Useful Information About Study

Study signifies the concentrated employment of one's mental faculties for the acquisition of knowledge in a particular field or subject. The serious study of any subject requires a detailed consideration and understanding of it. Study usually involves active participation in the chosen area, leading to a comprehensive awareness and broadening of one's vision.

Study can be undertaken on one's own, or with the help of external agencies. A person deciding to study has to develop and maintain certain skills that are indispensable. The first among these is the ability to remain focused. One should be realistic when setting personal and academic goals for study. This means that before choosing a subject for study, the time available, the expenditure involved, the scope of the subject and related factors should be carefully considered. Study of a subject also calls for skillful time management. Especially if the study is undertaken by an employed person, he should be able to balance one's profession and study.

When one goes in for formal study at a school or college, it is crucial to attend the lectures and be up-to-date with the course work and assignments. This is where a systematic, orderly work schedule will help. One can also train one's memory and comprehension skills to aid study. Study can be informal, in that one can choose to study on one's own. Here too, it is important that one is committed to one's goal. Postponing things to do is a major factor that hinders any kind of study.

The greatest advantage of any kind of study is that it makes an individual broad-minded and receptive to new ideas. Home-study programs and study-abroad programs are available for individuals to choose from. One can also enroll in study groups that share common interests; the additional advantage here is that constructive interaction with others in the group aids in a better understanding of the subjects taken up for study.

WetPluto.com/How-To-Study-Effectively.html Study provides detailed information on Study, Study Abroad, Home Study, Bible Study and more. Study is affiliated with Study Abroad Programs [i-StudyAbroad.com].

Indoor Health Care Network Cites January as Peak Indoor Living Health Month

January involves us fully into winter "indoor living" where the air can be far more stagnant and polluted than outdoors, in fact from 5 to 20 to even 100 percent worse, according to the EPA.

Our focus at Indoor health Care Network is to create healthier indoors for you at home, and at work, and reduce the indoor culprits that cause sickness.

You may have happened along our site directly, or you've been referred by a doctor or health care specialist who is also an Indoor Health Care Associate. In either case, you are welcome to explore the benefits, products and programs available here for you and your family.

The IHCN website: http//indoorhalthcare.com features an online indoor health care store where you can purchase products and services to help your indoor environment. We also provide educational services for health care workers to see beyond the patient, to the indoor environment.

Our online counselors can advise you on air and water purification treatments, plus scores of other benefiting ways to improve the indoors.

Please use our site as your family's resource for ongoing indoor environmental education, as well as your indoor environmental products online store.

December-- a time to come into "healthy indoors."

Did you realize the air we breathe 15,000 to 35,000 times a day provides over 90% of our life energy?

With allergies doubling since the 1970's, and asthma increasing at epidemic proportions, it's no wonder attention has grown between a doctor and patient to see beyond the patient, to the home environment.TM

Start your family indoor health care plan today. At IHCN, we'll help you reduce the indoor causes for sickness, reversing these trends through education, a partnership with your family and our team, and the introduction, one peice at a time, of the necessary tools of products, programs and services.

The best place to begin may be to obtain a REM Mate whole health air purifier for your bedroom. Afterall, sleeping is the regenerative time that your matabolism needs pure air the most. IHCN developed and manufactures this product, with a guarantee it will improve your sleep and your home.

Doctors, Allergists, and health care specialists, in their role as an Indoor Health Care Associate, refer patients and clients to IHCN for the following reasons:

o Indoor Health Care Associates look beyond the patient's symptoms, to their home environment indoor health care needs. Till now, doctors treated symptoms, then returned patients back home, to the scene of the crime.

oIHCN's website provides credible resources for families and health care professionals, bringing together ongoing education programs as well as healthy home products and services. We're here online, and look forward to speaking with you. Call us at 716-824-1505.

oIHCN offers the best class of products (e.g., including air purifiers that are FDA Class II Medical Devices) and we're right in your home community, with links to certified indoor air quality service providers, for testing, remediation, and overall indoor environmental improvement.

o Guidelines for IHCN's programs, products and services are in coordination and support of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, American Lung Association, American Heart Association, Association of Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Engineers, American IAQ Council, National Air Duct Cleaners Association, National Science Foundation, the Indoor Air Quality Association, and Your Family Needs.

Our Mission at Indoor Health Care Network

At IHCN, we assure that healthy science-based environmental intervention programs are practical and affordable for every family, with the help and guidance of their indoor health care professional.

Doctors and health professionals have for too long been treating only the symptoms of what causes up to fifty percent of our illnesses-- the very indoors in which we live!

Today's doctors and health care professionals are changing that, as Indoor Health Care "qualified" Associates.

Let's build on whole family health, together, starting today!

Bill Zimmermann is a science journalist-turned entrepreneur manufacturer of REM Mate Health Science products for better home environments.

-Bill Zimmermann, IHCN Executive Director Co-Founder, Rem Mate Health Sciences

Using Home Water Filters - The Green Way to Ensure Safety in Our Drinking Water

Years ago, environmentalists found it necessary to inform people about their findings that the water coming from public water systems in the United States are not at all safe. Water especially from estuaries that pass through watersheds, where our supply of public water comes from is known to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals.

These toxic chemicals include lead, mercury, copper, and a host of bacteria from sewage sludge, that came from carelessly dumped wastes in estuaries. As a reaction, the U.S. government disallowed waste dumping in said estuaries and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) then created the National Estuary Program to rehabilitate these estuaries. That was twenty years ago; to date efforts are still ongoing due to the high levels of contamination.

Not All Bottled Water is Safe

The public then became wary of drinking tap water and it created a necessity to drink bottled water instead as a safer alternative. However, another information dissemination campaign was again made to inform us that bottled water is not as safe as we think it is. Those plastic bottles we thought of as sanitary actually contains harmful toxins called phthalates.

Phthalate is a chemical substance actively used as plastic softener in manufacturing plastic products, which includes the water bottle we thought as safe. Studies about this compound show that particles of this phthalates wear off as we drink from the bottle. It was reported to be cancer causing because it accumulates in our body and has the ability to mimic some of our natural hormones. This condition was accounted to have caused damage to the human reproductive system.

Even our environment will not benefit from this type of plastic bottles because they are considered as non-biodegradable. Statistics show that about 25% of the public landfills contain these plastic water bottles and it will take at least 10,000 years before phthalate carrying bottles and other plastic wares are eradicated from our landfills.

Availability of Home and Personal Filters to Ensure Clean and Safe Drinking Water

In response to a demand for safe and clean drinking water, home water filtering systems were devised and became available in the market. These filter devices include easy-to-install filters that can be attached to a kitchen faucet. They may also come as attachments to a non-toxic bottle to allow for portability wherein you can filter your drinking water wherever you may go.

The filters can strain contaminants like chlorine and heavy metal residues out of the tap water to produce safe drinking water. The portable water filtration system on the other hand, has a 16-ounce capacity to filter tap water wherever you go.

How are water sources became contaminated is something beyond our control. However, we should also be more responsible in our manner of waste disposal since some of them are carried down the streams, rivers, and estuaries by rainwater run-offs and floods, thus worsening the present state of contamination. Going green is also being responsible about our actions. The effects of what we carelessly throw away will revert to us in the form of pollution and contamination. Taking care of the environment is also taking care of our health.

Join ciel in promoting environmental awareness at her site Environment Watch theenvironmentwatch.blogspot.com theenvironmentwatch.blogspot.com/.

For more of Ciel Cantoria's Environmental articles and other issues kindly visit her homepage at this URL: brighthub.com/members/csc3819.aspx brighthub.com/members/csc3819.aspx.

So You Want to Hire a Contractor to Renovate Your Place

The first thing to do is: TAKE YOUR TIME and be a SLEUTH.

Don't rush

Don't rush into hiring a contractor right away. Shop Around! If you can possibly see it take up to 6 months before you really set yourself on one contractor.

Get A Copy of the Building Codes

Now go and get a copy of the Building Codes for your area and read them. Study them and make sure hat the contractor you hired goes by those codes. Go to your county's government website and they should have it on-line or you can order it. If you don't have a county website then go to the County Planning Commissioner's Office in your State and in the county that you live in and they will have it. You will have to go there anyway to put in an application for a building permit. Get that for EVERYTHING that you are doing--

Things that need applications for are: Plumbing, Electric, Structural changes in and outside of your home, including decks. Some Codes are so vague that it is hard to tell if you need a permit or not--get one to be on the safe side because if you don't have a permit and they come and inspect it they can make you tear it up.

Requirements for permits--a floor plan or blueprints of your house as it is before you do anything to it and then a drawing of what you intend to do with those dimensions and rooms, fixtures, addition or deletions. They want everything in it's place so when they inspect they don't have to try and figure out what you meant in your drawings.

Make sure you get an Inspector that has been there a long time--over 2 years! We replaced our worn out fireplace with a brand new one and put it on the outside of our home and the first inspector that worked there for many, many years didn't pass it. Then a week later a younger, less informed, inspector came and he passed it. The more informed one was out of town for a few weeks. So we thought everything was fine until the more informed inspector came out and re-inspected everything the younger one did in the weeks that he was gone--and it didn't pass again. It took four times before that firelpace met code. So make sure you get someone that is or has been there or in your county for many years. They are on YOUR side--really they are.

Make a contract

Make a contract of what you want done to your home and be as specific as possible because some contractors will go to the letter on this and if you make a mistake of what you want and then try to change it later you might have problems you didn't want to deal with. Break it down into sections. Make sure there's a place in your contract that states that you can change your mind--because there will be times when things don't look right and you will want to make changes accordingly. It took 4 drawings to get the kitchen right and that everything met code before we settled on what we wanted versus what we were allowed to have. Another thing to put in the contract--they can't leave the job before the last thing is completely finished and up to your specifications. Somehow make them pay for whatever is not finished when they leave or before they leave the job. You might have to get a lawyer to help you write that contract with correct wording. The law states that you don't pay the last third of the contract price until it is completely finished and up to your specifications and it all meets code. We didn't pay our contractor the last third of the contract price and he didn't finish anything. He walked away. He got off scott-free because we were too trusting and we didn't know the things that we now know today.

Advertise

Advertise and ask for many, not just the three they advice you to get, references from people whom you know. Don't take them at face value either. Please get at the very least 3 to come look at your home. Six is a better number to work with. Look at the various contractors that come to your home. Read their body language--even if it take you to learn about body languages. Listen to how they speak of their work and what they want to do to your home. Get all their credentials first and please make sure they are legible. Tell them you will call back later. Don't let them push you into making a decision you are not ready for We had one contractor call us back everyday to see if we were going to hire them. We didn't in the end because they were too pushy. We understand that they have other work and customers, but it was OUR house and home they were going to work on. We didn't want someone to rush the job.

Do The Homework



Now it is your job to do the homework for each of those contractors. Don't get lazy or think that because so and so had their house done by that contractor that he is on the up and up. This all comes from our experiences and we are just passing them on to you. Those things that we had contracted for this contractor to do have yet to be completey finsihed and it has been 6 years since the start of the project..We have done alot of it ourselves along with fixing his many mistakes.

We got references from people whom we knew and the one that stuck out was the one that our local Bank had referred us too. So we thought that this guy must be good because a highly rated bank and the bank that we used gave us such a good reference. Oh yes we talked to others who also had work done by him according to his references. So after about a week of checking up on him we decided to go with him He told us of all the things that he would do and how it would be very nice when he finished everything including the trim work and painting. We were ecstatic and he started right away with the new bathroom and the new jet tub that we had purchased from Lowes.

What you will need prior to the starting.



Buy a composition book or a accounting book or both. Another good purchase would be an accordion file box.

Use them as a log of when and what was done and when it was done and if there were any phone calls and to whom and the times and dates of such. Make sure you keep all your receipts and e-mails. Keep copies of your checks and put them in this log and write in this log what that check paid for, when it was written, whom it was written and when it was cashed. Some contractors will sub-contract and have you pay for the material and the work. It is best to have a log of all these transactions. This contractor tried to tell the Better Business Bureau that we didn't pay the sub-contractor who we bought the cinder blocks and cement from but he did. We were glad we had kept those receipts. This contractor also tried to tell them that he bought all the lumber and materials for the job, but we had kept all the Lowes Receipts for that too. We also had a problem when someone tried to read all the transactions and payments on the Contractor's Billings and had a hard time figuring out what we actually paid for. It would have been much easier if we made a log of what the checks paid for at the time we paid it instead of trying to decipher the contractor's paperwork later. Take plenty of pictures of before and after. Try to get the Contractor and his help in those pictures. You never know if you will need them later and I hope that you don't. I am not kidding! Do it! We had no idea that this contractor was going to be so difficult later on in the process of renovating our home. These things you will need if by chance you have to go to a lawyer. You might also want to make a scrap book later on with everything. Oh and make copies of those receipts because they only hold print for a few months and then become illegible. Something else they don't tell you--Lowes will only take certain items back before a 1 year period of time. The sooner you get the things you want to replace or just not use the better off you are. Take the receipt that corresponds to the items bought and they will credit your account If you don't have a receipt you will just get a gift card with that amount on it.

Go to The Better Business Bureau



Send them all the correspondences you have including any e-mails and the logs of your phone calls. They will be like a mediator between you and the contractor. They can't actually do anything but at least you will have your case stated in a government agency if you need more proof. They will also put his name on the their bad persons list. You will also get a case number and a case worker.

What they don't tell you.



No one will tell you these things--you just have to stumble upon them yourself as we did--so to lessen your heartache at the expense of your renovations being completed and if not what you have to do --I will tell you them.

A Business License is NOT the only license a contractor needs to have. He also needs to have a Contractor's License and he has to be registered on the State that you live in's Contractors Board. He needs to have Insurance and it needs to be up to date. Don't feel shy in going through his medical records and any other records that he might have that had/has anything even remotely to do with his business. Go to the link (in link box below) for your Contractor's Board and look up the name or he owner of the contractor's that you wish to hire. Make sure you take a look at your state's licensing requirements. If you have to talk with someone there--be forewarned it will take up to two weeks before someone will call you back. We made many calls to these people before we got a call back.

If they are not listed there DO NOT HIRE THAT CONTRACTOR. Don't assume that he has one and it just didn't get registered or posted on the board. OK what they don't tell you and this is VERY IMPORTANT:

If this contractor has ever had a license and the years are different and he is still doing work and his license does not show up as current on that Contractor's Board and he screws up your contract and doesn't finish the work in that contract that you have with him--they will NOT go after him for doing work while not having a Contractor's License. Silly isn't it. A doctor will get jail time but a contractor will just be loose to do it to others. Let me tell you or not how angry that made us when the contractor that worked on our home walked off scott-free. We had NO idea that this license was needed. We never had someone else do renovations to our home. The sad part of it all--NO ONE, entity or Organization, would tell us that this was also needed. It was left up to us to know what questions to ask and whom to ask them of. You would be astonished at just how many people don't know these things and how many contractor's get away with these things. Some like ours play on our compassion and emotions--NEVER, EVER do something for them that isn't in the contract and Don't make friends of them until they are completely finished the work they are to do. I can't stress this enough! Don't think tat your generosity will get them to do their job if they just happen to start making excuses.

Watch them!



Most contracting firms will not need this, but then again we didn't think we needed this either and got burned. You will need to take time off of work or somehow make arrangements for you to be there when they are there. Make sure they are doing things up to code--don't assume they know what they are doing in that department. If they don't like to be watched and you learn comments about that--then they have something to hide and take it from there. Some will not meet code to save them the needed hassle and to allow themselves to make more profit from you. Our contractor told us that he never used foul language--well the things that came out of his mouth on a daily and second basis was nothing but foul. I was glad that I didn't have kids around.

If things go wrong

If things go wrong and you need to hire a lawyer. I sincerely hope that you NEVER have to do this. This is where all those notes and that notebook and pictures, receipts and everything else associated with your renovation project comes into play. To hire a lawyer in a Contractor Versus Contractee it will cost you a bundle up front. The lawyer that we had said that we had a good case and that we possibly could win--only it would cost us $5,000.00 up front for his fee and more if we didn't win our case. Be VERY Careful that you never have to go this far. There are shysters in the Law field as well as contractors too. Sometimes it will seem like everyone wants your money. Remember ii is YOUR money and YOU decide who you are going to give it too. Don't think of it as only money and you can replace it--true it is money, but can you afford to pay for something over and over again and it still not be finished? It is YOUR money--not theirs until you give it to them.

I hope that I haven't scared you into doing it all yourself, but hope that I have given you enough information help you in the process and not get burned like we did. This will also allow you to know what was done to your home so that later you will know when to replace or upgrade things that were on an expiration date of sorts. For instance the roofing that we hired a Good contractor to do has a life span of about 5 years--you can get them up to 10 or more years depending on what kind of money you have available for that. There will be other things like that you will need a reference for in your renovation projects. It is also a good idea to keep if you should ever want to make any changes to the renovations you have just done later or if anyone else that buys your house will. Think of it as a diary of your house.

Being Your Own Contractor

You can choose to be your own contractor in most jurisdictions. You will have to ask the governing personnel in your area what the requirements for that are. We have done some of the small stuff ourselves and there are some hints that I would like to share with you on those.

To see pictures and the links to get information please visit: hubpages.com/hub/So-You-Want-To-Hire-A-Contractor-To-Renovate-Your-Place hubpages.com/hub/So-You-Want-To-Hire-A-Contractor-To-Renovate-Your-Place

hubpages.com/profile/Lady+Guinevere hubpages.com/profile/Lady+Guinevere

The Law Relating to Adoption

The adoption process takes children who can no longer live with their birth family and places them in the care of a new family. In the UK there are roughly 4000 children who are seeking to be adopted annually. Children past a certain age and in groups with their brothers and sisters often find it harder to get adopted. Adoption has become one of the most preferred options for couples who cannot have children of their own. When a child is adopted their adoptive parents become their parents by law and thus take on full parental responsibility for the care and well being of the child, their birth parents no longer have any legal rights or responsibilities toward the child.

If you want to adopt in the UK, you have to live in the UK, Channel Island or Isle of Man. You must also be over 21 unless you are partner of one of the parents of the child in which case you only have to be 18. You must also undergo a series of interviews and inspections to ensure that you can provide a safe home for a child.

If you want to adopt a child, you will have to go through an adoption agency. These can be either privately or state run.

If you adopt a child, you will be entitled to statutory adoption leave which works in much the same way as maternity leave. You will have to provide your employer with proof that you are adopting by giving them a copy of your adoption certificate. This can be obtained through your adoption agency.

The adoption process starts with the child that is being put up for adoption and their family being given an in depth background search and after this the agency will do the same to the prospective parents. The prospective parents will also have to explain why they wish to adopt. After the information has been gathered it is sent back to the prospective parents so that they can make statements about it before it is sent off to the adoption panel. The adoption panel look at the information provided by both the child's family and the prospective parents and work out whether adoption would be in the best interests of the child.

If they agree that adoption is the best way to go forward, they will let the prospective parents know and send them the information they received about the child's history and background. The adoption agency will then inform the local authority of the prospective parents that the adoption is about to take place. When the child is finally living with their new family, the adoption agency will carry out regular checks to ensure that they are happy and safe.

A recent addition to lawontheweb.co.uk/Family_Law/Adoption adoption law is the introduction of Special Guardianship Orders. Special guardianship orders are given to long term carers of children to give them parental responsibility and security without removing all responsibility from the child's biological parents.

For more legal advice and information, and for lawontheweb.co.uk/Family_Law free legal resources visit lawontheweb.co.uk

Where Can You Find Unsecured Debt Consolidation Agencies?

Thousands of people find themselves hopelessly in debt. They have no assets, so they feel that they have nothing to lose. People should understand the impact that debt can have on their credit rating and how bad credit can haunt them for years. People think that because they do not own a home, or have a car paid off, that they could not qualify for debt consolidation. This is simply not true. You do not need assets to get a consolidation loan.

When you are looking for agencies that can provide you with loans, you should look to the most obvious sources first, banks and credit unions. Banks and credit unions are built around savings and lending money. Even ungreeneasylife.com secured loans are covered by these two entities. If you have ok credit, you may be able to qualify for a personal loan. Personal loans may not have the low interest rates that greeneasylife.com secured loans do, but they are often far less than the interest rates charged by credit card companies. Banks often offer good rates with good payment terms. The terms of the loan include how long the length of the loan is for. The longer the term, the lower the monthly payment is.

There are also private lenders, even online lenders. You should always be careful when you are dealing with private or online lenders. Do your research on them. Make sure that they are not being investigated for fraud. The last thing that you need, when you are in debt, is to have your identity stolen or get ripped off by someone. Some highly rated online lenders operate with private investors. These sites allow people to put up money to lend and they state the interest rate they want. This is a good way to find a loan you can afford. You should always make sure you review any lender though. Make sure that they provide you with a list of fees, penalties, and total cost of debt. If they do not, look somewhere else.

Assets may help to achieve the best rates for debt consolidation, but they are not required. While banks and credit unions should be your first choice, there are other options. Do your research. You are working to get out of debt, take your time and do it the right way.

NOTE: there are reputabledebtconsolidationcompanies.com reputable debt consolidation companies in the market, so you must research and compare to find the one that meets your specific financial situation.

Hector Milla runs the reputabledebtconsolidationcompanies.com ReputableDebtConsolidationCompanies.com website - where you can see his best rated debt consolidation company.