Business and Finance Week: May 2014

More on our student show

Carol L. Douglas Studio Annual Student Show

The VB Brewery, 6606 New York 96, Victor, NY 14564

Opening reception, Sunday June 8, from 1-4 PM

Kitty's Dog, Moke, by Christine Long

I have an elderly Jack Russell terrier with whom I have a love-hate relationship. Yes, he is pea-brained, attacks small animals, and tries to bite the mail carrier, but he’s also affectionate and loyal.

Yesterday, one of my students, Christine Long, dropped off this painting for our student show. It could be my Max, with the breed’s characteristic pose and slightly worried expression. It will be in our student show in June at the VB Brewery in Victor.

Three abstractions, by Cath Bullinger, Brad VanAuken, and Carol L. Douglas. We're auctioning these to raise money for the Open Door Mission.

In April of last year, Cath Bullinger, Brad VanAuken and I collaboratedon three abstractions. With the passage of time—and the addition of frames—I think they were quite wonderful.

Of course, they were an experiment, so when I was asked whether one of them was for sale, I was nonplussed and dropped the ball. They’ve been hanging around my studio since.

The three of us have decided to auction off the three paintings to benefit the Open Door Mission here in Rochester. They’ll be hanging in our student show. Just stop by in the month of June and pencil your name and bid in on the silent auction form. At the end of the month, the highest bid wins. And with an opening bid of $50, you have a decent shot of getting a nice painting for a great price, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping a great organization.

Camden Harbor Reflections, by Pamela Casper.

Two of my 2013 workshop students have graciously volunteered to send work for the student show. Both are working artists. Pamela Casper lives in NYC and has shown extensively in the United States and Europe. Nancy Woogen paints, teaches and exhibits in the Hudson Valley.

There are still a few openings in my 2014 workshop in Belfast, ME. Information is available here.

Come celebrate with us

Still life by Jingwei Yang

Art-making is in some ways a hard slog. You have to be willing to try again after disappointment, you have to be more enamored of the process than the results—most of all, you have to keep doing it to be any good.

Speedo: A Hermit Crab's Mid-Life Crisis, by Nina Koski.

My students work very hard, and we usually see progress in fits and starts—a wonderful painting glistening on an easel suddenly makes up for the days when it doesn’t seem to be working.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget the progress that’s being made, until you have the honor of having a collection of work piling up on your dining room table in anticipation of a show.

Pericles and Golli, by Nathan Tomlinson.

A painting in a frame is like a handsome person who dons a suit; suddenly that painting has gravitas, presence, authority. And I suddenly have a large collection of said paintings waiting to be seen.

Maine shore, by Sandy Quang.

So please join us for the opening of our class show at VB Brewery, Sunday, June 8, from 1 to 4 PM. That’s at 6606 New York 96, Victor, NY 14564. The work will be hanging throughout the month of June.

Deck shoes, by Teressa Ramos.

Come paint with me in Belfast, ME! Information is available here.

The Importance Of Real-time Data On Business Financials

Having access to real-time financial data is critical to running a business in today’s economy. Better yet, it’s a prerequisite to success and the most important part of remaining up-to-date with a company’s financial performance. Unfortunately, far too many of today’s businesses rely upon manual processes when managing their company’s day-to-day finances. Far too many are forced to deal with data entry and key entry errors, ones that come from managing the company’s finances via excel spreadsheets, word documents and timesheets.

The reality is that these reporting systems aren’t live, don’t benefit from collaborative efforts, have inaccurate information, are rarely updated on time and can’t provide the type of real-time data that today’s enterprises need to make critical financial decisions. This is why it’s of vital importance that companies have access to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that tracks the business’s finances in real time. Here are just some of the reasons why today’s businesses must have real-time data tracking on their financial performance.

Inventory Reconciliation

Properly managing inventory is essential to improving gross profit on sales and growing the company’s revenue and market share. With this comes the responsibility of reconciling inventory on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. Companies must have a live system capable of tracking a company’s value of inventory in terms of its carrying costs, its costs of financing, its costs of obsolescence, its costs of damage, its costs of theft and finally, its costs of freight. ERP software allows companies to not only track the value of inventory in real-time, but it allows them to see the impact of each of these costs on a daily basis. Since inventory is often a company’s largest asset, having access to real-time financial data is critical to mitigating these aforementioned costs.

Cash Flow Management

Maintaining a positive cash position is vital in today’s economy. Proper cash flow management means the company must continually manage and reduce its costs of inventory and receivable financing. Increasing inventory turnover rates, and reducing the time it takes to collect on receivables, are both critical aspects to reducing the company’s financing and maintaining a positive cash position. Proper cash flow management depends upon having access to real-time data, the kind of data that is easily accessible, readily available and always indicative of the company’s costs of inventory and receivable financing.

Real Time Financial Reporting

At the end of the day, it’s all about having access to accurate financial data. Companies must not only manage their day-to-day finances, but they must have the necessary financial information in order to decide upon long-term capital expenditures. This information is also needed when companies plan on expansion as accurate financial data is critical to a go/no-go decision. In addition, timely financial data helps companies decide whether to treat fixed assets as either onetime purchases, or capitalized assets that are depreciated over time. These decisions come from having real-time data on income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. These three financial reporting structures rely upon the kind of data that simply can’t be managed by excel spreadsheets or multiple timesheets.

Today’s businesses are constantly struggling to maintain a positive cash position. A large part of the problem relates to the high costs of dealing with customer bankruptcies and late receivables collection. Other issues pertain to a company’s costs to finance its inventory counts. Ultimately, companies need access to real-time financial data because it helps them to better manage their finances, which in turn allows them to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. This is why so many of today’s companies must do away with the high costs of managing finances via timesheets, word documents and excel spreadsheets.

Paintings, paintings everywhere!

The Amathus sarcophagus (5th century BC, Cyprian archaic period) was excavated by General Cesnola in Amathus, Cyprus and purchased from General Luigi Palma di Cesnola in 1874. Frankly, it’s absurd to talk about intellectual property rights for objects purchased from tomb robbers.

I believe that our shared art heritage should be available to all (especially the parts that were plundered in the first place). The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently announced that it has released 400,000 digital images of its collection into the public domain. While the Met has always had images online, the new database includes high-resolution views suitable for scholarly study.

Two misconceptions need to be cleared up. First, this is not the Met’s whole collection, which numbers far more than 400,000 items. Also, no online viewer can “let you see the pieces as you might if you visited the museum in New York City, in person,” as one breathless reviewer wrote. There is no substitute for a real walk around a museum.

George Caleb Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, c. 1845. It’s a lot more fun to see this in person and enter the inevitable debate about whether that’s a cat and if so, why it’s on a boat. But when it’s on the internet, it’s definitely a cat.

On the other hand, many of these objects can't be viewed in the museum at all, since they're not on display. That makes this online collection invaluable.

The Met is following a general trend in the art world to make access to artwork easier. The Farnsworth Art Museum bucks this trend, and I wish they’d stop. There is so much that can be learned from studying the technique of a master painter, and not all of us can go to Rockland to look at Andrew Wyeth’s preparatory sketches. (But if you want to, join me for my workshop in Belfast this summer.)

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, 1662-65, Johannes Vermeer. To choose one work to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the Met’s collection is impossible, so why not start here?

The Met allows dissemination of images for scholarly purposes. What does that mean? Essentially, it means anything that isn’t for commercial gain, like reprinting images on umbrellas, scarves, and coffee mugs—those rights they reserve for themselves alone.

You can view the Met’s collection here.

Come paint with me in Belfast, ME! Information is available here.

Painting peonies at Highland Park

Peonies by Nina Jarmolych Koski

“If a watched pot never boils, how can a flower completely open while you’re painting it?” asked Nathan Tomlinson at Highland Park on Saturday. I could see his point. At 10 AM when he sketched his idea onto his canvas, the peony in question was half-open. By 2, when we left, it was wilted.

Pretty wilted but still beautiful by mid-afternoon.

The change in the flowers was unusually dramatic, because we were making a dizzying leap from cold spring rain into glorious summer weather. All of Rochester realized it, too, and came out to photograph the flowers.

Peonies, by Nathan Tomlinson.

I didn’t realize it was Memorial Day weekend until we were mobbed by tourists. At one point, Nina Koski leaned over and whispered, “There are four different languages being spoken right next to us.” Since I love playing tour guide, I had a great time directing people to the lilacs, the pansy bed, and the conservatory, and explaining what a pinetum is.

Peony, by Jingwei Yang.

These three are all very inexperienced painters: Nate has been with me since early February, Jingwei and Nina since the end of February. Their progress has been fantastic in a very short time, and they’re making the leap to plein air painting with a great deal of self-assurance.

Who can resist photographing the darn things?

The biggest problem they faced was that their palettes couldn’t match the chromatic intensity of the peonies themselves, gilded by back light on this beautiful, intense day. Nate, who is using muddy Charvin oil paints, had the most trouble, but there are many things in the natural world that are more intense than any paint can match. The answer, then, is to make the chroma you can muster up sing against the background.

Peonies by little ol' me.

I had time to do a small watercolor between annoying my students. The nature of watercolors makes it a little easier to give the illusion of high chroma even with a limited sketch kit, so I didn’t suffer quite as much as they did.

Come paint with me in Belfast, ME! Information is available here:

http://watchmepaint.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-great-opportunity.html

The Law Of Scarcity

Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Genesis 1:26-28). After God spoke order and abundant life into the darkness and chaos that was earth, He beheld it and declared that it was very good. Adam and Eve, made in the very image of God, were to learn to be like God. They were to have dominion over the earth just as their Father, Creator has dominion over everything. They were in training to rule with God as children in the Royal household or family of God. Their task as overseers of earth was blessed.

Unfortunately, at some point, Adam chose to stand silently by as the serpent enticed his wife and then himself to rebel against God. You may never have given it much thought but one of the ways Adam and Eve violated God’s Law was by theft. They stole fruit from God that He clearly told them was not theirs to have. God had given them everything and blessed them with abundance and yet they were convinced that it was not enough.

The law of scarcity is observed as man’s attempt to fulfill his infinite wants with finite resources. Because of this theft, God was going to crank scarcity up a notch.

You can read in Exodus 22:1-4 that it is required of the thief to restore not only that which he has stolen but there must be a quantitative loss to the thief. If the thief is not able to make full restitution, then he must be sold into slavery to pay off the full amount. Now look at how Adam was indeed punished according to the restitution law concerning theft.

In Genesis 3:17-19, the Judge of the universe pronounces sentence on Adam. “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you…In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…”

Before Adam’s theft, due to the sheer magnitude of abundance given to him as a blessing, Adam would make light work of maintaining himself, his family and the garden. This would have freed up much of his time to pursue other ventures to build and to grow and reach new heights. Adam would have grown spiritually and truly developed into a full blown son of God, maturing into the very image of His maker.

So notice the punishment is a curse on the abundance. Now Adam would fritter away his whole life (as all men generally do now) just keeping food on his table, clothes on his back and a shelter over his head from the time he is able to work until the day of his death. Adam rebelled against God whom has dominion over man. Now God allowed creation itself to rebel against Adam so he could experience what it is like to deal and work with rebellion. The curse brought enmity and fear between man and animal. The crops no longer yielded abundantly and the soil rebelled, bringing forth weeds to reduce production. The creeping things of the earth (insects) rebelled against Adam, destroying his crops and spreading disease. Weather patterns changed, also wreaking havoc on production; both food and construction of homes, villages, and societies.

The law in Exodus also requires that the thief be sold into slavery until the debt is paid. Adam indeed has sold his offspring into the bondage of sin. Sadly, instead of repentance, Satan has convinced man that the solution to scarcity is more theft by continuing to seek, within himself, the fulfillment of his wants and spiritual needs that only the Creator can fulfill. Man is perpetually duped into eating more and more of the forbidden fruit, hoping the next bite will be the missing dimension needed to be whole. Man continues to eat from this tree because he stole from it, to begin with, under the premise that man is inherently good and capable of defining what is right and then doing the right.

No one in their right mind would believe that the solution to overcoming sin is to sin more yet that is exactly what man has shown by his actions for 6,000 years. Our solution to theft is more theft to the level of governments that enforce social justice and the redistribution of wealth. Our solution to debt is to spend ourselves into greater debt as we can see in our own nation today where we are the world’s greatest debtor nation having surpassed all of Europe, including Britain, by 2.4 trillion dollars. Our solution to overcoming bondage is more bondage as we embrace the State as a solution instead of the Ten Commandments which James so rightly describes as “the law of liberty”.

Thanks be to God, that He has provided a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from this curse in due time. Understanding this curse and its purpose is key to alleviating and overcoming its effects in a Christian’s walk. It is the answer to the question so many scoffers and would-be believers alike, who ask, “If there is a God, why does He allow so much suffering?” Count your blessings in this life, being content in a fallen world where nature itself is rebelling against us and seek God to fill the void we all have that can only be filled by our Father.

Lilacs in an old farmyard

Lilacs in an old farmyard, oil on canvas, 14X11, by little old me.

Yesterday I spent four hours painting standing up. I was able to finish—if not brilliantly, at least successfully. I think I’m on target for recovery before I leave for Maine in mid-July.

Here's the barn. Ain't she a beauty?

This barnyard—at G and S Orchards in Walworth, Ontario County—spoke to me the first time I saw it. Niagara County was dairy and apple-growing country when I was a kid, and I really enjoy being up close to a farm again.

But I’m grateful I’m not running it. Gary told me he was up at 3:30 AM, and he would be working until 9:30 PM.

I’ve again laid out the steps of this painting for my beginning painting students:

A careful drawing, to start. This one, again, is in watercolor pencil.

A map of darks using a thin wash of ultramarine-and-burnt-sienna.

A color-map of thin paint. From here you can go forward to paint the details.

Come paint with me in Belfast, ME! Information is available here:

http://watchmepaint.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-great-opportunity.html

Why People Should Choose Financial Planner Course

Financial planners are in great demand these days. With the growing number of multinational companies India is poised to become the Economic Hub of the world and there is a more demand for those individuals who are expert in managing business related affairs for companies and organizations. There are plenty of courses in finance available these days that students and aspirants could take on however they should ensure that the institute they are taking admission is at par with the quality and has a sound track record of offering quality education to students.

After having served students for a long period we realized that most of the students in India are staying in villages and remote areas where there are no quality institutes and colleges. And here comes the need of online education. icofp.org is one of those institutes that have received wide recognition from students and knowledge seekers across India. To bridge this gap we gave come up with some online financial courses which students could take on without bothering much about their geographic location and financial needs.

With this article we have come up with some facts that will describe why people should take on online classes to receive a degree.

No Boundaries: Online courses could be taken up even by those people who are not willing to join a regular class due to lack of time or resources. With the help of latest technologies these institutes are offering quality online training to institutes without bothering much about the quality of the course.

Cost-effective: Online financial courses are of low-cost compared to traditional modes of teaching. Since these courses don’t need investment in terms of classroom, facilities and other things hence the input cost is reduced.

Same Value: Gone are those days when online courses were considered less valuable compared to traditional courses. With the advancement of computer technologies it has become possible for institutes to offer courses without compromising the quality of the course.

All we can say that if you are willing to take courses in finance online financial courses are good alternatives. All you need to do is choose the one that is equipped in offering quality education to students. Students need to realize that the rest of their life is going to depend on the education they will receive during this period and hence should ensure that they are taking admission only on reputed institutes.

Come drink beer and admire art

Carol Thiel's spring landscape.

Painting students of Carol Douglas (that’s me!) will be displaying their work during the month of June at the VB Brewery in Victor. Their friends and family and anyone else who’s interested is invited to join us for an opening gala on Sunday, June 8, from 1-4.

The VB Brewery is the brainchild of Tom and Catherine Bullinger. Catherine is the person who convinced me I should teach painting many years ago, and she was my very first student. Technically, that makes her my longest-enrolled student, although like all retirees, she doesn’t seem to have much time for class these days.

This is Nina Koski's first-ever class still-life.

This year’s show will feature works by some very new students as well as some old-timers. Several of them have only three or four paintings under their belt as of today. Showing any work at that point is difficult and I applaud them for participating.

This year, several of my Maine workshop participants have offered to send their work in from faraway places. Since they can’t be at the opening, this is generous.

Nancy Woogen is one of my 2013 Maine workshop students from the mid-Hudson region. She is kindly sending this painting for our student show.

The VB Brewery is located at 6606 State Route 96 in Victor. From Rochester, take 490 to Exit 29 (the last one before the toll barriers) and continue east on Route 96. You will go 4.5 miles through the village of Victor. The brewery is on your left.

Let me know if you’re interested in painting with me in Maine in 2014 or Rochester at any time. My Belfast, ME, workshop is almost sold out. Click here for more information on my Maine workshops!

The cadmium question

The only cadmium in here is cadmium orange. Peppers, 8X6, oils, by little ol' me.

Yesterday, my favorite color scientist forwarded me this from Golden:

For environmental protection reasons, the European Community is currently considering a ban on cadmium pigments in artist paints. We would like to gather comments from artists concerning the relative importance of these colors in their work, in an effort to better understand the potential effect of this measure.

To complete a brief survey, click here: GOLDEN Cadmium Survey.

I use only one cadmium—orange, For yellows, I prefer Hansa (arylide). For reds, I use naphthol red and quinacridone violet.

That said, losing cadmium orange from my palette would hurt; it’s one of my workhorse pigments in both landscape and figure. I suspect there are substitutes out there, such as pyrrole orange, but I haven’t tried integrating them into my palette.

Mixing your paints and your wine is probably not the healthiest option.

Moreover, the cadmiums are great pigments. Pigments affect technique, and losing the cadmiums, with their great lightfastness and solidity, would be difficult for many painters. Before they toss them out willy-nilly, it’s worth asking what the environmental impact is, and whether their replacements are any safer.

The risk to artists is low, since cadmium poisoning primarily comes from inhalation or ingestion. Unless you’re working in encaustic, you’re unlikely to inhale paint fumes. Pastel artists should already know to use an air cleaner when working indoors. For all painters, gloves or silicone hand lotion is always advisable.

More difficult is that our use of cadmium pigments might endanger others. We all dispose of pigments into the waste stream when we clean brushes. (I just realized this morning that my long-term habit of solidifying waste pigments and putting them in the solid waste stream is counterproductive if my city burns trash for energy.) The stuff also has to be manufactured and milled before it’s turned into paints, and that may be happening in countries where environmental protections are nil.

My palette doesn't even usually include a true red, for the same reason that it doesn't include a true green.

Cadmium is present in cigarettes, and the smoking artist inhales dangerous levels of it every time he or she lights up. It is used in the manufacture of plastics, iron, steel, cement, non-ferrous metals and batteries. What percentage of the overall cadmium stream comes from artists, I don’t know, and it’s an important question. I suspect it’s pretty small, but whether that is a moral green light to keep using it, I can’t say.

As for whether the substitutes are safer or not, that’s also an open question. No known health risks are associated with the other red and yellow pigments I ‘m currently using, but the important caveat is that word, “known.” Recent research, for example, has linked azo pigments with basal cell carcinoma.

Every good idea I’ve ever had, I cribbed from someone else

I felt so craptastic by the end of the four hours that I asked Sandy to finish my painting for me. As fun as it was to watch her, that really didn't work, since I've never bothered to train my students to be mini-mes. (At G and S Orchards in Walworth, NY.)

Yesterday I challenged another obstacle on the journey back to health—I painted four hours standing up. My surgeon did a fine job of running his knife along an old incision, but it was still abdominal surgery and I’m still recovering.

Drawing in watercolor pencil is something I borrowed from my pal Kristin Zimmermann. It affords better control than charcoal and is completely erasable with a wet paper towel. It's not appropriate for every setting, but here where I wanted to study the architecture of an individual tree, it was great.

It was pretty painful to paint standing, and that’s sadly apparent in my painting. But it’s something I have to master before we’re truly into summer, because painting from a seated position is so limiting.

The shelf on my tripod was Jamie Grossman's idea. The panel carrier was suggested by Marilyn Fairman. Using a waterproof stuff sack for my palette... well, I think I came up with that on my own.

While cleaning up, I mused on how much I’ve borrowed from the ideas of others. The pill container I keep my paints in was a gift from Jamie Grossman, who also showed me the tripod shelfthat allowed me to ditch my pochade box once and for all. The PanelPak carrier is something Marilyn Fairman showed me, and although I balked at spending the money on them, they’ve proven to be worth their weight in gold.

Jamie Grossman also came up with this idea for carrying paints. Since I buy mine in jars, it saves me a ton of time and money on tubing, and it's easier to manage in the field than tubes.

Using watercolor pencils to draw on my canvas allows me to make fast erasures with a wet rag, but that wasn’t my idea either—it was something my pal Kristin Zimmermann came up with. Kristin is also the person who drilled into me the importance of understanding pigments.

And here it is, another future doorstop.

Brad Marshall has recently been quoting Anders Zorn to the effect that we are not competitors, we are colleagues. So true, Brad.

Freaky coincidence or what?

Jingwei Yang's painting from Anna's garden.

I’ve known Anna since she was a mere slip of a girl. She’s married now and two months ago she and her husband bought a lovely home in the city. Anna has always been musical but never, to my knowledge, interested in making visual art. I was most surprised when she called me about a month ago to ask about painting lessons. Most people ease into painting gradually, but she went out to Hyatt’s and got all the necessary tools and has been practicing at home.

Sandy Quang's painting from Anna's garden.

Last week I took my class to Anna’s new home to paint her small backyard pocket garden. It is clearly the garden of an artist. She told us the former owner was an art teacher at Rochester’s School of the Arts and her late husband was also an artist.

Nina Koski's painting of Anna's garden.

After class, Anna gave me a tour of her house. About halfway through, I realized the late husband in question was Peter Berg, who was a well-known Rochester painter around the time Anna was born. I never knew him, not living here at the time, but I knew of him from my friend Sari Gaby.

I do believe houses can have a spiritual temperament, and I wonder if Anna’s house has a painter’s temperament. Perhaps those old pantiles and oak pocket doors gave her a gentle nudge toward painting.

Nate Tomlinson's painting from a different garden day.

How To Compare Binary Options Brokers

Too many people approach the task of comparing binary options brokers without any particular method. This leaves you open to the vagaries of advertising, however, and makes the result much too dependent on factors other than the kind of value that you get in return for your money. There are too many binary options brokers that depend more on slick presentation and website design to attract customers in place of offering true value. If you compare your binary options brokers choices with a specific set of criteria in mind, you will be much more likely to be satisfied with your eventual decision.

There are, in general, three key features that you need to pay attention to when choosing a binary options broker. Of course, there will probably be other features that you are looking for in particular, but these three key features are features that most people, if not everyone, will be looking out for.

Payouts

The payouts you receive are probably the most important consideration, because they directly determine the amount of profit that you can make from your trading activities. Different brokers offer different preset percentages on those of your trades that end up in-the-money. Some brokers also offer a certain percentage of your money back on trades that end up out-of-the-money, although this is not offered by all brokers. There is usually a balance between the percentage payout on in-the-money trades and the percentage payout on out-of-the-money trades.

It will be almost impossible, for example, to find a broker that offers a high percentage payout on in-the-money trades and a high percentage payout on out-of-the-money trades. Instead, brokers that offer high percentage payouts on in-the-money trades will likely not return any money on out-of-the-money trades. This makes it a matter of personal preference whether you want to maximize your earnings on in-the-money trades or whether you want to be more cautious and accept lower positive payouts in return for greater protection on losing trades.

Underlying Assets

Another very important factor to consider is the number of type of underlying assets that are offered by the broker. Binary options do not exist on their own, and they depend on the price of various underlying assets. The key categories of underlying assets are stocks, commodities, currencies and indices. The best brokers will offer different options from each of these categories. Some brokers seem to offer a great number of underlying assets, but in reality offer only underlying assets from a single category. This severely limits the range and reach of your trading activities, and curtails your choices.

Expiration Times

Binary options contracts have different expiration times, and different brokers offer them at different expiration times. Some brokers offer options with expiration times ranging from a month to 15 minutes, while others offer a more limited range. These expiration times are important because short expiration times require that you pay constant attention to the market, which some people cannot afford due to their lifestyle or work demands.

A Proper Comparison

When you compare binary options brokers in this way, you have a much better idea of which binary options brokers are suited to your particular needs. This will greatly reduce the likelihood that you choose a broker that you end up disappointed with.

Credit Card Debt Settlement: Avoid Refinancing!

When it comes to credit card debt settlement, there are many agencies that usually suggest among other options to refinance your home loan in order to obtain funds for cancelling your credit card debt. It is important for you to be extremely careful, know why certain debt settlement agencies suggest this and why you should avoid refinancing to pay credit card debt.

Within this article you’ll find the reasons why you should consider very carefully refinancing as a debt elimination option and a brief explanation of which paths are better on your way to financial freedom with long lasting results as opposed to those you would obtain by exchanging your credit card unsecured debt with a secured low interest refinance home loan.

Risks Of Working With Certain Debt Settlement Agencies

There are many debt settlement agencies that come from the heart of credit card issuing companies or financial institutions. These agencies where created so as to let credit card companies to recover their money and thus, even if they’ll provide you with solutions to eliminate your credit card debt, that solutions may not be in your best interest.

Many of these companies would suggest you to take a refinance home loan and use your home equity to repay your credit card debt. That may seem a good solution and in some cases, it can be. However, it shouldn’t be your preference, and most certainly, a debt settlement agency committed to solving your debt problems shouldn’t suggest it as your first choice.

Why Not To Refinance Your Home Loan?

Though refinancing your home loan to get extra cash and pay off your credit card debt might be a good idea. It is not the best solution. This serves best the credit card interests and not yours. Because even if you get your debt settled and eliminate it for good, if you don’t change the way you spend, you’ll keep accumulating debt once again and maybe next time you won’t be able to resort to your home equity.

Moreover, since refinance home loans generally worsen the terms of your mortgage, you are further risking your property if you fail to meet the monthly payments. And though you may be replacing expensive debt with cheaper and more affordable debt, you are also replacing unsecured debt with debt that is secured with your home. If you are not good at managing your finances (and that’s why you had to resort to debt settlement), that’s something that you’d better avoid.

What Is Behavior Modification?

That’s why those who know about this subject specifically explain that you shouldn’t resort to loans based on equity if you don’t modify your financial behavior. But what is exactly Behavior modification? It’s a process in which the borrower learns techniques on how to manage his income and expenses maximizing the efficiency in the use of income and reducing unnecessary expenses. It’s doesn’t necessarily imply changing your style of life but getting the same things you want and need at lower costs and using your income with a higher effectiveness.

Back in the saddle again

Flowering apple trees at G and S Orchards. Wee (9X12) and by little ol' me.

Yesterday I painted en plein air for the first time since my cancer diagnosis last winter. Yes, I was rusty. Yes, I forgot to bring essential stuff. Yes, I was limp with exhaustion when I was done. No, I did not paint a masterpiece, but I did a nice little field sketch and learned something about young apple trees.

I’ve been fascinated with orchards all winter. This spring I made a cold call to G and S Orchardsin Walworth. The owners promptly invited my class out to paint. I went out there again yesterday and had a few hours before the rains swept back in (although the winds were high enough to do a little free microdermabrasion on my face).

I hope they don't get sick of me any time soon, because I've got a season's worth of paintings scoped out.

I’ve photographed the steps of a plein air painting for my beginning students to study before Saturday’s class. Sometimes it’s easier to understand a process in pictures.

After doing a sketch, I map the painting on my canvas. I've been using watercolor pencils, because they're easy to erase, but any pencil or charcoal works as well.

Then I map out the branches (which are the darks) using a mix of ultramarine and burnt sienna. This view was a little strange because the darks were a grid, but it's important for me to note the branch structures, even though I obliterate them for the most part.

The next step is to mix a matrix of greens. I need all the help I can get to differentiate greens in a field of identical trees in absolutely flat light.

Then it's time to map out the color, working from the darkest to the lightest. After this, you can paint as tight or as loose as you want; the initial steps work for every finishing style.

I didn't want to paint a global view without exploring a few trees first, but isn't this a sweet scene?

The large, angry crustacean is on his way to Maine.

The finished buoy. You can buy this!

When I blogged last month asking for suggestions about what to paint on my 2014 buoy for Penobscot East Resource Center’s fifth annual lobster buoy auction, I received four texts in rapid succession:

“Mom! Paint a giant lobster battling the Kraken!”

“Mom! Paint an enormous lobster destroying a city!”

“Mom, paint a big lobster eating New York!”

“Mom, paint a lobster battling an army in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry.”

The major change I made was adding Black Hawk helicopters.

When your four most severe critics all come up with the same idea at the same time, you have to run with it. And it fit with the idea that I had been turning over but wasn’t sure how to paint.

Signed and titled by the artist, as always.

It’s no secret to Mainers that lobster prices steadily tanked from 2005 to 2014. At the same time, restaurant prices for lobster remained high. That’s a fascinating disconnect—one I think is beautifully explained here—but the bottom line is that lobster costs more in New York because consumers haven’t a clue what’s happening in local commodity markets. That means there’s an artificially big profit being made, and it isn’t happening on the docks of coastal Maine.

When you live in a Magical Duchy, you don't need to go to the Post Office. You just put your package on the back of the truck and it miraculously gets mailed.

A situation that needs fixing but seems to be out of the range of mortal ken calls for a superhero. Who better than a large, angry crustacean from the Atlantic depths?

I like painting from life, but that's a little difficult in this case.

Last week I was reading about the influence of 19^thcentury Japanisme on western art and thinking I was absolutely free of it. But I have to admit that I owe a nod to Godzilla, and maybe to King Kong as well. (After all, the Empire State Building is somewhere in that mish-mosh.) The Black Hawk helicopters, however, are just modern America.

Looking around for pictures of lobsters last month, I came across this rhyton from the Met, c. 460 BC, in the shape of a lobster claw. Good to know lobsters are an eternal verity.

The auction will be held Tuesday, August 5th, 2014 at the Fishermen’s Friend Restaurant in Stonington, ME. If you’re in Stonington this summer, you can stop by and see all the buoys and vote for your favorite (as long as it’s mine). You’ll also be able to bid on your favorites online. Watch this space for more information.

Police Detail Katt Williams' Bizarre Behavior

Katt Williams' aggressive behavior at a Seattle bar and an odd exchange with police landed the comedian in jail Sunday, police said.

Williams "exchanged words with patrons in the bar, brandished a pool cue at a bar manager and refused to leave the business," and later refused to show identification to a police officer who had been called to the scene, a Seattle police news release said.

The 41-year-old comic, who was in Seattle to perform his stand-up comedy show over the weekend, was booked into the King County jail on charges of assault, harassment and obstruction, police said. He was released on bond Monday morning, a jail official said.

CNN requests for comment from Williams and his representative have not been answered.

Officer Michael Virgilio wrote in his report that he responded to a call for police help at the World Sports Bar Sunday afternoon. The manager told him that Williams had returned to the bar after being involved in a dispute with a customer the night before, Virgilio said in his arrest report.

"I suppose you're going to ask me to take my hands out of my pockets, huh?" Williams said to Virgilio, according to the report.

Williams refused to give his name or show an ID, but "yelled out a (California) driver's license number," the officer wrote.

When Virgilio warned he would arrest him for obstruction unless he produced an ID, Williams responded "No." The comedian then turned around and placed his hands behind his back "on his own accord," the arrest report said.

"Two of Williams' associates were standing nearby and were pleading for Williams to calm down," the officer wrote.

While being handcuffed and searched, Williams "made several comments about how he was going to sue the department," the report said.

"He stated he had been arrested over 30 times in the last few months and every time he was released prior to being booked into jail," Virgilio wrote. "He made comments regarding my employment with the city of Seattle and how it would end as a result of his arrest. Williams stated he had millions of dollars and this arrest would not affect him."

After the search turned up Williams' passport in his pocket, the officer asked why he hadn't just handed it over.

"You asked for my driver's license," he quoted Williams saying. "I didn't have it!"

Then, it got worse, the arrest report said.

"Williams became aggressive and resistant and his actions forced me to take him to the ground for a short period of time. He was subsequently placed in the back of my patrol car."

Williams was playing pool in the bar when Sunday's trouble started, the report said. "An argument began and quickly escalated."

When the manager tried to separate Williams from the couple with whom he was arguing, Williams yelled at him for "protecting the customers from the famous guy," Virgilio wrote.

"Williams picked up a pool stick, raised it up and pointed it at (the mananger's) face," the report said. "(The mananger) continued to state if he hadn't stepped back the stick would have hit in the the face."

When the manager asked him to put the stick down, Williams said "What if I don't?" and jabbed the stick toward him again, the report said.

"At one point during the altercation, Williams followed a family outside of the bar where, as the family got into their car, Williams flicked a cigarette through a car window at a woman, striking her just below her eye," the police news release said. "Williams also threw a rock at the family's car."

Officer Virgilio said he would request additional charges against Williams, including reckless endangerment, because the rock hit a window in the family's car, "directly next to an 8-year-old girl."

"Had the glass shattered or the rock had penetrated the window it could have struck and harmed the 8-year-old victim," he said.

Williams began his career as a stand-up comic, gaining attention in 1999 for comedy club appearances. Television appearances on the BET network led to more success.

His 2006 HBO special "Katt Williams: Pimp Chronicles Pt.1" raised his profile to a higher level.

He has acted in several movies, including Eddie Murphy's "Norbit," and his voice is featured in several popular cartoons, including "The Boondocks."

His often-raunchy style has drawn comparisons to comedy legend Richard Pryor.