Archive for July, 2010

Being Versus Having

A wealthy man like Zalman Silber is widely lauded for making a lot of money and giving it away. From a certain perspective, that is the best of all worlds, to be a winner in life with access to the world’s luxuries while also doing good: to be admired for one’s material achievements as well as spiritual aspirations.

Yet for all the Zalman Silbers of the world, there is a world of difference between being and having. Many mix up having with being – the more they have, the bigger they are, as if a better person is produced by ever more goods. Yet real good comes about not from possession – or, even, good works – but from being, true being.

It is a hard thing to comprehend, as most of us take life very much for granted. We think that to be is the simplest thing in the world – but we discount our own humanity in supposing that, plant-like, all we need is some light and water and we are all that we can be.

No, not even having a beachfront mansion with a helicopter out front and a yacht out back on your very own island makes you all that you can be. To be fully human, we must also understand deprivation, fear, want – we must experience life in all its totality.

We must empathize. For the act of empathy makes us most human – the exercise of our imaginations, the use of our unique ability to almost literally put ourselves in another’s stead.

And hence the difference between being and having. One sees this very clearly in a classroom, even in college, where most students scribble away furiously, taking down notes as the professor speaks. Yet how much are they really retaining if half their brains are busy recording what was said instead of being fully engaged in what is said?

Full undivided attention means precisely that. It is the total direct no-holds-barred personal experience of what is going on, what is being said – and what that means in all its implications. In the act of note-taking, however, one is necessarily forever playing “catch up,” with a significant amount of one’s attention focused on the act of recording – and editing, moreover: a necessarily “distancing” set of behaviors.

It is as if these students suppose that the very having of some notes of the lecture constitutes knowledge itself – literally having knowledge – while the fact of the matter is that one best knows, most completely knows, in the direct experiencing of what is to be known.

This direct experience does not come from notes hastily jotted in a strobe light-like manner. It comes from being fully in the moment, as opposed to standing outside of it recording.

Plastic water tanks are liquid storage containers made out of modern high-performance plastics that many use in an effort to collect rainwater for a variety of uses. Products developed specifically for that purpose are also know as rain barrels, and will save homeowners money while helping to save the environment as well.

Tens of thousands of gallons of water are used by the average American each year, and for those with lawns and gardens it will be a great benefit to capture some of the necessary water for free! Rainwater collection goes back a very long time, of course. And a list of its uses would be almost as long, ranging from irrigation to manufacturing to fire-fighting.

When in the market for tanks which are to be used for drinking water, nevertheless, it’s a good idea to purchase those cleared by the FDA for chemical contact, which allow their contents to be safely treated with essential anti-microbial chemicals. (By the same token, however, many are taking up rainwater harvesting, as this practice is also known, precisely because they wish to avoid treated water; rainwater is practically pH neutral and “soft.”)

Moreover, plastics are not the only materials obtainable on the market; consumers may also pick between good old-fashioned steel and concrete as well as modern hi-tech fiberglass. A variety of sizes are available, too, from ten gallons to well over ten thousand – and much, much more in the case of particularly elaborate designs for example whole water towers.

Much smaller varieties of water tanks are offered online and increasingly popular with homeowners and even some apartment dwellers as ever more people begin growing their own vegetables at home. Depending on the size, homeowners will even utilize these tanks for personal use and thus cut down on their water meter readings!

Drop safes are safes used specifically for dropping off money as well as other important papers, most frequently used by such “cash and carry” businesses as restaurants, grocery stores, and the like. They may be bolted down for additional security. drop safes are employed by those who accumulate large amounts of hard cash quickly and need a place to keep all this money in-between daily or every-other-hourly trips to the bank. Most often, however, such forays aren’t practical and so drop safes are a necessity for the safe-keeping of money.

Though meant to deter thieves, drop safes are developed in such a way as to make authorized access easy, as is depositing cash in the first place. A small slot is all that’s needed, while withdrawals will require at least a key, if not a combination or any other means of access in much more sophisticated models.

But make no mistake: A drop safe isn’t the same thing as a residential mailbox, however, whereby contents might be “fished out” by clever or experienced thieves. Standard drop safes are built with an anti-fishing baffle, a sawtoothed mechanism that prevents access by such objects as a hooked wire. Unlike the residential mailbox that it often resembles, a drop safe is secure despite its slit.

Where cash is exchanged on a regular basis, drop safes provide exceptional protection from thieves. While no system is really a hundred percent secure all the time, drop safes provide features that can help complement all the other deterrents you have put into place.

Only keep in mind that drop safes aren’t meant for permanent security, but as a temporary measure for money along with other such valuables. For instance, no drop safes will be fireproof on account of the slit. However, as a part of your overall security strategy, drop safes are invaluable for a business that is continually receiving cash.

Digital cameras under 100 dollars accustomed to be of extremely low-cost high quality, with restricted functions and mediocre layout. Today, nonetheless, it is possible to make that same hundred dollars stretch further as advances in technologies have rendered the distinctions between “budget” cameras and high-end cameras increasingly more indistinct. Thus, digital SLR cameras under 100 dollars are now a catalog staple of many retailers, even specialist camera shops catering to people who work in photography for any living. A wide variation exists inside the high quality of those cameras, nevertheless, so the wise consumer is advised to exercise due diligence and find out trusted reviews just before buy.

Digital cameras under 100 dollars had been when something of the novelty, but no longer. The finest between them provide capabilities when discovered only on much more costly cameras just a few many years ago. Numerous are even available with optical zoom, up to 4X, an unheard-of function for spending budget cameras right up until now. Between the list of previously high-end abilities now encountered on these cameras are video motion, removable storage, as well as rudimentary image manipulation constructed in – with specific effects!

But as previously noted, a wide variation does exist, and it’s generally helpful to attempt 1 out yourself just before committing cash to some buy. Obviously, they are just “basic cameras” and aren’t meant to do as well a lot more than carry a picture under usual ailments, so your expectations ought to be realistic. And let’s not neglect the main purpose of these budget cameras – to be light and ultra-portable!

It’s actually an unfortunate consequence of our numbers-obsessed modern globe that we occasionally forget the forest for the trees. Those metric-minded can easily shed sight of one of the most essential objectives in choosing an affordable camera under a hundred bucks. The overwhelming vast majority of casual photographers usually do not need the types of fine controls that professionals demand. Why not maintain expenses down by delivering all that is in fact necessary – that would actually be utilized?

Hence the spending budget compact digital camera, little, light-weight, and inexpensive with just adequate superior electronics on board to let you know it’s actually the 21st Century! Let’s face it: nearly all of us usually do not will need high shutter speeds for recording poses in front of some well-known landmark or other on our vacations. We really don’t will need night vision (does anyone outside a combat zone, actually?), and we really don’t even need various filters or lenses. The majority of us, in short, don’t “compose” our shots a lot as merely carry them.

For the hosts, the right wedding favors can be as difficult to find as wedding gifts may be to their guests. For while gifts have to reflect the social importance of the occasion while still accounting for the individual tastes of the recipients (both of them!), wedding favors need to satisfy one and all by being appropriate on several more levels. It may be hard enough to shop for one individual, or even a couple – but how about for an entire guest list that may span some twenty to two hundred different tastes?

Of course, not very many folks put so much thought (and consternation!) into deciding upon the wedding favors they will give out, for those who do it is an crucial choice right up there alongside the type of food to serve and also the type of venue to use. A great idea, however, is both safely innocuous while being practical as well as elegant and reflective of the occasion: Wine glasses!

Of course, it may be cheesy to give precisely the very gifts you yourself would be receiving, but then again it may not, depending on the quality of the set you give and, let’s be honest, how “important” your wedding is socially – after all, such favors from a high-society wedding will probably be much more treasured than something from Aunt May’s sixth time up the aisle!

All kidding aside, however, the choice of favors is an important one as it is something by which you want your guests – your friends, family, and even colleagues – to remember you and your significant other at one of the high-points of your lives. It is like going to an exotic locale for vacation and bringing back a souvenir to your loved ones…a tee shirt. No, you will probably want your wedding to be rather more noteworthy than that!

House arrest, also referred to as home incarceration, home confinement, and home detention, is a legal measure whereby a individual is “jailed” at his or her own residence. Travel restrictions are severe and usually absolute, though in almost all other respects house arrest is extraordinarily more lenient alternative to actual imprisonment. It is normally employed in instances where such imprisonment may seem inappropriate given the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the criminal’s health, for example.

House arrest is also a favorite tactic of authoritarian governments which adopt it as a half-way measure that might effectively neutralize a dissident while appearing humane. In such situations, communications are also heavily restricted, and it’s not unusual for such prisoners to be held incommunicado. Confinement under these circumstances also involves armed guards around the clock. For non-political crimes, however, electronic monitoring devices are practically always employed in lieu of security personnel.

Home incarceration has been tried as far back as the turn of the twentieth century, but could not become a practical approach for widespread use till the invention of electronic monitoring devices that made such sentences inexpensive and easy to carry out and manage. This did not happen till 1983, but home confinement is now quite typical and has become standardized. Usually, the subject has to wear a wrist or ankle bracelet (also referred to as a tether) that contains a sensor which monitors how far he or she is from home.

Authorities are immediately summoned when proscribed boundaries are breached. Another approach of home incarceration involves the use of automated calling services that record the subject’s voice, checking it against a database of voice patterns. Authorities are notified if the call isn’t answered or if the voice does not seem to match. As may be imagined, electronic monitoring has made house arrests practical and economical to implement – especially with the stipulation that offenders pay for the costs associated with their own confinement!

Fishing is a popular sport even in our world of modern conveniences. It seems simple enough, conceptually, but in reality there is a lot technical knowledge involved. Even the simple fishing rod isn’t immune – there are, for instance, over three hundred various kinds of Lamiglas fishing pole available. Lamiglas is really a specialty manufacturer with specific rods for specific breeds of fish.

To a layman, it might seem surprising, but given all the different species of fish there are to be caught, it is logical for a rod to be produced with performance characteristics that will best help the angler get his or her catch! Such a variety of rods also makes sense when you take into account that there are tens of millions of recreational fishermen and women around the world.

And so each Lamiglas fishing pole is made by hand, individually, with good old-fashioned craftsmanship right alongside the most contemporary advances in materials science. That’s over three hundred fly, surf, fresh and salt water rods for steelhead, salmon, bass, and just about any other kind of fish. Lamiglas fishing poles are popular with recreational anglers. At fishing tournaments, it is interesting to see all the various designs sported, each individually suited to all the different personal casting styles and fishing conditions possible!

This profusion of rods is most common to sport fishing, but their advanced technologies make them particularly appropriate for subsistence fishing, also known as artisan fishing, an ironic synonym that usually conveys connotations of upscale excess but which here in this context probably refers to the fact that such fishing, in order to be environmentally sustainable, takes the type of care more commonly associated with the endeavors of conventional artisans and craftsmen.

Subsistence of artisan fishing is almost always less intensive and less stressful on fish populations than are modern industrial methods, which fact is due in big part to its more conventional techniques and individual scales.

Ever wonder how a home ice maker machine works? Isn’t it magical that ice cubes materialize, just like that, as if out of thin air? Only a century ago ice was a luxury even in the United States and Europe, never mind ice makers! Back then, a delivery man would come around about once a week with huge heavy blocks of ice on his wagon. This ice came from much colder places, and had traveled far.

Even with the invention of modern refrigeration it wouldn’t be for several decades more that a home ice maker machine was available for purchase – not to mention affordable for most! It was a whole other world back then, such that if you had lived in a much hotter locale, especially those near the equator, you could actually live your whole life without ever having seen an ice cube first-hand! And just how do these little modern marvels manage to make our lives so convenient now?

Nearly all icemakers operate on a motor, a water valve, and a heating unit – yes, that’s right, heating! This heating unit is what loosens the ice cubes produced from their mold; after all, ice can have quite a sticky quality, as you may unfortunately know all too well if you’ve ever licked a really cold fresh piece! The valve, of course, is to control the water coming from your water line. The motor powers it all.

But, guess what – it’s actually the cooling unit of your refrigerator itself that does the actual work of freezing the water, not the ice maker itself! The ice maker does have a built-in thermostat that monitors the temperature of the water in the mold, however, as well as other parts necessary to produce the final product, a slew of ice cubes!

If you own a pool, then you must know that swimming pool resurfacing is an essential part of keeping it in a great condition. After all, who wants to go for a dip in a pool full of holes, cracks, and discoloration? Even with plaster surfaces, enough water exposure over time will result in damage and debris; factor in the chemical exposure that comes with applying necessary disinfectants, it can be not a question of if but one of when swimming pool resurfacing is needed.

Swimming pool resurfacing is a sort of renovation that is accomplished once in a great while. With the right applications, it may even be accomplished by the pool owner him or herself. When correctly performed, it will result in less maintenance required, less chemicals required, and last for two to three decades under the proper care. What is this miracle application?

It’s fiberglass resurfacing. A fiberglass shell will reduce overall operating costs while supplying a whole host of other advantages. Fiberglass bonds well with existing pool surfaces and provides a nice sheen that makes pools appear as if new. Such a shell should prove far less prone to staining, algae growth, and other causes of discoloration – as its track record of over three decades in use demonstrates.

pool resurfacing is required due to the passage of time. Water and chemical exposure will deteriorate even concrete. The caulking that some pool owners perform is but a temporary measure and ultimately useless, as even plaster will crack and literally pop off in time!

And speaking of plaster, replastering is another dead-end option because it’s a complicated procedure which will require such costly steps as sandblasting, while with the right product one may rather simply perform fiberglass resurfacing oneself without having to hire contractors or any other specialists.

When getting into anything, it helps to do a little reconnoitering of the facts. And for the proper socioeconomic context in which to put such data, it helps to consult governmental authorities such as census reports. Besides the axiom of location location location, the other thing to consider in real estate is Isaac Newton’s law about gravity – as processed through a bit of Adam Smith: What goes down, must come up. Supply and demand and business cycles of boom and bust are often overlooked to the demise of buyers and sellers alike. And when it comes to gathering local information, resources abound, such as thatOussie Centre so highly recommended despite being tucked away in a hard-to-find corner along the Brooklyn-Queens divide.

Just a casual perusal one common afternoon yielded this bounty of data-rich results concerning residential real estate in Montauk, New York. Despite being a faraway community on the easternmost tip of Long Island, the village can command some surprising prices. Well over a hundred miles to the city limits of New York and almost another ten to the Island of Manhattan, the hamlet of Montauk lies within the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County. Strategically located on the tip of the South Fork of Long Island, Montauk has been host to, variously, an Army post and Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force bases. Its main industry would seem to be tourism, but the community is actually home to the largest commercial and recreational fishing fleet in all of the Empire State. Indeed, its fishing grounds are quite famous for having produced more saltwater fishing records than anywhere else in the world.

The Borough of Staten Island is coextensive with Richmond County, though until 1975 the place was also referred to as the Borough of Richmond. Staten Island is the name given by Henry Hudson in honor of the Dutch parliament, the States-General of the Netherlands, under whose flag his explorations were being financed. The inhabitants themselves often refer to it as The Forgotten Borough, after the belief that the city government neglects them. For example, controversy has long surrounded the Fresh Kills landfill, which was opened in 1947 as a temporary depository for city trash. Borough residents have often complained over the smell emanating from the landfill throughout the decades. It remained in use all the way until 2001, only to reopen later that year to receive Ground Zero debris from the September 11th attack. However, in the 21st Century this former landfill will become a city park even larger than Central Park.