HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- M.A.G.
Manufacturing Company announced today that the award-winning Kleer Drain will be sold on the shopping network, QVC. Kleer Drain will be featured during the highly popular "Weekend Projects" segment that is scheduled to air on September 28, 2005 at 5:00 PM EDT. Kleer Drain, which is the first revolution in plumbing products in a generation, looks like a cross between a plunger and a bicycle pump. But unlike a plunger which you need to pump up 'n' down, Kleer Drain has a handle that with one do it yourself plumbing problems squeeze sends a powerful blast of compressed air through drains to instantly unclog them. Kleer Drain works instantly and can be used on any toilet, sink, shower, bathtub or outdoor drain. National Sales Manager how to fix plumbing problems Mark Martinez will demonstrate Kleer Drain live on air using a specially-designed sink with clear piping so viewers will be able to see plumbing problems air pipes the product's effectiveness at clearing clogs. The segment, which is scheduled to last for approximately 10 minutes, will reach an audience of more than 87 million homes. The station, which broadcasts live, is dedicated to bringing consumers new, innovative products. "Since launching Kleer Drain, we have seen a flurry of media coverage," states Mark H. Allenbaugh, president of M.A.G. Manufacturing. "Kleer Drain has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines, and on TV stations nationwide. Kleer Drain's debut on QVC is the culmination of these aggressive marketing efforts. QVC holds the merchandise it features to the highest standard, and we are honored that Kleer Drain will be joining its elite family of quality products." Kleer Drain comes with four replaceable MAG-Air(TM) CO2 cartridges and six MAG-Power(TM) disks and is available for $34.95. In addition to QVC, Kleer Drain is available at The Home Depot, Do-It-Best, and select ACE Hardware retail outlets nationwide. About M.A.G. Manufacturing, Co. Founded in 1968 by Howard M. Allenbaugh, M.A.G. Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Inc., is a privately-held, progressive research, design and manufacturing firm whose hundreds of security, safety and innovative products are available through the United States and abroad at major retail and commercial outlets such as The Home Depot, Ace, True-Value and Do It Best. Among its many divisions are M.A.G. Security, the world's leading provider of home security hardware; ChildProTech(TM), the leading U.S.-based supplier of child safety products; and Kleer Drain(TM), an award-winning patented instant drain opener. Kleer Drain is the recipient of the Do-It-Yourself Retailing's Retailers' Choice Award "as one of the most outstanding and innovative products at the 2004 AHMA Hardware Show." For more information on M.A.G. Manufacturing's entire line of products, please visit http://www.magmfg.com/. For more information on Kleer Drain and to view demonstration videos, visit the fully interactive website at http://www.kleerdrain.com/. CONTACT: Jennifer Weaver of Mertzel Public Relations, +1-818-340-5500, [email protected], for M.A.G. Manufacturing Company Web site: http://www.kleerdrain.com/ Web site: http://www.magmfg.com/
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More active members of the military died during two years of peacetime in the early 1980s than died during a two-year period of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a government report.
The Congressional Research Service, which compiled war casualty statistics from the Revolutionary War to present day conflicts, reported that 4,699 members of the U.S. military died in 1981 and '82 -- a period when the U.S. had only limited troop deployments to conflicts in the Mideast. That number of deaths is nearly 900 more than the 3,800 deaths during 2005 and '06, when the U.S. was fully committed to large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The CRS, which is the public policy research arm of Congress, issued its findings in the June report "American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics." FOXNews.com, in re-examining the findings, found that -- surprising as it may be -- there were more active duty deaths in some years of peacetime than there were in some years of wartime. Military analysts say the current decrease in military casualties, even during a time of war, is due to a campaign by the Armed Forces to reduce accidents and improve medical care on the battlefield. "It's safer to be in the military because your accidental death rate has gone down; it's safer to be in the military because if you get wounded, you'll probably survive," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "Getting killed on the battlefield is one way that people in the military wind up dying, but it's not the main way." According to the raw figures, of the 2,380 members of the military who died during active duty in 1981, 1,524 were killed in accidents, 145 by homicide, 457 by illness and 241 from self-inflicted wounds. That compares with the 1,942 killed in 2005; of that number, 632 died from accidents, 739 from dui charges first offense hostile action, 49 from homicide, 281 from illness, 150 from self-inflicted wounds and 72 whose causes of death were still pending. Eleven deaths in '81 and 19 deaths in '05 were classified as "undetermined." Click here to read the report. "Let's not somehow pretend or try to convey the false impression that being at war is being safer than being at peace, of course not," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. "If we stopped these wars we would cut back our annual military fatalities by close to a thousand people, and that's just simple arithmetic." The numbers, which outline active-duty deaths from 1980 to 2006, show a steady decline in accidents. Experts attribute that decline to campaigns to curb off-duty partying and drunk driving, as well as offering better training before putting troops in hazardous situations. There also are fewer active military members today; the total number of active servicemen and women decreased from a 1986 high of 2.18 million troops to the 2006 level of 1.38 million. Doug Johnson, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., said that initial treatment and airlifts during the so-called "golden hour" after a soldier is wounded have significantly how to find a good dui lawyer increased troop survival rates. "You don't hear the classic war movie cry for 'Medics, medics,' because everybody's a medic to a certain extent," he said. The death-to-wounded ratio has also improved, the study found. Nearly 8 people are wounded for every one who dies in Operation Iraqi Freedom versus the 1 death to 1.7 wound ratio found during World War II. And the combined totals for illness, homicide, accident and suicide trump troop casualty numbers, Pike said. "Previously in a war, if you were wounded, you were in big trouble," Pike said. "And now if you're wounded, you're probably going to make it." But Johnson said it's important to look beyond the raw data. "The thing that distresses me about it, is it's raw numbers. And while that's interesting, it doesn't reflect percentages, which might be more instructive," he said. Mexico City - The longstanding restrictions on foreigners buying property along Mexico's coast and borders were loosened on Tuesday after Congress' lower house voted on a proposal that drew stiff criticism from some quarters.
The measure, which passed 356-119 in the Chamber of Deputies, still needs approval from the Senate and a majority of the country's 32 state legislatures to become law. For decades, foreigners have had to use real-estate trusts or Mexican front companies to buy beachfront properties, because Article 27 of the constitution prohibits non-Mexicans from directly owning land within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the coast and 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the nation's borders. The trusts and front companies have provided a lucrative income for banks, lawyers and notaries who are required to operate them, and the extensive paperwork has discouraged many foreigners from buying. This is about eliminating the middlemen who, through trusts, corporations and front men, have made a living off the constitutional ban. - Manlio Fabio Beltrones, Mexican Congressman Kevin Graham, a Texan who runs the Costa Maya Living real estate firm in the Caribbean beach town of Mahahual, said some potential buyers are put off by the prospect of not being able to hold direct title to beach properties. "I feel, with all the doubts they have, it's slowed the market down for foreign investment here," he said. The change, sponsored by Congressman Manlio Fabio Beltrones of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, would allow foreigners to directly buy oceanfront property for residential use, but not for commercial projects. Hoi An Such proposals have been made before, but not by figures as influential as Beltrones, the PRI's congressional leader. "This is about eliminating the middlemen who, through trusts, corporations and front men, have made a living off the constitutional ban," Beltrones' office said when he submitted the bill earlier this month. "It is a question of encouraging tourism investment and creating local jobs." The Union of Indians and the Farmers' Force, a farmworkers group, criticized the proposal Tuesday, saying it would "give free rein to foreigners to legally buy up the best land, and encourage robbery and financial and real estate speculation." "This would result in the foreign colonization of the country," the groups said in a statement. Those are strong sentiments in a country frequently invaded by foreign powers in the 19th Get the facts and early 20th century. Mexico set up the restrictions to ensure national security and avoid the creation of foreign enclaves like the one that grew up in a former Mexican province known as Texas, where the foreigners eventually rebelled and split from Mexico. "For historical reasons, it was considered risky to allow foreigners to establish themselves permanently on the coast and the borders," according to Beltrones' proposal, but it says "the conditions that led the Constitution to limit such purchases have been overcome." Arguing for the change Tuesday, Beltrones said that "this would financially benefit the coastal town government, given that it would make tax payments, like property taxes, easier to collect." Federico Estevez, a political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, also cited the benefits to foreign investment by why not find out more simplifying ownership for foreigners. "This is to bring the law up to date, because basically it's going on anyway, but with all these foul distortions of having to pay people off," he said. Noting that Mexico has been seeking more find this foreign investors, Estevez added: "You want their money, keep them here." Based on reporting by The Associated Press. Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Five Star Quality Care, Inc. (Nasdaq: FVE), one of the nation's leading senior living and healthcare services providers which does business under the name "Five Star Senior Living", today announced that seven communities participated at "A Taste of Senior Living" in Clarksville, Maryland. The Lifespan Network invited Senior Living communities to feature dishes served to residents and a panel of judges critiqued the entrants based upon taste, texture and appearance. Somerford Place Columbia won the Silver Spoon award for their Nutella Nutro ice cream served on a shortbread spoon. Aspenwood won first place for best entrée with their Herb crusted Beef Tenderloin with Demi Glaze. Heartlands at Severna Park won second employment agency definition place for the people's choice award with a Savory Smoked BBQ Pork with Blackened Baby Corn and Smoked Gouda Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon. Somerford Place of Annapolis, Somerford House & Place of Hagerstown, Somerford Place Frederick and Five Star Premier Residences of Chevy Chase also competed. "I am so proud of all seven communities for representing Five Star with delicious food and incredible displays. Five Star Senior Living is committed to providing residents with quality private employment agency definition food that is both nutritious and appetizing," commented Mary Ellen Greenfield, Director of Dining Services of Five Star Senior Living. For more information about Five Star's Signature Dining please visit, https://www.fivestarseniorliving.com/signature-dining. To find a Five Star community near you please visit, https://www.fivestarseniorliving.com/communities. About Five Star Senior Living Five Star Senior Living operates over 270 Independent Living, Assisted Living, Alzheimer's/Memory Care, and Healthcare Centers with Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Retirement Communities across the country. Five Star is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. Regions Bank Reo Properties For Sale
If you are looking for foreclosures, there are plenty to be found. One good way to find foreclosures is to check with various lenders. This is a good way to buy REO properties. REO properties are homes and other pieces of real estate that have already gone through the complete foreclosure process and are now owned by the bank. Most of these properties are listed with real estate agents, so one way to find them is to talk to a local agent. Another way to find foreclosures is to look on the lender's website. The web address for the Bank of America foreclosures search page is listed in the resource box at the end of this article. This page lists all of the foreclosures currently available from Bank of America. There are over 1500 foreclosures available just from this one lender. Regions Bank Reo Properties For Sale Most of the Bank of America foreclosures are located in California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Missouri and North Carolina, but Bank of America has foreclosures in many other states as well. California has the most, with 293 foreclosures. Some of the foreclosures listed on the Bank of America website are priced unbelievably low, even in the $2000-$5000 range. Most of these are probably either in serious disrepair mortgage foreclousre online system or in really bad neighborhoods. That doesn't necessarily mean they can't be good deals, though. Just make sure before buying a foreclosure property that shortsale you understand what it will take to be able to sell or rent the property profitably. In some areas, especially in large cities, you need to consider the crime rate in the area as well as the amount of repairs that the property needs. It is not unheard of for a house that is being remodeled to be stripped of its new furnace and hot water heater by thieves as soon as they are installed. In some neighborhoods, even the copper pipes for the plumbing may be stripped and sold for scrap. Keep this in mind when deciding whether the property you are thinking about buying is a good deal. Regions Bank Reo Properties For Sale A factual and nicely acidic blog by Tracy Kellett, a seasoned Surrey homefinder. It contains cold-comfort advice to sellers ("To heck with 'what it's worth' - take that decent or even half-decent offer"). It also features an A-Z of how to make your home more attractive to middle-class buyers. "L is for Leather rugs. Sorry to make mortgage foreclousre online system you do this..."
4 hmolandlady.wordpress.com As the recession forces families to take in lodgers, spare a thought for the new Rising Dampers. But those who have gone one step further and become modern-day Rigsbys by managing entire houses of multiple occupancy. HMOlandlady, a mother-of-three, blogs about the joys and considerable woes of letting out 15 rooms in three properties to traders, students and itinerants. 5 whatsamsawtoday.com Samantha Collett, a thirtysomething Hertfordshire developer, travels the country snapping up auction properties, from rundown town-centre repossessions to empty chapels. Her "confessions of a property developer" blog details every successful buy. She has turned £15,000 into a multi-million-pound portfolio, as well as those that were too good to be true. 6 markbrinkley.blogspot.com Billed as the "online ramblings" of an experienced builder and renovator, this specialist site by the author of The Housebuilder's Bible is home to surprisingly lively debates about the minutiae of planning and developing. Mark Brinkley brings to life property for sale the pros and cons of heat pumps and roofing underlay. 7 realestalker.blogspot.com This site, dedicated mostly to "property porn" in America, offers hyper-detailed particulars of glamorous houses, written with playful cattiness. Persevere with the real estate-ese and there are dozens of celebrity "cribs" to be nosed around - from Jennifer Aniston's Bel Air "digs" to the east London terrace owned by the late Alexander McQueen. 8 renovatealerts.com/blog_main.htm Six years into the renovation of a Grade II listed Georgian house in the Lincolnshire countryside, proud resident Henry is slowly turning a 250-year-old wreck into a family home. His blog details every hard-won success and setback ("Decided to sand and varnish the floorboards - utter misery"). An average day is spent "replacing broken window panes, rehanging the shutters, sorting out the fireplace, trying to stiffen up the floor and replastering various places, then painting everything". Numerous photographs highlight his sterling efforts. 9 desirable-property.com "This blog has been set up to view, snoop and admire the luxurious properties of those more fortunate than us." An anonymous Scottish blogger highlights price-on-request homes around the world. There is everything from a contemporary glass-fronted five-bed home in Killearn, Scotland, complete with loch-side Jacuzzi, to a "Lovely Little Igloo" in Finland with a view of the Northern Lights. 10 fromthehouseofedward.blogspot.com And finally, an interiors and textiles blog by a grandmother in the American south. Pamela Terry describes herself as a "baker, knitter, gardener and devoted to beauty". Amid poetry and patterns, she posts idiosyncratic shopping lists of must-buys with a decidedly British feel, from velvet Fair Isle gloves to printed Axminster bath sheets. Curiously old-fashioned advice, in a very modern package. Smart Start Inc. Launches Smart Phone App for Ignition Interlock & Alcohol Monitoring Services1/2/2017 DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With many states implementing strengthened DWI/DUI laws in 2012, Irving,
Texas-based Smart Start, Inc. expects to see a nationwide increase in enrollment in its ignition interlock and IN-HOM® alcohol monitoring systems. To provide easier access to enrollment information, Smart Start has developed and launched a new free smart phone app that is available for download via the iTunes store and the Android Market. The Smart Start app delivers product information, device training, a location finder using Google Maps, a BrAC calculator, as well as product and enrollment information. Privately held Smart Start is the leading provider of alcohol monitoring systems, with more than 1,000 company-owned and franchised service centers in the United States as well as locations in Europe, Latin America, New Zealand and Australia. Smart Start has seen an increased demand nationwide in its alcohol monitoring devices as a result of states implementing new ignition interlock legislation. Recent studies and reports, such as those published last month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), prove that state laws requiring alcohol interlock device installation in the cars of those convicted of DUI are very successful in reducing repeat offenders. Seventeen states now require people convicted of driving with blood-alcohol levels over the 0.08 legal limit to install a breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID) in their vehicles. Ignition interlocks require drivers to blow into a device to verify that they are sober before the car can start. Smart Start's new smart phone app is a resource for drivers who dui california have been convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI), have a licensing requirement, have been court ordered to have an ignition interlock installed on their vehicle, or have been mandated to use a home alcohol monitoring system as a condition of their supervision. With this new Smart Start app, anyone now has easy access to enrollment, device information, training videos and 1,000+ Smart Start service center locations nationwide from an iOs or Android smart phone. The app provides direct access to Smart Start's 24/7 bilingual customer service center, as well as video instruction on the proper use of Smart Start's alcohol monitoring products. The app's BrAC (breath alcohol concentration) calculator provides users an understanding of how alcohol consumption, time, weight, and gender affect BAC (blood alcohol content) levels. "Since 44 percent of Americans own a smart phone,* and not everyone has access to a computer immediately after they've been arrested for DWI, we feel it's important to provide easy access to enrollment and information about our alcohol monitoring devices from a cellular phone," said Smart Start President Jim Ballard. "The new app will also be a useful tool for probation officers, attorneys, law enforcement, judicial and monitoring authorities when DWI offenders call on them for guidance regarding their mandate to install a BAIID or IN-HOM® alcohol monitoring system." Ignition interlock devices are designed to prevent a car from starting if a driver who blows into it has a (BrAC) level above a certain level, which in many states is .02. An optional camera and/or GPS tracking are available with the Smart Start ignition interlock systems, should the monitoring authorities deem it necessary. Smart Start also recently introduced a portable, non-vehicle-based breath alcohol monitoring system, the Smart Start IN-HOM® device, which is used to monitor offenders' blood alcohol levels throughout the day via up to 10 programmable test windows / periods. Smart Start's ignition interlock and IN-HOM® devices offer judges, probation officers, private probation companies, attorneys and corrections agencies an affordable alternative to transdermal monitoring or imprisonment. Smart Start's new smart phone app was designed and created in house, and although it is now only available for download via iOs on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, or via the Android market, Smart Start expects to soon make the app available to Blackberry and Windows users. Download the app at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smart-start-inc./id477200370?mt=8 About Smart Start, Inc. (www.SmartStartInc.com) SETTING THE STANDARD IN ALCOHOL MONITORING TECHNOLOGY (sm) Privately held, Smart Start, Inc. is a leader in alcohol monitoring through its ignition interlock and IN-HOM® alcohol testing devices. It provides fully integrated services encompassing design, manufacturing, installation, customer service, monitoring and administrative support. A leading global supplier of alcohol monitoring devices since its creation in 1993, Smart Start is headquartered just outside of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and offers its services and products through more than 1,000 company-owned and franchised locations nationwide, as well as outside the U.S. in Europe, Latin America, New Zealand, and dui drysuits Australia. All Smart Start products are designed, engineered and manufactured in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, area. 800.880.3394 Smart Start® saves lives by Separating Drinking From Driving® NOTE TO EDITORS: App screen shots, product and executive photos available upon request. Smart Start®, Separating Drinking From Driving(TM), SMART START IN-HOM®, and SETTING THE STANDARD IN ALCOHOL MONITORING TECHNOLOGY (sm) are registered trademarks of Smart Start, Inc. * according to polling by Nielsen in December 2011 Photo courtesy of Shutterstock The Internet is full of do-it-yourself home renovation tutorials, but executing them well can be much harder than clicking play on a YouTube video and following along. Sometimes even simple projects that seem like quick fixes can wind up in disaster if the DIY-er doesn't have the right permits, materials or experience to get the job done correctly. Although the risk is usually low of doing real damage beyond creating something that isn't aesthetically pleasing, a mistake could also translate into tens of thousands of dollars lost when it comes time to sell. "Buyers right now are really savvy," said Danny Hertzberg, a member of the Miami, Florida-based luxury real estate sales team called The Jills. "They've done their research online through Trulia or Zillow, they're watching HGTV and they know their market data. When they're home improvement near you comparing homes and see that two have DIY projects that didn't work out and one has a professionally done renovation, buyers are going to go for that (third) house." Long story short: Sometimes, it's worth the extra cash to go with a pro. Investing in a property upfront has the potential to pay off big down the line. Here are 10 home improvement ideas kitchen common DIY mistakes to avoid. Last Updated May 13, 2011 3:18 PM EDT This article was updated on May 10, 2011. The summer driving season is at hand, which probably means you're spending more on gasoline. Not only are you likely to be filling up more often, you're also paying more for the privilege: Since last May, gas has risen 36 percent to a national average of $3.95 for a gallon of self-serve regular, according to the Automobile Association of America. So as you prepare to hit the road for beach trips, visits to grandma, or just to see America from the open road, it's worth a quick review of the best ways to boost your mileage. The only problem is that much of what you have been told about boosting mileage is a myth. Here we debunk six of the most widely believed mileage misconceptions. 1. If your owner's manual says "premium fuel recommended," you'll ruin your car by filling it up with regular. Reality: Unless you're driving in the Indy 500, using regular gas in a car that says premium fuel is merely "recommended" is perfectly fine. And doing so will save you about a quarter a gallon. "Unless you have a job that requires regular sessions on a racetrack, there is no legitimate need to ever put premium fuel in your vehicle," says Susan Winlaw, co-author of the book, Car Advice for Women (and Smart Men). Using regular gas could cost you a few horsepower when you're driving at higher speeds, but chances are you won't notice the difference, and it definitely won't hurt your car. Your engine's fuel-management system is perfectly prepared to handle lower-octane fuel, says Winlaw. On the other hand, switching to regular in a car for which premium fuel is "required," as it is for a few high-performance luxury rides, could cause noticeable knocking. And over time, that could lead to faster engine wear. Those cases aside, just how much could switching to regular gas save you this weekend? According to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the national average price per gallon of unleaded regular recently was 27 cents less than the $4.22 stations were charging for premium. A long road trip could account for four fill-ups of about 20 gallons each, meaning you'd save just over $21 by sticking with regular. 2. In the summer, you should only buy gas at night or early in the morning when the gas is cold. Because cold gas is more dense, you'll get more fuel for your money. Reality: Buying cold gas is a lot harder than it sounds, and the potential savings are scarcely worth it. Consumer Reports thoroughly tested this theory using its own underground tank, similar to those used by gas stations. They found that it's surprisingly hard to accurately predict whether a given tankful of gas will be cold or warm. For starters, if gas was a given temperature when it was delivered from the tanker truck, it tended to stay that temperature for a while, even after it had been transferred. Not only that, but the first gas to be pumped in a given day could be warm because a certain amount of gas collects in the aboveground pump. So even if you manage to be the first customer of the day, you might still be buying warm gas. After all that, even if you're successful in buying cold gas, the difference in density is so slight -- perhaps a maximum of 1 percent per fill-up, according to Consumer Reports --that the savings are marginal. "It's an urban myth" that you should always buy gas at night or early in the day, says Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer for Consumer Reports. 3. Shopping around for cheaper gas is seldom worth the extra fuel you burn up trying to find it. Reality: It's easy to find where the cheapest gas stations are online, and crossing state lines when you can saves plenty of money. The AAA's TripTik Travel Planner not only gives you point-to-point driving directions, but also allows you to highlight gas stations along your route, including frequently updated gas prices for each location. You'll have to zoom in to a pretty detailed view of your route, but the tool allows you to plan where to stop for gas ahead of time instead of roaming around looking for good prices. You don't even have to be an AAA member to use the feature. And especially on an interstate road trip, planning ahead can save you a significant amount of money because of different state taxes on gas. Some states with the lowest average cost per gallon are next door to some of the highest-cost states, such as New Jersey and New York. The recent New Jersey average price per gallon was $3.88 for regular versus $4.16 in New York, according to the AAA. If you're already planning to cross the George Washington Bridge, then you should plan to buy gas on the New Jersey side, where a full tank will cost about $4 less, which will help pay the $8 toll for the bridge. 4. For the best gas mileage, you should keep it below 55 miles per hour. Reality: Fuel efficiency doesn't really start to drop until you reach speeds higher than 60. And how smoothly you drive makes much more of a difference on gas mileage than how fast. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), most cars' fuel efficiency peaks at speeds from 35 to 60 miles per hour. After 60, though, fuel efficiency does drop significantly; the DOE says that every 5 miles per hour you drive above 60 is like paying an additional 24 cents per gallon for gas. That's because at higher speeds your car encounters more wind resistance and the tires encounter more rolling resistance. Once you get your car going, though, it takes remarkably little energy to keep it going, even at 60 mph, according to Terry Penney, technology manager for advanced vehicles for the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. But getting it rolling burns up a lot of gas, which is why you should listen to your old driver's-ed teacher and drive as if there's an egg between your foot and the gas pedal. The DOE estimates that constantly accelerating and decelerating can cut your mileage by as much as 33 percent. The fact is, easing up on jackrabbit starts and Indy-500-style highway maneuvers will save you more money than puttering along at 55. 5. A car with manual transmission will always get better mileage than one with an automatic. Reality: Newer automatic transmissions can get the same highway mileage as a manual transmission (or even slightly better). Following previous oil embargoes, there was a rush on cars with manual transmissions because they got better mileage than automatics. But that's less true today, especially at highway speeds, says Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer for Consumer Reports. Older three-speed automatics had to work a lot harder at highway speeds than today's four- or five-speed automatics. And the new automatics produced in the last few years have an "overdrive" top gear that reduces engine rpm's at higher speeds. In city driving or mixed city-highway driving, a manual still tends to get better mileage, Shenhar says. But on the highway and long driving trips in particular, your automatic may get as good or even slightly better mileage than the manual. The 2010 Chevrolet Aveo, for instance, gets an EPA-estimated 35 miles per gallon highway. And the sporty 2010 four-door 2-L Mazda3 gets 33 miles per gallon on the highway, manual or automatic. 6. To save gas, open the car's windows and shut off the air conditioning. Reality: At higher speeds, leaving the windows open increases wind resistance so much that you probably wipe out any gain from shutting off the AC. Air conditioning does burn up gas, which is why Ford recommends that you at least turn down the AC and use the "vent" settings on your climate control as much as possible. According to Ford's Web site, Driving Skills for Life, reducing AC usage can save up to 10 fuel management systems for sale to 15 percent on diesel fuel near me fuel. But at speeds above 50 miles per hour, lowering the windows increases wind resistance so much that you're better off closing them and putting on the AC at a moderate temperature. It's also good to remember that once a car is cool inside, it takes a lot less energy to keep it cool. Result: Some of the best AC-related mileage boosting you can do occurs when the car's not moving. That is, when it's hot, park in the shade. More on MoneyWatch © 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. A photo from space of the Las Conchas fire in the Jemez mountains near Los Alamos, N.M. just after its start at 1:30 p.m. on June 26, 2011. On the first day, driven by strong and unpredictable winds, the fire burned 43,000 acres--a rate of about an acre per second. By the time the fire was controlled, it had burned more than 150,000 acres. (Photo courtesy of NASA.) How Computer Modeling Might Help Us Better Understand--and Better Manage--Wildfires This summer, throughout the West, higher temperatures and decreased precipitation brought on by climate change have ramped up the frequency of wildfires -- big, catastrophic fires -- while a century of fire suppression feeds the flames with a thick tangle of fuel in our overgrown forests. We can't stop all fires -- and we shouldn't. Healthy ecosystems depend on them. But understanding what drives big fires and predicting their behavior helps the fire community prepare for the next blaze through appropriate land management, emergency plans and firefighting strategies. Beyond those benefits, a deeper understanding of wildfires prompts important insights into tactics for using prescribed fire as well as insight into larger regional environmental issues, including how fires change river flows and the availability of water for drinking, agriculture and energy production. For scientists studying wildfire, the challenge is predicting the seemingly unpredictable. A wide range of conditions -- temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, larger weather patterns, available fuel, fuel conditions and terrain --influence the behavior of fire. Figuring out details such as the movement of hot gasses coming off a raging forest fire or the combination of convective and radiative heat transfer that ignite unburned fuels, for example, seems impossible at first. There's so much to consider, from how the fire front interacts with the atmosphere that drives it forward to the feedbacks of the fuel's structure on the fire and winds to the impacts of the topography and regional meteorology. Fortunately, Los Alamos National Laboratory is well suited to address this kind of multidisciplinary, ultimately physics-based problem -- and the lab has a stake in wildfire prediction and management. As the Cerro Grande and Las Conchas fires demonstrated, the laboratory and neighboring communities are equally vulnerable to runaway conflagrations on our doorstep. Furthermore, Los Alamos' mission includes addressing energy security and national security, both of which can be affected by wildfires. Modeling wildfires exploits the lab's unique capabilities in physics, computational modeling and high-performance computing. For decades the lab has built computer models of complex systems that move and change through time. That work includes hot gasses -- fire -- and the atmosphere. The laboratory's supercomputers make it possible. When a team of atmospheric scientists, computational physicists and mathematicians in the laboratory's Earth and Environmental Sciences division, collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and Southern Research Station, set out to simulate the interacting processes that make up a wildfire as a basis for predicting its behavior, they leveraged a wealth of expertise and experience that had been developed partially through the laboratory's weapons program. A research effort initiated by Laboratory Fellow Francis Harlow, a pioneer in computational fluid dynamics, and Andrew White, a visionary figure in the national high-performance computing community, led to the development of FIRETEC. It top article was the first wildfire model to simulate the interaction among many of the physical processes that determine the continuously shifting dance between fire and its surroundings. FIRETEC, which is now developed in collaboration with U.S. Forest Service, simulates three-dimensional interactions among fire, fuel and the environment at landscape scales. By coupling FIRETEC with an atmospheric-dynamics model called HIGRAD and using real-world data, the team can represent the interaction between fire and atmosphere and the way fire adjusts to terrain, vegetation, fuel and the dynamics of fire itself. FIRETEC presents a new way of studying fire and learning how to better manage and cope with it. The model provides additional scientific input for decisions by policymakers working in land management, water resources and energy. The team hopes it will eventually assist fire and read fuel management operations. Currently the team is partnering with the Rocky Mountain Research Station to study the combined influence of wind and slope on heat exposure in firefighter safety zones, with the Air Force Wildland Fire Center to study the efficiency of various prescribed fire tactics and with INRA of France and the Canadian Forest Service to study the effects of fuel breaks for fire management. But there's more research to be done to further improve wildfire modeling for practical use in the field during a fire. FIRETEC's complexity and the massive amounts of data involved require enormous high-performance computers such as those available at Los Alamos to perform simulations. The laboratory-led team is now working with the Forest Service to apply what it learns from FIRETEC to assist in developing and refining less detailed but faster-running tools that incident fire commanders could run on their laptops to predict fire behavior over the next few hours. This is a short enough time frame to deploy firefighters in anticipation of the fire's next move or help keep firefighters out of harm's way. This faster-running tool could also benefit decision-support tools such as Simtable, which is currently used in the laboratory's Emergency Operations Center. On another front, as part of a larger Los Alamos study on the impact of climate-driven changes on watersheds, laboratory researchers are working toward using FIRETEC to potentially spin off simplified models. One model can explore, for example, how the aftermath of a catastrophic fire in the Colorado River system might alter flows in the San Juan River. That's important locally because the San Juan supplies drinking water to Santa Fe and cools the Four Corners Generating Station, a major regional energy source. How will climate-driven changes to vegetation alter the pattern of fires and the severity of the effects in that watershed? What can be done to minimize those impacts? Research underway now should answer these questions. Providing those answers is an appropriate endeavor for Los Alamos for several reasons. While the Los Alamos community has had more than its fair share of encounters with wildfire, the research is more than personal: it fits the laboratory's mission to enhance energy security and national security. Additionally, the required expertise in the combination of multi-phase fluid dynamics, heat transfer, combustion, computational modeling and computer science are optimally aligned with many of the laboratory's other mission areas. "Science serving society" is a catchy phrase, but in the case of wildfire modeling at Los Alamos, it couldn't be more apt. Rod Linn is a senior scientist in the Computational Earth Science group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he studies and models a wide range of atmospheric phenomenon using computational physics. Linn has led much of the development and application of the FIRETEC computer program for predicting wildfire behavior, but the breadth of work using this tool is accomplished through a broad set of Los Alamos investigators as well as domestic and international collaborators. More check this about how Los Alamos National Laboratory prepares for wildfires: |
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March 2017
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