Archive for March 7th, 2009

Plumbing Price

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Getting some plumbing work done? I have been an Edmonton Plumber for the last 19 years, and the most common response I get from clients is “Why do plumbers charge so much?” This article is meant to explain for you why we as plumbers charge what we charge. Most of what I am writing about will be based on prices in Canada and with the Canadian dollar, but you will get the idea of where the costs of doing business comes from. I hope that after reading this you feel better paying a higher price then going with a low ball handyman that may not be in you and your families best interests at hand, and you may not want to be a diy plumber.

When I first started my Edmonton Plumbing company I failed miserably at the whole price objective thing. I needed work and would low ball other plumbers to get the jobs. Often the clients that did hire me were not the best clients, and many times they were the cheapest people in the city. Which means that they wanted the job for a low price and wanted all extras for free. This almost put my company into bankruptcy, which is not good for me, or for my clients.

In Edmonton the average plumber charges 150-185 to come to the door, then 85-92 per hour for every hour after that. If you have a very small job that only takes a half hour you could expect a bill for 192.50 to 231. This price is high, but for good reason. The employee that comes to your house gets paid for his or her time. As well as the costs for the van or truck to get there. The costs for the plumbing company for that half hour of work is as follows:

Plumber’s labour                   65.76

Other staff labour                  26.44

WCB                                      3.29

Employment Insurance            4.11

Vehicle                                 15.00

Guarantee                             46.00

Advertising                             8.00

Overhead                              30.12

Total                                   198.72

As you can see this leaves about 13.03 for profit. Can you see now that there is a lot more to running a business then what someone might think. Yes, there are some plumbers that work out of their homes, have no real advertising costs, and do everything for themselves. These companies might make more per billable hour, but they have a lot more non billable hours to work. For instance when I first started I worked about 45 billable hours per week, and about 20 non billable hours each week. Not counting any overhead if I charged 85 per hour for 45 hours but worked 65 hours then my real hourly rate was only 58.85. Which when you think about the fact that I could work for any plumbing company in the city and make between 41-47 per hour the risk reward ratio is not as high as what you may have thought. One other thing I have not mentioned is that there are many clients out there that rip off the people that work for them. These are called losses. 

After reading this you might think why would anyone want to do this? There is a lot of enjoyment that goes along with building your own company. And as you build you do make more money, plus when you are ready you can sell off the company for a capital gain.

Cheap Designer Trainers

Test Your IQ Online

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

IQ tests are tests which attempt to measure intelligence - where intelligence - subject to some contention, is defined as mental ability to among other things, solve problems, comprehend idea, learn new things and benefit from experience.

Attempts at testing intelligence have been with us for quite a long time. Ancient China for example, had an examination system (which really was some sort of an intelligence testing mechanism) and which was employed in the recruitment of civil servants during the Han Dynasty.

Intelligence testing as we know it by that specific name however has its roots in the work of a Frenchman called Alfred Binet early in the 20th century. History has it that Binet - who had established himself as a force to recorn with in psychology in France by that time had been given an assignment by the French government to develop a test that could reasonably predict given children’s potentially for educational achievement. The end result of Binet’s work was what he referred to as the Binet-Simon intelligence scale which was for long was used to ‘measure intelligence’

There have been many developments in the field of intelligence testing since Binet first formally ventured into the field. In fact, the very term IQ test (intelligence quotient) testing has been overtaken by these developments. As it were, when the term IQ test was coined, intelligence was then measured as a ratio of ‘mental age’ and ‘chronological age’.

Simply speaking, there were tasks that were considered apt for a given age and intelligence quotient which was measured by the IQ tests then could be calculated at Mental age/Chronological age x 100. In this case, a child of 10 years who could undertake tasks considered apt for a child of 12 had an intelligence quotient of 120, because 12/10×100 is equal to 120. Ideally, a person could only successfully undertake mental tasks apt for their age, and if a person could do mental tasks beyond their chronological age (e.g. the 10 year doing tasks apt for a 12 year old) was considered remarkably intelligent.

Another 10 year old doing tasks apt for a 14 year old would be even more intelligence and so on and so forth. Obviously, this method of measuring intelligence faced a number of challenges as it proves inadequate for measuring intelligence beyond a given age - because, as we know that (the supposed) intelligence does not just go on increasing with age - and in fact starts declining at a certain age. Modern IQ tests therefore tend to measure the subject’s standard deviation from established means (sort of midpoints) - since it has been established that intelligence in a given sample of people, like many other phenomena, if properly tabulated would form a curve and it is the deviations from the midpoints of that curve which is what is measured by modern IQ tests.

IQ tests and the whole notion of IQ testing have not been without controversy. There is contention, for example, on whether it is really possible to measure human intelligence - given that there is not even consensus on definition of the very term intelligence. The tests employed to measure intelligence have also been criticized for being biased towards certain social groups - especially after a prominent scientist in mid 20th century came up with the argument that certain races were intellectually superior to other races - an argument he backed with data obtained from IQ tests - and which was contested on account that items included in IQ tests give undue advantage to economically privileged (and thus well exposed) social groups - hence their apparent higher IQ test scores.

LEARNSPANISH-ONLINE.ORG

They Call Him Giancarlo

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

De Carlo Giancarlo is a designer, planner and theorist whose mature Modern architecture links CIAM ideals with late c20 reality. He trained as an architect in Milan (Dip.Ing. 1942) and Venice (Dip. Architecture. 1949) in a time of political turmoil which formed his own philosophy.

In a long and independent career, an unswerving libertarian socialism, with its intellectual strength, underpins all his planning and design. De Carlo’s built works, like his rare theoretical essays, are complex. “Understanding is something for which you have to suffer in order to obtain it at any depth,” he commented in 1979.

A pragmatic idealist, he enjoys the place of conflict in the development of his architecture, which is centred in participation (itself inherently conflicnial), in its context and in dialogue with its past. De Carlo shows a rare mastery in reading historic places (the people, politics and buildings), transforming and liberating them, then stitching them together with new insertions.

His political independence (rare in post-war Italy) has limited his built ceuvre and his academic standing. But his own vehicles, the journal Spazio e Societa and his master class, the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD), and the support of his Team 10 colleagues, have calmly ridden against the tide of the “tendenza” or “Post-Modernism” by other famous architects.

De Carlo’s important works include Buildings for Urbino University., 1952-82. Housing in Matera, 1957, Urbino, 1965, Term, 1972 and Venice, 1986. Art School, Urbino, 1972. Reconstruction of Renaissance rampa (1980) and c19 theatre (1984) in Urbino. Masterplans and buildings for Reggio Emilia (with Albin’, 1948), Urbino (1958/64), Padua (1960), Volterra (1961), Dublin University, Ireland (1964), Plovdiv, Bulgaria (1969), Pavia University (1972-5), Pistoia (1986), Catania University (1988), Sienna University Sports Centre (1990).

 

reviewsandcreditcarddeals.com

Men and Yeast Infection

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

For many men yeast infection happens when the way they eat and live makes their bodies perfect hosts for the yeast bacteria. These then multiply way beyond their limits, and start to take over your body.

It is also known as candidiasis because the infection is caused by Candida fungus which is normally present in our body but imbalance in the body system allows Candida to grow out of control and leads to yeast infection. Infection may occur in moist areas of the body like the mouth and genital area which are the perfect home for the fungus.

Friendly bacteria that are present in the digestive tract keep Candida at low levels by feeding on the yeast. These friendly bacteria are killed by antibiotics, cortisone and chemotherapy, etc.

Men who are uncircumcised are at a greater risk of having a yeast infection because the skin folds of the foreskin are hard to keep clean, are moist, and can become a breeding ground for fungus. Also, men who are diabetic or have a disease or illness that lowers the immune system are also more at risk for contracting a yeast infection.

It is possible for men to get a yeast infection from sexual intercourse, but this doesn’t mean it is a sexually transmitted disease.

For some men yeast infection symptoms are similar to those in women: itching, irritation, slight discharge, sores on the foreskin, pain during sexual intercourse, and appearance of a white cheese-like material. Physically, it can cause dryness and itching of the skin. It can also cause digestive disorders and constipation.

The type of treatment you need, will depend on the type of yeast infection you have, although natural remedies have proven to very beneficial. Garlic, yogurt, tea tree oil, oregano oil, aloe vera and other home remedies have proven to be effective for men with yeast infection.

Medications may temporarily get rid of the symptoms and offer short-term relief, but the root cause of the problem, the yeast spores, remains and inevitably will lead to future outbreaks. If you find that the over the counter medications aren’t working or that your yeast infection is recurring you may need more effective treatment that only a doctor can prescribe.

Whilst you are treating men yeast infection, it is advisable to use a water soluble lubricating gel during sex and always wear condoms too, to avoid passing the infection onto your partner.