Old locomotives

Locomotive number 60004 rolled out of Baldwin Locomotive Works (founded in 1831 by Matthias Baldwin) in May of 1927. She was the 13th 4-8-4 type locomotive built in America. The first twelve have all been scrapped, leaving only 3751 as the oldest 4-8-4 in existence.

Destined for the Santa Fe Railroad, she was a new design experience for both the builder and the operator. She was the first class of Santa Fe 4-8-4's (a 4-8-4 locomotive has four leading wheels arranged in a leading truck , eight coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels in a trailing truck). Each costing $99,712.77 as delivered.

As originally built, 3751 was an innovation in design, with its 4-wheel trailing truck to support the 108 sq/ft firebox. The newly developed Type E super heater was applied. Included was a cast-steel engine bed and separate cast cylinders, with cross-counter balanced 73 inch drive wheels. The total engine weight was 432,240 lbs. The total engine-tender weight tipped the scales at 724,600 lbs. She had a starting tractive effort of 66,000 lbs, with a maximum drawbar horsepower of 3,200 at 40 mph.

Mechanical Engineer Lanning and his staff collaborated with Baldwin in the design of the 3765's, which were delivered between April and June 1938. For maximum speeds of 100 mph, 80-inch Baldwin disc-type driving wheels were specified. Cylinder dimensions were changed to 28 x 32 to eliminate the back pressure problems inherent in the 3751 design.

With the arrival of eleven new 3765 class 4-8-4's in 1938, Santa Fe decided to rebuild the 3751 class. The purpose was to upgrade the locomotive to equal the 3765 class if possible. This project began in October 1938 and culminated with the 3751 being completed in early 1941. Although due to larger drivers the original tractive effort of 66,000 lbs remained the same. The conversion did however allow for 90 miles per hour speeds and raised the horsepower to 3,600 at 50 mph. This major rebuilding was a success in producing a much more powerful and efficient locomotive. With the heavy wartime traffic commencing after December 7, 1941, Santa Fe attempted to obtain more motive power, both steam and diesel from the War Production Board, which had assumed control of locomotive production and allocation

In 1947 the I. C.C. ordered automatic train control to be used on locomotives exceeding 79 mph. 3751 received new equipment mounted on the right trailer truck frame which permitted her timetable a maximum speed of 90 mph.

By 1949 the "deflector" type stack was in place for use in the numerous tunnels over the Tehachapi grade.

On August 25, 1953, her fire was extinguished, but until then she had been on the point of many famous Santa Fe trains such as the Scout, the Navajo, the California Limited, the Chief, Fast Mail and Express, the Grand Canyon Limited, the El Tova, the San Diegan and standby for the Super Chief Diesel Streamliner in 1938. It is also interesting to note that while on standby for this train, 3751 had bettered the diesel locomotive's performance with quicker times between Los Angeles & Barstow!

June, July 1953 was the last big 4-8-4 show, indeed the last for all AT&SF steam. Sixty-four 4-8-4's made mileages of 350,343 in June and 343,627 in July.

The good and bad of chat rooms

The rise of the internet has given people of all ages the abilities to communicate with friends and to make new friends in many easy ways. People can send emails, start a blog, or create a personal webpage to keep people connected to the happenings of their life. Chat rooms have become another main way that people communicate and build relationships with one another. And like any source of connection and communication, chat rooms has both pros and cons.

There is no denying that chat rooms are a great way to meet people. You simply log in, enter a chat room and begin having conversations with other people in that are logged in. You can initiate conversations with people or they can initiate conversations with you. Sounds harmless, right?

Chat rooms can also be great to connect with people with whom you have things in common. Chat rooms are created for people with certain hobbies, beliefs or lifestyles. People who love to cook can certainly find chat rooms for others who love to cook and teens who love to skateboard can use chat rooms to find other skateboarders.

Chat rooms have their dangers. Because all you need to do in entering chat rooms is sign in, think about all of the people who can make up identities that are not their own. A ten year old boy can sign into chat rooms as a thirty year old mother of three. Or, worse yet, a sixty year old man can pretend to be twenty five and in search of the perfect girl. So while it is fine to enter chat rooms if all you are looking for is fun, do not let yourself get hopeful about meeting a new best friend or the wife of your dreams each time you sign into chat rooms.

Parents needs to be especially watchful about their children's habits on the internet. Monitor them carefully to see that they are not entering chat rooms that are inappropriate for their age and interests. Children are smarter than you think and more able to find their way to what they want online. Many parents would be shocked to learn the things their children see and learn on websites and in chat rooms.

So yes, chat rooms can be fun and harmless, but they can just as easily become dangerous and addictive. Know yourself and know your family members well before giving yourself or anyone else the freedoms to search the internet and spend time in chat rooms.

Minerals - good for your bones organs and tissue

Minerals are as important as vitamins when it comes to overall health and well-being. Since all enzymatic activities in the body require minerals, your body wouldn't be able to use vitamins and other nutrients without them. Calcium, Magnesium, Chromium, Iron, Selenium and Zinc are just a few of the numerous minerals essential to continued health.

For years the supplement market has been dominated by vitamins, but vitamins and amino acids are useless without minerals because all enzyme activities involve minerals. Minerals for healthy bones, organs, and tissue minerals are needed to maintain the delicate cellular fluid balance, to form bone and blood cells, to provide for electrochemical nerve activity, and to regulate muscle tone and activity (including organ muscles like the heart, stomach, liver, etc.)

Minerals act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, including muscle response, the transmission of messages through the nervous system, the production of hormones, digestion, and the utilization of nutrients in foods.

Minerals are primarily stored in bone and muscle tissue so toxicity is a possibility. Toxicity risks increase when one isolated mineral is ingested without any supportive cofactor nutrients. Such situations of mineral toxicity are quite rare, because toxic levels accumulate only if massive overdoses persist for a prolonged period of time.

Benefits

• maintains healthy bones, organs and tissue

• regulates muscle tone

• assists with the formation of bone and blood cells

How to survive in an online business

If your company does not offer its services/products online, then you're definitely living in the Stone Age. Businesses today realize that in order to stay competitive, they have to communicate with today's audience who do business primarily online.

Running an online business means that you have a global audience. And having a global audience means that your store is up and running twenty four hours every day and seven days of the week. While your customers from New York might be sleeping, those from Tokyo would surely be awake. Therefore an online business is one that never sleeps. It is one that is always on call by customers. As such, an online business must be manned at all times, keeping a close watch on potential business.

In managing an online business, communication is important. Using email and instant messaging as a form of communication between you and your staff will surely be beneficial. There are also different technologies such as the VoIP that enables you to talk with your business partners and your staff from all over the world quite easily. But since you and your associates live in different time zones it is important to set up a specific time of the day when you can communicate with them about the updates and different issues that your business face today and what they need to do about it. You should make sure that they follow your instruction and schedule strictly.

Meetings are also a must for online businesses. Meetings are where you'll know the issues hounding your employees and problems that the business is facing. To be able to save on time and effort, online businesses today can meet in an online conference room. This will eradicate the need for physical space and manual preparations.

Another way to survive online is to build up your brand! Yes, brand is important even though you're on the Internet. Building your brand means providing good products, fast services, and pleasant experiences to your customers. Yes, you'll definitely want your customers to have pleasant experiences. Remember, word spreads fast on the Internet. If you have one customer who had a not-so-good time in dealing with your online business and spreads the rumor, then chances are your name will be ruined.

Don't forget that your website is the face of your online business. Surviving in the online world means that your online business must be able to keep up with the latest technology. And in designing your storefront always keep navigation in mind. A potential customer would not want to visit twenty different web pages just to buy a certain product.

Surviving your online business is tough. Everyday, there are thousands of companies going online and millions of individuals setting up an online business. Ultimately, the key is to success in this endeavor is to love what you do. After all, not everyone gets to touch lives in a global scale.

Scuba diving more accessible than you thought

Since the early 20th century, SCUBA diving has gone from an incredibly risky undertaking well out of reach for all but the fabulously wealthy to a relatively safe sport with a rapidly growing participant community.

SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, so named for the tanks and other gear which divers carry on their backs allowing them to breathe underwater. Although this gear termed “life-support equipment” and a commitment of real training is necessary in order to become safe and proficient enough with it to dive even in a small lake or quarry, technological advancements and improvements in science and engineering have enabled longer times underwater, deeper dives, and reduced danger in this exhilarating activity enjoyed by athletes and nature lovers.

Having originally been popularized by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, who built the Aqualung (a name still used in Britain to describe Scuba equipment today), Scuba is now enjoyed by millions of people worldwide ranging from locations as temperate tropical waters to under-ice sub-arctic diving for scientific purposes or by adventure seekers.

Many people are unaware of the length of time necessary to attain Scuba proficiency and certification – in the United States, the two major certification bodies are National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) and Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI). Depending on the course, new divers can get certified in as little as three to four days of actual instruction – since the courses are based on performance standards and not on hours of instruction, this number can be higher or lower. Also, if a diver wishes to do more technical and dangerous dives or to use more advanced equipment, more training would be necessary in order to ensure safety.

Anyone who enjoys vacations to tropical areas or who appreciates nature and enjoys the water can now consider Scuba diving, thanks to the advances mentioned in science and engineering, as well as the establishment of standardized certification and training programs worldwide. If you’ve never considered it, much more information is available online to help you decide if Scuba makes sense for you.

The 6 best seduction techniques

The dating game is all about the approach. If you dont try you are never going to get a date on your terms. Most people feel a little intimidated when they enter the dating game. They feel the pressure when trying to walk up to someone they dont know and ask for a date. Breaking the ice is an important first step in this nerve racking process in the search for romance. The opening words you may utter will speak volumes. Literally, in less than 10 seconds you will either have set yourself up for life, have a definite date, or be going home alone as usual with your tail between your legs.

The initial step in initiating a date are simple but daunting. Psychologists tell us that people make their mind up within seconds and I think most of us who are truthful will agree that we know pretty much instantly if we are attracted to someone or not. This can be changed over time but why make it hard for ourselves? Why not strike when the irons hot and grab our date on the first attempt.

If that is the case why is speaking still important? Well, looks are the visual presentation and if someone likes the look of us, its a start but not the full package.

Here are some tips :

1) SMILE -

Psychology and body language experts agree that one of the easiest things you can do to make yourself instantly attractive and approachable is to smile. Make yourself look like a fun person to be with. The look of happiness is an attractive quality.

2) EYE CONTACT -

Harvard psychologist Zick Rubin discovered that when deeply in love, couples look at each other when talking, and are slower to look away when someone else joins the conversation. Simply lock eyes with the person you are attracted to and keep them there, even when they’ve finished talking or someone else joins in,’ advises sexpert and flirting guru Tracy Cox. This way they will know that you’re more interested in them than the other person. If they hold your gaze several times in a row, you can be quietly confident they like you too.

3) COPY BODY MOVEMENTS -

Mirroring someone’s body language is the single most effective thrick to flirting. Just match their gestures and movements. We like people who are like us. If they mirror our behaviour we sense they are on the same level and they tend to drop their guard and let us into their personal space. If the other person is interested they tend to start copying your body language too.

4) LISTEN -

They will feel more important and flattered if they feel you are listening to them. You are making them feel good about themselves and if they feel good about them selves they are more likely to stick around you, giving you all the time you need to impress them.

5) TOUCH -

Touch is the number one instant bonder. A momentary touch can have an electric effect on how somebody feels about you. The more you like someone, the more you want to touch them and the more you touch them, the more they tend to like you.

6) COMPLIMENTS -

Compliments, if done correctly will always make someone feel good about themselves. They are more likely to like you and become more responsive to your advances

It is often said that women are genrally attracted to men who are witty and amusing. This can be confirmed if you look at any dating column request. “Must have a (GSOH) good sense of humor”. A funny, comical approach is always a great opener. Women dont want a 24hour stand up comedian but to break the ice, humor does work. The delivery of this humor is essentially the key, which brings me to my final point.

Chat up lines. They do work, and always will if done correctly. For some, chat up lines are a chore and look stressful to watch. Many come across as aggressive and foolish just because their anxiety levels are rocketing. Under these stress level they just tense up or communicate in a manner they would under normal circumstances. It is all about practice and confidence. The more people you speak to, the more socialable you become and the quicker you will master it.

Look at chat up lines as an ice breaker, not the foundations of a potential relationship

Quit smoking detox what to expect by nguang nguek fluek

Smoking is a persistent habit connected with your body and mind. That is why any cessation process should include a quit smoking detox therapy and behavior therapy.

Smoking is an addiction similar to drugs or alcohol additions. While you have been smoking, your body got used to receiving regular doses of nicotine. Once you stop smoking and stop the nicotine doses your body responds with severe cravings and withdrawal symptoms that come to show you that you need to light up a cigarette. If you manage to overcome these problems, it is pretty guaranteed that you will manage to quit smoking.

For the reasons described above, many quit smoking programs begin with a quit smoking detox procedure.

The first thing is to stop smoking at once. Many smokers believe that it is fair enough just to reduce gradually the number of the cigarettes however, this is completely wrong. If you continue to smoke, you are not benefiting the quit smoking dexot processes of your body. Moreover, it is a slippery edge that usually leads to unsuccessful results – after all, you need just one stressful situation to increase the quantity of smoked cigarettes.

The minute you stop smoking your body will start to revive. In general, round 72 hours are required for the nicotine to go out of your body. For this reason, the cravings are with greater intensity after this period. The good news it that if you manage to survive without a cigarette for the first 3-4 days you will feel a drastic improvement in respect of cravings intensity and withdrawal symptoms. This is due to the active quit smoking detox processes that are going on.

Another signs of quit smoking detox are improved taste in your mouth, better smell, our digestion system will start working properly and you will feel respiratory relieve.

Various products can help the quit smoking detox process. There are medications, herbs and even specific foods that can help. All you need to do is to ask your doctor for the ones mist suitable or you.

Finally remember that the pure quit smoking detox of your body is just part of the smoking problem. The other part is connected with your habits and behavior, mind and perceptions. Although you are helping your body to clean up from the cigarettes’ bad ingredients this is just not enough to give up smoking. You will have to seriously rearrange the way you perceive smoking, find some good reasons to stop and change your lifestyle in a way to leave the cigarettes behind. For the ones with stronger personality this may be the easiest part of the problem but for may it is the most difficult one. That is why you should really believe in your success and get as much support from your family and friends as possible.