May 31, 2012 Red Cross goes rock n roll Community Blood Drive scheduled for June 7

From Staff Reports Corsicana Daily Sun The Corsicana Daily Sun Thu May 31, 2012, 08:20 PM CDT

Corsicana Summertime is the slowest time of the year for blood donations, but its also a crucial time for patients who have been involved in accidents, cancer patients, and more.

In order to drum up some donations, the American Red Cross is giving away a $5,000 scholarship. The scholarship will be given away in a drawing to a young donor, and anyone aged 16 to 21 can enter to win.

Older donors can enter a different drawing, one for a new Gibson guitar, as well as receive a rock and roll-themed T-shirt.

The Gibson Foundation is giving away multiple Gibson guitars and 50,000 guitar picks between May 22 and July 31.

The next Red Cross blood drive will be from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. June 7 at the First United Methodist Church. Donors can schedule an appointment by calling (800) 733-2767.

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Red Cross goes rock ‘n roll

AMARILLO, Texas Although Xcel Energys generation resources are sufficient to meet increased demand anticipated from another hot summer, customers are encouraged to find ways to reduce electricity usage, especially on hot days. This not only reduces potential strain on the regional power grid, but also helps customers save money and lessen their environmental impact.

Recent news about potential power shortages within ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), the power grid serving downstate Texas, has elevated concerns about system reliability among Xcel Energy customers and stakeholders. Xcel Energys Texas and New Mexico service areas are part of the Southwest Power Pool in the eastern electrical grid, which is a separate electrical grid from ERCOT. More generation and transmission facilities have been and are being added in the Xcel Energy service area, increasing the utilitys ability to meet growing demand all year long.

We nevertheless want to help customers better manage their electricity usage, while lessening the overall strain on our system, said Riley Hill, president and CEO of Southwestern Public Service Company, an Xcel Energy company.

Tips on conserving power can be found at xcelenergy.com under the Save Money & Energy tab on the home page. Those tips include:

Raise the thermostat setting from 72 to 78 degrees, providing a savings of up to $25 per month.

Turn off unnecessary lighting and install compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. CFLs use 75 percent less energy than traditional bulbs, they last longer, and can save up to $55 over the life of the bulb.

Run washing machines, dishwashers and clothes dryers with full loads.

Change air conditioning filters.

Use ceiling fans to cool the home.

More

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Xcel Energy Offers Summer Energy-Saving Tips

North Aurora, IL (PRWEB) May 30, 2012

Cherry Logistics, which bundles and consolidates exterior and interior facility maintenance services, today announced the addition of landscape manager Laurin Czyzyk. Czyzyk will be responsible for developing and organizing the burgeoning landscaping division of Cherry Logistics, and brings with her a horticultural background in sustainable design and maintenance.

Prior to joining the Cherry team, Czyzyk served as an educator and horticulturist, and spent the last 3 years as Account Manager at Western DuPage Landscaping, where she was responsible for managing commercial landscape maintenance, organizing seasonal events and applications for each site, designing and managing the installation of four-season color displays, and monitoring the health of plant material to ensure ongoing insect and disease controls. Laurin Czyzyk attended Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina. During her career, Czyzyk has also given lectures on sustainable landscape design/installation and site grading/drainage. With her former company, Czyzyk received awards for Excellence in Landscaping from the ILCA (Illinois Landscape Contractors Association) and from the City of Schaumburg for Most Improved Landscaping in the retail division.

We are incredibly excited to have Laurin as a part of our team, says Ken Thorne, General Manager of Cherry Logistics. Her experience in the landscaping field, on both sides of the desk, will be a great asset to Cherry and to all of our customers.

About Cherry Logistics Cherry Logistics, Inc., headquartered in North Aurora, IL, was founded in 2003 as a snow removal service. Since that time the company has become a premier provider of consolidated facilities maintenance services including landscaping, lighting, emergency power, and HVAC, displaying proficiency in each category. Cherry Logistics specializes in offering facilities services for owners of multiple-location real estate. Specific services are offered to each client as needed, including snow removal, lot sweeping, landscaping, and window washing. The company is currently operating within 42 states.

Cherry Logistics prides itself on the fact its staff is comprised entirely of experts with years of experience within their respective field. This diverse team includes managers and executives with experience in retail management, facilities management, customer service, commercial real estate, construction, transportation, information technology, and meteorology. For more information about the company, visit http://www.cherrylogistics.com.

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Cherry Logistics Adds Landscape Manager to Improve Client Services

Textbook Painting is headed for a great season. With little more than half a month under their belts, the student-run house painting and deck staining firm had booked enough jobs for its two local crews to keep busy into mid-June.

According to managers Brian Stecker of New Haven, who heads the northeast crew, and Troy Sutterfield of the southeast crew, they were well ahead of last year's pace and hoped to have enough jobs lined up by the end of this month to carry them into July. About half the jobs to that point, 30 in fact, had been scraping, power washing and staining decks, while the other 30 had been house painting. Total revenue for the two local crews and the one in Auburn as of Saturday was closing in on $100,000.

The week of May 14, Sutterfield's crew stained the deck and painted trim around the screened-in porch at the home of State Sen. David Long and his wife, Melissa.

A door-to-door canvass of our neighborhood by Troy a couple weeks ago turned out to be perfect timing, Melissa Long said. Getting the deck stained was on our to-do list this summer. I was impressed with his thorough presentation and we decided to take them up on the offer.

She liked their professionalism.

They showed up when they said they would, got right to work, cleaned up, finished by late afternoon; we did a walk-around with Troy and approved the work.

She's satisfied with the job the crew did.

They did a nice job, and we're very happy with the results.

Crew members work 30 to 40 hours a week, while Stecker and Sutterfield put in close to 60. They agree that the toughest part is tracking down jobs by contacting customers who are looking for their services and doing some door-to-door cold-sales calls at residences and business to keep the crews busy.

When they see a business that looks like it needs a face lift, they drop in. The technique has proved successful. Marketing and publicizing also falls under their job description.

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Business booming for student-run painting firm

EMMA BAILEY

MYTCHALL BRANSGROVE/ Fairfax NZ

ELECTRIFIED: Des, left, with Jim Spillane (with Callum McDonald working in the background) at Sullivan and Spillane.

The business ushered in the age of colour televisions with a waiting list to buy the then modern gadgets - decades later the market is flooded with TVs and the consumer flooded with large retailers to buy them from.

Business reporter Emma Bailey talks to Jim Spillane about Sullivan and Spillane, the electrical business which went back to basics allowing it to survive 40 years.

How did the business start?

Peter Spillane and I worked for Temuka Electrical Services but it was brought by the South Canterbury Power Board in 1972 so we set up Sullivan and Spillane Electrical in Temuka.

We started with two staff but quickly grew to eight as there was a bit of a local boom in Temuka, with building and also farmers still getting subsidies, it was a fools' paradise, really. We started doing a lot of (electrical work on) dairy sheds and irrigation too, the dairy boom was just stirring and lot of farmers were setting up irrigation, it was in its embryonic stage.

We were also doing the (electrical) work for three wool scours, two flour mills and the linen flax mill near Geraldine. They no longer exist.

We went into retailing and had a store in Timaru, Temuka and Pleasant Point and at the peak had 40 staff. We were selling colour TVs and had waiting lists for them as well as automatic washing machines.

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Firm going strong in electrical services

The Professional Business Womens Association of York County recently awarded scholarships to five York County women.

Savannah Pewett and Brandy Davis from York Technical College were each awarded $500 scholarships and Ingrid Bonilla, Ikeia Miller and Kellee Seay, all from Northwestern High School, were each awarded $1,000 scholarships.

The students were judged on their grade point average, reference letters, and an essay they were required to write.

The Professional Business Womens Association of York County is a non-profit organization promoting its goals through networking, education, mentoring and volunteerism efforts. For information on the club go towww.yorkcountypbwa.com

Business News

Jamisons Car Wash has opened a new location at the Quick C Exxon gas station, 1055 S. Anderson Road. Jamisons offers hand washing, hand wax and full detailing services. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information call 803-207-3929.

Developer Crescent Resources has started construction on a new phase of 43 home sites at the Springfield neighborhood in Fort Mill. Builders have committed to purchasing all 43 home sites, with David Weekley Homes buying 38 and Evans Coghill Homes, LLC purchasing five. Development of the phase is expected to be complete in October, and home construction will start before the end of this year.

In the new phase, David Weekley floor plans will range from 2,800 to more than 4,000 square feet. Evans Coghills homes feature four to five bedrooms and range from 3,000 to 3,900 square feet. For information about Springfield, go to http://www.springfield-crescent.com.

Ryan Homes is holding its grand opening of its new James Joyce model home at Massey, a community of new single-family homes in Fort Mill, priced in the $190,000 to $280,000 range. Massey is a planned community of new single-family homes.

For information about Massey call 803-547-0620 or go to RyanHomes.com/Massey.

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5 from York County win scholarships from Professional Business Women’s Association

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Demonstrators protesting electricity outages in Myanmar clashed with police Thursday, and several were arrested. The spreading protests are a test of the tolerance of a reformist civilian government after decades of military rule.

Parliament member Win Myint said demonstrators in his constituency resisted when they thought police were going to arrest their leaders and the six people detained were released later. He represents Pyay, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Yangon.

"The police tried to take some leaders and people tried to stop them," said one witness in Pyay. "The police beat the protesters with rubber and bamboo sticks to disperse them. They beat them on their heads, backs and legs. But no one was seriously injured."

The witness asked not to be named so as not to attract the attention of the authorities.

Protests over chronic power outages began Sunday in the central city Mandalay and have spread to at least four other locations, challenging the new government of President Thein Sein, who has promised political reform.

The previous military regime, in which Thein Sein also served, sought to tightly restrict street protests, fearing they could evolve into a broader challenge to authority. In 2007, small-scale protests snowballed into a general revolt led by Buddhist monks that was quashed only through the use of armed force.

Myanmar has suffered from power shortages for more than a decade. It has plentiful natural gas supplies, but a poor power distribution infrastructure, which has lagged even more as the economy has grown.

About 100 people marched and held a candlelight vigil Wednesday and Thursday nights in downtown Yangon, about double the number of the first day, Tuesday. The number of onlookers increased as well, as dozens of police stood watch.

Protests in Pyay began on Monday with a small group of people and have grown to more than 1,000.

Win Myint, a member of the ruling pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said nervous police sought to negotiate with the leaders on the fourth day of protests, but people misunderstood that they sought to arrest them. He said the situation turned chaotic and police ended up arresting six people.

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Myanmar power-cut protesters clash with police

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) A New Jersey mans game with his little boy nearly turned tragic at a Camden Laundromat.

Surveillance video shows the father putting his 1-year-old son in a washing machine while reportedly playing a game of Peek-A-Boo.

Somehow, the door locked and the machine started running and filling with water.

Witnesses were shocked that a father would do such a thing.

Who does that? Who puts a child in a washing machine, like not even for a joke, witness Tiffany Stallmacher said.

The child was tossed around for about a minute until quick-thinking Laundromat worker, Kong Enh,cut the power, allowing the door to the machine to open.

Enh started moving tables to get to a circuit breaker, quickly flipping all the switches until the machine finally stopped, CBS 2 reported.

They very scared. Somebody start the machine already they didnt know that, Enh said. I wait for machine to unlock and I pull baby out.

Enh said the father had been playing with his son in the dryer earlier, and that he was very apologetic but grateful he saved his babys life. I feel good because I saw the baby still alive when he called me. I [was] very scared. When I saw [the] baby alive, I [was] very happy, Enh said.

Im very proud of my worker, saidLaurie Chou, owner of Federal Laundromat. Hes been with me eight years. I couldnt find anyone better.

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Video Shows Father Putting Toddler In Washing Machine At Camden Laundromat

Many companies are taking the initiative in finding ways to curb power use this summer now that the government has proposed voluntary saving targets for firms and households in many parts of the nation because of the Fukushima crisis.

The toughest target, 15 percent, was set for the Kansai region, which is served by Kansai Electric Power Co.

Major toiletry maker Lion Corp. is considering suspending washing powder production at its factory in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, and increasing production at its factory in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, instead. Chiba is served by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Iwatani Corp. is looking at temporarily halting its Sakai plant for liquefied hydrogen, the largest such facility in the country, while carrying out full production at its other factories.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. customers will be asked to cut electricity use by 10 percent, but many electronics makers and automakers have production bases in the region.

Among them, Toshiba Corp. is jittery about the target because large amounts of electricity are needed for air conditioning clean rooms at its semiconductor plant in Oita Prefecture.

"Production there will be difficult unless nuclear plants restart operations," Toshiba President Norio Sasaki said.

By contrast, Nippon Paper Group Inc. plans to transfer self-generated power at a plant in Kyushu Electric's area to four plants in Kepco's service area using the utilities' lines because the Kyushu plant is expected to have surplus power.

Elsewhere, Toyota Motor Corp. plans to boost capacity at the power generation facilities at its plants in Aichi Prefecture, which is served by Chubu Electric Power Co.

Imuraya Co., based in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, is looking at suspending frozen dessert production during daily peak hours between noon and 2 p.m.

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Industries hunt ideas to meet new power-saving goals

Yesterday at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we visited the Electric Imp booth to chat with the startup's founders and get some hands-on time with the tiny wireless computer. What is the Electric Imp? It's a module containing an ARM Cortex M3 SoC with embedded WiFi that's built into an SD card form factor. While the device looks just like and SD card, it's not pin-compatible with the standard -- the idea is to leverage a reliable and affordable connector for the Electric Imp. The module is not very useful on its own -- it only comes to life when inserted into one of several boards, which provide the Electric Imp with power and access to the real world. In turn the device gives these boards a brain and an Internet connection. Eventually the company hopes that appliance manufacturers will incorporate Electric Imp slots into products to make them network aware.

We talked with CEO Hugo Fiennes (formerly with Apple) about the past, present and future of the Electric Imp so hit the break to read more and to watch our hands-on video.

What can you do with the Electric Imp? You can control almost anything wirelessly over the Internet -- better yet, you can access each module using a simple web-based interface which combines Planner, a graphical way to interconnect the devices and Squirrel, a Java / C-like scripting language to program each Electric Imp. When you insert a module into a board or appliance, it powers up, receives a unique ID, connects via WiFi to the startup's servers and downloads / runs the program that's assigned to that specific board or appliance -- as such any Electric Imp can be used. Since there's no physical interface on the device to configure WiFi, the company's developed Blinkup, a way to enter SSID and password information on any iOS and Android smartphone and beam it to the Electric Imp's light sensor by rapidly pulsing the handset's screen on and off.

We saw a number of Electric Imp demos and appliance ideas at the booth including a simple hand-held "detonator" toggle switch with LED, seven-segment counter, water level sensor, servo-controlled gauge, RGB light, power socket, Christmas light, power monitor, toy washing machine, 16x16 LED display and receipt printer (the latter two being combined to show the avatars and tweets of anyone mentioning the Electric Imp) -- all Internet aware. The startup's servers provide simple access to web services like Twitter and even text messaging (via Twillo) -- letting developers focus on core appliance functionality rather than the intricacies of HTTP requests, WiFi APIs and network sockets.

The Electric Imp will be shipping for $25 at the "end of next month" (late June) along with three developer boards:

A mailing list is available on the company's website with an ordering system coming soon.

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Hands-on with the Electric Imp at Maker Faire (video)