The possibilities of using corn as fuel

Corn stoves are becoming popular for heating out-buildings, commercial premises and homes. There are more and more corn fueled stoves being produced to meet the high demand. For example, hot water furnaces, boilers and stoves with companies offering specifications tailored to individual's needs. In order to ensure safe, efficient operations of corn-burners, regular cleaning of ash residue and constant filling of the fuel is needed, reminiscent of an old wood burner from years gone by.

Corn-burning stoves can be complex or very simple. The more complex systems can have a corn delivery system and a combustion air fan; whereas, in standard wood stoves these are not a requirement. The fuel hoppers are usually located at the back of the stove and can be fed by an old coal scuttle.

Why use corn for burning?

Corn is an attractive heat source and is in abundance. Lower corn grades can be used and preferably that of none food grades; it also has a high heat energy content per unit weight. The quality requirements of corn as a fuel include:

Shelled corn should be checked as they must be dirt free, because dirty corn has a lot of lose fragments and cob pieces, these can cause problems by clogging up the fuel delivery system.

Shelled corn's heat content is based on its weight and moisture content. Corn high in moisture has a lower heat value per unit of weight delivering lower quality heat efficiency, so shelled corn should be dry, at least 15% moisture content or less.

Corn cannot be burned on just any stove or outdoor furnaces. There have specific design requirements in order for it to burn efficiently; similar to pellet-burning stoves. Clinker (ash residue) from the corn must drop away from the area where the corns are delivered and burned, which means that the clinker has to be shoveled away on a regular basis.

Shelled corn must be aided in burning with a combustion chamber that is fan assisted blowing in oxygen. The whole process is systematic from the corn delivery via a storage chamber, which is regulated, to enabling the amount of fuel to be burnt and the level of heat delivered. Ignition systems can be manual or automatic, wood pellets are burned to get the corn burning in the manual operation and the automatic method involves a fuel rod, which ignites the corn.

Heat exchanges do the job of separating flue gasses from the heat as a larger fan pushes air from the room through the stove and out again as heated air. This system must rely on electricity for it to operate. If the electricity supply is interrupted, a backup battery supply kicks in. The stove will need manually starting as a safety feature when there has been a power outage.

There are other types of corn stoves that do not use the systems above and burn at the bottom of a hopper. Multi-fuel systems are also an option and have the advantage of being able to burn shelled corn, cherry pits, wood pellets and more, giving a choice of fuels if one becomes in short supply.

Prevent Your Child's Myopia From Worsening

Myopia is a very common eye condition and sometimes referred to as nearsightedness or short-sightedness because objects in the distance become blurry and closer objects are perfectly clear. Myopia comes in several forms of severity, from mild, which may not need treatment, to serious cases that affect the vision substantially. An appointment with the optometrist should be made if distant objects become slightly fuzzy or you have trouble bringing objects at a distance into focus.

School myopia develops in adolescence around the school age, hence the term, this problem can stabilize in the teen years. Adult onset myopia commonly starts around puberty slowly worsening until the eye is fully developed. Late onset myopia happens in adults around the age of forty and onwards. Myopia affects over 128 million North Americans and 1.6 billion people globally, and still rising.

What is the cause of myopia?

A refractive eye condition is when the structure of the eye has errors which cause how light rays enter the eye. The eye grows with the rest of the body and sometime the back of the eye can grow too long, which stops light rays reaching the retina and causing distant objects to blur. Myopia is associated with genetics or several environment factors.

Environment factors causing myopia in children include: 

Excessive close up work

Poor quality illumination

Lack of outdoor activity

Font size in print books

Very poor eye care

Uncorrected refractive errors

Unhealthy diet

Children should be encouraged to participate in more outdoor activities, giving them longer breaks, more often from close work, which could help prevent the onset of myopia.

The IMPA (International Myopia Prevention Association) suggest that if children start to wear reading glasses for close work as soon as the first signs of myopia appear, it could prevent the problem from deteriorating further. Equally, new studies from a distinguished vision scientist called David Troilo, has proposed the introduction of contact lenses that can be used to aid the growth of children's eyes using multi-zonal lenses with alternating rings of negative and positive focal lengths. This, he suggest, can stop the progression of myopia in young adolescence.

Burgundy Heart of France

Burgundy typifies the soul of a French wine region, steeped in history and culture; it is the area home to Mâcon, on the Saône River. The town is the destination of the annual, Beaujolais Nouveau wine run, which starts and finishes in the UK. Dijon is the ancient capital of the province and has a lot more to offer than strong condiments as a sightseer’s haven, with museums, restored medieval stone houses and cobblestone streets.

More to offer

Follow a pilgrim's trail through picturesque villages and verdant landscapes. Holiday properties in Burgundy range from opulent 17th century mansions, surrounded by vineyards, and charming 18^th century town houses, to stone cottages nestled in the countryside.

Burgundy has a secret, not just its famous, scrumptious wines or its flavoursome cheeses and delicious Burgundian dishes, but its people. Feel the warmth of a friendly smile and sometimes a chuckle when trying their language. Holiday rentals in Burgundy offer several choices from a city or country side experience with a vast range of outdoor activities including, canal barging, horse riding, hot air ballooning and underwater caving.

With more and more holiday property rentals in Burgundy, wine enthusiast can taste their way around Beaune, the wine capital of the province and attend the world famous wine charity auction.

Weather and travel

Bourgogne (Burgundy) as it is known by the French people has an oceanic climate with a half-continental tendency; this is what makes it possible for the areas wealth of vineyards, with averages temperatures in the Winter 1.6°c and summer: 19.6°c. Travelling to the heart of France from Paris by car can take up to 3.5 hours and half that time by high-speed Train (TGV).  

Top Managed Hosting Companies

A strong web presence is important to any business in this competitive world, so creating a great website with minimal hassle is also important. Finding the best host is integral to the process. Below are the five top companies providing web hosting, focusing on popular opinion, price, customer service and usability.

Go Daddy

Go Daddy is one of the most well-known web-hosts, with affordable prices, and when it comes to features they are ranked high. Go Daddy's popularity and web presence is down to the fact that they are the world's leading domain name registrar. Their host service has over ten million customers, so that speaks for itself. Whatever price you pay with Go Daddy, you always get superb customer service and value for your money.

Features

Basic: Bandwidth - unlimited 10 GB of disk space - 24/7 FTP access - 10 MySQL databases - 100 email accounts - Linux and Windows hosting - Daily backups.

Included: Free setup - More than 50 applications - 24/7 customer support -Website statistics - Free search engine ad credits.

Control Panel

Their control panel offers a high degree of control over your website, but you will need some time to learn how to navigate the number of screens.

Go Daddy has the best customer service with many support options; you can contact them through the web, email, or via phone and you will always be greeted with a helpful response.

Price

Go Daddy has three different pricing options for their 4GH (4th generation hosting) platform: Ultimate, deluxe, and economy. The most popular is the deluxe plan, offering 150GB of disk space 25 MySQL database and 500 email addresses for $5.94 per month. The ultimate package is $8.49 per month and the economy $4.24 per month.

iPage

iPage is an award winning global webhosting company with over ten years of experience, delivering quality at affordable prices. Reliability and flexibility are high on the list of priorities for iPage when it comes to their customers. iPage offers host websites for business and personal use, social and non-profit websites, serving over a million websites, and has over 1,500,000 domains under their management.

Features

Basic: Disk space - no set limit Bandwidth - unlimited Domains - unlimited MySQL Databases – unlimited.

Included: Free online store Money-back guarantee Online support system Chat, email and phone support.

Control Panel

The control panel is custom-built and flexible to control, and has everything you will want and need. It also includes a drag and drop site builder and step-by-step tutorials.

iPage supports a vast range of platforms such as Frontpage, Expressions and Dreamweaver, to name a few. Security is high level, protecting both visitors and you, with anti-spam scanning, SiteLock technology, malware scans, and domain verification.

Price Ipage price package includes all the features on offer for $3.50 a month including marketing tools.

HUB

Hub has been around for over ten years providing web hosting services to businesses, individuals and non-profits. Hub offers free features in a build-it-yourself style DIY service, which means it is fast and you can have a web presence in minutes.

Features

Basic: Free domain registration/transfer Disk space - unlimited Bandwidth - unlimited - Free blogging software - Subdomains – unlimited - parked domains – unlimited - FREE Premium Web Builder MySQL - databases – unlimited.

 Included: 90-day money-back guarantee - 24/7 US-based in-house support - CGI support - $75 in Google Adwords Credits - $75 in Microsoft advertising ad-center Credits

Control Panel

Hub offers their customers cPanel, the most popular and best control panels on the market today. cPanel comes with a lot of features: 1 click software installer, email protection, spam prevention, and easy file management.

Customer support can be reached by the web, email or telephone, and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Price

Hub offers advanced features with e-commerce tools, secure mail, and 90 day full money back guarantee and more, for a starting price of $3.95 per month currently, down from $6.95 per month.

JustHost

Uptime, reliability and customer service places JustHost up there with the best web hosts in the world. Uncomplicated web hosting makes it easier for newbie webmasters with in-depth tutorials and a FAQs section to source answers to questions fast.

Features

Basic: Free instant activation -- Disk space – unlimited -- Bandwidth – unlimited -- Number of domains – unlimited -- Sub-domains – unlimited -- Unlimited FTP accounts -- Free for life domain name.

Included: Any time money-back guarantee -- Live support 24/7 -- Guaranteed 99.9% uptime -- Free search engine and social network ad credits.

Control Panel

JustHost uses the best control panel, the cPanel, which is easy to use with graphic icons and well organized display panel. As with the other top web hosts, JustHost offers superb customer service that can be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all year round, via email, the web, and telephone.

Price

JustHost is offering an affordable option at just $4.45 per month giving you access to all the features that are listed above.

FatCow

FatCow endeavours to simplify web hosting, and is ranked number 1 for small businesses. FatCow offers a domain hosting service called the MiniMoo plan. The company likes to inject a sense of humour into naming its products. This service cost $5 a year and includes, 1 email address, and domain parking.

Features

Basic: Free domain name -- Disk space – unlimited -- Bandwidth – unlimited --Pop mailboxes – unlimited.

Included: 24/7 customer support -- Search engine and social network credits -- 30-day money-back guarantee.

Control Panel

Fatcow, rather than using cPanel, has a feature-rich custom control panel that is easier to use than cPanel, and more powerful, helping the customer to build a quality website. Customer service can be contacted through a chat style window on the web, by telephone, or email, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is also a FAQs section to obtain answers fast.

Price

FatCow still has the original FatCow plan web hosting package, which is on offer from $3.67 a month.

Lead Paint Safety in the Home

Federal law passed on the 22 of April, 2010, is there to protect people from being contaminated by lead paint. The law requires contractors and home owners, who work on homes built before 1978, to risk assess the work and include activities that disturb more than six square feet of existing paint.
 
This law also applies to schools and child care facilities. There have been set protocols for contractors to follow, when faced with a program including the above hazard. Removal of lead-based paint is highly hazardous to the persons doing the abstraction, and persons in close proximity. If lead poisoning goes untreated it can lead to brain damage and  in extreme cases death. Young children, especially pre-schoolers, are more susceptible to lead poisoning.

Houses pre-dating 1978 where often painted with lead based paint and house owners must disclose information regarding known lead-based paint to potential buyers or those seeking to lease the property.

If lead is present in paint, it must be dealt with by professionals, as paint chips or dust from the paint are considered highly hazardous to health. Lead that has been in paint and allowed to deteriorate over time can also contaminate the soil under and around a property, which can be played in by children and walked into the home and should also be tested to determine what action necessary to be taken.

High lead paint hazardous areas in the home

Lead base paint is at its most hazardous when chipped, cracked, peeling, chalking and worn from high traffic areas where an area has high contact rate and therefore, is vulnerable to damage. Particular attention should be given to areas where it is likely that children can access, as they often can chew and peel away painted areas including:

• Window frames and window sills.
• Doors frames, architraves and doors.
• Stair banisters, risers, steps and skirting.
• Porches, decking and fences.

There are home test kits to see what areas are hazardous but it is not recommended as a sole reliant source when thinking about renovation work. A test should be done by a qualified and certified professional. If the presence of lead-based paints in the home is suspected there are steps that can be taken immediately to alleviate this hazard to household members. Clean up any paint flakes and chips and seal them in a bag or container for disposal. Curtains, sofas and other furniture should be covered up before the clean-up process.

Use a mop with a general surface cleaner to wash down the surfaces, including floors, window sills, frames and door panels, all those surfaces that are suspected of being contaminated, on a weekly basis. The cleaning tools, like the mop head, should be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed out after use. A mob is a preferred in the absence of a high powered commercial vacuum cleaner, as they will not kick up dust particles causing them to become airborne and contaminate other areas of the home.

It would be prudent to wear washable or disposable gloves for the cleaning operation. Children's hands should always be washed before they eat food and go to sleep. Children should be stopped from chewing all those areas suspected of being contaminated. Toys or anything the child comes into contact with should be cleaned regularly.

Shoes need to be removed before entering the home and also cleaned if soiled. Children who eat nutritious diets can absorb less lead. These are all temporary actions whilst the removal of the hazardous paint is being programmed.

Painting over lead-based paints is not a solution as it can still be chipped and damaged, causing flakes that can be consumed. Ideally all hazardous paint should be removed by a professional certified "abatement" contractor. The contractor can also advise if certain section can be sealed or covered over with specialist products. The National lead information centre (NLIC) has lists of approved contractors that cover various areas and also have in place financial assistance packages.

Lead Poisoning Effects

Lead poising symptoms vary and can be non-specific symptoms like loss of appetite, sleeping deficiency, stomach pains and constipation or in some people no physical symptoms occur

.

Children that do not complain of any symptoms but may have poisoning can suffer brain damage over a certain time period. If a child shows difficulty in walking or weakness following the suspicion of exposure to lead-based paint poisoning; medical attention involving a blood test, to check the levels of lead, should be sort immediately.

Pets can also show symptoms of  poisoning from lead-based paint and usually before humans, this is another way of detecting the problem, all be it an unwelcome one.

If lead-based paint is suspected in a home and there is no information on the history of the house. Rather than leaving things to chance, especially if the paintwork is chipped and chalking. Certified professionals should be called in to test it. First they will do a visual test to establish the condition and the location of the paint, then they can then use a (XRF) a portable x-ray fluorescence machine. Finally samples are taken to a lab for further testing.

How Requesting Financial Aid Affects College Admissions Decisions

Thinking about and applying for a college placement can often be one of the most stressful times in a student's life. That's why it is important for a student and their family to understand the admissions process, especially in regards to applying for financial aid. Each college has their own way of managing their budgets and administrative decisions.

A decision about student applications and whether or not their financial status is taken into consideration varies depending on the college. Yet, the majority will adhere to the same review guidelines, and committee members who are tasked with reviewing applications are not aware of the details of any students requesting financial aid.

Some institutions may be influenced by a student's financial needs, and take into consideration the level of talent and academic credentials, with the level of finance needed. Those students requesting a high level of financial assistance, with mediocre credentials, will almost certainly find themselves at the bottom of the administration's pile. A student's ability to pay full tuition and his or her high level of academic flare are all factored in to the decision; he or she is often given a greater advantage.

Some institutions, which consider applications on a need-blind basis, ignore the ability of an application to pay their tuition and are all processed from a purely academic and talent based point of view. The financial situation of a student is generally worked out after they have been accepted.

If a student is worried about how requesting financial aid affects college admissions decisions, they may be able to gain the edge over other applicants by becoming categorized as a highly desirable or deserving student. In general, those in this category would show stronger academic credentials, exceeding average test scores or possessing some special talents, and in the past have shown that they are a hard working student.

Paying top dollar in recent years has proved a sure way of gaining access to some of the top state universities; even the number of foreign applicants, flashing their cash, has tripled. This is good news for those from wealthier families, but not so good for those in lower income homes. Some of the top, more selective colleges in the country are eliminating loans from financial aid packages, offered to students, and have adopted a policy of only offering loans to those that are in a certain family income bracket.

Institution's admissions administrators are now having to compare potential students, who are more or less identical applicants, and those that need financial assistance are being moved aside for the students who can pay for their own tuition.

Digital or Traditional Publishing

I've started submitting some designs on Crowdspring; I like their site set up it's user friendly and on the site they have a writer section, so I checked it out, and one section is for naming companies. I had a go and I've just been told I won – that was a quick 300 dollars.

My latest Squidoo lenses include thebest School bags, and on a more personal note about the time I was forced as a teenager to buy a VW Beetle and how over time I started to become a fan of the car. Halloween approaching I've also wrote a short lens about Spanish Halloween and costumes.

I am a massive film Buff, and have written five Screenplays with just as many halfway finished. I have studied the film industry for over ten years. It's time to move to Hollywood or change some of them into Novels.

Okay so I've already started changing them into Novels and Wow what a difference, 22,000 words to 90,000. All though the freedom is nice as long as it is controlled and I do have a complete skeleton, plot wise, to work with.

I have been designing book covers for authors who target Kindle which has intrigue me to weather digital is the best way to go or is it just a way of avoiding rejection from the traditional publishing route. As a wannabe Screenwriter I'm no stranger to rejection letters specially good luck for the future ones, yet out of all the hundreds of rejections only one film company read one of my scripts, the rejections where just based on the log-lines and the one LA company who was not interested in my script, which admittedly was based in the UK, did suggested it would work better as a Novel, of course this could be their version of a kiss off but we'll see...?

Why Do Websites Need Search Engine-Friendly Copywriting

Companies should have a list of in-house strategies to develop their web presence. How to guides, a strong social media presence and high keyword content to maximize and improve search engine ranking. Billions of searches are conducted on the internet each month, proving that searching for products and services is one of the most popular activities online, second only to email; searches can turn into subscribers and buyers.

Keyword phrases are the backbone to developing a higher search engine ranking, and that all important website traffic. Loading your copywriting with keywords will not guarantee high rankings. Search engines and readers of your copy will know if you are using repetitive phrases and putting them in obscure places.


Copy should have a dual purpose. Firstly, it should provide information that is valuable to the reader. Secondly, it should contain keyword strings or phrases that are popular search terms amongst people looking for your products or services.

How can I maximise keywords without alienating my copy

Effective search engine copywriting tells search engines words that are the most relevant. Pages or articles should only be optimised with 2 or 3 keyword phrases. Keywords need to be on different paragraphs and certainly on different sentences.

Computer programmes called search engine spiders, which index website's content, only see letters, not punctuation, line breaks or bullet points. Phrases can be split with punctuation hiding it from the reader, but the spiders will pick it up, giving you the chance of a higher ranking. You can put your keyword phrase at the end of one sentence and the second word at the beginning of a sentence, separating them with a full stop. Example: … that will always be Digital. Development of certain... the search engines will pick it up, and to the reader it is separate and natural.

Lists can be powerful as they make for easy reading, and scanning naturally pulls the reader's attention. Search engines like keywords in list, but they should still be placed correctly and without becoming repetitive. Copy should be broke into sections so you can place keywords in them for example, in a headline, the first sentence, side bar, navigation bar, and last sentence. This is so it looks natural to the reader and is optimised best for the spiders.

Keyword pages

Too many keywords on one page can detract from the focus of the content, as can multiple keywords that are not related. Create separate pages that are keyword specific, not only is this better for the reader, it creates a keyword friendly page for search engines.

Another way to get keywords on the same page and keep it looking natural is with testimonials from positive former clients. These usually have the name of a product or company name in them, and with permission from the past client, you could inject a few keywords in there.

Potential customers are online searching for products and services that you provide, and using keywords and phrases. This is why it is important that your website has these phrases and keywords, and that they are picked up by the search engines. Following some of the steps above will help to maximise keywords per article, without affecting the quality of your copy.

Designing Book Covers and T-shirts

I have recently been designing book covers and t-shirts speculatively and also for direct contact clients which has been interesting there is a lot of work out there especially in the speculative market if you don't mind rejection and can take critique. I prefer book cover design work as it has a lot of scope for my art, you do have to learn to read briefs well and sometimes minds.

Some companies I have submitted to in the past few months that have good reputations are Hatchwise, 99designs and Crowdspring. 99Designs is a great place to start if you are new as the site is user friendly and you can at first watch contest to learn about the process and interaction with the client and how a client's brief is interpreted.

My latest Squidoo lens is about Goose fair Nottingham as a child it was one of the few things to look forward to apart from Christmas and birthdays. Goose Fair came around in foggy October and when I was a youngster they still had side shows like boxing which my uncle use to work in.
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Caught On Camera In Spain

Twenty two cars and mine without a scratch.
A quite night indoors interrupted with shouting and screeching tyres. I looked over the residence car park from my terrace to see a car smashing into parked cars. I ran outside to get a closer look with some of my neighbours.


A youth in his late teens was running from the car and every time he stood behind a residents car they smashed into it with the intention of harming him, the car in the picture was the last one to be hit before they sped off.


This car smashed the teenager off the ledge and he lay there seeping blood, an ambulance was called to the scene along with the police who caught up with the assailants and arrested them.


Twenty two cars were hit I wonder how many insurance claims there where, as most cars here in Spain have scratches and dints and nobody seems to know where they have come from.


I have written a lens on Squidoo about other photographs that I have taken over the years and witness some crazy happenings here in Spain from burning Palm trees to Skip lorries Demolishing sides of houses.


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Sherm Donor -Squidoo