Pets

Make a difference with online petitions that are smart

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Online petitions are one of the best ways to make your voice heard on social rights, human rights and animal rights issues that are important to you. The question is to decide which actions to participate in. There are many different petition sites online, and even more petitions are launched on a regular basis. Finding the right one for your firm may seem impossible. That is why you have to choose to follow the example of the leaders in social rights and animal rights causes. They know that it is not enough to collect signatures; participants must also be educated on the subject.

Are online petitions effective?

Here is the key to making an effective online petition. You can submit 100,000 signatures you got from social media, but they won’t sway legislators if only 10,000 of those signatures are considered voter follow-ups. Follow-up voters are people who make an effort to stay abreast of policy changes and actions being taken on their issues. Online petitions are important when the names on them represent informed citizens.

Keep focus on what’s important

The best way to ensure you’re signing up with others who are just as committed to your goals is to track requests from reputable sites. What makes a site have a good reputation? It’s not a clearinghouse for all problems, but it does keep its focus on a few select categories. Lady Freethinker is set up according to focused categorization of topics that are not just hot topics, but tend to go together as common concerns for its members. While trying to save every part of the world is admirable, effective advocates know they have to limit their efforts to maximize the use of their resources.

Stay on top of the news

Another sign of a reputable site is that they offer you more than dramatic requests and posts. Posts and links on the site should serve to promote conversation about the causes. Even better is if the site itself is sponsoring petitions. This is another way to focus an effort. Instead of trying to inspire you to create your own and manage the petition, they are putting their online resources behind the issues you care about to make things happen.

The causes do not fail

It is important to remember that causes do not fail. There are more social rights and human rights issues that need your attention than ever before. With the increased use of the internet, even animal rights are getting more attention than they deserve. The problem is that people’s passions are often outweighed by their responsibilities. This is another reason to join a cause-focused site that promotes education and also manages petitions. It can go a long way in keeping your passion alive so that you never have to be in a position to regret where you have put your focus in life. Causes need you to become solutions, and the Internet has created an opportunity to make things happen to heal the world at last.

Real Estate

Orem Utah Accessory Apartment 2012 Update

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It is common to find accessory apartments in Orem houses. Many times, the upgraded area is called a “mother-in-law” apartment, and then illegally rented out. In 2004, Orem decided to ban the approval of new accessory apartments due to some parking complaints. However, this did not stop the construction or rental of basement apartments. All it did was create a whole new class of tax-paying lawbreakers.

After several public hearings, on June 10, 2012, the Orem City Council voted to once again allow the construction and approval of additional apartments. Several regulatory steps are needed to obtain legal approval for existing apartments or to build a new one. Here is a summary of the new rules to get approval from the City of Orem:

Orem Accessory Apartment Restrictions

  • Maximum bedrooms: Two
  • Maximum square footage: 1200
  • Minimum square footage: 300
  • Minimum ceiling height: seven feet
  • Parking requirements: Three paved pads
  • Outside entrance: I can’t face the street

Approval fees

  • Sewer and water impact fee: $1895.85
  • Building permit: $60 – $500

occupancy requirements

  • The owner must reside in the place
  • The owner must sign an affidavit that both units will not be rented simultaneously; In other words, the owner must continue to live in the house and not turn it into an illegal duplex.
  • Rental of the apartment restricted to one family or three singles

fire safety requirements

  • One hour fire rated construction between units, under stairs and in the boiler room
  • 20 minute fire rated self-closing door(s) between units and oven room
  • Handrails should be installed where necessary
  • Window size and window opening minimums
  • Smoke detectors in each bedroom and hallway.
  • Carbon Monoxide detector installed on each level of the house

Mechanical System Requirements

  • Own source heating and cooling: air conditioning and system return air from one unit cannot be mixed with the other
  • Adequate amount of fuel air for gas appliances.
  • Suitable outside vent for clothes dryer
  • Bathroom and kitchen countertop outlets must have a ground fault interrupter receptacle or circuit breaker.
  • Electrical circuits serving bedrooms must be protected against arc faults.

A legal accessory apartment can be a godsend for both the owner and the tenants. Many residents are unable to make their home payments in full for a variety of reasons. Renting an accessory apartment provides much-needed income from an area of ​​the house that may not even have been used.

College students and young married couples have the opportunity to live in a single-family neighborhood, often in much more pleasant surroundings than would have been possible otherwise.

Shopping Product Reviews

iPhone Marketing Strategy

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As with all Apple marketing, the iPhone’s marketing strategy is very clear, simple, and clever. With the Apple icon plain and simple, Apple focuses on the pure innovative style of its products without all the “fluff”. The iPhone was launched by Apple in June 2007. The innovative style of the iPhone was hyped for months before the initial release and has remained the best of the best when it comes to mobile phones over the years. Before the official launch of the iPhone, Apple aired four television commercials promoting the new cell phone.

The first of the commercials portrays the new iPhone as the next step up from the popular iPod. The iPod was all the rage up until this point, and the iPhone was supposed to be the next generation iPod, oh, and it’s a phone too! The ad showcases all the enhanced features available on the iPod and more, and the point is “There’s never been an iPod that can do this.”

“So let’s say you’re watching Pirates of the Caribbean”
The finger clicks on the video and shows a widescreen movie.
“Hmm, did someone say calamari?”
The finger clicks to return to the menu, select the Maps application to search for ‘Seafood’.
“The closest thing would be…”
The map shows all the seafood locations and highlights the location closest to you.
“Oh!”

The finger clicks on the location of the seafood, and the phone number of the restaurant is displayed. iPhone dial.

The first four iPhone commercials touted the convenience, innovation, and usefulness of a single product with the functionality of not just a phone or music device, but a product that can, among other things, listen to music, watch video, , view photos , conduct conference calls, check email, browse the Internet, and view maps.

Not only does Apple use television for its marketing strategy, it makes use of its website to post videos, it also put out a handful of press releases that could have been published in one document. Apple often uses this tactic to build excitement and leave the consumer wanting more.

With Apple’s brief press releases giving the audience little to talk about, “Apple tapped into a law of social physics: News, like nature, abhors a vacuum. In the absence of real information, those who care about a product will pick up any buzz. Apple may publicly disavow rumors of websites seeking snippets of the company’s plans, but secretly its marketing department must be thrilled. It would cost a lot to buy that kind of advertising on the Web.” (Silverman, 2007)

The official iPhone website does more than just provide product information. The website offers the best tips and tricks for using an iPhone, as well as a heavy focus on apps. Almost the entire iPhone page displays images of apps, provides the “App of the Week”, the website also contains sections titled “Apps for Everything” and the “Top Apps”. Apple’s website is a great marketing tool for current iPhone users and consumers who are interested in purchasing the iPhone. Promoting the apps will create a stronger revenue stream for Apple. As customers see top rated apps, they are more likely to download the app, rather than searching through 25,000+ apps to find one that may be of some value to the consumer.

Successful young men were the target audience Apple had originally focused on. Apple hoped that with this target audience, and the fact that 48% of this audience did not already own an Apple iPod, it would allow them to reach their forecast of 10 million sales by the end of 2008.

A month before the launch of the iPhone, Solutions Research Group profiled a representative sample of people who were familiar with the phone. The prospective buyers forecast for launch day ranked most customers of T-Mobile, AT&T’s sole competitor for GSM-based products, at 15%. The second largest group expected to buy the new iPhone was AT&T’s existing customer base, at 12%. The Solutions Research Group also found that 72% of men, versus 28% of women, were more likely to research the phone at its $499 starting price. (Malley, 2007)

The current obvious target audiences for Apple’s iPhone include 20-35 year olds, affluent teens, “jet-setters” and “mobile” employees who work outside the office.

Apple is known for its simplistic yet catchy commercials. In recent TV commercials for Apple’s iPhone, “There’s an app for that” is the new tagline that puts a heavy emphasis on the apps available on the App Store. The apps are found in “every category, from games to business, education and entertainment, finance, health and fitness, productivity and social networking. These apps have been designed to take advantage of iPhone features such as Multi-Touch, the accelerometer, wireless and GPS” (Apple, 2009). Apple currently claims to have over 25,000 apps available and counting.

The focus on the variation of the offered applications greatly opens up the target audience. There is essentially an app for everyone. As some of the iPhone commercials advertise, you can find the snow conditions on the mountain, keep track of the calories in your lunch, find exactly where you parked your car. You can find a taxi in a strange city, find your share of the bill for a table of 5, or learn how to fix a wobbly bookshelf. You can read a restaurant review, read an MRI, or just read a regular old book. These are just some of the features that Apple has promoted through television commercials. iPhone apps provide all the features one can imagine.

When the iPhone was initially released, it was priced at $599. Still, millions upon thousands of people rushed out to buy the new phone, shelling out more than a third of what they would have if they had waited 3 more months. 3 months after the initial launch, Apple reduced the price of the iPhone to $399. This angered loyal Apple customers and consumers who bought the new phone a few months earlier. A year later, Apple reduced the price of the iPhone again to $199, 66% less than the original price.

In July 2007, Apple’s iPhone was a hit. I think Apple’s decision to launch the phone at $599 was slightly based on greed. However, their product was the most innovative on the market, giving Apple the freedom to price the iPhone however they wanted. Many believed that Apple had reduced the price after discovering that iPhone sales were lower than expected. However, Apple claims that the price cut was made “to stimulate holiday sales and predicted that Apple would meet its stated goal of selling its 1 millionth iPhone by the end of September.” (Dalrymple, 2007)

As with the product life cycle of any cell phone or Apple product, including the Apple iPod, prices are often dramatically reduced months after initial launch. Technological products always compete against “the latest and greatest” while maintaining a relevant price in the market. Had Apple not lowered the price of the iPhone, the customer base would have shrunk rapidly as many consumers are unwilling to spend $599 on a cell phone, no matter how many useful features the phone may have.

As the iPhone continues to be the number one smartphone, the product continues to grow, increasing in size capabilities, increasing the number of apps available, and providing new features that are released through new iterations of the phone, continue to deliver greater value. to the iPhone as long as the price remains relevant.

At this point in the product life cycle, Apple continues to release improved iterations of the iPhone. Since most iPhone users are not willing to buy a newer version of iPhone due to price, the target audience for new generation phones is new iPhone customers. With Apple’s installed base continuing to grow, they have found a way to earn recurring revenue from their existing customers through sales of their app downloads. As more and more people buy the iPhone, Apple’s audience for new customers continues to shrink. Fortunately for Apple, they’ve built in another source of revenue that continues throughout the life of the product.

References

(2009). AppleiPhone. Retrieved April 26, 2009, from Apple

Dalrymple, J (2007, September 11). Lessons learned from iPhone price cuts. PCWorld, Retrieved April 26, 2009, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/137046/lessons_learned_from_the_iphone_price_cuts.html

Silverman, D (2007, Jul 10). Apple’s silence helped the iPhone hype. Chron.com: Computing, Retrieved April 26, 2009, from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4954824.html

Malley, A (June 6, 2007). Apple and AT&T Neophytes to Define iPhone Audience: Report. AppleInsider, retrieved April 26, 2009 from the AppleInsider website

Mukherjee, A (2007, Feb 28). iPhone under attack. Business Today, Retrieved April 26, 2009, from the Business Today website

Sports

Badugi, Paduki or Padoki, it’s online poker fun

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It doesn’t matter if you call it Badugi or Padoki, this Korean-based poker game is making inroads on internet poker sites. I recently started playing at PokerStars.com and find the game challenging, frustrating and most of all fun.

If you are not familiar with Badugi, you can read a description of the game on Wikipedia. Basically, each player is dealt 4 cards and has three draws to make the lowest possible hand. Only cards of different rank and suit are counted when comparing hands to determine a winning hand. Since aces always count as lows in Badugi, the best hand in Badugi is 4-3-2-A with no suited cards. Badugi’s worst hand is holding all 4 kings.

Starting Hand Strategy

The various strategies that players can use when playing Limit Badugi are what make the game so challenging. Let’s say you were dealt 5♦ 7♣ K♣ K♥ as your starting hand. If you keep your 3-card hand and discard the King of Clubs, the chances of getting a usable spade to complete your 4-card Badugi are slightly less than 50%. There are only 10 spades available that can help your hand, as the 5, 7 and K of spades would match cards you already have and therefore not improve your hand. If you were to hit your Badugi on a draw, the odds of you winning the pot are still stacked against you if multiple players stay in the hand until the end. Your high K Badugi would lose to any Badugi with a high card lower than the King. If you don’t draw cards to improve your hand, you end up with a 3-card K-7-5, which is a sure loser. Knowing this to be true, most players would discard both kings in the example above. This strategy leaves them with the need to draw 2 usable cards to complete their Badugi and does not guarantee that they will have a low Badugi. The player who chooses to stick with the 3-card hand may still end up with a winner, as he might draw a low heart to replace the K in an early draw, then hit a low, usable spade in a later draw. Complicated, right? In my experience you should aim for a Badugi of 8 or less. High nine or 10 is risky and anything higher will likely lose if there are multiple players in the hand.

betting strategy

Players love chasing hands in low-limit Badugi more than they do in no-limit Texas Hold’em. I am guilty of chasing more often than I should. You can use this to your advantage to increase the size of your winning pots. You must pay attention to how many cards the players draw in each round. Are they drawing 2 or more cards or are they only drawing one? Did they draw fewer cards in the second round than in the first? Is someone standing and no cards are drawn? These are all clues you can use to determine your hand’s chances of winning. A player who stands his ground on the first or second draw probably has a Badugi, but may not be a low Badugi. If you have a 3-card hand of 7 or less, you’ll want to stay in the game until after the third draw in hopes of getting a lower Badugi. Many players will be left with even higher 3-card hands and they are the ones who usually end up losing their chips. The key to success in Badugi is making players pay to stay in a hand when you are strong. If everyone keeps drawing cards and you have a hand of 3 cards of 5 or higher, or you have a Badugi, then you need to bet and raise. Don’t let anyone get free cards. Any player you fold with your aggressive bets increases your chances of hitting the pot.

Bluffing can also be effective in Badugi, especially when you’re in position. I’ll cover lanterns in a future article. This post is far from being a complete guide to Badugi poker. I suggest you go to an online site like PokerStars.com and try the game at a play money table. This is a great way to learn the game and develop your own strategy.

Relationship

Rock Climbing in Kentucky

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At first glance, rock climbing in Kentucky may seem like a far-fetched idea. On the contrary! Red River Gorge offers excellent rock climbing areas in KY.

Rock Climbing in Kentucky

Located in the Daniel Boone National Forest, the Red River Gorge metropolitan area is over 26,000 acres. The Red River runs for approximately 20 miles through the area. The area around the river is full of rock climbing opportunities with multi-pitch walls, boulders and climbing roofs to test your vertical technique. Red River Gorge can be reached by car in about an hour from Lexington, Ky. There are plenty of trails and campsites in the area, so you can make a weekend of your trip.

Rock climbing is allowed in most of the gorge, but some areas are prohibited. You can ask the rangers for a list, but you generally can’t go up or down any of the arches. Also, all routes are pre-established and climbers are prohibited from starting new routes without first obtaining permission from the rangers. I’m sorry for the disappointment, but you don’t want to get arrested.

When rock climbing in Red River Gorge, there are a few areas that get universal approval. For traditional climbing, the following areas receive approval:

1. Pebble beach

2. Bridge of Heaven Ridge

3. Strength

4. Long wall

All of these areas have epic climbing routes rated well above five.

Sport climbing presents an entirely different challenge and the Red River Gorge area meets it. The main areas include:

1. Global Village with multiple climbs

2. Military wall

3. Rock on the road

4. Pebble beach

5. Bridge of Heaven Ridge

If you’re new to the area, the two best places to visit are Pebble Beach and Sky Bridge Ridge. Each offers a variety of climbs, giving you the best opportunity to test your technique and take on some challenges.

There are other areas in Kentucky that offer solid rock climbing. Red River Gorge, however, is king of the mountain when it comes to rock climbing areas in KY.