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Much has been written about building wind generators at home to offset the cost of power and more notably to decrease the need for power production at utility plants thereby helping the environment. Many of the plans that are offered up show the potential builder how electricity can be produced. The issue however is not how to “make ” electricity for many potential buyers. It is more an issue of how do we use the electricity we have produced? I have seen many articles written on this subject, many claiming wind generators can be built for 100 dollars or less. This type of “marketing” has led to much confusion with consumers in the wind energy community. I would like to make two points with this article.

First there are basically two types of systems. The first is grid tied interactive, these systems allow power to be stored in batteries and then the excess power that is made to flow directly into the home owners power grid thereby offsetting the need for power from the utility company. Another variation of this is the direct grid tie which operates the same as above but does not use batteries. These systems are somewhat limited in that there are currently few products on the market and most of them do not have UL listings. The SMA windy boy is an example of a product that is direct grid tie connected and has UL certifications but they are currently back ordered and very scarce. These systems are great but they are usually quite expensive and in many case are well over one thousand dollars. They use pure sine wave technology and generate power equivalent in quality in most cases to that of the utility company

Second are off grid systems. These systems can be as simple as hooking a power inverter to a battery bank. The banks are usually made with 12 – 24 or 48 volt systems. A 3000 watt power inverter can be purchase for around 250 dollars. The problem with these cheaper power inverters are they utilize modified sine wave technology and may or may not power sensitive electronics. In the case it does it could be bad for the sensitive items and shorten service life. Additionally who wants to run an extension cord out to the cheap power inverter to power the items in the house? Pure sine wave grid ties are available for off grid applications as well but they generally have the higher cost associated with the grid tie interactive.

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With Christmas right around the corner, my family has decided to chip in and buy my grandmother a new computer. This will be her very first computer EVER and we are all very excited. So, what sparked the whole computer idea? You might be surprised at the answer: Facebook.

I was at my grandmother’s home recently and had brought along my laptop to do some work as well as show her some pictures of family when I logged into my Facebook account really quickly to respond to someone about something. She asked what it was all about, and after I explained to her in terms that she could understand, she was sold. Currently, my grandmother (who is pushing 80) stays extremely active by crocheting, knitting, playing tons of Scrabble and emailing her family and friends using a service called WebTv. WebTv is a type of Internet service that uses a television and a cable connection in order to connect to the Internet. It is very similar to having dial-up.

While WebTv has worked well for her over the past five or six years, the connection to the Internet it slow, and she is extremely limited in what she can do over the Internet. In the past, other family members have tried to encourage her to get a “real” Internet service as well as an actual computer, but she has been resistant to change until I came along. Her growing fascination with the Internet isn’t something that happened overnight. I’ve been noticing little bits of interest here and there whenever I’ve gone to visit her in the not too distant past- only I haven’t really said anything until Christmas time rolled around.

You see, the Internet is great for a lot of reasons. It opens up a world of possibility, ideas, innovations and things to keep you interested. And for someone like my grandmother, who is older, there have been studies conducted which claim that those people who use a computer on a regular basis actually have less instances of developing degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, etc. It’s about keeping your mind engaged. It’s about thinking. Even something as simple as sending an email to someone requires both hand and eye coordination to use a keyboard and a mouse. You have to think about what you want to say and type it out. These are things that we take for granted when we are younger.

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India is a country of color, of unity in diversity and of culture. It’s a land of the saints and seers. It’s a land where languages change every six miles. At the behest of a technically demanding world, India has now also turned into a trusted destination where software development firms have invested in millions and results have already been quite satisfactory. Abundance of human resource, good connectivity with all global destinations and investment friendly environment make India a top choice for foreign firms for outsourcing. Offshore development India firms working on behalf of parent European countries now offer all types of software solutions at really attractive rates. Hence, growth and investment have shown a decent merge.

Software development firms in India work on all types of software projects. Industry and firm specific custom software development projects are also brilliantly handled by the India outsourced software companies. An offshore development company India also boasts of satisfying regular back-office, helpdesk and supports processes. Read more…

Most productive people use some form of a work plan to sort out what they need to do and to guide them when they are doing the work.

People generally agree that they need a work plan for new work, but often feel that planning takes too long and it is better to just get on with the job.

This article explains how to develop powerful work plans in less than 10 minutes using a simple one page work plan template.

Work is usually done more efficiently when a work plan is followed. Work plans range from a simple list of the actions required to get the work done to more detailed plans that include the information required for people to work together (collaborate) effectively.

Over 15 years ago, TASKey developed a simple one page work plan template that has been used by thousands of people for fast powerful work planning. A free copy of the blank work plan template, instructions and completed examples are provided for your personal use at www.taskey.com/Portals/0/Work Plans.pdf Read more…