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Electronic Cigarette Timeline

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E-Cigarettes: A Brief Timeline

Electronic cigarettes are basically a new phenomenon in the United States, and a lot of people (including smokers) still have not heard about them. But they have been around for years in other parts of the world.

Here is a brief timeline of the electronic cigarette (e-cig for short):

2003 – Beijing based SBT Co. registered a patent for the first e-cig.

2004 – Ruyan, another Beijing company, is now the head; they merged with SBT Co to become SBT Ruyan Technology & Development Co.

oMay 2004: Ruyan sells its first cigarette in China; sales for 2004 total 1.7 million US dollars.

2005 – Sales reach 17 million US dollars

2006 – Sales reach 37 million US dollars

oApril 2006: Ruyan introduces the e-cig in Europe

July 2009 – The FDA releases a warning against electronic cigarettes and states that they may be unfairly marketed to young people.

January 2010 – A federal judge stops the FDA from blocking e-cigs coming into the country from China.

February 2010 – FDA files an appeal of Judge Leon’s ruling.

March 2010 – US Court of Appeals overturns Judge Leon’s ruling, giving the FDA the power to ban e-cig imports.

I wanted to share this information because a lot of people might be interested in e-cigs, but dont want to try something completely new, fearing that it hasnt been properly tested or might be unsafe. But as you can see, the e-cig has been manufactured, tested, and distributed long before its arrival here in the United States.

Hope this helps any of you who are sitting on the fence wondering if you should give them a try.

Self-publish Your Book And The Profits Are Infinite

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For many writers, becoming a published author can be a confusing and overwhelming decision, especially when it comes to the question of whether to self-publish or not. And with todays technology, its never been easier to self-publish a book.

But self-publishing is the same as any other business, in that the harder you work at it, the more profitable it can be. So to earn a living as an author, you need to be able to write books quickly and make your time as productive as possible.

But first you need to decide whether to publish your books the traditional way through a publishing company or to publish your book yourself.

There are three things to consider when deciding on the best and most profitable way to publish your book.

The first consideration is time. if you decided to use a traditional publishing house, first you have to convince them that your book is worthy of publication more than anyone elses, and this in itself can take several years and dozens of rejections before you find the right publisher.

Also traditional publishing houses will publish your book according to their own timeline. Books are scheduled to be published far in advance so it could be three years after signing a publishing contract before your book hits the market.

When you self-publish a book, the only time restriction on publication is your own. So you can either take your time and publish it one or two years later, or fast-track the whole process and have your book out on the market within a month or two.

The next consideration is control. Once you sign a publishing contract youre signing away your copyright to your work, so your book then effectively becomes the publishers book. This means that as the author you will now have little or no say when it comes to your book title, design or cover. Yet marketing and promoting the book will till be your responsibility.

When you self-publish a book you become the publisher as well as the author so you maintain all control of the way your book is published, how it will look and who will distribute it.

The last consideration is profit. With traditional publishing houses, the authors have no up-front costs as far as publishing goes and instead are paid a royalty for every book sold.

Some royalty payments can be as low as 5% of the selling price and most are no higher than 10%.

Some authors are paid an advance payment of royalties as soon as their book is published, but they then have to wait several years before the number of sales grows over and above the amount of advance.

This is why profit is one of the biggest arguments in favour of self-publishing. All profits from a self-published book belong 100% to the author. So the more you market and promote your book, the more you reap the profits from the sales.

Lets say you self-publish a novel and you sell 1,000 copies in a year. Of course with the right marketing, your book could sell ten-times that amount every year or more. But just as an example, well use a low figure of 1,000 copies.

So if youre making a profit of say, $5 per book, the 1,000 sales will give you an income of $5,000 in a year. But of course the longer your book remains on the market, the more copies you can sell every year. Your name as an author will become known and if people buy one book from you and enjoy it, theyll probably seek out more books from you.

So if you published a book every year and sold an extra thousand copies of each book every year, in five years time you could have a six-figure income every year. And the numbers Im quoting are very low. The profit from your sales could be double or treble that quite easily.

And if your book was picked up by a book club that wanted to sell your book to its members, that could mean a single sale of 20,000 copies or more. You can imagine how much that would sky-rocket your income.

Or what about libraries? The sales achievable to libraries are phenomenal. For instance, there are over 114,000 libraries in America. What if you could sell just one copy of your book to even half of them!

And then theres also the possibility of your book being chosen to go into a collection of condensed books, or Braille books, audio books, media interviews, movie dealsthe list goes on.

Writing non-fiction books can be even more profitable. Whatever business youre in, with a published book to your list of credentials, youll be seen as an expert in your field.

And theres no limit to the number of non-fiction books you can write. The internet makes it possible for you to research and collect articles on any subject and then you can write it all up as your own book (as long as you write it yourself and dont plagiarise).

You could then set up a web site and also sell essays, articles, reports, newsletters, eBooks and more.

You could also write articles for magazines using the information in your books, or allow them to print excerpts from your books, which would not only bring in extra income, but it is also great publicity for your books.

So you see, when you self-publish, the profits are infinite.

Home Decorating With Gas Fireplace And Feng Shui

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The modern trends of fireplaces have evolved but decorating homes are still based on the balance of the elements to successfully harmonize any living space. in feng shui, balancing of the five elements fire, water, wood, earth and metal, are important when you are remodeling or decorating your home. . If you are buying a stove for sale, obviously you are adding an element of fire into your home. Any space with a gas fireplace will certainly exude a fiery element that emits heat embracing an ambiance and the people within it with warmth and console. This is ideal to heighten an intimacy of couples that want to restore a broken relationship.

When you search for a stove for sale or any other gas fireplace, you should consider the space and your existing furniture at home that will sit next to it. According to the feng shui masters, the south wall of your home is the best place to locate a gas fireplace. You may also locate a gas fireplace to any other areas of the house but be certain not to place them on the Northwest or the middle left part of your home. This area represents family and health. Placing the fire in this area can risk your health and relationships. Clean the space where you want to locate the fireplace; this way you do not get in the way for the heat energy to flow around the house, hence, you are not obstructing the Chi.

If you are placing your gas fireplace at the center of your home, be certain to balance it with other elements such as water. Finding a stove for sale can also weaken your health if you place it on the center of your home since it also represents the center of your body. Being exhausted with too much heat can ultimately weaken the body. Try incorporating water, wood, earth and metal elements. It does not literary tells you place a swimming pool next to gas fireplace for a water element. A small fountain or an aquarium will do but you can also use paintings or photographs with rivers, falls and the like. Other water element includes black furniture and mirrors. Placing a mirror next or near your gas fireplace is good to harmoniously balance and prevents the depletion of energy around the house. If it is a wood element, photographs or paintings of trees can help or if you can add real plants to show something that is alive and growing. Adding a television near the gas fireplace may not be a good idea. But if you and the rest of the family are fond of watching either shows on TV or DVDs, be certain to keep it hidden after use. You may use a cabinet to seal them or a projector screen that you can roll over when youre done watching.

No matter how expensive or cheap a stove for sale can be, proper placement should always be considered. Ask a feng shui expert to help you deal with the movement of the Chi. At the end of the day whats more important is your health and your familys happiness beyond all the beautiful decors and furniture around the house.

Business Transfer Agents Time The Government Cracked Down On Rogue Operators Who Demand Money For N

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Hit by the recession or maybe just retiring or moving on, there are countless owners of small businesses whod like to sell up.

Business transfer agents are supposedly there to help them find a buyer.
But today I lift the lid on a string of them who demand huge fees even when they fail to get a sale, and then sue clients who refuse to pay up.
Rip-off 1: Judge backs family over firms one-sided contractVerdicts on business transfer agents dont often come much more damning than this.

The case involves one of the most notorious firms in this field, RTA Business Consultants.
It failed to find a buyer for a family-run car parts firm but still demanded payment.
When the owner, 70 Celine Pas Cher (http://www.sweio.net/celine/category/sac-celine-pas-cher) -year-old Andrew Rothery, refused to cough up, RTA sued.
And lost spectacularly.
Its rep Jen Leary bragged she could value a business to the penny but got the price of Mr Rotherys firm wrong by 700,000, Halifax County Court was told.
She lied that she could sell West Yorks firm Holmfield Auto Spares for 1.3m and persuaded Mr Rothery to sign a contract to pay 5,000 plus VAT for marketing, followed by commission on sale.

Suspicious of the high price put on his firm, Mr Rothery had two reputable business sales agents value it and they came up with a figure of 600,000.
So he refused to pay RTA, which sued him for 10,000 in supposed unpaid fees and lost commission.
Deputy District Judge Keith Nightingale threw out the case and was scathing about RTAs terms.
He said: The contract, it seems to the court, has clauses which are wholly one-sided and quite frankly it is a document that does not seem fair or balanced whatsoever.

Mr Rothery and his son Gavin were delighted.
It was the ignorant bad-mannered attitude of the people at RTA which made me determined not to give them money when they had not earned it, he told me after the case.
Ive been in business for 42 years and have dealt with lots of people who want to take money for doing very little.
RTA is one of them.
And Mr Rothery is not the only one to think so.
Andy Stenning / Daily Mirror Trubunal: Paul O’Reilly of RTA

An extraordinary insight to RTA came at an employment tribunal this month.
Former senior salesman Howard Rowlands told the hearing that the boss, Paul OReilly, threatened to punch him in the f***ing face in a row over the firms ethics.
Mr Rowlands said Mr OReilly was ranting and raving.
He said: I spun around and left the office as quickly as possible, I just wanted to get out of there. I felt threatened, seriously threatened.
Mr Rowlands also told the tribunal in Manchester that sales director Paul Mitchell explained how they would make money from a typical business seller, revealing: We want to stitch him up with the withdrawal fee.

Mr Rowlands said: I didnt do fraudulent contracts, thats what caused the animosity. I questioned the ethos and morality.
He explained that clients were unwittingly committing themselves to paying 1,500 even if no sale of their business was achieved.
He said: The withdrawal fee is on that contract for life, with instructions from Paul Mitchell and Paul OReilly not to inform people its there for life.
I raised it at sales meetings, that it was abhorrent. The withdrawal fee is like an anchor. If owners sell it themselves, RTA wants 1,500. If they take it off the market, RTA wants 1,500.

RTA disputed the account of its former sales star, saying it was made up because Mr Rowlands was facing disciplinary action over alleged racist language.
Mr OReilly also claimed that the Mirror had been ordered by the Press Complaints Commission to print a retraction for one of my previous stories about his company.
He was asked to produce this retraction, forcing him to admit: I dont have a copy of it.
Thats because it doesnt exist.

The tribunal ruling was postponed.
Fee free: The Turner Butler ‘guarantee’
Rip-off 2: 50,000 for web advertisingIf Turner Butler failed to sell his building business, Constructive Care, Steve Archer assumed he wouldnt owe a penny.
After all, hed been given a Full No Sale No Fee Guarantee. He said: This was included with every letter they sent out to me initially.
His firm folded after no buyer was found and Turner Butler are now suing him in Hertford county court for 50,000.

Even if they had sold his business at his suggested price of 288,000, Turner Butlers 7% commission would come to barely 24,000.
But there was no sale and Turner Butler, said Mr Archer, expects this huge sum for simply advertising my now liquidated company on free insertion websites, for something I could have done myself.
Rupert Cattell, of Turner Butler, said: We asked Mr Archer for an explanation of what happened to all of Constructive Cares assets while under contract to Turner Butler and he has declined to respond, or to provide evidence as to what happened to those assets.

Rip-off 3: Carol rises to Phoenix feeHoping to sell her gift shop in Bristol, Carol Budd put it on the market with one business transfer agent, and then a second. It was sold to a buyer who was introduced by the first company, she says.
Which has not stopped the second one, Phoenix Business Agents, threatening to bankrupt her if she doesnt pay them 8,600.
Their director Zulf Hamid gave me a big song and dance about how valuable my business was, and wanted to value it at 75,000 but I said that it wouldnt sell for that so he reduced it to 50,000, she said.

Eventually it sold for 28,000 to a buyer who had been introduced by the other company.
If Phoenix had found a buyer for me I would have paid them but Im not going to pay them for a customer that was procured by another company.
These people are targeting hard-working, honest folk.
A spokesman for Phoenix did not dispute Mrs Budds account of its initial enormous over-valuation of her shop or explain why it expects a fee thats almost a third of the sale price, but it insists that the buyer was registered with them.

Phoenix is a reputable business transfer agency, said a spokesman, saying the company hoped to resolve the matter through open and frank dialogue.
Couple: Barrie Hooton and Martin Marshall
Rip-off 4: 400k debts, but firm has shifted assets over to ex-directorLast week I told how Preferred Commercial demanded 5,000 from one poor client whose pub it had failed to sell, sending no prospective buyers apart from one time-waster.
Preferred Commercial is in liquidation with debts of almost 400,000 that it cannot pay. Which does not mean the end of the people behind this company.

If you click on website youre re-directed to an almost identical website for a firm called Vendor Direct.
This even uses the same old Preferred Commercial phone number.
Thats because its assets, including any unpaid bills allegedly owed by ex-clients, have been sold to Vendor Direct, whose director is Barrie Hooton.
Hes an ex-director of Preferred Commercial and partner – both in the business and civil ceremony sense – of another Preferred Commercial director, Martin Marshall.

Rip-off 5: No sale? It still costsNo sale, no fee. That was the crucial phrase in the sales pitch that persuaded Carl Bowman to put his hardware store in Leeds on the market with Ernest Wilson & Co Ltd.
Now he says ruefully: With hindsight I was possibly a little naive to accept the word of their sales rep and not query the terms of business further.
His store didnt sell and now Ernest Wilson is suing him for 4,765.
It was marketed at 205,000 without success, even though Mr Bowman says that he had been told before signing the contract that potential buyers were very keen.

He heard little until Ernest Wilson told him to cut the price to 160,000 and accept liability for their marketing fees.
When he refused, Ernest Wilson took it off the market and issued its court claim.
The firm insists that its terms and conditions are sent to every client and include the clause: Advertising and marketing sac celine (sweio.net) costs are payable upon withdrawal.
Director Stuart Moorhouse said: We were left with no option but to issue court proceedings.

He pointed out that Mr Bowmans complaint to The Property Ombudsman had been rejected.
Mr Bowman responded by reminding Ernest Wilson that they were fined in 2012 by The National Federation of Property Professionals.
Its tribunal ruling began: We are disappointed that we have heard three further cases connected with Ernest Wilson, especially as there have been two previous cases, one in 2007 and another in 2011.
The latest case, which resulted in three 750 fines, concerned the giving to a seller client a copy of the agency agreement document for the sale of their business that is not identical to the version the client has signed.

Campaign group fights the roguesTales like the ones here prompted the establishment of the Campaign for Ethics in Business Transfer Agents , a free advice website.
Its spokeswoman said some small firms risk going bust if they pay agents who fail to find them buyers but still demand huge fees.
There are no laws to stop the business marketing agents from producing unfair contracts and then suing in the small claims courts, she said.
We encourage people who have successfully beaten them to help by providing witness statements, copy judgments and transcripts for the next person due in court.

You can find it at website
Read more from Andrew Penman hereBeen ripped off? Contact Andrew Penman by emailing [emailprotected] or writing to Penman Investigates, Daily Mirror, One Canada Square, London E14 5AP

The Story Behind Esp Guitars

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Electric Sound Products, known as ESP, began in Tokyo Japan in 1975 as a corporation that supplied custom substitute parts for electric guitars. Nonetheless, the first ESP guitar wasn’t constructed until 1976. ESP Guitars and replacement components continued to be sold solely in Japan for nearly 10 years prior to moving into the U.S. marketplace. In 1983 their replacement accessories ended up being made obtainable in the U.S.. At last, in 1984 their electric guitars made their American arrival.

In 1984 – 1985 ESP Guitars were attracting some attention from remarkable musicians including Bruce Kulick (Kiss), Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones) and Vernon Reid (Living Colour).

The next important name to encounter ESP Guitars was George Lynch of Dokken, whilst shopping for guitar components as he was on tour in Japan. When George discovered that ESP made custom electric guitars, the prototype “Kamikaze” was crafted for him. The Kamikaze was the original signature model to be made.

Soon after, other guitarists started to take notice of ESP and began playing their guitars in the late 1980’s. Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield of Metallica were 2 of the superior names.

In fact, talking about James Hetfield, an ESP electric guitar that he used during Metallica originally began to turn into widespread, got the ESP Company into some legal issues. The electric guitar he played, called the EXP, was a reproduction of the Gibson Explorer. Even though guitar companies were selling reproductions of their guitars for years, Gibson chose to sue ESP Guitars. The craftsmanship of the EXP guitar was so excellent that people were buying them up and this was allegedly slicing into the revenue of Gibson’s guitars. In the end, ESP lost the lawsuit and altered their design to the now known ‘EX’ design.

In mid 2002, ESP sales started to produce at a rapid rate making them one of the fastest developing companies at that period. This increase in sales was directly linked to Fender Guitars buying out Jackson Guitars. Jackson was the company that ESP was competing with back in the 1980’s and 90’s the buy-out of Jackson Guitars, most of the big profile musicians jumped ship and went over to ESP. Players like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, discovered it was an easy transition to change over to ESP Guitars due to the prime quality and similar thrash-metal aggresive designs.

ESP guitars are still extremely popular today. During the 08 Winter NAMM show, ESP Guitars launched over fifty all-new guitar and bass models. In addition they have an excellent number of high profile guitar players on their roster including Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield of Metallica, Wayne Static of Static-X, Alexi Laiho Children of Bodom, Will Adler of Lamb of God, Ron Wood, George Lynch, and the latest member, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. With the good quality that ESP manufacture, its a no-brainer to know they’re going to be around for several more years to come.