Not all swing states swing in the same way. In some—Florida or
Northern Virginia, for example—there’s a swath of voters up for grabs,
and a campaign’s job is to pull those voters over to their side. In
other states, loyalties have hardened and it’s just a question of who
comes out to vote. This is why nine other people came to Philadelphia to
spend the two weeks before the election looking at maps of the state
with the Pittsburgh and Philly areas filled in with black marker. Our
team’s job was simple enough: find the millions of people inside those
black bubbles who supported President Obama. If we got enough of them to
come out and vote, he would win the state. If we didn’t, he wouldn’t.
There is no early voting in Pennsylvania—the country’s sixth-largest
state had 13 hours to vote.
Because I speak Spanish, on Election
Day I was assigned to work in Feltonville, a heavily Latino
neighborhood in North Philadelphia. I was dropped off at the Association
of Dominican Business Owners of Pennsylvania, which was being used as a
local campaign office throughout the day and where a volunteer had
already brought in several cups of café con leche. I gulped mine down
and hoped it marked the beginning of the most boring day of my life.
The
first sign that things were going wrong was the stream of locals coming
into the office and asking if this was where they were supposed to
vote. Scores of people didn’t know their polling places, either because
they had forgotten or no one had told them in the first place, so they
just found the nearest building with an Obama sign and assumed they had
found it. Feeling remarkably less bilingual than I’d hoped, I explained
to all of them that we were a campaign office and immediately got to
work looking up each one’s polling place. I thought of the thousands of
door-hangers we had put up that weekend, each one with the proper
polling place clearly marked on the front, and could only manage a
“?Co?o!” of defeat.
The good news was that Democrats in
Pennsylvania had gotten the word out about the state’s voter ID law. The
law, passed by the Republican state legislature that took power in the
2010 elections, would have disenfranchised thousands of voters—with a
disproportionate impact on blacks, Latinos, and urban residents, as was
the intent—but it was blocked by a judge in early October. The
injunction meant that election officials in each precinct had to follow
bizarre instructions: They were required to ask each voter for ID, but
had to let everyone vote whether or not they had one. We were terrified
that someone would misunderstand the rules—either local election
officials would never explain that ID wasn’t really required,Quickparts
builds injection molds
using aluminum or steel to meet your program. or voters who’d been told
they wouldn’t need ID would get angry and go home—but the campaign had
done its job. No one was being turned away for lack of ID.
Around
mid-morning, we checked in at the Esperanza Health Clinic whose gym was
being used as a polling place. It was here where we realized what the
real problem was: According to poll watchers, three-quarters of the
voters in that precinct were waiting in line to vote, only to find that
their names were not on the roll of voters. Pennsylvania issues Voter
Registration Cards that state each voter’s name, party, precinct, and
polling place. The state also has an online database of all registered
voters and their precincts. But on the only day that actually counts,
election judges have a large book in front of them,We mainly supply
professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads
from china, and that’s the only thing they’re allowed to consult. It
was at this point that we finally came face to face with just how
dysfunctional a system we were dealing with. A single depleted ink
cartridge or printing error could have been enough to purge tens of
thousands of voters in a city of 1.5 million.
Anyone who claimed
to be registered but wasn’t on the voting rolls had the right to
request a paper provisional ballot. But how many of the voters knew
this? For that matter,Posts with indoor tracking
system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel
indoors. how many of the election judges knew this? Calls were coming in
from staffers around the city reporting the same problems—names not on
the books; voting machines staying empty for hours, but stacks of paper
ballots piling up on the side; disgusted voters turning away because
they had to get back to the office or didn’t want to put in the extra
time, or because election officials didn’t understand the rules and told
them that they simply couldn’t vote that year.The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging.
And
as for those who did file their provisional ballots? They were told
that the ballot would be checked against the state’s voter database and
counted if all the information was consistent. Voting-rights groups
asked a judge in the state’s Common Pleas Court to order the printing of
more provisional ballots, but despite reports that several polling
places were running out of them, the judge refused.Our technology gives rtls
systems developers the ability. With all the caveats and opportunities
for misinformation included in this process, one hesitates to even call a
provisional ballot a consolation prize, especially because these
ballots have a high rejection rate and are not slated to be fully
counted until November 27. It wasn’t even lunchtime, and already we were
hemorrhaging votes.
By this point we were all on our cell
phones, making as many calls as we could—to campaign headquarters,
asking them to send lawyers; to local journalists, asking them to spread
the word; to the Committee of 70, a nonpartisan group that monitors
elections in Philadelphia. Other campaign volunteers who had been
managing Spanish-English translation and I put a call back into the
Dominican Business Association, asking for more translators. And it was
at that point that another volunteer ran in to tell us that the McClure
School, which had been a local polling place for years, had been shut
down and its voters redirected to two other locations. Each of those two
polling places, already overcrowded, would receive about 50 percent
more voters. The Board of Elections had made this decision a month or
two before, but no one had bothered to tell the voters in the
neighborhood.
2012年11月28日 星期三
Scarborough girls in the chocolate business donating profits
Two Scarborough girls are proving it’s never too soon to catch the entrepreneurial spirit, or the spirit of giving.
Last year, Tansey Hughes, 10, and Naomi Sholl, 8, one-upped the usual kids’ lemonade stand by founding a business, Sweet Friends, to retail all-natural chocolates and candies. Now, they are dedicating net proceeds from an upcoming sale to Hurricane Sandy relief, as well as to the Preble Street Resource Center in Portland.
“With all the sad things that are happening, I started feeling how lucky we are to live in a safe environment,” said Hughes, on Friday, as she and Sholl showed off some of the molds they use to make their chocolates. “We felt bad for the other people, so we thought it would be good to donate money to those who are in need more than us.”
“We’re probably going to keep doing it more going forward, by always giving a percentage of our sales,” said Sholl.
In fact, the young candy mavens have even developed a new business motto, which they’ve had printed on promotional T-shirts and banners – “Helping others, one chocolate at a time.”
According to Sholl’s mother, Kim, who with her husband Ben Sholl owns the local Merry Maids housecleaning business, Sweet Friends began in “play dates” between the two girls. The backyard neighbors and BFFs transformed an afternoon churning out bookmarks handmade from recycled materials into profit by canvassing their High Point Road neighborhood, selling their creations.
That worked out so well the girls made more rounds, carting wagonloads of crafts, artwork, cookies and even painted rocks.
“The neighborhood has been very supportive, buying everything they make,” said Kim Sholl.
Eventually, the girls began to focus their product line, settling, as all good businesswomen do, on meeting the demands of the marketplace.If you have a fondness for china mosaic brimming with romantic roses, Chocolates seemed to sell the best, and, by last Christmas, the girls were buying each other molds in various shapes and sizes with the intent of expending their operations.
“We just thought it would be fun to start a small business,” said Naomi, a third-grader who is homeschooled. “It started very small, but we have an office now and our friends want to join us.”
Their corporate headquarters – a commandeered room in the home office of Tansey’s father, Jim Hughes – serves as the site of a weekly after-school strategy sessions. Hughes has even helped the girls write a business plan. In time, what started as Naomi’s Naturals, when the chocolate theme was first settled on, evolved into Sweet Friends, as some of the girls’ friends came board. Still, even after the name change, Hughes and Sholl maintain 50/50 ownership.
“They are really taking it all very seriously,” notes Hughes’ mother, Ruth Hughes.
“They’re haven’t spent any of the money they’ve made on themselves. They’re hanging onto it and have put it all back into the business,” she said.
“I’m excited for them,” said Kim Sholl. “Most kids, I think, will trail off on something like this, but they’ve really kept up with it.”
Ruth Hughes points out that both sets of parents are self-employed. In addition to the Sholl’s housecleaning business and John Hughes financial work, she runs Shooting Stars, a preschool program for children with special needs. Still, she admits, the Sweet Friends proprietors must be driven as much by nature as nurture.
“My boys definitely did not go down this path,” she joked. “They’d rather throw the football around the back yard.”
But the girls did get an example in community service from Tansey’s older brothers, Jack and Ben, both of whom have volunteered in the soup kitchen run by the Preble Street Resource Center. The Sholls also give back, regularly donating free services, what they call “the gift of clean,” to families in need or in crisis.
That spirit of selflessness may have been on the girls’ minds last week, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. As Ruth Hughes explains it, a family friend in Scarborough, Susan Clark,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. has family whose New Jersey home was wiped out by the storm.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.
“I was actually gathering clothes to give to her to mail down and that started the conversation,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.” said Ruth Hughes. “Then they started asking about other charities and we started talking about all of the different things that are out there and the various needs they fill.
“It was all their idea,” she said, of the girl’s decision to give away part of their future proceeds, including all profits from their Dec. 2 sale. “And when they get an idea, they get all over it.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele ,”
“Give them a project and they just run with it,” said Kim Sholl.
“We just thought it might be really nice to help them because a lot of homes got washed away from what was just a tiny hurricane that we had, was a really big hurricane for them,” said Naomi. “We just thought we are really lucky to live here so we wanted to help.”
The so-called “superstorm” that made landfall near Atlantic City on Oct. 29 was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, with a diameter of 1,100 miles. In the U.S. it claimed 131 lives and caused an estimated $65.5 billion in damage, not counting $25 billion in lost business. In all, nearly 72,000 homes were damaged while 8.2 million lost power, some for several weeks.
“I feel lucky and I also feel very sad that there are people who have to go through that,” said Tansey, a fifth-grader at Wentworth Intermediate School, noting that she and her partner will donate their Dec. 2 profits to the Red Cross, to help with relief efforts that are still ongoing.
In the near term, the girls hope to continue growing their business, maybe even to encompass a small shop of some kind, while continuing to share their success with those in need. They picked the Preble Street Resource Center as their local choice from a short list of candidates, but many others are just as worthy, they say.
“Once we figure out how much effort and how long it takes to put into selling that much chocolate, we’ll figure out a percentage we can donate on a regular basis,” said Tansey, who serves as company treasurer.
Last year, Tansey Hughes, 10, and Naomi Sholl, 8, one-upped the usual kids’ lemonade stand by founding a business, Sweet Friends, to retail all-natural chocolates and candies. Now, they are dedicating net proceeds from an upcoming sale to Hurricane Sandy relief, as well as to the Preble Street Resource Center in Portland.
“With all the sad things that are happening, I started feeling how lucky we are to live in a safe environment,” said Hughes, on Friday, as she and Sholl showed off some of the molds they use to make their chocolates. “We felt bad for the other people, so we thought it would be good to donate money to those who are in need more than us.”
“We’re probably going to keep doing it more going forward, by always giving a percentage of our sales,” said Sholl.
In fact, the young candy mavens have even developed a new business motto, which they’ve had printed on promotional T-shirts and banners – “Helping others, one chocolate at a time.”
According to Sholl’s mother, Kim, who with her husband Ben Sholl owns the local Merry Maids housecleaning business, Sweet Friends began in “play dates” between the two girls. The backyard neighbors and BFFs transformed an afternoon churning out bookmarks handmade from recycled materials into profit by canvassing their High Point Road neighborhood, selling their creations.
That worked out so well the girls made more rounds, carting wagonloads of crafts, artwork, cookies and even painted rocks.
“The neighborhood has been very supportive, buying everything they make,” said Kim Sholl.
Eventually, the girls began to focus their product line, settling, as all good businesswomen do, on meeting the demands of the marketplace.If you have a fondness for china mosaic brimming with romantic roses, Chocolates seemed to sell the best, and, by last Christmas, the girls were buying each other molds in various shapes and sizes with the intent of expending their operations.
“We just thought it would be fun to start a small business,” said Naomi, a third-grader who is homeschooled. “It started very small, but we have an office now and our friends want to join us.”
Their corporate headquarters – a commandeered room in the home office of Tansey’s father, Jim Hughes – serves as the site of a weekly after-school strategy sessions. Hughes has even helped the girls write a business plan. In time, what started as Naomi’s Naturals, when the chocolate theme was first settled on, evolved into Sweet Friends, as some of the girls’ friends came board. Still, even after the name change, Hughes and Sholl maintain 50/50 ownership.
“They are really taking it all very seriously,” notes Hughes’ mother, Ruth Hughes.
“They’re haven’t spent any of the money they’ve made on themselves. They’re hanging onto it and have put it all back into the business,” she said.
“I’m excited for them,” said Kim Sholl. “Most kids, I think, will trail off on something like this, but they’ve really kept up with it.”
Ruth Hughes points out that both sets of parents are self-employed. In addition to the Sholl’s housecleaning business and John Hughes financial work, she runs Shooting Stars, a preschool program for children with special needs. Still, she admits, the Sweet Friends proprietors must be driven as much by nature as nurture.
“My boys definitely did not go down this path,” she joked. “They’d rather throw the football around the back yard.”
But the girls did get an example in community service from Tansey’s older brothers, Jack and Ben, both of whom have volunteered in the soup kitchen run by the Preble Street Resource Center. The Sholls also give back, regularly donating free services, what they call “the gift of clean,” to families in need or in crisis.
That spirit of selflessness may have been on the girls’ minds last week, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. As Ruth Hughes explains it, a family friend in Scarborough, Susan Clark,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. has family whose New Jersey home was wiped out by the storm.The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.
“I was actually gathering clothes to give to her to mail down and that started the conversation,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.” said Ruth Hughes. “Then they started asking about other charities and we started talking about all of the different things that are out there and the various needs they fill.
“It was all their idea,” she said, of the girl’s decision to give away part of their future proceeds, including all profits from their Dec. 2 sale. “And when they get an idea, they get all over it.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele ,”
“Give them a project and they just run with it,” said Kim Sholl.
“We just thought it might be really nice to help them because a lot of homes got washed away from what was just a tiny hurricane that we had, was a really big hurricane for them,” said Naomi. “We just thought we are really lucky to live here so we wanted to help.”
The so-called “superstorm” that made landfall near Atlantic City on Oct. 29 was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, with a diameter of 1,100 miles. In the U.S. it claimed 131 lives and caused an estimated $65.5 billion in damage, not counting $25 billion in lost business. In all, nearly 72,000 homes were damaged while 8.2 million lost power, some for several weeks.
“I feel lucky and I also feel very sad that there are people who have to go through that,” said Tansey, a fifth-grader at Wentworth Intermediate School, noting that she and her partner will donate their Dec. 2 profits to the Red Cross, to help with relief efforts that are still ongoing.
In the near term, the girls hope to continue growing their business, maybe even to encompass a small shop of some kind, while continuing to share their success with those in need. They picked the Preble Street Resource Center as their local choice from a short list of candidates, but many others are just as worthy, they say.
“Once we figure out how much effort and how long it takes to put into selling that much chocolate, we’ll figure out a percentage we can donate on a regular basis,” said Tansey, who serves as company treasurer.
Palestinian farmer hopes grapes
A sweet made of grape juice is how one West Bank farmer is hoping to
make a splash at the United Nations, a day before it is expected to vote
on whether to grant Palestinians non-member status.
The status would be an important boost in Palestinian efforts to secure greater international recognition and the vote is expected on either Thursday or Friday.
To make their voices heard, farmer Zuheir Ibragheith and his family have crushed some of their grape harvest in Hebron to turn it into a traditional sweet called in “malban” in the form of a Palestinian flag and a U.N. flag.
Ibragheith’s wife, Asmahan, says it was the one way they had to send a message in support of the U.N. bid.
“Every Palestinian sends his message to the president, each in his own way. We wanted to send our message by making the flag of the United Nations from grapes, to tell him that we support him and we will achieve statehood, God willing,” Asmahan Ibragheith said.
After preparing the moulds, the malban mixture - with added semolina, sugar and food coloring - is poured piping hot onto the table and into the moulds.
Ibragheith says there was a particular reason for using grapes.
Once a mainstay of the local economy, Palestinian agriculture in the rocky West Bank is in decline as farmers struggle to protect their livelihoods and their lands.
Deprived of water and cut off from key markets, farmers across the occupied territory can only look on with a mix of anger and envy as Israeli settlers copiously irrigate their own plantations and export at will.
The pressure to keep farming is strong, not least because Palestinian farmers believe that Israel and Jewish settlers will expropriate their farmland if they leave it uncultivated.
But with restrictions on water use and land, what farmers produce often fails to match the lower cost or higher quality of what Israel supplies to the Palestinian stores.
“The idea is that the farmers, not only me, we all suffer from (restrictions to) marketing, and from faulty pesticides which we take from the other (Israeli) side. We appeal to the Palestinian Authority as our only father and supporter to help us so that if we want to export to, say, Jordan,High quality stone mosaic tiles. we will find the path open to us,” Zuheir Ibragheith said.
Israel says it is already giving Palestinians more water than was agreed in the 1994 interim Oslo peace accords.
They say a definitive division of resources can only be decided in a final peace deal - something that has proved elusive in years of mutual recrimination and missed chances.
Israeli agriculture experts also say the Palestinians could do much more with their land if they adopted modern farming methods including using “drip technology” and modern fertilizers, but again Palestinians counter that it comes down to ample water supplies and unrestricted access to imports.
Vineyards are common in the area and Hebron's grape crop is the second largest produce in the West Bank after olives.
Ibragheith says his family has lived off their vineyards for generations, and he has been cultivating grapes all his life to make raisins, jams, molasses, and the ubiquitous malban.
“Through this product, we want to tell the whole world that grapes are not only for eating, but also for making a number of products,” he said.
The malban takes two days to set and this batch will be ready just in time for what is sure to be a celebration in the West Bank.
While Israel has lobbied against them,Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, the Palestinians are set for a sure victory in the 193-member world body made up mostly of developing countries long sympathetic to their cause.
The final touches in the piece were an olive branch for peace and the number 194, which would be the total number of members in the United Nations if the vote falls in the Palestinian people’s favor.
The Festival of Lights, which commemorates the Maccabean revolt against the Greeks, has a longstanding tradition of oily foods such as latkes and donuts in remembrance of the miracle of the temple oil, which lasted eight days instead of the expected one. But for some, the holiday has become an excuse to inhale fried potato pancakes and custard-filled pastry.
“People have a misconception of the tradition to fry on Hanukkah," Yosef Silver, the author of the popular blog “This American Bite”, told JTA.We specialize in howo concrete mixer, "The concept is to remember the oil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean frying. We’ve gotten so wrapped up with frying, but there are ways to make Hanukkah food,High quality stone mosaic tiles. like latkes, just using oil.”
These days, with everyone from the “first” lady on down drawing attention to our widening waistlines, Jewish foodies have plenty of options for consuming traditional holiday fare without packing on the pounds.
Silver was raised on the old way – frying everything. But now he prefers to bake latkes rather than fry them.
“If you prefer to use the traditional potato latke recipe, the best way to make it healthy would be to pan fry it with an oil substitute like Pam," Silver said. "If you want to incorporate oil, add only a tablespoon and lightly pan-fry it.”
For those who prefer a fried taste, Silver suggests swapping potatoes for healthier vegetables that provide vitamins and nutrition as opposed to starch.
“My favorite latke variety to make is my variation using rutabaga and turnip," Silver said. "Rutabaga is a starchy vegetable, but it’s not actually a carb. It gives a similar consistency to potatoes and is delicious."
Shaya Klechevsky, a personal chef from Brooklyn who writes the kosher cuisine blog “At Your Palate”, says there are ways to make healthier donuts, or sufganiyot — also a traditional Hanukkah food though one generally more popular in Israel than the United States. But Klechevsky warns about playing too much with recipes.
“When making the batter, you can use a little bit of whole wheat if you want to veer away from white flour, but you need to be careful because too much whole wheat will turn your donuts into bricks,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products." Klechevsky said. "You can also substitute sugar with honey."
Rather than altering the recipe for the dough, Klechevsky says the best way to make healthy donuts is to use healthy fillings, like sugar-free jams, nuts, fruit and granola.
“The best option is to bake donuts rather than fry them," Klechevsky said. "The taste won't be the same, but it will be close. You can buy little round molds and fill them with batter."
The status would be an important boost in Palestinian efforts to secure greater international recognition and the vote is expected on either Thursday or Friday.
To make their voices heard, farmer Zuheir Ibragheith and his family have crushed some of their grape harvest in Hebron to turn it into a traditional sweet called in “malban” in the form of a Palestinian flag and a U.N. flag.
Ibragheith’s wife, Asmahan, says it was the one way they had to send a message in support of the U.N. bid.
“Every Palestinian sends his message to the president, each in his own way. We wanted to send our message by making the flag of the United Nations from grapes, to tell him that we support him and we will achieve statehood, God willing,” Asmahan Ibragheith said.
After preparing the moulds, the malban mixture - with added semolina, sugar and food coloring - is poured piping hot onto the table and into the moulds.
Ibragheith says there was a particular reason for using grapes.
Once a mainstay of the local economy, Palestinian agriculture in the rocky West Bank is in decline as farmers struggle to protect their livelihoods and their lands.
Deprived of water and cut off from key markets, farmers across the occupied territory can only look on with a mix of anger and envy as Israeli settlers copiously irrigate their own plantations and export at will.
The pressure to keep farming is strong, not least because Palestinian farmers believe that Israel and Jewish settlers will expropriate their farmland if they leave it uncultivated.
But with restrictions on water use and land, what farmers produce often fails to match the lower cost or higher quality of what Israel supplies to the Palestinian stores.
“The idea is that the farmers, not only me, we all suffer from (restrictions to) marketing, and from faulty pesticides which we take from the other (Israeli) side. We appeal to the Palestinian Authority as our only father and supporter to help us so that if we want to export to, say, Jordan,High quality stone mosaic tiles. we will find the path open to us,” Zuheir Ibragheith said.
Israel says it is already giving Palestinians more water than was agreed in the 1994 interim Oslo peace accords.
They say a definitive division of resources can only be decided in a final peace deal - something that has proved elusive in years of mutual recrimination and missed chances.
Israeli agriculture experts also say the Palestinians could do much more with their land if they adopted modern farming methods including using “drip technology” and modern fertilizers, but again Palestinians counter that it comes down to ample water supplies and unrestricted access to imports.
Vineyards are common in the area and Hebron's grape crop is the second largest produce in the West Bank after olives.
Ibragheith says his family has lived off their vineyards for generations, and he has been cultivating grapes all his life to make raisins, jams, molasses, and the ubiquitous malban.
“Through this product, we want to tell the whole world that grapes are not only for eating, but also for making a number of products,” he said.
The malban takes two days to set and this batch will be ready just in time for what is sure to be a celebration in the West Bank.
While Israel has lobbied against them,Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, the Palestinians are set for a sure victory in the 193-member world body made up mostly of developing countries long sympathetic to their cause.
The final touches in the piece were an olive branch for peace and the number 194, which would be the total number of members in the United Nations if the vote falls in the Palestinian people’s favor.
The Festival of Lights, which commemorates the Maccabean revolt against the Greeks, has a longstanding tradition of oily foods such as latkes and donuts in remembrance of the miracle of the temple oil, which lasted eight days instead of the expected one. But for some, the holiday has become an excuse to inhale fried potato pancakes and custard-filled pastry.
“People have a misconception of the tradition to fry on Hanukkah," Yosef Silver, the author of the popular blog “This American Bite”, told JTA.We specialize in howo concrete mixer, "The concept is to remember the oil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean frying. We’ve gotten so wrapped up with frying, but there are ways to make Hanukkah food,High quality stone mosaic tiles. like latkes, just using oil.”
These days, with everyone from the “first” lady on down drawing attention to our widening waistlines, Jewish foodies have plenty of options for consuming traditional holiday fare without packing on the pounds.
Silver was raised on the old way – frying everything. But now he prefers to bake latkes rather than fry them.
“If you prefer to use the traditional potato latke recipe, the best way to make it healthy would be to pan fry it with an oil substitute like Pam," Silver said. "If you want to incorporate oil, add only a tablespoon and lightly pan-fry it.”
For those who prefer a fried taste, Silver suggests swapping potatoes for healthier vegetables that provide vitamins and nutrition as opposed to starch.
“My favorite latke variety to make is my variation using rutabaga and turnip," Silver said. "Rutabaga is a starchy vegetable, but it’s not actually a carb. It gives a similar consistency to potatoes and is delicious."
Shaya Klechevsky, a personal chef from Brooklyn who writes the kosher cuisine blog “At Your Palate”, says there are ways to make healthier donuts, or sufganiyot — also a traditional Hanukkah food though one generally more popular in Israel than the United States. But Klechevsky warns about playing too much with recipes.
“When making the batter, you can use a little bit of whole wheat if you want to veer away from white flour, but you need to be careful because too much whole wheat will turn your donuts into bricks,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products." Klechevsky said. "You can also substitute sugar with honey."
Rather than altering the recipe for the dough, Klechevsky says the best way to make healthy donuts is to use healthy fillings, like sugar-free jams, nuts, fruit and granola.
“The best option is to bake donuts rather than fry them," Klechevsky said. "The taste won't be the same, but it will be close. You can buy little round molds and fill them with batter."
Skanska to build Atlantic Yards ‘modules’ for Ratner
Skanska USA and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) today announced
that B2, the first residential tower that is part of the Atlantic Yards
Development in Brooklyn, will be built utilizing modular construction.
The groundbreaking on the 32-story building will be held on December 18 and the building is expected to open in 2014.Installers and distributors of solar panel,
In addition, Skanska USA announced their partnership with FCRC to create a new company called FC + Skanska Modular, LLC (FCS Modular) that will build the modular components in a 100,000 square-foot space located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They estimate that there will be 125 unionized workers employed at the fabrication facility beginning in late spring, 2012 when modular production is fully under way.
Gary LaBarbera, the President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, announced as well that the workers would be organized into a newly formed Modular Division of the Building and Construction Trades Council.
While high-rise modular technology has been initially developed for use at Atlantic Yards, this new industry has the potential to create modular components for construction projects across New York City and worldwide, becoming the first major manufacturing expansion in New York City since manufacturing began its decline over a generation ago.
Modular construction is in use in various forms around the world. It is rarely used however for high rise development, even though it is perfectly suited for conditions where space is tight and land values are high — which is what makes its use on this project unique, and particularly relevant to New York.We specialize in howo concrete mixer,
Modular design and construction will allow the developer to produce higher quality housing at more affordable cost. But the project is equably about using technology to make a more sustainable, more economic, and higher quality product, which can produce a range of buildings – not only affordable housing, but also soaring office towers and luxury co-ops and condos.
“Construction is by definition about building,” said William Flemming, President and CEO at Skanska USA Building. “With this project, however, and with our partnership with FCRC and the Construction Trades, we are also building a new industry that has potential to become New York City’s newest export, a product and process that can transform how construction is done in this century. We are proud to bring our expertise in prefabrication—which we have used extensively on our healthcare and data center facility projects—to the residential market for the first time in New York City.”
“Housing was and is at the very foundation of the Atlantic Yards development,” said Bruce Ratner, Chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies. “Our commitment to affordable housing—in a way that assists low-income New Yorkers and working families—is as strong today as when we announced this project nearly nine years ago. With modular, we are also transforming how housing is built in New York City and, potentially, around the world. And we are doing it, as we do with all of our construction, in partnership with union labor, the best labor, in the best City in the world. With our new partner, Skanska USA, we are creating a new industry for which we can say, ‘Made in Brooklyn.”
Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said, “Today, we move forward with an innovative approach to development that will allow us to realize the vision of the Atlantic Yards project and create traditional construction jobs that may otherwise have been at risk. And as we bring training, skill, quality and safety to modular construction through a strong labor-management partnership on this project, we see the potential to have this approach improve our competitiveness elsewhere in the local market and expand into an export industry to create even more sustainable union jobs that pay good wages and benefits.”
MaryAnne Gilmartin, the Executive Vice President at FCRC who is overseeing Atlantic Yards, explained, “Two years ago, due to the financial environment and other issues, we undertook intensive research and development to explore the feasibility of modular and to infuse technologically modern means of construction in our design and construction methods. We believe we’ve achieved a significant break through that will allow us to create world-class design and keep our commitment to union labor and deliver a significant amount of affordable housing.”
Designed by the award-winning architectural firm SHoP, the design architect for Barclays Center,High quality mold making Videos teaches anyone how to make molds. the building will sit at the intersection of Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue and have 363 units, 50 percent of which (181) will be low, moderate and middle-income homes. The remaining 50 percent (182) will be market rate. The units will be evenly divided throughout the building and all will have the same quality appliances and access to the same public spaces, including a fitness center, bike storage, a resident lounge, game room, yoga/dance studio and roof terrace. Each unit will have a washer and dryer.
Working with SHoP and internationally acclaimed engineering firm Arup, Forest City and Skanska have developed new construction techniques that will allow for 930 modular units—“mods”—to be assembled by workers at the Navy Yard facility and trucked to the construction site, where they will be raised by cranes and attached to the building’s steel frame.
Fabrication will take place in a controlled, efficient environment by union professionals protected from the weather year-round. Workers are trained in lean manufacturing methods and work as teams to complete the fabrication process consistent with detailed work instructions using precision tooling and templates. Modular construction uses the same construction materials as conventionally constructed buildings. These include steel, glass and all the finishes used in traditional buildings.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, Living spaces can be completely different from one another in size, shape, ceiling heights as well as finishes. Modules can even be set next to one another with open walls to create large open spaces. The fa?ade of a modular building is not constrained by the modular fabrication and can be identical to a conventional fa?ade.
Given much of the work will take place off-site, there will be significant reduction in truck traffic and other community impacts. It is also estimated that modular construction will result in 70 to 90 percent less waste than traditional construction. B2 is expected to achieve LEED Silver certification.
Modular buildings built in New York City must meet the NYC Building Code as well as all fire and life safety codes. Modular construction is also safer than conventional construction. The work environment reduces work at heights and removes environmental factors (snow, ice, water, and mud). It is estimated that manufacturing in this way is safer than on-site construction. Conventional on-site workers are also safer as they are primarily working within finished, enclosed portions of the building away from the typical risks of an open construction site.
The exterior of the building will have a series of setbacks that have been articulated and integrated into the overall building’s massing. In addition to these volumetric breaks a variety of materials, colors and fabrication techniques have been utilized to create an intricate play of light, pattern and texture over the fa?ade. Deep metal frames cantilever beyond the glazed openings of the residential units, each being accented by a series of beveled and perforated metal panels.Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, The inlaid metal panels are dressed with accents of color, heightening the play of light and shadow across their smooth and articulated surfaces. At grade, full story glazed storefronts will be accented by covered entrances to the three new towers extending a more scaled intimacy, typical of Brooklyn’s streetscape along all the elevations of the arena site.
The groundbreaking on the 32-story building will be held on December 18 and the building is expected to open in 2014.Installers and distributors of solar panel,
In addition, Skanska USA announced their partnership with FCRC to create a new company called FC + Skanska Modular, LLC (FCS Modular) that will build the modular components in a 100,000 square-foot space located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They estimate that there will be 125 unionized workers employed at the fabrication facility beginning in late spring, 2012 when modular production is fully under way.
Gary LaBarbera, the President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, announced as well that the workers would be organized into a newly formed Modular Division of the Building and Construction Trades Council.
While high-rise modular technology has been initially developed for use at Atlantic Yards, this new industry has the potential to create modular components for construction projects across New York City and worldwide, becoming the first major manufacturing expansion in New York City since manufacturing began its decline over a generation ago.
Modular construction is in use in various forms around the world. It is rarely used however for high rise development, even though it is perfectly suited for conditions where space is tight and land values are high — which is what makes its use on this project unique, and particularly relevant to New York.We specialize in howo concrete mixer,
Modular design and construction will allow the developer to produce higher quality housing at more affordable cost. But the project is equably about using technology to make a more sustainable, more economic, and higher quality product, which can produce a range of buildings – not only affordable housing, but also soaring office towers and luxury co-ops and condos.
“Construction is by definition about building,” said William Flemming, President and CEO at Skanska USA Building. “With this project, however, and with our partnership with FCRC and the Construction Trades, we are also building a new industry that has potential to become New York City’s newest export, a product and process that can transform how construction is done in this century. We are proud to bring our expertise in prefabrication—which we have used extensively on our healthcare and data center facility projects—to the residential market for the first time in New York City.”
“Housing was and is at the very foundation of the Atlantic Yards development,” said Bruce Ratner, Chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies. “Our commitment to affordable housing—in a way that assists low-income New Yorkers and working families—is as strong today as when we announced this project nearly nine years ago. With modular, we are also transforming how housing is built in New York City and, potentially, around the world. And we are doing it, as we do with all of our construction, in partnership with union labor, the best labor, in the best City in the world. With our new partner, Skanska USA, we are creating a new industry for which we can say, ‘Made in Brooklyn.”
Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said, “Today, we move forward with an innovative approach to development that will allow us to realize the vision of the Atlantic Yards project and create traditional construction jobs that may otherwise have been at risk. And as we bring training, skill, quality and safety to modular construction through a strong labor-management partnership on this project, we see the potential to have this approach improve our competitiveness elsewhere in the local market and expand into an export industry to create even more sustainable union jobs that pay good wages and benefits.”
MaryAnne Gilmartin, the Executive Vice President at FCRC who is overseeing Atlantic Yards, explained, “Two years ago, due to the financial environment and other issues, we undertook intensive research and development to explore the feasibility of modular and to infuse technologically modern means of construction in our design and construction methods. We believe we’ve achieved a significant break through that will allow us to create world-class design and keep our commitment to union labor and deliver a significant amount of affordable housing.”
Designed by the award-winning architectural firm SHoP, the design architect for Barclays Center,High quality mold making Videos teaches anyone how to make molds. the building will sit at the intersection of Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue and have 363 units, 50 percent of which (181) will be low, moderate and middle-income homes. The remaining 50 percent (182) will be market rate. The units will be evenly divided throughout the building and all will have the same quality appliances and access to the same public spaces, including a fitness center, bike storage, a resident lounge, game room, yoga/dance studio and roof terrace. Each unit will have a washer and dryer.
Working with SHoP and internationally acclaimed engineering firm Arup, Forest City and Skanska have developed new construction techniques that will allow for 930 modular units—“mods”—to be assembled by workers at the Navy Yard facility and trucked to the construction site, where they will be raised by cranes and attached to the building’s steel frame.
Fabrication will take place in a controlled, efficient environment by union professionals protected from the weather year-round. Workers are trained in lean manufacturing methods and work as teams to complete the fabrication process consistent with detailed work instructions using precision tooling and templates. Modular construction uses the same construction materials as conventionally constructed buildings. These include steel, glass and all the finishes used in traditional buildings.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, Living spaces can be completely different from one another in size, shape, ceiling heights as well as finishes. Modules can even be set next to one another with open walls to create large open spaces. The fa?ade of a modular building is not constrained by the modular fabrication and can be identical to a conventional fa?ade.
Given much of the work will take place off-site, there will be significant reduction in truck traffic and other community impacts. It is also estimated that modular construction will result in 70 to 90 percent less waste than traditional construction. B2 is expected to achieve LEED Silver certification.
Modular buildings built in New York City must meet the NYC Building Code as well as all fire and life safety codes. Modular construction is also safer than conventional construction. The work environment reduces work at heights and removes environmental factors (snow, ice, water, and mud). It is estimated that manufacturing in this way is safer than on-site construction. Conventional on-site workers are also safer as they are primarily working within finished, enclosed portions of the building away from the typical risks of an open construction site.
The exterior of the building will have a series of setbacks that have been articulated and integrated into the overall building’s massing. In addition to these volumetric breaks a variety of materials, colors and fabrication techniques have been utilized to create an intricate play of light, pattern and texture over the fa?ade. Deep metal frames cantilever beyond the glazed openings of the residential units, each being accented by a series of beveled and perforated metal panels.Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, The inlaid metal panels are dressed with accents of color, heightening the play of light and shadow across their smooth and articulated surfaces. At grade, full story glazed storefronts will be accented by covered entrances to the three new towers extending a more scaled intimacy, typical of Brooklyn’s streetscape along all the elevations of the arena site.
2012年11月22日 星期四
Man buys surplus NC light tower for research
To the government, it was a defunct offshore light tower that hadn't
helped ships navigate the waters off North Carolina in more than a
decade. To a Minnesota entrepreneur, the platform out in the Atlantic is
a launching pad for research into wind power and other technologies.
First, some renovations will be needed at the Diamond Shoals Light Tower, which sits about 13 miles off Cape Hatteras. Its buyer hopes to get his first view of his new property next week – provided, of course, that the landing pad is sturdy enough for a helicopter.
“The pilot says he's confident it will be OK,” said Dave Schneider of Richfield, Minn., who plans to chopper out Wednesday for his first look. “He says if we try to land and it looks shaky, we're not going to land.”
Schneider, 56, paid $20,000 for the tower and platform in September after he was the only bidder for it in an auction by the General Services Administration, which sells real estate that the federal government no longer needs. In doing so, he brushed aside the GSA's 2-year-old inspection that concluded it would cost $2.3 million to renovate the structure that resembles an oil rig platform.
He pored over the 125-page engineering report before deciding it wasn't in as poor shape as it first appeared. It's sturdy, sitting in 50 feet of water and with pylons going 150 feet into the seabed. Of the renovation estimate, $1 million is for a boat-winching system and boat, neither of which he needs. Another $189,000 was earmarked for contingencies, and part of the renovation was for labor, some of which Schneider will do himself.
And then, there's the view.
“When you look at real estate, it's always location, location, location,” he said. “Who wouldn't want to have a location in the Atlantic Ocean?”
The Diamond Shoals Light Tower was made operational in 1966 to help ships cross a treacherous area nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , It was automated in 1977, removing the need for a full-time Coast Guard Crew. Its condition deteriorated over the years, and the light was extinguished in December 2001.
Schneider plans to be on the tower for four to five hours Wednesday, using cameras on hard hats to record his tour of each room, including getting measurements for all of it. The living quarters housed below the landing pad include five bedrooms, a galley and a recreation room.
The light tower isn't the only unusual property available through GSA auctions. For example,Quickparts builds injection molds using aluminum or steel to meet your program. the former Stanley Mickelsen Safeguard Complex near Hampden, N.D. – the country's first anti-ballistic nuclear missile defense system – is up for grabs, as is a cave storage facility in Atchison, Kansas. Some properties never go up for auction, said Lori Dennis, GSA branch chief in real property utilization and disposal in Atlanta.
The government worked with local leaders to turn a former munitions plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., into a Volkswagen plant that makes Passats, she said. “We do get a lot of unusual properties, and we're traditionally successful at getting rid of them,” she said.
Business-oriented, methodical people tend to buy traditional properties such as federal buildings, while more daring, entrepreneurial types buy nonconventional properties such as light towers, she said.
That's true of Schneider, who is president of a supplies and logistics firm that works with government contracts. He also serves as president and CEO of Zap Water Technology, which installs equipment that turns water and salt into an eco-friendly sanitizer and cleaner in meat plants, schools and other places.
He wants to use the tower for research not only by Zap Water, but by other companies. He envisions researchers taking advantage of the tower's enormous space to study wind turbines, solar power, climatology, metal coatings, marine biology,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. and other subjects.
“There's tons of different research industries I would like to bring out there,” he said.
Before Schneider bought the tower, he consulted Richard Neal of Mint Hill, who bought North Carolina's other light tower two years ago for $85,000. After restoring the tower in Frying Pan Shoals, including adding a hoist so people can get from a boat to the tower without climbing, he opened a bed and breakfast at the site in June. For $300 per person, plus the cost of transportation, people can spend a weekend diving and fishing or just watching movies and sunsets from 30 miles off Southport.
His advice? “Keep the long-term perspective. Fix the things you need to fix first. Keep a healthy dose of patience and explain to people what you're trying to do. And they'll want to help.”
Schneider does hope to recruit volunteers willing to help renovate the tower in exchange for some breathtaking views and unmatched fishing and diving opportunities.
He said he's no different than the person who wants to restore a 1966 Camaro and sees one that's rusted and dilapidated but still beautiful.The oreck XL professional air purifier, “I have the same situation. It's just a heckuva lot bigger,” Schneider said. “It's old, it's rusty and it was made in 1966.Purelink's real time location system protect healthcare workers in their daily practices and OMEGA interventions. But there's a lot of potential there.”
First, some renovations will be needed at the Diamond Shoals Light Tower, which sits about 13 miles off Cape Hatteras. Its buyer hopes to get his first view of his new property next week – provided, of course, that the landing pad is sturdy enough for a helicopter.
“The pilot says he's confident it will be OK,” said Dave Schneider of Richfield, Minn., who plans to chopper out Wednesday for his first look. “He says if we try to land and it looks shaky, we're not going to land.”
Schneider, 56, paid $20,000 for the tower and platform in September after he was the only bidder for it in an auction by the General Services Administration, which sells real estate that the federal government no longer needs. In doing so, he brushed aside the GSA's 2-year-old inspection that concluded it would cost $2.3 million to renovate the structure that resembles an oil rig platform.
He pored over the 125-page engineering report before deciding it wasn't in as poor shape as it first appeared. It's sturdy, sitting in 50 feet of water and with pylons going 150 feet into the seabed. Of the renovation estimate, $1 million is for a boat-winching system and boat, neither of which he needs. Another $189,000 was earmarked for contingencies, and part of the renovation was for labor, some of which Schneider will do himself.
And then, there's the view.
“When you look at real estate, it's always location, location, location,” he said. “Who wouldn't want to have a location in the Atlantic Ocean?”
The Diamond Shoals Light Tower was made operational in 1966 to help ships cross a treacherous area nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , It was automated in 1977, removing the need for a full-time Coast Guard Crew. Its condition deteriorated over the years, and the light was extinguished in December 2001.
Schneider plans to be on the tower for four to five hours Wednesday, using cameras on hard hats to record his tour of each room, including getting measurements for all of it. The living quarters housed below the landing pad include five bedrooms, a galley and a recreation room.
The light tower isn't the only unusual property available through GSA auctions. For example,Quickparts builds injection molds using aluminum or steel to meet your program. the former Stanley Mickelsen Safeguard Complex near Hampden, N.D. – the country's first anti-ballistic nuclear missile defense system – is up for grabs, as is a cave storage facility in Atchison, Kansas. Some properties never go up for auction, said Lori Dennis, GSA branch chief in real property utilization and disposal in Atlanta.
The government worked with local leaders to turn a former munitions plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., into a Volkswagen plant that makes Passats, she said. “We do get a lot of unusual properties, and we're traditionally successful at getting rid of them,” she said.
Business-oriented, methodical people tend to buy traditional properties such as federal buildings, while more daring, entrepreneurial types buy nonconventional properties such as light towers, she said.
That's true of Schneider, who is president of a supplies and logistics firm that works with government contracts. He also serves as president and CEO of Zap Water Technology, which installs equipment that turns water and salt into an eco-friendly sanitizer and cleaner in meat plants, schools and other places.
He wants to use the tower for research not only by Zap Water, but by other companies. He envisions researchers taking advantage of the tower's enormous space to study wind turbines, solar power, climatology, metal coatings, marine biology,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. and other subjects.
“There's tons of different research industries I would like to bring out there,” he said.
Before Schneider bought the tower, he consulted Richard Neal of Mint Hill, who bought North Carolina's other light tower two years ago for $85,000. After restoring the tower in Frying Pan Shoals, including adding a hoist so people can get from a boat to the tower without climbing, he opened a bed and breakfast at the site in June. For $300 per person, plus the cost of transportation, people can spend a weekend diving and fishing or just watching movies and sunsets from 30 miles off Southport.
His advice? “Keep the long-term perspective. Fix the things you need to fix first. Keep a healthy dose of patience and explain to people what you're trying to do. And they'll want to help.”
Schneider does hope to recruit volunteers willing to help renovate the tower in exchange for some breathtaking views and unmatched fishing and diving opportunities.
He said he's no different than the person who wants to restore a 1966 Camaro and sees one that's rusted and dilapidated but still beautiful.The oreck XL professional air purifier, “I have the same situation. It's just a heckuva lot bigger,” Schneider said. “It's old, it's rusty and it was made in 1966.Purelink's real time location system protect healthcare workers in their daily practices and OMEGA interventions. But there's a lot of potential there.”
Enthusiasm hasn’t dried up for painter
The paintings might still be a bit wet when they go up, but that
hasn’t dried up a local artist’s enthusiasm for her newest exhibit.
Starting on Wednesday,Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products. St. Albert painter Samantha Williams-Chapelsky will have about 20 of her works depicting the Scottish highlands on display in the Kasaa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
While most of the paintings have been finished for some time, though, others are coming in right under the deadline.
“One of them I finished last week, which is pushing it for an oil painting,” Williams-Chapelsky said with a laugh. “They take about a year to completely dry, so that one will probably be on the sticky side. But I think I’m in good shape for this one.”
Still, showing at a venue like the Jubilee Auditorium carries a certain prestige with it, especially considering Williams-Chapelsky’s proposal was accepted more than a year ago.
“I think any gallery space that wants your work is always a big honour,” she said. “The nice part about the Jubilee is that they don’t hold many shows; each show runs just over two months long, sometimes longer than that. So only a few artists are selected every year.”
The works in this show are all oil paintings, ranging in size from two feet by two feet to five feet by four feet.
Williams-Chapelsky said that scenery of Scotland was a great fit for what she was trying to accomplish.
“That’s been one of my inspirations for the last five years. I’ve always enjoyed that landscape, and certainly have travelled there a few times,” she said.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.
“I’m partial to the natural landscape in general; I’m usually painting trees and river scenes,” she added. “But also being in Scotland and feeling the history behind that landscape, it’s very awe-inspiring. It’s very subtle but extremely majestic. I certainly enjoy the feeling behind it.”
And she hopes that people who see her work comes away with the same inspirations and appreciation of the landscapes as she has.
“I go from everything from semi-realistic to extremely abstract, and I’m hoping that sort of painting style will reflect the emotional feeling of Scotland, how majestic and ethereal the space is,” she said.
Lately, Williams-Chapelsky has been working hard to get her name out there, not only with exhibitions like this one, but also doing lots of commission work for the City of St. Albert, like paintings that were given as awards for the new Good Neighbour program.
“I’m trying very hard. It’s always a battle in the art world; there are lots of extremely talented individuals out there,” she said. “But I think I’ve made a run at it.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products. It’s been really good this past year; I’ve had an exhibition every month, which has been really wonderful for me.”
Aside from painting, Williams-Chapelsky dabbles in other mediums, like sculpture and even silk scarves. She said mixing it up a little keeps her on her toes.
“Painting was what I majored in in university, so I spent five years really focusing in on that one field of work, and it’s certainly my strongest,” she said. “But I feel like, as an artist, you need to challenge yourself. I can’t always be painting; I like to challenge myself with sculpture, whether it’s figurative or my little story houses. It’s the challenge of using a new material to express something different, and that all relates back into what I paint and how I paint.”
As many as 74 landscape paintings by 33 artists, contemporary and old, will remain on display until December 31.
Among the works displayed, those worthy to be mentioned are Paisa Akhbar Street in hues of gray, blue and white by Ajaz Anwar, pigeons dotting the rooftop of a typical Walled City home by Matloob Baig and the rooftop view of homes from the Wazir Khan Mosque by Ghulam Mustafa.
The event was arranged by Dr Rahat Naveed Masud, principal of College of Art and Design at the Punjab University, Dr Barabara Schmitz, a visiting faculty at the PU, and Lahore Museum Curator Dr Kanwal Khalid.
The event aimed at honouring art teachers and artists playing a pivotal role in shaping up the tradition in landscape painting. Khalid said the exhibition had brought together the works of some very famous landscape painters. The rustic Punjab landscapes capturing a dust storm and mustard field by Allah Bukhsh were contributed by the museum. Dr Masud, who took months to compile the genre under one roof, said the exhibition was initially planned to honour landscape artists graduating from the College of Art and Design, but then works by other artists were also included. She said it had been decided to keep the works on display until December 31 so that artists, students, scholars and teachers could study the development of landscape artistry chronologically, particularly in the Punjab, as most landscape artists in Pakistan were from here.
One can find landscape pieces as old as 1940 and 1950s by legendary artists Allah Bukhsh, Khalid Iqbal,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. Anna Molka and Chughtai and as recent as late 2000 by Aneela Zulfiqar, Muhammad Arshad and Mughees Riyaaz.
Dr Masud said the event also meant to honour Khalid Iqbal, the most renowned graduate from the College of Art and Design and the only living artist from amongst the old landscape masters of Pakistan.
A catalogue with notes on 33 artists and their 74 works was also handed out to visitors.
Art critic Quddus Mirza, who has contributed one of his landscapes from 1984 to the exhibit, said it was refreshing to see the landscape painting evolution documented at the Lahore Museum.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products.
Starting on Wednesday,Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products. St. Albert painter Samantha Williams-Chapelsky will have about 20 of her works depicting the Scottish highlands on display in the Kasaa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
While most of the paintings have been finished for some time, though, others are coming in right under the deadline.
“One of them I finished last week, which is pushing it for an oil painting,” Williams-Chapelsky said with a laugh. “They take about a year to completely dry, so that one will probably be on the sticky side. But I think I’m in good shape for this one.”
Still, showing at a venue like the Jubilee Auditorium carries a certain prestige with it, especially considering Williams-Chapelsky’s proposal was accepted more than a year ago.
“I think any gallery space that wants your work is always a big honour,” she said. “The nice part about the Jubilee is that they don’t hold many shows; each show runs just over two months long, sometimes longer than that. So only a few artists are selected every year.”
The works in this show are all oil paintings, ranging in size from two feet by two feet to five feet by four feet.
Williams-Chapelsky said that scenery of Scotland was a great fit for what she was trying to accomplish.
“That’s been one of my inspirations for the last five years. I’ve always enjoyed that landscape, and certainly have travelled there a few times,” she said.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.
“I’m partial to the natural landscape in general; I’m usually painting trees and river scenes,” she added. “But also being in Scotland and feeling the history behind that landscape, it’s very awe-inspiring. It’s very subtle but extremely majestic. I certainly enjoy the feeling behind it.”
And she hopes that people who see her work comes away with the same inspirations and appreciation of the landscapes as she has.
“I go from everything from semi-realistic to extremely abstract, and I’m hoping that sort of painting style will reflect the emotional feeling of Scotland, how majestic and ethereal the space is,” she said.
Lately, Williams-Chapelsky has been working hard to get her name out there, not only with exhibitions like this one, but also doing lots of commission work for the City of St. Albert, like paintings that were given as awards for the new Good Neighbour program.
“I’m trying very hard. It’s always a battle in the art world; there are lots of extremely talented individuals out there,” she said. “But I think I’ve made a run at it.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products. It’s been really good this past year; I’ve had an exhibition every month, which has been really wonderful for me.”
Aside from painting, Williams-Chapelsky dabbles in other mediums, like sculpture and even silk scarves. She said mixing it up a little keeps her on her toes.
“Painting was what I majored in in university, so I spent five years really focusing in on that one field of work, and it’s certainly my strongest,” she said. “But I feel like, as an artist, you need to challenge yourself. I can’t always be painting; I like to challenge myself with sculpture, whether it’s figurative or my little story houses. It’s the challenge of using a new material to express something different, and that all relates back into what I paint and how I paint.”
As many as 74 landscape paintings by 33 artists, contemporary and old, will remain on display until December 31.
Among the works displayed, those worthy to be mentioned are Paisa Akhbar Street in hues of gray, blue and white by Ajaz Anwar, pigeons dotting the rooftop of a typical Walled City home by Matloob Baig and the rooftop view of homes from the Wazir Khan Mosque by Ghulam Mustafa.
The event was arranged by Dr Rahat Naveed Masud, principal of College of Art and Design at the Punjab University, Dr Barabara Schmitz, a visiting faculty at the PU, and Lahore Museum Curator Dr Kanwal Khalid.
The event aimed at honouring art teachers and artists playing a pivotal role in shaping up the tradition in landscape painting. Khalid said the exhibition had brought together the works of some very famous landscape painters. The rustic Punjab landscapes capturing a dust storm and mustard field by Allah Bukhsh were contributed by the museum. Dr Masud, who took months to compile the genre under one roof, said the exhibition was initially planned to honour landscape artists graduating from the College of Art and Design, but then works by other artists were also included. She said it had been decided to keep the works on display until December 31 so that artists, students, scholars and teachers could study the development of landscape artistry chronologically, particularly in the Punjab, as most landscape artists in Pakistan were from here.
One can find landscape pieces as old as 1940 and 1950s by legendary artists Allah Bukhsh, Khalid Iqbal,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. Anna Molka and Chughtai and as recent as late 2000 by Aneela Zulfiqar, Muhammad Arshad and Mughees Riyaaz.
Dr Masud said the event also meant to honour Khalid Iqbal, the most renowned graduate from the College of Art and Design and the only living artist from amongst the old landscape masters of Pakistan.
A catalogue with notes on 33 artists and their 74 works was also handed out to visitors.
Art critic Quddus Mirza, who has contributed one of his landscapes from 1984 to the exhibit, said it was refreshing to see the landscape painting evolution documented at the Lahore Museum.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products.
How Rajesh Mehta found his midas touch during recession
The headquarters of Rajesh Exports (REL) in Bangalore looks worn, a
far cry from what you would expect from India's leading exporter of gold
jewellery. The nameplate, too, is shorn of frills, with black fonts
painted on a cheap, white tin board. Inside the founder's room is a fax
machine that's at least a generation old. The cellphone the 48-year-old
uses is a low-end Nokia. "It serves my purpose," says Rajesh Mehta, the
protagonist, with a poker face. Mehta's son, in charge of strategy and
investor relations at Rajesh Exports, sits in a small room that housed
computer servers not long ago. It's still labelled 'server room'.
Tightfisted? Yes. Hard times? Hell, no. The numbers will tell you why. The revenues of REL jumped from Rs 8,187 crore in March 2008 to Rs 25,653 crore in March 2012. That's an increase of over 213 percent in five years. During this period, its profits doubled from Rs 206 crore to Rs 412 crore, weathering the slump in 2009 and 2010, when profits dropped as REL cut its credit lines to customers and started offering discounts.
The company also boasts of the biggest manufacturing facility of gold jewellery in the worlda€”with a capacity of 250 tonnesa€”and is the top exporter of gold jewellery in the country. Behind the native frugality of the man hides the story of an entrepreneur who goes about his business with aplomb. "We don't believe in showing off. We believe in our business, we believe in stretching our assets, and we believe in growth," says Mehta. Last year, he ranked the 57th richest man in India with a net worth of $1 billion. This year, he is holding on to the rank but his net worth has gone up to $1.1 billion.
Mehta waded into the world of business in his teens. He was a good student,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, but chose business over university education. He started by helping out his father, who had moved to Bangalore from Gujarat and was running a business of supplying accessories and artificial gems to jewellers. Mehta visited his father's customers to supply goods, collect money and so on. A keen observer,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. he soon realised there was inefficiency everywhere. He sniffed an opportunity to provide efficient services and make money.
In 1982, Mehta borrowed Rs 2,000 from his brother and another Rs 8,000 from a bank and took his first steps as an independent businessman. He went to Chennai, bought silver jewellery from the local smiths and sold his wares to shops in Gujarat. He notched up a profit of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, quite a big sum those days. With that money, Mehta bought jewellery from Gujarat, returned to Bangalore and earned a neat sum selling newer designs. From Bangalore to Chennai again and the cycle continued. Each trip made him richer, and he began to wonder why no one manufactured jewellery from a centralised location to benefit from the economies of scale.
When he asked around, jewellers told him it was because of the regulations. One day, he read up the Gold Control Act and realised that though it prohibited manufacturing of ornaments that had more than 14 carat purity, and put restrictions on primary gold a dealer can hold (400 grams to 2 kg, depending upon the number of goldsmiths he employed), all these norms were relaxed in case of export. So, he set up a small plant in Bangalore and visited the UK to get orders. He stayed with a distant relative and made tours to London retailers, promising them a good price and delivery on time. The dealers were initially reluctant, but he got some orders. And that's how his business took off.
As REL expanded and the Gold Control Act was repealed, he went for an IPO, raised money, set up a bigger plant, and by 2000 was thinking of setting up an even bigger one. The 250-tonne capacity unit started production in 2003. The scale gave him the economy. While the global average of wastage in gold production is 3 percent, for REL, it's 0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, the domestic market for gold was booming. India buys 850 tonnes of gold every year, and nine-tenths are consumed in the form of jewellery.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, It reaches the customers through four lakh retailers (and 8.5 lakh goldsmiths). The market was fragmented and 96 percent of it was unorganised. But since 2005, the organised sector began to grow at 40 percent a year. So far, Mehta made most of his money from exports. By now, he was ready to enter the frontend with his unique proposition: Offer a price that nobody can imitate.
DV Harish, who runs Davanam, a small chain of jewellery stores in Bangalore, and who has known Mehta for close to 25 years, says he always had the ambition of building an organised retail chain. "He used to talk about it in early '90s, even before we had the likes of Tanishq and Reliance."
Typically, when a jeweller wants to expand, he sets up a large format store in a key commercial district with much fanfare. For example, when Joyalukkas (brand based in the UAE) came to Bangalore, it took a prime property on MG Road. One of its stores in Chennai's T Nagar, which sprawled over five floors, won a place in the Limca Book of Records as the world's largest jewellery showroom.
But Mehta came up with a model that placed him on the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of building huge showrooms or convincing businessmen to invest in new shops under a franchisee model, he approached existing small-time retailers (neighbourhood jewellery shops) catering to a local clientele. That's how 'Shubh' was born in 2010. While REL supplies the inventory and takes care of the advertising, the stores were rebranded and started to earn a commission for selling the wares at a price fixed by REL.
Mehta believes the key selling point of his plan is the pricing. Usually, jewellers charge more than the quoted gold price on account of wastage, making, and other expenses. At Shubh, the customers will be charged actual rate per gram (the weight multiplied by quoted price). As of today, the number of retail outlets has increased to 73 (apart from seven stores that came as a part of REL's Oyzterbay acquisition in 2007). Son Siddharth (22), who is in charge of strategy, says the company plans to expand to other southern states and eventually make its foray into north India.
And that can be quite a challenge given that Shubh will be up against Titan Industries, which has cracked the pan-India code with three chainsa€”Tanishq, Goldplus and Zoya. With 163 stores across more than 4.6 lakh sq ft retail space, the Titan trio has raked in last fiscal Rs 7,064 crore in revenue, a growth of 40 percent over the previous year, and profits of Rs 698 crore, a rise of 44 percent. In comparison, Shubh hardly has anything to write home about and will face its real test when it ventures out of its home state of Karnataka.
Last year, Mehta drew up a five-year-plan that he calls Mission 2016. A crucial element of it involves turning REL into a retailer, as retailing yields more margins than manufacturing and wholesale. Last year, retail contributed about 3.5 percent to its revenues and 11 percent of profits. By 2016,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Mehta wants it to contribute 55 percent of its revenues and 85 percent of its profits.
That would mean having 500 stores. By no measure an easy task.Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay! "Till now, jewellers who've tried to expand beyond their regions haven't been much successful," says Sandeep Kulhalli, vice president, retail and marketing, Tanishq.
Mehta is confident of converting the small retailers into Shubh associates. The company has an R&D team that's focussed on bringing out new designs, and has a library of over 30,000 active designs. And, more importantly, it has the advantage of being a large and efficient manufacturer with a distribution network. So, it can cut down middlemen. "We tell our associates that our designs are difficult to imitate and our prices are impossible to match," says Mehta. If such hardselling doesn't work, REL is also looking at the opportunity of opening a store nearby and selling jewellery at low prices.
DV Harish says the businessman Mehta resembles most is Dhirubhai Ambani, not because he is also a Gujarati, a vegetarian and has the same tightfisted approach to finances, but also because of his vision and faith in forward and backward integration. In Rajesh Mehta's scheme of things, it doesn't end with manufacturing and retail.
In 2009, he set up a gold refining facility in Uttarakhand with a capacity of 100 tonnes. Around the same time, he put together a team to explore mining opportunities in Africa. Ravi Chandra, who is in charge of the mining division says it has got exploration licences from Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, and Ethiopia among others and have been testing the samples for gold at its labs. "Gold is there, but what you have to look for is whether it makes economic sense to extract it." So far, the most promising samples have come from Rwanda, he says, and the mining operations there could start as early as next year.
Yet another way in which his approach to business resembles Dhirubhai's is the use of debt. REL has huge cash balances (Rs 7,854 crore as of March 2012), thanks to the 240-day credit it gets from the suppliers and cash sales to its customers. Still, its debt has ballooned to Rs 3,256 crore from Rs 970 crore in 2007-08, suggesting a Dhirubhai way of using debt and simultaneously maintaining cash balances. It is done to take advantage of lower interest rates prevailing in the market and use that money in the business, instead of dipping into your own reserves, which have a higher cost of capital. It helps that interest saves taxes.
One of the ways in which REL deploys its cash is through funding real estate companies. Vijayendra Rao, who is in charge of its Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) business, says it has an exposure of Rs 800 crore to real estate developers. He joined REL four years ago from Hindustan Unilever, and with no experience in dealing with ICDs. He says Mehta not only taught him the business, but also how to drive a hard bargain.
Tightfisted? Yes. Hard times? Hell, no. The numbers will tell you why. The revenues of REL jumped from Rs 8,187 crore in March 2008 to Rs 25,653 crore in March 2012. That's an increase of over 213 percent in five years. During this period, its profits doubled from Rs 206 crore to Rs 412 crore, weathering the slump in 2009 and 2010, when profits dropped as REL cut its credit lines to customers and started offering discounts.
The company also boasts of the biggest manufacturing facility of gold jewellery in the worlda€”with a capacity of 250 tonnesa€”and is the top exporter of gold jewellery in the country. Behind the native frugality of the man hides the story of an entrepreneur who goes about his business with aplomb. "We don't believe in showing off. We believe in our business, we believe in stretching our assets, and we believe in growth," says Mehta. Last year, he ranked the 57th richest man in India with a net worth of $1 billion. This year, he is holding on to the rank but his net worth has gone up to $1.1 billion.
Mehta waded into the world of business in his teens. He was a good student,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, but chose business over university education. He started by helping out his father, who had moved to Bangalore from Gujarat and was running a business of supplying accessories and artificial gems to jewellers. Mehta visited his father's customers to supply goods, collect money and so on. A keen observer,Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. he soon realised there was inefficiency everywhere. He sniffed an opportunity to provide efficient services and make money.
In 1982, Mehta borrowed Rs 2,000 from his brother and another Rs 8,000 from a bank and took his first steps as an independent businessman. He went to Chennai, bought silver jewellery from the local smiths and sold his wares to shops in Gujarat. He notched up a profit of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, quite a big sum those days. With that money, Mehta bought jewellery from Gujarat, returned to Bangalore and earned a neat sum selling newer designs. From Bangalore to Chennai again and the cycle continued. Each trip made him richer, and he began to wonder why no one manufactured jewellery from a centralised location to benefit from the economies of scale.
When he asked around, jewellers told him it was because of the regulations. One day, he read up the Gold Control Act and realised that though it prohibited manufacturing of ornaments that had more than 14 carat purity, and put restrictions on primary gold a dealer can hold (400 grams to 2 kg, depending upon the number of goldsmiths he employed), all these norms were relaxed in case of export. So, he set up a small plant in Bangalore and visited the UK to get orders. He stayed with a distant relative and made tours to London retailers, promising them a good price and delivery on time. The dealers were initially reluctant, but he got some orders. And that's how his business took off.
As REL expanded and the Gold Control Act was repealed, he went for an IPO, raised money, set up a bigger plant, and by 2000 was thinking of setting up an even bigger one. The 250-tonne capacity unit started production in 2003. The scale gave him the economy. While the global average of wastage in gold production is 3 percent, for REL, it's 0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, the domestic market for gold was booming. India buys 850 tonnes of gold every year, and nine-tenths are consumed in the form of jewellery.A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, It reaches the customers through four lakh retailers (and 8.5 lakh goldsmiths). The market was fragmented and 96 percent of it was unorganised. But since 2005, the organised sector began to grow at 40 percent a year. So far, Mehta made most of his money from exports. By now, he was ready to enter the frontend with his unique proposition: Offer a price that nobody can imitate.
DV Harish, who runs Davanam, a small chain of jewellery stores in Bangalore, and who has known Mehta for close to 25 years, says he always had the ambition of building an organised retail chain. "He used to talk about it in early '90s, even before we had the likes of Tanishq and Reliance."
Typically, when a jeweller wants to expand, he sets up a large format store in a key commercial district with much fanfare. For example, when Joyalukkas (brand based in the UAE) came to Bangalore, it took a prime property on MG Road. One of its stores in Chennai's T Nagar, which sprawled over five floors, won a place in the Limca Book of Records as the world's largest jewellery showroom.
But Mehta came up with a model that placed him on the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of building huge showrooms or convincing businessmen to invest in new shops under a franchisee model, he approached existing small-time retailers (neighbourhood jewellery shops) catering to a local clientele. That's how 'Shubh' was born in 2010. While REL supplies the inventory and takes care of the advertising, the stores were rebranded and started to earn a commission for selling the wares at a price fixed by REL.
Mehta believes the key selling point of his plan is the pricing. Usually, jewellers charge more than the quoted gold price on account of wastage, making, and other expenses. At Shubh, the customers will be charged actual rate per gram (the weight multiplied by quoted price). As of today, the number of retail outlets has increased to 73 (apart from seven stores that came as a part of REL's Oyzterbay acquisition in 2007). Son Siddharth (22), who is in charge of strategy, says the company plans to expand to other southern states and eventually make its foray into north India.
And that can be quite a challenge given that Shubh will be up against Titan Industries, which has cracked the pan-India code with three chainsa€”Tanishq, Goldplus and Zoya. With 163 stores across more than 4.6 lakh sq ft retail space, the Titan trio has raked in last fiscal Rs 7,064 crore in revenue, a growth of 40 percent over the previous year, and profits of Rs 698 crore, a rise of 44 percent. In comparison, Shubh hardly has anything to write home about and will face its real test when it ventures out of its home state of Karnataka.
Last year, Mehta drew up a five-year-plan that he calls Mission 2016. A crucial element of it involves turning REL into a retailer, as retailing yields more margins than manufacturing and wholesale. Last year, retail contributed about 3.5 percent to its revenues and 11 percent of profits. By 2016,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. Mehta wants it to contribute 55 percent of its revenues and 85 percent of its profits.
That would mean having 500 stores. By no measure an easy task.Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay! "Till now, jewellers who've tried to expand beyond their regions haven't been much successful," says Sandeep Kulhalli, vice president, retail and marketing, Tanishq.
Mehta is confident of converting the small retailers into Shubh associates. The company has an R&D team that's focussed on bringing out new designs, and has a library of over 30,000 active designs. And, more importantly, it has the advantage of being a large and efficient manufacturer with a distribution network. So, it can cut down middlemen. "We tell our associates that our designs are difficult to imitate and our prices are impossible to match," says Mehta. If such hardselling doesn't work, REL is also looking at the opportunity of opening a store nearby and selling jewellery at low prices.
DV Harish says the businessman Mehta resembles most is Dhirubhai Ambani, not because he is also a Gujarati, a vegetarian and has the same tightfisted approach to finances, but also because of his vision and faith in forward and backward integration. In Rajesh Mehta's scheme of things, it doesn't end with manufacturing and retail.
In 2009, he set up a gold refining facility in Uttarakhand with a capacity of 100 tonnes. Around the same time, he put together a team to explore mining opportunities in Africa. Ravi Chandra, who is in charge of the mining division says it has got exploration licences from Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, and Ethiopia among others and have been testing the samples for gold at its labs. "Gold is there, but what you have to look for is whether it makes economic sense to extract it." So far, the most promising samples have come from Rwanda, he says, and the mining operations there could start as early as next year.
Yet another way in which his approach to business resembles Dhirubhai's is the use of debt. REL has huge cash balances (Rs 7,854 crore as of March 2012), thanks to the 240-day credit it gets from the suppliers and cash sales to its customers. Still, its debt has ballooned to Rs 3,256 crore from Rs 970 crore in 2007-08, suggesting a Dhirubhai way of using debt and simultaneously maintaining cash balances. It is done to take advantage of lower interest rates prevailing in the market and use that money in the business, instead of dipping into your own reserves, which have a higher cost of capital. It helps that interest saves taxes.
One of the ways in which REL deploys its cash is through funding real estate companies. Vijayendra Rao, who is in charge of its Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) business, says it has an exposure of Rs 800 crore to real estate developers. He joined REL four years ago from Hindustan Unilever, and with no experience in dealing with ICDs. He says Mehta not only taught him the business, but also how to drive a hard bargain.
2012年11月19日 星期一
Nairobi Gets Fast Train System
Kenya inched closer to achieving its dream of an
ultra-modern metropolitan rail transport system with the official launch of the
Syokimau Commuter Railway station.
Constructed at a cost of $4.7 million, the facility is the first in a series of nine others in the pipeline in what is expected to radically change the face of public transport in Kenya's capital Nairobi and other major towns.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,
Among others, similar stations under construction include Jogoo Road, Imara Daima and Makadara Estate.
The government has set aside $282 million to cater for such facilities under the Nairobi Commuter Railway System.
The facility located adjacent the busy Mombasa Road is Kenya's most pronounced attempt at transforming the railway line left unattended by colonialist close to a century down the line.
President Mwai Kibaki officially launched services on the line which will serve Nairobi's larger Eastlands estates and drastically ease traffic jam along the busy highway that cuts in the middle of the capital and traverses all the way to western Kenya into other regional countries like Uganda and Sudan.
The opening of the station marks another major milestone in the fronted development blueprint captioned in the national Vision 2030 Economic plan. The plan aims at making Kenya a newly industrialized middle income country. It borrows heavily from the highly developed countries in Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, Thailand, Taiwan among others famously referred to as the 'Asian Tigers'.
The new railway service wilInstallers and distributors of solar panel,l make four trips a day ferrying passengers from Syokimau Station to the Railways Headquarters in Nairobi's Central Business District.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. The service will cut travel time for commuters by more than half.
Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC) the official government body charged with managing the country's railway system contracted El Noor General Contractors Ltd to construct the facility. Five similar facilities are expected to be completed in the next three years since construction is already underway.
"We believe such facilities is what our country needs in our collective effort to become an industrialized country by the year 2030. Apart from easing traffic on our roads with attendant costs,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, this facility will provide employment and greatly boost our economy," said Kibaki.
The service comes complete with a modern passenger ticketing system, surveillance cameras, shopping malls, restaurants and ample vehicle parking facility.
The facility has been constructed in a way that encourages commuters to park their vehicles at Syokimau for a fee and then take the train to the capital which is much faster and cheaper. The long term idea is to decongest the capital through encouragement of mass transport services where people from all sides of the capital are encouraged to stop using private cars to the CBD.
The new railway service will make four trips a day ferrying passengers from Syokimau Station to the Railways Headquarters in Nairobi's Central Business District. The service will cut travel time for commuters by more than half.
Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC) the official government body charged with managing the country's railway system contracted El Noor General Contractors Ltd to construct the facility.
Five similar facilities are expected to be completed in the next three years since construction is already underway.
"We believe such facilities is what our country needs in our collective effort to become an industrialized country by the year 2030.
Apart from easing traffic on our roads with attendant costs, this facility will provide employment and greatly boost our economy," said Kibaki.
Constructed at a cost of $4.7 million, the facility is the first in a series of nine others in the pipeline in what is expected to radically change the face of public transport in Kenya's capital Nairobi and other major towns.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,
Among others, similar stations under construction include Jogoo Road, Imara Daima and Makadara Estate.
The government has set aside $282 million to cater for such facilities under the Nairobi Commuter Railway System.
The facility located adjacent the busy Mombasa Road is Kenya's most pronounced attempt at transforming the railway line left unattended by colonialist close to a century down the line.
President Mwai Kibaki officially launched services on the line which will serve Nairobi's larger Eastlands estates and drastically ease traffic jam along the busy highway that cuts in the middle of the capital and traverses all the way to western Kenya into other regional countries like Uganda and Sudan.
The opening of the station marks another major milestone in the fronted development blueprint captioned in the national Vision 2030 Economic plan. The plan aims at making Kenya a newly industrialized middle income country. It borrows heavily from the highly developed countries in Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, Thailand, Taiwan among others famously referred to as the 'Asian Tigers'.
The new railway service wilInstallers and distributors of solar panel,l make four trips a day ferrying passengers from Syokimau Station to the Railways Headquarters in Nairobi's Central Business District.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. The service will cut travel time for commuters by more than half.
Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC) the official government body charged with managing the country's railway system contracted El Noor General Contractors Ltd to construct the facility. Five similar facilities are expected to be completed in the next three years since construction is already underway.
"We believe such facilities is what our country needs in our collective effort to become an industrialized country by the year 2030. Apart from easing traffic on our roads with attendant costs,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, this facility will provide employment and greatly boost our economy," said Kibaki.
The service comes complete with a modern passenger ticketing system, surveillance cameras, shopping malls, restaurants and ample vehicle parking facility.
The facility has been constructed in a way that encourages commuters to park their vehicles at Syokimau for a fee and then take the train to the capital which is much faster and cheaper. The long term idea is to decongest the capital through encouragement of mass transport services where people from all sides of the capital are encouraged to stop using private cars to the CBD.
The new railway service will make four trips a day ferrying passengers from Syokimau Station to the Railways Headquarters in Nairobi's Central Business District. The service will cut travel time for commuters by more than half.
Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC) the official government body charged with managing the country's railway system contracted El Noor General Contractors Ltd to construct the facility.
Five similar facilities are expected to be completed in the next three years since construction is already underway.
"We believe such facilities is what our country needs in our collective effort to become an industrialized country by the year 2030.
Apart from easing traffic on our roads with attendant costs, this facility will provide employment and greatly boost our economy," said Kibaki.
Next Hurdle With Superstorm Sandy Is Mold
Some are year ’round and others are purely
for vacations. They are wood and vinyl, comfy and beachy. They are made to
withstand our excessive winds. They shade us from the summer blaze, and keep us
toasty during winter’s snowstorms. But the houses on Long Beach Island were
incubators for mold spores long before Superstorm Sandy rammed into our coast.
Molds, fungal growths that require moisture to thrive, are a common element of household dust. But when they multiply, they tend to kick off allergies. But the effects can be much greater than sneezing and watery eyes. At high levels,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.The oreck XL professional air purifier, they can cause respiratory and even digestive tract infections. The elderly and young children are especially susceptible in homes with mold.
Jeremy Sparks of the Sparks Consulting Group in Princeton specializes in air quality consulting. However, since the devastation of the superstorm, he has turned his business from consulting to remediation: the service of professional remedies for mold.
“I’ve been all around the Island and a lot of the Beach Haven West, and it’s pretty serious,” he said on Sunday during an inspection of a residence in Ship Bottom.
With an unprecedented storm surge of 9 feet, areas of the Island and the mainland that have never seen flooding were several feet underwater, and folks who have never had mold issues could potentially face a new danger now that the storm is gone.
In the case of Long Beach Island,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. which was closed to residents for weeks after the storm because of natural gas dangers, most of the flooded houses couldn’t be addressed for two weeks. The festering homes and businesses left elected officials with some tough choices.
“The other matters of life and safety took precedence over mold,” said Dan Krupinski of the Long Beach Island Health Department, “Unfortunately, that’s just how it worked out.”
In homes with little airflow, the mold growth can change the scope of the cleanup every 24 hours.
“Our homes are essentially built out of paper and designed to trap air,” said Sparks, “Certain common, but toxic, secondary-growth molds, such as Chaetomium and Stachybotrys, can continue to grow in a person’s lungs, spine and even brain, making rapid source removal an important step before inhabiting a space with mold growth in what we call the ‘secondary-growth colonizing’ stage.”
He explained that fiberglass insulation, drywall and carpeting are prime feeding grounds for molds to grow. And then there is more-aggressive mold that feeds on the first mold. In an an area as damp as a barrier island, homes should be built differently than in drier areas.
“Wall-to-wall carpet is essentially a sponge,” he added.
Most people are somewhat aware that mold growth is a problem. But there is also misinformation, and many are not aware of long-term effects. Most of the lists of needs posted by shelters and volunteer groups include bleach. The thought is that water with bleach or painting over will kill mold. But that doesn’t solve the problem
Sparks doesn’t believe in killing mold either way. If anything, the acid of vinegar kills bacteria, but overall it’s bigger than that.
“You have to get rid of the condition that is causing the mold to grow.Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. When you kill something, it releases gas. In this case, volatile organic compounds. Even dead mold is just asking for more problems. I don’t like using chemicals that emit more VOCs.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.”
Sparks’ background is in building science. Normally his business is recommending changes to homes of people with chronic respiratory illnesses. But Sandy has been a whole new challenge for him, and he wants to get as much information out as possible to coastal areas, free of charge.
Living through the storm, being displaced for weeks and returning to water-damaged homes is daunting enough. For those who have not yet opened summer houses, mold could be thriving.
“That’s more of an issue for the homeowner. It’s going to be a greater scope of work,” Krupinski said. “If it’s sealed up, it won’t be a public hazard. It might be out of the realm of the homeowner doing repairs themselves if it was really inundated. The longer you wait, the greater the scope of the work.”
For homeowners dealing with mold, Sparks suggests, “Opening trapped wall and floor cavities in areas where sustained and high levels of moisture were introduced while employing industrial dehumidification is very important and will freeze the moisture damage process, buying yourself more time. Isolating seemingly unaffected areas or house levels from the areas most affected by a water event with heavy plastic sheeting will reduce the spread of contaminating mold spores and greatly reduce the cost of a proper cleanup or remediation.”
Molds, fungal growths that require moisture to thrive, are a common element of household dust. But when they multiply, they tend to kick off allergies. But the effects can be much greater than sneezing and watery eyes. At high levels,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.The oreck XL professional air purifier, they can cause respiratory and even digestive tract infections. The elderly and young children are especially susceptible in homes with mold.
Jeremy Sparks of the Sparks Consulting Group in Princeton specializes in air quality consulting. However, since the devastation of the superstorm, he has turned his business from consulting to remediation: the service of professional remedies for mold.
“I’ve been all around the Island and a lot of the Beach Haven West, and it’s pretty serious,” he said on Sunday during an inspection of a residence in Ship Bottom.
With an unprecedented storm surge of 9 feet, areas of the Island and the mainland that have never seen flooding were several feet underwater, and folks who have never had mold issues could potentially face a new danger now that the storm is gone.
In the case of Long Beach Island,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. which was closed to residents for weeks after the storm because of natural gas dangers, most of the flooded houses couldn’t be addressed for two weeks. The festering homes and businesses left elected officials with some tough choices.
“The other matters of life and safety took precedence over mold,” said Dan Krupinski of the Long Beach Island Health Department, “Unfortunately, that’s just how it worked out.”
In homes with little airflow, the mold growth can change the scope of the cleanup every 24 hours.
“Our homes are essentially built out of paper and designed to trap air,” said Sparks, “Certain common, but toxic, secondary-growth molds, such as Chaetomium and Stachybotrys, can continue to grow in a person’s lungs, spine and even brain, making rapid source removal an important step before inhabiting a space with mold growth in what we call the ‘secondary-growth colonizing’ stage.”
He explained that fiberglass insulation, drywall and carpeting are prime feeding grounds for molds to grow. And then there is more-aggressive mold that feeds on the first mold. In an an area as damp as a barrier island, homes should be built differently than in drier areas.
“Wall-to-wall carpet is essentially a sponge,” he added.
Most people are somewhat aware that mold growth is a problem. But there is also misinformation, and many are not aware of long-term effects. Most of the lists of needs posted by shelters and volunteer groups include bleach. The thought is that water with bleach or painting over will kill mold. But that doesn’t solve the problem
Sparks doesn’t believe in killing mold either way. If anything, the acid of vinegar kills bacteria, but overall it’s bigger than that.
“You have to get rid of the condition that is causing the mold to grow.Klaus Multiparking is an industry leader in innovative parking system technology. When you kill something, it releases gas. In this case, volatile organic compounds. Even dead mold is just asking for more problems. I don’t like using chemicals that emit more VOCs.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister.”
Sparks’ background is in building science. Normally his business is recommending changes to homes of people with chronic respiratory illnesses. But Sandy has been a whole new challenge for him, and he wants to get as much information out as possible to coastal areas, free of charge.
Living through the storm, being displaced for weeks and returning to water-damaged homes is daunting enough. For those who have not yet opened summer houses, mold could be thriving.
“That’s more of an issue for the homeowner. It’s going to be a greater scope of work,” Krupinski said. “If it’s sealed up, it won’t be a public hazard. It might be out of the realm of the homeowner doing repairs themselves if it was really inundated. The longer you wait, the greater the scope of the work.”
For homeowners dealing with mold, Sparks suggests, “Opening trapped wall and floor cavities in areas where sustained and high levels of moisture were introduced while employing industrial dehumidification is very important and will freeze the moisture damage process, buying yourself more time. Isolating seemingly unaffected areas or house levels from the areas most affected by a water event with heavy plastic sheeting will reduce the spread of contaminating mold spores and greatly reduce the cost of a proper cleanup or remediation.”
I, Twinkie
Oh how everyone (of a certain class and income) makes fun of the
Twinkie, the ultimate symbol of modern food decadence and phoniness. I don’t get
it. Have the critics ever tried one? They are so appealing and delicious: light,
spongy, sweet, and creamy, all in a tiny package.
The news that the parent company Hostess was going out of business caused a huge run on Twinkies in my own community. Every store had an empty space where they should have been. The preppers were right: we should have stocked up for emergencies like this.
Meanwhile, the haters have been generating a legion of lies about Twinkies ever since food puritanism took over elite culture. Therefore, the urban myths are legion. You know them all. It can stand up to a nuclear holocaust. It is made entirely of artificial ingredients, the ultimate frankenfood. It is responsible for the obesity epidemic. And so on.
So don’t you just know that plenty of cultural snobs and anti-market ideologues were experiencing serious schadenfreude at the news that the labor unions have strangled Hostess? They are probably thrilled to kick this snake out of the American garden of Eden they are trying to create and cast the whole line of products to the Mexican outer darkness.
It pains me. It really does. More than half a billion Twinkies are sold every year. They bring incredible joy to multitudes who don’t happen to live next to an old-world French pastry shop. The market has been bringing this treat to the masses for 70 glorious years, and all that the cultural elite can do is sneer.
Let’s take just a moment to give the Twinkie a bit of respect, as a symbol of the complex economic structures of our time that cannot be replicated by you, me, or any government in the world. It takes a giant market, an extended order of trade, and an unfathomably complex division of labor to make a Twinkie and deliver it to your pallet.
No, it would never existed in an economy planned by the government.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, Moving mountains and shipping ingredients all over the world just to please you and me? It would never be allowed. Plus, there is no way a government planner could make it happen. The processes are too complex and carefully calibrated by the price system to be economically feasible.
Let’s quickly kill a few myths. Contrary to the claim, it is made of 100% natural ingredients. Everything in it comes from the earth — as much a product of mother nature as a carrot or bean sprout — with the only difference that it goes through a more extensive production process through time and space. And the reason for the long processes: to make a better product for you and me (which no one forces us to eat).
Twinkies have a remarkable and laudatory shelf life of 25 days, which is rather wonderful for something so puffy and moist. it stays fresh for a time long enough for you to consume it and enjoy it. Time was when hardtack was pretty much all that could last for long travels. Do the food puritans want us eating that rather than yummy sweets? (I don’t want to hear the answer.)
It’s a myth that it can survive a nuclear explosion but it seems to me that it would be a good thing if it could. Why should survivors of war-torn lands not have access to good food that contains essential proteins in eggs and a source of energy in its cane sugar?
And let’s give a hand for the Hostess company’s marketing too. Unlike the Apple and Monsanto, the Twinkie benefits from no monopoly protection from government. Anyone can make an imitation and plenty do, such as Mrs Freshley’s Gold Creme Cakes and Little Debbie’s Golden Cremes. Still, the Twinkie survives with a high name-brand status, or did until the unions killed it. This nicely demonstrates that “intellectual property” is not necessary for profitable production over a long period of time.
It turns out that there is an entire book that details what is in a Twinkie and how it is made. It is Twinkie, Deconstructed,Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, by Steve Ettlinger (Hudson Street Press, 2007). He began the book to try to figure out what all the strange ingredients listed on the label actually are. There are 39 of them, and he devotes a chapter to each one, discovering one by one that every ingredient serves the essential purpose of making the product better.Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, If he began the project with the goal of exposing this frankenfood, he came away from the long project with profound respect for the food item.
As Ettlinger tells the story, the Twinkie was the invention of Charles Dewar, vice president of Continental Bakeries, who figured out how to idle shortbread pans for a different purpose besides make a strawberry treat, which he could not make in the off season (in the old days, there were such things as off seasons). The basic ingredients were the same as they are now (wheat, sugar, soybeans, and eggs).
The name he came up with from seeing a billboard for “Twinkle-Toe Shoes.” It was a great plan, and the cakes were hugely popular, except for one thing. The shelf life (the holy grail of food retailing) was only two days. The market for the cake was huge but the company couldn’t satisfy the demand.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. It took decades of research and experimentation but the probably was finally solved in the 1950s, and that’s when the ingredient list became longer.
For most of the Twinkie bakeries around the country, the wheat for the cake flour (which is highly specialized) comes from small, family farms (including Amish farms) that have only a few employees, thanks to technology. The enrichment blend of ferrous sulfate and B vitamins is added to white flour on government mandate, presumably to end the disease pellagra. If you don’t like the extra vitamins and iron, call your congressman.
Ettinger explodes other myths such as that Twinkies roll off an assembly line and go straight to the packet. Not so. They are baked and browned just like regular cakes, and that’s because, well, they are regular cakes. But do they need to be so sweet? The sweeteners work as preservatives, adding color, and causing the ingredients to blend better. Plus, we like sugar. But not too much, which is why corn syrup is also in there because it doesn’t crystallize.
(If U.S. sugar tariffs didn’t drive up the price so high, the company might have been able to withstand union pressure more. Also, while I’m against corn subsidies as much as the next guy, every baker knows that corn syrup has its place. And anyone who blames it for the rise in obesity might take note that the average daily calorie intake of Americans has risen by 600 since 1980, and corn syrup only accounts for 10% of that. A more obvious factor: people eat vastly more because they can afford to and it’s there to eat.)
The demonized preservative in the Twinkie is the miracle food compound called sorbic acid. How the ancients would have loved this stuff! It’s sole job is to keep the mold away. Mold is the stuff that forms around moist areas such as your bathtub. If there isn’t anything in food that molds — think of pita chips — you don’t need it. But once you add leavenings, eggs, cream, and put a wet and spongy thing inside a plastic bag, you have got a serious mold issue. You know this if you have even baked a cake and let it sit out for a few days.
Sorbic acid — it was discovered in berries in 1859 in berries but today is made as a gentle petroleum product with less toxicity than salt — is the earth’s greatest enemy of mold. It is an amazing compound that makes grocery stores possible. If you see something like that in a bag that says “no preservatives,” run don’t walk. It could be deadly. As it is, the Twinkie only contains tiny trace amounts, just enough to make the product safe for you and me.
People today use the word preservative as if to insinuate that it is some poison that capitalistic corporations insert into our food to profit from poisoning us.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. Actually, people have struggled to preserve food since the beginning of time. The line between food that gives health and food that kills is a tiny turn of time, practically one minute to the next.
The news that the parent company Hostess was going out of business caused a huge run on Twinkies in my own community. Every store had an empty space where they should have been. The preppers were right: we should have stocked up for emergencies like this.
Meanwhile, the haters have been generating a legion of lies about Twinkies ever since food puritanism took over elite culture. Therefore, the urban myths are legion. You know them all. It can stand up to a nuclear holocaust. It is made entirely of artificial ingredients, the ultimate frankenfood. It is responsible for the obesity epidemic. And so on.
So don’t you just know that plenty of cultural snobs and anti-market ideologues were experiencing serious schadenfreude at the news that the labor unions have strangled Hostess? They are probably thrilled to kick this snake out of the American garden of Eden they are trying to create and cast the whole line of products to the Mexican outer darkness.
It pains me. It really does. More than half a billion Twinkies are sold every year. They bring incredible joy to multitudes who don’t happen to live next to an old-world French pastry shop. The market has been bringing this treat to the masses for 70 glorious years, and all that the cultural elite can do is sneer.
Let’s take just a moment to give the Twinkie a bit of respect, as a symbol of the complex economic structures of our time that cannot be replicated by you, me, or any government in the world. It takes a giant market, an extended order of trade, and an unfathomably complex division of labor to make a Twinkie and deliver it to your pallet.
No, it would never existed in an economy planned by the government.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, Moving mountains and shipping ingredients all over the world just to please you and me? It would never be allowed. Plus, there is no way a government planner could make it happen. The processes are too complex and carefully calibrated by the price system to be economically feasible.
Let’s quickly kill a few myths. Contrary to the claim, it is made of 100% natural ingredients. Everything in it comes from the earth — as much a product of mother nature as a carrot or bean sprout — with the only difference that it goes through a more extensive production process through time and space. And the reason for the long processes: to make a better product for you and me (which no one forces us to eat).
Twinkies have a remarkable and laudatory shelf life of 25 days, which is rather wonderful for something so puffy and moist. it stays fresh for a time long enough for you to consume it and enjoy it. Time was when hardtack was pretty much all that could last for long travels. Do the food puritans want us eating that rather than yummy sweets? (I don’t want to hear the answer.)
It’s a myth that it can survive a nuclear explosion but it seems to me that it would be a good thing if it could. Why should survivors of war-torn lands not have access to good food that contains essential proteins in eggs and a source of energy in its cane sugar?
And let’s give a hand for the Hostess company’s marketing too. Unlike the Apple and Monsanto, the Twinkie benefits from no monopoly protection from government. Anyone can make an imitation and plenty do, such as Mrs Freshley’s Gold Creme Cakes and Little Debbie’s Golden Cremes. Still, the Twinkie survives with a high name-brand status, or did until the unions killed it. This nicely demonstrates that “intellectual property” is not necessary for profitable production over a long period of time.
It turns out that there is an entire book that details what is in a Twinkie and how it is made. It is Twinkie, Deconstructed,Western Canadian distributor of ceramic and ceramic tile, by Steve Ettlinger (Hudson Street Press, 2007). He began the book to try to figure out what all the strange ingredients listed on the label actually are. There are 39 of them, and he devotes a chapter to each one, discovering one by one that every ingredient serves the essential purpose of making the product better.Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, If he began the project with the goal of exposing this frankenfood, he came away from the long project with profound respect for the food item.
As Ettlinger tells the story, the Twinkie was the invention of Charles Dewar, vice president of Continental Bakeries, who figured out how to idle shortbread pans for a different purpose besides make a strawberry treat, which he could not make in the off season (in the old days, there were such things as off seasons). The basic ingredients were the same as they are now (wheat, sugar, soybeans, and eggs).
The name he came up with from seeing a billboard for “Twinkle-Toe Shoes.” It was a great plan, and the cakes were hugely popular, except for one thing. The shelf life (the holy grail of food retailing) was only two days. The market for the cake was huge but the company couldn’t satisfy the demand.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. It took decades of research and experimentation but the probably was finally solved in the 1950s, and that’s when the ingredient list became longer.
For most of the Twinkie bakeries around the country, the wheat for the cake flour (which is highly specialized) comes from small, family farms (including Amish farms) that have only a few employees, thanks to technology. The enrichment blend of ferrous sulfate and B vitamins is added to white flour on government mandate, presumably to end the disease pellagra. If you don’t like the extra vitamins and iron, call your congressman.
Ettinger explodes other myths such as that Twinkies roll off an assembly line and go straight to the packet. Not so. They are baked and browned just like regular cakes, and that’s because, well, they are regular cakes. But do they need to be so sweet? The sweeteners work as preservatives, adding color, and causing the ingredients to blend better. Plus, we like sugar. But not too much, which is why corn syrup is also in there because it doesn’t crystallize.
(If U.S. sugar tariffs didn’t drive up the price so high, the company might have been able to withstand union pressure more. Also, while I’m against corn subsidies as much as the next guy, every baker knows that corn syrup has its place. And anyone who blames it for the rise in obesity might take note that the average daily calorie intake of Americans has risen by 600 since 1980, and corn syrup only accounts for 10% of that. A more obvious factor: people eat vastly more because they can afford to and it’s there to eat.)
The demonized preservative in the Twinkie is the miracle food compound called sorbic acid. How the ancients would have loved this stuff! It’s sole job is to keep the mold away. Mold is the stuff that forms around moist areas such as your bathtub. If there isn’t anything in food that molds — think of pita chips — you don’t need it. But once you add leavenings, eggs, cream, and put a wet and spongy thing inside a plastic bag, you have got a serious mold issue. You know this if you have even baked a cake and let it sit out for a few days.
Sorbic acid — it was discovered in berries in 1859 in berries but today is made as a gentle petroleum product with less toxicity than salt — is the earth’s greatest enemy of mold. It is an amazing compound that makes grocery stores possible. If you see something like that in a bag that says “no preservatives,” run don’t walk. It could be deadly. As it is, the Twinkie only contains tiny trace amounts, just enough to make the product safe for you and me.
People today use the word preservative as if to insinuate that it is some poison that capitalistic corporations insert into our food to profit from poisoning us.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. Actually, people have struggled to preserve food since the beginning of time. The line between food that gives health and food that kills is a tiny turn of time, practically one minute to the next.
2012年11月18日 星期日
What makes a real Las Vegan?
Flying back to Las Vegas recently, I was seated next to a woman who
asked me a basic question we've all been asked: Which hotel are you
staying at?
I told her I'd found a bargain rate at my own home, and as usually happens, she expressed surprise that I actually lived here. When I told my seatmate that I had been in Las Vegas for 37 years, she said,The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. "Oh, you're a real Las Vegan."
I thought about telling her that I was actually just impersonating one,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. like all our beloved Elvi who can be spotted on nearly every Strip corner these days,A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, but for once my inner smart-ass contained itself. However, her comment got me thinking: Exactly what, other than the length of my duration in Southern Nevada, actually qualified me to be considered a real Las Vegan?
I taught at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and became immersed for a while in the throbbing heart of the community. For five years in the late '70s I was an English instructor at our esteemed local university. The administration determined that instructors should receive a grand sum of $900 per semester for each class we taught. This penciled out to about $1.37 an hour. The change girl at the Golden Goose made quadruple that amount. The experience gave me the conviction that we need to place far more emphasis on education at all levels in our community and pay our teachers at least at the level of off-Strip valet parkers. While I resented the meager income, I treasure the friendships I made with my students, many of whom have gone on to certain levels of notoriety. One of them became our district attorney, another a porn star. For what it's worth, they earned the same grade in my class.
I have had to explain to my children why a lineup of seven bare butts is mooning us from a billboard overlooking the freeway. My son, 7 at the time, started laughing from the backseat when I noticed what he was looking at, which was, of course,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, the Crazy Girls sign. Fortunately, my 4-year-old daughter wasn't paying attention. Seeing as J.P. wasn't ready for the birds 'n bees talk just yet, I laughed and said, "Isn't that funny, pal? That must be someone's idea of a joke."
I ran in the Las Vegas Marathon before it was cool: I completed the 1979 LV Marathon in four hours and six minutes, about the same time as failed vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, when he finally fessed up and added an hour to his original claim. Immediately after crossing the finish line at Sunset Park, I reenacted the Linda Blair scene from "The Exorcist." There was no prize money in our local 26-miler back then, only about 150 participants, and we didn't run up and down the Strip to the adulation of cheering throngs, as they do in the present-day Rock 'N Roll Marathon. We were pure-spirited runners some 30 years ago, by golly, not glory hogs.
I actually saw a person request an interview from a celebrity as he stood at a urinal. The celeb was basketball great Larry Bird; the location the upstairs men's room at Piero's restaurant; and Larry actually predicted it would happen. After a fun round of golf, a group of us were dining at the local hot spot, once known as a favorite hangout of Good Fellas. When Larry pardoned himself from our table, and I informed him that the restroom was upstairs, he said, "Oh, man, I'm gonna get hassled. You watch." Sure enough, a few Bird-watchers immediately rose from their tables and gave pursuit. I had to go as well, so I was an eyewitness to the intrusion.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, Larry had no more unzipped and gotten busy before a man's hand holding a Sharpie and notepad reached over the divider and asked the legend to sign. "Tell you what, pal," Larry said, his eyes aiming down, "You hold this thing here, and I'll be happy to."
I have housed no fewer than 100 friends who used the lame excuse that all the good hotels on the Strip were booked. Of course, my cronies really just wanted to hang onto their vacation money so they could either feed it to a video poker machine or see a hot show. I understand this, and I truly appreciate my friends' generous offers to reciprocate when my wife and I come to their hometown. But I don't foresee the day anytime soon when I'll need to crash at their crib in Walla Walla or Twin Falls or Bozeman. The fact is, those of us who live in Las Vegas have a moral obligation to provide free board and room to our friends and loved ones as a way of keeping our economy vibrant. If we would all pledge to house just 10 people a year, for three days each, the gaming drop will increase geometrically and speed our city's recovery from this recession.
I told her I'd found a bargain rate at my own home, and as usually happens, she expressed surprise that I actually lived here. When I told my seatmate that I had been in Las Vegas for 37 years, she said,The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. "Oh, you're a real Las Vegan."
I thought about telling her that I was actually just impersonating one,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. like all our beloved Elvi who can be spotted on nearly every Strip corner these days,A specialized manufacturer and supplier of dry cabinet, but for once my inner smart-ass contained itself. However, her comment got me thinking: Exactly what, other than the length of my duration in Southern Nevada, actually qualified me to be considered a real Las Vegan?
I taught at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and became immersed for a while in the throbbing heart of the community. For five years in the late '70s I was an English instructor at our esteemed local university. The administration determined that instructors should receive a grand sum of $900 per semester for each class we taught. This penciled out to about $1.37 an hour. The change girl at the Golden Goose made quadruple that amount. The experience gave me the conviction that we need to place far more emphasis on education at all levels in our community and pay our teachers at least at the level of off-Strip valet parkers. While I resented the meager income, I treasure the friendships I made with my students, many of whom have gone on to certain levels of notoriety. One of them became our district attorney, another a porn star. For what it's worth, they earned the same grade in my class.
I have had to explain to my children why a lineup of seven bare butts is mooning us from a billboard overlooking the freeway. My son, 7 at the time, started laughing from the backseat when I noticed what he was looking at, which was, of course,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, the Crazy Girls sign. Fortunately, my 4-year-old daughter wasn't paying attention. Seeing as J.P. wasn't ready for the birds 'n bees talk just yet, I laughed and said, "Isn't that funny, pal? That must be someone's idea of a joke."
I ran in the Las Vegas Marathon before it was cool: I completed the 1979 LV Marathon in four hours and six minutes, about the same time as failed vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, when he finally fessed up and added an hour to his original claim. Immediately after crossing the finish line at Sunset Park, I reenacted the Linda Blair scene from "The Exorcist." There was no prize money in our local 26-miler back then, only about 150 participants, and we didn't run up and down the Strip to the adulation of cheering throngs, as they do in the present-day Rock 'N Roll Marathon. We were pure-spirited runners some 30 years ago, by golly, not glory hogs.
I actually saw a person request an interview from a celebrity as he stood at a urinal. The celeb was basketball great Larry Bird; the location the upstairs men's room at Piero's restaurant; and Larry actually predicted it would happen. After a fun round of golf, a group of us were dining at the local hot spot, once known as a favorite hangout of Good Fellas. When Larry pardoned himself from our table, and I informed him that the restroom was upstairs, he said, "Oh, man, I'm gonna get hassled. You watch." Sure enough, a few Bird-watchers immediately rose from their tables and gave pursuit. I had to go as well, so I was an eyewitness to the intrusion.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads from china, Larry had no more unzipped and gotten busy before a man's hand holding a Sharpie and notepad reached over the divider and asked the legend to sign. "Tell you what, pal," Larry said, his eyes aiming down, "You hold this thing here, and I'll be happy to."
I have housed no fewer than 100 friends who used the lame excuse that all the good hotels on the Strip were booked. Of course, my cronies really just wanted to hang onto their vacation money so they could either feed it to a video poker machine or see a hot show. I understand this, and I truly appreciate my friends' generous offers to reciprocate when my wife and I come to their hometown. But I don't foresee the day anytime soon when I'll need to crash at their crib in Walla Walla or Twin Falls or Bozeman. The fact is, those of us who live in Las Vegas have a moral obligation to provide free board and room to our friends and loved ones as a way of keeping our economy vibrant. If we would all pledge to house just 10 people a year, for three days each, the gaming drop will increase geometrically and speed our city's recovery from this recession.
The Next Generation Of Gaming Begins Now
Innovation is something that is something that is part of the
lifeblood of Nintendo. The 123-year-old company has been creating unique
products dating back to their time as a playing card company. Over the
course of the last century Nintendo has branched out their business in a
variety of directions, some more successful than others, but in the
early 1980s they finally found one that stuck – video games. The release
of the Nintendo Entertainment System quickly established a little known
company out of Japan as the biggest name in the industry, and one of
the few that has endured as a major player for almost 30 years.
Fast forward to today, where Nintendo is riding the wave of their most successful home gaming console,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, the Wii, by following it up with something they hope is an even more hit, the Wii U. It's the first video game console to offer a fully integrated second screen gaming experience, as well as Nintendo's first real push to establish an online gaming community for their fans, and they're even making a grab to take over you TV. As the first out of the gate for the next generation of gaming consoles Nintendo is hoping to get a jump on consumers, and take over their living rooms before their competitors even announce what they have next.
The Wii U is an intriguing piece of hardware and it's symbolic of a lot of firsts for Nintendo. It's the first time that a Nintendo console is in HD. It's the first time that a Nintendo system home to an online gaming community. It's the first time that Nintendo will be making full console releases available as digital downloads. Sadly, these are all things that Microsoft and Sony have been doing for years, and, for the most part, doing well. Nintendo's wait and see attitude may have paid off for them as a company, but it may have also lost countless gamers to the competition in the meantime. That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't crafted an amazing machine in the Wii U, in fact, it's the console that will singlehandedly change the way people play games for years to come.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.
Being released as two different models, the Basic and the Deluxe, the Wii U offers gamers choices as to how they want to play.We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. The Basic model retails for $299 and includes a white Wii U console with 8 GB of storage space, the GamePad, appropriate AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar similar to the one that the Wii used. The Deluxe model includes a black Wii U with 32 GB of storage space, everything that's included in the Basic edition, and GamePad cadle, as well as stands for the controller and the system. Retailing for $349, the Deluxe edition also includes Nintendo Land as a pack in game.
The Wii U's system is sleek, and familiar. In terms of the interface it bridges the gap between the Wii and the 3DS, and mixes it with the Mii Plaza (now updated, and called WaraWara Plaza) on the second screen. Navigation is easy as a swipe and click on the GamePad's screen to get everything going. Depending on your proximity to your TV, you don't even need it on to get a game started and loaded up. In fact, for the games that support off screen play, you might not have to turn your TV on at all. Getting stuff loaded in advance might be a good idea, as that seems to be one of the places that the system struggles – booting up disc based software and loading system applications. Just expect that it is going to take longer (really only a few seconds) than you're likely used to.
Nintendo has made it clear that they fully supporting pushing the Wii U into the digital age, and that's evident by the extent of downloadable content that has been promised to be on the horizon. However, they don't really provide a place for it all. The Basic model of the Wii U comes with only 8 GB of internal storage and the Deluxe model has only 32 GBs available – 4.2 GBs of which is taken up by the operating system. Leaving only 3 GBs of available space on the Basic model might be enough for owners looking to store a ton of Virtual Console games, but don't expect it to replace those discs at retail. Fortunately, Nintendo has allowed for hard drives up to 2 TB to be connected to the system via USB and serve as a second storage location. So, problem solved, as long as you have an extra USB hard drive lying around.
High definition graphics are clearly here to stay, and Nintendo has openly embraced them on the Wii U.Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. The preferred output for this system is an HDMI cable (which is included in the box), a serious upgrade from the Wii's component and composite cables,China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. providing crisp graphics that can not only finally compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, with underlying technology that is seven years newer, this console might even be able to surpass them in due time.
Fast forward to today, where Nintendo is riding the wave of their most successful home gaming console,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, the Wii, by following it up with something they hope is an even more hit, the Wii U. It's the first video game console to offer a fully integrated second screen gaming experience, as well as Nintendo's first real push to establish an online gaming community for their fans, and they're even making a grab to take over you TV. As the first out of the gate for the next generation of gaming consoles Nintendo is hoping to get a jump on consumers, and take over their living rooms before their competitors even announce what they have next.
The Wii U is an intriguing piece of hardware and it's symbolic of a lot of firsts for Nintendo. It's the first time that a Nintendo console is in HD. It's the first time that a Nintendo system home to an online gaming community. It's the first time that Nintendo will be making full console releases available as digital downloads. Sadly, these are all things that Microsoft and Sony have been doing for years, and, for the most part, doing well. Nintendo's wait and see attitude may have paid off for them as a company, but it may have also lost countless gamers to the competition in the meantime. That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't crafted an amazing machine in the Wii U, in fact, it's the console that will singlehandedly change the way people play games for years to come.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.
Being released as two different models, the Basic and the Deluxe, the Wii U offers gamers choices as to how they want to play.We are pleased to offer the following list of professional mold maker and casters. The Basic model retails for $299 and includes a white Wii U console with 8 GB of storage space, the GamePad, appropriate AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and a sensor bar similar to the one that the Wii used. The Deluxe model includes a black Wii U with 32 GB of storage space, everything that's included in the Basic edition, and GamePad cadle, as well as stands for the controller and the system. Retailing for $349, the Deluxe edition also includes Nintendo Land as a pack in game.
The Wii U's system is sleek, and familiar. In terms of the interface it bridges the gap between the Wii and the 3DS, and mixes it with the Mii Plaza (now updated, and called WaraWara Plaza) on the second screen. Navigation is easy as a swipe and click on the GamePad's screen to get everything going. Depending on your proximity to your TV, you don't even need it on to get a game started and loaded up. In fact, for the games that support off screen play, you might not have to turn your TV on at all. Getting stuff loaded in advance might be a good idea, as that seems to be one of the places that the system struggles – booting up disc based software and loading system applications. Just expect that it is going to take longer (really only a few seconds) than you're likely used to.
Nintendo has made it clear that they fully supporting pushing the Wii U into the digital age, and that's evident by the extent of downloadable content that has been promised to be on the horizon. However, they don't really provide a place for it all. The Basic model of the Wii U comes with only 8 GB of internal storage and the Deluxe model has only 32 GBs available – 4.2 GBs of which is taken up by the operating system. Leaving only 3 GBs of available space on the Basic model might be enough for owners looking to store a ton of Virtual Console games, but don't expect it to replace those discs at retail. Fortunately, Nintendo has allowed for hard drives up to 2 TB to be connected to the system via USB and serve as a second storage location. So, problem solved, as long as you have an extra USB hard drive lying around.
High definition graphics are clearly here to stay, and Nintendo has openly embraced them on the Wii U.Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. The preferred output for this system is an HDMI cable (which is included in the box), a serious upgrade from the Wii's component and composite cables,China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. providing crisp graphics that can not only finally compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, with underlying technology that is seven years newer, this console might even be able to surpass them in due time.
It's arts' turn
AFTER years of hovering in the hearts and minds of the arts
community, the idea of a West Vancouver Arts Centre is finally moving
forward.
In May, District of West Vancouver council voted unanimously to support in principle the designation of the municipally owned parking lot in the 1600-block of Bellevue Avenue (behind the Safeway site) for a proposed new visual arts centre. An early concept design suggests a three-storey, 28,000-square-foot building with space for an art museum, an art gallery and arts education.
"That was a giant milestone for us," says Merla Beckerman of the council's vote. "We're riding a momentum right now because everybody likes the idea of replacing a parking lot with a community amenity."
Beckerman was chairwoman of the Arts Facilities Advisory Committee that worked for 18 months with community arts groups and staff to determine space needs and site options.Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, The 1600 Bellevue location was chosen after a site at the foot of 14th Street was rejected when it met with a negative reaction from the public.
The new centre would essentially bring together the programs of the West Vancouver Museum and the Ferry Building Gallery under one roof. But Beckerman notes it won't replace all arts programs in West Vancouver, which also include the Silk Purse Gallery and the Music Box art instruction programs.
"Certainly it will be the mother ship. It will be the centrepoint because of the wonderful location that we've secured and because it does most of the programming. But there will still be other facilities that will be in use because you do need education space,Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay! you do need some of what we call 'messy space' for kids and lifelong learners to do their drawings and printmaking and everything else that's involved with art production," she says.
Darrin Morrison, curator of the West Vancouver Museum, is excited about the proposed centre. "It would definitely allow us to grow our programming and meet current programming needs because our current facility is really beyond capacity," he says. The museum is currently located in the Gertrude Lawson House, a heritage house on 17th Street.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? In 2006, the museum established a growing art collection and they don't have adequate storage for it in the current facility, says Morrison. "So a new facility would allow us to grow the collection as well as manage it."
Ruth Payne, visual arts co-ordinator at the Ferry Building Gallery, says the new space is much needed.
"Things right now are what I would call bursting at the seams as far as exhibition and program venues that we have," she says. The Ferry Building Gallery is located in the Ferry Building on 14th Street, which is a municipally designated heritage property built in 1913.
"Heritage buildings are lovely but they're not purpose-built for art exhibition, collection, (and) program and public interaction meeting space," says Payne. "This community deserves this at this time."
Although their programs would move to the new centre, both the Ferry Building and Gertrude Lawson House would remain in use as satellite art spaces, or for some other community purpose.
Beckerman, who was a professional art adviser for more than 20 years, is a member of the B.C. Arts Council, and is the former chairwoman of the Vancouver Art Gallery Board and vice-chairperson of the National Gallery of Canada. She is now co-chairing the art centre project's development committee along with former West Vancouver councillor Michael Evison, who served as council liaison on the advisory committee.
"We're really at the beginning of the process," says Evison, adding the project got to a certain point last year before the initiatives started to wither on the vine.
"It was really at the beginning of this year that we put some life back into it and I think we've come a long way," he notes. "This is a citizen,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. community-driven project which has full support of council."
For the past four months, Beckerman and Evison have interviewed various residents and community leaders as part of a feasibility study. Evison calls the process so far "semi-public," but notes there will be a full public process.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. Beckerman says the response from the feasibility study was overwhelmingly positive, and she is optimistic the committee will be able to move forward with a business plan and determine construction and operational costs. She and Evison are scheduled to present their survey results to council Monday evening in-camera.
At that time, Brent Leigh, the municipality's deputy chief administrative officer, is expected to make recommendations for the project's next steps, including appointments to the development board. Leigh is the district's lead on the project, and was a nonvoting participant of the advisory committee. If the project's business plan, funding and construction plan were in place within a year, Leigh says it is possible they could break ground on the centre in a couple of years.
The art centre is not a done deal, however. The final decision to go ahead with the project will depend on funding and the business plan. The centre would be a district asset, and the plan is for the estimated $25-million construction cost to be covered largely by donations and some grants. The actual building costs will be determined in conjunction with design studies.
The district would be looking at a plan that covered the operating expenses through private funding models. Ultimately, district assets are supported by the district, but the intention is that there would be minimal district support for ongoing operation of the facility, says Leigh. He added that the district is keen to develop an endowment fund and bring long-term financial sustainability to the project.
The arts centre is part of a campaign toward revitalization of Ambleside that has been four or five years in the making, says Leigh. "You can see it could be a very effective hub for the vibrancy of the Ambleside revitalization efforts," Leigh says of the centre.
In May, District of West Vancouver council voted unanimously to support in principle the designation of the municipally owned parking lot in the 1600-block of Bellevue Avenue (behind the Safeway site) for a proposed new visual arts centre. An early concept design suggests a three-storey, 28,000-square-foot building with space for an art museum, an art gallery and arts education.
"That was a giant milestone for us," says Merla Beckerman of the council's vote. "We're riding a momentum right now because everybody likes the idea of replacing a parking lot with a community amenity."
Beckerman was chairwoman of the Arts Facilities Advisory Committee that worked for 18 months with community arts groups and staff to determine space needs and site options.Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, The 1600 Bellevue location was chosen after a site at the foot of 14th Street was rejected when it met with a negative reaction from the public.
The new centre would essentially bring together the programs of the West Vancouver Museum and the Ferry Building Gallery under one roof. But Beckerman notes it won't replace all arts programs in West Vancouver, which also include the Silk Purse Gallery and the Music Box art instruction programs.
"Certainly it will be the mother ship. It will be the centrepoint because of the wonderful location that we've secured and because it does most of the programming. But there will still be other facilities that will be in use because you do need education space,Find a great buy mosaic Art deals on eBay! you do need some of what we call 'messy space' for kids and lifelong learners to do their drawings and printmaking and everything else that's involved with art production," she says.
Darrin Morrison, curator of the West Vancouver Museum, is excited about the proposed centre. "It would definitely allow us to grow our programming and meet current programming needs because our current facility is really beyond capacity," he says. The museum is currently located in the Gertrude Lawson House, a heritage house on 17th Street.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? In 2006, the museum established a growing art collection and they don't have adequate storage for it in the current facility, says Morrison. "So a new facility would allow us to grow the collection as well as manage it."
Ruth Payne, visual arts co-ordinator at the Ferry Building Gallery, says the new space is much needed.
"Things right now are what I would call bursting at the seams as far as exhibition and program venues that we have," she says. The Ferry Building Gallery is located in the Ferry Building on 14th Street, which is a municipally designated heritage property built in 1913.
"Heritage buildings are lovely but they're not purpose-built for art exhibition, collection, (and) program and public interaction meeting space," says Payne. "This community deserves this at this time."
Although their programs would move to the new centre, both the Ferry Building and Gertrude Lawson House would remain in use as satellite art spaces, or for some other community purpose.
Beckerman, who was a professional art adviser for more than 20 years, is a member of the B.C. Arts Council, and is the former chairwoman of the Vancouver Art Gallery Board and vice-chairperson of the National Gallery of Canada. She is now co-chairing the art centre project's development committee along with former West Vancouver councillor Michael Evison, who served as council liaison on the advisory committee.
"We're really at the beginning of the process," says Evison, adding the project got to a certain point last year before the initiatives started to wither on the vine.
"It was really at the beginning of this year that we put some life back into it and I think we've come a long way," he notes. "This is a citizen,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. community-driven project which has full support of council."
For the past four months, Beckerman and Evison have interviewed various residents and community leaders as part of a feasibility study. Evison calls the process so far "semi-public," but notes there will be a full public process.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. Beckerman says the response from the feasibility study was overwhelmingly positive, and she is optimistic the committee will be able to move forward with a business plan and determine construction and operational costs. She and Evison are scheduled to present their survey results to council Monday evening in-camera.
At that time, Brent Leigh, the municipality's deputy chief administrative officer, is expected to make recommendations for the project's next steps, including appointments to the development board. Leigh is the district's lead on the project, and was a nonvoting participant of the advisory committee. If the project's business plan, funding and construction plan were in place within a year, Leigh says it is possible they could break ground on the centre in a couple of years.
The art centre is not a done deal, however. The final decision to go ahead with the project will depend on funding and the business plan. The centre would be a district asset, and the plan is for the estimated $25-million construction cost to be covered largely by donations and some grants. The actual building costs will be determined in conjunction with design studies.
The district would be looking at a plan that covered the operating expenses through private funding models. Ultimately, district assets are supported by the district, but the intention is that there would be minimal district support for ongoing operation of the facility, says Leigh. He added that the district is keen to develop an endowment fund and bring long-term financial sustainability to the project.
The arts centre is part of a campaign toward revitalization of Ambleside that has been four or five years in the making, says Leigh. "You can see it could be a very effective hub for the vibrancy of the Ambleside revitalization efforts," Leigh says of the centre.
2012年11月15日 星期四
The crowdfunding site that wants to spark a creative revolution
Crowdfunding, where large numbers of people donate small sums of
money to a project, has changed that. Kickstarter is not the first
online funding site for creative projects – ArtistShare was launched in
2003 to enable musicians to bypass record labels,Posts with indoor tracking
system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel
indoors. and was followed by other sites such as IndieGogo – but it has
gained the most traction and attention.
Since the site launched in April 2009, more than 2.5 million people have helped to successfully back more than 30,000 creative projects. It has helped fund Oscar-nominated short films and put new products on the market. Earlier this year, the creators of a watch that can wirelessly connect to a smartphone raised more than $10m (6m) on the site after being turned down by traditional investors.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. The singer Amanda Palmer raised $1.2m (745,000) to record her album and tour; this week, the film director David Fincher reached his goal to fund part of an animated film. In October, a role-playing game developer raised nearly $4m (2.5m) from more than 73,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.000 backers. The site estimates that around 10% of the films accepted into the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals this year were funded by Kickstarter.
Until recently,Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot. British projects have been hosted on the site, but the funds have needed to go through a US bank account and so they needed a US resident as a co-creator. In November, the site launched properly in the UK, and in the first week, 171 projects were put on the site, raising more than 500,000.
"From the beginning, the philosophy and the motivation behind this has been to be a platform for people to create things and put more art and creative work out into the world," says Yancey Strickler, head of community and one of the site's three co-founders. "The economy for funding creativity is one that is driven by profit and there really isn't a lot of space for people who want to make art for art's sake.
"Each project is judged solely by its own ambitions and not by the ambitions of gatekeepers or the broader market. It's communities of individuals deciding what they want to see exist."
Projects are chosen, he says, according to the rules of the site. "It has to have a finite goal. It's not open-ended, it's not funding a career; it's making a record or a film. There are things we don't allow, such as a lot of product-type things." They have to fit one of the 13 creative categories, which include art, technology, dance, film, music and food (the site has helped fund new food products and pop-up restaurants). There is a time limit – if the creators don't reach their goal, money is returned to the backers. If they do reach their goal, backers are given rewards – anything from an executive producer credit on a film to first copies of a comic.
Launching a project is far from a guaranteed success – less than half of the Kickstarter projects reach their funding goal, and around 12% don't receive a single pledge. For those projects that are wildly successful and far exceed their target, it brings new problems as creators are left fulfilling a far larger number of orders for a product than they expected.
According to a study of design and technology projects on Kickstarter by Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, only a quarter delivered their rewards on time. The famous Pebble watch has missed its delivery deadline, and last weekend its creators admitted it still hadn't even gone into mass production. Because many of the tech products funded by the site do not exist – the point of the funding is to create them and bring them to market – Kickstarter has been criticised for "selling" a "hypothetical future product" that may never materialise.
For artists, there is a danger that backers expecting a finished product can put pressure on the creative process. People who funded one musician, Josh Dibb from Animal Collective, to go on a trip to Mali in 2009 have complained they have not received their side of the deal – photographs and a CD of music inspired by the trip; Dibb has said he wasn't happy with the music he wrote.
The flipside of fans becoming directly involved in the funding of a project is that they rightly have an interest in where and how the money is spent.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. Amanda Palmer posted a breakdown of how the money she raised would be spent, and some people criticised her for the amount allocated to pay off debts ($250,000) and produce art books for backers. She faced further criticism after, having raised more than 10 times what she had asked for in the first place, she asked local musicians to play with her band for free on her tour.
Creators, and the site, are clearly still feeling their way through the implications of crowdfunding (in September, for instance, Kickstarter introduced new guidelines for design and technology projects to avoid disappointed backers. "The internet has created the opportunity for people to express what they want and Kickstarter gives them the tool to follow it through," says Strickler. "When I'm supporting some band [through the site] I love, I'm not 'shopping' in the record store, I'm creating alongside them. I get to see the thing happen and be part of the process and know that I made a contribution. I think the emotional resonance that comes with that is huge."
Since the site launched in April 2009, more than 2.5 million people have helped to successfully back more than 30,000 creative projects. It has helped fund Oscar-nominated short films and put new products on the market. Earlier this year, the creators of a watch that can wirelessly connect to a smartphone raised more than $10m (6m) on the site after being turned down by traditional investors.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. The singer Amanda Palmer raised $1.2m (745,000) to record her album and tour; this week, the film director David Fincher reached his goal to fund part of an animated film. In October, a role-playing game developer raised nearly $4m (2.5m) from more than 73,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.000 backers. The site estimates that around 10% of the films accepted into the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals this year were funded by Kickstarter.
Until recently,Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot. British projects have been hosted on the site, but the funds have needed to go through a US bank account and so they needed a US resident as a co-creator. In November, the site launched properly in the UK, and in the first week, 171 projects were put on the site, raising more than 500,000.
"From the beginning, the philosophy and the motivation behind this has been to be a platform for people to create things and put more art and creative work out into the world," says Yancey Strickler, head of community and one of the site's three co-founders. "The economy for funding creativity is one that is driven by profit and there really isn't a lot of space for people who want to make art for art's sake.
"Each project is judged solely by its own ambitions and not by the ambitions of gatekeepers or the broader market. It's communities of individuals deciding what they want to see exist."
Projects are chosen, he says, according to the rules of the site. "It has to have a finite goal. It's not open-ended, it's not funding a career; it's making a record or a film. There are things we don't allow, such as a lot of product-type things." They have to fit one of the 13 creative categories, which include art, technology, dance, film, music and food (the site has helped fund new food products and pop-up restaurants). There is a time limit – if the creators don't reach their goal, money is returned to the backers. If they do reach their goal, backers are given rewards – anything from an executive producer credit on a film to first copies of a comic.
Launching a project is far from a guaranteed success – less than half of the Kickstarter projects reach their funding goal, and around 12% don't receive a single pledge. For those projects that are wildly successful and far exceed their target, it brings new problems as creators are left fulfilling a far larger number of orders for a product than they expected.
According to a study of design and technology projects on Kickstarter by Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, only a quarter delivered their rewards on time. The famous Pebble watch has missed its delivery deadline, and last weekend its creators admitted it still hadn't even gone into mass production. Because many of the tech products funded by the site do not exist – the point of the funding is to create them and bring them to market – Kickstarter has been criticised for "selling" a "hypothetical future product" that may never materialise.
For artists, there is a danger that backers expecting a finished product can put pressure on the creative process. People who funded one musician, Josh Dibb from Animal Collective, to go on a trip to Mali in 2009 have complained they have not received their side of the deal – photographs and a CD of music inspired by the trip; Dibb has said he wasn't happy with the music he wrote.
The flipside of fans becoming directly involved in the funding of a project is that they rightly have an interest in where and how the money is spent.Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. Amanda Palmer posted a breakdown of how the money she raised would be spent, and some people criticised her for the amount allocated to pay off debts ($250,000) and produce art books for backers. She faced further criticism after, having raised more than 10 times what she had asked for in the first place, she asked local musicians to play with her band for free on her tour.
Creators, and the site, are clearly still feeling their way through the implications of crowdfunding (in September, for instance, Kickstarter introduced new guidelines for design and technology projects to avoid disappointed backers. "The internet has created the opportunity for people to express what they want and Kickstarter gives them the tool to follow it through," says Strickler. "When I'm supporting some band [through the site] I love, I'm not 'shopping' in the record store, I'm creating alongside them. I get to see the thing happen and be part of the process and know that I made a contribution. I think the emotional resonance that comes with that is huge."
Oil prices mixed ahead of EIA inventory report
With all else around it declining oil prices held steady on Wednesday
and into today on one of those unforeseen geopolitical event in the
middle east... Israel struck Gaza killing the top Hamas military leader.
In a region that has been very unstable for a long time this just adds
another layer of instability. Israel may be striking Hamas as they
engage in a bit of a proxy war with Iran... a major supporter of Hamas.
Now that the US election is over the Israeli's may be at the early
stages of positioning themselves to get more aggressive in trying to
destabilize Iran's nuclear program and yesterday's strike against Iran's
proxy in the region could be just the beginning.
The gain in oil prices over the last twenty four hours was not significant based on the magnitude of the gains historically when these type of event takes place. The fact that the global oil market is well supplied has minimized the reaction in the oil pits. In addition until there is a clear sign that the instability in the region is spreading toward the oil producing states market participants are likely to approach this situation with caution and not overreact to the upside. That said as long as the tensions and military activity continues to evolve oil prices should find some price support in the short term. The markets will be watching how Obama handles what has been a strained relationship with Israel over the next several weeks. Based on the action by the Israeli's it suggests that they are not overly concerned as to the US reaction at the moment.
Back to the negatives impacting oil prices today the latest data out of the euro zone shows that the EU is now officially in a recession as it now has two quarters in a row with negative GDP. The latest Eurostat data showed third quarter GDP came in at negative 0.1% after declining by 0.2% in the second quarter. Even the main economic growth engine of the EU... Germany saw its third quarter GDP gain slip to 0.2% from 0.3% in the second quarter. On the other end of the spectrum Greece's economy contracted for the seventeenth quarter in a row. Even more directly related to the energy sector industrial production in the EU dropped by 2.5% in September (versus August) or the largest monthly drop in over three years.
In Asia as a new leader comes to power in China...The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. the main economic growth engine of the world is certainly not humming along rather it is continuing to ride a very bumpy and uneven road. Data out of China overnight showed non-performing loans rose by $3.6 billion dollars...Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. the fourth straight quarter of increase and the longest streak since at least 2004 (according to a Bloomberg article).This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. This data strongly highlights that the Chinese economy is also weakening and not yet ready to lead the global economy out of the current malaise as it did after the major downturn in 2008.
Global equity markets have been very reflective of the economic uncertainly as most markets around the world were hit with a strong round of selling over the last twenty four hours. The EMI Index lost another 1.4% since yesterday narrowing the year to date gain for the Index to just 3.5% or back to the level it was at in early August. Three of the ten bourses in the Index are now in negative territory for the year...China, Brazil and Canada while Germany and Hong Kong are still showing double digit gains for the year. Since the US election the US Dow has lost about 5% of its value as President Obama continues to focus on raising taxes at a time when the US economy is continuing to weaken. Needless to say global equity markets as a leading indicator for the global economy are painting a bearish picture for all financial markets as well as for oil and the broader commodity markets.
With the global economy and oil fundamentals continuing to be the main focus of the trading and investing community this week's oil inventory report could be a price catalyst especially if the actual outcome shows a large deviation from the projections. However,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. any inventory reaction could be short lived if the macroeconomic data, the fiscal cliff and Greece remain the main focus of most market players.Thank you for visiting! I have been crystal mosaic since 1998.
My projections for this week's inventory report are summarized in the following table. I am expecting the US refining sector to increase marginally as the refining sector continues to return to normal from the recent storm on the east coast. I am expecting a modest build in crude oil inventories, a build in gasoline and another draw in distillate fuel stocks as the weather was colder than normal over the east coast during the report period. I am expecting crude oil stocks to increase by about 2.3 million barrels. If the actual numbers are in sync with my projections the year over year comparison for crude oil will now show a surplus of 40.1 million barrels while the overhang versus the five year average for the same week will come in around 45.2 million barrels.
I am expecting a modest draw in crude oil stocks in Cushing, Ok as the Seaway pipeline is still pumping and refinery run rates are continuing at high levels in that region of the US. This would normally be bearish for the Brent/WTI spread in the short term but the spread is currently trading at a relatively high premium to Brent but off of the highs hit about a week or so ago. The slow return from maintenance in the North Sea has been the main driver that has resulted in the Nov Brent/WTI spread now trading over the $23/bbl level as of this writing. The widening of the spread should begin to ease once the North Sea returns to a more normal production level.
The gain in oil prices over the last twenty four hours was not significant based on the magnitude of the gains historically when these type of event takes place. The fact that the global oil market is well supplied has minimized the reaction in the oil pits. In addition until there is a clear sign that the instability in the region is spreading toward the oil producing states market participants are likely to approach this situation with caution and not overreact to the upside. That said as long as the tensions and military activity continues to evolve oil prices should find some price support in the short term. The markets will be watching how Obama handles what has been a strained relationship with Israel over the next several weeks. Based on the action by the Israeli's it suggests that they are not overly concerned as to the US reaction at the moment.
Back to the negatives impacting oil prices today the latest data out of the euro zone shows that the EU is now officially in a recession as it now has two quarters in a row with negative GDP. The latest Eurostat data showed third quarter GDP came in at negative 0.1% after declining by 0.2% in the second quarter. Even the main economic growth engine of the EU... Germany saw its third quarter GDP gain slip to 0.2% from 0.3% in the second quarter. On the other end of the spectrum Greece's economy contracted for the seventeenth quarter in a row. Even more directly related to the energy sector industrial production in the EU dropped by 2.5% in September (versus August) or the largest monthly drop in over three years.
In Asia as a new leader comes to power in China...The MaxSonar ultrasonic sensor offers very short to long-range detection and ranging. the main economic growth engine of the world is certainly not humming along rather it is continuing to ride a very bumpy and uneven road. Data out of China overnight showed non-performing loans rose by $3.6 billion dollars...Find detailed product information for howo spare parts and other products. the fourth straight quarter of increase and the longest streak since at least 2004 (according to a Bloomberg article).This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. This data strongly highlights that the Chinese economy is also weakening and not yet ready to lead the global economy out of the current malaise as it did after the major downturn in 2008.
Global equity markets have been very reflective of the economic uncertainly as most markets around the world were hit with a strong round of selling over the last twenty four hours. The EMI Index lost another 1.4% since yesterday narrowing the year to date gain for the Index to just 3.5% or back to the level it was at in early August. Three of the ten bourses in the Index are now in negative territory for the year...China, Brazil and Canada while Germany and Hong Kong are still showing double digit gains for the year. Since the US election the US Dow has lost about 5% of its value as President Obama continues to focus on raising taxes at a time when the US economy is continuing to weaken. Needless to say global equity markets as a leading indicator for the global economy are painting a bearish picture for all financial markets as well as for oil and the broader commodity markets.
With the global economy and oil fundamentals continuing to be the main focus of the trading and investing community this week's oil inventory report could be a price catalyst especially if the actual outcome shows a large deviation from the projections. However,A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. any inventory reaction could be short lived if the macroeconomic data, the fiscal cliff and Greece remain the main focus of most market players.Thank you for visiting! I have been crystal mosaic since 1998.
My projections for this week's inventory report are summarized in the following table. I am expecting the US refining sector to increase marginally as the refining sector continues to return to normal from the recent storm on the east coast. I am expecting a modest build in crude oil inventories, a build in gasoline and another draw in distillate fuel stocks as the weather was colder than normal over the east coast during the report period. I am expecting crude oil stocks to increase by about 2.3 million barrels. If the actual numbers are in sync with my projections the year over year comparison for crude oil will now show a surplus of 40.1 million barrels while the overhang versus the five year average for the same week will come in around 45.2 million barrels.
I am expecting a modest draw in crude oil stocks in Cushing, Ok as the Seaway pipeline is still pumping and refinery run rates are continuing at high levels in that region of the US. This would normally be bearish for the Brent/WTI spread in the short term but the spread is currently trading at a relatively high premium to Brent but off of the highs hit about a week or so ago. The slow return from maintenance in the North Sea has been the main driver that has resulted in the Nov Brent/WTI spread now trading over the $23/bbl level as of this writing. The widening of the spread should begin to ease once the North Sea returns to a more normal production level.
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