text: Amazing estate to build your dream home. The property has multiple building sites. The southern portion of the property is tillable ground with awesome views of the surrounding area, the northern section is heavily timbered. Close to Dworshak State Park. Enjoy the wildlife included deer, elk, turkey and the occasional bear.


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1 trillion euro rescue plan to revive euro
January 23, 2015, 02:49:50 PM »
Todays bangkok bank buying rates euro 36.47. That's bad news and is effecting a lot of expats, lets hope it improves.
ECB launches 1 trillion euro rescue plan to revive euro economy
(Reuters) - The European Central Bank took the ultimate policy leap on Thursday, launching a government bond-buying program which will pump hundreds of billions in new money into a sagging euro zone economy.
The ECB said it would purchase sovereign debt from this March until the end of September 2016, despite opposition from Germany's Bundesbank and concerns in Berlin that it could allow spendthrift countries to slacken economic reforms.
Together with existing schemes to buy private debt and funnel hundreds of billions of euros in cheap loans to banks, the new quantitative easing program will release 60 billion euros ($68 billion) a month into the economy, ECB President Mario Draghi said.
By September next year, more than 1 trillion euros will have been created under quantitative easing, the ECB's last remaining major policy option for reviving economic growth and warding off deflation. The flood of money impressed markets: the euro fell more than two U.S. cents to $1.14108 on the announcement, and European shares hit seven-year highs.
"All eyes were on Mario Draghi and he has delivered a bigger bazooka than investors were expecting," said Mauro Vittorangeli, a fixed income specialist at Allianz Global Investors, adding that the news marked "an historic crossroads for European markets".
The ECB and the central banks of euro zone countries will buy up bonds in proportion to its "capital key", meaning more debt will be scooped up from the biggest economies such as Germany than from small member states such as Ireland.
The prospect of dramatic ECB action had already prompted the Swiss central bank to abandon its cap on the franc against the euro. Denmark cut its main policy interest rate on Thursday for the second time this week after the ECB announcement, aiming to defend the Danish crown's peg to the euro.
Draghi has had to balance the need for action to lift the euro zone economy out of its torpor against German concerns about risk-sharing and that it might be left to foot the bill.
Economists noted that Draghi had said only 20 percent of purchases would be the responsibility of the ECB. This means the bulk of any potential losses, should a euro zone government default on its debt, would fall on national central banks.
Critics say this casts doubt over the unity of the euro zone and its principle of solidarity, and countries with already high debts could find themselves in yet deeper water.
"It is counterproductive to shift the risks of monetary policy to the national central banks," said former ECB policymaker Athanasios Orphanides. "It does not promote a single monetary policy. This path toward Balkanisation of monetary policy would signal that the ECB is preparing for a break-up of the euro."
A German lawyer who has been prominent in attempts to halt euro zone bailouts said he was already preparing a legal complaint against the bond-buying program.
Draghi said the ECB's Governing Council had been unanimous in agreeing that the step to print money was legally sound. There was a large majority on the need to trigger it now, "so large that we didn't need to take a vote".
"There was a consensus on risk-sharing set at 20 percent and 80 percent on a no-risk-sharing basis," he added.
One euro zone central banking source said five policymakers opposed the expanded asset-purchase plan: the central bank chiefs of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Estonia, along with Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger, a German.
Guntram Wolff, head of the Bruegel think tank, said the plan's size was impressive. "But the ECB has given the signal ... that its monetary policy is not a single one. That's a bad signal to markets and a bad signal to everybody in the euro zone."
The ECB is trying to push euro zone annual inflation back up to its target of just below two percent; consumer prices fell last month, raising fears of a Japanese-style deflationary spiral. But there are doubts, and not only in Germany, over whether printing fresh money will work.
Most euro zone government bond yields are at ultra-low levels and the euro had already dropped sharply against the dollar. Lower borrowing costs and a weaker currency could both help to boost economic growth but there is a question about how much further either can fall.
The ECB could create the basis for growth, Draghi said, but he put the onus on governments to follow. "For growth to pick up ... you need structural reforms," he said. "It's now up to the governments to implement these structural reforms. The more they do, the more effective will be our monetary policy."
Draghi was echoing the view of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: "Regardless of what the ECB does, it should not obscure the fact that the real growth impulses must come from conditions set by the politicians."
The ECB has already cut interest rates to record lows and left its refinancing rate, which determines the cost of euro zone credit, at 0.05 percent.
Greece and Cyprus, which remain under EU/IMF bailout programs, will be eligible for the ECB program but subject to stricter conditions.
In practice, Greek debt does not currently qualify as another rule stipulates that a maximum 33 percent of the bonds issued by any country may be bought. The ECB and other euro zone central banks already own more than this, although they may start purchases once enough of their Greek bonds have matured to take the total below the 33 percent threshold.
Greece votes on Sunday in an election where anti-bailout opposition party Syriza is on track to emerge as the biggest party in parliament.
(Writing by Mike Peacock and Paul Carrel. Additional reporting by Noah Barkin in Davos. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and David Stamp)
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Re: 1 trillion euro rescue plan to revive euro
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January 24, 2015, 01:26:49 PM »
Euro plunges, but European brands are not on sale in US
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans hoping to save on European goods thanks to a falling euro shouldn't rush to uncork that bottle of French Bordeaux. There's very little to celebrate.
Not since September 2003 has the euro traded this low against the dollar. Still, German sports cars, Belgian beers and the latest fashions out of Italy aren't going on sale anytime soon. The reason? There's simply too much demand in the U.S. for any markdowns.
"The U.S. economy is the one that's doing well in the world right now," notes IHS senior principal economist George Magliano. "We've got a lot of growth in upper-income families and households."
Since Americans are willing — and able — to spend heavily on imported goods, there's no need for companies to cut prices. Any savings thanks to the euro's decline will instead be pocketed by manufacturers and distributors.
It's been a dramatic fall for the euro. Back in April, the European currency was trading at 1.38 dollars to the euro. That means that one dollar bought you about 72 euro cents.
Now the exchange rate is hovering around 1.13 dollars to the euro, so one dollar buys you 88 euro cents. The euro extended its slide against the dollar on Thursday, dropping more than 2 percent against the U.S. dollar, after the European Central Bank pledged to spend 1.1 trillion euros on bond purchases to help revive the region's flagging economy.
The problem for Americans: we don't buy enough European goods, except for high-end products. Our clothes might come from Bangladesh or Costa Rica. Our furniture from China. And our cars — even foreign brands like Honda — are mostly made at home.
European brands tend to cater to higher income families who want to buy a bit of prestige.
Take German cars. Brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes are luxury products with strong demand. So there's no incentive to cut prices, says Karl Brauer, senior industry analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
Audi sales rose 15 percent last year, while BMW sales were up 6.5 percent and Mercedes rose nearly 10 percent. Each company is likely to pocket the extra money from converting dollars to euros, no matter whether the cars are made overseas or in the U.S., Brauer says.
Volkswagen, however, might use the weak Euro to reduce prices and boost struggling sales, Brauer says. VW's U.S. sales fell 3 percent last year even though overall U.S. auto sales across all brands grew 6 percent.
It's the same issue with, fine wines, Gucci handbags and those designer stiletto shoes.
Bill Earle, president of the National Association of Beverage Importers, which represents 20 to 25 beer, wine and spirits importers, says the price of fancy wines like Brunello or Chianti Classico that are on the shelves now were already set three or four years ago when contracts were signed by U.S. importers. But he says if the disparity continues between the U.S. dollar and the euro, "you might see a softening of prices."
At most, shoppers will see a two or three percent price dip, says Faith Hope Consolo, who leads retail leasing and marketing at Prudential Douglas Elliman and specializes in the luxury market.
"Anecdotally, U.S. prices haven't gone down on European-made apparel and alcohol, though such declines would take some time to filter through the system," Consolo says. "We probably won't see the effects for several months."
That's because the production cycle for European brands takes about a year, so those so-called status products were already produced. Moreover, Nate Herman, vice president of international trade for the American Apparel & Footwear Association, noted a shift in manufacturing away from Europe and more toward Asia — like China and Vietnam — as factories in that region have improved the quality of making complicated goods.
But even if prices go down on high-end European goods, shoppers won't feel it. Price tags have been soaring way out of reach for most Americans over the past few years. For example, Chanel's classic handbag, which was priced at $2,250 in 2007, cost $4,900 last year, according to Robert Burke and Associates, a luxury consulting firm. And Louis Vuitton's iconic monogram canvas handbag, which sold for $620 in 2007, climbed to $970 last year.
The one bright spot for Americans: vacations to Europe are now much cheaper. Thanks to the currency shift, travelers will pay less for hotel rooms, museum admissions and meals out.
"It's basically a 20-percent-off sale on the whole eurozone for Americans," says Adam Goldstein, CEO and co-founder of airfare search site Hipmunk.
There are 19 countries that use the euro. So those considering deals should look at Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
"This is the best time to travel to Europe in years," says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel. "Americans can now indulge in a fancy pastry and chocolat chaud without the budget-busting guilt."
The catch: it will still cost a lot of money to get to Europe during peak summer months. Demand for travel is so strong that most airlines don't have to cut prices to sell seats.
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The BMW M40 is a 4-cylinder engine, fitted to the 316i and 318i after 1987. It replaced the M10 as the standard 4-cylinder engine in 1987.
- 1 History
- 2 Versions
- 3 Components
- 3.1 Sump
- 3.2 Block
- 3.3 Head
- 3.4 Ancilliaries
- 4 Servicing
- 5 Common Problems
- 6 Common Upgrades
- 7 See also
The M40 engine was released in 1987, and marked BMW's next generation of four-cylinder engines since the M10. It featured a belt-driven 8-valve OHC design, with an aluminium head on a cast iron block, and was produced in two capacities - The M40B16 of 1.6 litres, and the M40B18 of 1.8 litres. The only internal difference of these two versions was the crankshaft which modified the stroke and therefore overall displacement of the engine.
The E30 was equipped with both versions, powering the 316i and 318i respectively, and continued to use those engines until the end of production in 1994. Both were available with or without a catalyzer.
The M40B16 was also fitted to the E36. The M40B18 was also fitted to the E34 from 1988 to 1994.
The M40 formed the basis of all BMW's four-cylinder engines over the next decade. While its direct successor was the M43, it also spawned the 16-valve M42 used in the 318iS, which shares many compatible components. Considering the success of these subsequent engines, it is unfortunate that the M40 itself has proved to be the worst of the E30 engines, with many documented problems and little scope for improvement.
|1.6 L (1596 cc/97 in³)
|75 kW (101 hp) @ 5500
|143 N·m (105 ft·lbf) @ 4250
|73 kW (98 hp) @ 5500
|141 N·m (104 ft·lbf) @ 4250
|1.8 L (1796 cc/109 in³)
|85 kW (114 hp) @ 5500
|165 N·m (122 ft·lbf) @ 4250
|83 kW (111 hp) @ 5500
|162 N·m (119 ft·lbf) @ 4250
The engine in all E30s is a three-part design, featuring a main Block with a Sump at the bottom and a Head at the top.
The M40 Sump is a two part design with an upper and lower sump. The upper part bolts directly to the block, sealed with a gasket, and the lower sump then bolts to the upper.
Leaks in this area are normally due to upper bolts coming loose, despite their torque rating. Because some of these bolts are only accessible with the lower sump removed, the two parts have to be disassembled to cure the leak. When removing the lower sump, don't be surprised to find a bolt sitting in the oil that has come out completely from the upper sump.
Oil Pump
The oil pump sits behind the timing case cover, and is directly driven by the crankshaft. It is a gerotor pump (one cog inside another). It is supplied with oil via a pick-up tube into the sump.
In the event of a failing or failed pump, replacement is quite a lengthy process due to its location. It is required to remove al components from the front of the engine, including the timing chain, in order to remove the front end cover of the engine. Then this cover must be removed with care, since the cylinder head fits on top of the case.
Sump Gasket
The sump gasket seals the upper sump to the block. Its design features an internal portion that seals off the oil pickup pipe to the oil pump from the rest of the sump. Unfortunately, due to the problem of sump bolts, it is possible for the gasket to slip and allow the oil pump to suck in air instead of oil; potentially causing oil starvation and engine damage.
A single block design was used for all M40 engines, and they are completely interchangeable between models. All blocks use an 84mm centre bore.
Bear in mind that although the M40 engine was also fitted to the E34 and E36. Engines from those cars have the dipstick located in the sump. However, an aperture exists on the block, ready to be tapped, and the sump fitted to E30s bolts straight on to relocate the dipstick to its normal position if you wish. But an E34 sump will fit an E30; an E36 will not.
While the block determines the maximum capacity for the engine, the crankshaft determines the stroke of the engine, and therefore the actual displacement. Mounted to the bottom of the block, the crank holds the bottom of the piston rods and converts their up/down motion into rotary force known as torque. It does this by holding the rods on a series of lobes or 'throws' which extend away from the centre of the crank by a certain distance.
It is this distance that differentiates the two crankshafts fitted to M40 engines. The sizes are:
M40 crankshafts are compatible with the M42 engine, although they have a slightly different "nose" which may require adapting to accept the M42 pulley/sprocket.
Piston Rods
All M40 engines use the same 135mm piston rods.
The two M40 engines share the same piston design. They differ in their stroke due to their different crankshafts.
|22.0 x 54
|Conrod Length:
|Piston Shape:
Timing Belt
The M40 uses a belt to drive the valvetrain (unlike the M10 and M42 engines). Therefore, a pulley is mounted at the end of the crankshaft to power the belt, which drives a corresponding pulley on the camshaft. It is recommended to replace this belt and its tensioner every 30,000 miles or three years. Some people recommend 25,000 or even 20,000 miles, just to be safe.
Learn more about changing the timing belt.
The 8V cylinder head on all M40 engines is a cast aluminium unit, featuring a single direct-action cam to operate the valves. The head is interchangeable between E30 and E36 models, but shares no compatibility with other BMW engines such as the M42, due to that engine's use of a timing chain instead of a belt.
All heads feature hydraulic tappets which reduce the maintenance of the engine.
Rocker Cover
It is positioned on top of the head with 8 collar screws. It has one hole for the Oil Cap, and one port for the breather hose.
When removing and replacing the rocker cover, it is worth replacing the rocker cover gasket.
On the M40, an overhead camshaft drives the intake and exhaust valves via tappets. This camshaft is belt-driven, and held in place using 5 bearings. It is lubricated by an overhead oil spray bar.
The cam is the known weak spot of the M40 engine, and is more susceptible to lobe wear than any other E30 engine, usually caused by a blocked oil spray bar. When the cam is worn, the engine won't rev high.
Cam Pulley
The M40 engine features a vernier-style cam pulley, allowing for a few degrees of adjustment in the timing of the engine.
Being an 8-valve engine, the M40 head contains one intake and one exhaust valve per cylinder.
|Seat angle
|45 degrees
|45 degrees
|Stem to guide clearance
|Stem diameter
|Head diameter
|Valve clearance
The M40 engine uses hydraulic tappets to control the valves, meaning no adjustment is required to set the gaps.
However, tappets do get worn over time, usually from oil starvation, leading to an unhealthy ticking sound.
Head Gasket
The Head gasket forms a seal between the Head and the Block, maintaining compression in the cylinder while keeping the Oil and coolant separate. Any failure in the head gasket will cause a drop in engine power, and will also lead to mixing of the oil and coolant, known as mayonnaise.
To diagnose a broken Head gasket, look for a creamy substance underneath the oil filler cap. If present, remove your dipstick and look at the oil. If it resembles milky coffee, then it is very likely your head gasket has failed.
In the event of a failed gasket, it is important to check the condition of the head; more severe damage may have been done, including cracking of the metal which will render the head useless.
Learn more about changing the head gasket.
Breather Hose
To balance the pressure inside the head, a rubber hose runs from the top of the rocker cover to the throttle body.
The M40 flywheel is a single mass wheel which keeps the engine spinning long after you take your foot off the throttle. It is also the flat surface to which the clutch mates, ultimately transferring power from the engine to the Drivetrain. The edge of the flywheel is toothed. Known as the ring gear, it is what allows the starter motor to bite onto the engine to start it. The flywheel bolts to a pulley at the end of the crank.
For manual engines, the flywheel contains a spigot bearing to centre the input shaft of the gearbox to the tail of the crankshaft. These parts are essential when converting from auto to manual. For automatic cars, the flywheel is little more than a ring gear with a plate to which the torque converter is bolted.
Starter Motor
The starter motor is a standard 1.4kW motor with a bendix engagement wheel. It is an all-in-one unit containing motor, solenoid and relay. When activated, the starter gear extends to meet the flywheel and then spins, driving the engine.
All M40 starters are interchangeable, and are also compatible with M42 starters.
The starter is wired directly to the Battery + terminal and the alternator. A smaller connection, fed by a black/yellow wire, is the incoming signal from the ignition switch. On facelift vehicles there is also a black/green wire to load reduction relays.
To test your starter while mounted in the car, bridge pins 11 and 14 of your diagnostic plug. This will bypass any wiring in the cabin of the car, and should make the starter spin freely. If you want to test the car engine, turn the ignition circuits on with your key, and then bridge the same pins. Your engine should start.
It is very rare for M40 starter motors to fail. If you are having problems starting your car, it is recommended to look at troubleshooting your engine before removing the starter motor.
Engine Mounts
The engine mounts are standard on all M40-equipped E30s; however, if you are taking an engine from an E34 or E36, you will need E30 engine mounts.
Main article: Basic M40 Servicing
Every engine needs its fluids and filters changed regularly. The M40 engine also needs its timing belt replaced at regular intervals. Learn more about changing the timing belt.
Common Problems
Won't Rev Over 5000
Unfortunately, this is a common sign of engine wear, and indicates a worn out cam shaft. The problem can be diagnosed in two ways. If the engine sound can be described as "sounding like a skeleton wanking in a dustbin" then your cam is very likely worn.
To confirm, remove the rocker cover and baffle plate so that you have access to the cam shaft, and run your finger nail over the cam lobes. If you can feel scratches, grooves or other imperfections, the cam is in a bad condition.
The only solution is to replace. Learn more about replacing an M40 camshaft.
Noisy Tappets
The tappets in an M40 are known for ticking over time. This is usually due to wear from oil starvation. The first thing to do is remove the rocker cover and inspect the camshaft for signs of wear. Each lobe should be smooth; any scratches or ridges indicate a worn cam which makes it uneconomically viable to replace the tappets; you will have to refresh every part of the valvetrain.
If your cam is in good condition, first try an oil change and a new oil spray bar. This will help keep the tappets lubricated. They will continue to tick on cold start but will hopefully quieten down as the engine warms up. If that doesn't solve the issue, consider replacing the tappets, followers and thrust pads with new items; DO NOT use second-hand parts, considering how common this problem is with M40 engines.
Loose Sump Bolts
Due to the two-part design of M40 and M42 sumps, there is a common issue of internal sump bolts working loose. Not only can this cause oil leaks, but there's the threat of oil starvation to critical parts as the sump gaskets themselves work loose and block essential oil channels. To prevent premature engine death, learn more about M40 sump bolts.
Common Upgrades
Unfortunately the M40 is not sympathetic to upgrades. There are no simple "bolt-on" solutions that will give an increase in performance. If you are looking for more power, consider an engine swap to the M42 engine, or investing in forced induction.
The best way to get performance out of an M40 is simply to service it.


text:
Rabbi David Walk
Over the past week I discussed with my daughter some of the educational ideas of Carol Dweck, and we agreed that we truly appreciate her work. Over the past three decades Dr. Dweck has developed a theory of motivation which has great value for both parents and teachers. According to her work, individuals can be placed on a continuum based on their implicit views of where ability comes from. Some believe their success is based on innate ability; these are said to have a 'fixed' theory of intelligence (fixed mindset). Others, who believe their success is based on hard work, learning, training and doggedness are said to have a 'growth' or theory of intelligence (growth mindset). Individuals may not necessarily be aware of their own mindset, but their mindset can still be discerned based on their behavior. It is especially evident in their reaction to failure. Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative statement about their basic abilities, while growth mindset individuals don't mind or fear failure because they realize their performance can be improved and learning can result from failure. Those with a fixed mindset view failure or set back as an unmitigated disaster. Those with the growth mindset can use a fiasco as a learning experience and resolve to do better next time because everyone is ultimately judged by their effort.
In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), she cites an experiment done with adolescent students in math which included some anecdotal math history. One group was presented with stories which illustrated the outstanding intelligence of these great mathematicians. How some of them understood complex ideas at a very early age, and solved complicated problems effortlessly. The other group was told about these same math greats and their passion for the material. There were descriptions of their many hours of struggle to solve difficult problems and their many failed attempts to decipher thorny mysteries. Not surprisingly when the groups were given math problems to solve the first group was more prone to give up more quickly than the second group. She writes: Too often in our culture these geniuses are portrayed as having been simply born with special talents. Students should know that the distinguishing feature of such people is their passion and dedication to their craft, and particularly the way in which they identify, confront and take pains to remedy their weaknesses (Mindsets and Math/Science Achievement, 2008). Remember what Thomas Edison said: Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
This point was not lost on Jewish educators as well. There is a genre of books out there called 'Gedolim books'. Rabbi Aharon Feldman pointed out two major flaws in these works: First of all, all gedolim are presented in a stereotyped fashion, their lives all following the same trajectory from child prodigy to precocious adolescence to marrying a pious woman and, finally, to Torah greatness. Such presentations frequently ignore the self-sacrifice and dedication which of necessity must have gone into the development of every gadol. They often overlook the fact that certainly these men must have surely had their moments of self-doubt, error and human frailty...Great men are, of course, humans as well; on the contrary, they are great because they overcame their human shortcomings. Secondly, these works mistakenly highlight the brilliance and genius of their subjects. It would serve the reader better to emphasize the hard work, sweat and tears that went into making them gedolim. Portraying gedolim as geniuses tends to make their accomplishments appear unattainable: how can anyone not born with such extraordinary gifts ever expect to emulate them? (A. Feldman, The Jewish Observer 27:8, November 1994)
Now we can go back to this week's Torah reading. Our parsha presents a record of the 42 stations where the Jews encamped during the forty year sojourn in the desert. Why do we need this lengthy (and boring) list? Rashi says to show God's compassion that we didn't spend all forty years traveling but only moved a limited number of times. The Ramban points out (based on Maimonides) that these stops all refer to miracles performed by God on our behalf. This is important because we must appreciate the miraculous nature of the time in the wilderness. Miraculous survival is a pretty important theme in Jewish history. But Rav Aharon Lichtenstien has developed an approach to this Torah reading which will sound very familiar.
Rav Aharon offers for our consideration the concept that the journey through the desert was unlike other trips for business or the like. When you rent a car neither Hertz nor the automobile are concerned for the stops just the final destination. However, in the wilderness each trip and each encampment was determined by the word of God. That makes them all significant. The journey itself is noteworthy. That's going to be true about one's Jewish education and even about one's life. How we get there is of substantial consequence. Rav Aharon quotes from Pirkei Avot: It is not your obligation to finish the task, but at the same time you are not free to desist from it (2:16). We are more concerned about the journey than the destination. Life is a process, not a race.
I don't mean to give the impression that we have no goals or that they are not important. We also refer to this world as an ante-way leading to the great hall or final destination. But Rav Aharon adds: We must know that in life, not only the final goal is important. We reject this pragmatic view of reality. As we have seen, the journey towards the goal is also important, and so are the tools that one uses to progress. This is true of the wilderness, and no less so of Jewish life.
So, we learn from Dr. Dweck's mathematical geniuses that passion and effort are necessary for success. We learn from Rabbi Feldman's Gedolim that overcoming human shortcomings is the hallmark of their greatness. And Rabbi Lichtenstein pointed out that we really learned all this from the list of stops along the route to Eretz Yisroel. Life's a trip. May yours be a meaningful growth experience.


text:
CONTROVERSIAL new procedures in cosmetic medicine, like genital rejuvenation or buttock implant surgery, tend to take hold on the West or East Coasts and then move inland. But, during the last two years, a procedure called lipodissolve, which uses injections of a drug compound to target unwanted fat deposits, has captured the attention of thousands of cosmetic patients in Missouri and Kansas.
"Two years ago, nobody in St. Louis had heard of it," said Laurie Calzada, a petite blond self-help author who last year completed a series of anti-fat shots on her outer thighs and abdomen. "But now lipodissolve is practically a household word."
Anti-fat injections are one of the most hotly debated procedures in cosmetic medicine because they are spreading faster than the science behind them. Unlike mesotherapy, a process that entails superficially injecting vitamins and other substances into the skin, lipodissolve involves deeper injections of a compound drug that is supposed to break down cells in the fatty layer under skin.
But the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any drug to be used cosmetically in anti-fat injections. Neither the drug formula used in lipodissolve nor the method of treatment is standardized. And researchers disagree whether the shots eliminate fat cells, or merely liquefy fat so that it shifts around in the body, raising the possibility of long-term consequences such as the aggravation of heart disease.
Still, Ms. Calzada, who heard about the procedure from her gynecologist who tried it for his love handles, said that she did not mind being an early adopter. Ms. Calzada went to a medical office in St. Louis, then called the Advanced LipoDissolve Center, which specializes in the injections. She was so pleased with the results that she spread the word to at least 50 friends and acquaintances, she said.Continue reading the main story
But some regulators and local doctors have issued warnings about lipodissolve, arguing that such anti-fat shots lack the kind of rigorous prospective clinical research that would prove their safety and efficacy. In an effort to collect some hard data, Dr. V. Leroy Young, a plastic surgeon here, said he had just received permission from the F.D.A. to conduct a small clinical study of one of the drug mixtures. In Kansas, the board of medicine last month tried to ban injections of the same drug compound after receiving complaints from consumers, but a judge last week stayed the restrictions after a petition from lipodissolve providers.
"These are unapproved drugs for unapproved uses and we can't guarantee consumers' safety," said Karen Riley, an F.D.A. spokeswoman.
But the agency does permit doctors on an individual-patient basis to prescribe a compounded drug, formulated with ingredients from approved drugs and made by a licensed compounding pharmacy. That is how providers of lipodissolve obtain their mixtures.
Doctors said anti-fat shots often contain a compound of approved drug ingredients known as PCDC, which includes a phospholipid called phosphatidylcholine and a bile acid called deoxycholate. A drug containing PCDC called Lipostabil is approved in Germany as an intravenous medication to treat blood vessels blocked by fat embolisms. In Britain, where the drug is not licensed, it has been marketed for cosmetic anti-fat injections under the name Flabjab.
The fight over lipodissolve raging in Missouri and Kansas represents one small skirmish in the battle among regulators, doctors and medical entrepreneurs to control the explosive growth of cosmetic medicine and to set standards for scientific proof of efficacy and safety.
"Cosmetic medicine is an incredibly frightening and unregulated frontier right now," said Dr. Audrey G. Kunin, a dermatologist who lives in Mission Hills, Kan., who said she has been discouraging fellow Kansans from getting lipodissolve treatments.
The Advanced LipoDissolve Center opened its first office here in September 2005. The company, which recently changed its name to Fig. (short for figure), heavily promoted the procedure on television, radio and in magazines. Because the shots target small areas of unwanted fat deposits, the company positioned the injections as a less invasive alternative to liposuction surgery. Soon after, more than a dozen spas and doctors offices, including surgeons whose liposuction business had diminished, began to offer similar treatments.
Now Fig., whose motto is "dissolve to your beautiful shape," has 15 centers across seven states, including three clinics in St. Louis. In the last two years, Fig. offices have performed more than 100,000 lipodissolve treatments, said Chris Dornfeld, the company's chief development officer.
"There were people on both coasts doing this, but we made lipodissolve visible in the marketplace," Mr. Dornfeld said.
Fig. has now expanded its services, but lipodissolve remains its most popular procedure, he said. Treatments typically cost $2,000 per body part and require a series of six injection sessions, spaced two weeks apart. Women most frequently request treatment on their abdomens and thighs while men choose love handles and jaw lines. A typical client signs up for two or three body parts. Doctors and nurse practitioners who administer the treatments advise clients that the shots can cause stinging, swelling, redness and bumps and that the inflammation indicates the medication is working.
Dr. David A. Caplin, a plastic surgeon who offers lipodissolve in his private practice and serves as Fig.'s national medical adviser, said results can be hard to measure.
"The decrease is variable and hard to quantify, but when you look at the before and after photos, the fat mass is not there," he said. "The best measure is patient satisfaction."
Rob Semaan, the chief executive of Fig., said that lipodissolve is safe, and that doctors, who have performed the procedure worldwide, had not reported any deaths or other serious consequences.
And yet, in an effort to warn consumers in 2005, the British health authority reported that it had received complaints about side effects.
Even a few doctors here who offered themselves as guinea pigs for the procedure experienced problems.
Last year, when Dr. Young, the plastic surgeon, was considering offering the shots at his office, he asked an instructor at a lipodissolve course to inject his right flank. Thirty minutes later, he felt like he had been stung by 50 bees and his skin turned black, he said. "It looked like I had been hit with a garden hose," Dr. Young said. "I thought, I am going to lose some skin and I am going to have to ask one of my colleagues to do a skin graft."
A plastic surgeon in his office named Dr. C. B. Boswell, and their nurse, Holly Foelsch, also injected each other with PCDC. Dr. Boswell said that his stomach became so enlarged that he looked six months pregnant. Ms. Foelsch said that her thighs became so swollen with liquid that she wore panty hose to keep them from jiggling.
All three reported that the side effects dissipated after two weeks but none of them experienced any cosmetic benefit. "Missouri is the show-me state," Dr. Boswell said. "But no one has shown me that this stuff works."
Dr. Caplin, the medical adviser to Fig., said serious side effects had not occurred from treatments at its centers. "Certain techniques that use higher volumes than we do can get massive swelling," said Dr. Caplin, who added that the occasional patient at Fig. had experienced skin blistering.
Dr. Young's practice decided not to offer the shots to patients. But now he is about to start a pilot study of lipodissolve on 10 volunteers who will have PCDC shots on one side of their abdomens and a placebo on the other.
Patients will also have M.R.I. scans to see if their fat mass changes and blood tests to see if liquefied fat impacts their cholesterol. Such a small study will not provide definitive data, Dr. Young said, but it should establish whether the procedure warrants further research or is the kind of sham that the writer Damon Runyon called the "phonus bolonus."
"It would be good if this turns out to work, but if it doesn't work and all these people are wasting their money, we need to say that too," Dr. Young said.
Across state lines in Kansas, where lipodissolve has attracted clients, Dr. Kunin, the dermatologist, applauded the Kansas medical board for trying to regulate shots of PCDC. But she argued that the proposed ban should go further.
"If they ban one drug, people will just start offering injections of a different drug cocktail," Dr. Kunin said. "I would have liked to have seen a more comprehensive ban that outlawed the injection of any type of agent into the body that claims to reduce or eliminate fat."Continue reading the main story


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Here we go again. In today's paper, a news item about
the screening of film taken on the Scott and Amundsen
expeditions to the South Pole in 1911–12. It recalls how
Scott's diaries recorded the 'famous last words of
comrade Lawrence Oates, who stepped outside his tent
with the words "I may be some time".' Well, maybe.
Only earlier today I was reading a review by Max
Hastings in the New York Review of Books in which he
expresses scepticism about what he calls the 'modern
cult of oral history.' Reasonably enough, Hastings points
out that human memory is wildly selective, yet compilers
and editors 'decline to mar the vividness of eyewitness
narratives by identifying errors.' So what is remembered
by people many years later, especially if they lived
through dramatic or dangerous times, is often treated as
if it must be true. Similarly with diaries: we have
absolutely no way of knowing whether what Scott wrote
in his last diary, on that terrible return from the Pole, is
true, embellished or even a pack of lies.
Naturally the imperial British establishment of the day
had a keen interest in treating it as gospel truth, as it
made Scott and his men look like heroes and obscured
the fact that their deaths could have been avoided, had
more common sense prevailed in the planning of the
polar trip (as it did with Scott's successful rival
Amundsen). The extraordinary thing is that most of us,
to this day, still prefer to believe the official version,
based on the diary found in the tent that was the last
resting-place for Scott, Wilson and Bowers. I have no
doubt that most of it is true, and have no wish to sit here
in my comfortable chair and mock these men who for
weeks in the ice and snow endured hardships that would
do for me in hours, if that. But will we honour the past—
with all its irksome shades of grey—or not? I take my cue
again from Hastings, a veteran writer on military matters,
who says: 'No US or British regimental war diary that I
have ever seen explicitly admits that soldiers fled in panic,
as of course they sometimes do.' By the same token,
brutal as it may be to say, we have only Scott's word for it
—the word of a failed leader striving to put his doomed
expedition in the best possible light—that Oates behaved
as gallantly as he did, sacrificing his life by walking out
into the blizzard because, so frostbitten he could hardly
walk, he knew that he was holding the others back. It
could equally be that he went mad and started attacking
his companions, and had to be killed, or ran out
screaming rather than nobly (and perhaps a touch too
perfectly) announcing 'I am just going out and may be
some time.'
I'm not saying he did or didn't, but neither can anyone
say that Scott's version is the unvarnished truth. And
we now know that Oates, whom Scott called an 'English
gentleman,' got a girl of 12 pregnant before he left
England—not, one would think, the act of a gentleman
of any nationality. As Hastings says, reviewing a book by
Margaret MacMillan called Dangerous Games: The Uses
and Abuses of History, most people cherish their
national myths 'too much to want mere facts, or even
assertions of historical doubt, to besmirch them. They
prefer a nursery view of their past to an adult one.'
Perhaps, then, it's time to make a maturer view of the
Scott expedition and accept that, while we will never
know what really happened as those poor frozen Brits,
those mad men of an earlier generation, dragged their
way back across the Barrier, it's naïve to believe that it
necessarily happened the way a dying man said it did.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Scott's word
Posted by Denis Welch at Monday, April 12, 2010
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How-To Categories
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Cancelled Order
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So, you have a film you would like to submit to DOA Blood Bath Entertainment for consideration for one of our film festivals and you are wondering what you should send along with the film, right? What are the rules? And so forth? Because all film festivals have a lot of rules and paperwork and fees to submit but you've looked and looked here and can't seem to find the small print. That's because there isn't any!
1. Submit your film per the deadline stated in the "call for submissions" post here.
2. There are no fees associated with submitting to any event hosted by DOA Blood Bath Entertainment. Nor is there any need for fancy press kits, posters, and such. Sure, I like SWAG as much as the next guy, but that stuff costs YOU the filmmaker money. And that's money better spent making films or even paying your rent or, if you are like most starving indie filmmakers, even just eating is nice. Besides, honestly? A pretty press kit and lots of SWAG will not be a factor into your film's selection, or non-selection, into any Blood Bath festival.
3. All films must be on DVD or Blu-Ray and playable in a standard North American Region 1 type player. If selected, your film must not be branded as a screener in any way.
4. By submitting your film to us you agree that we can screen it at the event that you submitted it to.
5. DVD's will not be returned whether selected or not.
And that's it. That's as complicated as it gets here at DOA Blood Bath Entertainment.


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In January 2010, educators at the NYC Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries (AECI) in the Bronx formed a union at their school to provide a positive and stable school culture for their students. Educators delivered letters to the school's principal and board of directors that called for a more formal voice in school operations to "strengthen our school community and enhance the educational experience of our students, faculty and administrators." A few months later the board formally recognized the union, and contract negations began.
Since then educators at the charter school have been working for two years without a contract. The teacher-led contract committee diligently attended all bargaining sessions in hopes of reaching a contract that would serve the interest of the entire school community. Negotiations reached impasse last winter.
Due to the stalled negotiations teachers salaries have been frozen and union activists have suffered harassment from the administration. AECI's administration has engaged in a campaign of intimidation against teachers; they have suspended, terminated and otherwise disciplined union activists and supporters.
Educators at the school just want to focus on educating their students free from harassment and with a contract in place.
Want to stay informed?
Call board member John Kwok today at
917-807-3502 718-482-4806 OR 718-482-4825 and tell him to respect teachers' rights.
Demand that the board:
- End all retaliation by administration against teachers and staff involved in the organizing and contract campaign.
- Respect educators' right to strengthen their school community by advocating for the best working conditions for teachers and learning conditions for students.
- Negotiate a contract in good faith.
Go to the UFT's campaign page for talking points and additional information »


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Well, Blue Star delivers once again. The Black Box Lunch with Jill and Sherry was just great. What a fantastic way to gain insight to an artist's work in an informal setting. The turnout was great – an enthusiastic gathering of artists, students, collectors and whatnot. Jill and Sherry did not disappoint. The personal connection between these two Texas gals is palpable. The generosity of spirit that comes not only from the fellowship of the path of the artist, but between two humans who genuinely know and like each other. That's something special that doesn't always happen. Yes, professional admiration and respect is not at all uncommon, but that genuine warmth of devotion in the admiration is simply not always something that the "spectator" gets to experience. This was our golden ticket.
Monthly Archives: July 2013
Tango y más: A Sunday Matinee with Daniel Monserrat
Imagine yourself in a smoky Buenos Aires cafe late one Friday night, listening to the sound of tango music being provided by a familiar, local duo. It may be a little hard to do on a sultry Sunday afternoon, sitting by the San Antonio River — but that's the image that came to my mind as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the music provided by Daniel Monserrat.
Great entertainment? You bet! Something a little different and totally unexpected. Why is this so?
Southwest School of Art All School Exhibition 2013…Bravo!!!
Simply amazing! The faculty and students of Southwest School of Art should give themselves a pat on the back for the caliber of work shown in their All School Exhibition. This well-attended event was filled with an exhaustive variety of art, from painting to sculpture, photography to conceptual art.
Since this event is so visually overwhelming — and it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words — I'm going to let the images do the talking…
King William Summer Concert Series: Last Call!
The season comes to a close this Sunday, July 21, with Daniel Monserrat. Featuring Tango and Salsa vibes, this Argentinian has a vibrant local following, promising to end the 2013 season with a flourish! Join us on the lush banks of the San Antonio River fronting the offices at the San Antonio River Authority, 100 E. Guenther Street. Bring a picnic basket and something wonderful to drink and you should be good to go. The set kicks off around 6:30.
Seeing as the much anticipated Austin Piazzolla Quintet was rained out a few weeks ago, we are hoping for a reschedule…. We'll keep you informed of any developments on that front.
It's been a great summer concert series, thanks to the King William Association.
For more photos of previous concerts, click here.
Looks like fun, right? Join us.
Artpace: International Artists-In-Residence 13.2: Part 2
It was a great evening. The energy was electric, the work engaging. Three artists, each working in their own way with a "sense of place" and what that conveys. Every space was buzzing with conversation and curiosity. The artists' panel discussion was SRO. Just love it when this happens! I sat in on the conversation prior to seeing the individual gallery representations. The next time I will investigate the work first in order to put the talk in better context, but no matter. It worked. I was ready to check it out.
Trevor Paglen, hailing from New York, shares a glimpse of his very complex oeuvre. With "Prototype for a Nonfunctional Satellite (Design 2, Build 1)" we see a model for a satellite that can actually be placed into orbit as a "secondary payload." Wow. I have to disclose a bit of geek worship on this one. I was raised south of Houston in the hoods surrounding Johnson Space Center – NASA. I grew up with the kids of scientists who were pioneers of the US space program. My "briar patch," shall we say. Paglen's work is dense with scientific detail and precision. He literally works with teams across the world to bring his "art projects" to fruition. In his estimation, each piece takes 5 years to bring to completion. Frankly, it boggles my mind. Brilliant. I found the work so compelling that I had to find out more, and I recommend that you do the same. Spend some time mining his website. Start with this Vimeo about his "The Last Pictures Project." You will be blown away, too. There's much to absorb.
Artpace: International Artists-In-Residence Program 13.2: Part 1
The best thing about Artpace, in my opinion, is the interaction. The diversity. The pressing of diversity. I am relatively new to San Antonio and thus, to Artpace. What an interesting concept. Since 1994, an international coterie of curators have been bringing artists to San Antonio 3 at a time – one representative from Texas, another an artist working elsewhere in the US, and the final an international candidate. There are 3 installations per year. The artists get a 2-month residency which includes a place to stay with a living stipend, a budget for creating an onsite artwork, access to studio and exhibit space, along with workshops and other support services. The idea is that the artists have an opportunity to interact with the community as well. How fabulous.
The gathering to celebrate the opening of the 2013 Summer Program was a poppin'! Curator Hou Hanru brought together a group of artists with very divergent vision and working styles – part of what made the exhibit compelling. Pak Sheung Chuen from Hong Kong, Trevor Paglen from New York, and Clarissa Tossin currently in Houston (by way of Brasillia).
More to come…
Contemporary Rabbit Month at Sala Diaz
We were fortunate to be escorted to Sala Diaz by a close friend who knew its location. Otherwise, we probably would have circled the block a couple of times before realizing that it was actually to be found in an unassuming vintage home nestled behind a cluster of trees. The word "rustic" probably describes this structure best. Although it is in no danger of falling down, the building has an air of benign neglect, thanks to the peeling paint and what appears to be the original metal roof.
It's actually one building amongst a few sharing a large common area in back, where the evening's festivities were going to be held. Since we arrived early, the reception was still taking place on the front porch.


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Does the word HAMILTON excite you? Do you eat, breathe and live musical theater? Do you dream of being on stage? Are you serious about learning the tools and etiquette of the Broadway Theater?
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Hull City officials fly in to Turkey to seal £8.5m Simon Kjaer deal ahead of end of the season with Liverpool also interested in the Dane
Fenerbahce defender being courted by Premier League clubs but Hull are willing to gamble on centre-back as well as survival as Marco Silva looks to bolster Tigers ranks
HULL CITY are determined to beat their Premier League rivals to the signature of Fenerbahce defender Simon Kjaer.
The Dane has been the subject of English clubs before, with Liverpool reportedly happy to make him theirs.
But according to the Hull Daily Mail, Tigers officials David Beeby and Bronwen Walker want to make an early break for the 28-year-old centre-back before the end of the season by flying to Istanbul.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and gossip ahead of the summer window with SunSport's daily LIVE blog
With Marco Silva hoping to keep Hull up this season, he is eager to get a head start on the summer's transfer business, and Kjaer is a key target.
Turkish media have also reported that the club's officials are flying in to Istanbul tomorrow to get negotiations underway.
Silva has worked wonders since he came in to replace Mick Phelan in January and the club have beaten Liverpool, relegation rivals Swansea and Middlesbrough since he took over.
Former Wolfsburg, Roma and Lille star Kjaer has made 66 appearances for Fenerbahce since he joined them in July 2015.
He also has 59 international appearances for Denmark to his name, scoring three goals.
Silva, 39, admitted ahead of the Tigers' crucial clash at Southampton he wants better organisation from his ranks.
He said: "First we need our good organisation and when I say that I don't mean we go into the game to defend.
"We need to keep a balance so our players feel more comfortable when they play away.
"We need to improve. We only have to matches more to play away. It is a big challenge and we will try to do something different against Southampton and Crystal Palace."
Hull remain two points ahead of Swansea, who are the top team in the relegation zone in the Premier League.


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Carrot Clicks: Our Week in #winning, hip hop and steganographyby Gabrielle
In case you haven't seen our 3.5 million posts, we won TWO Shorty Awards this week: Best Social Media Agency and Best Use of Animated GIF. We're not bragging, we're just really honored/thankful/proud/excited/stoked. Other things we got really excited about this week: two Carrots on the Top Chef Cruise, two Carrots on the news for being fashionistas, eating outside again (!!!) and this catch.
We were intrigued by this infographic depicting costumes in Times Square (ratio of Elmos to Aliens is 8:5), and then we read about the importance of questioning data in data visualizations.
Speaking of data visualization, we visualized hip hop as a cultural indicator. Speaking of hip hop, here's a home-cooked Wu-Tang Clan article for you. And, Jay-Z dropped a new track about his trip with Beyonce to Cuba (that caused a lot of drama).
We shipped our pants over this commercial, and were impressed by out of home advertising brilliance. Speaking of brilliance, real Vine marketing is coming into focus: one company is encouraging you to complain with a Vine contest and a band created a music video based on your Vine hashtags (#gamechanger).
Speaking of music, Twitter is launching something big today: #music. Speaking of Twitter, we found out that @BarackObama isn't really the guy in the avatar anymore, but were delighted to find out that most of Biebs' fans on Twitter are totally fake.
Speaking of delight, we found out that nature makes you happy; go figure. So we tried to find nature from our desks and stumbled across Google Street View's hyperlapse. Someone said that wasn't "real," so we explored the Arctic with Greenpeace's snazzy site. And then we started daydreaming about the greenhouse going in nearby. And then it started raining outside.
So we turned to Facebook to make us happy... with their new emoticons. And then we felt old because apparently youngins aren't into Facebook right now. (Remember what we said about analyzing data closer...)
Speaking of Facebook, they launched a way to super-target consumers this week. And someone else launched JPEG steganography for Facebook images (#secrets).
Speaking of Facebook (again), the Winklevosses have millions invested in Bitcoin ...see what I did there? Oh, and Facebook Home appeared today... does anyone have a Droid they want to fess up to and let us know how it works?
Speaking of ...nothing, these things are worth the click: Lego AR codes, Storyboard saved by Mashable, Bloomingdale's Independent Spirit Awards Entry, Netflix's Arrested Development posters, the workisnotajob manifesto, and 40 years of the music industry in pie charts.
If you weren't tired before, your clicking fingers are (should be) now. Have a great, hopefully sunny weekend. We'll be dreaming of what DUMBO might become and practicing to not do this during softball games.


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|Leah and Peter with their supervisory team from Leicester &
BGS (from left: Melanie Leng, Peter Saycie, Mike Stephenson,
Leah Nolan, Sarah Davies and Vanessa Banks)
Spotting the geologists was an easy task as we arrived in the village of Monyash in the Peak District last Sunday. Sat outside the local cafe were three people from the British Geological Survey with their boots, hammers and compasses at the ready, looking at maps of the local area – these were my guides for the day! The point was to introduce me (and MGeol student Peter Saycie) to some of the local geology that I will be studying for the next three years. We soon set off in the sunshine down Lathkill Dale, a dry valley cut by huge rivers that would have flooded through the Dales over the Quaternary when glaciers retreated at the end of ancient glaciations. We aimed to look at Lower Carboniferous limestones, find the famous Gigantoproductid fossil bed (which I have been working on as part of my MGeol thesis over the past year), and start to think about a plan for my thesis research which is due to start in October.
|Leah and fellow student Peter looking at brachiopods
in the fallen blocks within Ricklow Quarry in Lathkill Dale
The first stop was not far along the Dale. Here we looked for calcretes (fossil soils) on top of massive ancient limestones. I'm not convinced I saw them (!) so I have somewhere to revisit! Progressing down the Dale towards Ricklow Quarry I was really excited to see really good rock exposure. The quarry debris is littered with huge shells of a single type of brachiopod! In particular the back face of the quarry displays a huge thickness of shells, all in life position, thought to have been living in small pools around coral reefs about 350 million years ago when the Dales were at the equator. Peter will also be working on this material, and pretty quickly we were collecting shells even though this was only a "look and see" day (the shells are beautiful and we couldn't resist it)...We moved on down the Dale, taking a short cut through tall nettles, where I wished I had worn thicker trousers...nettles are not friendly! We soon found another shell bed below the level of the reefs although the shells had been heavily recrystalised by fluids passing through the rocks.
At the end of the day we visited Butt Quarry near Worksop where we hoped to see the equivalent limestones, unfortunately the brachiopods were about 100m up the quarry face and not easily accessible! However what was interesting is that the quarry shows numerous faults and late stage fluids have brought lead ores that penetrate the limestones – these mineral rich veins must have been an added bonus when they were quarrying the limestone. Overall a good day was had by all. I left with more question about the area than when I arrived with, but that's the point of a PhD (right!?!?). I am excited to get stuck in and look forward to spending more time in the Dales...I have a feeling that myself and the local campsite owner are soon to become good friends. Roll on October...and another blog...
|Lathkill Dale in the Peak District which contains some
spectacular Lower Carboniferous limestones
Leah Nolan will start her PhD research at Leicester University in October 2013. She is also sponsored by the BGS BUFI scheme. Her PhD is concerned with reconstructing palaeoenvironment of the Lower Carboniferous of the Peak District, and how this has controlled subsequent diagenesis and the development of fluid pathways through the limestones. She will be supervised by Profs Melanie Leng and Sarah Davies at Leicester and Prof Mike Stephenson and Dr Vanessa Banks from the British Geological Survey.


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Retract-a-float's will make your packing & unpacking a breeze, while making your boat clear of obstruction.
Retract-a-float's retrieve your excessive rope to meet the height of the low tide, making it safer for boats avoiding crab pots.
Avoid excess rope getting caught around yourself, your boat, and your expensive fishing gear.
Constructed with high quality stainless steel and durable corrosion resistant materials.
No knots • No tangles • No mess
Sold Out
New and Improved Retract-a-Float Coming Soon !!!!!
No knots • No tangles • No mess
The Retract-a-Float is a simple solution to a myriad of problems. Crab pot floats have become synonymous with masses of knots and tangles, ropes being caught up in propellers or tangled in mangroves.
Retract-a-Float's are constructed from high quality stainless steel and corrosion resistant engineer grade polypropolene and keep 6 metres of rope neatly coiled under tension within the float itself, only uncoiling enough to keep the float directly above the pot.
We are excited to announce that Retract-a-Float is up for awards at the Good Design Australia Awards. One of the longest standing and most prestigious design awards... Read More


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Our Emergency Department is staffed 24 hours, 7 days a week by an ED Physician. Our hospital is unique due to our size and accessibility and we therefore pride ourselves on our low emergency department wait times and our ability to give patients access to a doctor quickly.
- 24/7 Emergency Department
- Level II Cardiac Center
- Level III Stroke Center
- Level IV Trauma Care
At Summit Pacific we have the ability to stabilize critically injured patients and transport them to larger trauma facilities by either ambulance or helicopter. Stopping at Summit Pacific for stabilization has been instrumental in saving the lives of heart attack and stroke victims and those with traumatic injuries.
Summit Pacific Medical Center is a member of Southwest Washington's Telestroke Network. This network provides possible stroke patients that opportunity to come to Summit Pacific at the first signs of stroke, but still be seen immediately by a neurologist from Providence St. Peter Hospital's certified stroke center through advanced video technology.
Please use the driveway and parking lot located off of Young Street when visiting the Emergency Department.
Emergency Department Providers
Clyde Hanson, MD
Bio coming soon!
Edward Junn, MD
Bio coming soon!
Mimi Syed, MD
ED Medical Director
Bio coming soon!


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Content Management System
What Is CMS?
CMS is a website content management system, your administrative dashboard to control the content of your website. Simply login with your administrator details and from there you can manage your media, upload new images and change or add text content to your pages.
Do I need CMS?
This can be a personal choice or simply a cost effective, time saving choice. CMS is ideal for the business owner who wants to run a blog and post regularly and enjoys having site management control to update the site content. It's up to the individual business owner to decide if they have the time to be updating their website's content.
Which Website Packages Include CMS
CMS is included in both our Business Website Package and our Premium Website Package and as with all of our website packages we do offer a completely free monthly text edit. Yes! you can simply contact our support with your text change and they will have it edit you website for you.
Literally taking control of your website with our content management system (CMS).
Editing your website 24/7 gives you the freedom to change what you need without wasting precious time to pay someone else to do it for you.
Whether you need to add a new product to your store for eCommerce or simply changing the wording, CMS is the BEST!


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Great service and affordable service! I have used R &B twice now and will continue to do so in the future . My experience was that they worked within my budget and delivered even more . They work quickly and everything is done well.Thankyou for the excellent job. I feel totally confident to hire them for my future landscaping .
Thank you R&B. Your attention to the customers needs and desires to improve their landscaping is second to none. The customer service is fantastic. If it is not right R&B will make it right no questions. Thanks R&B if only more companies were this caring about their customers.
Dear Ricky
We would like to express to you our appreciation for the job you performed on our daughter's lawn.
You were very professional and explained what would be accomplished. Your crew did everything that was expected and did it in a friendly and competent manor. We will be glad to recommend your services in the future.
thank you again
Ricky and his staff did a tremendous job on our landscaping at a reasonable cost. He was also punctual and very responsive.
May 6, 2017
R & B Landscaping and Lawn Care, LLC
Ricky Byrd,
I wanted to express my sincere "thank you" for taking the effort and time to clean up the mess your workers left in my yard yesterday. To say the least, I was pretty upset when I saw all the rocks and dirt in the front yard.
After we called to inform you of this situation, you responded promptly and got immediately to work to make things right. To me, this is what makes some companies stand above others.
I feel confident that the landscaping job will be done well especially when you are leading the charge. Again, I wanted to express my thanks for your attention and care to my yard.
I was very pleased last evening when we returned home and saw how good the yard looked - I did sleep well. I would always feel comfortable recommending you and your company for landscaping work.
St. Louis
I wanted to express my sincere appreciation for for R&B Landscaping. After years of experience of working with a variety of landscaping companies, upon the first impression, I found a jewel in R&B landscaping. This company far exceeded my expectation with its high level of professionalism, creativity and the attention to details. I am very please to say all of both my commercial and residential properties are being managed by R&B Landscaping.
This is the first time we have had professionals deliver and spread mulch, but we have had many other contractors work on our home. There was such a vast difference in the attitude of the workers with R & B and Ricky. Kindness and respect between each other and for us not to mention they were actually happy doing their job!! As if that wasn't enough they did an outstanding job with all the mulch they put down and spread. And the clean up was quite a thing to behold. Never have we had anyone come to our home to work on it and have these kind of results. We are soooooooo happy with R&B. Thanks guys you did a fantastic job!!!
I am very pleased with the work that Ricky and his team did in transforming my landscaping into something that I am proud of. This is not only Ricky's job but his passion. Ricky communicated throughout the process and stopped by frequently while work was being performed to make sure everything was going well. Ricky listened to what I wanted and then worked to make it happen. Ricky stayed on top of the work from start to finish and was very responsive if I called with questions.
As the work on my landscaping came to completion, many neighbors stopped by to see what had been done and were very complementary of the work. I believe it has not only added to the curb appeal of my home but also to the value.
I would describe Ricky as thorough, meticulous, a great listener and communicator and just a great guy to work with! Thanks for all your hard work!
My husband and I have property in Creve Coeur, MO but we live in Illinois. R&B Landscaping has proven to be a lifesaver. Not only can we trust them to keep our property looking great, their dependability and customer service is exceptional. I cannot imagine trusting our lawn care needs to anyone else. We are customers for life. Thanks R&B!
We recently called R&B Landscaping to spread some mulch, cut down a small tree, and trim and dead-head two other trees. The brown mulch that they brought was exactly what I had in mind, with deep rich color and fine consistency. Ricky, the owner, and his employees have a great work ethic and were very courteous and pleasant to work with. I only asked for the mulch and work on certain trees, but, as a part of their service, they also trimmed all of the bushes, shaped up the remaining trees, and edged our entire bed around three sides of our home. We were very pleased with the results and couldn't have chosen a better landscaping company. Would recommend them without hesitation. Mary Anne Slaten - October 9, 2017
Thank you R&B for a wonderful job on my yard. The spring cleanup and grading was completed on schedule and everyone was very professional.
R & B was recommended by a friend who saw their great work at a neighbor's house. I live in a subdivision with "builder grade" landscaping....nuf' said. So, I called Ricky to discuss options and ideas. He was, and continues to be wonderful. He listened to what I was looking for and provided excellent recommendations for new landscaping for my home. It is absolutely beautiful...my neighbors slow down and look...they tell me it is so pretty. Ricky has kept in touch with me every step of the way. I appreciate how he conducts business...he is courteous, thorough, professional, meticulous, and all around a great guy. His workers were terrific as well; always being respectful to my yard and my time. Thank you R & B!
The homeowners were very pleased with the manner in which our needs were met in the renovation of the islands located in our subdivision. Mr. Byrd and his team completed the job in a timely manner. Mr. Byrd provided hands-on care and was professional, honest as well as made sure our needs were met. Great job R & B Landscaping and Lawn Care!!!! We are very please with the care you and your team have given with the care of the common ground and you have given new meaning to professionalism.
My husband & I originally hired R & B Landscaping for lawn service only. Initially I was impressed with the job they did with the lawn as well as the ease of communication with the owner Ricky Byrd. The first time I met him he was so personable & very professional. He made some suggestions about landscaping and I was impressed with his ideas and range of knowledge in landscaping and design. When you make an appointment with Ricky, he 's on time, prepared, and efficient and thorough. This was the most pleasant experience I've ever had with any home project! EVER! He went above and beyond, the job was done on time and better than I ever expected!
I don't usually write reviews unless I'm 100% satisfied and I certainly was completely satisfied with everything from start to finish. I recommend Ricky Byrd and his staff with complete confidence that you too will be a very happy customer with a beautiful, completed job in the end.
One of the most professional companies we have ever dealt with. Customer service is most impressive and the finished work is more than we expected. We are so happy with everything that Mr. Byrd and his capable crew did for us, and we anticipate using R & B for any future outdoor work. Thank you for a job very well done!
Submit YOUR testimonial now!


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Welcome to Loveland Community House! We offer rental rooms in a variety of sizes to cater to your special event. These include a Dining Hall seating up to 200 which can include a raised stage, room for dancing, a DJ or small band the Ladies or Mens Lounge offer classic appointments and vaulted ceilings.We have an Auditorium with a raised stage, perfect for weddings, seminars or dinner dances. Take a virtual tour of these rooms or stop in. Loveland has been used by professional, social and religious groups for many of the following occasions:
- Bridal Showers
- Rehearsal Dinners
- Baby Showers,
- Birthday Parties
- Quinceanera Parties
- Anniversary/ Retirement Parties
- Holiday Parties
- Recitals (we have a Baldwin baby grand piano)
- Graduation Parties
- Support Group Meetings
- Business Seminars
- Corporate Banquets
- Depositions
- Weddings & Wedding Receptions (check our package rates)
- Craft & Vendor shows


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Declaration against terrorism:
Finally he asked the audience to support a declaration against terrorism and to raise their hands and stand up against the suicide bombing and terrorism. The whole crowd stood up and agreed with Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has been promoting the anti-extremism message in the UK since he issued his 600-page fatwa on terrorism. Last summer he spoke at the 3-day residential anti-terror camp. He will be speaking to a Washington DC audience next month.