The Gardens of the Way of the Cross

The Gardens of the Way of the Cross

(St. Joseph Cathedral Garden)

Located to the east of the basilica, the Gardens of the Way of the Cross are one of Saint Joseph’s Oratory’s best kept secrets and a very good place to meditate. The 16 stations unfold amidst an artfully landscaped terrain.

The project of creating a Way of the Cross out of stone, to replace the rustic wooden crosses, emerged in 1935. Work on the 200,000 square-foot area to the east of the basilica begun in 1942. Famous landscape architect Frederick Todd designed a pathway meandering around the flank of the mountain.

Montreal artist Louis Parent conceived this major artwork. His Way of the Cross has 14 of the traditional stations to which he added a marble monument depicting the Resurrected Christ and a reflecting pool with the Fountain of Redemption. In total, the grouping comprises 42 characters, each approximately 9 feet high, which the sculptor modeled in his workshop at the Oratory, between 1943 and 1953.

The statues in the Gardens of the Way of the Cross were carved out of Indiana limestone by Ercolo Barbieri, between 1952 and 1958. Louis Parent designed the pieces to blend harmoniously into the natural environment.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Garden of the Way of the Cross. Picture by Elena.

Phone Cases

Phone Cases

iPhone cases and skins based on interactive artwork by Megan Jorgensen, a famous iPhone cases artist

iPhone cases and skins art is a new form of painting and illustrative art that. It is produced usually paint apps such as Brushes, Poser and ArtRage.

iPhone art evolved from wall-mounted displays in galleries and museums, but it has its own characteristics due to the portability and small dimensions of the material support (meaning the case). This miniature form of art is currently booming and many ancient well-known “chef-d’oeuvres” are being adapted to the iPhone.

Some of the first iPhone artists have already become famous, and some of them have held art exhibits with art made exclusively on iPhones.

An internationally acclaimed artist  Megan Jorgensen is one of the rising stars of this new industry, as she sells hundreds of her artworks, many of which have become bestsellers. She believes, iPhone art may pose a threat to traditional gallery distribution of digital art because individual artist can distribute created images directly to the general public without working through a gallery dealer.

To see all Megan Jorgenson iPhone Art Images go here:

Here are some of Award winning iPhone Art images by © Megan Jorgensen (Elena).

Princess on purple magic horse. Fantasy art.

Cosmos and us.

Blue pink hot pink and yellow

Another World.

A couple of Elves in a Magic Forest.

Borgs destroyed.

Magnificent.

Eternal squares.

Nice Elf, Cosmos.

Dark sphere.

Princess and butterfly wings on mythical horse.

Morgning.

Space art meets science.

Gorgeous Pattern texture

Waterpaint Sketch

Sunset.

Death Wave

Death Wave

By Ben Bova, excerpt

Assassination

Everything seemed to happen at once. Standing on the stage at the front of the studio, Jordan saw the yuong man aim the pistol at him. An equally young woman got to her feet beside him, screaming, “Kill the alien-loving bastard!” From the side of the studio one of the security people whipped a gun from beneath his jacket.

Jordan stood frozen at the lectern, his mind inanely telling him to duck behind the lectern but his body unable to respond. The gun was pointed right at him, its muzzle looking like a tunnel to eternity.

This is no ruse, Jordan realized. They really want to kill me!

He saw the pistol's muzzle erupt in smoke and heard something whip past his ear like an angry bee. People were diving to the floor, yelling. The lectern shattered into a thousand pieces. One of the news correspondents grabbed at the gunman while the security man off to the side pushed through the crowd, pistol in hand, knocking people over as he rushed for the would-be- assassin.

The studio was filled with shouts, screams, curses. The gunman seemed to collapse while the woman beside him clawed at the correspondent who had wrapped his arms around the man. The security guard reached them as a second security man came in from the opposite direction and pulled the screeching woman off the correspondent's back.

Death Wave. Photo by Elena

And then it was all over. People got up off the floor, dazedly. Overturned chairs were set right again. Several more security people had two young women in their grip. The gunman lay sprawled across several chairs; unconsciouos or dead, Jordan couldn't tell which.

Then someone said, “You're bleeding, Mr. Kell.”

Jordan looked and saw that his shirt was soaked with blood. The lectern was smashed to splinters. People were on their feet, gaping.

From his office, Otero watched the whole incredible episode, thinking. This is all going out on the air, live! A real assassination attempt! And we've got it all on camera!

The security team hurried Jordan, his hand pressed to his bleeding side, to the small infirmary on a lower floor of the Otero Network building.

Walking beside Jordan, Hamilton Cree said, “It doesn't look too bad.”

Jordan thought of Mercutio's line from Romeo and Juliet and quoted, “No, this not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door...”

“If I had reacted faster...”

“You did fine,” Jordan said. “Is he... did you kill him?”

Cree shook his head. “Nerve jangler. Paralyzed him. We're not allowed to carry lethal weapons..

“But they do.”

One of the other security men, older, grimmer, said. “The three of those nitwits carried their gun in separate pieces, mostly plastic. Didn't see off the scanner alarm. Then they put it together once they were seated in the studio.”

“Who are they? Why did they want to kill me?”

“We'll find out, don't worry.”

A registered nurse and a diagnostic robot were waiting for them at the one-room infirmary.

“I don't think it's very bad,” Jordan said to the nurse.

“Let's see,” she said.

They laid him on the examining table and cut away his blood-soaked shirt. The robot ran its metal arm, filled with beeping, chirping sensors, up and down Jordan's body.

“No internal injuries,” its synthesized voice pronounced.

The nurse bent over Jordan's abdomen, a tweezers in one hand.

“This may twinge a bit,” she muttered.

It did twinge, but only for a moment. The nurse held up the tweezers, a bloody sliver of wood in its grip.

Hamilton Cree said, “He had a semi-atomatic pistol. Got of three shots. Two of them hit the lectern and shattered it. You got hit by a splinter.”

“And that's it?” Jordan asked.

“That's it,” said the nurse, beaming happily.

Hull Zero Three

Hull Zero Three

By Greg Bear (excerpt)

Cloud modest, the planet covers herself.

Our chosen is perfect – more than we could have hoped for. Rolling beneath, she lips aside her creamy white veil to reveal the sensuous richness of blue water, brown and tan prairies, yellow desert, a wrinkled youth of gray mountains hemmed by forest so green it is almost black – and the brilliant emerald sward of spring pastures.

Impossibly rich.

My flesh is partner to the long journey. Like a hovering angel, I lok down upon the dazzling surface and yearn. All the springs of my youth flow toward this new Earth. A long limb of dawn in the east – how lovely! Our world turns wisely wider shins – the best of luck. There are two moons, one close in, the second much farther out and large enough for icy mountains under a thin atmosphere. We will explore that other promise once we are established here.

We – dozens of us, so many gathering in the observation blister, finally bathing in real light! There is sweet joy in voices from real lungs and tongues and lips – and such language! Ship language and Dreamtime-speak all musically mixed. So many friends and more to come our laughter is giddy.

We want to spread and lock limbs. We want to couple. We are eager to meet children as yet unconceived – eager to hurry them along so they can share this beauty with proud parents.

A calm planet. Photo by Elena.

We!

Kinetic, no longer pent up or potential... The long centuries are over.

We!

We are here!

Planters and seedships have descended before we came awake. They have analyzed and returned with the facts. Our chemistry now matches this world's.

Fons et origo.

Fountainhead.

I don't remember the name we've chosen, it's on the tip of my tongue – not that it matters. I'm sure it is a beautiful name.

We form teams holding hands in waving, weightless lines in the blister, calling to each other using our Dreamtime names and smiling until our cheeks sting. We make awful, funny faces, like clowns, to smooth and relax the muscles of our joy. Soon we will choose new names: land names, sea names, air names, poetically spun from the old.

New name is on the tip of my tongue.

Hers is on the tip of my tongue. She is nearby, and I find myself strangerly embarrassed to meet in person for the first time, because I have known her for all the sleepy ages. We played and learned together in the Dreamtime and resolved our earliest disputes. Making up, we realized we were incapable of being angry with each other for long. She is a master of Ship's biology – myself, training, and culture. Long, lazy times of instruction and play and exploration shot through with intense training, keeping our muscles fit. There is no experience like it, except for coming awake and meeting in the flesh.

The world, the flesh.

Our lines move toward the chrome-silver gate in the translucent white bulkhead. We are moving into the staging area. Landers await us there, sleek shadows ghostly gray.

Our beautiful Ship is too large to land – twelve kilometers long, huge and lonely. Once she embraced an irregular ball or rocky ice over a hundred kilometers in diameter – the shield and yolk of our interstellar journey. She still clutches a wasted chunk of the Oort moonlet – just a few billion tons. We decelerated with fuel to spare and now orbit the prime candidate.

How long?

The years are spread out cold and quiet behind us, the long tail of our journey. We do not remember those years intimately, there were so many.

How many?

It doesn't matter. I will look at the l0g when there is time, after the teams are chosen to make out first journey to the planet's surface. Our new names are called, and we arrange ourselves in the loading bay,  ceremonial outfits like so many brilliant daubs of paint, the better to see and be seen. She is here! Comely in blue and beige and green, her look is bold, confident. Large, deep eyes and wide cheeks, brownish hair cut short – her look my way is a loving, thrilling challenge. She sits away from the others in the lander, by a spare seat, hoping that I will join her. She and I will be on the first team!

We.

I recognize so many from the Dreamtime. Friendly, joyous, hugging, shaking hands, congratulating. Word spill. Our tongues are still clumsy but our passions are ancient. We are more than any family could be. We fought and argued and loved and learned through the long, cold voyage. We chose teams, disbanded, reformed, chose again, and now the fit is perfection within diversity. Nothing can stand between us and the joy of planetfall.

A smooth jolt of perfectly designed machinery -

Severing connections with Ship. The lander is less than a hundred meters long, a tiny thing, really, yet sleek and fresh.

Time is moving so fast.

Lovers and Other Strangers

Lovers and Other Strangers

Sexually transmitted diseases can't just be kissed off

According to a recent study, men with two to four sex partners over  lifetime have a 1 in 29 chance of contracting a bacterial sexually transmitted disease such as syphilis or gonorrhea. For women with an equivalent number of partners, the risk is about twice as high. The patterns are similar for viral STDs such as genital herpes and hepatitis B. But men tend to have more partners than women. When that is taken into account, the chance of getting an STD is ultimately about the same for both sexes. Following are descriptions of the most common STDs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bacterial Vaginosis (Also called Gardnerella or Hemophilus).

How Spread: Through sexual intercourse and possibly through towels and wet clothing. A common cause of vaginitis.

Symptoms: Graylish vaginal discharge is common. Untreated, it can cause reproductive problems such as abnormal Pap smears and urinary tract infections.

Treatment: Metronidazole.

Chlamydia

Caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Most common STD inn the United States.

How spread: Vaginal or anal intercourse, mother to child during birth, hand-to-eye contact if hands have infected discharge.

Symptoms: Appear 7 to 14 days after exposure. In women, it can cause infertility or pregnancy complications, vaginal discharge, painful urination, vaginal bleeding, bleeding after sex, and lower abdominal pain. In men, chlamydia causes burning during urination, urethral discharge, and inflammation of the urethra. Four-fifths of women have no symptoms; sexually active women may want to be screened periodically.

Treatment: Tetracycline. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend Doxycycline as the treatment of choice because it only has to be taken twice a day. Erythromycin for pregnant women. Chlortetracycline for eye infections.

Lovers and Other Strangers. Photo by Elena

Crabs/Pediculosis Pedis

Caused by crablike lice that live in eye-brows, pubic, armpit, and chest hair.

How spread: Physical contact with someone who is infected, or using towels, clothes, or bedding of a person who has crabs.

Symptoms: Intolerable itching in the genital or other areas. The crabs can be seen by the naked eye, so it's easy to diagnose.

Treatment: A lotion called Kwell can be prescribed. After treatment, clean clothes, towels, and bed linen. The crab will die in 24 hours. If skin is irritated from itching, use aloe vera cream to ease the irritation.

Genital warts/Human Papilloma virus

Caused by a virus similar to the one that causes skin warts.

How spread: Sexual intercourse.

Symptoms: Appears three weeks to eight months after exposure. Small painless warts can appear on the labia, vulva, cervix, or anus in women. In men, warts appear on the penis or scrotum. Using a condom can help prevent infection.

Treatment: Dry ice or laser beam can burn off warts, or Podophyllin can be applied.

Gonorrhea

Caused by gonoccocus, a bacterium.

How spread: Sexual intercourse, oral sex, from mother to child during birth, from hand-to-eye contact. For women, from being inseminated by infected semen.

Symptoms: Appear two days to three weeks after infection. In women, thick discharge, burning or painful urination, pain in lower abdomen, vomiting , fever, irregular periods, a rash, chills, fever, pain in the wrists and fingers, hands, feet, and toes. Some 80 percent of women have no symptoms. In men, thick milky discharge, pain during urination. Almost all men show symptoms.

Treatment: The CDC recommends ceftriaxone as treatment. Since people are often infected with gonorrhea and chlamydia at the same time, the CDC also recommends seven days of taking Doxycycline to treat clamydia. Pregnant women should take Erythromycin; it's less effective, but safer.

Herpes

Two types of herpes are caused by the herpes simplex virus. Type I is characterized by cold sores and fever blisters on the mouth. Type II is characterized by sores and blisters on the genitals.

How spread: Sexual intercourse or oral sex with someone who has an active infection. The disease is most contagious when sores exist, but infection can occur even when there are no symptoms.

Symptoms: Appear 2 to 20 days after infection, but most people don't have symptoms until much later. Tingling, itching in the genital area, burning sensations, pain or feeling of pressure in the legs, buttocks or genitals, sores starting with one or more bumps that turn to blisters. Women can have sores or cervix with no noticeable symptoms. Blisters rupture in a few days and heal without treatment. Active sores may make urination painful. Also may be a dull ache or sharp pain in the genitals.

Treatment : No cure at present. CDC recommends keeping sores dry and clean. If very painful, xylocaine cream or ethyl chloride may be helpful. The antiviral drug acyclovir may reduce outbreak recurrence.

HIF Infection/Aids

Caused by the HIV virus.

How spread: Sexual intercourse, anal sex, blood transfusions, sharing of needles with an infected person. The virus is found in blood, semen, and vaginal secretions, so any contact with these bodily fluids with someone who is infected such as unprotected sexual intercourse could lead to infection.

Symptoms: In both men and women, fatigue, weight loss, swollen glands, and skin problems such as seborrheic dermatitis. Bronchial infections, sores in the mouth, fevers, night sweats, loss of appetite, headaches, trouble swallowing. In women, recurrent yeast infections, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, and severe genital herpes.

Treatment: There is currently no treatment for AIDS, which is fatal. But there are ways to stave off a full-blown AIDS outbreak. AZT and DDI are some drugs that are in use.  The progress of the disease  should be monitored by using a CD4 cell monitoring lab test.

Nongonococcal urethristis (NGU)

Caused by Ureaplasma Urealyticum bacterium.

Now spread: Contracted through sexual intercourse. It can be found in apparently healthy people with no signs of infection.

Symptoms: In men, symptoms include discharge from the penis and inflammation of the urethra. Some researchers think NGU causes pregnancy problems in women, but more research needs to be done.

Treatment: Tetracycline is the standard treatment. Doxycycline or Erythromycin may also be prescribed.

Scabies

Caused by tiny parasitic mites.

How spread: Sexual contact, towels, clothes and even furniture.

Symptoms: Intense itching, red bumps on breasts, waist, genitals, buttocks, or hands.

Treatment: Kwell, which is also used to cure crabs. For pregnant women, Eurax.

Syphilis

Caused by a bacterium called spirochete.

How spread: Sexual or skin contact with infected person, or from mother to unborn child. Spreads from open sores or rashes and can penetrate mucous membranes and broken skin anywhere on the body.

Symptoms: Appear from 9 to 90 days after infection with a painless sore that looks like a pimple. In men, pimple could appear on penis or scrotum. Left untreated, could lead to rash over entire body, sore throat, swollen painful joints, aching bones, hair loss, or raised area around the genitals. After 10 to 20 years, bacteria can invade the heart and brain, causing heart disease, blindness, mental incapacity, crippling.

Treatment: Penicillin by injection, Doxycline, or tetracycline pills.

Reading a Balance Sheet

Reading a Balance Sheet

A Guided Tour from a Noted Investment Authority

John Train is well known as the author of The New Money Masters (Harper-Collins) and Most Remarkable Occurrences (Harper-Collins), and founder of Train, Smith Investment Counsel in New York. The following article, which originally appeared in Harvard Magazine, outlines Train’s basic approach to understanding a financial statement.

The most important single truth to grasp about investing is that when you buy a share of stock you become a partner in a business. The essence of investing is thus understanding business, companies.

Company event are reported in dollar terms. To invest sensibly you therefore need to understand what the company is trying to tell you in its financial statement, which is published in a conveniently stylized form, like a sonnet. Though the elements are fairly simple, I observe that many of my clients have trouble reading one. So here is a simple guide to help you started. A company’s financial statement comes in four parts: the balance sheet, the income statement, the cash flow statement, and the statement of shareholders’ equity.

The first of these, the balance sheet, is in essence a financial snapshot of the company at one moment in time, the end of its fiscal year. It is generally brought up to date each quarter thereafter.

The income (or profit and loss) statement shows how the business did during the period: that is, sales minus costs.

The cash flow statement shows where cash came from and what it was used for. The amounts don’t quite match those on the income statement, which includes, for example, purchases or sales on credit, where cash has not yet changed hands.

The statement of shareholders’ equity tells how much the company’s book value rose or fell during the period, whether because it made or lost money or took in new capital by selling stock. If the company made money, this statement will show how much of the profit was put back into the business and how much was paid out to shareholders.

A company’s financial statement ordinarily includes an auditor’s opinion. A “qualified” opinion often indicates trouble. The balance sheet is called that because it is set up to balance, like an equation: There is an implied equal sign between the two parts. On the left (or asset) side you show all the assets in the company at that moment – what it owns and on the right or liability side you show all the company’s debt – what it owes – plus the money that has been put up by the owners and kept in the business the shareholders’ equity. If you think about it, the money you have invested in a house – your equity – plus the mortgage – a debt – perforce corresponds to the physical structure: the asset.

Beware of Investing. Investing is a lot of fun. Photograph: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Here is an example. Let’s suppose the shareholders of a company put up $1 million, which goes to buy $1 million worth of gold. A simplified balance sheet would look like this:

Assets – Gold: $1,000,000.

Liabilities: + Shareholders’ equity, Shareholders’ Equity: $1,000,000.

Suppose we now borrow a million dollars from the bank and buy an additional million dollars woth of gold. Our simplified balance sheet would then looks like this:

Assets – Gold: $2,000,000/$2,000.000.

Liabilities + Shareholders equity:

Bank Debt: $1,000,000

Shareholders equity: $1,000,000

Total: $2,000,000.

In other words, the two sided of the equation still balance.

Good. Now suppose that during our first year business the price of gold doubles, and we happily sell half our hoard for the original cost of the entire amount. Our simplified income statement now looks like this:

Revenues: 2,000,000

Loss: cost of goods sold: $1,000,000

Profit before tax: 1,000,000

Loss: Provision for taxes – $250,000

Net income $750,000.

(Sales are ordinarily shown on an accrual basis – that is, what you are committed to –rather than a cash basis (when you actually take in the money).

We can use this $750,000 of free cash to pay down the bank loan, pay ourselves a dividend, build up our shareholders’ equity or buy back our own stock. Let’s look at the first case. After paying taxes, we pay down the bank loan:

Assets:

Cash – $1,000,000

Gold (at cost) $1,000,000

Total $2,000,000.

Liabilities + Shareholders’ equity

Common stock $1,000,000.

Retained earnings $750,000.

Total: $2,000,000.

(At market: $2,000,000. Accounting principles require that you show the lower of cost of market value).

“Retained earnings” on the balance sheet is where you put money the company has earned and left in the business, not paid out in dividends.

As interesting question arises when we add to our inventory at various prices. For instance, suppose that in our gold-trading activities we bought at different prices. The two major systems of showing these transactions are called “First In – First Out” or FIFO, and “Last In – First Out” or LIFO. When the costs of raw materials are rising, FIFO makes the profits look higher, since sales are taken against the earlier, low-cost purchases. LIFO makes the profits look lower. Why might you want to do this? (1)To improve the bottom line of the balance sheet; (2) to lower taxes.

Footnotes to the financial statements may include information that does not show up in any of the numerical tables, such as pending litigation, company restructuring, or prospective mergers. So always read the footnotes.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the way business professionals and non-professionals examine financial statements is that if you have actually been in business, you tend to look at the cash and equivalents, and at the cash flow section of the report. If a business is doing well, cash will be building up and can be put to work in useful ways: paying off debt, adding to plant, buying back the company’s own shares in the market. If things are going badly, the company will be short of cash, bank and other debt will be rising, and management will be run ragged coping with creditors, instead of improving its products. (A hot growths company may also want cash because it has so many opportunities, but that’s a more agreeable problem).

After you have worked with financial statements for a while, you get in the habit of calculating the return on equity, how fast the inventory turns over, the operating profit margin, and a hundred other things.

So much for the Shortest possible course. To continue on your own, send to Merrill Lynch for the excellent 28-page pamphlet called How to Read a Financial Report. (It may be sooner or later their “financial consultant” will call). After that, try Benjamin Graham’s admirable Interpretation of Financial Statements (HarperCollins). It’s out of print but should be available at your library.

The whole thing is a lot more fun than you might think. And consider this: Even if you’ve got this far, you’re already well ahead of the mass of investors!

Stocking Up on Investor’s Freebies

Stocking Up on Investor’s Freebies

There’s a gold mine of freebies, perks and giveaways awaiting investors in many companies, says Charles Carlston, author of Free Lunch on Wall Street (McGraw Hill). Carlson grew up the following list of companies that lavish goodies on investors. Most offer dividend reinvestment programs as well:

American Recreation Centers, Inc.: 11171, Sun Center Dr. #120, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. Shareholders of 500 or more shares join the Distinguished Shareholder Club, which entitles them to five free games of bowling per day at any of the firm’s bowling centers.

Anheuser-Busch Co. One Busch Place, St. Louis, MO 63118. Shareholders get a 15 percent discount at the company’s amusement and themes parks, including Busch Gardens and Sea World. The company also gives free tours of its main brewery to its shareholders and non-shareholders alike.

Brown-Foreman Corp. 850 Dixie Highway, Louisville, KY 40210. The company has traditionally provided shareholders with a 50 percent discount on certain Lenox holiday china and ornaments, as well as 50 percent discount on its Hartmann-brand luggage.

Chalone Wine Group. 621 Airpark Rd. Napa, CA 95558. Shareholders of 100 or more shares get up to 25 percent off on wine, including older vintages and special reserve bottles, and VIP tours of vineyards.

Shareholders’ Freebies. Photo: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

CML Group: 901 East Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23219. CSX is best known for its railroad operations, but it also operates a prestigious resort, the Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Shareholders receive discounts on stays at the resort.

General Mills. One General Mills Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55426. The company offers a holiday package of products and coupons with a retail value of$50 for just $19,95. Packages include a range of products from Cheerios to Gold Medal muffin mix to Gushers fruit snacks.

Tandy Corp. 1800 One Tandy Center Fort Worth, TX 76102. Around the holidays Tandy shareholders receive a 10 percent discount on purchases of up to $10,00 at Radio Shack home electronic stores.

Walt Disney Corp. 500 South Buena vista St. Burbank, CA 91521. Shareholders may join Disney’s Magic Kingdom Gold Card Program at a reduced rate to receive reduced prices on hotel accommodations and tickets to theme parks and discounts on Disney store merchandise.

William Wrigley, Jr., Co. 410 North Michigan Ave. Chicago, Il. 605611. Shareholders are sent a box of 20 packs (100 sticks) of the company’s chewing gum each year.

Keeping Your Car Breakdown Free

Keeping Your Car Breakdown Free

With the average cost of a new car over $25,000, maintenance is crucial

Cars just aren’t made the way they used to be. Thanks to Total Quality Management, they’re made better. But not even the most demanding of automakers has figured out a way to keep a car running if it’s not properly maintained. And with the average price of a new car now exceeding $25,000, at least, the price of neglect can wreak havoc with your budget. To keep your garage bills down and your wheels running smoothly, Automotive Services at the American Automobile association, recommends the following maintenance schedule:

Check the brakes for wear once a year. The front brakes wear out more quickly than the back brakes, particularly in the city, where you have to start and stop in traffic. Many repair shops have free safety checks. Replacing wrn brake pads should not cos much, including labor. If the pistons have to be rebuilt or replaced, that would cost more, but it will not be too costly.

Change the oil and oil filter every three months, or every 3,000 to 4,000 miles. Oil lubricates and cools the engine. When it becomes dirty, it’s doing its job. But if it gets too contaminated, it can cause more wear on the engine than there should be. An oil change will usually cost less than a hundred dollars even at a garage. Manufacturers typically recommend standard oil, which is defined as meeting manufacturers’ specifications. Synthetic oil is blended better and only needs changing once a year, but it’s considerably more expensive. If the auto manufacturer stipulates that the oil be changed at certain intervals, and you don’t do so, the manufacturer won’t accept liability if the car breaks down.

Replace the air and fuel filters when they are dirty, or once a year. The fuel takes particles from the gas tank and filters it, so it doesn’t clog fuel injection equipment. It also stops water that may build up in the fuel injection system. Replacing the fuel filter should cost about $55: about $20 for the filter and about half an hour of labor, depending on where it is located.

Air filters screen out dirt from the engine clean. They need to be replaced once a year unless you live in extremely dusty conditions. Filters cost $10 to $15 and take only a couple minutes of labor to replace.

Replace spark plugs every 30,00 miles. Spark plugs ignite the mixture of fuel and air in the cobustion cylinder. They are like the pilot light on a gas stove. If they’re not replaced from to time to time, the car may not start or may be sluggish or jerky. Depending on how many cylinders your car has, it takes about one and a half hour of labor, at anywhere from $60 to $80 per hour.

Check the battery regularly. The average life of battery is two to three years, possibly longer. A new one costs around $100. Corroded connections need cleaning or replacing. If you don’t have the maintenance-free variety, be sure to check the water.

Replace radiator and heater hoses every five years. The radiator and heater hoses are made of rubber, so they can get brittle and crack , which is when they fail. It’s usually the bottom radiator hose that goes; it’s the hardest to see and it id not regularly looked at. A replacement hose doesn’t cost much, plus about one and a half hours of expert labor. But replacing hoses before they go can save as much as $1,000 in repairs on an overheated engine. Sometimes a garage will replace the hoses at the some time as it replaces antifreeze.

Keep your car breakdown free. Photo by Elena

Change the antifreeze mixture every two years. The cooling system includes the radiator, heater core, hoses that attach the engine, and the antifreeze mixture. In a place where there are extreme conditions, the antifreeze mixture should be changed once a year. To flush and refill the antifreeze mixture takes about an hour. Some specials must cost around $60, otherwise, it can cost up to $150.

Leave the air-conditioner alone unless it’s not cooling. There are three major parts of an air-conditioner that can go bad. The problem with the condenser or evaporator will cost a few hundred dollars; a problem with the compressor also. If you need more freon, the likely bill will be about $100.

Check the exhaust system regularly. The rubber mounts that hold the exhaust system sometimes need to be replaced if they are worn. Wear is more likely if you take a lot of short trips, but in some cases, mounts will never need replacing. The exhaust system should also be checked for leaks at least once a year on late-model cars, and twice a year on older cars. In the height of summer or winter, the windows are closed; if there’s a leak in the exhaust system, you could be breathing the fumes. A garage will normally check your system free of charge. A new exhaust system will cost you up to $1,000 or more.

Check tires at least once a month for proper pressure and other problems. Low tire pressure cuts gas mileage and affects the car’s stability and safety. Tires also should be inspected for bulges or cuts on the side wall. Sometimes a tire is wearing unevenly, and there are rough edges. If you use a full-service gas station, they usually check the tire for free. You don’t have to take the tires off.

Rotate your tires every 10,000 miles or once a year. It costs dozens of dollars, but if you don’t do it, your tires will wear out a lot faster.

Replace wiper blades once a year. Do it before rainy season. If you get new blades, you can insert them into the arm yourself. You can replace the whole unit for a few dollars. It’s about 15 minutes of labor. A repair shop may install them for free.

Check vehicle lights regularly, especially during winter. To get the brake lights replaced, it costs less then $10 for a bulb. It’s a about a half-hour’s work. Changing the brake light in some cars can be done in 2 or 3 minutes. In the winter, it’s especially important to make sure the headlights are working properly. Depending on the type of headlights, it will take 15 minutes to a half-hour to change them. Normally, a new bulb doesn’t cost much.

Replace the clutch on a manual transmission every 60,000 to 100,000 miles. If you ride the clutch excessively, replacement will be needed sooner. Expect to pay from $400 or more for a new clutch.

The Fix-It Factor

Engine overhaul: If the engine is worn out, making a lot of noise, blowing smoke, or has no power, it might need an overhaul. That’s when an engine gets rebuilt to the manufacturer’s specification. For a 4-cylinder engine, it might cost thousands, it can get up even more for an 8-cylinder. That’s when you have to evaluate if it’s worth putting that much money into the vehicle.

Automatic transmission: The automatic transmission should be serviced every 25,000 miles. Symptoms of automatic transmission failure are that the vehicle feels as if it lacks power, is going nowhere, or is making grinding noises. The majority just won’t drive. If you have a transmission failure, it could cost thousands

Retail Seasons: Sales Make the World Go ‘Round

Retail Seasons: Sales Make the World Go ‘Round

For every retail item, there’s a season. White sales big on Columbus Day and silverware sales flourish in the June wedding season. Here’s when the following items are likely to go on sale across the United States.

January

    Holiday-related products, including wrapping paper, cards, lights, candles, holiday decorations.

    Cookware.

    Curtains.

    Dishes.

    Housewares, small appliances, including toaster ovens, blenders, food processors, coffee makers, etc.

    Rugs.

    Silverware.

    Toys.

    White sales, including linens.

    Winter apparel, including coats, furs, sweaters.

February

    Presidents Day sales, big for the electronics industry.

    Candy.

    Jewelry.

    Lingerie.

    Stereos.

    Televisions.

    VCRs.

    Winter clothes.

March

    Best time to buy winter clothes as retailers make room for spring lines.

    Camping gear.

    Gardening.

    Spring fashion promotions.

Shopping. Photo by Elena

April

    Bicyles.

    Jewelry.

    Lingerie.

    Personal care products.

May

    Furniture (bedroom sets, sofas, dining room tables).

    Gardening supplies.

    Home furnishings.

    Luggage.

    Mattresses.

    Outdoor furniture.

    Refrigerators.

    Spring clothing.

    Stereos.

    Televisions.

    Tires.

    VCRs.

    Washer/dryers.

June

    Father’s Day promotions.

    Electronics.

    Silverware (for wedding season).

    Sporting goods.

    Summer recreational gear.

July

    Bathing suits.

    Bicycles.

    Furniture.

    Mattresses.

    Refrigerators.

    Tires.

    Washer/dryers.

August

    Back-to-school promotions for children’s and junior’s clothing.

    Office supplies.

    School supplies.

    Undergarments.

    Wardrobe basics.

September

    Labor Day “last chance” promotions on summer wear.

    Air-conditioners.

    Cookware.

    Dishes.

    Lamps.

    Musical instruments (pianos, guitars, flutes, etc.)

    Recreational gear.

    Stereos.

    Televisions.

    Tires.

    VCRs

October

    Columbus Day white sales.

    Fall apparel.

    Home textiles.

November

    Curtains.

    Fall apparel.

    Holiday promotions.

    Lamps.

    Rugs.

    Winter recreational gear.

December

    Consumer electronics.

    Cookware.

    Cosmetics.

    Furniture.

    Home appliances.

    Jewelry.

    Luggage.

    Perfume.

    Toys.

    Washer/dryers.

    Winter apparel.

To buy or not to buy. That is the question. Illustration by Elena.

One Expert’s Way to Beat the Dow

One Expert’s Way to Beat the Dow

The strategy outperforms the market almost every year

There may be no sure-fire way to beat the market, but there is a strategy that comes convincingly close, author with Michael B. O’Higgins of Beating the Dow (Harper Perennial, 1992), suggests this system. At the beginning of the year, buy the 10 stocks out of the 30 Dow Jones industrials with the highest yields, often an indication that they’ve been labeled losers. (Calculate the yield by dividing the annual dividend by the stock price). Hold the stocks for one year and then repeat the process.

Sounds simple, but over the past 20 years, the strategy would have netted a handsome average annual 19 percent return, including dividends, compared to 14.3 percent for the Dow 30-stock average. The strategy has outperformed the Dow Jones Industrials for 17 of the past 22 years.

Downes suggests you budget at least $1,000 for each stock. By buying the individual stocks on your own, you can save the $450 or so it would cost to set up a $10,000 portfolio with a discount broker. Adjusting stock picks at the end of the year usually is not costly because typically more than half the stocks will remain on the list from year to year.

A Jamaican Beach. Photo by Elena

You also can buy the bargain 10 through unit trusts, which are sold through brokers such as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, Prudential Securities, and so on. The units are called the Select 10 portfolio and typically come with a 1 percent initial sales charge and 1.75 percent annual fee. The minimum purchase: $1,000 ($250 for individual retirement accounts). The trusts are liquidated each year, so to avoid capital gains taxes, you may want to hold on to them in an IRA.

A final tip: Investing in the cheapest five stocks of the ten highest yielders give you an extra kicker. Why? Because lower-priced stocks tend to move in greater percentage increments than higher-priced stocks and get better returns – even in grit-your-teeth years like 1994.

Investing in Oils

Investing in Oils

A study shows that investing in paintings can be unpredictable indeed

Oil paintings can be a good investment – problem is, they can also be a rotten investment. Knowing the difference means knowing a lot about what makes buyers, critics, and auction houses tick. And even then, the market can be unpredictable.

In Art Auction Trends, James Coleman compared the investment value of selected artists’ works to the consumer price index and the Standard & Poor’s 500. Between 1971 and 1991, 68 percent of the artists studied by Coleman kept pace with inflation and 54 percent outperformed the S&P 500. Sounds good – but how do you tell if your favorite artist is in the winner’s circle?

It’s hard. Consider the work of the highly regarded American impressionist Mary Cassatt. Her work was a good investment over the long run, but its value declined steadily throughout the 1970s. Despite a brief spike in 1981, the median price for Cassatt’s watercolors and drawings by 1984 had dropped well below the increase in the consumer price index and the stock market, and almost below the median price for her work sold in 1971.

Collectible Locks. Just collect what you like! Illustration: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Nonetheless, those who stuck to their guns made a killing when the median price for her work skyrocketed four years later, surpassing the increase in the CPI and nearly tripling the rate for the S&P 500.

How does one find stability in such a market? A painting’s ability to survive in a recession without a big price drop is a good sign of stability.

Better yet, just collect what you like. That way, you can ride out the bad times in good company.

An Artful Guide for the Artless

An Artful Guide for the Artless

Starting an art collection means dealing with dealers. Here’s how

The art world can be confusing place for even the most experienced of art buyers. Squishy factors as “historical interest” or “artistic integrity,” will determine whether your purchase is the bargain of lifetime or just expensive wallpaper. And if you’re just starting out, you’re at the mercy of the judgement of experts.

To even the odds, we can advise the beginning art collector. Here’s what we suggest:

Make sure that what you want is there to collect, and then collect the best in the field. If you want to collect Vincent Van Gogh paintings, you have to have a lot of money, or you will get the worst of the worst of what Van Gogh ever did, because that’s what’s on the market. To find out what’s out there, talk to dealers about finding other dealers in the same field, turn to international directories of dealers, or place ads in trade papers.

Establish as wide of a range or resources as possible. Not only will you see and learn more, but you’ll also be able to play the market for the best price and make intelligent price comparisons. There’s a difference between purposely playing dealers off one another – you shouldn’t do that – and asking intelligent questions. It’s like comparing cars at auto dealerships. You should ask dealers to explain why you saw something similar somewhere else for a different price.

Start by collecting an artist`s typical work. It’s a question of stability down the road – if you want things that will be liquid, you’d be well advised to go with the mainstream. At first you’ll want to find out what the artist is most famous for. Or if you like landscapes of Cape Cod, say, find out what people collect them like to have in them, and then you look for that in your pictures.

Artful Guide. Photo by Elena

Don’t confuse the work with the environment. Properly lit and displayed, even a sack of trash can look great. You can take anything – a tape measure, a can of soup – and put it up on a pedestal, light it, put it in an art gallery and you’re going to have people walk by and say, “wow that’s fantastic.” But when you get it home, all it is, is a can of soup. Take it out of the gallery environment, take it home on approval for a week. Usually you leave some sort of deposit, with no commitment to buy. On the other hand, unless you’re really experienced, it can be hard to see how beautiful something can be. At a garage sale it may look like a piece of junk, but a collector who knows what he’s doing will clean it up and display it properly and it’ll look like a million dollars.

Don’t take bulling. If you’ve got an art dealer who’s giving you a hard time, leave. When you get stuff like “The artist is almost dead” or “We sold six of these last month for X dollars,” just get out. If you feel pressure in any sense to do something, that’s a warning sign that you’re in the wrong place.

Start by working with the experts. Avoid galleries without direction of focus. These are good places to go for experienced collectors because chances are something’s going to slip through. But galleries like that are repositories for whatever people who are running around the area happen to find at flea markets and estate sales – the only focus they have is getting things they can mark up and sell for more. Those galleries have their place, and if you have experience, you can find bargains there.

Don’t ask, don’t tell. Forgeries are a touchy area, because you don’t want to call in one dealer to comment on another’s painting – that would be a conflict of interests – he would rather sell you one of his paintings. As you spend more time collecting, try to meet people – museum people or scholarly types, real true collectors who are not overly concerned about the money and who will give you a straight dope. If you recognize a forgery, don’t point it out. You can get involved in legal problems and you can make enemies fast.

Don’t let investment factors weigh too heavily. Art is immediately liquid only if you want to take a severe hit. If you buy and sell stocks and bonds and the like, you normally pay a 1 to 2 percent commission. If you pay a 20 percent commission to buy a work of art and then pay a 20 percent commission when you sell it – and those are very modest commissions in the art world – the art has to increase in value 40% before you see your first penny of profit.

Don’t try to chisel on prices, unless you have a really good argument. You shouldn’t worry about letting on that you really like a painting. A poker face won’t work anyway. If you are the type of person who likes getting a deal, dealers will bump their price up a bit when they see you coming, and then drop it down to what they wanted to sell it for in the first place. Or, worse, they’ll just sell you medium quality art that they would rather have out the door anyway. Sure they flex on the price a little bit, but you are not going to get the good stuff. You have to work for that – there`s a lot of competition.

Art Collection. Photo by Elena

The Small Print on Prints

They decorate a wall, but stocks do a better job of decorating a portfolio

Most art forms defy financial analysis because each work is highly individual. Prints are a different case because they generally are created in batches of 50 or 100. A 1993 study by University of Toronto economist James Pesando took advantage of this uniformity by analyzing the sales between 1977 and 1992 of 27, 961 prints by 28 modern artists, including Picasso and Matisse.

The results were not encouraging. The mean return for the prints was 1.51 percent annually, whereas a low-risk government bond would have gotten you a 2.54 percent return. Wily investors can still make a killing – annual returns on the prints ranged from a disastrous -35.34% to a healthy 47.18 percent. The method? Similar prints sold within a few weeks of each other varied in price by as much as 30 percent