http://www.pickarticle.com/ Articles at Pick Article Directory - Submit Your Articles en-us http://www.pickarticle.com/business/efficient-refrigerator-tips-for-your-home.html http://www.pickarticle.com/business/efficient-refrigerator-tips-for-your-home.html Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:54:15 -0500 Present in almost every household, the refrigerator is one of the primary appliances in use and this accounts for a considerable percentage of electric consumption. The effective and efficient operation of your refrigerator will dictate the extent of your electricity bill from month to month.

It is very urgent and important to keep an ideal efficiency performance ratio for your refrigerator if you wish to keep your electric bills in check. There are of course several ways to achieve efficiency in the kitchen, especially in regard to the management of your humble refrigerator.  

Increasing the temperature settings of your refrigerator is perhaps the most convenient way to improve its efficiency and optimum performance. The ideal temperatures of your fridge should be around 37 degrees Farenheit at the minimum and about 0 degree Farenheit at the maximum coldness. This range of temperature assures you that all the food you store are kept from spoilage over a good period of time.

One good way to increase the performance of your refrigerator is to turn off the ice maker. This move may give you enough energy savings also. Around 15 to 20 percent of the total electric consumption of refrigerators is attributed to the use and operation of the ice maker alone.

Ice makers are justified only when you have to use a lot of ice for specific purposes like parties. Instead of the ice maker, you can opt to use the conventional ice trays which provide for nominal ice usage. This method would go a long way in keeping your fridge at optimum performance and conservative use. 

The top of your refrigerator should ideally be clean and clear of any items. While a lot of people do stack a lot of assorted things on the top of their refrigerators, it is important to note that this stacking effectively blocks the heat from your refrigerator to escape easily to the atmosphere. When such blockade happens, the effectiveness of your refrigerator is considerably compromised, as it would work more in cooling its system. 

Remember to always position your refrigerator in the coolest place in the kitchen and away from heat sources. Avoid positioning your fridge by the window where it would be exposed to sunlight, or even worse, placing it right beside appliances that generate heat such as the oven, stove, or toaster, and even the dishwasher. When the refrigerator is exposed to external heat, it would also work harder and consume more energy in keeping its coolness. 

Another area to check for in keeping the effectiveness of your refrigerator is to avoid storing food and liquids in open containers. Open containers release certain levels of moisture inside the fridge and with an increased level of moisture inside the refrigerator’s compressor is required to work harder using much more electricity in effect. Finally, avoid overstuffing your refrigerator with a lot of foodstuffs, as overcrowding also results in overworking your refrigerator to its limits.

]]> http://www.pickarticle.com/business/the-case-of-st-helena.html http://www.pickarticle.com/business/the-case-of-st-helena.html Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:39:47 -0500 St Helena covers 122 square kilometres, and its topography mostly consists of steep, relatively barren and rocky territory, unsuitable for cultivation. The island's capital and only town is Jamestown, although there are smaller settlements such as Halftree Hollow, Blue Hills, Sandy Bay and Longwood (the latter being the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled on the island from 1815 until his death in 1821). St Helena's population of approximately 4,000 (2006) is of mixed European, African and Asian origin, and English is the only language spoken on the island.

Originally uninhabited, St Helena was discovered in 1502 by the Portuguese, who, just like the other European seafaring nations who followed after them, used the island as a refreshment station and sickbay on their journeys to and from the East. Until claimed by the East India wholesale cartier jewellery Company (EIC) in 1658, the island was never permanently or formally settled (Gosse, 1938). It was in that year when a concerted settlement policy was implemented, and soldiers, servants and planters (employed and contracted by the EIC, who held direct control over the island until the 1830s) were recruited to St Helena, along with slaves supplied on request by the Company's ships. Even though the exact origins of the British settlers are not known, there is evidence that most of them came from southern England. Moreover, the majority of the planters had working-class origins and the EIC recruited many of its soldiers (and settlers as well, for that matter) from among the unemployed in England (Gosse, 1938:72). We know that many of them were illiterate (as evidenced by an entry in the St Helena Consultations (quoted in Brooke, 1808) on February 2nd, 1774: "On 31st Jan. six soldiers deserted in the night taking two Boats ... The deserters were illiterate men of bad character and only a few days provisions and must inevitably perish at sea").

The origins of the non-white population are better documented; records show that slaves were imported from the Guinea Coast, the Indian sub-continent and Madagascar, and to a lesser extent from the Cape and Larger Table Bay area, the West Indies, Indonesia and the Maldives. In 1789, the importation of slaves officially ended, but the lack of cheap labour was compensated with Chinese indentured labourers who arrived in the early nineteenth century. However, very few, if any, stayed on permanently and slavery was finally abolished in 1832 (Melliss, 1875). In 1815, the total population was 3,342, comprising 694 whites, 1,517 slaves, 933 non-permanent army personnel, as well some 300 indentured labourers from China.

The situation changed dramatically in 1834, when St Helena's administration was transferred from the EIC to the British government and St Helena officially became a crown colony dolce gabbana jewelry Poverty led to out-migration and the remainder of the nineteenth century was characterised by extreme hardship. This period saw an increase in mobility and was characterised by ethnic mixing. Governor Charles Elliot remarked in 1868 that 'there can be no position on the face of the earth where it would be more difficult to discriminate between the various strains of blood of which the body of the population is composed than here in St Helena' (quoted in Gosse, 1938). Population loss due to out-migration was compensated by the arrival of immigrant groups: the indentured labourers from China, liberated African slaves, brought to the island after 1840, when St Helena was used as base for rehabilitating slaves from captured slave ships (some of them chose to stay while the majority were sent on to the West Indies or repatriated back to the African mainland) and hundreds of Afrikaans-speaking Boer War prisoners in 1902, only very few of whom stayed behind upon their release.

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