Greek vases are among the most well-known museum replicas anywhere, and no wonder. The pottery of ancient Greece are not only beautiful objects of art but bear witness to one of the most intellectually important civilizations of humankind. Having a museum replica of Greek vases oneself can be a way of linking to a glorious golden age and lends a “blue-blooded” kind of elegance to any setting.
After all, it can be argued that the Greek vase has set the aesthetic standard for the Western Civilization for hundreds if not thousands of years. Having one on your desk, mantle, or shelf can create the ideal atmosphere for oneself to be inspired! There’s something to be said about having a faithful reproduction of a museum masterpiece in your very own home or office. Imagine the experience on your next trip to the museum as you walk through a collection, identifying those which you own a personal copy of!
Museum replicas let us all to play the part of a refined collector of antiques – not “antiques” in the now commonly debased sense of someone’s grandmother’s grandmother’s quilt abandoned at a yard sale, but treasures of the ancients now owns to enjoy thanks to the painstaking skills of replica sculptors who work in the conventional methods with traditional materials.
More or less always handmade, such replicas of vases could be so faithfully reproduced as to fool even professional appraisers! Offered in a wide variety of styles, these fine works are truly no less art objects in themselves, so exquisitely crafted as to warrant being their own museum pieces!
They also tend to be very affordable, as well, allowing true connoisseurs the opportunity to own more than one. Finally, they make fantastic gifts, as well: thoughtful, and a little out of the ordinary, after all its not everyday you get a Greek vase as a present.
Posted on 27 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
“Multimedia” and “virtual reality” used to be big buzzwords during the second half of the ’90s, before the “dot bomb” when internet start-ups were going up like mad and the stock market couldn’t get enough of them, throwing money at almost every one in a confident shotgun approach.
And now those days are long gone, having moved onto the next big bubble (which was, by the way, subprime mortgages, something that’s still a nightmare the world over), but virtual reality and multimedia have only become better and better – though full sci-fic implementation is still quite some way off. That’s because a lot is involved in full sensory duplication, though for many, the “rated-G” audiences of families on a vacation package, say, something like the New York Skyride by serial entrepreneur Zalman Silber would be just fine (it is, briefly, an IMAX-like helicopter fly-over of famous city points of interest synchronized to motion seating). But in research and development laboratories around the world, all the biggest names in consumer electronics are busy figuring out how to apply declassified military technology in a relevant way to ever more immersive videogaming and other kinds of entertainment.
Two trends appear ready to finally come to fruition: 3D and kinetics. First, three-dimensional technology is one of the most heavily explored fields in home electronics, and it seems poised for a prime-time debut in the form of astonishingly advanced television screens that require no 3D glasses to view 3D imagery. Secondly, the multiple billion-dollar videogaming industry has been crucial in developing kinetic controls, whereby user commands are conveyed not through a physical interface but through the user’s own body movements. These two advances are being marketed right now by some of the biggest names in the business, famous labels such as Nintendo and Microsoft, companies that have a proven record of success in most of the things they do. A far cry from the likes of Zalman Silber!
Besides entertainment, the most obvious other uses for these technologies would be in real estate as well as education. Teaching subjects like chemistry and physics will certainly be revolutionized by the implementation of intuitive user controls and interactive 3D graphics that do not need a special interface. Wholesale property investment already makes broad use of virtual reality by providing 360-degree views and video walk-throughs of real estate to potential buyers from around the world. Using virtual tours over the internet, possible buyers can figure out from the comfort of their own homes whether an actual site visit is warranted, though property is also often bought only on the basis of the virtual tour!
Posted on 27 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Is it possible to use an online course to get the kind of knowledge a developer like Isaac Toussie has regarding real estate?
The information superhighway will soon be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. It took a few decades for the web to percolate out from a fairly small coterie of research scientists and other academics into the wider general population, but once it did, our world was changed forever: It was wired.
And so virtually everything is on the internet these days, and almost everything is done through it – even sex! And the once near-exclusive preserve of worthless diploma mills, so-called distance learning has really come of age with a vengeance with the advent of the worldwide “w.” And now, in this age of Web 2.0 going on 3 or even 4, it seems like every corporate body and its subsidiary is getting in on the action.
Bah, humbug, some are tempted to say. No mere Luddites, these, some people just wonder whether e-learning can ever truly replace the face-to-face interactions of traditional modalities. In this article, we shall be taking a look-see at the issue for ourselves. Due to issues of legal liability, we shan’t name any names, lest we libel the guilty – wink, wink. But a brief survey of three of the most widely advertised such courses online has revealed to this author at least that business fundamentals can indeed be properly passed along online. These courses will never compare to actual field experience, lending anyone the knowledge of an Isaac Toussie, but then again nothing ever can.
No, the main attraction for these courses – their competitive advantage, to borrow an economist’s term, if you will – is that they are extremely accommodating of your schedule. With most such courses, you can attend class whenever you want – and certainly in whatever you want, including your birthday suit! Convenience is their number one draw, and this kind of accessibility is not to be discounted, especially since it is not necessarily any more costly than the kind of learning offered by the traditional classroom setting. In fact, these courses can cost rather less money, particularly if you factor in considerations like time, such as the time it takes to commute to a brick-and-mortar school.
More problematic is the hands-on approach that is probably necessary for a really good grasp of how the real estate business works. Learning about the relevant laws is important but not quite what one actually does in real estate. What’s really essential is a way to cultivate the mindset of a real estate tycoon! Maybe one of these internet real estate courses, possibly offered by a “real” school such as a government-supported local community college, may involve an actual internship as a part of the experience, which would go a long way towards just that end of teaching real-world knowledge.
Now even with all that said, however, we must end on this note, that of the legal disclaimer: Neither the author nor the publisher shall be deemed liable for the content of this article, which is mere opinion only and should not in any way be misconstrued as professional advice of any sort whatsoever! Always consult the relevant professionals, properly licensed and/or otherwise qualified, when making business decisions of any financial consequence.
Posted on 26 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
State tax forms are needed to file state taxes – but exactly where is our tax money going? Taxes are used to support the government, but in a democracy the government is supposed to be “for the people,” as a popular rumor has it. All of the state tax forms filed year in, year out seem to have no effect on our local governments, which across the nation are a lot more likely than not operating at a deficit. How is this possible with all the money pouring into government coffers?
Most folks simply file their state tax forms and leave it at that, too busy with their lives and some even hoping not to attract any government attention. But a growing number of our fellow citizens and residents are deeply concerned over where “their money” is going. Nearly everybody agrees with paying for firefighters, sanitation workers, and other civil servants, but even then there can be a lot of controversy over the details.
Take educators for example. Again, nearly everybody agrees that teachers are necessary. But how to compensate them with our tax dollars, exactly? Currently, numerous people across the country are up in arms over teacher perks and salaries.
It’s felt that educators have things much too comfortable, and there are folks who would like to make the profession of teaching a job like any other, which in the United States means “hire and fire at will.”
These people want to, they say, hold teachers more “accountable” for student performance, which is often proposed to be measured by standardized test scores. But the other side of the argument believes that teaching is not just a job like any other, that the training of minds and the inspiration of hearts isn’t something which can be neatly measured on a quarterly or yearly schedule like some corporate earnings report.
Posted on 25 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Ah, summer – baseball, backyard barbecues, and swimming pool resurfacing. That’s correct, swimming pool resurfacing. Once an occasional chore every other year, it’s now practically a once-every-other-decade spring or even summer pastime (for those who like to wait until the very last minute) – all thanks to the new do-it-yourself fiberglass pool resurfacing in a can made possible by modern chemistry.
Pool resurfacing done right means fiberglass in this day and age. Swimming pool resurfacing is an important aspect of pool ownership, just the sort of restoration that’s made periodically to counter the effects of corrosion. Whether constructed of gunite, concrete, plaster, or wood (especially wood), swimming pools will deteriorate over time to the point that a complete resurfacing isn’t only advisable but required.
Thankfully, as previously mentioned, modern technology has made it possible for the finest kind of resurfacing, fiberglass resurfacing, to be performed entirely by oneself safely and fairly quickly. Best of all, it’s as permanent as any job handled by licensed contractors but much less expensive.
Fiberglass pool surfaces have a proven track record of more than three decades now as a durable coating that happens to also provide other benefits, such as reduce operating coasts. Fiberglass is a material that bonds extremely well with existing surfaces, giving pools a nice sheen that makes them appear to be brand new.
This wondrous product is now available in simple cans like paint, easily applicable and requiring no sand-blasting. Permitted for both commercial and residential use, do-it-yourself fiberglass resurfacing will require much less maintenance than even marcite or vinyl pools. In addition, with proper care you won’t need to worry about your swimming pool’s surface for another twenty to thirty years or more!
Much less prone to staining. Gorgeous shiny protective shell. All easily applied and ready for duty within one day. That’s swimming pool resurfacing in the 21st Century. Now that’s progress!
Posted on 25 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
It is important to do your research when it comes to investing in New York properties. New York City is a very diverse place, and even adjacent neighborhoods can be drastically different, never mind those in different boroughs. According to industry experts such as Isaac Toussie, nothing is as it seems, and if you are looking for residential property that you plan on living in yourself, you might even want to arrange to spend a few nights on the premises to really know personally what it’s like. For example, many peaceful-looking places are actually not peaceful at all but deadly, ridden with crime and pollution and a host of other social ills. Even when it comes to commercial real estate, things may not be as they seem. Developers like Isaac Toussie are plentiful in this town, and to stand apart from the crowd you need to be known for something more than simply a hole in the ground of an empty lot.
New York realty markets are one of a kind in many categories, including population density. As an investor you want to thoroughly research them all before proceeding to a decision of any monetary consequence. It is often useful to think of different neighborhoods as cities or towns in themselves, which was indeed actually the historical case. Such an artificial view of the city would not suffice long-term, but it can be usefully dabbled in from time to time for specific purposes. For example, it is not uncommon to find the direst poverty fairly close to some of the most opulent luxury. As an investor in New York property you want to be aware of this possibility so as to not miss any good opportunities simply on account of ignorance.
When looking for property in New York City, you must consider the people, especially when it comes to homes for yourself or potential tenants. Ultimately, the people are what will determine the quality of life. Will it be a noisy place? Full of trash? Or does the local community take some pride in itself, without any kids running around causing trouble?
Even when it comes to the commercial side of things such deliberations are important. If you have space for rent but the neighbors are lower class people, you probably won’t get any upscale businesses looking to sign a lease with you, even with all the governmental encouragement there is, such as tax breaks and the like.
It’s a delicate balance, which is part of the reason why rents are so high in the city. But what to do as an investor?
Watch. And learn. You can never learn enough about such an exciting, dynamic city, and you never can tell just when such knowledge may be put to good use. Why not bicycle around to get a good feel for a place? New York City has ambitions to become one of the most bicycle-friendly municipalities in the country, and this is one of the best ways to transport yourself through different places in order to get a direct feel for them.
Posted on 24 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
A webinar is really a webcast that offers limited interactivity, such as audience polling or a brief Q&A session afterwards. If you think about it, however, the state of today’s webinars are not that much removed from something such as amusement rides like Oztrek by New York entrepreneur Zalman Silber. These are IMAX-like experiences that are passive, with no audience interaction, the only difference from a traditional movie screening being the synchronized motion seating effects involved.
But a webinar is more an online workshop than multimedia entertainment. Something like the Army Virtual Experience, or VAE, however, works to combine both aspects, possibly portending the future.
The VAE is a mobile infantry combat simulator that allows participants to get a small taste of soldiering under extremely hostile environments. Created by the United States Army in conjunction with American software developer Zombie Studios, full-sized Blackhawk helicopter and full-sized Humvee vehicle simulators are employed to further develop the sense of realistic immersion. It is really a mobile infantry combat simulator, available in a handful of different versions from full-sized to traveling packages suitable for indoor or outdoor installations. It was developed as a response to the increased appetite of young American males for electronic forms of entertainment, augmenting traditional advertising efforts on television. In two years and costing almost twenty million dollars, the VAE has been hosted at a variety of sites throughout forty states at venues ranging from NASCAR races to music festivals.
Available in different versions, the full VAE requires just under twenty-thousand square-feet of room for all the various aspects of the simulation technology involved, from the aforementioned life-sized replicas of Army weapons to the various computers and networking equipment necessary for bringing it all together to life. It’s a long way from the kind of passive technology encountered at amusement rides like the Oztrek by serial entrepreneur Zalman Silber. Employing a huge IMAX-like screen with motion seating that is activated in synchronization with onscreen events and actions, this type of immersive experience is purposefully safe and innocuous, suitable for the general family-oriented audiences it seeks. By contrast, the VAE leans heavily towards young males, with an emphasis on fire-and-forget gameplay. The full-version starts off in a traditional manner akin to something like the aforementioned Oztrek, with a twenty-minute ride in which video briefings are given by various soldiers of the United States Army explaining their areas of expertise and specialized duties as well as their personal goals outside of the military. But the similarity to yesteryear’s virtual tours soon ends as participants go on to engage in any number of war-fighting scenarios from inside life-sized Blackhawk and Humvee simulators.
Posted on 24 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
When selecting a credit repair company that can aid and give the best advice for credit repair as opposed to just handing you off to a collection agency, make sure that it’s a single that completely abides through the United States Credit Repair Organizations Act, or CROA for short. That is a established of stipulations passed by Congress back in the middle with the 1990s to safeguard consumers from predatory practices then prevalent within the business.
A good credit repair business today should discharge all responsibilities below this law – which, incidentally, is not technically an “Act” but a “Title” – Title IV, to become precise, from the wider Buyer Credit Protection Act, where Section 401, nevertheless, especially notes that that this established of legal prescriptions and proscriptions can without a doubt be referred to as the “Credit Repair Organizations Work.”
In any case, it can be definitely the law, and any credit repair business worth doing enterprise with nowadays will abide by it – or this kind of a company is simply a fly-by-night operation. In the end, what exactly is a credit repair business for but to produce your lifestyle simpler? Especially in today’s economy, credit worthiness is an especially essential aspect of contemporary life.
But precisely since of the existing economic tumult, credit reporting companies have raised the bar and what was regular yesterday is barely mediocre these days. Many consumers have discovered, practically overnight, that their when good-if-not-spectacular credit scores are suddenly not so good, precluding them from several of the conveniences as well as outright choices available to others, choices like a wide selection of housing and also a few of the best jobs nonetheless close to!
Hence the part of a credit repair company is more important than actually just before, and so all buyers must familiarize themselves with CROA stipulations although buying all around. Unscrupulous companies can really cause you improved economic hardship via their unfair enterprise practices, so make certain to study up on what CROA provides for! As a brief introduction, know for now that CROA prohibits your becoming charged for just about any support not completely rendered.
It also permits you to adjust your thoughts right after signing the contract inside of three days. Below CROA, you can not waive your rights, and should be notified which you may possibly still obtain private credit details on your and even pursue credit repair efforts on your personal. At a similar time, you may possibly not lie about your credit history, or try to generate a new identity or credit file. CROA generally tried to safeguard you as a customer without having letting you off the hook for any debt owed.
Hopefully this can isolate the real credit companies in the true scammers who test as difficult as they could to snake the helpless and send them to collection agencies. That is practically nothing to become pondering of because it can turn out to be something really hazardous if ignored for extended enough.
Posted on 24 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
New York is one tough town. And it prides itself on its cut-throat lifestyle, even as the number of charities blossom as nowhere else. The serial success story that is Zalman Silber is an example of the businessman-turned-philanthropist. But isn’t it ironic that a place which worships material success gained by one’s teeth and nails, as it were, should find itself so interested in appearing charitable, too? As if the rich are secretly embarrassed with their fortunes – as if Balzac was right, that “behind every great fortune lies a great crime,” or as if Jesus was correct, that “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle….”
As if, to be blunt about it, the rich give in order to assuage their guilt.
What is it about this world that should so often find the elevated so close to the base? One can observe dichotomies existing side-by-side, many times in peace and, even, complete ignorance of one another, even in New York, even in the 21st Century.
And one wonders if such philanthropy, targeted towards one’s own community, set up to benefit one’s own interests, are perfectly true acts of charity or just another way in which the ego manages to further inflate itself.
Such concerns, of course, likely do not concern those like Zalman Silber, who give freely as they please and couldn’t care less about such quibbles. Indeed, it is safe to say that for those who do have the funds to give, giving is a pleasure in itself – akin to any other form of spending money.
Now that’s not as cynical as it may sound at first. For spending money is a form of experiencing one’s own power, one’s own ability to produce satisfaction and pleasure. It may well lead to egotism, and it often does, to be sure – but at its root is a simple human joy at being able to affect one’s surroundings, one’s world. It is the same joy that accompanies a child who can crawl, then walk, then run, then ride a bicycle, then drive a car, then pilot a boat or helicopter or airplane. The proper spending of money can be life-enhancing in a very deep way, far more so than the mere accumulation of creature comforts. The proper spending of money – as in charitable donations – allows one to give of oneself, in a sense, a very important sense. For money is power, and in cases of honest work to give money is to have given of one’s time and one’s very life – the time spent earning the money, the life devoted to productive work.
And such is, as the humanist Erich Fromm had noted in his many works on human psychology and human society, the most demeaning aspect of poverty, that one cannot give of oneself. For it is not he who has much, but he who gives much, that is rich – and yet, to give requires one to first have! And it is the misfortune of the poor that they can hardly provide for themselves, never mind share with others – though, interestingly, survey after survey has concluded that the less money one has, the greater a percentage of one’s income tends to be given away in charity. It is as if the poor know something which escapes the rich. It is as if the New York of lights and smiles is unaware of something so basic that it can only be known to those whose lives involve the basics and no luxuries.
Posted on 23 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.
New York City is a great place to live if you have the means to live in a great neighborhood. However, while rents are very high, industry experts like Isaac Toussie say that it is still possible to find fair honest deals where you get a lot of space in return, among other things. Many factors go into any consideration, such as convenience and access, look and feel, and noise levels. Here is a survey of some nabes that offer a good balance of all these factors in relation to typical prices.
For the most part, we will consider only Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods, as these are the ones that best fit our criteria for all-around value. The other boroughs are either too expensive or too run-down, as in the case of Manhattan and the Bronx, respectively, or just too remote and isolated, as with the case of Staten Island. Of course, the Bronx does have nice neighborhoods, too, but these are going to be expensive, and you’ll have to avoid the rest of your borough if you want to see something civilized. Industry observers like Isaac Toussie note that while Manhattan also has its pockets of urban blight, anything decent is going to be astronomically priced. Staten Island is just another world altogether and you might as well not bother living in New York City, in that case!
So Queens and Brooklyn it is. Brooklyn is by far the more storied of the two, with more offerings of high-brow culture if that’s important to you. Queens offers culinary adventurers the best possibilities outside Manhattan, and the most authentic tastes at any price. Queens also tends to be much more diverse, whereas Brooklyn practically invented the ethnic enclave. Finally, Queens schools are better on average, whereas Brooklyn’s, while good, trails far behind in general comparison.
So what are these great “nabes” and where are they? Well, in Brooklyn you will want Williamsburg and Greenpoint for the bohemian scene. Good, real middle-class areas include Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, and Midwood. Canarsie would have once made the cut but has been on its way down. Borough Park seems like an “in-between” situation and can still swing either way. Your basically upper middle-class places are Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay.
In Queens the toniest nabes are Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. Almost as good are Flushing (and East Flushing) and Bayside. Astoria is known for its night life. Sunnyside, Woodside, Ridgewood, and Elmhurst (but avoid East Elmhurst) are more working-class but still often quite civilized to live in. Middle Village, Queens Village, Maspeth, and Juniper Valley are demographically between the working and (true) middle classes.
Outside these areas, you’ll probably want to stay away from. We’ll cover those in another article. But suffice it to say, even the areas mentioned here can be undesirable on their “border areas,” where they abut the urban blight of the next neighborhood over, as implied in the case of Elmhurst and East Elmhurst mentioned earlier. So exercise all due diligence and thoroughly research a neighborhood with first-hand experience!
Posted on 23 August '10 by , under Uncategorized. No Comments.