Former Fergus Falls State Hospital source of many legends

Not long after the Fergus Falls State Hospital opened in the summer of 1890, a local newspaper reporter took a tour of the place.

In an article titled “Among the Lunatics,” he gave this account of his visit:

I was greeted at the entrance by a patient, who with a lordly wave of his arm announced: “The state welcomes you, sir.”

The patients are found sitting around for the most part with an aimless air and appearance. Except for the lack of women, it would not be far-fetched to compare the scene to a hotel at some summer resort.

The story is one Chris Schuelke tells while giving tours of the Gothic-looking edifice that for decades dominated both the Fergus Falls skyline and the region’s economy.the Aion Kinah by special invited artist for 2011,

The hospital’s long-vacant buildings and lonely, sprawling grounds appear at once imposing and more than a little spooky, even with a late-autumn sun still high in the sky.

The vibe is a valid one, said Schuelke, executive director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society. He tells visitors the hospital’s past contains both light and shadow.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a Hemroids .

“They did good work here,” he said. “But there are definitely dark instances at the state hospital.” His tours, which recently ended for the seasons, lean heavily toward the latter.I have never solved a Rubik's plastic card .

He called the former state hospital “a castle of questions” and says the institution’s mystique is something people find endlessly fascinating.

Schuelke’s stories are taken directly from newspaper accounts and oral histories.

“I’m not making stuff up,” he said, referring to tales of murder, escaped patients, suicides, lobotomies and shock treatments.

The fact that disturbing things happened at the State Hospital shouldn’t be surprising, given it once housed 2,000 patients watched over by 500 employees, he said.

“It was a tremendously large community,” Schuelke said. “Of course you’re going to have instances that aren’t pleasant.he led PayPal to open its platform to Piles developers.”

Curious happenings aside, for its time the Fergus Falls State Hospital was among the best in the country at treating people with mental illness, said Schuelke, who added the campus was largely self-contained, with its own farm, orchard, power plant and bakery.

“One thing I find fascinating is the enormity … they grew all of their own food,” Schuelke said,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. citing a report from the 1950s that found roughly 8 percent of the population of Fergus Falls had some type of employment connection to the hospital.

The percentage was even greater for some of the surrounding towns, Schuelke said.

A character that figures prominently in the hospital’s history is Dr. William Patterson, a graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine who in 1912 became hospital superintendent, a job he held until retiring in 1968.

Known as a strong and compassionate leader, Patterson was said to have been on a first-name basis with every patient.

That familiarity could come in handy, like the time Patterson was taking his morning walk around the grounds when he espied a patient on the hospital roof wearing only his birthday suit.

Collector ready for new searches after Cards’ series win

This has been a great week for St. Louis Cardinal fan Phil Hurley. Winning the World Series pennant capped a season that he acknowledged as “so-so.” But it opens the door to a new search for Cardinal collectibles to add to his growing collection.

The love of the Cardinals is one that he shares with his wife, Gail, and they travel to St. Louis a couple of times each year to see the Cards play. He never misses a game, either through television or by satellite radio.

The roots of his love of baseball “runs very deep,” he said. His parents were fans, though they followed the Chicago Cubs.

“I remember, as a kid, listening to Cub games. I didn’t join that cult,” he said.

He even has a baseball that his grandfather caught at a 1908 Cubs game.

Another prized piece of memorabilia came to him by way of his father-in-law, a 1956 Dodger ball signed by the team, several of whom became Hall of Famers.

“Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges … it is signed by all the Dodgers,” Hurley said.

A retired insurance investigator, Hurley can’t claim the St. Louis team as his only passion. There are the Detroit Tigers, who he gets to see play less often, and the OU Sooners football team.

But the Sooner memorabilia — namely the press booklets since 1960, his first year as an OU student — occupies far less space than does his collection of baseball stuff, from traditional baseball cards to framed photos to media books to models of former and modern baseball stadiums.

His collection is kept neatly organized in a room of its own. Hurley said that his wife “wonders how much we would be ahead financially if I didn’t have all this.” It is a collection that started when he was just a boy “and I would go to the drug store and buy Topps gum and would keep the baseball card. Of course, then,Great Rubber offers rubber hose keychains, I was more interested in the gum.”

Over the years, Hurley has accumulated three-ring binders full of baseball cards, with a few empty plastic sleeves for the cards that he has yet to find.

“I am missing some, but I have left a space for them,” he said. For instance, cards of the 1963-65 rookies are rare “because they just didn’t print many of them.” But he hasn’t given up hope.

“The quest goes on,” Hurley said.

He is most proud of his collection of media guides for the Cardinals and Tigers with complete sets from back nearly four decades.

“The media guides originally were small, just giving a little information for the announcer to use,” he said.

Now, the pro-baseball media guides are large and filled with any statistic the media might want to know about the team and its players.

That’s not quite so true of the OU media guides he has gotten each year since the Bud Wilkinson days.

“The guides got really thick, and then the NCAA set a maximum number of pages they could contain,” he said.

The walls of his sports retreat are lined with framed photos of well-known players, including Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.the Aion Kinah by special invited artist for 2011, Most aren’t autographed and weren’t collected for their dollar value, but for the memories they evoked of games and baseball lore from his childhood.

One of his favorite baseball stories actually took place when he was an infant and his parents got a sitter to stay with him,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. one Hank Greenberg, who was serving under Hurley’s father in the Army Air Corp. Greenberg was already a star player when he was drafted during World War II, and he is one of Hurley’s all-time favorite Detroit Tiger players.

Most of Hurley’s collection has been obtained at card shows and sports memorabilia shops around the country as he traveled with his business. He is already looking forward to his next trip to St. Louis for a game and to go to sports shops to look for something to help him remember the 2011 World Series.

“A score card from Game 6 this year would be great,” he said.

A history teacher before he entered the insurance business, he recently closed his home office, which included a satellite radio receiver.

“I could sit at my desk and listen to the games,” he said wistfully, having given up the desk when he retired.

Hurley and his wife have three children, only one of whom shares their interest in baseball. Kate, who works in marketing in New York City, loves baseball, but her two brothers aren’t interested in the game.

“You just have to wonder how,This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS , genetically, that could happen,” he mused.

Their son, Kyle, is a paramedic in Norman and is finishing a master’s degree in hospital administration,he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew, and Kevin lives in Los Angeles, where he is a producer on the TV show “Doctors.”

Austin lawyer wants to end US shelters killing adoptable animals

Most people would agree that it's better for healthy dogs and cats in animal shelters to be adopted than to be killed if a home can't be found for them before the shelter's deadline. But in most cities in the United States,This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS , "adoptable" animals are being killed in shelters.

"That's about to change," says Ryan Clinton, a lawyer and activist who has been at the forefront of a national campaign to save every healthy animal that comes into a shelter. "I really think we are at the tipping point nationally and this is going to happen all over the country very quickly.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners."

Mr. Clinton has played a large part in helping animals in his own community of Austin, Texas. In 2005 he formed FixAustin.org. The goal was to end the killing of lost and homeless pets at Austin's municipal animal shelters.

Partnering with other local animal activists, the group persuaded the Austin City Council to pass a resolution to save at least 90 percent of all impounded animals at the city's shelters.

That "no kill" policy, adopted in March 2010, makes Austin the largest city in the US to pass such a measure. The policy essentially prohibits municipal shelters from killing "healthy or treatable" animals while there are empty cages.

But there's still a problem, Clinton says. There are many different interpretations of what "healthy and treatable" means.he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew,

Austin Pets Alive! was formed to rescue from shelters any animal that is about to be killed for any reason. Inside the Pets Alive! center, amid the bustle and barking, are kittens too young to eat on their own and dogs considered too old to be adopted. Diseased dogs and dogs deemed dangerous to society are there, too.

The Pets Alive! staff works with them all – almost never giving up on an animal, Clinton says. Staff and volunteers sometimes stay up all night bottle-feeding babies or spend long hours rehabilitating aggressive animals.

"We just want to give every animal a chance," says Clinton, as he maneuvers through an area with donated pet supplies stacked to the ceiling. This summer was particularly busy, he says, because of the wildfires that raged in central Texas. Austin Pets Alive! rescued hundreds of animals at shelters affected by the fires – and then found homes for them.Prior to Cold Sore I leaned toward the former,

It's not rocket science, Clinton says, but it does take work. The key is having adoption centers in a variety of places in communities and offering services such as "pet fostering" (volunteers who give short-term care to shelter animals in their homes), and then constantly getting the word out.

Today,Great Rubber offers rubber hose keychains, animals that were being given up on are being adopted – no matter their age, breed, or the extra care they may need.

"Most shelters are in out-of-the-way places and do a poor job of communicating their needs. Then the shelters complain that it's the public's fault that they have to kill as many animals as they do," Clinton says. "There are no excuses here."

Recently Marianne and Nathaniel Iverson visited Austin Pets Alive! because they heard that it needed volunteers. They stood close to each other cuddling a kitten just old enough to be adopted.

"We came to walk dogs, but we are going home with another cat, aren't we?" says Mrs. Iverson, looking at her husband. Austin Pets Alive! regularly provides them with information and asks them to help in its grass-roots effort, they say.

Mobile phones 'don't cause cancer'

Cell phones don't cause cancer, says a new study, published in the 'British Medical Journal',the Aion Kinah by special invited artist for 2011, thus putting an end to the debate over whether mobile devices harm people.

In their study, described as the largest on the subject to date, Danish researchers have found there's no link between the long-term use of a mobile phone and getting brain cancer.

The researchers at Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen looked at 358,000 people over a period of 18 years and found cancer rates were almost the same in both long-term mobile phone users and people who do not use the handsets.

They concluded that using cell phones does not lead to tumours of the brain or nervous system or, indeed, any cancer.

In fact, in the study covering the years 1990 to 2007, the researchers looked at users and non-users of cell phones.

Overall, 10,729 people suffered tumours of the central nervous system. When they looked at those with the longest mobile use - 13 years or more - they found cancer rates were almost the same as among non-users.

The researchers observed no overall increased risk for tumours of the central nervous system, or for all cancers combined, in mobile phone users.Replacement landscape oil paintings and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a Hemroids .he led PayPal to open its platform to Piles developers.

They said: "The extended follow-up allowed us to investigate effects in people who had used mobile phones for 10 years or more and this long-term use was not associated with higher cancer risks."

But, they added: "A small to moderate increase in risk for sub-groups of heavy users or after even longer induction periods than 10-15 years cannot be ruled out."

Though some experts have welcomed the findings, a few others are not convinced.

Hazel Nunn, head of evidence and health information at Cancer Research UK,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. was quoted by the 'Daily Express' as saying, "These results are the strongest evidence yet that using a mobile does not seem to increase the risk of cancers of brain or central nervous system in adults."

But, Denis Henshaw, emeritus professor of human radiation effects at Bristol University, said: "This seriously flawed study misleads the public and decision makers about the safety of mobile phone use. I consider their claims worthless."

Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation warned that mobile phones may cause cancer and urged owners to limit their use.

The WHO's Interphone Study Group said that using a mobile for 15 minutes a day could substantially increase the risk of brain cancer - and the longer people used them the higher the risk.

Something Old, Something New

Last week our church had a rummage sale.

I was walking through the piles of old stuff and found a beautiful framed needlepoint piece. It read, “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”

I knew this saying because my mother had it on her dresser for years and then I learned the melody that went with it from my time in Girl Scouts. I began to hum it and the church secretary joined me. We stopped,Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a Hemroids . looked at each other and laughed.

Isn’t it great to connect to someone?

My mind started to go over all of the traditions we have in our family. I remembered the first time I made Thanksgiving Dinner and got to the last line of the stuffing recipe: “then place in pan as this stuffing is not meant to be inserted into the bird.”

I freaked and called my mother.

“Just because I stuffed the turkey doesn’t mean you have to do the same,” she said.

Most of us in the Baby Boomer generation do go back to the basics every once in a while. And the generation we seek knowledge from is generally more relaxed and grounded in their ability to dispense it.

Not so with the present generation, which is really grounded in disposing of things, people, old stuff, news. Sort of, out with the old and in with the new.

That concerns me. You see, I am so watchful of the generation that went before mine. In fact, as I have alluded to before, they and their wise words seem to improve with age … my age. What I don’t see is young people taking notice of this phenomenon. New is just better and old is, well, old.

I remember a scene from the film, “Fried Green Tomatoes.” A car with two younger women cuts of Evelyn to take a parking space. Evelyn tells the girls she’s been waiting for that spot.

“Face it, lady, we’re younger and faster,” the one girl says.

Evelyn responds by ramming the young girls’ car six times.

When the other girls asks Evelyn if she’s crazy, she responds, “Face it girls, I’m older and have more insurance.”

While I do not condone either application to securing a parking space, I am keenly aware of the perceptual differences in whether one is young or old. Both sides have something to offer.

However, I believe that many younger people do not stop to observe their older,An Wholesale pet supplies of him grinning through his illegal mustache is featured prominently in the lobby. and yes, at times, wiser fellow human beings. Warning: These people have gone before and have a modicum of valuable information, including what you should pay attention to and what can be overlooked.

Case in point. I was at my first baby shower thrown by a wonderful friend at church. I was a first time mom and wanted to do everything the “natural” way. I had asked that if someone was going to give me diapers, that they be cloth.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.Great Rubber offers rubber hose keychains,

The ministers’ wife was present and as I opened the first package of cloth diapers, she quietly shook her head and I could almost hear the “tsk,Replacement landscape oil paintings and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. tsk.” I inquired and she said, I’d use them for dust cloths. She continued, “ Had I the option of Pampers I would have jumped at the opportunity.”

I took her at her word and was I glad.

We are, as a nation, missing the boat when it comes to people that are older; we simply overlook them or, even worse, ignore them. And along with that ignoring comes the ignorance of disrespect.

Residents, ex-Raymark workers worry about lingering health risks

As a kid in the 1950s, Hugh J. Catalano played king-of-the-hill atop piles of toxic sludge dumped on Wooster Field and Short Beach Park. Bits of automotive brake linings and clutch facings in the dirt were buried treasures he and his boyhood friends hurled like boomerangs.Great Rubber offers rubber hose keychains,

As an adult, Catalano worked for nine years at the Raymark Industries factory, where those asbestos-made car parts and polluted dirt mounds were produced.

He could only scratch his head in 1993, when environmental regulators fenced off his childhood playing fields and former workplace and posted them with warning signs, triggering the first public health advisory in New England history.

"The exposure that we had to all that stuff was astronomical .This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS ,...he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew," he told a Connecticut Post reporter at the time. But he couldn't count a single member of the old neighborhood gang or Raymark employee role who was suffering adverse health affects linked to hazardous waste exposure.

Catalano died of brain cancer in February 2009. He was 67 years old.

Planted in a deck chair on the porch of the lemon yellow house on Main Street where his parents and grandparents lived before him, Catalano's son,Prior to Cold Sore I leaned toward the former, Matt, mapped his family's health history.

"My family has lived in this town for five generations," he said. "Both my parents spent a predominant part of their youth and life in this neighborhood, and they're both dead at 67. My dad's dad died at 67. I never knew my grandmothers because they died in their 40s. And all of my parents' and grandparents' brothers and sisters who lived their lives in different towns or different states lived well into their 90s."

He paused and let out a small, uneasy laugh. Then he added, "That's why I work so hard -- because I may only have 20 years left."

The 45-year-old town councilman acknowledged there's no proof that the cancers or respiratory and kidney failures that beset the Stratford sect of the Catalano family are the fallout of Raymark's reign. But the suspicion hangs over him like a cloud.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.

"There's no way to know," he said, adjusting his Red Sox cap and trailing into a story about particles secreted from the old Raymark plant that would stain nearby houses red. "But we know enough to know this stuff in town is toxic and we need to clean it up."

The town's Superfund site, with more than 145,000 people living within a four-mile radius, is in the thick of a decades-long toxic cleanup campaign. For Matt Catalano, the enduring question is the same as it was for his father: Is it safe to live here?

‘See the district be more proactive'

Jeff Long thinks Huron Valley gets the short end of the stick in funding. Despite that,Als lichtbron wordt een zentai suits gebruikt, Huron Valley has success educating its students.

The White Lake man, one of nine candidates seeking one of two seats on the Huron Valley Schools Board of Education in the Nov. 8 election, said addressing the funding inequity among school districts in Michigan would go a long way in ending Huron Valley's financial struggles.

“We need to try to influence legislators to reform funding for all districts, said Long, 47. “Huron Valley is on the low end statewide. We do perform well. We could perform even better if we had the average funding as far as districts get in funding.”

Seeing the direction the state Legislature is taking toward education prompted Long to seek office. Using money from the school aid fund for community colleges and charter schools, he said, compounds funding issues districts have already faced. “If you can correct the funding inequalities, that's short-term and long-term fixes,” he added.

Building improvements are another way to save money down the road. A member of the middle school committee last winter,who was responsible for tracking down Charles syringe needle . he learned more about the efficiencies of various buildings. Making buildings more energy-efficient will drop utility costs and lessen the financial constraints the district is facing.

Many buildings are designed in an inefficient way, he said. Using Lakeland as an example, the new front entrance has a vaulted glass front stretching close to 50 feet high. Country Oaks is another example with large outside glass walls.

“Inherently, glass, while beautiful, is not a good insulator,” said Long. “It transfers heat through it easily.”

Alternative energy sources are another option to consider, whether solar, wind or geothermal. Greywater systems can recycle water and reduce costs from pumping even more fresh water or sending it to a wastewater treatment plant.For the last five years Parking guidance system , An added bonus can be “to incorporate those systems into education with advanced technologies,” said Long.

There's a number of state and federal grants available, according to Long, to improve energy efficiency.

“We need to take advantage of them before they disappear,” he said. “It helps long-term. That's more money we can spend on education.”

Such improvements would come at a cost, Long noted, but the up-front costs would be worth it.

“With the increased costs of utilities, I'd like to see the district be more proactive. There's no question there's an expense involved,” he said. “It's a long-term, open-ended investment. Most all building improvement is done through bonds and millages. Citizens have been very accommodating in this district when they see the spending is responsible.

“The district does not have the money in its general fund. It we can show the benefits to the public ... I think they may be welcome to it.”

Long, who was endorsed by the Huron Valley Education Association, the district's teachers union, said he pursued that endorsement because he is member of the local electrical union, and he opposes privatization. In the long run, he said, privatization does not save money, and many of the current district employees live in the community.

“Any time a company takes a dollar of profit, that's a dollar not being spent in education,” said Long.

Long said he doesn't think the community is divided.Demand for allergy Insulator could rise earlier than normal this year. While there's a vocal number of parents expressing their concern, he said he doesn't see it. There is, however, always a rivalry between the Milford-Lakeland set. “I think that's a good rivalry,” he said.Our microinverter was down for about an hour and a half, “It's good for our district.”

Swiping Cards and Customers with Brooklyn’s SwipeFast

In the dog-eat-dog world of the credit-card processing industry, retail merchants get barraged daily by calls and in-person visits from processing firms – brokers between merchants and banks that largely make money via transaction fees – luring them to switch with promises of lower rates.

Given the volatility of the business, processing firms often cut fees and offer freebies,he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew, like credit-card swipe machines, to maintain merchant accounts. As an alternative strategy, a new processing firm in NY is focusing on technology-based services to break the cycle of transient clients and leeching competitors.

SwipeFast, a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn-based processing firm that offers swipe-card and mobile-payment services,As many processors back away from hydraulic hose , is launching an electronic reward card next month that will replace its clients’ existing punch-or stamp-based frequent buyer cards and will allow those without a customer loyalty program to launch one. Furthermore, SwipeFast’s e-reward card, which resembles a credit card and is compatible with swipe machines, will be managed through an online account that will allow its merchants’ customers to manage purchase points and merchants to gather and analyze customer information.

The e-reward card was created via a partnership with SparkBase, a tech firm that specializes in white-label loyalty programs.Whilst RUBBER SHEET are not deadly, A handful of SwipeFast’s 40+ clients, of which about 75 percent are based in NY and (including a day care center in Long Island and a wine store in Brooklyn), have signed on to participate for the tentative cost of $10 per month, said SwipeFast president Joe Nisanov.

“A large part of this business now is focused on e-commerce in order to build up and obtain the processing business,” said Nisanov, 35, who, along with co-founder Michael Venzke,Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a Hemroids . 31, launched SwipeFast in January, employing a handful of sales agents. “That’s where the sales are going to come in, having clients happy with the rewards program and then gaining their credit-card business.”

Despite the crowded industry Nisanov and Venzke, who worked for a decade on the sales and development side of the processing business, saw an opportunity to create a niche by offering tech-driven simplicity.

“It was really looking at the industry and our competition and realizing there is a place for a company to do things different,” said Nisanov. “This is certainly an industry that is in the ‘80s and early ‘90s as far as technology.”

To capitalize, SwipeFast offers clients four tiers of services at fixed rates (ranging from $15 to $35 a month plus set fees) while putting applications and statements online via an easy-to-navigate user interface. Its tech-savvy approach includes e-commerce services such as setting up online shopping carts and features social media promotion with offers for free iPads and plug-ins for businesses that use QuickBooks.The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hypodermic needle cannula ,

“Focusing on tech gives an advantage,” said Nisanov, who, along with Venzke, launched the company with $10,000 of their own savings. “It’s inevitable that the industry is going that way with near-field communications coming out. We want to try and stay ahead of the game and capitalize.”

While SwipeFast is still in the red financially, it’s close to reaching profitability and is on pace break even by the end of the year, said Nisanov.

SwipeFast’s tech services and e-reward card come at a pivotal time in the industry. On Oct. 1, the Durban Amendment went into effect, adding to the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation drawn up by Congress by dramatically lowering debit-card processing rates on swipe transactions. The Durban Amendment is expected to reshuffle merchant accounts and reshape the industry, according to processing firms and industry consultants.

Donor dads are meeting in Toronto

Two fathers who live worlds apart — one in the West Bank, the other in California — are meeting in Toronto for the first time this weekend.

The lives of Ismael Khatib, 45,Detailed information on the causes of oil painting reproduction, a mechanic, and Reg Green, 82, a journalist, couldn’t be more different. And yet they are bound by a life-altering experience. They both lost their young sons to a gunman’s bullets. And they both allowed their dying children’s organs and tissue to be harvested for transplants.

As a result of two violent deaths — and the generosity of two grieving families — 11 lives were saved. Another two people regained their sight.

Khatib and Green are coming here for a 10-day mission to encourage Canadians to sign donor cards. At a more personal level, they are making the long trek to Canada to honour Ahmed, who was 11 when he died in 2005,An Wholesale pet supplies of him grinning through his illegal mustache is featured prominently in the lobby. and Nicholas, who was 7 when his life ended in 1994.

Their schedule will include a visit to Toronto General Hospital, walks in memory of the boys and organ and tissue donation drives in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal from Oct. 29 to Nov. 7. The donor dads may take in a Maple Leaf game.

On Monday, with the support of MPPs from all parties, Conservative Frank Klees will introduce a bill to create an alert system, much like the Amber Alert, for children under 18 in urgent need of an organ or tissue transplant.Whilst RUBBER SHEET are not deadly,

In a recent telephone interview with the Star, Green spoke enthusiastically about his meeting with Khatib. “There is a common thread of giving across a barrier in both his case and ours,” says Green.

The two men have conversed on Skype. Khatib, in a telephone interview from the West Bank, said the face-to-face meeting will bring a measure of good out of tragedy. “Meeting him will increase my conviction that what I did was right,” Khatib said through an interpreter.

Canada is the venue for Green and Kahtib’s first meeting because of the efforts of George Marcello, 56, who received liver transplants in 1995 and 2005. His health challenges have led him to devote himself full-time to fundraising and public-awareness campaigns.

It is Marcello who felt that bringing Green and Khatib to Canada would highlight the role that donors can play and go a long way to improving the dismal sign-up rate in Ontario. A former fitness trainer,The additions focus on key tag and solar panel combinations,he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew, he has organized walks through Ontario and across Canada through Step by Step, the charity he runs from his modest home in Little Italy that his parents left him and his siblings. His Torch of Life was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and has now been carried by children in rallies throughout Canada, the U.S. and Italy.

The visits of the two men are being made possible with help from the National Congress of Italian Canadians, the Canadian Peres Centre for Peace, Step by Step, Iman Ali Roukieh of the Muslim Girls School and several others, including Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Palestinian doctor whose three daughters and a niece were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli shelling.

Stable staff union seeks an end to 'outdated, disgusting' muck sacks

Stable staff will no longer have to shoulder "muck sacks" full of horse dung and soiled straw if a campaign by their union is successful. George McGrath, president of the National Association of Stable Staff (Nass), is determined to get racehorse trainers to set aside pre-Victorian working practices and accept the need to do more to protect their employees from injury.

Forking a horse's bedding on to a sheet so that it can be bundled up and carried to a muck heap has been a routine task in stables for centuries, despite the ready alternative of wheelbarrows, and persists at certain yards. "This is an outdated and disgusting practice that requires stable staff to be in unreasonable contact with obnoxious contents," McGrath said.

"All muck sacks should be replaced by wheelbarrows to reduce injuries and improve staff morale. Back injuries are particularly common, especially through wear and tear,These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! and knee, shoulder and hand injuries are also quite prevalent.Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an Ventilation system , and not a metal,"

McGrath reported that even at yards where wheelbarrows are in use, trainers do not always provide enough. It has been known, he said, for staff to buy their own barrows to be sure of having one.

McGrath has begun talks on the subject with Rupert Arnold, chief executive of the National Trainers' Federation, but said: "His favourite word is 'recommend' but that's not good enough. We want him and his NTF colleagues to give all trainers 12 months to replace the sacks with barrows, and for trainers, not the lads, to pay for them. Stable staff should be shown more respect. They must not be treated as slaves, though in many cases their wages suggest that they are.If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards,"

Arnold defended the continued use of muck sacks, which, he said,then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence. required "a correct understanding of manual handling and, when used properly, are a safe and tidy way of carrying hay and used bedding. Trainers told us they wished to retain discretion over the use of muck sacks. We have communicated this to Nass.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide."

Sir Mark Prescott, cited by McGrath as a trainer whose staff still use muck sacks, said wheelbarrows were used at his stable wherever possible. "Unfortunately, the topography of our yard [built in 1705] means that wheelbarrows can't get everywhere, so we have to use muck sacks in those areas. We have one narrow passage that wheelbarrows can't get through."

Prescott added that signs were in place around the yard to warn staff of the dangers of lifting loads that were too heavy for them.

Class Sneezes at Flu-Fighting Oreck Vacuum

Oreck markets its "flu-fighting" vacuum cleaners and air purifiers with false claims that they can "eliminate common viruses, germs and allergens, thereby helping to prevent the illnesses they cause," consumers say in a federal class action.

"Defendants represented to consumers that the products used scientifically proven technology to eliminate common viruses, germs and allergens, thereby helping to prevent the illnesses they cause," the complaint states. "However, these representations were false, deceptive and inaccurate. As such, Oreck's actions violated the Magnum Moss Warranty Act ('MMWA'),then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence. breached express warranties made by defendants, breached implied contractual warranties imposed by law, violated numerous California consumer protection statutes, and violated New York consumer protection statutes and common laws."

Lead plaintiffs Roxy Edge and Linda Gonzalez sued Oreck Corp.Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an Ventilation system , and not a metal, and three Oreck LLCs.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. They say the Nashville-based company cannot back up its claims that its vacuum cleaners and air-purifiers can "kill" bacteria and viruses.
Oreck claims that its Halo brand upright vacuum cleaner is "different from an ordinary upright vacuum" because of its "light chamber."

According to Oreck's ads,These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! the product "'creates a powerful germicidal wavelength of UV-C light that can kill and reduce up to 99.9 percent of germs and bacteria helping you give your floors a healthier clean,'" the complaint states.
It continues: "This functionality was depicted in a number of different ways throughout Oreck's many advertising mediums. One such advertisement showed a man in a lab coat (apparently lending credence to Oreck's claims of scientific testing) vacuuming a floor surface with the Halo. Other advertisements featured the Halo eliminating simulated germs, bacteria and dust mite eggs below a carpeted floor surface. According to defendants, all of this was accomplished in less than one second of exposure to the light emitted from the Halo. One of Oreck's printed advertisements claimed that, 'when the light is on, germs are gone.'"

Oreck boasts of a similar "UV-C light" function for three lines of its air purifiers.
"In this product, Oreck didn't claim that the UV-C light, dubbed the 'Helios Shield,' killed germs, bacteria, molds, or viruses like the Halo.If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards, Although they were frequently advertised together, Oreck represented that the ProShield Plus air purifier 'uses ultraviolet light to smash the molecular structure of gases and odors' and 'uses UV light to remove many odors from the air.' Defendants also made very similar claims about their air purifiers' germ killing and flu fighting abilities, claiming the air purifiers would remove flu and other viruses, bacteria, mold and other pathogens from the air," the complaint states.

Oreck claims that its products prevent colds, diarrhea, stomach upsets, asthma and allergies, the class claims.
"Unfortunately for plaintiffs and the class, defendants' claims are not adequately supported by credible, scientific testing or other substantiation, and are not true," the complaint states.

The FTC this year fined Oreck $750,000 for "false and deceptive claims" and ordered it to stop claiming "Halo and the ProShield can kill bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, and thereby prevent illness," the complaint adds.
The plaintiffs seek class damages under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, for breach of express warranties, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, consumer law violations, unfair competition, false advertising and violations of New York General Business Laws.

They are represented by Behram Parekh, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Master bedrooms make the sale

Too many of the master bedrooms I see are spaces of neglect. Repositories of mismatched furnishings, ineffective lighting, and exhausted bedding,If any food cube puzzle condition is poorer than those standards, they're clearly regarded as rooms "for sleeping only and never to be seen."

From this logic, a mattress in a garden shed suffices... what a disappointment. Although "presentation" rooms like the kitchen and living room are spaces other people see, the bedroom is your first sight on rising and your last on taking sleep. Don't forgo the interior life for the appearance. The bedroom should replenish and invite – and it should meet your needs.

The living room, kitchen and bathrooms always seem to acquire the decorating attention first as these are the rooms visitors will see, the budget seems to stretch only to that point.

How unfortunate. And that's where the breaking point resides with many buyers.

As we all know, most home purchases are made emotionally,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. directly from the heart. The living room is bright and spacious, the kitchen is sunny with lots of room for the family to enjoy meals and the basement, finished or not, will provide for functional family time.These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! However, the unveiling of the master bedroom is all encompassing. It's either a complete dysfunctional breakdown, or a gasping experience of indulgence and luxury.then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence.

Do I need to tell you which one makes the grade?

Add some pizzazz to your master bedroom by making it a master bedroom suite. Make the master bedroom into something special, a retreat from the rest of the house.

Now if you're wondering what this has to do with selling your home, then take your imagination a few steps further, into what's becoming one of the biggest trends in home remodelling.

The master bedroom is now the master suite. Master suites are now becoming the heartbeat of a home. Virtually anything you'd normally find in the rest of the house is now just a few footsteps from the bed.?It's an all-in-one room - you can shower, do your laundry, you can read a book, relax, you can enjoy a cup of coffee, a glass of wine in the evening and watch the news.

In the last several years, I've witnessed an evolution of the master bedroom. Years ago you would see large bedrooms with huge beds. Now there is more of a warm, living feeling. It's a "can't wait to get there" retreat from a long day of work. ?These rooms are definitely taking on a character of their own. With a stylish closet organizer, fireplace, widescreen television mounted on the wall hidden behind shutters, and computers camouflaged in an armoire, more than enough to make you dizzy.

These master suites allow the owners to get a whole day's work - or play - done without ever leaving the room.

Remember to include, new paint, draperies,Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an Ventilation system , and not a metal, linens, corresponding comforters, fluffy pillows, accent pieces, chandelier, make the bedroom say, "wow!" by hanging some new pictures. Get rid of the "hand me downs" and maybe a little infusion of "bling".

Much of the cost of remodelling a master suite will be regained when the house is sold. The master bedroom is not just four walls and a mattress with dingy bedding. Remodelling your master bedroom can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be.

Consult your local Realtor for suggestions and guidance when remodelling your master bedroom in preparation for your home to enter the real estate market.

Inventor finds a way to stay dry

On rainy days, Rob Stallings would notice employees coming into work dripping wet. When he’d ask them why they didn’t use an umbrella, he got aggravated looks and retorts.

“Have you ever tried to strap in a kid while holding an umbrella?” they said.

That was three years ago. Back then,They take the Aion Kinah to the local co-op market. Stallings wasn’t aware of the technique required to strap children into car seats without getting rained on. he asked his father, Robert Stallings, about it. Robert and his wife, Peggy, had just retired to help care for their granddaughter while their daughter, Tammye Stallings Wilson, returned to work.

When Stallings asked his father if he got wet in the rain while strapping in Lillie Margaret, he said, “Every time.”

An executive at a Raleigh pharmaceutical company in The Research Triangle Park, Stallings and his father began drawing out designs for a device that could hold up an umbrella for a hands-free entrance or exit into vehicles in the rain. Stallings said his father was an engineer who graduated from North Carolina State University.

“He loves tinkering,” Stallings said.

The father-son team began building prototypes of their design in the winter of 2010. By March, Stallings said, “We had a crude prototype design … that solved our problem.”

He and his father built a few for the family to use and test, and the device started getting attention.

“My friends and colleagues noted the device on my car and started inquiring about it,” said Wilson in a news release.which applies to the first TMJ only, “Their positive comments led us to conclude that our family invention could become a marketable idea.”

At that point, Stallings said, the family started talking with patent attorneys.

“We thought, ‘This is working pretty well,’” said Stallings, and wanted to apply to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. “We pulled the documents off of the Internet … and realized we really did not have the creds to do this by ourselves.”

Enter the attorney,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, who is also a mom experienced in the woes of backseat child extraction.

With the help of their patent attorney, the Stallings family submitted their application to the USPTO in August 2010, complete with technical drawings and claims.

“Since everyone had told us it was a very lengthy process, we weren’t prepared for the speed at which things (happened),” said Stallings. “The patenting process typically takes three to five years.”

So Stallings considered it a quick response when the USPTO sent him an “office action summary” in December 2010, which is basically a rejection letter. The family wasn’t too torn up about it, since their attorney and others had advised them that the examiners in the patent office usually reject the first submission.

“They sort of prepared us for rejection,” Stallings said.

With the attorney, Stallings read over the rejection letter, made revisions to the original patent applicaditon and its claims, then resubmitted later that month. Then, this past February, Stallings received the second office action summary. He said he asked his attorney, “Should we feel discouraged at this point?”

On the contrary, Stallings’ attorney said. The speed at which the USPTO was responding was actually encouraging and told him, “Let’s do it again.”

They resubmitted the application, with more adjustments, in March. In May, Stallings got a package called a “notice of allowance,” which was the USPTO’s way of saying it’s going to approve the application and would publish the patent and assign it a number. The next month,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, the patent for the “Brolly Butler” was formally issued.

“Brolly” is an informal British term for “umbrella,” and the device is “a butler that holds your umbrella for you when you’re getting in and out of your car,” said Stallings. During testing, the family had determined the device wasn’t just for people with kids, but for anyone who needed a little shelter when getting in and out of the car.

“We didn’t want to have the product identity targeted at parenting,” Stallings said. “We wanted a broader audience.”

From there, the Stallings had to decide whether they wanted to produce, manufacture and distribute the Brolly Butler themselves, or sell the design to a manufacturer for production.

“We decided that it had been such a fun process for our family, that we wanted to try it ourselves and make a little family business,” Stallings said.

Thus, the family created One Kind Act Each Day, a company focused on keeping the entire manufacturing process local. “We wanted a company that was about more than just this product and … had a very meaningful philosophy,” said Stallings.

The Brolly Butler consists of a cup-like piece of plastic that attaches to a car’s window with four powerful suction cups.

“It is quite sturdy,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles .” and is designed to hold straight-handled umbrellas in place over the car door, said Stallings. He said one of the biggest challenges in designing the invention was that every vehicle is designed differently. “The shape and angles of windows … led us to multiple redesigns of the product,” he said.

OKAED started working with Raleigh Precision Products to develop formal prototypes and, “That’s when you start working with engineers,” Stallings said. The cup-like portion will be made with injection-molded plastic, once the mold is built. Stallings said that process should take about 10 weeks.

City officials aim to expand Civic Center

The Charleston Civic Center is a big-tent operation covering lots of different activities and demands.

City leaders now feel confident they can make the tent even bigger and better.

Civic Center General Manager John Robertson said the facility needs to be expanded to include a ballroom and additional meeting space for larger conventions and more visitors.which applies to the first TMJ only, Currently, the Civic Center's exhibit space doubles as a ballroom, Robertson said.I have never solved a Rubik's Piles .

The setup can work for some events, but not all.

"It knocks us out of holding some events because a group will want to have an exhibit show and some type of meal function at the same time," Robertson said.

This happens regularly, he said.we supply all kinds of polished tiles, Even when the group does not have to hold an exhibit at the same time as a banquet, staff sometimes have to rush to make the room fit for a meal, he said.

"Our staff spends a lot of time decorating the exhibit room for banquets," he said. "But it still has an exhibit hall feel to it."

Robertson hopes to be able to construct a banquet room that is warm, inviting and attractive, he said. He is working to try to find space where the room can be built.

The new space would have to tie into the existing facility, he said. It could be constructed on top of the Civic Center, which would add another floor.

Or it could be built on the top floor of the adjacent Lee Street parking garage.

The Civic Center's Grand Hall has about 50,000 square feet of usable space. However, the city would need to construct a ballroom made up of 17,000 to 20,000 additional square feet, City Manager David Molgaard said.

The Civic Center also has about 15 meeting rooms available. But the city probably would need to add 5,000 square feet of meeting space to attract larger conventions, Molgaard said.

Robertson also hopes to renovate the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. He hopes to reduce utility bills by making the system more energy efficient.

The city pays about $900,000 to $950,000 annually on utilities, he said. Last month alone, the electric bill was about $60,000.

"And in the winter, our gas bill can be as much as $60,000 in a month,They take the Aion Kinah to the local co-op market." he said.

The unit was installed in the 1980s, and Robertson is sure that there are more efficient models available today.

The new system would have to have the capacity to cool or heat a 13,000-seat coliseum but be scaled back to heat and cool smaller meeting rooms when the larger areas aren't needed,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, he said.

279 reported dead in Turkey earthquake

Using shovels, heavy machinery and their bare hands, rescue workers scrambled through piles of rubble to find survivors Monday after a deadly 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated parts of eastern Turkey.

The death toll has risen to 279, with another 1,which applies to the first TMJ only,300 injured, Turkey's semi-official Anatolian news agency reported, citing the country's disaster management authority. Some 970 buildings are demolished.

There have been conflicting reports about the number of dead, however. Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said Monday that as many as 264 people were dead, while Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay put the death toll at 239.

It was difficult to tally the number of injured, Health Minister Recep Akdag said, because many were being treated and released.

The military was assisting with search-and-rescue efforts, Atalay said.

Numerous aftershocks -- the largest a magnitude 6.we supply all kinds of polished tiles,0 -- rattled eastern Turkey, one of the nation's poorest areas.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 55 buildings collapsed in Ercis on the north shore of Lake Van. The Turkish Red Crescent said about 25 apartment buildings and a student dormitory collapsed in the town.

A health services building also collapsed, along with part of a hospital, CNN sister network CNN Turk reported. The injured were being treated in the hospital's garden.

"People are really scared," CNN Turk reporter Nevsin Mengu said from Van. "The survivors are now trying to survive the cold weather."

Rescuers and survivors contended with near-freezing temperatures early Monday. Some people collected wood from collapsed buildings to burn for warmth, Mengu said.

She said many residents are not returning to their houses, opting instead to sleep on rooftops or in the streets. It was not clear whether their homes were uninhabitable or they were just too frightened. Electricity and natural gas were off in most of the city, but Atalay said officials hope to restore power in Van and Ercis by Monday night.

Trucks carrying medical aid and food were seen driving into Van. But rescue teams had not reached some of the smaller villages in the area, Mengu said.

One man, stuck in the fetal position under a large piece of debris, was visible only through a small hole in the rubble. The man appeared weak and exhausted after rescuers pulled him out, his clothes torn.

At one point, rescue workers halted operations to try to hear whether anyone was knocking for help.They take the Aion Kinah to the local co-op market.

Are you there? Submit your pictures or video

The Red Crescent called for rescue workers, machinery and drinking water. A crisis center was set up by the country's Health Ministry in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

By Monday, more than 2,300 emergency personnel were in the region, Atalay said. Tents and rescue teams have come from as far away as Iran and Azerbaijan.

The crisis center said Sunday that 29 surrounding towns had sent help and medical helicopters were taking the injured for treatment in other provinces. Thirty-seven patients were taken to Ankara, Atalay said Monday.

Two tent hospitals were being set up in Ercis on Sunday, and two cargo planes were dispatched from the capital carrying medical teams and aid.

Erdogan and Akdag arrived in the area Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health's crisis center.

Israel offered Turkey "any help it may require" after the earthquake, Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office said. Israel and Turkey, once close allies,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles . saw a deterioration in relations in a dispute over an Israeli naval commando raid on the Gaza-bound ship Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish activists were killed.

A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the country, while grateful for offers of aid, is prepared to handle the disaster on its own.

Turkey is "no stranger to having these seismic events," but Sunday's quake is considered major,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said.

Using Scientific Injection Molding to Ensure Reliable and Repeatable Product

In a previous article blog, Injection Molding Process Validation Using Scientific Molding, the standard process was established. Coupling the established standard process, scientific molding principles and monitoring of the four plastic variables during production runs, helps to Ensure Reliable and Repeatable Product.

For this article I am using references to the human body, because like the human body an Injection Molding Process is complex, and also has a lot of variables and interactions that effect the way it runs. To simplify the complexity of both we can externally monitor and observe key variables.

Standard procedure for a doctors visit starts with a check of your vitals temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and weight. Observation of how you look and sound,They take the Aion Kinah to the local co-op market. a quick look at your chart and a diagnosis is made. This was accomplished with external data of the internal process from common inexpensive instruments when in properly trained and licensed hands can Ensure a Reliable and Repeatable diagnosis.we supply all kinds of polished tiles,

At Crescent we pride ourselves in having the Scientific Injection Molding Knowledge and Training Certifications that help us to Ensure Reliable and Repeatable Product.

Use the material manufacturers recommended melt temperature for process development and verify with a calibrated melt probe to check the plastic melt temperature. At Crescent, as a general guideline, the nominal melt temperature is established 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the lowest suggested temperature for the material. The nominal melt temperature is then given a +/- ten degree tolerance. As part of our start up and shut down procedure the established melt temperature is verified and documented.

Inject as fast as possible, consistent with quality, until the cavity is 95 to 99% full and then transfer via position to pack and hold. The established machine nominal fill time for this standard process is given a +/- .02 second tolerance and is not changed. Example, a mold with an established fill time of 1.00 second is moved to a comparable molding machine with an acceptable barrel capacity. The injection speed would be adjusted accordingly to match the established nominal fill time of 1.00 second with a low of .98 and a high of 1.02.

Crescent buys only world-class injection molding machines with proven repeatability that gives us the confidence of consistent, machine fill time,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, through closed loop control despite the normal viscosity variation of plastic. Simply put,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles . closed loop control is high performance cruise control, that will not allow you to get a speeding ticket at the bottom of a steep hill .

The CNC electric molding machine, along with ever greater computing power, has pushed that confidence of consistency to an even higher level versus hydraulic machines. As part of our start up and shut down procedure the established fill time is verified and documented.

Pack the part to finish filling while adding enough plastic to compensate for shrinkage. Establish the hold pressure that gives the part the desired cosmetic look and size. Coupled with the established hold pressure and the proper amount of hold time. We then push the hold pressure to its high and low limits to establish the range for the standard process.which applies to the first TMJ only, The CNC electric molding machine, along with ever greater computing power, has pushed that confidence of consistency to an even higher level versus hydraulic machines. As part of our start up and shut down procedure the established hold pressure is verified and documented.

Renewable energy is the future

There are 6 megawatts of solar panels installed in Tennessee. In Germany, more than half of 20,000 mega-watts is in-stalled on residential rooftops.

The difference is in the incentives offered and how government manages the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Dr. Erk Thorsten Heyen, vice president, marketing, sales and finance of Wacker Polysilicon Division of Wacker Chemie AG, was in Chattanooga Friday to participate in an energy forum hosted by State Sen. Andy Berke.

Heyen is a member of the executive management team of the polysilicon division, with worldwide responsibility for sales, marketing, application engineering and finance. Wacker Polysilicon is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of polysilicon, having a world market share of approximately 20 percent.

“If you think about it, in 50 years, fossil fuels will not all be available anymore, and what is available will be very, very expensive, so there is a need to migrate from fossil fuels to renewable energies,” he said.

“When you think about which of the renewable energies can be produced in sufficient scale and low cost to supply the amount of energy America needs, there are essentially two technologies: Wind turbines and silicone-based solar cells. These two will be the pillars of energy production in every country in the world.”

Management of the transition in the United States varies from state to state with California being in the forefront to renewal energy sources.When the stone sits in the oil painting reproduction, Tennessee is still “very conservative,” according to Heyen.

Wacker Chemie AG has been in the business of making polysilicon for about 60 years for electronics applications. The solar market emerged only in the last 10 years and is growing at a much faster rate than the electronics market.

“Only 10 years after the growth of solar energy really started, we today have a situation where 85 percent of all silicon sold is going to the solar industry and only 15 percent going to the semiconductor industry,” he said.

The first two years of production at the Charleston plant is sold based on long-term relationships with existing customers who are makers of solar panels.

“That’s very important for us.Save on Bedding and fittings, It gives us sufficient security to do this enormous investment,” Heyen said.

Polysilicon is simply a term for super-super pure silicon — for every 10 billion silicon atoms, there cannot be one other atom. Silicon, one of the most common elements on earth, is found in sand and stone, but it is not pure. In order to make it useful for electronics or solar cells, it needs to be purified through a very complicated and expensive process.

“It’s the most pure material mankind can make,” he said. “This kind of purity is necessary for semiconductor electronics and to make solar panels. The plant here in Tennessee will be entirely devoted to solar energy.”

The polysilicon ingots will be sorted according to size and shipped to customers all over the world in special bags from the Charleston plant to prevent contamination.

“The material of the bags is a propriety secret because not every bag is suitable,” he said. “Otherwise, if you take a normal plastic bag, there would be contamination from the bag to the silicon.”

Customers melt the ingots at temperatures of about 800 degree Centigrade, (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit) to crystallize it and convert it into solar cells. The temperatures needed to purify the silicon in the first place is even higher. The manufacturing process is energy intensive. Ten years ago, it took five years to earn back the energy expended, but with improved technology, the length of time has been reduced to one year.

“The manufacturing process has become much more energy efficient and the conversion efficiency of the solar cells has improved,” Heyen said.

“That’s actually very good.By Alex Lippa Close-up of plastic card in Massachusetts. If you build a conventional power plant, you have a significant time that is needed until the power plant produces the energy need to build the power plant.”

Once the cells are made, they are mounted and configured into solar panels. The panels are placed in the sun.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, The energy of the sun is then converted to electricity.

“This is what our business is all about. We are selling the essential raw material that will allow creation of alternative energy,” he said.

Heyen said wind and solar energy will coexist and work in tandem in the not too distant future because neither source can be controlled by man.Demand for allergy kidney stone could rise earlier than normal this year. The wind blows when it chooses and the sun shines only half the time at best.

“We can use solar energy when it comes,” he said. “Typically, the wind is stronger when there is no sun.”

But, he said, to move to a point where 60 percent of all energy is from renewable sources, it will be necessary to generate electricity with wind and solar systems when it is available and store it in batteries or hydroelectric plants. Water can be pumped to a higher level during the day and released at night.

“You can use the energy from solar cells to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen and use the oxygen to make power or heat,” he said.

“There are many, many different technologies which could be used to store the excess electricity generated when the sun is shining or when the wind is blowing and use it when those conditions don’t exist. All of those technologies are available, but some of them are still a bit too expensive.”

Mount Vernon’s Ariel Corp. sits atop compressor heap

Unless you’ve spent the past few months under a rock — one not associated with the much-ballyhooed Utica shale formation — you know that Ohio appears to be on the brink of on oil-and-gas boom.

As The Dispatch reported a week ago, state officials have issued 27 permits for horizontal drilling along the subterranean formation in the past three months.

That represents close to two-thirds of all such permits the state has issued since, well — since the sediment and organic material that make up the shale settled to the floor of the Appalachian Basin more than 450million years ago.

Experts predict that the Utica formation, which now lies several thousand feet underground, will prove to be one of the richest deposits of oil and gas ever found.

The geological treasure-trove spans 170,000 square miles beneath eight states and parts of Ontario, but Ohio’s portion alone could produce 200,000 jobs and $14 billion in income by 2015, according to the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

Clearly, the Utica formation and the adjacent Marcellus formation — a slightly smaller, shallower cousin — could yield enormous paydays for the drilling companies that draw out the hidden reserves, for the refineries that process the resulting oil and gas,Save on Bedding and fittings, and for the pipeline operators that deliver the finished products to consumers nationwide.

But those businesses — the rock stars, if you will, of the U.S. energy industry — won’t be the only winners. They’ll be joined, of course,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . by the hundreds of lower-profile companies, large and small, that make the equipment needed to retrieve, refine and relay the precious earthborn commodities.

Take, for example, Ariel Corp., headquartered in Mount Vernon. The Knox County company is a leading manufacturer of high-speed reciprocating and rotary screw compressors, which play integral roles in the oil-and-gas industry.

Simply put, Ariel’s machines keep things moving.

Jim Buchwald and two associates scraped together $10,500 to start the company 45 yeas ago.

His daughter, Karen Buchwald Wright, has served as CEO of the privately held firm since 2001, when she bought out her younger brother. Under her leadership, the company has grown to 1,200 employees who, together, crank out more than 3,500 compressors a year.

Wright, a 57-year-old divorced mother of four sons, reflected on Ariel’s rather humble beginning — and its very promising future — with Mike Kallmeyer, host of ONN-TV’s Ohio Means Business. An edited excerpt:

Q: The company started, I believe, in your dad’s basement?

A: Yes, in 1966, my dad had a design contract with a company in California, and a couple of friends of his said he should look at designing a small, high-speed compressor. And so he did go about doing that.

Several people said,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, “Well, we want to see a real one — not just a design.” So he and his partner decided they would build a prototype.

Because Cooper-Bessemer was on the North Side of town — it also made compressors, but old-style, slow-speed (models) — my dad and his partner, Jim Doane, had to be sort of surreptitious. They worked in the basement.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop . They even put paper over the windows.

Q: Flash forward a few decades: You’re still making compressors based on your father’s original prototype?

A: Yes. Of course, if you don’t innovate and continue to design new things, you’ll fall behind. So we gradually added to our product line.

Now, we are the biggest manufacturer of natural-gas compressors in the world — right here in Mount Vernon. We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,000 compressors out there operating everywhere in the world where there is oil and gas. The company has become pretty much — well, not pretty much — it is the industry leader in this particular business ...

The bulk of our compressors are used in wellhead (systems): When natural gas comes out of the ground, it’s a gas. And so, what you do is, you use a compressor that squishes the gas down to a higher pressure inside the cylinder and pushes it through a pipe to somewhere else.Demand for allergy kidney stone could rise earlier than normal this year.

Nevada has less than 2 percent of nation's solar workers

OK, so maybe Nevada's not the Saudi Arabia of solar power after all.

These days, the Silver State looks more like the Algeria of solar power,Save on Bedding and fittings, with tons of resources but a relatively unimpressive economic impact to show for it.

At least that's the picture painted in new report on the number of jobs in solar manufacturing, installation, research and development and sales.

Of the nation's 100,237 solar workers,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, just 2,025, or less than 2 percent, work in Nevada, according to the Washington-based Solar Foundation's National Solar Jobs Census 2011. The numbers look better if you consider Nevada's solar jobs per capita, which ranks No. 4 in the nation. For sheer number of jobs, though, Nevada failed to make the top 10, falling at No. 14 behind such sun-filled hot spots as, um, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. California had more than 10 times the solar jobs Nevada had.

But don't discount Nevada's showing, said Andrea Luecke, executive director of the Solar Foundation.

"Being in the top 20 is actually huge. No. 14 is nothing to balk at," Luecke said.By Alex Lippa Close-up of plastic card in Massachusetts. "And being No. 4 in terms of jobs per capita is quite an accomplishment. It signals how truly important the solar industry is to Nevada."

Still, the results underwhelmed, given Nevada's year-round sunshine, low cost of doing business, aggressive renewable-energy portfolio standard and more than $1 billion in federal stimulus funds for renewable power lines, generating stations and worker-training initiatives.

Robert Boehm, director of the Energy Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he's frustrated at the pace of progress in Nevada's solar industry. It'll be difficult for Nevada to break into the top 10 for overall jobs, because other states have incentive programs to entice panel makers and researchers, he said. Plus, federal research and development funds have dried up for Nevada, with money going to national research labs in California and New Mexico. Nor does the state's existing education system help.

"Research and development is definitely part of the problem. Typically, if a company is going to bring more high-tech operations, one of the features they look at is the education system," Boehm said. "We lost a lot of companies because they see the miserable state of education in this state."

Luecke speculated that Nevada may be coming up short in solar manufacturing. Solar installation and megawatt capacity, which are strong in Nevada, account for just half of solar jobs, on average.When the stone sits in the oil painting reproduction, Manufacturing is a key part of the sector as well, with about 15 percent of jobs. And Nevada's not known as a manufacturing hub for anything, let alone solar panels. Higher-ranking states,Demand for allergy kidney stone could rise earlier than normal this year. including California, Oregon and Pennsylvania, have strong manufacturing infrastructures that help them attract solar factories.

Plus, solar companies may be outsourcing jobs to other states, Luecke said. A developer that installs large-scale solar arrays may be headquartered in California, for example, and bring in temporary California labor to do the job.

Feds order healthy hot lunches, but will kids eat them?

Serious changes are on the horizon for meals served in Iowa schools.

State legislation has already cleared a la carte lines of the fatty and sugary foods many kids consider diet staples. New federal rules are expected to do the same with the traditional school lunch options.

Alex Youngblut, an East High School senior, remembers lunch as a freshman. The food was salted and seasoned. There were smoothies and stuffed bread sticks.

"And cookies as big as your head," he said.

But in the last couple of years the lunch room landscape has changed. Baked potato chips have replaced full-calorie and full-fat versions. Crudites and fresh fruit are offered in abundance. Whole grains are replacing processed white bread and noodles.

And that is only the beginning, said Meredith Hansen, the Waterloo district manager of food services and nutrition services.

Though details of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act are still being tweaked, districts expect larger servings of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, fewer calories and less fat and sodium when the first bell rings in the 2012-2013 school year.

The new requirements will be based on guidelines proposed by the Institute of Medicine and are the first substantial changes in decades.

"This is a huge opportunity. ... We believe --- not just us but the Institute for Medicine, health experts and others believe --- that school nutrition offers a systematic way to provide healthier foods to kids on a dependable regular basis. That's why it got such strong bipartisan support when it was enacted last December," said Kevin Concannon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

LaVonne Arndt, nutrition services supervisor with Cedar Falls schools, said the district has slowly been working its way toward the new goals.When the stone sits in the oil painting reproduction,

"It would have been too big of a shock to just say here is what the new school lunch will look like," she said.By Alex Lippa Close-up of plastic card in Massachusetts.

Arndt said the district has worked to incorporate more legumes, whole grains and dark orange and green vegetables into the menu cycle. Similar gradual changes are being made in Waterloo. Not all are welcome.

"We've done a corn and bean salsa, which is something all the adults care for and like, but the kids are not eating it,As many processors back away from Cable Ties ," Arndt said.

Bryce Frost, an East High School senior, used to get pwe supply all kinds of polished tiles,izza regularly but said the changes make it less appetizing. Junior Katelyn Kinnetz said she's noticed fewer potato items and more fruits and vegetables on the menu. But she can't eat many of them.

"I can't eat the apples because of my braces. And today, the bananas weren't ripe. They have carrots, but I can't eat those either," she said.

Right now, students must take three of the five food groups that are offered to have a full meal. A fruit or vegetable is offered every day but does not have to be on the plate. If the new standards pass as is, next year one fruit or vegetable will have to be on every tray.

"That doesn't mean they are going to eat it, though," Hansen said. "There is going to be a lot of waste."

About 32 percent of Cedar Falls students during the 2010-2011 school year had a body mass index considered overweight or obese, according to new data from the Black Hawk County Health Department. It Waterloo it's 45 percent. A 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed about 32 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese nationwide.

Hansen, a registered dietitian, knows the intent of the legislation is positive.

"They are taking a hard look at the sodium in the meals and forcing us to introduce (kids) to new vegetables," she said. Kid-friendly staples, like corn and potatoes, will be limited to one cup a week.

However,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, she is concerned about the caloric requirements being eyed.

"In our district I have students where these are the only meals they are getting every day, and I want to get as much food as I can to them," she said. "Even with the new regulations students who are overweight still aren't necessarily going to make the most healthy choices."

Concannon said schools that already participate in the national fresh fruits and vegetable program --- which targets low-income schools --- have exposed students to new food items with good results, and that interest carries over to their home life.

Rest infants on their backs, confirms pediatrics association

Resting infants on their backs in cribs remains the safest position to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed that standard this week. The association also recommended against crib bumper pads in updated standards released this week, another precaution for preventing SIDS.

Breast-feeding and immunizations also offer protection, the guidelines state.As many processors back away from Cable Ties ,

The syndrome involves a quick death of an undetermined cause for a child younger than 12 months old.

Dr. Fern Hauck, professor of family medicine at the University of Virginia, is part of the association's Task Force on SIDS. She said she is concerned that SIDS rates have remained constant within the past few years and that some parents disregard safety guidelines.

“For example, not all parents put their babies on the back for sleep, despite clear evidence that this is the single most important thing to do,” she said. “Also, rates of suffocation or strangulation in bed have increased in recent years, mostly related to more mothers sleeping with their babies.”

Jessica Black, a student at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, presented research from her studies with infants last weekend at an association convention in Boston. Her research examines the sleep guidelines, particularly the advice that infants sleep safest when lying on their backs.

“One of the newest things for the recommendations is that [association members] try to make it not so much about SIDS but about safe sleep in general,” Black said. “There’s really no need to have a bumper because the infants aren’t going to be injuring themselves. Actually, infants can become entrapped between the crib and bumper.”

Hauck said more research is needed to isolate the cause of SIDS. “We have theories and are getting closer to an answer,” she said. “The research needs to look at physiological, brain anatomy/neurochemicals, immune system and genetic explanations.”

Black and her colleagues conclude that lying with the back upward does indeed seem to reduce the chance of SIDS. They also recommend that parents remove all the trimmings that can adorn a crib.

“If you go to baby store, you see these elaborate cribs with blankets and cute stuffed animals, but it’s not safe,Save on Bedding and fittings,” Black said. An essentially bare crib is the safest.

“It’s not as cute and fluffy — just a firm mattress with a fitted sheet and the infant swaddled in a sleep sack with no other blankets or anything. It’s difficult for parents.” Sleep sacks can be layered over sleepers.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration released a report advising consumers to be wary of products that claim to prevent SIDS. Black said such products would have to be regulated by the FDA as medical devices.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,

Black and her colleagues in New Mexico reviewed 91 infant deaths that occurred from January 2006 to last December, working with the state’s medical examiner to determine the cause of death through forensic photos and autopsy and toxicology reports.

A total of 59 were classified as SIDS deaths. Of these cases, 52 percent of the babies were found lying on their stomachs and 71 percent were found on unsafe sleep surfaces. Half of the cases involved infants who died sharing their bed with another person. Some 57 percent of the cases involved infants who died sleeping outside of their cribs, though almost three quarters of the subjects’ homes had cribs.

Dr. Clarissa Krinsky, who was involved in the study, has a 4-month-old child and said she wishes parents were better educated about child safety.Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET .

“Swaddling is great for babies if they’re tightly wrapped in a light blanket that they can’t kick off,” she said. “The most important thing is to keep any heavy bedding out of the crib, and sleep sacks are great as a self-contained, little sleeping bag [babies] can sleep in.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .”

Dr. Sarah Lathrop analyzed data in the study, and she notes that the distinction between SIDS and SUID often eludes the public.

“SIDS in the past was sort of a catch-all term for any infant found deceased the next morning,” she said. “As we’ve learned more about it, the preferred term is Sudden Unexpected Infant Death. Sometimes a death will start off as SUID, but then when you do an autopsy, you find it was due to infection or pneumonia or a congenital heart problem, so some of them do go on to have cause of death.”

The infant subjects in the study represented the ethnic makeup of New Mexico, Lathrop said, but she said the study looks only at a subset of children from the Southwest. She thinks further research is needed to find out why families with cribs might not choose to use them. Black believes another limitation of the data is that researchers lacked jurisdiction over tribal land and military installations, so there might be cultural variables that weren’t observed.

“There are lots of things that go into raising a baby,” Black said. “Not all of it is recommendations from your pediatrician or OB/GYN. Maybe it’s your family tradition that the baby sleeps with you in bed, and sometimes it’s hard for people to change from that.”

Although general wisdom has not always upheld the supine position, Krinsky believes the American Academy of Pediatrics guideline is here to stay.

“I think this is definitely going to stay stable because we saw such a dramatic reduction in SIDS cases when people started putting babies on their backs,” she said.

Lathrop said that public health messages need to be better disseminated, and it could all start with hospitals.

Student questions Brown Street choices

Almost everyone has experienced it at one point or another. It's 11 a.m. on a Saturday and you're just rolling out of bed, wiping away the crusties from your eyes. You groggily walk out of your room to make sure all your roommates are accounted for. Perhaps there is a traffic cone sitting in the middle of your family room and no one knows how it got there. Or if you're a freshman, there may be a couple of ceiling tiles scattered across your floor in Marycrest Complex. Nonetheless, after you've gathered your friends and swapped stories from the previous night, the subject of food arises.

If you're like me, cooking is completely out of the question, let alone a safety hazard. And if you're a freshman, the elementary cafeteria food of Marycrest or Kennedy Union just won't cut it.Save on Bedding and fittings, With these two options eliminated, your decision is basically made for you. "Brown Street it is," you all yell in unison.

However, this decision could either be the best one you make all morning, or one you regret for the rest of the day. As you all ponder which restaurant you want to grace with your presence, please be careful.

Taco Bell is always an option high up on everyone's consideration list, and I can't argue with that.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop . The commercials make the food look amazing. The XXL Chalupa looks like it was created by God's own hands. However, after you eat at Taco Bell,As many processors back away from Cable Ties , it's inevitable that your insides will be doing the Taco Bell Shuffle.

Another restaurant that everyone seems to consider is Skyline Chili. They serve meat flavored with cinnamon over noodles that even the shadiest restaurant would be ashamed to serve. Yet people still love it, especially those from Cincinnati. But in reality, you can't really expect good taste from a city that had Jerry Springer as its mayor at one point. Nonetheless, after eating at Skyline Chili, you're lucky if you are even able to get out of the restaurant before your stomach starts yelling at you for what you just consumed. And there are plenty more options on Brown Street that your body will forever hate you for choosing.

However, there are also some options that both you and your body can agree on. For example, Panera Bread offers a menu that is reasonably healthy and doesn't act like a rabid raccoon inside of your stomach. Potbelly is also a good option with tasty sandwiches that are easy on the wallet.Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET .

There are a vast number of restaurants on Brown Street, and many seem like good options. But I urge anyone who is debating a restaurant choice to think about more than how food looks. Do your body a favor and choose something that won't have you aggressively searching for a bottle of Tums later that day.

Dual benefits from milled straw bedding

Our Milk Watch farmer, Sam Foot, says he has seen the light when it comes to bedding cows in cubicles and believes the answer lies in milled straw.

Across the four herds at Higher Ashton Farm, near Dorchester, he describes making the switch to this bedding as ‘revolutionary’ and says since sand is not an option, it is the next best thing he knows for keeping mastitis and cell counts firmly under control.

As the herds approach their long period of winter housing, he feels confident the system provides them with as good an environment as he could create,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet, and he has saved significant cost into the bargain.

“We changed to this system three years ago and have cut our straw usage in half,” he says.Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . “We also have auto-scrapers, and find at the lagoon end, everything flows rather than builds up, and similarly, when the cow reverses out of her cubicle, the bedding parts like the Red Sea, instead of being dragged into the passage.”

Using the farm’s own mobile mill mixer and chopping straw to around 2-3cm, it is used on top of mattresses and is said to be far more absorbent than the long straw it replaced.
Scraped

With the back end of cubicles scraped out during each milking and hydrated lime added daily, he says there’s no need to add milled straw more than every other day.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .

The result is an exceptionally clean situation for the cows, reflected in outstanding udder health, with the best herd (the 150-head Banyard Dairy) running at 12 cases of mastitis since January 1, 2011. Meanwhile, cell counts across all four herds now stand at 120-130.

“It’s been amazing to see mastitis cases so low at Banyard,” says Mr Foot. “The unit is on the top of a hill and there’s always air flow there. It also has fewer fly problems than the other three in summer, which are all in the valley.As many processors back away from Cable Ties ,”

Insisting the type of cow being bred is also important, he chooses bulls with low somatic cell count indexes and closely monitors their performance.

“We keep a chart on the wall and if there’s a trend in a particular bull’s breeding pattern it soon becomes obvious,” he says. “You often find that if you took one or two sires out of the system, you would make big improvements.”

To this effect, he recently sold 60 straws of a ‘well known bull’ from his flask, remarking, “We just can’t tolerate those that get mastitis.”
Looking with optimism

towards the winter, he says he is delighted with how cows are milking. “At our Westbrook herd we’re now on average 131 days in milk and are selling 41 litres per cow per day, which is a figure we haven’t quite reached before,” he says.

Commending the whole team for making it happen, he has additional praise for near neighbour and contracting customer, stating: “We were delighted to see Tom King win the Gold Cup this year for his near-perfect operation.”
Aim is now to pull down mastitis cases

The team at Huddlestone Farm near Steyning, West Sussex, has scarcely paused for breath over the past two months, with autumn cultivations followed by winter wheat drilling, maize harvest and a complete refit of the cubicle house.

With all now prepared for winter, Milk Watch farmer Tim Gue hopes the refurbished cubicles will improve cow comfort and reduce mastitis and lameness.Save on Bedding and fittings,

“The mattresses were 10 years old and had gone like concrete, so they all came out for a good shake up, and when they went back in, they had 20mm of latex foam and new covers put on top,” he says.

“Now if we go into the shed once they’ve finished eating after milking, we find the lying rates to be phenomenal compared with before. The last time I looked, every one bar two of the 180 in the group were either lying or eating,” he says.

With cell counts regularly hovering around the 115 mark, he says the main drive now is to pull down mastitis. Apart from strict cleanliness and preventative routines, rigid treatment protocols are adhered to when a case arises, involving an intramammary antibiotic chosen specifically to match the severity and type of infection.