Altering Clothes, and Lives, With Design

IT’S not exactly “Project Runway,” but in Detroit a group of young fashion designers is focusing its talents on one of that economically depressed city’s biggest challenges: designing clothing that will benefit many of the more than 20,000 homeless people now living on the streets.

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“I looked around and thought, This city has such need, we have to figure out a way to have our students become problem-solvers here,” explained Stephen Schock, a professor of industrial design at the College for Creative Studies, an undergraduate and graduate art and design school in downtown Detroit that has redefined its mission in recent years to help the city with economic and community development. “So I started a design activism class,” he said of the curriculum he began offering in 2010.

The instructions were simple and open-ended: “Design to fill a need.”

One of his students, Veronika Scott, a native of Detroit and then a junior, quickly focused on the homeless population and began researching her project at the Neighborhood Service Organization, a community development center. “I noticed that there were people sleeping outside of shelters even when they could have been inside,” she said, adding that she quickly learned that many actually prefer the street because of pride, privacy issues or an array of mental health problems.

“There are many reasons why people are homeless, but I could see one thing all of them needed: warmth,They become pathological or Piles when swollen or inflamed.” she said.

Ms. Scott, now 22, soon came up with the idea to design a coat that could double as a sleeping bag.

“I am now known as the ‘Crazy Coat Lady,’ ” said Ms. Scott, who began her research by asking a group of 30 homeless men at the shelter for advice on designing it. “At first they were angry because I turned off their TV, but then they started talking to me,Find out the facts about Cold Sore,” she said.

Mike Forbes, 27, a classmate of Ms. Scott’s and then a junior, similarly focused on the city’s neediest cases, deciding to design the Ulterior Survival Bag, which transforms into a boot. “I saw how many people in Detroit were suffering from frostbite and trench foot, and with a shortage of winter footwear it seemed the right product to try to design,” Mr. Forbes recalled.

“It is meant to provide the homeless with a better option than garbage bags, which they usually use to carry their stuff and cover their feet,” he said.What causes TMJ pain?

Mr. Forbes also runs a charitable T-shirt company, Anymile Clothing, which helps support local families facing hardship. By selling these shirts at concerts and music festivals,External Hemroids are those that occur below the dentate line. he hopes to finance more research and development to perfect his boot.

Similarly, members of Soleology, a Saturday design club of current and former Creative Studies students who have a passion for shoes , have also been working on a footwear solution for Detroit’s homeless population, as has a group of students from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Such a challenge came from Cass Community Social Services in Detroit, which operates a micro-enterprise in which homeless men convert abandoned tire parts into mud mats that are then sold at markets and fairs, bringing its clients some much needed income. But with the mats being made from the sidewalls of the tires, the Rev. Faith Fowler, a Methodist pastor and Cass’s executive director, couldn’t help but wonder if the treads could also be used in some way that might benefit those in need.

Enter the University of Michigan’s integrated product design class, which combines design, engineering and business. Its solution? Treads Motor City sandals, which can be sold to the public, but will be produced by Ms. Fowler’s constituents, giving them yet another income stream.

House Hunting in

House Hunting in .Find everything you need to know about kidney stone including causes,.. Moscow

This two-bedroom apartment in a 35-story high-rise in Moscow has been renovated to include an architectural designer’s studio, with high-end furnishings and finishes covered in the asking price.

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The entrance on the seventh floor has a stained-glass ceiling and panels designed by the owner, an architect who uses the apartment as her studio. Some of the foyer walls are covered with black-and-silver floral patterned wallpaper, others are overlaid with an Italian decorative coating made from silver leaf. The space also has chandeliers and wall sconces made with Swarovski crystals. Its polished wine-colored tile floor leads to the kitchen and the living room just beyond.

In the kitchen, the ceiling is covered in mirrored mosaic tiles, and a countertop of black granite extends to form a small table for dining.Buying solar panel and want the Best Price?Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website! Appliances are by the German company Miele International. The purple tempered-glass kitchen cabinets were manufactured in Italy, as were the ceramic wall tiles. Doors leading to the living room are made of tempered glass carved in a Moscow glasshouse.

The living room has a black granite wet bar and an Italian-made sofa upholstered in black leather and purple crushed velvet. A large fish tank is recessed into the wall and can be seen from both the living room and the adjacent study. The living room has views of the Ochakovka River.

Off the living room is the master bedroom, which looks out onto Troparevsky Forest Park. Its dark floor is made of wenge, a tropical wood. The walls are covered in decorative silver leaf; the adjoining dressing room is lined with striped zebra wood veneer. A second bedroom and sitting room are off of a hallway near the foyer, as are two bathrooms lined with Italian tiles. Bath fixtures were made by the German companies Villeroy & Boch and Miele, except for the American flower-shaped tub in one bath.

This apartment is in a high-rise complex called Mirax Park, in the Yugo-Zapad neighborhood of southwestern Moscow, which attracts young families and professionals who commute to work into central Moscow, said Elena Yurgeneva, the listing agent, who is a regional director with Knight Frank Russia & CIS. The complex has its own restaurant and cafe, fitness center, swimming pool, grocery store, and beauty salon. Buying the unit will also enable the purchase of a space in the parking garage, which can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000, depending on location, the agent said. Travel time to central Moscow varies widely, depending on traffic, from 10 minutes to 90. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is about 40 minutes away by car, Ms. Yurgeneva said.

The Russian real estate market was privatized with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when residents were given the homes that they had been living in. Prices increased steeply, then dipped sharply from 1998 to 2001 because of an economic crisis in Russia. In the seven-year-long boom following that decline, prices increased sixfold, according to Real Estate Market Indicators IRN.RU, a research and consulting firm.

In 2008, with the global economic crisis, prices fell by about 30 percent, said Anya Levitov, a managing partner at Evans Property Services. Since then the market has been slow to recover — though the luxury sector has rebounded.

“Most expensive new luxury developments today cost more than in 2008,” Ms. Levitov said, “but that is probably the only segment where precrisis levels have been reached and exceeded.”

The average price per square meter for a Moscow home runs $6,000 to $9,000, but luxury homes can cost $25,000 to $35,000 a square meter, said Nadezhda Kot, the head of local sales at Moscow Sotheby’s International Realty. Many of these high-end homes are concentrated in a neighborhood called the Golden Mile, between the Moscow River and Ostozhenka Street, which has a number of new upscale residential developments alongside historic Art Nouveau mansions.

“Last year,” Ms. Kot said, “the maximum price paid was $40 million for a villa in Ostozhenka, the Golden Mile.Our websites supply Insulator,”

In Mirax Park,xcel Mould is a Custom Injection Moulding Manufacturer, apartments typically bring $10,000 to $13,000 a square meter, but this apartment is priced at $17,333 a square meter because it is being sold with all its furnishings and finishes, according to Ms. Yurgeneva.

Delcam to show data repair and modeling for manufacture at Amerimold

Delcam will highlight the strengths of its PowerSHAPE CAD software in data repair and modeling for manufacture at the Amerimold exhibition to be held in Novi, Michigan on June 13-14.Welcome to polished tiles. PowerSHAPE is unique among CAD systems in offering Tribrid Modeling; the ability to work with solids, surfaces and triangle models in a single environment.

PowerSHAPE’s strength in data repair is centered on its Solid Doctor options. These enable users to tackle all the common problems that can be found when translating low precision and incomplete data, including gaps and overlaps between surfaces, or duplicated and missing surfaces, and generate a valid, high-precision model.

The Solid Doctor uses a combination of automatic data repair tools and surface creation and editing options available within PowerSHAPE. This combination means that simple repairs can be carried out quickly and easily,Low prices on projector bulbs from Projector Lamp London UK. while more complex problems can be overcome by deleting and replacing the existing surfaces within the model.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties,

Once the model has been repaired,Sharps include syringe needle, PowerSHAPE offers a range of direct modeling options to optimize the design for manufacture, in particular for the development of molds and other types of tooling.

Many product designers still produce designs with insufficient draft, making it impossible to remove the as-designed part from its tooling, so the ability to add draft to CAD models is one of the most commonly-used options within PowerSHAPE. This can be done either by using a specific value or by modifying the model interactively. The change can be applied to a single surface or to a group of surfaces, such as the sides of a pocket. In the latter case, the software is intelligent enough to maintain the radii of any fillets linking the sides.

Another common problem for the toolmaker is the use of impractical fillet sizes by designers. Small fillets require extra machining time so they extend delivery times and increase costs. In addition, they can restrict the flow of material in molds or dies, so increasing processing times and pressures. PowerSHAPE can use direct modeling to identify fillets within imported geometry, even when the modeling history has been lost. They can then be replaced with new fillets having more suitable radii.

Once the design is complete for manufacturing,TBC help you confidently purchase China ceramic tile from factories in China. it can easily be transferred to any CAM product. Delcam’s CAM software comprises of FeatureCAM for feature-based programming, PowerMILL for high-speed and five-axis machining, PartMaker for the programming of turn-mill equipment and Swiss-type lathes, and Delcam for SolidWorks, the integrated CAM system for SolidWorks.

Marie Colvin's killing piles pressure on Assad as civilian death toll rises

The deaths of the veteran Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and the French photographer Rémi Ochlik amid a rising toll of civilian victims in Syria have prompted renewed calls for an end to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Their deaths came on a day in which, according to activists, more than 80 people were killed in the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs, which has been under daily attack by the Syrian army for three weeks.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, called the journalists' deaths an assassination and said the Assad era had to end. Just Choose PTMS Injection Mold Is Your Best Choice!

"That's enough now," he said. "This regime must go and there is no reason that Syrians don't have the right to live their lives and choose their destiny freely. If journalists were not there, the massacres would be a lot worse."

The foreign secretary, William Hague, said the deaths were "a terrible reminder of the suffering of the Syrian people – scores of whom are dying every day". He added: "Marie and Rémi died bringing us the truth about what is happening to the people of Homs. Governments around the world have the responsibility to act upon that truth – and to redouble our efforts to stop the Assad regime's despicable campaign of terror in Syria."

The Syrian ambassador to London was later summoned to the Foreign Office ,where officials told Dr Sami Khiyami the UK government was "horrified" by the violence in Homs.

Political director Sir Geoffrey Adams said he expected immediate arrangements to be put in place for Colvin's body to be repatriated, as well as for the medical treatment of British photographer Paul Conroy, who was also injured in the shelling.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Sir Geoffrey stressed that the British government was horrified by the continuing unacceptable violence in Homs, which has been under attack for 19 days.

"He noted that today alone the world had witnessed the death of more than 60 civilians, including children, on the single street of al-Hakoura in the Baba Amr neighbourhood.

"Our clear demand was for the violence to stop immediately. The Syrian authorities must implement the undertakings they had given to the Arab League, halt all violence against civilians, and start an orderly political transition before a single further death took place.Listing of Taiwan & China Mold Maker manufacturer & suppliers."

David Cameron told the Commons Colvin was a "talented and respected foreign correspondent" and her death was "a desperately sad reminder of the risks journalists take to inform the world of what is happening and the dreadful events in Syria".Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET,

Colvin and Ochlik were killed after an artillery shell hit the house in which they were staying. Three other foreign reporters, as well as seven activists from Baba Amr, were wounded on Wednesday. One of the injured, freelance photographer Paul Conroy, was travelling with Colvin.

Edith Bouvier, a freelance journalist working for the French paper Le Figaro, suffered serious leg injuries in the attack. Activists warned that she was at risk of bleeding to death.

Jean-Pierre Perrin, senior foreign correspondent at the French daily Libération, said he had been with Colvin and other journalists at a makeshift press centre in Homs and had left with her several days ago after being warned that the army was preparing an offensive and that journalists could be targeted. Colvin waited, decided the offensive against the press centre had not happened and returned to Homs.

Perrin told Libération the press centre, which had a generator and a patchy internet connection, was the only means of telling the world what was happening. "If the press centre were destroyed, there would be no more information out of Homs."

He said the army recommended "killing any journalist that stepped on Syrian soil". Journalists had been aware of this,Here's a complete list of oil painting supplies for the beginning oil painter. and of reports of intercepted communications between Syrian officers that recommended killing all journalists between the Lebanon border and Homs, and making out they had been killed in combat between terrorist groups.

He said of his departure from Homs with Colvin: "We had been advised to leave the town [of Homs] urgently. We were told, 'If they find you, they will kill you'." So I left with the Sunday Times journalist [Marie Colvin], but later she wanted to go back when she saw the offensive hadn't happened."

In the deadliest time for the media since the uprising began, at least three citizen journalists have also been killed in recent days, in an apparent attempt by the regime to prevent news emerging from Homs. The three had played prominent roles in chronicling the army's assault on Homs.

One of them was video blogger Rami al-Sayed, known as Syria Pioneer, who had uploaded to the internet at least 200 videos of killing and destruction in his neighbourhood.

Colvin, a decorated foreign correspondent with more than 30 years' experience in conflict zones, and Ochlik, who won a World Press Photo award last month, died instantly when the shell struck the safe house provided for them by activists just after 9am. Colvin's body, along with Ochlik's, was recovered four hours later.

Colvin's editor, John Witherow, said in a statement: "Marie was an extraordinary figure in the life of the Sunday Times, driven by a passion to cover wars in the belief that what she did mattered. She believed profoundly that reporting could curtail the excesses of brutal regimes and make the international community take notice. Above all, as we saw in her powerful report last weekend, her thoughts were with the victims of violence.

"Throughout her long career she took risks to fulfil this goal, including being badly injured in Sri Lanka. Nothing seemed to deter her. But she was much more than a war reporter. She was a woman with a tremendous joie de vivre, full of humour and mischief and surrounded by a large circle of friends, all of whom feared the consequences of her bravery."

Colvin and Ochlik had been in Baba Amr for the past weekreporting the bloody siege of opposition-held parts of Syria's third city, which has claimed hundreds of lives and led to a humanitarian crisis. The house in which they were based was next to a hospital and had been the main refuge for all reporters who had made it to Bab al-Amr in the face of a relentless barrage by regime forces.All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats,

An activist for the campaigning group Avaaz who saw the attack said: "I left the house after it got struck and headed to a house across the street. The shelling continues and the bodies of the journalists are still on the ground. We can't get them out because of the intensity of the shelling even though we're only a few metres away from them."

Another witness said rockets continued to rain down on the area as the wounded tried to escape the bombed two-storey house. A graphic video posted on the internet showed the house in ruins – a scale of damage that could only have been caused by a heavy artillery round. Two bodies were visible in the rubble.

Three of the wounded were in a serious condition and in urgent need of treatment.

They faced a long and perilous drive to the Lebanese border where Red Cross officials were preparing to meet them.

The foreign editor of the Times, Richard Beeston, said on Twitter: "Terrible news about Marie Colvin. First worked with her Beirut 85. Most courageous, glamorous foreign corr I have ever met. Tragic loss."

Colvin used a web forum to make what is believed to be her last post on Tuesday. "I think the reports of my survival may be exaggerated," she wrote. "In Baba Amr. Sickening, cannot understand how the world can stand by and I should be hardened by now. Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until he stopped. Feeling helpless. As well as cold! Will keep trying to get out the information."

Ahead Of Funding News, Boku Debuts NFC-Enabled Mobile Payments Platform

Boku is debuting a brand new mobile payments platform today, that aims to disrupt the current way that consumers pay for goods via their mobile phones or credit cards. As you may remember, Boku offers an online payments platform that allowed users to pay for online goods by charging the transaction to their mobile phone bill. When a user wants to purchase a virtual item, he can enter his cell phone number on a site, the site sends a text message to the phone, the user confirms the transaction with a short reply,Listing of Taiwan & China Mold Maker manufacturer & suppliers. and all the charges show up on his phone bill.

With Boku’s new product, called Boku Accounts, the startup is expanding online mobile payments technology to cover e-commerce and retail point-of-sale payments.Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, The payments platform, which will be licensed to carriers, will be embedded on users’ mobile phones as well as via a pre-paid Mastercard credit card.

Basically there are three prongs to Boku’s payments platform: the consumer, the carrier and the merchant. Here’s how it works. The Boku Accounts platform allows carriers to issue their subscribers a branded mobile payment account accessible via both mobile device and the Web. Using an NFC sticker that can be adhered to the phone, and the prepaid credit card, subscribers can make payments online, in-app, and in-store. In-store purchases via Boku accounts will be enabled anywhere credit cards are accepted. Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mould Is Your Best Choice!

Merchants can work with carriers to target subscribers with personalized deals and offers as well as access to loyalty programs. Subscribers can pay via NFC or their pre-paid Mastercard (branded by the carrier), which they are able to add money to. A mobile subscriber will receive a Boku Account from their carrier, which includes a branded mobile payments account, online and mobile access (Web, iPhone, Android,Here's a complete list of oil painting supplies for the beginning oil painter. and HTML5) and more.

Consumers can not only access special offers from participating merchants but can also access a Mint-like platform that tracks their spending via the payments platform. So consumers will be able to see how much they spent on restaurants, transportation and more categories in a given month,

Additionally,All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats, subscribers can send and receive money via person-to-person transactions completed by phone.

As Boku’s President Ron Hirson explains to me, this is Boku’s “most significant announcement since its launch.” “We want to go to everyday purchases and help change the way that cash is transacted,” he says. He adds that while NFC reach is currently limited, he feels there is potential for the technology to be more widely adopted.

It’s important to note that carrier partnerships are key for Boku to expand this offering. This platform is completely dependent on carriers adopting this as a way to offer mobile payments for its subscribers. It’s a white label offering.

And Boku Accounts is not contingent on merchant adoption. Even if merchants don’t opt in to create offers or deals, users can still use the payments option via the credit card or NFC chip (at NFC enabled terminals).Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. For now, Boku isn’t ready to announce any carrier partnerships yet but Hirson says the company currently has a trial running with a major carrier in the U.K.

It will be interesting to see if Boku can land any major carriers in the U.S. It’s unclear what the financial terms will be at this point (we do know Boku does take a rev share on merchant offers), but even one carrier partnership could be potentially huge. Boku has been increasingly negotiating direct carrier partnerships for its online mobile payments offering, so the company is certainly familiar with this territory.

With its mobile payments products for online transactions, Boku mainly faces competition from eBay-owned rival Zong. With this new technology, Boku now finds itself competing with NFC-enabled platforms like Google Wallet as well as PayPal’s new retail point of sale system. Hirson doesn’t see BOKU Accounts as competitive to Google or PayPal though. He believes that because Boku isn’t requiring merchants to re-terminalize, or add any new technologies to the actual payment experience since Boku’s platform uses a prepaid card in addition to NFC.

This new platform is debuting ahead of a new funding announcement that Boku is expected to disclose (along with a new carrier investor) next week. To date, Boku has raised $38 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art

We visit a treasure-box of a museum in the western suburbs, and find out about the immigrant who built it one stone at a time,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. on Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm.

Joseph Lizzadro, an electrical contractor living in Elmhurst in the 1940s, was a rock hound who loved to cut and polish jade. But his extensive collection, which would eventually found the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, was largely an accident.

Lizzadro was looking for rough jade to cut into jewelry, but the stone was tough to come by. Already carved jade, however, was relatively cheap and easy to find, and other lapidaries often bought carvings and repurposed them.

“Mr. Lizzadro wrote away for some jade and was just amazed at what he got,All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats,” said Dorothy Asher,Injection molding and Plastic molding supplier， the museum’s director and Lizzadro’s granddaughter. The piece, a jade container for ceremonial liquids from the Qing dynasty, was so stunning, Asher says, that Lizzadro couldn’t bear to break it apart. It also inspired him to collect more Chinese jade, eventually expanding to amber, ivory, agate and other precious minerals.

“He didn’t care as much about age or provenance [as other collectors],” Asher said.Here's a complete list of oil painting supplies for the beginning oil painter. “He was geared towards really great materials and wonderful workmanship. That influenced us—we’re also not as concerned about antiquity.”

About a third of the collection is Chinese sculptures, carvings and ceremonial vessels, including a stone teapot used for rice wine. One of the most impressive pieces is a blue jade incense burner used in the Imperial Palace in Beijing and signed by Emperor Qianlong, from the Qing dynasty. The 3-foot-tall burner, in the shape of a pagoda, is the biggest piece in the collection, Asher says.

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“And everything carved in it means something,” she added.Listing of Taiwan & China Mold Maker manufacturer & suppliers. “It’s tough to see, but there are guardian lions, bats which signify happiness, and a phoenix, which is associated with the emperor.”

Another popular item is an ivory puzzle ball, from 19th century China. Comprised of 24 nested spheres on a slender stand, the puzzle ball is most impressive because the whole piece was carved out of a single block.

“It was not really meant to be solved like a Rubik’s Cube,” though the spheres can be aligned to expose a hole through the center, Asher said. “It was more of a way for the Chinese to show off their expertise in carving. The puzzle is really you figuring out, ‘Wow, how did they do that?’”

The museum’s collection also includes more modern works, such as a sculpture of the Last Supper made in 19th century Germany, an agate carving of the Greek god Poseidon, and a quartz wolf carving by artist Tom Ames in 2000.

One of the museum’s centerpieces is known as the the Castle Lizzadro, commissioned in in memory of Chris Lizzadro, founder Joseph’s grandson and son of John Lizzadro, currently the museum’s executive director. Chris was 13 when he drowned in a health club pool in 1982.

The castle, by English sculptor William Toliday, is an intricate work of 18-karat gold, diamond, malachite and other stones. John asked Toliday to make the castle because Chris loved the “mythology of knights,” said Asher, who was Chris’ cousin.

“It’s one of the children’s favorites because they can look at it for a long time and see something new every time—miniature cannons on the castle walls, a grotto, an underground cave where boats go,” Asher said. “You can daydream all day about it.”

Fire Department puts new tanker in service

Perkins Volunteer Fire Department recently added a new tanker to its fleet.

Fire Chief Joe Barta said the department received the equipment at no cost from the Oklahoma Department of Forestry through a Department of Defense program.

However, the 1983 military all-wheel drive cargo truck needed a lot of work before it could be placed in service.

Barta said members of the volunteer fire department provided that work during their free time over the past year.

“We have a very dedicated group of individuals who do a lot of work here,” Barta said.Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. “They put in about 465 hours installing the tank on the truck, wiring, welding, and painting it.

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The cost of parts and equipment for the tanker ran approximately $10,000.

Perkins Tanker 2, which holds 2,500 gallons of water, will be used mostly to supply water to brush trucks, Barta said.

This unit may replace two other vehicles.

Barta said fire department volunteers work hard to maintain and improve the department’s equipment.

PFD receives around $21,000 from the county sales tax each year, but that’s not enough to purchase new, more capable fire units, Barta said.

To obtain more funding,An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Barta said he plans to ask Perkins City Commission to approve a new fire contract for rural residents.

Currently, rural residents can enroll in fire subscriptions for $50 per year. The subscription will cover most of the cost associated with a fire call.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. It also provides funds that help firefighters purchase new equipment and supplies,Monz Werkzeugbau und Formenbau. and pay for training.

“We are looking at restructuring the rural fire subscription to off-set costs incurred by the city for rural firefighting and,What is the top Hemorrhoids treatment? in time, begin to replace older equipment.

If approved by Perkins City Commission, the restructuring will do away with fire subscriptions, and replace them with rural fire contracts. These will cost $100 per property.

Barta said he realizes the fee increase won’t be popular with rural residents.

“We don’t have any choice,” he said. “We’ve got to maintain service to residents in town and residents out in the county.

“The city has been very supportive, but they can’t be expected to pay for rural service.”

Barta said the issue is expected to be presented to the city commission at its regular March meeting.

Prosthetic technology may give Paralympic advantage

One of the most controversial figures in world sport in recent times has been the Blade Runner, South African Oscar Pistorius, who some say has an unfair advantage due to not one, but two, carbon fibre feet. The London Paralympics are now less than 200 days away, and Australian athletes are using cutting-edge technology to ensure they have every advantage heading into the competition. But some say the technology available to Paralympians in affluent countries distorts the playing field. Just Choose PTMS Injection Mold Is Your Best Choice!

In this workshop in Sydney, designers are crafting prosthetic limbs for the nation's top Paralympic athletes. Prosthetist David Howells has worked with the Australian Paralympic team for 15 years. This prosthetic leg is made of carbon fibre and smooth, light, thermoplastic.

It's very important to have the socket fitting well and comfortable for her, because in sprinting she's putting four times the body weight through each toe strike,Specializes in rapid Injection mold and molding of parts for prototypes and production. so the socket's got to be comfortable.

The finishing touches are being put on this prosthetic for Paralympic champion Kelly Cartwright.Sharps include syringe needle, The 22-year-old is a sprinter and long-jumper, and this is her first chance to try out her new leg. She's one of just two athletes in the world to be trying a new hydraulic knee joint.

The mechanical knee joints we've been using previously has always created quite a bit of impact at the end of swing phase, which jolts the athlete, which disturbs their gait. This is a very smooth knee, so it's really providing the athlete with much more symmetry when they're running, which produces faster times.

It's an amazing piece of technology, and I think that it's going to be really great for the future,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. and it's just basically a whole different ballpark for me to run on it.

Technology has come a long way for Paralympians, but it sometimes generates controversy.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. South African Oscar Pistorius, the Blade Runner, smashed records at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. But what came next was an ugly fallout. Pistorius is a double below-knee amputee who uses two carbon prosthetics, and he wanted to race against able-bodied athletes. An international jury ruled his prosthetic limbs had more spring than human legs, although eventually he was allowed to run. The controversy still follows Pistorius wherever he goes, as many question the role of technology in sport.

One of the core ethical questions that Oscar Pistorius raises is what we call ‘authenticity’. So that is, is what Oscar Pistorius does a result of him the athlete or him the technology, the person interacting with the technology?

Kelly Cartwright deeply admires Pistorius, but even she admits his case is a tricky issue for Paralympians too.

In my opinion, I find it a bit unfair double below-knees going against a single below-knee. I find that really quite unfair, because obviously he's got two and the other person can only run as fast as their other leg is going to take them. But again, there's also other below-knees, double below-knees he's against; they're not as fast as him either. So, I see him as a really great fast athlete, but also I can see the disadvantage for the other athletes as well. I think that's quite unfair.

No sport is fair. Inherently it's a process of discrimination. Sport is about finding out who is better than someone else, and part of that discrimination is how well people use technology. If Australian Paralympians have access to better technology and can practice with that technology, then that's just the foils of war. They are allowed to do that under the rules. So the question of fairness becomes moot. This is about winning medals.

Prosthetics like this cost thousands of dollars, and are expensive for those even in affluent countries. The Australian Paralympic Committee is hard at work raising money for its athletes travelling to London. It's one of the challenges of Paralympics: how to ensure there's a level playing field when there are vast differences between countries' capacities to fund their athletes.

It's always a challenge, but I think the distinctions are perhaps not as profound as they were, say, a decade ago. They're still there, but I think it's one of the good things about the Paralympic movement is it's a pretty even playing field, and it's something everyone within the Paralympic movement wants to support as well.

The issue plays on the mind of Kelly Cartwright, and she feels fortunate.

I do think about that a lot. I think as well it comes into it is... uh, money and also knowledge as well. But they are expensive, obviously, running legs and prosthetic legs. It may not necessarily mean just because they get a leg they can run as well.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.

Kelly Cartwright will compete in long jump against an athlete who will have two carbon feet at this year's London Paralympics.

I'm not worried about that at all. I'll just get out there and do what I've got to do. She can't run in her own class because there are no other people. She's got to be with us. So I think it just makes it more fun.

Turkey Point plant employees were safe despite ventilation system being disabled

Despite a disabled ventilation system in an emergency operations building at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear plant, employees would have been safe if an emergency had occurred.

That was one of the main points FPL's management stressed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today during a two-hour meeting over apparent violations at the plant.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Turkey Point, which has two reactors,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. is about 25 miles south of Miami near Homestead.

Mike Kiley, site vice president at Turkey Point, told NRC officials that he takes full responsibility for any confusion that may have occurred because of the way the issue was communicated to the NRC.

The problems centered on a ventilation system damper that employees reported was open when it should have been closed. However, tests confirmed it was closed, keeping outside air from entering.  Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mould Is Your Best Choice!

If a radiological emergency had occurred with the damper open, the radiation that employees would have been exposed to would have been 17 percent below the NRC's allowable levels, Kiley said.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.

Larry Nicholson, FPL's director of nuclear licensing, said although the ventilation system was not functioning as designed, it would have protected the employees' safety.

The NRC scheduled the meeting at its Region II headquarters in Atlanta following its finding that in 2010 and 2011 workers twice disabled portions of the plant's technical support center ventilation system. The building is where employees would have gone to direct operations in case of an emergency.

The failure to properly maintain the system has been preliminarily determined by the NRC to be of low to moderate safety significance.

FPL also failed to notify regulators about the ventilation system issues, the NRC said. The system was not functional from Dec. 4, 2010 to July 13, 2011 and from Oct. 10 to Oct. 28, 2011, the NRC said in its report.

The NRC said it expects to issue a finding by late May. If the violation is upheld, FPL could be fined.

Don Mothena, FPLs director of nuclear emergency planning, said the plant has instituted new procedures to catch the damper problems if they should occur again.

FPL spokesman Michael Waldron said, "The analysis we presented to the NRC today shows that this issue never presented a risk to the health and safety of our workers or the public,Sharps include syringe needle, and, there is no doubt that the ventilation system is fully operational currently.

"To be clear, the issues being discussed concern the ventilation system for an onsite facility, not the health or safety of the public.Specializes in rapid Injection mold and molding of parts for prototypes and production."

Robot dinosaurs are the future of paleontology

Since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, there's only so much we can really know about how these creatures moved and lived. But as two scientists explain to us, building robot dinosaurs could unlock the secrets hidden in fossils.

This almost unspeakably awesome idea comes out of Drexel University. Paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara and mechanical engineer Dr. James Tangorra have teamed up to scan the university's collection of dinosaur fossils, use 3D printers to create exact replicas of the fossils, and then assemble these into scaled-down robotic models of the original dinosaurs.

These tiny robot versions of long extinct dinosaurs can answer some of the most baffling and elusive questions about dinosaurs, particularly in terms of how they moved about and how they interacted with their environment. Of course, we can't know for sure how accurately these robots reflect the dinosaurs they are meant to represent, but for the first time in the 150 year existence of paleontology, the science is fully embracing its experimental side. Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mold Is Your Best Choice!

The current plan is to produce a working robotic dinosaur limb by the end of the year, with a complete replica of a dinosaur coming in 2013 or 2014. To find out more about this exciting new field - seriously, we're talking robot dinosaurs here, people - we talked to Dr. Lacovara and Dr. Tangorra to find out more about their research.

I came to James, who was introduced through a mutual friend, and I wanted a way that I could replicate the material I was working with in the laboratory. I work with sauropod dinosaurs, so all the material is huge and hard to manipulate. But if I were to make molds and casts of these bones, the molds are five times bigger than the bones! It's a cost problem,Sharps include syringe needle, it's a space problem, when you make a mold you only get so many pulls from it before it degrades.

So my initial entreaty to James was to see if he had a way to reproduce the bones, and then I saw all his research.Online fine art gallery of quality original landscape oil paintings,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. Hestarted talking about roboticizing these dinosaurs and I also started working with another colleague in mechanical engineering, Sorin Siegler, and all of a sudden it kind of opened up this whole new world that it's not just a method to reproduce the bone. It's a way to let the bones tell us how they worked.

Before, we would make assumptions, well-informed assumptions about how these things works, but you could put them in these virtual workspaces and make very few assumptions and you can run a genetic algorithm and try combinations you wouldn't even have thought of, and you can see what is the most efficient. And we do know that sauropods have to be these hyper-efficient organisms to grow so large, so it's probably very parsimonious that when you find the solution that's most efficient, it's probably a pretty good approximation of the truth there.

You can't. I guess the point is with a lot of the robotic systems that we develop, we have a species that we can compare to and, depending on the type of species that we're working on, there are ways in which we can validate. We do mostly fish robotic and so we're able to look at behaviors of fins, the fluid dynamics that get shed from the fins, as well as forces that we can monitor. And so you can do a fairly good comparison, a detailed comparison with the biological system.

But that's sort of the point with the dinosaur. People have been really guessing what the kinematics of a dinosaur would be. Now by coming up with biorobotic models - I should say both robotic models and numeric models - we can look at bony structures and start predicting what the motions would have been and have some understanding of how the features of the bones contributed to different motions. So rather than just looking at it and saying, "This is what must have occurred,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air." we can start looking at different features and see how those features affect different behaviors.

Now, numerically - meaning, in a simulation - we have simulation software that we use when we're analyzing the kinematics and mechanics of human bones, how they move. And we can affect different properties and see the end result. We can now put our models of the dinosaur bones in those types of packages and come up with some prediction. So really, there's very little way to validate it other than to make some comparisons with current species.

2012 Monaco Diplomat 43DFT Walk Through

The mating of Navistar’s more than 100 years of heavy transportation experience with Monaco’s 40-plus years of luxury RV design has resulted in an exciting lineup of innovative motorhomes. At first glance, you might not recognize the elegant new Diplomat because of its significant facelift inside and out, but rest assured that the luxury and high-end appointments in this bath-and-a-half tag axle have only been enhanced.

The exterior’s all-new front and rear chevron grilles in fiberglass wraparound caps (now equipped with LED lighting),Online fine art gallery of quality original landscape oil paintings, improve body seam weather resistance — it also suggests a growing familial likeness to Monaco’s sporty Vesta.

The entry door has been moved forward, closer to the A-pillar, creating improved access past the redesigned cockpit. Here the Navistar influence is prominent with an updated automotive-style dash with hooded instrument cluster capped with a glare-reducing dark dash pad. The multifunction steering wheel not only controls the expected cruise and music functions but includes a three-stage engine brake at your fingertips. Maybe more importantly, the wheel is now connected to a redesigned steering column, no longer straddled by the driver’s legs.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air.

Full-power Ultraleather seats afford a clear view of the Driver Information Screen that provides continuous status of the Diplomat’s torquey MaxxForce 10 turbodiesel engine, the Allison 3000MH six-speed push-button transmission, trip and distance features, and a host of monitored operating parameters.

Atop the handsome Oxford Burl instrument panel is the dock for the optional ($614) 7-inch GPS/Bluetooth unit for full-featured navigation and hands-free connectivity.Listing of Taiwan & China Mold Maker manufacturer & suppliers.

Polished 12-by-24-inch porcelain tile leads you from the cockpit into the most unexpected and surprising feature in the Diplomat’s lineup. This plan places the free-standing dinette and sofa bed, or the optional ($3,671) sectional sofa bed/dinette ensemble, in the curbside slide offering the rare opportunity to dine while overlooking your own campsite and not your neighbor’s. The entire galley, including the 12-cubic-foot two-way refrigerator, optional ($2,352) washer and dryer combo, the 68-inch sofa and the bedroom dresser and overhead cabinet module are all contained within the 28-foot-long, full-wall, streetside slide creating a wonderfully open floorplan well suited for entertaining.

Handsome Italian Sienna mid-tone hardwood cabinets surround the cabin and galley. The intricate and striking basketweave trim on the cabinets is accented by the galley’s Corian backsplash and countertops. A useful pullout countertop extension next to the dual-basin sink adds to the galley’s utility when deployed and helps define the cabin’s seating area.

The wall-mounted 40-inch LCD TV with surround sound and media storage above and below can be comfortably viewed from anywhere in the elegant cabin. The TV shares a common wall with the half bath, which separates the cabin from the master suite. A countertop integrated sink, storage vanity and porcelain commode complete the half bath eliminating family or guest’s late-night trips through the occupied bedroom to reach the rear master bath.

The Diplomat comes standard with a queen-size platform bed in the curbside slide, but was wisely designed to accommodate the preferable and optional ($1,470) Select Comfort platform king. Yet, there’s still room for the matching eyeglass nightstands,Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, hidden book storage and 120-volt AC outlets. Add a 26-inch LCD TV mounted between the dresser and overhead cabinet module, which is part of the full-wall streetside slide, and the suite is complete.

Above the bed is a ceiling fan that will come in handy when the ducted, triple 15,000-Btu roof air-conditioning units or the silent Aqua-Hot heating systems aren’t needed. Leaving the family pet behind is no problem using the coach’s auto-start feature on the 10-kW AC generator to accommodate the owner-set climate controls.

For boondockers, the Diplomat comes prewired for solar panels and a controller.

The step-up rear bath has become a popular feature in full-time coaches and the Diplomat doesn’t disappoint. Highlights here include his-and-hers countertop-integrated sinks with brushed-nickel fixtures, matched medicine cabinets and additional drawer storage. A full-width, rear-wall mirrored wardrobe offers nearly 6 feet of clothes rod with 20 inches of additional adjustable or removable shelving at one end of the closet if more hanging space is needed.All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats,

Equipping race-car drivers for success

CONCORD When Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. communicate with their crew chiefs and spotters at the Daytona 500 next Sunday, they can thank Sue Carver, Donna Woods and dozens of other workers at Racing Electronics on Derita Road.

The company equips about 80 percent of professional racers with custom ear molds, microphone-equipped headsets and the wiring needed to talk with their teams. They include drivers and crew in NASCAR, IndyCar, the National Hot Road Association and other circuits.

Racing Electronics has become a worldwide leader in providing radio communications products to the motorsports industry since owner Bruce Silver started making on-track communications devices as a hobby in 1988 in his New Jersey condo.

He moved the company to Concord in 2005 and now employs about 70 workers here. The company has developed high-quality scanners and headphones for race fans and advanced technologies for radio wiring and two-way radio equipment for motorsports teams.

Last year, Racing Electronics also became one of the first companies in the state to hire and train several unemployed workers through the N.C.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. Division of Employment Security's Opportunity North Carolina job creation program

The company was named Small Business of the Year by the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce in January. The N.C.Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, Motorsports Association honored the company last month with a motorsports industry award.

Silver got the idea for his products after being invited to a race in New Jersey.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, He realized fans would have a tbetter time at the track if they could tune into conversations between drivers and crew chiefs.

Silver went to an electronics store, bought a headset and radio, put speakers in the headset and gathered the scanner frequencies of drivers, said Kevin Hughes, director of motorsports communications services at Racing Electronics.

The company grew to manufacture and sell equipment to fans and top motorsports teams such as Huntersville-based Joe Gibbs Racing,Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile. Cornelius-based Michael Waltrip Racing and Mooresville-based Penske Racing South.

On a Feb. 9 tour, Hughes showed me the custom ear mold that Racing Electronics workers made for Patrick, a former IndyCar star who's starting her first full season in NASCAR this year. Workers planned to deliver the earpiece and other communications equipment to Patrick and other drivers at Daytona International Speedway this weekend.

Fans buy the company's headphones and scanners at Charlotte Motor Speedway and other tracks to tune into drivers' conversations during a race.

Hughes said the company has made a big push to bring work in-house from overseas and other areas of the country in recent years.

The company opened an in-house lab about two years ago where Lindsay Borkowski, Joey Palubiak and other technicians make custom ear molds for drivers. The lab had been on the West Coast, Hughes said. The company bought a used injection mold machine, and N.C.Sharps include syringe needle,-based vendors make the company's dyes, he said.

In another part of the company's building at 840 Derita Road, Woods, 41, of Kannapolis soldered microphones for headsets. Carver, 60, of Kannapolis built custom in-car wiring harnesses that connect a driver to a radio and the push-to-talk button on the steering wheel.

Moving work in-house not only led to better quality control, Hughes said, "it's good for our local economy, and it's creating jobs here."

Architect designs modern, green home

Rome architect Mark Cochran has made a name for himself through several projects involving restoration or rehabilitation of historic buildings in Rome.

This year,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. Cochran is taking a whole new tack, merging green living and modern design into a home that is being constructed as a LEED certified home, the first in Floyd County and perhaps the first in Northwest Georgia.

As an architect who has done several historic preservation projects, and is a member of Rome’s Historic Preservation Commission, Cochran said the best way to do preservation is to make sure that what you build will last.

“If we can build a building that is going to last for 120 years, we don’t’ have to tear one down every 20 years and build it back,” said Cochran, of Cochran Design Collaborative. “That saves resources, man-hours and things that could be put to better use.”

LEED construction must meet a strict point-based certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, which accounts for how well a structure performs as an environmentally friendly project.

In Rome, the ECO River Education Center at Ridge Ferry Park, new dormitories at Berry College, the Darlington Middle School campus and a public housing development, the Village Green off Division Street, have all been constructed to LEED standards in recent years.

All but the Village Green have received their formal certification as LEED buildings.

Certification of a home is significantly different than a commercial building.

LEED has come up with the average home size for a particular amount of bedrooms. The average for a three-bedroom home is approximately 1,950 square feet.

The home Cochran is building is 1,600 square feet. “They’re trying to encourage people to get away from the McMansions that three people, two people live in a 5,000 square foot house and much of it winds up as wasted space,” Cochran said. “

The home, being constructed in Armuchee’s Battle Farm subdivision, is expected to use half as much energy as a regular home. At the same time, the design should dispel the notion that sustainably constructed buildings have to have some sort of art high-tech look.Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET,

Cochran said only 30 single-family residences across the state of Georgia have received LEED certification.

LEED points are awarded for a plethora of items.

You get points if you’re located within a half mile of a park, making sure you don’t build on prime farm land, making sure you’re within walking distances of banks, arts and entertainment centers, libraries, medical or dental offices.

“Living out in Armuchee, being within a quarter mile of six of those things is not going to happen,” Cochran said.

He plans to pile up the points in other areas, such as managing storm water runoff, use of drought tolerant plants in the landscaping, using a drip irrigation system as opposed to the traditional sprinkler-type system.

Low-flush toilets and high efficiency fixtures at lavatories and sinks will also net Cochran points.

In the energy and atmosphere category, you get points for using high value insulation like the spray foam style he’s using in the new home. Points are added for using high efficiency windows and making sure ductwork associated with the HVAC system doesn’t leak.

“The spray foam insulation I’m using in the house gives me an equivalent of R-40 in the walls and R-60 in the ceiling,” Cochran said. “I only need a three-quarter ton unit downstairs and a three-quarter ton unit upstairs so I only need one and a half tons for the whole house.”

The home will include bamboo flooring, a green alternative to traditional hardwood. Bamboo is considered a renewable resource because it grows quickly.

Points toward LEED certification are also awarded for using specific Energy Star lighting. Cochran will have about 40 light fixtures in the house and all but two will be Energy Star. He estimates that one watt of light bulb power costs $0.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,25 a year.

The ceiling fan in the condo where Cochran now lives has six 60-watt bulbs in it, which he estimated costs about $90 a year to run. The ceiling fan that is going in the new home uses a 25-watt LED bulb. That will cost a little more than $6 a year.

That brings up the whole cost issue.Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, Cochran said having a home built to LEED standards adds at least 5 percent to the total cost up front. “I expect the ROI on that to be about five or six years,” Cochran said.

The new house will also feature a lot of natural lighting. “Every single room in the whole house, with the exception of one bathroom, has natural light in it. The windows are large enough, and we have skylights as well.”

The house does not include solar panels. “Solar is way too cost-prohibitive,” Coch-ran said. “That still wouldn’t take it off the grid.”

Cochran points out that it’s more cost-effective now to build a new home to LEED standards than it would be to convert an older home, unless the homeowner is willing to gut their entire home.

Rome-based Brooks Building Group, Inc is undertaking construction.Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile. Owner Jeff Brooks said the residence is his first effort at a LEED project. “It’s a little different from normal,” Brooks said. “We don’t know that much about it, so we’re depending on Mark to guide us through it.”

FirstHealth Moore hospital gets upgrade to emergency services

A $1 million makeover to the part of the Emergency Department at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital has officials there hoping to improve the speed and quality of patient care.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,

Key to the changes is a new 16-room observation unit, which opened last month as part of the hospital's effort to offset a rising number of Emergency Department visits.Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising,

Last year,Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, about 67,000 patients visited the Emergency Department at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, a number that is on the rise.

The new area allows patients who need extended observation to receive a bed and appropriate accommodations without taking up a valuable Emergency Department bed. The observation rooms went into use Jan. 23.

"With a dedicated unit like this one, we can improve our efficiency and hopefully decrease the amount of time patients need to spend in the hospital," said Dr. Dan Barnes, medical director for the FirstHealth Hospitalist Service.

Moore County's only hospital isn't the only one in the Cape Fear Region to reshuffle its Emergency Department because of rising patient numbers. Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mold Is Your Best Choice!

Last year, the Emergency Department at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center relocated its children's Emergency Department to expand its overflowing adult unit.

Between 2007 and 2011, the Cape Fear Valley Emergency Department saw a 28 percent increase in patient volume. Roughly 130,000 patients were seen there last year.

"It's probably one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country," said Cape Fear Valley spokesman Vince Benbenek.

"We always have to answer a lot of questions about our Emergency Department. If we could find a way to make it better, we would. The issue is always that when we make what we consider to be considerable changes to increase (efficiency),Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. the volume just fills right up again."

In Moore County, crews gutted what had been the hospital's cardiac catheterization lab to create the observation unit. (The lab was moved to the Reid Heart Center.Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile.)

The observation area is a square room, with patient rooms along the outside and a central nurses' station in the middle. Ten nurses were hired to staff the observation rooms.

The unit is best suited for patients who come to the Emergency Department complaining of chest pain, Barnes said. These patients often have a normal EKG and stable vital signs, so they don't need to be admitted to the hospital but aren't well enough to be sent home.

These cardiac patients can be monitored closely in the observation unit. Other candidates for the unit include patients with kidney stones, dehydration or mild trauma.

Barnes said a typical stay in the unit is about 24 hours. Patients can then be admitted to the hospital or sent home.

Running afowl of city ordinance?

On Thursday, Ellen Anthony collected the eggs laid by six of her hens.

Anthony has kept hens - there are now 14 in all and no roosters - in her backyard in a 20-by-20-foot enclosure that includes a small wooden coop for the past 18 years. She's never had a complaint from a neighbor or the city. In fact, a neighbor two doors down keeps chickens as well.

But according to City Planner Harry Smith, keeping chickens is prohibited in New London.

"If it's not expressly provided for in the regulations, then it is prohibited," Smith said Thursday. "It's not provided for in the regulations."

On Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed a letter from Chelsea Ketner of Riverview Avenue, who expressed interest in keeping poultry but wants city approval before going forward.

She's not the only one. Christopher Droesch sent an email Tuesday to The Day to say he had begun collecting materials to keep chickens in the backyard of his New London home only to be rebuffed by someone in the city's Planning, Zoning and Wetlands Department. He attended Thursday's meeting.

Ketner did not attend the meeting,Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, but commission Chairman Mark Christensen addressed her letter, which expressed confusion about the regulations and asked for a "definitive answer."

Christensen said the regulations prohibit the keeping of chickens in New London.

"If an individual is interested, they can apply for a regulation amendment and they can show why (the amendment) is consistent with other communities," he said. "We'll always look at an application and we have a right to say whether it meets the criteria."

Droesch said he had relied on section 4-3 of the city ordinance that states no person may keep chickens "in a manner to be injurious to health, create a menace, or offensive to the public."

When he went to get permits to build a coop, a zoning official directed him to section 410.4, subsection 6, of the zoning regulations: "Keeping of not more than three household pets over six months old; the commercial breeding or boarding of pets is prohibited."

Smith said at the meeting that "the commission determined previously that a chicken is not a household pet and therefore they are prohibited."

That's news to Anthony, who also cited the city's ordinance as her legal right to keep poultry.

On Thursday, Anthony's feathered friends didn't create a menace or appear to be offensive to the public. Quite the opposite: they clucked quietly as she approached.Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile. A neighbor, outside for some air,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. waved when she saw Anthony heading for the coop.

The chickens get a little skittish when Anthony enters the enclosure, but they lay white, brown and even green eggs - enough to provide for Anthony's family and some neighbors and friends.

"When it gets the right level of darkness, they put themselves to sleep," she said.Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, "They don't need a heater in the winter; they just snuggle up close. The real hard part is getting a good house for them."

Her coop is rudimentary but includes laying boxes and rows of wooden dowels over 5-gallon plastic buckets. The chickens sit on the dowels at night and defecate into the buckets, she said, making cleaning easy.

Outside the coop, but within the fence, the ground is bare, picked over by the chickens. But Anthony stirs up the soil so the birds can eat worms and insects in addition to the 50 pounds of feed they eat every three weeks. She changes the water daily and comes out in the morning and at night to check on them, clean up and collect eggs.

Anthony tells of other neighbors who have brought scraps and created a "feeding frenzy" for the birds.

The chickens do have predators, she said, mostly raccoons, which she tries to keep out with the fenced-in enclosure that has a roof. Two or three years ago, she said, a raccoon got into the coop and "massacred" the chickens. One got away and ran into a neighbor's yard, where a Rottweiler roamed. Bird and 100-pound dog sized each other up, Anthony said, before they became friends of sorts. They kept watch of each other in the yard for about six months, she said, until one fateful day when the Rottweiler turned his back and a raccoon killed the chicken.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,

But the deaths haven't deterred Anthony, who said she's kept chickens for about 22 years. It's an easy way to have good, fresh food in a sustainable manner, she said.

"I like having homegrown eggs, and it makes me go outdoors every day," Anthony said. "I know the weather, the phase of the moon, and I have to take care of the chickens."

Sharpe paints in aid of Mawson's huts

WENDY SHARPE has won the Archibald, Sulman and Portia Geach art prizes and been exhibited around Australia and beyond. But never before has her work been displayed thousands of metres deep in Antarctic waters.

The Sydneysider has just returned from a six-week trip as the invited artist aboard Australia's flagship Antarctic ship, Aurora Australis, on a mission to help what has been called the birthplace of the country's Antarctic heritage.

During the trip, research scientists on board had her draw on a styrofoam Esky the size of a six-pack before they sent it almost five kilometres down in the ocean with scientific equipment. Her work returned crushed smaller than a coffee cup. Just Choose PTMS Injection Molding Is Your Best Choice!

''It's incredible,'' Sharpe said. ''Nothing brings [the underwater pressure] home to you better than that.''

That piece, and scores of her other artworks, are to be exhibited in Sydney mid-year and made into a book. The proceeds will go to the conservation of Mawson's huts,External Hemroids are those that occur below the dentate line. Antarctic shelters built by the Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson and his team 100 years ago and now among only a handful of remaining sites from what is called the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.

Sharpe said she made ''piles and piles'' of paintings and drawings during the centenary trip on themes inspired by the huts, shipmates, inquisitive penguins, the sky and the auroras. She also made visual diaries of daily life aboard the 95-metre vessel.Specializes in rapid Injection mold and molding of parts for prototypes and production.

''I was painting all the time,'' she said. She often did this sitting because the ship was too rocky for standing. ''They have occy straps to hold everything down so it doesn't fall all over the place.''

The dramatic landscape of ''endless white going on and on forever'' and the vast isolation of Mawson's huts were among Sharpe's overriding impressions in a location that was ''like being on another planet''. The huts are almost 2000 kilometres from the nearest base.

The not-for-profit Mawson's Huts Foundation invited and funded Sharpe's trip as guest artist aboard the ship, which steamed from Hobart to Antarctica and back to Fremantle. The foundation has made 10 trips to carry out restoration work on the huts in 15 years. It can do this for just two months a year when there is a lull in winds that can reach 360 km/h.

'Stupidest' criminal jailed over raid

A man described by a judge as one of the “stupidest” criminals to ever come before the courts has been jailed for a botched armed robbery in Dublin.Buying solar panel and want the Best Price?

Gary Byrne (30) left the scene of the robbery - the Bullion Room, a gold storage business on Bolton Street - with the keys to the safe, locking the shutters behind him.

His two accomplices - Ian Jordan (33) and Aidan Murphy (32) - were left trapped inside with two staff members who had been bound and gagged during the raid. Just Choose PTMS Injection Molding Is Your Best Choice!

They tried unsuccessfully to escape through the ceiling tiles and to knock a hole in a wall using hammers. Fire crews eventually had to cut a hole in the shutter to free those inside.

Byrne, of Edenmore Crescent, Raheny was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last month following an eight day trial.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison after he was found guilty of attempted robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and two counts of false imprisonment at the Bullion Room, Bolton Street,Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website! Dublin on August 10th, 2010. Byrne had denied all the charges.

Jordan of Belclare Grove, Ballymun and Murphy of Stag Park Avenue, Mitchelstown, Cork were each jailed for five years by Judge Martin Nolan earlier this year after they pleaded guilty to the same offences.

Judge Donagh McDonagh described it as “one of the most farcical cases in recent criminal history in Dublin” and said Byrne “ranks amongst the all-time stupidest criminals to come before the courts”.

He said he would give him the “benefit of his stupidity” and suspended the final two years of the sentence after acknowledging that Byrne, with his one previous conviction for assault, was “not a hardened criminal”.

“It was a well researched but indifferently planned operation. They knew the business owner’s schedule well and raided her premises at the most vulnerable time,” Judge McDonagh said.

He said he wholeheartedly agreed with the jury’s verdict and praised the “excellent work” of the gardaí and “excellent intervention” of a passer-by who realised a robbery was taking place and alerted the gardaí.

“It would be easy to consider this whole episode a farce if it were not for the fact that two innocent people were treated in this manner. As far as they were concerned, this was the real thing,” Judge McDonagh said in reference to the fact that the raiders had an imitation firearm.

“One thing is for sure his (Byrne’s) ineptitude and stupidity does not, in any way, reduce his culpability,” the judge said.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties,Find out the facts about Cold Sore,

He commented that for “some unknown reason” Byrne left the premises and locked the shutters behind him,Find everything you need to know about kidney stone including causes, leaving his accomplices “to emerge with their hands up and surrendering themselves to gardaí” after being rescued by the fire brigade.

Det Gda Brian Quirke told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that Byrne was effectively the getaway driver in the raid and he left Bolton Street in the blue Ford Courier van the gang had earlier arrived in.

He later abandoned the van and dumped the hard hat, high visibility jacket and purple gloves he had been wearing in a bush.

Byrne was arrested following extensive analysis of CCTV footage. His fingerprints were later found on the hard hat and he was also captured on CCTV cameras buying that hat on the morning of the robbery.

Gda Quirke said the Bullion Room has since closed down. He said the company had traded in precious metals and was not open to the general public. It usually had up to €50,000 in cash on the premises and gold to the value of €400,000 to €500,000.

The trial had heard the Bullion Room had an elaborate security system. It took two people with separate keys to open the safe and a password had to be phoned through to a security company before the vault would open.

On the morning of the incident, a female member of staff and a security guard were opening the shutters on the outside of the store. The three raiders, all dressed as builders, came up behind them and forced them inside at gunpoint.

Murphy pointed the gun at the woman and demanded one of the keys. He then threatened her and made her phone in the password.

They then tied up both staff with cable ties and put duct tape on their mouths. Murphy could not find the other key required to open the safe because Byrne had already fled, taking the keys and locking the shutters behind him.

When Murphy and Jordan realised they were locked in and could not access the safe they started “frantically searching for a way out".

They tried to escape through the ceiling tiles and to knock a hole in a wall using hammers, all to no avail. Gardaí had been alerted by then and the raiders could hear their radios through the shutters.

The fire brigade were called and had to cut a hole in the shutter to free those inside where the men were arrested. The female member of staff pointed out to gardaí where they had hidden the gun in the ceiling tiles. It was found to be an imitation.

Telling stories

Telling stories,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, touching lives

Blackberry shayar or Pied Piper of radio… .call him by whatever name, Neelesh Misra remains the man who understands the pulse of India. The master story teller, who has enthralled millions with his unique radio programme Yaad Shehr, has earned for himself a permanent place in the memoryscape of his listeners that cut across all age groups. Yet the man who has reinvented the whole tradition of story telling credits the stupendous success of his programme to his listeners, the social media and above all to what it does to people.

In Chandigarh for the Festival of Letters organised by Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi, he says, “When I started out I had no idea how the concept would go as we had no reference points.” Yet the programme that touched a nerve people didn’t even know existed, got 5.5 million responses on the Facebook itself within three months that too mainly from listeners aged between 13 to 24 years. He quips, “There goes the presumptuous assumption that the youth of today are only interested in the frivolous.” As he has been travelling the length and breadth of India, he has realised the youth of today see the world through a different prism. And it’s this modern India that is changing fast, where seven out of 10 Indians have left home, where many of them feel the pinch of loneliness that is his subject. Indeed, most of what he tells he has experienced, heard or observed. “To be a good writer you need to be a good listener and observer,” he believes.

Being a journalist has helped too, more so to think and write visually. Besides he deems, “As journalists we are privy to a world which others don’t have access to.” So what prompted him to take a hiatus from active journalism? He replies,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, “For over a decade I was an outsider in Bollywood, writing songs from my Blackberry from distant destinations. Today I am one in journalism.” Looking “in” at the world, he asserts, is a far better vantage point. And right now sharing his perspective are budding writers who meet at his home in Mumbai every Monday. He felt the need for this Monday Mandali for, “In India there is no mentoring in creative arts.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker,” And the first and the foremost rule he expects the young aspiring writers he is training to follow is, “We are socially conscious commentators. We will not ridicule anyone nor discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion. Our stories must have a message.”

So how does he reconcile the meaningful purpose of his role as a raconteur with his foray in Bollywood? And the lyricist of over 30 films who has just penned a Mujra song, is ready to write for Jism 2 and has written scripts too. He explains his presence in Bollywood thus, “In the commerce driven world of cinema I try to write concept based songs.” So even in a Mujra song for Agent Vinod there is a thought not just inane tukbandi. Is writing songs, as he has often proclaimed,Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of his first love? He says, “I always wanted to do many things. But be it journalism, song writing or turning dead research into books I am compelled to tell stories.” Even when he goes to deliver a talk on his book The Absent State he turns it around into a story telling session. His biggest grudge against journalism today is, “The moment the narrative begins to tell stories, we relegate it to the category of features.”

No wonder, he feels that as journalists we fail to touch people’s lives. How he affects people is evident from not only the way fans swarm him but also how in a small town in India an old woman on her death bed has begin to include him as part of the family in her morning prayers. Misty eyed he questions, “What can be more humbling than this?” So as he is all set for the new season of his radio show, it’s this love that scares him. Perhaps like Bajrang Bali, he needs a Jamwan to remind him of his strengths. Or may be not.

For the millions that tune into his programme, whom he understands better than they know themselves, are his biggest strength.The magic cube is an ultra-portable, As he lends voice to their aspirations, dreams and dilemmas, he becomes them and they his USP.

The Aromatic Plug-In Air Fresheners

An air freshener is a product designed to mask or remove unpleasant room ordors. These products typically deliver fragrance and other odor counteractants into the air.

Fragrance compounds have been used since antiquity to freshen air and mask odors, For example, the ancient Egyptians were known to use musks and other natural materials to scent their tombs. Over the last 2,000 years a variety of compounds, including numerous spices and floral extracts, have been used for their ability to impart a pleasant aroma. However, it was not until 1948 that the first modern air freshener was introduced. This product, using technology developed by the military to dispense insecticides, was a pressurized spray containing about 1% perfume, 24% alcohol or other solvents, and 75% chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellant. This was able to deliver a fine mist of fragrance that remained suspended in the air for a long period of time.

Today as the popularity of these scented air fresheners are on the rise, allergists are hearing more complaints about reactions to these toxic scented products.

Dr. Stanley Fineman is the president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACCAI). ” I’ve seen patients who say, ‘I go into somebody’s house who has one of these air fresheners and I just can’t stay there. I have increasing nasal symptoms, sneezing and coughing.’ There is no allergy skin test for air fresheners, but people can definitely have a physiologic response to it.”

“About 20 percent of the population and 34 percent of people with asthma report health problems from air fresheners. We know air freshener fragrance can trigger allergy symptoms, aggravate existing allergies and worsen asthma.”

Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) commonly found in air fresheners include: formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, limonene,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, esters and alcohols. Fineman says a study of plug-in deodorizers found more than 20 different VOC’s with more than one third of those classified as toxic or hazardous.

Fineman says consumers should be particularly concerned if someone in the household has respiratory issues. He says studies show that even VOC exposure levels below currently accepted standards increase risks in asthma children.

High concentrations of VOC’s can trigger eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, and even memory impairment.

Despite all this, the home fragrance industry is expected to see continued growth, reaching $8.3 billion in global sales by 2015, so, why the fondness for air fresheners?

The new trend is manufacturers are marketing products to be aromatherapy which implies health and mood boosting benefits although there are no scientific studies to support these claims.

Dr. Stanley Fineman wasn’t the first to warn us about these dangerous chemicals in air fresheners. A study in 2010 led by the University of Washington discovered that 2 commonly used scented products (like laundry detergent and air fresheners) emit and average of 17 chemicals each. Of the 133 different chemicals detected nearly a quarter are classified as toxic or hazardous under at least one federal law.

Only one emitted compound was listed on a product label, and only two were publicly disclosed anywhere. Even so-called “Green” products were not “safe.”

Gretchen Schaefer, vice president of communications for the Consumer Specialty Products Association, an industry group, said that VOCs aren’t necessarily harmful.

“Anything that emits a scent — flowers or the scent of pine if you walk through a forest or your Christmas tree– is emitting a VOC,” she said.

In the United States, air fresheners are subject to the Toxic Substance Control Act and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, which requires that manufacturers inform consumers of risks and ingredients that could contribute to that risk. But some expects say the requirements aren’t stringent enough.

“The Federal hazardous Substance Act requires that the manufacturer put the proper–use information on the label,”Schaefer said.”These products are safe if you use them according to the label instructions.”

If you are still adamant about purchasing plug -in air fresheners use caution. Read the labels to ensure the product does not contain harmful chemicals. Ventilate the room as much as possible.Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of Be extra sensitive to the amount of air fresheners you are using around small children.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) suggests that you first try to reduce bad home odors by attacking the source, rather than masking the problem. Identify and remove bad odors. Keep windows open as much as possible.The magic cube is an ultra-portable, If troubling odors persist,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker, invest in an air purifier with activated carbon filtration.

Air fresheners need not be synthetic to produce an appealing and pleasant scent. Try adding orange, lemon or lavender essential oils to cotton balls and place throughout the house. You can also simmer spices like cinnamon and cloves in a small saucepan on the stove. These tips will leave your home smelling fresh and give you peace of mind that no harmful pollutants are being ingested.

Oil change ends in flames

What started as a routine oil change ended with Yonas Bekele's 1993 Lexus bursting into flames at a local Jiffy Lube.

Now, he said, the car is too dangerous to drive unless he spends over $8,500 to make needed repairs -- leaving Bekele without a car to get from Plymouth to his classes at the University of Minnesota.

"I'm exhausted and mad," he said. "I'm having a hard time paying rent. I can't afford another payment."

After the fire broke out during the service, Jiffy Lube replaced some damaged components on Bekele's Lexus. But a spokesman for Heartland Automotive Services, Jiffy Lube's parent company in Texas, said Bekele's request for additional repairs reflected "unreasonable expectations for his older vehicle." The company said, however, that it will follow up to investigate his concerns.

Bekele, 31, is an Ethiopian native who lives in Plymouth and commutes to Minneapolis, where he studies construction management and civil engineering full time at the U. Five years ago, he bought a used Lexus ES 300, which he usually takes to the Jiffy Lube on Campus Drive in Plymouth.

On Jan.Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of 23, Bekele took the Lexus in for an oil change. He was told by an employee that the fuel filter was dirty and needed to be changed. He took a seat in the waiting room and looked up at a TV monitor, which showed mechanics working in the garage.

"Suddenly I saw a fire through the monitor," Bekele recalled. "I looked around and my car is on fire."

As flames shot out of the engine bay,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, Bekele said mechanics scrambled to find a fire extinguisher and open the garage doors to let out the smoke.

A Jiffy Lube worker said that pieces weren't properly put back after the fuel filter replacement, Bekele said, causing gas to leak out and catch fire once the engine was turned on. However, Heartland Automotive Services spokesman Rob Rajkowski said the cause of the "small fire" is "unclear."

The mechanics apologized to him, Bekele said, and Jiffy Lube paid for a rental car for him to drive for three days as they repaired the car. According to invoices, they fixed the cap, ignition rotor and plug wires. Bekele wasn't convinced all the damage was repaired, so he paid to tow his car to Lexus of Wayzata.Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists.

There, mechanics found fire damage to the main engine wiring harness, firewall insulator and airbox, according to the invoice. EThe EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,stimate for all of the repairs: $8,537.

Lexus of Wayzata general manager Robert Katz said that, given the car's age, "the value of it is probably less than the value to fix it."

Without the repairs, Bekele thinks the car isn't safe, so he hasn't driven it since. He has only liability insurance on the car, so he can't get help there. Bekele filed a complaint with Heartland Automotive Services, which is still pending.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality,

Rajkowski said the company will follow up with Bekele to try to resolve the issue. "We understood he was satisfied with this resolution and have not heard from him since that date [Jan. 31, when they returned his car], so we were surprised the matter resurfaced," Rajkowski said.

After Whistleblower sent Jiffy Lube a copy of the repair estimate from Lexus of Wayzata, Rajkowski described it as "new information" that will be added to "that investigation as we work toward a final resolution."

Bekele said he will file a small claims case against Jiffy Lube, asking for a maximum $7,500. Meantime, he's borrowing his sister's vehicle as he searches for an affordable replacement for his Lexus.

Testing pot in a legal vacuum

The tech broke the bud of marijuana into small flakes, measuring 200 milligrams into a vial. He had picked up the strain, Ghost, earlier that day from a dispensary in the Valley and guessed by its pungency and visible resin glands that it was potent.

He could have determined this the old-fashioned way, with a bong and a match. Instead, he began the meticulous process of preparing the sample for the high-pressure liquid chromatograph.

His lab, called The Werc Shop, tests medical cannabis for levels of the psychoactive ingredient known as THC and a few dozen other compounds, as well as for contaminants like molds, bacteria and pesticides that marijuana advocates don't much like to talk about.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, The strains that pass muster are labeled Certified Cannabaceuticals, a trademarked term.

The commercial lab is one of dozens opening in the last two years, as a rush to build an industry around medical marijuana has produced a desire — by some — to know what exactly is in the medicine.

The idea is that patients don't pop a Vicodin not knowing if the pill has 5 milligrams of hydrocodone or 15. Nor do people make drinks wondering if they are pouring beer or bourbon or Bacardi 151.

"Every pharmaceutical requires quality control and assurance, every diet supplement, every vitamin," said Jeff Raber, the Werc Shop founder and president, who has a PhD in chemistry from USC. "Why not treat this like medicine?"

Only some top-end dispensaries test their products, and even they can't be sure the results are reliable. Because all marijuana possession is illegal under federal law — and the Justice Department has been cracking down recently — the nascent labs are as unregulated and vulnerable to prosecution as dispensaries and growers. In Colorado, the one lab that tried to get a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration was promptly raided by that agency.

That very week, Los Angeles passed its marijuana ordinance, which required testing by "independent and certified" labs, without specifying who was supposed to do the certifying. Long Beach followed suit two months later.

Making the situation even woollier: There are no federal standards for pesticides in marijuana.

So, along with the rest of the industry, the businesses operate in a raucous frontier, with drug-lab cowboys pulling up to pot shops with secondhand equipment to offer "lab-tested" results.

The more prominent operations in California — including Steep Hill in Oakland, Halent in Sacramento and The Werc Shop in Los Angeles County — have recently formed the Assn. of California Cannabis Laboratories to set equipment standards and methodology and to give a seal of approval for those who comply. They also hope to advance the science of marijuana, deciphering which compounds do what in a plant that can produce a broad range of psychological and physiological effects.

Donald Land, a UC Davis chemistry professor who co-founded Halent, said labs have no choice but to regulate themselves.

"Labs are popping up in people's vans. People are doing color tests and all kinds of stuff that's not very accurate.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, And there's people doing plain-old 'dry-labbing' — they take a sample,Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of make a guess,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, put a number on it and send it out.

When Ean Seeb's prized strain Bio-Diesel won top prize in the Colorado Medical Marijuana Harvest Cup, he decided to see what the numbers were.

Seeb, co-owner of a dispensary called Denver Relief, took it to a nearby lab, which informed him that the THC accounted for 18% of the sample's weight, a solid showing. Then a marijuana review website took samples of the same strain to the same lab and got different results, with one coming in at a stratospheric 29%.

One was a mobile lab. A young woman showed up with a gas chromatograph in a yellow suitcase and a tank of helium gas. "She had Rainbow Brite make-up, a spiked belt and tight jeans," Seeb said.

Once she set up the equipment,Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists. a heavily tattooed man joined her and donned a white lab coat. He spent two hours having problems calibrating the machine, while dumping his used solvents down the toilet. Seeb asked him what he did with the part of the sample he didn't use in the test.

"I smoke it," the man replied.

Within a couple of days, the results from all five labs came back, and they were all over the chart. "The whole thing was a joke," Seeb said.

In California, the director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, with help from a leading cannabis researcher in the Netherlands, did a similar trial with 10 top labs in the state. The results for a "same homogenized cannabis material" ranged from 4.16% THC to 14.3%, although seven of the labs had closer results, between 8.4% and 12.5%."