Barrie Home Inspector

Home Maintenance and Tips for Home Owners

Category: Personal Interest

Personal interest stories that the author thinks might be of interest to his readers

History of Pawn Shops

Personal Interest

History Of Pawn Shops.  Throughout history people have found themselves in a position where they have needed some cash money. The have been moneylenders and others who have been willing to provide this service as long as there was some collateral. This evolved into the Pawnbroker business we are familiar with today.

Have you ever been to a pawnshop? For a lot of people, there seems to be something, well, shady about these places. But if you haven’t been to a pawnshop, you may be missing out on some great bargains. A pawnshop is a lot like a dozen garage sales and a flea market all rolled into one. A Pawn Shop is a business that will offer secured loans to people when they use personal items as collateral. The origin of the word Pawn is from the Latin word Pignus, which means Pledge. The items offered as collateral are called Pledges or Pawns.

“Students and parents will find impressive savings on Apple and Dell laptops, smartphones, iPods and lightly used bikes,” said P.J. Bellomo, CEO of the 10-year-old auction site. Pawn shops are another possibility, having gone a long way toward shedding their reputation as the seedy last refuge of the down and out, thanks in part to reality shows such as “Pawn Stars” on History Channel. The first pawn shops appeared over 3,000 years ago in ancient China. They were sometimes just individuals or stores that supplied the peasants with short term credit. Greece and Rome both had a thriving Pawn Shop businesses.

Items put up for pawn are held for an agreed period of time, during which the pawner may redeem the item after paying the agreed amount of interest. If not collected in the agreed upon time frame the Pawnbroker will then offer the item for sale. An experienced Pawn Broker will take into account how long an item will take to sell when deciding on the amount of money he will allow for collateral loan. Every state or province has different laws. The time period for the loan varies depending on state law. In some states, you also have the option to extend the loan or renew it. Please remember to bring a valid, current government issued photo identification

People defaulting on there Pawned items are not reported to any Credit Bureaus as the items Pawned will be sold at a profit by the Pawn Broker. Also because the loan is secured by items of value Pawn Brokers to not do Credit Checks prior to taking items in on Pawn.

No Credit Check Required. Fast, confidential secure loans! TV’s, DVD Players, DVD’s , Video Games, Tools, Sporting Goods, Minks and Leather Coats or Jackets, Musical Instruments, Studio Equipment, Stereo Equipment, and Digital Cameras are just a few of the items that a Pawn Shop will accept. Pawn Brokers have been subjected to some TV exposure with the advent of shows like “Pawn Stars”, “American Pickers” and “American Restoration”. Many people realize that Pawn Shops can carry old, antique and very unique items and are an interesting place to visit.

Visit Nic Frost, the author and owner of Mega Pawn, located at 471 Water Street, Summerside PEI.   Nic has been involved with managing and running Pawn Shops since an early age when he managed one of Summersides’s first Pawn Shops for his mother.  Nic offers the best rates, has a great selection of TV’s, Games, Jewellery, Tools, Recreation Equipment and offers Fast Cash for loans or un-wanted items.

 

Learn more about Summer Side Pawn – Buy and Sell. Got a new Construction Project? Visit Project Supervision and Oversight an Ontario company of specialists.

Barrie Information

Personal Interest

 

At its inception, Barrie was an establishment of houses and warehouses at the foot of the Nine Mile Portage from Kempenfelt Bay to Fort Willow. The Nine Mile Portage is an aboriginal transportation route that existed centuries before Europeans came to Simcoe County. The portage linked Kempenfelt Bay through Willow Creek, connecting Lake Simcoe to the Nottawasaga River which flows into Georgian Bay off Lake Huron.

Barrie played an integral role in the War of 1812. During the War, the city became a supply depot for British forces, and in addition, the Nine Mile Portage was adopted by the British Military as a key piece of their supply line which provided a strategic path for communication, personnel, and vital supplies and equipment to and from Fort Willow and Georgian Bay / Lake Huron. Today, the Nine Mile Portage is marked by signs along roads in Barrie and in Springwater Township. You can follow the scenic path from Memorial Square all the way to Fort Willow.

The city was named in 1833 after Sir Robert Barrie, who was in charge of the naval forces in Canada and frequently commanded forces through the city and along the Nine Mile Portage.

Barrie was also the final destination for one branch of the The Underground Railroad. In the mid-19th century, this network of secret routes allowed many American slaves to enter Barrie and the surrounding area. This contributed to the development (and name) of nearby Shanty Bay.

During World War II the Royal Canadian Navy named a Flower class corvette HMCS Barrie.

On 7 September 1977, a private aircraft dropped altitude to 500 feet (150 m) in dense fog, struck the 1,000-foot (300 m) CKVR-TV tower, killing all five on the plane and destroying the tower and antenna. The station’s 225-foot (69 m) auxiliary tower was also destroyed and there was some damage to the main studio. CKVR were as back on the air using a temporary 400′ tower and reduced power of 40,000 watts at 8:55am on 19 September. The new 1,000-foot (300 m) tower was rebuilt in 1978.[citation needed]

On 31 May 1985, an F4 tornado struck Barrie. It was one of the most violent and deadliest tornadoes in Canadian history.

On 12–13 June 1987, a sculpture called Spirit Catcher by Ron Baird was moved to Barrie from Vancouver, British Columbia, where it had been exhibited as part of Expo ’86. The sculpture was erected permanently at the foot of Maple Avenue on the shore of Kempenfelt Bay. However, with the re-development along the waterfront/Lakeshore Drive, the city is considering moving the Spirit Catcher to the gravel outcropping at the foot of Bayfield Street.

In January 2004, Barrie made international news when its city police raided the former Molson brewery, and found Canada’s largest illegal cannabis grow operation.

Barrie’s Park Place (formerly Molson Park) was chosen to host Live 8 Canada on 2 July 2005.[8] The success of the concert contributed to the resistance to a plan to convert the concert area to a commercial district. However, the stage, buildings and many of the trees on site have been destroyed since construction of the Park Place commercial district has begun.

An explosion in the Royal Thai restaurant, housed in the landmark Wellington Hotel, at the historic Five Points intersection in Barrie’s downtown core occurred at 11:20 PM on 6 December 2007. The fire quickly spread to several neighbouring buildings. Firefighters battled the blaze well into the following morning, requiring assistance from other Simcoe County fire services. Officials estimate the damages to be in the millions. The Wellington Hotel building collapsed. It was over one hundred years old.[9][10] On 17 February 2008, two people were charged in connection with the fire, after the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office concluded the explosion and fire were the result of arson.

LOCATION

Barrie is located in the central portion of Southern Ontario, approximately 90 km (56 mi) north of Toronto within the Greater Golden Horseshoe subregion. It is accessible via Highways 26, 400, 11 and has convenient access to Highway 401, theHighway 407 Express Toll Route and to neighbouring Toronto. Pearson International Airport in Toronto is less than a one hour drive from Barrie via Highway 400.

Barrie’s historic downtown area is situated in a distinct curved or wrapped valley, surrounding the western edge of Kempenfelt Bay. Terrain is generally flat near the city’s centre. Moving up the valley slopes toward the city’s north and south ends, the terrain can be rather steep in some areas.

The city does not have any major rivers within its limits, but does have numerous creeks and streams, most of which empty into Kempenfelt Bay.

Climate data for Barrie
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 14
(57)		 14
(57)		 24
(75)		 30
(86)		 32
(90)		 35
(95)		 36
(97)		 36
(97)		 33
(91)		 28
(82)		 21.5
(70.7)		 19.5
(67.1)		 36
(97)
Average high °C (°F) −3.2
(26.2)		 −2
(28)		 3.2
(37.8)		 10.6
(51.1)		 18.1
(64.6)		 23.4
(74.1)		 26.0
(78.8)		 24.8
(76.6)		 20.1
(68.2)		 13.2
(55.8)		 6.1
(43.0)		 0.0
(32.0)		 11.7
(53.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) −8.1
(17.4)		 −7.1
(19.2)		 −2.2
(28.0)		 5.3
(41.5)		 12.3
(54.1)		 17.7
(63.9)		 20.5
(68.9)		 19.5
(67.1)		 14.9
(58.8)		 8.5
(47.3)		 2.4
(36.3)		 −4
(25)		 6.7
(44.1)
Average low °C (°F) −12.8
(9.0)		 −12.1
(10.2)		 −7.5
(18.5)		 0.0
(32.0)		 6.5
(43.7)		 12.0
(53.6)		 15.0
(59.0)		 14.2
(57.6)		 9.6
(49.3)		 3.7
(38.7)		 −1.4
(29.5)		 −7.9
(17.8)		 1.6
(34.9)
Record low °C (°F) −35
(−31)		 −33
(−27)		 −30.5
(−22.9)		 −13
(9)		 −3
(27)		 1
(34)		 6
(43)		 3
(37)		 −1.5
(29.3)		 −6.5
(20.3)		 −19.5
(−3.1)		 −32
(−26)		 −35
(−31)
Precipitation mm (inches) 95.4
(3.756)		 52.8
(2.079)		 57.0
(2.244)		 62.9
(2.476)		 77.3
(3.043)		 86.6
(3.409)		 73.4
(2.89)		 92.6
(3.646)		 97.6
(3.843)		 76.8
(3.024)		 82.6
(3.252)		 83.7
(3.295)		 938.5
(36.949)
Rainfall mm (inches) 15.3
(0.602)		 13.3
(0.524)		 28.9
(1.138)		 57.8
(2.276)		 77.2
(3.039)		 86.6
(3.409)		 73.4
(2.89)		 92.6
(3.646)		 97.6
(3.843)		 74.3
(2.925)		 62.1
(2.445)		 21.3
(0.839)		 700.2
(27.567)
Snowfall cm (inches) 80.2
(31.57)		 39.5
(15.55)		 28.1
(11.06)		 5.0
(1.97)		 0.1
(0.04)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 2.5
(0.98)		 20.6
(8.11)		 62.4
(24.57)		 238.4
(93.86)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 15.3 11.6 11.1 12.0 12.1 11.4 10.7 12.4 13.6 15.0 14.5 14.5 154.0
Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) 2.7 2.8 5.2 11.0 12.1 11.4 10.7 12.4 13.6 14.8 10.6 4.3 111.5
Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) 13.0 9.4 6.6 1.4 0.04 0 0 0 0 0.54 4.4 10.8 46.3
Source: Environment Canada

 

TOURISM

Tourism plays an important role in the local economy. Barrie’s historic downtown and waterfront are at the heart of its tourism industry. Downtown Barrie hosts many older buildings that have been kept up over the years or given new facades that exemplify their historical importance. Many specialty shops, boutiques, pubs and restaurants are located throughout downtown Barrie, most notably along Dunlop Street East. Downtown Barrie is becoming well known for its fashion boutiques, local art, live theatre, indie-music and nightlife scenes.

In addition, downtown Barrie is home to numerous annual festivals and events such as The Barrie Waterfront Festival, Barrielicious, Winterfest, Celebrate Barrie, Ecofest, Jazz & Blues Festival, Promenade Days, Ribfest and Craft Beer Show, Caribfest, Lawnchair Luminata, The New Music Festival, Barrie Film Festival, Santa Claus Parade and the New Year’s Countdown.

In the summer months, the city boasts several beaches including Minet’s Point Beach, Johnsons Beach, The Gables, Tyndale Beach, and Centennial Beach. Boating in also very popular in Kempenfelt Bay and Lake Simcoe as it connects to the Trent Severn Waterway. In 2011, Barrie’s waterfront was under redevelopment, with the relocation of several roadways to provide more greenspace and parkland along the lakeshore.

There are numerous winter recreation activities and facilities in the surrounding area, including skiing, snow tubing and snowboarding resorts, snowmobile trails and ice fishing. Recreational activities include skiing at nearby Horseshoe Resort, Snow Valley, Mount St. Louis Moonstone and Blue Mountain.

EDUCATION

Barrie has two major English school boards that operate inside the city at a public level. The Simcoe County District School Board administers a Public education in Barrie and Simcoe County, while the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board administers to the Catholic population and serves the Simcoe and Muskoka areas. It also has two French school boards, Le Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud and Le Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest. There are also several private schools both for K-8 and K-12.

Elementary schools

  • Frère André
  • Andrew Hunter
  • Ardagh Bluffs
  • Assikinack
  • Codrington
  • Cundles Heights
  • Emma King
  • Hewitt’s Creek
  • Hillcrest
  • Holly Meadows
  • Johnson Street
  • Maple Grove
  • Mapleview Heights
  • Oakley Park
  • Ferndale Woods
  • Algonquin Ridge
  • Allandale Heights
  • Pope John Paul
  • Portage View
  • St. Bernadette
  • St. Catherine of Siena
  • Steele Street
  • St. Nicholas
  • Terry Fox
  • Timothy Christian
  • Trillium Woods
  • W.C. Little
  • Warnica
  • West Bayfield
  • Willow Landing

High Schools

  • Barrie Central
  • Barrie North
  • Bear Creek
  • Eastview
  • Innisdale
  • Saint Joseph’s
  • Saint Joan of Arc
  • Unity Christian
  • École Secondaire Catholique Nouvelle Alliance
  • Saint Peter’s

Georgian College

Georgian College’s main campus, with over 10,000 full-time students and approximately 25,000 part-time students, is located in Barrie. Georgian College offers a wide varietey of diplomas and is well known in Canada and abroad for many quality programs, an exceptionally high graduate employment rate (94% and the highest in Ontario), and student and employer satisfaction rates.

Georgian College is home to the University Partnership Centre (UPC), which offers numerous Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from various universities including Laurentian University, York University, Nipissing University, Embry-Riddle University and Central Michigan University. The UPC has been partnering with universities since 1997 and as of 2011, serves over 2400 students. The construction of the Centre for Health and Wellness will ensure Georgian has the capacity to expand its University Partnership Centre to offer even more degree and advanced-degree level studies.

Georgian College is also home to the “Sadlon Centre for Health and Wellness”. Opened in 2011, this $65 million, 165,000-square-foot (15,300 m2) facility has allowed Georgian to double the number of health program students to 3,000 and allows students to pursue health and wellness related certificates, diplomas and degrees, including advanced degree programs. It is also home to a variety of health care services teaching clinics open to the public, as well as leading-edge laboratories and technology-enhanced classrooms.

The recently constructed “Centre for Sustainable Technologies” is also located in Georgian College’s Barrie Campus. This new $8 million, 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) facility opened in 2009 and is home to construction and energy-related programming and skills training. The Centre serves as a learning lab with technology and systems that demonstrate where the future of the industry is headed on all building projects.

 

Home Improvement in Barrie

Personal Interest

Home Improvement in Barrie –  Your guide to home improvements in the Local area.

How To Add Those Special Finishing Touches For Little Or No Money

Home is, as they say, where the heart is, so it is hardly surprising that we want it to look its best. We want our homes to reflect our tastes and design ideas and for it to be a welcoming, attractive place for ourselves and our guests to enjoy.

In these times of financial pressures and focus towards austerity, many families don’t have any spare funds to put towards little extras for their home. So how can we still add those special finishing touches to our homes while spending little or no money?  Here are some suggestions.

Looking  good

If a room is looking tired and in need of decorating, you can often freshen it up by attending to the details, rather than the whole room. Try painting or varnishing the skirting boards, picture rails, door frames and windowsills to brighten things up. Sometimes, changing lampshades or cushions can have the effect of a makeover too.

Storage is a tricky subject and it can be hard in smaller houses to keep things neat and tidy. Invest in shelving that can be added to or reduced in size so that you can keep up with the state of your belongings. If children’s toys are a problem, try putting some of them away for a while, then bringing them out at a later date. Result? You will have fewer toys to store and your kids will be delighted to be reunited with old favourites once more.

Sweet smell of success

Pot pourri, incense sticks and other proprietary room fragrances can be expensive and their scents can be overpowering. Why not try wiping your favourite essential oil over the glass part of a light bulb or leaving some on a radiator in a shallow dish? When the light or radiator is switched on, the heat will diffuse the fragrance into the room.

Place some water and slices of lemon in your microwave for a few minutes. Not only will it help loosen any stuck on food for cleaning it later, the citrus smells will also turn your kitchen into an aromatic heaven.

Make do and mend

If your table is looking a bit worse for wear, there’s no need to fork out for a new one straight away. A coat of paint, varnish or wood stain will refresh it in no time. Or, if you don’t want to do that, adding a simple table runner (these can be stitched from spare fabric) will really brighten it up.

You could even add a vase of flowers too for an instant touch of spring. Place a small lump of charcoal in the water to keep it pure and fresh for longer.

If you are handy with a sewing machine, you could have a go at making your own curtains. This will work out cheaper than purchasing off-the-peg ones, and you can customize them perfectly to match the themes in your room and the size of your windows. Sew a few marbles or small weights into the hems of unlined curtain to make them hang nicely. You could even try embroidering a design onto them to make them truly unique and personal.

Home Security

Personal Interest

Keeping Your Home Safe: How To Put Burglars Off Trying To Break In

Our homes are our castles – havens against the outside world, expressions of our tastes and design choices and a place for our loved ones to live together in, hopefully, domestic bliss. So when someone threatens it, it can be extremely frightening and upsetting. There are many ways to try to stop burglars, however. Here are some ideas to consider.

Make your home harder to break into

Burglars like to be able to get in and out quickly and discretely, so anything you can do to prevent this will help. Make sure any outdoor sheds and other buildings that contain ladders, tools etc are firmly locked. No point in providing thieves with the wherewithal to get into your house. Never leave spare keys hidden outside. People who do that tend to unwittingly choose some pretty obvious places to stow them. Instead, give the spare to a trusted neighbour.

Consider switching to a gravel driveway, or have areas of gravel under your windows. Gravel makes a lovely, loud crunching sound when trodden on. Grow thorny, or spiky plants against the walls too – good options for this are roses, firethorn or juniper.

Make your home looked loved

Keep the garden neat so the house doesn’t look neglected. Mow the lawn regularly – get someone to do it for you if you are away for a long time. Weed borders; sweep up fallen leaves and empty trash cans. Make sure the house exterior is well maintained. Burglars might assume a house in disrepair is owned by someone physically unable to look after it – and therefore less able to defend it.

Don’t let the mail build up in your absence either. Ask a friend to go in to collect it for you, or arrange for it to be temporarily redirected. Keep larger items like bicycles or lawnmowers out of sight too and place curtains over garage, basement or shed windows to prevent anyone looking in.

Make your home look occupied

It stands to reason that most thieves will think twice about targeting a house that looks like it is occupied. Draw the curtains and leave some lights on (or on an automatic timer switch)  when you go out at night, or perhaps leave the radio or TV playing.

Lock all doors when you are going out or to bed, and check all windows are closed. Never leave notes on the door saying ‘Gone Shopping’. Finally, create a written inventory of your valuable possessions and their estimated value or insured amounts – photographs and purchase receipts will also prove useful in the event of a break-in.

Make your house and home security something to invest in

The range of home security equipment out there is mind-blowing, from strong locks to state-of-the-art alarm systems. Ideas to enhance security include switching to more secure window locks, replacing door locks with deadbolts, making sure door hinges are on the inside and installing a decent burglar alarm– some will link to your local police station.

Such an investment is worth doing properly – after all, it will go a long way to protect your assets, not to mention your peace of mind. If, however, you are concerned about how to pay for such measures, take some time to consider how you will raise the money to fund them. A financial advisor or broker can steer you towards a number of financing methods, such as reasonable loan arrangements with manageable repayment rates. If you own your own home, there are many excellent remortgage deals on the market – most mortgage advisors would be especially pleased to see the additional funds released spent on raising the security of the property and its contents. If all else fails, perhaps you could take on some extra work to raise the funds. This temporary sacrifice of your time will result in long-term security and happiness in your home: who could ask for more?

Google Search Tips

Personal Interest

Google Search Tips. Searching on Google can be a magical experience once you find out how to make your search queries efficient. By making efficient I mean using some tricks or the cheat sheet provided by Google itself to quickly find what you actually require. Having being hooked onto Google for a long time now, I have come across some amazing search tricks which can change the way you look at Google today.

 

Google Search TricksIn this article I will list down the search tricks which I use quite frequently. Be it finding time, meanings or watching the cricket score, searching PDF’s, with Google as the search engine life cannot be more simpler. Here are the 10 most amazing Google Search tricks:

1. Different Types of Files at your will
How many times would you have asked for materials (PDF, PPT, DOC) for a particular topic from a friend? Its almost everyday that we might have the necessity to ask them either for knowledge, preparing a presentation, white-paper or for case studies. Such times it mostly difficult to look out what to exactly search for because most of the times you don’t know about the topic at hand. But this petty keyword unleashes its lethal power at such occasions.

Let’s say I want to implement a case study on SOA which means I have to read a lot of information for SOA. So I just have to find materials which might have already been uploaded on the web in the form of PDF’s, DOC’s or PPT’s. These materials can be easily obtained by doing a search for:

2. Scholarly Search
If you want some authenticity of the materials then it would be better to find the materials from educational institutes or universities. For this use theGoogle scholar search. But suppose you don’t like to switch to Google scholar search you can add the same query with an additional parameter to the normal Google search box,

3. Meanings of any word in an instant
Now you do not have to carry a dictionary or install a dictionary software just for the purpose of finding out a meaning of a word. With the wealth of information in Google’s hands, its a piece of cake to find out the meaning of the word. Just use the define: keyword. The meaning would of course be displayed but also a set of other links which might have an alternative definition are also given out with the link to read more about it.

You would argue here that, a dicitionary gives out more information than this. But what about words that don’t actually fall within the vocabulary. Suppose you want to know what SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is then you would have no choice. Google Search comes to your rescue in this case,

4. Find the time of any location
Many of us might be probably working for client which are based at different locations. And communication has to be carried out frequently carried out in such cases. But before a communication you have to know which time zone the location is falling into otherwise you would be causing a disturbance.

I have seen people installing time zone software for showing the time of the location they would be calling to. But with Google at your hands you don’t have to install any software. It would be just simple to use a query for finding the current time such as,

psst….look closely the time on the little clock graphic. It also shows the perfect time!

5. Weather at your fingertips
I had been to GOA for a Christmas vacation in the last week of December. But I made a mistake of not finding out the temperature of GOA before leaving. Had I known that it is hot even in the winter I would not have made the mistake of carrying additional luggage consisting of blankets and jackets.

If you are thinking to visit a place it is useful to know what the temperature of the place is before hand, it can make efficient packing. Google helps you here too. Just use this query without asking anybody or waiting for the news to make a weather report. I wish I had thought of this!

6. Google does live commentary too!
Indians are cricket fanatics. But its amusing to see the organizations here trying to put together tactics to devoid cricket lovers from wasting time to watch the cricket scores instead of doing their work. What I think they fail to understand is that by blocking the live cricket scoring sites they are actually making the employees more curios and provoking them to hunt for proxy networks or listen to the radio or chat with their friends elsewhere.

Jokes apart, you actually don’t need proxy networks to view the live cricket scores if you at least have access to Google. If you want to find the latest info about all the cricket matches then just type,

But if you want to find out only about a particular match then use only the names of the two playing nations,

Remember that the scorecard will come only when the play is going on.

7. Calculate with your browser
Every OS has a calculator inbuilt but when the browser is the thing which is constantly open whey bother to open up a calculator. Open Google and straight away type your mathematical expression. You can go all the way frombasic arithmetic to trigonometrical expressions. This is simply amazing stuff accomplished by Google.

8. Compare your currency with others
Now that the dollar is declining, the rest of the world must be busy trying to check the impact of the dollar on their currencies. But first of all one must know how much a particular currency amounts to when cashed in another currency. Google’s inbuilt currency converter just does this.

9. Keep track of the stocks
With the booming stock market it is very important to track the stocks on a day to day basis. Putting a stock ticker in the search box is the most obvious thing you would think of. But it is not always you would remember the stock ticker, you should add the keyword “stocks:” to the company name.

The best part of the obtained result is that it provides a chart which shows the trend in the company’s stock along with important statistics.

Note: Currently the results are restricted to the companies listed in the US stock markets.

10. Wanna find some faces?
This is most interesting trick. You might be needing images for various occasions and searching for images is the most difficult thing because what we expect might not be possibly mapped to a query. But Google has a parameter in place for images in situations we need an image which describes a face.

Suppose I search for the term “happy” then the Google results page displays smileys. But I would like to use images of happy people. Even if I choose the term as “happy face” the results don’t show images which contain people. For this there is a parameter “imgtype” which you can use with the URL. For this put in the URL as follows:

There are many more variations which can be bought about with the above tricks thus making your search experience not only enriching but also exciting. If I have missed any tricks of common usage, feel free to mention it.

Update 1: Google keeps on experimenting new ways of searching. If you liked the above tricks then don’t miss out my article which mentions how to use thenew search experiments introduced by Google. Believe me, they are brilliant!

Update 2 : Search for your favorite movie information with Google and enjoy it even more. Have fun with the 5 Most Fantastic Movie Search

Sleeping Patterns of the Elderly

Personal Interest

Sleeping Patterns of the Elderly. Many elderly people complain about getting less sleep.  We think this is related to getting older. While it’s a common belief that getting older means less sleep and more fatigue, a new study suggests that older adults may actually enjoy better sleep than their younger counterparts.

Researchers conducted phone surveys of more than 150,000 Americans and found that people in their 80s had the fewest complaints about sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue compared to other age groups. The study appears in the March edition of the journal Sleep.

Some sleep specialists think we have got to get away from all these myths about ageing – many people are very content with their sleep.” However, he said that asking people for their subjective opinion about sleep patterns could produce answers that were dependent on their mood at the time. “If you are angry because your boss didn”t give you a pay rise, your perception of sleep quality may be very different from someone who is feeling generally content.

It’s not clear why older people reported fewer sleep disturbances and tiredness, the authors said. It could be that older people have more control over sleep duration while younger people experience more stressors (jobs, kids, socializing) that interfere with sleep. It’s also possible that older people are just more accepting of sleep quality and don’t complain about it as much.

As we age, our bodies secrete less of two important sleep hormones: melatonin and growth hormone. Melatonin is important because changes in the level of this hormone control our sleep cycle. With less melatonin, many older adults feel sleepy in the early evening and wake up in the early morning. They also may have more trouble falling asleep. Growth hormone is what makes children sleep so deeply. As we age, our body secretes less of this hormone and deep sleep becomes more difficult.

Sunlight helps your body to produce melatonin, which regulates your sleep cycle. Try to get at least two hours of exposure to bright light each day. If it is difficult for you to get outside, consider using a full-spectrum light indoors.  Using alcohol, nicotine or caffeine can also affect your sleep patterns.

Regular exercise and healthy eating habits could be all that is required to make your dreams come true for your next evening sleep.  Adopting a more active lifestyle can make the world of difference in most elderly peoples lives.  Always consult with your doctor before starting an exercise program or changing your diet.

Government Trying to Infringe On Our Privacy

Personal Interest

Government Trying to Infringe On Our Privacy.  A majority of Canadians think that the Conservatives’ proposed online surveillance Bill C-30 is too intrusive and should be defeated, according to a poll by Angus-Reid. The poll, conducted February 23-24 and surveying 1,011 respondents on the polling firm’s online panel, found 53 per cent of Canadians believe the bill is too intrusive, compared to only 27 per cent who believe the it is necessary to fight online criminal activity.

The Privacy International investigation revealed that surveillance companies commonly promote virtually unlimited monitoring capabilities to governments and police agencies. For example, Italian-based Innova offers “solutions for the interception of any kind of protocols and IP-based communication, such as web browsing, email and web-mails, social networks, peer-to-peer communication, chat and videochat.”

“The government has a voracious appetite for our private information. Now, with electronic records, we do that by linking electronic databases without ever creating the actual, old file. It’s all already there,” said Micheal Vonn, policy director with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

Section 33 tells us that, ‘The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons as inspectors for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act.’..Section 34 spells out the sweeping powers of these “inspectors.” And, if they sound Orwellian, welcome to the world of Section 34.

The inspectors may “enter any place owned by, or under the control of, any telecommunications service provider in which the inspector has reasonable grounds to believe there is any document, information, transmission apparatus, telecommunications facility or any other thing to which this Act applies.” And, once he or she is in, anything goes. The inspector, says the bill, may “examine any document, information or thing found in the place and open or cause to be opened any container or other thing.” He or she may also “use, or cause to be used, any computer system in the place to search and examine any information contained in or available to the system.”

There is an inherent lack of transparency in this bill that extends way beyond what the government is telling us, are you surprised? Included in this bill is the fact that, by default everyone has the right to ask any company that is subject to the law what information they have about him or her, how they’ve used it and to whom they’ve disclosed it. That is, unless that right is overridden by Section 9. Section 23 of C-30 essentially says that any personal information that is handed over without a warrant under the lawful access law has to be treated in the same way under PIPEDA as information disclosed in response to a law enforcement request. Here’s where the gag order kicks in. If the person exercises his lawful right to seek his or her personal information and accounting of its use, the ISP is prohibited from telling him or her unless the police, national security agencies or competition cops give their OK. And they can refuse to give their OK on a number of relatively flexible bases.

Orillia Real Estate Agents Optimization

Personal Interest, Real Estate

Orillia Real Estate Agents Optimization –  Google is constantly changing what it uses to rank websites.

SEO or Search Engines Optimization is a very important part of improving visibility to Search Engines.  The higher a site is ranked typically results in more visitors which equates to more money for commercial sites.  Searches can include image search, video search, news search or any specific text search.

The acronym “SEOs” can refer to “search engine optimizers,” a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house.

Webmasters started realizing that adding keywords to site and their meta tags was increasing their visibility to search engines. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches. Web content providers also manipulated a number of attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.

Webmasters who provide the content to fill the search results do not necessarily profit adequately for providing the content which allows search engines to deliver a ton of ads. Some of these same webmasters sell text links to other high margin or profitable sites. This is of course arbitrarily wrong because search engines want to be the middle man and want to profit from as many internet ad dollars as possible.

Black Hat SEO is tempting because your site can jump up in rankings quickly and the Black Practices actually do work, temporarily. They do end up getting sites higher search rankings; that is, until these same sites get banned for using unethical practices. It’s just not worth the risk. Use efficient search engine optimization techniques to get your site ranked higher, and stay away from anything that even looks like Black Hat SEO. Here’s a few articles that can get you on the road to knowing search engine optimization.

The Google Sandbox Effect is a theory used to explain why newly-registered domains or domains with frequent ownership changes rank poorly in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). In other words new websites are put into a “sandbox” or a holding area and have their search ratings on hold until they can prove worthy of ranking.

Google appears not to have a Sandbox anymore if they ever did have one.  This articles author created www.orilliarealestateagents.info and within one week the site was on Google’s first page when seaching for Orillia Real Estate Agents.  This quick rise in ranking would seem to disprove the Sand Box affect claimed by many SEO consultants

Innisfil Real Estate Agents

Personal Interest, Real Estate

 

Randy, Tammy and Daughter Natasha are the Wigley Real Estate Team who specialize in Innisfil properties.  The Wigley Team are full time Realtor’s for Sutton Group Realty.  Whether Buying or Selling, the Wigley Team has the experience to guide you through the fine details of buying or selling property in Innisfil.  Randy and Tammy are experts in Rent to Own, Bank Foreclosures and Investment properties.

Robert Young is a Professional Innisfil Real Estate agent whose motto is “I will treat you the way I would want to be treated”  Robert’s goal is to provide you with such outstanding personal service that you’ll always feel like you’re his only client. Robert can do this because he is equipped with the tools, information and support  needed to make the most of your relationship- enabling him to be by your side, serving you throughout every step of the entire process. Robert Young wants to be Your REALTOR of choice for Life! Contact Him Today!

Shelley Coulter works for Sutton Group Realty. Shelley is a firm believer in customer service and always goes the “extra mile’ to ensure her clients are happy and achieve the results they were looking for. To ensure satisfaction in your next real estate transaction in Innisfil,, contact Shelley today.  Shelly has experience and can help guide you through the complicated process of Rent to Own, Bank Foreclosures, Power of Sale, Condominiums, Investment and Buying or Selling properties in Innisfil.

Katie Kirk, ( aka Kirk Werks ) is a Sales Representative at Sutton Group Incentive Realty Inc., Brokerage.  Katie is also a Senior Interior Design Consultant at Closets by Design.  Katie is a volunteer at On T.R.A.C. for BULLYING PREVENTION, was previously a Business Solutions Manager at InsightU and has a solid background in sales.  Katie has attended Georgian College,  Queen’s University and Eastview Secondary School.  Whether buying or selling property in Innisfil ON, Katie Kirk is the agent who can help your dreams come true.

Sharon Madeley is a Professional Real Estate agent with CHAY RE/MAX Barrie. Sharon Madeley is a graduate of Humber College’s Child and Youth Worker Program. She spent eight years working for the Toronto Children’s Aid Society. During those eight years Sharon worked with families providing family support, crisis support and individual counselling. Sharon’s interest in families is what drew her to Real Estate. The gratification of bringing loved one’s together under one roof and creating a feeling of somewhere they can call “HOME.” Her on-going interests have always been the same, whether it is a career in real estate or any of her previous endeavours. Sharon believes it is her job to; “DO MY BEST TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER”.  Sharon is a hard working professional Innisfil Realtor. She is an experienced negotiator with expert knowledge of the local market. You can count on her to always work with your interest in mind and to represent you and your wishes to the best of her abilities. Sharon understands that the needs of each client are unique and need to be addressed as such. Customer Service is the key. If you are a “BUYER” or “SELLER” Sharon Madeley looks forward to making your “DREAMS” a “REALITY.”

Stephen Staples is a CENTURY 21® Real Estate professional, His Team is dedicated to providing you with the highest quality service possible. Our knowledge of the local Real Estate market is combined with the power of the CENTURY 21 brand – the most recognized name in Real Estate today. The Stables Team would like to thank you for visiting and encourage you to utilize their web sites as your personnel resource. We are built with 2 generations of Real Estate Experience. We are thankful everyday for the Life we have, a great family and a rewarding real estate business. 

Alliston Real Estate Agents

Personal Interest, Real Estate

Sarah Lunn is Innovative & Dedicated Real Estate agent.  Sarah prides herself on being a highly energetic, result driven professional. The combination of her experience in customer service, together with a diploma in Business Marketing from Georgian College, has allowed her  to develop a progressive edge in today’s real estate market.  If you are looking for that dream home, let Sarah Lunn help! Tell Sarah what you are looking for and she will do the search for you! Sarah promises that she will work relentlessly for you to find that perfect home.
Jim Bartley is a Professional Real Estate Agent who specializes in Buying or Selling – Alliston, Ontario Real Estate. Jim Bartley applies his Alliston home selling system in the Alliston, Ontario Real Estate market. Selling residential, condominium, multi family and investment property. Search for MLS listings, relocation services and a referral service for relocation are also a value added for the buyer and seller moving in and out of the "Alliston Ontario real estate" market.
Britton Ronan is the second generation in real estate, Britton understands very well the importance of setting goals. Being recognized by Prudential North America since his first year in the business as a Top Producer and in the past two years awarded Chairmans Circle Gold, ranking Britton and his team amongst the top 2% of the 65,000 realtors in the Prudential network. It is clear Britton and the Experience Sold Team take their goals seriously and do this by making their #1 Goal; Professional Service and Customer Satisfaction!
Mary Doldersun is a Professional Real Estate agent with RE/MAX.  You, the client are my no. 1 priority. I have been in the business for over 30 years and become a member of your family until the transaction is complete. Personal service and total dedication is my motto.
Mary Doldersum services the Tottenham, Alliston, Albion, Adjala Mono and Beeton areas and specialize in residential and commercial real estate.
Alliston is a settlement in Simcoe County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of the Town of New Tecumseth since the 1991 amalgamation of Alliston and nearby villages of Beeton, Tottenham, and the Township of Tecumseth. The primary downtown area is located along Highway 89, known as Victoria Street.
Alliston grew as a commercial centre for the area farmers and was best known as a potato-growing area. It is still a major industry in the town and is celebrated by the annual Alliston Potato Festival. Honda of Canada Manufacturing operates a large auto manufacturing facility southeast of Alliston, currently consisting of three major factories.

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