2012年9月28日星期五

The World Behind Shakespeare's Art

The portrait of Elizabethan England brilliantly painted through art and literature by Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton at the British Museum is the most innovative undertaking in the museum arena yet seen in the 21st century.

Highlighting the living culture of the realm with paintings and artifacts,Choose from our large selection of cable ties. Mr. Bate, a Shakespeare scholar, and Ms. Thornton, curator of Renaissance collections at the British Museum, provide the real-life backdrop to Shakespeare’s plays in the exhibition, titled “Shakespeare: Staging the World.” Thanks to collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company, passages read out by actors can also be heard.

The main setting for the action is London, although the exhibition catalog the authors underline the importance that Shakespeare, born in Stratford-upon-Avon, attached to his home county, Warwickshire.

From the outset, a bird’s-eye view of the city, etched by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1647 and printed in Amsterdam,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. gives an idea of what London looked like before it was wiped out by the 1666 fire. The old St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was destroyed in the catastrophe, rises in the distance above a sea of densely packed houses. The London Bridge that so impressed visitors, lined with buildings leaving a passage through the middle, is also there. Michael van Meer, a traveler from Hamburg, drew it in pen and ink heightened with wash in a “Friendship Album.”

What leaps to the eye is the overwhelming predominance of foreign contributions to the visual arts that adorned palatial residences.

Marcus Gheerhaerts the Younger made an impressive portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, painted around 1592, when Shakespeare was beginning to catch the attention of the English court. The painter’s father, Marcus Gheerhaerts the Elder, had fled his native Bruges to escape persecution inflicted upon Protestants by the Spanish occupiers in Flanders.

Another striking portrait of the queen, dated 1583, dreamily clutching a sieve, is also the work of a Flemish artist, probably Quentin Matsys the Younger.

The miniaturist favored by the establishment was Isaac Oliver, who was born in France. This accounts for the French flavor of the likeness of the aristocratic poet and philosopher Edward Herbert, while the landscape in which he is reclining betrays Flemish influence.

Foreigners took the lead in all the fine arts. This included armor, one of the most original forms of Renaissance sculpture, even though it is rarely characterized as such by art historians.

Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton, wore a suit of armor ascribed to France. Southampton had himself portrayed wearing the collar of the armor. The cuirass is laid on the floor, and the plumed helmet is set on a table draped in gold-brocaded velvet, like some precious work of art.

The portrait is typical of what the authors of the exhibition book call “a militarized society in which Shakespeare was a war poet.How It's Made Plastic injection molds.” Fighting raged in the Netherlands during the 1580s, war with Spain went on through the 1590s, and Ireland was putting up strong resistance against English domination.

Violence erupted within English society, as well. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ is Shakespeare’s tragedy of Elizabethan knife crime,” the authors say in their book. Actors and playwrights, among others, were often involved in street fights. Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s friend and rival, killed a man in one of those rough encounters. Christopher Marlowe, then a famous playwright,Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, was stabbed in a London scuffle.

At times, collective violence exploded, fanned by xenophobic hysteria. On May Day 1617, a mob of about 1,000 youngsters, mostly poor laborers and apprentices, gathered near St. Paul’s and rampaged through the districts where foreign communities lived and worked. They ransacked small businesses, demanding the deportation of foreigners.

The worst violence was inspired by religious fanaticism. Public executions, preceded by outbursts of wildly sadistic torture, were watched by crowds as a form of entertainment. A drawing in pen and brown ink by Claes Visscher, which shows the execution of eight of the Gunpowder Plotters on Jan. 30 and 31, 1606, gives a graphic idea of the atrocities. Shakespeare writes about torture and public executions as a spectacle.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, The rack on which the bodies of prisoners were distended to obtain confessions is mentioned in “The Merchant of Venice” and “King Lear.”

One Big Step for Tesla

Put simply, the automobile has not undergone a fundamental change in design or use since Henry Ford rolled out the Model T more than a century ago. At least that’s what I thought until I spent a week with the Tesla Model S.

The 2012 Model S, a versatile sedan that succeeds the company’s two-seat Roadster, is simultaneously stylish, efficient, roomy, crazy fast, high-tech and all electric. It defies the notion that electric cars are range-limited conveyances.

While driving a Model S with the biggest available battery pack — 85 kilowatt-hours — on a restrained run through Northern California wine country, I was able to wring 300.1 miles from a single charge. The E.P.A.’s rating for equivalent gasoline miles per gallon is 88 m.p.g.e. in town and 90 on the highway, with a 265-mile range.

On a more enthusiastic romp from my home base here to Santa Cruz and back, I sampled what the 362-horsepower electric drivetrain was designed to do: bolt. Tesla says the car can zip from zero to 60 in 5.6 seconds and tops out at 125 miles per hour, but it was the silent, near-instantaneous bursts from 35 to 65 along the Pacific on California Highway 1 that best demonstrated the S’s otherworldly quality.

I managed to make that 207-mile round-trip with about 25 miles of battery charge remaining when I pulled into my driveway. I never gave a second’s thought to range, batteries or kilowatt-hours. I just hauled amps. It’s probably best for my driving record that I didn’t test the performance version of the Model S, which raises the ante to 416 horsepower — and a 4.4-second dash from zero to 60 m.p.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs.h.

The Model S, which went on sale in June, is built in a Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif., where a Toyota-General Motors joint venture once made cars.

The Model S’s sleek exterior suggests Maserati, Jaguar — or, especially in the shape of its grille, Aston Martin. “If people make that aspirational brand reference, I’m psyched,” said Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief of design.

Perhaps the design team’s greatest accomplishment is lending James Bond styling to a five-passenger sedan that Tesla says has the lowest aerodynamic drag of any production vehicle — an impressive drag coefficient of 0.24. The seductive shape of the Model S beats even the appliancelike Toyota Prius.

Yet the S also has a practical side: an optional rear jump seat for two children increases the total capacity to seven. I loaded 30 folding chairs for a school event without needing to flip down the second-row seat. With no engine,Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, the Model S has a sizable second trunk in front, which Tesla calls a frunk.

Tesla is all about cranking things up. From the technical side, the car’s chief characteristic is abundant power, delivered by exceptionally high currents put through a device called a drive inverter.

There a lighthearted side, too: in a nod to the 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” the audio system’s volume control goes to 11. (The idea came from Elon Musk, the chief executive.) Big-hair headbangers will not be dissatisfied with the rock-concert sound quality.

If the Model S is Aston Martin on the outside, it’s Apple on the inside.

The Bauhaus-stark interior is dominated by a 17-inch touch screen — imagine a jumbo iPad embedded in the dashboard — giving digital control of nearly every automotive function. The interface is brilliant, but potentially spellbinding. Lighting, climate and music selection are intuitive. It let me do things as diverse as raising the chassis when pulling into my uneven driveway to switching the steering feel from comfortable to sporty.

There’s a high-definition backup camera, and full Web browsing is available — even when the car is in motion, a capability that safety regulators may one day frown upon. A Google-style search on the navigation screen, for addresses or a keyword, pulls up results that can be directly converted into turn-by-turn guidance. It is an ingenious improvement in automotive navigation.

Another innovation is Tesla’s ability to wirelessly push new features or software updates to cars already on the road. For instance, Tesla said it would soon be downloading a change on how much or how little the car creeps forward from a standstill.

The screen size can sometimes seem overwhelming. But its inherent coolness wins the day, especially for the next generation of motorists. When my 15-year-old daughter first saw the car’s Web browser, it was “like” at first sight: she immediately logged on to Facebook.

Throughout the week, I found myself sneaking away to Berkeley’s winding hilltop roads to experience the smoothness of the electric drivetrain. The half-ton battery pack is under the floor, providing a low center of gravity that helps to give the 4,700-pound Model S its ninjalike handling.

At high speeds and low, the car goes where you put it. Detecting noise intrusion in the cabin requires a stethoscope, although the optional 21-inch wheels add a decibel or two.

The Model S’s charging capability also figuratively cranks up to 11. With 50-amp service from a 240-volt outlet, I added back about 30 miles of driving for every hour of home charging. Highway fill-ups are even quicker for Model S owners using one of the Tesla Supercharger stations in the network announced last week.

Tesla hides the charging port behind the driver-side taillight. “If you’re an owner,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? you know where it is, but there’s nothing from the outside that screams ‘Plug me in,’ ” Mr. von Holzhausen said. When you approach with the charging cord in hand and push a button, the door pops open, revealing the port.

Yet Tesla sometimes takes its urge to reinvent too far. When parked, the outside door handles completely recede into the body. This makes opening the door a multistep process, and it can take two or three attempts before working. Other design imperfections include an artsy visor that’s too small to block the sun and mirrors made of fun-house plastic rather than,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and plastic moulds. well, glass. And the trade-off for industry-leading aerodynamics is limited rear visibility.

More nitpicks: the lighting in the back seat is too dim; there are no parking sensors or guidelines on the backup-camera image to help guide you; the grip you’d use to close a front door is poorly positioned — it looks good but doesn’t help much; and there are no overhead handles to grip while speeding through a turn.

Will these issues cost Tesla a single customer? Probably not.

Now, the $83,270 question. My Model S test car, equipped with an 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack, started at $77,Check out the collection crystal mosaic of Marazzi.400. The final price included the $3,750 Tech package; premium sound system ($950); and personal delivery to your home or office. Nappa leather seats add $1,500.

Budget-conscious shoppers can save money by dialing back from the roughly 230 miles of consistent real-world range delivered by the 85-kilowatt-hour pack. The 60 kilowatt-hour model, providing about 175 miles, saves $10,000. A drop to a 40-kilowatt-hour pack, with about 130 miles of real-world range, takes off another $10,000. In the other direction, the fully loaded Signature Performance model is $104,400. The car qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit.

Future’s on track at Coquitlam's Grand Central

When Intergulf first launched its Grand Central 1 tower adjacent to Coquitlam Centre in 2007, the comparison to New York City’s Grand Central Station was perhaps a bit premature. Utilizing a glamorous marketing campaign that was perhaps more Fifth Avenue than Northern Avenue, Grand Central has definitely changed the way that people view Coquitlam. Five years later and two highly successful sell-outs later, Grand Central 3 is coming onto the market—and there will be some subtle changes, according to Macartney Greenfield, Project Manager for Rennie Marketing Systems.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety,

“People who are thinking about buying into Grand Central 3 are definitely going to be part of a complete community that has really evolved since we started with Grand Central 1,” she says. “The whole vibe out here has changed, with world class brands like Lululemon and The Apple Store now opening at Coquitlam Centre.”

From the authentic sushi joint on Glen Drive to the aroma of fresh baked goods at the Persian bakery – Urban Gate has truly become a family oriented and eclectic neighbourhood.It is intended for use by ventilation system designers, These highrises are close to established neighbourhoods and malls that have been re-imagined and re-purposed to suit contemporary lifestyles.

Grand Central 3 is Intergulf’s final tower in Coquitlam and the last chance to purchase either a home or an investment in a high value, premium amenity concrete highrise. “We’ve looked at the unit mix and are offering more of the smaller homes in this phase,” she explains.Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. “Our one and dens really flew off the shelves in the first two phases, and so you’ll see more of those in Grand Central 3. We’ll also offer 100 homes priced under $299,000, which represents tremendous value in a transit-oriented community. We’re steps from Coquitlam Centre and endless shops, services and restaurants, and we’ll be just a three-minute walk from the future Evergreen Line when it’s completed in 2016.”

Grand Central appeals to buyers wanting to get in on the Lower Mainland’s hottest real estate market and “get into an evolving community,” Greenfield says.Find detailed product information for shamballa crys talbeads wholesale, “Grand Central 3 appeals to the empty nesters that are looking to downsize from their single-family homes; young couples looking to start a family, and first-time home buyers looking for value and convenience.” For the latter group, especially, it’s a great way to put down some roots and enter the market.

The striking 37-storey concrete and glass Grand Central 3 has been designed by the award-winning IBI Group. Luxury starts in the lobby, with a soaring double-height designer entrance with contemporary interior design by Lot 30 Design Inc. Spacious terraces and balconies enhance outdoor living, while the expansive windows optimize natural light and city and mountain views.

Interiors offer a choice of two contemporary colour schemes: ebony and rosewood, with laminate wood flooring throughout living and dining rooms and cozy wall-to-wall nylon carpeting throughout bedrooms. Smart horizontal blinds offer both shade and privacy

In the kitchen, choose from contemporary wood veneer cabinetry in ebony or rosewood. Quartz countertops are complemented by elegant marble or limestone tile backsplash. Top quality stainless steel appliances by KitchenAid include a 24-inch dishwasher, 30-inch gas range cooktop and self-cleaning electric oven, over-the-range integrated microwave/hood fan and integrated or full size refrigerator depending on your home.

Bathrooms feature quartz countertops, a stylish soaker tub and undermount counter sink, modern Moen faucets and fixtures, a slim profile dual flush toilet and quality porcelain tile floor. Laundry rooms have matching full-size appliances by Whirlpool—a 5-cycle front load washer and 5.7 cu.ft. front load capacity dryer.

“Grand Central’s amenity package matches its incredible location,” Greenfield enthuses. Homeowners can take advantage of over 1.4 acres of exterior space including the outdoor swimming pool, hot tub and his and hers change rooms. The lushly landscaped grounds are complemented by a formal garden and community garden plots, and an outdoor children’s play area. A 2500 square foot fully-equipped fitness facility features yoga and stretching rooms.parkingsystem After your workout, relax in the Grand Central lounge and bar with its multi-media room, party room and kitchen facility.

Safety and security are also top of mind when it comes to living at Grand Central 3, with a resident caretaker and 24-hour property management always on-call. A video intercom in the entrance and secured residential access to each floor limits access, while common areas protected by priority lock system and gated underground parking is accessed via remote control.

A trusted developer, a transit hot-spot, and a transformed community. The Grand Central vision has become a reality in Coquitlam city centre.

2012年9月26日星期三

The Alexander home in Cambria

As an electrical contractor who has worked on scores of projects, Tom Alexander knew he had two options when remodeling his Cambria home: getting the job done quickly, or getting it done just right.

Not one to gloss over details, he chose the latter, which is why it took from fall 2003 until spring 2009 to update and enlarge the 1982-built contemporary coastal home.

Taking it slow had many benefits, including having the time to find the right people to work with. Close friend Tanya Hildebrand of Grover Beach collaborated on the project from start to finish. Cambria architect David Brown designed the remodel, and Jared Israel of Atascadero’s JAI Construction was the general contractor.

The project enlarged the structure from 1,400 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Windows were moved and expanded to take greater advantage of views. All interior walls on the main floor were removed, and lower level decks were built on the east and west sides of the house.

Flexibility was key throughout the process. Alexander chose not to make all design decisions upfront, but to let the project evolve during construction.

“Tanya and I decided it was more important to find what we wanted in terms of plumbing fixtures, tile, cabinet design, carpets, etcetera, than get the house done in a hurry at the expense of design,” he said.

To guide the design process, Alexander and Hildebrand selected a different theme for most rooms. The master bedroom and bath are done in a 1930s Central Coast cottage style. The guest bedroom was dubbed the Yosemite Room because it is reminiscent of a Yosemite lodge. The guest bathroom is Mediterranean-influenced, and the hall bath is in the style of an early 1900s beach cottage.

Many elements of the home were inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China. Los Angeles architect John Lautner, one of Wright’s early apprentices, designed the Long Beach home of Alexander’s aunt and uncle. Alexander has long admired Wright’s penchant for clean lines and open spaces.

Wright was heavily influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement. In this spirit,Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, Alexander called upon the talents of several local artisans to create original, handcrafted features for the home.

Richard Clark of Fresh Kitchens and Baths designed and built several items for the home, including pieces for the Frank Lloyd Wright-themed study. Clark built a replica of a writing desk Wright designed for the Meyer May house in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He adapted it to Alexander’s needs and to accommodate a Wright-designed barrel chair Alexander already owned.

Clark studied Wright’s work extensively and built cabinetry and a wall bed for the room in the style of Wright’s work. A striking example of this is the intricate grille motif on the large panels that conceal the queen-sized bed. The piece is decorative but also practical, with built-in storage that helps the office/guest room do double duty without added clutter.

Among the original features crafted by William Heistand of Heistand Woodwork are ceiling trim and door headers on the first floor,Find detailed product information for Hot Sale howo spareparts Radiator. a television cabinet, and fireplace mantels. An ornate corner vanity he built for the powder room has diverse influences that include Egyptian motifs and Arts & Crafts design. Heistand also created a living room stair railing inspired by one that Wright designed for the Meyer May house.

Other artisans who worked on the home include Leon Smith of Stonesmith, whose portfolio includes work for Hearst Castle. Richard Stacey of Marathon Tile installed tile throughout the house, including intricate designs for the Mediterranean-style bathroom.

Alexander and Hildebrand took the same unhurried, deliberate ap proach when selecting materials. For instance, when choosing tile,Choose from our large selection of cable ties. Hildebrand visited nearly every tile store in the region.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications.

“At times we would have her living room in Grover Beach full of samples as we tried to find just the right one to carry out the theme of the room,” Alexander recalled.

Their persistence paid off. Each material is special or meaningful in some way. Among their favorites are the Motawi handmade tiles depicting forest scenes for the master bathroom and master bedroom fireplace. And they never tire of looking at the Hy Desert stone used on the fireplaces and in the wine cellar.

“We see something new in it every time we sit and admire it,” Alexander said.

When challenges arose, the team had the time and freedom to find creative solutions. For instance, when Heistand needed a unique handrail for the master bedroom stairs, he mounted cast bronze door handles horizontally. Their tree branch shape repeats a motif seen throughout the room and adjoining bathroom. When, after several months, the heavy bronze began to pull from the wall, he created a walnut piece in a coordinating branch motif that not only provides a more secure foundation for the handles, it is a func tional work of sculpture.

Alexander is partial to clean-lined, tailored furnishings and also wanted to hold on to pieces he already owned. Richard Clark restored a 1950s-era dining table that belonged to Alexander’s parents. The original benches had been discarded years ago, so Clark worked from old photographs to recreate them in a sturdier design.

Designer Jules DuRocher repaired and reupholstered several items of furniture including a 1970s sectional.

“All these items had been in storage but were better than anything we could find in a furniture store to fit the style of the house, so Jules’ work on getting them rebuilt and recovered was important to feel of the interior of the house,” Alexander said.

The outcome of the lengthy remodel was worth the wait, he noted.

“The end product of this project more than met our expectations,” Alexander said. “The continual pleasure that Tanya and I get from the house justifies every hour spent on it — not to mention the friendships we made with some of the contractors, craftsmen and artisans who contributed to the successful outcome.”

BofA seeks to strengthen M&A arm

With a promotion from co-head to sole head of Bank of America’s corporate and investment banking unit in January, the year had started well for Christian Meissner. But by the spring,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. things had turned sour as his most prominent dealmaker Andrea Orcel left to join UBS.

With the bank’s head of Europe, Jonathan Moulds, retiring and some of Mr Orcel’s regional lieutenants following him to Switzerland, BofA’s European mergers and acquisitions franchise was in urgent need of some rebuilding.

The departures resurrected memories of how the Charlotte-based bank has suffered from an exodus of former Merrill Lynch dealmakers after its takeover of the investment bank in 2008. It laid bare the mismatch between the bank’s strong position in capital markets and its persistent weakness in M&A advice.

In the first eight and a half months of the year, the second-largest US bank by assets ranks sixth globally in M&A advice when measured by fees for completed deals, according to data by ThomsonReuters.Natural Chinese turquoise beads at Wholesale prices.

“We are number two in all investment banking fees globally and we are leading in financing areas. In M&A we are not yet, so we are focused on rectifying that,” Mr Meissner told the Financial Times.

After Mr Orcel’s departure, the Austrian-born Mr Meissner moved quickly to shore up the team. Within a few months, BofA hired seasoned banker Alex Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS to replace Mr Moulds and brought in dealmaker Diego De Giorgi from Goldman Sachs, who will start early next year as co-head of European corporate and investment banking.

Mr Meissner, who moved with his family to New York this summer but still spends about half his time in London, can concentrate on Bank of America’s formidable challenge in corporate finance: its weak position in M&A advice.

“We intend to grow this into a top three business and we have the people, platform and capabilities to do so,” the 43-year-old banker says.

After the recent shake-up of the European business, he says that “we now have the right people. But M&A is a long-term relationship game and it takes three to five years to build that.”

Even in its home market, the bank only ranks sixth in what is the most publicly exposed part of investment banking.

Analysts say it will be difficult for the bank to break into the leading pack of banks such as Goldman and Morgan Stanley that have always seen M&A advice as core to their business models.

But Mr Meissner, who joined from Nomura in 2010, two years after the Japanese bank had taken over defunct Lehman Brothers’ European and Asian operations with multi-year guaranteed bonuses for its key staff, is taking comfort from recent successes in other business areas.

The bank has been “building capabilities that we did not have in the past”, he says.Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. “One example is corporate equity derivatives, where we have expanded rapidly this year.

“We now believe we have the top three or so business in corporate equity derivatives in Europe whereas we used to be nowhere.”

The push into M&A comes at a time when the US bank has a long way to go to sort out past mistakes such as its disastrous purchase of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. The bank announced last year it aimed to cut 30,000 jobs in a cost-slashing exercise dubbed “New BAC” in reference to its stock market ticker symbol.

However, Mr Meissner says BofA’s corporate and investment banking franchise, which employs about 6,000 people globally,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. is geared for growth, even amid a current dearth of deals. “We have been investing and building up constantly during the financial crisis.”

People close to Mr Meissner suggest that Mr Orcel’s departure – somewhat counterintuitively – enabled the former Goldman and Lehman banker to further improve BofA’s M&A business.

They say the bank will make more money with mandates from Santander – one of Mr Orcel’s key clients – than in the year before.Find detailed product information for Hot Sale howo spareparts Radiator.

It will also do business with BBVA, the Spanish bank’s domestic rival – a door that had been shut for many years given Mr Orcel’s close association with Santander.

Bus system would take ‘10-12’ years

The earliest the proposed $1.1 billion bus system from Kennesaw State University to Midtown Atlanta could be operational is 10 to 12 years, said Faye DiMassimo, the county’s transportation director.

Yet Southeast Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott pointed out that there is no funding for such a project. Ott also points out that the county’s existing bus program is already subsidized $9 million a year to operate, meaning an expanded bus program would only increase that operating subsidy.

The Board of Commissioners received an update on the $1.8 million Northwest Corridor Alternatives Analysis study, which is recommending the $1.1 billion bus program, at its work session on Tuesday afternoon.

DiMassimo said the above timeline meant the county had to have the funding in place to pay for the program, which it presently does not, according to Ott.

“You could probably be under construction if everything went perfectly in maybe five to seven years,” DiMassimo said. “I wouldn’t think we would actually be up and running until maybe 10 to 12.”

DiMassimo asked Jim Croy,HOWO is a well-known tractor's brand and howo tractor suppliers are devoted to designing and manufacturing best products. of Croy Engineering,Capture the look and feel of real stone or ceramic tile flooring with Alterna. who has spearheaded the study along with other consultants, what he thought.

“I think you’re right,” Croy said. “If funding was available today you’re talking seven to nine years and obviously there’s a lot of funding issues that still need to be answered.”

The study recommends bus service from KSU to Midtown, a 25.3-mile stretch, using routes along both I-75 and Cobb Parkway.

The proposal would use two kinds of bus service: express bus service, which are the buses the county currently uses for its CCT system; and bus rapid transit, which are buses that have the ability to carry more passengers.Looking for the Best air purifier?

Express bus service is intended for commuters who want to get from their homes to their jobs as quickly as possible. To that end, there would likely only be three stops along the way for that service utilizing Gov. Nathan Deal’s imminent reversible lane project on I-75.

The bus rapid transit system would have more connectivity with perhaps 20 stops along Highway 41, DiMassimo said.

Funding options include federal dollars, which could pay for up to half of the project, and a “menu of revenue opportunities from partners (e.Airgle has mastered the art of indoor tracking,g. educational institutions, parking fees, benefit assessment district contributions, public/private partnerships). Cost sharing with the City of Atlanta is being explored,” she said.

Before the county can apply for federal funds it needs to complete a $3 million environmental study of the project being conducted by Kimley - Horn & Associates, which should be complete in 18 to 24 months.

The cost of the buses only amounts to six percent of the total $1.1 billion proposed budget, with the largest portion of the costs in fixed guideway/bus lanes infrastructure improvements and grade separations, DiMassimo said.Have you ever wondered about the mold making process?

Most of the cost comes from the infrastructure involved in building bus stations, a maintenance yard and parking. The proposal calls for “grade separations” at 12 intersections along Cobb Parkway, which involve installing a bridge or tunnel at an intersection to allow the bus to pass through traffic uninterrupted.

“This region has benefitted significantly from its long term planning to make sure that we look out into the future, what’s next, what the potential to help guide us and make sure we’re as effective and efficient as we can be,” Lee said.

Lee referenced the $950 million, 30-mile Northwest Corridor project along I-75 and 575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties expected to open in the spring of 2018. The project will build two new tolled reversible lanes along the west side of I-75 between its interchanges with I-285 and I-575. The lanes will be separate from the existing interstate and carry traffic south during morning commute hours and north in the evenings. North of the I-575 interchange one new, reversible lane will be added in the I-75 center median to Hickory Grove Road, and a similar new lane will extend along I-575 to Sixes Road.

“The existing managed lane project that’s going to be started soon and completed soon as well was born so to speak through a study that’s over 10 years ago, so they do have long (shelf lives), they do get adjusted, they do get modified, and that’s just part of the process,” Lee said.

2012年9月23日星期日

IT was the false door in the living room

IT’S funny the things people notice when viewing a property; the things that make one stand out and feel like ‘the one’. For Neil Mulholland,SICK's ultrasonic sensor use sound to accurately detect objects and measure distances. it was a false door in the living room of this top floor flat at 39/5 West Nicolson Street in Edinburgh’s Newington.Find a cry stalmosaic Manufacturer and Supplier.

The doorway appears to lead into the hallway, but doesn’t. Originally designed to enhance the symmetry of the room, it’s the kind of architectural quirk that you might expect to find in a period property – this flat dates from the 1820s – but in reality, few such quirks, particularly non-functioning ones, survive the test of time, especially perhaps in flats that, by their nature, change hands more frequently, and where every room has had several lives.

As Neil says: “That was it for me. We realised this flat still had all these period features.” The false door was only the beginning: the Victorian ‘Waverley’ range was still in place, and working, in the kitchen, and there were three fireplaces: two Victorian, in the living room and master bedroom, and an original Georgian fireplace in the second bedroom. Add to that the stripped timber flooring and panelled doors, still with their Georgian ironmongery, along with wooden shutters and wainscoting and plain cornice mouldings, and this flat was brimming with character.

It was also in a perfect location for Neil and his wife Jenny Hogarth, who now have a 14-month-old son Bo. Neil is a Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of the MFA at the University of Edinburgh, and has curated numerous exhibitions as well as writing regularly for the international art press.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and plastic moulds. The university buildings are practically on the doorstep – you look out towards the recently built School of Informatics from the window seat in the kitchen.

Artist Jenny was just as keen to live in the thick of things. A graduate of the nearby Edinburgh College of Art as well as Glasgow School of Art,Find detailed product information for shamballa crys talbeads wholesale, Jenny now works in collaboration with the London-based artist Kim Coleman, creating video and installation works, and was also one of the founders of the Edinburgh Embassy Gallery.

Six-and-a-half-years ago,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. when Neil and Jenny bought this, their first home together, number 39/5 ticked all the boxes. The downside? The interior was in a dismal state. The previous owner had let the two bedrooms, and the kitchen had doubled as a communal living room. “The kitchen had these horrible 1980s units,” Neil recalls. “It was pretty disgusting.”

The couple set about renovating the flat, space by space. “Neither of us had really thought about interiors much before having this flat, and we were inspired by the place itself,” Jenny says. Rather than embracing the major tasks first – like ripping out the kitchen – the couple took a more subtle approach. Neil points out the ebony door handles he sourced to replace the existing brass handles, and which have worn naturally over the years to adopt a lovely patina. “It’s a small detail,” he acknowledges, “but it’s one of the first things we did.”

Likewise, one of Jenny’s first tasks was painting the Georgian-style landscape mural in the hallway, which is lit by a skylight. This, along with the doors, which have been painted in a rich brown colour called Wainscot – “These doors would have been painted in this colour originally to look like mahogany,” Neil explains – sets the tone as you arrive. The pea green used on the walls in the master bedroom is another Georgian colour, as is the pinkish-stone hue used in the living room.

Unusually, the flat has a separate bathroom and toilet, and the couple refurbished both spaces soon after moving in. Jenny had a clear vision for what she wanted here, beginning with the crackle glazed Retro Metro green wall tiles from Fired Earth. An imported Japanese tub was chosen for the bathroom, with a shower over it, and its one metre square dimensions are a perfect fit here. In the adjacent toilet, the couple scoured Edinburgh’s architectural salvage yards for fittings, from the period towel rail and cast iron radiator to the small Belfast sink that takes the place of a more traditional bathroom basin, while their prize find was the cast iron ‘Dunedin’ high-level cistern.

The couple enjoy this process of granting aged pieces a new existence. This approach, Jenny says, “felt right for the flat, but also it becomes a bit of a hobby as something you enjoy doing at weekends”. Likewise, most of their furniture is secondhand, whether sourced from shops on Edinburgh’s Causewayside, such as the 1820s linen press in Bo’s bedroom, or further afield – the Welsh dresser in the kitchen came from London, for example. “We tend to get things before they’ve been worked on, before they’ve been stripped and waxed, as we prefer pieces that have that age about them,” says Neil.

Jamie Carey-Humphreys

Society places a lot of value on formal training and education, but there is something to be said for a self-made career. Photorealistic painter Jamie Carey-Humphreys began painting at age 8 when her parents gave her a set of oils but had no formal training in art until well into her adult life.

"It was fantastic," she said, remembering that first set of paints. "The smell, the texture of the oils. … I've always had a love for oils. Through school, I just kind of copied out of books" to develop technique.

Carey-Humphreys, who owns a vineyard in Fulton with her husband, has had several paintings in shows in Columbia and said, "I'm a Columbia girl — definitely a Columbia girl. Even though I live in the farm out in Fulton, my heart is in Columbia." Her "Jack of Spades" painting, depicting Jack Nicholson exhaling a spade-shaped smoke ring, is now in the Columbia Art League's "House of Cards" exhibit. She also recently discussed her tiger-themed artwork — inspired by the University of Missouri's mascot — with a Callaway County Public Library audience as part of the communitywide One Read program.

Her independent originality is a family trait.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, "My mom was crafty; my dad's artsy," she said. Her father, now retired, was a sculptor and cowboy so authentic his description evokes almost tangible smells of leather and aromatic pipe tobacco. He sculpted American Indian and Western legends and sold them.

"My dad was a cowboy. He was a horse whisperer. He left home when he was" about "13 and started working in stables in Kansas City — never finished high school. He worked horses all his life, and he was a professor at William Woods" University "and started their Western program. He didn't even have a degree," she said, mentioning that the program was the first in the nation to grant a four-year degree in equestrian studies.

Growing up on the farm allowed Carey-Humphreys and her two elder sisters to live out one archetypal young girl's dream — riding and caring for horses. In addition to that, the world came to her door in the form of students who boarded their horses in the family stables. "Mom always had the kitchen doors open; they were always in there having breakfast, and they taught me math. I just hung out around college girls because they were at their home away from home," she remembered.

Throughout much of her adult life, Carey-Humphreys neglected her skill. Fourteen years ago, she began a new marriage — and picked up painting again, in addition to nurturing her son and three stepsons. She also decided to work toward a college degree. She enrolled at WWU and received a scholarship but lasted just one semester because of demands on her time: She and her husband were running a Dairy Queen at the time, and she was helping care for a family member with cancer.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, "But it was fun," she said. "I was such a good student. … I liked how your brain just really works after you get it going, like a muscle."

Jane Mudd and Terry Martin, art professors she encountered at WWU, "are just awesome," she said. "I'm what you call a photorealist, so I'm real tight. When Jane paints,We offer mining truck system, she throws it on there, and she used to say, 'Throw that paint on there and worry about the details later.' She would teach me to relax a little bit."

When asked about how she approaches her work, she sat thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "I'm going to explain it this way. Sometimes I don't understand what I do," she said. "I know that it is a gift that God gave me. So every painting that I start I pray over because this is God's gift to me. I invite him to walk me through the whole journey, and it is a journey.

"First of all, oil-painting is layers," she explained.Buy Natural china glass mosaic Tiles online with our price beat promise. "You've gotta get the paint on, and then you've gotta layer. My favorite is portraits. I love doing portraits. I always do the eyes first because if you don't get the eyes, you might as well not go on. Once you get the eyes, and they are their eyes, then you can build around it. It's just layers and layers and layers."

Beyond not being taught formal style elements and technique, a challenge for self-taught artists — or any artist, really — is that of getting work into the world. As far as getting shows in area galleries or a bit further afield, Carey-Humphreys said, "I just don't know how to go about doing that. I'd like to get into some of the art galleries here, but I'm just now trying to market myself, and that's probably the hardest thing you can do," adding that she would like to find someone to design a website for her.

It's also difficult to balance time and economic concerns with creating art. "I tried to have a year off just painting. It was hard," she said,Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, and explained she came up with the solution of establishing her own cleaning business. "It's good work, and you exercise all day long. I clean so I can paint. … It's nice being my own boss."

Mystery of Britain’s 'Franken-mummies’

It is one of Britain’s most intriguing archeological mysteries.

When two almost perfectly preserved 3,000-year-old human skeletons were dug up on a remote Scottish island, they were the first evidence that ancient Britons preserved their dead using mummification.HOWO is a well-known tractor's brand and howo tractor suppliers are devoted to designing and manufacturing best products.

The scientists who uncovered the bodies also found clues that one of them – a man buried in a crouching position – was not a single individual, but had in fact been assembled from the body parts of several different people.

The discovery began a 10-year investigation into what had led the bronze-age islanders to this strange fate.

Now, a new study using the latest in DNA technology has found that the two skeletons together comprise the remains of at least six different individuals, who died several hundred years apart.

The researchers now believe that large extended families, living under one roof, may have shared their homes with the mummified remains of their dead ancestors, before deliberately putting the bodies together to look like single corpses – possibly in an attempt to demonstrate the uniting of different families.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at University College London who led the research, said: “It looks like these individuals had been cut up and put back together to look like one person.”

He said the mixing of the body parts could have been due to “misfortune or carelessness”,Have you ever wondered about the mold making process? but added: “The merging of their identities may have been a deliberate act, perhaps designed to amalgamate different ancestries into a single lineage.”

The skeletons were unearthed in 2001 while Professor Parker Pearson, who was then working at Sheffield University, was examining the remains of buildings at a site called Cladh Hallan in a sand quarry in South Uist.

The site had been a bronze-age settlement which was inhabited for well over 1,000 years.

While digging out the foundations of one of the houses, the archaeologists found the skeletons of an adult man and a woman they believed to be aged around 40.

Dating of the two skeletons showed they appeared to be over 3,000 years old and predated the house they were buried under by several hundred years.

Both had been buried in a crouched position on their sides and from the way the bones remained connected, it appeared they had been carefully preserved.

Analysis of the bones indicated that the bodies had started to rot after death but the decay was abruptly halted.

The mineral content of the bones suggests they were placed in an acidic peat bog, which helped to preserve them in a primitive form of mummification before they were removed and kept above ground, the researchers claim.

Before the discovery, mummification at that time in history was thought to have been restricted to Egypt and South America.

Carbon dating of the bones in the male skeleton revealed while the jaw came from someone who had died around 1440BC-1260BC, the rest of the skull came from a man who died some 100 years earlier, and the remainder of the body from someone who died 500 years before that.

In a new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers used DNA testing to examine the female skeleton, which carbon dating suggested had belonged to a woman who died between 1300 BC and 1130 BC.

By examining genetic material known as mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down only by females, the researchers found the jaw bone, a leg bone and an arm bone all came from different individuals.

Other body parts could have come from other individuals too, but it was impossible to obtain suitable DNA to analyse. The testing did suggest, however, that skull could have belonged to a relative or the same individual as the arm.

Physical analysis of the 'female’ skeleton has also suggested the jaw and skull in fact belonged to a male.

From its position, the researchers believe the body had been wrapped up tightly and kept above ground for several hundred years before it was finally buried. Shortly after death, two of its teeth were removed with one placed in each hand.

Exactly what happened to these people after their death and why they were finally buried in this way remains a mystery, but the scientists are continuing to unpick what happened.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China.

Professor Pearson said it appeared the crude mummification process had allowed the bodies to survive the wet and wild Scottish climate for several hundred years before the soft tissue gradually began to degrade after they were buried.

In around 1000 BC, seven houses were built in a terrace, with the two mummies, which were then hundreds of years old, buried beneath one of the homes.

Less well preserved human remains were also found under some of the other houses and many had offerings of bronze artefacts found with them.

The inhabitants of the buildings appear to have been largely self-sufficient, using clay moulds to cast bronze swords, spears and ornaments. The remains of cattle bones suggests they kept livestock and may have grown barley for food.Find detailed product information for sino howo tipper truck.

Analysis of the bones suggest they ate very little seafood despite living on an island, instead growing their food on the low lying grassy plain next to the houses.

The building where the two mummified skeletons were found may have even become a “house of the dead” with priest-like people living there,Capture the look and feel of real stone or ceramic tile flooring with Alterna. professor Pearson believes.

He added: “Having six preserved body parts to hand indicates there was sufficient space in which to store them for some time prior to their reassembly.

2012年9月20日星期四

Malawi in-service training

The travel to Malawi is a grueling 8,000 mile, 22-hour flight from New York.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. Add to the trip a crowded plane with a stop in South Africa and the overnight flight is less than enjoyable.Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. Thirty nine joined the Peace Corps gathering in early March at a Philadelphia staging area for a first time adventure to a land that none of us had visited.

In reality the only consolation after a lengthy Peace Corps application process was the real beginning of new and strange journey. For many of us it was the surrealistic feeling of starting a forward motion towards Africa.

We arrived at Lilongwe International and were welcomed by a gauntlet of Peace Corps staff and volunteers yelling and cheering us for our first taste of Malawi. By then it was midday almost a whole twenty four hour later.

The next stop was an hour and half trip south to the training location at Malawi’s forestry college in a rural section of Dedza. The location was is about six miles off the main highway down a rutted dirt road fit only for four wheel drive high riding vehicle.

The training plan called for a week stay at the school to give us a chance to get oriented and catch up of the lost sleep. This was followed by a four week stay at a nearby village with a host family. During that time we were given specialized class in culture, language, health care and environment.

Living with our host families was perhaps the critical introduction to the heart and soul of the Malawi experience. Added to the mix was no running water or electricity. After living in the village we returned to the college for another four weeks because of the potential political impact of the death of the late Malawi president in April.

That final four weeks were spent with more language, culture and health care sessions to prepare us for a two year stay. Our group specializes in either health care or the environment.

Our return to the forestry school gave us a chance to improve our skills. The whole training phase lasted two months followed by the swearing in ceremony by two US senators for the remaining 36 volunteers.

It’s now four months since that sweating in and our group, now thirty four, has started a two week in service training session. During the past months all of us have been working at our assigned location. Some are at clinics, hospitals, community organizations and national parks.

Since our first training sessions and working for months in our communities, we have changed. All our expectations of six months ago now take on a different perspective and are perhaps more realistic.
Early one morning during the first week a small group of us climbed the Dedza Mountains near our training location. It was six month ago that as new comers to Africa we stood on the same mountain top. The view this week hasn’t changed.Find detailed product information for shamballa crys talbeads wholesale, In every direction it was clear as far as the eye could see.

Even to the west the view into Mozambique is breath taking. But now we were no longer strangers to this wonderful land. Africa has become home. The climb to the top for some strange reason did not seem as difficult or long. Everything had changed.

Much of our in service training included more language classes and sessions about project development as well as more nuances respective to Malawian culture. Sitting in classes for the first time in four months was different because we were no long the strangers to Africa.

We’ve been immersed in Malawi living in our respective communities and villages. We have participated in scores of meetings and worked on projects that will be maintained during the next two year. Four months ago we were fresh faces but we have aged and all of us have realized the challenges of living in a strange country.

It is an easy task to look at the work we are doing or the projects that will carry us during the next two years. What is harder to understand is the depth that each of us has changed. Perhaps the most noticeable change has been the increased level of confidence. This new found self-confidence is laced with more patience that surprises even me.

Maybe a way to define the change is having a better understanding of our selves. Perhaps some of us came here to save Malawi or Africa. In fact the real salvation is us. During the past months we have been tested and retested a thousand times. Each of the tests is prefaced with the question, “Can I really do this and will anything I do here in Malawi really make a difference?”

There seems to be an acquired acceptance of the limited amount we can to in the next two years. The mystery of what is possible is laid bare. Yet I don’t find any much uneasiness about the limits of what any of us can accomplish.

It is not that our expectations or goals have lowered but rather the reality of what is possible has risen to the fore front. I’m finding that many in our group are more resolved with knowing not so much what they can do but rather what they can’t or won’t be able to accomplish. All that enthusiasm has been tailored into more workable practical solutions.High quality Wholesale gemstone beads,

A short while back US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Malawi. Her words to us were about the part we share as Americans working here. We are part of a larger team effort bringing a new sustainable hope to Malawi. It is not so much what any of us will do individually but rather what we accomplish together serving in a foreign country. We bring the change of hope.Looking for the Best air purifier?

The great fortune of our group is simply we are probably the one of the most enthusiastic group of dedicated individuals who’ve made a direct two year commitment to serve their country and to the people of Malawi. In such a strange way we have created an extended family of thirty four members who are marching in harmony to the call of the Peace Corps to be in Malawi.

The group of thirty four is so different with an interesting mix of individuals who have developed a strong sense of loyalty and kindness towards each other. Each of us has seen the other in the best and most challenging of circumstances. Just six months ago no one in the group knew anyone. Their home towns are scattered across America. They represent an interesting mix of ideas as well as experiences.

This week has given the whole group the opportunity to gather together to share the friendship and support we’ve developed over the past six months. Right now there is no other place that each of us needs to be.

What we being to Africa is something new. We bring ourselves with a combined spirit of confidence and enthusiasm that has Malawi allowing us into becoming better persons and better Americans. Our efforts to changed Malawi may fall short of our earlier expectations but all of us have grown. How much more will Malawi and its people teach us about ourselves in the days and years ahead?

Defending graffiti, and debating Egypt's future

Under cover of darkness, a few municipality workers quietly began to paint over an icon of Egypt's revolution: a giant, elaborate public mural on the street that saw some of the most violent clashes between protesters and police over the past two years.

The mural, stretching three blocks along a wall off Cairo's Tahrir Square, has been a sort of open-air museum of the history of the revolution and its goals — with "martyr" portraits of slain protesters, graffiti,The indoor positioning industry is heavily involved this year jokes, freedom slogans and pharaonic, Muslim, Christian and nationalist images to show Egypt's mixed heritage and a history of struggle.

Word of the whitewash quickly got out. A number of progressive, young revolutionaries showed up to defend the murals. In the dead of night, they began to film the workers as they painted under the guard of police, hoping to embarrass them. They talked with the painters about what the murals meant.

The scene on Mohammed Mahmoud Street in the early hours Wednesday was a small but telling counterpoint to last week's angry protests at the U.S. Embassy, led by ultraconservative Islamists protesting an anti-Islam film. Those protests took place only a few blocks away on another street off Tahrir.

Together, the scenes point to the competition over the identity of the new Egypt, over what the country stands for now and what can be expressed.

The mix of largely secular activists who launched the revolt against longtime leader Hosni Mubarak last year say the "revolution" is still continuing, until the country breaks with its authoritarian past and brings freedoms and economic justice.

The Islamists, who rode to power after Mubarak's ouster, have their own vision for Egypt, which they say should adhere to an "Islamic identity" as they define it and preserve traditions.

The government says it has launched a campaign to beautify Tahrir Square, the center of anti-Mubarak protests. But activists saw it as a government attempt to blot out the calls for continued revolution and to assert that a new and stable system is now in place, under elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

"They are erasing history," Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the father of a 19-year old killed during the early days of anti-Mubarak protests, said as he stood at the mural street. "This is not my government. It doesn't represent me.Have you ever wondered about the mold making process?"

And for some, repainting the wall just underlined the feeling that the Islamists have snatched the prizes of the revolution.

"This is not about the wall. It is about everything happening in Egypt," said Nazly Hussein, one of the first to arrive at the scene to protest the paint job with a camera, live streaming the workers as they covered murals. "It is about territory they took away from us."

The anti-film protests, she said, showed how under Morsi's three-month-old rule progressives were still having to fight for basic issues like freedom of expression. She pointed to government crackdowns on strikes and the recent sentencing of a Coptic Christian to six years in prison for insulting the Prophet Muhammad and President Morsi. Still unaddressed are bigger goals of the revolution.

"This is about lowering our ceiling. Our real battle is about freedom. Now we are fighting about the right to insult the president or not,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs." she said. "All those on the wall died for bread, freedom and social justice," she said, referring to the martyr portraits.

After the intervention by activists, the municipal workers stopped the whitewashing at daybreak with only half the mural painted over. Graffiti artists moved in to start putting new images on the now white walls. By late Wednesday night, the municipal workers hadn't returned to finish their job, amid a media uproar over the mural erasure.

The first drawing to go up was a portrait of a young man sticking his green tongue as a taunt. "Do it again! Erase, you cowardly regime," was written beneath it.

Graffiti artist Ahmed Nadi painted a new caricature of Morsi, smiling smugly, with the words, "Happy now, Morsi?"

Ali Saleh, a 53-year old security guard at a nearby school, said the murals must stay as a reminder to authorities of the mistakes they committed.

"If we give up the graffiti, this would be the first nail in the coffin," he said. "We are in for a worse dictatorship than Mubarak's."

In an apparent damage control gesture, Morsi's Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said the whitewashing went against "intent to preserve the memory of the revolution," and urged artists to turn Tahrir square into a space that commemorates the revolution's martyrs.

The sense of progressives that the wall is their territory is deepened by its location. Mohammed Mahmoud Street saw dozens killed late last year and early this year as security forces repeatedly tried to crush youth protesting against police brutality and the military rule that followed Mubarak's fall. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists refused to join the protests.

Several of the activists accused the government and other Islamists of focusing on anger over the film to distract from the lack of real change since Egypt's first free election over the summer brought Morsi to power.

"Is this what will take Egypt forward now? Erasing the graffiti?" a school student in his teens shouted as the artists began to refill the wall with images.

"So long as we can't talk freely in this country, we still need walls to paint and songs to write," said Amr, an 18-year old business student, refusing to give his last name because of security officers who remained nearby.

"We are trying to be free. They don't want us to go down this road. They don't want a thinking people."

Many Egyptians,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. however,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. say they just want stability after more than 20 months of turmoil. Some residents of the Mohammed Mahmoud area were happy to see the murals go, ending a reminder of the battles on their doorstep.

"This is ugly," said Nour Nagati, referring to the graffiti of a man with his tongue out. "Paint me a flower, paint me a tree. This is a symbol of stability. But this provocation will only perpetuate provocation."

Another resident in the area, who says he lived in Germany for 20 years and is an agricultural engineer, objected to the new graffiti artists over the words "cowardly regime" they had just scrawled on the wall.

"Why should I wake up and find this profanity scribbled on the walls. I am Egyptian. This is not my culture. This is only for the Westerners," said the man, who wore the small beard of a conservative Muslim. He refused to give his name.

But the lines are not black and white in Egypt: Age can be as much a factor as ideology. A younger man in his 30s with the even longer beard of an ultraconservative Islamist interjected and defended the murals.

"Why the distinction between West and East when it comes to freedom of expression? There is no doubt that whoever represses and breaks up protests is a coward."

The engineer looked at him in surprise, thrown by the idea of an ultraconservative defending graffiti.

Tales both handed down and taken up

When Yukuwa went on view a month ago at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award exhibition in Darwin, it dominated the main gallery. How austere it was, and how majestic! It had a technical finesse and delicacy not seen before in bark paintings of such scale: it was steeped in tradition, yet its aesthetic was modern, it was intensely of its time. The piece won the dedicated prize for paintings on bark, a regional specialty of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land.

The artist herself was present. She stepped forward to speak on the opening-night stage. "I am Yanggarriny's daughter," she began -- and for aficionados of this art form, that was the key. Her father Yanggarriny Wunungmurra won the main NATSIAA prize in 1997 for a large, precisely balanced bark painting that depicted slender ancestral figures set against the diamond emblems of his Dhalwangu clan. Djirrrirra Wunungmurra had learned at her father's side; she helped him in the execution of his prize-winning work. Yanggarriny Wunungmurra painted at remote Gangan settlement, and he painted Gangan's stories: stories of the creator beings whose presence is still felt in that stringybark forest, and in the winding river channels of the region and its shining waterholes. He died there soon after he won his great prize, and is buried there -- and his daughter lives at Gangan to this day.

"He taught me well," says Djirrirra Wunungmurra. "I began to learn,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. and to help him, when I was just 16."

She was already painting barks and exploring ways of re-creating Gangan's world in paint when her father was still alive.HOWO is a well-known tractor's brand and howo tractor suppliers are devoted to designing and manufacturing best products. One of the subjects that he gave her to record was the fish-trap area of the Gangan river, a place known as Buyku -- a site in the landscape, but also the key design motif of her clan: a motif she rendered in classical fashion as a field of intense, finely detailed diamonds, on bark and on poles of stringybark. All her trademark elegance was in the work from the outset: her love, too, of building up impressions from the smallest reduplicated details. She made maze-like works that summoned up the tangle of the fish-trap but hinted, too at the cascade of metaphors the ancestral Yolngu story held.

Will Stubbs, the co-ordinator at the Buku-Larrnggay art centre, has turned over Wunungmurra's work in his thoughts for many years,This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. and has set out a brief explanation of the way bark paintings of sites as freighted with significance as Buyku might communicate their meaning to outsiders. "Each drop of Dhalwangu clan water has the Dhalwangu life force etched within it," he writes. "The design holds that essence." Hence the need for detail and precision in the painting; the pattern lays claim to the place, it proclaims the essence of the artist, it proclaims, too, that the place and the water there will hold the essence of the painter when that person is no longer in corporeal form. Wunungmurra's rhythmic "Buyku" works were quickly noticed when they went out into the art world. In 2008 she won the first prize in the TOGA art award, an open contemporary art show staged each year in Darwin.

That was when the vexation started. Who was she, a young woman, from her section of the clan group, to be painting that great theme, to be painting the key segment of the Dhalwangu river and its hieratic emblems? There was muttering within the community: it was petty jealousy, not an unfamiliar feature of remote outstation and homeland life.

Wunungmurra was outraged. She knew who she was. She was Yanggarriny Wunungmurra's daughter. She was the heir to his tradition. She left Gangan in protest, and took up residence in new country, in the Djapu clan's freshwater homeland of Wandawuy. There she stayed a few weeks, and brooded, and developed fresh resolve. Why shouldn't she paint, and paint what she wanted, and excel? If her detractors didn't want her painting the Buyku, she would paint her own identity, not her clan design. She would paint herself.Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. And what was she? Many things, for all Yolngu have a nested set of names: surface names, deep names, power names. One of hers was Yukuwa, the name of the winding, twisting yam-plant of the forest country.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety, She would paint the yukuwa, and make its design, and announce herself. Any objections to that?

And so it began. She went back to Gangan, quiet, determined, and looked around her, at the new styles of contemporary bark painting just then being explored for the first time. She saw how wide the possibilities had become. The rules -- the background rules of traditional painting -- were still very much in force, but you could be flexible within the form now, and you could paint objects, not just symbolic emblems -- on condition they were the right objects, imbued with the right tonality.

Wunungmurra prepared a set of white-clay covered barks. On them she began to trace out the yam vine's curving pathway, and found, at once, a beauty in the pattern of leaf and stem, and a capacity, too, for endless fine-grained modulations. "Sometimes," she says, "I paint one way, sometimes differently, changing the leaves, moving them round, painting up, then down, and it looks different.

"Sometimes I draw the plant going up and the leaves heading down, to make a change, sometimes they point only one way."

From the first these new works stood out: they looked very much like renaissance floral intertwinings on tapestries, they made a sharp appeal to Western connoisseurs. Keen-eyed gallerists like Melbourne's Vivien Anderson quickly realised that something striking had happened: here was Yolngu art that spoke directly of the interlacing beauties of the natural world. As always, though, with work from northeast Arnhem Land, things weren't quite that simple.

2012年9月18日星期二

After anti-Islam video and Muslim riots

In the wake of the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya,Find detailed product information for shamballa crys talbeads wholesale, and continued riots and attacks on US embassies worldwide, our traditional understanding of this ancient term takes on new meaning.

“Ambassador” is a title that signifies responsibility for relationship management between two foreign powers, and Amb. Stevens exemplified core virtues of respect and cultural understanding throughout his career.Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. His years as a Peace Corps volunteer exposed him to the challenges everyday people face, and his fluency in Arabic and French was more than many individuals in international public service can claim, as many never learn the language of the communities in which they serve.

And yet as exemplary as his leadership was, his best efforts were thwarted by a different kind of diplomat: a 21st century sort, a kind whose power has mirrored the rise (and near ubiquity) of global digital communications – an “everyday” ambassador.

We live in a world of instantaneous connectivity, in which our capacity to share opinions with global neighbors is nearly limitless, and the likelihood of governments blocking access to such content becomes less with every fallen dictator.Looking for the Best air purifier? We thus become ambassadors with every new piece of content we upload, taking international relationship management into our own hands. If we fail to take this responsibility seriously, we risk dire consequences.

Stevens’s murder, and continued riots across the Muslim world, reveal the consequences of irresponsible “everyday ambassadorship.” In this case, an everyday person produced and posted online the film “Innocence of Muslims,” that while poor in professional quality, clearly disparages Islam’s holy prophet Muhammad and seethes with hateful sentiments. Less than a decade ago, this would have negligibly impacted the navigation of international relations, but in a truly globalized online world, in which anyone can stand at the digital helm, it has set a brutal struggle in motion.

Though only a small fraction of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims are protesting the film in outrage,Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. the violence that continues suggests there is indeed a responsibility that comes alongside anyone’s right to free speech.

Everyday ambassadors no longer simply represent specific countries, but sets of values, and values now spread quickly and consequentially. Mobile communication and even Internet access is no longer a luxury of high-income citizens. When disparaging, insulting, and disrespectful statements are sent into the online ether, these values can proliferate. They proliferate faster the more we talk about an “other,High quality Wholesale gemstone beads,” and the less we have meaningful, respectful interaction with others not like us.

Through online channels, those interactions can collect into a jumbled twist of negative emotions, misunderstandings, and failed communications that can ultimately result in tragic offline consequences.

In a diverse world so naturally full of opposing viewpoints, how are we to avoid outcomes like those of the past week?

Ordinary Libyan people exemplified a poignant ideal of everyday ambassadorship in the hours immediately following Stevens’s death. Their immediate outpouring of support, love, and shared grieving for the American people, through pro-America rallies and especially via photographed poster messages shared widely online, clarified that the embassy attack “does not represent us.”

These citizens also revealed a secret to high-quality ambassadorship: using online spaces to communicate the same sincerity as if one were speaking face-to-face. Their actions – on- and off-line – reinstated a set of positive values that still have the potential to ripple out and promote more peaceful days ahead.

Ambassadorship is no longer a position reserved for elite citizens in the highest political echelons. It is a sacred responsibility that you and I hold in our hands every moment of every day. In this role, we are meant to build bridges – not burn them. We are called upon to use whatever influence we have to foster peace, not fuel violence.

A new Ontario winemaker raises eyebrows

It’s an inventive take on appassimento, the ancient process of winemaking popularized in grape-growing regions around Venice. But here in Norfolk County, on the shores of Lake Erie, the sight of grapes shrivelling in white climate-controlled sheds is so peculiar that a visitor half expects to see a gondola floating by in nearby Port Dover.Have you ever wondered about the mold making process?

“It’s very unusual, no question” says Mike McArthur, as we tour his Burning Kiln Winery on Front Rd. “But the kiln idea was almost an immediate connection for us. We just knew this was the way to go.”

Nobody starts a winery in Ontario to get rich. Even if you do everything right, everything could go wrong. The competition is fierce globally. The obstacles are agonizing locally. The costs are huge and the margins slim. It could take years — if ever — to recoup your seven-figure investment.

But just two years after its first harvest, Burning Kiln has managed to bottle this conventional wisdom and toss it out a barn window. In an industry that is often more gruelling hobby than lucrative business, Burning Kiln is rewriting the rules of viticulture, creating dazzling wines that are selling out, racking up awards and raising eyebrows across the oenophile world.

And as of last Saturday, consumers can buy Burning Kiln wine at the LCBO. So if you want to know why the 2010 Strip Room, a Bordeaux blend, is the official red wine inside the Ontario Legislative Assembly or why the winery was just recognized with a Premier’s Award For Agri-Food Innovation and Excellence, you can do so without typing “Norfolk County” into your GPS.

“Five years ago, people said, ‘You will never sell a $50 bottle of wine,’ ” says McArthur, referring to his Kiln Hanger, a full-bodied red. “Well, we do and we don’t have any problems doing it.”

When McArthur and his partners started Burning Kiln, they realized the winery needed a hook. Ontario’s South Coast,The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. after all, was a long way from the province’s recognized viticultural areas: Niagara Escarpment, Prince Edward County, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Pelee Island.

“The market is so competitive that you have to have a gimmick,” says George Taber, a wine historian and author of A Toast to Bargain Wines. “And the gimmick is innovation — something you are doing that nobody else is doing.”

This need to innovate comes at a time when wine quality is at an all-time high.

“When I was a young kid, there were really bad wines that adults drank,” says Elliott Morss, a former professor and economist who writes about addictive products. “You know, the sparkling rosés, the Chianti in the straw bottle. The most fundamental thing that’s happened worldwide is that all wines are good. So what you are seeing now is the rise of individual preferences.”

As Burning Kiln discovered, the appassimento process — the time-honoured technique of drying the grapes before pressing, which increases sugar content while intensifying flavour and aroma — has mass appeal. But using kilns was mereThe TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility.ly the final stage in a meticulously planned operation that could serve as a blueprint for future wineries.

The story begins nearly a decade ago, when McArthur, a lawyer, was guest lecturing at Brock University. One afternoon, he sat down in the cafeteria next to Anthony Shaw, a geography professor and fellow with Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute.

McArthur told Shaw that he and business partner Dave Pond had just bought 37 acres of land near St. Williams, home to their Long Point Eco-Adventures. They also wanted to start a winery.

Tobacco used to be the cash crop in the fields that dot the horizon from St. Thomas to Cayuga, Woodstock to Turkey Point. McArthur’s grandfather was a tobacco farmer when he arrived from the former Czech Republic in the 1930s.

As that industry was extinguished in the ’90s, McArthur wondered if vinifera grapes could fill the agricultural void. Shaw thought conditions — the sand-plain, a temperate climate, moderate winters, the jet stream, the lake reservoir, nutrient-rich soil — would be ideal.

He asked McArthur if he could install environmental sensors on the Eco-Adventures property. A few months later, Shaw called with startling news: “I think you guys are sitting on the next great wine region in Canada.”

This research, says McArthur, was critical to the success of Burning Kiln. You can’t control the weather. But,Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs. increasingly, weather can control a vineyard.

“Winemakers throughout the world have been dealing with climate change for the last 10 or 15 years,” says Brian Schmidt, chair of VQA Ontario and winemaker at Niagara’s Vineland Estate Winery.

This summer, between May and July, Schmidt’s vineyard received only 46 millimetres of precipitation. As a result, his son and nephew were out in the fields day after day, driving spikes into the scorched earth and using water lances to reach the root systems of younger, vulnerable vines.

When we chat, Schmidt is on his tractor, in the midst of spraying vines with a solution that will deliver small amounts of nitrogen, magnesium and boron directly to the leaves for absorption.

As he observes: “This is an expense that I’m not traditionally accustomed to.”

Ontario winemakers are now deploying wind machines, drip-irrigation systems and crop covers,The indoor positioning industry is heavily involved this year in a pitched battle with Mother Nature. But reacting to climate change in real time leaves no time to plan for the distant future.

“The growers are really doing a good job in adjusting gradually,” says Brock’s Shaw. “The problem is most growers are not thinking about long-term changes in climate because they are just trying to adjust to the day-to-day activities and year-to-year variations.”

Restriction underscores control of speech

GOOGLE lists eight reasons on its “YouTube Community Guidelines” page for why it might take down a video. Inciting riots is not among them. But after the White House warned last Tuesday that a crude anti-Muslim movie trailer had sparked lethal violence in the Middle East, Google acted.

Days later, controversy over the 14-minute clip from The Innocence of Muslims was still roiling the Islamic world, with access blocked in Egypt, Libya, India, Indonesia and Afghanistan — keeping it from easy viewing in countries where more than a quarter of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims live.

Legal experts and civil libertarians, meanwhile, said the controversy highlighted how Internet companies, most based in the United States, have become global arbiters of free speech, weighing complex issues that traditionally are the province of courts, judges and, occasionally, international treaties.

“Notice that Google has more power over this than either the Egyptian or the US government,” said Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor.

“Most free speech today has nothing to do with governments and everything to do with companies.”

In temporarily blocking the video in some countries, legal experts say, Google implicitly invoked the concept of “clear and present danger.”

That’s a key exception to the broad First Amendment protections in the United States, where free speech is more jealously guarded than almost anywhere in the world.

The Internet has been a boon to free speech, bringing access to information that governments have long tried to suppress.

Recall last spring’s freewheeling Internet chatter over Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident, as he evaded arrest in a country known for its tight control of news sources.

Google has positioned itself as an ally of such freedoms, as newspapers, book publishers and television stations long have. But because of the immediacy and global reach of Internet companies, they face particular challenges in addressing a variety of legal restrictions, cultural sensitivities and, occasionally, national security concerns.

“Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter now play this adjudicatory role on free speech,” said Andrew McLaughlin, a former top policy official at Google who later worked for the Obama White House as deputy chief technology officer.

Nazi propaganda, for example, can be found on Google. com but not Google.de, the site tailored for use in Germany, where such speech is illegal.

In the United States,Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE Gifts. images of animal cruelty can be found through Google’s search algorithm — which is a key tool for legitimate researchers — but are blocked on YouTube, which the company owns but strives to give a more PG sensibility, blocking pornography, gratuitous violence and hate speech. Despite Google’s history as a steward of appropriate content, the White House outreach on the movie clip was remarkable, longtime observers of the company say.

Upset foreign governments occasionally block YouTube entirely within their borders to stop a video from being watched, as Afghanistan has done.

Sometimes governments formally ask Google to block a YouTube video, which India and Indonesia have both done with the controversial movie clip. (Google said it complies with legal, written requests by governments to block videos from being viewed in their countries.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications.)

But for the White House to ask Google to review a video that was causing trouble in a foreign land was an unusual step — and perhaps unprecedented.

McLaughlin, the former Google and White House official, could think of no similar request in the past.

Both government and Google officials said the company made its own decision after the White House raised the issue of the video on Tuesday,Sinotruck Hongkong International is special for howo truck. the day that US Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring.

Google said it decided to block the video in Egypt and Libya because of the “very sensitive situations there” and not because the White House requested it.

The decision has drawn an uneasy reaction, with some civil libertarians blasting Google for essentially censoring access for some potential viewers.

The motives of both Google and the White House drew suspicion this week,HOWO is a well-known tractor's brand and howo tractor suppliers are devoted to designing and manufacturing best products. with some saying that US officials might have sought to send a political message — distancing the United States from the anti-Muslim video — by revealing their efforts to have it blocked. The officials had no legal authority to demand action, legal experts say.

“It’s a little bit of censorship and a little bit of diplomacy in a difficult situation,” said Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties for the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society.

Yet the controversy has highlighted how much of the world’s information is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of powerful companies. Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain said these “corporate gatekeepers” are essential to keeping free speech robust.

2012年9月16日星期日

Making waves in the art world

Karen Sherry felt spellbound last week when a team of gloved couriers and art preparators removed the Winslow Homer oil painting "On a Lee Shore" from its wooden crate and prepared to place it on the wall at the Portland Museum of Art.

Inch by inch, foot by foot, the painting revealed itself as workers lifted the heavy framed canvas from its wrappings. The force of he churning green waves, white with foam and crashing hard against the rocks, came into view. It nearly staggered Sherry, the museum's curator of American art.

"You finally see the painting live, and standing in front of it, you can fully appreciate its visual impact,Natural Chinese turquoise beads at Wholesale prices." she said. "There is such complexity to its surfaces, to its compositional design. You can really feel the scale of the work and how you as a viewer relate to the work. You can look at a painting like that for a long time in a book or on the computer. But you can only get that sensual experience when you look at it live in the gallery."

On Saturday, the Portland Museum of Art formally opens one of the most ambitious exhibitions in its history: "Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine." The exhibition includes 38 paintings, watercolors and etchings that Homer made while living nearby at Prouts Neck in Scarborough.

The American artist lived there from 1883 until his death in the studio in 1910. In tandem with the exhibition, the museum will open Homer's studio to the public, the result of an extensive six-year preservation project. The museum will offer guided tours of the studio beginning Sept. 25.The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility.

With so much attention paid to the studio and the museum's extensive preservation effort, it's easy to overlook what the hoopla is about in the first place: Homer was a very fine painter, perhaps the most accomplished painter of nature in American art history.

This exhibition examines Homer's career with a tight focus on his 27 years in Prouts Neck. Aside from its remarkable simplicity, the distinguishing feature of Homer's studio is its location.Where can i get a reasonable price dry cabinet? It's situated a short distance from the rocks, and looks out with a sprawling view of the Atlantic Ocean.

Homer capitalized on that view. As he settled into his life in Maine, he populated his paintings with human activity less and less as he focused his attention on the landscape and dramatic seascapes. Human figures still showed up in his work, but played a smaller role.

Instead of happy young people celebrating America's youthful spirit as some of his earlier painting had done (perhaps most famously in "Snap the Whip," 1872), these late-career works depict fishermen and their wives tending to nets or looking forlornly over the gloomy sea.

In Maine, Homer became a painter so committed to his muse and his place that he created one painting after another of the timeless process of wave on rock. His need for people to narrate his stories diminished.

Sherry encourages visitors to pay attention to the details and variety within a single subject.

"I think many art historians and possibly also the public tend to think of these works as a unified whole,Kitchen floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles." she said. "This show will reveal the complexity of Homer's work at Prouts Neck. He did a lot of seascapes while he was there,Find a mold maker or Mold Service Provider. but I am finding myself amazed at the subtle variety of the seascapes. He makes every painting different and unique.

The museum cast a wide net assembling this show. There are several major paintings on view, including "Fox Hunt," on loan from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Homer painted it in 1893 on a canvas that's almost 6 feet wide. It's his largest painting, and considered by many to be one of the most important paintings in American history.

"Fox Hunt" depicts a flock of crows descending on a fox mired in deep snow. The Pennsylvania Academy bought it from Homer soon after he completed it. It's a masterpiece because of its layered complexity, Sherry said. It's beautifully designed, with sophisticated composition and precise technical execution.

It's also thematically complicated. Homer thinks about nature in evolutionary terms, conjuring the Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest. We don't know if the fox survives the hungry crows; Homer leaves to our imagination the cacophony of the attack that is moments away.

But the painting goes deeper than that. Pay attention to Homer's signature. He makes his identification with the fox clear by altering his signature in the lower left corner to resemble the shape of the fox.

So important is this painting that the museum gives it an entire wall. It is the last painting in "Weatherbeaten," cast against a gray wall. It is visible from throughout the gallery and will serve as a magnet, beckoning people slowly toward the exit for a long period of contemplation.

Securing "Fox Hunt" was no easy task, said Mark Bessire, the museum's director. If fact, he added, none of the work came easily. Loans came from throughout the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and many others.