gofer articles

I once reckoned that opening a company just like Lafnac Digital Computers would be great. I mean, merchandising electronics; that’s got to be fantastic, correct? Folks are always hunting to get hold of the most recent gadget. And having a midtown Manhattan spot that’s merely blocks away from world- famous Times Square with its throngs of tourists, prepared to shop around; exactly how could anything be easier? But I’m older and cleverer now, and even if I grossly underreported my income (heh heh) or deceived customers outright it would be hard to break even, much less turn out a unpretentious profit. Exactly why so? Simple: the renting could be ridiculous for such a location!

Have you seen the Rihanna Only Girl in the World video yet? At nearly the thirty-second mark the Caribbean singing sensation sports a Number 213 plunge lace longline brassiere from Carnival Bras, of National Mills, Inc. This is an long-time ladies’ intimates company that supplies the likes of Macy’s and other famous retail stores and fashion outlets. Noting celebrity attire is an offshoot of the general celebrity watching hobby, but observations are normally reserved for dresses and such, not intimates – which, mind you, Rihanna is wearing as a non-intimate in her Only Girl in the World video!

Wholesale sterling silver isn’t the kind of thing that would be easily obtainable to the general public.
It’s not like you type the term into a search engine and you get a set of distributors.
Many wholesale commodities can be found only at special markets.
For instance, if you wanted thousands of corn, you wouldn’t just try out a local supermarket.

It’s the same thing in terms of wholesale sterling silver.
You cannot just walk into a jewelry store and anticipate to get it – so you certainly won’t find it on the internet!
But, speaking of the worldwide web as well as many search engines, it’s hard to find online for the same reason many other things are hard to fine online – search engines suck.
Even Google is very, very bad at what it does.
Yes, it’s true!

Just test it yourself: see what entering in “wholesale sterling silver” will get you at google.com.
Go ahead.
Well?
A bunch of jewelers!
Which, as we’ve already noted, isn’t the spot where you go for anything wholesale, whether silver, gold, or platinum.
Obviously, retailers do exist online who offer such things but they are retailers, not wholesalers.
Naturally, some wholesalers should have websites, but they are not easily found, likely because of the lack of search engine optimization, or SEO.

SEO is the science and art of getting a website listed using a search engine for a word or term.
This particular word or phrase is called a keyword.
Targeting specific keywords is usually important to a business – for instance, a widget maker would love to be associated with the keyword “widgets” or “widgets on sale” since this means he or she would be one of the first listings returned by a search engine whenever a potential customer types in that keyword.
Wholesalers, however, probably do not have as much of an incentive to pay for SEO since they do not advertise to the general public, with their potential customers industry insiders who would discover them through other means.

What can you do with wind chimes except hang them up somewhere?
Yet there are a very few musicians who are incorporating them into their very acts – live performances, actually.
That’s right – those things, made of stone, shell, wood, glass, or metal, used in actual music, as musical instruments in themselves.

What can you do with wind chimes except hang them up somewhere?
Yet there are a very few musicians who are incorporating them into their very acts – live performances, in fact.
That’s right – those things, made from stone, shell, wood, glass, or stainless steel, used in actual music, as musical instruments in themselves.

Looks impossible, given their extremely limited acoustic capabilities, so they can be much of a contributor, melodically or rhythmically, but some clever musicians have been able to work them into their performances.
Generally, they are used in modern music and used as percussion instruments.
The use of wind chimes in this way has long been quite varied, with David Sitek of the American rock band TV on the Radio hanging one at the end of his guitar to Oliver Messiaen using glass, wood, and seashell chimes as part of his opera about Saint Francis of Assisi.
Other composers using a wind chime in their works contain Toshiro Mayuzumi, Giles Swayne, and Koji Kondo, who scores videogame soundtracks, which includes those for Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda!

On the subject of things Japanese, there is even a Pokemon depending on wind chimes, called – what else? – Chimecho!
In fact, it’s widely referred to as “the wind chime Pokemon” because of its light frame and capability to produce a ringing, chiming cry.
This piercing sound can be amplified into ultrasonic shockwaves that knock back its foes.
Altogether, chimecho can make seven different tones to convey with other chimecho.

But to return to musical instruments: no discussion on the subject would be complete without mentioning that a percussion instrument does exist which is often mistaken for a wind chime but is actually a mark tree.
The resemblance is pretty obvious, however, such that other names for it contain chime tree or bar chimes!

It almost certainly sounds crazy, but of course, there are such things as electronic cigarettes – and they’re becoming ever more popular; so much so that in another two or three years it will be insane not to have heard of them! The Electronic Cigarette Association, a recently created trade group to symbolize industry interests, estimates that there are around four hundred thousand users worldwide.

As if it didn’t appear funny enough, however, electronic cigarettes are even obtainable in numerous flavors. Yes, it is no joke – after years of tobacco advertising touting the likes of Virginia Slims and Newport Lights for their superior “taste,” smokers could finally pick from a range of real flavors, from chocolate and cherry to coffee and banana split!

That’s right, banana split. It’s incredible but true – no longer will smokers have to stick with traditional tobacco or menthol (which are, obviously, still available for purchase as well) but they now have a field of flavors even broader than that loved by pipe-smokers to choose from!

No big issue? Of course, with such things as fish-flavored ice cream and soda that tastes like bacon having been invented, perhaps uncommon cigarette flavors are not so surprising. But how about this: by having an electronic cigarettes, it’s possible to smoke without carcinogens or even nicotine the very first time in history! No, really, it’s all true: the flavored solution used by these products to produce the “smoke” (vapor) don’t have to contain any nicotine at all. These solutions are also available with varying amounts of the chemical, allowing users to choose the level of exposure for themselves! In fact, it is precisely on account of this ability to choose that the devices have been marketed as smoking cessation aids.

What will they think of next!

Sports and politics are closely connected, despite the fact that people like to say that good sportsmanship transcends national boundaries and exhibition matches among rival countries – even outright enemies – are sometimes held in the spirit of reconciliation or, at the very least, as a token gesture of would-be friendliness.
But why should sports and politics be such close companions; why must they ever be fellow travelers at all?

After all, NFL beach towels are manufactured overseas, a fact that mixes two favorite American pastimes: sports and making money (to wit, the politics of money-making).
And naturally, there are folks who say that everything is political, since everything is about power, control – but that’s another discussion.
For now, think about the curious case of Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell, who made a however colorful comment that manages to bring together local sports with global politics.

Throughout the Great Blizzard of ’Oh-Ten, the Philadelphia Eagles were about to play the Minnesota Vikings when the NFL chose to just reschedule the game because of the weather.
After all, difficult driving situations would suggest that too many fans, if not just about every one, would be forced to miss the show anyway.

That’s when the veteran Democratic politician ventured into the history books.

He went on-air to criticize about how America had become a “nation of wussies” in letting a simple snowstorm prevent such a holy staple as the Sunday football game.

Being a public speaker, he didn’t stop there.
He proceeded to question whether the Chinese would exhibit such a similar lack of intestinal fortitude, and concluded that not only would they have braved such a non-difficulty, they would have, quote, been doing calculus in their minds while on their way to the stadium!

One almost imagines them marching with NFL beach towels too.

Cultural observors will no doubt take note the latent anxiety in American community that gives Rendell’s comment its charge.
And given American culture, what better way to state it all than within the context of sports and competition?

Too bad for Governor Rendell that there isn’t an NFL franchise in the Middle Kingdom – ’cause then he can get the NFL beach towels of a Chinese team!

Given the name, one could be forgiven for assuming that products marketed as so-called educational toys would be based on some theory of cognitive development or other.
In relation to such matters, the name of Jean Piaget is one of those which spring most immediately to the mind of an informed observer.
A Swiss developmental psychologist, he made his mark by emphasizing the value of education on children.
His work has many implications for fields as diverse as philosophy, evolutionary biology, and even artificial intelligence in computers.
So how might someone who subscribed to these theories view the educational toys available on today’s market?

Piaget proposed four stages of childhood development.
They are really the sensorimotor stage, lasting from birth to about toddlerhood.
Then comes the peroperational stage that gets to about seven years of age.
The third is the concrete operational stage that lasts until about eleven, and finally there is the formal operational stage leading to adulthood.
As can be imagined, good educational toys must take appropriate account of the details of each stage.

Do they?
The first stage of development, the sensorimotor, involves hand-eye coordination, favoring toys that can be grabbed and pulled.
This would manage to make just about any object in the world a “toy!”
And actually, the vast majority offerings labeled as “educational” are only most valuable for this first stage, such as dolls and building blocks.
Next up, the preoperational stage, involves toys – and now, games and puzzles also – that allow for a particular amount of role playing as well – conceptual matters, put simply.
In the concrete operational stage, those so keen may be amused by such things as robot kits and stuff like that.
Of course, only a child in the formal operational stage should be given a full-fledged programmable robot – unless you have a prodigy on your hands!

Generating revenue is difficult, not just for a store like Lafnac Computer Store, located as it is at a retailer’s paradise, just a couple of blocks away from Times Square in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Sure you can count on large levels of foot traffic, and foot traffic that’s rather well-heeled, for that matter, given that a tourist by meaning is ready to waste money – but actually if you lied outright to your customers and scammed them, it might be a problem just to break even, difficult to make just a modest profit. How is this likely? One word: rent.

Wholesale sterling silver will not seem so easy to come by, at least not really if you’re just some layman or woman using Google.
While revolutionary for its time, Google has long been merely resting on its laurels where search engine technology is concerned.
Sure there are updates to its algorithms, but it is rather easily manipulated, and the science of manipulating Google is now to the point where anyone who wants to pay high enough a price can finagle his or her way onto the top of its final results page.

So, to continue with our example, try typing in “wholesale sterling silver” and see what happens.
Look through as many pages as you want.
Are the returned results what you want?
No, of course not, unless you were only ever before interested in jewelry as well as other tchotkes.
The greatest search engine in the world and what do they think most people who are looking for “wholesale sterling silver” online really want?
Baubles.
Trinkets.
Pure kitsch.

That is what Google is, unadulterated kitsch.
In fact, the company’s main accomplishment these days lies in convincing everyone that they are still relevant!
It might still well indeed be the best we’ve got, nevertheless.
Rival search engines purporting to utilize exotic new artificial subroutines and other technological breakthroughs have simply decreased by the wayside.
Certainly, it is arguable that they never actually got off the ground to begin with!

Two such competition that attracted a lot of pre-release buzz are Cuil and Wolfram~Alpaha.
Cuil was founded by two former Google employees, while Wolfram~Alpha is the eponymous brainchild of the famous scientist and businessman.
Neither gained much traction for all the publicity bordering them.
Cuil has actually been shut down not too long ago, going out of business in barely somewhat more than two years.
Wolfram~Alpha is actually an answer machine and not a search engine per se, computing issues from available structured data rather than simply providing a list of webpages with the relevant text string.

The 1040 Form is as easy as it will get when it comes to bureaucratic form-filling. Sure, a range of them exists, such as the “A” and “EZ” versions made to streamline the process even further for those without any complex financial arrangements. Hence, if you simply go to work and get paid, you can file these uncomplicated versions which are only a page or two long despite some sixty to seventy or so line items that might involve your attention.

Everyone has to file no less than a 1040 Form, even non-resident aliens, who use the “NR” or, as can be imagined, an “NR-EZ” version. Well, almost everyone. Typically, those who earn less than a certain quantity don’t have to. It is widely believed that anyone making less than six thousand dollars a year need not report their income, but the IRS’ own website seems to indicate otherwise, though it too is not a hundred percent clear on the matter, with figures of three thousand, four hundred (in the situation of the self-employed), and even $108.28 (this one governing religious employees) being mentioned.

Filing, however, might be advantageous nevertheless. As an example, an Economic Stimulus Payment, or tax rebate, was given to filers in the interests helping to improve the national economy. Also, if income tax ended up automatically withheld by one’s employer, filing assures its return by the government. Generally speaking, however, just about everyone has to file some version of a 1040 Form if they made money completely more than a few hundred dollars during the year.

Procrastination is harmful. Filing late may result in fines and even imprisonment. Again, these forms are pretty easy to fill out anyway, so there really is no alibi for not getting them completed in timely manner! That’s the way the government will see it.

Recently when looking into the W9 Form I realized that all these tax forms that the IRS has us complete can be really challenging. Although we will have to complete it so as to execute our duty to the Internal revenue service and fork over our taxes. The W-9 form is mandatory for those individuals who are referenced to as independant contractors or freelancers. Primarily, the W9 form reports your ssn or EIN (employer identification number) to the company that you will be being employed by at the time. You shouldn’t become discouraged by a W-9 Internal revenue service form seeing that it is 1 of the small amount of forms that is totally painless to fill out.

State Tax Forms are used by Americans in order to report their incomes for the year to their states.
Not all states of the United States tax personal income, however; the seven that won’t are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
In addition to this list, the states of New Hampshire and Tenessee tax only dividends and interest income for individuals, preferring to levy major revenue through higher sales taxes and the like.

The state tax forms used by most Americans tend to mimic those used by the IRS, often a page or two essentially and pretty straightforward.
These are generally filed right along with federal tax returns, and due at the same time, mid-April.
They could be found at the same places federal forms are distributed, such as post offices and libraries.

In addition to state tax forms, some municipalities issue their own.
In a location like New York City, the mixed personal income tax burden can total a maximum of about forty-five and a half percent – a fairly high level, to make sure, until it is considered that only the very wealthiest of residents could be subject to it.
Indeed, in the 1950s of pro-business Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, wealthy Americans across the country can expect income taxes someplace in the neighborhood of ninety percent!
So even a rate of almost half doesn’t seem so bad, specifically for the multi-millionaires that are subject to it.

Places like New York City feel they need to charge their own taxes because of the fact that they are huge metropolises that distribute more to state along with federal coffers than they receive in return.
In fact, during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, the city pleaded for federal help to no avail, a refusal succinctly captured by a hometown paper’s front-page headlines at the time: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

On the subject of state tax forms nowadays, you don’t need to go to the local library or post office to get them anymore.
Just go online and get it directly from the government!
You don’t even have to spend money on postage mailing anything in, either; no printing, no wasting precious ink or toner – just file online.
It’s really wonderful what modern technology can do!

But one thing seems odd at first glance: while it’s possible to get state tax forms from government websites, you won’t be able to file them there.
That’s right; you need to go elsewhere to actually report your earnings!
Seems strange, right?
Especially when you’ve just been informed in the last paragraph that it’s possible to file online.

It’s all quite logical enough, actually, strange as it may first seem to be – and, not surprisingly, it requires money.
That’s right, money.
(Hey, this is an article on state tax forms, after all!)
The reason why you can find those forms through the government but not actually file them directly with the government – not online, that is (you can still print them out and mail them in if you wish) – is merely as a result of money.

The government was all set to deliver free comprehensive services, both preparation and filing, but the makers of tax prep software lobbied against the idea as it would quickly put them out of business.
All things considered, why should anyone pay money for tax preparation software – every single year, on account of possible changes to the tax laws – if you could merely log onto the government’s site and do the same for free?

And so the companies lobbied the government heavily.
And ultimately a compromise was reached: industry heavyweights such as Intuit and the like would offer free tax preparation as well as electronic filing online for individuals who make lower than twenty-five thousand dollars a year – for federal taxes only.
The government would drop its bid to make tax reporting free for all.

Score another one for the corporations.

There’s so much talk about China busting the United States, and alarm bells are sounding everywhere you look (politically and otherwise) about how Americans have, are, and will continue to fall behind but for all the jeremiads there is a simple answer: Twitter.

Yes, the social networking medium that has taken the world by storm, regularly making the news insofar as people are constantly using it under unexpected circumstances (such as kidnapping victims and stuff like that) or the people using it are celebrities saying the darnedest things (Sarah Palin’s “refudiate” even made Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year for 2010).
Now don’t not understand; Twitter by itself isn’t going to be the answer to China’s rapid rising strength in economic, diplomatic, and cultural affairs worldwide.
But it is what the service symbolizes that’s intriguing – and a sign of hope that Americans need not continue to fall behind – or have had done so to start with.

For can the Chinese ever develop such a thing?
Sure, it’s an ancient civilization whose scientific and technological achievements warranted a twelve-volume Cambridge encyclopedia by Sinophile biochemist Joseph Needham – but that the last such creativity was around an entire century ago.
Has the Chinese produced anything as useful as Twitter recently?

Yes, it’s a simple idea.
And it probably won’t change the world the way rice, tea, paper, gunpowder, glasses, umbrellas, buttons, the magnetic compass, and the whole host of creations cataloged by Needham’s “Science and Civilization in China.”
But an important development nonetheless – very important, indeed.
And the fact that such things as these – Google, Microsoft, Apple – don’t have any true Chinese counterpart speaks much about where the fount of invention still lies for the foreseeable future.
Obviously, America has serious problems.
But the country has great advantages, too, with quite a monopoly on them!

Different racing strategies exist to assist you win your bike race, but for all their variety a common denominator is that they are logical, designed to take full advantage of the factors present in a given scenario.
Thus, weak climbers are generally advised to “go early” before a major climb – that is, don’t hold back from targeting the steep and/or prolonged incline.

Needless to say, every attack will certainly restrict the power of effort at the end of the competition, so pacing is still a significant consideration.
And it is at such points as these that the different racing strategies will then differ.
But they are no substitute for being able to read a race, the potential to judge “local” conditions against the selection of potential strategies that may present themselves.
This power to synthesize theory with reality comes from practice, or in other words experience.

It’s also true that racing strategies will be of no use against competitors who are clearly superior physical specimens.
What those ideas might just do, however, is give you an area over your peers, those riding at your amount of performance.
Nevertheless, in all situations it is necessary to be open to things while they develop; for example, very sound strategy that actually works in one course may not work on that same course on another day as a result of factors such as even just a slight bit of crosswind.

In fact, what makes any kind of race so exciting to watch – whether we’re conversing cars, horses, or individuals running – is the pure multitude of variables involved at any given moment, some having only a momentary effect and even never to affect matters for the rest of the race while others gaining in strength to wind up the veritable sole determinant of the final result!