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According to Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero speaking in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last Tuesday the European sovereign debt crisis is over. "I believe that the debt crisis affecting Spain, and the euro zone in general, has passed," Mr. Zapatero said.
This is excellent news, but it comes with just one proviso, and that is that despite all such reassurances most financial market participants seem to be far from convinced that he is right. True Spain recently raised nearly €4bn in a successful government bond sale, with some observers suggesting the sale constituted but one more sign that what is still the eurozone's fourth-largest economy had finally broken free from the group of "peripheral" European economies who have severe economic problems and whose debt is viewed by investors as especially risky.
In fact Spain managed to sell €2.7bn of 10-year bonds and almost €1.3bn of 30-year bonds while at the same time bringing yields down noticeably from their earlier highs - to 4.144 percent in the case of the 10-year issue ( from 4.864 percent in June), and to 5.077 percent for the 30 year issue (from 5.908 percent in June). But, at the same time, in the background the extra yield that investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year bonds over German bunds has been steadily creeping back up again, and as of last Friday (24 September) it stood at 183 basis points, below the 220 level being asked in June but still more than double what it was at this point last year.
Yet, despite all those nice words we hear from him, one of the things that is worrying investors right now is the real depth of Mr Zapatero's commitment to reducing the deficit as planned, especially after he unexpectedly stated on August 10 that in his opinion some of the planned infrastructure spending cuts could be reversed, while on September 10 he reiterated the point, saying that lower borrowing costs may enable the government to "ease up" on some of the projected spending cuts. In fact the extra yield offered on Spanish debt has risen 33 basis points over the period since he started to mention the possibility.
On top of which all the short term indicators we have been seeing suggest that the Spanish economy started to contract again in the third quarter.
Spreads Rising Across The Periphery
Of course it isn't only Spanish bond yields which have been sneaking back up of late. Greek 10-year bonds as compared with equivalent German bunds still offer around 950 basis points (or 9.5 percent) of additional yield, only around 20 points below the all time record they hit on May 7, at the height of the Sovereign Debt Crisis
Indeed spreads on government bonds all along Europe's periphery have been rising steadily back towards (and even in some cases beyond) their May levels in recent weeks. Most notably the last week has seen both the Irish and Portuguese government 10-year bond yields surge to euro era records levels, in a way which could lead us to ask whether, rather than Spain snuggling back into the main group the big picture story at this point might not be that it is Irish and Portuguese sovereign debt that is being prised apart from the rest.
So rather than being over, what the debt crisis now may be entering is a new stage, where one sovereign bond after another is being chisled out and sent off to join their Greek counterpart in the isolation ward. Actually, in this sense the present European Sovereign Debt situation does rather resemble the plot of the well known Agatha Christie detective novel "And Then There Were None". As told by M. Christie a group of ten people, all of whom have in one way or another been previously complicit in an earlier death, are somehow tricked into travelling together for what was intended to be a short stay on a secluded island. Once there, and even though the guests are apparently the only people on the island, they are - somehow, and one after another - systematically murdered. So, in a way which may eventually come to foreshadow scenes from the forthcoming meetings of the European Financial Stability Facility management board, each morning one guest less shows up for breakfast. One by one, and little by little, each participant becomes mysteriously overcome by a seemingly inexplicable bout of some fatal variant of what could be termed "systemic instability syndrome".
As I say, Irish and Portuguese yield spreads are significantly wider than they were May 7, the last trading day before Greece finally agreed to go for their €110 billion bailout package and the European Central Bank announced the initiation of its ongoing program of purchasing EuroArea government bonds in the secondary markets.
And despite holding what was considered to be a "succesful" bond auction at the start of last week Irish 10-year bond yields, shot up`once more during the remainder of the week, hitting a new record high of 6.34 per cent (see Bloomberg chart below), while yield spreads over benchmark 10 year German Bunds spiked to 416bp, euro era another record. At the same time Ireland 5 year CDS shot up to 461 bps, which meant the cost of insuring Irish debt was $461,000 for $10m of debt annually over five years.
At the same time yields on Portuguese 10-year bonds over comparable German bonds hit a record of near 4.25 percentage points Friday, while the Portuguese debt agency paid a euro era record of 6.24 percent to holders of its 10-year bonds and 4.69 per cent to holders of the four year-bonds in its own bond auction this week. In last equivalent auction, Portugal had paid 5.32 percent on 10-year bonds and 3.62 percent on four-year bonds. Portugal's budget gap widened in the first eight months of the year, indicating the government may struggle to rein in the euro-region's fourth-largest deficit as its borrowing costs surged to a record.
Portugal and Ireland "Decoupling"?
In each case the issue is different, since in the Irish case it was a sharp and unexpected contraction in the economy which became the major concern while in Portugal's case it was an apparent inability to reach the political agreement necessary to get the budget deficit under control.
Data out during the week for second-quarter gross domestic product showed the Irish economy has never really left recession, since GDP contracted by 1.2% compared to the first three months of the year, following a downwardly revised 2.2% expansion in the first quarter. Irish GDP has now contracted on a quarterly basis for 9 out of the past 10 quarters, and there is no evident end in sight.
In addition Ireland's central bank governor Patrick Honohan saw fit to give a rather ill-timed press conference (unless he objective really was to force the country's government into the arms of the EFSF) where he urged the government to implement even deeper fiscal cuts to restore balance to the budget in what seems at this point to be a virtually unrealisable bid to regain investor confidence. All of which left many observers wondering just what the country can do in the present situation, since the budget is evidently deteriorating due to the severity of the economic contraction, and further cuts in spending by anyone (households, companies, government) are only likely to feed the contraction even more, in their turn making even more cuts necessary.
Obviously Ireland is rapidly approaching a situation where it cannot move the situation forward based on its own resources. This feeling is only added to by the persistent rumours that subordinated bond holders to Anglo Irish bank may well not get re-imbursed in full. These rumours have found some confirmation in a report which appeared in the Irish Examiner suggesting that the Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan had given a strong hint that the riskiest lenders to nationalized Anglo Irish Bank may not get all their money back.
Mr Lenihan apparently explained to the paper that the bank guarantee program which will be extended once it runs out at the end of September may only cover deposits and not subordinated debt. And if the interpretation put on events by the FTs John Dizard's is correct Mr Lenihan's delay in clarifying the situation is due to the fact that the Irish government is awaiting an EU Commission ruling on exactly this issue. His most recent official statement on the topic was that the Aglo Irish wind-up plan "is being prepared for submission to the [European] Commission for approval".
At the same time the EU's Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, issued a statement that "a number of important aspects need to be clarified, and a new notification received, before the Commission is in a position to finalise its assessment and to take a decision". Which Dizard interprets as meaning that while Anglo Irish might propose a buy-back of its subordinated bonds, and that buy-back might be included in an Irish government proposal, Brussels might, in the end, not approve the plan. Since this would effectively the first time in the current crisis that a significant group of investors did not have their losses underwritten (apart, of course, from the rather unfortunate Lehman incident), decision makers may be rather apprehensive, since no one really knows how the financial markets would react. Yet speculation some such decision will be taken remains rife, as witnessed by the decision by Moody's rating agency to downgrade Allied Irish ratings. Moody's cut Anglo Irish's senior bonds by three notches to Baa3, the last level before junk, but the markets' main focus was on the deep, six-notch cut in the bank's subordinated debt, to Caa1, which indicates that bondholders will be forced to pay for some of the expected bailout.
Deficit Worries In Portugal
In the Portuguese case it is the budget deficit issue which is unsettling the markets, with the spread widening sharply following the revelation that far from the deficit being reduced is was actually increasing. According to the latest data from the Finance Ministry the central government's shortfall during the first eight months of the year rose to 9.19 billion euros from 8.74 billion euros over the equivalent period in 2009. Previously the 2010 deficit had been almost exactly tracking the 2009 one (see chart from Societe Generale below).
Portugal's borrowing costs surged to record levels on the news, and while the spread subsequently eased back to 388 basis points, the level is still close to the zone in which Greek bonds were trading in April just before the EU offered the country emergency loans to avoid default (see Greek 10 year spread chart below).
What this means is that this year's overall public deficit could well come in at around 9 percent of gross domestic product unless there is a radical change in policy during the last few months of the year.
According to its commitments to the EU Stability Programme, the Portuguese government should be aiming to reduce the overall deficit to 7.3 percent of GDP in 2010 from last year's 9.3 percent. The government has pledged to reach the target, with Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos saying that the country "can't afford" not to, but so far there is little evidence that it will be able to do so, and especially with all the political bickering that is now going on in the background.
In all these cases, including the Greek and Spanish ones, this issue is not simply one of stimulus versus austerity (always a false polarity when it comes to the situation on the Euro periphery). The real issue is how to restore growth to highly-indebted and structurally-distorted economies, since without growth the debt to GDP ratios will not come down, and the burden of the debt will not be reduced.
So more borrowing is not what these countries need right now (other than to aid short term liquidity). What the countries involved all need is more exports and larger industrial sectors, and no one seems to be very clear how they are to achieve them. Simply running a double digit deficit to generate less that 1% (in the best of cases) GDP growth is not exactly a "wise" use of resources. Evidently using deficit spending to cushion programmes which would lead to a surge in exports would make sense, but in no case is this really being done, and all the emphasis is simply going on what may turn out to be a rather fruitless and self-defeating programme of achieving fiscal rectitude.
The result is that the peripheral countries are one by one being steadily "decoupled", with Portugal and Ireland now moving up towards Greece, as the following two charts from Citi Research clearly show.
For quite a long time the Irish and Portuguese spreads simply moved in harmony with the Greek ones, widening as the Greek spread surged upwards. But now it is Greek debt which can be adversly affected by sentiment over the situation in Ireland or Portugal, and not the other way round, and meanwhile the other two countries slowly but surely are moving on up there to join their Greek counterparts as the second of the two charts (which show the recent relative movements in Greek and Irish spreads) seems to demonstrate.
Vigourous Action Needed
Naturally the ongoing deterioration in the situation requires bold and far reaching action from the Commission and the ECB. Obviously we should expect to see renewed activity on the part of the ECB, buying an increasing number of eurozone periphery government bonds. Their activity on this front has been increasing of late, but weekly bond purchases are still well below 1 billion euros a week level seen at the height of the crisis in May and June. Evidently we will see calls for more of these purchases in the days and weeks to come, but what is striking at the present time is just how ineffective they have been in containing the damage.
The ECB's bond buying program is effectively the second pillar in the EU crisis containment mechanism established in May. The other one is the Luxembourg-based 440 billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility, headed by former European Commission official Klaus Regling. Mr Regling has also been actively campaigning to calm markets in recent days. "It would be preferable if we didn't even have to intervene," he told the German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview, "In fact, I believe that's the most likely scenario." His hope then is that the very existence of his organization will bring calm to investors and deter speculators. "If that's the case, we'll close up shop here on June 30, 2013," he said.
Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Economist, Joachim Fels remains pretty unconvinced by all of this. "Strains," he wrote in a recent research report, have now reached a point where "one or several governments" may soon have to resort to the rescue mechanism. "Neither the European sovereign debt crisis nor the banking sector crisis has been resolved and both continue to mutually reinforce each other," he said, adding that the EU's stress tests for banks had manifestly failed to restore the necessary confidence. Fels's conjecture didn't need that long to get some confirmation, since according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt the ECB was last week actively considering recommending that Ireland avail itself of the fund. The Central Bank declined to comment on the story, and simply pointed out that any decision on the matter was a question for national governments, which is formally correct (and obvious) but doesn't mean that they wouldn't in fact have recommended such a move if asked.
So, like former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson before them, Europe's leaders, having armed their bazooka may soon need to fire it. Indeed Mr Regling's optimism that his organization may quietly disappear from the scene is not generally shared by investors, who as we are seeing seem to be continuously pricing in an ever greater likelihood of intervention.
Meantime, according to a report in the Financial Times over the weekend, Europe's leaders are once more at odds among themselves about just how much carrot and how much stick the various national governments need to get their economies back into line. Predictably it is Paris talking about carrots, and Berlin who is talking about sticks.
But all this talk of what to do about those countries who in the future fail to stick to the new set of rules which are apparently being prepared monumentally misses the point: what we need are some policies which help the most affected economies get out of the mess they have found themselves in following the way the monetary and fiscal policy rules were implemented last time round.
According to one popular analogy currently circulating , the EuroArea countries could be likened to a group of 16 Alpine climbers scaling the Matterhorn who find themselves tightly roped together in appalling weather conditions. One of the climbers - Greece – has lost his footing and slipped over the edge of a dangerous precipice. As things stand, the other 15 can easily take the strain of holding him dangling there, however uncomfortable it may be for them, but they cannot quite manage to pull their colleague back up again. So, as the day advances, others, wearied by all the effort required, start themselves to slide. First it is Ireland who moves closest to the edge, getting nearer and nearer to the abysss with each passing moment. And just behind Ireland comes Portugal, while some way further back Spain lies Spain, busily consoling itself that it is in no way as badly off as the others who have already lost there footing. But if Spain cannot hold out, and all four finally go over, each dragged down by the weight of those who preceded them, then this will leave some 12 countries supporting four, something that the May bailout package only anticipated as a worst-case scenario. In the event that this is finally what happens, Mr Reglin will certainly find that the quiet life has come to an end for him, and that he has plenty of work to do, as will Mr Trichet's successor at the ECB. In the meantime all the rest of us can do is wait and hope, firm in the knowledge that having come this far, we can only go forward, since there is no easy way back down to the point from which we started. But for heavens sake, the only thing we don't need while we sit here biting our nails is to be told by someone who manifestly has no idea what he is talking about that the danger has already past, even as we slide, inch by inch, onwards and downwards towards the chasm that gapes beneath.
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Monday, September 27, 2010
And Then There Were None
Posted by Edward Hugh at 3:16 AM
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Amazon's second-annual summer shopping event, Prime Day, kicked off Tuesday, featuring more than 100,000 deals worldwide.
Amazon said it will be launching new deals as often as every five minutes over the 24-hour sale. The e-commerce giant hopes that this year's event gets better reviews than the first go-round, when many took to the Web to say the sales were disappointing.
Amazon tweeted around 8:40 am. ET that some customers were "reporting difficulty with checkout. We're working to resolve this issue quickly."
An Amazon spokesperson said that issues adding "Lightning Deals" to some customers' online carts had been resolved by later in the morning on Tuesday, NBC News reported.
The deals this Prime Day include discounts on Amazon products like Echo and Fire TV, as well as up to 60 percent off athletic shoes, up to half off some toys and hair products and many discounted TVs, according to Amazon's sneak peak of the sale.
Amazon Echo users get a discount for the first order placed on an item $20 or more through the Echo for Prime Day.
Amazon faced a backlash on social media during last year's Prime Day event — with the hashtag #PrimeDayFail trending — after many members complained about a lack of in-demand deals and items selling out too quickly.
U.S. & World
Larry Chiagouris, marketing professor at Pace University, told The Associated Press after the sale that if people get disillusioned with Amazon's sales announcements they won't trust future sales. "They haven't damaged the trust people have in the overall Amazonbrand, but they have done major damage to the credibility of sales announcements going forward," he said. "People are going to get numb to sale announcements and they'll no longer provide the traffic kick start they're designed to."
In response to those reviews, Amazon Prime Vice President Greg Greeley said the company has "dramatically increased the inventory behind many deals," for this year's event and has nearly double the number of TV units in the U.S. "compared to Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined."
But another massive retailer, Wal-Mart, is offering its own discounts this July on a host of products online, and is offering a free 30-day trial on its own two-day unlimited shipping service, plus an extra month free for paying members.
The sales mimic pre-Christmas Black Friday shopping, typically the busiest day in retail. Amazon has said last year's Prime Day was a success, with 18 percent more orders placed that day than the prior year's Black Friday. The company also said it got hundreds of thousands of new Prime signups.
Prime Day marks Amazon's anniversary — it's 21 this year.
The one-day sale is exclusive for members of the online retailer's Prime subscription shopping service, which costs $99 a year for unlimited two-day shipping among other perks. The sale is opened to new and existing members in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, Belgium, and Austria.


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Askari Miniatures was envisioned in 2004 as a miniatures company to produce 25/28mm miniatures that would be high quality, made to last, flash-free and perhaps above all, accurate. We seek to make unusual or hard to find types, preferring to do into depth in our ranges rather than just skimming the surface of a wide range of figures.
We ship via the U.S. Post Office Priority Mail or Priority International Mail, which I have found to be cost-effective and generally fast. Delivery times are usually 1-3 days domestic U.S. mail or 6-10 days international.
If, for any reason, your Askari Miniatures product does not meet your expectations, simply return it for a full refund or replacement, less shipping. Please do contact us in advance for detailed instructions.
Ethiopian Ras, or aristocratic ruler of a province. These regional governors were also leaders of their own feudal armies.
This figure was designed after a well-publicized period photo.
Product 13/13
This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 21 September, 2008.


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The Dutch PHP Conference has posted their latest podcast in their DPCRadio series as recorded at this year's Dutch PHP Conference - Elizabeth Smith's SPL in the Wild:
The standard PHP library (SPL) is growing in both maturity and use. But a lot of developers still aren't aware of the tools in SPL or simply haven't seen good examples of how to use the code. From interfaces to an autoload stack to classes that make objects act like arrays, there are tools to make every application leaner and faster, or simply more clever. Using live projects from github, take a look at the good, bad, and the ugly of SPL usage in PHP development.
You can listen to this latest episode either via the in-page player or by downloading it directly. You can also subscribe to their feed and get the latest as they're released.


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August 2019 - This is a re-post of my original message on Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:58 pm - That message was lost top time when the backups were lost during a host move after the site was put into read-only mode. Thanks to the Wayback Machine for having my back here.
It's with a heavy heart, but a heart full of good memories, that I announce the closing of Pulp Faction and the forums. The forums will be put into read-only mode in the next couple of days, so please log in and say any goodbyes while you can. The forums will remain online in a read-only state for at least the next 12 months. †
I created The Pulp Faction 9 years ago after Darren Close decided he needed to close OzComics and its forums. I was living in Wollongong with my partner Sarah at the time and, having been warmly accepted by the Aussie comics community (I'm American), I wanted to give something back. The untold story is that Pulp Faction actually started out as something called 'The Board' which I created as a private forum to share with a group of friends who were sometimes jokingly (or not) referred to as 'The Mafia'. At any rate, when I heard that OzComics was closing, I decided to go a step further and open the board to any Australian comics enthusiast or creator who cared to join. Thus The Pulp Faction was born on Wed Nov 24, 2004 at 11:06 am AEST.
We had some interviews, a short-lived podcast, meetups, drinkups, challenges, tutorials and, most of all, a community of people who just loved comics and wanted to talk about reading and making them.
Just about nine years later there are 1520 registered users, 52688 posts in 5666 topics, and we hosted 9 24-hour comics challenges. I'm pretty proud of that. You all should be too. And I'd like to take a second to thank, some of the people who helped shape the board, me and the challenges. I'm gonna forget several of you here and I'm sorry about that. But here goes: Sarah, Mark, Steve (Practicecactus, user #2!), Troy, Ive, Fink, Liz, Chris, L. Frank, Simon, Komala, Darren, Daren, Avi, Dean, Tonia, Jason, Jace, Jase, Jacen (holy crap, Aussie parents, enough with this! hehe), Doug, Trudy (you're the best!), Dougal, Tee, Trev, Sean, Grug, Jess, Owen, Matt, Matt, Matty, Monkeh, Kirk, Arran, Kenny, Ian, Christian, Em, Alex, Tim, Keiko, Dillon, Shaun, Andie, Nate, Josef, Glen, Mandy, Jules, Andy, Greg, Gary, Gary, Aaron, Eddie, Caanan, Hayden, Trev, Patrick, Kevin, Dave, Henry, Garth, Scott, Dan, Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, David, David, Ben, Ben, Ben, Julie, Gavin, Colin, Alastair, Joe, Ash, Ant, Rebecca, Michael, Erin, and ohmygod I have to stop, this is getting out of control. ALL of you. Thank you. It's been so much fun.
On behalf of myself and all who've helped run the forums and challenges... Thank you!
Maggie McFee
Oct. 20th, 2013
† - Sorry, this means the 24 Hour Challenge Mature entries will no longer be visible as they require login to view. There's no way around this as it would be unfair to the authors to suddenly have these available to the world (and Google).
About Me


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As I have said before, many people in Europe seem very complacent about this situation. Seeing the problem as one of call centres and the like, they feel vaguely re-assured that linguistic difficulties will mean that they are protected. But let me suggest another possibility. Having this backroom-office at its disposal, UK companies may become slightly more competitive than some of their continental rivals. Then to overcome the UK language difficulty vis-a-vis Europe may recruit young educated French, German, Dutch people into the UK to facilitate export into the EU. It's just a thought.
If you live in a rich nation in the English-speaking world, and most of your work involves a computer or a telephone, don't expect to have a job in five years' time. Almost every large company which relies upon remote transactions is starting to dump its workers and hire a cheaper labour force overseas. All those concerned about economic justice and the distribution of wealth at home should despair. All those concerned about global justice and the distribution of wealth around the world should rejoice. As we are, by and large, the same people, we have a problem.
Britain's industrialisation was secured by destroying the manufacturing capacity of India. In 1699, the British government banned the import of woollen cloth from Ireland, and in 1700 the import of cotton cloth (or calico) from India. Both products were forbidden because they were superior to our own. As the industrial revolution was built on the textiles industry, we could not have achieved our global economic dominance if we had let them in. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, India was forced to supply raw materials to Britain's manufacturers, but forbidden to produce competing finished products. We are rich because the Indians are poor.
Now the jobs we stole 200 years ago are returning to India. Last week the Guardian revealed that the National Rail Enquiries service is likely to move to Bangalore, in south-west India. Two days later, the HSBC bank announced that it was cutting 4,000 customer service jobs in Britain and shifting them to Asia. BT, British Airways, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, Standard Chartered, Norwich Union, Bupa, Reuters, Abbey National and Powergen have already begun to move their call centres to India. The British workers at the end of the line are approaching the end of the line.
There is a profound historical irony here. Indian workers can outcompete British workers today because Britain smashed their ability to compete in the past. Having destroyed India's own industries, the East India Company and the colonial authorities obliged its people to speak our language, adopt our working practices and surrender their labour to multinational corporations. Workers in call centres in Germany and Holland are less vulnerable than ours, as Germany and Holland were less successful colonists, with the result that fewer people in the poor world now speak their languages.
The impact on British workers will be devastating. Service jobs of the kind now being exported were supposed to make up for the loss of employment in the manufacturing industries which disappeared overseas in the 1980s and 1990s. The government handed out grants for cybersweatshops in places whose industrial workforce had been crushed by the closure of mines, shipyards and steelworks. But the companies running the call centres appear to have been testing their systems at government expense before exporting them somewhere cheaper.
It is not hard to see why most of them have chosen India. The wages of workers in the service and technology industries there are roughly one tenth of those of workers in the same sectors over here. Standards of education are high, and almost all educated Indians speak English. While British workers will take call-centre jobs only when they have no choice, Indian workers see them as glamorous. One technical support company in Bangalore recently advertised 800 jobs. It received 87,000 applications. British call centres moving to India can choose the most charming, patient, biddable, intelligent workers the labour market has to offer.
There is nothing new about multinational corporations forcing workers in distant parts of the world to undercut each other. What is new is the extent to which the labour forces of the poor nations are also beginning to threaten the security of our middle classes. In August, the Evening Standard came across some leaked consultancy documents suggesting that at least 30,000 executive positions in Britain's finance and insurance industries are likely to be transferred to India over the next five years. In the same month, the American consultants Forrester Research predicted that the US will lose 3.3 million white-collar jobs between now and 2015. Most of them will go to India.
Just over half of these are menial "back office" jobs, such as taking calls and typing up data. The rest belong to managers, accountants, underwriters, computer programmers, IT consultants, biotechnicians, architects, designers and corporate lawyers. For the first time in history, the professional classes of Britain and America find themselves in direct competition with the professional classes of another nation. Over the next few years, we can expect to encounter a lot less enthusiasm for free trade and globalisation in the parties and the newspapers which represent them. Free trade is fine, as long as it affects someone else's job.
So a historical restitution appears to be taking place, as hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them good ones, flee to the economy we ruined. Low as the wages for these positions are by comparison to our own, they are generally much higher than those offered by domestic employers. A new middle class is developing in cities previously dominated by caste. Its spending will stimulate the economy, which in turn may lead to higher wages and improved conditions of employment. The corporations, of course, will then flee to a cheaper country, but not before they have left some of their money behind. According to the consultants Nasscom and McKinsey, India - which is always short of foreign exchange - will be earning some $17bn a year from outsourced jobs by 2008.
On the other hand, the most vulnerable communities in Britain are losing the jobs which were supposed to have rescued them. Almost two-thirds of call-centre workers are women, so the disadvantaged sex will slip still further behind. As jobs become less secure, multinational corporations will be able to demand ever harsher conditions of employment in an industry which is already one of the most exploitative in Britain. At the same time, extending the practices of their colonial predecessors, they will oblige their Indian workers to mimic not only our working methods, but also our accents, our tastes and our enthusiasms, in order to persuade customers in Britain that they are talking to someone down the road. The most marketable skill in India today is the ability to abandon your identity and slip into someone else's.
So is the flight to India a good thing or a bad thing? The only reasonable answer is both. The benefits do not cancel out the harm. They exist, and have to exist, side by side. This is the reality of the world order Britain established, and which is sustained by the heirs to the East India Company, the multinational corporations. The corporations operate only in their own interests. Sometimes these interests will coincide with those of a disadvantaged group, but only by disadvantaging another.
For centuries, we have permitted ourselves to ignore the extent to which our welfare is dependent on the denial of other people's. We begin to understand the implications of the system we have created only when it turns against ourselves.
Source: The Guardian


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The old message board has been taken down and archived. You can still read it except it's at a new location:
I've added a search feature to help find messages you're interested in. The messages themselves were copy and pasted from the old board however the names and dates were typed so there may be typos. If the person mistyped their name I copied it exactly (for the most part). I chose to omit emails because of the additional time involved. Contact me if you need an email from the old message board.
The old board was removed for several reasons. First, the message board was being spammed relentlessly--only recently. Second, many members wrote me saying they could not post messages. This may have been a firewall issue based on my personal experience. Third, the old message board sometimes had "hiccups" when someone tried to post a message causing duplicate/triplicate entries. Unfortunately, the old message board cannot be updated. Members will now be required to log in before posting. This will help prevent spam.
When I originally added the message board I had no idea so many people would use it. I'm glad people were able to meet up again.
Old Message Board Has Moved
Instructions & Updates For Members
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 15 Nov 2007 08:54
Re: Old Message Board Has Moved
I like the changes youv'e made and APPRECIATE all the hard work you have put in to this project. There are times when it is nice to be able to look back, and I am always hoping to recognize a name with a new posting. I recently lost an old military friend to cancer, and wish we had been able to keep in better contact as he was a major force in my life (in the Military) as only those who served can appreciate. Once again thank you for all of your dedication and effort to reunite old friends and old memories.
2 posts • Page 1 of 1


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Image Credit: Matt Belcher This image shows the rear of the home before any work. The left side shows the bathroom addition (window with plywood) and the right shows the laundry room addition.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher The re-done rear of the house showing a change to fiber cement lap siding on the rear exterior of the home and a reconfigured rear door out of the new kitchen.
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri This is a shot of the existing home looking toward the rear on the 1st floor. Note the exposed exterior wall on the left and the rear wall, loaded with kitchen cabinets. This wall is not an exterior wall; the added laundry room is behind this. This is a southern wall that needed to be opened up to bring in southern light to improve the passive design of the home.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher This photo shows the construction detail of the remodeled home's exterior wall (with brick cladding).
Image Credit: Matt Belcher The new kitchen, pushed back in to the old laundry room addition space. Note the double-window letting in the southern sun on the back exterior wall of the home.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher This image shows the nearly finished new stairs connecting the 1st and 2nd floor; its central location is a much better use of interior space.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher This image shows the new recreation space at the top of the open stairs on the 2nd floor.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher This photo shows the new downstairs bath. Note the "factoid" placard on the sink with information on water efficiency.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher The new, dugout basement with new mechanicals, including the radon run out of the pit next to the tank water heater. Note the air sealing evident up at the top of the foundation wall, as well.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher During the many opening events of the home to the building and general public, factoid placards such as this one informed visitors about the green building features of the home.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher A new approach to surface water management on the rear of the home, where the slope is toward the home. The retaining wall stones are salvaged from the foundation of a home next door, demolished by the city.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher New homeowner Courtney Pigford in her nearly completed new kitchen.
Image Credit: Matt Belcher Plan Set: Foundation - the existing full crawlspace was modified to include a partial full-height basement.
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri Plan Set - 1st floor: Completely reconfigured 1st floor, with repositioned stairways, Note deeper walls for energy retrofit, with all insulation to the interior of existing brick cladding.
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri Plan Set - 2nd floor: Completely reconfigured 2nd floor with bedroom, bath and rec room.
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri Plan Set - Window Details: Note the proper weatherlapping of flashing, membrane, and housewrap.
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri Plan Set - Site: The Notes give a lot of detail on green building landscape features. Note the salvaged retaining wall (from neighboring demolished home's foundation).
Image Credit: HBA of Central Missouri
This Habitat for Humanity (HFH) GreenBuild community project moves a 100-year old home to a "200-year" home
At face value, 802 West McCarty is nothing special, just one of 800 vacant or foreclosed homes in a distressed Jefferson City, MO urban neighborhood. But you don't end up with the team listed to the right without creating something special indeed: the deepest green Habitat for Humanity (HFH) remodeling project in the Midwest. "We took it from the past 100 years and will be able to give it another 100 years of life," says Ken Thoenen of Ken Thoenen Homes, the project chairman.
Humble home, humble owners
802 McCarty was built in 1913 just a couple of blocks from downtown Jefferson City . "A home located for walking," says Matt Belcher, the sustainable building consultant on the project team. And that is just what the home's first owners did:
– A. P. Nixdorf, prison guard (1913)
– Eugene Pitroff, printer (1915)
– Lon Stone, brickman (1925)
– Frank Burns, bookkeeper at State Treasury Office (1929)
– Harold Angerer 1930's – 1956
– Kenny Angerer 1956 – ?
The new owners, Courtney and Kevin Pigford, both work at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, which is about ¼ mile away.
Getting everyone involved, yet staying integrated
While having a lot of project support and participation is terrific, you won't end up with a high-performance retrofit without keeping everyone on the same page. Students from Linn State Technical College completed the redesign of 802 McCarty, and demolition and construction were accomplished by carpenters-in-training from the local school district and more than 50 HFH volunteers.
"We used the NAHBGreen online checklist as our guiding document," said Belcher. "We identified criteria we would undertake and then broke down applicable sections with specific leading team members."
Belcher adds that from the very beginning the project team had these redesign goals to drive the process as well:
– Keep same footprint, but increase livable square footage by a third by going up (lower main floor ceiling to 8 feet, creating an additional bedroom, half-bath, and storage in the attic).
– Tighten up the building envelope (Matt: "We got an initial reading of about 8,500 cfm50. We were unable to get the house to depressurize to -50Pa, so our equipment estimated the cfm50 reading at 8,500. It isn't an exact science by any means, but 8,500 does describe a really leaky house at such a small size.")
– Create needed space and manage moisture by going down (dig out a 12' by 12' by 5' section of the crawlspace into a basement for a central stairwell).
– Bring in the sun (remove the existing laundry room; relocate the kitchen and a bedroom to the rear of the home).
– Make the home durable with good indoor air quality (insulate the roofline and walls with spray foam, bring all ducts and HVAC equipment inside by locating these elements in the attic).
– Improve the site (manage storm water on site, improve grading, and establish mature native vegetation).
While they were at it…
The house at 802 W McCarty ended up being certified for both the NGBS rating program as well as the DOE Building America Builder's Challenge. Here is Matt Belcher again: "The NAHBGreen checklist also has the benchmarks and checklist for the Building America/Builder's Challenge program. As we were completing the checklist, we realized we were also hitting those benchmarks. We worked with Amber Wood, Energy Manager at NAHB Research Center for the dual certification within the scoring tool. And then throw in on top of that Energy Star certification — not too shabby."
There is nothing more local than next door
For years, the lack of proper grading on the site directed water right to the house. At an early planning meeting, Matt heard that Jefferson City would be taking down the condemned house next door. He knew that all the homes in this area had cut limestone blocks for foundations. Turns out that no one had "claimed" these blocks, and the demolition contractor was more than happy to simply push them on to the 802 W McCarty property rather than haul them away. A retaining wall made of the neighbors' foundation blocks now manages water, directing it away from the home.
True "sweat equity"
Not only did this project have half a hundred dedicated volunteers, it had a core group of students from the nearby Nichols Career Center who did most of the carpentry, drywall, siding, and trim. But the real proof of their mettle was digging and carrying out, bucket by five-gallon bucket, all of the soil to turn a major portion of the foundation from crawlspace to full basement. No more lazy comments about today's youth, at least not in Jefferson City!
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Lessons Learned
Matt Belcher took some time to think through this aspect of the project.
Hidden challenges: "Whenever you are dealing with renovating a home there are always the unforeseen challenges. In a building of this age, we encountered a number of issues that were not necessarily issues from the original construction. In fact, the quality and durability of the original structure is what made it possible to rehab this home instead of demolish it. During the course of the project, I always thought about the original builder and stone masons that laid up the stone and brick walls. They certainly did not have the equipment we do now, but they did a fine job building a good 'stout' home. I would hope in a hundred years or so someone would think that way about what I did!"
Correcting the work of others: "Most of our hurdles were with the additions that were put on the home with dissimilar materials and some of the products (like asbestos floor tiles and duct insulation) that were added long after the original home was built. The biggest challenge was the damage done simply by having stormwater running directly against the rear and sides of the home."
Solar-ready: "We originally had wanted to include a solar thermal system and possibly some other 'high tech' equipment, but Habitat was concerned with the new homeowners' ability to manage and maintain these higher tech items, not mention the price point. We concurred with their concern and included the ability to have these types of items added with the hopes that over the course of time, they would be."
Taking the time to build a team: "We held several pre-planning meetings to have everyone on our team onboard, especially the folks from Nichols Career Center and Students at Linn Tech. I was able to visit Linn Tech and hold a couple of workshops with the architectural students there to discuss the nature of green building and how we are applying it to this project and identify how the National Green Building Standard and checklist was being used. They made several site visits, of course, to do measuring and inspections to be able to develop the plans for the house.
One great example of our partners' benefitting from the process was during the blower-door testing we did prior to drywall. The insulation contractor was just completing the window and door sealing as we cranked up the blower door. Our rater also had an infrared camera with a digital thermometer. He was able to use the 'gun' to show areas around the windows that needed to be sealed. It was a great learning tool for the insulator; he is now interested in acquiring one of these 'guns' for their company's own quality control process."
Moving the building industry forward: "We were also able to demonstrate to industry professionals the process of focusing on the building envelope and designing in daylighting and passive solar as we rehabbed this project. We also demonstrated how a high-performance envelope can mean properly sized equipment much smaller than original, even thought the home was larger.
Finally, we held several open houses, a few for industry professionals and a few for the general public (with a focus on homeowners in this neighborhood to demonstrate what could be done with homes of this era!). These were all well attended. We had fact sheets posted around the home explaining different features and upgrades and general information. Our team even came up with a trivia game based on features in the home that visitors could get answered by reading the fact sheets!"
General Specs and Team
|Jefferson City, MO
|Living Space:
|Additional Notes:
|Cost based on final appraised value.
Project Team - Builder: River City Habitat for Humanity - Sustainable Building Consultant: Verdatek Solutions - Rater: ASERusa Community Organizations - City of Jefferson - HBA of Central Missouri - Linn State Technical College - Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers - Missouri Career Center - University of Missouri Extension - Nichols Career Center - Central Missouri Community Action - Missouri Department of Natural Resources - University of Missouri-Center for Sustainable Energy - Central Missouri Region Master Gardeners National Support - NAHB Research Center National Green Building Program - DOE Building America
Foundation: block wall crawl space modified with partial full basement
Above-grade walls: structural block modified with interior insulated framed wall
Roof: vented unconditioned attic modified to "cathedralized" conditioned attic
Energy Specs
Foundation: insulated and air-sealed with R-8 Icynene
Above-grade walls: R-19 "flash and fill" (2x4 inset walls sprayed with 2 in. of foam and filled with cellulose)
Roof: R-40 cathedralized and sprayed with Icynene
Windows: Quaker AdvantEdge (U-factor=0.30; SHGC=0.29; VT=0.50)
Indoor Air Quality
NGBS score and rating pending


text:
Scania Vehicle Accessories online
Scania Parts Online
Scania Parts Online
Select your language
Brazilian Portugese
Chinese (simplified)
Chinese (traditional)
Styling – exterior
Air horns
Beam Air Horns
Hadley Air Horns
Environmental demands
Cropped Griffin
XT striping for the cab sides
Matte black V8 decor kit.
Reflective silver V8 decor.
Gold Scania Vabis decor.
The Super sticker
Badges in stainless steel
Styling – interior
Ashtrays/Waste bins
Waste bin
Wheel equipment
Aluminum rims
Dura bright
Dura flange
Open centre, non driving axle
Scania symbol, non-driving axle
Scania symbol, driving axle
Scania, non driving axle
Scania symbol, driving axle
V8 symbol, driving axle
XT symbol, driving axle
Scania Vabis symbol, driving axle
Hub Caps for non-driven axles
Wheel covers
Scania, plastic
Scania, stainless steel
Wheel covers
Wheel nut caps
Wheel trims
Wheel trim
2717770 blank polished stainless steel
Courtesy lights
Scania Welcome light.
2493645 Scania Welcome Light LH - Scania wordmark.
2493646 Scania Welcome Light RH - Scania wordmark.
2493644 Scania Welcome Light kit - Scania wordmark.
2819982 Scania Welcome Light LH - V8 symbol.
2819983 Scania Welcome Light RH - V8 symbol.
2819981 Scania Welcome Light kit - V8 symbol.
2819995 Scania Welcome Light LH - Griffin symbol.
2819996 Scania Welcome Light RH - Griffin symbol.
2819984 Scania Welcome Light kit - Griffin symbol.
2626548 Scania Welcome Light kit - XT symbol.
2626549 Scania Welcome Light LH - XT symbol.
2626550 Scania Welcome Light RH - XT symbol.
2714746 Scania Welcome Light kit - SUPER symbol.
2714747 Scania Welcome Light LH - SUPER symbol.
2820003 Scania Welcome Light kit - Scania Vabis symbol.
2820004 Scania Welcome Light LH - Scania Vabis symbol.
2820005 Scania Welcome Light RH - Scania Vabis symbol.
Light bars/racks
Light bars
Stainless steel front light bar - Scania for Scania NTG.
Stainless steel roof light bars - Scania - for Scania NTG.
Black versions of Scania stainless steel roof light bars
Stainless steel snow plough light bar - Scania - for Scania NTG.
Stainless steel front light bar - Kama - for Scania NTG.
Stainless steel roof light bar - Kama - for Scania NTG.
Stainless steel Rear facing roof bars - Scania for Scania NTG
Stainless steel front side bars - Kama - for Scania NTG.
Replacement LED modules - Kama / Scania Light Bars
Trux aluminium roof light bars.
Trux aluminium snow plough light bars.
Trux front decor tube in aluminium.
Trux accessories and brackets.
Adapter brackets for Scania light bars.
Roof rail
Roof rail system for Scania NTG.
Lights – external
Spot and fog lamps
Vision X LED light bar spotlamps.
Scania Rallye.
Xenon Spotlamp for sunviisor or light bar.
Hella Jumbo 220.
Hella Jumbo 320.
Hella Rallye 3000.
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Hella Rotating Beacon Rota LED F.
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Hella Universal Flashing / Rotating beacon, K-LED 2.0.
Hella LED Strobe Warning lamp BST Amber.
Hella Optical Warning Systems - OWS.
Federal Signal VAMA roof mounted warning systems
Federal Signal VAMA LED Strobe warning lamps.
Juluen LED Strobe Warning Lamps
Hand held lamps
Cordless Hand Lamps
Scania lampcover.
Hella H4 headlamp replacement
ABL 3800 LED headlamp replacement
2793591 Left unit R/H traffic, rear mount.
2793592 Right unit R/H traffic, rear mount..
2793593 Left unit, L/H traffic, rear mount.
2793594 Right unit L/H traffic, rear mount.
Lights – internal
Reading lamps
Hella Reading LED Lamps with plug for cigarette lighter
OSRAM LED Reading lamps
Sleeping area
Mattress R & S cab 670mm
Mattress pad
Air conditioners
Cab coolers
Cab heaters
Electric cab heater
Heated mat pads
Mat Heater 50w
Cab cleaning
Ashtrays/Waste bins
Waste bin
Cleaning equipment
Compressed air gun
Telescopic rubber scraper with sponge
Driving comfort
Wind deflectors
Wind deflector - Door
Kitchen equipment
Coffee makers
Scania coffee maker
Dometic coffee maker
Water kettles
Microwave oven
Refrigirator and freezer NTG
Engine tunnel mats
Normal mats
Heated mat pads
Mat Heater 50w
Snow brushes
Snow brush and ice scraper
Toolbox, Home edition
Seat covers
Imitation leather Scania symbol
Imitation leather Quick
Leather Cropped Griffin
Fabric Cropped Griffin
Textile Scania
Scania Sheepskin Seat Cover
XT Seat cover
Office equipment
Computer mounts
Tablet holder mount NTG
Adapter plate for mobile phone holder
Driver information folder
CB radio from Stabo
CB radio from Midland
Store and save
Storage modules
Grab handle for toolbox frame
Scania symbol, storage net and bag
XT Storage nets and bag
Accessories for storage bar
Shelf for storage compartment
Storage box
Coat hook
Stainless steel toolboxes
Stainless steel toolboxes
Toolbox brackets
Toolbox accessoreis and spare parts
Storage box
Safe cabinet
Short centre tables
Scania table
Fold-out tables
Fould-out table passenger side
Wind deflector - Door
2617531 Left side (Non tinted plastic)
2617532 Right side (Non tinted plastic)
Safety & Security
Camera and monitoring systems
Area View 360 Digital camera system
Area View kit LHD – 2823153 Digital
2823154 Area View kit RHD - 2823154 Digital
2719518 - Calibration kit 360 digital
2717618 - DVR device 128 GB 360 Digital
2717595 - Camera 360 digital
2717617 - Monitor 7" 360 Digital
2717615 - Cable 3 metres 360 Digital
2717600 - Cable 5 metres 360 Digital
2754803 - Cable 7 metres 360 Digital
2754804 - Cable 10 metres 360 Digital
2717601 - Cable 13 metres 360 Digital
2717602 - Cable 16 metres 360 Digital
2717603 - Cable 18 metres 360 Digital
2717604 - Cable 24 metres 360 Digital
Area View 360 Analogue camera system,
2761021 Area view kit LHD – 2761021 Analogue
2761022 Area view kit RHD – 2761022 Analogue
2823098 - Area view 360 Analogue without monitor
2761024 - DVR unit with WiFi
2761105 Calibration kit analogue 2761105
2823108 - Installation kit HCT 360 Analogue
2823107 - Trailer wiring 360 Analogue
2823109 - Camera 360 Analogue
2823100 - Cable 5 Metres 360 Analogue
2823101 - Cable 7 Metres 360 Analogue
2823102 - Cable 10 Metres 360 Analogue
2823103 - Cable 13 Metres 360 Analogue
2823104 - Cable 15 Metres 360 Analogue
2823105 - Cable 18 Metres 360 Analogue
2823106 - Cable 24 Metres 360 Analogue
CornerEye Camera systems
2621566 Camera set LHD
2623788 - Camera set RHD
MINI DIN Camera System
2660324 Rear view camera HD
2758822 Rear View HD camera MINI DIN
2660322 Digital 8" TFT LCD monitor
2660321 Digital 8" TFT LCD monitor QUAD
2758817 Interface 1 cam AUS4 MINI DIN
2629325 Interface
2758816 Prioritation box MINI DIN
1903617 Junction box
2633324 side view camera IR LED MINI DIN
MINI DIN Cable system
2629326 Cable 5 meter MINI DIN
2660323 Cable 15 meter MINI DIN
1903616 Cable 20 meter MINI DIN
2758818 Extension cable 5m MINI DIN
2758819 Extension cable 10m MINI DIN
2758820 Extention cable 15m MINI DIN
2758821 Extention cable 20m MINI DIN
2758823 HD ADR Cable 10m MINI DIN
2758824 HD ADR Cable 20m MINI DIN
2758807 Trailer kit for 1 camera MINI DIN
2758809 Trailer kit for 2 camera MINI DIN
2758810 Trailer Socket 1 cam F MINI DIN
2758811 Tractor Socket 1 cam M MINI DIN
2758812 Trailer socket 2 cam F MINI DIN
2758813 Tractor socket 2 cam M MINI DIN
2758814 Spiral cable 4,5m MINI DIN
2758815 Spiral cable 8m MINI DIN
2660325 Adapter MINI DIN to Orlaco 4pin.
Front view cameras
1899509 Bracket for front view camera
2545694 Colour camera 118°
2545697 Colour camera 102°
2545704 Camera 118° with bracket
2476347 - Adapter cable for AUS4
2545698 Front view colour camera 129°
Rear view cameras
2545694 Colour camera 118°
2545696 Colour camera 102° to Scania premium radio (AUS3) – mirrored image
2545697 Colour camera 102°
2545699 Rear view camera 102° with guidelines
2545700 Night Vision camera118° with IR LED
Monitor display
2009551 Adapter
2245725 7" LED DDIN monitor
2596992 7" monitor kit
Rear view camera with cleaning mechanism
2247173 All time vision rear view camera (ATVC)
2289333 ATVC Box
2289345 ATVC Pomp
2289332 ATVC Adapter bracket
2289351 Waterhose 10 m
2289346 Cable 6 m
2289347 Cable 11 m
2289348 Cable 16 m
2289349 Cable 21 m
2289344 ATVC Kit
Front and rear view system kit
2545703 -
Front view system kit
2545701 -
1789387 Extension cabel 4 pins 16 m
1901754 Extension cabel 4 pins 2 m
1901755 Extension cable 4 pins 11 m
1789386 Extension cable 4 pins 5 m
1901756 Cable trailer 25 m
2022517 Cabin cable truck 8 m
2022518 Cable extension spiral 3.5 m
1789388 Extension cable 4 pins 21 m
2481850 Trailer switcher
2481852 Cable Trailer 21 m - male
2481851 Cable Trailer 21 m - female
Rear view system kit
2545702 -
Camera brackets
2482655 Camera bracket with extension
2482656 Rain cover for Compact Camera
Radar system
2822931 LHD Side defender CAN
2822931 LHD Side defender CAN
2896874 Side Defender II RHD
2896874 Side Defender II RHD
2896875 LHD Side defender II GPS version
2896875 LHD Side defender II GPS version
2896876 RHD Side defender II GPS version
2896876 RHD Side defender II GPS version
2950465 PreView Sentry
2950465 PreView Sentry
Rear without spray suppression
Rear with suppression
Rear mudflaps with Scania and V8 logo
Rear mudflaps with XT logo.
Rear mudflaps with Scania Vabis logo.
Rear mudflaps with Scania SUPER logo.
King of the road
Twin wheel
Safety clothing
Fluoro fleece
Hard wearing high-visibility
Hard wearing
Wheel equipment
Snow chains
Studded ladder chain
Onspot rotating snowchains, wheels & chains.
Onspot rotating snowchains, misc. spare parts and kit
TRYGG Easy Trac Lightweight 5,5 mm snow chains.
TRYGG Scan Trac Lightweight 5,5 mm snow chains, with wear bars.
FRAM by TRYGG. Half tight pattern, 7 mm, low cost snow chains, with round studs.
Tools for Snow chains
Wheel chocks
Wheel chock
Wheel nuts for safety and security
1877680 loose wheel nut indicator
Safety equipment
Alcohol interlock
Scania in coorporation with Dreager
Protection for Alcohol Interlock 7000
Warning and help equipment
Foldable warning triangle.
Warning light
Foldable Road cone.
Scania LED Torch.
First aid kit
Smoke detector
Fire extinguisher
Fuel related equipment
Filler caps
2061501 Non lockable, without chain
2276408 Lockable, without chain
2276409 Lockable, adapted for FAME
2278298 2x lockable, without chain
2278299 2x lockable, adapted for FAME
2278300 1x lockable, without chain and 1x AdBlue
2278301 1x lockable, FAME and 1x AdBlue
2278302 2x lockable, without chain and 1x AdBlue
2278303 2x lockable, FAME and 1x AdBlue
2222615 Lockable, AdBlue cap kit for 50 and 75 liter tanks
Anti-siphon device high
2457921 New design Anti-siphon device High.
2457922 New design Anti-siphon kit - High.
Anti-siphon device low
2457925 Kit, with anti spill valve included
2457923 New design Anti-siphon device Low.
Tank - anti-theft products
2375264 Tank protection "DrainBlank"
2375265 TankBlank
Engine heaters
Electric engine heater
Battery reconditioners
Canadus battery reconditioner
Safety & Security
Safety equipment
Warning and help equipment
Warning and help equipment
Warning and help equipment
Foldable warning triangle.
Warning triangles are mandatory to bring in many countries. It's also the best way to warn road traffic...
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Warning and help equipment
Warning light
A LED warning light with nine different programmes. Magnetic can be attached to the vehicle or placed...
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Warning and help equipment
Foldable Road cone.
Choose between fixed or flashing light. 2 AAA batteries included. Height 75 cm, weight 3.5 kg. Foldable,...
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Warning and help equipment
Scania LED Torch.
Scania LED torch with basic flash light function. Made of plastic and resistant to impact and vibration....
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Warning and help equipment
First aid kit
Includes first aid dressings, standard dressings, burn dressings, wound compress, disposable gloves,...
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Warning and help equipment
Smoke detector
Specially developed vehicle fire smoke detector sounds the alarm when it senses fire smoke in the cab.
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Warning and help equipment
Fire extinguisher
Compact 2 kg powder fire extinguisher. Suitable for the factory mounted extinguisher bracket. A-wood,...
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text: From healthcare to marketing, analytics, Twitter, social radar and sentiment analysis\u2014and, it seems, just about everything in between\u2014new and old service providers alike are emerging to bring big data to the masses of yearning business users who don't even know they want, let alone need, big data services yet.Today, companies are faced with overwhelming IT demands aimed merely at keeping the lights on. Many can ill-afford the time or the resources to hire data scientists, assemble massive data sets and deploy Hadoop, R, MapReduce and all the other technologies needed to crunch very large, often non-relational data sets.\nHow-To: Avoid Big Data Spending Pitfalls\nNews: Explosion in "Big Data" Causing Data Center CrunchThe insights waiting to be gleaned from big data, can only be ignored at great peril. Organizations of all shapes and sizes therefore find themselves in the midst of yet another technology-led evolution, the vastness and reach of which is only now starting to be appreciated.Service Providers Help Companies Address Big Data Skills ShortageFueled by the many technological advances of the past decade\u2014cloud computing, mobile devices, Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, LTE and the continued trajectory of Moore's Law\u2014big data is giving rise to companies that supply raw data sets, cleansed data sets, data scientists, storage and, perhaps most importantly, analytics.Some companies have been in the business for years. Data as a service (DaaS) providers such as Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis or Thomson Reuters have been around for a long time. (They just lacked the buzzword.) For firms such as Opera Solutions, this is outsourcing on steroids. It's an opportunity not to do what companies already do for themselves but, rather, to offer companies a solution to a problem they are not prepared to take on themselves\u2014at least, not without another big investment in new technologies, new infrastructure and more processing power."Companies want and need to get insights from exponentially growing amounts of diverse data, but most lack the skill and computing infrastructure needed," says Gartner Analyst Rita Sallam. "One way to fill the gap is through service providers."Tip: Cascading, Open Source Java App Framework, Can Ease Big Data Hiring ChallengeAccording to Dun & Bradstreet CIO Walt Hauck, these service providers will be very good at helping you with first-order business problems, such as whether a marketing campaign is selling more products or what features customers are using in a particular product. However, he says, that's unlikely to happen with industry-specific questions that involve complex intensive analysis to find cause-and-effect relationships?"You think an oil company's going to send [a service provider] a bunch of seismic data and say, 'Should we drill here?' Probably not," Hauck says.Aside from the technology limitations, a shortage of data scientists drives this trend. The propeller heads who used to do regression and cohort analysis for the marketing department now find themselves in high demand and short supply. Great for them. Bad for you."There is a storm approaching on the big data talent front," according to the recent Big Data Executive Survey from New Vantage Partners. Writing in the foreword, Harvard Professor Thomas Davenport, co-founder and director of research at the International Institute for Analytics, notes that "70 percent [of respondents] say they plan to hire data scientists, but they already find this 'challenging' to 'extremely difficult,' and there is no reliable source of new talent in this category. It would seem to be a wise move to begin 'building' such talent as well as 'buying' it."This new breed of data scientist needs not only to understand the new technologies around Big Data\u2014the previously mentioned Hadoop, MapReduce and R as well as Pig, Hive, VMware Serengeti, NoSQL databases and so on\u2014but also has to understand how a business and its vertical market works.Analysis: Does VMware Move Signal That Big Data Is Ready for Prime Time?This a very rare breed at the moment, says Paul Barth, managing partner and founder of New Vantage. "To do these analyses, you still need really smart analysts. That's kind of a daunting resume."Market for Big Data As a Service Small But Growing According to the EMC report Big Data as a Service: A Market and Technology Perspective, the market for BDaaS remains small but will grow as more startups get funding, which reports suggests is not too difficult to do right now.Then there are the big players who are also taking a bite out of this apple.EMC is pushing its integrated stack\u2014Greenplum HD, an enterprise-ready Hadoop platform, and Isilon NAS for Hadoop\u2014to Big Data platform providers looking to take on big Hadoop jobs for clients. (Would that be BD\/PaaS?)\nOpera Solutions has grown from 10 data scientists in 2004 to 220 today. The company offers firms in the Global 250 and large governmental organizations a semi-turnkey Big Data solution set aimed at analytics and insights.\nLexisNexis Risk Solutions is playing this field with its high-performance computing cluster (HPCC) technology based on the ECL database programming language, which itself is a rival approach to crunching big numbers to Hadoop.\nTrend Micro is in the game from a data supply point of view. The company has agreements with the U.S. government's Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and the Canadian government to supply them with a daily 5 TB feed listing all the malicious activity the organizations see. The company also signed on with Facebook to help it thwart would-be attackers. In essence, Trend Micro, Symantec and McAfee will take feeds from Facebook's 1 billion users, look for malicious links and alert Facebook to shut them down, says Steve Quane, Trend's chief product officer. (Companies with a smaller user base can opt instead for the company's Threat Intelligence Manager services.)The more you peel, the bigger this onion gets. There's Google BigQuery and Amazon DynamoDB, a beta version of a NoSQL database. Then there's Gnip, which aggregates and normalizes social media data streams from the Web for marketing and social media analysis companies such as Alterian, FirstRain and Attensity\u2014which themselves could be considered BDaaS providers. Don't forget about the cloud storage providers that will be integral to capturing and housing all this data while you figure how to use it.How-To: Best Practices for Selecting Storage Services for Big Data Paul Ballew, chief data and analytic officer for Dun & Bradstreet, notes that companies are struggling through intense competition, weak economic conditions and substantial structural changes brought about by increased regulation."Against this backdrop, lots of emerging companies are attempting to help firms navigate through the waters," Ballew said. "Some do this by helping to bring together a complete view of the customers. Others provide analytic engines on existing data environments. Others [consulting firms] still try to do it all. At the end of the day, there will be a great opportunity for firms that can bring it all together in a comprehensive manner."Allen Bernard is a Columbus, Ohio-based writer. You can reach Bernard via email or follow him on Twitter @allen_bernard1. 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Thursday, November 29, 2012
Giving the Gift of Safety
Yes, I know — the items on this list aren't glamorous or cool. But although they're items we hope to never need, they certainly aren't clutter. And what could be more important than keeping our loved ones safe?
Gifts for Disaster Preparedness
Hurricane Sandy has many of us thinking about emergency supplies; few of us are as prepared as we could be. The Red Cross provides a list of things everyone should have as part of a survival kit — so if someone you know is missing some items on that list, you could fill in the gaps.
Another item that I see many people recommend is a headlamp — so that might be a good thing to give to someone who, like me, hasn't gotten around to buying one yet. (Yes, I'm going to take care of that right away. Nothing like writing a blog post like this to make yourself accountable.)
And yet another item I've seen mentioned a number of places is the ResQMe — "a combination windshield hammer and seat belt cutter that can attach to your keychain," as Lifehacker says.
Gifts for Coping with Medical Emergencies
I once got someone a medical ID bracelet, listing the person's name, allergies, and an emergency contact phone number. I still think it's one of the best gifts I ever gave.
Or what about gifting an app? The one I have is Pocket First Aid and CPR from the American Heart Association, sold by Jive Media. I bought it after reading how it saved someone's life after the earthquake in Haiti.
Gifts for Personal Safety
Mac McClelland just recommended gift certificates for Impact Bay Area's self defense classes, and noted their are Impact chapters in a number of states, as well as in England and Israel. I'm sure there are other wonderful self-defense programs out there, too.
And finally, I'd like to recommend a wonderful book: The Gift of Fear. This one was recommended to me years ago, and I keep recommending it to other people; I just suggested it to someone earlier tonight.
Related Post:
Christmas and Other Holidays: Five Final Gift Suggestions for 2009 (see the last item)
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 3:11 AM 1 comments
Labels: disaster preparedness, gift giving ideas
Monday, November 26, 2012
Gift-Giving Ideas: Kids Can (Almost) Always Use Art Supplies
I've worked with a lot of families with overwhelming amounts of toys — and the art supplies were always some of the most-used items, and the ones we rarely wound up giving away. They're consumables of a sort, which is always nice — and they're one of many ways to encourage creativity.
So if you have a child you're buying a gift for, I've got some ideas for art supplies that are a bit out of the ordinary. You just might find yourself wanting to do some art projects, yourself.
Let's start with Crayon Rocks; the image above comes from Bella Luna Toys, one of the many sites (besides Crayon Rocks) which sells them. They're non-toxic, although they are a choking hazard for children under 3 — so be careful there. The crayons are made in Kentucky from "U.S.A. grown and processed Kosher soy wax and several other organic waxes such as carnauba."
Prefer paint? Take a look at Glob Natural Paints. These are made in California from "fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices with natural ingredients and organic extracts." [via Cool Mom Picks]
Another paint option is Earth Paint, where "naturally colored clay is ground, dried, crushed and sifted into pure pigments." While there's an oil paint version, you may well prefer the Children's Earth Paints; they contain organic milk protein, which makes them water soluble. You just mix water with the colors "to create a creamy paint similar to tempera, or add more water to create watercolor-like effects."
We Can Too makes edible art supplies, like this veggie sidewalk chalk. While it's most definitely not intended for food, it is safe enough to eat — so if the end of a stick of chalk does make its way into a child's mouth, there's no need to panic. "Made with organic ingredients. ... vegan, no wheat, no sugar, no preservatives, no dairy!" The company makes crayons and finger paint, too.
Or you could go with WhimseyBox; after you subscribe, you get a box of different craft products each month. The company explains: "Since Whimseybox is about discovery and expanding your creative mindset we don't include instructions to make a specific project in each box. We're different than a traditional craft kit in that way." The company uses the information in your profile to select items it thinks you'll enjoy working with. And you can find a lot of ideas on the company's website — and share your own creations. [via swissmiss]
Related Post:
Christmas / Holiday Gift Ideas: Consumables for Kids
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 2:35 AM 0 comments
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Gift-Giving Ideas: Charitable Donations In Lieu of Presents
Reindeer sweater from NorthStyle
Give Grandma a bit of credit! These holidays, would she rather receive a silly reindeer sweater or help a schoolchild acquire glasses to see the blackboard clearly for the first time? — Nicholas Kristof
Gifts of charitable donations won't work for everyone, but even Miss Manners agrees that they can work under certain conditions:
1) those concerned agree to it as a policy, and
2) the particular charities chosen are those that are of interest to those being honored.
Families that feel that presents have become superfluous or burdensome sometimes do this.If this is a strategy you'd like to follow, you have a huge range of choices. I've mentioned a number of interesting choices before — see the related posts at the end — but here are some more organizations that have caught my eye recently.
1. Animal Adoption Programs
You could adopt a raptor and support the Peregrine Fund; the bird above is a kestrel that's currently available for adoption.
Or you could adopt a chicken from a Los Angeles organization called Taking the Reins. [via the Los Angeles Times] Update on Dec. 9, 2013: I'm no longer seeing this "adoption" program on Taking the Reins' website.
2. Save the Children
Give the gift of a soccer ball, mosquito nets, newborn care packages, books to help stock a library, or one of the many other options in the gift catalog. [via Apartment Therapy]
3. The Nature Conservancy
Give a gift of conservation — adopt a coral reef, restore wetland habitat for whooping cranes, help provide clean water to the people of Mozambique, or pick one of many other options from the gift catalog.
4. Your Local Food Bank
This eCard comes from the Vermont Foodbank, but there are plenty of others to support, too.
5. Any Charity Whose Work You and the Gift Recipient Admire
Want some ideas? Look at this list of recommendations from John Scalzi's blog readers back in December 2011.
Related Posts:
Christmas and Other Holidays: Donations as Gifts
Christmas and Other Holidays: Adopt-an-Animal Programs Provide Clutter-Free Gifts
Christmas and Other Holidays: Giving to a Good Cause
Christmas / Holiday Gift Ideas: Donations to Good Causes
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 2:18 AM 0 comments
Labels: gift giving ideas
Monday, November 19, 2012
Getting the Clutter Out of Your Emails
Image from The Oatmeal, used with permission.
Want people to read and respond to your emails, right away? Many people get hundreds of messages a day, and they may be reading them on cell phones. They'll appreciate it if you remove these types of email clutter.
1. Overly wordy text
Are you familiar with the acronym tl;dr? That's "too long; didn't read." If you want your emails to get read, try to keep them as concise as you can, while still providing the necessary information. Yes, it takes more effort to write a good, short message. But it's often worth that effort.
As Rands says: "With each paragraph you write, double the amount of time you spend editing. ... Is your point clear, literate, and concise? Have you pruned aggressively to find the core of what you're saying?"
2. Unnecessary text from prior messages
If you're replying to a message, you may not need to include all of the prior message for reference. You almost certainly don't need the other person's signature file, and there's a good chance you can cut much of the rest, too.
3. Huge signature files
Really long signature files can be annoying. As Craig Jarrow says: "Your half-page signature doesn't need to be on all of your emails. Do you send emails with a 1 word response and then half of a page of signature? As well, please lose the attached graphic and cute quote."
Or as Scott Stratten says: "If I need to scroll through your email signature, you may want to shave that puppy back a little."
And here's Peter Shankman: "If you have a 29-line email signature, you probably shouldn't be allowed to use email."
4. Email backgrounds or stationery
I don't see this too often, but once in a while someone still uses a background. As Walt-O-Matic says: "Honestly, plain white is easier to read and prints better. Let's do without the visual noise and extra attachment overhead."
5. Unnecessary attachments
One organization I'm a member of often sends out messages with Word file attachments when the information in those files could simply be put into the body of the email message. Attachments often serve a purpose, but sometimes they're just silly.
6. Unnecessary recipients
Does everyone you're sending the email to really need to get it? (As Seth Godin asks, would they complain if they didn't get it?) Do you really need to "reply all"? Tim Sanders says that in a study he did, only 12% of "reply to all" occurances were necessary.
Related Post:
Email Replies: Is Shorter Always Better?
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 1:16 AM 0 comments
Labels: time management, using your computer
Friday, November 16, 2012
7 Strategies for Avoiding the Heartbreak of the Single Socks
Photo by Suzba / xyla barraclough, found on Flickr, licensed through Creative Commons
Last night I sat in the hallway and counted the single socks that have collected in our little pink sock basket. There were 72 single socks and nary a match!!! — unknown writer on Fredericksburg Parent and Family
I've seen many a household with dozens of single socks taking up precious drawer space. Sound familiar? Want to avoid the problem? Try one of these approaches.
1. Buy many pairs of the same sock.
Find a sock you like, and buy it in bulk: five pairs, ten pairs, whatever makes sense depending on how much you wear that type of sock. This lets you toss socks in a drawer without pairing them up, and means that if one goes missing or gets a hole, it's no big deal. As Philip Kaplan says, "Life is so much easier when you have an entire drawer of identical white socks, and a drawer of identical black socks."
2. Decide to wear mismatched socks on purpose.
This won't work for everyone, of course. But it's worked for Patrick Wensick, who might wear "a blue argyle matched with a red wool." Wensick writes:
I gave up matching my socks almost 10 years ago. One day I just stopped seeing the point. There was never any intended fashion statement. Though, I guess, people could see it that way.You can even buy mismatched socks. LittleMissMatched, used by Seth Godin, sells socks in sets of three; those are some of the company's shown above. Socklady, also known as Marianne's Solmate Socks, just sells pairs; the socks are "knit in the USA at a family owned knitting mill, hand finished and then 'mismatched with care.'" Both of these sites sell socks that are color coordinated, although not matches. You could buy multiples of the same set, or go further afield and mix-and-match across sets.
3. Clip the socks together when you put them in the laundry bin.
A fellow organizer, Maria White, pointed me to the Sock Clip, shown above. Book of Joe mentioned the Sock Cop clips.
4. Launder the socks together in some sort of bag.
Parent Hacks suggests using lingerie bags for baby socks. No Odd Socks, an Australian company, sells a mesh bag intended specifically for socks. [via Lissanne Oliver]
5. Use some sort of lost socks rack or bin to help singles find their match.
I found the rack shown above a number of places: here, here and here. But you can also take the do-it-yourself approach. For inspiration, take a look at the ideas I found on these sites: Rambling As Usual, Sew What's New, Danielle's Place, The Painted Parsonage, Decor-ganize Crafts, Blissful Bucket List and Apartment Therapy.
6. But don't keep those single socks around forever.
At some predetermined point — Erin Doland on Unclutterer suggests three months — consign the socks to the rag bag, or just get rid of them. As Manhattan Mini Storage says:
Get tough on your single socks. Signing them up for an online dating website won't work. We know it hurts, but you have to banish them to the dust rag bin.
7. Get sock insurance.
OK, I know it sounds crazy. But Betabrand does indeed offer socks that come with sock insurance, for up to one year, specifically for lost socks. See the Betabrand website for all the details. [via Swissmiss and Laughing Squid]
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 2:09 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Celebrating Local Stores and Handmade Products: Organizing Items Found at Cottage Industries
I live in the small city of Half Moon Bay, which has a charming downtown area. I was walking around with a friend a few days ago, and one of the shops we went into was Cottage Industries. I'm quite taken with much of the store's furniture and accessories, and I couldn't help but note that many of the products I saw were organizing-related.
So with the permission of the owner, I took photos of a few of them to share with you. First, let's admire the set of three Shaker boxes.
The same Shaker style is used in this desk set.
And then there's the cherry coat rack; like hooks, coat racks can provide an easier-than-hangers way to hang things up.
Here's an eye-catching wine storage cabinet.
And finally, the store has quite a collection of lovely jewelry boxes.
Given the materials and workmanship, these items are not inexpensive — but they are also items that will be treasured for many years to come. And those of us not in the market can still enjoy their beauty.
Related Post:
Woodworking Gallery in Half Moon Bay: Stunning Storage and Other Organizing Products
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 9:10 AM 0 comments
Labels: organizing products
Sunday, November 11, 2012
In the Aftermath of Sandy: Re-thinking Preparedness
Major disasters catch our attention — and images of Sandy and the destruction it caused continue to cross my path, and to tear at my heart. So what can those of us outside the affected area do? Here are two suggestions, based on my readings and on a recent conversation with Louise Hornor, who has been very involved with Red Cross relief operations through the years.
1. If you're inspired to donate, please donate appropriately.
In most cases, cash works better than anything else, as this video from the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster illustrates, in a low-key way.
FEMA reiterates the message, saying "A financial contribution to a recognized disaster relief organization is the most effective donation to make."
Giving goods can work, IF a well-organized relief effort is asking for specific items, and you're prepared to give exactly what is being requested. Occupy Sandy, which was written up in the New York Times, has used an Amazon.com wedding registry to ask for specific items and get them shipped to the right place.
Where to donate? What are those "recognized disaster relief organizations" that FEMA mentions? I gave my money to the Red Cross, but there are many organizations to choose from. Louise and FEMA both pointed me to National VOAD's list.
2. Do your own disaster preparedness.
Rather than talk about disaster preparedness in general, I'd like to mention three lessons from Sandy.
Number One: That "72 hour" thing is not enough.
Being prepared for 72 hours is a good start, and certainly better than nothing — but ideally, we should be prepared for a significantly longer period. Louise asks this question: "What would your life be like if you had no power for two weeks?" And remember that clean water depends on electricity. Food is easier to find than water, Louise says — so please stock up with lots of water, as well as food.
Looking at the Occupy Sandy wedding registry, I see listings for diapers and tampons — two of the numerous other things, besides food and water, that you'll want to have stockpiled, if applicable to your family.
Number Two: Cold-weather preparedness has its own challenges.
How would you keep warm if you had no power, no heating system? The Red Cross has a winter storm safety checklist (PDF), which provides a good starting point for thinking about cold-weather preparedness.
And then there's this from Joe Cutter of New Jersey 101.5: "Red Cross spokeswoman Gwen Eamer says there are two issues with braving it at home without heat: having enough warm clothing and blankets to keep warm, and knowing when to leave before hypothermia sets in." Eamer also has advice about using space heaters and fireplaces safely.
Number Three: Be careful if you're planning to use a generator!
If you're planning to use a generator — or any other gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning device — be sure you know how to use it safely. And please install carbon monoxide alarms! We don't want any more stories of those who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, like this one, this one, this one and this one.
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 8:41 PM 5 comments
Labels: disaster preparedness
Friday, November 9, 2012
Stylish Storage: Rope Baskets
Certain types of storage products seem to come into style, and then (sometimes) fade away. Something I'm seeing a number of places recently are hand-knitted rope baskets, like these from Nkuku in the U.K. If you're in Australia, you can find the same baskets at The Gift Corner. [via swiss miss]
Rockett St George is another U.K. source for rope baskets.
In the U.S., Ferm Living is one place to shop for rope baskets.
Land of Nod promotes its baskets as kids storage, but of course they could be used for many other purposes, too. [via swiss miss]
And finally, for something a bit different, take a look at the great baskets from Find Your Happy, a design studio based in Orange, NSW, Australia
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 2:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: organizing products
Monday, November 5, 2012
2013 Calendars that Support Good Causes
How's this for a good idea - a delightful calendar that also support a great cause?
Sound appealing? If so, the 2013 calendar from the Beagle Freedom Project is one calendar to consider. The Beagle Freedom Project works with various labs that use beagles for research. "When they are no longer wanted for research purposes, some labs attempt to find homes for adoptable, healthy beagles. Working directly with these labs, Beagle Freedom Project is able to remove and transport beagles to place them in loving homes. All rescues are done legally with the cooperation of the facility."
Many other animal rescue organizations produce calendars, too. Here's the one from the American Bullmastiff Association Rescue Service.
A number of SPCAs in the U.S. and Canada raise money through calendar sales, so that's yet another option to consider. The one above comes from the Bow Valley SPCA in Alberta.
And here's the 2013 calendar from Broadway Barks, "a star-studded dog and cat adopt-a-thon benefiting New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies. The event produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and sponsored by the ASPCA and with additional sponsorship by the New York Times."
The calendar is sold by the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, which tells us that "Animal-related holidays appear each month, so you won't miss Adopt a Senior Pet Month (November), Hairball Awareness Day (April 30), International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day (February 23), or any other serious or fun celebrations of the animals who share our lives!"
Related Post:
2013 Calendars with Cats, Dogs and Bunnies — and Whales
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 12:58 AM 1 comments
Labels: organizing products, time management
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Renting or Borrowing vs. Owning
Would you like to try out a new hobby or sport that requires specific equipment?
Or maybe you'd like to save space, and you realize you have a bunch of what Claire Brown, in her guest post on Get Rich Slowly, calls once a year goods — "the items that only see the light of day a few times a year: camping goods, DIY equipment, sports gear, and cooking appliances like ice-cream makers." Update on July 21, 2021: This blog post seems to have been removed.
These are just two of the situations where you might want to look into renting vs. owning. I've written before about renting tools, wedding dresses, maternity clothes, baby toys and textbooks. But here are some more things you can rent!
Camping and Sports Gear
Jacki Hollywood Brown writes about the many advantages of renting this stuff, including these:
Renting sporting gear such as boats, bicycles and skis allows you to try out several different models or designs. This will permit you to make an informed decision should you decide that the particular activity is something you wish to pursue.REI and LowerGear are just two of the places that provide such rentals. And RentaBikeNow.com has listings of bike shops throughout the U.S. that provide bike rentals. [via Maria Thomas]
If you have growing children, renting sporting equipment may be a great option. Many kids will outgrow ski boots after one season or decide they no longer wish to participate in the sport.
Camera Lenses and Other Gear
BorrowLenses.com lets you borrow more than just lenses; you can also get lighting equipment, audio equipment, camcorders and more. [via Robert Scoble]
Mannequins and Dress Forms
You can rent both of these from Mannequin Madness.
If you're in Paris, you can rent these from la Fabrique de Lunettes for periods ranging from one day (10 euros) to 12 months (15 euros/month). [via Springwise]
Related Posts:
Renting Things You Never Knew Could Be Rented
The Sharing Solution
1 Way to Avoid Future De-Cluttering Decisions: Rent the Wedding Gown
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 1:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: simplicity and consumerism
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Thumbnail Filmstrip of Dear Stella Moonscape in Ebony Images
DescriptionPriced and sold per 1/2 yard. Moonscape from Dear Stella is a bright and beautiful blender full of whimsy for all of your sewing and quilting projects. 100% cotton, 44/45 in. wide.
Manufacturer: Dear Stella
Collection: Moonscape
Fiber Content: 100% cotton
Width: 44/45"


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Common causes of water intrusion in a home
Common causes of water intrusion in a home video
All Pro Property Inspection | Nashville
Nashville Certified Home Inspector
Electrical Panel Inspection: This home in Nashville, Tennessee reveals some safety issues unknown to many homeowners: electrical panels should not be painted. This is so emergency personnel can quickly identify them in a crisis such as a house fire. Also, a panel should not be secured to the wall with a point-tipped screws. This is unsafe because they could penetrate […]
Initial home inspection walk-up: Signs of window seal problems are revealed under "weather temperant" conditions early in the morning. Later in the day, these issues might not be visible. This series of home inspection videos reveal some surprises as we look below the surface. This is a 18 year old 5000 square foot home in Nashville, Tennessee […]
My name is John Williams, inspector and owner of All-Pro Home Inspections. All-Pro is independently owned and operated. I am proud to provide my clients with over 18 years of experience in the inspection, radon detection, construction, and home improvement business in Nashville. I work directly for my clients and carry all full certifications. I am fully licensed (TN#278) and insured in the state of Tennessee. I am a member of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (#04071958).
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Business Hours:
Mon- Closed
Tues and Wed 4pm-9pm
Thurs 11am-9pm
Friday 11am -10pm
Saturday 12pm-10pm
Sunday 12pm-9pm
Pizza Buffets:
Wednesday 5pm-7:30pm
Friday 11am-2pm
Sunday 12pm-3pm
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Fat Boy's Pizza & Ice Cream truly is the ideal place for you and your family to sit down and enjoy a delicious meal together. Our pizza recipe is time-tested and crafted to taste great, our subs are made from the freshest ingredients, and our ice cream is made locally at a dairy farm right here in Ohio so you know it will be fresh every time. Fat Boy's Pizza & Ice Cream is the total package when it comes to quality family dining. From dinner to dessert, we make great food for the whole family. Come in and eat with us today!