Exactly what are real estate investing fundamentals ...

Is there a top secret method to real estate investing? When we search at residence moguls, like Donald Trump, that have created hundreds of thousands investing in real estate, we usually believe that there has to be some special blueprint to investing in real estate, however, that is certainly not constantly the situation. There are certain fundamentals, golden guidelines and unchangeable truths that apply to real estate investing, whether or not you are a very first time dabbler, or a seasoned skilled. Most of they?re just simple excellent previous fashioned frequent feeling.

Do Your Homework

At the moment, there are plenty of bargains to get had to the marketplace, as distressed house proprietors scuttle to recognize their investments, retain their economic balance, and avoid foreclosure, however, when confronted with a discount that would seem too excellent to get accurate, it just may very well be. Make certain you test whether or not any key adjustments are planned for the region ? an important industrial advancement or new highway extension on your own doorstep can restrict the revenue you will make on your own real estate investment!

Discover Why You will be Investing

There are various causes men and women decide to commit. Are you interested in a long phrase investment, that earns you a rental income, or will you be searching for a residence it is possible to quickly update and flip to get a revenue? Is your focus to the fickle residential marketplace, or does one prefer the more stable industrial residence marketplace? Realizing what your objectives is the extremely very first time in structuring and arranging your real estate investing portfolio. Even some dumb cam girls would understand how to setup their objectives.

Know Your Appetite for Chance

With excellent danger will come excellent reward. Often. Realizing whether or not it is possible to take care of the at times demanding surroundings of higher danger investment, in real estate or normally, might help manual you for the proper alternatives available for you. You will find no use choosing a better danger residence investment portfolio if you do not hold the abdomen for your anxiety that accompanies it. In fact, if you consider increased danger investments demanding, they are probably not available for you! In case you prefer safer alternatives, real estate investment can nonetheless work available for you, just select residence in proven regions, in which your rental income and steady expansion is much more assured.

Never Overextend By yourself

It could be tempting, when caught up within the higher that accompanies profitable real estate investing, to bite off in excess of it is possible to chew. Take into account, however, that if you commit together with the intention of renting out your attributes, that there might be times that you just cannot uncover appropriate tenants. Will you be able to address each of the payments on your own attributes if that takes place? Otherwise, just take a phase again, rethink your plans, and continue accordingly.

Real Estate Investing is a Protected Alternative

Whatsoever your answers for the queries that were raised above, real estate remains a safe, worthwhile option. Realizing your objectives, temperament, and whether or not you?re in real estate investment for your prolonged haul, or a speedy buck, will simply allow you to make audio alternatives, give you a well balanced portfolio, and make sure that your investments shell out dividends for several years to come.

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Source: http://www.nocensorship.info/?p=648

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Spinning Necessity as a Virtue: Families to Stand in for Fragmenting ...

An anodyne seeming article at VoxEU, which I reproduce in full below, makes a straightforward seeming case for policies that bolster family ties in the face of a nasty combination of aging populations and high unemployment among the young.

It isn?t hard to see that this line of thinking is the policy equivalent of getting in front of a mob and trying to call it a parade. We can already see that in bad economic times, many people turn to relatives for help. Kids leave home later, and my impression is having parents help with buying a home is far more common than when I was young. It was unheard of for someone middle aged to move in with his parents; now that sort of story is a human interest staple. I suspect that we will see a partial reversion to the living arrangements of 50 to 100 years ago, when it was more common for multiple generations to live together (which will increase average household sizes and might make better use of McMansions at the expense of new home construction).

And even the wealthy worry about their ability to take care of their kids. I saw someone today whose joked that his wife?s car was in a list published last weekend of the 100 most expensive cars in Connecticut. He said that even though his kids were smart and would probably go to good schools, he was not sure they?d be able to get jobs. Normally, if push came to shove, he?d be able to get them quietly hired by a friend if the employment market was terrible when they got out of college or grad school, but many of his colleagues were retiring or downsizing their businesses. And even though they?d never starve, he thought it was very important that they work so as not to become trust fund wastrels, or worse, druggies.

This VoxEU piece tries to put a positive spin on this trend, but I would not view it as happy. While our atomized society in the US is highly neurotic, my sense is that the weakening of community ties and short job tenures (meaning tenuous social relationships in the workplace) are bigger culprits than nuclear families, which became the new normal in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet economists are deeply weeded to the idea of isolated individuals acting in markets, and it also suits politicians. Napoleon remarked that he was keen on promoting individualism, since it made people easier to control.

Similarly, Emile Durkheim described the difference between primitive societies, which he called ?mechanical societies? (reversing the industrial metaphor) because people were interchangeable parts, with advanced, ?organic societies,? which have a great deal of specialization and role differentiation. It isn?t hard to see that a necessity-borne emphasis on family bonds will force women back into more traditional roles of caretaking whether they want that or not.

Consider this selection from Wikpedia:

As the society, Durkheim noted there are several possible pathologies that could lead to a breakdown of social integration and disintegration of the society: the two most important ones are anomie and forced division of labor; lesser ones include the lack of coordination and suicide. By anomie Durkheim means a state when too rapid population growth reduces the amount of interaction between various groups, which in turn leads a breakdown of understanding (norms, values, and so on). By forced division of labor Durkheim means a situation where power holders, driven by their desire for profit (greed), results in people doing the work they are unsuited for. Such people are unhappy, and their desire to change the system can destabilize the society.

And to the post that produced these musings, and hopefully further reader discussion:

By Edoardo Campanella, Economist at the Fiscal Affairs Department of the Italian Upper-House. Cross posted from VoxEU

Western countries with ageing populations are in the grip a cruel irony. At the same time as having more old people than ever to support, youth unemployment is at its highest levels for a generation. As many of these countries go into elections this year, this column warns against populist politics that panders to the grey vote, and instead calls for leadership that puts the family first.

Deep economic crises encourage a radical rethinking of the socioeconomic model that generated them. The combination of shrinking economies, political stalemate, and growing social resentment is inducing people, especially the younger, to question a model of society that is prone to generate huge inequalities as well as great instability but is incapable of providing a long-term direction in difficult times. With general elections approaching in most European countries over the next 12 months, there are all the ingredients for populism to emerge. If so, Europe, not just the common currency, will be under serious threat.

To avoid this scenario, it is imperative for aspiring, reliable candidates to speak hard truth to their voters by explaining that sacrifices are not over yet and that more are necessary to tackle the challenges posed by the global market forces that are undermining Europe?s prosperity. To persuade their fellow citizens to accept new cutbacks, politicians have to inspire their voters with a shared long-term goal ? one that is capable of strengthening social cohesion, motivating common efforts, and justifying reciprocal concessions.

In the past, political ideals or religious precepts projected a country into the future by treading the path towards a common goal of justice, equality, or fairness. The end of ideologies, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, along with a growing tendency toward secularisation, multiculturalism, and individualism, has left our society with no driving values. Therefore, what begs asking is whether today?s leaders can find a new driving force to revive common interest in their societies.

Family and political consensus

Nowadays, politicians should look at family, meant as a socioeconomic institution, to replace ideologies or religion in creating political consensus. Across time and space, it has always been the cornerstone in building a sense of community and creating the commitment to the common good. As acknowledged by the European Parliament in 2010, family produces assets and factors for development by promoting peace, stability, and cohesion as well as freedom, responsibility, and solidarity. And in time of crisis, like the current one, it acts as ?shock-absorber?.

In greying Western societies, where old people rig political and economic life for their benefit, family is the only institution able to build a bridge between young and old, merging opposite individual interests into a common general one. By creating strong and natural intergenerational links, family projects society into the future by charting a path towards an ideal of fairness between generations that benefits everyone regardless of economic status, religious view, or political affiliation.

Yet the countless spiritual virtues, material benefits, and political implications accruing from kinships have long been unnoticed by politics, if not in appearance, surely in practice. In recent decades, myopic leaders, not realising the importance of these intergenerational links, have created consensus and maximised their chance of election just focusing on the most numerous group, the elderly. In several advanced economies, the accumulation of explosive public debts, soaring youth unemployment rates, and dual labour markets are side effects of this political approach.

An enlightened leader should realise that people, at least with their close relatives, are altruistic, not selfish. Parents care about the opportunities of their offspring, and the youngsters wish their old relatives to live an untroubled retirement with the assistance of the state. This intra-family altruism spreads out to society as a whole, making policymaking more far-sighted.

Focusing a political campaign on the democratic minority, the youth, will capture the votes of many old fathers. And the elderly will be happy twice over.

? First, their children will realise their dreams.

? Second, the young people, being again the engine of the economy, will increase the size of the cake for the oldsters as well.

Thus, by playing on family ties, politicians could persuade older voters that an increase in the retirement age or other fiscal austerity measures are not a dolorous renunciation, but a way to relieve their offspring from unfair obligations. And today?s young people, once old, will follow suit in honouring the social contract. This is the political approach adopted by Mario Monti?s government to persuade Italians to accept today?s sacrifices in exchange for tomorrow?s benefits.

The role of family-friendly policies

But passively appreciating the social, economic, and political benefits accruing from intra-family altruism is not enough to strengthen social cohesion. European leaders should actively promote family as a fundamental principle of our society by adopting a wide set of policies:

? They should guarantee job and economic security to younger generations to favour the creation of new family units.

? They should implement family-friendly policies to help people striking a better work-life balance, thus increasing the fertility rate (OECD 2007), beefing up the workforce with young workers and preserving the stability of the pension systems without relying on massive and costly immigration.

? Politics should adopt measures able to shape the family-model in a growth-friendly way. As shown by Alesina and Ardagna (2010), strong and oppressive kinships, while indeed associated with higher fertility rates and higher levels of happiness, tend to crowd out the market, reduce labour mobility, and increase rigidities in the labour market. Therefore, a well-designed family-model will avert the ?amoral familism? trap described by sociologist Edward Bunfield (1958).

? Reforming the pension systems and eradicating dual labour markets will make intra-family altruism flow in the right direction. In the past, adult children were obliged to care for old and sick parents. After the creation of the welfare state, government-funded pensions and medical assistance replaced this obligation, even if younger workers? taxes financed such schemes. But nowadays in Europe the role of family in the transmission of economic resources is reviving, with huge flows of wealth from old to young. On an individual basis, old people?s transfer of resources to their adult children may well be motivated purely by parental love. But, from the perspective of their group interests, these transfers represent a concession aimed at preserving from collapse a system that is skewed in their favour. Therefore, European countries should alter their social contract by redirecting more resources to the young (Campanella 2011).

Conclusion

The next round of voting in Europe presents a great opportunity to rebalance the current socioeconomic model, providing people with a direction in their daily life and avoiding the enormous costs associated with a transition to a yet unspecified alternative model. A family-based approach to politics could sweep away the bleak shadow of populism.

Source: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/spinning-necessity-as-a-virtue-families-to-stand-in-for-fragmenting-social-safety-nets.html

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BUILDER Concept Home 2012 Website Launches | Pet Fairs

BUILDER Concept Home 2012 Website Launches











WASHINGTON, D.C (PRWEB) November 17, 2011

BUILDER, the leading media brand for the residential construction industry, announces the launch of http://www.builderconcepthome2012.com to promote the 14th annual BUILDER Concept Home program.

The 2012 version features three distinct homes for three different generations in one community and will be open for free guided tours to attendees of the 2012 International Builders? Show (IBS) in Orlando, February 8-11. Following the convention, they will serve as the model home park for a new 2,000-unit section of Eagle Creek community near Lake Nona in Orlando.

The three homes, set side by side, reflect the lifestyle needs of three distinct, yet important, demographic groups: Gen X, Gen Y (Millennials), and Gen B (Baby Boomers), representing the strongest segments of the current homebuying market.

?In order for new planned communities to remain economically and socially viable over time, they must appeal to a broad spectrum of potential buyers,? said Boyce Thompson, editorial director of BUILDER. ?The most successful communities serve a range of the lifestyle needs for Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials and provide homes that are flexible enough to adapt as household circumstances change. Forget the one-house-fits-all approach, or segmenting buyer types apart from each other. This is the new way to design, build, and sell homes for steadier sales and long-term value.?

The website is available now and offers background on the three generations served by the project as well as construction photos and video. Visitors can preregister for a virtual tour of the Gen B (Baby Boomer) house available February 8, 2012 and get exclusive access to a white paper on multigenerational trends in master planned communities.

Gen B House, designed by Denver-based Woodley Architects to serve the Baby Boomers, the 79 million people born between 1946 and 1964. The Gen B House is a one-story, courtyard home with a wide-open floor plan for entertaining and also includes an in-law suite for an aging parent, a boomerang child or occasional guests. 2,866 square feet of conditioned space plus 784 square feet of covered outdoor living.

Gen X House, designed by Canin Associates of Orlando, accommodates the ?all-American Tech Family? for multiple stages of life. Generation X represents the 52 million people born between 1966 and 1985. This two-story home includes an open floor plan, easy access to the outdoors, places to work and recharge gadgets, a kids loft, an in-law suite and an oversized kitchen island. It also has clever storage such as a built-in bench inside the entry from the garage with ?stop and drop? cubbies. 4,732 square feet of conditioned space plus 1,015 square feet of outdoor living.

Gen Y House, also designed by Woodley Architects, serves Generation Y, the 81 million people born between 1986 and 2005. As the first of Gen Y enters the housing market, Millennials or Echo-Boomers want a first house that is easy on the environment and on their budget. This contemporary-styled one-story, high-tech home includes natural light in the kitchen, interior recycling space, an outdoor vegetable garden, and a private casita for a renter or family member. 2,163 square feet of conditioned space plus 685 square feet covered outdoor living.

According to the Hanley Wood Housing 360 Survey, which interviewed 3,005 homeowners and renters across the country, 72 percent of owners and 59 percent of renters think now is a good or very good time to buy. In addition, 30 percent of respondents are ?doubling up? ? living with adult children or parents. Each of the 2012 homes reflects these growing trends with separate living units incorporated ? either a guest cottage or suite.

In addition to the architects mentioned above, the project team for BUILDER Concept Home 2012 includes developer and builder Centerline Homes of Coral Springs, Fla.; interior designer Kay Green Design, Inc. of Orlando; and producer BUILDER magazine, Washington, D.C. Canin Associates also created the land plan and served as the landscape designer on the project.

About BUILDER

Published by Hanley Wood, BUILDER is the leading brand in residential construction and serves as the magazine of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). For more than three decades, BUILDER has provided essential news, information and resources about products, technologies, trends, regulatory requirements and best practices to help home building professionals navigate challenges for success. With an integrated media platform encompassing print, online and in-person, BUILDER is a trusted source for top builders, architects and other industry professionals across the country. http://www.builderonline.com

About Hanley Wood

Hanley Wood is a leading business-to-business media company focused on the residential, commercial construction and design industries. Its diverse portfolio includes magazines, websites, e-newsletters, exhibitions and conferences, custom marketing and data services.

Hanley Wood is comprised of four operating platforms: Media, which publishes more than 20 magazines, featuring BUILDER magazine, along with related websites, e-newsletters, and conferences; Exhibitions, which produces marquee events that bring residential and commercial construction professionals face-to-face with manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and service providers; Market Intelligence, which collects and aggregates proprietary data sets that capture hundreds of pieces of profile and material information about housing developments in more than 750 housing markets; and Marketing, which plans, creates, and executes strategic and integrated marketing solutions for its clients. http://www.hanleywood.com.

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Internet and Online Business ? Audio Streaming Is a Sure Scream to ...

Published by witter | February 23, 2012 | | 2

Internet and online business-audio streaming is effective in putting the message across the potential clients especially if you are an affiliate marketer; but you might ask ? what is audio streaming? It is actually a method, which is popular with affiliate marketing to deliver audio transmittal to your computer over the net. You don?t need to download anything just to be able to listen to it. It arrives in your computer as you are accessing the site. You can already hear the sound even before it can be completed and that is one of the reasons why it can be so effective. The potential client for your merchant can hear the things you offer and will have an idea of what to expect on that site of yours.

As the data or sound resonates, some buffering will take place first before the playback can begin. As long as the buffer has data, the sound will continue to resonate.

Sometimes some congestion will surely take place that will hamper the data transfer and re-buffering usually occurs that wastes valuable time. It is not the fault of the audio streaming but the server itself.

There are online marketing entrepreneurs who incorporate audio streaming in their advertisements to expand their market. It costs a little more than the other methods but it can bring lots of potential clients (and income). This method is not new in the world of online marketing because it has been there since internet came to be. Below are some techniques for audio streaming:

? Online radio show ? there are websites that would be able to let you host your own broadcast. You can use this opportunity to invite listeners and possible clients to interact or communicate with you using live chats.

? Make and record a podcast ? a podcast is a radio show that is recorded. It can be saved and shared to the possible clients or viewers of the site you created. This way, even the blind can able to know the things you are promoting in your site.

? Record audio for the products you are selling ? there are some people who wanted to read the articles for a deeper comprehension but there are some who would like to just listen. You can have both on your website to meet the preference of your visitors.

Internet and online business-audio streaming is great to hook potential clients who are always on the go with no time to browse further. They can just listen to the broadcast while working on something and they won?t miss anything you said. They will surely act on the things they heard the moment it perked up their interest so try to sound lively so the listeners will want to hear more.

Source: http://www.1directory.net/internet-and-businesses-online/internet-and-online-business-audio-streaming-is-a-sure-scream-to-success-7532.html

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Why Home Improvement Projects Can Be Uncomplicated Using ...

There?s a lot of information about home improvement today, from magazines and websites to TV shows. Yet it might be thought, that a huge allotment of time and currency has to be provided to design any obvious advancements to your house. Thankfully, less expensive and time consuming ideas are possible to better the place you dwell, yet they could be a charming and valuable addition.

Fewer aspects have as much impact on the appearance of your abode than the type of lights you have. A huge difference can be had with switching lamps and bulbs, and these are typically changes that aren?t too expensive or difficult. For example, a beautiful chandelier in the front room could bring a classy look to the entire room. Fixtures that are an easy install that give you a more clean appearance as opposed to the common lights is recessed lighting, which is something you might want to contemplate for your abode. Another thing to consider regarding lights are the windows, in certain instances the addition of a new window or turning them into a larger one could seriously make a room brighter. What lamps you have in your room and where they are set is also something you need to be critical about so they can have the most impact.

Very often, the most efficient way to keep your home comfortable is to install a central heating and air conditioning system.

Whether or not you intend to live in your home for many years, or sell it in the near future, a central air and heat unit adds both comfort and overall value to the home itself. Your choice in regard to a cooling and heating unit will be, in part, based upon your climate zone and whether or not you will use it regularly. This type of temperature regulation is great for winter months, as well as summer months, keeping your house a constant temperature. Instead of using space heaters in the winter months, or fans when it is hot, this unit will take care of everything.

In order to give your abode a new look that you are going after, you won?t always need to replace things, but just clean them completely. Don?t spend money on a paint job or new siding, before thinking about pressure washing. The preceding can be done via a hired hand or you can do it. Washing with pressure the driveway and outside of your abode can amend things greatly, particularly if there has been accumulated grime over the years. Likewise, shampooing your carpet could be as good as acquiring new ones, if you have them. Much more budget friendly than getting brand new carpets, in addition assuming your carpeting is in pretty good condition and just stained a bit, its possible that is all you will have to do.

If you take your home improvement projects one step at a time, you can get a lot accomplished. Just do some simple planning, and make sure you have the help necessary to complete all of the jobs. Anything that needs to be fixed now, in order to make your home more attractive, needs to be done before any of your other projects. Home improvement ideas will also come your way as you begin fixing things around your home. Good luck!

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economical sociology: Philosophy of Zen - Virtual Hot Wings Arts ...

Novel of Zen is a collection of initial quotes and concise conversations (regarded in the book as koans) that promote thought and self-exploration. Alternating between priceless and severe, paradoxical and open-ended, the koans surpass the standard style of Zen quandary (like what is the tonality of one hand clapping) to motivate continued pastime and attract the widest volume of perusers. The koans commonly detour standard sayings and sayings on their head. And every koan can have various analyses, depending on the peruser.Each koan is composed in English and Thai. Look into the old world way of thinking and philosophy of Zen on-line at BookofZen.com.



Source: http://www.virtualhotwings.com/book-reviews/philosophy-of-zen/

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it - Learn Computer Programming

Editor?s Note: The following article is reprinted from PCWorld.com.

It?s easy to wax nostalgic about old technology?to remember fondly our first Apple IIe or marvel at the old mainframes that ran on punched cards. But no one in their right mind would use those outdated, underpowered dinosaurs to run a contemporary business, let alone a modern weapons system, right?

Wrong!

While much of the tech world views a two-year-old smartphone as hopelessly obsolete, large swaths of our transportation and military infrastructure, some modern businesses, and even a few computer programmers rely daily on technology that hasn?t been updated for decades.

If you?ve recently bought a MetroCard for the New York City Subway or taken money from certain older ATMs, for instance, your transaction was made possible by IBM?s OS/2, an operating system that debuted 25 years ago and faded out soon after.

A recent federal review found that the U.S. Secret Service uses a mainframe computer system from the 1980s. That system apparently works only 60 percent of the time. Here?s hoping that uptime statistics are better for the ancient minicomputers used by the U.S. Department of Defense for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system, Navy submarines, fighter jets, and other weapons programs. Those systems, according to the consultants who help keep them going, will likely be used until at least the middle of this century.

Here are a few stories of the computers that time forgot, and the people and institutions that stubbornly hold on to them.

Punch-Card Accounting

Sparkler Filters of Conroe, Texas, prides itself on being a leader in the world of chemical process filtration. If you buy an automatic nutsche filter from them, though, they?ll enter your transaction on a ?computer? that dates from 1948.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
Sparkler Filters? IBM 402, with self-employed field engineer Duwayne Leafley in the foreground. Sparkler?s IBM 402 is not a traditional computer, but an automated electromechanical tabulator that can be programmed (or more accurately, wired) to print out certain results based on values encoded into stacks of 80-column Hollerith-type punched cards.

Companies traditionally used the 402 for accounting, since the machine could take a long list of numbers, add them up, and print a detailed written report. In a sense, you could consider it a 3000-pound spreadsheet machine. That?s exactly how Sparkler Filters uses its IBM 402, which could very well be the last fully operational 402 on the planet. As it has for over half a century, the firm still runs all of its accounting work (payroll, sales, and inventory) through the IBM 402. The machine prints out reports on wide, tractor-fed paper.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
The punched cards used in the 402, with some mangled cards from a recently cleared jam in the card reader. The cards sit on the IBM 029 key-punch machine.

Of course, before the data goes into the 402, it must first be encoded into stacks of cards. A large IBM 029 key-punch machine?which resembles a monstrous typewriter built into a desk?handles that task.

Carl Kracklauer, whose father founded Sparkler Filters in 1927, usually types the data onto the punch cards. The company sticks with the 402 because it?s a known entity: Staffers know how to use it, and they have over 60 years of company accounting records formatted for the device.

The key punch isn?t the only massive accessory in Sparkler?s arsenal. The 402 also links to an IBM 514 Reproducing Punch, which has been broken for three years. When it works properly, the 514 spits out punched ?summary cards,? which typically contain the output of the 402?s operation (such as sum totals) for later reuse. Sparkler stores all of its punched data cards?thousands and thousands of them?in stacks of boxes.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
Sparkler Filters? collection of IBM 402 programs on IBM plugboards.

The company also possesses dozens of 402 programs in the form of IBM plugboards. Computer programming in the 1940s commonly involved arranging hundreds of individual wires in a way that would likely drive a modern software engineer insane. In the 402?s case, a spaghetti-like pattern of wires attached to hundreds of connectors on each plugboard determines the operation of the machine, and different plugboards can be pulled out and replaced as if they were interchangeable software disks. So you might insert one plugboard for handling, say, accounts receivable, and a different one for inventory management.

Sparkler?s 402 is a such a significant computing relic that the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., sent a delegation to the company last year to try and convince its executives to move to a more modern accounting system and donate the 402 to the museum. That will someday be an appropriate resting place for the 402, but as long as it still does its duty, the Texas company has no problem keeping its digital dinosaur living a little while longer.

Computers That Can?t Fail

When you see reports about the small, remote-controlled drones that the military uses to gather intelligence and target enemies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, it?s easy to assume that all our weaponry is equally modern. Some significant weapons systems that our military depends on today, though, run on technology that dates back, in some instances, to the Vietnam War era.

The U.S. Navy?s ship-based radar systems and Britain?s Atomic Weapons Establishment, which maintains that country?s nuclear warheads, use PDP minicomputers manufactured in the 1970s by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Another user of the PDP is Airbus, the French jetliner manufacturer.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
A DEC PDP-11 system in a photo from 1972.

The PDP was among the second wave of mainframes called minicomputers because they were only the size of a couple of refrigerators instead of big enough to fill a room.

The F-15 and F-18 fighters, the Hawk missile systems, parts of the U.S. Navy submarine fleet, and Navy fighter test systems on aircraft carriers use DEC?s VAX minicomputers from the 1980s for various purposes, according to Lynda Jones of The Logical Company in Cottage Grove, Oregon, which helps keep these antiquated systems functioning.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
A DEC VAX 11/780 system in a 1978 photo.

Because of their critical nature, many of these systems will be in continuous service long into the future, perhaps to the middle of this century. For instance, the Minuteman ICBM program, which uses DEC VAX systems for testing, recently received funding that will keep it going until 2030.

?These legacy systems are integrated into multibillion dollar systems as control or test systems,? Jones says. Replacing these old systems with modern machines, she explains, would cost millions of dollars and could potentially disrupt national security.

As it turns out, replacing those systems with modern hardware designed to work like the antiquated components is a decidedly less risky venture. Jones? company is one of many that create systems to simulate older DEC minicomputers using newer, smaller, and less power-hungry electronic parts. The replacement computers emulate the exact functionality of the original hardware?and run the same vintage software?so it appears to the rest of the system as if nothing has changed.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
The Logical Company?s NuVAX 3200, a modern system that replicates a DEC VAX.

That?s important because most of Logical?s customers are defense corporations refreshing old weapons technology under contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. ?There are thousands of DEC systems in use for military applications around the world,? says Jones, ?including PDPs from the 1970s, VAXes from the 1980s, and Alphas from the 1990s.?

The United States developed many fighter jet and missile systems during the Cold War era using DEC hardware for test and control functions, says Jones, because the company?s minicomputers were among the very first general-purpose machines that did not require water cooling and could be used in harsh environments.

The biggest problem with maintaining such ancient computer systems is that the original technicians who knew how to configure and maintain them have long since retired or passed away, so no one is left with the knowledge required to fix them if they break.

Even if someone does know how to fix them, finding replacement parts can be tricky. Stanley Quayle, a computer emulation consultant, has seen contractors desperate to find the parts they need. ?I have a prospective customer supporting a U.S. missile defense system that is buying parts on eBay,? says Quayle. ?Any parts they do find are as old or older than their system,? meaning they?re sometimes no more reliable than the pieces they replace.

The Apple IIe Warehouse

Lots of people fell in love with the Apple IIe when it was released in 1983. It supported a wide variety of software and hardware, it was reliable, and its seven internal expansion slots made it extremely flexible.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
Kevin Huffman sitting next to his Apple IIe at Huffman Industrial Warehouse in North Carolina.

For Kevin Huffman, who owns and operates Huffman Industrial Warehouse in Eden, N.C., that love has never waned. His firm stores and ships out goods for companies that rent his warehouse space, and he regularly uses his vintage Apple IIe to track inventory and keep accounts.

Huffman got started with the Apple II line in college and later bought two identical Apple IIe systems from his brother-in-law in the mid-1980s, one of which he uses today. (He keeps the other unit as an emergency backup.)

Huffman?s Apple IIe setup is nothing fancy, but it is fully stocked. It?s equipped with 128 kilobytes of RAM, the standard 1MHz 6502 CPU, and AppleSoft BASIC in ROM. It contains five expansion cards: a printer card, two disk interface cards, a serial port card, and an 80-column video card. For peripherals, he uses an Apple DuoDisk unit, a 10-inch amber video monitor, and a trusty workhorse of a printer?a Star NP-10 that ?is still going strong at 26-plus years old,? he says.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
Kevin Huffman?s boxes of the six programs in the Manzanita ?The Business Accountant? software suite for the Apple IIe.

Huffman runs an application suite on the Apple IIe called ?The Business Accountant,? first published by Manzanita Software in 1984. Of the six applications in the suite, he uses five: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, and Payroll. All of his data resides on the once-standard 5.25-inch floppy disks, but he?s not worried about data security: ?I back up the floppies with a program called Copy II+.?

Huffman uses a modern PC for word processing, email and Web browsing, but he?s reluctant to move away from his trusty Apple IIe for accounting work.

?I still use the machine because it is so simple to use, I know the software, and I can still update the tax tables manually.? He adds, ?The only glitch in the entire system is that it does not recognize the year 2000, so all my printed financial reports say 1912. But on the invoices, checks, and other forms, it prints in the 11/14/12 format.?

He?s even tried emulating the Apple IIe and his favorite software on a modern machine, but to him, the full experience matters. ?I thought about changing over to a more modern system, but there is nothing to be gained. As the old saying goes, ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.??

The Color Computer Programming Assistant


John Kowalski?s Tandy Color Computer 3 running BBS software in a photo from 1996.

Few vintage computers inspire as much active devotion as the Tandy Color Computer 3, first introduced in 1986. The CoCo 3 (as it is affectionately called by its fans) never sold as many units as home computers from Atari or Commodore, but that engendered an even stronger loyalty in its users.

The CoCo 3 marked the end of a well-received line of Color Computer products from RadioShack, which launched the first model in 1980. The third model in the series turned out to be an impressive swan song, adding support for 512KB of memory and implementing advanced graphics and sound enhancements?all while retaining backward compatibility with pre-CoCo 3 software.


John Kowalski?s self-portrait from 1998?in front of a wall of Color Computer 3 units.

It?s understandable, then, that some folks refuse to let go of their CoCo 3 units for either work or play. One such loyal user, John Kowalski, a former console game developer, still considers his CoCo 3 an indispensable tool.

?I turn it on, type in a quick program to do something I need done, and let it run to get the results,? says Kowalski. ?I think of it as my personal assistant?sometimes I program it to do tedious or repetitive tasks like automated document reformatting, and I can continue working while it works beside me.?

Kowalski began his journey in CoCo-land with a Color Computer 2 in 1984. He traded up to the CoCo 3 in 1986 and stuck with the platform through the years, performing various hardware upgrades (upping the system RAM to 2MB and overclocking the 6809 CPU to a blistering 3.5MHz) along the way.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
The cover of the Namco Museum 50th Anniversary game for the PlayStation 2, a game that Kowalski?s CoCo 3 helped to create.

When Kowalski was programming console video games at Crystal Dynamics in the mid-to-late 1990s, his vintage CoCo 3 played a prominent role. ?Every game I worked on had at least some data in it created on the CoCo,? he says. Titles like Namco Museum 50th Anniversary and Tron 2.0: Killer App benefited from the vintage machine, which Kowalski used as if it were a powerful programmable scientific calculator.

For an original title like Tron 2.0 for the Xbox, Kowalski used the CoCo 3 to test 3D techniques used in the game. ?Many of the data sets used by the 3D engine were generated on the CoCo, like the tables for calculating depth and perspective in the 3D view, and the data for fish-eye reduction of the view,? he says. ?The texture map graphics used in the game were also translated into program data by a conversion tool I wrote on the CoCo.?

If speed wasn?t an issue, Kowalski would quickly type up a program in the CoCo?s built-in BASIC interpreter. In the cases that involved large amounts of graphics or sound data, he would turn to assembly language.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers In Use Today
The cover of Tron 2.0: Killer App for the Xbox.

The latter technique proved quite handy when working on Namco Museum or Atari Anniversary, which both contained reworkings of classic 1980s arcade games. Kowalski used the CoCo to extract, convert, and edit graphics data from the original arcade ROMs into formats a PlayStation 2 console could use. He also used the CoCo to translate vintage arcade source code and clean up sound samples used in the games.

With such an old machine, you might think it would be hard to export the working data to a more modern PC, but Kowalski has found no such problems. For years, he swapped standard 5.25-inch disks between his CoCo 3 and a Windows PC. Today, he simply connects a serial port between the CoCo and a PC, with the PC acting as a virtual disk drive emulator.

Kowalski says his current job designing electronics hardware doesn?t call for much data generation, so he doesn?t use the CoCo as frequently. But he hasn?t retired the classic machine; Kowalski keeps the 25-year-old PC on his main computer desk, ready to be called back into service at a moment?s notice.

Article source: http://www.macworld.com/article/165486/2012/02/if_it_aint_broke_dont_fix_it_ancient_computers_still_in_use.html

Source: http://learncomputerprogramming.net/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it-ancient-computers-still-in-use/

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Throwdown Part 2: Write What You Don't Know | Writers In The ...

by Fae Rowen

When Laura Drake originally suggested this topic months ago? I knew I would be on the ?don?t know? end of the throwdown.? Everyone else at Writers in the Storm writes about what they know.? With Sharla Rae?s historicals, she researches and researches until she has notebooks filled with information.? Jenny Hansen writes about people and things she knows, changing names to protect the innocent.? Laura writes about women going through life?s trauma and coming out the other side, which she?s done.? Very well.

Me?? I write about anything that interests me.? I write about unknown planets, alien species, space battles, and future societies.? Hmmmm.? Never been to any of those places and I don?t have a time machine.? And I have no military flying experience where I?ve fired on other planes?or space ships.? Yep, I write what I don?t know.

That?s not what writing teachers tell their classes.? I can?t tell you how many times I?ve been told to write what I know, that writing anything else is dangerous.? Yes, I never learned that lesson.

Let me tell you why I write science fiction.

?? If I wrote a contemporary, I?d have to have everything correct.? Fashions, cars, restaurants.? What if I had my characters eating poppers before they were invented?? Every reader would let me know.? As a mathematician I have this thing about being right not wrong.? Because in my ?other? professional world if you?re not right, you?re wrong.? All wrong.? There is no gray.

?? If I wrote historicals, I would have to do research.? Now, I?m good at research.? Even extensive research.? But it?s not my favorite thing to do.? For instance, I think the absolute best hero in a romance book is a Regency hero.? Give me a titled rake, or even a non-duke, and I can turn starry eyed and fall in love.? But would I ever try to write a regency.? Ha!

Regency readers know what houses were on what streets in Mayfair and every other part of London and the entire English countryside.? They know what dishes were served for every course of casual and fancy party meals.? I think they even know how to play whist.? They know their social history and if a writer transgresses on details, it?s pistols at dawn.

? I?ve been through my share of life?s travails.? It?s not cathartic for me to rehash the journey.? I?m not good with tears, but I?m very good at forgetting how bad something was, so I just can?t capture my angst and emotion on the page.

I write what I don?t know.? I imagine a world and a couple of characters.? I imagine what the society on the world would be like.? Who can tell me I?m wrong, as long as the ?rules? of the society are coherent and work for that setting and people?? Well, maybe someone.? Let me digress for a quick story.

When I was speaking at a conference about an activity from a textbook I co-authored, I talked about how I developed the lesson.? A man in the back of the packed banquet hall? jumped up and interrupted me.? ?You stole that lesson from the textbook I use.? You?re lying.? You didn?t make it up.?

After the audible inhale of the audience I asked him what textbook he used.? He waved it high above his head.? It was my book.? I told him I was one of the co-authors and thanked him for using the book and understanding my lesson so well.? After the session he sheepishly brought the book to the podium and asked if I?d autograph it.

I?ve never been part of a society made entirely of convicts.? I personally know only one white-collar felon.? But I?m writing a trilogy on their world.? How can I do this?

Well, I do understand what people need to survive.? And I can imagine what I would do when faced with having to fight for my sustenance.? Alliances, betrayals, codes of conduct, rituals, discoveries are all open territory for exploration.? As long as I can thread logic through the backstory that produced such a social climate, I can build a world that my reader can connect with and believe.? That means there are rules?physical and societal?which can?t be broken, even if that might make my job as a writer easier.

Building those worlds and defining those rules?that?s the fun part.? Want an alien native to your world?? Want it to be bigger than humans?? No problem.? Look at the other alien life on the planet and the plants and make a picture in your mind.? Make sure your creature has a food source and a habitat, possibly with one or both in conflict with the human population if you want another layer of tension in your story.

How did the people get there?? Why do they stay?? What is the level of their technology?? Oh, you can have fun with this one and make up all those cool tech items you wish you had right now.

As a kid I had to walk everywhere.? Long stretches of sidewalk.? I developed a whole moving sidewalk society before I ever read a science fiction book, just because I got tired of walking an hour to my piano lesson every week.

Do I know all the science behind any of my ?inventions??? Nope.? Not my job.? That?s a fun project for the engineers. I like to think that writing about what I don?t know allows my readers to use their imaginations to explore the ?unknown? setting and society.? And to say, ?That?s cool.? I wish we had that now,?? as the story unfolds.

In my despair at being on what I perceive as the losing end of this throwdown from the get-go, I googled ?writing what you don?t know.?? Surprise, a screenwriter has written a book on the topic.? Julian Hoxter?s book,?Write What You Don?t Know,
is internationally popular and has been translated into Chinese.? Makes sense, though.? You may not have lived through the world?s worst divorce, but you can imagine the emotions and possible situations, decide whether you want to go the dramatic route or the comedy route, and write what you don?t know.? I could see that really working for comedy.

Screenwriters can?t have lived through all the things they dream up for movies nowadays.? But they can imagine, and imagination is the bottom line for writing what you don?t know.? ?Imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the senses. It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist, are not present or have happened in the past,?says Remez Sasson.? We?ve all got an imagination.? Think you don?t?? Just spend an afternoon playing with a child.? You?ll see.

Bret Anthony Johnston is the Director of Creative Writing at Harvard University.? Here?s a link to a piece he wrote in The Atlantic magazine on ?why fiction?s narrative and emotional integrity will always transcend the literal truth.?? He makes an eloquent case for stepping outside the bounds of what you know when you write.

Yes, I write what I don?t know.? And that can be scary and difficult at times.? There are no definitive roadsigns marking the territory.? But no one else knows it either, until I write about it.? And that?s the real beauty of writing what I don?t know.

Where do you fall in this throwdown?? Do you write what you know or do you write what you don?t know?? Or a little of both?

On Friday we welcome debut author Ruthie Knox, who will share tips on writing and selling your first book.

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Source: http://writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/throwdown-part-2-write-what-you-dont-know/

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Mass email marketing Solutions

Published by witter | February 21, 2012 | | 31

Mass email marketing Solutions

Using email marketing solutions in your ad campaigns means sending bulk email to the masses. In order to use email marketing effectively you need to make sure that you use the right mass email marketing solutions so that you are bale to reach out to target clients. It would enable you to promote your online business to a wider audience and get better quality traffic at your site. So if you need mass email marketing solutions for your site then you can contact an online media company that deals with email marketing solutions. They can help you design your email ads and can also provide you with optedin email list so that you can reach out to the target consumers. You can buy email traffic through them and can also look for bulk email sending software so that you can send your email to all the target consumers at once.

Renting a bullet proof server is also advisable as it would help you to avoid being labeled as spam and is more effective. It is best to hire professionals for your mass email marketing solutions as they would ensure that the campaign is effective enough and gets you quality traffic.

Using email advertising as the core tool for promoting your online business can be very beneficial and help you to get the desired traffic at your site easily. But for this you need to make sure that you choose the right kind of email campaign that can help you in promoting your company. It is best to choose target based email marketing solutions which can help you to reach out to the right candidates. You can contact a good media company for this which can help you to get the right email marketing solutions.

They can design the packages for you and also help you to get geo targeted traffic. So if you need to reach out to consumers from a specific region then you can choose them for your media campaign. You can buy email traffic through these companies which would help you to contact the people who are actually interested in knowing more about your website.

The companies that provide with email marketing solutions can not only help you to get the opted email list but can also provide bulk email sending services so that you can send the mail to number of people at once. They can also design the email ad so that it is impressive and can help you get more traffic at your site.

Source: http://www.1directory.net/internet-and-businesses-online/mass-email-marketing-solutions-6782.html

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Exactly where to purchase Noni Juice | New Health and Fitness

New Health And Fitness.Org - Health Information You Can Use

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One of the most unexpected sources for noni juice at a very good cost was Target.com. This large on the web department store offers Agrolabs Naturally Noni 2x 16 oz. for much less than $15. One more handy web-site is Amazon.com gives a huge selection of selections from the liquid supplement.

You will discover also hundreds of well being food retailers on the internet to become browsed. These may perhaps possess a neighborhood shop not far away that will carry noni juice. The internet sites can direct the buyer to neighborhood stores, or the buyer can make the purchase on line. Several of the health food stores offered on the web carrying noni juice are as follows:

GNC ? www.GNC.com

Sunfood ? www.sunfood.com

The Total Health Shop ? www.thetotalhealthshop.com

Organic Pharmacy ? organicpharmacy.org

You?ll find sources on line that happen to be dedicated to noni juice for much better health. Right here are a few of these sites:

noni.org

nonijuice.us

www.noni-juice-plus.com

When doing a personal search on the internet for noni juice attempt the following key words making use of the words and parentheses as shown: ?noni juice? or? ?noni juice? and ?health food store?

And search ?health food store? and then browse various on-line well being food shops for the liquid supplement.

A source to buy noni juice is not difficult since this well-known liquid can be found locally and on line. Shopping for quality as well as reasonable cost is wise. A local health food retailer will have professionals on staff that can help purchasers understand which brands are most effective to purchase. Still, if on line buying is preferred, stick with the more preferred on the net stores which can be known to be reputable and dependable like GNC.com. A further thing to take note of when surfing the net for noni juice is to keep tabs on which brands seem to be available at more retailers. These brands are going to be the more widely used and thus more likely to become quality brands. Doing a little research, noni juice is discovered locally and on the internet.

The author created a site entirely devoted to noni juice and its benefits. It?ll help you find information on noni juice which includes where to purchase noni juice. For a lot more of this drink?s health benefits, check this article.

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Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/02/20/exactly-where-to-purchase-noni-juice/

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