Jose Hernandez wins 2018 “America’s Best Installer” Competition for Third Time
Maryland-based insulation installer from Cameron Group LLC wins $10,000 grand prize in 16th year of annual competition presented by Johns Manville and Insulate America
DENVER – Oct. 23, 2018 – Jose Hernandez, an insulation professional in Elkridge, Md. was awarded the title of “America’s Best Installer” on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the EXDO Events Center in Denver for the third time. Hernandez competed against 35 other professionals from across the country for the title and $10,000 first-place prize in the fast-paced competition that highlights the importance of energy efficiency. Hernandez won the competition back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015, becoming the first competitor to win the competition more than once. He is employed with Cameron Group LCC.
The competition was created in 2003 by Johns Manville (JM), a Denver-based building products manufacturer and Insulate America, the nation’s largest independent insulation contractor organization. The competition recognizes local competitors and highlights the positive impact that properly-installed insulation can have on heating and cooling bills, home energy efficiency and indoor comfort.
The competition consists of three stages structured to test the installer’s workmanship and the final outcome of their installation. Competitors were assigned with the task of installing JM formaldehyde-free insulation batts into the mock home structure and were then judged upon quality and speed. Hernandez outperformed the other competitors during the final stage, which involved two identical wooden mock home structures, complete with construction challenges including electrical outlets, pipes and a vaulted ceiling.
“We’re pleased to honor Jose for the third time for his superior performance this year and we applaud our talented group of competitors for another solid year of competition,” said Bob Wamboldt, president of Insulation Systems at Johns Manville. “We’re proud of our continued partnership with Insulate America, and we look forward to celebrating and recognizing insulation installers for their dedication to the industry for years to come.”
The competition also awarded second, third and fourth place. Pete Middleton of Turner Insulation in Sterling Heights, Minn. placed second and was awarded a $5,000 prize, Stan Tatara of Henges Interiors in Earth City, Mo. was recognized as third place and won a $3,500 prize, and due to a tie in the preliminary rounds, Jesus Cruz of Millers Insulation in Albuquerque, N.M. and Luis Perez of Arkansas Insulation (A G5 Company) in Bethel Heights, Ark. both placed fourth and were each awarded a $2,500 prize.
Additionally, the following competitors received cash prizes for their performance during the preliminary rounds of competition:
Jose Lopez of American Fork, Utah, Premier Building Supply; $1,000
Victor Lozano of Shawnee, Kan., Insulation Specialties Contractors, Inc.; $1,000
Efrain Magana of Fresno, Calif., California Building Products, Inc.; $1,000
Jorge Tinoco of Pleasant View, Utah, J&K Insulation; $1,000
Eden Longoria of Englewood, Colo., Rocky Mountain Insulation Corporation; $500
Michael Stephenson of Orchard Park, N.Y., Northwind Insulation; $500
Robert Williams of Chattanooga, Tenn., Therm-Con, LLC; $500
About Johns Manville
Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality products for building insulation, mechanical insulation, commercial roofing and roof insulation, as well as fibers and nonwovens for commercial, industrial and residential applications. JM serves markets that include aerospace, automotive and transportation, air handling, appliance, HVAC, pipe and equipment, filtration, waterproofing, building, flooring, interiors and wind energy. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company has annual sales over $3 billion and holds leadership positions in all of the key markets that it serves. Johns Manville employs 7,600 people and operates 43 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and China. Additional information can be found at www.jm.com.
About Insulate America
Insulate America is the nation’s largest independent insulation contractor. With over 200 locations serving 46 states, Insulate America is committed to the highest quality workmanship and service. Training, education, sharing ideas, rigorous certifications and life-long learning separate Insulate America as professionals in the industry. Learn more at www.insulateamerica.com.
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Presidential Nuclear Nonsense
By John LaForge
769 words
The Reagan Administration’s 1980s crazy talk of “winning” nuclear war with “only” 20 million US dead produced a lot of anti-nuclear activism — all over the world. In Europe, hundreds of thousands marched against the placement of US Cruise and Pershing II missiles in NATO countries.
Fear of nuclear war and anger over presidential ignorance of it also produced the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. The treaty banned nuclear-armed missiles in Europe with a range of 270-to-2970 miles. About 2,700 missiles were destroyed by 1991, a deal that weapons salesmen like President !#&$! don’t like.
What the British, German, Dutch and Belgian marching masses were so alarmed about was NATO’s plan to destroy Europe in order to save it. Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt explained it this way: “So-called ‘flexible response’ …. means that the West … says to the Soviet Union: ‘We threaten you with a military defense strategy which foresees the early use of so-called tactical nuclear weapons.’ That means for the Germans that the West in its self-defense would destroy Germany.”
Schmidt’s description was no exaggeration. In an October 5, 2018 report by the Congressional Research Service, “flexible response” was explained similarly. “NATO’s strategy of ‘flexible response’… is designed,” the C.R.S. wrote, “to allow NATO to … be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict, with the intent of slowing or stopping [opponents] if they … advanced into Western Europe.”
Now, President !#&$! says he will withdraw from the INF treaty because he claims Russia is in violation of it. Russia denies this, noting that research and development is not banned, that its new land-based cruise missile “fully complies” with the treaty’s requirements.
These questions could all be settled with negotiations, but President !#&$! wants to get contracts for new missiles signed the and the gusher of military spending pumping, so that electoral votes are bought and paid for this year, and in 2020. Last Feb. 12, the Prez boasted, “We’re increasing arsenals of virtually every weapon. If they’re not going to stop, we’re going to be so far ahead of anybody else in nuclear like you’ve never seen before.” Never mind that the president cannot speak English; he and Congress are handing hundreds of billions of your tax dollars to their friends.
·Boeing took down $14.6 billion for the year 2015, and last February, won a $6.5 billion contract from the Missile Defense Agency to complete an “a new missile field with 20 additional” ground-based interceptor rockets at Fort Greely, Alaska, according to the Washington Post. While missile defense systems have never worked, the Pentagon said the total Boeing contract would reach $12.6 billion through 2023.·Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest arms merchant, is buried in money with $29.4 billion coming to it in 2015 under 66,000 contracts.·Raytheon was obligated to get $12.3 billion that year, including $31.8 million 464 Excalibur cannon-fired munitions that will also be sold to Sweden, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. ·General Dynamics drank up $11.8 billion building warships.·Northrop Grumman took down $9.5 billion, including the year’s portion of the (projected) $55 billion Long-Range Strike Bomber. ·United Technologies nailed a cool $1 billion for a few more F-35 fighter jet engines, but was obligated to get $6.6 billion for its 24,000 contracts in 2015.
With the public demanding affordable health care, better public schools, energy efficient cars, mass transit, and safe energy production, weapons builders could instead be putting their engineering expertise to good use. Enough of our wartime frenzy of bomb-building waste and fraud may again move millions to demand a reversal.
Martin Schulz, leader of the German Social Democrats who campaigned against Angela Merkel last year, was being reasonable in September 2017 when he said, “As chancellor, I will commit Germany to having the nuclear weapons stationed here withdrawn from our country. The cap on nuclear weapons in our country must be zero.”
-end –
John LaForge, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is Co-director of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental justice group in Wisconsin, and is co-editor with Arianne Peterson of Nuclear Heartland, Revised: A Guide to the 450 Land-Based Missiles of the United States.
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Veterans and Abuse Victims Find Relief
From PTSD Through Ketamine
Combat veterans can’t always leave behind what they saw and experienced on the battlefield when they return to the civilian world.
While some ease back into their old lives with minimal problems, many suffer from post-traumatic-stress syndrome so severe that they need professional help to overcome both it and the depression that often accompanies it.
For some, that means seeking relief from their condition through one of the many ketamine centers that have opened in recent years throughout the United States. At these centers, doctors administer ketamine infusions to treat such conditions as PTSD, depression, anxiety, OCD and chronic pain. Extremely good effect is found at stopping suicidality thoughts.
“Some researchers have called the drug the most important discovery in half a century," says Aimee Cabo Nikolov, administrator of the Ketamine Medical Clinic (www.ketaminemedicalclinic.com) in Miami , a division of the Neurosciences Medical Clinic.
Nikolov, who operates the clinic with her husband, Boris, and a team of medical professionals, says about 35 percent of the patients the clinic sees are military veterans seeking treatment for PTSD.
Nikolov, who has a background in nursing, has dealt with her own PTSD issues, though hers were caused by childhood abuse issues rather than combat. Like the clinic’s patients, she found ketamine to be a helpful ally in battling mental health problems.
“Ketamine infusions have lifted a lot of my own depression,” she says.
It’s only fairly recently that ketamine became popular as a drug for battling such troubling mental-health conditions as PTSD and depression. Originally, ketamine was developed as an anesthetic in the early 1960s, but it wasn’t long before people began using it as a recreational drug that was known on the streets as Special K.
It’s still used as an anesthetic, but over time some in the medical profession began to realize it could be used to treat depression and PTSD.
Studies have shown that Ketamine infusion can produce significant and rapid reduction in the severity of PTSD symptoms.
Just what is PTSD? Here’s what the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says:
Nikolov says that patients at the Ketamine Medical Clinic receive treatment that is individualized for their specific situation. Generally, though, that means six to eight initial ketamine infusions two times a week. That’s followed by boosters, which can be one infusion every two to six weeks.
“Ketamine has been described as rapid-fire treatment for depression,” Nikolov says. “For many veterans suffering from PTSD, ketamine is providing hope after other kinds of treatment didn’t give them the results they needed.”
About Aimee Cabo Nikolov
Aimee Cabo Nikolov is administrator of the Ketamine Medical Clinic in Miami (www.ketaminemedicalclinic.com). She is also president and owner of IMIC Inc., a medical research company. Nikolov has a bachelor of science degree in nursing and is also the author of Love is the Answer, God is the Cure. She and her husband, Dr. Boris Nikolov, have three children, Danielle, Sean and Michelle.
