Stay Alive: Earthquake Emergency Preparation Tips

Earthquakes are among the most devastating natural disasters. What makes it more annihilating is the fact that there is no precise way of predicting when an earthquake may occur. The most effective tactic to minimize the effects of earthquakes in human lives is to make adequate earthquake emergency preparations. During an earthquake, you will feel the ground shaking or rolling. If the movement of the Earth's crust is really violent, you might even hear the ground rumbling or roaring. These earthquake characteristics may cause you to panic and eventually jeopardize your chance of survival. While strong and devastating earthquakes seldom happen, even in places located in the Earth's ring of fire, it is imperative that you have an emergency plan so that you and your family can stay safe. Here are a few pointers to remember to keep you prepared for an earthquake. Practice Makes Safety The key to being safe during an earthquake is having quick reaction. As soon as the ground shakes violently, you should know what to do as if by instincts. To be able to react fast during earthquakes, you must regularly conduct earthquake drills. This will keep you on your feet when the real thing comes. Plan Your Home Structure If you are living in a place that is frequented by earthquakes, you must plan your home in such a way that it will not become your deathbed. Use light materials for your home and provide ample exit ways to run to during emergencies. Collapsing home and building materials commonly cause injuries and deaths during earthquakes; and to avoid this, you must make sure that most of your home structure and appliances are not heavy enough to crush you. Make sure also that your place has strong doorways or doorframes; as statistically these places are the most likely places that can withstand earthquakes. Fasten tall and heavy fixtures to the wall. And ensure that your cabinets have latches so that whatever they contain will not fall out during an earthquake. Plan For Everybody Everybody in your office or home should know your emergency plan for an earthquake. Make sure that everybody understands the procedures to perform whenever the big shaker happens. Coordination is an important survival aspect particularly after the earthquake. Know Your Place Knowing where to run and hide for cover during an earthquake may save your life and limbs. Learn the safe spots of your home or office. And practice going to these safe spots so that you can immediately react by going into these places during an actual earthquake. Also plan a meeting place for your officemates or family where all of you can gather yourselves up after an earthquake. Delegate Responsibilities In your office or within your family, assign duties that everybody must perform during earthquakes. Earthquake preparation should never be a one-man job. Your officemates and family members should be made to understand of what to do, especially if you are not with them during an earthquake. Have Emergency Kits On Standby Finally, you must have a number of emergency kits ready in the office or at home. These kits must have the bare essentials that can help preserve life during emergencies. From drinking water, food, to first aid materials, your emergency kits will be your lifelines. Make sure that everybody knows where these emergency kits are kept.

Carpet Cleaning

Although vacuum cleaning can remove a majority of the dry soil, it is also necessary to clean your carpet on a frequent basis to remove the oily, sticky soil that builds up in the pile as a result of odors and dirt that is tracked in from outside. If you can clean the carpet before it becomes too bad, the cleaning chore will be easier to do and a lot more successful. There is a myth that is totally false, which states that cleaning the carpet before it is necessary will get it dirtier faster. The carpet with the typical household should be cleaned every 12 - 18 months depending on the number of people living there and the amount of traffic that walks on the carpet. The choice of the right vacuum is important as well. There are some vacuums that will leave residues behind, which will promote re-soiling and basically defeat the whole purpose of household cleaning. Professional carpet cleaners It is in your best interest to use professional cleaners simply because their experience will enable them to do a much better job than you can do yourself. The equipment they use has more extraction power than the units available to you, and the carpet will dry faster as well. They know the cleaning agents to use, and they know the differences in carpet construction and fibers. Doing it yourself If you have made the decision to rent a steam cleaning machine and do the job yourself, you should check on several systems before you make a selection. Most of the units available for rent don't clean well enough and may end up damaging your carpet. Therefore, you should always consider the following: - Several rental companies offer cleaning equipment that is similar to what the professionals use. The equipment should have enough vacuum power to allow the carpet to dry within 12 hours of cleaning. You should always avoid rental units found in retail and grocery stores that don't have the power to extract the cleaning solution from the carpet fast enough, as it can actually damage the carpet due to over wetting. - Make sure you avoid over wetting the carpet. Any prolonged dampness can lead to mildew growth and bacteria in the carpet, or cause a seperation of the backing. A wet carpet that stays this way for longer than 24 hours can develop problems. You can control this by using proper equipment and the right training. - Carpets that have stain resistant treatments have to be cleaned with products that are formulated for this very purpose, or the stain resistance will be impaired and the warranty will be voided. Never use cleaning or spotting solutions that contain bleaches as they can mess up the color of the carpet. - Never use any silicone based treatments on the carpet. - You can help to reduce the drying time by using several fans to move the air around the carpet. You can use a dehumidifier as well, as it will pull moisture from the air. Hot water extraction The hot water extraction system is highly recommended, as it considered to be one of the best methods for carpet cleaning. Also known as steam cleaning, the process consists of spraying a mixture of water and detergent into the pile and recovering the water and soil with a powerful vacuum that puts it into a holding tank. You can use a truck mounted unit or a portable self contained unit as well. This method is easily one of the best, and is ideal for soiled carpets or pet stains that you have yet to get out of the fibers. PPPPP (word count 605)

What to look out for in Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease is a slow brain disorder the eats away the brain functions little by little. The disease develops completely between seven to 10 years. As it progresses, the disease affects various brain functions like memory, movement, judgment, abstract reasoning and even one's behavior. Because of the long development stage of the disease, Alzheimer's has been categorized into three levels which described its progression. These are mild, moderate and severe. These categories defined the disease from early (mild) to middle (moderate) until the final (severe) stages of the disease. During the early stages of the disease, the symptoms are less noticeable and are often times left unchecked and considered trivial by family members and even the patient themselves. Among the early and classic signs Alzheimer's disease is the gradual loss of short-term memory. At times, they find to be at lost while performing normal activities. Or they might get disoriented and get lost in places that they have been before. Also, at this stage, people afflicted with the disease may experience lapses of judgment and slight changes in personality. Mood swings and personality changes will start to worsen as the disease progress. Moreover, attention span is reduced because of the presence of the brain disorder. People with Alzheimer's tend to be less motivated to complete activities or tasks. Furthermore, they become more stubborn and would oppose changes and new challenges set forth before them. These are the general conditions or symptoms of people with the disease. The symptoms vary from person to person. Moreover, some other symptoms include speech problems, failure to identify or recognize objects, no recalling how to use simple, ordinary things like a pencil, and not remembering to turn off the lights, stove, or even lock doors and windows. As the disease progresses so do the symptoms. However, if one acquires or notice the presence of some of the symptoms it does not necessarily mean that one has already been afflicted with the disease. Loss of memory for example might be just a normal cause of aging or other normal factors. Memory loss in Alzheimer's is more frequent. People with the disease will more frequently forget words or names during conversations. And because they become conscious of their forgetfulness, they tend to avoid conversations and would rather keep quiet in order to avoid mistakes and embarrassments. They will then become withdrawn which can cause a myriad of other problems like depression and anti-social behaviors. Other things that might happen are the discovery of things in odd places. One might find books inside freezers, clothes in dishwasher and even plates in washing machines. People with Alzheimer's will ask questions repeatedly up to the point that it becomes irritating. They can be provoked quite easily and can surprisingly flare up in anger. Even though no cure has yet been discovered or developed for Alzheimer's, there are ways that have been created to delay the progression of the disease. Earlier symptoms of the disease respond well to various treatments. Because the rate of progression differs from person to person, severe dementia occurs within five years to a decade after diagnosis. Because of present treatments and medications, some people diagnosed with Alzheimer's can live more than 10 years after diagnosis. Some even live up to 20 years after the initial diagnosis was made. It is a fact that most people with Alzheimer's don't die of the disease itself, but of infections and other tertiary diseases like pneumonia, or urinary tract infection or complications resulting from concussions.

Carpet Cleaning Tips

Tip 1 Make sure that you get a deep cleaning of the carpet as often as it is needed. To achieve a clean carpet, you'll need to have it cleaned by a professional or you'll need to use a deep cleaning machine. There are advantages and disadvantages to this method, although a thorough cleaning is needed every six months or so. Tip 2 Keep your eye out for spills and take care of them in a quick manner to keep your carpet clean. Simply using water on a spill will help most of them. If that doesn't work, simply expand your search. You'll find several products out there on the market that can help you get rid of spills quick. The products range in use and can be helpful when matching them with the different types of spills. You can also use a mixture of water and vinegar to help you keep stains out. By taking immediate action you can prevent spills from becoming stains that leave you with a dirty and messy carpet. Tip 3 A clean carpet is a carpet that has been taken care of very well. You should always take the time to vacuum your carpet often and make sure you do a good job. This means going over the floor in several directions to allow the vaccum time to pick up all it can. High quality vacuums are the best choice, as they get up the most debris. Tip 4 The proper use of entrance will greatly help to clean off people's shoes and keep most of the tracked soils off the surface of the carpet. You should always use entrance mats outside of your doors and make sure that anyone who enters your home use the mats to help get debris and dirt off of their shoes before they enter. You can also take off your shoes and request that guests do the same, prior to entering your home. Around 80% of the soils that enter a building or home are dry. The remaining 20% are greases, oils, and starches. The dry soil types are easily removed by vacuuming. As long as they are removed on a daily basis, it will help to minimize the damage to the carpet. Maintaining and keeping a clean carpet is more than just healthy, as it can also help to prolong the life of the carpet. If you have just laid the carpet, you are already aware of the expenses involved with doing so. Even if you haven't had this done, you probably know the benefits of keeping a clean carpet. A clean carpet will add value to the home if it is maintained well. It will also help to keep the home free from odors as well. Also, it will help to make a comfortable living area for your friends and your family. PPPPP (word count 476)

Finding Out Early On About Alzheimers

Alzheimers is an extremely debilitating disease. Presently, there are no known cure or treatment for this irreversible threat to a mature person's mental and personal health. Once a person has been diagnosed with Alzheimers, the duration and course of the disease will vary from five up to twenty years. Within the course of the disease, the sufferer will go through a whole range of deterioration from slight short term memory loss to the loss of normal bodily functions that cause complications and infections that then turns into death. While the prospect of Alzheimers disease is truly grim, there continues to be steady breakthroughs from experts that help hope persist that eventually, prevention and cure for Alzheimers may be found. Before that though, there are lot of questions to be answered and the race to find the cure continues. Despite this, it is important to take note of the early signs of Alzheimers, for friends loved ones and yourself. Taking note of the early signs of Alzheimers will help everyone involved prepare and understand all that is entailed in arranging for care and what to expect as the illness progresses. It is important to be on the lookout for early signs of Alzheimers if you or someone you care for is nearing the age of 65 or if there is known cases al Alzheimers in the family. Below are some early signs of Alzheimers to look out for. Downscale While memory loss is commonly mentioned as the one of the early signs of Alzheimers, it has been noted that unexplained and sudden weight loss usually occurs within individuals who suffer from Alzheimers. They have found that the weight loss happens way before any actually memory loss begins. If you or someone you care about begins to lose weight unexpectedly, consult your doctor for probable cause and if there are no reasons found then you should have tests for Alzheimers done. Forgetfulness The most common early sign of Alzheimers is the loss of short term memory. More often than not, at the very early stages, this short term memory loss often goes unnoticed so it is important to pay close attention and see if it is normal memory loss or is it an early sign of Alzheimers. While everyone will forget something once in a while, but Alzheimers sufferer never recall back what has been lost. So pay attention for peculiar incidences of short term memory loss that result in the distress, however much slight, in everyday routine. Disability Alzheimers will rob one of the ability to do the things that used to come second nature to them. It is as if the individual with Alzheimers can no longer remember or are familiar with tasks or actions that used to be part of their everyday routine. Watch out for this telltale sale that is quite an indicator included in the early signs of Alzheimers disease. More Changes Another early sign of Alzheimers is the increasing problem of communication. Often, people with Alzheimers will have a difficult time communicating because they begin to lose their ability to handle language. They begin to forget simple words and terms and their sentence construction begin to be difficult to understand. There can also be a change in behavior or mood that is not normal for the person with Alzheimers disease. Over and above moodiness, a person with Alzheimers can switch moods or behavior without reason.

Carpet Choices

When you select carpet for your home, you have many things to consider and many different options to weigh as well. Carpets come in many different colors and styles, textures and fibers, and there are many different qualities to choose from as well. The two most popular choices of carpet today are the loop pile and cut pile. Loop pile has individual strands of yarn pulled through the backing of the carpet twice, which creates a small loop. The cut pile has the loop cut at the top, leaving tufts of yarn that stand straight up. Cut pile is normally more durable than looped pile. Cut piles come in many styles, such as shag, textured, saxony, and velvet. Loop pile choices include berber, cable, or sisal. For high traffic areas, loop pile is an excellent choice. One of the factors with choosing your carpet is the cost. Even though there is nothing more luxurious than having wool carpeting in your home, most of us can't afford wool. If you are able to afford wool carpeting you'll find that even though it costs more to install, it will prove to be far more superior than any other type of carpeting. There is no man made carpet fiber that come close to the durability, rich look, or even the feel of wool - which can also last for 30 years or more. Acrylic carpeting is very similar to wool, and sometimes referred to as man made wool. It is resistant to moisture, fading, mildew, crushing, and staining, although it isn't recommended for high traffic areas. Nylon carpeting is also popular, as it is recommended for high traffic areas. Nylon is one of the most expensive types of synthetic fibers, although it is still cheaper than wool. Olefin is a low cost carpet material, often used for indoor or outdoor carpeting. Olefin is colorfast and strong, very easy to clean. One of the draw backs to olefin is that it can easily be crushed. Another consideration you'll have is the color and patterns of the carpet. Light carpeting colors help to create a spacious effect, making the room appear to be larger. Light color carpets will of course, show much more soil than dark colors. If you have pets around the house or little kids, dark colors may be your best bet. There are many different varieties of dark colors, which is great for those interested in style. Dark colors are ideal for stains or pets, as they don't show soiled areas near as much as light colored carpets. If you end up selecting light colors around pets or little kids, you'll find yourself having to work twice as hard to make stains less noticeable. It would be easier and also smarter to select a dark color and make it easier on yourself. PPPPP (word count 470)