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Companies providing international auto shipping deliver cars throughout the world, for individuals and other companies. Shipping regulations for automobiles are quite stringent, requiring documentation of a wide variety of information including the vehicle identification number (VIN), details of the shipping and receiver, and dimensions of the vehicle. The automobiles are required to only be filled with minimal amounts of gasoline and must be kept underneath the deck of the shipping vessel. Customs regulations for international auto shipping also require extensive documentation, such as the original titles and multiple copies of both sides of the titles.

When preparing a car for international auto shipping, all of the details the shipping company needs must be ready. A vehicle without proper paperwork may be placed in storage, with daily fees assessed until the paperwork is corrected and the vehicle claimed. This includes written permission for the transportation of the vehicle from the lender, if the car is under a loan. Most international auto shipping companies offer up to $10,000 USD in insurance for each vehicle shipped. The car must be empty, with no other items inside. The keys and original title must travel with the vehicle. The auto must be in working condition and care must be taken to ensure that there is not too much gasoline in the tank. After the vehicles paperwork is completed, including a bill of health assuring its condition, it is loaded onto a ship. 

International auto shipping is usually done by sea, because ship transport is much more inexpensive than air shipping. “Roll on, roll off” (or RORO) ships are used. The type of RORO specially used for international auto shipping is called a Pure Car Carrier (or PCC). While docked, a portion of the hull on the bow or stern of the ship will lift up and a loading ramp will descend. The vehicles are driven, or “rolled up”, onto the vessel. They are placed in areas not unlike common parking spots. The loaders will make sure the automobile is secured for transport before moving onto the next car. Once all of the vehicles are in place, the shipping crew will review the stored cars to double check their storage condition. The RORO end closes and then vessel departs to take the autos across the sea to their new home.

When arriving in the destination port, the ship and its content must clear customs and inspections. The paperwork and cars are reviewed to ensure everything meets the shipping regulations and import laws. After this bureaucratic hurdle is passed, the ship once again aligns with dock, raises the hull and lowers a shipping ramp. The vehicles are then driven onto the loading dock (“rolled off”), where they are claimed by their owners, moved to a warehouse for storage or loaded onto a car shipping truck for delivery to retailers. The crew and ship will receive a new load of vehicles, or depart for their next scheduled port for another load of cargo.

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Buying a used car is usually a pain in the rear, simply because of the fact that there are so many things that can be wrong with the car.  It could be a bad transmission, alternator, carburetor, fuel injector, or any one of a thousand problems that could make you not want a vehicle.  Some people buy cars that are “fixer-uppers” simply because of the fact that they are a cheaper buy if they decide to just repair the vehicle on their own.  This is typical of mechanics who need a new vehicle, because a lot of the cost of repairing a vehicle comes from paying for the labor, not the actual parts itself.

But, what about water damaged vehicles?  Most people do not think about this when they go to buy a vehicle, so they are not sure what to look for. 

The first thing you should probably do is smell the interior.  You should smell next to nothing.  If the smell is a musty odor, then that probably means that mold is growing somewhere inside the vehicle.  This could be due to liquid spills inside the car like soda, but it could also be due to the car having been flooded.  Look for other signs of water damage if you detect a musty odor.  Your prospective vehicle should NOT have been treated with air freshener.  This is typically used to cover up musty odors and the dealer you are buying from may be hiding something.

Checking the car’s trunk for buildup of silt, rust, or mud is also a good idea.  The area around the taillights should be checked thoroughly, since this is an area where these things will build up most often. 

You can get a vehicle history report from a site like Carfax.com, but these are not always reliable.  An accident or an incident of flooding will only be on this report if an insurance claim was filed.  If the car is in an accident and the insurance company the person is with is not notified, then the incident will not appear on the history report.

Check the electronic parts of the vehicle such as gauges and make sure they are in working order.  This can include the fuel gauge and other various indicator lights.  Wires in the dashboard and under the steering wheel can be flexed and if they crack, they have probably been exposed to water.

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Everybody knows how much damage mold growing inside a home or a workplace can be to human beings, but something that we tend to forget is just how important mold is to our daily lives.  It exists everywhere, but people all over the world have used it to help advance society for years. 

Molds have been used to make things like cheese, breads, and beer, which are some of the most important and basic foods we have.  Bleu cheese contains mold and is pretty popular both in its salad dressing form and in its whole cheese form.  Bread is a staple in almost every home on the planet and while beer might not be that important to some people, but it’s obvious how popular it usually is with the masses and some people can’t really imagine life without it.  Sake is made in Japan by using a mold and what is known in Japan as red yeast rice is also made using mold, even though they require two different kinds.  Other fungi such as mushrooms are used in our foods to help flavor them and add more substance to our meals.  They’re particularly popular in Italian food and some species of mushroom can cost as much as several hundred or even between one and two thousand dollars per single pound.

Molds grow in the wild and assist in the decomposition of dead bodies and burnt foliage.  After a forest is burned to the ground, the first things that begin to grow again on the landscape are fungi.  Molds, which are classified as fungi, are some of the oldest organisms on the planet and have been here since before even the oldest dinosaurs.  They break down anything that is based on cellulose like wood or any other form of dead plant and animal matter. 

Molds are cultivated in laboratories worldwide for a number of uses, especially different kinds of medicines.  Penicillin, one of the first shots that citizens of the United States receive, is made from mold in mass quantities and was discovered by accident.  It’s been used to kill all kinds of bacteria that cause human diseases, including Staphylococcus and has been used since 1929 when Alexander Fleming first made known his discovery.

Molds only really become an issue whenever they begin to grow inside homes or businesses.  They can cause us an innumerable amount of health problems and can damage our building structures on a basic level, not to mention making them unsightly.

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In Japan, koji has been used to make sake for hundreds of years and what might be the surprising thing is that it is actually a kind of mold.  The scientific name for the mold is Aspergillus Oryzae and it creates a few different enzymes as it reproduces and these are what cause the starches in the rice to turn into sugars that feed the yeast cells that produce both alcohol and carbon dioxide.  Without the addition of the koji, the Japanese alcoholic beverage of sake cannot exist.  There are other beverages in Asia that have been known to use koji, but the ways they are brewed are very different. 

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Sake is produced differently than a beverage such as wine, so it might be useful to explain just how different the production methods are.  Wine is created from fermented grapes that already have sugar (or glucose) in them and sugar is what yeast has to eat.  Even though there are other kinds of sugars in existence, the yeast cannot metabolize them and so when wine is made, the yeast is put into a liquid that already has sugar in it.

Sake is brewed somewhat similar to beer, but it is not malted.  It is made from steamed rice that has had its husk removed and the rice is milled in order to remove the outer covering.  It is not uncommon for a rice to be washed down to 50 percent or even less of its former weight in order to get to the innermost part of the rice, which does not contain all of the proteins, amino acids, and fats that can give the sake an unwanted flavor or smell. 

Aspergillus oryzae has a very powerful affect on the final product and its cultivation is taken very seriously.  It is produced in a different room in the brewery that is known as the koji-muro.  When it is ready, it is added to more steamed rice.  Later on in the batch, it is put into a large tank where the rice, yeast, water, and koji will continue to ferment.  One account says that a brewer presented a bottle of sake with an apology, saying that they had rebuilt their koji-muro the year before and that the cedar wood used in the walls was not as ready as they had thought.  The cedar could be tasted and smelled in the sake.

Koji is what gives the rice its unique flavors depending upon what kind of rice it is cultivated on, the pH level of the water, the mineral content of it, and many other things are what make koji one of the most important ingredients of sake.

Most experience homeowners know all about this water damage prevention necessity, but anyone who’s just beginning to live in a new home or a rental might not think about it. The winter is a crucial time for the water system in your home and if it’s not taken care of, some pretty big problems will ensue. This happens when the temperature outside reaches under 20 degrees, water pipes located underneath your house, in the basement, or any other area that is exposed to the elements can freeze and burst, spilling water everywhere.

Any water pipes that you can easily gain access to should be covered completely with insulation of some kind and the more warm air that can reach your pipes during the winter, the less of a chance the pipes have of freezing and rupturing. Open the kitchen and bathroom cabinets whenever it’s convenient and leave them that way as long as possible to make sure the pipes inside of them get at least a little warm air. Sometimes using space heaters can help keep pipes from freezing, so keeping one in the kitchen or wherever you have pipes exposed can be a fair idea, as long a few feet away from anything that can catch on fire.

If you have any water hoses connected to the house, be sure to disconnect them before the freezing weather hits.

Try to leave a trickle of water running through your faucets at all times during the winter; it doesn’t have to be very much at all and it might cause your water bill to be a tiny bit extra at the end of the month, but it’s worth it. The water running through the pipes is less likely to freeze than water that’s standing still inside them.

Water damage is generally covered under most insurance policies depending on how you report it, but one of the things that is usually a direct result of water damage, mold, is not. Unless you pay for a special policy that covers mold, most homeowner’s insurance policies don’t cover it. Mold is expensive to get rid of and when a cracked or ruptured pipe in your wall or under your house bursts during the winter, it’s a very real threat. Your family and pets will become sick over time if the mold isn’t removed as quickly as possible, so doing your best to prevent water damage to your home is the first line of defense. It can start to grow as quickly as 48 hours after water has been soaked up by a surface like sheetrock.

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