Pagemike@standardsmichigan.com, Author at Standards Michigan

Pros and Cons of Owning A Dog During College

Getting a dog during college can be an exciting thought for many students who are leaving home and are experiencing their first taste of true freedom; However, many young adults fail to consider the responsibilities and obligations that come with owning a dog while in school.

Apart from the necessity as companions for students with disabilities; consider the following:

Pros:

They can lead to decreased stress.

Dogs have the incredible ability to make you feel more relaxed and less stressed. A study actually found that when people took care of dogs for just three months, they showed significant drops in blood pressure and reactivity to stress. There’s no better feeling than coming home after a long day to your furry best friend who’s thrilled to see you.

They help motivate you to exercise.

Daily exercise is an essential part of a dog’s well-being and absolutely cannot be neglected. However, this requirement becomes mutually beneficial because it also ensures that you’re getting outside daily, intaking sunlight, and getting your own exercise. Even if you’re having a rough day and don’t feel like doing much, your dog will make sure that you go outside and get moving.

They make great companions if you live alone.

Dogs can be fantastic companions for students who choose to live alone. Living by yourself can be lonely. Your pet can serve as a companion to keep you occupied, as well as a solid guard dog when needed (or you can at least let them think they are).

Cons:

They require a time and patience.

If you’re thinking about getting a dog in college, be prepared to commit tons of time and attention to them. Training sessions will be vitally important in ensuring that your dog is potty-trained, can behave on a leash, and can be trusted around other dogs. You’ll also have to make time for vet appointments, play time, and letting them out on a consistent basis.

They can be expensive.

Dogs can be extremely expensive. Between vet bills, food, toys, and general dog supplies, the costs can quickly add up. Assessing your financial situation beforehand and determining whether or not now is the right time for you to get a dog, is absolutely essential.

They can cut into your social life; although can expand your social life with a starting point for common conversation with other dog lovers.

Like it or not, having a dog will cut into your social time with your friends. Staying out until 4 am on the weekends or being away from your house for 12 hours at a time is no longer feasible when your pet is waiting for you at home. Plan to make arrangements to fit your dog’s needs, which may mean missing out on social activities from time to time.

Readings

University of Michigan: Animals on Campus

North Central Michigan College

20 Pet Friendly Colleges

Standards Michigan: Animals

“Nipper” RCA Victor

It sure looks 👀 different around @EastCarolina and CET this week. ➡️https://t.co/pPRZ35XhMw pic.twitter.com/niXow6C8rI

— ECU Engr&Technology (@ECUCET) March 5, 2024

Wildlife Protective Devices on Overhead Power Distribution Systems

Agricultural colleges and university farms often manage extensive overhead power distribution lines across research fields, livestock areas, and experimental plots. In these rural settings, wildlife (birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) frequently causes power outages by contacting energized conductors. Reliable electricity is essential for research projects, climate-controlled greenhouses, irrigation systems, and animal welfare. Even a short outage can ruin valuable experiments, compromise data, and endanger livestock — resulting in major financial and scientific losses.

Following IEEE Std 1656-2010 enables institutions to:

Select and verify high-performance wildlife protective devices
Significantly reduce outage frequency
Enhance safety for both wildlife and staff
Lower long-term maintenance costs
Demonstrate responsible and sustainable infrastructure management

By implementing this standard, agricultural colleges ensure uninterrupted power for education and research while promoting wildlife-friendly practices on campus.

This title is a recommended guide (not a mandatory standard) published by the IEEE Power and Energy Society.

Scope: The guide applies to wildlife protective devices (also known as wildlife guards, covers, or deterrents) installed on overhead electrical distribution systems rated up to and including 38 kV. It covers insulating covers, bird diverters, animal barriers, perch management devices, and similar products designed to prevent wildlife contact with energized conductors and equipment. The standard focuses on standardized laboratory test procedures rather than specific product designs or installation methods.

Purpose:
The primary purpose is to provide standardized test methods to evaluate the electrical, mechanical, and durability performance of these devices. This helps utilities and manufacturers ensure the devices effectively reduce wildlife-related outages (from birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) while maintaining long-term reliability in outdoor environments.

Key test categories include:

Electrical: Wet withstand, power frequency flashover, lightning impulse, and high-current arc tests
Mechanical: Wind, impact, and physical stress resistance
Durability: UV aging, weather resistance, and flame retardancy

Many commercial wildlife protection products are tested to or exceed IEEE 1656 requirements.

“Finches” Hector Giacomelli 1880

Guide for Animal Deterrents for Electric Power Supply Substations

1264-2022 – IEEE Guide for Animal Mitigation for Electric Power Supply Substations

IEEE Power Engineering Society

Abstract: Documented in this guide are methods and designs to mitigate interruptions, equipment damage, and personnel safety issues resulting from animal intrusions into electric power supply substations, thereby improving reliability and safety, and minimizing the associated revenue loss.

Scope: This guide documents methods and designs to mitigate interruptions, equipment damage, and personnel safety issues resulting from animal intrusions into electric power supply substations, thereby improving reliability and safety, and minimizing the associated revenue loss.

Purpose: Intrusion by animals into electric power supply substations has been a problem experienced by most of the electric utility industry. The costs associated with outages caused by animals continue to escalate. Although animal problems differ in nature geographically, the damage to equipment, interruption of or loss of service to customers, and safety problems encountered by operating personnel result in similar general concerns. This guide identifies various animals, the problems they cause, and mitigation methods. Further, it recommends criteria for applying mitigation methods, documents survey-reported effectiveness of various methods, and recommends factors for evaluating effectiveness of methods once they are applied.

CLICK HERE to order the guide

PES General Meeting 16-20 July | Orlando

Coconut Cold Brew

Standards North Carolina

2023 Financial Report & Audit | $1.092B

Master Plan: Vision 2030

The United States Food and Drug Administration and the National Coffee Association recommended standard temperature for safe hot coffee is around 160°F to 165°F (71°C to 74°C). This temperature range is considered hot enough to be enjoyable while minimizing the risk of scalding or burning.

These agencies do not have specific regulations or guidelines solely dedicated to cold brew coffee. However, there are general principles and best practices for handling and storing perishable food products that can be applied to cold brew coffee to ensure safety.*

Cold brew coffee typically requires more time to prepare than traditional hot brew coffee. While hot brew coffee can be made in just a few minutes, cold brew coffee is made by steeping coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period of time, usually between 12 to 24 hours.

The longer steeping time allows the coffee to extract more slowly and results in a smoother, less acidic coffee concentrate. After steeping, the coffee grounds are usually filtered out and the resulting concentrate can be diluted with water, milk, or other liquids and served over ice.

While cold brew coffee does require more time to prepare, many coffee drinkers prefer its smoother, less bitter taste and lower acidity compared to hot brewed coffee. Additionally, the longer shelf life of cold brew coffee concentrate makes it a popular choice for those who like to prepare coffee in advance and have it ready to drink throughout the day.

The Sacred Myths of Liberalism | Eric Kaufman (University of Buckingham)

Elon University Facilities Management

Coffee

We cover the technical standards applicable to small to medium sized coffee preparation installations in a cross-cutting way during our Kitchens 200 colloquium.

Relevant IEEE Research:

COVID-19 pandemic affected on coffee beverage decision and consumers’ behavior

Quality-Anomaly Identification in Liquid-Coffee Vending Machines Through Electrical Current Waveforms and Olfactory Data

Using Digital Marketing to Enhance Sustainability in The Coffee Business

* These recommendations are based on general food safety practices:

Water quality: Start with clean, potable water to brew your cold brew coffee. Make sure the water source is safe and free from contaminants.

Brewing process: Follow good manufacturing practices and ensure that your brewing equipment and utensils are clean and sanitized. Cold brew coffee is typically brewed using room temperature or cold water over an extended period. Ensure that the brewing container is properly sealed and protected from any potential sources of contamination.

Filtration: After the brewing process, filter the cold brew coffee to remove any sediment or particles. This can be done using a fine-mesh sieve or a dedicated filtration system.

Storage: Store the cold brew coffee in a clean, airtight container in the refrigerator. This helps to inhibit the growth of bacteria and maintain the quality of the coffee. Cold brew coffee can typically be stored for a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the specific recipe and preparation method.

Temperature control: Keep the cold brew coffee refrigerated at a temperature below 41°F (5°C) to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.

Serve safely: When serving cold brew coffee, use clean and sanitized utensils, containers, and dispensing equipment to avoid cross-contamination. If you add any additional ingredients like milk or sweeteners, ensure that they are stored properly and do not exceed their recommended storage times.

Congratulations to our Lumen Scholars who are going out into the world and making a difference. Learn more about the projects they worked on during their time at Elon and what's next here: https://t.co/iuh9wQ16NB pic.twitter.com/NJ3RiNTVS3

— Elon University (@elonuniversity) June 18, 2025

Canadian Parliament Debate on Standards Incorporated by Reference

What happened to Canada?

“The Jack Pine” | Tom Thomson (1916) | National Gallery of Canada

Originally posted January 2014

In these clips — selected from Canadian Parliamentary debate in 2013 — we observe three points of view about Incorporation by reference (IBR); a legislative drafting technique that is the act of including a second document within a main document by referencing the second document.

This technique makes an entire second (or referenced) document a part of the main document. The consensus documents in which we advocate #TotalCostofOwnership concepts are incorporated by reference into legislation dealing with safety and sustainability at all levels of government. This practice — which many consider a public-private partnership — is a more effective way of driving best practices for technology, and the management of technology, into regulated industries.

Parent legislation — such as the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy Act – almost always require intermediary bureaucracies to administer the specifics required to accomplish the broad goals of the legislation. With the gathering pace of governments everywhere expanding their influence over larger parts of the technologies at the foundation of national economies; business and technology standards are needed to secure that influence. These standards require competency in the application of political, technical and financial concepts; competencies that can only be afforded by incumbent interests who build the cost of their advocacy into the price of the product or service they sell to our industry. Arguably, the expansion of government is a reflection of the success of incumbents in business and technical standards; particularly in the compliance and conformity industries.

About two years ago, the US debate on incorporation by reference has been taken to a new level with the recent statement released by the American Bar Association (ABA):

16-164-Incorporation-by-Reference-ABA-Resolution-and-Report

The American National Standards Institute responded to the ABA with a statement of its own.

16-164-ANSI-Response-to-ABA-IBR-06-16 (1)

The incorporation by reference policy dilemma has profound implications for how we safely and economically design, operate and maintain our “cities-within-cities” in a sustainable manner but, admittedly, the results are only visible in hindsight over a time horizon that often exceed the tenure of a typical college or university president.

A recent development — supporting the claims of ANSI and its accredited standards developers — is noteworthy:

U.S. District Court Rules in Favor of Copyright Protection for Standards Incorporated by Reference into Federal Reg https://t.co/Tw2OnpMqua pic.twitter.com/i84fjUvQDS

— ANSI (@ansidotorg) February 13, 2017

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) manages a website — Standards.GOV — that is a single access point for consensus standards incorporated by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations: Standards Incorporated by Reference Database. Note that this database does not include specific reference to safety and sustainability codes which are developed by standards setting organizations (such as NFPA, ICC, IEEE, ASHRAE and others) and usually incorporated by reference into individual state public safety and technology legislation.

LEARN MORE:

We applaud the Federal Government’s commitment to fund free access to the National Building Codes that are developed by the @NRC_CNRC. As a not-for-profit developer of standards that contribute to the health, safety and well-being of Canadians, CSA Group…https://t.co/QqhdkDvb7s pic.twitter.com/1KRDvxDTaC

— CSA Group (@CSA_Group) November 23, 2018

Emergency & Standby Power Systems

FREE ACCESS: 2025 Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems

Public Input for 2028 Revision Received Until June 4, 2025

Academy of Art University | San Francisco County

Elevators rely on electricity to function, and when there’s a power outage, the main source of power is disrupted. Modern elevators often have backup power systems, such as generators or battery packs, to lower the cab to the nearest floor and open the doors, but these systems may not work optimally, or be connected to all elevators or may not exist in older or less well-maintained buildings.

Today we start with getting the source of power right; leaving complicating factors such as alarms, reset and restart sequences. NFPA 110 is the parent standard which references NFPA 70.

NFPA 110 FREE ACCESS

UpCodes Access

Ω

Public Input Report | 5 October 2022

Second Draft Meeting Minutes | 2 February 2023

Public Input No. 31-NFPA 110-2022 [ Section No. 3.2.4 ] | Page 7

National Electrical Code CMP-12

Bibliography

An Overview of NFPA 110

Type 10 Requirements for Emergency Power Systems

Bibliography: Microgrids

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act

Alumni Memorial Hall 1908

Michigan Central

Vogue: Beaux Arts Architecture | Donaldson and Meier Architects

Alumni Memorial Hall was built as a war memorial and multi-purpose alumni building — not originally as an art museum; though it became — and still is — a gathering point for alumni who donated their collections to the University. Its inspiration originated in 1864 shortly after the Civil War, to honor University of Michigan students, faculty, and alumni who died in that conflict and all conflicts thereafter.

Heritage Project: The Campus at War

Cultural Resource Properties

Museum Collections Security

Sacred Spaces

NFPA 70 Article 90

Today we review a draft of an article that covers, in our view, an obvious oversight in the 2026 National Electrical Code. It is an expansion of a proposal already submitted to the National Electrical Code Technical Correlating Committee and will support challenges to its adoption into the 2029 NEC revision. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Restore the NESC to the Front End of the NEC

Michael A. Anthony | Glenn T. Keates

Abstract. It may seem like a small thing — to restore the cross-reference to the IEEE National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) at the front end of the NFPA National Electrical Code (NEC) where it used to be — but it is not. This paper explains why restoration of the NEC’s peer document is necessary in the 2029 Edition of the NEC, now under development.

The reasons are both technical and cultural, touching on a minefield of sensitivities about safety, sustainability, and economic development associated with the data center (artificial intelligence) zeitgeist.

Customer owned interactive sources are not new. Customer-owned load-side electric services at transmission voltages for private developers and university-adjacent hyperscale installations present consideration are new.[x]

The NESC, in contrast, maintains a clear “handshake” reference to the NEC in its Scope statement (Section 011). This paper argues for the restoration of a prominent NESC cross-reference in NEC Article 90.2(A)(2) for the 2029 edition. The proposal (Public Input No. 3687-NFPA 70-2026) has already been submitted to NFPA Technical Committee CMP-1.