TotalChoice Hosting Blog

In economics, the term recession describes the reduction of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for at least two quarters. The roots of a recession and its true starting point actually rest in the several quarters of positive but slowing growth before the recession cycle really begins. Often in a mild recession the first quarter of negative growth is followed by slight positive growth, then negative growth returns and the recession trend continues. The United States-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines economic recession as: “a significant decline in the economic activity spread across the country, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.” Recession (or contraction) is a natural result of the economic cycle and will adjust for changes in consumer spending and consumption or increasing and decreasing prices of goods and labor.

Causes of recessions

Currency crises
Energy crisis
War
Underconsumption
Overproduction
Financial crisis

A currency crisis, which is also called a balance-of-payments crisis, occurs when the value of a currency changes quickly, undermining its ability to serve as a medium of exchange or a store of value. It is a type of financial crisis and is often associated with a real economic crisis.

An energy crisis is any great bottleneck (or price rise) in the supply of energy resources to an economy. It usually refers to the shortage of oil and additionally to electricity or other natural resources. An energy crisis may be referred to as an oil crisis, petroleum crisis, energy shortage, electricity shortage or electricity crisis.

In underconsumption theory, recessions and stagnation arise due to inadequate consumer demand relative to the amount produced.

Overproduction is the accumulation of unsalable inventories in the hands of businesses. Overproduction is a relative measure, referring to the excess of production over consumption. The tendency for an overproduction of commodities to lead to economic collapse is specific to the capitalist economy.

Effects of recessions

Bankruptcies
Credit crunches
Deflation (or disinflation)
Foreclosures
Unemployment

Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor (“involuntary bankruptcy”) in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring.

A credit crunch is a reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from the banks. A credit crunch generally involves a reduction in the availability of credit independent of a rise in official interest rates.

In economics, deflation is a persistent decrease in the general price level of goods and services.[1] Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below zero percent.

Foreclosure is the legal and professional proceeding in which a mortgagee, or other lien holder, usually a lender, obtains a court ordered termination of a mortgagor’s equitable right of redemption.

Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work, but the person is without work.  The prevalence of unemployment is usually measured using the unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of those in the labor force who are unemployed

Lets all just hope that we can pull out of this mess and get back to producing the best products and labor in the world.

We all have something that helps us to relax and unwind. An outlet where you can get lost in the joy of what you are doing. A hobby provides small moments in one’s life that allows you to be you. A hobby reveals the passion in a person. For me, this is baking.

My fixation with baking began in third grade. I came home from school to find the Fairy tale world of Hansel and Gretel in the form of a cake. This was my birthday cake. It had a graham cracker house held together with icing and candy cane posts. The roof was covered with candy and a gumdrop chimney. There were licorice lined windows and a brown sugar path leading to the house. This was the greatest thing my nine year old eyes had ever seen. I knew then that one day I would make my own sweet creations.

I learned all I could from my mother and family members that were willing to put up with me. I continued to bake as I grew older. I helped my mother make cakes, pies, cookies and candies. But my passion lies in cakes. There is no limit to what you can do with a simple cake recipe and a few extra ingredients. I think of a cake as my canvas and icing my paint. I am no “Ace of Cakes”, but I enjoy the building and creativity of making a cake. I have made cakes for baby showers, weddings, anniversaries, retirement, birthdays and other occasions. It is an unexplainable feeling to know that you have contributed to someone’s special day.

I recently made a cake for my Daughter’s softball opening day. I made a baseball diamond in the center of the cake. I then placed four Marzipan cover Styrofoam balls on each corner. These were made to resemble softballs. Each girls name was written on the cake. The cakes were auctioned off to help the league with regular maintenance of the field. I was so excited when my cake went for $175.00. The team was overly excited when the gentleman who purchased the cake returned it to them. We were all able to enjoy the cake.

My son’s birthday was this last weekend and of course, I had to pull out the cake pan.  He loves John Deere tractors. I was able to find a small John Deere toy tractor to build a cake around. I air brushed the grass on the cake and placed a fence and trees on this area. The rest of the cake was covered with brown sugar and combed to resemble plowed field. The tractor was placed in the field.

Hello Happy TCH Family,

I recently discovered a Firefox Add-on called FoxTab, and I love it! Therefore, I decided to share this with you. As some of you might not know about it yet. The latest version just recently updated on February 8, 2009, but it first surfaced back in September. With the raving customer reviews and over 700,000 total downloads, FoxTab is really catching on with the Firefox installed user base.

Because I use FireFox as my default browser, I find this add-on to be the coolest one yet, and much helpful while working with multiple open tabs. It is a breeze to install and get started with. Once you hit install and restart the browser a FoxTab icon appears in the browser toolbar, between the home button and the URL line. A user can select and deselect open tabs, by using a mouse or a keyboard arrows keys.

There is also an alternative to Alt-Tab shortcut, for a quick tab switch between all open tabs. This is where a user has an advantage of selecting a desirable tab at first try, due to a full display of all open tabs.

There is also an option to Filter your open tabs, by clicking on a “folder” icon on the bottom left and then selecting a group of tabs from a common domain.

For example, if I have 10 tabs open and 3 of them are TCH site, TCH blog and TCH forums, buy selecting the TCH group, FoxTab will isolate those 3 out of all 10.

The FoxTab display size is also adjustable to a users preference, and it has 5 different layout options to choose from. If it is something that user does not wish to have it is easily to uninstall.

I think all these futures make the FoxTab a great Add-on for any FireFox user, allowing them to browse with a breeze. Try it out.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8879

Happy Surfing!

The TotalChoice Hosting wall of Penguins!

Collection has been ongoing for about 2 years now.

If you would like to add to our collection, please feel free to mail us your penguin.

TotalChoice Hosting has a fully automated billing system. This system allows our clients full access to their billing information. Our clients depend on the ease and accessibility of this billing system. We get a number of questions in our Billing department about billing issues and access. Listed below are some of the more Frequently Asked Questions that I would like to answer. 

How do I update my billing information?
You can reach the billing system through:

How do I update my Credit Card?
Once you have logged in to your account, go to the top of the page to My Finances and click on Update CC. The system will ask for a password. This is the same password that you used to login to your billing account.

How do I pay my Invoice?
Once you have logged in to your account, go to the top of the page to My Finances and click on Invoices. The current invoice is at the bottom. Click on the Invoice number. At the top is a link to Pay Online. This will pop up a new window to enter your credit card information.

How do I add another hosting package to my existing billing account?
If you wish to order additional products you may use your billing username and password during the ordering process. You will want to select, add this order to my account, during the order process. This will allow you to manage your purchases under one account.

How do I change my billing method?
If you need to switch from Credit card to Paypal or vice versa, please open a Help desk ticket. We will assist with this change.

How can I have my billing in the new system?
This can be achieved through a Help desk ticket. We encourage the move to our newer system and will provide a link to setup a new billing account.

How do I upgrade/down grade my account?
All upgrades and down grades can be done through a Help desk ticket. You do not have to wait until your next billing to do so. This can be done at any time.

I paid through Paypal, why am I still receiving notices that I need to pay?
If you paid using a PayPal eCheck, our system will continue to email you daily until that check clears. Once the eCheck clears, your payment will be marked as paid. We are sorry for this confusion and we ask for you to ignore this email until the payment you made clears

I lost my login for Cpanel. How do I get this?
Please open a Help desk ticket for this issue.

As a security check we ask that you provide us with:

1 – Your full address (Inc. zip code)
2 – your phone number
3 – the last four digits of the credit card being used to pay for the hosting account

The above act as proof of ID, so that we can then reset your password. 

Did you know you can also access the Support Desk through your billing account. Once you have logged in to your account, go to the top of the page to Get Support and click on Contact Support. You can then submit a ticket directly from your account.

Not only will these tips save you time, they make it easier to understand the system. If there are questions that were not addressed here, you can always submit a ticket. We will be more than happy to address your issue.