Friday, August 19, 2011

Comparing Granite and Marble Countertops: Which One particular Must You Choose?

Granite and marble are both equally stones which implies they can be both equally sturdy, heavy, and amazingly hard. Simultaneously, because the two these stones can really previous a lifetime, they are equally equally high-priced and really challenging to polish and install. Because these are each stones, they can be normally patterned, hence, you could possibly get granite or surface encounters marble that is certainly not fairly identical on the style and design within the catalog that you ordered so it would be greatest to really see the actual merchandise when deciding on the kind of style and pattern you want as an alternative of relying only on photographs. The two are warmth resistant and so they do not scorch when positioned even with a quite scorching product these as iron pots and pans.

Nonetheless, granite is way more difficult than marble and it is more resistant to scratches and heavy impacts in comparison to marble. Concurrently, granite is much more defiant to acids these as vinegar, lemon juice, and tomato juice, as well as other goods with substantial amounts of acidity. To help you far better recognize the strengths of the two stones, permit us just take a nearer glimpse as to how they have been formed. Marble, and all its stone relatives - onyx, travertine, and limestone in the onset have been sediments made of shells, plant issue, animal skeletons, and silt which all settled at the bottom of bodies of h2o and soon after several years of being soaked in drinking water, they solidify and become stones/ Marble’s primary component is calcium and that is the cause why it has a tendency to react to acids such as vinegar as well as other beverages that incorporate citrus. Granite, on the other hand, is built up of crystallized minerals shaped in the earth’s mantle at higher temperature. The outcome can be a hard, incredibly resistant stone. Marble could be scratched and etched by acids because it is created of calcium carbonate which can be very much like chalk but the only difference is surface encounters marble is compressed and within a crystallized form. From the similar manner, marble has fewer designs, in truth it is more typically sold in its white shade so stains and mars may stand out a lot more exposed in marble. Granite includes a far more complicated pattern that may cover the stains much better. Regarding models nevertheless, marble includes a finer, a lot more stylish search than granite. The crystal formations in marble are additional satiny and finer in nature making it search additional magnificent. Granite has greater, pea-sized crystals that happen to be coarser to the eye.

In the long run, when it comes to durability, the granite countertop could be far more resilient and much more resistant to stains and scratches even though the seems are won by marble. Marble nonetheless is less expensive than granite however it requires greater routine maintenance. So, all of it boils right down to that which you actually want being a countertop. Would you settle for the countertop that's extremely hard-wearing and although not as quite since the other a person, or would you trade attractiveness for longevity and power?

Monday, August 15, 2011

Track record Check Resources Simple And Cost Efficient

An employment criminal background check is now generally done not only to possible employees but to current workers for marketing as well. It is generally carried out to validate information discovered on an employee's resume or application form. It's also done to identify the best suited possible employee among the applicants. Also with what has occurred on September eleven, 2011, employers are actually extremely worried with the kind of workers they hire.

A background investigation includes criminal, arrest, imprisonment, and intercourse offender paperwork. This is a type of examine exactly where state records are examined to investigate if a potential worker or current worker continues to be convicted or charged with any crime against the state.

Citizenship, immigration and legal working standing checks are also done because American companies are barred from employing illegal employees from the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Division.

Litigation data are also checked. Workers who often file discrimination instances might be identified as being a danger to a business thus employers resort to litigation checks. Also, these companies who do company with the government do not want to employ whistleblowers who file qui tam suits.

Driving and car data will also be part with the background examine, particularly whenever a potential worker is applying to get a driver place. Employers look for workers who've clean driving data or those who don't have any records of vehicular accidents or visitors tickets.

Drug test records are also becoming checked. An employer would not wish to utilize drug addicts in his company due to corporate ethics, employee efficiency will probably be affected and improve of workers' compensation premiums.

Schooling records are also component with the online background check investigation. This is done to verify educational attainment with the potential employee and occasionally to check if applicant has had misdemeanor records in school.

Prior employment data might also be checked especially in the event the applicant will fill a sensitive position in the business. This is generally done verbally.

Monetary information is also checked especially if the place being filled demands someone to handle huge quantity of money.

For professionals, licensing data are checked for complaints, disciplinary steps and investigations.

Health-related, psychological and physiological files will also be checked simply because a potential worker may not be fit to function for wellness factors. A written consent from the applicant should be procured before heading via the entire process.

Social security quantity examine is also done simply because identity theft is quite rampant. A past existence might be concealed or an applicant may not have fulfilled the citizenship requirement may be verified through the social security quantity.

Although most the over records are public records and can be procured from different government companies in the Usa of America, it is still very inconvenient for employers to complete background check on its potential workers as well as current employees. You will find a number of personal investigators who offer the support. Also, there are third party providers who also offer exactly the same type of service. You will find also accessible on-line information financial institutions which may provide the essential information about people. What they do is they buy U.S. public records and provide them on-line for a charge.

Eliminate Credit rating Card Debt Quick

Obtaining your free credit score will provide you having a extremely essential piece of credit info. These scores assortment from anyplace among 300 and 900. The higher it's the much better rates you are able to anticipate to obtain on loans. Your score will assist you to make feeling of one's credit report, it offers a great image of how nicely you're dealing with your finances and also provides you insight into precisely what collectors and lenders examine when determining whether you're qualified to get a charge card or mortgage.

This really is exactly why we advise that everybody acquire their free credit score a minimum of one time for each year. When you are about to use for a cost card, it's a great strategy to get a duplicate of one's score and report, and examine it to create sure that all the info is right. It's possible to obtain a copy of one's report totally totally free of charge every and each and every year from every one of the credit score bureaus.

Whilst the above idea is really a totally appropriate means of tracking your credit score standing you can also get a 3 in 1 report being an choice.

This type of report provides the information that appears in your report as compiled by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and offers you the large image of what your credit history actually appears like. Typically, a 3 in one credit history provides you a short list of potentially difficult information, which you can quickly and effortlessly evaluate. It's moreover recognized as a three Bureau Credit report.

Collectors, loan companies, and financial institutions will report into a credit bureau any time a consumer will get a mortgage, opens up a brand new credit card account, misses a payment on a month-to-month bill, or files for personal bankruptcy. Nevertheless, they are not needed to report it to all 3 credit score bureaus. The outcome is that the no cost credit history you receive from 1 credit bureau could possibly be missing some important particulars. That missing info can frequently have an excellent impact in your credit score status. If you would really like a truly obvious view of how good or dreadful your credit report truly is, you should look at investing in a 3 in one credit report.

A comprehensive evaluation of your free credit score online and report will provide you having a fantastic insight into your financial scenario. Within the occasion you put in your purchase to get a comprehensive credit score score from one of the 3 credit bureaus, you are able to be qualified to acquire your credit record from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax within a joint file. They are heading to assist you in simple evaluation of precisely exactly where you stand and make it possible for you to notice the variations inside your 3 credit reviews. It's heading to help you follow all loans and charge cards which are opened inside your title and you also are going to become in a position to learn which companies contact the credit bureaus.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Making Internet Money

American-Statesman: Suspect Position, Bad Example, Another Bad Example, Debunked Statistics, Contradiction

from the so-much-silly dept

Most of the time the articles we take issue with at Techdirt have something in them we disagree with or find silly. And by something, I mean to indicate that there's a singular wrong in there that we point out. Or, at most, a couple of wrongs. But sometimes you encounter a piece written for a supposedly reputable publication that seems so much as though it was written to be completely wrong, that I start to wonder if LulzSec has begun infiltrating the mainstream press. Take this American-Statesman article by Gary Dinges piece by piece for an example of what I'm talking about:

"Months and months of hard work available for illegal downloading free of charge in a matter of minutes. That's the difficulty facing authors, filmmakers and musicians across the nation, costing them untold sums of money each year."

Well, gee, Gary, that sounds positively terrifying. It must be hard on these creators who are clearly in horrific dire straits. Care to share an example?

"It has become rampant," said Sandra Brown, a Dallas-area author with 60 New York Times bestsellers. "I have an assistant — a real Internet guru — who spends the bulk of her time monitoring the Web."

Ah, got it....wait, what?!!? I just want to make sure I understand this completely. You're offering up a well-known author who is routinely on the best sellers list? In order to demonstrate the struggle of authors with regards to internet piracy? Maybe next you'd like to do a piece on the political glass ceiling of minorities in America and use Barack Obama as your prime example?

And here's another question: How bad has internet piracy made things for you when you have the resources to pay an assistant, a real internet guru no less, (whatever her salary is) to spend the majority of her time "monitoring the Web"? And what the hell does that even mean? And why are you doing it? I for one totally envy that internet "guru" getting a fat check to play Bejewelled all week then turn in a report saying "yup, the internet still exists".

Okay...vitriol aside, how can this possibly make sense economically? If we were able to get some concrete answer as to which ended up costing Sandra more (real, not potential) money overall, the evil and vengeful internet or the salary of her faithful assistant for "monitoring" it, which do you think it'd be?

But back to Dinges' article. He then offers us Dano Johnson, an animator who we learn has had his own battles with internet piracy. Apparently he animated a movie that ended up on YouTube and was viewed five thousand times or so before a DMCA takedown was issued. Dano's response?

"'I feel like I got robbed 5,000 times,' he said."

Well golly gee willickers, friend, sometimes I feel like a character from a Mel Brooks spoof movie, but feelings don't really mean a whole lot here, do they? The fact of the matter is that you weren't robbed five thousand times. I wonder how many of those folks who viewed the YouTube video would have done so if it weren't there to see for free to begin with? I wonder how many of them came across it for the first time when someone shared a link? I wonder if YouTube felt "robbed" for five thousand instances of promoting you at no cost? Did you pay YouTube for any of that? Book yourself, Dano (sorry, couldn't resist).

Now, after the article then goes on to quote all the billions and trillions of sweet American dollars that are being directly removed from the economy, ostensibly never to be seen again, we get back to the best line of the piece with one final quote from Dano Johnson on what effect piracy has had on his willingness to create his art:

"Piracy isn't going to make me want to stop making films."

Oh, sweet internet Gods, thank you for this. Piracy, while perhaps annoying, doesn't stop creation. And if you acknowledge that copyright is supposed to be an incentive to create, we arrive at the inevitable conclusion that nuclear options like ProtectIP, which is what this article was actually all about even though they didn't name the increasingly controversial bill by name, are not the answer.

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Surprisingly enough, AmEx’s 20% rebate is actually a good deal. They offer competitive rates on airfare and hotel booking, and allow you to pay entirely or partially with points.

Numbers, crunched

American Express points, when used through the Pay with Points program, are valued at one cent per point, so you could redeem 97,600 points for that $976 flight to Heathrow from San Francisco. After the 20% bonus is credited to your account (it happens after the fact, and takes 10-12 weeks, according to the Pay with Points website), you’ll have spent 78,000 points, or $780. That’s $185 saved over booking with Kayak or Travelocity, enough that only one-third of your England trip will be spent lamenting the weakness of the American dollar.

American Express Platinum is steadily earning our respect

We’re generally happy with American Express as a card for international travelers, especially since the Platinum and Centurion joined the ranks of credit cards with no foreign transaction fee. Now that you can redeem your points through American Express Travel and get 20% of those points back, we’re even happier.

The American Express Platinum is one of the best-known premium credit cards, and offers a number of perks for international (or domestic) travelers. There’s a 50,000-point signing bonus (worth $500), a base rewards rate of 1% and an annual fee of $450. And based on the numbers we ran above, it only takes a couple of international flights to make up for most of that hefty fee.

Skipping customs and sipping champagne: the joys of premium credit cards

Beyond the numbers, however, the true value of the AmEx Platinum (and, really, for all premium credit cards) lies in the lovely perks. The Platinum shells out $200 in refunds for travel-related expenses like baggage fees and in-flight meals, and a free Priority Pass membership that gives access to over 600 airport lounges worldwide. A special boon for international travelers is the $100 credit towards the government Global Entry program, which allows you to skip customs lines coming back to the US (after, of course, an extensive background check). You also receive one companion ticket a year, which allows someone to fly with you, round trip, in the same class, as long as you book a business or first class ticket.

reputation management process

Monday, August 1, 2011

Making Money Tips

In one scene of the movie, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, big time capitalists, Bretton James and Louis Zabel, are negotiating a stock bailout for Zabel’s firm, Keller Zabel Investments. In doing so, they reveal two powerful negotiating techniques that can help you secure the best deal.

James offers Zabel a measly $2 per share. “Under these conditions”, starts off James, “… [James and co] are prepared to risk $2 a share”.

“2 bucks?”, questions Zabel, breaking out in a nervous laughter shocked by the ridiculously low offer. “You're out of your mind. The stock was trading at 79 a month ago. Our building alone is worth more than 2 bucks a share. My board will never accept this. There is no way I'm going to sell for 2 bucks a share.”

The government representative steps in to back up James, telling Zabel that the government could never justify a high price for his firm and that he has no other option. If he doesn’t sell then he faces bankruptcy.

But Zabel remains unmoved. “I'll take my chances in bankruptcy court before I sell to that barracuda” angrily responds Zabel.

A blanket of silence falls over the room. It looks like the deal is off. Neither party is willing to pay the price the other is wanting.

The Defining Moment

Realising that the negotiation has reached stalemate, James decides to do something completely unexpected. While he really wants to buy Zabel’s firm and knows he is getting a great deal, he decides to walk away.

“Then we have nothing more to talk about” says James as he gets up out of his chair and turns to walk away.

But just as James reaches the door, Zabel calls out "6". It’s a counter offer.

“3 and that's it” responds James.

“5”

“3”

“Alright, we'll call it an even 4. So we don't look so god damn pathetic.”

James pauses for a moment, looks at his colleague for confirmation, who nods back at him in agreement, before taking a step forward. “3, and not a dime more,” says James and locks in the deal.

There are two key negotiation techniques used in the scene above.

Negotiation Technique 1: Use Anchoring and Adjustment

James started at $2 and Zabel started at $6. In what is called Anchoring and Adjustment (see Those Clever People at Wikipedia and a little phenomenon called anchoring) initial values, regardless of how extreme, have a strong affect on final values. In this case, James used a $2 anchor, not because he thought he would get it for such a low price but because he knew it would get Zabel to start thinking low values. To counter that effect, Zabel used a $6 counter anchor to get James to start thinking higher values.

If you are selling, start by asking a high price. If you are buying, start with a low price. The technique will subtly but strongly influence the figure the other party has in their mind, therefore allowing you to get the best price.

Despite the effectiveness of the technique, however, many people will not feel comfortable asking for an excessively high or low figure because they don't want to appear unreasonable. That is, they don’t want to risk the Zabellian response, ‘are you out of your mind?’

For those people, negotiation technique two provides for a more comfortable approach.

Negotiation Technique 2: Walk Away

Who wins in a negotiation? The one who is willing to walk away.

Guess what? Be willing to walk away. Even if you are willing to pay the asking price, pretend like you can walk away. This technique is especially useful for people who don’t see themselves as hard line negotiators.

Why? Because you do not have to haggle, you do not have to offer unreasonable figures, and you do not have to have a big mouth to use this technique. All it requires is that you risk not making the purchase on that very day, which, for most purchases worth negotiating for, is worth risking for.

Here’s How You Do It:

Next time you are negotiating with a business supplier, nicely tell the person:

“Thanks for your help but the price you’re offering is beyond my budget” (or whatever reason you want to give).

“But I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll leave you my name and number and if you can do me a better deal, then give me a call and we can take it from there."

Now if that is the best price the salesperson can do then you probably will not get a phone call, in which case you can just go back the next day or so and buy the product. But if they can do you a better deal then they will call you. After all, you have already proved to them that you are not willing to pay their asking price.

What is more, 9 times out of 10 you will not even have to come back. If the salesperson is able to do a better deal, they will usually offer it to you on the spot. It will probably be along the lines of, “alright let me try asking my manager again and see if we can do you a better deal”.

Having been on both sides of the negotiation table (as a salesperson and as a buyer), I have seen this technique work over and over for all deals great and small. It is not only one of the most powerful negotiation techniques, but also one of the easiest and comfortable to use, which makes it all the more useful in securing yourself the best deal.

I had a kind of funny realization, and this relates to yesterday’s post on selling information: a lot of the time, the people who are complaining that I’m selling something aren’t my buyer.

I’m Not Selling to You

I’m not selling to Geoff Livingston. I’m not selling to Danny Brown. I’m not selling to all the people whose panties are all in a bunch because I’ve chosen to sell information on how to use Google+ for your business. You’re not my buyer.

There are lots of people who are very interested in just learning a system. They will go into Google+ and look around, click some buttons, and figure it out just fine on their own. Lots of them do what I do for a living, in some form or another. Lots of them even do what I do better than me.

But I’m not selling to you.

My Buyer For a Product Like This

My buyer for a product like Learn Google+ For Business and Networking is someone who only recently felt comfortable getting on Twitter or Facebook, and who feels a bit frustrated that yet another social network came along. My buyer is a business professional who smells that there’s something cool going on with Google Plus and they want to participate, but they’d like a little hand-holding. My buyer is someone who feels comfortable with the platform, maybe, but who wants a few tips and tricks that maybe they’ve yet to figure out themselves. (I had someone on Twitter ask a very reasonable question about privacy settings and how Google indexes or doesn’t index certain posts).

The Arguments Are All Interesting

I’ve seen dozens of comments and posts and blogs saying “How someone can claim to be an expert after 250 hours is laughable.” What’s laughable is that I’m not saying I’m an expert. I’m saying that I’ve used the service a lot and I’ve got some ideas that I think are worth your time and some money.

By the way, most of the people making this angry comment are the people who sell their consulting, presumably for money. They’re just mad that I’m selling Google+ information because it’s too new, so I can’t possibly know anything.

It’s Okay. You Don’t Have to Buy

The funny part is that people spend time and calories complaining about this. They complain about every new educational thing that comes along and helps people better understand something they already know how to do. See where this is funny? It’s okay if you know how to do it, people complaining. I’m not selling to you. You don’t owe me a single cent. (Also funny is that you all subscribe to my blog and read it fairly consistently, if only to make yourself feel better about how much more noble you are, or some such.)

I’m not selling to you.

You, However

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