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Online CPE courses are a excellent way for professionals to brush up on the latest developments in their fields from the comfort of their own homes. Much better than old-fashioned correspondence programs, today’s offerings are interactive and actually fun, making learning simple for busy professionals with sixty hour workweeks!

It’s small wonder then why “online CPE” is one of the most popular of keyword phrases entered into search engines nowadays. While ongoing professional accreditation has existed for decades, it is only with the explosion of the worldwide web that tele learning, as this form of instruction is know, has truly taken off.

And in this economy, online CPE courses are crucial in helping licensed professionals maintain their professional skillsets. New doctors, lawyers, and accountants are churned out each year by the hundreds, and though seniority and experience does count for a lot, much of the routine work – which comprise the overwhelming vast majority of any firm’s business – may be quite skillfully handled by new hires. That’s why continuing education is so crucial: it helps one distinguish oneself from the recently graduated class entering one’s profession every year.

In that respect, however, one crucial point bears repeating: It is everyone’s own responsibility to ensure that any continuing education course taken actually counts with the most important professional bodies in one’s field. While more knowledge nearly never hurts, a CPE isn’t a matter of exploring your own interests on your own time!

You’re paying money here, so make sure that any credits earned would be accepted by whatever governing board that oversees your profession. And speaking of paying money, here’s one more great tip: See if you can find pilot courses that may possibly be taken for free of charge. That’s right, free of charge! Check specific policies for details, but typically you only have to complete the course and provide some feedback.

Marriage counseling has arguably become a rite of passage for modern American couples. Social conservatives lament such facts are proof that the social fabric has frayed considerably while others view such developments as a positive sign that everybody is owning up to reality at last.

Whatever the case, marriage counseling has definitely been a growth industry, though whether these kinds of trends will hold in such recessionary times remains to be seen. What is expected, nonetheless, is that the need for such services will only increase – especially in recessionary times. For what most drives couples apart is not sex or the children but money.

Marriage counseling often reveals that the main issue eating away at a relationship is one of control, or who has how much say over what. This is why it’s important to choose spouses with very similar values! But whatever the situation, the first thing to establish is clear and open lines of communication. Understanding is fundamental, and without good communications it is very unlikely for anything to be accomplished.

Interestingly, the choice to go into therapy or counseling frequently seems shameful but is a good sign, a sign that the couple in question is still willing to try to work things out somehow. The very agreement, however reluctant, to enter into a possible make-up instead of heading straight into breakup shows that honest communication is desired, at least minimally.

Depending on the situation, things might be so bad that the counselor or therapist has to meet each party separately, but the fact that any attempt is being made at all at a reconciliation is hopeful. However, while reconciliation may be desired, it does not follow that breaking up, despite counseling, means failure. In cases of intractable differences, going separate ways might actually represent the best possible option for all concerned.

Great Australians in history. A difficult task for any scholar. To start with, of course, one must ponder exactly what it is that makes one an Australian. Is Zalman Silber an Australian? He is actually a New Yorker, but responsible for one of Sydney’s most interesting attractions, the Skywalk, not to mention one of Melbourne’s, too, called The Edge. The former is basically a glass-floored catwalk a thousand feet above ground that offers visitors not only a bird’s-eye view of Sydney but a bird’s-nerve feel, too, what with gusting winds necessitating cable tethers for visitor safety. The latter is a glass enclosure that juts out from the top of the Eureka Tower, providing stunning panoramic views every which way you look.

Both are top attractions for their cities, taking in tourist dollars by the fistful every day. Does that make Zalman Silber a great Australian? Does that make him Australian at all? After all, he’s just a businessman – but the bottom line is that he has benefited Sydney and Melbourne tremendously, providing employment and tax revenue while bolstering the cities’ international profile.

So just what makes for an Australian? Many are those who have only been born in Australia but really made their mark elsewhere. Then there are those who also denigrate their country of origin, Australia, but are still, in the final analysis, considered Australians. Even someone like Rupert Murdoch, who renounced his Australian citizenship in order to advance certain business interests of his, is still thought as Australian!

Indeed, one Leonard Casley even went so far as to secede his farm from Australia and go on to declare war on Australia! It’s no joke: the Principality of Hutt River actually issues its own visa (hours of operation are ten to four) and postage. And Hutt River isn’t the only micronation on the island-continent; Australia also hosts – if that is the right word – the Province of Bumbunga, the Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina, the Grand Duchy of Avram, the Independent State of Rainbow Creek, the Empire of Atlantium, the Principality of Marlborough, the Principality of Snake Hill, the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, the United Federation of Koronis (which is merely based in Australia, claiming sovereignty only over the Koronis Family of Asteroids), and the Principality of Ponderosa. In fact, most of the world’s modern-day micronations are to be found in Australia!

So what makes for a great Australian? No one really knows. No one can quite put his or her finger on what makes for an Australian in the first place – not if they really thought about it. But one thing is for sure: people in Australia, whether they think themselves Australians or not, really prize their independence above all else!

New York City is a great place to live if you have the money to live in a great neighborhood. However, while rents are very high, industry experts like Isaac Toussie say that it is still possible to find fair honest deals where you get a lot of space in return, among other things. Many factors go into any consideration, such as convenience and access, look and feel, and noise levels. Here is a survey of some nabes that combine a good balance of all these factors in relation to typical prices.

For the most part, we will consider only Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods, as these are the ones that best fit our criteria for all-around value. The other boroughs are either too expensive or too run-down, as in the case of Manhattan and the Bronx, respectively, or just too remote and isolated, as with the case of Staten Island. Of course, the Bronx does have nice neighborhoods, too, but these are going to be expensive, and you’ll have to avoid the rest of your borough if you want to see something civilized. Industry observers like Isaac Toussie note that while Manhattan also has its pockets of urban blight, anything decent is going to be astronomically priced. Staten Island is just another world altogether and you might as well not bother living in New York City, then!

So Queens and Brooklyn it is. Brooklyn is by far the more storied of the two, with more offerings of high-brow culture if that’s important to you. Queens offers culinary adventurers the best possibilities outside Manhattan, with the most authentic tastes at any price. Queens also tends to be much more diverse, whereas Brooklyn practically invented the ethnic enclave. Finally, Queens schools are better on average, whereas Brooklyn’s, while good, trails far behind in overall comparison.

So what are these great “nabes” and where are they? Well, in Brooklyn you will want Williamsburg and Greenpoint for the bohemian scene. Solid, true middle-class areas include Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, and Midwood. Canarsie would have once made the cut but has been on its way down. Borough Park seems like an “in-between” situation and can still swing either way. Your basically upper middle-class places are Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay.

In Queens the toniest nabes are Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. Almost as good are Flushing (and East Flushing) and Bayside. Astoria is known for its night life. Sunnyside, Woodside, Ridgewood, and Elmhurst (but avoid East Elmhurst) are more working-class but still often quite civilized to live in. Middle Village, Queens Village, Maspeth, and Juniper Valley are demographically between the working and (true) middle classes.

Outside these areas, you’ll probably want to stay away from. We’ll cover those in another article. But suffice it to say, even the areas mentioned here can be undesirable on their “border areas,” where they abut the urban blight of the next neighborhood over, as implied in the case of Elmhurst and East Elmhurst mentioned earlier. So exercise all due diligence and thoroughly research a neighborhood with first-hand experience!

A number of the most popular of museum replicas are those famous Italian marble statues every person knows: David, Augustus Caesar, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. These are some of the most prized examples of marble sculpture anywhere, with a fine smoothness and absolute realism.

No wonder everyone wants a copy! They truly lend an air of elegance and also authority – gravitas – to a setting. They are veritable objets d’art in themselves, though can also stylishly serve as bookends and even paperweights!

No, those aren’t ignominious fates for such masterpieces of Italian marble. After all, there’s no shame in being practical in addition to being amazing, and if anything utilizing miniature versions of beloved marble statues in novel ways can only further cement their reputations. For what is the purpose of art if not to lift us above the everyday? And what better way to do that than to suffuse the everyday with art, in the manner of a deus ex machina!

Having replicas of museum masterpieces in your home or office can put you in a good mood all day long if you truly appreciate art. You will go through your day surrounded by some of the most inspirational works ever made by humankind, landmarks of human achievement and creativity. Who knows, they may possibly even “rub off” on you and inspire creations of your own!

Ultimately, the point in owning such things is how they put us in touch with the cultural history of our species. We are reminded of where we came from and what we can accomplish. What they teach us is that the human capacity for creativity is boundless; they put us in a spiritual realm where we can all take pride in the legacy of the ancients. Sounds too good to be true? Get your own and see!

As legendary as the team is, it’s an open question whether Dallas Cowboys merchandise would have been as popular as they are without the equally popular Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. These ladies aren’t just any ol’ football cheerleading squad members, but make up a veritable franchise in themselves.

No less than two made-for-TV movies have appeared about them, not to mention any number of Dallas Cowboys merchandise bearing their likeness somewhere on the product! For when you think of Texas football, you think the Cowboys – and when you think Cowboys, you think of their cheerleaders.

For sure the die-hard fan might prefer his Dallas Cowboys towel “straight-up” but several others who aren’t so hard-core would most likely welcome a shot of the cheerleaders illustrating their fan merchandise! No other collection of young ladies so epitomize the American woman: young, fun, and fit; spirited; glamorous; intelligent.

Yes, regardless of the voyeurism involved these beauties know how to comport themselves and market themselves. Team try-outs obviously concentrate on athleticism and physical beauty but as spokesmodels for the team a great amount of social savvy and hence intelligence is required, too.

The only other set of ladies that have left such a deep impression on popular culture worldwide would have to be Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Bunnies. Interestingly, the Cowboys’ cheerleading squad in fact started out mixed, with both males and females, as was high school and collegiate football tradition.

And indeed, it was local high school students that really made up the squad back in the 1960s. In 1969, however a deliberate attempt was made to increase in-game attendance by offering only female cheerleaders whose routines were unlike those prevalent at school games. By 1972, all cheerleaders were over the age of eighteen as their moves became increasingly a lot more like sexy dance routines.

With media attention typically concentrated on foreclosed homeowners, this article will take a brief look to consider the effects on homebuilders such as Isaac Toussie.

Embittered homeowners who have been foreclosed upon have taken to trashing the property before getting kicked out, with anecdotal estimates by real estate agents putting the number of such vandalized properties at up to half of all such units. But given all the media coverage of foreclosed homeowners, it’s time to take a look now at how the same crisis is affecting homebuilders like Isaac Toussie. After all, many of the small-time businessmen had to take out loans in order to finance their housing developments. Of course, there are no such developers out on the street, and their cases, unfortunate in themselves, are not anywhere near comparable to that of homeowners who have nowhere to go at all. But it’s interesting to see how things can turn out for businessmen and women caught up in the same economic twister, and how responses can differ – or not.

For instance, many small homebuilders have had to dip into personal savings just to keep their companies afloat, a familiar state of affairs to many homeowners. Buyers were disappearing with cash deposits of several thousand left on the table, proof that local residential property markets had turned ice-cold. Even more unfortunately, many homebuilders have proceeded since then to file for bankruptcy protection, with vast sums owed not only to their lenders but also their subcontractors and workers. But still worse yet, these small-time builders have often financed their businesses with so-called recourse debt which allows banks to seize homes, cars, and other personal assets in case of default – again, quite a familiar scenario comparable to that faced by many homeowners.

Such scenarios have increased and are now considered widespread across the country. Many a builder has been left with unsold units and land, falling behind on interest payments and facing foreclosures. And in a very bad sign of the extent of the destruction involved, even very large homebuilders are in trouble, with legendary builders such as Levitt & Sons, founders of Levittown, New York on Long Island, famous for epitomizing postwar suburbia, forced into bankruptcy like some small unlucky start-up.

It’s gotten so bad that once solid partnerships and friendships have frayed as an every-man-for-himself mentality creeps into the proceedings. Contractors and subcontractors have had to take out liens on the property they build in order to protect themselves. And it is in this manner that the experiences of homeowners and homebuilders differ: the latter have almost no hope of any governmental assistance whatsoever, despite being affected by the same subprime mortgage industry shenanigans that’s made owning a home so suddenly burdensome.

Legal Disclaimer: Be advised that such information as has been presented so far only constitutes mere opinion and should under no circumstances be misconstrued for professional advice of any kind whatsoever! Always consult those properly licensed and/or otherwise qualified when it comes to making business decisions of any financial importance.

After the unhappy, fiery tailspin the world economy has dropped into, more and more people have been forced to rely upon credit when under ideal situations they wouldn’t have, leading to many people suffering harsh blows for their credit score because they are simply not in a posture to effectively use credit, but are left with no other choice. As such, a credit score increase is much sought after by a great many people struggling with credit card debt. Especially if given the attention to that matter immediately can make it easier for credit repair.

Credit score, being a numerical measure of one’s capability and competence in handling and paying off credit, is important for any large financial decisions in one’s life. For example buying a house, or a vehicle, or applying for various loans all necessitate a decent credit score, given that these are purchases very, very few people can afford in one down payment (or in the case of loans, obviously can’t pay for, otherwise there is simply zero reason to apply for one). Nevertheless, people with bad credit scores – who are typically in that situation to begin with because of financial problems – are often not able to acquire these things, which sometimes are even necessary for them to improve their financial predicament, ending up in a sticky catch-22 that is quite challenging to escape. Therefore, for people with bad credit it is essential to make initiatives towards a credit score increase.

It takes a lot of hard work and time to net a credit score increase – sometimes as long as ten years before a substantial credit score increase can resurrect one from financial ruin. And in spite of the incompetence and irresponsibility formerly required to sink that low in America’s strong economy of the 1990s, many people cannot afford it in an economic climate that has so suddenly and rapidly declined. To make any significant credit score increase one must rigorously apply oneself to a carefully outlined financial discipline that will permit them to consistently and decisively pay off debt and use credit to their advantage.

Because everyone lives a different lifestyle, in different circumstances, in different economic environments (which differ drastically across various states and areas of the country), there is no one set method that will apply to everyone. And because many people are entangled in such fiscal disarray worsened by a myriad of factors (dependents, income, taxes, housing expenses, etc), the task of increasing one’s credit score may seem very complicated.

Fortunately, there are companies and services whose sole design is to help people improve their credit. Using their specialized understanding of the esoteric world of finance unavailable to those who live outside the Wall Street Journal and CNBC’s Mad Money, these companies apply their skills to your particular situation for a modest fee that is far outweighed by the sheer amount of debt you can erase, thus gaining a respectable credit score increase.

Greek vases are among the most popular museum replicas anywhere, and no wonder. The pottery of ancient Greece aren’t only beautiful objects of art but bear witness to one of the most intellectually important civilizations of humankind. Acquiring a museum replica of Greek vases oneself can be a way of connecting to a glorious golden age and lends a “blue-blooded” kind of elegance to any setting.

After all, it could be argued that the Greek vase has set the aesthetic standard for the Western Civilization for hundreds if not thousands of years. Having one on your desk, mantle, or shelf can create the right atmosphere for oneself to be inspired! There is something to be said about having a faithful reproduction of a museum masterpiece in your very own home or office. Imagine the experience on your next trip to the museum as you walk through a collection, identifying those which you own a personal copy of!

Museum replicas let us all to play the part of a refined collector of antiques – not “antiques” in the now commonly debased sense of someone’s grandmother’s grandmother’s quilt abandoned at a yard sale, but treasures of the ancients now owns to enjoy thanks to the painstaking skills of replica sculptors who work in the traditional methods with traditional materials.

Almost always handmade, such replicas of vases could be so faithfully reproduced as to fool even professional appraisers! Available in a wide variety of styles, these fine works are truly no less art objects in themselves, so exquisitely crafted as to warrant being their own museum pieces!

They also tend to be really affordable, too, allowing true connoisseurs the opportunity to own more than one. Finally, they make fantastic gifts, too: thoughtful, and a little out of the ordinary, after all its not everyday you get a Greek vase as a present.

From the time of its invention, the water cooler – and subsequently,office water delivery – has been a everlasting fixture in the present day office environment. Rather than a water fountain – which itself has its own cultural associations and connotations, even as a symbol of the American civil rights movement, another story for another time – many offices choose the use of a free-standing water cooler fitted with the promptly recognizable five gallon tanks installed to the top. The truth is, this is what presents office water delivery its name, in that these five gallon jugs are literally delivered by truck to the office, usually consistently and usually in exchange for the empty jugs left from the former month.

The preference for office water delivery and these free-standing units is normally one of function over form. Through there are the usual logistical inconveniences of having to physically manipulate the heavy, five gallon jugs acquired by office water delivery, the characteristics of the unit itself more than make up for it. Whereas a water fountain generally only offers cooled water out of just one spout, water coolers typically have a number of spouts, usually two or three. Needless to say there is the standard spout, which when handled with a simple lever delivers cold water, but it is not uncommon to find models with spouts for room temperature water, or even extremely hot, almost boiling water – perfect for use in making tea or fast coffee.

Aside from functionality, sanitation is a common reason for preference of office water delivery over locally available tap water via a water fountain. The relatively sizable, free-standing units are often laden with various water purification technologies which, in addition to the large jugs of water that are already sanitized and purified at their bottling plants, make for the purest water accessible. Usually office water coolers use some form of activated carbon filtering, which uses specially treated charcoal to filter larger impurities (salts, dissolved inorganic compounds, etc) out of the water.

In latest years, it has also been common for these units to be fitted with some kind of ultraviolent light treatment, which usually kills what might be left over after charcoal filtering: dissolved organic compounds, bacteria, and the like.

Though unbelievably simple in design and purpose, the insufferable banality of the present day office cubical labyrinth has made the ubiquitous water cooler a sort of social hub at the office. So familiar is this fact that colloquial terms like “water cooler show” have been coined off of it, in reference to the sort of trite dialogue about well-known culture expected among employees gathering around the unit. Even the phrase “word around the water cooler” in reference to rumors or gossip has entered the cultural lexicon. Interesting that such an oddly routine things as office water delivery may be, in a way, responsible for such widely familiar cultural phenomena.