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Gianni Versace was born in 1946 in Reggio, Calabria, in Southern Italy. Versace received his love of fashion and first lessons on dress-making from his mother.

Initially Versace trained as an architect, but soon he followed his mother into the fashion business. Versace worked for a number of top Italian fashion houses, but in 1978 with the help of his brother Santo he launched his own label.

Versace was a great fashion pioneer who combined the worlds of high style and pop culture. He was a charismatic and accomplished designer of clothing and theater costumes.

Versace appreciated a range of historic attire which he incorporated into his designs and he was greatly influenced by Andy Warhol and modern abstract art.

Wowzer! Best describes the fashions designed by Gianni Versace. He was notorious for designing garments that would shock and startle our senses. Versace saw his designing as an art form. He initiated clothing that was visually excessive and provocative- fashions that confronted accepted codes of taste, beauty and sexuality.

Fashion became entertainment, to be watched and admired - not simply worn. For Versace nothing was too extravagant too crazy or too risque. Yet no matter how extravagant or provocative Versace’s clothes were always strikingly well designed garments designed to flatter the body.

Versace was the designer of choice for many of the rich and famous: pop stars such as Elton John, and Madonna; film stars such as Will Smith, and Elizabeth Hurley and even royalty - Princess Diana.

The wealthy were drawn to his clothes like magnets, and that enhanced his reputation. However, Vercasse did not design simply for the wealthy his clothes were very much available to the average person.

In 1985 he launched the Istante label in 1985; and after years as Gianni’s muse, his sister Donatella became his co-designer and launched the Versace diffusion range, Versus, in 1989.

These labels featured clothes within the budgets of many consumers; not only were they priced lower than the custom-made clothes, but they were also aimed at younger markets.
In 1988 Versace received the Cutty Sark Award as “the most innovative and creative designer in the world”; and in 1993 the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded him the American fashion Oscar.

On July 15, 1997 Versace was shot to death outside his South Beach home in Miami, Florida by a crazed gunman name Andrew Cunanan. Since his untimely death in 1997 the Versace fashion house continues to grow under the creative leadership of his sister Donatella and the business acumen of his brother Santo. Donatella’s daughter Allegra inherited 50% of the company last summer when she turned 18. However, Donatella is still very much in charge.

The days of the wet-look, shocking pink PVC and as much flash and flesh as a catwalk can take are long gone. The new Versace is growing up. “I’m not blind,” says Donatella. “I know that most women don’t look like models.

We had to start addressing other parts of a woman’s life. The fashion business is a very different place from when Gianni started the label.” Donatella’s mind is very much on the continued success of Versace.

With Donatella at the helm, and Santo and Allegra at her side, they continue to grow and develop the Versace Product Lines with fabulous designs unveiled for the 2005 Spring Season. The proof is in the Versace spring fashion line - Have a look for yourself!

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/fashion/fashionshows/05/spring/runway/versace/
http://www.milanfashionshows.com/spring2005/versace/photos.htm
http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/S2005RTW/review/VERSACE

Sher from Estate Jewelry International has been serving customers for over 20 years, providing fashion, jewelry, and wedding help. Please visit us at http://www.estatejewelryinternational.com/

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability of individuals or businesses to discharge their debts. A declared state of bankruptcy can be requested not only by creditors in an effort to get what they are owed but also by the insolvent individual or organization. If it is difficult to repay debts, declaring the bankruptcy may be the right solution to debt problems.

Out of six basic types of under the Bankruptcy Code, Chapter 7 is a “liquidation” of nonexempt assets to pay debts. In a court-supervised procedure, a court appoints a trustee who liquidates the non-exempt assets of the debtor’s estate and makes distributions to creditors. The Bankruptcy Code allows the debtor to keep certain exempt property; but a trustee will liquidate the debtor’s remaining assets.

According to the amendments to the Bankruptcy Code enacted in to the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, if a debtor’s income is in excess of certain thresholds, the debtor may not be eligible for chapter 7 relief. Filing a petition under chapter 7, automatically stays most collection actions against the debtor or the debtor’s property, but potential debtors should realize that the filing of a petition under chapter 7 might result in the loss of property.

After Chapter 7 bankruptcy, one will not longer owe money on credit cards, unsecured loans, unpaid hospital, medical and utility bills and unpaid rent. But debts like state and federal taxes (unless they are more than three years old), child support required by law; alimony, government-backed student loans, debts due to fraud, fines, penalties and debts due to willful injury to another person or property are not eliminated by Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Just a few months after the petition is filed, in most chapter 7 cases, the individual debtor receives a discharge that releases debtor from personal liability for certain dischargeable debts. Thus, chapter 7 Bankruptcy is designed to give the debtor a new start and a chance to live with sound financial management.
Finance:Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy provides detailed information about chapter 7 bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy law, filing chapter 7 bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy form and more. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is the sister site of Roth IRA Contributions.

Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out To Get Me?

It all started in the early part of the twenty-first century.

In the early days of email we were thrilled with its speed and reliability, far superior to “snail mail” but there’s always somebody who has to go and spoil things for everyone else. In the case of email it was the purveyors of the namesake of a certain pork-based substance. They became such a nuisance that large teams of robots had to be employed to keep them under control.

As the porkers got smarter, the robots had to become smarter still. At first, everybody agreed that stringent measures must be taken to defeat the porkers. Ever hear the phrase “throwing the baby out with the bath water” or “the cure is worse than the disease”?

The number of spam merchants multiplied over and over. Eventually, the only way of controlling them was for every email user to have his or her own robot to filter their mail. I did not want a robot filtering my mail but I didn’t have much choice: nobody was allowed an email account without a robot to monitor its use.

Every time I log into my email, I pause and listen for the faint metallic scraping and a slight pneumatic wheeze as the robot wakes and prepares to filter my mail. No matter how quiet I am, he always knows and is instantly awake and alert, ready to do his job. I did not request robotic help, don’t want it, don’t need it but the robot is here to stay.

I think my robot is like the paranoid android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: slow moving and depressive, so I call him Marvin (not to his face, of course). I don’t suppose my Marvin feels that censoring my mail is a suitable occupation for a robot of his caliber, any more that his namesake thought attending the car park at the end of the universe was a great career for a robot with a brain the size of a planet. On my part, I am sure that I am old enough to take full responsibility for my own correspondence. There is no need for Marvin to wear out his circuits on my account but it appears that we are stuck with each other for the duration.

The extent of Marvin’s power first caught my attention when a regular newsletter which I enjoyed failed to arrive. Delivery just stopped altogether.

I asked my email provider if there was a problem with this particular mail and they said there was nothing wrong with my mailbox, it must be a problem with the sender. I asked the sender why delivery had stopped and they said it hadn’t, it must be a problem with my mailbox. I gave up and just resubscribed myself to the newsletter. Every time delivery stopped after that I wondered what else I might be missing in the way of interesting mail.

It was shortly after this that it became apparent to me that Marvin has a bad attitude. Now I can sympathise with him because I know how it feels to be stuck in a boring job while the brain cells shrivel. That doesn’t mean I think he should behave badly, he should do the job to the best of his ability (even if it is beneath him) and not make mischief.

Everyone seems to believe that the robots keep changing the rules in an effort to keep ahead of the porkers but I don’t believe that. I think they keep changing the rules mostly out of boredom but, in Marvin’s case, I sense a certain underlying malevolence. This surfaced recently when I sent an email to a friend I had not heard from for a while. My mail bounced back with a message to the effect that spam would not be delivered. How dare they, Spam indeed! From that day on, every mail I tried to send bounced straight back at me.

Angrily, I contacted the email company support desk to complain. They helpfully told me that this problem was nothing to do with them, I must have used forbidden words in my emails and that was why they bounced. The forbidden words included “friend”, “free”, “you”, “internet”, “remove”. The list of forbidden words is long and growing longer by the day, it is difficult to make up proper sentences without using the forbidden words, soon our only way of emailing will be by inventing a new language.

My problem now is that I cannot get email through to my friends and they cannot get email to me. Too late I realised that we neglected to exchange phone numbers: there seemed no point when email was so quick and easy. Now I can’t send email, can’t receive email, the robot has isolated me.

Only one way left to break out of quarantine and it’s a long time since I sat with pen and paper to write letters. I won’t use the word processor as I am convinced Marvin will recognise it as a means of communication but I don’t think he will know what the pen is for and I doubt he’ll be suspicious if I take some envelopes with me next time I go out. A glorified email filter is hardly likely to know the purpose of a mailbox which is not of the virtual variety.

I hear Marvin stir even though I have not switched on my computer, he seems to have the ability to read my mind. There is a faint clanking sound, the smell of ozone, an electrical crackle in the air. His hand on my shoulder is heavy and cold, the steel joints creak as his fingers tighten. I don’t think I will be going out to post any letters.

This is one of a series of articles
published by the author, Elaine Currie, BA(Hons)
at http://www.HuntingVenus.com
The author’s monthly newsletter is available free
from mailto:networkerhvm@ReportsNetwork.com

By and large, one would notice that when someone files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy they would make a payment of about $450 in attorney fees, where people who file Chapter 13 have to pay more. These cases are in general more costly, the attorney’s fee begins at $750 for representation through completion of the plan.

These amounts represent attorney fees only and people are still responsible for paying filing fees and other expenses. People should also be aware that any complications in the case will raise the attorney fees rather quickly.

People could alternatively choose form preparation services instead of legal representation. A few debtors have a preference to do this and only be in attendance through hearings alone. Other alternatives include using a number of software programs that are now available. Pricewise, these programs cost about the same as form preparation services.

If the debtor wants to avoid that cost, they can download the form online. There are various website that provide this service. People can later fill the details on the forms with some form of assistance.

Preparation is vital to successfully filing under both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. People should make sure all the proper documentation is in order and have all their financial documents up-to-date. Forms are required to be prepared in strict compliance with federal and local rules. In addition, every debtor has a large variety of alternatives accessible that may perhaps enhance, diminish, or prevent relief granted by the court.

A high-quality attorney should be able to guide their clients through the filing process. Debtors should rest assured that a very small number of people who file Chapter 7 are required to give up property for liquidation. There is nothing that can undermine the advantage of the technical edge that the legal compliance can provide in a case and every debtor who has followed this path can swear by it.

Filing Bankruptcy provides detailed information about filing bankruptcy, filing bankruptcy online, filing chapter 11 bankruptcy, and more. Filing Bankruptcy is affiliated with Free FICO Score.

Have you ever dreamt about living on a Cruise Ship forever?

Traveling the world, seeing all kinds of exotic places, cruising forever with not a care in the world.

It is now a reality, and several possibilities exist.

1. The World of ResidenSea was launched in 2002 as a condominium-style residential community contained on a 644-foot cruise ship, complete with restaurants, a spa and fitness center and other amenities similar to what you’d find on a typical mid-size cruise liner.

As with land-based condo resorts, short-term rentals of a week or more may be arranged without committing to ownership, and a wide range of ports is included on The World’s ongoing circumnavigation of the globe.

Residensea has problems.

-disputes between owners of Condos on the ship and tourists.

Owners want to stay in exciting ports for several days, tourists that the ship needs to get full occupancy to cover the cost of unsold suites want to move from port to port every day.

Sales of actual condos on the ship have stalled due to fears of terrorism, uncertainty in financial markets and uncertainty about the future of the ship.

Annual maintenance costs run at $100,000 per suite while an actual suite now costs 1.9 to 4 million dollars. This ad recently appeared on the Internet:

“Rent an outside luxury cabin from $600 a day”

From somebody who owns 2 cabins on the ResidenSea. That runs to $18,000 per month.

2. Join an organization that will buy a used Cruise Ship and convert it to Condos.

This concept has been tried and failed.
The practical problems were just too great.

-Trying to get enough people interested
-Trying to get commitments from people
-Trying to find a ship that was not going to fall apart immediately upon leaving the harbor.
-Trying to get cash from people before a ship was bought.

And these were just problems BEFORE a ship was even bought.
Think about the problems there would be after the ship was bought.

3. Buy regular cruises on an on-going basis.

This seems the only practical way in which you can live permanently on a Cruise Ship.

Here are the estimated costs based on double occupancy starting on the cheap:

Basic Cruise Costs; $100 per day x 2 people = $6000 per month
This includes gratuities, all you can eat and port costs.

Independent costs of living for Seniors seems to be about $2000 per month per person = $4000.
This includes food.

So for $2000 per month extra a couple can live on a Cruise Ship (or ships) forever.

The advantages of this type of living if you have that extra $24,000 per year to spend are these:

-Quality of the meals on a Cruise Ship is probably a lot better than what you would get in an independent living type of situation.

-You can vary cruise lines, use a Caribbean Cruise Line this month, an Alaska Line next month and a European Line for the next 6 months.

-Shows every night.

-Built-in new friends every week or so. Most cruises end within 7 days and a new crop of potential friends arrives for you to interact with.

-An entire Cruise Staff to help you with ANYTHING if you have a problem.

So, if you want to live on a Cruise Ship: $24,000 a year extra is all it takes for 2 people.

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An audio conferencing company is one that offers teleconferencing software, equipment, set-up, continuing service, and follow-up for companies and other groups. Audio conferencing can save people unlimited amounts of time, energy, and travel costs. Instead of driving to your next meeting, why not participate in a teleconference? All you need is a television, speakerphone, headset, Internet computer, and software. It is essential that every member of the group use the same software.

When buying software for your company, first take a look at some of the audio conferencing companies. By comparing what they offer, you will be able to know which one is right for you. You should feel that you are getting timely, pleasant, and effective service.

Here are a few companies to check out:

Citizens Conferencing

Citizens Conferencing offers a full line of video, web, and audio conferencing. Their claim to fame is their personalized service. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial on their website, www.citizensconferencing.com

Avaya/Spectel, Inc.

Avaya, Inc. is a video, web, and audio conferencing company that designs, builds, and manages communications for over a billion businesses, including 90% of the Fortune 500R. You can’t find a better endorsement than that. Total business integration is their goal, meaning that you can access a teleconference at any time during your workday or personal day. Their website is www.spectel.com

InterCall

InterCall is a division of West Corporation. They are the largest service provider in the world that specializes in conferencing solutions. With InterCall you can do just about anything having to do with communications. They provide both software and services, as per the industry standard. www.intercall.com.

LiveOffice

LiveOffice Teleconferencing provides full, 24-hour service via an 800 number, charging as little as 4 cents per seat per minute. (A “seat” is a user in a web conference.) It’s a basic, easy-to-set-up audio conferencing service. www.imconferencing.com.

MCI Conferencing

MCI Conferencing is the world’s largest audio conferencing company, offering a full line of services. You can visit their website to get a travel vs. teleconferencing cost comparison generator: www.e-meetings.mci.com.

Audio Conferencing Info provides detailed information about audio conferencing services, equipment, software, companies, plus online audio conferencing, and more. Audio Conferencing Info is affiliated with Original Content.

Podcasting is the new medium fad of the moment. But can it be used for marketing and is it inexpensive? The answer to both questions is “Yes.”

First, let me explain for the neophyte what podcasting is. Technology for its use has been around as early as 2000 but its widespread use really made its hey-day in 2003. So it is still new and the power of this new medium has yet to be realized.

Nevertheless, as an audio technology, there are some practical uses.

The name is derived by fusing iPod with broadcasting even though it has nothing to do with the iPod. Simply put, podcasting is taking an audio or video file and placing it on the Internet so that it can be downloaded for personal use by others. By transferring files in this manner, one could listen to a radio program or watch a television show or movie on one’s personal MP3 player, iPod or similar personal portable media player.

So how can this technology be used for marketing? If you have a product or service you can place an audio or video file on your web site describing your product or service and even do product demonstrations. Another use of the podcast is to develop an infomercial-type broadcast in which you accept advertising from other companies, somewhat like a television commercial in the middle of a program. While this use may not be necessarily popular, I believe it can be used effectively.

For instance, instead of interrupting your program with a commercial, put your commercials at the beginning or the end of the podcast. Also, you don’t want to overdo it. Only include one or two short commercials so that you don’t bombard your audience with too much marketeering. In this age, with cable and satellite television and radio, spam blockers and laws and other anti-commercial posturing, too much of a good thing will rub people the wrong way. A good example of this is pop-up advertising; too much is bad but just enough is effective marketing.

The uses for podcasting are endless. They can be short or long, but the key thing is to present them effectively. You want your files to be clear and understandable, so choose a speaker or presenter who looks good on camera and who has a voice that sounds pleasant. Also, treat your podcast like any other media presentation which you would spend hard-earned dollars to produce. Write a script and test it before an audience before you go into production. Do everything you would do for a television commercial you were producing or a radio spot. You want it to be professional and of the highest possible quality.

All you need to produce your own podcast is a personal computer. If you have Microsoft Media Player or RealPlayer by RealNetworks then you can record your own audio file right onto your hard drive. A web cam will do the same for your video file. Another way to capture your presentation is to use a digital tape recorder or a camcorder and download them onto your computer’s hard drive later. Then, you can upload them onto your web site the same way you would upload any other file.

Now that you have a basic understanding of podcasting, give it a shot. Make the most of this new technology and have fun.

…or Is My Brand Working?

To measure the impact and effectiveness of marketing and branding on the bottom line alone is a mistake. There are far too many facets of the success equation. It is easy to lose enthusiasm and focus if there are no intermediate benchmarks of success for activities that will ultimately affect the bottom line.

The value of reputation, relationships, brand awareness and consumer attitudes related to your business, are impossible to measure just on financial return.

A thorough evaluation of where your business is now and the identification of the most important next goal is a good place to start.

Other measures of ROI are:

-number of leads generated

-total sales revenue generated

-change in awareness of your brand - attention form the media

-change in market share

-change in buying pattern re products, days etc.

-change in intent to buy

-increase in incremental sales revenue

-customer retention

Look for ways to track your progress keeping the end in mind. It is all about prioritizing and being able to identify and sort the factors that are crucial to your success, from the insignifcant details it’s so easy to get caught up in.

It may feel more productive to be doing, but it is actually more constructive to be planning. The odds of achieving marketing success increase exponentially if you are aware of what has succeeded and failed in the past. 80 to 90% of effort is well spent on identification, planning and determining the success metrics, with the balance on execution and assessment.

The owner of a successful business or product is often reported as saying, “It seemed to develop a life of it’s own and just take off.” It could be a lucky break but often it’s the result of years of experience and thought finally put into action.

Nancy Fraser is the President of Nota Bene Consulting a marketing and advertising firm that encourages their clients to “First Ponder, Then Dare”. Sign up for the free ezine at http://www.notable-marketing.com

Medcasting

Medical casting or “Medcasting” is the commercial application of podcasting for medical related institutions. Medcasting is the distribution and publishing of audio and video feeds, that offer medical information delivered over the Internet, for on demand listening.

This is a new step in the evolution of on-demand medical information delivery, making it accessible, informative, useful and appealing. This mix presents the medical industry with a very unique opportunity to reach its community through this new medium. Those individuals, who are already seeking medical information actively, will use RSS subscription technology built into each podcast feed, to receive information immediately as it is updated by the medical institution. With one click of a button, a user can subscribe to a feed that may be interesting, and any related information that is ever updated to that feed will be automatically processed to their personal aggregator. An aggregator is able to subscribe to a feed, check for new content at user-determined intervals, and retrieve the content.

To take this process one step further, podcasting publishes each feed with the capability to be transferred to any portable audio or video device. So with the growth of the ipod and all the other portable media devices, you have the ability to grab Medcasts and place them on your portable player for listening or viewing. Most users attach their portable players to their computers daily or weekly, and once the player is attached they automatically receive the new medcast updates.

The flexibility of this medium is what will drive the growth of Medcasting tremendously over the next few years. Currently the most useful application for medical institutions worldwide is to compliment already existing medical information web pages. Most institutions have numerous web pages which deliver medical information in text format, by providing an audio or video link on that page it gives the user a different and potentially more effective format for receiving the information. This is also a great way to teach your existing users how to start utilizing medcasting services.

The popularity of portable on demand information will grow even greater as wireless internet services continue to flourish across the country. These portable devices will no longer have to be connected to the internet; they will receive information wirelessly as it is updated. In addition, as cell phones and portable devices continue to merge together, the market grows larger.

Additional formats that are being used consist of; medical talk shows, where various specialists within each institution will speak or answer questions on a certain topic. Medical lectures and seminars can be recorded and made available for the public or employees to download easily and on-demand. In addition, any information that may need to be delivered to employees can be recorded and made available on an in-house delivery network. For institutions that have thousands of employees, the distribution of company information is very important, and once again this offers each institution a method of on-demand delivery which is convenient to all. Medcasting can also be used as a direct line of communication, by recording video-casts of company messages from executives for company wide distribution.

There are numerous uses for medcasting currently, and over the next few years it will explode in popularity. It is beneficial to institutions as well as the consumer, and it will be seen as a great tool in any medical organizations’ operations.

As the nation sputters forward into a new problem of illegal immigrants, neo-conservatism and budget crisis we must wonder what to make of it all. The signals are confusing.

On the one hand we have illegal immigrants who have had to hide from the law, work in poverty like conditions and do not have the same access to education that we have. We believe they are hardworking people truly trying to make the best life they can. They have the American work ethnic that has been lost on so many native born Americans.

However, there is a negative side to illegal immigrants that isn’t always mentioned. Illegal immigrants have made a choice to come and live under the conditions they now find themselves. No one forced them to move from their native lands and hide away in the U.S.

Recently, immigrants took to the streets and protested potential laws that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant in the U.S. They sang the national anthem in Spanish and waved Mexican flags. Is this appropriate to insult the country you want to join?

A total of 11 million illegal immigrants hit the street having major protests in excess of 400,000 in Los Angeles and Chicago. Similar gatherings were found in Houston and San Jose. They chanted, “We are not criminals” and “We want to stay!”

As Muslims we have two responsibilities when it comes to immigration policy. We must support our host nation in policies that are deemed to protect our collective whole and we must thwart those efforts that are destructive to people. What does this mean?

Illegal immigrants are simply illegal. They have broken the law; have traveled hundreds of miles to sneak into the country and work for cash under the table. They use our schools, our medical benefits and take away jobs from our countrymen. Hypothetically, if we opened up our borders and let everyone immigrate to the U.S. without hindrance than our country would cease to be one of the wealthiest in the world. That means your wages would decline because there will always be someone else to do the work for cheap. In essence, employers would use their workers until they were worn out and then get another truck load full. Workers would loose their bargaining power. Would it be such a great place to live then?

We must understand that the laws are enacted to protect our American standard of living, maintain fair employment and keep the nation competitive. Once this batch of illegal immigrants becomes citizens there will be another group forming behind them. Where will the cycle end?

Does that mean we should abuse them? No! It does mean that they should be removed and sent back to the countries in which they came. It does mean that we have consistently and routinely treated illegal immigrants much better than any other nation. In what other great nation can illegal immigrants gather in such a public display of protest and not be put under mass arrest?

This may not be the answer that we are looking for nor may it be what many of the Islamic and Muslim papers are reporting yet they may be more concerned with U.S. bashing than protecting. No matter which way you slice the onion we need borders no matter how much it makes us cry.

Murad Ali is a two time published author on business, economics and reform. He also edits the Muslim Times at www.muradenterprises.org