Adventure can be found anywhere

I need an adventure. As a kid, adventures were an everyday occurrence that required minimal planning for maximum entertainment. A canteen and enough trees to block out civilization were all that I needed to battle aliens,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injectionmould manufacture, glimpse Bigfoot or find secret hideouts.

But it's not the discoveries I miss. It's the exploration. I want the wonderment and thrill of the unknown that comes from the first walk on the moon, leaping from bed to bed. It's time for an adventure.

I used to traverse the globe in my living room with little cars, pieces of cut-up fabric as sleeping bags, and snacks for both pretend and real explorers. I'd maneuver my car with its neatly packed supplies through the shag carpet and up the arm of the couch.

Sometimes,Pfister werkzeugbau AG aus Mönchaltorf ist Ihr Partner bei der Herstellung von Werkzeugen und Spritzformen. it took hours to cross the world and, other times, only 15 minutes, with me making car-revving noises the whole way — va-room, va-room. I saw incredible sites and made harrowing escapes with tires screeching and wheels spinning.

Now I drive a much bigger car with greater technology, more cargo space, ample cup holders and a real engine, but I don't go nearly as far. When I drive today, I still make cool screeching sounds as I round corners, but I'm generally just getting from Point A to Point B. While my car now has more horsepower, it lacks the imaginary drive to go cross-country in an afternoon.

As I get older, it's harder to find cars that run on pretend gas and the pretend prices have gone through the roof, making travel difficult because pretend money doesn't grow on trees. Elves make it.

An adventure is all about the journey. It's about jumping on furniture to avoid the lava flow or scaling the stairway with ropes and footholds because it's there. The destination is meaningless and can quickly change an adventure into a "trip" that requires photos and a T-shirt purchase just to remember the experience.

The best adventures go nowhere, allowing us to enter a much bigger world of possibilities.

It's not about completing tasks. A good adventure involves making things up as we go along. Checking items off a to-do list fills us with a sense of purpose and accomplishment, but a good adventure infuses us with wonder and delight.

Between vacuuming and dusting, why not look for the secret passageway that leads to the experimental laboratory? Every house has one and few people ever find theirs.

Adventures teach us to be forgiving of ourselves and others. As any good explorer knows, it's tough going out there and mistakes are inevitable.We can produce solarpanel,Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside, When the spaceship Kenmore starts veering left, it's impossible to know what each dial and knob does because we only drew them on the cardboard box an hour ago. Under pressure of crashing on the moon, action must be taken.We can produce solarpanel, It's not about being right, but being miserably wrong and somehow still righting the ship.

We're afraid of being wrong. We have to know all the answers and understand the material before we begin. But we'll never come to understand any idea like an adventurer who braves the unknown, makes decisions on the fly and learns through every fiber of his being by doing, rather than listening to someone else explain how it's done.

It's impossible to develop really great creative ideas without the possibility of coming up with equally bad ones. The adventurer is willing to take that risk and explore each idea without fear of the unknown. Each idea is another adventure with all the excitement of new discoveries.

Like the time I tried to invent a new beverage at age 10 by mixing every liquid I could find in the refrigerator, seeking the perfect combination. I'm not sure that pickle juice with milk was a good idea.

Life is meant to be an adventure, not a chore. We're supposed to be dramatic and playful. We were meant to explore and be curious, but we've become so cautious.

I was never good at completing the Rubik's Cube. The only way to complete the puzzle was by disturbing one of the already completed sides and I was afraid I'd lose the progress I'd made. The same thing happens in life. The more we have, the less we risk until we are in complete maintenance mode, unable to solve new problems.

We need to find adventure as we get older and no longer fit in the washing machine box. We need to risk, explore new things and tap into the mind of a child, where digging a hole to China is possible.

Backyard chickens find a home on Lorraine Court

Katie Startzman hasn’t named any of her chickens, but that hasn’t stopped her young sons from giving their backyard fowl some unusual monikers.

“One’s been named Aphrodite, and another one is Fluffa,” Startzman said with a laugh as six rusty-orange colored hens gathered around her Friday morning. She kneeled inside their small pen while holding a pan of grain. One impatient bird pecked at her side, and she quietly chastised the bird.At Blow mouldengineering we specialize in conceptual prototype design.

Behind her was the chicken coop, disguised as a small, bright-red gypsy wagon. Yellow flowers bloomed from a window box on the side of the coop.

Startzman proudly said the coop is of her own design, built almost entirely with salvaged materials.Welcome to the Lilla beddinges google satellite map!

A chicken coop “doesn’t have to be a big, expensive project,” she said.

Startzman is one of the six people who have been granted conditional-use permits to raise chickens within Berea city limits. She believes she is the only person so far who is keeping chickens on her property.

The Lorraine Court resident was part of the 2010 effort to change a nearly century-old city ordinance prohibiting chickens on residential lots smaller than one acre.

“It didn’t reflect the needs of our community now,” Startzman said of the ordinance.

The new ordinance states that no more than six hens, and no roosters, are allowed on one property. The chickens must be “contained and confined” no less than 50 feet from residential structures other than the owner’s.

Conditional-use permits require board of adjustments approval. The city’s code enforcement personnel are permitted to inspect the areas where chickens are kept on a regular basis, or if a complaint is made to City Hall.

Dale VanWinkle, city codes and planning administrator, said earlier this month there have been no complaints about any existing chicken coop.

Startzman noted that deed-restricted neighborhoods in the area, like The Vineyard, already do not allow chickens, so the ordinance does not apply there.

Her neighbors have been supportive of her backyard chickens, Startzman. When she applied for the conditional-use permit, a letter was sent to residents whose property borders hers. She made sure to speak to each of them in advance about her plans.

“I’m really grateful my neighbors have been willing to give it a try,” Startzman said. Her chickens lay on average six eggs a day,Why does mould grow in homes or buildings? many of which she gives to friends and neighbors.China professional plasticmoulds,

The chickens often cackle more loudly in the morning, and she has seen a few more flies since she set up her coop. However, no one in the neighborhood has complained, Startzman said.

Startzman and her husband, Michael, had previously raised chickens outside of town. Raising chickens again is something that fits into her families’ thrifty way of life, she said.

“(The eggs) have more flavor than eggs from the grocery store,” Startzman said. “The hens lay almost all year round.”

The ground cover used in the chicken coop area is recycled as compost for her front-yard vegetable garden.

One concern with backyard chickens is the illness-causing bacteria, salmonella, that is spread from chickens’ intestines through their droppings. Salmonella can be deadly for people with weaker immune systems like the elderly and small children, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Startzman said she keeps her coop clean, and despite concerns about salmonella, she believes her eggs are safer than those produced at factory farms. Her chickens are not medicated, and she knows exactly what is going into their diets, unlike chickens whose eggs are sold in grocery stores, she said.

“It’s not just about money,” Startzman said of raising her own egg-producing chickens. “It’s a food security and safety issue.”

The backyard chicken issue has ignited controversy in Berea since the ordinance was changed. One couple,China professional plasticmoulds, Katie Gardner and Christopher Smith, filed a lawsuit in Madison Circuit Court after the board of adjustments twice denied their request for a conditional-use permit to raise chickens at their Adams Street home. Several of their neighbors have actively petitioned the board to deny the permit based on concerns about health issues and cleanliness.

Action being taken Birdhurst over rotting hens

The Nelson Mail reported yesterday horticultural company Birdhurst had been illegally composting dead layer hens from Ewing Poultry on a site near the Motueka River.What are some types of moulds? Its resource consent to compost fish offal at the site expired in 2000.

Neighbouring business owner Brian Roebuck, of Motueka Gravels, said truckloads of dead birds and chicken poo were regularly dumped at the site and mixed with raw bark, and the stench could be disgusting.

Tasman District Council compliance officer Warren Galbraith said yesterday the old consent, which was a permitted activity to create 50 cubic metres of compost with no odour, was no longer relevant.

The volume on Birdhurst's site exceeded 300 cubic metres, he said.

Council spokesman Chris Choat said Mr Galbraith had visited the site yesterday and seen both the owners and the piles of chickens.

"We have been working with this company for a while, but now they've gone too far.

"The recent events have led us to take some enforcement action."

Mr Choat said the company was composting for its own orchard,Choose from our large selection of cableties, and while the council recognised businesses had to ensure they were sustainable, there were also environmental effects from such activities and strict rules around them.

"These guys have broken those rules and we're taking appropriate action."

Lloyd Ewing of Ewing Poultry said the birds normally went to a processor in Canterbury, but Birdhurst "were desperate for compost".

"We're not involved really, they just came and got the birds from us. We also sell them chook manure, as we sell chook manure to a lot of people. They told me everything was in order with the council and they were allowed to do 50 cubic metres on site.

"They obviously made an error of judgment. I'm just sorry they haven't done it properly."

The site is leased by Birdhurst from Wakatu Incorporation within the Motueka River stopbanks.

Meanwhile, Quail Valley resident Steph Anderson said she had concerns about Ewing Poultry's stockpiling of chicken manure for compost, and whether this was being managed properly.What are some types of moulds?

Ms Anderson lives about a kilometre away from the Belgrove plant where the manure is stored, and said the stench could be terrible.Get information on airpurifier from the unbiased, independent experts.

The smell had not been as bad this summer as it had not been so hot, but "in previous summers it has been unbearable, and we live one kilometre away".

"Rotting poultry manure has a certain fragrance all of its own. It's very good manure but it's also very strong so it's a powerful smell."

It also seemed to bring an increased number of flies, she said.

"When you live in the country with livestock around it's hard to say definitely it's the reason, but the locals all notice it."

Ms Anderson has lived on her property for about six years, and it had been an issue on and off since then, she said.

"I'm cautious because there's a reluctance of being labelled a townie, who moves out and doesn't expect to smell the smells of the country. But it's quite a bit more than that." Ms Anderson said council staff "didn't seem to be terribly interested".China professional plasticmoulds,

However, they had said to phone when it happened and they would come out.

"They said [the manure] should be covered by a certain amount of bark and material to stop the stench and you shouldn't be able to smell it within a certain radius of the property."

Mr Ewing said he was not prepared to comment, except to say the company complied with Tasman District Council's requirements.

Comics are now selling laughs by the download

Stand-up comedians of a certain era knew they had arrived when Johnny Carson invited them to a desk-side seat on “The Tonight Show.” A generation later,We are professional plasticmould,metal parts mould manufacturers and factory the gold standard was getting a solo comedy special on HBO. But in the Internet era, the yardstick for success has been redefined.

A handful of top-tier performers have begun producing stand-up specials on their own, posting them online and selling them directly through their personal websites, eliminating the editorial control of broadcasters and the perceived taint of corporate endorsements.

While this straight-to-the-Internet strategy is far from ubiquitous in stand-up, it is already having a profound impact on the comedy landscape, enabling online content providers and individual artists to take more turf from television networks and empowering comedians to be as candid (and as explicit) as they want in their material.

“It’s a very rare thing, where you answer to no one at all as a comedian,” said Aziz Ansari, a stand-up comic and actor who recently released his first online performance special. “Now you can even put it out the way you want.”

The turning point arrived in December, when comedian Louis C.K. released a stand-up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” that was sold only as a $5 download, without electronic copy protection, from his website.

Louis C.K., who stars in the FX series “Louie” and has performed in comedy specials on HBO, Showtime and Epix, said that he was seeking minimal outside interference and maximum ease for his audience.

“I don’t have to go, ‘Here’s this product,’ to whatever company,” Louis C.K. said, “and then cringe and shrug and apologize to my fans for whatever words are being removed, whatever ads they’re having to watch, whatever marketing is being lobbed on.”

The experiment worked: Produced at a cost of $250,000, “Live at the Beacon Theater” sold more than 220,000 downloads and grossed more than $1.1 million — enough for Louis C.K. to give $250,000 in bonuses to his crew and donate a further $280,000 to charities.

Other comedians following Louis C.K.’s online trail say that they have been contemplating Internet-only projects for several months.

Jim Gaffigan, an actor and stand-up comedian, said he began seeking new platforms for his material after a routine he performed about McDonald’s was partly edited out of a 2010 Comedy Central benefit special.

Gaffigan said he considered many commercial routes, including licensing; selling a new stand-up performance to an online content provider like Netflix,Dimensional Mailing magiccubes for Promotional Advertising, Amazon or YouTube; or making it available free to viewers who watched a block of commercials first.

But Gaffigan said he was able to turn down unfavorable deals and corporate ties after Louis C.K. upended “the perception of selling something on your website as being kind of icky.”

He added: “My manager was like, ‘You’re not going to sell it on your website like that.’ And I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t I?”’

Instead, Gaffigan will release his next special — with his McDonald’s routine intact — on April 11 for a $5 fee, with $1 from each sale going to the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

For the comedians taking their material directly to the Internet, the decision is as much a reflection of a desire to serve online-savvy audiences as it is a lack of other options.

Pay-cable channels like HBO and Showtime, comedians say, are too focused on scripted programming, while on basic cable, Comedy Central offers specials to nearly everyone, with little quality control and licensing deals that are not lucrative.

“I don’t get any money from the specials that air on Comedy Central,” said Ansari, who also stars on the NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation.” “I haven’t seen any checks from the DVDs, CDs. If I just put it out in a traditional way, I wouldn’t have made any money, so why don’t I do it this way?”

Comedy Central said Ansari had been paid a six-figure advance and continues to receive residuals on his last televised special.

Kent Alterman, Comedy Central’s head of original programming and production, said that the number of stand-up specials it shows was “in service to our audience and our business,” and that only “a very rarefied community of comedians” commanded followings large enough to make Internet-only programs viable. Many performers — even those with a large fan base — would still go to Comedy Central for “the marketing muscle that we have and the enormous exposure they get,” he said.

One case in point is Louis C.K., who released his Grammy Award-winning comedy album, “Hilarious,” on Comedy Central Records.

HBO says it still seeks top-tier performers for specials but is mindful of a glut of comedy on television, while Showtime’s entertainment president, David Nevins, said, “It’s fair to say Showtime needs to renew our focus on it.To interact with beddinges,”

The Internet has been happy to capitalize on content that television has neglected. Last month Yahoo offered a free live performance by HBO host Bill Maher (one that ended with Maher’s donating $1 million to the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA). Yahoo said this special has generated more than 2 million streams and that it hopes to add more such shows, seeing stand-ups as an inexpensive but powerful way to build brand identification with viewers.

“Musicians can have personas,” said Erin McPherson, who is Yahoo’s head of video programming and originals, “but comics are themselves, and their fans relate to them almost as friends. They have that intimate, one-on-one connection.”

Mark Greenberg, a former Showtime and HBO executive who is now the president and chief executive of Epix, a cable and online network that focuses on movies and live events,Why does mould grow in homes or buildings? said that programmers’ interest in stand-up was partly demographic: Comedians bring more male viewers and especially desirable younger viewers, which programmers can’t afford to ignore “unless your attitude is that you’re going to be retired in 10 years and you don’t care,” he said.

Still, Greenberg was skeptical that other comedians would be able to duplicate the online sales results that Louis C.K. enjoyed.

“There’s no bigger report card than pay-per-view,” Greenberg said. “The first person that does 30,000 buys instead of 200,000, that person’s going to sit there and say, ‘Why did I fail?’ And it’s going to affect them as an asset.”

Not every comedian sees the Internet as the salvation of the stand-up special. Patton Oswalt,Credit Card Processing and Merchant Services from merchantaccountes. a comic who often appears in film and TV roles, said that by being transparent about their production budgets, Louis C.K. and other Web pioneers had taught him a lesson he could apply to future televised specials.

But Oswalt, whose most recent special was jointly paid for by Showtime and Comedy Central, said that if he did an online-only special it would be “when I’m ready — I’m not going to do that model because it’s the fashion right now.”

Louis C.K. said his next special might not follow the Internet model.

“I think there’s huge potential,” he said, “but potential means there might be nothing.”

And Gaffigan said he was not staking his entire career on his Web experiment, predicting he could still license his new performance to Comedy Central if it flopped online.

“It’s a gamble with the crops,” he said. “This is one harvest. You’re going to use some piece of equipment that could make it twice as productive.”

The Patent Reform Act of 2011 represents the first major overhaul

This article was first published by the Los Angeles Lawyer, The Magazine of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Copyright 2012.

After passing Congress with bipartisan support, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, also known as the Patent Reform Act,1 was signed by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The new law significantly reforms the way inventors protect their inventions and advances the harmonization of global patent laws,We offer the best ventilationsystem, but until many details of implementation are settled, the costs of patent litigation may not decrease.

The U.S. Patent Office was founded in 1790, and few significant revisions to patent law have been made since. The last major reform occurred in 1952, with the enactment of the patent laws encompassing Title 35 of the United States Code.2 The first steps toward modernizing U.S. patent laws were taken in 2004, when academics began to push for reform, which moved slowly until debate began on the House floor last June.

The most significant change in the Patent Reform Act is the conversion from a “first to invent” system to a “first to file” system, thereby conforming the U.S. patent laws to the laws of most industrialized countries.3 This change becomes effective on March 16, 2013. Presently, even if an applicant is the first to file a patent application in the United States, a second applicant to file could own the rights to the invention if the second applicant was the first to conceive and reduce the invention to practice. This provides a disincentive to file patent applications, since the first to invent generally trumps the first to file. Most of the world acts differently—the first to file trumps the first to invent. Now, under the Patent Reform Act, on or after March 16, 2013, in general the one who is first to file a patent application will own the patent rights.

Inventors need to rethink their strategy for filing patent applications. No longer will they be able to wait to develop their inventions and create a workable mode of making and using them.Pfister werkzeugbau AG aus Mönchaltorf ist Ihr Partner bei der Herstellung von Werkzeugen und Spritzformen. There will now be a rush to file a patent application before a competitor does. The filing of less-than-perfect patent applications and more provisional patent applications will likely increase. Inventors will be pressed to gather data quickly and file a separate patent application at each stage of product development. The first-to-file rule will likely favor large companies that have the resources to quickly prepare and file patent applications.Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia. Most of the world has already accepted this fact. The United States is just catching up.

The first-to-file reform also will eventually eliminate the esoteric “interference” practice. In interference proceedings, companies wage an expensive war over who was the first to invent the subject matter of competing patent applications. Specially trained attorneys have typically handled these proceedings, frequently delaying the effectiveness of a patent for many years.Choose from our large selection of cableties, During these proceedings,We offer the best ventilationsystem, doubt about who owns the patent rights significantly affects investor interest.

Although reform has eliminated interference practice, it will be replaced with derivation practice.4 In a derivation proceeding, a petitioner asks the new Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate a patent if it was based upon or derived from another inventor’s patent or patent application.5 However, this proceeding must be requested within a year of the date of publication of the first filer’s patent application and must be supported by substantial evidence.6 Entities should therefore monitor their competitors’ applications for derivation issues. Even derived inventions, however, typically include novel features. Moreover, inventors who derive their inventions from others may be more likely to keep their inventions secret, thereby frustrating the fundamental constitutional purpose of the Patent Act—full disclosure of an invention to the public in return for a limited period of market exclusivity.

Travelers Not Required To Pay $500M In Asbestos Settlements

A federal judge ruled that The Travelers Cos. doesn't have to pay more than $500 million in settlements for thousands of people claiming asbestos-related health problems linked to one of the insurer's former policyholders.

At issue are people suffering maladies stemming from asbestos that was used in many household, industrial and military products from roofing shingles and car brakes to floor tiles and Navy vessel insulation. Travelers provided general liability coverage and other insurance between 1947 and 1976 to Johns Manville Corp., the largest manufacturer of asbestos products and raw asbestos in the U.S.China professional plasticmoulds, for much of the last century.

The court decision is the latest in a legal volley that has already resulted in aU.S. Supreme Courtdecision in 2009. Yet, aspects of it continue to be challenged. The case pits Travelers against 26 state-court actions that were bundled into three settlements and mediated by former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo between 2002 and 2004.

Those settlements were fought by outside parties, including Chubb Indemnity Insurance Co., which said it didn't want Travelers to be off the hook for future liabilities as a condition of the settlements. In the most recent ruling, the federal judge said that as a result of other court decisions, the Cuomo settlements do not absolve Travelers of future claims from Chubb and other insurers. As a result, Travelers is not required to pay the thousands of people sickened from inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers.

"While Travelers was willing to pay the additional $500 million to obtain complete peace through a clarification that any and all claims against it related to its handling of asbestos claims were enjoined ... this is not the relief Travelers obtained," U.S. District Court Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York wrote in a Feb.The most commonly used injectionmould process, 29 decision.

"Moreover, there is nothing unfair about not requiring Travelers to make the payments under the settlement agreements if it is not contractually bound to do so," Koeltl said.

Manville declared bankruptcy in 1982 as it faced a tidal wave of lawsuits from people who had various health problems associated with asbestos.

Asbestos is a generic name for six minerals in nature that were used during much of the 20th century in the manufacture of thousands of products: wallboard, floor tiles,To interact with beddinges, roofing shingles, ceiling tiles, cement, textile products, automotive brakes, paper products and other items, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Asbestos materials can break apart into microscopic particles easily inhaled, and people who were exposed to asbestos on a regular basis for work have developed several types of life-threatening diseases, including lung cancer, according to the CDC.

The federal government has banned asbestos for different uses in several stages starting in 1973 through the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.

The three settlements in the most recent lawsuit are separate from, and in addition to, an initial settlement in 1986 when Travelers agreed to pay $80 million to a bankruptcy estate to cover Manville's asbestos liabilities. The 1986 court orders intended "to fully and finally extricate Travelers from the Manville morass," according to court files.

Many new lawsuits emerged after the 1986 court orders, however, with new victims pursuing different legal claims based on state consumer statutes and common law theories. Those lawsuits were based on the underlying premise that Travelers "acquired knowledge about the dangers of asbestos from claims in the 1950s, recognized the potential for future escalation of asbestos litigation and began to influence Manville's purported failure to disclose knowledge about asbestos hazards," court documents say.

The lawsuits filed after 1986 were bundled by U.There are 240 distinct solutions of the Soma cubepuzzle,S. Bankruptcy Court and mediated by Cuomo.

In the federal court ruling last week, Judge Koeltl reversed a decision signed Dec. 16, 2010, by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland, who said the dispute had "gone on for too long, especially for those asbestos victims who have yet to be fully compensated."

Lifland compared the legal plight of people with asbestos-related health problems to a "Sisyphean cycle," a reference to the endless and unavailing task of the mythological Greek king Sisyphus who pushed a rock up a hill only to have it escape and roll downhill repeatedly and forever.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts.

"The same parties that were present thirty years ago are again before this court in this long-standing saga," Lifland said in his 2010 decision. "The relief sought by the parties is still the same — compensation for the thousands of asbestos victims who continue to await their agreed-upon settlement payments."

Four area businesses on the move

While the economic downturn has garnered most of the attention among north central Ohio businesses, here are four operations on the move:

Better known as "The Tuby," it is one of the most diversified manufacturers of tubular products in North America, according to the company.

Formerly Dofasco Copperweld,Information on useful yeasts and moulds, the Shelby plant was founded in 1890 and remains an industry leader through continued investment in technologies and process development.Omega Plastics are a leading rapid tooling and plastic injectionmold company based in the UK,Plastic injectionmolding and injection molded parts in as quick at 3 days.

The company witnessed strong production levels in 2011, producing welded and seamless precision tubes for the automotive industry, construction equipment, farm machinery, oil and gas tooling and service center markets.

ArcelorMittal Shelby is one of 23 ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division facilities throughout the world. The plant has 635 employees, making it the largest employer in Shelby.

The local facility is recognized as the market share leader for tubular products in the United States. Achieving such a distinction puts ArcelorMittal Shelby in an important position in a competitive marketplace.

Farm equipment and construction machinery -- or "yellow goods" -- saw double-digit increases in 2011, driven by demand from users domestically and in developing countries. The gradual return of the automotive and energy markets provided steady increases to a portion of the business.

In partnership with the United Steelworkers of America Local 3057, ArcelorMittal Shelby said it places a strong focus on improved health,Find everything you need to know about kidneystones including causes, safety and environmental practices to ensure a safe and healthy environment for employees and the community. In 2011, it achieved ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications, both voluntary distinctions that underscore its commitment to improved practices related to the environment, health and safety.

ArcelorMittal Shelby and the USW Local 3057 continue to provide support to local community programs and services through charitable gifts, in-kind donations and volunteer support.

Local landmark Park Lanes reopened in November after an 18-month hiatus.

Mansfield contractor Ron Speck bought the old bowling center on Park Avenue for less than $200,000 and reopened all 50 lanes. He wanted the facility to retain the name it's had since it opened in 1959.

Park Lanes has been an institution in the city since the late Brad Lewis built it into a state-of-the-art facility in the 1950s. The Lewis family sold it to owners who lived out of state a few years ago, but financial trouble hindered the center and it soon fell into disrepair and closed.

Under Speck's management, there have been many changes. The old pool room area has been turned into a conference and party area. A coffee shop and deli will open in the spring, along with two outdoor sand volleyball courts. The bar has been refurbished and renamed Lewis Lounge after founder Brad Lewis.

Speck also has stepped up security.

"I am really dedicated to making this a 100 percent safe environment -- inside and out," Speck said. "What we need in Mansfield is more family entertainment."

Located in Lexington, Next Generation Films is one of America's leading manufacturers of plastic film and bags in the flexible packaging industry.

Founded in 1994 by CEO David Frecka and housed in one plant, Next has evolved into a four-building, 350,000 square-foot campus on Lexington Industrial Drive. Next employs 150 people and has annual revenues of $100 million.

Next produces flexible packaging for bagged lettuce and produce, paper towel overwrap, dry goods overwrap and frozen foods. Next also produces, among other items, protective packaging, mailers and masking film.

Frecka said he differentiates himself and his company by focusing on quality and specialization. He has continuously focused on the reduction of production scrap and alternative uses for it. To this end, he has made equipment design changes, initiated a repelletizing program to sell recycled scrap, provided endless employee training and tracking and developed a method to reuse other recycled scrap-based resins within new products -- without sacrificing quality or efficiency.

Another factor in Next's success has been its constantly-evolving film recipes.We are professional plasticmould,metal parts mould manufacturers and factory Next has based its business on solving other's plastic film and bag conversion problems. As a result, Next has an extensive collection of unique film recipes evolving by the day.

Next maintains its own in-house lab designed to test new products as well as inspect the quality of current production. It tests every piece of film produced to ensure maximum quality. It is one of the only manufacturers to produce FDA-approved films for use with edible food items.

By 2015, Frecka expects Next's revenues to double to around $200 million.

Rable Machine has been in business in Mansfield for over 60 years and is 100 percent employee-owned. Over the past several years the firm has grown an average of 20 percent per year and has invested over $6.5 million in capital equipment and improvements. A significant portion of these improvements have been in new, state-of-the-art equipment. That has allowed Rable to dramatically expand capacity and significantly improve quality.

Rable's products are used in fluid management systems, flow control, industrial automation, network power systems, climate control systems, oil and gas transmission, petrochemical and petroleum refining, medical devices and other industrial high tech innovations.

Other industries served include aviation, aerospace, telecommunications, banking, printing, defense and other applications.

In a time when having inventory on the shelf is almost unheard of, Rable stocks parts for customers and ships or delivers frequently. Company officials call the process "52 Turn" service because it provides customers the opportunity to conserve cash by turning inventory up to 52 times a year.

Increased Demands on Water Quality for Reliable Temperature Control

Molded-part quality and cycle time can be affected by water quality. Impurities in the circulation system impair heat transfer and so diminish heating/cooling efficiency . Corrosion can eat away entire molds and temperature control systems. To ensure good heat transfer properties and protect expensive equipment,Shop for trim and crown moulding, the water used in temperature control circuits should be conditioned and periodically checked. These functions are carried out by the HB-Therm Treat mobile water treatment unit.

Increased demands on water quality are made in situations involving, for example, water temperatures over 160C, rotary feedthroughs with critical sealing elements or small heating/cooling channel cross sections. The mobile water treatment units produced by HB-Therm AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland, are used only when these requirements are for individual applications and there is no centralized water treatment system.

HB-Therm Treat provides a convenient solution for supplying system water to temperature control units. These must have a separate inlet and outlet for system water and an activated cyclical exchange of system water. The number of temperature control units that can be connected to a water treatment unit is dependent on the total volume of the water circulation system. The water treatment unit works automatically after initial addition of the conditioning agent.Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, Sampling and sludge removal can be carried out without interrupting operation via the ball valves on the front.

The fill level is measured ultrasonically and the filterless sludge separator operates effectively from 5 um. The water treatment unit has an automated mixing function for the manually added conditioning agent. A leak monitoring system and periodic signal to check the protective effectiveness of the conditioning agent ensure reliable operation.Find a moldmaker or Mold Service Provider.Learn all about solarpanel, Visual and acoustic alarms warn of any faults. A front USB connection and an integrated logbook for test results, agent consumption, thinning,Iowa Mold tooling designs and manufacturers mechanics trucks, and alarms additionally facilitate use. The unit’s sealless pump has a motor power of 0.5 kW, a capacity of 30 l/min and a head of up to 52 m.

The water treatment unit operates effectively with minimal additive consumption but only if the necessary technical modifications are also made to the temperature control unit. On temperature control units with indirect cooling, HB-Therm can carry out a standard conversion to provide a separation connection for system water. These temperature control units operate as standard with a cooler bypass and proportional valve, which stops limescale formation in the cooler. The Swiss manufacturer’s temperature control units are closed systems with no oxygen contact, so preventing chemical changes in the circulation system.

The need for closer collaboration between universities, corporations

If you have been following this column, you would remember that last week we discussed about the importance of creativity and innovation for the progress of a country. However, I think it’s evident that one column of an article does not do justice to the broad topic that is ‘creativity and innovation’.

Just to remind everyone a few snippets from last week; "Creativity is the ability to see things differently and have an original idea, and innovation is the ability to make new ideas actually happen."

One thing that was stressed and discussed was the need to develop the innovative culture within us. The feeling that ‘we can do’ needs to be injected.

Michael Porter, in his book "Competitive advantage of nations" has described the ability to innovate as one the key things for securing the well being of a nation. And that is why we have been discussing the importance of it for Sri Lanka too.

Last week we touched on the topic of industry-academia collaboration. Research is a key factor driving innovation in a society. And one of the best places to carry out research is within a university. This is where industry-academia collaboration can help. Companies can work with universities to research and develop different things. The industrial body, usually funds the research either financially or through the provision of facilities. If a new innovation is born, the company takes it to the market. A win-win situation for all that’s involved. If the university students and staff discover some important new knowledge,Plastic moldmaker located in the Philippines. again the company can use it for their benefit.

One of our readers took the time to write to us in detail after reading last weeks’ column, concurring with what we discussed and also adding more perspectives. I thought I will discuss some of it here as that insight reveals certain methodologies used by other countries. Of course we can and have to localise them to suit our needs, but then again these examples and models will help us in our thinking.

Ranil Jayanetti is a Sri Lankan currently living in Switzerland. He is a Research & Development Engineer for a company there.

Ranil points out that in Europe, universities and companies work together much more closely than in Sri Lanka. His personal experiences are narrated from the time he did his internship and his thesis at two leading car manufacturing companies during his Masters degree in Germany. Over there, the companies use university resources to find solutions to their technical problems.

During his two year Masters program in Polymer Technology in Germany, he was given the chance to do a six month industrial internship. His task was to identify mold technologies to make vehicle prototype parts in a cost-effective manner. Usually molds are made of steel and can produce about 200,000 parts, but are expensive. A leading car manufacturer generally makes 50-60 prototype cars; so steel molds are not very useful. The task that Ranil was given, didn’t involve development of technology itself, but to search for new technologies that are still unknown to the company. Through this process of recruiting a student to do this work, the company makes financial savings.Additionally, the student brings new thinking and ideas. The student can also get guidance from a professor as to which direction to go, which helps both the student in his personal career and also the company.

Ranil further explained that the study program involved a thesis written over a six month period. Around the same time, another leading car manufacturer had introduced its new car series into the market and had noted a quality problem in one of the parts of its body. Ranil as a student researcher, had set up a series of activities to understand the problem, then searched for new test methods to characterize the problem, and had isolated the possible causes.Omega Plastics are a leading rapid tooling and plasticinjectionmould company based in the UK,

He has also given us details about an institute by the name of ‘Steinbeis’ that allows a university professor to use his lab resources and set up a centre that transfers knowledge to the industry. He needs to pay a fee to the university for using the resources and is also allowed to employ people on a salary. The academic can actually make a profit out of this business. It’s a win-win situation for all, and most importantly the industry is supported by research capabilities of the university in terms of both human resources as well as facilities.Specialized of injection mold, plasticmoulds, Using this method small scale companies can get easy access to the latest knowledge. Germany is a country where there are many medium scale companies which are world leaders in their respective fields. I am sure the above working models have helped in achieving that.

Sometime back we discussed about an innovative proposal by a Sri Lankan professional called Tilak Dissanayake that uses the strengths of existing technologies such as ICT , electronics, compressed air motors, and wind energy and has combined them in innovative ways to resolve the long standing issue of getting fresh produce to the market at a fair price to both producers and consumers.Carrying the widest selection of projectorlamp,Learn all about solarpanel, I am sure such ideas can be strengthened and tried in research with the support of academia and the university sector.

Even aspects like farming and agriculture can be improved and also be made attractive as a career choice if innovation is introduced in a stronger effective way. One reason that farming is considered a good career option in countries like Australia is the use of technology. Youngsters don’t necessarily feel that they live in the past as agriculture actually moves with time. We need that involvement too. If we don’t, we wouldn’t be able to compete on the production or the cost scale of the other countries anyway.

India’s chronic water shortages mean growth for rotomolders

India’s persistent water shortages could mean rapid growth for its rotational molding industry, with one new study saying spending on new water-related projects will help the industry shrug off the worldwide economic slowdown and grow 12 percent a year over the next five years.

The study, from Indian resin maker Reliance Industries Ltd., suggests that the population growth in the world’s second-most populous country will continue to stress its water supplies, putting it close to critical levels of water scarcity by 2025.

While that’s a huge societal challenge, rotomolding executives from India and around the world meeting at a recent conference in New Delhi looked at the business opportunities it presents.

“We believe underground water storage could provide the next big breakthrough, and this could be the catalyst for the next phase of growth for this industry,” said Puneet Madan, business head of polyethylenes for Reliance, who delivered the study. “Water storage will provide significant demand for this industry because of the needs in India.”

India’s rotomolding industry is currently the world’s second-largest, after the United States, Reliance estimates.

It grew more than 10 percent a year between 2006 and 2011, driven by rising consumer demand, although 2011 saw a marked drop to about 3 percent growth amid problems in both the world economy and India’s real estate market, Madan said.

But Reliance and other industry executives at the Society of Asian Rotomolders conference, held Jan. 29-31 in New Delhi, said they believe the underlying demand from India’s development will continue to push rapid growth and any slowdown will be short-lived.

Reliance, citing figures from Houston-based consulting firm Chemical Market Associates Inc., said India’s rotomolding sector is projected to grow from 260 million pounds of plastic consumption last year to 474 million pounds in 2016.

Indian rotomolders added 88 million pounds of capacity in both 2010 and 2011, in anticipation of growth in consumption, Reliance said.

The United States, by comparison, will grow much more slowly, from 653 million pounds to 697 million pounds of consumption in the same period, after being flat from 2006 to 2011. And the third-largest market, China, will grow from 243 million pounds to 403 million pounds between 2006 and 2011.

Statistics make the scope of India’s water crisis clear. Reliance said the country had more than 528,000 gallons of water available per person annually in 1991, but by 2001 that had dipped to just below that number and reached the “water stress line.”

By 2025, water availability will fall to about 343,000 gallons per person, close to the more severe “water scarcity level” of about 291,000 gallons a person.

By 2050, when India’s population hits a projected 1.The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down.66 billion from its current 1.Diagnosing and Preventing coldsores Fever in the body can often trigger the onset of a cold sore.22 billion, it will officially reach “water scarcity,” Reliance said. In 1951, by comparison, India had more than 1.3 million gallons of water available annually per person.

“What can we all do given this statistic that is staring us in the face,” Madan asked the conference attendees.

In an interview after his speech, he said many Indian homes only have running water part of the day, so they buy rotomolded tanks to collect water and store it for use later.

Indian rotomolders have historically specialized in above-ground tanks for that market, and that application still accounts for about 70 percent of their production, much higher than in many other countries.

But the industry is looking to modernize and move away from those tanks, which are relatively simple to manufacture, and diversify into other more complicated products like underground tanks and new markets like automotive and agriculture.

To do that, the biggest challenge they face is technology, some participants said.

“The rotomolders need to upgrade themselves to the latest technology, processes and systems,Hobby Silicone for mold making moldmaking ,” said Venkit Mahadevan, Mumbai-based national sales manager for American materials supplier A. Schulman Plastics India Pvt.Product information for Sell electronicplasticmoulds from China! Ltd. and its Ico Polymers division.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings?

Mukesh Ambani, president of the Society of Asian Rotomolders in New Delhi and managing director of Mumbai-based rotomolder Infra Industries Ltd., said there is significant interest from foreign rotomolders to invest in India’s sector. There are opportunities for both sides, with Indian firms needing technology, he said.

A Range Of TMJ Symptoms

TMJ, or temporomandibular joint disorder, is an ailment that induces extreme discomfort. The affliction is named after the temporomandibular joiDesign guidelines for injectionmold plastic parts.nt, as this is the joint afflicted. This disorder was once called “Costen’s syndrome” after James Costen,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down. the first person to find the condition.

When people begin to experience pain in the jawline the first stop that they make is to the dentist office. Generally, excruciating discomfort followed by clicking noises coming from the jawline make people believe that they’re having dental issues.

Often, there is agonizing headaches, which accompany this disorder too. Actually what they’re experiencing is TMJ symptoms.We are the largest producer of projectorlamp products here.

Along with headaches, other typical TMJ symptoms include dizziness, neck pain and jaw discomfort, but there are a lot of additional indicators that can come from this ailment too. It is not rare for one to feel discomfort in the neck or shoulder area. One might think that they’re having back problems, but the inflammation from the temporomandibular joint may actually impact the muscular skeletal system.

TMJ can impact to the ears and hearing as well. Many people have earache and/or tinnitus. Temporomandibular joint is found near to the ears. Even though the patient really do not have anything wrong in their ears, it could feel like that because of close proximity of the inflamed joint.Pfister werkzeugbau AG aus Mönchaltorf ist Ihr Partner bei der Herstellung von Werkzeugen und Spritzformen.

Hearing loss is also possible due to the pressure from the swelling in the location.Choose from our large selection of cableties, While this might be the scariest symptom of all, typically it is reversible when the inflammation is gone.

While the symptoms of TMJ appear to be simple, there can also be some complicated ones also. Because the temporomandibular joint influences many parts of the body, it is not unusual for other symptoms to take place.

There are a lot of nerves, tendons as well as muscular tissues that are impacted by the swelling of this joint. Nerves in this area that turns into inflamed will send signals throughout the entire body. It is not uncommon for one that had TMJ to have muscular skeletal discomforts or arthritis.

The symptoms for each person could be different, but a few classic TMJ symptoms are normally always noticeable. Dealing with TMJ might be tough, however there are some TMJ treatment choices which are able to efficiently manage it.

Looking for medical attention at the 1st notice of any of these signs is important for a good prognosis. The pain can be debilitating and only a specialist can aid a patient recognize what is going on and obtain the assistance they need.

Practical Surgical Treatments For Hemorrhoids

You have several variations and severity stages of hemorrhoids requiring different hemorrhoid treatment. For victims where the hemorrhoids are intense enough,Read about coldsorestreatments, which are caused by a viral infection that attacks the skin and nervous system. surgical operations could very well be the most appropriate option for treatment of hemorrhoids. Having said that, what is reckoned to be intense for one individual probably won’t appear quite so intense for another. Typically, if the anal opening is totally covered up with hemorroids that is considered to be intense. Strictly speaking though, thrombosed hemorrhoids as well hemrhoid treatment as bleeding hemorrhoids are generally occasions where you may possibly look into a hemorrhoid treatment involving surgical operations.

Not all the hemorrhoid treatment surgery prospects are the same. In fact quite a few of them are rather uncomfortablel.In addition to that they may take a considerably long time to heal. Luckily, a few of the more modern options aren’t as painful,We parkingguidancesystem , vehicle location system and urban area parking management system, but they’re ordinarily more beneficial as a treatment option to overcome hemorrhoids.This entry was posted by billabongboardshortscloths. If you’re checking out surgical operations as a hemorrhoid treatment method then you are most certainly striving to figure out what variations of surgical operations are available to you. This short article was published to supply you an overview of the individual variations of surgical operations that you can benefit from to overcome hemorrhoids.

Rubber Band Ligation is a widely chosen method of hemorrhoid surgical operations . A tiny rubber band approximately 1 millimeter in diameter is pressed over the root of the hemorrhoid by a specialized kind of gadget . The rubber band blocks the oxygen supply to the hemorrhoid. In just about a week hemorrhoid relief give or take the hemorrhoid dries up and drops off leading to a scar.

You may want to look into laser surgery. Laser surgery consists of the use of a laser to zap the hemorrhoid off. The surgical treatment needs a reasonably short time so this means you can go back home that day. it is an out patient hemorrhoid treatment. Laser surgical operations is not going to hold the common concerns connected facts about hemorrhoids with surgical operations , specially bleeding because the laser beam cauterizes the resulting injury.With Payflowpaymentgateway,

A Stapled Hemmorhoidectomy is a relatively well recognised variation of hemorrhoid surgery . This variation of medical operation helps stop hemorrhoids from bleeding which in the long run relieves a lot of the pressure induced by the clotted blood.Manufacturer of industrial coatedabrasive rolls, This operation is usually utilized on prolapsed hemorrhoids but it performs for any variation of bleeding hemorrhoid. This solution involves stapling the hemorrhoid.

Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation Operation sometimes known as HAL is a modernday variation of hemorrhoid treatment facts about hemorrhoids that involves surgical operations. This procedure is becoming more popular operation doesn’t bring about significant pain. Effectively the approach consists of locating all the arteries that’re supplying the hemorroid with blood. Once the arteries are identified they are stitched to choke off the supply of blood to the hemorrhoid. For this reason the hemorrhoid dries up and falls off The only thing that remains is a scar.

Getting all your cables squeezed in can be a struggle

Enclosures designed with silence in mind tend not to look outwardly loud, and the Silencio 550 is no exception. The matte-black steel body sticks to smooth, clean lines and while it's not particularly eye-catching, the glossy-black plastic front door does help apply just a hint of elegance. It can become a magnet for both dust and fingerprints, but if you're looking for a chassis that's not at all brash, the Silencio 550 fits the bill.

Flip the front panel open from left to right (note that the door orientation can't be reversed) and you begin to unravel some of the chassis' hidden features. In addition to the sound-dampening foam that lines the inside of the door, you're greeted by two 5.25in optical drive bays and a third that arrives pre-configured as a useful hot-swap bay for 3.5in hard disks. The 3.5in converter - which Cooler Master calls the X-Dock - can be easily removed if you need the third optical drive bay, or relocated further up the chassis for easier access.

Below the exterior drive bays, a removable dust filter provides a look at a front-mounted 120mm intake fan. Cooler Master ships the chassis with only one other fan - a 120mm rear exhaust - and both are designed to operate at quiet speeds of up to 800RPM. The idea of course is near-silent operation, but as we'll show later in the review, that goal is met with below-average airflow. And,Houston-based rubber hose Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals if cooling potential is your primary concern, you may want to look elsewhere as the Silencio 550 only provisions for one upgrade - the addition of a second 120mm front intake.

The chiseled look of the chassis' top edge is a nice touch, and it's equipped with a useful array of I/O ports.The name "high risk merchant account" is not unique.Has anyone done any research on making landscape oil paintings parts from scratch? Working from the left, we have a single USB 3.0 port, headset and microphone audio jacks, a single USB 2.0 port, an SD card reader, followed by reset and power buttons. Both buttons have a satisfying spring about them, and the entire section's matte finish feels lovely to the touch.

If we were being pernickety, we'd add that the power button's blue LED is a touch too bright - and detracts from the otherwise clean look - but outwardly there's little to fault. The Silencio 550 looks simple, sleek and modern, and by offering front-facing USB 3.0, SD Card and 3.5in hard disk connectivity, it should fulfill most users' storage needs.
The Interior

Pleasant would probably be the one word we'd use to describe the exterior of the Silencio 550, and the same adjective can be applied to the interior.

The expanse of black continues throughout the internal cavity, and though there's nothing revolutionary here, the Silencio 550's assortment of features combine to create a chassis that's easy to work with.

Though the frame isn't the biggest, there's plenty of room to manoeuvre with mATX or ATX motherboards, and build quality feels good throughout. There's room for a bottom-mounted power supply (with pull-out dust filter and rubber standoffs), a pair of tool-free optical-drive mounts, a total of seven tool-free 3.5in hard-disk mounts split across two cages, and a single 3.5in-to-2.5in bay converter.

The upper drive cage can be removed to make way for extra-long graphics cards measuring in excess of 281mm, there's a sizeable cutout in the motherboard tray for CPU cooler installation and Cooler Master's documentation suggests that CPU coolers standing up to 154mm in height will fit in with ease.

Around the back, there are just four cutouts for cable management - one at the bottom of the motherboard tray, one to the left and two up top - but their positioning makes it fairly easy to maintain a clean-looking build. We were able to install our high-end Intel X58 test system with ease, and ran into only one niggling issue; there's a good amount of room between the tray and the rear side panel, but a portion of that is taken up by the sound-proofing material. Getting all your cables squeezed in can be a struggle.

Overall,Detailed information on the causes of RUBBER SHEET, the Silencio 550 provides everything you'd expect from a mid-range chassis, but what sets it apart is its quiet ambition. Following on from the sound-proofed front door and the rubberised PSU mount, each side panel is covered almost completely in a thick layer of sound-dampening foam, and there's a touch of rubber on each hard-disk mount, too. Factor in the four large rubber feet on the base of the chassis, and you're left with a solution that does reduce system noise - though,What is the difference between a Ripcurl and a 3rd party processor? as we're about to find out, at the expense of cooling performance.

'They do nothing'

As if the piles of bodies and the stench of rotting flesh hanging in the air were not enough of a challenge for workers at the mortuary, they are also faced with power failures and a lack of protective gear such as gloves and surgical masks.

"It's sad many people don't have money to bury their family, but it's out of control. We tell them [hospital administrators] the mortuary is overcrowded,Has anyone done any research on making landscape oil paintings parts from scratch? but they do nothing," a source who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal told the M&G.

Some workers say they have fallen ill as a result of working in close proximity to the bodies, while others complain of a lack of medical treatment for any infections picked up during their duties.

"They can fire me, but I am fighting for my rights and my health. Things cannot go on like this; they must change,Detailed information on the causes of RUBBER SHEET," the source added.

Unions threaten action
The Soweto hospital the largest in the southern hemisphere is facing a raft of challenges, with unionised employees calling for the CEO Johanna More to resign due to poor management.

The hospital has faced intermittent power failures which led to a backlog in scheduled surgeries, lack of hot water, as well as allegations of staff maltreatment.

Unions at the hospital including the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) handed over a memorandum of demands on July 8, threatening industrial action should their demands not be met.

The demands include the disbanding of all workplace forums, the re-opening of the maternity ward kitchen and union consultation in high-level decisions made by hospital administrators with separate calls being made for More's resignation.Basic information about Plastic molding including links.

More held a press conference alongside Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane on Tuesday, blaming the work of saboteurs for problems at the hospital.

Speaking to the M&G, Nehawu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the overcrowding in the mortuary was indicative of the massive crises that face the hospital.What is the difference between a Ripcurl and a 3rd party processor?

"I am not surprised by this at all. If management has an attitude of blaming sabotage for the problems,The name "high risk merchant account" is not unique. how can you address the real issues?

They are out of their depth and things are slowly eating away the hospital," Pumla said.

The hospital's management were not immediately available to respond to questions posed by the M&G.

Camera, Green Cred, and Conclusions

The 2-megapixel camera has no auto-focus or flash capability. For such a low-resolution sensor, test photos looked okay, with reasonable sharpness and color balance both indoors and out. Tree leaves and other distant details were smudges, but anything close by looked good. Recorded videos looked jerky and maxed out at just 352-by-288-pixels and 15 frames per second. That was sufficient a year or two ago, but 640-by-480 or better camcorder features are now commonplace on smartphones.

As a green phone, the Replenish easily qualifies for our GreenTech Approved award. It's made from 82 percent recyclable materials, and comes in fully recyclable packaging. It reminds you to unplug the charger when the battery is full. Samsung sells an optional solar panel charger for this phone (which we didn't get to test), and you can install the aforementioned green-themed apps from Sprint ID. Sprint also includes a free, postpaid envelope in the box to recycle your old phone.

The Replenish's form factor is a nice idea, and we always applaud electronics with green cred. But the low-end screen, choppy performance, and poor battery life all do this phone in. Buyers looking for a low-end Android phone should check out the LG Optimus S; while it drops the hardware keyboard, it steps up to a 3.2-inch, 320-by-480-pixel touch screen that's much more usable, and it also has longer battery life. If you have a bit more cash, check out the HTC EVO Shift 4G ($149, 4 stars), which features a much higher resolution screen, a faster CPU, 4G WiMAX capability, and a roomier, slide-out QWERTY keyboard.