The design of a basic Hand Truck is based upon a simple cart, such as those pulled by horses, ponies or dogs before cars became popular. Carts have appeared in literature since the second millennium BC, often being used in the act of transporting condemned prisoners for humiliation or having them tied to the cart and being given a public whipping. There have been many types of cart throughout the years; a few examples of these are Dogcarts, which were used in the transport of hunting dogs; light, two wheeled and featured two seats set back to back. Also Whitechapel Carts; these were made primarily for families or light delivery services, and Hand Carts, used for manually transporting loads.

One notable event in history is the Mormon handcart movement. This started in 1856 and lasted until 1860 and is a classic example of hand carts being used in mass quantities. This period, where nearly 3000 Mormon pioneers in the USA emigrated from Nebraska or Iowa to Utah due to their religion and approximately 300 died in bad weather conditions in Wyoming, has left the memory of the hand cart pioneers firmly etched into the minds of those who live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where a statue has been erected commemorating a pioneer family pulling a handcart.

However, the function of a Hand Truck was not to be denied, especially after the exposure of the Mormon handcart movement. Hand Trucks have been used all over the world, gradually evolving from being made from wood into strong, metal structures, capable of transporting various loads depending on the strength of the Truck itself. No longer does one size fit all; different styles and strengths of Hand Truck are being made all the time. Different countries even have different names for the Hand Truck. In the United Kingdom they are also known as 2-wheel dollies, stack trucks or sack trucks, and in New Zealand they are called bag barrows.

Various other types of automated trucks have been made to assist workers in their jobs, such as fork lift trucks, monorails/rail guided vehicles and conveyor belts. However, these all require a high cost to keep maintained, and so even though their capacity of transporting loads is increased tenfold when compared to the manual Hand Truck, costs of maintenance and repair have to be taken into account. This is one of the reasons why Hand Trucks are still so popular in the workplace today. In addition to this, Hand Trucks now come in such a large variety, with different types of wheels to combat different types of ground surface this serves to make them indispensible to the world’s industrial market.

EmploymentGuide.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises,  has launched a nationwide job fair series, “Putting Americans Back to Work,” that aims to help 10,000 Americans find jobs. Based on The Employment Guide’s already successful job fair series, this new series invites only companies with immediate hiring needs to participate. The job fairs are free and open to all job seekers.

The current economic situation has caused dramatic business changes and a nearly-unprecedented level of layoffs.  However, many businesses in retail, food service, health care and transportation are making structural changes to adapt to the economic climate, and are hiring both part-time and full-time workers on a national scale.

“More than 400 job offers were made at our first job fair of the series last month in Omaha. With numbers like that, we are confident that we will ultimately put at least 10,000 Americans back to work.  By doing so, we hope to provide economic solutions to our communities and to job seekers,” said Jeff Littlejohn, vice president and general manager of The Employment Guide and EmploymentGuide.com.

Todd Simon, CEO of Omaha Steaks, attended last month’s Omaha job fair where his company made approximately 15 hires. Simon noted, “Our business was founded on serving our customers…One of the things we know is that Americans aren’t going to stop eating and they still enjoy a great steak. We have to keep our phones staffed and we’ve got to keep our plants running in order to satisfy our customers’ needs.”

Adding to the success of this new job fair series is support from associations interested in supporting their members including: the AARP Foundation, the National Urban League, the National Job Corps Association, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, AMVETS, and myStaffingPro. 

Ford Motor Company is continuing its successful job fair partnership with The Employment Guide and EmploymentGuide.com, which provides Ford employees who are considering buyout offers the opportunity to transition to new careers. Ford will promote the “Putting Americans Back to Work” job fairs to employees who have previously accepted buyout packages.

Listed below are the kick-off events to the “Putting Americans Back to Work” Job Fair Series.  For a complete list of the more than 50 job fairs currently scheduled visit: http://www.employmentguide.com/browse_jobfairs.html.   

Austin                        February 3, 2009

Detroit                       February 4, 2009

San Antonio              February 4, 2009

Houston                    February 10, 2009

Salt Lake City           February 10, 2009

Chicago                    February 11, 2009

Cincinnati                  February 11, 2009

About The Employment Guide and EmploymentGuide.com

The Employment Guide is a division of Dominion Enterprises. The Employment Guide and EmploymentGuide.com offer businesses a comprehensive recruitment solution for hourly workers through a nationwide series of publications, award-winning Web sites, and series of job fairs. The free weekly publications are published locally in more than 75 markets with a combined circulation of 2.8 million copies nationwide. The job board, www.EmploymentGuide.com, attracts more than 1 million unique visitors each month and features a candidate database and job postings. Niche Web sites www.careersingear.com, www.healthcareerweb.com, and www.wiserworker.com have been developed to serve in-demand industries and demographics. Face-to-face recruitment is available through The Employment Guide’s job fair program, with more than 250 job fairs conducted nationwide each year. For more information about The Employment Guide, visit http://www.EmploymentGuide.com. 

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

Its capital, NDjamena, is a friendly and laidback city with a wonderful Central Market, where the whole experience of haggling for African produce is exceptionally good fun.

Lake Chad, once one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, is still a serene sight to behold, despite its gradual shrinkage due to climate change and increased demands. It is still of huge economic importance, providing water to millions of people in surrounding countries. Indeed, Chad itself, although one of the poorest of Africas nations, is still geographically staggering, ranging from desert in the north to fertile farmland in the south, all under the canopy of a blue, blisteringly hot sky.

NDjamena, is slowly regaining its pre war reputation as one of Central Africas liveliest cities. Bullet holes in buildings serve as a reminder of troubled times, but the atmosphere here is increasingly upbeat. The historic quarter, with its colourful daily market, is fascinating and a good place to pick up colourful Chadian rugs and jewellery. The National Museum has collections of the culture dating back to the ninth century. There is a distinctive difference between the Arab section of town very quiet at night and the area where the southerners live lively and full of bars.

Zakouma National Park is located on an immense plain, across which the Bahr Salamat and its tributaries flow from north to south. The government and the EU have restocked and refurbished the park since it was ravaged by civil war and poachers. Visitors can now see huge flocks of elephants, giraffes and lions.

Lake Chad must be seen, not only since it was once the centre of Africas lucrative salt trade and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, but also because you may be running out of time to see it. Lake Chad is shrinking. The lake is best seen during the August to December period, when the water level is highest and the occasional hippo or crocodile can be seen drifting by.

Try and catch a glimpse of some of the best camel racing in the world in the Tibesti Mountains, home of the fierce Toubou tribe. The inhabitants are distantly related to the Tuareg of the Western Sahara, and were made famous by Herodotus as the stocky but immensely agile cave dwellers. This astonishing region of chasms and crags has seldom been seen by non Muslims and remains closed to travellers, so is best watched from afar. It is not be difficult to look out for, since it contains Emi Koussi, a high peak, 3414m above sea level.

Kent said the first signs of bullying begin in 3rd grade. Girls are trying to establish themselves at this point as the “popular” ones. The first evidences of gossip and mockery begin around this age as girls try to build themselves up by tearing others down. They usually pick on the easy targets or the cute girls the bullies are jealous of. Easy targets include girls that come from poor families, are soft-spoken, less mature, or are socially and/or physically awkward. Jealousy usually tends to be based on appearance, other friendships, and perceived popularity standing. This type of bullying to build popularity lasts until the middle school years and then emerges again for high school.

Once girls enter middle school, the motivation behind bullying changes. Kent said of middle school girls, “Now it’s a territorial thing, mostly based on fear.” If a teenage girl has a crush on a boy and sees another girl flirting with him, a territorial rush sets in and everyone better watch out, Kent said. Bullying exists at this age because females are concerned and scared they are going to lose the status they worked so hard to establish. They become territorial about boys mostly. Girls at this age want so badly to impress the male population, something that really never mattered much during the elementary years. Self-esteem begins to suffer during this time because females compare themselves to others. There are many contributing factors that combine to make girls feel they must defend themselves, and that is why they act so tough and may bully others.

In high school, the girl drama definitely still exists, but the motivation for making fun of others, gossiping and bullying reverts back to the building of personal popularity and status. Girls are not solely trying to impress the boys anymore; now teenage girls feel pressure to be the best girl, be surrounded by pretty girl friends, and have a hot boyfriend on their arm. Girls tear other girls down in front of their friends in order to increase their social standing. It is not so much a territorial thing, because they feel secure in the territory/social group they are in, but now they want to be known as the best girl in their “clique.”

All in all, Kent believes bullying has gotten much worse among females. It may not be catfights in the school halls, but the backbiting, gossip and cyber bullying are at all time highs. Even more unfortunate is that once girls get into the habit of tearing others down, it is hard to stop. But putting an end to bullying is possible; the remedy is adopting a positive self-esteem that involves not comparing oneself to others. Or, if all else fails, follow the advice from my favorite childhood movie, Bambi, “If you can’t say anything’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”