jamadots.com Webmail Maintenance Notification

Dear customer:

Engineers will be performing maintenance on jamadots.com Webmail during the following scheduled window:

Start Time: 3:00 AM, June 1st, 2010

End Time: 4:00 AM, June 1st, 2010

During this time we anticipate a period of approximately fifteen minutes when you will not be able to access Webmail. Other email services will not be affected by this maintenance. You will still be able to send and receive email via a standard email client, such as Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird.

It is important that we perform maintenance such as this from time to time.

Thank you for choosing jamadots.com to be your internet service provider.

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MISS DIG: When to Call // What to Expect

With the arrival of the Spring and Summer months comes an increase in outdoor activities related to home improvement, lawn, and gardening. Many times these outdoor activities require that home and shop owners dig below ground surface. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the law requires you to contact MISS DIG prior to beginning any below grade work in which you may encounter underground utilities. The pro-active steps you take prior to beginning your project can save you and your neighborhood or community from irritating and unplanned service interruptions. Even more so, you may save a life by having your site properly marked so that you can avoid disrupting power and gas lines.

Below are some general guidelines and considerations, courtesy of MISS DIG, that can help you complete your next outdoor project more safely and efficiently.

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At least 3 business days prior to conducting excavation on your property, call MISS DIG at 1-800-482-7171 or by dialing 8-1-1. MISS DIG will notify the public utilities in your area so that they can locate and mark the approximate location of underground lines within your proposed work area. MISS DIG DOES NOT MARK LINES.

You will be asked several questions when you call the MISS DIG System, including:
• Your name and phone number.
• The contractor or person doing the work.
• The geographical location (county, city, village, or township) of the work area.
• The address where the work will be done.
• The type of work being done; for example, installing a fence or building a deck.
• Information about the project area that identifies the boundaries for the utility representatives; for example, locate underground utility lines 100 feet from the north side of the house; locate underground utility lines in the entire yard; or locate underground utility lines in the front yard.
• When do you plan to dig.

Utility personnel or their contracted locators will arrive on site and mark the approximate location of underground wires. It is likely that more than one locator will mark lines prior to the dig-start date specified on your MISS DIG ticket.

After the three business days is up, please inspect your work location for utility markings (refer to the utlilty color codes table). If your project requires digging near a marked line, carefully hand expose that line with a shovel or other means to verify its exact location prior to beginning the project. Utility markings are an approximation and may not indicate a line’s location to the inch. The depth of a utility line is not provided by the utility. Also, check your surroundings for evidence of underground lines that may not have been marked; such as gas meters, telephone pedestals, or electric meters.

A reminder to parents!

The colorful flags used to mark underground utility lines can be very attractive to young children. Remind your children not to remove the utility flag markings. If your child happens to pull out the utility flags, do not attempt to place the flags back in the ground. Never assume you remember where the flags were located.

If the flags are accidentally removed, call the MISS DIG System and indicate you need the utility lines in your yard marked again.

The MISS DIG System is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-800-482-7171 or 811 to process emergency and non-emergency location requests. An EMERGENCY is defined as any work that requires locating and staking in less than 3 working days because of lack of facilities, or possible hazard to health, life, or property.

The MISS DIG Administration Office is closed for the following holidays:
New Year’s Day
Good Friday
Memorial Day
Fourth of July
Labor Day Thanksgiving Day
Day after Thanksgiving
December 24
Christmas Day
December 31

Emergency work location requests are accepted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact MISS DIG at 1-800-482-7171 or by dialing 8-1-1 and refer to the ticket number given to you during your initial call.
Lastly, Homeowner Locate Request provides homeowners with a way to request a MISS DIG locate request through the Internet. During the busy digging season placing calls to the MISS DIG Center will occasionally result in lengthy hold times. The Homeowner Locate Request program was developed with the goal of providing improved service to our callers by combining the convenience of the web with an easy-to-use application. Within 24 hours after submitting a ticket request you’ll receive a separate e-mail with a copy of your ticket for documentation purposes.

CLICK HERE to start the process

Remember: KNOW WHAT’S BELOW AND DIG SAFELY!

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MISS DIG System, Inc. is a Michigan wide one-call excavation safety and utility damage-prevention company that has received in excess of 17 million staking requests since the one-call center opened in 1970. One toll-free call is all it takes to have MISS DIG notify the more than 900 participating members to stake their underground utility lines and provide overhead electric line assistance to ensure adequate clearances are maintained.

Tags: Apple, Brimley, broadband, CCTC, Chippewa County Telephone Company, EasySite Easy Site, email, Hancock, Hiawatha Telephone Company, High Speed internet, HTC, http://twitter.com/jamadots, http://www.facebook.com/jamadots, http://www.jamadots.com, internet, jamadots, jamadots.com, Lake Superior, Lake Superior State University, LSSU, Mac, Marquette, Michigan Tech University, Midway Telephone Company, MTC, MTU, Munising, NMU, Northern Michigan University, OCTC, Ontonagon, Ontonagon County Telephone Company, site builder, telephone, UP, Upper Peninsula, Watton, webmail, website, website EZSite EZ

EZSite Website Builder from jamadots

It’s 2010 and if you’ve been asleep for the past 20 years it’s time you be told, “For business owners, no matter how large or small the business, having a website is a necessity.” Perhaps you remain undecided as to whether or not your business needs an online presence. Here are several reasons why you should consider embracing the digital age.

Increasing online customers
Let’s face it! The web is a convenient way to gather information on goods and services without ever needing to leave home. As of March 2009 more than 80% of Americans now have a computer in their homes, and of those, almost 92% have internet access, according to a detailed study on home internet access from The Nielsen Company. These days’ consumers look to the Internet for everything from plane tickets to an education. Why not make your goods or services available to these increasing consumers? After all, creating convenience for the customer is a fundamental building block of business. It’s an excellent business opportunity that must not be overlooked.

Tap into a global market
Having a presence on the web will allow you to tap into a global market. You can go from a local market of thousands of customers to a global market of millions! Your customers can be from around the country rather than just from around the block. Profits may go through the roof.

24-hour access to your products and services
Just because you call it quits for the day doesn’t mean your business has to. Your goods, services, and information about your business can be available to your customers all day, everyday. This will increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Your competitors are doing it!
It’s no secret. One of the keys to having a successful business is staying ahead of the competition. Your competitors are no doubt capitalizing on the web’s ability to increase market share and maximize profits, so why shouldn’t you? Attracting and keeping customers is essential to having a successful business. Websites also allow small businesses to compete with some of the bigger businesses on the block. If you don’t have a website, you should be prepared to lose potential customers to competitors.

Now you can create your website in minutes with EZsite Web Builder from jamadots
Having a website doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s ridiculous that some people suggest you need to spend thousands of dollars on a complicated website. You don’t have to have all the bells and whistles. A simple, straight forward website is all that you need to capitalize on the web’s opportunities. Even having a one page informational site with your contact information and address is valuable.

Jamadots is here to help your business grow
With EZsite Web Builder you can create a professional looking website quickly and easily. EZsite Web Builder provides a selection of hundreds of customizable webpage templates from which you can chose. The program then leads you through the creation process, allowing you to add and remove interactive and business showcasing options such as blogs, forums, guest books, image galleries, area maps, file download pages, as well as animated Flash introductions. In fact, it’s so easy it’s almost fun.

Key Features of EZsite Web Builder include:

• Create a professional-looking web site by selecting from hundreds of design templates

• Select color schemes and insert logos and pictures

• Create an animated Flash intro

• Build customized pages within the web site

• Create an Image Gallery

• Create a Blog

• Create Forums

• Create a Guestbook

Creating your business web site with the jamadots^® EZsite Web Builder is easy. Just follow the intuitive, easy to understand, step-by-step instructions and your new web site will be posted on the web in no time!

Interested in more information on jamadots EZsite Web Builder or want to take it for a test drive. Try out the interactive demo or you can download the brochure for more information and pricing details. To speak with a live representative about creating your website or to learn how to use the features of EZsite Web Builder, just call one of our friendly Customer Care Representatives at 866.514.4742 or visit www.24hoursupport.com.

Tags: Brimley, broadband, CCTC, Chippewa County Telephone Company, EasySite Easy Site, email, Hancock, Hiawatha Telephone Company, High Speed internet, Houghton, HTC, internet, jamadots, jamadots.com, Lake Superior, Lake Superior State University, LSSU, Marquette, Michigan Tech University, Midway Telephone Company, MTC, MTU, Munising, NMU, Northern Michigan University, OCTC, Ontonagon, Ontonagon County Telephone Company, site builder, telephone, UP, Upper Peninsula, Watton, webmail, website, website EZSite EZ

Jamadots is now on Facebook & Twitter!

We now have a Facebook Page and we’d love to have you join our online community! We have also setup a twitter page so that you can follow what’s happening via our tweets. By following us on Facebook and twitter you’ll receive the most up-to-date information about local events, telephone and Internet service promotions, tips and tricks, as well as recent news and interesting facts that are communications or social media related. We may even throw in something fun from time to time. This is all part of our continuing effort to keep our customers and the communities we service better informed and ‘in-the-loop”.

Become a “Fan” of jamadots on Facebook or a “Follower” on Twitter today!

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Tweet! Tweet! How To Attract Songbirds At Home

Backyard bird watching is a fairly simple exercise. Provide enough food, water and cover, and birds will come flocking. Playing favorites, though, calls for using the right kinds of incentives.

Hummingbirds, for example, will linger longer if you offer nesting material to help cushion their pea-size eggs.

“Goldfinches and titmice go for it, too. Lots of birds,” said Mel Toellner, whose company, Songbird Essentials in Mexico, Mo., makes a fluff-stuffed enclosure called the “Hummer Helper.” Instead of hunting for filler — primarily spider webs or moss — hummingbirds can pick up what they need from this fiber-filled device.

It’s the nesting equivalent of stopping at a McDonald’s,” Toellner said. “Hummingbirds will return to the same place year after year when they find a situation they like. These units help build high-density populations.

“Hummingbirds fledge as many as three broods per season, so Toellner suggests placing nest-building kits near feeders. The containers are priced at around $12; refills of the natural, oil-rich cotton cost about $6.

Draw them in with the color red

Another way to attract hummingbirds is to signal that food is available.

“Hummingbirds react favorably to the color red, so wrap some bright red ribbons around trees or poles where scouts can see them” during the spring migration, Toellner said. “The birds will come down to investigate.

“Hummingbirds survive chiefly on a liquid diet, preferably high-energy syrup from flowers or feeders. Nectars can be color free, but the foraging is made easier if feeders are red.

Mourning doves, cardinals, blue jays, towhees and juncos are among the many bird species that prefer feeding from the ground or from platform feeders.

“Spread a little cracked corn or millet on the ground,” said Elaine Cole, president of Cole’s Wild Bird Products Co. in Kennesaw, Ga. “I emphasize just a little, however, because it could get wet and become a source of mold or contamination. Platform feeders with screens on them are a better alternative than simply throwing feed on the ground. It often spoils before the birds can eat it.

“Remember worms, bug
Some other wild bird magnets:

• Moving water. This can range from the sound of a small waterfall, refreshing spray from a mister or the sight of ripples across a pond. Electric- or solar-powered pumps can also keep water fixtures free of scum and mosquitoes. The water should be changed regularly or at least every other day during hot weather. Immersion heaters keep birdbaths clear of ice in winter.
• Fruit, jams and jellies. “My No. 1 selling feeder is a jelly feeder,” Toellner said. “Jelly will bring up orioles, mockingbirds and catbirds to feed.” The plastic apparatus fits on top of 10- or 12-ounce jelly jars and provides a place to perch.
• Protein-rich worms. Look to bait shops for a steady supply of live meal worms or wax worms.
• A few fruit-filled pie pans tossed onto the ground will collect insects. “Use fleshy fruits like peaches, guavas and bananas for this,” Toellner said. “The fruit flies will come for the fruit and the birds will come for the small insects.”
• Super-size it. Elongated suet feeders provide support for woodpeckers, which tend to use their strong tails for balance as they eat. These feeders generally hold two suet cakes, one basket on each side of a board.

Specialty feeders can restrict access
Where and how you feed wild birds can be just as important as what you feed them, especially if you’re trying to attract just a few favored species.

Encourage small birds, for instance, by putting up specialty feeders that restrict access.

“Wood feeders with vertical bars and feeders covered with wire mesh frustrate the larger birds,” a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fact sheet says. “Tube feeders without trays also restrict access to small birds. Remove the perches and you’ve further selected only those birds capable of clinging — finches, chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers. Add vertical perches to tube thistle (nyjer) feeders and you’ll limit accessibility primarily to the goldfinches.”

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Falling Fish Shatters Ohio Driver’s Windshield

MARBLEHEAD, Ohio – A woman in Ohio is telling a fish story about one that got away — from a bird, and damaged her car. Authorities in northwest Ohio say the fish — a Lake Erie freshwater drum, known as a sheepshead — smashed a car windshield Tuesday when an eagle dropped its catch from a height of about 40 feet.

Leighann Niles says the impact felt like a brick hitting her Toyota’s windshield. The woman from the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid was vacationing along the lake in Marblehead.

Niles says she had thought herself lucky to escape damage in another animal encounter shortly before the fishy one. She says a truck hit a small bird, which struck her back passenger door and startled her 5-year-old daughter.

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Stop Motion With Wolf And Pig
(Too Tired – Scott Wilson Music)

Satellites Spot World’s Biggest Beaver Dam

TORONTO – A Canadian-based ecologist says he has located the world’s largest beaver dam in northwestern Canada using Google satellite technology.

Ecologist Jean Thie located the 2,788-foot (850-meter) dam using Google Earth and NASA technology while researching the rate of melting permafrost in the country’s far north.

Situated in northern Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles the Alberta-Northwest Territories border, the dam stretches more than eight football fields long, Thie said Friday.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw it — it’s a vast, vast area. There may be longer dams out there, but this, by far, is the largest I have seen so far. And, it would not have been possible to view it without something like Google Earth,” Thie said.

Thie told The Associated Press the detailed satellite program helped him conclude the dam was the work of beavers — which, incidentally, are the country’s national symbol.

Thie discovered the dam in 2007, but he said it only recently caught media attention after someone at a British paper spotted his findings on a blog and ran a story reiterating Thie’s claim that the dam is visible from space. Thie stakes that claim because he used satellite technology to detect the dam.

“It might be hard to believe, but there are a few things that are visible from space, and beaver dams are among the few animal-made structures that are,” said Thie.

Park spokesman Mike Keizer said the dam sits in a corner of a park “the size of Switzerland” in an area surrounded by heavily forested marshland.

Keizer flew over the beaver dam, but said there was no safe place to land anywhere nearby because it’s either overly boggy or the foliage is too dense.

Using past images and park aerial photography, Thie concluded that the eager beavers began their work in the 1970s and that generations of the rodents have worked on it since.

“This was the work of extended families,” said Thie, who is the president of EcoInformatics, a science research company.

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Facebook Tries To Save Face

Facebook’s latest modifications make it pretty clear that the company is eager to spread its brand even further across the Web — and that’s left some privacy advocates a little freaked out as they look at the vast amount of personal information that Facebook has on hand.

But Facebook, of course, maintains that this is all ultimately good for the Internet and everyone on it, and that it’s in everyone’s best interest to jump on board:A post Tuesday on the Facebook developer blog explains that the new “social plug-ins” are now implemented on over 100,000 sites, and that they work.

Social plug-ins were one of Facebook’s big announcements at F8, the developer conference that the social network held last month. They take its existing Facebook Connect product a few steps further by bringing users’ Facebook friends lists to external sites and showing them their friends’ activity. A news site, for example, could show which stories your Facebook contacts have been recommending and commenting on.

CNN.com is one of several dozen sites that partner with Facebook to display and share users’ interests.

Facebook says the Amazon-owned Internet Movie Database has seen referral traffic from Facebook double after it started putting Facebook “like” buttons on individual pages in its entertainment directory so that members can easily share their favorite movies and TV shows on their profiles; more than 350,000 “likes” have been pushed to Facebook through IMDB.

For news sites, Facebook reports that its referral traffic has increased 290 percent for the Washington Post and 250 percent for ABC News.

“We think the story behind these stats is more important than the stats themselves. As we’ve found on Facebook, people share, read, and generally engage more with any type of content when it’s surfaced through friends and people they know and trust,” the post by Facebook developer representative Justin Osofsky read.

“We’re bringing activities that have been social in the offline world, such as sharing news, reviews, and sports enthusiasm, and giving sites a way for their users to experience their content with friends.”

Unfortunately, though these numbers are a bright spot for potential partners, they don’t do much for irritated users who say that Facebook is more or less toying with their personal information.

And the bad press, too, continues to roll in. Earlier on Tuesday, news broke that there was asecurity hole in Yelp — one of the test partners in Facebook’s “Instant Personalization” program — that put Facebook user data at risk.

The “Instant Personalization” program takes Facebook’s social plug-ins even further by automatically importing Facebook profile information to third-party partners. Yelp says it’s fixed the hole.

This adds to two Facebook-related security holes that surfaced last week, in which there were likely no malicious intentions but which didn’t help already-concerned Facebook users from wondering just how safe their data is on a site that repeatedly modifies its privacy policies and has had a well-documented recent history of security flaws and phishing scams.

And one polling firm, YouGov, says that Facebook may want to start getting concerned about its brand image — at least where adults are concerned.

The firm’s BrandIndex service surveyed two slices of the U.S. population, adults 18 to 34 and those over 35, to discover if their perception of the Facebook brand has grown more positive or negative over the past few weeks and rating the results on a scale of -100 to 100. While Facebook’s stock appears to be rising in the younger demographic, climbing from 32.8 to 44.8 since March 24, in the older one it’s slid from 26.7 to 21.2.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the F8 conference, when Facebook started rolling out the litany of announcements that have gathered so much criticism since.

And while the latest word from Facebook is that the company has entered into a dialogue with lawmakers regarding Capitol Hill’s concerns about how much information it shares with third parties, the threat of legal action in addition to user backlash remains on the table.

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