Damp problems blamed on residents of West Leigh flats

A HOUSING association has blamed damp in some of its flats on residents who do not use their heating enough.

Guinness Hermitage has been criticised for failing to treat damp problems in Solent House,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? Swarraton Road, West Leigh.

Those living in flats affected say their children’s health is suffering.

Despite putting the rent up by eight per cent, the housing association has not dealt with a number of flats which are so damp the walls are covered in brown mould and wallpaper peels off because they are wet.

Mum-of-one Kerry Mitchell has damp in the lounge,Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, kitchen and both bedrooms.

The 28-year-old said: ‘I don’t think anyone should have to live like this. We get dripped on at night.

‘The bedsheets are always cold and wet and I’ve had to throw clothes away because they go mouldy.

‘We want to have another baby but it’s not fair to bring them up in this flat. My daughter Lillie-May seems to always have a cold – much more than a child of her age should.’

Dee Kilby, 50, first complained three years ago and efforts were made but the damp and mould came back ‘with a vengeance’.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.

Guinness then covered her windowsills in plastic because they were rotting through damp but she says nothing else has been done.

She has now called in environmental health officers from Havant Borough Council and they confirmed they are monitoring the action taken by Guinness.

She said: ‘I have to take Piriton tablets because the damp causes what can only be described as year-round hay fever – I constantly sniff and have to blow my nose.Can't afford a third party merchant account right now?

‘When my grandchildren come to stay I give them my bed and I sleep on the floor because I can’t let them sleep in the spare room,Here's a complete list of oil painting supplies for the beginning oil painter. it makes their asthma play up.’

In a statement, the housing association said it has investigated complaints and believes the damp and mould is down to ‘condensation due to domestic lifestyle’.

It added: ‘By this, we mean things such as not wiping down condensation from the inside of windows, not allowing enough ventilation when cooking or drying clothes, not opening windows and inadequate use of heating.

‘In our view, there is no evidence of any major problem of damp within these three multi-storey blocks, and it would seem that most reported incidents have been due to domestic lifestyle.

‘We will of course respond to any individual complaints of damp, investigate accordingly and, where there is an identified leak or route of water ingress, take quick remedial action.’

Work force development is more than old “tool shop” mentality

R&D/Leverage has developed into more than just a mold manufacturing company. Over the past decade,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? the company has transformed into a full-service plastic product developer, helping brand owners go from idea to tooling and then manufacturing. R&D/Leverage's packaging capabilities include mold manufacturing for injection PET tooling and injection blow-molds. Beyond that R&D/Leverage provides brand owners with research including retail audits, trends and color studies, ethnographic research, feasibility studies and a full range of support functions.

R&D/Leverage is far from the old-school "tool shop" or "moldmaking" mentality. With all of those out-of-the-box services the company provides to brand owners, it has to be continually thinking about its work force development, and that involves much more than just finding and keeping good moldmakers. Today's R&D/Leverage has developed its own "brand" that attracts the region's (Lee's Summit,We offer offshore merchant account, MO) best, using today's tools of choice such as its new web site, trade show presentations and advertising along with technology, innovation and a comprehensive apprenticeship program.

The company has developed a "team-first" orientation in which company executives, including senior marketing, manufacturing and product development officials, who continually work at identifying and cultivating the next generation of talent. This process is made easier by the intrinsic appeal of the company's value proposition.

"At R&D/Leverage there has been great pride in American manufacturing since 1976," said CEO Todd Riley. "With that pride you will find innovation and work force development, working hand-in-hand to attract new employees while providing our customers advanced services and products. And we do this as a team."

Management at R&D/Leverage believes in the future of U.S. manufacturing and that attracting young people into the various areas of manufacturing is vital to the success of U.S. manufacturers. "We believe in the future of U.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air.S. manufacturing because we see, first-and-foremost, that it is possible to attract great candidates, eager to make their mark by building a real, physical product," said Robert Schiavone, Global Marketing Director, R&D/Leverage. "There is a place for creative, energetic, passionate young people in U.S. manufacturing."

Because of the extensive range of services that R&D/Leverage provides for its customers in the consumer products market, the company requires a variety of talents and expertise in its workforce. According to Schiavone, the "curb appeal" of R&D/Leverage is the company's exciting orientation. "We are the confluence of consumer research-inspired design and world-class manufacturing," he explained. "We combine Structural Brand Development and mold manufacturing - and it's a refreshing approach that captivates young 'left-brain, right-brain' thinkers."

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Schiavone told PlasticsToday that because R&D/Leverage offers a greater variety of opportunities for young people to engage in various aspects of manufacturing beyond moldmaking, the company is attractive to them. "Being unique in the industry has many benefits and attracting young talent is one of them," he added. Schiavone claims R&D/Leverage is the "first and only company to offer these combined services to the plastics industry. No one else can say that right now in this industry," adding that "it's very exciting and young high-school and college kids see it the same way."

Chris Lavery, the company's Manufacturing General Manager, agreed. "Ours is a bold, creative and disciplined methodology that serves our customers well and challenges the status quo," Lavery said. "Today's younger professionals see the appeal of a place where insights, imagination and hands-on realism meet, on a global level."

The key to sustaining this approach is attracting, nurturing and retaining the young talent to grow with the company, Lavery noted, adding that R&D/Leverage is "proactive about this process" and has developed a proprietary, formalized machinist apprenticeship program. The company's program even won a UK National Training Award in 2011.Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. "Attractive jobs are available in companies such as ours and are a rewarding alternative to the track many youths follow," he stated. "Outreach to the regional educational community is essential in communicating the availability and appeal of such programs."

R&D/Leverage's CEO, Todd Riley, sits on the advisory board for Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. His heart is close to that institution as he is a graduate of PSU. In addition to local colleges, the company is aligned with programs such as FIRST Robotics,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, Skills USA and has sponsored summer internships for years.

India’s chronic water shortages mean growth for rotomoulders

India’s persistent water shortages could mean rapid growth for its rotational moulding 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% a year over the next five years.

The study, from Indian resin maker Reliance Industries, 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, rotomoulding 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 rotomoulding industry is currently the world’s second-largest, after the US, Reliance estimates.

It grew more than 10% a year between 2006 and 2011, driven by rising consumer demand, although 2011 saw a marked drop to about 3% 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 Rotomoulders conference, held 29-31 January 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 rotomoulding sector is projected to grow from 260 million pounds of plastic consumption last year to 474 million pounds in 2016.

Indian rotomoulders 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.The magic cube is an ultra-portable, And the third-largest market, China,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, will grow from 243 million pounds to 403 million pounds between 2011 and 2016.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,

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 1.66 billion from its current 1.22 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,A mold or molds is a hollowed-out block that is filled with a liquid like plastic,” 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 rotomoulded tanks to collect water and store it for use later.

Indian rotomoulders have historically specialized in above-ground tanks for that market, and that application still accounts for about 70% 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 rotomoulders need to upgrade themselves to the latest technology, processes and systems,” said Venkit Mahadevan, Mumbai-based national sales manager for American materials supplier A. Schulman Plastics India and its Ico Polymers division.

Mukesh Ambani, president of the Society of Asian Rotomoulders in New Delhi and managing director of Mumbai-based rotomoulder Infra Industries, said there is significant interest from foreign rotomoulders to invest in India’s sector. There are opportunities for both sides,Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of with Indian firms needing technology, he said.

One new partnership was announced at the conference. Italian mould maker Roto Moulds srl announced a technology transfer and sales partnership with mould maker and machinery manufacturer M. Plast (India).

One of the reasons for the tie-up, M. Plast executives said, was because the Italian firm had a lot of experience in the underground water storage tank market.

SF's Dogpatch pier district braces for renewal

There's a hidden corner of the City by the Bay where rusted cranes used to build WWII battleships loom over dilapidated artist studios, where working-class fishermen bob up against first-class ocean liners docked for repair.

Residents of San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood overlook the rough-and-tumble Pier 70 waterfront and bask in the smell of fresh fish, the cacophony of fog horns and Canadian geese, the jumble of Victorian cottages tucked between corrugated barns and industrial brick icons of the late 1800s.

It's a nautical nugget where few tourists have ventured. A secret stash of cheap artist studios in old clapboard pier offices commands a view of the rusted bones of crumbling canneries, metal scrapyards and silent smokestacks.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, And it has one of the only working boat yards in San Francisco, where boaters can dry dock for repairs and grab a beer at The Ramp.

The city plans to redevelop Pier 70, hoping to capitalize on its historic charms while providing badly needed jobs, commercial and residential space _ all while maintaining the neighborhood essence that dates back to the mid-1800s when the Union Iron Works, Bethlehem Steel, Pacific Rolling Mills and the Spreckels Sugar refinery dominated the waterfront.

"The winds of change are blowing south and it's time to get Pier 70 and this area back into economic use," said Kathleen Diohep, project manager at the Port of San Francisco for the redevelopment plan. "We want to have the capacity for companies to grow and we think that Pier 70 offers opportunities that are unlike anything else."

The Port is tasked with restoring the two dozen buildings from what's been described as the most intact 19th century industrial complex west of the Mississippi River. Diohep insisted most of the historic buildings would not be razed and that new structures would integrate nicely. The Port is working with developers who will present their proposals to a citizens' advisory group Wednesday.

The roughly 1,000 residents, artists and small business owners, shipyard workers, fishermen and boat builders are passionate that their historic surroundings and lifestyle not be harmed.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development.

"I don't think the people in the city staff positions understand the nuances of what happens down here," said Allen Gross, a retired San Francisco Opera set carpenter who is restoring the Folly, a wooden cutter built in 1889.

Gross, 63, has been working on the Folly for more than five years and hopes to race the boat in the spring, launching from the San Francisco Boatworks just down the street from Pier 70. Wearing canvas overalls filled with rags and tools, the gray-bearded Gross shouts out greetings to others washing, scraping and painting their boats. They all express anxiety about losing this lifestyle.

"I think the folks at the port are seeing the slick, upscale stuff like what they've done out on the Embarcadero," Gross said. The restored piers along the Embarcadero waterfront from the stadium where the Giants play baseball, under the Bay Bridge and up to the historic Ferry Building are now filled with tony restaurants, bakeries, coffee sellers and pricey artisan cheese and chocolate shops.

"They're going to have all this kind of frou-frou upscale stuff, and what they're going to lose in all of that are some of the things that are part of the fabric of this city," Gross said.

The gritty neighborhood at the foot of Potrero Hill on the eastern side of the city peninsula once manufactured supplies for the California Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railway.

Ships built at Pier 70 supported U.S. military engagements from the Spanish American War to the two world wars, including Admiral George Dewey's flagship, Olympia, and the battleships USS Oregon and USS California.

Hundreds of steamboats, ferries and freighters were assembled by the men whose families resided in Dogpatch, named for the wild dogs that sniffed around the butchers and slaughterhouses of the 1800s. The families were mostly Irish,Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, Italian and Russian immigrants as well as African-Americans who came up from the South during the maritime boom of World War I.

The shipyard today has the largest floating dry dock on this side of the Pacific, where massive cruise liners come in for inspections and repairs and tiny tugs get their underbellies scrubbed free of barnacles.

The artists, filmmakers, architects and designers in the three-story, wood-frame Noonan Building at Pier 70, built in 1941 by the government as war production offices, overlook an auto impound yard and a rusted-out warehouse. On a clear day,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, they can see across the San Francisco Bay to the massive Oakland cargo port.

They are besotted with the ambience and the rental rates.

"This is the only place that artists can actually afford," said Jason Sussberg, a filmmaker with Dogpatch Films. "San Francisco is a place that values its artists and innovators; that has to be more than just a slogan."

Sussberg and his three colleagues pay about $800 a month for their 1,The magic cube is an ultra-portable,300 square feet of open space on the second floor of the Noonan. Natural light pours in off the bay.

"Even if they do tear down the Noonan Building, or they upgrade it, they should at least have subsidized rent or something that makes it so that we're not priced out," he said.

At the same time, the 29-year-old filmmaker called it "kid of tragic" to see so much architectural glory boarded up.

"I'm kind of torn," he said. "It's gorgeous and I love to see the smashed windows, the wild cats running around and the graffiti. It's totally fantastic and bizarre, but at the cost of all this wasted space, it's just not worth it."

Janet Carpinelli, a graphic designer and Dogpatch resident for 30 years, said most residents would agree. They are eager to see those beloved buildings restored to their glory after so many years of neglect.

"We have the bones of a really fantastic area here and we just want to see it enhanced," said Carpinelli, president of the Dogpatch neighborhood association. "But we don't want to see it developed in spite of the historic buildings; everything has to be done in this organic way to encompass the history. We don't want the new buildings to obscure or overpower the historic ones."

The historic ones include rare examples of modified Renaissance Revival in red brick that withstood the catastrophic 1906 earthquake, as well as rusticated stucco, granite staircases and fluted Doric pilasters alongside warehouses made of corrugated iron.

People here don't want the revival to follow the path of Mission Bay, the waterfront just north of Pier 70. The old Southern Pacific Railroad Company yard is now a biotechnology hub of tall glass structures and shiny new hospital and research facilities for the University of California San Francisco. Its detractors say that while the development has been an economic success, the San Francisco soul is missing.

Diohep insists that won't happen at Pier 70. She said most of the buildings within the 70-acre district are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as being under consideration for preservation.

While the Noonan Building might be moved to make way for development, the more architecturally significant structures should remain. Even the two rusted, graffiti-laden mobile gantry cranes will stand tall at Slip 4 for a public park to be called Crane Cove.

The company bidding to do the bulk of work on the most prized buildings believes the area can be revitalized without compromising character.

"It's a challenging Rubik's Cube of opportunity," said Loring Sagan, head of design at Build Inc., a boutique firm partnering with historic preservation specialists, Equity Community Builders.

They will recommend several cornerstone tenants to jumpstart activity. Those include headquarters for the Burning Man festival; incubator space for the life sciences firm Prescience International; and Conxtech, a company that builds sustainable steel structures.

The Union Iron Works powerhouse with its massive pneumatic compressors still intact might make a great gathering site for entertainment, restaurant and bars, he said.

But the start-ups and artists won't be forgotten, said Sagan, himself a sculptor. He plans to call on bigger tenants to provide subsidized space for artists in the new historic zone.

"It's a fertile ground for creativity down there," Sagan said. "And we see that type of fertility as a necessary ingredient for our project to be successful."

A bit of bliss

The light brown candy glistens with a sugary sheen, like new-fallen snow crystals in your yard on a bright winter afternoon. You crunch into it and the candy crumbles and tumbles and plays around your tongue, kissing it with an innocent, brown, outdoors-y sort of sweetness, then melts away to make room for more.

And that’s what you want. More!

Maple candy is one of the sweetest gifts ever from nature. From nature and folks like Rex and Janet Russell, that is.

You may know Rex and Janet for their maple syrup business near Rome, Endless Mountains Cabin. Maple syrup is made in the late winter and early spring. But what you might not know is the two actually work year-round bringing us candy, and candy, and more candy. By themselves. By hand. All the time.

“It’s about the same all the year,The magic cube is an ultra-portable,” Janet says of the candy business.

Rex once figured they made 14,000-15,000 pieces of candy per year. In 2011, they used up at least 25 drums of syrup on it. They supply 126 stores.

“Everything we do is a two-person operation, isn’t it Rex?” Janet says. “Pretty much,” he agrees.

So how do these little candies — shaped like maple leaves, bunnies, grapes, men — come about? It all starts with the syrup.

In late winter and spring the hearts of maple trees begin beating with excitement over the coming warm days, pumping sap through their trunks. Maple producers put plugs, or “taps” into the trees and draw out sap, which they boil down into syrup.

To make the candy, the Russells use light, or “fancy,” syrup. Light syrup usually comes from early-season sap, but a cold snap can bring on more. “It all depends on the weather,” Rex explains. Maple season usually runs from mid-February to early April.

So they bring the syrup into the little kitchen beside their sales room and go to work.

On a recent afternoon Janet packages candy leaves there, the room around her fairly bursting with a sweet maple smell.Can't afford a third party merchant account right now? Shelves by one wall hold candy molds; a sink and counter line another. Scales and a kettle stand nearby.

They pour the light syrup into a “pig,We are professional Plastic mould,” a metal container that looks something like, well, a pig.

“We boil it,” Rex explains. “Bring it to a boil.” The syrup cooks 1 hours at 32 degrees above the boiling point of water which, at this elevation, is 242 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Then we let it cool,” he says, but just to 228 or 230. Then they pour the hot syrup out the pig’s “snout” into a trough with a spiral wire, which sends it into little molds.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development. One pigful can make 22 dozen pieces of candy.

They let the molds cool a full day. Then they pop out the shaped candy and soak it eight to 12 hours in room-temperature syrup, or “mother syrup.” These treatments give the candy its “crystal coating,” Rex says, and provide a longer shelf life.

“We don’t add anything,” Janet says.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992,

“It’s more healthy than your processed sugar,” Rex insists. Maple candy’s pure, he says — all the way from the tree.

Whew. Boiling, pouring, boiling, soaking — after all that, a piece of candy needs a rest. Which it gets. The candy sets and dries two days.

OK, it’s time to go. Janet packs it, piece by piece, one at a time. She grabs a little bag, gently tosses in a piece of candy and sets it aside. “This table will hold 10 dozen,” she says. Then she seals them with a little heating machine and puts on the gold Russell labels. Janet can package 20-25 dozen candies an hour.

Rex and Janet get a lot of business from Route 187 passers-by, but they also fill Internet orders and deliver candy to stores as far away as East Syracuse, Horseheads, Williamsport, Danville and Watkins Glen.

Edsel Ford Graduate's Art Installation Spreads Hope to Sick Children

At the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, young patients are often facing frightening health issues. But this month, many of those children found an escape from illness, provided by 22-year-old Matthew Lambert, aChina yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development.n alumnus of Edsel Ford High School and the force behind the Communal Experience Project.

Made up of 132 small tiles individually painted by patients, a mural was installed Jan. 18 at the hospital by Lambert, with help from volunteers working for public arts project ArtCorps, and the hospital’s Healing Arts Program, which promotes well-being by using art.

For Lambert, the road to creating the mural began when he was looking for a service project at Wayne State University, where he’s majoring in both art and psychology.

“I wanted to explore the idea of creating a collective work art out of smaller pieces,” said Lambert, who graduated from Edsel in 2007.

"The Communal Experience Project was a chance to allow the children to create something without restrictions. For a while, it was an opportunity for them to express themselves without having to think about why they are in the hospital.”

To bring the project to life, patients were not given any specific directions,The magic cube is an ultra-portable, but were assigned a color. Lambert oversaw the young people as they and their parents painted the tiles, which were made of clay donated by Wayne State.

The final product depicts a human reaching for the sky.

“The real art is not the mural itself,” Lambert explained. “It’s art acting by transformative action. The mural is a bi-product of the experience, which will never end by virtue of its location and the people who might be inspired by it going forward.”

Arts Service Learning courses at Wayne are part of the community-based ArtCorps, which is modeled on the national Peace Corps, said Mame Jackson, a professor emerita of art history at Wayne that teaches the course, “Art in the Community: Art as a Social Process.”

“(ArtCorps) puts students and volunteers in different parts of the community in arts-related projects, (which) brings a vibrancy and vitality back to our community,” she said.

Lambert, who will graduate from Wayne this year with a double major of art and psychology, developed an interest in the arts when he was very young. Homeschooled until the sixth grade,A mold or molds is a hollowed-out block that is filled with a liquid like plastic, Lambert said he learned most of what he knows about art from his mother.

At Stout Middle School, his talents were further honed by art teacher Kate Blair, with whom he still corresponds. By the time Lambert started classes at Edsel, he was spending most of his time at Henry Ford Community College taking psychology courses.

Now at WSU, Lambert focuses mainly on jewelry design, and is planning to work and study in Amsterdam later this year before heading to grad school.

But this month, it was all about working with kids. Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality,And while the children had fun creating art, Lambert knew it was about much more than that.

“Many of the children had visible signs of being ill,” he said.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, “That made this experience more important for them because it’s something that had nothing to do with their illness.”

Dare to be kind

FOR most of us, it’s not second nature to be kind. We are, whether we admit it or not, all selfish -- in varying degrees. But there are some of us who are kind. There are some of us who fight valiantly to subdue our innate selfishness. There are some of us who DARE to be kind. And one of the kindest people I know is my husband. Many people tell me the same thing.

My husband turned 60 last September. Five years ago, while he was giving a talk, he suffered a stroke. But by God’s grace, he wasn’t paralyzed. His motor skills were intact. All his five senses were preserved. He didn’t slur. He didn’t drool. His face didn’t wilt to one side. But what got affected was his word retrieval system. He couldn’t find the right words for things -- for example, if you asked him what he was drinking, he would say "citrus" instead of "kalamansi." (The stroke re-wired his brain from Pinoy to Continental! That was our private joke.) But his physical recovery was fast. In six months, he was able to play tennis again.Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists.

Dr. Alran Bengzon, my husband’s neurologist at the time, was so kind to my husband. Both Ateneans, they somehow spoke a kindred language. They shared this wry, Ateneo sense of humor that was both cerebral and homespun. When Dr. Bengzon asked my husband some diagnostic questions, I couldn’t help but laugh:

The way Dr. Bengzon handled that first interview was crucial to my husband, to me, to our family. From a deep, dark abyss of uncertainty, foreboding and dread, he gave us hope. He was just so kind. His bedside manner was perfect -- paternal, professional, warm -- with just enough humor to lighten up a very tense situation. After talking to my husband and sharing a few more laughs with him, the good doctor gently led me to one side.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, He showed me Ito’s brain scans. He patiently and unhurriedly explained what had happened inside my husband’s brain, and what probably caused the stroke. All of a sudden, my fears died down. I felt this doctor’s kindness, his concern for my husband was palpable and real.

To all the doctors out there, I make this plea: Dare to be kind to your patients. Your sincere concern makes a whole world of difference to our emotional well-being in the midst of a medical crisis. Treat your patients as people, not just numbers or "cases." Don’t be cold or curt. Don’t be in such a hurry when you talk to us, skipping important details that you think we might not understand. I can’t forget how Dr. Bengzon explained things to me patiently, unhurriedly, in word pictures I could understand. Just as a father would to his daughter. And you know what? It was his first time to meet Ito and me. We weren’t VIPs. But he treated us like we were. A very dear friend, Tess, called Dr. Bengzon and asked him to be Ito’s attending physician. Our family will never, ever forget their kindness to us -- at a time when we needed it most. They dared to be kind.

When my husband was cleared to go back to work, I bought him a new office ref so he could have fruits within easy reach whenever he got hungry. One of our friends filled his ref with fresh fruits and juices. She did that for some time, so I didn’t even have to restock my husband’s ref. She dared to be kind. Another person put an air purifier right in front of my husband’s desk, and asked if there was anything else he needed. That person dared to be kind. Friends sent lots of food, books, DVDs, lent their drivers, offered to get our test results, recommended their doctors, texted me incessantly to ask how Ito was, prayed without ceasing for his fast recovery. We were inundated with kindness in all forms, shapes and sizes.

I particularly remember a dear friend who gave Ito six huge workbooks . She ordered the books from abroad. When we showed the workbooks to Ito’s therapist, she was in AWE. She said that these were very expensive, state-of-the-art workbooks which any therapist would die to have in her library! Along with the workbooks were two video iPods which our friend also gave us -- she had loaded it with Ito’s favorite TV series so that he wouldn’t get bored while waiting in doctors’ offices. She also gave me a video iPod for myself, to keep me entertained while waiting with Ito. Mine was loaded with thousands of songs, a couple of movies, and lots of TV shows that will probably last me till I’m 90! How thoughtful of her. How kind. Our friend knew that Ito and I are Jurassic, so she took the trouble of loading the iPods for us. She DARED to be kind.

When my husband went back to work,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker, one of the things I was observing was how his colleagues would treat him when he went back to the office. Well,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, there were people who were kind (God bless their hearts.) And there were people who were very, very unkind. It was a shock to me how some stayed away from him like he was a social pariah. Before his stroke, my husband held a responsible position, so people would often crowd around his office, waiting to talk to him with documents and checks and what-nots that needed his perusal or approval. But all of a sudden, after his stroke, Ito’s office was like a barren, desolate wasteland. In his absence, his things were transferred. He was relocated to a smaller space. When I checked what he was going back to, I was flabbergasted: his things were in boxes, in total disarray. So I fixed my husband’s office to make it look presentable,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, welcoming, a pleasant work environment for him.

Unfortunately, more bad things were waiting for him at work. Much worse than the stroke, a series of "unfortunate incidents" hit him from left field. My husband was slowly but surely stripped of his responsibilities, his authority, and people were removed from his supervision without any explanation. Never mind about showing kindness. All that the situation called for was a semblance of professionalism -- especially since my husband had served with a sterling record for more than a decade. All it took was a modicum of decency to tell him, "Hey, Ito, we don’t want to stress you out with lots of work right now. We want you to rest for a while. You deserve a good rest, after all your hard work. So we decided to divide your work among us. Hope you won’t mind if we come to you for advice now and then!" (Or words to that effect.) It would’ve taken only 20 minutes to sit down with him in a meeting, to show him a little kindness. But, alas, no such kindness was shown to him.

By God’s grace, my husband is a fighter by nature. Maybe it’s because he has played in tennis tournaments since he was twelve. That way, he developed nerves of steel. He was one of Ateneo’s youngest varsity tennis captains. He was trained to show grace under pressure, to hang tough, to keep on playing against all odds, and not to choke when it was finally Match Point. It’s one of the reasons why I really look up to him.

So, when my husband was summarily shelved aside with no explanation, his nerves of steel and innate calmness surfaced . Instead of wallowing in self-pity or bitterness or frustration, he thought of other things to do for the organization -- without being asked. In a way, he reinvented himself. He said, "Well, I will do what I can do to contribute whatever good I can. There’s always something useful to do." Fighting words, all right. And a lot of it, I believe, comes from an Atenean’s indomitable spirit. After all, every blue-blooded Atenean’s rallying cry is "ONE BIG FIGHT!!!" But more than that, I know that Ito’s vast reserve of strength, his tenacity to overcome, came from one limitless source of hope, strength, and kindness: GOD.

I am writing this not because I’m bitter. Not to pillory those people who were unkind to my husband in his time of need. Maybe they just weren’t equipped to respond with compassion. Maybe they grew up not receiving any kindness. Maybe they were going through their own trials at the time. Or maybe they were just too dense and insensitive (as I am at times). At the end of the day, whatever our reasons are for being unkind, we are all answerable to God.

I’m writing this to remind myself (and you, as you’re reading this) that it takes so little to be kind. It takes so little to prop up someone’s sagging spirits. It takes so little to make people feel they’re valuable human beings. It takes so little to assure a person: "Hey, it’s going to be okay. We can do this together. We’re right here with you!" Well, thank goodness, there were many people who rallied around us and constantly showed us kindness, over the long haul. Many of our friends surprised us that way!

Now that our lives have gone back to normal, it doesn’t hurt anymore to recall such a disturbing lack of compassion. In fact, one of my best life lessons came out of that traumatic situation: in any circumstance, each of us has a choice -- to be kind, or to be unkind. Our family survived one of the worst crises in our lives because many, many people dared to be kind.

Pikas like it cold and make hay

Pikas are one of the cutest of our mountain animals. How do they survive life in the high talus slopes, in steep piles of jumbled rock and beneath cliffs in the high mountains in the winter? These bare rocks seem like very inhospitable habitats, yet it is their home, pantry and shelter.

The talus fields which pika colonies inhabit are generally fringed by suitable vegetation. Pikas usually have their den and nest sites below rocks, but often sit on larger and more prominent rocks. They generally reside in scree near or above the tree line.

American pikas live at very high altitudes because they cannot tolerate heat. They avoid hot weather by seeking out the cool crevices under boulders, and by remaining inactive during warm periods. During the cold, snowy winters at high elevations, they are protected by their dense coat of fur. The dorsal fur of the pika ranges from grayish to cinnamon-brown, with tawny hues during the summer. During winter, the fur becomes grayer and longer. The dense under-fur is usually slate-gray or lead colored.

The closest relative to the Pika, is the rabbit, and they run a little like rabbits, but they have small, round ears and no tail. While their marmot neighbors are hibernating, these little creatures remain active beneath the snow in the talus slope. A deep layer of snow protects pikas from high winds, and temperatures below –20 F, but if the snow is shallow, pikas may die of exposure. I hope this winter was not too harsh on our local pikas.

In preparing for winter, pikas dig tunnels in the snow from their den areas to the hay piles. On bright sunny days when the weather is bitterly cold and other animals are either hibernating or hiding in dens, pikas can be found sunning themselves on exposed rocks.

Summer,Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists. spring and fall are only a few months long in the high-alpine environment. In that time pikas are furiously busy cutting grass and flowers and adding them to their hay stacks. To survive seven months of winter, pikas cache summer vegetation in a hay pile sheltered beneath a large rock within their territory.

A pika makes an estimated 14,000 collecting trips during the short mountain summer to accumulate the hay pile. When the hay pile is gone, a pika will gnaw lichens from the rocks.

Some pika hay piles can be spotted easily, others are hard to find.Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, Pikas often tuck their loads under large overhanging rocks or sometimes make huge bushel piles of hay right on the talus surface. Other pikas wedge their hay between rocks,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, so very little of even a large hay pile is visible on the surface.

Pikas save their winter larder in a very methodical way in a stack that often measures several feet thick and contains some 60 pounds of vegetation. Pikas first gather fresh vegetation and lay it in stacks to dry. Once the plants and grasses dry out,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, the pikas take this hay back to the burrows for storage. They must literally make hay while the sun shines, storing vegetation for winter feeding.

After cutting a columbine stalk with its teeth, a pika grips the plant between its jaws and runs to add it to a hay pile. Earlier in the season pikas eat the columbine's flowers but ignore the rest of the plant which is toxic. Pikas choose some plants for their anti-bacterial properties which keeps the hay pile from rotting.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker,

Pikas can literally mow down plants, turning their heads to the side to bite off stems as close to the ground as possible. They have been observed harvesting and carrying off 4-foot-tall stalks of mountain bluebells, only to have their scampering retreat across the talus abruptly halted as the long stems wedge between rocks.

The hay piles also form the basis of interesting social interactions with the rest of the colony. For much of the year pikas are very territorial, and their territories are centered on their hay piles. There is an endless turf battle. Pikas throughout the colony are constantly running others off from their territory. Frequently pikas must cross other pika's home areas to get to spots where plants grow, so it is a never ending skirmish.

The protection of territory continues into the winter when pikas guard their hay stacks. In the spring there seems to be a truce and pikas are suddenly open to sharing their hay stacks. Coincidentally, it is about the same time that pikas are starting to look for mates. This hospitality ends at about the time that mates are selected.

Pikas are in a constant race with winter. Babies are born in spring, weaned in three weeks, and then immediately kicked out of mom's territory. In order to survive they must then hurry to establish their own territories and accumulate a hay pile for the impending winter.

Paper or plastic?

An irresponsible person with a credit card can equal disaster. When a credit card is used to purchase items, a person is promising to pay the credit card company back the money spent plus any interest. If payments are not made on time, the credit card holder's credit rating can be adversely affected.

"A lot of times having that credit available encourages people to buy things they really don't need because it's convenient and available," said Gary Shepherd, executive director of New Hope Financial Fitness Centers,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. Inc. "They may not have the money for the item, but they can afford the payment."

Having a good credit score is important. Employers are starting to look at credit scores to determine how responsible that person is. Many people need credit to buy a house or purchase a vehicle. Not only is a credit card useful to have in times of emergencies, it is also more convenient than carrying large amounts of cash.

"I use my credit card to buy things I know that I have money for so I can get my cash rebate," said Saad Kazmi, pharmacy manager over Sam's Club pharmacy.

Credit cards can sometimes be confusing for students and can mess up their future if used improperly.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, Every credit card has a different interest rate and grace period, which is the time you have to pay it off with no interest charged.

Some tips for managing a credit card would be to pay all charges due on the monthly statement. Always check the monthly credit card statement for accuracy of charges. Usually the bank will have a website to check statements and manage money.

"With the economy the way it is now, people are using credit cards to supplement income rather than adjust their lifestyle. There's a real danger in that," said Shepherd.

"I've always heard to stay away from credit cards because I'm supposedly not mature enough to handle one yet and cash is always cheaper," said Clay Wadsworth,MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, student at Tyler Junior College.

If a person has a checking account, a debit card can be used for purchasing items. However,Husky Injection Mold Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of it is important to keep track of the account balance.

"Even debit cards have their downside because if you're not real careful and don't keep track you can overdraw your account quickly," said Shepherd.

Staying out of debt all boils down to simple math: do not charge more on a credit card than what can be paid off in a month.

"If you pay your balance off every month, there's nothing wrong with them at all," said Shepherd.

"I think that cash tends to let people see what they're actually spending as they're peeling off dollar bills to pay for stuff," said Shepherd.The magic cube is an ultra-portable,

Man banned from insect infested flat after hoarding rotting food and rubbish

A MAN who put his neighbours through a 'living hell' has been kicked out of his flat by a court.

Anthony Drake, aged 54, filled his Efford home with rubbish and rotten food, leading to an infestation of cockroaches, flies and fleas.

Plymouth Magistrates' Court heard housing officials were even worried the floor could collapse in to the flat below because of the weight of his belongings.

Neighbours also said they had been kept up through the night by loud music.

Magistrates have given Drake an indefinite antisocial behaviour order banning him from his flat in Pike Road.

He must also not abuse or threaten any person in Plymouth.

Dylan Sadler, applying for the order for Plymouth City Council, said: "Allowing him to return to that flat would be condemning the neighbours to a living hell."

Drake contested the order, promising to clear some of the belongings from the flat and not to play loud music.

He added: "I am no threat to anyone."

The court heard Drake filled his flat with furniture, broken television sets,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, a bicycle and piles of food.

City council antisocial behaviour officer Debbie Goad told the court: "I have never seen anything like it in my life. He is a hoarder. The property was filled with all manner of things. There was an awful lot of food in there."

She said she could see cockroaches, flies and later found she was covered in flea bites.

Miss Goad said it was hardly possible to get through the flat, save for a small path between the piles of belongings. She added even his bed was piled high with belongings, forcing Drake to sleep underneath it with his dog.

Miss Goad said Drake had no underlying mental illness and had not co-operated with efforts to find another home.

Steven Didymus, from landlords Plymouth Community Homes, said nine lorry loads of rubbish were taken from the garden alone.

He added the flat had to be decontaminated three times by a specialist cleaning company.

Mr Didymus said: "There was a concern that the floor could have fallen into the flat below were it to get any worse."

He added that there had been no complaints of antisocial behaviour since an interim antisocial behaviour order was granted in August last year.

Neighbour Vivien Nevill said in one incident before the order her partner was threatened with a knife outside the flat.

She added: "I was petrified in my own property. I was scared to go out the door. It has been blissful since he left."

The college student said her work suffered because she was kept up at night by loud music, often finishing at midnight and starting again at 5am.

Ms Nevill also said Drake regularly left piles of stale food outside her door.

Miss Goad said another neighbour was forced to give up her job as a carer because she could not sleep at night.

The resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Drake had chased her son down the street.

PCSO Chris Kinski said Drake was an amphetamine user.The magic cube is an ultra-portable,

Drake will be allowed one visit, accompanied by a policeman or council officer,The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, to the flat to collect his belongings.Daneplast Limited UK are plastic injection mould & toolmaking specialists.

How PayPal plans to scale its in-store payment system

PayPal’s first retail tests of its in-store payment system is happening at Home Depot, the payment company acknowledged last week.Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, But the bigger test will be ensuring that many more retailers and merchants are in a position to easily integrate PayPal’s system as it looks to roll out its offering this year.

PayPal is taking a big step forward by partnering with AJB Software Designs, which helps connect the point of sale terminals at many tier-one retailers to payment processors and financial institutions. AJB is now incorporating PayPal’s mobile payment system into its framework and building out a specific PayPal interface, which will allow PayPal users to pay through 250,000 point-of-sale terminals that connect to AJB software. AJB said it services 20 percent of the top retailers in North America. The AJB integration should be become available to retailers in the first quarter of this year.

Retailers will still have to decide if they want to enable payments via PayPal. And the process of outfitting stores and chains can take anywhere from days to weeks. But if they choose to make the software upgrade,China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development. retailers will be able to receive payments via a PayPal Access Card or through an “empty hand” payment in which a user accesses their PayPal account by entering in their phone number at a point of sale terminal. In both cases, they will need to confirm a transaction with a PIN code and then AJB’s software takes the request and pings PayPal, which authenticates the user. PayPal can send back coupon information or deals stored on a user’s PayPal app, which the user can then decide to apply before selecting their payment form and checking out. After the transaction, users will receive an e-receipt on their PayPal app and online in the PayPal account.

Pat Polillo, vice president of sales and support for AJB, told me it’s unclear how many of AJB’s more than 140 major retailers will sign on with PayPal’s system when it becomes available later this year. But he said it’s an appealing option for retailers who don’t have to upgrade their point-of-sale hardware to accept payments from PayPal’s mobile payment system. He said five retailers have already asked if AJB will be working to support PayPal’s system.

“What’s nice about PayPal’s solution is it doesn’t require NFC hardware. That’s how you can envision that retailers would say it makes sense, because it uses the infrastructure already in their stores,The magic cube is an ultra-portable,” Polillo said.

PayPal plans to strike similar agreements with other payment ecosystems, PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayer told TechCrunch earlier this week. Nayer told me recently that PayPal’s in-store payment system will roll out over the next 12 to 24 months. This is the beauty of PayPal’s approach because it doesn’t require consumers or merchants to have NFC devices, which is something PayPal has harped on a number of times. And if PayPal can do a good selling job on retailers, it has a pretty quick path toward a broad deployment.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.

But getting in stores is just the first step for PayPal. It has to show more value for merchants. As I wrote recently, PayPal is looking to leverage location-based offers to help drive traffic to retailers and encourage users to pay via PayPal, which can close the redemption loop and help show retailers the efficacy of using PayPal. But there needs to more ways for merchants and retailers to connect to consumers. Being able to establish a user’s presence inside a store will allow a merchant to send them offers and discounts. PayPal has shown off how it hopes to help merchants do this by encouraging users to scan QR codes when they enter a store for a coupon. And it is planning to let consumers scan items to check for inventory or purchase products directly from a store aisle and have it shipped home.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality,

All of these other added elements are going to be necessary for PayPal to sell its system to merchants, who need more than just another payment system. Those elements will come in time but for now, PayPal is laying the ground work to be in a lot of stores later this year.

Anything is fair game in NFL fumble piles for 49ers

Now the whole truth now can be told. This is the inside story of what fullback Bruce Miller called "a scary scrum" after the 49ers' 13-8 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 25.

We would have changed the names to protect the innocent. But no one was innocent.

Here's what you saw: With 12:28 to play in the third quarter, Miller ran an off-tackle dive and fumbled a ball that was recovered by teammate Delanie Walker at the 49ers' 43-yard-line.

Here's what you didn't see:

Bengals linebacker Manny Lawson pounced. But so did Walker. On top of them landed 49ers offensive linemen Adam Snyder and Anthony Davis, providing cover so Walker could, as he put it, "get a little dirty under there."

Never mind that Lawson played five seasons with the 49ers and still has many friends on the San Francisco roster.

"I bent his wrist back to get it," Walker said. "He eased up a little bit, and that's when I just started punching the ball and it slipped out. ...It felt like five minutes down there. That one was really dirty. Somebody hit me in the mouth. The guy who had the ball was screaming: 'My wrist, my wrist!' So I think he just gave up.FIRMAR is a Malaysia Injection Moulding Manufacturer and Plastic Injections Components Manufacturer,"

Snyder had something to do with that.

"I was wrenching his arm as hard as I could to get him to let go so Delanie could grab it," Snyder said.

But in a phone interview from Cincinnati, Lawson good-naturedly denied doing any screaming about his wrist -- or giving up.

"On that play, I only had one arm around the ball,Johnson Tiles UK offer the largest range of porcelain tiles online," he said. "I couldn't get my other arm on it. I kind of had it,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. but it was only one arm. ... So the whole time I was down there trying to hold the ball with just one hand."

Still, he continued to battle, which helps explain why it took so long for the referees to sort out who actually had the ball.Facts and Cures. Cures for all types of Hemorrhoids.

"It's not that it hurt," Lawson said. "But I am trying to keep the ball close to me and someone is pulling my other arm away. I was fighting it, but it was a real workout. It was very frustrating.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality,"

Lawson said that after the game he and Walker talked, but they didn't discuss the scrum. They were friends again.

But in The Pile, there is no such thing as a friend.

How to Treat Hemorrhoids

Everyone is born with hemorrhoids – the veins in the anus held – but not everyone has that they create with the infliction of and manage. These problems can be moderate to strong and can cause discomfort. Hemorrhoids only cause infliction annoyed when scraped, or are swollen.
A person eating habits can very promptly the way that they pass stool and how often they need to stress during this process. The majority of the people who will chair the transition burden too much pressure on their location hemorrhoids and cause it to swell. So it will cause pain and discomfort, and – in some cases – hemorrhage. There are two types of hemorrhoids -. Internal and external hemorrhoids internal

Internal hemorrhoids are the most serious nature and should be addressed immediately. Without treatment it can cause severe pain and can even affect someone for a long time. Most people are unaware that they might be in need of internal hemorrhoids, since the rectum does not have pain receptors.
The most popular symptom of internal hemorrhoids is bleeding, which can be viewed at stool. Itching is another common symptoms and may be one of the most annoying. If a person can not deal with these hemorrhoids are prolapsed or strangulated. These are more negative forms of internal hemorrhoids. External hemorrhoids External hemorrhoids

is to look directly in front of the rectum and are easier to recognize and make sense. This form of hemorrhoids can cause pain and swelling.Offering high risk and offshore merchant account with credit card processing services. Acute thrombosis is one of the deeper kinds of hemorrhoids that has become as if there will be strangled.

Treatment Options There are numerous natural and medical treatments are available, those who have hemorrhoids. These treatments maAlfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992,y differ, depending on how intense the condition. Someone who only has a mild case of external or internal hemorrhoids can treat them with warm baths, ice packs and special ointments and creams. Remember that these methods do not cure the problem – but it will help relieve the pain and itching that they induce
The best way is to treat external hemorrhoids, hemorrhoid cream on the area that is affected .We are passionate about polished tiles.Distributes and manufactures RUBBER SHEET, use . Also vary your eating habits and try to add more water and fiber. This will help to regulate your system and prevent you from straining during a bowel movement.

If youis a deeper kind of treatment for internal hemorrhoids and external hemorrhoids usually have surgery.We are professional Plastic mould, Band ligation, injection therapy, enema, galvanic electrotherapy, cryotherapy and laser photocoagulation are the most common surgical treatments. Some doctors recommend that you remove the hemorrhoid completely through the use of hemorrhoids.

It is important to know how to Treat Hemorrhoids quickly and efficiently. Hemorrhoid Review you can provide information about the dozens of treatments available.

After Christmas is the holiday clean up

That sound you hear outside your window this morning is not the wind. It's a collective sigh of relief from across the civilized world. It's the morning after, and Christmas, which like so many things in life is often better anticipated than experienced, has come and gone for another year.

By now, the house is somewhat back in order. Toys and games that still have a few days of shelf life before the new wears off remain underfoot, but the piles of shredded paper and tattered ribbons have been picked up and bagged for the trash man.

And because Christmas fell on Sunday this year,Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, most of us have today off from work to recuperate. It's also a day to pick through the leftovers from the big meal on Christmas Day and decide what stays and what goes out. Ham and roast beef are definite keepers; the lime Jell-O mold, though, may join the discarded wrapping paper.

And this is the last day for the stacks of candy and cookies that have allowed many of us to put back on that three or four pounds we worked so hard to shed over the summer. They've got to go — to work, to church, to anywhere except around the midsection.

And then there are the decorations.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, Do we take them down the first good opportunity, like today while we're off from work, or leave them up through New Year's? For outdoor decorations, we know waiting means it'll probably be at least MOmega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.arch before they come down because January will usher in miserable cold and snow and ice when no sane person wants to cling in Clark Griswold fashion to a shaky ladder 15 feet or so above the frozen ground.

But today also is a good day for assessment — a look back at the holiday season that's now mostly gone.

And I have to say, that for me, this has been pretty good Christmas — if for no other than for some inexplicable reason not once during this holiday season that has stretched from the week Halloween through yesterday, did I have to endure hearing a rendition of the song, "The 12 Days of Christmas."

That's OK. After six decades of living, I've heard it enough. Perhaps, it is tolerable once a season, but more than that launches nightmares of lords a-milking, golden swans dancing and partridges swimming in a nice, hot skillet.

Nor,Buy oil paintings for sale online. this season, have I been treated to that annual story put together by some poor intern at the AP or some member paper about what it would cost if some schmuck were to actually give the gifts described in the song.

So life on this morning after is not so bad. And there are 364 days remaining (yes, this is a Leap Year) to anticipate next Christmas. Who knows, maybe next year I can avoid the myriad renditions of "Jingle Bells.Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles." Have I ever told you how I really feel about that song or wise men or deer that glow in the dark ?

Play area the perfect present for children

YOUNGSTERS in Barton have been given a whole heap more fun.

The estate’s new 150,000 play area was opened yesterday to the delight of children.

As well as the playground, the area has had 300,000 spent on refurbishing the youth centre at the Barton Neighbourhood Centre, in Underhill Circus.

Barton Community Association’s Sue Holden MBE had the honour of cutting the ribbon at the play area.

She said: “I think Oxford City Council has done us proud with this project and everyone is overwhelmed with the quality of both elements, both the outside play and the internal refurbishment of the youth centre.”

Work on the play area began in September and four months later the wait is finally over. The play area features a large climbing unit, new swings, a rotating disc and a cantilever swing with other exciting features to be added in the coming months.

Mark Lygo, the city council's cabinet member for parks and sports, said: “We received funding from Oxfordshire County Council to develop this play area as well as the Youth Centre,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. which is a fantastic improvement to the community.China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development.Buy oil paintings for sale online.

“I am delighted that the work has been completed in time for Christmas.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,

“It is a great present for the local children and I hope they will enjoy it over the break.”

The youth centre has been fully refurbished, with an extended kitchen, a new ventilation system,I have just spent two weeks shopping for tile and have discovered China Porcelain tile. lighting and IT connections.

New computer work stations have been installed and the play hub area has been redecorated. The sports hall has also had additional storage added to cater for more activities and new basketball hoops installed to replace old broken ones.

The projects, jointly funded by the city and county councils as part of the Play Barton scheme, had been in jeopardy last year due to government cuts.

The city council has also spent the past two years refurbishing other play areas across the city.

Having invested 2.5m into more than 50 playgrounds, it aims to finish the work in April with play areas in Cutteslowe Park, Florence Park and Pegasus Road still to be completed.

Stafford retiree uses lead to create his Yule figures

ITThe EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, WOULDN'T BE FAIR, at Christmas or any time of the year, to tell Stafford County's Craig Emerson to get the lead out.

With more than 600 miniature Santas, St.MDC Mould specialized of Injection moulds, Nicks and Santa alter-ego figures cast in lead in his collection, it would be quite a chore for Emerson or anyone else just to lift all the weighty figures.

Not to mention all the pieces in the Nativity scenes he's creating and casting these days, a set for each of his three sons.

"I figure one camel alone weighs about 10 pounds," said Emerson, probably one of the most knowledgeable cast-lead-Santa collectors in the country, though he doesn't like being described that way.

"Let's just say I've spent a lot of time looking into these lead Santas and acquiring ones that interest me," said the North Carolina native, who came to Washington and eventually Stafford to work for 35 years in electronics for the FBI before retiring 16 years ago.

What makes Emerson's collection fascinating isn't just the array of sizes, types, nationalities and time periods the Santas cover.

It's the fact that in addition to buying ones he likes, Emerson makes his own.

Being careful to avoid fumes and contact with the lead,Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, he uses a burner originally designed to fry turkeys to melt scavenged tire weights, pieces of pipe and other pieces of lead he collects here and there.Husky Injection Molding Systems designs and manufactures a broad range of Injection Mold machines,

Emerson explained that a good number of the Santas he and other collectors cast in lead come from molds originally created to make chocolate figures.

Using plaster of Paris, pourable silicone and other materials, Emerson can work through a few mold-to-statue-to-mold steps to create something in which he can cast lead Santas.

His works range in size from tiny board-game-style pieces to statuettes nearly a foot tall.

Emerson's favorites, which he began collecting when traveling to flea marts and the like with his wife and a friend some 15 years ago, are the Santas in the 5- to 8-inch range. He especially likes the ones where the painted exterior has a slightly dulled effect that he has never quite been able to reproduce.Wholesaler of different types of Ceramic tile for your kitchen,

NatWest backs further expansion of Cambridge's Breathing Buildings Ltd

Breathing Buildings Ltd,Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising, a Cambridge based green energy technology company spun out of Cambridge University in 2006 has agreed a new funding package with NatWest to support its continued development.

Breathing Buildings provides low energy ventilation systems using the principles of natural mixing in winter and upward displacement in the summer. It was formed as a spin off company from the University of Cambridge in 2006, to develop and commercialise this low energy ventilation solution. Their e-stack natural ventilation system uses technology that ensures a minimum rate of air exchange between a building and its exterior in winter whilst minimising the heating required. This is achieved by mixing the incoming cold fresh air with warm interior air prior to it reaching the occupants of the building in question.

The system is now operating in over 50 different projects in the UK with a substantial pipeline of further projects across a variety of sectors. The team is also using its experience in the modelling and testing of natural ventilation to design projects across auditoria, shopping centres, office buildings, theatres and apartment blocks.An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Clients for this work include leading architectural firms, engineering consultancies and developers.

The company continues to contribute significantly to research into natural ventilation through company founder Dr Shaun Fitzgerald's work with the Engineering department at The University of Cambridge.Information on useful yeasts and moulds, This has seen Dr Fitzgerald lecture on the undergraduate course, supervise final year projects and tutor students at Girton College.

The funding from NatWest will support further product research and development as well as providing additional capacity to their working capital lines as the business grows.

Talking about the increased level of interest in the e-stack system, Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, managing director, Breathing Buildings Ltd said: "As increased energy costs impact on both the commercial and domestic end user we are witnessing a higher level of interest in our ventilation systems. With defined energy reduction targets already announced by the government, many businesses are exploring how they will function moving forward to comply with legislation.They become pathological or Piles when swollen or inflamed. A lot is talked about the upfront cost of conversion to new energy efficient systems, but we continue to prove the cost benefit to the end user - which is applicable across all commercial buildings. This new funding allows us to continue our investment in research and product development."

Jane Moulding, relationship director, commercial banking at NatWest who helped pull together the funding package added: "Breathing Buildings are at the forefront of UK research into building ventilation. This country has some challenging energy reduction targets to meet for both 2020 and 2050,Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. so the work of company's like Breathing Buildings is making a real difference to the environment we work within."

Biologists use helicopter to collar wild bighorns

Wild sheep biologist Frances Cassirer was given her choice between a seemingly healthy bighorn ram and one that was coughing and sneezing.

She directed a capture crew to go after the healthy one.

More than 16 years after pneumonia wiped out half of the bighorn sheep in the northern portion of Hells Canyon, the illness refuses to loosen its grip on the iconic animals. The all-age die-offs that raced through the herds in the winter of 1995 and spring 1996 are long gone, but the illness continues to pick off lambs and the occasional adult.

"It just shows what kind of disease it is," said Cassirer,Wholesaler of different types of Ceramic tile for your kitchen, a bighorn sheep expert from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and one of the leaders of a tri-state effort to recover the bighorns of Hells Canyon.

On Nov. 28 and Nov. 29, wildlife officials from Idaho, Oregon and Washington and a helicopter crew from Leading Edge Aviation captured several bighorns and fitted them with radio collars that track their movements. They also took biological samples from the sheep and assessed their condition. It's all part of the ongoing effort to recover wild sheep in Hells Canyon.

"Nobody else has been studying sheep this intensively this long," Cassirer said.

They've learned more about the disease and just how persistent it can be. Biologists expected to see poor lamb survival and the occasional death of mature animals for as long as a decade following the first outbreak. After that, they expected it to slowly fade.The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free,Exclusive RUBBER SHEET flooring in 15 different colours and designs. The poor survival prediction was correct but lamb mortality hasn't shown any signs of dissipating. For some herds, the annual pneumonia death rate is higher today than it was during the years immediately following the die-off.

That is true of the Black Butte herd that lives near the mouth of the Grand Ronde River at the northern end of Hells Canyon. The capture crew from Leading Edge netted the healthy ram from that herd Tuesday and fitted it with a high-tech radio collar that will allow them to follow its movements.

Earlier in the day sheep were captured and collared from a heard in the Shumaker Ridge area of Washington and near Cache Creek on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon. Five bighorns were also captured from the healthy Asotin Creek herd in Washington and taken to Washington State University where they will be used for research.Why does Plastic moulds grow in homes or buildings?

Cassirer and others are trying to find the keys to prevent bighorns from contracting the disease from domestic sheep and looking for ways to help infected herds to shake loose from its grips. In many years nearly all the lambs in certain herds die. But other years have normal survival rates.

"How can we make that happen more frequently?" she asked.

There are always new questions. This year some sheep have been infected with cold-sore-like lip lesions.

"We are not sure what it is but it is evidently contagious," Cassirer said.Dimensional Mailing magic cube for Promotional Advertising,

She said it doesn't appear to be deadly to adults but it could be playing a role in poor lamb survival. The research performed this week is being supported by the Oregon and Washington chapters of the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Oregon Hunters Association, Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and Shikar-Safari Club International.

Working out in a winter wonderland

When cold Chicago weather hits, it can be hard to find the motivation to get outdoors and work out, or even get to the gym to run on the treadmill. But all that snow and ice isn’t all that bad if you know how to take advantage of it.

In fact, there are several calorie-burning winter sports you can do even in the harshest conditions,If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, as long as you dress appropriately and remain cautious. Jeremy Fransen, clinical assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago said cross-country skiing is one of the best aerobic-type workouts you can get in the winter, because it increases endurance and you use both your legs and your upper body to propel yourself forward.

Downhill skiing may be a little less intense than cross-country skiing, but Jordan Wohlner, 21, a junior at Northwestern University, who skis with her family once a year, said while she doesn’t think of skiing as a workout, she does notice a difference in the way her muscles feel afterward.

“My legs definitely feel sore after a full day of skiing,” she said.

Another winter sport that people often don’t think of as a workout is trekking the local trails in snowshoes, said Fransen.

“It doesn’t sound like it would be that hard,” he said, “but if you’re walking in deeper snow against the wind, it is a hard workout.”

However, if you want a more consistent workout, you might just have to find the courage to brave the cold and go for a run.

“I think it’s better to go outside,” said Fransen. “There’s nothing wrong with doing exercise indoors, but there is a functional component in the way you run on the ground versus the way you run on a treadmill.”

Megan Sullivan, training program manager at the Chicago Area Runners Association,It's hard to beat the versatility of polished tiles on a production line. said she recommends running outside in the winter because it is a chance to break away from the monotony of running on a treadmill.

“I think people end up getting injured when they do too much of one certain thing,” she said. “Running on different surfaces, such as snow,Boddingtons Technical Plastics provide a complete plastic injection moulding service including design， changes up the terrain.”

Sullivan said she enjoys running outside during the winter because it develops strength and endurance.

“Once you’ve trained through Chicago winter, running in spring is going to be nothing,” she said.

But when self-motivation fails, Sullivan said finding a running partner or even a running group can help you keep up the routine.Unlike traditional high risk merchant account ,

“When you have a bunch of friends meeting you, you’re more likely to stick to that plan,” she said.
And if this isn’t enough to get you going, Sullivan said mindset is also plays a role in your overall enjoyment of a winter run.

“It’s peaceful to run during the winter because you can reflect on the year and look at the Christmas lights,” she said. “The snow makes it prettier.”

Of course, there are certain risks that come with running outside in the cold, such as getting frostbite, hypothermia, or slipping on ice, said Fransen.

To keep warm, one of the biggest things you should look out for when checking the weather is wind chill, or wind speed,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . he said.

“If you’re running at a certain speed, you’re creating a faster wind, so the wind chill is going to be a big factor in staying warm,” he said.

According to acefitness.org, individuals with exposed skin are in danger "when the wind chill factor (the combined effect of temperature and wind) falls below negative 20 degrees."

People also lose a lot of heat through their heads, Fransen said, so wearing a beanie is very important, as is the material of the rest of your workout clothes.

“If you’re wearing materials that soak up moisture, instead of wick it away, the material could become wet, then freeze and then cool you down significantly,” he said.

Layering is a key component to staying warm, Fransen said, and suggests wearing a scarf and/or a face mask to mitigate the amount of cold air breathed in while running.

Fransen also recommends getting a thorough warm-up before heading outside in order to get the body warm. This is especially important for people with asthma or other disorders that might make running in cold conditions even more risky.

Gennady Zubkov’s paintings evoke sunny, rural locales

Stripped to basic shapes and emphasizing pastel hues, Gennady Zubkov’s paintings evoke sunny, rural locales.Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, That impression is not entirely wrong: The canvases in “Form + Color” include stylized views of Italy and California. But Zubkov works in St. Petersburg. One of the seemingly balmiest of these pictures, “Printemps,” depicts flowers that bloom near the Arctic Circle.

Zubkov was born in 1940, which means he faced other travails besides Russian winters. He began as an heir to the Suprematist movement, and — according to Galerie Blue Square owner Dianne Beal — survived the dictates of Socialist Realism in part because of a job as an artist-designer at a botanical garden.This page contains information about molds, No wonder he’s fond of flowers.

Beal began dealing Russian art in Paris and recently relocated her gallery to a townhouse in upper Georgetown, where she alternates shows with Robert Brown and Chris Neptune.If so, you may have a cube puzzle . “Form + Color,” Beal’s first exhibition in the new space, highlights Zubkov’s recent output. But the show reaches back about 40 years for “Carrying Water,” a canvas begun in 1967; it plainly shows the influence of Kazimir Malevich, the Russian-Polish artist who issued Suprematism’s manifesto almost a century ago.

Zubkov’s elementary shapes, often rendered as blocks of loosely painted color, recall Malevich and other early-20th-century European painters. They also suggest older precedents, including stained-glass windows and Russian icons. “Village Figures,” a 1980 oil, is painted on burlap to partake of Slavic rusticity. But Zubkov’s current work seems more in the spirit of Matisse, with a Mediterranean palette that belies the painter’s Baltic home.

This show includes several diptychs and triptychs, which Beal says reflect the small size of Zubkov’s studio.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, He doesn’t have room to work on a grand scale. The format may be accidental, but it suits such recent paintings as “Caldera, di Reno,” which chop simple scenes into even simpler components. Dividing such landscapes into multiple panels isn’t radically disruptive, but it does nicely complicate pictures that can seem a little too streamlined.

Which came first, the strawberry or the egg? Both are among the subjects of “Ripe Art,” an exhibition of elegant photographs and related pieces by local graphic artists Maureen Berg and Kristen Dill. Berg portrays strawberries, mushrooms and other edibles, while Dill depicts chicks, flowers and leaves. The two artists’ subjects often overlap,They take the China Porcelain tile to the local co-op market. notably in Dill’s shot of some strawberries in a bird’s nest, as if about to hatch.

Such gently surreal juxtapositions are central to the duo’s work, which often turns on another contrast: the one between industrial-chic photography and the forms, colors and mutability of natural objects. The large-format photos pose plants (and occasionally animals) in front of blank backdrops, as if they’re celebrities sitting for some upscale glossy. It’s as if earth artist Andy Goldsworthy took a Madison Avenue gig.

Dill makes infrared black-and-white images of forests and gardens, whose areas of hot light provide a slightly unreal vibe. Smaller photos and photo collages show dried flowers and rotted vegetables, fixed permanently in a state of decay. Both photographers print their images on canvas, which adds a bit of homespun texture. Dill goes further, pulling nature out of the frame for ikebana-like sculptural pieces (one made of maple stems, dried turnip and Oregon moss) and stitching a curtain of oak and beech leaves. She also puts some dried foliage under glass — actually, plastic — by placing it in clear globes that hang from the ceiling.

Berg offers some portraits of women and girls, many of them dancers. These pictures’ naturalism sets them apart from the other works, which isolate organic things from their ordinary context. Whether a pair of shoes covered in birch leaves or a broken robin’s egg rendered austere and outsize, Berg and Dill’s work asserts its command over nature. Yet their images wouldn’t be as evocative if they didn’t hint at processes that are beyond human control.