It is now or never, prepare for home emergency

The fact of the matter is that not one person knows just exactly are the specific problems that could eventually result during a major and over all emergency. The best thing one could possibly due is make himself prepare for anything that could happen. The following are some of the tips, advice and recommendation in order to amply prepare for an emergency. The following are from the emergency service from the California office of the Red Cross. Water is life, life is water As much as possible, try to keep a water supply of a gallon for every person each day and one that would be enough to go on for up to three to seven days. Water should be kept in containers made of plastic. Also, make sure that you also have filters and tablets for the purposes of purification ready and available when needed. Store food for you and your family Food that is not as easily perishable should be stored for you and your family, and such foods must be enough to last you, your family, as well as your pets, for three days up until one week. Examples of such foods are canned goods, powdered juices, boxed vegetables and food. Have an alterative It is always a wise idea to have a cooking source that could serve as an alternative besides the usual electric stove you may be used to. Having a ready barbecue stove or a propane stove on hand is the best recourse if in case the electricity goes out or if gas becomes no longer available. However, if you are to utilize propane, ensure that the tank is completely full and that an extra propane tank is also available. Collect clothes Have a ready and available stock of clothes for your kids and yourself as well as sleeping bags. Collect wood Having a steady supply of good wood is also a good idea as these could be used for those fireplaces or for stoves that use wood for burning. Have a light A flashlight is the item that you simply could not do without especially during emergencies. Try to consider using recharging through solar means as well as units that are cranked by hand. This is in order to avoid any future worries on batteries. Keep prescriptions As much as possible, try to keep any prescriptions that you or your family member may have filled. Also, try to maintain an added supply of medication both non-prescription and prescribed ones. Contact your healthcare provider for any refill prescriptions in advance. Have cash and some gas Credit is good unless there is an emergency. Try to keep ready cash just in case the atms fail or the system of your bank is not working. Also, it is best if you keep the gas tank of your car half full. This is so to avoid the long lines in gas stations. Have books During emergencies, it could be safe to have some books and some board games available to entertain yourself during power failure. Know thy neighbor It is also better if you acquaint yourself with the neighbors you have in your area. There could be instances wherein you ay need each others help if ever the basic services are somewhat interrupted. All in all, preparation is always the best cure against any unexpected circumstance that an emergency might bring.

The Not So Sweet History of Belgian Chocolate

How It All Began It all started with Leopold II of Belgium in the year 1885 when he colonized Congo. It was a territory eighty-six times bigger than his country. Leopold II was the very first one to commit genocide during the 20th Century. The chocolate industry first took off during the 1880s, supported by getting hold of the Belgian Congo that has aided an easy way in to Africas cocoa grounds. The truth is that it is very hard to imagine that the Belgian Chocolates history may be that far from being sweet. There was an estimated 10 million Africans that passed away under the orders of Leopold II. Despite of the war that was happening, Belgians were able to maintain the cocoa importing connections. On the other hand, the Belgian contribution in the chocolate industry is the introduction of their chocolate product which is the praline. It was created and expanded by a Swiss family in Brussels, the Neuhaus family in 1912. The praline was the very first butter cream-filled bite sized chocolate. It was either filled with nuts or cream or coated with milk or milk chocolate or filled also with a very good quality of dark chocolate. In the year 1912, chocolate started as a gift in Belgium. A Belgian chocolatier created the very first praline, a chocolate that absolutely complied to the gift career it was building. Not later on, a packaging called Ballotin was developed and patented for praline. At that moment the pralines in Ballotin were the most desired gift in every chance somebody has to give someone something as a present. The Making Chocolates start with the seeds of a cacao tree. A fruit bearing tree that has large football-shaped like pods, in which the seeds are contained. The cacao tree was first discovered in the United States but now can be grown in many countries near the Equator. These pods are gathered and the seeds are then dried in the sun. After drying, they undergo roasting. When the beans are roasted, they will now be crushed to produce cocoa powder, and then squeezed to get the cocoa butter. When the powder is ready, it will be mixed with butter. Adding the milk powder and sugar creates chocolate. Each component of the mixture determines the color of the chocolate. Therefore creating different kinds of chocolate like black or the dark chocolate that can be made with up to seventy percent of cocoa in the mixture; milk chocolate containing more milk powder than the others, and of course the white chocolate that does not contain cocoa but cocoa butter only mixed with milk and sugar only. Trivia Did you know that if not most, all the pralines during those times were hand made? Presently chocolates are considered as an energy giving food because of its very high content of sugar and calorie. Another fact about chocolate is that it is also considered as one of the many sexual stimulant foods. In fact, aside from being an exceptional energy booster, one of the Aztec emperors drank chocolate to have access to women. It is also known to be use as an anti-depressant. It is known to contain a substance called pheryletylanine that has a positive effect in the event of a nervous depression but not only that, there is something in chocolates that gives anyone a lighter mood every time it is drank.

Heart Rate Monitors

Heart rate monitors used to be exclusively operated by physicians and nurses alone but that was soon rectified with todays multi-tasking generation. Every person seemed to want to know about everything that was related to them and that of course included monitoring their own heartbeats. What is a Heart Monitor Also known as a cardiac monitor, a heart monitor is a piece of electronic equipment that can be used to track or observe heart functions continuously. It allows people to place a numerical value on their healthiness based on their heart rate and have a target heart rate to work for. The more complex versions of the heart monitor allow physicians to see any signs of deterioration or improvement and make the necessary adjustments immediately. Types of Heart Monitors Today, heart monitors are produced by the millions and designed to cater specific types of individuals. Some heart monitors are primarily designed for weight loss programs while others are meant for the use of athletes or fitness programs. Some are wireless or come as a built-in feature of exercise equipment like a treadmill or an exercise bike. It can be strapped to your wrist or of considerable size. It may or may not emit any electromagnetic waves, depending on its purpose. A fetal heart monitor, for instance, must not produce any waves at all as this may affect the health of the baby. Factors on Selecting the Best Heart Monitor for You ECG-Accurate Monitors with Chest Straps Heart monitors that come with chest straps are more often not the most accurate of heart monitors. The chest strap is strapped around your chest, a few centimeters below your breast. It contains a device thats able to detect electrical activity of your heart and transmit it to the brain of the machine just like an ECG. The results are shown on the display monitor, which most of the times is attached to your wrist like a watch. Others however prefer results to be transmitted through audio messages via earphones. Upon choosing heart monitors with chest straps, you need to remember to keep the strap constantly connected to your body lest you want the heart monitor to produce inaccurate readings. Lastly, the only alternative against buying heart monitors with chest straps are the ones that rely on pulses on your fingertips. These however do not provide readings as accurate as those with chest straps. Heart Monitor Features Basic and lower end models tend to display only your heart rate and maybe the elapsed exercise time as well. This of course does not provide sufficient information if you want to know exactly how much you need to improve before you can be qualified as a completely healthy individual. Higher end models will naturally offer a wider range of features for a price. Examples of such features are but not limited to heart rate zone alarms, timers and number of calories burned. It may also allow users to set pre-programmed workouts along with a targeted heart rate. Ease of Use Lastly, you must purchase a heart rate monitor that you will have no problems of using. What good would a high end heart monitor do if it takes you an hour to operate it? Are the numbers and words appearing in the heart rate monitor readable? Can it be used in no-light situations? Are buttons well-labeled and ergonomically positioned? To Buy or Not to Buy a Heart Monitor Heart monitors can be especially costly, more so if you are intent on purchasing higher-end models. If you have a limited budget, you should ask yourself whether or not you truly need to buy a heart monitor. You can of course purchase one of the lower-end models but low quality heart monitors can lead to inaccurate results and that sort of defeats the purpose of buying one. If you are intent on purchasing a heart monitor, you need to ask yourself another question: do you need to make a solo purchase or is it alright with you to use the heart monitor that comes as a built-in feature of a treadmill? Lastly, you should remember as well that you can always pay your doctor regular visits and have him monitor your heart rate for you.