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The life of a courier involves a lot of driving, delivering large shipments and smaller packages and letters across the country. Modern technology like state-of-the-art vans and high quality roads allow this process to be completed at great speed – it is possible to cross the United Kingdom from south to north in under 24 hours, although this would require a pair of couriers taking shifts. Today’s couriers might be surprised to know that several thousand years ago, the Ancient Persians had some similar ideas about efficient deliveries.

Ancient Communications

The Persian Empire (c. 550-330 BCE) was vast by ancient standards, reaching from Aegean Turkey in the west to the beginning of India in the east, at its height. The King ruled over it all; although he entrusted local government to his satraps, he still wanted to know all the important news in a timely fashion, especially when it concerned invasions, plagues, famines and so on. Ancient couriers needed to cross the empire as fast as possible with this news.

But the journey across the empire, from Sardis to Susa and further, took up to 90 days on foot. A walking courier was far too slow for vital communications. Mounted couriers were faster, but still faced restrictions like the need to rest their horse, and the hazardous terrain that forced the horse to walk almost as slow as a human for fear of crippling injury.

The Royal Road

King Darius I’s solution was to build a 1,500-mile long road – the Royal Road – which traversed the empire, and establish 111 posting stations along it. Each station kept fresh horses for the couriers to change onto, ensuring that they could ride as fast as possible. The journey across the empire now took a mere 7 days.

The extent of this achievement was recognised by contemporary writers. Famous Ancient Greek writer Herodotus wrote that “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness of night prevents these couriers from completing their designated stages with utmost speed” in his Histories. The Romans who invaded parts of Persian in later centuries continued its use

Its route

Herodotus’ writings – along with archaeological research and other historical records – have also furnished us with the Royal Road’s route, so that we can now follow those ancient couriers across the ancient empire. The Royal Road began in Sardis, above 60 miles east of present-day Azmir in Aegean Turkey. From there it went east through the middle northern section of Turkey and passed through the Cilician Gates to Nineveh (present-day Mosul in Iraq), formerly capital of Assyria. It then turned south to Babylon (near present-day Baghdad, Iraq), where it divided. The first route went northeast then east through Ecbatana and along what later became known as the Silk Road. The second went east to Susa (in present-day Iran), future Persian capital, and then southeast to one of Persia’s most famous cities, Persepolis.

An Assyrian road

While King Darius I of Persia ordered the development of the Royal Road’s full length, it seems likely that he wasn’t the first ancient ruler to envisage a quality road connecting important parts of his empire. The Ancient Assyrian Empire, which existed in many phases from as far back as the 20th century BCE until about a hundred years before Cyrus the Great forged Persia, most likely had a hand in building one part of the Royal Road. Its route through Nineveh and Babylon, old important centres of that Empire and not the most direct route across Darius’ empire, is strong evidence for the Assyrians devising infrastructure for ancient couriers even earlier in history, and the Persians simply expanding from it.

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Source by Norman Dulwich

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Construction sites are considered the most potentially hazardous and accident-prone parts of any working environment. Excessive exposure to these construction site hazards exposes workers to injury and possible death. To prevent this, a company should know how to identify and be aware of all possible dangers that can be encountered during normal business operations. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) wants every employee to have sound knowledge of their susceptibility to harm or injury in the workplace.

Listed below are the top six construction site hazards identified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA):

1. Electrical- Electricity is one of the greatest hazards to people either at home or at work. Power line workers, electricians and electrical engineers work continuously with electricity and can face exposure to this hazard on a daily basis. At the construction site, the best way to prevent this kind of hazard is for the power line workers to be a safe working distance away from the power lines. Other precautionary measures includes guarding and insulating of the vehicle from which they might work. This would help prevent electrical hazards from injuring them while working.
2. Excavation and Trenching – OSHA has recognized excavation and trenching as the most hazardous construction site operation. From the year 2000 to 2006, the United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics (USBLS) recorded 271 worker fatalities in trenching and cave-ins. These hazards are preventable yet injuries related to these hazards are still happening. Both employer and employee must follow safety standards and use protective equipment to minimize hazards while trenching and excavating.
3. Falls – Falling from scaffolding over six feet or a fixed ladder over twenty feet is the most dangerous and common construction site hazard. Falling from high places such as a ladder, scaffolding and roofs account for more than fifty percent of the accidents that happen at the workplace. The usual cause of this incident is slipping, tripping and using unstable ladders. There are thousands of reasons for fall hazards and to eliminate such risks, employers must have a fall protection program as part of any overall workplace safety and health program. Workers should be trained to identify and evaluate fall hazards and be fully aware of how to control exposure to such risks as well as know how to use fall protection equipment properly.
4. Stairways and Ladder – According to OSHA’s construction safety and health standards, stairways and ladders are major sources of injuries and fatalities among construction workers. These recorded injuries are serious enough to put a worker out on sick leave. OSHA registered approximately 24,882 injuries and 36 fatalities yearly that are related to falling from stairways and ladders used at the construction site. To prevent such accidents and injuries, employers and employee must comply with OSHA’s general rule for the safe use of ladders and stairways.
5. Scaffolding – Every year, approximately 60 workers die by falling from scaffolding; one out of five construction site falls are fatal. The most potential risk of scaffolding is due to moving scaffold components; scaffold failure related to damage to its components; loss of the load; being struck by suspended materials; electrical shock; and improper set-up. Construction workers who assemble and dismantle scaffolding and work platforms at construction sites face the risk of serious injuries due to falls. The scaffolding hazard is addressed by stated OSHA standards. They give specific requirements for the maximum load, when to use scaffolding, bracing and the use of guardrails.
6. Heavy Construction Equipment – Approximately 100 construction site workers die each year due to heavy construction equipment. The main causes of such accidents includes: ground workers struck when a vehicle is backing up or changing direction; equipment rollovers that injure the operator; mechanics run over when brakes are not properly set; and ground workers crushed by falling equipment from backhoes, buckets, and other moving construction vehicles. To prevent this kind of risk, workers should follow all construction safety guidelines necessary to eliminate the exposure to such injuries and accidents.

Safety risks on construction site are unavoidable; however, these can be prevented if workers are instructed on how to identify the hazards that might be present at the work-site. The employer must establish proper safety standards that meet the maximum requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This will ensure that workers will have a safe working environment during normal operation.

This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of construction site risks; however, these top six items are certainly important ones that all construction site employers should be aware of and continually working to eliminate them from happening.

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Source by Christopher M. Hunter

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More than 700 million pieces of mail are sorted and delivered by the Postal Service each delivery day. But how does each piece get from point A to point B? Follow the fast and furious travels of a mailpiece.

You enclose your mail into its envelope and fill out the address. Once that letter has been deposited into a collection box, a postal carrier removes all the mail from the box and takes it to the neighborhood post office. From there, that letter, along with other mail collected by other carriers of that post office are gathered together in the mail room and placed on a truck and delivered to a mail processing plant.

At the processing plant, the letter is sent through a machine that rapidly separates mail by shape, separating letters from large envelopes and packages, which is called the culling operation. The machine adjusts letters so that all the addresses face the same way and are right side up. A postmark is then applied with the date and place where the letter was sorted. The postmark’s cancellation lines are applied too so that the stamp cannot be reused, in order to protect postal revenue.

Each letter is also identified by a code consisting of a series of fluorescent bars imprinted on the back. An optical character reader scans the address on the front of each letter. Images of letters that could not be successfully read are transmitted to a remote encoding center for further processing. All letters are then placed in trays and moved to the next piece of automated equipment for barcode application.

Linked with the identification code, a barcode is sprayed on the front of the letter. The barcode, representing the specific delivery address, consists of tall and short bars used for further sorting. The barcode sends a specific mailpiece into a bin on the machine for a particular range of ZIP codes, which identify the next processing plant.

A tray, containing mail specified for a particular ZIP code range, is taken to the airport to begin its flight across the country. Once the plane lands at its destination, postal workers deliver the tray and its contents to the mail processing plant that serves the post office, station, or branch that will deliver the letter.

At the plant, the mailpieces in the tray are fed through a barcoder sorter, which separates letters for a specific ZIP code from other letters in that ZIP code range. After this, the letter receives its final sortation. A delivery barcode sorter sorts the letter to a particular carriers who will deliver it. The barcode sorter also arranges that carrier’s letters in the order of delivery.

Afterward, all of the mail for this carrier is taken by truck to the Postal Office, station, or branch in which the carrier works. The carrier loads trays of mail, including the letter, into a motor vehicle. Once the vehicle is loaded, the carrier drives to the street where the letter is to be delivered and loads his or her satchel with the mail to be carried to each house or business. Within minutes of leaving the truck, the carrier delivers the letter to the addressee.

As letters account for the greatest amount of mail volume, the Postal Service has continued to introduce new equipment and technology to speed up letter processing. Along with letters, it also initiated automation of catalogs, magazines, and other oversized envelopes. It has also turned its attention to speeding up the processing of parcels. Its newest focus is to provide customers with more information on each mailpiece as it travels through the system. The goal is to have an intelligent mail system in place by 2009, which would operate like a Global Positioning System for mail, using a standardized barcode on each piece of mail and mail container, enabling customers to see where their mail is each step of the way.

Whether it’s the U.S. Post Office or a corporate mailroom, the key to delivering mail smoothly is organization. The U.S. Postal Service is a solid example of innovation and organization in the mailroom with use of the right equipment. No matter what volume of mail you may be processing, it’s important to have the correct tools to handle letters and packages. For example, mailrooms should be stocked with several pairs of reliable, safe box cutters. It goes without saying that any mailroom or shipping and receiving department should have many kinds of safety knives on hand.

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Source by Tom Knapp

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If you are just getting started in skateboarding and don’t have a lot of money to spend on a new board, you may think that buying a cheap skateboard is the way to go. However, don’t be fooled. Cheap is not the same as inexpensive. While there are many cheap skateboards out there, many of them are of low-quality and will not withstand constant use or advanced tricks. There are inexpensive skateboards that are well-made and are quite a bargain. Let’s look at two definitions before we go further:

Cheap: costing very little; low in price; small cost; may be low in quality

Inexpensive: not costly; a good value

So, from our definitions, a cheap skateboard may be more costly than an inexpensive one.

Cheap Skateboards

A cheap skateboard is one that is constructed from poor-quality materials. These are typically sold at mass market retailers like some chain stores. They may be priced low or they may be priced higher than a better-quality board. These cheap boards will have a deck made of cheap plastic or wood, will not have the fit and finish of the deck, trucks, and wheels of a better board, and will use inferior trucks and wheels.

Inexpensive Skateboards

An inexpensive skateboard will be made of higher-quality materials than a cheap skateboard. It will have a deck that is made of high-quality plastic, wood, or composite materials. It will also feature good quality trucks and wheels.

Some Examples of Inexpensive Skateboards

Powell is one company that makes inexpensive skateboards. They have several complete boards (deck, trucks, and wheels) for under $50. These are an excellent value if you are just getting started in skateboarding. Another company that makes a good-quality inexpensive skateboard is Speed Demons. They have a few models under $60 and even more in the $60-$80 range. One type of board we don’t like is the Yocaher skateboard. These boards are around $35 and feature bland graphics and, in our opinion, a design that is not up to par with today’s standards.

If you are looking for exciting graphics and a good-quality board, we like World Industries boards. You can pick one up for under $60, they have decent decks and mediocre trucks and wheels, but they are a good example of an inexpensive skateboard that should serve you well in the beginning and until you are ready to invest in a better board.

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Source by Dean Novosat

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Hauling services are opted for by most at some point or the other. One of the commonplace examples of the same is when you shift out of your office or home to a different place and all your possessions need to be shifted as well. In order to ensure that the goods are safely transported, you can employ the services of a specialized business.

Heavy hauling services are required in case of heavy industries like construction. It forms a part of the logistics of most industries where equipments and materials need to be transported from one place to another. These are multi-ton shipments that are transported from quite a distance.

Heavy lifting and hauling services are provided by specialized companies which have an extensive fleet of trucks, and can also arrange for cargo on board ships and railroad transfers and have a network that spans the entire country. This means that they can arrange for the transfer of goods and heavy equipments to any place.

The transportation of these goods without proper insurance is a risky business. It calls for a customized insurance policy that suits the haulage business perfectly. For example, if a truck is carrying hazardous material, then it should be insured under a suitable coverage plan.

The goods that are meant to be hauled and transported are covered by haulage insurance, which is often overlooked by one who is not aware of the intricacies of the business. Since it involves the transportation of expensive goods and equipments, the contents are insured so that the customer is assured of their safety and security. In most cases, heavy haulage insurance comes for a substantial price.

The range of services offered by a heavy hauling company include heavy construction equipment hauling, railroad freight, sea port container freight, house raising, house moving, loading and offloading from rail cars, heavy lifting and weighing, movement by barge and even port trans loading and storage.

It is important to keep certain things in mind while choosing a heavy hauling service. You need to get a good bargain rate price. Other factors that need to be taken into consideration include the timely pick up and delivery of goods and the quality of the services offered. You can check with those who regularly opt for such services for recommendations or browse the Internet for information on these businesses.

While local hauling services ensure that you can interact with them personally, you may have to opt for a business that is spread across different parts of the country for transporting your goods to remote areas. If the goods need to be transported across the border, then you need to avail the services of a company that provides international logistics service.

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Source by Chris M. Anderson

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Anyone who has had to deal with Mexican authorities, either on a personal or business basis, will have had experience of how concerned they are with having paperwork in order. Hispanic countries seem to take documentation to whole new level, and Mexico is no different. Each “i” must be dotted, and each “t” crossed.

When you are about to export goods to Mexico, you should prepare for an administrative and logistics minefield. You will need to present comprehensive documentation to support the import of your goods, and the distribution within Mexico’s borders. Any discrepancies or deficiencies in the paperwork and your goods will be seized and held until the problem areas are resolved to the satisfaction of the Mexican Importation Laws, which are administered by the General Customs Administration.

Before your product crosses into Mexico, imported goods need to stop and be unloaded at a receiving warehouse on the US side. What I mean is, that your truck can not drive right across the border, deliver the product and drive back over the border. But it’s before even loading your goods onto the truck, or into the hold of a ship or plane, that the problems with importation could begin.

The top five reasons your goods might get stuck at the Mexican border range from the temporary to the almost indefinite.

1) Your Goods Are Mis-Classified

All of your goods will need to be classified for import duty payments. The documentation must conform to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), and this includes identifying them as NAFTA or non NAFTA imports. Underneath this classification comes a sub-classification by industry. The goods to be imported must be annotated as to the industry for which they are being imported, as this, too, will have an impact on duties payable.

Once at customs for clearing, the professional customs expert cannot change the classification details. It is up to the exporter/ importer to ensure the classification paperwork is in order, and though this can often be done online, it is a lengthy process.

You will need to provide proof of the payment of any import duties and taxes payable. These might include IVA (VAT), customs processing fees, warehouse fees, and special taxes on production and services.

All goods must be marked with country of origin stamps or stickers, and be imported with a certificate or origin. Imports from NAFTA countries may be free from importation taxes.

2) Your Goods Are Mis-Valued

The valuation you place upon your goods on the importation documentation will determine the duties to be paid (if any). Of course, the country of origin will also impact these duties payable.

If, upon inspection of the paperwork or the goods themselves, the Customs officer believes that the goods have been undervalued (whether deliberately or mistakenly), then the goods will be held whilst checks are made. These checks may include internet searches for similar goods, and phoning the supplier to ensure price charged is the correct valuation.

This is not only on the exporter end, it is also a problem found with importers, where the importer needs to attach valuation paperwork and undervalues for avoidance of tax and duties.

Mexican and American authorities work closely together to ensure that there is a good knowledge of the origin of goods and valuation of goods being imported into Mexico, and have many years’ experience that helps them quickly identify mis-valued goods or those with the country of origin mis-stated.

3) Your Goods Have an Incomplete NAFTA Certificate

NAFTA goods are taxed differently to goods from other exporting countries. If the goods you are importing into Mexico are NAFTA originated, then they need the correct certification. The importer of records in Mexico must have the original document, and not a photocopy.

Commonly this documentation is supplied with incorrect importer and exporter details attached (for example a wrong address, or ZIP, even a mis-spelt company name or poorly numbered tax code). This certificate must also be produced with a detailed description of the goods to which it pertains. The NAFTA certificate must be supplied at the time of import: it cannot be given in retrospect for goods already imported into the country.

4) Your Goods Are Accompanied by Poor Documentation

All goods imported into Mexico must be accompanied by full and correct documentation, but all too often the necessary documentation is either poorly completed, or missing altogether. If Customs cannot read the commercial invoice, for example, your goods will be held for paperwork to be fully supplied. Other common mistakes with documentation include incomplete product descriptions – often only the part number is supplied – and late arrival of documentation.

Many of these problems could be avoided by advancing the documentation to the customs broker ahead of the goods. The goods may take several days to ship to the border, and if the customs broker has the paperwork in advance – perhaps at the same time it is sent to the importer – then he will be able to check and ensure it meets the required standard.

Both the packing list and the commercial invoice needs to be readable, with full product descriptions and parts numbers, as well as quantities and measurements clearly stated and defined. It needs to be translated into Spanish, and don’t forget the unit price and valuation.

The first and most fatal mistake made is for your client (the importer) to not be properly registered as an importer of goods to Mexico. Registration is by application to the Importers Roster at the Tax Administration Services, and to qualify they must have all documentation in order as to compliance with Mexico’s fiscal obligations. This includes having a Federal Tax ID Number (RFC), which needs to be applied for wherever they will be doing business in Mexico at the local Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito. The Hacienda, as it is commonly referred to, is the Mexican equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service in the United States.

5) Your Power of Attorney and Export Declaration Is Incorrect

Exports into Mexico must also be warranted by a Shipper Export Declaration. Often this will be executed by the exporter himself, but when goods are sent by a courier, for example, this responsibility falls upon the courier.

The professional customs expert needs a Power of Attorney (POA) to be able to complete the importation process. Without it, he is unable to gain release of goods from the warehouse to cross the border and forward to the importer.

As much as 50% of goods held up at the border are done so because there is no valid POA in place. The POA also allows the professional customs expert to file the proper Shipper Exportation documentation.

Here’s a Bonus Mistake that is often made:

Your Imported Packages Don’t Match the Paperwork

Part of the paperwork will be the Packaging List. This list will detail the number of packages, and must include metric weights, sizes and volumes of all the packages. Each package must be numbered and the Packaging List must a detailed list of all the merchandise held within each package: this includes parts numbers and detailed descriptions. A simple mistake in the packaging or paperwork will delay the import of your goods into Mexico. If your packages weights are stated as 1kg, they will be held for further inspection and delayed form importation if they weigh more or less than this.

Packaging, too, has to conform to certain standards. Pallets must be fumigated and officially stamped before crossing the border.

Make Sure You Follow All of the Rules

Because of the complexity of the laws and the pitfalls possible many exporters to Mexico will employ the services of a professional customs expert, who is permitted to prepare and present all the documentation on the behalf of the exporter. This will include providing the importer with copies of all paperwork needed to complete the exportation process.

A professional customs expert will understand all of the paperwork necessary, and work to high standards on your behalf. He will provide you with the following services:

• Processing of all permits and authorizations;

• Reviewing of all documentation and preparation of the import duties declaration;

• Review of shipments at the border, ensuring they correspond to invoices and packaging lists;

• Clearance of goods through customs;

• Provision of guidance on letters of credit, taxes, insurance, warehousing, etc.;

• Shipment of the import from point of entry to final destination.

How you work with your professional customs expert will also help your exportation process. There are some simple things that you can do to aid him and the smooth passage of your goods into Mexico:

• Know your client in Mexico;

• Ask your professional customs expert for confirmation of the HTS number;

• Send pictures, web links, etc. to the professional customs expert to aid with the classification process;

• Establish responsibilities between you and your client (e.g. who pays the freight, condition, INCOTERMS);

• Send the NAFTA certificate to the importer for validation;

• Ensure that your exports are accompanied by copy of all required documents;

• Send all the documentation to your professional customs expert before your products arrive at the border;

• Ensure all your packages are labeled correctly with NOM labeling requirements.

Using a professional customs expert will allow you to work safe in the knowledge that your importation will be managed professionally and in good time. Having goods held up at the border is not only time consuming and embarrassing, but derogatory to your business reputation. It could cause a loss of business, a hit on your profits, and a tax on your time.

The paperwork minefield is not easy to navigate, but with a professional customs expert at your side you’ll come out the other side unscathed, as will your importation.

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Source by Sandro Piancone

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Hydraulic excavator is also known as digger, which is used in various applications. This equipment is high-performer and useful in working location that is more limited and less agreeable to usual digger. This excavator is utilized in applications which range from building of roads, pipeline in mining and digging of rocks that contains gold and diamonds.

The job equipment section of hydraulic excavator includes hydraulic canister, an arm, a boom and bucket. This work apparatus is involved in the real digging and loading. By the adjustment of the level of oil in the cylinder may change the motion of precision of working apparatus.

Those who have seen the performance of the hydraulic digger often wanted the actions of the equipment than those done by the actual arm. The boom part of the excavator acts much the same as the upper part of human arm, together with the shoulder and elbow. The arm part performs much like the part of the arm starting from the elbow and ends in the wrist. The bucket part may be compared to cupped hand.

Hydraulic excavators tender much versatility. The buckets in these diggers can be detached and substituted with scissors, drills or crushing equipment. This level of versatility makes the hydraulic excavators very helpful in huge range of applications.

The digging work is done by the equipment arm which is an important section of the excavator. The higher structure of the equipment is essential also and may be viewed as heart of the excavator. It grasps the engine, the swing motors and the hydraulic pump and tank. These vital devices are in charge in making the excavator do the digging and loading.

The lower portion of the excavator is also essential. It includes the mechanisms which make equipment move alongside of the road, up in the hill or across the construction area. There are diggers that use wheels in moving and others which have crawlers.

Most hydraulic diggers in the United States have crawlers, because they suited better in moving along uneven roads and also maneuvering alongside steep slopes. Crawlers are tracks like belt used instead of wheels. Hydraulic excavators which have crawlers are more practical to use in muddy areas than those which have wheels.

The hydraulic excavators are commonly utilized for digging soil and rocks but because of their many attachments they can be used also in cutting steel, breaking solid drilling holes in the ground, laying gravel into the road before overlaying, compressing rocks, concrete and steel and even landscape wowing. These excavators possess an operating load of twenty thousand pounds (9,072 kilograms) or higher. The invention of hydraulic excavators with their easier operations and less expensive productions has replaced the use of cable excavators.

The first hydraulic excavators were produced in 1951, invented by Poclain in France. He introduced the first mechanism to rotate fully in 1960.

The hydraulic excavators today are manufactured by Hitachi and Caterpillar companies. Models like Hitachi’s five hundred seventy ton EX5500 and Caterpillar’s three hundred sixty ton Model 5230B are some of the famous equipment in the manufacturing business.

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Source by Victoria Sallador

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It is not that hard to get unlimited free automotive leads if you do it the right way and know what you are doing. With hundreds of millions of Google searches for cars and trucks every month, you now have the ability to quickly and easily make contact with many prospects.

Get Your Information Out There

You can reach thousands of prospects each month if you put your contact information in front of them when they are searching for a motor vehicle to buy. This means you have to find a way to get your contact information shown on the pages where they are looking, instead of your competitors’ information. When they see your name instead of theirs they will call you or stop by and see you instead of the competition.

Due to search engine changes in 2011, you can now dominate your local search market for new and used cars and trucks. This is because Google and others now give search engine results based on local markets and local geographical areas. This is good for smaller local companies. It means you now have a way to be #1 online in your market.

How To Get A #1 Ranking

To get the #1 ranking in Google and all the other search engines means you must have a plan to get your name and contact information listed in so many places that Google can’t ignore you. Every time your name shows up somewhere online it is a vote for you to be #1, and the car dealer with the most votes will be ranked #1. We do this through a program of internet domination that includes every type of website you can think of, including blogs, forums, other local websites, business directories, articles, press releases, twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Once we do this, then Google starts noticing and believes you have a good website and a good car dealership because you are being mentioned so often in so many different places. How many other web cites and references it takes all depends on how competitive your market is.

If you are trying to be #1 for all the search terms for new and used cars in a large city it will take more time and more work than a small city. With our domination system we have found we can get a car dealer to #1 even in a large city eventually.

Your Window Of Opportunity

What is in your favor right now is the fact that most of your competitors don’t know about all the changes in local search rankings. This gives you a window of opportunity to be ranked #1 now pretty quickly, at least in your own city.

We have found that with the right help from an expert you can shoot to the top of not just Google but all the other search engines as well, including YouTube and other Google-owned websites. The problem is that many internet marketing firms are still using methods that worked a year or two ago but don’t work anymore. To get to #1 in your market means getting leads from many different websites, forums, directories and blogs, not just Google.

Massive Online Presence

The approach that works for local internet domination is to have a massive online presence, and to accomplish that we invented something called The Massive Lead Machine for automobile sales. This not only gets you top ranked it also gives you an ongoing, unlimited amount of free car leads from the internet. The Massive Lead Machine succeeds in positioning your business name and contact information in thousands of internet locations so that people online looking for vehicles will always be seeing your name and so will call you or stop by for a test drive.

Positive Online Reviews

Not only that, we have also created a system to get your business a lot of positive online reviews and a lot of favorable comments in discussion websites. This creates the most valuable form of advertising – word of mouth advertising. And this not only works better than expensive paid ads, but it is also free once you have a Massive Lead Machine working for you generating unlimited internet leads.

Dominate Your Market

All of this online publicity and word of mouth advertising, along with links, reviews, citations and top search engine rankings, will allow you to truly dominate your local market for auto and truck sales.

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Source by Leo J. Vidal

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Depending on the size of a live concert tour, many people are employed behind the scenes to produce a successful show. Have you ever gone to a concert and wondered, “how do they get this whole stage set up, and torn down in one day?”

Typically, a live concert production arrives at the venue between 7 am and 12 noon and is ready for showtime at 7 pm. After the show, the entire production is loaded back into trucks and is headed off to another city by 2 am for another load-in the next morning. This incredible feat is made possible by the hard work of several small crews that travel with the tour, with the help of larger local crews. Touring crews are broken down into categories and can include production, audio, lighting, rigging, video, pyrotechnics and backline. Here we will discuss what a backline technician does, and how to become successful.

A backline technician is someone who travels with a band and sets up their guitars, drums, keyboards, and any other instruments or band gear being used. They are responsible for keeping everything in tune and working properly. At the end of the show, the backline technicians pack up the band gear and load the trailer or truck.

When you see a large concert in an arena or stadium you must realize that in most cases the band you are seeing started out touring in small clubs and theaters. Large touring acts will have huge crews traveling with them on multiple tour buses, and semi trailer trucks filled with sound and lights. Keep in mind they probably started out in one van pulling a small trailer with only their instruments and band gear. And their first crew members were probably a couple of inexperienced backline technicians!

So in order to figure out how one becomes a backline technician, lets break it right down and start at the beginning. Just like anything else in life, getting into this industry means starting at the bottom and working your way up. Let’s first discuss what skills you need to become backline technician. This is where you are going to begin, and this is what you are going to need to know!

A big misconception is that a backline technician must be a really good drummer or guitar player etc. This is simply not true. Being a good musician is definitely a huge asset, but it is not as crucial as you might think. That being said, you must have a fundamental understanding of these instruments. If you have never picked up a guitar, played a piano, or sat behind a drum kit, you have some work to do before even considering this line of work. If you are serious about becoming a backline technician I would recommend taking some guitar, drum and piano lessons in your spare time. Learn how to tune a guitar and play the basic chords. Learn how to play a drum beat and tune a drum. Learn how to play some scales on a piano. You don’t have to become a pro, just learn the basics. 4-8 weeks of half hour lessons can be done in your spare time. I have worked with many successful technicians on large scale tours who have very little playing ability. This hasn’t stopped them, so why should it stop you?

The next thing you are going to need to do is become educated on the maintenance of these instruments and gear. For this I would suggest contacting local musical instrument repair shops and asking if you could volunteer. Find out who the guitar and amp repair technicians are and try to meet them. Explain to them that you are interested in becoming a backline technician and would like to learn some basic skills of guitar setups, guitar repairs, amp repairs, and drum repairs etc. Ask if you could come in for a couple of hours and watch them work. Maybe offer to sweep the floors, or clean up the shop in exchange for lessons on instrument repairs. As long as you are courteous and show interest in their profession you might be surprised how eager these people will be to help you. You might even get a part time job and get paid to learn! You do not need to be a professional musical instrument repair person, but you need to have a good understanding how the instruments are set up and repaired. If you live in a larger city there might be backline companies that rent gear out to local venues for events. This would be a great place to volunteer and gain a better understanding of backline gear.

Once you have acquired some of the basic skills mentioned above you will be ready to start looking for some hands on experience. Living in a large city is going to make this part easier, but this can be done in smaller urban areas as well. Don’t think you have to live in New York or Los Angeles in order to get into the music industry. Successful bands come from all over the map and the goal here is only to get experience. Once you become an experienced backline technician it doesn’t matter where you live because you will be working all over the world, and never in your home town.

You will need to make some flyers to post on bulletin boards advertising that you are looking to volunteer as a guitar technician, drum technician or a general backline technician for local club and theater shows. Post your flyers with your contact information at local band rehearsal studios, music stores, recording studios, coffee shops, anywhere you think musicians might hang out. You can even put out ads on various free classified sites such as craigslist.com, or backpage.com. Most bands who are just starting out have very little money coming in, if any. They normally set up and tear down their own gear because they don’t even consider the idea of having technicians yet. You can capitalize on this fact by learning how to set up and tune all the instruments and help them during the show. Most musicians dream of someday being able to have someone set up their gear and you will certainly get some bites from your ad.

Since you are working for free, for someone who has probably never had a tech before, you will not be expected to be perfect. You will be making mistakes, but you will also be learning a very unique trade. Just being in this environment will put you in a position to learn valuable lessons from the people around you. Most likely some of these local bands will be on bills opening for national or regional touring acts coming through town. During the day you will be be setting up your band, and meeting the other headlining bands and their technicians. At this stage it is important to work very hard, offer to help everyone, and show that you are a great person to work with. Make sure you meet everyone, especially tour managers for the headlining acts. Make business cards to hand out to everyone and make sure they know that you are an “all around backline tech” that can do drums, guitars, bass and keyboards. Being able to wear several hats makes you very valuable to a tour with a limited budget. Getting on a tour with a small budget is your next step! You want to get gigs with several bands who perform local shows and get as much experience and exposure as possible. This is the type of hands on networking that is necessary in order to start getting paid to be a backline technician.

Once you have an offer to work your first gig, you are going to need to understand the procedure of setting up a band for a live performance.

When multiple bands are performing, the last band to perform is usually called the “headliner”. The headlining act normally sets up their gear first, and does a sound check. Then, the band that plays before the headliner sets up in front. This band is referred to as the “opener”. It is not uncommon to have multiple openers and depending on the size of the stage, the first band to perform sets up last, in front of each band playing after them. If the stage is too small to fit every bands’ gear, some of the middle openers will have to move their gear off stage. They will move it onstage right before their performance. This is called “striking”. For instance, if the second band’s gear is not able to fit on the stage, it must be striked. If any gear is set up during a sound check, and then striked, it is important to mark the exact spot that piece of gear goes when it is brought back onto the stage. this is usually done with small pieces of colored tape and is called “spiking”. It is rare that a headlining band will be expected strike any of their gear.

A well run show will have what is called a “day sheet” posted in multiple locations around the venue. This day sheet will outline the load-in times of each band, the sound check times, and show times for each act. It is important to pay close attention to the day sheet and make sure you are in the right place at the right time. Always be courteous to the stage manager and try to stay out of the way as much as possible.

Most likely you will start out working for an opening act and won’t get a sound check. You will have to test and tune your guitars, drums, and amps off stage and do a very fast check right before your band goes on stage. It is still a good idea to watch the headlining act do their line check and sound check to learn how this works.

Before the artists come in for a sound check, the backline technicians must perform what is called a “line check” with the audio crew. Each instrument is individually sent out to the speakers and monitors through lines. These are either microphone lines, or direct input lines also know as D.I. lines. Each line is sent to a channel on a mixing board where the audio crew will adjust levels and frequencies according to the acoustics of the room. If the band does not have any technicians they will have to do this themselves.

To fully understand what a line check is, one must realize there are two audio systems involved with a live music performance. The large speakers hanging from each side of the the stage pointing towards the audience are operated by a “front of house” engineer, often called FOH. There are also smaller speakers on the stage pointed towards each band member called “monitors” or “wedges” that are operated by a monitor engineer. Larger acts often use in-ear monitors connected to belt packs that transmit their mix wirelessly through headphones. This eliminates the need for wedges on stage and gives the artist a much more controlled and isolated mix. These systems are becoming more common and affordable, but you will most likely only encounter traditional monitors in small clubs and theaters.

While the large FOH speakers are a master mix of the entire band that the audience hears, the monitors on stage pointed at each artist are individually mixed according to what that artist needs to hear during the performance. The singer might want to hear his voice louder and have less bass, the bass player might want to hear more kick drum in his mix. The technician will know how each artist likes his monitors mixed. During a line check, the technicians will run through each instrument line, and work with the monitor engineer to make sure levels are correct. The technicians will also work with the FOH engineer making sure each line is getting to FOH properly. Once the line check is complete, the band can then come on stage for the final sound check to make sure they are comfortable and make any adjustments. The band will usually perform a few songs so the FOH engineer can make sure everything will sound good to the audience.

The most important part of being a backline technician is preparation. Make sure you have all the tools you need and always be thinking ahead! You need to be aware of how much time you have and then prioritize accordingly. Be aware that your main goal is to do everything in your power to make the artist comfortable onstage. They shouldn’t have to worry about anything but performing. Always make sure the gear is working properly first. It doesn’t matter if you changed strings on every guitar in the rack if the guitar amp doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter if you polished all the cymbals if the kick pedal is broken. Make a routine of always checking every battery, and that every jack is properly plugged in. Learn to anticipate problems. Tape cables to the floor so they don’t become unplugged when they are kicked. Then move on to less important tasks depending on how much time you have. Try to understand what is most important to each artist and make sure you perform those tasks first.

Before and after the sound check is your time to prepare. Always make time to get a bite to eat. You need to be thinking clearly. Working on an empty stomach is never a good idea. You will probably have to make set lists for the band. Set lists are a list of the songs the band plans to perform during the show. These can be written out with a sharpie pen, or typed and printed out. Guitarists and bassists often use different guitars for different songs, that are also in different tunings. It is a good idea to plan in advance to make sure all the guitars are tuned properly. You might also have to get water, other beverages, towels, and anything else the band members might need during the performance. You will also have to make sure the band has extra sticks, picks, strings and any other supplies you might need during the show.

Once you have done everything in your power to prepare for the show it is time for the band to hit the stage. Your most important task is to pay close attention to the band members at all times. If something goes wrong, try not to panic. Nine times out of ten the problem will be very simple to fix. If you loose your cool you will probably make it worse. Take a deep breath and analyze the situation. If a problem occurs, do your best to fix it. After the show explain what happened to the artist, apologize, and most importantly, learn from your mistakes. Suppose a guitar stops working during a show and it turned out it was because a power cable was knocked loose from a pedal. You should explain later why the problem happened, and accept responsibility. Then explain that from now on, you will secure that cable before every show, along with every other similar cable in the guitar rig. The artist should appreciate your honesty and be confident that problem will never happen again. Remember that you will be making many mistakes when you first start out. Only once you learn from these mistakes, will you become a valuable backline technician.

After the show it is absolutely imperative that you carefully pack up every piece of equipment that came into the venue, and make sure it all makes it back into the trailer or truck. Do not leave things laying around during the day as this will make it very difficult to find everything at the end of the night. Keep your work station tidy and organized and make sure you know where all of your gear is at all times. Make sure everything is labeled clearly. It is very common for gear to be stolen from venues so you must be aware at all times. When you load into a venue, count each piece that goes in. When you are loading the trailer make sure you have the same amount of pieces!

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Source by Kris Dawson

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Oil and gas production and disposal tanks have a high susceptibility to lightning and static damage. The following suggestions make up a short list of best practices for tank batteries and well pads.

Use 3/4″ x 10 foot copper clad ground rods, minimum of 2 per site, always at opposite ends of battery. Each ground should measure 25 Ohms or less. Additional grounds can be placed at the back side of tanks.

Use tinned copper class 1 lightning protection conductor and tinned copper UL 96 rated materials throughout the lightning and static protection system.

Run a continuous trunk line of tinned copper class 1 lightning conductor from a ground (near the first step of the catwalk stairs) to another ground past all the tanks at the opposite side of the battery. This trunk line is to be secured to the underside of the stairs and along the catwalk or piping with clamps spaced no more than 36″ apart. This trunk line will be used to provide at least two paths to ground for each tank.

The lid and flange of every thief hatch must be bonded together with a UL listed tinned copper bonding strap. Every thief hatch, isolated metal body, catwalk, etc, must be bonded to the grounding system so the battery will rise and fall in electrical potential evenly.

Remove bound charge in fiberglass tanks with a Static Lasso® tank protector and bond to the tinned copper class 1 lightning conductor and grounding system.

Streamer Prevention Terminals (Dissipators) shall be installed on the tanks and catwalk handrails at spacing no more than 15 foot apart. Dissipators mounted on PVC piping will need to be bonded back to the grounding system with class 1 tinned lightning conductor.

Dissipators should also be mounted on all tall structures inside the pad or nearby a tank battery such as separators, heater treaters, or light poles.

The grounding for all electrical equipment should be bonded to the lightning protection grounding system for the tank battery. Separate grounding systems are potential risk for personnel and arcing of static charge.

Make sure that all the panels, variable frequency drives, PLC’s and ESP’s are installed with appropriate Type I Surge Protection Device of at least 120kA per phase surge current rating.

Truck load out stations need to have a static bonding cable installed to ensure that electrical potential between the truck and the tank battery are equalized before fluid transfer begins.

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Source by Benjamin Hearst