Jumat, 18 Februari 2011

Are Myspace Backgrounds Really Necessary?

Since Myspace is an online community site, which is used for networking, most people take it for granted. They think that all they need to do is write some industry jargon for the sake of a community site. However they could be very wrong. Not only is the content important, the backgrounds and the complete layout of the profile need to be very interesting.

Because it is a networking site, there are millions of users on this site. And these millions will naturally not be related only to one industry. They will be related to various groups such as music, religion, art etc. These users are bound to keep looking for people to keep growing their groups on this site. After all this is the purpose of the networking site.

Thus, all those how have registered on this site must take some effort to make their profiles look good. And this is where the Myspace backgrounds will be useful. They are of course necessary because they lend a hand with the creativity of the profile. The backgrounds can be used for the various divisions of the profile. They will include the ones about the users, the blogs, interests etc.

Users have a great deal of fun too while applying these backgrounds. They not only have a large variety to choose from, they will also be able to apply them very easily to the profile. All Myspace backgrounds come with easy codes that can be applied easily to where it is needed on the profiles. This makes the profile definitely more interesting.

This is because each user is going to have different content on the profile. Based on this content, users may choose their backgrounds as it suits it. It could be a background full of cartoons if one is a cartoonist, and it could be one of a music instrument if one is a musician. All people need is a little patience with which they can look through the hundreds of backgrounds that are available.

Many sites are dedicated to these backgrounds, as there are millions of users who use this community site. Backgrounds are being updated every day, and you really need not know specifically about the sites before choosing one. Sites with Myspace backgrounds are very easy to find, and they will be accessible easily as well. They are separated into categories, so people may just look in the specific ones for what they need.

The backgrounds are available in plenty and they come in gorgeous colors as well. They would suit any kind of profile that a user will have. The backgrounds are people who look at the specific profile will know that a lot of effort has been taken to make the profile extremely interesting. With this they will come to the conclusion that the person is worth taking the time to talk to.

Art Theft: Most Famous Cases in History

Art theft is an ancient and complicated crime. When you look at the some of the most famous cases of art thefts in history, you see thoroughly planned operations that involve art dealers, art fakers, mobsters, ransoms, and millions of dollars. Here you can read about some of the most famous cases of art theft in the history.

The First Theft:
The first documented case of art theft was in 1473, when two panels of altarpiece of the Last Judgment by the Dutch painter Hans Memling were stolen. While the triptych was being transported by ship from the Netherlands to Florence, the ship was attacked by pirates who took it to the Gdansk cathedral in Poland. Nowadays, the piece is shown at the National Museum in Gdansk where it was recently moved from the Basilica of the Assumption.

The Most Famous Theft:
The most famous story of art theft involves one of the most famous paintings in the world and one of the most famous artists in history as a suspect. In the night of August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen out of the Louver. Soon after, Pablo Picasso was arrested and questioned by the police, but was released quickly.

It took about two years until the mystery was solved by the Parisian police. It turned out that the 30×21 inch painting was taken by one of the museum employees by the name of Vincenzo Peruggia, who simply carried it hidden under his coat. Nevertheless, Peruggia did not work alone. The crime was carefully conducted by a notorious con man, Eduardo de Valfierno, who was sent by an art faker who intended to make copies and sell them as if they were the original painting.

While Yves Chaudron, the art faker, was busy creating copies for the famous masterpiece, Mona Lisa was still hidden at Peruggias apartment. After two years in which Peruggia did not hear from Chaudron, he tried to make the best out of his stolen good. Eventually, Peruggia was caught by the police while trying to sell the painting to an art dealer from Florence, Italy. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louver in 1913.

The Biggest Theft in the USA:
The biggest art theft in United States took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. On the night of March 18, 1990, a group of thieves wearing police uniforms broke into the museum and took thirteen paintings whose collective value was estimated at around 300 million dollars. The thieves took two paintings and one print by Rembrandt, and works of Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, as well as a French and a Chinese artifact.    

As of yet, none of the paintings have been found and the case is still unsolved. According to recent rumors, the FBI are investigating the possibility that the Boston Mob along with French art dealers are connected to the crime.

The Scream:
The painting by Edvard Munchs, The Scream, is probably the most sought after painting by art thieves in history. It has been stolen twice and was only recently recovered. In 1994, during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, The Scream was stolen from an Oslo gallery by two thieves who broke through an open window, set off the alarm and left a note saying: thanks for the poor security.

Three months later, the holders of the painting approached the Norwegian Government with an offer: 1 million dollars ransom for Edvard Munchs The Scream. The Government turned down the offer, but the Norwegian police collaborated with the British Police and the Getty Museum to organize a sting operation that brought back the painting to where it belongs.

Ten years later, The Scream was stolen again from the Munch Museum. This time, the robbers used a gun and took another of Munchs painting with them. While Museum officials waiting for the thieves to request ransom money, rumors claimed that both paintings were burned to conceal evidence. Eventually, the Norwegian police discovered the two paintings on August 31, 2006 but the facts on how they were recovered are not known yet.

Selasa, 01 Februari 2011

Are Web Directories any good?

Since I started promoting my website, I came across a wide array of web directories, and I have to admit this question has been bugging me since then. Are Web Directories any good for the Internet?

Let's start by getting the obvious out of the way first. The main purpose of web directories is to promote web sites. This isn't usually done directly, by directing users through their links, since web directories don't get that much traffic, but indirectly.

The way this indirect promotion works is that, after a website is registered in several web directories, search engines' crawlers see the links and count them, increasing the page rank and search results for the specific web page.

Ok, this is fine, but what about the surfers? Let's be honest, 99 percent of the people that visit web directories are web masters that want to promote their web sites by getting a few extra links. Web directories have never been too attractive to surfers. But can they become attractive? Well, my guess is they can. And the only way to do so is to become more user friendly and to provide surfers with useful content.
What I mean by this is that web directories can become popular websites if, instead of providing a list of mediocre websites, ordered by the ammount of money each one of them payed for their listing in the web directory, they would provide a list of the top websites the internet has to offer for each category. Such a list should be maintained by the web masters, by searching the web and choosing the top websites.
Of course, this means that you can't just wait for people to submit any websites to your directory. You will have to get working on finding the websites surfers might be interested in. Another cool thing one could add is to allows userse to rate the websites that are listed. This is a very nice addition, since it adds an interactive element to the website and orders the websites by the ratings given by surfers.
My previous experiences with web directories or 'Top 100' websites have been appaling. All of those websites were filled with second grade links, the kind of websites you are expecting to receive malware from to be honest. Well, this type of 'Tom's top 100 websites' linking to 'Jerry's top car magazine', containing 2 months old news simply doesn't work. This is not what surfers want to see. Neither the MS-Dos type graphics in 32 colours, nor the sponsored links or suggested websites.
I really hope that the future will bring better web directories to the scene. Let's be honest! There are so many great websites out there that surfers don't know about, and so little places where you can find out about them.


Well, this is my opinion on web directories. I hope you enjoyed reading it!