Nike Dunk Sb – Can You Gauge it Really?

 

The world of Nike Dunk SB is an ocean of infinite number of models, re-releases and custom SB Dunks, and not to mention the counterfeits. There are several SB Dunk sneakers, which strangely don’t have nicknames against the famous tradition wherein either the company or the fans name a release. And there are releases like this one that is presumed to be a tribute to the legendary Embarcadero, San Francisco. Secondly, Nike Dunk SB is amongst the hugely popular shoes by Nike apart from being interesting considering how it is planned, designed and marketed. Holding onto its market share is all that necessary for the company like what it did to Nike Air Jordans earlier.

The funny part of the story is that the popularity of Nike Dunk SB is also measured by the number of times a particular model is counterfeited. This is only matched by the other hugely successful Nike Air Jordans in the past. This is how it is justified; Nike releases both Nike Air Jordans and Nike Dunk SB just once in a year arguably to retain its market’s worth, a fact that invites trouble.

Well, Nike Dunk SB also dictates rather simplistic crazes. Nicknames, the degree to which a model is customized, when and whereabouts of releases etc matter really highly for the diehard sneaker junkies. In a way it helps sneakerheads to passionately identify themselves with models besides aiding them distinguish between genuine releases and counterfeits easily.

No questions about the quality of materials of construction with genuine Nike Dunk SB models. The unmatched premium leather, laces, inner and out soles etc make them hard to copy. It isn’t easy to replicate the looks and feel of ostrich leather unless using the same materials for construction and processes. Check whether SB Dunk hemp featuring hemp uppers and swoosh in Forrest Green is possible to copy successfully. In addition, many of these designs are also inspired by Nike Air Jordans, which in the end beats the purpose for counterfeiters.

To make matters worse, some SB Dunks are released in Hawaii before releasing in US. This is a made-to-order situation for counterfeiters who see a chance to stealthily ship the clones into America. Some designs like Nike Dunk SB Blazer are brought to USA after releasing in Europe. Good marketing strategy? May be yes on the part of Nike but not really a good news for collectors of genuine pieces.

I am also sickened by the fanatical sneakerheads that waste their monies buying every release, no matter whether they ever wear it. If you don’t get one, you can always customize an old piece from your collection later that transforms its looks while it still remains original.

In the end, irrespective of where Nike Dunk SB stands, influential line of marketing proves to be a soap bubble leading to consolidation of consumer sentiments. This may backfire even with regards to faith in open referrals. Some of them may also fall for hype that surrounds the brand.

Secure Document Destruction – Times Have Really Changed

Do you remember the story about the panhandler in San Francisco that earned over $100,000 annually? Each morning he would drive his Porsche into the city, change into his bum clothes and go to work begging. Then at the end of each day he would drive back to his beautiful home in the suburbs. Its not an urban myth, because it’s all true.

Believe it or Not it’s True

Now heres another one for you. Believe it or not there are people that make a good living digging through dumpsters for personal information. What type of personal information and how is it used? Believe it or not, information as basic as a name and a matching social security number is valuable.

They Need Your Name and Social Security Number

In fact, in every large city where desperate illegal immigrants gather in the hopes of finding day labor, you will find names and matching social security numbers being sold and traded. Why? It’s quite simple. With a name and matching social security number an undocumented worker can get a legitimate and better paying job that requires that a W-4 tax form be filled out.

It’s Time to Pay Your Income Taxes!!??

Will they pay taxes? Absolutely not! Because they would never be able to retrieve a dime, so they inevitably check the box for tax exempt. Of course, after a year of this the IRS eventually sends a notice that they want their tax money that they are due and guess who they send the notice to? Thats right! The person who the name and social security number belong to.

The Cheaper Alternative

This is why it is imperative that you take a good look at how you dispose of your documents and bear in mind that times have really changed. In fact, if you think that a simple lock on your dumpster is enough, you may be only fooling yourself. Stop and ask yourself, which is cheaper, paying someones income taxes for a year, or secure document destruction?

Palestine – Where Size Really Matters

False claims that Israel is 78% – not 17% – of historic Palestine whilst the West Bank and Gaza comprise the remaining 22% – not 5% – of historic Palestine have materially derailed efforts to resolve the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza.

These spurious claims have been repeatedly made on hundreds of Arab oriented web sites asserting that the Jews established the State of Israel on 78% of Palestine in the War of Independence in 1948 and subsequently conquered the remaining 22% – the West Bank and Gaza – in the Six Day War of 1967.

This has created the perception that Israel now occupies 100% of Palestine, the Arab residents of former Palestine have been deprived of a State of their own in Palestine, and that the only just solution to resolve Arab grievances is the creation of an Arab state in at least the 22% of Palestine captured by Israel in 1967.

This propaganda has been given credence on the web by such diverse and influential opinion makers as

(i) Editor at large of the Washington Times and United Press International Arnaud de Borchgrave,

(ii) Professor of Politics at San Francisco University Stephen Zunes,

(iii) South Africa’s Minister for Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils,

(iv) Journalist and filmmaker John Pilger,

(v) The BBC News Service,

(vi) French intellectual and journalist Professsor Jules Regis Debray and

(vii) Trenchant anti- Zionist critics Assistant Professor Norman Finkelstein, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and Jeff Halper.

John Pilger shows how his thinking has actually been influenced by such propaganda when he writes:

“Shortly after it was founded in 1948, Israel controlled, mostly as a result of a United Nations partition and partly by force, a total of 78 per cent of historic Palestine…During the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israelis occupied the remaining 22 per cent of Palestine. Today, the Palestinians, seeking to form their own independent state, want only that 22 per cent back.”

These are false and deceptive statements based on an incorrect understanding of the size of Palestine and the boundaries that defined Palestine in international law.

The reality is that Israel was founded on 17% of historic Palestine in 1948 – not 78% , and captured 5% of historic Palestine in 1967 – not 22%.

The Committee for Accurate Reporting of the Middle East in America (CAMERA) succinctly summarises this reality as follows:

“In fact, the original land of Palestine, as determined by the League of Nations, included what is now Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and the entire state of Jordan. The British transferred nearly 78% of historic Palestine to the Arabs to create a new entity called the Emirate of Transjordan. Jews were forbidden to live, buy land or become citizens there.”

The Emirate remained part of Palestine until 1946 when independence was granted by Great Britain with the consent of the League of Nations and it was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan,

That decision in 1946 created an independent Arab state in 78% of historic Palestine and truncated Palestine to just 22% of its original size.

In 1947 the United Nations recommended partitioning this remaining 22% of historic Palestine into a Jewish State (55%) and another Arab State (45%) . The Jews accepted the proposal but the Arabs refused. When the 1948 War ended, the State of Israel was created on 17% of historic Palestine whilst Egypt and Jordan occupied the remaining 5% – the West Bank and Gaza – until captured by Israel in 1967.

1948 Palestine therefore was only 22% of the size of 1946 Palestine. 78% of Palestine had already come totally under Arab control in 1946.

Arab propagandists deliberately ignore the events of 1946 to justify their claim that Israel now occupies 100% of Palestine. They are only telling 22% of the story – classic misinformation at its Goebbels’ best.

Article 2 of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Charter 1968 debunks and exposes these purveyors of half truths (or to be more accurate – 22% truths) by unequivocally declaring:

“Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate is an indivisible territorial unit”

For the PLO – the sole spokesman of the Palestinian Arabs – Jordan remains an inseparable part of Palestine notwithstanding the actions of Great Britain and the League of Nations in 1946.

Indeed the PLO’s stated position was reinforced at the 8th Palestinian National Council meeting in February-March 1971 which declared:

” Jordan is linked to Palestine by a national relationship and a national unity forged by history and culture from the earliest times. The creation of one political entity in Transjordan and another in Palestine would have no basis either in legality or as to the elements universally accepted as fundamental to a political entity. .. In raising the slogan of the liberation of Palestine and presenting the problem of the Palestine revolution, it was not the intention of the Palestine revolution to separate the east of the River from the West, nor did it believe the struggle of the Palestinian people can be separated from the struggle of the masses in Jordan…”

Despite these clear and unrevoked declarations by the PLO, whose current Chairman is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Quartet – Russia, America, the European Union and the United Nations – still remain foolishly fixated on creating an independent Arab State between Israel and Jordan on 5% of historic Palestine – thus separating the East Bank of the Jordan River from the West Bank and dividing the Arabs who live on each side of the Jordan River from one another.

As Israel’s then Defence Minister Yitzchak Rabin declared on 27 May 1985:

“The Palestinians should have a sovereign State which includes most of the Palestinians. It should be Jordan with a considerable part of the West Bank and Gaza. East of the river Jordan, there is enough room to settle the Palestinian refugees. One tiny State between Israel and Jordan will solve nothing. It will be a time bomb”

How right Mr Rabin was and how wrong the Quartet, the above opinion makers and their ilk are in pursuing an outcome based on propaganda and misinformation – not reality.

Size does matter when Palestine is discussed and the sooner the significance of this is recognized the sooner the resolution of sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza can occur.

Send Your Stress Away In San Jose? Yes, Really – Travel Information

Situated in the very south of the San Francisco Bay, San Jose is a beacon of technology, innovation and modern culture. With a population larger than that of neighboring San Francisco and one of the highest per family average incomes in the country, San Jose is the epicenter of Silicon Valley’s booming tech and dot-com business. Finding airfare to San Jose is also an excellent alternative for accessing the wonderful southern San Francisco Bay Area, including the beaches of Half Moon Bay, the wilderness of A

Is It Worth It To Move To San Francisco With All The Earthquakes? Is It Really Dangerous?

I live in FL now and I want to move to San Francisco to have more resources to study buddhism and live up the San Fran culture? Are the earthquakes bad enough to make me change my mind? Is it really dangerous to live in San Fran?

Is It Really That Expensive In San Francisco?

to begin with, i know san francisco is a pricey city to live in
however
a lot of people say that if you do not make over 150K a year then it is too expensive for you. now, everyone who lives there can not make that much! there has to be plenty of people that live in SF that make a lot less than that.
can someone take the time and possibly explain the price of san francisco and all the information, or opinions.
thank you

How High Did Home Prices Really Go

The U.S. Census Bureau released data on Tuesday that revealed where the nation’s hottest markets were during the past five years.

According to the report, median home values increased 32% from 2000 to 2005 on a national level. The survey looked at 7,000 markets with a population of 65,000 or more.

San Diego saw the highest price gains. The median home value after being adjusted for inflation increased by 127% from $249,000 to $567,000 in five years.

Of the 15 largest cities surveyed, Los Angeles came in second, with a median home-value increase of 110%. New York City came in third, with an increase of 79%.

Boynton Beach, Florida, was the top market among the 15 smallest cities surveyed. After inflation adjustments, the median home-value increased by 120%. Folsom, California, came in second where the home value increased by 100%, while Redondo Beach, California, saw a 92% gain and a third place ranking.

“Just about anyone who owns a home or has been in the market for one in the past few years knows first-hand how home values jumped from 2000 to 2005,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon in a written statement.

In addition to the value of the home rising, the monthly cost of owning a home also increased during the first half of this decade, according to the survey. The median monthly cost, which includes mortgage payment and other costs, saw a 5% increase after adjustments for inflation.

In Detroit, the cost increased by 24%. Chicago experienced a 22% increase, while San Francisco came in third among the largest cities with an increase of 20%.

Among the smallest cities, Bryan, Texas, and Greenville, N.C., saw cost decreases of 10%.

The cost of renting a home has also increased over the past five years. Nationally, the cost to rent has increased by 6.7%. San Diego saw the largest increase of 27%.

Real median rent cost decreased in a few large cities. San Jose saw a decrease of 9%, while Dallas saw a decrease of 3%.

How to Find Really Cheap Housing

So you want really cheap housing? Whether you are buying or renting, here are five ways to find a home that costs you less. Those are followed by a list of the real expenses you need to compare your options fairly.

If you can live where you like, you can start by looking at towns where houses or apartments cost less, and cut your housing costs by as much as half or more. For example, an apartment which rents for $500 in Tucson, Arizona might be $1,500 in New York or San Francisco. A house you would have to pay $400,000 for in California might be $120,000 in many other cities.

Once you know which city you’ll be living in, find the neighborhoods where prices or rents are lowest. If they aren’t clearly unsafe or otherwise undesirable, start your search here. Only move on if you can’t find what you need after carefully looking at what is for sale there.

Some types of housing are cheaper than others. Normally mobile homes on property are the cheapest options for buying or renting (although I have seen exceptions). Beyond that, the relative value of various types of houses can vary a lot in different cities. In some, classic old houses are valued more than new homes, while in other towns they’re seen for the trouble they are and priced lower. Start cheap and work your way up if you don’t find what you want.

There are often just plain good deals that can be found in any area or with any type of home. Putting a price on homes (or setting rents) isn’t an exact science, and some sellers won’t even use what decent tools are available for this, so keep your eyes open for an under-priced house. If you’re willing to deal with a fixer upper, this could mean paying $20,000 less to buy a home that needs just a couple thousand in repairs and deferred maintenance.

Also, you can always offer less than the asking price. Learn a few good negotiating tactics if you are going to be talking to the sellers yourself. Otherwise you can make a bunch of low offers to see if one of them is accepted by a seller. If your first ten are rejected without a counter-offer, though, you might need to adjust your sights.

How To Compare Housing Costs

Don’t make the mistake of thinking finding cheap housing is all about the lowest price or monthly rental charge. A house for $10,000 less may mean paying $60 to $90 less per month on the mortgage, but if it means driving 10 miles more to and from work, and your car costs 30-cents-per-mile to operate, that’s an extra $120 per month right there. Look at the following when comparing options:

- Loan costs. A higher interest rate on a small house may make the payments higher than those on a lower-interest owner-financed home which costs more. Consider the interest costs.

- Home owner insurance. Really cheap housing may not be so cheap if you have to pay more because of old heating systems or being in a flood or earthquake area.

- Taxes. A block or two can be dramatic in the cost of property taxes, depending on whether you are in or out of the city or township.

- Car expenses. It is not only your job, but also stores that can be further away if you are too far out of the city. Estimate your monthly car expenses based on the location and your habits.

- Gas, electric and other utilities. Your heating bill can be twice as high on a drafty old house versus a new energy-efficient one. Consider electricity, water, sewer and garbage collection expenses too.

- Repairs. Some homes are truly ready to live in without any work needed. Try to estimate the next three-year’s repairs and divide by 36 to get a monthly figure to compare.

- Other regular costs. Does the home, condo or apartment have association dues? How about special assessments, snow removal costs or lawn care expenses?

Write down any and all expenses for each home you consider, so you can meaningfully compare them. Estimate as closely as you can if no records are available, and find a monthly average total for each. In this way you can see which are really cheap housing options.

Work-At-Home Can You Really Make Money?

In these hard economic times, is it possible to make a living working-at-home on your computer? People across the US are dealing with the prospect of being out of a job and working from home is becoming more appealing every day. However, there are scams that are taking advantage of honest work-at-home prospects every day and are tarnishing the work-from-home industry.

It s the dream – work from home. Wake up in the morning, work a few hours from your laptop in the kitchen, than call it a day. However, you ve all heard the horror stories; scams where people were stuffing envelopes for $.01 per letter. Make millions of dollars with vending machines or ATMs. You’ve all seen them, get rich schemes that promise to make millions in real estate. Buy the house for $100K and flip it for $200K, right? While some people do make a decent living doing these jobs, the majority do not. If making millions of dollars was as easy as you see in a 2am infomercial, everyone would do it. So what are the viable options when it comes to working from home?

First, we recommend not quitting your day job. Start by doing a few work-at-home options to test an opportunity. Once you are making a decent income on the side, you then have the option to devote more time to your part-time work and make it a full time gig. That said, before moving to full time a work-at-home job; also consider things like health benefits, large fluctuations in your monthly income and self employment taxes – to name a few. These items will cost additional out-of-pocket expenses and time. If these opportunity costs are outweighed by the potential income, it’s time to take the leap.

When thinking about what you could do from home, first focus on your skill set. By leveraging the skills you already possess, you can find great opportunities that will allow you to continue doing what you enjoy (assuming you like what you do). As an example, if you enjoy writing, consider becoming a freelance writer or copy editor. A mechanic, work on cultivating your own client base. Lawyer, consult on the side for a fee for legal issues.

When considering a work-at-home job, do not forget to take your hobbies and interests into consideration. You may hate your day job; however enjoy taking photographs on the weekends. This skill could be leveraged into part-time wedding photography. How, you ask? Start by working with friends and family. Offer to be the main or secondary photographer at a family or friends wedding. This is a great option to get your foot in the door, and will help you create a portfolio of work to use as examples. In addition, this will give you job references to use for future work. As another example for an interest in photography, you can sell the photos you take – of any medium. Interested,

The easiest part-time job we ve found is online surveys and focus groups These are companies, such as IBM, needing insight into a product or TV commercial before making it main stream. Though market research, they insure an advertisement or product is ready to take to the general public before investing the money. If you live in a larger city, you may have already participated in such a study. Before the internet, it was hard to do these jobs given travel costs and additional time it took to get to and from the location of the focus groups. However, now companies are now doing online surveys and focus groups. Also, with the internet, the door has been opened for jobs such as selling items on eBay. eBay? You d be surprised how many people now do this as a full time job. It could be selling items you make yourself, reselling items you find at garage sales, or drop shipping items directly from the product manufacturer.

The point of the above is, you don’t have to stuff envelopes, and the number of legit work-at-home jobs are endless. As a personal example, my work-at-home/part time job/hobby is stock trading / day trading. You may consider the stock market and trading stocks online from home on your laptop (a great link for people considering this). That said, being a day trader can be stressful, please factor this in when considering the job as an option – it takes guts and a fair amount or company research to make money.

Just for fun, this next one may sound crazy… Need a car; how about agreeing to put advertising on your vehicle and get paid? You’ve seen marketing on the side of taxi cabs (in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc). If you want, you can also get paid to put similar ads on your car, and drive a car with advertising to promote a product. While it’s not going to make you enough money to quit your day job, it can subsidize the high cost of gas and help with your monthly car payment. Also consider, they put a GPS in the car to insure you’ve driven the proper miles to “promote their product”. If you’re OK with this, why not?

In ending, pick something you’re passionate about when pursuing at-home-work. Working from home brings freedom, however you must choose something you enjoy. Do not get caught up in scams. To protect yourself, review the scams at the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. If you’re looking into an opportunity promising millions per month, take the opportunity for what its worth. Stuffing envelopes for $.01 per piece is not worth the time, but attending an online focus group during your lunch hour for $100 is time well spent. If the job promises an outrageous income or a free car, then it s probably a scam.

How Serious Is Identity Theft Really?

Yearly Reports of Identity Theft to the Federal Trade Commission:

In 2007 identity theft accounted for 36 percent of the 674,354 fraud and identity theft complaints (reported to the Federal Trade Commission.

In 2005 -255,565 cases of identity theft were reported to the FTC

In 2004 -246,847 cases of identity theft were reported to the FTC

In 2003 215,177 cases reported of identity theft were reported to the FTC

In 2001 CBS News reported that someone became the victim of identity theft every 79 seconds (CBSnews.com, 1/25/01)

Between 1997 and 2005 the Federal Trade Commission reported that over 3 million cases of fraud and identity theft were reported to over 1400 law enforcement agencies in 19 nations. Identity theft crimes are not limited to the United States but are committed world wide.

Facts every consumer should know:

- Credit card fraud (26%) was the most common form of reported identity theft followed by phone or utilities fraud; (18%), bank fraud (17%), and employment fraud (12%). Other significant categories of identity theft reported by victims were government documents/benefits fraud (9%) and loan fraud (5%). (Federal Trade Commission Complaint Data)

- the majority of cases go unreported to Federal or local authorities

- the most common age group affected by identity theft is 18-29

- the top 10 metropolitan areas affected by identity theft include: Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; and Dallas, TX (2005)

- California had the most reported cases of identity theft with a total of approximately 45,000 cases of identity theft (2005)

- the most common method of retrieving information for use in identity theft is through lost or stolen wallets, theft of mail, dumpster diving, and information obtained through friends, family or consumer providers

- another common method of obtaining your information is by “stealing” it at a business that you may you frequent

New, Harder to Detect Form of Identity Theft

Synthetic identity theft occurs when bits and pieces of several people are used in order to create an entirely new identity. Information may come in the form of an address from one person, the social security number of another and employment or banking information from a third or fourth.

Your Damages resulting from Identity Theft:

In a study conducted of 173 victims of identity theft by The Identity Theft Resource Center specific damages were explored. In each case the victim’s damages included:

- an extended period of time to correct their credit status;
- 85% of the victims found out about the theft when they attempted to apply for a job or credit;
- victims are currently spending over 600 hours attempting to repair the damages to their credit
- victims are spending money in the approximate a amount of over $16,000 per victim to repair their credit
- it is taking longer to remove negative, incorrect or falsified information from their credit reports
- many victims equate the emotional impact of identity theft with that of a violent crime – in some cases similar to a rape as the violation can be that personal.

Identity theft is a serious crime. Damages result to individuals, banks, and businesses as well as families. Imagine going to purchase your new home to find out that your credit is damaged and now you are unable to. Imagine the time and money you will spend to correct the problems associated with identity theft. Millions of dollars and Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and millions worldwide are affected each year by identity theft. Victims, both personal and business must use valuable time, effort and resources to correct the situation, which in some cases is beyond total repair. Damages are not only to your credit and your finances but also to your emotional, physical, and psychological well being.

Reporting suspected identity theft is essential to protecting yourself further and protecting others. Reports should be filed with local authorities, your State’s Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers need to not only protect their information but by reporting efforts at identity theft may be able to stop it from happening in the future.

Consumers can report ID theft to the FTC by calling the agency’s toll-free number: 877-438-4338.

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