Window Cleaners Get Eaten

Mosquito - from the Spanish or Portuguese word for little fly. Prior to and during blood feeding, they inject saliva into the bodies of their source(s) of blood. This saliva serves as an anticoagulant: without it, the female mosquito's proboscis would quickly become clogged with blood clots.

Mosquitoes are back, and they're breeding like crazy: Officials say population is up fivefold - While most people haven't even had their first swim or touch of sunburn yet, another one of the rites of summer - that first mosquito bite - may be happening sooner and be followed by more like it more than ever this year. "We have very, very high numbers in our traps," Theodore Andreadis, chief medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said this week.

This week marks the start of the experiment station's annual mosquito testing program. More than 5,000 mosquitoes were collected in 29 traps set around the state, including at sites in Stonington and Voluntown, Andreadis said. That compares to last year's first-day total of 1,100 mosquitoes. "We collected almost as many in a day as we normally get in a week," he said. "These were all human biters in our traps." In about a week, he said, the lab will have the results of tests for whether any of the trapped mosquitoes are carrying West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis. Mosquitoes can also carry Jamestown Canyon virus, which produces flu-like symptoms. The state has no official testing program for this virus, Andreadis said, but testing in previous years has found it was widely distributed in the state's mosquito population.

What accounts for the population explosion? Andreadis said rainy weather and warm temperatures at just the right time this spring created the perfect conditions for a prolific breeding season. With so many mosquitoes out there looking for a free lunch on the next available limb, advice about preventing bites may be more important than ever. So, too, is knowing who's most susceptible. According to the Mayo Clinic, mosquitoes choose their victims according to scent, exhaled carbon dioxide and the chemicals in a person's sweat. Though no one understands why, mosquitoes are more likely to bite men, people with "O" blood type and those who are overweight.

Don't be dismissive, Andreadis said, next time someone claims "mosquitoes love me." There is something to the notion that some people are more likely to get bitten than others, he said. "It may be the people who are perspiring more, or emitting more CO2, or emitting more of the chemicals that attract them," he said. He advises choosing light-colored, loose-fitting clothing over dark colors that absorb heat and can attract mosquitoes. Better still, wear long sleeves, long pants and socks outdoors whenever possible. Use of insect repellent containing DEET is also recommended, as is taking extra precautions or staying indoors when mosquitoes are most active - in the evening and early morning.

Cleaning gutters and draining any standing water around your home will also deprive mosquitoes of places to breed, and repairing holes in window screens will keep them from getting indoors. "Clearly, the results from our traps is an indication that there are a lot of mosquitoes out there, and we expect this will continue," Andreadis said.

Itching: 

There are several commercially available anti-itch medications, including those taken orally, such as Benadryl, or topically applied antihistamines and, for more severe cases, corticosteroids such as hydrocortisone and triamcinolone. Many effective home remedies exist, including calamine lotion and vinegar. A paste of meat tenderizer containing papain and water breaks down the proteins in the mosquito saliva. By using a brush to scratch the area surrounding the bite and running hot water (around 49 °C) over it can alleviate itching for several hours by reducing histamine-induced skin blood flow. Plain household sudsy ammonia is also a good treatment, ammonia being the main ingredient in Tender's AfterBite remedy, especially as a first wash option if applied immediate after multibite exposure. An even simpler, yet effective remedy can be achieved by applying a piece of adhesive tape over the affected area, or by sucking it with a drinking straw; creating enough counter tension on the surface of the skin to alleviate the itch. 

Avoid: 

Avoid dark, bright coloured clothing. Dark bright colours seem to attract insects, so it is best to dress your baby in light coloured clothing that does not leave too much exposed skin. Choose long sleeved tops, fitted garments like pants and jumpers instead of shorts and sleeveless tops. Avoid strong fragrances. Do not use lotions, soap, oils or floral scented perfumes or room fresheners as these may attract insects. Never leave uncovered food anywhere in your home, especially in your baby's room.

Recommended:

3M Ultrathon Insect Repellent 12 Hour Lotion/Sponge: Offers same time release protection as 2 oz Ultrathon and has sponge applicator which allows for quick, no mess application. 12 hour Ultrathon is the longest lasting and most effective insect repellent on the market today. It repels mosquitoes for over 12 hours and ticks for over 9 hours, and is also effective against biting flies, gnats, chiggers, and fleas.
Ultrathon contains 33% DEET in a controlled-release polymer. Ultrathon's Time Release Protection gives the user a balanced mix between concentration of DEET and long lasting protection. Our unique technology provides longer lasting protection with less DEET. It is moisture resistant & lasts through splashes, perspiration, and rain. Ultrathon™ Insect Repellent was initially developed by 3M for the US Military to provide up to 12 hours of protection for their troops. It is still used today.

Wagtail Winner & Other Window Cleaning News

Winner of the 14" & 18" Wagtail Whirlwinds in the "Just Giving" competition from a previous blog was James Carter (pictured) of Millbrooke Window Cleaning. Congratulations James. If you didn't know.....the Wagtail Whirlwind is now regarded as the fastest window cleaning tool in the world. An international challenge resulted in a massive 11 second speed difference between the Wagtail and all challengers.

Nanotube spiderweb catches the rays: A transparent spiderweb-like film formed from interconnected carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is highly efficient in solar energy harvesting, say Chinese scientists. CNTs are well known for their excellent electrical properties, which offer the potential for use in a broad range of modern technologies from sensors to flexible display panels. However, an appropriate method to produce CNT films that are both conductive and transparent has proved elusive, limiting their applications. Anyuan Cao and colleagues at Peking and Tsinghua Universities, Beijing, have developed a direct synthesis technique to achieve highly conductive and transparent CNT spiderwebs. They use chemical vapour deposition to grow ultra-long CNTs, followed by ethanol addition to condense them into bundles.

We use an extremely slow feeding rate of the chemical precursor, resulting in well controlled formation of thin, uniform CNT films,' explains Cao. The thinner the film, the higher the transparency - a property essential for its effective use as an electrode in solar cells. By tuning the transparency, Cao ensures that most of the incident sunlight can reach the underlying silicon wafer for conversion into electricity, without compromising the film's conductivity.
'CNTs play multiple roles in the solar cells: capturing the solar energy, forming junctions, collecting the photo-generation carriers and also as the transparent electrodes,' according to Yanqui Zhu at the University of Nottingham in the UK, who has expertise in nanomaterials fabrication and CNTs. He believes the successful fabrication of the 100 cm2 films brings CNTs a step closer to practical applications and paves the way for even larger scale production.
The spiderwebs are sticky yet robust and sufficiently flexible to be transferred easily to various substrates including metal, paper and micro carbon fibres. Cao foresees numerous potential applications for his CNT spiderwebs, and is pursuing research into their use in flexible devices and window coatings with self-cleaning, sensing, UV-blocking and heating functions.

Dangerous pests: “Mosquitoes are one of the most dangerous animals known to men,” said Laura McGowan, a spokeswoman for Clarke, a company that developments mosquito control products and trains people on how to use them. “More humans die from mosquitoes than from any other animal. … Malaria is a big killer.” In Alabama and in other parts of the country, people have contracted the West Nile virus from mosquitoes and many have died. “West Nile is here,” said Jim Hollins Jr., Area V environmental director of the Alabama Department of Public Health. “If we found a dead bird in your parking lot, we would not be surprised if it tested positive for West Nile.” Hollins said there are no reports of anyone diagnosed with the West Nile virus so far this year, and he hopes it stays that way.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 29,000 people in the United States have contracted West Nile virus since 1999. Of those, about 12,000 became seriously ill and more than 1,150 have died from the virus. More than 300,000 people are estimated to have been sickened in the past 11 years since the virus surfaced in the U.S. Hollins recommends that people should use insect repellents if they are outdoors, where they can be exposed to mosquitoes. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said. “There is no treatment for the West Nile virus.” Hollins said the symptoms of West Nile virus are a lot like those experienced with a cold or flu.
Health officials also suggest that homeowners repair old door and window screens so mosquitoes can’t get inside. Water in buckets or dishes for outside animals, along with birdbaths, should be changed at least weekly. Officials say rain gutters should also be inspected and cleaned. And people should consider staying indoors at dawn, dusk and in the early evening, which are peak mosquito-biting times.

The power washer: Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett (pictured) was in town Thursday and spotted at the corporate headquarters of her good buddy/window washing whiz Neal Zucker. The bevy of Secret Service agents accompanying Jarrett reportedly caused quite a stir......

Neal S. Zucker - Co-founder, executive vice-president (pictured) of Corporate Cleaning Services Inc. Partner in one of the city's largest window-washing companies and son of sports agent Steve Zucker, Mr. Zucker is perhaps best known as a whirling dervish on Chicago's philanthropic scene. "Some people have a few friends; Neal has a thousand friends," says Gerald Roper, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

Hans Hofmann helped ring in the golden age of paleontology in the early 1960s when many evolutionary questions were being answered about the vast unknown stage of life that existed before animals were capable of leaving behind a trace of themselves in fossils. Although trained as a geologist, he spent his career searching for and finding evidence of early life in very ancient rocks. Jokingly, Hofmann liked to compare his research to “being the window-washer in an underground parking garage,” according to his former student Guy Narbonne, research chair in paleontology at Queen’s University in Kingston.

The measurement-and-data giant Nielsen has new evidence that advertisers need to do a better job of targeting the massive baby boomer demographic and stop worrying so much about young shoppers. However, Nielsen may find it difficult to challenge the accepted marketing orthodoxy that youth is where it's at. Any number of parties have complained over the decades about marketers' obsession with youth. Consumers over AARP age often have more money saved and can spend more on items other than food and groceries, but marketers maintain that reaching younger consumers, particularly those between the ages of 18 and 49, is more important. The logic? That group usually hasn't committed to a favourite toothpaste or window cleaner, while older folks have–and won't have their minds changed by a TV-ad blitz.
Nielsen wants to change those perceptions and it's got numbers on its side. Its researchers believe consumers over the next decade will have fewer children, leading to smaller households and fewer young consumers to lure. A rough economy will lead to those smaller young families spending less, and smaller salaries for younger generations known today as "Generation Y" and "Millenials." Indeed, as the baby boom generation retires and grows old, America is likely to have a larger older population and a much slower-growing young one, suggested Doug Anderson, Nielsen's senior vice-president of research and thought leadership.
"There will be a huge number of people over the age of 65, 75, and 85 over the coming decade. We've never had a population this big this old before," he said. "This is not something that demographers and anthropologists have tons of models sitting around that they can talk about. We as a species have never had this many older people before. It's new ground." There is some interest. In May, NBC Universal and Procter & Gamble launched a group of websites under the rubric "life goes strong" and aimed at catching boomers' fancy. Topics include technology and health.

Q&A with "CleanMy": Ben Williams, Managing Director of CleanMy, talks to FDS Midlands and Wales' Ken Young about his business and his plans for the future.
Question: How would you describe the CleanMy business?
Answer: CleanMy supplies all kinds of vital materials and equipment to business customers but we can perhaps best be described as a supplier of cleaning and hygiene products. Our range of over 2,000 stock items includes cleaning chemicals, paper disposables, soap & handcare products, janitorial equipment, window cleaning materials and safety workwear.
Question: What is the background to CleanMy?
Answer: CleanMy can be traced back to my grandfather who was in the window cleaning business.


A bigger squeegee? A window cleaner washes windows at the newly opened Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. The new structure is spread over more than 120 acres and with more than 160 check-in windows it can handle 34 million passengers a year, according to Delhi International Airport.

The Blue Jackets are commemorating their 10th NHL season in 2010-11. The Blue Jackets also announced renewed partnerships with Columbus Brewing Company, Columbus Window Cleaning, Minute Men Staffing and the U.S. Air Force.

Cuci The Musical 2 is entertaining, but not because of its musical numbers. The musical revolves around four adopted brothers Fairil, Khai, C' Tan and Jojo who work together in their small family business Cuci-Cuci Services (M) Sdn Bhd. They move from their kam­pung to the city where they become window cleaners with dreams of one day making the windows of Petronas Twin Towers sparkle. When they get a chance to join the Window Washing Olympics, the foursome is ecstatic to get closer to the dream.

Having lived in the Canyon for 38 years, we are not unfamiliar with creatures. We had rattlesnakes at one time whose heads I chopped off despite a park ranger's insistence that I should reason with them. That would be like trying to reason with Karl Rove. We've also had raccoons, gophers and black widows, one of which bit a window washer who stuck his head under an eave and was mistakenly identified by the spider as an enemy. He survived with medical care and now works cleaning churches.