Daily Archives2017 January 25

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The first thing to keep in mind when shopping for a protective cover is the application. Tarpaulins come in a variety of weights, thicknesses, and materials. Most people are very familiar with the popular poly blue tarps that can be found at most discount stores. These “blues” are at the low end of the quality spectrum and are not intended to last for very long or handle much stress or strain. At the same time, the blue ploys are inexpensive, convenient, and highly useful for temporary cover. If more than that is needed, there are several other varieties to choose from in the poly and vinyl categories.

Generally speaking, vinyl is stronger than poly, and more expensive. If you need something that won’t be likely to rip or tear, vinyl is a better choice. At the same time, there are plenty of times when inexpensive poly will do the job beautifully and for far less money. Understanding the various types of both poly and vinyl tarps that are available on the market today will help you to select the best product for your needs.

Poly White Tarp

The most common use for a white tarp is to provide long term protection for boats, cars, and RVs. They are also used in landscaping, roofing, to cover wood piles, and even skating rinks. Unlike the lightweight blue tarp, a white tarp is a heavy duty tarp designed to last longer and to withstand the effects of sun, wind, and rain. A white tarp is waterproof, mildew, rot, tear and acid resistant, and can handle below freezing temperatures. They are also UV treated for protection against sunlight and to ensure a longer life. A quality white tarp offers heat sealed edges and the hems are reinforced with rope. Corners are reinforced with a solid plastic bar, adding strength and stability. The material is 11-12 mils thick, making it durable and tear resistant.

Poly Silver Tarp

A silver tarp is another variety of heavy duty poly tarp. At 12 mils thick, they are highly rip resistant. They are also treated to be water, rot, and mildew resistant, and can be used in sub-zero temperatures. Silver tarps are frequently used for roofing, trailer and RV covers, woodpiles, and landscaping. Like the white tarp, a silver tarp offers UV protection and heat sealed seams reinforced with rope in the hems and rust resistant grommets.

Vinyl Clear Tarps

Vinyl clear tarps are an excellent choice for patio and porch enclosures, allowing you to enjoy the outdoors without getting wet. They can also turn your RV awning into an instant porch with a view. Unlike many others, clear tarpaulins come in both poly and vinyl material. Vinyl clear tarps are available in both 18 oz – 20 mil size and 27 oz – 30 mil size. This means that they feature 18 or 20 ounces of material per square yard and are 20 to 30 mil thick. This makes them some of the strongest tarps available on the market. Clear vinyl tarps are highly waterproof, tear resistant, as well as acid, oil, grease, and mildew resistant.

Poly Clear Tarps

Clear poly tarps are lighter and less expensive and provide less protection than their vinyl cousins. If you will be painting your home and want to protect the furniture or the shrubs, poly is an excellent choice. In those situations, you can save a lot of money be using poly instead of vinyl. In situations where strength and durability are important, vinyl will give you all the protection you need.

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Source by Chris A. Harmen

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All too often we tend to look at manufactured products today, and just assume that they were made using some type of complex machinery or, processes that are out of our reach. The truth is however, that quite often this just isn’t so, and clay roof tiles are a fine example.

No Gas Fired Kiln Required

Would you believe that you can make your own ceramic products just the same way that they have been made for centuries, and in fact you don’t even need a gas fired kiln. It’s the same way that bricks, and tiles are still being made to this day in wood stoked ovens in Mexico.

You Need to Locate a Cheap Source of Clay

The first thing you’re going to need, is a voluminous supply of good quality clay, and if you’re willing to look around in the area where you live, you’ll most likely locate a natural source somewhere. Just dig it up, load it in garbage bags, and lug it home in the back of a truck.

It Has to Be Worked Well Prior to Being Formed

The clay has to be worked well prior to being formed, and this is traditionally done with the feet in some type of large container or, containment area. To make the tiles it’s then rolled out on a table, using ¾ inch sticks on each side as guides to regulate the thickness.

After the sheet is rolled out, the next step is to use a plywood template to scribe out, and cut out the overall shape of the clay roof tiles you plan on making. If they are to be flat then stack them to dry flat. If they are to be curved then place them over a curved drying surface.

Use a Template to Cut Out the Clay Roof Tiles

After they have dried for several days the next step is to arrange them min piles in such a way that they are safe from breakage. After that dried firewood is arranged around the piles of tiles, being careful not to damage the unfired ceramic pieces.

Build a Brick Oven Around Your Product

Then the way they do it in Mexico, is they then build a kiln out of brick around, and above the tiles. So where do they get the brick? The answer is simple. They form them with molds out of the very same clay they make the tiles from. They then ignite the wood, and allow the clay roof tiles to fire.

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Source by Sandy Ferris

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If you spot an electric car on the street, it is nearly impossible to tell that the car is powered by an electric motor because EVs (electric vehicles) look exactly like a gasoline powered car. If you are an automobile enthusiast, you would probably know the EVs that are available in your country and this may help you to figure out a car is powered by an electric engine. The only other way to find an electric motor powered car is the excellent level of silence that an electric engine has!

The entire technological differences between an EV and gasoline powered car are kept under the hood; so you need to open the hood to know how they work. For those who have gasoline cars, their engine bay features so many boxes and pipes which look like a complicated plumbing work but with electric cars, this is definitely different and will look like some electrical work. The car will be using an electric motor to power its wheels and this engine will be different from a traditional gasoline powered engine.

The electric engine directly uses electricity and starts rotating, which means the power output is instantaneous and the maximum power can be enjoyed from the very beginning. However, these engines have a downside when it comes to climbing hills. This system will not provide adequate power for hilly surfaces and electric car makers all over the world are working hard on resolving this issue. Traditionally, electric engines were powered by normal car batteries that didn’t last longer. However, this issue has been resolved with modern car batteries that allow you to drive your eco-friendly vehicles for quite a long time.

The Working Principle

In an EV, there is an ac charger which will charge the battery unit. Once you start the engine, the power will be directly delivered from batteries to the car. Instead of a gasoline meter, an EV will have a volt meter that will show you the charge. If the volt meter shows a low charge warning, it means that you should recharge your car immediately. The EV motor do not have clutch as the motor has limited control over its power output. Instead of an accelerator, it is a potentiometer that allows you to increase or decrease the speed.

To make the air conditioner work, there will be an additional battery source and for heater, a water heater will be fixed in the engine bay. The power windows and other accessories also use the electric charge and replacements are made. The potentiometer used in an electric car is similar to a fan regulator and works based on the resistance principle. However, increasing or decreasing the speed can’t help you to achieve a higher or lower mileage as the power output as well as energy consumption will be the same.

This is how EVs work, which is a very straightforward principle. There is no doubt that electric cars can help you to save a lot of money that you used to spent on fuel.

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Source by Tobias K

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When parents travel with a small child, they always consider the safety of their precious bundle when they need to drive or travel. Baby seats have been designed so that the infant or child does not get hurt in case of an accident. But parents cannot carry the infant all the time especially when they are shopping or sight seeing. Thus the need for a stroller so that their hands can be free and both the parents and the child can be comfortable. But there are advantages and disadvantages in using a baby car seat stroller.

A baby car seat stroller or traveler is a combined baby car seat and baby stroller in one. This is handy for parents who don’t want to spend extra money on separate strollers and baby seats. The advantages of having a stroller is that when you will be driving you can remove the baby seat from the stroller and attach it to the seat of your vehicle, then stow the stroller in the trunk or back of your car. When you get to your destination, you can just re-attach the baby seat back to the stroller. Another advantage with the stroller is that the accessories have been tested for safety together with the car seat and the stroller.

One of the disadvantages of having a baby car seat stroller may be its size or bulkiness. Parents will already have to deal with the extra baggage containing the baby’s diapers and feeding bottles, so it may be a hassle having to deal with stowing away the bulky stroller. Many parents also do not consider getting a stroller, instead they get separate baby strollers and baby seats for their child. They can simply strap the baby seat in the stroller the same way a stroller is strapped. In terms of safety, what matters most is the baby seat when parents do travel or go out.

As with baby seats, one should check if there have been any product recalls for the baby car seat stroller. Parents should check this one out especially if they are using a used stroller. Parents also need to make sure that the car seat will fit the child and can be attached properly to the seat of their vehicle. No matter how trendy looking the stroller may look with its color coordination, it will not serve its’ purpose if the baby seat cover cannot be properly installed. The same precautionary measures should be used in considering a baby car seat stroller and a plain baby seat cover.

Another factor parents need to consider when they will get a baby car stroller when it comes to its’ bulkiness is how much more space is left when the stroller is stowed at the back of their vehicle. As with all baby strollers, parents need to check if the bulkiness of the stroller when stored will take up all the space in the trunk or back of their vehicles.

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Source by Paul Picher

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Ethanol cars work in a way very similar to normal gasoline cars, and are a great viable alternative fuel option because of current high gas prices. The only real difference is that ethanol car engines are able to utilize the biofuel ethanol instead of oil based gasoline.

Ethanol fuel itself is extracted from plants such as corn or sugarcane, and refined into an alcohol. This alcohol is suitable to be used as a biofuel in cars and other vehicles. Most hybrid automobile engines that use ethanol can also use gasoline, and are also called “flex-fuel” engines. The ethanol is injected into the engine in the same way as a non-hybrid automobile engine. Though ethanol gives slightly less miles per gallon than gasoline, it doesn’t create as much air pollution when it is burned.

The similarities between ethanol “flex-fuel” engines and standard engines make ethanol cars cheaper than most alternative or hybrid vehicles, because they are built in much the same way as a regular engine. Ethanol is actually cheaper in some cases than gasoline, and thus a hybrid that runs on ethanol can be less expensive to operate than a gasoline based vehicle.

Most standard automobiles can even run on a 10% mixture of ethanol in gasoline. Many gas stations around the world offer ethanol as an alternative to gasoline, and in some countries cars are required to run on ethanol.

You can find out more information about Hybrid Cars at ProHybrid.com along with video news, reviews, and tools such as price quotes and an automotive loan calculator.

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Source by Craig F Stevens

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In the aftermarket lighting world, there are a couple of terms that are thrown around by consumers and retailers alike, but they may not always be the correct definitions or used in context correctly. These words are constantly read especially if you have a European vehicle as these things are used primarily to stop error codes and messages from appearing and to a certain extent, stop flickering issues. Load resistors and decoders are the two primary words that are thrown around, but they are sometimes easily confused with one another. This article will provide you a clear distinction between these two easily confused words that are used to fix the same issue, but in different ways.

Load resistors are electrical components that provide electrical resistance within a circuit, thus providing “load” on the circuit. With LED lights, their low power draw on the circuit causes issues such as error messages appearing stating that the bulb is not functioning on certain cars or cause issues such as hyper-flashing (rapid blinking) of the turn signals. Load resistors create a load on the circuit which tricks the vehicle into thinking that the LED bulb is drawing the same amount of power as the factory incandescent one which gets rid of the error messages and hyper-flashing issues. The electrical circuit can be thought of as a fast moving highway and the load resistor as an accident on the freeway that causes traffic to slow down considerably; while the traffic flow is still steady, it has slowed down than any other part of the freeway at location of the accident.

A decoder is a component with an electrical capacitor inside that stores electricity and quickly releases it at a steady rate. With LED lights and their low power draw, decoders are used to mimic the way the factory incandescent bulb behaves. The storage of power within the decoder also creates a load on the circuit due to the build-up of electricity. LED decoders are primarily used with HID conversion kits and with LED daytime running lights. Decoders can be thought of as a water dam where a large portion of the water is held behind it, but it is slowly released downstream so it does not flood the upstream portion.

While both of these things serve the same purpose, one may be better suited for a task than another. For example, load resistors are better suited for stopping hyper-flashing in turn signals whereas decoders are not. Decoders are better suited with usage on HID conversion kits on European vehicles to prevent error messages. However, both of these lights can be used to reduce or eliminate flickering and prevent error messages on certain applications as well. While there is no definite use for either component, it is commonly accepted that load resistors are used for LED applications 90% of the time and that decoders are used for HID applications 60-80% of the time and there have been instances where both components are used. Whatever application you are working on, it is always best to inquire with the retailer on which one would best work for their product.

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Source by Eric Wu

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So were you recently diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia? Are you frustrated as heck and stressed out with all of the questions and diet changes? Yes I was to when I was first diagnosed. However, it does get better! In this article I’m going to show you just one simple thing you can do that will make all of the difference. Yep, and I’m not trying to sound like a used car salesman, but there is literally ONE thing that you can do that will make you feel dramatically better. And how do I know? Because I do this every day to control my RH and keep my symptoms of the frustrating disorder to a minimum.

Okay, so, controlling RH naturally is all about diet as you probably know. Meaning, you can’t just go on a junk food binge or simple carb binge without paying the price. – And even if you don’t do that, just controlling steady blood sugar levels can still be hard to do. That’s why I have developed a smoothie shake that tastes awesome, will keep your blood sugar stable and is easy to make. I have it every single morning for breakfast.

Now, what you want to do is take a half cup of almond milk, a half cup of water, a half cup of raw oatmeal, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (more information about these can be found on my website) and blend these all together. You will first notice the awesome taste, that’s normal! You will also notice that 3 hours later you still have energy and are ready to go!

You see, this shake is the perfect blend of everything! It has protein, it has fiber, it has antioxidants, it has omega 3’s and it can sustain the human body for 24 hours with just one tablespoon. Yep, you read that right, 24 hours with a tablespoon! So now you see why this shake is such a perfect shake for those of us with reactive hypoglycemia.

Do you really want to feel better? Of course you do! So, throw in a little cardio exercise; 20 to 30 minutes of walking 3 times per week, and watch just how great you start to feel!

Remember to always check with your doctor before starting or changing your diet and/or before starting any new supplement. This is especially true for anyone that currently has a medical condition.

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Source by Elvis Jackson Jr.

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Have you tried polishing a car by hand lately? If you have, you might think your car polish is defective when the real issue is your vehicle’s paint. That’s because automotive paint finishes have become much harder in the past few years, allowing them to last longer and resist scratching and chipping like never before.

The changes in paint technology, while very beneficial, have introduced a new problem for car owners. While it was possible to maintain automobile paintwork by hand just a few years ago, today’s new paint finishes make it nearly impossible. If your vehicle’s paintwork has minor scratches, swirl marks or water spot etching, you will need a buffer polisher to correct the problem. The good news is that the number one buffing machine for both home and professional use, the Porter Cable 7424, is very effective on even the most modern paint finishes, including the latest ceramic paints used by Mercedes-Benz.

The original Porter Cable Polisher and the new 7424xp are dual-action polishers. What this means is that the polishing head rotates (free-spins on its spindle) and orbits (powered by the motor) around the center spindle. A mass counterweight mechanism on the spindle dampens vibrations. This polishing action, often referred to as “random orbital” or just “orbital,” totally prevents symmetrical buffing marks, paint burns and the other types of automotive finish damage that people associate with high-speed buffing machines. That means if you use the polisher as intended it’s virtually impossible to damage your car, even with no experience.

This type of electric polisher closely mimics the motion of circular hand polishing. Imagine being able to make 2,500 to 6,000 tight hand circles in a single minute. That should give you a pretty good idea of how this machine does its job. Basically it works just like you do, only at super-human speed. Plus, it never gets tired!

If you have previously owned a car waxing machine that made a lot of racket, but did little else to fix the damage and restore shine, you will appreciate the brilliance of one of these buffing machines. It has all of the power needed to get the job done, yet it’s small enough and light enough that it’s easy to use.

The secret to using a dual action polisher with shining results is choosing the right polish and polishing pads for the job. Basically polishing pads come in three grades: cutting, polishing and finishing. A cutting pad is coarse and used to remove damage. A polishing pad has a bit if coarseness, but not much. It’s used to remove very minor damage and restore full gloss. A finishing pad is very soft. It’s used to polish without cutting and to apply waxes and glazes.

You must use an appropriate polish with each type of pad. Like the pads themselves, polishes have different grades of cut. A compound, for example, is a cutting polish. Compounds are rated by the level of sanding scratch they can remove. A compound designed to remove 2000 to 2500 grit sanding scratches will effectively remove swirl marks and water spots, whereas a product that can remove 1200 to 1500 grit sanding marks will remove fine scratches. If you can feel a scratch with your fingernail, you should remove it with 2000 grit wet and dry sandpaper before polishing.

If you’re confused about which polish to use to remove swirl marks, fine scratches and water spots, let me recommend Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound. It’s probably the best consumer grade product available today, and it’s easy to find at your local auto parts store.

After compounding to remove damage, you might think the finish looks great, but I recommend finishing off the job with a fine polish. Most compounds, including the new Meguiar’s product, will leave just a touch of hazing in the clear coat. All it takes to remove the hazing and restore a brilliant shine is a fine paint polish. I prefer and recommend Klasse All-In-One. It’s an amazing product that will produce a final finish that blows you away.

New automotive paints may be too hard to maintain by hand, but the solution is easy. A Porter Cable 7424xp gets the job done faster that you ever could by hand, and it’s a quality machine that will last a lifetime.

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Source by David Bynon

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The most difficult part of selecting a brand of hardware could be the lack of familiarity among the options. This is why selecting an IT networking hardware vendor can be like buying a used car in a foreign country. When presented with several choices, our initial reaction is to go with the cheapest option. However, this is not always the best choice, as there are several important factors to consider when making smart purchases.

When choosing network hardware, service and repair warranties serve an important role. For example, how far will technicians travel to service your network on-site? What services are included, and what costs extra? Once you’ve made your choice of hardware, what can you expect in terms of ongoing support and upgrade options? Before going ahead with the purchase, have a clear understanding of the terms for these sorts of services and how they relate to your network and location.

Many of the bigger hardware vendors set their pricing structure with future purchases in mind. Often, a customer will be able to get discounts on the initial sale if the seller expects that the account will generate future sales as well. It’s a good idea to express your long-term technology goals to the vendor for this reason.

There are some important factors to consider after you’ve selected the right hardware vendor:

Switches: This is what you’ll be plugging the cables into, the ‘spinal cord’ of the whole network. It’s common for networks to contain both fiber optic and copper cable; in this case, the switch will need to accommodate both. Otherwise, choosing the right switch for your office will depend on the traffic you’ll be accommodating and the media type used.

Devices: Your choice of devices should be based on performance expectations and network compatibility. Will the firmware be upgradeable? Will you use regular computers, or thin client terminals? What about articulated arms in the exam rooms? It’s important to reach agreements about device configurations, whether server, printer, or laptop. In fact, physicians should always check before making a computer purchase, to be sure that the device they want will function well on the network. By examining the network on a regular basis, the entire system can be kept in sync and up to date with current changes in technology. This system of updated improvements will help you attain maximum performance results while streamlining your technical needs.

Servers: Keep redundancy in mind when selecting a server. Will one machine cover the power of another that fails? If the hard drive crashes, will an array of RAID drives pick up the slack? How many processors are there, and how much RAM? Select a backup tape drive that is large enough to store all your data yet speedy enough to back everything up overnight. What about the physical setup of the network equipment? Maybe a custom rack or secure housing unit should keep the servers safe, particularly if there is a series of servers as in many EMR system set-ups.

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Source by Peter J. Polack

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If you do a quick browse through any department stores suit section you will quickly see that most suits have a tag stating that the fabric is made from super ### wool. The super numbers can range from the 100’s, all the way up to the 220’s. This number has quickly become an indication of the suits grade and quality. This has been problematic for the general consumer because most of us just do not know what these numbers mean, and even worse, for the most part the fabric industry has no regulating body that governs these numbers.

The “super” numbers is a code used to determine the micron of the wool fiber used in the yarn.(This is easily confused with thread count,  a grading method used in cotton goods, which denotes the amount of threads used per square inch)  The higher the number the finer the micron. Funny thing is that the number has no direct correlation to the micron width, rather a super 180’s wool was more of an arbitrary number chosen for no apparent reason. A common misconception is that the higher these numbers get, the better the fabric is. This is not the case.

In its purest form the “super” numbers were the fabric mills way of keeping score. It was an informal score keeping method between the big textile giants of Italy and England, that graded their live stock of merino sheep as well as their shearing and processing methods. As time went by and their best fabrics went to top designers all over the world, more and more of these “super” numbers became familiar to their customers. As is the case in most industries, as the leaders go the pack will follow, copy cat mills started using the same “super” numbers on their products. Today with out a regulating body to over see them, these numbers are as confusing as ever.

Whether you are looking to buy custom suits or off-the peg designer suits, here are a few things to think about in regards to these numbers:

• Use Common sense. With today’s technology it can be common place to find super 120’s and, to some degree, super 150’s suits. Most custom suit makers and designer labels will use this grade of fabric. The same is not true for higher grades. Super 180’s, 200’s and 220’s are truly rare fabrics to come by and can run well into the thousands. (a super 220’s suit  can cost as much as a new BMW). So if you should see a super 200’s suit at a discount retailer for a couple hundred dollars, there is a good chance that label is lying.
• Make sure it actually says wool. One trick many deceptive manufacturers use is labeling very fine micron synthetics as a super number. Technically the synthetic material is a very fine micron, some labeled as high as super 240’s, but the fact is these are still nothing more than a synthetic (polyester) fabric
• Buy according to “hand” rather than the number. Touch the fabric, rumple and ball it up. Great fabric is pliable and soft, it rebounds with out creases. Take time to really feel and handle the fabric and compare it to others in the store. The better ones will stand out.
• Compare to the best. A suit can be a pricey investment, so it makes sense to research before you buy. Even if the big names are out of your price range, it can not hurt to see what their fabrics look and feel like. This will give you a reference point to compare with your potential purchase.
• Choose a reputable maker. When choosing a custom suit maker or specialty department store choose one that will walk you through the fabrics and help you choose according to your needs. i.e. While a super 180’s might be a beautiful suit, the fabric is harder to care for, so if you are a traveling executive it might be best to find a lower grade. A reputable professional will take this in to account. If your clothier starts to sound like a used car sales man and is pushing the “upgrade” to bring your ticket up, it might be time to find a new clothier.

Buying a suit can be a fun experience when you are armed with knowledge. Understanding the “super” numbers can help you buy the best suit for you and your needs.

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Source by Chris Vance