Every year you give your family and friends chocolate eggs and a chocolate bunny as an Easter gift? Maybe they have enough of it? Eaten and forgotten. Try something else this year! Make everyone remember Easter the whole year!
Easter happens one time a year. And that’s the truth you can’t fight with. Once in a year everybody sits around the table and eat a lot of eggs with joy from Jesus resurrection. The tradition demands to give some small presents to share this happiness – usually some egg-shaped sweets. This custom shouldn’t be changed but maybe it’s time to change the things that we are giving?
1. All right, it’s Easter time so some presents should be in such spirit. Bunny? Probably not live (or maybe?) and not chocolate but a soft artificial bunny that your child can hold while sleeping. A cuddly bunny for a grown up person? Why not! It’s a terrific way to say someone ‘I love you’ in a very special way and in the same time ‘Happy Easter!’.
2. Plants may also serve the same purpose. Instead of giving someone a few cut roses you may give spring flowers in flowerpots – for example tulip, crocus, hyacinth or even grass with a small artificial chicken on it. Plants will make the house look more happy, closer to nature and probably survive not only this year’s Easter.
3. Maybe something from home accessories? An ideal present for children or grown ups might be doorstops – from this occasion especially in rooster design. It looks really nice, serves every home and in this design looks like a piece of spring every season of the year. Because it is practical it can stand in the kitchen for example, and because it looks nice it can hold babies/children door ajar.
4. A dog! It might seem a risky idea but when you think about it for a while you will see that you can’t give anything more special than a living creature and people are most happy when they get such presents. Of course that’s a huge responsibility to have a pet so that kind of present should be thought through – animals aren’t toys. If you well know the person you will also know if its home is opened for animals.
5. Something to decorate the house. There is a wide range of Easter decorations on the market. For example a pretty seasonal door wreath to welcome visitors over the Easter holiday. Hand-crafted with fresh foliage, herbs and moss and decorated with Easter nests – such Easter wreaths should be given few days earlier to serve its purpose as a welcoming wreath.
Typically, these companies also claim that they can patent your idea, which is impossible. (Any competent patent attorney will tell you that only an invention can be patented, not a mere idea.) However, even the sharpest inventors tend to be drawn in by these seductive promises. While it might seem logical to attribute this to laziness, that does not seem to be the case. Inventing is tough, diligent work. The more likely explanation is that inventors are not familiar with the business side of patents and these companies seem like a smart way to go.
In fact, inventors with patent ideas can bypass this chump’s game and do most (if not all) of their patent sale presentations themselves. All you need is some knowledge about how companies evaluate patents and how to emphasize the benefits of yours. With that in hand, you will be primed and ready to go out and sell your patent to a buyer.
First, you need to decide how you want to sell your patent. Your two choices are to license your patent or to assign it. Essentially, licensing your patent lets you retain the underlying rights but grant someone else — the licensee — the right to make something based on the patent. In exchange, you get royalties and whatever performance obligations you write into the license agreement. Assigning a patent, on the other hand, is an outright transfer to someone else, after which that person is the sole, exclusive owner of the patent. (Read our in-depth article on patent licensing for more information on both options.)
Once you have decided whether to sell your patent via licensing or assignment, the next step is to determine which company you should be making your pitch to. For example, the inventor of a new, lighter and more durable bicycle tire might assume that he needs to talk to Wal-Mart or the Sports Authority. In reality, he wants to speak with companies like Huffy or Schwinn, ie, companies who make and manufacture bicycles. They are who would be most likely to buy your patent, since it coincides with their existing line of business. It’s what those in the business call a “natural fit.”
He might even want to go further down the chain and approach the company who creates bicycle tires, if this is a different company. The closer you can get to the physical implementation of your idea, the more likely it is that your presentation will be favorably received.
The reason for this is simple. The higher up you go, the more layers your idea will have to pass through until it reaches the people whose lives will be concretely affected by it. Not only that, but other people will not present your idea with the energy and enthusiasm that you will. The importance of narrowing down the list of companies to make your sales pitch to in this way cannot be stressed enough.
Once you identify the company you need to speak to, you need to work on what you will say to them. To keep our example of a new kind of bike tire; you want to emphasize to the tire manufacturer why your design of tire is superior. Beyond that, you want to demonstrate why the company needs to use your design. For instance, you might want to include in your presentation a survey where 75% of respondents said that shoddy bike tires are the reason they do not buy new bicycles. The idea is to focus on benefits to the company, rather than hype and self-promotion. This is what will make them eager to buy your patent and put it to use in their products.
Once you have prepared a clear, benefit-driven presentation, the final step is to make the pitch. Generally, you will find a business development mailing address or e-mail address on the company website. Just send them a short, to the point note saying that you have a business proposal you would like to discuss. Make sure you include enough details to get their attention, but not so much that your note becomes a novel.
Above all, maintain confidence in yourself and your patent. If you have carefully though things through, you can indeed sell your patent on terms that are favorable to you and your future prospects.
Tinea capitis, or “ringworm” of the scalp, presents itself as one or more sharply marginated plaques of partial alopecia. Inflammation and scale are present, but often these two changes are quite minimal. The recognition of broken hairs (stubble and black dots at the follicular orifices) is the best clue to correct diagnosis.
Nearly all cases occur in children, but the diagnosis should be considered in any adult presenting with evidence of localized alopecia . Kerion formation is a complication that occurs in about 10% of cases. This represents a sensitization phenomenon whereby the fungi induce a remarkably brisk inflammatory reaction with resulting pustulation, crusting, and edema formation. Wood’s lamp examination does not reveal fluorescence in the most common forms of tinea capitis or in kerion formation. Unfortunately, KOH preparations are difficult for the inexperienced to interpret. For this reason, any suspected diagnosis requires the plucking of infected hairs for fungal culture.
Course and Prognosis
Tinea capitis and zoophilic tinea corporis usually resolve spontaneously after 6 to 12 months of activity. Tinea pedis, tinea cruris, and anthropophilic tinea corporis continue indefinitely. There are, however, periods of relative quiescence and exacerbation. All of these fungal diseases respond well to treatment, but with the exception of tinea capitis and zoophilic tinea corporis infections, recurrence following treatment is rather likely.
Pathogenesis
Tinea pedis, tinea cruris, and anthropophilic tinea corporis are most commonly caused by Trichophyton rulnum. Trichophyton interdigitate and Epidermophhyton floccoswn infections are also seen. Generally, one cannot predict the causative organism on the basis of clinical appearance. Zoophilic tinea corporis can be caused by Microsporum canis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and Trichophyton verrucosum. Tinea capitis is caused by Trichophyton tonsurans in 90% of cases.
The likelihood of inoculation with any of these fungi is enhanced if cuts and scratches are present on the skin. Clinical evidence of infection following inoculation is enhanced by the presence of warmth and moisture, such as occurs in the groin and under footwear. Depression of cell-mediated immune responsiveness, as in atopic patients, is a major predisposing factor for the development of T. rubrum infection.
Therapy
Tinea cruris and those cases of tinea pedis that involve only the web spaces can be treated with any of the topical antifungal agents. Other forms of tinea pedis usually require the use of griseofulvin. Mild cases of tinea corporis also respond well to topical agents. Extensive disease and those cases with a component of follicular involvement are best treated with griseofulvin. Tinea capitis requires the use of griseofulvin. Orally administered ketoconazole therapy is rarely appropriate for either tinea corporis or capitis. Kerion on nation, if present, can be treated with intralesional steroid injections or with a short burst of systemically administered steroids.
When a notary signing agent receives the loan documents for a closing, the documents are not necessarily in the order in which they should be presented to the borrower.
One might think that it doesn’t matter. Just start from the top of the stack of documents and work your way down. Just get them signed. That’s the objective. Right?
Not necessarily.
One of the things I do as a notary signing agent is try to put myself in the position of the borrower. When I’m presenting the documents, I try to imagine which documents I would want to see first. What would be most important to me. So I take certain documents and put them at the top of the stack. (I’ll use a yellow sheet of paper as a bookmark so I know where to put it back when I send the documents back to the title company.)
The very first document that I present to the borrower is the HUD Settlement Statement. I have actually received a set of documents in which it was placed at the very bottom. It doesn’t matter. It goes to the top. That document shows all of the important numbers, so the borrower shouldn’t be kept in suspense. It’s also a document that they are entitled to see one business day before the closing. That rarely happens. So the least the signing agent can do is show the borrower the Settlement Statement as soon as possible.
The next document that I go over is the Right to Cancel (if there is one for that particular transaction). I do this for a couple of reasons. It has been my experience that the borrower is more at ease with signing the documents if they know that they have that right. There’s no point in pretending that they don’t have a right to cancel by placing the document at the bottom of the stack. Don’t worry. The borrower is not going to cancel the loan, just because you showed them that document. If they cancel, it’s because they changed their mind and decided they didn’t want the loan.
Another reason that it’s one of the first documents that I go over is because, they will be getting 2 copies of it to keep. I place those copies in the envelope with the rest of the borrower’s copies. That way the envelope is sealed and out of the way. I normally don’t have to open it back up for the remainder of the closing. I want the flow of documents to go as smoothly as possible. The fewer the interruptions, the better.
There are some other key documents that I want to show the borrower. They are curious to know what their interest rate will be, what their payments will be, if they have an adjustable rate, a prepayment penalty, and a few other key terms of the loan. If these documents are not already at the top of the stack, then I will present the Note and Truth in Lending. I put a tab on the payment coupon because it shows the actual payment amount, when it’s due, and where to send the payment.
There are several other documents that I will put a tab on. I try to anticipate what questions the borrower will have. So I want to be able to put my finger on that document. It doesn’t have to get signed right away. Just let them see it, then put it back in the stack. Anything to satisfy the borrower’s curiosity and give them peace of mind.