What is flood insurance? It is a risk management tool available to home owners and property owners to protect themselves in case a flood disaster happens and affect their property. Flood insurance is mostly purchased by individuals who have properties in areas with higher risks of flooding.

However, individuals who have properties in moderate to low risk areas are also advised to purchase flood insurance to be on the safer side. This is because floods are a natural disaster that can happen anywhere and at any time. Floods can arise as a result of various situations e.g. during severe rain storms, poor drainage systems, broken water mains and many more. Some of the challenges brought about by floods include:

· Water related communicable diseases

The flood calamity brings about water related and vector borne diseases such as bilharzia, cholera, diarrhoea, and hepatitis E, which can be very fatal to man. These diseases are brought about when sanitized water systems get contaminated by breakage of sewer pumps and therefore water becomes unclean for drinking and home use as it can evoke fears of water related diseases.

· Destruction of property and crops

Floods as a natural disaster also cause massive destruction of property and crops. Home owners, property owners count many losses during such tragedies. Some Insurance companies advise their clients on the benefits of buying flood insurance which helps them rebuild their lives after the ordeal.

· Human and animal deaths

Floods also bring about loss of lives. Human beings and animals die as a result of this natural disaster. People that live along the lakes and rivers, people who live near the bottom of a hill or mountain are prone to the risks of being affected by floods. In addition to that, animals are swept away and die in the process when this calamity arises.

· Damage of infrastructure

Electricity and road transport are also interfered with as a result of floods. Movement from one place to another is made almost impossible. Electricity is in turn cut off. The government has to come with measures or rather arrangements to remedy this situation.

In conclusion, it is necessary to put in preventive measures especially if you live in flood prone areas. It is better to be safe than sorry. You should buy yourself a flood insurance policy to ensure you are covered when such a situation occurs or move to an area that is less prone to floods.

The Suzuki ACC 100 is rare model from the A-series of commuter motorcycles manufactured by this Japanese company in the late 1960s and during the 70s. As the name suggests, this motorcycle was an offshoot of the popular A 100 model, which was selling well in the global market. Riders liked the A 100 for its simplicity, easy of operation and low thirst for petrol. With the ACC 100, they also got a little bit more power.

Both motorcycles shared the same 98cc engine, a tried and tested single-cylinder, two-stroke engine. Suzuki retained their automatic oil pump CCI system for lubrication, a welcome feature in an early 1970’s Japanese motorcycle. The rotary valve engine of the Suzuki A 100 produced around 9.3 hp at 7500 rpm. On a long stretch of road, it could take the bike up to 100 kmph. In the ACC 100, Suzuki engineers tweaked the engine to coax out 10 hp at 8000 rpm. Since the kerb weight of the bike remained the same at 83 kgs, the ACC 100 was able to cross the ton mark, reporting top speeds of 110 mph. For a factory spec 100cc Japanese motorcycle of the 1970s, this was pretty good performance!

There were a few other structural modifications. The Suzuki ACC 100 got a new, up swept exhaust, along with unique tank designs and body colour schemes. Petrol capacity stayed at 7 liters, making the Suzuki ACC 100 a good city or town bike with very short legs. The A 100 wore 2.50 x 18 tires on both wheels, which were enough for basic street riding. On the ACC 100, Suzuki kept the same front tyre but introduced wider 2.75 x 18 rubber for the rear wheel. This provided the more powerful bike with better traction. Strangely, the ACC 100 did not come with dual disc brakes as factory standard. Like in the A 100, dual drum brakes tried to do their best. Most owners added at least a front disc for a safer riding experience.

Manufactured only between 1970 and 72, the Suzuki ACC 100 is a pretty rare classic Japanese motorcycle. There are few surviving bikes and even fewer in riding condition. However, demand from collectors keeps prices respectable, especially if the bike has been treated well. Like other Suzuki A models, good quality spare parts are still available, with many being interchangeable. With the right kit, a restored Suzuki ACC 100 can still turn heads with its 70s styling and surprising performance.

The bowl gouge is manufactured to very high standards and is probably the most used tool owned by many turners. In the past, the tools were hand forged from carbon steel and came in all shapes and sizes. Today we have quality M2 HSS (High Speed) steels that give us a tool that takes and holds its edge for a lot longer. In addition to the HSS steel there is also Powder Metallurgy (PM). PM is a metal-forming process performed by heating compacted metal powders to just below their melting points.

Gouge made for HSS steel will have a hardness between 62 to 64 degrees Rockwell, and a Gouge made from PM steel will have a hardness between 66 to 68 degrees Rockwell. Keep in mind that the alloys used in making HSS or PM can vary which lead to different variations of hardness. The hardness quoted above is from Crown Tools who manufacture Woodturning Tools in Sheffield England.

A typical bowl gouge is manufactured from solid bar with a deep flute milled along two-thirds of the length of the bar. The flute is milled in such a way that the shavings will be ejected from the tool without clogging while making a cut. There are some profiles however, that have quite narrow flute profiles and these unfortunately have a tendency to clog up with shavings created by the tool.

Bowl gouges normally have much longer handles than spindle turning tools to allow the user better control. They also have deeper flutes in relation to the bar size than a spindle gouge. They can be ground in a variety of ways; from square to a swept-back grind of varying degrees. These are often referred to as: Celtic/Irish grind, Ellsworth grind and long-grind bowl gouges. There are also many other names for these grinds. Individual turners have their own personal variations on these for various reasons; no grind is right or wrong.

“Rub the bevel”, turners often use this term, but I wonder how many truly understand what it means? My understanding is that the tool at its cutting edge requires bevel support to allow the tool to cut in a controlled manner. The amount of support relies upon how heavy the cut is: if it is a light cut then less bevel support is required. As the cut becomes heavier, the amount of bevel support required is increased as the edge cuts deeper into the wood. The edge has to submarine below the surface to achieve a cut. The depth of cut is limited by three elements: bevel length, lathe power and the ability of the turner. The amount of true bevel contact is actually much less than expected; the resin build-up just behind the edge is the actual amount of bevel contact that has occurred. The “dreaded catch” is a result of insufficient bevel support for the attempted cut. The gouge should be presented to the turning at the same angle as the bevel is ground this will allow much greater control.

My favorite is a 5/8″ gouge with a Ellsworth grind, which has been modified. I use a 60 degree grind and roll the top of the wings in slightly towards the center. This allows me to rub the bevel at a flatter angle and then turn the gouge slightly to start the cut, either left or right.

Research studies show fish oil benefits are down right amazing.

And knowing this is the second most important thing you can do for your health. (We’ll get to #1 in importance soon.)

Studies are published almost daily as the scientific community discovers more and more of the many extraordinary omega 3 fish oil benefits.

If you haven’t already been swept up in the net yet, here are 7 proven omega 3 benefits you should know about.

1. Less Pain and Inflammation. Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly EPA, have a very positive effect on your inflammatory response. Through several mechanisms, they regulate your body’s inflammation cycle, which prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in “itis.”

2. Cardiovascular Health. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been proven to work wonders for your heart and the miles and miles of arteries and veins that make up your cardiovascular system. They help to lower cholesterol, tryglicerides, LDLs and blood pressure, while at the same time increasing good HDL cholesterol. This adds years to your life expectancy.

3. Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack. When plaque builds up on arterial walls and then breaks loose, it causes what’s known as a thrombosis, which is a fancy way of saying clot. If a clot gets stuck in the brain, it causes a stroke and when it plugs an artery, it causes a heart attack. Research shows omega 3 fatty acids break up clots before they can cause any damage.

4. Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence. Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus. You’ll swear you’re getting younger and smarter.

5. Less Depression and Psychosis. Making you smarter is not all omega 3 does for your brain. Psychiatry department researchers at the University of Sheffield, along with many other research studies, found that omega 3 fish oil supplements “alleviate” the symptoms of depression, bipolar and psychosis (Journal of Affective Disorder Vol. 48(2-3);149-55).

6. Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders. Just to show how fish oil fatty acids leave nobody out, studies show that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life. And those with dyslexia, dyspraxia and compulsive disorders have gotten a new lease on life thanks to omega 3 oils.

7. Reduction of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer. And finally, omega 3 fish oil has been shown to help prevent three of the most common forms of cancer – breast, colon and prostate. Science tells us that omega 3s accomplish this in three ways. They stop the alteration from a normal healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis, or cellular death, of cancer cells.

So you can see why knowing these benefits is the second most important thing you can do for your health. Can you guess what number one is?

That’s right! Now it’s time to put your knowledge to work. Eat more cold water oily fish and start taking good quality pure omega 3 fish oil supplements regularly.

Copyright by Michael Byrd. All Rights Reserved.

The only way a marriage can work is by putting your spouse and their needs above your own. This is a simple statement, but with a far more difficult follow through. With half of marriages ending in divorce, marriage is a commitment that needs to be taken very seriously. It is not about how you feel about each other, or how good that person makes you feel about yourself, but it is about a decision that you make to commit and promise to love, honor and take care of your spouse emotionally, physically, and spiritually, whatever your beliefs may be. A marriage is not about you; it is about the promise.

While every marriage situation is unique in their own way, the majority of them stem from the same basic sets of issues: communication, stress, selfishness, and emotional and physical abandonment. If these main areas are not taken care of in a relationship, the relationship will begin to break down. It will become harder and harder to fix the longer it is swept under the rug, because after a while each person will begin to develop resentment towards each other, which is one of the hardest relationship issue to work through, since it is such a deep rooted emotion.

The only person you can ever completely rely on is yourself, which means that if you care enough about the relationship, you will have to put your cares and feelings aside in an effort to find out what you can do for partner. This is not easy, nor will it ever be, but you must realize that if each of you are waiting for the other to make changes, the only guarantee you have is that it will likely take a really long time to reach a conclusion.

Your main goal is to get to a point with your partner where you both can be open about the problems each of you are having with the relationship, and discussing different strategies of reaching a solution. If you get to the point where each of you can be open and honest, but still cannot agree on a solution, then your best option is to talk about meeting with a counselor, or someone you both may trust to share your thoughts, feelings, and struggles. Another great option that is an easy transition, that does not involve physically meeting with someone, is online marriage counseling. This is a great option because it completely disarms the excuse of your partner thinking a counselor will take sides. It allows your partner and you to work through things together, and to not worry about your feelings of obligation to perform exercises in front of someone that you may feel uncomfortable.

Whatever option you choose, make sure that you have an open mind, and never give up, because there is hope in any situation.

Autocockers pump guns have seen some good times. They were spawned in popularity in early 90’s with the release of the WGP Sniper, but died in popularity as paintball turned to faster markers of the electronic kind. It wasn’t until recently that we have begun to see a push back into autococker technology.

In early 2004-2005 a ton of cheap autocockers surged the marketplace. eBay and online paintball stores were flooded with cheap knockoffs that seemingly surpassed demand. Paintballers around that time were looking for a cheap autococker they could customize from the ground up, and were definitely able to get their fill with what was readily available. Over time though, sales dipped, and these autocockers were swept under the rug.

Success for this breed of paintball marker has reemerged today. The creation of the autococker pump conversion kit couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. With players needing to save money, and actively seeking a way to do so, many turned to pump paintball. This slower form of paintball is picking up popularity, as more and more players are picking it up.

Autococker owners can now convert their paintball gun into an all-out pump. They can also benefit from the surpassing amount of upgrades available for autococker type paintball guns. Undoubtedly, these kits are a saving grace for paintballers that want to save money by shooting less.

Aside from the benefit of saving money, players who have a pump converted autococker can enjoy the unsurpassed accuracy of pump paintball guns. Pump markers are known to have the 2 basic elements of accuracy – consistency and what I like to call “aim-ability.” Pump markers are more accurate because the wielder is forced to take longer in aiming. This is simply because they are playing at a disadvantage, and subconsciously know they must hit their target the first time or suffer the repercussions.

With the pump kit available, and the ever-growing demand for cheaper alternatives for paintball play, we can except to see more players making the switch to an autococker pump gun.

Camping’s not my thing. Experiences to date have been limited to the odd night supervising the children in the garden. So it was with some anxiety that I set off for Northern Botswana to spend five nights in a tent. I needn’t have worried. All my fears (and there were many) were swept away within ten minutes of arriving at our first camp site. Set among trees and looking out over a dry floodplain in the Moremi Game Reserve, our six tents were well equipped with proper beds and bathrooms and were very comfortable.

The camp staff were great fun, extremely knowledgeable and perfect hosts. The early mornings and late afternoons were spent on game drives in the park, where we were treated to a wonderful variety of birds and animals. Our guide too was excellent. There was a constant stream of interesting facts and figures, and not once did I feel we compromised safety in order to get close to any animal.

After two nights, we moved to a simple ‘fly camp’ on an island in the Okavango Delta. After drifting up and down river channels during the day, we arrived at a tiny wooded island, where just our bed rolls and mosquito nets were to be our accommodation for the night. A sundowner on a nearby lagoon, supper and then sleeping under the stars, listening to strange noises, is something I shall not forget in a hurry. I had expected to feel very vulnerable with just a thin piece of netting between me and a lot of things with big teeth. But I was amazed how safe I felt once zipped into my ‘home for the night’, well hidden under the duvet.

We left the island to spend another two nights back in Moremi. This time the camp site was next to a large lagoon, and as we arrived in the late afternoon we had to wait for a huge herd of elephant to cross our path on their way to drink and play in the water.

I couldn’t have been more wrong in my initial ideas about a mobile safari. I had imagined danger at every turn, uncomfortable nights and ordinary food. In fact, I had a wonderful experience. I never once felt in any danger, but there was plenty of excitement. The food was fantastic – how our cook managed to produce what he did over an open fire is a mystery. And as for uncomfortable … showering in the open air and sleeping under canvas, trying to work out what’s making that noise outside the tent, beats any five star hotel. I can’t wait to go again.

http://www.aardvarksafaris.com/articles-botswana-mobilesafari.htm

It’s easy to get swept up in a rage of paranoia nowadays, but there are numerous benefits to using anonymous surfing software that I’d like to share with you. Nowadays many people like me travel a lot with their job, time on the road and in hotels and airports can get pretty tiresome and your laptop almost becomes like a companion.

I work in computer security and so I am naturally concerned with identity theft, security and unfortunately am well aware of the criminal element working on the internet. Travelling around a lot you become even more vulnerable, hotel internet connections, airport and cafe WiFi – all are riddled with different security problems and managing your life from these points via a web browser on your laptop is extremely worrying.

This is why I use anonymous surfing software, it gives me tremendous benefits which I use everyday, which I will list some here for you.

• Protects my Privacy – this is important to me and I have a real problem with knowing that every move I make on the web is logged in access points or at my ISP, not using my privacy software it isn’t!
• I can run it on a USB stick – every where I connect all my web browsing is encrypted to the same level as the US orders in Iraq. Nobody can read any of it apart from me
• I can pretend to be from whatever country I want – when abroad I can view UK TV as a resident by selecting a UK proxy. I can also pretend to be from the States when I want to use something like Pandora(a fabulous US only Internet music station)
• As above I am not classified by my IP address, I am an internet citizen so can bypass stupid restrictions by governments (Turkish ISPs block blogs and YouTube!).
• I can speed up my browsing – how many times has a security product made something quicker. I can pick from a network of proxy servers across the world to actually speed up my browsing whilst encrypting and protecting my identity and data

I surf securely wherever I am, I am not restricted by countries petty censorship when I visit them and I feel in control of my data when I use anonymous surfing software. In fact I showed a colleague how to access UK casinos legitimately using the software when I was working in the States last month (European casinos block US IP addresses mostly from their games). It really feels rather empowering sometimes.

I’m a big fan of Chris Cooper. He’s the American character actor who played Tom Smith in the movie Seabiscuit. I thought it was a brilliant performance that managed to capture the quiet and introspective nature of this humble horseman who trained Seabiscuit to be a thoroughbred champion; that became a national hero to millions of depression weary Americans in the 1930’s. I somehow identified with him because he was a man of few words and deep experience, and very holistic in his approach to animal health and wellbeing. So being inspired by the movie somewhat I went out and bought the book.

Now here’s the thing. I read the book Seabiscuit, An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, and was not only swept off my feet by this epic tale, but I also was surprised to learn that Tom Smith worked entirely with herbal and natural remedies to cure and support the finest racehorse in the world. Can you imagine how that might sound today?

Throughout the 339 pages of the narrative, there are dozens of examples of how Tom treated Seabiscuit’s track injuries; calling in the vet only when it was absolutely necessary in which X-Ray’s had to be taken to reveal a sliver fracture in a foreleg after a race.

From what I can deduce, Smith made sure Seabiscuit’s feed was rich in calcium and he used homemade liniment on his legs, which was a herbal concoction that he made himself that was mostly composed of eucalyptus or peppermint and stimulating herbs such as cayenne and possibly ginger — mixed together with essential oils and married to a rubbing or grain alcohol as a base. But whatever the true mix he used, and its secret is now lost forever, Tom Smith the lone horseman from the western plains was a holistic healer far ahead of his time. A true horse whisperer.

by William Greenbaum, aka love ya woof!

allpetnaturals.com

Like many World Hockey Association teams, the Philadelphia Blazers were a one-year flash in the pan. The Blazers played in the inaugural WHA season, 1972-73. The franchise was born as the Miami Screaming Eagles, but the team was moved to Philadelphia before a single game was played in Florida.

The Blazers did not share the Spectrum with the NHL Flyers. The WHA team played out of the Philadelphia Civic Centre, a 9,000 seat arena built in 1931. The Civic Centre was closed in 1996 and demolished in 2005.

Although 1972-73 started disastrous for the Blazers, the team picked it up and finished with a 38-40-0 record. Philadelphia finished third in the Eastern Division behind the New England Whalers and Cleveland Crusaders. The Crusaders swept the Blazers in the opening round of the playoffs.

Despite the high-priced signings of National Hockey League stars, Gerry Cheevers and Derek Sanderson, it was Andre Lacroix and Danny Lawson that were the bright lights for the team. Lacroix lead the league in total points with 124, earning him the Bill Hunter Trophy. Andre would win the award again in 1974-75 with the San Diego Mariners. Lawson finished third in points and led the league with 61 goals.

Cheevers played the bulk of the Blazers games in net. Gerry played 63 games, while Marcel Paille, an American Hockey League Hall of Famer in the twilight of his pro hockey career, played 15. Cheevers played one game in the playoffs before walking away from the team. He rejoined the Boston Bruins the following season.

Derek Sanderson was signed to a massive contract and was to be the centrepiece of the team, if not the league. He played a total of eight games and contributed six points. In those eight games, Sanderson excelled at goonery with 69 penalty minutes. Derek was back in Boston before most Bruins fans even knew he was gone.

Another Boston Bruins veteran jumped ship to the Blazers and acted as player/coach. Johnny ‘Pie’ McKenzie played in 60 games and tallied a very respectable 78 points.

Ontario Hockey League fans would be interested to know that current Kingston Frontenacs General Manager Larry Mavety played a total of four games with the Blazers. Mavety started the season with the Los Angeles Sharks, playing two games. He ended up with the Chicago Cougars and played 67 games to end the season. Larry played for six different teams over his WHA career.

The Blazers were moved to Vancouver for the 1973-74 season where they retained the nickname. Two years competing directly with the NHL Canucks proved too much and the team shifted to Calgary for the 1975-76 season. As the Calgary Cowboys, the franchise lasted until the end of the 1976-77 season before folding.