Five Ways to Keep Your House Safe

Life is precious and you can never do too much in an attempt to protect it and preserve it. By guarding and securing your home with alarm systems, carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and other disaster prevention devices, you are keeping safe all the things that matter to you most. Below are five ways to keep you, your family and your home safe.

1. BSafe Electrix - BSafe offers duplex wall outlets that can help prevent electrical fires capable of destroying not only your home, but your property, financial situation and most importantly, your life. Most electrical fires result from problems with "fixed wiring" such as faulty electrical outles and old wiring. BSafe’s TFCI thermal cut-off technology recognizes abnormal temperatures through multiple sensors located at each outlet contact and binding head screw terminal and disconnects the load so it is no longer functional. A pin protrudes from the device, protecting the outlet from overload and notifying the user about the potentially dangerous high heat. BSafe outlet is ideal for new construction and remodeling, serving as a great way to protect both your assets and loved ones from electrical fires.

2. ADT Safewatch QuickConnect – The Safewatch QuickConnect from ADT offers a number of ways to monitor your home, all in one convenient unit. The two-way voice communication feature puts you in direct contact with ADT Monitoring Centers, where you can report burglaries, fires or AC power failures, while notifying the police at the same time. The QuickConnect control panel incorporates an easy-to-use touchpad, siren and speaker, so that even in a panic, you’ll be able to contact someone who can help. Additional wireless accessories in the Safewatch QuickConnect package include two door and/or window sensors, one motion detector, one keychain remote to turn your system on or off, one power supply with 24 hour battery and one ADT window decal and yard sign to warn potential intruders that your home is protected.

3. A Carbon Monoxide Detector – Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless, invisible gas formed in the home from incomplete combustion from any flame-fueled device. Some of these non-electric devices that are found in the home include ranges and ovens, which are the two most common sources of carbon monoxide, as well as clothes dryers, furnaces, water heaters, space heaters, grills, fireplaces and vehicles. The dangers of inhaling carbon monoxide include a number of unpleasant symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness, severe headaches and mental confusion, and high levels of inhalation can cause tissue damage and death. Carbon monoxide detectors are designed to alert people about the presence of this dangerous gas before it spreads, so that you can get out of the house, ventilate it and contact the proper authorities, thus greatly reducing the risk of developing a serious health condition such as carbon monoxide poisoning.

4. A Smoke Alarm – What makes a smoke alarm such a vital tool in protecting your home and your loved ones is its ability to warn you about a potential fire so that you will have time to escape it. In the event of a fire, every second counts, and a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm could be the one device capable of saving your life. Smoke alarms are available from many different vendors but generally fall into two basic categories; ionization and photoelectric alarms. Ionization alarms sound when a flaming and fast moving fire is present, where a photoelectric alarm is quicker at detecting smoky and smoldering fires. Since there is no way of determining which type of fire your household may experience, it is highly recommended to have both types installed and maintained.

5. Keeping a Fire Extinguisher in the Home – Everyone should have at least one fire extinguisher in the home, preferably in the kitchen, but also in the garage or workshop if you want added protection. It is also important to have the right type of fire extinguisher since not all fires are the same. Water extinguishers only fight Class A fires, or fires sparked from ordinary combustible materials such as paper, wood, plastics and cardboard. There are also extinguishers filled with foam and powder, pressurized with nitrogen, that fight Class B, C and D fires caused by combustible liquids (i.e. kerosene, gasoline, grease and oil), electrical equipment (i.e. appliances, wiring, circuit breakers, etc.) or combustible metals used in chemical laboratories (i.e. magnesium, titanium, potassium, etc.). Finally, there are Carbon Dioxide extinguishers, which are poor in fighting Class A fires but a good choice for electrical fires from a computer, TV, stereo or other electronic device. Always be sure that you have the right fire extinguisher in the right places to help protect you and your loved ones.

Top 5 Websites for Freelancers

The thing about freelancing is you have to find your own work, so it's usually good to have as many resources available as possible. Sure we all know elance and odesk, but what else is out there? These five sites are sure to help you find that next job.

1. GoNogging - The site is like a combination of craigslist and your
typical freelancing page. Naturally there are listed jobs for you to take (for musicians there is a lot of opportunities to do jingles), but you can put up images, video, or music you've made for sale, an opportunity not really offered by the other sites on this list.

2. Adveres - Adveres functions as a freelance search engine of sorts. It has an exceptionally large amount of skill areas covered, so it's an easy format to look for jobs based on what your fields of expertise are.

3. List Bid - Extraordinarily straight forward layout. Has a decently sized population.
It concentrates on alot of coding but, there is writing and design jobs interspersed amongst them.

4. Guru - One of the go-to freelance sites. Membership is free but you can also get a paid one. The truth is you're much more likely to get a job with the paid membership, but it's only 30 to 90 dollars a quarter.

5. Pro Blogger Job Board - For anyone with any interest in blog writing, this is the site. If you have any kind of expertise on any subject matter you can likely find a job here. Even if you were looking for programming or graphic design jobs, you could get a job writing about those things.

5 Websites That Could Rival Digg

Digg.com is one of the Web’s most popular social media sites for people to discover, select, share and discuss content such as images, videos and newsworthy material. The website operates around a user-generated ranking system where community members are the ones with the power to decide which submissions deserve to climb to the top of the list (however many can argue that it is hardly democratic when it comes to this). Digg.com also offers an outlet for users to engage in conversation about the topics they are passionate about and to determine the value of the content found on the site. However, Digg.com is not the only website currently offering these types of services to community members. Below are five social media sites that are rising in popularity and could arguably rival Digg.com.

1. WhosYourChampion – The Internet phenomenon known as “Who’s Your Champion?” is an extension of the infamous and ever popular “Wall of Champions” that was created some time ago. According to legend, the Wall of Champions began one late summer evening in the basement of a man’s house when he stumbled upon a powerful cover photo of Ted Danson from the weekly TV Guide. The man saw something so deep in the eyes of the former bartender from “Cheers” that he was left with no choice but to take that photo and turn it into something spectacular. The original Wall of Champions, once held together by thumbtacks and Scotch tape, covered walls upon walls, and is now sweeping the Web. Since it was founded in 2006, the “Who’s Your Champion” website has become the ultimate place for fans to submit photos and videos of their favorite Champions. The founding fathers of the WhosYourChampion.com, who remain anonymous, stand behind their motto that “if you don’t know what a Champion is, you may be one!” The creators of the site also believe that users will be able to figure out the qualities a true Champion possesses just by visiting the site. Champion fanatics have the freedom to submit photos and videos of their favorite champs from a variety of categories including athletic Champions, celebrities, local Champions, “Champs of the Day” and the legendary “mustache” category. Users can then help their favorite Champions rise to the top or fall in despair through a voting and rating system, with the option of commenting on other user’s picks and interacting with the rest of the “Who’s Your Champ?” community. Users can also search for Champions or other users, explore “Champion News Links” and vote on the “Who’s Your Champion?” “Weekly Poll.”

2. Reddit – Reddit.com is another source for users to discover what is new and popular on the Web. The website gives users a chance to review links submitted by other users and vote for whether they thought the content was “hot” or “cold.” Users can click the “up arrow” to help the submission get closer to the “front page” and the “down arrow” will bring it further down. Users are free to submit interesting links for other community members to read while gaining karma and impressing their friends in the process. The theory behind Reddit.com is to “democratize” the traditional model of obtaining newsworthy material by “giving editorial control to the people who use the site” and not the ones who run it. Therefore, all of the content on the site comes from users who are rewarded for submitting “good content” and punished (by their peers) for “bad content” by a system of promotions and demotions. “Redditors” are not only presented with the newest and most popular material on the Web but all of the material on the “front page” will be a personalized page that is both filtered for quality by fellow Redditors and filtered for relevance by you!

3. Yahoo! Buzz – The mere fact that Yahoo! Buzz is an extension of Yahoo!, “the Web’s most popular starting point,” makes it an automatic Digg competitor with some serious potential. The website reveals some of the hottest and most timely content from across the Internet covering everything from politics and breaking news to entertainment, viral videos and personal blogs. All of the content found on Yahoo! Buzz is ranked according to a unique voting (or “buzzing”) system where, like Digg, users become the “editors” with the freedom to submit content , engage in conversations via commenting and “buzz” content up or down on the rankings based on relevance and importance . Buzz with higher rankings (also known as “Top Buzz”) shows up more prominently on the website and reaches this status in relation to the number of votes and comments the buzz receives, the popularity of related search terms on Yahoo! Search and the number of times users share the buzz with friends over email from Yahoo! Buzz. The top searches and stories on the site update every hour providing users a fast, simple way to keep up with their fast-paced worlds.

4. Plime –Plime.com is an editable Wiki-like news aggregator that also relies on community members to add and edit the weird and interesting links found throughout the site. Each individual user can rate any post or comment based on its value to the community, hence the philosophy behind this Digg-esque link forum that it is “controlled by everyone and no one.” Plime is also a great place for people to meet other members who share similar interests, otherwise referred to as “Plimates” in the Plime community, or a group of people commonly believed to be “very cool, ultra-attractive and extremely intellectual.” The key responsibility of each Plimate is to submit a variety of posts containing links to news stories, images and videos that are “interesting, funny or otherwise entertaining,” in which other Plimates can “upvote,” “downvote,” comment on or edit, assuming they have reached the required “karma” level. Plimates earn karma points when other users vote on their actions, adding or subtracting points based on the feedback and level the commenter is on. Higher levels give Plimates the option of editing other member’s posts as well as features of the site including categories, subcategories and color schemes with the added ability to change user’s access levels. To put it simply, the more karma you have in Plime, the more power you possess.

5. FMyLife.com – FMYLife.com provides users an often much-needed opportunity to vent their daily frustrations by speaking out about the pivotal moment that really “ruined their day.” FMyLife aims to prove that misfortunes and uncomfortable circumstances happen to everyone every day and gives people something that is fun to read and enjoyable on a daily basis. Each post on the site begins with “Today,” and ends with “FML,” allowing the user to fill in the space in between and contribute their “unfortunate experience” to a user-generated blog. FMyLife posts climb or fall down the “Top and Flop” charts according to two methods of visitor voting. Posts found on the “Top FML” list contain stories where other users agreed the event was bad enough to screw with someone’s day. The “Flop FML” list, on the other hand, contains posts about people who also had a bad experience but users in this category believed the person probably had it coming. Topics of interest, themes and categories found on the site include love, money, kids, work, health and sex, where users are encouraged to share their misfortunes with a sense of irony and self-depreciation. While this website does not contain "top news stories" as Digg does, it's substantial growth in popularity could result in a grab of some of Digg's market share.