Archive → June, 2010
Homeschooling Methods
For many people, homeschooling may call to mind the picture of two
or three children sitting at a table and writing feverishly in
their workbooks, while mom or dad stands nearby. This is the not
entirely true. There are different methods of homeschooling,
and the method you choose will decide the curriculum and your
style of teaching. Given below are some of the most influential
and popular homeschooling methods.
The Charlotte Mason method:
Charlotte Mason is known as the founder of the homeschooling
movement. A homeschooler herself, she was passionate in her zeal
to lay out the foundations for an effective a complete
homeschooling program that is fun and educational at the same
time. This method focuses on all the core subjects with emphasis
placed on classical literature, poetry, fine arts, classical music
and craft. Mason used a variety of books from classical
literature, which she called ‘Living Books’. Since this method
encourages a passionate awareness of literature, the child is read
to daily from the ‘Living Books’. After this, the child is asked
to narrate what she has heard. This process begins at the age of
six, and by ten the child is expected to write her narrations in
her book. Mason also advocated the use of ‘Nature Diaries’. After
each short and interesting lesson, the child is asked to go to
Nature and draw observations from Nature. Thus the child also
gains a sense of respect for her environment. Mason believed that
development of good character and behavior was essential to the
complete development of the child’s personality.
The Eclectic Homeschooling:
This is a mixture of various homeschooling techniques. Here, the
innovative parents trust their own judgment and pick out the
topics that make the best curriculum for their child. Such parents
continuously look out for the best products that will meet the
needs of their homeschoolers. Most Eclectic homeschooling
curriculums are improvised. This means that the basic curriculum
is ready-made. The parents then make changes in the curriculum to
accommodate the individual needs and interests of their children.
The child’s gifts, temperament, learning style and interests
dictate the curriculum. Eclectic programs include visits to the
museum, libraries and factories.
Unschooling:
A Boston public educator name John Holt laid the beginnings of the
unschooling method. He believed that children learned best when
they are free to learn at their own pace and when they are guided
by their own interests. His message was to ‘unschool’ the child.
This method is a hands-on approach to learning, where the parent
takes definite cues from the children. There is no definite
curriculum, schedules or materials. This method is the most
unstructured of the various homeschooling techniques.
The Montessori Method:
This method began in Italy, when it was observed that children
have acute sensitive periods, during which they undergo periods of
intense concentration. During such phases, a child will repeat an
activity till he gains a measure of self-satisfaction. The
Montessori method depends on a prepared environment to facilitate
learning. All the materials used in this method are designed to
satisfy the inner desire for spiritual development of the child.
The materials used progress from simple to complex, and are rather
expensive.
These are just a few of the methods of homeschooling. Whatever the
method, the underlying factor is flexibility and a keen interest
in the desires of the child. The secret is to use the child’s
desire for knowledge to further his education.
Pros and Cons of Dressing for Success
Are you interested in improving your physical appearance? If you are, what would you like to change? If you are like many other Americans, especially those that are career-oriented, there is a good chance that you would like to change your professionalism and public perception. If that is the case, you may want to consider taking steps to dress for success. Although dressing for success has a number of benefits, it also important to know that it has its disadvantages as well.
Before focusing on the pros and cons of dressing for success, it is first important to understand the meaning or the concept of dressing for success. When understanding dressing for success, you will find that different individuals have different views or opinions as to what is successful. With that in mind, dressing for success typically involves improving your appearance in a way that makes you seem more professional, more driven, and more determined. Dressing for success is most often associated with work related topics and issues, but you can also benefit from dressing for success for social events.
Speaking of events, those events are just one of the many pros or plus sides to dressing for success. There are a number of different occasions in which you can benefit from dressing for success. These events tend to include large social parties, charity events, job interviews, business meetings, for work in general, as well as for appointments with important individuals, such as loan officers. Although there are a number of occasions in which dressing for success is called for, it is important to remember that you really do not need to have a reason to dress for success. If you are interested in simply feeling good about yourself, go ahead and dress for success.
Your wide range of options are just another one of the many pros or plus sides to dressing for success. Whether you are looking to purchase new or used dress for success clothes, you should find a number of outfits or clothing pieces that can give you the dress for success look and feel you were hoping for. For the best chance of success, you may want turn to the internet to do your shopping. Many dress for success shoppers enjoy the ability to shop at just about any point in time, the ability to easy compare clothing outfits and prices, as well as the ability to have their purchases delivered directly to their doors.
Dressing for success can also help you create a good public perception of yourself. This is most often the case when looking to dress for success for work related purposes. Dressing for success is often associated with formal, elegant, and professional clothes. This is where the association between dressing for success and dressing professionally comes in. If are looking to wow your clients or impress your bosses, you may want to take steps to dress for success in the workplace. Displaying confidence the workplace can assist you with landing a raise or a promotion.
On the other hand, it is also important to know that dressing for success can also harm your public perception or your professionalism at work. This is most often the case with those who make impulse purchases. If you are not careful, your quest to dress for success can cause you harm or problems at work. You may receive multiple complaints or see yourself as the center of workplace gossip. Of course, there is much worse than trying to impress or wow others with your clothing, but this is still an important point that you may want to take into consideration.
The cost of dressing for success is another one of few cons or downsides to doing so. Although it is possible to find affordable dress for success clothing pieces for both men and women, it is easy to get carried away with shopping. To prevent the cost of dressing for success from becoming a problem, you will want to take the time to create a budget for yourself and follow it at all times.
Cat behavior training
Learning cat behaviors before you start training them would be an good idea for anyone that is going to train a cat’s behavior.
A cat can jump and lands on its feet as this are a natural instinct for a cat. When a kitten is first born, the cushion in a kittens paws are not developed with the cushion to land on its feet. It takes about 7 wk to develop the cushion in a cats paw for landing. A cats bone structure is unique to other animals as the bones are flexible , cat has no collar bone, which enables them to be able to twist and bend their bones A cat can jump from short distant with out sustaining any injuries.
With this behavior, you will want to teach the cat to jump hoops, sticks, or off the scratching tree. Letting a cat jump from extreme heights will cause injury to the cat.
Cats have a unique hearing ability; they are able to hear high tones and pitches, like opening a door or a can of food. Cats also have unique smelling abilities. The reason a cat will scratch or urinate on the floor , rub its self up against a door or furniture, is the cat is leaving their scent in that areas so they will be able to come back and know they were there, in other words marking its territory. In addition, if another cat or animal comes along in the area a cat will know this. Cats can also smell with their mouths. There is a gland call ‘Jacobson’s organ’, it is a sac in the cats upper mouth filled with blood, as the cat smells the scent and the slightly opens their mouth and upper lip, this allows the scent to be carried in and to the sac, which it will carry the scent goes to the cat brain. This mostly happen to male cats when a female has urinated.
With these natural instincts and behaviors this can give you some insight to help you train you cat. With behavior training you will want to make sure that you allow your cat the ability in some way to play out it natural instincts and behaviors.
When training a cat for behaviors here are some things that you need to look at and take in consideration when training. Aggression especially in older cats, this can be cause from illness, other cats in the home. This you may want to contact your vet to have the cat check out to see if it is all right at this time to train a cat.
Depression and anxiety could play another part with trying to train your cat. If a cat is separated by it recent owner the cat can become depressed. Stress on a cat can be common effect on a cat. If you think that your cat has depression or high anxiety, this would be a good time to take the cat to the vet. Vets can talk to you about some of the things that may be causing this and a help list to help the cat. There are medications that a vet can prescribe for the cat to help with depression and anxiety.
Never hit a cat for a punishment the cat will learn to fear you, and fearing will be a behavior you will not be able to control or retrain. When they do something that is not right. Ignore the problem or if you catch them right a way you can associate a noise with that behavior on what you do not like or just in a stern voice tell them “NO”.
If a behavior is becoming impossible you may have to resort to the baby proof home, all containers that have food in them have a lid on it. Make sure that the counters are clean and have nothing that a cat would want to play with.
The day that you get your cat or kitten, you will want to start training at this point. This will keep many unwanted behaviors away, and hopefully not let any new behaviors to start.
Healthy cats need healthy relationships with their owner.
Life Of An Anti Virus Program
The millions viruses costs companies each time they strike. It is however not only companies that are suffering
from the damages caused by viruses. A virus can be just as damaging if not more for a private Internet user by destroying important documents, family pictures and everything else you keep on your computer. Therefore should no home computer be without a good virus protection software. This way you can protect your computer and yourself from loosing data, corrupted hard drives and a number of other problems.
There are several anti virus programs available of which some are free and some are not. You should however always remember that you might get what you paying for, meaning that the service and the updates might be better for the paid alternatives and thereby protect your computer better.
Factors That Affect Your Affiliate Marketing Commissions
If you hate statistics and are involved in affiliate marketing, you will probably be disappointed to know that it is a very essential component to your success. For one, you will have to understand statistics in order to determine the viability of a program. You’ll also need it to find out whether or not you can be hopeful regarding the financial side of your business.
Statistics will also help you determine how you can win in terms of affiliate marketing commissions, without which your program will be inadequate and your efforts useless. You’ll also need to learn how to ‘read’ the numbers so you can maintain a sufficient balance in the factors that affect your future income.
Increasing your affiliate marketing commissions
Earnings from affiliate marketing programs come in the form of commissions, similar to the type of earnings that salespeople receive based on the sales they generate. Commissions are a type of performance-based income, in that the amount will depend on how much an affiliate can produce based on the sales brought in by his leads.
There are several factors that will affect the amount of commissions you’ll earn from an affiliate marketing program. These are:
The choice of affiliate marketing program
Not every affiliate marketing program pays the same amount of commissions to its affiliates. Affiliates will have a choice of programs offering a low pay scale ranging from about 5 to 15 percent per sale or performance while others may pay as much as 60 to 75 percent, depending on the type of products or services being offered.
All things being equal, choosing the program that pays a higher commission will result to higher sales.
This can be tricky, however. If you have the niche or at least a good market following, taking advantage of affiliate marketing programs that pay higher commissions will be a no-brainer. However, if you cannot capture the desired market, you might have to experiment with a combination of programs that will bring in the kind of income that is satisfactory to you.
By maximizing your ability and opportunity and building your reputation in the process, you will be able to earn a decent income and solidify your presence at the same time.
The type of earning opportunity an affiliate program can offer will also make a difference in the amount of commissions you can hope to earn. Two-tier programs, for example, offer a better income-generating opportunity than flat programs. Two-tiers offer two income sources, generally from commissions on sales of a product or service and from recruitment of a new affiliate. Income from recruitment can either be a one-time cut (usually a flat rate) for recruiting each new member or a commission off of those members’ future earnings.
Some affiliate marketing programs may also offer recurring commissions, in which an affiliate can earn each time their lead or member renews a subscription or a membership. This type of program means you can hope to earn for as long as your leads or recruits continue to use an affiliate product or service.
Since choosing these types of affiliate programs can make a huge difference in the amount of commissions you can earn from an affiliate marketing program, it makes more practical sense to consider carefully the type of future earnings you can potentially generate.
The product
Affiliate marketing commissions will also depend on the type of products or services the program offers. A product that has the misfortune to belong to a market that’s already heavily saturated will be difficult to sell. On the other hand, a popular item can mean large sales if you have a strong and ready market.
Find out how you can perform based on the statistics offered by the affiliate marketing program you wish to join. ClickBank, for example, allows you to view a product’s potential based on its past performance.
The market
Affiliate marketing commissions rely heavily on how effective an affiliate’s sales and marketing strategies are. In many ways, they will also depend on the relative popularity of the affiliate and on the type of market he chooses to sell to. A small but highly targeted market is more likely to bring in higher commissions for an affiliate while a fairly large but generic market may not produce the same results.
The conversion period
Once you have selected the best and most profitable affiliate marketing program in terms of commissions, your next concern would be how to shorten the conversion period for your customers.
The conversion period refers to the time from which you bring in your lead until the time that he performs a desired action. This action can vary – a lead may subscribe to a service, purchase a product, participate in an online poll or become a recruit. Since the incentive that drives leads to perform a specific action can vary, conversion periods can last anywhere from a very short 24 hours to about 30 to 60 days.
Your job as an affiliate is to persuade your leads to shorten their conversion period and thus increase your affiliate marketing commissions within a reasonable amount of time.
iPhones on eBay
Can you buy an iPhone on eBay? Yes, you can. However, there are important things to watch out for if you want to buy iPhones on eBay. With eBay it is always caveat emptor – buyer beware. This is true when you are looking to purchase iPhones on eBay as well. If you take measures to be sure that you know what you are buying, then you can get a really great deal on an iPhone. However, if you are not careful, you will be disappointed and possibly out of a lot of money. This is what you need to be aware of when buying iPhones on eBay.
First, know what you are buying and if you are not sure ask the seller before you bid. Some things to look out for are conflicting information between the title and the extended description. For example there was a listing for an unlocked 16 GB iPhone. That is what the title said. In the description is stated very clearly that this phone is locked but then went on to say that they are using it with T-Mobile, so it is clearly unlocked. The best way to resolve issues like this is to send the seller an email and ask for clarification. Save this email and the response you get so that if you are the winning bidder you have recourse if the iPhone is not as described.
Know the difference between unlocked and locked. Unlocked means that the firmware has been hacked and now you can insert any chip that will work on ST&T or T-Mobile’s networks. If you use T-Mobile you will lose the visual voice mail, which is an AT&T exclusive feature. In the US the iPhone will work only on cell phone networks AT&T and T-Mobile. This has nothing to do with the chip and everything to do with the wiring. The iPhone will only work on the radio frequencies that AT&T and T-Mobile provide. The terms “unlocked” and “new, unopened box” are incompatible. You have to open up the box and hack into the firmware in order to unlock the iPhone. Apple does not ship unlocked iPhones. In order to hack into the iPhone you must open the box, and hook the iPhone up to a computer. This is hardly unopened. Locked means that the firmware that Apple shipped the phone with is intact and untouched. These phones will only activate and work on the AT&T network. However, a locked phone has no issues or troubles with any firmware upgrades whereas an unlocked phone must be careful when updating to be sure they do not re-lock the iPhone.
Another thing to look out for when buying iPhones on eBay is to know if the phone is refurbished, new, or used. A refurbished iPhone is one that Apple (hopefully) has taken from not working properly to a like new state. This is a great way to get an inexpensive iPhone. However, an ethical seller will clearly state that this is a refurbished item. Les scrupulous sellers may not disclose this. If unsure, ask. New and used are self-explanatory.
Be alerted to the fact that there are phones that are similar in appearance to the iPhone but they are not iPhones. On eBay, you will see phones called A88, iPhone, PDA, cell phone… These are not Apple iPhones, they are iPhone look alike. Make sure that the manufacturer of any iPhone you purchase is Apple and not CECT.
Finally make sure that you are aware of the sellers return policies and only pay through PayPal using a credit card or pay directly with a credit card. Never pay with cash, checks, Western Union, wire transfers or money orders. This way if you are sold a fraudulent item, you have recourse through your credit card company or PayPal. Buyers who do not take credit cards or PayPal are questionable so once again remember caveat emptor, buyer beware.
eBay tries to make their venue a safe place to purchase items. An educated consumer stands the best chance of getting a good deal. Before you buy iPhones on eBay do a little research to be sure you are getting exactly what you are looking for.
What Are Some Vegetables Found in Mexico
Americans love Mexican cuisine. The cuisine usually found in America contains typical vegetables you can find in the states. There is a variety of vegetables not as known in America, but are grown and eaten throughout Mexico.
Jicama is a Mexican potato and also considered a turnip. It is a large, bulbous root vegetable with the roots getting as heavy as 50 pounds. Its flesh is thin and is brown and white in color. Jicama has a crunchy taste to it. The flavor is described as being nutty and sweet, with the texture similar to water chestnuts. In Mexico the vegetable is thinly cut and soaked with Mexican lime, and topped to chili pepper.
Nopales are another common vegetable throughout Mexico. It is a popular vegetable to eat during Lent. Nopales consist of fleshy, oval leaves that are from the nopal cactus. Their color can be anywhere from light green to dark green. They have a light, tart taste to them. The vegetable can be boiled or grilled. In Mexico you will see nopales cooked in scrambled eggs and even sandwiches.
Chayote is a gourd that once was the main food for the Aztecs and Mayas. Its skin varies from being white to pale green. The outside can be found smooth, wrinkled, or full of pricks. People prepare it similar to summer squash. It also is used in salads. Because the taste is mild, seasonings are sometimes added to strengthen the flavor.
Another vegetable that would be great added to a salad is the Mexican Gherkin.
It is a young cucumber that is picked when it is 1 to 3 inches in size. The vegetable can then be cut and added to salads, or other dishes. People also jar the gherkins adding vinegar and dill, which makes them pickled.
Many Mexican dishes have tomatoes added. One popular tomato is called the Mexican husk tomato. It was popular back in the Aztec and Mayan economy. The plant can stand 4 to 5 feet tall. The tomatoes are usually miniature in size. When the tomatoes are ripe the skin will be yellow, purple, and sometimes red, but that is a rare color for the tomato. It gives many different flavors from being acidy, to sweet with many seeds. The Mexican husk tomato is grown in the Summer time in temperate regions of the country. It also needs plenty of sun and not extremely wet soil. Once grown, they are cut and eaten raw, or added to different dishes such as a sauce called salsa verde which goes on meats or green chili peppers or used alone. They also are popular additions to salads.
These vegetables and others that are grown in Mexico can be found at food markets and Mexican grocery stores. Each vegetable has its own purposes and make great additions to dishes. It is great to experiment and see what you can do with them. Before you know it, you may be adding chayote besides tomatoes and avocados in your salad!
Build Your Self Esteem
So how do you keep up your self-esteem in a hard-hitting atmosphere? It seems like everywhere you turn. The best way is to know the kinds of people and situations that will bring you down and thwart your efforts to stay focused. Here we will focus on some of these people and situations you need to avoid if possible.
* Negative Work Environment – Beware of the “dog eat dog” theory where each person is fighting just to get ahead. Competition is everyplace. Make sure it is a fair competition.
* Other People’s Behavior – gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders… all these kinds of people will create awful feelings for you
* Changing Environment – Changes challenge our paradigms. Change will be there forever you can’t avoid this one, but can learn to deal with it.
* Past Experience – Don’t let pain change into fear. Treat each failure and mistake as a lesson.
* Negative World View – Don’t wrap yourself up with all the negativities of the world. In building self-esteem, we must learn how to make the best out of worst situations.
* Identity – You have your own identity. If your parent is a failure, it doesn’t signify you have to be a failure as well. Learn from other people’s experience, so you’ll never have to encounter the same mistakes.
You can’t always avoid or even change a situation. And you certainly aren’t going to have much luck changing a person. You can, however, learn how to avoid such situations and people and deal effectively with those you can’t avoid.
Just putting the above advice into action in your life, you will see your self-esteem grab hold and start to climb. Before long, you will instinctively begin to know when a situation is bad for your self-esteem.
Know Your Mutual Funds
It is important for the individual investor to know about Mutual Funds. For some people the decision to invest in Mutual Funds is based on the premise that it is low risk investing. By in large this may be true, but it depends on the Mutual Fund and in particular the fund manager.
A Mutual Fund is a collection of stocks and other investments that are packaged by an investment company. Generally speaking it is a means by which the average pay check earner may enter the stock market. Some Mutual Funds require only a $1,000 initial investment and a small number of Mutual Funds may be purchased with as low as an initial $250 initial investment.
The key to investing in Mutual Funds is to read and evaluate the individual prospectives available to potential investors. You may review the performance of the Mutual Fund on-line or request the prospective by mail. The prospective gives you the Mutual Funds performance over the past quarters, years and decades. It also provides you with the fees that are charged to investors of Mutual Funds.
Certain Mutual Funds are no-load funds. Generally these funds are offered by state and municipal entities. It means the fund does not charge a fee to invest and is exempt to some taxes. There may be other charges for handling your Mutual Funds and charges if you decide to withdraw funds or move your investment elsewhere. This knowledge is essential before you commit a single dime to a Mutual Fund.
Your investigation should include the name of the stocks and other investments the Mutual Fund you are considering is currently investing. This point is critical because knowledge of the broader market is essential in determining if a particular fund is going to do well. If you have a penchant for global stocks , technology, financial or energy stocks you want to be assured these sectors are doing well in the overall stock market.
Some investors own single equities and Mutual Funds along with other investments in their portfolio. Most brokerage houses have financial planners who can review all of your investments including realty, equities, bonds and Mutual Funds to give you a full picture of your financial health and goals for your investing.
As with the stock exchanges Mutual Funds investing allows the investor to determine their risk level. There are municipal bonds funds, blue chips funds, growth funds, Asian Funds, Emerging Markets and combinations in between. The investor determines the choice of investment by his or her objective. For some it is for retirement, others income and tax consequences. The range of risk is provided by most Mutual Fund investment companies.
There are some excellent advisory services that provide star ratings on various Mutual Funds. The Morningstar advisors have up to date information on the health of various funds. There are also articles in the Wall Street Journal and Investors Daily about Mutual Fund Managers. There are stars in the Mutual Fund field. The star manager is only as good as his or her last year earnings. It is important to know who is doing well currently before you invest.
There are several families of Mutual Funds I would recommend reviewing. The Vanguard Funds, Fidelity, Oppenheimer and American Mutual Funds. Within these family of Mutual Funds there is a fund for about any level of interest and risk level. The information is available on-line or by mail.
The current bothersome area in the real estate market in particular sub-prime loans for at risk buyers is yet to be fleshed out on a global scale. The possible spill over effect to banks, financial institutions, mortgage companies and the commercial paper they have sold may be a factor in your consideration of which Mutual Fund to select. The true impact at this point is speculative as to the ripple effect that may ensue if the small percentage of risky mortgages end up in foreclosures. Presently the effect is an unwelcome squeeze in the credit market making it difficult to get loans for individuals and some lending institutions.
As with any uncertainty a good rule of thumb is to seek out Mutual Funds with a minimal amount of exposure to sub-prime mortgage woes. The Blue Chip or America’s stand-by stocks may have some advantages as some are undervalued. The technology and some exposure to China and Emerging Markets may be worth a look. Most Mutual Funds companies have stocks and investments that may fit the current trends and moods in the financial markets. Review the institutional investors in each fund. A rule of thumb is that big institutional investors generally do not invest in “dog” investments.
The US Presidency and Tecumseh’s Curse
In 1840, General William Henry Harrison easily won the US presidency. He was
celebrated as a war hero for having participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe, which
defeated Tecumseh’s Shawnee forces. However, Harrison’s presidency would be short-
lived. Some say it’s a result of “Tecumseh’s Curse”.
According to legend, Chief Tecumseh sent a prophetic message to General Harrison. The
message contained a premonition outlined by Tecumseh’s brother, who had accurately
predicted a lunar eclipse and gained credibility as a seer. The Shawnee warning stated
that if Harrison were to win the presidential election, he would not finish his term.
Furthermore, “After him, every great chief chosen every twenty years thereafter will die.
And when each one dies, let everyone remember the death of our people.” A curse had
supposedly been set on the White House and its future occupants.
The legend of the curse was not widely known until 1931 when a “Ripley’s Believe it or
Not” book brought publicity. In 1980 the Library of Congress would be unable to
substantiate that Tecumseh had sent this message.
Nonetheless, Harrison’s presidency was indeed brief and unfortunate. He delivered a long
inaugural address on a cold and windy day, and then he was caught in a rainstorm. He
contracted a cold that quickly led to pneumonia and death. His death would be seen as the
beginning of a long pattern: from 1840 to 1960, presidents elected in a year ending in
zero would be assassinated or die of natural causes while in office.
The next supposed victim of the curse was Abraham Lincoln, who was elected in 1860.
He was assassinated during his second term in 1865, just a few days after the Civil War
had officially ended. His assassin was the Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth.
The twenty-year cycle next met President James Garfield. He took office in March of
1881. He was shot within a few months and died in September of that year. His assassin
was Charles Guiteau, who was “upset” after being denied a diplomatic post by Garfield’s
administration.
Next, William McKinley survived his first presidential term, but he was elected again in
1900. He was shot in 1901 while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New
York. He died about a week later. The assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was a self-described
anarchist who called McKinley “the enemy of the people”.
Warren Harding was the next president to die while in office. He was elected in 1920.
During a 1923 cross-country Voyage of Understanding, President Harding died at the
Palace Hotel in San Francisco. The cause of his death is uncertain. Food poisoning and
pneumonia may have been underlying causes. Newspapers cited heart attack or stroke,
but suspicions of suicide or murder abound. Harding was an unpopular president and
publicly stated that he wasn’t fit for office! Some have accused Mrs. Harding of ending
her husband’s life; he was known to have extra-marital affairs, and he secretly had a child
with another woman.
The 1940 presidential election was met with newspapers headlines shouting “Curse Over
the White House!” Franklin Roosevelt was then elected to his third presidential term, and
then a fourth in 1944. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
The curse’s final victim would be President John F. Kennedy, who was elected in 1960.
He was assassinated in 1963 while riding in a motorcade through Dallas. There are many
conspiracy theories about his assassination, but Lee Harvey Oswald was officially judged
to be the lone gunman.
The Shawnee curse was well-publicized by the 1980 election. President Carter was asked
his opinion about it during a campaign stop that year. He replied, “I’m not afraid. If I
knew it was going to happen, I would go ahead and be President and do the best I could,
for the last day I could.”
President Ronald Reagan, who was ultimately elected in 1980, is believed to have broken
Tecumseh’s curse. He escaped a serious assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr.
within months of his inauguration in 1981.
The curse is also known as: the Curse of Tippecanoe, the presidential curse, the zero-year
curse, and the twenty-year curse.
