Gold panning is a great outdoor activity that can be fun for people of all ages and health. If you can walk slightly off the beaten path, you can pan for gold. Despite the metal detectors, sluice boxes, and other large equipment often associated with this activity, the equipment actually needed to successfully pan for gold is limited, affordable and light weight.

The Quest

The quest for gold is hardly a new thing. We all know of the gold rush and have heard stories about the vast amounts of gold that were found. While the large deposits of gold are not as easy to find now, the total amount of gold available has not decreased significantly. There is still plenty waiting — for you.

It is estimated that only about 15% of the gold available was found during the gold rush. There are approximately 1 billion ounces of gold flowing through the streams in North America right now.

What You Need To Know To Start

One nice thing about gold panning is that there really isn’t much that you need to know in order to regularly find gold. The necessary information to get started is fairly basic and any good prospecting shop will have the answers for you.

Find out about the local laws on gold panning and claim staking. Typically, it is legal for a person to pan gold anywhere that they like, as long as they are only using a gold pan. Some exceptions include native reserves and wild life reserves. Landowners usually do

NOTE: Brad Phillips was a Producer for CNN’s The Capital Gang from 2000-2001.

Robert Novak’s meltdown on CNN’s Inside Politics was predictable, perhaps. After all, he’s spent the past two years fending off growing public criticism for his role in the Valerie Plame leak investigation and has watched helplessly from the sidelines as his media brethren have turned an increasingly scornful eye at his silence. If there’s one thing “old school” reporters like Mr. Novak can’t stand, it’s being part of a story they’re supposed to be covering.

But when he swore after James Carville’s mild provocations and stormed off the set, it was a complete surprise. I ought to know. I used to be Robert Novak’s producer.

Within hours of his outburst, more than 300 news stories - from as far away as Russia, India and South Africa - had already appeared about the incident. With each story, you could faintly hear the echo of liberal commentators uncorking bottles of champagne. Media darling Jon Stewart went so far as to rub his nipples with delight on The Daily Show.

It’s an unsurprising case of schadenfreude, perhaps, since Novak has spent years mocking politicians who self destruct on camera. In early 2004, for example, he wrote about Howard Dean that, “Being overworked is a poor excuse for Dean’s gaffes.”

Robert Novak just had his Dean scream moment.

He’s not alone.

Today, as a full-time media trainer, I see spokespeople from across the nation embarrassing themselves unnecessarily. One recent client, a high-ranking city official, also ripped off his

Tough and challenging times will surely come. That is a given. The question
is what kind of leadership we will demonstrate during those time. Those who
are weak leaders will see lasting damage done, if not see the organization
fall apart completely. With Extraordinary Leaders at the helm, however, an
organization can actually become stronger and thrive in spite of the tough
and challenging times. That should be our goal so here are some idea on how
to be an Extraordinary Leader in tough and challenging times!

1. Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture.

When things get tough, everybody’s
temptation is to become acutely focused on the problem. The Extraordinary
Leader, however, will keep his or her eye on the big picture. This doesn’t
mean that we don’t address the problem. In fact, we have to address the
problem. But what separates a leader from a follower is that the leader
doesn’t get caught up in the problem. The leader sees the big picture and
keeps moving toward the vision. The further they take their followers toward
the vision, the further away from the problem they get.

2. Don’t Get Caught in the War or the Friendly Fire.

When it gets tough even
the most loyal team members can be tempted to start shooting and,
unfortunately, they sometimes shoot each other! Rather than focusing on the
enemy on the outside, they begin to question each other and find many faults
with one another that they normally would not have seen. The Extraordinary
Leader is the one who can keep from being drug into the fray. They keep
their eye on the big