Technology

The history of the Nintendo NES seal of quality

admin

Throughout the active history of the NES, Nintendo influenced the video game industry and video game developers in ways that most developers today would rather forget. To encourage participation by third-party developers, Nintendo developed the NES Seal of Quality system. How did it work? Wait and we’ll check.

Safety

Nintendo had a total monopoly on the physical production of the cartridges. They placed an authentication chip in each console (the 10NES authentication chip), and another was placed in each officially licensed cartridge that would carry the “Official NES Seal of Quality.” The game would not load if the console did not recognize the authentication chip inside the cart.

This would allow Nintendo to impose really strict rules on its third-party developers, starting with the production of their games in the numbers that Nintendo deems appropriate. This had a huge impact on many developers as, no matter how high the demand for their game was, they were limited in the production that Nintendo would allow them to put out, so in fact it was Nintendo who decided how much profit they would make. allow the developer to do with this physical restriction.

Security violation

It wouldn’t be long before some shady companies wanted to break this security feature. The pirate market abroad was huge. Multicarts were everywhere, and some developers in America wanted to break free from the mold of the “seal of quality.” A company called Color Dreams discovered how to get around the lock chip in 1989; sending a voltage spike from the carriage to deactivate the lock chip. Color Dreams produced a few games, and through a loophole (by bypassing the chip, they weren’t infringing on Nintendo’s patent copyright) they were allowed to do so. However, Nintendo was quietly threatening retailers not to distribute Color Dreams games, and they succeeded. Color Dreams changed its name to Wisdom Tree and began production of religious-themed games as a goad to Nintendo’s morality to rule the game production market.

Other pirate companies at the time used a dongle that was connected to a licensed game with the chip to use for the authentication process with the 10NES. Many imported pirate games worked this way in America.

Tengen, the renegade

Tengen, an Atari company, was the only official licensee to defect from Nintendo. As they did not want to risk being liable for damage to the NES consoles via the voltage spike method, they were able to access the patent for the lock chip and were able to replicate it in their own format: the Rabbit chip. Nintendo sued Tengen for copyright infringement and they won, however, Tengen’s antitrust claims against Nintendo were never decided to this day.

Either you are with us or against us

Nintendo also had a strict third-party developer policy for many years; If you developed a game for Nintendo, you only developed games for Nintendo. This policy was a killer for most of the companies that tried to break or shake Nintendo’s monopoly in the United States. This was the case with the Sega Master System, which never really took off in the United States while enjoying great popularity abroad, even surpassing the NES.

They also had a strict censorship policy for games they released in the United States with their license stamp. They censored all content for US releases, removing all questionable words or adult and semi-adult content. This was alienating to many game developers at the time.

When Nintendo finally relaxed its policies due to government pressure and the fact that developers were starting to defect to the competition, the market opened up a bit again and other companies had a chance to take a fair share of the pie with their systems. . When the NES console was reissued as the NES 2 in the 1990s, the 10NES chip was removed from the console, marking the end of the strictest control ever known over third-party developers in the entire history of video games.

Fortunately, no other video game company ever tried to control video game development for their system so tightly, and now we can enjoy masterpieces on any video game system of our choice.

The Nintendo NES is still a fairly popular video game system, even if it’s just because of the fact that it was only this system that Americans were able to enjoy playing video games for years, which makes the element of nostalgia quite high in a game. high percentage of Americans. population that enjoys video games. Many NES games can still be found in the video game store, mainly on the web, where there is a web store specializing in video games for retro games, and a lot of information on where to find such games is available on many websites, including http: / /nintendo-entertainment-system.videogames-for-sale.com

Business

Do you need an offshore sales office in a tax-free environment?

admin

Warburg’s 100-year-old investment banking firm, Dillon Read (on Park Ave. NY) (now UBS Warburg) has offices in 39 foreign countries, including the Bahamas, the Little Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and the Channel Islands. Makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?

Nonresident foreign companies, trusts, banks and individuals can trade stocks, bonds, commodity contracts and options 100% tax-free on US capital gains.

Under the US Tax Code, only when a foreign company, foreign trust, or nonresident alien individual establishes permanent residence in the United States, will it be subject to US capital gains taxes. In the same way as national taxpayers. For a corporation, permanent residence would be an office or warehouse in the US Capital gains earned by foreign corporations and other non-residents “not engaged in trade or business within the United States” are exempt from Taxes under IRC Section 871 and IRC Section 881 and IRC Section 897 (c) (3). In addition, Section 864-2 (C) (1) and (2) of the United States Treasury Regulations establishes an exception for what involves “engaging in a trade or business within the United States.” Under US regulations, non-resident stock transactions conducted through a US stockbroker, independent agent, or employee are not considered.

Gains from the publicly traded stock market (from NYSE, NASDAQ, or AMEX listed stocks and bonds) accruing to an offshore company are tax-free on US capital gains. Under Tax Code statutes Insiders, but “US shareholders” They may have a tax liability (indirectly) if the offshore company is a “Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) (ie,” more than 50% of the voting and non-voting shares are owned by US SHAREHOLDERS). See IRC sections 951 to 958. See especially Section 951 (b) of the Code for the definition of US SHAREHOLDERS.

US taxpayers using tax havens are at higher risk (overall) than a nonresident alien (non-US citizen). Whether a U.S. citizen taxpayer has a tax liability on the profits of the offshore company depends on many things, including the type of income the company produces (i.e., subpart F or non-subpart F) and the number of shares. of the company. owned and whether the offshore company is a CFC, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code in Sections 957 and 958.

More on the tax-free paradise of Anguilla. Click the link below for more details.

[http://www.geocities.com/taxhavens123/caribbeantaxhavens.html]

A Tribute to: Confidential Banking Ordinances in the Caribbean

[http://www.geocities.com/taxhavens123/bank_confidentiality.html]

Wealthy Dupont Nemours and Roosevelt families buy a tax haven

Want to know why and how the former wealthy Dupont Nemours and Roosevelt families were able to purchase 4,000 acres of waterfront property on Provindentcials Island in the duty-free crown colony (or “Overseas Territory”) of the Turks Islands and Caicos for 1 one hundred year acre?

This 4,000 acre sale (now a marina and resort town, with an airport for jumbo jets (the $ 50,000,000 airport was donated by the UK government) dwindled in the 1970s, not the 1870s! !?!?

Source: Government of Turks & Caicos 3 full page advertisement in Investor’s Daily (1985).

Was this the most profitable real estate investment of the 20th century? A quarter acre lot in the gated community of Sandyport here in Nassau, Bahamas sells for approximately $ 260,000 today. Half-acre canal lots on Lyford Cay sell for about a million dollars.

Do the math. With an initial investment of just $ 40, the 4,000-acre property could be worth nearly $ 4 BILLION today.

YOU ARE THE JUDGE … Is the use of the world’s tax havens a blessing or a detriment? Before you answer, take a look at some of the IRS loopholes in our “Tax Code,” which are uncovered for you to see below, and which are buried within the tax law for taxpayers. There is a very important gap for the non-resident alien that you should not overlook!

Home Kitchen

Sicilian Style Strata Convection Oven Recipe

admin

This Sicilian-style Strata is great for serving an early lunch or a late breakfast because they can be made a little bit before the actual cooking. However, this Sicilian-style Strata recipe can also be served as a dinner starter.

This recipe makes 8 servings

The ingredients for this convection oven recipe are:

1 loaf of crusty bread (preferably Italian style) cut into cubes.

1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped

1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 can (14 1/2 oz) tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup pitted black olives, roughly chopped

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

6 large eggs

4 ounces prosciutto or diced ham

3 cups of milk

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning mix (best dry)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup of chopped parsley

2 tablespoons capers drained

To prepare the Sicilian-style strata:

1. First, you need to place half of the bread cubes in a lightly greased baking dish. This Sicilian-style convection oven strata recipe may need about a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Then you need to spread the green onions, prosciutto or ham, bell peppers, and Parmesan cheese on top. Make sure they are evenly distributed. After that, you need to place the remaining half of the bread cubes on top and top that layer with tomatoes, olives, and mozzarella cheese.

2. Beat the eggs and beat them with the seasoning and milk. Pour the resulting mixture over the stratified ingredients of the Sicilian-style Strata. Cover the plate and place it in the refrigerator to chill for a few hours.

3. In a 325 degree convection oven, bake the dish for about 40 to 50 minutes. After baking, you should let it rest and cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle capers and parsley over the Sicilian-style strata. Cut the plate into squares and then serve.

Digital Marketing

Bulk SMS Gateway

admin

The bulk SMS gateway simply refers to the facility that enables the process of sending numerous text messages from various sources to the mobile phones of numerous subscribers. This function is provided by a mobile marketing agency that runs a service called bulk SMS. What makes the installation interesting is its versatility: the agency can use the gateway to recognize media platforms such as websites, applications, email servers and other programs so that these platforms can send bulk SMS messages automatically to their target recipients.

There is no question that the SMS or Short Message service function of the mobile phone is the primary means of the mobile marketing industry. It’s the most efficient way for brands to easily and inexpensively reach their target demographic. Texting is the most affordable method for mobile marketing. Companies need to send bulk SMS to present new products and services and reach their customers. For example, gym clubs earn customer loyalty by trying to greet customers on birthdays and special occasions. Utilities remind customers of payment reminders and thank them after payment is made.

Mobile information companies and the media rely on the bulk SMS gateway to conduct their business. News channels, for example, offer pay-for-text messages in exchange for alerts such as breaking news and weather. These alerts vary in categories, from fashion to sports, Hollywood, etc. In addition to allowing the transmission of alerts, the bulk SMS gateway is also capable of facilitating the sale of mobile products such as logos, ringtones, ring backgrounds and wallpapers. It is also the facility responsible for the countless text-oriented voting polls that occur on numerous reality television talent series.

Mass text messaging has also benefited the financial industry through its personalized customer alerts and reminders. Banks, credit card companies, credit unions and other financial organizations make sure that their customers can carry out transactions using the SMS function of their phones. Customers, with just a simple text message, can make wireless and mobile payments to other institutions, transfer funds from one account to another, and confirm or track customers’ banking activities. In fact, this mass transmission of SMS to bank customers significantly reduced fraud incidents in financial organizations and decreased cases of identity theft.

There is no doubt that sending bulk SMS messages is cheaper than making voice calls and much more efficient than sending emails. Most subscription-based businesses strive to include the SMS feature in their list of services with clients. Within organizations, SMS sending has also established an order through which employees or members can receive immediate reminders without having to open their email accounts.

If you are a small business owner and want to delve into mobile marketing practices, one of the most affordable options you have is to invest in a bulk SMS gateway campaign. Its nature is cheap and its premise is efficient. You can reach thousands of recipients with a single command and receive thousands of comments from the same recipients almost immediately.

Relationship

Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction

admin

Accountability is the main component of progress. In the event that you are determined enough, no one will be able to prevent you from achieving the goal of your whim. So anytime you get up towards the beginning of the day, make sure you are determined about your goal.

It will help you buckle up. In addition, it will stimulate you to work much harder. Also, it will tie you inside an order. In addition, a trained life is essential to progress. To be exact, it will make you a superior human. You will have the option of understanding your problems quickly and you will have the option of finding answers for them.

Plus, it will provide you with the ability to move on. Another advantage of security is that it will help you overcome disappointment, which is fundamental to our life. You must understand that disappointment will not characterize your future. Your prosperity will characterize your future. So stay determined as it will help you get into bed fully.

Most of us are still not sure what precisely that ideal life entails, so leaving everything we have is meaningless.

Therefore, we are forced to continue with the day-to-day routines that we are currently experiencing, maintaining the existence that we have created so far for ourselves and, at the same time, creating a more current and better future for ourselves. .

The way to complete your day solid is to start on the right note. Instead of pressing the nap button over and over, instead of covering your face under the sheets, you need a moment to just relax.

Pause for a minute to allow your psyche to clear, take in the truth around you, and then focus around your goal.

Allow yourself to imagine how you will feel once you achieve that goal and use it to fuel your day.

If you start your vacation day with some other design, at that point the daily grind that you are currently experiencing will take you away from the daily grind you want to find.

You need to complete the things that you realize you need to complete, or you will not have the option to grasp the correct reality. The explanation that changing our lives is problematic is that we are currently making progress with our own real factors.

In the event that you are not satisfied, at that point you clearly have not figured out how to keep your world within proper limits.

You allowed yourself to float once more into that former lifestyle that you are so desperately trying to give up. Which sucks because it’s been another day and you’ve wasted it recently.

In the event that you do not wake up sincerely and feel satisfied, you are overlooking a higher and more enchanting reality.

You need to wake up strong every day. Without energy, you will never achieve your life goals. Many people think little of the importance of energy; Without it, it is difficult to produce the essential power to cross the limits that life and all who comprise it have put in your direction.

To prevail throughout everyday life, you must take every achievement along the way no matter how small and use it as your primary impetus to fuel your energy for success and use it to propel yourself forward with more power.

Health Fitness

How many calories does Zumba burn?

admin

Have you recently tried to lose weight? Are you tired and confused by all the different “CARDIO” style dance classes?

Well, there is still hope for you! Meet Zumba Dance …

Zumba Dance is a combination of Latin and international music dance themes that creates a vibrant and successful fitness system. Routines include aerobic / fitness interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms that tones and sculpts the body.

ZUMBA uses the principles of interval training and resistance training to maximize caloric production, fat burning, and total toning.

It’s a combination of body-sculpting dance moves and easy-to-follow dance steps.

So how many calories does Zumba burn?

An average class can burn 500 to 800 calories! Of course, you can burn more or less depending on your intensity and fitness level. Your Zumba instructor will work with you to get maximum results … fast. How is that different? Better than exercising at home listening to a boring CD … right?

Along with Zumba dance classes, it’s important to follow these foolproof fat-loss nutrition tips that will maximize the amount of calories you burn:

* Eat veggies – Mix and match fresh veggies for variety. They are full of fiber and will help you burn more fat.

* Snack – Go ahead, eat only good things, such as nuts (especially almonds), vegetables, fresh and dried fruits.

* Walnuts: Almonds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans are great for you. Spice up that yogurt and salad by adding a few.

* Steel Cut Oats: Cook ¼ cup with 1 cup of rice milk (trust me, it’s delicious and you won’t need any sweetener) for breakfast.

* Protein: protein is a fat burner. How do you ask? Well, your body burns more calories digesting protein than eating any other type of food. Eating protein also prevents muscle wasting when dieting.

* Yogurt – It will help you lose weight and at the same time protect your muscles. Yogurt is also a simple and convenient snack. It is also rich in protein.

Follow these tips, attend as many Zumba classes as you can, and you’ll quickly maximize your calories burned.

So how many calories does Zumba burn? Follow these tips and you will burn enough to have that body of your dreams!

Legal Law

Safety and productivity go hand in hand

admin

Lasting productivity improvement requires the transition from a “fix it” mentality to a “fix it and prevent it” mentality. Nowhere is this more important than when it comes to workplace safety. Improving security and performance go hand in hand. An effective performance improvement program requires you to investigate the causes of accidents, determine the conditions that are at the root of those causes, and determine best practices to prevent those conditions from reoccurring. The solution is the implementation of a productivity and safety program.

An effective safety and productivity improvement program requires the creation of a central implementation team The central implementation team plays an important role as it will initiate the Productivity and Safety (IP&S) process in a target area, begin implementation, and will teach others in the area about the system.

The central implementation team manages the Productivity and Safety implementation process. However, the most important responsibility of the team is to encourage participation in the use of the IP&S system so that it can become part of everyone’s daily work.

Once you have established your central implementation team, you can begin to develop your IP&S program. The way you prepare the project will make or break it. The most important step is making sure you have the right people on board, the people who can give you the facts and make effective decisions.

Another critical part of preparation is making sure the purpose and goals of the project are crystal clear. Team members must understand and accept your mission to improve workplace safety through IP&S.

One way to do this is to create a flip chart with two columns. First, identify your target area. In the left column, list what your current conditions are, and in the right column, list what you want those conditions to be after you’ve completed IP&S for security.

Another key element of preparedness is documenting problems and setting targets for improvement. Keep in mind that for every major accident there are 29 minor accidents and 300 near-misses! Make sure to track these top three layers, measuring them by day or even by shift. You can post weekly totals for everyone to see. Use this information on current trends to set improvement goals. Most of this information should be readily available because the law requires it.

Scan the workplace to collect data and then analyze the data. Once you have identified the problems and categorized them, you need to get to the root causes of each problem. You can do this using a technique called “5 why”. The 5 whys technique requires participants to ask “why” at least five times, or to work on five levels of detail. Once it becomes difficult to answer the “why”, the root cause has probably been identified. While asking the 5 whys, don’t switch to asking “who?” The focus should be on the problem and not on the person involved. Sometimes you will have to ask “why” more than five times to get to the real cause of your problem.

As you can see, simply by identifying the category of the problem and then asking why the problem exists, you can discover the root causes that underlie many security problems.

Best practices are effective and reliable methods. They have already shown that they will improve safety in the workplace. Each time you identify the cause of a security problem, you can choose from a number of best practices that other companies have found effective in addressing the same cause.

A combination of recent OSHA guidelines and proven IP&S safety techniques will give you a strong set of best practices to choose from. First, make sure you adhere to current OSHA guidelines. You may find cases where you don’t correct them right away.

Then continue to work towards full control of conditions by using IP&S best practices. Remember, the workplace is a dynamic and ever-changing environment. Your problems are always changing.

For the IP & S program to work on your premises, it is necessary that:

  • Develop new awareness and skills.
  • Get support from management.
  • Provide continuous communication throughout the company.
  • Make improving productivity and safety standards a part of everyday work.
  • Promote full employee participation.
  • Create visual controls.

People control and manage the work area, so it is essential that everyone can differentiate between right and wrong. Consider using visual techniques such as lines, labels, signs, color codes, and lights that allow you to understand the standard at a glance and immediately correct any variations.

Lifestyle Fashion

Is your bank or broker your financial planner?

admin

Who is your financial planner?

Until now, most investors used to focus exclusively on making investments in various instruments, such as mutual funds, insurance, gold, etc. This was almost never supported by financial planning thinking. Now, however, many of them seek to create a financial plan that guides them on how much to save and helps them select the right investment instrument to channel their savings. This is done after a detailed study of your existing investments, income, expenses and risk profile.

Financial planning has become a buzzword today.

In recent years, and especially after SEBI banned mutual fund entry charges almost a year ago, there has been a sea change in perception about financial planning, both in the minds of investors and service providers. And thanks to the media for the awareness created, as most investors now seem to understand the concept (albeit vaguely).

Today, almost everyone in the financial services industry claims to do financial planning.

In fact, major banks, brokers, and distributors of financial products have opened departments or divisions that deal specifically with financial planning.

So, let’s understand the different types of service providers involved in this activity:

Banks: They are the most ubiquitous. They offer you everything from opening a bank account to remittances, investments and now they also help you get a financial plan.

Brokers / Distributors: They offer stocks, mutual funds, insurance, postal schemes, fixed income products, etc. Your neighborhood mutual fund distributor, insurance broker, and the largest private distributors nationwide are in this segment.

The biggest focus of banks and distributors is to sell (and not advise) their financial products, so that they can earn commissions on those products. In fact, they have been cases of improper sales, in which the broker protects his interests (through commissions) first rather than those of the client (wealth creation). Why? Because you, as investors, have fallen in love with the one-stop shop for solutions, which encourages you to present yourself as financial planners. It can add a lot of value to investors’ perception, but the focus on your financial health isn’t much. Most of the time, this service is offered free of charge, as you are expected to buy financial products from them. Financial planning is not your area of ​​focus. It is a means of achieving your goals of selling financial products and earning commissions.

Pure Fee based planners: A couple of years ago there weren’t many fee-based financial planners in the country. But since then many people and companies have emerged on the horizon, especially in the larger cities, where awareness of the concept is best. Now they take the business model of offering purely fee-based financial planning services very seriously. Well, some of them are well known and some are not. Thanks to their knowledge of financial planning education, most of them have also acquired the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) label.

Service providers offering both services: Obviously, these service providers offer financial planning and distribute financial products like mutual funds, insurance, stocks, etc. Financial planning becomes a vehicle they use to distribute their products. Many brokerages have become planners.

Financial planning fee:

The financial planning industry has not yet come to terms with charging for the service. While some that offer only planning services charge a fee that can range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000 and sometimes more, there are others who charge as a percentage of the assets you invest through them, which usually ranges from 1% to 2.5%. While others have a mixed fee model and charge you a flat fee for a plan and then an investment fee on your investments.

Pets

4 benefits of holistic medicine

admin

Holistic medicine is meant to focus on the whole being of a person. This provides a more holistic approach to healing and focuses on spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. The ability to focus on multiple areas makes it possible to diagnose the root cause of a disease or other complaint and aims to eliminate this disease by promoting a healthy life. Here are some of the main reasons to use holistic medicine:

Treat the whole body

One of the main benefits of holistic medicine is the ability to treat the entire body. A traditional practitioner will focus on treating a particular condition, disease, or problem, while alternative medicine such as holistic will take a different approach and ensure that the entire body is fully functional. Doctors in this area appreciate the body as a whole and must work in complete harmony to alleviate a condition or disease. That is why the holistic approach seeks to focus not only on the physical body, but also on the spiritual, mental and emotional aspects.

More time with a doctor

A typical complaint about visiting a traditional health center is how little time is spent talking with your doctor. But this is completely different with alternative practitioners who have a vested interest in finding useful information related to a patient’s emotional well-being, as well as other complaints that they may have to disclose. This means that each patient receives a full individual consultation with time to fully explain their problems.

Focus on preventing disease

Holistic medicine takes a preventive approach and takes several different approaches to prevent a condition or disease taking hold in the first place. Many of these patients who visit their doctor are likely to make an appointment when they are sick and need treatment and also when they are well without health problems. This means that you can create a health care plan that is practical for both disease prevention and ongoing wellness.

Treatment involves natural care

Rather than taking over-the-counter or prescription drugs, the holistic approach is much more focused on taking natural drugs, herbs, and supplements. This can also include a total detox program to increase the body’s ability to completely purge all toxins. A regular detox is great for fully balancing a person’s well-being. Exercise and nutrition are other key elements of this treatment approach. Meditation is a useful technique to help the patient suffer from episodes of stress and other emotional problems.

Real Estate

Can a bank legally make a profit on foreclosed property?

admin

As banks are foreclosing hundreds of thousands of properties across the country, the question continues to arise: “Can banks make a profit on foreclosed properties?” The simple answer is yes, but it takes some special circumstances to make it happen. If the owner knows how to protect his equity, he may get paid even if he loses his house to the bank.

If the lender convinces the homeowner to give up their property in exchange for a deed instead of foreclosure, the bank can make a profit on the sale and not have the added cost of foreclosure. It is generally accepted in the banking industry that a foreclosure costs an average of more than $ 40,000. These costs include loss of interest, loss of additional borrowing power, increased Federal Reserve requirements, costs of sale, property maintenance, and commissions to a sales agent.

The key to knowing whether the bank can make money depends on whether the property has equity. Probably 20% to 35% of the time when foreclosure takes place, there is equity in the property and there are no secondary or secondary ties. Many homeowners simply walk away from their homes believing they have no equity or cannot sell their home while it is in foreclosure.

If the bank takes the property to foreclosure auction and extinguishes the junior bonds, they will be building capital in a matter of minutes. However, if the property has minor ties, the lender will not accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure because the minor ties will remain tied to the property. So be careful, if a bank offers the owner a deed in lieu of foreclosure, there may be value in the property.

Once the property goes up for auction and the bank purchases it, the deed to the property is transferred to the bank after a redemption period. At this point, the bank can sell the property for whatever price it can get. If there is a profit, the bank is entitled to it.

In short, once the bank forecloses on a property, you are entitled to make a profit. Before owning, they cannot sell the property, only the owner of the deed (owner) can sell it. This happens in short sales all the time, as the bank has to agree to the sale price, but the owner must sign the transfer of the deed. In these cases, the bank takes a substantial discount on your mortgage to sell the property off its books. If the bank is out of bidding at the auction, which is close to their final judgment amount, they are owed the money but lose any fringe benefits.