What Is Calcium Phosphate

Your bones need more than plain calcium. They’re actually made from calcium phosphate. When it comes to this combination of nutrients, your diet has a better chance of lacking the calcium, but you probably don't need to worry about phosphate. When you’re low on calcium, your body resorts to taking it from your bones to ensure that levels of calcium in your blood are sufficient to keep muscles and nerves working. If you need to complement your diet, you may find calcium phosphate in supplements.
Calcium Phosphate Defined
    Just as its name sounds, calcium phosphate is made from a combination of calcium and phosphorus, but several different forms exist and they fill different jobs. One type of calcium phosphate, known as hydroxyapatite, is the primary mineral your body uses to build and strengthen bones and teeth. Other forms of calcium phosphate are used in food products such as table salt, baked goods and condiments, where they help prevent caking, condition dough and act as a leavening agent. Calcium phosphate is also added to foods to boost their calcium content and used to make calcium supplements.
Supplemental Form
    Calcium phosphate is one possible type of calcium you’ll find in supplements, but it’s not the most commonly used form. It contains a smaller amount of calcium than other compounds, such as calcium citrate and calcium carbonate, which makes it less convenient because you have to take more tablets to get the same result. However, two other types of calcium phosphate -- dicalcium and tricalcium phosphate -- have a higher amount of elemental calcium. Tricalcium phosphate has about the same amount of calcium per dose as calcium carbonate, according to a study published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” in July 2010.
Benefits From Calcium Phosphate
    Preventing or treating a calcium deficiency is the main benefit you’ll gain from taking calcium phosphate. Your body continuously removes old or damaged bone and replaces it with new bone. If your diet doesn't provide a steady supply of calcium, your bones will lose density and weaken. While it’s best to get calcium from your diet, supplements can make up the difference. One group of researchers found that calcium phosphate was a better choice for treating osteoporosis, but in another study, tricalcium phosphate and calcium carbonate had about the same impact in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, according to the July 2010 issue of the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.”
Healthy Recommendations
    Adults should consume 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily; women over the age of 50 and all adults over 70 should increase their calcium consumption to 1,200 milligrams daily. The best way to get calcium is from foods such as low-fat dairy products, broccoli and green leafy vegetables. Track the amount of calcium in your diet for a few days to determine whether you need to boost your intake. Some people experience gas, constipation or bloating when they take calcium supplements. You may be able to relieve any side effects by switching from calcium phosphate to one of the other supplement forms.

Vacuum Sealers – What You Need to Know Before You Buy

A vacuum sealer is one of those kitchen machines you don’t realize how much you’ll use – until you buy one. We use our vacuum sealer for food storage, sealing jars and bottles, corrosion protection, resealing bags and emergency preparedness. You can also use your vacuum sealer for sous vide cooking. In this post, we’ll discuss ways to use your sealer, do a comparison of Foodsaver models and their features, and share some tips on Foodsaver bags.
How does a food storage vacuum sealer machine work?
Vacuum sealer machines sucks the air out of a plastic bag or container and seals it so no air can get back in. When sealing soft or juicy items in plastic bags for freezer storage, it’s best to freeze the items for a few hours before vacuum sealing them. This prevents the food from being crushed or losing its juice during the vacuum process. Vacuum sealing protects the contents from oxygen, liquids and bugs.
Why Get a food storage vacuum sealer machine?
I've put together a list of different ways to use a home vacuum sealer to demonstrate how a vacuum sealer can help in your kitchen and home.
#1 –  Food Storage
I use my vacuum sealer for food storage more than any other use. Vacuum sealing dramatically extends the shelf life of food in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry.
In the Freezer
Have you ever tossed a bag of produce into the fridge or freezer, thinking that you’ll use it up quickly so you don’t need to do anything special with packaging, only to find it later, freezer burned or moldy? It takes just seconds to vacuum seal food, and vacuum sealing extends the shelf life of foods to years instead of months. Vacuum sealed meats don’t oxidize and turn brown. We always get our bulk beef purchase vacuum sealed.
Produce Keeps for Years Instead of Months
I use my vacuum sealer for fresh frozen produce such as peas, broccoli, strawberries, peppers, blueberries, kale, chard, green beans and pretty much anything else that is not a puree. I like to freeze the produce on sheet pans, and then pack into meal/recipe size bags and seal. That way, when I open the bags, the peas or berries aren't all clumped in one big frozen block, and I can pour out at little or as much as I need at one time. Pre-freezing soft or high liquid items keeps them being crushed and juiced by the pull of the vacuum.
You can see my original vacuum sealer in action in this post about how to freeze peas, and the FM2000 in the post about freezing beans. The vacuum sealed bags can stack like books on a shelf in the freezer and take up little space. If you cut the vacuum sealer bags open neatly, you can also reseal and reuse the bags at least once, sometimes more.
I can easily store food for a year or more, which is great if we have a bumper crop of something one year and a crop failure the next. Two year old vacuum sealed berries look like they were picked and frozen the day before. Try that with produce in a regular zipper bag, and you'll end up with a block of ice.
Below is a comparison of two packages of broccoli, one vacuum sealed, one not. I thought I'd use the second package up quickly, so I didn't take the time to vacuum seal. Big mistake.
In the Refrigerator
In the refrigerator, vacuum sealing helps food to last for weeks instead of days. Once you break the seal, the shelf life on many liquids drops dramatically. Now you can use your vacuum sealer to reseal wine, oil or vinegar with Foodsaver bottle stoppers. Simply stick in the stopper, hook up the attachment hose, and seal. They sell the Foodsaver® bottle stoppers in a 3 pack, so you can seal more than one jar at a time. This would also be a nice option for sealing jars of herb infused vinegar or oil.
In the Pantry
Vacuum sealers are also great for extending the shelf life of bulk dry goods, such as dried fruit, herbs and spices, or even flour and sugar. For non-powdery dry foods, like fruit, peppercorns or rice, I place the items in a mason jar and use the jar sealer attachment. This is also known as dry canning. This is especially helpful when you have a bumper crop that will be in storage longer because there’s so much to use.
For powdery items such as flour and sugar, I leave them inside their paper storage bags, and vacuum seal the entire package inside a vacuum bag cut to size. If you want to try sealing powdery material in a mason jar, make sure to form a hole in the center of the contents to increase airflow, and place a coffee filter over the contents to reduce the amount of dust being sucked into the seal and sealer.
#2 – Sealing (or Resealing) Non-FoodSaver Bags
Chip clips and clothespins might keep bag contents from spilling all over the pantry, but they don't work very well to keep the bag contents fresh, especially under humid conditions.
To keep the crunch in your crackers, simply use the Seal Only function on your vacuum sealer. I buy a lot of herbs, spices and baking supplies in bulk Mylar bags, so this is a great way to keep them from going stale before I use them up.
Can I vacuum seal Mylar bags?
You can’t vacuum seal Mylar bags without using an extra step, like putting an inch wide strip of textured FoodSaver bag plastic near the opening of the Mylar bag. Vacuum sealing a bag requires a textured area of the bag in the vacuum sealing channel. The textured area provides space for the air to get sucked out. Without the texture, the sealer clamps tightly shut, and seals before it vacuums.
#3 – Sous Vide Cooking
Sous vide cooking is a hot trend in some circles, and a vacuum sealer can help you prep your sous vide dishes. Foodsaver bags are sturdy, and hold up well to extended heating and liquid exposure. Removing the air from your sous vide bag prevents the food from floating. (Floating leads to uneven cooking.)
#4 – Protect from Corrosion
From ammunition to fine silver, air and moisture exposure tarnish and corrode metals over time. You can use your vacuum sealer to protect the shine on your silver cutlery and save yourself a lot of time polishing. Just make sure to wrap the cutlery in a cloth or thick paper before sealing, so that the fork tines or sharp knife edges don't puncture the vacuum bag.
If you want to protect ammunition, make sure to use the seal only function, not the vacuum and seal.  Vacuum sealing bullets may cause the slug to “pop” out of the cartridge. You can add oxygen absorbers for extra protection.
For the welders out there, one of the members of SurvivalMonkey.com notes that they vacuum seal their Broco exothermic cutting rods and underwater welding electrodes to keep them fresh, which reduces waste from boxes being open and rods being exposed to the elements.
#5 – Emergency Preparedness
I like keep a stockpile of items we use regularly. When the boys were younger, we went through a ton of band-aids – because boys will be boys. I bought a LOT of band-aids. Most were used quickly, but one box got shoved to the back of the linen closet. By the time I found it, the adhesive was starting to break down, and they were basically useless. (Note to self – clean linen closet more than once a year.)
Now when there’s a sale on band-aids, I unfold and flatten the boxes with the bandages inside, and vacuum seal the whole thing. When it's time to use them, I snip open the bag, unfold the box, and it's ready to go. They last for years.

HOW TO CURL YOUR HAIR WITH 2 in 1 hair straightener

You don't need a curling iron to get perfect curls you’ll love! Next time you are looking for a new, fun hairstyle, pull out your flat iron and get these amazing results!
This hair style was done by Sharelle Loudd at Beautique Salon in San Jose, CA. She was awesome enough to demonstrate this secret flat iron curling technique while we documented the process. We hope these tips will help you make the most of your long natural hair without pulling out a curling iron and burning your forehead.
You may be tempted to buy one of those fancy new curling rods, but it's easier than you think to use a flat iron to Curl Hair Styling Tools your hair. Keep reading to find out how!
Thanks to audreyobscura for the beautiful photography.
Step 1: Tools and Products Needed for Flat Iron Curls
These are the hair products we used to create the curls, but you can sub in similar products as well! You'll need a spray to hold the curls, and an oil-based spray to use before flat ironing your hair. This will add shine and protect your hair while it curls.
Step 2: How to Comb Out and Pin Up Hair for Flat Iron Curls
Take a half inch section from the nape of her neck and spray with oil sheen. Oil sheen helps with the glide of the flat iron over the hair. Go ahead and smooth the oil sheen through the body of the hair.
Tips for Curling Hair:
Wrap as if you were using a curling iron (don't close the flatiron completely).
Use less heat for blonde hair and scale up as hair darkens.
You can tell if you're putting enough heat in with the flatiron by feeling the hair. It should feel warm, which lets you know that the heat is reaching all of the hair.
You can't put too much hair in at once, or it'll be too too tough.
Don't do the tips of your hair until the end, as they require the least amount of heat to retain the curl.
Here is just the motion you will be using as you twirl you wrist to turn the flat. Check your pulse, twist, look at your watch, twist, repeat:
Step 3: The Basics of the Flat Iron Curl
Take flatiron and use it underneath your hair. You will be twirling your wrist around while holding the hair with your other hand when making the turn. So you are turning the flat iron, not the hair around the flat iron.
As you can see in these gifs, you aren't wrapping all of your hair around the flat iron like you would with a curling iron. Instead you wrap just part of the hair and slowly and carefully pull it down the length of the hair.
Step 4: Using the Flat Iron to Make Waves
This method is to get "Beach body wave curls," a looser curl that falls down your back.So instead of pointing the tip of the flatiron down, point it up, angling up (the angles do the curls).
Keep hair centered in the flatiron to avoid snags. Once you have it all wound around the flat iron, carefully unwind. If the curl comes out too tight, you can run your fingers through it to loosen it up.
Unlike the other Curl Hair Styling Tools, you wrap all the hair around the flat iron and then carefully unwrap it.

Step 5: How Your Flat Iron Curls Should Look
To finish off your new curly hairstyle, spritz with Kenra. You can also use an oil sheen and comb the top part of the hair to smooth it out.

How to fight fingerprints and keep stainless steel looking new

When interior designer Elizabeth Pash set about renovating her Manhattan kitchen, one thing she knew for sure was that she wanted the space to include a mix of materials: wood for the cabinetry, honed marble for the countertops and stainless steel for the appliances. Pash also used stainless steel for other design elements : Her custom range hood was constructed from sheets of matte stainless steel door and trimmed with polished stainless steel, and she installed a retractable stainless-steel “garage” to conceal smaller appliances with a trio of stainless-steel cabinets above. As she says, “There are a lot of trends that seem to come and go in kitchen design, but stainless steel has played a role in kitchens for a long time, and I think it will be here for years to come.”
Pash says that in some ways, stainless steel is easier to clean and maintain than the cabinetry and marble countertops.
Stainless steel is not only classic, but it also gives a kitchen a more professional look; it conveys a serious, strong vibe and projects a sense that real cooking takes place there (even if in some cases it doesn’t). And by and large, stainless steel is easy to maintain. It won’t chip, fade or stain. But don’t confuse its durability for indestructibility; stainless steel can scratch and dent, and by far the biggest complaint owners have is that the surface shows fingerprints.
Joel Chesebro, the head demonstration chef for Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove and father of three, knows all too well what toddler paws can do to stainless-steel surfaces. He and his wife, Jenny, admit that for several years, “wiping those little fingerprints fell to the bottom of our task list,” but because stainless steel is very cleanable, he feels it’s still the best choice for any environment where cleanliness is most important. Unlike other surfaces that mask dirt, he says, stainless steel shows when it needs to be cleaned.
The best way to prevent fingerprints from showing is to use a wax-based spray made for treating stainless steel door. There are many on the market, but Pash likes 3M’s Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish.
At the 8,500-square-foot stainless-steel-covered Sub-Zero and Wolf showroom in New York, where the appliances need to look their shiniest and best, the staff members use Zep Stainless Steel Polish. Although they use it once a week, most homeowners would be fine using it once or twice a month, depending on kitchen usage.
Whichever brand you use, wear gloves when applying the polish. Spray a light mist over the stainless-steel surface, but do not overspray; if you soak the surface, it will become too greasy. Wait one or two minutes after spraying, then wipe away with a clean, lint-free cloth (microfiber cloths work best). Make sure you wipe in the direction of the steel’s grain. The spray will bring back the original luster of the material and leave a thin layer of wax that will resist fingerprints and smudges. And if fingerprints do appear, they will be easy to wipe away.
Whatever you do, don’t use cleaners with bleach after you put on the waxy layer; it will dull the surface luster. And don’t use oil-based cleaners, either; they will attract lint. Abrasive cleaners such as Soft Scrub or Scotch-Brite pads could scratch the surface.
The only time you may want to use an abrasive pad is if an unintended scratch appears. If that happens, spray some of the polish on the scratch and then gently rub it in with steel wool or a Scotch-Brite pad. Again, make sure you always rub with the grain until the scratches are no longer visible. If necessary, spray a bit more of the polish on the scratch; the wax will help fill in fine lines.
The worst thing that can happen to stainless steel is a dent. (My refrigerator door has two.) Dents are hard to

Thermoplastic Composites at NPE2018: Machinery and Equipment

Increased use of thermoplastic composites will, almost certainly, depend on machinery and manufacturing processes that can make it adaptable for high-volume, high-speed applications. Several equipment suppliers are leading the charge and have technology at NPE2018 highlighting capability.
Four manufacturers have been particularly active in developing systems that adapt traditional plastics processes, like injection molding, to integrate use of continuous fiber preforms. At NPE, KraussMaffei’s (Booth W403) process, FiberForm, is being demonstrated in combination with swivel plate technology for multi-component injection molding on a GXW 450-2000/1400 machine. FiberForm combines the Thermoforming machine of composite sheets and injection in a single molding process. The resulting fiber-reinforced plastic components are particularly lightweight, but offer strength made possible by continuous fiber reinforcement. Paul Caprio, president of Kentucky-based KraussMaffei Corp., notes, “Our customers appreciate the high quality, reliability and cost-efficiency when manufacturing fiber-reinforced lightweight components in large quantities and fast cycle times."
Engel (Booth W3303) is similarly combining continuous fiber preforms with injection molding to create high-strength, high-volume hybridized structures. Engel recently worked with CCP Gransden to adapt an Engel vduo 1100 workcell for high-volume composites manufacturing. The workcell combines thermal-press forming and injection molding to achieve single-stage composite overmolding. The process begins with a reinforced thermoplastic blank (organosheet) that is heated in an infrared. The heated blank is then transferred to the press tool using a multi-axis robot. When the press closes to complete the thermal press forming process, the injection molding unit simultaneously injects a shot of thermoplastic resin. CCP Gransden has worked with PEEK, PEKK and PA.
Injection molding machinery supplier Arburg (Booth W1325) is featuring another hybrid process, called fiber direct compounding (FDC). The FDC unit on the injection unit includes a side feeder through which continuous glass rovings enter the barrel. The rovings are cut by an integrated cutter and then enter an adapted cylinder featuring a specialized screw. The fiber length, fiber content, and material combination can be adjusted to targeted specific component properties. At NPE, a hydraulic Allrounder 820 S will produce two 11.6-oz airbag housings in a cycle time of 70 seconds. A weight monitor integrated into the automation system displays the consistency of the shot weight and the finished parts are placed in boxes by a Multilift V linear robotic system.
Roctool (Booth S17013) offers several products, based on its induction heating technology, designed for use in composites fabrication, mostly targeted toward the high-speed/high-volume consumer electronics market. Light Induction Tooling (LIT) uses shell tooling with induction heating which allows high heat and cooling ramps while maintaining high temperature uniformity on the mold surface. Induction Dual Heating (IDH), developed with Arburg, offers induction-based mold heating for overmolding of carbon fiber preforms. 3iTech Heat & Cool helps ease design of mold heating and cooling layout to provide fast and homogeneous heating. The system uses flexible inductors that allow designers to follow any shape of tooling, using standard steel or Invar. A high-frequency current runs through the inductors to heat up the mold surface. Standard cooling channels with water are used to reduce mold temperature.