|Hino Jidōsha Kabushiki-gaisha|
|Predecessor||Tokyo Gas and Electric Industry Company|
|Founded||1 May 1942|
|Products||Trucks and buses|
|170,520 vehicles (2021)|
|Revenue||¥1,459,706 million (FY2022)|
|¥33,810 million (FY2022)|
|−¥84,732 million (FY2022)|
|Total assets||¥1,258,350 million (FY2022)|
|Total equity||¥516,007 million (FY2022)|
Number of employees
|33,850 (FY2022, consolidated)|
|Footnotes / references|
Fiscal Year (FY) is 1 April of the prior year to 31 March of the named year.
Hino Motors, Ltd., commonly known as Hino, is a Japanese manufacturer of commercial vehicles and diesel engines (including those for trucks, buses and other vehicles) headquartered in Hino, Tokyo. The company was established in 1942 as a corporate spin-off from previous manufacturers.
Hino Motors is a large constituent of the Nikkei 225 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation and one of 16 major companies of the Toyota Group.
The company traces its roots back to the founding of Tokyo Gas Industry Company in 1910. In 1910, Chiyoda Gas Company was established and competed fiercely against incumbent Tokyo Gas Company for gas lighting users. Tokyo Gas Industry was a parts supplier for Chiyoda Gas but it was defeated and merged into Tokyo Gas in 1912. Having lost its largest client, Tokyo Gas Industry Co. broadened its product line including electronic parts, and renamed itself as Tokyo Gas and Electric Industry (東京瓦斯電気工業), TG&E, and was often abbreviated as Gasuden. It produced its first motor vehicle in 1917, the Model TGE "A-Type" truck. In 1937, TG&E merged its automobile division with that of Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. and Kyodo Kokusan K.K., to form Tokyo Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., with TG&E as a shareholder. Four years later, the company changed its name to Diesel Motor Industry Co., Ltd., which would eventually become Isuzu.
The following year (1942), the new entity of Hino Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. spun itself out from Diesel Motor Industry Co., Ltd., and the Hino name was born. During World War II, Hino manufactured Type 1 Ho-Ha half-track and Type 1 Ho-Ki armored personnel carrier for the Imperial Japanese Army. Following treaties signed at the end of World War II, the company had to stop producing large diesel engines for marine applications, so the company dropped the "Heavy" from its name and formally concentrated on the heavy-duty trailer-truck, buses and diesel engines markets, as Hino Industry Co., Ltd. The company took its name from the location of its headquarters in Hino city (日野市, Hino-shi) within Tokyo prefecture.
To sharpen its marketing focus to customers, in 1948, the company added the name "Diesel" to become Hino Diesel Industry Co., Ltd. In 1950 the heavy-duty TH10 was introduced, equipped with the all-new 7-liter DS10 diesel engine. An eight-tonner, this was considerably larger than existing Japanese trucks which had rarely been built for more than 6,000 kg (13,230 lb) payload.
In 1953, Hino entered the private car market, by manufacturing Renaults under licence, and in 1961 it started building its own Contessa 900 sedan with an 893cc rear-mounted engine, and a pickup truck called the Hino Briska with the Contessa engine slightly enlarged and installed in the front with rear wheel drive. The Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti redesigned the Contessa line in 1964 with a 1300 cc rear-mounted engine. Fed by two SU type carburettors, this developed 60 hp (44 kW) in the sedan and 70 hp (51 kW) in the coupé version. However, Hino ceased private car production very quickly in 1967 following a strategic alliance with Toyota in 1965.
In 1963, the Hamura factory began operations, and focused entirely on commercial truck and bus manufacture.
Hino Trucks have also been assembled in Norway (1977–85), Portugal and Canada.
Hino became a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation in 2001.
In 2018, Hino and Volkswagen Truck and Bus (later renamed Traton) announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership for activities including procurement, technologies and logistics. In November 2019, they established a procurement joint venture called Hino and Traton Global Procurement, with 51% of it owned by Traton and 49% by Hino.
In March 2021, Hino, its parent Toyota, and Isuzu announced the creation of a strategic partnership between the three companies. Toyota acquired a 4.6% stake in Isuzu while the latter plans to acquire Toyota shares for an equivalent value. The three companies said they would form a new joint venture by April called Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation with the aim of developing fuel cell and electric light trucks. Toyota would own an 80% stake in the venture while Hino and Isuzu would own 10% each. In August 2022, after Toyota published the findings of a self-commissioned investigation highlighting that Hino Motors falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least October 2003, Toyota and Isuzu "expelled" Hino from their partnership. The Hino stake would be given to Toyota.
Hino has been marketing trucks in Canada since the 1970s. Hino Motors Canada Ltd., is the exclusive distributor of Hino products in Canada, and is part of the Toyota Group of Companies, with head office and Parts Distribution Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. In May 2006, Hino opened a new 12,300 m2 (132,000 sq ft) assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario, employing at first 45 (grown since to more than 70) and with an annual capacity of 2,400 trucks. It began assembly of Class 4 and 5 trucks in 2006 and continued to do so until 2010. Since then, it has been building only Class 6 and 7 trucks.
Hino Motors Manufacturing Colombia (HMMC) is a partnership between the Mitsui group and the Colombia manager for the Hino brand, PRACO-Didacol S.A. The partnership assembles medium and heavy trucks, destined mainly to the export market for the Andinean and Central American countries. The factory was opened on 9 October 2007 in Cota, a municipality near the capital city of Bogotá. From this facility, the FCJ and Hino Dutro (300, 500 and 900 series) trucks are assembled. The Mitsui-Keiretsu is the principal shareholder and owner of this factory. The plant produced the 1000th unit in July 2009. The 20,000th truck was finished on 14 May 2014.
PT. Hino Motors Manufacturing Indonesia (HMMI) is strategic production base for ASEAN region. HMMI is in partnership between the Hino Motors, Ltd and PT. Indomobil Sukses Internasional, Tbk. The partnership assembles medium, heavy duty trucks, mainly for ASEAN market. The factory was opened in April 2003, evolving from PT. Hino Indonesia Manufacturing which was opened in October 1982. The factory is located on Purwakarta, West Java. Its sister company PT. Hino Motors Sales Indonesia (HMSI) is formed April 2003. Currently there are 41 dealerships and more than 100 branches, around the archipelago.
Hino Trucks have been assembled in The Republic of Ireland since 1968 by J Harris on the Naas/Nangor Roads, Dublin.
Hino Motors signed a 10-year assembly agreement with Kaiser-Illin Industries of Haifa, Israel, in 1963. Assembly of the Contessa 900 started in 1964. Later, Briska 900 and 1300 and the Contessa 1300 sedan were assembled in Haifa as well. During the years 1964–1965, Israel was Hino's second most important market for its Contessas. Israel exports amounted to ~10% of total Contessa production. After it was purchased by Toyota, the contract was terminated and the last Israeli Contessas rolled off the assembly line in March 1968. In total, over 8,000 Hino Contessa and Briska were assembled in Israel.
In mid 2008, Hino Motors was said to be building a new truck assembly facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, serving international deliveries. The facility was reportedly built in an 80:20 partnership with Japanese trading firm Mitsui, opening in 2009 and with a production capacity for 1,200 of the Hino 500 series trucks per year.
Hinopak Motors was formed in 1985 by a diverse group of sponsors. These included Hino Motors Limited, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Al-Futtaim Group and PACO. In 1998, Hino Motors, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation obtained majority shareholding in the company after disinvestments by the other two founding sponsors.
Hinopak Motors manufactures and markets diesel trucks and buses in Pakistan. Hinopak Motors has gained 70% market share making it the largest manufacturer in medium and heavy-duty truck and bus industry in Pakistan. Hinopak Motors Head Office is located in S.I.T.E Industrial Area, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
In 1975, Hino has entered the Philippine market, and creating Pilipinas Hino, Inc. It was originally established for the manufacturing of buses and, later, trucks. In the 1970s, Hino had initially shipped vehicles to the country from Japan, before the creation of PHI.
In 2015, Pilipinas Hino, Inc. announced name its change to Hino Motors Philippines Corporation.
In 2017, Hino Motors announced that it was going to open its first factory in Russia. The factory will begin producing trucks in 2019 and will have the capacity to produce 3,000 yearly.
Thai Hino Industry Co., Ltd. was established in 1964, with an assembly plant in Samrong. A second plant was established in Bang Phli in 1982. In 1999 the sales arm (Thai Hino Motor Sales Ltd.) and the manufacturing arm were merged, becoming Hino Motors (Thailand) Ltd. The company was split again in 2003, becoming Hino Motors Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd. and Hino Motors Sales (Thailand) Ltd. A third plant was opened the following year, at Amatanakorn industrial park in Bang Pakong District (a vehicle assembly plant).
In the United States, Hino has operated since 1984. Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc. assembles medium-duty trucks at its Williamstown, West Virginia, plant. They opened a second plant in Mineral Wells, West Virginia in late 2018. Its manufacturing facilities in Ontario, California, and Marion, Arkansas, produce axles, knuckles, and suspension components for Toyota's Tacoma, Tundra, and Sequoia models. Hino's Parts Distribution Center in Mira Loma, California, supplies Latin American and Caribbean distributors with genuine Hino service parts. The 18,000 m2 (194,000 sq ft) assembly plant in Williamstown, West Virginia, assembles Class 6-7 Hino trucks at an annual capacity of 10,000 units. The plant was opened in November 2007 and employs about 200. The plant in Long Beach, California, where Hino's US-based medium duty truck production had begun in 2004, was closed in 2007 and its production was transferred to the West Virginia facility. Production in West Virginia began with Class 4-7 trucks but the Class 4-5 products were dropped after 2010 model year and the plant now focuses on Class 6-7 products. Opened in 2016, Hino operates a distribution center in Gahanna Ohio.
Hino also sold the European truck Scania R 420 in Japan, in an agreement with the Swedish brand which was discontinued in 2011.
USA and Canada only conventional/bonneted trucks Hino 600:
One small model for military and workers transportation (name of the model still unknown).
Others small trucks for food transportation.
"Team Samurai" entered a Contessa in the Trans Am Series in 1966 at the race at Riverside International Raceway. After being retired due to a collision, the team withdrew from the series.
Hino has competed in the Dakar Rally since 1991 with a Ranger FT 4WD truck driven by the Japanese rally driver, Yoshimasa Sugawara. Hino has always finished in the Top 10 in the Camion Category, and 1-2-3 overall in the 1997 event.
The Tokyo Gas & Electrical Industry Co. Ltd. (a.k.a. Gasuden) were responsible for the production of several aircraft types in the 1930s as listed below: (Tokyo Gasu Denki Kogyo KK - Tokyo Gas & Electrical Industry Co. Ltd.)


text:
Manga Artbook V New Year's Furisode
Last Updated: 04-01-2013
A dream cosplay of mine come true. From the fifth Sailormoon manga artbook, fourth image down: http://mangastyle.net/sailormoon-artbook-vol-05/
Despite being entirely bought, this cosplay was very difficult and time-consuming to put together. And the dressing (kitsuke) is far more difficult. It's an art form in of itself, there are even schools in Japan dedicated to learning how to properly dress, learn obi knots (musubi), and all the strict rules and subtle intricacies in choosing just the right motif for the season or kimono and obi for occasion. And of course, the dressing itself is a feat unto itself that requires a great deal of practice and perfecting. Kitsuke is one of my passions that I really enjoy learning, and I am thrilled to finally have a reason to put it into practice with my cosplay.
How I came to choose each piece of this ensemble took a great deal of thought, particularly to what motifs would be used for a celebratory New Year's furisode, which was the theme of the original artwork. I came to interpret Hotaru's furisode as having a white eda-ume (branched plum blossom) pattern, a motif very common to winter. Hotaru's obi clearly was eda-ume as well, with a single crane wing visible on the knot portion. She's also visibly wearing a red nagajuban (underkimono), green kasane-eri (collar layer, which gives the appearance of another layer of kimono), and vivid pink obijime (obi string) and obiage (obi sash, generally tucked into the top of the obi). The challenge, of course, comes in actually finding the perfect furisode and obi for the job; with some exceptions, vintage kimono and obi tend to be overwhelmingly one of a kind. The pieces I found are no different.
For a (very) detailed rundown on every detail, you can visit this page on my website: http://firefly.sui-kun.net/cosplay5.html
Due to health issues, dressing assistance and obi tying credit goes to the Kabuki Academy's Kimono Workshop for Sakuracon 2013. This obi musubi is called tateya.
Handmade Accessory Credits:
Kanzashi Hair Bow - Sarcasm-Hime
Miniature Silence Glaive I made the Silence Glaive Eto-Hamaya with - Chochiki/Cosplay Mandy
Crane Temari - http://www.etsy.com/shop/SpotsandDotsDesign
Purple Resin Gem Earring Studs - http://www.etsy.com/shop/UniqueCosplayProps
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domain: artistic


text:
EA’s stunning and unusual platformer hits shelves later this winter.
Unravel is coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC on February 9, 2016. To kick off the revealed launch date, EA and developer Coldwood Interactive have released a heartwarming story trailer. Check it out!
When it was announced last E3, Unravel changed the tone of the EA press conference entirely. For the first time in recent memory, a nervous developer got to go on stage and pitch Unravel to the crowd. It was touching to see his passion for the project, and it was surprising to see a gaming goliath like EA publishing it. That sums up everything we’ve seen about Unravel so far: it’s just wonderfully different.
To get a glimpse at what an actual gameplay segment might look like, here’s a developer walkthrough from Gamescom:
Unravel launches February 9th on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Pre-orders are now available on Xbox One.

domain: news


text:
Flames and smoke rise from the site of T2 Laboratories in Florida.
Bob Self / AP Enlarge
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. An explosion and fire at a chemical plant killed four people today and injured at least 14, fire officials said.
Six people were initially missing at the T2 Laboratories Inc. plant, said Tom Francis, a fire rescue spokesman. Fourteen were taken to hospitals, but he did not say what their condition was.
The chemicals at the plant made the environment incredibly dangerous for the first responders, Francis said. Explosions were generating all kinds of side brush fires and other kinds of blazes.
Hospitals reported one patient in critical condition, three fair and five good.
Conditions for the rest were unknown, or it wasn t clear where they were being treated.
A plume of smoke rises in the distance north of downtown Jacksonville, Fla., after an explosion and fire at T2 Laboratories.
Jon M. Fletcher / AP Enlarge
T2 Laboratories makes chemical solvents and fuel additives. An emergency number listed on the company s Web site was answered by a woman who said she was an owner s friend. She said the only details she had were from media reports and then hung up.
Witnesses told The Florida Times-Union that debris from the afternoon explosion flew several stories into the air.
Derek Pratt, 24, was flying a remote control airplane field at a field about a mile away when he heard a series of thudding explosions.
Those shock waves came straight through these hills, he told the newspaper. It was like a great ball of fire in the air.
The fire was across the street from a JEA power plant, a spokeswoman with the utility said.
Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com
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text:
As a larger small-form factor case, the Revolt 3 aims to make features everything—not size.
You likely know iBuyPower as a system integrator—a company that offers customizable prebuilt PCs using off the shelf parts. But the company also has a history of producing interesting standalone computer cases, namely the Snowblind series, which had a transparent LCD screen in place of a standard tempered glass side panel.
Users won't have to make payments through only the App Store In a seemingly major blow to Apple, a federal Read more
The O11D Mini may have flashier looks, but the new O11 Air Mini offers more value. You’ve probably already seen Read more
The Xiaomi 12 is leaking thick and fast - one day we'll hear about a super-high-res camera, the next a Read more
For a smartwatch we're expecting to see in a matter of weeks, the Apple Watch SE 2 hasn't been leaked Read more
Apple is planning to integrate satellite communications within the iPhone 13, which could be a massive boost for those in Read more
The BlackView Oscal Pad 8 tablet has been added to the list of Blackview brand new products. The model’s distinctive Read more
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Xiaomi is expected to launch the 11T series very soon. In case you are wondering, the phones are likely to Read more
The facelifted Jeep Compass scores a flash new interior, and plenty of fresh tech. Competition is as stiff as ever Read more
Impressive specs make this another sub-$50 contender Xiaomi sub-brand Maimo has launched its smartwatch globally, with a super-low price tag Read more
Apple AirPods Pro users now have a more precise way to locate misplaced earphones thanks to a new third-party case Read more


Last month the Sonification Laboratory attended at the Kyma Internationnal Sound Symposium (KISS) in Lübeck (DE).
- Ludovic LAFFINEUR did a collaborative live performance with Cristian VOGEL about Network Sonification called Internet Rumbles. Have you ever thought to listen to the Internet? That is what the performance attempts to achieve by analyzing network data traffic. Spectators are going to feel Internet Rumbles through visualizations and a data-driven montage of dolphin sounds, shortwave radio and pentatonic tuned oscillators which reacted to data such as the connections of devices in the room, and the global distance and density of the data packets they sent back and forth from the web.
- Rudi GIOT and Jean-Luc BOEVE presented a talk about Volatiles that sound bad,
- Ludovic LAFFINEUR and Damien GROBET introduces the technical aspect of Internet Rumbles and Plantification. Plantification is how to control Kyma with a plant.
During the associated workshop we made a short video :


text:
SANDY — It was a busy night at the Canyons Board of Education meeting Tuesday, where the district named a new principal for Alta High School and almost 200 teachers showed up to air their concerns over negotiating power and budget cuts.
The board welcomed Fidel Montero, naming him the new principal of Alta High.
"It's kind of a new day at Alta High School," said district spokesman Jeff Haney. "We're incredibly happy that we can move into a new time and new direction with a new leader."
Former principal Mont Widerberg retired in March following a district-led racism probe at the school.
Several teachers addressed the board Tuesday to voice their concerns about the decisions the Canyons School District has made or might make in regard to district-teacher negotiations and salaries.
Tony Romanello, president of the Canyons Education Association, said prior to the start of teacher contract negotiations, Superintendent David Doty wrote a letter stating that three out of 25 policies related to teacher contracts will no longer be negotiable. The union and board are currently conducting negotiations, and some teachers expressed their concerned that the district is keeping them from weighing in on certain policies.
"Please understand, in the absence of a master agreement, teachers, educators, all of your employees, all they have, is their voice," Romanello told the board. "To deny them their voice is to deny any appreciation for what they do."
Spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook said the three policies that are no longer negotiable have nothing to do with terms of employment and have been removed from the negotiating table because they have been identified as board responsibilities.
The policies included student discipline, a district advisory council and a school advisory council.
"Those are issues that sit squarely on the board of education," she said. "Negotiations need to focus on terms of employment."
An estimated 200 hundred teachers wearing green CEA T-shirts attended the board meeting, which honored the teachers of the year from each of the district's schools.
The board also gave a budget presentation, which outlined a worst-case $11 million budget shortfall facing the district for the next school year.
Teachers pleaded with administrators to take cuts from all programs, not just teacher salaries or work days.
"It is the front line, feet on the ground, get out of bed every day and go to school educators that have made this district a success," Romanello said.
Several said they understand the cuts are inevitable, but asked that cuts be shared among all employees.
The district took five furlough days this year to deal with money shortfalls, and all employees were effected. Teachers say they had an additional three of work days cut, however, which they use to prepare for class during the summer.

domain: sociology


text:
This post originally appeared in the 2022 issue of The American Historian. In 1921, dozens of investors celebrated the grand opening of Chin Leeâs Restaurant in New York. Located on the northern edge of the Times Square theatre district, their restaurant nourished youthful desires for frivolous fun. Vaudeville line-ups, cabaret performers, and dance orchestras entertained […]
Ending the Forgotten War: The Korean War Armistice at Seventy
On July 27th, 1953, the Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State established an uneasy ceasefire, ending a war that the...

domain: history


text:
If you love your pets then Taylor is the sitter for you. She loves dogs and dogs love her. She treats all of them like they are hers and gives them the love and attention they need when you are away. I guarantee you will be completely satisfied.
Taylor is an amazing mother to her 2 dogs and child! There is never a moment that any animal not only her own are given the most love and care that she could possibly give. She is constantly trying to bring more and more dogs home to give them a better life. I could not imagine a more suitable person to take care of your four legged friend.
Your dog is my priority
Since I was a little girl I have owned dogs. They have been all sorts of sizes, breeds, temperaments and more. Being a former college athlete I live an active lifestyle and who better to do activities than with a four legged friend? Some of the dogs I have cared for in the past require special diets, that I administer medications, had specific grooming needs and more. I have experience with potty training and teaching ...

domain: pet


Check out technology changing the life.
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text:
by Joanie Butman
Last Saturday night I enjoyed a farewell meal with one of my guardian angels, Noonie, who slept by my side in the hospital every night. She was a Godsend – literally. Her calming presence and caring ministrations got me through many a rough night – with a little help from our adorable night nurse, Joe, who we both developed a little crush on. The best part of having Noonie there was that we managed to have a lot of laughs, despite the circumstances, and kept the staff entertained with our antics.
My niece brought me a wand and halo for my birthday. She knows how I love my accouterments and knew they would be put to good use. One night Noonie and I donned the halo and wand and went around the ward granting wishes. Two of the wishes – to be released the next day – were granted, much to our surprise. We took full credit of course.
Our impromptu cookie party was definitely a staff favorite given the feedback. It hardly seemed adequate for the excellent care they provided during my stay. Anyone can learn the skills to be a healthcare worker, but patience, gentleness, kindness and compassion can’t be taught. Those qualities come from within. I was moved to tears when they arrived with a birthday cake – definitely above and beyond the call of duty.
It takes a special person to sacrifice two weeks of their life and completely dedicate it to helping you get better. I’ve heard it said that ‘the best times in life are made a thousand times better when shared with a dear friend.’ True enough I suppose, but shared pain is an even more powerful bond. The only way I can describe the experience would be to imagine Jesus Himself as your roommate tending to your every need (which I believe He was). It was a bittersweet goodbye as Noonie returned to Texas, but the experiences we shared will forever hold a special place in my heart. I’m sure there are sights she saw that will haunt her for years to come as well. Let’s just say, I look better fully clothed.
As angelic as Noonie is, there were many angels surrounding me during this episode: doctors, nurses, a fellow patient who arrived with a birthday gift after knowing me only a day or two, the volunteers in the craft room, the woman who cleaned my room, battalions of prayer warriors on their knees on my behalf, countless friends and acquaintances who sent encouraging notes, my extended family, my children and, most of all, my husband, who calmly hovers in the background making sure all my needs and those of our family are met.
No doubt that Noonie deserves applause for her two-week tour of duty. Bob, on the other hand, has been on duty 24/7 for 25 years!!! That’s some staying power. He has nursed me through more than just cancer, without fanfare, and often without the accolades he deserves. He is a quiet pillar of strength and stability, complimenting my loud and slightly off-center personality. There are no words or awards to express my gratitude for a life-time of TLC.
A friend recently asked me what my ‘take away’ was from the past couple of weeks. There are many, but even for a writer, some things get diminished in the retelling and just need to be treasured in your heart. However, after much reflection, I think the most important lesson was the power and purpose of fellowship. I was overwhelmed by how God revealed Himself at every turn and in every person I met. God truly uses us as his angels at times to care and support each other. As in any divine transaction, it’s reciprocal in nature because both sides are blessed in the process.
I will share two examples. The first is the recovery room nurse who cared for me through that first night. I was in recovery from about 6 PM to 4 AM. We chatted quite a bit during those hours while she struggled to get my blood pressure up and stabilize me enough to be released to a room. I discovered she was a student of my pastor while in seminary, which led to a discussion of why she didn’t follow that path. Her mother got cancer and she took care of her for 13 years, but her dream to be a missionary lingers. Given the amount of drugs I was on and my history with saying bizarre things coming out of anesthesia, I can’t imagine I had anything erudite to say, but as they wheeled me out she made a point to come hold my hand and tell me that I inspired her to revisit her dream of missionary work. Considering my condition, it had nothing to do with me at all and I think she recognized that.
The second example is a woman named Barbara I met on my first lap around the ward. As she passed my room, I called out “Do you mind if I tag along?” Our pace was agonizingly slow, so by the time we finished the loop, we had become fast friends. She’s a spunky, native Brooklyn girl so I wasn’t surprised. By the time she finished telling her story, I knew I had found the person to whom God wanted me to deliver my extra prayer shawl. When I presented it to her, she burst into tears and said, “Now I know why I met you. God sent you to me. That’s why you’re here now.” I agreed wholeheartedly. When I received the extra prayer shawl in the mail from my mother’s church, I knew I was meant to bring it to the hospital and that God would reveal His intended recipient.
We’ve all been on both sides of these kind of interactions. For reasons I can’t explain, I’ve always been more comfortable on the giving side and found it awkward accepting help. What I learned this time is the unique blessings to be found by choosing to allow others to care for you and choosing to recognize God’s presence in their ministrations. It’s a beautiful thing.
A video that says it all:

domain: literature


text:
A distinguished member of the Better Records Rock and Pop Hall of Fame.
Both sides here are rich and smooth yet still clean and clear, precisely the kind of sound we’ve come to expect from the team of Val Garay and Peter Asher in the ’70s. The bass is deep and punchy, the keyboards tubey rich, and the whole of the ensemble displays both energy and conviction on this top quality batch of songs.
Check out the best of them, tracks that still get airplay today: Back in the U.S.A.; Just One Look; Alison; All That You Dream; Oh Baby Baby; Blowing Away and Love Me Tender. That’s a lot of great songs on one album! (more…)


text:
Notebook.community is an effort to archive the most interesting open-source Jupyter notebooks.
Notebooks are an excellent medium which combines text, images, code, and results. Many of them are publicly available on GitHub and super interesting, but very hard to find.
Our mission is to make these notebooks easily discoverable, browsable, and archive them for future use.
The source of the data is a public BiqQuery dataset of GitHub repositories
This archive is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the source - GitHub - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from notebook.community. Notebook.community disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

domain: library


text:
|Appearance:||White Bead||Molecular Weight:||140,000|
|Glass Transition Temperature:||104°c||HS:||3906909090|
acrylic polymer resin,
alcohol soluble resin
White Bead CAS No. 25035 - 69 - 2 Solid Acrylic Resin DY1002 Used In PVC Varnish And Inks
|Physical Form||---||---||White Beads|
|Molecular Weight||ASTM D-3593||g/mole||140,000|
|Glass Transition Temperature (Tg)||ASTM D-3418||°c||104|
|Acid Number||ISO-3682||Mg KOH/g||<1|
|Viscosity (15% Toluene, 25ºC)||ASTM D-2196||CP||1,200|
PVC varnish, Masonry coatings, floor lacquer, PVC printing inks
DY1002 is easily soluble in aromatics, esters, ketones. It has excellent compatibility with cellulose, vinyl resin and chlorinated rubber.
DY1002 is a copolymer of methyl methacrylate. DY1002 is a high hard and gloss acrylic resin with excellent watertight, alcohol resistance and plasticizer migration resistance and it is for use in plastic coating, PVC processing, leather gloss agent and ink etc. DY1002 also helps pigments with good dispersion.
Ⅴ.Packing and Storage:
Packed in 25Kg/bag
Stored in the place where is cool, dry, ventilated and far from the fire and organic solvents
Shelf time: 3 years
Ⅵ. Competitive Advantage:
More appropriate price under the same quality as the one out of China.
Timely and effective service based on quality and technic.
Shorter lead time based on requirements from clients
Contact Person: Mr. Christopher Cao

domain: chemistry


text:
Create combo killings, bloody carnage and massive mayhem!
Finally the sequal of the wildly popular flash game Let The Bullets Fly has arrived! As usual you have to shoot bullets in wild west style, causing mass destruction in order to kill everyone inside the 40 brand new levels with more explosives and awesome new features!
Next time you go out to the bar with your friends, ask for the latest and greatest new martini! Its ...read more
Help feed the hungry cats by launching them from your cannon to their food.
Zombies... every creature turned into zombie. Run away from the territory occupied by walking dead. You have time till morning. Upgrade your weapons and truck for earned coins.
You found the relic you were looking for, but now have you got what it takes to escape the temple alive?
An evil sheep has stolen your hat. Explore the freeform world of 45 various areas in this RPG-Shooter hybrid. Complete sidequests to get power-ups, extra firepower, and experience! Navigate the ridiculous Level Up tree to become the most powerful elephant in the universe.
Your goal is to set the highest score testing your skills on shooting at the different shaped Moops. Try to shoot more then 1 Moop in a single shot to make combos and earn cool power ups.
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesnt ...read more
Fascinating Top-down shooter with lots of variety of weapons, different enemies and a variety of levels. Can you defeat all guardians of the arena and become the new emperor?

domain: game


Employees in two Canadian factories make Lush Handmade Cosmetics' bath bombs and other products by hand, and the work has grown along with the UK-based brand's store base in the US and Canada. The chain will shift away from new store openings and focus on expanding existing locations, a move that's not expected to dampen demand for the preservative-free products.
German discount grocer Lidl will open a $100 million regional headquarters and distribution facility in Cartersville, Ga., late next year, marking its fourth such center in the US, the company said Monday. The retailer has also set a July opening date for its next four US stores in Virginia and North Carolina, following its first wave of US store openings earlier this month.
Bruce Besanko has resigned as chief financial officer at grocery retailer and wholesaler SUPERVALU, effective July 5, the company said. Besanko, who is the third high-profile grocery executive to resign in recent days, also serves as the chief operating officer of SUPERVALU.
German startup Infarm is developing "indoor vertical farming" equipment that would allow the growth of herbs, vegetables and other produce inside grocery stores for consumers to harvest from. European wholesaler Metro Group is already trialing the equipment, and Infarm said the company has seen interest from other retailers interested in trying the system.
Fruit and vegetable consumption is on the rise in Scotland, and farmers have boosted produce production over the past decade to meet growing demand. The country is putting together a task force to identify areas for additional growth and promote Scotland-grown produce over imports, said Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.
A scientific panel assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and dubbed Science Breakthroughs 2030 held its first meeting in a quest for ways to feed the world's growing population amid a changing climate. "This is something we owe to society … to really look forward as far as we can see and find better solutions," said John Floros, a committee co-chair.
Amazon's planned acquisition of Whole Foods Market could be the solution to making healthy food accessible in neighborhoods that don't have easy access to supermarkets and fresh food, said John Foraker, president of Annie's Homegrown. "Amazon has a long history of figuring out how to drive efficiency out of a supply chain," he said.
Among the eye-catching products at the recent VinExpo in Bordeaux was the first extra dry Champagne from Veuve Clicquot called Extra Brut Extra Old, priced at $90, Elin McCoy writes. Another promising attention-getter at the event was a premium vodka from Siberia called Taiga Shtof, priced at $80.
Cabernet sauvignon is the biggest winner in the surge of interest in higher-end wines, Silicon Valley Bank's Rob McMillan told the Napa Valley Planning Commissioners during a recent meeting about wine industry economics. Napa wineries get major economic support from visitors who join wine clubs and then travel back to the area to visit, McMillan said.
Wine Awesomeness, which curates a monthly box to be delivered to wine lovers, is opening up its "Summer Friday rose hotline!" offering delivery of Lekker rose wine to a customer's door in Manhattan within three hours on Fridays during the summer. The company is partnering with local wine shops to offer the free delivery.
- Page 1


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U.S. must accept a new, multipolar world order, Russian foreign minister says
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sharply criticized the United States for being a destabilizing force in the world, saying Washington was provoking North Korea into a military confrontation and attempting to derail the Iran nuclear agreement.
Despite the Kremlin’s attempts to rebuild bilateral relations with Washington, the United States continues to push an anti-Russia agenda aimed at undermining Moscow’s emergence as a global power in a multipolar world, the foreign minister said during his annual press conference.
Lavrov addressed a broad list of topics during the two-hour-long conference, including relations with China, Europe and the crisis on the Korean peninsula. With nearly every topic, his answers inevitably returned to what has become a familiar theme from the Kremlin: Washington’s aggressive attempts to push its agenda globally are failing and, in the case of North Korea and Iran, have become potentially dangerous.
“Unfortunately, our American colleagues still want to operate only on the basis of dictating policy, issuing ultimatums, they do not want to hear the perspectives of other centers of world politics,” Lavrov said.
The United States needs to face the difficult reality that it is no longer the world’s only superpower and adapt to an increasingly multipolar world, Lavrov said.
Lavrov’s comments came ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia for allegations that the Kremlin orchestrated a campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The Kremlin denies the accusations.
On North Korea, Lavrov accused the United States of provoking tensions by stating that a military option is still on the table and by conducting military exercises on the Korean peninsula.
President Trump, in several outspoken tweets, has lambasted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for Pyongyang’s missile tests. This month, Trump boasted in a tweet that he had a bigger nuclear button than the North Korean dictator.
“The United States quite plainly says that the military confrontation is inevitable, however, everyone understands the catastrophic consequences of such recklessness,” Lavrov said, referring to Trump’s statement.
Russia and China have both said they support talks between the two Korean nations, Lavrov said. Although Lavrov did not mention it, Trump has also praised the talks.
On Iran, the Russian foreign minister chastised a White House suggestion that it could rewrite the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran brokered by former President Obama. That agreement lifts sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump last week waived sanctions under the deal, but suggested that he would not do so again, saying he wants to rewrite the agreement’s “terrible flaws.”
Lavrov warned Washington not to back out.
“We will not support what the United States is trying to do, changing the wording of the agreement, incorporating things that will be absolutely unacceptable for Iran,” Lavrov said.
Changes to Iran’s nuclear agreement with the United States could have broader negative effects, namely on North Korea, which could view Iran’s experience as a cautionary tale with implications for its own approach to the West, Lavrov said.
“It’s sad that the United States once again gives a reason to doubt their ability to be reliable contract partners,” Lavrov said.
He pointed to U.S. sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and the military industry as two examples of areas in which Washington has acted to hinder Russia’s growth. The United States and the European Union have placed economic sanctions on individuals and state-run companies in these two Russian sectors in retaliation for the Kremlin’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea.
Russia has insisted that Crimea’s referendum vote in March 2014 to leave Ukraine and join Russia was legitimate and in reaction to a Western-supported coup in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, which ousted a Moscow-favored president in February of that year.
Lavrov said he believed the sanctions on Russia were aimed more at boosting American’s position in the gas sector as well as at preventing Russia from securing a foothold in international weapons sales.
He accused the United States of trying to persuade the European Union not to complete a proposed gas pipeline that would divert Russian gas from pipes running through Ukraine.
“I would say that the [U.S.] administration’s actions indicate the fear of honest competition in a whole number of spheres,” Lavrov said.
In addition to economic sanctions, he said he sees the U.S. move to require Kremlin-owned media outlets such as RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents in Washington, as well as the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban Russian athletes from competing under their own flag in South Korea next month, as part of an orchestrated effort to unfairly punish Russia.
The International Olympic Committee in December announced that Russia would not be able to compete as a national team because of what the World Anti-Doping Assn. called a state-sponsored doping scheme. Russia athletes who test positive are banned from competing in South Korea, while players and teams who test negative may participate only as “athletes from Russia” under the Olympic flag.
“Yes, there are the facts of violations made by our athletes, but no collective punishment has ever been imposed on anyone in such cases,” Lavrov said. “Here I also see the fear of honest competition.”
Ayres is a special correspondent.
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The prix-fixe tasting menu at chef Jose Garces's Philadelphia restaurant Volvér provides quite a spectacle (read Ryan Sutton's review here), but a recent review by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Craig LaBan reveals an additional, jarring element — the presentation of a cell phone charger, mid-meal. In LaBan's review, the critic notes that "between the sardine course and the live scallop, our waiter brought a silver platter bearing a phone charger: 'Is your battery running low? A lot of people like to Instagram while they're here, and we wouldn't want you to run out of power.'"
According to LaBan, the urge to encourage social media during the experience probably stems from the restaurant's high price tag ($500 for two), giving access to those "who would never dream of spending this kind of money" on a meal. But while many of the plates were "camera-ready gorgeous," LaBan laments that many performative elements were "superficial and excessive," representing a "gastrono-me!-me!-me!" approach. Two bells out of four.
· Garces' Volvér Overdoes the Culinary Performance Art [Philly.com]
· All Volver Coverage on Eater [-E-]


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A Florida doctor is offering a helping hand in Israel after his family’s vacation to the Holy Land took a turn for the worst during Hamas’ surprise attacks on Oct. 7.
“It’s been a very chaotic period of time,” Dr. Cory Harow, medical director of the emergency department of West Boca Medical Center, told “FOX & Friends First” on Wednesday.
“This is not something that you plan for. We had a phenomenal family vacation. We were touring, visiting with friends, extended family, and it was all fantastic being together until air raid sirens woke us up October 7th. We padded out into the hallway of our hotel, and the images that we saw on the televisions were just chilling.”
Israel’s military announced Wednesday that more than 11,000 terrorist targets have now been hit inside the Gaza Strip, while the IDF shot down a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones.
FOX News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.


As 2018 winds down and we start looking to the next year, I?ve begun to think of New Years resolutions. One resolution I?ve been strongly considering is becoming proficient with open sights. How proficient? Well, a whole lot more proficient than I am now at least. Not just with hunting handguns either. Defensive handguns too.|
I know, I know, practice makes perfect. What I want to know is what?s the best way to go about practicing without breaking the bank? I?ve had a few ideas.
1. Take the scope of my Ruger Mark II 22 pistol. My reasoning is simple - it has adjustable sights and it?s a 22. Also, it?s sight radius and size are similar to my 1911. My only fear is a potential repeat of the great 22 shortages would make it a less viable option in the future.
2. Have my 221 Fireball Encore barrel drilled and tapped for open sights. I already use this barrel for cheap practice with scopes handguns at 100 to 200 yards. Why not make it capable of helping me practice with open sights? The longer sight radius would make it a bit easier to shoot accurately, at least while I practice, and it can be handloaded for cheaply.
3. Have MGM make me a custom Encore barrel for the application. Probably a 9mm chamber, 8?-12? long, drilled for open sights. I could handload for this type of setup cheaply (which would also allow me to handload for my sister?s new Kimber) or buy cheap factory ammo.
Certainly, other ideas are more than welcome. These are just a few thoughts I?ve had on the subject.
Formerly TN Lone Wolf
"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." - J.K. Rowling


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The German housing market has been remarkably robust within the final couple of many years, however it faces a serious price correction within the subsequent couple of years, in response to some analysts.
Tim Graham / Contributor / Getty Images
The German housing market has been remarkably robust for many years, however it faces a serious price correction within the subsequent couple of years, in response to analysts.
Mortgage charges have soared, with a 10-year fastened rate up from 1% to three.9% for the reason that begin of the year, in response to Interhyp data, which usually causes demand to chill as fewer individuals can afford to take out loans.
House costs have already declined round 5% since March, in response to Deutsche Bank information, and they’re going to drop between 20% and 25% in complete from peak to trough, forecasts Jochen Moebert, a macroeconomic analyst on the German lender.
“If you think about mortgage rates of 3.5% or 4% then you need higher rental yields for investors and given that rents are relatively fixed, it’s clear prices have to fall,” Jochen says. Rental revenue is a precedence for German traders, with roughly 5 million individuals in Germany receiving income from renting, in response to The Cologne Institute for Economic Research, and the nation having the second-lowest share of house owners of all of the OECD nations, according to the Bundesbank.
While Deutsche Bank would not have particular information for when the underside shall be reached, Jochen mentioned he would not be stunned if it was over the following six months.
“We already saw the steepest price declines if you look month-over-month — this was in June and July … In August, September and October the price declines are already below 1% … So there is some positive momentum here if you look from an investor’s perspective.”
Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, anticipates a home price decline of “at least 5% if not a bit more” within the subsequent year.
“The housing market is softening significantly,” he mentioned, citing a robust lower in demand for loans and a drop in housing development.
And whereas the language used could fluctuate, many analysts are forecasting a dip in Germany’s housing market.
“We expected if there was no energy crisis, no recession, prices would increase further. Now we have a situation where we face a very dramatic adjustment of conditions,” Michael Voigtländer from The Cologne Institute for Economic Research advised CNBC.
A current UBS report went so far as to put two German cities — Frankfurt and Munich — within the prime 4 of its Global Real Estate Bubble Index for 2022, as areas with “pronounced bubble characteristics.”
UBS defines “bubble” qualities as a decoupling of housing costs from native incomes and rents and imbalances within the native economic system, together with extreme lending and development exercise.
The definition would not go well with the German property market as a complete although, UBS Real Estate Strategist Thomas Veraguth advised CNBC.
The state of affairs in Germany is “not going to be a typical bubble burst as we experienced in the financial crisis … but rather it will be a correction,” Veraguth mentioned.
“In real terms a bubble burst would be more than 15% decrease in prices and that would be a very, very bad scenario, a very strong, high risk scenario that is not the base case at the moment,” he added.
A Reuters ballot of property market experts last month anticipated German house prices would fall by 3.5% subsequent year.
A ‘susceptible’ market
But not all monetary establishments agree that Germany’s property market is set for a massive correction.
“We do see a slowdown in the price growth for residential real estate but it’s not that the overall dynamic has reversed,” Bundesbank Vice President Claudia Buch mentioned in an interview with CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche final month.
“On balance, house prices are still rising, albeit at a slower pace,” Buch mentioned. “That said, there are no signs of a severe slump in real estate prices or of overvaluations receding.”
The Bundesbank will proceed to observe the housing market intently as a result of it is “vulnerable,” in response to Buch.
Analysts at S&P Global have additionally rejected the concept of a “severe slump” within the market. In reality, the monetary analytics company mentioned the outlook is stronger than its most up-to-date forecast, revealed in July.
“It’s likely we will have to revise up our price forecasts for Germany for this year,” Sylvain Broyer, EMEA chief economist at S&P Global Ratings, advised CNBC.
“We still have very strong demand,” he mentioned.
Broyer additionally mentioned it should take time for a change in monetary circumstances and monetary tightening to trickle down and have an effect on the housing demand.
“More than 80% of mortgages in Germany are financed with fixed rates, so many households have locked [in] the very favourable financing conditions we had until very recently for five to 10 years,” he mentioned.
The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (VDP) makes use of data from greater than 700 banks to supply its property price index, and information from the most recent quarter reveals costs had been up by 6.1% in comparison with the earlier quarter.
The group anticipates we’ve got already seen the height in Germany property costs “for the time being” however the fundamentals of the market are nonetheless working effectively, in response to VDP CEO Jens Tolckmitt.
The shortage of housing, growing rental costs and a robust labor market will proceed to assist the market, Tolckmitt mentioned, and even when home costs dropped, it would not essentially be a unhealthy factor.
“If house prices reduced by 20%, which we do not expect at the moment, then we would be on the price level of 2020. Is this a problem? Maybe not,” Tolckmitt mentioned.
“That was the price level we reached after 10 years of price increase,” he added.
The labor market is key
Moves within the labor market will decide how the property market shifts, in response to some analysts.
“Should the labor market prove resilient to the technical recession we will have at the end of this year into the next, that is a strong positive for the housing market,” Broyer mentioned.
Schmieding made comparable feedback however over a longer timeframe, saying the medium- to long-term outlook for the German property market “will be good, as long as the country has a buoyant labor market.”
Employment in Germany is at a record high at 75.8%, however with the nation more likely to slip into “mild recession” within the coming months, that determine might be impacted.
German GDP figures launched final month raised hopes of a milder recession than anticipated, with the economic system having grown barely greater than anticipated within the third quarter.
The German economic system grew by 0.4% in comparison with the second quarter and by 1.3% year-on-year, in response to the Federal Statistics Office.

domain: finance


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Microfinance Market Report for Latin America and the Caribbean 2010
This report analyzes performance of the microfinance industry in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for 2010. It examines financial and social performance data from MFIs in the region.
The report states that microfinance in LAC showed signs of recovery in 2009 with an improvement of 24 percent in cumulative credit portfolio over the previous year. Trends in the LAC microfinance market include:
- More credit to fewer clients;
- Slowdown in funding through indebtedness;
- Progressive difficulty in credit recovery;
- Poor returns for MFIs due to low incomes;
- Increasing recognition of social performance management by MFIs;
- Considerable progress in integrating social component into MFI operations;
- Challenges in terms of tracking outreach indicators and improving depth of outreach.
The report examines the phenomenon of cross-indebtedness using data from Ecuadorian MFIs. It presents updated projections for portfolio growth in 2010. The report recommends that MFIs reinforce policies and operations for improving communication with clients. It states that governing bodies should be involved in training and assessment of social performance management of MFIs.


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Ada M Lindsey
Affiliation: University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Postmenopausal survivors of breast cancer at risk for osteoporosis: nutritional intake and body sizeAda M Lindsey
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198 5330, USA
Cancer Nurs 25:50-6. 2002..This is a special group of women for whom screening and preventive strategies for osteoporosis are imperative...
- Bone mineral density and bone turnover in postmenopausal women treated for breast cancerNancy L Waltman
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Lincoln, NE 68588 0220, USA
Cancer Nurs 31:182-90. 2008..035). There was a trend for women who had received chemotherapy to have lower BMD at the spine (P = .06). The implications of these findings are discussed in the article...
- Challenges of recruitment of breast cancer survivors to a randomized clinical trial for osteoporosis preventionCarol D Ott
Kearney Division, College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 1917 West 24th, Kearney, NE 68849 4510, USA
Cancer Nurs 29:21-31, quiz 32-3. 2006..Changes incorporated early in the recruitment phase addressed unique aspects of rural versus metropolitan areas and resulted in near achievement of accrual goals...
- Testing an intervention for preventing osteoporosis in postmenopausal breast cancer survivorsNancy L Waltman
University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Nursing, P O Box 880620, Lincoln, NE 68588 0620, USA
J Nurs Scholarsh 35:333-8. 2003....
- Cancer risk-reduction behaviors of breast cancer survivorsAda M Lindsey
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
West J Nurs Res 26:872-90. 2004....
- Vitamin D insufficiency and musculoskeletal symptoms in breast cancer survivors on aromatase inhibitor therapyNancy L Waltman
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Lincoln, NE, USA
Cancer Nurs 32:143-50. 2009..Findings from this pilot study can be used to inform future studies examining musculoskeletal symptoms in BCSs on AI therapy and relationships with low serum levels of vitamin D...
- Facilitative strategies, psychological factors, and strength/weight training behaviors in breast cancer survivors who are at risk for osteoporosisCarol D Ott
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA
Orthop Nurs 23:45-52. 2004..costs, and processes of change) and their relationship to adherence and progression in use of heavier weights in breast cancer survivors (BCS)...
- Health behaviors in breast cancer survivors experiencing bone lossJanice J Twiss
Omaha Division, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, Omaha, Nebraska 68198 5330, USA
J Am Acad Nurse Pract 18:471-81. 2006....
- Postmenopausal breast cancer survivors at risk for osteoporosis: physical activity, vigor, and vitalityGloria Jean Gross
School of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Scottsbluff, NE, USA
Oncol Nurs Forum 29:1295-300. 2002..To test a multicomponent intervention to prevent and treat osteoporosis in breast cancer survivors...
- Self-efficacy scale for Pap smear screening participation in sheltered womenJette R Hogenmiller
Health, Innovation, and Research, 8687 Tranquility Loop, Ft Calhoun, NE 68023, USA
Nurs Res 56:369-77. 2007..Self-efficacy (SE) has been demonstrated to be predictive of several health behaviors, but limited evidence about SE for Pap smear screening exists...

domain: health


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Columbus, OH – Ohio’s private employers would pay nearly $106 million less in premiums Compensation next fiscal year due to a 10% rate reduction recently proposed to the agency’s Board of Directors.
If approved, this reduction would be the fourth straight reduction since Governor DeWine took office in 2019.
“At the request of Governor DeWine, we are proposing a new rate reduction for private employers,” said Administrator/CEO Stephanie McCloud. “This proposed rate reduction confirms the dedication and hard work Ohio’s private employers have towards workplace safety.”
If approved by the board at its Feb. 25 meeting, the rate reduction would be effective July 1 and private employers would be paying close to $106 million less in this year’s premiums. It also would follow a 10% rate reduction for public employers — counties, cities, schools and others — that went into effect Jan. 1. Overall, the average rate levels for the 249,000 private and public Ohio employers in the BWC system are at their lowest in at least 40 years.
The proposed 10% rate cut represents an average statewide premium change including administrative costs. The actual premium paid by individual private employers depends on several factors, including the expected future claims costs in their industry, their company’s recent claims history, and their participation in various BWC programs.
Source: Ohio BWC

domain: economics


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You know you want to make something for your significant other, or close friends? You want to make something based on foods they like. In this case, my dinner guest requested chicken, and I know he loves chorizo. This seemed like a cook compromise. Boneless skinless chicken breasts can be a bit bland, but the spice in the chorizo and the moisture of the tomatoes really helps this dish. It’s also very quick for a week day meal.
(Note: I did not type up a recipe on the side dish, but you saute fresh corn off the cob, poblano peppers, salt and pepper until just cooked through. Serve warm.)
2 ounces Mexican chorizo
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1 cup tomato, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chorizo to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Place chorizo in a bowl (do not wipe out pan).

domain: food


Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Overview
There are many important components in a vehicle among which one of them is automotive actuators. The actuators drive motion and force in a variety of applications such as operating flaps, low power switches, valves and high power hydraulic devices. The automotive actuators have evolved with time from simple mechanical actuators that consist of manual winding windows and seat adjustments to electronic EGR system, power seats, electronic throttle body, electronic brake system and active grill shutter. There is a rising demand for fuel vehicles, which will help the actuators market to grow.
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Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Segmentation
The global actuators market for automotive application is segmented into vehicle type, product type and regions. On the basis of the vehicle type, the global actuators market for automotive application is categorized into the light commercial vehicle, passenger car and heavy commercial vehicle. Based on the product type, the global market is segregated into VGT actuator, EGR actuator, grille shutter actuator, throttle actuator, electrical exhaust or sound flaps actuator, wastegate actuator, power seat actuator, intake flap actuator, brake actuator, thermo module actuator. On the basis of regions, the actuators market for automotive application market is diversified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.
Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Growth Factors
The actuators market has evolved drastically from working mechanically to automatically. The main factors that are driving the global actuators market for automotive application are the increasing fuel efficiency rules in the developing countries and consumer awareness to use automobiles that are fuel-efficient and give high performance. The automotive market in the recent years has undergone many technological advancements in which the automotive actuators has developed to a great extent and is still developing. The main objective of the automotive industry is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the various functional components in the vehicle. The electrical actuators require low voltage, generate less heat, are more compact and deliver higher torque. The electrical actuators make use of the battery to run the actuator and have the electrical circuit to program the actuators operations. Thus, the global actuators market for automotive application is growing in a positive way.
Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Regional Analysis
Asia Pacific leads the automobile sector with a large number of automobile OEMs in the region. The major automobile manufacturing companies originated in this region giving the trigger to the actuators market to grow. The countries such as India and China contribute to the growth of the actuators market owing to the growing demand from automobile companies to expand their manufacturing facilities. The North American region is expected to grow at a faster pace than the European region owing to the increasing demand for fuel-efficient automobiles and light and heavy commercial vehicles.
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Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Competitive Players
Some of the key market players operating in the global actuators market for automotive applications include APC International, Ltd., Continental Ag, Cvel Automotive Electronics, Denso Corporation, Hella Kgaa Hueck & Co., Iav Automotive Engineering, Magneti Marelli S.P.A., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Valeo S.A., Buehler Motor Inc., CTS Corporation, Delphi Automotive Plc., Firgelli Automations, Hitachi, Ltd., Johnson Electric Holdings Ltd., Marsh Automation, Nook Industries, Inc., and Timotion Technology Co. Ltd.
Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Segmentation Analysis
Based on the product type
- VGT actuator
- EGR actuator
- grille shutter actuator
- throttle actuator
- electrical exhaust or sound flaps actuator
- wastegate actuator
- power seat actuator
- intake flap actuator
- brake actuator
- thermo module actuator
On the basis of the vehicle type
- light commercial vehicle
- passenger car
- heavy commercial vehicle
Global Actuators Market for Automotive Application: Regional Segment Analysis
- North America
- Asia Pacific
- Latin America
- The Middle East and Africa
What Report Provides
- Full in-depth analysis of the parent market
- Important changes in market dynamics
- Segmentation details of the market
- Former, on-going, and projected market analysis in terms of volume and value
- Assessment of niche industry developments
- Market share analysis
- Key strategies of major players
- Emerging segments and regional markets
- Testimonials to companies in order to fortify their foothold in the market.
Zion Market Research
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chinese fried rice
|Rice||2 Cup (32 tbs)|
|Ginger garlic paste||1 Teaspoon|
|Olive oil||2 Tablespoon|
|Chopped vegetables||1 Cup (16 tbs) (Beans)|
|Soy sauce||1 Teaspoon|
|Tomato ketchup||2 Teaspoon|
|Chili sauce||2 Teaspoon|
|Unsalted butter||2 Tablespoon|
1.Heat olive oil in a pan, add ginger-garlic paste, chopped vegetables and fry for few minutes.
2.When the vegetables are half cooked, then add vinegar. Mix well and keep aside.
3.Heat butter in a separate pan, fry rice for 2 minutes and cook with 2 cups of water and Ajinomoto salt.
4.Mix Soya sauce, sugar, tomato ketchup and chili sauce in a bowl and keep aside.
5.Now add this rice to the cooked vegetables along with Soya sauce mixture.
6.Mix well and cook until it is done.
Serving size: Complete recipe
Calories 1877 Calories from Fat 501
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 57 g87.6%
Saturated Fat 20.2 g101.1%
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 64.5 mg21.5%
Sodium 2147.5 mg89.5%
Total Carbohydrates 306 g101.9%
Dietary Fiber 5.1 g20.4%
Sugars 8.8 g
Protein 27 g54.4%
Vitamin A 15.7% Vitamin C 0.88%
Calcium 11.2% Iron 19.2%
*Based on a 2000 Calorie diet


The Chinese laboratories where scientists are already at work on the new 'meow meow'
By MIKE POWER in LONDON and SIMON PARRY in CHINA
In a filthy Shanghai laboratory, chemists make batches of mephedrone - and a new incarnation of the 'plant food' linked to the deaths of British teenagers. Never heard of the drugs Eric-1 and Eric-2? That's the point. By Mike Power in London and Simon Parry in China
In a filthy Shanghai laboratory, chemists make batches of mephedrone - and a new incarnation of the 'plant food' linked to the deaths of British teenagers
Young, rich and brimming with energy, Eric embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of modern China. He sits at his desk beneath a cabinet of spirits and cigars that he dispenses liberally to his overseas clients while secretaries totter in and out carrying samples and price lists.
Eric, 35, wears designer clothes, drives a Buick SUV and works such long hours his wife moans that he treats the luxury villa where they live like a hotel. But for all his infectious charm as he chats and jokes at his office in an up-market Shanghai apartment block, there is a sinister side to the business that has made this chemistry graduate conspicuously wealthy.
The booming and rapidly expanding company he heads produces designer drugs that supply tens of thousands of British youngsters with a legal - and potentially lethal - high. These new drugs could take over as a legal replacement for mephedrone, the amphetamine-like drug some users have called 'meow meow', which was banned by the Government ten days ago after legislation was rushed through. This followed media reports that cited its use by some users before their deaths. One of those was Lois Waters, 24, of North Yorkshire who died last month having taken mephedrone several days before.
With a laboratory near the city's international airport (whose neighbours include offices of Glaxo Smith Kline, Novartis and Astra Zeneca) and a factory with 65 workers three hours from Shanghai, Eric claims his company manufactures and ships hundreds of kilograms of drugs to Britain every week.
Despite the ban on mephedrone and other related-compounds, Eric and many other Chinese businessmen like him are ahead of the game. They beat customs controls using know-how and corruption and are creating and preparing new drugs that will deliberately dodge our classifications and continue to offer profitable, legal kicks in the UK.
Drug boss Eric, right, inspects the latest batch of a new drug yet to be named at his company in Shanghai, China
Posing as customers, we were shown around his laboratory and witnessed a sophisticated and ruthless export industry that is indifferent to the harm and addiction its products cause. It is driven instead by modern China's guiding light: money.
Eric makes it clear that he views the death of Lois Waters and two British youngsters who had allegedly taken mephedrone as being a business inconvenience rather than a moral dilemma.
'They died in the UK,' he tells us in a rare display of earnestness. 'As a result UK customs have recently been very strict and lots of packages from China and India are stopped and seized. It is in the media and on the TV and a lot of our customers are worried. But we assure them there is no risk for them.'
He then reveals how his company has already been avoiding customs checks in the UK by sending packages into Britain via 'soft' third countries in the EU.
'We have agents in Europe so we can send to Ireland, Austria, Spain and Italy. Then the package will be re-sent to the UK from those countries. If the package comes from outside Europe there might be trouble. Within Europe, the UK customs normally will not check.'
Even if the packages were stopped, he promises us, the orders would be honoured.
'I can't think of any way we can get ahead of the game, there are just too many chemical possibilities. There's always going to be something we haven't thought of and legislated for'
'If it is stopped we always refund or reship. That is why we have so many customers in the UK. There is no risk for them.'
Eric's company sends its drugs to Britain by express courier. At the entrance to his office, barrels of MDPV - a potent and addictive stimulant that was banned along with mephedrone on April 16 - are piled up alongside dozens of one-kilo packages sitting ready to be taken to the airport.
Posing as large, London-based wholesalers of legal highs, we had insisted on a visit to the lab before making our order - for 10kg of MDPV every month for a year. Eric says our order is almost laughably small: 'It amounts to 120kg a year. I have that much in my office now. Every month we produce two tons.'
However, our order still amounts to 200,000 doses monthly, and 2.4 million doses annually.
Even with shipment via a European country, packages are delivered in three to four days from the time payment hits his account, he says, adding with a knowing grin: 'Some packages we send directly to the UK. We have our own methods.'
Lois Waters, 24, of North Yorkshire, who had taken mephedrone before she died last month
The boom in demand for legal highs in the UK has generated a huge new revenue stream for Eric's company.
'It has all happened in the past two years and the demand from the UK and other countries just keeps increasing,' he says.
Set up seven years ago, his lab was already doing brisk international business turning out five or six new generic drugs a year for worldwide sales. These ranged from anti-retroviral drugs for HIV sufferers and heart-disease drugs to fake Viagra.
Eric said there was no problem in continuing to send the drug to the UK, promising to fulfil our 12-month order. What's more, Eric told us that he is developing a new drug to ship to the UK after this month's ban.
At his company's laboratory, the size of a small flat, a team of young scientists in white coats and face masks work on new formulas. Dipping his nose into a sample bag of white powder, Eric says: 'I can't tell you the name of this. It is going to be very popular and your buyers will be very interested in this.'
Scooping out a pinch between his fingers he says: 'We've been working on this for some time. It is almost perfect and ready to ship. The purity is 99.9 per cent. If you look at it, you can see it is snow white. That shows how pure it is.'
Inside the laboratory, with huge bell jars at one end, a small team of scientists appear to be working on a dozen different chemical processes at once. When we point out the extraordinary variety of colours in one of the bell jars and compare it to an oil painting, Eric laughs.
'You must be artists,' he says. 'When you look at that jar, you see colours. When I look at it, I see only orders and money.'
Driving us from his laboratory back to his downtown office in the hope of sealing another overseas order, Eric was in a hurry to move on to the next deal.
'I have no time for holidays. I am working all the time,' he says.
Eric, though, like all the most successful drug dealers, chooses not to get high on his own supply. His only vice is cans of Red Bull.
'I have a lot of business on my hands. I need all the energy I can get,' he says.
For the past year, the drug market in the UK has been teetering on the edge of complete anarchy. Drug laws look impotent in the face of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of dealers, users and chemists. We have ended up in a situation where anyone of any age can buy limitless amounts of powerful drugs on the high street or on the internet, and - feasibly - consume it in front of a police officer with little chance of prosecution.
Chinese scientists such as Eric are identifying illegal compounds that have a psychoactive effect and modifying them slightly on a molecular level so they still get users high - but are legal. Over the course of our investigation, Eric has offered dozens more chemicals, a garbled narcotic alphabet soup of untried and untested drugs, whose chemical structures, experts tell us, makes them likely to be addictive and harmful.
'Now people have discovered mephedrone, they'll look for others. It will be interesting to see if the new control kills the market or if goes underground. That's the dilemma for legislators: is controlling it the best way?'
The recent ban on mephedrone followed a wave of public outrage after reports claiming that 25 young people had died after using it. Coroners' reports have shown that most of these users had more than one drug in their bloodstream - in the case of Louis Wainwright, 18, and his friend Nicholas Smith, 19, who died in Scunthorpe in March, both men were taken the drug with heroin substitute methadone and alcohol, a fatal mix experienced methadone users avoid.
It is undeniable, though, that mephedrone is addictive, dangerous, and the market around it is far from benign. Politicians and scientists have distinctly opposed views about what is to be done. Professor David Nutt was sacked as chairman of the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in October for his views in favour of a more relaxed legal stance to reflect what he claims are over-stated dangers. Other members with similar views have also resigned. Nutt recently caused more controversy saying it would be better to sell controlled doses of mephedrone at nightclubs and give safety guidance than ban it.
While the Government and their advisers have been at loggerheads and seem unable to come up with a clear policy, Chinese labs have filled the policy vacuum.
It seems as if the legal drugs scene burst out of nowhere, but experts have been expecting it for years. Dr John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's Medical School, University of London, says most of the new legal highs he sees are made in China.
'It's not difficult to look at the pharmaceutical literature, find things that are controlled, then devise a minor chemical modification to bring them outside control,' he says. 'Then you can contact a Chinese laboratory and they'll happily custom-synthesise it for you.'
Ramsey believes that current models of control are inadequate and out of date: 'All we're doing is propelling people through a series of new chemicals, none of which have been toxicity tested.'
The Labour MP for Bolton South East, Brian Iddon, who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for many years, agrees.
'There's an unlimited supply of synthetic drugs,' he says. 'As a chemist I know that I can move one functional group around a molecule and produce an analogue that will have a similar physiological effect. The trouble is, by banning new drugs, there's this procession of new ones that people will turn to.'
Ramsey says the chemical landscape has changed irrevocably in the last few years.
'I can't think of any way we can get ahead of the game, there are just too many chemical possibilities. There's always going to be something we haven't thought of and legislated for.'
Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction James Brokenshire disagrees, and says the Government needs a more integrated approach.
'When new psychoactive drugs emerge onto the market - which we should monitor via an early-warning system - we need to be able to put them into a temporary classification, during which time there would be restrictions on import and sale,' he says.
'This would allow the ACMD to do its work so we can come up with a longer-term classification. But in that initial period, you'd actually be dealing with the harms they pose.'
Brokenshire believes we may soon need more broad, catch-all legislation as they have in the U.S. and Australia. 'We need to look at ways in which analogues can be captured so that if there is an existing illegal drug and someone merely creates an analogue of it, there should be a way of legislating against it.'
A laboratory assistant by a machine containing the new substance - possibly soon to be exported to online buyers in the UK
Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee that monitors domestic policy, says the answer is even simpler: do away with complex and lengthy scientific consultation, and change the law fast.
'As the Home Secretary has said on a number of occasions, the ACMD are the experts but politicians have to make the decisions. We need to say to the ACMD, "You have 28 days to ban this." It's not rocket science. We also need to gather drugs intelligence in the same way we gather anti-terrorism information.'
MP Brian Iddon, meanwhile, argues a more radical position, one few politicians are keen to hear, much less advocate.
'Since the war on drugs started, usage has escalated,' he says. 'Legal enforcements do not work. Supply-side control does not work. We have to reduce or minimise demand. You'll never stop it. We have to get the health risks of drugs across to young people early in secondary schools.'
The last time new drugs sparked such a fevered response was in the late Eighties, when ecstasy exploded onto the British music scene. However, TV and press coverage of outdoor raves unintentionally brought the new drug into the orbit, if not the pockets, of millions of young British people throughout the following decades. A similar scenario has now played out with mephedrone and other legal highs.
To understand the chaos we are in today in the UK, you need to trace the decades-old links between an octogenarian chemist in California, makeshift essential oil distilleries in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, laboratories such as Eric's in Shanghai, nightclubs in the UK and hippy shops in towns like Scunthorpe.
What ties them all together is the internet.
Alexander Shulgin, now aged 84, has been called the godfather of ecstasy - a title he, as a scientist, hates. In the late Fifties, in common with other intellectuals, Shulgin had tried mescaline - a natural and at that time legal hallucinogen produced by cacti. He was so profoundly affected by the experience that he gave over the rest of his life to radical psychedelic research. He considered, correctly, that if he tinkered with the molecules of the drug (which belongs to a chemical class known as phenethylamines), the new compounds would have novel and interesting effects. He was right, and he produced hundreds of new drugs.
Newspaper reports on the inability of teachers to confiscate legal highs
On September 12, 1976, Shulgin synthesised MDMA, the principal component of ecstasy. He introduced it to his friends, many of whom worked in psychotherapy. They found the drug's dismantling of social barriers and personal inhibitions useful in their work.
Shulgin was working with a U.S. government-approved licence, which saw him producing samples of outlawed drugs to help the Drug Enforcement Agency; police needed verified samples of drugs against which to compare their seizures.
His production techniques used easy-to-acquire chemicals. For ecstasy, this involved safrole, an essential oil produced by distilling the root bark of certain trees. He published his work in a book PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, which was bought by hundreds of underground chemists. Illegal production got underway. In 1994, the DEA raided Shulgin's laboratory - allegedly finding problems with his record keeping - but by then his research was already in the public domain.
The resignation of members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs members
The rapid commercial growth of the internet in the mid-Nineties saw the growth of communities of self-styled 'psychonauts' - drug-users who hunted online for firms selling legal drugs. Hundreds of powerful drugs were available until 2004, when a U.S.-UK anti-drugs operation, Operation Ismene, clamped down on their sale. Police raided firms in the U.S. and homes in Britain and arrested 22 people for buying a Shulgin-designed hallucinogen, 2CI (illegal in the UK).
Over the past few years, scientists in China have been doing much the same thing as Shulgin - altering the molecules of one drug to produce another with similar properties. Nothing, not even legal barriers, can stop their innovation now a market has developed.
The reason is profit. The locus of the legal drug market has shifted to China, where production is cheap. Now Beijing has part-liberalised its economy, it is trading more freely with the West. However, it lacks the infrastructure to deal with corrupt customs officials and local government. A flood of new or seldom-seen drugs is appearing with greater frequency than ever before. Mephedrone has been joined by buphedrone, flephedrone, ethylone and butylone. And those are just the ones scientists have identified.
There's a reason these drugs took over from ecstasy. In July 2008, in Pursat, 170km west of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, UN anti-drug officers destroyed 30 tons of safrole-rich oil, which was to be used by clandestine chemists in Holland to make ecstasy, using Shulgin's recipe.
The oil, confiscated over the preceding weeks and months, had been distilled from the roots of the mreah prew phnom tree in jungle labs that produced an average of 60 litres a day. If it had got to Holland, it could have been synthesised into 245 million doses of ecstasy. Instead, it was burnt. The impact was profound and lasting and inadvertently caused the mephedrone phenomenon.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, health and drug professionals reported the clubbing scene had been taken over by a new class of drugs, piperazines. These are used in the production of a number of medicines, as worming treatment for animals, or compounds designed to induce migraines in medical research. Their effects are powerful, but often unpleasant. They are legal, cheap and made an ideal replacement for ecstasy dealers following the Cambodian clampdown.
About then, at the start of 2007, the internet was a-buzz over the release of two new legal products: Neo Doves and Sub Coca. Normally, legal highs were a ripo, a hotch-potch of herbs, piperazines and caffeine. But these new products, sold by a firm in Israel named BioRepublik, were different, and the firm refused to reveal what was in them. Sold in capsules, users were unanimous that they worked, and said they felt like a cross between ecstasy and cocaine.
Their contents may have been a mystery - but it was a mystery worth solving. They were selling in their hundreds of thousands. It was no surprise they were selling so well - they were addictive, and scarily so; users reported going on crazed binges for days. Soon, information emerged online that BioRepublik's products contained a new drug - the most popular of which was 4-methylmethcathinone, or mephedrone, a previously unseen chemical on the global drug market.
There was serious money to be made and a huge human experiment was under way, with young drug users all over the world turning themselves into lab rats. Almost immediately, unscrupulous entrepreneurs were Googling for chemistry labs in China and getting them to synthesise the drug.
'The designers of mephedrone stumbled across something with the pharmacology somewhere between cocaine and ecstasy that was cheap, legal and freely available,' says Dr Ramsey. 'And this coincided with a drop in the quality and availability of other drugs.'
In a matter of weeks it had descended into a mad free-for-all, a chemical gold-rush with dozens of new players popping up daily. The new drugs could be bought for around £1,000 to £2,500 per kilo and sold for £10,000 - legally. Internet forums dedicated to selling and discussing mephedrone and other new legal highs came online. Websites with garish branding skirted British trade, food and medicine laws by selling the new drugs as 'plant food' with rave-style graphics and absurd instructions: 'Water your plants no more than once a week. Will make your garden bloom!'
Then things got even more bizarre, thanks again to the internet. The Google Adsense programme, which automatically generates advertisements from keywords paid for by businesses, started adding links to online mephedrone shops at the end of online newspaper articles calling for it to be banned. Mephedrone and other legal highs received a vast, free boost with adverts paid for by the very organisations that wanted to ban them. Google was not checking what its advertisers sold before they ran the ads, and newspapers had no control of the ads that Google was generating on its web pages. The search giant took down dozens of legal high ads the day I alerted them to their presence.
Facebook groups and blogs dedicated to the drug sprang up, and pubs and clubs all over Britain began to reek of mephedrone, which often has a fishy, synthetic smell, and which is sweated out as users dance and rant emptily.
At the height of the madness came the first reports of a death. Gabrielle Price, a 14-year-old girl from Hastings, died in November 2009 after a night when she had taken the drug. The newspapers reported the tragedy but, again, the automatically generated Google ads beneath the reports showed people exactly where they could buy this new, legal drug. It had gone viral.
In March, the ACMD told the Home Secretary in its recommendations on banning mephedrone that Google's 'insights for search' tool, which analyses user searches, demonstrates how every death attributed to the drug in newspaper reports coincided with a massive spike in searches for the term 'buy mephedrone online'.
By the time the cause of Gabrielle's death was known - she died of pulmonary problems and a bronchial infection both unrelated to the mephedrone, ketamine and alcohol she'd taken - the adverts for online drug shops had vanished.
And the story doesn't end here. Ramsey says the designer-drug genie may be out of the bottle.
'Now people have discovered mephedrone, they'll look for others. It will be interesting to see if the new control kills the market or if goes underground. That's the dilemma for legislators: is controlling it the best way?'
We call Eric to cancel our order, telling him as honest businessmen, we only want to sell legal drugs, and hoping he can reveal what was in the new compound he showed us in the lab. He mails back, swatting away such trivial concerns as British drug law. He sends a link to the UK Government's Office of Public Sector Information, which details how the Misuse of Drugs Act is to be amended to reflect the ban on mephedrone.
No worries, though. He tells us he's ready to do business.
'We can supply new legal stuff for the UK. It falls outside all laws currently regarding research chemicals. This is a snow-white powder. The purity is above 99.8 per cent. Sorry, we cannot disclose the ingredient now. This is our technical know-how. If others know it, they will copy our products, and this product will be ruined very quickly like mephedrone. So we should keep secrecy at this moment. It can't possibly be banned yet because it was only invented a few months ago.'
Already reports have surfaced online about horrific overdoses on these new drugs, with people in their twenties being hospitalised with heart trouble and panic attacks. And the name of the new highs?
Eric says we can call them whatever we like. Some vendors are calling it Energy-1, others NRG-1. None of them know what it is - and Eric tells us he has lied to some vendors to spread confusion, saying the new drug is naphyrone. Without expensive testing, we can't know for sure what they are. Their real name is his secret.
Modestly, he's called them Eric-1 and Eric-2.
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Talitha B. Jacobs, a former art teacher, painted this happy pup, “Copper,” from a photo she saw of a co-worker’s dog. “My favorite part is watching people’s faces while they look at the painting,” Jacobs says. “It brings pure joy, and that’s what I want my art to convey.”
Most of Jacobs’ pieces are realistic portraits — both human and animal — painted in bright, bold colors. “I like to paint animals and people as I see them,” she says.
Using acrylic paint in her home studio works great for her busy lifestyle. “I love acrylic paint because it dries so quickly,” Jacobs says. “I am a mother of a 6-, 4- and 2-year-old and must paint very quickly. By the time I come back to a painting from changing a diaper or braiding a Barbie’s hair, the paint is already dry and ready for another layer.”
“Copper” and about 15-20 of Jacobs’ other paintings will be featured at Utica Square’s Art in the Square from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Oct. 5. The free event at Utica Square, East 21st Street and South Utica Avenue, showcases work by more than 80 local artists.


Our world is now evolving around technology and every day we are getting more and more products that can be synced with our smartphones and mobile devices to make our life easier, for example, smart locks. The technology has now got to locks and doors, offering the ability to control our doors without a key, just a touch of a button. The idea of smart locks is available through different manufacturers and can be used as a selling aspect during your home building contract. Now let's take a look at how these smart locks function and if they are the best option for you.
Types of Smart Locks
Not all technology is the same, so you can opt to use different alternatives depending on the customer needs and the cost of the lock that your customer wants to have. Some smart locks can offer the ability for you to just place a smart control over the existing deadbolt while others will require you to replace the whole lock system. The amazing features that these locks offer vary widely and can be combined with the security systems making it ideal for smart homes but watch out not, everything is good, there are some factors that you will need to pay attention too.
Top Smart Locks Manufacturers
Here is a list of some of the most recognized and best products out there in the market offering smart locks:
- Yale Real Living - Although it is not fully compatible with a smartphone on its own, it can be combined with home automation systems so it can be controlled through your smartphone. The system is a full hardware replacement, touchscreen keypad lock that offers a mechanical cylinder with key-less lock options.
- Haven - This is kind of a different lock, as it needs to have installed a base in front of your door. The lock or base provides a mechanical barrier to entry that is released via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The system is compatible with smart thermostat systems and can detect forced entry, however, it can only stop inward-opening doors, so if your door opens out, then the system is useless.
- August - Offering an aluminum circular lock that replaces your existing deadbolt, this smart lock can be controlled using a smartphone. The lock will let you know when people are using the lock and it can be used to send digital copies of your key to friends and family. The system uses Bluetooth technology and it will unlock automatically when you are getting closer to the door.
- Kwikset Kevo - This smart lock is a bit more secure as it will need your finger to tap the lock so it can work, but only if the phone or key fob is nearby. Digital keys can also be shared with other people and those controls can be managed from the Kevo app. This will require you to replace the existing deadbolt and can be combined with your WiFi network so you can remotely control the lock on the door and get updated on who is entering through your door. Kevo is available on Apple iOS and select Android 5.0, Lollipop devices.
- Lockitron - This is one of the more economical smart locks available in the market. It works by installing a smart lock over the deadbolt on your door, and it can work with any smartphone through their App. The lock will open with a tap and can be used to provide access to family and friends through their app. It can be opened with your smartphone in front of the lock, remotely via a web app, or even with a text message.