Nicholas Sarkozy's Divorce

An expected divorce of the French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia (2nd marriage for both) has recently been announced. The conservative politician Nicholas has Virgo Ascendant with Mars placed in the 7th house (house of marriage) indicating more than one relationship and disputes in married life. Adding to this, the Lord of 7th house Jupiter is placed with debilitated Ketu deteriorating the problems further. There is no wonder in his separation and divorce in both the marriages.

In Cecilia's case, the Lord of 7th house Saturn is placed in the 5th house without any severe affliction but Mars is placed in the 4th house with Rahu and it is aspecting the 7th house indicating terrible confrontation in married life. Nicolas is currently under the influence of Sun-Venus-Saturn period. Cecilia is currently under the influence of Venus-Moon-Saturn period. Saturnine influences in relationships have major obstacles and Saturn's cold hand descend the relationship.

The composite charts Sun conjunct Venus signifies true love. So, there was also a good deal of affection and a spirit of adventure between them in the good times. But Cecilia has Sun in Scorpio and Nicholas has in Aquarius. They often live apart even when they are together. Note that Nicholas's Saturn is in conjunction with Cecilia's Sun marking a difference in social status, age and distance in general. From the very beginning, Cecilia Sarkozy refused to be just 'Nicolas' wife'.

Upheavals and family changes were on the cards.

We wish the couple all the luck for their future endeavors.

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Contemporary Bathroom Design Tips

Designing one's own home in the way they want is the dream of most people. The bathroom, thought the smallest, is one of the most important rooms in the house. Various designs and style options are available for designing a brand new bathroom. One of the most elegant and popular bathroom designs these days is the contemporary design. Designing your own bathroom is not as difficult as it sounds.

The basic idea behind the contemporary bathroom design is to create something pleasant to see as well as completely functional. It is both utilitarian and attractive. Certain elements must be considered while designing this kind of bathrooms. These elements include toilets, sinks, showers and baths. The first thing involved in designing your bathroom is to decide the colors to be used. It is better to use colors that portray serenity. The next important factor is to choose the right material.

Storage is of immense importance in the contemporary bathroom design. It is important to make the most of the limited amount of space that is available since there are a number of items to store in the bathroom such as towels and personal care products. The use of modular storage devices has many advantages. The different varieties of elegant bathroom fixtures like sinks, vanities, bathtubs, faucets, store cabinets, shower sets and the like make up the bathroom design. Other elements such as copper basins, whirlpool and tubs and standing baths have also been added recently to the elements of contemporary bathroom.

The development of technology has led to the addition of different technologies into the contemporary bathroom such as spa showers, sauna, telephone, exercise equipment and digital televisions. So if you are planning to design your bathroom look out for the current trends in the bathroom designs.

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The Great Magic Trick

While the magic tricks are great, most are easy to do. Magic tricks are designed to please crowds, which inevitably forms a majority at most gatherings. Magic tricks are the most popular form of magic entertainment. Self-working magic tricks are effects that require essentially no skill, and can be learned in a few minutes. Magic tricks are often amusing, surprising and make us think. Magic tricks are based on scientific principles but people do not seem to connect magic and science. The best magic tricks are based on simple premises.

Occasionally magicians think that revealing their magic tricks is bad for the art, especially if it is free. Everyone always wonders how magicians perform all those fascinating, incredible magic tricks and illusions? Over the years, hundreds of magicians conjured their names into the history books. Many magicians will work alone because they don't want others distracting the audiences' attention while performing the magic tricks. As long back as one might be able to remember there have been magicians and magic tricks. It is very enjoyable watching magicians perform their amazing tricks. People who use magic as a hobby will be able to amaze the audience, while the real professional magicians will astound and mystify their peers.

The most popular magic trick is the Three Card Monte. You can find many magic tricks in magic shops; one of the most popular tricks that you find in stores is the card tricks. Performing incredible feats of card magic which will make you look like a professional sleight-of-hand artist in just minutes. There are many card tricks that you can use that will astonish your acquaintances on poker or card night. Be the life and soul at any party with this amazing collection of card tricks.

If you want to pursue magic, you'll want to learn some simple tricks. But starting out it's most important to have simple magic tricks to learn. We recommend the simple magic tricks you can get started with. A wonderful collection of simple-to-do; easy-to-learn magic tricks with objects generally found around the house. People are able to learn magic will be able to amaze and amuse their friends and colleagues with some basic but incredible tricks. So remember, with a little practice and showmanship, you can learn to be the life of the party by performing simple magic tricks. Simple magic tricks are available through trainer's warehouse and in books designed for young readers. You can perform these tricks with simple step-by-step instructions. It is simple entertainment with no lasting value. You too can learn simple Magic Tricks and amaze your friends.

Many of the magic tricks are found on the ability to misdirect, create disbelief and the ability to astound in the audience all at once. Just because most magic tricks are essentially the same doesn't mean all magic shows are alike. From the pulling a rabbit out of a hat to the coin that disappears, basic tricks will astound and please everyone. Magic tricks are always a big hit, and with practice you will be able to amaze the people around you.

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Don't Let Your Entertainment Entertain You all the Way to the Poor House!

We all have only 24 hours in a day. Just 24 hours. If we use eight of those for sleeping, two stuck in traffic, .5 in the restroom/ bathroom. Eight more hours working for "the man". That leaves us with only four hours to do everything else... that means eating, laundry, shopping, spending time with the kids, etc. If you do the math, you can see that that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for the TUBE. Yet, somehow we seem to make time for TV. With hundreds of channels and thousands of shows, its no wonder that we are all hooked. Well, its time to "unhook" ourselves. We can use television as a tool for learning, or as a way to stay abreast of current events, but we should not give what little is left of our free time to it. Set a time limit, for you and your family. If you go by the the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American spends more than 4 hours watching television each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.

Most of us still have things that we want to do with our lives, dreams that we are still clinging to. We just don't know what we can do to make them a reality. Whatever it is, one thing is certain we probably won't find it on the television. According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Americans spend as much as nine times as many minutes watching television and/ or movies as they do exercising, playing sports and all other leisure time activities combined. If you add to that listening to music and going out to the club, you've entered a whole new arena of LOST TIME, and that lost time can never be found again. As a matter of fact, sociologists have declared watching television the most common human activity, after work and sleep.

Right now, we need to recognize our time for what it is. It is our most valuable resource. Unlike money, once your time is gone... you are gone. When your money is gone, you can always get it back again. If your house burns down (God forbid), you can have another one rebuilt, the same with a car, a business, etc.

If you must be entertained, reward yourself with entertainment. Only after you have stretched and grown and learned something new should you give up your time to the "idiot box". Since we are now in the information age, we should take advantage of all that information that we have at our fingertips. It's not too late. Learn something new, as a matter of fact you should strive to learn something new everyday. Don't be afraid to tap into those childhood dreams. It's not crazy to think that you could actually be a racecar driver, a pilot, or a firefighter.

The point is, as a society we are becoming slaves to entertainment. Our situation, our place in life doesn't change. We don't get ahead at work, we worry about the economy when we could be improving our personal economy, and when complain when someone else gets promoted. YOU become that person. Start burning the midnight oil, learn something new everyday. Be the most informed person at your position. This is what it will take to turn your life around. I think that new house, or going on vacation due to your personal growth is worth giving up a little time with our beloved television.

If there is something you want/need to know and don't yet know it. Learn it! Let this be your pledge:

If he/she can do it, it can be done. If it can be done, I CAN DO IT!

Rob Golden

717.943.5414

http://www.robgolden.net

rob@robgoldenphotography.com

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House Cinema Projector - Source of Home Entertainment

Do you want to have the best cinema experience in the privacy of your homes? Well, many people have a dream of making their houses into a home cinema and enjoy the perfect movie experience in the privacy of their homes. However, it might happen that despite of all the sources and resources, you are not able to find the best home cinema projector for you. So, here are some points that you must take into notice while you go out to buy your home cinema projector.

The first and foremost point that must be taken into consideration while deciding about the best home cinema products is the native resolution of your projector. There are a few very common and widely known resolutions that are WVGA, WSVGA or WXGA. 'W' stands for wide screen and the higher the resolution is, the more are the pixels and therefore the cinema effect is the best. Thus a minimum of WXGA resolution should be the ideal choice for anyone in this case. If you don't plan to have any HD (high definition) sources in near future, then the better choice is switch on to the WXGA medium.

Then comes the contrast ratio in your device. The larger the contrast ration is, the better difference of black and white would be showed up by the projector. The contrasting ratio is such that the black is the better ratio than the white. The brightness that your home projector should offer should be 700 to 2000 lumens. Also, you must buy a projector screen, if you want to get the maximum benefit out of your projector. However, it doesn't imply to a big screen. Because, a big screen, might not be the best. So, you must get the screen which should be good enough to give you the prefect movie watching experience but shouldn't be too big.

So, buy your home TV projector keeping in view these points and you would surely get the best movie watching experience!

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Discover All the House Rewiring Facts For Your House Rewire

Let us not beat about the bush here, house rewiring is a major undertaking and you will need as much information as you can gather so as to make an informed decision on your own house rewire.

Part of the problem people face is that as this is most likely a one-time action in that you will probably only ever have to get it done once in a lifetime, it is difficult to collect all one is supposed to know so as to make the right decision for you, and your home.

In simpler terms, we do not know what we do not know, which is an uncomfortable position to be in when having to make such an investment in our home.

So how do we overcome this problem?. One way is to spend time on learning what questions to ask, and another is to find a company who you can trust and who will take you through everything, explaining what you need to know along the way.

Whatever path you personally decide to take, let me give you some pointers and broad advice.

Firstly you want to make absolutely sure that you are dealing with fully accredited electricians and any company worth their salt in the industry will have all the accreditation they need to operate from the relevant authorities. No matter, do not take this at face value. Get them to explain fully what accreditation they carry.

You should then ask for testimonials from other customers and, if they shy away from giving these to you, go on to the next company. The main thing you should be asking the testimonial customer will be did they keep to their word on all they promised, with particular emphasis on their attention to the cleanliness of your home.

You will next want to ensure that you get a fixed price deal, with no hidden extras. You need to insist on this, and naturally get it all tied up in writing.

My strong recommendation to you on the issue of pricing is this. Unless you have decided to use a contractor who has been recommended to you, get at least two competitive prices, ideally three, so as to ensure you get the best financial deal. Emotion does come into such a decision, as you will also want to deal with people you like, but never take just one price from anyone, no matter how much you may at first like them. And remember, you can get things done cheaply, quickly or well, and as this is a major outlay, with safety implications for you and your family, just make sure that getting it done well is in the forefront of your mind.

The same applies to ensuring you are getting a comprehensive warranty on the work undertaken, and again ensure this is put in writing before you proceed.

You will want to know how long the work will take, and when they can start. Again, get this start date confirmed to you in writing. Having the electrical contractors in the house will most likely entail you having to be there all the time, which may cause you to have to take time off work.

You will of course appreciate that the work is going to cause some disruption. It is impossible to make an omelette without the proverbial breaking of an egg. Discover exactly what this disruption will entail. For example, if furniture needs to be moved, or carpets taken up, you will want to know exactly who is responsible for all that. Again, any reputable electrical contractor should walk you through all this, but always best to be prepared. Knowledge is power.

In summary therefore -

1. Make sure your chosen contractor carries full accreditation from all the relevant authorities.

2. Ensure that you check out testimonials from existing customers.

3. Get a guaranteed fixed price deal, with no hidden extras, and get this all confirmed in writing.

4. Get at least 2, ideally 3, price quotations. But do remember the caveat of ensuring that you do not just pick the cheapest, but the best, at the best price.

5. You need to ensure you have the warranty details explained in writing.

6. Find out how long the work will take, and get a written confirmed start date.

7. And finally, check out who will be responsibly for removing furniture or carpets.

Do all of these things, and you should end up with the right contractor for you, at the best price, and with the least amount of upheaval and disruption.

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Stop Your Dog Peeing in the House - Tips to Stop Your Dog Peeing in the House Fast!

Does your dog pee in the house? Here are some tips to help deal with the situation, understand what's going on, and solve the problem so you and your canine companion can remain friends.

First you need to understand the underlying cause of the problem.

A dog does not just start peeing in his own house for the fun of it. Ask yourself if your dog is peeing in the house or merely marking his territory?

A big clue is normally found in the location. If the dog is peeing against upright objects then it is probably an attempt to mark his territory. Male dogs normally cock their legs when they pee so they necessarily pee against upright objects. A good clue is the amount of urine involved. If you're drowning in the stuff it's a pretty sure bet that your dog is regarding the house as his new toilet and you need to discourage him. Should you have only small puddles to deal with, then the cause is more likely to be related to marking territory.

Copious amounts normally means the dog is urinating because he feels the need to do so and either couldn't, or didn't want to, go out. If your dog pees during the night it might be a good plan to let him drink more earlier, rather than later at night, and take him outside for a pee before going to bed.

Understanding why dogs mark their territory.

A dog has a sense of smell that is significantly more developed than that of a human. (This is one of the reasons they are used as sniffer dogs by Police Forces around the world to find explosives or drugs.) While his urine might smell offensive to humans, to other dogs it is as good as a letter. It tells them who he is, and whether he or she is available to mate. It also establishes dominance over other dogs ("I was here first, so this is my turf"ý), and helps to dispel his feelings of insecurity and builds confidence.

If your dog is struggling with confidence problems, any sudden change in his home environment can trigger this behaviour. For instance; the arrival of a new baby may mean that your dog is now not getting as much attention as previously. Changes such as this engender anxiety and may cause marking behaviour.

Do all dogs do this?

Absolutely. Small dogs are more inclined to pee inside the house than larger dogs; males are more likely to mark than females. Two or more dogs in the same house may regard each other as competition and are then more prone to marking.

While marking is a natural thing for your dog to do, he needs to understand that he is not allowed to do this inside the house.

What can you do?

If this is a recent development with a dog that has never exhibited this type of behaviour the best thing you can do is take him to the vet. It is possible that there may be an underlying medical condition, such as a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) that causes his incontinence.

Neutering at an early age can prevent the habit forming, or can stop marking behaviour. Of course neutering is not always an option should you want him to breed, but it's best to discuss this with your vet before taking any irreversible action.

You could also try the Supervision Method and try to catch him in the act. Dogs learn (much as humans do) by operational conditioning. Watch your dog closely for when he starts exhibiting signs that he might be thinking of marking. Such signs can include sniffing, or circling in spots where he has marked before. When he starts to lift his leg make some noise to distract him and get his attention. Give him a clear "NO"ý command and divert his attention. If he really needs to pee, take him outside to play ball or something, and he will do it outside the house. If he wanted to mark the distraction will have changed his mind. Remember to be consistent every time you see him exhibiting marking symptoms, or attempting to mark.

Please do not shout at him, rant or rave, or hit him at any time - you will only make the problem worse.

In order to speed up the learning process be sure to lavish praise upon him when he pees where you want him to. Dogs learn fastest from positive responses to their behaviour.

Clean the spots where he marked, or peed thoroughly, but don't use ammonia. Dog urine contains ammonia and instead of deterring him it will only make him think some other strange dog is leaving messages. Instead, use a solution of water and vinegar to wash the areas thoroughly.

If you don't make too much of a fuss over the whole thing you can easily change your dog's behaviour and get him to pee where you want him to, i.e. outside the house!

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Ranch House Floor Plans

One of the most popular house designs in America today is the ranch. These practical, attractive homes are also referred to as an American ranch, California rambler or Western ranch. No matter what region you reside in, a house plan ranch simple design offers plenty of gracious living.

Typical ranch homes are a single story, though split-level ranches and raised ranches have several levels of living space. They have a low pitched gable roof, deep eaves and long, narrow layout that is low to the ground. A ranch can be rectangular, U-shaped or L-shaped. Some ranches offer amenities such as sliding glass doors to a patio, a picture window or an attached garage. Usually ranches are built from natural materials such as a brick exterior with wood floors.

A ranch house plan often has little detailing. Large windows with decorative shutters, natural wood tones and open spaces make ranches ideal for easy living. Predecessors of the ranch house include the low-lying prairie style houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the bungalow homes that were stylish during the early 20th century. The first ranch home was built by architect Cliff May in 1932 in San Diego, California.

After World War II, affordable ranch houses were built across the country. Many ranches during this time were built in a cookie-cutter fashion which often made people think they were ordinary or dull. Because the ranch house was built for the masses, it was often looked down upon by the elite in its early days. Ranches were also blamed for suburban sprawl and wasting building materials during the 1970s. Some people also felt ranches were too utilitarian and not "homey" enough.

Despite these rumors, the popularity of ranch house floor plans continued to soar. Because most ranch homes are a single story, seniors feel more comfortable because they don't have to climb stairways. Many older folk appreciate the privacy and independence of living in a single-story ranch.

Ranch homes also offer a casual, informal lifestyle with simple rooms and clean lines. Windows, decks, patios and sliding glass doors offer easy access to the outdoor world. L-shaped and U-shaped ranches may have a courtyard right in the center which is visible from all the living spaces of the home. Some ranches have an attached garage for the car to be accessible from the house.

One of the greatest benefits of owning is ranch home is its flexibility. The floor plan can be changed and rearranged to meet all different needs making ranch homes perfect for growing families. The living room, dining room and bedrooms are often interchangeable to suit a variety of purposes.

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How to Begin Conserving Electricity in the House

Whether you have switched to renewable energy or are still using traditional energy sources, there are still things you can do that will help you find ways to save electricity. You will find that not only can you save energy by being more energy conscious, but can also save some money as well.

By simply turning off appliances that are not in use, you can help cut down on the cost of your energy bill. Also, making sure all windows are closed when running your heat or air conditioning will mean better energy efficiency for your home. Closing your curtains when the sun goes down will also help prevent heat from escaping, meaning less energy will be needed to keep your home warm.

Leaving your PC running overnight can have a negative effect on energy efficiency, so being sure that the monitor and the power are turned off will result in saving electricity as well. As a matter of fact, according to Loco2, a green energy supplier in the UK:

leaving your PC monitor on overnight will result in using the same amount of energy as it would take to microwave 6 dinners. This is where renewable electricity can help you find ways to save electricity bills.

Another way you can begin conserving electricity in your house is to turn your thermostat down. By decreasing the temperature on your thermostat by a single degree, you can save up to 10 percent on your electric bill. Setting your hot water and heater to come on only when needed, rather than having it come on all the time will also help in saving electricity.

Another simple thing you can do to conserve electricity is to simply make sure all lights are turned off when not needed. One full load of laundry rather than two smaller loads, or a full load of dishes instead of two or more when using the dishwasher will also save electricity.

Using energy saving light bulbs in the home not only will give you light that will last up to 10 times longer than normal bulbs, but will also cut down on the cost of electricity.

Of course, with the emergence of a green society and the concern over reducing the carbon footprint left behind by traditional energy sources, renewable energy sources are the best way to cut down on energy costs while also creating a better living environment. Alternative energy sources are available through a wide variety of providers, such as Loco2, and are now more affordable than they have ever been.

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Tips on a Big Cleaning of the House

It is never a good time to do a big cleaning of your house, but that is something that we have to do from time to time. You have to get rid of grime and dust, and after cleaning, your house will look much brighter and it will be much healthier place for you and your family. Because we all need a little push to get started, you will find here few advices that will help you to do this job easier and faster.

The biggest problem always is dust and dirt that is on our shelves, regardless of where are they, in kitchen, living room or bathroom. Therefore, you have to empty shelves and then clean the surface thoroughly of dust and dirt. Also clean all this hard to reach corners. Now is the right time to think about putting shelf liners because they are very useful and easier to clean, and they protect your shelves from scratches. And a little tip here. When you cleaning the dust always clean from higher to lower points. That is because dust is falling down and you should clean from top to bottom, and avoid cleaning twice same place.

When you doing vacuum cleaning of your floors and carpets, also vacuum behind all of your furniture, even if that means that you have to move all of your beds, sofas and other furniture. If you don't do this now, dust will come out after you finish your cleaning, and you will have to do it all over again.

Your windows are waiting too for their share in big cleaning. For them, use a cleaning solution for windows and wipe them with ordinary newspapers. And you will see, when your windows are clear and shiny you will be feeling happy and positive too.

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Free Foreclosure Listings - Get the House of Your Dreams at 60% Lower Than the Original Cost

The recent upheavals in the real estate market have provided numerous opportunities for people who are looking for a good bargain with foreclosures. It is possible to get the house of your dreams for 60% lower than the original asking price. That is a huge discount; however, it's not always easy to find foreclosure listings. Most places will try and charge fees for access to their listings because they are a valuable commodity. However, for the diligent person wanting to get a house at 60% cheaper than it originally was, there are a number of ways to find free listings of properties in foreclosure.

While many places offer free listings of properties in foreclosure, not all are free. Some have hidden fees that can crop up at the most inopportune moments. Many good lists do require fees, and although the fees may be small, it can be hard to know which lists are good and which are scams. An excellent strategy is to utilize the free 7-day trial that many of lists offer. Yes, it will take diligence to make sure the subscription is canceled at the right time, but it is worth it to look at their lists. 1 week can provide you with a lot of time to thoroughly check out what properties are available and see if they update their lists often. A good list will be updated daily as the foreclosure market is fast-moving.

Other places to find free listings are banks and county clerks. Although potentially time consuming and aggravating, once a person is in contact with the foreclosure department in a bank, it can be a big time saver. Having properties in foreclosure forces banks to lose money, so banks want to get properties out of foreclosure quickly. Many banks will let people look at their foreclosure lists in the hopes of them buying properties that are in foreclosure or are approaching it. Some banks will even let the property go for 60% less than the value. Additionally, county clerks can help give information about houses that have foreclosure proceedings in process. Many listings are available in this manner for little to no money.

Finding free foreclosure listings can take a little time, but once you learn how, you will be happy you did. The best thing of all is being able to find the home of your dreams at an incredible price, sometimes as much as 60% lower than the original price.

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Simple Tips on How to Clean the House

There's no arguing that house cleaning can seem overwhelming at times, especially if you have small children like I do. For many, they really don't know how to clean house in a quickly and not lose out on an entire day. Here are some tips to help you with the basics.

Before You Begin

Wear nice comfortable clothes like jogging pants and a t-shirt. Play some up-tempo music that you enjoy. It helps! Be sure to have your house cleaning supplies in one place so you don't have to go searching for something all the time. Do a quick pick up of all clutter before cleaning anything. It's hard to clean when you're tripping over clothes or towels on the floor.
Simple House Cleaning Tips

Kitchen

Wash all dishes and put them away. Clean the sink with Bon Ani or Lysol. Wipe and clean all countertops and cabinets. I recommend using paper towels instead of sponges to prevent spreading bacteria.

Next, go through and toss out all out-of-date foods. Wipe out the fridge. Clean off the range/oven and don't forget to wipe out the microwave.

Finally, sweep the floor and mop with water and a bit of Lysol.

Bathroom

I like to use 20 Mule Team Borax as a cleaner for sinks, toilets and the tub/shower. It works great, is safe for septic systems, and eco-friendly.

Clean mirror with glass cleaner, empty trash and sweep/mop the floor.

Other Rooms

Dust furniture and electronics with your favorite dust cleaner/polish. Vacuum all floors.

In the bedroom, change all bed linens as well as all the above.

This is a simple guide on how to clean hose that will be both effective and quick.

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Best Practices - Building a Career & Building a House

Would anyone consider building a house with just a hammer, nails and an idea of what they wanted the house to look like? Of course, no one would. They would be a little short on resources, skills, and the strategy needed wouldn't they?

If you were going to build a house, a few resources, skills, and the strategy required are:

- Learn architecture, if you wanted to design it too
- Learn site selection
- Site preparation
- Permitting
- Construction techniques
- Construction materials
- Possibly contracting, if you were going to enlist others to help
- Construction management so you could properly manage the project
- It might mean learning concrete work, framing, plumbing, electrical construction, heating and air conditioning, roofing, dry wall, painting, carpentry, and other skills
- Landscape skills

I may have missed some other skills and knowledge necessary, but you get the picture. It takes a lot of skill and expertise to build a house you can live with.

The same consideration should be had when you are considering how to conduct your job search. You certainly hope to find a job you can live with, right? It does not matter if you are looking for re-employment or if you are considering changing companies. The same skills apply.

You may feel you are well prepared to conduct a successful search. You feel you know how to put a good resume together (good resume as defined by traditional standards, not effectiveness). You can find companies in your industry. You can probably find the email address for the HR department or maybe a hiring contact.

If you are answering a job posting, you may feel you can determine if you are qualified by the description in the posting. You know how to follow the instructions for submitting a resume and cover letter.

In either case, you send the information off and wait for a response. In the meantime, you use the internet to find advice on interviewing so you can brush up on your skills (or try to gain some). You want to be prepared to respond well when you get the opportunity to interview.

You may look up some compensation negotiation tips, so you can get the best offer. That is very important to you when you have reached that point in the process.

In reality, that is similar to the original analogy of building the house with nails, a hammer, and an idea of what you want the house to look like. It is only some surface information and a lot of good intentions.

I cannot fault anyone who feels the description above is what constitutes being fully prepared for a successful job search. After all, that is what most are taught. But, remember the house. If you are going to build it, you need to learn plenty of skills. You would find a person or a course that would teach you the skills you want to learn to be as successful as you can be at building that house. When you found such a home-building course, you would jump on it! Remember, you want your home to be high quality and you want it to last.

The same should be said for a job search. You want the end result to be the best quality job you can get. You want it to be a long career.

Most are taught what would be best described as the steps to be taken to find your next job. The problem is where to learn effective skills to execute the steps that get results.

Returning to the house, if you were told, prepare the site, make a foundation, frame the house, put a roof on, plumb it, put an electrical system in, heating, air conditioning, dry wall, floors, finish carpentry, etc. Would you feel prepared? Just because you were provided the steps to construct a house, does not mean you have the skills to execute the steps?

Actually, the same is true for conducting a job search. The skills for accomplishing the steps have to be learned to achieve success. In order to get the kind of position you want, it takes skills that few are taught.

Below are the steps to a successful job search. Ask yourself if you have the skill set necessary to accomplish each:

Initiating Your Opportunity Search

- Skills self-assessment
- Create presentation materials
- Develop references
- Research the industries that you know
- Research other industries that you want to consider your qualifications
- Create a script for initial contacts
- Develop responses to objections
- Plan your call performance plan

Creating Interviews

- Execute your calls
- Establish rapport
- Set appointments to follow up
- Develop insights
- Create assessments
- Refine contacts network
- Interacting with 3rd party recruiters
- Perform follow up calls
- Re-assess contacts
- Establish meetings/interviews
Preparation for Interviews
-Pre-Interview actions
- Determining your "Candidate Valuation"
- Working with recruiters to prepare for the interview
- Interview techniques and tactics
- Discovering leverage points and overcoming objections

Post Interview Action Steps

- The Follow up Plan
- Researching position location and needs
- Continued action calls to contact network
- Dealing with alternative interviews and recruiters
- Seizing secondary interviews
- Follow up procedures
- Early negotiation techniques
- Pre-offer research steps

Gaining the Offer & Opportunity You Deserve

- Negotiation technique application
- Managing acceptance/rejection of an offer
- Post offer follow through
- Resignation process management
- Post resignation techniques and procedures
- Starting your new position with your new employer.

It is necessary to learn the skills to each of the steps above to achieve the success everyone desires in their job search.

There are those that may offer bits and pieces of some of the steps but not the complete process. We have found only one that has a complete process with actual skill training. Would you try to build a house with advice from a real estate broker, the person who bought sold some of the materials and another who re-paints houses? The only effective training would be by someone who had managed every step in the home construction process and had been a success at it for years.

I strongly suggest you find training. With the struggling economy it takes solid skills to be successful today in securing the job you want. I see too many needlessly frustrated individuals. I understand their frustration however; they may not understand why their hard work is going unrewarded.

Earn the reward you deserve from your hard work by getting the job you want. Learn the skills that will serve you now and for your entire career. You will build a high quality and lasting career "house."

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Deciding the House Edge in Roulette

Everyone would like to set their own odds when playing casino games. Most casino players understand that the House edge is what costs them money when they play at the casino.

Whatever that edge is defines how much they can expect to make over the time that you play. If a game has a 10 percent House edge, you can expect the House to win an average of ten cents out of every dollar you play. Naturally, the lower the House's edge the better.

Deciding the House Edge

The only way to decide the House's edge is to play games with the most player-favorable rules possible and to play the strategy most likely to limit the House advantage. Almost any game allows the ability to do this, including games you would not expect, such as roulette.

The House Edge in Roulette

Despite what some may think, you cannot affect the edge in roulette by employing a certain betting system or by playing a certain type of bet or array of numbers. Controlling the edge in roulette depends on the composition of the wheel.

In a normal American roulette layout, there are numbered spaces from 1 to 36, plus a zero and a double zero. If you hit a number, receive a payout at 35-to-1, since there are 35 numbers for the ball to land on other than the one you picked.

However, this calculation does not figure in the zero and double zero, and this is where the House gets its edge. You get paid 35-to-1, but the odds are really 37-to-1 against.

Deciding the House Edge in Roulette

How does this knowledge help you decide the edge? You can decide to play on a European roulette wheel that only has a single zero. On these tables, your true odds are 36-to-1 for a 35-to-1 payout. It may not seem like much, but it is.

On the American roulette wheel the edge is about 5.26 percent. Cutting the number of zeroes in half cuts the House edge nearly in half, to around 2.7 percent for the European wheel.

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How to Connect Wind Power Generator to the House?

Are you looking for help on how to connect wind power generator to house? It's quite tricky job, isn't? If you read this article, I will give you advice on how you can do it. I don't need to tell you how expensive electricity prices are today, so I think you are a really smart person, if you are considering using this system for your home. Ok, let's get started.

Connect Wind Power Generator To House

I assume that you already have the kit built, because I am not going to talk much about it. However, if you are still in the process of building one, then I will give you little info. You can get the parts for the kit from any DIY store, or you buy them from the Internet. Have a look on eBay, Amazon and other online shops, and I am sure, you will find great deals.

Now if you are going to connect wind power generator to house, then I would advise you to use instructions. I believe you don't want to make any mistakes or get in trouble, when connecting everything, so it's a good idea to use a professional guide with instructions, like Earth4Energy. It's not expensive, and I would suggest you to get it.

I actually used that guide myself, when I first thought about producing my own electricity using wind. That guide, it's no just about how to connect wind power generator to house. It has tons of information about solar energy, how to build a windmill, how you can save money on electricity and much more. I bought it few months ago, and I don't regret for my decision for a single second, because I am really satisfied with the guide. I believe it will be very useful for you as well.

Edward

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3 Tips to Keep the Doctor Out of the House

One of the most significant things that we dread is definitely to visit our doctor for an illness. Most people fear the doctor even for simple things like check up. Hence even though this fear may be justified for some people, still it is important to make sure that the fear does not rule us completely. Thus, it may be best to take some steps to help keep the doctor out of the house.

These simple tips will help you to keep fit and healthy, while boosting your immune system at the same time. They are all related to each other, so it is best that you follow each of these tips for your maximum health benefit.

The first step is to exercise regularly every day. This is important as both your heart and your muscles will have a chance to work out and improve themselves with your daily exercise routine. It does not need to be complex as you can walk, swim or even bicycle for your daily routine. In addition, you can also do things like aerobics, weight lifting, Stairmaster and other types of activities along with sports such as playing golf or tennis. As long as you move, it all counts.

The second step is to reduce your intake of calories. In addition, you should base your diet on fruits, vegetables and fiber for maximum benefit. Furthermore, you should eat three rations every day which includes a hearty breakfast, a strong lunch and a light dinner.

The third tip involves taking extra anti oxidants to boost your immune system. Things like Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Zinc are extra boosters to your immune system. This way your body can combat colds or flu much more easily even without you knowing about it.

Drink lots of water since water makes up more than %80 of your body. By drinking large amounts of water every day, you will be able to detoxify your body every day and reduce the amount of harmful radicals and extracts from your body easily. You should drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every day for maximum benefit.

Make sure to meditate every day for the rest of your life. In order for your body to be in its optimal condition, your mind must be at ease and free from stress. Stress is very harmful to your body and by meditating every day, you should be able to focus your mind and achieve harmony.

Furthermore, you should try to laugh as much as possible to have endorphins excreted in to your body.

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Removing Fleas in Your House - A Guide

To remove fleas in the house, you've got to do more than just eliminate the fleas on your cat or dog. By the time you see some on your pet, majority of these pests are already scattered around the house and yard. To get rid of fleas, the pet and house have to be treated simultaneously.

Use Your Vacuum Cleaner

Use your vacuum cleaner to suck out fleas hiding in the carpet, the pet bed and under the bed. You'll also want to vacuum dark places and corners in the house. Clean out the furniture, baseboards and skirting boards.

Use a Spray insecticide

To help remove fleas in the house, use an insecticide with the IGR ingredient. IGR stands for Insect Growth Regulator. Spray this into the carpets, the floor and areas your pet frequents or sleeps in. As when vacuuming, pay extra attention to nooks and crannies as fleas like to hide there.

Warning: follow all the instructions for using the spray insecticide to the letter. If you have any pet fish in the area, remove them before using the spray. Vacuum the area after a week.

How to Remove Fleas in the Yard

You can use the same insect spray you used to remove fleas in the house in the garden. Spray the areas where your pet sleeps and plays in. You should also spray in crevices and sandy areas. If you're in a high set house, don't forget to spray below it.

Other spots in the yard and garden prone to fleas are the patio, kennels and verandas. Don't forget to wash all your pet's toys. Make sure you remove all signs of fleas. Hang them in the sunshine so they can dry.

Getting Rid of Fleas on Your Pet

Don't use flea powders, flea collars or dips; it is much better to use top-spot treatments. There are several products to choose from but application is usually the same. Apply the treatment on the animal's skin and sometimes the legs and shoulder blades.

These products usually have to be applied monthly to effectively remove fleas in the house and pets. In some cases it isn't necessary; once the flea cycle has ended, usage of the product is no longer necessary. Just to be sure, you should follow the guidelines as stated in the product.

If the Fleas Reappear

If some fleas appear in the next couple of weeks, don't be surprised; these fleas were in the pupal stage when treatment was administered. During this stage the fleas are unharmed by insecticides.

If they appear, vacuum the areas you spot them in. If the fleas appear on your pet, apply the treatment again. Repeat the process you did earlier with the house and yard. This will eliminate all the fleas in your home. Keep the place clean to avoid a repeat of the infestation.

To remove fleas in the house, cleaning both your pet and surrounding areas is necessary. Using the methods cited above will get rid of these pests quickly.

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Planning The Perfect House

The planning of the perfect house in which you live and can still leave quite complicated. But, it can achieve that little piece of heaven be easier than you think, especially if you consciously strive for the most important things that are lacking at present to see in your life. This concept proves the importance of the house plans, you can not with a spirit lifting improvement in your home without first identifying what something is.

TryPicture for a moment, a large multi-windowed living room, which is flooded with indirect sunlight. How do you deep in your padded chair back and quiet, can not help you, but pull into the exquisitely planted flower garden, was to be comfortable in front of the living room window. There are roses, lilies, hydrangeas and rhododendrons. The fireplace, laundry racks with dancing flames, offers the small amount of heat that may be needed on a cool summer night. Soundstempting or what? Do you think this is indescribably beautiful rooms right in your own perfect home.

What a beautiful coincidence? No way! Nothing worthwhile just happens. The importance of planning the perfect house can not be stressed enough, strong. Building a house is a process that must be carefully with a specific plan that will smooth out all phases of your home are outlined. What a massive pick-up, it would be in such a space walk. ThoughThis scenario may become reality house only if you know perfectly the full significance of planning.

And to help you sell your house to others in the fastest, most reliable and least expensive way, do not forget to list on a system-Flat Fee MLS.

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The Sins of the Fathers - Chancery, Familial Relationships, and Social Reform in Bleak House

The primary images of Bleak House are those of smoke, fog, dirt and rain that underlie the streets of London, Chancery, and the Lincolnshire home of the Dedlocks. These images are central to the conception of a world that is undergoing dissolution; a world full of corruption that is universal and inescapable. The corruption and dissolution apply not only to physical locations, but also to the very fabric of society, a society which is centered in Chancery and which spreads, like pestilence, to all human relationships.

The invasive nature of this corruption cannot be ameliorated by the traditional social agencies which would be expected to provide relief and protection against social ills. Within the universe of Bleak House, the courts, Parliament, the aristocracy, philanthropic agencies, and organized religion, are powerless against the unrelenting tide of dissolution represented by the smoke, fog, and dirt emanating from Chancery.

Against this backdrop of an ineffective social order, Dickens provisionally adopts a view that personal relationships and personal responsibility are methods which mitigate the social ills described in the novel. Yet even the well-intentioned actions of people acting in a responsible and charitable manner are ineffective in solving large-scale social ills, and can only provide assistance and relief to a limited number of people within the novel.

Bleak House, as one of Dickens' "mature" novels, views social reform, representative government, and the effectiveness of the courts in a more realistic light than his earlier works. These earlier novels recognize that evil occurs, but conceive of evil as particularized in individuals or in specific or isolated institutions. In Bleak House, Dickens paints a picture of an evil that is not isolated in individual characters or institutions, but is universal.

We are introduced to the central images of Bleak House early in the work when we see the people of London making their way upon the muddy streets "when tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud" (Dickens B. H., 3). We are then presented with the second element of corrosion, the "fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city" (Dickens B. H., 3). Finally, we are taken to the center of the fog, dirt and corrosion:

The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest, near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation: 'Temple Bar.' And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in His High Court of Chancery. (Dickens B.H., 4)

And within that "heart of darkness" that is Chancery, we are presented with "that scarecrow of a suit, [which] has in the course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means" (Dickens B.H., 6). The suit of course, is Jarndyce and Jarndyce, an action at law that has gone on for so long that no one remembers when it started, just as no one can comprehend that extent of the suit. In a very real way, Jarndyce and Jarndyce symbolize the corrosive effects of law and the courts on society in the novel.

Lest the reader think that corruption is limited to Chancery, Dickens includes the Lincolnshire estate of Lord and Lady Dedlock into his vision of a decaying world. "But the evil of it is, that it is a world wrapped up too much in jeweler's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air" (Dickens B. H., 9). It is not enough to point to the corruption of Chancery and Lincolnshire; London must be brought in as well. Dickens establishes a parallel with the Court of Chancery and the environs near the rag and bottle shop of Krook, when he notes that Krook "is called among the neighbors the 'Lord Chancellor.' His shop is called the Court of Chancery" (Dickens B. H., 52).

Finally, to make the connection complete, Dickens descends from the environs of the rag and bottle shop to the pestilential area of Tom-all-Alones where we meet the poor street-sweeper, Jo, and find that:

Jo lives - that is to say, Jo has not yet died - in a ruinous place known to the like of him by the name of Tom-all-Alone's. It is a black, dilapidated street, avoided by all decent people. ...Now, these tumbling tenements contain, by night, a swarm of misery. As, on the ruined human wretch, parasites appear, so, these ruined shelters have bred a crowd of foul existence that crawls in and out of gaps in walls and boards; and coils itself to sleep in maggot numbers, where the rain drips in; and comes and goes, fetching and carrying fever. ...(Dickens B. H., 271)

Critics have remarked on Dickens' use of the images of smoke, fog, and dirt to portray a world in the process of disintegration. In his essay entitled Bleak House, J. Hillis Miller notes that: "perhaps the best example of this disintegration is the initial description of Tom-all-Alone's, which makes an elaborate use of present participles to express an active decomposition matching the forward movement of time" (Miller, 76).

But Dickens is not content to limit his depiction of corruption to mere places; ultimately, the corruption extends to the lives of the characters in the novel. This process of decomposition works on and through people, causing them to become worn away, much like their surroundings. This process of corruption can be a source of pathos when it operates on initially good people, such as Miss Flite, who are reduced to mere shadows of what they once were: "I had youth and hope. I believe, beauty. It means very little now. Neither of the three served, or saved me" (Dickens B. H., 34). In a similar vein, the "Shropshire man," Gridley, who started as an innocent young man engaged in a simple lawsuit has been worn down by the incessant wearing pace of Chancery, so that he cries out in frustration "if I took my wrongs in any other way, I should be driven mad! It is only by resenting them, and by revenging them in my mind, and by angrily demanding the justice I never get, that I am able to keep my wits together. It is only that!" (Dickens B. H., 212). In the end, Chancery through its never-ending process, reduces people to a state of desolation where the end can come in "one of two ways, I should rather say. Either the suit must be ended, Esther, or the suitor" (Dickens B. H., 681).

Jacob Korg, in his Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House notes the unrelenting nature of the workings of Chancery on the characters in the novel:

The great Cause is a metaphor for the hopelessness of sorting out right from wrong in a world that lacks a living moral sense. Tom-all-Alone's is not merely an example of the need for slum clearance, not merely an apparatus for distilling the evils of society into concentrated form, but also a mysterious focus of retribution, a 'secular inferno' that punishes the innocent as well as the guilty in accordance with some covert and terrible system of justice. (Korg, 11)

Robert A. Donovan, in his essay Structure and Idea in Bleak House echoes this sense of corruption, which infects everyone in the novel, and leads to a sense of hopelessness when he states: "the bleakness of Bleak House is the sense of hopelessness inspired by the knowledge that men and women, subjected to the common shocks of mortality, will nevertheless consistently repudiate the claims which other people have on them" (Donovan, 37).

Just as Dickens made the corruption of physical locations universal, so too does he look to make the theme of corruption in his characters universal. His choice of Chancery as the symbol of this radiating pestilence, a presence that captures so many people in its grasp, is therefore apt, as John Marshall Gest, points out: "Again, the rules of the court (of Chancery) required that every person having any interest, no matter how theoretical or contingent, must be made a party, and this added enormously to the expense, and also to the vexation of the suitors" (Gest, 420).

We have seen that Dickens made the connection between the physical location of Tom-all-Alones and pestilence explicit, through the use of the images of filth and parasitism. We see him employing the same methods when talking about people. Just as filth and disease are spread by parasites in the physical world, so are the numbing effects of moral pestilence spread by a cadre of human parasites. Jacob Korg makes the connection between parasitism and moral depravity explicit when he states; "Old Turveydrop, Skimpole and Vholes are not merely annoying minor characters, but also instances of the parasitism that infects society, like the institution of law, whose first principle is to make business for itself" (Korg, 11- 12).

While Dickens views these social parasites are morally reprehensible, he reserves his most stinging invective for the lawyers, and law-courts. Both the profession of lawyer, and the institution of the law-court, are seen as self-serving and ineffective by Dickens: neither can bridge the moral abyss at the heart of Bleak House. Early in the novel, he gives a prophetic warning to would-be suitors in Chancery, noting that "there is not an honorable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning 'suffer any wrong that can be done you, rather than come here!'" (Dickens B. H., 5). In the law and law-courts, Dickens finds a class of people who are reprehensible, but who hide behind a façade of professional anonymity. We can feel Gridley's anger and helplessness as he rails against this smug anonymity:

The system! I am told, on all hands, it's the system, I mustn't look to individuals. It's the system. I mustn't go into Court, and say 'My Lord I beg to know this from you - is this right or wrong? Have you the face to tell me that I have received justice, and therefore am dismissed?' My Lord knows nothing of it. He sits there to administer the system. (Dickens B. H., 213)

The callousness of the system is made more apparent when delivered in the simple narrative of a character like Esther, who unlike Gridley, is not explicitly a party to a suit in Chancery, and reports what she sees in a straight-forward manner:

To see everything going on so smoothly, and to think of the roughness of the suitor's lives and deaths; to see all that full dress and ceremony, and to think of the waste, and want, and beggared misery it represented; to consider that, while the sickness of hope deferred was raging in so many hearts, this polite show went calmly on from day to day, and year to year. In such good order and composure; to behold the Lord Chancellor, and the whole array of practitioners under him, looking at one another and at the spectators, as if nobody had ever heard that all over England the name in which they were assembled was a bitter jest; was held in universal horror, contempt and indignation; was known for something so flagrant and so bad, that little short of a miracle could bring any good out of it to anyone: this was so curious and self-contradictory to me, who had no experience of it, that it was at first incredible; and I could not comprehend it. (Dickens B. H., 340)

Over and over again, Dickens refers to lawyers as "preying" on their clients, and describes them as birds of prey, snakes, and vermin, and notes that the one great principle of English law "is to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings" (Dickens B. H., 537). Finally, towards the end of the novel, when some explanation of this great principle is required, Vholes provides his great apologia: "and that when a client of mine laid down a principle which was not of an immoral (that is to say unlawful) nature, it devolved upon me to carry it out" (Dickens B. H., 805). In dripping sarcasm, Dickens points out the solipsism of this argument whereby the law is declared to be of itself, by itself, and for itself in contravention to those principles of justice and impartiality on which it was founded.

If lawyers and the Courts would not act as agents of change, what of the aristocracy and Parliament? Where Dickens believed in his earlier novels that social ills might be eliminated by an enlightened aristocracy or Parliament, by the time of the writing of Bleak House, these beliefs were sadly dashed. A sarcastic tone is evident in our first introduction to the aristocrats encamped at Sir Dedlock's Lincolnshire demesne: "then there is my Lord Boodle, of considerable reputation with his party, who has known what office is...that he really does see to what the present age is tending...He perceives with astonishment, that supposing the present Government to be overthrown, the limited choice of the Crown...would lie between Lord Coodle and Sir Thomas Doodle..." (Dickens B. H., 158).

Behind the sarcasm, however, was a man in deadly earnest declaring that the social ills were beyond the powers of the aristocracy or Parliament to solve. In a letter written to his friend and biographer, John Forster, two years after the publication of Bleak House, Dickens says that he is

...hourly strengthened in my old belief that our political aristocracy and our tuft-hunting are the death of England. In all this business I don't see a gleam of hope. As to the popular spirit, it has come to be entirely separated from the Parliament and Government, and so perfectly apathetic about them both, that I seriously think it a most portentous sign... (Dickens Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, 264)

Philip Hobsbaum, in his book A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens, notes that the author "saw no hope of social justice arising through political methods of amelioration, and had only contempt for the house of Commons, based, largely, on his own experience of it as a young reporter" (Hobsbaum, 157). This same belief in the inadequacy of Parliament to solve the social ills facing England in the 1850's is echoed by Monroe Engel in his essay The Politics of Dickens' Novels, when he says that "by 1857 he declared the House of Commons 'to be getting worse every day' and 'representative government...a miserable failure among us... with the people at Westminster engaged in party squabbles while the real troubles of the country were visible within a few yards'" (Engel, 950).

Ultimately, this failure of the aristocracy and Parliament was viewed by Dickens to be as bad as the hypocrisy of the lawyers, as evidenced in this piece appearing in the July 31, 1852 edition of Household Words under the title "Our Honorable Friend:"

When he says Yes, it is just as likely as not - or rather more so, that he means No. This is the statesmanship of our honorable friend... You may not know what he meant then, or what he means now; but our honorable friend knows, and did from the first know, both what he meant then, and what he means now, and when he said he didn't mean it then, he did in fact say, that he means it now... (Slater, 70)

Having exhausted the courts, aristocracy and Parliament as potential aides in righting social wrongs, Dickens adds philanthropy and organized religion to the list of institutions which failed in providing a bulwark against the breakdown of Victorian society represented in the novel. Two of the most famous philanthropic characters in the novel, Mrs. Jellyby and Mrs. Pardiggle, are possessed of "telescopic philanthropy," a condition which enables them to see far-off problems but renders them unable to care for their near-at-hand families and households. Indeed, when Dickens gathers all the principals who adopt philanthropic causes in one place at Mrs. Jellyby's house, we learn "...that nobody with a mission...cared at all for anybody's mission" (Dickens B. H., 416). The failure of organized philanthropic institutions in alleviating social ills has been noted by several critics when commenting on Bleak House. Monroe Engel notes that: "Dickens found in fact no social cure-alls in either philanthropy or government" (Engel, 945).

Organized religion fares no better than philanthropy at Dickens' hands; in fact, in some respects, organized religion actually contributes to the dissolution of society that we witness in Bleak House. Consider, for example, the mis-guided Puritanical religious fervor attributed to Miss Barbary, and the effects that this fervor has on her niece, Esther. Convinced that Esther is somehow guilty of the circumstances of her birth, Miss Barbary chastises Esther by telling her "it would have been far better, little Esther, that you had no birthday; that you had never been born!" (Dickens B. H., 18). This is certainly not encouraging advice for a child, and indeed leaves a mark on the little girl that would last through to her adult life. In almost prophetic voice, but a voice twisted by hatred, fear, and loathing, we hear Miss Barbary tell Esther "pray daily that the sins of others be not visited upon your head, according to what is written" (Engel, 18). This line of course, is an echo of Deuteronomy, 5:9, "For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children..." (The Holy Bible, 190). In her anger and bitterness, Miss Barbary neglects to quote the next verse from Deuteronomy, which offers hope to the children of Israel, and by implication, to Esther, as well "And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments" (The Holy Bible, 190). It is this use of organized religion for denunciation, and not for redemption, that Dickens scorns in Bleak House. The character that represents organized religion in the novel, Mr. Chadband, is more interested in feeding his enormous appetite than in providing succor for the poor, a fact which is dramatically demonstrated in his meeting with Jo.

The portrayal of a corrupt society and the inability of organized religion to deal with the social ills presented in the novel are suggestive of a state of a movement back in time to an earlier period. Indeed, many critics have noted that the characters of Bleak House are enmeshed in a state of original sin; an almost Old Testament state before redemption. The conflation of Chancery and its corruptions with the resulting social ills that occur is noted by Mark Spilka in his essay Religious Folly: "so the three orphans and their guardian are involved in a legal muddle which suggest Original Sin" (Spilka, 69). J. Hillis Miller echoes this notion of original sin, and implies that Dickens is concerned with the nature of evil itself, when he states: "such characters seem to be involved in a kind of original sin for which they must innocently suffer: 'How mankind ever came to be afflicted with Wigglomeration, or for whose sins these young people fell into a pit of it, I don't know, so it is'" (Miller, 80). It is as though the characters of Bleak House live in a time before Christ's redemption, as Mark Spilka suggests: "Lady Dedlock's secret is treated 'as if it were the sin of Adam, remote, mysterious, inexpiable" (Spilka, 70).

We next turn to the prospect of industrialization as a means of alleviating the lot of the poor, and society in general, within the novel. Mr. Rouncewell is seen as a successful industrialist, possessed of a happy family, and opposed to the hidebound (dead locked) politics of Sir Leicester Dedlock and his cronies. Surely, such a man can help; surely there is hope in the well-intentioned industrialist? While Dickens portrays Rouncewell as well-meaning and personally isolated from the devastation wrought by the corruption of London and Chancery, we are struck with the dichotomy between his household and the countryside around his iron works. Dickens presents us with a countryside that is reminiscent of a vision of hell where "coal-pits and ashes, high chimneys and red bricks, blighted verdure, scorching fires, and a heavy never-lightening cloud of smoke, become the features of the scenery" (Dickens B. H., 828). Dickens does not accept the fact that industry, unchecked, can act as an agent for good. F.R. and Q.T. Leavis remark in their book titled Dickens the Novelist, that Dickens like Carlyle, does not believe in the power of a cut-throat, competitive society to act as a positive force for enacting social reform. Rather, Dickens' intent in Bleak House was to explore the possibilities for goodness in a culture that increasingly adopted a mechanistic outlook.

What has seized Dickens' imagination is Carlyle's exposure of his culture as laissez-faire, Devil-take-the-hindmost, cut-throat competitive society and the sense that they were part of it, willy-nilly: the novel is to demonstrate its heartlessness, its tragedies, its moral repulsiveness, its self-defeating wastefulness, its absurdities and contradictions, to enquire into the possibilities of goodness in such an environment, and whether anything in the nature of free-will is possible for those born into it. (Leavis, 125)

Instead of viewing industrialists as opposed to the aristocracy, Dickens saw industrialization as a kind of substitute for aristocracy: a substitute guided by the principles of money rather than the principles of maintaining the status-quo and position. In either case, the result was the same: positive change did not occur. As early as the late eighteen-thirties, Dickens recognized that the potential for abuse was present in the industrialization that was sweeping rural England. Patrick Brantlinger notes Dickens' early distrust of sweeping industrialization: "and at the end of his first industrial tour, he wrote to E.M. Fitzgerald 'So far as seeing goes, I have seen enough for my purpose, and what I have seen has disgusted and astonished me beyond all measure. I mean to strike the heaviest blow in my power for these unfortunate creatures.'"(Brantlinger, 274). Brantlinger later goes on to say that "Dickens believes that the factory owners, their allies, and also their opponents, all use political economy and 'tabular statements' to excuse their moral and legal failures, and he also believes that such scientific mumbo-jumbo glosses over suffering and blunts love and generosity" (Brantlinger, 282).

Having given the lie to the forces of the law, the aristocracy, Parliament, organized philanthropy and religion, and industrialists as agents to effect changes in a crumbling social system, where can people turn for help? Dickens does not have a sanguine view of the ability of organized social institutions to help cure society's ills. As we have seen, he carefully removes any doubt that the traditional approaches to reform will work. He is left, then, with a message of personal assistance and responsibility, as a partial solution, at best, to these seemingly intractable problems. Michael Goldberg notes that Dickens' view of society changed over his life and that "what he gained from Carlyle was a vision of Victorian society far more radical and pessimistic than anything he had entertained as a young novelist attacking the hydra of social abuses. He came to recognize the evil in the social system and to know that it was far more intractable than he had previously thought" (Goldberg, 76). F.R. and Q.T. Leavis pick up this theme of the intractability of the social problems during the Victorian Era, and offer insight into the solution that Dickens had worked-out to the problem of evil:

His hope for mankind is intimated in the novel, and is his faith in the human spirit which can show such other traits pitifully struggling for survival in those as battered by existence as Miss Flite, Jenny and Liz, and Jo of Tom-all-Alones who though he don't know nothink can feel gratitude and so is 'not quite in outer darkness.' (Leavis, 130)

When viewed in the light of Dickens' limited solution to the nature of evil, Esther Summerson's goodness in the face of adversity seems less like the inability of a novelist to deal realistically with a feminine heroine (as some critics have argued) and more a form of benevolence that counteracts the corruption present elsewhere in the novel. Esther must win her way to redemption and overcome her aunt's mis-guided Puritanical admonitions, as well as a disease which disfigures her permanently. It is only through her personal suffering and acquisition of self-knowledge through this suffering, that Esther achieves a degree of peace in the novel. We are witnesses to Esther's epiphanic moment as she visits the Ghost's Walk at the Lincolnshire estate of the Dedlocks:

...and that if the sins of the fathers were sometimes visited upon the children, the phrase did not mean what I had in the morning feared it meant. I knew I was innocent of my birth, as a queen is of hers, and that before my heavenly Father I should not be punished for birth, nor a queen rewarded for it." (Dickens B. H., 507)

The idea that Esther acts as a moral counterbalance or touchstone in Bleak House is echoed by Robert Donovan, when he states: "If Esther occasionally strikes us as a little goody-goody, we must recall her function to provide a sane and wholesome standard of morality in a topsy-turvy world" (Donovan, 44).

And yet, for all her goodness, Esther can only help a few people achieve a kind of equilibrium in the novel. Her ministrations are limited: she cannot, by herself effect change on a large scale in Bleak House. Leonard Deen believes that Dickens "like E.M. Forster, suggests that we are saved one by one, in our personal relations, not in our generalized and abstract organizations. He seems to deny that good can come from groups and organizations. It flows only from the individuals of superior sympathy and responsibility to other individuals" (Deen, 53). Monroe Engel, citing the Report of 1834 to Parliament, states that: "where real cases of hardship occur, the remedy must be applied by individual charity, a virtue for which no system of compulsory relief can be or ought to be, a substitute" (Engel, 962). This one line from The Report of 1834 seems to be a distillation of Dickens' thoughts on the subject of charity, and hence individual responsibility in the novel. Later in the same paper, Engel notes, in a fitting summation of the relation of law (and other social institutions) in dealing with social issues "he [Dickens] recognized no alternative to individual responsibility, not even in law" (Engel, 972).

Ultimately, for Dickens, each person must struggle to balance the needs of those less fortunate than them against their conscience, to determine an appropriate mode of action. Each person must, Like Esther Summerson, fight through personal loss and adversity to achieve a sort of redemption, or as Patrick Brantlinger says " we are all blind men, all fumbling at 'the tangled skein' of our lives, all imprisoned by forces which we cannot perceive and do not understand. This is Dickens' final assessment of the Victorian social mess, his way of resolving his own deeply rooted and ambivalent feelings towards industrialism" (Brantlinger, 283-4). Although explicitly concerned with industrialism, this quote can be applied to all the mis-guided "isms" and social institutions discussed in this paper.

It is by evoking mankind's sympathies for the less fortunate that Dickens reveals his power as an artist and his belief in a somewhat better future for those touched by the blight of Chancery and public institutions. In his article "To Working Men," which ostensibly addresses housing reform, we catch glimpses of the thought, intent, and feeling that Dickens devoted to those less fortunate than he:

We may venture to remark that this momentous of all earthly questions is one we are not now urging for the first time. Long before this Journal came into existence, we systematically tried to turn Fiction to the good account of showing the preventable wretchedness and misery in which the mass of people dwell, and of expressing again and again the conviction, founded upon observation, that the reform of their habitations must precede all other reforms, and that, without it, all other reforms must fail. (Slater, 227)

Bibliography

Brantlinger, Patrick. "Dickens and the Factories." Nineteenth-Century Fiction 26.3 (1971): 270-85.

Deen, Leonard W. "Style & Unity in Bleak House." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 45-57.

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. The Modern Library Classics. Modern Library Paperback Edition ed. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.

---. Selected Letters of Charles Dickens. Ed. David Paroissien. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.

Donovan, Robert A. "Structure & Idea in Bleak House." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 31-44.

Engel, Monroe. "The Politics of Dicken's Novels." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 71.5 (1956): 945-74.

Gest, John Marshall. "The Law and Lawyers of Charles Dickens." The American Law Register 53.7 (1907): 401-26.

Goldberg, Michael. "From Bentham to Carlyle: Dicken's Political Development." Journal of the History of Ideas 33.1 (1972): 61-76.

Hobsbaum, Philip. A Readers' Guide to Charles Dickens. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972.

The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate. New York: Douay Bible House, 1938.

Korg, Jacob, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Leavis, FR & QD. "Bleak House: A Chancery World." Dickens the Novelist. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1979. 118-83.

Miller, J. Hillis. "Bleak House." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 74-87.

Slater, Michael, ed. Gone Astray and Other Papers from Household Words. Vol. 3. 3 vols. London: J.M. Dent, 1998.

Spilka, Mark. "Religious Folly." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Bleak House. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 64-73.

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The 3rd Tax Advantage to Buying a House - Tax Free Borrowing

The further you go in life, the more you're starting to feel like buying a house certainly provides serious tax shelter advantages.

Rare thinking people like you already know that the ability to borrow by taking advantage of the equity in your home is an important one. If you live in the United States, buying a house should be a priority of your personal financial plan because of the opportunity to shelter income from taxes.

Tip number one already discussed how expenses related to home ownership can be tax deductible. Two large deductions of owing a home are the mortgage interest deduction and the property tax deduction. It is easy to look at these deductions as the government helping to pay for the cost of owing or buying a house.

You probably recall the benefit that follows relates to selling a house tax-free. Individuals may be able to exclude up to $250,000 from tax liability due to the sale of a house or up to $500,000 if a married couple. By meeting the ownership test and the use test, it is possible to enjoy such an incredible benefit. The tax-free sale is in and of itself sufficient cause to add buying a house to the smart financial plan.

This third tip is amazing. The next benefit you can enjoy from buying a house is the ability to borrow tax-free against home equity without having to sell your house.

Accordingly, when your house appreciates in value you create equity in your home over and above the original loan amount for the mortgage. Over the years you also pay down the mortgage, freeing up more equity. You are then free to borrow against that equity.

Here is an example. Suppose you bought your home for $200,000 using a mortgage of $160,000. Since you purchased, the house has appreciated to $350,000 while you have paid down the balance to $150,000. Subject to a lender's appraisal of course, you may have as much as $200,000 that you can borrow.

Also notice there are several ways to do this that you should discuss with your financial advisers and mortgage lender. You may choose to refinance the entire amount of the mortgage balance plus cash out, taking advantage of any additional equity you want to borrow against. During times of declining rates, you might even end up with a lower monthly payment.

Along these same lines there is another method to access your equity yet not have to take it in one lump sum. You can request a line of credit from your bank. The difference between the value of your home and the amount you owe, the equity, becomes the basis for the mortgage.

Without a doubt a line of credit loan has several advantages. It is easy to see the benefit to having money on stand-by but without a payment until used. Any costs to establish a line of credit are usually small versus refinancing which usually includes origination fees and closing costs.

Finally, a line of credit, sometimes called an LOC, can be repaid easily but you still have the option of accessing the LOC again without a new application being formally submitted. The costs are also significantly lower versus a personal loan or credit card.

Other methods include applying for a 2nd mortgage sometimes referred to as an equity loan or home improvement loan. A favorite is the 15 year fixed rate although do not assume this as there are many variations. Rely on yourself to find out the terms of the 2nd mortgage such as payments, lump sums of money due later on in the loan, and whether the interest rate is fixed for life.

This advice applies to any mortgage whether it for buying a house, refinancing, or obtaining a line of credit, or equity 2nd.

Even though using a home in the manner described here may result in tax savings, consider the cost to refinancing. That mortgage companies are run for a profit is not a surprising concept. Whether you decide to refinance your 1st mortgage entirely, apply for a line of credit, or acquire a 2nd mortgage, you must be sure you understand completely what closing costs will be incurred, what is the period for the loan to be repaid, and what interest rate you will receive. In addition you must know if the interest rate and payment can adjust and if so, how much and how often.

Even though you are near the end of this article, pay attention to what could become a big headache. When getting any type of mortgage for buying a house or refinancing, you must inquire if the home loan is going to have a pre-payment penalty.

A pre-payment penalty is a stipulation by the lender that does not allow you to repay the mortgage prior to a certain date without penalty. This penalty can be enforced for up to five years, depending on the state you live in. Whether or not you accept a pre-payment penalty as part of the terms of your mortgage may or may not be important to you. However it is important that you are aware of it especially if you have plans to pay the loan off early.

Regarding tax implications, it is always recommended that you consult a qualified financial adviser.

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Tips to Make the House Move As Easy As Possible

For anyone who is about to make probably the biggest purchase in their lives, finding the people who will make the deal go through comfortably is probably one of the most important decisions anyone could make. In Maine, real estate agents will surely find the right property, as will anyone connected to Massachusetts real estate.

Probably the first thing that anyone would do when choosing to buy a home is to pick the area where they want to move to. Once this is done, choosing a good realtor is the next step in finding a home. These professionals will scout the area of choice and bring forward any properties that may interest the purchaser.

Let these professionals know what price bracket is likely to be met, along with all the other requirements of the family. How many bedrooms, how large the garden is etc will all play a part in the cost of the house, but without any idea the professional is surely working in the dark.

Once these decisions have been made, and a realistic sum has been set aside or arranged, the fun begins with the scouting the available properties. Some see this as a tiring effort but considering how much investment is going into the property, it may be a good idea to treat this like an adventure. Get the children involved by researching parks and facilities in the general area and help them to look at which are the best schools for them.

Of course, many people who are looking to move first have to sell their current properties and this can sometimes be the hold up in the flow of events. If the move is taking the family completely out of the area that they are used to then finding a great professional is the only way to go. They will have local knowledge of the target area and will be able to advice on what kind of prices will be expected.

It may be that the family has to move for reasons other than choice of course. Divorce makes house moves somewhat inevitable if the joint property has to be sold so that the proceeds can be divided. When this happens, the remaining family may need some form of counseling to allow them to part with perhaps the only home they have ever known and move on to pastures new. Some companies offer this service and will explain to those moving how the whole process will take place. This is vital where children are involved, or for those spouses who have never been out there on their own before.

Of course, moving house is extremely stressing for everyone, including the family pet! So having great professionals to guide the family through the process step by step is a great and wonderful service indeed. Hopefully by the end of the process, the family will be looking forward to the move and will settle into their new surroundings quickly. With the help of the professionals, this transition should be made as easy as possible.

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Dress Up the House With Knobs and More

If you're looking for a way to dress up the kitchen, bathroom or other cabinets in your home, knobs are the way to do so. So many builders leave off handles and knobs because of the added expense and labor. Granted knobs are often times nice to have tools rather than necessities, but what about when your kitchen needs that little extra to dress it up? Knobs or handles can be purchased for reasonable and they are not difficult to install at all, in fact this is a definite do it yourself project!

Decorative Cabinet Knobs

There are a number of styles, brands and price ranges to choose from when looking for new cabinet knobs. One of the first things that the homeowner should decide is whether they want to carry a theme through the home, or purchase the cheapest knobs they come to first. This decision really depends on the amount of money that the homeowner is willing to spend and what is important to them as far as looks. There are many decorative knobs that range from nautical themes to Harley Davidson themes, so finding the right one should not be difficult. Some of these decorative type knobs can get pricy, but there are numerous outlets, stores and discount retailers that sell to the general public!

Cheap, Fast & Looking Good

If you are replacing cabinet knobs or installing them to sale the home, you may not care whether they are top dollar or not. In this case the best suggestion is to find the cheapest knob that looks good on the cabinet itself. Not every style or color goes with every type of cabinet, and after all, the goal is to improve the appearance of the home. It is also a good idea to look for clearance items or even for someone that is in the process of remodeling their home. They may be replacing their cabinet knobs and you may be able to pick them up for little of nothing.

Take the time to look around and even shop at different locations for the best deal. It is important to keep as much money in your pocket as possible, but also have a good looking kitchen or bathroom. To see what the knob would look like up against the cabinet you might also take the door with you to the store or purchase one knob to compare at home. If you are not good with matching, take along a friend or family member that has an eye for what looks good.

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Online House Plans - The Future of Architecture

Many people dream of owning a home that they had a hand in designing. With the advent of online house plans, more and more people are achieving that dream every day. When working with an architect to design your future home, you are taking advantage of their knowledge, experience, schooling, and talent to make your dream home more than just a dream. Most people who wish to have their own home built have a basic idea of what they want - how many bedrooms and bathrooms, how many living areas, fireplace or no fireplace, for example. But there are details involved in the designing of a home that many people never even think about.

Online house plans allow a person to go online and peruse various home ideas in order to make decisions regarding their own home. It is always beneficial to see something concrete, (such as plans already laid out) before making any decisions that you will have to live with in the long term. Having these plans in an easily accessible manner helps each person have a more solid hand in the decision making and planning phase of their home design. This is very important to many people and is becoming more important all the time.

People who choose to build their own home instead of buying a pre-built home almost always have a basic idea of what they want. They also have dreams of what they would really like to have but may not be sure of the reality. With online house plans, these people are able to look through sets of plans and find out if their dream might really be possible. Once they have done this, they can then have a better and more realistic idea of what to discuss with their architect. An architect's job is to help you make your dream home into the home you live the rest of your life in.

Online house plans are a sensible and practical way of helping you to decide how you would like your new home to look. This is your home and you need to be happy once it is complete. Having the ability to look online at plans drawn up for other houses is a huge help to anyone attempting to design their own home. Your dreams and your reality can come together to make the home you have always wanted. This combination can be the home you spend your future in.

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Keeping the House Insulated With Vinyl Siding

As oil and energy prices continue their relentless rise upward many people are now looking at ways of keeping the heat in the house to a much greater degree, and with this in mind are looking at installing insulated vinyl siding as a way of keeping themselves warmer in winter and cutting the heating bill costs. Luckily there are many different types of insulated vinyl siding on the market, and some of them can be bought at a discount, though all of them can still help to insulate the house to a greater or lesser degree.

When looking at sidings, no matter the material, whether it is vinyl, or wood, or something else, it is essential that you know how much insulation properties the siding has. The difference between siding that has very little insulation and siding that has a lot can make a huge effect on the amount of heat that is retained in the home, and it is therefore well worth the time it takes to do research into this matter.

If you have decided that insulated shingles are a good choice for you, take time to check out the various suppliers to see what they have on offer and to look at the various prices and discounts that are available. A saving of just a few dollars on each panel can make a big difference to the overall price of the job.

A fairly cheap way of installing insulated siding can be to use one of the spray on types of insulation, which has the advantage that it can be very quick to install, given that it just needs to be sprayed directly onto the underlying material. However, rather than do this yourself, it may be a good idea to find a good insulated siding supplier, or contractor, who can do the job for you to make sure it is done properly.

Suppliers of insulated siding are fairly common in most towns and just by taking a look at what is available you should be able to get an idea of how much it will cost. It should always be remembered that when you are choosing siding of any type you should choose a material that enables you to wash it fairly easily, so that your house will always look in good condition.

If you spend some time to do some research into the various types of insulated vinyl siding that are available you will find that it is probably possible to have a great looking house and to save on your heating bills into the bargain.

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