Helping One Big Client, but Wanting to Spread Out

The Four Horsemen — Chris Dahlberg, H. Eric Mayse, Jim Preziosi and Eric Treadaway — met while working at McFarlane Toys, a maker of action figures. Wanting to create their own line, the four men left McFarlane in 1999 to start their own company.

But creating a toy line, getting it to market and making it profitable can take years. To be successful, action figures generally need a story supported by movies, TV shows or comic books. Rather than focus on creating content, Mr. Preziosi said, the men decided to build their reputations as designers.

At the time, Mattel was looking for an outside team with a distinctive design sense. The Four Horsemen pitched the idea of bringing back the Mattel characters He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which had been highly successful in the 1980s. Mattel liked the idea and offered the team a contract. “There was a financial guarantee,” for a year, Mr. Treadaway said. “It allowed each of us a salary.”

From their new workshop in Bloomingdale,InLocality specializes in indoor Tracking Technologies. N.J., the team began designing the toys, then sending the molds to Mattel, which handled manufacturing and sales. The workload was modest in the beginning, about 20 toys a year, Mr. Treadaway said. But as their relationship with Mattel grew and their contract was extended, the Four Horsemen picked up other assignments.Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile.

The Mattel work kept them busy, but their intent had been to design their own toys. And yet, without content or a story line, it would be hard for Four Horsemen to establish its own product line.MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, Still focused on Mattel, they tried their first independent effort in 2004, a line they called Magma Corps. They produced 1,000 figures, selling them for $20 apiece to collectors at comic conventions and on the company’s e-commerce Web site. But interest was slow to build, and they were able to sell only a few hundred figures.

For their second effort, they posted sketches of a fantasy line called 7th Kingdom on their Web site and let fans decide which figures and accessories would be made. The first figure produced was given a limited run of 1,000 and sold for $20 apiece. Mr. Treadaway said the plan was to keep the price as low as possible. “As long as we were breaking even on it, we’re pretty happy about it,” he said. “It’s an investment.”

When the second 7th Kingdom figure was ready for production, it was offered for presale over the Internet, and all 1,000 sold out in a few days. But production hit a snag. To manufacture their lines, they had used their industry connections to find small factories in China that could produce the toys quickly and cheaply, a plan that backfired when one of the factories closed before production had finished.

“We paid for production, and it was half-done,” Mr. Mayse said.

The company lost money, but its contacts in China were able to retrieve some molds used in production, and the Horsemen sent the molds to another factory to finish the run. “The fans were great,” Mr. Mayse said. “They stood by for a year and a half,Can't afford a third party merchant account right now? waiting patiently for their figures.”

The Horsemen were eager to produce more,A Injection Molding Moulding company, and teamed up with online retailers to sell limited-edition variations of the 7th Kingdom figure to help reduce production costs. When the figures were offered to fans, they quickly sold out.

The team tried the same concept with two more characters from the 7th Kingdom line and had the same success. The company’s annual revenue surpassed $500,000, and the men believed they were ready to expand. They had already hired two workers to help with molding and painting, and in 2009, they moved into a larger studio and hired a third employee.

They have also sought to focus on creating content to support their toy lines. In 2008, the men met with a production company, 4Kids Entertainment, about creating an animated television series, a process the four found daunting. They came close to signing a deal, but the financial crisis hit, and the deal fell apart.

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.

Kevin Smith Regales With Tales of "Rectal Adventures"

What's typically billed as a light, stream-of-consciousness rap between two old friends and colleagues strewn with pop culture references took a surprisingly strange focus Sunday night that made us want to leave early -- but it ended on an intimately somber tone that made us glad we didn't.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, It was Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier recording their weekly SModcast live at Cobb's Comedy Club.

For the first 15 or 20 minutes, the talk moved along at a clip so swift that you might miss the subject if you paused to dip into your nachos. And then, for the next hour or so, the man whose celebrated filmography includes titles such as Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and the recent Red State joined his buddy and longtime collaborator in fixating on their asses.

Smith was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland in 2010 because of his size, an incident that is not only outrageous, it has seemed to take more than a fair toll on his self-esteem. Even if it was just for schtick,Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of which it probably wasn't,FIRMAR is a Malaysia Injection Moulding Manufacturer and Plastic Injections Components Manufacturer, Smith made frequent jabs at his body that got increasingly more uncomfortable.

It got to be shocking how long the two lingered on topics such as enemas, hemorrhoids, and anal fissures, which Smith lumped together under the umbrella of "rectal adventures." Stories were punctuated with laughs here and there, but it was far from punchline-driven -- 20, 30, 40 minutes went by, but the two didn't veer from the rear.

With all the ass talk, we were fiddling with the handle of our purse and really considering cutting the night short. Finally, Smith changed the subject to talk about what he said was the most profound thing he's ever had to go through: caring for Scully, his ailing, 14-year-old dog.

It seems everyone except Smith has given up on Scully, who can no longer walk but still can wag a tail of happiness. After the vet told him that he should think about putting her to sleep because everyone has "things to do," Smith said he doesn't have more to do than write,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online, smoke pot, Tweet, and sleep.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, And he has taken on the messy and immersive challenge of helping Scully live out the remainder of her days as comfortably as possible.

We appreciated hearing about such a personal travail and feel all the more endeared to Smith that he told it. Though a sad note, it was a better one to close the night.

Sweep! Boston College Hockey Tops UNH In Overtime

It was another game that could have ended very badly, but at last,Smooth-On is your source for Mold Making and casting materials including silicone rubber and urethane rubber, BC managed to pull off a weekend sweep for the first time in months.

It's about time we got a few of these close games to go our way. To be fair, BC has been playing much better of late. We didn't play badly against Maine. We had some issues, but had a chance to win both games. We played rather well in both UNH games as well. In a way, the weekends were very similar -- except for the fact that we came out on top this time.

BC once again had Parker Milner in net. He definitely looked better than he did the night before. Let's chalk it up to not having seen the ice in weeks.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, To be fair, it's also pretty easy to fall asleep a bit when you only face 13 shots or so in a game. Tonight, with the open ice up at UNH's Olympic-sized sheet, UNH got off 33 shots and Milner stopped 31 one of them. Clearly, Milner had a better night. I still have a problem with his positioning (he's no Tim Thomas), and I'm still on the Billet Bandwagon, but I really cannot complain about Milner's game last night.

There was significant improvement in a few areas of concern this weekend. First, the team is doing much, much better getting the puck into the offensive zone. I've noticed a lot of lateral movement going across the line to open up some space for the trailers. It has worked very well. Second, where are all the odd-man rushes that have been killing us the last few months? I could be wrong but I don't think I recall a single clean breakaway or clear 2-on-1 on the entire weekend. This cannot be understated. Our defense has tightened down in general, but when you aren't allowing multiple high-percentage opportunities, that is a clear recipe for success.

Something needs to be said about Chris Kreider. The New York Rangers have to be absolutely salivating at the thought of him going pro, and if I ever have a single opportunity to watch him play for the Connecticut Whale in the AHL, I would be shocked.Overview description of rapid Tooling processes. It's like the dude finally just got sick of losing and said "eff all y'all, I got this." He scored again tonight and assisted on the game winner in overtime. But let's just forget about the goals... the man is playing like he's an NHL vet tooling around on the pond with some kids. At one point I think Gaudreau kept feeding him pucks on the point and he was teeing off like Chara in the skills competition. We need this -- someone to put the team on his back a la Gerbe in '08 to carry us deep into the tournament when we aren't running teams into the ground on a consistent basis.

College hockey is not only weak this year, but it is also incredibly tight. As I write this, BC is tied for 5th in the Pairwise Rankings behind first place. College hockey is extremely volatile, and through the entire year, it has seemed like no one has wanted to grab the bull by the horns and pull away. Any form of a win streak could very well vault BC right up to #1 overall.

Also worth noting - Hockey East currently boasts three teams in the top 5 and five teams in the top 11 of the Pairwise. What?? So much for it being a down year for Hockey East. As they sit, BU is 2nd (and primed for a collapse after losing another player long term, as Priviteta is out 6 weeks with, unfortunately, a broken wrist), UML is 3rd (spit-take), BC 5th,A Coated Abrasives is an abrasive grain bonded to a flexible substrate using adhesives. Merrimack 8th, and Maine 11th.

BC's next game is the Beanpot opener against a Northeastern team that, prior to curb-stomping Vermont twice this weekend, had lost 4 in a row. Northeastern always plays BC very tough so BC is going to need to continue the improvement to get the the Beanpot final.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development.

Crowley Acquires 500 New 40-Foot High-Cube Containers

Crowley Maritime Corporation's liner services group is continuing to grow and update its equipment fleet to better serve customers with the addition of 500 new 40-foot, high-cube containers. The acquisition adds to the company's already robust equipment fleet of more than 45,000 units, as well as phases out some older containers.

The new containers, which have a capacity of 2,700 cubic feet, will be used in all liner service operations in Latin America,A mold or molds is a hollowed-out block that is filled with a liquid like plastic, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.

"Our customers value having current,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here! reliable equipment of varying sizes when and where they need it,FIRMAR is a Malaysia Injection Moulding Manufacturer and Plastic Injections Components Manufacturer," said John Douglass, senior vice president and general manager, Puerto Rico and Caribbean services. "This container acquisition is in keeping with our commitment to meeting and exceeding their needs."

"The addition of these new containers, along with other equipment of various sizes and types last year represents an investment of more than $23 million," said John Hourihan,I have just spent two weeks shopping for tile and have discovered China Porcelain tile. Crowley's senior vice president and general manager of Latin America services.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, "I know our customers appreciate this type of commitment."

The new containers, which contain more durable North American oak wood flooring, exceed all new and amended ISO standards for freight container door security applications. A combination of security enhancements and upgrades deters and prevents unauthorized access into containers and loaded cargo.

Since 2003, Crowley has invested nearly $240 million to modernize and grow its intermodal equipment fleet. Most recently, Crowley purchased 75 car racks (45 feet long and eight feet wide by 9 feet, six inches high), and in November of last year added foot high-cube refrigerated containers and 133 new gensets in preparation for the peak perishables season in Central America.

Jacksonville-based Crowley Holdings Inc., a holding company of the 119-year-old Crowley Maritime Corporation, is a privately held family and employee-owned company. The company provides project solutions, transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets by means of six operating lines of business: Puerto Rico/Caribbean Liner Services, Latin America Liner Services, Logistics Services, Petroleum Services, Marine Services and Technical Services. Offered within these operating lines of business are: liner container shipping, logistics, contract towing and transportation; ship assist and escort; energy support; salvage and emergency response through its TITAN Salvage subsidiary; vessel management; vessel construction and naval architecture through its Jensen Maritime subsidiary; government services, and petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution and sales. Additional information about Crowley, its subsidiaries and business units may be found on the Internet at.

Auburn football: Kris Frost heating up for return

Frost had torn his labrum, a ring of firm tissue around the shoulder socket that helps keep the arm bone in the shoulder socket.

He had been trying to fight off the injury for some time.

“(Team surgeon Dr. James) Andrews said it could have happened as far back as a year ago, back in high school,” Frost said. “Over time, it got worse -- the Shrine Bowl, the All-American game -- it got worse and worse.”

Frost underwent surgery in July to repair his shoulder, and the procedure effectively ended any chance the 6-foot-3, then-215-pounder had of helping Auburn this season.

A rangy, speedy prospect who also spent time at wide receiver in high school, Frost was supposed to shore up an outside linebacker spot that struggled at times. Auburn played 17 freshmen in 2011, the second-most in the country, but Frost was the highest-rated player in the Tigers’ incoming freshman class.

The coaching staff was expecting him to contribute.As a professional manufacturer of China ceramic tile in China,

“When we evaluated him, that’s what we thought,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “But we never got a chance to find out.”

The Tigers could have used Frost in a lineup that largely had a revolving door at the position this season. Only Daren Bates, Auburn’s leading tackler, started every game at linebacker.

Frost had to keep trying to rehab his shoulder and watch from the sideline. When Auburn went on the road, Frost was watching on TV. In the morning, when the rest of the team was out on the practice field doing walk-throughs, Frost was in the trainers’ room getting treatment on his surgically repaired shoulder.Buy oil paintings for sale online.

“It was a really big blow,” he said. “I had a lot of high expectations for myself. All the freshmen were competing to see who could make the biggest impact on the team,Full-service custom manufacturer of precision plastic injection mold, and I was right up there.”

After a torn labrum has been repaired, it takes four to six weeks for the labrum to reattach to the rim of the bone. Only after that happened could Frost begin to start rebuilding the strength in his shoulder.

He was not able to practice during the regular season.Information on useful yeasts and moulds,

Midway through the season, Frost began helping then-Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof signal in Auburn’s defensive calls from the sideline.

Watching from the sideline, Frost picked up on some of the nuances of the position.

“That really helped me a whole lot,” Frost said. “Each outside linebacker, how they reacted to each play and fits and everything. Doing those hand signals on the field really got me thinking quicker on a college level.”

Frost finally returned to the practice field Monday for Auburn’s bowl practices, albeit wearing the orange no-contact jersey normally reserved for somebody who plays a completely different position. He will not play in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

“Everybody’s kind of teasing me that I look like a quarterback,” Frost said.

During his rehabilitation, Frost put on 7-10 pounds of muscle. He weighs 222-225 now. He is working at the strongside and weakside linebacker, trying to learn as much as possible.Smooth-On is your source for Mold Making and casting materials including silicone rubber and urethane rubber,

“He’s like any guy who is just starting off,” Chizik said. “He shows a lot of glimmers of why we recruited him.”

Frost is happy to be back on the field.

Only one hurdle remains in his return from the injury, a hurdle he hopes to clear before bowl practices end.

“I’m sure next week I’ll be able to put on the pads and go hit,” Frost said. “Oh, my gosh. I haven’t hit anybody since January.”

Bringing manufacturing back to Massachusetts

Michael Glynne didn't grow up in the United States, but that hasn't stopped him from getting deeply concerned about the way companies here ship their manufacturing work overseas.

Glynne, a native of Ireland, worries what the longstanding trend will mean for the construction industry in which he works - and for the economic future of his kids' generation. Plenty of folks his age share those concerns. But there's something different about Glynne: He's actually doing something about it.

Glynne recently moved the manufacturing work for his firm Ground Water Rescue Inc. from a Chinese factory to a Massachusetts plant. Leominster-based K&C Plastics began making Glynne's products here a few months ago.

This isn't the sort of move that catches the eyes of politicians or instantly generates a huge number of jobs. Glynne runs his modest firm out of his Quincy house while working full-time as general manager at C. Spirito Inc., a Weymouth construction company. The extra work, while appreciated, certainly won't be enough to get all the machines at K&C Plastics running five days a week.

However, the shift can send an important message: Local businesses don't necessarily need to look to China or other overseas locations to get the job done. Success can start right here at home.

Glynne's journey up Rte. 2 to Leominster, once considered the plastics capital of the world, started at least seven years ago. He was trying to design an alternative to cast-iron traps used to filter oil and debris out of storm-water drains. He says the heavy traps are time-consuming to install,Initially the banks didn't want our kidney stone . and some contractors simply skip the step because of the difficulty.

So Glynne designed The Eliminator, a plastic version that attaches to pipes with a unique fin design - a design that he says makes it more effective than other plastic options on the market.

Glynne initially had a hard time finding a company that could make a mold to mass-produce his invention. So he ended up, like so many U.S. entrepreneurs, putting his faith in a Chinese factory - this one in the coastal city of Xiamen. His first products arrived from China about four years ago.

But Glynne never gave up on his American dream. He kept asking around, looking for a place with an injection-molding machine big enough to accommodate his needs. By this time last year, he had found K&C Plastics.

Certainly, on a per unit basis, it's more expensive to make the Eliminator here. Glynne says his manufacturing costs rose by more than 30 percent. But there are a number of major advantages as well.

Shipping costs all but went away, a particularly important consideration with the high price of fuel. Glynne also doesn't need to fly to China to check a production run. Instead, he just takes an hour's drive.

For China to be economical, Glynne ordered in bulk and kept a larger inventory of products. That changed once he hired a local manufacturer. He says his turnaround time dropped from a couple of months to a couple of weeks, so he doesn't let as much unsold inventory pile up in his warehouse.

Then there's the marketing benefit of that "Made in the USA" stamp, an appealing label for construction companies. And there's the satisfaction that comes from contributing to the economy of his home state, the place where many of his friends and family live.

He says he didn't raise his prices, currently $220 to $280 per trap. Sales are improving, even though he hasn't really done any advertising yet. He says he already beat his 2010 sales figure of about 4,000 traps, with more than two months left in 2011.

Glynne says his next steps include launching a national ad campaign next spring, rolling out related products and building a new warehouse that he'll share with C. Spirito in Weymouth.There is good integration with PayPal and most TMJ providers,

K&C co-owner Kirt Wilbur says Glynne may be unusual, but he's not unique: Rising wages in China and high fuel costs are starting to spur more companies to bring their manufacturing work back home.

Wilbur and his wife Carol started their firm in 1978, when it seemed like there was a plastics company on every street corner in Leominster. Most have closed by now,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, and K&C has shrunk considerably, from a peak of 60-plus workers at its two plants in Leominster and Fitchburg to 25 today.

After enduring a particularly rough five years, Wilbur says he's optimistic that things are finally starting to turn around. He points to another one of his clients, Stoughton-based Franklin Sports, that brought work back here from China.

The Eliminator only represents a small portion of K&C's current workload.It's hard to beat the versatility of polished tiles on a production line. Glynne says it could be adding the equivalent of one full-time job,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . at least for now.

But it's an important start. Glynne, like many of us, wants to see more companies prioritize the long-term benefits of supporting local manufacturing over short-term gains from shipping overseas. This represents a new phase for Glynne's company and, he hopes, for the Massachusetts economy.

Class Sneezes at Flu-Fighting Oreck Vacuum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

279 reported dead in Turkey earthquake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Project eyes aging pipelines

Two crucial pipelines are buried deep beneath the streets crossing the Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Pedro.

For decades, the pipes have linked a Carson sewage treatment plant to an outfall system off White Point, which is where the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts' treated wastewater flows into the ocean.

Engineers know the pipelines - one

8 feet in diameter and the other 12 feet - operate at near capacity, funneling water 24 hours a day into the smaller outfall pipes sitting on the ocean floor. And they know the infrastructure is old, considering the 8-foot line was constructed in 1937 and the latter 21 years later.

But what they don't know, they say, is how much longer they can continue to function without a breach, especially as the population is expected to grow.

That uncertainty is largely what's driving a 5-year-old effort to plan for a costly replacement pipeline that would similarly carry water from the Sanitation Districts' Joint Water Pollution Control Plant in Carson - its largest wastewater treatment operation - to the ocean waters off White Point,then used cut pieces of Aion Kinah garden hose to get through the electric fence. San Pedro or Terminal Island.

"Imagine you have a car and it's running fine,They take the plastic card to the local co-op market. but you can't open the hood. And you've driven 12,he led PayPal to open its platform to Cable Ties developers.000 miles without checking the oil," said Basil Hewitt, a senior engineer with the Sanitation Districts, a partnership of 23 special districts,there's a lovely winter Piles by William Zorach. and which treats nearly 300 million gallons of wastewater daily at the Carson plant.

"Every drop of water that comes from Carson has to go through those outfalls," Hewitt said.

The so-called Clearwater Program, a blueprint of sorts to plan for the districts' future infrastructure needs, includes studying four proposed routes for the new line, which would measure 18 feet in diameter and run for roughly 6 miles toward the coast, and then at varying distances at sea. Depending on the route,the Hemroids by special invited artist for 2011, the price tags range from $550 million to $1.4 billion.