Does Pineapple Induce Labor?

If you are past your due date you may be looking for some ideas to get labor going. There are some foods that have properties in them that are known for helping prepare your body for labor and even sometimes inducing labor. Pineapples are one type of food that may help your body ready for labor. Tropical fruits like pineapples, mangoes, and papaya contain enzymes known as proteolytic enzymes. What these enzymes do for your body is they help break down protein.

While they function to break down proteins, they have also been used for all kinds of natural remedies such as anti-inflammatories and aiding digestion. Their digestive properties may help explain how they can induce labor. Sometimes foods that cause the bowels to move can stimulate contractions. This is because your intestines and uterus are both made up of smooth muscles. If the smooth muscles of your intestines start to move or contract, this can carry over to your uterus and stimulate contractions.

Bromelain, a specific type of proteolytic enzyme found in pineapple, may also help with softening the cervix. In order for a woman to go into labor, her cervix needs to efface and dilate (or thin out and open up). The softening of her cervix helps to prepare the body for labor and in this way pineapples may help to induce labor. Eating pineapples, however, may not have immediate results but it is a natural way to prepare the body for labor though.

If you want to try to induce labor naturally or just help get your body ready for labor by eating pineapples, make sure that you are eating fresh pineapples. The canning process destroys most of the enzymes and won’t have the same affect. Also know that the core is the richest in bromelain.…

Missing Shoulder Launched Surface-to-Air Missiles from Libyan Military Warehouse

Okay so, it appears that shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles have fallen out of control of the Libyan army and into the hands of Libyan rebels. NATO obviously doesn’t want the Libyan Army to have them, as they will try to shoot down NATO helicopters, UAVs, or Cargo and Attack aircraft, unfortunately, we also know that many of the Libyan rebels are or were members of Al Qaeda.

We also know that Egypt is allowing folks to travel over the border into the Gaza Strip, and we know weaponry is moving in that direction and along that supply chain. Therefore, one could conclude that; some of those surface-to-air missiles have made their way into the Gaza Strip, thus, will be used in the future against Israeli forces defending their nation from future rocket attacks.

It is quite possible that some of those surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and perhaps, other weapons too, have also made their way into the Sudan where they are having a civil war, and in all of these places there are radicalized Muslim terrorists, as well as members of Al Qaeda stoking the flames. Al Qaeda with shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles is quite problematic for peacekeeping efforts, NATO forces, US military, and Arab governments with aerial assets used to keep the peace.

There was a rather alarming article in SpaceWars Online News titled “Missing SAMs in Libya Alarms West” by Staff Writers in Cairo. The article stated;

“Russia has sold countless thousands to Moammar Gadhafi’s regime over the years, mainly Strela-2s, also known as SA-7s. But it’s not known had many Libya had when fighting broke out there. U.S. teams have dismantled more than 30,000 worldwide since 2003 but an estimated 500,000-750,000 remain in military arsenals.”

Perhaps, you can see how deadly and dangerous these types of weapons are in the hands of international terrorists. Terrorists also know that they must use these weapons sooner, than later, because the rocket propellant only lasts for a certain number of years, and in the extreme heat, it won’t last as long because the rocket fuel separates. That rocket fuel can also be used to make explosives, along with the tips of the missile, which can be used to make a more robust and longer-ranged RPGs.

While everyone is worried that Iran will get a nuclear bomb, and give that to proxy terrorists to use, which is probably not all too far off in the future, what about hundreds, if not thousands of shoulder launched antiaircraft missiles?

These shoulder-launched SAMs could also be used on soft civilian targets such as airliners killing scores of people to make a statement for their cause. We already know that Al Qaeda has a fascination and fetish with attacking civilian targets of this type. Therefore this is not a good thing, and I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.…

What’s For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus for 2010 – 34th Edition

This is the 34th edition of the weekly 30-minute menus for 2010. These are published on a weekly basis; I like to develop the weekly menus on Thursday or Friday, grocery shop on Saturday, and start the week’s menus on Sunday.

Happy Labor Day to all! Can you believe that summer is over? I hope you have enjoyed every minute of your summer – mine was great.

My family is visiting for the Labor Day weekend. They began arriving on Friday evening so everyone is here for our dinners on Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s dinner of Chicken Veronique is so easy and a family favorite; you can have a great meal and still have time to spend with your family. I will serve a Deli Delight appetizer course consisting of: Sliced Swiss, Cheddar and Provolone with Apple Cranberry Chutney; Sliced Ham, Beef, Turkey with Horseradish Mustard; Cherry Tomatoes, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Baby Carrots with Vindaloo Curry Sauce; Roasted Garlic Crackers and Mini Toasts; Golden Roasted Gourmet Peanuts. (Note: I will use the leftover Vindaloo sauce with the Mushroom Fritters on Friday).

I just love the Cincinnati Chili for a Crowd menu for the Labor Day celebration. You may even have a chili competition if you have a folks that like chili to make chili their way. This menu works well for eating at home, in the backyard, or porting to your picnic. Just put your chili in a crockpot and you are all set for good, family fun for all!

You will find that I use several cooking methods, mix and match, to get dinner on the table quickly! (The ingredients in parenthesis show some of my quick-prep steps.) You can always substitute your favorite made-from-scratch recipes when you have more time.

I hope you have a great week!

Sunday: Family Visiting for Holiday Weekend

Chicken Veronique (boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced mushrooms; purchase extra mushrooms for Friday)

Rice or Pasta

Sauteed Yellow Squash

Caprese Salad (purchase extra tomatoes for Wednesday and Friday)

Double Chocolate Torte (purchased pound cake and chocolate frosting; save some pound cake for Friday or purchase extra)

Monday: Labor Day

Cincinnati Chili for a Crowd (Cinci chili 5 ways with noodles, shredded cheese, onions, beans, or plain)

Condiment Bar (jarred salsas and relishes with sour cream)

Citrus and Avocado Salad (jarred citrus)

Stacked Brownies (purchased brownies and chocolate syrup)

Tuesday:

Quick Weeknight Jambalaya (boxed gumbo mix, chicken tenders, fully cooked smoked sausage, cleaned and deveined shrimp, canned tomatoes)

Fruit Salad (bagged spring mix, jarred fruit of choice)

Cream Puffs (purchased cream puffs)

Wednesday:

Hurry-Up Chicken Pot Pie (canned or deli chicken, biscuit mix, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, frozen vegetable mix)

Sliced Tomatoes with Blue Cheese (crumbled blue cheese, bottled vinaigrette)

Blueberry Stacks (refrigerated crescent rolls, jarred blueberry jam)

Thursday:

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry (bagged, cut broccoli; purchase extra broccoli for Saturday)

Rice

Sesame Cuke Salad

Phyllo Raspberry Creams (frozen phyllo cups, instant pudding mix)…

Incorporation of Employment Non-Discrimination Act Into Law

The employment non-discrimination act seems to be converted into a law early on in government of President Obama, and this will turn out to be one of the major employment change, this will be an unprecedented change in the all time legal history.

This act is stated as “Title VII”, and currently it is missing the sexual orientation as a secluded class. This bill would create some adjustments to “Title VII” to forbid biasing based upon sex orientation. President Obama has pointed out that he would prefer this law to forbid both sexual point of reference and the sex identity discrimination. Whether gender identity is eventually incorporated will be amazing to watch for.

Even though federal law does not now include sex orientation or gender identity as a secluded class, a lot of state laws do offer that sexual compass reading, gender identity or both are protected classes. Until now, there are almost 13 states and Washington, D.C. that defend against both sex orientation and gender identity. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

In addition, there are presently seven states that guard against sexual orientation but not gender identity. The names of all these states are Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin.

What will be the effects of this new federal law to your company? In turn to have high-quality training, employers must follow these instructions:

1. They should add sexual orientation as a protected class in their EEO rules.

2. They should add sexual orientation as a secluded class in Anti-Harassment Policy

3. Amend their Employment Application EEO paragraph to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination;

4. Give preparation for managers and workers so that they should understand completely what sexual orientation discrimination and harassment exactly mean.

Finishing employment discrimination is high-quality social and business rules. All employees may get advantages psychologically if discrimination based on sex orientation were eliminated in the work place.…

Is your roof giving you a headache? Have all the things that you have tried failed to solve the problem? If not, you should consider hiring a reliable Houses For Sale In Milwaukee contractor to help you. The following article is filled with useful articles you need to know about before you start working on your roof.

Safety should be a strong consideration with taking on a roofing project. Repairing a roof in bad weather is a recipe for disaster. Therefore, if you have a leak while it’s raining, put a bucket down until the storm passes. Once it does, you can then get on top of your roof to fix the issue.

If you have a contractor coming to remove your old roof, be sure to cut the grass beforehand. This will make things much easier to find if dropped. Even better, a magnetized nail finder will work at its optimum in short grass.

Do not give in to pitches by salesmen that do not sound reasonable. They’ll do anything to convince you to hire them to replace your roof, but you get the short end of the stick.

Due diligence is essential when seeking to hire a roofing contractor. Don’t just think that you should hire the first person that you find or one that’s the cheapest. Take the time to find out more about all the roofing contractors in the area. There are many ways to find good roofing candidates. You can get references from friends and family, research online consumer forums, or utilize a service to find reputable companies.

As you narrow down the field of possible roofing contractors to hire, make sure that you learn about each one’s warranty offers. You’re looking for a warranty which lasts between three to five years. The longer it is, the better. The warranty should deal with poor work and defective materials, and you should have manufacturer warranty copies too.

Damaged roofs are quite a big burden. Luckily, since you’ve read this piece, you know how to deal with roof problems. You can repair your roof. Make use of the great ideas found here, and roof repair success can be achieved.…

How to Increase Business Profit in a Bad Economy

Is your profit and loss report increasingly in the red? Many small to medium business owners and managers are watching the same sinking trend as they struggle to prop up business profitability. Here’s a powerful way approach to that problem that can revolutionize how you build your business.

Identify Key Factors: The first step in getting control of plummeting profits is identifying each key area of your business and recognizing how it affects profits. Many owners of small to medium businesses haven’t fully grasped the impact key business processes such as shipping and product pricing have on the bottom line.

This isn’t so hard to understand when you consider that the average small business owner wears multiple hats throughout the day. It’s hard to focus on a more profitable shipping method when you’re putting out fires in production and marketing.

Finding a good business planning tool is the first step in identifying what’s shrinking your profit margin. Easily understood online business tools are coming of age as small business owners race to maintain profitability. Find a business analysis tool that’s customizable for your situation and start feeding it information about how your business runs.

Analyze The Results: Once you’ve created an online snapshot of your business operation, it’s time for some analysis. Which business processes have shown a sharp increase in expenses, without adding income to your bottom line? Which departments are profit-neutral but play a key support role for other profit centers?

Here’s an example of how a business owner might analyze her key business factors: A mailing services firm finds her pricing is no longer competitive, but that they still lead the local market in delivery time. The loss of business to the competition has the owner wondering if employee layoffs are inevitable in order to bid more competitively.

With the help of an online business analysis tool, she documents a steady creep upward in packaging expense over the past two years. She also sees that the cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance and uniforms are primary factors in the firm’s declining profitability.

Make Decisions Based on Reality: With these trends well documented, this business owner can begin to make decisions about her business. Rather than immediately reducing her workforce, she uses her business productivity improvement system to project the impact of making changes in these areas.

Could she, for example, realize savings in uniform, fuel or vehicle maintenance expense by securing bids from other vendors? Is the increase in packaging expense really driven by the paper manufacturing market, or are other suppliers offering better pricing?

With those savings in hand, she can determine how much decreasing the rates she’s charging will impact her bottom line. The key is deciding which modification in the way she does business will improve business profit most significantly.

The need for this deliberate review and reflection about business profitability might seem obvious to some, but many small to medium business owners find it difficult …

Benefits Of Using Structural Industrial Racking Systems

A pallet rack is a single or multi-level structural storage system that is used to support the high stacking of single items or palletized loads. Pallet Racks are the main method of storage used by most company warehouses. Because warehouses house many different types of items of varying sizes, shapes, and weight, it is essential that a dynamic and structurally sound pallet system be used to store the items. Structural Industrial Racking Systems provide the best solutions for any type of warehouse storage need.

There are many benefits to using industrial racking systems. Because strength and durability are essential when choosing rack pallets, industrial systems are made with structural grade minimum 50,000 PSI steel. These pallet racks are also extremely versatile and allow a warehouse to increase storage density without limiting accessibility and compromising efficiency. As well, these high grade steel pallets come in varying sizes such as pallets that are suitable for small warehouses to larger multi-shelf systems for bigger warehouses. Also, the height of the pallet system can reach up to ceiling level resulting in better space optimization. Whether you require a simple racking method or a more complex and dynamic system, there are structural industrial racking methods to meet your needs.

Structural industrial racking systems are easy to add on to and expand so that as your business grows, so will your pallet system. Structural steel is far more resistant to abuse. There are systems that have heavier columns for companies who will be storing heavier and fuller loads. The structural industrial racking structure contain structural steel upright columns and load beams which make them resistant to minor impacts and thereby minimizing damage during regular warehouse operations. As well, their one-bolt beam to column connection increases system strength. Increased strength and durability are key features of structural industrial racking systems. They are able to handle high capacities which make them suitable for high traffic systems. Another important benefit of structural industrial racking systems is that it performs well in cold environments such as in refrigerators and freezer conditions.

Because companies are constantly looking for ways to improve productivity and reduce costs, structural industrial pallet systems have become an essential choice in many different types of industries. There are many reasons why pallet racking systems have been used for more than one hundred years. The advantages of using rack pallets include: better business management, maximized space utilization, improved SKU management, less on-hand inventory, improved safety, improved warehouse spacing, improved ergonomics, reduced labor costs, increased item protection, and easier accessibility to the items. You will find industrial pallet racking systems in such places as: manufacturing environments, distribution environments, retail stores, and even in archive and record storage.

Whether you are in need of a simple basic racking method or a more sophisticated system, there are pallet rack companies that provide secure, top quality, and cost-effective structural pallet racking systems that will meet your storage needs. It may be time to improve your …

A Re-Look at NAFTA – What Else Should We Consider?

Far too many people blame NAFTA on our nation’s economic problems and unemployment challenges, but I assure you, I personally am not one of them. Nor do I blame other nations for our economic ills. First, and foremost I believe we ought to look inward and into our own mirrors, and then consider what else we can do to make it more favorable for our jobs to stay here. Not long ago, I mentioned my ire to an out of state acquaintance, and she told me;

“I repeat, I do not see other nations as the root of all of our ills. I merely bring up the NAFTA point for the sake of discussion and as viewed perhaps through the eyes of persons it may affect.”

Sure, I’ve watched NAFTA over the years and I’ve watched industries like textiles, automobiles, glass, just to name a few. As those jobs went to Mexico, that was bad enough but now those jobs have moved to China, and they are helping our neighbors to the south, worse China is showing inflation, and now those jobs will move to places like Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and other nations which are only paying one dollar a day, or a dollar 50 a day, rather than the two dollars a day of the growing Chinese middle class.

It seems that the industries are chasing low-cost labor from emerging nation to emerging nation to the lowest common denominator. In some regards this brings people up to the world, but it can also cause havoc with regards to inflation rates, and a tough transition from emerging nation to industrial nation. We went through our own problems, with our own Industrial Revolution, so we know.

Thankfully world leaders are getting better at making the transition smoother, as we bring everyone up in the world. That doesn’t mean it’s not without problems. Still, if things can be produced at lower cost in other nations, and they can do it more efficiently, then theoretically from a global trade perspective that does make the most sense.

And if this is happening to rapidly for some people, I would look towards the unions as much of the cause, along with piss-poor policy, over-regulation and a runaway lift to just environment. It seems we are not a country that is run for the people and by the people anymore, rather it is for the lawyers and by the lawyers.

If we are expecting jobs in America, and if 70% of those jobs come from small business, we are doing ourselves any favors by increasing regulations or allowing litigation to run wild. Nor are we helping the job base with the government puts barriers to entry on behalf of unions which are trying to block competition. If we’re going to run a free-market economy, we need to get with the program, and stop putting all this debris in between the right to free contract between companies, …

Productivity Improvement Requires Employee Engagement and Relentless Pursuit of Process Improvements

There is a productivity crisis looming for your organization and for North American economies. The Conference Board of Canada estimates that by 2031, only 23 workers will be around to do the work that 50 do today. To make this more concrete, take a look around you and imagine that only half your coworkers are left to do the existing amount of work.

Slipping productivity will also hurt your organization’s ability to compete because your competition will be striving to do more work for less cost, decimating your margins.

Because I am in the leadership development business, you can anticipate the first recommendation: Be an employer of choice. Great leadership will help you attract and retain great employees and those great employees can create the productivity you are looking for. Let your competition suffer from not having enough workers to fill the orders they have while your company enjoys sustainable profitability.

But even that will not be enough…

Recommendation number two: You need to relentlessly pursue ways to get greater output from the same number of workers. Labor advocates might fear this means asking employees to work harder. In reality that won’t solve the problem. Generally people put in the same amount of effort over time with occasional blips that are higher or lower.

So the solution is to look for ways to improve work methods and apply technology to get more output from the existing resources.

And that means mobilizing your workforce now to get on with those improvements. Getting ahead of the curve in the short run will allow you to grow without adding resources and boost your bottom line. As older workers retire and fewer younger workers are around to replace them, you will be able to stay in business when your competitors cannot.

Both of these solutions require both strong management and strong leadership.

Reflection Questions

What active steps is your organization taking to both boost the output of existing resources while creating a work environment that attracts the best talent? What will happen to your organization if it does not take this challenge seriously?

Action Items

Examine your existing leadership practices. Now is the time to create the kind of leaders great employees want to work for.

Help teams of employees make meaningful changes to eliminate unnecessary steps, introduce time saving technology and improve output.

Wherever possible redeploy affected employees to growing parts of your business to avoid them resisting improvements because of job loss.

If downsizing is a likely result of your efforts, consider making those adjustments earlier, then help remaining employees devise better ways of doing the workload under the new conditions. …