Funny Stuff is all around

Archive for August 15th, 2008

There are currently a variety of ways to receive high-definition television programming in the US, including with an antenna, via cable, or from one of several different satellite providers. One of the more reasonable options available to consumers in terms of price vs. channel selection is provided by Dish Network, in the form of their “Dish HD” service. While the exact pricing and channel selection is constantly changing, Dish Network has most recently unveiled their “TurboHD” line of programming packages. The three “TurboHD” packages, “Bronze”, “Silver” and “Gold” gradually increase in price and channels provided. Nonetheless, even at the most basic “Bronze” level, the package includes over 25 national high definition channels, and high definition locals can be added for just $5.00/month more. Overall, these packages provide some of the best value in high-definition content available today.

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With rising gas prices, ever increasing electrical bills, fluctuating interest rates and the high cost of services like telephone and Internet access, it’s becoming harder to save money on your monthly bills. Thrifty people are increasingly searching for discounts, coupons, and sales to help makes their incomes outlast their bills.

If you want to stretch that bill-paying dollar just a little bit further this month, keep reading for 5 great tips on how to save.

1. Go For Low-Flow Faucets and Fixtures.

Though the initial expense may be high, you’ll save a noticeable amount of money every month simply by investing in low-flow showerheads, toilets and faucets. With contemporary technology, you’re unlikely to notice a difference in functionality.

2. Install Energy-efficient Light Bulbs.

Did you know a new, fluorescent light bulb uses only a quarter of the energy that an incandescent bulb consumes, and lasts as much as 10 times longer. They may cost more, but every fluorescent light bulb will save you about $30 in electricity costs for the life span of the bulb. In a home with even just 20 light bulbs, that’s $600 and a savings you can’t ignore.

3. Have An Energy Audit Done on Your Home.

Most electricity companies and counties offer free home energy audit services. The auditor will visit your home, look for air leaks, poor insulation, ventilation problems, and energy drains. Then, he or she will offer concrete suggestions on you can improve your home’s energy efficiency.

4. Upgrade Your Long Distance Phone Service.

Either convert your telephone to an Internet phone to cash in on free long distance or upgrade your existing long distance plan to save more each month. Other options include switching to a cell phone that offers free national calling or increasing your use of email and online chatting.

5. Clean Out Your Heating System.

For your heating system to work at maximum efficiency, it needs to be properly maintained and cleaned at least twice per heating season. If you have a forced air system, start by removing the vent covers and cleaning each one.

Then, with a long vacuum hose, reach down inside each vent and vacuum it out. Finally, replace the intake filters on your furnace, and clear out the area around your outside vents.

The basics of how to save money on your monthly bills all boil down to increasing your energy efficiency, maximizing your long distance spending, installing energy efficient light bulbs, updating your faucets and focusing on upgrading your heating system. By implementing these 5 hot tips, you’re sure to start saving impressive amounts.

Debt relief programs can be of great value to a person seeking to rid himself of an enormous debt “backlog.” The value of such programs have been demonstrated time and again by people whose financial lives have been changed for the better.

Many Options Available

The help available through a debt relief program can prove to be a boon in getting the financial portion of your life back in order. On the other hand, living under the daily weight of debt is a great burden on most any individual. Fortunately there are options.

During the past couple of decades, thousands of debt relief companies have sprung up from which one can choose, and their services vary depending on needs. When soliciting the assistance of a debt relief program, you should prepare by gathering all your bills and be able to discuss them and your spending practices.

Beneficial, Though Awkward

Though during such a personal meeting you may feel like you are financially “undressing” in front of a stranger, such honesty will prove to be imperative for gleaning the most benefit from their programs.

However, prior to that initial conversation, you must actually find a good debt relief program to work with. Since they can do you great benefit - or conversely, a scam can do you major harm - you must take care in your selection process. Research the companies before entering into a contract with one. Get free quotes, and compare them against each other.

Before You Engage a Debt Relief Program

When choosing a debt relief program, bear in mind the following considerations.

1. Choose from companies that have pioneered the industry. Try to avoid those that are upstarts. An established company will be familiar with industry nuances and has a track record you can investigate. It’s not that a new company is necessarily unprofessional or provides poor quality, but you are simply mitigating some risk by going with one that has a lengthier history.

2. Write out on paper a detailed analysis of your financial situation. List your debts and payments. Rank the priority of each. How much do you have saved? Invested? What do you owe, and to whom?

3. Target your financial goals. Do you want to be completely debt free, or rather are you simply striving to get your finances under control?

4. Evaluate the types of financial strategies these companies offer. There are many options available, so take the time to absorb some of their information and compare pros and cons.

5. Visit two or three offices and determine which seems the most helpful and flexible working with your particular needs.

6. Step back from the information and preliminary meetings for a couple of days to take it all in so you can make a well-informed, clear-minded decision concerning the company you ultimately select.

If you adhere to the recommendations provided by a reputable debt relief company, that may well be your best opportunity to become debt free or, at the very least, a little more well prepared in dealing with credit and credit card problems.

Crude oil has one of the most complex and variable pricing mechanisms in the commodities market, and for that matter in the entire market. The price of oil is affected by a host of different factors, and it can be extremely difficult to determine exactly what is pushing prices upward or downward at any given point in time. As you have no doubt seen recently, the crude oil markets have been extremely volatile and many have found themselves with insane profits, or miserable losses.

In highly efficient capital markets with an inelastic demand coupled with a constrained supply, markets will adjust backwards to the old prices within a few days or a week at the most. The main change from the past prices to present is and extra 47 cents or so would now be going to oil producers, oil suppliers, refiners, and the owners of the gas stations. But this potentially small gain in the commodity could mean major profits for any investor that is holding a Oil Stock.

If the gasoline tax proposed in politics became permanent the plan would be much better suited because it would help the refiners and gas station owners boost their profit margins. As ridiculous as that may sound to you, that is exactly what needs to happen. Contrary to popular believe, the refiners and gasoline station owners are actually getting killed because they are at the mercy of the commodity spot market prices (the value where open fiscal markets trade physical goods) since they do not actually produce the good. “Big Oil” only acts as a middleman and output, not an input as many believe. In the oil business they call this middlestream and downstream. Believe it or not, many gas stations are closing around America because they simply can’t keep up with the pricing increases. The %KEYWORDCAP2& has gone up substantially more than gasoline in the last couple of years, and it has come to a point where many of the gas stations and refiners are actually losing money every time they sell you gasoline. The reason for this is not because the input costs are too high for the refiners.

World crude oil supply is somewhere between 84-85 million barrels per day while world crude demand is somewhere between 86-87 million barrels per day. The most recent numbers show that through April the United States was using 19.96 million barrels of crude oil per day, which is nearly a quarter of the demand present in the entire world. The United States only produces roughly 30% of the crude oil it uses domestically, which means we are importing roughly 14 million barrels per day. It’s easy to see how at the current prices of ~$130 per barrel this can add up very quickly. Until some portion of demand is completely destroyed to balance out supply and demand, don’t expect a relief in the price of oil and don’t expect this argument to go away.

The interference of politicians is not something new for the commodity markets, especially oil, even in crisis mode, the politicians simply will not stop playing their games. Don’t believe for a second that once oil makes a short term pull back that the politicians will not take credit for the slight correction in prices that was in fact beyond their control because there is no doubt that they will. It will be much more humorous to see the look on their faces and hear their bumbling excuses when crude breaks $200 a barrel and gasoline is over $6.00 a gallon. Yet even if things start to correct slightly over the coming months, these issues are a matter of national security. If we go to war in the future with a country who has control of the Crude Oil Drilling, they could effectively shut down the United States without firing one bullet or using one soldier. Our “Strategic Petroleum Reserve” only has about ~700 million barrels, and including current online production, that would last us just 50 short days. The government should have never stopped filling the SPR as it has placed our country at extra risk.

We are so reliant on offshore drilling to run our economy that it is important to understand the true factors at play. Those investors who are able to cut through the noise and analyze the facts will be rewarded with great returns in the long run.

One of the most hated pests that can invade our homes come from the rodent family, these furry but definitely not cute little invaders can carry both disease and damage the fabric of our homes.

These common rodent pests are normally the house mouse or the brown rat, the one that was widespread in the country many years ago was the black rat, fortunately these tend to be found in minor colonies in a few of the country’s ports.

Mice and rat Pest control products and techniques have been developed over the years fortunately to eradicate these rodent’s from most households.

Even today though with conditions far more sanitary than every before, these unwelcome pests can still carry disease and bring it into the home so if you do suspect infestation make sure you take some Pest control advice which you can get from your local exterminator or Pest control shop .

Rats can carry food poisoning organisms for example salmonella, and food may also be contaminated by contact with the rats droppings, urine or other contaminated bodies.

One major concern of poisoning from rats is Weil’s disease this is found in some 70% of rats, this is a serious risk to people exposed to waters contaminated by infected rats.

Mice and rat pest control is a serious issue if you have these rodent pests in your home, or if you are in contact with areas of water where you think there may be a chance of infection then proper precautions have to be taken.

Many people use products off the shelf but some like to try their own DIY pest control, these are often done by placing traps to catch the rat or mouse.

It can be a serious problem as a female rat can have a litter of baby rats (called kittens) when only four months old. She may then carry on to having up to five litters (14 kittens) per year, and then as the baby grows the reproductive cycle starts again.

The house mouse loves warmth, shelter and food supply and will inhabit any building where it can find this. Normally sheds, outbuildings or old farm dwellings are favourite places, but given the chance they will readily inhabit your home.

The brown rat can normally be found living in underground burrows and have even colonized public sewers, but as the colony grows they get braver and will travel further in the search for food even becoming quite blatant even in human presence, particularly in heavily populated areas.

If they gain access to your home, they may take up residence in concealed spaces such as cavity walls and lofts so be on the look out.

For some, purchasing a compact external hard drive is a fairly simple process. They go to a computer store , look at a USB hard drive that looks to be reasonably priced and make the purchase. Quite often, the packaging is not given a full read as they walk to the checkout counter. While this may work for some people, there are others who desire to know exactly what they are buying purchasing, making their needs are matched by what they have decided to buy. While there are many things that should be evaluated when purchasing a USB portable hard drive or any other type of personal storage device, there are basically five things to keep in mind consider when doing your initial research.

External Hard Drive Space

How much space does an external hard drive have? The price variation with a portable hard drive is directly in proportion to the actually storage capacity of the drive . Some external hard drives have a large amount of space (some now include over 1 terabytes [TB]), while others are designed and priced to a market that is fine with smaller capacity drives, say 100 megabytes (MG) in size.

Speed

The speed of an external hard drive is important in the fact that the faster the drive, the better performance. This performance may reveal itself when you are trying to copy files to the external hard drive, and also may be obvious when trying to simply run files that are loaded onto the portable hard drive device. understanding speed and knowing exactly what the limitations are allows you to make a decision you will be happy with.

Budget

Budget and cost is something that should be reviewed prior when purchasing an external hard drive. Different portable hard drive products have a wide range of prices, this means you may be paying more, or less, than you planned . Depending on storage capacity, you can expect to spend as little as $10 up to over $500. By setting your budget and the price of the product you are considering, you know where you stand, and what brand and capacity might work for you.

Connection

Connection speed is another important aspect of buying an external hard drive. Knowing exactly what your computer can handle , and what connection is needed, will help you to choose the right portable hard drive for you. While most drives work seamlessly with all types of computers, it is always important to check .

Size

The actual physical dimensions of the USB drive is an important consideration for those who are looking to buy an external hard drive. Some people do not want a larger dimension drive if they have a small workspace , while this may not be as much of an issue for others. The size of the actual hard drive and enclosure itself may change with storage capacity, but is usually about the same. In the end, it is all about finding the manufacturer that builds a drive that is the right size for you, your storage needs, is nicely designed, and performs well. For many, drive size is a significant issue. For others, an external hard drive, big or small, will perform what you need it to do.

While this may seem like a lot of research points for a basic functioning external hard drive, it is all part of the purchase process . Trying to find the perfect external hard drive is not only about knowing what you need, but also knowing what each product has to offer. By taking a little bit of time to do some homework, you will begin to understand better which one will make sense to buy and suit your computing needs.

Secured loans can last for several years, so some careful thought needs to be given to the planning phase of acquiring the loan. Basically there are three main things to think about when analyzing the competition: term, rate, and fees. Borrowers should consider each point to achieve the best results in secured loan rates.

Term

When we say term, what we mean is the length of time that is going to be observed in repaying the loan. It was not uncommon for the secured loan to run for 10 years, but recent years have shown that a 5 year term is more common. This can be attributed to the fact that consumers like the idea of being in debt for the least amount of time as possible, not least because longer term secured loans can be quite expensive.

Rate

The rate of interest charged is known as the APR - or annual percentage rate. The APR is comprised of a lot of different charges and discounts, and it applies to the total amount owed that attracts interest. The APR can be variable or fixed, depending on what the lender is leaning towards or what the borrower needs. A variable rate APR can vary according to economic conditions, whereas a fixed rate will remain constant. They each have their own benefits.

Fees

Lastly, we have fees. A whole variety of transaction fees, payback fees, underwriting fees, and even closing costs will give the borrower a shock when it come to finalising the deal. Fees will vary widely from one lender to another, so it’s good to get as much information as possible before signing the credit agreement. Additionally, most reputed lenders will show all fees upfront - so a borrower shouldn’t have to read the fine print to uncover any fees that weren’t discussed. In fact, the APR now has to be calculated and disclosed after including all fees that are to be added to the loan.

Planning

secured loan require a lot of careful planning to successfully take advantage of them. However, it is generally a good idea to seek advice from a financial advisor to get the best advice for your circumstances. It may also be a good idea to spend some time surfing the internet for more information, tips and tricks, and guides in getting the best rate on secured loans

Final Thoughts

secured loans don’t have to be such a difficult topic to address. As seen above, they can be categorised by three basic points. But in reality, there is a lot to think about regarding secured loans and getting them is not always straightforward. Before you do anything, it is advisable to get hold of your credit file and any errors or inaccuracies are corrected as these could have could have a negative impact on your loan application.

More of Loan Arranger’s articles articles at Ask Us 1st - the revenue sharing article directory.

By now, most people have read how nesting dolls originated and how they are all hand painted by very particular artists using very small brushes to make an entire set come to life. All that is awesome but I wanted to explore some very different doll concepts for a nesting doll set that I am not sure have been created (this could be a great idea for someone with an artistic flare who can bring a couple of these sets to life for us). I have been thinking about this for awhile and am now ready to announce these ideas to the world – here we go.

My original and perhaps best idea is to develop a set of dolls around great TV families. Families that we grew up with, that are a little bit nostalgic but who would also be very recognizable are the types I am referring to. I would start with the Brady Bunch and include the Mom and Dad, Alice and the 6 kids in one set. I think that dolls nesting set could become a top selling line and would serve to honor what is probably the number one family of that generation. The next family to be enshrined in a set of nesting dolls would be the Partridge family. I would include the band manager, Rueben Kincaid, to be sure that there were enough dolls to make a complete set. The Clampett family of Beverly Hillbillies would be next and I would be sure to have a doll made out of the likenesses of Miss Hathaway and the banker to round out the set.

I would then move to the best teams in major sports to have ever played. I would include a couple sets of Roger Maris and the Yankees, maybe another with the Boston Celtics when they were winning all those championships, and maybe another of the best team to have played baseball in Cincinnati the Big Red Machine, since many people in the Midwest would probably love a set and they are my favorite team of all-time.

I would also include a best players of all-time set where you might be able to take your favorite sport and have dolls that look like a set of a couple of years of hall-of-fame inductees. I think these would also sell well because a doll set could be made for every season and sport, so there are lots of great groups to select from to start sets.

My next group to do would be unique to corporate groups such as a team of corporate executives. This may sound a little corny but I think thatmost corporate leadership teams would buy a set made up of themselves, especially after they have had a good year. This one may be working from the fringe, but I think there are lots of potential nesting doll sets that are not being done at the moment that could be good for tine nesting doll industry and be fun for the people who are in the sets.

If you buy a telephone recorder for your land line phone, it probably will attach between the handset and the body of your phone. You’ll want to read the specific directions for details on your recorder, but installing this type of phone recorder is very straightforward.

Remove the short, curly phone cord that connects your handset and the base of the phone. This is the cord that gets tangled up all the time when you’re on the phone. You’ll connect your recorder between the handset and base. Some recording devices use the existing cord, while some replace it. If your recorder has cords out both ends, obviously you won’t need your own cord; put it away for use when you’re not recording.

Your recorder should simply plug into both parts of your phone. Then you can put in a cassette if it’s an analog recorder, or use the digital recording functions. Your phone should work normally, and you can turn on the recorder when you’re ready to start recording phone calls.

Once you’ve hooked everything up, call someone outside of your home or office and record a couple of minutes of conversation. Practice with any controls on the recording device, like mute or volume. Make sure you know exactly how to use it, and ensure that its working and you’re happy with the sound quality.

You might want to rehearse several times before recording an important conversation. Like any electronic device, this can be a little tricky to get just right. It’s not that the device itself is difficult to use, but doing anything new can take a little practice.

Once you’ve hooked your telephone recorder into your phone and practiced to make sure you’re capturing exactly what you want, when you want it, you’re ready to go live recording phone calls for business or personal use. Legally, of course.

In his book “How to Become a Marketing Superstar”, Jeffrey J. Fox defines marketing as the “profitable identification, attraction, getting and keeping of good customers”…

In short it is getting and keeping a good customer. So we may look at email marketing as carrying out these functions by the use of emails.

If you prefer direct sales, the new Alex Goad’s system Affiliate Payload is what you need.

We see then that there is the need for communication between the business owner and the prospect if any marketing is to take place. The traditional routes for this communication is through newspaper, radio, television, billboards, flyers, posters and direct mail. Email is a latecomer in this arsenal and is still going through its own evolution.

What must not be lost sight of is that email is only a means of communication.

The principles of marketing and money-making will remain the same even though there must be some adaptation to the medium, in this case email.

Don’t hesitate to give Affiliate Payload a try. It integrates perfectly with email marketing.

The closest predecessor to email marketing will be direct mail marketing. Why? Because in reality, they are both direct response marketing.

By this I mean that you, the marketer, are looking for a direct response (eg. to buy a product) from the receiver of the marketing message. An example of a non-direct response will be a billboard ad, which normally is used for branding purposes. No one is expected to pull over and fill out a form on the billboard and send it in, or make a purchase while going 55 mph.

An email is an electronic mail and therefore you’ll expect that there will be a lot of similarities between email marketing and direct mail marketing. But of course there are also significant differences as well.

For example in direct mail marketing businesses often risk thousands of dollars and have to wait for weeks before they can determine a campaign’s success or failure.

With email marketing you can have the results within just a few hours for a single promotion!

Marketing through email is one of the most effective and essential promotional strategies online because of a number of factors.

Some of these are:

1. It is cheap – It costs almost nothing to send out 10,000 emails or 100,000. This is an incredible advantage over postal mail that can run into the thousands of dollars in postage.

2. It is immediate – You may have to wait a couple weeks before you can judge the response from a direct mail campaign but you can get response from emails within minutes of sending them out.

3. It has worldwide reach – An email can easily go to from Singapore to Canada as it can go to South America. The world is really your market so your reach is much greater. Of course a mail can go anywhere but it’s much easier to get an email address than to get a foreign postal address.

In direct mail marketing, you will create a marketing piece and then buy a list from a list broker. You will then carry out a test of the sales letter before you do any mass mailing. Normally you are only allowed to use this list once. So mistakes can be very costly.

With email marketing you also need a list of emails to mail to and you are expected to manage this list instead of a list broker. In most cases you’ll build this list for yourself so you have more control, and ultimately more profits at the end of the day.

There is also on eUserReviews.com a useful Affiliate Payload Bonus that is given for free. Don’t miss it.