Garage Door Safety Tips | ej-fransen.com

Keeping Your Garage Door Safe
As a homeowner, keeping your garage door safe should be a a priority, especially when you have kids or pets around the house. Even a standard garage door weighs at least a couple of hundred pounds ? more than enough weight to cause serious injury or death if it happens to fall or close on someone. Fortunately, a garage door is one of the less-complex bits of equipment in an average home and can be expected to last for at least 20 years under normal use. However, the moving parts like the springs and rollers are prone to wearing out over time and can pose a potential safety hazard if not maintained regularly. Bear in mind that while some garage door maintenance can be performed by a homeowner, it is not recommended that you attempt any major repairs ? spring replacements in particular can be extremely hazardous for an untrained professional due to the extreme tension contained in the springs.

• Inspect the garage door every 3 months. Check all moving parts including springs, cables and rollers for any signs of wear such as cracking, fraying or chipping. Verify that any bolts, screws or other attachments are tightened.

• Once a month, lubricate all moving parts with a product specifically designed for lubricating garage doors (e.g. WD-40 Garage Door Lubricant). This will help reduce the normal wear-and-tear and prolong the life of the parts.

• Depending on the type of garage door you have, it may either have a single torsion spring mounted above the garage door or an extension spring mounted on each side of the garage door. If you have extension springs, check that they have a safety cable installed ? this is simply a cable that runs through the middle of the spring. This will help catch any pieces of broken spring in the event a spring breaks. The spring may break apart violently, showering the garage with pieces of debris that could potentially injure someone or damage your property.

• With the garage door completely closed, trigger the emergency release on your garage door opener. This will disconnect the garage door from the opener so you can open it by hand. Make sure that no one is near the door, then open it by hand. The door should remain open no matter what position it is in, but if it will not stay open or even slams shut, the springs are most likely beginning to wear out and will need to be replaced in order to ensure safe operation of the garage door. The springs are designed to balance the weight of the garage door and make it easy to move.

• For homeowners with sectional garage doors (where the garage door consists of several sections hinged together) ? do not use the joints between each section as a handle to pull the garage door down. Hundreds of finger injuries occur every year due to this ? the garage door joints close up and can severely pinch fingers. Some garage doors are designed with safety joints to prevent this from happening, but always keep your fingers clear of the joints when closing your garage door by hand.

Keeping Your Garage Door Opener Safe
Along with the garage door, the garage door opener is also a potential safety hazard if not maintained properly. Fortunately, a correctly-operating garage door opener will significantly reduce any risk of injury but always use caution around a moving garage door. Some maintenance can be performed by a homeowner but for any significant issues, we always recommend consulting a qualified professional.

• For safety in homes with small children, it is always recommended that the garage door opener?s wall switch be placed at least 5 feet off the ground.

• With the garage door open, activate the garage door opener and place your hand on the bottom edge of the garage door as if trying to keep it open. The door should reverse immediately when it detects an obstruction. If it does not ? check the closing force on the garage door opener.

• With a roll of paper towels placed in the door opening, try closing the garage door. When the garage door touches the paper towels, it should immediately reverse. Check the closing force on the garage door opener.

• While the garage door is closing, pass an object across the garage door opening. The invisible beam projected by the safety sensors on either side of the garage door should be broken, causing the garage door to immediately reverse. If it does not, the safety sensors may be dirty ? they can be wiped down with a soft clean cloth to remove any dirt.

Justin Krutz blogs about a number of home improvement related topics for GSM Garage Doors, a Chula Vista garage door repair company which offers a variety of services to homeowners.

Source: http://ej-fransen.com/garage-door-safety-tips/

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Bulgaria: Sophisticated conspiracy in suicide bomb

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-sophisticated-conspiracy-suicide-bomb-131638794.html

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Not Nearly the Foreign-Policy Pizzazz for Romney Trip, But Does He Want it?

When Barack Obama crossed the Atlantic in 2008 in the heat of a presidential campaign, his arrival was compared to Jackie Kennedy?s famous 1961 trip to Paris. Though just a senator, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people came out to see him, and veteran, usually jaded, world leaders fought to have their pictures taken with him. His horrified Republican opponent tried to mock him as an inexperienced ?celebrity.? But the press could not get enough of Obama, as TV anchors and Sunday news shows fought for just a few minutes of his time.

It was something never before seen in American presidential politics.

Now, four years later, Mitt Romney hopes his own foreign trip will help boost him in his bid to oust Obama from the presidency. But his trip is Obama?s writ small ? fewer stops, fewer countries, fewer questions from reporters, less exposure, no war zones, and little risk of being crowned a 2012 celebrity in ads that liken him to Paris Hilton. But in an election likely to be settled by only a percentage point or two, neither the White House nor the Obama campaign is complacent about the possibility that Romney might display enough foreign-policy savvy to win over voters skeptical of a governor as commander-in-chief.

They have already launched a stinging attack, belittling Romney's national- security credentials, demanding more foreign-policy specifics, and contrasting his 2012 itinerary with the more ambitious one followed by Obama in 2008. Obama went to eight countries, including two war zones ? Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France, and England. Romney will visit three countries over the next week. He is scheduled to leave for London and the Olympics on Wednesday. On Thursday he will meet with Prime Minister David Cameron, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and opposition leader Ed Miliband along with other government officials. On Friday, he will attend the Olympic opening ceremonies and, with a nod to the many Irish-American voters back home, will sit down with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

On Saturday, he gets a chance to woo another large and influential domestic political constituency when he arrives in Israel. Romney has aggressively championed Israeli interests, arguing throughout the campaign that the president is insufficiently supportive of the embattled Middle East democracy and promising to push policies for the war-torn region that are ?the opposite? of Obama?s. On Sunday, he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a volatile relationship with Obama, as well as President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. That day will conclude in Jerusalem with an address by the candidate.

On Monday, Romney leaves for yet another country with lots of native sons now voting in the United States ? Poland. He will meet in Gdansk with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and legendary former President Lech Walesa. In Warsaw, on Tuesday, Romney will give another speech before returning home on Wednesday.

It?s an ?odd itinerary,? said Michael O?Hanlon, a foreign-policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, who noted the absence of Germany, the most influential power in the eurozone crisis, or any rising economic powers, or any war zone. To a foreign-policy expert, he said, it looks like Romney?s itinerary was set by ?the naked electoral politics? of ethnic Catholic and Jewish voters back home. He said that it appears that Romney is trying ?to emphasize his argument that Obama tries too hard to reach out to American adversaries and Romney is going to be first and foremost about supporting American allies.?

O?Hanlon said that Romney is wise not to try to duplicate the pizzazz of Obama?s 2008 trip. ?Romney knows he can?t compete with that. Obviously, Obama in 2008 had a certain international resonance that is extremely rare in American presidential campaigns by anybody.? P.J. Crowley, a National Security Council staffer in the Clinton White House and a top aide in the Obama State Department, said that the circumstances four years later are totally different. ?After eight years of George W. Bush, the world wanted a different kind of American leader and, today, Obama has closed that gap that existed in 2008,? he said.

Behind the scenes, Obama campaign staffers stress how open Obama was to questions of substance on his 2008 trip, stressing his willingness to appear on the two Sunday shows and talk to all the anchors. And, they note, he did not do something overseas that Romney will be doing in London ? hosting campaign fundraisers. (Though the Romney campaign was quick to note on Monday that Obama?s campaign did use his big speech in Germany in fundraising appeals domestically.)

Both privately and publicly, Democrats are demanding that Romney use the trip to fill in gaps on foreign policy, particularly whether or not he plans to abide by the timetable set by the allies to pull troops out of Afghanistan in 2014. Romney has criticized Obama for setting a timetable but has not said if he would ignore it. ?There is a big question here that I think Governor Romney needs to answer,? said Michele Flournoy, former under secretary of defense for policy. She was one of three top Obama campaign advisers who talked to reporters on a conference call on Monday.

Looking back on 2008, Robert Gibbs, a senior Obama adviser, told reporters on the call, ?I think at the end of that trip the American people knew exactly where Barack Obama stood on all the major foreign-policy issues of the day. The question I think for Governor Romney is whether this trip will be similarly substantive and live up to the bar that was set in 2008. Or whether this is one long photo-op and fundraising tour.?

With Romney expected to make much of the often-uneasy relationship between Obama and Netanyahu in Israel, the Obama campaign has been stressing the increased aid and missile defense Obama has provided Israel. But Colin Kahl, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, acknowledged the tension to reporters on the call. ?I think we?re all aware of the optics and some of the politics of personal relationships in the last couple of years in the U.S.-Israeli relationship,? he said, insisting the relationship remains strong. He also acknowledged Romney criticisms that Obama has not visited Israel as president. Somewhat defensively, he noted that President Ronald Reagan never visited the country and President George W. Bush did not do so until his second term. He added, ?I think we can expect him to visit Israel in the second term should he be reelected.?

After the call, the Romney campaign did not provide specific answers on the questions raised by the Obama staffers, but dismissed the statements as ?another desperate Obama campaign attack.? Ryan Williams, a Romney spokesman, sent reporters a sharp attack on the president?s foreign policy. ?In no region of the world is our country?s influence any stronger than it was four years ago,? he said. ?President Obama has failed to restore our economy, is weakening our military with devastating defense cuts, and has diminished our moral authority.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/not-nearly-foreign-policy-pizzazz-romney-trip-does-060020362.html

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fibre2fashion: View Chinese-made uniforms in Olympic spirit: China to US: http://t.co/VSVWke29 - Fibre2fashion #in

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Source: http://twitter.com/fibre2fashion/statuses/227324405678751744

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South Africa teens often become moms

MAVELA, South Africa ? Her grandmother was an alcoholic and her mother was a prostitute, strangled by a client. The child of another of her mother's customers, Nicolene Marx grew up in a poor Durban neighborhood with scant hope of escaping.

Then two years ago, the letter came. She had been granted a scholarship to study law at a university in Durban. She had the chance few poor South Africans get ? to flip her destiny.

But her education ended after "one stupid night" that left her pregnant at 18. She gave birth the week of her exams last year, failed, dropped out and her scholarship was taken away.

Now, at 20, instead of studying in the university library and writing law assignments, this bright and perceptive woman spends her time dashing around a clothing factory floor as an errand girl in a blur of exhaustion, earning less than $10 a day to take home to her 14-month-old daughter.

"I look back and say, 'You gave up your life. You had it on a silver platter. You really put yourself in a situation where you have no future.'

"That night, I never gave myself the opportunity to think about the consequences. It really breaks me sometimes, that I am responsible, I did it on my own. I was really, really irresponsible to such a point that I look at my daughter and I see my degree."

But she hasn't lost hope for a better future. She called her child Thembeka, or Faith.

*

Tens of thousands of South African girls drop out of the education system annually because of pregnancy and most never return. In 2009, more than 45,000 schoolgirls became pregnant, including 109 third-graders, according to a report released two months ago by the Department of Basic Education.

The rate of pregnancies for teens 15 to 19 in South Africa in 2009 was 73 per 1,000, according to the report, one of the highest rates among developing countries (as South Africa, increasingly, is seen by humanitarian agencies). The rate compares with 26 per 1,000 in Britain and 41.5 in the U.S. The problem is even more acute here in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, which has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in South Africa, leading to high dropout rates among girls.

That has serious implications for a country with high poverty and unemployment, a failing education system that has betrayed the aspirations of the post-apartheid generation, and a disastrous shortage of skilled people that threatens economic progress.

For each year a pregnant teen remains out of school, her chances of returning diminish sharply, experts say.

"Practically, they don't go back to school," said Farshid Meidany of the South African arm of Maryland-based aid organization Medical Care Development International. The organization runs projects in South Africa on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, child survival and maternal health, including one here in Mavela, outside Durban, for AIDS orphans, teen mothers and others.

"How can you go back? First of all, there's discrimination by teachers and colleagues," Meidany said. "And there's the work. They become premature adults."

*

Marx, as petite and poised as a ballerina, with huge, almond-shaped eyes, nurses her baby on her lap as she tells the story of her life with disarming self-perception.

She seems wise beyond her years, yet looks small and frail when she walks into the factory to a job she hates. When young men in the street call flirtatiously, she half-turns, half-smiles, then turns away from them, steels her expression and walks up to the factory gate.

Marx's childhood was so harsh, her chances of a better life were perhaps never very great. When her mother, a fair-skinned woman of mixed race, saw the baby for the first time, she was horrified that the darker-skinned child was obviously the progeny of an Indian client, not her boyfriend. She nearly left her at the hospital.

"She said I was such an ugly baby."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/latimes/news/nationworld/world/~3/M3MoagwSBmU/la-fg-south-africa-teen-pregnancy-20120723,0,435698.story

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Character Relations!

Everyone is falling in love with people they shouldn't... Will they find a way to make it work?

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Forbidden Fruits?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Code: Select all

[size=240][color=put your chars color]Name[/color][/size]

|? (romantic interest)|?(friends)|? (neutral)|? (Enemies)|

[size=100][list]
[*] [b]Sebastian Walker:[/b] Symbol, and then write what your character feels about this character
[*] [b]Miu Phoenix:[/b] Symbol, and then write what your character feels about this character
[*] [b]Sayuri Mochizuki:[/b] Symbol, and then write what your character feels about this character
[*] [b]Nathan Stockholme:[/b] Symbol, and then write what your character feels about this character
[*] [b]Serene Kessel:[/b] Symbol, and then write what your character feels about this character
[/list][/size][/font]

I thought that it'd be nice :]

?I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.?
? Robert Fulghum

?All I'm writing is just what I feel, that's all. I just keep it almost naked. And probably the words are so bland.?
? Jimi Hendrix

Little Fox

Member for 0 years

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Nice! I like it! :) Thanks for doing this :) Though, we should wait until all the characters are submitted to actually fill it out. And we have to OK the relationships with the other rpers.

10/8/47-2/24/12

Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow, but remember me in every tomorrow. Remember the joy, the laughter, the smiles, I've only gone to rest a little while. Although my leaving causes pain and grief, my going has eased my hurt and given me relief. So dry your eyes and remember me, not as I am now, but as I used to be. Because, I will remember you all and look on with a smile. Understand, in your hearts, I've only gone to rest a little while.

twi-twi

Member for 1 years

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INNOVATIVE BUSINESSES FIND THEIR STRIDE | Massive Magazine

MASSEY UNIVERSITY?S ECENTRE PLAYED HOST to the ?Startup Weekend? business innovation event on the weekend of 15 June at the Albany Innovation Campus.

The event was sold out, with nearly 90 people pitching business ideas. Some 12 groups then formed around the 12 best-received ideas, and the 54-hour marathon to create a Startup business was on.

Many ideas were based on social media and mobile apps. The weekend was also trending on Twitter and a simultaneous Startup Weekend was streaming live from San Diego. It was truly a social media event.

Event organiser Jessica Gillon said beforehand that drama was expected. By Saturday morning tension was already starting to build, with some team members even defecting to other groups.

However, groups then re-established with their new members and activity was running smoothly once more.

Mentors were also available to help direct the different groups. The mentors had training and success in areas such as marketing, business, and law. Mentors were both physically present, as well as virtually, with entrepreneurs available via Skype from San Diego, Copenhagen, Trondheim, Washington DC, and Fes.

Businesses were then pitched again before lunch on Saturday. The new pitches, based on the 12 original pitches, were more purposeful and defined. Group members had a clearer direction on what they wanted to achieve.

Groups were then left to continue with development, customer validation, and further mentoring throughout the afternoon.

Updates were given on the Saturday night, with business prototypes made, and even some customers already acquired. Head Coach and co-organiser Alan Froggatt said teams were ?on timeline? and ?settled?. This continued well into the night with one team operating until past 3am despite the venue being closed at 1am.

A hitch on Saturday night saw the lighting go out while groups were still operating. This didn?t seem to deter operations, though, as everybody seemed to be in high spirits.

Sunday morning provided the final countdown for the weekend.

Global Facilitator and co-organiser Dave Moskovitz said that everybody was ?under tremendous pressure and responding really, really well?. The teams? ideas were ?outstanding?, and with help from the mentors to ?crack the whip?, the teams worked hard and well to create viable business plans and products.

On the Sunday afternoon, teams finalised plans, products, and presentations in preparation for the judging panel that night. The panel consisted of four New Zealand business gurus: Candace Kinser, CEO of NZICT; Nick Gerritsen, Owner at Cripstart Ltd; Brett Roberts, CEO of Wharf42; and Misti Landtroop, Country General Manager at Pitney Bowes.

After all 12 teams presented their ideas for innovative businesses, the panel deliberated for a long time.

Coach and co-organiser Mike Zeff felt that due to the quality and potential of each presentation, it would be a ?tough call for the judges?.

In the end, the winning team was SmileToday.co, an innovative charity business with a social entrepreneurship aspect. First prize included a space on the ecentre sprint programme (valued at $4500), an MYOB start-up services package (valued at $1000), a StartupPack? of legal services from Lowdnes Jordan (valued at $2000), and a $500 cash prize on company formation.Following the Startup Weekend, 12 potential businesses were formed, with four receiving prizes to ensure their formation and continuation.

Source: http://www.massivemagazine.org.nz/blog/2012/07/23/innovative-businesses-find-their-stride/

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