Window Cleaning News

The day in pictures around the world. Men dressed as comic book heroes Batman and Flash prepare to clean the glass facade of Hospital Infantil Sabara before meeting with patients of the children’s hospital in Sao Paulo.

A window cleaner works on the glass-pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris. If the Socialist government gets its way, visitors to France's three most touristic museums — the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and Versailles Palace — may get to visit seven days a week in coming years. As part of the government's 2015 budget bill, the Culture Ministry announced this week it plans to give the museums the "necessary means" to open every day — as long as work and conservation conditions are respected.

Cal/OSHA to Investigate After Successful High-Rise Rescue: Two window washers whose platform had become stranded Oct. 1 at the 18th floor of an Irvine, Calif., building were successfully rescued through the cooperation of a Cal/OSHA senior safety engineer, the Tractel Inc. scaffolding company, and the Orange County Fire Department, according to a Cal/OSHA news release. The building is 19 stories tall.

The work begin done at 4 Park Plaza involved washers employed by Newport Window Cleaning. Wire rope suspending their platform frayed, making the rope too wide in diameter for the motorized pulley system to raise or lower it, according to the release, which says the safety engineer consulted with Tractel and advised the command chief of the Orange County Fire Department. They secured the workers on the platform with harnesses before raising the platform by hand up to the rooftop. The rescue operation was completed around 1 p.m.

Cal/OSHA will examine how the incident happened. "It is important that all industrial equipment be checked regularly for deficiencies," said Acting Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. "Cal/OSHA will be conducting an investigation into how the wire rope problems developed and why they were not identified before the ropes were put into use on Wednesday."

New details emerge of the wide range of part-time jobs taken on by police officers across England and Wales: Police officers are earning extra cash with a variety of part-time jobs including bee-keeping and playing the bagpipes, it has been disclosed. Lists of “approved business interests” compiled by the 43 forces in England and Wales showed some officers have enough time outside work to run companies and even pursue a whole different career. Another Pc on the force gave their interest as a “professional window cleaner.” 

Police officers in England and Wales work between 37 and 40 hours a week, depending on which force they are in, and constables can earn up to £36,519 a year. Many will earn considerably more through overtime payments. Sergeants can earn up to £41,000 and inspectors £51,000. Officers are allowed to take on other work or businesses if they do not damage their force’s reputation or affect their ability to report for duty.

American FM giant moves into UK: US facilities management company ABM has moved into the UK by acquiring GBM Support Services Group. GBM, based in London and Glasgow, has a £40m turnover and 2,000 employees, mostly in cleaning, security and janitorial services. ABM’s services include more technical building services engineering and maintenance. It is one of the largest facilities management contractors in the USA, with $4.8bn annual revenues. It started out in 1909 as a firm of San Francisco window cleaners.

“With the acquisition of GBM, we saw a tremendous opportunity to accelerate our growth strategy throughout the UK,” said ABM president and CEO Henrik Slipsager. “GBM is a great fit for our organization because its array of services complements ABM’s, and we’re confident this partnership will serve as a key platform for expanding internationally with new and existing clients.”

Business Growth Fund backs Nationwide Window Cleaning with £3m - Growth capital investment will expand fleet for fast-growing window cleaning business. The Business Growth Fund (BGF) today announced the completion of a £3m investment in Nationwide Window Cleaning (NWC), capping a period of strong growth for the window cleaning business.

Founded in 2009 by current managing director Thornton Tasker, NWC provides window cleaning and associated services to universities, hospitals, retailers and other large commercial businesses. Since foundation the Harrogate-based company has seen rapid growth, with turnover now approaching £10m and clients including RBS, Asda and the British Museum.

BGF’s £3m investment will allow the company to expand its fleet and fund new hires in its abseiling and specialist cleaning divisions, where it says it has experienced particularly strong demand. NWC said its ultimate target was to achieve a fivefold increase in revenue over the next seven years. As part of the deal, managing director of Altium Capital and former CEO of window manufacturer Stuart Lees will join the NWC board as non-executive chairman.

Thornton Tasker, managing director of NWC, said: “NWC is a truly national service provider offering a managed quality service with high visibility through leading edge IT. This is the right time to expand. Demand for our range of national specialist services continues to gain momentum and we are in a strong position to grow this part of the business. “We are delighted to be partnering with BGF. In addition to the investment, we value the insight and experience of its investment team as well as our newly appointed Chairman, Stuart Lees.”

Andy Gregory, regional director for the North of England and Northern Ireland at BGF, added: “This is the 63rd growth capital investment made by BGF in UK companies, and the 12th investment made in companies headquartered in the north of England. “Our aim is to work with enterprises that span a diverse range of industry sectors, and as such, we are delighted to be working with NWC.”

Ballots, Bulletins and More Keep Laminators and Temperers Busy: Both the laminating and tempering divisions of the Glass Association of North America (GANA) were hard at work when they met last week in Toronto for their Fall Conference. Each division discussed the progress and development of various documents and bulletins, as well as other resources.

In the laminating division, work is continuing on the laminated glass deflection table. The task group has been reviewing calculations for deflection testing of tempered glass, which will be used in the Tempering Division’s Engineering Standards Manual. The group is also looking into having similar data pulled for laminated glass mock-ups. Under new business, the Design Considerations for Laminated Glass Applications document is up for its five-year review and update. A task group is working on this and hopes to ballot any edits in about a month.

The group next went into subcommittee and task group reports. Work is continuing on the heavy glass door design guide. The task group is making progress and has been through the entire document once and is now going through it a second time to make sure all action items have been addresses. A task group is also working on the Guidelines for the Production of Heat-Treated Glass GIB. The document is going through its initial ballot.

Work also continues on the Heat-Soaking GIB. Cliff Monroe with Oldcastle Building Envelope®, who chairs the task group, said it’s a very technical document and they are trying to limit it to being just a GIB without being too technical. In other words, it would just explain heat soaking. A joint task group with the International Window Cleaners Association is also working to update the Proper Procedures for Cleaning Architectural Glass Products GIB.

Queen has plenty of job openings: Back of house manager (40 hours a week, salary £26-30,000). Windsor Castle. You may not get the same face-to-face time with world leaders as your front-of-house colleagues, but you will be doing the kind of unsung, nuts-and-bolts work keeping WC (that’s Windsor Castle) in good order. It’s up to you to boss around builders, electricians and window cleaners, as well as carrying out a rolling programme of repairs and improvements (the palace has been occupied for 1,000 years; there is bound to be wear-and-tear).

AFLAC Inc. (Aflac) announced the launch of its first original Spanish-language television commercial called "Heights."  According to the Company, Heights, which is completely designed for the Hispanic audience, will air nationally on major Spanish-language networks through late November 2014. As per the Company, the commercial focuses on two window-washers who are on a scaffold many stories above the ground. Aflac added that Heights reinforces the theme of "protecting your plans" as the two characters in the Commercial discuss what's most important to them - their families - and how Aflac can help if they are unexpectedly sick or hurt.

Ensuring the new office meets health and safety regulations: When selecting your new office, there were probably a range of considerations. But something you may not have factored in before signing the lease was whether it met health and safety regulations. Although any major risks are likely to be relatively obvious, there may be some smaller health and safety concerns that may not have initially sprung to mind.

Legally as an employer, you are obligated to ensure that the workspace you provide your employees meets a long list of requirements, which you can view in full here. I will list a few that you may have forgotten to consider. As an employer, you must provide: Window cleaning safety in the office: make sure all windows and skylights are designed and constructed so that they may be cleaned safely.

Logan Elsey opened Nixa-based Crystal Clear Window Cleaning in July.

Crystal Clear Window Cleaning (Nixa) - Owner: Logan Elsey. About the business: Logan Elsey says he’s known for a while he would much rather be an employer than an employee. “I kind of always wanted to start my own company, and I kind of always wanted to go about things for myself, be more independent,” Elsey says.

After some searching for business opportunities, Elsey decided to draw on his own experience and opened Crystal Clear Window Cleaning in July. Elsey previously worked for a Springfield-based window cleaning company with a friend. “The business model seemed relatively easy to me,” Elsey says. “After your initial tools are bought, that’s your biggest investment in it,” he says.

Elsey says his client base is a mixture of commercial and residential properties. In addition to window and screen cleaning, Elsey also cleans gutters and installs gutter guards. And, beginning in November, Elsey will hang and remove holiday lights. “It kind of makes up for some of the slow months in summer,” he says.

Elsey says he’s also ready to start bidding on much bigger projects. “I’m getting ready to go into the side of the industry I like most, which is rappel work. I’m trying to get more of those high-rise jobs,” he says. Elsey says despite the fact his business is relatively new, he’s happy about how the business is growing. “Probably one of my biggest customer transfers is, ‘Well, we like our guys, but they don’t show up on a regular basis,’” he says. “We provide a regular schedule for clients.”

Experience: Elsey worked for another window-cleaning business for about a year and a half before venturing out on his own. While he says he had no previous experience running his own business, he credits his business-owner dad and accounting software for keeping him on track. “QuickBooks has been just amazing for my business because otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be figuring it out so easy,” Elsey says with a big laugh.

Challenges: Elsey says cold calls to drum up business can be tough, “because you may be going into a business that may need your service or even desire your service but if you meet them when they’re busy, it makes it hard to make that connection,” Elsey says. But, he says, his ease with people typically wins the day.

Goals: Elsey hopes to have a crew of five full-time employees within a year. “I’m a firm believer that (the Springfield area) has been really good to me, so I’m a firm believer in giving back to those communities even if the only thing I can do is pay my employees well,” he says.

Don's window cleaning business startup site - Video consulting: Long time, no see! As many of you are aware, I have sold my window cleaning business and entered the full-time ministry. My wife and I have moved to another city in Florida and we love it here. My principle task is fundraising, and it is going slowly. BUT, I continue to get contacted by people who want to start a window cleaning business for my advice. It gets me thinking of putting a few hours into consulting to make up for the revenue shortfall we are having right now.
In the past, I have discovered that people love me and my videos as long as it costs them nothing. Yes, a few have offered to pay, but it was not worth the effort I was putting in. But I recently got a Zoom account that allows me to do video chat with up to 25 people simultaneously. It got me thinking that such a “classroom” situation could be quite valuable because we all bring our experiences together and learn from each other as well.
So, that is what I want to know: are there people out there that would participate in a start-up class to get you to get you off your good intentions and actually start your business? Post it in the comment section or email me at dontwc@gmail.com. Thank you.

Secrets of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel: Jackie Collens and Jackie Carter, better known as "The Jackies," are the luxury suite specialists at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of New York City's toniest addresses. The hotel encompasses an entire Midtown Manhattan block, spanning 49th to 50th Street from Park to Lexington Avenues. Of the 1,413 rooms, 181 are located in The Towers, occupying floors 27 through 42. And of those special rooms, 121 are historical suites. "It's an unheard of number," Collens says. "Most hotels have maybe 10 suites. And every single one of ours is different. The Towers is really a hotel within a hotel."

Because there are so many suites, the Jackies' dual positions were created so they could dish out advice while also meeting guests' wants and needs regarding accommodations. The Jackies took time out of their busy schedule to talk hotel history, the Waldorf's celebrity clientele, and some of its coolest secrets.

What's the most requested suite at the Waldorf? The Presidential Suite—it's where every President has stayed. When a president stays there, we have customized bulletproof glass installed. Herbert Hoover did the inaugural address when the hotel first opened in 1931. Since then, every president has stayed with us.  Your archivist positions are among 1,600 jobs at the Waldorf. What are some of the more unusual roles staffers serve? Because our windows are so heavy and hard to open, we have a special window opener; that's his only job. We also have a chandelier cleaner and a two full-time tour guides.

Spiderman dangles upside down to wave to patients at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick -  Window washers dressed as spiderman and doctors and nurses and sports stars dressed as superman, catwoman, wonderwoman, captain america, batman and robin brightened up the day for dozens of sick children on Wednesday. The superhero-themed celebrations were part of the children’s hospital’s annual party bringing together hospital staff, patients and their families.

Maiysaa Haddad, 4, and Elena Norquay, 7, were thrilled when an upside-down spiderman crawled down her bedroom window. The activities began with batman arriving in his black batmobile before superhero window-washers abseiled down the outside of the hospital building. Superhero characters toured the wards visiting children while Capes 4 Australia workers hosted cape-making workshops. Children and their families shared a barbeque lunch with children’s group Hi-5 and Beak & Sons.

A Sydney Children’s Hospital spokeswoman said the annual party was all about having fun. “The event is exactly what it sounds like, a huge party for sick children and their families to provide some fun, laughter and respite during their often lengthy hospital stays,’’ she said. Each year, the Sydney Children’s Hospital cares for more than 78,000 seriously ill and injured children from across NSW and Australia. The hospital is one of the country’s leading centres in paediatric clinical and research excellence.

Window Washing Superheroes Bring Joy To Kids At Children’s Hospital (Pittsburgh): It was an awesome treat today for the kids at Children’s Hospital as they watched as superheroes repel down the side of the building. Their reactions were priceless, and boy, was it a sight for them to see.

People of all ages gathered outside and inside Children’s Hospital in Lawrenceville. They packed the sidewalks and snapped pictures as window washers from Allegheny Window Cleaning – dressed as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man – repelled down the front of the building to clean the windows.

“This is a great day for the kids,” said Edward Matuizek, of Allegheny Window Cleaning. “A lot of these kids won’t get out to trick-or-treat next week, but today makes their day and puts a smile on their face. It’s a great day here at Children’s Hospital.” “We first started it as something to do to make the kids happy, and now we do it every year,” said Ed Hetrick, one of the superhero window washers. “It turns out; it’s a fun thing to do. It’s great.”

Seeing Spider-Man, Batman, Captain America, Superman and Thor was indeed a treat. Many of the children are very sick, and certainly aren’t happy to be in the hospital. “My daughter is in here for chemo,” said Janice Emmerick. “She’s 19-years-old and she loves Batman. But she’s asleep, so I had to videotape it for her.” It was a magical day for all who witnessed this little act of kindness, and it goes to show a little can go a long, long way.

Superheroes ‘Drop by’ St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, NJ – Pediatric patients at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital (SJCH) in Paterson, New Jersey, were excited when ‘superheroes’ dropped by for a visit. St. Joseph's window washing vendor, Premier Building Services of Butler, New Jersey, sent Enrique Naranjo (Superman) and Juan Elizondo (Spider-Man) to make this window washing visit a special treat. Enrique and Juan repelled from the roof to wave, high-five and interact with the surprised children, parents and St. Joseph's staff as they washed the windows.

"Patients expect to see doctors, nurses and everyone else – but never superheroes,” said Michael Lamacchia, MD, Chairman, Pediatrics, SJCH, who was pleased with how the event unfolded. “This is something very special for our patients and the window washer superheroes did a great job. They really got involved with the kids,” Dr. Lamacchia added.

Issiah Alberto (age 8, Paterson), a pediatric patient, truly enjoyed the visit and showing off his best superhero moves. He lit up as he interacted with Spider-Man and Superman until they both swung off to the next rooms to continue their visits.

Early riser: Lisa made it out on her first attempt after strong winds deemed her first try too dangerous.

Don't look down: Lisa Snowdon is cheered on by Taylor Swift as she hangs 800 feet above ground to clean the Shard. The former model was cleaning the windows to raise money for Global’s Make Some Noise Day. Capital London Breakfast show host Lisa Snowdon swapped her mic for a sponge as she was suspended more than 800 feet up the Shard to clean the windows after co-host Dave Berry beat her in an on-air fundraising challenge.
The former model was competing against her co-presenter to raise money for charity, but was forced to don a safety harness and a bucket of water to clean the windows when she lost. As if she wasn’t nervous enough, the 42-year-old was unable to get outside on her first attempt due to high winds.

Taylor Swift and Dave Berry were tucked away inside as Lisa was finally able to board the lift and start her window cleaning duties a jaw dropping 75 floors up.
After planting her feet back on firm ground she tweeted: “Bloody hell!! I did it! It was pretty scary.” The stomach dropping stunt was in aid of Global’s Make Some Noise Day to raise money for disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. Global, the media and entertainment company, pulled together all of their stations including Heart, Capital FM, Classic FM, and Smooth for a morning of charity fundraising which has so far raised more than £700,000. Taylor Swift was challenged to beatbox in order to secure a £100 donation. The Shake it Off singer, who is famed for her pop music, stepped into hip hop territory to raise the money with the help of Dave Berry.

Window cleaners rescued by firefighters: Two window cleaners who were stuck in their cleaning cradle were rescued by fire fighters. When crews arrived at the incident they could see the cleaners approximately four to five floors up with no way of getting down. Using the turntable ladder from Temple Fire Station, crews were able to reach the pair and they were assisted into the cage and taken to safety. They were unharmed.

Tony’s boat, still afloat: Moruyas Tony Decourt found a hobby that floated his boat while living on a Canadian island as a child and, 63 years later, that boat is still afloat. Mr Decourt was born in Belgium, where, as he says, “there were no boats”. He migrated to Toronto Island, in Lake Ontario, with his father, brother and sisters at age 12. “It was a kid’s dream, living on an island,” he recalled. “An old shipwright gave me a wooden boat which needed repair and showed me how. “After school I would watch him work on boats and he became a friend.” It took Tony a whole season to fix that boat. “I needed to replace many of the planks, and I had to earn money by washing windows,” he said.

Lucy Moore, First World War project co-ordinator at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, says 1914 was a watershed moment in the story of women in this country. “What I find really interesting is that as soon as war was declared you get the wives of people who worked in factories setting up charities to help the other wives whose husbands had gone off to fight. So what you see is women stepping in and really being involved from the very beginning.” In Sheffield, women were working as tram drivers for the first time and across Yorkshire they were working as bus conductors, window cleaners and helping plough the fields to ensure the nation wasn’t starved into submission.

Fall Chores You Shouldn't Ignore - TALLAHASSEE, Fla. When the weather is crisp, leaves are falling and football is on TV, it can be easy to ignore fall chores. But if you want to stay cozy and avoid costly problems this winter, you better get to work. In this Angie's List report, the three projects every homeowner should cross off their checklist. Gutter cleaning isn't glamorous, but it's one of the most important jobs on any fall to-do list. Otherwise, the leaves there can mold… not to mention bugs. And whether you do it yourself or hire a pro, don't neglect the downspouts when cleaning. "You also want to make sure that all of your gutters are actually nailed in properly and look at your gutter boards and make sure that they are sealed," said handyman Elden Foltz. Once your gutters are clear, turn your attention to sealing drafts around windows and doors. Walk through your home with a lit candle or stick of incense to see where cold air is seeping in. otherwise you're losing heat… and money.

Corey, 50, is the owner of McKinnon's Irish Pub in downtown Hartford and a commercial window cleaning company called Advanced Services International. The company cleans the windows of some of Hartford's tallest skyscrapers. Relatively new at politics, the Republican says new faces and ideas are needed to tackle what both candidates say ails the 1st District: a faltering economy and the need for new jobs.
“Each time I went to vote, I looked at the ballot and there were the same people on it, year after year after year,” said Corey, who lives in Manchester.
The race of the 1st District seat has been overshadowed by more high-profile political contests in the state this year, especially the contest between Gov. Dannel Malloy and Republican Tom Foley. But it  still offers voters a clear choice between candidates who have both grown up in the district but split when it comes to political philosophies. Pictured - Republican challenger Matthew Corey, second from right in front, with his window cleaning staff.

Cleaning scheme Orsima in merger talks with industry-wide fund: Pensioenfonds Orsima, the €60m pension fund for the Dutch industrial cleaning sector, is negotiating a merger with the €2.9bn scheme for the cleaning and window cleaning industry, BPF Schoonmaak. In its newsletter, the board of Orsima said that negotiations to merge on 1 January 2015 were already at an advanced stage. It explained that the most important reasons of the intended merger were the scheme’s comparatively high costs per participant and its vulnerability due to its size. Administration costs per member amounted to €937 last year, according to its annual report. Its ultimate decision to opt for the Pensioenfonds voor het Schoonmaak- en Glazenwassersbedrijf, was based on the combination of its contribution level, Schoonmaak’s financial policy, the quality of its provider as well as its indexation potential, it pointed out.

Preparing houseplants for winter months ahead: With temperatures expected to drop into the 40s and 50s, now is the time to bring your tropical plants and houseplants back indoors to protect them from the upcoming cold weather. Most tropical plants suffer at temperatures below 40 degrees; a few are damaged below 50 degrees. Because temperature, light, and humidity vary widely between the inside and outside of your home, a gradual reintroduction to the indoors is best. A sudden change in light may cause yellowed leaves, dieback and leaf drop. Prepare for your houseplants by cleaning your windows, both inside and out, to ensure plants can get adequate light. Gradually expose your plants to less light by placing them indoors where they can get the brightest light possible, usually a south-facing window or under plant lights on a timer for 16 hours a day. After a few weeks you can move the plant to its permanent home.

CBD rooms at a premium as Jehovah's Witnesses flock to Melbourne for convention: So why would the cost of a city hotel room in mid-October rival prices set during some of the nation's biggest sporting events? The Jehovah's Witnesses are coming to town. About 70,000 of them. From next week, pilgrims from the Christian denomination best known for door-to-door preaching will descend on Melbourne from 60 countries for their largest-ever gathering in Australia.

The three-day convention at Etihad Stadium marks the centennial of Jehovah's Witnesses' belief that Jesus Christ began ruling God's kingdom in 1914. Worshippers also believe Satan has ruled the world since being cast out of heaven. Highlights of the holy event include a "full water immersion" mass baptism and theatrical productions of Bible stories. Organisers say the attendees are tipped to break the Docklands stadium's attendance record and will inject $50 million into the local economy.

Airlines have already flagged the possibility of scheduling more flights and the public transport system is gearing up for a busy weekend, running 14 extra trains and more trams on busy routes.

Window cleaner Mike Swan and his wife Ruth, both Jehovah's Witnesses, will move out of their two-bedroom unit in Hadfield during the conference so family from Queensland have somewhere to stay.

Mr Swan said the group of seven relatives could not afford accommodation even though they started looking last October. "It was very difficult for them to find accommodation and in a price range that would allow them to bring the children," he said. Cheap accommodation at backpackers hostels has reached capacity, with the last bed in Discovery Melbourne's 18-person shared dorm selling for $46 a night. All private rooms and dorms with a communal bathroom at the Franklin Street hostel are sold out during the conference.

WINDOW CLEANING. Court members signed a contract with Hoffman’s Yes-We-Do Cleaning to provide annual window cleaning services for $2,985.00. The bid opening and award had been done last week. MSP: Myers/Labhart -- to circulate for signature the Contract for Goods and Services Less Than $5,000.00 with Hoffman’s Yes-We-Do Cleaning to provide annual window cleaning services for a total amount of $2,985.00.

Ahmad Rouleau and fighting ISIS in a Quebec town - ISIS arrived in Canada driving a brown Nissan Altima. There we all were, worrying about obscene Dark Ages beheadings on the other side of the ocean and rogue terrorists seizing military planes in Syria. What we got was something terrifying in its surreal ordinariness, a failed window cleaner with a spotty background who spent way too much time on social media looking for salvation.

The new face of terror is a young father locked in a custody dispute, a Quebecer raised in the Montérégie, who bought his ticket to paradise and posthumous notoriety by slamming his car into two soldiers on a Monday morning in a parking lot in his hometown of St. Jean-sur-Richelieu. One of those officers, Patrice Vincent, 53, died late Monday. The other remains in hospital with what are described as minor injuries.

Though friends insisted Couture Rouleau was harmless, authorities and his own relatives had obviously worried enough about his behaviour — the strange posts on Facebook, the kinds of people he followed on Twitter — to seize his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey this summer. Tuesday night, the RCMP detailed how closely they had been monitoring his behaviour, meeting with Couture Rouleau frequently, as recently as Oct. 9. The initial response from Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, who has lived in the Middle East, was more restrained. Yet even he, speaking to reporters very late Monday night as hopes for Vincent’s survival faded, raised the grave concerns posed by the lures of fundamentalism.

Review Bang Bang - Getting back to the story, Omar Zafar escapes from the holding cell by killing the entire building full of trained, professional agents with the help of a bunch of his henchmen dressed as window cleaners. Guess they cleaned logic along with the windows. Oh fun fact he also kills an Indian Colonel, Viren Nanda (Jimmy Shergill in a cameo) and sets up the stage for the diamond heist by announcing a reward of 5 million dollars for anyone stealing the diamond except for the fact the thief should be an Indian there by souring the relations between India and UK leading to the cancellation of the new extradition treaty. Omar Zafar ever heard of the phrase that life is only as complicated as we make it, I am sure there would have been many other options to sour the relations but Omar Zafar went with the most far fetched one.

Kate Steele, who sadly passed away in April last year, had a lifelong ambition to write children’s books. Kate (known to her family as Cath) was a mother, grandmother and primary school teacher and was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. During her treatment, she made the decision to leave a lasting legacy for her grandchildren and it’s from this that the idea for the ‘Pop’ book series was born. ‘Pop’ is based on the real life adventures of Kate’s husband Martin, otherwise known as ‘Pop’. Her family decided to pursue the publishing of the stories, which were written for and dedicated to Kate’s grandchildren. The hero in the “Pop” books is a white-haired, window cleaning grandfather, who is described as having “a timely habit of saving animals in distress.”

Jessie J has sold her glass house in Surrey because her pesky fans could see her in it: Jessie J has sold her glass house in Surrey. Why did J-J-Jessie J buy a glass house in Surrey? We don’t know. We can only imagine the window cleaning bills were astronomical. But the ex-judge from The Voice has revealed that she had to sell the glass house because those bloomin’ fans of her wanted to look at her through the glass, like she was in a little Jessie J zoo, where there’s only one animal, and it’s Jessie J, sat on a toilet. Speaking to Alan Carr on Chatty Man, she said: "I bought a house in Surrey. It was all made of glass. Now Jessie has revealed her plans to move to America, perhaps because you can do barmy things like buy a massive glass house and no one will harass you. She said: "In America they see me as a singer whereas here I feel that people don't appreciate my voice. I've dedicated my life to singing and I want it to be taken seriously.

Will you marry me...?

A runner who proposed to his volunteer girlfriend on stage in front of hundreds just minutes after completing the first Chelmsford Marathon, had planned to do it at the cancelled Hylands Park concerts. Window cleaner and running coach Carl Easton arranged for an announcer to usher Diana Baker on stage, before the 48-year-old grabbed the microphone and dropped down to one knee. Diana, from Chelmsford, answered with a tearful “yes” before she returned to handing out medals to finishers. “It was a huge surprise, I was not expecting it at all, and I’m still in shock,” said Diana, 42, who was volunteering for marathon organisers The J’s Hospice.

“It was very strange returning to handing out the medals because everyone who had finished and was volunteering knew what had happened, but those who finished hadn’t got a clue. But I just carried on doing what I was asked to do. “I really didn’t have a clue what was going on when I was asked on stage. Of course, I’m very happy now.”

Carl, who has been with Diana since July last year, planned to propose on stage at the Flashback Festival in Hylands Park in September, but the event was cancelled by UK Events & Production. But he set out with 11-year-old son Todd on Saturday to buy the ring, without Diana, leaving her in a “hump” all day. “She had the hump all day and all evening, it was very funny, but I couldn’t turn around and tell her the reason,” said Carl, who finished the 26.2 miles in an impressive 3:41:53. “I don’t think I was nervous when I was proposing. “The adrenaline was still settling in from finishing the marathon so, no, I don’t think I was really nervous. “I was about 90 per cent sure she would say yes. It was the right decision clearly.”

County to spend $500,000 to replace faulty windows in DSS building: Less than 15 years after it opened, the Social Services building on Ramsey Street needs almost 1,000 new windows. Cumberland County will spend more than $500,000 to replace every window on the north side of the $22 million building, which opened in 2000. The windows were improperly installed. Now they're failing, and the resulting moisture is damaging the interior, county officials said. "It's getting worse," Jeffery Brown, the county's engineering and infrastructure director, recently told the county Facilities Committee. "If we don't correct that, it's just going to continue to get worse."
The windows on the building's north side are flush with the exterior wall. Brown said the windows are designed to allow water to get between the two panes. That water is supposed to drain away, but the improper installation blocked those drains. Condensation lingers within many of the windows. On the lower floors, ceiling plaster hangs from around some of them. "Now we have water damage inside the building," Brown said, "so we've got to do something."
The problems were first noted in 2010 by the county engineer at the time, said County Attorney Rick Moorefield. The manufacturer and installer of the windows blamed each other until it was determined the installer was at fault, he said. Moorefield said there's no way the county can recover any money. "The company that installed it is out of business," he said. "There's just no one to go against. Believe me, we've looked at all these angles. This didn't just come up in the last couple of months."

Thieves steal teddy bears and ransack grave of a stillborn baby girl: The parents of a baby girl who was stillborn have been left devastated after her grave was ransacked and teddy bears stolen. Amber Bouckley and Stuart Parsons were horrified to discover thieves had taken seven cuddly toys placed around daughter Sophia’s headstone. They had visited her grave, itself teddy bear shaped, in Bredbury’s Highfield Cemetery on October 2.

Now the couple from Offerton are appealing for the items to be returned and for information about who may be responsible. Amber, 24, said: “We put the bears at the grave at milestones like Christmas and birthdays as it was something to get her but all except one have been taken. “They aren’t even worth much in money but they are very sentimental to us. “What happened will always be with us and now this. To do this to any grave is horrible but to what is clearly a baby’s grave is even worse.  “I just think it is disgusting, how could someone do this? A lot of people go through the cemetery and walk their dogs, hopefully someone will have seen something.”

As well as the bears decorative angels had been placed around the grave but these had been ripped off and strewn around the cemetery. The couple, of Marlhill Close, had not visited the grave in five weeks so are not sure exactly when it happened. Stuart, 29, a self-employed window cleaner, broke his ankle so they had not been able to travel to the cemetary. They have a son, Bobby, aged one, and Amber has a son Mackenzie, nine, from a previous relationship. Inspector Steve Palmer, from Stockport east area neighbourhood police, said: “This is absolutely despicable and will not be tolerated, we want to catch those responsible.”

Community stalwart Tommy Jeffers dies suddenly in France: The Irvine window cleaner who was devoted to the community passed away during a walking holiday in Voisins, he was 72. “He was dead before he hit the floor,” were the words Christine Jeffers describes her last seconds with husband Tommy. The couple, who were representing Irvine in a town exchange to Voisins in France were enjoying a lunch in a restaurant when Tommy suddenly fell to the floor. Now, Christine is left hoping her husband’s body comes home this Thursday. “I just want him home in Scotland,” said Christine, of Thornhouse Avenue, Irvine. “It’s frustrating that we think it is a heart attack that killed him but in France they don’t tell you what happens, it is private. “We are hoping to know more when he comes home.”

The couple had been enjoying walking with their French twin town counterparts when the tragedy happened. “As usual Tommy was the life and soul and making friends with the French people as he raved about Irvine to them. “He was so proud of Irvine and he never dreamed of moving away, he loved the Carters’ Society, the Folk Club and the Twin Town group. He lived for Irvine and his family and he was so well known, people were always telling me that I was a lucky woman to have him as my husband.

PORT ANGELES — City staff says a preliminary audit of 2014 Port Angeles Downtown Association finances has revealed a lack of invoices, no reasons for expenditures and unexplained spending on bottled water, teacups and latex gloves. “A number of serious issues and concerns were identified by the city regarding the financial activity and/or financial reporting of the PADA,” City Manager Dan McKeen said Sept. 26 in a two-page audit cover-letter to the association's board of directors. The audit examined $93,412 in revenues and $67,611 in expenses between Jan. 1 and July 31, Byron Olson, the city's chief financial officer, said Thursday. The review was based on an examination of 142 random PADA payments made in 2014. “Sundance window cleaners — paid $250, but the attached invoice was only for $214.

Dad turned to drugs to fund custody battle: A desperate Oldham dad turned to crime to earn money after spending a fortune on legal fees in a custody battle over his young son. Matthew Kenyon (27), whose relationship with the boy’s mother had failed, spent £20,000 on solicitor fees. He was at the point of a custody bid but a suspended prison sentence for drug dealing might now have dashed his hopes. Kenyon, of Lauren Close, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply. He was given a further three-month sentence, to run concurrently, for being armed with a knuckle duster.

Sentencing him, Judge Timothy Mort told him: “This is a desperately sad case. It must be marked with a custodial sentence, which I feel able to suspend, but the irony is that by your actions you have jeopardised your fight for rights to be with your son.” The court heard how Kenyon and his 24-year old girlfriend Jessica Houghton had been arrested in Oldham after a chance sighting by police of what they suspected was a street drug deal. A search of their car found bags of cannabis, mobile phones and cash. A search of Kenyon’s home revealed more drugs, phones, cash and a debtors’ list.

Michael Hopkinson, defending, said Kenyon had been a “very foolish man indeed,” stumbling into drugs while on a window-cleaning round. Mr Hopkinson said his client had gone to desperate lengths to obtain ready cash to fund his legal fight over his young son. Kenyon was ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid community work. Houghton, of Deepdale Avenue, Royton, was given a 12-month community order and 80 hours of unpaid work.

Window cleaner charged with fraud: A window cleaner has been charged with fraud and stealing wood and boxes.  John Burrows, 42, of Athelstan Road, Hastings, allegedly committed the offences at an address in Saxon Road, Hastings, on April 22. He is accused of fraud by false representation in relation to some repair work carried out at the address, and burglary, by stealing wood and boxes from the address. Burrows is due to appear at Hastings Magistrates’ Court next Wednesday (October 29).

A window cleaner from Weymouth who had been suffering from depression took his own life, a coroner has ruled. An inquest into the death of Peter Robin Bradley at County Hall in Dorchester was told the 45-year-old had been struggling after suffering an injury at work and was also finding a search for new accommodation stressful. The body of Mr Bradley was found in his bedroom at his home in Dorchester Road by Luke Mundy, who also lived at the address, on August 12.
He had last been seen on the evening of August 10 but the inquest was told he had kept himself to himself and it was not unusual for him to spend time in his room. Mr Bradley’s father Robin said his son had ‘suffered from bouts of depression for quite a few years’. He had also suffered a broken nose and elbow in an accident at work in January and was faced with having to move from his current accommodation.
The inquest was told he saw the Weymouth Community Mental Health Team after a previous suicide attempt on July 18 that he had felt unable to go through with. When he was assessed Mr Bradley said he had recognised reasons for living and was too scared to make another attempt on his life. He was deemed to no longer be at risk of suicide, however, he was found hanged at his address less than a month later. Coroner for Dorset, Sheriff Payne, said: “The verdict I record is that he has taken his own life, that he has committed suicide.” The coroner expressed his sympathies to Mr Bradley’s family.

Man jailed for trying to blow up ex-wife’s home after he learned she was going to re-marry: A divorced husband has been jailed for trashing his ex wife’s home and trying to blow it up after he learned she was going to re-marry. Mark Bridgeman used a large hunting knife to slash furniture and switched on all the gas hobs to fill the former marital home with gas after barging his way in past his terrified ex wife Rebecca. She had been warned he was on his way to her home by the head teacher of a local primary school who had seen the knife after Bridgeman arrived during lessons and demanded to see a pupil. He told head David Barnett:”I am going to see her and I’ve got this” before moving a newspaper to reveal the green handled knife on the passenger seat.

Bridgeman caused almost £6,000 damage at Rebecca’s home where he went berserk after seeing the front room festooned with balloons and cards marking her engagement to another man, Exeter Crown Court was told. He smashed windows, wrecked the television, broke furniture and slashed to sofa. He tried to fill the house with gas and told police:”I was going to blow the whole place up but only take myself.” Former window cleaner Bridgeman, aged 36, of Reynell Close, Newton Abbot, admitted having a knife in the grounds of a school and in the street outside his ex wife’s house.

Wolverhampton man accused of attempted murder denies stabbing window cleaner: A man accused of attempted murder has denied stabbing a window cleaner outside a pub in Perton. Liam Phipps told jurors he never touched a knife the night Shaun Bayliss was stabbed five times as violence erupted outside the Wrottesley Arms. Mr Bayliss was rushed to hospital with wounds to his back and chest. But giving evidence at Stafford Crown Court, Phipps said Mr Bayliss either had no idea who stabbed him or was blaming the wrong man.

An ‘incompetent’ thief from Padiham – caught in the act trying to load a trail bike into the boot of a Fiat Punto – has been jailed for 12 months. Bike owner Paul Chester and his partner Alicia Cryer were awoken by loud noises at their Altham Street home just before midnight on August 22, Burnley Crown Court was told. When they looked out of the window they saw two men trying to load Mr Chester’s trail bike into the back of a waiting car, the court heard. Prosecutor Richard Archer said that when the couple went outside, Martin Carroll was seen to throw the bike to the ground and flee in the car.

But Carroll and his accomplice were recognised by the pair and the police were alerted shortly afterwards. Mr Archer said that 10 days previously Carroll, a part-time window cleaner, had appeared before the crown court to receive a suspended prison sentence. The Lancashire Tele-graph reported in August how he brandished a foot-long carving knife at the mother of his child and threatened to stab her if he was not allowed into her house. Carroll, 32, of Longton Road, admitted attempted theft and breaching a suspended sentence order.

Nick Dearing, defending, said his client accepted he had been ‘extremely fortunate’ when he received the suspended sentence. Carroll had made attempts to be abstinent and it was a ‘source of great disappointment’ that he had carried out the attempted theft while under the influence. “It is unlikely that they would have been likely to get a bike of that size in the boot of that car, which indicates how incompetent this act was,” he added.

Window Cleaning News

A never ending window cleaning job

Dubai’s Ziggurat City Will House A Million: Dubai wants to build one of the wonders of the earth – a massive flat-topped pyramid where a million people can live in a self-sustaining environment. A city within a city, dubbed Ziggurat after the temples of ancient desert peoples who first lived in the Middle East, the base will be almost a mile square. With roots in history, the building is definitely at the cutting edge of science with green technologies that do not run on fossil fuels and a transport system that runs vertically and horizontally. The futuristic building is expected to be open in time for the Cityscape Dubai exhibition in October 2013. Cityscape is the region’s largest and most prestigious real estate event that attracts thousands of delegates from around the world each year.

A 15-year-old boy working as a window-washer fell to his death from the ninth floor of a building on Wednesday afternoon. The incident occurred at a construction site in the central Israeli town of Bnei Brak. Paramedics tried to resuscitate the boy at the scene, but were unable to do so. The young man’s family has been involved in criminal activity. Two family members were arrested recently for serious crimes, and another relative was arrested in a separate incident. Despite the family history, the Dan District Police believe after a preliminary investigation that the boy’s death was an accident, not the result of foul play. The boy worked with his father at the site near the Bnei Brak- Ramat Gan border, where two apartment towers are in their final stage of construction.

Keeping New York workers safe in the heat: New York workers need to take precautions to keep themselves hydrated and healthy in the summer heat and humidity. This summer is turning out to be a particularly steamy one for many parts of the country, and while the temperatures haven't been "record high" in New York, there are still countless workers exposed to hot and humid environments on a daily basis. What many employees - and in some cases, their employers - don't realize is that heat-related illnesses can result in serious injury and even death.

What are heat-related illnesses? Sometimes when the body is exposed to hot and humid conditions, it simply cannot cool itself enough. When that happens, heat exhaustion and other heat-related, on-the-job injuries can occur. According to information about heat illnesses provided by the New York City Department of Health, heat exhaustion can cause nausea, vomiting, clammy skin, weakness and dizziness. When the body's temperature spikes suddenly, heat stroke is possible. Heat stroke is the most serious heat-related illness, and it can cause death if not properly treated. The NYCDH also gives some guidance about the warning signs of heat stroke, which include excessive sweating, muscle cramps, loss of appetite, confusion, hallucinations and light-headedness.

Who's at risk? Obviously, those working outside in the summer heat, including construction workers, landscapers, roofers, painters, window washers, delivery persons, law enforcement professionals and utility workers are at high risk. People working inside with no air conditioning or little ventilation, metal workers, restaurant chefs and those in commercial bakeries (and other factory positions) can also succumb to the heat.

Heat-related illnesses are more common in the elderly, those unaccustomed to the heat (like new hires who have not yet built up a tolerance or workers returning from an extended break), those taking medications that make them more susceptible to heat (antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines are notorious for this) and those who have pre-existing medical conditions.

Prevention: They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is definitely true when it comes to preventing heat-related illnesses. Employers and workers who understand the dangers associated with excess heat and humidity can take steps to ensure that their bodies are not overcome by the stress of hot, humid weather. The most important thing that any outdoor worker (or one in a heated indoor environment) to remember is that water is absolutely crucial. Drinking at least one cup of cooled water every 15 to 20 minutes can go a long way toward keeping the body's temperature under control.

Wearing loose-fitting clothing and a hat to protect the body from the sun's rays can also be beneficial. Another helpful hint is to avoid alcohol and caffeine when working in the heat; both of these actually dehydrate the body, so they can diminish the effectiveness of proper water consumption. Taking breaks in the shade often, using fans or air conditions whenever possible, and wearing light-colored clothes will also help put the body in an optimum position to fight the heat and humidity. 

Suncream and cosmetics spark allergy epidemic: Millions of people are being exposed to toxic chemicals in everyday products ranging from shower gel and deodorant to make-up and suncream, doctors have warned. Skin experts say that Britain is in the grip of a skin allergy epidemic which could reach crisis point if more is not done to slash the amount of the preservatives – known as MI and MCI/MI – being used.

Dr John McFadden, consultant dermatologist at St John’s Institute of Dermatology, said: “The time for action is now. We are in the midst of an outbreak of allergy to a preservative (MI) which we have not seen before in terms of scale in our lifetime. “Many of our patients have suffered acute dermatitis with redness and swelling of the face. I would ask the cosmetics industry not to wait for legislation but to get on and address the problem of MI allergy before the situation gets worse.”

Dr David Orton, president of the British Society of Cutaneous Allergy, said: “Data suggest that rates of allergy to these two preservatives are now nearing 10 per cent – and in some cases higher – this is clearly far too high and is an unacceptable situation. “The last time a preservative had this type of effect it was banned by the EU. Although the relevant bodies in Europe have set up a review this all takes time – in the meantime the number of people coming to see us with this allergy is only likely to rise.

“We would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss this issue with representatives of the UK cosmetics industry so as to take immediate steps to protect UK consumers.” The MI – methylisothiazolinone – and MCI/MI – methylchloroisothiazolinone aka methylisothiazolinone – are found in abundance in personal care products including moist wipes, cleansers and shaving foam as well as products such as washing up liquid. MI is also present in window and floor cleaners, air fresheners and paint. It is also used in the paper, metal and oil industries.

This week, at a City Hall reception in London, party guests roasted – surrounded on all sides by windows that didn't open; and, when windows don't open in summer, they turn into heating panels. Ever since the Romans first inserted glass into wall apertures, the window has got more sophisticated. First came the casement window – with its thick glass divided up into tiny chunks by lead strips. Then came the most sophisticated window of all – the sash window, imported from France in the late 17th century, allowing minute adjustments, with the sashes balanced by cords and weights, and the air circulating through both a top and bottom opening if needed. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, window panes got thinner and thinner, and lighter and lighter, allowing fewer glazing bars – until you got to the stage in the late Victorian period when you could have a single pane of glass over another single pane. And then, suddenly, over the last 20 years, we regressed and sealed our windows permanently shut. Why?

First health & safety working at height workers - Mary Smith: Legendary knocker-upper, picture from 1905. Mary Smith was a notorious character in the east end of London, allegedly earning sixpence a week for shooting peas at the windows of local market workers in Limehouse Fields to get them up in time for work. Knocker-uppers were reportedly on duty in towns and cities across the country between 1870 and 1945!

San Antonio Window Cleaners Needed (Deadline today) - The upcoming TV season sure is shaping up to be a special one for San Antonio viewers. It's to feature real, hard-toiling Americans and, according to casting producer Bonnie Clark, San Antonio is one of the cities selected for the hunt. The idea is that hard work deserves a reward. The ads and online documentary will be produced by the team behind the reality series, “Dirty Jobs.” Those chosen to appear will be paid. A description of what the casting folks are looking for: stories from dedicated workers who know what real labor is all about — ranchers, commercial fishermen, mechanics, factory and construction workers, window washers ... you get the picture.

They're also looking for people who have made a difference off the job: rescuing animals, building a park playground, any deed that showcases sacrifice, integrity and plenty of heart. Busch Beer and the ads' producers hope to come to San Antonio in August to film those chosen. Deadline to apply is July 10. Interested? Send an email to Clark (bclark@pilgrimstudios.com) with the following: name, age, location and phone number. Also include a recent photo and a description of how you really “earn it” at your current job or volunteer effort. Applicants must be older than 25.

Hugh O'Brian reflects on journey from Hollywood window washer to star: When he was a 17-year-old Marine on weekend leave, Hugh O'Brian made easy money washing the storefront windows on Hollywood Boulevard. It was 1943 and O'Brian would go up and down the 6600 block of the boulevard, earning extra cash for his labors -- money he said he generally used to help pay for dates. But it was his fame as an actor that permanently cemented his relationship with this famous street. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was dedicated in 1960 -- 6613 Hollywood Blvd., smack in the middle of the neighborhood where he once washed windows.

Sitting on a recent afternoon at a sidewalk table with his wife, Virginia, outside the Lucky Devils gastro pub in the middle of the block, the 88-year-old actor said he has been drawn again and again to this stretch of the boulevard. "I don't remember what kind of store this was back then," he said, "but I used to get $2 to do windows like these. It was good money back in 1943."

Motorcyclist's 528-mile challenge in aid of Hoddlesden boy Sam: Window cleaner Andrew Smith, who is originally from Darwen, will complete the 528-mile round trip for the four-year-old Hoddlesden boy, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer, in January.

His parents are hoping to be able to take him to America for treatment but need to raise £250,000 to be able to do so.

Father-of-two Mr Smith, 52, who now lives in Salford, said he was inspired to take on the challenge on his Honda Blackbird after reading about Sam’s story in the Lancashire Telegraph. He said: “My mum lives in Hoddlesden and she visits me once a week and brings the papers with her. “I read about Sam and I thought it was a fantastic appeal, so I wanted to raise some money.” Mr Smith expects it will take him around four hours to get to Torquay, where he will have a two-hour rest before starting the journey home again. He has not yet set a date, but expects to complete the challenge at the end of August. Donate here.

DDB MudraMax - Outdoor wins big at Outdoor Advertising Awards (MUMBAI): Outdoor Advertising Awards 2013, which concluded recently, saw DDB MudraMax - Outdoor as the clear winner. The agency once again proved indomitable by bagging eight Golds, five Silvers and four Bronzes and the coveted 'Campaign of the Year' and 'Innovation of the Year' titles. The Campaign of the Year title was given to Volkswagen's campaign titled 'Post-It' and the campaign for Adventure 18 titled 'Window Washers' bagged the Innovation of the Year. Commenting on this exuberant win, DDB Mudra Group COO Pratap Bose said, "This is the fourth year where we have dominated this award function with a sack full of awards. It's a great result for the brave clients that we work with and a great thumbs up for the best Out of Home team in the country."

New York-based ABM is stating that if energy savings, measured annually, don't completely cover the cost of the work, as promised, including new equipment, they'll cut the town a check for the difference. ABM started as a window-washing company in San Francisco more than 100 years ago. It now offers such services as electrical and lighting, electrical testing, facilities engineering, janitorial services, landscaping and energy consulting.

Lucky escape for window washer - Man accidentally rams car into store-front property: The store front of Rent-A-Center was damaged after a man driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee struck parked vehicles before crashing into the business Wednesday near the intersection of W. Loop 281 and Gilmer Road. Police say the Longview man was backing out of a parking space when he lost control of his vehicle. Mike Stacy, manager of Big 5 Tires next door to Rent-A-Center, was on the telephone about 9:30 a.m. when he heard what sounded like a car peeling out of the parking lot. “He left the parking (space), and the vehicle was wide open on the accelerator,” Stacy said, describing the noise coming from the Jeep’s engine. “You could tell from the noise the accelerator was all the way on the floor.”
Witnesses saw the Jeep dart backwards across the parking lot and strike a car, pushing it into a van parked in the next space. With the accelerator still on the floor, Stacy said, the car continued traveling in reverse toward the Capital One bank building before it veered and entered the roadway on Village Drive. Stacy said at one point it appeared Barnes’ Jeep was headed straight into traffic on the loop. The vehicle then hit a small tree and re-entered the parking lot — still in reverse — back to its original parking spot before plowing through the Rent-A-Center’s front, floor-to-ceiling windows. Stacy said it was a miracle no one was hurt since there was a person sitting in the van Barnes damaged, people were walking in the parking lot and a man was washing the window the Jeep drove through.

The Mom thing hits me like a bolt of lightning when I least expect it. Like the other day when I was sitting in a meeting at work watching as a couple ropes swayed to and fro clicking and clacking against the 11th floor windows. I knew a window washer would make his appearance soon, but when his little wooden seat dropped down to my level of vision, my heart skipped a beat. He looked so young that I gasped. “There’s a mother somewhere who worries every day if her son will be safe when he goes to work.”

Students with a talent for IT, electronics or engineering are being sought for the 2013 Bright Sparks competition. The competition, created by The Skills Organisation, is designed to encourage young people, between 11 and 18, to experience electronics by developing and refining an invention before submitting a prototype for judging. This year the panel of four judges – all industry experts in their own right – has strict criteria for selecting a winner. “We’re on the lookout for technical excellence; innovation, including originality and commercial potential; and passion, involving personal engagement,” says Petersen. “It’s important to us that a Bright Sparks entrant has a balance of these three factors in their project.” Previous Bright Sparks award winners have gone on to win awards at national and international levels. The 2012 overall winner, James Watson, took his Rubik’s Cube-solving robot to the International Science Fair in Singapore, while fellow winner Sohail Abdullah (pictured) was selected to attend the prestigious INTEL ISEF Fair in Arizona where his robotic window cleaner placed third among 1500 entries. The awards were first held in 1998 and, Petersen says, the technology has changed markedly in that time, as well as becoming cheaper and more accessible.

Visitors are attracted to a performance by intelligent robots during the four-day 2013 China International Robot Show, which- opened on Tuesday in Shanghai.

Shanghai center to showcase robots: Expo plans to feature machines for dull or complicated assignments. The consumer robotics market is set to have a quick takeoff in China with the nation's first service robot exhibition center scheduled to open in Shanghai by the end of July. A robot-led automation boom is taking place in China as more companies use industrial robots for manufacturing and equipment operation. The market value of industrial robots in China surpassed 1 billion yuan in 2012, up 67 percent from the previous year, said Zhao Xinmin, head of the statistics department at the China Machinery Industry Federation. Service robots have long been a niche market, however, where overall revenue only reached 7 percent of that for industrial robots in 2011, IFR data showed. According to New York-based consulting firm ABI Research, the global consumer robotics market is poised to hit $6.5 billion by 2017 from $1.6 billion in 2012. ABI also said Asian companies are fueling new momentum in the industry by delivering newer task-based products such as window-cleaning robots.

The glass memory has been compared to the "memory crystals" used in the Superman films, which contain recorded holographic video and data saved by his parents.

Glass allows scientists to recreate superman's memory crystals: A new type of computer memory similar to the “memory crystals” used by Superman in the films has been developed. lasers to record and retrieve data from pieces of glass. They claim it could allow up to 360 terabytes, equivalent to 580,000 CDs, to be stored on a single piece of glass the size of a standard CD.  The process uses a laser to reorder the atoms in the crystal structure of the glass. The size and orientation of the tiny structures the laser creates adds extra information in addition to their location. These structures change the way light passes through the glass, meaning it can then be read back.

This means huge amounts of data can be stored. The scientists say that because the glass is stable and heat resistant up to 1,000°C (1,800F), it could also be used to ensure information can be kept safe for long periods of time in archives. Professor Jingyu Zhang, who led from the University of Southampton, said: “We are developing a very stable and safe form of portable memory using glass, which could be highly useful for organisations with big archives. “At the moment companies have to back up their archives every five to ten years because hard-drive memory has a relatively short lifespan. It is the first time researchers had been able store a document in glass using the device and then read it back. Previously the scientists created glass storage that could store the equivalent of a Blu-ray Disc – up to 50GB of data – but they now can store more than seven times that.

The scientists presented their latest work at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in San Jose.

The recording process, which is done by focusing a laser to imprint tiny dots called "voxels" into the pure silica glass. The process makes the glass slightly opaque and polarises the light as it passes through. This can then be read using a optical detector. The glass memory has been compared to the "memory crystals" used in the Superman films, which contain recorded holographic video and data saved by his parents. Professor Peter Kazansky, supervisor of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at Southampton University, added: “It is thrilling to think that we have created the first document which will likely survive the human race. “This technology can secure the last evidence of civilisation: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten.”

A Hackensack man and his sister have been indicted by a Bergen County grand jury  in connection with a pair of pellet gun shootings in which a man was hit and a young girl was narrowly missed. Nicholas Battaglia, a 25-year-old pizza maker and window washer, apparently was taking potshots at people “for fun,” Detective Capt. Thomas Salcedo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time of the mid-March shootings. The victims were in the area of a Pizza Hut parking lot at Essex and State streets across from Battaglia’s apartment, Salcedo said. “At the time we didn’t know whether it was a drive-by or from a stationary position,” the captain said.

Detectives canvassed the area and hit on Battaglia’s apartment. They knocked and immediately spotted the box for an air rifle inside, Salcedo said. The .177 caliber Crosman Air Rifle — same as the model pictured above — was recovered, authorities said. Battaglia was taken to headquarters, along with his sister, 30-year-old Rebecca Battaglia. Nicholas Battaglia remains held on $75,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. He faces six grand jury counts related to possessing, pointing and shooting the rifle His sister remains free on two grand jury charges of trying to hide the rifle and keep police from arresting him. Both are due back in Superior Court in Hackensack for conferences on July 17.

Community Alert: The RCMP are warning people about young people going door-to-door offering window cleaning services. In situations where unsolicited services are offered, you need to be wary that it might be an unsavoury character scoping out your residence. Never invite a stranger into your home, and always do reference checks on any contractor.

Percy Main serial conman locked up for cruel scam of Gateshead pensioner: Despicable doorstep trickster Philip Lamb was out of jail just months before he was preying on the vulnerable again. Lamb has a shameful history of posing as a window cleaner to trick his way into the homes of the elderly to steal from them.

And he’d only been released after serving half of a five-year prison sentence for a matter of months when he struck again. This time, the 30-year-old, whose own dad is severely ill, posed as a handyman and knocked on the door of an 84-year-old disabled woman and offered to clear out her gutters. The housebound pensioner, who lived in sheltered accommodation in Felling, Gateshead, initially refused to let him in, saying she thought that he was a conman. But it didn’t stop the career criminal from gaining her trust and worming his way in.

And it was while the victim was fetching him a bucket and water, that the shameless fraudster stole her handbag, a court heard. The woman only noticed her bag was missing after Lamb had left and contacted police. Now, Lamb, of Balkwell Avenue, Percy Main, North Tyneside, who pleaded guilty to burglary of a dwelling at Newcastle Crown Court, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years. Caroline McGurk, prosecuting, said Lamb was caught after police matched DNA to the bucket of water.

Branding Lamb a “serial burglar”, Recorder Keith Miller said: “You’re not a stranger to these courts, far from it. “You’re not a stranger to offences of burglary. You appear to be a serial burglar.” He added: “According to probation records, the circumstances for the matter for which you received five years was you called at the address of an elderly woman and asked if she wanted her windows cleaned. “You asked for her to fill you a bucket of water and you stole cash. The same report indicates a pattern of the deliberate targeting of elderly of vulnerable victims.

“According to the latest victim, you knocked at her door at about 3pm. “She wisely had a chain on the door so she could open it slightly without opening it fully. You asked if she wanted her gutters cleaning. She said the organisation that runs the sheltered accommodation carry out the work on her behalf. “You persisted and said it would only cost her £3. She continued to dispute the need for you to do the work, stating she doesn’t normally have to pay anything. She told you she thought you were a conman and you said ‘certainly not’, but that is precisely what you are.

“She eventually agreed and got a bucket of water for you then you asked for some soap. “She got that and remembered she needed to give you £3 and went to get the money out. “You then tried to confuse her, stating she had given too much money and you gave £1 back. It was after you went that she realised her shopping bag was missing from the side of her chair. “In the bag she not only had her keys, bus pass, rail card, purse, her pension card, spectacles, a bank card, £40 to £50 cash and her rosary beads. I’m sure the latter had particular importance to her. I’m equally sure she looked after all those items in the bag.”

The court heard Lamb committed his latest burglary in May, just five months after he was released from prison in December and while he was still on licence. She said: “He maintains he didn’t know beforehand that the victim was vulnerable as he was not in a clear state of mind.” Ms Hedworth also told the court Lamb, whose girlfriend is standing by him, was planning on giving £100 compensation to his victim.

Jailing Lamb, Recorder Keith Miller said: “The victim has lived in her house for 19 years and she now is frightened and is glad that the locks were changed, otherwise she would not be able to sleep in that property. I have gone at some length through what happened and the way the victim has been affected by it because, sooner or later, you’re going to have to realise that you must change your ways. The sentencing for this sort of offending only gets higher and higher.” Lamb fleeced an 81-year-old woman after posing as a window cleaner during the 2010 offence.

Woman Attacks Boyfriend With Windex, Car: A woman is accused of running down her boyfriend outside a store she was already banned from before attacking him with a bottle of window cleaner and standing over him with a box cutter. New Castle City Police say they responded to the BJ’s on Sunset Boulevard around 2:30 p.m. Monday for the report of a domestic incident between a man and a woman. Police say they found Adrienne Dorman, 21, of the 500 block S Dupont Highway standing over her 21-year-old boyfriend with a box cutter in her hand. BJ’s staff told officers that Dorman had already been banned form the store because of previous fights with her boyfriend.

The duo got into a fight in the parking lot this time over a cell phone. Witnesses told police Dorman intentionally struck her boyfriend with her car, sending him airborne. As the man lay on the ground, Dorman allegedly sprayed him in the face with Windex and began to go through his pockets. Police officers said they found her standing over the victim with the open box cutter. Officers were able to disarm Dorman and take her into custody. She was charged with second-degree assault, trespassing and related charges and released on $10,4000 unsecured bond. She was also ordered to have no contact with the victim and ordered not to drive a car. Her boyfriend was treated at a local hospital for leg injuries. Also see: A Use For Spray-On Window Cleaner.

Justin Bieber urinates into restaurant mop bucket then decries ... President Bill Clinton? Justin Bieber acting out of control and as if he can do anything he wants continues, as TMZ has video of the pop star urinating into a mop bucket in a restaurant kitchen. TMZ is told the clip was shot earlier this year when Bieber and his entourage were leaving a nigihtclub by exiting through the restaurant kitchen. And instead of using a restroom like a normal person, Bieber decides to pee in some poor janitor's mop bucket while laughing like an idiot. And his "Wild Kidz" entourage buddies act like this is a moment to remember. Then on the way out of the restaurant, Bieber sprays window cleaner on a photo of President Bill Clinton that hangs on the wall, shouting, "F*** Bill Clinton." So, have we started an office pool yet for the total implosion of Bieber? Whatcha got?