Contacts As Referred To In Our Culture
There are countless movie scenes where the man and woman are on the floor searching for a lost contact lens. They meet under a table or their heads bang together or…It often ends with a kiss and them falling in love. Yawn. This scene has been way overworked.
Over 90% of all people who need vision correction choose contact lenses over glasses. Perhaps it is the comfort and convenience or maybe they are just planning to meet the mate of their dreams under some one’s dining room table.
Whatever the reason there are improvements and innovations in contact lenses beyond comprehension to the scientists who first developed the concept. You can leave many of them in place overnight or even for a two-week period. These are disposable which is really safer than sanitizing them each day. The risk of eye infections would be lessened. Very often someone would fall asleep with the older contacts in and wake up with dry eyes or worse. There was a recent recall of a certain brand of cleaning solution. When using anything in the eye extreme caution is needed. Although water is a liquid it cannot be used to soak your contacts in. No need to explore the scientific reasons for this just suffice it to say – don’t do it…
Contact lenses can now correct astigmatism and other serious conditions. Some of these could not previously be corrected by wearing glasses. They can serve other purposes as well. Years back when Elvis Presley played the role of a Native American in the movie Flaming Star. His blue eyes had to be disguised for obvious reasons. He adapted to contact lenses which changed his eye color to brown for the duration of the filming. This was back in 1960.
Another old movie named “How To Marry A Millionaire” showed one of the female characters played by Marilyn Monroe willing to walk around bumping in to walls rather than wear her glasses. The story goes that she coined the phrase “Men never make passes at girls who wear glasses.” This affected the opinion of many teen girls since Marilyn never had a shortage of men in her life. With restraint I’m not mentioning any names.
Movie stars and singers of today are using them simply to change eye color from one night to another. Some of the hand-painted contact lenses are bizarre. The wearer can literally put “stars” in her eyes for the evening. There are patterns that look like kaleidoscopes, and little Rubik’s Cubes among others. Harmless I suppose as long as they are approved by an ophthalmologist for each individual person’s use.
Many teens are eager to wear contact lenses. They need parental permission before they can have them prescribed though. There was a tv commercial a few years ago showing two girls fourteen to sixteen years old. They were discussing contacts. Girl one had them. Since girl two was her best friend, she wanted girl two to get them also. In the next scene a smiling girl two showed up with contacts. Her mother was a hero and her life was greatly enhanced.
The main concern for a young person is for them to be diligent about cleanliness and other care of their eyes and the contacts. It will be interesting to observe the changes we can expect within the next generation of the contact lens and the earliest age at which kids can begin to wear them. Its my fervent hope that sunglasses never go out of style. Hmmm will disposable sunglasses ever be invented…
James Brown writes about http://www.contactlensonsale.com
What Is The Difference Between Strapping Machines And Packing Machines?
Strapping machines enable many items to be bundled securely together by way of a metal or plastic band. This band is then cinched tight by a ratcheting handle and kept in place by a metal buckle that’s applied by a special banding tool.
There are many companies that manufacture a variety of different types and styles of machines that perform basically the same function. Many companies use strapping machines to secure their products to transport pallets or crates as well as strapping many products together on their own, such as piping and metal rods.
The strapping machine works by pulling and fastening a band of metal or plastic around the products and keeping them immobile during transport. Whether it’s across town or around the globe, many companies rely on the strapping machine to get the products to market safely and securely. Some basic training is usually required to be able to strap and fasten products properly. Not performing the required steps in just the right order can make for a load that is loose and may shift.
This will mean a dangerous load not only for the driver of the transport truck but also for the person unloading the products by forklift. If the strapping isn’t tight enough, it can slip off and the load can become very unstable and dangerous.
Packing machines are used to place products into packing boxes or crates to make them ready for transport to the market, or to the customer directly. Some packing machines utilize special electronic eyes that can actually sense when the product is within its range of movement and it will pick up the product and place it in the box or crate. Packing materials such as Styrofoam beads or peanuts are then poured in to provide a cushion against breakage and jarring during transport.
The packing machine also can close up and seal the box as well as place an inked stamp or label on the box in preparation for shipment. Some packing boxes and crates are strapped together on a pallet by way of a strapping machine before being moved into the back of a truck for transport. Some packing machines can even handle breakable items such as plates and ceramic tiles without damaging the products at all. This takes a specialized machine of course, which usually means that the machine will cost a lot.
Many packing machines also weigh the product and case or box before shipping it out in order to calculate shipping or mail costs. This is usually all done by way of an onboard program within the machine that is connected to a computer. This program keeps track of all inventories in this way and can tell what products are on hand and which ones have been sent out of the warehouse to the customer.
There are probably packing machines at manufacturing companies that package up strapping machines or shipment, which seems a little redundant. Packing machines can make repetitive packaging jobs much easier to handle and keep track of for companies that specialize in this business.
ZR Tool is the leading package strapping machinery and equipment manufacturers in the world. Specializes in strapping machines and strapping tools. http://www.zrtool.com
Deciphering Celtic Knots in Celtic Jewelry
If you go to an average website that sells Celtic jewelry, you’ll typically find that the “meanings” of knot patterns are based more on marketing than universal truth. What you are not told is how the “meaning” is derived. Indeed, the Celts left no written records. Yet we do know that the Celts were a tribal group that lived intimately with the natural world. All that exists in form has a particular shape and these shapes actually have certain functions. Circles, squares, triangles and crosses are the blue prints. They also are the basis of Celtic knots in Celtic jewelry. Let’s take a quick look at the meaning of these blue prints so that you will be able to understand for yourself how to interpret knots in Celtic jewelry.
The line: Everything starts with an individual point of view, a line or vector that is a trajectory toward a certain destination. No matter whether the line is straight, curved or irregular, it has a beginning and an end. Lines in Celtic jewelry design have a cohesive pattern which has symbolic meaning.
Cross motifs: From the line, the most basic element of any piece of Celtic jewelry knot work is the crossing of two lines. Any time that two separate paths cross, you have the possibility of a new perspective. Look at the lines in a piece and decide in a general sense whether the pattern flows with harmony, or is it more jagged with points, suggesting a rich and potent discord?
Circles motifs: The most basic knot is circular or has parts of circles. Consider, now, what a circle symbolizes. Look around you right now with your round eyes and see all that is in the form of the circle. We speak of a circle of friends and the cycle of the days and seasons. Certainly circle teaches about equality and community. Circles are cohesive wholes that allow life to exist as it is. In rings, circles are symbolic of commitment.
Wave motifs: Parts of circles – the arcs – form wave like patterns. Waves are fundamental expressions of all that exists. Particle physics states that matter itself exists in waves. On a more basic level, remember what it is like to be in the ocean and feel the steady rhythm of waves. Waves represent steady, regular movement and flow over time.
Square motifs: Squares are not all that common in nature, be we as human beings do depend upon them. Look at where you see squares around you and you will understand how this blue print concerns structures and foundations. Also, squares are said to symbolize the five senses-four points and the center.
Triangular motifs: In nature, you find triangles in the features of birds, the tops of waves and the end of leaves. Humans use triangles to create arrows and to create pyramids. You can begin to see how a triangular pattern, or vectors, might suggest focused energy directed toward a specific point.
Spiral motifs: The spiral is an ancient motif that is found all over the world. Spirals are actually elements of spheres, which are three dimensional circles. Consider how events in your life may outwardly appear the same, but over time, your view changes. Spirals represent growth or evolution in your own circle walk, which is another way of saying, your life journey.
Trinity motifs: Trinity motifs are common in Celtic jewelry designs. Many religious traditions, of course, have their own profound understanding of what the trinity means. Basically, from the most universal perspective, the trinity represents Unity that is divided into two parts, male or female. The Celtic trinity symbolized the mother, maiden and crone; earth, heavens and the underworld; and the past present and future.
Now, that you have had your quick course in sacred geometry; get started with your interpretation of a Celtic knot! What attracts us to a particular motif is often mysterious, but you can perhaps gain some insight based on these interpretations. Look at one of the jewelry knot motifs. Imagine that you are riding on its track. How does it feel? Next, consider the shapes and begin to interpret the symbolic meaning based on some of the ideas mentioned above. Finally, consider what the knot motif might teach you about your life now.
Marc Choyt is President of Reflective Images, an award winning designer jewelry company, http://www.celticjewelry.com selling wedding rings by artisan designers: http://www.artisanweddingrings.com. Marc authors http://www.fairjewelry.org, supporting green, fair trade, responsibly made jewelry.
The Best Package Opener for Moving Supplies, Shipping Boxes, and Everyday Use
Anyone who works in shipping and receiving – not to mention anyone who’s ever moved into a new house or apartment, staffed a mail room, or gotten a package in the mail – knows the improvised solutions people may resort to when receiving a parcel without a good box cutter on hand.
Some workers, faced with a stiffly-wrapped package and no package opener in sight, will opt for brute force. They pull, push, pry, poke and tear on the flaps of the box, all to no avail. They yank on the loose end of the packing tape until it tears – or doesn’t tear. The use of teeth is not unknown. Shoulders strain, fingers get cut, and the boxes are reduced to tatters sometimes along with the materials inside. Other workers, bereft of a utility knife, will assault a perfectly innocent parcel in a sometimes dangerous approach with all manner of blunt objects in a sometimes dangerous approach a jackknife, butter knife, the handle of a spoon, sewing scissors, screw driver, keys, letter opener, fork, the sharp end of a pen, or whatever is handy, and the upshot, usually, is bent utensils, dull scissors, and sore shoulders, at best. At worst, the result is cuts, lacerations and trips to the emergency room.
People who’ve just moved to a new house or apartment may find themselves in the same position. Facing empty rooms and hours of tedious unpacking – with their tools, possibly, packed away somewhere in it all – many movers give up on proper technique entirely, and rip their boxes open by any means necessary. After hours of loading and unloading trucks, lifting furniture, and navigating box after box through a series of narrow doorways, these movers risk serious arm and shoulder muscle strains.
As funny as these improvised solutions may be to watch, none of them are terribly safe. And employee safety is no laughing matter for workers or employers. In any given year, according to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), nearly five million workers will experience injury or illness on the job, and more than half these injuries will be severe enough to send the worker home. Of these injuries, a third of them will be in the form of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such disorders are painful for workers and costly for employers, both in lost productivity and in workers compensation claims. For workers who handle heavy packages on a regular basis, these injuries are both especially inconvenient and especially hard to avoid.
Without proper tools such as a safety knife, package-handlers – whether shipping and receiving or mail room workers or just ordinary folks – not only risk knife accidents (which can be deadly), but also Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), a kind of musculoskeletal disorder that results from overtaxing certain muscle groups by tensing them for excessive time periods, due to overuse or poor posture. The use of the wrong tools leads directly to such muscle strain and overuse. Box cutters are designed to minimize the use of arm and shoulder muscles. They thus increase efficiency and save time, as well as protecting workers from injury.
To avoid injuring yourself when opening packages, follow these simple instructions:
- Place the box on the floor, setting it at such an angle that you will not be pulling the box cutter toward you. In other words, make sure that the line of tape is horizontal, not vertical, in relation to you.
- Place your hand on the opposite side of the box.
- Rather than cutting straight across all at once, make a series of small, smooth cuts.
Most of all, be sure you have good box cutters on hand. Use a box cutter with a sharp blade, because dull blades require more pressure, leading to greater potential for injuries. Maintain a full set of utility knife box cutters and safety knives for your employees and your home, and instruct everyone who handles them in proper box-cutting technique.
Safecutters, Inc. distributes the Klever Kutter and Klever Koncept, two of the safest utility knives available. Klever Kutter virtually eliminates the risk of workplace injuries, while protecting packaged products. For more information about Klever Kutter visit http://www.safecutters.com