I looked into the WSJ article a little more and they were able to publish the individual car sales for the month of February. I noticed that 5 people were able to come up with the 200k to buy a Maybach! I would love to have coffee with the guy who had the kind of cash to throw down and not look twice. It must be a different world on that side of the bell shape curve of the world. Saab had 712 cars sold, a little over 10 a state…pretty sad. Of course Toyota had 109,000 bust sales were still down 39%. ON the reverse side sales for car parts like a Chevy Cobalt headlights are going up. Then I could not help but see that Isuzu did not sell one car last month. You mean to tell me that in our population of 350 million people, not one person went out and bought that truck. I believe it is the only model they sell these days! Wow, a goose egg for sales. How would you like to be that CEO looking through the paper. Not one man woman or child wants your car….not one! I am so sorry for the guy! Finally, another 152 individuals are also numb to the economy and went out and bought a brand new Ferrari. How would you feel seeing that guy driving down the street? Its red, its loud, its fast and you cant have one……..enjoy.

One of the best moves the current administration in Washington DC cannot make is to make thrust into more Renewable Energy. There are companies like Enigin that can help in businesses in this debate to help go green. We are a fickle economy with the price of gas our family barometer on spending. Gas prices seem to tell us a story of how the economy is going, what kind of car we can buy and how we gauge energy costs at home. What real leadership should do is think ahead 10 years or even 20 and know that energy is still vague in cost and accessibility. We know what solar and wind can do. We also know how hybrid automobiles can do, we just need to make an incentive for people to re examine how they use energy and solar power etc can make a real difference on price and our dependence on those who hate us supplying our energy. Tax credits for large venture capitalist firms are needed for the huge investment in windmills. KWH credit for homeowners who use solar and come off the grid and hence pay back the huge investment in individual solar power updates and well as for wind power. Leadership would say they yes right now $2.00 a gallon gas seems to be fair, but who really knows what will happen. We know the Sun and the Wind are here for good. Once they leave so does the human race! Why not take a real stand now on our own before government has to make it worth your while!

I have been watching the latest ads for the new Toyota Prius with it’s newly designed 3^rd generation hybrid. I am fascinated by it’s ability to use solar panels that are built into the moon roof to help run the air conditioning in the car which can be a huge fuel saver. With the rising fuel prices and the demand for more cleaner and economical cars this segment is one of the fastest growing in the auto industry. This can only help other transportation providers like those that make motorcycles and ATV’s. The ability to get a and find  motorcycle loans has become easier thanks in part to the health of the industry and dealerships offering up some great incentives. Sites like Powersportstv.com has a lot of great resources that can help you locate a dealer in your area and find out about the latest gear and equipment that deal with motorcycles, ATV’s and four wheel off road vehicles. They even have one of the largest forums that is specifically tailored towards a bike and ATV enthusiasts.

Whether you are looking for homeowner loans, car loans, or debt consolidation loans there are a lot of choices that you must be aware of. As more and more consumers look to buy the dream home, or that next new car they will be using some sort of finance and finding the right loan can be tricky if you do not research all your options. A great example of this is the recent sub-prime mortgage fallout. Many Americans took financing that was well above their means due in part to banks and lenders feeding on the need to have a bigger home and reduce their payments. Some were looking to invest in overseas property because of the potential of a better return on their real estate dollar. This sparked some lenders to step up their game and begin to offer deals that dealt with multiple listings and creative financing.

So when people were getting the call to tell them that they could reduce their payments by refinancing they jumped at the chance not realizing the full terms of the deal and exactly what type of loan they were getting. Then when the rates on their adjustable mortgage starting to go up they found themselves unable to make the payments and actually owing more on their home than it was worth. This caused thousands of people to loose that dream or find other alternate financing to keep from loosing their house. The housing and finance industry lost billions in bad debt and this resulted in rates increasing to help pay for this miscalculation.

The housing market is still in a state of uncertainty and to find mortgages that will allow you to take advantage of your equity while providing a decent tax break may be just the ticket. The government is allowing tax breaks for first time home buyers which is great but may not help those of who have a home and are looking for ways to get some cash out. You can easily find a remortgage quote online that will allow you to get bids from several lenders that are competing for your business. So not matter what type of loan you are looking from a standard home equity line of credit or secured loans, you can find them online and have other companies compete for your business.

At cashtree.com they provide some helpful tools and information to help you find the right loan for your personal or business needs with the option of no fax loans. They help you identify lenders that are offering deals in your area while giving you some great information to help understand the fine print. Their site is easy to navigate and I especially like how simple it is to submit your info and get answers back  and what you can expect when you do decide to refinance or seek a secured loan.

I recently needed to find a company that could complete an epoxy floor coating project, and I lucky enough to come across Epoxy Systems. When it comes to epoxy floor coating Virginia projects, this esteemed company has a well-polished routine and does an excellent job. No project seems to be too big or small for them. They are quite experienced Industrial flooring contractors Virginia, and they’re able to take care of a small job or a full plant installation or restoration. They have been doing business in the mid-Atlantic region and beyond for a little more than twenty years. They have factory trained technicians who have also been cross-trained to deal with turn-key installations. Their concrete restoration projects involve total slab restoration and vertical and overhead applications as well as structural repairs. I have had an opportunity to look at their portfolio and have been able to examine all the different types of projects they are capable of completing. Their projects include flooring & wall systems. They utilize a full range of chemical resistant epoxies, polyesters, polyurethanes, vinylesters, MMA’s, and urethane concretes just to give you a sampling. I have to tip my hat off to them for a job well done on my projects.

My wife and I were talking about our kids college fund the other day and trying to figure out how to put three kids through college over the next 15 years. While our first kid will not enter college until 9 more years we are looking at some financial options to help us soften the financial impact. There are a lot more options now with state specific savings plans that allow you to stay out of debt and helped to set aside money tax free for college.

When I came out of school I used a student loan consolidation program to help extend the time in which I had to pay off my student debt. I found that early on being able to learn debt management helped me to stay focused and avoid any credit problems. We used a variety of financial vehicles to help manage our debt such as equity lines of credit and low interest bearing credit cards to help pay down higher interest loans and use more of the principal to pay down the cards and loans quicker. The key as that as our payments went down we continued to make the standard payment and this helped to `build up equity and we actually got letters from our banks offering 0% interest loans for a specified time if we transferred some of our other debt to them. This was a huge savings of approx. $1500 over the life of the loan to other investment vehicles that in turn we were able to earn a higher interest rate for our investment.

My parents made just enough money to keep us out of the financial aid realm so there were some nice debts when come out of my four year education. So as I got into the work force and applied my education I was able to use various forms of debt management to pay off my student loans while helping to build up my credit score. This has proven to be a great assest as our credit score is great and we have never been late or behind on any payments owed to creditors.

How Noise Cancelation Headphones Work

There is a lot of confusion about how noise cancelation headphones work so I thought I’d take a moment and answer a few questions about how they work and provide a little advice to anyone shopping for a good set of noise reduction headphones.

Active or Passive Noise Cancelation

There are two main types of headphones that block sound. Some headphones block sound by sampling the ambient noise with tiny microphones built into the headphones. Then an “equal but opposite” cancelation sound wave is generated inside of the ear cups to “cancel” the sound you hear. This technology is call active noise cancelation and is very effective at blocking consistent, rumbling or humming noises like the airplane engine noise you hear when flying or the sound of an air conditioner or fan. It is “active” because there are microphones and electronics actively trying to sample the ambient noise and then figure out how to cancel it before it reaches your ears. Active noise cancelation headphones tend to be fairly compact in size and some models sit on your ear rather than having the ear cups enclose or surround your ear. Active noise cancelation headphones always require batteries to run the electronics that cancel the sound. When the batteries die, so does the noise cancelation - and sometimes, depending on the set of headphones, you can’t hear any music at all if your headphone batteries die. Also, active noise cancelation headphones produce a hissy swoosh noise inside of the ear cups. This is the “canceling” sound wave. It makes your music sound like there is a hissing staic in the background which I hate. I like clear audio and active noise cancelation headphones do not really produce very clear sound.

The other type of noise blocking headphones are passive noise reduction or passive noise cancelation headphones. Passive noise cancelation headphones work by physically blocking the sound from reaching your ears. The ear cups have closed backs and totally enclose your ear. This style of headphones tend to be a bit bulkier than active noise cancelation headphones because the ear cups are packed with noise isolation foam and the ear cups need to be large enough to totally enclose your ears and protect them from sound. Passive noise reduction headphones like the Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones are generally much better at blocking sound and also significantly less expensive. There has been a great deal of marketing hype around fancy headphones like the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones, but the truth is that the headphones at QuietHeadphones.com actually block more noise. For example, the EX-29 Extreme Isolation headphones will reduce noise by 29dB across the entire audio spectrum - low noises and high pitched noises alike. Active noise reduction heapdhones only block 12dB to 17dB of sound. Also, since passive noise reduction headphones do not produce that canceling sound wave, the audio is crystal clear. With the studio quality speakers in the EX-29 headphones you will hear the fine details of your music that you have may have never heard before.

Blocking Noisy Voices

If you need to block out office chatter, TVs, phones ringing and other spiky sounds like that, your only option is a good set of passive noise reduction headphones and a white noise audio track. Active noise cancelation headphones can’t calculate a canceling sound wave fast enough to block out these types of sounds. Passive noise reduction headphones, however, block out all types of sounds. No matter what type of headphones you choose you will still be able to hear background noise. It would take over 60dB of sound reduction to provide complete silence and that is only achieved in expensive recording studios. Headphones simply can’t block that much noise so there is going to be some background noise that you hear. But if you listen to a white noise audio track (comes free with your purchase at QuietHeadphones.com) you can mask out virtually all background noise. This is a GREAT solution if you need to concentrate or study.

Do I Need Batteries?

Another really important thing to consider is the ongoing cost of having to replace batteries every month in active noise cancelation headphones. With the Extreme Isolation headphones there are no ongoing costs because they do not use batteries. So be sure to figure the cost of 2 AAA batteries per month into your budget if you are considering the purchase of active noise cancelation headphones. Let me also reissue the warning that if your batteries die on you, your headphones may stop working altogether and you will certainly lose your noise cancelation feature.

Leaking Noise

One last point before I summarize why I recommend the the Extreme Isolation headphones, and passive noise reduction headphones in general, is not only do they block outside sound from coming in, they keep your music from leaking out and disturbing other people. Some people even use the EX-29 Extreme Isolation headphones in studios where sound leaking out of the headphones and into microphones can be a real problem. With the EX-29 Extreme isolation headphones you can start listening to some music then take the headphones off and press the ear cups together. You will be amazed when you realize that virtually ALL of the sound is kept within the headphones. At normal listening levels, if you take the headphones off your head and press the ear cups together you can’t hear any sound leaking out.

Summary

So, in summary, I recommend passive noise reduction headphones and, in particular, the EX-29 Extreme Isolation Headphones from QuietHeadphones.com

• Excellent value for the money
• 6 month, 110% money back guarantee (you don’t see that on products that don’t work)
• No batteries
• Blocks more sound than active noise reduction headphones
• No sound leaking out
• Best sound and no swooshy hiss
• Free white noise MP3 comes with your purchase!

This years CES some impressive technology on display and with the press and bloggers flying around the floor with their id lanyards hanging around their necks one of the most interesting technologies we read about was 3D TV. Now I know what you are thinking: “ Don’t we already have a way to view 3D pictures?” That is correct if you like wearing the cardboard red and green lens glasses that are available during special presentations on TV. This new technology that is being developed is promising to have a 3d effect without the glasses. One of the leaders is Phillips which will using a technology it calls WOWvx. Two other vendors Toshiba and 3M showcased 3D screens that would not require glasses. 3M has developed a special film that overlays on the LCD screen to help beam light selectively to your right and left eye.
As the economy has gotten worse vendors are looking at new ways to get consumers exited about their HD TV and through the advancement in 3D technology they are hoping to drive sales. While the LCD market is only expected to grow 17% this year which is down from 28% in 2008. The new advancements and the move to all digital broadcasts starting February 19 will likely get some customers looking at upgrading their current set.

All in all the CES show showcased a lot of new technology that has been in development and finally ready for the market. The work and logistical coordination that goes on at these shows is a technical feat on its own. From providing beaded lanyards to the vendors, security personnel, and consumers that participated in the trade show there are countless technicians in the background maintain the networks and making sure there are enough printer ribbons onsite to print id cards, and various marketing banners to make the show the huge success that is. As we enter into a new year and the economy looks to get back on track so that people will feel comfortable spending on these cool new gadgets let’s hope that we all have a great year and by this summer we will be watching the 3D premier of the latest Hollywood release.

Five part-time summer jobs teens may want to avoid

Let’s face it. Not all part-time summer jobs are good summer jobs - in fact, some are downright dangerous, especially for teens. Here are five summer jobs that teens may want to avoid this summer.

1. Agriculture fieldwork and processing jobs: Not only do you run the risk of losing a limb while working with heavy machinery, you can suffer heat stroke, pesticide poisoning or accidental suffocation in grain silos.

2. Traveling sales crew jobs: Traveling sales jobs pose a great danger to teens looking for work. These sales crews often force teens to work long hours selling magazines or other items, charge teen workers for expenses like rent and food and sometimes even rob them. Stay clear of this one.

3. Construction jobs: Construction is one of the most dangerous jobs in America, period. Falls, electric wires and falling objects are some of the most common causes of death and injury among construction workers. Don’t work for any construction company unless they give you the proper training and equipment to do the job safely.

4. Driver/operator of forklifts, tractors or ATVs: Operating this equipment may seem fun, but it’s not a safe job for teens. This heavy equipment has seriously hurt people by rolling forward or tipping over.

5. Landscaping, groundskeeping or lawn service jobs: Mowing lawns is a classic summer job, but lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and chainsaws can be dangerous. If you work a landscaping job, wear goggles, gloves and other protection when handling pesticides and power tools.

Want a better, safer summer job? Start your job search on SnagAJob.com.