Nearly 80 per cent of Campbell river physician support of the new hospital’s location, size, 95-bed count and $266 million cost, according to the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
In a news release, Dr. Jeff Beselt, Chief of Staff at Campbell River Hospital, reported the outcome of the physicians’ vote to more than 125 community members who attended a North Island Hospitals Project public information meeting held at the Maritime Heritage Centre on Feb. 21. The physicians’ vote took place on Feb. 20.
Claire Moglove, chair of the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital District board of directors, said the news of the vote outcome was very significant.
“There have been recent media reports suggesting that the doctors were not supportive of the process, the number of beds or the site,” Moglove said. “I hope the vote results will now put these issues to rest.”
Moglove was also pleased with the public meeting, particularly the time allotted for questions from the audience. The meeting carried on well past 9 p.m. so that chief project officer Tom Sparrow and Dr. Beselt could answer any and all the questions.
“This was an excellent opportunity for the public to hear and see details about the new hospital, including that it will be 69 per cent larger than the existing hospital and the emergency department will be three times larger,” said Moglove. “There will be four operating rooms, there will be a Centre for Excellence for Aboriginal Maternity, all patient rooms will be single-patient occupancy and there will be a residency agreement with the UBC/UVic Island Medical Program.”
Among the concerns raised was the pending loss of autopsy services. At the meeting, Beselt explained that after extensive review, the Clinical Leadership Steering Committee – made up of clinicians from VIHA, the Campbell River Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox, – agreed that consolidating autopsy services at the new Comox Valley Hospital would be more efficient.
“It will also free up additional space in the new Campbell River Hospital to perform thousands of additional procedures for local residents,” said Beselt.
A new project website is currently under development which will feature Facebook and Twitter links.
Web cams will be installed at both Campbell River and Comox Valley sites to enable real-time viewing of hospital construction.
“We will continue to provide new communication channels to both engage and inform the public,” said Toni O’Keeffe, VIHA’s Vice President of Communications and Public Relations. “This will include regular updates on the project, a newsletter, local media and quarterly public meetings.”
Commenting on the physicians’ vote, O’Keeffe said consultations will continue with all physicians.
“We’re pleased that this important group of stakeholders is having these discussions,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to work with all Campbell River physicians.”
Chief Project Officer Tom Sparrow said the North Island Hospitals Project is picking up speed as a myriad of elements are falling into place. He’s eager to keep spreading the message through public meetings as well as continued meetings with local government, the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital District, Aboriginal leaders, chambers of commerce, the school districts and many more.
In 1974, Marc Schupan took a leave from his job as a high school government teacher and coach to sort out his future. He thought about law school. Or maybe college coaching.
First, he planned to spend a year helping with his family's modest Kalamazoo scrap metal operation. But just a few weeks into the job, his father, Nelson, died of a stroke at age 53. Schupan hasn’t looked back since.
What was then the Konisberg Co. is now Schupan & Sons. The firm that ran on two trucks and six employees now employs some 400, 172 in Kalamazoo alone. It has 10 facilities in four Midwest states and encompasses divisions in industrial recycling, beverage container recycling and aluminum and plastic fabrication and sales.
As successful as he’s been in business, Schupan, 64, has left a deeper imprint far beyond the bottom line. He is a tireless advocate for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kalamazoo. He pays for new shoes for disadvantaged elementary students. He donated $10,000 to keep afloat a summer swimming instruction program for area youth.
The Michigan State University graduate even managed to impress friend and MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo, who respects the example Schupan sets for giving back. Izzo was featured speaker in Kalamazoo in 2012 at the Big Brothers Big Sisters annual benefit dinner.
“He's a giver more than a taker, a giver without wanting anything back,” Izzo said. “He doesn't want the publicity. He just wants to help people.”
They got to know each over the years, in part, through Schupan's attendance at an annual golf fundraiser in Iron Mountain organized by Izzo and fellow Iron Mountain High School classmate Steve Mariucci, a former coach of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. The friendship deepened following the death of Schupan's son, Seth, in a 2002 automobile accident.
Indeed, to Schupan, there is no line between success in business and community commitment. It boils down to treating people right.
He is fond of repeating a saying from a 1941 calendar: “'There is nothing nearly so clever as honesty and sincerity.' There is a difference between being fair and tough. You can be tough as long as you are fair.”
His firm is known for flexibility in employee personal time, holiday bonuses and free turkeys for employees at Thanksgiving. Workers receive $75 a month to defray the cost of commuting and $60 a year for footwear. They get a paid day off each year so they can volunteer at a charity of their choice.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Creating A Hot Spot
Austin's dining scene is experiencing a burst of evolution and it's hard to throw a rock these days without hitting a trendy restaurant brought to downtown by McGuire Moorman Hospitality. With a team of talented people and Chef/Entrepreneur Larry McGuire at the helm, they're on a streak of buzzing successes that have become known for their alluring atmosphere as much as the food. Even when not every plate is perfect, it's fun to be there and their signature style has seemingly cracked the code on creating an "it" factor, thanks in large part to the vision realized through F?DA Studio.
Since Lamberts opened in 2007, F?DA has been the go-to design shop for the branding and identity on all of their projects and the only agency to work on everything from Perla's to Elizabeth Street to Jeffrey's. It's a small shop, headed by Founder/Creative Director Jett Butler, who has a degree in Architecture and taught a design class for the Art and Art History department at UT. His trademark aesthetic is born of "decadent minimalism," a-tongue-and-cheek reference to an affinity for bold visuals in restrained proportion, which is evident throughout the McGuire projects. Their clients also typically benefit from his architectural background, with respect to his regard for contextual, topographic and ethnographic research and ability to translate brands into spaces.
At Jeffrey's, for example, the newly renovated Austin landmark, the team walked around Clarksville to collect artifacts old and new and get décor ideas from the specific nature and scenery of the neighborhood. Select items are subtly woven throughout the restaurant to bring in the landscape and pay tribute to the restaurant's history. Throughout the identity they use stippling, an inherently old school and time consuming print, providing a quaint graphic as well as a nod to the popular styles of the 1970s when Jeffrey's was opened originally.
At Perla's and Clark's seafood restaurants, clever details like a sprinkling of casual language such as the word 'ahoy!' provide an undercurrent of jovial informality to the champagne and oyster bars. Colorful, salt-water aquariums, as well as the latitude/longitude address that appears on the Clark's awning and unexpectedly buried in the menu, up the charm factor. Pretty, bold yacht club-style stripes alternate with stark-white interiors and, at both places, script logos based on a font F?DA created from Butler's handwriting are a whisper in the black and white hexagonal floor tiles. Each detail comes together with a modish, intimate feel and similarity that makes it easy to tell they are part of the same family.
At French Vietnamese café Elizabeth Street, the matchbooks come in multiple variations, as do the tiny to-go menus, and take on a collectible quality with beautiful colors and striking patterns. Macarons in delicious, unique flavors like candied lemon poppy mesh well with the kitschy custom designed condiment bottles that sit atop each table. Bright pink and blue décor makes the interior vivid, charming and lively. Custom Indie playlists and adorable uniforms, like flattering print wrap dresses, are fashioned by a one-time manager from Lamberts, who works in tandem with the group on all of the projects.
Essentially, nothing about the brand or flow is an accident and the development process is similar each time: McGuire gives amusingly ambiguous initial direction and remains heavily involved and passionate about the every detail of experience. Elizabeth Street, for example, was "Hanoi 1920" and "Grandma Chic." Lamberts was "Fancy BBQ," and Perla's at one point, "Martha's Vineyard meets Cabo San Lucas."
He isn't afraid to be direct or brutally honest and the process is no cakewalk but over time the relationship between the creative forces has become increasingly symbiotic. "We have built a good dynamic now...I no longer have to power pose before we meet," Butler joked.
With this kind polished result, brainy approach and expertise in creating elements of surprise it's no wonder F?DA's work is becoming ever more easy to spot: they did the branding and identity for new hot spot Sway, with geometric patterned coasters so pretty they could be framed and hung on the wall. Recently they also designed a bunch of collateral for TEDxAustin creating multiple program versions - one with only words and the other with only images - intended to ignite dialogue between the lucky attendees.
Their trademark style involves an undercurrent of wit and fierce thoughtfulness. Individually perhaps minute, together these particulars artfully make brands shine, bring joy to the experience and engender the power of smart design.
“We want people to pick something out that fits their lifestyle and is something that they are going to like five to 10 years from now,” she said. “Many customers enjoy a custom vanity cabinet, as opposed to one you can purchase in the store, and most of the time it will cost them the same.”
Gannon said walk-in showers are very popular because they reduce the need for a curtain or door. Oversized soaking tubs are also a hit, because they come in a variety of sizes and styles to fit most floor plans.
Gannon said a more traditional and neutral color scheme is always going to be the most popular. Flooring and tile should contrast with your cabinets to allow the room to look bigger and the cabinets to stand out.
“We recommend going one to two shades lighter or darker, or something accenting,” she said. “For example, pulling the same glass tile from your shower into the flooring is going to be an accent. Subway tile, which are horizontal rectangular tiles that have been offset, is extremely popular.”
Whether you choose smaller subway tiles for a backsplash or larger ones for a shower, it’s very sleek looking and timeless, she said.
Glass tiles are also very popular, and even though they are trendy right now, they too can be timeless. Gannon said you can use glass tile anywhere, from your tile flooring, to a shower floor, to a backsplash behind the sink, to accents in the shower or surrounding the tub — and the glass tile comes in a plethora of styles, colors, shapes and sizes.
“Also, using vertical lines with tile is very popular right now,” she said. “Plus it will make the ceilings appear 10 times higher.”
There is also a variety of faucet and lighting fixtures to enhance the mood of your bathroom. Canned lighting with something decorative over the sink is a good option, Gannon said.
When choosing a counter top, Gannon said, most people go with granite. A virtually endless number of styles and colors are available, and you can always add decorative touches to your edging. Granite currently costs less than quartz, she said.
If your bathroom is small, Gannon said, no need to worry. Everything plays into making a small bathroom appear to have more space and warmth. Paint is key. Light colors open up a room. Darker ones close it, so a nice neutral on the wall with a crisp white ceiling will expand the ceiling and make the whole room appear larger.
“Lighting is what will make the room more inviting, exciting and larger,” she said. “Most small baths only have vanity lighting. An easy and inexpensive light option is adding can lighting. For an easier option, add a wall sconce or a lamp to the vanity. Also, put brighter lights into the vanity lighting.”
Since Lamberts opened in 2007, F?DA has been the go-to design shop for the branding and identity on all of their projects and the only agency to work on everything from Perla's to Elizabeth Street to Jeffrey's. It's a small shop, headed by Founder/Creative Director Jett Butler, who has a degree in Architecture and taught a design class for the Art and Art History department at UT. His trademark aesthetic is born of "decadent minimalism," a-tongue-and-cheek reference to an affinity for bold visuals in restrained proportion, which is evident throughout the McGuire projects. Their clients also typically benefit from his architectural background, with respect to his regard for contextual, topographic and ethnographic research and ability to translate brands into spaces.
At Jeffrey's, for example, the newly renovated Austin landmark, the team walked around Clarksville to collect artifacts old and new and get décor ideas from the specific nature and scenery of the neighborhood. Select items are subtly woven throughout the restaurant to bring in the landscape and pay tribute to the restaurant's history. Throughout the identity they use stippling, an inherently old school and time consuming print, providing a quaint graphic as well as a nod to the popular styles of the 1970s when Jeffrey's was opened originally.
At Perla's and Clark's seafood restaurants, clever details like a sprinkling of casual language such as the word 'ahoy!' provide an undercurrent of jovial informality to the champagne and oyster bars. Colorful, salt-water aquariums, as well as the latitude/longitude address that appears on the Clark's awning and unexpectedly buried in the menu, up the charm factor. Pretty, bold yacht club-style stripes alternate with stark-white interiors and, at both places, script logos based on a font F?DA created from Butler's handwriting are a whisper in the black and white hexagonal floor tiles. Each detail comes together with a modish, intimate feel and similarity that makes it easy to tell they are part of the same family.
At French Vietnamese café Elizabeth Street, the matchbooks come in multiple variations, as do the tiny to-go menus, and take on a collectible quality with beautiful colors and striking patterns. Macarons in delicious, unique flavors like candied lemon poppy mesh well with the kitschy custom designed condiment bottles that sit atop each table. Bright pink and blue décor makes the interior vivid, charming and lively. Custom Indie playlists and adorable uniforms, like flattering print wrap dresses, are fashioned by a one-time manager from Lamberts, who works in tandem with the group on all of the projects.
Essentially, nothing about the brand or flow is an accident and the development process is similar each time: McGuire gives amusingly ambiguous initial direction and remains heavily involved and passionate about the every detail of experience. Elizabeth Street, for example, was "Hanoi 1920" and "Grandma Chic." Lamberts was "Fancy BBQ," and Perla's at one point, "Martha's Vineyard meets Cabo San Lucas."
He isn't afraid to be direct or brutally honest and the process is no cakewalk but over time the relationship between the creative forces has become increasingly symbiotic. "We have built a good dynamic now...I no longer have to power pose before we meet," Butler joked.
With this kind polished result, brainy approach and expertise in creating elements of surprise it's no wonder F?DA's work is becoming ever more easy to spot: they did the branding and identity for new hot spot Sway, with geometric patterned coasters so pretty they could be framed and hung on the wall. Recently they also designed a bunch of collateral for TEDxAustin creating multiple program versions - one with only words and the other with only images - intended to ignite dialogue between the lucky attendees.
Their trademark style involves an undercurrent of wit and fierce thoughtfulness. Individually perhaps minute, together these particulars artfully make brands shine, bring joy to the experience and engender the power of smart design.
“We want people to pick something out that fits their lifestyle and is something that they are going to like five to 10 years from now,” she said. “Many customers enjoy a custom vanity cabinet, as opposed to one you can purchase in the store, and most of the time it will cost them the same.”
Gannon said walk-in showers are very popular because they reduce the need for a curtain or door. Oversized soaking tubs are also a hit, because they come in a variety of sizes and styles to fit most floor plans.
Gannon said a more traditional and neutral color scheme is always going to be the most popular. Flooring and tile should contrast with your cabinets to allow the room to look bigger and the cabinets to stand out.
“We recommend going one to two shades lighter or darker, or something accenting,” she said. “For example, pulling the same glass tile from your shower into the flooring is going to be an accent. Subway tile, which are horizontal rectangular tiles that have been offset, is extremely popular.”
Whether you choose smaller subway tiles for a backsplash or larger ones for a shower, it’s very sleek looking and timeless, she said.
Glass tiles are also very popular, and even though they are trendy right now, they too can be timeless. Gannon said you can use glass tile anywhere, from your tile flooring, to a shower floor, to a backsplash behind the sink, to accents in the shower or surrounding the tub — and the glass tile comes in a plethora of styles, colors, shapes and sizes.
“Also, using vertical lines with tile is very popular right now,” she said. “Plus it will make the ceilings appear 10 times higher.”
There is also a variety of faucet and lighting fixtures to enhance the mood of your bathroom. Canned lighting with something decorative over the sink is a good option, Gannon said.
When choosing a counter top, Gannon said, most people go with granite. A virtually endless number of styles and colors are available, and you can always add decorative touches to your edging. Granite currently costs less than quartz, she said.
If your bathroom is small, Gannon said, no need to worry. Everything plays into making a small bathroom appear to have more space and warmth. Paint is key. Light colors open up a room. Darker ones close it, so a nice neutral on the wall with a crisp white ceiling will expand the ceiling and make the whole room appear larger.
“Lighting is what will make the room more inviting, exciting and larger,” she said. “Most small baths only have vanity lighting. An easy and inexpensive light option is adding can lighting. For an easier option, add a wall sconce or a lamp to the vanity. Also, put brighter lights into the vanity lighting.”
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Hampton Beach home offers luxurious living, views
This brand new, gambrel-style home on Thornton Street in income-tax-free Hampton, N.H, is impressive, with hardwood floors, a gorgeous custom kitchen and fine architectural details
But the sublime views of the Hampton Harbor inlet and the Atlantic Ocean are what make this a truly amazing home.
Located in the Island Section of Hampton Beach, this four-bedroom oceanfront home embraces its spectacular location, offering panoramic views of the coastline and Atlantic Ocean all the way out to the Isles of Shoals.
Built for luxurious living on the waterfront, this new home has been designed to maximize the awe-inspiring views while offering a spacious and delightful contemporary open concept floor plan with fabulous amenities that include a two-car garage, two oceanfront decks and a covered beachfront patio just steps from the serene sand and surf.
The beach level is well planned with a tile floor, direct entry from the garage and a handy laundry room to capture sandy towels and swim suits. The rear of the beach level offers a heart-stopping oceanfront family room with three glass doors framing the beautiful views. In addition, there is an equally impressive sunny oceanfront bedroom with triple sliding glass doors out to the patio. A well-appointed bath with handsome vanity, granite top and marble tile floor is a great place to shower after a relaxing day on the beach.
The main living level is breathtakingly beautiful. The open floor plan, clean contemporary lines and subtle architectural details perfectly frame the spectacular views. The large custom eat-in kitchen would be a cook’s dream in any home with lovely Shaker-style cabinets, complimenting a curved center island, granite counters and a walk-in pantry, but here the beauty is enhanced by the abundant natural light and magnificent views.
The floor plan is open and enriched by a lovely archway and columns that frame the views and provide a sense of subtle division between the dining and great room. The gleaming natural maple floors add to the visual texture and serene natural tone of the home.
The great room lives up to its name in a big way. The room is a front-row seat on the oceanfront. Standing in the room looking out the multiple glass doors to the waterfront deck, visitors feel as if they are floating above the beach. The room gives the feeling of being able to reach out and touch the shimmering waves and the distant horizon.
The builder has balanced this openness with a substantial gas-log fireplace that adds a sense of warmth and comfort to the spacious room.
Stepping out on the deck is pure pleasure as the salty air, soft rhythm of the surf and panoramic vista create the ultimate sensory experience. The spacious deck has transparent balusters that keep the views unspoiled. It is a great place to entertain, dine under the stars or simple relax and watch the sailboats glide by on the breeze.
The bedroom level offers equally impressive views and a large, sumptuous oceanfront master suite with sliding glass doors to its own private waterfront deck where you can step out and watch the sun come up over the vast horizon.
The large master suite maitains the clean, contemporary feel of the home but adds extra elegant touches and comforts like the tray ceiling and over-sized walk-in closet. The master bath is pure joy with artistic tile work, separate water closet, marble top on the double vanity and an inviting jet tub that would be an indulgence on any day.
The other two bedrooms are bright, spacious and offer excellent closet storage. A lovely full bathroom with marble floors and a linen closet works well for the two bedrooms.
This luxurious four-bedroom, four-bath home has it all. There is efficient, multi-zone natural gas heat, central air conditioning, central vacuum, security system and public water and sewer. Hampton is prized for its coastline and beaches and this home offers the best of both, but also in a convenient location. The two-car garage and additional parking spots are an uncommon find in the quiet beach neighborhood that is just minutes from major highways and commuter routes, including Routes 95 and 101.
Marketed by Steve Fisichelli of the The Fisichelli Team at $1,495,000, this is a rare opportunity to own a spectacular brand new oceanfront home in the well-established Island Section of Hampton Beach This is a property that must be experienced in person to fully appreciate the magnificence of the location and how its wonderful design complements the natural beauty of the harbor front.
But the sublime views of the Hampton Harbor inlet and the Atlantic Ocean are what make this a truly amazing home.
Located in the Island Section of Hampton Beach, this four-bedroom oceanfront home embraces its spectacular location, offering panoramic views of the coastline and Atlantic Ocean all the way out to the Isles of Shoals.
Built for luxurious living on the waterfront, this new home has been designed to maximize the awe-inspiring views while offering a spacious and delightful contemporary open concept floor plan with fabulous amenities that include a two-car garage, two oceanfront decks and a covered beachfront patio just steps from the serene sand and surf.
The beach level is well planned with a tile floor, direct entry from the garage and a handy laundry room to capture sandy towels and swim suits. The rear of the beach level offers a heart-stopping oceanfront family room with three glass doors framing the beautiful views. In addition, there is an equally impressive sunny oceanfront bedroom with triple sliding glass doors out to the patio. A well-appointed bath with handsome vanity, granite top and marble tile floor is a great place to shower after a relaxing day on the beach.
The main living level is breathtakingly beautiful. The open floor plan, clean contemporary lines and subtle architectural details perfectly frame the spectacular views. The large custom eat-in kitchen would be a cook’s dream in any home with lovely Shaker-style cabinets, complimenting a curved center island, granite counters and a walk-in pantry, but here the beauty is enhanced by the abundant natural light and magnificent views.
The floor plan is open and enriched by a lovely archway and columns that frame the views and provide a sense of subtle division between the dining and great room. The gleaming natural maple floors add to the visual texture and serene natural tone of the home.
The great room lives up to its name in a big way. The room is a front-row seat on the oceanfront. Standing in the room looking out the multiple glass doors to the waterfront deck, visitors feel as if they are floating above the beach. The room gives the feeling of being able to reach out and touch the shimmering waves and the distant horizon.
The builder has balanced this openness with a substantial gas-log fireplace that adds a sense of warmth and comfort to the spacious room.
Stepping out on the deck is pure pleasure as the salty air, soft rhythm of the surf and panoramic vista create the ultimate sensory experience. The spacious deck has transparent balusters that keep the views unspoiled. It is a great place to entertain, dine under the stars or simple relax and watch the sailboats glide by on the breeze.
The bedroom level offers equally impressive views and a large, sumptuous oceanfront master suite with sliding glass doors to its own private waterfront deck where you can step out and watch the sun come up over the vast horizon.
The large master suite maitains the clean, contemporary feel of the home but adds extra elegant touches and comforts like the tray ceiling and over-sized walk-in closet. The master bath is pure joy with artistic tile work, separate water closet, marble top on the double vanity and an inviting jet tub that would be an indulgence on any day.
The other two bedrooms are bright, spacious and offer excellent closet storage. A lovely full bathroom with marble floors and a linen closet works well for the two bedrooms.
This luxurious four-bedroom, four-bath home has it all. There is efficient, multi-zone natural gas heat, central air conditioning, central vacuum, security system and public water and sewer. Hampton is prized for its coastline and beaches and this home offers the best of both, but also in a convenient location. The two-car garage and additional parking spots are an uncommon find in the quiet beach neighborhood that is just minutes from major highways and commuter routes, including Routes 95 and 101.
Marketed by Steve Fisichelli of the The Fisichelli Team at $1,495,000, this is a rare opportunity to own a spectacular brand new oceanfront home in the well-established Island Section of Hampton Beach This is a property that must be experienced in person to fully appreciate the magnificence of the location and how its wonderful design complements the natural beauty of the harbor front.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Apps giving taxi drivers, consumers a lift
“Those are the killers,” said Arnold Julce, 55, a taxi driver. “To make money, you need to have paying passengers in the cab.”
Julce has driven a cab in Boston for 24 years. So when he heard of an app that would let customers order a taxi on a smart phone, he listened. It was free to drivers.
The app was Hailo, originally developed by a London cabdriver. Hailo began recruiting drivers in Boston in October 2012. A similar app is Uber, developed initially by a San Francisco company for smart phone users to order a limo. Uber introduced its taxi option in Boston in September 2012. Some drivers use both.
The apps show registered drivers the location of customers requesting a cab. When a driver accepts an order, the customer can view a picture of the driver and follow the progress of the taxi toward the pickup location on a GPS display. To accept a job, the driver must be no more than five minutes away.
Both apps guarantee that once a driver accepts a job, no other driver can take it. According to Pierre Duchemin, 55, this is a huge improvement over radio dispatch, which may give out an open call, simply broadcasting the location where a customer is waiting. If another driver gets there first, others can lose the job, a waste of time and gas. That doesn’t happen with the apps.
And they do. Julce gets 3-4 rides a day. It would be more, he said, but he can’t accept a new job when he currently has a customer in the cab. Duchemin uses the apps 3-4 hours per shift. According to Andre-Michel Colas, a 20-year veteran of the Boston streets, the vacancy rate in his taxi has decreased 5-10 percent since adopting Hailo. Recently, Colas became a driver-partner to Hailo, providing training and 24/7 support to drivers using the app.
“Under the old system, both customer and driver suffered,” said Colas. “The customer would call, and radio dispatch wouldn’t even answer the phone. Or the customer would have to wait 30 minutes.” In Boston, the problem is chronic in Forest Hills and other parts of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury and Dorchester, Colas said.
According to Vanessa Kafka, general manager of Hailo Boston, vacancies plague the taxi industry all over the world.
“In London, with arguably the best taxi service in the world, cabs are vacant 60 percent of the time,” Kafka said. “In New York it is 40 percent.” In Boston, cabs are empty 25 to 50 percent of the time, according to a recent survey by Hailo. Meanwhile, riders everywhere complain to city officials that they can’t get a cab.
According to Kafka, because most people using taxis are in the central city, taxis concentrate there, cruising the streets and competing for the same rides. Then when people in outlying areas call radio dispatch, there are no cabs available. From the driver point of view, the smart phone app goes right to the heart of that problem.
“By being able to see the location of people who need cabs, a driver would not have to cruise the central city, but could potentially pick up steady work in an area such as Dorchester,” said Colas. “Having available cabs could conceivably contribute to quality of life in those neighborhoods.”
Leatherhead had the ball in Folkestone's net after 20 minutes, but the goal was disallowed after the referee's assistant incorrectly flagged Kev Terry for offside while intercepting a back pass.
Worse was to follow as Folkestone took the lead after 31 minutes after an awful mix up in the Leatherhead defence.
Chris Boulter received the ball from Neil Jenkins and then sent a square ball into an empty space. Richard Atkins gratefully intercepted before shooting low past Young.
Atkins almost added another a minute later – heading inches wide of the post – before Stevenson was shown a straight red card for his dangerous tackle on Smart.
Tanners failed to utilise their one-man advantage as they conceded a penalty after 39 minutes.
Johan Ter Horst played a ball into the box from the right which hit the top of Jenkins' arm.
Jenkins protested his innocence, but the Leatherhead defender's pleas fell on deaf ears as the referee pointed to the penalty spot and Smith stepped forward to strike the spot kick firmly down the middle.
In the second half Folkestone were content to sit back with their two-goal cushion, allowing Leatherhead time and space in the middle to run with the ball.
But time and again play broke down as the visitors were caught out by an efficient and effective offside trap.
And the Tanners could have fallen further behind when Frankie Chappell and Atkins both went close late on, while Ryan Flack saw his effort ruled out for offside.
Julce has driven a cab in Boston for 24 years. So when he heard of an app that would let customers order a taxi on a smart phone, he listened. It was free to drivers.
The app was Hailo, originally developed by a London cabdriver. Hailo began recruiting drivers in Boston in October 2012. A similar app is Uber, developed initially by a San Francisco company for smart phone users to order a limo. Uber introduced its taxi option in Boston in September 2012. Some drivers use both.
The apps show registered drivers the location of customers requesting a cab. When a driver accepts an order, the customer can view a picture of the driver and follow the progress of the taxi toward the pickup location on a GPS display. To accept a job, the driver must be no more than five minutes away.
Both apps guarantee that once a driver accepts a job, no other driver can take it. According to Pierre Duchemin, 55, this is a huge improvement over radio dispatch, which may give out an open call, simply broadcasting the location where a customer is waiting. If another driver gets there first, others can lose the job, a waste of time and gas. That doesn’t happen with the apps.
And they do. Julce gets 3-4 rides a day. It would be more, he said, but he can’t accept a new job when he currently has a customer in the cab. Duchemin uses the apps 3-4 hours per shift. According to Andre-Michel Colas, a 20-year veteran of the Boston streets, the vacancy rate in his taxi has decreased 5-10 percent since adopting Hailo. Recently, Colas became a driver-partner to Hailo, providing training and 24/7 support to drivers using the app.
“Under the old system, both customer and driver suffered,” said Colas. “The customer would call, and radio dispatch wouldn’t even answer the phone. Or the customer would have to wait 30 minutes.” In Boston, the problem is chronic in Forest Hills and other parts of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury and Dorchester, Colas said.
According to Vanessa Kafka, general manager of Hailo Boston, vacancies plague the taxi industry all over the world.
“In London, with arguably the best taxi service in the world, cabs are vacant 60 percent of the time,” Kafka said. “In New York it is 40 percent.” In Boston, cabs are empty 25 to 50 percent of the time, according to a recent survey by Hailo. Meanwhile, riders everywhere complain to city officials that they can’t get a cab.
According to Kafka, because most people using taxis are in the central city, taxis concentrate there, cruising the streets and competing for the same rides. Then when people in outlying areas call radio dispatch, there are no cabs available. From the driver point of view, the smart phone app goes right to the heart of that problem.
“By being able to see the location of people who need cabs, a driver would not have to cruise the central city, but could potentially pick up steady work in an area such as Dorchester,” said Colas. “Having available cabs could conceivably contribute to quality of life in those neighborhoods.”
Leatherhead had the ball in Folkestone's net after 20 minutes, but the goal was disallowed after the referee's assistant incorrectly flagged Kev Terry for offside while intercepting a back pass.
Worse was to follow as Folkestone took the lead after 31 minutes after an awful mix up in the Leatherhead defence.
Chris Boulter received the ball from Neil Jenkins and then sent a square ball into an empty space. Richard Atkins gratefully intercepted before shooting low past Young.
Atkins almost added another a minute later – heading inches wide of the post – before Stevenson was shown a straight red card for his dangerous tackle on Smart.
Tanners failed to utilise their one-man advantage as they conceded a penalty after 39 minutes.
Johan Ter Horst played a ball into the box from the right which hit the top of Jenkins' arm.
Jenkins protested his innocence, but the Leatherhead defender's pleas fell on deaf ears as the referee pointed to the penalty spot and Smith stepped forward to strike the spot kick firmly down the middle.
In the second half Folkestone were content to sit back with their two-goal cushion, allowing Leatherhead time and space in the middle to run with the ball.
But time and again play broke down as the visitors were caught out by an efficient and effective offside trap.
And the Tanners could have fallen further behind when Frankie Chappell and Atkins both went close late on, while Ryan Flack saw his effort ruled out for offside.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Beezy Bailey Exhibition at Everard Read
Everard Read is the site of reverie, fantasy and myth as chimeras leap and spin amidst backdrops blooming with colour. Dancing in the Woods is Beezy Bailey’s first solo exhibition in Cape Town in six years and it is a dauntless display of anthropomorphic terrains, baffling sprites and gambolling brush-strokes.
The Risen Tree Dances with the Butterflies, Tree Escape and Township Jazz present trees flailing with human limbs, or are these people? Who flaunt knotted knees, as roots, shoot from their feet. Birdland grants men the wings of birds, birds sprout human legs and grass takes flight upon feathers, drenched in oil. The intrepid paint-work and impressionistic background of this image captures the mood of many other pieces in the exhibition such as Dragonfly Lady and Jitterbug which tease and tear at the boundaries between humans, animals and plant-life.
The abstract nature of this exhibition belies the fact that it is grounded in tangible socioeconomic realities. The majority of the work draws life-breath from Bailey’s 5,000 Tree Landscape Project which the artist initiated with the NGO Greenpop. Ten percent of proceeds from Dancing in the Woods will go towards this scheme, which seeks to spiritually uplift the Cape Flats through the planting of 5,000 trees.
Bailey employs silk-screened images and photographs of the Cape Flats but his flourishing use of paint coupled with the persistence of phantasmal creatures, utterly remodels pre-existing understandings of Township life. The way in which the physicality of the Cape landscape is subjected to the vicissitudes of the artistic process, embodies Greenpop’s drive to imaginatively enrich an area that is crippled by devastating social truths.
The ingenious way in which Bailey responds to destitution and poverty, is surely in keeping with his own contention that, "I am not an illustrator; I release the images that appear before me. Like Picasso, I say that it is not for me to explain the contents of my work; this is for the viewer to do.”
The comparison with Picasso is ostentatious but Bailey’s manipulation of reality is evocative of Picasso’s own statement, “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” In Bailey’s case, it is hard to say whether he transmutes prosaic truth into something uncanny or if he begins with the unseemly figures of his dreams and adapts them to commonplace actuality.
The work on show in Portswood Road is also strongly influenced by Bailey’s recent travels to New York where he will be exhibiting in March with musician Dave Matthews, and Alexander Heinrici, who has famously printed for Andy Warhol.
Perhaps it is the test of artistic talent to revivify clichéd material but Bailey’s decision to incorporate scenes from 9/11 smacks of commercialism and may have been prompted by the promise of exhibiting at New York’s eminent Robert Miller Gallery.
In Flat Earth Free Fall, the figures who tumble from burning buildings borrow something from Greek black-figure painting and a little from Khoisan rock-art, hence blurring the divide between America and historic cultures. In its own turn, Midnight on the Town superimposes ancient revelers upon the demolition of the modern urban environment, implying the imperviousness of the ages to 21st century tragedy. While these are thought-provoking takes on familiar material, these scenes are too haggard to benefit from Botox. All in all, the images of New York have the unlucky effect of stressing the kitsch elements of Bailey’s art such his garish use of colour and penchant for butterflies.
It’s a business that is largely driven by sales of state-approved pieces. And Poly Auction, which is ostensibly controlled by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is the general at the vanguard of the action in the booming arts market. It's also a company that is a weather vane for the powerful vested interests that dominate China's booming, and largely state-run economy.
Poly has already become the world’s third-largest auction house since opening its doors in 2005. Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the No. 1 and No. 2 houses respectively, took centuries to rise to the top by relying on a global network of auctions to drive sales.
Poly doesn’t need to scour the globe for buyers because it has more than enough of them at home. According to industry market research outfit Artprice, China overtook both the US and the UK as the world’s largest fine art market, with $4.79 billion in sales in 2011.
“It’s exploding because the Chinese have a lot of money and they want to invest. Global stocks are down and art is the hot new investment,” said Huang, who had racked up a decade’s worth of experience in Taiwanese auction houses before he was handpicked by Poly to set up the Taipei office.
Huang also says the need for cash-rich Chinese to hide earlier, and shadier, “investments” is a major driver of art purchases across the Taiwan Strait. “As China beefs up tracking of bribery, taxes and financial crimes, the Chinese buy fewer houses, cars and jewelry and prefer to pump that money into art. It’s very smart.”
The Beijing-based company has a virtual monopoly in China because foreign houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s have only recently been permitted to hold auctions in the country, leaving Poly to dominate smaller local firms.
“If you need to sell an important Chinese vase or painting, then you get a better price discovery at Poly than you get at Christie’s. But you have to remember that a lot of the buying [in China] is artificial,” said Sergey Skaterschikov, founder of Skate’s Art Market Research.
“They’ve set up a fully private museum, which is the equivalent of setting up a captive institutional buyer with very little transparency. In the auction business they call it show bidding,” he added. “Their own captive demand is always available to drive the prices and the volume.”
Show bidding or not, Poly has other ideas about how it has grown to challenge the Western auction houses' hegemony. According to the company website, “The rapid growth of Poly Auction [has] no doubt benefited from the solid foundation and strong support from Poly Group ... [and the] kind solicitudes from leaders of the country and the Party.”
The Risen Tree Dances with the Butterflies, Tree Escape and Township Jazz present trees flailing with human limbs, or are these people? Who flaunt knotted knees, as roots, shoot from their feet. Birdland grants men the wings of birds, birds sprout human legs and grass takes flight upon feathers, drenched in oil. The intrepid paint-work and impressionistic background of this image captures the mood of many other pieces in the exhibition such as Dragonfly Lady and Jitterbug which tease and tear at the boundaries between humans, animals and plant-life.
The abstract nature of this exhibition belies the fact that it is grounded in tangible socioeconomic realities. The majority of the work draws life-breath from Bailey’s 5,000 Tree Landscape Project which the artist initiated with the NGO Greenpop. Ten percent of proceeds from Dancing in the Woods will go towards this scheme, which seeks to spiritually uplift the Cape Flats through the planting of 5,000 trees.
Bailey employs silk-screened images and photographs of the Cape Flats but his flourishing use of paint coupled with the persistence of phantasmal creatures, utterly remodels pre-existing understandings of Township life. The way in which the physicality of the Cape landscape is subjected to the vicissitudes of the artistic process, embodies Greenpop’s drive to imaginatively enrich an area that is crippled by devastating social truths.
The ingenious way in which Bailey responds to destitution and poverty, is surely in keeping with his own contention that, "I am not an illustrator; I release the images that appear before me. Like Picasso, I say that it is not for me to explain the contents of my work; this is for the viewer to do.”
The comparison with Picasso is ostentatious but Bailey’s manipulation of reality is evocative of Picasso’s own statement, “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” In Bailey’s case, it is hard to say whether he transmutes prosaic truth into something uncanny or if he begins with the unseemly figures of his dreams and adapts them to commonplace actuality.
The work on show in Portswood Road is also strongly influenced by Bailey’s recent travels to New York where he will be exhibiting in March with musician Dave Matthews, and Alexander Heinrici, who has famously printed for Andy Warhol.
Perhaps it is the test of artistic talent to revivify clichéd material but Bailey’s decision to incorporate scenes from 9/11 smacks of commercialism and may have been prompted by the promise of exhibiting at New York’s eminent Robert Miller Gallery.
In Flat Earth Free Fall, the figures who tumble from burning buildings borrow something from Greek black-figure painting and a little from Khoisan rock-art, hence blurring the divide between America and historic cultures. In its own turn, Midnight on the Town superimposes ancient revelers upon the demolition of the modern urban environment, implying the imperviousness of the ages to 21st century tragedy. While these are thought-provoking takes on familiar material, these scenes are too haggard to benefit from Botox. All in all, the images of New York have the unlucky effect of stressing the kitsch elements of Bailey’s art such his garish use of colour and penchant for butterflies.
It’s a business that is largely driven by sales of state-approved pieces. And Poly Auction, which is ostensibly controlled by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is the general at the vanguard of the action in the booming arts market. It's also a company that is a weather vane for the powerful vested interests that dominate China's booming, and largely state-run economy.
Poly has already become the world’s third-largest auction house since opening its doors in 2005. Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the No. 1 and No. 2 houses respectively, took centuries to rise to the top by relying on a global network of auctions to drive sales.
Poly doesn’t need to scour the globe for buyers because it has more than enough of them at home. According to industry market research outfit Artprice, China overtook both the US and the UK as the world’s largest fine art market, with $4.79 billion in sales in 2011.
“It’s exploding because the Chinese have a lot of money and they want to invest. Global stocks are down and art is the hot new investment,” said Huang, who had racked up a decade’s worth of experience in Taiwanese auction houses before he was handpicked by Poly to set up the Taipei office.
Huang also says the need for cash-rich Chinese to hide earlier, and shadier, “investments” is a major driver of art purchases across the Taiwan Strait. “As China beefs up tracking of bribery, taxes and financial crimes, the Chinese buy fewer houses, cars and jewelry and prefer to pump that money into art. It’s very smart.”
The Beijing-based company has a virtual monopoly in China because foreign houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s have only recently been permitted to hold auctions in the country, leaving Poly to dominate smaller local firms.
“If you need to sell an important Chinese vase or painting, then you get a better price discovery at Poly than you get at Christie’s. But you have to remember that a lot of the buying [in China] is artificial,” said Sergey Skaterschikov, founder of Skate’s Art Market Research.
“They’ve set up a fully private museum, which is the equivalent of setting up a captive institutional buyer with very little transparency. In the auction business they call it show bidding,” he added. “Their own captive demand is always available to drive the prices and the volume.”
Show bidding or not, Poly has other ideas about how it has grown to challenge the Western auction houses' hegemony. According to the company website, “The rapid growth of Poly Auction [has] no doubt benefited from the solid foundation and strong support from Poly Group ... [and the] kind solicitudes from leaders of the country and the Party.”
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Militants Attack Office in Pakistan
Militants wearing suicide vests and disguised as policemen attacked the office of a senior political official in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing five people, police and hospital officials said.
In Pakistan’s southwest, meanwhile, several thousand Shiite Muslims protested for a second day following a massive bombing targeting the minority sect that killed 84 people. The protesters have refused to bury victims of the attack until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible.
The target of Monday’s attack in the city of Peshawar was the office of the top political official for the Khyber tribal area, a major militant sanctuary in the country. The militants were disguised in the same type of uniform worn by the tribal policemen who protect the compound.
Four militants opened fire on the policemen protecting the compound and managed to get inside, said senior tribal policeman Sajad Hussain. Once inside, three of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, said Hussain. It’s unclear what happened to the fourth attacker.
The bodies of five people killed in the attack have been brought to a local hospital, along with seven others who were wounded, said hospital spokesman Jamil Shah.
The dead included four tribal policemen and one elderly civilian, said police officer Noor Mohammed Khan. The wounded included four tribal policemen and three civilians, he said.
An eyewitness, Shahid Shinwari, said the militants launched the attack when a van carrying prisoners arrived at the office compound. The militants tried to free the prisoners from the van, he said.
The compound is open to members of the public on Mondays, and it was filled with dozens of people who became trapped inside by the attack. Soldiers and police responded to the attack, and the people trapped inside were eventually freed.
Local TV footage showed them walking out of the compound with their hands raised as they were led out of the compound to an area for screening. White smoke from the explosions billowed out of the compound.
In the southwest city of Quetta, over 4,000 men and women staged a protest in an area of the city where a bombing targeting Shiites ripped through a produce market on Saturday. The death toll from the attack rose to 84 on Monday, after three people died from their injuries, said senior police officer Fayaz Saumbal.
Nearly 1,000 others protested in a different part of the city, at the location where a bombing at a billiards hall that also targeted Shiite Muslims killed 86 people in January.
Members of the country’s minority sect have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunni militants who do not consider them to be real Muslims. The most prominent among the attackers has been Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which claimed responsibility for both of the recent bombings in Quetta. Rights groups and members of the Shiite community have accused the government of not doing enough to crack down on the militants.
Many of the attacks have occurred in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital. The province has the largest concentration of Shiites in the country. Many are Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated from Afghanistan over a century ago.
Azizullah Hazara, the vice chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party, a political group representing Hazaras, threatened Sunday to hold widespread protests unless the government finds those responsible for the most recent attack and arrests them within 48 hours.
Protesters have also demanded the army take over control of Quetta and launch a targeted operation against the militants who have been attacking Shiites.
After the bombing in January that killed 86 people, Shiites camped out in the street for four days alongside the coffins of their loved ones. Eventually the country’s prime minister ordered a shake-up in the regional administration, putting the local governor in charge of the whole province. But the governor has expressed frustration, saying the recent bombing was the result of a failure of the provincial security and intelligence services.
Sometimes a study or some broader body of research emerges that points to this uncontrollable side of life, arguing that something about the way we were born has a bearing on who we are. When doctors find that certain genes or family histories may predispose us to heart disease, it's called medicine. But when scientists argue that the circumstances of our birth—be they genetic, environmental or otherwise—determine our behavior and attitudes, our successes and failures, even our intelligence, that's called determinism. And wherever it appears, controversy attends, raising specters of days when colonialists, eugenicists, public health officials, and political idealists believed they could cure the human condition through manipulation and force.
Understanding those fears helps shed light on the controversy surrounding a recent paper published in the American Economic Review, entitled, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development.” In it, economists Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor argue that the economic development of broad human populations correlate with their levels of genetic diversity—which is, in turn, pinned to the distance its inhabitants migrated from Africa thousands of years ago. Reaction in some circles has been swift and vehement.
An article signed by 18 academics in Current Anthropology accuses the researchers of “bad science”—“something false and undesirable” based on “weak data and methods” that “can become a justification for reactionary policy.” The paper attacks everything from its sources of population data to its methods for measuring genetic diversity, but the economists are standing by their methods.
In Pakistan’s southwest, meanwhile, several thousand Shiite Muslims protested for a second day following a massive bombing targeting the minority sect that killed 84 people. The protesters have refused to bury victims of the attack until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible.
The target of Monday’s attack in the city of Peshawar was the office of the top political official for the Khyber tribal area, a major militant sanctuary in the country. The militants were disguised in the same type of uniform worn by the tribal policemen who protect the compound.
Four militants opened fire on the policemen protecting the compound and managed to get inside, said senior tribal policeman Sajad Hussain. Once inside, three of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, said Hussain. It’s unclear what happened to the fourth attacker.
The bodies of five people killed in the attack have been brought to a local hospital, along with seven others who were wounded, said hospital spokesman Jamil Shah.
The dead included four tribal policemen and one elderly civilian, said police officer Noor Mohammed Khan. The wounded included four tribal policemen and three civilians, he said.
An eyewitness, Shahid Shinwari, said the militants launched the attack when a van carrying prisoners arrived at the office compound. The militants tried to free the prisoners from the van, he said.
The compound is open to members of the public on Mondays, and it was filled with dozens of people who became trapped inside by the attack. Soldiers and police responded to the attack, and the people trapped inside were eventually freed.
Local TV footage showed them walking out of the compound with their hands raised as they were led out of the compound to an area for screening. White smoke from the explosions billowed out of the compound.
In the southwest city of Quetta, over 4,000 men and women staged a protest in an area of the city where a bombing targeting Shiites ripped through a produce market on Saturday. The death toll from the attack rose to 84 on Monday, after three people died from their injuries, said senior police officer Fayaz Saumbal.
Nearly 1,000 others protested in a different part of the city, at the location where a bombing at a billiards hall that also targeted Shiite Muslims killed 86 people in January.
Members of the country’s minority sect have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunni militants who do not consider them to be real Muslims. The most prominent among the attackers has been Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which claimed responsibility for both of the recent bombings in Quetta. Rights groups and members of the Shiite community have accused the government of not doing enough to crack down on the militants.
Many of the attacks have occurred in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital. The province has the largest concentration of Shiites in the country. Many are Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated from Afghanistan over a century ago.
Azizullah Hazara, the vice chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party, a political group representing Hazaras, threatened Sunday to hold widespread protests unless the government finds those responsible for the most recent attack and arrests them within 48 hours.
Protesters have also demanded the army take over control of Quetta and launch a targeted operation against the militants who have been attacking Shiites.
After the bombing in January that killed 86 people, Shiites camped out in the street for four days alongside the coffins of their loved ones. Eventually the country’s prime minister ordered a shake-up in the regional administration, putting the local governor in charge of the whole province. But the governor has expressed frustration, saying the recent bombing was the result of a failure of the provincial security and intelligence services.
Sometimes a study or some broader body of research emerges that points to this uncontrollable side of life, arguing that something about the way we were born has a bearing on who we are. When doctors find that certain genes or family histories may predispose us to heart disease, it's called medicine. But when scientists argue that the circumstances of our birth—be they genetic, environmental or otherwise—determine our behavior and attitudes, our successes and failures, even our intelligence, that's called determinism. And wherever it appears, controversy attends, raising specters of days when colonialists, eugenicists, public health officials, and political idealists believed they could cure the human condition through manipulation and force.
Understanding those fears helps shed light on the controversy surrounding a recent paper published in the American Economic Review, entitled, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development.” In it, economists Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor argue that the economic development of broad human populations correlate with their levels of genetic diversity—which is, in turn, pinned to the distance its inhabitants migrated from Africa thousands of years ago. Reaction in some circles has been swift and vehement.
An article signed by 18 academics in Current Anthropology accuses the researchers of “bad science”—“something false and undesirable” based on “weak data and methods” that “can become a justification for reactionary policy.” The paper attacks everything from its sources of population data to its methods for measuring genetic diversity, but the economists are standing by their methods.
Nashville memorial service planned for Mindy McCready
A statement released Monday by Mindy McCready's publicist says a Nashville tribute to the late singer is in the works.
"To complement formal family arrangements, preliminary plans are being made by Mindy's 'friends in music' to organize a memorial in Nashville in the coming days," said the statement from Music City News Media & Marketing. No date or location has been announced.
McCready, known for '90s country singles Ten Thousand Angels and Guys Do It All the Time, apparently shot herself Sunday afternoon on the front porch of her Arkansas home. Her boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, died in a similar fashion in the same place just a month before.
Nashville television reporter Stacy McCloud tweeted Monday afternoon that "close friends of Mindy McCready tell me that her body will be taken to her home state of Florida."
Meanwhile, friends, acquaintances and other entertainers continued to relate their sympathies and memories of the 37-year-old mother of two.
Former labelmate John Rich recalled meeting McCready at the 1996 Academy of Country Music Awards. "She was a bright ball of energy back then. She was all about making great country music," Rich said on The Big D and Bubba syndicated radio show Monday morning. "I do want positive things to be said about her, because I know everybody's talking about all the troubles she had. That's obviously all too real. But there was another side of her I knew, especially back when she was really coming on in country music. She was a ball of fire."
Wynonna Judd tweeted: "This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life. Addiction is a disease & not a character flaw. When the pain becomes too much, it causes people to want that pain to stop."
Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott said, "My heart is breaking hearing of the loss of Mindy McCready. Pray for her 2 precious little boys ... may God's peace & protection be on them!"
In his initial interview with the Michigan Employment Development Corporation, Dusty Duistermars was asked why the organization, whose goal is to create jobs by attracting new businesses to the state, should bother hiring him at all.
He couldn’t help but smile at that question.
“Yeah, they asked me, ‘Why should we hire you?’ I told them I’ve been selling Michigan for most of my life,” said Duistermars, a Holland Christian High School and Grand Valley State University graduate who was honored as one of the top 40 up-and-coming economic development professionals in the nation recently.
“I grew up in Holland and my mom, Mary, was the former president of Tulip Time. I used to wear a Dutch costume as a kid at the festival booth,” he added. “And then I got into residential and commercial real estate before landing this job with the MEDC. So, I really have been selling the state of Michigan for a long time.”
Duistermars, 34, is among four business professionals in the state of Michigan younger than 40 named to Development Counselors International’s prestigious list announced last month at the DCI Leadership Summit in Orlando, Fla.
A five-member committee chose the winners from a pool of more than 150 nominees throughout the U.S. The honorees included 26 men and 14 women.
Duistermars, who resides in Holland, was nominated because of his outstanding efforts as MEDC’s site location services manager and helping connect companies to communities around the state during Michigan’s economic recovery.
“It’s very cool,” Duistermars said. “It’s a huge team effort at the MEDC. We get companies to notice our state. Attracting those companies is more of an art than a science sometimes, but I wake up every morning happy to work my butt off so friends of mine can have jobs. I’m busier than I have ever been right now.
“Business is good. We’re heading in the right direction.”
Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, had high praise for Duistermars.
"He's a real go-getter. He has proven himself to be a great asset to the MEDC and certainly a great partner to Lakeshore Advantage," Thelen said.
Since the beginning of fiscal 2012, the MEDC has successfully attracted more than 1,000 jobs and $100 million in capital investment from site selection-led projects, he said.
“I’m going to credit Gov. Snyder for changing that perception (of Michigan as a difficult place to do business) and getting things turned around,” said Duistermars, who taught English at Holland High School for two years before embarking on a real estate career that put him on the path to becoming an economic leader.
"To complement formal family arrangements, preliminary plans are being made by Mindy's 'friends in music' to organize a memorial in Nashville in the coming days," said the statement from Music City News Media & Marketing. No date or location has been announced.
McCready, known for '90s country singles Ten Thousand Angels and Guys Do It All the Time, apparently shot herself Sunday afternoon on the front porch of her Arkansas home. Her boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, died in a similar fashion in the same place just a month before.
Nashville television reporter Stacy McCloud tweeted Monday afternoon that "close friends of Mindy McCready tell me that her body will be taken to her home state of Florida."
Meanwhile, friends, acquaintances and other entertainers continued to relate their sympathies and memories of the 37-year-old mother of two.
Former labelmate John Rich recalled meeting McCready at the 1996 Academy of Country Music Awards. "She was a bright ball of energy back then. She was all about making great country music," Rich said on The Big D and Bubba syndicated radio show Monday morning. "I do want positive things to be said about her, because I know everybody's talking about all the troubles she had. That's obviously all too real. But there was another side of her I knew, especially back when she was really coming on in country music. She was a ball of fire."
Wynonna Judd tweeted: "This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life. Addiction is a disease & not a character flaw. When the pain becomes too much, it causes people to want that pain to stop."
Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott said, "My heart is breaking hearing of the loss of Mindy McCready. Pray for her 2 precious little boys ... may God's peace & protection be on them!"
In his initial interview with the Michigan Employment Development Corporation, Dusty Duistermars was asked why the organization, whose goal is to create jobs by attracting new businesses to the state, should bother hiring him at all.
He couldn’t help but smile at that question.
“Yeah, they asked me, ‘Why should we hire you?’ I told them I’ve been selling Michigan for most of my life,” said Duistermars, a Holland Christian High School and Grand Valley State University graduate who was honored as one of the top 40 up-and-coming economic development professionals in the nation recently.
“I grew up in Holland and my mom, Mary, was the former president of Tulip Time. I used to wear a Dutch costume as a kid at the festival booth,” he added. “And then I got into residential and commercial real estate before landing this job with the MEDC. So, I really have been selling the state of Michigan for a long time.”
Duistermars, 34, is among four business professionals in the state of Michigan younger than 40 named to Development Counselors International’s prestigious list announced last month at the DCI Leadership Summit in Orlando, Fla.
A five-member committee chose the winners from a pool of more than 150 nominees throughout the U.S. The honorees included 26 men and 14 women.
Duistermars, who resides in Holland, was nominated because of his outstanding efforts as MEDC’s site location services manager and helping connect companies to communities around the state during Michigan’s economic recovery.
“It’s very cool,” Duistermars said. “It’s a huge team effort at the MEDC. We get companies to notice our state. Attracting those companies is more of an art than a science sometimes, but I wake up every morning happy to work my butt off so friends of mine can have jobs. I’m busier than I have ever been right now.
“Business is good. We’re heading in the right direction.”
Randy Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage, had high praise for Duistermars.
"He's a real go-getter. He has proven himself to be a great asset to the MEDC and certainly a great partner to Lakeshore Advantage," Thelen said.
Since the beginning of fiscal 2012, the MEDC has successfully attracted more than 1,000 jobs and $100 million in capital investment from site selection-led projects, he said.
“I’m going to credit Gov. Snyder for changing that perception (of Michigan as a difficult place to do business) and getting things turned around,” said Duistermars, who taught English at Holland High School for two years before embarking on a real estate career that put him on the path to becoming an economic leader.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Are the Tar Heels NIT Bound?
The North Carolina Tar Heels are feeling the effects of growing pains more than usual. After losing four of five starts to the NBA draft last year, Roy Williams had to start back in square one and it has been a long and tough season on him the Tar Heels.
Joe Soriano and I have one simple question: Are the Tar Heels NIT bound? We’re going to share our thoughts below, and hope to hear what you have to say in the comments below!
Bryant: It’s hard for me to truly say yes or no. There are a lot of pending factors in this. If North Carolina can play with the same intensity, lineup, and strength that they did Wednesday night in Durham, they will make the NCAA Tournament. Despite falling five points short of the No. 2 Blue Devils, the Tar Heels played their best game against a quality opponent and it was in Durham which as everyone knows, not an easy task.
If they do make the NCAA Tournament, they won’t be a high seed. In fact I truly believe the Tar Heels as well as the Kentucky Wildcats will have to play in the first round of four to even make the field of 64 to begin with.
However, if they return to their sloppy defense and shot selection ways of the pre-Duke game days…I lose hope. North Carolina is a bubble team and must win against a worthy opponent. A win against Virginia, State and Duke (remaining on the schedule) is a must for the Tar Heels. Of their wins so far, they have none against a resume worthy team, and making those three games important.
Joe: This is a quite popular question that many people are asking, and it draws snickers and jeers from a few N.C. State and Duke fans on Twitter; both teams that are locks for the NCAA Tournament this year.
It’s easy to sit here and say “Doom for UNC”, because this team is underperforming when looking at previous years. Hell, any time UNC isn’t at least ranked in the top 25 it sends shockwaves that this is a “rebuilding” year for a blue blood team.
I honestly think the “NIT-bound” talk regarding the Tar Heels is quite ludicrous, because a quick look at the numbers and advanced statistics tells the story of a team that has a spot in the NCAA Tournament bracket with their name written on it. It won’t be a familiar top slot, but it’s a chance to get something going nonetheless. This team is stocked with young talent, and the pieces are finally hitting their stride late in the season; that’s where it matters most. It’s funny, because I use to cover the Kansas Jayhawks and non-Jayhawks fans would always freak out about their slow start (Michigan State is an example).
Now this UNC team is clearly not as good as they were last year or the year before, and one of the main reasons is because their big men don’t fit Roy Williams’s usual personnel requirements. There is no true great “big” down low in the mold of Tyler Zeller, but you don’t need to fit a scheme in order to be a solid team. The Tar Heels have four players with at least two win shares in finesse big James Michael McAdoo, the rising P.J. Hairston (he had better be locked into the starting spot with the way he’s played recently), the underrated Brice Johnson, and team leader and star Reggie Bullock. That’s a cog of four solid players, and that’s really all you need in order to be a solid team.
SRS is one of my favorite advanced statistics out there in college basketball (it’s really an all-around metric used by Sports Reference for every sport), because it’s accurate and simple to calculate. Did you know that the Tar Heels have the 36th-best SRS in the country? To me, that shows that this team is good enough, efficient enough, and talented enough to safely make the NCAA Tournament. UNC has played in a tough schedule, especially since they have to play two elite teams in Miami and Duke twice this year, as well as two games against another very good team in rivals N.C. State.
The Tar Heels don’t stand out in any one statistic, but they are 6-5 in conference play which ranks them squarely in fifth place. The ACC sent five teams to the tournament last season, and I think we’ll see UNC slot into the tourney once again this season. The ACC is the third-strongest conference per SRS after being rated just fifth last year, so the fact that the ACC is even stronger means that UNC has a better case to get in. I mean, if five teams made it in a weaker top-to-bottom ACC last year, then surely at least five teams will be sent in this season.
UNC is sandwiched between UCLA and Notre Dame in the SRS rankings, and that’s good enough for me to think that this team is worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid. In fact, I think people who are slotting UNC for an NIT bid are just downright overreacting. This team is finally clicking, they’ve played a difficult schedule, and they have enough talent. They aren’t a lock by any means and the stats do skew them a little too much, but UNC will be playing in the tourney come March.
"It is difficult to fix all of that even if financial resources were not an obstacle. The amount of people and time it would take would be a lot," Hansen said.
More than 385 of the original violations have been addressed, city officials said, but an additional 243 violations were found this month. Hansen said many of those were in unoccupied units.
Sue Phillips, longtime president of the community group East Arlington Renewal, was among residents who testified about improvements they want to see at the complex.
"East Arlington Renewal works very hard to elevate east Arlington. We think everybody that lives in east Arlington or does business in east Arlington should have that same dedication," Phillips said. "I think that the property owners of La Joya Apartments are doing everything in their power to add blight and deterioration to our community.
"They have not only failed to maintain their properties. They have set their tenants at great risk for potential fire."
Resident Sam Moore said La Joya was once a desirable place to live but has become so dilapidated and so damaged by water and fire that it should be bulldozed.
"I would love to see this place go to the ground. I don't think it's repairable," Moore said. "How could you put enough money into it to make it worth it?"
Hansen also owns Bella Apartments in Fort Worth -- declared a substandard property by the Building Standards Commission.
When he appeared before the Fort Worth commission Jan. 28, he was arrested for unpaid fines related to code violations. He is free on bail in the Fort Worth case.
Joe Soriano and I have one simple question: Are the Tar Heels NIT bound? We’re going to share our thoughts below, and hope to hear what you have to say in the comments below!
Bryant: It’s hard for me to truly say yes or no. There are a lot of pending factors in this. If North Carolina can play with the same intensity, lineup, and strength that they did Wednesday night in Durham, they will make the NCAA Tournament. Despite falling five points short of the No. 2 Blue Devils, the Tar Heels played their best game against a quality opponent and it was in Durham which as everyone knows, not an easy task.
If they do make the NCAA Tournament, they won’t be a high seed. In fact I truly believe the Tar Heels as well as the Kentucky Wildcats will have to play in the first round of four to even make the field of 64 to begin with.
However, if they return to their sloppy defense and shot selection ways of the pre-Duke game days…I lose hope. North Carolina is a bubble team and must win against a worthy opponent. A win against Virginia, State and Duke (remaining on the schedule) is a must for the Tar Heels. Of their wins so far, they have none against a resume worthy team, and making those three games important.
Joe: This is a quite popular question that many people are asking, and it draws snickers and jeers from a few N.C. State and Duke fans on Twitter; both teams that are locks for the NCAA Tournament this year.
It’s easy to sit here and say “Doom for UNC”, because this team is underperforming when looking at previous years. Hell, any time UNC isn’t at least ranked in the top 25 it sends shockwaves that this is a “rebuilding” year for a blue blood team.
I honestly think the “NIT-bound” talk regarding the Tar Heels is quite ludicrous, because a quick look at the numbers and advanced statistics tells the story of a team that has a spot in the NCAA Tournament bracket with their name written on it. It won’t be a familiar top slot, but it’s a chance to get something going nonetheless. This team is stocked with young talent, and the pieces are finally hitting their stride late in the season; that’s where it matters most. It’s funny, because I use to cover the Kansas Jayhawks and non-Jayhawks fans would always freak out about their slow start (Michigan State is an example).
Now this UNC team is clearly not as good as they were last year or the year before, and one of the main reasons is because their big men don’t fit Roy Williams’s usual personnel requirements. There is no true great “big” down low in the mold of Tyler Zeller, but you don’t need to fit a scheme in order to be a solid team. The Tar Heels have four players with at least two win shares in finesse big James Michael McAdoo, the rising P.J. Hairston (he had better be locked into the starting spot with the way he’s played recently), the underrated Brice Johnson, and team leader and star Reggie Bullock. That’s a cog of four solid players, and that’s really all you need in order to be a solid team.
SRS is one of my favorite advanced statistics out there in college basketball (it’s really an all-around metric used by Sports Reference for every sport), because it’s accurate and simple to calculate. Did you know that the Tar Heels have the 36th-best SRS in the country? To me, that shows that this team is good enough, efficient enough, and talented enough to safely make the NCAA Tournament. UNC has played in a tough schedule, especially since they have to play two elite teams in Miami and Duke twice this year, as well as two games against another very good team in rivals N.C. State.
The Tar Heels don’t stand out in any one statistic, but they are 6-5 in conference play which ranks them squarely in fifth place. The ACC sent five teams to the tournament last season, and I think we’ll see UNC slot into the tourney once again this season. The ACC is the third-strongest conference per SRS after being rated just fifth last year, so the fact that the ACC is even stronger means that UNC has a better case to get in. I mean, if five teams made it in a weaker top-to-bottom ACC last year, then surely at least five teams will be sent in this season.
UNC is sandwiched between UCLA and Notre Dame in the SRS rankings, and that’s good enough for me to think that this team is worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid. In fact, I think people who are slotting UNC for an NIT bid are just downright overreacting. This team is finally clicking, they’ve played a difficult schedule, and they have enough talent. They aren’t a lock by any means and the stats do skew them a little too much, but UNC will be playing in the tourney come March.
"It is difficult to fix all of that even if financial resources were not an obstacle. The amount of people and time it would take would be a lot," Hansen said.
More than 385 of the original violations have been addressed, city officials said, but an additional 243 violations were found this month. Hansen said many of those were in unoccupied units.
Sue Phillips, longtime president of the community group East Arlington Renewal, was among residents who testified about improvements they want to see at the complex.
"East Arlington Renewal works very hard to elevate east Arlington. We think everybody that lives in east Arlington or does business in east Arlington should have that same dedication," Phillips said. "I think that the property owners of La Joya Apartments are doing everything in their power to add blight and deterioration to our community.
"They have not only failed to maintain their properties. They have set their tenants at great risk for potential fire."
Resident Sam Moore said La Joya was once a desirable place to live but has become so dilapidated and so damaged by water and fire that it should be bulldozed.
"I would love to see this place go to the ground. I don't think it's repairable," Moore said. "How could you put enough money into it to make it worth it?"
Hansen also owns Bella Apartments in Fort Worth -- declared a substandard property by the Building Standards Commission.
When he appeared before the Fort Worth commission Jan. 28, he was arrested for unpaid fines related to code violations. He is free on bail in the Fort Worth case.
Making the sounds of silents
The film historian David Thomson has heard Alloy Orchestra accompany silent films on several occasions. The most recent was at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, for “Metropolis.”
Fritz Lang’s classic was the first score the Alloys did. That was 23 years ago. They’ve since done nearly two dozen other features — epics and slapstick and even documentaries — and numerous shorts.
“Metropolis” remains their “bread and butter,” said percussionist-accordionist Terry Donahue, 51, in a joint interview earlier this month at the East Cambridge-based trio’s rehearsal space. The other members are percussionist-clarinetist Ken Winokur, 58, and keyboardist Roger C. Miller, 59, who when not Alloying is guitarist of Mission of Burma. Winokur estimates they’ve performed the “Metropolis” score 400 to 500 times.
Thomson, recalling that San Francisco performance, wrote in an e-mail, “The film had never been as crazy or compelling, and a lot of that was due to the live music by and from the Alloy Orchestra. It was so exciting I think Lang’s monocle would have popped out.”
Stripped to their barest of bones, the plots of many of Alfred Hitchcock's films are about an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary situations. While a Jedi Padawan is hardly an ordinary person, Ahsoka Tano is the closest thing The Clone Wars has to that sort of a character type. Across one movie and five seasons, the show's intended audience has grown up with her, watched her become a confident Jedi, and has come to relate to her. In the same way that Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart's were sophisticated movie actors who were still believable as regular people in Hitchcock's films, Ahsoka's image is one of both a competent Jedi and the audience surrogate in the narrative.
In "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much," Ahsoka found herself in a Hitchcockian situation of being set up for the murder of Letta, the woman who fed her husband the explosive nano-bots that blew up the Jedi Temple hangar last week. Since clones were killed in the explosion, Palpatine decreed that it was a military issue, not a Jedi one, and placed Tarkin in charge of the matter. The change in jurisdictional control was likely a three-pronged decision: The first, as Tarkin explained, is that Palpatine is seeking to further remove the Jedi from military matters, because they are peacekeepers, not warriors. The second, and this is me theorizing, is that Palpatine's looking for another way to discredit the Jedi, and the murder of bombing suspect by a Jedi would certainly fit into that mold. I'll get to that third prong in just a moment.
Compared to Grant and Stewart's characters, though, Ahsoka is at a disadvantage, one that those older characters never really had to worry about. The conventions of classic Hollywood cinema being what they were, the fate of the protagonist was never really in doubt. He would break up the spy ring, clear his name, and get the girl (provided he didn't already have her). So while he'd be in danger, and it would be thrilling and suspenseful, the outcome was always a sure thing.
But ever since she made her debut, Ahsoka's fate has never been a sure thing. Does she die? Does she turn to the dark side? Does she simply go into exile at some point? This arc seems primed to test the possibilities of what could happen to Ahsoka now that she's on the run from the Jedi Council and the military in an effort to clear her name. Certainly the evidence is stacked against her, from her rant about Letta's guilt and desire for revenge in front of Anakin, Tarkin, and Barriss to the holocam footage that made it look like she was Force-choking Letta to all the dead or injured clones in the prison. Like any good Hitchcockian hero, Ahsoka will likely end up traveling long distances and making unlikely alliances in an effort to acquit herself. But unlike those heroes, it's tough to know how exactly how it will all end.
And there's still the matter of the third prong. This one, like the second, is just a theory, but here goes: Given Palpatine's careful orchestration of everything so far, I would not be at all surprised if he's had this in the works for some time, and considers Ahsoka's fall from favor within the Jedi Order—whether by discreditation, turning to the dark side, or getting trapped in a web of convincing evidence—as another step in his plan to turn Anakin against the Order. Losing an apprentice you knew to be innocent would be one thing, but to have the very institution you serve doubt that innocence? Anakin would not be pleased with that at all.
But Brookings is home to Brookings-Harbor High School’s Bruins, making the statues “a good fit,” Vierra said.
And members of the Brookings Public Art Committee were elated to learn the bears could come back to town — this time for good.
City officials here have been pondering how to get some of the bears, be it by another “visit,” purchase, or even buying the mold used to cast them. Evergreen no longer uses a mold; it’s cost prohibitive.
Instead, volunteers carve each likeness out of styrofoam and cover it in fiberglass before it is painted. Since it’s all volunteer work, Vierra has no idea how much it costs to make a bear today.
“We learned some difficult lessons,” she said. “How you make them, how you keep them from cracking in the weather. It’s an undertaking. We’d love to share them instead of seeing people try to duplicate them. It’s not easy.”
“It depends on what everybody wants,” said committee member Lea Ray. “We could feature them in certain things that are going on. Or they can go from each park to each event. They could be in parades – parade bears; how cool is that! I love it. They’re just adorable, and they’re perfect for us.”
Other ideas could involve using them in fundraising events or just allowing the bears to be integral pieces of public art. All that needs to be discussed, Vierra said.
“We’re really happy Brookings enjoys the bears,” she said. “That’s what’s great about Brookings. It’s a really tight community; the bears would be good there.”
The city council heard occasional mentions of the bears since they left, but it wasn’t until Kelly McClain was appointed to council and suggested – repeatedly – that the city pursue bringing the ursine beasts back to town. He believes it would be a big plus for tourism.
“Anything that makes the town look better, I’m all for,” McClain said. “It makes you remember the town — ‘Oh, Brookings! It’s the town with the bears!’ We have all these people driving through town every year, it gives them a reason to stop, to come back, to stay awhile. We get all this free traffic; all we have to do is captivate them.”
Fritz Lang’s classic was the first score the Alloys did. That was 23 years ago. They’ve since done nearly two dozen other features — epics and slapstick and even documentaries — and numerous shorts.
“Metropolis” remains their “bread and butter,” said percussionist-accordionist Terry Donahue, 51, in a joint interview earlier this month at the East Cambridge-based trio’s rehearsal space. The other members are percussionist-clarinetist Ken Winokur, 58, and keyboardist Roger C. Miller, 59, who when not Alloying is guitarist of Mission of Burma. Winokur estimates they’ve performed the “Metropolis” score 400 to 500 times.
Thomson, recalling that San Francisco performance, wrote in an e-mail, “The film had never been as crazy or compelling, and a lot of that was due to the live music by and from the Alloy Orchestra. It was so exciting I think Lang’s monocle would have popped out.”
Stripped to their barest of bones, the plots of many of Alfred Hitchcock's films are about an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary situations. While a Jedi Padawan is hardly an ordinary person, Ahsoka Tano is the closest thing The Clone Wars has to that sort of a character type. Across one movie and five seasons, the show's intended audience has grown up with her, watched her become a confident Jedi, and has come to relate to her. In the same way that Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart's were sophisticated movie actors who were still believable as regular people in Hitchcock's films, Ahsoka's image is one of both a competent Jedi and the audience surrogate in the narrative.
In "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much," Ahsoka found herself in a Hitchcockian situation of being set up for the murder of Letta, the woman who fed her husband the explosive nano-bots that blew up the Jedi Temple hangar last week. Since clones were killed in the explosion, Palpatine decreed that it was a military issue, not a Jedi one, and placed Tarkin in charge of the matter. The change in jurisdictional control was likely a three-pronged decision: The first, as Tarkin explained, is that Palpatine is seeking to further remove the Jedi from military matters, because they are peacekeepers, not warriors. The second, and this is me theorizing, is that Palpatine's looking for another way to discredit the Jedi, and the murder of bombing suspect by a Jedi would certainly fit into that mold. I'll get to that third prong in just a moment.
Compared to Grant and Stewart's characters, though, Ahsoka is at a disadvantage, one that those older characters never really had to worry about. The conventions of classic Hollywood cinema being what they were, the fate of the protagonist was never really in doubt. He would break up the spy ring, clear his name, and get the girl (provided he didn't already have her). So while he'd be in danger, and it would be thrilling and suspenseful, the outcome was always a sure thing.
But ever since she made her debut, Ahsoka's fate has never been a sure thing. Does she die? Does she turn to the dark side? Does she simply go into exile at some point? This arc seems primed to test the possibilities of what could happen to Ahsoka now that she's on the run from the Jedi Council and the military in an effort to clear her name. Certainly the evidence is stacked against her, from her rant about Letta's guilt and desire for revenge in front of Anakin, Tarkin, and Barriss to the holocam footage that made it look like she was Force-choking Letta to all the dead or injured clones in the prison. Like any good Hitchcockian hero, Ahsoka will likely end up traveling long distances and making unlikely alliances in an effort to acquit herself. But unlike those heroes, it's tough to know how exactly how it will all end.
And there's still the matter of the third prong. This one, like the second, is just a theory, but here goes: Given Palpatine's careful orchestration of everything so far, I would not be at all surprised if he's had this in the works for some time, and considers Ahsoka's fall from favor within the Jedi Order—whether by discreditation, turning to the dark side, or getting trapped in a web of convincing evidence—as another step in his plan to turn Anakin against the Order. Losing an apprentice you knew to be innocent would be one thing, but to have the very institution you serve doubt that innocence? Anakin would not be pleased with that at all.
But Brookings is home to Brookings-Harbor High School’s Bruins, making the statues “a good fit,” Vierra said.
And members of the Brookings Public Art Committee were elated to learn the bears could come back to town — this time for good.
City officials here have been pondering how to get some of the bears, be it by another “visit,” purchase, or even buying the mold used to cast them. Evergreen no longer uses a mold; it’s cost prohibitive.
Instead, volunteers carve each likeness out of styrofoam and cover it in fiberglass before it is painted. Since it’s all volunteer work, Vierra has no idea how much it costs to make a bear today.
“We learned some difficult lessons,” she said. “How you make them, how you keep them from cracking in the weather. It’s an undertaking. We’d love to share them instead of seeing people try to duplicate them. It’s not easy.”
“It depends on what everybody wants,” said committee member Lea Ray. “We could feature them in certain things that are going on. Or they can go from each park to each event. They could be in parades – parade bears; how cool is that! I love it. They’re just adorable, and they’re perfect for us.”
Other ideas could involve using them in fundraising events or just allowing the bears to be integral pieces of public art. All that needs to be discussed, Vierra said.
“We’re really happy Brookings enjoys the bears,” she said. “That’s what’s great about Brookings. It’s a really tight community; the bears would be good there.”
The city council heard occasional mentions of the bears since they left, but it wasn’t until Kelly McClain was appointed to council and suggested – repeatedly – that the city pursue bringing the ursine beasts back to town. He believes it would be a big plus for tourism.
“Anything that makes the town look better, I’m all for,” McClain said. “It makes you remember the town — ‘Oh, Brookings! It’s the town with the bears!’ We have all these people driving through town every year, it gives them a reason to stop, to come back, to stay awhile. We get all this free traffic; all we have to do is captivate them.”
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Amanzi Tea
This month sees the launch of Amanzi Tea with the opening of its first international flagship tea bar and retail space New Cavendish Street. The company, originating from the US combines the heritage of tea-making with modern techniques and a new and interactive retail and tea bar experience.
No, the irony of a US concern bringing a tea bar to GB isn’t lost on us either but with the name Amanzi meaning water in the Southern African dialect of Zulu (a reference to the heritage of the original founders), it’s suitably multicultural, and, with a marble topped bar and vibrant Victorian floor tiles, is also suitably elegant.
Spanning two levels, the ground floor will house a bar, retail shop and table seating with a snug on the lower-ground comprising comfortable sofas and communal tables and chairs. An outside terrace will accommodate up to eight, in warmer weather.
The retail shop and bar will house 40 teas on a striking tea wall with a diverse selection of traditional and bespoke loose leaf blends. All can be enjoyed either hot or cold, with trained baristas on hand to offer guidance. State-of-the-art precision boilers have been installed in the bar for perfect temperature control and there’s even an advanced filtration to create the purest water possible.
Amanzi’s own 150 propriety blends – from Earl Grey to Chocolate Orange Truffle - will be available on a rotating basis plus caffeine-free varieties; single estate blends (Gyokuru, Silver Needle and Wuyi); infusions such as honey, lemon and ginger for the flu season; frappés, iced tea lemonades and virgin cocktails (Lychee Mar-Tea-Ni) and bubble teas as well. You can also order coffee. And snacks.
Recently the global tool manufacturing and knowledge company decided to take a closer look at the macro trends influencing the future of the manufacturing industry. Through an extensive study the company identified four areas of special interest: Rapid urbanization, sustainability, new advanced materials and new technologies.
Traditionally the manufacturing industry has been conservative in exploring new opportunities. Now, the situation is different. Simply put, the world is moving at a much faster pace than before. In order to develop future solutions and meeting customer demands, industry leaders have to be perceptive and forward thinking, says Kevin Lorch, Marketing Manager Innovation at Sandvik Coromant.
It was decided early on that the result of the study should be shared with the rest of the industry. The reason for sharing came out of a need in the industry of a more general discussion relating to the common challenges of the future.
While many companies perform market and trend research for internal use we decided that the result of the survey could be used to spark a dialogue about the future of manufacturing and the attitudes in the industry toward new challenges, Kevin Lorch explains.
The acquisition, which was completed in December 2012, is in keeping with TVV's steady focus on acquiring companies in the niche manufacturing industry that hold sustainable competitive advantages in stable and growing market segments.
In September 2012, TVV acquired Big 3 Precision Products, Inc., a manufacturer of injection blow molds, tooling and fabrication products for the pharmaceutical and automotive industries.
Bigham customers are commercial farm operators who purchase the company's equipment through an independent dealer network of over 1,400 locations, with strengths in Texas, the Southwest and Mississippi Delta regions. The company's innovative products are used in both flat and raised bed planting environments and serve to reduce tractor fuel consumption, control soil and water erosion and aerate the soil.
"The acquisition of Bigham Brothers is a continuation of TVV Capital's focused approach, ability to independently source deals and cultivate relationships to identify and invest in high-growth opportunities on behalf of our investors," said Andrew W. Byrd, TVV Capital's President. "Given its management team, current market penetration and future product strategy in the sustainable agriculture movement, Bigham is poised for considerable growth and market expansion."
"TVV Capital approached us as a true partner would. From the onset, they brought a unique understanding of our market, management style and future vision," said Sandy Kimball, retiring President of Bigham Brothers. "TVV's acquisition of Bigham will enable us to not just maintain, but also aggressively expand our U.S.-based manufacturing facility to keep pace with market demand and continue our growth trajectory."
“The Airbus announcement certainly indicates a growing awareness in France and Europe of the great opportunities for investment in the Southeast,” says Daniel Bowers, executive director of the French American Chamber.
According to Airbus, more than 3,200 Airbus aircraft have been ordered in North America from customers including Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Frontier Airlines, GECAS, Hawaiian Airlines, ILFC, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, US Airways and Virgin America.
Airbus has manufacturing suppliers throughout the United States and spends 42 percent of its aircraft-related procurement in the United States, buying more parts, components, tooling and other material from the United States than any other country.
“Atlanta continues to grow in importance as the gateway to the Southeast," said Angela Drees of Munson Site Selection Group, a consulting group and specializes in site selection for international businesses interested in locating in the region. "The mix of financial capital, and international government presence combined with a strong global population in a city of almost 6 million provides fertile ground for the support and growth of incoming international businesses like Airbus.”
No, the irony of a US concern bringing a tea bar to GB isn’t lost on us either but with the name Amanzi meaning water in the Southern African dialect of Zulu (a reference to the heritage of the original founders), it’s suitably multicultural, and, with a marble topped bar and vibrant Victorian floor tiles, is also suitably elegant.
Spanning two levels, the ground floor will house a bar, retail shop and table seating with a snug on the lower-ground comprising comfortable sofas and communal tables and chairs. An outside terrace will accommodate up to eight, in warmer weather.
The retail shop and bar will house 40 teas on a striking tea wall with a diverse selection of traditional and bespoke loose leaf blends. All can be enjoyed either hot or cold, with trained baristas on hand to offer guidance. State-of-the-art precision boilers have been installed in the bar for perfect temperature control and there’s even an advanced filtration to create the purest water possible.
Amanzi’s own 150 propriety blends – from Earl Grey to Chocolate Orange Truffle - will be available on a rotating basis plus caffeine-free varieties; single estate blends (Gyokuru, Silver Needle and Wuyi); infusions such as honey, lemon and ginger for the flu season; frappés, iced tea lemonades and virgin cocktails (Lychee Mar-Tea-Ni) and bubble teas as well. You can also order coffee. And snacks.
Recently the global tool manufacturing and knowledge company decided to take a closer look at the macro trends influencing the future of the manufacturing industry. Through an extensive study the company identified four areas of special interest: Rapid urbanization, sustainability, new advanced materials and new technologies.
Traditionally the manufacturing industry has been conservative in exploring new opportunities. Now, the situation is different. Simply put, the world is moving at a much faster pace than before. In order to develop future solutions and meeting customer demands, industry leaders have to be perceptive and forward thinking, says Kevin Lorch, Marketing Manager Innovation at Sandvik Coromant.
It was decided early on that the result of the study should be shared with the rest of the industry. The reason for sharing came out of a need in the industry of a more general discussion relating to the common challenges of the future.
While many companies perform market and trend research for internal use we decided that the result of the survey could be used to spark a dialogue about the future of manufacturing and the attitudes in the industry toward new challenges, Kevin Lorch explains.
The acquisition, which was completed in December 2012, is in keeping with TVV's steady focus on acquiring companies in the niche manufacturing industry that hold sustainable competitive advantages in stable and growing market segments.
In September 2012, TVV acquired Big 3 Precision Products, Inc., a manufacturer of injection blow molds, tooling and fabrication products for the pharmaceutical and automotive industries.
Bigham customers are commercial farm operators who purchase the company's equipment through an independent dealer network of over 1,400 locations, with strengths in Texas, the Southwest and Mississippi Delta regions. The company's innovative products are used in both flat and raised bed planting environments and serve to reduce tractor fuel consumption, control soil and water erosion and aerate the soil.
"The acquisition of Bigham Brothers is a continuation of TVV Capital's focused approach, ability to independently source deals and cultivate relationships to identify and invest in high-growth opportunities on behalf of our investors," said Andrew W. Byrd, TVV Capital's President. "Given its management team, current market penetration and future product strategy in the sustainable agriculture movement, Bigham is poised for considerable growth and market expansion."
"TVV Capital approached us as a true partner would. From the onset, they brought a unique understanding of our market, management style and future vision," said Sandy Kimball, retiring President of Bigham Brothers. "TVV's acquisition of Bigham will enable us to not just maintain, but also aggressively expand our U.S.-based manufacturing facility to keep pace with market demand and continue our growth trajectory."
“The Airbus announcement certainly indicates a growing awareness in France and Europe of the great opportunities for investment in the Southeast,” says Daniel Bowers, executive director of the French American Chamber.
According to Airbus, more than 3,200 Airbus aircraft have been ordered in North America from customers including Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Frontier Airlines, GECAS, Hawaiian Airlines, ILFC, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, US Airways and Virgin America.
Airbus has manufacturing suppliers throughout the United States and spends 42 percent of its aircraft-related procurement in the United States, buying more parts, components, tooling and other material from the United States than any other country.
“Atlanta continues to grow in importance as the gateway to the Southeast," said Angela Drees of Munson Site Selection Group, a consulting group and specializes in site selection for international businesses interested in locating in the region. "The mix of financial capital, and international government presence combined with a strong global population in a city of almost 6 million provides fertile ground for the support and growth of incoming international businesses like Airbus.”
Bartelt Wins Two Regional Contractor of the Year Awards
The Remodeling Resource, a premier, family-owned remodeling firm specializing in residential and commercial design and construction, was named Regional Contractor of the Year (CotY) by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) for the Residential Bath over $60,000 and Residential Addition $100,000 – $250,000 categories.
"We are honored to be named the 2013 Regional Contractor of the Year in these categories," said Rick Bartelt, owner. "These awards are the result of the creativity and dedication of the entire team, including our designers, carpenters, production staff, trade partners, and customers."
Bartelt was selected as the winner of Region 3, an area that includes contractors from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Contractors from seven regions around the country vie for CotY Awards on an annual
basis, and all regional winners will now be eligible for the National CotY Awards. National winners will be honored at NARI's Evening of Excellence on Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza.
The winning Bartelt projects each had unique components. The master bathroom remodel transformed a generic bathroom into a dynamic, spa-like space, improving its layout and expanding its footprint. The bathroom features an oval soaking tub and shower with granite and porcelain- and marble-filled mosaic tiles, a custom, furniture-style vanity, and quality fixtures.
The sunroom addition offers the homeowners more space for entertaining family and friends. It is a warm, inviting room that features a bar area, fireplace, hydronic heating in the floor, wine storage, large windows to showcase the outside views, and a vaulted ceiling and cupola to add architectural interest.
Competing projects were completed between July 1, 2011, and November 30, 2012, and were not submitted in prior NARI National contests. An impartial panel of judges, who are experts within the industry and associated fields, selected winners based on each entrant’s binders, which include “\"before and after" photography and project descriptions. Judging focused on problem solving, functionality, aesthetics, craftsmanship, innovation, degree of difficulty, and entry presentation.
To be considered for a CotY Award, a company must be a NARI member in good standing. NARI members represent an elite group of the approximately 800,000 companies and individuals in the U.S. identifying themselves as remodelers.
Founded in 1984, Bartelt. The Remodeling Resource has won local, regional, and national industry awards, including 2012 and 2013 Regional "Contractor of the Year" (CotY) awards presented by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). With in-house designers, production staff, and expert carpenters, Bartelt is a member of the Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council, Inc. and Metropolitan Builders Association.
The two-storey library will span over 12,000-square feet. EGA consulted extensively with the medical centre’s executives and the librarian in order to develop a list of functions to be accommodated within the space. In addition to research stations, the library will include meeting and presentation areas designed in a manner that would not disturb the regular library operations.
The renovated library’s first floor will house a checkout counter, a lounge area for eight people, 24 individual study stations, a librarian’s office, and restrooms. The second floor will feature an open shelving section, four study group rooms that will accommodate up to six people, and two conference rooms designed for groups of up to 12 and 20, respectively. Both the study group and conference rooms will be enclosed with modular Steelcase glass wall systems to eliminate a noise impact while providing the feeling of an open space and inclusion. They will be equipped with interactive white boards as well as video conferencing and remote learning capabilities.
The second floor features a large opening in the floor, which creates the library’s atrium. The handrails around the atrium, as well as along the stair leading to the second floor, will be replaced with a glass and brushed aluminum railing system.
The new finishes will include acoustical tile and drywall soffit ceilings, Shaw Floors carpet flooring in the “Embellished” pattern, fabric and vinyl wallcoverings, new millwork shelving, refurbished wooden book stacks, and American Olean “St. Germain” wall and floor porcelain tiles in the bathrooms. All new materials and paints are low VOC in order to eliminate indoor air pollution. The new sprinkler and HVAC systems will match the revised ceiling and floor layouts of the renovated library.
The space will feature energy-efficient lighting fixtures, including Selux NEOS linear fluorescent pendants; Advent Reo wall sconces; Aerion 1' X 4' recessed fluorescent FAR14fixtures; and Vode four-foot,wall mounted, fluorescent light rail fixtures.
New air-conditioning equipment will be installed on the building’s roof, including a RenewAire RD4XRT 2,000-CFM energy recovery unit and a Carrier 38AUDB12 one-ton condenser. This will require reinforcing the roof structure with two 10-foot steel beams and connecting steel channel members.
The new library supports the patient care, biomedical research and graduate medical education information needs of the medical staff, faculty and affiliated students. It also serves the larger Long Island community as an information resource for professionals.
"We are honored to be named the 2013 Regional Contractor of the Year in these categories," said Rick Bartelt, owner. "These awards are the result of the creativity and dedication of the entire team, including our designers, carpenters, production staff, trade partners, and customers."
Bartelt was selected as the winner of Region 3, an area that includes contractors from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Contractors from seven regions around the country vie for CotY Awards on an annual
basis, and all regional winners will now be eligible for the National CotY Awards. National winners will be honored at NARI's Evening of Excellence on Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Intercontinental Kansas City at the Plaza.
The winning Bartelt projects each had unique components. The master bathroom remodel transformed a generic bathroom into a dynamic, spa-like space, improving its layout and expanding its footprint. The bathroom features an oval soaking tub and shower with granite and porcelain- and marble-filled mosaic tiles, a custom, furniture-style vanity, and quality fixtures.
The sunroom addition offers the homeowners more space for entertaining family and friends. It is a warm, inviting room that features a bar area, fireplace, hydronic heating in the floor, wine storage, large windows to showcase the outside views, and a vaulted ceiling and cupola to add architectural interest.
Competing projects were completed between July 1, 2011, and November 30, 2012, and were not submitted in prior NARI National contests. An impartial panel of judges, who are experts within the industry and associated fields, selected winners based on each entrant’s binders, which include “\"before and after" photography and project descriptions. Judging focused on problem solving, functionality, aesthetics, craftsmanship, innovation, degree of difficulty, and entry presentation.
To be considered for a CotY Award, a company must be a NARI member in good standing. NARI members represent an elite group of the approximately 800,000 companies and individuals in the U.S. identifying themselves as remodelers.
Founded in 1984, Bartelt. The Remodeling Resource has won local, regional, and national industry awards, including 2012 and 2013 Regional "Contractor of the Year" (CotY) awards presented by the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). With in-house designers, production staff, and expert carpenters, Bartelt is a member of the Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council, Inc. and Metropolitan Builders Association.
The two-storey library will span over 12,000-square feet. EGA consulted extensively with the medical centre’s executives and the librarian in order to develop a list of functions to be accommodated within the space. In addition to research stations, the library will include meeting and presentation areas designed in a manner that would not disturb the regular library operations.
The renovated library’s first floor will house a checkout counter, a lounge area for eight people, 24 individual study stations, a librarian’s office, and restrooms. The second floor will feature an open shelving section, four study group rooms that will accommodate up to six people, and two conference rooms designed for groups of up to 12 and 20, respectively. Both the study group and conference rooms will be enclosed with modular Steelcase glass wall systems to eliminate a noise impact while providing the feeling of an open space and inclusion. They will be equipped with interactive white boards as well as video conferencing and remote learning capabilities.
The second floor features a large opening in the floor, which creates the library’s atrium. The handrails around the atrium, as well as along the stair leading to the second floor, will be replaced with a glass and brushed aluminum railing system.
The new finishes will include acoustical tile and drywall soffit ceilings, Shaw Floors carpet flooring in the “Embellished” pattern, fabric and vinyl wallcoverings, new millwork shelving, refurbished wooden book stacks, and American Olean “St. Germain” wall and floor porcelain tiles in the bathrooms. All new materials and paints are low VOC in order to eliminate indoor air pollution. The new sprinkler and HVAC systems will match the revised ceiling and floor layouts of the renovated library.
The space will feature energy-efficient lighting fixtures, including Selux NEOS linear fluorescent pendants; Advent Reo wall sconces; Aerion 1' X 4' recessed fluorescent FAR14fixtures; and Vode four-foot,wall mounted, fluorescent light rail fixtures.
New air-conditioning equipment will be installed on the building’s roof, including a RenewAire RD4XRT 2,000-CFM energy recovery unit and a Carrier 38AUDB12 one-ton condenser. This will require reinforcing the roof structure with two 10-foot steel beams and connecting steel channel members.
The new library supports the patient care, biomedical research and graduate medical education information needs of the medical staff, faculty and affiliated students. It also serves the larger Long Island community as an information resource for professionals.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Department adds surveillance cameras
A new wave of video technology is sweeping through the Clinton Police Department, as the downtown is now home to six police-monitored surveillance cameras perched strategically atop buildings and half the department’s patrol fleet is utilizing in-car camera systems.
The downtown cameras have been a work in progress for the last year, having received City Council approval last February, whereas the in-car cameras were approved as part of the current 2012-13 budget and were installed on a permanent basis about a month ago.
Police chief Jay Tilley said the technology is groundbreaking for the Clinton Police Department, and is expected to greatly assist with operations, investigations and training. The technology is also expected to aid the general public, especially the case with the downtown surveillance.
Currently, there are six city-owned cameras and one privately-owned camera — and there is plenty of room for growth.
“We put up six cameras as part of the city’s base system in the downtown area,” said Tilley. “The system allows any business or any person to purchase a camera and put it on their property and we’ll monitor it. It’s a rotation basis and we set the rotation for it. We’re scanning and every 15 seconds it will move to another scan location, and start the rotation over again. It’s great video.”
The system currently provides real-time looks all around the courthouse square, as well as down McKoy Street, Elizabeth Street and several other streets on the outskirts of downtown .The video can be stopped and the view zoomed in on any items of interest as needed.
The City Council voted unanimously at the beginning of 2012 to proceed with the purchase and installation of six wireless digital IP-based patrolling cameras and a digital video recorder from WildFire at a cost of $36,812. Along with providing extra security for downtown businesses, the cameras were anticipated to help monitor a large city investment in the “Milling Around” public art piece at the top of College Street.
Police personnel have been tooling with the cameras for about 10 months, experimenting with locations and trying to get everything right.
“We wanted to tweak it. It takes a while to get everything set up. We changed camera positions a couple times, just to get things right,” Tilley said. “The first five months they were really operating, we solved or corroborated five different crimes just in the downtown area. Five or six crimes we’ve either solved or gotten evidence from.”
That included the investigation into a supposed shooting, which was reported in one location but actually occurred in another. There was also the two suspects who were wielding BB guns and pointed them at people, only to be captured on video during their assault. Then there was the break-in at Gloria’s, the suspect in which was actually tracked on four different cameras.
While the surveillance is not monitored around the clock, it is web-based and can be accessed by police officers as well as emergency personnel at the 911 Center. The video has proven to be such a valuable tool, it is now part of protocol for investigations.
“What we’ve found is, by reviewing this stuff, it’s been a really big benefit,” said Tilley. “And we’ve done that a lot. Any time we have an incident downtown, that’s the first thing the officer does is come back and check the cameras as part of our protocol. Plus, we keep the cameras up during the day. People will have their cameras up while they’re working in the office.”
With the system being web-based, officers can also pull the real-time camera footage up on their car laptops. The footage is color surveillance, with user capabilities to access the entire six-camera feed or focus a single or select few cameras. The rotation and zoom of any of the cameras can also be manipulated if necessary.
“This works off the Wi-fi system,” the police chief said. “The signal feeds off Wi-fi, and with that the downtown area has free Wi-fi. Our in-car video also works off a wireless feed. So when our cars are downtown, it’s uploading the stuff they’re capturing on the in-car camera. The officers don’t have to do anything. They just ride up to the police station or downtown area. Once he stops his car, and that camera hits the Wi-fi, it automatically starts uploading.”
Along with the six city-owned cameras, there is another privately-owned one at the Sampson County Partnership for Children, which is also monitored by police.
Tilley said the ultimate goal is to have public participation among business and property owners, along with others. The more cameras there are, the better, he noted.
“This is the start of what we’re doing to educate (the general public),” said Tilley. “We’re working with the Planning Department to put up signs in the downtown area, because we want people to know that there’s video down there. It’s nothing we’re trying to hide. We’re hoping that businesses will see this as a security plus for them. We would encourage them to look at the program to buy into it. Any civilians can buy a camera, and we would be adding to our system.”
Suspect identifications can be made, as the video is clear during both the day and night. The footage also allows for still shots to be taken from the surveillance. Police officers would work with those interested to ensure the camera is in the optimal location.
The in-car systems consist of two cameras in each patrol car, one on the dash and another that is locked in on any suspect in the backseat. The cost was about $5,000 per system. The department reviewed six vendors in making the purchase, narrowing it down to three, which each allowed officers to test drive cameras for about a month back in the fall.
The department ultimately went with Raleigh-based Digital Technologies, and the equipment was installed around the beginning of the year.
“We’re still working the bugs out, and we’re still doing some training on this,” said Tilley.
As with the downtown cameras, the in-car systems do not merely offer video. They offer the location and speed of the patrol car at a given time and, though not real-time, a recording that can be triggered by certain activities.
“There are four ways to activate the sensors that cut the camera on,” Tilley explained. “The officer can reach up and hit the button and cut it on himself; every time he turns his blue light on, it cuts on; we have a speed control, so if he exceeds a certain speed any time, it automatically cuts on; or if he is involved in a collision, the camera cuts on.”
It does not record a complete 12-hour shift, but it starts recording should any of those four instances occur. However, once it is activated, the recording will begin retroactively, starting 30 seconds before the incident. Should an officer activate his blue lights to pull a vehicle over, the recording will start half a minute before the blue lights were even touched.
The downtown cameras have been a work in progress for the last year, having received City Council approval last February, whereas the in-car cameras were approved as part of the current 2012-13 budget and were installed on a permanent basis about a month ago.
Police chief Jay Tilley said the technology is groundbreaking for the Clinton Police Department, and is expected to greatly assist with operations, investigations and training. The technology is also expected to aid the general public, especially the case with the downtown surveillance.
Currently, there are six city-owned cameras and one privately-owned camera — and there is plenty of room for growth.
“We put up six cameras as part of the city’s base system in the downtown area,” said Tilley. “The system allows any business or any person to purchase a camera and put it on their property and we’ll monitor it. It’s a rotation basis and we set the rotation for it. We’re scanning and every 15 seconds it will move to another scan location, and start the rotation over again. It’s great video.”
The system currently provides real-time looks all around the courthouse square, as well as down McKoy Street, Elizabeth Street and several other streets on the outskirts of downtown .The video can be stopped and the view zoomed in on any items of interest as needed.
The City Council voted unanimously at the beginning of 2012 to proceed with the purchase and installation of six wireless digital IP-based patrolling cameras and a digital video recorder from WildFire at a cost of $36,812. Along with providing extra security for downtown businesses, the cameras were anticipated to help monitor a large city investment in the “Milling Around” public art piece at the top of College Street.
Police personnel have been tooling with the cameras for about 10 months, experimenting with locations and trying to get everything right.
“We wanted to tweak it. It takes a while to get everything set up. We changed camera positions a couple times, just to get things right,” Tilley said. “The first five months they were really operating, we solved or corroborated five different crimes just in the downtown area. Five or six crimes we’ve either solved or gotten evidence from.”
That included the investigation into a supposed shooting, which was reported in one location but actually occurred in another. There was also the two suspects who were wielding BB guns and pointed them at people, only to be captured on video during their assault. Then there was the break-in at Gloria’s, the suspect in which was actually tracked on four different cameras.
While the surveillance is not monitored around the clock, it is web-based and can be accessed by police officers as well as emergency personnel at the 911 Center. The video has proven to be such a valuable tool, it is now part of protocol for investigations.
“What we’ve found is, by reviewing this stuff, it’s been a really big benefit,” said Tilley. “And we’ve done that a lot. Any time we have an incident downtown, that’s the first thing the officer does is come back and check the cameras as part of our protocol. Plus, we keep the cameras up during the day. People will have their cameras up while they’re working in the office.”
With the system being web-based, officers can also pull the real-time camera footage up on their car laptops. The footage is color surveillance, with user capabilities to access the entire six-camera feed or focus a single or select few cameras. The rotation and zoom of any of the cameras can also be manipulated if necessary.
“This works off the Wi-fi system,” the police chief said. “The signal feeds off Wi-fi, and with that the downtown area has free Wi-fi. Our in-car video also works off a wireless feed. So when our cars are downtown, it’s uploading the stuff they’re capturing on the in-car camera. The officers don’t have to do anything. They just ride up to the police station or downtown area. Once he stops his car, and that camera hits the Wi-fi, it automatically starts uploading.”
Along with the six city-owned cameras, there is another privately-owned one at the Sampson County Partnership for Children, which is also monitored by police.
Tilley said the ultimate goal is to have public participation among business and property owners, along with others. The more cameras there are, the better, he noted.
“This is the start of what we’re doing to educate (the general public),” said Tilley. “We’re working with the Planning Department to put up signs in the downtown area, because we want people to know that there’s video down there. It’s nothing we’re trying to hide. We’re hoping that businesses will see this as a security plus for them. We would encourage them to look at the program to buy into it. Any civilians can buy a camera, and we would be adding to our system.”
Suspect identifications can be made, as the video is clear during both the day and night. The footage also allows for still shots to be taken from the surveillance. Police officers would work with those interested to ensure the camera is in the optimal location.
The in-car systems consist of two cameras in each patrol car, one on the dash and another that is locked in on any suspect in the backseat. The cost was about $5,000 per system. The department reviewed six vendors in making the purchase, narrowing it down to three, which each allowed officers to test drive cameras for about a month back in the fall.
The department ultimately went with Raleigh-based Digital Technologies, and the equipment was installed around the beginning of the year.
“We’re still working the bugs out, and we’re still doing some training on this,” said Tilley.
As with the downtown cameras, the in-car systems do not merely offer video. They offer the location and speed of the patrol car at a given time and, though not real-time, a recording that can be triggered by certain activities.
“There are four ways to activate the sensors that cut the camera on,” Tilley explained. “The officer can reach up and hit the button and cut it on himself; every time he turns his blue light on, it cuts on; we have a speed control, so if he exceeds a certain speed any time, it automatically cuts on; or if he is involved in a collision, the camera cuts on.”
It does not record a complete 12-hour shift, but it starts recording should any of those four instances occur. However, once it is activated, the recording will begin retroactively, starting 30 seconds before the incident. Should an officer activate his blue lights to pull a vehicle over, the recording will start half a minute before the blue lights were even touched.
Tops, flops and emerging trends
Sunday evening, millions of Americans will sit down to watch the Ravens and 49ers battle in Super Bowl XLVII, and the most expensive television commercials of the year.
During this year's Super Bowl, advertisers will spend up to $4 million for 30 seconds of air time, giving them little time to impress the audience.
Grand Rapids advertising expert Bill McKendry has examined commercials for more than two decades; he says the basic formula for Super Bowl ads comes down to children, animals, violence or making men appear unintelligent. It's commercials that break that mold that make McKendry's list of top spots. His number one pick is the the Apple McIntosh commercial from 1984.
"We believe Super Bowl advertising changed forever after this ad ran," says McKendry. "I can remember being wowed by the production values of this spot. It was epic in its presentation."
McKendry says the Ring of Fire ad from Chrysler in 2011 is the only ad that has come close to Apple's commercial, because it evoked emotion.
"When I looked at it for the first time, I said, 'Not only is it about Chrysler and its product, we're telling the world American auto manufacturing is back and it's on top,'" he says. "In the ten years we've hosted [our Super Bowl commercial] party, we've never had people sit that still during an ad. And afterwards, people stood up and were applauding."
It's a different story for Groupon's 2011 Super Bowl ad. McKendry says the commercial ties with one by former Congressman Pete Hoekstra's campaign; both get his thumbs down for racial stereotyping.
"I think a lot of these people think they're being funny, but I think significantly fewer people find racial stereotyping funny anymore," McKendry says.
Which means the next flop may be this year's Volkswagen ad, which features a white Minnesotan with a fake Jamaican accent.
As for emerging trends among Super Bowl ads, McKendry says companies are trying to create more buzz before their spots run by sharing them online. McKendry says advertisers are also turning to social media more.
Doritos started the trend years ago, and this year Pepsi followed, asking people to send a picture of themselves holding a Pepsi can. Some of them will appear in the halftime ad featuring singer Beyonce.
"The mere fact Pepsi is reaching out to its fans, Doritos is reaching out to its fans and allowing them to be on the world's biggest stage along with them, I think is a really smart move for those brands. But if I was spending $3.8 million, seems to me I'd want to see something new," he said.
Hanon McKendry is hosting its 10th annual Super Bowl party Sunday, where 32 judges will be critiquing all the big commercials. Their employees will go against advertising and marketing students from local colleges, before comparing their choices with the USA Today consumer poll.
You would think that in coming to college, the over $10,000 a year going toward our education would at least get us a few perks. No parents, social skills, aka beer pong for some of you go-getters out there, a chance at making manager instead of having toilet-cleaning duty at the local fast food restaurant down the road: there are plenty of wondrous and magical things embedded in the experiences of college. Teachers here are even called professors, and contrary to popular belief, having a PhD does not stand for Pizza Hut driver for rabid, munchy college students. But quite honestly, some days they would probably be better at driving a car around, collecting a measly tip, and sheepishly whispering “have a good day” before doing it all over again.
I’m just going to say it. Some teachers suck. They could try their hardest and still make me feel as though I’ve in fact lost brain cells by sitting through such a worthless lecture. Sorry not sorry, but a PhD doesn’t mean that someone is truly qualified to teach. Yeah yeah yeah, they had a lot of schooling and had to work hard to get such a high degree, but the only thing that a PhD really says about a person is that they are a.) certified, and b.) they have the ability to be a good student: student, not teacher.
Many teachers simply know that they were born to teach. They have a certain level of passion that they are able to cultivate, mold, and relay to their students, whether they mean to or not.
But then, of course, on the other hand there are those inevitable teachers that believe that it is just a job. Their level of commitment hardly ever goes from the red to the yellow zone, much less into the green. Teaching people is a hard task, so if you as a professor don’t want to teach, don’t, because, coming from a student’s perspective, we don’t want you there. If you talk about how qualified you are? Yeah, I don’t really care. If you talk about the fact that you’re published, or that you’ve had students that have gone on to do great things? Fan-freaking-tasic for you, but if you start to read the powerpoint word for word, don’t get angry when I’m skipping class every other week.
During this year's Super Bowl, advertisers will spend up to $4 million for 30 seconds of air time, giving them little time to impress the audience.
Grand Rapids advertising expert Bill McKendry has examined commercials for more than two decades; he says the basic formula for Super Bowl ads comes down to children, animals, violence or making men appear unintelligent. It's commercials that break that mold that make McKendry's list of top spots. His number one pick is the the Apple McIntosh commercial from 1984.
"We believe Super Bowl advertising changed forever after this ad ran," says McKendry. "I can remember being wowed by the production values of this spot. It was epic in its presentation."
McKendry says the Ring of Fire ad from Chrysler in 2011 is the only ad that has come close to Apple's commercial, because it evoked emotion.
"When I looked at it for the first time, I said, 'Not only is it about Chrysler and its product, we're telling the world American auto manufacturing is back and it's on top,'" he says. "In the ten years we've hosted [our Super Bowl commercial] party, we've never had people sit that still during an ad. And afterwards, people stood up and were applauding."
It's a different story for Groupon's 2011 Super Bowl ad. McKendry says the commercial ties with one by former Congressman Pete Hoekstra's campaign; both get his thumbs down for racial stereotyping.
"I think a lot of these people think they're being funny, but I think significantly fewer people find racial stereotyping funny anymore," McKendry says.
Which means the next flop may be this year's Volkswagen ad, which features a white Minnesotan with a fake Jamaican accent.
As for emerging trends among Super Bowl ads, McKendry says companies are trying to create more buzz before their spots run by sharing them online. McKendry says advertisers are also turning to social media more.
Doritos started the trend years ago, and this year Pepsi followed, asking people to send a picture of themselves holding a Pepsi can. Some of them will appear in the halftime ad featuring singer Beyonce.
"The mere fact Pepsi is reaching out to its fans, Doritos is reaching out to its fans and allowing them to be on the world's biggest stage along with them, I think is a really smart move for those brands. But if I was spending $3.8 million, seems to me I'd want to see something new," he said.
Hanon McKendry is hosting its 10th annual Super Bowl party Sunday, where 32 judges will be critiquing all the big commercials. Their employees will go against advertising and marketing students from local colleges, before comparing their choices with the USA Today consumer poll.
You would think that in coming to college, the over $10,000 a year going toward our education would at least get us a few perks. No parents, social skills, aka beer pong for some of you go-getters out there, a chance at making manager instead of having toilet-cleaning duty at the local fast food restaurant down the road: there are plenty of wondrous and magical things embedded in the experiences of college. Teachers here are even called professors, and contrary to popular belief, having a PhD does not stand for Pizza Hut driver for rabid, munchy college students. But quite honestly, some days they would probably be better at driving a car around, collecting a measly tip, and sheepishly whispering “have a good day” before doing it all over again.
I’m just going to say it. Some teachers suck. They could try their hardest and still make me feel as though I’ve in fact lost brain cells by sitting through such a worthless lecture. Sorry not sorry, but a PhD doesn’t mean that someone is truly qualified to teach. Yeah yeah yeah, they had a lot of schooling and had to work hard to get such a high degree, but the only thing that a PhD really says about a person is that they are a.) certified, and b.) they have the ability to be a good student: student, not teacher.
Many teachers simply know that they were born to teach. They have a certain level of passion that they are able to cultivate, mold, and relay to their students, whether they mean to or not.
But then, of course, on the other hand there are those inevitable teachers that believe that it is just a job. Their level of commitment hardly ever goes from the red to the yellow zone, much less into the green. Teaching people is a hard task, so if you as a professor don’t want to teach, don’t, because, coming from a student’s perspective, we don’t want you there. If you talk about how qualified you are? Yeah, I don’t really care. If you talk about the fact that you’re published, or that you’ve had students that have gone on to do great things? Fan-freaking-tasic for you, but if you start to read the powerpoint word for word, don’t get angry when I’m skipping class every other week.
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