GARMIN NUVICAM

The Nuvicam is large and in charge, if only because it serves up a large 6-inch touchscreen display and adds a substantial $400 charge to your credit card. Granted, it's currently the most expensive product in our dash cam roundup, but it's also the only one that gives you lifetime maps and traffic, a handy talent to have in a co-pilot that also takes video.

The GARMIN NUVICAM LMTHD also sports “intelligent” features such as lane departure and collision warnings, as well as the smarts to switch the display to the camera when you reach an intersection—a hotspot for fender benders. The latter I found useful, the former two, as mentioned up front—I turned off. One thing I did like is that you can pair your phone with the unit via Bluetooth, to use the Nuvicam LMTHD’s speakers as a hands-free solution.

What’s really enjoyable about the Nuvicam LMTHD is the ease with which you can control it via its 6-inch touch display. The only things non-touch are the snapshot button on the top of the unit and the power button on its front face. Garmin couldn’t tell me the rating for the onboard battery, but it lasts for quite a while—long enough that you can use it dismounted as a happy-snap camera for at least ten minutes.

The Nuvicam LMTHD marries to its mount using a clever single-orientation, magnetic coupler and sticks to the windshield with a rather powerful suction cup. It’s the only unit in the review whose cable runs to the mount, which makes it by far the easiest to remove and take with you. The unit supports Garmin’s BC 30 wireless backup camera and has dual SD card slots—one for the dash cam, and the other for the augmenting the onboard map storage. If it did radio and music via reverse Bluetooth it could be a rockin’ infotainment add-on for older vehicles.

My only minor issues with the Nuvicam LMTHD, besides its having a short, fat cable that’s nearly impossible to hide, are that it’s cool-looking, conspicuous, and large. Huh? Okay, cool-looking and conspicuous are only a negatives in that the day you forget to take it with you is probably the day someone will smash a window and pilfer it. C’est la vie. On the other hand, when drivers around me noticed the video screen, they tended to drive more respectfully. C’est la vie. Large means you must be careful where you place it lest you block a considerable portion of your view.

One other thing: you might want to knock the g-sensor sensitivity down a notch right off the bat. I have a stiff suspension, but logging 20 possible incidents in 20 miles was a bit much. And come on Garmin, throw in an 8GB or maybe even a 16GB or 32GB SD card. 4GB is being kind of cheap on a $400 retail device.

Antigua's well-built PV systems sustain impact of hurricane Irma

The 6th September 2017 will remain as a notable day that all the people of Antigua and Barbuda will remember. Irma, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Caribbean, exceeding category 5, has then hit the twin island state with its devastating power.

The island of Barbuda suffered from the highest impact, with 90% of constructions wiped away by the strong wind blowing at consistently 300 km/h and way above in gusts.

Antigua at only 50 km distance from the eye of the storm and well within the devastating display of natural forces suffered less damage, but was affected seriously as well with sustained winds exceeding at times 275 km/h.

This devastating natural disaster has even more underlined the importance of a diligent and reliable approach in terms of planning and installing PV solar systems (for example: SUNJACK 20W PORTABLE SOLAR CHARGER ) in hurricane-prone regions.

Since the clean energy provider PV Energy has already beforehand adapted the design, mounting and structuring of its solar power racking systems and solar panels to the potential risk of hurricanes almost all solar systems designed and installed by PV Energy sustained the devastation through Irma.

Designed to withstand hurricanes of up to the category 4, each of the 55 solar power installations on Antigua, ranging from several kWp to the 3 MWp and 4 MWp utility scale installations at the international airport of Antigua and in the Lavington/Bethesda region with a total of 38,000 panels mounted, have survived hurricane Irma without damages or substantial system failures.

One of these PV systems, based on a 50 kWp sun2safe hybrid converter, was even able to generate 25% of its maximum expected performance during the worst hours of the hurricane, thanks to its proprietary MPPT tracking algorithm which is able to optimise the production even under extreme weather conditions.

"This experience confirms our commitment to supplying tier one equipment only and adopt proven, reliable and diligently calculated and designed engineering solutions", states PV Energy's Chief Technical Officer Thomas Beindorf.

Load test for racking systems, ramming depths for the pillars of the substructures as well as reinforced frames and modules are just a few key factors to be considered for planning and installing robust solar energy plants.

Solar Thermal Plants Aim to Keep Lights on at Night in Middle East

Solar plants that supply electricity at competitive prices after the sun goes down are about to become a reality in the Middle East, according to one of the region’s biggest developers of power plants.

ACWA Power International CEO Paddy Padmanathan confirmed his company is the low bidder on a $1 billion project that will feed electricity to the grid for the Dubai Water & Electricity Authority between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. More such plants are likely to follow because Chinese companies will start driving down the cost of equipment, he said.

The 200-MW Dubai contract, which runs for 25 years, will harness a two-decade old technology called concentrated-solar power (CSP), or solar thermal. Unlike solar PV, which generates a charge directly from the sun’s power, thermal plants use mirrors to concentrate heat on water, turning it to steam to drive a turbine. The heat can be stored in molten salt to be used later. The technology to date has slipped behind PV on cost but is quickly becoming more competitive, the executive said.

“I expect concentrated-solar power, within 18 months, to be head to head with combined-cycle gas, if not more competitive,” Padmanathan said in an interview in London. “The focus has been on PV and batteries, but there’s a limit on how long they can hold a charge for. We’re proving that CSP can work through the night.”

Since it can retain heat, the plant can keep working after dark. The sun’s energy in some cases can heat molten salt to 490 degrees Celsius (914 degrees Fahrenheit), which allows operators to predict when electricity will flow.

Uncertain Outlook
While solar thermal plants ( for example; RENOGY SOLAR SUITCASE ) are becoming cheaper, PV costs are falling too, raising questions whether the Dubai project really will be as attractive as ACWA expects, said Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“This plant in Dubai is for delivery by 2021,” Chase said. “By then, we’re expecting solar PV and batteries to be in the same order of magnitude for cost and will be a lot more flexible than a solar thermal plant. Also, a lot of these projects are operating below what they’re meant to, such as the entire Spanish fleet and some in India as well.”

There are 319 GW of PV panels installed worldwide, compared to about 5 GW of solar thermal, according to BNEF data. The mass deployment has driven down costs of solar panel equipment by about 70 percent since 2010, with the latest record set in Abu Dhabi at 2.45 cents per kWh. In comparison, solar thermal was around 15 to 18 cents per kWh until recently.

China hosts 80 percent of the world’s PV solar manufacturing industry. The nation’s expertise at mass production is credited with making solar panels more affordable, although companies are now reviving work on thermal technology.

More Suppliers

“There are currently just two suppliers in solar CSP,” Padmanathan said. “The others have gone bankrupt. I know of at least five Chinese companies that are starting to enter the market.”

ACWA, which is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bid 9.45 cents per kWh, almost cutting in half the cost of CSP. Each of the bidders were also asked to submit an alternative tender. The offtaker will choose between the bid and the alternative bid, so the price may be even lower.

ACWA has also built similar projects in Morocco’s Noor solar complex and South Africa’s desert. One in each nation are operating, with two more in Morocco and one in South Africa currently under development. ACWA is also seeking to build two more projects in Morocco in the Midelt area, which will have a joint capacity of 350 MW.

“I’m also hoping to build one in Saudi,” Padmanathan said. “Right now they’re tendering for solar PV and wind, but I think they’ll want a CSP project as well, especially when they see how cost competitive it can be.”

Top ten mistakes in break pointing

When you've to settle cracks in your brick walls, you should get them repointed. This procedure is referred to as tuck pointing. But, before you make any efforts at fixing this yourself or hiring the repairs done by a break pointing contractor or handyman, you should be aware of the top ten most common errors made in repointing mortar.

The very first error is having the repairs made before checking for added issues. Fixing the cracks in the mortar and brick before assessing the basis or alternative issues that happen can lead to more damage to your property and to your masonry siding.

Settling fractures happen as a result of base settling and using stress to the bricks. This makes them a common symptom of base repair and may aid in understanding where and just how much movement of the foundation has happened.

To tuck point the mortar and replace broken brick along these settling fractures restricts the capacity to correctly repair the home base. Performing these repairs frequently leads to damage to the brick walls when the base is fixed. Any mortar or bricks set in these shots to fill the opening become a wedge and drive the opposite crack to form in the region as well as the brick often push out at corners of the home causing brick walls to split, lean away from the home, or come off the base completely when the home is lifted.

It cannot be stressed enough to assess for some other issues with the construction or base of the house before fixing mortar fractures.

The next most common error made in repairing settling cracks in brick is selecting a base repair organization to level your basis. There's a difference between leveling your base of your dwelling and repairing your foundation issues.

There hasn't been a housing base constructed totally level that I'm conscious of, and to level, the basis under your home would use stresses to your residence and cause more issues with your basis. This then would create more opportunities in the bricks and mortar joints around your house. When they stress the term amount and utilize a computerized degree for their readings, this is a powerful sign that they mean to attempt leveling your base even if it causes more difficulties. Should they focus on lifting, stabilizing, correcting, and make use of the opportunities in the mortar and brick to get their range of motion in the home slab, then they're probably requiring more precise details about the movement and have a better opportunity at supplying quality base repair services.

The 3rd common error in brick repair is using these tubes of mortar repair caulking in an endeavor to repair the fractures yourself. While caulking is used around doors and windows and in growth control joints to seal the wall and still permit motion, they're not designed to be used as the mortar and may cause other damage to the brick.

The caulking will never look like the mortar and has a tendency to be tough to clean off of the faces of bricks as a result of their feel. The same is true of a number of other masonry repair products. They include adhesives, epoxy, and other add mixes which can be tough to work with and challenging to eliminate. It frequently requires removing all the brick in places where the products are accustomed to repair the brick. In the event you'd like to repair the mortar cracks yourself, you ought to utilize a suitable repointing mortar with the exact same composition as the first. All these aren't bulk things they're custom made for fitting your mortar composition and demand a mortar fitting evaluation of your present mortar samples.

The fourth masonry repair error is the way you match the mortar. This really isn't to be mistaken with matching mortar color. Mortar fitting is the procedure for examining samples of the mortar to recognize their makeup, operation, and. As the color of sand and other substances in the makeup effect the color, they may be connected, but the base of a mortar composition should be fit before any efforts are made to coincide with the color of an existent mortar.

The mortar composition and are the guide to building a suitable repair mortar and keeping the formula. This really is essential because in the event the mortar is mismatched and has an alternative makeup in relation to the first mortar, it may have problems which make the colour tougher to fit, cause damage to the bricks, prevent the brand new mortar from bonding together with the old mortar, and might enable the wall to fall in the event the mortar crumbles.

The fifth most common error in fixing masonry is fitting mortar color. Most of the time the mortar composition evaluation of the first mortar is bypassed and general assumptions are made in its area. This causes trouble in matching mortar color as the color is an immediate effect of the composition as well as the proportion of substances in the mortar mixture. To fit the color of a mortar, you have to first fit the and composition of the present mortar.

Once you have the base and composition, you can fix the mortar color by correcting the colors of base stuff and adding pigments as needed. Nevertheless, a common error is adding pigments or alternative stuff overly quickly or altering the base. You have to conform to the base formula to keep up the functionality and kind of mortar being created and remember to add all pieces slowly as you could continue to add but are not able to take anything back outside.

In masonry repair, the sixth common error is the depth of repairs. A patch or bandage covers the top of an issue, but to repair the fractures, you must eliminate a number of the existing mortar. It must be eliminated to a depth that allows for an excellent bond of the brand new mortar to the old mortar and also the bricks. This will definitely help guarantee a durable masonry repair. Typically, an excellent depth is all about 1/2-3/4 of an inch deep into the mortar joints. More is better especially when the opening lets you replace the complete mortar joint.

The seventh item where mistakes happen is in preparing the fractures for repointing. Dust and debris staying in the cracks prevent the brand new mortar from bonding to the old cement and stop the mortar joints from filling entirely. It's important to brush away any loose debris or dust and rinse and moisten the old mortar. This can help the brand new mortar connection to the existing mortar.

The eighth error commonly made is in combining the mortar. Too frequently, water is added quickly and exceeds the sum desired and efforts are made to correct this. The most typical effort to correct this difficulty would be to add sand or combination to the mortar. When you take care of this, the composition formula is altered and the consequent mortar is not going to match your conditions.

In the event that you add an excessive amount of water, you need to add more of the complete composition substances on the basis of the formula to fix this without altering the ratio and mortar kind. It's a good idea to add water or pigments slowly as you Can't remove them, and when errors like this happen, you could be better to dispose of the mortar and start again.
The ninth most made malfunction in tuck pointing is filing the mortar joint entirely. When filing the mortar joints, they may seem complete, nevertheless, they should be packaged into the mortar joints closely. Dust and debris can prevent this and ought to be cleaned out before installing new mortar.

When mortar joints aren't filled entirely, they often crumble when pressure is employed. This really is seen during tooling the mortar joints in the event the mortar has started to stiffen in the wall before jointing or tooling takes place. If that is found, remove the mortar where it appears and replaces it again. Additionally, recall that start to stiffen will not mean let it get difficult before tooling the joints. Using pressure to dry mortar which hasn't healed will cause breaking or crumbling of the mortar and will need to be replaced again.

And the tenth most common error in brick mortar repair is tooling and brushing the mortar joints. As I formerly mentioned, tooling must be done as the mortar starts to stiffen but before it gets too difficult for tooling. But when tooling the mortar, it's vital that you coincide with the present form of tooling. There are many different layouts for the tools that form the mortar joints. The most frequent layout is a round or raked mortar joint. You may need to utilize a jointing tool that creates the right layout and size of the mortar joint. These tools come in broader angles for thicker mortar joints.

This really is vital to making the repairs mix into the wall. Using a jointer that does not fit will cause the mortar to throw a darkness at the junctions of new and old mortar. This also appears with the mortar labels or surplus mortar which are pressed out furring tooling. You have to brush the surplus aside and combine the borders of every single mortar joint to make the repairs fit correctly.

As you are able to observe, masonry repair is an extremely comprehensive procedure where small variability of any detail significantly alters the outcome of the repairs. if you are not confident in your own skills, it is suggested that you hire break pointing contractors for the work.

The Scribbler takes a look at Haydn Zug’s store in East Petersburg and what was there before

Haydn Zug was a “crusty old fellow”’ with a kind streak running through him.

So says David Johnson, president of the East Petersburg Historical Society. Johnson, an East Petersburg native who now lives in Oxford, recently presented a talk on the Haydn Zug Restaurant property at the corner of Main and State streets.

A log house stood on the restaurant site from about 1811 until John Stauffer built a brick storehouse there in 1853. Levi Gochnauer took over the store after Stauffer died in 1878. Zug replaced Gochnauer as owner in 1925.

After Zug died in 1969, the place became a well-known area restaurant. The restaurant closed at the end of 2013. The building is being renovated for retail and office use.

The part in all of this that the Scribbler is most interested in is Haydn Zug (1876-1969). What a character!

Readers with good memories will recall the Dec. 2, 2014, Scribbler column that discussed Haydn Zug’s reason for arranging his large granite monument kitty-corner to other stones in the East Petersburg Mennonite Church cemetery. His large, oddly-placed stone covers two burial lots — his and one that had been set aside for his wife.

“She wouldn’t sleep beside me while we were living,’’ Zug explained of his unusual gravestone arrangement. “She’s not going to lay beside me when I’m dead.”

What else?

“I’ve heard stories about Haydn that I’m not sure are completely true,” Johnson says. “Every time you talk to somebody, there’s a new story.”

For example?

“He was a mess with the ladies.”

Well, yes, that’s why his wife wouldn’t sleep with him.

Instead, he slept with a shotgun by his side. One might expect such behavior of a man whose store had been burglarized three times and who had been the victim of an armed robbery and a beating.

His store carried mainly hardware, but Johnson remembers some dust-covered soup cans.

“Nobody ever bought the soup,” he says.

When one customer asked where something was in the store, Zug told him to go find it himself. Meanwhile, he gave candy to the man’s daughter.

Workers were building a thick cement sidewalk in front of the store, but Zug said he wished it were thinner. He reportedly said, “Then I could be buried face down and everyone could kiss my ___.”’

But Zug had a softer side, Johnson says. He did give candy to that little girl. He took care of his sister as she aged.

And he donated the bell to the old East Petersburg Elementary School. It moved to the new school. Johnson likes its sound.

The ‘Dutch Cleanser’
Leonard Stoltzfus, of New Holland, the youngest living grandson of Ezra Stoltzfus, has just completed a book that should settle some of the more vexing questions about his grandfather’s life.

The Scribbler featured Ezra Stoltzfus (1867-1944) most recently in Nov. 8 and Dec. 6 columns exploring, among other things, the Salisbury Township resident’s affinity for progressive politics and driving automobiles on solid dirt highways.

Leonard Stoltzfus’s book, published by Masthof Press, clarifies several points that previous sources had muddied.

Ezra Stoltzfus never was a member of the Old Order

Amish Church. He was excommunicated from the Millwood Amish Mennonite Church because he sought political office. He ran for the state legislature on the Bull Moose Party ticket.

Former President Teddy Roosevelt, running as the Bull Moose candidate for president, appeared with Stoltzfus in Lancaster in 1914. Roosevelt reportedly said voters should elect the “Dutch Cleanser” to help clean up Harrisburg.

That reference was not only to the fact that Stoltzfus came from the “Dutch”’ area of Lancaster, but also to his primary reason for running for office: to cleanse state politics of corruption.

Stoltzfus lost the election.

Is it Worth Translating Your Website for International Business?

The internet has made it absolutely necessary for businesses to be competitive across a variety of mediums, borders and cultures. Even small brick and mortar businesses must find ways to maintain loyal customers in the face of increasing competition from all over the world. As such, a strong web-based presence is always a good idea for any business that wants to be successful in the long-term. Many businesses face a tough decision with respect to international commerce and engagement: whether or not translating the website into multiple languages is worth the effort. Below, we’ll discuss whether this strategy is a sound effort and what can be expected from the effort.

The Reality of Consumer Behaviour

The first and perhaps most important data-point regarding international business pertains to shopper behaviour: customers are much more likely to purchase a product or service if the website is in their native language. This is the biggest motivator for businesses that would like to expand their horizons into new markets. However, translation services can often be expensive and require professional services in order to deliver proper results. As such, businesses that have explicit targets in specific countries may find translating website content to be useful, but businesses that wish to merely broadly target a variety of different languages and countries may not find it feasible.

3 Reliable Ways Small Business can Improve Business Processes

At its core Business Process Management (BPM), is a systematic approach to making an organisation’s workflow more effective, efficient, and more capable of adapting to an ever-changing environment. As you might imagine, BPM is a wide-ranging subject, and there are a number of different areas you’ll have to focus on in order to create a well-rounded business. Three approaches described below can help small business owners improve their business processes to be able to compete effectively.

Social Media

The days of social media simply being a means to catch up with your old school friends are long gone. In recent years, it’s become a powerful tool for businesses looking to improve their corporate brand, communicate with customers, and even find potential employees. Social media has also become a valuable collaboration tool amongst businesses who employ staff who work remotely across numerous different locations. Microblogs allow project leaders to more effectively communicate their project details with the rest of the department, while others can create and share short videos that relay a summary of a meeting that not everyone could attend.