Best Spiderman Yet

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Spider-Man cleans windows, surprises kids at hospital (Salt Lake City) — Spider-Man not only climbs up buildings and saves damsels in distress, but he also washed windows at the Primary Children's Hospital Thursday afternoon. One of the window cleaners at Primary Children's Medical Center decided to surprise the patients by dressing up in a Spider-Man costume while cleaning the six-story building. The heroism was caught on film as Spider-Man swung back and forth flashing his well-known web shooting gestures.

"Parents were pointing out Spider-Man to the kids and they were really excited," said Primary Children's Medical Center public relations specialist, Sandra Orton. There was one kid who loves Spider-Man that was really excited and he wanted to go outside and meet with him." On average the hospital treats about 208 patients a day, and Orton said they love finding ways to cheer up the residents. "All of our patients are dealing with different challenges," Orton said. "Anything we can do to boost their morale and take their minds off the shots and tests is positive."

Due to the warm weather, the worker did have to take off the costume at one point to ensure safe work conditions. "He was fantastic and he acted just as Spider-Man would," Orton said of the worker's performance. "He was very excited to be wearing the costume. He probably just wished it hadn't been so hot." Orton said that Spider-Man might possibly make another appearance for the kids in the future.

See more Spidey Sense stuff here.

Three Window Cleaning Videos For Thursday

Jurgen, the window cleaner - he doesn't dance.

Somersby cider man dance (Denmark) - What happens when a window cleaner who thinks he can't dance brings his work to a bar? Why, he gets jiggy with it and the entire bar approves. I just had an 80's teen movie flash back...

As they see it: Window washer on a high-rise (Jacksonville, Fla.)  - Take a look at a different point of view. Have you ever looked up at a crew cleaning the windows of a high-rise building and wondered, 'What in the world is it like for them up there?' Some nifty technology gives a first-person look at interesting jobs. Tonight, see what it's like to be the guy who has to wash windows high off the ground.

York owners of racehorse Anderiego look for success: The owners of the racehorse Anderiego, including a mechanic, window cleaner and market stall holder, have said it is a "dream come true" when he wins. The syndicate is hoping for success at the Dante Festival on Thursday, at York Racecourse's first meeting of the season. Trainer Dave O'Meara said: "When you can pull it off for a group of people like that, it's making a lot of people very, very happy and it's good to see." 

Most Notorious Window Cleaner - Murderer Jailed

For nine months Hazell, a window cleaner with a long criminal history, kept up a campaign of lies.

Tia Sharp trial: Stuart Hazell will serve at least 38 years for murder of schoolgirl - To shouts of “beast” from the public gallery and sobs from the family of his victim, Stuart Hazell was today jailed for a minimum of 38 years at the Old Bailey after he admitted the murder of Tia Sharp. A day after the 37-year-old window cleaner changed his plea in his trial for killing the 12-year-old he considered his granddaughter, he was told by a judge that he had breached the trust placed in him to look after Tia “in the most grievous way possible”.

But Mr Justice Nicol stopped short of imposing a whole life tariff on Hazell, which would have meant he joined around 30 murderers in Britain who must die in prison, because the judge said he could not be sure that Tia’s murder was sexually motivated and pre-meditated. During the trial it emerged that Tia’s body, which was missed by police during three searches of the loft of Hazell’s home, was so badly decomposed that a cause of death could not be established and evidence of sexual assault could not be ascertained. Members of the schoolgirl’s family leaving the central London court today shouted “nowhere near long enough” in reference to the sentence.

Deception: Window cleaner Stuart Hazell made a TV appearance where he begged for the safe return of Tia, despite having murdered her days earlier.

Hazell, a convicted drug dealer who had spent much of his childhood in care and claimed he had suffered sexual abuse, abruptly changed his plea on the fifth day of his trial, which had heard harrowing evidence, including details of a picture taken of Tia’s apparent corpse by the killer for his sexual gratification. The judge said he was certain that Hazell, who put on a grotesque display of concern for seven days last August as police searched for Tia while her corpse remained concealed in his home in south London, had taken a sexual interest in the schoolgirl and had committed a sexual assault.

It emerged that the alcoholic, who took pictures of Tia while she slept and images from his attack which he hid in his house, had searched the internet for pornographic material using terms including “violent forced rape”, “little girls in glasses” and “incest”. Mr Justice Nicol said: “There is no doubt that you had developed a sexual interest in Tia. The records of your internet searching on your mobile phone make abundantly clear that you were looking out for pornographic pictures of pre-teen girls.”

The court heard that Hazell, who will become eligible for parole when he is 75, was only being given “the most modest credit” for changing his plea before he was due to give evidence, noting that Tia’s family had had to endure days of harrowing evidence about the murder. Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola, the officer who led the investigation, said the sentence imposed on Hazell was “satisfying” for police and Tia’s family. Scotland Yard has previously apologised to relatives for the failure to find the schoolgirl’s body sooner. He said: “Hazell will have a very long time in prison to think about what he has done.”

Tia Sharp- the popular schoolgirl from Croydon murdered by her step-grandfather Stuart Hazell.

New Addington window cleaner, Stuart Hazell, 37, has been a jailed for life with a recommendation he serves at least 38 years at his Old Bailey sentencing hearing for murdering 12 year old Croydon schoolgirl Tia Sharp in August last year. Somebody cried “Beast” from the public gallery as he was quickly taken down to the cells. Mr Justice Nicol told him: “She was a sparky girl who was full of life but you took that life from her. All that lay ahead of her – a career, loves and family of her own – will now never be.

And the loss of her has been devastating for her mother, her father and all her relatives and friends.” “The tragedy of their loss and her death is because of your act in murdering Tia Sharp. You are responsible,” he added. The judge said he had to make a difficult assessment on whether he could be sure it was a sexually motivated murder. Pathologists could not be absolutely sure of the cause of her death and the judge needed to have evidence beyond reasonable doubt in order to impose a whole  life term. The scientific evidence was not definitive.

During the sentencing hearing the judge heard that Hazell had an insecure background, grew up in care, lived rough on the streets, and developed an addiction to alcohol in his early teens. The court heard he was a youth offender. He claimed he was the victim of rape in a Soho hostel at the age of 16. He has a history of depression, self harm and suicide bids. For most of his life he has been a petty criminal serving short periods in prison, though in 2003 he was sentenced to almost three years for dealing in cocaine.

Natalie Sharp, mother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp, appearing on Daybreak and Stuart Hazell.

Tia Sharp's mother wants to visit Stuart Hazell in prison: The mother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp wants to visit Stuart Hazell in prison so she can ask why he killed her daughter, she has said. Hazell, 37, was jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years on Tuesday for killing the 12 year-old and hiding her body in the loft. He changed his plea to guilty on the fifth day of his trial at the Old Bailey on Monday, having forced Tia's family to sit through days of graphic evidence, including a picture of her taken after she died.

He had claimed Tia was killed in an accident when she fell down the stairs, but the court heard that the window cleaner sexually assaulted her before murdering her in the home he shared with her grandmother Christine Bicknell. Hazell had lived with Ms Bicknell in New Addington, south London, for more than five years before Tia died, and developed a sexual attraction for the schoolgirl who often stayed with them, and secretly filmed her while she was asleep.

Here is a timeline of Tia’s final hours and the days leading up to Hazell’s arrest.

August 1, 2012, 4pm: Tia texts Hazell: “Can I stay at your house all weekend?”

11.18pm: Hazell replies to Tia: “I will ask Nanny :)” August 2, 3.47pm: Hazell meets Tia in Croydon. They return to New Addington.

7.14pm: Christine Bicknell calls Hazell, hears Tia laugh.

10.12pm: Hazell texts Bicknell: “Tia going to bed after Family Guy baby but I’m going to pass out.”

11.44pm: Hazell texts Bicknell: “Night night baby.”

August 3, 12.48am: Last use of Tia’s phone, connecting to GPRS.

3am to 6am: Hazell takes a picture of Tia’s naked, dead body, then hides her in the loft.

10.19am: Hazell texts Bicknell: “Morning baby just got up xx.”

2.30pm to 3pm: Bicknell arrives home. Hazell claims Tia went to Croydon to shop and will be back by 6pm.

7.50pm: Hazell and Bicknell start searching for Tia.

10pm: Tia is reported missing.

August 4: Police look in the loft but find nothing.

August 5, 5am: Police search loft for 20 minutes. Bin bags are seen but not checked.

11.42am: Hazell texts his boss — who had texted him earlier — saying: “This is a f***ing nightmare.”

August 7: The Sun offers a £25,000 reward.

August 8: Hazell is voluntarily questioned by police and insists that Tia left the house alive.

1.44pm: Hazell texts his boss: “They are making me look like Jack the Ripper.”

August 10: Hazell leaves home early prior to a search of the house. He leaves note saying: “Went for a walk.”

3.20pm: Police search the loft, pulling away part of a bin bag to expose a foot.

7pm: Hazell is arrested in Merton after being seen stumbling around crying.

August 11: Hazell is charged with murder.

Stuart Hazell told his boss the media were making him look like “Jack the Ripper”. The jury were told that the window cleaner exchanged a series of text messages with Adrian Van Aalst after he failed to turn up to work on August 3. Mr Van Aalst, who ran AVA Windows and sublet some of his work to Hazell, described his employee as “polite, friendly and well presented”.

He added that Hazell was “not the sharpest tool in the box” and had the ability to change version of events. In February 2012, Hazell told Van Aalst that his father had died of a heart attack. He went into “great detail”, breaking down in tears while on the job and taking time off work. Mr Van Aalst later read a newspaper interview with Hazell’s father following Tia’s disappearance. “If this was not true and his father is not dead, I would say he is a fantastic liar,” said Mr Van Aalst in a statement read to the jury.

Hazell was supposed to be working on August 3. His boss sent a text asking if he was okay but received no reply. The following morning he asked if Hazell was “calling it a day”. Hazell replied: “Sorry mate but my granddaughter is missing. We reported it to the police. She is 12 years old. We have been scouring the parks. It’s on the critical list. It’s all over Facebook and Twitter.” While the search for Tia focused on New Addington, and the pressure grew on Hazell, he appeared to contradict himself.

He told Mr Van Aalst that Tia had gone missing at midday on August 3. His boss replied: “What happened to you with work in the morning?” “Stuart started to stutter, he was very hesitant, there was a lot of umming,” said Mr Van Aalst. “He went on to say he had his granddaughter and was mumbling away.”

On August 5, with the media camped outside the house, he texted: “Still no news. This is a ******* nightmare come true. Didn’t even think this would or even could happen.” Three days later he messaged Mr Van Aalst again: “Bastards are getting everything wrong, they are making me look like Jack the Ripper.” He added: “Hand on heart mate, I don’t know where she is. I wish I did. This is madness. I had nothing to do with it.” Hazell told his partner Christine Bicknell, Tia's grandmother, he could not go to work on August 3 because his colleague's car was broken. Mr Aalst said there had been nothing wrong with the vehicle.

Also see most hated window cleaner in the UK.

Crazy Comes To Cayucos

Cayucos is a census-designated place located on the coast in San Luis Obispo County, California along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south. The population was 2,592 at the 2010 census.

Crazy comes to Cayucos, pretends to have a gun: Opinion by Stacy Warde -  We get our share of crazies passing through town. I met one recently at Kelley’s Espresso and Desserts Coffee Shop in Cayucos. Right away he took a dislike to me—and to just about everyone who crossed his path. The sheriff’s deputies had informed window washers on the job across the street that they were looking for a scruffy fellow wearing a plaid jacket. Not an easy task in this town. There are a lot of scruffy guys wearing plaid jackets around here.

Apparently he had been spotted waving a stick in a threatening manner at the middle-school up the road, pretending he had a gun. As the window washer described the guy, a grumbling figure fitting the description passed by the window of the coffee shop. “That’s him!” the window washer exclaimed. “That’s him! Should I call the cops?” “You bet,” I responded just as a squad car drove by the intersection. I rushed out the door and flagged down the squad car.

The deputy turned the car and came back. He rolled down his window. “That’s your guy right there isn’t it?” I nodded. “Yeah,” the deputy said, offering a look of irritation. He rolled up his window and drove away. And suddenly there I was left standing alone, the deputy off to who knows where, and the crazy guy raging, pissed off at me.

In this climate of gun crazies and whacked bombers blowing children to smithereens I figured that I was doing the right thing. “Here’s your man, the one who was waving his hand like he had a gun at the school yard.” “You got something to say about me, you say it to my face,” the stranger said to my back.

“OK,” I turned and answered, “apparently the cops are looking for a guy whose description you fit to a T, a guy who was seen menacing the children, like he had a gun up at the school.” “Say gun again and you’ll be sorry,” he threatened. “The police said ‘gun,’ not me.”

He stared at me menacingly. “Stare into my eyes!” I smirked, then snorted, trying not to laugh. “I thought so,” he said, as if he’d judged me an easy target, a weakling. Then he followed me to Kelley’s. We sat out front at one of the tables. I didn’t want him to feel threatened or challenged or bothering the other customers. I kept watching for the deputies to pull up any moment.

“Where are you from?” I asked. He stared me down again, said he was from Oklahoma, asked me if I’d ever seen the bloody Arkansas River. “No,” I answered. “Why’s it called ‘bloody?’” “From people I took care of.” “Are you telling me you’re a killer?” “Just keep pushing me,” he threatened. Where are the damned deputies? I kept wondering. “Where are you going?” I asked. No answer.

“What’s your name?” He got up and walked away, rattled. Clearly he was insane and what I deemed a threat to the community. Apparently, the deputies thought otherwise, despite what they had told the window washers. I went inside the coffee shop and moments later he came back and sat outside the window facing me, staring at me, giving me the Jedi mind control treatment, disturbing other customers. I can take care of myself but I didn’t feel like getting into a scrape with him. I just wanted to finish drinking my coffee, reading the newspaper, unmolested by someone who belongs in an institution. I felt annoyed and threatened. He caused concern among customers and staff. He reportedly made threatening gestures at the school. “He gives me the creeps,” an employee said.

Meanwhile, despite word from the deputies that he had threatened students at the school, he continued to roam free. Finally, after nearly 30 minutes of staring me down through the window, he came in to borrow the shop phone, saying he had been robbed. “Sorry, the phone is out of order,” a staffer said. He went outside and got hold of a cellphone from one of the many cyclists who stop in for coffee treats on their road trips up and down Highway 1, the same road that brings the crazies through town.

He called the sheriff’s office on the borrowed phone to report that someone had swiped a Rabobank pen, a freebie the bank gives its customers, from his jacket pocket. The deputies investigated, determined it was a false report and hauled him off to jail. They busted him for filing a false report. So apparently, he wasn’t that much of a threat after all. An arresting deputy said, “Mental health is the problem in this country, not guns. We’ll take him in, have him evaluated.”

The next day, the stranger was back, mad as ever and still raging and threatening. He pretended again as if he had a gun, this time holding his hand behind his back, while confronting Kelley, owner of the coffee shop. She called the deputies and made a citizen’s arrest. As the deputy pulled away, the nutter in the back seat threw his head in a jerking motion, lips pursed, as if he was spitting on me and Kelley through the shop window. He’ll likely be back. Then what? And what about the deputy who left me standing there to confront someone who had been reported seen menacing the children? Was I wrong to believe that?

I felt exposed and vulnerable, not protected by the deputy’s response to my willingness to help. Later when I mentioned it to another deputy, he seemed perturbed, didn’t want to discuss it. “We’re too busy,” he snapped. “I wasn’t here yesterday. I’m here getting the story,” he finished, pen poised above his notepad. “I’m part of the story,” I said. He gave me a look, irritated. “Why is that guy back here?” I asked. “I thought he was going to be evaluated. Clearly he’s nuts and potentially dangerous.” The deputy showed more irritation than interest in my questions or my side of the story.

As I say, when children are daily threatened in this country with violence, I feel a personal responsibility to do what I can make sure they will be safe, especially those who live in my own hometown. Daily, children need our protection, more so when obvious loonies stand outside the school grounds menacing them with threatening gestures. Law enforcement’s recent response to my willingness to help, however, not long after Sandy Hook, did little to assure me. I felt exposed, unsafe and unprotected. Additionally, the deputies were rude and dismissive. Next time, I will be more cautious answering their call for support.

Glass Is Not What We Thought

Scientists discover that glass doesn't flow like a liquid. Something to ponder on while you're cleaning those windows.

Fossil Amber Challenges Theories About Glass - Scientists discover that glass doesn't flow like a liquid: In a finding that could help answer fundamental questions about how glass forms, scientists have discovered that the structure of amber barely changes even after tens of millions of years. "What we found was that in 20 million years, the amber changed density by only 2.1 percent. What we found challenges the way we look at glasses," said Gregory McKenna, a professor of chemical engineering at Texas Tech University.

The findings, detailed in a recent issue of the journal Nature Communications, are also further evidence that—contrary to what many students are taught in first-year chemistry courses—the stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals aren't thicker at the bottom because glass flows like a liquid and moves over time. "Those windows aren't flowing," McKenna said. "The glass makers were just smart enough to put the thicker ends at the bottom."

Fossilized Glass: In their new study, McKenna and his team focused on amber—fossilized tree resin—because its atoms are not arranged in any regular order. "In a crystal, everything is periodically arranged. If you know what's happening in one little bit, you can predict where the atoms are going to be everywhere else. In glass, things are much more disordered," explained Mark Ediger, an experimental chemist at the University of Wisconsin—Madison who was not involved in the study. Amber's noncrystalline nature thus makes it a good analog for studying glasses, which also have unordered atoms.

McKenna and his team were particularly interested in a phenomenon called the glass transition, which refers to the temperature at which a material transforms from a soft and flexible rubber-like state to a hard and brittle one. Despite decades of study, many aspects of the glass transition are still not well understood. For example, "what causes a liquid to slow so rapidly as it becomes a glass?" Ediger said. "And what's the best way to think about it?" The answers to these questions are of more than just academic interest. Glass transition is related to the performance of materials, and its properties are important for the design and manufacture of a whole host of glassy materials.

Beyond Window Glass: When laypeople talk about glass, they usually think of window glass, which is transparent and made primarily of silicate. But for scientists, any noncrystalline, or amorphous, solid is considered a glass. Under this broader definition, plastics can be transformed into glass, as can metals. Many modern technologies rely on glass. For example, modern planes such as the Airbus A380 and the 787 Dreamliner are built using glass-like resins and plastics.

"The current planes are probably fine because they have relatively high glass-transition temperatures and the airplanes don't get very hot, but imagine if you are building a supersonic transport and the whole airplane gets hot and remains hot for several hours," McKenna said. "At that point, you're pushing the limits of the materials, and working fairly close to the glass-transition temperatures. As the material changes, it could get more and more brittle, and you could conceivably have issues if you don't model them properly."

To better understand glass transitions, McKenna, along with colleagues Sindee Simon and Jing Zhao, experimented on 20-million-year-old Dominican amber. One of the tests they performed was called a stress-relaxation experiment, which involved taking strips of amber, stretching them out at different temperatures, and measuring the rate at which they relaxed back to their original states. The findings from this experiment provided clues about how the molecules inside the amber behave.

Because it takes a certain amount of force to distort the amber strips, measuring "the time it takes that force to go away tells you how fast the molecules inside the material can move," Ediger explained. The ancient amber provided a rare opportunity to study the glass transition in slow motion and at ambient temperatures. That's because the temperature at which a material gets frozen into the glassy state depends in part on how long it has to cool. "When you cool a liquid, the reason it becomes a glass is because the molecules are moving so slowly that at some temperature they get stuck, and then they cannot reach the state they should have at such low temperatures," Ediger said.

The longer a material takes to cool, the lower the temperature at which it turns to glass. "If I cool a liquid ten times more slowly, I'll get to a slightly lower temperature before I get stuck," Ediger said. With the fossil amber, McKenna and his team essentially had a glass that had cooled over a period of 20 million years—something impossible to replicate in a lab experiment. That allows scientists to "get way the heck down there in temperature"—down even to ambient air temperatures when amber would normally be frozen in a glass-like state—"and still have a liquid," Ediger said. "If we understood the properties of that material, then we would know a lot more about how glass formation occurs."

"To Be Continued"... Ediger said using fossil amber to study the glass transition was a creative idea and called the experiments by McKenna's team "beautifully done." "I'm not sure there's another lab in the world that could do the experiment with the needed precision," he added. McKenna and his team are already preparing to perform the same experiments with even older, 220-million-year-old amber from the Triassic period. "We are in the very early stages," McKenna said in a statement. "However, our research definitely is 'to be continued.'" The research was funded by the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation.

Window Washer Rescue L.A.

Window washers rescued in 10100 Santa Monica Tower because of a scaffold malfunction.

Fire Crews Rescue 2 Workers Trapped On Scaffolding Outside Century City High-Rise: (CENTURY CITY) —Two window washers were rescued Thursday after being stuck on scaffolding on floor 26 of a 27-story high-rise in Century City. The incident happened around 4:50 p.m. at 10100 Santa Monica Tower located on W. Santa Monica Boulevard. “We had to inspect some windows, came down safety. We went back up and the cable got jammed. We couldn’t go up, we couldn’t go down. We didn’t want to play with it, so we called 911,” said worker Javier Barajas. Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue unit hoisted the two men to the roof of the building. No one was injured.

CA/Window Washer Firefighter reacts: Two window washers get rescued by Los Angeles Firefighters after getting stuck 26 floors up, outside a Century City high-rise. Problems with cables on their scaffolding left the pair stranded Thursday near the top.

LASS says: "Were here to do a job. Fortunately today, we did it well."

LASS says: "There were two patients trapped on the scaffolding and I believe mechanically it wasn't able to work anymore and they required rescuing."

LASS says: "No, I think they had their phones with them so they were chatting with some of their friends. They were in good spirits because there were two of them and they were able to keep each other company."

Both men were not injured or in serious danger, but firefighters had to put them each in a rescue harness to hoist them to the roof after 2 hours of being stranded.

Window washers saved from floor 26 of LA building: Los Angeles firefighters had to rescue two window washers who got stuck 26 floors up outside a Century City high-rise. Fire department spokesman Brian Humphrey says problems with cables on their scaffolding left the pair stranded Thursday not far from the top of the 27-story Santa Monica Tower shortly before 5 p.m. They were not injured or in serious danger, but firefighters had to put the two men in rescue harnesses and hoist them on to the roof about two hours after they got stuck.

The New Sexy In Window Cleaning?

Business cards to go - photo for MIK stampede appeal in Calgary.

Toronto firms bring sexy back to cleaning with French maids and men in kilts: Scrubbing and cleaning in the right outfit can do wonders for even the most mundane chores. Whether it’s sexy girls sporting French maid costumes while cooking and dusting your home, or manly window cleaners flaunting their legs while up on ladders in traditional Scottish kilts, some new local businesses are bringing sexy back to cleaning, while catering to their clients’ needs, whims and fantasies. With Men in Kilts, Canada’s largest full-service window cleaning, gutter cleaning and pressure-washing company setting up shop in Toronto last month, local owners Sentwali Lewis and Darcy Longpre are hoping their unusual work attire will give them a leg-up in the local industry.

“All the other window cleaning companies out there, they all do a good job, but I think we could do a better job, while providing excellent customer service and putting a smile on all of our clients’ faces,” says Lewis. The reaction they’ve gotten so far has all been positive, says Lewis, who brought in new clients just by shopping dressed in his kilt. “I was walking through the store, the manager of the store couldn’t stop laughing and giggling,” says Lewis, who’s already used to being the centre of attention. “And we signed on to do their windows for them commercially.”

While Lewis’ business is about keeping the exterior clean, for the in-house chores, Maids and Valets, which opened up shop in Toronto last June, has the solution. Margo Belaya and her business partner Kaytee Normad say it’s good old practical housecleaning and visual entertainment all in one. “It’s better to have your house cleaned, someone cooking for you, if it’s a sexy person,” says Belaya. “Any service is better performed by ‘eye candy.’ ” Their cleanup crew is made up of 20 housekeepers, butlers and bartenders, who will wait on their clients wearing anything from professional attire, a French maid outfit, lingerie or just their underwear.

It’s a business idea that’s been growing in Europe and other parts of the world, but still fairly new ground for Toronto, says Belaya. After finding postings looking for similar services on sites like Craigslist and Kijiji, she knew it would be a hit here in the city. But it’s all strictly visual, says Belaya, who stresses that their crew do not provide any sexual favours. With a $500 fine attached to any sexual advances or harassment stated in their policy, that rule hasn’t been broken so far, according to Belaya.

Maids and Valets have been hired on for nude family gatherings and birthdays for seniors to spice up the party, but besides bringing the fun with them, they also help cure some lonely hearts. “It’s not only about cleaning or cooking, sometimes people are lonely, they just want company, they just book someone to sit there with them, eat lunch, have a drink and talk, and that’s it,” says Belaya. “So it’s all about communication sometimes.”

Sexy services online: Some U.S.-based websites offering up unique and sexy products and services.

Those who don’t have that special someone to snuggle up with can pay for private sessions with pro-snugglers at The Snuggery. Single men can purchase girlfriend-like services for just $5 at www.girlfriendhire.com and get their new fake online girlfriends to text them, comment on their Facebook walls, and more. For couples looking to spice things up in the bedroom, The Fantasy Box mails out fantasy kits which include toys, costumes, lingerie and a variety of other sexy items to get you started.

Men In Kilts Calgary introduced its newest clan member! Wallace the fire truck.

Kilt-wearing window washers have strict 'no peeking' rule: The window washers in Holliston, Mass., not only hang from buildings, they also hang loose. A new window-washing, pressure-washing and gutter-cleaning franchise, spun off from a business in Vancouver, British Columbia, features male workers with no pants on — because they're wearing kilts. Men in Kilts has been a hit with customers and onlookers. "I got a good thumbs up from everybody," said one employee who contends he's paying tribute to his Scottish heritage. While the company insists it has a strict "no peeking" rule, it's hard to imagine how they could enforce it. And, after all, women have all those years of being catcalled by construction workers to exact revenge for. Payback's a bitch, guys.

Sentwali Lewis (left) and Luke MacLeod are two of the Men In Kilts, a new window, eavestrough and siding cleaning business in Aurora.

Men In Kilts offer revealing look at business - (By Chris Simon) Go ahead, take a look up Sentwali Lewis' kilt — you won't be the first person this spring. He opened a Men In Kilts franchise in Aurora earlier this year and has been busy cleaning gutters, windows and siding outside Greater Toronto Area buildings since then. The company serves residential and commercial clients, he said, while setting up at a south-end Aurora work site. "People are surprised, but yes, we do show up in our kilts," he said. "You have to be a very outgoing person to do this work because you get a lot of attention. People are always smiling and pointing ... and trying to peek."

Men In Kilts was founded in 2002 and has expanded across Canada and the United States. Mr. Lewis said he and partner Darcy Longpre were excited to open the franchise. "We know business," Mr. Lewis said. "For us, it was just a matter of learning a new skill set." The season is young, but the business' schedule is filling quickly, he said. "We try to do our best to deliver excellent customer service and go above and beyond," he said.

The franchisees also hired window washer Luke MacLeod, who proudly dons a tartan kilt each work day. "It's a great ice breaker and helps you get to know the people who are doing your windows," Mr. MacLeod said. "Whether you're peeking in their windows or they're peeking up your kilt, it takes away the whole, 'Who are these people looking in my house?' And you've got the built-in air conditioner for the hot summer." The franchise has high employee safety standards, so staff cannot clean windows and eavestroughs on buildings higher than four storeys, Mr. Lewis said.

From Camo to Kilt: The transition from US Army Specialist as a Military Police Officer, to that of a kilt-wearing window and exterior cleaning technician might seem odd from an outsider’s perspective. But in all reality, it makes perfect sense!

Chris Murphy, Operations Manager at Men In Kilts Boston, served in the US Army for just under 11 years and during that time was deployed to Iraq twice. He spent a year in Baghdad where he provided personal security to Tier 1 government officials. After being back in Boston for 6 months, Murphy volunteered to go back and this time he travelled to Fallujah where he worked with Iraqi police on daily operations and helped them to develop procedures and protocols.  

Murphy’s time serving in the Army was nothing short of rewarding, but he was ready for a change. Deciding to become a part of a franchise was deeply rooted in the support systems that Murphy knows are in place for franchisees. “The brand and operational support that comes from the franchisor is definitely a bonus. From fellow employees, the franchisor, and even other franchisees, there is always someone there to help you. In the Army, it is the same way. There is an endless system of support and everyone works together as a team,” says Murphy.

The transition from military to civilian was pretty easy for Murphy. “In the military, I was used to long days of training and work, and not having a set schedule was pretty standard. Being a part of a franchise is very similar. I could have a job that requires me to work earlier than 8 am or later than 5 pm, and I just have to go with it. So, when I came back to work full-time in the franchising world, it was pretty smooth.”

Previous franchise experience came from Murphy’s 8 years spent with 1-800-Got-Junk? Murphy’s mother, Judy Briggs, owns both the 1-800-Got-Junk? and the Men In Kilts franchise in Boston. “With my mom being an expert franchisee, it all just made sense to me to become a part of this industry as well,” says Murphy.

Men In Kilts first caught Murphy’s attention when the company was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine. He said he could not help but smile. “The thought of anyone washing windows while wearing kilts was so cool!” says Murphy. It was not long after when his mother came to him and asked, “Have you ever thought about wearing a kilt?” Murphy did not hesitate.

The Men In Kilts mission is to “bring smiles into the world…one kilt at a time!” Just like the Army, Men In Kilts is fighting to make the world a better place. Even if it is something as simple as making someone smile, Murphy’s passion for caring for his country and all the people in it, carries on in his work at Men In Kilts.

Murphy recognizes how he has brought smiles to the world by recalling one particular moment. “One Monday morning, we were in the heart of Boston cleaning windows and everyone that walked by couldn’t help but smile. I remember thinking, ‘people are normally miserable first thing on a Monday morning, but we just brought smiles to all these faces by doing something as simple as wearing a kilt’. That is pretty powerful!”

Murphy’s hard work has made Men In Kilts recognize the amazing fit for veterans in the company, and the opportunities to work with veterans in the future. Men In Kilts prides itself on dedication and a high level of work ethic, which is a great fit for veterans who have the skills and attributes necessary to succeed in a franchise such as Men In Kilts.

Men in Kilts just opened up a franchise in the Boston area and owner Judy Briggs said the response has been tremendous. She and her two employees went to Vancouver to train how to do window washing, gutter cleaning, power washing and other services for homeowners.

Men In Kilts Opens In The U.S., Offers Window Washers Dressed In Scottish Garb: “No peeking,” read the uniforms worn by employees of Men in Kilts, a Canadian company that just in opened shop in Massachusetts, offering home cleaning services by men dressed in the traditional Scottish garb. “It just grabs people’s attention,” Chris Murphy, a Men In Kilts worker, told local news station WCVB Channel 5 on a brisk morning this week. “It’s really comfortable, lots of freedom with it.” Judy Briggs of Men In Kilts said the phone has been ringing off the hook since she launched the franchise in the Boston area. And hers isn’t the first business to shine a light on workers doing less-than-glamorous labor. College Hunks Hauling Junk, an 8-year-old moving and junk-hauling company that’s expanded to nearly 50 franchises in the U.S., dresses its sprightly employees in bright orange hats and green shirts.

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