Green Real Estate Appraiser

Protecting Your Online Privacy

Posted on August 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Take some simple steps and protect your online privacy.

1. Check sites like Spokeo, Intelius or US Identify to see what information has been gathered about you through public sources. If you don’t want all the information accessible, refer to the company’s instructions on removing your name and visit PrivacyChoice.org to see how to block online marketers from tracking your online activities.

2. Don’t do or post things online that you wouldn’t do or say to someone in person.

3. Be cautious about whom you befriend online.

4. Think before posting photos on networking sites, and whether you want to “tag” them with people’s names. Your intent may be to keep them private, but they could eventually get into the hands of hackers and marketers.

5. Set your Facebook privacy settings to Friends Only; recheck your privacy settings regularly, as defaults can change when Facebook introduces new features.

6. Don’t answer “get to know you” question games on Facebook or elsewhere; your answers can provide fodder for database marketers, and you don’t know how they ultimately will be used.

7. Lean to use the privacy settings on your internet browser.

8. Use different passwords for your financial transactions and your social networking sites.

For more information visit PrivacyChoice.org, Privacyrights.org and ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm

Disclaimer: For Information and Entertainment Purposes Only

Eat Your Yard – Alternative to Sod

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Consider replacing the typical landscape with decorative borders of herbs, rainbow chard and striking paprika peppers. Instead of the fleeting color of spring azaleas, try the year-round beauty of blueberries—or pear and plum trees, which put on a spring show of flowers, have colorful summer fruits and produce yellow fall foliage. These plants aren’t just pretty—they provide healthy food and save money and resources

Edible landscapes offer these incredible benefits:

Energy Savings: Food from your yard requires no shipping and little refrigeration. Plus, conventional farms use a large amount of energy to plow, plant, spray and harvest produce—planting and picking tomatoes in your front yard requires a miniscule amount by comparison.

Food Safety: You know which chemicals (if any) you use.

Water Savings: Tests show that most home gardeners use less than half the water to produce the same crop compared with large-scale agricultural production. Drip irrigation saves even more.

Money Savings: You can grow an unbelievable amount of food in a small, beautiful space. When I meticulously calculated the value of a 100-square-foot edible landscape I grew a couple of summers ago, I was amazed to find it had saved me more than $700! (Visit rosalindcreasy.com for exact figures for some popular crops.)

Better Nutrition: Fully ripe, just-picked, homegrown fruits and vegetables provide more vitamins and nutrients than supermarket produce, which is usually picked under-ripe and is days or weeks old when you eat it.

Disclaimer: For Information and Entertainment Purposes Only

The Future of Solar Cells – Printed on Ordinary Paper

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created ultrathin paper cells that gather enough juice to power a LCD clock and can be glued to a briefcase, stapled to a hat or folded into a pocket. The research is a first step toward a cheap and lightweight source of renewable energy that, within two years, may be used for everything from charging an iPad to warming up clothing.

Disclaimer: For Information and Entertainment Purposes Only

Protecting Your Online Privacy

Eat Your Yard – Alternative to Sod

The Future of Solar Cells – Printed on Ordinary Paper

Follow Blog