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June

Making An Apartment Feel Like Home

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By Alyssa Davis

If you are new to apartment living, you may be finding it hard to make your apartment feel like an actual home. Many people who are unaccustomed to living in an apartment feel like their apartments are nothing more than glorified hotel rooms. But your apartment doesn’t have to leave you with that impression. There are some easy and simple things that you can do to make your apartment feel more like a home, and many of them involve your senses.

Sights of Home

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onTYQNTWNUE[/youtube]

The sights that greet you when you enter your apartment can really set the mood for the entire apartment. Make sure that your doorway is welcoming and inviting by placing a wreath on the exterior of the door, and a welcome mat. Your entrance should have a place to take off your coat, such as an unobtrusive hall tree. If you enter into the living room area, make sure that you have a comfy couch and that the area is well lit. A few books and magazines on a coffee table can give your living area a lived in look. Lay a throw across the back of the sofa. Add some plants near the window to bring the look of nature indoors. All of these things will make coming into your apartment seem more “homey”.

Smells of Home

Apartments are usually small and cramped, so they can become musty smelling in no time, no matter how staunch your housekeeping practices. Counter this by opening your windows and letting in fresh air as often as weather permits. You can also purchase spray odor neutralizer or room deodorizer. Choose scented oil that you like and invest in an inexpensive scented oil burner. Scents of baked goods and other sweet goodies can give you a down home feeling. You can achieve this effect with scented candles, but always use caution when burning candles; never leave a candle unattended.

Touches of Home

Throughout your decorating scheme, adding elements that are soft to the touch can be very comforting and make you feel like you are living in a “real” home. Go for fuzzy rugs, plush bath towels, down comforters, and lots of toss pillows.

Sounds of Home

Many apartment buildings are noisy. You have street noise, noise from people coming and going, and if you’re unlucky – noise from noisy neighbors. While you cannot completely block the noises from outside, you can do some very inexpensive soundproofing to your apartment to make your space more tranquil. There are kits on the market that will allow you to place rubber matting covered by thin 1/8th inch wall board to keep the noise to a minimum. If you don’t want to go to that extreme, playing your favorite music in the background can help to block out some of the noise. At night, operate a box fan in your bedroom to block noise, or use a sound machine that will soothe you to sleep to the sound of the ocean rolling in and out.

About the Author: Alyssa Davis, is a design specialist and writer at Metal-Wall-Art.com, and she offers many suggestions and unique ideas for designing with scroll metal wall art and black metal wall art.

Source: isnare.com

Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=566531&ca=Home+Management

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June

Nelson Mandela charity official resigns over ‘blood diamonds’

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) trustee Jeremy Ractliffe has resigned from the charity’s board, twelve days after admitting to the possession of “blood diamonds”.

Earlier this month, supermodel Naomi Campbell testified against former Liberian president Charles Taylor when she claimed she received “very small, dirty looking stones” from two men, allegedly associated with Taylor. Campbell said she gave these diamonds to Ractliffe to “do something good with” in 1997. He gave the diamonds to police the day after Campbell’s testimony. The police confirmed the stones were diamonds.

The board of the Mandela charity said in a statement, “Mr. Ractliffe regrets his omission to inform the chairperson, chief executive officer and the rest of the board of trustees of the NMCF of his receipt of the uncut diamonds until now… [Ractliffe] acknowledges that had he done so, he and the board would have found a better and lawful way to manage the situation.”

Ractliffe took the diamonds from Campbell, fearing she might be prosecuted for removing uncut diamonds from South Africa, illegal without a license.

Ractcliffe said, “Naomi suggested they could be of some benefit to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund — but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal… In the end I decided I should just keep them.”

Taylor is on trial in The Hague, The Netherlands for allegedly trading diamonds for weapons to supply the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone. Taylor faces eleven counts for international crimes including rape, sexual slavery, enlistment of children under the age of fifteen, and pillaging.

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June

Dubai leader Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum dead

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006

“His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai has passed away. He was 62 years old.”

The above statement from the Ministry of Presidential Affairs confirmed that the ruler of Dubai died earlier this morning in Australia. The statement added that “the UAE had lost a historical leader from its leaders who dedicated his life to building the country, and strove to do his best for its people.”

The official mourning period will last for 40 days, during which all UAE flags will fly at half mast. Ministries and government organisations will be closed for seven days, starting Wednesday.

Local stock markets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai shed 1.8% and 3.3%, respectively, in early trading.

The Dubai Shopping Festival, the largest business & cultural event in Dubai’s calendar, has been postponed until further notice, in a statement by CEO Saeed Al Nabouda.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been named the new ruler of Dubai, in an accession process that officials described as being automatic.

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June

Copenhagen climate conference ends with “meaningful agreement”

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

President of the United States Barack Obama has announced that wealthy and developing nations have reached what he called a “meaningful agreement” at the UN Climate Change Conference. The announcement came in the final hours of two weeks of tough negotiations, but fell far short of what some had hoped for.

Agreement came late in the evening and after a day of intense negotiations.

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President Obama announced what he called a meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough. “For the first time in history all major economies have come together to accept their responsibility to take action to confront the threat of climate change,” he said.

Negotiations stalled amid differences over mitigation efforts by cutting greenhouse gas emissions; verification; and funding.

That formed the core of discussions, said Mr. Obama. “Throughout the day we worked with many countries to establish a new consensus around these three points, a consensus that will serve as a foundation for global action to confront the threat of climate change for years to come,” he said.

Obama sat down with the leaders of developing countries at a multilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and South African President Jacob Zuma.

The agreement requires countries to list actions they will take to cut gas emissions by specific amounts and allows for verification.

Obama noted in his speech, “And that’s where we agreed to list our national actions and commitments, to provide information on the implementation of these actions through national communications, with international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines.” Obama also added that the leaders “agreed to set a mitigation target to limit warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, and importantly, to take action to meet this objective consistent with science.”

Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who acted on behalf of the Group of 77 of developing nations blasted the agreement and the 2 degree mark stating to reporters, “The developed countries have decided that damage to developing countries is acceptable.” On the 2-degree mark he stated the mark would “result in massive devastation to Africa and small island states.” Mr. Di-Aping and various representatives of the most most vulnerable countries wanted a target of 1.5 degrees.

	Going forward we’re going to have to build on the momentum that we’ve established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time. We’ve come a long way but we have much further to go.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called it a good first step, but said a binding treaty must follow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called it a first step and urged more action.

President Obama acknowledged that as well, saying this progress had not come easily, and alone is not enough. “Going forward we’re going to have to build on the momentum that we’ve established here in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time. We’ve come a long way but we have much further to go,” he said.

The agreement is a far cry from what environmentalists and developing nations had called for. They wanted a legally binding treaty with much more specific commitments.

Some environmental groups criticized the agreement. Kim Carstensen of the World Wildlife Fund spoke of a non-deal that is not fair and does not meet the demands of the developing world. “It’s been cooked up by a number of big countries in a closed room, without any transparency, without any civil society engagement in this building (the conference), without much engagement of the vulnerable countries,” she said.

Climate talks are to continue. Germany is to call a meeting on the issue in the coming months and a climate change summit is also expected to be held in Mexico within the coming year.

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June

Two injured in two car crash on Isle of Man

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Two people have been injured in a road traffic accident involving two vehicles on the Isle of Man. One of the two men was driving a Toyota Celica and the other a Renault Laguna.

Police reported that the collision occurred at around 2150 GMT on Sunday near to the location of Greeba Castle. The two men, who were aged 32 and 19, were both injured, with the 19-year-old man having to be physically cut out of his Toyota by workers from the emergency services.

Both gentlemen had to be transported to Nobles Hospital; however, police officers noted that neither of the two suffered from life-threatening injuries. The road which the collision occurred on had to be closed for roughly five hours.

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June

CFPB records fewer complaints in early days of US government shutdown

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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Unlike some parts of the US Federal Government, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been open during the federal government shutdown and recording a record-low number of complaints submitted by consumers against mortgage companies, credit card companies, student loan providers, banks, money transfer providers, companies who provide credit reports, and other companies providing consumer loans.

With data not available for yesterday, the first four days of the shutdown had daily totals of 37, 16, 13, and 3 complaints. With the exceptions of September 29 with 15 complaints and September 28 with 23, it is the lowest daily total since March 16 of this year when 36 total complaints were recorded and February 23 of this year with 14. The total complaints are also down from the same dates last year, when the total complaints per day for the first four days of October 2012 were 272, 298, 288, and 225.

Of the 69 filed complaints recorded so far this month, 27 were complaints about mortgage companies, 21 were about bank accounts and 10 were about credit card companies. 40% of credit card companies complaints, 42.9% of bank account complaints and 48.1% of mortgage complaints are currently listed as still in progress. Most of the rest have been closed with an explanation.

Bank of America leads all companies in terms of total complaints filed this month with 9. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC andJPMorgan Chase have 7 complaints each. Ally Bank, Sovereign Bank, and Wells Fargo have 4 each. Flagstar Bankand Equifax have 3 each. Citibank, Nationstar Mortgage, TD Bank, Amex, and FirstMerit Bank have 2 complaints each. 18 financial services companies have 1 complaint each filed against them.

During the government shutdown, some CFPB staff have voiced their opinions on Twitter. Dan Munz, deputy assistant director for consumer engagement at the CFPB, tweeted, “Boy, shutdown week has really created a sudden bumper crop of amateur federal management experts.”; “Also, seems like Boehner is singlehandedly undoing whatever progress he’d made in portraying this as a Dem [Democratic Party] shutdown.”; and “Basically, there’s now a strong incentive to fill legislation with minor symbolic things you can bargain away later to protect the core.”

The agency has been able to stay open during the government shutdown because it is funded by the Federal Reserve. According to Amanda Terkel at the Huffington Post, Republican members of the United States House of Representatives have put closing the CFPB on their wish list of items in negotiating for a new debt ceiling limit. Party members have previously stalled the appointment of Richard Cordray as the CFPB boss as a way of hindering it from engaging in oversight of financial organizations in the the US.

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June

Haiti Earthquake Victims Make Your Contribution By Frequent Flyer Program}

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Haiti Earthquake Victims – Make Your Contribution by Frequent Flyer Program

Ivo HolstsIt is a crime not to be a member of frequent flyer programs, because it is an easiest way how you can make a change in other people lives. More than 50 thousand people died and 3 more million suffer after Haiti earthquake, and you can become involved and help them. It doesn’t matter whether you are a frequent traveler, or you do not travel at all. Through the airlines loyalty programs, you can contribute to the Haiti earthquake victims.You can find many frequent flyer programs, which offer the ability to make a donation to charitable organizations. The first stop would definitely be top 7 programs in United States. Frequent flyer miles are a means of payment in order to supply the food, medicine or other help. Therefore, American Red Cross or any other organization needs your contribution.The process to donate miles is very simple. The first step is to visit a program website and look for charity organization page. It is usually under redeem miles, use miles or charity miles page. There you will find all programs with explanations. You can browse through all the list and choose any organization you like and make a donation.How to contribute if you are not a member yet?If you are not a member of any frequent flyer program, it doesn’t mean that you cannot do something. The first step toward your involvement is joining the airlines loyalty program. You can do some research to find the program, which offers the fastest way to earn miles. Sometimes airlines offer to earn frequent flyer miles just by joining the program.As soon as you become a member, you should explore all the opportunities. Almost every program offers some way to earn frequent flyer miles without spending money. For example, you can participate is surveys and earn miles. You can join dining programs and receive miles, you can apply for new credit card or request not obligation insurance quote. There are many more ways how you can do something for Haiti earthquake victims.The other way how you can contribute via frequent flyer programs is by donating money and receiving frequent flyer miles for it. Later, you can obtain more miles via other offers and contribute them as well. It will allow you to double your involvement.More important than volume of miles or money is your involvement. The most important is your involvement. Even in the economy meltdown you can do something, and it will be truly valuable.

Ivo Holsts, online entrepreneur and travel expert, will guide you how to use frequent flyer programs and earn more miles. Visit

flight to Chicago

website and pay it forward.

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

Filled Under: Jewellery Insurance

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June

SEPTA buys rail cars from NJ Transit to deal with crowding

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

As gas prices have risen in the United States, the regional transport authority for southeastern Pennsylvania, SEPTA, has seen a sharp increase in ridership, which has caused overcrowding on the trains.

“As fuel prices have continued to rise, SEPTA ridership has steadily increased and is the highest in 18 years,” said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey. Monthly ridership was 22 percent higher last month than a year ago.

“They have crushed loads on their rail lines, already where people are standing, and there’s not enough seats,” said Rich Bickel, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

“At peak times some railcars are standing room only and commuter parking lots are nearly full. All Regional Rail lines are running near full capacity and the train station parking lots are at about 90 percent capacity or more,” SEPTA spokesperson Felipe Suarez said.

While SEPTA awaits new Silverliner V trains from Hyundai Rotem, which begin arriving in 2009, it had hoped to lease eight rail cars from New Jersey Transit, at an agreed-upon rate of US$10,000 per month. However, due to problems with insurance and liability indemnification, the deal fell through, according to Casey.

SEPTA has entered a new agreement to purchase the eight rail cars from NJ Transit. The transit authority will pay US$670,000 for the cars and assorted supplies plus one additional inoperative car which will be used for spare parts. The rail cars will be operated using a SEPTA provided locomotive as they are not self-propelled.

The cars are being disposed of by NJ Transit because it has switched from single-floor cars to double-decker cars.

SEPTA is expecting to raise US$3.1 million by selling rail that has been out of service since 1981 at auction.

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June

Alcácer signs five year contract with Barça; Munir loaned to Valencia

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Friday, September 2, 2016

On Tuesday, Catalonian football club FC Barcelona announced signing of Spanish striker Paco Alcácer from Valencia C.F. for €30 million. Barcelona is obliged to pay €2 million as add-ons for the 23-year-old striker. Barcelona forward Munir El Haddadi was loaned to Valencia with an option to buy the player for €12 million.

Making hood professional debut in the 2010–2011 season, Paco Alcácer has played 146 domestic matches. He has scored 43 goals for Valencia in all competitions. Alcácer was loaned to Madrid based club Getafe CF for a season where he scored four goals.

Alcácer made his international debut under Vicente del Bosque in 2014 and has scored six goals. After passing hood medicals and signing a five-year contract, Alcácer said, “when I found out about the offer from FC Barcelona I asked the club to listen to it, as it was my decision to take a step forward in my career”^{((es))Spanish language: cuando conocí la oferta del FC Barcelona, le pedí al club que la escuchara, ya que era mi decisión dar un paso adelante en mi carrera}.

Munir graduated from Barça ‘s youth academy La Masia and made his professional debut playing a La Liga match at the age of eighteen. He also made his international debut under del Bosque’s management. Munir has played 45 matches for the Catalonians scoring ten goals. Valencia said Munir’s signing was “an important reinforcement for the frontline” of their team.

Paco Alcácer’s presentaton was to be postponed while he completed duties with the international team.

Munir has been allocated the number 9 jersey at Valencia. Barcelona has set the buy-out clause of Paco Alcácer at €100 million; he is Luis Enrique’s sixth signing this season. Previously, Barcelona signed Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen from Amsterdam-based club AFC Ajax.

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June

Google to discontinue social networking application Google Wave

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Thursday, August 5, 2010

File:Google Wave.jpg

Google has decided to retire the Google Wave social-networking service after one year, citing lack of user adoption.

Urs Hölzle, Google senior vice president for operations, said in a blog post that “Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a stand-alone product.” Hölzle also said that as a “web app for real time communication and collaboration, it set a high bar for what was possible in a Web browser. We weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication.” Google says that it will continue the service until the end of the year.

In May 2009, Google launched Wave as a private beta. A year later, it became open to the public. Wave is an email service that integrates social media features and capabilities into emailing. It integrates IM-like features into its service. The company released components of Google Wave as open source for those to create a similar service. “The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users easily “liberate” their content from Wave,” Google said.

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