Collections Article: July 2018

Data Visualization for Small Business

Everyone knows how important it is to monitor and evaluate the available natural, human and financial resources for any kind of business.

Visualizing the numbers has a crucial meaning for analysing and estimating. Psychologically it is more intuitive and helps for deep understanding of the data which are represented by numbers.

A simple and flexible web based application, which converts and visualizes a user defined numbers into different types of interactive charts.

Overview:
Data visualization refers to the techniques used to communicate data or information by encoding it as visual objects (e.g., points, lines or bars) contained in graphics. The goal is to communicate information clearly and efficiently to users. It is one of the steps in data analysis or data science. According to Friedman (2008) the "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means. It doesn't mean that data visualization needs to look boring to be functional or extremely sophisticated to look beautiful. To convey ideas effectively, both aesthetic form and functionality need to go hand in hand, providing insights into a rather sparse and complex data set by communicating its key-aspects in a more intuitive way. Yet designers often fail to achieve a balance between form and function, creating gorgeous data visualizations which fail to serve their main purpose - to communicate information"

To communicate information clearly and efficiently, data visualization uses statistical graphics, plots, information graphics and other tools. Numerical data may be encoded using dots, lines, or bars, to visually communicate a quantitative message.Effective visualization helps users analyze and reason about data and evidence. It makes complex data more accessible, understandable and usable. Users may have particular analytical tasks, such as making comparisons or understanding causality, and the design principle of the graphic (i.e., showing comparisons or showing causality) follows the task. Tables are generally used where users will look up a specific measurement, while charts of various types are used to show patterns or relationships in the data for one or more variables.

Data visualization is both an art and a science. It is viewed as a branch of descriptive statistics by some, but also as a grounded theory development tool by others. Increased amounts of data created by Internet activity and an expanding number of sensors in the environment are referred to as "big data" or Internet of things. Processing, analyzing and communicating this data present ethical and analytical challenges for data visualization. The field of data science and practitioners called data scientists help address this challenge. http://visualdata.lifecourse.xyz

Impact of Corporal Punishment on the Students in Primary and Secondary Schools

By Mamona Atif

Problem of the study

Although current policy concerning violence in schools states that corporal punishment is banned, we find that it is being widely practiced in schools as a common tool for discipline with barely parents' ability to stop or report it. Reporting is usually for extreme cases reported about serious injuries or even death of children that are published to the public such as the death of a child in one of Punjab schools as a result of a teacher's beating. There is little record on child abuse or child death resulting from violence.

Possible reasons for expanding the use of corporal punishment in schools in spite of its legal ban could be administrative acceptance represented by the school and social acceptance represented by parents. This phenomenon is stirred by administrative acceptance represented by the school through not implementing the policy effectively; lack of communication with family; inability to find alternative means of discipline to teachers; and marginalizing the role of social workers. Social acceptance is exemplified by parents' acceptance; lack of awareness; applying CP on their children at home; and refrain from reporting actively their children's exposure to assault believing that the school will not take deterrent action.

This study shows that CP is widespread in schools especially in public schools. This failure of implementation was mainly attributed to administrative and social acceptance. We will consider in this chapter how to reduce the gap by dealing with factors involved. We presented earlier what strategies have been adopted in other countries to enforce the ban of corporal punishment. In this section, we will develop a professional approach to correcting student behavior that best suits the Egyptian context as a strategy for combating corporal punishment in schools, as well as specifying alternatives to corporal punishment.

Generally, policy enforcement cannot be the responsibility of one single party. Rather, all entities and organizations involved in policy making and policy implementation should collaborate to successfully reduce and then eliminate corporal punishment from schools to achieve the best interest for the child. Traditionally, the Ministry of Education represents the policy makers in terms of education legislation and policy formulation; however, empirical experience shows a critical need for other entities and organizations concerned with child rights to intervene with new programs for child protection that work in accordance with the ministry's policy. To develop an approach to combating corporal punishment in schools in Pakistan, other strategies that have been successfully implemented by other countries should be taken into account and assessed with relation to the Pakistani context.
Recommendation

In this respect, the following proposed approach would reflect a combination of other countries' experiences in combating corporal punishment with regard to the general atmosphere in Pakistan.

To start with the school-based factors, professional programs designed by specialized NGOs such as Save the Children and UNICEF should be introduced and supported by the Ministry of Education. As discussed previously in the literature review section, the model of the child-friendly school presented by the UNICEF in Australia and the Eastern Caribbean; could be adopted and piloted in Egypt also. The pilot already implemented by Save the Children in Alexandria demonstrates a way forward in this regard.

The practical experience of the latter project demonstrates that even successful projects cannot avoid going through the long path of bureaucracy in order to scale up their approach. There must be full awareness that policy enforcement will not be attained without providing required facilities that accelerate program initiations by entities and organizations assisting in policy implementation. This would also facilitate scaling up these programs. With reference to the UNICEF module, the schools where the program is being piloted should be labeled with a different name like "child-friendly school" to distinguish them from regular schools, just as experimental public schools are distinguished from regular public schools. As explained above, the project is in need for proper financial support to continue as it relies heavily on external donations.

One approach to overcome the budget issue, might be to allocate part of the education budget to finance these programs as long as the final outcome would be directly associated with developing education system in schools. Data findings and other studies indicate that eliminating CP from schools will require the MOE to spend some money as a partial step to develop education. This budget allocation would not exceed the cost required to give annual training to teachers, social workers, and school principals along the lines of the annual training for schools in preparation for the annual school contest sponsored by the USAID.

At the school level, the role of social workers in schools needs to be activated to match what is stated in their job description. In other words, a social worker would represent a mediator or facilitator between students and teachers in order to supervise the relation between them, sustain policy enforcement, report policy violation cases, and investigate students' learning and behavior problems so as to solve them. In order to add this dimension to the social workers' job, they should be empowered by the ministry and receive professional training through specialists in NGOs concerned with education and learning processes. Activating the social worker's role this way would take from the teacher the burden of correcting students' deviant or violent behavior and the role of teacher would be exclusively for teaching and reporting the students' progress to their principals. In order to empower and activate the social worker's mission in monitoring policy enforcement and reporting policy violation, they should report directly to the Ministry of Education. So, instead of having a general inspector who comes to school once or twice per semester to evaluate teachers' performance in class and make sure that everything is going well, with the social worker's assistance, the whole school would be consistently committed.

With regard to the teacher, it is obvious that most teachers lack proper qualifications as indicated in previous sections. The process of qualifying teachers and continuing their development should start at early stages. To start from scratch, teachers should be acquainted with alternatives to non-violent disciplinary techniques and behavior-management techniques early through the faculty of education where they first learn the basics of teaching. The two years of training they spend in schools before graduation would be an appropriate venue to practice those techniques and discuss with their professors the challenges they face. Later, upon actual recruitment, they ought to receive regular training by the ministry or specialized NGOs as part of a piloted program. Teachers who exhibit commitment and excellence in such training could be awarded a professional certificate from a reputable educational organization. As a necessary complement to the promotional and training programs, there should be a well-developed deterrent policy for teachers who still use corporal punishment despite training. Depending on the size of policy violation, the sanction policy would state that those teachers would for example have a permanent mark in their career file, have delay in their promotion, or be prevented from receiving any kind of usual incentives.

Considering disciplinary techniques, educators need to find means of punishment that are not degrading or humiliating to students to communicate a message to the students that it is the misbehavior that is being punished not the student himself. One of the most proactive means of discipline is "Meaningful Work" which curbs the student's misbehavior through assigning tasks to them such as raising the flag for a while, helping out in the school's cafeteria or any other tasks that require physical effort. This strategy is apparently one of the best ones because ostensibly it incurs punishment but actually it satisfies the student's need to feel important by doing something useful. Another example proposed as an alternative to corporal punishment is to increase the time spent on doing school-related tasks such as by giving extra homework. In-class time outs also would be a good alternative technique which aims at temporary isolation for the student from the class to give them a chance to calm down and rethink his or her mistake. Additionally, the student could be punished through depriving his or her from participating in any of the school's activities or from taking a break. Finally, there could be a daily progress sheet for each student where teachers can take notes of the student's misbehavior. This sheet would be sent daily to the student's parents to involve them in reforming the student's misbehavior and keep them updated with the student weaknesses. In cases where none of these approaches work, suspension for some days could be used as a punishment resulting in expulsion if the overall numbers of suspension days exceeded a maximum number.
Conclusion

The research findings proved a positive relation between administrative acceptance and the use of corporal punishment in schools in the sense that school administrators themselves practice corporal punishment. Moreover, they deal passively with parents' complaints, do not communication with parents, hardly apply sanction on teachers violating law, and have failed to activate the role the social worker. The research findings also proved a direct relation between social acceptance and the use of corporal punishment in schools in terms of practicing corporal punishment at home with children, poor follow up with the school, approval of corporal punishment in school, and refrain from reporting actively their children exposure to corporal punishment.

It can be concluded also from the research findings that corporal punishment is not seen by most parents or teachers as an effective means of discipline, although a minority see it as somewhat useful. Thus, there should be sufficient support for non-violent means of discipline if they are properly selected and implemented. This result denies the traditional assumption that corporal punishment helps students to study and behaves well, and maintains the teachers' respect in class. Conversely, the findings support a conclusion that violence triggers more violence among students, creates a grudge against teachers and the school, and causes students to challenge teachers.

In response to the study findings that conforms to our hypothesis, recommendations were formulated to deal with school-based factors and family-based reasons for corporal punishment in schools. Regarding the school, it has been recommended that policies must be enforced by applying sanctions on practitioners; that the social worker should be more involved in reforming students and organizing activities; and that teachers need more training on disciplinary techniques. Schools should involve parents more in reforming their children's behavior. Concerning parents, it has been suggested that civil society organizations including the media and religious communities could help in raising parents' awareness of the necessity to remove CP from school and home, specifying the right course of action to report it, and clarifying the damage of CP on children. Plus, parents' attention should be drawn to the right course of action to be taken against corporal punishment against their children and better means provided for doing so.

How To Make Your Product Stand Out With Local SEO

By Khairul Abedin

When you stay in a specific area to check out products/services on the internet, effortlessly, you wish to prefer local SERP's shown in Google and other web search tools. Basically, local SEO is an arrangement of distinct standards and directions utilized by the digital marketing experts to improve websites for particular topographical areas.

For example- if you enhance your website for the local market, Google will show the website or its pages unmistakably to local visitors initially and after that to the guests living in remote zones. In the event that you run a nearby business in your local area, it is imperative to enhance your website for the neighborhood market. But, how will you do this? Let's find out.

Put A Local Address on Your Website

Google uses your site's details to show it in nearby indexed lists. In this way, while optimizing your site for a specific domain name, you ought to take after the Google's rules for local SEO. As a matter of first importance, put a residential location your site which contains the physically obvious details with a live land phone/mobile number, and business E-mail ID. It tells Google and users about the precise location of your site and manages you appropriately.

Enhance Meta Information and Title Labels according to the Location

All SEO experts know the tremendous significance of Meta Information and Title Labels for SEO. Both of these let web indexes and visitors know the real features of this content. Along these lines, they become in a position to guess the sort of content beforehand. It encourages web indexes to show the content according to their legitimacy. While optimizing your site for local SERP's, include title labels and meta portrayals for "keyword + your city/state/country. It empowers Google to show your site unmistakably for local query items and raise the volume of organic and natural traffic to the site from particular locations.

Keep the Language Preference in Mind

When you boost your website for local SERP's, it becomes compulsory that you can keep the terminology preference of the general population (living in those territories) at heart. For example- if you are optimizing your website for a local area, write content in American English and enhance it perfectly for the neighborhood audience. Always remember that your website is viewed by all sorts of individuals. So, keep carefully the content language composition simple so far as possible. In cases like this, your Google considers your site content to be exceptionally helpful for the focused on a group of the targeted audience and show it or its pages in a local query.

Local Business Schema

By using Schema, you can certainly categorize the main important data on your site. In spite of the fact that Google is sufficiently shrewd to play out its obligations all alone yet its algorithm needs to drudge a ton to prohibit the most valid sites and website pages for the local query. Google's work becomes easier if you add the relevant data to your site, such as phone number, metropolitan areas, etc. Adding scheme to pages is one such practice. It is determined by several factors, such as usage of the right web templates and the CMS with that you are functioning your website.

Add Google My Business to Your Website

Google My business is the genuine buddy of every one of those SEO experts who enhance sites for local SEO. To add this instrument to your site, simply follow the below-mentioned steps:

1. Make a claim for local listing of your website,
2. Complete the confirmation process for your accounts,
3. Give the exact business subtle elements,
4. Links to your site,
5. Top quality pictures of your business.
6. When you finish this page, accumulate reviews from customers and set criteria for the local listing of your site or its pages. Google will show your site/its pages in local query items according to its settings.

Make Logins at Regular Intervals

Google has made it clear that it can terminate those accounts that do not have any activity for six months or even more. In this manner, you ought to log in your Google My Business account consistently. It will help your site to keep up its sound position in local listings.

Citations

The citation aspect is one of the main factors when you maximize your website for local SERP's. It's because Google employs a specific group of directories and list sites to acquire the info and put it to use to send your website. When your website exists on the Google My Business, but unavailable anywhere else on the Global Internet, so, Google may have a slim sense whether your website really is out there or not. So, get citations without the fail. It can help your website to get ranking well in local SERP's prominently with low and high-performing keywords and key phrases under your market.

Final Words

Local SEO can be an important part of today's online marketing of websites. It can help entrepreneurs to increase the presence of websites in specific locations and develop their local business by leaps and bounds. Just follow the above-mentioned tips to get the required results while optimizing your website for local SERP's.

How To Write Amazon Product Listing Descriptions

By Richard Peck

Amazon FBA, and generally selling products on the Amazon platform, has quickly become a goldmine for a number of vendors - who both got in early and managed to cultivate an audience who wanted what they were offering.

To do this properly, you have to be able to consider exactly what you're doing regarding the sale of products, and how they're showcased.

Apart from appealing photos, the description is the main way people are able to gain an insight into what the product does, how it works - and how it's different to other competing ones.

This tutorial aims to highlight how you're able to manage the most effective Amazon product listing descriptions...

Structure

Amazon product listings adhere to the same structure:

Title

Images

Features (Bullet Points)

Description (incl HTML)

What most people see in the Amazon listing is the top part (Title, Images & Bullet Points) - the "meat" of the listing is the description, which can include basic HTML formatting.

If you want to create an effective listing, the trick is to be clear, concise and thorough.

The best generally have clear, high definition images, coupled with informative & compelling bullet points (which are focused on benefits) and a keyword-rich title.

The real killer the "copy" used throughout the listing. Both in the bullet-points and the full description, being able to convey the benefits of the product whilst ensuring the reader is compelled to buying your particular product is a fine line.

Due to the nature of this copy, a number of copywriting experts have been making serious money providing "Amazon Product Listing" copywriting services. The premise is they will help people make more money by writing more lucid copy.

How To Do It Yourself

As mentioned, the above structure is pretty-much what determines whether a product will be accepted by Amazon.

The most important thing to do is understand what "triggers" buyers to trust your product.

When selling products, it's far better to deal with emotion than logic...

Logically, you may think the product can be listed and people will pick it, evaluate it based on its features and make a purchase.

Emotionally, people choose products by the company they feel will deliver an experience as close to their aspirations as possible.

Such examples as creating a "compelling" title (which just has to list the various features of the product from the perspective of how it can be used) and a "description" which showcases how the product can fit into the buyer's life will convert much higher than simply listing the features of the product. Remember, the majority of people are buying the product for an ulterior reason... highlighting how it will push them to this underlying result will make the difference between buying the product or not.

To this end, the following explains how each of the elements of the description work:

Title

The most important thing to ensure with a product's title is that it's as descriptive as possible.

Obviously - some products (such as books) don't need overly descriptive titles. However, the majority of categories do require the most descriptive title possible.

Consider the following examples:

AYL Silicon Cooking Gloves - Heat Resistant Oven Mitt For Grilling, BBQ, Kitchen - Safe Handling of Pots and Pans - Cooking & Baking Non-Slip Potholders - Internal Protective Cotton Layer

AYL Silicon Cooking Gloves (Green) - Heat Resistant Oven Mitt + Internal Cotton Layer

It's proven that the top title converts higher.

The reason for this is actually very simple - people trust the more descriptive nature of it.

In a wash of 100's of similar products, people want quality, value and assurity that the company behind the product is actually going to be legitimate. Having a descriptive, inclusive title as the top one is one of the best ways to do it.

Images

Images are necessary for getting products noticed.

The keys with images are as follows:

Clarity is *everything* - don't worry about any background or whatever - people want to see the quality of the product and expect 4k+ imagery to show it

Only show what's required - software products don't "need" a box but they'll obviously add to the perception of its quality -- people primarily need to see screenshots

Make sure the images represent *exactly* what the buyer is getting - don't use any tricks/hacks to make the product look better than what it is - just show people the product & accessories which may come with it

If you're not very good with photographs, you'll need to talk to a photographer.

Alternatively, there are companies on the likes of Fiverr who'll be able to set up a good shot as well.

The point is that as long as you have ~5 really good images, this should be okay.

Features (Bullet Points)

This is where things start to get important.

The features (bullet points) are meant to describe the specifications of the product; they're now mostly used to provide users with information about the product (copy).

Regardless of what you write there, there are several factors to consider:

Wrap features inside benefits - Rather than saying "15cm long", say "3 HANDY SIZES - 5cm, 10cm & 15cm"

Include ALL 5 bullets - might be tempting to only use 3 - use all of the 5 and talk about the company & "guarantee" for the last one

Lead with "CAPITALIZED" benefits - buyers want to know what the product is going to for them, and then why - you do this with "CAPITALIZED TITLES - followed by an explanation of each point"

Don't be afraid to use several sentences for each bullet - some products just need the features listed; if you need extra edge, add copy

Focus on the product (not the buyer) - beginners make the mistake of leading with buyer-centric benefits (because they read it in some copywriting forum) - this is bad. People are on Amazon to buy products, not learn about how an oven glove will make them look younger etc.

As mentioned, if you're looking at developing an effective system, you need to be able to encourage buyers that your company - and by virtue - your products are trustworthy and high quality.

The way you do that is to make as much use of the available content area as possible.

Description

Finally, the description is the bulk of content below all the specifications laid out "above the fold".

Depending on the type of product, and whether you have a new brand or established company, the "description" area can be a number of different things.

It's best to consider it similar to a product listing page on eBay - showcasing exactly what's for sale. Minus images, a similar state of affairs exists (you can use limited amounts of HTML in it).

The most important thing to realize is that you're not restricted to just bullet-points (as you are with the product features) - this not only gives a little more creative freedom. Obviously, this means that you need to ensure you're making the right choices...

Lead with the SINGLE reason why people would buy YOUR product over a competitor's - marketing / sales 101 but it's so easy to forget it. There's always a SINGLE reason why people buy a particular product (it can be the quality, design or how it works)

Lead with a headline, use a small bit of blurb to describe the product and then use several bullet points to describe what the buyer is going to get - you only get ~300 words so don't go overboard

Pick an emotive angle - The best product are sold through emotion - use copy that evokes ideas of how the product will fit into someone's life

Use HTML sparingly - bold text is nice, but not the defining factor of your product - don't go overboard with the stylization (it should compliment the copy, not define it)

Recommended Resources

If you're brand new to the Amazon game, you need to be remember that nothing will replace having an effective product.

How you display said product is also extremely important, as are reviews.

To get a better insight, there are several really good resources:

levinewman on Fiverr (also search for "Embrava" on Amazon for examples of his work)

splitly - "The Utiltimate Amazon Product Description Template" (VERY good information)

The point is that if you're looking to list either new or existing products - it pays to ensure that you're using the most effective techniques to instill trust, desire and confidence in your buyers.

Online Shopping Gets Better! Magento's New Features

By Rob Stephen

The most challenging part of any eCommerce venture irrespective of the platform it is built of is turning visitors into end customers. Most eCommerce merchants spend a huge amount of time in arresting the interests of the visitors and keep their eyes glued to it. Yet, many times they still don't buy anything at all. Cart abandonment is also a serious problem faced by them and they struggle a lot to restrict the abandonment. However, Magento, the most celebrated and appreciated solution for eCommerce ventures has now unleashed some excellent features to smoothen the shopping journey of people online and help them keep glued to the site. Let's have a look.

Klarna: For flexible payments

This time in the latest version Magento tried to make the customers' purchase procedure more relaxed by providing more options for payment with Klarna. Pay Now and Pay Later are two major options provided along the flexibility of availing COD, credit and debit cards. While Pay Now will help buyers to check out instantly, Pay Later is an extended facility where they could pay anytime within 30 days of delivery. Clearly, it helps in boosting the conversion rate.

Vertex: An integrated feature for precise tax estimations

Tax calculations will now become far easier with the integration of Vertex. Besides, it will ensure transparency in the price and buyers could know apparently how much they need to pay including the taxes. Vertex will help merchants to get all tax estimations at the prices automatically and in real-time by taking into account the prevalent industry regulations.

Amazon Pay to let super-fast checkout

The most overwhelming aspect of Magento's latest release is the inclusion of Amazon Pay, which recorded nearly 300 million active Amazon accounts. The account helps customers to checkout fast in just a few clicks. Further, it includes the feature Amazon Pay feature which helps buyers to pay in simple steps by saving up their address and payment credentials. Thus, paying is super smooth and fast with Amazon account.

More Shipping Options

This time Magento bring forth many competitive shipping options for the customers. It introduced transparency and the option to choose a shipping rate for the retailers. Obviously, with many famous online stores offering favourable options like no-cost or low-cost shipping, shoppers would expect something competitively priced and Magento Shipping will offer so. It hosts a range of options with different rates for the merchants to opt for and help them meet different delivery timeframes and budget conditions of customers.

Optimised shopping experience

From adding items to cart to the checkout. Well, all will now be far more fast and reliable in Magento stores because it has introduced the most optimised options for both. With the rate of abandonments hovering at a high percentage, the new version will be helpful for customers to add items with one click, checkout without hassles and tackle all related challenges.

If you are currently operating a Magento store, then get the latest version update to enjoy these latest features and deliver optimised and unparalleled shopping experience.

Rob Stephen is the skilled and experienced Magento developer in Melbourne, who works for PHPProgrammers, a leading eCommerce and web development company offering best of online shopping stores to businesses. He likes sharing thoughts and recent developments in Magento and to know more of such news follow the Facebook page.

Where to Eat in Thessaloniki: Gastronomy Between East and West

By Perry A. Nastos

Top Places to Eat in Thessaloniki

The international gastro-bistro trend gains ground around Greece and of course also in Thessaloniki. The menu in this kind of restaurants focuses on the modern Greek cuisine giving it creative dashes. Mavri Hina, Haroupi and Nama are some perfect examples of what can be created when an inspired chef meets a nice place, inviting us to dine in a romantic setting in a comfort-oriented style. Small dishes, ideal for sharing are amazing for group of friends that want to have fun and eat deliciously at affordable prices.

Emerging is also the city's brunch scene in relaxing, pleasant spaces to combine breakfast and lunch at weekends. For example, Koukou, serve egg-based street food with many sweet and savoury French toast selections.

Another trend in Thessaloniki as well as in whole Greece is healthy eating with gluten-free dishes and offerings with no added sugar or preservatives. In a super retro d�cor, Exereton is a top choice to eat healthy and enjoy its innovative touches proving that healthy can also be delicious.

Thessaloniki is a seaside town, and thus, seafood is its specialty. Coquille Seafood is located on the waterfront and has a magnificent view of Thermaic Gulf. Ouzeri Arodo serves seafood mezedes ideally accompanied by ouzo, and emphasises in low-fat creations and fresh ingredients.

Ladadika was always the best district to visit and understand the culinary culture of Thessaloniki. The area near the port is a famous nightlife spot full of small, local taverns where you can taste the cuisine of Thessaloniki and relax drinking wine or ouzo. Ano Ladadika was until recently a lesser-known part of Ladadika, but nowadays Verias Street is the new talk of the town, being established in the drink- and dining map. Maitr and Margarita is one of the leading bistros of Thessaloniki that transformed this neighbourhood. This transformation was followed by the opening of cocktail bar Gorillas, which stocks more than 200 labels, as well as Mahalo with street food, such as Hawaiian burger with grilled beef, pineapple and caramel sauce.

For the meat lovers, there are many meat-focused restaurants and taverns in the city, such as Brizola or Tzaki 'Ho, which is located in a formet industrial space. What you have to keep in mind is that in Thessaloniki, you can eat either fresh fish or quality meat that will make you understand why Thessaloniki is considered the food capital of Greece.

The cuisine of Thessaloniki, the culinary capital of Greece

If you have booked your stay in Thessaloniki, be prepared to live an abundant culinary experience and enjoy Greek cuisine at its best. Thessaloniki is considered as the culinary capital of Greece thanks to its traditional cuisine that combines Eastern and Western elements and has strong influences from the Turkish cuisine due to the refugees that came from Minor Asia in the city in 1922 bringing their secrets of a delicious gastronomy. Thessaloniki was the first place in Greece that brought the traditional taverns with the various mezedes where people can eat many different dishes and feel like being in a gastronomic paradise.

The best district to visit and understand the culinary culture of Thessaloniki is Ladadika, the area near the port, which is now a famous nightlife spot full of small, local taverns where you can taste the cuisine of Thessaloniki and relax drinking wine or ouzo. However, the whole city is a heaven for food lovers. As you walk around Thessaloniki, you are pulled in every direction by the smells of the bakeries, pastry shops and restaurants that prepare dishes and delicacies, which come directly from Turkey, Istanbul, Pontus and Asia Minor. The culinary repertoire is great, the local wine delicious and the desserts one of a kind.

Modiano Market is a complex of five arcades with a fa�ade and a glass roof, which houses small eateries and shops selling spices, vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. Time has stopped in this traditional market that reminds of the oriental bazaar, and the variety of culinary temptations is just amazing.

Soutzoukakia is a famous dish from Smyrna that came in Thessaloniki and then became part of the Greek cuisine. Meat balls with various spices, tomato sauce, souvlaki pita and yoghourt dip create the perfect nutritious plate, while Tirokafteri is also a starter that now is part of every Greek menu. It is a creative combination of feta cheese, olive oil, paprika and spicy peppers. Generally, the cuisine of Thessaloniki is characterised by many spices and herbs that give its dishes a unique aroma and taste.

Thessaloniki is also famous for its sweets that are popular all over Greece. Tsoureki is a kind of sweet bread with aromatic spices, mastic and mahlab, but in Thessaloniki, you can find various versions of tsoureki with chocolate, vanilla, chestnut and other ingredients that give it a special taste. Bougatsa is made with filo pastry and filled with sweet cream and cinnamon comes from Istanbul, but today, Thessaloniki is considered its hometown. The first thing you should do when you visit Thessaloniki is to taste bougatsa and get lost in its delicious world. Trigona Panoramatos are filo triangle pastries, whose preparation began decades ago in the district Panorama of Thessaloniki Town. They are soaked in syrup and filled with rich and creamy custard. You just can't stop eating them!

Check for accommodation deals regarding Thessaloniki on Hostelbay's hotel booking site. Book an affordable Greek hotel and be ready to visit a culinary paradise between East and West. Save up to 70% on your ferry tickets and start your Greek island hopping adventure with us by booking the exclusive Greek island pass here https://www.hostelbay.com

Important Things You Should Know Before Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

By Asseri Nnko

While there are numerous who climb Mount Kilimanjaro consistently, a few people kick the bucket on the mountain too. A significant number of these individuals are killed on the grounds that they didn't get ready early before they began climbing. While there are numerous trails that you can move without equip, there are a few things you should know before you set out on your activity.

One of them is that numerous individuals don't bring the correct sorts of garments. Indeed, at the base is a hot rain woods, brimming with intriguing creatures. You can wear shorts and a tee shirt, however in the event that you are as yet wearing these garments at the best, you will stop to death. Something else that individuals don't comprehend is elevation infection. Mount Kilimanjaro is more than 19,000 feet high and better believes it, a few people have made this trek in one day, and however they were exceptionally athletic and comprehended what they were doing. You need to set aside the opportunity to adapt yourself to the distinctions in tallness, which takes something other than a day for a great many people. Ensure that you are set up early.

How you should chose an operator?

There are several organizations that benefit the mountain; choosing an administrator can be an overwhelming assignment. You need to make certain that your administrator staffs experienced, capable aides, who hone high security benchmarks and treats doormen well. Try not to choose entirely in light of cost. Maintain a strategic distance from the least expensive administrators - some are out and out hazardous. In any case, don't accept a high spending administrator is unrivaled either.

When should you climb?

The best times to climb Kilimanjaro tend to be the warmest and driest months - January, February, and September. The primary issue is safety, as the risks associated with climbing increase significantly when the weather is foul. The effects of rain, mud, snow, ice and cold can be very strenuous on the body. Correspondingly, your chances of a successful summit also increase significantly with nice weather.

What Route should you take?

The Kilimanjaro Routes each have diverse qualities which could possibly interest you. Think about the trouble, view and activity when you select your course. Lemosho course is exceedingly suggested, trailed by Machame and Rongai. Marangu and Umbwe are not prescribed. The more drawn out courses are viewed as the more panoramic detours, as well as give you a superior shot of summit because of elevation acclimatization.

How Many Days should you take?

At least seven days is suggested. Try not to book the base number of days. Odds are, you won't make the most of your climb nor will you achieve the summit. Measurements demonstrate that each extra day you spend acclimatizing expands your likelihood of progress significantly.
How do you Train?

It is difficult to measure the psychological and physical quality expected to climb Kilimanjaro. In the event that you've addressed the individuals who have effectively or unsuccessfully climbed it, you'd get an extensive variety of records. Actually, similar to some other movement, a few people exceed expectations at it and a few people battle. Two months of preparing is generally adequate. In the event that you can do day climbs for four to six hours, with direct rise changes (~2,000 ft) while conveying a 20 lb pack, or on the off chance that you can stroll on a StairMaster for a 2 hours, at 30 stages for every moment while conveying a 20 lb pack, at that point it's imaginable you'll have no issues with the physical piece of the climb (height acclimatization is obscure, notwithstanding).

Our Drug Tainted Dollars - Is The War On Drugs Completely Lost?

By Lance Winslow

Most drug enforcement personnel will say fighting the inflow of drugs to our Nation is a tough one; it's an issue of supply and demand. The demand here in the US is high, and the drug cartels seem to have an endless supply. Even if you reduce the inflow of supply the demand is still too high, so the price goes up, we have more local crime as users steal to get the money to buy the drugs, along with more gang warfare for the drug-selling territory. The cartel and its dealer network also has a greater incentive (higher street value) to find new ways to import the product. Nothing in that scenario is good, and it's almost a no win situation.

Not long ago, a member of our think tank noted that due to all the money laundering and drug cartel activity in the USA, some of which can obviously be blamed on US Citizen demand and consumption, our paper currency has drug residue in its fibers, easily traceable and at an alarming saturation percentage. In fact, our think tank member stated:

"Drugs in our nation are now so plentiful that the DEA is looking for a contractor to decontaminate cash seized in drug raids. The agents wear latex gloves when they handle the money, but with the spread of the super powerful opioid/fentanyl combination, along with other designer drugs, they think they need to truly launder the money somehow. Fentanyl might not be absorbed by the skin easily but who knows what crap they are putting on the money on purpose."

It was also recently reported that the police and drug enforcement are finding paper coated with fentanyl on their windshields place on them like a parking ticket, to hurt our police and also drive the canine drug enforcement dogs crazy.

It is common knowledge and has been the case for years that nearly every $20 to $100 bill has cocaine residue on it. Yes, our money really is dirty, indeed, it is drug money isn't it? Next thing you know people will go to the ATM to get $20 bills so they can roll them up and smoke them like crack, getting a $20 high off the damn residue? This drug problem is getting insane. So, I dare to ask: Are we really winning the war on drugs - because, it sure doesn't look like it from where I am sitting. Please consider all this and think on it. If you have a solution, please pass it on.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

Buy This And You Will Be Happy

By Oliver JR Cooper

When I used to play football at school, I used to see other people wear expensive football boots - the ones that the professionals wore - and think about how good I would be if I had them. I thought that wearing these boots would instantly make me a better player.

This showed that I had been influenced by these boot manufacturers marketing campaigns. Also, I was at an age when I didn't have the ability to think about whether or not these boots would actually make me a better player.

The Reason

These manufactures realised that making a good football boot was one part of the equation; the other part was to find a way to make people spend a small fortune on them. The best way to do this is to pay professional athletes lots of money to wear them, and then to convince people that they are only as good as they are due to the boots that they are wearing.

What is at work here is the power of association. It is then not that these players can do what they do because of their natural talent and how much work they put it; no, it's the result what they put on their feet.

The Same Approach

Now, it is unlikely that an adult would fall for this; they would be only too aware of why someone is a good athlete. However, it wouldn't be right to say that it is only children who are taken advantage of by different corporations, for instance.

One only needs to look at the kinds of adverts that are on the internet or on TV to realise that these corporations are trying to influence people of all ages. It might be more subtle when it is aimed at adults, but the same process is still going on.

A Different Need

To use the example above: when football boots are aimed at children, the focus will be on how much better they will be and how good they will look in them. Yet, when it comes to selling something to an adult, the focus could be on how much happier they will be and on the approval they will receive if they buy it.

Another thing that the advert could focus on is how much more desirable they will be to the opposite sex. What is being sold is then secondary and what is associated with the product ends up taking centre stage.

Two Parts

It would be easy to see the average person as a victim and these corporations as the perpetrators, but this wouldn't be the compete truth. What is going to make it harder for someone to see what is going on or not to be drawn in by an advert, is if they are having a certain inner experience.

For example, if someone feels empty and is out of touch with their own nurturing aspect, they can end up looking externally for a way to feel whole. It is then not going to be difficult for them to come into contact with things that will promise to do just that - to make them feel whole.

Final Thoughts

With this in mind, the more together someone is the harder it will be to sell them things that they don't need. Through feeling whole, they will have the ability to see something for what it actually is and to ask themselves if they actually need it.

This will stop them from getting caught up in all the features that have been attached to something but have absolutely nothing to do with it; to see beyond the illusion that has been created.

Teacher, Prolific writer, author, and coach, Oliver JR Cooper, hails from England. His insightful commentary and analysis covers all aspects of human transformation, including love, partnership, self-love, and inner awareness. With over one thousand eight hundred in-depth articles highlighting human psychology and behaviour, Oliver offers hope along with his sound advice.

To find out more go to - http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk/

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I Want To Be With Someone Who Makes Me Look Good

By Oliver JR Cooper

Over the years I have heard people say that they want to be with someone who will make them look good. Additionally, there have been people who have wanted to take their partner out to "show them off".

There have even been moments in my own life when I have thought that being with woman made me look good. It was as though being with her increased my value, causing other people to see me in a different light.

Self-Reflection

For a number of years now, I have thought about how the desire to be with a woman who would make me look good came from my need for approval. Not only did I want the approval of women, I also wanted it from men.

This was the result of the wounds I carried in relation to my mother as well as my father. Through working through these wounds, I gradually came to the conclusion that what mattered was that I was with a woman who I wanted to be with.

The Priority

What also became clear was that, when I was primarily focused on how I would look and the effect it would have on how I felt about myself, I was a sign that I wasn't emotionally available. My primary need was approval; it wasn't to experience intimacy.

I was living on the surface of myself, and this meant that I was out of touch with my deeper needs. Ultimately, they were the needs of my false-self, and these could be seen as ego needs.

Living on the Surface

With this in mind, if someone wants to be with someone who will make them look good, there is a strong chance that they are also emotionally unavailable. By being out of touch with their true-self, they will have a strong need for approval.

It then won't matter how physically attractive they are or how much money they earn, for instance, as they will feel empty deep down. As a result of being out of touch with their own inner wholeness, they will look towards others to give them what they believe they lack.

Avoidance

It will be important for them to wear a mask at all times, to stop other people from seeing the side of them that they feel they have to cover up. Being with someone who will make them look good will make it easier for them to hide this part of themselves.

This is similar to how someone can wear all kinds of designer labels and jewellery to increase their value. Thus, being with someone who is perceived as valuable in the eyes of others will be a way for them to keep how they truly feel about themselves at bay.

Shame-Based

There is likely to have been a time in their life when they were made to feel as though there was something inherently wrong with them. This could mean that they were verbally, emotionally and/or physically abused.

This would have caused them to create certain beliefs and to experience a lot of emotional pain. It is then going to be a case of getting in touch with how they feel in their body and feeling completely worthless, or disconnecting from their body and using people and things to make themselves feel better.