Month: January 2020

It may take some time and effort to find the lawyer who will be right for you. It is wise to search for a family lawyer who can advise you about things before they happen. This way you can take your time. If you wait until you are in a jam, you may have to make a mad dash to find someone to represent you. You may not make the best choice if you are under pressure. Time spent selecting a lawyer is time well spent. The satisfaction you get from having made the right choice will make the search time all worth while.

One way to find a lawyer is to look for a satisfied client. Talk to your family and friends. See if they have used a lawyer whose services pleased them. Find out, too, what sort of matter the lawyer handled for them. Lawyers tend to specialize in a certain branch of the law. A lawyer may not want to handle a matter outside of his speciality.

Check to see if there is a lawyer referral service where you live. Such a service is often sponsored by the local bar association. If there is one, you will find it listed in the phone book. When you call, the service will give you the name of an attorney. Have a first interview with him for a stated fee. It should be a modest fee. At that meeting you can find out if you need further legal aid.

There may not be a referral service where you live. But there should be a local bar association. If so, you should find it listed in the phone book. Or you can ask at the county courthouse. Someone there will know the name of the president of the bar association and his address. You can then ask him for the name of a good lawyer. Make it clear that you are asking him as president of the bar association for his opinion. Tell him the kind of service you are seeking.

If you are poor and can’t afford to pay a fee, you can get help. There may be a legal aid society where you live. Or there may be a group of lawyers who give free legal advice in certain cases. You can find out by looking in the phone book or by asking at the courthouse.

Poisonings which cause death happen most of the time to children between the ages of one and three. Some doctors call this stage the “Age of Accidents.” Children want to look at things and taste them. They will eat or drink anything they can find, even if it tastes bad. You must make your home safe for children and protect them from poisoning.

Here are three things you can do. One, know which things around the home are poisons. Two, keep poisons out of your child’s reach at all times. Three, he aware of how clever children are when it comes to finding poisons.

Nearly all chemicals and drugs in the home contain things which can poison someone. Be sure to read the labels on products you bring into the home. Look for the words which are meant as warnings. These warnings will read Poison. Harmful if swallowed, For External Use Only, and Keep Out of Reach of Children. Look around your home for bottles and jars which bear these warnings. Then, put them away in a place where a child cannot reach or find them.

You should know that you cannot always rely on the label on a product to give you the proper warning. There are things such as nail polish, perfume, make-up, hair tonic and others which give you no clue to the dangers that might result from swallowing. Drinks with alcohol, such as gin, whiskey, beer, and wine, do not carry warnings. These, too, can cause your child harm. You cannot know which of the hundreds of items are really dangerous. Therefore, your best line of defense is to suspect everything which is not a known and healthy food item.

Even a great number of plants, even those commonly found around the house, are poisonous. Teach your child never to eat any part of a plant unless it is served as food. this rule also applies to unknown berries and mushrooms. Even nibbling on leaves, sucking on plant stems is unsafe. Also, drinking water in which plants have been soaking can cause poisoning.

Some foods can be just as harmful as poisons when given to a child by mistake. For example, putting salt instead of sugar in baby’s food can lead to illness. If you put sugar and salt into new jars, label them. Be sure to read the label each time before using.

If your child shows signs of poisoning, call your doctor right away.

You have found a home you want to buy. What is the next step? Very likely you will need a mortgage loan to pay for your home. Most families do pay a good part of the purchase price of a home with a mortgage.

A mortgage is a loan contract. A bank agrees to provide the money you need to buy a certain home. You, in turn, agree to repay the money based on terms stated in the agreement.

The size of each payment depends on three things. The first is the amount of money you have borrowed. The second thing is the interest rate charged by the bank. The third thing is the number of years you need to pay the loan off. Under law, the contract has to state the amount of the loan, the interest you will pay, and the size and times of the payments. Any other charges made by the bank must also be included in the contract.

As the borrower, you must promise your home as security for the loan. It remains pledged until the loan is aid off. If you fail to meet the terms of the contract, the bank has the right to foreclose. Under the law, this means that the bank can take your home and sell it to pay off the loan.

Most mortgages are installment loans. This means that you are required to make a fixed payment – usually once a month. Part of the payment is kept by the bank to cover the interest charges. Part of it may be set aside by the bank to pay your taxes and insurance. And part of the payment reduces the principal of the loan. The principal is the actual amount that you borrowed.

In the beginning, most of each payment goes for the interest. As you keep paying, a smaller share of each payment is for interest and a larger share repays the principal. As your payments reduce the amount you owe on the principal of the loan, the interest charges are reduced.

You build up equity in your home as you pay off the mortgage. Equity is that part of your home which you own free from the bank. When the last payment on the mortgage is made, you will have full equity. The home will be completely years. The interest has been paid off. The principal has been repaid in full.

Most breads and cereals are well liked. They are cheap and fit easily into meal plans. Some cost just cents per serving. Even though they are cheap, the whole grain or enriched products have good amounts of vitamins and minerals. One food study showed that just 12 cents of each food dollar went for flour, cereals and bakery products.

To help you get your money’s worth from breads and cereals, there are some things you should keep in mind. Whole-grain or enriched foods have much more nutrition than unenriched products. Most white bread is enriched. Some special breads, such as French, Italian, and raisin, and many other bake shop products are also enriched. Check the wrapper or ask the baker to be sure.

You should also know that it takes three pounds of unenriched bread, costing more than $1, to give the amount of thiamin that is contained in one pounds of enriched bread, costing 25 cents. The same is true of whole wheat bread, which costs only 40 cents for on pound. Also, a large loaf of bread does not always weight more or contain more food value than a small loaf. Compare prices of equal weights of bread to find the better buy. The weight is shown on the wrapper.

Spaghetti, macaroni and noodles in packages marked “enriched” are more nutritious and usually cost no more than unenriched ones. Enriched rice is more nutritious than white milled rice. It costs more but the extra food value it provides is well worth the cost.

Ready-to-serve cereals in packs of small boxes are expensive. They may cost two or three times as much per ounce as the same cereal in a large box. Pre-sugared cereals cost more per ounce than unsweetened ones. Sugared cereals have more calories but less food value. Cereals you sweeten yourself are a better buy. Cereals you cook yourself almost always cost less than the ready-prepared ones.

It may help to know that day-old bread and baked goods may be bought at a great saving. Ask or watch for these in stores where you shop. Baked goods made at home are a good idea. They often cost less than ready-baked products. When made at home with enriched flour, they may have more nutrition, too.

So the next time you shop, make sure you are getting the most nutrition for the least money.

What happens to all the solid waste produced in the United States? Well, some of it is thrown away. It litters streets, roadways, the countryside and waterways. Some of it is burned in open air. Still some trash is left to sit in the open at garbage dumps. These dumps smell, look bad and attract rats and insects. Some of the trash is buried. Valuable materials that might have been reclaimed and reused are thus lost. Some of the buried waste can be harmful. It leaks deadly chemicals which poison the land and the water.

Waste is everywhere. Each year we throw away more than 7 million television sets. We junk 7 million old cars and trucks. We use and discard 48 billion cans and 26 billion bottles. We toss out 30 million tons of paper. Waste disposal costs us four and a half billion dollars a year. Something has to be done with all this trash and garbage. Even though we are not sure of the best way to get rid of trash, we must make an effort.

Open garbage dumps are the most common place we put our solid wastes. Therefore, it’s a good place to start. These dumps can be made better by turning them into clean landfills. In such a landfill, a layer of soil is applied daily over the waste. This helps to keep pests away and cuts down on the water pollutants that wash off in the rain. A landfill does away with the need to burn the waste, and this prevents wind-blown litter. When filled, the site can be planted with grass, shrubs and trees and made into a park.

But ordinary sanitary landfills may not stop waste matter from seeping through the soil and ruining water supplies. Dangerous waste matter needs landfills that are sealed in a special way to stop seepage. In the past harmful waste was burned. It was also dumped into waterways. But then pollution controls went into effect. More of these wastes showed up in landfills. The yearly amount of harmful waste is on the rise. Our health is threatened by the unsafe waste from these landfills.

There are good ways to get rid of most dangerous waste without harming health or the ecology. But costs of such disposal are high. Federal and state governments are working with business firms and citizens to solve these cost and waste problems.

Can you see sky clearly where you live? If not, the air may be polluted. Polluted air can smell bad or look smoky. But pollution could also be there without your smelling or seeing it.

Air pollution comes from soot, fly ash and chemicals. These are released by auto exhaust, chimney smoke, burning garbage dumps, and substances sprayed in the air. Soot from burning fuel oil is the main pollutant that gives smoke its dark color. Fly ash is tiny ashes that go up and out of chimneys. They make smoke even darker. Chemicals of many kinds that you cannot see mix with the smoke. Smog, the eye-stinging haze that hangs over most cities, is produced when chemicals in the air mix with sunlight.

Air pollutants, such as soot and fly ash, settle down on things and make them dirty. Blown by the wind, air pollutants act like sandpaper and scratch away buildings and statues. Chemical air pollutants discolor and eat away materials. Can you find any change in the color of bricks on old buildings near where you live? Is there a statue in the park that is crumbling away? If you find these things, chances are that air pollution was one of the causes.

Plants are also harmed by air pollution. Their leaves may get dry. Brown spots may appear on them. Or the leaves may turn yellow and fall off. Orange and other citrus trees are especially hurt. Even house plants suffer from air pollution from cooking fumes.

Animals are also affected by air pollution. Cattle can get sick, and so can pets. For example, a small amount of some chemicals sprayed near an aquarium may kill pet fish. Care must be taken so that you and your pets are safe from fumes. Harmful fumes can come from may places. Fumes from paints, lotions, glue, cleaning fluids and other chemicals can be harmful.

Even a little air pollution can make your eyes burn and your head ache. It can tire you out. It can blur your vision and make you dizzy. It can also make it hard for you to breathe. Air pollutants can also affect people with asthma. It can make catching colds and flu more likely. Air pollutants have even been linked to some cases of serious diseases, such as lung cancer and heart ailments, thus making air pollution an evil to beware of.

Noise is ear pollution. It is often called “unwanted sound.” If a sound is something you like, a song or a call from a friend, it is just a sound. But if you are trying to sleep or study, then this sound becomes a noise.

This “unwanted sound” has an effect upon our bodies. For example, loud noises can cause a loss of hearing. Even wanted sound, such as amplified rock-and-roll music, can hurt your hearing, though you may not think of it as noise. The first warning that a sound may be loud enough to hurt is called “ear distress.” This would be felt as a pain or heard as a ringing noise in the ear. People who have this complaint should be examined by a doctor.

Noise of any kind may make you nervous or affect your sleep. Noise can also affect your speech and your ability to think. Noise has been linked to cases of heart disease, ulcers, mental illness, and other sicknesses.

Noise, of course, is not always bad. It does have a place in our lives. You may not like to hear car horns, but they do warn you of oncoming cars when you cross a street. A thumping noise from a bicycle tire tells you that the tire may be flat. Also, one noise can help block out another unwanted noise. An example is when loud music in an office drowns out the sounds of typewriters.

Sound is made by air pressure on your eardrums. When you clap your hands, for example, listen to the sound. Air was pushed out from between your hands when you brought them together. At almost the same time, air in your ears pushed your eardrums inward. Your ears signaled your brain to give you the feeling of a clap sound.

The number of sound waves hitting your eardrums each second controls the highness or lowness of the sound you hear. the strength of sound waves is measured by a sound level meter. The meter uses units called decibels. A whisper amounts to about 20 decibels. A jet plane 100 feet away is about 140 decibels. A sound of about 120 decibels can hurt the ears. Eventually, the ear becomes damaged from such loud noises. It’s a good thing that the average speaking voice reaches only 60 decibels. Otherwise, we might all be a little deaf.

There is a short supply of oil in the world today. this shortage has caused changes in the way we all live. For example, over 45 million American homes now use electric blankets for sleeping at night. The cost of using an electric blanket is small. On a medium setting the cost is no more than half a cent for all night.

Few people know that an electric blanket does not heat you up at night. The truth is that the blanket stops the loss of body heat. The blanket provides a warm layer of air which keeps the heat in. The body itself does most of the work.

However, life was not always so cozy beneath the covers. People once shivered as they slept. To keep warm, early man used animal hides and campfires. Later on, fireplaces and wool blankets were used. Around 1600 another improvement came onto the scene. This aid was the warming pan. Hot coals were put into a shallow pan, and the pan was moved around under the covers to warm the bed. Still later someone invented the feather-filled comforter. This new kind of blanket used the body heat to warm the bed.

But the first real breakthrough came when boilers were brought into the home in the 19th century. Radiators were used to heat each room. This also meant that the heat for the entire home could be controlled. Quite a welcomed improvement.

Then, in the late 1800s, electric blankets came on the scene. They arrived just after the boilers. But these early blankets were not meant to give comfort to the user. Rather, they were part of medical treatment. At that time, doctors felt that the more painful the cure, the better it was for the patient. Electric blankets were used to make the patient sweat. Sweating rid the body of germs.

Hospitals, then were among the first to use the new blankets. Sometimes patients had to sleep outdoors on porches. The blankets were used to protect them from cold and snow. There is no record of the number of patients who survived this treatment. But in this case the cure was probably more uncomfortable than the illness.

Electric blankets now come in all sizes. They are light, warm and easy to keep clean. Today they are sold in large quantities. It seems we’ve come a long way since buffalo hides and warming pans. So, let’s hear it for modern inventions that make life more comfortable.

When a youngster is faced with a problem, he may not be able to deal with it. He needs help to learn how. When a puzzle piece doesn’t fit, or when an ice cream cone falls onto the ground, he turns to someone older for help. If you want to help someone learn problem-solving skills, you should take the time to talk about problems as they happen. Of course, this is not always easy to do. Problems have a way of popping up at the worst times. Even if the time is not the best, you should try to help.

One thing you can do to help a youngster develop problem-solving skills is to find out what caused the problem. This is a skill that youngsters do not learn without help. For example, a youngster may knock over his glass of milk at the dinner table. The child may not realize that the problem is that the glass is too close to his elbow. But, once the problem is seen for what it is, it can be solved.

the next step for a youngster is to choose a solution. This step takes courage. Some people are so afraid of being wrong that they cannot solve problems. You can help by talking over some solutions to the problem. Between the two of you, decide which solution is the best and let the youngster try it out. You can help him realize that problems can be solved. Give him the courage and praise he needs to try his solution.

Another step to problem-solving is to help youngsters see the laws of cause and effect. For example, if the child knocks over a vase, it will fall and break. If he writes on the wall, it will leave a mark. Once the youngster sees the relationship between cause and effect, he is on the road to growth. The next time he sees someone knock over a vase, he knows it will break. If he sees writing on the wall, he can tell how it got there.

The ability to deal with problems does not come easily for youngsters. It does not come easily for adults, either. It takes patience for you. It takes practice for the youngster. It can be a tiring experience, but problem-solving can be taught. All it takes is time and effort.

Where you do your major food shopping often affects your grocery bill. It’s best to check the price in nearby stores for the foods you buy all the time. You can then decide which store gives you the best prices. Check, too, for other features that may be useful to you. Which store offers the freshest foods? Which store has off-street parking and will cash your check?

Small stores will deliver orders to your home. If you do not need this service, you will do better shopping at a large chain. The large chain markets offer more variety and have better prices.

For most people it is best to choose a store with good prices and stay with it. Store-shopping for sales on certain foods may save you pennies, but it can be costly in time and gas.

When you shop depends on your schedule. Try to go when the store is not too crowded and when you have time to choose with care. Study labels and compare prices. Learn about new products. Give food buying all the attention it deserves.

The meat, poultry, and fish items in your menu usually cost the most. Studies show that one-third of the money spent on food goes for these items. To take advantage of the best buys at the meat counter, you need to be aware of the many cuts of meat that are available. Also, you must know how to use them in meals. Keep in mind that the economy of a cut depends on the cut with a low price per pound is not the best buy. What counts is the amount of lean meat and the number of servings it will provided. For example, a high priced meat with little or no waste may be a better buy than a low priced cut with a great deal of bone or fat.

Same size servings of cooked lean meat from different types and cuts of meat often have the same food value. As a rule, cooked lean meat from pot roast is as nutritious as that from steak. Fish has as much nutrition as lamb, and turkey has as much as veal. So when you visit the market, be a smart shopper and take the time to make the right choice.