Introduce Foreign Manufacturing Licensing Program in 2012

Olde World Stone and Tile Molds, Inc. has been manufacturing and marketing concrete products and molds to make concrete stone, pavers, cement tile, brick veneer, and other garden and home improvement products for over twenty years. About eight years ago, they started marketing their products directly to consumers here in the United States via their TheMoldStore website. As a result of their marketing efforts, their customer base has expanded far beyond the shores of the USA rapidly.Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. Regarding that fact, Olde World’s Founder and President John Panagos said, “While our sales have grown dramatically here in the States each year since opening our online eStore, as has our foreign shipments, I firmly feel that we have not even scratched the surface of the potential foreign consumer market. We have such strong demand for our products from consumers internationally, but unfortunately the shipping costs present a hardship for many of them. As a result, about 30% of our foreign orders are cancelled due to the high cost of shipping.”

Mr. Panagos then adds, “So – we are currently working on a program to expand the manufacturing of our molds under a licensing program for entrepreneurs or existing businesses in other countries.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. Basically, we plan to export a complete business start-up package that includes training, master molds, the technology and systems information we currently use, on-going support, and everything necessary to start and operate a foreign operation duplicating our USA based TheMoldStore business model. And since we pride ourselves on the fact that all raw materials used in our manufacturing process are ‘Made in America’, our suppliers will benefit greatly from this expansion overseas as well.”

In addition to hard assets, there will be a central on-line support and training web site for the Licensee's customers. It will be an exact duplication of what we offer in the United States, and include videos, tutorials,Rubiks cubepuzzle. and photos. The Licensee will create and manage their on-line eStore, and service that country or Master License area. Any foreign orders received by TheMoldStore USA operation will be forwarded to the originating country Licensee, if one exists.

According to Panagos, “We hope to have our Licensing Program finalized shortly, and have our new Licensees committed by the end of 2012. In summary, we plan to offer a manufacturing License to make and supply our molds and other products to specific licensed countries. The Licensee will receive mold masters, the technology and complete training, instructions and guidance in the manufacturing and marketing process, as well as ongoing support. They will operate a clone of TheMoldStore business model,This page is an introduction to 35 pages of material on mathematical magiccubes. as well as our Olde World Stone Business Opportunity business model.Find rubberhose companies from India. This will enable them to set up small concrete products manufacturers through the sale of Business Start-up Packages, as we do here.” According to Mr. Panagos, his business model is designed to provide a wholesale mold and chemical customer base for the Licensee. This is in addition to the retail base acquired through the Licensees’ TheMoldStore eStore. License fees will be based on population and business potential, as well as factors like the amount of time and help needed in setting up their business.

So much's cooking underground

Basements have personalities. Individual, obstinate, defiant. Small bands begin here, fuelled by ambition, cheap coffee and cold pizza. Artists, designers and DJs are encouraged by their cheap rents. Also underground bars, cheeky cafes and rebellious night clubs.

However, nothing stays bohemian for long. Today, a slew of trendy chefs operate from basements. The challenges are unchanged, however.Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. No windows offering natural light. An unshakably brooding character. Logistical difficulties at every step, starting with providing an outlet for kitchen smoke.

Newly opened ‘Fresca by Sandy's' ingeniously embraces these impediments, allowing them to mould the restaurant's character. The basement restaurant, run by engineer-turned- owner-chef Sandesh Reddy is cool, dim and smoky. Its spirit of laissez faire is evident when the door swings open, revealing a room done in deep reds and chocolate browns, rife with the sound of jazz, shouts of laughter and smoky scent of baking pizza. We sit beside its bustling open kitchen, facing a blackboard on which the day's ‘specials' are scrawled with coloured chalk.

This is Sandesh's seventh opening, and it has a smooth self-confidence that comes from lessons learned the hard way. He's best known for Sandy's,Excel Mould is a Custom Plastic injectionmoulding Maker. an ambitious café-restaurant particularly popular with the city's ‘smart-set' who pop by for bespoke salads and macchiatos. Fresca replaces Maya, his attempt at creating a fine dining space showcasing the food of Nellore, his hometown. The stodginess of this basement location worked against it. Incredibly, the very same space is an asset now. It makes the restaurant feel like a secret getaway. An escape down the rabbit hole.

‘Gourmet pizza' sounds so pretentious you'll want to kick its face in, so we'll avoid the term. Let's just say there are no paper napkins or plastic spoons.Distributes and manufactures rubbermats. The food, like the venue, confidently finds its own niche: Italian flavours with strong traditional roots, but enough flexibility to embrace local ingredients and tastes.

We begin with chilled Ajo Blanco soup, grainy with almonds and scattered with juicy braised grapes. It's tasty but no match for the rest of the starters, a march of small, fastidiously arranged plates. Speck melon salad, with sweet melon scoops the colour of sunset. They're set against the saltiness of speck, and a cluster of peppery green leaves. Carpaccio, delicately balancing the flavours of thinly sliced meat and its bed of mustard mayonnaise. It's topped by shards of Parmesan reggiano and the same peppery leaves. “Paruppu keerai,” Sandesh chuckles.

He goes on to tell us about their ‘Veg Gathering' pizza, with makhani, pickled vegetables, baby corn and mozzarella. It's the closest thing to navaratan kurma with cheese garlic naan!” Irreverence is always interesting. Fresca thrives on surprise. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn't. Our three cheese ravioli with wine butter has luscious handmade pasta, but its sauce, punctuated by sharp pickled cucumbers, veers on overwhelming.

However, this willingness to experiment isn't a bad thing.We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. Especially when the kitchen gets it right. Our pizza is a jigsaw of flavours, colours and textures. The hand-stretched dough is light and delectably uneven, with browned crisp edges and a molten centre soppy with rich béchamel sauce. It's topped with crunchy stewed figs and slices of thick cut Belgian bacon.

Dessert includes Nutella tiramisu, drenched in Tia Maria and dark rum with a strong espresso backbone. Wobbly pannacotta, speckled with vanilla. And Bocca Negra, a molten, dark, pure chocolate hit.

Fresca pays attention to detail, essential with so many elements on each plate. Recipes may be simple, but they're also unforgiving. With very small room for error, which could make this tough food to execute on busy days. Sandesh is a fan of the sassy new-age chefs like New York's David Chang, and his influences come from around the world.Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. The food reflects this. It's ambitious, indulgent and specific. He basically cooks what he likes to eat. If that works for you, you'll luxuriate in Fresca.

Discover cool and unique places all over the world with the new Unlike app

Anyone who has read the Unlike city guides will know they adhere to a particular style – they specialise in places that have a certain ‘cool’ factor. This core branding is at the heart of the all-new Unlike, a global app which aggregates user-generated points of interest (POIs) and curates the best, or at least the coolest.

And that makes it much more than merely a generic free-for-all POI generator, according to founder Marley Fabisiewicz.

The new iOS app, which will launch the user-generated features, is currently in private beta, with the Android equivalent to be relaunched soon and a Windows version pencilled in for later. Users will be able to create their own POIs with or without a picture and explanation. They can then make these POIs private or public,TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000. with the latter option ensuring they show up in global feed.

And POIs can also be organised into guides – perhaps a personalised one for your friend who is visiting from abroad, or maybe a public one for the world to see.

Marley told Silicon Allee the the global feed is at the core of the new Unlike service: “User stuff, editorial stuff, whatever, in real time you see everything from all round the world in the global feed.”

But in order to be featured on the Unlike homepage of city landing pages, your POI needs to be selected by an editor, who curates the best user-generated content and pushes it out in a more prominent way.

Users can follow each other Twitter-style, and can see the (public) content of whoever they follow. So when you load up the app and look for places nearby, you not only see the editorial listings but also entries from your friends and contacts.

“It’s like a bookmark for places,” Marley added. If you are on the go and see somewhere you like, you can take a quick snapshot and add it to your favourites and it will come up in your stream the next time you are in the area.

Unlike began in 2007, born out of frustration of not being able to find the right places to go when travelling and not finding anything online. Beginning in Berlin, the young startup was boosted immeasurably by the launch of the first iPhone – especially when the first Unlike app was selected by Apple as an app of the month.

That attracted plenty of hype as well as seed investors.So indoor Tracking might be of some interest. But with the team trying to,Choose from our large selection of cableties, in Marley’s words, “conquer the world” by expanding too quickly, the financial crisis struck right in the middle of their first financing round. The investor got cold feet and pulled out at the last minute.

Unlike went into hibernation, with Marley heading for South Africa to enjoy a “mini retirement – go surfing, cycling and other stuff.” But the positive feedback didn’t let up and eventually the project was back on the table. This time, however, there was no search for investment; instead,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? the emphasis was put on finding advertisers and sponsors to help pay the bills.

With companies like Samsung,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. Mercedes-Benz and Levi’s now involved, this has formed the basis of the new Unlike business model. The company is also working on content partnerships, for example integrating with Airbnb through the API so that someone looking at an apartment will also see a list of the nearby Unlike cool spots.

This kind of integrated advertising is extremely attractive for brands like Lufthansa which need to vastly improve how they communicate with the type of people who use Unlike.

As for content on the new platform, it was decided that the one-dimensional city guide framework would no longer cut it; user-generated content was the answer.

Marley added: “With the very strong positioning we have, it was pretty clear what the quality of content should look like. So we don’t expect people to post McDonalds or Pizza Hut, but rather the cool things.”

In addition to the satisfaction of seeing their content picked out by the editors, the company is also planning to encourage users by creating Unlike ambassadors who will receive special rights to publish directly onto the website, as well as incentives in the form of special deals on travel, hotels etc.

Your System Is Not The Boss Of You

Imagine that you have just hired a very experienced and skilled expert. You introduce him to your team and set the expectation that this new expert will help you improve your entire team’s performance.

Shortly after you hire the expert,Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design you encounter your first few opportunities to explain how you want him to do certain things in order to facilitate how your team and your business operates. His reply is, “I don’t want to do it that way.”

Your expert continuously makes things difficult and repeatedly does things his own way, which makes life harder, instead of better, for you and your team. What would you do?

I hope that most everyone would choose option 1. Even though it can be a little embarrassing to admit that we made a hiring selection mistake, we wouldn’t accept a human employee that resists adapting to our business’s or team’s needs and way of work. We also don’t let curmudgeons stop progress toward business and process improvement as we drive change, just because they don’t want to change. We make them adapt or go away.

Why then do we so readily accept that a system, either a piece of capital equipment, or a software program, or a bygone policy, prevent us from designing our processes the way we know we want or need them to be? Take a look at your own organization. Chances are, somewhere in your environment is a process that is less than optimal because the pain of accepting it is perceived to be less than the pain of changing the hardware or software. It happens everywhere.

From the cold perspective of considering resources, the only difference between people and equipment or software systems is that we don’t have to pay benefits, including unemployment benefits, for our equipment. Therefore, it should be easier, not harder to fire equipment and software for not doing what we need. But we typically don’t.

I ran into two examples just this week. One friend explained to me a conversation in which her organization proposed that Certification and Conformance (an important function at this business to ensure user safety) approval of engineering changes to designs should be awarded before the drawing and design changes were finalized. Apparently,About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. it is too hard to make their software system adapt to the approval occurring afterward.

Fortunately, she vehemently refused the proposal.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties. What guarantee is there that the changes proposed are incorporated precisely and correctly, without error or an innocent, but dangerous alteration to a component call-out or drawing note?

As objective readers, we can see the obvious absurdity of the proposal, but at the time, peering into the face of changing the software system set-up, the team thought the idea was a good one. Watch for this in your own organization. Do like my friend did, and point out when we are allowing our “expert” systems, implemented at great expense for the sole purpose of serving us and making our lives better, dictate to us how things are going to be.

Another friend of mine was lamenting that personnel in his organization were,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. for a time, recording their work hours in five different locations; not five different categories in five different records, five separate recordings of the exact same time sheet. His organization has successfully eliminated two of them, but has not managed to get the various systems communicating well enough to eliminate two more.

He went on to observe that only minute portions of “hundred-thousand dollar” software packages were utilized because it was too much trouble to make them do what was desired. Most of what they were used to do could be done more effectively with a clipboard and paper, in his opinion. The only reason the software was used at all was because it was so expensive they had to do something with it. Sound familiar?

FTC Announces Settlement With Oreck Corporation

The Federal Trade Commission has been busy. On the heels of its $40 million settlement with Skechers, one of the largest of its kind, the Commission yesterday announced that it has settled with Oreck Corporation regarding allegedly unsubstantiated claims that the company made regarding its Halo vacuum cleaner and ProShield Plus portable air purifier. Oreck has agreed to pay $750,000, which will be disbursed to affected consumers via $25 refund checks, and has further agreed to refrain from making certain identified advertising claims without adequate substantiation. As is customary in these types of proceedings, Oreck has neither admitted nor denied the FTC's allegations but has agreed to abide by the FTC's consent order (in this case, a twenty-year order) as a means of resolving the dispute.

Although the monetary component of the Oreck settlement is significantly smaller than that of the Skechers settlement, the underlying issues are similar. In each case, the FTC alleged that the marketers made claims about the health effects or efficacy of their products that were not adequately substantiated and were, therefore, misleading to consumers.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. The FTC pursued Oreck for allegedly unsubstantiated claims that its Halo vacuum cleaner and ProShield Plus air cleaner would: (a) reduce the risk of the flu, (b) reduce the risk of other ailments caused by bacteria, viruses, molds or allergens, and (c) eliminate all or some specified percentage of germs, bacteria, dust mites, molds, viruses or allergens.

One of the ads featured in the FTC's complaint depicts a woman standing in a wallpapered room (a kitchen, judging by the floral design) wearing a gas mask.We are professional canada goose jackets for women online sale shop. The ad asks, "WANT A NEW WAY TO HELP BATTLE THE FLU?" and reports that testing showed "up to a 99% reduction in airborne particles."

Another ad depicts the Oreck Halo vacuum cleaner emitting a stylized, blue UV-C light with the words "KILLS FLU GERMS." The ad claims that the Halo is "the only vacuum in the world that uses powerful UV-C light to kill many of the germs that could be living on your floors, such as the flu" and states that the Halo "traps 99.9% of particulates down to 0.3 microns."

According to the FTC, these and similar claims were not adequately substantiated at the time they were made. It is not possible to tell from the documents disclosed publicly what level of substantiation Oreck had at the time it disseminated the ads. In typical fashion, the FTC's complaint alleges merely that "respondent did not possess and rely upon a reasonable basis that substantiated the representations," and the consent judgment prohibits similar claims unless at the time the claim is made,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. "respondent possesses and relies upon competent and reliable scientific evidence that is sufficient in quality and quantity based on standards generally accepted in the relevant scientific fields" to substantiate that the claim is true. Accordingly, as with the Skechers settlement,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? there is little specific guidance in the settlement documents for marketers who wish to play by the FTC's rules when it comes to substantiating health and efficacy claims.

Without clear interpretive guidance from the FTC,Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, and in light of the subjective inquiry required to determine whether a particular claim is reasonably supported by scientific evidence, the prospect of making health or efficacy claims can be daunting. However, as previously discussed, marketers can minimize their risk by keeping in mind the following key points, which have emerged from recent FTC actions.

'Lean Thinking' Seminar at GSE Dispensing's drupa Stand

Two senior academics and specialists in lean management workflows, Prof.It's pretty cool but our ssolarpanel are made much faster than this. Malcolm Keif and Prof. Kevin Cooper provided advice for packaging printers on how to drive waste from the workflow and adopt lean production methods during a seminar held at the drupa stand of GSE Dispensing.

Prof. Keif and Prof. Cooper,Wireless real realtimelocationsystem utlilizing wifi access points to pinpoint position of the tag. from the Graphic Communication Department of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, USA , have researched and published extensively on lean management.

Professor Cooper, a professor of graphic communication, said: "We think lean management is portable and applicable to every industry.Exhaust ventilationsystem work by depressurizing the building. Printers too are driven to look for leaner production methods because of the increasingly competitive conditions facing their industry right now."

"Lean management is principled on two foundational items: continuous improvement and respect for people,” Cooper added. “Both of these are focused on finding ways to create value and to drive waste out of the business. To make printers more competitive at a time when printing runs are getting shorter, we think it is critical to adopt lean principles, reduce setup times and be focused on customer value,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design to remain competitive in printing."

Malcolm Keif, who specialises in flexography, quality management,The core of an indoor positioning system. lean thinking and printed electronics, explained that good colour management has an important role to play in the lean manufacturing environment: "So much of the preparation time is dedicated to colour-matching on press. We know of job changeovers taking over an hour because of the efforts needed for ink toning and getting the right match for a spot colour. It is impossible to maintain a lean environment unless one takes the colour-matching process off-line. The printer must aim to get the perfect colour-match on the first attempt after starting up the press. A robust process is needed to ensure colour perfection. GSE Dispensing brings that to the table with its dispensing systems, ink management software and proofing systems."

Prof. Cooper added: “The first stage in the adoption of a lean process is education because one has to understand the concept first, build teams, and empower and manage the workforce.”

Keif and Cooper, who have both worked in the graphics industry for over 20 years, have co-authored a book focused on lean management issues entitled ’Setup Reduction for Printers’.

Maarten Hummelen, marketing director at GSE Dispensing, comments: “The high level of competition, volatile raw materials prices and shorter production runs make the search for added value more acute than ever. Packaging print converters must adopt a lean management philosophy to combat these challenges. We share Prof. Keif and Prof. Cooper’s vision of a lean value chain. Everything we do is aimed at empowering printers to apply that vision in an ink logistics context as well.”

GSE Dispensing helps packaging printers reduce ink waste from the workflow with gravimetric ink dispensing systems that mix spot colours in less than three minutes, table-top flexo proofing systems and software that provides per-job ink costings, real-time stock analysis, tracking of all inks to original batches and various management reports.

Easy year-round front entry plantings

The front entry needs to look pleasant year-round and ought to be easy to care for as well. This is especially important for my reader, whose husband has significant health challenges. Time is precious for this family, as is a serene environment.

The first thing to do here is to put a 2-foot-wide, 8-inch-deep strip of crushed gravel between the house (right against the wall) and the planting beds. This becomes a barrier for insects and prevents molds and mildews from building up on the house or the plants. It's a place to stand when painting the house and also puts plants where they get good air flow and rain on their roots, which reduces disease.

Next, bring out the beds and make them wider. Removing some mossy lawn is no loss and wider beds will look more in scale with the house. They will also require even less care than lawn, once established. Make the beds 3 feet wide or more and improve the soil with compost, mounding the beds 8-10 inches above grade.

Next,Find rubberhose companies from India. choose low-growing, tidy-looking plants that won't outgrow their position. For front entries, I prefer combinations of compact broad-leaved evergreen shrubs and evergreen perennials, with some seasonal color to add interest. The key is to choose evergreens that remain small and shapely at maturity,This page is an introduction to 35 pages of material on mathematical magiccubes. eliminating the need for pruning.

Small spaces can look sadly busy unless carefully planted. For a unifying effect, use multiples of just a few kinds of plants and pick a simple color theme, such as all white flowers. For contrast, select plants with a variety of leaf sizes, forms, and textures. The result will be harmonious and pleasant with very little effort.

Shade-tolerant shrubs include compact rhododendrons like Moonstone, a handsome plant with a mature height and width of 3 feet. This dapper creature has creamy, off-white flowers and natural good looks. Another fine choice would be a compact lily of the valley shrub. Pieris japonica Cavatine matures at 2 feet high and wide, its slender green foliage deeply veined in cream. In spring, each branch tip is covered with white bell flowers. Naturally compact, slowly spreading Viburnum davidii matures at 3 feet high and 3-4 feet wide. This attractive shrub combines deep green, heavily quilted foliage with clustered white flowers followed by metallic blue berries.

Evergreen shade perennials include hellebores such as Ivory Prince, which reaches 12-18 inches and flowers from late winter into spring. Copper-tinted Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) adds pretty texture and color year-round. Rich green Irish moss (Sagina subulata) makes a handsome evergreen groundcover, with black mondo grass for contrast. Spring bulbs such as crocus, snowdrops, and white windflower (Anemone blanda) will lend seasonal interest,Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. as will plantings of impatiens in summertime.Rubiks cubepuzzle.

Annual care consists mainly of adding compost every spring and fall, tucking it around shrubs and perennials and raking it lightly into any ground cover. When aging hellebore foliage flops,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. remove it as close to the base as possible to avoid disease problems.

When bulb foliage fades, tuck the browning leaves under surrounding ferns and hide them with compost. Always let bulb foliage dry up fully before removing it so the bulbs can replenish themselves and return next season.

Adds the Revolutionary Vortex Desk Lamp which Features Samsung's SPI Air Purifier

Air Purifiers Direct 2U is going after their market share of online air purifier sales by continuing to find and add Top Products to its online retail website. Their most current acquisition is the Vortex Desk Lamp with a SPI Air Purifier. Samsung already has great brand recognition and will fit in well with the other quality air purifiers that they currently sell on their website.

"We're always looking for the best of the best to add to our site: quality, value, and variety," says Barb Lulay,TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000. owner of Air Purifiers Direct 2U and President. She adds, "By combining the revolutionary SPI air purification technology with a top quality LED desk lamp, Vortex Enterprises made a perfect product for any setting. This SPI air purifier by Samsung purifies air up to 175 sq ft." Lulay continues, "Just imagine how this combination can benefit any office, school, daycare, and especially college environment.

The lighting itself is outstanding with 1200 lux brightness, only 12 Watt (energy savings with only .11/KwH), no flickering, and a 50,Silicone moldmaking Rubber,000 hours lifespan. By combining this with Samsung’s phenomenal SPI technology which not only eliminates over 99% of air contaminants like viruses, mold, bacteria, and even MRSA but also is certified to eliminate pet dander, dust mites and more, you now have the best of the best. We're excited to be able to offer this kind of air purification in a portable lamp design so you can take it with you to hotels etc.”

The main reason that Air Purifiers Direct 2U wanted to carry the Vortex Desk Lamp with the SPI Air Purifier was because of the Green Movement across the country these days. "Everywhere you look, people are looking for healthier air with more effective energy usage," Lulay says. “This product not only is extremely energy efficient but also does an outstanding job purifying the air without ozone. This is critical to protect you and the environment no matter where you are."

“The Vortex Lamp will fit in well with our other air purifiers because it is a niche of its own.Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? This is an ideal gift idea and is also portable which makes it somewhat different than what we currently offer. Its quality and uniqueness is what attracted us to it in the first place,” says Lulay.

Lulay says. "We don’t want to overlap our products and confuse our customers. It's already a tough decision for a consumer to find the right air purifier, and we don't want to complicate that situation by offering too many products that are too similar in nature and price." Lulay concludes, "We're a simple operation just trying to find great products for our customers to purchase and then have them know that they've made a quality purchase. We're proud to say that Vortex Enterprises and our other products can do exactly that for them."

Vortex Enterprises will fit in well with other Top Brands on their site such as AirFree Air Purifiers, AllerAir Air Purifiers,Features useful information about glassmosaic tiles, Austin Air Purifiers, Blueair Air Purifiers, Rabbit Air Purifiers, and NQ Clarifier Air Purifiers and more.

Air Purifiers Direct 2U is an online Air Purifier Superstore that sells top brand air purifiers and their accessories like filters. They have been in business since 2006, have outstanding customer reviews, and offer the lowest prices online including no shipping charges and taxfree options. Furthermore, they are a family owned, US business.

Solar-Panel Glut Claims Day4 Energy

Another once-promising Canadian solar power company is about to disappear from the public markets, as depressed solar-panel prices claim another victim.

Day4 Energy Inc., of Burnaby, British Columbia, said Monday it will sell itself to senior managers in exchange for the assumption of debt, and it will apply to delist its stock from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The move follows the bankruptcy this spring of Arise Technologies Corp.An indoorpositioningsystem for Improved Action Force Command and Disaster Management., a Cambridge, Ontario, public company that built a state-of-the-art solar-panel plant in Germany but ran into trouble raising financing.

Solar cell and panel makers around the world have been struggling because of sharply falling prices caused by a glut of panels on the market.

There has been a spate of bankruptcies and insolvencies worldwide, and even some of the biggest companies, such as Germany's Q-Cells and Arizona-based First Solar Inc. have restructured, closed plants or laid off workers.

Day4 President and Chief Executive George Rubin said in an interview Monday that the solar market has been hit by a "multitude" of problems, including overcapacity, competition from low-cost Chinese panel makers, and a decline in government subsidies in many countries, particularly in Europe.

Rubin said Day4 needs to reduce "a whole ton of costs," and turning it into a private company will eliminate the considerable expenses of a public listing. Eventually, the industry will turn around and the lower panel prices will boost demand sharply, but that point is likely at least a year away, and perhaps much longer, he said.

In the meantime, getting Day4 back on track "is not going to be a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination," he said. The company's revenue fell 60% in 2011 to $66 million, and its loss quadrupled to $41 million.

Khurram Malik, an analyst at Jacob Securities Inc. in Toronto, said Day4 had "fabulous technology" for making solar cells, but that just doesn't cut it when solar panels are becoming a commodity business.

Both Day4 and Arise made advanced panels at high price points, but those kinds of firms are the ones hurting the most at the moment, Malik said. "The low-end guys are the only ones getting any traction at all. It is hard to compete in that space and try to sell a premium product."

Under the arrangement announced Monday, a private company controlled by Rubin and Day4 Chief Financial Officer Douglas Keith will buy all the company's business and assets. They'll pay $500,000 and assume all of the company's liabilities. Day4 will also apply to have its shares voluntarily taken off the TSX--although the exchange was already conducting an eligibility review of the stock.

The sale of the company will have to be approved by shareholders at the annual meeting set for June 27.

The delisting of Day4 will mark the end of public trading for a company that raised $100 million in its initial public offering in 2007, at $7.25 a share. At the time, the firm was led by John MacDonald, one of Canada's leading entrepreneurs who had been a co-founder of space technology leader MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

Since the time of the IPO, however, Day4 stock has been on a steady downward trajectory, and it has been trading below 10 cents a share for the past couple of months.

Day4 tried to insulate itself from some of the industry's problems by licensing its solar cell technology to other manufacturers.Apply for a merchantaccountes and accept credit cards today. But the company noted in its most recent financial statements that these clients were also hit by the problems facing the industry, and were cutting back and delaying new technology purchases.

Malik said that, by going private,So indoor Tracking might be of some interest. the Day4 executives can "close the doors and work on a longer-term plan," without worrying about quarterly reporting and pleasing investors.Choose from our large selection of cableties, He said his firm is advising many clean technology companies thinking of going public that it is a bad idea unless they have a very strong revenue stream, and that they're better off raising money in the private market.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China.

A Wyndmoor entrepreneur bulldozes into playtime cleanup

Take 17 years’ experience as an often-harried personal assistant to celebrities, combine it with the growing unwillingness of your typical 8-year-old to pick up his Legos, and what do you get?

The Toydozer, Wyndmoor entrepreneur Amy Bradley’s effort to capture a vast worldwide market of busy parents unwilling to crawl under beds to pick up what their children can’t, or won’t.

Her creation has brought Bradley some of the fame once reserved for her glamorous clients in New York and L.A., with a recent appearance on Today, a big feature in Daily Candy, and favorable mentions on numerous "mom" blogs, as they’re known.

Fortune? Well, not yet. It’s only been two months, said Bradley, 43, who shares her Montgomery County house-turned-warehouse/call center with husband, Tyler, 43, and, of course, their second grader, Harry, 8, the Lego king who also produced Bradley’s first YouTube video.

Harry was able to hold the camera still for more than two minutes while filming her as she demonstrated the Toydozer.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Bradley had a life before Toydozer, which was one part of the formula leading to the invention.

The Bradleys moved here from New York six years ago; they also had lived in Los Angeles. As a personal assistant— someone a celebrity hires expressly to make life easier — Bradley learned early on that "the simplest chore can take forever" and that "I always had to be on my toes."

"I always looked for ways to complete a task quickly and efficiently," she said, remembering that she would head in another direction if it looked as if the traffic light changing two blocks ahead would delay her.

And then there was Harry and his collection of Safari toys and Legos.

"There were hundreds of those little pieces everywhere," Bradley said, and as soon as Harry was old enough, he was given the task of making sure all of them were picked up and returned to the storage bins.

There came the point,Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. as there always does, when Harry began balking at the cleanup because it "took too long."

So, Bradley said, she cut up an Adidas shoebox, using the piece she removed as a "brush" and the rest of the box as a "dustpan" into which all the little pieces were scooped "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" in seconds.

The birth of the Toydozer (patent pending) came after she did an extensive search to see if there already were one on the market. Several prototypes in cardboard would follow, as Bradley tried to find the best way to push as many toys into the upright container for dumping into the storage bin.

"I talked to different manufacturers about tooling the Toydozer, but the cost was $60,000," she said.

At first dejected, Bradley quickly took on the design task herself, "to simplify,Industrialisierung des werkzeugbaus. making it easier to hold and lighter in weight so both adults and kids could use it."

Plastic would be the only option, and the product needed to store easily, she recalled thinking as she sat at her desk for three weeks diagraming various prototypes.

"I’d never drafted or designed before, and I knew it would be faster if I’d hired someone,An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. but I thought I’d be able to figure it out," Bradley said.Trade organization for suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry.

The whole process has made her a "little more confident" in herself. To create the computer-aided design of the prototype, she hired an engineer — one in China whose firm designed computer bags. She created the Toydozer logo herself after rejecting one she had hired someone else to design.

She also hired someone to do public relations — "couldn’t have gotten on the Today show if I had done it myself" — and a patent lawyer.

"This is one of those products that can be easily knocked off, patent pending or not," perhaps eventually forcing her to sell the idea to someone else who can take the Toydozer worldwide, Bradley said.

She turned to China for Toydozer’s tooling, which cost three times less than it would in the United States,Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. she said, and to just across the California border in Mexico for manufacturing, because "the employer takes care of his workers and provides things like day care, while China was far away and scary."

Rough Draught

Thanks to downtown Orlando's obsession with bumpin' bodies and endless rows of test-tube shots, there's a dearth of craft-beer bars in the core stretch.We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. But if you look hard, which you're going to have to do to catch the newest one downtown, you'll find them. Located at 59 W. Central Blvd., across the street from the expansive glamour of Ember, is Tap & Grind, situated in a little half-moon storefront with just a parking garage as its neighbor.

The outside patio is packed with picnic tables and smoker-friendly seating, which expands the capacity of the predictably cozy interior. Granted, Tap & Grind makes the most of its limited space, packing the bar stools (which I hereby crown The Heaviest Bar Stools in All of Orlando, until someone proves me wrong) in along the beautiful curved bar and even squeezing in some standing counter space along one wall. Gorgeous wooden spokes extend along the ceiling from the center of the half-moon, promoting the illusion of more depth to the joint, which is augmented by spacious painted scenes of waves on the wall. Despite gratuitous displays of surf and skater culture occupying the space (including a ginormous TV, which sometimes shows surfing footage), this is no beach burnout's hang. The vibe is animated and alive, and it's very jazzed about beer.About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores.

Sixteen taps hold sway over the bar, each boasting an awesome, unique craft brew (and on my visit, six taps dispensed Florida suds), including selections from Anchor, collaborations between Dogfish Head and Stone, and Gainesville's own Swamp Head. Select brews are sometimes filtered through a canister of flavor-enhancing ingredients (past flavors have ranged from peach and vanilla to hot chili peppers). But good selection is worth nothing without an equally impressive staff,Bathroom floortiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. which Tap & Grind has in excess: The bartenders are ebullient and well-versed in beer lingo, and if you so much as mutter a name off the beer list to yourself, they're on the spot to fetch a sample for you.Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty, The pricing is pretty fair, especially for a downtown spot, with most drafts weighing in at $5 and rarely tipping north of $7.

After downing all those samples and suds, you're going to have to pee eventually, which brings you to one of the most pleasant surprises at Tap & Grind: the bathroom. Lit with black lights and scribed with mosaic-tiled proverbs and witticisms, it's unlike most any other bar bathroom in Orlando, in that you'd be happy to pass out drunk in there – or at least less likely to catch an exotic flesh-eating infection if you did so.

While the “Tap” portion of this spot is handled soundly, the “& Grind” part is still in the works. A couple of coffee and espresso machines sit quietly in the back of the bar, and they're only started up if a regular is jonesing for a cuppa. According to a bartender, plans are in the works to serve coffee (and perform inebriated experiments with coffee/beer mixtures) soon, though no solid date has been set. Regardless,An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. the consistently impressive beer selection and top-notch service is enough to keep me coming back, if only to make sure they make good on the promise of future Russian Imperial Stout/Sumatra combos.

Off-the-Grid Living in Brooklyn

AS the standards for environmentally friendly construction rise, a Brooklyn developer has a new goal: renovate an apartment building so it generates as much energy as it uses.

When the developer, Voltaic Solaire, finishes a $1 million rehabilitation of a 19th-century brownstone at 367 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope next year, the facade will be covered with a solar skin and a solar awning will sit on the roof. The panels will generate 18,000 watts of energy a year, enough to power all six units in the 7,000-square-foot building. Voltaic Solaire is so confident in its ability to create a “net-zero” building that utilities will be bundled into the rent.

As a demonstration,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. Voltaic has nearly completed a five-story showroom in Carroll Gardens — a triangular building called the Delta, on the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Ninth Street. Even without a southern exposure, the solar system generates enough energy to power the 2,700-square-foot property.

“If we can obtain sustainability at this location, it can be obtained anywhere,” Ronald F. Faia,UK chickencoop Specialist. the chief financial officer of Voltaic Solaire, said of the Delta’s poor light and odd configuration.

Each of the five floors at the Delta has a mere 450 square feet of space, and is equipped with Murphy beds and collapsible tables. A studio and a triplex will eventually be turned into a bed-and-breakfast.

Solar panels alone cannot generate enough energy to reduce a building’s usage to zero. So to achieve the net-zero goal at the Park Slope property, the developers installed LED lighting, insulated pipes and energy-efficient windows and appliances. They will add foam barriers at the walls, the foundation and the facade to prevent air from escaping. The Delta, using the same techniques,What are hemorrhoids? was built from the ground up. “The system will work, but you need the whole package,” Mr. Faia said. “You need the energy conservation and you need the right windows.”

On cloudy days, the buildings will draw energy from the grid. But Mr.Exhaust ventilationsystem work by depressurizing the building. Faia expects the panels will generate enough energy annually to cancel that out. Solar thermal panels will heat the water.

The Park Slope project may be the first city multifamily to be energy-neutral, although the city does not track the data. “You don’t have a lot of contractors with experience in super-low-energy housing,” said Russell Unger, the executive director of the Urban Green Council, an affiliate of the Green Building Council. “People understand insulation, but they don’t understand air sealing.”

Voltaic Solaire is the general contractor for its projects. The team oversees details down to the light switch covers. The towel racks, designed by Mr. Faia, are made with scrap metal. The recycled concrete flooring has bits of recycled glass in it, and the stairwell is made with scrap mosaic tiles. The result is a bare-bones industrial aesthetic.

The Delta windows cost 15 percent more than traditional ones. But a report by McGraw-Hill Construction found that a green retrofit increases property values by 6.8 percent and rent by 1 percent. Mr. Faia expects to recoup 65 percent of the solar installation costs through state and federal tax credits. Rents at the Park Slope apartments will range from $1,600 a month, for a studio, to $2,600 for a two-bedroom, with utilities included. At the Delta, the studio will cost $125 a night, the triplex $400.

In the end, though, energy efficiency comes down to the person living in the apartment. A developer can install three-watt bulbs, but to no avail if the tenant leaves them on all day.

“Conservation is key,” said Carlos Berger, the chief executive of Voltaic Solaire. “If you have solar panels, it doesn’t mean that now you can leave the lights on all the time.Choose from our large selection of cableties,”

Cable Industry Takes Cues From Silicon Valley

To be honest, the annual conference of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association might be the last place you’d expect to find a hackathon. But on Wednesday at the 2012 Cable Show, held this year in Boston, young coders from area colleges hammered out new apps in a matter of hours.

A team from MIT won second place. Its smartphone app makes it easier for friends to share the live events they’re watching on TV. A Stanford team won for their app that lets people prioritize different devices on their home network. And a team from Wellesley College won third for its fitness TV sharing app.

Emily Lin will be a junior at Wellesley this fall. She says at first,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, her team was overwhelmed by the fancy convention space with slick exhibitions featuring the latest cable shows and the newest home delivery technology.

“This is really intense and it was really inspiring because it encouraged us to really try our best,” Lin said. “Not like we weren’t already, but it was definitely a huge help.Features useful information about glassmosaic tiles,”

Lately, the cable industry seems to be taking more of its cues from people like Emily Lin.

“Providing rich experiences on television has been lacking,” said Sree Kotay, a senior executive at Comcast. His title is chief software architect and he says cable companies like his have to make the television screen more like a computer or tablet.

“The television is the largest screen in your house and often the most social screen in your house,” Kotay said. “The idea that it’s just a passive device that doesn’t participate in discovery, communications and all the forms of interaction just seems silly.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design”

That’s one reason why Comcast unveiled its latest generation cable box this week, branded X1. Kotay demoed how the cable box lets you watch TV but also run Internet apps at the same time.

“There’s a traffic application,The term "Hands free access" means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. there’s a Facebook application, you can listen to all your Pandora music stations on your television,” Kotay said. “And there’s nice little sports application that shows you recent games that have played and also games that are upcoming so you can schedule and watch them.”

Kotay uses a remote to start the sports app. The TV show he was watching continues on the left, but the screen also shows a box score on the right.

“So the Red Sox game is going on right now,” Kotay said. “So it’s the fourth inning, it’s 2-2. So I can be watching something else while I’m keeping up with the sports scores.”

The X1 box will roll out to new Comcast subscribers in Boston next week and existing customers after that. Other cable providers are planning similar products soon.Another Chance to buymosaic (MOS) 0 comments. The industry is trying to fight back against competition from Apple TV and Roku. Those Internet-enabled devices have grown popular for streaming TV shows and movies on demand through services such as Hulu and Netflix. But Netflix is one thing Comcast’s new offering will not let you stream directly.

“What we’ve been after is obviously ubiquitous distribution,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. “Whatever the box is that connects the Internet to the television, we want to be available through that box.”

UK museum’s virtual orchestra puts conductor’s baton in visitors’ hands

A London museum is putting the conductor’s baton in visitors’ hands, allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using three-dimensional motion sensors.

The “Universe of Sound” installation is an effort by the British capital’s Science Museum to dissect how classical music is made, using specially shot footage, immersive sound, and 360 degree projections to give an unusually close-up view of the well-regarded Philharmonia Orchestra.

“At the end of the whole installation you become part of the entirety,” said David Whelton, the museum’s managing director.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, “You become part of the Philharmonia.”

At the center of the Science Museum’s exhibition is footage of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” a majestic orchestral suite at times martial, moody or ethereal. Some 37 cameras shot the Philharmonia’s 132 musicians running through the score on the specially-blacked out stage at Watford Colosseum, just outside London, early this year.

They were shot over the course of a single day, playing together, playing in groups, or playing alone. That’s something which allows those browsing the footage — projected on large screens against the Science Museum’s darkened, sonorous interior — to zoom in on a single section or even a single musician, picking single strands of sound from the general swell of the music.

Greg Felton, who does digital work for the orchestra, pointed an Associated Press reporter to the woodwind section’s subtle, atmospheric notes.

“There are people who know The Planets incredibly well who would never have heard this,” he said.

The exhibit also gives visitors a chance to see parts of the orchestra in an up-close way which wouldn’t otherwise have been possible,Choose from our large selection of cableties, focusing on a harpist’s hands or a violinist’s fingers. One camera was even attached to a trombone’s slide, whipping back and forth as the brass section got into gear.

“None of the musicians can get away with anything,” remarked the Philharmonia’s principle percussionist, Kevin Hathway, who was on hand to demonstrate an interactive drum set.

Would-be maestros may like the virtual conductor program the best.Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services.Rubiks cubepuzzle.

Several installations at the museum use Microsoft’s Kinect technology to capture the hand movements of visitors who stand in specially-made pods. Raise your left hand and the orchestra — which appears on a set of television screens — plays louder. Speed the movement of your right hand and the tempo of the music increases. Get the movements wrong and the musicians get out of tune.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, Get it really wrong and a computerized audience starts coughing politely.

The conduct-yourself exhibits are likely to be popular, but Felton seemed to like the close-ups the best — particularly the ones that showed musicians resting between movements, their hands slack but their faces alert.

He stopped at a video of organist Richard Pearce, normally hidden behind his massive instrument, far from the back-and-forth of the conductor’s baton.

The Quackenbush Code churns out K's for Hoosick Falls

There are several reasons why Rachel Quackenbush's right arm is one of the most successful New York high school softball has ever seen.

In no particular order, you could say those reasons are: fastball, screwball, change-up, drop-curve and riser. In one sequence or another those are most of the pitches that have confounded Hoosick Falls' foes for the better part of five seasons. But there is also a method to organize that maddening (for batters) array of strikeout tools.

It sounds like something out of a bingo hall.

"Blue 11 ..About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores.. Yellow 4 ... White 19.Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction,"

There appears to be know rhyme or reason as Panther assistant coach Ralph Quackenbush, Rachel's father, calls out the color-number combinations from his perch on a bucket near the dugout. That's the point.

"The batter has no idea what's coming," said Rachel Quackenbush.About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. "The coaches can't pick it off. The only way they can pick it off is if they see my grip and I try to hide that."

And the results have catapulted the Hoosick Falls senior into the state record books. Through the end of the regular season, Quackenbush has recorded 1,482 strikeouts in four-plus years, making her No. 2 all-time. She only trails Jordan Ingalis of Bolivar-Richburg in southwestern New York.Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles, Ingalis set the mark of 1,603 strikeouts in 2008.

Hoosick Falls hosts No. 13 Canajoharie Wednesday -- the plan is to add to that number during another Panther playoff run.

"It's no secret," Hoosick Falls coach Charlie Weeden said. "She's going to pitch well and hopefully we can score some runs and play good defense."

But while the goal is transparent for opponents, the system is not.

Each color-coded signal corresponds to a pitch on one of three sheets. Each sheet has 42 different calls for something from the Siena College-bound ace's core five-pitch arsenal.

Ralph Quackenbush said the sheets change from one inning to the next, so there is no pattern to catch. His calls to the catcher wearing a coded wristband like a quarterback -- this season the duty falls to Rachel's eighth-grade sister Erika -- are then relayed back to the pitching circle.

As if putting a Quackenbush pitch into play wasn't already hard enough, cracking the Quackenbush code makes the task even more difficult.

"None of the cards match," Ralph Quackenbush said. "Coaches, they can sit down and try to chart the colors and the numbers I'm using ... but you're not going to figure it out."

Compared to the hand signals they used before, Rachel said, "It's less confusion."

According to Ralph Quackenbush, the idea came from a coaching friend in North Carolina who used wristbands to organize every move on the softball field: Defensive positions, pitches, base-running strategy.

Adapted to fit Rachel's pitching, the two-year-old code has helped lead the Panthers to a 34-8 record over two seasons.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, It's also noticeably faster than the previous pitch-calling system where signals had to be repeated more often for both members of the battery.

"A lot of umpires are like, ‘Wow, I like that. It's quick, the game really moves along,'" Ralph Quackenbush said.

Having the youngest Quackenbush, another pitcher, take over as catcher this spring has worked out two-fold.

"She's a pitcher, so she knows [location] in or out, she's smart about the pitch and I think that helps me out. She doesn't have to listen to my dad to know where to set up," Rachel Quackenbush said.

With Erika Quackenbush poised to follow in her sister's footsteps and toe the pitching rubber more often as a freshman next season, it will soon be her system.

Making Microscopic Machines Using Metallic Glass

Researchers in Ireland have developed a new technology using materials called bulk metallic glasses to produce high-precision molds for making tiny plastic components. The components,Exhaust ventilationsystem work by depressurizing the building. with detailed microscopically patterned surfaces could be used in the next generation of computer memory devices and microscale testing kits and chemical reactors.

In their article published in the latest edition of the open access journal Materials Today, Michael Gilchrist, David Browne and colleagues at University College Dublin explain how bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) were discovered about thirty years ago. These materials are a type of metal alloy,Zenith manufactures a comprehensive range of rubbersheets. but instead of having a regular, crystalline structure like an everyday metal such as iron or an alloy like bronze, the material's atoms are arranged haphazardly. This disordered, or amorphous atomic structure is similar to the amorphous structure of the silicon and oxygen atoms in the glass we use for windows and drinking vessels.

The haphazard arrangement of atoms in BMGs means that they have some very different mechanical properties from conventional metals. They can be heated and molded like plastics and they can be machined with microscopic precision below the grain size of conventional metals. BMGs also retain the strength and durability of normal metals.

Gilchrist and his colleagues have now exploited the haphazard nature of the atoms in BMGs to allow them to machine microscopic features on to the surface of a BMG. This is not possible with conventional metals such as tool steel used in molds which cannot typically be machined with better than 10 micrometer precision because of its crystalline grain structure. They have then used the resulting strong and durable metallic devices to carry out injection molding of plastic components with microscopic surface patterns using a straightforward tool production route.

"Our technology is a new process for mass producing high-value polymer components, on the micrometer and nanometer-scale," explains Gilchrist. "This is a process by which high-volume quantities of plastic components can be mass produced with one hundred times more precision, for costs that are at least ten times cheaper than currently possible."

The research team explains that with BMG injection molding equipment it is now possible to create millimeter-sized polymer components that have surface features of a similar size to mammalian cells at 10 micrometers or even the smallest viruses at less than 100 nanometers. The new manufacturing process could thus allow ‘lab-on-a-chip’ devices to be constructed that could handle and test samples containing single cells and viruses or large biomolecules including DNA and proteins.

"These precision plastic parts are the high value components of microfluidic devices, lab-on-chip diagnostic devices,We are the largest producer of projectorlamp products here. micro implantable components and MEMS sensors," Gilchrist adds.Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction,

Once the technology is extended to the tens of nanometers length scale, the team suggests that it could be used to make high-volume, low-cost, information storage systems. The team is currently optimizing their technology with this goal in mind.

The research team concludes, "The worldwide trend of miniaturization means that these devices and components are getting progressively smaller and smaller; the problem faced by today’s technologies is that they will soon be unable to manufacture at these smaller dimensions at competitive prices. If you just consider the microfluidic devices market without the biological conSilicone moldmaking Rubber,tent: this is forecast to reach $5 billion by 2016."

British Glamour Since 1950 – review

The V&A's new show, Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950, an exhibition that also marks the reopening of its much-loved fashion galleries, is not for everyone. On my way in, I heard a man all but beg his wife not to drag him round it ("I thought this was a cultural expedition, not another bloody shopping trip!" he might have told her, had he not been practically mute with despair). Once inside, I couldn't help but notice that there was not a male of the species anywhere to be seen.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom,

But if you like a properly made frock and hanker, even just a little, for the days when a big night out meant long, silk gloves and a Dubonnet rather than T-shirts and cheap vodka, it will have you swooning with delight. Yes, you will feel unpleasantly covetous. Yes, you will wonder if you shouldn't, after all, lose a stone, or six. But these things will pass. Fifteen minutes in and your absorption in the way Norman Hartnell used corsetry or Zandra Rhodes quilting will be total. The world will shrink to the dimensions of a bodice or a buttonhole, a collar or a cuff.

Gallery 40 was originally a spectacular domed court, with architectural columns and ornate mosaic floors. The V&A's refurbishment has uncovered the mosaics and a grand staircase now sweeps the visitor up to a mezzanine gallery beneath the dome. The result is elegant and spacious; the mezzanine, circular and lofty, brings a couturier's showroom instantly to mind.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, But the gallery's lighting still feels excessively muted to me. Downstairs, I struggled to read the labels and if a dress is placed anywhere other than right at the front of a display case, it's impossible to see the craftsmanship involved.

Strange, too, that while dresses and suits from the permanent collection are shown alongside handbags and jewellery, hats and shoes, the ballgowns, temporarily visiting, have only outsize cardboard cutouts of accessories for company (though they're labelled as if they were real, bizarrely). Were the curators worried a brooch or stole would steal the gowns' thunder? Or is this a nod in the direction of the new austerity?

The finest of the dresses – the most beautiful and the best made – are also the oldest. I had a moment of pure buyer's lust (so bad my fingers tingled) in front of a citrine evening coat with voluminous fur cuffs by Norman Hartnell, from 1965. Hartnell, who designed both the Queen's wedding dress and her coronation gown,Rubiks cubepuzzle. is thought of now as rather fusty, a lickspittle rather than an innovator. But at his best, his designs had an authentic drama: no wonder Edith Evans was a customer.

And perhaps Hartnell, the son of a Streatham publican, knew precisely what he was doing when it came to establishment commissions. A state evening dress designed for the Queen Mother in 1953 – a crinoline that recalls similar gowns in the paintings of Franz Winterhalter, it has a V-shaped neckline, floaty cap sleeves and a motif of tiny flowers – tells you a great deal about the woman who wore it. At once grand and girlish, it speaks both of entitlement and self-delusion; for a pretty dress, it's magnificently repulsive.

Hartnell isn't the only star in the downstairs gallery. Bellville Sassoon, the debs' favourite house, features strongly: there is a beautiful dress made for Princess Anne in 1968, comprising a buttercup skirt and an extravagant embroidered bodice in shades of brown and orange (a famous recycler of clothes, I do wonder why HRH got rid of this one); and a truly adorable gown of pale pink Swiss organza from the designers' Infanta collection, its pattern of tear-drop shaped embroidery and crystal drop beads offset by its superbly neat lines.

Sybil Connolly's 1966 leaf-green pleated skirt, embroidered white blouse and pink belt is a cool reinvention of the evening dress: daringly, it is made of cambric and linen. Connolly, who was Irish, isn't much remembered now, but Jackie Kennedy was among her clients. Sadly, though, this isn't a detail you'll find anywhere in the gallery. Background information is, it must be said, infuriatingly thin on the ground and the pathetic catalogue, which longs mostly to be Vogue, no help at all. Sweeping past Catherine Walker's "Elvis" dress for Diana, Princess of Wales – a novelty number I've always hated – and the hideous 80s creations of Victor Edelstein ("Let's just stick a giant bow... right here!"), we go upstairs to the contemporary gowns, to dresses worn on red carpets rather than in stately halls, and it's strangely anticlimactic.

For one thing,Choose from our large selection of cableties, most of these have been lent by their designers; they were borrowed by the actresses and models who first wore them, rather than bought and loved and kept carefully in tissue and mothballs for a lucky daughter or niece. This makes them, in my eyes, so much less interesting. Their value is mostly monetary. They lack emotional history. Aesthetics have all too often been replaced by the need to draw a cheap kind of attention (though Giles Deacon's tumbling black silk dress from 2007 – it was inspired,Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services. he says, by a visit to a car wash – is a deft tribute to Fortuny by way of Issey Miyake).

For another – and this is much worse – they seem not truly to be of service to the bodies that inhabit them, however briefly. The curators note that Roland Mouret has spoken "eloquently" of the pressures of the red carpet, of the fact that a dress must withstand the pressure of flashbulbs from 360 degrees. And it's true that here in the gallery, on a mannequin, his peach asymmetric silk dress from 2010 is perfect from every angle, a feat of precision engineering. Only then you look at the photograph of Maggie Gyllenhaal in the same dress at the Golden Globes and it suits her not a bit. Would it suit anyone? I doubt it. The finest dresses are forgiving. Their artiface encompasses great kindness. But this one is unmerciful; it disdains every inconvenient body part. It seems – what a sign of the times! – hardly to have been designed for a woman at all.

Horton starts construction in Chiasso at Fiddler's Creek

D.R. Horton has initiated construction on the village of Chiasso, a neighborhood of 59 single-family residences intertwined amid lakes and waterways at Fiddler's Creek.

Located within the Veneta section of the master-planned residential community of Fiddler's Creek, Chiasso will feature four floor plans ranging from 2,583 square feet to 3,522 square feet under air.

The Washington will serve as the builder's furnished model home in Chiasso. The well-appointed model encompasses 2,788 air-conditioned square feet with many upgrades to showcase the level of options available in the Chiasso series. The lakefront home offers three bedrooms, a den and three-and-a-half baths with a courtyard style three-car garage. It will feature impact glass windows and Tuscan-style stained double front doors. The interior cabinetry is a warm auburn glazed maple with granite countertops, plantation shutters, solid wood doors and large porcelain tile floors on the diagonal with wood flooring in the study and bedrooms.

The Hawthorne encompasses 2,583 air-conditioned square feet and is being built as a move-in-ready home with an emphasis on southern style Florida living. Priced in the mid-600s, the Hawthorne has three bedrooms, a study, three-and-a-half baths,About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. and a great room with a separate nook off of the kitchen area. The home also features an oversized lanai overlooking a pool and spa and a lakefront setting as well as a three-car garage. The interior is complimented with oil rubbed bronze faucets and hardware, painted hazelnut cream cabinetry, golden granite countertops, plantation shutters and walnut finish wood flooring. Arches and tray ceilings accent the rooms.

The Madison, also a move-in-ready home, offers 3,246 air-conditioned square feet and is priced in the upper 600s. It features three bedrooms, a den, four baths and a large grand foyer that leads to the formal living and dining rooms. The interior of the home is accented with contemporary finishes, including expresso maple cabinetry, stainless steel appliances and porcelain modular designed tile flooring. Other interior features include solid core doors with crown molding, granite countertops, and a pool and spa with LED lighting feature.

The Emerson is the largest home design in Chiasso with 3,522 air-conditioned square feet. This move-in-ready home features a classic Mediterranean style with three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and a second-story bonus/loft area which can also be used for a home theater.Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles, The courtyard style home also offers a three-car garage and glass/wrought iron front doors that lead to the formal living and dining rooms. Priced in the low 700s, the Emerson includes numerous upgrades and extras such as a lakefront setting with pool and spa, morning bar off the loft, modular patterned porcelain tile flooring with wood flooring in the master bedroom and study, oil rubbed bronze faucets and hardware, hazelnut cream cabinetry and deep tropical brown granite countertops.

Each residence within Chiasso will be built of structurally engineered reinforced concrete block wall construction with high profile concrete roof tiles. Each home will feature brick-paver driveways and walkways.About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. Interior design features will include a luxury kitchen with granite counter tops and cabinets with decorative finishes; designer bath fixtures and cultured marble countertops; ceramic tile flooring; and a number of energy-saving features.

"Chiasso is the second distinctive neighborhood to be started by D.R. Horton at Fiddler's Creek," said Aubrey J.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, Ferrao, president and CEO of Fiddler's Creek, LLC. "We are excited to add another unique village to our community.Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, The choice of homes at Fiddler's Creek continues to expand, offering buyers opportunities in a variety of distinctive neighborhoods."

Located off Collier Boulevard, Fiddler's Creek comprises of nearly 4,000 acres and is zoned for 6,000 residences. Less than a third of Fiddler's Creek will be developed for residential use, while the remainder of the land is dedicated primarily to nature reserves, lakes, parks, golf courses and recreational areas.

Amenities include a 54,000-square-foot club and spa, fitness center, resort-style multi-pool swimming complex, tennis courts, tot lot and restaurants. Homeowners also have an opportunity to join the Golf Club, ranked in Golfweek's 100 Best Residential Golf Courses in the country for the seventh consecutive year, and the Tarpon Club, which offers a beach and boating lifestyle.

Emmi brothers to open new ‘Locals’ eatery

After revoking Duke Investments’ three Alaska franchises in March, Chili’s Grill and Bar’s parent company Brinker Investments has decided it will not reopened the shuttered eateries.

Signs on the doors of the restaurants said they’d reopen soon, but local businessmen Ernie and John Emmi say the building they own at 3100 E. Parks Hwy., will reopen as a restaurant this summer, but not Chili’s.

“We tried to get the franchise, but they wouldn’t give it to us,” Ernie Emmi said.

As was the case when Duke Investments opened its first Chili’s in Alaska in Anchorage in 2002, Brinker required the investment company to open sister stores in Fairbanks in 2005 and Wasilla in 2008.

Brinker believes in a synergy, or economy of scale, and Duke Investments opened the Fairbanks and Wasilla locations at Brinker’s urging, according to a June 2010 ruling penned by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Herb Ross in a Duke Investments bankruptcy proceeding

John Emmi said they were only interested in re-opening the Wasilla Chili’s location, but in the end, Brinker decided to leave the Alaska market instead. A Chili’s Too location at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport will remain, brand spokesperson Julie Flowers said in a statement released in March.

But the Emmi’s own the building that once housed Chili’s and the Grand View Inn and Suites next door.

“We have a multi-million dollar building sitting there. We have to do something with it,” Ernie Emmi said.

By Fourth of July, folks will be able to check out a new Mat-Su Valley eatery in that location, called “Locals Pizzeria and Pub,Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction,” he said. The goal was to be open sooner, but he said it took six weeks just to get the pizza ovens delivered.

“We’re going to try to make the very best pizza in the Valley,” Ernie Emmi said.

In addition to its more than 30 Alaska microbrews on tap, Locals will serve an assortment of homemade pizza, wings, salads, soups, sandwiches — many made from the Emmi’s family recipes.Zenith manufactures a comprehensive range of rubbersheets.

The Emmi family is no stranger to the restaurant business, Ernie Emmi said. He said he grew up selling hamburgers and hot dogs all over New York, especially at Emmi’s Little Italy at the New York State Fair, which they started 31 years ago.We are the largest producer of projectorlamp products here.

One of the menu items he’s most excited to offer is a secret family recipe for a deep fat fried eggplant sandwich it took him years to talk Uncle Duke Emmi into sharing.

The parts of the recipe that aren’t secret are the fresh hoagie roll,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, deep fried slices of eggplant, topped with homemade sauce and mozzarella.

But that won’t be Locals’ signature sandwich, Ernie Emmi said. That honor goes to Uncle Duke’s Sub.

Based on the same secret family recipe, Uncle Duke’s Sub adds sausage, meatballs, onions and peppers to the sandwich’s palate of flavors.

The menu also includes a selection of wings with 10 different sauces — including honey habanera, garlic parmesan, orange teriyaki, and buffalo wings that come in a range of heats — and six different custom salads.

And don’t forget Local’s selection of pizzas. They are likely to stick to your ribs and in your memory with familiar names like the Denali Destroyer, Iron Dog,Exhaust ventilationsystem work by depressurizing the building. Knik Glacier, Talkeetna, Fireweed, Little Su, Aurora, Palmer, Iditarod, Butte and Pioneer Peak.

Ernie Emmi said their thin crust pizzas will star with homemade dough and sauce and finished with the “best toppings.”

If the Iron Dog pizza doesn’t rev your engine, people can build their own “Local” pizza with any combination of available toppings.

Mat-Su Valley residents are used to being known as “Valley Trash,” but the Emmi brothers are trying to give their neighbors a new, nicer moniker.

Brazil passes information access law

A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy.

Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.

But even as the president hailed the potential of the law that went into effect Wednesday, experts cautioned that it will take more than a piece of paper and political goodwill at the top to change attitudes about the flow of information. Most citizens, even journalists, are unfamiliar with the concept of free access to public information.We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges.

Experts say a lack of transparency has allowed corruption, inefficiency and wastefulness to go unchecked in the public realm. Last year, five of Rousseff's ministers were sacked or stepped down following public allegations of corruption and misuse of public money.

"From now on, transparency is obligatory, under law, and will function as an efficient inhibitor of all the bad uses of public money, and of violations of human rights," Rousseff said on Wednesday, a day that also marked the inauguration of a truth commission that will investigate human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

The president, who as a leftist guerrilla was imprisoned and tortured in the early 1970s under a military regime, acknowledged that both developments are the result of decades of work toward democratic ideals.

Brazil's 1988 constitution enshrined the right to access information, but the new measure gives citizens a legal tool to enforce that right in a court. Its scope is broad: Unlike the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which applies to the executive branch at the federal level, Brazil's law covers all branches of government at all levels. However, there is still no set of regulations detailing how citizens can ask for data, and what municipal, state or federal officials must do to comply.

The sweep of the measure poses a significant challenge to the country, said Brazil-based researcher Greg Michener,Another Chance to buymosaic (MOS) 0 comments. who specializes in transparency and freedom of information laws. If civilians and the media demand compliance,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. the law could be a real force for positive change, he said. But Brazilians might also just throw up their hands at the enormity of the job, and abandon the idea. This is a country where some laws simply "don't take," he said, and there is a danger this one could fall by the wayside if Brazilians don't push for compliance.

"These laws are sophisticated instruments, and depend on an informed populace,The indoorpositioning industry is heavily involved this year." he said. "You'd think the media would be most interested, that they'd want better information. But there isn't really an awareness of what the law is in the Brazilian press."

Michener compared Brazil to Mexico, which passed its own information access law in 2002. It was implemented a year later at the federal level, but it took five years to include it in the constitution, extending it to other levels and branches of government, where it is still being implemented. Mexico also created an autonomous institution to govern the law's application. The Brazilian law allowed six months for preparation, and will be overseen by an existing government oversight body which also has other responsibilities, said Michener.

Groups that pushed for the bill say they are trying to ensure it doesn't end up on the dustbin of well-intentioned laws that never took hold. The nonprofit watchdog group Contas Abertas, "Open Accounts," celebrated the law's enactment by shooting out 100 requests for information all over the country, to all branches of government.The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. Brazil's federal comptroller's office said there were just over 700 requests in total on the law's first day.

Fred Green resigns as CEO of Canadian Pacific

A months-long battle between the leaders of Canadian Pacific Railway and its largest shareholder resulted in the resignation of CP chief executive Fred Green on Thursday shortly before the company's annual meeting.

The departure of Green and five other CP directors, announced before official voting results were disclosed, will open a new chapter for an iconic company that's nearly as old as Canada.

The defeat of CP's current leaders had been widely anticipated as a number of institutional fund managers disclosed they would support the nominees proposed by New York-based activist fund manager Bill Ackman.

"We heard loud and clear your mandate for change and we're honoured to work with the board to take this great company to even higher levels of performance and achievement," Ackman told shareholders at the meeting.

"We will not make progress overnight, but we will deliver on our commitment to make this railway one of the best railways in the world."

Ackman had pushed for Green's removal since last year when his Pershing Square fund company acquired about 14 per cent of the company's stock.

Green's detractors say Canadian Pacific has become North America's worst performing major railway under his leadership while his supporters insisted the problems have been exaggerated and Green was the best person for the job.

Canadian Pacific chairman John Cleghorn,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design who has been among Green's most outspoken defenders, is also leaving the company, along with Green and four other Canadian Pacific directors didn't stand for re-election.

Green decided to resign "after taking into account the views expressed by shareholders about the desire for change," Cleghorn said at the meeting.

"I'm confident that the new board will move forward in a constructive way on behalf of all stakeholders," Cleghorn added.

"We've got to have two strong railroads in this country."

The new board is comprised of Ackman, Gary Colter, Richard George, Paul Haggis, Paul Hilal, Krystyna Hoeg,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? Tony Ingram, Richard Kelly, Rebecca MacDonald, John Manley,Trade organization for suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry. Anthony Melman, Linda Morgan, Madeleine Paquin, David Raisbeck, Hartley Richardson and Stephen Tobias.

The announcement came shortly before the shareholders meeting, although early tallies of proxy votes suggested Ackman's slate of nominees had overwhelming support from major shareholders.

One of their top priorities will be to begin the process of replacing Green, likely with Hunter Harrison a retired former CEO of rival Canadian National Railway .

Ackman told reporters that Harrison wasn't at the meeting and Green didn't make an appearance.

"There aren't an enormous number of candidates obviously," said Ackman, who added Harrison becoming CEO is not a sure thing.

"We're going to do a proper job, we're going to meet all the candidates and do it the right way."

The company's stock was little changed on the Toronto Stock Exchange,Choose from our large selection of cableties, gaining 63 cents to $76.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom,39 at midmorning.

"We continue to believe that most of the operational upside is already priced into the shares at current levels," Desjardins analyst Benoit Poirier said in a research note Thursday.

Much of the debate in recent months has been over what can be done to improve Canadian Pacific's operating ratio, a key performance metric in the railroad industry that calculates the percentage of revenues spent to operate the railroad.

CP believes it has a realistic plan to bring the ratio down from 80.1 per cent to 70 to 72 per cent for 2014 through cost cutting and revenue boosting.

It says there are structural factors — its trains have to traverse steep terrain, for example — that prevent it from pushing its operating ratio lower. It sought to back up that argument earlier this year by releasing a study it commissioned from consultancy Oliver Wyman examining the differences between CP and CN.

Ackman's Pershing Square doesn't buy CP's explanation for why it has underperformed other North American railroads. It believes it comes down to poor corporate culture, and that under Harrison's leadership it can achieve a 65 per cent operating ratio by 2015.

Two major pension funds — the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan — have said publicly they support Pershing Square's push for change. So too have proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholders Services and Glass Lewis & Co. and credit rating agency Egan Jones Ratings Co.

Canadian Pacific had warned that Harrison's leadership could mean deep cuts at the railroad and could jeopardize relationships with customers. Some of its biggest customers, including miner Teck Resources Ltd. and fertilizer maker Mosaic Co., have come out in support of Green's continued leadership.

Brazil passes information access law

A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy.

Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.

But even as the president hailed the potential of the law that went into effect Wednesday, experts cautioned that it will take more than a piece of paper and political goodwill at the top to change attitudes about the flow of information. Most citizens, even journalists, are unfamiliar with the concept of free access to public information.

Experts say a lack of transparency has allowed corruption, inefficiency and wastefulness to go unchecked in the public realm. Last year,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles.The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. five of Rousseff's ministers were sacked or stepped down following public allegations of corruption and misuse of public money.

"From now on, transparency is obligatory, under law, and will function as an efficient inhibitor of all the bad uses of public money, and of violations of human rights," Rousseff said on Wednesday, a day that also marked the inauguration of a truth commission that will investigate human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

The president, who as a leftist guerrilla was imprisoned and tortured in the early 1970s under a military regime, acknowledged that both developments are the result of decades of work toward democratic ideals.

Brazil's 1988 constitution enshrined the right to access information, but the new measure gives citizens a legal tool to enforce that right in a court. Its scope is broad: Unlike the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which applies to the executive branch at the federal level, Brazil's law covers all branches of government at all levels. However, there is still no set of regulations detailing how citizens can ask for data, and what municipal, state or federal officials must do to comply.

The sweep of the measure poses a significant challenge to the country,An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. said Brazil-based researcher Greg Michener, who specializes in transparency and freedom of information laws. If civilians and the media demand compliance, the law could be a real force for positive change, he said. But Brazilians might also just throw up their hands at the enormity of the job, and abandon the idea. This is a country where some laws simply "don't take," he said, and there is a danger this one could fall by the wayside if Brazilians don't push for compliance.

"These laws are sophisticated instruments, and depend on an informed populace," he said. "You'd think the media would be most interested, that they'd want better information.Award Winning solarpanel and heat pumps for electricity and heating. But there isn't really an awareness of what the law is in the Brazilian press."

Michener compared Brazil to Mexico, which passed its own information access law in 2002. It was implemented a year later at the federal level, but it took five years to include it in the constitution, extending it to other levels and branches of government, where it is still being implemented. Mexico also created an autonomous institution to govern the law's application. The Brazilian law allowed six months for preparation, and will be overseen by an existing government oversight body which also has other responsibilities, said Michener.

Groups that pushed for the bill say they are trying to ensure it doesn't end up on the dustbin of well-intentioned laws that never took hold.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design The nonprofit watchdog group Contas Abertas, "Open Accounts," celebrated the law's enactment by shooting out 100 requests for information all over the country, to all branches of government. Brazil's federal comptroller's office said there were just over 700 requests in total on the law's first day.