Business

New Business Guide to Finance: Review of SBA Microloan Programs, Lines of Credit, and More

Everyone knows that you need money to start a business. The amount required and how it is obtained varies considerably depending on the owner, type of business, industry, strategy, advertising plan, etc. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you won’t need much, or you already have more than enough to get started and won’t have to take out a loan or look too hard for new business. Finance.

When looking for ways to raise money for your business, there are two main factors to consider: debt and equity. Debt refers to the line of credit that provides you with the amount of money you need, which will have to be repaid after a period of time.

Equity requires you to sell a portion of your business, in which case you won’t have to return the investment because the “owner” of the equity you sold will get profit, cash flow, voting rights, and basically a stake in the business. The amount of participation each investor gets varies depending on how much they invest and what was agreed upon.

Even if you get approved for a new business finance loan, you may not get the full amount you applied for. The way to improve your chances is to make sure you have a high credit score and that you can present to the lender, in as much detail as possible, how much you need, why you need it, and how you’re going to do it. spend every penny of it. Provide some proof that you will be financially stable enough to make the payments.

Microcredit programs for financing new businesses

SBA microloan programs are worth investigating. These are not as well known as some of the other types of SBA loans. They do not provide the funding directly; rather they do it through an intermediary. To qualify, the intermediary may require you to obtain some type of training. There’s a huge advantage to getting approved, not only because you’ll get some (if not all) of the money you’ll need, but because the training and support will help increase your chances of success.

There are also lines of credit to consider if you think your credit score is high enough to get approved for a new business finance credit card.

When it comes down to it, your best bet is US Business Funding. Through here, you can get fast and streamlined loan processing, a high probability of approval, flexible approvals for those who need new business financing but don’t have perfect credit.

Home Kitchen

An introduction to dining sets

In every home, there are usually three main common rooms where people spend most of their time. The room where you cook, the room where reading and entertaining are common, and the room where you eat all see their fair share of use. Just as kitchen and dining room furniture has evolved to meet the needs of modern families, so have dining room sets.

Traditionally, dining sets were made up of a large rectangular table surrounded by chairs. The two chairs at each head had arms, while the chairs at the sides had no arms. The furniture is almost always made of wood, and prior to the 19th century, unique to each home. While custom parts are still available today, they can be prohibitively expensive. Here’s a look at some of the most common styles of tables and chairs that are available today.

Modern

While wood may be the most common material for tables and chairs, there are other options for non-traditionalists. A metal table can bring a modern, minimalist style to any setting, especially when paired with more casual seating arrangements such as benches and stools. If you prefer a modern look, but without the metal, you can find a glass table to fit any size area. To complete the look, clear plastic chairs are available in various styles. Along with the sleek style, glass and plastic also make cleaning easy.

Second hand

If shopping for new dining room sets isn’t your thing, there are many wonderful options available in the classifieds or vintage stores. A bruised and battered collection of tables and chairs can be revived with a bit of sandpaper and a few coats of lacquer. Or if you prefer the more rustic look, you can leave the scratches and nicks on the piece.

redesigned

If you’re a skilled craftsman, or just have a lot of free time, you can try creating your own table from older materials. Some common materials used are planks for flooring, particularly in rarer woods like redwood, old wooden doors, and even reclaimed wood from shipwrecks. Done right, these materials can become truly unique dining sets that not only look fantastic, but also offer a story you can tell to any guest who sits in them.

intimate

Although the traditional table for meals is long and rectangular, more and more families are moving away from this trend. In some cases, it is due to the restrictions that a smaller living room places on the size of the furniture. However, most of the time, families simply prefer to sit closer to each other. This has led to the rise in popularity of small, round or square dining sets. These accommodations usually house four to six people maximum and allow for easy interaction and conversation.

Auto

Let’s bring futuristic architecture designs from the past period to life in holograms and 3-D models

There is a famous quote that goes something like this; “the future is not what it used to be”, and while that is a very funny statement, it is also quite true. You see, no more than 10 years ago I was able to buy several decades worth of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines at a garage sale, no doubt. As I went through each of them, I found it interesting to see how the artist’s conceptions had predicted and considered our future today. Of course, it doesn’t look anything like that, but it could.

Perhaps in the future with new materials, cars, boats, trucks and motorcycles could become flying vehicles, stronger than steel and 50 times lighter. It wouldn’t take much energy to make them fly, or keep them that way. Buildings could be built taller with less cost, less steel and concrete, and much safer and easily able to meet earthquake building codes here in California, or very tough building codes in New York City, for example.

Many of those photos and stories are still in my mind after reading all those old magazines. In fact, this article couldn’t do it justice, but I wish I could unload my mind so you could see what I’ve seen, to see those images and how my mind has drawn on them. Maybe you can see some of those old 2-D magazine articles online somewhere, I think there’s a website that has some of those old photos and stories. But better yet, wouldn’t it be great if we could bring everything to life in 3D hologram models for all to see?

There is an interesting YouTube video titled; “Architecture and Design, pt.4-Antonio Sant’Elia”, which shows the drawings and work of this famous architect before his death. He was one of the earliest and one of the best known “Futurist style” architects in Italy during his time.

This might give you an idea of ​​what I’m talking about, and with new materials we could bring many of these things to life not only in 3D holograms, but also in real buildings, inhabited by real people or with real businesses inside. . Yes, “the future isn’t what it used to be”, but doesn’t that mean the future can’t be? Maybe we just need to dream big, consider the ideas and concepts that have come before us, and then take them to the next level. That is all I am saying here, and I hope you will please consider all this and think about it.

Digital Marketing

How to Get a 4.0 or Higher Rating on Social Networking Sites

Most businesses these days rely heavily on internet marketing. And part of Internet marketing is the comments left by your current and past customers. In today’s world, it’s not who you know that matters, but what people who know you say about you on social media.

In today’s Internet world, instantly accessible through the use of smartphones, the social media platforms of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google, Yelp, LinkedIn and others allow access to online “rating” current of a company. You can also post a review of a business instantly with the same tools. This is good for consumers and may be good for business… or not. When someone is unhappy with the service you just provided, the food they had for dinner at your restaurant, or the product they just bought that broke, you can tell the world right away. They feel better and their internet rating has plummeted.

These days, it is very important that your satisfied customers leave positive comments about your company on the Internet. People looking for anything from a restaurant, a haircut, a jewelry store, or a property manager can search for a business based on its ratings online over a cup of coffee. Why would you choose a company that has 2.5 stars out of 5 when you can choose a company that has 4.5 stars out of 5?

But how do you get your customers to post positive reviews? In the property management business, we have two main groups; owners and tenants. Each is approached in the same way and good service is not limited to either group. We work hard to provide the best service to our landlords and renters, and by providing excellent service to both groups, we have a broader audience to reach out to. But don’t stop there, reach out to everyone you do business with; current clients, former clients, suppliers and professional contacts as well.

All personnel in our company are instructed to be aware of positive feedback received from any viable business contact. If they receive a compliment or some positive word about a situation or problem, we follow these guidelines:

– Send that person a pre-formatted email requesting feedback.

– In the email, the staff members thank the person for the compliment and ask them to do them a favor and post a positive comment online.

– Ask for a “five star” rating.

– Provide the links in your email to the social media platform where you want them to be posted. This is important as most people will need your guidance to get to the right online platform where you want them to post. Plus, you can control where they post so it has more value in your overall rating.

– Thank the landlord, tenant, or business contact again and let them know you appreciate their time and positive feedback.

Unfortunately, you won’t always get positive feedback, and that’s hard to control. On some social platforms, you can rebut the negative comment and sometimes that will get it removed. Also, when you ask for “five stars”, that will give positive feedback more weight than negative feedback and your rating will increase.

The best policy, of course, is to provide excellent service to ALL of your customers. Since the Internet and online qualifications are not going away, just consider this part of your daily business life and keep it up! And remember, Rome was not built in a day!

Health Fitness

Exercise and physical activities to gain muscles

Many physical activities can be done in our world today to gain muscles. I have sometimes met men who have muscular bodies and surprisingly don’t attend bodybuilding classes or training sessions. They are a lot of physical activities that one can do to gain muscles and have a fit body. It’s all about the daily visit to the gym for bodybuilding classes before you can pack on muscle, though it’s what works for most of us.

1. Lift weights routinely.
If you need to get a solid, strong body and build well-toned muscles right away, lift weights all the time. Weights work best and you should do them often. These include squats, deadlifts, overhead press, pull-ups, dips, bench press, and military press. You should perform 8 to 12 repetitions of any given activity. This would vehemently build your muscles fast.

2. Eat bunches of fruits and nutritious foods.
In the middle of the road to bodybuilding and muscles, you should eat a decent amount of exceptionally nutritious foods. Protein is essential! You should eat foods such as bubbled eggs, red meat, bubbled chicken, bubbled fish, and fish, for example, fish, shrimp, and salmon. You must complete your food routine with hygienic vegetables, natural products and nuts. The more protein you incorporate into your eating routine, the stronger and bigger your muscles will become.

3. Do a 45-minute brisk walk, jog, or run.
In the midst of building muscle, you should engage in physical activities like 30 minutes of brisk walking, running, or even sprinting. These are amazing activities to jump-start your digestion system and build your muscles faster and stronger.

4. Drink 12 glasses of water a day.
You had to drink no less than 12 glasses of water once a day. Normal water flushes out poisons from your body and this will make your muscles fit and solid.

5. Get plenty of rest.
Rest is vital on the way to building volume. You should rest for at least 8 hours or more a day. The more you rest, the stronger your muscles will build.

6. Relax.
Try not to stress yourself in any way during or after the training sessions. You should make arrangements to go to a cookout or go to your favorite place. The more you relax between workouts, the firmer your muscles will form.

7. Listen to music.
After finishing your substantial bodybuilding and muscle building workouts, listen to music. It will relax your muscles and your brain. You will begin to perk up and build a unique peace of mind. Music is truly a balance for your spirit and your brain. These days, many Hollywood movie stars listen to music after a bodybuilding workout. So finding out how to relax and listen to music to help build and relax muscles is also a great source.

Legal Law

Choose the perfect keywords for your LinkedIn profile title

Many people are stumped when it comes to choosing a LinkedIn profile title. What keywords should they include? How do you get that up and down symbol ( | )? (Press shift and the backslash key). Is it more important to have keywords or a tagline/Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

This article will mainly address the last question: Keywords or USP? The answer to the question depends on your main goal with your LinkedIn profile.

Below are several situations you might find yourself in. Find yourself as close as possible and manage your headline in the most appropriate way for your situation. If not exactly found, find the closest match and adjust from there.

1. You are looking for a job and want to be found in searches.*

If you’re a job seeker, your main goal is probably being found and contacted by recruiters and hiring managers. If so, you should focus on the keywords in your title. Keywords are the terms a recruiter would search for if they were looking for someone like you.

The prevailing wisdom is to pick 4-5 words as keywords and leave it at that. Adding extra words or extra characters like your email address can serve to dilute the effectiveness of your headline.

Manufacturing and Supply Chain Executive | Asia
Procurement and Contract Specialist | Treasury manager
Account Executive | OEM Sales | Field Sales | territorial manager
Communications Director | Brand | Online Marketing | social networks
Keep in mind that these headlines concentrate on the most essential keywords and don’t add any fluff to dilute their impact.

Some job applicants write “Open to new opportunities” in their title. Some recruiters really search for the term “opportunities” and may find it that way. Other recruiters will ignore you if you put that phrase in your title. My advice is to try it one way, and if you don’t get the attention you want, try another way. That’s the beauty of social media…nothing is set in stone.

2. You are looking for a job and your main goal is to look good when people find you.

Perhaps you are currently employed and conducting a highly selective and confidential job search. Or maybe you want people to search for you primarily after you’ve contacted them. If so, you may not be particularly looking to be found in searches. In this situation, you have more flexibility when crafting your title. I recommend that you write your job title and a catchy phrase, tagline, or unique selling proposition.

Examples:
Senior Financial & Analytical Coach | Driving international business teams to the top
Manager of Programs, Processes and Projects | Creation and Implementation of Innovative Technological Solutions
Managed Care Professional | Building relationships with care and integrity.

3. You are an entrepreneur or professional and you want people to find you.*

If you’re a business owner or professional looking to attract customers, include the keywords your customers would search for in your headline.

During admission season, I change my keywords to emphasize college essays and MBA admissions consulting.

Change your keywords as much as you like until you get the number of visitors to your site each day that you’re looking for.

4. You are a business owner or professional and just want to build a close network of strong business connections.

If you’re getting low on LinkedIn and selectively building a network, really all you need is your job title and your organization. LinkedIn will take care of that for you.

*NOTE TO CATEGORIES 1 AND 3: Remember that the number of views you get on your LinkedIn profile will always increase as your number of connections increases.

BEWARE of LinkedIn Default!

If you update your current job title, LinkedIn automatically changes your title unless you check the box that allows you to opt out. If this happens, take control and change your title if you want it to say something different!

Lifestyle Fashion

Total Eye Care – Dermalogica Dramatic Daily Eye Treatment

Total Eye Care is Dermalogica’s answer to an eye cream that is about more than just moisturizing the skin. The skin around the eyes is very delicate; It’s no wonder the eyes are one of the first places to show signs of aging and damage. The skin around the eyes is thinner and does not contain oil glands.

As we age, fine lines appear due to lack of moisture around the eye area, and elasticity and collagen break down, causing our skin to fold around the eye area from all those years of sun damage. Some people suffer from puffiness and dark circles around the eyes, and flaking and dryness can be made more apparent by a lack of oils in the eye area.

Most eye creams are only capable of moisturizing the tissues around the eyes and in fact some eye creams can be too moisturizing, actually clogging the delicate eye area and causing milia (small white bumps and hard under the surface of the skin). Milia can be caused by rich ingredients like mineral oil or lanolin; I have even found these ingredients in eye makeup removers.

Milia can be difficult to remove and usually involves treatment with a skin care therapist who is skilled at removing milia with a needle. I have seen this in many people and it can also be due to using your normal moisturizer around the eye area.

Moisturizers are generally made for the face and not the eyes. Eye creams are formed with a smaller molecular structure, so they can penetrate the delicate eye tissue and not clog pores.

I really like dermalogica total eye care for one simple reason: SUNSCREEN! I don’t know why eye cream companies don’t put sunscreen in their eye cream formulations, but they should, as the sun breaks down a lot of collagen and elastin in that area.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients in this Dermalogica day eye cream and see what it can do for you.

Ingredients for total eye care

Dermalogica Total Eye Care Cream was created to address the “total” issues of aging and damage in the eye area. Let’s take a look at the ingredients and see how this eye cream works on the skin.

Total Eye Care is not just an eye contour moisturizer, it actually contains the active ingredient Lactic Acid, which is an alpha hydroxy acid that naturally increases hydration in the skin and also gently smoothes and retextures skin tissues. . Dermalogica actually uses a six percent concentration in this formulation, the lactic acid is found naturally in the skin, meaning it is smoother and less likely to irritate delicate tissues and also improves the appearance.

Sodium PCA is also added. I know that sounds like a fun chemical, but it is actually the moisturizing factor that is naturally found in the skin. Sodium PCA increases hydration around the eye area and softens the skin. This ingredient is also used in dermalogica’s multi-active toner. Another great benefit of this eye cream is that it includes a chemical free SPF15 sunscreen, I love it!

Titanium dioxide is a natural sunscreen that protects the eyes from both types of UV rays (UVA and UVB rays). This means that you can have complete sun protection for your eyes during the day and without irritation. Total Eye Cream is actually pink in color, this is due to the natural iron oxides used in the product. They have light reflecting capabilities that allow you to minimize darkness without adding any color to your eyes (unless you use too much!).

These iron oxide minerals are great at scattering light, can help reduce the appearance of dark circles and give you a fresh look (however, if yours are particularly bad, it won’t do any good! My advice: sleep more and increase your water intake, to flush out toxins).

This eye cream with each application also tightens and firms the delicate eye area and reduces puffiness. As it does? Total Eye Care contains the extracts of Spiraea, Hydrocotyl, Orange Flower, Bisabolol, Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate) and Allantoin. Spiraea, Hydrocotyl, and Bisabolol plant extracts help firm and reduce swelling of skin tissue because they have anti-inflammatory properties. Allantoin and orange flower extracts soothe and calm the skin.

Total Eye Care is more than just an everyday eye cream, it’s truly total eye protection for your skin.

  1. Hydration: Lactic Acid (increases skin hydration from within, Sodium PCA, Vitamin E, Amino Acids (helps skin absorb moisture).
  2. Exfoliation – Alpha Hydroxy Acid Lactic Acid at 6% strength.
  3. Protection: Chemical-free SPF15 sunscreen and Vitamin E to help prevent free radicals from pollution and the environment.
  4. Reduce puffiness and firmness: Spiraea extract, hydrocotyl, and bisabolol.
  5. Reduces Dark Circles: Iron oxides are used as optical light diffusers to reduce the appearance of dark circles.

Total Eye Care is a great product everyone should use this amazing eye cream however the texture can be a bit light for more mature people if that is the case I have found using total eye care the eyes above say intensive eye repair is fine (since you get the sun protection this way).

This eye cream is suitable for use during the day only due to the included sunscreen, at night in the dermalogica range you can use Multivitamin Power Firm or Intensive Eye Repair, but during the day use your Total Eye Care.

Pets

Tips for when you are separated but want to reconcile with your spouse

I often have people tell me that they are in a state of great anxiety when they separate from their spouse. They are often in quite a bit of pain and assume the worst as they feel their life is in crisis. I understand this completely. The period of time my husband and I were apart was one of the most painful and frightening of my life. Looking back though, I realize I could have done a few things that would have made it a lot easier. I probably could have saved myself a lot of pain too. So, in the next article, I’ll offer some tips on how to best handle a trial separation so that it goes as smoothly as possible, and so that you have the best chance of improving or saving your marriage rather than ending it.

Don’t assume your marriage is over: I can’t tell you how common it is for people to assume that the beginning of a breakup means the end of their marriage. Of course, they hope this is not true. But deep in their hearts, they fear that it is.

While this is understandable, it is very important that you do not allow any doubts to cloud your judgment and affect your actions. Yes, I know this is scary. But very often, if you fear one thing so much that you place every thought or action in alignment with it, you almost make the thing you fear most more likely.

Not all couples who separate end up divorcing. Many don’t. Some not only save their marriages, but also make them even better. And, even better news than this is that your actions, behaviors, and strategies can have an impact on what happens now. It’s not like you have no control over the outcome. You do. So be careful not to give up before you’ve had a chance to fight. I know firsthand that this is a scary time, but do your best to think positively, knowing that this will give you the best chance of success and make this easier to bear.

Try to agree on the details before someone moves in: I know it can be painful and awkward to talk in advance about how often you will meet or communicate. But this is almost always going to be the best call. One of the biggest problems of conflict once the separation begins is not meeting expectations. Often one person will assume one thing while the other will assume another. When expectations or hopes are not met, people feel hurt or assume the worst. All of this can be avoided if you describe what will happen before someone moves in and before the misunderstandings start. Try to agree on everything you can so you both know what to expect.

Describe what you will do to improve the situation. Commit to being proactive instead of reactive: Many people just blindly hope that time and distance will work for them. In other words, they prepare and hope for the best. I’m not going to tell you that this is an impossible strategy. Often a breakup shows both people that they take each other for granted and often miss each other so much that they are motivated to get along much better.

But, the problem with this is that even though the motivation level goes up, sometimes nothing has been done to resolve the issues that lead to the breakup to begin with. So while that issue may not come up again in the reconciliation phase, wait until your relationship is under stress again. This brings doubts and insecurity that can lead to more problems.

In short, if you can commit to working through your issues (and this can happen after the breakup is over if that’s easier for you), then you’ll have a lot more confidence in your marriage. And as a result, you will have much less chance of this happening again.

Don’t do things that you will later regret. Remember that he is still married: Sometimes, when there are many questions about what will happen to the future of your marriage, you can start to feel that what you do today will not matter anyway. One of the biggest things that prevents a reconciliation is when one or both spouses behave during the separation that ends up putting their marriage in jeopardy. People will often act in ways that they never would have considered when they weren’t apart. And in a sense this is understandable because you are vulnerable and under a lot of stress. So it can feel pretty good to let off steam. Or it might be tempting to go out for a drink with that cute co-worker because it would boost your self-esteem at a time when it’s desperately needed.

However, I firmly believe that you should resist these temptations. You’re still married and I can’t tell you how often I see marriages end because one or both spouses started dating during the breakup. Don’t do anything that could jeopardize your marriage, and know that your spouse may discover things you were sure would remain secret.

Know that being strong and carrying yourself with dignity will only help your marriage in the long run: People often resist becoming self-employed when they are apart. Understandably, your entire focus is on your spouse, your marriage, and what is wrong. But frankly, there’s probably never been a better time to work on yourself. First of all, you probably have more free time right now. Second, it will often make you feel productive and provide some relief. Third, it is likely to make her appear more attractive to her husband. I know it’s easy to just sit at home and get discouraged about her situation, but doing so doesn’t bring your husband closer to you. But, if she sees that you make the best of things because you love and respect yourself enough to do so, then she will do the same. Valuing yourself enough to do this makes you appear more valuable to others. And increasing your perceived value can be vital right now.

Shopping Product Reviews

Correcting the “Out of Space in Root File System” Error Message in the Sun Solaris Operating System

Kernel patches in the Solaris OS are installed primarily to increase performance and remove bugs. While kernel patches provide many benefits, installing these patches can also result in an error message. Once the error message appears, the system cannot be booted and all the data saved on the hard drive is inaccessible. To solve these problems, a perfect solution is to restore data from an updated backup. However, if no backup is available or the backup fails to restore the desired information, then you should use efficient Sun Solaris Sparc recovery software.

As a practical use case, install the Solaris 10 137137-09 (SPARC) kernel patches on your system. After the installation is complete,

“Nov 16 12:52:41 beetle reboot: rebooted by root

Creating boot_archive for /var/run/.patch_root_loopbackmnt

updating /var/run/.patch_root_loopbackmnt/platform/sun4u/boot_archive

15+0 input registers 15+0 output registers

Nov 16 12:53:03 ufs beetle: NOTICE: alloc:/: filesystem full

cat: write error: no space left on device

Nov 16 12:53:05 syslogd beetle: going down on signal 15

syncing file systems…done

restart…

Reboot with the command:boot

Boot device: /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@0,0:a File and arguments: kernel/sparcv9/unix

search failed

Warning: code sequence F resulted in a net stack depth change of 1

evaluating:

evaluating:

The newly uploaded file does not appear to be executable.”

After the above error message appears, the system cannot boot and the data saved on the hard drive becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

The root cause for the above error message to appear is the change in the boot architecture due to the installation of kernel patches. The above error message occurs primarily on SPARC systems where there is less than 550 MB of free space on the root file system.

Resolution:

To resolve the above error and access the data, you need to follow these steps:

1. Boot your computer from the network/CD/DVD using a Solaris 10 05/08 (or later).

2. Mount the root file system slice to /

3. rm -f //platform/’uname -m’/boot_archive

4. //sbin/bootadm -a update_all

However, if the above steps do not resolve the issue and the data is still inaccessible, then you should use the powerful Sun Solaris Sparc data recovery software to recover your data. These Sun Solaris Sparc recovery tools use high-end scanning mechanisms to recover your data. These recovery applications recover your data after fsck fails to repair system data structures.

Stellar Phoenix Software (Solaris – Sparc) is a powerful Sun Solaris data recovery utility that recovers data from the Solaris OS on the Sparc platform. This non-destructive recovery tool supports UFS file systems. It installs on Windows (XP, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98 and 95) and the affected UNIX hard drive must be attached as a slave.

Sports

Cabinet Session: Artest’s Bomb Ticks

It will only end in tears.

Sure, ESPN has wasted millions in airtime pontificating (as only they can) about the benefits of acquiring problem players. You’ve seen the highlights: Dennis Rodman kicking people around, Terrell Owens doing sit-ups in the driveway, Darryl Strawberry wiping white powder under his nose, Steve Howe returning to the Yankees after his thousandth drug suspension. Did you know? For once, I agree with the Boys from Bristol. The Sacramento Kings’ deal for Ron Artest is fool’s gold. The idea that Artest will suddenly be a good citizen in the most boring city in the league (alright, Salt Lake City and Orlando, I see you waving your hands) is nonsense. Oh sure, he’ll be on his best behavior for a couple of months, and maybe even make it to the playoffs without being filmed shirtless and in flip-flops, barging and yelling at the opposing team’s bus. But eventually, and soon enough, the Kings will wish they had never heard his name.

I guarantee you, they didn’t budge much: Peja Stojakovic seems uninterested these days (although Indiana can try it for a couple of months, and if they don’t like it, they get a lot of slimy cap). relief to let him go). But my argument is that a healthy NBA franchise shouldn’t have faced Artest even for free. He’s just a spoiled, immature jerk with personal issues that make Robert Downey Jr. look like the Dalai Lama. You’ll wake up to your tea and scones one morning, turn on the subway, and learn that Artest has barricaded himself in a Denny’s and refuses to come out unless Michael Jackson frees Blanket. Or he’ll be driving home from work, tune in to sports radio and hear a report that Artest is in trouble because his latest rap song calls for the overthrow of the Brazilian government. Really, that’s the only fun left for guys like Artest and TO: the impossible spectacle of their inevitable detonation.

Of course, before they detonate themselves, they will most likely detonate their teams. Best of luck, Sacramento.

What was your impression of the AFC and NFC title games? How did the public do betting on those games?

Greg Jorssen, BoDog: Surely the two Jakes didn’t come to play last Sunday, right? Plummer lived up to the belief that he can’t do it, and the Seahawks did an amazing job shutting down the Delhomme/Smith passing attack. Public betting did pretty well on the Steeler win as they jumped on the Pittsburgh bandwagon, however, they didn’t fare too well on the Seahawks win. Oddsmakers were betting heavily on Carolina, based on the Seahawks’ strength on the schedule vs. Carolina’s, and the Panther road record. Guess they forgot about Seattle’s secret weapon: The Twelfth Man. Boy was the stadium rocking on Sunday afternoon! The only thing that saved the books last weekend was that the final scores wiped out most of the teasers. Since both wins were landslides, this helped turn what should have been a losing day for the house into a winning day.

We’ll have another week to really dive into Super Bowl analysis, but what’s your first impression of the Pittsburgh/Seattle lineup? I’m not asking for a pick, just your thoughts as an expert on how the line got to where it is, if you expect it to move, etc…

GJ, BoDog: The line opened up as expected and should finally settle around Pittsburgh -4 ½. Two things spring to mind as to why an AFC #6 team would be the favorite over the NFC’s #1 team. First is the strength of the schedule. Seattle ranked last in schedule difficulty, which was expected considering the poor season the NFC West showed. The Steelers, on the other hand, were in ninth place, and a fair amount of their losses were due to key injuries. The second factor is, of course, emotional. People love underdogs and will ride their bandwagon to the bitter end. I expect some big money later in Seattle; However, it is already clear that the house will cheer for the Seahawks!

How many prop bets do you expect to see on the various boards? Do you have a favorite from the past that you remember? Anything particularly funny or outrageous?

GJ, BoDog: I can’t speak for the other books, but bodog will have over 150 endorsements in the Super Bowl. Every year’s favorite is, of course, the coin toss, which nets us a tremendous mango. As for the scandalous, the one that comes to mind is our support on the length of the National Anthem! We don’t offer that one anymore, because it was too hard to modify (some singers love to be in the spotlight). We also had endorsements during the 2001 Super Bowl about whether Shaq would outscore the St. Louis Rams, and we’ve had similar endorsements every year since. Hmmm, after Kobe’s performance on Sunday, maybe a line on whether Kobe will beat both teams in the Super Bowl… let me work on that!

Switching gears completely: I guess if Kobe Bryant scored 82 points the other night, you missed out on a big bet, huh? What’s the deal with Kobe taking 81 off his tuckus?

GJ, BoDog: The Lakers are now “The Kobe Show,” and he is someone who now put an early stamp on the MVP award. The big question is: why didn’t the Raptors double it down? Did you think that it would eventually settle down, that it would eventually fail? No wonder they lost to the Israeli National Team! At halftime, Kobe decided to take matters into his own hands, because the Lakers were so far behind such a bad team. He had no choice but to do it himself, and I really don’t think there are many others in this league who can do what he did. Many will say that this is bad for basketball, that it is a team game, etc. I don’t buy that. Kobe stole the headlines of both NFL Conference Championships. One man changed the sports focus from the NFL to the NBA. That in itself is just amazing. People don’t say he’s the “next Jordan” anymore. After his performance on Sunday, he will be known as “the first Kobe!”