Few Westerners know that Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the rest of the Eastern Christian world celebrates Christmas on the 7th of January and not on the 25th of December like Catholics. Many Westerners are surprised when they hear that Ukrainians and Russians have their Christmas at the end of the first week of January. However, the history of these calendar and religious differences goes back into the centuries, and Glass Replacement Queen Creek wants to shed light on the existing disparities between the Catholics and the Orthodox.

Russians and Ukrainians have their Christmas celebrated in the best traditions of Orthodox Christianity. Based on the old Julian calendar, Christmas always happens on the 7th of January, the day of solemnity and celebration for the entire Orthodox community. After 1917 and the October Revolution Christmas, as well as all other religious holidays, was officially banned. Churches were being destroyed, and religion was called ?the opium for the masses?. 75 years passed, until in 1992 Christmas restored its status and became one of the biggest religious holidays in the Orthodox landscape. Today millions of Russians and Ukrainians come to church on the eve of the Christmas to stand the all-night Mass and express their religious gratitude.

The main traditions of Orthodox Christmas differ greatly from the Christmas traditions pursued by Catholics. Glass Replacement Queen Creek knows that Christmas in Russia and Ukraine marks the end to the long religious fast, which lasts until the 6th of Jan, when the first star appears in the sky. As always, Christmas is a family holiday, and the dinner following the church mass should be shared with all family members. This is why on this day children visit their parents or other relatives to celebrate their unity, peace, and happiness. The so-called Holy Supper follows the traditions of Christianity, with no single piece of meat but with grains, honey and garlic; the latter reminds Orthodox Christians of the bitterness of life. Despite these differences, Christmas remains one of the most important religious points in the lives of every Christian.

In the previous post Glass Replacement Queen Creek talked about the issues of energy efficiency affecting the U.S. glass industry and the benefits of implementing energy efficiency technologies. We concluded that energy efficiency was not simply desirable for the U.S. glass manufacturers but could readily become an important source of their strategic advantage. Today it is useful to look at what the U.S. glass industry is doing to achieve better energy and environmental compliance. Glass Replacement Queen Creek believes that glass manufacturers in the United States are doing a lot to enhance the efficiency of their energy systems and solutions.

It should be noted that natural gas and electricity make up the bulk of energy consumed by U.S. glass manufacturers. The lion?s share of all energy consumed by the U.S. glass industry goes to glass melting. It is the discussed combination of natural gas and electricity that drives and supports glass melting. Heating takes almost 70 percent of all energy in the American glass sector. However, over the past decade U.S. glass manufacturers have advanced themselves considerably toward greater environmental and energy compliance. Glass Replacement Queen Creek has learned that almost all leading manufacturers of glass in the United States voluntarily participate in a wide range of various programs protecting the environment and employee health and safety. The Environmental Protection Agency encourages and involves almost every third glass manufacturer in America in its programs. In the meantime, the industry invests sizeable resources in research and development. For example, given the risks of asbestos effects on employee health, the U.S. Glass Industry has initiated a nation-wide research of fiber glass manufacturing. As a result, it was generally concluded that the production of fiber glass was low-risk and safe to health and safety of all stakeholders. In 1994 alone, U.S. glass manufacturers spent $250 million on environmental efforts. These, however, are merely the beginnings of the broad movement toward greater efficiency and better environmental protection in U.S. glass.

The whole world is moving toward greater energy efficiency and energy economies. The ongoing energy crisis changes the structure of economic and social values; as a result, millions of people all over the planet have to adopt a new vision of the energy efficient reality, where efficiency is the basic measure of success. Glass Replacement Chandler realizes that the glass industry in the U.S. is not secured from these influences. In other words, like the rest of the American society and the world, the U.S. Glass Industry must learn to comply with the new and emerging energy efficiency standards. It is noteworthy, that the U.S. Glass Industry is made of the four major sectors ? container glass, flat glass, fiberglass, and specialty glass. Glass Replacement Chandler realizes that all these sectors contribute equally to the energy costs and expenditures carried by the entire glass industry in the U.S. Together these sectors consume more than $1.5 billion in energy expenses every year. In other words, every 14th dollar of production costs in U.S. glass manufacturing is spent on energy. Apparently, energy efficiency is the best and most reliable way to reduce these energy costs.

Energy efficiency is valuable not only because it allows reducing energy costs in the U.S. Glass Industry. Energy efficiency is that instrument which allows reducing energy costs without compromising the quality of the ultimate product. More importantly, and Glass Replacement Chandler is convinced, that energy efficiency provides greater opportunities to improve the quality of glass products in the U.S. Glass manufacturers in the U.S. should invest in energy-efficient technologies, since the latter result in considerable quality improvements and higher process efficiency. Energy-efficient technologies in glass manufacturing lead to increased production and other productivity gains. Customers are getting more environmentally friendly and environmentally conscientious. Consequentially, they seek to purchase products and services from environmentally conscientious companies, like them. In this sense, energy efficiency exemplifies an important element of companies? environmental strategies and ?green? brand image. Thus, it is clear that the more U.S. glass manufacturers invest in energy efficiency the more competitive they become. The main thing manufacturers should learn is how exactly energy efficient technologies need to be implemented.

Throughout its history, one of the main political objectives in the United States had been to provide all citizens with equal employment opportunities. In the glass industry and elsewhere, being able to get the job by skills and knowledge has become a top strategic priority. The growing number of anti-discrimination laws suggests that the U.S. is moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, the issue of discrimination continues to persist. Home Glass Repair Chandler has learned that the developed world is still facing labor discrimination, and workers in the glass industry often have to go to courts.

Professionals working at Home Glass Repair Chandler have learned about a lawsuit filed by a British glass sales manager against his employer. The manager claims that his employer owes him at least 10,000 in wages and holiday pay. The employer, in turn, argues that the manager had never worked for the company and used to be self-employed. Who is wrong and who is right is to be decided by court. Meanwhile, the sales manager continues to argue that, since he was paid on an hourly basis, he considered himself a full-time employee. Firm representatives insist on treating the sales manager as a self-employed person without any employment contract. Home Glass Repair Chandler will monitor the case. However, even now, there seems to be a huge problem with the anti-discrimination laws in Britain and the U.S. On the one hand, glass industry employees and manufacturers lack a single coherent definition of discrimination. On the other hand, how glass manufacturing firms interpret the meaning of discrimination depends greatly upon their organizational cultures.

As the glass industry is expanding, there is clearly the need to improve the legal climate. This is how the glass industry can secure itself from the cases and lawsuits similar to those in Britain (taken from USGlass News Network).

Glass is everywhere ? in bottles and windows, in banks and cars. Glass is everywhere, and Glass Replacement Queen Creek has discovered a unique place, which is integrally linked to glass. The place we are talking about is the Glass Beach ? one of the most unique and beautiful places in California. It is unique not because the natural forces have shaped it but because a huge mistake made by humans was later corrected by with the help of the pounding surf and time?

Since the end of the 1940s, the place which we now call the ?glass beach? used to be a dump. In other words, people would throw their waste directly into the ocean. Surprising as it may seem, there were no environmental laws at that time, and water pollution was natural, continuous, and legal. Actually, water resources all over the United States suffered the tragic effects of human activity. Rivers were dried or polluted, simply because manufacturers and businessmen were not legally required to establish and run systems to purify their wastes and reduce the scope of pollution in water. Thus, the place where the glass beach is located was merely one element of the complex pollution machine set in motion all over the United States.

The types of waste thrown into the Californian ocean ranged from household garbage to old cars. It is no wonder that so much glass accumulated along the California shores. It was not before the beginning of the 1960s that using the ocean and beaches for dumping was banned. No toxic waste would be thrown into the water anymore. Glass Replacement Queen Creek also learned that in 1967 the dumping practices were moved farther from the ocean and a new dumping place was created to avoid further harm to the nature.

30 years passed after the tragedy. Finally, the nature and the ocean were able to reclaim their right to occupy the beach. Pounding waters have polished thousands of tons of glass on the beach. Those who come here can see millions of glass pieces sparkling in the sun. To make this place even more attractive, local authorities have put a ban on collecting the glass pieces on the beach. Here, glass reminds humans of the pains and sufferings they have caused to the ecology and nature.