A Crucial Part Of Designing Your New Home - Architectural Roof Styles Bring It All Together

When it comes to building a home, so much can go into the planning and designing that it can make your head spin. And when you factor in your own personal taste and budget, you can sometimes turn the project into something that feels like it may be never ending. One of the mistakes that can often be made during this process is not paying enough attention to roof design and roof styles. In fact, often by choosing a particular architectural roof, the rest of the planning may start to take shape.

By taking a look at a variety of different architectural roofs and the type of construction that is frequently associated with them, your final blueprint may become more of a finished product than a long, arduous journey. If you are in the planning stage, take a look at some of the myriad roof styles to see if you are inspired to start making some final decisions.

Let's start off by considering a couple popular architectural styles -- Tudor and Cape Cod. The Cape Cod style is truly a part of America's Colonial past and remains a popular choice today throughout the United States. But if you are considering a version of this type of construction, you'll want to make sure that you incorporate a gabled roof with a steep pitch. And, you may want to include roof dormers around the upstairs windows to really nail down the original look and feel.

Likewise with Tudor construction. Taken from England, this style was also highly popular in the Colonial period and continues to be found all throughout the United States. Tudor homes, because of their size and grandeur, often have multiple-gabled and cross-gabled roofs. That, in fact, is one of the distinctive features of this type of architecture and one that distinguishes it from many of the other styles. Steeply pitched roofing with multiple sections go hand and hand with the Tudor style.

These are just a couple roof styles that may help make your proposed project a little more concrete. There certainly are a multitude of other architectural roofs from which you can choose such as Hipped, Mansard, Salt Box, and many others. But taking into consideration the combination of all architectural components, roof types included, should help make the picture more clear.

Creatively choosing your roof and matching it with your home construction may make all the difference in the world. And, this consideration isn't just limited to larger, more elaborate homes. Take some of the smaller California Bungalow homes for example. A hipped roof, in this case, makes this home stand out, regardless of whether it is amply sized or a smallish 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom version.

So the next time you are planning a home-building project, independent of the size and scope of the architecture, give as much attention to your choice of roof as any of the other elements. The roof style is essentially the signature piece to each and every home.

Feel Better With Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crockpot

Chicken noodle soup has been a favorite in families for countless generations. If someone has ever made the homemade treat for you when you were not feeling well then you know just how comforting it can be.

There is evidence that as early as the 12th century healers "prescribed" chicken broth to their sick patients. The broth was poured over pieces of bread, which were known as "sops" evolving into the word we use now, "soup." And today, we finally have evidence that ingredients in chicken soup do indeed help to relieve symptoms of the common cold and similar ailments.

Amino acids in chicken that are released during the cooking process are rather similar to the chemicals in medication prescribed to patients with serious chest colds and bronchitis. Carrots, a vegetable usually found in chicken noodle soup, are an excellent source of vitamins that help to fight off infection. Onions, another primary ingredient of the soup, contain antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory agents to help fight illness.

Recipe for Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

What You Need

3 large sized carrots 2 stalks of celery 1 medium sized onion 3 pound broiler or fryer chicken 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon dried basil 3 cups water 16 ounce package noodles, uncooked

How to Make It

Clean and peel the carrots and cut into slices or small chunks. Clean and cut the celery into small pieces. Peel and cut the onion into slices.

Add the carrots and celery to the bottom of a 5 quart crockpot and place the onion slices on top.

If you are using a whole chicken, clean and cut it into large pieces while removing excess fat and the skin. Put the chicken in the crockpot atop the vegetables and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and basil.

Add the 3 cups of water to the crockpot and cook covered on the high setting for one hour. Cook the soup on the low setting for an additional 6 to 8 hours, or until the chicken is done and the vegetables are tender. You can also cook your soup completely on the low setting for 8 to 10 hours.

After cooking time is complete, carefully remove the chicken from the crockpot and set aside.

Add the package of uncooked noodles to the chicken broth in the crockpot and cover and cook on the high setting for 15 minutes. Take care not to overcook the noodles as they will become too soft and mushy. You can also cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water on the stovetop before adding them to the crockpot.

As the noodles are cooking either in the crockpot or on the stove, remove the chicken from the bone and cut into pieces.

After the noodles are done cooking, put the pieces of chicken back into the crockpot and cover. Allow all of the ingredients to sit and warm in the crockpot before serving. If your soup needs more liquid, add some hot chicken broth made from bouillon cubes and allow to warm in the crockpot for 15 minutes before serving.

The Ascent of Man

What separates man from other primates, or indeed other animals? Jacob Bronowski, a mathematician trained in physics, examines the scientific and intellectual history of humankind in his book The Ascent of Man. Though the book is based on the television series aired on BBC in the 1970s, it is far from outdated. Over 30 years after it was first published; The Ascent of Man still invokes pride in our past and instills hope for our future in the reader.

Covering a wide canvas from the dawn of man until the modern times, Bronowski examines how man has been the shaper of his surroundings rather than being shaped by it. Every other species has been adapted to fit into a certain ecological niche; they have evolved for a particular environment. Man, despite his comparatively weak physical attributes has been able to shape the world with his unique set of gifts. Bronowski believes that it was not so much biological evolution, but cultural evolution that has made man what he is today.

Tracing the evolution of human from their hunter gather phase to the present one, he says that the change in diet from plant to animal based materials gave humans more time free to spend on building capabilities to get food from sources that could not be tackled by brute force. The most marked effect of this was to foster group action and communication. The next single largest step in the ascent of man was the change from a nomadic way of life to village agriculture, made possible by a set of natural and human events. Settled agriculture creates a technology from which all sciences take off.

Taking the reader on a journey through time, Bronowski delights in the inventions and scientific discoveries made over the last ten thousand years- from the domestication of wheat in 8000 BC to the double helix structure of the DNA in the 1950s. He describes the tools that extend the human hand as an instrument of vision- they reveal new structures and make it possible to put them together in imaginative combinations.

By delving deep into the lives and thoughts of an extraordinary range of people, Bronowski discusses a wider range of complex subjects from Anthropology to Astronomy and from Mathematics to the Life Sciences. He reveals the linkages that bring together cultures by introducing us to Pythagoras, who found a basic relation between musical harmony and mathematics, Euclid, Ptolemy and Arab scholars who delighted in calculation and geometry. The author demonstrates how the spread of ideas along the trade routes - the spread of the numeral system for notation of numbers from the Arab world and the decimal system from India - changed mathematics forever.

From mathematics to astronomy is a logical step. The Mayan civilization housed their astronomers in pyramid like structures and developed calendars to trace the journey of the stars, Copernicus placed the sun at the centre of the planetary system and Galileo gave his life to prove that this was so. The lives of these people have a profound impact on the modern way of life. While no account of the ascent of man can leave out Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, Bronowski describes more than their work. He shows us how they thought and how their characters defined their work.

The Industrial Revolution was the greatest discoverer of power- a time when new sources of energy were discovered and used. With this came many of the characteristics of the modern world that we abhor- the factory system with inhuman work hours, tyrannical bosses, pollution and the domination of men by machines. While bringing these to our notice, Bronowski does not leave out the other side of this age - the delight of discovery and the sense of fun in finding new ways of doing things. He believes that this revolution is as important as the Renaissance in the ascent of man- while one established the dignity of man; the other established the unity of nature.

Describing the theory of evolution by natural selection put forward by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, Bronowski says that it was the most important single scientific innovation of the nineteenth century. It shows that the world is in movement and that creation is not static; it changes with time unlike the physical world. Another discovery that has shaped biology is one by contemporary scientists, which express the cycle of life in a chemical form that links them to nature as a whole.

Turing to the physical sciences, Bronowski says that the aim of the physical sciences has been to give an exact picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that aim is unattainable! Physicists have shown that there is no absolute knowledge; all information is imperfect and we have to treat it with humility.

In the last chapter in book, titled The Long Childhood, Bronowski goes back to what makes man human and what has made the ascent of man possible. He says, "We are all afraid - for our confidence, for the future, for the world. That is the nature of the human imagination. Yet every man, every civilization has gone forward because of its engagement with what it has set itself to do. The personal commitment of man to his skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man."

How to Make Biodiesel

Biodiesel is an environment-friendly diesel that comes from vegetable oil and diesel combination. It makes your engine work efficiently and does not harm the air you breath. Cost wise, biodiesel is quite cheaper as compared with the actual diesel. Because it is less costly, how do you think if you will learn how to make biodiesel yourself?

Of course, learning how to make biodiesel may take sometime. However, based on testimonies of people who actually make biodiesel, it is actually simple. Of course, patience is necessary including safety precautions but in general making biodiesel is easier than you think.

What you will need to make biodiesel?

1 liter of supermarket vegetable oil. Of course, you can use used oil later but in your first few batches, it is recommended that you use new vegetable oil. 200 ml of pure methanol. Pure methanol means 99% pure at the minimum check the label when you buy your methanol. Lye catalyst, use potassium hydroxide. Blender Measuring beakers for methanol and oil Half-liter translucent white HDPE container with bung and screw on cap. 2 funnels, make sure it fits in the HDPE container 3 2-litter PET bottles, 1 for settling and the 2 for washing Thermometer Make sure you accurately measure all the ingredients, your success if dependent on them. Steps on how to make biodiesel

Wipe dry all the equipments you are going to use. Mix lye and methanol. Quickly transfer your methanol into the HDPE container using the funnel. Carefully add the lye to the methanol and screw the cap tightly. Mix them by rolling the bottle a few times. Do not shake the mixture; it may be dangerous. Pre-heat the oil at 55 degrees centigrade, and put it in the blender. Add the methanol mixture to the oil in the blender. Blend the mixture at low speed for at least 20 minutes. Transfer the mixture in the PET bottle intended for settling. Leave for 12 to 24 hours. Upon settling, the mixture will have a darker bottom and a lighter top. The lighter mixture is the biodiesel. Transfer the mixture into the washing bottle and add water, bubble wash for several times. There you have it your very own biodiesel. Test your product, make sure that it works the way you want it. Make another batch if necessary test again.

Five Thoughts about Effective Communication

Communicating effectively can sometimes be difficult to do. So here are some thoughts, based on borrowed wisdom, on how to communicate clearly - and make a better connection with the other person too.

"To get your ideas across use small words, big ideas, and short sentences." ~ John Henry Patterson.

Keep it simple and don't use jargon. Adjust your style according to who you are communicating with. Take responsibility by checking frequently that the other person understands the message you are trying to convey - don't assume that your message is always clear.

"People who talk only of themselves think only of themselves." ~ Dale Carnegie.

Find out about the other person. Focus on the other person - their needs, their wants, their situation. Build rapport instead of barriers. Show respect for them and for their views.

"One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories." ~ Rebecca Falls.

Giving someone space in which to talk and allowing them to follow through their ideas without fear of interruption is a most valuable gift. Listen. And switch off your mobile phone!

"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." ~ Stephen Covey.

Be in the moment and give the speaker your full attention. Say "what else do you need to tell me about this?" Summarise key points that show you have been listening actively and ask questions that will help clarify your understanding of the issue.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." ~ Mother Teresa.

Be nice! Acknowledge someone's efforts and achievements, praise them, pay them a sincere compliment.

Copyright Jackie Fletcher 2005

How To Light Up Your Home?

Many people like to arrange family parties at home. For this, they require their house to be in a well-organized condition. But how one can decorate his home when there are lots of options available? Beside other options, one could focus on the core of house decor for example, the lighting section. If you have placed glowing lighting fixtures, your house will always be a sign of glimpse. Once, you have made your decision on it; why not start with purchasing an ornamental incandescent with its lamp parts and lamp supplies? It can be a good start and you will also have an idea that how you light up your house.

If you keep the decor aside, lighting is still an important part of anyone's house. You cannot see, study nor do anything if your house is dull. Even if you have got the top quality furniture in your house, it just looks futile and pastel if it lacks proper lighting. No matter which room of the house it is, a bedroom, a study room, a dining room or a family room, lights play a very important role in your house.

The appearance of each and every object in your house depends upon the way you have lighted it. If any room is not having the proper lighting, it would not appeal to the eye and an otherwise nice decor will have a major lacking. If you have realized why lighting is important then hopefully you will start working on different methods to organize your house lighting aspect.

There are three methods of lighting in your house:

Background lighting:

The background lighting is one of a type of backdrop lighting in which curtains are drop to give a shade of light. It is one of the methods which brighten up the interiors of the house. You can apply this method in all of your rooms to glow the color and decor of the rooms. This is a common method which people normally apply in their drawing and living rooms of the house.

General lighting:

General lighting is a common applied method in every house. This method includes the procedure of setting the lights in series or by any other means to expose the appearance of the house and its rooms. Illumination of the house is based on general lighting. It includes putting the bulbs, incandescent, savers or starter lights in your rooms to cover every portion of the house with proper illumination. The basic objective of general lighting is to bring the right illumination from the first to the last corner of the house.

Task lighting:

This method is also very common as you can find many homes using task lighting. Study rooms, lodges or dining rooms are found with task lighting fixtures. The objective of this method is to direct the light on the object so that a person can perform his activity in the right way. Study rooms and galleries are often found with task standing incandescent. The purpose is to provide good lighting to the room for the reader.

Is Staying Offline For Long Periods An Effective Remedy Against Spyware?

There are those who believe that since spyware can only cause you harm when you are online, an effective remedy against this menace is to stay offline for long periods.

Those who have this view point to the fact that the old dial up connection to the Internet tend to have much less trouble with spyware than the new DSL cable connections of these days. So how true is this? Can somebody protect themselves completely from spyware by being online only for brief stints?

Now while it is true that spyware thrives on a constant connection to the Internet over several hours during the day, this does not mean that one is completely safe by staying offline for long periods of time during the day. Assuming that this was a practical thing to do (it is not feasible for most people) one can still get seriously affected by Spyware. Remember that spyware does not require many hours to do serious damage. All that is required is a few brief minutes and your PC has been infected. It is also a fact that Spyware does not require hours to transmit information on the net that has been captured from your site. All it requires is less than a minute and your confidential data will be in the hands of some very nasty people.

Then there are the other problems that spyware causes to a PC that will still affect it even when it has been pulled offline from the World Wide Web. For instance certain pop ups associated with spyware are able to function comfortably without an Internet connection. Meaning that you will still be interrupted by the highly annoying pop ups. Not to mention the fact that if your PC has slowed down considerably as a result of spyware-related problems, pulling off the Internet plug will do little to remedy the situation.

Solving Your Personal Debt Crisis

Have you financially over-extended yourself to the point where you can no longer keep up with your debt? Perhaps you have lost your well-paying job and are now trying to live on unemployment benefits. You have been running yourself ragged trying to locate another job, but the opportunities are few. You may have to settle for employment that pays you a fraction of what you used to earn, and you know you just can't make it on those lower wages. Meanwhile, your creditors are calling and demanding payments that you just don't have. No amount of explaining is getting you anywhere-they simply want their money, and they will continue to call and harass you until you do something about it.

Can you work with these creditors on your own? Well, you can certainly try, but chances are you really won't make much progress. You don't have the training or the expertise needed to deal with these people, and many creditors are quite adept at intimidating those who owe money. Your best option is to let a professional credit counselor speak on your behalf, and you can do this once you decide to take your financial troubles to a credit counseling agency. This service will be able to accomplish far more, and in a much shorter time than you would should you attempt it on your own. If you have debt that is more than you can handle, a credit counselor can help reduce it for you by negotiating a lower rate of interest.

Once the counselor has evaluated your situation, he or she will discuss what options you have, and how you can begin to get your debt and other obligations under control. It may be suggested that a debt management program is the best way for you to go. What this means is that all your unsecured debt can be consolidated into one sum, and you would be required to make one payment each month that will be dispersed equally to each creditor. Unsecured debt would include all your credit cards, any personal loans, credit accounts at department stores, and any medical bills you may have. This does not include your home mortgage payments or vehicle loans you may have, or anything else you have supplied collateral for.

Participating in the debt management program means that your credit counselor will negotiate a lower rate of interest for you which will result in a lower, more manageable payment. Most of the money you pay right now goes toward interest, which is why it takes literally forever to pay off that credit card debt. Once most of your payment is applied to the principle, the payoff time is greatly reduced. Many people become free of this debt in as a little as three to five years. That's not bad considering you might have been paying for thirty years at minimum payment rates. Of course, all situations are different, and this program may not be the one for you. Your counselor will have other options and suggestions should the debt management program not fit your needs.

If you do choose this particular program, you must be informed that your overall credit scores may be adversely affected to some degree. It may also result in a negative result if you try to get additional credit while you are in the program, apply for a vehicle or home loan, or obtain some other type of financing. It is better to stick with the confines of your budget, make your monthly payment, and wait until the program is finished and you are debt free before you try to rebuild your credit. Your personal counselor will explain all the details to you before you make the decision to participate. He or she will go over in detail all the stipulations and benefits of a debt management program, and then leave the final decision to you. If you come to the conclusion that this really is your best option, the counselor will then contact your creditors to let them know that you are entering into the program, negotiate on your behalf, and make arrangements for you to set up an account to make the monthly payment that is due. This really is a great way for people to pay off their debt and know that they will be financially free in a very short number of years.

Building and Soundproofing a Home Recording Studio

"How do I soundproof my garage, basement, or a bedroom in my single family house or condo so my 4 piece rock band can practice and record and not bother the neighbors?"

If I had a dollar for every time I was asked this question, I would be in the Bahamas right now, instead of writing this article. Many factors need to be considered prior to beginning your studio or practice room-soundproofing project. Some of the questions you should be asking yourself are: What type of amplification will the band be using, are the drums going to be acoustic and miked or are they digital. Are you going to be recording live late at night or are we going to be doing "line in" recording only? These questions and many more need to be considered before the actual construction begins. If live recording and rehearsal are the plan, then maximum soundproofing will be needed. The most effective way to soundproof a garage, basement, or bedroom is to actually construct a room within a room (go to http://www.auralex.com) and download the free booklet "Acoustics 101", this is a wonderful resource for the home studio builder.

Their ideas are solid and applicable to any studio-soundproofing project. The room within a room concept utilizes the sealed dead air space that is captured between the inner walls and the outer walls to help greatly with the soundproofing endeavor. It is probably easiest to frame the walls on the floor and then tilt them up into place thus making dry walling the outside of the walls much easier. It is also highly recommended that another ceiling be joisted out for the room within a room, however, this is often times not possible due to space constraints.

In this case, the existing ceiling and ceiling joists may be used as the ultimate ceiling for the studio, provided that it is adequately soundproofed with materials such as the mass loaded vinyl or a combination of closed cell foam mat and MLV. I will elaborate on these materials, as we get further into this article. Once the walls are framed out and the right amount of "Dead air space" is determined, then it is time to install the soundproofing. The first order of business is to consider what needs to be done to the wall cavities prior to installing a barrier and finally the wallboard. I like to line the inside cavities with a closed cell vinyl nitrile foam mat such as American Mat. This mat (generally 1/4" thickness) is adhered to the inside cavity walls as well as the studs and joists using a contact cement to adhere the mat. Keep in mind that the American Mat is used to line the cavities only, not to fill the cavity. If thermal insulation is needed, use products such as rock wool, mineral wool, cut wool fibers, or my favorite, Roxul. Roxul is a great thermal rock wool based batt type insulation that has great soundproofing qualities. If thermal insulation is a requirement for the practice room or studio, then Roxul is the way to go.

Now we come to a crossroads, it is time to determine if decoupling the walls using resilient channels or American Sound clips is a necessity. De coupling is used when impact transmission or low frequency noise is a factor. Impact would come primarily from the drums (acoustic type) or the bass amplifier. However, if the band is using Marshall high powered amps (50 watt amps with 4 X 12 cabinets for example) along with miked acoustic drums and an Ampeg bass system, then decoupling will most likely be necessary. These methods and procedures will be explained in later articles. If decoupling were determined to be unnecessary, then the next step would be to find a good barrier material such as American mass loaded vinyl (which is a high grade mass loaded vinyl barrier). This barrier could be stapled directly to the studwork on a wall assembly or directly to the joists. This is a method that is used if cost or space constraints are factors. If the barrier material is to be stapled directly to the stud or joist framing then it is best that the seams be over lapped, caulked (using OSI acoustical caulking compound) and then taped with either a lead tape or a heavy-duty PVC seam tape.

Once the Mass Loaded vinyl (MLV) is installed and sealed, it is time to install the final layer of drywall. I always recommend using 5/8" drywall as the final layer because of its mass and its sound blocking abilities. . It is always advisable to butter the edges of the last layer of drywall with acoustical caulk. You want to grab every STC (sound transmission class) point you can when trying to make your new studio as soundproof as possible. Finally you will tape mud and paint your final layer of drywall. Now you have a great soundproof home recording studio. We will discuss acoustical treatments for your studio in subsequent articles, but for now you are well on your way to having a professional grade-recording studio in your home.