Smoking not Allow: March 2015

Monday, 16 March 2015

Is It Cheaper to Smoke or to Quit?

Cigarettes are highly addictive, so when it comes to the effort needed to quit smoking, it's no surprise that people have a lot of trouble with smoking cessation and make up a lot of excuses to not stop smoking.

Recently, a new argument in favor of smoking has caught a lot of experts by surprise: Some smokers now believe that it is cheaper to continue to smoke than to pay for stop-smoking aids, including medications, materials, nicotine replacement therapies, and counseling.

Smoking cessation can indeed be pricey, particularly if you're going to rely on many stop-smoking aids, but can it really surpass buying pack after pack of cigarettes?

The Costs of Quitting — or Not

Say you were using a nicotine patch in combination with nicotine gum, for example. Diane Massucci of the North Shore-LIJ Center for Tobacco Control in Great Neck, N.Y., says that a 12-week supply of the patches would cost $180, and a 12-week supply of the gum would cost about $240. That's $420 for less than three months of nicotine replacement treatment. You can see how your quit-smoking strategies could get expensive fast.

Smoking cessation experts, however, say that it's important to keep these stop-smoking costs in perspective. "In Michigan, where I live, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is over $6.50," says Amanda L. Holm, MPH, manager of Tobacco Treatment Services at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. "That means that over the course of a year, a pack-a-day smoker will pay more than $2,372 to feed this addiction. That's more than enough savings to buy three or six months worth of nicotine replacement or other medications, or to pay for a class or a few counseling sessions."

In other states, the costs of smoking are even more exorbitant. "On Long Island, cigarettes are $10 per pack, and $12 or more per pack in New York City," says Massucci. "A two-week supply of patches costs $30, and two-week supply of nicotine gum is about $40. It is easy to see that quitting smoking is less costly economically."

What's more, these numbers don't even take into account the potential future health care costs of continuing to smoke. "Smokers cost employers more to employ because smokers take more sick time, use more insurance dollars, and lose about one month of work time per year related to their smoking behaviors," Massucci says. "Quitting smoking or not smoking in the car or home can increase the resale value of the car or home. Non-smokers have lower insurance premiums and increased wellness benefits, as some employers incentivize employees who do not smoke."

The Bottom Line on the Price to Quit Smoking

Add it all up, and it's really not even debatable: Even if you paid full price for all your smoking cessation aids, it's still going to be less expensive in the long run than smoking. "Even if someone needed to take medications for longer than six months, the reduced health care costs down the road would likely result in substantial savings," Holm says.

Plus, people who want to quit smoking also have a number of resources at their disposal that can reduce the cost of quitting. For starters, you can call the national smoking quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW to get transferred to your local quit-smoking hotline. The therapy and counseling sessions offered by these over-the-phone counselors are completely free and have also been shown to be very effective in a number of studies.

What's more, you can ask your counselor if you can get free nicotine replacement products mailed to you: "Many quitlines offer a starter kit of nicotine replacement products, such as free patches, to help the smoker get their quit attempt started," Massucci says.

If you're looking for other ways to save on quitting, don't be afraid to try the generic versions of medication, or the generic or store versions of nicotine replacement products. Holm says that "generic drugs are usually as good as brand-name forms."

Finally, many insurance companies now cover part of the cost of quitting smoking because they've realized that it is in their interest to do so. "If you have insurance, your first step is to contact your insurer and find out what your coverage allows," Holm says.

Smoking-Cessation Drug Chantix Linked to Heart Problems

FDA sees small but increased risk in patients taking the medicine.

THURSDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) —The quit-smoking drug Chantix may lead to a small but increased risk of heart problems in people withcardiovascular disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.

In a study of 700 smokers with cardiovascular disease who were undergoing treatment with Chantix or a placebo, researchers saw a small but "statistically significant" greater risk of chest pain, non-fatal heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems in patients taking the quit-smoking drug, the FDA said.

Details of the new findings will be shared with doctors and will be included in the drug's medication guide to patients, the agency said.

In July 2009, the FDA mandated that Chantix (varenicline tartrate) and a second smoking-cessation drug, Zyban, carry a "black-box" warning about the potential risks of psychiatric problems, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

In its announcement Thursday, the FDA noted that smoking is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, the number one killer of Americans. So doctors and their patients should weigh the "known benefits of Chantix against its potential risks when deciding to use the drug in smokers with cardiovascular disease," the agency said in a statement on its website.

Patients taking Chantix, which received FDA approval in 2006, should contact their health-care professional if they experience new or worsening symptoms of cardiovascular disease.

One heart expert agreed.

"In light of this study, any patient known to have cardiovascular disease who is taking Chantix or considering taking it, or health care provider considering prescribing it to a patient known to have cardiovascular disease must discuss the risks, benefits and alternatives in detail," said Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, director of the Cardiac and Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Program at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

"It must be considered that there are options and that Wellbutrin has not been indicated in causing progression of cardiovascular disease in smokers with existing cardiovascular disease," Whiteson added. He said other smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine—replacement gums, patches or lozenges, as well as "adjunctive therapies such as aromatherapy, hypnosis and acupuncture" might also help smokers quit.

Whiteson stressed that the study only looked at Chantix users who were already diagnosed with heart disease before they started the drug, and "there is no evidence at present to suggest that Chantix leads to the new development of cardiovascular disease in people who are free of cardiovascular disease when they start the Chantix."

The FDA said it will continue to evaluate the risks and benefits associated with Chantix and is requiring the manufacturer — Pfizer Inc. — to conduct an analysis of all previous randomized, placebo-controlled trials of the drug. The agency said it will release those findings to the public when they become available.

In a statement, Pfizer pointed out that smoking is a key risk factor for heart disease, and quitting the habit brings heart benefits that are "immediate and substantial," the Wall Street Journal reported. Pfizer agreed that patients should talk to their doctors to "determine what medications are right for them."

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

If you stop smoking now, the benefits start in 20 minutes.

As any smoker can attest, quitting smoking is tough. In fact, most smokers require several attempts before they are finally able to quit for good.

With the commitment it takes to kick the habit — not to mention the damage those cigarettes have already done — it may be easy to say, “Why should I stop smoking now?”

But even if it’s tough, the benefits of quitting smoking start right away: Medical experts have found that a person's health improves within minutes of the last puff from the last cigarette, and the health benefits continue in the years that follow.

Research has found that people who quit smoking drastically reduce their risk of dying from a smoking-related disease. Those who quit before they turn 51 cut their chances of dying within the next 15 years in half, compared with people who don't quit.

Even smokers who stop in their sixties increase their life expectancy by one year. When you quit smoking, you live longer and those extra years are spent in better health.

Short-Term Benefits of Stopping Smoking

About 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your body already has begun to respond to your decision to quit smoking:

Your blood pressure goes down
Your pulse rate slows
The temperature of your hands and feet increases

Eight hours after you quit smoking, your blood has begun to recover from the effects of smoking. The levels of both carbon monoxide and oxygen in your bloodstream return to normal.

Within 24 hours, your chance of a heart attack has already decreased as your system repairs itself. About 48 hours after you quit smoking, nerve endings deadened by the habit have begun to regenerate and your sense of taste and smell has already improved.

A few weeks after you quit smoking, your circulation has improved and your lungs have begun to function better. Walking and exercising become much easier.

Within the first few months, your phlegm production has decreased and you won’t find yourself coughing or wheezing as much.

Long-Term Benefits of Quitting Smoking

The benefits of your decision to quit smoking continue long after the immediate impact. You might not feel these benefits the way you felt the quick improvement in your lung function and overall health, but you'll still enjoy them:

1 year: Your excess risk of suffering coronary heart disease has decreased to half the risk of a continuing smoker.
5 years: Your risk of having a stroke has decreased compared to continuing smokers, and will continue to decrease over time.
10 years: A decade after you quit smoking, your risk of lung cancer is now half that of people who keep smoking. You've also experienced a decrease in your risk of ulcers and other cancers, including cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, kidneys, and bladder.
15 years: Your risk of coronary heart disease is now comparable to that of people who never smoked a single cigarette. Your risk of dying also is nearly back to the same level as that of non-smokers.

Other Benefits of Not Smoking

Nicotine addiction can lead to some short-term emotional costs when you choose to quit smoking. You are likely to feel anger, irritation, and depression as you struggle with your dependence on tobacco.

But as the days go by, you will also feel a surge of self-respect as you master your addiction, and over time that will translate into a greater sense of self-esteem.

You also might find that:

Your bad breath is gone.
The stains on your teeth, fingers, and fingernails fade.
The smoke smell dissipates from your hair, clothes, car, furniture, and home.
You have more overall energy and are better able to enjoy life.

With all of these health benefits, why are you still smoking? Make the commitment today, and get the help you need to quit smoking successfully.

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

National Family Health History Day

After completing the questions, the website creates a personalized “family health tree” that can be saved to a home computer. From there, families may update the information at any time. The tool can be shared with other family members, who can add their health information to the portrait. The portrait also can be an informative tool to share with a health care provider. All information remains private.  The federal website does not retain the information once the tool has been used to assemble

           Health officials recommend that everyone six months of age and older receive an influenza vaccination each and every year. Most likely, this includes you and your entire family.
We encourage you to speak with your healthcare provider to learn more about influenza and annual vaccination.


       Each year since 2004, the Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family Health History Day. Over the holiday or at other times when families gather, the Surgeon General encourages Americans to talk about, and to write down, the health problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about their family's health history may help ensure a longer, healthier future together

Gender Differences

Approximately 402,326 Americans living today have ever been diagnosed with lung cancer.³ During 2015, an estimated 221,200 new cases of lung cancer were expected to be diagnosed, representing about 13 percent of all cancer diagnoses.²

The majority of living lung cancer patients have been diagnosed within the last five years. Lung cancer is mostly a disease of the elderly. In 2011, 82 percent of those living with lung cancer were 60 years of age or older.³

In 2011, Kentucky had the highest age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates in both men (112.2 per 100,000) and women (79.3 per 100,000). Utah had the lowest age-adjusted cancer incidence rates in both men and women (34.5 per 100,000 and 25.0 per 100,000, respectively).⁴ These state-specific rates were parallel to smoking prevalence rates.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, accounting for 1.8 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths in 2012.⁵

The National Institutes of Health estimate that cancer care cost the United States an overall $124.6 billion in 2010, $12.1 billion of which is due to lung cancer. Lost productivity due to early death from cancer lead to an additional $134.8 billion in 2005, $36.1 billion of which was due to lung cancer.⁶

Created through the Affordable Care Act, the National Prevention Council comprises 20 federal departments, agencies, and offices. Led by the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Prevention Council is committed to prevention and wellness for individuals, families, and communities.

Increased Health Risks

Doug Blanke is director of the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, and works to reduce tobacco use nationwide. He was part of a lawsuit that forced the tobacco industry to turn over millions of pages of documents showing how they targeted children in their marketing, hid data on the dangers of smoking, and misled the American public about their products.

In 1964, the Surgeon General’s Report (SGR) on Smoking and Health found that smoking causes lung cancer. Today, we know the impact of smoking on health and well-being is far worse. “Worse Than We Thought” explores the staggering health effects of smoking that are outlined in this year’s 50th anniversary SGR. Twenty million people have died from smoking in the last half century, including 2.5 million nonsmokers who died from diseases caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. SGR fact sheets address smoking and its connection to specific diseases and health conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. In 1987, it surpassed breast cancer to become the leading cause of cancer deaths in women.¹

Lung cancer causes more deaths than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and pancreatic). An estimated 158,040 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer in 2015, accounting for approximately 27 percent of all cancer deaths.²

Smoking and Death

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is about one in five deaths.^1,2,3
Smoking causes more deaths each year than all of these combined:⁴
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Illegal drug use
- Alcohol use
- Motor vehicle injuries
- Firearm-related incidents

More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States during its history.¹
Smoking causes about 90% (or 9 out of 10) of all lung cancer deaths in men and women.^1,2 More women die from lung cancer each year than from breast cancer.⁵
About 80% (or 8 out of 10) of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are caused by smoking.¹
Cigarette smoking increases risk for death from all causes in men and women.¹
The risk of dying from cigarette smoking has increased over the last 50 years in men and women in the United States.¹

Smoking and Increased Health Risks

Smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to develop heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.

Smoking is estimated to increase the risk—
- For coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times^1,6
- For stroke by 2 to 4 times¹
- Of men developing lung cancer by 25 times¹
- Of women developing lung cancer by 25.7 times¹
Smoking causes diminished overall heath, such as self-reported poor health, increased absenteeism from work, and increased health care utilization and cost.¹

Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease

Smokers are at greater risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).^1,2

Smoking causes stroke and coronary heart disease—the leading causes of death in the United States.¹
Even people who smoke fewer than five cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease.¹
Smoking damages blood vessels and can make them thicken and grow narrower. This makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up. Clots can also form.^1,2
A heart attack occurs when a clot blocks the blood flow to your heart. When this happens, your heart cannot get enough oxygen. This damages the heart muscle, and part of the heart muscle can die.^1,2
A stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood flow to part of your brain or when a blood vessel in or around your brain bursts.^1,2
Blockages caused by smoking can also reduce blood flow to your legs and skin.^1,2

Smoking and Respiratory Disease

Smoking can cause lung disease by damaging your airways and the small air sacs (alveoli) found in your lungs.^1,2

Lung diseases caused by smoking include COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.^1,2
Cigarette smoking causes most cases of lung cancer.^1,2
If you have asthma, tobacco smoke can trigger an attack or make an attack worse.^1,2
Smokers are 12 to 13 times more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.¹

Smoking and Cancer

Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in your body:^1,2 (See figure above)

Bladder
Blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
Cervix
Colon and rectum (colorectal)
Esophagus
Kidney and ureter
Larynx
Liver
Oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils)
Pancreas
Stomach
Trachea, bronchus, and lung

If nobody smoked, one of every three cancer deaths in the United States would not happen.^1,2 Smoking increases the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and survivors.¹

Smoking and Other Health Risks

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and affects a person’s overall health.^1,2

Smoking can make it harder for a woman to become pregnant and can affect her baby's health before and after birth. Smoking increases risks for:^1,2,5
- Preterm (early) delivery
- Stillbirth (death of the baby before birth)
- Low birth weight
- Sudden infant death syndrome (known as SIDS or crib death)
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Orofacial clefts in infants

Smoking can also affect men's sperm, which can reduce fertility and also increase risks for birth defects and miscarriage (loss of the pregnancy).²
Smoking can affect bone health.^1,5
- Women past childbearing years who smoke have lower bone density (weaker bones) than women who never smoked and are at greater risk for broken bones.
Smoking affects the health of your teeth and gums and can cause tooth loss.¹
Smoking can increase your risk for cataracts (clouding of the eye’s lens that makes it hard for you to see) and age-related macular degeneration (damage to a small spot near the center of the retina, the part of the eye needed for central vision).¹
Smoking is a cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus and can make it harder to control. The risk of developing diabetes is 30–40% higher for active smokers than nonsmokers.^1,2
Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body. It can cause inflammation and adverse effects on immune function.¹
Smoking is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis.¹

Quitting and Reduced Risks

Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply.²
Within 2 to 5 years after quitting smoking, your risk for stroke could fall to about the same as a nonsmoker’s.²
If you quit smoking, your risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years.²
Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk for lung cancer drops by half.²

Worse Than We Thought

January 11, 2014 marked the 50^th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health. The 1964 landmark report, released by Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry, was the first federal government report linking smoking and ill health, including lung cancer and heart disease. This scientifically rigorous report laid the foundation for tobacco control efforts in the United States. In the last 50 years, we have increased our understanding of the devastating health and financial burdens caused by tobacco use. We now know that smoking causes a host of cancers and other illnesses and is still the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing 480,000 people each year.In 2014, we highlighted half a century of progress in tobacco control and prevention, presented new data on the health consequences of tobacco use, and introduced initiatives that could potentially end the tobacco use epidemic in the United States in the 32rd Surgeon General’s Report on smoking and health

These fact sheets have been created for public health officials and others, and provide information taken from Surgeon General’s Reports about smoking and its connection to specific diseases and health conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There are also fact sheets addressing smoking risks for particular population groups, such as women, youth, and men and women concerned about reproductive health. The fact sheet “What You Need To Know About Smoking” also includes tips for smokers who want to quit.

Smoking:^1,2

Harms nearly every organ of the body
Causes many diseases and reduces the health of smokers in general

Quitting smoking lowers your risk for smoking-related diseases and can add years to your life.^1,2

The Health Consequences of Smoking

For the first time, women are as likely to die as men from many diseases caused by smoking.

Women’s disease risks from smoking have risen sharply over the last 50 years and are now equal to men’s for lung cancer, COPD, and cardiovascular diseases. The number of women dying from COPD now exceeds the number of men.
Evidence also suggests that women are more susceptible to develop severe COPD at younger ages.
Between 1959 and 2010, lung cancer risks for smokers rose dramatically. Among female smokers, risk increased 10-fold. Among male smokers, risk doubled.

Proven tobacco control strategies and programs, in combination with enhanced strategies to rapidly eliminate the use of cigarettes and other combustible, or burned, tobacco products, will help us achieve a society free of tobacco-related death and disease.

The goal of ending tobacco-related death and disease requires additional action.
Evidence-based tobacco control interventions that are effective continue to be underused. What we know works to prevent smoking initiation and promote quitting includes hard-hitting media campaigns, tobacco excise taxes at sufficiently high rates to deter youth smoking and promote quitting, easy-to-access cessation treatment and promotion of cessation treatment in clinical settings, smoke-free policies, and comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs funded at CDC-recommended levels.
Death and disease from tobacco use in the United States is overwhelmingly caused by cigarettes and other burned tobacco products. Rapid elimination of their use will dramatically reduce this public health burden.
New “end-game” strategies have been proposed with the goal of eliminating tobacco smoking. Some of these strategies may prove useful for the United States, particularly reduction of the nicotine yield of tobacco products to non-addictive levels.

50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General

Despite significant progress since the first Surgeon General’s report, issued 50 years ago, smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable disease and death in the United States.

Smoking rates among adults and teens are less than half what they were in 1964; however, 42 million American adults and about 3 million middle and high school students continue to smoke.
Nearly half a million Americans die prematurely from smoking each year.
More than 16 million Americans suffer from a disease caused by smoking.
On average, compared to people who have never smoked, smokers suffer more health problems and disability due to their smoking and ultimately lose more than a decade of life.
The estimated economic costs attributable to smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke continue to increase and now approach $300 billion annually, with direct medical costs of at least $130 billion and productivity losses of more than $150 billion a year.

The scientific evidence is incontrovertible: inhaling tobacco smoke, particularly from cigarettes, is deadly. Since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964, evidence has linked smoking to diseases of nearly all organs of the body.

In the United States, smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, 32 percent of coronary heart disease deaths, and 79 percent of all cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
One out of three cancer deaths is caused by smoking.
This report concludes that smoking causes colorectal and liver cancer and increases the failure rate of treatment for all cancers.
The report also concludes that smoking causes diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and immune system weakness, increased risk for tuberculosis disease and death, ectopic (tubal) pregnancy and impaired fertility, cleft lip and cleft palates in babies of women who smoke during early pregnancy, erectile dysfunction, and age-related macular degeneration.
Secondhand smoke exposure is now known to cause strokes in nonsmokers.
This report finds that in addition to causing multiple serious diseases, cigarette smoking diminishes overall health status, impairs immune function, and reduces quality of life.

Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Damon Klotz Shares Lessons Learned Early On

Private homes, private residences and private automobiles;
A hotel or motel room rented to one or more guests;
Retail tobacco businesses;
Membership associations; provided, however, that smoking shall only be allowed in membership associations in which all of the duties with respect to the operation of such association, including, but not limited to, the preparation of food and beverages, the service of food and beverages, reception and secretarial work, and the security services of the membership association are performed by members of such membership association who do not receive compensation of any kind from the membership association or any other entity for the performance of such duties;
Cigar bars that, in the calendar year ending December thirty-first, two thousand two, generated ten percent or more of its total annual gross income from the on-site sale of tobacco products and the rental of on-site humidors, not including any sales from vending machines, and is registered with the appropriate enforcement officer, as defined in subdivision one of section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-t of this article. Such registration shall remain in effect for one year and shall be renewable only if:
1. in the preceding calendar year, the cigar bar generated ten percent or more of its total annual gross income from the on-site sale of tobacco products and the rental of on-site humidors, and
2. the cigar bar has not expanded its size or changed its location from its size or location since December thirty-first, two thousand two;
Outdoor dining areas of food service establishments with no roof or other ceiling enclosure; provided, however, that smoking may be permitted in a contiguous area designated for smoking so long as such area:
1. constitutes no more than twenty-five percent of the outdoor seating capacity of such food service establishment,
2. is at least three feet away from the outdoor area of such food service establishment not designated for smoking, and
3. is clearly designated with written signage as a smoking area; and
Enclosed rooms in food service establishments, bars, catering halls, convention halls, hotel and motel conference rooms, and other such similar facilities during the time such enclosed areas or rooms are being used exclusively for functions where the public is invited for the primary purpose of promoting and sampling tobacco products, and the service of food and drink is incidental to such purpose, provided that the sponsor or organizer gives notice in any promotional material or advertisements that smoking will not be restricted, and prominently posts notice at the entrance of the facility and has provided notice of such function to the appropriate enforcement officer, as defined in subdivision one of section thirteen hundred ninety-nine-t of this article, at least two weeks prior to such function. The enforcement officer shall keep a record of all tobacco sampling events, and such record shall be made available for public inspection. No such facility shall permit smoking under this subdivision for more than two days in any calendar year.

Best Places to Visit

3 great places for infographic ideas

I wrote this post to help you brainstorm ideas for effective infographics. Here are some smart starting points:

Great big list of infographic ideas –The infographic I created near the end of this post features 25 concepts and themes that might work for your next infographic. It’s not going to give you your topic, but you’re bound to find a style to shake ideas loose.

Other infographics – It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that many of the 25 ideas I visualized for you came from a deep dive into, yes, infographics. I went surfing on sites like Visual.ly and Pinterest where I knew I’d find them. I did some image searches. I recommend you do the same. Look at the infographics ranking high in your niche. Obviously, tuning into your market’s blogs gives you writing ideas. The same goes for infographics.

SlideShare – Some SlideShare content will be infographics, but SlideShare’s sweet spot is slide presentations. And the millions of concepts you’ll discover are bound to make creative sparks fly. Infographics were the inspiration for some of the decks. Now flip that equation.

Dig up buried treasures

If you’ve been creating content for a while, you may be sitting on a treasure trove of winning infographics ideas.
Examine your most popular posts. Look at your page views and share numbers. Chances are some of your popular blog posts can be remade as infographics. List posts are particularly good candidates.
Mine your site. Does your site feature an FAQ? Perhaps you dedicate pages to detailing effective processes. Case studies could work. Have you published any research? How might you present that content in the ultra-friendly show-and-tell style of an infographic?
Open your outbox. The emails you and your colleagues send in response to customers’ questions may be a perfect source for infographics ideas.
Revisit presentations. There’s a good chance the slide decks your sales team uses would make for strong infographics. If you haven’t considered the content from your webinars, it’s likely to work, too.

Conduct brainstorm sessions

I want to also encourage you to try some brainstorming sessions. Try techniques such as the following:

Word storm – Choose a meaningful word in your niche, then list words that come to mind. Various categories are likely to surface.

Mind mapping – Start with one central idea, then attach related ideas to it. Allow the peripheral ideas to spawn new ones.

Defeat SMoking

Employers Can Control Their Workplaces

Most states allow employers to ban smoking in their workplaces. Employers have the right to control all employees' exposure to second-hand smoke and fire hazards. It is not discrimination to require that employees go outside to smoke or smoke only when off-duty. Some laws, in fact, completely forbid smoking in any workplace.

Some Employers Can Control Who They Hire

In some states, employers can refuse to hire smokers. Employees are screened as part of the application process, testing them for nicotine. If the prospective employee's results are positive, the company won't offer the applicant a job.
Federal law says this practice is allowed - there's no prohibition against it. Once a person has been hired, most states forbid firing the person for being a smoker or taking up smoking.

What You Do on Your Own Time

The American Civil Liberties Union argues that refusing to hire a smoker is a form of discrimination, because employers are excluding applicants because of actions they take on their own time. Most employers say that they're not telling employees what to do when they're not on the clock. They're just not hiring them, which is their right. Federal law doesn't address this issue.

Most States Favor Smokers' Rights

Even though federal law doesn't protect smokers from workplace discrimination, more than half of all states have enacted laws to do so. In these jurisdictions, smokers have no right to light up while working, but they can do so after hours.
Their employers can't fire them or deny them jobs because of it. In these states, smokers are considered a protected class or group. Their own state will protect them, even if the federal government doesn't. Of the remaining states, most have no legislation that addresses smokers' rights in the workplace at all. They're "silent," meaning they neither allow discrimination nor do anything to protect against it.

To get approch sucess

Map it

A map is simply the arc from the beginning to the middle and then the end. When you want to captivate your reader, think like a Hollywood blockbuster. In these two examples, you can see how it works:

Draw them in, like a magnet:

Story 1: Half the potatoes on the floor and the rest behind the stove … what was I supposed to do about Thanksgiving dinner now?
Story 2: Our CFO had just called for the fourth time asking for last quarter’s numbers, but our systems were still down.

Raise suspense, with a pivot:

Story 1: “That looks great, but we don’t serve frozen food at holidays,” I told my husband as he stood there with the foil tray of FoodCo’s carrot soufflé.
Story 2: SoftwareCo’s representative sat next to me at my desk for an hour while he fixed the broken database queries. I couldn’t help grinning when I saw the numbers pop up finally.

End on a memorable glow:

Story 1: We’ve had carrot soufflé instead of potatoes on our family’s menu ever since, but we still laugh about the look on my face when someone mentions anything scalloped.
Story 2: I was home that evening in time to tuck the twins in bed and read them a story.
Once you map the story, you can think of all sorts of ways to describe your current audience’s journeys and how its stories can help your brand connect with new people. Coca-Cola, as part of its truly impressive “Journeys” approach to brand journalism, does this in numerous ways. I was struck by a story told by a Coca-Cola employee who took up skydiving. The story uses a “magnet, pivot, and glow structure. And while ostensibly it’s about her personal experiences, it does a fantastic job selling Coke’s corporate culture and inspires the desire to work with employees like her.

To Impress the Girls

Use your authentic voice

The language of marketing is notorious for feeling artificial. Generic product attributes and abstract business-speak is forced. Believe us when we say no one really cares about “quality manufacturing” or “industry-leading service levels” unless they know exactly how that feels and believe what you say about your brand.
When using stories as a vehicle for content marketing, take this advice from the Story2 Moments Method®: Stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye, and tell your brand story out loud. Do you believe it? Now tell a friend or family member face-to-face. Does it connect with the listener? If the answers are “yes,” take that authentic story in your voice and write it down.
In authentic storytelling there’s no need to “business-fy” it. GE Reports a Tumblr blog excels at this, sharing rich stories about inventors and users of high-tech industrial products. One recent example: a story about their scientific microscopes. One scientist on the team brought a bee’s leg from his daughter’s science project to test the capabilities of GE’s latest imaging device. The topic would have been a great occasion for jargon and product-speak, but instead it authentically sheds light on the passion behind the product.

Regulation of Smoking in Public and Work

A moment happens at a specific place and time. No two moments are exactly alike. Think of your own personal stories, from a first kiss to a moment of triumph. What happened? Who was there? What did they say? What would we have seen?
Now think about this in terms of your brand. Every brand lives for customers as a series of touch points. A parent may have made a special meal using your product. An IT administrator may have cut request time in half and been promoted. Or in our case at Story2, a student may have just received an admissions offer from the college of her dreams. If you can put your customers at that moment where they feel what it’s like to encounter the best value of your brand, you’re one moment closer to connecting them to your brand.
In written and multimedia stories, the Adidas #mygirls campaign exemplifies the value of a moment with content about young women using Adidas products in contexts from mountaineering to field hockey to running. But the stories are not about selling the product. Each woman’s story starts with a compelling moment, illustrating the brand experience. “There was a massive pop, so loud it sounded like a gunshot reverberating through the training gym,” begins one story about an injured South African field hockey player. The moment links courage and determination with the Adidas brand but never hits the viewer over the head with that connection.

ny facility that provides child care services as defined in section four hundred ten-p of the social services law, provided that such services provided in a private home are excluded from this subdivision when children enrolled in such day care are not present;
Child day care centers as defined in section three hundred ninety of the social services law and child day care centers licensed by the city of New York;
Group homes for children as defined in section three hundred seventy-one of the social services law;
Public institutions for children as defined in section three hundred seventy-one of the social services law;
Residential treatment facilities for children and youth as defined in section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law;
All public and private colleges, universities and other educational and vocational institutions, including dormitories, residence halls, and other group residential facilities that are owned or operated by such colleges, universities and other educational and vocational institutions, except that these restrictions shall not apply in any off-campus residential unit occupied by a person who is not enrolled as an undergraduate student in such college, university or other educ

Fashion trends for men

An exclusive printed jacket with layering and a good amount of texturing on the fabric with fine yet visible detailing will look great. Printed jackets can be highlighted with Kalamkari work. The trend of printed jackets and slim pants is the future of fashion and the new age man replaces cargos with slimmer pants and includes more linen jackets in their wardrobe. You can even pair up your jackets with slim fitting blue denims which are completely classic, timeless and are one of the most resourceful pieces you'll ever own.

It is easy to dress oneself with the slimmer cut ensuring sharper lines and a better shape. Indigo jeans works with almost any look you can think of and will never be out of fashion, so it's worth investing good money in self finished fabrics, which is of a higher quality and is almost guaranteed to last longer. Basic knitwear will be an essential component of your layering this season, and you'll be wearing it a lot.

These staple colors allow you to play around with bolder shades within the rest of your ensemble and the mid-weight ensures that they sit on the casual side of the spectrum, which is much more suitable when you're just starting out. When it comes to suits, double breasted blazers are in fashion, so for people who like slim fits, new styles have come up to give a try. Wider legged pants are replacing the slim cut trousers which were a trend last year.

For those who like sweatshirts can try out ones with interesting prints or patterns, which are big and has graphic designs. Short sleeved shirts are also back in fashion. Also you can let go the traditional outfit and opt for well-fitted kurtas, bandgalas in simple designs. Sports coats, camouflage prints and army themes are very much in vogue at international fashion shows nowadays. Also, golf pants and shorts are hitting the trend. Few years back golfing attire was very simple and elegant, and aimed at comfort but trends change with time. Golfing attires have become funkier and can team up with cloth-button shirts. They look casual and less sporty.

Another strikingly new feature that was witnessed on the ramps is a spectacular range of textile innovations and fresh ideas in terms of fabrics and prints. Drawings, applique work, embroidery and interesting prints on materials like leather became a big attraction at the fashion weeks for fall/winter 2014-2015. A play of 3D prints was also popular among many designers at fashion events giving the clothes for 2014's winter a futuristic appeal. High street fashion is loved by the fashion conscious and has a huge market of followers for comfort chic...

Fall Fashion for 2014-2015

All the four fashion capitals showcased their love for this blooming trend. This season's look is more masculine from the past feminine projections of the trend. Fitted suits, boxy tailoring, loose and fitted shirts were largely seen adorned by models on the catwalks. Wide legged pants in various styles like pleated, front tabs, and high waist will also be a hit. The trend for autumn/winter 2014-2015 is progressive from the tomboyish looks to military styles to pick from. Pinstriped bottoms and tweeds for tops were also spotted in designer collections. Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta, and Paul Smith presented their pant suits, coats, and manly footwear with great taste and with a lot of galor....

For Some in Transgender Community, It’s Never Too Late to Make a Change

It’s in human nature that he always wants change in life, like in basic change in our clothing’s. We may do whatever makes us happy. even if we talk about Pakistan, we come to know that Pakistan has been change a lot, From the independence day of August 14, 1947 up to date, Pakistan’s has been a society in transition. The society of Pakistan is dynamic and therefore ever-changing, and its patterns are changing transforming from time to time.

So if want to move with today’s world we have to follow the fashion,Becaue its today’s need if we don’t follow that people think we r dumb we know nothing about fashion and we cant move in society.

Fashion has gone through changes in this century and especially in women’s fashion, in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. Fashion, by definition, changes constantly its almost standing alone in comparison with other walks of life as long as change is concerned. But it is actually we who are responsible for changes in fashion as it is rightly said that “Things don’t change, we change”. Young People enjoy the diversity and change in their looks and outfits and they are playing key role to fashion industry .Young boys and girls are always in craze to look smart and up to date. It is also in human nature to look smart and be appreciated by the social circle of one’s own.

In Pakistan there is three types of people
1. Who follow fashion trends blindly
2. Who follow fashion with there need
3. Who don’t follow any trend at all

But there is a very little room for the first ones, because most of the fashions trends are against Islam. But now I love to share with you this news that some of the famous fashion designers take the Muslim fashion clothing very seriously and they worked a lot in development of Muslim fashion designing. Many famous designers designed Muslim fashion cloths are now easily available on the online shops. One can buy it very easily online or at outlets where they are available with huge discount.

Pakistan, Lahore is a center of all types of Muslim fashion. The major clothing markets offer the latest trends and styles of clothing articles regardless of the origin.

However, only a few years ago buying ready-made stylish abayas in Lahore was not as easy, as only the plain and classic ones were largely available. Today there are retail stores for trendy abayas and hijabs open all around the fashion districts of Pakistan

Muslim Fashion Clothes Fashion entrepreneurs who understood the need for modern fashion Islamic clothing started launching stylish boutiques that offer these garments in an assortment of colours, styles and designs even Pakistani government is souporting the fashion industry in Paistan nowThe Federal Minister, Malik Naeem Khan's directive for raising the exports of finished goods three-fold within a period of three and half years is highly commendable in principle and is one of the targets required for reducing the balanced of payment deficit in order to put the economy on a sound track.

Fashion trend in india

Be it a hobby or a passion, finding one's own identity to stand out in the crowd has become crucial to finding one's individuality. Fashion connoisseurs also emphasise the need to look unique. Fast fashion can interfere with the idea of exclusivity. International apparel brands and retail groups are fast churning out designs, and with rising middle class income, customers are buying apparel brands that were once considered a treat for the rich. This is forcing exclusivity out. Individuality and exclusivity are tough to attain in today's ever-changing dynamic market. The shirt you bought, believing it to be exclusive, might be on a display in countless stores and worn by multiple people at the same time.

From accessories, with love
As people begin to care more and more about appearance and exclusivity, the world of fashion has become one of the most evolving fields. Designers are not designing for a particular market anymore. What's popular in the US or Europe is popular in Asia and vice versa. With the globalisation of fashion, apparel brands are designing clothes so that a new design is not constrained to a particular culture, region or society.

Accessories have played a major part in imparting a novel identity to apparel brands. Consequently, brands that were wary of dabbling in any segment other than clothing are now enthusiastically launching apparel accessories to charm customers. The task at hand for the contemporary apparel industry is to embrace everything that involves fashion.

Wrapping the world
While uniformity is not a flaw, wearing similar clothes at the same event can leave one red-faced. If only one of them had thought of accessorising! At a time when cultural designs are freely crossing borders, the apparel world has become more open to experiments. The biggest testimonies to this cultural cross-culture are the dupatta, stole and scarf. Carving out their own pathway, these accessories have emerged as fashion must-haves across the world. Traditionally worn by women in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and in other nations in the region, these long scarves have successfully found a place in everyone's closet.

Overlooking the traditional role assigned to scarves in female attire, designers all over the world are using these accessories to perk up men's fashion as well...

What is the next big thing in the 2015 fashion industry?

But there is a very little room for the first ones, because most of the fashions trends are against Islam. But now I love to share with you this news that some of the famous fashion designers take the Muslim fashion clothing very seriously and they worked a lot in development of Muslim fashion designing. Many famous designers designed Muslim fashion cloths are now easily available on the online shops. One can buy it very easily online or at outlets where they are available with huge discount.

Pakistan, Lahore is a center of all types of Muslim fashion. The major clothing markets offer the latest trends and styles of clothing articles regardless of the origin.

However, only a few years ago buying ready-made stylish abayas in Lahore was not as easy, as only the plain and classic ones were largely available. Today there are retail stores for trendy abayas and hijabs open all around the fashion districts of Pakistan

Muslim Fashion Clothes Fashion entrepreneurs who understood the need for modern fashion Islamic clothing started launching stylish boutiques that offer these garments in an assortment of colours, styles and designs even Pakistani government is souporting the fashion industry in Paistan nowThe Federal Minister, Malik Naeem Khan's directive for raising the exports of finished goods three-fold within a period of three and half years is highly commendable in principle and is one of the targets required for reducing the balanced of payment deficit in order to put the economy on a sound track.

There is no denying the fact that the exports of value-added products not only accelerate the rate of foreign exchange inflow but help strengthen the local industrial infrastructure also so that they could be able to compete in the world markets.

But at the end I want you to decide that what is good and what is bad for us????

I acknowledge that enjoyment is the part of the life and life becomes so colorless without this, but there are several means of enjoyment. Enjoyment should be productive, free from prejudices, lies and all kind of cheatings. Now we should be care about the norms and values of the society and we should work together for the sake of these……

The Major Problem in Pakistan.

Pakistan emerged on the world map on 14th August, 1947. Since then she has faced a number of problems on her way to progress. All of these issues are major and are badly effecting our society. Perhaps the greatest loss comes in the area of education. Whether or not this is a direct result of Pakistan's economic problems,it is undoubtedly connected with so many resources directed towards the aforementioned debt payment,educational improvements are given and inordinately low priority.In addition, Musharraf's military dictatorship has understandably not placed great emphasis on education in Pakistan.This is evident upon examination of Pakistan's overall literacy rate of 37.8% (50% for men and 24.4% for women). Literacy being defined as those over 15 who can read and write. In term of population, low literacy rates are often observed with high population growth. A poorly educated population is unlikely to participate in family planning or any other form of population control. Secondary,a poor educated populace makes Pakistan a poor choice for the foreign investors that it so desperately needs. Further more,the extremely low literacy rate among Pakistani women (24.4%) lends itself to a society where most women never enter the labor force,creating less incentives for them to limit the size of their families. This is best illustrated by the fact that only 38 million of Pakistan's 141 million people make up the entire labor force.

There’s a quiet rebellion under way

This sounds like a move to stop brands such as Benson & Hedges using their trademark insignia on cigarette packets. Actually it’s much more draconian. All cigarette packets are to be covered from top to bottom with grotesque pictures of people suffering from smoking-related diseases. Meanwhile, shopkeepers are forced to keep their cigarettes in a cupboard and out of plain view, like pornography.

Until recently, like most people, I’ve gone along with this. There’s no argument that cigarettes kill, and the early attempts by the tobacco lobby to deny this were dishonest and disreputable. I’d also guess that almost every smoker now realises that smoking in public places is a gross intrusion on others.

Nevertheless this anti-smoking campaign has gone too far. It’s time we smokers fought back. This is not just a matter for smokers. It’s a cause that should command the support of everybody who believes in a free society.

In his famous tract, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill argued that human beings should be able to do what we want, so long as it does not harm others: “In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute.”

The anti-smokers have either completely forgotten this basic assumption or they do not believe it. Any adult citizen who, in full knowledge of the risks, wants to smoke must, as a matter of high philosophical principle, be permitted to do so. Attempts to prevent her or him exercising this right are despotic and must, also as a matter of high philosophical principle, be resisted.

I started to worry about the trend of events when the smoking ban in pubs was imposed. Of course it was right to set aside rooms for non-smokers. The problem was the blanket ban on smokers. This hubristic move was not merely illiberal. It had a catastrophic effect on the profits of pubs, forcing hundreds to close, many in remote rural communities, which have lost a vital source of communal solace. (The political class still collectively refuses to accept this linkage between the smoking ban and pub closures.)

The anti-smoking lobby has since pressed the state towards areas where it has no business. The recent attempt to criminalise drivers who smoke in cars that contain children looks like part of a process designed to lead to a ban on adults smoking in their own homes.

I believe that the tide is at last beginning to turn. Let’s examine the case for “plain packaging”. It has already been tried in Australia, where a number of perverse effects have already been observed. Tobacco sales went up there last year, reversing a trend of decline. According to one study, there seems to have been no effect on youth smoking so far. This is partly because smokers are turning to cheaper brands.

The biggest winner, however, is organised crime. There has been a giant increase in illicit cigarettes, the most important being a new brand called “Manchester”, whose market share is now higher than established brands such as Camel or Kent. Manchesters, whose red and white packets are designed to look just like Marlboro, only without the health warnings, are smuggled in from the Gulf, then sold illegally. The loss to the Australian Treasury is already substantial.

The echoes of prohibition in the Twenties are obvious. Yet the anti-smoking lobby is determined to repeat the Australian experiment in Britain. It is imperative that its dictatorial and counter-productive endeavour should be repelled. This, however, is very hard to do, because the anti-smoking lobby in Britain operates in such an insidious way.

ASH is not – like other lobbying groups such as the wonderful Campaign for Real Ale – an emanation of wider civil society. It certainly acts as if it were independent of government, but this is at least in part an illusion. Action on Smoking and Health is what the writer Christopher Snowdon has called, in his superb IEA pamphlet Sock Puppets: How the government lobbies itself and why, a “state-funded activist group”.

This means it is a curious phenomenon. So far as I can tell it enjoys very little public support, and certainly very little public (as opposed to state) funding. As Snowden notes, “Once it became clear that ASH would never become the mass movement its founders envisaged, its staff focused on networking with the political and media elite in London.”

This technique worked well. For the past quarter century, the British government has paid ASH (and other anti-smoking organisations) to lobby the government. As a result, it has appeared for many years as if mass public opinion was pressing for smokers to be turned into pariahs, when in reality the real pressure was coming from a handful of bureaucrats in the Department of Health.

Politicians of Right and Left have been transfixed by these anti-smoking campaigns. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has shown hardly any appetite to challenge the conventional wisdom of his own department, while Luciana Berger, the shadow health minister, is a breathless proselytiser for the anti-smoking lobby. No mainstream politician has dared to challenge the consensus, and only Rothmans-puffing Nigel Farage of Ukip really gets the point.

I believe something is changing in Britain. George Osborne’s Budget, with its tax cut for beer and bingo and permission for people to take charge of their own savings, has caught a wider mood of national rebellion against bossy government. I noticed that when Question Time debated smoking in cars a few weeks ago the biggest round of applause was against the anti-smokers.

Meditation to Quit Smoking

And now you’re an addict.

But there’s still hope.

You can quit smoking with correct meditation and correct attitude.

Many years ago when I was in my early 20′s I’d just started a new job.

I was sitting at a table in the staff restaurant with a group of people I didn’t know.

They were all chatting together and I felt anxious and ill at ease.

Then someone offered me a cigarette.

Although I wasn’t a regular smoker, I had smoked before.

So I took it and lit-up.

After taking a couple of puffs, I was transformed – the nicotine coursing through my veins had made it to my brain within seconds.

I felt great – relaxed, confident and no anxiety.

Of course, I had to keep smoking to keep my brain flooded with nicotine.

And I realised that I’d have to become a regular smoker if I wanted the same effect.

But I knew this wasn’t the answer.

Later, I learned how to use meditation to quit smoking or, I should say,the smoking quit me.

Because it wasn’t an effort of will on my part – I just didn’t want or need it any more.

I remember an interview with the English comedy writer, Dennis Norden.

He would regularly smoke 60 cigarettes a day.

But he gave up smoking in a split-second after a startling realisation.

He’d drive to various meetings and would smoke in the car.

At the start of the week he’d fill the car glove-box with packets of cigarettes.

Whilst driving he’d smoke and, when the packet was empty, he’d crush it and throw it into the passenger foot-well.

Then, at the end of the day he’d throw away the crushed packets .

On one particular day, he removed the old packets and to his horror realised that he’d smoked one hundred cigarettes.

He was so disgusted with himself that he never smoked a single cigarette ever again.

But what’s even more amazing is that he didn’t experience any withdrawal symptoms.

And never even had the slightest desire to smoke again.

His feeling of disgust, shocked him into awareness.

If you want to quit smoking you must cultivate this awareness.

Because the effect of the nicotine is to make you less aware.

But regular meditation will make you more aware.

Then, with this awareness, you can respond differently.

If you’ve tried to quit smoking, you’ve probably used will-power to resist the craving.

But your will-power is not as strong as the craving.

Although you may start out strong, slowly but surely your will-power will begin to shrink.

And eventually your will, will have no power at all.