Showing posts with label Choosing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Choosing. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Free Preschool Craft Available Online

Here is an up-to-date list of kid craft related sites that are available on the internet that offer free preschool craft for creative kids and families. It is important to learn how to get free preschool craft on the web and quickly find the things that interest you. There are hundreds of websites that offer free preschool craft, with advice, tutorials and how to's for whatever you want to draw, color, paint, sew or create. There is plethora of free preschool kids craft shows that also provides various kids craft projects. There are free sewing and other needle crafts available for kid's activities.

But it is important to work under adult supervision when handling sharp objects like needle and scissors. There are many free preschool crafts with origami paper airplanes and kites. There are many scrapbook making activities available for kids. There is rubber stamping activities available for the preschoolers. Kids enjoy making balloon art tutorials and they have a lot of fun making balloon art. Various holiday crafts are also available for kid's activities during the vacations. Free cartooning is also available for kids craft activities during leisure time. Soap and candle making are also in vogue with kids as they like to mould clay into creative patterns.

The internet has a broad frontier, as it offers parents and kids lots of craft project ideas they can indulge in during their free time. One can find various projects ranging from how to decorate T-shirts to suggestions for making party decorations, from illustrations for folding origami to instructions for twisting balloons into animal shapes. There are various websites of popular kids TV shows that are rich with ideas on how to spend a creative afternoon with your child. In order to get to a web page offering free preschool craft online, you will be required to enter the web address into the address bar in the navigator in Internet explorer or any other web browser.

If your computer has an old web browser you may be required to enter the preface of the address with http:// before enter the address of the web page. It is also important to make sure that the case of the letters is the same as the original address. If you have a document online, you can easily cut and past the URL of the address into the address or location bar. You can also move to other pages either by opening new tab on the web browser, or you can copy and paste the address on the same page. Most of the web pages are easy to navigate and user friendly. You can also sign up with the newsletter, in order to avail free preschool craft online.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Two Key Issues to Consider When Choosing the Tile Type For an Investment Property

The financial investment community has been boiling over the last few years for Investment Property and in countries like Australia and New Zealand some property has seen house and unit prices rise by as much as 80% over a 3 to 4 year period. So as people start to enter into the property market there are a few areas of concern you need to consider.

One important area to consider is the type of tiles you install into your property. Most people when they purchase a home or unit for investment purposes simply choose tiles that they like rather than considering the practicability of the tile. The type of tile can have a huge impact on whether you keep your tenants or not. Let me explain from my real life experience.

Issue 1: Be Careful of the Style of Tile You Choose for an Outside Area

In most Gated Communities and Unit High Rises, the common area will be managed by the Body Corporate and most Body Corporates have some pretty strict rules on what you can and can not do on your property and if you have a balcony this can really open some major problems.

At the moment, we live in a rented unit in a multi-story development in Townsville, Australia. The tiles that the owners have put into the property on the balcony are a cause of great concern for us because of the difficulty we have in keeping them clean. The Body Corporate has strict rules that prevent us from washing our decks down using a hose. The challenge for us is that the tiles used are tiles that have little grooves in it. The grooves in the tiles actually capture the dirt and mold really easily.

The problem with this style tile is that the only effective way to clean them is to use the hose and this is the problem. The only way we are allowed under the body corporate rules is to use a mop and because of the type of tile we have, mops are torn up very quickly. The result is that the only other way we have been able to overcome this problem is to use a scrubbing brush and towels and get down on our knees and clean them by hand. Now fortunately for the owner we do not mind doing this but most people would say that is there problem.

To give you an idea of how serious this issue is, this owner has had over nine tenants in a 3 year period. That means they have had a new tenant less than every six months. As you can imagine, the owners have been up for a lot of management work, keeping the placing in working order from people moving in and out.

Now, I have heard many new Investment Property owners say, hey but cleaning of the balcony is between the tenant and body corporate. Well, unfortunately, that is not the case in most Western Societies. In fact you the owner are responsible and what I have learned from my recent stay with this body corporate is that when you purchase your Unit or Home, you automatically agree to the Body Corporate Rules and this is the same in many of the body corporates that we have seen over the last few years. The owners of the property can in fact be billed for any misdemeanours of the tenants.

The bottom line is this, as an investment property owner you are better off installing tiles that are a smooth face tile. By using a smooth face tile, the tenant will be able to easily mop the tile to keep it clean without using a hose or buckets of water. This will reduce the chance of the tenant upsetting other residents or the body corporate.

Issue 2 - Be Careful of the Type of Tiles You Use in the Bathroom

Bathrooms are another area in which I have seen many owners make huge mistakes. Most bathrooms in Australia and overseas are now using tiles in their bathrooms, but some rental properties that my wife and I have been in, have used similar tiles to the ones we found on our balcony. This is actually a really dangerous thing to do especially if the Bathroom does not have a free air flow.

Once again in one of the units we were in recently, they have installed into the bathrooms tiles with grooves in the face of the tiles. These tiles are incredibly difficult to keep clean and what makes the situation even more difficult is the fact that there is no ventilation within the bathroom except for an exhaust fan.

What happens with these tiles is that unless they are cleaned every few days mold actually starts build within the grooves. This is especially true in humid clients such in the tropics of Australia or in Asia. It can also be a major issue in cold climates as well.

One of the key things I have learned as both an investor in units and houses and also a renter is that you really want to keep the process of keeping the unit or house clean as easy as possible. Remember, tenants do not care about the property the same in which you do.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Choosing Granite

granite add beauty wherever they are installed. Whether it's a bar on the aft deck, part of a Make-Over kitchen or master bathroom, say a few things as elegant granite. Of course, you want to give your salt added attraction, you will be using granite, that the use of compliments and the feeling of space. If you install granite to make the decision to take note of the following suggestions.

With the purchase of granite, not go to a small distributor. Finding a supplier of granite that is well established andhas a large selection of granite slabs to choose between them. Suppose, as many as possible of the following:


A sample of the flooring
Some pieces of tile backsplash
A cabinet door or drawer
A color sample
Window decoration or a tissue sample
Furnishings

You may wish to draw your room, the provision of evidence, where the granite would like measures and form (s) of the slabs. Also, if you build a house,helps to know what color is your equipment the first choice of granite.

When it comes to the granite supplier, place the items you brought for the cards to get an idea of how to see it at home. If possible, ask for samples of granite, natural light to see, so you can better understand how the light gets to play on the stone of the movement.

Once you want to choose something you like, to see some great dishes. It is not unusual forto vary from the actual sample plate through the veins, the granite is desirable beauty and movement.

Granite color choices

granite in a wide range of colors and patterns, which is one reason it is so versatile, come in decoration. Consider these recommendations for the color of granite:


trendy colors for kitchens are dull black, gray or white. These are usually more expensive, but add a classic and modernAtmosphere.

Beige and brown are common choices for each room. They offer a traditional look and operate with any combination of colors. If you have a change to the theme of your room often, this is a great color selection.

granite is pale green to jade green sea and gives you the feeling of outdoors. End of green granites are more expensive, but will come with very beautiful models. They are particularly beautiful room with lots of red.

Blue Granite is a cool,sedation, and also works well with red. Granite blue, like green, are often used in master bath. It ranges in color from blue to lavender-blue sapphire. The lighter colors such as lavender or ice blue look good with the wood grain, yellow and beige tones.

All granite colors, red is the most expensive, but it can add flare to any room you choose to use it.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Oil Spill - Gov't Assets Unused (Control Ecology Damage - Not Politics) - Apply NASA's FRR System!

Two months after the deep-ocean oil spill in federal waters off Louisiana, the immensity of the catastrophe is still growing, as the mass media reluctantly, but inevitably, permits criticism of how president Obama is handling the crisis. For weeks, there was nothing but official statements of blaming BP (British Petroleum - "They will pay for everything!"); initially, a quick but unexplained firing of a woman, supposedly in charge of federal drilling regulations (some rumors of relaxed requirements for BP's mile-deep rig); then - after complaints that "cool" Obama was too unemotional, some presidential cuss-words to show frustration.

However, week after week - the oil still gushes, tragic pictures of oil-covered pelicans are in the news; also of the gigantic oil slick as it comes ever closer to the east coast - meanwhile no solution is forthcoming on how to plug the leak. However, at long last, there seems to be some beginning governmental effort to stem the potential oil damage. Desperate pleas by the Governor of Louisiana for federal support to mop up the oil and block the slick were apparently ignored for weeks (claims of federal equipment, e.g. "booms" being unavailable, and that concerns about lack of an "environmental impact study" precluded relief efforts). In June, television-show hosts Hannity and Huckabee began using their Fox News programs to publicize innovative methods of minimizing the oil damage as suggested by the public - all apparently ignored by the Administration.

The problem is - there are two problems - of equal essential and immediate importance: 1) plugging the leak (and learning and eliminating the cause); 2) minimizing the oil slick damage.

The time-honored method of attacking critical problems is to assemble many experts; provide a forum for presentation and debate; establish unemotional assessment by an experienced advisory panel; then decisions are made by qualified authority. NASA, coping with the extremes of both human experience and danger (plus enormous national pride and cost), has developed its system of "Flight Readiness Review" to best accomplish this. To add difficulty, the decision-maker (NASA Administrator - who reports to the President), while experienced and knowledgeable in many fields (perhaps an Air Force General), may lack the detailed scientific, arcane knowledge at issue in a risk-assessment decision - but he must make the decision.

The NASA mission in space is daunting, unforgiving of any error or oversight of human shortcomings: in engineering, design, manufacturing, Quality Control - or in predicting the effect of complex Nature - or in taking the "best shot" when probing the unknown. And the rule is that the NASA Administrator - whose areas of background expertise can hardly embrace all the varied technologies of risk and concern - is required to make all critical decisions. And since life-and-death, plus hundreds of millions of dollars in program hardware and costs are involved in every mission, how that is done is a unique approach to technical and management problem-solving.

In essence, before each flight, NASA conducts a Flight Readiness Review (really a tutorial) - taking several days, where-by every possible threat to a successful mission is thoroughly examined and reviewed - in technical, educational detail - presented by the best experts in industry and government - addressing the Administrator and his staff. The Administrator sits at the top center of a large "inverted U" table, Agency Directors at his sides; the major contractor Engineering officials sit along the legs, their staffs behind them; and, by video, hundreds of engineers at every involved NASA agency and contractor follow the proceedings. Every technical or scientific issue is reduced to its fundamentals - questions asked, debated and answered by the many experts in each field in the room - so the Administrator (often a "layman" in the specific arcane field) understands the risks as best an intelligent person can and makes the decision.

The presenter (at the podium on a large stage of the huge room) is either the NASA's or contractor's top engineer in the subject field; alongside the podium are three giant screens, on which are presented any required graphs and text. The problem presentation may take a half-day, leading to a recommendation - for the Administrator to accept (or reject; if so, with requests for more tests). The issue - a major mission threat - is one with which most of the audience has been deeply involved, perhaps for years. Discussions are often lively - human knowledge and technology are wrestling with the unknown.

Take the problem of "Re-entry" for the Space Shuttle. Early orbital flights and the Moon (Saturn) program handled the extremes and uncertainties of re-entry heat by employing very conservative thicknesses of ablative material on the underside of the re-entry capsule - which landed in the ocean. For the Space Shuttle, the concept was an airplane-type vehicle, which would land on land (although lacking engine propulsive power, like a glider). The re-entry heat problem was (theoretically) solved by the simple concept of "insulation vacuumized tiles" (six by six inches, thicknesses about an inch) - providing insulation via the ability of a vacuum to block heat transference.

The tiles, a development of NASA and Hughes Aircraft, were fabricated of fibrous quartz, filaments stuffed in the tile, double-vacuumed, and covered by a thin glass exterior. (Note: the inside of a tile looks like simple styrofoam.) The processing development was extremely difficult - as evidenced by the cost: each tile (there are 30,000 per Shuttle - photos of the Shuttle showing "black" on the underside of wing, fuselage, tail and the nose are these thousands of 6 x 6 tiles) - $10,000 each in 1981; after the latest Shuttle disaster, the newspapers cited the "volume-production" cost as $2300 per tile. While the costs are high and the tiles delicate, their function is phenomenal - although the exterior of the tiles are exposed to re-entry temperatures of up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (no man-made material can withstand such a temperature), inside the Shuttle - only an inch or so distant (thickness of the tile) is the aluminum floor of the Shuttle, upon which the astronauts walk (80 degrees).

Considering the complexity of the manufacturing process of the tiles, the large number of them, the fact that they made up most of the vehicle's aerodynamic and control surfaces' exterior, their fragility, repair techniques, and that the spaces between tiles sometimes required stuffing - the number of Flight Readiness Reviews, wherein tile problems were one of the major mission issues, can be imagined. However - the problems were solved - the various NASA Administrators during the decade or so of Shuttle development were each briefed (technically-educated occasionally) and made the proper decisions - the program becoming a tremendous success for the U.S. and humanity for almost thirty years.

The oil spill disaster, now nearing two months, seems no nearer to having a definitive management plan than at its beginning. Why does not the President designate someone (perhaps the NASA Administrator or a Navy Admiral) to convene a "problem review" symposium: the world's smartest and experienced people - one room - for as long as it takes - to present and debate ideas - and develop a plan-of-action?