All the wrong ways to approach online marketing

Wouldn’t it be great if marketing were a science? We could test different methods and discover what worked, then we could apply it over and over again and watch the dollars come rolling in. Unfortunately our work isn’t that simple. It’s amazing how many marketers at top companies fail to realise this simple fact and implement the same marketing plans year after year, wondering why sales continue to decline.

When it comes to online marketing, it’s not the change in consumer attitudes and habits that we need to be wary of, it’s changes to Google’s search algorithm. Google’s engineers are continually working to refine this powerful engine to ensure that it returns only the most relevant search results. This means that old online marketing techniques can no longer be used to improve the ranking of your website in search results. In fact, not only are these techniques a waste of time, they can actually harm your business. If Google believes that your website is employing one of these techniques, they’ll punish you by burying your site way down the list.

The best way to ensure that your online marketing is performing as best as it possibly can is to hire a highly experienced SEO agency. Here are some of the search engine optimisation techniques that any decent search engine optimisation agency shouldn’t be going anywhere near in 2013.

1. Reciprocal Linking and Link Exchanges

Way back in 2004 this was all the rage, not any more. The technique involves contacting other website owners and asking to place a link on their page in exchange for you doing the same in return. Sites called Link Farms are set up for this specific purpose and host hundreds or even thousands of links. Unless the links you are exchanging are highly relevant, Google will pick up on this straight away.

2. Duplicate Content

One of the best ways to generate links and drive traffic to your site is with Content Marketing. This involves writing insightful articles and submitting them to blogs and news websites, who will hopefully allow you to include a link in return for providing quality content for free. It’s tempting to write one article and submit it to as many different sources as possible, however if you repeat the headline or substantial sections of the body copy, it’s a big red flag to Google and your hard work will got to waste.

3. Hidden Text

A classic old-school SEO technique, the hidden text trick involves stuffing lists of keywords into a website and making them the same colour as the background or hiding them behind a picture. Modern search engines are able to tell the difference between natural language and meaningless lists and can also detect when words have been obscured, rendering this trick completely useless.

4. Keyword Stuffing

Sure, it’s important to include relevant search terms in your website text, but words that are heavily repeated or out of context are easily picked up these days. Write your content for the reader’s eye, not Google’s.

5. Cloaking

Cloaking refers to showing different content to search engines than your website users. For example, this could be a page that is only accessible via a hidden link.


Ivy Delfin is a leading SEO Practitioner

20+ Worlds Funnniest Jokes and One Liners

1. I tried to catch some Fog. I mist.

2. When chemists die, they barium.

3. Jokes about German sausage are wurst.

4. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

5. I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop anytime.

6. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

7. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned in me.

8. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I have never met herbivore.

9. I am reading a book about anti-gravity, I can't put it down.

10. I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

By the way, if you like these then you would surely enjoy the 50+ Funniest Quotes.

11. They told me I had type A blood, but it was a type O.

12. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

13. PMS jokes aren't funny. Period.

14. Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

15. Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz.

16. Energizer Bunny arrested: Charged with battery.

17. I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

18. How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!

19. What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

20. When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

21. What does a clock do when its hungry? It goes back four seconds.

22. I wondered why baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!

23. Broken pencils are pointless.

Best 8 Gifts You Should Gift Your Wife on the Wedding Day

Your wedding day is the most special occasion in your life that you get to celebrate with your wife. It is a day of joy and happiness for you and your family; the exchange of gifts is customary on this day.

Knowing that this day only comes once in a man’s life, it is vital that you make the most of it and get your wife presents that she will adore and love for the coming years.

Here are the best eight gift ideas for your wedding day:

1. Necklace
A necklace is a traditional gift which is very popular on this special occasion. You can never go wrong with this gift as it is something that your wife will always treasure. You should try visiting a nearby jewellery store to see what they have available. If your wife has a certain preference in gemstones then get what she likes. It will look beautiful and make a perfect wedding day present.

2. Photo book
A photo book is a very unique idea for a gift. It is not expensive either, you can get one from your local store or order it online. Once you get the photo book, put all the pictures you have with her in the book making a wonderful album.

You can also add a personal message along with each photo to make it more romantic and charming. Personalized gifts are always trend setters and give you the chance to express yourself.

Have You Been APE-d Yet?

Are you planning to write a book but not sure how to go about publishing it? Let Guy Kawasaki help you with it! How? Here's how.

Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch have come up with a book called APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. With it they will show you the magic of self-publishing. How you can overcome the barriers that you would have had to face with traditional publishing. I had a chance to grab a review copy of APE and I was surprised at how easy it is to get yourself published!

Acquired Tastes

Last evening while sharing a few drinks with Suvomoy, I started discussing my inability to appreciate the true beauty in a glass of Whiskey/Scotch. I have always been an ardent fan of the Old Monk and continue to remain so, I never failed to go for that readhead because compared to it the glass of Whiskey/Scotch seemed pale. And that's bad news because I have heard from numerous dipsomaniacs that Whiskey/Scotch is the drink of a man and to become a true connoisseur of the spirit-ual world, one needs to get acquainted with the taste of that damned beverage.

I always though that drinking Whiskey/Scotch is like listening to Rock, you either have the ear for it or you don't. There is no middle path. Your palates can either appreciated the taste of Whiskey/Scotch or they cannot, you simply cannot force yourself into getting high on it. But I guess I was wrong.

Suvomoy was of the opinion that tastes can be acquired, forcefully. And to accept the taste of a great beauty, be it in the spirit-ual world or otherwise, at first its eminent that one would not be able to truly appreciate its great beauty. Probably that's why its a great beauty. And if you force yourself to indulge in it, slowly you start soaking and basking in its glory.

It made me rethink about my own opinion on drinking Whiskey/Scotch. It is somewhat like the music of Pink Floyd. At first I never used to like them, could make any head or tails of what they were trying to convey. But one fine day I bought The Wall, a discography of Floyd. I listened to it for hours, and slowly it started seeping into my soul, getting inside my flesh, giving me goosebumps with every pluck on their strings. Finally my room started reeking in the spirit of Floyd, and I started swaying to their tunes. Since then I have been in love with Pink Floyd, they have been the Gods of Rock.

Hopefully in the coming months I be able to hold a conversation with the spectral beauty of a glass of Whiskey/Scotch. Ofcourse, the teachings of the Old Monk would never be forgotten, but still.

Ritu Chakravarti, Not Funny!

I found this video yesterday from a friend's Facebook stream. After after I saw (or heard, rather) this video, I was dying to share these thoughts with Rubi Chakravarti (and BBC World Have Your Say).

Now I don't know about you but I got my schooling in humor and sarcasm from the legends like Mitch Hedberg and George Carlin and Russell Peters. Because of which I can differentiate between comedy and "tragedy". And what we have here Ritu is pure trash. Not the kind that Stephen King keeps talking about every now and then though. Even if I stretch the periphery of my imagination I cannot conceive this video in my mind as a comedy, or you as a comedian.

All I could make out of this video is a fat woman accusing the entire Indian male population just because some stupid guy invented some stupid product that some stupid female is bound to use some day! All I could hear was how that fat woman discuss the winnie of Indian male with her female friend and yearns for a hawt Italion stallion. And how the entire Indian male populace is to be penalized for the wrong-doings of that one guy. You are supposed to be a comedian, where's the comedy in this! Honestly, the only comedy I found in this video was the comedy of errors where you never had your witty rebuttals ready for Nagessh Pannaswami, and so ended up lashing out at him and the entire Indian male populace. Next time please come up with something really funny, our bandwidth still costs a lot.

And just one last thing before I bid adieu. If you are not satisfied with the winnie of an Indian man, we always welcome you to try other flavors. If that's not an option, feel free to buy the latest penis enlargement kit from eBay: a magnifying glass.

Love Marriage Vs Arranged Marriage

Coming from a man who is about to get divorced very soon, advice about marriage is not something to be taken seriously. But nonetheless, we all have our opinions. And at some point of time we all want to be heard. So when I first read about Indiblogger's Love Marriage or Arranged Marriage contest, I too wanted to write about it, I too wanted to express my views. And don't we all know, that it is from our failures that we achieve the key to our success.

Now, to be very honest with you there isn't much difference between a love marriage and an arranged marriage. The custom of arranged marriages have been predominant in this part of the world since centuries, and many of these nuptial bonds have been more than just successful. And I know a lot of men and women who belong to the new generation have left it upon their parents to decide about their life partners, or have started searching for a prospective bride or a groom through ads in newspapers.

And then there are some of us who were lucky enough to find that someone special in their lives. That someone who they couldn't think they could spend their lives without. They fell in love with that someone and then after they get to know eachother a little too well, they decided to take it to the next level, as you might say, and tie a knot. My parents had a love marriage, and they are happy together even after all these years!

But then I have seen marriages fail. They can be either of them, love or arranged. I have seen arranged marriages collapsed within days of the wedding because of simple misunderstanding. And I have also seen couples get separated because one or both of them fell out of love of eachother who had were once convinced that love is the best thing that had ever happened to them.

So what goes wrong?

The answer to that is very simple. Be it love marriage or arranged marriage, more often than not we don't seem to understand the true meaning of the word marriage. When people say that marriage is an institution, we fail to understand its teachings. We fail to understand that marriage is not just signing off a few legal documents or wearing sindoor on your forehead, marriage is not the right to have sex with your partner. Marriage is a bond of love that is to be respected by both people involved in it, that is to be cherished for what it is. It a relationship of a lifetime that is above all other relationships, the truest of them all. Marriage is a oath that a couple needs to fulfill, an oath to stick to eachother through thick and thin and love eachother inspite of all the odd of life. Marriage is a feeling that is not bound by a legal document or a pinch or red powder.

If you want to be married to someone because you love that person, you can do that without signing off a legal document in front of thousands of witnesses, you can do that without wearing that pinch of the red powder. Because if you want to break the bond of marriage, no legal document or no vermillion can save it. But if you want to keep it, no adversity would dare to break such a beautiful bond.

That is marriage!

And once we understand the true essence of marriage, whether its an arranged marriage or a love marriage, we would be able to cherish it like it says in the books, happily ever after.

Rashomon Effect - It's Time to Get High on 70mm!

For those who know me personally knows that I am a movie-buff. Most of my weekends goes by watching movies, either on my laptop or in the theaters. So I thought why not write my own movie blog!

So very recently I started writing on my new blog, Rashomon Effect. It's named after the classic movie Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all times.

You would mostly find reviews of latest movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Bhooter Bhabishyat, other than lists of my favorite Director, Actress, movie trivia, collection of quotes from my favorite movies, hot and sizzling trailers of upcoming movie and the likes.

For all the movie-buffs out there, who are a fan of The Chronicles of R, would ask you to head out to Rashomon Effect and Like it's Facebook fan page if you like the blog. Why? Because it's time to get high on 70mm!

Keyboard Woes

How often have you been bothered by the nuances of your ordinary keyboard? Even if it's a wireless one, spillage, dust et al ruins your online experience. Here's a simple solution. Buy a touchscreen keyboard from NMB.

The new COOL LEAF Keyboard is a beautifully designed, next generation input device. With a mirror like flat surface while turned off, this device comes alive when turned on, as the keyboard characters appear on the surface, lighted from beneath, as if floating. Designed by world renowned Dr. Kazuo Kawazaki, this product represent Minebea's state of the art backlighting technology, coupled with their keyboard manufacturing experience.

The mirror like surface of this keyboard panel makes it easy to clean, and ideal for any application where cleanliness, dim light or contemporary design esthetics are required. This beautiful piece of new technology is now available, buy it here.

Create a Wireless Home Network in 3 Easy Steps

Does you legacy broadband connection stops working every now and then without a good reason? Does it gives you way less speed than it actually promised? Does it goes down come a little rain and storm? Are you unable to use it on your laptop because the modem/router is fixed near your desktop where you don't have a place for your laptop? Well, if you have similar problems, I have a simple solution for you. Go wireless!

Here is the simplest way to go wireless in 3 easy steps:

1. Buy a Relience 3G dongle with a prepaid connection. It comes with a GSM SIM and you can recharge it for Rs 1300 for a 15GB unlimited connection. I have been using the same for almost a year now and it has given me no trouble at all. Even in remote areas, or inside buildings, I get a speed of 3.4 mbps! With this speed, you can download a 700 mb file in about an hours time.

2. Next, buy a wireless 3G router. You can try the TP LINK Portable 3G/3.75G Wireless N Router. It comes with a USB port for your Relience 3G dongle and hardly costs more than Rs 1700. Configuring it is pretty simple and you can do it in a breeze.

3. Configure all the devices that uses 3G network to connect to the internet, your smartphone, laptop, desktop, et al, so that they can connect to this wireless router. And voila! You have your home network up and running in no time.

If your house is like a penthouse, you can try buying a Cisco Linksys WAP 610N Wireless N Access Point.

Since this is a 3G dongle, you need not worry about whether the fiber optics cable would drown in the monsoon and your net connection would stop working. Its wireless, so take it anywhere you want, connect as many devices as you want. Wasn't that simple! So what are you waiting for, setup your wireless network today, and watch porn from anywhere :)

Collusion - Track Your Online Footprint with Firefox

Ever wanted to know who is tracking you online in real-time? Wanted to be able to choose who should be able to track your online footprints and who should not be able to stalk you? Mozilla and Ford Foundation has come up with a new add-on for their Firefox browser which would do just the same - Collusion.

Collusion is an experimental add-on for Firefox and allows you to see all the third parties that are tracking your movements across the Web. It will show, in real time, how that data creates a spider-web of interaction between companies and other trackers. Want to know exactly what I am talking about, here's a demo.

Interested? Download the Collusion add-on for Firefox from here. Click on the Add to Firefox button. This add-on does not require a restart, but to see it you might need to press Ctrl+'/' and then click on the Collusion icon from the add-on bar. On Mac, go to the View menu, then the Toolbars menu, then check "Add-on Bar".

After that all you need to do is keep browsing the web. As you do that the graph on the page on your Firefox browser would keep growing. Here each circle represents a website, sites with a halo are the sites that you have visited, site in gray are the ones that you haven't visited and an arrow from one to another means that the former site has set one or more third-party cookies to inform the latter site about your visit. You can hover over the circles to know more about each sites.

Firefox is working on adding more features, such as the ability to click on any node in the graph and tell Firefox to block third-party cookies to that site. Along with that they are also working on visualizing other methods of tracking besides third-party cookies. If you would like to keep an eye on their progress, file a bug, request a feature, or get a copy of the source code, please go to this site.

Now enjoy the visual sonata of Collusion. And don't forget to befriend us on Facebook.

Tips on Improving Computer Performance

After a certain amount of time, your computer may start to lag and not perform as it once did. When this happens to your computer, you don't simply have to accept the fact that your computer is slowing down. You also don't have to go out and buy a new computer to get the performance back. Instead, there are a number of tips that you can use to improve the performance of your computer. You may also want to check out solutions from Exar.com for Ethernet networking.

Clean Up the Disk

One of the best things you can do when it comes to improving the performance of your computer is to clean up the disk. Your operating system should have a disk cleanup tool that you can use to get rid of unnecessary files and folders. It will remove temporary Internet files, into the recycling bin and help you identify the files that you can delete without any problems. You can choose to delete all of the files that it recommends or keep some of them if you think you'll need them later.

Remove Viruses and Spyware

At some point, your computer may accumulate some viruses or spyware. This can happen over the normal course of surfing the Internet or it could happen when you download a suspicious file to your computer. Regardless of how the spyware or virus got on your computer, you need to remove it as quickly as possible. By doing this, you be able to help your computer run the way that it should run again. These programs have the potential to do real damage to your computer and make it run much slower than it should. Get a top-notch antivirus software program to remove all of these items from your hard drive.

Defragment

Another step that you can take to improve the performance of your computer is to run the disk defragmenter from time to time. Typically, your computer will be set up to run this periodically anyway. The defragmenter helps your computer run the way it should by helping get rid of fragmented files on your hard drive. This speeds up the computer's access to data so that it can run significantly faster.

Upgrades

When you're computer isn't running well, you need to continually download upgrades and updates to your computer. The operating system that you use typically has updates that are issued periodically to fix issues with your computer system. If you always put off downloading the updates and the necessary upgrades for your system, it can slow down the performance of your computer. Simply download the updates that your computer needs and it can help.

Install More RAM

Random access memory or RAM is one of the most important factors in how fast your computer operates. If the RAM that you have is being used up frequently, you may need to install some more so that your computer can run a little bit faster. Once you install RAM, your computer will have more processing power to handle common tasks. You should then be able to run multiple programs at the same time without slowing down your computer too much.

Read more about computer and performance issues at www.exar.com.

The Avengers (2012)

I was so waiting for this moment that I thought I would die before it came. I was waiting for the Avengers to assemble!

So all of you who were wondering about the existence of Nick Fury in all those Avenger movies like Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor et al, Director Joss Whedon has come to your rescue and repay you for waiting so patiently for the answer. He gave you The Avengers!

So Nick Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. was headhunting, he was preparing for a battle. And he did prepare well. So when Loki, son of Odin and the adopted brother of Thor, came with his minions called Chitauri from the other world to destroy mankind, Nick Fury assembled a team of superheroes to fight back. And what a team it was, there was the Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and the sexy and suave Black Widow.

The movie was a visual treat, to say the least. The scene where the Hulk fights the Leviathan from outerspace would make you go *hoot* *hoot* inside the darkened theater. It was a great moment when the Iron Man said to the Hulk:

Iron Man: Hulk?
Hulk: Grrrrr!
Iron Man: Smash!
Hulk: Grrrrrrrrr (with a priceless smile).

And when Hulk smashed Loki calling him a puny God, that is sure to put a smile on your lips.

And finally, as with all good superhero movies, the Avengers won! Thor took Loki back to where he belongs, and the Avengers all went their own ways, only to return back if humanity is ever threatened again.

So what made The Avengers so different from other superhero movies? Well, to begin with this movie was not about one superhero. But X-Men did that too didn't they? Well, they did and they succeeded but, honestly, apart from Wolverine, which of the X-Men would you consider to be as popular as all of these superheroes from Avengers are!

But I don't think Marvel should stop here, rather they should venture on something more, something huge. How about The Avengers meet the X-Men? Or maybe, just maybe, you know high hopes, The Avengers team up with, say, Batman and Superman!

Anyway, who knows what the future holds for us. But for now, bask in the epic that Marvel has given us, enjoy The Avengers!

Oh! One more thing before I leave, Rest In Peace Agent Phil. We will miss you, and so would Captain America.

Watch Netflix and Hulu from Outside US

For all those who wanted to watch Netflix or Hulu but didn't get a chance because they don't live in the United States of A, or probably you lived in the United States of A and so didn't get to watch BBC iPlayer or 4OD, here's a simple and affordable solution. Get UnoTelly!

UnoTelly DirectDNS is a DNS-based system that utilizes the properitory DirectDNS technology to give you access to blocked websites. But unlike VPN or Proxy, which is like a big-net that catches every fish in the water but sometimes it is not desirable because you might not want some of the fishes! On the other hand, UnoTelly DirectDNS functions like a laser-guided net that only catches the relevant fish you want and let other non-essential fish pass.

And here are some of the best features of UnoTelly, which would definitely make you roll your eyes in disbelief:

1. It's FREE! Or atleast a part of it is. You can actually have a FREE account, although you would not be able to watch the Premium and Gold channels, but then you can use it before you decide paying for it.

2. UnoTelly supports all computer system, mobile devices, and home theatre devices. It doesn't matter if you want to use UnoTelly on Xbox 360 or WDTV Live, UnoTelly will work. In contrast, VPN solution only works on computer so you can't watch Netflix USA or Hulu on your TV.

3. UnoTelly offers a flat-rate with unlimited streaming in a 1000 MBit connection. There is no bandwidth cap so you can stream as much as you want. In contrast, VPN solution typically imposes a monthly cap which might not be sufficient if you intend to stream 1080P Netflix HD movies.

4. UnoTelly secures all transactions by Comodo SSL through "https" connection. Trusted by over 99.3% of current Internet users, Comodo SSL Certificates eliminate any risk because they carry a $50,000 warranty.

5. UnoTelly offers 100% money back guarantee. If you are unhappy with your purchase, simply ask for full-refund within seven days. It's that simple!

You can find a complete list of channels that UnoTelly has to offer here.

Try it and happy watching!

Legal DVDs vs Pirated DVDs

I guess this picture says it all.

So if you are planning to buy pirated DVDs, be prepared to start watching the movie from the word go. No time to get the bucket of pop-corn. Too bad huh! And you should always avoid sites like Pirate Bay and Torrent Freak else you might end up spending thousands in downloading free illegal movies and music et al from these sites. It would also start crowding your HDD, so you would have to buy an external HDD.

So avoid pirated stuff, else you might end up spending more. Buy original, get bored!

12 Ways to Treat an Introvert

If you know someone who is an introvert but don't know how to make them comfortable with yourself, here are 12 ways to treat an introvert:

1. Respect their need for privacy.
2. Never embarrass them in public.
3. Let them observe first in new situations.
4. Give them time to think. Don’t demand instant answers.
5. Don’t interrupt them.
6. Give them advance notice of expected changes in their lives.
7. Give them 15 minute warnings to finish whatever they are doing.
8. Reprimand them privately.
9. Teach them new skills privately.
10. Enable them to find one best friend who has similar interests and abilities.
11. Don’t push them to make lot of friends.
12. Respect their introversion. Don’t try to remake them into extroverts.

Sid-isms

Here's something that Siddharth Mehra had to offer to his faithful Facebook fans (and followers). A little introduction for Mr Mehra, he is my ex-Boss and one of the most wonderful guys I have ever met. He is capable of cheering you up in seconds. This is sort of a homage to you Sid. Now guy and gals, laugh your ass off :)

1. No matter where you live, there’s always one light switch that doesn’t do anything.

2. To find out who views your Facebook profile the most, look in the mirror.

3. There is no "i" in "Team".......well unless you work at Apple.

4. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

5. I never judge people by the color of their skin. That's fucking stupid and racist. I judge them by their cell phones.

6. If at first you don't succeed, try drinking beer while you do it. You'll be amazed at how much less you care.

7. If you want to find a needle in a haystack, just burn the haystack.

8. Inception should have been released on a DVD, inside a Bluray, inside a digital copy, inside a dream, inside of BestBuy.

9. What does the future hold? Global warming, depleted resources, & species going extinct. But also the iPhone 5, so it's break even.

10. Is she hot?- My reply to any story that starts with "This girl I know.."

11. One of my most refined skills is yawning during a meeting without opening my mouth.

12. To do list: 1) Change Facebook name to 'No One' 2) 'Like' peoples statuses.

13. Kim Kardashian is essentially 3 asses stacked on top of each other.

14. I'd like to shake the hand of the guy who invented the snooze button... in like 10 minutes.

15. "Hey Evolution, what the fuck?" - the Platypus

16. ROTFLMAOBNHETKMFTARLA Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off, but not hard enough to keep me from typing a really long acronym.

17. Whenever I start feeling spontaneous, my bank account quietly reminds me to calm the fuck down.

18. Things I'm looking for in a life partner - A smart, sensitive, good natured lingerie model!

19. Every time someone clears their browser history there should be a little voice that says "good move."

20. "This is not fair!" - Russian guy realizing he got bad directions to the fair.

Oh yeah, I stole your pic for this one Sid.

The Mies van der Rohe Doodle

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, or Mies as we commonly know him, celebrated his 126th posthumous birthday yesterday. Google paid a homage to him with their new Doodle.

Widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, Mies too like some of his post-World War I contemporaries, namely Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer, tried to create a new era in the field of architecture, just like the Classic and Gothic did for their own era.

His signature style was use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He strived towards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied freedom of free-flowing open space. He loved calling his buildings "skin and bones" architecture. He sought a rational approach that would guide the creative process of architectural design. He is often associated with the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".

The self-educated Mies painstakingly studied the great philosophers and thinkers, past and present, to enhance his own understanding of the character and essential qualities of the technological times he lived in. More than perhaps any other practising pioneer of modernism, Mies mined the writings of philosophers and thinkers for ideas that were relevant to his architectural mission. Mies' architecture was guided by principles at a high level of abstraction, and his own generalized descriptions of those principles intentionally leave much room for interpretation. Yet his buildings are executed as objects of beauty and craftsmanship, and seem very direct and simple when viewed in person.

Mies worked from his studio in downtown Chicago for his entire 31-year period in America. His significant projects in the U.S. include in Chicago and the area: the residential towers of 860–880 Lake Shore Dr, the Chicago Federal Center complex, the Farnsworth House, Crown Hall and other structures at IIT; and the Seagram Building in New York. These iconic works became the prototypes for his other projects.

Mies van der Rohe died on August 17, 1969. After cremation, his ashes were buried near Chicago's other famous architects in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. His grave is marked by a simple black slab of granite and a large Honey locust tree.

How to Disable Facebook Timeline

For all those Facebook users out there who opted for the Facebook Timeline feature but didn't quite like it, here's a simple solution on how to get your old profile back.

Step 1: Head to the Facebook Developers page where you originally created an app to enable Timeline. Click "Edit app."

Step 2: The only way to remove Timeline is to delete the app. Click "Delete app" in the left sidebar.

Once you confirm the app deletion, your Facebook Timeline will be disabled.

Wasn't it simple? But there's a slight problem. eventually, Facebook will mandate Timeline for everyone, and when that happens, expect a lot of backlash.

First Dates - Things That Men Don’t Know About Women

You might think that the cardinal sins of first dates are discussing what went wrong with your last (beautiful) girlfriend, or maybe enthralling your date with the details of your balance transfer credit cards. They are, but there are a few other total non-starters when it comes to first dates, and this list could just save your blushes somewhere down the line.

1. Women hate walking in high heels

Yes, they look lovely, and she’s worn them because she wants to look nice for you. Most men like high heels on a woman, and she’s trying to please. Whether it’s a first date or not, appreciate the effort she’s made, but don’t make her walk too far if you want her to be happy. One of the worst things a girl can hear on a date is, “I thought it would be nice to walk to the restaurant – it’s only twenty minutes away.” A man’s idea of what a twenty-minute walk is tends to be a thirty-minute walk in reality. By then she will be wincing from the blisters. She’ll be gritting her teeth all the way, and if she seems distracted and less than enamored with you en route, it’s probably because she’s concentrating on not crying. From pain. Bad, bad move. If she’s wearing ‘Car to Bar’ shoes, make sure you don’t have far to go, or hail a cab. P.S Women love cabs.

2. Splitting The Bill

If woman insist on splitting the bill on a first date you can be pretty sure she’s not interested. If she lets you pay, you can be sure her radar is still on. She may still not be sure, but she’s open to persuasion that you could be suited. Bill paying is a very primitive mechanism. By picking up the tab you are signalling, on a primitive level, that you can provide, and that you are a successful male. A hunter-gatherer who can be trusted. Women will not be aware of this on any conscious level at all. Nor is she sizing you up as a potential husband. But at a subconscious level, if she allows you to pay the bill it means she has accepted your ‘hunter-gatherer’ offer. If she wants to split the tab, then don’t insist. Take it as a signal she may be distancing herself from you. There is no point in forcing the issue on principle, as she will feel guilty and uncomfortable, as it will be seen as an obligation. Feminist, both male and female may disagree, but it’s just science at the end of the day!

3. She’s Waiting For You To Say She Looks Lovely

This may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many men stumble at this first date hurdle. What men don’t know about women is that they may well have spent over a week planning for this date. They may have bought a new dress, they may have had their nails done, their hair cut, been to the beautician. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time. Imagine it. Taking a week to prepare for something and the person you meet doesn’t even comment. There is your first knock to her confidence before you have even started. It costs nothing to just acknowledge she’s made an effort. A simple, “Hey, you look lovely!” will do, as she walks in the room. Nothing heavy. You’ll get a smile and she will feel little lift inside. And that’s a great way to start a date. Lots of men don’t do it because they feel self-conscious. Don’t be. It will earn you lots of points, even if you feel strange saying it. Even if you decide there is no chemistry when you meet on a first date, still have the manners to make a comment. It’s only fair.

4. She Wants To Know About You, But Not Too Much…

Women can be great listeners. They can be naturally strong at empathizing and trying to put you at ease on a date. If you are nervous, there is a danger of what is known as ‘over-sharing’ on a first date, which can really ruin it. If you feel you need to fill the silence, and she’s listening in a sympathetic manner it’s easy to fall into this trap, but it is usually a bad tactical error on a first date at least. Over-sharing – talking too much about your personal feelings, childhood, parents, career or therapy sessions can have the effect of stripping you of some of your mystique. There is something unsettling about people who can tell you their most intimate secrets on a first date, because it may suggest that this is the sort of thing you generally share with total strangers, and that the information is not being saved for the one special person in your life to find out themselves. You seem emotionally promiscuous, in short. The feeling that someone is holding back is a powerful motivator to see them again, get to known them. No-one wants to read the last page of a book first. They want to savor each chapter as it unfolds. If you feel yourself falling into this trap, make sure you ask lots of questions about your date too, and encourage a two way conversation in that way.

If some of this advice seems obvious, well, it is. But it is astonishing just how many men fall into these first date traps. There are just as many for women, and maybe you can think of some yourself. But in the meantime, perhaps reflect on whether you have ever committed any of these first date sins.