2012年11月22日 星期四

Repairing the damage Sandy did to your home

Home repair in the wake of catastrophic flooding is enough to boggle the brain. Ruined food is the common denominator of damage, but past that, other things seem to come in layers.Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, Wet wood that sat in 2 feet of rainwater for two days is usually salvageable,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. but wood that soaked in 6 feet of toxic water for three weeks may not be. What can be saved and what must be bulldozed, and conditions will vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Air-conditioning can be an important tool in drying things out, but experts advise against turning it on until it can be checked for electrical damage and the ducts cleaned of mold spores and other potential health irritants. After spending a couple of weeks unchallenged, mold is likely not only to coat your walls but to threaten your health as well.

You may have been away for a while and might be eager to get back inside your house. But experts warn that patience is important: Enter your home only after examining the exterior for structural damage and evidence of gas leaks. If there is evidence of the latter,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. retreat to a safe distance and call your natural gas provider, who will give you further instructions. If there is obvious structural damage, you won't want to go inside until a building inspector can assure you that it's safe.

When you're ready to go inside, treat the entry like TV characters working a crime scene: Use a face mask (to protect your lungs from mold and other allergens); gloves (to protect your skin from infectious residue); and a camera (to document damage to your home and belongings for your insurance company). Take pictures before you move anything, and include close-ups.

The extent of the damage will depend on the depth,This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. duration and velocity of the floodwaters, says Bill Coulbourne, a structural engineer in charge of risk management services for Citigate Sard and Verbinnen. Velocity likely will be a problem only where fast-moving water may have scored the homes' foundations, undermining them and causing potential settling. Depth will be a more widespread problem, affecting everything from floors and framing to power and plumbing.

"You don't have to have water very far off the floor to do electrical damage," Coulbourne says. "The same is true of air-conditioning and heating systems."

Chris Paul of Paul Davis Restoration in Alexandria, Va., who is certified in mitigation and remediation for mold, fire and water damage, says floodwater is divided into three grades: clean water; and black water (floodwater containing bacteria and pathogens). Rain that entered homes through roof gashes qualifies as clean water, which is easier to mitigate. However, if that water was left standing for weeks, Paul still recommends using gloves and face masks when cleaning up residue.

"A house that was fully impacted by floodwater is probably going to be cheaper to tear down and rebuild than remodel," says Martin King, technical adviser to the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration. "If you have to strip the interior completely, it's often not economically feasible to salvage the house. Wood framing should survive flooding, but on a square-foot basis, it's more expensive to repair and remodel than to build new construction."

If structural damage is less severe, he says, a germicide should be used to clean exposed framing, studs and the like. Paul suggests putting furniture up on blocks or moving it to a dry room. It is possible to extract water from carpet.

"If it's been sitting four or five days, you want to just get it out of there," King says. "It's a hundred times easier to physically remove water than to dry it out. Take (wet) carpet out or the substructure will start buckling."

As for your refrigerator: If it has been sitting in floodwater for days or weeks, it can't be salvaged. If it simply sat without power for a few weeks, it may be. In either case, whatever you do: Don't open it. The fridge likely leaked, and the fate of the floor beneath it depends on the material it's made from. Ceramic tile is nonporous, so it can be cleaned as usual, although the grout, which is porous,Installers and distributors of solar panel, may require special effort.

Piranha fishing in the Orinoco Delta

I dropped my hook baited with chicken into the water and thrashed the surface with the broken nine-iron that was serving as my rod.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. Our guide Victor nodded sagely in approval of my technique – it seemed to be the established method of attracting the piranha we were after. Feeling a tug on the line, I yanked it upwards, pulling up a hook that had neither piranha nor bait. Victor, who had caught three in five minutes, smiled knowingly and turned back to the search for his fourth.

While some of our group fished in Venezuela’s Orinoco Delta, others swam in the warm water – after first ensuring that the hunters weren’t about to become the hunted. Despite our position in the middle of a wide channel, the heady smell of jungle was still overpowering. Howler monkeys peered from behind the foliage, their location often more discernible from the shaking branches than the occasional flashes of their bright red fur.

Our drifting progress brought us to a junction with another channel, the convergence doubling the width of the already-enormous river.

“Which river was that?”, I asked Victor, looking back at the enormous tributary.

“Also the Orinoco: the land in the middle is an island...” said Victor.

The Orinoco, though not even in the world’s 50 longest rivers, comes fourth in terms of discharge, with an average 7,260,000 gallons per second flowing into the Atlantic below Trinidad. Before reaching the ocean the water flows through the delta, a vast 15,445-square-mile region of interconnecting tributaries, known as ca?os, forming a network of waterways navigable by dugout canoe or speedboat.

Venezuela is actually named after this area, the conquistadors having proclaimed it “Little Venice” upon seeing the unique canal-based geography upon arrival on the continent.

Seeing what the Spanish saw, you begin to understand why. While obviously not as diverting as its namesake’s Grand Canal, the Río Grande thoroughfare is astonishing in its size. Smaller waterways break away from it, and these again have further offshoots, like Venetian back alleys.

It was down one of these, its entrance invisible to us Europeans on board, that we had arrived in the region. It had been a two-hour speedboat ride to The Orinoco Queen, our camp of thatched huts, cranberry trees and wooden walkways. Speedboats roar up and down the Río Grande, this waterlogged region’s equivalent of a motorway,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. reacting to each others’ rocky wakes as cars would to speed bumps. Hugo Chvez called this the “Heart of my Homeland” in his presidential reelection campaign and his face beamed benevolently from posters hung on riverside huts.

The Orinoco Queen is the smallest and most personal of the area’s “resorts”, with five cosy huts set back from a larger dining hall, where the bar serves just four drinks: beer, caipirinha, Cuba libre or neat rum. The last is the most popular with Venezuelans, who hail from a country which produces some of the world’s best.

Back on the river we headed a few jungle-blocks over for a stroll through the bush. Tying the boat to the nearest tree, we scrambled ashore. We had been warned about the mosquitoes and were dressed in long sleeves, Wellington boots and thick coatings of insect repellent, not that the creatures were much discouraged: the patch of jungle chosen for our afternoon sojourn felt like the HQ for all the continent’s mosquitoes.

After half an hour’s walk through thick jungle we arrived at a clearing. The vast green canopy above was raucous with life. A group of capuchin monkeys loped away overhead, aware of having been spotted; their shadows moving quickly in time with the rustling of their effortless tree-hopping. On the jungle floor, the buttress roots of enormous trees were marked with the levels to which the water rises in the rainy season.

Turning to us, Victor proclaimed, “there are jaguars in this area. If I was caught, which way would you head back to the boat?”

A unanimous verdict decided we would retrace our steps in the opposite direction. Victor nodded and walked on. Grinning at having walked us unwittingly in a complete circle, he moved a particularly large bush aside with his machete to reveal the boat, invisible seconds before through the dense jungle.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability.

Passengers and supplies are moved efficiently between the indigenous Warao communities, tourist camps, Ciudad Bolívar and the state capital, Tucupita. Ciudad Bolívar is central Venezuela’s main hub, the access point for both the delta and Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall. The city and state of which it is the capital take their name from national hero Simón Bolívar.

The liberator of much of northern South America from the Spanish imperialists, Bolívar and his influence is visible throughout Venezuela. He lends his surname to everything from the currency to the town centres,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, which are always named Plaza Bolívar. His portrait is everywhere, recognisable for his signature style of big collars and impressive sideburns.

From the camp we made an overnight visit to Guacaha ra, docking to find a man scraping the barnacles from bright blue crabs, a woman filleting an enormous piranha and a pet anteater happy to offer his belly for scratching between concentrated attacks on a nearby termite nest.

The matriarchs jumped up from the main communal area, a shack slung throughout with hammocks, to sell the colourful wicker baskets typical of the region. The majority of the menfolk were to be found over at the village volleyball court, where the teams far exceeded the regulation six players, an oversight which was compensated for by an abundant lack of skill.

Sunset was spent at the widest part of the Río Grande, where the fading day cast a hazy purple light over the convergence of two enormous ca?os.

Coconuts were produced from the cooler and opened with the machete, an aperitif before dinner, which was spent giving the carnivorous piranha a taste of its own medicine. Then I took refuge under a mosquito net for the night, a comforting barrier after an introduction to a tarantula which was apparently resident close by.

After a breakfast of arepas – disks of savoury cornbread stuffed with fillings which depend on the time of day (this Venezuelan staple having no mealtime designation) – we took our seats in the speedboat for the journey back.

As we disembarked at the jetty a pelican flew overhead,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. peering down its long beak at the waters below. Spotting something, it dived from on high, thrusting below the surface before bobbing back up with nothing to show for its effort. Victor smiled knowingly, unimpressed by the bird’s fishing prowess; “wrong technique,” he said, sagely.

Regional News Briefs

Here's one poll where Mitt Romney leads in Wisconsin: More hockey fans chose Romney's bobblehead than chose Barack Obama's in a straw poll giveaway promotion at a Milwaukee Admirals game Friday night.

The Admirals said they would have 2,500 Romney and 2,500 Obama bobblehead dolls to give away at the game against the Lake Erie Monsters on Friday night and would gauge the crowd's political leanings by which bobblehead was more popular.

In a post on its website Friday night, the team said Romney beat Obama in the straw poll. Admirals spokesman Charlie Larson explained that when the last Romney bobblehead was given away, there were 72 Obamas left.

"The victory in the Admirals poll portends good things for . . . Governor Romney," the Admirals post said, "as each of the winners in previous Admirals straw polls has gone on to victory in the general election." The team had mask giveaways for the 2008 presidential race, won by Obama, and the 2010 governor's race, won by Scott Walker.

Mayor John Dickert sent letters in September to 182 local nonprofits. He asked them to consider paying a portion of the property tax the city normally would charge them if their properties were taxed.

City Administrator Tom Friedel told The Journal Times of Racine on Friday that the city has yet to collect any money through the program.

The intent of the "Racine's Fair Share" program was to raise money the city could apply toward its 2013 budget to help the city weather a nasty financial season.

Dickert's letter says even though the nonprofits have tax-exempt status, the city provides them services such as snow plowing and police and fire protection.

The city does collect payments for services from about eight nonprofit organizations. Most are assisted-living or tax-exempt apartment buildings. That program, called Payment In Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, brought in about $97,Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay!400 from participants last year.

Those PILOT deals were arranged on a case-by-case basis, usually when a nonprofit had just bought or built a building.

With the Fair Share program, the city asked nonprofits that own property in the city if they'd agree to help voluntarily.Installers and distributors of solar panel, The letters were sent to nongovernment nonprofits that own property but don't participate in PILOT.

A Wisconsin man accused of fatally shooting his mother so he could collect on her life insurance policy has been convicted.

The Appleton Post-Crescent reports Randal Rosenthal, 35, was found guilty Friday night of first-degree intentional homicide. The charge carries a life prison sentence.

Rosenthal claimed that his mother, 52-year-old Kathleen Remter,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. was fine when he last saw her after they went fishing in Buchanan.

But prosecutors say he killed his mother to collect on her $586,000 life insurance policy. Prosecutors say Rosenthal was unemployed and expecting his second child at the time.

His mother was found dead in the Fox River in July 2011. Investigators say she'd been shot in the back of the head.The oreck XL professional air purifier,

A Marshfield man is due in court this week on charges that he doused a pregnant woman in gasoline and threatened to set her on fire.

A WAOW-TV report says Tyler S. Ress has an initial appearance scheduled for Monday. The 23-year-old faces four felony charges, including first-degree recklessly endangering safety and attempting to cause an abortion. He also faces three misdemeanor charges.

azewell County in particular is noteworthy for the improvement it's made in the last few years. Some County Board members, including John Ackerman, have made improving the website a continuing push.

Ackerman noted in an email that "four years ago the Tazewell County website was simply a place card. The 'home tab' for the most part did not take you anywhere and very few offices ... actually had anything up as far as information."

Today, the county is ranked in the top 20 in the state and nearby to Peoria County.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? The latter has an outstanding and user-friendly site that I have always found helpful when covering county government on this side of the river, and it's reassuring to know both governments are continuing to add more information by the day to their sites.

Incidentally, I'll also note that Peoria and Pekin were both in the top 25 cities and towns the groups surveyed. Neither of their scores will knock your socks off, but both were respectably above 50 percent.

Don't be an easy target for criminals

Holiday shoppers should work to eliminate opportunities for thieves who break in to cars and homes to steal items purchased at stores for holiday gifts, according to Officer Daniel McCulley of the Livonia Police Department's crime prevention bureau.Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture,

“Put presents in the trunk,” McCulley said. “There should be no valuables in plain sight, such as presents, GPS systems or valuables. If they don't see anything there, they will go to the next car.”

McCulley highlighted some crime prevention tips for the holiday season. Shoppers should take a few steps to prevent becoming a crime victim.

Motorists should always lock their car doors before entering stores, McCulley said.

“Be observant and aware of surroundings,” McCulley said. “Park in well-lit areas and close to the building. Keep your keys in hand when walking and on the alarm. Don't be out late at night.”

Larcenies from autos showed a slight increase in 2011 over 2010, from 40 to 44, between Nov. 22 until Dec. 31,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. considered the holiday shopping season. Only one larceny from person was reported in each year during those two years.

Some purse snatchings occurred this summer when shoppers placed their purses in their shopping carts while loading their items into their vehicles. Some victims have forgotten their purse and left it in the shopping cart, driving home before realizing the purse was left behind.

“Don't leave the purse in the cart,” McCulley said. “The purse should be around your shoulder and put the purse in front of you.”

If a robber is armed and demands the purse or a car in an armed robbery or carjacking, let the robber take the purse or the vehicle, McCulley said. “If someone produces a weapon, you don't want to endanger yourself,” he said. “The car or purse is not worth getting hurt over. There is no sense in getting killed or hurt if someone has a weapon.”

If no weapon is evident, victims should use noise by screaming for help, activating alarms on keys or blowing whistles to draw attention to the crime scene.

When at home, residents should exercise caution, too. Windows and doors should be locked. Doors can be secured better with deadbolt locks. “We had several B and E's this summer in which the doors and windows were left unlocked,” McCulley said. “Residents who leave on vacation should lock their doors and windows and have a neighbor watch the house. They should call on suspicious activities and keep an eye on their neighbor's house.

“Don't make your house look like you are on vacation.”

Alarm systems help homeowners protect their residences. Neighborhood watch groups help residents look out for one another, McCulley said.

“Everyone gets to know each other in these groups,” McCulley said. “The groups help everyone keep an eye on what's going on.”

If residents see something suspicious, they should call police.

Shoppers and other motorists should look out for drunk drivers during the holiday season, a popular time of year for parties. Be patient during heavy traffic hours and near malls where shoppers travel.

Residents and relatives should keep an eye on the elderly.The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, Within the last couple of weeks, a Livonia resident fell victim to the “grandparents' scam,” in which someone calls pretending to be a grandson or granddaughter needing financial assistance.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china,

“The caller said he was a grandson and that he was in jail in Mexico,” McCulley said. The grandparent, convinced it was her grandson, sent $2,000, McCulley said.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china, Often the scammers will want the money wired to a specific location, but the crimes are impossible for local agencies to track because the recipients often are in foreign countries. Sometimes these scam artists even know the grandchild's name, McCulley said.

“Whoever receives these calls needs to ask questions,” McCulley said. “If someone calls and says Johnny is in jail or in trouble, they need to call Johnny's mom and dad, or call Johnny himself and ask him.”

Residents should not give out any personal information on the phone or online. They should shred credit card bills, McCulley said.

A trust overseeing the cleanup of the Asarco area estimated it would cost $14 million to repair and maintain the structure over a 50-year period, but Save the Stacks estimates the cost would be $3.9 million.

Save the Stacks has raised more than $50,000 in an effort to save the structure and hired an engineering firm that conducted an analysis of the stacks last month.

"Our analysis and data show the stacks are safe and sound," said engineer Javier M. Carlin of HKN Engineers, which was hired by the Save the Stacks group to perform the structural analysis.

Roberto Puga, the trustee in charge of cleaning up and selling the Asarco site, said in an email last week that that his trust duties include taking any appropriate action "to maximize the sale price of the property to help pay for the remediation and cleanup costs."

He wrote that several parties interested in the Asarco land are not interested in purchasing the site if the smokestacks remain.

If the city wants to buy the smokestacks, Puga wrote, it will have to pay a price "at least equal to what the Trustee could have received from other interested parties who were willing to purchase the Property without the stacks."

The letter also says that the city stands to lose an estimated $5 million to $5.5 million in tax revenues if it buys the land.

Save the Stacks proponents argue that the trust has the authority to deed the stacks to the city.

2012年11月19日 星期一

Digital Dilemma

In general, edition numbers vary for reasons both pragmatic and market-driven. Traditionally, the edition run of a print on paper is determined partially by its technology; most printmaking media such as etching plates degrade with repeated use. Therefore,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. if you want the last print to look as good as the first,Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, you have to limit the overall number of prints produced so that every print is of nearly the same quality. It has less to do with being physically produced by the artist -- many editions are contracted out to printing houses -- and more to do with the inverse relationship between edition size and print quality.

But, of course, there is no limit to the amount of digital copies you can generate from an original file, because unlike prints on paper, the reproduction quality never deteriorates no matter how many CDs or DVDs you burn. So should you limit the number of copies available? It's a great question, but the answer isn't arbitrary even though it may be artificial.

One factor to remember in digital editioning is that it's contingent on the art-historical precedent set by the conventions of more traditional media. Capital-A Art typically has an aura,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. in part because the art object is singular (a painting) or because the technology that produced it can only last through a limited number of runs (lithography stones, ceramic molds). This has a direct bearing on digital editioning -- generally, when a new technology is introduced to the arts it has to fit into the established paradigm.

In addition to its reliance on preexisting standards absorbed from other media, editioning of digital work is also market-driven. In a capitalist society,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. restricted supply means increased value, so when the medium itself is cheap and infinitely reproducible, value can be contrived by limiting its availability.

In the case of digital editioning, historical precedence and market forces conspire -- sometimes to an absurd extent. For instance, some videos are now created in editions that include "artist's proofs" -- a term used in traditional printing for the very first prints, of higher quality resulting from the fresh printing stone. Print-on-paper APs, it can be reasoned, are more valuable because they are generally sharper and more colorful than subsequent prints; but video APs have no such enhanced clarity, making them into something between an embarrassment and an in-joke.

All skepticism aside, creating a limited run of a digital work is a perfectly legitimate practice. Doing so is a promise to collectors that you will not devalue their purchase by making additional copies of the work at a later date. And if you do limit the edition, it is important that you stick to this promise, painful though it may be in the long run if demand for the work increases. The question of whether or not to limit an edition of a digital work hinges on your priorities. If wide distribution is your first priority then it would be more advantageous to produce a larger edition or an open edition. If you desire a high financial value for the work then a limited edition and the scarcity it creates will serve you better.

But beware, there are many factors that will make a big difference to the success of an editioned project. For example, if you are very early on in your career and your reputation is not widespread enough to add any value to the work, then it might be better to create a large or open edition that will get your work in front of more people. On the other hand, if the work will be exhibited at a gallery that has a good history of sales and you can reasonably expect to sell most of the works in the edition, then limiting it will allow you to command a higher price.

One resource for ideas about editioning is the recording of the 2009 panel discussion at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Australia entitled, "Editioning: Photography and Video." The first speaker, Elena Galimberti (who collaboratively built the Australian Video Art Archive), discusses the minutiae of editioning videos, noting, "Emerging artists will generally offer early works in larger editions, lowering the price to more accessible levels. As an artist becomes more established, the edition size will usually decrease." Another issue that Galimberti touches on briefly in her remarks is the manner in which the perceived value of an edition may be enhanced by certificates of authenticity, signed copies, special packaging, or other related ephemera. If you're working with a commercial gallery, creating related materials that accompany the CD or DVD can reinforce a sense of significance and value. And when in doubt, the gallerist or dealer should be able to help you decide on an edition size.

However, if you prefer to try for the widest possible distribution, or if the idea of accessible dissemination fits more closely with the conceptual goals of your work, you may choose to produce unlimited open edition. It's important to note that an uneditioned work is not necessarily free for those who exhibit it. The Electronic Arts Intermix Online Resource Guide explains that the creator of an open-edition video can still enforce, "restrictions governing who may make copies, how they are made, and how they may be used..A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet,. With uneditioned video, artists are typically paid a royalty when the work is exhibited or sold. Thus, exhibitors pay a fee for the inclusion of an uneditioned work in an exhibition or screening." That is, they pay if you want them to; remember that you make the rules here.

Of course, interactive digital artwork is a relatively new field that fits rather poorly into traditional structures governing the distribution of editioned works. The EAI also has a section on best practices for computer-based arts, noting, "...most works and exhibitions need to be considered on a case-by-case basis... Although distinctions between single-channel video, video installation and computer-based arts continue to blur, the interactive attributes of many computer-based installations create unique requirements." It’s likely that there exists an entirely novel solution to the problem of editioning your next project, one that serves the needs of producer and consumers, and will be as new as the media on which it is based. Good luck!

Belco remains vital part of industry in Belton

Located in Belton for over 12-years, Belco Manufacturing, a company part of the Denali Group, is known for their production of custom-designed tanks with an in-house engineering team that works together to take care of their customers.

They make tanks for odor control,Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, wastewater,A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls. oil industry and municipal uses. Making the tanks isn't as simple as it would seem because most of the tanks have to be corrosion resistant and many are custom orders.

The tanks are made of fiberglass. They not only have an engineering department for design, a welding department to build the molds, but they also apply resin to cure and protect the tanks. When you add a resin, the fiberglass turns to a solid surface protecting the tank. Huge rollers spin the tanks as they are coated with a resin that is custom to the use of the tank.

The day they let the Journal be a part of their operation, they were making a tank for Dow Chemical on the coast. It was a custom order.

They deliver the tanks with their own trucks using custom trailers the company owns. It isn't easy setting up the permits from Belton to South Texas to deliver the tanks; at times they require a police escort.

Their plant spans seven acres and has a hoist that is four stories tall to move the tanks. They also do pipe work for small tanks and for wastewater treatment plants. Some of the piping also requires a special coating to prevent corrosion.

Belco Manufacturing provides tanks for the oil industry, but because of the size and weight of the tanks, their business is mostly regional. Texas and the South are booming with a major expansion in drilling due to new technologies. Their business encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Meeting deadlines is vastly important in their industry, as well as in their business to retain customers. Because their deadlines are so important, Belco finds employee retention vital to their success. Learning how to properly deal with fiberglass and Belco's manufacturing process takes time. It is an art.

Belco Manufacturing employs 175 people.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , They provide full benefits including medical and dental to employees. They also share five percent of their profit with employees and are committed to retaining them. It is crucial for the company to maintain a high safety standard in the plant; therefore, they have regular safety meetings.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products.

"Everything starts with the sale. What most of us do here is support manufacturing and sales," said Belco president Steve Macy. "We have terrific people here. Keeping the employee turnover rate very low is important to our success.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. We treat them with dignity."

Once a sale is made, the project manager coordinates between different engineering departments to make sure that deadlines are met.

"Projects can change after the sale," said Macy. "Flexibility is a big part of our company's success."

"If a customer needs a tank fast, we all work together to meet their needs. Flexibility is a big part of what we do," said operations manager Lloyd Hoelscher while giving a tour of the plant. "That takes lost of coordination from our different departments. Each project requires a lot of amount of coordination. Communication is huge for the company. If you don't like what you are doing then find something else to do. It helps to have a sense of humor."

By meeting with the key staff it was easy to see the importance they place on teamwork to meet their goals. They neither tried to paint a rosy picture that everything worked like clockwork nor that every project was a smooth windless lake. What was clear was that the managers of Belco Manufacturing did their jobs in a professional way and there was no question that the common goal was to take care of the company's customers.

Lichte en discrete headset van Plantronics

Met een gewicht van 7 gram is de Marque 2 Plantronics lichtste Bluetooth headset. Je kan ermee luisteren naar muziek, films of gps-instructies en tegelijkertijd gesprekken aannemen of weigeren zonder een toets in te drukken door ‘Answer’ of ‘Ignore’ uit te spreken. De Marque 2 heeft dubbele microfoons die ruis en geluiden veroorzaakt door de wind minimaliseren.

De nieuwe Bluetooth headset van Plantronics heeft een DeepSleep-modus waardoor de batterij volgens de fabrikant tot 180 dagen meegaat zonder tussentijds op te laden. Plantronics levert de Marque 2 met een 2-in-1 oplader die de headset en telefoon gelijktijdig kan opladen via een computer of in de auto. Het batterijniveau van de headset wordt ook weergegeven op de iPhone of Android-telefoon.

Met de gratis Find MyHeadset app kan je bovendien de headset terugvinden als ze is zoekgeraakt, ook als ze uitstaat. Als de Marque 2 aanstaat kan je een toon versturen zodat je kan horen waar de headset ligt. Als de headset uitstaat, kan je met de BackTrack-functie de datum, tijd en dankzij Google de locatie laten weergeven van de laatste keren dat je de headset hebt gebruikt.

A big problem is that the municipal government cannot access data held by jurisdictions outside Ontario, meaning it can’t learn the name or address of a vehicle’s owner to collect the outstanding fine.

The city has canvassed “worst offender” areas, including Michigan, Ohio, New York and Quebec, for information-sharing agreements, but many governments cite privacy issues, Fabrizi said.

In 2006, Toronto began purchasing licence information from provinces or states for about $7 a plate. The pilot project netted around $10,000 but cost approximately $12,000. It was scrapped after a year.

The city has also considered hiring collection agencies for individual drivers like Guluk, who have racked up thousands in unpaid tickets. But Fabrizi claimed the costs of employing a collection agency outweighed the total owed and “it simply made no sense.”

The pay-back rate for in-province tickets, about 82 per cent, is among the highest in North America thanks to Ontario’s plate denial system, which halts licence renewal for cars with unpaid tickets. But Fabrizi said a reciprocal arrangement with other jurisdictions would be difficult, since few others have the plate denial program.

The thinking is that tourists inject more money into the city than the average $30 parking ticket, Fabrizi said.

He adds that it would be a slippery slope determining which out-of-province offenders warrant using a collection agency or other aggressive means to make drivers pay.

“We take the approach that all out-of-province plate holders get the exemption, based on the better good of the city,” he said.Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture,

The city is aware that some offenders are not just stopping in for the weekend (“The one I know, his girlfriend lives here,We specialize in howo concrete mixer, so he comes here for months at a time,” Fabrizi said.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.) Other big offenders are commercial trucks from outside of Ontario.

But in the overall parking scheme, out-of-province tickets make up a small portion of Toronto’s total — 115,000 out of 2.8 million, or just under 5 per cent — so council has opted not to pursue anyone, Fabrizi said.

The city will occasionally tow out-of-province vehicles with tickets, but generally officials only tow when a vehicle is impeding pedestrian or vehicular travel. And unlike what’s seen in the reality TV show Parking Wars, officials would never boot a vehicle (locking the car in place with a wheel clamp) due to mischief laws, Fabrizi said.

The out-of-province free-for-all may have an end in sight, however. By late next year or early 2014, council will vote on the use of automated hand-held devices to provide up-to-date information about repeat offenders.

Information about cars with unpaid parking tickets would be uploaded to officers’ devices each day, similar to a system already in place for stolen vehicles. When they encounter a vehicle with more than three unpaid parking tickets,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. for instance, they would tow it,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. Fabrizi said.

But until then, out-of-province scofflaws will face no consequences — something Guluk says is only fair in his situation.

Should You Upgrade Your Computer to Windows 8?

So you may have heard that Microsoft recently released the much anticipated Windows 8 operating system. It sure doesn’t look like those previous operating systems of Windows that you have seen. Don’t despair since Windows 8 was made with the future in mind as it works well with touchscreens and you will be seeing more touchscreen personal computers over the next few months.Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay!

One of the first things you will notice is that there is no start tab. You’re wondering how to turn the computer off. Going to either the upper or lower right hand corner will bring up a bar known as the charms bar. The bottom icon there that looks like a cog a bicycle chain goes around is the Settings icon. Either click on it or if you have a touchscreen tap it and you will see the Power icon at the bottom. Select that and select “Sleep” “Restart” or “Shut Down” You no longer are wondering how to shut your computer off.

You also by now have probably noticed that the screen instead of showing the familiar icons on your desktop show tiles. Each of these tiles represents an app (Programs are now referred to as apps like the apps on your smartphone and your friend’s Mac programs which are also referred to as apps). Some of these apps show information. The weather tile shows the weather for the location noted. You can put a calculator app to do arithmetic operations. One great thing about this new screen is if you are looking for a file, setting, or app just start typing the name of it. Once you start the search screen will show. You can see where your search query for apps, settings, files. Also expect to see more Windows 8 phones out there in the next few months. Don’t despair about not seeing a desktop. There is a desktop tile. By tapping it if you have a touchscreen or moving your mouse to it and left clicking, the old traditional desktop (without the start tab) will show.

One disadvantage of the new Windows 8 is when you go to delete a file there is no longer a confirmation asking if you wish to do so. No last chance to change your mind. However all is not lost. By going to the recycle bin and right-clicking on it, choose Properties, and check the "Display Delete Confirmation Dialog" box. You now will have that last chance to make sure that you truly want to delete that file. Another disadvantage is a longer learning curve going to a new operating system. The advantages however outweigh the disadvantages.

So should you upgrade to Windows 8? Windows 8 Pro is available for $39.99 but that is only until January 31, 2013. Unless you are upgrading from Windows 7 you will need to reinstall your apps. I upgraded due to business considerations since I will be setting up new computers that use Windows 8 and training people to use it. There is the learning curve I mentioned earlier and you need to get used to not having a start tab. File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer), is a lot more user friendly, security is improved and boot time is faster making it a possible investment if you are still using Windows Vista or Windows XP. That said, given the age of your computer if you are using XP or Vista, replacing your computer may be a more feasible option. If you have XP or Vista currently, while Windows 8 requires a minimum of a 1GHz processor I would recommend a minimum of 2 GHz. Other than the tiled apps, there is not a real big change between Windows 7 and Windows 8.

New to Windows Phone 8,Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, the For You view is tied to the new Windows Phone personal recommendation service. When enabled, this feature will recommend places to eat, drink, shop or visit in Local Scout, and will recommend other items, like apps, music, and deals,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. throughout Windows Phone. Its recommendation are based on your search and activity history as well as the places that your friends and family “like” through social networking services such as Facebook.

Regardless of the kind of place you’re looking for, eventually something will look interesting. Each place listed in one of the Local Scout views includes a lot of useful information, including the place name, type, distance, relative expensiveness, address, and rating. But if you tap the item in the list, you’ll be shown a Quick card for the place.

This is a front-end to a staggering array of sites and attractions. To really appreciate how many different types of places can appear in this view, tap the Show categories link, which lets you filter things down to only those place types you want. You’ll see amusement parks, casinos, historical sites, movie theaters, museums,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. parks, and much, much more. Scroll down further and you’ll see events as well—comedy,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. dance, fairs and festivals, music, and much more—so you can really find exactly what you’re looking for.

2012年11月18日 星期日

FC Tries To Prove It's Capable Of A Knockout

UOn the afternoon before one of the biggest mixed-martial-arts fights of 2012, a group of Ultimate Fighting Championship employees takes up position in a sun-blasted parking lot outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. It's July in Las Vegas. It's 103 degrees of unpleasant. And it's about to get worse--because UFC president Dana White just tweeted their location. White is giving away 20 $1,200 tickets to this weekend's UFC 148 (most fight cards are named by number), headlined by a rematch between Brazilian middleweight champion Anderson Silva and his American nemesis, Chael Sonnen. Any fan who shows up within 20 minutes with a can of UFC-branded Edge shave gel will be entered into a ticket raffle.

It takes less than 10 seconds for Isiah and Dominique Quintanilla, teenage brothers from Visalia, California, to materialize from the back stairs with cans. "Some guy offered us $66 for one," Isiah says. UFC fans, it seems, had cleaned out drugstores on the Las Vegas Strip.

Minutes later, a horde bursts from the casino--mostly men in the UFC's coveted 18- to 34-year-old demographic, but women, too, in a dead sprint. They stampede toward the UFC team, grooming products in hand. Some hurdle a chain in the parking lot. One woman tries to scale a fence and bloodies her knee. In the fight business, these fans are known as hardcores. They buy the UFC's pay-per-view shows, which blend wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and other combat styles into an action-packed, often-bloody sport known as mixed-martial arts, or MMA. They buy apparel and merchandise.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, Above all, they buy into a UFC lifestyle that celebrates everyone's inner warrior.

"Fighting is in our DNA," White likes to say. It's an easy sell. But that dismisses a larger achievement: In a decade, the UFC turned what was essentially a no-holds-barred spectacle banned throughout the country into a sanctioned sport with mass appeal. MMA is now one of the country's fastest-growing sports. And the UFC has become one of the world's most valuable sports franchises, with annual revenue approaching $600 million, according to one of its owners--and a worth, if you believe the smoke signals, of more than $2 billion. That's more than the New York Yankees, more than the New England Patriots, more than Real Madrid. And there's seemingly more to come. In 2011, the UFC signed an unprecedented $700 million deal to air fights in prime time on Fox, the goal being to turn fringe fans into "casuals" and casuals into hardcores. Fight sports have been extremely rare on prime-time network TV since the 1980s.

Now the UFC is at a critical juncture. It could join the country's major sports leagues--an ascension fueled by big profits, network TV acceptance, and aggressive international expansion. Or, the UFC could mismanage its growth--by fatiguing fans with too many events, failing to resolve labor tensions with fighters, or simply overreaching. And, of course, there's an inherent question the UFC is finally large enough to confront: Is this sport too violent to thrive in mainstream America?

On that last point, especially, White already has his answer. When the last Edge cans are collected, he wades into the mob to cheers of "Da-na! Da-na!" As UFC publicists never fail to mention, you don't see NFL commissioner Roger Goodell doing this. You don't see the NBA's David Stern. Hell, the MLB's Bud Selig barely knows how to use a computer. White, on the other hand, is an Internet-age P.T. Barnum, or Don King on Twitter minus the hair and a murder rap. He stands there for an hour in heat that could bake an apple. He poses for every photo and bro-hugs every bro. He stays until the last fan is gone.

But when White and Fertitta attended UFC 27 in New Orleans in September 2000, they were stunned by the empty arena and the anemic marketing. "There was no buzz at all," Fertitta says. "We're literally sitting in the front row and I'm going, 'This has gotta be one of the worst-run businesses. What is missing here? There could be much more to this.'"

The UFC was a victim of its own gore. In its early days, there were no weight classes,A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls. no time limits, and only two banned moves: eye gouging and biting. Fighters could surrender (and still can, by tapping out), but promoters played up the death-match atmosphere. That prompted Senator John McCain to successfully petition governors around the country to ban MMA. McCain also pressured cable companies to take the sport off the air. Although the UFC adopted better rules--reating about 30 fouls,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. such as throat strikes and head butting--it was too late: The company was near bankruptcy. A month after White and Fertitta's New Orleans visit, it went up for sale.

White persuaded Fertitta and Frank III (known as "Three Sticks"), who now runs the family casino business, to take a chance. The Fertittas plunked down $2 million and gave White a 10% stake in the company; in exchange, he took over running day-to-day operations. Now they looked crazy. But Fertitta had served on the Nevada Athletic Commission, which oversees boxing,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. a sport deep into its nosedive by 2001.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , "We felt like we had a better product than boxing," he says. "It was the next evolution. But it was as much about the brand as anything."

The new owners began an arduous process of rehabilitating the company's image by further increasing safety measures and working with states to lift their bans. But news coverage was slim, and pay-per-views didn't sell. By 2005, the UFC was $44 million in the hole, and the Fertittas were covering expenses from their personal accounts. They decided to take one more chance.

ZombiU is the end of the world done right

I’d like to thank publisher/developer Ubisoft for being the enthusiastic, unapologetic early adopter of the game industry. Any time major new hardware comes down the pike, Ubi goes all-in. Others bend existing plans to fit.

That’s why no other third-party title to date feels so completely geared to Nintendo’s Wii U console quite like ZombiU (releasing Nov. 18 for the Wii U) does and why it couldn’t possibly land on any other system without sweeping changes. I’ve played a few Nintendo games that don’t feel as fully integrated into the Wii U’s abilities. It might be a revival of Ubisoft’s very first commercial release, Zombi, but ZombiU proudly plants the flag firmly for Nintendo’s latest — and somewhat experimental — hardware.

You want a plot? The dead walk. Want a plot twist? The dead walk in London. Now shut up and just try not to die. Easier said than done as it turns out. After the bombast and supersonic crash of Resident Evil 6, ZombiU marks a triumphant return of the survival-horror genre to console gaming. But it’s sure as hell not for everyone.

That’s because every single “Infected” you meet constitutes a lethal threat. They’re scaled back from the one-hit-kill status they enjoyed during early demos, but it doesn’t take much more than that to finish you. And on death, you lose the scant supplies and resources you risked so much to find in the first place. That character dies permanently, joining the ranks of the undead while a new, randomly generated survivor picks up and carries on in his stead.The oreck XL professional air purifier, Sound harsh? It is … wonderfully so. ZombiU raises the stakes with every step you take. You can always try to recover your lost goodies by heading back and whacking your former self — waypointed for your convenience — with a cricket bat to the head, but ZombiU’s persistent world setup also guarantees that whatever killed you before won’t be far away.

Regenerating health? You wish. Save points? Spare me. You can’t just reload an old game if disaster strikes. You go forward and make do in the worst situation imaginable. ZombiU doesn’t bother with much of a preamble, either. You start off well after society collapses, with death and undeath and destruction everywhere, and that oppressive atmosphere blends perfectly with your own fragility. It’s rare that a game makes me so cautious. The graphics sell this destroyed world very well, too. It’s almost a shame they’re often shrouded in total darkness.

You get some support from the Prepper, a well prepared (get it?) and amusingly coarse bloke on the radio who hands out missions vital to your mutual survival.High quality mold making Videos teaches anyone how to make molds. That’s when you switch on your weak flashlight and creep through the wreaked streets, driving rain, and gloomy subways of London town, hoping you won’t run into more trouble than you can handle. The plot dives a bit deeper, but the missions remain consistently engaging, ugly, and tense. And you always have everything to lose.

Like the best survival-horror games out there, direct combat isn’t always the smartest answer partly because ZombiU doles out resources like Ebenezer Scrooge. Your survivor starts out with a cricket bat and a pistol with six bullets to defend against a city full of flesh-eating monsters. These aren’t Night of the Living Dead zombies, either. They keep coming after you’ve blown off half their skull.

That bat became my go-to weapon for a long while. It’s heavy, ponderous, and requires careful timing over button spamming. The deliberate pacing, punctuated by bone-crunching hits and a real sense of your own mortality, gives combat a real sense of desperation. Normal zombies takes a good 3-4 hits before they go down, and then you’ve got to apply a finishing move before it just gets back up again. One trick I found: suckering zombies into crawling over or under obstacles, which let me hit them with the finisher right up front. Good times. The game also mixes things up by throwing in a few pure action sequences, such as putting you behind a fixed turret that might run out of bullets well before you run out of zombies.

It’s amazing to finally return to a zombie game where seeing a zombie in the distance makes you stop and carefully consider what to do next. Every encounter has weight and danger. I quickly started looking for ways to sneak around unnoticed, debating if I should spend a flare to distract a few walkers and evaluating whether one zombie merited my only grenade even though my health teetered on the brink. Once, I managed to fight off four zombies with my meager tools, and that felt like I’d just swept every event at the Winter Olympics. Naturally, the very next zombie wiped me out instantly. I would’ve been secretly disappointed if it hadn’t.

ZombiU integrates the GamePad in smart ways that actually enhance the tension. Early on, Prepper gives you his “Prepper Pad,” a tablet that bears a striking resemblance to the GamePad itself (Nintendo’s lawyers would undoubtedly sue if they hadn’t already been eaten). It’s your map, your zombie-sniffing radar,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. your backpack inventory, and an augmented-reality scanner. Hold it up, and it will find items, doors, and Infected for you to tag. It’s really quite handy, eliminating the need to physically search every corner for one measly energy drink. But the Prepper Pad’s scan shines a bright, zombie-attracting light when you use it, and you’re standing completely still.

Similarly, you can’t just pause the game and sift through all your stuff. When you swipe the GamePad to open your backpack, your character physically takes it off, sets it down, and goes into it,Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay!A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. leaving you vulnerable. The same goes for looting a body, where you must also click/drag their items into your backpack on the touch screen. You can assign six “in-hand” items, but going into you backpack becomes a tactical choice — something you do very quickly when you’re reasonably sure it’s safe. How can you tell that a survival-horror game knows what it’s doing? When inventory management makes you nervous.

The game always finds ways to purposely draw your attention away from the TV. You tap the GamePad screen to add or remove obstructions, and a lock pick minigame takes more concentration than I felt comfortable with — just as it would if I had to jimmy a lock in a real-life zombie-infested location. ZombiU never unfairly zaps you when you shift focus, but it does make you feel uneasy and unsafe every time. That’s an amazing achievement.

Hack attack a costly lesson for banks

The recent credit card breach involving PayGate, a local payment service provider, has exposed a weakness in the national payment system that the regulator, the banks and service providers are fixing, fast.

The international syndicate responsible for the hack may have accessed the card details of hundreds of thousands of users. But the banks say there’s no need to panic: they are covering any losses you incur from fraud related to this incident – and if you’re at risk, your bank is monitoring your credit card account.

The Payments Association of South Africa (Pasa), the body responsible for regulating the national payment system, is checking the compliance of about 50 operators that facilitate payments from your bank account to a retailer’s bank account when you shop online.

Walter Volker,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. the chief executive of Pasa, says one of the “major lessons learned” is that there’s a need for a better way of checking the compliance of operators such as PayGate, which fell victim to a hacker’s attack.

“Unfortunately, in this case PayGate was acquired by four of the major banks and it seems that each assumed that compliance was taken care of. This is one of the major lessons learned. We need a more formalised, explicit way of checking compliance.

“We have a set of criteria that covers a number of things, but the plan is to extend that list to ensure adherence to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS).”

The PCI-DSS is a security standard for the payment card industry.

Volker says while there is a weakness in regulating operators, ultimately “the risk is with the banks. And we expect our banks to comply with PCI-DSS.”

He says Pasa is in the process of reviewing Pasa-registered operators that are card-enabled, to determine how many are PCI-DSS-compliant. He says once this is done, those operators that aren’t yet compliant will be given a deadline to comply.

PayGate is not yet fully compliant with PCI-DSS, and the hack occurred three months before the company was due to be audited, Peter Harvey, managing director of PayGate, says.

Harvey says PayGate reported its compliance status to the major banks on a regular basis, and in 14 years the company has never had an incident.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.

“We’re optimistic we caught it quickly and locked it down 100 percent,” he says. The breach was by way of hidden files found on PayGate’s server, which has subsequently been replaced. Since the breach, PayGate has had two PCI-DSS companies run scans on the system and has passed both, he says.

If you’re one of the “hundreds of thousands” of customers whose credit card details were on the database that was compromised, you won’t necessarily be notified of this by your bank.

Pasa has given the individual banks the discretion to decide whether to contact you with a view to replacing cards that might have been exposed, or rather placing your cards on a “heightened level of monitoring”.

Last week, Pasa issued a media release that broke the news of the security breach, which, Harvey says, took place in August. He says the banks and the card associations were notified at the time.

This week, the message from the banks was unanimous: there is no need to panic; the number of incidents is “limited”.

None of the banks is willing to divulge how many of their customers have been victims of credit card fraud as a result of the breach, and nor will they disclose the extent of their losses.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles.

Johan Maree, chief executive of First National Bank’s credit card division,Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, says disclosing such information will only “create unnecessary panic”.

“It’s not that we’re withholding information, but it would create panic if we were to alert every customer on that list,” he says.

The banks are not seeking to hide anything from customers, he says, but they have to exercise discretion because an investigation is under way.

The commercial crime unit is investigating the incident.

Maree says the incident has presented “massive learnings” for the banking industry and highlighted the need for tighter regulations in the payment system.

“There will definitely be some changes and a tightening of regulations,” Maree says.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. “We have to close the gaps. As an industry, we can’t let this happen again.”

In response to online news reports, some customers have said their banks ought to have notified them about the breach sooner, and at least one lawyer has said that Pasa and the banks are fortunate that the Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI) is not yet law.

An “operator” (such as PayGate) or a “responsible party” (such as your bank) can face fines of up to R10 million or up to 10 years in jail for failing to comply with the POPI law.

Although Absa elected to contact all of its customers whose details were on the list of credit card users affected by the breach, Arrie Rautenbach, head of retail markets at Absa, says a statement notifying customers in general would be “highly irresponsible” in the circumstances. “Mass communication to all customers would have been counter-productive, as this would have exposed more customers to opportunistic fraud attempts, causing concern for the large percentage of customers who were not affected,” he says.

ngineers at Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center

EWhen a malfunctioning U.S. spy satellite threatened to fall out of orbit in February 2008, military officials took the unusual step of blasting the spacecraft to bits with a well-aimed missile.
Most disabled space hardware breaks up on its own when it hits Earth's upper atmosphere. Any pieces that survive usually smack down harmlessly in uninhabited areas, or plop into the ocean.
So why the perilous, pricey trick shot, which required intercepting the 17,000 mph target with a $10 million missile fired from a warship 133 miles below?
While skeptics cited darker motives -- to keep secret technology out of competitors' hands, or to one-up an earlier Chinese satellite-killing display -- the official reason was environmental protection. The space hit was to prevent a toxic spill of the satellite's 1,000 pounds of hazardous fuel.
Hydrazine is a versatile,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. workhorse propellant. Its various formulations have powered everything from the Nazis' World War II rocket-engine Komet fighter to the space shuttles' orbital maneuvering system.
All sorts of NASA, military and commercial satellites use hydrazine-firing thrusters to hold or alter their positions. The 35-year-old Voyager I spacecraft, now more than 11 billion miles from Earth, relies on the propellant to stay on course as it forges into deep space.
But hydrazine is nasty stuff. It's poisonous and cancer-causing. Its fumes badly sickened astronauts on the final Apollo flight in 1975. When loading the propellant, satellite and spacecraft fueling crews must take extraordinary handling precautions, which add to already steep launch costs.
That's why a government-industry team including engineers from Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center and Dayton's Air Force Research Lab is preparing to test a safer "green" space propellant. The ambitious project aims to fly a small unmanned spacecraft in 2015 with modified thrusters powered by an experimental alternative fuel called AF-M315E. It's far less noxious but has more "oomph," than hydrazine.
The team calls itself the "Green Propellant Infusion Mission," a name more akin to a sports-energy drink or a Seattle garage band than a $45 million space venture. But if the propellant and its modified engine perform as hoped, it could pave the way for cheaper, cleaner satellites and spacecraft.
"We think the payoff for this is going to be really huge if we can take the first step in getting rid of toxic propellant," said Randy Lillard, an aerospace engineer with NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist who's leading the mission.
Satellite operators won't gamble a quarter-billion-dollar spacecraft on unproven fuel or technology.Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot. So the demonstration mission will have to provide clear evidence that AF-M315E works -- in real space conditions, not just in ground-based testing -- and that there are enough advantages over hydrazine to outweigh the costs of making the switch to a green propellant.Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall,
Hydrazine has been a proven performer for decades, but at considerable cost, in dollars, time and risk.
Special permits and driver training are required for its transport. It's stored in remote bunkers. A whiff of its stinging, ammonialike vapors can irritate throat and eyes, and a splash can raise a rash on skin. High-level or long-term exposure may damage the lungs, kidney, liver and nervous system and spawn tumors, and could cause seizures, coma or death.
NASA got a sobering reminder of hydrazine's potential for harm on July 24, 1975. As three astronauts from the U.S.This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission headed for splashdown, the capsule's course-correcting thrusters fired and a fresh-air valve inadvertently let fumes from a hydrazine derivative and another propellant leak into the crew cabin for nearly 10 minutes.
The protective measures contribute to satellites' soaring costs, at a time when operators who use them for vital jobs such as navigation, weather forecasting, global communication and national defense face money crunches.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for example, will spend more than one-third of its $5.1 billion 2013 budget on satellite procurement, Scientific American reported recently. That's an increase of 11 percentage points from NOAA's 2010 satellite spending, and probably not an amount the agency can continue to afford.
If it passes muster, the new green propellant may help take a bite out of those costs, possibly opening access to space for some potential satellite operators who've been priced out of the market until now.
"It could allow customers from academia or small customers from the government to lower the cost of preparing and launching spacecraft into orbit," said Brian Reed, an aerospace engineer with NASA Glenn's space propulsion branch who's part of the green propellant team.
First, Air Force testing shows it's not a poisonous-vapor or cancer-causing risk, Lillard said,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, eliminating the need for extreme handling measures. "The current assessment is when you load it in, you would wear just a splash guard," he said. "The SCAPE suits would not be required."
The green propellant's vapor pressure is lower than hydrazine's. That means that it doesn't boil or explosively expand when exposed to the atmosphere and that extra-thick tank walls aren't needed to contain it.
AF-M315E also is denser than hydrazine, so its fuel tank can be as much as 40 percent smaller. That frees up precious room on a satellite or spacecraft for additional science gear or other payloads.

2012年11月15日 星期四

South High pair up to create virtual tour for Worcester Art Museum

These were the questions that led Dr. Amanda Luyster to revamp her Introduction to Visual Arts course at the College of Holy Cross. By the spring of 2012, Luyster found herself in what she describes as a “professional midlife crisis.” For seven years, Luyster had successfully taught how art can teach students about history but felt she was missing a dire piece of art and its influence. “I wanted to make my art history classes feel more grounded in the ‘real world,’ that is, the ‘real world’ of both public schools and iPhones, funding cuts and high-tech gadgets,” Luyster explains.

Collaborating with Worcester’s South High School, the Center for Teaching and Holy Cross’ Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning, Luyster developed a plan where her college students would produce a virtual tour of selected pieces at the Worcester Art Museum, utilizing interviews with South High’s students to see how each piece and object interests them and how they relate to the art. “I liked the idea that college students could learn from the people and cultural resources around them, and I thought that community-based learning would be a good way to approach and examine the relevancy of art in the world today,” says Luyster.

To involve local high school students, Luyster contacted Christine Lucey-Meagher, an art teacher at South High School. Lucey-Meagher selected a class consisting of juniors and seniors to participate. “For me, it really was a win/win. My kids loved meeting the college students and a lot of them had never been in the museum,” says Lucey-Meagher. With Holy Cross providing transportation and admission to the museum for the South High students, the Holy Cross students were able to conduct their interviews without Luyster or Lucey-Meagher as intermediaries. Once the interviews were finished, Luyster’s class used the results along with some original text from alongside the images at the Worcester Art Museum, audio and video clips to piece together their tour. Inspired by the objects they saw at the museum, Lucey-Meagher’s class created their own pieces using the medium and scale of their choice to recreate what they spoke about. In addition,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, Luyster applied for a grant and was able to purchase muchneeded art supplies for Lucey-Meagher’s classroom.

The project, titled “ARTful Bodies,” included a variety of images that all focused on the same thing - the body. “These art objects, although produced millennia and continents apart, all represent the human body. We include images of children and teenagers, parents and the aged, images of beautiful bodies, haggard bodies, warrior bodies and divine bodies.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. We can all relate to the images of the human body in which we inhabit,” illustrates Luyster.

Luyster’s theory and the art displayed at the Worcester Art Museum proved to be thought-provoking and sparked conversation among all the students. Luyster described how one oil painting prompted a conversation between two high school students to engage in conversation about the complicated relationship between sisters - how it feels to live day in and day out with a sister and the many emotions the relationship drives. An ancient stone relief provoked a discussion of linebackers, the physically imposing and the immovable, like a stone wall. A sculpture of the ancient goddess Hygeia led to the often pondered upon subject of what health means for women today and how a healthy woman should look.

Although shy at first, Lucey-Meagher’s students quickly warmed up and by the end of their two hours together, the South High and the Holy Cross students were exchanging email addresses. Holy Cross sophomore and student of Luyster, Connor Davock,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. explained how he was able to connect to the high school students. “It was only two years ago that I was in high school, so I’m still at an age where I can relate to high schoolers but also be mature enough to act as a role model.” Davock noted how important the South High School students’ input was and how it changes his original ideas for the piece he focused on. “I came in with a very focused,Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, formal and analytical mindset. I mechanically analyzed every part of the body, but I didn’t really look at the bigger picture whereas the students offered an insightful and much younger perspective of my piece,” said Davock.

Luyster hopes that contributing to “ARTful Bodies” provided a full experience to the South High students. For those ending their high school career, the project gave an arena for them to witness college students in their element and perhaps allowed them to consider the possibility of college more seriously. Secondly, the project may have changed the preconceived notions the students had previously about the museum and what they have to offer and picture themselves in that word, too. Lastly, and perhaps the most important piece of the project, is the sheer fact that their voices were heard. “Validating a student’s opinion in a public forum, like an online tour, underlines our belief that what that student says matters, and by extension, that that student matters. Selfesteem is central to academic, and life, achievement,” Luyster explains.

With a commitment to their research and labor, the Holy Cross students had much to gain. “My hopes for this project are myriad. I hope this project encourages my students to have more confi dence in their own abilities to work in the ‘real world’ and in the Worcester community,” says Luyster.

On Wednesday, November 14, Luyster’s students unveiled the fi nal product of the virtual tour at the Cantor Art Gallery at Holy Cross. Now that the tour is available,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. viewers can explore the museum from their own home or choose to use the tour when at the Worcester Art Museum on their smartphones or tablets. Utilizing the tour while at the museum will allow visitors to listen to the audio clips while standing in front of the work itself. As Luyster explains, “Many people enjoy seeing art through different types of lenses; that is, not only looking at it in silence, but listening to what others say about it, and reading about what others have seen in it. I do not believe that technology changes art, only that it can help us see art in different ways.”

Peoria-area theaters showing 'Twilight' marathon leading up to finale

As the final installment of Stephenie Meyer's fantasy-romance series hits the big screen this week, local theaters are capitalizing on the buzz and screening all five films in the series.

"Twilight" marathons are scheduled for Thursday at Willow Knolls 14, Sunnyland Cinemas, Landmark Cinemas, Grand Prairie 18 and ShowPlace 14 in Pekin. The four previously released films in the series will roll during the day, and the event will culminate in the opening of "Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2" at 10 p.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet,m. Thursday.

"If you have 12 free hours, you can stop out," said Chris Dungan, general manager of Willow Knolls 14, which is selling a $25 ticket for access to all five films starting at 12:40 p.m.

While a 746-minute "Twilight" bonanza is a fairly big commitment for a weekday, the marathon events are drawing ticketbuyers.

Sunnyland Cinemas manager Roger Bierly says he has sold more than 80 of the theater's $35 marathon tickets. The theater will host prize drawings for T-shirts and dinner-and-a-movie giveaways.Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. They are also selling a VIP package for $50 that includes a T-shirt, VIP lanyard, posters and "Twilight" collector's cards.

"This is our biggest film (this year), over 'Avengers' and everything," Bierly said. "It really draws the female crowds. Last year we sold out four or five theaters just for 'Breaking Dawn, Part 1.'"

The general manager at Grand Prairie 18, who would not give her name, said she couldn't share numbers but the theater had to move its "Twilight" marathon event into a larger auditorium to accommodate the crowd.

"We're expecting big crowds, and we definitely recommend that people get here early and dress warm" in case of lines, she said.

The "Twilight" film opens a busy few weeks for local theaters. "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis and directed by Steven Spielberg, opens Friday.Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. During Thanksgiving week, local theaters will field openings of "Life of Pi," "Rise of the Guardians," "Red Dawn" and "Silver Lining's Playbook."

Longer talk time. The Nighthawk’s 12 hours of talk time is more than double that of most in-ear Bluetooth devices that provide 5.5 hours on average. Don’t trust a Bluetooth earpiece that runs out before you do.

-Greater clarity. With the Nighthawk worn on the chest area,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. the microphone is in the direction of the mouth, reducing ambient noise which enables transmission to be heard clearly. A preamp is also introduced inside the Nighthawk allowing optimal speaker output. Even in the loudest environment one can hear quality communication without a problem.

More comfort and safety. The Nighthawk is conveniently worn on the garment by way of a rotatable clip or lanyard. This reduces the weight on the ear and the possible risk of radiation.

From on-person to hands-free. The Nighthawk packages features an attachable external speaker. Plug the accompanying speaker into the Nighthawk, clip the unit to the car visor and safely transition to hands-free communication while driving.

Control MP3 Bluetooth devices. The Nighthawk pairs with Bluetooth compatible MP3 players and performs as a device controller. Navigation is simple, supporting functions such as: Play, pause, skip and selecting tracks. The user can listen comfortably and control their tunes when on the move.

Free recording app for smartphones. By employing the optional exclusive recording application, the Nighthawk functions as a wireless interview microphone delivering consistent audio levels recording directly to the user’s smartphone. The Nighthawk is the perfect companion for conducting professional interviews, recording lectures, meetings, or taking simple voice memos.

Garfield Center marquee going back up soon

The art deco marquee, built in the late 1920s, was removed from Chestertown's historic High Street theater in March 2011, while renovations of the lobby were under way. Lucia Foster, the theater's executive producing director, said the canopy had been showing its age, with "bits falling off," and a number of broken light bulbs around the periphery. It was sent to an Ohio company that had the original molds for the stamped tin panels of the marquee, and was scheduled to return in September 2011 for the grand reopening of the lobby.

Predictably, stuff happened. The first unexpected glitch was a roof leak in the theater proper ? not an issue that could be postponed. The company repairing the marquee agreed to wait while the theater took care of the more urgent problem, and the Garfield board readjusted its budget to deal with the new expenses.

Then, just as the theater was ready to give the go-ahead for the marquee, the contractor got busy, and asked the theater to wait. Now, Foster said last week,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. the marquee is expected to be back from the contractor by the end of November, and should be ready for reinstallation at that point.

But while all that was happening, Chestertown's sign ordinance came into play. The theater had been exempted from the ordinance under a grandfather clause, but that clause expired during the time the sign was out of town for repairs. The ordinance limits both the number and the size of signs for in-town businesses. Marquee signs are explicitly prohibited.

When the theater was a movie house, the marquee had three small signs with the theater's name. There was also a larger backlit sign, above the door, with movable letters to announce current attractions. Also, in addition to the fixed signs, the movie theater would display as many as eight colorful posters to advertise the films. Since the grandfathering had expired, the theater had to go to the town for approval of its plans to restore the marquee and to upgrade the sign above the door.

It was the sign above the door that caused some raised eyebrows. The original sign, typical of movie theaters of its era, used movable metal letters to spell out the names of attractions, periodically requiring someone to climb a ladder to change the message. The Garfield board wanted to replace it with a programmable electronic sign that would allow the message to be changed from a computer keyboard. While the theater saw it as an appropriate use of modern technology, to some residents the idea raised the specter of Las Vegas-style glitter breaking out on High Street.

However, architect Peter Newlin, who has created visual representations of the proposed sign, rebutted the suggestion that it would be inappropriate to the historic district. In an October meeting in his office, Newlin showed historic photos of the theater alongside concept drawings for the new sign. He said that, because the offerings at the theater are constantly changing, it needs a sign that allows easy and flexible updating of its message. The proposed sign will not flash or present an animated series of images, Newlin said. It will be the same size as the previous sign with metal letters. The theater's board has drafted strict guidelines to keep the sign from being used in an inappropriate manner.

The Downtown Chestertown Association, in a Nov. 7 letter to Mayor Margo Bailey and the Chestertown town council, expressed its support for the restoration of the marquee and the programmable sign. The letter, signed by DCA Vice President Kristen Owen, said members of the business group "believe that the marquee and sign are appropriate for an historic theatre downtown," and asked the town leaders to work with the theater to approve the marquee and sign "as requested." DCA President Nancy McGuire did not take part in the vote because she is a member of the Historic District Commission, which will be ruling on the sign.

The Garfield board came before the HDC at its Nov. 7 meeting, when the signs were discussed. Philip Dutton,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. president of the Garfield board, presented photo evidence of the marquee having had three signs on it.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. Michael Lane, chairman of the HDC, said the sign ordinance "is not in our purview." However, the commission voted, without opposition, to approve the three signs on the marquee as consistent with the historic appearance of the marquee. McGuire recused herself.

After receiving approval for the marquee signs, Dutton asked to withdraw the request for approval of the programmable sign because the theater had received a letter from the Maryland Historic Trust opposing the sign.Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, He explained after the meeting that the MHT had based its opposition on an earlier design, and was not aware of the theater's rules that would restrict how the sign could be used. He said an updated proposal had been sent to MHT, and that the theater hoped for a favorable response.

Artist Joy de Rohan Chabot's Joie de Vivre

Autodidact and free spirit, Joy de Rohan Chabot once posed for the leading photographers of the 1960s,Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, including Henry Clarke, David Bailey and Helmut Newton. Today, the artist says she's happier when tramping through the woods with her dogs than in Paris. Still, she says, she has found ways to make her urban life "as pleasant as possible."

Trained at the Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Ms. Chabot's early interests in drawing developed into an exploration of design, from experimenting with trompe l'oeil murals to studying the techniques of lacquer in China and Japan.

Her upcoming show, "Féerie/Enchantment," which opens at the Galérie Matignon in Paris on Nov. 22, is a fairy-tale-inspired array of pieces in white, blue and silver, reviving a seldom-used technique with wax molds she made herself. "This the first time I've ever worked with cast aluminum," says Ms. Chabot. "It's as expensive as bronze, you work with it like bronze,High quality mold making Videos teaches anyone how to make molds. but it gives the impression of an icy silver—something like frost stalactites."

My weekend really begins on Saturday morning, just because I'm a bit of a workaholic. On Friday night, I usually stay in my atelier until late and then go straight to bed. On Saturday morning, I always make a trip to an extraordinary place, the fish market La Criée du Phare, which is right near the Montparnasse train station on rue Castagnary in the 15th arrondissement.A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls. The fishermen from Brittany and Normandy arrive very early by train and sell directly to the people who come to shop at the market. It's enormous, and everywhere you look, there are mountains of fresh scallops and all kinds of shellfish. The atmosphere is very animated and noisy—all the fish sellers are crying out their prices at the top of their lungs. It's hard to believe you're in Paris.

My husband, Jean, and I have another ritual—every Saturday, we make a trip to Drouot,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. the famous auction house in the ninth arrondissement. He goes for the art and antique furniture, but what amuses me the most are the sales of vintage haute-couture dresses. You find all kinds of incredible clothes, handbags or leather pants of every color. My entire wardrobe is from Drouot....

When we leave Drouot, we always go to the same restaurant, La Cave Drouot, which is an old-fashioned bistro with marvelous cuisine. We usually order the fish of the day, like their skate served with cabbage. The atmosphere is very lively. All the Drouot auctioneers and buyers go there, and we usually run into lots of people we know.

I detest Sundays. All of a sudden, there's no more activity and it makes me anxious, since I'm pathologically hyperactive! But what I love to do—and it's also good exercise—is go for a walk in the Bois de Boulogne. Behind the restaurant Les Jardins de Bagatelle,We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. you take a path lined with flowers and you arrive at a pretty house. It once belonged to the head gardener, and was built in around 1860. Just in front of that house is a marvelous kitchen garden with every type and variety of vegetables that you can grow. I'm actually trying to copy it at my home in Auvergne. Being there makes me feel at peace with the fact that I'm in Paris, since I feel like I'm in the country.

Sometimes we'll have lunch at a nice little rustic-style restaurant, La Calèche, on rue de Lille, across from the Musée d'Orsay. They have wonderful traditional cuisine, like veal with lemon and mushrooms or the types of dishes that you'd expect to find in Normandy.

2012年11月13日 星期二

Don’t Just Abandon Moldy-Looking Corn Fields

The concern about ear mold in late-harvested corn is higher than normal this year following a drought that created conditions ripe for the development of Aspergillus ear rot, an Ohio State University Extension plant pathologist says.

Drought-stressed corn is more susceptible to infection by Aspergillus flavus, an ear rot fungus that produces a very potent group of carcinogenic toxins, called aflatoxins.

Aflatoxins can be harmful when present in both livestock feed and food for human consumption, says Pierce Paul, a researcher with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability.

Harvests delayed by excessively wet fall conditions following summer drought are especially concerning if aflatoxin is present because delaying harvest can increase aflatoxin contamination, Paul says.

“Stalk,We specialize in howo concrete mixer, root and ear rots may also cause considerable damage in fields waiting to be harvested,” he says. “Root and stalk rots leave plants weak and highly vulnerable to lodging, while ear rots may lead to grain contamination with mycotoxins.”

Other examples of toxins produced in moldy ears are deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin or DON), zearalenone and fumonisin.

But not all ear molds are associated with mycotoxin contamination, Paul cautions.A wide range of polished tiles for your tile flooring and walls.

“Don't just abandon your field if it looks dark and moldy,” he says. “Some opportunistic fungi grow on the husk without affecting the grain. These typically leave the ear looking dark and discolored, but when the husk is removed, the grain looks healthy and normal.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.

“If you see the ear looking ugly, don't assume you do or don't have ear rot. Pull the husk back and take a look at what is going on.”

To know for sure, Paul says it's best to pull multiple ears from around the field to send to an approved lab for testing. Doing so will determine whether aflatoxins or other toxins are present and whether they exceed thresholds established by the Food and Drug Administration.

What a dinner! What a treat! What a good time was had by all! That happened Sunday evening when the Tonganoxie Memorial VFW Post No. 9271 entertained 61 veterans and two drivers from Wadsworth in Leavenworth. This was a fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings, including pie, at the Catholic Church Basement.

Last Wednesday, 105 first graders were invited to visit the pumpkin patch owned by Vic and Zena Browning of Linwood. The children enjoyed wandering through the pumpkin patch and learning how Halloween pumpkins are grown. Before they left, each child was allowed to choose a pumpkin to take home free of charge. Students and teachers had a great time and appreciate the efforts and generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Browning.

About 9 a.m. Monday, Frank Fairchild was tossed by a Holstein bull on his upper farm one mile west of town and the injuries he received rendered him unconscious for 20 minutes. It is just about a year since Mr. Fairchild had his bad fall from a silo which has left him crippled up. He seems to be unlucky about getting into accidents and lucky in escaping with his life.

James Cook will start a milk route tomorrow and will deliver milk in Tonganoxie. It is his intention to make a uniform price of 20 milk tickets for one dollar.

Monday C. H. Cain commenced breaking ground for a store building on the vacant lot where the Kirby drug store formerly was located. The building will be brick and will be 70 feet long. When the building, which will be one story high, is completed, Mr. Cain will move his drugstore into it.

The population of this township is making a satisfactory increase. Births the past two weeks have been as follows: The 15th a boy at Ivan Sechrest’s, the 16th a girl at Wm. Niebaum’s,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. the 20th a girl at Enoch Worland’s and the 16th a boy at George Cline’s.