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Automatic Backwash Control

The Electric H2O Closed Loop Filtration System (CL Filter) is a high-pressure media filter, constructed from epoxy-lined carbon steel and designed to remove suspended solids down to 10, 5 and 0.5 microns from closed loop heating and cooling systems. The system is designed to maximize filtration flow and minimize backwash time and volume. As the filtered particulates accumulate on the media bed, the pressure differential across the bed increases.

When a pre-determined set point is reached, the self-cleaning automatic citywater backwash cycle is initiated, after which filtration is resumed. The NEMA 4X control panel also incorporates a manual and timed override automatic backwash. Dual electric actuators and four two-way bronze ball valves prevent any closed loop system water loss during backwash.

Improve…
Heat Transfer Efficiency, Pump Operation, Evaporator Tube Cleanliness
Corrosion Rate, Biological Control.

Closed Loop Filter Sizing and Selection
Closed loop systems are not exposed to airborne contaminants and therefore have lower particulate concentrations than open systems. Filter sizing is based upon a fluid turnover rate of four times per day. The result is that the entire fluid volume in the system is filtered every six hours.

Polls show that Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans overwhelmingly support clean energy and climate legislation

Vote Vets has another hard-hitting ad tying the BP oil disaster with the threat our dependence on fossil fuels poses to our national security:

Related Post:

• Vote Vets tough new ad: Everytime oil goes up $1, Iran gets another $1.5 billion to use against us.

Federal officials have ordered commercial fishing vessels to cease oil recovery operations in Louisiana’s Breton Sound. The action came after four crew members aboard three vessels reported health problems including nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains.

Medics transported the four crew members to a hospital for evaluation. None of the other commercial fishermen involved in oil recovery operations in Breton Sound reported symptoms. However, officials directed all 125 commercial vessels equipped for oil recovery in that area to return to their staging area so that the remaining crew could receive precautionary medical evaluations.

“We are taking this action as an extreme safeguard,” said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robinson Cox.

On Wednesday, FOX News freelance photographer Joe Vasquez experienced a minor version of this while traveling with a National Wildlife Federation team out in the Gulf of Mexico. Twelve miles off the Louisiana coast, their boat encountered a thick plume of oil.

“My tongue began tingling,” Vasquez said. “It was like biting a pepper, but without the taste.”

Vasquez put on a respirator and said the symptoms quickly went away.

Researchers on the boat lowered remote devices into the water to collect data. The devices returned covered in thick layers of oil with the consistency of melted chocolate.

Meanwhile, BP continues its “top kill” operations to block the flow of oil from a damaged well on the ocean floor. According to the company’s Twitter site, “There are no significant events to report at this time.”

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Bugatti, Rumormill, Electric

With production of the Veyron coming to an end, speculation has been rampant over what Bugatti will build next. A super-sedan based on the 16C Galibier concept could still get the green light. A 1,200-horsepower “Super Veyron” has also re-entered the rumor mill of late. Even an entry-level roadster was mooted at one point. But a new project could give us a clearer (and more radical) picture than ever before.

According to the rumormongers over at Auto Express, Bugatti is currently working on a massively powerful electric supercar that could eclipse the notions of what was previously thought possible with battery power. A test mule based on sister-company Bentley‘s ubiquitous Continental GT is reportedly undergoing testing at present, powered by two giant electric motors and an advanced lithium-ion power cell to deliver the equivalent of 800 horsepower and some 1,600 lb-ft of torque, all available instantly from a standstill. Yowza!

Such technology would doubtlessly draw from the work sister-company Audi has been doing with its successive e-Tron concepts. But as AE points out, this wouldn’t be the first time Bugatti has experimented with electric power: Back in its heyday under founder Ettore Bugatti’s direction, the original company built the Type 56. Originally built as a one-off, public demand prompted the Molsheim marque to bring it to market.

The rumored Continental-based prototype may be strictly a one-off at the moment, but if demand could force the Type 56 to market in the 1930s, it certainly could do the same today.

Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Auto Express]

Rumormill: Bugatti developing secret Continental GT-based electric supercar originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 May 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First quarter GDP growth was a little less than we thought. It was revised down to an annualized rate of 3.0% from its initial estimate of 3.2%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This came as a surprise to economists. Even though GDP was revised downward, they expected the opposite — for the second estimate to raise growth to 3.5%. What happened?

First, for those who like charts, here’s some historical perspective of GDP:

Even with this slight revision, the first quarter remained the second highest quarterly growth rate we’ve seen since the recession began in late 2007.

The revision was caused almost entirely by the personal consumption expenditures portion, i.e. consumer spending. Even though this got a lot better in the first quarter, it didn’t improve as much as originally thought. It was responsible for 2.42% of the 3.0% growth. The prior estimate reported a 2.55% contribution. That 0.13% difference is responsible for the vast majority of the 0.2% revised drop.

In particular, spending on services — not on goods — was overestimated. The services that consumers didn’t use as much as thought were housing and utilities, and food services and accommodations.

Of course, 0.2% isn’t much. But it is a little disappointing where most of this revision came from. Spending needs to drive the recovery to create jobs. It’s also unfortunate that restaurants and travel was one of the most downwardly revised components; spending on these non-necessities is also an indicator that consumers are feeling much more comfortable opening their wallets. This component, and spending overall, still showed a healthy increase compared to 2009, but these revisions make their progress a little less impressive.

Also interesting to note, but not a source of the revision, was how trade estimates changed. Exports were revised up a bit. They increased by $27.3 billion instead of $22.0 billion. Meanwhile, however, imports were also revised up to a $47.6 billion increase from $41.0 billion in the initial estimate. So the net result is mostly a wash: the two revisions approximately cancel each other out. But it is good to see more exports than originally anticipated.

Finally, keep in mind that there’s still another revision coming. Since downward revisions are more common than upward revisions, while there’s a chance that we could return to the 3.2% original estimate, it’s not too likely. But hopefully the final number won’t sink below 3.0%.

Note: Data above is seasonally adjusted.

Bureau of Economic Analysis – Gross domestic product – Economic growth – Recession – International trade

On March 6, I posted that in light of new research, I was raising the lower limit of my single-dose B12 supplement recommendations from 10 µg to 25 µg. This was an extrapolation, but I just came across some new research to reinforce this change. A study from India shows that 10 µg of B12 in one single dose per day was not enough to lower homocysteine to ideal levels.

Details here.

Thanks, Tom!

Dr. Drew has reportedly talked someone into joining Tila Tequila on the next season of Celebrity Rehab — which is teetering dangerously close to being cancelled by VH1 after a series of casting mishaps. Word is Lauren Conrad’s ex-flame, former reality rich Jason Wahler, is the newest addition to the fourth season of the addiction-themed docu-soap. Wahler has had a number of run-ins with the law since bidding farewell to his Laguna Beach days, including collars for assault and drunk driving.

We have all seen it…
Distracted drivers swerving, veering over the yellow line with a cell phone held to the ear or fingers tapping out a text message.

It’s something we may see even more of this Memorial Day weekend as 32 million drivers take to America’s roads.

While many drivers will admit they’ve done it themselves, the consequences of driving while distracted can be deadly. Thousands of people are killed each year due to multitasking behind the wheel.

Now a new, high-tech driving simulator is proving just how dangerous it is to drive when your focus is elsewhere.

Created for the Arbella Insurance Group by engineers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst under the direction of Dr. Donald Fisher the program, dubbed Distractology 101, is on a public tour aiming to teach young drivers the risks of driving while distracted.

“We started to notice a very alarming trend coming out of our claims data. We’re one of the larger automobile insurance companies in America so we have a lot of claims,” said John Donohue, the Arbella Insurance Group’s CEO and chairman.
“We started seeing accidents where bad weather wasn’t involved, alcohol wasn’t involved, but young people were getting into very serious accidents. As we looked into it we realized it was coming from what we called distracted driving.”

The simulator travels in a massive, neon-yellow trailer and works like a giant video game, putting participants behind the wheel and running them through a variety of possible real-life scenarios.

It shows what can happen if you come around a blind curve with your attention momentarily diverted- CRASH! A simulated fender-bender is the result.

“It does kinda make you think about stuff that you wouldn’t normally think about like seeing around corners and stuff,” said Billy Richman of Taunton, Massachusetts, one of the first of thousands of teenagers the Arbella Insurance Group hopes to put through Distractology 101.

The course even has it’s own lingo with buzzwords like-
Textident: An accident while texting
Smerging: Swerving while merging
Sender Bender: A collision caused by a text message being sent before impact

“What we really try to get across is the consequences. Maybe you’re right nine times out of ten, but that tenth time you’re not, you’re not only going to hurt yourself- you might hurt a lot of other people,” said Donohue.

According to the National Highway Safety Administration 6,000 people died and a half million were injured in accidents involving a distracted driver in 2008.

For more information or to see where the simulator is heading next go to:
www.DistractU.com/Students/Tour.

It sounds like not everybody is ready to just throw Flash out the window because Steve Jobs told them to, as Time Warner and NBC have just told Apple they’re happy to stick with it for their online video players. More »










Time Warner – Flash – Steve Jobs – Apple – Multimedia

Palm has been struggling to move handsets as of late, but they are definitely pushing for developer support to create apps that will sell Pres and Pixis.  In order to try to bring some of the iPhone’s killer apps to webOS, Palm has decided to host a “San Francisco PDK Party” on June 9th, which just so happens to be right in the middle of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple is expected to announce the next-gen iPhone.  Since webOS apps can be ported from the iPhone in a “matter of days,” the event is a well-timed move by Palm.  If they are able to get devs to actually attend, I could see some of them porting their applications to webOS if the process really does only take a few days.  We’ll find out what happens with both WWDC and Palm’s PDK party in less than two weeks, so stay tuned!

Via Pre Central

Palm has been struggling to move handsets as of late, but they are definitely pushing for developer support to create apps that will sell Pres and Pixis.  In order to try to bring some of the iPhone’s killer apps to webOS, Palm has decided to host a “San Francisco PDK Party” on June 9th, which just so happens to be right in the middle of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple is expected to announce the next-gen iPhone.  Since webOS apps can be ported from the iPhone in a “matter of days,” the event is a well-timed move by Palm.  If they are able to get devs to actually attend, I could see some of them porting their applications to webOS if the process really does only take a few days.  We’ll find out what happens with both WWDC and Palm’s PDK party in less than two weeks, so stay tuned!

Via Pre Central

ViewCave, a new online film distribution and video streaming company based in California, will be alternatively releasing content in torrent form through Mininova’s service. After a court decision forced the famous torrent tracker to remove all infringing content, Mininova’s management finds a glimmer of hope (and possible income) as… (read more)

Dude, you think you work hard? Well, think again. Mitchum, the antiperspirant/deodorant brand owned by Revlon, last week kicked off a contest to find the "The Hardest Working Person in America." It’s asking the nation’s workaholics to upload video nominations of themselves to the brand’s YouTube page, where friends, family and the rest of the sweaty masses can vote. (Contestants can also campaign for themselves via social media.) TV spots, now airing, show some of the country’s hardest workers. One is a police officer who goes home to take care of his wife and four kids. Another is a coach who can’t stand the thought of "free time." Mitchum is awarding two prizes: One for the hardest-working person, and another for "most captivating video." The former gets $100,000. The latter gets $5,000. In other words, only the winner gets to take a nice long holiday.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Outreach Support Executive

Do you have three days a week from July 2010- early Jan 2011 that you would like to use to intern with Oxfam Campaigns in the North West? Then why not apply to become our Outreach Support Executive? (This is a voluntary position though lunch and travel expenses are provided). The Outreach Support Executive will do a wide variety of exciting tasks as they manage the Outreach network in the North of England.

What does the role entail?

This will include for example; Creating a regional Outreach strategy, Recruiting, training and supporting volunteer outreach co-ordinators, Securing Oxfam’s campaigning presence at some of the larger regional events, Helping to co-ordinate the regional campaigning for Oxjam (Oxfam’s music festival), Creatively thinking of ways to campaign to new audiences, Managing the regional administration, monitoring, evaluation and learning of this project, Using a range of on and offline tools to share good practice and create a sense of community/network throughout the region/nation.

This is a great chance for you to develop your skills and experience and to get more involved in Oxfam’s work to overcome poverty and suffering.

Check out the full job spec and complete an internship application form

For more questions/ information or to send in your application please contact Nicola = [email protected] or call 0161 234 2786

Application deadline: 21^st June by 12pm

Interview: 24^th June.

Start date: ASAP July

Sprint EVO 4G buyers may want to grab Fring in the Android Market when you get your phone. That front-facing camera is tailor-made for video chatting, and Fring is already out to take advantage of it. Fring is a chat program available on many platforms, and this new Android version brings video to the offering.

Video chatting hits the phone CPU pretty hard so a fast processor is required. The program checks that and makes sure your phone can handle video properly. EVO buyers won’t have to worry about that, of course. If you don’t want to hit the Android Market or Fring site to download the app, just use the code below:

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub. req’d): Google Takes the Open Battle to Apple on Multiple Fronts

In today’s Quinnipiac poll, Tom Foley, the former ambassador to Ireland leads in the Republican primary for governor with 37 percent, followed by Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele with 11 percent.  Businessman Oz Griebel had 5 percent. 

The poll showed that 42 percent of Republicans are undecided, and the percentage of GOP voters who don’t know about the candidates to form an opinion ranges from 58 percent to 88 percent.

In the Democratic primary race for governor, former U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont leads Dannel Malloy, 41 to 24 percent with 30 percent undecided.    Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, was the party’s endorsed candidate at Saturday’s convention in Hartford. Lamont gets a 46 to 12 percent favorability rating among Democrats, and 39 percent haven’t heard enough to form an opinion, the poll indicates.

Overall, 65 percent of Democrats said they did not know enough about Malloy to form an opinion – even though he won his party’s convention twice for governor and has been running for the office for six years. He raised and spent $4 million in an unsuccessful race in 2006 – losing in the primary that summer to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.

The 65 percent who said they do not know enough about Malloy only covers Democrats. 

“You’ve got to figure it’s higher among the total” population, said Douglas Schwartz, the Q pollster.

Finally, scientists have good news about the fats in our food. Contrary to what is feared, the majority of food producers and restaurants not only changed an ingredient harmful to health by another when they pulled out of their products the trans fats, which is dangerous because it clogs arteries and affects the heart.

Even the French fries have long been considered a scourge in the diet, are now made with healthier ingredients. But there is still room for improvement, especially for some items for sale in supermarkets, in which trans fat is replaced with his unhealthy cousin, saturated fat.

A researcher from Harvard University and a group of consumer advocacy examined 83 foods in which ingredients has been reformulated since 2006. In that year the federal government began to require that on labels have to be placed the amount of trans fats in the packaged products, and the city of New York became the first of several cities in withdrawing it from restaurants.

Trans fats are created when hydrogen is added to liquid oils to harden them so they are used in baking or to extend the products duration on the shelves. Once these fats were targeted by government regulators, food manufacturers and restaurants, they started to experiment with different cooking oils and fat substitutes, trying not to compromise the taste and texture of the food they offer. But how healthy fats are used now?

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a researcher at the University of Harvard, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest checked edible products and restaurant menus to measure their fat content. The articles studied included margarine, junk food, confectionery and five popular fast food chains.

The results were published on Thursday in a letter included in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Almost all the food samples were free of trans fats, or with low quantity. And many companies and restaurants did not increase their content of saturated fats after cutting trans fats: 65% of products in supermarkets and 90% of the dishes in restaurants contain saturated fat, which levels were lower or unchanged to the previously measured amounts, or only slightly higher.

However, despite the improvement detected, there were some voices of caution. The fact that trans fats are gone, doesn’t mean that fattening foods are healthy, said Dr. David Heber, who is head of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Related posts:

1. PepsiCo to Cut Sugar, Sodium, & Fat in Products
2. California County Bans Toys With Fast Food
3. The diet to fight autism showed no improvement in symptoms

After hitting a wall of moderate Democrats wary of more deficit spending, House leaders on Wednesday scaled back their sweeping proposal to extend certain tax breaks and emergency unemployment benefits.

While most of the roughly $50 billion savings under the amended bill comes from trimming Medicare payments to doctors, the revised proposal — which House leaders are hoping to pass today — also shortens the deadline extension for unemployment benefits and COBRA health benefits by one month.

Translation: While the original bill extended the filing deadline through the end of the 2010, the newer bill extends the filing deadline through November (i.e., just beyond the midterm elections).

(Of note: Neither proposal would create new tiers of benefits.)

If the House passes the bill today, it then moves to the Senate, where Democratic leaders will have to rally the 60 votes needed to defeat the likely GOP filibuster. Whether they can do it before they leave for their week-long Memorial Day vacation remains a real question.

Paula Abdul made a special appearance on Wednesday night’s American Idol Season 9 Finale with a touching “send-off” to brash judge Simon Cowell.

“I’VE WORKED WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE OVER THE YEARS. HOT CHEERLEADERS. BIG MOVIE STARS. WORLD FAMOUS RECORDING ARTISTS. EVEN A CARTOON CAT. BUT IF I’M BEING TRULY HONEST, NONE OF THEM HOLDS A CANDLE TO YOU, MY FRIEND….”

Our favorite little tipsy music critic is making a comeback to the world of reality television with the role of a judge, mentor, and executive producer on the reality dance series Got to Dance, premiering on CBS in the fall.