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Last April, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act, the most sweeping reform of our nation’s bankruptcy laws in more than twenty-five years. Proponents of the bill argue that most consumers who file for bankruptcy do so simply because they do not wish to pay their bills. That is an arguable point, as studies show that most bankruptcy filers have suffered illness, injury or job loss. Regardless of the reasons, Congress has made the changes, and millions of Americans will be affected when the new law takes effect on October 15.

Here is a short list of the changes and how consumers will be affected.

Goodbye, Chapter 7 - Until now, most consumers have been permitted to file under Chapter 7 of the Federal bankruptcy code. Chapter 7 permits the court to wipe away most consumer debt, allowing the debtor to make a fresh start. The new law establishes a “means test.” Anyone with income that exceeds the median income for his or her state will have to file under the stricter Chapter 13 instead, which requires a repayment schedule of up to five years.

Attorney problems - The more complicated Chapter 13 filings will make it necessary for filers to hire an attorney. Most attorneys who practice bankruptcy law are already reporting dramatically increased business; some are even turning clients away. If you need an attorney, hire one now, as they are soon going to be very busy

More attorney problems - The law also leaves lawyers legally responsible for the accuracy of the information filed on their clients’ behalf. This has led most lawyers to increase their fees. Some, including those who do bankruptcy work on a pro bono, or free, basis, have decided to forego bankruptcy work altogether. In short, it will soon be more difficult and more expensive to hire an attorney.

Mandatory credit counseling - Congress has required that debtors obtain credit counseling from an approved agency within six months of filing for bankruptcy. As of now, this requirement is largely undefined, with rules, regulations, and qualifications for counselors still up in the air.

Expect to may more bills - Some obligations, such as student loans or taxes, must be paid in full even after a bankruptcy filing. The new law lengthens the list of debts that cannot be forgiven.

The new legislation, rightly or wrongly, makes it more difficult, more time consuming and more expensive for a debtor to file for bankruptcy. Consumers who are considering doing so should act now, as the regulations will soon become stricter. Bankruptcy should always be a last resort option, but if you cannot avoid it, you should act quickly.

©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to establishing credit, debt consolidation and credit counseling.

For those of us who are making your very 1st iPod procurement, the variety can definitely appear intimidating. There are some things to think about when procuring an iPod. However, the most necessary element for the majority of consumers is memory. Like that of your works desktop Personal Computer or notebook, an iPod contains internal storage space that controls how much files it can keep. From the littlest iPod Shuffle, to the biggest iPod Classic, the size of the memory can be anywhere from one GB to a whopping 160 Giga Bytes! With that size of storage space your iPod can stored anything from two hundred and forty to three hundred thousand music tracks and has up to 150 hours of video storage. Also, there is a wide variety of iPod Speakers to purchase in various sizes & features to meet your explicit demands.

The iPod Classic, with available memory of up to 160GB, can store nearly all of your favourite audio clips and videos. Playlists are automatically chosen based upon your specific requirements. preferences. The two and a half inch display screen of the iPod Classic will view your favourite video files in spectacular colour. A small recharge of the devices own battery supplies as much as 36 hours of music or six hours of video playback. Find a large range of technology products such as; iPods, LED TVs and digital photo frames from leading brands online.

The alternative of the iPod Classic is the stylish & petite iPod Nano. The Nano offers a combination of features generally found in the iPod Classic as well as the iPod Shuffle. The Nano adopts flash memory like the shuffle, yet features a colour display panel & functions just like the iPod Classic. The iPod Nano also has a shake to shuffle feature like the one seen in the iPod Shuffle. Basically shake your Nano to shift to a randomly picked music song. With storage capacity of either eight Giga Bytes or sixteen GB as well as a two inch screen display, the iPod Nano is an amazing mid level MP3 player. It’s also offered in a mixture of 9 separate colours.

By blending qualities from the iPod Classic & the Nano & adding World Wide Web capability, Apple developed the iPod touch. With storage of eight Giga Bytes to sixty-four Giga Bytes along with web surfing and an endless amount of optional applications, you surely have the best of both products!

The tinniest music player of the iPod family is the simple yet great iPod Shuffle. With a size of only 1.8 inches by 0.03 inch, the shuffle is now tinnier than a traditional door key! The most recent version of the iPod shuffle features controls that are incorporated directly into the earphones themselves. With flash memory of up to four Giga Bytes, this small powerhouse can save up to one-thousand songs & is a great purchase for use whilst undertaking exercise. As you can see there is an iPod to meet every specific demand. The choices available are nearly endless!

One of the most popular variations of Poker, the 7 Card Stud Poker game is played at every Vegas casino and in all internet casinos. The popularity of 7 Card Stud Poker is eclipsed only by a variant of the game called Texas Hold ‘Em, which is the main format of the World Series of Poker, the largest professional tournament in the world. Once you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker, it is an easy step to learn Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, or other popular variants.

The hand ranking order is the same for 7 Card Stud as it is for just about every one of the hundreds of Poker variations played around the world. The highest possible hand is a Royal Flush, and after that in descending order are the Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, and Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card. The odds of being dealt a high hand in 7 Card Stud are lower than those in Texas Hold ‘Em because you must construct the hand using only the cards you receive. There are no community cards in traditional 7 Card Stud.

As with every Poker game, play in 7 Card Stud begins with the ante: each player pays a small amount to the pot in order to participate in the game. There are six stages in 7 Card Stud Poker; known as third street, fourth street, fifth street, sixth street, the river, and the showdown. After the ante, each player is dealt two face-down cards (called hole cards) and one face-up card. This initial deal is third street. The player with the highest card showing initiates the betting, and will either check (not raise the pot), or bet. Then, each subsequent player can either call (match the first player’s bet), raise (increase the bet amount), or fold (withdraw from the hand). Three more face-up cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, with a round of betting after each deal pass–these stages are fourth, fifth and sixth street.

The seventh card is known as “the river,” and is dealt face-down. One final round of betting ensues, after which those players who have not folded enter the last stage, called “the showdown.” At this point, beginning with the last player to call the bet, each player shows their respective cards and names the best five-card hand they can make with their cards (full house, two pair, etc.). The pot is given to the player with the highest ranking hand, and then the next hand begins. Now you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker!

This article is the property of Online 7 Card Stud Poker . This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

BRUCE LEE

ENTER THE DRAGON
LITTLE KNOWN FACT
WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST
A WARRIOR’S JOURNEY
LAST MAN STANDING
GAME OF DEATH
NUNCHAKU
FISTS OF FURY
THE CURSE
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
SILENT BUT DEADLY
ELVIS & BRUCE
THE DRAGON

“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own”
- Bruce Lee

ENTER THE DRAGON

Bruce Lee Jun Fan Yuen Kam was born in the year of the dragon, 1940, and at the hour of the dragon, between 6 and 8 AM.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT

Bruce’s ancestry was Chinese and German. His father was Chinese while his mother was of German-Chinese decent. Her mother was Chinese and her father was German.

WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST

Jeet Kune Do, also known as Way of the Intercepting Fist, was Bruce Lee’s personal martial art style. He developed it with the idea of being more flexible and practical with martial arts techniques. In doing so, he commonly considered the greatest martial artist of the 20th century.

A WARRIOR’S JOURNEY

His Jeet Kune Do instruction was a premium in the highest demand and commanded a staggering $275 an hour. His students consisted of some of Hollywood’s most elite, including Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Joe Lewis and Chuck Norris.

LAST MAN STANDING

In many ways his celebrity gave him a parallel to the characters he portrayed as he was contantly being challenged by movie extras and other men who could get near him seeking to gain fame by beating him in a fight. Many tried, but he was never beaten.

GAME OF DEATH

His last film was “Game of Death” and was his only film to be shot with sound. His earlier films were shot without sound and the voices were later dubbed in.

NUNCHAKU

Nunchaku were Bruce Lee’s hand weapon of choice and when wielding a pair he was an undefeatable force. He developed his legendary routine under the instruction of karate master Hidehiko “Hidy” Ochiai. The two men first met at the Los Angeles YMCA in the mid-1960’s.

FISTS OF FURY

Bruce Lee’s ultimate secret was his lightning quick speed. To demonstrate he developed a trick where he had a person hold a coin and close his hand around the coin, but before they could do so Bruce would quickly remove the coin and replace it with another most often without the participate even realizing what had happened. When they opened their hand, it would be the new coin.

THE CURSE

As most know, Bruce Lee’s death was deemed to be extraordinarily bizarre. Motivating many to be belove it was the work of “Oni”, a Japanese term for demons or evil spirits. This curse apparently carried on to his actor son, Brandon Lee.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

During an interview, composer Lalo Schifrin revealed that Bruce often trained to the “Mission Impossible” TV Show soundtrack.

SILENT BUT DEADLY

Another claim to fame was Bruce mastered a technique called, “The One Inch Punch”. With it he could deliver a devastating body punch just with his fist just a mere inch from his target.

ELVIS & BRUCE

Elvis Presley and Ed Parker had a pet project film they were constructing in 1973 and 1974, but then suddenly it was forgotten until 2003 when the footage resurfaced. The film is basically groups of martial arts experts going at it. The cast reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the martial arts world of the time and although he is not featured in the film, 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage of Bruce Lee was also discovered with this lost footage.

THE DRAGON

When he passed away on July 20, 1973 Bruce Lee was only 32 years old was 5′7″ and weighed 128 pounds. He might have been small in stature but was one of the all time greatest film stars and the most accomplished martial artist in modern history.

To read more articles by Chad, please visit the American Pop Culture Encyclopedia at: www.americanpopcultureencyclopedia.com