Guide to invest in art

When buying and collecting art as investment it is important foremost that you like what you buy. Chances are that if you hate a painting, a potential buyer will also hate the painting.

Never buy just signature. The artwork must stand on its own merits irrespective of the artist’s reputation. The value of an artwork is indicative of numerous unique subjective considerations. A potential buyer looking to purchase a quality painting or artwork capable of obtaining strong capital growth should minimize their art collecting risk and be satisfied that the artwork lives up to or exceeds each subjective consideration.

The subjective factors are—

The status or standing of the artist. Is the artist on, or likely to one day be on, the secondary market?

Understand and differentiate between the creative periods within any artist’s life. Their productive output may indeed vary. Focus your attention on those strong artworks or themes from the artist’s best years.

The medium, condition, provenance and exhibition history must impress.

A painting’s subject matter must be neither offensive nor unpopular.

Whether a painting is signed or not.

Collectors must take into account the cyclical nature of the art market and the economy itself. Sell in a boom and buy in a bust.

Know the availability and value of other works by the same artist.

Collectors should know the final price settled upon and ensure there are no hidden costs such as buyers premiums which may distort the final cost.

Understand the vagaries of taste and fashion. An acquired work which delivers a good return on the purchase price usually exhibits universal themes and emotions. — Agencies

Get a Life, Not a Job

Job security has become something that workers have to build themselves rather than expect from employers

Dr Paula Caligiuri is the author of the book titled Get A Life, Not A Job: Do What You Love and Let Your Talents Work For You. A work psychologist, Dr Caligiuri is also CNN career expert, professor in human resource management at Rutgers University, and career counsellor. Here are some interesting and useful highlights from the book:

Dr Caligiuri provides evidence that the old ‘psychological contract’ between organisations and employees is gone forever. This means employees are on their own to create any type of employment security.

Because job security has become something that workers have to build themselves rather than expect from employers, Dr Caligiuri views it as extremely risky to put all your employment eggs in one basket by putting all your energy into one job. For instance, she notes that 80 per cent of the recently unemployed received less than three weeks advance warning, and among them, 60 per cent received no advance warning that they were about to be unemployed. Rather than have faith in ongoing employment from one organisation, she recommends instead multiple career acts.

Dr Caligiuri says that great career share five fundamental elements: (1) Self-awareness of talents, interests, hobbies, needs, motivators, and how you like to work; (2) Continuous self-development of knowledge, skills and abilities; (3) Unique and critical roles to increase your value to employers, clients, or customers; (4) Well-managed time, money, and human resources; and (5) Harmony among work, family, and personal life. She believes you are more likely to attain these elements if you pursue several career acts rather than one.

She gives several suggestions for how to choose and build career acts: (1) Leverage existing expertise or talents; (2) Expand a hobby, interest, or passion; (3) Pursue an occupation (but preferably not focusing solely on this); and/or (4) General sources of passive income such as royalties, affiliate marketing and rent.

Her inclusion of a discussion of career anchors are: Values or drivers that motivate people to seek and ultimately find satisfaction with work. She uses the model developed by Dr Edgar Schein. The eight career anchors are: (1) Technical or functional expertise, (2) Leadership or management of people, (3) Autonomy or independence, (4) Security or job stability, (5) Entrepreneurial creativity, (6) Service or dedication to a cause (7) Competitive challenge, and (8) Work and life balance. Align your work with your most important career anchors and career satisfaction is more likely to occur.

If you are going to take the gamble of limiting yourself to one job, Dr Caligiuri says, “Please be amazing, make it a career you love, and have a safety net.” The safety net is your uniqueness to the business and your centrality to employer, customers or clients.

Some additional Thoughts:

‘Get a life’ is sometimes used as a phrase to demean someone. If a person is feeling emotionally fragile because of difficult employment circumstances, this title might cause them to pass up this excellent book.

While Dr Caligiuri cautions against oven-working because of multiple career acts, anyone who keeps a full-time job while creating a side gig or who is juggling several part-time jobs will tell you that it can be exhausting. Multi-tasking is not the preferred state for most human brains. Other than mentioning sufficient sleep, exercise, good nutrition, and vacation time, readers have wished the book had expanded on more practical strategies to maintain psychological and physical health while simultaneously achieving across more than one domain.

Many of the ideas in this book require an entrepreneurial mindset and business savvy to succeed. However, a majority of families not only fail to teach entrepreneurship, they actively discourage it because they are stuck in an old school thinking that the only ‘good’ career is a linear one where you study something in school that directly leads to a practical job. For people interested in something different, family and educational systems have a long way to go to teach the necessary functional skills and psychological perspective needed to succeed.

As unemployment rates are high and job stability is low, creative approaches such as those offered by Dr Caligiuri are useful. Overall, this book is well-worth the small investment of purchase as it will likely spark ideas and for many readers, help them to weather economic storms. — Agencies

Dress Etiquette at the Workplace

Proper attire speaks volumes about your professionalism

Professionalism at work can be shown through our behavior and attitude, but also observed in our manner of dressing. Although many offices have casual environments, it is necessary to be in proper work attire. Understanding what is meant by ‘appropriate work attire’ will help us know what to wear and what not to wear in the office.

For corporate offices, it is always recommended to wear business attire. Ladies should wear pants or skirts, over collared tops. Sleeved dresses of appropriate lengths are also good. Earth shades and black and white combinations are best for a corporate look. Shoes should be heeled; bright colours are best avoided for footwear. Men appear decent in pants and long sleeves, with well-polished shoes. Hairdo should be neat.

For casual offices that do not come face-to-face with clients and customers, it is not necessary to were formal attire. Slacks and tops will do for women, and jeans and polo shirts are good for men. As long as the clothes you were are not too revealing or casual, it is perfectly all right. The problem with causal environments is that people tend to abuse their privileges in terms of what they should wear.

Below are no-no’s for work attire:

1. Showy belts
2. Slippers
3. Scuffed shoes
4. Body and face piercing
5. Showing tattoos
6. Ripped jeans
7. Very tight pants and tops
8. Shirts with offensive prints — Agencies

Achieving The Desired

As a little red-haired boy growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, there was nothing I wanted more than a pony. That was my life’s dream, ambition and obsession.

While other boys were trading baseball cards. I was collecting miniature horse statures. When friends wanted to go the movies or roller skating, I had to first rule out any horse shows. By the age of eight, if anything was clear to me it was that If I didn’t get a pony, everything would be wrong in my world. And I understood my only chance was to win one. Thankfully, thought our apartment was too small, with a rent too small, with a rent too large, my parents seemed happy to buy me a ticket for every win-a-pony contest that came along. They also were quite good at reminding me how greatly the ‘odds’ were stacked against me.

From a toddler until the age of 10, I entered every pony contest I could. Whether it was just stubbornness, or the beauty of innocence, or some kind of soul-certainty I was a factor. No. What I believed, with every cell in my body, was that all I needed to do was stay focused on my plan and purpose, and keep trusting my heart. What I knew was that there was a pony stabled in my soul, waiting for me to find her. And that’s what I prayed for every day.

I did finally win pony! What happened was … one day while watching my favourite western theme children show on TV, I was shocked and surprised to hear the cowgirl hostess announce that the station was offering a free pony to any boy or girl who could make the best cattle brand out of their initials.

‘Yee-hah! This is it!’ My heart sang out. ‘My pony is calling to me!’ I was ecstatic! Fuelled by a decade of longing, it only took me a couple of hours to take my initials — TAN — turn the A into a rounded upside down horseshoe, stretch the N across it like a lightning bolt, name it the ‘Lightning - T – Horseshoe’ and race to the mailbox. Though I ‘knew’ instantly, it was three weeks later before the station announced, ‘Congratulations, Tommy, you won the pony!’

I appeared on TV to receive my pony, we found a little barn we could use. By the time the universe had wrapped up granting me this great gift to myself, all my younger brother and I needed to do was — walk about a mile to the barn, throw the red saddle on our beautiful Shetland, and joyfully gallop around the country side — of course, flying off now and again.

Looking back as a white-haired grandfather who is still sharing pony stories with my children and their children, I am happy to remind everyone that the best way to realise your dreams is to trust your inner wisdom.

— Thomas Newnam

Will You Marry Me?

A romantic proposal is perhaps every girl’s dream. Here are some stories of people who were elated with their proposals. The stories are varied from funny to romantic and oftentimes a little bit both.

Cherise and Steven

Cherise and Steven went through a lot of rough spots in their relationship, but they stuck it out and made it work.

From Cherise, “Steven and I probably broke up five times in our first nine months in our first nine months of dating. He was always late, loved hanging out with his boys, just didn’t seem to have enough time for me. I told him that I didn’t think he was in it for the long haul, so it was best to end it for good.

“Two days after we split up, I met up with about five or six of my girlfriends at a local bar for my friend Jessica’s birthday. We were kicking back, laughing and having a few drinks, while listening to some bad karaoke singers.

“When I heard, ‘Nest up on the stage, Steven.’ I didn’t think twice about it since Steven is a popular name. But when I looked up, I saw MY Steven. He began to belt out, Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do I Do It For You and I was in shock.

“At the end of the song, he said into the mic, ‘Cherise, I just wanted you to know that I AM in it for the long haul.’ And there, on the stage in front of everyone, he asked me to marry him.

Melissa and Eric

Melissa and Eric now run a wedding favours website (among other ventures), so it’s no wonder their wedding proposal was so romantic.

From Melissa, ‘Eric had planned it for like four months completely unknown to me, of course. It was on our three-year anniversary of dating and he took me down to Shelter Island to a restaurant that was in a hotel (AJ’s Bar and Grill) — great food that overlooked a private beach the resort owned.

“So we eat dinner and he is totally smiling at me the entire time and can’t stop gigging, it was too cute! So we finish and he tells me that there was a surprise back at our house and that’s what he was excited about. Well he had me completely convinced we were going home, so we get in the car after dinner and start driving down the street, when we come to a round-about that takes you off this little island. He keeps going around, doesn’t leave and just returns to the hotel! (That is totally Eric and his ‘sly’ moves.)

“So we pull into the parking lot and I am completely confused wondering why we returned and he said we were staying for three days! I was so excited because we had never really gone on a trip like that. Little did I know he had packed my bags, which were hiding in the back seat. We go into the hotel and go straight to the room, we get to the door and he tells me to close my eyes … that’s when I KNEW IT! And of course I start to tear up as I close my eyes.

“He led me into the room. And when I opened my eyes the room was filled with roses and candles and he was on his knee asking me to marry him. It was the best night of my life, the roses even had little cards in them that read ‘Will you marry me?’ — sweetest thing EVER.”

Tim and Monika

Monika and Tim had been working in the same office for a year when he finally asked her for a first date. Though it took him a long time to ask her out, he wasted no time with the marriage proposal.

From Tim, “We moved very quickly. After our second date, we were pretty much living together because we couldn’t stand to be apart. After five weeks of dating, no one in our office knew that we were even seeking each other (it was against company policy).

“One day we were in a staff meeting with our boss and about 30 other employees, I was giving a presentation using a slide projector, crunching numbers about a huge project we had coming up. As I was wrapping up the presentation, I said, ‘I have one more thing.’

“I flipped to the final and there it was for the whole office to see. The slide said, ‘Monika, Will You Marry Me?’

“She was so shocked that she almost fainted. After catching her breath, Monika accepted and we got married four months later.”

Veronica and BO

Veronica always dreamed of romantic proposal and she definitely got it from Bo.

From Veronica, “One afternoon Bo took me to our favourite park — Paris Park. The story behind the name: I had always day dreamed about how romantic it would be to meet my future husband in Europe. I envisioned my crossing a bridge one way and he coming across it from the other direction, the two of us meeting in the middle and then us deciding to travel on together forever.

“Our first time at the park, about a months into our dating relationship, I told Bo what I had imagined and he had us re-enact it. We pretended a football goal, near our bridge was the Eiffel Tower. It was really sweet.

“So on this particular day, Bo went to Jim’s (local dinner) and bought tortilla soup (my favourite) and packed it and blanket and would only tell me that we were going on a picnic. We got to the park and went to a spot near our bridge at which point Bo presented me with three gorgeous sunflowers.

“We ate lunch and then Bo asked me if I wanted to go for a walk, like we did the first time we ever went to the park. We went over the bridge and Bo stopped in the middle of it and kissed me — our first kiss on our bridge.

“Then Bo said, ‘Do you remember when you told me about your day-dream of meeting your future husband on a bridge in Europe?’

“Then he went to re-enact it, which I at first didn’t think anything of because Bo is sweet and sentimental like that. But as I walked across the bridge to go to my side of it for the reenactment, it suddenly occurred to me, ‘Wouldn’t this be a super romantic way to propose?’

“I met Bo in the middle of the bridge and he was narrating the reenactment and he said, ‘You’re in Europe on the bridge and crossing it. You see a guy…’

‘A really good looking one,’ I interjected.

“Bo went on, ‘You run into each other and then he gets on his knee and ask, Will you marry me?’ By this point Bo was on his knee holding out towards me the most gorgeous engagement ring ever. And I said, ‘Seriously????? Yes!!!!’” — Agencies

7 Signs You Need to Change That Job

Take radical action to revamp your career

Often dissatisfaction at work is just burnout and can be fixed by adjusting your mentality or taking a decent vacation, but sometimes there is something wrong that is more fundamental — you are in the wrong role, wrong industry or wrong career path entirely.

Telling one from the other can be tricky, especially for those who are new to the workplace and unsure about what is a normal level of malaise.

So how can you tell garden burn-out from a real need for career change? Watch out for these warning signs and if you suffer from several of them, consider talking radical action to revamp your career:

1. Your Mondays ruin your Sundays: Is your job so daunting that you wake up Sunday morning already dreading Monday morning? If so, get out now.

2. You do not respect your superiors: While you may not always like them, you should always have respect for your superiors — they represent where you would like to be one day. If you do not, then the pay-off for all your hard work may not be what you wanted.

3. Lack of satisfaction or accomplishment: After hours and hours of work, you should be proud of yourself for a job well done. Even for the most trivial of tasks, if you are happy knowing that you contributed in some way to your company, your job is worth it. But if you are continually having ‘What does it all mean?’ moments and never finding satisfaction or feeling accomplished in any of your tasks (granted, not every cup of coffee or copy made will feel meaningful), then maybe two-weeks’ notice is in order.

4. Boredom: By boredom we do not mean you are sick and tired of making copies everyday — that is a task no one enjoys. No, what we mean is you have become bored with the industry; you look at what your superiors are doing and do not find any interest in it and the job descriptions for positions above you should dull as dirt.

5. Misery loves company: Do you find yourself gravitating towards the disgruntled employees of your company, bonding over the anger you have towards your job? You tend to be the company you keep, so if you are attracted to a more miserable crowd, you should get out before you become permanently bitter and cynical.

6. Conflicting ideas: Try to pick a career that is relevant to your ideas. If you find that your job conflicts with your principles, then save yourself the sleepless nights and restart your career search.

7. Your life has taken a turn for the worse: If your animosity towards your animosity towards your job is affecting your personal life, end this career now. Your job should not force you to take frustrations out on the people you love.

Hugs All Around

There’s something in a simple hug
That always warms the heart.
It welcomes us back home
And makes it easier to part
A hug’s a way to share the joy
And sad times we go through,
Or just a way for friends to say
They like you ‘cause you’re you
Hugs are meant for anyone
For whom we really care,
From your grandma to yourneighbour,
Or a cuddly teddy bear
A hug is an amazing thing –
It’s just the perfect way
To show the love we’re feeling
But can’t find the words to say
It’s funny how little hug
Makes everyone feel good;
In every place and type,
It’s always understood
And hugs don’t need new equipment,
Special batteries or parts
Just open up your arms
And open up your hearts.

— Johnny Ray Ryder Jr

Get Organised at College

Syllabus, paper, books, articles, and downloads all get very confusing if you don’t have a plan to stay organized… and unlike school, professors don’t remind you about upcoming assignments every day! Follow these steps to get ready.

• Print out or collect syllabi for every class. If you have syllabus of each subjects in hand, you will know how much you are supposed to study and how much you have complete so far.

• Purchase your books, a stack of unlined 3x5 cards, and a heavy duty, brightly coloured, plastic folder.

• Place all your syllabi in your plastic folder. This is your syllabi folder. Keep it with you any time you study, go to the library, or go to class.

• One every syllabus, highlight what is due the first week in one colour. Highlight what is due the second week in another colour. Now you can keep an eye on your assignments on a week-by-week basis.

• Assign one card for every book. Holding the card vertically, write the dates that you have assignments from that book only, and next to the date, write the pages that must be read. (For instance — Write ‘Chemistry’ on the card. Then in one column, write 9/5, 9/12, 9/19, 9/26, or whatever you have class. Next to the dates, write 1-47, 48-102, 151-160, 161-194, or whatever your assigned reading is.) Use this card as a bookmark, so you know where you left off, and what needs to be done next. Now you don’t have to look in your syllabus to know what to read, just grab the book and go!

• Get a write-in calendar or academic planner, and write the assignment due on certain dates. Don’t forget to write down test dates!

• Make a ‘Project Syllabus’ for yourself. Write out a chronological list of every assignment that will require more than one sitting to complete. Now you can easily look ahead so you don’t spend all night writing a paper.

• Draw or write your schedule on paper or on a computer, so you know when your classes will meet. Now schedule out minimum one hour of study time for every hour of class time. Schedule those study hours and don’t miss them; treat them as permanent commitments. If you can get ahead early, you’ll have some cushion time when your many papers and projects come due at the same time.

• Get working! Now you have very little time to spend trying to figure out what needs to be done; you can just do it! — Agencies

Top 10 Facts

1. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow down so that you could see his movies.

2. A Blue Whale’s Tongue weighs more that an Elephant.

3. 111,111,111*111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

4. Bone is 5 times stronger than a steel.

5. When Glass breaks, the cracks move at the speed of up to 3,000 miles per hour.

6. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of Telephone never telephoned his wife or mother because they were born deaf.

7. KIWIS are the only birds, which hunt by sense of smell.

8. Cat’s urine glows under a black light.

9. Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on GASOHOL instead of Petrol. GASOHOL is a fuel made from Sugarcane.

10. Google with a brand value of $86 billion is the world’s most Powerful Brand.

Post Career Fair Tips

It is what you do afterwards that really counts

The job fair is over… now what? As a career fair draws to a close, some job-seekers think it is okay to let their job searches wind down too. Good idea? Of course not!

The reality is that few people are hired at job fairs — or even immediately afterward. The fairs are a chance for administrators to look at candidates and to consider who will be invited for interviews later in the spring or summer. The real work for candidates begins when the fairs conclude.

How can you maximise the important time after the fairs and use it to your advantage? Take this opportunity to distinguish yourself from those who joined you in the long job fair lines. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Send thank-you letters or e-mails to the employers with whom you spoke at the fairs. Actually, you should have done this immediately after each fair, but if you forgot, it is better to do it late than not at all.

• Do you have questions for employers that came up after a fair? If so, now is the time to ask.

• Check websites from the career services offices or organisations that sponsored the job fairs. Many job fair listings stay alive along after the fair has ended. You can still contact the schools or districts who attended to inquire about the openings they posted.

• Use the time to thoroughly research districts that interested you. Yes, you should have done this before the fair, but taking with district representatives may have prompted you to research aspects that you overlooked the first time.

• Keep looking! There are many good sites for job openings, beginning with districts and regional offices’ websites.

• Built up accomplishments that will clearly separate you (hopefully, in a positive way) from competitors.

• Volunteer — for whatever is needed — at your school. Attend school events and make important contacts.

• Coach, or assist with coaching.

• Check into summer jobs that will demonstrate your interest.

• Investigate taking a summer class to increase your marketability. Examples: ELL/ESL, foreign language (especially Spanish), strategies for working with students with special needs.

• Update or tune up your resume. Remember that it is a living document it should change and grow as you do.

• Strengthen and expand your network.

• Do a practice interview and get feedback to help you hone your face-to-face marketing skills.

The Job fair may have ended, but it was just the beginning of the recruiting process. It is what you do after the fair that really counts. — Agencies

The Klout Craze

Is the score that measures your popularity and influence through the social networks, popular enough to convince its worth?

Omg, Vivienne’s score increased to 69! That’s like almost celebrity range! What did she do to get her online influence so skyrocketing?” Sounds familiar? You bet. To notify you when someone new adds you, there’s Facebook. To inform you that your follower count has increased, there’s Twitter. But how do you know whether these people are actually listening to what you have to say? That’s when Klout makes its grand entrance. If you haven’t heard of Klout, you will be astonished at the significance that this company provides to social media marketers. It generates a score, called the Klout Score, Which measures your influence in driving action on social networks.

So what exactly is this ‘Klout’? Brought into life by Joe Fernandez (CEO) and Binh Tran (Co-founder), Klout is a San Francisco based company that provides social media analytics to measures a user’s influence across their social network. Befriending the slogan “the Standard for Influence”, the free website analyzes data from sites as Twitter, Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn and rates you from 1 to 100 on your “overall online influence.”

Individuals who sign up for Klout, or are linked to those who do, are each given a “Klout score”. The Klout Score is not based solely on number of friends or followers. Rather, their People Rank algorithm is based on actions that people on social networks take due to the influence that an individual provides – actions such as replying to or sharing posts. Scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores equivalent to a higher assessment by Klout of the breadth and potency of their online influence.

The Klout score is made up of three variables

TRUE REACH

This is based on the size of a person’s “engaged audience” of followers and friends who actively listen and react to their online messages. True reach is a raw number and the only score not based on a 1-to-100 scale.

AMPLIFICATION

This considers how much people are influenced by measuring the actions they undertake. In simple terms, this is the likelihood that your messages will retweeted, receive @ reply in Twitter, or receive a “like” or comment on Facebook.

NETWORK IMPACT

The Network score looks at your engaged audience (the same people from True Reach) and then considers how influential they are.

Klout assesses influence by using data points from Twitter, such as: following count, follower count, retweets, list memberships, how many spam/dead accounts are following you, how influential the people that retweet you are, and unique mentions. This knowledge is intermingled with Facebook data such as comment, likes, and the number of friends in your network to create a “Klout Score” that calculates a user’s online manipulation.

The most revealing information Klout provides is: “[The] variables used to generate scores for each of these categories are normalized across the whole data set and run through our analytics engine. After the first pass of analytics, we apply a specific weight to each data points. We then run the factors through our machine-learning analysis and calculate the final Klout Score.”

If you thought Klout is just for entertainment uses, then think again. Gone are the days where social networking sites are assumed to be ‘just for fun’; they have proved over the years that they ARE capable of providing so much more. Klout is no exception. Klout Scores can be used to gauge the collision that your social marketing campaign has on the public that you are targeting. High scores designate that your messages are getting out. Low scores connote that your social marketing efforts need some concentration.

Some social critics argue that the Klout score devalues authentic online communication and endorses social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction.

The scoring system is based on 100 point scale. In general, scores of 30 or above show social media expertise and higher scores define you as a leader in social media. If your score is less than 30, perhaps you’re targeting the wrong market. Klout Scores are even being used on resumes. Klout makes it simple for businesses to analyze a person’s ability to sway people in regard to marketing a brand from side to side social media. It is becoming the “standard of influence” on the internet. In future, it may even become the standard for employing people in the internet marketing sector. Right now, though, there are many who don’t like the new changes, as it has resulted in a huge drop in some users’ Klout scores. With time however, may be they will come to realize the worth in having a more accurate score.

Companies have paid to get in contact with individuals with Klout scores in hopes that free commodities and other perks will persuade them to spread positive publicity for them. According to Joe Fernandez, about 50 of these partnerships have been established as of November 2011.

Amit Agrawal, Director, Sparrow SMS, says “Frankly speaking, I have not used it. I’ve been trying to find some information on it. I’ve heard it for the first time.” When asked about the assumption of Nepalese people being aware of Klout, he replied “Very few”.

In terms of social uses, it is for fun. Good news for Internet addicts: Klout is an entertaining model to brag about your influence to your friends and enemies. You can spend the whole evening tweeting, liking, commenting – and the reward? An upgrade in your Klout score. The more influential you are, the more Klout Perks will be available to you. You can get Klout perks by achieving a certain score or by being influential about a specific topic. Who knows? Your influence can determine where you are in the world. We all have influence over our friends and family and that weight is a part of our Klout.

I personally think Klout is only good for business purposes. The influence/reputation that Klout entries to, has colossal potential for individual businesses and large advertisers. I understand how difficult it must be to rank millions of professionals themselves. However, I think Klout isn’t a good measure of individual quality. It’s a measure of how much a person is heard. A person could be completely wrong all the time but still be popular.

In context of Nepal, Klout is not that popular – yet. Nepal Telecom, Maiti Nepal and Nepal TV have Klout accounts. However, Maiti Nepal has said that they don’t possess a Klout account as they are “unfamiliar with it and that it might be a fake account.”

There is a lot of support for Klout scores but it is not without controversy. Klout has been praised and criticized for their system. Human resources departments, often with little understanding are literally hiring and firing based on Klout scores. The Klout algorithm has been called into question and Klout perks that give free perks to users is often under fire for people manipulating their numbers (running scripts to gain followers, gain the system, etc.). More problematic for Klout is their scoring of people who have not signed up for the service and a massive issue which discovered that a woman’s underage child had a Klout score without signing up, and there was no way to select out or disable Klout for someone who hadn’t signed up.

Critics have pointed out that Klout scores are not commissioners of the manipulation a person really has, stressing on the fact that President Obama has a lower influence score than a number of bloggers including Robert Scoble. Furthermore, some social critics argue that the Klout score devalues authentic online communication and endorses social ranking and stratification by trying to quantify human interaction. The site has also been disparaged for violating the privacy of minors, and for taking advantage of users for their own profit.

Be that as it may, Klout has it’s pros as well. It puts effectiveness of social media strategy into perspective. Every one of us gets involved in social media to some degree to improve our influence through social engagement. Klout is the most ambitious undertaking to date of such a large analysis of data across multiple social networks.

For individuals, Klout largely tells you what you already know about yourself and your social networking habits. For business users, especially teams who are managing one account, it’s a different story, giving a very general snapshot of activity and success rate day-by-day over a month. For tips and tricks to improve, through, users will have to turn to other sources for advice.

Klout has merit; if people take the time to read how they are actually scoring you, they may learn some valuable information. Knowledge is power. Like it or not, Klout is here to stay!

To Cite This:
Shakya, Krisha. ‘The Klout Craze.’ Vivacity Magazine, 15 Feb. – 14 Mar. 2012, 70-71.

Conserve Your Cell Phone Battery

It will last much longer with these 10 easy steps

Frequent power cuts take a toll on cell phone battery, but there are simple ways to make it last longer. Follow these easy procedures to make the best of it:

1. Turn the phone off: If you do not plan on answering the phone while you are sleeping or after business hours, just turn it off. Do the same if you are in an area with no reception.

2. Stop searching for a signal: When in an area with poor or no signal, the phone will constantly look for a better connection, and will use up all your power doing so. The best way to ensure longer battery life is to make sure you have a great signal where you use your phone.

3. Switch the vibrate function off: Use just the ring tone, keeping the volume as low as possible.

4. Turn off the backlight: Either get by without it or shorten that amount of time to leave the backlight on. Usually, one or two seconds will be sufficient.

5. Avoid using unnecessary features: If you know it will be a while before your phone’s next charge, do not use the camera or connection to the internet.

6. Keep calls short: This is obvious, but if you really need to conserve the battery, limit your talk time.

7. Turn off Bluetooth: It will drain your battery very quickly. The same goes for Wi-Fi, GPS, and infrared capabilities.

8. Use GSM rather than 3G: Using your phone in 3G/Dual Mode will drain the battery quicker than if you just use the GSM mode.

9. Customise background: With a smartphone, avoid using moving or animated pictures or videos for your background. Use a black background whenever possible.

10. Be net savvy: When web browsing, use sites like Blackl that display a black Google background instead of white.

Classroom Called Life

• At 5 I learned our dog doesn’t want to eat my broccoli either.

• At 7 I learned when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back.

• At 9 I learned just when I get my room the way I like it, Mum makes me clean it up again.

• At 12 I learned if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up.

• At 14 I learned although it’s hard to admit it, I’m secretly glad my parents are strict with me.

• At 15 I learned silent company is often more healing than words of advice.

• At 24 I learned brushing my child’s hair is one of life’s great pleasures.

• At 26 I learned wherever I go, the world’s worst drivers have followed me there.

• At 29 I learned if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.

• At 30 I learned there are people who love you dearly but just don’t know how to show it.

• At 42 I learned you can make someone’s day by simply sending them a little note.

• At 44 I learned the greater a person’s sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others.

• At 46 I learned children and grandparents are natural allies.

• At 47 I learned no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

• At 48 I learned singing Amazing Grace can lift my spirits for hours.

• At 49 I learned motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone.

• At 50 I learned you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles three things — a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

• At 51 I learned keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills.

• At 52 I learned regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terrible after they die.

• At 53 I learned making a living is not the same thing as making a life.

• At 58 I learned if you want to do something positively for your children, work to improve your marriage.

• At 61 I learned life sometimes gives you a second chance.

• At 62 I learned you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

• At 64 I learned if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.

• At 65 I learned whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision.

• At 66 I learned everyone can use a prayer.

• At 72 I learned it pays to believe in miracles. And to tell the truth, I’ve seen several.

• At 75 I learned even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.

• At 82 I learned every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch — holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

• At 90 I learned I still have a lot to learn.

• At 92 I learned you should pass this on to someone you care about. Sometimes they just need a little something to make them smile.