Nashville, TN. — Our lagging economy has spurned a dramatic increase in burglaries and home invasions across the country, with agencies reporting an increase in 2010 after falling for a number of years. What is especially troubling is that these crimes have increased in the suburbs and small towns – places where it rarely happened before.
“The numbers reflect what we have been hearing from listeners all over the country. The bad economy has caused an increase in crime and it is happening everywhere”, says home security expert, Alan Young. Over the past three months, Young has conducted nearly 100 radio interviews, giving listeners tips on how not to become victims of a growing burglary and home invasion epidemic. Young is CEO of Armor Concepts LLC and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, The Today Show, and The Discovery Channel, as well as numerous local news segments.
Young’s common sense approach to home security, which focuses on economical ways to keep from becoming a victim, has suddenly made him a very popular guest for radio show hosts. “It was really interesting to hear his common sense approach to security. I know that it made me think, especially the part about alarm systems… “ said Georgianne Kiricoples, host of the “Breaking Through” radio show.
According to Young, there are three keys to making sure that your home is secure. The first is simple, “Use some common sense. Don’t post vacation plans on Facebook and don’t post vacation photos while still on vacation. Many burglaries are committed by someone you know or by someone connected to someone you know. Letting the world know that you’re not home is an easy way to become a target.”
The second key is to make your home a less attractive target than your neighbor’s home. Sounds crazy, but according to Young, “If you and your neighbor are being chased by a dog, you don’t need to be faster than the dog, just your neighbor. Make your home a less attractive target and thieves will go somewhere else – unless you have something that they really want.” Steps to making your home less attractive to burglars include cutting shrubs and properly lighting the inside and outside of your home.
The third key is to secure the exterior of your home. “Most people think about home alarm systems as home security. An alarm simply tells you that someone is inside your house and police response times are often greater than 20 minutes. A home alarm is the equivalent of having OnStar in your car. Would you not buckle your seat belt because OnStar will call the police after you have an accident? Alarms are a good addition to your home’s security but 85% of all break-ins are through a door. Secure your doors and you greatly increase your likelihood of success against a burglar.”
For door security, Young recommends EZ Armor, a $69.00 kit that reinforces the jamb, locks and hinges on an exterior entry door. The kit can be installed in about 30 minutes by a do-it-yourselfer and is guaranteed to help prevent kick-ins. EZ Armor can be purchased at Lowe’s, many ACE Hardware stores and online at www.armorconcepts.com. He also recommends upgrading your deadbolt to an ANSI certified Grade 1 lock. There are several models, including one from Schlage, which can be purchased for under $30.00 at many hardware stores.
“Security does not need to cost a lot, it just needs to work. Anyone that tells you otherwise is taking you for a ride. With a little common sense and a little effort you can effectively secure your home,” concluded Young. Many other home security tips, along with recommendations for what to do after a burglary, can be found at www.armorconcepts.com.
Young was featured on Nashville news last year when a couple in Murfreesboro, TN were victims of burglary and then avoided a repeat offense by taking Young’s advice. After being robbed, the couple installed EZ Armor as kick-in prevention on their door. When the same burglar came back weeks later and tried to kick in the same door, he made so much noise that the neighbors called the police and he was apprehended.
Alan S. Young is CEO of Armor Concepts LLC. Mr. Young and Armor Concepts have been featured on The CBS Early Show, The Today Show, The Discovery Channel show “It Takes a Thief” and numerous local news segments. Armor Concepts’ Door Jamb Armor, EZ Armor and FIX-A-JAMB products are sold nationally through Lowe’s, ACE Hardware, Do-It-Best and on their web site at www.armorconcepts.com.
Deerfield Beach, FL. “Superb! – The Light Bringer displays an outstanding supernatural adventure that will pull you into a world beyond life itself and make you wonder if it’s really a work of fiction. A chilling movement across the threshold that separates this world and the next – The Light Bringer bridges the gap between the light and darkness, goodness and evil that exist in this world and our life beyond” – Dr. Tom Hill, Coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul.
COPS meets The Ghost Whisperer in The Light Bringer (HCI Books — $14.95), a mysterious story about sixteen lives inexplicably and suddenly extinguished and the man chosen to be their Light Bringer.
Those sixteen people will die on Police Officer Alan Crane’s watch. But while tragic and untimely death is no stranger to the jaded ex-Marine, his new-found supernatural ability to lead these people to their spiritual fates sends him on a sensational and scary saga that will ultimately answer: Why these sixteen? What do they have in common? And why has Alan been chosen to bring them to the light.
In a time of unending war, untimely death, and economic strife—when bad things happen to good people—we often ask ‘Why?’ The Light Bringer is a supernatural story that engages our imaginations and spirits, while acting as a source of hope and answering this most provocative question.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Chris DiGiuseppi has more than nineteen years in Law Enforcement at various levels, including Assistant Chief of Police. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and Northwestern University School of Police Staff Command. His website is: www.thelightbringerbook.com
Mike Force has spent more than thirty years in Law Enforcement, the last nineteen as a Police Chief. Mike has numerous certifications in various areas of law, forensics, investigations, and criminology. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and served twenty-two years in the U.S. Marines, where he retired as a Captain. He also shares the website: www.thelightbringerbook.com
For more information about The Light Bringer, contact the publisher at: (800) 441-5569 or www.hcibooks.com.
The Light Bringer Chris DiGiuseppi and Mike Force July 2011 ISBN: 0-7573-1573-9 $14.95
Torrance, CA. – A Buddha is one who has attained the highest level of enlightenment in the Cosmos and Buddhism teaches that the Cosmos contains innumerable worlds similar to ours, with countless number of Buddhas. Buddhism also teaches that there are fifty-two levels of enlightenment, the highest of which is called the “enlightenment of a Buddha.”
The Story Of Buddha: A Graphic Biography (Ichimannendo Publishing) by Hisashi Ota is believed to be the first book on the life story of Buddha and his teachings in Manga – a revered practice by the Japanese of using comics for explanation and illustration,.
When the Buddha was a young man he was called Siddhartha and he dealt with similar struggles that we have today. He was born as a crown prince and was blessed by having an extremely beautiful wife. He had it all – money, fame, position, wealth – there was nothing he needed yet even with all of his possessions he was not totally happy. He felt there was something missing in his life and he wondered how there could be meaning in the same routine day after day. That is when he went in search of happiness…and a search for answers to the age-old question, “what is the meaning of life?” began. Little did this dissatisfied prince from the foothills of the Himalayas know that 2,600 years later he would be considered one of the world’s greatest sources of religious inspiration!
Hisashi Ota, the author of this remarkable book, was born in Japan and graduated from Nagoya University’s School of Science.
New York – Dr. Robert Forman hits it on the head when he says that millions are spending years and years seeking enlightenment but they are looking in the wrong place for the real life goal. He has learned from his studies and his long journey to gain enlightenment that what we modern westerners are really after is not a shift in a state of consciousness but more a shift in a whole life.
Where Dr. Forman’s new book differs from most spiritual or self-help books is that his book, Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be: A Journey of Discovery, Snow and Jazz in the Soul (O-Books), cuts through all the hype and ‘pie in the sky’ claims that so many self-help books are based on, and shows what the goal of attaining enlightenment is actually about.
From copious research as well as his own 39 years’ experience of spiritual enlightenment, Dr. Forman tells what it actually is and is not like, and offers sane and experienced guidance to readers who are battling with confusion over their life direction. Some are convinced they don’t have what it takes to achieve enlightenment in this lifetime or are disillusioned by spiritual teachers who don’t live up to their exalted image, while others are hungry for a different way – knowing it’s out there but having no idea where to turn to find it, and worrying that choosing a spiritual life means leaving their everyday life behind.
We can all take something away from the story of Dr. Forman’s lifelong struggles to make sense of the spiritual life and its unusual promised state of consciousness and the misleading fantasies that he, like most people on the spiritual path, shared about enlightenment. It is not the panacea it is billed to be, nor is it the perfection, eternal joy, or the end of all the suffering that people believe – and no, neon lights do not flash!
Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be invites readers to be honest about their spiritual experiences and goals and consider a radically different yet more productive approach. By exploring his own experience of spiritual enlightenment and lifetime of research, Dr. Forman shows that it is possible to create resonance in every aspect of your life with the same easy openness that you get when sitting in prayer or on the meditation cushion, but in order to reach this ease we must “embrace the human messiness” that is too often ignored or outright rejected by most spiritual traditions. He understands this well because his own life journey was filled with confusion, disappointment and disillusionment that he had to fight every step of the way.
Dr. Forman’s unique book offers its newfound hope to spiritual seekers in a very different way: through metaphors, humor, vulnerability and sometimes achingly beautiful prose. He presents a new direction for people who are looking for a sane and healthy spiritual pathway in our increasingly confusing world – one that offers a transformation of everyday life.
Robert K.C. Forman writes with the authority of a lifetime of personal mystical experience and international renown for his books, articles and workshops about spiritual experience and the path. He makes an entertaining and charming guest who encourages listeners/audiences to be honest about their real-life goals as he points them on the road to a truly fulfilling life
Jack Canfield, Co-creator of the NY Times #l Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series: “Enlightening… more than a memoir of a profoundly revealing spiritual journey. It is a deep invitation to be your authentic self–to fully own, embody and express every aspect of yourself. The honesty, openness and transparency of Robert’s spiritual journey instantly captivated me. I read the book in one long, joyous sitting. I literally could not put the book down…illuminating, entertaining and impactful. If you’re looking for guidance as to what is truly spiritual and enlightening, then read this book! It is definitely chicken soup for the spiritual seeker’s soul!”
Larry Dossey, MD. Author of Healing Words & The Power of Premonitions: “Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up to Be is a bone-deep description of the decades-long spiritual journey of Robert K. C. Forman, one of America’s most respected spiritual teachers. If ever a book was written from the heart, this is it. It is both a summation and an update of a work in progress…describes the dazzling heights of spiritual awareness, but it also lays bare the twists, turns, and surprises of spiritual maturation, warts and all. Beware: If you need your spiritual guide to be serious, elevated, reserved, and pious, go elsewhere. But if you want eye-ball to eye-ball honesty, integrity, and humor supercharged with compassion, love, vulnerability, and deep wisdom, this is your book.”
Atlanta, GA. Why would 90-year old Holocaust survivor Eva Friedlander decide to reveal the intimate details of her life on the eve of her birthday?
According to the author, the reasons are complex. “I wanted to ensure that my children and grandchildren never forget the tragic events that led to the persecution and death of millions of Jews during the Holocaust,” Friedlander says.
But re-living the horrors of Hungary under German occupation is only the beginning. It is “the rest of the story” that proves equally fascinating and draws the reader in.
“Nine Lives of a Marriage – A Curious Journey” with co-author Mickey Goodman debuted at the William Breman Heritage & Holocaust Museum to an overflow crowd of nearly 300. “It was the largest event of the year, and we sold more books than we ever have at a single event,” says Phyllis Lazarus, the Breman’s public relations manager.
One reason may be that Friedlander’s story spans three countries – Hungary, Italy and the U.S. where she thought she’d find the American Dream. But equally riveting are revelations about her husband’s 45-year affair with another woman.
The book was chosen in June for inclusion in the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation Institute’s Doheny Memorial Library.
About the Authors:
Hungarian Holocaust survivor Eva Friedlander escaped the Nazis by using her wit and resolve. After settling in America, she achieved her lifetime goal and became a successful art consultant and antique dealer, careers she still pursues. Eva studied in Rome at the Accademia di Belle Arte.
Co-author Mickey Goodman is an award-winning writer with more than 500 bylined articles in national and regional publications like Thomson-Reuters, People Magazine, Southern Living, Veranda, Women’s Wear Daily, Atlanta magazine, and blogs for The Huffington Post. Mickey has a degree in English and Journalism from Tulane University.
TIP SHEET:
Rabbi Peter S. Berg, The Temple, Atlanta, GA: “Nine Lives…” is one of the most important books of the day. This story is different from every other survivor story that has been written…Eva’s strength and persistence will serve as a role model for others. We will use this book in our congregation for book clubs and support groups.”
Irene Levine, PhD, Professor, NYU School of Psychiatry: “After reading the first chapter, I was hooked on finding out how the Friedlander’s marriage endured so long in the face of infidelity. Mickey Goodman is a wonderful storyteller and reporter whose words bring life to an intriguing story.”
Book details: Title: Nine Lives of a Marriage – A Curious Journey Authors: Eva Friedlander with Mickey Goodman Publisher: EDF Publications Publication: August 29, 2010, $19.90, Paperback, ISBN:978-1-61005-008-1 Memoir: 299 pages, 5 ½ x 8 ½
GOSPEL LEGENDS VICKIE WINANS AND KURT CARR To Headline 10TH Anniversary Concert Celebrating BLACKGOSPELPROMO.COM AND ITS FOUNDER, VEDA BROWN At Impacting Your World Christian Church in Cherry Hill, NJ MONDAY, JULY 25, 2011 @ 7:00 PM
Celebrity Journalist Jawn Murray and Radio Veteran Neicy Tribbett To Emcee Lonnie Hunter & Structure, and Stellar Nominee Bryan Wilson Will Also Perform
Washington, DC, July 6, 2011 – Almost 200,000 people receive Veda Brown’s daily Black Gospel Promo e-mail blasts. The colorful, slickly designed emails promote everything from greeting cards, Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Hawthorne” TV series and Kirk Franklin’s chart- topping CDs to all of Tyler Perry’s movie promos. “Black Gospel Promo has become the CNN of gospel marketing,” says Grammy nominated producer Steven Ford. “Black Gospel Promo has revolutionized the way that the black church spreads the word about its products.”
Now, the gospel music and church communities are coming out to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Black Gospel Promo and the July 27th birthday of its founder, Veda Brown. Gospel legends Vickie Winans and Kurt Carr are headlining the concert in honor of Brown and her enterprise. Radio One’s syndicated on-air personality Lonnie Hunter and his Philadelphia-based group, Structure, will perform songs from his Top CD “I’m Back.” Veteran gospel artist, Bryan Wilson, best known for hits such as “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and “If You’re Talking About Jesus,” will be in the house too. Church leaders such as Bishop Andrew Merritt, Pastor Maria Gardner, Bishop Andrew Ford, and Prophetess Francina Norman will be on hand. Former Billboard magazine gospel critic Lisa Collins, marketing expert Melanie Few, Habakkuk label CEO April Washington-Essex, BET.com blogger Torrence Glenn, PR maven Jojo Pada, BET Sunday Best executive Neily Dickerson and TV producer Bobby Cartright will all attend. “Tom Joyner Morning Show” celebrity journalist Jawn Murray and veteran Philadelphia area radio personality Neicy Tribett will co-host the festivities.
A Philadelphia native, Brown rocketed into cyberspace long before the church market took note of the Internet. After college in the 1990s, she founded AOL’s Net Noir Black Gospel Chapel. AOL eventually sold Net Noir and Brown briefly took a job with a pastor with his own record label. She sent out email blasts on one of the pastor’s CD projects. To her surprise, she received a call from gospel star Fred Hammond’s brother who asked her to send out an email blast on the Commissioned Reunion concert in 2001. “I had no other job at the time,” Brown says. “So, I said, well, let’s try this for a little while.”
A while has turned into a ten-year operation that has allowed the firm to earn six figure revenue grosses in the boom years and to become the leading black gospel marketing company today. It sends out 1,800 eblasts a year for clients ranging from Verizon, McDonald’s, Revlon, Sony Music and Turner Broadcasting, among others. “I’m grateful to still be here working,” says Brown. “The economy has been very unstable the last two years and that’s had a big impact on my business but we’re still doing what we do and I’m thankful.” The free concert takes place at Impacting Your World Christian Center located at 2901 W. Chapel Avenue, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002.
Media Contact: Bill Carpenter at (202) 506-5051 or [email protected]
Sebastian K. Young is a man who had every excuse to fail but chose instead to succeed. His new book I Had Every Excuse to Fail, But I Chose None (Sky Productions) is both motivational and inspiring and tells his story as a boy who grew up without a father and whose mother was murdered when he was just two years old, leaving him to be raised by grandparents. He faced adversity and used it to make him stronger and more determined to achieve the success he enjoys today.
As a youth, he was haunted by the death of his mother and would see her murder in his dreams. He always hoped her killer would pay for his crime but he received a phone call several years ago from the detective on the case (who was about to retire) telling him that his mother’s murderer was never convicted because of ruined evidence. This call changed his life. Knowing he would have to find a way to forgive this man, he relied on his faith to get him through and eventually he was able to forgive the man who had viciously murdered his mother.
I Had Every Excuse to Fail, But I Chose None is a life-changing, informational and relationship model that is told through encouraging and insightful stories. Young’s authentic and very moving biography is filled with encouraging statements, hilarious stories, and instructive situations on the trials and pitfalls he encountered during his life’s journey, leading up to becoming a nationally recognized businessman that will surely help readers learn how to tap into their own hidden potential.
Young’s book is less about financial success and more a tool for personal growth, and offers readers his landmark strategies that will help drive their personal and professional partnerships. Young is the first to admit how the wealth of knowledge and wisdom his grandparents passed on to him helped him in his choices and played a part in his becoming a determined leader, mentor and parent of three beautiful daughters. While he now lives the life of a successful businessman, he never loses sight of what is important and family always comes first!
Aside from being an extremely successful entrepreneur and now author, Sebastian Young has also hosted events with Charlie Wilson, Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Mo’ Nique, Fantasia, Kem, and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Cedric the Entertainer, and Mike Epps. Please visit www.skybash.com for more information on this remarkable new talent.
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TIP SHEET:
C.A. Webb, President of Conversations Book Club: “In Young’s book, we see exactly what he had to endure and experience in order to be the man he is today…For Sebastian, hurt and pain were two things he had in abundance. Whether it was going on after the murder of his mother, losing those closest to him and learning how to love and respect himself and those around him, he used what some would have took as a reason to give up as motivation on moving forward…He shares what his grandfather said to him about treating women…and he realized the importance of facing one’s fear and not allowing it to get the best of you.
I think if I took anything away from Young’s book it is the importance of not allowing yourself to be defined by the things going on in your life, whether they are good or bad. Even when he was able to start seeing the fruit of all of his hard work, the author didn’t use that as an opportunity to praise himself. Instead he said it was really the result of choosing the right path and not allowing anything to sway him.”
Barbara Morgan: “…a very captivating and inspirational book. This is his first novel released, and is a very motivating book…Young wants people of all ages to realize that we should never allow ourselves to stop learning. Each day brings new opportunities. Raised by his grandparents, Young developed a very special bond with them…he was taught and learned lessons that helped him understand life and life situations clearer. This book will take you through his school age years from being teased, childhood pranks, school fights and even deaths. This book will have you feeling sad one moment and laughing the next. Some of the scenes are described so well, you will feel you are right along side of him…I recommend this book to people of all ages…a self motivational tool to success…Young illustrates that we should use our unfortunate situations as “stepping stones” rather than “stumbling blocks”. He demonstrates that our attitude can determine our altitude……… How far will you soar? Will you fly or flop…the choice is yours. Thank you, Sebastian K. Young for your passion for writing and sharing.”
