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TRICKS of the Filling Station Gyp Exposed

by MANLY S. MUMFORD WHEN a motorist asks for five gallons of gasoline at an oil station, he may get it. And he may not. He may get four and a half gallons of gasoline and a half gallon of kerosene, furnace oil or some other adulterated form of gasoline. There are many ways in which oil stations can, if they are so minded, bilk the public, and many of them do it. Generally speaking, the big oil companies operating thousands of stations are more careful in this respect, and have official orders to their employees commanding them to give the public a square deal. But there are thou- Station Gyp Exposed sands of wildcat stations run by individuals who are not so scrupulous.

There are two general methods of cheating the public at oil stations. One is to give the buyer inferior or adulterated goods and the other is to give him only a part of what he pays for.

First of all is the adulteration of gasoline.

There are many grades of gasoline, some better than others, but the reputable o!l stations sell only three or four grades, each of which is almost pure gasoline, the grades varying only in their volatility or ability to turn into inflammable vapor. The lower grades will choke up the carburetor on an automobile, causing the motor to spit and choke, and frequently in cold weather, die.

Many of the cheating oil stations handle low grade gasoline, letting the public think it is high grade gas.

Some of them handle the high grade fuels, nationally advertised brands, but mix them with other petroleum products which are cheaper and cannot be detected.

Kerosene in the Gas For instance if the station owner has to pay fifteen cents a gallon for gas and only 12 for kerosene, he may slip fifteen gallons of kerosene in a hundred gallon tank of gasoline.

Another favorite bet of the bilker is to use furnace oil. This costs him perhaps only 7 or 8 cents a gallon and he may be able to slip into your tank four-fifths gasoline and one-fifth furnace oil. The buyer cannot tell this either by taste or smell.

On lubricating oil the passing motorist may be cheated. It is a simple thing to have an oil tank with a label pasted on it. The label will probably indicate that the oil within is a high grade oil, bearing a trade mark or nationally known insignia.

The filling station owner pays perhaps 50 cents a gallon for a high grade oil. He sells it for a dollar a gallon, which is a fair profit. But low grade oil can be had for as low as 20 cents a gallon, leaving a much larger profit. Here again there is not much chance of detection by the buyer. He may find that his oil does not “wear” as well as he thinks it ought, but he won’t find it out until too late.

The most favored method of cheating an automobile owner on buying gasoline, is known in the trade as “shorting the hose.” Normally the attendant pumps the gas directly from a tank in the ground into the gas tank in the automobile. He uses a hose perhaps five feet in length. When five gallons have been delivered from the pump into the hose, five gallons have not yet entered the tank. A quart, normally, remains in the hose, and unless the attendant drains the hose into the auto tank, the motorist is short a quart of gasoline, getting four gallons and three quarts, instead of five gallons.

Another method of cheating which is more costly is the method of cheating the buyer of a whole gallon on his purchase. Most pumps are equipped with a bell which rings or an arrow which points to the number of gallons run through the pump. It is easy for a mechanic to fix the bell so that it will ring when three quarts have passed instead of a gallon or to manipulate the arrow so that it will point to five when as a matter of fact only four gallons have been delivered.

Then there is the method known as “going easy on the handle.” If the attendant turns the crank at a certain speed the gas flows into the hose at a certain rate. If the handle is turned fast at first and extremely easy at the end the full amount of gas will not enter the hose. Sometimes the attendant will turn the handle slowly at the end of the stroke and will draw almost no gas at all, though the crank turns and the indicator or arrow with it.

Even draining the hose is not an absolute protection against cheating, because some lengths of hose have a little valve at the end which goes into the tank. The attendant can shut this valve and drain the hose to his heart’s content, but no more gas will flow into the motorist’s tank.

2011 Hyundai Sonata

According to the folks at Inside Line, since Hyundai has already introduced a turbocharged and hybrid version of the 2011 Sonata, a Sonata coupe may be the next logical extension to the lineup.

Click here to get prices on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

Since the rear-wheel-drive Genesis coupe already occupies the sporty end of things for Hyundai, a front-wheel-drive coupe could give the South Korean brand a chance to steal some market share from the Nissan Altima Coupe and the Honda Accord Coupe.

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid will go on sale alongside the Sonata 2.0T later this year.

Click here for more Hyundai Sonata news.

Refresher: The 2011 Hyundai Sonata is currently on sale with prices starting at $19,195 for the base GLS model. Power for the 2011 Sonata GLS comes from a 2.4L direct-injected 4-cylinder making 198-hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. The 2011 Hyundai Sonata SE starts at $22,595 and is powered by a 2.4L 4-cylinder uprated to 200-hp. Topping the range is the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Limited with the same 200-hp 2.4L 4-cylinder but with more options. Prices for the Sonata Limited start at $25,295.

2011 Hyundai Sonata:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Inside Line

I asked Joshua Phillips of security firm, Lenel, to give us an overview of their latest mobile service addition that enables customers to control their office security systems via their BlackBerry. Genius!

This morning, Standard & Poor’s released its S&P/Case Shiller housing index data for February. It is not pretty. The composite index declined for the fifth straight month. Of the 20 cities Case Shiller follows, only Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, Las Vegas and New York registered gains in home prices between January and February — in all of the 14 other cities, home prices declined.

In 11 of the 20 cities, though, home prices increased year-on-year, and for the first time since December 2006, the two composites Case Shiller measures both made year-on-year gains.

Notably, two major Obama administration programs supporting house prices are at their end. The Federal Reserve’s initiative to buy up billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended at the end of last month. And the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit expires on April 30. The sunset of those programs will dampen enthusiasm about a possible March or April uptick in prices.

There have been a few stories in the news of late of a certain tech company losing a certain phone in a bar. If only they’d had WaveSecure. With it, you can back up, lock, locate or wipe your Android phone from any computer, anywhere, at any time. Phone stolen? Not a problem. WaveSecure locks it down and alerts a designated contact if a new SIM card is inserted and requires a PIN to unlock. (Only applies to GSM phones, of course.) Left it somewhere? Track it down with Google Maps. (Get the full run-down at WaveSecure’s site.)

And we’ve got 30 1-year subscriptions (normally $19.90) to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment on this story through 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight and tell us the worst place you’ve ever left/lost/or had your phone stolen. We’ll pick 30 winners at random and e-mail the subscription codes. Good luck!

Commenter Jcut wrote:

Roissy, I almost vomited watching this video today:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eve_ensler_embrace_your_inner_girl.html

Let us all be aware our sinister enemies who lurk about, skulking in the distance.

Are feminist calls to embrace our inner girl just a giant, society-wide shit test to brand the betas with a big red B so they can be more easily identified, and thus sexually ostracized? Because any man who takes up the call to “embrace his inner girl” will disqualify himself as a sexual interest to not only normal, healthy women, but to feminists as well.

Speaking of ultimate shit tests, here’s one I had the pleasure of receiving recently:

“Could you do me a favor and hold my drink for me while I call my friend?”

The worst shit tests are never the obvious ones; they are sneaky like thieves in the night, pickpocketing your balls without you even realizing it. Beware the “could you do me a favor” expression. It is designed to entrap even the most vigilant men. It will require an absolutely rock solid belief in your value as a high quality man to resist the temptation to answer the siren call of “do me a favor”. After all, a man would have to be a low down dirty scoundrel to not do a favor for a girl, right?

Now that she’s breached your defenses by asking for a favor, she can land the killing blow to your balls with the beta bait request. I don’t care how sweetly she asks or how harmless you think your accommodation, DO NOT EVER hold a girl’s drink for her on the first night you meet her. The act of holding her drink so she can make a call/go to the bathroom/rifle through her purse for lipstick, no matter the innocent intentions behind the asking of it, will register in her hindbrain as the humiliating posture of a beta chump. She may consciously respect your chivalry, but underneath, her id is playing word association by scratching your name next to a picture of a tiny, limp dick on the walls of her nerve center.

Remember, the worst/best shit tests are those that FOOL THE GIRL herself. If she doesn’t even know what she’s doing, how will *you* know when she’s weighing your stones? The “hold my drink” shit test frequently falls into this category of “subliminal but deadly”. She may honestly need you to hold her drink. But you still shouldn’t do it.

So how to respond to the SBD shit test? I’ve found that edgy humor works well.

“Whoa, it’s usually a good idea to wait until the second date before asking a guy to be your personal assistant.”

A cool girl will laugh at this and find a place to put down her drink, or forget about calling her friend to focus on talking with you. An uncool girl will make a face, or double down on asking you to hold her drink. Don’t break. Hold your ground. Capitulating to a shit test is bad enough; capitulating to a shit test you had called out is worse.

Luckily, most girls know better than to ask a man who isn’t a boyfriend to hold a drink. And of those girls who don’t know better, and who give you grief for not cooperating, well… why would you want to be with a bitch like that?

Filed under: Beta, Culture, Game, Ugly Truths

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 5-3 in Stolt-Nielsen SA v. AnimalFeeds International that imposing class arbitration on parties when that issue is silent in the parties’ arbitration clauses is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had ruled that construing the arbitration clause to permit class arbitration “did not manifestly disregard the law” because the parties specifically agreed that the arbitration panel would decide on the scope of the clause and, therefore, the panel did not exceed its authority. In reversing the decision below, Justice Samuel Alito wrote:
Contrary to the dissent, but consistent with our precedents emphasizing the consensual basis of arbitration, we see the question as being whether the parties agreed to authorize class arbitration. Here, where the parties stipulated that there was “no agreement” on this question, it follows that the parties cannot be compelled to submit their dispute to class arbitration.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer. Justice Sonia Sotomayor took no part in the consideration of the case.The case arose when AnimalFeeds filed a class action lawsuit against four major shipping companies, including Stolt-Nielsen, alleging antitrust violations. The parties had a written contract, under which their case was referred to an arbitration panel. The contract was silent as to whether class arbitrations are permissible.

The gentle, rolling waves embrace the white sand Gulf Coast beaches of Destin, Florida. But the quiet resort community, which likes to call itself “The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” is now a heated central battlefield over property rights.

“The government is taking our waterfront property and making a public beachfront property,” exclaims Linda Cherry, a spitfire with a cause who would seem an unlikely activist. She and her husband Jim, both political communications consultants, own a beachfront home on an exclusive stretch of beach, and have become symbols of what they consider to be the government stealing their beach.

The issue? The Cherrys say their private property extends to the surf, which means the pristine beach behind their house is their private backyard. When the state deems a stretch of waterfront land critically eroded though, it replenishes the beach in an effort to protect against storm damage. The government puts new sand along the shoreline, effectively extending the beach seaward. Under Florida law though, all new land created seaward of the erosion control line is public property. It’s a policy that Linda Cherry says amounts to the government illegally taking property.

“The government is trying to take our private property to make more public beach to bring more tourism into the area,” she charges. “If they can do that, they can take anybody’s property.”

Several beachfront property owners in the area have taken the issue to United States Supreme Court, where a decision is expected soon. The high court is weighing the issue of property rights versus state law, and the drama centers on the white sand beaches that run for seven miles along the Florida Panhandle.

“We want to be able to keep our beach; it’s what we paid for, it’s what is described in our deeds,” says Cherry, who organized the group Save Our Beaches to oppose the state’s moves. “When we buy property on the beach we assume that Mother Nature might take our backyard. We don’t expect the government to take our backyard,” she says.

The city of Destin denies it is land grabbing, only obeying state law. “We don’t believe we are taking private property,” explains the City Manager, Greg Kisela. “We believe that we are simply restoring these beaches and creating new beach,” he says. “It’s not a taking of their property rights. If we’ve done anything we’ve given them free sand to protect their upland structures,” he says of the homeowners. The program is designed to prevent beach erosion and provide “storm protection,” not only for the homeowners but says Kisela, for “the roads, sanitary sewer lines and gas lines.”

As we talked, couples strolled along the surf past the Cherrys’ house, and they do not disagree with that. It’s the principle of owning property that is unfairly infringed upon, they say, and having their property no longer extend all the way to the water. The Cherrys also point out that when strangers pitch tents on their property, they are not allowed to remove them.

“Everybody in America who owns property needs to understand if we can lose our property here, our waterfront property in Destin, they can lose their property,” warns Ms. Cherry.

But the state sees it differently.

The case is about “protecting the right of the state to preserve critically eroding shorelines for public interest and to protect the existing right for the public to use state-owned portions of the beach,” notes the Deputy Communications Director for the Florida Attorney General’s office, Ryan Wiggins. She says rather than “a taking of any recognizable property interest,” the law “is a governmental ‘giving’ of enormous benefits to beachfront owners that restores, rather than takes or diminishes their properties’ values along severely eroded shores.”

One private property owner who supports the State is John Comer, whose family owns a beachfront restaurant, The Back Porch, as well as several other restaurants.

“To us it’s the lesser of two evils,” he says about having suddenly public beach front at the restaurant. As we talked, surfers were riding the waves and a girl was surf casting as diners ate lunch in the balmy breeze. He says if the state does not add to the beach, “then we feel like we’re going to lose our building … because we need the protection from the storms.”

The restaurant also rents out umbrellas for people to use their beach. But the homeowners are left with waterfront property that really isn’t. And Ms. Cherry is worried about the consequences.

“Can the government come in and take our waterfront property?” she asks. “If they can do that, then they can take anybody’s property.”

This is the second in the Fox News series, “It’s Your Land.” Have a land or private property issue? E-Mail Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn at: [email protected]. Reports can also be seen Sundays from 10 to 12 noon, E.S.T. on the Fox News Channel. Save Our Beaches can be reached at: beachfront owners of [email protected].

Anna Maria Santiago.
Photo by MJ Murawaka.

Having grown up in poverty and lived in substandard housing has brought sensitivity to Anna Maria Santiago’s social work research about how people live and how place affects their lives.

The Case Western Reserve University campus recently met Santiago, the inaugural holder of the Leona Bevis & Marguerite Haynam Professorship in Community Development at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, during a special reception.

Currently on the faculty at Wayne State University, Santiago will officially start at CWRU on July 1. Her arrival will build on the social work school’s strength in neighborhood research by faculty members Mark Chupp, Claudia Coulton, Rob Fischer, Mark Joseph, Sharon Milligan and others from the Center on Poverty and Community Development.

“Place matters,” Santiago says. “Where one lives has a tremendous influence on the resources available to the individual.”

It’s a finding emerging from her research with hundreds of families in public housing and who are raising thousands of children in Denver.

Schools, grocery stores, police protection, medical facilities and libraries are the kinds of resources not equally distributed among neighborhoods, Santiago said.

It was those kinds of resources—and in particular access to training in music and the arts in Milwaukee with progressive social services and neighborhood programs—and her mother’s value of education, Santiago attributes to her success.

“I would not be where I am today,” she said, noting that the opportunity to master the oboe earned her a college scholarship to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She later changed her major to geography in the social sciences, with a specialization in the Caribbean and Latin America.

After working as a social worker in her old neighborhood in Milwaukee, she went on to earn a PhD in urban social institutions from UW Milwaukee.

Santiago is the lead investigator on two major projects that involve families and children from the Denver Housing Authority: “Not Just Buying a Home: The Effects of Participation in Homeownership Programs On Building Human, Financial and Social Capital Assets of Subsidized Housing Residents and their Children,” funded by The Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and “Magnitudes and Mechanisms of Neighborhood Impacts on Children: Analyzing a Natural Experiment in Denver,” supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The projects will be jointly housed at CWRU and Wayne State after she comes to campus.

She has concentrated her research on the families living in the Denver Housing Authority, because their self-sufficiency and asset building programs are models of best practices among the 1,500 housing authorities providing such programs.

Long before it was federally mandated to provide scattered-site housing as an option, Denver’s housing authority had been purchasing homes, fixing them up, and giving families a chance to live in better neighborhoods.

In previous work, Santiago and colleagues looked at two factors—crime and property values and found neither increased because of the arrival of public housing families. Neighborhoods improved.

Building upon what is known about low-income European American and African American families, Santiago has created a new niche in neighborhood research by including the Latino community, which is the predominant ethnic group in Denver’s public housing. She is also looking at the role of housing programs on refugee groups such as the Vietnamese.

In “Not Just Buying a Home,” a longitudinal study over the past 11 years, Santiago has followed 500 families in an asset-building program that has a home ownership component. In the first two years of the program, families are helped with money management and budgeting skills to reduce debt and repair credit. In the third year, the families participate in the Homebuyer’s Club, a 12-month commitment to receive intensive counseling on homeownership to learn about mortgages, home purchases, and other factors associated with buying a house.

Families, which have completed the program, moved into higher quality neighborhoods, the homes appreciated in this downturn climate and fewer homeowners—only 8 percent compared to an average 16 percent overall for low-income homeowners who did not participate in the program—faced home foreclosures.

In the study on neighborhood effects on child outcomes, Santiago is following the lives of nearly 2,000 children, who have lived at least two years in public housing during childhood. The study traces where they lived and how they fared across four developmental stages: early childhood; late childhood; pre-adolescence and adolescence.

Santiago’s new chair—the Bevis & Haynam Professorship—was established by lifelong social workers and friends Leona Bevis (SAS ’43) and Marguerite Haynam (FSM’30, LYS ’31, SAS ’41). In 2009, their combined estate gifts, together with support from friends, peers and an anonymous champion of social service research, created the professorship. Bevis was the first female executive director of the Welfare Federation of Cleveland. Haynam was the executive director of the Travelers Aid Society and a former faculty member at the social work school. In addition, the Frank and Nancy Porter family provided an endowed scholarship in support of the fund.

For more information contact Susan Griffith, 216.368.1004.

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Earnings/Financials, Ferrari, Celebrities

It’s not terribly uncommon for famous people to insure a body part (or, ya know, a pair of ’em) that’s necessary for them to continue moving forward with their career. For instance, we have no qualms whatsoever with Heidi Klum’s policy that insures her priceless legs for $2.2 million. On the other hand, we’re not so sure Michael Flatley’s kickers are worth their reported $39 million policy.

Sports figures are also keen to keep their body parts in good working order; David Beckham’s legs and feet are insured for the princely sum of $70 million. Apparently, we can add Formula One racing star Fernando Alonso to the aforementioned list, as his thumbs are now protected with a £9 million (nearly $14 million U.S.) policy from Ferrari F1 sponsor Santander.

Says a spokesperson for Alonso, who is currently tied with Lewis Hamilton for third place in the F1 Driver’s Championship:

Alonso’s thumbs are a big symbol as, apart from being essential when driving a Formula One car, they represent a sign of victory and that everything is under control and well protected.

Thumbs up, Alonso.

[Source: Telegraph | Image: Paul Gilham/Getty Images]

All Thumbs: Fernando Alonso’s opposables reportedly insured for £9M originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leading-edge businesses such as IBM, GE, KKR, Walmart and many others are tackling environmental sustainability head on. They are finding profit and spurring innovation by looking through the "green lens" of environmental sustainability. Both business and the environment need more of this thinking from more people in more organizations in more sectors.

The Solutions Labs 2010 are to here to help. This series of one-day events, kicking off on May 21 in New York City (hosted by Bloomberg), will bring together leading thinkers and "doers" from business, academia and a myriad of organizations to explore the next generation of business sustainability – one in which we can grow profits and positive benefits for the planet.

The Solutions Labs are the version 2.0 of last year's "Green Innovation for Business Unconferences" held in Washington DC, Boston, San Jose and Austin. An even more diverse and interesting mix of partners are coming together to produce this year's series: Ashoka, Dig In, Environmental Defense Fund, GreenBiz.com, Net Impact, the Society for Organizational Learning, and Sony Pictures, among others.

The organizers (this blogger included) have grand aspirations for growing the Solutions Labs into an incubator for big ideas. (Think a TED Conference for innovators in the environmentally-sustainable business space.) While that vision may take another year to two to come into focus, what we can promise now is a highly interactive and engaging gathering decidedly different from other green business conference.

What can you expect? PowerPoint presentations? No. Lengthy speeches or panels? No. Using an "open space" format, each Lab and discussion topic will be slightly different, reflecting the interests of the participants in the room who collectively create the agenda (visit our wiki page where the agendas are created). All will have ample opportunity for networking, small breakout conversations and ad hoc brainstorming.

So bring your big ideas (and the small ones too) and join us at a Solutions Lab near you:

Uma norma que deveria estar em vigor há muito tempo atrás, finalmente sai do papel e se torna algo obrigatório. Após o dia 3 de abril, todos os tipos de catalisadores de linha leve, onde se incluem os carros movidos a gasolina ou etanol, só poderão ser importados ou fabricados se tiver o selo do Inmetro.

O meio ambiente agradece essa atitude, uma vez que existem no mercado muitos catalisadores recondicionados, que ao invés de ajudar a evitar a emissão de poluentes, atrapalham ainda mais por não funcionarem direito e os donos dos carros acharem que está tudo bem.

Agora, com o novo controle de qualidade obrigatório, apenas aparelhos que realmente funcionam serão comercializados (ao menos na teoria). Para dificultar a ilegalidade, o selo de qualidade do Inmetro será colocado na embalagem do catalizador e na própria peça. Os fabricantes e varejistas tem até o dia 3 de abril de 2011 para regularizarem a situação e fornecer produtos de qualidade aos clientes.

Via | Motorpasion

The Southern Cross Climate Coalition (SCCC) has expressed deep disappointment about the shelving of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and warned Australia could not afford to stall its contribution to global action.

The SCCC* said: “Australian businesses, jobs and investors have had a decade of delay in effective climate policy. Meanwhile, clean energy industries and jobs have been lost to competitors in China, South Korea, and Europe where ambitious clean energy policies are being implemented.

“Since October last year more than 150 new measures have been announced globally to reduce climate pollution and 32 countries now have emissions trading schemes. Around US$200 billion is expected to be invested in clean energy solutions, in 2010.

“All political parties and many business leaders are responsible for jeopardising efforts to make the transition to a clean energy economy and growing Australian clean-energy jobs, investment and industries.

“Shelving serious efforts to reduce Australia’s climate pollution diminishes the positive role that Australia can play in global climate negotiations which will ultimately increase climate and economic risk to the nation.

“Both parties who have backed the 2020 target ranges for emission reductions now need to explain how these are to be achieved at lowest cost without an economy-wide price signal such as an emissions trading scheme.”

All political parties should revisit their policies to:

1. Turn around our still rising climate pollution in the life of the next Government (i.e before 2013) and establish credible plans to achieve at least the 25 per cent reduction target by 2020.
2. Encourage investment, jobs and profits in clean energy and other climate solutions.
3. Make large companies responsible for their climate pollution by limiting and pricing emissions.
4. Implement a carbon price through an emission trading scheme in 2011 at the latest.
5. Ensure support for low income and vulnerable households as we move to put a price on climate pollution and experience greater climate change impacts.
6. Establish additional incentives for companies to overcome non-price barriers to invest in large scale investment in clean energy technologies, jobs and industries.
7. Help households and businesses use energy more efficiently so the whole economy can catch up with other countries that are doing more to avoid costly energy wastage.

*John Connor, The Climate Institute; Sharan Burrow, ACTU ; Tony Westmore, Australian Council of Social Service; Paul Toni WWF; Tony Mohr ACF.

For more information: John Connor, Climate Institute, 0413 968 475 or Climate Institute Communications 02 92525200.

The Australian Government’s decision to delay the carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) is grossly irresponsible both in terms of the environment and the economy, and is a betrayal to those who voted the Rudd Government in, WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne said today.

It also flies in the face of a new opinion poll which shows an overwhelming 79 per cent of respondents believe Australia should either begin reducing carbon pollution before other countries, or start reducing regardless of when other countries choose to act.

“It is clear the Australian public wants action now, and not when it is politically beneficial,” said Mr Bourne. “Delaying the scheme elevates opportunism over the welfare of future generations.”

The Government’s decision ignores environmental and economic advice from a wide range of experts recommending immediate Australian action, including the CSIRO and the Garnaut and Shergold reviews.

Both Garnaut and Shergold recommended the immediate implementation of an emission trading scheme irrespective of the positions taken by other countries because it would advantage Australia in the long run.

The new opinion poll of over 4,000 Australians living in metropolitan areas was conducted for WWF-Australia by AMR Interactive. Only13 per cent of respondents said Australia should wait until other countries take action on reducing their carbon pollution.

Despite the overwhelming public support for action, Australia’s carbon pollution remains the highest per-capita in the developed world. Australia’s carbon pollution is currently growing at twice the world average.

Respected Australian and international economists charged with assessing options to reduce carbon pollution have all found an emissions trading scheme to be the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally sound method to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution.

“Australia’s carbon pollution keeps going up and up. The longer we delay setting a price on carbon, the more it is going to cost Australian households and Australian businesses,” said Mr Bourne.

“No matter where you look, the advice is the same. We need a way to set a limit on carbon pollution and begin reducing it.

“The Australian Government should negotiate with the Greens and other willing senators to put an interim price on carbon immediately, and then implement an emissions trading scheme by late 2011.”

Contact: Jonathon Larkin, WWF Press office, 0410 221 410, 02 8202 1216.

Traditional Owners and WWF have called for a formal investigation into the presence of unregistered nets in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park following the recent discovery of three dead dugongs in a net near Cairns.

The discovery of the dugongs by a navy crew comes on the back of recent anecdotal accounts of sea turtles being targeted for an illegal meat trade in far north Queensland.

“We are working to conserve these species as best we can while reserving the right to pursue our traditional way of life,” said CEO of the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Phil Rist, whose organisation represents Traditional Owners south of Cairns.

“It is highly unlikely that this would have occurred on our sea country because there has been significant investment in management and conservation mechanisms,” Mr Rist said.

“Any illegal harvesting of these species undermines our efforts to balance traditional activities on our lands and seas with conservation.”

WWF’s Conservation on Country Manager Cliff Cobbo said the loss of three dugongs was a significant blow to the population of threatened species in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef.

“These animals are long-lived and very slow to reproduce and so the loss of three individuals from the southern Great Barrier Reef population is a real set-back to recovery efforts,” Mr Cobbo said.

“The fact that this net had been set so close to the highly populated area of Cairns and was only discovered inadvertently makes you question what is happening further north where there is even less chance of being caught,” Mr Cobbo said.

“Increased Indigenous capacity is needed in these areas to conserve threatened marine species and police activities such as the illegal harvest of turtles and dugongs.”

WWF is calling on the Federal Government to dedicate considerable funding from the $3 billion Closing the Gap budget commitment to create new Indigenous ranger positions on land and sea country.

The Girringun Aboriginal Corporation and the Gudjuda Reference Group are two north Queensland Traditional Owner groups that have entered into conservation agreements with WWF-Australia to improve protection for the Great Barrier Reef’s marine turtles, dugongs and inshore dolphins.

For more information:

Charlie Stevens, WWF Media Manager – Queensland, 0424 649 689
Cliff Cobbo, Policy Manager – Conservation on Country, 0406 384 288

GRAVOGRAPH, the world leader for laser engraving solutions, announces the launch of its new laser solution for marking on metals and plastics: the LS100EX YAG. Made up of a platform that can house an object with a maximum volume of 610 x 305 x 145 mm, coupled with a YAG 12W source, it presents the particular advantage of being able to mark hard or reflecting materials (black or stainless steel, etc.) as well as classic materials. The LS100EX YAG is aimed at applications involving personalization of objects (business gifts, trophies, etc.) and technical marking applications for industrial parts (tools, name plates, instrumentation, metal parts, etc.).

The laser technology featured in the LS100 EX YAG solution can be used to mark a wide range of materials (ABS, aluminium, black or stainless steel, precious metals, etc.). Its large work area can house bulky objects such as holder trays on which the operator places parts in shaped recesses for concurrent engraving.

The LS100EX YAG solution is controlled using the LaserStyle™ software, an intuitive interface specifically developed by specialists for laser engraving, that features automatic composition possibilities such as integration of lists of names and incrementation of numbers, and this makes it a really productive tool. With its maximum marking speed of 2.5 m/s and its front loading design (Front Loading Concept by Gravograph, the only one of its kind on the market), which cuts operating times between batches of parts, this laser engraving unit provides one of the highest machine use levels currently available.

There are many accessories available as options with the LS100 EX YAG to provide a solution that is perfectly suited to the application and the user’s working environment. To start with, there are integrated filtering and ventilating systems for smoke and dust that enable compliance with working conditions for the user and the machine; these systems have been tried and tested in many cases of applications involving high emission levels of particles and odours. Then there is the wide range of objective lenses available, plus indexing supports for engraving on cylindrical and conical objects 3 to 130 mm in diameter. Lastly, a suction table can be fitted for marking thin, flexible materials.

In August 2010, LESER (www.leser.com) will introduce a new product series: the pilot-operated safety valve. Both pop-action valves (Series 810) and modulate-action valves (Series 820) are available.

The typical application areas of the pilot-operated safety valve (POSV) are refineries and gas processing plants, compressors in gas pipeline systems and offshore applications. The own-media-controlled POSV offers the advantage that the plant can be run close to the set pressure of the valve. This leads to an increase in the capacity utilization and consequently of the efficiency of the plant. Furthermore, POSVs allow higher external back pressures than spring-loaded valves.

By means of the harmonized standard DIN EN ISO 4126-4 pilot-operated safety valves are now also approved in Europe. For decades already their technology has been proven in the American market and in the Middle East.

The LESER POSV will be with a short four-week lead time ex works in Germany. As a special design feature, the tubing between the pilot valve and the main valve is integrated in the main valve cover, reducing the risk of damage or freezing. The backflow preventer is included as standard.

The POSV will be part of the new LESER product group High Efficiency. This group unites all products which increase the efficiency and the productivity of the plant.

Features at a glance:

– Design in compliance with API 526
– Valve sizes from DN 25 to DN 200 (1″ x 2″ to 8″ x 10″)
– Orifice D to T
– Flange pressure ranges according to DIN EN PN 10 – PN 63 (DIN EN), 2.5 bar – 63 bar (36 psig – 914 psig)
– Flange pressure ranges according to ASME CL 150 – CL 600, 36 psig – 1480 psig (2,5 bar – 102 bar)
– Approval according to ASME VIII, PED and Vd TÜV
– Body materials WCB, CF8M, LCB, 1.0619, 1.4408

Advantages at a glance:

– Tightness guaranteed up to 97% of set pressure – operating pressure can be close to set pressure
– Short blowdown for minimum product loss in case of valve opening
– Lower risk of damage due to a reduction of the exterior piping
– Backflow preventer included as standard
– Fast availability: four weeks delivery time ex works
– Free sizing software VALVESTAR

Berkenhoff has expanded its megacut® product line for Japanese
machines to include two new wire electrodes: megacut® plus, the
coated high performance wire which combines high profitability, top quality and maximum reliability; and megacut® pro, the uncoated brass wire which offers a good price-performance ratio for all basic applications.

With these new wire electrodes, bedra offers a range of products which specifically respond to market needs in economically difficult times. Both products will help tool and mold making companies perform more efficiently and more cost-effectively.

The novel coated gamma phase wire megacut® plus was tailored to meet the specific requirements of Japanese EDM machines. bedra has developed a wire which combines high cutting rates, precision, process stability and excellent surface quality – and delivers maximum profitability.

megacut® plus is universally applicable on Japanese EDM machines and ensures immediate use in standard brass wire technology applications. Easy to thread, it is ideally suited for automated production in three-shift operation even during night time.

Due to its high process stability it is possible, depending on the application and number of cuts, to considerable reduce the wire run-off speed – without compromising surface quality or precision. Longer cutting with one spool! This saves wire costs and increases profitability.

It is noteworthy that these results are achieved under the most varied working conditions, that is, even under poor flushing conditions. Moreover, the excellent resistance of megacut® plus to wire breakage ensures a high degree of process stability.

In addition, the megacut® product line offers a new product alternative for all basic applications in the entry-level range: the megacut® pro.

This pure brass wire is also ideally suited for all Japanese EDM machines and, thanks to the proven bedra quality, provides high reliability in the cutting process. Its attractive price makes it a cost-effective alternative for all cutting applications where using pure brass wire is sufficient.

The new bedra electrodes, megacut® plus and megacut® pro, will significantly increase efficiency and profitability in tool and mould making on Japanese machines.

GZD Series Vibrating Feeder
Zenith Vibrating Feeder is built to withstand the toughest work in a quarry or mine by matching different applications; The feeder series is designed particularly for continuous use with any hard and abrasive materials through uniform flow. They are backed by years of service proven performance in the mining, aggregates, glass, cement, chemical, wood products and steel industries.

GZD Series Vibrating Feeder Features:
1) flexible design
2) extra heavy-duty construction
3) exclusive vibrator technology
4) Good performance-conditioning, no flushing phenomenon of materials.
5) easy maintenance and low operating cost

Vibrating Feeder Technical Data:
Model Max.Feed Size(mm) Capacity (t/h) Power (kw) Weight (kg) Size of Funnel (mm)
GZD850x3000 400 80-120 2.2×2 3607 850×3000
GZD960x3800 500 120-210 11 3895 1000×3600
GZD1100x4200 580 200-430 15 4170 1100×4200
GZD1100x4900 580 280-500 15 4520 4900×1100
GZD1300x4900 650 450-600 22 5200 4900×1300
GZD1300x6000 600 400~560 22 7500 6000×1300
GZD1500x6000 800 460~575 30 8666 6000×1500
GZD1800x6000 800 600~800 37 11800 6000×1800

New sweeper Ulisse 70B ride on machine. high preformance, price and dimension very small. Engines and components are of Italian high quality. Ulisse uses gearbox for the side brush and the front flap lift. The OMM scrubber dryers and sweepers are created by 40 years experience in the field of industrial and household cleaning and offer quality and safety guarantees.