Articles written by Liz McGuire - Page 4

Where Knowledge Rules

What is Helium

About me - Liz McGuire

I love to write. I majored in English in college, switching to journalism when I didn't believe my Adviser when he said "It's not what you DO with and English major, it's what you ARE." But I hated journalism. So, while I did get my first real job writing

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Personal Finance > Retirement Best places to live in retirement: 10 of 13
Every year, financial and current events magazines publish "Best Retirement Location" lists. While one or two locations are repeated for a year or two. Most of the time the sites are new from year to year. The only way to determine your final oasis is to examine the criteria these magazines use to create their lists. Then ch... More..
Education > Education (Other) Should school vouchers be allowed for parochial schools?: 7 of 9
School vouchers should not be provided for any schools. Public schools were created to provide education for all children. Communities provide the funds, via taxes, to ensure that every child can go to school. The key word in this argument is "every". Private and parochial schools are not required to enroll every child. Who ... More..
Pets & Animals > Animal Rights & Issues What you can do to help endangered animal species: 11 of 14
What do polar bears, pikas and pachyderms have in common? Each is a mammal currently threatened or endangered. What is significant is that these are a tiny sample of the animal kingdom currently threatened, in a large part, by climate change. Unless you are living on an ice flow, you already know of the polar bear's plight. ... More..
Jobs & Careers > Job Search (Other) How being overqualified can actually affect your job chances: 4 of 5
Several years ago, my husband and I decided to move from Washington DC to a smaller city in in a nearby state. I had a great position as technical lead programmer at a large company. The town to which we were relocating had recently been rated as one of the top ten cities for careers in my field, a fact that the new mortgage... More..
Jobs & Careers > Information Technology Jobs Exploring the careers in the computer industry: 5 of 6
Don't overlook mainframe computing when deciding on an IT career. Twelve years ago, the talk was of outmoded "legacy" platforms. Mainframe was dying. The push was on to learn new PC skills or become obsolete in the workplace. But today, the mainframe lives. The reason? It is too costly to convert to server processing. First,... More..
Home & Garden > Furniture How to buy furniture for small spaces: 17 of 20
The challenge of buying furniture for small spaces is creating an area that doesn't look cluttered, yet still allows the room to be used for its intended purpose. The best way to give a small room a spacious look is to keep the number of furnishings to a minimum. You may want a traditional living room with sofa, loveseat, tw... More..
Personal Finance > Mortgages & Home Loans What to know about refinancing your house: 11 of 12
There are a multitude of reasons to refinance. There are also a multitude of choices we make that can cost or save thousands of dollars as well as produce or avoid headaches. Since you've already financed a mortgage, you are certainly aware that the better your credit history and FICO scores are, the lower the rate you can o... More..
Personal Finance > Taxes The lighter side of income taxes: 11 of 12
Why is it that every April I feel like a criminal? I break out in a cold sweat the minute I file my taxes, and jump at every knock on the door. I'm sure it's the IRS coming to take my house. Is it because I overstated the cash I placed in the collection plate? Or conveniently forgot to add in some tips? No. It's because I am... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Social Values & Norms What it means to be a woman over 40 in the new millennium: 122 of 132
Decades ago, my college roomies and I swore an oath. Every beer in the bar required a lap around the track, working off our freshman 10 and atoning for our sinful indulgences at the same time. None of us could have predicted back then, when our middle-aged mothers were setting us up with eligible bachelors, that we would be ... More..
Politics, News & Issues > News Industry How the media uses scare tactics to portray potentially negative news: 55 of 55
A bridge collapses in Minnesota and the media, doing what they are charged to do, dutifully plunge in and report every angle of the story. Lives are lost, people are missing and everyday people become heroes. This is news and we need to hear it. Then the media delve into Why'. They predictably report on the reason the bridge... More..