Start a Restaurant

Fort Myers, FL, United States (AHN) – Norman Love Confections knows the secret to sweet success.

The Florida-based chocolatier has been named the best chocolate in the United States, for the sixth time, by Consumer Reports in its February issue–just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Norman Love makes about 30,000 chocolates by hand every day at its Fort Myers facility. In awarding the company top honors, the magazine cited “the combination and the blending of the chocolate with the fillings.”

The chocolate shop is expanding with fresh gelato and bakery selections. The company also plans to take full advantage of its location, which is very close to the Red Sox spring training stadium.

Even better, Love plans to open more retail locations in the future.

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Starting a business can be fun, and what if you were told you could start a business without having to finish college first? There are some very lucky individuals out there right now who have been able to get money to start a business from PayPal’s founder Peter Thiel. He has offered certain students $100K to begin their business as part of an entrepreneur scheme. He understands that there are some individuals out there that do not need to finish college and in fact it would be a waste to what they could start right now. Well, not exactly a waste, but it would be better for them to give up college and focus on their business concept rather than continuing their education.

A Stanford graduate and sometimes professor has offered 24 individuals a two year fellowship for $100K. These students are going to stop going to school for the time being in order to try and get their companies up and running. One student stated it takes more than 8 hours a day to get a business going. In fact, it is a full time job. He would not have time to study and run the company. Thiel’s offer is giving him the chance to get his idea off the ground when it matters instead of making him wait through college to find the funding.
Most of the kids chosen are those who attend top universities. These students have also shown some high intelligence such as programming computers at age nine or created a solar startup at 19. The point is these students are worthy of the chance to become entrepreneurs and they do not need merchant loans and merchant advances to do it.

You might not be in the same situation, but it is still possible to get a business started. You need a good idea, the drive, and of course you need to have the research and plan to prove you can make it work. Entrepreneurs that succeed do so because they do not let things stand in their way. They are 100 percent dedicated to making something work and trying again if the first attempt fails.

Minneapolis, MN, United States (AHN Sports) – Hunters will have to wait for some time to determine if they have been awarded the necessary Minnesota permit for the bear season starting August through mid-October due to a computer glitch.

A mix up in Minnesota’s bear hunting permit lottery because of a computer-related error has forced the Department of Natural Resources to conduct a rerun of the said lottery.

The Minnesota DNR, in a news release, indicated that no bear hunting licenses have been issued, but forewarns applicants who have been under the mistaken impression of belonging to a lottery winner group after viewing the agency’s website of the mistake.

“The message to bear hunters is that we’ll get the word out when correct lottery results are available,” Dennis Simon, DNR wildlife section chief, said via the agency’s website. “We regret any inconvenience this misinformation has caused.”

According to Simon, the 2009 data was used rather than the most current data from last year by the computer in determining the hunter preference level.

Applicants will have to confer with the DNR’s website for the new lottery results which will be posted early this month. They will also be notified via mail later in June.

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Miami, FL, United States (AHN Entertainment) – The most recent revival of the Broadway musical “Hair,” from director Diane Paulus and the Public Theater, rocked the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami Tuesday night with its free-spirited, interactive performance for a run that lasts through Sunday.

As soon you walk into the 2,400-seat Ziff Ballet Opera House to witness the “American Rock Love-Tribal Musical,” you’ll quickly notice the room feels more intimate than the last time you visited. (You’ll also notice an unusually high number of patrons dressed in tie-dye). That intimate feeling holds up for over throughout the two-hours plus of the entire show.

“Hair,” more than any other production, tears to shreds the “fourth wall” between viewer and performer before bringing the house down. This show isn’t for the conservative. Performers are in your seats, tousling your hair, and dancing in the aisles. If you think you need to go to the bathroom, hold it, unless you want to be a part of the show. But then again, everyone in attendance already is.

“Hair” plays like a call to action, one for peace, love, and no war. These aren’t dated ideals, as anyone with a beating heart should still have them. Instead of the show feeling like a product of its time, it has no need to prove its relevancy. It transports the audience, like any good period piece should, into the moment of late 60′s sexual freedom and anti-government resistance.

With book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and music by Galt MacDermot, “Hair” follows a tribe of New York hippies whose life filled with love, sex and pot-smoking becomes threatened when draft cards for the Vietnam War arrive. It ultimately becomes the main struggle for Claude (Paris Remillard), who feels torn between service and dissension.

Above all, what makes the show undoubtedly believable is the cast, including energy-filled Steel Burkhardt, Matt DeAngelis as Jagger-loving Woof, and scene-stealing Kacie Shiek as Jeanie. The chemistry between characters, especially between Berger and Claude, is beyond palpable.

There’s no major set pieces or special effects and the Tribe holds the show completely on their shoulders. The cast completely inhabit their roles, all the way down to their bios in the Playbill, which would make you think these aren’t actors at all but fully committed singing and dancing flower children.

The music still holds up incredibly well, with opener “Aquarius” and closer “Let the Sun Shine In” reminding audiences how these Broadway compositions were able to break through boundaries and become huge pop hits. Over 40 years since its original incarnation, “Hair” still feels like it’s pushing boundaries, inspiring some, shocking others, but putting on a show that’s surely unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

“Hair” plays at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts at 1300 Biscayne Blvd in Miami, FL through Sunday. Check arshtcenter.org for tickets or call the box office at (305) 949-6722.

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KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka (IRIN) – Former female combatants in northern Sri Lanka face a tough time returning to civilian life, with fewer marriage, education and job prospects due to stigma, say aid workers and activists.

“Former female child soldiers are just not being perceived positively by society,” said Thaya Thiagarajah, a senior official with the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India, noting how cultural and social barriers are the biggest barriers to their smooth reintegration.

Marriage prospects for female former rebels who fought with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are bleak, said Selvanayagam Selvantha, a local aid worker with the same church, located in the former conflict zone.

“Tamil society is very traditional. Parents do not want their sons to marry women ex-fighters,” he added, noting how important marriage is to being accepted in the community.

Stigma will be the biggest hurdle in reintegrating female fighters, said women’s rights activist Sunila Abeysekara, based in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo.

“Women cadres are seen as women who [value] marriage [less because they] took up arms,” she added. As a result, most female ex-combatants are “struggling to find normalcy” due to the weight of such judgment and suspicion.

She estimated there were about 3,000 female former rebels, but could not say how many were single.

“LTTE [was] a violent organization; many in society had suffered because of LTTE. Now LTTE is not there, society is free to express themselves against people who have been linked with LTTE. This problem is common for both men and women [ex-fighters],” Abeysekara said.

But it is women who are criticized most harshly, she noted.

Tamil Tiger separatist rebels waged a decades-long war – declared over in May 2009 – that displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in northern Sri Lanka.

Female ex-combatants face social stonewalling even at the earliest stages of their return to civilian life, according to Clive Jackniek, a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration senior programme manager with the International Organization for Migration.

“The biggest challenge I faced after returning home was the lack of employment, educational and future options to live a good life,” said Jeya Kamalrajan, 18, who fought with the Tamil Tigers from 2007 to 2009.

“People do not want to hire me because they see me as a bad woman who joined the Tigers… I do not have a lot of plans – I want to live a decent life forgetting everything that happened in my past,” she said.

Nalini*, 19, from Mullaitivu District, told IRIN she feared the Tamil Tiger “label” would be “stuck” with her for ever.

“I really want to move on – but I am not sure how to in this cultural setting because people distrust me for something I am not.”

*Not her real name

contributor/ds/pt/mw

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Each and every year, countless numbers of individuals act on their life-long dreams and decide to open a restaurant. Many of these aspiring restaurateurs are engaging in this activity for the first time, and unfortunately they are at a greater risk for making mistakes that could unnecessarily doom their fledgling business from the start. Many of these mistakes, however, are avoidable. The shelves are full of books about restaurants. Some offer advice on operations and menu planning. Some contain inspiring photographs of interior and exterior spaces. Others share the details behind one concept or individual’s success story. But comprehensive information available on the restaurant development process is lim… More >>

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