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First, let’s discuss what is a Smart Home?

A smart home is associated with the Internet, that can be controlled by means of an application. It provide great comfort, pleasure and wellbeing. Internet of Things (IoT) has come a long way which connects machine to machine through networks. If we talk in simple terms, IoT is connecting devices to the internet.

The installation of smart products in a home provides various benefits which results in savings of time, money and energy. Moreover, home automation technologies used in smart homes provide intelligent feedback and information to the owner. For instance, you can water your plants by using this technology. That sounds so cool. Isn’t it?

Well not only this but, It also includes the control and automation of lighting, air conditioning (HVAC), ventilation, heating, ovens, dryers, washer, refrigerators etc. Home gadgets, when remotely observed and controlled by means of the Internet, are a vibrant essential of the Internet of Things and that makes a Smart Home.

How Smart Home will affect our day to day life?

Technology is all set to grow in such a manner that if your alarm rings, your drapes opened. As soon as your drapes get opened your coffee machine starts brewing. Meanwhile, when your alarm stops, your geyser will get switched ON for hot water in your shower. Based on the availability, your fridge will suggest you for the breakfast that you can prepare and will also remind you for the things that are missing for the breakfast like bread, eggs, milk etc. Once you leave the house, your lights and TVs will get turn OFF. This is the near future of the global market and that time is not that far. Therefore, the growing technological advancements is anticipated to boost the demand for smart homes market over the next five years.

Across the globe, we are talking about smart system, smart speaker etc. this is all because of the growing internet penetration and growing IoT systems. In 2017, the demand for Alexa, which is launched by Amazon in 2014 boomed and had the largest market share in smart speaker’s market owing to its lesser cost and more applications than other assistants.

What will be the size of the Global Smart Home market?

According to TechSci Research, the market is projected to cross $ 60 billion by 2021 owing to increasing Internet of Things (IOT) market, booming M2M communication market and flourishing touch free intuitive gesture control market. Based on application, the adoption of energy management systems is expected to dominate the market in the coming years owing to increasing government efforts to optimize energy consumption. Based on region, the North America region dominated the global smart homes market in 2017 and is expected to maintain its dominance over the next five years as well, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.

While most people associate mobile homes and RVs with ordinary folks, it may come as a surprise to many that there are celebrities who also love them to travel by them. Recreational vehicles have been used by many a star from Hollywood to make their road trip a roaring success.

One Hollywood star who loves his RV so much that he has named it Canoe. This star is Mathew McConaughey. He has an Airstream trailer that is often seen parked along the Malibu coast as McConaughey catches some surf. He uses the trailer to travel around the country and is known to host press meets while on the road. In fact, McConaughey was awarded the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association Spirit of America Award in the year 2007.

Actress Drew Barrymore took a month long vacation driving around the US in an RV some time in 2009. In a television show, she claimed that it was one of the most interesting and entertaining experiences of her life despite some minor problems she faced while driving.

In 1993, when wildfires burned out many homes in Malibu, Sean Penn was unfortunate enough to lose his mansion. However, Penn took matters into his hand and got an Airstream Sovereign into his estate and lived in it for a few years until his mansion was rebuilt. Now that is showing your love for your mobile home!

Then there is the singer and actress Dolly Parton who travels around the US in an RV. Of course, she travels in style and luxury as the RV is equipped with a huge shower and vanity mirror. And, not to be outdone by anyone is Pamela Anderson, whose Airstream was equipped vibrating bed, a mirror ball and a pole.

Caring for people in need is a noble duty that care homes are performing from a long time. It is a sector that encourages well-being of one and all. A care home comprises of people like owner, manager, staff and the people residing within that environment. A care home may be of various kinds – residential care, nursing care or dementia care and one for the older adults. Each requires a different health and safety policy for care homes with specific requirements.

It is a kind of health program that excels in providing a resource for concerned personnel inside the care home setting. The main implications it includes are-

• Legal duties

Out of the various laws that govern health and safety regulations in a workplace, the most applicable ones are-

• Health and safety at work act 1974
• Common law
• Reporting of injuries diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations
• Control of substances hazardous to health
• Management of health and safety at work regulations 1999

The above acts enable employers to perform their duties of ensuring a safe and secure working environment. It involves all the diseases caused by biological perils, drug exposures, bloodborne pathogens, respiratory complications along with workplace violence.

• Facilities

The policy also encloses the various healthcare facilities that an organization issues to its employees in adequate quantity. The welfare arrangements also include safe handling and proper storage of potentially hazardous substances.

• Training

Another most important part of a policy is providing information training with specific guidelines to employees under expert supervision. The training also acknowledges employees’ efforts by certifying them with liability insurance.

• Guidelines

The set of rules that are sketched for an employee also make him realize his duties to take reasonable care of each other’s health. Also, the basic guidelines that one needs to follow while working in a care home are-

• Be attentive

While inside a care home, one needs to dedicate one’s full attention to providing a danger-free environment. One small or normal careless attitude like rugs or slippery surfaces can cost as one huge mistake to both caretakers and residents.

Also, mind the pets and make sure they are at safer distances from any ill person as their presence can make the conditions severe. It has been reported that half of the in-house accidents occur due to silly mistakes and carelessness. Hence, all the employees should take notes on how to organize the environment with proper safety.

• Emergency services

The care providers also need to have complete knowledge about the contact details of nearby emergency help providers like police, fire or ambulance. They must be aware of the safety profile of the neighbourhood and should stay alert while witnessing any suspicious activity in the immediate location.

• Documentation

Recording the history of each person’s medical issues is also one of the major characteristics of a health and safety policy. A caretaker should also be in his finest health to able to ensure welfare to other people, and if not so, he or she is certainly not liable for this duty.

• Safety Tools

A caretaker also needs to be well aware of how the safety tools function and ways to operate them. A very common notion about healthcare sectors is that they have the maximum rates of work-related injuries and illnesses. Hence, each worker should be aware of how to handle the critical conditions without losing his composure.

A caretaker working in a care home for elderly often complain of back pain as he constantly needs to lift and move older people. This results in muscular as well as skeletal hazards along with other stress-inducing factors.

The healthcare and social welfare industry draws huge benefits from the safety policies and has prime necessity in each sector. Hence, knowing about the implications that an employee has to dedicate his assistance to will make him realize his duties and responsibilities in a refurnished way.

One of Stamford Connecticut’s most beautiful historic luxury homes is Marion Castle built in 1914 by Frank Marion, one of the first early motion picture pioneers. This stunning waterfront Neo-French Renaissance chateau at One Rogers Road, Shippan Point exemplifies the era of Stamford’s emergence in the early 1900’s from a farming community to the year-round residences of wealthy New York families.

Marion Castle was built by one of the first true movie moguls, Frank Marion, whose Kalem Company produced some of the earliest one reelers shown at nickelodeons and silent movie houses across the country. His first big hit was Ben Hur in 1907 that was fifteen minutes in length focusing primarily on the chariot race. The film was shot at the beach with firemen as actors using the horses that usually pulled the fire wagons pulling the chariots.

Ben Hur was one of the most popular novels of its day and the film was an immediate success. Frank Marion proved himself to be not only a good businessman but also having a social conscious when he raised the daily wage of actors to five dollars a day – forcing the rest of the emerging motion picture industry to do the same.

However Marion was on the cutting edge of what at the time was the emerging technology of his day. The publisher and estate of the author of Ben Hur took the company all the way to the US Supreme Court and established the first copyright precedent that although the film only focused on the chariot race that was a very short portion of the book, motion picture producers must first obtain rights to printed work before they can produce a film based upon that work.

Undaunted, Marion’s Kalem Company next made motion picture history by sending a crew to Ireland in 1910 to make what was the first American motion picture to be shot on location outside of the United States. Two years later, he sent a camera crew to Palestine where From the Manger To the Cross was filmed.

These films were very successful, he sold the company after ten years in the motion picture business and built Marion Castle as his retirement home for the enjoyment of his wife, son and four daughters.

Marion Castle was designed in the style of a French Renaissance chateau by the noted New York City based architectural firm of Hunt & Hunt who had made this style very popular on Fifth Ave at the turn of the century. Marion Castle is a composite of several Loire Valley chateaus.

It features a steep slate roof with copper crestings rising high above the main body of the mansion. The front face has large dormer windows with high pediments bordered by finials. A gabled wing that faces the seaward side has a large triple window with mullions and transom bars and steps leading down to the grade.

On the north side of the home, a long half-timbered bay projects from the main wall leading up to a circular turret giving it its distinctive “castle” look. The interior includes a balconied main hall and almost thirty additional rooms of various sizes and uses.

Frank Marion built and occupied Marion Castle until his death at 93 in 1963. The property was then sold to Martha and David Cogan, an inventor and leader in the development of radio and television who helped develop the first color television tube. Martha was widely renown and respected for saving many children from Hitler during World War Two.

In 1978, Jay Kobrin and Gordon Micunis purchased Marion Castle and were very influential in getting it placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 – the only structure in Stamford’s Shippan Point listed in the Register.

Since 1998 Marion Castle has been owned and occupied by Thomas L. Rich, a well known Stamford real estate developer. Mr. Rich has allowed the home to be used extensively for non-profit events such as the Shippan Point Association’s annual community party.

Today, the beautiful waterfront historic luxury home of Frank Marion is one of Stamford CT’s most distinctive landmarks. Having been owned by several innovative civic minded entrepreneurs, Marion Castle continues to be the center point of many of the town’s important community and social events.

To most people a Toyota motor home built in the 1980s looks like a cute and charming recreational vehicle. And for the most part this is exactly what they are. But there was a fatal flaw built into these early 1980 motor homes was that caused heartbreak and disaster for hundreds of people.

As the motor home size was expanded past 18 feet, the original Toyota pickup chassis which was only rated at 1/2 ton capacity, was simply not up to the job. Specifically the rear axle began to fail. When this happened bad things occurred to good people.

Completely empty, these little campers have a marginal carrying capacity for people and possessions. This meant that the typical motor home left the driveway in probably an overloaded condition. This was normally not a problem because the performance of the camper insured that slow speeds would be maintained on the trip. The hundred horsepower four-cylinder engine would not move three tuns of house in a very fast pace.

As the size of the camper increased it wasn’t long until the rear axles began to fail. The camper manufacturers compensated by adding a second set of wheels on the axle. This created a dual set of tires on each side. However this did not correct the problem. The problem lie in the fact that the bearings and the axle itself were just not heavy-duty enough to carry the load.

Excessive load caused the bearings to overheat, fail, and then disintegrate with disastrous consequences. Victims of this problem reported that the wheels would actually leave the truck. This was such a serious problem that the national highway safety administration became involved and issued a recall of certain Toyota motor home models.

There was no way to predict when the axle would fail. Some units failed almost immediately, some units went thousands and thousands of miles, and some units have not failed yet. However any Toyota motor home without the heavy-duty axle should be considered as a suspect vehicle.

There is an easy way to tell if your Toyota RV has a safe axle. First of all, all models of Toyota RV built after 1987 were built with the upgraded safe axle. All models of Toyota motor home built in 1984 and before are required to have the upgraded axle due to the safety recall. In 1985 and 1986 some models were built with the upgraded safe axle and some were not. So it is up to you to be careful when inspecting the axle on any Toyota motor home you are considering to buy.

A simple inspection of the axle itself will tell you if it is safe or needs to be replaced. The safe axle will have six lug nuts, the unsafe axles were built with five lug nuts. The safe axle will also have a protruding center hub that has a ring of nuts around the outer edge.

If the axles on the Toyota motor home you are considering only have five lug nuts and the center does not stick out and have a ring of bolts on the center hub, keep looking for another camper to purchase.