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Editorial
Is it summer at long last? We desperately need a break...
The last 2 months were really exhausting - the first pre- K 2010 press conferences took place, and there were numerous conferences and fairs to visit.
We had to keep an eye on price increases and company take-over's as well. The information that BASF had bought the specialty chemicals producer, Cognis, for an official price of 3.1 billion Euros, arrived after our editorial deadline, ....and then, finally, the football World Cup.
Apropos the World Cup - Sepp Herberger must have been delighted with "Jabulani", as, according to FIFA and the manufacturer, the ball has never been as round as it is this year. On the other hand - Germany first became world champions in 1954 with a - in comparison to today - pretty rustic ball that looked more like an egg. By the way, whilst writing this editorial, Italy just got knocked out. The upshot being that the result of the WC 2010 is still open. Back to the Jabulani: It consists of just eight thermo-sealed, spherical shaped pieces of polyurethane.
In former days, the ball consisted of 18 rectangles made from 1.5 mm thick calves leather, which despite its fat content, soon soaked up the water when it rained. You can just imagine the pain after hitting a header...
Take a breather? No way...
The projects, introduced during the pre- K press conferences, sound promising. Polyurethane is still a material with enormous potential be it in the field of renewable energy or in the classic crude oil and natural gas industries. In September we will go into more detail on "Polyurethanes and Renewable Energy". In conjunction with this: Please make a note in your diary for the "Husum WindEnergie conference", that takes place from 21st to 25th September 2010. If you fancy, you can travel to Valencia before that to the "25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition", which will be held between 6th and 10th September 2010.
And if this is not enough - don't put your suitcases away yet - the 4th quarter offers more travel destinations: In October the "Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF)" might entice? The first weekend (9th/10th October 2010) of the event features a kind of german "Octoberfest" including a "Jodeling Competition" (www.texrenfest.com). To enable your participation, we recommend completing a company travel requisition to attend "UTECH North America"... you might need an alibi. Well!, finally at the end of October, we meet at the longest business desk in the world to discuss "Visions in Polymers" - in Dusseldorf at the K 2010.
If you send it, we can print it!
Two pieces of advice in this respect:
- For our "BONDexpo" and "Composites Europe" pre-reports please send your information by the 1st week in August.
- As usual for the "K", we will set up a polyurethane preview on our website, starting mid September. But we can only publish the information you send us...
10 years of FAPU
No, we won't be having a big party or a firework display to celebrate FAPU's 10th anniversary. Yes, we allowed ourselves a glass of Prosecco - and sincerely thanked the advertisers and subscribers for 10 years loyalty. More about this in our next issue.
For now, we wish you all a relaxing holiday time!
Birgit Harreither,
Thomas Schwachulla
Scusi Mr. Turnour!
We made a mistake in our last issue. This time, the photo and text on page 17 fit together.
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