Board Up in Miami and the High Cost of Housing When you pay more than you can really afford for a home, you have to do everything you can to protect your investment. Housing costs in Miami are among the highest in the nation when you compare them to the incomes people make in the area. In times of crisis, board up Miami services help homeowners to weather the storm.

Nationally, the average percentage of income people spend on owning their homes is 27% of their income. In Miami, it is over 42%. For this reason alone, Miami residents need to keep their homes in top condition. If they have to sell them due to lack of household funds, they need the homes to be ready to move on the market. Sometimes it is necessary to use board up Miami services to keep the houses in shape.

When hurricane season comes between the first of June and the last of November, most homeowners will have some kind of shutters in place to keep out the high winds and blowing objects. However, after the hurricane passes, they may find that a shutter has broken free, allowing a window to be damaged. They will need to call in board up Miami services to help them set their home to rights.

Even if Miami homeowners never get into a position where they have to sell their homes, they still need to keep them protected. They will not have as much disposable income as people in some other parts of the country. This means that they will find it difficult to stay in a hotel while their home is being repaired. They can sometimes prevent this happening by using a good board up Miami service.

Homeowners who do not have shutters can call a board up Miami service to come in and install plywood on their windows. This will cost a fraction of the cost of the hotel bill alone. It will also save on costly repairs and may keep the homeowner from having to replace furniture and carpeting.

The less the homeowner spends on repair and replacement, the easier it will be for him or her to keep the home. Miami holds the 8th position ranking in foreclosures in the country. Board up Miami services can do a part to set the city at a lower position on the scale. When homeowners can keep their homes habitable, they have a better chance of retaining ownership of them.

Miami is a less affordable place to live than many other places in the country. With homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments, it is no wonder that some of them try to avoid paying for board up Miami services. It is a mistake.

Without board up Miami services, residents who have openings in the exteriors of their homes caused by damage might lose their homes altogether. They need the security and protection against the weather that board up provides. When their homes are covered and safe, they can concentrate on living the good life in a city that is interesting and beautiful.

Eddie Frank is an editorial staff member of BoardUp.com®, to learn more about emergency board up services in Miami Florida and board up visit BoardUp.com or call (877) 30-40-555.

Geneticist Robert Fleischer of the Smithsonian sequenced the DNA of several pill fragments, using the latest sequencing processes, while scientists at the Analytical Archaeology Laboratory of the Department of Antiquities studied the inorganic elements. The organic compounds identified included carrot, radish, parsley, celery, wild onion, cabbage, yarrow and hibiscus.

The Institute and its allied scientists were able to determine that every single ingredient had been referenced in the ancient texts as being medically useful. Their success was a direct result of the long process of digitization and sharing the Institute has pursed.

Although understanding our past is paramount to any archaeologist, it is not the sole goal of the Institute.

“Not only does this discovery validate ancient texts, but also it opens promising avenues for new scientific research and even innovative thinking in drug discovery.”

Increasingly, new technology helps us our past and the past, in conjunction with new technologies, help us define our future.

Gulf from Smithsonian | other sources: AOL News

Los Angeles Times:

A judge has ordered Los Angeles not to enforce key sections of its controversial medical marijuana ordinance, issuing a preliminary injunction that once again leaves the city with limited capability to control dispensaries and raises the possibility that new ones could open.

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Video: A Year In The Tabloid Life Of Kendra’s Baby

Kendra Wilkinson’s son Hank Baskett IV first appeared on the cover of OK! a year ago today, at just five days old. Here’s a look at the scandals he is weathered in his short life, from “diaper mishaps” to sex tapes.

Though his daily activities mainly include spitting up and pooping his pants, Hank has already been on 16 tabloid covers (if you count his in utero appearances).

These headlines are alarming, but rest assured: Hank’s parents are still together, there’s no second child on the way, and Kendra hasn’t “lost” her baby. (Though she is caught up in a “SEX TAPE NIGHTMARE.”)

Despite what the tabloids would have you believe, Hank is leading a pretty charmed life. However, bloggers who do not treat the star worry that he may develop an anxiety disorder from trying to keep up with whether Mommy or hates her post-pregnancy body this week.

The author of this post can be contacted at tips@jezebel.com

Food safety at its core is about science and public health. Every day, the USDA, FDA, environmental health specialists, food inspectors, the food industry, university researchers, and others invest in, develop, and use science and technology to develop food safety systems that protect consumers from becoming ill with foodborne illness.

While improvements to our food safety system are welcome, we often see resistance to change for various reasons, two of those being that risks are not always communicated effectively, and it costs money to invest in food safety. Real, comprehensive change can only come with buy-in from everyone involved in food safety. And for that, the issue has had to become political.

For me, that means that I find myself in Washington D.C. this week, trudging through the snow to pay last-ditch-effort visits to politicians and bureaucrats, advocating for food safety legislation. But while the legislation (now part of a continuing resolution) gets reshaped and redefined in Congress, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has brought science back to the forefront with its release of new foodborne illness statistics.

The CDC’s most recent estimates use numbers from 2000-2008 and show that 47.8 million illnesses, 127,839 hospitalizations, and 3,037 deaths can be attributed to foodborne illness every year in the United States. Those numbers are startling, but are not nearly as appalling as those reported in an earlier (1999) study published by the CDC: 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths. Based on the new numbers, one would think investments in science and technology have pointed our nation’s food industry in the right direction and I’d like to think some merit to that thought.

But before we start celebrating, a problem: according to the new study’s authors we cannot compare the new numbers to the old ones. Because of significant differences in methods used in data collection between the studies we are not able to accurately say that made progress in food safety in the last decade. What we can do, however, is recognize that standardizing data collection and the methods involved in tracing foodborne illness are necessary for making number-comparisons from year to year (or decade to decade).

The new estimates will certainly be scrutinized and used to promote different agendas. Remember, the data is only as good as the surveillance. We need to continue to support local, and federal public health. They need the resources to keep us all healthier.

While I can’t state I’m encouraged by the numbers — or that they really tell us anything new — I think the CDC is moving in the right direction and I hope to see our nation’s public health agencies keep plugging away to provide numbers that will help drive advancements on the science side of food safety. As for me, I have got two more days in D.C. and I hope to do the same on the political side.

Last night Duff and I were talking about getting outside and a plan has formed. Next weekend (Sunday, May 16th) we plan to take a trip out to Mount Carleton and walk up the mountain. Duff estimates that the whole trip will take 12 hours. That’s a 4 hour drive, 2 hours up the trail, 2 hours back and a 4 hour drive home. This might be a slight over estimation, I’m really not sure but it’s a good ballpark to play with. Barring weather Duff and I will likely be going. We’re wondering if others would like to go.

1. Pat - Not sure if he’s interested, especially with his work schedule.
2. Andre - Is a definite maybe, it’s going to come down to his work schedule as well. We’ll know by Tuesday.
3. Brad - Recently his back and so we’re not sure if he’ll be up to it. Might be good rehabilitation if he’s better.
4. Nicole - Probably interested but not sure if she will go based on how much food she’ll have to pack for a 12 hour trip to the middle of nowhere.
5. Mark - Possibly interested but he might be out of town.

So that’s the main index of potentials for the trip. Another factor will be seating in Duff’s car, we probably can’t fit everyone but we’re going to see who is interested first.

I am told that Mount Carleton is an easy hike with a woodland trail that goes all the way to the top. No excessive climbing is necessary and you don’t even have to get on hands and knees or anything. Seems perfect for everyone. We’ll have to carry about 2 litres of water each and snacks/lunch.
Personally, I’ll also be bringing my camera, tripod, binoculars, pocket knife, first aid kit, gloves and a few other “just in case” items.
Anyway let us know if you’re interested.

Here's a website on the area.
http://www.out-there.com/mount_carleton_provincial_park.htm My Poem that uses four words!

Last night I went to a writing workshop.

They gave us homework. We had a week to write a poem using the words words “panther,” “sizzle,” “gift,” and “traveling.”

This morning I woke up thinking in rhythm, and I wrote very fast, using all four words.

(I would love to read poems from other people who use these four words!)

Here's mine:

Analysis

When I got divorced I went to a Jungian:

Fifty-two weeks of writing down dreams.

My analyst’s office was full of old statues

And there was dim lamplight and boxes of Kleenex.

Every Thursday from four to five-thirty

I’d read Jack long dreams that were

Juicy with symbols, like one about panthers,

And one about lightning that sizzled in trees.

Once I looked over and saw Jack was napping!

I blamed only myself and my lullaby voice.

He did wake up swiftly when I stopped reading.

He said “Please continue,” and took off his glasses.

I went back two pages so he could catch up,

Since he’d missed the ideal part, about the old traveler

Who’d brought me red raincoats, gifts from Kentucky.

When I finished reading, I sat with my dream book

And waited for Jack to make his pronouncement.

But he only told me our hour was up, and

said he was going to Paris in April,

So we couldn’t meet until Thursday, May twelfth.

I gave him my check for eighty-four dollars

and drove home from the city and thought about breakthroughs.

I decided I’d read with much more expression,

So Jack wouldn’t nap and miss all my symbols.

And I’d read faster, so he’d have more time

To tell me that I was a difficult patient,

But maybe the traveler meant I was braver,

And red raincoats meant I was hiding fine rage.

AMMAN, Jordan The mayor of a town in Jordan said Monday that a local newspaper's April Fool's Day report chronicling a late-night visit by 10-foot-tall aliens in flying saucers sparked public panic and almost led to the town's emergency evacuation.</p><p>The Al Ghad newspaper published a front-page article April 1 about the fake UFO landing near the desert town of Jafr, some 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital, Amman. The report said the UFOs lit up the whole town, interrupted communications and sent fearful residents streaming into the streets.</p><p>Jafr's mayor, Mohammed Mleihan, got caught up in the paper's prank and said he sent security authorities in search of the aliens.</p><p>"Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 residents," Mleihan told The Associated Press. "People were scared that aliens would attack them."</p><p>A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss security issues, said an emergency plan was almost enacted in Jafr.</p><p>Mleihan said he may sue the daily for its "big lie," but added that the paper had called to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the joke.</p><p>Al Ghad's managing editor, Moussa Barhoumeh, tried to defuse the situation, saying the report has been "blown out of proportion."</p><p>"We meant to entertain, not scare people," he said.</p><p>Jordan's newspapers rarely publish April Fool's jokes.

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Fine is not it ?