Dubai International Film Festival is ISO Certified

Dubai, Aug. 7th, 2011, -- The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has been certified to ISO 9001: 2008 standards, as confirmed by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA).

The certification, an advance over the Festival's previous three-year ISO 9001: 2000 certification, makes DIFF the only known festival in the world to seek and achieve the quality management standard.

The recertification, to the highest existing International Organization for Standardizations (ISO) guidelines, will ensure all DIFF stakeholders - including filmgoers, filmmakers, suppliers, sponsors, staff and media - experience consistently high customer satisfaction levels in their interactions with the Festival. It follows the completion of a stringent onsite audit and verification process.

DIFF Chairman Abdulhamid Juma said: "ISO certification is rarely if ever sought out by film festivals. We have historically taken this extra step voluntarily to ensure all our processes adhere to global best practices, and are geared towards delivering the best possible results for us and all our partners and visitors.

The resources, time and energy we invest in the annual ISO audits, now and continuously over the next three years, will ensure we operate as effectively and efficiently as possible." Brian Baxter, Service Delivery Manager UAE for Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, said: "It is very unique for a cultural event like the Dubai International Film Festival to seek and receive ISO certification. It is certainly a measure of internal and external effectiveness, and speaks volumes for the manner in which the Festival values its audiences, from customers to shareholders." DIFF has now opened entries for the eighth edition of the festival to be held from December 7 to 14, 2011. Filmmakers from the Arab world, Asia, and Africa can submit their projects at www.dubaifilmfest.com by August 31, 2011.

 http://elsmar.com/Forums/search.php?searchid=3260572

Ford Pickups: Corroding Gas Tank

Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times

August 2, 2011

Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than 1 million pickup trucks, including the popular F-150, in the United States because corrosion problems can cause the vehicles to catch fire.
Straps that hold the fuel tanks to the truck can corrode after heavy use, potentially leading to fires if the tank drops and leaks, Ford said Monday. The problem has caused one injury and three vehicle fires that Ford is aware of, the company said.
The recall affects 1.22 million older trucks sold or registered in 21 states, Washington D.C. and Canada. The vehicles are in cold regions where corrosion from road salt occurs more frequently. Trucks sold or registered in California are not part of the recall.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-ford-recall-20110802,0,1015290.story

This is an interesting problem: The recall does not cover California? I will tell you why. In order to pass the tougher California emissions requirements the tanks either need to be lined, or made out of a different material.

So, the company well knew there was a better way to make gas tanks but saved X dollars per vehicle and only included the fix in the vehicles that went to California.

Kohler Shower Door recall

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday issued a recall for certain kinds of glass shower doors made by Kohler Co., because the panel with the hinge could shatter.
At issue are Kohler's Purist(at), PinstripeT, Finial(at) frameless glass pivot shower doors. About 100 were sold through various plumbing distributors across the country between May 2009 and November 2010 for between $1,700 and $3,000, the CPSC said.
The 1/2-inch-thick hinge panel was sold as a component under part numbers 705753-L-NA, 705754-L-NA and 705760-L-NA in some of the affected shower doors. The hinge panels are the side panels opposite the shower door handle, on which the metal swing hinge is mounted.
No injuries have been reported, but if the panels shatter, people could get cut, the CPSC said.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OO5EA00.htm

The Next Defect Frontier: Electronics

In the last 12 months, SRS examined the prevalence of electronic recalls, reviewing 722 recall campaigns since July 2010 to determine how many involve defects associated with electronic systems. Ultimately, defining electronics recalls is challenging – they range from severed cables and fluid leaks into electronic components that result in short circuits to hardware failures to complex software algorithm issues. When defined broadly, electronics recalls comprised more than a quarter of recalls submitted to NHTSA over the last year. Of those, 24 recall campaigns address software defects.

As SRS has previously reported, automakers have known for at least a decade that electronics have their advantages – and their reliability headaches. At a 2004 industry conference, Mercedes Benz’s vice president for electrical and electronics and chassis development. Steven Wolfsreid, “railed against the temptation to overload vehicles with electronic functions that are useless to the customer,” according to an Automotive News story. The German automaker had removed 600 electronic functions from its vehicles because of quality concerns that were damaging its reputation and ticking off its customers. Electronics are challenging to integrate into a vehicle’s electrical architecture, he said, and what works well in isolation can be a disaster in combination with other electronic components.

http://thesafetyrecord.safetyresearch.net/2011/07/14/the-next-defect-frontier-electronic-recalls/

Another Toyota Recall

Toyota recalls 110,000 hybrid cars on safety concerns

Click to play

Toyota is moving more quickly to resolve its latest setback

Continue reading the main story

Global Car Industry

• Mercedes-Benz posts record sales
• UK carmakers want more engineers
• Moody's cuts Toyota credit rating
• Saab can now afford to pay staff

The world's biggest carmaker Toyota is to recall more than 110,000 hybrid vehicles over concerns about a problem with the power supply circuit.

The Japanese carmaker said the recall involves the Highlander hybrid and Lexus RX400h models globally.
The vehicles could stop suddenly because of an electrical problem leading to a blown fuse, the company said in a statement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13970431

Misuse of Statistics #1: Collier County FL Women living longer

It's good to be a woman in Naples Florida!

If you've ever wondered where in the United States people are living the longest, you don't have the look very far. Women in one Southwest Florida county are topping the charts.

William Shakespeare once said, "A light heart lives long."

A new study shows Collier County women have the highest life expectancy in the nation, on average, living to the ripe age of 86.

'I've never felt happier and healthier since I moved to Southwest Florida," Liz Barrett said.

"There's generally high disposable income in Collier County," Dr. Daniel Kaplan said. "Certainly has to do with the ability to purchase better quality, higher quality foods. It also has to do with education and understand what types of foods may be more healthy for you>"

http://free.naplesplus.us/articles/view.php/60040/women-in-collier-county-live-longer-than-anybody-in-the-usa.

Where to go with this one... so many choices.

First of all is it not clear that like the very woman in the story that they move down there from elsewhere "after" they got old?

Secondly, what did they do with their men? Why do not men also live longer in the same area? There are too many ramifications of that to go into.

Thirdly, if you have ever been down there, you also know that they're elderly, and prosperous, but also from the June Cleaver/Harriet Nelson generation, who have been basically hanging around playing tennis since the 70's when Wally and The Beave moved out, i.e. less stress than today's modern women who do not have it quite so good.

The chamber of commerce won't care though.

To: Homelite Corporation Re: Violation of ISO9001:2008 Section 8.2.3

To: Homelite Corporation
www.homelite.com

Model Number: vut21566

Serial Number: 0240643


Dear Homelite Corporation:

You have not followed up on my corrective action request number 11-061001 regarding the leaky priming bulb on the above weed whacker.

By your lack of response, you are in violation of ISO-9001:2008 section 8.2.3, lack of corrective action to remedy problems with the product.

Please advise ASAP your response to the above corrective action request. Failure to do so will place you in non-conformance with ISO standards, and is objective evidence that your quality system is not effective.

James A. Shell
RABQSA QMS-LA certified quality auditor #105245

Boston Scientific Stent Recall

More than 500 Boston Scientific Innova stents have been recalled because some have failed to deploy properly when inserted into patients. 
The Boston Scientific stent recall was announced on June 16 by the FDA, which classified the market withdrawal as a Class 1 medical device recall. The classification means that the FDA believes the defective stents carry a reasonable probability of causing serious injury or death to a patient.
The stents are used in the femoral and proximal popliteal arteries to treat symptomatic de novo or restenotic lesions. The recall comes following complaints to Boston Scientific that some of the stents failed to deploy when implanted in patients or only partially deployed.

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/boston-scientific-innova-stent-recall-18971/
 Just when you think you've been having a really bad day, you get this call from your cardiologist....