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With a fragile cease fire in place, South Sudanese look at how to salvage their delicate democracy

South Sudanese refugees walk at a border gate in Joda, in the Jableen locality in Sudan's White Nile State, after arriving from the South Sudanese war zones of Malakal and al-Rank, January 16, 2014.

The temporary truce signed on Thursday by South Sudanese politicians may have halted hostilities that, according to United Nations and humanitarianestimates, have resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000 people and displaced half a million more since fighting began in December, but asustainable peace remains far off, diplomats andexperts say. The country can fallapart; its sort of half unglued now. Even if theres a ceasefire, whoknows if thats going to stick as it doesnt resolve any the underliningproblems, said Tom McDonald, who worked on Sudan issues as U.S.ambassador to Zimbabwe during the Clinton presidency. A lot is at stake because we have invested time anddiplomatic capital and lots of money there to stand up this country.

Two and a half years ago, the world celebrated the birth of the new nationin the hope that dividing Sudan would end the violence in the war-torncountry. The U.S. poured billions of dollars into helping build South Sudans government and ministries. So how, in such ashort amount of time and with so much support from the internationalcommunity, could things fall apart?

Some, like Eric Reeves, a professor of Englishat Smith College, and an expert on Sudan and South Sudan, say the U.S. and the West expected too much too quickly from the South Sudanese and that the UN should have overseen a period of transition while a constitution was written. John Prendergast of the Enough Project, a nonprofitanti-genocide organization that works in South Sudan, lays the blame more squarely on the Obama Administration. There was a gulffrom the last special envoy last spring until the new special envoy [was appointed]in the fall, Prendergast says. During that period, already existingproblems were incubating and exploding to the surface. The U.S. didnthave that envoy and team to work that issue as diligently as needed.

The last U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Princeton Lyman,stepped down on March 22, 2013, and his replacement, Donald Booth, wasntnamed until August 28. During that five-month lag, South SudanesePresident Salva Kiir made what his opponents call an authoritarian powergrab, firing and imprisoning 11 members of his cabinet. Kiir accused themof attempting to orchestrate a coup with his then Vice President Riek Machar, who escaped arrest in July.

National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden disputes both Reeves and Prendergasts assessments, arguing that the U.S. is by far the biggest presence and donor in South Sudan. The U.S. Government, up to and including President Obama, has remained deeply engaged throughout 2013, even as we worked to identify a new special envoy, Hayden said. President Obama sent Kiir a letter of concern in March, and senior U.S. officials met with their South Sudanese counterparts in April and May in Washington andin the South Sudanese capitol of Juba. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiir in Ethiopia in May and spoke with him by phone in July.

Moreover,whilethe country is young, it has ancient prejudices that burst to the surface at every turn. Although only two of the 11 cabinet detainees were ethnically Nuer,Machars Nuer tribe rallied against Kiirs Dinka tribe in response to the arrests. Some Dinka soldiers killed civilians who couldnt identifythemselves in the Dinka language, according to U.N. reports. Nuer rebels killedtwo U.N. peacekeepers who were protecting Dinka refugees. Thatprompted the U.N. Security Council to send in an additional 5,500 peacekeepers, bringing its total force in South Sudan to 12,500, the largest in the world after the peacekeeping mission in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo. This began as a political struggle, but it becameethnic within the first day or two, Reeves says. After decadesof war [with Sudan], there is a simmering tribalism that bursts throughfor almost any reason.

For the past month, Machar has resisted reconciliation, insisting that Kiir first release his cabinet allies. The ceasefire doesnt determine what will happen withthe detainees, though the South Sudanese government says it envisions amnesty for them after they go through trials. Our position is there should be no preconditions to cessation of hostilities, a State Department official told TIME, speaking on condition of anonymity. But at the same time Machar has a point that any long-term agreement relies on a meaningful political dialogue and they cant have that unless those detainees are at the table.

Reeves says that with so much mistrust between Machar, Kiir and the rest of thecabinet, reforming the government and writing a constitution protectingminorities is going to be a challenge. The question is if were seeing acrescendo or descendo, Reeves says. The rebels are people with a lot ofgrievances with the government. They are not looking to Machar forleadership. I doubt he can control even a third of the rebels. This is thebeginning of the really hard part and that is to get a wider militarystand-down by all groups.

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S. Sudan Faces Bigger Obstacle

When putting your home on the real estate market, getting it ready structurally and cosmetically can be a challenge. There are some projects that can be do-it-yourself, or DIY, and others are better left to an experienced contractor.

Becky Burghart, president of the Topeka Area Association of REALTORS, said when it comes to a DIY project, being honest with yourself is the best policy.

You have to ask yourself, what is my time worth? Do I have the skill level to do it? How much would it cost to hire a professional to do it? she said. They have to consider their time and whether they can do the job correctly. We (real estate agents) would prefer that any work that needs to be done be done by a professional because they have the knowledge and expertise to do the job correctly.

Burghart said she has a laundry list of items she looks at when getting a home ready to be put on the real estate market. She said the items she looks for are related to a homes appraised value - like a good roof, siding, gutters and the structural integrity of the house. When it comes to getting the home ready for inspection, the mechanical system upgrades like the plumbing, heating and cooling and electrical should be done by a professional contractor.

According to Remodeling Magazines 2011-2012 Cost versus Value report, the national average for return on a home remodeling investment was 57.7 percent. In the West North Central region, where Kansas is, the average return was 49.5 percent during the same time period.

Burghart said a homeowner can try to do some of the major upgrades but if a home inspection report states that a project was completed by the homeowner, a potential buyer can always ask for a professional to come in and check the work to make sure it was done properly.

You have to look at everything, she said. Most of the buyers today are looking for a home in move-in ready condition. (When making upgrades) you have to switch from being a homeowner to a homebuyer.

Burghart said kitchen and bathroom upgrades are always good to do before putting your home on the market because thats what buyers will look at first when going into a home. She said paint colors arent as much of a concern unless theyre particularly bold or bright in which case, shed suggest the color be toned down to a more neutral shade.

There are no two homes alike, Burghart said. Every situation we walk into is different. We just look at it like this house needs to be move-in ready today. We just want to make sure your house gets on the market.

In a recent article posted on MSNs Real Estate website, Sal Alfano, editorial director for Remodeling Magazine, said the cost of remodeling projects has dropped 10 to 15-percent in the past five years nationwide.

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Home improvement: Do it yourself or contract the job?

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Gold is bottoming, showing incredible resilience over the past 7 months. After suffering an epic plunge in last years second quarter, gold has held its ground ever since. This is despite still facing the same howling headwinds that forced that extraordinary selloff. Gold has found strong support and carved a massive double bottom. Thus 2013s gold super-storm has passed, and a mighty new upleg is dawning.

Obviously last year was exceedingly miserable for gold. This metal plunged 27.9%, its worst calendar-year performance in 32 years! When something hasnt been witnessed for a third of a century, there is no doubt it is rare and extreme. But the whole year masks the real story, the second quarter. The gold price plummeted an astounding 22.8% in 2013s Q2. That was its worst calendar quarter in 93 years!

Almost 4/5ths of last years entire gold losses happened during Q2. If the pair of epic gold selloffs that erupted in April and June hadnt occurred, last year wouldve looked radically different. And dont be fooled by the certainty of hindsight, market events so rare and extreme that they only happen on the order of once a century simply cant be predicted. These once-in-a-lifetime super-storms just have to be weathered.

After golds second-quarter free-fall, analysts swarmed out of the woodwork to forecast far-lower gold prices. They bought into the extreme fear spawned by that epic selloff, fully expecting golds downside momentum to continue. Dire predictions of sub-$1000 gold in the subsequent months abounded, even among veteran gold analysts. Their commentary back in June and July was overwhelmingly bearish.

But momentum-based technical analysis always fails at extremes. Just when everyone is convinced that a price has moved so far in one direction that its kinetic energy will carry it on indefinitely, prevailing sentiment is too lopsided to be sustainable. In golds case, the epic fear last summer meant everyone susceptible to being scared into selling gold low had already pulled the trigger. So gold started to bottom.

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Gold Bottoming

Boston, MA (PRWEB) January 24, 2014

Next Step Living, New Englands leading provider of whole-home energy solutions, is pleased to announce the winners of its Good Energy Giveaway. First Prize winner Carol Kaesmann of Shelton, Conn., will receive $10,000 in Next Step Living services; Second Prize winner Leslie Colello of Weymouth, Mass., will receive $5,000 worth of home energy-efficiency upgrades; and 10 additional homeowners will receive $100 gift cards. All winners were notified between January 6, 2014 and January 13, 2014.

Were just as excited as our winners, said Brian Greenfield, chief operating officer at Next Step Living. We created The Good Energy Giveaway late last year to share the celebration of our companys fifth anniversary with our customers, and the response was terrific. Almost 11,000 people participated. Whenever we can help homeowners save energy and live more comfortably and sustainably, we feel like winners too.

Were going to install energy-efficient windows in our home, said Carol Kaesmann, the Giveaways First Prize winner. We know that will help make our home more comfortable and reduce our energy use. Thats almost like winning twice.

The top-prize winners also will get a home energy evaluation, a thorough overview of how to make their homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter while shrinking their monthly utility bills and carbon footprints.

Im really looking forward to making my home more energy-efficient, says Second Prize winner Leslie Colello, whos interested in installing a ductless mini split system, an increasingly popular supplement to conventional heating and cooling systems.

To underscore the high level of customer service that Colello and other Next Step Living customers receive, the company is introducing a new program, Our Best Foot Forward. In this program, homeowners in our Massachusetts or Connecticut service areas who schedule a home energy evaluation with Next Step Living can expect their energy advisor to wear protective shoe coverings to keep out winter grit and grime. If the energy advisor does not wear protective shoe coverings, the customer will receive a $25 gift card by notifying our customer support department.

Net Promoter survey data indicates that 95 percent of our customers say they would refer their friends and relatives to Next Step Living, added Greenfield. That says a lot about the quality service we deliver and our energy advisors keen attention to detail. We created Our Best Foot Forward as a visual reminder of our commitment to customer care.

About Next Step Living, Inc. One of the fastest growing companies in New England, Next Step Living is the leading provider of whole-home energy solutions. Headquartered in Bostons Innovation District, Next Step Living makes it easy and affordable for people to live in homes with a low environmental impact. A one-stop service provider for informed advice, funding guidance and expert work, Next Step Living partners with more than 400 municipalities, civic organizations and leading corporations to deliver energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for better living. Since 2008, Next Step Living has helped New England homeowners achieve almost $15 million in energy savings, which is expected to grow to $70 million in the next five years. Next Step Living makes our world better. Visit NextStepLiving.com for more information.

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Next Step Living™ Shares Good Energy in Massachusetts and Connecticut With the Winners of "The Good Energy Giveaway"

Financial independence and early retirement are within reach of anyone earning just above minimum wage and who is willing to work for 15 years and follow this 10-step early retirement plan. Buy land, build a home, buy a new car, retire early and comfortably. Read below to learn how.

Created upon request, this article is being written at the insistence of readers of this column's previous "Retire Early" articles who have requested an easy step-by-step guideline toward becoming financially independent and retiring early.

This easy-to-follow 10-step process is a complete guide that enables the low income wage earner (between $8 and $10.75 per hour, full time) to become financially independent and retire in only 15 years**. Two wage earners can work together to execute the below 15-year early retirement plan, each making $10.75 per hour, or one person making $21.50 per hour. If the wages are less than $21.50 per hour (2 people combined or one single worker), early retirement and financial independence are achieved at a slightly slower pace** (table below).

The table at the end of this article shows how much to invest monthly to build a retirement fund (about $400,000) which provides an annual retirement income of over $31,000 for varying amounts of hourly wages ($8 through $10.75). With total monthly living expenses under $500 (detailed below), the $31,000 retirement provides a very comfortable lifestyle with sufficient cash for travel, entertainment, giving, and sharing. It is far easier to live in a new home on $31,000 in an area of low taxes and low cost of living than it is to live on $80,000 near a metropolis where the cost of living is high. This is explained below in detail.

The 5 Prerequisites:

Prior to starting the below steps toward financial independence and early retirement, some prerequisites must be met. Do not attempt to execute the below 10-step early retirement plan if any one of the prerequisites is not met.

1. To retire in 15 years, annual earnings of $44,720 are required. Lower earnings will require more time (see table** below). This can be accomplished if two people work together, each making $10.75 per hour ($21.50 per hour combined) for an average of 40 hours per week. If 2 workers make $8 per hour ($16 combined, or $33,280 annually), they can retire in 21 years. Review the table at the end of this article for varying amounts of hourly earnings.

2. One wage earner must have financial credit sound enough to qualify for a $50,000 loan (detailed below).

3. The wage earner(s) executing this 15-year early retirement plan must be free of unhealthy and expensive habits and must be in good health in order to keep both medical and food expenses to a minimum. This means that the wage earner(s) follow a healthy, inexpensive diet found at WellBeyond100.com and the wage earner(s) are not obese, which can be determined by answering 2 confidential questions at ThinAndHealthyForever.com

4. The wage earner(s) must be able to adhere to a strict budget (below) and have the ability to live frugally for 15 years while building the capital investment that will make early retirement and financial independence possible.

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The 10-Step Guide to Early Retirement and Financial Independence on a Low Income

For pretty much anyone in the Western world, the Internet is not only ubiquitous, its practicallyinescapable.Between phones, tablets, PCs, game consoles, televisions and set-top boxes, the Internet exists in every corner of our lives. Almost. In the wake of this years CES, were hearing louder than ever that the future is The Internet of Things,everyday devices equipped with sensors and connectivity to work together, understand what were doing, and operate automatically to make our lives easier. And, of course, well be able to control and configure it all, likely with our tablets and smartphones, or by speaking. After all, Siri and Google Now have taken voice recognition mainstream.

But beyond a well-meaning concept that promises to deliver us all to an even higher state of connectivity, what does the Internet of Things mean? When will it finally arrive? How will it change our daily lives? What happens when it goes wrong?

The phrase Internet of Things is widely credited to Kevin Ashton; hes indicated he coined the term in 1999 while at Proctor & Gamble, but it didnt take off until 2009 with an article in RFID Journal. At a very basic level, Internet of Things means devices that can sense aspects of the real world like temperature, lighting, the presence or absence of people or objects, etc. and report that real-world data, or act on it. Instead of most data on the Internet being produced and consumed by people (text, audio, video), more and more information would be produced and consumed by machines, communicating between themselves to(hopefully) improve the quality of our lives.

A bathroom cabinet that lets you know when its running low on toilet paper could be worth its weight in gold.

Smart devices use Internet technologies like Wi-Fi to communicate with each other, your laptop, and sometimes directly with the cloud. Some also talk to a central hub that serves as control point for many different devices, like theRevolv. Ideally, owners can use that central access point from their smartphones and tablets, either at home or when theyre out and about.

Thats all pretty abstract, so lets bring it down to Earth. The classic example is a smart refrigerator that can read RFID tags on grocery items as theyre put inside, then look up those tags via the Internet to identify milk, eggs, butter, and those four frozen pizzas you just bought. The fridge tracks usage, then cue trumpets! alerts owners when theyre running out of groceries, or need more food since people are coming over to watch the game this weekend. (The fridge can tap into your calendar, of course). The refrigerator could even place a grocery order automatically (perhaps delivered via Amazon Fresh). Similarly, that smart fridge could warn about products nearing (or past) their expiration dates.

In theory, extending these ideas to things like pantries, closets, medicine cabinets is simple. Seniors and others could benefit from smart medicine cabinets that track meds, order refills, and even alert physicians if somethings amiss. And just think: A bathroom cabinet that lets you know when its running low on toilet paper could be worth its weight in gold. Smart closets could help you manage your clothes with reminders you really ought to do laundry (youve got two pairs of clean socks left!), take things to the dry cleaners, or even say goodbye to some items you never wear.

Cant remember whether you need to buy toothpaste? Ask your house. Or maybe your house can save you the effort by recognizing that youre at a drugstore and automatically sending a list of things you need. Stuck out of town on a business trip? Tell your house to stay on vacation mode, turning lights on and off to make the place look lived-in, but not running up heating and cooling bills.

Device-to-device communication creates other possibilities. Simple motion sensors can detect people moving around the house, turning lights on and off, opening or closing blinds or drapes, or even adjusting temperature. This functionality is already so refined, many sensors are reasonably pet immune, so dogs and cats dont trigger automated functions. Got an important phone call and left the TV on? The house could turn the TV off (to save power) but leave the DVR running. Sensors in a bed (or an alarm clock) could notify other devices youre awake; in turn, they could open drapes, start the coffeemaker, and discretely turn on the TV in the breakfast nook for news, weather, and traffic. When the clothes dryer finishes, maybe an alert appears on your TV so you can grab items before they wrinkle. If its dark outside, a sensor in your front door lock could turn on inside lights before you step inside after all, cars have been doing stuff like that for decades.

If these smart home ideas seem familiar, its because many are on the market theyre just not commonplace. One well-known example is the Nest thermostat (now owned by Google). It adjusts heating and cooling based on usage patterns and even billing rates, and can be controlled from a mobile app. Nest has just branched out into smart smoke detectors, and has competition from the likes of Netatmo and many other smart-home solutions.

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You can’t avoid the ‘Internet of things’ hype, so you might as well understand it

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