Just recently I have been looking into business opportunities and in particular franchising opportunities. Franchising provides you a route into business ownership with the back-up of a larger organisation. By purchasing a franchise, new business owners are able to avoid enduring the learning curve of operating a new business by taking advantage of a proven business model and product. It’s an opportunity to be in business for yourself but not by yourself.

Franchises provide you with a supported business meaning you can get on with running it knowing that things like advertising and so forth are done for you.

It's hard to browse the internet and not read all of the conspiracy theories out there but I for one am beginning to wonder.... the evidence that 911 was an inside job continues to accumulate and I somehow believe that the current financial crisis is somewhat convenient too.

Sex on the Beach is some kind of alcoholic drink. I've never had one so I don't have a clue as to what is in it. In Dubai however, sex on the beach cost one British couple three months in jail, a fine and deportation. I'm not surprised. The Brits are notorious for their drunken antics overseas and that stiff upper lip decorum that Brits were so well known for at one time appears to have been replaced by a stiff something else...

The Brits are becoming about as welcome as American tourists these days making a nuisance of themselves all around because of their sheer inability to consume alcohol and keep their private parts private. I vote we rename that cocktail to Brits having sex on the Beach....

The most widely read and popular post on this site is about high heels and a woman's sex life so apparently there is interest in high heels out there. Well, here is some bad news.... a British designer has introduced high heels without heels!

Well has the whole world gone mad? The financial meltdown is created by us panicking and it is now almost a self fulfilling prophecy and it is truly frightening. In times like this historically wars have followed.

Who is to blame? I think we all are frankly. Easy loans, easy credit. Go out and live a great life on your credit card. But if you really look hard isn't that the US lifestyle that has been gradually exported over the years. The US has been literally bankrupt for decades with its huge balance of payment negatives - where was all that money coming from? Banks. They gave out money to anyone wanting it in the form of loans, mortgages and more as we all tried to have the American Dream which now looks increasingly like a bloody nightmare.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again showed just how out of touch he is with the world while speaking at the UN. Amongst his usual racist, anti-semitic, denial of historical facts and image-laced speech was the concept that the American Empire was about to end. Oh really? Someone ought to remind him that the Persian empire ended several thousand years ago.

I mean its not that I totally disagree with what he is trying to say it is simply the ridiculous way in which he says it.

Does Size Matter? Given the spam I get, it does in Men's minds but does it really? Have your say....

Hilary Clinton now claims the popular vote and has told us that votes don't count until cast - which means she is going all of the way to the Democratic convention in the hope that Sen. Obama makes some blunder between now and then. But hang on. Who would elect a woman who seemingly can't count? And who makes up and changes the rules as she goes? This woman has an ego the size of Everest and believes it is SHE who is important (and her alone) in this election.

Come on Hilary - we know that you love Nazi created PR tactics (If you say something loud enough and often enough people believe it) but we too can count.... and Obama leads in the popular vote....

Anyone a Rugby fan? Do you recall the streaker at the All Black versus Ireland game in June 2006? Well, her name is Lisa Lewis and just recently she became the first naked news reader on the New Zealand Naked News Flash. I'm stunned that a country like New Zealand would even have a naked news service but apparently it does and Lisa became something of an overnight celebrity reading the news naked.

The fact that she was formerly an erotic dancer was known to the media and her employer but just a few days after her nervous first news read it was also revealed that she is a hooker! She admitted that she knew tis news might come out sooner or later but was surprised it took so little time? Lisa Lewis it seems is a $7000 per night private escort. She charges $2000/hour and $10,000 per weekend.

She says that she does make a living that way to pay for a 'super education' for her 3-year old son. Yes Lisa.... we believe you.

Hull City beat Watford 4-1 last night (6-1 agg) to move through to the Championship playoff final at Wembley. In previous articles on Hull City, I have done more than enough to explain the significance for me and thousands of other folks from Hull regarding this event. But let's re-iterate...

A nice article in the UK Daily Telegraph is just the latest media piece to look at the current lack of global warming and raise some long overdue questions regarding this multi-billion dollar myth. And myth it truly is.

Climate change - a term global warming devotees love to use as if they invented it - is a feature of this planet, indeed, all planets in our solar system. The climate continuously changes and has changed through geological time. To point to melting glaciers and say that is evidence of warming is correct - it is - but to then say that warming is down to CO2 is a step too far.

When I argue against 'global warming' I hear this stupidity all of the time - "but I can see it with my own eyes"... really? What you see is climate change and it is an ongoing phenomena - that proves nothing regarding what is actually driving climate change.

And therein lies the problem.

The City of Hull has a big day in store today. For just the second time in its history it's soccer club Hull City has a chance to rise to the challenge of the Premier league. It's not all down to the Tigers though, Stoke need to lose their game and Hull City need to win theirs at Ipswich. It's a tough combination of results but the inkling of a possibility has the city excited.

Of course, if events go against Hull City today, they are in the play offs anyway with an unassailable 3rd place finish in the Championship. Me and every Hull fan would rather that this was resolved favorably today but if not, well, the dream isn't dead.

In the last few weeks, the city has been featured in many papers and under the spotlight nationally and all becuase of the soccer team. Think how much more exposure this well kept secret will get with a club in the Premier league. Yes - parts of Hull are not pretty but actually, it's a city with a lot to offer and the surrounding countryside is magnificent from the pancake flatness of the Vale of Holderness to the gently rolling chalk hills of the Wolds upto the mighty sandstone of the North York Moors.

Thinking about a logo for your business? Well - hands off the color Magenta! That's because T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) has trademarked the color.... They are writing warning letters to other businesses that use the color in their logo asking them to cease and desist.

The question I want to ask is how can you own a color? I mean I think I'd like to own the color red - how do I go about it? That way, I could charge all companies using red in their logo a license fee and simply retire. Who allowed a company to trademark a color and why?

In the PR business it is said that no publicity is bad publicity. RyanAir appear to subscribe to this view anyway. Recently the company has been sued by French President and his wife/girlfriend for using their pictures without permission. They ran the ad only once but have gained massively from the media frenzy that surrounded the controversial advertisement. And what did it cost them to lose that case - just 60,000 Euros - probably less than they spent on the ad campaign itself. But it doesn't stop there, they were also heavily criticized for running an ad in the UK featuring a scantily clad schoolgirl.

If you have a blog and want to earn money with it or even simply want to explore the possibilities of making money on the Internet then my guess is you have heard of John Chow. Simply do a search on terms like 'blogging for money' and you will see his Google ads or pull up links to his site. He seems to be a demiGod of the Internet worshiped by his admirers. He likes to call himself a dotcom mogul and all around nice guy and his website shows pictures of a very expensive car - I guess his. Well, let's explode a few myths about this guy shall we?