Monthly Archives: February 2021

BANGKOK (Feb 6):Thailand is implementing the seal and bubble strategy to curb the spread of Covid-19 in factories in Samut Sakhon, the epicentre of the latest outbreak in the kingdom.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesmanNatapanu Nopakun said for factories providingon-site accommodation for their workers, the seal method would be used to prevent the workers from leaving the factory compound.

For workers staying outside the factorycompound, thebubble method would be used to allow officials toregulate the workersmovements between theirdormitories andworkplaceto prevent them from wandering off to other locations.

The seal and bubble strategy is expected to bring local transmission under control within 28 days, he said at a daily Covid-19 briefing here today.

Besides that, Natapanu said public health officials would scaleup active case detection in Samut Sakhon.

To date, he said, more than 140,000 workers at 845 factories in Samut Sakhon had undergoneCovid-19 tests.

Samut Sakhon, a province south of Bangkok, has recorded 18,897 cases and 19 fatalities since it was hit by the pandemic inmid-December .

Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 490 new Covid-19 cases and zero deaths,bringing the cumulative figures in the kingdom to 23,134 cases and 79 fatalities.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) assistant spokesmanDr Panprapa Yongtrakul said 412 of the new cases were confirmed through active case detection, with410 in Samut Sakhon and one case each inSamut Songkhram and Samut Prakan.

She said 67 new cases were from those seeking treatment at hospitals and another11 cases were imported, including one illegal entry.

After the fresh wave of Covid-19 in Thailand since mid-December last year,14 provinces are still free from Covid-19, while 47 provinces havenot reported new cases for at least seven days, she said.

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Covid-19: Thailand implements 'seal and bubble' strategy to curb transmission in factories - The Edge Markets MY

During a recent discussion of the challenges the new Biden administration faces, retired Adm. William McRaven said Russian President Vladimir Putin has outplayed the US and that Russia is the greatest external security threat.

I am often asked where do I think the greatest external security threat is, and I always point to Russia, McRaven, a former Navy SEAL and special-operations commander, said at a Chatham House event on Tuesday. A lot of people think about China, but Russia jumps to mind first.

While he acknowledged that Russia is not the superpower it once was, he stressed that Putin has outplayed us.

He has played the great game better than anyone on the world stage, McRaven said of the Russian president. Pointing to Russian actions in Crimea, Ukraine, Syria, and even the US that were detrimental to American interests, he said: Putin is a very dangerous person.

China is often regarded as the pacing threat for the US, and during the Trump administration, tremendous emphasis was put on countering China with less attention paid to Russia.

Nonetheless, Russia is a great power rival, listed as a leading threat alongside China in the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

We do need to find areas where we can partner with the Russians, McRaven said, but make no mistake about it, I think we need to take a hard line with respect to Russia We need to let Putin know that there are lines you just shouldnt cross.

McRaven praised President Joe Bidens first phone call with Putin, in which the president,according to a White House readout, made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies.

Biden is said to have discussed arms-control concerns, asserted US support for Ukraine, and pressed Putin on the massive SolarWinds cyberattack that affected a number of federal government agencies and bureaus, election interference, and the poisoning of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

I was pleased to see the president in his first phone call with President Putin addressed Alexei Navalny issue, McRaven said. I dont think President Trump would have done that.

As president, Donald Trump did not condemn Russia over the poisoning of Navalny, whom Russia recently put in prison.

Commenting on his discussion with Putin, Biden said Thursday that he made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russias aggressive actions interfering with our election, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens are over.

We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people, he added.

McRaven said Tuesday that the US needed to not only make its position clear to Russia but also rebuild and leverage alliances to make sure that Russia understands how they need to play.

The Biden administration has made priorities of rebuilding alliances, reengaging in international affairs, and leading with confidence and humility. The presidents foreign-policy approach stands in stark contrast with Trumps America First policies.

During his presidency, Trump was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for pushing away allies and partners while at times cozying up to adversaries.

In particular, critics expressed concern as Trump struck a conciliatory tone toward Russia, despite warnings from across the intelligence community and other parts of the US government that Russia was engaged in activities that harmed US interests.

McRaven,who voted for Biden despite considering himself a conservative, was an outspoken critic of Trumps policies.

In anopinion columnpublished in August, McRaven wrote that Trump was actively working to undermine every major institution in this country as the US struggled with rising threats from China and Russia, among other challenges.

One of hismore famous op-eds was a 2019 articletitled Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President, in which he said: If this president doesnt demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office.

He said Trumps actions threatened the trust of Americans allies and partners.

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we cant have faith in our nations principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military, McRaven wrote. And if they dont join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us where will the world end up?

McRaven served nearly four decades in the military. As the commander of Joint Special Operations Command,he oversaw Operation Neptune Spear, the successful military raid that killed the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Ladenin 2011.

After retiring from the Navy in 2014, he went into academia and has written best-selling books on leadership, including Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe the World and Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations.

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Former Navy SEAL commander says Putin has outplayed the US and Russia is the greatest external security threat - We Are The Mighty

The death of Professor David Washbrook (b. April 25, 1948 d. January 24, 2021) has robbed South Asian history of one of its most incisive and robust voices. Over a career spanning five decades, Washbrook was a significant figure in many of the key debates that animated the field. And in many ways, his intellectual trajectory reflects the shifts in its historiography.

Washbrooks career as an historian of colonial South Asia began and ended at Trinity College, Cambridge. As an undergraduate, he became drawn to the study of colonial India under the tutelage of Anil Seal; and, as a Junior Research Fellow at the college (1971-74), he completed a doctorate on the politics of the Madras Presidency. In 2007, he returned to Trinity as a Senior Research Fellow, after holding academic positions at the universities of Warwick (1975-1993), Harvard (1986) and Oxford (1993-2007).

Washbrooks early books South India: Political Institutions and Political Change (1975, co-edited with Christopher Baker) and The Emergence of Provincial Politics: The Madras Presidency, 1870-1920 (1976) swiftly established him as one of the rising stars of the so-called Cambridge School. This new approach to the study of Indian nationalism sought to set aside its high flown rhetoric and uncover the underlying material imperatives that drove politicians and their local patrons. Understandably, the Cambridge approach was met with criticism, especially in India, where it was seen as a Namierite reading of Indian politics, downplaying the ideology, norms and values of the anti-colonial struggle. Yet even in his early writings, Washbrook was not the cynically detached analyst conjured by his critics. He had already begun to draw important connections between ecology, agrarian class relations and the political economy of colonialism.

These themes were to inform the next phase of his scholarly career, which saw him move back in time to 18th-century South India. The shift in research focus yielded essays that contributed to a new account of late pre-colonial South Asia and its transition to colonialism. Notably, Washbrooks interventions highlighted the significance of an incipient capitalism and its impact on class formation and corporate institutions prior to the English East India Companys rise to political power. Moreover, he argued, the early colonial state consolidated the practices of state mercantilism that it had inherited from pre-colonial regimes. Two major essays published in Modern Asian Studies Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India (1981) and Progress and Problems: South Asian Economic and Social History, c. 1720-1860 (1988) offer richly suggestive distillations of the revisionist perspectives that transformed South Asian historiography in the 1980s. As with his earlier writings on Indian nationalism, Washbrooks arguments about the colonial transition had its critics, especially scholars of the Subaltern Studies collective. And as before, the ensuing debates drew a new generation of scholars to the study of South Asian history.

Also read: Syud Hossain: A Fascinating Footnote from Indias Freedom Struggle

Washbrooks turn to the study of 18th-century South India also led him to frame the regions past within the history of the evolving capitalist world economy. In the mid-1980s, he critiqued Immanuel Wallerstein and his world systems analysis for its ahistorical assumptions about South Asias economic past. Over time, this critique paved the way for a series of essays in which Washbrook located India firmly at the centre of the early modern global world.

The final decade of his scholarly career saw Washbrook expand his scholarly interests in new directions. There were forays into the intellectual and cultural worlds of 18th-century South India, the history of the scribal classes in early modern India, and the role of princely states in the making of Indian modernity. Some of this work was published over the last decade, but it would not be surprising if the scholars proverbial bottom drawer contains much that was being worked up for publication.

Yet for all the shifts, there were enduring continuities in Washbrooks oeuvre as a historian. For one, there was the deep investment in the study of South India, the vast and varied region that was his favoured unit of historical analysis. Equally, one can discern a constant preoccupation with the social history of capitalism and class relations. Indeed, Washbrooks focus on class prompted some to consider him a Marxist. (I once asked him if this was the case; I am all for the Marx of the 18th Brumaire, he responded.) This perception was strengthened by his methodological approach, which tended to combine astute sociological analysis with a sharp sense of historical conjunctures and structural contradictions. And finally, much of his best work was conducted in dialogue and partnership with colleagues who shared his concerns and interests: the early publications on Madras with Chris Baker; the revisionist perspective on the 18th century with Chris Bayly; the writings on South Asian historiography with Rosalind (Polly) OHanlon; and the essays on transnational and global history through his engagement with the scholarship of Joya Chatterji, Prasannan Parthasarthi and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, as well as the activities of the Global Economic History Network (GEHN). The range of his scholarly collaborators and interlocutors, and the high regard and affection that they had for him, was fully in evidence at the conference held in his honour at Trinity College, Cambridge, in May 2014.

Also read: A Tribute to D.N. Jha, a Historian Who Will Be Remembered for Treasuring Plurality

Alongside his considerable achievements as a historian, Washbrook taught, supervised, mentored and examined two generations of scholars working on South Asia. I became his doctoral student shortly after he succeeded Tapan Raychaudhuri as Reader in Indian History at Oxford. As a supervisor, he was generous, patient and wise. He wore lightly both his erudition and his authority. One looked forward to supervision sessions with him at St. Antonys, not only to receive feedback but also to feed off the throwaway remarks that came thick and fast on such occasions.

Above all, it was hard to reconcile the pugnacious writer with the affably avuncular figure, radiating reassurance and good humour, that one encountered in person.

Prashant Kidambi, Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

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Remembering David Washbrook, and His Historical Insights on Class Relations in South Asia - The Wire

The use of Native American mascots at public schools has again come into question as a Massachusetts bill proposes eliminating the practice, which Native Americans say mocks their culture.

Sen. Jo Comerford, a Northampton Democrat, refiled a Senate bill, SD 417, that would make the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education create regulations prohibiting public schools from using Native American epithets in team names, logos or mascots, as well as references to Native culture or specific tribes. Rep. Nika Elugardo, a Boston Democrat, and Tami Gouveia, an Acton Democrat, refiled the House version.

Native American leaders who for years have advocated for the bill say its a matter of increasing racial equity.

Native mascots hurt everyone, said Elizabeth Solomon of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag in a statement. Their negative effects on Native peoples are most evident but, because they promulgate and reinforce stereotypes about Native Americans, they are damaging to anyone who aspires to an equitable and just society.

The mascot bill is part of a larger agenda pushed by Native leaders in Massachusetts, Comerford told MassLive last month. Lawmakers passed another proposal under that agenda at the end of the legislative session the morning of Jan. 6, a bill that launched a commission to review and change the state seal.

The seal shows a hand holding a sword believed to belong to English militia leader Myles Standish hovering over the head of a Native person with the Latin motto that translates to, by the sword we seek peace. Gov. Charlie Baker signed the bill to review the seal and motto into law on Jan. 11, according to the Legislatures website.

The work to rethink the commonwealths seal is important, but its not the only thing we have to do, the Northampton Democrat said at the time. Native leaders have laid out a number of steps for us in the indigenous agenda. Theres this bill, theres a bill to ban Native mascots, theres a bill to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, so theres a number of things theyd want to see.

School officials in Pittsfield, Athol and other Massachusetts communities have retired athletic team mascots and teams, while others doubled down. In September, the Agawam City Council voted to keep the Agawam High Schools sports team name, The Brownies, as well as its caricature of a Native American as the mascot.

At least 26 schools in Massachusetts have mascots or logos that reference Native Americans.

Shawna Newcomb, a Mashpee Wampanoag tribal member who teaches at Hanover Public Schools, said she sees schoolchildren growing up seeing their heritage derided through mascots and logos.

It is nearly impossible for Indigenous students to thrive and feel confident in their skin when their heritage is mocked and continuously stereotyped by their school mascot, Newcomb said.

The bill would require the states school board to set a deadline for schools in violation of the regulations to choose a new athletic team name, logo or mascot.

Schools would be allowed to keep the old name, logo or mascot on its signs or marquees until the district is scheduled to replace those items under its maintenance schedules. That means any new marquee, sign or fixture would need the new name, logo or mascot.

Schools would be allowed to continue using uniforms or other materials with the old markers if they were bought before the deadline, according to the bill. But those schools would have to have picked a new name, logo or mascot and refrain from buying materials with the old name, logo or mascot. They also would have to refrain from replacing any signs or buying yearbooks with the old name, logo or mascot.

The bill states it does not prohibit Native American tribes identified by the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs from choosing a Native name or logo for a sports team, including tribal schools or intramural leagues.

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Native American mascots under spotlight as Massachusetts bill proposes eliminating their use in public schools - MassLive.com

Astrology, card-reading, auras and energieswhen it comes to such interests, I'm a skeptic, admittedly dismissing much of these subjects as "woo woo" fiction. But, as a journalist, I'm also curious. So, when an email landed in my inbox from a company selling reiki-charged candles and offering to perform a tarot card reading to determine the correct candle (and energy) for me, I admit I was intrigued.

Les Loups de La Lune is a new candle company based in New York's Hudson Valley, and the brainchild of Reiki masters Steven Gray, Chad Wagner, and Manu Del Prete. Each candle is hand-poured in the company's studio and contains a crystal, which the trio has "charged" ahead of time. In keeping with the founders' belief in the importance of energyas well as the company name, which translates to "wolves of the moon" candles are only poured on new moons, full moons, and solar eclipses.

Les Loups de La Lune

After I take the founders up on their offer of a tarot reading, I dial inlooking harried, no doubt, on my 8th Zoom meeting of the dayto see Gray and Wagner (who are partners in business and life) looking calm and collected in front of the exposed brick wall of their loft space, crystals arranged on the coffee table before them and a tiny dog napping on a furry throw between them. "Okay," I admit. "I already want their energy."

Gray and Wagner met through their Reiki master and, shortly thereafter, began making Reiki-charged candles for friends and family. This year, after relocating upstate from Long Island City, they turned that passion into a business with Les Loups.

Reiki, Gray tells me, "can essentially rework all your energy in your physical body, your spiritual body, and your energetic body." (And here I thought candles were just for a nice ambience! ) The candle collection is a way of translating that energy reworking into a more portable form, with each candle symbolizing a different goal or ambition and packaged with a different spell to recite when lighting.

Hadley Keller

The tarot readingwhich is offered on the Les Loups site for $110, including a candlewill determine which candle best suits me. Wagner leaves the screen for my reading: "I think it's important to not have muddled energy," he explains. While he and Gray both practice Reiki, the cards are Gray's game alone. "I channel through my mind," not through cards, says Wagner.

After instructing me to set my mind on some kind of goal, Gray begins shuffling. He walks me through ten minutes of card reading before recommending "The Familiar" candle from the company's "Witch, Please" line. Its purpose"to connect with your spirit guides"seems appropriate for a novice like me.

Gray has specific instructions for lighting the candle: "Hold your candle with an intention, a wish," he instructs. "Let the energy flow from your third eye through your heart and into your hands. Imagine that that wish and when your spirit feels that it's at ease, recite your spell and light your candle."

The concept, alongside the clever names, is just cheeky enough to be funwithout the kitsch of some crystal offerings, but also doesn't take itself entirely too seriously.

Hadley Keller

When my candle arrivespackaged in a black box with a wax seal and accompanied by a box of matches decorated with a lunar designI diligently wait until the full moon, as Wagner and Gray advised, then imagine my intention, recite my spell, and set it aglow. I'm not sure if it's the spiritual energy, the witchcraft, or just the rare moment of quiet and reflection amidst the business of the day, but I feel a special kind of calm. Maybe I'm not such a skeptic after all.

Intrigued? Shop Les Loups candles here; House Beautiful readers can use the code MYHOUSE for 15% off site-wide.

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I Bought a Reiki-Charged Candle Based on a Tarot Card Readingand You Can Too - HouseBeautiful.com

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) presented Gerresheimer Triveni with the Customer Obsession Award in December 2020. At Triveni in Kundli, plastic containers and closures for solid medications have been produced in accordance with the American Drug Master File (DMF) standard of the FDA (Federal Drug Association) for two decades. Triveni has been part of the Gerresheimer Group since 2012. The company is currently building a further plant to produce plastic containers in Kosamba.

As a leading total solutions provider, we believe in innovative packaging solutions and are committed to working closely with our customers, said Prakash Dhameja, Managing Director of Primary Packaging Plastic India, who received the award at a virtual event, adding, even when we had to work under extreme conditions during the Covid19 outbreak, we managed to meet or exceed our customers expectations. I would like to thank all employees for their extraordinary commitment, and I am very proud to receive this award on behalf of the workforce and the Gerresheimer Group.

Triveni Polymers Ltd. is part of Gerresheimer Primary Packaging Plastics and produces plastic containers and closures for solid and liquid medications in association with sites in Europe, Asia and America. The portfolio includes screw-cap and snap-on containers, US Type containers (with induction seal) and closures with child-proof and senior-friendly features. The containers and closures are produced from HDPE, LDPE, PP and PET and serve as reliable primary packaging for many well-known medicines and cosmetic products. The plant is certified to the recognized ISO 9001, 14001, 15378 and 18001 standards and holds all major DMF certificates as well as the PR-MF from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

As part of the Gerresheimer Group, Plastic Packaging is committed to sustainable growth. In addition to sustainable production, the division is committed to the use of PET bottles made from up to 100% recycled plastic. With BioPack, Gerresheimer offers a renewable raw material to produce pharmaceutical packaging made from sugar cane.

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Gerresheimer Triveni receives award for its active customer management from the Indian industry association CII - Pharmaceutical Business review -...

By Jane Lucas

As winter starts to fade away, or at least were beginning to start feeling hopeful about whats to come once it truly does, our minds often turn to the big spring clean. After the dark, sometimes more dismal dullness of winter, it can be incredibly cathartic to have a really great deep clean of our homes to get them ready for the spring and the new life that it brings with it.

The problem is that, although this deep clean is something we generally do carry out like switching winter curtains for summer ones, or maybe changing our blankets for thinner ones there are still areas that go unnoticed and missed that could definitely benefit from a deep clean this spring. Read on to find out what they are and how you can go about ensuring you include them in your spring cleaning routine.

If you have a dishwasher, you might not consider it at all when it comes to cleaning, apart from, perhaps, wiping down the door once in a while. After all, the entire point of a dishwasher is that it cleans, so it should make the insides sparkling all the time, shouldnt it? That logic does make sense, until you consider exactly how dishwashers work; they clean the items inside them, but in doing so, they wash away all the dirt and grime and food particles, many of which get stuck in the filter or at the bottom of the dishwasher itself. Every time you use it, your dishes are being cleaned along with old bits of food, and bacteria can be covering everything. On top of this, fungi can grow in the dishwasher as it is a damp, dark space with plenty for the fungi to eat.

As you can see, it would be good to include your dishwasher on your spring cleaning schedule (and every month going forward to ensure it is entirely clean). The best way to clean your dishwasher is to run it on a full cycle when its empty. Clean out the filter first, and then use the hottest setting you have, and rather than including any cleaning solution or tablets, use a cup of vinegar instead. Also, sprinkle some baking soda inside before you run it. It will look amazing when its done.

If you have ceiling fans, youll know how much you rely on them, but if you use them a lot, you might not think about them at all when it comes to cleaning; theyre just there, useful essential in some cases but unremarkable and unnoticed. This is why they can so easily be forgotten when you are carrying out your spring clean and creating a list of everything that needs to be done.

Ceiling fans do need to be cleaned, however, as they collect a lot of dust. Like anything inanimate gets dusty when left untouched, as well as the fact that it also spins when in use, it also deposits that dust all around the room, meaning that anyone who is in that room will be breathing in those tiny particles. They probably wont even notice its happening, but it most certainly is, and it can be bad for your health, especially if you have a lung condition or breathing problems like asthma or allergies.

Youll want to include your ceiling fan in your cleaning schedule. Remember to take care when you do, however, as youll need to stand on a stepladder to get to the blades. To clean a ceiling fan, youll need a pillowcase (and you might want to wear a face mask too, just in case the dust escapes). Slip the pillowcase over each blade and pull gently towards you; this will remove the dust but keep it contained so that it doesnt make the entire room dusty and give you more work to do. Once the dust is removed, you can wipe the blade down with a damp cloth.

This is the kind of job that, once its done, youll be glad you did it, but before its done, youll wonder whether its worth all the effort. We can tell you now; it is. Youll need to take everything out of the fridge and freezer before you can start this job if youre going to do it properly, so the best time to do it will be just before your next trip to the grocery store since there will be fewer items inside. Throw away anything that you cant eat anything out of date or unidentifiable and put everything else into a cool bag or box so that it doesnt perish. Youll want to move quickly on this job, particularly when it comes to the freezer, but you dont want to rush either as youll only have to do it again sooner than you would if you did it properly the first time.

Wipe down every shelf, all the walls, all the containers, even the rubber seals (food can get trapped here), and once its clean the fridge or freezer door will close more easily. Use a mix of water and vinegar to cut through any greasy spills and to kill off any lingering bacteria. Try not to use bleach if you can help it; it will do a good job and can be used in place of vinegar if need be, but its best not to use it near food products if possible.

If there is a lot of ice in the freezer and it needs to be defrosted before you can clean it, youll have to factor in this extra time. Leave the door open and let the ice melt on its own (into a container). To speed things up, you can leave a fan running by the open door, but do be wary of mixing water and electricity.

You probably make your bed every day. You possibly change your sheets once a week (give or take), but when was the last time you cleaned your mattress? Could it be that youve never done it? This might well be the case. Mattresses, despite being something we use every night and for hours at a time, are often ignored, but they do get extremely dirty. Dust mites can live there quite happily, for example, not to mention sweat and so on soaking through every night.

If your mattress is quite old, and certainly if its more than seven years old, then rather than cleaning it, you are probably best to buy a new one. Todays mattress technology means that modern mattresses are designed even better than old ones, and the difference a good mattress will make to your life will be incredible. Start by checking out a review of mattresses like Puffy and others.

If, however, there is still life in your mattress (or if you want to extend the life of the new one you have bought), you will need to clean it during your annual spring clean, and two or three more times throughout the year. To do so, sprinkle baking soda over the bare mattress and leave it for an hour. Then use your vacuum cleaner to remove the baking soda, and it will lift off the grime with it.

Your washing machine is yet another appliance that you use at least once a week and probably more but that is easily forgotten when it comes to cleaning, possibly because, as with your dishwasher, it has a self-cleaning vibe to it.

Yet, as with the dishwasher, bacteria and muck can be left behind, and the longer it goes between a thorough clean, the worse it will become. If youve ever caught a nasty odor coming from your washing machine, this will be why. Just pull back the door seal, and youll potentially find a layer of mold in the worst cases, and plenty of dirty lint otherwise.

Wipe around the entire unit with a clean cloth doused in a mixture of vinegar and water, and make sure you get into the folds of the rubber seals as this is where the worst of the problem is going to be found. Dont forget the dispenser drawer too. Once thats done, run the washing machine on the hottest cycle you have after putting two cups of vinegar into the dispenser drawer. A little tip when it comes to keeping the washing machine smelling fresher in between cleans is to leave the door open a little, if its safe to do so (pet and small children might make this a bad idea).

The oven is perhaps something we are more aware of as we can see when it becomes dirty, and when more than a quick wipe over with cleaning chemicals and a cloth is going to be required. The problem is, by that tim, the grease and grime are so baked on that the job becomes much more of a chore, and it gets put off even longer, becoming harder with every passing meal cooked.

You can get an expert in to do the job for you, and the result is sure to be an impressive one. However, if you want to save yourself some money, there are ways you can do it yourself. If you need to clean the burners, for example, put them into an ammonia-filled freezer bag and leave it outside overnight. You dont need enough ammonia to cover the burner, just a tablespoon or two is fine. In the morning, the grease will be easier to remove (remember to wear gloves when handling the burners though, and never mix ammonia with anything else).

For the oven itself, mix baking soda, lemon juice, dish soap, and vinegar. Spread this paste around the oven and leave it for a few hours, after which you can wipe away the dirt with a sponge.

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6 Important Spring Cleaning Tips That Are Often Forgotten - The Apopka Voice