Alan Lim asked:


When you participate in a paid survey, you expect to receive pay for the time you spend in preparing and presenting your opinions on the subject, service, or product in question. Although most sites that publicize survey opportunities would like you to believe that you can make significant cash from answering questions about your experience with the product, in fact, the majority of survey sites provide reimbursement in ways other than cash. Before you sign up with a survey site, make sure you find out what percentage of the survey questionnaires are payment in cash and how many surveys are paid either in kind or through points.

Products

Sometimes, a paid survey site will pay you in products or equipment items. For example, you may be asked to purchase a particular product and evaluate the product. Then you are reimbursed for the price of the product and you get to keep and use the balance. Sometimes your review will be to do consumer testing of equipment such as a hair dryer or coffee maker. Again, you are allowed to keep the product once the test review has been completed. This type of reward can be very lucrative. If you like the products that you get for nothing, you can continue using them. If not, you can dispose of them at an auction site.

Coupons

Another way to be reimbursed for a paid survey that you complete is to receive merchant coupons for the product you are testing or similar products. Sometimes the coupon is for other products in the merchant’s line. These coupons may be for products that you actually use on a regular basis, thus saving you money for the purchase price. Alternatively, the products are not something you would normally use. In this instance, many survey takers will use the products as gifts to other or will be part of a group that barters such goods so that each person in the transaction receives a benefit.

Cash

Cash for your paid survey is preferred by most people who are in the business of completing surveys for payment. Cash payments range from a few pennies per survey to several dollars. The fee is usually based on the amount of time that has been spent in completing the questions on the survey. The cash can be distributed by way of direct deposit, checks sent through the mail or funding sites such as PayPal.

Sweepstakes

The paid survey may be reimbursed by entering the respondent’s name in a sweepstakes. The prizes attached to the sweepstakes are often quite valuable. The down side is that you have a very slim chance of winning. However, it is true that someone must win and there is always the possibility that the lucky winner will be you. This type of payment certainly doesn’t put food on the table or money in the bank for the day to day costs of living, but it is exciting to think of winning a really beautiful car, house or other big ticket item.

Eric de Fontenay asked:


Throughout the month of July, AirPlay Direct ran our FREE to enter “All Things Digital Jazz / Latin Jazz / World” artist contest. The winner Steve Glotzer will receive the Grand Prize package which is worth over $18,000 and includes:

* A 12 week national radio promotion package from Lisa Reedy Promotions (a $2,250 value)

* A professional microphone package from SHURE Microphones (a $1,600 value)

* A “Featured Artist” advertising and interview package from Lizard Lounge Radio (a $2,750 value)

* A “Featured Artist” advertising and PR campaign from Mi2N (a $750 value)

* An international PR / Marketing campaign from Anesa (a $3,000 value)

* A career “evaluation and consultation” with Shele Sondheim (a $5,000 value)

* 8 vocal lessons and a copy of Jeannie’s vocal enhancement materials “The Contemporary Vocalist” Series from Jeannie Deva Voice Studios (a $1,000 value)

* A “Featured Artist” promotion package from Beyond Bop Radio (a $250 value)

* A “Featured Artist” advertising / promotion package from AirPlay Direct (a $1,500 value)

The Grand Prize Package is valued at over $18,000…!

Steve Glotzer ( http://www.steveglotzer.com ) has been performing around the country at clubs, festivals and concerts for over thirty years, opening shows for a wide range of artists such as Delbert McClinton, Blues Traveler, Dr. John, Larry Coryell, David Grisman, Son Seals, David Wilcox, Sonia Dada, Roger McGuinn, John Cowen, Richard Elliott, and more. And Steve has released five CDs; Life Imitates Art, Lately, Acoustic Christmas, A Softer Side and Memory of One.

Steve’s music has also been featured in movies and TV, on such shows as Oprah, Desperate Housewives, Wife Swap, ED, One Life To Live, Passions, King of the Hill, Martha Stewart Living, The Weather Channel, Sony’s Friends with Money, and the MGM movie A Guy Thing…

Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/steveglotzer

AirPlay Direct would like to thank our Sponsors who have contributed their time, resources and expertise to make this fantastic FREE TO ENTER artist contest a tremendous success.

A little about Lisa Reedy Promotions: www.jazzpromotion.com

A little about SHURE: www.shure.com

A little about Lizard Lounge Radio: www.lizardloungemusic.com

A little about Mi2N.com: www.mi2n.com

A little about Anesa: www.anesa.tv

A little about Shele Sondheim: www.csmwordsandmusic.com

A little about Jeannie Deva: www.JeannieDeva.com

A little about Beyond Bop: www.beyondbop.com

A little about AirPlay Direct: www.AirPlayDirect.com

AirPlay Direct… go straight to the source!

John Abbot asked:

My first vacation in China was, I thought, well planned and well thought out.

I was newly single, having recently separated from my girlfriend of 3 years, the shortest of my 5 long-term relationships with western women, evidence enough that I was incapable of maintaining a lifetime partnership with any woman born and raised in North America. I had always been attracted to Asian women, but had never had the opportunity to act on that feeling, and at 48 years of age time was running out.

I’d been planning the trip for several months and had even managed to combine it with 2 days of business in China which meant my flights across the Pacific were being paid for as well as 2 night’s accommodation. I was going to spend 2 weeks in China and decided not to try to do too much so I planned to spend time in 4 different cities, and then, more importantly, I had spent many nights on the internet and had managed to line up 4 different Chinese women to act as my dates and my guides in each of those cities.

Did I feel a little guilty about this arrangement – yes. Did I feel a bit like a cad – yes. Was I looking forward to it with baited breath – oh YES!!

The first stage of the trip, for 5 days before business was to start, was to be 1 night in Shanghai, then a train ride to Hangzhou, supposedly one of the most beautiful cities in China for a 4 day stay with one of my Chinese ladies. I’d traveled extensively around the Western hemisphere, I’d studiously studied my “China – The Rough Guide”, and I was perfectly confident in my ability to book hotels, train tickets and domestic flights on the spot and for immediate use. So I boarded my flight on April 29th, drank a few free rum and cokes, swallowed a sleeping pill, grabbed a little sleep, and confidently touched down in Shanghai late afternoon of April 30th. The airport seemed pretty busy but what the heck, this was China.

On the bus into Shanghai I was lucky to be seated by a Chinese university student anxious to practise his English, so I ended up explaining my travel plans to him. My first hint that something was amiss was the mild look of concern on his face. He suggested he’d be happy to help me get to my hotel, and since I had a couple of heavy bags I accepted gratefully. When we arrived at the hotel I planned to book there were surprisingly no rooms available, contrary to the best advice of my trusted travel guide, which indicated you could almost always get a room in any hotel in China. Only when my new Chinese friend said he wasn’t surprised did I start to get a bit of a stomach ache.

“Why,” I queried, “are you not surprised?”.

“Well,” my little buddy responded in what was surprisingly good English, “tomorrow is Labour Day, and everyone in China is traveling tonight and for the next week.”

“What did you say?” was my clever comeback, but his answer did not change.

“I think we should maybe go to the train station and try to get you a ticket now” my little ally added.

By this time I was very happy indeed to have found such a good and faithful sidekick, and I adopted his plan immediately. I would try to get a train now and sleep on the journey. Tomorrow in Hangzhou I would book into my hotel which I had pre-booked because of my pending 4 night date, needing a specified place to rendezvous. Fortunately the train station was nearby, only a few blocks from the hotel we were in. Unfortunately the lineups for train tickets started in the hotel lobby. After fighting to the head of the train queue (the longest battle of my life in spite of being assisted by both my loyal sidekick and a sympathetic Chinese cop) I was advised that there would be no train tickets available for 2 days. My confidence was starting to ebb.

My friend and I decided that the best thing I could do was take a taxi from Shanghai to Hangzhou, because, I stated, I thought it best to escape the craziness of Shanghai at the time. I was not then aware that Hangzhou is the one city in China where Chinese tourists from all over the country will go to congregate with family instead of going home. The bizarreness that is Hangzhou during the 3 national vacation periods is an experience I intend to never suffer again, even if self inflicted death is required to intervene.

My friend negotiated a taxi for me, and I suspect he got a 10% cut of an inflated price, but even so I cannot begrudge him as he had probably saved my life already at least twice. The taxi took over 2 hours and cost me about 90 USD. I was actually able to get my room that night on my arrival because they had accidentally booked me in a day early, and the hotel was a decent 4 star number owned by the Red Army.

So I settled in, then headed upstairs to the hotel bar, and tried to order a cold beer, intending to have a quiet night while waiting for my first Chinese date to arrive the next day. Nobody seemed to understand what a cold beer was, which I attributed to my complete lack of Chinese and their almost as complete lack of English, until I walked over to the bar myself to point to a cold beer only to find all the beer neatly stacked on the counter outside of the empty beer cooler.

This was over 5 years ago now, and at that time the Chinese almost religiously believed that drinking anything cold was a surefire way to bring about an early demise. They were not sure what the beer cooler was for, but it for damned sure was not for cooling beer. I managed to convince them to put a half pack in the cooler just for me, thinking I would enjoy them the next day when they were actually cold, but they dutifully removed them overnight to ensure that no sane person accidentally consumed a cold beer and died while on their watch.

Tim Zelmer asked:

There was a time when the largest determining factor in any romantic relationship was proximity. The girl next door, down the street or on the other side of town was pretty much the extent of the options available for most single men. As travel became easier – and more necessary for work – after the Second World War, the field broadened and people from different states and even different countries began getting together. Still, however, proximity was the overriding factor in the vast majority of relationships. Letters and the occasional telephone call were all well and good, but it was difficult to sustain a relationship when there was only at best sporadic contact and no visual contact at all.

All of that changed, however, with the advent of the Internet, and the various ancillary technologies that have grown with it – such as voice communication, instant messaging and webcams. Communication with people on the other side of the country – or the other side of the world – is now not only possible, but commonplace. With the explosion of the information age and the openness and ease of communications afforded by the Internet, international online dating has become a multi-billion dollar a year industry, with millions of men and women participating in it. Women in Greece are now enjoying the time they spend online with men in Ottawa, and men in St. Louis are forging meaningful and rewarding relationships with women in the Ukraine.

As with any other form of romantic relationship building, international dating brings with it new and, in some cases, unfamiliar challenges. While it is true that people all over the world share common needs and desires, people from different cultures possess different customs and belief systems and, in some cases, process information differently. Assuming, for instance, that forging a relationship with a woman in Moscow is going to be exactly the same as charming a girl from Cleveland is probably not going to work out terribly well. Below are a few things to keep in mind as you hit the international online dating scene.

• Language Differences: Obviously if you find yourself an online dating interest from an English speaking country (assuming, of course, that your primary language is English) then this shouldn’t be an issue, but what about if your interest – to use our above example – is a woman in Moscow? Basically, most people who look into international online dating will be able to speak English at some level, but their proficiency with the language will vary greatly. The key to meaningful communication is to make certain that, until you are sure of how well a woman understands English, you keep things fairly basic. Avoid using long, complex words or sentences to express your thoughts to begin with, because there is every chance that if you don’t you will spend as much time explaining yourself as you will getting to know the woman. Be patient, and be prepared to explain what you mean when asked – and also be prepared to help her ‘find the right words’. Open communication and clear dialogue is essential to building any romantic relationship online.

One thing you should always avoid at first is “text speak”, until you are very comfortable with the woman you are communicating with. “LOL, “BRB” “BBIAB” and other such examples are certainly common enough in the states, but unless the woman you are communicating with is familiar with them, they will seem like gibberish – and could even serve to lower her first (or second, or third) impression of you. Additionally, you will want to keep your use of slang to a minimum at first. If the woman has only remedial or even intermediate English skills, she is likely not to have mastered even frequently used slang terms as yet.

• Humor: One aspect of a man’s personality that survey after survey indicates is extremely attractive to women is his sense of humor. The ability to make a woman laugh is important to not only getting any relationship off on the right foot, but also to building the relationship and moving it forward. In the world of international online dating, humor is a necessary component of forging a mutually satisfying relationship – but the rules are a little different. In order for you to make your international dream-girl laugh, she is going to have to get the joke, and actually find it funny.

Part of the concern here harkens back to the language challenges mentioned earlier. Jokes or quips that rely heavily on double entendre or word play – i.e. “Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas, what he was doing in my pajamas I’ll never know” – will only work with your online partner if she has sufficient English skills to appreciate them. Another area to avoid – at least at first – is humor that is heavily dependent on sarcasm. Not only can sarcasm be very challenging to someone with limited English skills, but it simply doesn’t translate very well to the instant message and/or chat room medium. Generally, it is better to avoid using it until your relationship has progressed to the talking and/or streaming live video stage.

• Time Zones and scheduling: Of course, if you are considering international online dating you are probably going to realize that time differences will exist between you and your partner. However, along with realizing that the difference in time is there, it is important that you keep in mind what these differences mean in terms of your relationship. For instance, returning to the example of our woman in Moscow, if you are in New York City (Eastern Time Zone) then when you get home from work at 5:00 and sign online, it will be 1:00 AM at your online girl friend’s place! Conversely, if you want to have a chat with her just before you go to bed, the odds are that she will have just awakened and be rushing around (as we all do) to get ready for work.

One of the keys to international online dating is scheduling time with a woman you are interested in, and then remaining on that schedule if at all possible. This will require a bit of give and take on both your parts – staying up a little later, getting up a little earlier or blocking out lots of time on the weekends. Remember to be considerate of her time, if you expect her to be considerate of yours!

• International Online Dating services: While there are many ways to meet women from other countries online, many busy people (both male and female) choose to use online dating services to make their initial connections. While virtually all of these services charge their customers fees, some studies indicate that not only does using services of this type decrease the time it takes to meet a person you are interested in, but also increases the likelihood that your online relationship will progress into something special and fulfilling. When looking for an international online dating service, make certain that their website is secure, and verified by independent agencies (McAfee, GoDaddy, etc) as being safe. Make certain that they list their fees upfront, and make certain that they offer everything you are looking for (private chats, streaming video chats, etc) before you sign up. Just like anything else, when you are shopping for an international online dating service, make certain you read the fine print.

International online dating can be a very fun and rewarding experience – and there is no reason not to think that if you lucky, you might actually meet the woman of your dreams. But as with anything else in life that is new and different, it is important to understand some of the basics before getting into it. By following a few simple rules, and making certain that you communicate in a clear and considerate manner, who knows … the perfect woman might actually be in Moscow, and yet only as far away as your laptop!

Lintang Suminar Sari asked:


Asian Idol had been taken place in Indonesia on Saturday, December 15 2007 and Sunday, December 16 2007. This kind of competition is to find a new star regionally after the first finding of national scale stars. We will not easily forget Kelly Clarkson to Taylor Hicks as examples of American Idols. Nowadays, this long lasting singing contest reaches toward Asian countries.

Star qualities were found in these top 3 competitors: Jacklyn Victor from Malaysia, Mike Mohede from Indonesia and Mau Marcello from Phillipines. According to the professional official judges, they were the best. But unfortunately all their comments to guide the public in choosing the best one were in fact useless. When someone is to win means no professional taking part to give the clue. All the official judges’ comments would come to an ignorance that their words might sound a little bit fussy for voters. A fresh proof had already been shown. Sorted by ability the official judges recommended top 3 competitors but voters did the opposite by choosing one from bottom 3 competitors. Those bottom 3 competitors were Phuong Vy from Vietnam, Hady Mirza from Singapore and Abhijeet from India.

In the second half of Asian Idol Result Show, came the result announcement session which everybody had been waiting for. While the competitors were standing side by side, the hosts announced that Hady Mirza is the first Asian Idol. This good looking single was once assumed not having adequate capability to become even a Singapore Idol. Ironically now he is chosen in the bigger level still with his low skill. At once, the wish to shout ‘a new star is born’ was replaced by ‘a new shame is born’. Shame on us to let international quality skilled Jacklyn Victor for example was beaten by a ‘nothing special’ singer. Shame on us that for the bigger level World Idol we send the wrong competitor.

Some people not wholly agree with an opinion saying that Idol competition is a competition wherever it is held. Sometimes it happens that this competition is a popularity competition rather than an ability competition. By the interference of public on the way the winner determined, it looks more like a luck gambling event than a competition. A singing contest can easily turn into a good looking contest. Frankly, that is exactly the weakness of this Fremantle’s competition. It puts all in the same category so called idol and lets incompetence judges judge over the routine shows.

For so many years of the taking place of Miss World, there always be some other categories to win. Miss Photo Genic, Miss Congeniality are to name. MTV has its own competitions that provides awards for artists being chosen by viewers for example an award on favourite artist or an award on viewer’s choice. Those various categories which are not available in Idol competition help on preventing the most valuable appreciation from going to the wrong address.

Since the public are the incompetence judges, they massively perform their unreliable assessments based on personal appetites. It warns us that the judges with phones or cell phones are more dangerous than the official ones. Therefore a special space for them limited in seeking in category of favourite winner only is completely needed to put below the full authority of official judges who may choose the most proper winner instead of public’s full authority to determine anything.

It needs one president or king to run a country and that is the essence of running a country. It needs a little number of official judges to determine a contest winner and that is the essence of running a contest. Asian Idol and the smaller scale Idol competitions were from the very start lost their essence as competitions. What happened to Asian Idol and other Idol competitions were like thousands of presidents managed one civilian of their favourite, ignoring the maximal delegation to more knowledgable experienced persons. This Idol competition conjured morons to one night presidents, entraping people to yearly repeated mistakes.

A question to Fremantle Media is how much longer will this unexpected consequence be let, because to get along with the age is to develop by fixing the weakness to a better version. This sort of development usually happens to a great country, a law, a technology product such as a hardware and software. And how Oprah Winfrey becomes the most expensive TV show host is because she develops and so does the show. Everyone waits to witness no more ‘new shame is born’ because the utmost importance is to witness ‘new star is born’.