It’s just possible that you haven’t noticed but we’re in the first few days which could last at least until the end of the week, probably longer.

What Could Happen If Your Pipes Burst

The elderly and infirm should get their winter warmth allowance which means that they’ll be ok, the young and spritely will be fine too, we’ll turn the heating up a notch, put an extra pair of sock on and see it through but we should all remember to take some precautions against the cold around the house.

Protecting your house against the winter isn’t just about lagging the loft and double glazing the windows. Frost and other effects of the cold can do terrible damage to your home and property, precautions are often simple yet effective and certainly cheaper than the cost of repairs once the damage is done.

During particularly cold spells pipes can freeze, this will lead to burst pipes once the weather warms up a little. The cost of repairing the pipes is not unsubstantial, the cost or repairing and replacing damaged belongings and fixing water damage after a flood is going to be considerably more. It’s particularly important if you’re going to go away from home while the weather is at its worst. Should a pip burst while you’re away the cost of repairing damage caused by flooding could run into thousands of pounds.

Leave A Light On, And A Little Heat Too

If you are leaving home, no matter for a few days or even weeks you should leave the heating on low. This will pipes from freezing and therefore minimise the risk of pipework inside the home from splitting. If you’re leaving for an extended period it might be wiser to drain the entire central heating system and leave it switched off.

Leaving interior doors open can help prevent pipes from bursting as they allow warm air from the sunny side of the house to circulate around. Leaving the doors to the cupboard under the sink will help prevent the pipes bursting there; this is where the pipes are at their coldest, having just left the out doors and running up against the inside of an exterior wall.

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Given how easy it is to go green, you’re probably already doing your part for the planet by recycling, sacking your groceries in cloth bags, and perhaps even carpooling to work. You can also help out future generations by conserving water. Read on for a number of ways that you can get started.

Laundry wisdom

A washing machine is invaluable in the home, especially for items like bedding that need a good soapy soak and rinse. Smaller items, however, can often be hand-washed with relative ease. You can better dictate the amount of water you use and perhaps save yourself a trip to the laundromat, all while still seeing everything come out in the wash. When using the washer, do your best to run a full load of clothes. If you only have a few items to wash, adjust your machine’s water level accordingly so as not to use water needlessly.

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Space exploration is something that has wowed many of us for decades.

Whether it was putting a man on the Moon or constructing an international space station, man has done some amazing things beyond the planet Earth.

So, how then, could NASA lose track of where a fallen climate satellite finally came to rest this past weekend?

NASA’s Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS) re-entered Earth’s atmosphere overnight last Friday officials believe somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Okay, we get it that the sea is extremely big, but too big to locate a satellite?

According to a NASA spokesman, officials may never know quite where the satellite, which was in the process of breaking up upon its descent, landed in the vast ocean. NASA officials point out that they and the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base use ground-based radars and optical sensors at more than two dozen locations around the world to compile information regarding the whereabouts of dead satellites.

Remember Skylab?

This is not the first time an American space project has come back to Earth with fanfare. In 1979, America’s first space station, Skylab, fell to Earth, leaving a debris field over parts of Australia and in the Indian Ocean.

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We’re in denial. You, me, your friends and neighbours, all of us are in denial. We know that junk food is calorific but we assuage our guilty feelings by inventing clauses whereby the calories don’t count: It doesn’t count if it’s a Friday night; It doesn’t count because it’s just this once; It doesn’t count because it’s probably not as rich as a different brand…

One of those excuses is about to be eliminated, maybe to your advantage, maybe not. The change is this, fast food restaurants are going to be required to give dietary information on the products they serve so that you DO know how many calories are in that burger and fries. So now you’ll know if you really can’t eat it or if it’s ok, given that you’ve been good the rest of the week. (You have been good, haven’t you?)
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Home-owners have been constantly told that if they can’t afford to move then making improvements around the home, renovating the kitchen, redesigning the garden and knocking down the wall separating the lounge from the dining room, as examples, are the way to add value and make the home a better place to live in. But is that true?

Thanks to the static housing market then the truism that “if you can’t move, improve” seems to make perfect sense but rushing into home improvements could actually see you wasting your money, not only that, do a bad enough job and you could end up devaluing your property even more than if you had done nothing.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) took a poll of estate agents throughout the UK and found that about half felt that homeowners were considering remodelling rather than moving thanks to the sluggish housing market. Clearly the notion of remodelling rather than relocating was held most firmly in areas where the market was at its worst: 75% of agents in Northern Ireland and 71% of agents in the West Midlands reported that householders were staying put.

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McDonalds is reacting to increasing pressure from its more health savvy customers and is reducing the weight of fries it serves and introducing seasonal fruit and vegetables into the mix.

Happy Meals, which, thanks to the toys that its sponsors provide, are a must have for many kids all over the world, are going to come under the change from September, in some states at least. After the initial trial the changes will be rolled out to the rest of the country’s 14,000 restaurants in the US. This won’t be the first time McDonalds has changed the make up of the Happy Meal, in the past they removed the fries completely which obviously went down like a dry lunch so the fries were put back on the menu. Jan Fields, McDonald’s US president observed: “People come to McDonald’s and, first of all, they want the choice and the control to be theirs, but their expectation of a Happy Meal does include a fry. When we did it without fries, there was a huge disappointment factor.”

The new meal will contain about half of the number of fries that the current Happy Meal contains, down from approximately 70 grams of potato to 30 grams, this edible shortfall will be made up with fruit or vegetables such as apple slices, carrot sticks, pineapple or raisins. What exactly depends on the region and the time of year. Despite the variations McDonalds say that the changes will reduce the amount of calories by about 20%.

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If you’re thinking of getting away this summer then you might have another reason given to you by British Airways as they cut their fares by up to 30% on their business class routes and up to 60% in their first class cabins if you can find a destination you want and can book before June 21, 2011.

British Airways will be slashing the prices on tickets to over 80 destinations, the offer on discounted tickets includes tickets booked before the end of the month for travel before New Year’s Eve. Business flights to Caribbean destinations including Grenada and Jamaica are attracting discounts of 24 to 29%. As well as the flights, BA are also offering holiday packages, offers include stays at resorts like the 4 ½ star Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa located in Montego Bay. It recently received a Five Diamond AAA standard. They’re also offering holiday deals in Dubai, booking now could put you in poll position when the F1 Grand Prix arrives later on this year; the BA offer includes stays at the Ritz-Carlton anmd hotels further into the desert such as the Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa.

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