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PTSM: Pharmaceutical Technology Sourcing and Management
Equipped with a new sourcing strategy in Asia and improving market conditions, Pfizer CentreSource expects a good performance from its steroid business this year and in 2008.
Led by turnaround in its steroids business, (PCS, Kalamazoo, MI) is optimistic about its performance in 2007 and prospects for 2008.
"2007 has been a good year, particularly in our steroids business, which has been hurt by difficult pricing margins over the last several years," says Michael J. Kosko, president of PCS.
PCS is an operating unit within Pfizer Global Manufacturing (PGM), the manufacturing arm of Pfizer. PCS provides third-party contract manufacturing services and products to other pharmaceutical companies. PCS consists of two businesses: contract manufacturing of dosage-form products and fine chemicals.
PCS's fine chemicals business is primarily focused on the sale of steroids and steroid intermediates. PCS's position in steroids dates back to 1949 with the former pharmaceutical company Upjohn, which commercialized the first large-scale, cost-effective synthetic route for glucocorticosteroid. In 1995, Pharmacia & Upjohn was formed from the merger of Pharmacia AB and The Upjohn Company, and in 2000, Pharmacia acquired Searle, the pharmaceutical business of Monsanto. Pfizer then acquired Pharmacia in 2003.
PCS sees upswing in steroids business
Given increasing cost-competition in the steroids market, PCS embarked on a new strategy in 2006 by deciding to outsource part of its steroid production to Asia through manufacturing pacts with (Shanghai) and (Shan-Hua, Taiwan)
Under the pacts, Pfizer is transferring the late-stage processing of 18 steroid APIs and intermediates to Shanghai Pharmaceutical and ScinoPharm over the next several years, beginning with certain commodity steroid APIs. Pfizer will continue to do the early-stage bioconversion operations at its plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. PCS will also have parallel quality control testing of the APIs produced at the Asian manufacturing facilities and then at an external shadow laboratory. In addition to overseeing quality issues, PCS will file all drug master files and maintain distribution and marketing responsibilities of the products.
Shanghai Pharmaceutical and ScinoPharm are both adding manufacturing capacity to implement the PCS projects.
"We are pleased with the progress of these projects," says Jeffrey W. Frazier, PCS's vice-president of global marketing for fine chemicals. The first two products from the pacts will be progesterone and hydrocortiscone.
Shanghai Pharmaceutical plans to run validation lots in the fourth quarter 2007 and begin production in the first quarter 2008 for its first product and to begin production of another product in the first quarter of 2008.
For ScinoPharm, the scope of the original project has changed, explains Frazier. The order in which specific product transfers will occur hs been rearranged, but technology-transfer activities will begin in Taiwan starting in 2008.
Underlying market fundamentals and PCS's strategy to outsource is beginning to reap its rewards. "Our steroids business performed very well in 2007, and we see 2008 as another strong year," says Frazier.
Part of the turnaround is related to higher pricing of steroid products from China stemming from several factors: the reduction of the rebate in China's value-added tax, exchange-rate variance, and rising prices for diosgenin, a key raw material used in many steroids produced in China, explains Frazier.
Strong demand for fermentation business
In addition to the upswing in its steroids business, PCS is also experiencing healthy demand for its fermentation services. "We offer third-party fermentation services from our facilities in Kalamazoo, and we are seeing strong demand for these services,"says Frazier.
Pfizer's active pharmaceutical ingredients facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a large multipurpose, pharmaceutical chemical and fermentation facility. It is Pfizer's largest API facility and produces fine chemicals for use in Pfizer's drugs products as well as products for PCS. The site includes people involved in the administration, production, support, and development of APIs and intermediates.
PCS's fermentations services process development expertise in culture improvement, fermentation process optimization, and commercial-scale manufacture. It also offers a number of complementary downstream capabilities ranging from cell separation and crystallization to vacuum evaporation and sterile packaging.
Sterile manufacturing on the rise
PCS is broadening its position in sterile manufacturing. PCS provides contract manufacturing of solid and sterile dosage forms at facilities throughout Pfizer's internal manufacturing network, a function served as part of PGM's strategy to fully optimize its manufacturing capacity. PGM's sterile-manufacturing operations are in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Puurs, Belgium, and Dublin, Ireland.
"Our capacity for sterile manufacturing has increased, helping to meet demand from both the large pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies," says Carlos R. Fernandez, PCS's director of marketing for global contract manufacturing.
PCS proceeds with Feucht divestment
PCS is also on track with its plans to divest its Feucht, Germany, manufacturing facility and the related PCS-Feucht business unit. The PCS-Feucht business unit targets specialty APIs and solid-dose manufacturing, including high-containment drug product manufacturing for potent compounds.
Pfizer is currently evaluating potential buyers for the unit and expects to complete the divestment by the fourth quarter of 2007, says PCS's Kosko. "We have had a strong level of interest from both financial and strategic buyers and are on track with our plans to sell the facility by the end of 2007," he says.


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Author Archives: Phil Tucker - Page 2
If Phil's not programming, playing music, modifying a new gadget or sailing the Great Lakes then there's really no telling what he's up to. You can follow Phil on Twitter @unmaintained.
The real life battlefields that inspired Call of Duty: WWII
How close are Call of Duty: WWII's maps to the real life battlefields on which they were based? See for yourself in this gallery of screenshot-to-photograph comparisons.
Late last year I embarked on a tour of significant WWI and WWII battlefields in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. As it happens a number of the sites I had the honor to visit and photograph are also represented as maps in the new Activision title, including Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. Activision has a blog post with some detail around the historical significance behind these real locations where fierce engagements took place during World War II.
My Grandfather landed on Juno Beach on D-Day with the No. 22 Canadian Field Ambulance Unit of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. He spent the month of June 1944 in, and around, Beny-sur-Mer, in late June 1944 he was injured and evacuated. I set out on this battlefield tour with my father and one of my brothers so that we could consider the experience of my Grandfather.
The tour began on November 4th, 2017, when I realized Call of Duty: WWII was to be released on November 3rd, just one day before our scheduled departure, I decided that I would bring my Xbox in the hope that my brother and I could visit historical battlefield sites during the days and play through the campaign in the evenings at the hotels. We completed the campaign on our last evening in Nijmegen, Belgium after visiting the John Frost Bridge (A Bridge Too Far), the Holten Canadian Military Cemetery and the Canadian Legion 005 earlier that day.
Over the course of the 10 day tour I took over 3,000 photos from which I was able to draw these comparison shots. Additional photos of these sites, and of the many others we visited, can be viewed here. Please contact me if you wish to inquire regarding usage rights.
The hero image is a screenshot from the Call of Duty: WWII Pointe du Hoc map split with a photograph taken at Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France.
Special thanks to The Battlefield Tours for providing a top-notch tour experience.
All photographic images Copyright © 2017-2018 Phil Tucker. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, and CALL OF DUTY WWII are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
DIY toddler balance bike headlight
Light up your little one's balance bike with this simple do-it-yourself headlight.
There's not a lot to say here, glue something ferromagnetic (something magnets stick too) to the front of the balance bike and purchase a puck shaped utility light with a magnet on the back to stick to it. I used a washer and crazy glue, super simple, loads of fun. The light may slide off the washer in the event of a collision — but putting it back on is half the fun!
The balance bike my son has is the Kinderfeets TinyTot Wooden Balance Bike and Tricycle, which converts from a three-wheeled tricycle to a two-wheeled bike when they're old enough.
Arduino Hot Wheels Drag Strip Race Track
For my son's second birthday I decided to introduce him to die-cast cars and what better way than building a drag strip race track with an electronic start gate, timing and race results?
While Hot Wheels does offer a 6-Lane Raceway and a number of other drag strip style tracks, they didn't have the timing and electronic start gate that I knew an Arduino and some other bits could provide, so I set to work. The basic idea is was have a servo motor open the start gate by pulling down a hinged plate with dowel stoppers to release the cars and a photocell (photoresistor/LDR) pointed at an infrared LED on each track to detect each car crossing the finish line.
Some quick searching revealed a number of projects from which I could draw insight and inspiration, most useful were apachexmd's Hot Wheels Track Timer and Robby C's Ultimate Guide to Building a Hot Wheels Race Track. This demystified a number of points, I hadn't really had any fun with die-cast cars since I was kid myself, turns out there are some oddities.
One of the oddities is that Hot Wheels doesn't offer any long track for sale, all of their tracks are sold in segments a foot or two long that must be connected — the only exception being a vintage 50-foot Track Pak Raceway sold at some point in the 70′s or 80′s which can be found for upwards of $100 currently. Another track option is BluTrack which is sold in many lengths but only in a two-lane configuration for some reason. I decided to buy the readily available Hot Wheels segments in the form of 4 Hot Wheels Track Builder Straight Track kits.
I had some 1/2″ x 8″ pine left over from framing a door I thought I would use to mount the track on. There are a number of methods folks have employed to mount the Hot Wheels track on wood, I decided to use a method mentioned on Robby C's page which involves using screws to secure a stack of two different sized washers to the wood at intervals.
A small washer below a larger one provides the elevation that the track needs to slide onto the larger washer. The exact washers and screws I used can be seen in the gallery below, be sure to drill pilot holes for the screws and try to keep them straight, the straighter the screws are, the better they will fit in the washer and, in turn, the smaller the bump in the track will be. This method (at least with the sizes I used) does leave ever so slight bumps in the track once it's fitted, but I felt it was slight enough that it wouldn't adversely affect the races. I used one of these washer guides for each section of track positioned to sit in the center of the track, except for the finish line track where I placed one at either end.
The track has 4 main pieces (though one I cut into two to make it more modular). These four pieces are a small section of track for the finish line which has the results display attached, the main straightaway, the start incline and a support for the start incline. Following some of the ideas on Robby C's page again I decided to use hinges to connect the start incline track to its support piece as well as to the straightaway allowing for an adjustable incline. If you use hinges with removable pins it allows for easier disassembly.
I ended up cutting the straightaway into two sections, and I'll probably do the same with the incline so that I can make the entire track shorter and thus more palatable in the living room.
For the joint between the incline and the straightaway I made sure that no track joints would run across the curve allowing for the longest pieces of track at this joint and thus a smooth transition for cars from the incline to the straightaway.
The flat joints I cut where the tracks connect, this makes disassembly a bit easier, but I'm not sure it was the right choice as some of the wood warped and having a track joint and a wood joint at the same spot may not result in the smoothest run. Experiment with the hinges and see which orientation works best for your setup.
Start Gate
The start gate on this track uses a high torque servo to actuate a hinged plate that has 4 wood dowels inserted into it. The dowels feed up through routed slots in the wood and tracks to hold the cars at the start gate.
The Hot Wheels tracks can be cut easily with a sharp exacto, though it's difficult to get the corners of cuts perfectly smooth. The track can also be drilled, one method is to drill an appropriate diameter hole at either end of the route you wish to cut and then connect the two holes with a single exacto cut on either edge.
To start the race the servo pulls a stiff wire which is connected to the hinge plate with a small L-bracket, this pulls the dowels back down through the routed slots and releases the cars. The slots I routed in the wood were 1/2″, the track slots were a little smaller than that, somewhere between 1/4″ and 1/2″ as the dowels themselves were 1/4″ diameter and needed some clearance to move smoothly. The dowels are simply friction fit into drilled holes.
It may not be obvious from the video and photos, but I drilled a small hole in the L bracket which fit the wire much better than the large screw holes. This prevented any extra travel of the wire at the hinge plate connection when the servo actuates.
The wire I used to connect the servo to the hinge plate is a malleable steel of some sort, when my son decides to push or pull on the start gate hinge or dowels it will bend this wire rather than stress the servo, after which I inform him that is not how it's suppose to function and bend the wire straight again. For my setup a run-of-the-mill servo wasn't strong enough to push and pull the 1/4″ wooden hinged plate so I picked up a high torque servo. If you made a lighter, thinner hinge plate you may be alright with a weaker servo.
Robby C mentions something about this type of drop-out start gate being not as fair as a gate that lifts rather than drops, but I'm not sure why that would be — in any case, my goal was not to create a track fit for the world cup of die-cast racing. A lift gate would have required more fabrication, so I opted for the simpler drop-out.
Finish Line
The finish line employs 4 photocells, also know as photoresistors or LDR's (Light Dependent Resistors) which sit in an enclosure above the track in holes drilled into a piece 1/2″ piece of wood. These photocells point down through the drilled holes, through larger drilled holes in the enclosure at 4 infrared LED's embedded in the wood under the track and aligned with holes in the track above. Placing the photocells in holes in the 1/2″ piece of wood keeps them focused on their respective infrared LED underneath without picking up a lot of ambient light.
While the infrared LED's don't produce any light visible to the naked eye, they are detected by the photocells and when a car passes over the infrared LED, the reading on the respective photocell drops dramatically and thus the Arudino brain can determine when each car passes the finish line by waiting for the photocell reading to drop.
Embedding the photocells into a piece of wood also allowed me to align that wood with holes I drilled in the track wood for the infrared LED's before placing the wood, along with the photocells in the enclosure. Once I'd aligned the wood, I drilled holes in it for the photocells, wired up the photocells and placed that entire piece of wood into the enclosure. The holes I drilled in the enclosure were much larger and thus I had room to align the wood with the photocells to the infrared LED's without having to worry about aligning exactly with the holes in the enclosure.
I wrote a specific Arduino sketch in order to align the photocells which wrote the photocell values to the computer via a serial connection. Since then I have added a debug mode to the race track, pressing both the start race and track reset buttons simultaneously will engage the debug mode where the Arduino will write the photocell values out to the 7-segment race result displays so that I can check the photocell alignments.
One of the issues I ran into was that it seemed the power needed to actuate the start gate servo would draw too much from the rest of the circuit causing the infrared LED's to dim and trigger the photocells. To get around this I added a 150ms delay to allow the circuit to recover after opening the start gate.
None of the electronics used in the project are very complex. I collected various components mostly from RobotShop, SparkFun, Creatron and locally.
- 1x Arduino Uno
- 4x Sparkfun 7-Segment Displays (Red, Green, Blue and Yellow), How-To, *I used the SPI interface
- 4x Light Sensor Mini Photocells, How-To
- 4x Infrared LED, *For maximum brightness I used a 100ohm resistor with each LED, though your LED specs may vary.
- 1x Super High Torque Servo Motor (16kg/cm), How-To *Depending on your start gate a lower-torque servo may work fine
- 2x Momentary Pushbutton, How-To, *Any momentary buttons will work
These components and their circuits are all connected to the Arduino which runs the sketch at the bottom of this post. If I get a chance to draw one up, I'll post a circuit diagram.
Car Storage
After purchasing a good starting set of cars to go along with the drag track I needed some way to store the hoard. It seemed likely that a generic storage container would do the trick as long as the compartment sizing matched. I wasn't all that pleased with the purpose-build die-cast storage containers. A little bit of searching revealed this Creative Options Thread Organizer which fits 48 cars almost perfectly. It's only half-full in the photo below, with the same number of compartments on the reverse side still to be populated.
Next Steps
While it turned into a race to finish this project in time for my son's birthday, I had initially intended to integrate a Raspberry Pi to record race statistics and another fun function, but I'll leave that to everyone's imagination until I get around to implementing it. The whole setup could also use some Hot Wheels stickers.
I've since removed a section from the start incline and the straightaway to reduce the overall size of the track in order to move it to a more permanent location (rather than across our living room). Below is a short video of my son operating the shortened track, he doesn't seem to mind the change and still enjoys the track quite a bit.
Arduino Sketch
/* Hot Wheels Drag Strip v1.2 */ #include <Servo.h> #include <SPI.h> // Include the Arduino SPI library // SPI SS pins const int displayPinLane1 = 7; const int displayPinLane2 = 4; const int displayPinLane3 = 6; const int displayPinLane4 = 5; // Photocell pins const int photocellPinLane1 = 2; const int photocellPinLane2 = 3; const int photocellPinLane3 = 4; const int photocellPinLane4 = 5; int photocellReadingLane1; int photocellReadingLane2; int photocellReadingLane3; int photocellReadingLane4; const int photocellThreshold = 4; // Button pins const int startButtonPin = 2; const int resetButtonPin = 3; const int gateServoPin = 14; Servo gateServo; // Servo positions const int openGateServoPosition = 10; const int closeGateServoPosition = 30; int startButtonState = 0; int resetButtonState = 0; int raceStatus = 0; int lane1Status = 0; int lane2Status = 0; int lane3Status = 0; int lane4Status = 0; int currentPlace = 0; unsigned int counterLane1 = 0; // These variables will count up to 65k unsigned int counterLane2 = 0; unsigned int counterLane3 = 0; unsigned int counterLane4 = 0; String displayString; char tempString[10]; // Will be used with sprintf to create strings int animationTimer = 0; bool showPlace = true; void setup() { gateServo.attach(gateServoPin); gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); pinMode(startButtonPin, INPUT); pinMode(resetButtonPin, INPUT); // -------- SPI initialization pinMode(displayPinLane1, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(displayPinLane1, HIGH); pinMode(displayPinLane2, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(displayPinLane2, HIGH); pinMode(displayPinLane3, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(displayPinLane3, HIGH); pinMode(displayPinLane4, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(displayPinLane4, HIGH); // Begin SPI hardware SPI.begin(); // Slow down SPI clock SPI.setClockDivider(SPI_CLOCK_DIV64); clearDisplays(); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane1, "Ln 1"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane2, "Ln 2"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane3, "Ln 3"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane4, "Ln 4"); // High brightness setBrightnessSPI(displayPinLane1, 255); setBrightnessSPI(displayPinLane2, 255); setBrightnessSPI(displayPinLane3, 255); setBrightnessSPI(displayPinLane4, 255); } void loop() { animationTimer++; if(animationTimer > 200) { if(showPlace == true) { showPlace = false; } else { showPlace = true; } animationTimer = 0; } photocellReadingLane1 = analogRead(photocellPinLane1); photocellReadingLane2 = analogRead(photocellPinLane2); photocellReadingLane3 = analogRead(photocellPinLane3); photocellReadingLane4 = analogRead(photocellPinLane4); resetButtonState = digitalRead(resetButtonPin); startButtonState = digitalRead(startButtonPin); if(resetButtonState == HIGH && startButtonState == HIGH) { // Debug mode clearDisplays(); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane1, String(photocellReadingLane1)+" "); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane2, String(photocellReadingLane2)+" "); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane3, String(photocellReadingLane3)+" "); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane4, String(photocellReadingLane4)+" "); delay(1000); } else if(resetButtonState == HIGH && raceStatus > 0) { raceStatus = 0; clearDisplays(); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane1, "Ln 1"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane2, "Ln 2"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane3, "Ln 3"); s7sSendStringSPI(displayPinLane4, "Ln 4"); lane1Status = 0; lane2Status = 0; lane3Status = 0; lane4Status = 0; counterLane1 = 0; counterLane2 = 0; counterLane3 = 0; counterLane4 = 0; currentPlace = 0; gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); } else { if (raceStatus == 0 && startButtonState == HIGH) { // start the race gateServo.write(openGateServoPosition); // wait for servo to drop delay(150); raceStatus = 1; } else if (raceStatus == 1) { // race is running int carsAcross = 0; if (photocellReadingLane1 < photocellThreshold && lane1Status == 0) { showPlace = true; currentPlace++; carsAcross++; lane1Status = currentPlace; gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); } if (photocellReadingLane2 < photocellThreshold && lane2Status == 0) { showPlace = true; if(carsAcross == 0) { currentPlace++; } carsAcross++; lane2Status = currentPlace; gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); } if (photocellReadingLane3 < photocellThreshold && lane3Status == 0) { showPlace = true; if(carsAcross == 0) { currentPlace++; } carsAcross++; lane3Status = currentPlace; gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); } if (photocellReadingLane4 < photocellThreshold && lane4Status == 0) { showPlace = true; if(carsAcross == 0) { currentPlace++; } carsAcross++; lane4Status = currentPlace; gateServo.write(closeGateServoPosition); } updateDisplay(displayPinLane1, lane1Status, counterLane1); updateDisplay(displayPinLane2, lane2Status, counterLane2); updateDisplay(displayPinLane3, lane3Status, counterLane3); updateDisplay(displayPinLane4, lane4Status, counterLane4); if (lane1Status == 0) { counterLane1++; } if (lane2Status == 0) { counterLane2++; } if (lane3Status == 0) { counterLane3++; } if (lane4Status == 0) { counterLane4++; } } } delay(10); // This will make the display update at 100Hz.*/ } void clearDisplays() { clearDisplaySPI(displayPinLane1); clearDisplaySPI(displayPinLane2); clearDisplaySPI(displayPinLane3); clearDisplaySPI(displayPinLane4); } void updateDisplay(int displayPin, int laneStatus, unsigned int laneCounter) { // Magical sprintf creates a string for us to send to the s7s. // The %4d option creates a 4-digit integer. sprintf(tempString, "%4d", laneCounter); // This will output the tempString to the S7S if(laneStatus == 0 || showPlace == false) { s7sSendStringSPI(displayPin, tempString); // Print the decimal at the proper spot if (laneCounter < 10000) { setDecimalsSPI(displayPin, 0b00000010); // Sets digit 3 decimal on } else { setDecimalsSPI(displayPin, 0b00000100); } } else { setDecimalsSPI(displayPin, 0b000000000); if(laneStatus == 1) { s7sSendStringSPI(displayPin, "1st "); } else if(laneStatus == 2) { s7sSendStringSPI(displayPin, "2nd "); } else if(laneStatus == 3) { s7sSendStringSPI(displayPin, "3rd "); } else { s7sSendStringSPI(displayPin, "4th "); } } } // This custom function works somewhat like a serial.print. // You can send it an array of chars (string) and it'll print // the first 4 characters in the array. void s7sSendStringSPI(int ssPin, String toSend) { digitalWrite(ssPin, LOW); for (int i=0; i < 4; i++) { SPI.transfer(toSend[i]); } digitalWrite(ssPin, HIGH); } // Send the clear display command (0x76) // This will clear the display and reset the cursor void clearDisplaySPI(int ssPin) { digitalWrite(ssPin, LOW); SPI.transfer(0x76); // Clear display command digitalWrite(ssPin, HIGH); } // Set the displays brightness. Should receive byte with the value // to set the brightness to // dimmest------------->brightest // 0--------127--------255 void setBrightnessSPI(int ssPin, byte value) { digitalWrite(ssPin, LOW); SPI.transfer(0x7A); // Set brightness command byte SPI.transfer(value); // brightness data byte digitalWrite(ssPin, HIGH); } // Turn on any, none, or all of the decimals. // The six lowest bits in the decimals parameter sets a decimal // (or colon, or apostrophe) on or off. A 1 indicates on, 0 off. // [MSB] (X)(X)(Apos)(Colon)(Digit 4)(Digit 3)(Digit2)(Digit1) void setDecimalsSPI(int ssPin, byte decimals) { digitalWrite(ssPin, LOW); SPI.transfer(0x77); SPI.transfer(decimals); digitalWrite(ssPin, HIGH); }
DIY Copper pipe pedicel chandelier
As a soon-to-be parent with time to spare, uh, yeah, I thought I'd take it upon myself to create a chandelier to complement our nursery's fiber optic starfield ceiling. I have already had some experience with iron pipe fixtures but wanted something a little more delicate for this one. I called the resulting chandelier a pedicel chandelier because the small frosted night light bulbs I used along with the pearl white painted copper pipe reminded me of the small fuzzy horns that a male fawn grows before antlers, also known as pedicels (they're not actually antlers).
The basic how-to for this chandelier is to use 1/2″ copper pipe to create an organic pipe structure with candelabra lights on the end of each pipe. Since you can use any low watt candelabra bulb, also known as E12 bulbs, a variety of different looks can be achieved using the same process. This projects requires knowledge of electrical wiring and should only be undertaken by those who are familiar with light fixture wiring and the dangers involved.
The copper pipe is attached to a dome fixture cover with threaded adapters and electrical bushing nuts (any appropriately sized nut would work). I soldered the pipe together after it was completely cut and assembled however there are issues with soldering which I'll get to later. Use of epoxy to join the copper hardware would probably be much easier and safer.
Below you can see the basic collection of fittings for the chandelier's horns. Once wired the candelabra socket connections are wrapped in electrical tape to insulate them from each other as well as from the pipe itself, make sure all wires are neatly trimmed and covered in tape. The electrical tape also enables the socket to fit snugly (is there an uglier word with a more desirable meaning?) in the pipes. Not snug enough? Add more tape. Too snug? Take some off. The only coupling I had left to photograph was one that I had done some test painting on, rest assured when you purchase them they are copper coloured.
Though I purchased a whole bunch of 90°/right angle fittings I did not end up using them as 45° fittings convey a much more organic feel. Even though the T junction fittings were at right angles I tried to use a 45° fitting right after to soften the look of the structure. Another tip to help the fixture look organic is to never have two lights extending at the same angle — all angles should be at least slightly different. If you want your fixture to have a more industrial or steampunk feel, more right angle fittings may work better.
I decided on 3 separate structures, or horns with 6 lights each. The total 18 7W bulbs ends up at a scant 126W, perfectly acceptable for most dimmers. This meant 5 T junctions per arm, a total of 15. I suggest mapping out your fixture before heading to the hardware store and try to purchase fittings which don't have price tags on them, I made this mistake and spent a cozy evening with Goo Gone because of it.
Drilling the mounting holes is a breeze, as long as you have a power drill and a stepped bit (pictured below). Stepped bits can be expensive, but they're well worth it as they make quick work of drilling holes in thin metals, holes which could otherwise prove tricky and end up messy. I highly recommend investing in one, or a set.
We don't need all that extra jazz, just the socket. Some of these are riveted together, others have a screw. In the case of rivets, unscrew the extension, then just bend the remaining metal mounting arms until the rivet brakes — careful not to crack the bakelite socket (I don't even know if it's bakelite, but that's what I like to think it is).
I started by drilling the fixture plate and mounting the threaded couplings, this gives you a good base to create your chandelier upon. I used a bolt through the center hole of the plate to attached the fixture securely to a camera tripod while I worked on it. Things can fall apart quite easily if you're not paying attention or one structure is heavier than another, you can use some twine, elastics, or whatever works really to support various pieces while you create.
If it becomes a pain to keep it together while you work than you can affix joints that you are confident will not change. I ended up soldering the main support pipe line of each of the three horns and I kept any extending pipe structures separate to make threading the wiring easier. If you're soldering you want to do as much soldering as possible before starting any wiring — soldering with wire inside can melt the insulation and short out the entire chandelier, this is one of the soldering issues I mentioned earlier.
Once everything is cut, perhaps some has been soldered or epoxied, it's time to start running wire. I decided to run three main wiring lines, one for each horn, any pipes extending off the main horn would then be spliced into the main line. Based on the bulbs you want to use, and how many, you'll have to determine the max amperage and thus the proper gauge of wire to use, if you're soldering you'll want to get wire with as much insulation as possible.
When running wire ensure that you leave at least 2-3 inches extending out of each pipe and when splicing be sure to maintain the proper polarity — striped or two different coloured wires helps with this. Once wired it's time to epoxy or solder any final joints, if you're soldering you run the risk of melting the wiring insulation, to avoid this remember that these joints do not have to be waterproof, just a small amount of solder will hold the joint. Be sure to use flux and have a spray bottle with water ready, quickly get the pipe up to heat, apply the solder and as soon as it's solidified use the spray bottle to cool down the pipe to help prevent any damage to the internal wiring.
Once you're done soldering you can test the wiring for faults with a multimeter, check for faults between the two polarity wires and from each wire to the chandelier structure. If there are any faults you'll have to open things back up, you can re-flow solder to separate parts, not sure what you'd do if you used epoxy and then found a fault :O
To attach the sockets simply strip and screw the wire to each pole on the socket and then wrap them in electrical tape. While not essential, it's good practice to maintain the same polarity across all sockets, to do this keep track of which wire you're attaching to the brass pole and which to the silver pole on each socket. Once wrapped in electrical tape you can push them into the pipe ends.
Once you've got all the sockets affixed you should test for faults again with your multimeter. If no faults are found between the wires or to the structure you can test the fixture by attaching a 120 volt wall plug to the end and giving it a go. If all goes well you can move onto finishing.
I thought, while great looking and oozing steampunk, that the bare copper was a little too hardcore for my infant son's nursery so I decided to paint the fixture white and use a pearlescent acrylic on the pipes. The sky's the limit here, but copper is expensive so, if you can, show it off! If you do paint be sure to stuff some paper towel or toilet paper into each of the sockets so that the bulb leads don't get paint on them.
Once it's dried you can test it again with the multimeter (can't be too careful) and then hang it. I ended up using a dimmer with a remote on this fixture so that my wife and I could adjust the lights while minding to the baby and it works like a charm. Good luck! I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments.


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Our rosary lapel pins are perfectly priced to hand out during religious gatherings and sacramental celebrations. Each pin comes with a full-color devotional image, a small one decade rosary dangle and a clutch style back. Pins are also carded for easy handling.
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Swim meet adds splash of international flavour
(CNS): International swimmers added to the excitement of the annual Mike Lockwood Memorial Pirates Week meet held 19-22 November at the Lions Aquatic Centre. Hosted by Stingray Swim Club (SSC), the meet included swimmers from New York-based Agua (Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics) and Team Fins from Texas; along with local entrants Camana Bay Aquatic Club (CBAC), Seven Mile Swimmers (SMS) and Special Olympics of the Cayman Islands.
Ella Kaye Lockwood was on deck to watch the start of the meet, commenting on how fitting a tribute the event is to her late husband, Mike Lockwood, who was the driving force behind both the Lions Aquatic Centre and the Pirates Week Festival. Michael Lockwood (Mike's son) who is president of the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association, was also on hand to cheer on the swimmers and lend his skills as a timer.
"It was an excellent weekend of fun and good strong competition," said SSC president Amanda Roberts. "It was wonderful having visiting swimmers from New York and Texas to add some excitement to the wide range of races on offer over the four days – from long distance events to sprints. In my last meet as president, I am particularly proud of our Stingray swimmers who all swam their hearts out and won the team championship trophy."
Those familiar with Cayman's swim scene will have recognised Coach Andy Copley (Stingray's former head coach) who is now at Agua and travelled to Cayman with a team of swimmers and parents.
"It was great to have Coach Andy bring a team to the Mike Lockwood Memorial Pirates Week meet," said Stingray Head Coach David Pursely. "Having outside competition from the United States helped to boost the level of swimming this weekend and played a tremendous role in the motivation of the swimmers.
"Stingray Swim Club hopes to have outside competition in each of their premier competitions moving forward. The courtesy of the swimming community and the sportsmanship of the swimmers this past weekend was tremendous and will no doubt lead repeat visits from outside teams."
The team from New York had a great time and the parents are already insisting that the meet become a fixture on their club calendar – a great indication of the endless possibilities of swimming as a major player in sport tourism here in Cayman.
In the overall points standings, SSC placed first with 813 points; CBAC was second with 632 points; Agua came third with 404 points; SMS took fourth with 90 points; and Team Fins was fifth with 12 points.
High points winners:
Girls U6, Lea Neveilova (SMS); Girls 7-8, Lila Higgo (CBAC); Girls 9-10, Allyson Belfonte (SSC); Girls 11-12, Emma Feld (Agua); Girls 13-14, Ria Plunkett (SSC); and Girls 15 and over, Lauren Hew (CBAC).
Boys U6, Luke Higgo (CBAC); Boys 7-8, Phin Ellison (CBAC); Boys 9-10, Stefano Bonati (CBAC); Boys 11-12, Justice Carrenard (Agua); Boys 13-14, Matthew Somerville (CBAC); and Boys 15 and over, Rory Barrett (CBAC).


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Large Gold knotting shuttle, LOUIS XV PERIOD.
Enquire about this Item
Large shuttle in colored gold. It is embellished with openwork laurel garlands and a row of gradated ovals running down the center with a stylized floral motif in the center of each oval. A large, central oval is decorated with a crown surrounded by an acanthus leaf motif in several shades of gold on a matte gold background. A garland of laurel leaves encircles the rim of the spool. Both sides of the spool feature the same decoration. The shuttle separates into two pieces allowing a thread to be anchored to the interior. The thread can then be wound around the central shaft. The intricately sculpted grill on the interior serves to hold the thread when work is stopped. This spool was used as a lace-making tool, allowing its user to create knotted lace and bands of trimmings for decorative objects such as pillows, as well as for clothing. A famous painting by Louis Tocqué titled Madame Dangé faisant des nœuds (1753, Louvre, Paris), shows the execution of this art. This spool has its original green leather storage case with a red velvet interior. It contains an appraisal from the Maison Boin Taburet, 3 rue Pasquier, Paris, signed by Henry Taburet (A few missing pieces on the case.) Weight: 2.3 oz (73 g)
Length: 5.2 in (13.2 cm)
Charge mark: Fleur de bassinet (1768-1775)
Guarantee mark: Crowned H for 1771
Release mark: Tête casquée (Helmeted head) (1768-1774)
Master goldsmith mark: Mathieu Coigny. Mathieu Coigny was the third generation of a family of goldsmiths, following his father and grandfather who both worked for the French king at Versailles. He earned Master Goldsmith status and was backed by his father on September 17, 1755, after which he settled at the Notre Dame bridge in Paris. It was there that he produced magnificent snuff boxes and other art objects for thirty years. He was elected as overseer of a metalworker's association in 1771 and 1772. His decorative boxes are conserved at several prestigious museums such as the Louvre in Paris, the Wallace Collection in London, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Work from the Louis XV period.
Price : 17000 €


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The amazing expanding hose by Hozelock expands up to x 3 its original length and quickly shrinks back to its original size after use. It never kinks or tangles, ensuring continuous water flow. Maneuvering and watering around your garden is easy due to its lightweight construction. The leak-free fittings ensure a water tight connection.
- Anti-kink construction
- Supplied with all fittings and hose nozzle
- 3 year guarantee
- Length: 15 meters
- 8215
Payment & Security
Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.


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Certification and registration of household electrical equipment in Qld, Vic, WA and Tas is regulated by the Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS). It has a new website: EESS.gov.au.Read more
Our mission, objectives, structure, history and membership. Reporting arrangements and meeting schedule.Read more
Information about the member organisations of ERAC and their contact details.Read more


text: Eminently elegant: This Swarovski watch from our Crystalline Aura Collection artfully combines form and function. More than 1,300 crystals in the champagne-gold tone PVD case create a brilliant sparkling effect. A champagne-gold tone PVD bracelet and a white silver tone dial with the Swarovski swan at 12 o'clock complete the sophisticated design. This Swiss made watch is water resistant up to 50 m.


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Credit Needed to Qualify
Credit scores are calculated by the three main credit bureaus (Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax) and range from 300-850. The higher the score, the better the credit. Credit scores are very important in determining who can qualify for a home loan, and what the terms of the loan will be.
Sometimes there are mistakes on credit reports. I can advise you on how to correct those mistakes and raise your credit score.
Although credit scores are an extremely important part of the mortgage loan process, there are other very important factors as well, such as job history and down payment, which may help to offset a somewhat lower credit score.


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|Monday, March 21, 2016 {ml-event-to} Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Weatherbee Resources has provided more than 45 Hospice Regulatory Boot Camps across the country since 2006.
More than 3,500 hospice professionals, surveyors, consultants, and others have attended Weatherbee's two-day boot camps for in-depth, timely and relevant information related to hospice regulations, compliance challenges and managing hospice scrutiny.
Hospices across the country utilize Weatherbee's Boot Camps for orienting new staff and for the on-going training of Executive Directors, Hospice Medical Directors and Team Physicians, Clinical Managers, Corporate Compliance Officers, QAPI Coordinators, the Interdisciplinary Group, and others.
Fraud and Abuse in Hospice: Under the Microscope
Monday, March 21, 2016 \\ 1:45–3:00 pm
Presenter: Howard J. Young


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Don't Let Young Women Flounder Alone as Mothers
We women need one another and it takes stepping out in courage to ask or offer help. Be the brave one. Young mothers need help.
While we were doing some Christmas shopping, the conversation turned naturally to my daughter's swollen belly. She was 25 years old and 23 weeks into her first pregnancy. She asked about the experience I had with giving birth and nursing a baby.
I quietly told her stories and answered her questions as we checked off the list of what we needed in Target.
The Guidance of a Loving Mother is Unequivocal
I told her about my horrifyingly embarrassing first experience trying to figure out how to nurse my newborn under a blanket, with my mother and husband in the hospital room. I finally threw off the blanket in frustration, and my mom and husband quickly excused themselves from the room.
"Make your first effort at nursing your baby without an audience," I told her.
I continued to whisper advice through the Target aisle, about how to nurse a baby and suggestions about when it comes time to give birth to one–intimate details that a young woman should get from her mother. It was obvious she had spent hours online, gathering information about the entire baby experience, but stories from mom were carrying a different weight than what all of the search engines had to offer.
When I was that young girl expecting my first baby, I didn't have any mother to talk to about nursing a baby. My mother and mother-in-law grew up in a time when nursing was frowned on, and the moms were encouraged to bottle feed with formula. (Thankfully we have wised up since then.)
So, my two moms could offer no counsel to me at all about how to get a baby to latch on or how often to nurse the baby or what to do when I ran into difficulties. And I lived in Texas in a time when we had to pay for long-distance phone calls, so communication about daily struggles as a mother was limited.
But the Second Best Thing Is…
But there is a very sad part to my story, and it grieves me now, even 25 years later, to think of it.
I went to church with a few hundred older women and never once thought to ask them for advice or for help. It never even crossed my mind. Apparently, it didn't cross theirs either, because they never asked how I was doing or if I had any questions. They never asked if I needed help. The worst part is they loved me and my baby. I would show up at church, and they would all take turns holding my tiny little girl and passing her around. She was the church sweetheart.
What a horrible disconnect–to be surrounded by wise women but none of us thinking to ask or to offer assistance. Isn't that sad?
So I'm writing to beg you not to let this happen in your circle.
Let me speak to you from both sides, because I was a floundering young mother, far away from mom or any help. Now I'm the 50-year-old getting ready to be a grandma, and I have a lot of experience under my belt. Here is an instructive Bible verse that needs to be dusted off and put to use:
Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children…
Titus 2:3-4. NIV
Be Brave and Bold
Young moms, look around at your church and be brave enough to ask an older woman if she would mind answering your questions. Watch her eyes light up at the honor! (If the first woman you ask isn't a good fit, then keep asking around.)
Older women, remember what it was like to mother young children. It's hard! And a lot of young women don't have a family member they can ask for motherly advice. Don't wait for them to come to you, and don't force them to use Google because they don't have any real women in their lives to talk to. Lean over at church and say, "Just so you know, I have two good ears and lots of experience and would be happy to listen if you ever have questions or need help with the mothering thing." And then be ready to give your time and full attention to this young woman. She needs you.
See what I'm doing here? Matchmaking. Younger women, meet the older women. Older women, meet the younger women. Be brave and take purposeful steps toward one another.
Blessings from Montana,
100 Ways to Love to Your Son/Daughter
You love your son and daughter–but that doesn't mean you always know the most effective ways to show that love, ways that will connect with their hearts, and stick with them no matter what life throws their way.
These practical books by the authors of 100 Ways to Love Your Wife and 100 Ways to Love Your Husband give you 100 specific, actionable ideas you can implement to show love to your children, no matter what age they are.
The best part? The short, bite-sized readings make it easy to start right now!


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1. Apologies for Absence
2. Minutes of meeting on 4th October
3. Matters Arising from the Minutes which will not be dealt with on the agenda
4. Police Report from PC Fran Davey
5. Address by special guest PC Tom Arthur, Casualty Reduction Officer
6. Reports from sub Groups:
a). Membership
b). Planning
c). Highway
7. Any Other Business


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By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
Issues on the Ether: Is Self-Publishing a Flying Leap?
[su_dropcap size="4″]I[/su_dropcap]f I'd been writing On Becoming a (Self) Publisher for Publishing Perspectives here, there's be little surprise in finding this line early in the piece:
Whether you are self-publishing, a publisher, or doing any other type of content sales, it is hard. Very hard.
But this was Nick Ruffilo, a highly visible and frequently heard from technologist in publishing.
After appearing on a panel in New York last week at Digital Book World Conference & Expo—here is Ed Nawotka's Five Things We Learned at Digital Book World, as a follow-up — Ruffilo wrote his "On Becoming" piece as part of an exercise in learning what this whole thing is like.
Previously with Vook and BookSwim, he's the chief technology officer now with Aerbook, a cloud-publishing venture that specializes in creation, conversion, marketing and sales of digital books. So when it comes to someone kicking the tires of self-publishing in a let's-see-what-this-is-like experience, Ruffilo is the kind of guy you expect to sail right through. He has written a series of "Tips for Technologists" articles here at Publishing Perspectives and—especially nice in the kind of week some of us are having—he writes a Zen of Technology blog, the kind of thing you wish you could get certain people to read, enough said.
But here he is on his experience in self-publishing:
Some self-publishing super-stars tout the benefits of being independent and show sales numbers from their latest book as results of success. They often fail to show the years of work it took them to build the writing skills, build the audience, and put together the team necessary to publish a successful book. Yes, even self-publishing folks need a team. You need an editor, a cover designer, a web-designer (to make your blog and/or style your author pages on Amazon/Goodreads, etc).
And here we arrive at one of the most vexing elements in the fast growth of self-publishing, particularly in the States and, increasingly, in other nations in which self-publishing is ramping up. Note: I didn't say anyone is vexing. Like Lyle Lovett, I Love Everybody (Especially You).
Read the rest of this post at : PublishingPerspectives.com


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Series: Cormoran Strike
Book Number: 3
Read this book for: contemporary noir, hard-bitten PI, London mysteries, serial killer, this time it's personal
Quick Review: Another brilliant instalment in one of the most exciting contemporary noir PI series currently being published; a must-read that is hard to put down.
A message with gruesome content. A brutal series of murders. And a killer who knows too much. A 'Sunday Times' and 'New York Times' Bestseller.
When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
CAREER OF EVIL is the third novel in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith – the pen name under which JK Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) writes this series of mystery novels about a war hero private detective and his assistant-turned-partner Robin. Despite following one of the most overdone tropes in the genre, this novel is yet another page-turner, and one that you absolutely should read.
This entire series is brilliant, and definitely should be read in order (check out the reviews for THE CUCKOO'S CALLING and THE SILKWORM). The development in the relationship between Robin and Strike is something that should be read in chronological order, and there are quite a few references to past cases that make much more sense if you have read the books with those cases.
CAREER OF EVIL meets the high expectations set by previous novels — in fact, we would rank this one a little higher in our estimation than THE SILKWORM, which was occasionally a bit overwrought. It has the same interesting character development, well-plotted mystery, realistic investigative tedium, and utterly readable writing style that has characterized the series so far. The realism in this novel is slightly higher than THE SILKWORM — a function of the type of killer that is being hunted and how believable their behaviour is.
This novel does fall victim to one of the most over-used tropes in the crime fiction genre: the "this time it's personal" trope, where the perpetrator is acting out some personal grudge against the detective in question. Most major detective series delve into this territory at least once, and the sheer volume of this kind of content contributes to its problematic nature. A function of the need to constantly increase the stakes for their characters, most authors reach for this when they believe the regular investigations are not dangerous or exciting enough anymore. The reason that this particular plot type is so problematic is that it is very difficult to believe: how often in reality does a detective come up against a psychopath that is specifically bent on their destruction, playing a long mind game to get revenge in a Monte Christo-like manner? Luckily, CAREER OF EVIL avoids the worst of this, with a bit of distance and some other motivations for the killings. Without spoiling anything, we can say that this novel skates around the edge of this trope, but is saved with solid plotting and excellent characterizations.
In fact, the multiple suspects and the twist at the ending do a great job of keeping you guessing all the way through. This more personal plot also has the bonus effect this time of giving you a greater insight into Strike's upbringing, while you learn more about Robin's past through her preparations for her upcoming wedding and her continued fight for her career as an investigator. It is rare to find a mystery novel where the emotions and reactions of the investigative team are so finely wrought, and this is one more reason to pick up CAREER OF EVIL!
CAREER OF EVIL and the rest of the Strike series represent some of the absolute best of the genre that is currently being published. If you have a chance, definitely pick this one up, and enjoy the talent of JK Rowling employed in an unexpectedly excellent way.


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The Department of Surgery at Sengkang General Hospital consists of a dedicated and specialised team of doctors offering a wide range of surgical services for patients in both elective and emergency surgeries. We provide surgical care for both inpatient and outpatient services with full 24-hour on-site coverage for acute surgical conditions.
The Department of Surgery provides a comprehensive surgical services, including breast surgery, bariatric and metabolic surgery for obesity, colorectal surgery, upper gastro-intestinal surgery, hepato-pancreatico-biliary, urology, plastics, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, surgical oncology as well as vascular and surgical endoscopy. We have a multidisciplinary team in all the various areas, drawing together dedicated surgical teams led by highly qualified consultants.
Our Department also has a strong emphasis on cancer prevention with robust screening facilities such as endoscopy and mammogram suites. We work with many other specialties, nurse practitioners and allied health staff to manage lifestyle and chronic diseases such as obesity and vascular problems related to diabetes. Operating Theatres are equipped with the latest technology, and our surgical teams are equipped to perform minimally invasive (keyhole) surgery.
The Department of Surgery has begun active programmes for the community such as PEERS (Programme for Enhanced Elderly Recovery@Sengkang) which focus on active pre-habilitation programmes for elderly patients going for elective surgery. There is active engagement with the primary care team and GPs to ensure continuity of patient care post hospitalisation and once their acute problems are resolved.
Our Department is also part of the SingHealth Academic cluster. We participate in clinical and translational research, as well as education of Duke-NUS and Yong Loo Lin NUS medical school students. Our doctors also actively provide educational forums for the public and provide training for other healthcare professionals via discussions, simulation exercises, workshops and conferences.
Our Clinical Services
The SKH Department of Surgery provides 24-hour on-site coverage for acute surgical support and manages a wide spectrum of elective and emergency surgical conditions.
The following list is not exhaustive. Please refer to the individual subspecialty's webpage for further information.
General Surgical Treatments
Lumps and bumps / skin lesions
Acute surgical emergencies
Viscus perforation
Intestinal obstruction and perforation
Gastrointestinal bleeding
Trauma etc
Chairman, Division of Surgery and Senior Consultant
Prof Wong Wai Keong
Head, Department of Surgery and Senior Consultant
Adj Assoc Prof Chew Min Hoe
Senior Consultants
Adj Assoc Prof Benita Tan Kiat Tee
Adj Assoc Prof Edward Choke Tieng Chek
Adj Asst Prof Lee Lui Shiong
Dr Jeremy Tan Tian Hui
Dr Tan Choon Chieh
Adj Asst Prof Chong Si Jack
Adj Asst Prof Foo Fung Joon
Adj Asst Prof Tang Tjun Yip
Dr Ho Ming Li Leonard
Dr Kam Juinn Huar
Dr Pearlie W.W Tan
Dr Tan Jian Hong Winson
Dr Tricia Kuo Li Chuen
Associate Consultants
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I believe the women. Once you make that decision, hard choices about Al Franken & John Conyers become easier. Not easy. Easier.
Multiple women have accused soon-to-be former U.S. Senator Al Franken and former Congressman John Conyers, Jr. of sexually harassing them. Not one. Not two. MANY. These women are completely credible. None of them has anything to gain from this, financially or otherwise. In fact, they face withering attacks, many times from women which is one of the most heartbreaking parts […]Read more ›


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at Lefty's Old Time Music Hall
Saturday, 1 December 2018 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (E. Australia Standard Time) + Add to calendar01/12/2018 19:0001/12/2018 22:00Australia/BrisbaneHoney Sliders Xmas Concert for CharityHoney Sliders Xmas Concert for Charity Saturday, 1 December 2018 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (E. Australia Standard Time) Organiser Danny Widdicombe 0401743884 firstname.lastname@example.com Address Lefty's Old Time Music Hall 15 Caxton Street Petrie Terrace Brisbane 4000 Australia Event web page: https://www.stickytickets.com.au/78180Lefty's Old Time Music Hall
15 Caxton Street
Petrie Terrace Brisbane 4000
AustraliaDanny WiddicombefalseDD/MM/YYYY2880
Tickets for this event are currently unavailable
The Honey Sliders Sleigh Lefty's for Charity – a Fundraiser for Support Act
Sat 1st Dec
Lefty's Old Time Music Hall
On Saturday 1st December, Danny Widdicombe and his band The Honey Sliders are putting on their inaugural Xmas concert for charity. To be held at The Honey Sliders' spiritual home, Lefty's Old Time Music Hall, the band will be joined by some of Brisbane's finest performers in an all-star, rollicking hootenanny, and at the same time they'll be raising much needed funds for Support Act – the charity for the music industry.
Guests on the night include Jackie Marshall, Brad Butcher, Jen Mize, Luke Peacock (Halfway, Go-Betweens), Megan Cooper, Cam Milford, Hannah Jane, Hayden Andrews (Cheap Fakes) and more. The songs will be a mix of all the concept shows The Honey Sliders have become famous for – Hendrix, Neil Young, The Stones, The Band, Beatles, Cream plus outstanding original tunes!
A Support Act Story
In 2011, Danny Widdicombe was enjoying the spoils of winning the prestigious song writing award, The GW McLennan Memorial Fellowship, when leukaemia struck him down for the third time.
After an emergency flight home to Brisbane, Danny's late friend Karl Broadie suggested he contact the philanthropic body known as Support Act for help.
Lindy Morrison of Go-Betweens fame, is the artist liaison at Support Act, and she worked closely with Danny's family to help them find a way through the most difficult of times. Not only offering financial assistance, Support Act helped give Danny and his family emotional strength with the knowledge that is an organisation actively assisting those who have dedicated their lives to music.
The Honey Sliders
The Honey Sliders are led by Danny Widdicombe who is a member of the Three x ARIA Award nominated band The Wilson Pickers and has played lead guitar for the likes of Bernard Fanning, Tim Rogers, The Go-Betweens and many more. Danny is renowned for his formidable guitar playing and songwriting. On keys, bass, guitar and almost anything else he turns his hands to, Dan Mansfield is the musician's musician and has played all over Australia as a part of the cult band The Gin Club and with Australia's premiere rock n roll band You Am I. Chris Bosley has toured the world as bass player in the groove collective known as The Resin Dogs. Ben Carstens keeps time for the band and is also a member of local Brisbane rock band Mexico City.
15 Caxton Street Petrie Terrace Brisbane 4000, Australia


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Part two of my 25 best games... of the Wii... of all-time... list! It's here already! I already introduced the list in part one, so I don't really know what to write here.
Did I mention that I'm not including Virtual Console games on this list – but I am including ports, and right high up too, like they weren't even ports? Awesome, right?! But for the record, my favourite game I played on VC is Wave Race 64. Followed by Harvest Moon for the SNES.
#20! The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The first major Wii game – this is what I, as many other people were, was most excited about of everything at launch. I actually got the game one month before I actually got the Wii system, and I was ridiculously excited to actually be able to play it. When I was finally able to play it, I played it feverishly for a while. I actually loved the then-novel controls. And the game was in general fantastic. And also there was fishing. It didn't live up to the N64 Zelda games, nor The Wind Waker which I didn't play until later, but it's still an outsanding and seminal game in the Wii's library – and I believe it's the first Zelda game I ever saw through to the end.
#19. Red Steel 2
No game has made me feel more like a gunslinger than this game thanks to some of the best FPS IR controls on the system. Even opening boxes is incredibly fun, because you have to shoot the latches off and you can ricochet bullets off walls to do it. It's awesome! But the swordplay – this game features the most satisfying swordplay I've ever experienced in a game. Red Steel 2 was the first game (and is still pretty much the only game besides Skyward Sword) to truly put the Wii Motion+ to good use in the context of a full gaming experience. And it works so well! I felt like I was playing a launch game for a brand new system – like I felt when I first used the Wii Remote in Twilight Princess and Wii Sports; it was so much evolved from the standard Wii motion controls – it was exhilarating. The game reconciles the Western-style gunplay and the Eastern-style swordplay beautifully. Did I mention the gorgeous cel-shaded art style and the 60 frames per second?
#18. Super Mario Galaxy 2
2 is every bit as good as the first Galaxy. I only place it a bit lower for the lack of originality. But even so, when the original is the most beautiful, polished, and innovative platformer of the console generation, it's hard to complain about 'more of the same'. Besides, it features some of the most memorable levels of both games, like the 'Slimy Spring' galaxy and the Mario 64 throwback galaxy. And there are some new power-ups and stuff. And it doesn't have the ridiculously frustrating purple coin levels at the end, to boot. I don't think anyone's going to argue with this game's inclusion on this list.
#17. World of Goo
This is a totally unique and ingenious physics-based puzzle game that could not have been done on a standard controller. It's perfectly suited for IR controls. But the presentational aspects of this game – the music, the writing, the atmosphere – are what truly push it over the top, and they're way beyond any other puzzle game that I can think of. World of Goo is generally considered Wiiware's essential game for very good reason.
#16. Muramasa: The Demon Blade
This, a Wii game, is the most beautiful game of the console generation. The hand-drawn Traditional Japanese-style art looks pretty much perfect in 480p. The combat and light RPG elements are incredibly fun. And I think it's super cool in the way it presents samurai culture and ancient Japanese mythology. Anyway, I wrote a whole blog about this game a couple months ago, so you can read that if you'd like!
Stay tuned for the reveal of the next five games, some time in the next week hopefully maybe!


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Asteroid Organizer
Automated way to add and edit Asteroid geometry.
The following is a short discription of how this plugin works
STEP #1 >> Create a random field with geospheres - parameters are not important since they are set by the plugin
STEP #2 >> Go to the 'Common Setting' dialog and click on 'Add Geosphere(s)'. This will cause the plugin to perform a number of processes and the progress will be shown in a dialog with progressbar.
STEP #3 >> In the 'Common Settings' rollout you will find a listbox with the objects that are currently in cache. Below the listbox you will find a number of parameters which set for instance the global scale - individual scale and iterations.
STEP #4 >> To add a more random distribution of the currently selected objects in the listbox you can add random scale - translation and rotation. Note that they are absolute values.
STEP #5 >> When creating the first instance of the plugin - the plugin creates two keys: one on the animation range start - and one on the animation range end. If you change you're animation range - than you can set the start and end key either manually or automatically. The spinners 'start' and 'end' define respectively the first and last keyframe - when pressing 'Set automatically' the keys are placed at the start and end of the animation range. You will find these parameters in the 'Animation Range' rollout.
STEP #6 >> A special feature regarding materials is that every asteroid-object is given a random material-ID - ranging from 1 to 10. So when you go to the rollout 'Material Settings' you will find materialbutton. You can choose all available materials - but I suggest that you take a submaterial-material since this will increase the randomness of the total scene. TIP: try to add some deviation to the diffuse - specular and ambient components of the individual material - this will create a more realistic picture!
STEP #7 >> The last step is setting the display options in the rollout 'Display Settings'. The global color adjust the wirecolor of the asteroids. And dependent on the speed of you're computer - you might want display the asteroids as bounding box. This can be set by checking 'Show bounding box'.


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A man wakes up in a Moscow laboratory to learn that he's been brought back from the dead as a half-human, half-robotic hybrid. With no memory of his former life, a woman who claims to be his wife tells him that his name is Henry. Before she can activate his voice, armed thugs storm in and kidnap her. As Henry starts to understand his new abilities, he embarks on a bloody rampage through the city to save his spouse from a psychopath (Danila Kozlovsky) who plans to destroy the world. Directed by Ilya Naishuller.Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: July 26, 2016
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The process starts at the mine. The mines used in the project are the Mai Baridi and Kisengo mines located in the northern part of the Katanga province in the DRC. Mining Minerals Resources SPRL (MMR) has rights to these concessions and have contracted with Coopérative Des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC) a mining co-op to manage the artisanal miners at the mines. To facilitate a more efficient and safer mining environment MMR operates the mines as a semi-mechanized process. MMR uses heavy equipment to remove the overburden (the soils above the ore body) to expose the ore body for the artisanal miners to then mine. The minerals are collected, weighed and logged as part of the iTSCi traceability process. Once the minerals have been properly logged by local SEASCAM agent, they are transported to an MMR depot in Kalemie, DRC for export. It is at this point that AVX Corporation (AVX )takes ownership of the minerals for transport to the F&X Electro-Materials Limited (F&X ) smelter in Guandong China. F&X will process the material into tantalum powder for AVX. The powder is then shipped to AVX's facility in the Czech Republic to be made into tantalum capacitors. These capacitors will then be shipped to manufacturing operations to be incorporated into products produced by Motorola Solutions, HP and Intel.
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Workers Compensation Insurance
Workers Compensation Insurance: An Overview
Workers' compensation coverage pays benefits to workers injured on the job, including medical care, part of lost wages and permanent disability. It also provides death benefits to dependents of employees killed from a work-related accident. Workers' compensation systems are different in every state, as individual statutes and court decisions have shaped the way they handle claims, evaluate impairments, settle disputes, provide benefits and control costs.
Background of Workers Compensation Insurance
During the 19th century, the number of individuals joining the workforce grew exponentially. As a result, the number of workplace accidents grew as well. At that time, the only way that injured workers could obtain compensation for their injuries was to sue the employer. Many legislative proposals emerged early in the 20th century, focusing on compensating injured workers for their medical care and lost wages.
By 1949, all states had a system in place to provide compensation for injured employees.
Under these systems, the employer was responsible for providing compensation for the cost of medical care and wages lost, and consequently, the employee gave up his or her right to sue the employer for injuries. Currently, Texas is the only state where workers' compensation is not mandated for all employers.
As part of the insurance package, the injured worker's medical, rehabilitation and lost wages are paid for by the state or insurance carrier. If the injury leaves the employee disabled, the insurance carrier will pay the claim based on the extent of the injuries and based on its permanence. The disability will fall into one the following categories: temporary total, temporary partial, permanent partial or permanent total disability.
Workers' compensation rates and programs are managed by private insurers, state funds or the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. can provide more information about how your state handles these programs.
Guide To Developing a Workplace Injury & Illness Prevention Program
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Money Saving Workers Compensation Tips
A full report on how to reduce your Workers Compensation Insurance.
The Employer's Responsibilities
Employers are required to do the following to comply with workers' compensation insurance laws:
- Provide coverage for their employees and are held liable for all injuries suffered by employees while they are on the job (with the exception of employers residing in the state of Texas)
- Pay premiums and provide the carrier with audit payroll numbers
- Provide a safe environment
- Notify the carrier as soon as possible after an injury
- Investigate injuries
Managing Your Workers' Compensation Costs
Your workers' compensation insurance premium is based on a rating your company has, which is based on payroll, averages for your industry and claims experienced over a three-year period. Claims have a direct impact on this experience modification factor (mod), which can significantly drive up premiums. This means many times a company will pay for its own claims in increased premium costs. There are many things that companies can do to lower their workers' compensation costs, such as the following:
- Inspecting your insurance policy to make sure that all job classifications and payrolls are correct.
- Making an investment in workplace safety to avoid accidents to improve claim histories and reduce overall costs. If you modify operating procedures even slightly, you can alleviate unnecessary exposure to injuries.
- Considering using a managed care organization that has a relationship with your insurance company. This will help you save on medical treatment costs.
- Creating a modified duty program at your organization to help injured employees return to work sooner. Under these programs, employees are assigned duties that they can physically complete while they recover. The most successful return to work programs incorporate speedy, quality medical care and assistance to reduce emotional stress after an accident.
There are other actions that your organization can take to reduce workers' compensation costs, and we have the tools to show you how. Contact GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. today to learn more.
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GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. Your Trusted Business Insurance Experts
California Workers Comp Rates are increasing fast. Turlock, CA is the home of GDI Insurance Agency, CA Workers Comp cost savings experts. We follow proven methods to reduce the cost of your Workers Compensation. Above is just one example of a Central California and Northern California company that saved on their Workers Compensation Insurance by calling GDI Insurance Agency 1-888-991-2929.
As one of the fastest growing agencies in California, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc. is able to provide its clients with the latest and greatest of what the insurance industry has to offer and much, much more. The GDI team has developed an "insurance cost reduction" quoting plan, that provides you with the best coverage at the best rate!
Here is a simple overview of how a broker at GDI Insurance Agency can help you Save up to 52% on your CA Workers Comp.
Your GDI Insurance Agency Broker Uses These Tools Successful Help You Save On CA Worker's Comp.
Saving money on your Worker's Compensation starts with your OSHA compliant safety program


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EXCLUSIVE Helping you deliver smiles is what we do…and this feel-good bouquet is a great way to do it! Bunches of blooms in uplifting colors are gathered into our keepsake smiley face container, delivering just the brightness they need to make their day better. Perfect for celebration-worthy moments and everyday sentiments.
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Box of Assorted Chocolates.
Add a cute plush from our plush selection. Selected plush will vary.
18" Happy Birthday Mylar Balloon. Styles may vary.
18" Happy Anniversary Mylar Balloon. Styles may vary.
18" I Love You Mylar Balloon. Styles may vary.


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SF New Tech picks: Lunch-o-tron meets comment-o-meter
Live at SF New Tech Meetup: Conduit, SezWho, US4Real, GlobalMotion, and CrazyMenu
I'm at the San Francisco New Tech Meetup tonight, immersed in Web 2.0 startupville. Tonight's lineup of pitches:
Conduit. A utility for making toolbars to go with your blog or site. We recently covered the tool's new capability that lets the user swap between different toolbars they've installed. The concept is interesting: It lets site publishers put their sites into toolbars. I didn't expect users to take up this idea, but the company's executives report strong growth and more than 12 million users.
SezWho. This is an interesting system that allows users to rate other users' content, like their uploaded videos and blog comments. It's distributed, so if you have a good reputation as a contributor on one site and then you go to a new site, you good reputation can go with you, as well as links to all your contributions on other sites. Requires site owners to install links or plug-ins on their site, and SezWho then gets all the data, which it distributes to member sites. Interesting, since it knocks a few bricks out of the walls that sites tend to build up around their user bases. Very good for the new media powerhouse: the blog network.
US4real. Yet another real estate mashup that combines data on cost of living, crime, school performance, etc., with real estate and rental listings. It's a bit rough at the moment, and there are several very well-funded companies in this space. Also, it returns data only by city, not neighborhood--that's not specific enough. It does appear to have a comprehensive listing of houses and rentals, though, and it has a cool feature that flags houses whose prices have dropped a lot recently. Also, it will let you draw an outline around an area you're interested in, and will e-mail you when houses on it go up for sale. Cool.
GlobalMotion. This is a wiki focused on locations, maps, and geotagged images. It's an interesting way to navigate geodata, and it reads in location-tagged images already on EveryTrail, Panoramio, and Flickr, which is kind of neat. A good question from the audience, though: Why not just contribute this functionality to Wikipedia, which already has about 200,000 entries about locations? The answer wasn't very satisfying.
CrazyMenu. This was my favorite site of the evening. It's a utility for business lunching. It helps you corral co-workers together for a lunch, decide where to go, and even create group orders that you can transmit to your restaurant before you get there. Since I love lunch, I look forward to trying this out. Great idea.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2014
7 comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Exceptional color-run, Dale & Barbara!ReplyDelete
Most would say color is king, and when you put the "Big Kahunas" of the bottle kingdom in multiple colors they really look quite majestic and grand.
P.S. It was great seeing you both at The Canyonville Show this year :)
Sent from my iPhone
Thank you Lance for the kind words. It was a real pleasure seeing you at The Canyonville Show and thank you for letting me know about the boxed demijohn ! Thanks Rick for posting the photos, much appreciated :)ReplyDelete
Makes western whiskies look kinda, uh, boring~
Killer stuff!
Gorgeous Demi's!!!!! Do any of them have a glass works mark/embossing on the base? I have seen a few in amethyst with OGW embossed on their base. Nice! Dale M.ReplyDelete
Tim Higgin's had, at one time, one of the best OGW collections that I had seen. I believe he sold it to one of the SoCal collectors. It would be interesting to do a post on OGW. Anyone have any OGW's they want to send pictures of?ReplyDelete
Dale M the yellow example has a based mark, a "d" with some numbers. Rick, I have an OGW demijohn example in a light pinkish hue, will send you some pictures.ReplyDelete


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The world is not learning: millions of students cannot read, write or do simple calculations, even after several years of schooling. In many developing countries, the top 25% of students struggle to outperform the OECD's bottom 25%.
The World Bank's new 2018 World Development Report (WDR) is the first devoted entirely to education and paints a stark picture of the scale of the global learning crisis. It recognizes that we urgently need to go beyond technical thinking in education and look seriously at the systemic and political issues which are holding back progress.
Understanding the global learning crisis
The WDR identifies what lies behind this crisis: unskilled and unmotivated teachers, unprepared learners, poor school management and badly utilised resources. Money often does not reach schools; teaching resources and textbooks do not make it to the classroom and are not used once they are there. These factors are driven by technical and political challenges, which frustrate attempts at reform.
The discussion of technical challenges focuses on system coherence – whether the roles, resources and incentives in the education system are aligned, and aligned with learning. For example, does the system regularly and accurately collect information on student learning? Are teachers motivated to improve learning (either intrinsically or extrinsically)? Do teachers receive the support and resources they need?
The discussion of political challenges focuses on whether the interests of powerful stakeholders are aligned with learning, and with each other. For example, do politicians expect the electorate to reward or punish them based on student performance? Can parents easily judge if their children are learning? Do patronage networks and nepotism in the bureaucracy, or the actions of unions, make it hard to implement reforms to improve learning?
To address these challenges, the WDR recommends improving information on learning; building coalitions and strengthening incentives to prioritise learning; and encouraging innovation and agility in the design and implementation of education policies.
Priorities for solving the crisis
The WDR has made a strong start. However, much more work needs to be done to develop practical and effective approaches to address these challenges. To overcome the global learning crisis, we need to answer four questions:
1. Is the incoherence technical or political?
To improve the coherence of the education system, we need to understand whether its incoherence is solely due to technical features, or their interaction with the incentives and priorities of political actors. We need a fuller theory of why incoherence emerges, how it interacts with politics and why it persists in different contexts – something we began to discuss during the 2017 Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) conference.
2. Who has an interest in reforming the education system?
Education is a good investment, but realising this investment may take a generation. In contrast, political time horizons are often too short to demonstrate tangible improvements in learning. Other stakeholders face competing interests. Some private sector firms benefit from an educated workforce, but different industries have different skill needs. They may not trust that politicians can transform higher taxes today into a skilled workforce in a decade. This scepticism also shapes parental choice – contributing to the boom in private schooling and political competition that focuses on tangible and visible education inputs. Understanding how different actors balance these interests is crucial to assembling the building blocks of a coalition.
3. What helps build a coalition for learning?
In the last few decades, some countries have achieved significant improvements in learning. Understanding which entry-points were used, how political competition helped or hindered, who was mobilised, how and at what level of the system will cast vital light on how to build coalitions. ODI and the University of Manchester have begun to address these questions, but more work is needed to develop practical approaches.
4. Should you pursue a grand strategy, or problem-by-problem reform, or both?
There are only a few examples of successful, system-wide education reforms – testament to how hard building coalitions and executing policies can be. Whole system reforms have been successful in contexts with strong capacity and political coherence, such as Chile, but many countries lack these conditions. We therefore need to understand when, where, and if, problem-by-problem reforms can be used to produce sustainable and long-term improvements.
Policy design and innovation is still important. However, policies won't be effective unless the challenges of system incoherence and misaligned political incentives are met. Answering these four questions is therefore crucial to addressing the global learning crisis.


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Caw Caw Interpretive Center
Ages 8-12. One chaperone per registered child required to attend but not required to register. Chaperones are not required to accompany child during program but must stay in the park for the duration of the program. Non-registered children may not attend this program. Attend six of nine programs to become a certified Junior Naturalist.


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We began our study of the human body on the outside and worked our way in — as most Montessori learning goes! After learning all about The Outer Body, the skeletal system, and the muscular system, we decided to start at the top and working our way down. My favorite part of our nervous system study was learning about the five senses!
We spent a full 10 days on the 5 senses — one each for the physical part of the body that did the sensing, and one each for utilizing those parts of our own bodies to experience some sensing.
For the sense of sight, we learned about how eyes work using some of our Human Body encyclopedias (see book list at the bottom of this post). Then we played "I Spy" to experience our eyes working!
For the sense of hearing, we learned about the parts of the inner ear in our books, then played something we call "The Listening Game." We sat in a circle with our eyes closed and stayed completely silent. We listened to the sounds around us, then talked about what we heard. Some of the sounds we identified were the clock ticking, L's tummy rumbling, birds singing, and cars driving by outside.
The sense of taste is always a fun one! First we examined each other's taste buds using a magnifying glass. Then it was time to test our taste buds!
I set up a tasting tray for each of the different tastes: table salt for salty, sugar for sweet, coffee grounds for bitter, lemon slices for sour, and beef broth for umami.
It was an adventure tasting each of the different tastes! Clear favorites were the sweet sugar and the umami beef broth, but N was kind of enjoying that sour lemon!
For the sense of smell, we learned about how the nose works in our books. Then I brought out some smelling jars. I took six small mason jars and poked holes in the lids with a hammer and nail. I put a cotton ball in each jar and put a few drops of different extracts on each (1 type per jar), then closed them up.
We finished up our study of the five senses with the sense of touch. We learned about touch receptors in our books, then tested our sense of touch using a rough and smooth board. We also played a game where we closed our eyes and lightly poked one another to see if the one being poked could identify exactly where on their body they were touched!
This was just part of our study of the nervous system — I'll share the rest in my next post!
We rely heavily on wonderful children's books for all of our themed studies, and here are the books we used to study the five senses:
The Usborne Big Book of the Body
The Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body
My Five Senses, by Margaret Miller
Seeing, by Kimberley Jane Pryor
Hearing, by Kimberley Jane Pryor
Tasting, by Kimberley Jane Pryor
Smelling, by Kimberley Jane Pryor
The Holes In Your Nose, by Genichiro Yagyu
Touching, by Kimberley Jane Pryor
I Can Tell By Touching, by Carolyn Otto
Stay tuned as we continue to dive deeper into our human body study!


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Bone china medium size mugs, 8.5cm (3.3 inches) in height and 7.5cm (3 inches) in diameter, holding a volume of 300 ml (10.1 fl oz) or dishwasher and microwave proof. Please note size may vary ever so slightly, due to the hand made process.
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