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When it comes to personal blogging, documentary is
the default genre. There are plenty of blogs that serve
other functions, but many blogs are primarily catalogues
of the life experiences of their author. Although there
are quite a few blogs that focus on collecting poetry and
other forms of creative writing, the vast majority of
personal blogs are in some sense documentaries.

For many years, the act of making a documentary was
meant to be an objective act of reporting the sights and
sounds that the filmmaker, writer, or photographer
encountered. However, in contemporary times there has
been a movement towards embracing the subjectivity
inherent in the documentary form. This means that
modern documentaries often reflect the distinctive
voice and sensibility of their creator, and the fact that
todays documentaries often revolve around personality
blurs the lines between documentary and memoir. Blogs
rest somewhere between these two genres, muddying
the distinctions even further. Personal blogging,
documentary, and memoir are now irrevocably
intertwined, for better or for worse.

Although few bloggers think of themselves as making
documentaries in any formal sense, every time
somebody sits down in front of a computer and types up
a record of their day, they are documenting their own
historical moment. The things that we take for granted
about our daily lives, like the way that we use specific
modes of transportation, or the kinds of products that
we buy, often seem quite fascinating to people who live
in circumstances different from ours, and it is this kind
of fascination that is at the heart of many documentary
projects. When people think about blogging,
documentary is not very likely to be the first adjective
that crosses their minds, but a few decades down the
road it is very likely that todays blogs will be seen
primarily as very subjective documentaries of our era.
The people of tomorrow will almost certainly look to
the blogs of today for insight into our historical
moment.

When it comes to blogging, documentary may not be
the aim of most people who spend their time posting
their thoughts and ideas on the internet. In some ways,
the documentary aspect of blogging is more of a side
effect than a primary goal. However, the fact that so
many people are interested in publishing these public
online diaries shows that personal blogs are about more
than just rumination. The fact that bloggers are so
stimulated by and interested in sharing their ideas with
each other reinforces the idea that personal blogs are, in
some ways, documentaries meant for public
consumption. Documentaries appeal to people who are
curious about other ways of life, and many people who
regularly read others personal blogs are looking for this

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Given that Mafia Wars is such a popular Facebook app game, I thought it only made sense to create a Mafia Wars guide. I’ve only recently started playing but I’ve successfully grown my mafia family to over 250 in just a few days. Mafia Wars is a highly addictive Facebook game but it’s also a great place to meet and add Facebook friends too. Everyone I’ve met in Mafia Wars has not only been friendly but supportive and ready to go to war in a moments notice for his/her own Mafia Wars family. Through the help of some Mafia Wars members, I’ve come up with some great Mafia Wars tips on how to play the game:
Bank the money – Protect your money by depositing it into the bank. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing it in fights or getting robbed.
Gifting to family members – You’re only as strong as your family and therefore gifting to weak members is beneficial to everyone. Make sure each one of your Mafia Wars family members has 1) a vehicle, 2) weapons, 3) armor, and 4) Mafia Wars energy.
Protect your own – When the call for help goes out, you should join the fight to protect family members. That is, unless the opponent is too strong. In that case, bitch slap/sucker punch and make a run for it!
Put in work and buy properties – Work your butt off doing jobs to earn money and complete the various levels. As your Mafia grows, keep buying up Mafia Mike’s as it’s the best return on your money and such property can’t be stolen.
Choose Mafia Wars weapons wisely – Don’t waste your points or money obtaining weapons that have weak attack points. When you join a fight, the weapons with the highest attack points are used first so it’s important you have a lethally strong arsenal. Also, don’t waste your money buying weapons that you cannot use for gifting to others.
Stay energized – If you want more energy, don’t waste your Godfather points to increase it. Instead, use your Godfather points to buy four upgrade points. It will cost you 14 Godfather points to do so, but it will help you in the long run. As your Mafia Wars energy capacity grows, you’ll eventually be able to pass each level much quicker and with a surplus of energy points.
2X Level Rule – Your attack and defense points in Mafia Wars should be very strong and should scale according to your level. As a rule of thumb many Mafia Wars players like to have their attack and defense points at twice that of the level they are currently playing. Thus if your on Mafia Wars level two, your attack points shoud be at four and your defense points should be just as high.
Fighting loading problems – Sometimes your screen will freeze and refreshing doesn’t help. In that case, just go to your updates and choose a person in your Mafia Wars family to fight. It’ll say something like you can’t fight someone in your own Mafia Wars members but if you look to the right you’ll see the regular fight screen.
Reconsider brag gifting – You don’t need to announce that you’ve been gifting. In fact many Mafia Wars players find it quite annoying to see your gifts filling up their news feeds. You can change the permissions for Mafia Wars and other games on Facebook as well as learn how to adjust your Facebook profile’s privacy settings using our Facebook Guide.
Hitlist yourself – Select a lower Mafia Wars level in your profile such as a street thug and ask someone to add you to the Mafia Wars hitlist. They just need to go into my mafia, select your profile, and add you to the hitlist. If you want to guarantee that you get experience and you don’t get snuffed-out, ask some lower level Mafia Wars players to attack you. In return you could provide a service for them such as beating up a local Mafia Wars bully.
Don’t waste Mafia Wars energy – When you’re within approximately two hundred points of the next level, refrain from using an energy pack as you’ll be instantly re-energized upon reaching that next level.
Visit Cuba – Once you reach Mafia Wars level 35 you should take the trip to Cuba to obtain more powerful weapons and gain experience.
Use a faster browser – Most people use Internet Explorer to play Mafia Wars but it’s super slow. You’d be better off downloading and installing a much faster browser like Opera or Google Chrome.
Become a Mafia Wars fan – Adding members to your mafia is one of the most important aspects of the Mafia Wars game. Doing so allows you to level-up faster, earn more money and get protection from other mafia families. While you could send out invites to all your friends on Facebook, it’s not advised. Despite the fact that Mafia Wars is a very entertaining game, many people don’t play it and don’t want to be annoyed with invites.
So what is a Mafia Wars player left to do? Well, one proven way to find other Mafia Wars adds is to join many of the Mafia Wars fan pages and groups. There you can easily find and add mafia members without the worry of knowing whether or not if they will be irritated by the invitation to join your mafia.
Get pimped for Mafia Wars – While you’re visiting any given Mafia Wars fan page or group, try to get “pimped” by the admin for the fan page or group. What is “pimping” you ask? Pimping is a word used to describe a recommendation of a player on the fan page to all the current fans of that page/group. The admin posts your player profile link on the site in front of the thousands/millions of fans suggesting they add you. Depending on the number of fans the page/group has, you can receive hundreds to thousands of friend requests and game adds in a span of just a few minutes.
Contribute your knowledge – If you have any Mafia Wars tips or strategies, send them to me and I’ll add them to the official Mafia Wars list. If your Mafia Wars tip is included in the list, we’ll give you credit by adding a link to your name next to the tip to help you grow your Mafia Wars family!
Befriend Properly – Add other Mafia Wars players on Facebook so they can join your Mafia Wars family. When you request the add, include the message “Mafia Wars” so they know what the Facebook add is for.
Share this Mafia Wars guide <=== Share our Mafia Wars guide with your family and friends on Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, and Twitter. Doing so helps us provide more help for you. Our Mafia Wars guide is a great tool for teaching your family and friends how to play Mafia Wars so when they’re ready to join your Mafia Wars family they’ll be well educated and ready to fight for you!

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It’s time for another tips session, and this time, it’s off to the mafia. Mafia Wars seems like a simple game at first glance, but once you get into it, it actually begins to become somewhat complicated with hits, different jobs, adding members, equipping all of them, and so on. What do you buy? What quests do you do? How should you level? These are all questions that are posed by new players, and it can be a bit daunting. Well, we searched high and low for ways to help you out, and hopefully these tips and tricks will help those new players that simply feel overwhelmed.
So you’ve started Mafia Wars and you’re not sure where to start, well, the first choice is easy enough: Pick a “Maniac” class. While earning more cash or health might seem appealing, energy is what allows you to do quests and it is significantly better to earn both cash and experience instead of just one. That said, it’s time to get down to business.
DO NOT add to you mafia right away. Yes, you do want a large mafia to be stronger, but if you are ill-prepared, this is going to hurt more than help. Essentially, you want to have a “Mafia Mikes” and a “Bloody Chainsaw” (please note, that the bloody chainsaw is a special item bought from the home page and will periodically change. For all intents and purposes, the special item tends to have similar stats, and is often interchangable if the chainsaw is gone) for every two members. Here’s the thing though, the game bases the amount of members you need for another one of these items based on your current members. So say you bought a chainsaw with a mafia of 12, but then added 8 people, you’ll now need 22 members to buy another one, thus losing out the extra chainsaws you could have bought at 16, 18, and 20 members. Assuming that you are now equipping properly, it is time to spend some experience points.
Ideally, you want to put all of your points into energy so you can level faster. Since quests are going to be your primary source of experience and cash (hence why you used maniac), your limiting factor is how fast your energy recharges. Furthermore, energy resets every level, so having an high energy and a fast regeneration can get you to higher levels exponentially faster. Of course, you will want other stats eventually (when that is, is completely up to you), but this will give you a nice start.
Okay, so now you’re leveling at a nice pace and you’re getting those Mafia Mikes and Bloody Chainsaws when you should. What’s next? Why, equipping your mafia of course, and this can be done either via looting or buying. In general, it is better to loot in higher missions, but if you want to be safer, just buy, and if you’ve been doing what’s been said so far, money shouldn’t be a serious issue. The recommended equipment is as follows (once you can buy them of course):

• Weapons: Bloody Chainsaws should be available to half your mafia (since you’ve been buying them every two members right?), thus the other half should utilize the Chain Guns (.50 Caliber Rifle is better once you start looting).
• Armor: Body Armor all around – period. Yes, you can buy other stuff too, but this is a definite purchase.
• Cars: Secondary to armor and weapons, but if you must have one, the Towncar comes recommended.

This should be more than enough to get you started on the right track in Mafia Wars. However, before things get wrapped up, here are some other interesting tips found around the web that should work for both the MySpace and Facebook versions of the game.

• Avoid the Hitlist as best as possible. While it might be fun at higher levels, drawing attention to yourself at lower levels is just going to get you killed over and over again by high level players. Stay under the radar as long as you can.
• If you ever attack someone and get the maximum amount of cash ($70,000), bookmark them and attack them as often as possible.
• When you do start using other stats besides energy, it is best to keep attack and defense equal.
• (MySpace Version) More Energy – Send an energy pack to a friend along with the message, then go to your MySpace page and click on the link (the image) and you will send one to yourself.
• (MySpace Version) Beat the Bank 10% – Annoying, but if you deposit $9 at a time you will beat the system.
• Best Early Cash & Experience Jobs:
  o Level 1 – 4: Auto Theft
  o Level 5 – 8: Bank Heist
  o Level 9 – 12: Museum Break In
  o Level 13 – 17: Wiretap the Cops

Best of luck, and happy gaming.

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Mobile blogging is an exciting phenomenon that is
sweeping the blogosphere. One of the reasons why a lot
of bloggers are attracted to the medium of blogging in
the first place is that they enjoy being able to make
frequent updates and posts that keep all of their visitors
up to speed with current situations. Mobile blogs, or
"moblogs," take this to the extreme by allowing users to
post things literally as they happen. This new wave of
moblogs and mobloggers keep web surfers up to date
with good and bad events of importance as they occur
all over the world, helping to make international
communication faster and more accurate.

Many people feel that the limitations of blogging have a
lot to do with geography. After all, there is only so
current that a blog can be when you need to run home
and boot up in order to update it. However, mobile
blogging marks the beginning of an thrilling new era
when web-based communication can happen
spontaneously from any location. Moblogging devices
mean that there is almost nowhere on the planet that
remains off-limits for bloggers.

Mobile blogging is still in its infancy because the
technology that makes it possible has only recently hit
the global market. The first moblog technology became
available over a decade ago, but it is only the past two
or three years that mobile web devices have become
user-friendly enough to appeal to most consumers. As
camera phones and other mobile technology become
more popular, more and more bloggers are getting away
from their desks and are hitting the streets. Moblogging
is becoming much more widespread that it was even a
few months ago, and mobloggers are quickly attracting
a lot of attention with the blogging community. It is not
yet clear whether moblogs will become the dominant
kinds of blogs in the years to come, but the current
trend seems to imply that moblogs are here to stay.

Mobile devices make it possible to blog from the sites
where current events are unfolding, which is one of the
reasons why mobile blogging has so much thrilling
potential to revolutionize the blogosphere. A moblogger
with a camera phone can post blog entries from, say, the
foot of the podium at a presidential speech, or from the
stands during the final moments of the world series.
This enables bloggers to experience the same real time
thrills that live television coverage provides, but in a
more democratic medium. The combination of mobility
and individual control that moblogging provides
certainly places mobloggers on the cutting edge of
today's communications technology, and it is hard to
imagine that the number and prestige of moblogs will
not continue to grow in the coming years.

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Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the
most important decisions that you can make as a
blogger. The right platform can make blogging a
breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a
chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is
such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is
well worth putting in the time to find a platform that
provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly
interface and a flexible framework that allows you to
make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right
platform isn't always easy, but with a little bit of
contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on
your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use
versus customization. Most highly customizable
blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more
difficult to use than very automated platforms like
wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet
technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to
create a custom background design or to integrate a
unique font into your template in order to find a
program that will be easy for you to use. On the other
hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge
of html or javascript, you will probably find the
limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is
objectively the best platform, because every blogger has
unique needs. The blogging movement is very much
about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that
there would be many different platforms available that
are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of
individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This
diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will
almost certainly be able to find a program that suits
your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same
thing from a blogging platform can make your search
for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading
reviews of different platforms, try to keep your
priorities in mind and do your best to take into account
the position that the reviewer is coming from. For
example, a negative review written by an accomplished
software designer who complains that a popular
platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in
question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no
such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so
instead of looking for the "best" platform, look for the
best platform for your specific criteria.

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Nowadays, jobs falling under the health care category are one of the most in demand jobs.  This is because more and more countries fall short with regards to their employees and staff in the health care industry.

In fact, aside from computers and information technology, heath care jobs are the ones that are greatly sought after by both the employers and applicants.

Aside from the increasing demand, health care jobs are also one of the best paying jobs all over the world. For example, in the United States alone, physical therapist assistants get to earn $27,500 to $ 41,780 in a year. It is also expected to grow by 46% in the years to come.

For people who are dreaming to go abroad and land a job in the health care category, here are some tips that that can help:

1. Know your craft

The problem with most people who are looking for health care jobs is that they do not know the fundamental skill needed in this kind of job: care for others.

There are many instances wherein health care jobs do not necessarily require people who have a higher education diploma in health care. So, people who have a “caring” attitude, can have a lucrative job in the health care industry.

2. Health Information technicians and Medical Records rank six on United States’ 10 hottest jobs of 2005.

These positions can work well for people who are looking for health care jobs.  These positions pay $19,700 to $27,400 annually.

3. Success is in the keywords,  For people who are searching for specific health care jobs on the Internet, it is best to narrow down their searches with some more detailed keywords. In this way, heath care job searches will reap better results.

4. Aim for the best positions in the health care industry

For people who wish to land a good job in the health care industry, it would be better to do some homework first. In this way, they can get an overview on which position has the most demands for employees and which job entails higher salaries.

In the United States’ 10 hottest job of 2005, medical assistants are the top positions in demand in the health care industry today. In fact, surveys show that the demand for medical assistants will continue to grow and will increase by 59% in 2012.

Indeed, the health care industry continues to saturate the market with a continuous growth for the demands of its services. No wonder why most people are into health care jobs!

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According to a recent survey by Job Outlook, for the third year now there is a positive increase in hiring fresh college graduates for 2006.  Business owners plan on hiring more from the class of 2005-06 than they did from the 2004-05 class as well as offering higher compensation and benefits for the new hires.

In the annual survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, nine out of ten companies describe the new job market as good, very good, and excellent.  Public accounting and consulting firms narrated the brightest prospect for the future graduates, while engineering and construction firms supported the idea by saying they'll also be hiring.

There is a growing demand for new graduates in the job market as a result of the also growing products and services they offer and to keep up with the retiring HR staff. 

Who are in demand?

•    Mechanical engineering
•    Electrical engineering
•    Accounting
•    Business administration/ management
•    Economics/finance
•    Computer science
•    Information sciences and systems
•    Marketing/marketing management
•    Computer engineering
•    Chemical engineering

Mechanical engineering graduates topped the list and eyeing on them are aerospace, automotive, mechanical equipment manufacturers.  They also plan on hiring graduates with Ph.D.s in science and computer related courses.

Banking, transportation, financial, and insurance services are seeking Economics/Finance graduates.  The food and beverage processing companies, merchandisers, and financial services will need more Business Administration/Management degree holders.  One-third of business owners plan on hiring associate graduates categorized into three: technology, engineering and business related degrees.  Insurance and engineering/surveying companies appear the most in need of 2 year course graduates for they bear a productive kind of technical knowledge which does not require more training.  They belong to the hands-on work force who developed a good work ethic which is sadly observed by employers as missing in previous amateur graduates.

During the survey, only 23.5%, (mainly manufacturers) respondents planned on hiring international graduates in 2006. 

What qualities should a new graduate possess?

•    Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills
•    Must be honest and has a high regard with integrity
•    Can easily relate to others
•    Maintain strong work ethic
•    Can work well with others –TEAMWORK
•    Analytical skills
•    Must be self motivated and initiative
•    Adaptability to change
•    Updated computer skills
•    Observant to details

The standards of companies’ ideal candidates are often higher than the last year’s.  It is important that new graduates show good G.P.A.s as full time jobs come with good benefits coming from good revenues.  Salary, should not be the sole consideration when looking for a job, benefits are part of it.

Here are some of the lists of benefits:

•    Life and Medical/Dental insurance
•    Retirement plans
•    Annual and semi-annual increase
•    Employee counseling program
•    Dress code
•    Paid trainings
•    Bonus and commissions
•    Family benefits
•    Flexi-time
•    Performance updates
•    Vacation and sick leaves
•    On-site fitness and recreational facilities
•    Day care center
•    Company car/service

The best places to seek competitive employers can be on campus job fairs, during on-the-job-trainings, student organizations and clubs, Internet search job search engines, etc.  What’s important is that you target the right employers.  Don’t let an opportunity pass, get in the interview to know more about their career offers and don’t forget to research about the company.  You must be able to discuss your career objectives and compose a list of relevant and creative questions you can ask yourself.

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