Defense Articles

Rising gas prices got you - and your bank account - down? Fear not, there are several options when it comes to paying less at the pump. From performing some fuel-saving maintenance on your existing car, to trading your baby in for something more economical, you have a few different options when it comes to saving on these rising gas prices.

Option #1: Get better mileage out of your existing car
By changing your driving styles and performing some simple fuel-saving maintenance, you can get better fuel economy out of your existing car. This could save you hundreds or more per year, depending on what you drive and how much you drive.

Inflate Your Tires to the Highest Recommended Pressure

One of the first things you can do is make sure your tires are properly inflated to their highest recommended pressure specifications. Under-inflated tires don’t wear properly and rob fuel economy - as much as 15%.

Use Your Air Conditioner Sparingly

Using your air conditioner sparingly will help you save fuel. Air conditioners use the engine - and thus fuel - to run.

Get a Tune-Up

Things like air filters and your engines oil can have a major impact on fuel economy. A dirty air filter is one of the biggest culprits, and is generally very inexpensive to replace.

Change Your Driving Style

Accelerate smoothly and anticipate the road ahead. This may sound like a no-brainer, but its important to note that your driving style has a major impact on fuel economy. If you drive like a race car driver, it will certainly be reflected in your fuel economy, so slow down, accelerating and braking as smoothly - and safely as possible.

Don’t Fall for any Fuel-Saving Gimmick Products

With gas prices on the rise, marketers are pushing gimmick products with bogus claims about their fuel saving. Most of these products fail to meet expectations, and are designed to cash in on consumers who are looking to cut down on fuel expenses. Don’t fall for these!

Option #2: Drive Less!
This one may or may not be an option for you, but regardless, the easiest way to start cutting back on gas expenses is to simply drive less often. With gas prices skyrocketing to new highs, many Americans are already taking this route.

Option #3: Get a More Economical Car
Maybe it’s time to get something a bit more economical. Depending on what you are driving currently, chances are that you can replace your existing car with a far more economical car, which could save you thousands a year on gas expenses.

If this is the route you choose, remember to get a free quote to sell your car today from a reputable used car buyer like our team at Big Bucks Auto™. No matter what you’re looking to sell, we can buy it, fast - and for more than you might expect.

And before you give up all the space your big SUV affords, or lose the sports car for something - well - less sporty, remember that economical doesn’t have to mean boring. For example, there are several new mid-size SUVs on the market which afford their drivers very acceptable gas mileage.
And to get your sports car fix while saving at the pump, look to sporty but smaller sports cars. Cars like the Mini Cooper and Mazda Miata MX-5 can give you some of the thrills you desire, while sipping fuel at the same time.

See how much you could get for your existing gas guzzler. See our website’s Why Choose Us to Buy Your Car section to learn more about selling your car fast, and for a high price without any obligation! You’ll be in a more economical car in no time!

An Overview of the Three Main Types of Swimming Pool Filters

Sand Filters.

Sand is the oldest and most popular method of filtration. All sand filters share two things in common:

1. When in the filtration mode, water flows from top to bottom
2. They all have some sort of lateral or underdrain with slots to hold back sand while allowing clean, filtered water to pass through.

High-rate sand filters use a special filter sand, normally .45 to .55 mm (also known as pool grade #20 silica sand), because it has sharp edges that separate particles, allowing filtration to take place. They operate on the basis of “depth” filtration where dirt is driven through the sand bed and trapped in the spaces between the sand particles. Initially, a clean sand bed removes larger particles, and then, as the bed starts to load up with debris, the filter removes finer particles. The sand can be cleaned by backwashing which involves reversing water flow through the filter to the “waste” line. Sand Filters trap debris as small as 20 to 40 microns.Diatomaceous Earth (DE) Filters.

Diatomaceous earth is a porous powder with microscopic openings that when magnified look like tiny sponges. Clear water can pass through these openings, but particles, as small as two to five microns, are trapped during the first pass through the media. D.E. filters have internal elements that become coated with D.E. It is this ‘filter cake’ that strains dirt, dust and algae from the water.

Similar to sand filters, when D.E. filters become dirty, they are cleaned either by backwashing, or regenerating and draining the clogged D.E. to the ‘waste’ line. To restore filtration, a fresh ‘charge’ of D.E. is added to the filter. For sparkling, clean pools; step up to Hayward D.E. filters.

Cartridge Filters.

Cartridge filtration has been available for a relatively long time, but has only recently begun to enjoy rapid growth and acceptance.

When water passes through a cartridge filter, dirt is screened out at the surface of the cartridge element. When clean, the element will trap larger particles, with finer particles being filtered out as the pores of the element become clogged by the larger debris. The cartridge element can be removed and cleaned by pressure washing inside and out with a garden hose. Cartridge element filters trap debris as small as 10 to 15 microns.

Any medium through which the music signal passes, whatever its form, can be regarded as a filter. However, we do not usually think of something as a filter unless it can modify the sound in some way. For example, speaker wire is not considered a filter, but the speaker is (unfortunately). The different vowel sounds in speech are produced primarily by changing the shape of the mouth cavity, which changes the resonances and hence the filtering characteristics of the vocal tract. The tone control circuit in an ordinary car radio is a filter, as are the bass, midrange, and treble boosts in a stereo preamplifier. Graphic equalizers, reverberators, echo devices, phase shifters, and speaker crossover networks are further examples of useful filters in audio. There are also examples of undesirable filtering, such as the uneven reinforcement of certain frequencies in a room with “bad acoustics.” A well-known signal processing wizard is said to have remarked, “When you think about it, everything is a filter.”

A digital filter is just a filter that operates on digital signals, such as sound represented inside a computer. It is a computation which takes one sequence of numbers (the input signal) and produces a new sequence of numbers (the filtered output signal). The filters mentioned in the previous paragraph are not digital only because they operate on signals that are not digital. It is important to realize that a digital filter can do anything that a real-world filter can do. That is, all the filters alluded to above can be simulated to an arbitrary degree of precision digitally. Thus, a digital filter is only a formula for going from one digital signal to another. It may exist as an equation on paper, as a small loop in a computer subroutine, or as a handful of integrated circuit chips properly interconnected.

These are the best lifetime permanent Electrostatic Furnace filters, Washable Electrostatic air conditioning filter for your home/office air system. You have invested in better quality indoor air, these Premium permanent washable air filter will keep your system clean and free of irritants for years to come. These high air filtration Lifetime permanent Electrostatic filters replace standard low efficiency “disposable air filter” with no modification to the system. Cleaner air to breath. Removes pollen, dust and pollutants. Anti-Microbial media inhibits the growth of bacteria & Mold spores.

In addition our anti-microbial media that inhibits the growth of bacteria such as mole spores, fungal growth that can cause lung infections, you will save thousands over years not having to purchase air filters over and over. Our permanent Electrostatic filter is 94.7% effective.

In addition, people who may be exposed to indoor air pollutants for the longest periods of time are often those most susceptible to the effects of indoor air pollution. Such groups include the young, the elderly, and the chronically ill, especially those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease.”

To enhance Web visibility and control, gateway spyware prevention solution has 2 separate URL filtering categories for applying policy to inbound spyware installs and outbound spyware communications. Pre-defined spyware reports give administrators granular visibility of spyware infections across enterprise, graphically showing traffic, spyware-infected client computers, and spyware blocked at gateway. Proxy-based controls stop drive-by spyware installations.

********************

Continues Leadership in Gateway Spyware Prevention by Adding Pre-Defined Reports and New URL Categories to Enhance Web Visibility and Control
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 24 — Blue Coat(R) Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCSI), a leading provider of proxy appliances, today continued its leadership in delivering gateway spyware prevention by introducing two new URL filtering categories for applying policy to inbound spyware installs and outbound spyware communications. Blue Coat is also delivering pre-defined spyware reports that give administrators granular visibility of spyware traffic and infections.

Leading research firm Gartner states that anyone doing general Web surfing can fall prey to spyware(1), and with an increasing number of commercial Web sites distributing spyware, simply blocking all known sources of spyware will result in common Web use being severely restricted. Blue Coat is proactively addressing this by bolstering its existing anti-spyware solution with two separate URL filtering categories — one for applying policy controls to known spyware sources and one for applying policy controls to known destinations where spyware attempts to “phone home.” This enables organizations to apply policy controls that could limit inbound spyware traffic without completely blocking access to sites that may have spyware advertising, while also blocking outbound spyware communications.
Visibility is also important to any enterprise anti-spyware solution for obtaining and measuring infections across the organization, as well as gauging and maximizing the effectiveness of the solution. Blue Coat has enhanced its existing enterprise anti-spyware solution with multiple pre-defined reports that quickly and easily enable administrators to track spyware activities across the enterprise — spanning departments, groups, and individual users. Blue Coat reports graphically show spyware traffic traversing the network, spyware-infected client computers and spyware blocked at the gateway.

“Spyware was generating 25% of our help desk calls, forcing us to spend hours each day reacting to spyware by manually installing multiple software packages at the desktop,” said Jeffrey Pelot, CTO of Denver Health. “With Blue Coat at the gateway, I have been able to nearly eliminate spyware from landing on desktop computers in the first place, and as a result, our help- desk calls have been drastically reduced.”

Blue Coat’s existing gateway anti-spyware solution utilizes advanced proxy-based controls designed to stop “drive-by” spyware installations, a critical area of spyware prevention when signatures, patterns or known spyware URLs do not exist. This Blue Coat technology and the new URL filtering categories are also complemented by the power and performance of Blue Coat’s ProxyAV(TM) solution that scans Web content for known spyware signatures. Reporting capabilities round out the solution by giving administrators visibility into spyware infections, activity and removal across the network.

“Organizations are wasting countless IT help-desk hours dealing with spyware in a reactive manner,” said Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing for Blue Coat. “Blue Coat continues to advance enterprise spyware prevention as the only vendor to offer two separate URL filtering categories for spyware sources and destinations, as well as increased visibility with pre-defined spyware reports.”

Availability

Blue Coat’s enterprise spyware prevention with two new URL categories and enhanced reporting is available today from Blue Coat and its global network of reseller partners. For preventive spyware protection, Blue Coat recommends using the integrated ProxySG and ProxyAV appliances to identify spyware activity, stop spyware installs, block spyware Web sites and scan for known spyware signatures. More information can be obtained at www.bluecoat.com or by calling 408-220-2200.

Rackmount Air Filters are available with choice of aluminum frames, EMI shielding screens, and media, including cleanable, UL 94 HF-1 rated Quadrafoam filter media. Fully framed, cleanable filters operate under high shock and vibration conditions in dust-contaminated environments and meet environmental and safety requirements of Telcordia NEBS and UL/CSA 60950. Applications include data centers, telecommunications central offices, and CATV headends.

********************

Universal Air Filter Company has introduced a new line of Rackmount Air Filters, the first fully framed, cleanable air filters designed specifically for 1U and 2U high rackmount electronics.
Rackmount Air Filters are designed to meet the unique needs of short rackmount electronics used in such applications as data centers, telecommunications central offices, and CATV headends. (Rack Unit –1U — equals 1.75 inches or 44.5 millimeters.) These air filters were developed to help OEM designers deliver ever-smaller rackmount electronics that are reliable, cost effective, and meet the stringent environmental and safety requirements of Telcordia NEBS and UL/CSA 60950. Rackmount electronics often operate under extreme shock and vibration conditions in dust contaminated environments.

Designers of 1U and 2U high electronics can chose between a variety of media, frame and EMI shielding options to meet specific needs. Rackmount Air Filters may be configured with cleanable, UL 94 HF-1 rated Quadrafoam filter media. Aluminum frames and EMI shielding screens offer adequate protection for many applications; however, UAF offers free engineering assistance in selecting just the right air filter options for the equipment.
Universal Air Filter routinely delivers free prototype air filters to customers within five working days. Universal Air Filter products meet the following standards and classifications: UL 94 HF-1; UL 900 Class 2, CE; Telcordia NEBS GR-78-CORE and GR-63-CORE. When used as part of a fire enclosure, they also may be configured to comply with the flame-drip requirements described in UL/CSA 60950 and EN 60950.

There’s no question about it: Spam is a scourge. This ever-increasing torrent of unsolicited commercial mass e-mail saps productivity and, for some, threatens the very viability of e-mail.

The battle against spam, unfortunately, is creating problems of its own, with people sometimes unable to send legitimate e-mail and other times unable to receive it.

Jim Butt sends a lot of e mail. He handles electronic communication for two athletic organizations that offer soccer, basketball, baseball and other programs for about 1,500 kids.
This past spring he began experiencing problems in e-mailing schedules and other messages to parents as a result of the antispam safeguards that recipients’ Internet service providers (ISPs) had put in place. Many ISPs help people avoid spam by filtering out messages that are likely spam, using keywords and other techniques.

Some of Butt’s c-mails were being rejected, treated in the same way as the sleazy come-ons for pore sites, male “enhancement” products and get-rich-quick pyramid schemes.

Those recipients who used AOL and Earthlink as their ISP were given the option by these ISPs to permit the e-mail and future emails from Butt to go through. But AT&T just locked him out completely. Butt had been placed on a blacklist.

Another problem Butt experienced was the limit of 200 outgoing e-mails per day that his own ISP, Omnis Network, had enacted to prevent people from using its service to send out spam.
Butt is a “super volunteer,” spending up to 15 hours a week helping out, despite having a high-powered job as a manager of new product development for Boeing Co. and having a wife and 9-year-old son. Undaunted, he used a different computer to send e-mail to the AT&T subscribers and contacted Omnis to obtain authorization to send out extra e-mail.

Protecting subscribers from spam and enabling them to freely send and receive e-mail is a delicate balance. “We, and many ISPs, have checks in place to reduce spam,” says Mitch Bowling, vice president of operations and technical support for Comcast Online. “We also try to avoid impacting customers negatively.”

Currently, Comcast limits users to sending the same e-mail to no more than 100 people. If you need to reach more, Bowling recommends that you divide your recipient list into groups of 100.

Comcast will also block you from using a program on your own computer to send out e-mail if it determines that you’re sending what it considers an abnormally high number of e-mails per day–tens of thousands, says Bowling.

This can happen even without your knowledge. You can inadvertently become victim of a “zombie” program, used by spammers to turn your computer into a spare relay, if you aren’t using “firewall” software to protect your PC. In these cases, Comcast will help you clean up your computer and prevent it from being compromised in the future.

To avoid run-of-the-mill e-mails from being blocked by spam-filtering programs used by ISPs or individual users, avoid “spammy” subject lines and content, says Anne R Mitchell, president and CEO of the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy <www.isipp.com>.

Don’t put words such as “free,” “make money” or “sex” in subject lines. Be careful about your use of punctuation, particularly exclamation points.

Avoid call-to-action verbs such as “buy,” “save” and “get” in subject lines. Forget about disguising trigger words by replacing letters with punctuation marks, which is seen as an indication of “spamminess.” Don’t use all capital letters in subject lines.

One technique, if you or yore” ISP is using a spare filter, is to send a questionable e-mail to yourself. If your spam filter flagged it, changes are the spare filters used by others will do so as well. Another is to use the free service Lyris ContentChecker <www.lyris.com/contentcheeker>. You just insert the e-mail you want to test, and the service runs it through the spam-filtering program SpamAssassin.

When receiving e-mail, spot-check your spam folder if you or your ISP is using a filtering program. This will turn up false positives–e-mail that was blocked and that shouldn’t be in the future.

Finally, take solace in the fact that things could be worse. Earle E. Spamer (his real name) is a librarian at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Because his last name, which is part of his e-mail address, is so close to “spammer,” his outgoing e-mail is regularly flagged by spam filters.

Adding the initial of his first name to his e-mail address wouldn’t work either. Then he would be seen as “e-spamer.”

According to a report from Nikkei news service last week, Cosmo Oil will install DPFs on trucks and buses at its affiliated service stations, plus offer maintenance and inspection. A consortium of seven Japanese companies aims to manufacture DPFs costing between U.S. $4,000 to $8,000 apiece, depending upon vehicle engine size, the report said.

Some 120,000 vehicles would be retrofitted with DPFs in metro Tokyo over the next year; 5 million DPFs go Japan-wide in 5 years.

According to a report from Copenhagen Post last week, Denmark could realize huge public health gains by requiring the fitment of DPFs on diesel vehicles. The report from Environmental Assessment Institute calculated a $740 million savings in avoided public health costs by slashing particulate matter (PM) pollution.

However, mandating DPFs on heavy vehicles only in Denmark–without compensation to vehicle owners–would damage the competitiveness of Denmark’s truckers, the Institute warned. The report also cites efforts elsewhere in Europe to mandate DPFs Europe-wide by end-2006.

Tokyo, Japan, Aug 26, 2006 - (JCN) - Fuji Photo Film and major Chinese home appliance and electronic components company SVA Electron Co., Ltd. anounced plans on August 22 to establish a JV called SVA-Fujifilm Opto-Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. to manufacture color filters (CFs) for TFT liquid crystal displays in Shanghai.

SVA-Fujifilm will be the first company in China to manufacture CF for large-size TFT LCDs. The new company will supply large-size CFs used in laptops, monitors, and large screen TVs for the rapidly growing Chinese LCD market, mainly through SVA-NEC, a member of the SVA group,

The new company will be capitalized at US$ 100 million at an investment rate of 75% for SVA and 25% for Fujifilm. The total capital investment is expected to be US$ 270 million. The production line will use 5th generation glass substrate (1,100 x 1,300 mm), and production capacity based on glass substrate used is expected to be 70,000 units per month. Production is scheduled to begin in November 2007. When production begins on a mass scale, the company will have employed approximately 500 workers.

In addition, Fujifilm will invest approximately 4 billion yen to establish a new R&D Division within Fuji Photo Film China Investment Co., Ltd., its subsidiary in China. The new R&D Division will conduct research on new products and LCD-related technology focusing primarily on CF. It will contribute to the development of LCD technology in China and will hasten the start-up of mass production in the new company.

Fujifilm has positioned production of materials for LCDs and other flat panel displays as a core business and will sustain its investment in R&D and enhanced production capacity. The SVA group is a leading Chinese company in the fields of telecommunications equipment, home appliances, displays, and electronic components. With the partnership, Fujifilm said it will apply its resources to expand its share of the Chinese flat panel display materials market.

Copyright [c] 2006 Japan Corporate News Network. All rights reserved.