Winchester Coldwell real estate educator earns national ‘Green Designation’

Fitzgerald completed extensive training to meet NAR’s qualification to train REALTORS better understand what makes property green, to help their clients evaluate the cost/benefit of green building features and practices, to distinguish between industry rating and classification systems, to better list and market green homes, to discuss financial grants and incentives available to homeowners, and to help homeowners see a property’s green potential.

“As energy costs rise along with concern for the environment, homeowners are looking for innovative ways to save money and live responsibly,’” said Fitzgerald. “It is my goal to assist Realtors to become more familiar with green real estate concepts so that they can better serve their clients.”

NAR’s Green Designation was developed in response to growing consumer awareness of the benefits for resource-efficient homes and buildings. The designation helps consumers who care about energy efficiency and sustainable building practices identify REALTORS who can help them realize their green real estate and lifestyle goals.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the largest residential real estate brokerage company in New England. With more than 4,000 sales associates and staff in more than 90 office locations, the organization serves consumers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is part of NRT LLC, the nation’s largest residential real estate brokerage company. NRT, a subsidiary of Realogy Corporation, operates Realogy’s company-owned real estate brokerage offices.

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From the Business World weblog

Cruise Into Recycling

Folks who enjoy vacations at sea should be pleased to note that some luxury liners are stepping up efforts to protect the planet. Though a cruise is by no means the most eco-friendly vacation type, if you are going to go on one, taking the time to look at the line’s environmental policies is a must. Many are choosing to not just pamper their passengers, but also sort their recyclables, lower energy use, reduce waste and boost water efficiency. “Ship to Shelter” Program Ever taken home those tiny bottles of lotion or shampoo from your state room? Holland America Line is putting leftover toiletries and other excess shipboard items to good use in various parts of the world. Along with mini-packets of bath gel and shampoo, the donations from Holland America’s Ship to Shelter program include such items as towels, bed sheets and kitchen utensils. Among the recipients is a social-service organization in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that provides hot showers and food to financially strapped families. Marti Forman, who runs the Cooperative Feeding Program, is delighted to distribute the much-appreciated bounty. Even simple items like disposable packets of soap are a luxury, Forman said, for some of the people served by the programs. Sometimes, the ships’ loot includes offbeat items like exercise weights and silver-plated ice buckets. Those, she said, are great for fundraisers. Taking Advantage of Sunshine Celebrity Cruise’s ship, the Solstice, is equipped to create its own energy from the sun’s rays. Its 216 solar panels produce enough power to handle 7,000 LED lights, or to run the cruise ship’s passenger elevators throughout the trip. Other ships with the Celebrity Cruises fleet are also enjoying some green modifications. They include: * Replacing halogen and incandescent light bulbs with more efficient sources of light, like light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and fluorescent bulbs. * Adding higher-efficiency appliances. The ice makers, for example, use 65 percent less water and about half the energy of previous equipment. * Conserving water in various areas, from efficient shower heads to the use of river rocks, rather than ice, in buffet displays. * Painting hulls (the body of the ship, part of which is underwater) with an environmentally safe product that creates a smoother surface, aimed at improving fuel efficiency. * Teaching crew members to work toward reducing air-conditioning waste in areas that are not in use. Zero Waste Overboard Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises are two lines that are going above and beyond: They exceed environmental regulations and do not permit any type of disposal at sea, according to Tim Rubacky, director of corporate communications for Prestige Cruise Holdings, which owns both the lines. Some of the wastewater that’s treated on-board is reused for such things as washing the decks or cooling the engines, Rubacky said.

France’s PM Pushes Financial Reform Ahead of G-20 Meeting

French Prime Minister François Fillon is in Washington to garner support for tougher international financial regulations ahead of the April 2 Group of 20 economic summit in London. While the Obama administration wants Europe to increase its fiscal stimulus to solve the global economic crisis, the French prime minister says financial reforms must first be addressed.
French Prime Minister François Fillon says it is the duty of the G-20 group of the world’s largest developed and emerging economies next month to achieve concrete results in resolving the global economic crisis. He says the best way to do this is by agreeing to stricter oversight of international financial institutions.
In a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on Monday, Mr. Fillon listed four key issues that France wants to top the agenda at the economic summit.
Mr. Fillon said the four pillars for lasting recovery are reforming financial regulations, supporting economic growth, rescuing banks and providing aid to the countries suffering most from the economic crisis.
In addition, he said hedge funds must be subject to real oversight. Ratings agencies, which Mr. Fillon said helped fuel the crisis, must adopt rules for dealing with conflicts of interest and offshore banking centers, which often allow clients to evade paying taxes in their home countries, need to be vigorously regulated.
Mr. Fillon also struck back at critics in the media and within the Obama administration who say Europe needs to spend more on government economic stimulus.
The French prime minister said the crisis was created by an excess of public debt and that it will not be solved by creating even more. He says European Union member states already have implemented large stimulus packages that account for more than three percent of Europe’s gross domestic product.
Mr. Fillon expressed confidence in U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s newest initiative to help stabilize the banking system by providing guarantees and low-interest loans to investors willing to purchase toxic assets from banks.
Mr. Fillon said he prefers the idea of a public-private partnership to buy up the bad assets, and that this will prompt European countries to consider similar measures.
While in Washington, Mr. Fillon also met with Vice President Joe Biden and Lawrence Summers, the head of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council. 

C I Host Refines Colocation and Dedicated Server Portfolio

C I Host, a Cassiopeia Internet, Inc. brand, has announced the acquisition of its shared web hosting interests by X7 Hosting. The move allows C I Host to increase focus on core services while ensuring benefit to all customers.

C I Host will be able to further define a diverse service portfolio geared to Dedicated Server and Colocation customers and enhance existing services.

Chris Faulkner, CEO of C I Host says, “We believe that focus and specialization is a key factor for success in the hosting marketplace. Over the years, our company’s growth and operational expertise has allowed us to target mid- and large-market services and this move enables us to further specialize in these segments.”

C I Host plans to refine client services across the board. In the works are the introduction of dedicated sales and support teams to better meet the needs of customers and a host of other upgrades. C I Host’s multiple data center locations will prove a strong asset with new offerings including geographical load balancing, clustering, and other services that require geographical fault tolerance.

C I Host has been offering dedicated servers since 1999 and colocation services since 2000. The additional asset of their team’s expertise and years of experience will allow new offerings such as managed colocation services in addition to a range of dedicated server solutions.

Erin Bullock, Executive Director of Business Development remarks, “It has always been our goal to provide a superior service experience for all our clients. X7 Hosting has some great new features to offer our shared hosting customers, and focusing our service catalog exclusively on dedicated server and colocation customer needs will allow us to better serve our customers.”

The company continues to invest in research and development.

About C I Host

C I Host ( www.cihost.com ), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, is a Web hosting, domain name registrar (DNR), and colocation service provider, operating for more than 11 years. C I Host creates business-class Web hosting solutions for the enterprise market, with the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by ICANN to register domain names. C I Host operates multiple data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford, Texas.
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From the Where and how you choose web-hosting? weblog

Google’s Behavioral Ads Are Just The Start

Google’s latest privacy flap emerged this week when it announced its “interest-based” ads, which are behaviorally targeted banner ads based on a user’s web-browsing activity. It’s nothing particularly new or ground-breaking, and the company was kind enough to give people a way to opt out, but the way the company presented the new system to users was a little odd. It titled its blog post announcing the new system “Making ads more interesting,” and it later said, “We believe there is real value to seeing ads about the things that interest you.” But are better-targeted ads really something that delivers any benefit to users? The benefit to advertisers and marketers is obvious, but it’s hard to see users really caring enough to forfeit some privacy just so they can help out advertisers.

But web browsing is just the tip of the iceberg: lots of marketers are looking at how to take information generated by mobile phones to hit users with targeted ads. They’re not talking about the worn-out Starbucks example of hitting people’s phones with a coupon when they walk past a store, but building profiles of people based on their travel patterns, favorite applications and web sites, and even gender, age and income information. Again, all of this info given up for the sake of seeing “better” or “more interesting” advertising. That really doesn’t benefit the user, so why should they give up — or be forced to give up — all of this information?
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From the Advertising: tips, articles and advices weblog

A reality’s blogging

The South Beach nourishment is a wildly popular diet, that’s why South Beach diet recipes are so in demand. There are many delicious low-carb foods that fit on the fare. Almost everything you can think of is included in some south beach diet recipes. Read on to discover a few.

One of the terrific South Shore diet recipes is for chicken Marcela. Add chicken broth, minced parsley, half cup of Marcela wine, olive oil, mushroom slices to boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Brown the chicken in the olive oil. Cook onions and mushrooms until they’re furry, then add the wine and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add some broth as liquid is needed. Cover the chicken with the sauce. The calories and carbs will bowl over you 336 calories, and 3 g of carbohydrates

Another of the terrific South Beach diet recipes takes us to the east, in Thailand. It’s be that as it may for some chicken salad from Thailand. It’s a combination of chicken with various vegetables and spicy Thailand sauce. It’s very Spartan to make mix together the salad ingredients, mix together dressing ingredients, then toss them together. It makes four servings and has 8 g of carbohydrates in 297 unconditional calories. It really looks delicious.

How about south of the border with South Beach at recipes? This way for fajitas includes a soy sauce, a recommendation from a cook in a Mexican restaurant. ? to 2 pounds of skirt steak or chicken is cut into strips, combined with a normal onion, two bell peppers, quarter cup of soy sauce, ? cup of wine juice, 1 teaspoon of chili granulate, and 2 tablespoons of oil. Let the meat marinate in the liquid ingredients for at least an hour. Brown the meat then cook the vegetables for a terse time. This serves five, has 4.5 g of carbohydrates in a total of 307 calories per serving.

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From the Free recipes - food and drink recipes weblog