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Exploring Hydrocarbon Depletion
Page added on May 31, 2018
It's a quiet scene, but there's more to it than meets the eye. The Estia, a 751-foot-long oil tanker, is loading gasoline on a breezy afternoon at port in Vadinar, a town in northwest India. The Bahamas-flagged ship has journeyed from Singapore to this hulking dock on the Arabian Sea, where a relentless afternoon sun bakes the concrete jetty. Through pipes connected to loading arms reaching some 66 feet high, the Estia is taking on 55,000 tons of gasoline from one of Asia's largest and most modern oil refineries.
The 40-hour-long loading operation is just one of the hundreds of daily tanker movements that underpin the multibillion-dollar global petroleum market. Yet this one isn't being undertaken by any of the household names that dominate the oil industry of the popular imagination—Exxon Mobil, say, or Chevron or Royal Dutch Shell. The jetty, the ship, and the giant refinery they serve are all controlled by a little-known private partnership that trades in oil, coal, iron ore, and metals: Trafigura Group Pte.
Trafigura is one of the hidden companies that power the world economy, linking suppliers and consumers of raw materials. If the company is known for anything, it was an incident a dozen years ago involving hazardous waste that landed its boss in an African jail and shredded its reputation. These days, having striven to burnish its image, Trafigura is one of the biggest middlemen in the global commodities supply chain. Owned by 600 top employees, most of them based in a discreetly luxurious office block in Geneva, the trading house has been grinding out annual profits of about $1 billion for the past half-decade.
The Estia's voyage, one of 4,500 by Trafigura-chartered tankers this year, signals the company's expanding reach up and down the oil chain. Trafigura is a major owner of a massive nearby refinery complex that produced the fuel delivered via pipeline to the jetty. The refinery was, in turn, the crown jewel in a blockbuster $13 billion acquisition that, at the time, represented the largest foreign direct investment in India's history. The deal, done in conjunction with Russia's state oil company, Rosneft Oil Co., marked Trafigura's coming of age. "Ten years ago, we were sitting outside the door," says Jeremy Weir, the company's chief executive officer, in an interview in Geneva, the de facto capital of the energy trading industry. "Today, we're at the table."
Being at the table is more important than ever. The internet and other advances have made once-proprietary knowledge available to almost anyone with a smartphone. That's forced the biggest traders—such as metals mammoth Glencore Plc, not to mention Trafigura, its closest rival—to bulk up on assets, secure more long-term supply with national oil companies, and streamline trading operations. For Trafigura at least, it's working. According to bond prospectuses and financial filings, it's paid its employee-shareholders $5.4 billion since 2010 via share buybacks. "The company has made a lot of people wealthy beyond their wildest dreams," says Christopher Cox, a board director at Trafigura and former head of metals.
Trafigura barely managed to make it to where it is today. Led for more than two decades by its charismatic co-founder, a dapper, hard-driving Frenchman named Claude Dauphin, the company embodied commodities trading of the old-school, take-no-prisoners style. Dauphin learned at the knee of industry godfather Marc Rich, the onetime fugitive from U.S. justice whose eponymous company would morph into Glencore. But Trafigura's swashbuckling culture eventually caught up with Dauphin. In 2006 he spent five months in an Ivory Coast jail after Compagnie Tommy SA, a contractor hired by Trafigura, spilled a load of toxic oil waste. The next year, to secure Dauphin's release, Trafigura shelled out $198 million to the Ivorian government for cleanup costs and compensation to more than 95,000 victims who said they had fallen ill. "It was just stupidity," says Mark Crandall, a former oil trader and one of Trafigura's co-founders. "It's like a Formula One driver who's going too fast and then hits the wall."
The incident became the defining moment in the company's corporate adolescence. Since then—initially under Dauphin, who died in 2015 after a battle with cancer, and now under Weir—Trafigura has fought aggressively to regain and refurbish its standing. If nothing else, the scandal "was a catalyst for change," says Mike Wainwright, Trafigura's chief operating officer, who's been with the company since 1996. "We moved from adolescence to adulthood."
"From maverick and pariah, Trafigura has become a respected player in its field and—who would have believed it?—the most transparent one in the industry," says Jean-François Lambert, who as former global head of commodity and structured trade finance at HSBC dealt extensively with the company. Many of the company's critics are not convinced. "Since its inception, Trafigura has continuously shown an appetite for risky markets," says Oliver Classen of Public Eye, a Swiss nongovernmental organization that favors greater regulation of the commodity trading industry. "That strategy enabled it to grow in less than two decades into one of the world's most powerful trading giants."
While it has battled aggressively to shake off its controversial past, trouble has continued to follow Trafigura. In the past year, Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, a board member who resigned in 2016 after being arrested in Brazil in a bribery and money laundering scandal, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges. Trafigura has denied any involvement in the matter saying Ferraz acted on his own and it wasn't involved in the deals.
Commodity companies inhabit a world thick with logistical peril and corrupt political regimes. Oil-trading giant Vitol Group pleaded guilty to grand larceny in 2007 for paying kickbacks to the Iraqi government in connection with the United Nations oil-for-food scandal there. BP Plc and Exxon Mobil paid huge fines and suffered crushing blows to their reputation over oil-spill disasters such as Deepwater Horizon in 2010 and the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Glencore has been beset by a string of scandals, including most recently over its business dealings with Dan Gertler, an Israeli businessman sanctioned by the U.S. in connection with allegedly corrupt deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As part of its corporate face-lift, Trafigura has been among the most aggressive of its peers in scaling back questionable practices and enhancing public disclosure. In 2015 the company temporarily halted a controversial petroleum swaps deal in Nigeria amid allegations of government corruption and increased scrutiny from its lenders. In 2013 it became one of the first large private traders to publish an annual report that disclosed its financial results in detail. In 2014, Trafigura was the first trader to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an anticorruption program that requires signatories to disclose certain oil payments to governments.
That Trafigura hasn't only endured but also thrived says much about the survival instincts of its new leadership. Led by Weir and a management committee recently expanded from three to nine members, it's grown to become the second-biggest metals trader—behind only Glencore—and the third-biggest independent oil trader, neck and neck with Glencore and behind Vitol. Trafigura, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in April, has never suffered an annual loss. Profits surged from a tiny $3.65 million in 1994, the first year with full annual results, to a record $2.2 billion in 2013, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg Markets. The company's equity has surged, from the $12 million that its six founders put up to start the company in 1993 to more than $6 billion last year.
A relative latecomer to that top table that Weir likes to talk about, the company still pictures itself as the scrappy insurgent. "Being a trading company means you can't get lazy," says Raoul Bajaj, a protégé of Dauphin's and a Trafigura executive since 2006, who's now the head of its rapidly growing India unit. "It's always good to be an underdog."
That's one way of putting it. How Trafigura achieved its success, and how at times it almost lost its way, has been reconstructed by Bloomberg Markets through interviews with current and former executives, including the four surviving founders, as well as others in the industry, and through previously unreported financial and legal records.
It all began with a phone call that not only ended badly but also eventually led to a divorce that would create two commodities giants: Trafigura and Glencore.
It was 1992, and things weren't going well at Marc Rich + Co. U.S. authorities wanted Rich for tax evasion and trading with Iran, still under sanctions following the 1979 hostage crisis. An attempt by Rich's company to manipulate metals prices by cornering the zinc market had gone awry, with the company running up losses of about $170 million. On the personal side of the ledger, Rich was in the middle of an expensive divorce from his wife, Denise.
With his Zug, Switzerland-based empire in trouble, Rich was increasingly running the two-decade-old company as his personal fiefdom, antagonizing his four lieutenants—Dauphin, Willy Strothotte, Manny Weiss, and Daniel Dreyfus. He fired Strothotte after a clash in June 1992. Not long after that, Dauphin, tired of the constant internal battles, resigned to return to his family's scrap metals business in France following his father's death. Within weeks, Weiss and other top executives had gone, too.
Rich, under pressure from his banks, mulled over an exit strategy. Dauphin and others drew up a buyout plan. The various parties tried to reach an agreement whereby Rich would sell his shares over time and the company would be rebranded. Then the mercurial Rich decided he wanted to change the terms. That's when the phone call came. He rang Dauphin to try to renegotiate a couple of details, including keeping his name above the office door. But Dauphin had had enough. "Claude was mightily irritated," Crandall recalls. "He said, 'We are going to be negotiating with Rich until we are dead.' "
Dauphin decided to go his own way. Five others joined him: Danny Posen and Antonio Cometti, who would co-run metals at the new business; oil traders Graham Sharp and Crandall; and Eric de Turckheim, who would become the company's first chief financial officer. Striking out on their own entailed risks. They'd leave behind the comfort of Rich's long-established relationships and trading networks as well as his banking lines, such as they were.
The six executives, most of them in their 30s and 40s at the time, hired a law firm to set up their venture in 1993. They bought a couple of dormant Dutch-registered companies to quick-start the business. By then, Sharp, the oil trader, had secured the company's first deal: buying a cargo of gasoline from the Romanian state-owned petroleum company. Bucharest wanted to sell, but it needed to know to whom. It needed a name. The co-founders were forced to choose quickly between two of the Dutch companies they'd bought: Trafigura and Skydiver. Everyone agreed Skydiver was not an ideal name for a highflying commodities trader. So Trafigura it was.
Although Trafigura began life as a Dutch company that did (and still does) most of its business from Switzerland, in 2015 it fully relocated its registration to Singapore—like Switzerland, a low-tax jurisdiction. The employee-partners own all of Trafigura's shares and control the business through a shell company called Farringford NV, which is registered in the Caribbean tax haven of Curaçao.
The first few years were difficult. Low demand for raw materials and depressed, stable prices meant profitable deals were hard to find. "We underestimated the value of scale, how hard it is to build a business from scratch," Sharp says. What's more, a competitor was gaining on them. Strothotte, the exec Rich had defenestrated, borrowed the blueprint Dauphin was going to use to buy the company and applied it to what remained of Marc Rich + Co. He christened it Glencore in 1994.
For years, Trafigura treaded water. From 1993 to 2000, its profits averaged only $20 million to $30 million a year. The company's oil business, run out of a tiny office in London's swanky Mayfair neighborhood, was quickly a moneymaker. But the metals operation, occupying a two-room suite in Lucerne, Switzerland, struggled for years to get in the black. That business was more challenging because metals contracts are long-term, requiring patience to build a book, whereas oil contracts and tenders turn over quickly. It was touch and go. "In the first five years," Posen says, "there were moments that we questioned what we were doing."
Then along came a savior from the East. The phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy, especially from 2000 on, drove a relentless demand for almost all commodities. The next eight years were a halcyon period that would later become known as the commodities supercycle. The price of copper shot up from about 61¢ a pound to $3.80; oil prices increased more than tenfold, eventually exceeding $120 a barrel.
At the same time, many of Trafigura's biggest petro-rivals were disappearing. In 2000, France's Total merged with rivals Fina and Elf Aquitaine in a three-way deal. Although Total SA remains a major oil trader today, the merger reduced competition, particularly in Africa, where Elf dominated. Enron, the era-defining U.S. energy trader, filed for bankruptcy after cooking the books and undercutting rivals' profit margins for years. Meanwhile, Big Oil mergers were thinning out the competition. Exxon bought Mobil. Chevron took over Texaco. Neither Exxon nor Chevron possessed the deep-rooted trading culture of the companies they acquired. As a consequence, once-mighty trading arms rapidly withered.
All the commotion benefited a company that as a partnership not beholden to pesky outside shareholders was "thinking long term," de Turckheim says. Trafigura's net income stood at $25 million in 2000. In 2004 it surged to triple digits for the first time, reaching $152 million. By 2006 the company was making a half-billion dollars. It pocketed more than $1 billion for the first time in 2011.
As meteoric as the rise was, it hid just how competitive the world of commodities trading had become. Trading margins are razor-thin today because competition is stiffer and market information more transparent. Even as Trafigura sinks more capital into assets, including refineries such as the one in Vadinar, returns and margins are falling—a problem affecting the whole commodities trading industry. The company's return on equity, a measure of profitability compared with the money that partners have invested, dropped last year below 15 percent, down from an eye-watering 39 percent in 2009, according to calculations based on the company's regulatory filings and bond prospectus. Trafigura earns only 1 percent to 2 percent on its revenue, requiring turnover in excess of $100 billion to generate profit. That means it has to move huge amounts of commodities. On any given day, it has about 115 vessels on short-term lease plying the seas.
Even so, given market conditions, the prospects of another dramatic boost in profit are slim. The company carries significant debt, much of it to pay for the sheer movement of commodities. And some of its more recent investments, in particular in ports and other infrastructure in Colombia, haven't performed as well as executives hoped they would. All of which is manageable as long as Trafigura can steady the ship and keep it on course, says Chief Financial Officer Christophe Salmon, who joined from French bank BNP Paribas SA, one of the company's key original lenders. "We want a business that can yield a base of $1 billion, some years a bit more, some years a bit less," he says.
On July 2, 2006, the Probo Koala, a double-hulled tanker that Trafigura chartered, arrived in the Port of Amsterdam to change crew, refuel, and discharge oil waste material called "slops" in industry jargon. Then it was due to sail for Paldiski, Estonia, and take on a gasoline cargo to be delivered to Nigeria. But a dispute with a Dutch contractor abruptly halted the discharge. The ship headed to Estonia with all of the waste still on board. After several frustrated attempts to offload the slops, and having delivered the gasoline at port in Lagos, the Probo Koala headed to its next stop, Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast.
Trafigura says a port agent there chose a recently licensed local operator named Compagnie Tommy to discharge the slops beginning on Aug. 19. According to Trafigura, Tommy —"in flagrant breach of their obligations"—dumped about 139,500 gallons of the toxic waste at "17 or 18 locations" around Abidjan. Within days, residents of Abidjan began complaining of a foul smell. By early September tens of thousands of people were visiting hospitals amid allegations that the slops had caused serious illnesses and fatalities.
Dauphin, always one to confront a problem head-on, didn't hide from the gathering scandal. He put together a team and went straight to Abidjan. Once there, he was swiftly arrested and incarcerated by the Ivory Coast government, and Trafigura's reputation spiraled into a public-relations abyss.
Dauphin hated publicity. And yet only a PR blitz was going to salvage Trafigura's reputation. After the Probo Koala disaster and until his death eight years later, he slowly transformed the way Trafigura presented itself to the world. It went from a notoriously secretive company that hid its accounts from the general public to one that suddenly, in 2013, started publishing a glossy annual report disclosing reams of financial details.
Born in 1951 in Houlgate in Normandy, Dauphin went to work for the family scrap-metal business after high school, learning about commodities from the bottom up. Following 10 years or so working with his father, Dauphin went to work in London for Brandeis Goldschmidt, a broker at the London Metal Exchange.
A few years later, Dauphin met Felix Posen (the father of future Trafigura co-founder Danny Posen), who was head of nonferrous metals at Marc Rich + Co. Dauphin landed a job there and moved to metals-rich Bolivia, where he learned Spanish and started a long and profitable love affair with Latin America. He was back in London and head of oil when he broke with Rich. By the time he founded Trafigura, Dauphin was in his 40s. He mixed charm and attention to detail with remarkable energy, keeping to a grueling travel schedule even after his cancer diagnosis.
Six men may have co-founded Trafigura, but nobody embodied the trading house more than Dauphin. His company obituary was close to the mark when it eulogized him as "an inspirational mentor, even a father figure" to others at Trafigura. "Claude was special," says Crandall, one of the co-founders. Not only did Dauphin have the long-term vision to make Trafigura a reality, Crandall says, but he also often acted as a "peacemaker" among the ultra-competitive types who gravitate to this sort of business.
"The big question for Trafigura," Crandall says, "was what happened after Claude: Nobody knew the answer."
The industry was rife with talk that Dauphin's death would ignite civil war at the top of Trafigura and destroy it. Three years later, that's looking like a poor prediction. Weir, who took over as CEO in 2014, has recently consolidated his power, assuming the additional title of executive chairman. Trafigura's head office is a less hierarchical place, even if that leads to what Weir and head of oil José Larocca both jokingly call "animated" discussions.
Executives and traders have a huge incentive to avoid disagreements and preserve a long-term vision because their wealth is linked to the company's fortunes long after they leave or retire. As a rule, though it has the option to defer payment indefinitely, Trafigura buys back the stake of each departing employee in five installments over a four-year period.
What isn't changing is a desire to remain private, eschewing the initial public offering route followed by Glencore, for example. Weir says remaining private is "sacrosanct." Still, Trafigura has toyed with the idea of bringing in an outside investor. In 2015, Rosneft, for example, put forward a proposal to take a 20 percent stake, according to people familiar with the matter. It was rejected.
As its Indian deal with Rosneft suggests, Trafigura is open to investing jointly with others in assets such as ports, fuel stations, and mines. It's already forming a partnership with Mubadala Investment Co., the United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund, in a mining project. It co-invests with the Angolan national oil company Sonangol Holdings in Puma Energy Holdings Pte., which owns more than 3,000 fuel stations across Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Most recently it mandated Citigroup Inc. to find co-investors for its Impala unit, which operates ports and warehouses, according to people familiar with the matter.
This is old school: A trader based in Geneva, Singapore, or Houston is typically flanked by a team of operators performing so-called middle-office functions for each physical transaction, whether logging deals, executing hedges, or securing vessels—the day-to-day nuts and bolts of a physical-commodity trading operation. Trafigura began doing things differently in 2012, saving millions of dollars a year. Under the direction of Dauphin and Wainwright, it began relocating middle-office operations outside of its main trading hubs into three lower-cost locations in Mumbai; Shanghai; and Montevideo, Uruguay. Today, deals-desk teams in these cities do more than half of Trafigura's middle-office functions and executions.
Which explains the presence of Pujal Doshi at a modern glass-and-metal building in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex. This is now Trafigura's biggest office, with more than 600 employees. "We started off small, and there was a whole lot of skepticism," says Doshi, one of the team's first hires in Mumbai, a regional deals-desk manager for metals. A forceful 30-year-old, Doshi says her team was particularly busy in April. Aluminum and nickel markets swung wildly after the U.S. sanctioned Russia's United Co. Rusal Plc, one of the world's biggest aluminum producers. "Sometimes when the markets are bad, the traders can be very snappy," she says with a laugh.
The Mumbai move was controversial in some quarters because it broke the physical link between traders and operators that many commodities executives say is critical to avoiding mistakes. But the math is hard to argue with. A middle-office worker in Mumbai with two-and-a-half years' experience earns an average of $23,000 in salary, says Tejinder Hara, a former officer in the Indian army who runs Trafigura's global services unit. In Geneva the same employee would make at least five times as much.
And yet the reorganization of the deals desks, Weir says, has allowed Trafigura to double oil trading volumes in a half-decade to more than 5 million barrels a day while keeping its back- and middle-office costs the same. That's saving money and making journeys such as the Estia's more efficient.
It's all part of a relentless forward momentum as Trafigura seeks to break from the past. "Claude had a certain style," Weir says. "What we have done is enable people to grow and develop. That's important, and that process has modernized the organization."
Hoffman covers commodities in Geneva. Blas covers energy in London.
3 Comments on "What Makes $1 Billion a Year and Oils the Global Economy While Rebuilding Its Reputation?"
Duncan Idaho on Thu, 31st May 2018 3:19 pm
Seems to attract sociopaths.
But they have their place, especially with capitalism.
dave thompson on Thu, 31st May 2018 3:32 pm
"HHHHMMMM SLOPS" Homer S.
Jef on Fri, 1st Jun 2018 8:19 am
…and the end result of all this testosterone and intrigue… total extinction of life on the planet.
Hip Hip Hurrah!
"A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years."


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So here we are again, Another Update.
We have been working hard to Fix Known Bugs.
Report a bug using [=bugreport] [Title] [Description]
We have Fixed and added alot of commands this update, We are hoping you like this update.
This update includes a brand new Ticket System.
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[=Voted] [@User](Check if you have voted for MythBot)
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[=Private-Msg] [@User] [Message](Send a Private message to a user)
[=Ticket] [Message](Updated the Ticket System)

subset: commoncrawl


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The Rise of the Internet of Goods: A New Perspective on the Digital Future for Manufacturers >> HOME
For all of the catchphrases about Industry 4.0 and the fourth industrial revolution, the truth is that digitizing manufacturing is a long and difficult slog. The issue is that engineers in manufacturing and other physical industries have to manipulate and fit together real-world materials in ways that are consistent with the laws of nature and the limitations of current technology. Software developers in digital industries like entertainment and finance—where the final product is reduced to bits and bytes—have a much easier time.
Consider, for example, Tony Stark's iconic Iron Man armor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To achieve $7 billion in global ticket sales—the total revenues from Marvel movies featuring Iron Man—the filmmakers only had to be concerned with projecting a believable two-dimensional image on a screen. That is a difficult but doable task.
By contrast, actually building a flying suit of armor in real life would require a combination of metallurgy, robotics, and microelectronics that currently doesn't exist. Digital objects—including even the most complicated software programs—are simple compared to the requirements of fully digitizing even the simplest of real-world objects.
Manufacturers have taken the first step towards digitization by putting sensors into existing products such as turbines and tractors and using the resulting data to improve performance. The goal is to turn data collection and analysis into a new revenue stream.
But data monetization is only one possible application of the Internet of Things to manufacturing, and perhaps not the most effective at creating sustainable new markets. After all, it's not clear how much customers are willing to pay to have their data sold back to them.
The cautionary tale here comes from GE, which bet huge sums on the industrial internet and the development of a software platform called Predix that uses data to help customers monitor and improve the performance of their equipment. GE Digital collected a sizable $4 billion in revenue in 2017. Nevertheless, a perceived shortfall in the performance of GE Digital relative to expectations led to the CEO being replaced and the stock price dropping by 50% over the course of a year. As of June 2018, GE was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average and replaced by Walgreens. At the time, the committee in charge of the Dow Jones explained its decision this way:
"General Electric was an original member of the DJIA in 1896 and a member continuously since 1907… Since then the U.S. economy has changed: consumer, finance, health care and technology companies are more prominent today and the relative importance of industrial companies is less."
While manufacturing remains a very dynamic and essential part of the U.S. economy, most people have stopped looking at the industrial sector as a jobs and growth engine. Eleven out of 19 major U.S. manufacturing industries are producing less than they did in 2000, including the iconic machinery and electrical equipment industries.* Eighteen out of 19 major manufacturing industries have fewer employees than they did in 2000, with the one exception being food manufacturing. Across the country, the number of manufacturing facilities employing more than 500 people has dropped by 35% since 2001, according to Bureau of Labor statistics data.
Domestic manufacturing productivity rose only 0.3% in the year ending in the first quarter of 2018, and is actually down from its 2013 peak. Real domestic manufacturing operating profits are stalled at their 2007 level, with the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) actually showing a decline in recent quarters. Moreover, the price of domestic manufactured goods is rising faster than the price of Chinese imports, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), reducing competitiveness.
A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute observes that U.S. manufacturing has experienced two "lost decades." The report goes on to say that "significant productivity gaps have opened up between large firms and small and midsize producers that are unable to invest in new equipment and technologies."
* Measured as change in real gross output, 2000-2017, based on Bureau of Economic Analysis data released as of April 2018


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Summer may be a few weeks out, but many of us are already spending a lot of time outside. Here are five key topics on the minds of Mercy Clinic providers:
Staying Hydrated
Swimming pools, lakes and oceans - nothing says summer like being in the water. But if you aren't drinking enough water, especially in the summer months, you could be at risk for dehydration. While we generally recommend drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, the true amount largely depends on your level of activity throughout the day, whether you work out regularly, and if you are pregnant or nursing. In the summer months, the more you sweat, the more you should replenish with water and electrolytes.
We aren't the only ones who look forward to spending most of our time outdoors. Summertime bugs and insects cover the landscape, and we make it pretty easy for them to do so with our backyard barbeques and campground cookouts. And while many of these bugs are harmless, others can be very dangerous, and even deadly. So when you're out enjoying the great outdoors, consider a few of these tricks to keep these pesky nuisances at bay.
Protective Gear
No matter your age of level of experience, wearing protective gear when engaging in activities where your head or other parts of your body are vulnerable to injury should be a no-brainer. This is especially important for children because they have proportionally larger heads with higher centers of gravity and their coordination is not fully developed. Sure, no one enjoys wearing a lot of gear when they're out having fun, but in the case of the child, it's important for the parents to lead by example.
We know that the weather can change at a moment's notice, so it's important to always be aware of the forecast and potential hazards nearby. In the late spring and early summer, thunderstorms are a common occurrence and also come with a risk of lightening, hail and even tornadoes.


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|Apparatus for producing center-filled confectionery
|Parallel Gum Component Mixing Systems And Methods
|Duggan et al.
|Gum Structure Mixing Systems And Methods
|Duggan et al.
|Apparatus and Method for Making Chewing Gum Pieces
|Multi-Phase sheeted chewing gum and method and apparatus for making
|McHale et al.
|Segmented rolled food item
|Murray et al.
|System for continuously producing gum with improved texture and flavor release
|Warrington et al.
|Apparatus for processing PVA
|Degady et al.
|Automated system for continuously producing, cooling, and processing chewing gum base materials
|Duggan et al.
|Gum processing and packaging system
|Hoffman et al.
|Process for manufacturing slab-type chewing gum products
|Hoffman et al.
|Adapter member for connecting extruders
|Degady et al.
|Method for processing high molecular weight elastomers
|Duggan et al.
|Gum processing and packaging system
|Hoffman et al.
|Elastomer processing apparatus and system for chewing gum
|Degady et al.
|High molecular weight elastomer processing system for chewing gum
|Duggan et al.
|Polyvinyl acetate process for chewing gum
|Degady et al.
|Elastomer processing system for chewing gum
|Degady et al.
|Gum sweetener/acid processing system
|Duggan et al.
|Continuous gum base processing with cooling towers
|Duggan et al.
|Dough-Handling Machine
|Heim et al.
|Multi-phase sheeted chewing gum and method and apparatus for making
|McHale et al.
|Process for manufacturing wax-free chewing gums with fast set-up times
|Synosky et al.
|Rolled food item fabricating apparatus and methods
|Zimmermann et al.
|Method of regulating the advance of articles in a conveyor system, particularly an automatic packaging system, and the system concerned
|Continuous production of chewing gum using corotating twin screw extruder
|Lesko et al.
|Method for processing chewing gum
|Van Alstine
|Method for forming a confectionary product into a rolled tape
|Ream et al.
|System for processing chewing gum
|Van Alstine
|Screw extruder
|Van Alstine
|Method and apparatus for conveying weighed amounts of material
|Non-staling chewing gum compositions and improved method of preparation
|Cherukuri et al.
|Non-staling chewing gum compositions and improved method of preparation
|Cherukuri et al.
|Continuous chewing gum method
|Kramer et al.
|Apparatus for changing the direction of movement of streams of paper sheets and the like
|Apparatus for continuously manufacturing multi-layered dough materials
|Hayashi et al.
|Method for candying chewing-gum slabs
|Process for the continuous manufacture of soft candies
|Didelot et al.
|Graff et al.
|Herrmann et al.
|Strip making apparatus
|Silvasy et al.
|Macaroni weighing machine
|La Rosa et al.
|Apparatus and method for making chewing gum pieces
This application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/352,110 filed on Jan. 12, 2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,226,401, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to gum manufacturing methods and systems and more particularly relates to the forming and conditioning of gum products as a precursor to dividing the gum into individual slab, stick or pellet type units.
The process of making and packaging gum products involves a significant amount of machinery. For example, a substantially automated system and method for making slab/stick type gums, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,373 entitled Gum Processing and Packaging System, which is assigned to the predecessor of interest of the present assignee. As shown in the '373 Patent, a process and apparatus for the continued production and processing and packaging of a final slab/stick type chewing gum is disclosed. The product is extruded as a continuous tape or ribbon and is eventually flattened into an approximate final cross-sectional size and shape and then inserted into a final gum sizing apparatus. Thereafter, the continuous strip of final chewing gum product is scored, cut into individual pieces and individually wrapped by a standard packaging machine. The present invention is directed towards improvements in the state of the art over such prior systems and equipment as shown in the '373 Patent.
The present invention is directed toward improvements in the conditioning of chewing gum product to attempt to reach the optimal temperature, viscosity, and moisture content for quality and processing reasons, particularly when rolling and/or scoring the chewing gum product in sheet form. Such uniformity better insures that the correct amount of gum is in each individual unit of gum and that the shape, size and consistency is substantially the same. Achieving such uniformity and high volume production with such automation are a significant advantage for cost and quality reasons.
A first patent aspect of the present invention is directed toward gum manufacturing machinery comprising a gum loafing machine have an inlet receiving finished gum product and a forming die providing an outlet proximate a knife that is adapted to generate loaves of finished gum product. A gum conditioner is arranged downstream of the gum loafing machine that has a conveyor running through an environmental enclosure with a temperature control. The conveyor is adapted to convey the loaves of finished gum through the environmental enclosure.
According to the above aspect, the conveyor of the gum conditioner may include at least three conveyors arranged in a stacked vertical configuration with two different operational modes. In a first operational mode, the second conveyor runs in a first direction conveying loaves in a serpentine path over substantially the entire length of the second and third conveyors. In a second operational mode, the second conveyor runs in a second direction opposite the first direction to convey loaves in a cascading path thereby substantially bypassing the length of the second and third conveyors. As such, the residence time of the conveyor can be greatly varied by utilizing more or less of the overall gum conditioning conveyor length as may be desired (speed controls and speed changes to the conveyors may be additionally employed).
Another different feature which may be employed with the first above aspect is that the gum loafing machine may be employed to prepare a generally uniform shape and thickness of the finished gum product to facilitate more uniform conditioning and avoid the otherwise non-uniform and irregularly shaped thicknesses that may be output, for example from a gum mixing extruder that forms the finished gum product. The size of the loaves may be optimized for conditioning as opposed to a form that is necessarily suitable for rolling operations. Further, after the finished gum product is loafed and conditioned within the gum conditioner, a second forming extruder may be employed having a die adapted to form a continuous ribbon from the individual loaves to facilitate further downstream rolling of the sheet by rollers that progressively reduce a thickness of the continuous gum ribbon for subsequent gum dividing operations. As such, conditioning may occur in one form, while rolling and scoring is accomplished in a different form.
Another aspect of the present invention is directed toward gum manufacturing machinery comprising a gum mixer (e.g. at least one of a mixing extruder and a batch mixer) that receives a plurality of gum ingredients and mixes the gum ingredients into a finished gum product. A first forming extruder is arranged downstream of the gum mixer and receives the finished gum and forces the finished gum through a first forming die to generate a substantially uniform output shapes sufficient for conditioning. A gum conditioner is arranged downstream of the first forming extruder and has a conveyor running through an environmental enclosure with a temperature control. The conveyor is adapted to convey the substantially uniform output through the environmental enclosure. Further, and after such conditioning, a second forming extruder is arranged downstream of the gum conditioner that has a second forming die. The second forming extruder forces the finished gum through the second forming die to form a continuous gum ribbon. Rollers are subsequently arranged downstream of the forming extruder to progressively reduce a thickness of a the continuous gum ribbon for subsequent gum diving operations.
A feature according to the above aspect is that a first forming extruder may provide a discontinuous output such as separate loaves to facilitate conditioning whereas the second forming extruder produces the ribbon to facilitate rolling operations.
A further aspect of the present invention is directed toward a method of manufacturing gum comprising of mixing a plurality of gum ingredients into a finished gum; forming the finished gum into a substantially uniform output shape; conditioning the formed finished gum in a controlled temperature environment for a residence time; forming a continuous gum ribbon; progressively reducing the thickness of the continuous gum ribbon; and dividing the gum ribbon into individual pieces of gum.
It is an advantage of this method and further feature that different gum batch recipes for different finished gum products may be run through the same gum line. For example, the method may further comprise running a first gum mixture at a first predetermined residence time for conditioning in a controlled temperature environment; and running a second gum mixture different than the first gum mixture using the same gum line as for the first gum mixture but at a second residence time different than the first residence time for the first gum mixture. This can be further facilitated by use of a conveyor having multiple vertically spaced conveyors with two different operational modes for generating a serpentine path and a cascading path as described previously. Significantly different conditioning residence times may therefore be employed for different gum batch recipes.
Other aspects, objectives and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of gum manufacturing machinery illustrating one operating mode with a cascading path of loaves through a gum conditioner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 1A shows a schematic diagram of an alternative embodiment for mixing gum that may be substituted for the mixing extruder shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 but illustrated in a different operational mode with loaves spending a longer residence time with a serpentine path through the gum conditioner as illustrated; and
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for handling and processing finished gum product in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
While the invention will be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit it to those embodiments. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Referring to the FIGS. 1-2, gum manufacturing machinery generally indicated at 10 for handling and processing finished gum product 12 is illustrated with, methodology of running through such machinery diagramed in FIG. 3.
The gum manufacturing machinery 10 generally includes a gum mixer which as illustrated in FIG. 1 may take the form of a gum mixing extruder 14; or alternatively as shown in FIG. 1A a batch mixer 16. Each of these may be used to produce a finished gum product 12. For example as illustrated in FIG. 1, the gum mixing extruder 14 includes a plurality of gum ingredient inputs 20 along its length for receipt of gum base and other gum ingredients such as flavorings, sugars, sweeteners, fillers, various agents, and the like. These inputs 20 are arranged along the length of a single mixing screw 22 having different screw mixing elements for input and mixing at different stages during the mixing process. For example, gum mixing extruders or other gum mixers are disclosed for example in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/016,016; 61/036,626; and 61/045,764, which are assigned to the present assignee, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. The output from the gum mixing extruder 14 is a finished gum product 12 that is readily suitable for consumption and chewing as it includes the water soluble sweeteners and flavorings desired by the consumer as well as the underlying chewable gum base to facilitate chewing. As illustrated, the output from a gum mixing extruder 14 may be generally irregular or otherwise non-uniform in shape in that it often will be output in an uneven stream of material having a non-uniform thickness of material. The same can be said of the output of a batch mixer 16 in that it is generally irregularly shaped without a consistent thickness. Thus, by producing finished gum product 18, it may generate a non-uniform output 24 as diagrammed in FIG. 3.
Given that the temperature of the finished gum product is not yet suitable or optimal for rolling activities, and that the temperature may need to be cooled or otherwise adjusted to allow the material to set sufficiently, it can be appreciated that the non-uniform output 24 is not conducive to generating uniform conditioning of the finished gum product. As such, a feed conveyor 26 feeds the uneven output 12 into a loafing machine 28 (also referred to herein as a loafing extruder) that forms discrete loaves of finished gum product as in step 27 in FIG. 3. The loafing machine 28 may include a forming extruder 30 that forces the finished gum product through a forming die, thereby forming a uniform extrusion 33 as in FIG. 3, that is periodically cut off into separate loaves 34 with finished gum product loaves being indicated at 36 in FIGS. 1-2. To facilitate the cutting operation 34, a knife 32 is used that periodically moves laterally across the forming die to cut and slice off individual loaves 36.
An output conveyor 38 picks up the loaves cut off from the forming extruder 30 and runs at a slightly faster pace so as to space the individual loaves 36 at regular intervals as they are output from the forming extruder 30 and cut off by knife 32. The forming extruder 30 includes only a single input and does not provide for input or mixing of additional ingredients into the finished gum product at this stage. Instead the loafing machine 28 and forming extruder 30 is merely employed to generate a relatively uniform and consistent thickness of material to facilitate more even conditioning of the finished gum product downstream.
As illustrated, the individual loaves 36 generally take the shape of the extruding die at the output of the forming extruder 30 and may have separate loaves integrally connected by thin webs that may be produced by teeth on the extruding die as illustrated. The loaves may have a slight parallelogram shape or be of slight shape variations in width and length, but the thickness of the individual loaves 36 is preferably between about ½ and 2 inches thick (vertically) with the length and width being between about 6 inches and 18 inches. The length and width dimensions are not as critical or important as it is the minimum thickness in one dimension that controls heat transfer. Thus, the minimum thickness dimension is of importance as this determines the relative residence time necessary for achieving sufficiently uniform viscosity and temperature for forming a thin ribbon to facilitate subsequent rolling and scoring operations.
The output conveyor 38 feeds the individual loaves 36 into a gum conditioner 40 that conditions the loaves of finished gum product 42. More specifically, the gum conditioner 40 adjusts or otherwise conforms the temperature of the finished gum product 12 and attempts to obtain a substantially uniform temperature throughout. The gum conditioner 40 is arranged downstream of the gum loafing machine 28 for receiving the output thereof and includes three vertically stacked conveyors including a top conveyor 44, an intermediate conveyor 46 and a bottom conveyor 48 that are all substantially contained and run through an environmental enclosure 50, such as a long enclosed tunnel. Each of the conveyers 44, 46, 48 is contained in the environmental enclosure 50, such that the gum product carried thereon is subjected to the temperature and humidity controlled environment within the enclosure 50.
The gum conditioner 40 includes a temperature control, a humidity control and a residence time control. The temperature and humidity control can set and/or adjust the temperature and humidity within the environmental enclosure such that it may be different than that of the room in which the machinery is contained. The residence time control is provided with a wide degree of residence time variability in part due to speed adjustment but also due to a unique aspect presented by the arrangement of three conveyors, 44, 46 and 48 and the operational mode variance as illustrated when comparing FIGS. 1 and 2. As a result, a residence time can be predetermined and set and/or adjusted based upon the gum batch recipe 52 as indicated in FIG. 3.
Typically, and depending upon the finished gum product, the raw output of the gum mixing extruder 14 will generally produce a gum output having an average temperature between 40 and 50° C. Within the environmental enclosure 50 of the gum conditioner 40 a generally uniform temperature is controlled to move the finished gum temperature to a substantially consistent and desirable temperature. Specifically, the environmental enclosure 50 may include a controlled temperature between 40° C. and about 50° C.; and a humidity of between about 20 and about 40%. Typically the temperature and humidity will be set at predetermined set points within those ranges depending upon the gum recipe and batch that is being run through the gum line at any particular instant.
As for the residence time, the embodiment provides for a wide control possibility in residence time based on speed control and operational mode. In one embodiment, the residence time may be as fast as about two minutes and as slow as about 20 minutes to provide for a minimal residence time or a very long residence time depending upon the gum batch recipe to appropriately provide the gum in best condition for later processing, such as rolling and scoring into sheets. The conditioner preferably has a residence time control variance of at least 10 minutes during operation thereof that is at least about 1 minute and less than about 30 minutes.
As can be seen in comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, the gum conditioner 40 has two different operational modes. As shown in FIG. 2, a first operational mode is provided in which the loaves follow a serpentine path substantially over the entire length of the intermediate and bottom conveyors, 46 and 48. By having to travel the entire length of the lower two conveyors, the residence time is increased by virtual of the distance over which the finished gum product loaves must travel. However, if such a long residence time is not desired or needed, the distance can be short circuited as shown in FIG. 1 where a second operational mode is provided in which the loaves substantially bypass the length of the second and third conveyors. In this operational mode, the intermediate conveyor 46 runs in an opposite direction as that shown in FIG. 2 to prevent the loaves from reversing direction and instead the loaves cascade over the conveyors with a cascading path, thereby to substantially bypassing the length of the second and third conveyors. As shown, the second intermediate conveyor 46 has a portion that overlaps the top conveyor 44 to receive loaves that vertically drop down from the top conveyor onto the intermediate conveyor and likewise the bottom conveyor 48 has ends that overlap both of the ends of the intermediate conveyor for receipt of loaves that drop down on either the front or back end of the intermediate conveyor depending upon which operational mode is employed.
Depending upon the gum recipe batch being run on the gum line, upon exiting the gum conditioner, the finished gum loaves may have a temperature of between about 40 and 50° C. However, residence time is important and formula dependent to develop crystal structure and/or otherwise set up the firmness of the gum product, even if little or no temperature change occurs. At this point, the loaves are also set up enough with a sufficiently uniform viscosity to facilitate further processing such as rolling and scoring.
Accordingly at this point, a further conveyor 54 feeds the finished gum product loaves (at step 56 in FIG. 3) into a second downstream forming extruder 58. The forming extruder 58 includes a forming die that is thin and elongated such that it produces a continuous finished gum product ribbon (at step 57 in FIG. 3) suitable for subsequent rolling and scoring operations. Specifically, the forming extruder 58 may include twin screws that break up the loaves and force the loaves through an elongate and thin forming die to produce the ribbon 60.
Upon exiting the forming extruder 58, the continuous gum ribbon 60 may be subject to a dusting operation 62 in which a duster 64 sprinkles powdered sweetener on the surface of the continuous gum ribbon 60 so as to prevent sticking and to facilitate better processing during subsequent rolling and scoring operations. It is understood that while such dusting will add some component to the eventual packaged gum, a "finish gum product" is considered to be produced at the very first step illustrated in the output of the gum mixing extruder 14 and the dusting at this point is primarily a processing aid adding only some additional component to the gum.
After passing through the duster 64, the gum ribbon 60 is processed and run through a series of progressive rollers 66 that roll the continuous ribbon sheet to a uniform reduced thickness 68. Once the gum ribbon 60 is progressively rolled to the desired thickness, then a scoring roller 70 may be employed as well as a lateral dividing roller 72. These rollers 70, 72 score and divide the gum ribbon 60 into individual scored sheets 74 as indicated at step 76 in FIG. 3.
From here, the scored sheets 74 are conveyed to a further gum conditioner 78 having a conveyor 80 and an environmental enclosure in the form of a tunnel 82 to facilitate cooling of the individual scored sheets to stiffen the gum material of the sheets sufficiently prior to stacking so as to maintain shape rather than allow material creep. The gum conditioner 78 conditions individual sheets 84 sufficient to facilitate stacking of sheets 86 where the sheets can be stacked and stored in a conditioning room 88. The stacked sheets are then stored in the conditioning room 90 at a lengthy interval to fully condition the gum sheets and achieve a sufficiently cool temperature until such time that the sheets are ready to be divided into individual gum pieces such as stabs or sticks and then packaged as indicated in step 92 in FIG. 3.
All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.
The use of the terms "a" and "an" and "the" and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms "comprising," "having," "including," and "containing" are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning "including, but not limited to,") unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., "such as") provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.


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Located in the heart of Hackney, Madame Pigg is a purveyor of seasonal British food from Chef Adam Hardiman.
Madame Pigg opened in November 2018 and is located on the Haggeston strip of Kingsland Road, alongside luminaries Rotorino, Brilliant Corners, Chick n Sours et al. Since then, Chef Hardiman has been serving both quality interpretations of classic dishes and seasonal inspired British dishes.
07956 925695
480 Kingsland Road
M closed
Tues - Fri 6–10 (bar 11)
Sat 11–3 / 6-10 (bar 11)
Su 12.30–9 (bar 10.30)
We hold seats for walk up customers so will normally be able to find you a seat!
Feel free to call us (or WhatsApp) 07956 925695 to confirm, if you're roaming the streets and hungry.
Reservations required for parties of 6 or more.


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Basement Waterproofing Sherman, CT
Reclaim Your Basement With Basement Waterproofing Sherman, CT[google-map location="Sherman, CT"] " It used to be so wet and dark here," states a partner whose 50-square-meter basement utilized to be barren due to the regular flooding caused by the seepage of outside water into the basement.
Fortunately, professionals recommended basement waterproofing as the most efficient technique of funneling water from the outdoors, therefore, avoiding the leakages in the basement walls, and floor covering.
Given that the creation of waterproofing, basement waterproofing has long been one of the most crucial concepts, especially now that a lot of households want to make the most of the function of their basement.
From the common storeroom, basements are now made more efficient and appealing through the assistance of basement waterproofing.
Optimizing the Space, Sherman, CT
Basement waterproofing is normally applied to basements whose structural condition is prone to water seepage. Considering that the basement is positioned at the lowest portion of the house and with its below the ground level, water leaking into the walls and flooring of the basement is not a surprising incident.
Nevertheless, this natural issue needs to not be primarily blamed to its basic structural condition. The kind of drain used can likewise be one reason for water seepage in the basement.
With basement waterproofing, your basement will definitely be dry all throughout the year.
With that in mind, you can now quickly maximize your space by changing your basement into a more useful portion of your home, such as making it your kid's playroom or study room.
No matter what you decide in transforming your basement, it is crucial that you have properly applied a great basement waterproofing to avoid rainy day catastrophes.
One of the main reasons that water keep and seeps into the basement is that the type of waterproofing facility used was not right.
Fractures on the floors and walls are regular. This is typically brought on by the pressure from the outdoors environment. If not treated well, water can permeate through and remain on the basement for such a long period of time.
Basement Waterproofing Info: Sherman, CT
Amongst the conflicts dealing with lots of house owners are basement water resistant concerns. It can cause a domino consequence if waterproofing is not done effectively. Finding out important basement waterproofing information will avoid this crisis.
When the foundation is very first built, the perfect time to water resistant your basement is. This will efficiently ensure that the outcomes and advantages may continue for a longer time. Also, this is the perfect time for waterproofing because it will be much easier to reach into small gaps prior to they get closed off because of tightness, like curves as well as areas where the drain system is to be set up.
If you are working with an old house, then you need to examine the basement with an extremely mindful inspection prior to choosing ways to waterproof it. It would be clever to contact an professional who has the proper basement waterproofing details. Using an professional will help you avoid needing to carry out the work again due to having actually utilized inappropriate techniques.
There are 2 procedures to utilize: the interior basement waterproof approaches, and the exterior basement waterproof methods. A common procedure for outside waterproofing, known as tanking, is the method where a bonding membrane or compound is utilized on the external walls of the basement. Be specific that the process of tanking happens when your house is being constructed, particularly if the basement is set underground.
Another procedure to exterior basement waterproof method is known as the external drain technique. In this procedure, the basement would be constructed in such manner that its floors slope towards the sump pump of your house. Use a synthetic honeycomb casing on the flooring and walls to get rid of any moisture from the basement.
The French drain system is another procedure of exterior basement waterproofing. This mode of waterproofing was typically established on homes that were integrated in areas in the nation that have heavy rainfall, and other sorts of humidity-based weather. Exterior waterproofing procedures, are the only ones acknowledged by the International Building Code, as sufficiently reliable, to keep moisture from doing serious structural damages to a home or a building .
Interior basement water resistant approaches are made use of to keep water from working its way to the basement. In order to keep moisture and water from leaking through the basement, use sealants on the floor and walls. They might assist you manage whilst you are still working on various waterproofing treatments.
Related Pages:[relatedpages parent="Basement Waterproofing"]


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'm taking this weekend off from blogging to spend time with family. I hope you're having a good weekend and a great mother's day. See you next Saturday.Read More
A Former Servicemember Posted This Rant Today... And I Don't Give a Damn
Today, a fellow Soldier posted a video titled something like, Veteran Posts A Rant About Crybabies And It's Going Viral! Are you kidding? No, I won't watch it. No, I don't care if he makes great points. Not watching it.
Look, I love my fellow veterans, retirees, and service members. I'm speaking directly to you. You're my brothers and sisters in arms and always will be. But your opinions about our government or president are not any more important or insightful than anyone else's just because you are a veteran.
I usually avoid all labels. I belong to no political party. I do not identify as liberal or conservative, left or right wing. I don't root for any team. I don't consider myself a New Yorker any more than I considered myself a New Mexican when I lived in that state, or a Georgian when I owned a home there. I'm me. Just recently I've noticed that feminism has become some kind of dirty word, again. As if we hadn't lived through the 60s and 70s at all, a new generation of men and women have begun to villify this label as if they were the first to think of doing so. So, I'd like to clarify a few things, before this goes any further. I'm an individual. And no matter how I search, I've never found a group whose views exactly match mine, nor even any individual person with the same exact views. That's why I avoid labeling myself in the hopes of avoiding being put in a box. It doesn't often work.Read More
Remembering World Trade Center
There was no post for September 10th due to our activities in remembrance of September 11. There will be a new post next Saturday per usual.Read More
Sick of Cancer Studies?
I was telling my mom about an idea I had for short story. "A scientist has discovered a way to live forever, by giving himself cancer." This is, admittedly, a ridiculous idea, and just the sort to stretch the imagination. Perfect for a short story of the kind you'd see in Astounding or on the old Twilight Zone series, right? But my mom, being the down to Earth kind of person she is, threw me right out of my story and back to real life. "Oh, cancer. I'm sick of hearing about it. There's a new study every day. One day something causes cancer, the next it cures it. Those scientists can't make up their mind."Read More
Beating My Thyroid For The Sake of the Stories
I planned to send that story off for publication at a traditional publisher. I even got some positive feedback and recommendation for some minor edits before acceptance. My dream was going to come true. See that period there? That one after what should have been a joyous exclamation? Yeah. That was the "depression". I couldn't be assed to do the rewrites. I couldn't motivate myself to send it back for review. I couldn't take the time to follow up on the inquiries. I hadn't written a short story in months. The longer stories languished in a few short notes on my computer. I went from writing two novel length books a year, even while working, to not even a few shorts no matter how much time I had to work on it. Retirement came and went.
And then, one day, after months of no pay and doing nothing about it, I drove to Tucson with my son for a last visit with a VA doctor before I could start receiving a pension.Read More
I Don't Know What I'm Doing
So I've apparently had this blog for months. Funny thing, I had no idea I was telling the world to go to Wordpress and type an example blog post. Luckily, only one person posted a comment to the effect that they were posting a sample comment. I hope Mr. Sample wasn't offended that I didn't respond right away.
Anyhow, I will get to work creating that there blog post immediately. Don't be too excited. I don't have a clue how to do this stuff and it will probably come out in little squiggles and symbols. I will surely be getting another comment from Mr. Sample about by cartoon cursing any day now.
Hey, the upside of being an unknown writer in a great sea of unknowns is, nobody notices when you totally screw up. Maybe somebody should make a motivational plaque on a wooden board with that on it.
See you in the next post. Now get off my lawn!


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It is extremely important to know certain thing for those who are the member of Facebook-owned WhatsApp chat groups. WhatsApp is giving more authority to the group admin. With this, if the admin wishes, he/she can stop group members from posting messages, photos, videos, GIFs, documents and voice messages in the group.
In WhatsApp, If you are a member of any group then it is extremely important to know certain thing. Whatsapp is giving more authority to the group administrator. With this, if the admin wishes, they he/she can stop group members from posting messages, photos, videos, GIFs, documents and voice messages to the group. According to WABetaInfo, the app has "Restricted Groups" feature in version 2.17.430 on Google Play Beta program.
"A group can be restricted once every 72 hours but thanks to the 2.17.430 beta, we discovered that WhatsApp will be finally able to change this value from the server," the website said.
'Restricted Groups' setting can only be activate by group admin only. After this, the admin can send photos, videos, chats and other things in the group as normal, but the admin can restrict other member from doing so. After activating the setting of 'Restricted Groups' feature, other members will be able to read the message in the group but they will not be able to send anything. They will be given a new feature named 'Message Admin', so that they share it in the group with the consent of group admin.
Only after the approval of group admin, the members of the group will be able to share the message. WhatsApp also announced the addition of advanced features, bug fixes and general improvements in upcoming updates. WhatsApp has 1.2 billion active monthly users and is available in 50 languages worldwide, including 10 Indian languages.


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HFT Strategies the Same Regardless of Data Feed Variety or Speeds/
The Issue:
Former SEC Chairman Mary Jo White has said that a "fairness concern" is the latency difference between the direct data feeds and the consolidated feeds. Some have argued that the lag between the speed in which direct feeds and slower consolidated feeds deliver refreshed stock prices could lead to an unfair advantage for those with the faster feeds. Chairman White suggests exchanges could "include affirmative or negative trading obligations for high-frequency trading firms that employ the fastest, most sophisticated trading tools. Such obligations would be analogous to the ones that historically applied to the proprietary traders with time and place advantages on manual trading floors."
MMI's Stance:
If the consolidated feed were replaced with direct feeds for all, it would not affect the strategies of our Member firms. In fact, our Members trade successfully in asset classes with only a single data feed, such as the U.S. Treasury market and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange here in the U.S., and in multiple geographies where there is also only a single data feed.


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Mug size and color will vary.
Image is for illustration only.
Add a little something extra:
You may place orders up to one year in advance. Year is not needed because delivery is assumed to be for this year or next year for prior months.
Sunday Delivery
Sunday delivery is available in most larger cities across Canada and the US, including our own local wide delivery area. Call or Email us for details or to be sure. Most international countries do not offer Sunday delivery, but again you may Call or Email us so we can look into it for you.
Great! We'll attempt to deliver the flowers on your preferred date but we may end up delivering it on .
Let the celebration last! Send this gift and your thoughtfulness will be remembered every morning over fresh coffee for years to come. Great for a man or a woman. Order a large card for your message. Can be themed for the occasion......please tell us! Created by hand using available flowers.. is a great price for
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I am so excited for this new project I'm about to embark on :) I've been invited to participate in a blog circle with some of my other favorite friends and photographers, that focuses on our beautiful daughters. Once a month we will share a "letter to my daughter," something I've composed in my head all the time but have never shared with my own little lovely, or anyone else for that matter. But, that's why I live and breathe and click these days, to capture these little moments, and I'd be absolutely remiss to let even a second go by without finding a way to preserve it forever. So, without further ado, please enjoy this month's letter to my beautiful Claire <3 And when you're done, please check out my uber talented friend Jessie Wixon's letter to her gorgeous girls.
My Dear Claire,
My sweet, sassy, sensitive girl.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height of all the peanut butter jellies in the whole world. Which, you will always get all over your face, belly, hands, and hair, because eating neatly is for some other baby, somewhere else. You realize that life is messy and the best part can't be found without a little work. You will never stop digging right in.
I love thee to the level of every coffee table in the world, because I realize there is no better height from which to Magnadoodle your masterpieces into this world. I understand your need to climb and reach, baby girl, and I encourage you to keep climbing, keep reaching, for there is no coffee table too high, no Magnadoodle too big for you to conquer.
I love thee with a love I see you give freely, to your family, to your friends, to the world as a whole. I love the love that comes from your every pore. You have the sweetest soul.
I love you, my little one. Thank you for being you.
Love, Mommy <3


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Like any well-educated and renowned pianist, Angela Hewitt wants to share her expertise with other musicians. With many years of professional experience, Angela provided a range of antidotes for these students at Hong Kong University in 2018.Read More
Angela Hewitt
Angela Hewitt's Debussy Performance Elicits Depth and Emotion
Angela Hewitt is a leading Bach interpreter, performing his works all over the world. But like any renowned pianist, she performs so much more, including many of the classical music masters.Read More
Travel With Us To The Trasimeno Music Festival
Portland Piano International has organized an ultimate two-week visit to Italy that will delight anyone who loves the piano, fine food, the good life, and all things Italian! This trip coincides with the Trasimeno Music Festival, created and directed by renowned pianist Angela Hewitt.Read More


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Speaking About Making Money On-line, Study A Ton By Studying This Article
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OUR Story
While exploring the art of living life out of a truck in the heart of the Rockies, this cowgirl began creating her own comforts of home by crocheting simple and practical items that spark those feelings of warmth and happiness. The cozy Drink Sweater was created as the very first handcrafted item, enjoyed by coffee lovers and beer drinkers alike.
now based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, we offer several designs with your best interest in mind. So cozy up and wind down with your favorite Mountains For Breakfast handcrafted item and reset yourself for the next fulfilling adventure.
sustainably sourced
As a sustainably conscious company, we strive to source our materials and packaging from natural, reusable, earth friendly partners. We began sourcing our wool from a local farm in New Hampshire last year, which paved the way for our company to continue down the path of earth-conscious growth.
Wool is not only a sustainable resource, it is the perfect material for our drink sweaters by regulating temperature. Therefore, your beers stay cold, your coffee stays hot, and your hands stay happy. Pictured here are some of our wooly friends from Steele farm in Wonalancet, NH.


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The Hooded Shop {online clothing boutique shoot}
Carly, the owner of The Hooded Shop lives near me and asked if I could shoot some of her new items in her shop. She was in the process of re-branding her shop and wanted some new photos to go with it. We did a model call and found some incredibly handsome little guys to help us out. Everything in Carly's shop is hand made and is amazing quality. You can check out her shop and order some WAY cute stuff here : The Hooded Shop


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It's Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. Thanks for choosing to start here.
Interested in Start Here Morning Briefing ?
Add Start Here Morning Briefing as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Start Here Morning Briefing news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
1. Ahead of midterms, Trump rallies base on immigration
The U.S.-bound migrant caravan in Mexico has become a campaign issue with less than two weeks until the midterms.
President Donald Trump has used the asylum-seekers to rally his base, claiming earlier this week, without evidence, that the migrants are "criminals and unknown Middle Easterners."
When asked by reporters yesterday whether he had any proof that people from the Middle East were embedded with the caravan, Trump admitted, "There's no proof of anything, but they could very well be."
A focus on immigration shifting from the administration's family-separation policy to the caravan might be a "powerful tool for the Republicans" as voters head to the ballot box, ABC News' Lana Zak tells us.
2. Trump: Khashoggi killing 'the worst cover-up ever'
Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as "the worst cover-up ever," but declined to point fingers at the Saudi rulers.
He said to reporters in the Oval Office that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "strongly said he had nothing to do with it. It was a lower level."
Saudi King Salman and the crown prince both have denied knowledge of the plot to kill Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Some U.S. lawmakers claim it was Bin Salman who ordered the killing.
The U.S. so far has not held the crown prince responsible. Trump told reporters he will "leave it up to Congress" to decide how to respond to the killing. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. identified some of those responsible for the murder of Khashoggi and 21 Saudi "suspects" would have their visas revoked.
The Saudi king and crown prince held a meeting at the royal palace yesterday in Riyadh with family members of Khashoggi while his body still remains missing.
His son Salah was seen shaking hands with Bin Salman in one "haunting" photograph, ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell tells us: "Bear in mind … if you get an invitation from the Saudi Kingdom, the crown prince, there are no real options there. You will turn up."
3. Bolton meets with Putin
For the last few days, Trump has said he intends to end a major nuclear arms agreement with Russia.
Yesterday, National Security Adviser John Bolton went to Moscow and told Vladimir Putin himself.
ABC News Foreign Editor Kirit Radia explains the history of the treaty and why Trump wants to end it.
4. Wrestling star steps aside amid Leukemia remission
On Monday, WWE star Roman Reigns, whose real name is Joe Anoa'i, announced he would relinquish his title to battle leukemia.
David Shoemaker, who writes about wrestling for The Ringer, tells us why this was such a significant moment for wrestling.
'I picked a spot on the freeway, where I knew there was a big section of cars that weren't there': A pilot crash-landed a vintage warplane on a California freeway.
'Regardless of the ideological appeal of the statements': New research shows youngs are better than olds at spotting facts.
'I hope that I have inspired young people about civic engagement and helped pave the pathway for women who may have faced obstacles pursuing their careers': Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, said she has dementia, likely early-stage Alzheimer's, and that she intends to "continue living in Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by dear friends and family."
'While we know parental choice clearly plays a role, we also see in this report that access does seem to be an issue': Fewer children are being vaccinated.
From our partners at FiveThirtyEight:
How The Red Sox And Dodgers Made It To The World Series, In One Chart
Last 'Nightline':
We have a winner: At least one winning ticket to the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot has been sold.
Elle King on some of her darkest times and the music that saved her: "The band — they could see that I was Elle again. I was me when they were playing music for me or I was writing music, so they just — they never jumped ship," King said.
On this day in history:
Oct. 24, 2008 — Global stock markets plummet.
Today's must-see photo:
Central American migrants walk along the highway near the border with Guatemala, as they continue their journey trying to reach the U.S., in Tapachula, Mexico, Oct. 21, 2018. (photo credit: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)
For more great photos from around the world click HERE.
What's hot on social:
A singing donkey in Ireland named Harriet is now an internet sensation.
All right, you're off and running. You can always get the latest news on ABCNews.com and on the ABC News app. Details on how to subscribe to the "Start Here" podcast are below. See you tomorrow!
"Start Here" is the flagship daily news podcast from ABC News — a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or the ABC News app. On Amazon Echo, ask Alexa to "Play 'Start Here'" or add the "Start Here" skill to your Flash Briefing. Follow @StartHereABC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for exclusive content, show updates and more.


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Caleb Nunn CrossFit TTG March 2018 Athlete of the Month!
- What made you start CrossFit?
- I was tired of boring gym routines and wanted a change of pace
- What is one thing most people don't know about you?
- I love craft beer and board games. If you do too, hit me up!
- I often confuse Gary and Ross's names, sorry Gary and Ross
- Contrary to popular belief, I don't have to pay my girlfriend to attend social events with me
- What is your one favorite and least favorite movement in CrossFit?
Favorite movement:
- Box Jump Overs
Least favorite:
- Strict Handstand Push Ups (when they go, they're gone)
- What is your ultimate cheat meal?
- Cheeseburger, fries, and multiple beers
- Since starting CrossFit, What is your biggest/proudest accomplishment?
- Hitting double unders. After having to scale 17.5, I spent 20 minutes every day after class trying to get the rhythm down. It took 3 months of work, but I finally got them


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Gratitude Works
May 25, 2011
Hosted by Dr. Valerie Anne Kirkgaard
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Episode Description
Join Doctor Val and the Waking Up In America team as we explore and acknowledge the power of gratitude. See How many times you can say thank you this week. Remember to include yourself and your body. We thank our sponsors, LA Lifestyle, Jason Winter's Tea and Emergency Management Solutions, Global One, Tad Patterson and LendersFraud.com, for making our programs possible. Visit our sponsors please. Thank You.
Waking Up in America
Wednesday at 2 PM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Variety Channel
Go beyond rhetoric and tune into America's premiere experts; scientists, athletes, celebrities and world leaders in public and spiritual realms as they discuss the issues of today. A veteran interviewer, Dr. Kirkgaard brings you knowledgeable, entertaining and unpredictable guests like Deepak Chopra, Jean Houston, John Denver and US Ambassador for Nuclear Disarmament Thomas Graham. No matter what happens, Dr. Kirkgaard keeps her cool and shows you a side of her guests that you've never seen.
Dr. Valerie Anne Kirkgaard
Dr. Valerie Anne Kirkgaard, PhD, is a retired Marriage Family Counselor and the creator of the Kirkgaard Method of Directed Breath, a unique method of clearing emotional blocks. Each week on "Waking Up in America", Dr. Valerie brings you new and different techniques to handle life's ups and downs with grace and ease.


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Children In ?The Brothers Karamazov
Children in the Brothers Karamazov
Children are portrayed in ?The Brothers Karamazov? as being mistreated by adults and
by God. Ivan, who is the most troubled by children?s sufferings, doesn?t want to forget them so
he keeps articles about the misfortunes dealt upon children. The story also incorporates tales of
children that are in the town, and surrounding areas, who become important to the plot of the
story. By the end of the book Dostoevsky wants you to feel such grief and sadness for the
children that it might even challenge your faith to God.
The first child I will mention is discussed in the ?Peasant Women Who Have Faith?
chapter. A peasant woman goes to see Father Zosima because she has lost her son. The woman
is very distraught and says that she left her husband and the rest of her family because she
couldn?t take it anymore. This woman had already lost three other sons and just couldn?t stand
to lose another. Father Zosima tells her a story about a saint who comforts a grieving mother,
like herself, who had lost her only child. ?Knowest thou not,? said the saint
children, ivan, god, alyosha, should, child, father, little, zosima, it?s, suffering, says, doesn?t, because, understand, out, one, harmony, boy, tells, tears, story, again, suffer, life, just, he?s, good, cannot, book, about, woman, know, even, dmitri


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Word4Hope is a charity concept which connects the people of the world through postal communication in their continuous effort to help the humanity through charitable giving and sharing a good will and good WORDs of Hope.
Danish illustrator Mr. Peter Herman was the first European artist who came up with 2016 illustration on the postal cards, and it can be found on every front office of Macedonian Post AD. The postal card is free and if you want to join our charity project, all you need to do is to address the 2016 Word4Hope postcard to this address: Postal Agency, P.O. Box 160, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, and for the full amount of postage you pay, Macedonian Post will make a charitable donation to the Red Cross Relieve Fund for helping the Macedonian citizens struck by the floods from 6th of August in which at least 21 people lost their lives.
Word4Hope is an open platform and everybody can join in. Organizations can donate but also they may take participation by printing certain amounts of postcards for free and distribute them locally or nationally, through the network of postal offices or companies supporting this project. On the following link you can download for free Mr. Herman`s illustration and require our certificate of Official Word4Hope supporter, and you can use for free printing and distribution of 2016 Word4Hope postcard.
It could be an ongoing, continuous project and it comes to US, and our dedication and humanity. For every postcard you send, the amount of stamps you have purchased to address the postcard goes to the Red Cross Flood relieve fund. The minimum amount is 18 denars for one postcard. You can send as many postcards as you wish or purchase amount of stamps you wish. As long as you are sending Word4Hope postcards to P.O. Box 160, 1000 Skopje, the fund becomes richer not just for the funds, but also for the sincere, humane words written by hand and soul as a human relieve to those hurt which cannot be spend; it could only be kept by heart to remind us that we are all fragile and vulnerable and our only chance is togetherness when it comes so tough that we feel helpless.
When the projects ends, all the touching messages sent to us through this project would be addressed to the families stricken by the floods when their homes will be repaired, in the postal boxes donated by Macedonian Post for their homes. We hope they will became the lasting memory of the humanity of all of us and a reminder for the future generation that through postal network a humanity continues to be shared till the humanity exist!
This is an open platform started by the Postal Agency, national postal regulatory authority of Macedonia in cooperation with Macedonian Post AD, national postal provider in Macedonia. Word4Hope illustration and Word4Hope name are registered trademarks of AP.mk. Word4Hope illustration as the key graphic used to represent our project, is a highly important item of intellectual property and should only be used if you have obtained prior written permission from the Postal Agency of the Republic of Macedonia.
The story behind Word4Hope project
The Word4Hope postcard is a remarkable illustration exclusively created for the Word4Hope project by young Danish illustrator Peter Hermann.
About the artist
Peter was born in Denmark in 1974, and started drawing right from the get go. Mostly with crayons and a little saliva. Leaving no space blank. In fact, if this was not online, he probably would have drawn in the margins of the page. His obsession with filling in every blank with drawings caused quite a few problems during his high school years. It was not until he discovered the Kubert School in Dover,USA that he truly felt at home. With the help of grants from the danish prince Joachim and the danish Ministry of Culture, he immersed himself into the art of cartooning. After a year, when the finances ran out, he returned to Denmark and continued his graphic education at Designskolen Kolding. After completing the first 3 years of the education he dropped out and started working full time as an illustrator and never looked back.
His illustration clients include: The New York Times, Businessweek, The Progressive, Special-Pædagogisk Forlag, Forlaget Alinea, Ud&Se, Danish National Television, Seattle Metropolitan, Klassisk, Politikens Forlag and many more.
From 2004-2010 Peter worked as an editorial illustrator for Kristeligt Dagblad, still doing freelance work on the side. Recently he has started doing a lot of book covers, he illustrated his first children's book, and an illustrated book about the biblical tale of Moses and the ten commandments has just been published. This might indicate a new direction in Peters work.
He lives in Denmark with his wife and their son. He is also passionate runner and enjoy going for a run.
The illustration
The illustration was originally created for the flood relief fund after the 2015 floods. Unfortunately on 6th of August after the terrible flood hit Skopje, the capital of Macedonia in which at least 21 people died. Mr. Herman generously agreed to help the postal world efforts for a humanitarian relief fund financed by the postage fee paid for mailing the Word4Hopee postcards with Peter`s illustration and people personal messages for support and compassion.


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Feinmann, Inc. recently received the Best of Houzz 2019 for Service award by Houzz, the leading platform for remodeling and design. Awarded by a community of over 40 million monthly users, the Best of Houzz Service honors home remodeling and design professionals for customer service excellence based on several factors, including top ratings on Houzz and client reviews submitted in 2018.
The Best of Houzz badge is awarded annually, in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography. A "Best Of Houzz 2019" badge appears on winners' profiles to help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals on Houzz locally and around the world.
"A driving force at Feinmann, Inc. is our commitment to customer service and acting as a fierce advocate on behalf of our clients when it comes to remodeling their homes into a space they love for the way they live. We are honored to receive this award," said Peter Feinmann, Owner of Feinmann, Inc.


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Ministry of Environment Reverses Decision - Now Accepting Public Comment on Exemption of Power Supply Plan
O.Reg. 276/06 - EBR Registry No. XA06E0006
The Ministry of the Environment is now accepting public comment on its decision to exempt the Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP) from the requirements of Ontario's Environmental Assessment Act (see EBR Registry No. XA06E006).
The deadline for public comment is July 20, 2006. A copy of CELA's comments is linked below for your consideration. See linked file: Letter to Ministry of Environment Re O. Reg 276/06 Exempting the Integrated Power System Plan from Environmental Assessment.
If you are concerned about exempting the IPSP from the EA Act, then please convey your views to the Ministry contact person listed in the EBR Registry notice before July 20, 2006.
Additional information about this matter is available at: www.cela.ca. Please contact Michelle Swenarchuk or Rick Lindgren at CELA (416-960-2284) if you have questions or comments.
Collection of materials related to CELA's position in support of nuclear phase-out in Canada
Collection of materials on achieving a renewable energy future for Ontario


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Wood Artists Fundamental Works And Design Wood Artists Fundamental Works And Design October 7 Tarik Cohen Youth Jersey , 2013 | Author: Marla Mills | Posted in Marketing
As implied by the name wood artists use wood to express their art. They blend practical and artistic needs of clients to give off fascinating objects of intensity and feeling. Be it an object of display or a functional object the creative detailed work that can be achieved exceeds expectations. Timber is plentiful and inexpensive. It is also easier to shape compared to other mediums of art like metals and stone.
Timber has very many applied uses. This makes the skills and techniques covered under it many. The artist can chose to specialize in any of them to attain mastery in their desired field of work. This includes sculpture carving to furniture making.
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The decoration methods they use include chip carving, timber burning and marquetry. Marquetry Mitch Unrein Jersey , though it is considered a dying art, its effects are timeless. It involves inlaying using pieces of veneers to form decorative patterns, designs or images. The veneers are made with utmost attention to detail to ensure perfection and is a tedious process. Timber burning is also known as pyrography. It is basically application of controlled heat on the medium using a heated object. A range of tone or shades can be achieved but also varying the tip use, temperature or application method yields a different effect.
To perfect their pieces they apply finishing techniques. This include sanding, scorching Nick Kwiatkoski Jersey , weathering or leaving it as it is. Coating it with varnish or paint also enhances textured. All this is aimed at to enhance the texture and rain of the wood. Good finishing has an ability to enhance the art and when integrated with the grain n figure of the wood makes its appearance more appealing.
Timber arts are range simple to complex but they are all ageless and unique. Whether you are looking for a conversation starter display for a party or to enliven you old furniture. A gift for a friend or eye catching cutlery.
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WUHAN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three tourists from Taiwan were killed by falling rocks at a scenic area in central China's Hubei Province on Sunday morning, according to local authorities.
The accident happened at 9:45 a.m. in Yichang. Two others, who were injured Josh Bellamy Jersey , have been rushed to a local hospital, according to the Taiwan Affairs Office of Hubei.
Local tourism authorities has asked for strengthened efforts to guard against possible hazards for the safety of tourists as the autumn flood season has begun and certain areas of the province are prone to geological disasters.
BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Final consumption contributed 84.7 percent of China's economic growth in the first quarter, official data showed on Monday, suggesting government efforts to ease reliance on investments and trade are working.
Capital investments' contribution came in at 35.8 percent Marcus Cooper Jersey , while net exports of goods and services dragged growth down by 20.5 percent, according to an article in Monday's People's Daily and published on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics.
The consumption share marked a significant jump from the 66.4-percent ratio seen at the end of 2015.
Compared with investment and exports, consumption has been a less conspicuous growth driver for China in the past few decades, but Monday's data showed it is catching up fast, assuming a bigger role as other growth drivers are losing steam.
"Positive changes are accumulating Tom Compton Jersey , and the economy is operating within a reasonable range," the article said.
China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, the slowest growth since the global financial crisis hit in early 2009. But a slew of upbeat economic data in March and April raised hopes for a stronger turnaround than expected.
BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism authority said Sunday it has initiated an emergency plan to help Chinese nationals injured in a speedboat explosion in Thailand.
The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) has urged local hospitals to spare no efforts to treat the injured and Thai police to find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible, according to CNTA head Li Jinzao.
A speedboat carrying 27 Chinese tourists and several Thai crews exploded on southern Thailand's Andaman Sea near Phi-Phi Islands Sunday.
Local media reported that a Thai was killed and 16 others have been found injured. Five Chinese were in serious condition Dion Sims Jersey , accordi.


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The Young Physique: vol. 7, no. 4 August-September 1966
New York: Young Physique Pub. 1966. Magazine. 92p. including covers, illustrated with b&w and some color physique photos of young, athletic men, photographed by top photographers, gatefold color poster front cover, very good.
Cat.No: 194793
Price: $45.00
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