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Philip Haves conducts research in Simulation Research. He has worked on different aspects of commercial buildings since 1986, with particular interests in simulation and in building operations. He is a Fellow of ASHRAE, the chair of its Technical Committee on Energy Calculations and a former Chair of its Technical Committee on Building Operation Dynamics. He is the immediate past president of IBPSA-USA, the US affiliate of the International Building Performance Simulation Association. He has a BA in Physics from Oxford University and a PhD in Radio Astronomy from Manchester University.
This publications database is an ongoing project, and not all Division publications are represented here yet.


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Woodchuck war wages on
RUTLAND In the intrastate battle of the Woodchuck beverage companies, the hard cider company won a temporary decision, but the coffee roasters lived to fight another day as the Woodchuck wars made a stop in U.S. District Court in Rutland on Monday.
Chief Judge Christina Reiss granted a motion by attorneys for Vermont Hard Cider Co., the maker of Woodchuck Cider, to dismiss a counterclaim filed by Woodchuck Coffee Roasters.
But Reiss gave the coffee roasters 45 days to refile the counterclaim with changes that would allow the complaint to move forward. The counterclaim that the judge dismissed Monday alleges deceptive trade practices and unfair methods of competition.
The counterclaim is a result of the initial suit in which the hard cider company, of Middlebury, filed a trademark complaint against the coffee roasters, a Burlington company, over the use of the name and logo, which it argued was too similar.
The companies have argued over which firm was the first to use the image of the woodchuck.
The coffee company says it was the first to use the trademark image in 2011, but the cider company argues it established a common law claim to the trademark because its licensee, Capitol Grounds Coffee, sold a Woodchuck Blend coffee that features an image of a groundhog holding a cup of coffee since 2006.
In court Monday, Woodchuck Coffee Roasters attorney Kathryn Kent said the initial paperwork listed a vague reference to a licensee, but she said it was only through her research that she was able to determine what the name of the licensee was.
In a previous response filed more than a month ago, the cider company also contends the coffee roasters hadnt suffered any real harm because they had continued to do business as they had before the lawsuit was filed.
Attorney Paul Reidl, representing Vermont Hard Cider Company, said the coffee roasters had not suffered any real harm.
The only harm is the fact theyve been here defending this case, Reidl said. The harm is this lawsuit, thats it.
@rutlandherald.comMORE IN Vermont NewsMONTPELIER Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Full StoryVermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell plans to join the U.S. Full StoryAs Rutland prepares to welcome Syrian refugees to its community, some are continuing to voice... Full Story
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subset: commoncrawl


text: Have you seen these anti-LGBT voices in your local media? Let GLAAD know today. Your Name * Your Email * Comments Fill out the form below if you would like to submit a new commentator or update an existing profile. Commentator's Name Where did they appear? (examples: Providence Journal, Channel 8 Tulsa, WBAL 1090 AM, Bloomberg, etc.) Is this person already listed in the project? Yes No URL/Web Address (optional but preferred if applicable) Description (optional but preferred)


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A way for average citizens to become heroes by helping get the word out about hazards -- there's an app for that.
And the University of Hawaii at Hilo students who created the app are on their way to Russia to find out how their idea stands up against others around the world.
The app is called HELP ME HELP and it gives any smartphone users the ability to be the first to alert others of hazards as it happens.
"They take a picture of a hazard that they see and it would get uploaded to a server which then gets sent to other users on their device so they would get to see where the hazards are," said Wallace Hamada, Team Poli'ahu member.
What started as a class project by computer science students won the prestigious 2013 US Microsoft Imagine Cup Championships in San Jose, CA in May.
And it's getting praise from emergency agencies.
"Getting live or real time photographs as well as the geographic information -- the lat, long, addresses -- and then tagging it with a particular hazard identifier, would give us this tremendous information of what's occurring in the community during and post of disaster. And then be able to quantify that so that we can address the resource needs in those areas," said Darryl Oliveira, Hawaii County Civil Defense director.
"Being able to see the incident as it's evolving while we are still responding will give the incident commander valuable information to set up his action plan on how to mitigate that incident. Such things as the size of the fire or maybe the type of auto accident that is involved, how many patients that we may be having to respond to," said Hawaii County Fire Department chief Darren Rosario.
The team is now heading to St. Petersburg, Russia to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals this week.
"Yeah, I think we're nervous, but I think we're just so happy to get this far," said Mike Purvis, Team Poli'ahu member.
Up against 32 other teams from around the world, Team Poli'ahu has been brushing off their emotional jitters and brushing up on their public speaking skills, preparing to sell their app to the judges in a ten minute presentation in the Innovation category, the largest in the competition.
"The speech is going to be a little nerve wracking, but that's going to be on the first day and once we get that over with, we'll be travelling and just talking with a bunch of really smart people and we're all looking forward to that whether we win or not," said Purvis.
Hawaii will be front and center in the presentation, focusing on how the app is useful in our island natural disasters -- what the team feels gives them the edge in the competition.
"It's an app that will actually impact a lot of people and could be really useful right now to a lot of people as natural disasters seem to be happening every few months," said Purvis.
There's a million dollars in cash and prizes at stake in this competition.
Whether they win or not, team members said they're planning for a career in computer science.


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This article describes how to optimize your Norman Email Protection (NEP) server configuration to prevent as much spam as possible from entering your system.
This article assumes that NEP is the mail entry point so that it sees the IP addresses of the external sending mail servers. It also assumes you do not have a gateway in front of the NEP server, pre-filtering mail, as it would show mail as coming from the gateway IP address.
Open the NEP Administration Console to configure the following:
Security – Properties – DNS Blacklists (DNSBL)
ADDITIONAL DNSBLs
Least Aggressive RBL Combination
|known spam sources only
|composite block list
Moderately Aggressive RBL Combination
|combination of sbl & xbl
|composite block list
|dynamic ranges
|spamcop block list
Very Aggressive RBLs
|includes sbl, xbl + pbl
|composite block list
|full sorbs zone
|spamcop block list
For a good list of comparative RBLs, use this link: http://www.sdsc.edu/~jeff/spam/cbc.html
If you want to completely block specific countries from sending you mail, information can be found here:
Security – Properties – Connection Limits
Security – Properties – Trusted Address List
NOTE: These options tell NEP to do connection-level verification for messages originating from the specified IPs or IP blocks. It does not prevent content filtering. It only prevents RBL checking or throttling by "Block Scan Attack" or "Connection Limits," etc., from being applied to the specified addresses.
Security – Properties – SMTP Security
Security – Properties – Block Scan Attack
Security – Properties – Sender Reputation (or Sender Validation & Accreditation in earlier versions)
Other articles of interest concerning reverse DNS
Spam – Preferences – Options
Spam – Preferences – SURBL (Spam Links)
System – Properties – Services
It is important that you never whitelist your own domain at the global or user level. It is also important that end-users never whitelist their own email addresses.
This is because spammers are in the habit of forging your domain in the "from" field. Whitelisting yourself means any email From yourself TO yourself will be whitelisted if the spammer is smart enough to forge your domain in the header "from" field.
Note that version 5.0 will automatically check for and ignore self-whitelisted addresses to ensure that the content undergoes spam scanning, to prevent potential abuse of your system.


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December 4, 2013 —
NARROWSBURG, NY — This fall we at The River Reporter have enjoyed the playful antics of a group of otters that frequent Little Lake Erie in Narrowsburg adjacent to our office. We're not sure where they've gone now that there's a skin of ice on the pond's surface, but we did get some very good photos and a video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNuJtwYwr7s [1]) of them just a few weeks ago.
The North American river otter was once found throughout Pennsylvania and New York State, but over-trapping (for their furs) in the 18th and 19th centuries, plus increased water pollution, nearly wiped them out. Still, pockets of otters remained, including in parts of the Adirondacks in New York and the Poconos in Pennsylvania. In addition, both states established programs to reintroduce otters to areas where their populations were devastated.
Adult otters weigh from about 12 to 20 pounds. They can swim seven miles an hour, and on land they can run as fast as 18 miles an hour. They can travel underwater for a quarter of a mile and hold their breath for several minutes. They have webbed hind feet. Their diet consists mainly of fish, but they also eat frogs and toads, tadpoles and salamanders, snails and turtles. (There are a lot of turtles in Little Lake Erie.)
In recent decades, water quality improved and trapping was prohibited, and for a number of years wildlife conservationists have been watching them make a comeback.
We don't know if or when our friendly otters will appear again, but we surely welcome them.


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Honours BSc Biochemistry & Biotechnology
The Honours BSc Biochemistry & Biotechnology program consists of a minimum of 20.0 credits with a minimum of 11.0 Chemistry and Biochemistry credits. Not more than 7.0 credits may be at the 100 level. All requirements are contained in the following recommended schedule (refer to Note 1):
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Additional Information
Academic & Related Dates 2012/2013
Other Calendars


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Please login first to complete purchase/ quotation request, view custom order reports, or create favorites list.
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Maleimides are among the most frequently used reagents for thiol modification. In most proteins, the sites of reactions are at cysteine residues that either are intrinsically present or result from reduction of cystines. Unlike iodoacetamides, maleimides do not react with histidines and methionines under physiological conditions. Tetramethylrhodamine-5-(and-6)-maleimide is an excellent reagent for thiol modifications of peptides, nucleotides, nucleic acids and proteins.


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Polanco Injured; ESPN Writer Loses His Mind
In the 3rd inning of today's Phillies-Pirates match-up in Bradenton, FL, Placido Polanco tripped on the pitcher's mound trying to catch a pop-up. He limped off the field and is said to have a right knee strain. Initial reports are that it is not serious and Polly should be back in action in 3 or 4 days. This is first real injury for the Phillies in camp thus far and we hope it is the last.
Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire
The other interesting news came from Buster Olney of ESPN this week; he claims that his "sources" had reported that the Phillies were talking about swapping 1st baseman with the Cardinals.
That's right, in Olney's alternate universe, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols would trade places. Perhaps Olney's "sources" were aliens from Mars? Or maybe it was just the little voices inside his head who yearn to see Olney locked up in a padded room?
The odds of this sort of swap happening are astronomical; it is not even a fair trade. No offense to Howard, but clearly Pujols is the better overall player. Yes, Howard is from St. Louis, but this is no reason for the Cards to think they would get him cheap. And the Phillies could never afford Pujols. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. was so perturbed at the news, he flat out called Olney a liar. "It's ridiculous," Amaro said. "It's unequivocally false. It's unfair to Ryan. It's unfair to the organization to have to answer the questions."
Halladay Human
Despite all the drama, the Phillies went on to win today by a score of 5-1. Roy Halladay gave up his first run of Spring and also walked two batters; all this means is we now have proof that the man is not a robot. I think we can all live with the 1.00 ERA.
Languishing Lefties
While the starting pitching looks good, some of the relievers do not. JC Romero will not be ready for Opening Day so one of the young lefties will need to step up to fill the void. However, neither Antonio Bastardo, Sergio Escalona or Mike Zagurski have looked ready to do so thus far. Bastardo has allowed 3 runs over 2 innings of work; Escalona has 5 runs allowed in 3 innings; and Zagurski only made 1 appearance. He is still trying to get back in the groove after Tommy John surgery. One of these three lefties will need to show that they can do the job and right now, it does not look good.
Pet Peeve of The Week
So many MLB teams these days have radio and TV announcers that leave a lot to be desired. Realizing that Philly fans were spoiled for decades with the great Harry Kalas, it may be an unfair comparison. However, during the Phillies-Pirates match-up today, a Pirates announcer took "unprofessional" to a new level. Tim Neverett, hired in December 2008, does play-by-play for the Bucos. And today, he did not win any brownie points from Philly fans.
In the middle of the 4th inning, Neverett began praising the team's mascot, the Pirate Parrot and mentioned how he was harassing Philly fans in the stands. He went on to say, "I think the Parrot likes this. There's no better group of fans to tease than the Philadelphia fans…(pause)…Because there's no worse fans. The same people who boo Santa Claus are now getting it from the Pirate Parrot."
First of all, the Santa Claus incident was in 1968 at an Eagles football game. Get over it. Secondly, there are "no worse fans?" Seriously? Apparently, Mr. Neverett must be a world traveler who has first-hand knowledge of such things. While I am not going to waste time comparing Philly fans to experiences I have had elsewhere, I will say that such a general statement is both ignorant and rude.
A small segment of fans of ANY team are bound to be obnoxious and disruptive. That is human nature. You expect to hear this sort of prejudice from those obnoxious fans, not from the radio announcer who is being paid to be objective and professional. You want rude? Ok then, BOO YOU Mr. Neverett! You should be ashamed.
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Photos by Jenn
*Read more about the Phillies at my other home page, Phightin' Phils Phorum in the My Team Rivals network*
6 Comments
Jenn, I read about Olney's Hunter/Pujols story on Paul Lebowitz's blog today (Prince of New York) and he was saying the same things you are. Where did Olney get his info, and are reporters so desperate for news these days that they just make stuff up? And yeah, Halladay's human but not very.🙂
I heard the same comment and was yelling at the radio. If someone is going to talk slap, at least get the facts right.
Besides, that stupid parrot only wishes he was the Phanatic.
That is okay I reminded Onley a few months ago he is a blogger now and is going to be viewed with more intense pressure just like the rest of us.
Never got a email back, but I expected that from a media member (lol).
Seriosuly, the Phillies fans have been cursed with the actions of the few defining the masses.
But that happens in life. People hop on a generalization and smack the entire region, sex or even nationality with that one flaw.
The Rays fans were called bandwagoner's in 2009 since the attendance went down to people's eyes, but in reality it went up while most of the MLB went down a drop or two…First impression still rule the day…. just like High School.
Rays Renegade
When I first saw the Albert/Ryan Howard trade rumor I laughed because it's SO far fetched. This isn't PS3 or Xbox and the Cards would never do that. It amazes me sometimes what people write. That would undoubtedly make the Phillies better (getting Albert), that is for sure. But it's REALLY far fetched. http://clevelandbaseball.mlblogs.com/
Thank you, Jenn, for pointing out Olney's idiocy. I think he made the whole thing up. No way in hell that EVER happens. Why not trade Utley for Skip Schumaker too while we're at it… silly, silly, Buster.


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The Three Pockets Approach to Investing
by Timothy McCarthy
After decades of working on Wall Street, the secret to investing successfully still remains the same as I had first learned in my early years.
Actually, it's no secret; many investors have heard it already. The problem is that too many investors still do not practice it. Simply put, if you invest over a period of time, properly diversify across a variety of asset classes and leave the portfolio relatively stable, it will undoubtedly grow at a greater rate than by leaving it in the bank, but with much less risk than trading.
Why is it that so many people don't follow such a straightforward plan?
In this article
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One answer comes from listening to what people say about their investing strategy. Over the decades of helping investors of all ages across some 25 different countries, I have been amazed at how frequently I have heard the same statements in multiple languages from people at all levels of sophistication:
- "I just know we are going into a bear market again soon. So I sold all my stocks and put it in the bank to wait for the next crash."
- "Oh, I am in for the long run. I wait as long as a year before turning over my portfolio."
- "I think long term but in order to stay on track, I actively trade in and out of markets, just to make sure I don't lose in a down market or buy a stock that is going to tank."
Yet, we have all seen that most investors who actively trade, especially across asset classes, on average lose money. Men in particular won't tell you about their losses, but their losses are real. It reminds me of how frequently my friends have told me that they "broke even" while gambling in Las Vegas or Macau. But we know if all the men who say this really "broke even," all those beautiful and expensive gambling hotels would not exist.
Why do so many people insist on actively trading their portfolios?
Today, I am more forgiving of such investors than I was before. After all, it is human nature to want to succeed, to want to do better than your friend, your brother-in-law, your fellow workers. It is this drive to excel that has made human beings accomplish so much. But there are two reasons why looking at investing as a competition can lead to problems.
- When you compete, there has to be an agreed-upon time frame to decide who won, usually quite short. So the "long term" naturally becomes no longer than one year. But when it comes to building safety into a life investment plan, one-year horizons, and even five-year horizons, can be too short. It turns out that asset classes are often on cycles of a decade or more, and it is hard to know when they will turn. As long as you stay invested in a broad base of different classes, you don't have to worry about timing, as the package of classes will result in positive long-term growth throughout your life. But the average "alpha male investor" can't resist the urge to compete. So he often ends up trading way too much of his nest egg into over-concentrated positions.
- Watching and leaving alone a broad-based package of asset class investments—built up slowly during your accumulation years and then slowly liquidated over the rest of your retirement years—is actually quite boring. I have even been privately told by sound investment advisers, "Truth be told, for many of my clients, each year I have to move a few positions around more than is actually needed. If I don't, they say to me, 'What are doing to earn your fee?' I can't be like the guy in the Maytag Repairman ad and do nothing even though I am carefully monitoring their portfolio."
Conversely, there is the other type of investor who is constantly in fear of losing their money and simply can't sleep at night if any of their funds are exposed to volatility. Yet volatility over time is where you can make more returns than in assets that never fluctuate. So, sadly, this type of person ends up getting no long-term growth and may end up short when they are in their later years.
After years of frustration watching people make mistakes even after they had received sound investment advice, I began to refine a different approach for investors that could better reflect what they often want to do instinctively while keeping their portfolio goals on track. In working with a variety of advisers and their clients, I found that rather than giving clients lectures with lots of graphs and charts, people responded better to an approach that functions more like a client/adviser conversation guidance tool.
I call it Three Pockets because most people think of their money as being set aside in different pockets. The pockets are shown in Figure 1.
The Savings Pocket
The first pocket helps an adviser work with an investor to find out how much money they really need to keep in their Savings Pocket. This pocket has two objectives:
- No volatility, no risk of losing principal; and
- Highly liquid, you can get it out any business day.
Of course, everyone needs a Savings Pocket, for short-term needs and in case of an emergency. The question is, how much should stay there? After all, this pocket cannot grow, given how low interest rates are.
How much in this pocket is enough? It really depends on each person's personality and short-term needs, but typically for a retired person, having around six to 12 months of your expected expenses in this pocket is sufficient. You may feel you need more, but remember: There is a portion of your investment pocket that is still growing but is invested in relatively liquid and low-volatility assets that will be available to you if you need it.
The Investing Pocket
This is where the bulk of your money should be. The objective in this pocket is to:
- Grow your money at a greater rate than your Savings Pocket,
- But with less risk than your Trading Pocket.
How do you accomplish this task? As we discussed before, you just do the following:
- Invest in a broad group of asset classes domestically as well as internationally.
- Practice "trickle in/trickle out" (e.g., build your investments ideally over a 10- to 20-year period prior to retiring). Then, after retiring, only take out each year what you need to live off of. Figure 2 illustrates this concept.
- Make no dramatic shifts in asset classes in any one year. Allow time to work its magic.
Many of you may say, how do I know it will work? I took a look at the last century of data and said, what was the worst time that you could have been fully invested in a diversified package of asset classes including stocks and bonds? It was 1930, when the stock market dramatically crashed and took a long time to recover. If you had followed the strategy of trickle investing each year—in this case, starting to invest 15 years before retiring, and then, after retiring in 1930, slowly trickled out the same amount that you had been putting into your diversified Investing Pocket—guess what? You didn't run out of money until you were well into your 90s. Whereas if you had had only a Savings Pocket where you had put all your money only into the bank, you would have likely run out of money in your mid-80s.
Why is this so? It turns out that markets typically crash after a recent run up. And the major markets throughout time typically do return to a more stable path. Thus, as long as you had spread out your investing into the various markets over a period of a decade or more, didn't panic, and each year redeemed only the portion you needed to live off of, you did just fine even if you had bad timing luck.
I realize that for many people, especially after they have retired and can't make back their money, it is scary to see markets drop. But as long as you bought over a long period of years, you will never have bought on average even near the top. And as long as you don't panic and sell, you don't lose what you don't sell. And the global markets, at least for the majority of the asset classes, do come back.
Then, you might say, what do I need a third pocket for? Let's first understand what a person does in this pocket.
The Trading Pocket
This is your discretionary pocket. You don't need to have one; however, this pocket can take care of a few important objectives.
- You can concentrate your investments, either by taking a big position in a particular stock or by believing that a particular asset class is going to bring a far superior return. For instance, you may say, "China is undervalued. I am going to make a big bet on its stock market rebounding."
- You can make the investment timing decisions here. For instance, you may say, "Now is the perfect time to go into China. I think that within the next month, the stock market will shoot up."
Given the natural dangers in this pocket, it is typically not wise for investors to fund the Trading Pocket until after they have properly funded their Savings Pocket and Investing Pocket. The money that goes into here is the money that you can afford to lose. For instance, if you hit it big in this pocket, you can vacation in Hawaii. But if you lose your money in this pocket, you will just be barbecuing in the backyard this summer. The important point is that your long-term retirement nest egg is not put into jeopardy by what you do in this pocket.
The Trading Pocket can be a great tool for both the risk-seeking and, ironically, the risk-averse investor.
First off, for risk-seeking people, this is where they can channel their urge to excel. It is okay to make bets here as long as it does not affect the core investment portfolio. I came up with this idea after reading about how various doctors and researchers had positive results with many more patients when they did not always completely forbid them from doing something. They often had better long-term outcomes by working out a "maximum allowed' restraint with each person. For instance, it is certainly okay for the average person to have a glass of wine when they are having a nice weekend dinner. But if they are finishing off a few bottles every night, it is clearly not good for their health. The same goes with trading. If a person really wants to trade, it is okay as long as it is a minority of their total portfolio and does not impact their core retirement money. Even when someone is good at trading, his or her spouse may say, "Honey, you are a good investment manager. But maybe you should not be our only manager."
Discussing the Trading Pocket is a good exercise for people. For instance, when someone says, "I want to invest, but is this a good time?," the best reply is that it is the right question for the Trading Pocket. But for the Investing Pocket—since you should regularly be trickling in and trickling out over the decades, irrespective of market timing—it is not a relevant question.
Ironically, the Trading Pocket can also be quite helpful to risk-averse investors. For instance, if you are the type who often worries about the markets collapsing, just fund the Trading Pocket each year with a small amount of money invested in, let's say, in the U.S. stock market, above what you have already invested in your Investing Pocket. Then, when you panic, you have something that you can sell off. Just sell all or half of what is in your Trading Pocket and put it in cash. That way, you will feel good that you did something, yet it kept you from touching your Investing Pocket. The Trading Pocket can act as a useful "panic pressure release valve."
How much can a person put into the Trading Pocket? The most important guideline is to first fund the Investing Pocket enough so that when you retire, you know you will have enough to live off of. But if you don't have the patience to wait until after the Investing Pocket is funded, then just make sure you are only putting a small portion, less than 20% of your available investing money, into your Trading Pocket.
Normally, when people are retired, even if they are affluent, they should keep less than 15% to 20% of their total funds in this speculative pocket. But there are of course valid exceptions. A retired wealthy friend of mine said to me once, "Hey, Tim. This is my only fun in life. I like to trade and I already have enough saved up. I enjoy trying to beat the market." His children probably didn't like that half his money was allocated to active trading, but after all, it is his money and he should be able to do what he chooses. Figure 3 illustrates a different approach tycoons followed to balance their very high-risk trading investments and business ventures.
In sum, using the Three Pockets approach to allocating and managing your money before and after retirement can be quite useful.
From a risk management standpoint, you can feel comfortable that irrespective of what the world throws at you in the coming years, your money will ultimately grow. And at the same time, you have built in enough flexibility to follow your unique dreams in a reasonable fashion.
John Klein from OH posted over 2 years ago:
How does rate of inflation affect the allocation between the 3 pockets? When inflation is higher, wouldn't you want a greater percentage in the Savings pocket? And vice versa, when rate of inflation is low you would have less in the Savings pocket and more in the Investing pocket?
Barry Slatton from AL posted over 2 years ago:
inflation doesn't allow for one to sit on too much cash for too long. at 3.5-4.5% per year(this includes food and energy cost) not covered by the cpi.
you must average 8% per year overall in order to make your investments pay off.
Ted Rosenberger from PA posted over 2 years ago:
Superb article! Just what I needed to hear right now. I just got a large windfall from the sale of a vacation home at a huge profit. Should this money be trickled in or invested quickly? and over how long a period?
Jim Grant from OH posted over 2 years ago:
I highly endorse the idea of "pockets". I have used it for years. I call them "buckets". Each "pocket" needs to be monitored and managed differently.
John, you are asking a higher level question (which is fine/good). That is, "On what basis would a person move money between "pockets". Inflation is one of several to many criteria. Examples of other criteria are changes in a person's level of risk tolerance, age, financial condition, and personal situation. My bias is to assess my allocation of funds to my "buckets" once a year. I may not change it every year, but thinking about it makes me firm up my criteria.
Barry, your 8% sounds reasonable, but it sounds more like a "rule-of-thumb" that has been passed around, rather than based on some type of analysis or evidence. How did you come up with the 8%? Also, what did you mean by "pay off"?
Ted, don't buy into an answer anyone gives to your question, given the little background information you provided. I'd suggest that the answer should depend on a handful of factors. Here are two:
* What is your current allocation of your funds amongst the 3 "pockets" and how much does that vary from your target?
* Do you judge the markets to be near a peak or a bottom now? Recent stock market peaks occurred in 2000 and 2007. A bottom occurred in March 2009. - - - Several published analyses have demonstrated that investing a lump sum at a peak can be disastrous, taking a decade to recover from.
There have been couple articles in the AAII Journal over the last couple of years that have addressed the "Lump sum" versus "trickle in" approaches. Check them out.
John Knox from AL posted over 2 years ago:
I think a significant problem in today's environment is to know what is a safe investment. For example long term government bonds with a duration of 15 would lose 75% in a five per cent increase rate.
George Pledger from CA posted over 2 years ago:
If you have lots of money it doesn't matter much of what you do. Just don't do too many stupid things.
However if you are on the edge and caan't see three years ahead then you definitely need a plan. Once your plan shows some real profits and you can see some progress in your net worth, then maybe you can spend a little. Take a trip, buy a new car, do some fun stuff but stay on your plan. And pay close attention. Maybe you should put off that new car a little longer. Work the plan.
Ben Lis from NY posted over 2 years ago:
Excellent article. And timely for me as well as I've been reviewing my overall asset allocation and the "3 Pockets" concept provides an excellent overall conceptual framework to guide my review.
It motivated me to buy Tim McCarthy's book "The Safe Investor" and I am happy I did. His views on country diversification are also informing my asset allocation review. The book provides very good advice on a number of investing topics.


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text:
Millions of students, from kindergarten through college, are heading back to class, and the start of a new school year is always accompanied by the need for new stuff.
This is a costly time for families; the National Retail Federation [2] estimates an average of $635 per student is spent on back to school apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics. In addition to looking for what's chic or cheap, students and parents might also want to consider having a lighter impact on the environment.
Here are some "CliffsNotes "on how to be a little more eco-friendly this fall:
Have fun getting ready for a new school year, but remember to consider your environmental impact when making purchases. Also, please turn the lights off when you go out!
[1] http://www.c2es.org/blog/mandesk
[2] http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1626
[3] http://www.quia.com/
[4] https://www.boundless.com/
[5] http://www.goalzero.com/
[6] http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_mgt_low_carbon
[7] http://www.threadsforthought.com/newroots/be-sustainable
[8] http://about.hm.com/AboutSection/en/About/Sustainability/Commitments/Reduce-Reuse-Recycle/Garment-Collecting.html
[9] https://us.fsc.org/paper-printing.212.htm
[10] http://makeanimpact.c2es.org/tips/store/buying-goods/identifying-recycled-content-products
[11] http://makeanimpact.c2es.org/tips/home/lighting
[12] http://makeanimpact.c2es.org/tips/yard/garden/how-green-your-grill
[13] http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/
[14] http://makeanimpact.c2es.org/tips/move/driving/carpool-when-possible


text:
Wishing Away Warts
Common warts (verruca vulgaris) are more of a nuisance than a serious health problem, but they are interesting. There is a whole mythology surrounding their cause (touching toads?) and treatment (everything from banana peels to vitamin C). Many people believe they can be made to vanish by suggestion or hypnosis. I used to believe that too.
Every doctor has wart stories. Here are some of mine.
- A patient made an appointment to see me because he had a wart, but when he tried to show me his wart he discovered that it had vanished! Apparently, just making the appointment cured it.
- Another patient did have obvious warts and I prescribed the "wart medicine" that our pharmacy tech compounded, based on salicylic acid. He was out of one of the ingredients and had to ask my patient to return in a week. When she returned, her warts were already gone. The wart medicine apparently worked so well that you didn't even have to use it!
- I worked with a dermatologist who used a colorful laminated card with a picture of a toad to stroke children's warts, telling them it was a wart remover. In his experience, this would frequently make the wart vanish over the next few days. Was this ethical? Was he lying and deliberately deceiving patients, or could this be excused as playing make-believe to distract the child and improve his attitude about the wart?
Posted in: Science and MedicineLeave a Comment (44) →


text:
By Tom Philpott: CNJ columnist
Multiple, lengthy wartime deployments by service members are taking an emotional toll on their children who report being anxious or stressed at rates much higher than children nationwide, a new study concludes.
Researchers with the think tank RAND interviewed more than 1,500 home caregivers (or non-deployed parent) and their children, age 11 to 17, to learn what impact deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan are having.
The study found that youth who experience parental deployment suffer more "emotional difficulties" in connecting to families, engaging in school work and mixing with peers than do children of like age across the country.
That military children are more stressed in wartime was not a revelation. But researchers were surprised to learn their problems deepened with longer or more frequent deployments, in the view of non-deployed parents. This challenged an assumption that children might, with repetition, get used to a parent being gone and later reintegrating with the family.
"We did think maybe these challenges would wane and people would get into adjustment mode," said the study's principal investigator, Dr. Anita Chandra.
"And what we found was that cumulative months of exposure to deployment really seemed to hold up and present (more) challenges for families."
"We are seeing that wear and tear from the multiple months of deployment" on home caregivers can "then does trickle down to the child in many ways," Chandra said.
The study, presented as an article in Pediatrics magazine, was paid for by the National Military Family Association (NMFA). Last June through August researchers interviewed a large pool of families who had applied for Operation Purple, a free summer camp program sponsored by NMFA to help military children cope with the stress of war.
Non-deployed parents were interviewed too but separately from their children. Participants were asked about service member deployment history, difficulties for children during deployment and the service member's reintegration with the family on arriving home.
They also were asked about the overall well-being of the child and home caregiver.
The study's authors conceded that surveying families already motivated to send kids to free camp through Operation Purple may make them "distinct" from other military families regarding level of stress.
Fifty-eight percent of children surveyed had a parent in the Army either active duty, Reserve or Guard. Twenty percent were Air Force and 19 percent Navy. Marine Corps youth were underrepresented at 13 percent. Most participants were families of mid-grade or senior enlisted members.
Ninety-five percent of the children had experienced at least one parental deployment, an average of 11 months, in the previous three years. Thirty-eight percent of the children had a parent deployed when surveyed.
The results show that:
• Older youth and girls who had experienced a parental deployment reported "significantly more" difficulties at school, within their family or dealing with peers.
• Emotional and behavioral challenges were greater for children who experienced higher total months of parental deployment, suggesting that with time initial resilience breaks down and stressors of home life increase.
• Challenges were greater for children whose non-deployed caregiver, which was the mother for 95 percent of respondents, reported poorer mental health herself from the stress of a service member's deployment.
• More months of deployment likely mean more problems for children in re-engaging with the absent parent on his or her return.
• Girls report more problems in adjusting to the return of a deployed parent.
• Families living on base reported fewer problems than those living off bases, perhaps because the support system is closer at hand or an on-base family is more attuned to service life and its challenges, Chandra suggested.


text:
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The elegance of simplicity has it been lost?
February 2013
Strictly speaking residential hot water heating. ICE struck a chord in another thread on sticking vents that I have felt for some time now. So as not to hijack the thread thought I would start a new one.
Do,systems get designed, and hence more complicated out of necessity, or because the latest, and greatest technology is out, and it is felt needs to be used?
Do designers/ zone because they can, or because it needs to be done?
How many single circulator based systems are out there performing flawlessly for decades whether it be radiant, or radiator emitters. Would adding smart circus really add any substantial benefit?
In light of the many threads from hurricane sandy victims who could not get their heat up, and running off generator power supply whether it be FA, Or HW based says something about a pilot light based boiler, and the possibility of gravity flow in an emergency situation.
What it boils down to in my eyes is when a prospective buyer of a home that has a hot water based heating system may be turned off by its seemingly complicated mechanical room verses a hot air system where they see a box, and the most complex thing is the Aprilaire or a hepa filter.
Have more to say, but just thought as a discussion in wonder how everyone feels.
hot rod
February 2013
we live in microprocessor times
that same complexity is in our trucks, furnaces, heat pumps, you name it.
My toaster failed last week, I disassembled it to see if it could be repaired. i was surprised to see it was all printed circuit boards under the covers, save for the lever mechanism itself!
Efficiency, fuel savings and marketing are all part of the mix.
Surveys at recent national homebuilders show indicate buyers want efficient appliances and HVAC systems above upgrade cabinets and counter tops or hardwood floors and other typical up grades.
How many car ads now tout 35 MPG or more.
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
The magic is in hydronics, and hydronics is in me
February 2013
microprocessors and PLCs
are now cheap as chips. A number of real improvements to safety, comfort, and efficiency have resulted from this trend, along with some new challenges around previously unimportant issues like power quality, grounding, and PCB waterproofing.
Mechanical stuff, especially if it has brass and copper in it, is getting more expensive. Complex mechanical linkages are fading from our world.
Smart circs are a complete no-brainer in my book, at least on the system side. They solve a number of longstanding fixed-speed circulator issues at a minimal cost differential.
February 2013
Hot Rod
Yes I know your right. But I think that it needs to be invisible, or average HO can be turned off be a visually complex system. People seem to want less, and less of a hassle with home ownership also. Anything that seems high tech is probably high maintience in some people's eyes.
As far as autos we had all that decades ago as far as mpg. The only difference I believe materials have allowed the vehicles to be larger now than decades ago, and still get the same fuel economy through weight reductions. Think chevete, horizon, omni, celica, renaults etc they all were high mpg cars, but much more simple motor designs.
It is true these are the times we live in. Will there come a day where lack of electricity throw us right into the Stone Age. Think about information storage alone will the written word disappear eventually at the risk of all,stored data to be lost, and present history gone forever.
Will we become so tech dependent that future generations will not be able to function the way we use to before this age we are becoming a part of?
February 2013
Lost simplicity
,,,,"Surveys at recent national home-builders show indicate buyers want efficient appliances and HVAC systems above upgrade cabinets and counter tops or hardwood floors and other typical up grades.
How many car ads now tout 35 MPG or more. ",,,,,
But those sales people and reps at home shows all think that everyone is after the latest high tech gadgets.
They pick up a lot of literature, go home and look at it, then file it in the round file.
I see people come here with oil boilers that will run at over 86% with a prorper cleaning, tune and set up, and throw them out for a standing pilot, open flame gas burner that runs at 78% at best. Because it is cheaper.
SOme of the stupid problems I have seen be wrung out are so basic, but it turns into a high tech detective sleuth exercise. Bigger pumps, move circulators. repipe this and that. When the problem was a piece of garden hose connected on one side of a loop.
I posted photos of a job I looked at because no one could figure out what was wrong except to put in a new boiler. The system was complicated beyond all reason. It either required a gut re-hab and start over, or convert to Scorhed Air.
I like to feel a small sense of accomplishment in what I do.
February 2013
Printed Circuit Boards
Those printed circuit boards can be made to last a lifetime,or two. They can also be made to last a month longer than the warranty, by replacing cool running components with under-sized hotter components.
We sit in front of a machine, a computer, that will allow itself to be so corrupted, it will cease to function. How intelligent is that? From a manufacturers standpoint.....very.
If you find a good mechanic to work on that 35mpg car, you better treat him good.Even in the dealerships, they are few and far between.
Jamie Hall
February 2013
Gone with the wind...
simplicity, that is. But it seems to me that that is a double-edged thing. There are ever fewer people around who can actually repair something mechanical or a simple electrical or plumbing thing, even though it is quite simple and elegant. And at the same time, most people as hot rod notes want visual simplicity and high efficiency -- and the abiilty to do fairly complicated things without user input (consider the popularity of the Nest thermostat, for instance). Which leads to a kind of schizophrenia -- many of our modern gadgets are, on the outside, really simple to operate and use and to get very good results out of (modern cars are a good example). While on the inside they can be really appallingly complex. And, in most cases, not cost-effective to repair; if a component fails, pull the board and replace it.
Is it good or bad? Dunno; it is. Leaves dinosaurs like me in the dust -- but I expect that my grandchildren will think nothing of it.
It does leave us, however, more and more dependent on others -- and I'm not convinced that that is a good thing. For example: if my 1970 Chevy pickup dies on the road (unless I've run it out of gas!) the chances are I can fix it and get it running on the spot with the small took kit I carry. If my 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid does the same thing, it's call AAA and get it towed to the nearest Honda dealer.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-McClain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
February 2013
Maybe the parts prices go down, but the labor costs go through the roof when you can't get the right part the first time.
I have a plumbing customer that I do the plumbing and heating. I don't do any gas service for her. She had a W-M GO Gold boiler, series 2 with the thermostat that you can't get parts for, Her gas guy takes care of the gas. She started calling me all the time when she had no hot water. After the gas guy ( a really qualified tech) had replaced everything on the boiler, it stopped in my presence. I bought an upgraded "brain" and it hasn't stopped once as far as I know.
Parts availability is a killer. Put a high tech boiler in that needs a part and you have to wait a week to get the part, what does the customer say?
The average customer we see, if given the choice of buying a higher priced high tech system or a lower priced system, they will go with the lower priced system every time.
February 2013
Dependency on others
Is the keyword Jamie. A handicap oh so true.b
February 2013
Good thread, Gordy
I think the age of specialization is upon us. I can fix or make a lot of things mechanical. I have always been able to. But throw a proprietary circuit or component in the mix and I am lost.
Does that mean all of the technological advances are wrong? No, but it means that the
are becoming more dependent on the
to make our world work. These specialized technicians will become the future shamans.
February 2013
over the long term
Over the long term I'm not sure complicated saves energy. My friend made and installed HW & steam terminals with air-side dampers for adjustment. Maybe not so efficient to begin with but will still do the job after thirty years. More sophisticated systems end up a hodgepodge of zone control valves just waiting to make trouble.
In other cases simple elegance may not be so simple. A vacuum expansion tank is simple for somebody who understands it. It's probably the most effective method of air control in hydronics . But if nobody knows how to use it?
February 2013
Simple is usually more reliable
Some of my neighbors have 30 year old power pile boilers in their basements that just seem to work forever. They are not as efficient as the new modcon systems that some people have been installing while renovating these 90 year old houses but at the end of the road I wonder what the total cost of each system will be. How much is the ability to have heat without power worth?
Years ago I worked for a small company where we were designing a power supply that had some tough requirements to meet. one of these was the ability to deliver twice the rated power for a couple on minutes with no way to use the right devices because of cost constraints. The initial design used 6 amplifiers that allowed a severe overload for a finite amount of time, that whole loop was just a nightmare to stabilize. One night in an act of desperation I replaced those 25 parts with 4 parts that performed the task beautifully. I did it by looking at the problem from a very basic level and that allowed me to simplify it greatly.
Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
3PSI gauge
February 2013
The same thing happened
When they put electronic fuel injection on bikes. The crying and screaming( mostly from those who couldn't set up a laptop to tune their bikes) about how they would only ever buy a carbureted bike. Well it only took a decade and almost all bikes are fuel injected, even the new dirt bikes. The mechanics that could adapt still work and the ones that couldn't either retired or only work on"Classic Bikes"(LOL).
February 2013
edited February 2013
I don't mind it..
Great post Gordy..
I remember years ago, sitting in my truck after responding to a 2am service call {back then when I only had 2 trucks and would work at 2am} thinking when are they going to replace all these damn RA117's... I also remember in the 80's realizing that the technology we were using to heat or homes was almost identical to that from decades earlier.... And I dont know about others on here, but in the late 90's and early 2000's when in my opinion high efficiency equipment really started picking up {just before fuel prices went crazy}, I used to get annoyed with customers because I would walk in their homes and see a $3000 TV hanging on the wall but they wanted me to put a band-aid on the heating system..
I'll never forget walking into one of my customers houses that was unboxing this HUGE Plasma TV, and I was there to remove their leaking tankless coil from their 25 year old burnham and see if I could braze it back to life...
But now with technology and fuel prices {plus some pretty cold winters} things have changed, customers and installers are taking an interest in their heating systems, wanting to see the fancy "does it fly?" heating and cooling systems....
So I embrace the complicated, Today we are delivering the materials for a job we are doing tomorrow, a 5 year old single family home, with 3 finished levels around 3000 sq feet, built with baseboard and 3 separate a/c units. The home owner remodeled the inside and removed the baseboard. I am installing 3 hydro/air units with 2 triangle tube solo 60's, 3 heat pump outside units, and 1 Rinnai RU98 for the house and 1 RU98 just for the master bath and laundry, the customer also went for the prestige thermostats and zoning the second floor {third level} unit for the master bedroom... We already changed some duct work, built and painted our mechanical boards, ran all the water lines and gas lines as well as the electric and zoning boards, so it should only be a couple days to finish...
This shows that people are now taking an interest in their mechanical systems and it is about time. Don't get me wrong I had customer a while back that took price in their systems too, I have my share of the old timers that polish the copper and touch up the black on their steel pipes, I have one customer with an old arco that tiled around it and always keeps a new coat of white paint on his asbestos insulation... It has to be the only arco with a mectron 5m burner that looks brand new...
And I attribute the new found interest into high efficiency energy saving complex HVAC systems to the new "coolness" of mod cons and on demand tanklesses, with wall hung digital boxes and circulators with digital displays and thermostats that are hooked to the internet and allow you to turn the a/c on from anywhere in the world. Of course heating oil breaking $4 a gallon and natural gas at all time lows {comparable all time lows anyway}, plus now NG is more available than years ago when it was only in the highly populated areas and busy cities... {although we all know NG prices are going to skyrocket here shortly}...
Now what you are talking about and one of the downfalls of this "new" technology is complexity {they go hand in hand normally}. This of course limits who can work on them to trained personnel and of course limits them to working only when electricity is available {which to be honest is for most system available for the last few decades}. I wouldn't go out of my way {and it probably wouldn't pass codes} to install a gravity pile system... Kind of like wanting to install a crank on the front of your car vs an electric starter with a battery...
I do get customer swho ask, "what happens when the lights go out" and I reply "you light some candles and throw on some blankets... Or spend $400 on a gas genny and have an electrician hook it to your heating system and refrigerator {a very good idea seeing how it seems we are with out electricity for weeks at a time now after a storm}..
So in closing, I take the good with the bad, and in this case they out weigh the bad, although I can appreciate the old systems, Like Oscar Wilde says "Simplicity is beauty and beauty is simplicity, nothing more, nothing less"...
The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)
February 2013
edited February 2013
another view....
This is a question I have had for a long time, and have been driving towards a particular answer.
I believe that a lot of the high tech that gets employed in most industries is used to make inherently poor designs work. I think we started getting very lazy with our engineering after WW II, it seems and that trend continues today. It's one of the reasons why I have moved from servicing and installing mostly hot water heat to nearly all steam. I've installed and designed plenty of high tech systems and installed high tech boilers. And now, 7 to 10 years down the road, I am seeing the issues of component failures where parts are hard to find and expensive heat exchanger replacements. And, I suspect, many of these issues are due to poor quality control, but others are due to not anticipating conditions in the real world ( IE unclean power, generator use during power failures, etc.) or ignoring the impact of these issues.
Let's take a common case in point: Outdoor reset on hot water systems, especially single zone. The old high mass radiators inherently provided outdoor reset while just using a simple on/off boiler. Now, to achieve a similar comfort level with a newer low mass system, we need outdoor reset, modulating burners, and constant circulation. Yes, a mod con will save gas, but now we draw all sorts of electricity that runs up the electric bill. And, of course, there is a whole lot more to go wrong, which it usually does, once again increasing costs. My previous home, when I purchased it, had a great big atmospheric boiler with a single pump and thermostat. Our typical winter electric bills where about $35. When we sold it, it had a condensing boiler with outdoor reset and, fortunately, a single circulator and, with no one living there, the winter electric bill was $35. Yes, our gas usage was lower, but electric went up and the boiler required much more ongoing maintenance than the old. Did we come out ahead? I did because I could do the maintenance, but if I was paying for it, probably not.
The problem I see here is that a very broad view is not being taken when applying new technologies. People are not considering the impact of other aspects of the system they are addressing. I believe that in the pre WWII steam heating systems, a much broader view and much greater creativity and understanding was being applied. I have a huge 8,000 sq ft 1930's home that the bills top out at only $600.00, with virtually no electrical use, almost no insulation and huge leaky windows. All of our technology today would be hard pressed to match this performance.
Another big example I see is forced air heating. In order to address the issues of wide temperature swings, high air leakage from the structure due to the operation of the furnace fan, the industry has had to resort to modulating input and variable speed fans. Technology is used to cover inherent design flaws of the system.
And the referral to the auto industry is also interesting. My 2001 Ford Van gets the same mileage as the larger 1974 Dodge I learned to drive in. An early 80's Honda Civic got 45mpg, while the latest model only gets 35. Something is very wrong here.
I am certainly not against new technology, but it should only be applied to a good fundamental design and it can be used to enhance it.
The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)
Chicago's Steam Heating Expert
Noisy Radiators are a Cry for Help
Jamie Hall
February 2013
And a very valid
point of view it is, too. One sees aspects of the business of substituting very high tech and often finicky and sometimes failure prone control systems and equipment for much simpler stuff. The thing about is that when the magic is working, it can often result in marginally superior performance (this applies with equal vigour to an hydronic heating system as it does to a car or an airplane or a structure -- or a computerised toaster, for that matte). Sometimes it is used to cover up for sloppy engineering, but perhaps as often it is used to push the margin. Trouble is, when the magic stops, as it inevitably will, the new technology often just quits rather than failing in some breakdown limp home type mode -- and often costs so much to repair that it is cheaper to replace.
It is perhaps clearest in the aircraft industry; modern fly by wire aircraft have performance and payload capabilities which were unheard of even 20 years ago -- but the downside is that when the magic quits, and it does, you can wind up having a very bad day indeed.
Not sure where all this is going in the future...
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-McClain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
February 2013
Bad designs masked by technology
"I believe that a lot of the high tech that gets employed in most industries is used to make inherently poor designs work. "
Oh so true. Look at the B2 bomber. The flying wing was scrapped in the early 50' s because it was such an unstable design. Fast forward.. technology today allowed this poor design to fly. At the gain of what? Stealth, or is it really the fact we can make it fly now because computer technology takes over for the pilots lack of precision reflexes to compensate constantly for the aerodynamic in efficiencies of the plane to keep it from falling out of the sky. Not only is there an avionics system implemented for this, but several backup systems because if it shuts down the plane will fall out of the sky. Which the ironie is that the the old flying wing was actually more aerodynamically stable then the new design. Pilots could fly the old one with out computer avionics systems it was just not any fun.
A bit of a tangent there, but it actually is a good analogy of what happens today. Do systems get designed where simplicity is the driving force, or do they get half assed commitment to,a good basic design because there are so many tools in the box that can make it work. Tools one may not need to spend dollars on, maintain,replace otherwise.
Please don't get me wrong here I'm all for efficiency, and technology in the right amounts. I like being the devils advocate at times. I'm in awe, and impressed to no end at the work i see posted here. There are times though when some of it gets very complex to the point where average joe the homeowner may find it to intimidating to own. I mean really how many of you design a system for a customer which fully understands what they will end up with in thier mechanical room. The outcome of your work/design when it is all done could be a shocker, or a crowd pleaser depending on the customer.
February 2013
edited February 2013
I have to
respectfully disagree that your analogy is appropriate.
The primary goal of a bomber is to be able to get to a target and avoid being shot down before it can drop it's payload.
The flying wing is a more efficient layout than a convention design, therefore giving the bomber more range to get to it's target. This is made possible by computer control of the wing control surfaces.
The sharp, irregular shapes give it it's stealthiness, therefore making the bomber less susceptible to being shot down before reaching it's target. This is also made possible by computer control of the wing control surfaces.
The point I'm making here is there was a design goal that could only be met with complex computer control. The human body just plain can't react quickly enough to control such an aerodynamically unstable design.
Your argument is akin to saying that we shouldn't use levers to lift objects that are heavier than a man can lift.
While many homeowners may be intimidated by complex systems, the same can be said with other technology that get's used every day such as tablet computers. You may be fine with a tablet computer but others may not.
There was also a time when most white males were absolutely terrified of blacks and women voting...
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
February 2013
edited February 2013
Yet another view...
How about the fact that mod/cons can make an 80+ year old high mass system work like the dead men designed it to work while polluting 99.9% less than when originally used?
Those systems were designed to have a coal fire lit at the beginning of the heating season and kept burning until the end of the heating season. Modulation was done by the size of the fire. Fine tuning the temperature was accomplished with windows. The flue gas contained all sorts of nasty components like SO2, CO, UHCs, particulates, NOx, LOTS of CO2, etc.
Along came oil with a fixed nozzle and burn rate causing what I consider to be one of the most annoying "system working fine" issues: radiator and piping expansion noises. I believe that's called "setting it up bang-bang"? However, along with the "Bang-Bang" we got stop stoking coal fires, much less SO2, UHCs, particulates, CO, and about 20% less CO2. NOx emissions are about the same with oil as coal.
Now natural gas is the primary heating fuel and with that we get further pollution reductions: 30% in CO2, 80% NOx, and essentially a 100% reduction in SO2 and particulates.
With all the "new fangled" technology, we now have components available at an unbelievably low cost that will replicate the heat flow of those earlier coal boilers.
I recently replaced an original coal boiler which had been converted to oil to a new mod/con. I now no longer have radiator and piping expansion noises and I saved well over 100% of the cost of the new mod/con in fuel the first heating season. Even if I'd had someone else install it my payback would have been 3-4 years.
I think it's also wise to remember that every BTU not burned is a BTU not imported. Every molecule of CO2 not emitted is one that doesn't have to be dealt with in the future. Every bit of SO2 and NOx not emitted doesn't end up coming back as acid rain.
It could very well be that we're just trading dollars, i.e., fuel cost for maintenance, but in my book that's just fine. I'd much rather give one of the pros on this board $1000 than to middle eastern states. Keeping the money here means it multiplies and helps our overall economy.
Also, there's always fear, doubt and ignorance whenever new technology "invades" an industry.
I owned an auto repair business when electronic carburetors and electronic fuel injection became common in automobiles. There was a lot of resistance at first from both automobile owners and mechanics. It was perceived as unnecessary by most people but pollution regulators and environmentalists. To the average person their really wasn't any difference except that performance was reduced. Fuel mileage nor efficiency increased. But that wasn't the design goal. Pollution reduction was.
Now fast forward 35 years. Overall efficiency is much better and automobile pollution is drastically reduced. True there were a lot of teething pains to get here but we got here none the less.
The argument that automobiles don't really get any better mileage is really a non sequitor. We're comparing apples to oranges. The current Honda Civic is actually much bigger, faster, safer etc. than the 80's Civic. The only thing remotely similar is the name and the fact that it's an automobile. One has to understand that cars have greatly increased in weight relative to the size. 99.99999% don't realize that a 1955 Chevy 2-dr weighed in at 3055 lbs while a 2012 Toyota Prius weighs in at 3042 lbs. The Prius gets 45 MPG in town while the Chevy could get maybe 15 MPG in town and the Prius is much, much safer. I'd say that's an enormous improvement. If anyone here thinks it's not, I'd love to hear your argument.
My point is that technology marches on. While there may be periods of "teething pains", fear and doubt, in the end technology usually proves to be very beneficial. I think one notable exception may be social media...
I'm guessing this industry is somewhere near the state the auto industry was in 30 years ago. Buckle up ya'll, you're in for a bit of a ride...
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
Jamie Hall
February 2013
Well said
and your points about technology resulting in major improvements is absolutely correct. I mentioned aircraft -- not only is performance and payload radically greater, but there have been major gains in safety as well -- when the magic works. The same can be said for cars. And mod-cons (and, hopefully one of these days, true modulating oil burners for steamers, too!).
These are all real plusses, and I would not argue against using the technology at all. But I think my earlier comment also needs to be considered, as part of the equation: the more advanced technology simply cannot be maintained without specialized knowledge and equipment. I don't think any of us would consider setting up the burner for a mod-con, for instance, without accurate combustion measuring devices (at least I hope we wouldn't...). With cars, I can do a pretty decent job of tuning my '70 Chevy pickup with a dollar bill and a good ear; I wouldn't dream of doing that to my '94, never mind a brand new truck (and granted, the new ones do pollute a lot less and get better mileage etc. than the '70 does, in exchange).
It's not that the new stuff is bad; just that it's different -- and for most people, it means that they are more and more dependent on others. Which may or may not be a good thing...
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-McClain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
February 2013
edited February 2013
Agree to disagree JohnHenry
Some techs, and specs for ya
B-52 introduced in 1955 payload - 700000 lbs speed 650 mph
B-1b introduced in 1986 payload 50000 lbs speed Mach 1.2
B-2 introduced in 1996 payload 45000 lbs speed 630 mph
The B-2 costs 3 times more in annual maintenance then the B-1b, and 4 times more than a B-52.
It costs 135000 dollars an hour to fly a B-2 which is twice that per hour of operation of a B-52, or a B-1b.
Which ones do you think have been more widely used in campaigns with great success. Not the B-2
My point was with out getting to technical about planes is the B-52 was and is a well designed machine that is cheap to operate, and maintain compared to the other 2 bombers, and does the same task as the other 2 well. For many a decades past, and future. Yes it's had tech upgrades to the present H model, but its where a good design is enhanced by technology not allowed to exist. And the b-52 does not need to be stored in a air conditioned hanger to preserve its stealthy paint surfaces as does the B-2. This was one of Jack Northrops wet dreams turned into reality by some one with enough pull to get some defense dollars to make it a reality. Thank god we only bought 20.
Technology for me is getting kind of bland since the on set of the computer age.
I look back to the great strides made that really changed the way we lived, and traveled.
I can remember my moms uncle who lived to be 102 years old everything he witnessed electricity, telephone, automobile, planes, radio, television, man on the moon, and made it long enough to see the computer age. Those were some head spinning times. Movers, and shakers shaped the world we live in today.
Now it seems everything is about making life easier, convenience, and trying to repair what has been eaten by the locusts, and who's refuge is polluting the earth. I wonder if those head spinning innovations are in our future if we live that long.
February 2013
Here's the thing
Take a house that's sub 3000 sf. Do you really need to zone it? I mean really? Is it going to save that much if I keep the basement 60 verses the rest of the house, and now creating a heat loss to the floor above? Same applies to adjacent rooms seldom used on main floors.
If I install a properly sized mid to low 80% boiler or furnace even with a bang bang setup, am I really saving a boatload of money with higher maintenance, and part failure rate by installing a mod/con? Oh yeah now they are really only 90% efficient instead of 95%.
If my sole initiative is decreasing my carbon foot print then yes it all makes sense. But I really believe there are far less people interested in their carbon foot print over what immediately effects their check book foot print . I would go as far to say more people are interested in recycling materials than about decreasing their carbon footprint from what I see. The price of fuel is surely not a slap in the face still SUVs where ever you look. Not seeing to much bike riding, or walking get my drift.
February 2013
you can save..
I have a 4000+ sq ft home, 3 hydro air units {one on each floor}... With the zoning I can shut down our guest suite, front formal parlor, and dining room that is 6 rooms around 1400sq ft. Then with programmable tstats I can shut off the entire first floor while we sleep and then turn on the bedrooms an hour before we go to bed, ect.... Not heating them spaces really cuts down on the bill... I know this because when I went to Italy for 6 weeks last year my house keeper touched the thermostats and ended up heating the house to 70 for the entire time, that month and a half cost me more than I ever paid for heat before...
February 2013
edited February 2013
I can see,this as being a benefit in a larger home, but I'm talking the sub 3000 sf range where usually people are in all parts of the home through out the course of a day, and wish it to be the set temp,where ever they roam. When you get bigger than that yes there are parts of a large home that may not be occupied for days weeks, or months at a time.
So is it a hard sell,for you to get people into the latest, and greatest comfort system? How do,you present it? I can give you option A,B,C. A is the most efficient, and C is the cheapest.
bill nye
February 2013
The lowly thermostat
The T-87 has been around forever, before that T-86, before that... and so on. I wish I was wise enough to buy all the the mercury T-stats before they went illegal. I have customers who still have T-stats from the early 50's in use.
The replacements have been nothing but trouble and elderly consumers have had nothing but trouble using them.
February 2013
3000 sq ft is still a good sized home.
I understand what you are saying Gordy, and I agree, if you read some of my other posts where people ask "what mod/con should I buy for my 40K BTU heatloss} I always try to convey to them that a mod con does not and can not make sense at them low heat losses. Some say "but the rebates" and even after the rebates you will be lucky to just lose $5000 over the life of the boiler...
I sell so many Weil McLain CGi boilers in place of mod cons with great results, and I do get them calls from customers that dont follow my advice about shirt cycling, not saving as much as they thought, ect.. and of course I'm not allowed to say "I told you so" but thats how I feel...
You will save more money going with a small gas boiler than the smallest mod con, of course you figure in the rebates but then figure in the life expectancy and maintenance schedule, with initial costs you lose with mod cons...
tim smith
February 2013
Simplicity vx complexity
Great thread Gordy. I was just discussing this in a round about way with a customer yesterday. Total cost of ownership. We were not discussing boiler systems but on demand vs caveman water heater. The problem i see here is that there are so many parts to on demand water heaters with a caveman water heater having one moving part. If you look at an on demand service history, i feel over 10 years you will probably have 2 - 3 - $500.00 repair bills over this period, with caveman heater, probably none. I am excluding annual maintenance for now on on demands but that is another factor. If the on demand saves you say 200.00/ yr you are now break even. In 10 yrs the on demand and caveman will be near end of life I expect. So did you save anything for your pocket or the environment. The resources it takes to make the parts that will be replaced, the labor, fuel etc it takes to get to job for repair and do repair? At today's fuel rates does it make sense. I am in a quandry about this. The likely hood of appropriate parts being availably for on demands in 10 yrs also makes we wonder. There are a lot of sensors, flow wheels, motor, gas control, circuit boards to fail on these and I just hope that availability becomes better than they are today. Just rambling but this has concerned me for quite a while. Re: boilers, I agree that over zoning is used too much. I do feel the condensing boilers have become reliable enough now to make them the most logical choice in new or replacement markets as they are not that much more and are built much better than the ones from 7-10 yrs ago.
February 2013
Good points Tim
Especially about the added carbon foot print of parts production, and service calls for the unit truck fuel etc.
The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)
February 2013
That's exactly what I was talking about....looking at the big picture to see if we really save anything with the super efficient models.
The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)
Chicago's Steam Heating Expert
Noisy Radiators are a Cry for Help
February 2013
Carbon foot print quandary
I really believe its the government needs to step up to the plate on this. Have inspections on comfort systems as they do across the pond, and tagem out for replacement if they are not up to efficiency standards.
But they also need to make it doable for most homeowners. Do a 30 % rebate, tax credit, and even low interest loan to make it all happen. Make the utilities kick in to.
The old rebate system is flawed in my eyes. 30% for solar geo etc.you get it even if those systems were poorly designed or work like intended, and meager caps on proven energy saving improvements such as insulation, windows, energy star appliances, and heating/ cooling plants.
If I get a 350 dollar tax credit for installing 30k in energy efficient windows, and doors think that is enticing enough to go through with it. but yet if i spend 30k on a solar, or geo system i get 3 k credit. Think what that could do for jobs, and the havoc industry as a whole.
In the end it's all of our responsibilities, but who will everyone point the finger at for not making us get there. The government.
February 2013
I started doing just that when I first heard the T87's were gonna be no more. I bought about 5 of them, then another 5, then some here and there. Now I have a stash of about 25 NOS ones, and perhaps another 10 vintage ones and several T86's. I kinda went crazy...
As for the original question. I think the simplicity has been lost. This is how I ended up with so many collections of vintage items that out do what we have today and yet are so simple, and all electromechanical/mechanical. I tend to prefer keeping things simple but I don't say that out of fear of complex controls/setups/things. I like a good challenge and also tend to mix old and new together.
tim smith
February 2013
Re: europe and high efficiency
One thing I have heard from the gas techs in England is that people tend to lean to the cheaper equipment. When I was discussing with them about the ACV prestige boiler in europe back 7 yrs ago while researching, they all said they really like the boiler but most people won't spend the sterling on them. They opt for cheaper models. I can see that if you just figure your appliance is good for 10 yrs and cost say +or= XXXX dollars. Then the service issue is not as much the concern. Our problem here is that customers expect stuff to last 20 or way more years. We have not really gotten to the disposable era yet. It's a bit of a dilemma as I see it. The rebates and mandatory inspections might help change the thinking. It just has to make sense for the people who really can't afford to spend the $$ it takes to go high efficiency just for the sake of energy savings.
February 2013
In Italy Tim
Where my Uncle lives he has yearly inspections. He kind of believes its a ratchet. Even though your listed with efficient equipment you still pay a fee every year to get the inspection. Can't remember how many euros it was, but it was enough to upset him the way the inspection system is setup. It would have pluses, and minuses as yearly inspections go if it were only to see if equipment is up to date, or if equipment is functioning properly. He did not really know what all gets checked. It may not be the same all over Italy either.
February 2013
edited February 2013
95% ratings
Are still there for the best designs. The back of the pack has been downgraded, and it's about time.
30% annual fuel savings is the norm from what I've seen. Yes, you can get 2/3rds of that with a properly installed, buffered, and controlled conventional boiler -- but it doesn't save much (if any) of the initial cost. How often do you actually see this done? I'm thinking one out of fifty jobs?
February 2013
Last years gas bill
Was 945..00
2000 sf ranch with heated basement that's laundry room, and bar/ family room so about 2800 sf total. 50's construction.
Gas bill includes conventional water heater, 80% pool heater, gas grill, and 82% WM boiler that's about 100% over size. Radiant heat through out.
If I save say 40% with a new boiler sized correctly of mod/con flavor use an indirect so I'm producing DHW at higher efficiencies everything else stays the same.
That's a 378.00 savings per year IF Ng stays same price. So 3780.00 over a 10 yr period. Subtract 200.00 a year for yearly service, and cleaning per mod/con standards, and no parts needing replaced in that 10 year period . Things that conventional equipment does not need I'm saving 1780.00 over 10 years in fuel, or 178.00 a year, or 15.00 a month. The install of equipment, materials is in the neighborhood of 8000.00 indirect , boiler, piping circs, labor. So there is a deficit of 6220.00 that would carry the pay back out past the probable life expectancy of the boiler.
If I go conventional the boiler replacement turns into a simple swap out with right boiler size ,, and even still staying with an indirect my install costs probably are cut in half with equipment material, and labor.
So is it worth it ? If I need a new boiler, and HW heater to begin with, and I want to do my part to decrease my carbon foot print to the Eco system, save the ng for my grand kids kids, and save a little money on the yearly fuel bill, and not worry about ROI...then yes.
If my equipments fine, and has another 10 years then no, if my goal is solely to save money by decreasing fuel consumption.
The ROI does not matter because I need the equipment anyway no matter which way I go. It's just conventional is the cheapest route, and if I upgrade to efficient equipment status then it's more money out of my pocket to achieve the same goal heat the house, and the DHW.
So,how do you sell a customer who may think along those lines?
Jamie Hall
February 2013
Which is why, in a nutshell
One of my farm trucks is a '70,and the other a '94. They both run fine, so...
If the customer is really paying attention to things like life cycle costs and the cost of money, etc., it becomes very very hard to sell bling.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-McClain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
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text:
My first question is this:
Say I have a form like below in a file called form.php..
Code: Select all
<FORM ACTION="<?php echo($form_result); ?>" METHOD="post">
Your name: <input type="text" name="fdbk_name" maxlength="40" />

Your company: <input type="text" name="fdbk_company" maxlength="40" />

Your email address: <input type="text" name="fdbk_email" maxlength="40" />

<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="submiterror" VALUE="SUBMIT">
At the top of the page I called:
Code: Select all
$form_result = feedbackform.php
I've read that you need to make sure that all variables need to be validated before use. So does that mean that I can't even submit the form to another page (feedbackform.php) where it is immediately validated? Do I need to do validation within form.php before going onto feedbackform.php....where I have to validate it again?
If I have to do it within itself, would this work:
$form_result = htmlspecialchars($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']);
.....but then how do I send it onto another php page if validation succeeds?
Thanks for your help!


text:
The workshop was an overview of four workshops to follow including financial planning, estate planning, tax planning/charitable giving and legacy planning. All are designed to impart useful information to people who may not have needed it before or know that they did.
The first of the continuing workshops is financial planning and it will take place on Tuesday, July 30 at the Ray Point Community Center, Three Rivers from 6 to 7:30 p.m. with a light meal and refreshments being served. The guest speakers will be Dan Prostrollo from Lincoln Financial Securities whose topic will be "Creating a Lasting Retirement Income", He will talk about the need for sustainable retirement income, retirement income considerations, and a new approach for a sustainable income. Guest speaker Barbara Magor with American Investment Planners will speak on building a financial foundation highlighting her 6-STEP solution including establishing goals, evaluating your financial status, and developing and implementing the appropriate financial plan for your family.
All who wish to attend should RSVP to Kate Martin at the Atascosa Healthcare Center, 830-569-8940, ext. 327 or email firstname.lastname@example.com to be sure there are adequate materials and food. Everyone is welcome.


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Starting Monday, patrons of the library can check out e-readers or tablets for use in the library.
We have a couple of Nooks, a couple of iPad minis and a couple of Kindle Fires.
Naturally, we have a policy that a patron who wants to use one of the tablets will need to read and sign.
Each device will be available for a two-hour period.
Drop by, and we'll show you how to use one.
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I also heard there's mutual interest between the Suns and Jr. We might lose both of em plus Pablo
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Copeland is foul prone and has trouble moving laterally on defense, which can be worked on. But what makes Copeland special is his offense.
He had a tremendous debut to the NBA. For Copeland's first season, he averaged over 20 ppg per 36 minutes. He shot 48% and 42% from 3pt land. He can drive, slash and cut to the basket. His shooting improved every month. He can only get better each season since he's getting familiar with the NBA style and gaining more confidence in his game every month. He'll be a better scoring coming into the 13-14 season.
Who ever will get Copeland should be very happy. I hope we keep him. He's a great character and teammate. He always tries his best on the floor and gives you what he can...you can't be mad at that, especially since this guy went undrafted.
I like Copeland more than JR Smith because Copeland has excellent shot selection. Copeland just needs to work on his defense and passing. He was a great insurance back up when Melo was hurt. He'll keep the Pelicans in many ways since they need scoring.
I also heard there's mutual interest between the Suns and Jr. We might lose both of em plus Pablo
J.R. to Phoenix would be a huge loss, Copeland was expected to get offers but if we lose J.R. then we should be able to match for Copeland... If Prigioni gets offers, I would say walk away... But a good thing we might be able to S&T J.R. to Suns to acquire some talent back from them... Is there anybody worth getting from Phoenix???
Shannon Brown
everything is speculation right now but if the Pelicans offer Copeland a contract like Novak we won't be able to match... Probably what they are looking to do... 4 yr $16 M would exceed anything we can offer under the new CBA...
its a shame really but nothing we can do about it...
Other teams are said also to be interested in Copeland...
Coach Woody giving JR.smith the GREENLIGHT-special for 80 games had a lot to do with JR throwing his player-option in the garbage .... Grunwald should still look for the earliest date to throw JR on the trading-block (my opinion), Im sure their wont be any teams interested.
Since this is only his second year, I do not know whether we could pay Copeland the "veteran's minimum." But, in any event, the veteran's minimum is less than $2M. All we have otherwise is the MLE which is a little over $3M. I expect Copeland will get offers in excess of the MLE. And if we were to use all or most of our MLE, we will have nothing left for Prigioni or anyone else. We will be limited to acquisitions at the veteran's minimum or other minimums. We can pay JR something like $5M a year for 4 years. I do not expect other teams to do better than that, but you never know. If we lose JR, it does not affect our cap space. We are already over the limit. We can give him up to $5M a year, but we cannot give anyone else that amount. We are extremely limited in what we can do for at least two more years.
On J.R. throwing his player option in the garbage has nothing to do with Woody's coaching scheme with J.R. ...
J.R. is hurting for $$$ and was always going to opt out unless his stock faltered... Just b/c he was the 6th man, he is now being portrayed with a chance that deserves a starting role opportunity... With that starting role and compared to what the Knicks can offer him as a Bird Rights (2 yr) $5 M next season with a total salary for 4 years of $24 M... Another team could offer him straight out $8 M this year, and a 4 years at $30 M, for someone who lives pay check to pay check this is something he can not pass up...
Question on J.R. - b/c J.R. is his Bird Rights (2 yr) can the Knicks S&T him to receive talent in return???
If the answer is "Yes" then all is not lost this off season, but if the answer is "No" then the Knicks are truly screwed in adding talent to improve the roster... Adding Veterans at Vet Min. is not out of the question but like Kidd and most of the Vets. last season - come playoff time they were nonexistent...
This isn't bad news about our organization, but more so about how successful we truly were... not only find diamond in the roughs and having them be an intricate part of our success... a team that has cap space that success has not been afforded to their organization for some time will always try to strip talent away from a successful organization...
Copeland was successful, and his success earned him a chance to get paid... nothing bad there... The Pelicans might be a little awkward but they have two/three big name players and are expected to be successful in the near future... For them to poach, or openly admit they are looking to poach one of our key players is not as big as you are trying to make it...
Will Copeland end up in New Orleans who knows, if he is gone from the Knicks then who cares... Can we find someone to replace him, most definitely... We found him, think we can find another able body that will after next year we should be in the position to re-sign him...
Again on J.R. it all depends b/c of his Bird Rights (2 yrs) can the Knicks S&T to acquire talent back... If No then we are in trouble, If Yes we could make other moves to acquire players that can improve our core group... Suns are probably going to offer around $7 - $8 M per - how many years would that be who knows... Is he worth it, again that is an iffy question just about how is game is iffy...
if Cope will leave this team have no one other as reserve
what about K-mart?
what bout N8 robinson will be move to FA?
i got strong hope that Pablo will stay but he could be as starting PG after Kidds departure.
Think Copeland is gone with the right offer...
K-Mart should come back unless some other team gives him a contract he can not turn down...
Camby said he will be back, still under contract but management must consider if they should trade him...
N8 will be way out of our price range...
Prigioni like Copeland showed they can ball, he might get an offer where as the Knicks probably could match, but will they is the question???
Prigioni will be a restricted FA so I see him coming back to NY, as well as Martin and Camby.
I believe Copeland should stay. Outside of Melo, he was our 2nd most efficient scorer off the perimeter.
1. Anthony
2. Stoudemire
3. Chandler
4. Shumpert
5. Felton
6. Prigioni
7. Camby
8. Martin
9. Novak
Guys I'd expect to see on the roster.
#24 pick so you can make that 10 guys.
2 spots left with question marks on the 12 man roster and 3 on the IR
I rather spend whatever cash we got on a different free agent that isn't JR Smith
Guys like Splitter, Kirilenko, Allen come to mind.
Defense minded guys.
We're going rely on Amare on being the #2 scoring option. He hasn't adjusted yet, so this is really just hoping he mixes in well with Melo. Maybe Woodson will come to his senses move Melo back to the 3, Shumpert to 2, bench Felton and let Amare get touches at PF. Amare will get more touches from Prigioni than Felton.
Thing with Amare is that he can score 20 ppg on 53-55% FG shooting. It's his lack of rebounding and defense we sacrifice as a team to get him playing time to average those numbers. Amare in a way will always play like a NBA rookie, even at age 30 turning 31 in November.


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La Salle Elementary District school board president honored for dedication
Springfield, Ill. – Brian Waitkus, president of La Salle Elementary
District #122, was honored today by Dr. Christopher J. Ward, vice-chair of
the Illinois State Board of Education, with the 2006 Thomas Lay Burroughs
Award during the annual joint conference of the Illinois Association of School
Boards, Illinois Association of School Administrators and Illinois Association
of School Business Officials in Chicago.
"The State Board of Education is honored to recognize Brian Waitkus
for the work, passion and dedication he has shown thru his years of service
on the La Salle school board," Ward said. "His leadership to
improve educational opportunities and learning for LaSalle students should
be admired."
Waitkus has served on the La Salle school board since 1991. This November
marked his ninth year as school board president of the elementary district,
which has an enrollment of 920 students in grades pre-K through eighth-grade.
"Mr. Waitkus addresses crises and difficulties with courage and patience.
He is able to reach consensus in solving a problem," Dr. Joan McGuire,
La Salle Elementary District Superintendent, wrote in her nomination letter
for Waitkus. "The board is informed and educated by Brian in a calm,
non-judgmental fashion. He has earned the respect of the students, teachers,
administration and community."
Named after a former State Board chairman, the Thomas Lay Burroughs Award
was created in 1991 and is presented annually. The criteria for the award
Illinois State Board of Education
100 North First Street
Springfield, IL 62777


text:
In being the set to first introduce Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays to the collecting hobby, the 1951 Bowman set established its place in sportscard history. Needless to say, these two cards are among the most desirable items on many serious collector's want lists. Another prized rookie card from this issue is that of Whitey Ford, which also has the distinction of being the first card in the set. Other notables include Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, and Nellie Fox (rookie card). To read an in-depth article, click here.
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