Frequently Asked Questions
- What is this all about?
- How did you come up with this idea?
- Are you sure this idea is original and why did you do this?
- Why should anybody be interested in buying this?
- What benefits do I get as a customer who bought part of this virtual Earth?
- Why there aren't any borders of countries?
- My island is missing!!!
- Anybody told you that this design kinda sucks?
- Are you a real person?
- How much money are you planning to make?
- What do you need the money for?
- What are you going to do with money?
- Charity?
- Why are you so convinced that this thing will work?
- How many of you are doing this thing?
- How big a $60 block actually is?
- How much can a block be zoomed?
- Can I change my ad and if I can, how often can I do it?
- I don't have a web site! Can you host my graphics?
- How do I navigate through virtual Earth?
- I've got a security warning displaying whenever I click some of the ads on the page?
It's about owning a piece of internet universe and becoming noticed in it. It's about owning a place on virtual Earth and having your name or business reach millions worldwide. It's about becoming one of many who will recognize the right opportunity and not let it slip away. Have you ever seen a planet on sale?
2.How did you come up with this idea?
It's kind of a long story, but I'll try to make it short(er)...
I'm probably one of few people who (still) spend their birthday wishes on wishing for a better world or for the world peace. The world isn't a nice place and we all know it and after so many years of wishing the same thing and, of course, never seeing any improvement, I become fed up with all the bad news pouring every day, news of wars, hurricanes, natural disasters, diseases, people dying for lost causes, dying of hunger or illness.
It finally hit me on my 21st birthday:
"...If I owned the world, I would sell it to the Martians, and move to some better place in space. Anyway, there isn't much that I can do alone..." were my thoughts.
The mere thought of selling the planet, lit an 'idea' lamp in my head! People like funny news and odd things better then regular news regarding politics and wars and I thought that news about a planet on sale would get everyone's attention.
I imagined making a web site that would somehow sell the entire world, a virtual world, representation of our planet. Why not sell the virtual world, why not sell something that we see every day but never thought was possible to sell? Like energy, money is everywhere; we just haven't found all the ways of recognizing it and using it.
It was all daydreaming and it all remained an idea I never wanted to think much about. Why? Because it was "impossible" and I didn't have the guts to try something new. I thought that people would probably laugh to me, that I would really make a fool of myself and that it would probably never work, like many ideas I've had over the years. I was always very self-confident (sad, but false).
It was on July the 18th, 2005. Six months later... (read below)
3.Are you sure this idea is original and why did you do this?
Of course this idea is original! Where else have you seen a planet on sale? I'm the genuine maker of this site and if you want to find out how I decided to realize it, then read on...
I become aware that I've been having too much "what if"-s lately and that there were so many things I wanted to do, but never had the time or the courage to realize them. What if I continue to listen to what people had to say about my ideas or care too much for others opinion? I'll probably be just another drop in the sea of ambitious young people, wishing for a better tomorrow and hoping to make something worth in my life and never actually doing anything.
I didn't live my life the way I could and I didn't follow my heart when I felt I should. So many things I could have done, but always postponed them for tomorrow or later, or some other time when I'm not to busy. Well, when I finish the college and begin to work, then the only time I'll be able to do all the things I ever wanted to do is when I go to Heaven (hopefully, if there is one).
The fact that I'm just 21 was the last drop...
I decided to change my life, to do what ever I should have done and to do my best not to regret for any thing that I did or should have done in the past. I don't want a life full of "what if I only did ..." I then gathered all the determination, all the courage, all the self-confidence inside me and decided to follow my ideas and my dreams.
And there you go, that's how EarthOnSale.com went from fiction to reality.
4.Why should anybody be interested in buying this?
How does "a world-wide audience" sound? Good, I know. There's a full explanation at the Why is this the best thing ever section of the site. If you prefer, then there are 21 reasons I've prepared.
5.What benefits do I get as a customer who bought part of this virtual Earth?
Yep, again - I have a full explanation at the Why is this the best thing ever section of the site. The 21 reasons are a even detailed explanation of all the benefits you get.
6.Why there aren't any borders of countries?
I thought of presenting you an empty virtual Earth, a place not inhabited in any way and all the populating and reshaping is up to you. That way, I could keep track of changes and "evolution" of this world and see what it would look like if ordinary people could change the way the world looks like. Anyway, if you really want your country, you can always buy it :)
Yes, I know that this isn't a 100% accurate representation of Earth. After all, this is a virtual planet and I really didn't mean to show no disrespect for anyone's country or place of origin. This is meant to be a fun way of making and populating virtual Earth, populating a "planet" thousands of times faster then it would last naturally. Once again, my apologies to all of those whose area of the world isn't represented or isn't represented in a 100% accurate way. No hard feelings :)
8.Anybody told you that this design kinda sucks?
Yes, I know that the design isn't much (cough cough sucks cough cough), but I really plan on making it better with time to come. Even thought I'm a Computer Science student, web designing is not something we learn at the college. Well, not yet. The problem was I never did something similar. All the programming in Visual Basic, C++, Pascal or Game programming I ever did has nothing to do with something like this. It was a challenge for me and the fight isn't yet over, I will make a better looking site! (promised)
*update*
The paragraph you just read (hopefully) is dating from the time when this site looked like... well, you really don't want to know, believe me. I decided to leave it and to have it remind me constantly that there's always space for improving anything. There is always room for improvements and I'm well aware of that.
No. I'm a distant relative of you, human beings. I'm from 5.000.000 years in future. I traveled back in time to help the mankind correct the mistakes we did and avoid the tragic destiny of our galaxy.
Just kidding!!! Of course I'm real, everything here is real as I am and everything is done by me. I'm really a "one man team"! More about me can be found on the About Me page.
10.How much money are you planning to make?
As much as I make. I don't want to make any predictions, but I think that this site will be a success. The best case scenario is $1.506.122. Anyhow, I think that this will be a fun and rewarding experience for everyone. Ofcourse, no mater what, I'll give 10% of all the earnings from this site to charities.
11.What do you need the money for?
If you were in my place, then you would probably never ask me that question. When you live in a country where an average monthly pay is 200€, well, then you need money. Of course, like I mentioned before, I want to live a life with no "what if"-s. I will give 10% of everything I earn to charities, a part of the rest goes to taxes and the rest will be used wisely. My vision of ideal life : living a life with no thoughts of tomorrow, living the present moment and total self improvement. I don't need many material goods, but some are required in order to be able to live a peaceful life.
You can read about the charity events I organized on the Charity section of the site.
12.What are you going to do with money?
Well, the brief summary of everything on this page regarding the use of earnings from this page :
- help my family and my loved ones have a better life
- as much self improvement I can achieve (spiritual, not material!)
- donate 10% of everything to charities (over $150.000 in best case scenario)
- start a charity organization
A list of goals can be found HERE
Yes. Charities. I read that Bill Gates and his wife donated $780.000.000 in charities during 2005. I really don't know where that money went and I really don't know what happens to all financial charities donated by someone to some organizations. I really can't see much improvement in the organizations in my country and that's why will I do the following. All the money I donate will be spent on buying stuff that's essential to the organization receiving the donations. Say that an orphan home needs 50 new beds and clothes for 100 children for a total of $5000? I will not donate the $5000, but I will go and buy the 50 new beds and buy 100 clothes personally and give them to the orphan home. That way I can be sure that the money went to those who really need it. It's an idea I maybe didn't explain well here, but I will do my best to write more about it in the time coming.
14.Why are you so convinced that this thing will work?
I can't be 100% sure as nothing in world is 100% certain. But I think that people will like this idea, that young people will find motivation in this thing I'm trying to do and that trough my eventual success, others will see that it is never late to start believing in yourself and following your dreams. I hope this site will be understood the right way and that people will recognize a good opportunity.
"A planet on sale?" - it damn should grab some attention :)
15.How many of you are doing this thing?
Well, let's see...
There's me, and Rados, and me again and Rados. (my name is Rados Zuric). As I said before, I am a one man team. But there are many who gave me the strength and support to do this thing and try to make a dream come true. My gratitude will not end on these words, that's a promise!
16.How big a $60 block actually is?
It size in pixels is 7x7px. When viewed at original aspect ratio, the $60 block looks something like this (the black house on the image):
17.How much can a block be zoomed?
It can be zoomed as much as you want but I think that 5204% delivered by the nav+zoom tool on the main page are more then enough. Here's how the little house from the image above looks when zoomed at 5204% :
18.Can I change my ad and if I can, how often can I do it?
Yes and I encourage you to do so. That way the virtual Earth would be an even more interesting and dynamic project. The graphics (the ads) can be changed as often as you like, as long as you stick with the Terms of Use.
19. I don't have a web site! Can you host my graphics?
If you don't have a web site, or you want me to host your .swf files, that's OK. Even if you have some additional problems or special needs for your ad, no problem! I'll do my best to help you out with anything you like.
20.How do I navigate the virtual Earth?
I think that the nav+zoom bar is pretty much self-explaining, but if you need assistance with anything, that's ok!
- The "+" and "-" magnifying glass buttons are used to zoom in and out. Activate their functions by clicking on them and then just press and hold the mouse button while pointing to the desiderated location on virtual Earth
- The hand icon is used for dragging the virtual Earth around (are you familiar with Acrobat Reader?)
- The "D" button reverts the look and appearance of virtual Earth to it's default state (zoomed at original scale - 100% and placed on the center of the page)
- the "S" button displays the Scale rate sub menu and you can select between having the virtual Earth magnified 2,3,5 or 9 times. NOTE: when clicked, it places the center of virtual Earth to the center of the page. For example, if you had the S.America in the center and you click the 5X button - the middle of the Earth (Africa) will be displayed in the center. You can easily navigate yourself around using the arrow keys.
- arrow keys - just regular sliders, use them to scroll the Earth left, right, up or down
- top left arrow-like button - used for dragging the nav+zoom tool around. Click it and hold the mouse button to have it follow your mouse pointer.
21.I've got a security warning displaying whenever I click some of the graphics on the planet?
Don't worry, there is no need to panic. The problem you're experiencing has been reported only from users using Mozilla Firefox web browser. Other browsers do not show this kind of problem.
Once again, there is no need to panic, just set the security preferences of your flash player so that it enables web pages to be opened from within a flash movie.
By clicking on some of the graphics on the virtual Earth, you're actually clicking on simple web links.
To remove this warning, simply click on the settings button in the dialog box that pops out, and select ALLOW ALL option in the Flash settings dialog page which should open when you clicking on the mentioned Settings button.