mollification corolla: March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

7 Things I Was Baffled By When I Started Online

Baffled By Business I?d like to share some of the problems that prevented me making any money whatsoever for around 7-8 months after I began online almost exactly 3 years ago. I?ll also explain how I overcame them by giving some recommendations for each.

It?s quite interesting for me to see how my thinking and understanding of how to start and build a successful web business has changed over time.

But more importantly I hope you?ll be able to get a lot out of this because from talking to others I?ve learned that most people face the same challenges that I?ve experienced.

Let?s dive in with 7 things I was baffled by when I started out:?

1. How To Create Web Pages

Like all of us I visited lots of different websites on a daily basis but I really didn?t understand how to replicate them. Do you have to learn web design and HTML and get involved in the technical side of things?

Luckily, I was introduced to WordPress pretty early on. Although I have built a few pages in other systems (such as the free HTML editor Kompozer) I really never looked back.

What began as a blogging platform has now developed into a fully fledged content management system (CMS) for websites and for running a home business, there are very few cases when it makes sense to not use WordPress.

My Recommendation: If you don?t know WordPress. Learn it. Just create a simple personal blog and get acquainted. It?s time very well spent.

2. How To Get Traffic

I thought the only options were SEO (ranking your web pages high in Google) or Adwords (Google Paid ads).

Like most newcomers I didn?t want to risk any money so I went down the SEO path.

The trouble was by 2010 SEO was already becoming harder, more long term and increasingly uncertain. This didn?t stop me spending a small fortune on SEO software and training courses which resulted in virtually no revenue whatsoever.

My Recommendation: Traffic is a KEY element in your online success. So invest some time in learning about it. There are countless ways to promote your websites and many of them have been discussed on this blog (here and here?for example). Also, although I wouldn?t completely ignore SEO, I also highly recommend you don?t rely on it. Less than 10% of my traffic comes from SEO ? quite honestly I wouldn?t bother with it much at all!

3. Why The Websites Of Successful Marketers Didn?t Look Like Mine

During my ?SEO phase? I followed several ?gurus? who were very keen to tell me (and sell me) strategies which could rank my websites high in Google. Most of these involved setting up blogs, choosing the keywords, meta tags, headlines, H1 tags correctly and building backlinks to my site.

So how come when I visited these gurus? sites they had none of these things? I remember checking the backlinks and wondering why there weren?t any? How could they be making money if they didn?t seem to do the things they were telling me to do?

Also, a lot of their websites just had places for your name and email address (what I later learnt were called ?squeeze pages?) and had no content on them at all. Google wouldn?t rank these surely so I was baffled.

I was very na?ve really. But it just goes to show if you don?t know something then you just don?t know.

Of course, the reality was the the gurus were using joint ventures (JVs), affiliates and paid traffic to promote their websites. As silly as it might sound it really took me about 10 months to fully recognize this.

My Recommendation: Always ask yourself, ?Are the strategies that this person is teaching me what they actually use to make money themselves??. You can?t always be sure but being aware of this question really helps!

4. Who To Trust

A biggy.

As with any business ? online or offline ? there are scams and people who just want your money. In the internet marketing area there are definitely these kinds of people but also many very genuine businesses and marketers who provide solid products and services which can help you.

My Recommendation: Rather than expand on this here I will refer to a previous post where we covered this issue in detail.

5. Which Niche To Go Into

Again, usually a problem most of us have, especially at the early stage of our business.

This is partly related to ?I?m not an expert in anything? thinking but also because there are literally SO many different niches that it can become difficult to decide!

What I did was go into lots of niches. I don?t recommend this because you end up juggling so many balls that you can?t give the attention each niche deserves.

My Recommendation: Brainstorm niches you are interested in, check for sufficient audience size and profitability. Then pick one and go with it. Later on you can (as I have done) expand it more than one niche but that?s when you?ll have the experience of setting them up and promoting them. Also, understand you don?t need to be an expert: 1) You can learn, 2) You can get another expert to help (e.g., by interviewing them), 3) Many products (e.g., software) don?t rely on you being an expert at all.

6. How Can I Keep Up With The Information Coming At Me

Yes, the old information overload problem here!

What I specifically referring to though is the emails that I received as a result of signing up to people?s lists.

This distraction can manifest in at least 2 ways: 1) You are reading emails instead of implementing and taking action, 2) You get mixed messages and conflicting information which stops you taking action on your current plans by introducing doubt and shiny object syndrome.

My Recommendation: Unsubscribe from any list which just promotes things all the time. Follow the people you trust (or at worst think you trust!) ? see above for tips on this. Pick one project and stick with it, emotionally detach (as best you can) and work on your business (imagine you are consulting on someone else?s business which helps) instead of in your business.

7. Sales Funnels

Again I?m admitting naivety here but after coming online I really didn?t understand the importance of having a funnel or even what one was!

Basically, the sales funnel is process people go through after they go up the ?on ramp? into your business.

For example, they might sign up at for your squeeze page, get offered a promotion on the thank you page, receive email follow ups which offer free content and promotions which increase in price and value.

My recommendation: Be aware all the time of sales funnels and every time you purchase something or sign up for something watch what happens and take notes. I actually have a Word files called ?Other Marketers Swipe? which I take notes on what I see from my journeys around the internet in different niches.

3 Final Tips

Overall, If I could go back in time and speak to myself when I started out I?d give this advice:

Focus soley on building a list of subscribers in a profitable niche that you are interested in
Go to live events and meetups
Invest some time and money in solid training from people who have achieved what you want to achieve

If you can relate to any of my experiences I?ve described in this post then this is the same advice I?d give to you. Regardless of your history and where you are right now with your business the PERFECT time is NOW!

What things have baffled you in terms on setting up a successful web business? Please LIKE/TWEET if you enjoyed this and start some discussion by dropping a comment below. Cheers, Rob.

Source: http://www.gainhigherground.com/7-things-i-was-baffled-by-when-i-started-online/

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PFT: Romo gets six-year deal from Cowboys

Getty Images

New Dolphins DT Vaugn Martin says he had offers from the Pats, Eagles, Chargers, Chiefs, and Seattle.

Former Bills QB Frank Reich will hold his annual Call to Courage Award Breakfast on April 6; this year?s event includes a 20-year look back at the greatest comeback in NFL history.

WR Danny Amendola will wear No. 16 with the Pats, if it?s available.? (For now, it isn?t.)

The Jets won?t be hosting the Honey Badger before the draft, a fact that typically has little bearing on whether the player will be picked by the team in question.

Ravens secondary coach Teryl Austin is upbeat about the teams defensive backfield.

The Bengals will now try to find a safety, via free agency or the draft.

The Browns have ?very mild interest? in free-agent WR Domenik Hixon.

Former Steelers OL John Wiley died this week at the age of 92.? (He played in the first publicly-televised college football game, which was broadcast in 1939 by NBC.)

Former Texans LB Connor Barwin took out a newspaper ad thanking a variety of folks who helped his career in Houston ? including Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert and ?my cleaning lady.?

Over the next couple of months, new Jaguars coach Gus Bradley will establish his vision for the team.

Colts QB Andrew Luck is among the candidates for the cover of an overhyped, underperforming football video game that inexplicably continues to sell millions of copies every year.

Someone actually believes that Ryan Fitzpatrick is an upgrade over Matthew Hasselbeck at backup quarterback for the Titans.

The Broncos hope to play as fast as possible on offense in 2013.

The Chiefs have explained the convoluted title of the man who once used the phrase ?programmatic non-fit? with a straight face.

Here?s a look at the Raiders? draft options with the third overall pick in 2013.

The agent for former Chargers LT Marcus McNeill says McNeill isn?t considering a comeback.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo talks about his new contract in a video that includes an image of Romo in front of a collection of trophies many think he?ll never touch and Romo?s young son rebuffing owner Jerry Jones? high-five attempt.

RB Tim Hightower?s workout with the Giants will occur early next week.

The Eagles reportedly have some lingering interest in OT Eric Winston.

The Redskins reportedly are eyeballing Miami CB Brandon McGee and Nevada safety Duke Williams.

The contract signed by new Bears OL Matt Slauson is worth more than the minimum salary.

Lions Hall of Famer Lem Barney has sued a former employer after he was fired for signing too many autographs.

CB Loyce Means, out of football in 2012, could be signed by the Packers early next week.

Should the Vikings focus on improving their front four?

The supposedly ultra-talented Falcons have a major hole at cornerback.

The effort to upgrade the Panthers? stadium with public money?continues to face opposition.

New Saints LB Victor Butler says that he was simply looking for a ?chance to compete and be a part of a winning team.?

How good will the Buccaneers? offensive line be in 2013, and beyond?

The Cardinals won?t be going to Flagstaff for training camp.

The Rams are ready to pull the plug on this year?s Pro Day circuit.

So who will be No. 2 on the depth chart behind Colin Kaepernick?

The Seahawks have put together 25 thinks to like about CB Richard Sherman on his 25th birthday.? (?Humility? is not on the list.)

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/29/report-deal-done-romo-gets-more-guaranteed-money-than-flacco/related/

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Justin Bieber Had Another Bad Week (Sigh)

Another week, another batch crazy of Justin Bieber stories. Surprisingly, none of these involve Twitter, but we aren't sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/justin-bieber-might-face-assault-charge-visits-ex-selena-gomez/1-a-531141?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ajustin-bieber-might-face-assault-charge-visits-ex-selena-gomez-531141

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Ambitious drainage project at Bromsgrove Rugby Club | Pitchcare ...

The success of any sports facility is, fundamentally, due to the actions of a number of people within the club, who have the personality, drive and ambition to make it successful, both on and off the pitch. In many cases, it is former players who tend to contribute the most.

Having enjoyed their playing career at 'their' beloved club, they want to give something back, either in the capacity of coaching, running the bar, club secretary, or match secretary, whilst often progressing to become the club's chairman/president. It is these people who, importantly, recognise the value their club and its facilities can bring to the community.

The successful clubs are the ones who have developed a good team of people. For example, many would not survive without the support of their junior and youth sections who, as well as providing the next generation of players, also generate much needed income.

It is important that clubs invest in both the clubhouse and pitch facilities. It is often the case that clubs invest in the 'social' aspect, whilst paying only the bare minimum of attention to their pitches. Over time they become poor surfaces to play on and, during inclement weather, are not fit for play.

Bromsgrove GrowingIn Many of these past players, and other non-playing members who take up the challenge of helping their club will, quite often, bring many different skills to the table; solicitors, teachers, businessmen, farmers, tradesmen.

One such club that has tapped into these skills and areas of expertise is Bromsgrove Rugby Club, an ambitious Midlands based set-up that has been steadily rising up the leagues under the stewardship of their club coach and former player, Ross Baxter who, with a number of other like-minded members, has been instrumental in turning the fortunes of the club around.

Ross's day time job is working for the RFU in the capacity of Funding and Facilities Manager for the Midlands, one of several who help rugby clubs across the country gain access to possible funding to improve their facilities.

Over the years, he has assisted numerous clubs to gain funding for floodlights, improved drainage schemes, new pitches and clubhouse builds and renovations.

Bromsgrove RFC is a not-for-profit organisation that has four sports pitches, which are used regularly by a wide variety of groups throughout the year, but with the majority of use being throughout the winter. This high demand and high volume of use, combined with poor weather and lower light levels, often results in extensive damage and a steady deterioration of the surface.

In recent seasons, the quality of the first and second team pitches at Bromsgrove had suffered that exact scenario, with water not able to drain away efficiently after rain, leaving the surfaces wet, heavy and not conducive to running rugby.

The club are currently mid table in National 2 North League and play against the likes of Preston, Caldy, Birmingham and Stourbridge. To keep apace with these clubs, Ross recognised the importance of good training and playing facilities, which would not only attract new players but allows the club coaches to get the best out of their existing crop of talent.

Ross, along with the club's chairman, John Blackhall, himself an ex-player and also a Chartered Civil Engineer , spent a number of years evaluating the needs of the club in terms of improving pitch quality, and then looking at ways to obtain funding for an ambitious drainage installation project.

Bromsgrove Toby&John Between them, they managed to source funding from Sport England, Queen Elizabeth II Sports Field Challenge and The Veolia Environmental Trust (who awarded a grant of ?30,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund), that netted over ?100,000 and, along with the club's own fundraising efforts, had raised enough to begin work on the project in October 2012. A local sportsturf contractor, Phil Day Sports (PDS) from Worcester, won the tender to carry out the work.

I caught up with the John Blackhall and PDS Technical Manager, Toby Grace, himself a keen rugby player with Pershore RFC, to see how they were progressing.

Toby is vastly experienced, having a Mechanical Engineering degree, an NVQ Level 3 in Construction Site Supervision, a CITB in Construction Site Manager Safety and four years management experience in Construction and Civil Engineering. Coupled with John's engineering skills, they form a formidable partnership. Indeed, it was John who provided the drainage plans for the project through his company Complete Design Partnership.

Bromsgrove Sheltons Toby Grace details the project:

"The remit was to install primary and secondary drainage systems to two full size rugby pitches. The system being consists of perforated land drainage pipes, backfilled with approved gravel and rootzone to the surface, at 5 metre centres; these connect into the main drain. All pipes were installed using a grade laser.

The training pitch has also been gravel slit at 1 metre centres (90? to the laterals), followed by sand topdressing, vertidraining, overseeding and fertilisation.

The timescale for the work began in July of last year on the training pitch - phase 1 - installing main drains, laterals, sand/gravel slits, sand topdressing and seeding.

Once completed, we moved on to phase 2, installing laterals, sand/gravel slits, sand topdressing and seeding of the 1st XV pitch. Phase 3 will be undertaken in May and consist of sand bands/grooves to both pitches.

Bromsgrove AFT Dakota2 The methods we used were as follows; firstly, the 150mm diameter perforated main drain was installed at a depth of 750mm, and connected to an existing outfall. The trench was cut using our Shelton Chain Trencher controlled by a grade laser; risings were transferred to tipper trailers via a conveyor. The risings were tipped and stockpiled on site, (this helped keep the cost of the project down).

The main drain was backfilled using an AFT Dual Use Hopper, with 4-10mm single size gravel, a blinding layer of 2-6mm Croxden single size gravel, and topped with Rootzone Design (all supplied by Tarmac Topsport).

Bromsgrove Drainage The next part of the project was the installation of 980 metres of 85mm diameter perforated lateral drains, at a depth of 550mm. This time, the trenches were cut using a AFT 75 Whizz Wheel controlled by a grade laser. The risings were again taken away by trailer and stockpiled on site. The drains were, again, backfilled with 2-6mm Croxden single size gravel, and topped with Rootzone Design, with an AFT Dual Use Hopper fed via conveyor using our Dakota Turf Tender 420.

After an informative meeting with Mike Harbridge of Professional Sportsturf Design (NW) Ltd, it was agreed to solely use 2-6mm gravel, and omit the 4-10mm gravel as it was felt, with last summer's torrid weather conditions, that three passes of one trench to backfill would eat up too much precious time - a rainstorm was never very far away!

Bromsgrove Drainage2 Installing 7,524 metres of gravel bands was the next step. The trenches were again cut using the AFT 75 Whizz Wheel, and backfilled in the same manner as the lateral drains, with 2-6mm gravel and Rootzone Design.

The pitch was then topdressed with sixty tonnes of Tarmac Topsport medium/fine sand, using the Dakota Turf Tender 420. Deep aeration (verti-draining) was the next operation, carried out with the Wiedenmann XD8 Terraspike, followed by dragmatting. 12 x 25kg bags of Everris NPK 8:12:8 Pre Seeder fertiliser were applied using a tractor mounted spreader. Overseeding of the pitch was carried out with a Vredo Disc Seeder, in multiple passes, to accurately apply 12 x 20kg bags of Johnsons J Premier Pitch seed at 35gms/m?."

Bromsgrove Growth Once all the drainage work is complete, John is well aware that the club will need to invest in better maintenance of the pitches, by increasing the frequency of mowing, establishing good feeding and aeration programmes as well as robust end of season renovations.

Currently, the club employ a local contractor to cut and mark out the pitches. The club are considering undertaking the work themselves in the future, by investing in equipment and employing a full time groundsman.

Without doubt, this investment in pitch drainage should enable the club to offer even better playing surfaces, but that investment does need to be backed up by sound ongoing maintenance practices, otherwise all the good intentions could be undone in just a couple of seasons.

Pitches are the lifeblood of any club; without them, they have nothing.

Principal Equipment Used

Massey Fergusson 5455 tractors x2
John Deere 4720 tractor x2
Shelton Chain Trencher
AFT 75 Whizz Wheel
AFT Dual Use Hopper
Dakota Turf Tender 420
Wiedenmann XD8 Terraspike
Vredo Disc Seeder 2.2m
Blec Vibra Sand Master

Bromsgrove is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the Midlands, with their first 'real game' played against Kidderminster on the Bromsgrove Recreation Ground, in front of a large crowd, on the 22nd November 1873.

Games were originally played at the 'Rec' but, in 1889, the club moved to a pitch on the Kidderminster Road. From 1893 until 1914, they played either there or the cricket ground in New Road, the arrangement varying from season to season. From 1919 until 1939, the club rented a ground of its own adjoining the county cricket ground, returning there on re-forming in 1946 after World War II.

In 1955, the club, at last, moved to its present ground at Finstall Park, albeit with only one pitch. Since then, the club has extended to enjoy four pitches, a training area and a much extended clubhouse. More recently, and in order to guarantee the future, the club has gained registration as a Friendly Society.

Whilst Bromsgrove RFC has never achieved national honours, it has provided rugby for thousands of players over the years and continues to do so, fielding five teams each Saturday, plus the Crusaders veterans team, Colts, Under 17s and Mini and Junior teams (from the ages of 8 to 16) on Sundays.

The club has enjoyed success in the North Midlands Cup, (winners 1982, semi finalists 1998), The Worcester Floodlit Cup (winners 1998, Runners up 1999) and the 2nd Team Cup organised by Kidderminster RFC.

Over the years, players from Bromsgrove have represented England Colts (the most recent being David Hunt in 1999), England under 21s, and the North Midlands and Worcestershire & Herefordshire County representative squads.

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Source: http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/ambitious-drainage-project-at-bromsgrove-rugby-club.html

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Automotive infotainment gains Tizen rich-media support ...

Mar 28, 2013

PathPartner Technology has joined the GENIVI Alliance with an eye toward marketing its embedded multimedia software and design services to developers of next-generation automotive in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) devices.
?

The GENIVI Alliance is a non-profit consortium with the goal of ?bringing open source software into the car, starting with the most complicated car software system, the IVI unit.? To this end, the group has standardized an open source architecture and development platform for IVI applications and devices.

GENIVI system architecture

Although PathPartner has already been supplying software and services to various automotive multimedia device manufacturers, the company will now focus more proactively on developers of GENIVI-compliant devices. CEO Tushar Kanti Adhikary sees ?GENIVI as an important step towards standardization in the infotainment domain.?

CTO Dipanjan Ghosh says PathPartners GENIVI-related thrust will include ?feature-rich and high-performance IVI solutions on the Tizen platform,? although the company also has considerable Android expertise.

The GENIVI Alliance describes itself as a non-profit industry association whose mission is to drive the broad adoption of an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) open source development platform. According to a GENIVI FAQ, five Linux distributions are currently registered as GENIVI Compliant, including: MeeGo IVI, which has transitioned to Tizen IVI; Mentor Graphics IVI; MontaVista IVI; Ubuntu Remix IVI; and Wind River IVI.

For more information on PathPartner Technologies, visit the company?s website, here.
?

Source: http://linuxgizmos.com/automotive-infotainment-genivi-tizen-multimedia/

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Drug-Resistant 'Superbug' May Spread Among ... - Health.com

March 29, 2013

orderly 40329 Drug Resistant Superbug May Spread Among Patients, Study Finds

FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) ? Drug-resistant bacteria that cause lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis can be passed indirectly from person to person, a new study finds.

Between 3 percent and 10 percent of cystic fibrosis patients in the United States and Europe are infected with multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium abscessus, and the numbers are rising. The difficult-to-treat infection causes progressive lung damage.

In this study, researchers conducted DNA tracking of a multi-drug resistant M. abscessus outbreak that occurred among 31 cystic fibrosis patients at a British treatment center between 2007 and 2011.

Despite tight infection-control measures, patient-to-patient transmission was common, according to the study, published online March 29 in the journal The Lancet.

The researchers were unable to pinpoint the exact method of cross-infection between the patients. They said it likely occurred through contamination of things such as hair, clothing and bedding, or when bacteria were released into the air during procedures such as lung function tests.

The findings will have a major effect on how cystic fibrosis patients are cared for in hospitals and raise questions about the effectiveness of current infection-control measures and the risk of multi-drug resistant M. abscessus cross infection in other groups of patients, said Dr. Andres Floto, of the University of Cambridge, and colleagues.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about cystic fibrosis.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/03/29/drug-resistant-superbug-may-spread-among-patients-study-finds/

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Power Players: Same-sex marriage could help reduce the deficit

BOTTOM LINE

This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in two landmark cases regarding same-sex marriage: Hollingsworth v. Perry, which deals with California's Proposition 8, and the United States v. Windsor, which deals with the Defense of Marriage Act. The court likely won't hand down a ruling in these cases for several months, but many of you had questions about the legal and economic implications of both cases and of course, about the potential outcomes.

Donna Lynn Lewis wrote in on Facebook: My friend argues that it would somehow hurt the economy as far as benefits or social security, this doesn't make sense to me. Maybe you could explain what the financial effect would be for our society?

Ebersole Hughes Co. asked: Wondering if SCOTUS refuses to hear the prop 8 case or "tables" it- is same-sex marriage legal again in California?

And Kitty Cole tweeted: What's your gut feeling on how the SCOTUS will rule?

Thanks for your great questions, and please keep them coming on Twitter and on Facebook. We'll talk a lot more about the hearings and the shifting tide on same-sex marriage in America on "This Week" on Sunday. Be sure to tune in, and don't forget to watch "Good Morning America" tomorrow morning as well.

New Soyuz route cuts travel time to ISS from two days to six hours

Normally, a trip from Earth to the ISS takes about two days. Thursday, a Soyuz capsule docked with the orbiting laboratory after less than six hours of flight time, setting a record. Accelerating the trip wasn't an issue of newer technology or more powerful engines, necessarily, but of better math and planning. The Russian vehicle essentially took a shortcut that required precisely timed steering over the course of four orbits, putting three crew members (including one American astronaut) on the space station at 10:28pm ET -- just five hours and 45 minutes after takeoff from Kazakhstan. Russian engineers are already looking at ways to trim more time off the trip, by cutting two more orbits from the route. Obviously the human cargo appreciates spending less time in the cramped quarters of the Soyuz. But getting equipment and materials for experiments to the ISS quicker should also yield better and more reliable scientific results. For a few clips of liftoff and the docking itself check out the NASA link in the source.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

Comments

Source: Discovery, NASA

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/tE4uQHg9oBU/

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This week alone, GOP calls Latinos ?wetbacks? and gays ?filthy? NAMBLA? pedophiles? (Americablog)

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| Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295457864?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers

A worker stands on top of a storage bin on July 27, 2011, at a drilling operation in Claysville, Pa. The dust is from powder mixed with water for hydraulic fracturing.

Keith Srakocic/AP

A worker stands on top of a storage bin on July 27, 2011, at a drilling operation in Claysville, Pa. The dust is from powder mixed with water for hydraulic fracturing.

Keith Srakocic/AP

When workplace safety expert Eric Esswein got a chance to see fracking in action not too long ago, what he noticed was all the dust.

It was coming off big machines used to haul around huge loads of sand. The sand is a critical part of the hydraulic fracturing method of oil and gas extraction. After workers drill down into rock, they create fractures in that rock by pumping in a mixture of water, chemicals and sand. The sand keeps the cracks propped open so that oil and gas are released.

But sand is basically silica ? and breathing in silica is one of the oldest known workplace dangers. Inside the lungs, exposure to the tiny particles has been shown to sometimes lead to serious diseases like silicosis and cancer.

Traditionally, silica exposure has been associated with jobs like mining, manufacturing and construction. But, as Esswein, a researcher with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and other safety experts have started to realize, some workers in the newly burgeoning fracking industry may be at risk, too, because of their exposure to silica dust.

"When sand was handled ? that is, when it was transported by machines on site, or whenever these machines that move sand were refilled ? dust, visible dust was created," Esswein says.

Dust blows off a pile of fracking sand at a mine near Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Dec. 15, 2011. Some of the air samples the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health experts collected at fracking sites had such high levels of silica that the respirators typically worn by workers wouldn't offer enough protection, according to NIOSH standards.

Steve Karnowski/AP

He was visiting fracking sites because he wanted to study the potential chemical hazards for oil and gas workers, and he initially figured he and his colleagues would probably assess workers' exposures to chemicals like drilling fluids. But when he saw the plumes of dust coming off the sand-handling machines and surrounding workers, he realized it could be a real hazard. The government has long set limits on how much workers can inhale.

"Knowing what I know about silica and respirable dust, that was the particular chemical that we chose to look at," Esswein says.

He and his colleagues visited 11 fracking sites in five states: Arkansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas. At every site, the researchers found high levels of silica in the air. It turned out that 79 percent of the collected samples exceeded the recommended exposure limit set by Esswein's agency.

There were some controls in place, says Esswein, who notes that "at every site that we went to, workers wore respirators."

But about one-third of the air samples they collected had such high levels of silica, the type of respirators typically worn wouldn't offer enough protection.

These unexpected findings have come just as federal safety officials are trying to set stricter controls on silica for all industries. Some proposed new rules have been under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget for more than two years.

Peg Seminario, director of safety and health with the AFL-CIO, a group of unions that has been pushing for stronger silica regulation, says the situation with fracking is a wake-up call.

"Hopefully it will give some impetus for the need for the silica regulation ? that there is a whole other population at risk and those numbers are potentially growing," says Seminario.

A local contractor closes the valve on his tanker truck on July 27, 2011, after watering the roads to help keep down dust at a hydraulic fracturing operation in Claysville, Pa.

Keith Srakocic/AP

A local contractor closes the valve on his tanker truck on July 27, 2011, after watering the roads to help keep down dust at a hydraulic fracturing operation in Claysville, Pa.

Keith Srakocic/AP

Workplace inspectors with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration wouldn't have been aware of this potential risk for fracking workers before this recent study because, unless they receive a complaint or there's an accident, they generally don't see the process of hydraulic fracturing. That part of setting up a well happens quickly ? and once a well is up and running, contractors move on to the next one.

Government officials and the fracking industry say they're now working together to reduce workers' exposures. They started with quick fixes, like putting up warning signs and simply closing hatches on sand-moving machines.

Some oil and gas companies are also testing new technologies. Tim Hicks, a safety expert with Encana Corp., says they've been trying vacuum systems that attach to sand-moving machines and suck up the dust.

The results so far are encouraging, Hicks says, but his company is still testing to see how much of a reduction in airborne silica is reasonably achievable.

"We'd like to envision a site that, you know, we could handle sand and sequester it all, and perhaps someday not need to use respirators," says Hicks.

He says he's not sure whether that goal is possible, or how long it would take to get to that point. "But I can say that at the rate we're going," Hicks says, "we're much more likely to hit that [target] than we were prior to this issue being recognized."

Hicks says he has only been working in this part of the oil and gas business for a few years and couldn't speculate as to why the industry didn't recognize this potential health risk earlier. People, he says, seemed to think the dust was basically just dirt.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/28/175042708/Sand-From-Fracking-Operations-Poses-Silicosis-Risk?ft=1&f=1007

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HTC European boss Florian Seiche reportedly leaving for Nokia

Florian Seiche

HTC EMEA President to join Nokia as head of European sales from June

Bloomberg is reporting that Florian Seiche, EMEA President at HTC, will be joining Nokia as head of European sales from June 15. Seiche, a familiar sight at European HTC press conferences, has been with the company since 2005, prior to which he served as Director of Devices at Orange. According to Bloomberg, Nokia's own EMEA head Shiv Shivakumar is leaving the company, to be replaced by its VP of smart devices for the Americas, Arto Nummela.

HTC and Nokia are in the midst of difficult times, as both are squeezed by fierce competition from Samsung and Apple. HTC in particular has seen dwindling sales and market share as a result to the meteoric rise of Samsung in the Android space. By comparison, Nokia recently returned to profitability, but its long-term fate is tied to that of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.

Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-3s0JyP2JP4/story01.htm

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North readies rockets after U.S. flies stealth bombers over South

By David Chance and Phil Stewart

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", official KCNA news agency said.

On Thursday, the United States flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea, responding to a series of North Korean threats. They flew from the United States and back in what appeared to be the first exercise of its kind, designed to show America's ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes "quickly and at will", the U.S. military said.

The news of Kim's response was unusually swift.

"He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA, ordering them to be standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in south Korea," KCNA said.

The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era Scud missiles that can hit South Korea, but its longer-range missiles are untested. Independent assessments of its missile capability suggest it may have theoretical capacity to hit U.S. bases in Japan and Guam.

The North has launched a daily barrage of threats since early this month when the United States and the South, allies in the 1950-53 Korean War, began routine military drills.

The South and the United States have said the drills are purely defensive in nature and that no incident has taken place in the decades they have been conducted in various forms.

The United States also flew B-52 bombers over South Korea earlier this week.

The North has put its military on highest readiness to fight what it says are hostile forces conducting war drills. Its young leader has previously given "final orders" for its military to wage revolutionary war with the South.

Despite the tide of hostile rhetoric from Pyongyang, it has kept open a joint economic zone with the South which generates $2 billion a year in trade, money the impoverished state can ill-afford to lose.

Pyongyang has also canceled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all communications hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.

U.S. SAYS NORTH ON DANGEROUS PATH

"The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that."

The U.S. military said that its B-2 bombers had flown more than 6,500 miles to stage a trial bombing raid from their bases in Missouri as part of the Foal Eagle war drills being held with South Korea.

The bombers dropped inert munitions on the Jik Do Range, in South Korea, and then returned to the continental United States in a single, continuous mission, the military said.

Thursday's drill was the first time B-2s flew round-trip from the mainland United States over South Korea and dropped inert munitions, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the drill fit within the context of ramped efforts by the Pentagon to deter the North from acting upon any of its threats.

Asked whether he thought the latest moves could further aggravate tensions on the peninsula, Cha, a former White House official, said: "I don't think the situation can get any more aggravated than it already is."

Despite the shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang, few believe North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, will risk starting a full-out war.

Still, Hagel, who on March 15 announced he was bolstering missile defenses over the growing North Korea threat, said all of the provocations by the North had to be taken seriously.

"Their very provocative actions and belligerent tone, it has ratcheted up the danger and we have to understand that reality," Hagel said, renewing a warning that the U.S. military was ready for "any eventuality" on the peninsula.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear weapons test in February in breach of U.N. sanctions and despite warnings from China, its one major diplomatic ally.

(Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Warren Strobel, Paul Simao and Mark Bendeich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-readies-rockets-u-flies-stealth-bombers-over-231837163.html

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Man arrested for smuggling more than 10 percent of an entire species

Rare tortoises discovered in luggage (P.Tansom/TRAFFIC)

A man was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok after authorities discovered he was attempting to claim a piece of luggage full of extremely rare tortoises.

Traffic.org, a self-described wildlife trade monitoring network, reports that the man was trying to pick up 54 ploughshare tortoises. "The wild population of Ploughshare Tortoises, considered among the rarest species in the world, is estimated to be as few as 400 individuals, and is declining fast," according to the site. As Popular Science points out, the man was attempting to smuggle more than 10 percent of the entire species.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has classified the ploughshares tortoise as critically endangered.

The piece of luggage had been registered to a woman who was arrested as well. In addition to the 54 ploughshare tortoises, 21 radiated tortoises, also endangered, were being smuggled. Authorities believe the tortoises were going to be sold as pets.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-arrested-smuggling-more-10-percent-entire-species-182945812.html

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Deal of the Day: Qmadix Metalix Snap-On Cover for Galaxy S3

The March 28 ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day is the Qmadix Metalix Snap-On Cover for Samsung Galaxy S3. The Metalix Snap-On Cover adds style, sophistication and protection to your Galaxy S3. The durable but lightweight, textured polycarbonate border helps to keep a firm grip on your device while aluminum alloy accents enhance the look without adding bulk or unwanted weight. Comes in red, green and copper.