Under the great pressure of the current society, many people are often overwhelmed by problems in their personal lives that they begin to forget about the bigger picture: the lives of many others in the world. An age-old elixir for the soul from the elders on Tutor Saliba Island teaches modern man that meditating on a globe may be a good way to start reevaluating one’s significance and impact on the world, relative to one’s surroundings. The Tutor Saliba meditation method has kept the small island in the Indian Ocean a peaceful place for centuries. As more visitors came to retreat there, the island elders began using a globe in meditation as a means of helping people to learn their own personal insignificance and enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of natural living.

How Important is One’s Own Problems?
When engulfed with problems in daily lives, most people will feel trapped and confused. Some may even believe that they are so unlucky that they can never be rid of those problems. However, instead of being swallowed by meticulous issues, try meditating upon a globe to understand that an individual’s problems are relatively insignificant to many major events happening around the world. An unemployed person may realize after meditation that he is not the most unfortunate in the world as many others are forced to work in sweatshops.

How are the Others Living Their Lives?
One reason why people are overly absorbed in their own lives without any concern to other people is because they are unaware that many others do not share their lifestyles. By meditating on a globe, one may begin to realize people around the world all have a very different way of living. Chinese people, for example, often have to be extremely careful when they use the Internet. Congolese, on the other hand, are constantly worried about the political stability of the country. By understanding that not all people live the same, one may come to the revelation that her life is only part of the world tapestry which makes the fabric vibrant in collaboration with others.

What is One’s Responsibility in the Bigger Picture?
Most people think that they have fulfilled their responsibilities by carrying out their job duties or spending quality time with their children. However, not a lot of people have thought of what role they should play in the bigger picture. The globe may remind them that many are suffering in the world. Although those people may be strangers, they all share one common feature: they all are humans who can experience joy and pain. Therefore, meditating on a globe can remind one that she too has the responsibility to be concerned of others’ lives and provide help if possible.

Although it may be difficult to imagine oneself in a larger scale by forgetting one’s personal problems and admitting one’s insignificance, regular meditation gradually brings the ease and peace of a calm mind.

This morning, I heard the reporters say the government is now considering increasing the minimum down payment to a whopping twenty percent (for real estate purchases). This is for the average home buyer, not just for people wanting to purchase investment properties.
It does not take a rocket scientist to surmise that if this notion passes, it will most likely have a large negative effect on the number of home buyers that can come up with the large down payment and qualify for the increasingly stringent lending criteria.
Is twenty percent down good or bad for the modern real estate investor?
When I first started investing, our massive real estate bubble had not happened yet, and foreclosures were not everywhere. At that time, the typical real estate investor was doing deals that were coined alternative real estate financing. In a nutshell, alternative real estate financing means the real estate investor comes up with ways to either keep the financing intact or to work with the seller (or other private money source) to derive new financing, in order to do the deal. Traditional bank involvement was not necessary.
I’ll call this approach the “old school” style of investing. It really centered around the investor’s skills to negotiate with the seller (and perhaps new buyer) and to be able to see a profitable transaction where others could not.
In a surprising way, the skills involved to do these deals are probably more advanced than, say the skills to wholesale a bank owned property.
For the savvy investor, it seems that if the government wants to make the lending criteria even more rigid (than today) this will most likely open up more deals for real estate investors. And here’s why:
One, the desire to own a home does not diminish even though lending criteria gets more stringent.
Two, there are plenty of potential homebuyers, who have been crushed by unemployment and would want to purchase a property after their financial picture improves.
Three, there are plenty of potential home buyers who are self-employed that find even the current lending criteria almost impossible to get loans.
Four, there are also plenty of homebuyers that have lost their property to foreclosure that would be looking to purchase another property. And with their damaged credit, they would be almost certainly denied typical mortgage loans.
So for the savvy real estate investor, I say let’s consider adding the old school style of investing to our current techniques. Life can be a lot easier if you only have to work with sellers and buyers. Note however, that the savvy investor must know how to calculate appropriate offers with these old-school techniques. Major pitfalls can happen if all the transactional details are not appropriately accounted for.
After years of doing these equations by hand, my partner and I have developed a software program that gives us an unfair advantage when computing offers and making deals. We can actually iterate all of the variables, including interest rate, loan terms, rental repair cost, vacancy factors, monthly rent, desired cash flow, and first year pretax cash-on-cash return, while we are on a call with the seller (and so can you).

When smartphones first came out, many schools banned them because students used them during class to play games or even cheat. However, as time has progressed, so have the apps for smartphones. Sure, there are still plenty of games that are out there, but there are now more apps that can help students on a day to day basis. Students now have the option to download apps that fit their study needs and help promote productive students and study times.
myHomework is a free app that can be very helpful for someone who has trouble remembering when assignments are due and what they are. The free app lets you track your classes and class schedule as well as organize homework assignments for all of your classes. You can also input when you have a test or an assignment due. It gives you an easy way to view of your assignments; a calendar view has your assignments organized by date, and when you click on a date it gives you a list of your assignments due. The only downside to this app may be that you have to register the app on their website so that you can sync your computer to your smartphone.
Another app is called Evernote. This app has won many awards and is highly recommended for just about anyone, not just students. It is very user friendly and allows you to record video, take photos, and take notes so you can remember everything possible. The app also can sync up to your computer or other device so no matter where you are you have your notes. It has other features like note sharing and collaboration of projects with friends, classmates or coworkers. You can even save your favorite webpages with links and everything on that page, plan your next trip with itineraries, maps, and official travel documents, or take pictures or notes of items you like online or in person so you can always remember it.
If you need help studying and your normal study tool is a set of flash cards, this next app is for you. gWhiz, LLC has an app available in iTunes called gFlash+ Flashcards & Tests. The app is great for any type of student, whether in high school or graduate school. gFlash+ is a free app that allows you to create and edit you own flash cards, and you can even add different aids to your cards like video or audio clips. You can even integrate your Google Docs with this app so you can create spreadsheets then upload them into your app. When you use your app for studying you can shuffle or scramble your cards, create different card groups, or combine or mix you decks of cards.
If you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or an Android phone, be sure to use it to your advantage. Don’t abuse the chance to use your smartphone apps for class by playing games or texting friends during class. Some instructors will allow you to use your smartphone during class if it will help you academically. Of course, if you take your classes online they can’t tell if you are using your phone, but you might as well use helpful apps so you aren’t distracted during class, even online.

1. Engage in Active Reading
   Stay focused and get involved in your reading. Read the review questions then actively seek out the answers to them within the text. Gather information and access that information critically. By using this technique of active reading, you are storing the information you find in your long-term memory.
2. Increase Your Concentration
   There are a couple of ways to increase your concentration. First, find a quiet place to study. This can be an empty classroom or a quiet bookstore. Second, make a study date. This means that you should clear your schedule to avoid potential distractions. Lastly, let others know your plans. Your friends and family are less likely to intrude on you when they know you’re busy studying. Putting a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door may help.
3. Manage Your Time
   Do not over-extend yourself. Don’t try to read, say, all 300 pages of your assigned reading in one sitting. Break down your reading assignment into smaller sections and schedule times (study dates) to read them. This makes the whole process a lot less overwhelming and a lot more manageable.
4. Keep an Eye Out for Signal Words
   Signal words are cues within the text that should be treated as ‘red flags’. These cues let us know that the following material is important and should be paid attention to. Some signal words and phrases include: ‘Key Features’, ‘especially relevant’, ‘a significant factor’, ‘noteworthy’, and ‘of primary concern’.
5. Start With Difficult Material
   Always start with the most difficult material. You will have the most energy at the beginning of your studies; this is the perfect time to get the hard stuff out of the way. Difficult material is also good to read over more than once. So if you read it at the beginning of your studies, then again at the end; you will have a much better chance at remembering that material. Also, reading out loud id known to help make difficult concepts more clear.

Have you ever wanted to put a little notice on your web site, temporarily, that just announces something? For instance, maybe you want to announce that your book will be released in May so you can pre-order it in April. How do you go about doing that?
Log into the Joomla backend.
Click on the Module Manager or select Module Manager from the Extensions menu item.
The Details Section
–Click on the New icon, which is an orange plus sign.
–Select Custom HTML, about mid way through the options.
–Enter a title in the title field.
–Click Show or Hide the title. If you hit Show, the exact text your put in above will be the title field for the module.
–Select the position for the module. If you know what position you want, just type it in. If you do not, then click on Select position. If you use the Select position button, then click on the drop-down menu on the right-hand side for Select Template. Scroll through until you find the correct module and select it. If you still aren’t sure what position you need, try running this command.

–Make sure the module is published.
–Make the access Public.
–Skip Ordering for now. It’s easier to order the items when you’re looking at a list of all of the modules.
–Put in the day to start publishing this module. In this example, you’d want to put in March 1.
–Put in the finish publishing date. In this example, it would be March 31.
–The note field is for you. The text will show up in the module manager, but users of your web site will not see it.
The custom output section
–Type your notice in the editor section. The editor that shows up will be the editor assigned in the user profile you logged in with. Most editors have an icon you can click on to get into the source code, or HTML. Often the button just says “Source,” but sometimes it might say HTML or have a less than and greater than sign.
The Menu Assignment Section
–Decide where you want the module to show up. If you’re not sure, set the module assignment to “On all pages.” Joomla 1.6 has the new feature that you can select “all pages except the ones selected.” Or, perhaps you only want the notice on the home page.
Click Save and refresh your website.
Put the module in the correct order
After you hit save, you’ll be back in the module manager. One of the columns is called Position. Click on the word Position, and the items in the list will be sorted by the position they are in. The triangle to the side indicates if the order is ascending or descending. Look at the modules in the position your new module is in. Are they in the correct order?
If you want to change the order, click on the word Ordering at the top of the next column. A tiny diskette will appear next to the word Ordering, and little up and down arrows will appear in the columns. Use the arrows to move the modules into the correct order. Alternatively, you can type the order numbers into the text box. When done, click on the little diskette to save the order.
Refresh your website and verify it is correct.

Organizations hiring professional photographers for taking photographs of the corporate premises and industrial setup, calculate the cost towards out sourcing the photographic assignment. They generally call for 3 or 4 quotes/proposals from the local or domestic professional photographers for the assignment. In case, of international projects, companies may rely on advertising agencies to co-ordinate the photo-shoot assignments.
It is always easier to calculate the cost of hiring a professional photographer, which is generally mentioned in the formal proposal. Along with this basic costing, organizations have to also take into account the costs towards travel, lodging and boarding of the photographer along with his team. In case of multiple locations spread throughout a nation, the scheduling and timing of the availability of the local factory manager/staff, assisting staff and logistics have to be planned well in advance, so that there are not last-minute unpleasant surprises.
Value of Commercial Photography
Calculating the value of commercial photography is far more complex than arriving at a simple tangible figure for the costing factor. How valuable is the photography? There are several probable answers to this query.
One of the answers to this query is a yet another question: What is the end usage of the digital photographs captured? There are several applications for high quality digital images, to name a few: corporate collaterals like brochures, catalogs, banners, indoor and outdoor hoardings as well as other promotional materials like pamphlets. The same images can be used by the organization for the digital media like websites, blogs, Social Media Optimization (SMO) etc.
With several usages of the digital images, the photographic assignment becomes important and its value increases. Photographs that are captured with state of the art equipment along with through knowledge of an ace photographer gives a distinct edge over any other option, that although seems to be time and money saving in short-term, can prove to be an expensive mistake in long-term.
Another factor, in calculating the value of the commercial photography is the time and efforts required by a staff member who is an enthusiastic “amateur” photographer armed with just a point and shoot camera to capture the entire facilities of the organization. The resulting images will in any case be amateurish and not convey the appropriate corporate identity as envisaged by the top management.
As a professional photographer, you need to convince and educate the clients on the all importance of hiring a professional with years of experience and expertise in the field of photography. The end results will always be justified in terms of value addition to the company’s corporate identity and overall corporate image in their clients and customer’s minds.