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.

Jordan on my mind

MOSES DID NOT need Specsavers, according to a cynical fellow traveller as we stood on Mount Nebo in Jordan where the great prophet saw not only the Promised Land but also as far as the Mediterranean, an impossibility for mere mortals like ourselves.

Standing in a landscape which has remained virtually unchanged for millennia, we were the ones who needed all the visual aids available to take in the breathtaking views over the desert.

On our coach ride we had passed small settlements and ragged Bedouin encampments with their herds of goats and donkeys. The only colour to break the monotony of the landscape was that of the bright mustard flowers.

At Madaba, a short drive away, the workers who used more than two million mosaic pieces to make what is thought to be the earliest map of the Holy Land probably needed glasses by the time they finished it in AD 560. The mosaic, housed in St George’s Church, is one of the great treasures of not only Jordan, but of the world.

This is but one of the amazing sights in this extraordinary country, where habitations have been identified from as far back as half a million years ago and where the first permanent villages of stone and mudbrick houses date to 8,000 BC.

This region was a crossroads between the ancient civilization of Egypt to the west and Mesopotamia to the east. In the first millennium BC, there were several small kingdoms here,This page provides information about 'werkzeugbaus;Silicone moldmaking Rubber, with the Edomites ruling the south of the country, the Ammonites controlling the area around the capital Amman, once known as Philadelphia, and the Kingdom of Gilead, in the north.If you have a kidneystone,

The Arab Nabataeans set up their power base in southern Jordan at the end of the first millennium BC. Its capital was Petra, which finally succumbed to the Romans in the early 2nd century AD. The Romans controlled Jordan for several centuries until the Byzantine Empire,Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services. headquartered in Constantinople, took over for about 400 years, bringing Christianity to the region. In the seventh century, it became one of the heartlands of the Arab Islamic Empire – before the crusaders came along to complicate everything.

The Jordanians eventually got rid of their Ottoman rulers in a revolt which began in 1916, and the country became a protectorate of the British after the first World War. The British left in 1946 and the independent Hashemite Kingdom has been in place since then. The British influence is everywhere: in the English shop signs and the fact most Jordanians speak perfect English. They are a courteous and welcoming people and it is by far the most relaxed Arab country I have visited. Ease of travel is helped by the fact that the Jordanian dinar has a value similar to that of the euro.

But back to the sights. Our first night was spent in the lowest spot on earth, at the Marriott Resort and Spa. A two-mile drive from the capital,China professional plasticmoulds, it is 1,312ft below sea level, on the shores of the Dead Sea. We ate Italian food while looking across the sea at the West Bank and the lights of Jerusalem in the distance, in balmy evening temperatures of around 18 degrees. In the morning, there were mud bath and mud pack treats for those who cared to have them.

Do hippies do it better?

Some years ago I suffered a recurring string of chest infections, accompanied by the standard rattling cough and sore throat. Drinking wChina professional plasticmoulds,ater was akin to swallowing razorblades and nothing seemed to touch it. My doctor prescribed a dose of antibiotics each time and within 12 months I'd taken as many courses.China professional plasticmoulds,

Though I come from a long line of antibiotics abusers who seem hell-bent on ensuring they won't work when humankind really needs them, this approach clearly wasn't working so I turned to my hippiest, naturopathy-studying friend for advice.

Following a lecture about how antibiotics only work on bacteria and not viral infections, she recommended a simple schedule consisting of two types of tea with each to be taken three times daily. The first was finely chopped fresh sage and thyme mixed with boiling water and steeped for three minutes, to help combat the sore throat. The second was equally simple: dice two cloves of garlic, a chunk of ginger roughly the same size and mix with hot water, the juice of a lemon and a teaspoon of honey and steep for up to five minutes. Though the flavour was intense, you'd be surprised how quickly you grow to love it.

Within three days the chest infection was gone and I was feeling better than I had in a year. In the intervening decade I've required antibiotics only once - for a nasty flu, which is a whole other ballgame. Though bed rest is also an integral part of recovery, often times work and family pressures make this an unattainable luxury.At Blow mouldengineering we specialize in conceptual prototype design. Instead, I drink my hippy potion at the first sign of a cold and haven't pulled a sickie that wasn't hangover-related since.

Thanks to the adoption of green living by the wider community, there's been a knock-on effect of acceptance when it comes to natural remedies. Whenever a virulent cold does the rounds throughout the office, there are always one or two people extolling the virtues of Echinacea or olive leaf extract. However, even the biggest champions don't always know why they're beneficial. So, I asked an expert to give you the rundown of the most effective weapons against fighting the symptoms that accompany the common cold - as well as dispel any myths.

In the spirit of responsibility, when it comes to children, pregnant women and asthma sufferers,Welcome to the Lilla beddinges google satellite map! it's best to consult your doctor ratWhy does mould grow in homes or buildings?her than self-administering haphazardly. But that goes for medications you purchase at the chemist as well as natural fixes. And, if you've been struck down with a particularly virulent strain of the flu, by all means dose yourself up to the eyeballs with whatever you need to get you through.

If you have any of your own tried-and-trusted cure-alls not covered here make sure to mention them in the comments.

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.

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.”

US govt sets new tariffs on China solar panels

The Commerce Department is imposing new import fees on solar panels made in China, finding that the Chinese government is improperly giving subsidies to manufacturers of the panels there.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday it has found on a preliminary basis that Chinese solar panel makers have received government subsidies of 2.9 percent to 4.73 percent. Therefore, the department said, tariffs in the same proportions will be charged on Chinese panels imported into the U.S., depending on which company makes them.

The tariff amounts are considered small, but the decision could ratchet up trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Several U.S. solar panel makers had asked the government to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports. They are struggling against stiff competition from China as well as weakening demand in Europe and other key markets, just as President Barack Obama is working to promote renewable energy.

"Today's announcement affirms what U.S. manufacturers have long known: Chinese manufacturers have received unfair ... subsidies," Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Helios Solar Works in Milwaukee, said in a statement. The company is a member of a group called the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.

On the other side, some U.S. companies argue that low-priced Chinese imports have helped consumers and promote rapid growth of the industry.

The new tariffs are low, making the Commerce Department decision "a relatively positive outcome for the U.S. solar industry and its 100,000 employees," said Jigar Shah, president of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy. "However, tariffs large or small will hurt American jobs and prolong our world's reliance on fossil fuels.What are some types of moulds? Fortunately,Pfister werkzeugbau AG aus Mönchaltorf ist Ihr Partner bei der Herstellung von Werkzeugen und Spritzformen.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. this decision will not significantly raise solar prices in the United States."

Members of CASE include California-based SunEdison, Recurrent Energy, SolarCity and Westinghouse Solar, as well as China-based Suntech Power Holdings Co.

Commerce said it was putting off until May 17 a decision on whether Chinese companies are dumping the solar panels on world markets, selling them below cost. Tariffs for dumping cases usually are much steeper than those intended to counteract subsidies.

Also, because the decision on subsidy-related tariffs is preliminary, the amount of those tariffs could eventually be changed.

"Today's decision by the Commerce Department is a signal that China's unfair trade practices in the solar energy industry may soon be remedied, giving American producers a more level playing field on which to compete," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said following the announcement. "As the administration continues its investigation into exposing China's subsidies, and especially into the question of dumping, I anticipate that the tariff margins will significantly swell."

Oregon is the home base of SolarWorld Industries America Inc.China professional plasticmoulds,, the largest U.S. maker of silicon solar cells and panels, which has led the U.S. manufacturers' complaints. It is a subsidiary of Germany's SolarWorld AG.

Trade tensions with China are especially sensitive at a time when the U.S. and other Western economies want to boost technology exports to revive economic growth and reduce high unemployment.

The Commerce Department decision "puts the White House in a bind," said David Spooner, an international trade attorney at Squire Sanders in Washington who previously held positions at Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The administration wants domestic solar manufacturers to be protected from unfair foreign competition. But higher prices on foreign products designed to accomplish that also could hurt the goal of encouraging Americans to use solar energy, Spooner noted.Diagnosing and Preventing coldsores Fever in the body can often trigger the onset of a cold sore.

The U.S. and China are two of the world's biggest markets for solar, wind and other renewable energy technology. Both governments are promoting their own suppliers in hopes of generating higher-paid technology jobs.

China announced its own probe in November, saying it will investigate whether U.S. support for renewable energy companies improperly hurts foreign suppliers.

The U.S. manufacturers' complaints have been amplified by the controversy surrounding Solyndra Inc. -- a California-based solar panel maker that filed for bankruptcy protection after winning a $500 million federal loan from the Obama administration.

Solyndra's failure embarrassed the administration and prompted a lengthy review by congressional Republicans who are critical of Obama's green energy policies. Solyndra has cited Chinese competition as a key reason for its failure.

U.S. energy officials say China spent more than $30 billion last year to subsidize its solar industry. Obama said in November that China has "questionable competitive practices" in clean energy and that his administration has fought "these kinds of dumping activities." The administration will act to enforce trade laws where appropriate, Obama said.

Obama is visiting a big solar energy plant Wednesday in Boulder City, Nev., part of a four-state swing aimed at showcasing his administration's energy policies.

Former co-worker describes attitude of capital murder suspect

Testimony in the trial of a former dialysis nurse accused of killing five patients began Tuesday morning with another former DaVita nurse back on the stand.

Kimberly Clark Saenz, 38, of Pollok,We offer the best ventilationsystem, is charged with capital murder and five counts of aggravated assault. She allegedly injected bleach into the bloodstream of kidney dialysis patients.

Candace Lackey told the jury that she worked for DaVita as a nurse, during the time of incidents in April 2008. She testified that she started working as a nurse at Woodland Heights.

"It was a time of confusion, great anxiety," said the witness. "It seemed like we couldn't figure out why it was happening."

District Attorney Clyde Herrington then asked the witness about labeling of syringes. He asked the proper procedure for disposing of needles after using them to administer medicine. He asked if needles are re-capped after use.

"That is considered dangerous. You can accidentally stick yourself with a contaminated needle," said Lackey.

Herrington questioned the witness why the presence of bleach would be in a sharps container. Previous testimony says needles inside the container tested positive for bleach.

"There really wouldn't be any reason for bleach in a sharps container," said Lackey.Learn all about solarpanel,

The prosecution then turned to ask about Saenz's behavior in the workplace.

"Did she [Saenz] like her job?" said Herrington.

The witness revealed that she did not get the impression that Saenz truly enjoyed her job. She said that Saenz had a group of patients she did not like.External hemorrhoids are those that occur below the dentate line. Lackey also mentioned that there were plenty of nurses who did not like certain patients.

"She would not come in with a smile when we would be laughing and joking and getting ready for the day," said Lackey.

The witness testified that Saenz was hired just a couple weeks before she was hired.

"I know at one point that she was going to resign and then changed her mind," said Lackey.

The defense argued that working in dialysis is not for everyone. He pointed out that Lackey, herself, also left the practice of dialysis. Saenz's attorney, Ryan Deaton asked why the witness quit DaVita. Lackey replied that it was not only the deaths during April, but it was also the large number of illnesses that occurred at the clinic.

"Honestly,Choose from our large selection of cableties, I can't remember how many people became sick because it became a blur," said Lackey.

Deaton asked the witness was it solely the incidents in April 2008 that led her to quit her job in August 2008.

"There were other factors," said Lackey. "I felt so much anxiety because I could not reconcile what had happened. I felt like I had no control in that area. And, I felt like it might affect my performance."

She testified that other patients got sick in April, other than just those listed on the indictment.

Deaton called Victoria Gartman as the next witness. She testified that she was a facility administrator at Nacogdoches Dialysis. Deaton asked the witness if she knew Sharon Smith.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts.

"She [Sharon Smith] had difficulty at times," said the witness.

With an objection from the prosecution and no further questions, the witness was dismissed.

The defense called upon the next witness, who testified to being a friend of Sharon Smith, to the stand.

Deaton asked the witness her opinion of Smith before both counsels dismissed her from the stand.

Next, the defense called upon Sharon Smith.

"Do you remember telling Kim Saenz to give medications to Opal Few?" said Deaton.

The witness recalled asking Saenz if she was giving Few medications, and Smith said Saenz said she was giving the patient her medicine.

"What did you do after Ms. Few coded?" said Deaton.

The witness replied that she followed the clinic's CPR protocol and called the medical director.

With no questions from the prosecution, Smith was dismissed from the stand.

The defense called upon Danielle Hartsville, who testified that she was newly employed at the Lufkin DaVita Clinic in April 2008. She said she was hired in December, following her graduation.

Deaton asked the witness to time out and describe her schedule on April 26, 2008. The witness recalled she was missing a patient that day, one did not come in. So, she says she called in Opal Few.

"Was that something that the patients liked if they could get on early?"

The witness replied that some patients did and some didn't like getting their dialysis treatment earlier rather than later.

"When you get meds, do they come with stickers?" said Deaton.

"They come with pre-printed labels," said the witness.

The witness testified that she gathered medicine that's labeled at the nurse's station. After gathering medicine, she said she saw Few's machine was going off and she appeared sick.

Zola Jesus, Shabazz Palaces, and more at Creators Project

Along with all the epic-sized Lite-Brites and wing-flapping guardian angels at Creators Project this weekend in soggy Fort Mason, there also was plenty of super bass-heavy, heart-pumping, mind-expanding live music. Again, all free.

In the airport-hanger openness of midday in the Festival Pavilion — after a brief, freak hale storm outside — a loud, high-pitched electro-clatter came ringing down the forever long row of speakers. The culprit being Bejing indie rock act, New Pants.Specialising in injectionmoulding innovations,

With rapid energy the band bounced through hyperactive synth pop “punk disco,” while video projections by new media artist Feng Mengbo flashed on the screen behind. I most recall one song nearly matched up lyrically with clips from Spongebob Squarepants — the lyrics inexplicably being “I am not gay. Gay gay gay gay gay” and later, New Pants singer Peng Lei in a white button-up smashing a computer on stage, much to the small gathering crowd’s amusement.

After a quick trip back through the "Origin" cube and a saucy vegan tofu burger with pineapple from an Off the Grid truck (Koja Kitchen), I crawled back through the slightly more filled up hanger for always-entertaining LA noise band, HEALTH. As far as I’m concerned, the best parts of HEALTH were the drumming and the headbanging, which went hand in hand.

The experimental sounds, the mixed vocals, the frantic live show, it was great — but the drummer just killed it, and when another band member picked up the sticks to drum along in pummeling unison, it was near blistering perfection. And to my other point, I just like seeing bands headbang on stage, especially in this odd setting .

There was one true fan in the crowd — though I’m sure more were there, just possibly bodily contained — that couldn’t help but headbang along with dark flowing hair flying, jump methodically in place, and throw a near-empty cup of beer, much to the chagrin of the nerds around him.

The Antlers followed, and were rather unexciting. It was just that mild, lovely indie rock from a former blog buzz band, suitable for impassioned scenes on nighttime soaps. Though they played it well,Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty, not a whole lot of heat.

Seattle’s Shabazz Palaces brought the fun back. While the music off last year’s Black Up is sometimes playful, there’s a refined dynamic in the act, laid out by the casual-close interplay and synchronized dancing between smooth lyricist-808 controller Ishmael “'Palaceer Lazaro” Butler and bongo slapping multi-instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire. Lots of grooving followed, and some memorably awkward white boy shoulder jerks of free-form dance in the crowd.

After a round of sweet potato tator tots from Brass Knuckle, it was Zola Jesus mind-melting time. And just in time to catch that powerfully operatic voice soaring through moving single “Avalanche” off Conatus.

The diminutive vocalist, wrapped in her usual flowing, cape-y white frock, spread her winged-arms out wide during high notes, giving the illusion of a bird about to take flight, or an eerily angelic force, like the inverse of the black angel in Chris Milk’s interactive installation in the nearby Herbst Pavillion.

She was the first act of the day able to truly transcend the challenges of the wide-open space fighting the elements . Though that also could have been because the sun was finally officially down, and the true crowds were finally there, more efficiently using the room to huddle.Pfister werkzeugbau AG aus Mönchaltorf ist Ihr Partner bei der Herstellung von Werkzeugen und Spritzformen.

And this is when a balding elder with a badge around his neck began holding up his camera and filming Zola Jesus’ set.To interact with beddinges, And it was right in front of me. And then I was watching the floating eerie angel through his tiny screen.

With general media personnel,Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services. bloggers, reporters, Intel people, and VICE people all there with a barrage of fancy cameras with huge lenses, or iPads, or iPhones snapping away all day, it felt like nearly everyone was there to document the event. If not for a specific outlet, most definitely for some form of social networking.

It left me wondering, who was there to simply absorb the magic in real-time? Who came for fun? Are we all part of some scary dystopia in which nothing happens but documentation? But also, perhaps paradoxically, who cares? This was a great event, tying together master creators in the worlds of technology, art, music, and food. Who am I to shit on that?

Left pondering this, I realized: my cheeks were frozen stiff, my belly ached from fried foods, and my ugly sniffling cold was rearing its ugly sniffling head. It was time to go home. Luckily, my photographer stayed behind to document Squarepusher and Yeah Yeah Yeahs for those who missed it real-time.

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.

The homeless living the American Nightmare in tent cities

TO find Jackie O’s home you climb over a crash barrier on the M-14 freeway and shuffle down 20 steps of icy soil until a bleak stretch of pine forest comes into view.

Dotted round the wet, rolling, 20-acre site is a motley collection of tents, some covered with tarpaulin for added protection from the snow and near-zero temperatures.

Approaching Jackie’s tent, rain drips on my face from the trees.

There is a stench I last encountered at York’s viking museum, and our conversation is conducted in competition with the noise of heavy traffic speeding along Michigan’s interstate 94.

Under the tarpaulin it’s damp, dark and grim. Where you’d normally expect to see make-up, there are empty propane bottles and a small mirror hangs off a post.

Inside her tent is a sleeping bag on a metal frame,To interact with beddinges, and her possessions: a radio,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & moldmaker, reading light, small heater and clothes which she keeps in plastic bags to fight the black mould which infests the camp.

There are no toilets. When Jackie needs to relieve herself she does it out of sight of her overwhelmingly male campmates, and if she defecates she has to triple-wrap it like dog dirt and put it with the rubbish.

The site has no running water, so she has to travel into the nearby town of Ann Arbor and shower in public baths or the YMCA.

The 58-year-old has lived in this tent city, 30 miles outside Detroit called Camp Take Notice, since last June. Her real name is Jackie Starkey but her campmates call her Jackie O because she possesses a certain finesse.

She is not your normal down-and-out, but a middle-class, New York Times-reading laboratory technician from the upmarket town of Saline, Michigan.

She lost her job, then her home, and with no social services net to save her, ended up on the streets.

A local shelter organisation referred her to Camp Take Notice, and before she knew it, she was one of more than 5,000 Americans living in 55 tent cities across the country.

“It all falls away so easily,” she says. “One minute you’re doing OK, the next it’s gone. In America today, you’re on your own. Especially at my age.”

She laughs when I ask if she’d ever dreamed of living in a tent. “I’d never even been in one before. My life could not have been more opposite to this.

“I’ve played golf on the best courses and eaten at expensive restaurants. If becoming homeless can happen to me it can happen to that person who once sat next to me in that fine restaurant.”

Her campmates are testimony to that truth. Peter, 51, was a chemistry tutor at Wayne State University in Detroit until the department was abolished last April.Diagnosing and Preventing coldsores Fever in the body can often trigger the onset of a cold sore.

He fell behind with rent and, despite having a degree in chemical engineering,Great Prices from Topps tile. couldn’t find a job.

“Since the banks went under the cuts are brutal and there’s absolutely nothing out there. You can get yourself pulled down real quick,China professional plasticmoulds,” he says.

The statistics about what we think of as the world’s richest country are damning. More than one in seven Americans lives in poverty, surviving on less than $11,139-a-year (7,000), 14 million are out of work, 1.5 million children are homeless, 6.4 million families do not have enough food and 50 million people have no health insurance.

American aid missions fall victim to Mexico's turmoil

For two decades, a community hospital in Colorado sent a medical aid mission each year to a remote city in northeast Mexico, treating tens of thousands of low-income residents for free.

Dozens of U.S. doctors and dentists, backed up by even more nurses and technicians, would repair cleft palates,Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. take out gall bladders, treat cataracts, fix abscessed teeth and fit people for custom hearing aids.

"We basically would take over the hospital and run it 24/7 for a week," said Rich Lopez, a former deputy mayor of Boulder.

But then the gangsters arrived. Mante, a city in a sugar cane-growing region of Tamaulipas state, fell victim to the violence roiling Mexico. Last year, for the first time since the early 1990s, the U.S. medical team stayed home.What are some types of moulds? They stayed home this February, too.

As Mexico battles narcotics and crime groups, U.S. medical and religious missions that for generations had come to build houses, tend the sick and conduct goodwill activities have been forced to retreat. The suspension of such missions has cast a terrible,A top plastic lnjectionmoulds manufacturer and exporter in China. unseen blow on hidden corners of Mexico. It's also been painful for Americans with a desire to help.

"The numbers have really dropped off in terms of people going to Mexico," said David Armstrong, director of operations for Mission Data International, a group in Arkansas that tracks foreign religious missions.

For U.S. citizens in the Southwest, taking part in a goodwill mission to Mexico used to be as easy as hopping on a chartered bus with like-minded people and tooling along highways for a few hours. Suspending the trips has, in some cases, brought anguish.

"You don't know how it hurts," said Tino Hernandez, director of the Austin Diocese Medical Mission in Texas, an outreach of the Roman Catholic Church. "It's going to have a huge impact, and the people who are suffering are the poor."

Hernandez used to organize teams of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses to travel to areas of need in Jalisco and Coahuila, among other states.

"We were doing as many as three or four (missions) a year. We're right next door to Mexico, so we can drive," Hernandez said.

Now that the bishop has suspended missions to Mexico, Hernandez said, "the topic came up of possibly looking into the Philippines."

Few medical missions grew to the size or importance of the yearly Mante Medical Mission sponsored by the Boulder Community Hospital, that city's Rotary Club and its First Presbyterian Church.

"I can spin story after story of the miracles that these surgeries would accomplish," said Jean M. Bedell, a nurse who went on 20 annual missions to Mante.

Girls in Mante used to ridicule one teenager for her huge abdomen, Bedell said, until a Boulder gynecologist found that she had a non-malignant tumor and removed it.

As the years went by, the mission grew to more than 100 medical personnel, attending swelling numbers of patients. In recent years, the group filled a 40-foot trailer with operating room tables, anesthesia machines and disposable medical supplies to take with them and then leave in Mante. Organizers also arranged the donation of a used fire engine and ambulance.

"You can imagine what an enormous benefit that brought to our community. We estimate that more than 80,000 patients were treated over the course of those 20 years," said Dr. David Rodriguez Alvarado, a Mante physician whose father and aunt made the initial appeal at a Boulder church that set in motion the first mission in 1990.

Listening to that appeal in the congregation that day was David Gehant, chief executive of the 200-bed Boulder Community Hospital. He offered to speak with his doctors, leading to the medical missions.

Boulder medical personnel paid their own expenses to take part in the annual missions, working doggedly and returning a week later — exhausted.

"They would do more surgeries in a day than we ever do here in the United States," Lopez said, yet the hard work drew ample personal payoff.To interact with beddinges,

"The doctors say, 'I get more thank you's in one week in Mexico than I do in a year here in Colorado,'" Lopez said. "So in terms of reward, we do a lot for them, but they do just as much for us."

Those who still lead volunteer missions to Mexico say they regularly draw sharp words of concern from relatives.

"Parents called us all kinds of names," said Howard Culbertson, a professor of world evangelism at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma who took 120 people recently to Coahuila state to help local churches in construction projects.

"Our numbers were about half of what they were before, and a lot of it is due to this hysteria," he added, referring to what he deemed alarmist media reports.

At least 50,000 people have died since late 2006, when center-right President Felipe Calderon came to office and launched an assault on drug traffickers.

The State Department this month expanded its warning to U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to all or parts of 14 of Mexico's 31 states. It advised against nonessential travel to the border states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, and the central state of Durango, and urged caution on trips to Baja California, Nuevo Leon and Sonora,To interact with beddinges, also border states.

Organizers of missions have grown skittish as such warnings grow more dire.

"Every now and then, I'll talk to someone who says, 'I talked to the U.S. Embassy and they said that if you go, you better bring a body bag along,'" said Armstrong of Mission Data International. "In the media, it's just a blanket 'danger, danger, danger' everywhere."

But those who keep close tabs on the situation in Mante, for example, say the perils are real, even if the city seems "normal during daylight hours," as noted in a report from the Boulder-Mante Sister Cities Committee.

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."

Protein in urine — a sign of kidney damage

According to human physiology, kidneys function to remove toxins and excess water from the blood, apart from helping to maintain blood pressure,China professional plasticmoulds, produce red blood cells and keep the bones healthy.

However, kidneys can be damaged by diabetes,Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, high blood pressure , infection and inflammation, as well as stones and cysts in the organs.

Other causes of damage have been attributed to prolonged use of pain killers and consumption of alcohol.

If kidney damage becomes too severe, the organ will lose its ability to function normally. This is known as end-stage kidney disease, or simply kidney failure.

Nephrologists have identified diabetes and hypertension as the leading causes of ESRD, accounting for more than 60 per cent of new cases of dialysis patients in Malaysia.

According to the National Kidney Foundation , there are three types of kidney failure — acute, chronic and end-stage. Acute kidney failure is usually temporary and is reversible.

“However, sometimes this type of kidney failure may not respond to treatment and may progress to chronic kidney failure or end-stage kidney failure,” says a nephrologist.

When the loss of kidney functions is gradual and progressive, it is known as chronic kidney failure.

“Eventually, the kidneys are unable to remove wastes or maintain the body’s salt and fluid balance, resulting in the need to receive dialysis treatment”.

He says a build-up of creatinine in the blood will indicate kidney functions and the level of kidney impairment, adding that the risk of chronic kidney failure increases with age.

Health authorities reveal that the number of Malaysians suffering from end-stage renal failure has increased between 1980 and now — from more than 40 in 1980 to more than 12,000 now.

Nephrologists believe that the number of registered patients may not reflect the actual situation in the country, as there could be many suffering in silence due to a lack of facilities. Some also could have resorted to traditional or alternative treatment, they say.

Nephrology medical officer Dr BH Lim says medical authorities believe at least nine out of every 100 Malaysians have diabetes, and at least 40 out of every 100 diabetic patients have kidney disease.

“The incidence of kidney failure is rising,” he says, adding that there are about 92 new end-stage renal cases per million population, or between 2,000 to 3,000 new cases every year.

He says early detection can help prevent kidney failure and this can be achieved only if people check regularly to see if they suffer from kidney disease, particularly those in the high-risk group.

Those with a history of family members having diabetes and kidney failure are also advised to go for medical checks.

“Screening is essential for people considered to be at risk of kidney disease. Early detection of kidney impairment allows suitable treatment before kidney damage or deterioration manifests itself through other complications,” he explains.

He says kidney diseases develop slowly and the symptoms only appear at a late stage, when the patient already has kidney failure and may even need dialysis.

“Of course there is renal replacement therapy , but this treatment requires burdensome lifestyle changes for the patient and is extremely costly.

“A routine test of urine, blood and blood pressure can detect if there are any early signs of kidney problems. The needed laboratory tests are done on samples of blood and urine. When your kidneys are damaged, proteins leaks into your urine.Choose from our large selection of cableties,”

The medical officer says a simple test can be done to detect protein in a person’s urine.

“Persistent protein in the urine is an early sign of chronic kidney disease. The doctor uses the levels of serum creatinine measured in the blood to calculate the overall kidney function, or Glomerular Filtration Rate , and monitors your blood sugar to be sure you do not have diabetes.”

Creatinine is a waste product in the blood that comes from muscle activity. It is normally removed by the kidneys but when kidney function slows down, the creatinine level rises. Dr Lim says the kidney doctor can use the results of the serum creatinine test to calculate the kidney function, or GFR.We offer the best ventilationsystem,

Glomerular Filtration Rate indicates total kidney function. The normal level is about 100 ml/min. Dr Lim says if the GFR falls below 60 ml/min, the person will usually need to see a nephrologist.

If the treatment from the nephrologist does not prevent a further reduction in GFR, the kidney doctor will explain to the patient about the treatments for kidney failure, such as dialysis or kidney transplant.Learn all about solarpanel,

The 7th World Kidney Day on March 8 has the theme: “Kidneys for Life”, promoting organ donation and transplantation.

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.

Designer clinic an oasis of calm for children

DOCTORS' clinics, particularly those designed for children, can be slightly formulaic. Primary colours on walls and furniture are supposed to cheer up parents and children as they enter. A stack of toys in the corner is the norm.

But Flourish Paediatrics in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, has taken a different approach. Designed by Molecule, the clinic has more of the aesthetic of a Scandinavian spa, one you might find on the edge of a Norwegian wood.

''Our brief wasn't to make the clinic feel like a playground for children and get them hyped up when they see overstuffed toys,'' says architect Jarrod Haberfield of Molecule,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & moldmaker, who worked closely with the practice's other directors, architects Richard Fleming and Anja de Spa.

DOCTORS' clinics, particularly those designed for children, can be slightly formulaic. Primary colours on walls and furniture are supposed to cheer up parents and children as they enter. A stack of toys in the corner is the norm.

But Flourish Paediatrics in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, has taken a different approach. Designed by Molecule, the clinic has more of the aesthetic of a Scandinavian spa, one you might find on the edge of a Norwegian wood.

''Our brief wasn't to make the clinic feel like a playground for children and get them hyped up when they see overstuffed toys,'' says architect Jarrod Haberfield of Molecule, who worked closely with the practice's other directors,Carrying the widest selection of projectorlamp, architects Richard Fleming and Anja de Spa.
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''It was deliberately designed as a calming space, in a place where parents, as well as children, are often distraught.''

Flourish Paediatrics, owned by Dr Liz Hallam, doesn't consist of the usual string of rooms. Instead, there's a module completely clad in plywood sitting in the middle of the 40 square metre space. Appearing almost carved into these walls are nooks, cupboards and shelves, not dissimilar to an ingenious cubby house.

And at the rear of the ''cube'' is a kitchenette. ''The space is quite modest so we wanted to build as many features into the joinery as possible,'' says Mr Fleming, opening cupboards to reveal scales, IT server and a fridge. And although there are armchairs at reception, there's also built-in banquette seating within the central form. ''We wanted to create one strong sculptural element in the space,'' says Ms de Spa.

To ensure the ''sculpture'' was clearly delineated, Molecule pared back the reception area, with a white Corian bench and pale timber lounges and chairs.Fantastic range of porcelaintiles,

Within the plywood exterior, the interior of the pod, comprising one room, features white laminate walls and a glass ceiling. And like a piece of fruit that has several layers between the skin, there's an interstitial layer of green ecopanel sandwiched between the plywood and laminate. Ms de Spa likens the design to a Jenga puzzle, where blocks can be pushed back and forth. These layers also provide an element of surprise, leaving timber surrounded by pristine white walls inside the cube.

The core of the design is Dr Hallam's consultation area within the pod. As well as a desk, there's a nook for toddlers to play. And yes, the doctor doesn't have an aversion to a few toys scattered on the floor.

''From the outset, it was important to provide an environment that would calm parents, as well as children,'' says Mr Haberfield. ''Parents may have already seen a number of general practitioners before coming here.Members of this class are commonly referred to as slime moulds.'' This module approach, although highly suitable for a clinic, could equally be considered for a small apartment or office, where space is limited. ''This treatment could be developed as a bedroom in a compact apartment,'' he says.

The Molecule team appreciated the input from Dr Hallam. ''Liz is extremely pragmatic. She's obviously concerned with how her patients feel. But she also knows the importance of being able to wipe things down and providing a level of comfort,'' says Mr Haberfield,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down. who also took cues from graphic designers Round, who produced the organic-shaped emblem used for the clinic. Some of the plywood furniture and the organic-shaped rug were also designed by Molecule to ensure a seamless result. ''This motif [used for the rug] implies growth, something that's at the heart of this clinic,'' Mr Haberfield says.

It takes less to be a 1-percenter in Mich

A new analysis of Census Bureau data shows why: It's cheaper to be on top here.

In Metro Detroit, it took household income of $341,741 in 2010 to be a "one-percenter," according to Sentier Research LLC, a Virginia research firm. That's $45,000 less than the national average and $36,000 less than what it took before the national recession began more than four years ago and ended in June 2009.

While the Occupy Wall Street protesters and companion movements have turned the nation's wealthiest "one-percenters" into a political epithet, some Michigan one-percenters say their lives are not the stuff that cries out for political revolution.

"I saw that stuff on TV — all the marching and protesting. And I'm thinking: Is that true?" said Milus Allison, 72, who owns a Marysville tool-and-die firm, an industry ravaged by global competition and the shrunken domestic auto industry.

"I don't feel like I'm above anything," Allison said. "I go to work every day because the situation is still tough."

One-percenter William Beluzo,The liquid hardens or sets inside the molds, an estate planning attorney in Metro Detroit, says he is sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street crowd. But he's unsure how much of it applies to him or his affluent clients in Michigan.

"Corrupt things went on in Wall Street, there's no doubt about that. This isn't Wall Street.Omega Plastics are a leading rapid tooling and plasticinjectionmould company based in the UK, My clients, a lot of them had a dramatic change in lifestyles," said Beluzo, a partner in the law firm of Plunkett Cooney.

Internal Revenue Service data show people in the top one percent are mostly executives, managers or financial professionals, while smaller numbers are doctors or lawyers, according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

"What comes to my mind are doctors who also have many investments, often taking tremendous risks," said David White, who runs his own financial advisory firm in Bloomfield Hills. White declined to say whether he is a one-percenter.

"Here, to me,We offer custom plasticinjectionmoulding with full in-house tool making and tool maintenance. are one-percenters: They work 10-12 hour days. They take investment risks with the understanding that if they are successful, 50 percent of it will have to go to some form of tax. If they are not successful, they lose 100 percent of their money."

Metro Detroit and Michigan families have become poorer since the recession.

The Great Lakes State sank into the bottom 10 states in inflation-adjusted median annual household income between 2007 and 2010, according to Sentier Research. Michiganians suffered a 9.5 percent cut, to $47,000, in household income in 2010, from $51,939 in 2007.

The result is that Michigan's poverty rate in 2010 was its highest in at least four decades, according to a Detroit News analysis of census data. Poverty in the state — earnings below $22,314 for a couple with two children — crept up to 16.8 percent of the state's population from 16.2 percent in 2009.

With the slide in income, the threshold for Michigan's top 1 percent of households dropped to $327,000 in 2010, according to Sentier, dropping the state from No. 26 highest in 2007 to No. 37 in 2010 — the most recent year for which data are available. Michigan was passed by states such as Ohio, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Metro Detroit fell to 131st among 297 metro areas in 2010 after ranking No. 98 in 2007 with a top one-percent income of $377,096, according to Sentier.The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down.

"I don't know anyone who has become homeless or can't feed themselves," Bloomfield Hills attorney Beluzo said. "But for many people who rely on stocks and other investments for their income, the past few years have not been very secure. They stopped spending as much as they could."

For many Michigan manufacturers like Allison, the past few years have hardly been comfortable.You can find best china automotiveplasticmoulds manufacturers from here! He co-founded Bending Tools and Manufacturing Corp. in 1966, when his competition was mainly other Michigan manufacturers. Tool-and-die operators, who create the specialized machine tools, fixtures and molds that enable the mass production of everything from automobiles to computer chips, were so valued that they were exempt from military drafts.

Economy thrives at Granville Intermediate School

Business was booming this week at Granville Intermediate School, where the production of goods could not keep pace with the demand.

The seventh annual Economics Sale, conducted for two hours on Feb. 8-9 by the fourth-grade classes of Susan Tallentire and Laura Pleasants, was a success, with all of the proceeds going to the Healing Arts Mission in Haiti.

"It's all based on an economics unit," Tallentire said. "In the weeks leading up to the sale, the students learn about land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. They each come up with a business idea and create a product at home with their families. Last year, they earned $3,000 for Make-A-Wish Foundation,Represent injectionmouldingmanufacturer of plastic processing machinery, and we sent a GIS student with cancer to the Bahamas."

"It's awesome,Carrying the widest selection of projectorlamp," said Intermediate School Principal Gayle Burris. "Every year, the sale gets bigger and better. The fourth-graders vote on the cause they want to sponsor; it has real meaning for them.There are 240 distinct solutions of the Soma cubepuzzle,"

Among the big sellers this year, Fuzzy Wacky Glasses were sported by sellers and buyers alike. The neon-colored, 25-cent pipe-cleaner spectacles fashioned by Gavin Ross and his father sold out both days. As with any successful venture, this one required fine-tuning.

"We were just walking through Walmart, and my dad said, 'Let's see what we can do with pipe cleaners.' The glasses have evolved a whole bunch since then. They went from a cheap thing to something better when we added more pipe cleaners."

Other blockbusters included felted Amazing Monster Casing for iPods,Taktung der Unikatfertigung am Beispiel des werkzeugbaus. Locker Buddies magnets, Anna's Creative Crayons made from melted crayons and personalized with faces, Guitar Pick Pendants,Kremer is known for his work and innovations using largescalemolds as a means to construct sculptural vessel forms. Bookworm Buddies, Kailee's Rockin' Bottle Caps emblazoned with sayings like "Charm" and "Um, Duh" and Aces Flying Straws.

For the hungry, the options ranged from popcorn to cupcake push pops. The longest line was at the Sno Cones booth, where Becky Miller was making fast change while Kate Brautigan and her mother handed out cups of ice filled with syrup. They made $140 the first day and had sold $150 worth with an hour left on the second day.

Niamh Jacobsen said she got the idea for her Pet Fruits stand from her favorite YouTube show "The Annoying Orange."

"I asked Mom to make some faces on fruit and I gave them cool names: Abby Apple, Olive and Olivia Orange, Page Pear and Banana Bob," she said. "He (Bob) sold out first. I think people like the name."

Like a true entrepreneur, Jacobsen had a marketing strategy.

"If I had just put these fruits in a box, nobody would buy them, but I gave them names," she said.

A store's sign also can make a difference. Sarah Law's sign, Painted Rox, had a unique origin: "I ran out of space to write Rocks, but I think it looks cool this way."

Among the more inspired offerings were Keely Spens' Feathered Friends Cupcakes, intended not for fourth-graders but for birds. Decorated with seeds and raisins, the goodies looked tasty, and Spens said she had seen some chickadees in the backyard doing test sampling.

Kate Hyman at Pirate Pete's was selling homemade dog biscuits and cat toys made of spools and feathers.

And budding journalist Mary Kate Hill had elected to write, edit and publish her own newspaper, "The GIS Journal."

Some of the sellers, with an hour to go, were dumping inventory with reduced pricing.

"People didn't have enough money, so I reduced the cost," said Chloe Garcia of her $3 Cool Candles.

While fourth-graders from other classes were the biggest buyers, the crowd included teachers, family and community members and bigwigs.

"Even the superintendent and the director of curricular instruction stopped by," Tallentire said.

Louise Stewart had come all the way from Virginia Beach to see her grand-niece Lilly Stewart's Big and Small Suckers, made from chocolate and poured into flower-shaped molds.

"This is a great way to raise money," elementary school teacher Louise Stewart said. "Kids learn this way. It's hands-on and creative, and they learn the value of money."

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.