Are you thinking about buying a new car or truck? Are you generally unaware of the automobile industry? Are you afraid of getting ripped off? If these things are true for you, then read the tips and tricks in this article. They will help you make the best decision you can.
Watch out for the up sells in the financing office. When you reach the financing office, you will always be offered an extended warranty, interior protection, gap insurance and other such add ons. Make sure that you understand these well before making a decision to purchase them. Most are not worth the money you will spend, and you're better off saving each month in the event that you need a repair or your interior gets a stain.
Consider selling your car privately, rather than trading it in for the new car you want. You will almost always get more for your car through a private sale than you would through a trade in. Even if the dealership makes it sound like they are giving you a great trade in value, they will likely raise the price somewhere else to make up for the difference.
If you aren't concerned about getting the absolutely latest model, consider car shopping in November or December http://acheteurs.tv/. During this time frame, dealerships will offer deals on the current models. They want to clear out their inventory to make way for shipments of the next year's models. This means that you will be offered more incentives, lower sticker prices, and more room to negotiate!
Is there a specific feature you really want? Is it, heated seats or a sunroof? Before you even approach the lot, find out which cars in your price range actually offer this feature. This will reduce the time spent on the lot looking at cars you don't want as the feature isn't available.
You should be aware of what you can afford first and foremost. This will allow you to know how much of a payment you can afford. Determine how much you'll be able to spend on a monthly car payment. Even look for a loan prior to your car search.
Figure out how much you can afford on a car payment before you get there. If you wait, your eyes will be big, and you will be willing to pay anything to get what you want. Start out with a firm figure and do not allow yourself to be moved by anything the salesman says.
Find out how much it will cost to insure a specific vehicle before you purchase it. Insurers charge a lot more to insure sports cars than other vehicles. Even the color of the car can influence the insurance cost. To guarantee that you are not surprised once you have already paid for the car you must do your research.
Get a vehicle history report for any car you are seriously considering. All you need is the vehicle identification number (VIN). This report can tell you about the car's accident and repair history, as well as whether the car has been in a flood or other disaster. Some sites allow you to pay for a one-month subscription, which is handy if you will be pulling reports on multiple vehicles.
No matter how far into the purchase you have gone, remember that you are not tied down into one-car dealership until you sign papers. Even if the salesman is very friendly, it is just business. If you find a better deal elsewhere, you have no obligation to purchase from your first dealer.
Never agree to pay the asking price! There are few cars for sale out there that do not have some room for negotiation in the price. When you have researched the vehicle, inspected it and given it your approval, negotiate the final price based off your findings. Do not settle on a price until you are happy with your investment.
When purchasing a certified pre-owned vehicle that comes with a warranty, make sure you read the fine print. Most warranties on these vehicles only cover power-train and don't cover much else. There are also cases in which the warranty may not be transferable which would make it void in your case.
You are a female shopping for a car, never agree to work with a salesman who treats you in a condescending way. Some salesmen will try to take advantage of female shoppers and offer them unfair prices or financing terms. This is not what your car-buying experience should be like. If it is, visit a different dealership.
Whenever buying a certified pre-owned vehicle, try and find out what the return policy is, or even if one exists. If one does, make sure you understand how long it is and whether or not you will get registration and licence fees refunded along with sales tax for the vehicle.
Even if a car is in your price range, do not forget to consider the gas mileage and annual maintenance fees that will come with your purchase. Many people buy vehicles that they think are affordable, but later they regret it when they see how much they have to pay annually for gas and routine maintenance.
Don't agree to a dealer's sales discount on a vehicle based on YOUR beliefs of what your car is worth; rather, do your research. You will have a better idea of the price to pay for a new car.
Though you should present yourself respectably when shopping for cars, try not to project excessive wealth. It will not be easy to convince a dealer to give you a good rate on a car if you come into the dealership with an expensive fur and tons of diamonds on.
Don't overlook these helpful tips while you are out shopping for a car or truck. They also apply to larger automobiles like SUVs. Armed with the proper information, you don't need to worry about making a poor purchasing decision. Enjoy every minute in your new car with the help of this article.
Seminar Report - The New Competitiveness: Innovation Ecosystems and Sustainable Innovation
Prof Hautamaki introduced the concept of global networking in value chain creation. With communication and technology globalization, resources are more easily accessed across borders and continents; value chains are becoming specialized and distributed all over the world. However, even so, within a country or state itself, resources are concentrated in knowledge hubs and Innovation Centres. Innovation Centres provide world-class ecosystems for innovation and global collaborations.
Prof Hautamaki further elaborated on the characteristics of Innovation Centres. Many of these innovation centres have precedence of success in the regions and prominence (usually coupled to institutions). More often than not, these innovation centres embody a culture of creativity and openness that attracts for people, entrepreneurs to combine and flourish ideas, with easy access/ engagement of investors. A competitive innovation ecosystem that encompasses each innovation centre supports continuity in renewal of businesses. In fact, he proposed an emerging framework for innovation: global networks/ knowledge hubs as schematically reproduced below.
Professor Hautmaki re-iterated that the crux of innovation does not lie within the hub itself, but rather, in the innovation ecosytems that surrounds the innovation centres/ hubs. Some of these factors of interplay in the ecosystem are shown in the schematic diagram below. He elaborated that it is critical to have a wide-enough market for new innovative products. If market is not large enough, one must be versatile to look for a 'test-bed' economy. To put it succinctly, an innovation system behaves like a community whereby successes are only possible when all components interplay well in a synergistic network.
With an understanding of Innovation Hubs and Ecosystem that serves as the infrastructure for innovation, Professor Hautmaki introduced the 4i model of innovation, which entails the flow of Ideas to Innovation to Implementation and back to Ideas in a closed loop.
Prof Hautmaki proceeded to explain the two modes of innovation. First, there was traditional model of innovation, starting with the birth of ideas, epitomized largely by MNCs and Co-operations. These innovations were driven by profit, economy and productivity based, driven by the values and demands of Capitalist societies for economic growth. What is of interest, is however the emerging model of sustainable innovation. Unlike traditional innovation, Sustainable Innovation sustainable innovation is driven by creativity and innovation in optimized harness of industrial capital, natural capital, human and cultural capital (encompassing diversity) to solve "wicked problems". Prof Hautmaki quizzed that one does not have to look far to solve wicked problems; many of them are present in Millennium Development Goals, such as greying population, climate change, food security and poverty eradication.
As one would have noticed, the design process of a product in line with philosophies of sustainable innovation would requires a major paradigm shift from conventional innovation modes. It entails a design reprioritization from usefulness of the product, often served by development/ material properties, performance and technology to one which builds on the perceived value of the product, driven by user's desires and what it means to their concept of life. Henceforth, it is important to blend people with disciplines and skills, like user- research and anthropology with engineering. This emphasizes the importance and interconnectivity of the innovation hubs and supporting ecosystem.
Innovation hubs and ecosystems must recognize, adapt and leverage on new drivers of sustainable innovation, projecting for current and future needs in order to stay relevant. Cultural and social expectations more often than not bring about new changes in consumer behavior, which then becomes the new "normal". In my opinion, one of these major changes of the millennia the global connectivity and changes in private space of the user brought about by the proliferation of social media, such as Facebook. Another key facet of sustainable innovation is through growth and value creation- one that leverages on the combination of service economy and design thinking. A popular framework that companies employ in value creation is via the SMART framework- Simple, Maintenance-friendly, Affordable, Reliable and Timely-to-Market.
In conclusion, Prof Hautmaki states that sustainable innovation creates value in products, services and solutions for sustainable well- being https://vortex.network/. This entails an achieving optimization between belonging, economy and balanced relationship with nature. All people are creative and need opportunities to participate in value creationàopen creative ecosystems. The greatest value and challenges of sustainable innovation lie herewith, whereby companies and customers are engaged in co- creation.
When most people think about an aquarium, they think only of the fish in the tank. It is seen as a glass box filled with water, some fish, and maybe a plant or two. However, successful aquarium hobbyists look at things a bit differently.
The people that have the most success with their tanks take into account the whole ecosystem of a freshwater aquarium. They understand that the aquarium is not just water, fish, and plants, but rather the whole thing is one single living entity.
Approaching the set up and maintenance of a freshwater aquarium in this way requires you to treat each component like a piece of the overall puzzle. When it is time to add some fish, stop and think about how that may affect the other fish, the plants, and the water quality. Everything that gets added or taken out of an established aquarium can have a ripple effect that needs to be considered.
A healthy aquatic ecosystem will have the right balance of fish and plants. It will be getting the proper amount of light. The filter will be keeping dirt in check and the nitrogen cycle will be operating smoothly.
The nitrogen cycle is an often overlooked but crucial aspect of a healthy aquarium. The key to the cycle is the beneficial bacteria that live in the gravel substrate of the tank as well as in the filter. These bacteria "eat" the fish waste and leftover food converting ammonia and nitrites into nitrate that feeds the plants. The plants use the nitrate and with proper lighting, photosynthesize, thus releasing oxygen into the water. The fish use the oxygen to breathe and they in turn release carbon dioxide that the plants use in photosynthesis.
Knowing about this cycle and the importance of keeping it in balance can then guide your decisions as to what to add to the tank. It should be obvious that it would be potentially very bad to add too many fish at one time, as it would create too much waste, the bacteria couldn't metabolize it all, and the ammonia levels in the water could spike. A sudden rise in ammonia levels could kill both the new and the old fish, so it is of utmost importance to do things slowly when it comes to adding fish to the tank.
Every inhabitant in the tank uses one substance to create another that is in turn used by a different tank inhabitant and so on through the cycle. So, in a healthy aquarium ecosystem, all organisms are in balance, the water chemistry is optimal, and the whole aquarium thrives as one.
Easy DIY Smart House Automation For Family Convenience And Security
Easy DIY smart house automation has never been simpler to carry out than it is today. You can now set up a simple to use, complete home automation system that will bring convenience and security to your entire family. From turning on lighting in your home from your smart phone no matter whether you're sitting in the living room or across town in your office, to remotely unlocking the front door if the kids forget their key, there is no limit to how you can simplify your home life.
The days of paying for an expensive home wiring system with a control system programmed by an IT expert are gone. Now you can easily set up a basic controller system, plug in a few wireless wall plugs and plug your light fixtures or other appliances and in minutes have your new home automation system up and running. In the following paragraphs I am going to outline one of the simplest DIY smart house automation systems you can install in your own home.
While working on a DIY home improvement project to automate my own home I discovered the INSTEON home automation system. I was looking for a system to upgrade my eighty year old home. What I learned was that there were already a number of whole house automation systems available that used single band technology. These options included Wi-Fi, RF, Bluetooth, or smartwire. In each of these systems there are things that can go wrong, roadblocks that disrupt the signal. What I learned about INSTEON was that it is the only complete home automation system that uses Dual-Band technology.
With Dual-Band technology, INSTEON uses a combination of RF or radio frequency signal and it creates a second band by sending a signal through your homes existing home wiring system. This combined dual-band technology works to eliminate roadblocks giving you a more reliable home automation experience. So from a DIY standpoint you can install a complete home automation and home security system without any complicated wiring system or computer programing skills. The most complicated part of a basic smart house system will be to replace or install a few wall mount light switches in order to automate control of the lighting on those switches.
With dual-band technology every new control feature you add to your system you will increase the power of the whole system. This is because each control module acts as a repeater for any sequence or scene(scene is the term used to describe any automated command sequence) and help relay the command to the proper module. So there is no limit to how many modules you can install.
I forgot to mention that with the simplicity of this DIY automation system you can install it just as easily into an eighty year old home as into a brand new home.So if you wanted the ability to control the temperature of your central air system in your thirty year old home from your office, no problem.
Once you have installed your new INSTEON hub by simply plugging it in you will be able to access it by installing the INSTEON app for your Smartphone, iPhone, or tablet. You will also be able to wirelessly link it to each control module you install.
When it comes to family convenience you can install simple plugin wall mounted modules to control lighting, home audio equipment, fans or heaters. If you want to control entire room lighting groups simply install a dimmable wall switch that can be controlled from anywhere. Wireless garage door openers have been around forever but what if yours let you know if you forgot to close the door when you left and let you close the door from anywhere in the world?
When it comes to family home security how about a simple DIY installation module at each window and door that lets you know when opened or left open no matter if you are home or not. You will have the power to create scenes to activate flashing lights or an audible siren if you choose or maybe you will have your system include outside wireless motion sensors that activate exterior lighting.
Of course wireless cameras play a big part in any modern DIY home automation system and with this system you have the option of units with night vision ability as well as units that will activate automatically by motion sensor. These systems can simply be programmed to play on any HDTV or computer monitor or smartphone screen.
Goals are a critical part of life. If you use any search engine, Yahoo, Google or Bing... type in "goal setting techniques" you will more than likely find millions of links that can assist you in setting goals for yourself
https://www.smartlink.so/. You want to make sure you ask yourself the right questions as you set YOUR goals. Three questions you want to ask:
1. What do you want your professional life to look like? Ask yourself, do you want to work for a large company or do you believe you will best be utilized at a small company or maybe a midsize one? You want to ask yourself this question simply to get an idea of what really suites you. What about working part-time versus full-time? Relocation, travel time to and from work-how many miles are you willing to travel? Again, you must ask yourself some basic questions so that you have a solid and focused path to setting the right goal for yourself. Answer these questions and give yourself well thought out responses.
2. What are you willing to do to make sure the professional life looks the way you envisioned? Now you want to ask yourself questions to really set yourself up for success. First, are you willing to continue your education, earn a higher degree, and or obtain certifications in your desired field? Are you willing to take a pay cut or an entry-level position so that you can get your foot in the door? Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone and make calls to people and organizations? Networking is critical! Only approximately 15-20% of job openings are posted to the public. So again, are you willing to step outside of your box and make the proper connections in your chosen industry? Are you willing to volunteer, job shadow, and conduct informational interviews? Answer these questions and write down your responses.
3. Realistically what are you able to do to ensure you create the life you want? What will it take financially for you to make ends meet while you pursue your career? Do you need to secure an unrelated position temporarily while you work towards your preferred career? If so, set a time limit... 1 year to 18 months. Otherwise you will end up in your alternate career. Family support... do you need it? Friend's encouragement... will that help you? Just make sure you select the right family and friends to help you otherwise you might become hindered from the extra chatter. What do you need realistically to meet your goals? Think about it, write it down and make it happen.
SMART Goals Break Down
Now, let's get ready to see what this looks like!
Specific
SMART Goals should be written with a specific target. Here is an example of a vague goal. Apply to companies. Here is a more specific goal: Apply to mid-size healthcare companies.
Measurable
The best SMART goals have a number or value attached to it. Apply to 10 mid-size healthcare companies in a 50 miles radius. Now this is specific and measurable.
Attainable
Goals that are attainable or action oriented are SMART. Attainable goals require greater specifics on the actions that will be taken to achieve the goal. Apply online to 10 mid-size healthcare companies in a 50 miles radius using networking contacts from the healthcare fair.
Realistic
Realistic goals are set based on the abilities of those expected to carry out the goals. "I will apply online to 10 mid-size healthcare companies in a 50 miles radius using networking contacts from the healthcare fair." If "you" are not the one to complete the application process then the goal should state "Headhunter will be responsible for marketing my resume to 10 mid-size healthcare companies in a 50 miles radius using networking contacts from the healthcare fair."
Timed
All SMART goals must have a timeframe. Last example: I will apply online to 10 mid-size healthcare companies in a 50 miles radius within two weeks using networking contacts from the healthcare fair.
Bottom Line
If you've found yourself on a rollercoaster ride and you are ready to get off; then it's time to stop, reflect, plan and implement. You don't want to waste time at a job, matter of fact, you don't want to waste time applying for a job only to find out that it's does not align up with your professional goals. If you take the time to write down responses to the questions noted above you will be able to create SMART goals and be well on your way to the CAREER of your dreams.
Room With a View - Redefine Your Office With Enterprise Content Management
Redefining an office means different things to different people. For some, it means changing the furniture to offer an updated look, or introducing cubicle partitions to accommodate more people. To others, it might mean adding a communal kitchen to encourage better intra-office communication, or a child care facility to help workers conveniently manage or even extend their work day. While these are important improvements, they overlook the real challenge of business: making work more efficient.
Although optimally designed physical spaces were vital in organizational competence of the past, efficient desktop control of business information is the key to the future. The good news is that you don't have to be a many-armed octopus or a mythical goddess with a thousand hands and eyes to be victorious over the demon of inefficiency. An enterprise content management solution can help you take charge over your information and abolish the enemy of disorganization. It gives you control over your documents, provides business insight, and offers you a thousand extra virtual hands to handle more work, faster, wherever you are...with the click of a mouse or a few keyboard strokes. If you are searching for ways to redefine your office and bring your company to the next level, you should seriously consider a robust content management system...for all of your business information.
Drowning in demands: when your back's to the wall
Take a moment to think through a typical day in the office - sorting through the day's paper and digital mail, prioritizing tasks, distributing time-sensitive documents to the right people, suggesting changes to existing files, collecting required signatures on final documents, and trying to make progress on assorted projects. The workload is strenuous, and deadlines loom. You spend more time than you like waiting for answers and decisions, and there are never enough hours in the day. A few extra pairs of eyes and hands would be helpful, but since you know your work best, they would almost need to be your own. How will you ever get ahead, or even catch up?
Imagine your office redefined: pipe dream, or reality?
Times change, and successful businesses change with the times. Imagine that:
You are an insurer, enjoying a two-week holiday. A customer submits a claim that is time-sensitive. The mailroom staff scans it into an imaging system along with supporting documentation, and forwards it to you for review. The system is instructed that if you are out of the office, the digital claim file will enter a common queue to be tackled by the next available staff person. Your customer gets what he needs without delay.
You are building a new house, and are eager to see the final designs. Your work schedule makes it tough to find time to visit the planning office, review blueprints, and provide changes and signoff where needed
https://www.theblox.co/. Fortunately, your architect scans in all of his blueprints and stores them digitally, using integrated document and process management software. The system is instructed to take note of the structural, electrical, sewer, telephone line, and other drawings and to collect them into one digital package for your final review. Within seconds of the last file being collected and approved by the architect, you have the files on your desktop. You provide a digital countersignature, and the file is automatically forwarded to the contractor for a cost analysis. Your office work and your home-building project both remain on task and on time.
You are part of a team that is responsible for reviewing college applicants for an engineering college. In the past, your institution has missed out on some excellent candidates because the person responsible for the initial review doesn't work very quickly and is often absent. Delays result in other colleges snatching away the best students before you can make a decision. This year, the Dean approved an ECM solution. Now, materials are sent simultaneously to multiple faculty members and administrators for digital review, with rules that instruct the system to seek alternative reviewers if absences occur or responses are late. You are able to attract and receive firm commitments from the best students for your college before they receive more attractive offers elsewhere.
You are a public relations and advertising executive, attending a conference at a mountaintop resort. The scenery is inspiring, giving you great ideas for a new ad campaign. While you are working during a break, you receive an alert about a series of time-sensitive files from your staff, each requiring your approval and signature. You endorse the documents digitally and add annotations to one that requires changes. The document change request is automatically returned to staff, and those you approve are packaged electronically and forwarded for your boss's final approval within moments of receipt. You return to your inspiration, knowing that deadlines are being met and no one is waiting for you in order to do his or her own job.
If these scenarios seem like castles in the air, they aren't. The robust ECM software of today gives you the power to be the architect, contractor, and beneficiary of virtual communication, for a fraction of the cost of manual processing. Careful planning, an honest assessment of your needs, and a strong and integrated product from a vendor that is as committed to your success as you are let you redefine your office and triumph in the marketplace.
Sure, it all sounds wonderful, but how do you get started?
The four basic elements: imaging, bar codes, desktop scanning and online forms
We've all had experiences of needing something when it is just out of reach. Struggling to stretch a land-line cord phone as you reach for a file, standing outside the office of an employee who is in a meeting when you need a file on her desk, or searching for data in a software application so you can copy and insert it into another program are three common examples. By digitizing all of your information and storing it in one central location, or pointing to where it is housed within another software application, you lessen mistakes and save considerable time.
With a high-quality capture and Web-based document imaging system, paper documents and images can be scanned, digitally stored, and ultimately retrieved at the same quality as the originals, directly from a desktop or other digital device. Bar codes can be embedded with critical information such as the recipient's name, address, ID, and type of document on forms that are printed, mailed, and require a response. As they are returned to the office, bar code reading eradicates duplicate entry, eliminating errors and redundancy and accelerating processing. Even companies with large, centralized scanning stations benefit from adding desktop scanning. This provides an easy way for employees and on-site customers to add routine forms to the system via a few simple menu choices. Finally, on-line forms that you offer on your company's website or portal provide 24/7 convenience, allowing customers to provide information you need from them wherever they are, and for you to access it within moments of receipt.
Information brings knowledge. Knowledge is power. Like the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water, these four basic technologies work together to form a cohesive capture system. They provide a fully accessible and searchable digital environment for all of your information.
Web-based retrieval: a thousand eyes that find it all
The security and convenience of a Web- and permission-based ECM system makes it easy for people to find whatever they need, regardless of your office hours or their location. Detailed and automated indexing, supported by thorough taxonomy guidelines and software that demands consistency, ensures diverse workers can find what they need to complete assigned tasks. It can point to data in diverse systems such as accounting, SAP, ERP, and other applications. It can also store paper and audio-visual files as well as photos, images and emails. True ECM puts eyes in the back of your head and makes the walls of inefficiency vanish.
Workflow: many hands make light work
Having the right information available to those who request it is one part of the efficiency equation. Delivering it to the right people in a timely manner is the other. After a business has fully embraced electronic storage, digital workflow performs the work of many hands simultaneously, dramatically improving processing speeds and freeing people for creative and meaningful tasks that add value. Routine chores such as gathering and associating files, sending them through the organizational hierarchy for approvals, soliciting signatures, notifying customers with important communications, or sending customized letters in response to receipt of a document take place automatically in accordance with your business rules. Managers can restrict time allotments for handling specific documents, distribute materials according to employee work volumes or based on preferential hierarchy, keep an eye on staff members who are performing poorly and make procedural adjustments, and monitor potential system bottlenecks. If your task is routine and has a standard set of rules for processing and exceptions, chances are it can be automated.
Summary
An ECM solution is the cornerstone of office efficiency. It lets you collect all of your business information digitally into one centralized, searchable location. It makes sure the right people can access the information they need, data is collected consistently, bottlenecks can be avoided, incoming workloads can be distributed effectively, and people can manage their projects - wherever they are. Web-based access ensures the right employees have full access to all of the information and analytical tools they need to make sound decisions, eliminating the all-too frequent cry of 'inadequate tools' for jobs poorly executed or left undone.
Efficient content management puts you in control of all of your information and keeps your projects moving. With extra eyes to find what you need quickly, and virtual arms to mechanize and execute the routine labor that is the foundation of most business processes, you can focus on more meaningful contributions to your business. Tear down your organization's walls of inefficiency. Your business will profit from the unobstructed views provided by ECM. With the added eyes and helpful hands of ECM, you will have more time to be inspired or to enjoy yourself - whether you are on vacation, attending a conference at a resort, or just tearing down the walls of inefficiency in your office. With your "office redefined", you're ready to roll!
Simple Tips That Help Parents Understand What Video Games Their Children Play
While there are many good video games, there are just as many bad ones that shouldn't exist. These games can leave anyone with a severe case of buyers remorse. There are some warning signs that can help you avoid these bad games, such as the advice in the following gaming article.
Invest in a rechargeable battery for your wireless gaming controller. You can buy rechargeable power supplies for any controller. If you intend to play video games regularly, you will be eating through a small fortune in the batteries used to run your controllers. A rechargeable battery can save you a lot of money in the long run.
If you are playing a shooter, make each one of your shots actually count. Many novice players make the error of just squeezing that trigger and letting out round after round. Soon you'll be empty with nothing to show for it. Instead wait for a clear shot and practice patience overall. You'll be rewarded.
To find inexpensive games, consider visiting eBay. You can find a number of older titles at considerable prices. If you are patient, you can even score a system at a great price. Make sure; however, to look at a seller's history and reviews before you purchase from them. You want to buy from someone reputable.
If buying a game for a kid, make sure you solicit multiple opinions. There are many different types of games and many different interests.
If you are a gamer, you already know that video gaming can be a pretty expensive hobby. If you want to purchase the latest and greatest new game, it will usually cost you at least $50 or $60. Before you sink that kind of money in a new game, do your research and check out several reviews on this new game. Be sure it is one that will provide you with countless hours of pleasure before you purchase it.
Parents should take the time to look in the game console's settings for parental controls. Consoles will have these controls within their setting's menus. These can allow you to control games by ESRB rating, the amount of time on the system and limit online access. With these controls set, your child can play games more safely.
Video games are a lot of fun, but they can be quite tricky, too. If you are stuck on a game, go online and search for cheats. Most games have some sort of cheat or cheats that can make them a lot easier. Simply search in your favorite search engine and you can easily find cheats to make your game play better.
If your kids are playing, use parental control settings. Perhaps the game is able to be played over the Internet. When it does, you should disallow kids from having access. Also, look at the friend requests they receive and minimize their playing time.
If you're a parent and you want to know more about what your kids are playing on their game systems, simply find out the titles. When you go online, you can find out the rating, some reviews, and some walkthroughs. These things will help you to know what your kids are getting into at every level.
Know the signs of video game addiction. This may sound funny, and you may not think such a thing exists, but addiction to games is as real as any other addiction. Symptoms include long hours of play, obsessive thoughts about the game, and excessive spending related to video games of all kinds.
Play video games to help you learn. Video games are not only a lot of fun, but they can be quite educational, too. If you or someone you know is having a hard time learning some concept, look for a game that will help teach it. You will be surprised at just how much a video game can teach you.
Do not neglect the secondary market for console video games when looking for titles. You can find good condition used games at a number of sources. Online, they are available through individual resellers and auction's sites, both as single titles and in collections. Offline, you can buy them used from game stores, video and music stores and at flea markets.
Use video games to help your brain! As people age, their brains age, too and don't work as well as they did when they were younger. There are many video games that help your brain get some well needed activity
https://www.bloometa.com/. By playing these games, it is shown that your brain age can be younger than your actual age.
Help your children to be safe when they are gaming online. Keep track of the people they're playing with. Certain unsavory individuals have been known to reach children via online video games. So protect your kids and only let them play online with people they know and you know.
Bullying is a problem in the online gaming world. A lot of kids know the people they are playing with and gaming has become a way for bullies to harass and threaten kids online. Make sure that you know who your kids are playing games with online and keep them safe.
When buying games for your kids, look into the features of each selection. Many new games allow for interaction with other players, most of whom will be complete strangers. Some games feature online chatting, for instance. Take your kids' ages into consideration, but also think of their maturity levels.
Trading games with friends and family is a simple and affordable way to ensure you can play new titles without paying an arm and a leg. Create a network of traders in such a way that one person buys a new title and the rest share it once the first player is done.
Bad video games are a bane upon the gaming culture, but they can be avoided. When you know what to look for, poorly produced video games will fade out of existence. The advice provided gives a clear outline of what to watch out for when playing video games and how to avoid the bad ones.
Wit As a Tool of Poetic Communication
The paper discusses the concept of 'wit' as developed through the past few centuries. It takes into consideration both the Western and the Indian Poetics to reach a consensus on how 'wit' works in poetry. The fact cannot be denied that 'wit' has been one of the most prominent tools of Poetic Communication since the earlier times. Poets like Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, and Crashaw used wit as a style. The metaphysical poets' wit is characterised by ingenuity in metaphor, pun, and paradoxical conceit. Authors such as Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Oscar Wilde perfected use of wit with intellectual understanding and sharp and cutting wisdom.
Although one finds the features of wit mentioned in Sanskrit Poetics, it does not lay down any particular theory concerning 'wit'. On the other hand, the Western critics find 'wit' as intellectual power of all types which is worthy of specialised study, and therefore they proposed different definitions of 'wit' from time to time.
The present paper discusses the poems of two recent Indian English Poets, Maha Nand Sharma and I.K.Sharma, in the light of the common understanding of the concept of 'wit'. The paper discusses such features of 'wit' as common sense, quick reasoning, word play (without being funny), amusing expression, and insightful remarks that show the poet's power of the mind and seeks to establish it as the most prominent tool of poetic communication. It is 'wit' that creates irony; and the interplay of wit and irony produces satire, sarcasm, or even humour. In fact the two poets use 'wit' as a thin disguise for communicating their more poignant feelings with striking expression.
Though 'wit' is often thought to be synonymous with sense of humour, it is a technical term of some exactness. It is more than just a mastery of language. With the aid of wit and intellect, a poet crosses over the barriers of language, and thus, creates a suitable vehicle to communicate his intense feelings that are hardly devoid of ethical undercurrents. From time to time, the concept of 'wit' and 'humour' has undergone a great change. More often it is found that wit and humour are discussed or treated on the same level, as both seem complimentary to each other even as it is hard to draw a boundary, which could clearly distinguish them from each other.
Wit is derived from an old English word 'witan', meaning 'to know'; hence comes the definition of wit as primarily a matter of sense and understanding. In comparison with humour, wit is an intellectual display of cleverness and quickness of perfection, while humour is less obviously mental in its approach to the weaknesses, foibles, absurd ideas, and actions of people. Wit is wholly dependent upon apt phrasing, whereas humour rises from situations and incidents and does not rely only on the sharpness or felicity of expression. Wit plays with words, develops startling contrasts, and appears often in epigrams and paradoxes. Samuel Johnson states that the original meaning of wit is "the powers of mind; the mental faculties; the intellect." 1 The longest citation that Johnson offers for wit comes from Locke: "wit lying most in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety, wherein can be found any resemblance, or congruity, thereby to make up pleasant pictures in the fancy." 2
Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms explains wit as "acute perception and cleverly appropriate expression of ideas providing amusement and pleasure." 3 Webster's Dictionary of the English Language closes its entry on wit with a moralizing paragraph: "wit formerly meant genius, and now denotes the power of seizing on some thought or occurrence, and by a sudden turn, presenting it under aspects wholly new and unexpected--apparently natural and admissible, if not perfectly just, and bearing on the subject, or the parties concerned, with a laughable keenness and force.... The pleasure we find in wit arises from the ingenuity of the turn, the sudden surprise it brings, and the aptness of its application to the case, in the new and ludicrous relations thus flashed upon the view." 4
Originally, 'wit' signified 'wisdom'; and a man of wit was a wise man. In the Elizabethan age, a man of pregnant wit, or of great wit, was a man of vast judgement. In the reign of James I, 'wit' was used to signify the intellectual faculties or mental powers collectively. In the time of Cowley, it came to signify a superior understanding, and more particularly a quick and brilliant reason. By Dryden's time, it was used as nearly synonymous with talent or ability. According to Locke, it consists in quickness of fancy or imagination. Pope defined 'wit' to be a quick conception and an easy delivery; according to which a man of wit is a man of brilliant fancy; a man of genius. We use, 'wit' to designate a peculiar faculty of the mind, connected with the more comprehensive faculty of the imagination; and also the effect produced by this faculty, which consists in the display of remote resemblances between dissimilar objects, or an unexpected combination of remote resemblances. 'Wit' excites in the mind an agreeable surprise; and it arises not from anything marvellous in the subject, but from the imagery employed, or the strange assemblage of related ideas. Poets display 'wit' either by debasing things pompous or seemingly grave; or, by aggrandizing things little and frivolous; or, by setting ordinary objects in a particular and uncommon point of view, by means not only remote, but also apparently contrary.
Babette Deutsch in his "Poetry Handbook" explains 'wit' in a better way. It unfolds from an assumption that the discourse of poetry and discourses about poetry are not interchangeable with vocabularies pertaining to other literary genres and modes. On wit, Deutsch is historically grounded, succinct, and distinct, there is no cross references here to humour, fancy, imagination, or anything else. He describes wit as, the "faculty that makes for metaphor by the perception of likeness in unlike things."5
To Dryden, 'wit' is synonymous with imagination, a term that was to have a far narrower meaning in the eighteenth century, with its emphasis on reason and common sense. Tentatively, but illuminatingly, Eliot defines the wit of certain seventeenth-century poets as "a tough reasonableness beneath the slight lyric grace." 6
When one talks of wit, intellect, humour, irony, satire, sarcasm, and other aspects of poetic communication, or even general communication, one cannot ignore the rasa theory. Rasa is the ultimate criterion of literariness according to which 'wit' is in action from the generation of an idea in the poet's mind to the evolution of poetic emotion in the readers. The effectiveness with which a poet nurtures his abstract idea into a concrete presentation displays the wit of the poet. All the western philosophies related to wit from the ancient time to the contemporary age deal with the same in one way or the other.
The Vakrokti theory, another very important theory of Indian Poetics, propounded by Kuntaka (10th - 11th century), states that vakrokti is the underlying principle of all figures of speech. Vakrokti lies in the strikingness of expression. This strikingness of expression distinguishes poetry from other forms of literature and is the result of unusual poetic activity. Thus, one finds vakrokti linked with poetic imagination on the one hand
https://kryptview.com/, and aesthetic delight of the reader, on the other. A notable point is that strikingness of expression merely does not constitute vakrokti; the aesthetic enjoyment derived from perusal of a composition is also equally important. Thus, one finds the wide domain of vakrokti encompassing both linguistic and extra-linguistic features of a composition. The linguistic category includes phonetic, lexical, grammatical, and sentential deviations whereas the extra linguistic category includes the variations in the context or entire composition.7 Therefore, in a way one finds vakrokti closer to and associated with the western critics' concept of wit.
The theory of auchitya (propriety), 8 propounded by Ksemendra (11th Century), has a closer affinity with the modern concept of wit. According to this theory, the propriety or the impropriety of something is determined by the context and not by a set of rules. Something that is proper at one place becomes improper at another. Thus, in all the parts of a composition, from phoneme to entire work, the rule of propriety is to be strictly observed. The figures of speech, if improperly used, may lead to distortion and disfigurements. Similarly, the contemporary or the modern concept of wit uses the depiction of incongruities, but even the incongruities are selected in an appropriate manner, abiding by the theory of auchitya.
The poems of Maha Nand Sharma and I.K.Sharma, are rich in the usage of wit. Wit helps them achieve wonderful intensity, complexity, and resonance, either via depiction of imagery, tone, rhythm, setting, exposure of culture and society, dialogue, or form. Both of them create unfamiliar connections between words and ideas in a manner often surprising and amusing. The unique feature that one finds in their poetry is that the surprise is not always stunning, nor is the humour hilarious.
To get a better understanding of the poetic wit used by the two poets, the conventional descriptions of 'wit' may be extended, refreshed, and qualified. Their poetic wit is distinguished by brevity, eloquence, and surprise. It favours incongruous congruity and fosters pleasurable psychological effects in its sense of 'amusement'. It also plays a role in the formulation, transmission, and conservation of their cultural wisdom.
Now let us view a few poems of Maha Nand Sharma and I.K.Sharma in terms of their unique style, which uses 'wit' for poetic communication.
First "The Telling Silence" by Maha Nand Sharma:
Though speaking not one word, the girl
With radiant smiles beamed.
Her playful eyes, her lustrous curls
With a thrilling life teemed.
She, with her telling silence, was
A poem of loveliness.
To me, her silence lent, alas!,
A poet's restlessness. 9
The speaker introduces a girl who did not speak a word to him but made him restless by her gestures. The 'speech' mentioned in the first stanza of the poem is made by the girl's bodily gestures, i.e., her 'radiant smiles', 'playful eyes', and 'lustrous curls' make up "a thrilling life". The use of the phrases such as 'radiant smiles', 'playful eyes', and 'lustrous curls' display poetic wit. These phrases can be clubbed under the 'shringara rasa' of Indian Poetics. The shringara rasa evokes the feeling of love in the heart of the reader. In the second stanza of the poem, the poet displays wit with the use of the very communicative 'telling silence' juxtaposed with the "poet's restlessness." The humorously or (even ironically) loaded "a poem of loveliness" provides a subtle and witty contrast to "a poet's restlessness." The entire poem turns out to be an image of wit.
In the poem "To a Professor Guide," Maha Nand Sharma infuses wit in the first two lines of the poem where he uses killing of 'blooming roses' and clearing of 'paper roses' with a deep connotation. He reflects on the prevailing academic corruption in universities in the name of research intellectual pursuit:
How many blooming roses have you killed?
How many paper roses have you passed
As genuine ones? How many hearts you chilled
with academic thefts so mean, so crass? 10
the 'blooming roses' is used for genuine research thesis which were produced after a strenuous research work. The poet draws a fine parallelism between a blooming rose and a thesis produced after sheer hard work on the basis that as a blooming rose is destined to spread its fragrance, an authentic research work would definitely spread knowledge all around. Similarly, in the second line of the stanza, the poet uses 'paper roses' for the unauthentic research dissertations or thesis' which do not have anything to contribute to the academic world. One also finds a display of witty irony in the use of the phrase 'hearts you chilled'; 'chilled' denoting the great shock or surprise caused by plagiarism.
One again finds in the third stanza of the poem a reflection on corrupt intentions/ practices of academicians:
How many lovely fish by you were netted
With baits of Ph.D. and high degrees?
How many pampered dogs you instigated
To bite your shining 'friends' with jealous glee? 11
The use of the phrase 'lovely fish' is connotative and it also suggests multiple meaning in the same given context. The phrase 'lovely fish' appears a translation, or equivalent of the regional idiomatic expression of the poet's mother tongue to mean 'research students' trapped in their net. The phrase denotes the number of people whom the professors have exploited physically, mentally, and economically on the account of awarding them high research degrees. As the poet uses the word 'lovely' to modify the word 'fish', the phrase may also connote to the female research scholars who were selected by the corrupt professors for making their time pleasurable. Again, the use of the phrase 'baits of Ph.D.' in the second line of the stanza also reflects wit. The use of the word 'bait' highlights the corrupt intentions of the professors as 'bait' is a tool used for clever enticement of any prey. The stanza displays a witty humour when the poet suggests that the Ph.D.'s and other high degrees are used as a bait by the senior faculties of the universities to lure the students, to make profit through corrupt means. In the third line of the stanza too, 'pampered dogs,' is used to connote the closely associated pupils, or academicians who criticise the other persons only for the sake of pleasing their master. In the last line of the stanza, the use of the word 'shining' to modify 'friends' is witty. Here, the word 'shining' connotes 'gaining fame and popularity,' and the word 'friends' connotes the arch rivals or colleagues. One finds that the wit reflected in the stanza is responsible for the evolution of humour as well as gentle satire, with a moral intent.
In the poem "Encashment," the poet talks about the attitude of people in our time. He uses wit remarkably well to create humour in the poem. The poet is also successful in creating a gentle satire by mocking at materialistic attitude of the people around. In the first stanza, he deals with 'encashment' of leave at the end of one's service, "We did not use our leave; therefore / We'll get our leave encashed." 12 Ironically, in the similar vein, playing on the word 'encash,' he makes the clerks (babus) display their intention of getting their 'fairness' also encashed by means of a reward for their labour of calculating 'fairly' the leaves. In the second stanza, the poet projects a political leader encashing his image through his followers', "money-grabbing rash." In the third stanza,
The freedom-fighters say, "We will
Our struggle get encashed,"
While nation, bleeding fast, is chilled
To penury sin-enmeshed. 13
the freedom fighters want to encash their struggle for the sake of the motherland by demanding pension (or such reward) as freedom fighters. They are blind to the tough situation in which the country is enmeshed. The last line of the stanza, 'To penury sin-enmeshed' is very witty as the poet depicts that the country has lost all its riches due to the materialistic and corrupt attitude of leaders, bureaucrats, government employees, and others. The phrase 'sin-enmeshed' is a loaded expression, which suggests that the politicians have created all sorts of complications by their sins. It is these sins that have caused penury to the country. The poet is so disappointed that he says:
When invaluable traits of soul
Are bartered for such trash,
Why not this greedy nation whole
May grope in the dark and crash? 14
In the poem "To My Old Self", Maha Nand Sharma draws a similarity between the griefs and hopes of an old person with the variegated hues of a fine mosaic:
O! fret not, fool, your griefs and hopes which prod
Are variegated hues of a fine mosaic 15
His fool smacks of Shakespearean fool, who may be self-depreciating but is intelligent. The poet draws a parallelism between a mosaic and life to suggest that life is a whole with multitude of shades; hope and grief being one of them. Such a display of pregnant thoughts with rich imagery is thoughtful, and thus witty.
In sum, it can be confidently stated that Maha Nand Sharma's poetic communication is characterised with humour, irony, and satire. The use of wit is such that it juxtaposes dissimilar ideas for some lively purpose, either assimilation or contrast, generally of both. The style in which Maha Nand Sharma uses wit affirms that juxtapositions of culturally ordered dissimilarities ought to cause nothing of more consequence than a moment of amusement. He overcomes the conventional, staid, and simplistic definition of wit. He uses wit not only as a verbal joust but as a strategy for interpreting the complexities of the world. Through the medium of wit, Maha Nand Sharma integrates thinking about the seriousness, the worries, and challenges of life. It can be inferred that Maha Nand Sharma displays the use of wit more through his ideas and for the purpose moulds the language accordingly.
An analysis of a few poems by I.K.Sharma would bring to forefront the different ways in which two different poets use the same tool for the same purpose, i.e., poetic communication. I.K.Sharma as a poet is a very subtle user of wit. He displays wit more at the level of language than at the depiction of incongruous situations and complexities of life.
The poem "If I Die Tonight" by I.K.Sharma is a very lively example of depiction of wit in creating a situation that is amusing, and the depiction is a result of 'poetic imagination'. In the poem, the persona thinks of and narrates the incidents that would follow his immediate death. One finds that wit is injected into the poem by the subject of one's response to someone dead:
If I die tonight
messages 'll come from far and wide
unearthing virtues not smelt so far
will pile high to the sky above.
Faces folded in grief
will drift into the widow'd house
where my body lie cold an' bare,
and join me in my last journey
-- a procession of specks to the eternal house-
lead me to its final end.
Once pyre on fire, the work is done,
subjects scatter on surrounding sands,
matter living burns with matter dead,
upkicking flames mock glorious trends.
The runaway rise in prices, petrol,
grade running, permit, control,
all hike high with hungry flames
to oracle, miracle, poll debacle.
Oh, that's over,
let's honour the dead:
give him the sweet parting kiss-
fuel his last fainting fire.
All memories of sweet days so cheaply dusted!
Splinters beyond translation
then ply on the walking lips:
'he was a good soul',
'invoked poor poetry', 'is no more',
(let's rush to our lowing hearts'
'waiting for tea at four o'clock.)
'He had wit', 'wasn't a bore',
'help his family', 'pray for his soul'. 16
In the poem, the poet presents the kind of conversation people indulge in while attending the last rites of a dead body. The persona in the first stanza mocks the attitude of people who have a tendency of praising or heaping laurels on a person who has died immediately. The phrase 'unearthing virtues not smelt so far' infuses wit in the stanza and the succeeding line, 'will pile high to the sky above', evokes humour. The use of the words 'unearthing' and 'smelt' reflects wit in the given phrase. The persona wants to suggest that no one gives credit to the qualities of a person when he is alive, but they praise him to the sky high, once he is dead. The people around go to such an extent that they bestow the dead person even with those qualities which he never possessed.
The second line of the next stanza displays wit. The use of the word 'drift' for human movement conveys that the people participating in the funeral procession have no personal interest in doing so. They have only gathered there to get their presence counted. In the same line, the use of the phrase 'widow'd house' for the house in which the persona used to live, also reflects wit. The phrase 'widow'd house' conveys the deep attachment or association between the persona and his house. The word 'widow'd' itself suggests the bonding to be as close as that between a husband and wife. After the death of the persona, the house would lack the care and attention that was bestowed on her, and therefore her condition would be similar to that of a widow. In the fifth line of the stanza, the poet uses the word 'specks' for all the people moving towards the cremation ground. The use of the word 'specks' reflects wit, as the word literally means 'pieces of dust' and in the poem, it has a connotation that human beings rise from dust and their final abode is dust. Again in the same line, the use of the phrase 'eternal house' for a cremation ground suggests that a person's permanent house is not in this world but in the world beyond this.
The first line of the third stanza with the rhyming words 'pyre' and 'fire', which indicates a very close association between them, again reflects wit. The persona narrates that once the pyre is surrendered to fire, the people gathered around whose faces were folded with grief, start discussing all the worldly affairs among themselves. The use of the phrase, 'subjects scatter on surrounding sands', to show or mark the beginning of talks is remarkably witty. In the third line of the stanza, 'matter living burns with matter dead', the poet creates a pun on the word 'burn'. The word 'burn' has two different meanings for 'matter living' and 'matter dead'; it connotes 'giving birth to' for matters living, i.e., the worldly affairs; whereas, 'ending the last remains' for the matters dead, i.e., no more a worldly thing. Again, the last line of the stanza sparkles with wit as it has a deep connotational meaning which suggests that when human being are alive, they secrete a number of desires, urges, dreams, and ambitions which keep on shooting up from time to time. There is no point at which a person feels content and satisfied with his achievements, and stops striving for more. The parallelism drawn between the shooting desires and upkicking flames is remarkably witty. The sentence also connotes that whatever may be the achievements of a person; he is destined to end his journey on a funeral pyre where the upkicking flames would sing the saga of his achievements.
The word 'Oh' at the beginning of the first line of the fifth stanza displays wit, as it indicates that the people around were so engrossed in their talks and gossips that they even did not care to pay any attention to the burning pyre. They realise it at once that the dead body has burnt. This attitude of the people is both casual and ironical. The fourth line, 'fuel his last fainting fire,' also reflects wit as it is mentioned as a sort of parting kiss for the dead.
Then again in the phrase, 'ply on the walking lips,' the use of the word 'walking' as a modifier to 'lips' infuses wit into the stanza as it suggests that the opinions uttered by the mourners are only made for the sake of formality to maintain the decorum of the occasion, and it does not represent any emotion.
In the poem "The Leader," the poet displays a subtle use of wit in the first two lines of the poem, and again in the last line of the poem:
He gave them a loud call
like a cock in a lane
announced on the air:
dawn is not far-off.
The early risers followed him
stumbled, and found:
he walks with his back towards them
hides the rising sun. 17
The use of simile in the second line to draw a comparison between a political leader (human-being) and a cock (bird) because of their call displays wit. As a 'cock' is the first creature, which announces the morning, a political leader takes pride in addressing a congregation and assures that he is a special being who is destined to bring all good things to their lives. In the second stanza, the wit emerges from the depiction of the situation itself in which lies an incongruity between what is expected by the general masses, and what the actuality is. The followers blindly follow their leader expecting that he is leading them on the right path and would help them in achieving their goals. But, the fact is in total juxtaposition with the expectations of the people. In actuality, the leader is misleading the people to attain his personal base motives. Such a depiction arouses pity in the heart of the reader for the followers and anger for the leader.
One may finally conclude that the poems of I.K.Sharma sparkle with wit and the style of using wit varies from one poem to the other. He uses wit more at the level of language, i.e., in the word play, than in the depiction of ideas and thoughts. The selection and the placement of the words evoke wit and humour in his poems and the context plays a helping role. The use of wit in his poetry resembles the style in which the poets of the 18th century used wit. The use of wit is so subtle that it makes the poems deceptive.
When one makes a comparative study between Maha Nand Sharma and I.K.Sharma on the basis of the use of wit in their poetry, one finds that both the poets overthrow the impositions laid down by the conventional descriptions of poetic wit. A thorough examination and analysis of their poems confirms that wit can also be displayed in poetry through other mediums and not only via the subtleness of expression. The poetic wit displayed by both the poets achieves wonderful chroma, complexity, and sonority in the depiction of thoughts, imagery, tone, rhythm, setting, dialogue, and exposure of culture and society. The fact cannot be denied that each poem of the two poets, no matter how obliquely, communicates an idea or argument. Maha Nand Sharma uses wit to develop and depict his thoughts and ideas, evoke images, inform and instruct, generate satire, and develop the whole context of the poem. On the other hand, I.K.Sharma uses wit only as a tool to create amusement, through the generation of humour, irony, or surprise.
Finally, it may be concluded that the two poets have their own individual style, which is unique in itself, with use of wit as a tool to communicate meaningfully. It is the exercise of the poetic wit that allows the poets to create the extraordinary. They use language in such a way that it overcomes the inadequacy of language to communicate their experiences, and even poignant feelings. Both the poets infuse language with 'wit' to make it a perfect vehicle for poetic communication.
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