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a culture of service...
August, 2013
© 2013, Hardy Diagnostics,
all rights reserved
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Tap Tight
Hardy's contact plates
seal with a simple "tap"
The new Tap Tight makes collecting surface samples easy and reliable. After pressing the media to the surface, simply tap the lid and it will be securely fastened to the base for safe transport to the lab. The Tap Tight is available in a triple bagged format and irradiated for sterility.
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Online
Ordering
Made
Easy!
Watch
a short video
to learn how easy it is
to order from Hardy on-line!
Pick
. Click. You're Done!
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Brainteasers
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Think about it...
* How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
* Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?
* If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
* Why are you IN a movie, but you are ON TV?
* Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
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Phraseology
There are several possibilities for the origin of "Knuckle under."
1) Today the knuckles are the joints of the fingers, but in Medieval England it also referred to the elbow and knee joints. As a token of submission a person would fall to his knees before his conqueror. So to knuckle under meant to put the knuckles of one's knees to the ground, 'to bend the knee before,' 'to bow down to.'
2) The phrase is a variation on the similar earlier phrase 'knock under,' an abbreviated form of the obsolete to 'knock under board' or 'knock under the table.' People in taverns were said to rap on the underside of the table with the knuckles when beaten in a drinking contest as a sign of submission or defeat.
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If you lend someone $25 and never see that person again...
it was probably a wise investment.
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Wisdom to ponder...
Johnny Carson
1925 ~ 2005
Comedian and host of "The Tonight Show" for 30 years.
"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."
"Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill."
"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."
"My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day."
"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."
"People pay more to be entertained than educated."
"In Hollywood if you don't have a shrink, people think you're crazy."
"Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead."
"Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto --
usually a mop or a leaf blower."
"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."
Before getting into television, Carson served in the US Navy as a code breaker in WWII, worked as a magician, and had a 10-0 record as an amateur boxer!
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QUICK LINKS...
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Want to receive the MicroBytes
Newsletter
at home?
CLICK HERE
Want to review past issues
of MicroBytes?
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Did you know?
Hardy Diagnostics...
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Is celebrating its 33nd year of serving microbiologists.
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Is
ISO 13485
certified for the manufacture of medical devices to give you confidence in our products.
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Offers you its technical manual,
HUGO
, which contains over 4,500 pages of information regarding microbiology.
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Maintains a worldwide network of over 40
distributors.
Send a
message to the president
.
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Ever wish your grams stains were more distinct with brighter colors?
Ever had problems with debris and crystals in your stain?
Poor gram stains are a leading cause of mis-identification. Hardy's "Gram Stain Advanced" can help. You will notice that both gram negatives and positives will exhibit brighter colors, due to several modifications that we have made to our stain. Your stains will be smooth and without unwanted debris due to our filtering process.
But you won't know for sure until you try it!
View
the Gram Stain Advanced brochure.
Order
Gram Stain Advanced today. It is also available by the gallon.
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Why are these people burning
clothes and bedding material?
How is this wagon designed especially
for carrying the bodies of disease victims?
Why is this priest covering his face?
How was this mask used for disease prevention?
Find out
what it was like to be alive during the most devastating pandemic in human history that wiped out one third of the population.
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The Black Death
A Macabre Resurfacing in London
Construction workers have uncovered numerous bodies of victims of the black plague while excavating for a new rail line in London. One historian believes this mass grave could hold up to 50,000 bodies dating back to the middle 1300's when two thirds of London's population was rapidly wiped out due to the spread of the deadly bacterium,
Yersinia pestis
.
The exhumed bodies will be stored for up to two years so they can be studied, including DNA tests, before being relocated to another burial site.
The Black Death was the most devastating
pandemic
in
human history
, killing an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaked in
Europe
in the years 1348-50. The dead comprised 30 to 60% of Europe's entire population.
Although not known at the time, this bacterial disease is spread by the bite of a flea that is commonly associated with rodents and particularly rats.
The plague hit Northern Italy in the middle 17th century.
Scenes
of this outbreak are featured in this month's
MicroBytes
.
Sporadic isolated incidences of the plague continued in Europe up until the year 1772.
Even now, the plague persists with about 5 to 15 people in the United States that catch the disease each year - typ
ically in western states. There have been 999 cases from 1920 to 2010.
More information from the CDC.
Map showing the location of plague case from 1970 to 2012.
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Stare at the black dot for 20 seconds,
then look up at the ceiling.
"Believe half of what you see
and none of what you hear."
~ Marvin Gaye ~
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Take the MicroBytes Survey...
Should there be government controls on soda consumption?
Recent
studies
link the rapidly increasing consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soft drinks to the alarming obesity epidemic in America. Fructose is different than glucose in that it is metabolized directly in the liver into fat, and it does not stimulate the production of insulin or leptin which causes a feeling of satiety, which tell us to stop eating.
New York City recently passed a law that would ban non-diet sodas larger than 16 ounces from being served.
However, a month ago the New York State court of appeals struck down the law. The judges wrote that while the City had the power to ban "inherently harmful" foodstuffs from being served to the public, sweetened beverages didn't fall into that category.
What do you think?
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Check the survey results
...
Should marijuana
be legalized?
Tax revenue on marijuana in Colorado is expected to be about $24 million, with a savings of about $12 million in law enforcement costs. Was this a good thing?
See
what the MicroBytes readers thought.
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It's all about jobs...
Manufacturing
makes a comeback!
At Hardy Diagnostics we are proud to bear the label "Made in the USA" on our products. A strong manufacturing base creates a healthy economy for any country that wishes to prosper.
Recently, manufacturing is making a comeback in America. Consider the following facts....
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By 2015, average manufacturing costs in Germany, Japan, France, Italy, and the UK will be 8% to 18% higher than in the U.S., estimates the Boston Consulting Group.
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Among the biggest drivers of this advantage are the lower costs of labor, and cheaper natural gas and electricity.
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The U.S. could capture up to 5% of total exports from these developed countries by the end of the decade.
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Due to rapidly rising costs of making products in Asia, 48% of large American businesses have either brought back their manufacturing from overseas to the US, or are seriously considering it.
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Of all the cars sold in America, 55% were foreign brands, however, more than half of those foreign brand cars were made in America. In fact, ten foreign auto makers now operate 17 production factories in the U.S.
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WalMart has promised to source an additional $50 billion worth of U.S.-made goods within the next ten years.
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Apple is bringing back the manufacturing of Mac computers and Motorola will be making the new smartphone, Moto X, in America.
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A recent poll showed that 75% of U.S. consumers said they would be willing to pay more for American made products.
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"The human mind is not capable
of grasping the Universe...
We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written.
But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books--a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects."
~ Albert Einstein ~
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