots reflected from glass tables; it can be just as damaging as direct sunlight. If there is a high amount of reflected sunlight, you will want to make sure your cel is framed with a UV-reflective material.

Can I clean an Animation Art Cel myself? No, under any circumstances, do not attempt to clean a cel yourself. Leave this to the professionals such as your framer, who can remove minor smudges and other imperfections, and they should do so with extreme care.

How should I frame my artwork? Always frame your art with the highest quality materials. Use acid-free mats and backing, especially for framing drawings or other, paper based artwork.

If you are choosing a piece of Art it is easy and safe to purchase over the internet, but choosing a frame is very personal and is more advisable to be done in person at a local framing gallery, as you can choose the exact size and colour to compliment your cel and the room it is to be displayed in.

Artwork that is shipped framed can become warped, especially if it is a large piece, or if it is stretched on canvas. Additionally glass or perspex can crack or smash and damage your artwork.

© Premier Animation 2005

Addictive foods and their harmful consequences

Most of us are fond of at least one product that has the effect of a stimulant and that eventually becomes an addiction. These products include exercise stimulant drinks (they come in cans and look like cola), fizzy aerated drinks, tobacco, betel nut, betel leaf, strong coffee, strong tea, mahuang (an ephedrine-like compound consumed in china), and alcohol.

Before I tell you why we shouldn’t consume these products, I’d like to deal with the question of why we do consume them in the first place.

There’s no one who doesn’t know that products like these, consumed in excess, can severely harm our bodies. Yet, we still find them hard to resist. The need to eat stimulant food is a simple human weakness that has existed for ages: humans (and many animals) have always indulged in foods that give a sort of emotional high. In clinical terms, this means rapid heart beat, a little sweating, dilation or constriction of the pupils of the eye, a warm flush on the face, and a sense of greater sensitivity, concentration and perception.

These sensations of ‘high’ die down within a few hours, and we are left feeling listless and low. This leads to a craving for that food again, to experience the high one more time. And there we are going round and round in a vicious circle.

The physiology of addictions is as follows:

When you eat an addictive food, it stimulates the hormone like substances found at the end of your nerves, which triggers an avalanche of similar stimulatory substances and you experiences a high. As the substances near the nerves are depleted, you get into the low phase, which leads you to crave that food again. This yo-yo phase of nerve stimulation and depletion leads to a pattern of addiction.

Consuming addictive foods is one of the oldest unhealthy food practices and, despite a revolution in health consciousness; it shows no signs of dying out.

Below are some side effects of certain addictive foods.

Alcohol Addiction: Erosion of stomach and intestinal lining, liver damage, nutritional deficiency.

Tobacco: Erosion of gum and tongue can lead to cancer of the buccal mucosa.

Betel nut: Leads to the discoloration of teeth, erosion of the lining of the mouth, and cancer of the mouth and upper tract. It also leads to heart problems among people who already have a weak heart.

Ma huang: It contains ephedrine and leads to heart problems.

Aerated drinks: High doses of caffeine.

Caffeine and xanthine: Found in tea, coffee. These become harmful only in very high doses; don’t consume more than five cups a day.

Mixed drug reactions: People who consume medications for the heart, hypertension and asthma have to be very careful about the interactions of the drugs with stimulant foods, as mixing the two can be fatal. After years of experience, all doctors know how difficult it is to break the food addictions of their patients. So like them, I can only advise a good compromise. If you can’t break the addiction, then at least you should practice moderation.

Let the logo do the talking for your business

Among all the significant areas in graphic design, logo design is considered to be the most crucial, thus making it one of the most challenging jobs to attain perfection. A good logo is unique, functional, follows basic design principles and represents the brand or company. One should always endeavor to get a good logo design that is simple, effective and unlittered. After all a logo is designed with some goal and targeting specific section of the audience. An effective logo should always create an impact on its targeted audience and be able to deliver the intended message instantaneously. A logo that usually does all the talking for a business is considered as an identity representing a company or its products.

An abbreviation of the word logogram, a logo generally is a phrase, word, or an idea. In today’s fast-paced world, the logo serves as a symbol; a representation for your business and it helps you get noticed. It is considered as the visual presentation of words, symbols, colors, and shapes. It is very much essential for a logo to have a meaning so that it remains in the subconscious mind of the people and gives a message about the company and creates its brand identity.

Whether it’s a text based logo design or a brand mark based symbol, every strong graphical illustration accord the facet of a business or a company. A logo with a slogan can also be created to substantiate a brand equity, which ultimately becomes a trademark of a company or an organization. A particular logotype is chosen depending on the approach that best fits your company.

A logo is a reflection of brand identity, used to create an unforgettable impression. It becomes ineffective if the targeted audience and the focus of the business are not defined clearly in it. In today’s Internet space, logo branding is very potent and weighs a lot because a logo can both lift and drown a business. Choosing the right logo is, therefore, important. If you start thinking about a logo right now, you can very easily recall some of the reputed logos like Nike, Microsoft, Adidas or Sony – this is because these logos have a deep impact and have successfully established brand recognition for the respective companies.

A logo represents the type of business and the product it offers. A logo can effectively communicate what a company does as well as reflect the company personality. A superior logo design gives a business the prestige and fame it deserves. If your business deals with construction, then it’s always better to have a construction-oriented logo, which will reflect your company’s identity in the market.

Although the whole logo creation process is incomparable, the right logo takes care of everything. An unparalleled logo is always defined or explained as that which people easily recognize and identifies with the company name on seeing it. Color combination used in logo creation should have some feelings or emotion that give some idea about the company and which in return create an emotional bondage.

Cost and figures for a logo design always vary dramatically from designer to designer and from one Logo-design Company to another. It’s always advisable to get your logo created by the company having loads of fine experience to their credit. There are numerous logo design firms or organizations in the web world that can create an identity for your company with a professional logo design. A distinctive corporate logo design creates and captures business values in a competitive business environment.

Dead-to-the-world man walking

One morning this week, I woke up with a black eye. How I got it still baffles me. I have my suspicions, of course, but some things are better left to themselves no matter how lonely they may get.

In getting older, I have realized certain things are changing in my body. For example, I now find myself walking in my sleep. This is a new experience for me and I'm not sure what it means or what I should do about it.

On the positive side, walking in my sleep is about the only exercise I really get these days, so I should not complain too much. It is nice to know at my age some things are still working even if it is when I am unconscious. My problem has escalated to the point where I have begun wearing sneakers to bed. Of course, I don’t wear anything else and when I find myself three blocks down the street, my sneakers had better be PDF (pretty dashing fast).

Walking in my sleep is not that bad, except for my mysterious black eye.

Not only am I walking in my sleep, but also my wife has accused me of talking in my sleep. Actually, in my own defense, talking in my sleep is the only time I get a word in edgewise. I guess in the middle of the night I'm trying to make up for this lack during the day.

Lately, I have talked so much in my sleep I wake up a little horse, which just may explain why I have been eating like one lately.

Unfortunately, my talking during the night has kept my wife awake so much; she recently requested I start preaching in my sleep so she can get to sleep.

I used to have trouble falling asleep at night. I tried counting sheep but their bleating kept me awake. When I lay there wide-awake, I began worrying about those sheep. Did someone feed them? And, am I going to have to shear all those sheep myself?

Each night I try to get in 40 winks but by the time I reach number 33 I lose count and have to start all over again. The older I get the more my sleep resembles a salad – well tossed.

Actually, noises in the night upset me the most. Sleep has a way of bringing out the noise in our house, from a dripping faucet down the hall to a creaking window shutter in the living room. It's amazing how intelligent these noises in the night can be. They are quiet until I'm just about ready to drift off into la-la-land.

For example, as far as we know we have no mice in our house. We have never seen any evidence of such critters in our blessed domicile. Yet, in the middle of the night I hear these little critters gnawing the wall right by my head. How they know where I sleep and when I go to sleep is one of the mysteries of these diminutive night stalkers.

Through the years, I have tried many things to help me get to sleep at night. For some reason I have no trouble going to sleep during the daytime particularly in the afternoon. I call these “power naps,” the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has another name for them, which I cannot repeat here for obvious reasons, my health being the primary one.

I’ve tried everything to help me fall asleep at night. Once I placed my shoes and socks right next to my bed before I go to sleep. Although it had its intended effect upon me, it also had an adverse effect upon the other occupant of my bed.

No matter when I go to bed nor how long I have slept, I always need just one minute more of sleep. Why is it I can hear the drip of a faucet down the hall but I can't hear the clanging alarm clock at my head? Eventually, when I do full asleep the crack of dawn awakens me.

My wife, trying to assist me in my nocturnal dilemma, suggested I try some hot cocoa right before going to sleep. For the most part, it does work. My only difficulty with hot cocoa is if I don't drink it quickly enough I begin nodding halfway through and spill it on my chest. I can assure you it's a real eye opener.

I am reminded of a verse of scripture that addresses this subject. David, the Psalmist observes, "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep" (Psalms 127:2 KJV).

And then, who could overlook Psalms 121:3-4 (KJV), "He [God] will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Now, back to my black eye. I really have no recollection of how this happened. My wife has tried explaining it to me by pointing out, most correctly, that lately I have been walking in my sleep. No argument from me. Then she explained while I was walking in my sleep the other night I walked into the bathroom door causing the black eye.

I'm not in any position to question her, but I noticed she was rubbing her right fist most tenderly.

Honoring america s top dog

Anyone who loves dogs knows how much they enrich our lives. Some exceptional dogs not only touch our lives, but also help protect us by selflessly performing acts of heroism as service dogs.

For instance, Quanto is a hard-working search and rescue dog. He specializes in two distinct areas: detecting explosives and assisting in human search and rescue missions. His finely tuned skills have helped him clear buildings after explosives were detected-but his loving nature has helped him comfort those he's rescued.

Quanto and four of his four-legged contemporaries are being honored through the PEDIGREE Paws to Recognize program. Because of their love of dogs, PEDIGREE created this national initiative that acknowledges the exceptional contributions professionally trained service dogs make in their communities. The Delta Society, Guide Dogs for the Blind, National Association for Search and Rescue, U. S. Customs and Border Protection and the U. S. War Dogs Association worked with PEDIGREE Food for Dogs and Wal-Mart to identify and nominate five astonishing canines for this year's top honor.

People can log on to www. pedi gree. com/vote to view photos and biographies of each of the dogs and then vote on which one they think is most deserving of the top dog honor. The winner will be celebrated at a special ceremony in September. If 100,000 votes are cast by July 14, 2006, $25,000 will be donated to the American Humane Association. Here's a look at the other four nominees:

• Hero-This Labrador Retriever makes regular visits to patients at hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and other health facilities. He's the inspiration for "Project Hero," a program that provides young people living in a youth detention center with canine companions.

• Rocky-This chocolate Lab serves as an explosive detector dog at the Port of Los Angeles, where he's an "employee" of U. S. Customs and Border Protection. On an average day, Rocky screens between 5,000 and 7,000 international passengers, 15,000 pieces of luggage and thousands of pieces of cargo.

• Xena-This former shelter dog completed a rigorous training program and now serves as a guide dog. She provides her human partner with safe mobility, companionship and improved quality of life.

• Polo-This German Shepherd recently returned from a tour of duty in Kuwait, where he served as an Explosive Detection/Patrol Dog, searching vehicles, buildings, aircraft, barracks and open areas for dangerous and harmful explosive materials.

Top secrets of common sense part 1

If you believe you can, you will. If you believe you can’t, you won’t.

No matter what your musical skill level is right now, there are going to be many significant challenges ahead of you. Your attitudes, and the ways you deal with musical challenges, will be single greatest factor in determining how much you will achieve as a musician. If you believe that you can, and will, overcome your greatest challenges, you will find a way, or you will seek help from a teacher, trainer, coach or mentor that will help you through it. If you don’t believe you can achieve, your done, it’s over, because you won’t.

A true story of self-fulfilling prophecy

OK, a short history lesson here might go a long way, so here it is. In early 16th century Mexico, existed a great empire called the “Aztecs”. In fact, it was the most powerful civilization in North America up to the year 1519. It was in that year when the Spanish conquest began. Cortez brought with him about 400 men, and with these soldiers, they defeated virtually the entire Aztec empire. How did Cortez’s men defeat this great empire with only 400 men? Was it with superior weapons or superior military tactics? No! The Aztec emperor (and many of his people) believed in a myth that some day in the future a “god” would return to Mexico to destroy them. When the Spaniards arrived with their strange skin color, beards, clothes and weapons, the Aztecs “knew” they couldn’t win. They believed they could not overcome the power of Cortez’s tiny army because they thought Cortez was the “god” who was returning to destroy them. The Aztec empire was destroyed forever by a false belief (that Cortez was their “god” and that it was impossible and useless to try to defeat him)! There are many other military defeats throughout world history caused by other types of false beliefs. Had the defeated armies and/pr rulers had different beliefs, the history of the world could have turned out to be quite different.

As you see above, the negative results of false beliefs, and not believing in oneself, can be devastating for entire civilizations, so imagine how badly your negative beliefs can hurt your ability to effectively learn your instrument!

Lets find out where your attitude is likely to be

1. Play something on your instrument that you cannot play perfectly yet.

2. Listen critically to your playing.

3. Identify problems and try to define for yourself what they are.

4. What are your mental thought patterns? What is the voice inside your mind telling you?

Lets say what you played above was a scale at high speed. You noticed that not all the notes were played cleanly. Now lets look at two types of thought patterns and attitudes you might have about that:

1. You say to yourself, “These notes are not even, clean and clear….I can’t get it!… This sounds terrible!….I guess I have to try harder….it still doesn’t sound good…I just CAN”T do it!….Maybe I just don’t have what it takes……?”

2. Or you say to yourself, “These notes are not even, clean and clear….I’m going to record myself playing these scales, so I can listen while I am focused only on “listening” and not on “playing”….Where do the worst spots seem to be happening?…..Where are the better notes located?……Hmmm, I notice the problem seems to be occurring when I change from string to string or every time I use my ring finger…..Perhaps, the string changing problem is caused from inefficient right hand motion and maybe the ring finger is causing problems because it’s not working independently from the other fingers…..I’ll ask my teacher about this and he will probably offer specific exercises I can do to strengthen these weak areas. Then I’ll be able to play these scales correctly!….”

The results

Obviously the differences between these two opposite attitudes are huge. More importantly is the difference in “results” one will get from choosing to approach the same problem with opposite thought patterns and attitudes. The first attitude offers only self-doubt, pessimism, a negative self-image and hopelessness. The second offers confidence, self-reliance, hope, optimism, security and the desire to get through the difficulty of mastering this technique. Even though working with a great teacher is the very best way to improve your skills, only your thought patterns, positive attitude, and the way you deal with challenges, will make significant improvement actually happen. It’s that simple!

Why most people fail to ever become musicians.

More than half of people in the United States who begin to play an instrument will quit in less than one year from the time they begin to play. Another significant percentage of people will play occasionally, but will not make much forward progress on their instrument. Why? Well there are many possible factors, but the biggest two reasons are:

1. They took the first attitude mentioned above.

2. They didn’t learn from a great teacher on a long-term basis.

Inaction: The worst possible thing

Inaction (taking “no” action), when action is necessary, is the worst possible thing, I can think of, for all areas in life. For most people, inaction comes easily and naturally. It’s so easy to do “nothing”. It’s so easy to “not” take guitar lessons. It’s so easy to “not” find a better teacher, coach and mentor. Hey, I’m not perfect either, there were plenty of times in my past when I too took the path of least resistance and did nothing when I really needed to. Those decisions to do nothing (or to do little) led me to…..

Regrets

A few years ago, I got tired of living with regrets and made some interesting observations about them. Regret is a poison, a toxic waste that marinates in your soul. What drives our regrets? Most of our regrets in life occurred, not from what we have done (or said or thought), but from we didn’t do. Our failures are not the main cause of regret and unhappiness, it is passing up our opportunities to grow, improve and make things better that hurts us most. Think about it.

What will you do?

I teach a private and correspondence music careers class where I teach, train and coach my students to become professional musicians, music teachers, etc. The very first (and probably most valuable) thing I do as my student’s mentor is ask them this question: “What are you committed to do, RIGHT NOW TODAY, to reach your goals? Even if you are only able to make a small baby step forward, tell me WHAT WILL YOU DO RIGHT NOW?!?! This very moment is the first moment of your future. You create your future by what you do in the present!

So, what will YOU do right now? What thoughts will you allow to fill your mind? Who will you call or email? How will you spend the rest of your day? What action will take right now? What will you do in this “present” moment, which will contribute to your future?

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More articles by Tom Hess are available for free here: http://tomhess. net

My email: hess@mc. net

Copyright 2005 by Tom Hess. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

See Tom Hess on the HolyHell world tour in 2006. Tour dates posted here: http://tomhess. net/news. php? rubric=1