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'Lost Empire' By Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood - Unravelling the Past

An adventure that will keep you at the edge of your seats and biting your nails all through the four hundred pages! A book that never loses its pace or charm as you go through a series of marvelous revelations in form of discoveries these two treasure hunters make. Amazing read!

The story begins with Sam & Remi Fargo finding a ship's bell while doing scuba diving in Tanzania, before they can retrieve the artifact; they realize they are being watched. So they drop the plans of retrieving it and stall their progress. To their surprise, they are attacked at night and though they manage to trick their pursuers once and get away with the bell and capture one of the pursuers, the bell is soon stolen and taken away from them. This makes them follow the pursuers and fight it out to retrieve the bell. The adventure doesn't end with retrieving the bell visit here

At every stage, as they unravel mysteries and try making any progress, the guy pursuing them Itzli Rivera, tries to sabotage their find and kill them. Rivera tries to ensure that the mystery is never revealed, and Fargo's are hell bent on finding out the whole truth.

The story becomes more and more interesting as Fargos travel into the jungles of Madagascar and then into Jakarta and neighboring jungles and islands... The story slowly unravels and we all get a good sneak- peek into some unknown areas of history (obviously mixed with fiction). The tale is compelling and interesting... The details with which it is written makes you visualize each and every step Fargos take and how they travel through the jungles or manage to take-off in the helicopter from the den of the pursuers. The details are fascinating and very well thought out, making it a wonderful read...

The characters are very well defined and distinct. The technology used to unravel the mystery by Fargos and their team is up to date, fascinating and viable making perfect sense, nothing ultra modern like James Bond. The way Fargos go about with their research, taking help of people or rather experts is good and makes it more believable, it's not like the Fargos are two "know it all Gods"...

Overall worth a read, fascinating and enchanting at places, adventurous at others... Makes you want to believe that Blaylock existed and did travel all the parts as depicted in the map they find and found the mystery behind the Aztec empire. Go on give it a try...!

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Pine, Cedar, Blackwood and Huon Pine Antique Furniture is Becoming Increasingly Rare

Pine furniture in the walnut-stained original condition is under extreme threat, as few collectors buy it for its originality but rather for its desirable honey colour after stripping and refinishing. This is a shame, as often a good original piece of pine shows up and is considered virtually unsaleable unless priced as a restoration piece. It is very difficult for devoted collectors of original pine, as even restorers will strip and sand these pieces because they are considered to be undesirable by most pine collectors.

Cedar furniture is certainly saleable in its original stale, but will sell faster and to a broader cross-section of the collecting community if cleaned and the finish brightened up which is disappointing to me as a collector involved in the conservation of furniture. Nevertheless cedar has gained acceptance in homes without having to be radically restored as it would have been 10 to 15 years ago, but unfortunately there is still much more being restored than conserved, which will continue until all of the original pieces have vanished.

Blackwood furniture I personally feel is not well received by the majority of collectors and is grossly under-estimated. It bears the stigma of being a 20th century cabinet timber hut has been used in this country since cabinet making began. There are many good examples of 19th century visit here furniture as well as superb furniture veneered in this timber with its beautiful figure. It is a first-class hardwood for all types of cabinet work, allowing for exceptional detail in turning work and extremely durable. Due to its hardness, however, it was more difficult to work and was less favoured as a cabinet timber until mechanised machinery was available.

Huon pine, probably the most highly regarded of our dominant native furniture timbers, is known for its brilliant birds-eye grain. Furniture in this timber is mostly acquired for its quality, originality and patina, as its followers are usually seasoned collectors that want only the best. One of its most important attributes is that it attains a beautiful mellow colour with age that most polishers have trouble replicating.

Australian furniture has been manufactured from every indigenous timber and also many exotic imports by master cabinet makers. Each piece should be appreciated for its own charm and character, be it decorative or utilitarian, and never underestimated. Remember, we are only guardians.

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Structural Insulated Panels Help Contractors Meet Challenges of Difficult Building Environments

.Most construction professionals are familiar with the "Project Management Triangle," a concept that ties cost, schedule, scope and quality together. Impact any of these project elements, and you impact the others. Academics frequently present the triangle as an inflexible set of constraints. Nonsense.

Under any given construction practices, the Project Management Triangle may apply, but it is not absolute. visit here throughout history have regularly developed or implemented better, faster and more cost effective building methods.

Today, the commercial construction industry faces numerous competing, and often conflicting, priorities - from tighter budgets to building greener, while still needing to retain high quality. This environment requires a careful look at more advanced building techniques.

One such method is structural insulated panels (SIPs). The panels provide many benefits compared to other light commercial construction such as stick-built framing, concrete masonry units (CMUs), and tilt-up concrete. These include faster close-in times, high strength, and several important green building attributes.

Building with SIPs

SIPs are pre-manufactured wall, roof or floor components delivered to the jobsite ready to install in sections up to 8 feet by 24 feet long. They are typically made with oriented strand board (OSB) laminated and pressure cured to a rigid insulating foam core.

Manufacturers have produced SIPs for several decades, and building professionals now use them in many building types. Common applications include single- and multi-family homes, schools, churches, offices, retail, and most other light commercial buildings.

The design and construction process with SIPs is straightforward. The architect provides the construction documents to a SIP manufacturer or dealer, who converts them into shop drawings that show each panel's specific dimensions. After review by all applicable parties, the manufacturer or dealer finalizes the shop drawings, makes the panels, and delivers them to the jobsite pre-numbered to coordinate with installation plans.

Fast Close-in Times

A key advantage SIPs provide in today's tight economy is their ability to dramatically reduce dry-in time. The large, single-piece panels enable contractors to install entire wall, roof and floor sections at one time. They eliminate the need for separate framing, insulating and sheathing work on site, and enable subs to start and finish work faster since walls, roofs and floors are plumb and square.

In addition, manufacturers pre-cut window and door openings, including curves, arches and complex shapes. Depending on an opening's dimensions, sub-contractors do not need to spend time installing separate headers. The panels also come with pre-cut electrical chases, eliminating the need to drill through studs for wiring.

In a new elementary school built with SIPs, the Clark County School District (Las Vegas, Nevada) reduced close-in time by nearly 80 percent - from a typical 118 - 220 days to only 45 days. "The general contractor was shocked at how fast the panels installed," said Gary Radzat, President of Shell Building Systems, Sebastopol, California), the SIPs design and installation consultant for the Jacob E. Manch Elementary School. "He said he'd never seen that size of schedule reduction." Using SIPs saved the district approximately one million dollars in direct construction costs.

As construction leaders know, faster building cycle times significantly reduce interest payments on construction loans - an important factor in a healthy bottom line.

High Strength and Consistency

SIPs are very strong and in most applications are structurally self-sufficient. Designers can use them in wall, roof and floor systems in place of other structural elements.

While frequently used in one- or two-story buildings, they have been successfully utilized for taller structures. Last year, Western Wyoming Community College (Rock Springs, Wyoming), opened a 28,000-square-foot housing complex with 48 bedrooms spread throughout four stories - the tallest self-supporting SIPs structure built to date.

In walls, SIPs can bear high loads and offer great strength in racking diaphragm shear capacities. These capabilities enable the panels to be used in typical exterior walls, as well as shear walls to resist earthquakes and high winds. Extensive testing on SIPs has proven them for use in high-risk earthquake areas, including seismic zones D, E and F.

In roofs, SIPs can be used without an engineered truss system and can span long distances - up to 20 feet based on design parameters. As a result, they can help create open interior spaces by reducing the need for intermediate structural supports.

Designers can also incorporate SIPs into floors, typically in applications such as over crawl spaces where an insulated floor system is required.

SIPs play an important role in ensuring quality finishes. Because they are made in a controlled setting and come in large sections, they allow for straighter walls than is possible with wood stick-built framing. Their smooth and even surface can also reduce finishing labor by helping eliminate the need to shim cabinets, windows and doors.

Green Building Benefits

To help meet green building goals, designers and contractors are increasingly specifying SIPs because of their numerous environmental attributes. Notably, SIPs reduce energy costs, as well as construction waste, by up to 60 percent, and play a role in improving indoor air quality and supporting recycling.

Energy savings

SIPs provide exceptional energy efficiency compared to other construction methods because they combine insulation and structural elements in one unit.

By contrast, with stick framing or concrete construction, insulation is added after the structure is built. It is difficult to apply fiberglass batts or blown-in insulation without leaving gaps, especially in corners and other hard to reach places. Also, because SIPs come in large sections, there are fewer gaps to be filled, resulting in a tighter building envelope.

When evaluating the R-values of whole wall assemblies, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that a 3.5-inch-wide core SIP provide a whole-wall R value of 14.1 compared to a 9.6 whole-wall R value of a 2x4 framed wall with studs at 16 inches on center and fiberglass batts. A 4.5-inch SIP wall also outperformed a 2x6 wall with R-19 fiberglass insulation.

The improved insulation reduces ongoing energy use and costs, plus helps reduce HVAC system requirements. On the Las Vegas Manch School, project consultants estimate that SIPs reduced the HVAC equipment capacity needed by approximately half.

In addition, energy efficient building materials such as SIPs may qualify commercial building owners for up to a $1.80 per square foot tax deduction.

The lower operating costs of a SIPs building can be a key market differentiator, helping developers sell or lease commercial space easier.

Construction waste reduction and recycling

Stick-built construction generates large scrap volumes from cutting stock size studs and joists to length. Since SIPs are manufactured in a controlled setting, more careful material management is possible than on a jobsite. In addition to reducing the environmental impacts created by a large waste stream, SIPs can reduce disposal fees.

Many SIPs are 100 percent recyclable, as well as have foam cores made from a specified level of recycled content. The OSB skins come from fast-growing, renewable trees, and are manufactured using a high percentage of each log for efficient resource use.

Indoor air quality

Because SIPs provide a tight building envelope, they help reduce infiltration of common pollutants such as radon, molds, pollen, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), lead dust and asbestos. Manufacturers typically produce SIPs without the use of CFCs, HCFCs or formaldehyde, and zero-VOC mastics are available. In conjunction with other low-emitting building materials, SIPs can help support healthy indoor air, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports is linked to employee and student performance and attendance.

LEED points

Given their multiple environmental advantages, building professionals can use SIPs to earn up to 23 points under the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) for New Construction Rating System. Depending on the project and overall design, key point categories to consider are "Energy and Atmosphere," "Materials and Resources," and "Indoor Environmental Quality."

Conclusion

Planning, designing and constructing commercial buildings is more challenging than ever. To survive, and even thrive, in the down market requires new ways of thinking. SIPs are a tried and trusted construction technique that offers a way to greatly improve light commercial construction.

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Is "100% Holistic Skincare" Just a Big Con?

I'm sure you've seen the claims. "100% holistic skincare", or perhaps "100% pure skincare". Are these claims a big con or is there something worthwhile behind them?

In my view there's some powerful reasons for today's woman to use pure and holistic skincare. One of the best reasons is that the skincare and cosmetics industry has no requirement to submit their products to a regulatory or government body to show that the ingredients are safe. And so there are many suspect ingredients in modern visit here products. Pure skincare products are safe, and effective.

However whether you're looking for pure skincare products, or holistic skincare products or cosmetics that are made from totally natural ingredients, you need to understand a couple of things.

Firstly, what does "natural" or "holistic" or "pure" really mean? It isn't possible to use 100% natural ingredients in any skin care product, and in fact that shouldn't be the goal of any cosmetics and skincare product manufacturer.

Any ingredient that is natural should be naturally occurring, for example is derived from plants. However it isn't possible to actually use that ingredient in a skincare product unless it is processed in some way, because it needs to be taken out of the plant in which it is found and put into a form that is usable in the product, and that requires some form of processing.

However just because it has to undergo a form of processing to extract it from a plant does not imply that it is no longer effective or safe. And it also doesn't disqualify it from being "natural" or "holistic" or "pure". It just means that it has to be processed.

So there isn't, in effect, a 100% pure skincare product, or 100% holistic skincare product available.

Is this an argument to justify buying any old skincare product? Absolutely not. There are some quite nasty ingredients in many of the mainstream big brand name skincare and cosmetics products on our shelves. The companies that manufacture these are not required to prove their safety before they are used in cosmetics, and many should be avoided. Parabens, Dioxane and Diethanolamine are just 3 ingredients found in various skincare and cosmetics products that are considered to be less than safe. And in some cases are suspected of causing cancer. Or skin irritation, for example.

So although there is no 100% pure skincare product on the market, there are excellent natural skincare products available. Yes they use ingredients extracted from plants by a form of extraction process, but these ingredients are tested and proven safe and, particularly, effective skincare ingredients. Something that cannot be said about many mainstream skincare products and cosmetics that so many people regularly use.

Here's a few ingredients that are fairly considered to be natural or pure ingredients and can be found in the best "holistic" skincare products, or "pure" skincare products.

Phytessence Wakame. Extracted from a seaweed native to Japan. This seaweed is a form of kelp and is commonly found in the Japanese diet, one of the reasons the Japanese seem to have such good skin right into older age.

Cynergy TK which is a substance which is extracted from the wool of sheep, and which plays an important role in overall skin health. Cynergy TK has been shown to actually stimulate the production of collagen and elastin in our skin.

Collagen and elastin are 2 of the most important substances found in healthy skin. They are both proteins and are both involved in maintaining elasticity and firmness of skin, both responsible for producing great looking, younger looking skin. As we age our bodies produce less collagen and elastin than our skin needs to remain supple, and so any skincare product which promotes the production of collagen and elastic will work extremely well as an effective skincare product.

So in conclusion. Is the claim of 100% holistic skincare, or 100% pure skincare a con? No, not at all. There are both powerful reasons not to buy mainstream regular skincare products which you will routinely see on the shelves now, and there are also powerful reasons to buy pure skincare, or holistic skincare products. Yes they have some "processed" ingredients, but this does not detract from the fact that they are derived from safe, and effective, natural ingredients. And they work extremely well.

And whilst the companies that make the mainstream products are household names, the company that makes skincare products with such ingredients as Phytessence Wakame and Cynergy TK is not a household name at all. You've probably never heard of it. But you need to.

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Furnaces - Great Indoor and Outdoor Decor

In the most general terms, a furnace is a piece of equipment which produces heat. This leaves the category wide open for home décor possibilities - whether you want your furnace indoors, outdoors, or both. When you shop for furnaces, fireplace accessories and more, you will be surprised at what you can find. So when you go to a place that doesn't have exactly what you want, limited supplies and or designs in their furnaces - try looking around a bit first. You will be glad visit here

A central heating furnace is a great way to control the temperature dispersed throughout your home, nonetheless, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing. When it comes to saving money in the wintertime, furnaces are a great idea for your home. To install a fireplace or furnace of some sort for extra heat may help you reduce the amount of heat you use via your central heating system. This will, as only logically follows, reduce your heating bill while adding a distinctive ambiance to your home.

Look around and you will realize both the beauty and the benefits of having an indoor and / or outdoor furnace. Among the furnaces on the market today, some of the most beautiful ones I have seen have a sort-of antique / gothic design. Furnaces and fireplaces are sometimes the main attraction of a room, a special way to enhance the overall ambiance of your motif. But the same goes for the new and luxurious fireplaces designed for the outdoors as well.

With the ever improving design and technology of both indoor and outdoor heating accessories such as an elegant, modern, antique, artistic, and even custom designed fireplaces are available for you. The kind of furniture you purchase for your home and / or outdoor space will, of course, automatically be a matter of your personal taste. There are furnace designs of all kinds that fit within many different people's budgets. You can afford the luxurious look of an outdoor fireplace, or an elegant, ambiance-enhancing indoor furnace of your own without paying a fortune.