2012年12月28日 星期五

The Man Who Built Cape Girardeau

The bridge was built by Joseph Lansman, a man who is attached to a surprising number of landmarks in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties. In this case, the cornerstone marks the date when he started construction.

It's a shame that he only left his initials, and not his full name, since the exact spelling has remained a bit of a mystery, with sources using Lansman, Lansmon, Landsman, and Lansmann interchangeably. Then again, Americans in the 1800s weren't nearly as pedantic about spelling as we are in modern times.

And, as it turns out, Lansman wasn't his real name. He was born 1812 as Joseph Hoche in the Alsace-Lorraine region of Europe. This is currently a part of France, but it has switched between France and Germany at different times in history as the result of various wars and conflicts.

Faced with the ugly prospect of being conscripted into the French military, Joseph and other family members assumed new identities and fled to the United States during the early 1830s. In the Old World, he had apprenticed as a bricklayer, and his skills were in demand in the New World.

It's unclear how he came to Missouri, but he found work as the builder for the Vincentian missionaries as they established a Catholic parish in Cape Girardeau.High quality stone mosaic tiles. The Vincentians had acquired a large tract of land to the south of town, and they set to work building a church, parochial schools, and a college. Lansman oversaw construction of the following buildings and structures.

Lansman was called to oversee repairs, and he was just wrapping up the work when a second, more serious disaster would strike. On Nov. 27, 1850, a tornado ripped through the Vincentian grounds, completely destroying St. Vincent's Church and the Red House, while severely damaging the main college building. It's likely that all three buildings took a direct hit from the tornado.

Students were sent home the next day, but work soon started on rebuilding the college and church. Lansman worked on both -- while also juggling the urgent need to find a new home for his rapidly growing family after the Red House was destroyed. He picked a convenient location to construct a new home, 139 S. Spanish, which was right across the street from the second St. Vincent's Church he was building.

Church records show that Lansman was often paid in goods (food, cloth,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. etc.) rather than cash. In the book Our Dear Brother Joseph: The Life of Joseph Lansman by Sharon Sanders and Diana Bryant, the authors write, "This cashless way of doing business also explains why Lansman chose another, unique method of paying off his plasterers, carpenters, and other more reliable laborers: He built them small German-style cottages using bricks he furnished from his own kiln."

As I explained in my previous blog, Lansman's next major project, in 1873, was the construction of the Third District Normal School main building. He had donated the land for the new college, but his generosity didn't sway the Board of Regents when it came time to select the general contractor. They went with the lowest bidder, William E. Gray of Alton, Illinois. However, Lansman was later hired as subcontractor for the brickwork. The Normal School was completed in 1875, but it was destroyed by fire on April 7, 1902.

If all of these building projects weren't enough, Lansman had also branched out into road, bridge, and railroad construction. He is most famous, as mentioned earlier, for the Burfordville Covered Bridge, but that's not the only covered bridge he oversaw. He was president of the "Cape Girardeau and Bloomfield McAdamized and Gravel Road Company" which built a covered bridge at Allenville.

Lansman also apparently dabbled in a venture to bring a railroad to Cape Girardeau. The Missouri Cash-Book from May 22, 1872,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. includes a story about an election for the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau & State Line Rail Road Company. The list of election winners is a veritable "Who's Who" of Cape Girardeau businessmen at the time, including Ivers, Thilenius, Klostermann, Sturdivant, and Vasterling. Lansman was elected to the board with 4,574 shareholder votes (third behind Ivers and Thilenius).

What is most amusing is that Louis Houck only received 2 votes! Of course, Houck would eventually bring a railroad to Cape Girardeau, long after the State Line Railroad Company had become a total bust.

Up until his death in 1895, Lansman continued to be active in building projects. In 1892, he was in Perryville overseeing work to add a new college building to the St. Marys of the Barrens campus. An article in the Perry County Sun stated, "Mr. Lansman is quite an old gentleman, now in his 81st year, but is more active in business than many men half his age."

Despite his many accomplishments, Lansman's death did not generate much press. The Cape Girardeau Democrat only included this brief notice on Mar. 2, 1895: "A Large Funeral. St. Vincent's Catholic Church was crowded Sunday at the funeral services of Joseph Lansmon. Mr. Lansmon was an old and honored citizen and a large number of our oldest citizens followed his remains to their last resting place."

His death didn't go totally unnoticed, however. A few weeks later, the same newspaper reported that a group of bricklayers from St. Louis had presented the Lansman family with resolutionsThe term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. "artisticly drafted and framed in a handsome frame." These bricklayers had worked under Lansman; they called themselves "Old Joe's Boys." St. Louis,If you have a fondness for china mosaic brimming with romantic roses, of course, is filled with German-style brick buildings, and it's quite possible that some of these buildings were built by masons who were inspired by Lansman.

Everybody needs water, it is not political

Similar to millions of other Pakistanis, Asha and her family did not have access to clean drinking water. Given the large number of diseases that thrive in contaminated water – ranging from gastroenteritis,Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, to hepatitis, to kidney disease – this is a serious problem for the nation’s health. Asha’s fears for her youngest child were well founded: every day, 630 children in Pakistan die as a result of drinking contaminated water.

When I spoke to her, Asha was at a newly installed water filtration plant in her village, Peer Mehfooz, filling up a tanker for the day. Since it was installed six months ago, she says that the health of her family has improved significantly. Along with the other women crowded around the taps, she visits twice a day to collect water.

The plant is one of 500 being built around the province of Sindh. It serves around 300 families, or somewhere in the region of 1,500 to 2,000 people, the idea being that no one has to walk too far to get there. The plants look like something from another world: small but elaborate pieces of machinery, erected in the middle of arid surroundings and cramped housing. The small scale means that they can be built and operational very quickly and relatively cheaply. The actual building takes just 24 hours, although the process of assessment and boring for water requires several weeks of preparation before that.

The plants being built under this project use ultra-filtration (UF) technology, which unlike older methods of water purification eliminates viruses and bacteria. The recent scare over “brain-eating amoeba” alerted Karachi’s population to the dangerous things that can be carried in water.The oreck XL professional air purifier, UF can eliminate such infections, and has the added benefit of not using carcinogenic chemicals such as chlorine. Other plants built under the same project use reverse osmosis (RO), a process which removes salt from water, making it drinkable. The latter is particularly useful in the desert areas of the interior of Sindh, where there is a shortage of non-salty water.

Irshad Hussain is the chief operating officer of Pak Oasis, the company which is building these water filtration points under a government contract. Over a meeting in his Karachi office, he explains the problems. “First of all, people don’t have water. Secondly, the water that is available is highly contaminated. Say I’m a poor man, working in the fields. If my son gets sick, I have to take him to the doctor. He needs hospital treatment for cholera or hepatitis; I have to borrow money. After 10 days, my child survives. But I am in debt due to the medical fees and my lost earnings. Therefore, if you provide a clean source of water, you are protecting them financially, as well as in terms of health.”

Sindh has a particular problem with water. While the devastation caused by the floods may indicate a surplus, in fact there is not enough. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has a steady flow of freshwater from the mountains, the Punjab has several rivers running through it, but Sindh has limited sources. River water is seriously contaminated by the time it reaches this southern province from its source in the mountains in the north.

It is estimated that 1.2 million people die as a result of contaminated water every year in Pakistan. And one needs only talk to people to realise the scale of the problem. In the fishing village of Memon Goth,Find detailed product information for howo spareparts and other products. I asked how many had suffered stomach problems. Every single one of the group of 25 men raised their hands. Just like the mothers in Peer Mehfooz, they have noticed a difference in their health since the water plant was built.

Mohammed Akram, a resident of Memon Goth, describes how they used to scoop up water from the street to drink, even if it was discoloured and fetid. “Someone had come to visit the village and asked, ‘how can you drink that?’. We developed immunity after years of drinking this contaminated water but any newcomers would become very sick.”

While the building of these water plants is an immeasurable improvement for the residents of these villages, implementing the project is not without its problems. Asha tells me that she washes her clothes and bathes in the filtered drinking water. This is not deliberate wastefulness – she simply has no other supply. This highlights a wider issue: there is not just a problem with the supply of clean water in much of Sindh, but of any water at all.

In Musharraf Colony,This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. Lyari, a group of children tell me that before the new water sanitation plant was built, their parents had to buy water tankers to share between them. These could cost in the region of two to three thousand rupees each per month. Given the low incomes of families in these areas – frequently not more than ten thousand rupees – purchasing water is a significant drain on resources that can account for nearly a third of monthly income. Since everyone needs water, this chronic shortage allows water mafias to flourish across Karachi. If free, clean water was available across the province, it could make a difference not only to family income but to this criminal aspect.

Elsewhere, lack of education means that clean water is either being wasted or not used. “Because of lack of education, they really don’t understand the importance of this water,” says Zakir Husain, the caretaker of the UF plant in the village of Ibrahim Hydri. He says that children sometimes play in the water, and at the other extreme, some families don’t use the water from the filtration plant at all, preferring to stick with the contaminated supply they are used to. “There are big problems with dysentery and hepatitis. We are trying to educate the people to drink this water.”

This is not a problem across the board.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? In some areas where water filtration plants have been built, hospital admissions have dropped by 70 per cent, reflecting the prevalence of waterborne diseases. In the village of Memon Goth, the caretaker of the plant, Ghulam Haider, says that people are well aware of the importance of clean water. Next to the plant, a sign instructs people to “be careful”, a warning for children who don’t understand that this is a precious resource. There are other issues with education too, such as teaching people of the dangers of allowing water to stagnate. “There is a problem in villages with people storing water,” says Hussain. “Particularly in hot temperatures, this is risky for disease.”

Another resource in short supply in Pakistan is electricity. UF technology, which purifies water, is not overly energy intensive, and can be run on solar power. Some plants in Sindh – a province not short of sunlight – use solar technology. RO, however, requires a lot of energy, so it needs electricity to run. The wall next to the plant in Memon Goth is daubed with two timings – 8am til 10am, and 6pm til 8pm. It runs only for these two hourly sessions to accommodate load-shedding. In other plants, too, water cannot be provided for 24 hours a day due to electricity shortages, so operators work out when they can function around load-shedding times. Others, such as a large plant in Lyari that pumps water directly to people’s houses, use costly diesel generators to cover the shortfall. Long-term, this is not a sustainable solution.

Putting people before profits

In Qatar there are many goods and services that have a single supplier. Either they have no competitors or have weak business rivals with limited market share, qualifying them to be called monopolies or duopoly businesses. Car dealerships, telecommunications, public transport and many Fast-moving Consumer Goods items fall in this category.

Worldwide, countries have competition laws or antitrust bodies in place to curb monopolies and ensure free market conditions. But none of the GCC countries, including Qatar, have taken any initiative to ensure healthy competition to attract domestic and foreign investment.

In the absence of relevant laws and antitrust bodies, abuse of their position by monopolies goes unpunished, encouraging them to further exploit a captive market.Whether you are installing a floor tiles or a shower wall, Consumer protection bodies are often not strong enough to bring heavyweight market violators to book.

Recently some cases of monopolistic abuses have come to light where the victims approached public forums and the authorities concerned to register their protest against the offenders.

On December 26, Hamid, a Qatari national, aired his grievances against the exclusive Toyota dealer in Qatar on Qatar Radio’s popular programme, “Watani Al Habeeb Sabah Al Khair” (Good morning, my beloved country).

Hamid, who gave only his first name, told the Qatar Radio presenter: “I bought a brand new Toyota car from Abdullah Abdul Ghani at a price of QR302,000. After driving about 800 kilometres, I discovered that the car had manufacturing defects in its brakes, electric connection as well as in the body. When I contacted the dealer, I was given a date to go to Sanaiya to check the car. Then the given date was extended by a few days. When the company confirmed the defects, I was told that they were normal defects. Subsequently, instead of replacing the car with a new one, I was given two options by the car dealer: either to get the problems fixed on company expense or re-estimate the value of the faulty car and sell it back to the dealer. Obviously, neither of the options suited me as I wanted the faulty car replaced or my money back.”

Hamid said that despite registering complaints with the mother company in Japan, and the Ministry of Business and Trade in Qatar, he did not get his due.

The presenter of the programme, Abeer, said a similar case had been brought to light by an expatriate sometime ago, and as in Hamid’s case, his problem was not addressed satisfactorily by the company.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,

She added that this was due to the monopoly enjoyed by the company, which is the sole supplier of Toyota and Lexus cars in Qatar. She said since there was no other company selling these brands of cars here, buyers were left with no option but to buy from them.

The presenter also suggested that since the Ministry of Business and Trade had not responded to Hamid’s complaint, he and other consumers should contact the Consumer Protection Department (CPD), perhaps unaware that the CPD comes under the same ministry.

Abeer’s co-presenter said: “Monopolies create conditions for consumer exploitation, and they don’t care about consumers’ interests”.

Another victim of market dominance by one firm was a customer of Qatar’s leading telecoms service provider. She said: “During my stay in Sweden, I didn’t use my mobile phone at all. But when I returned to Qatar after a month, the bill was QR3,000. I contacted more than three officials at three different outlets, but it was no use.

“This is a sheer case of consumer exploitation as there are not many providers of such services.”

Historically, monopolies have been discouraged by market regulators and governments as they can harm consumers’ interests.High quality stone mosaic tiles. Monopolists influence prices in two ways: they keep them so low that it drives other, smaller players out of business; or they push prices so high that products and services go beyond the reach of most consumers. Obviously, neither situation is good for consumers.

It is also not good for the economy, given that in the absence of competition, monopolists become ‘price makers’ instead of ‘price takers’, virtually eliminating free trade.

In addition, monopolies may be tempted to provide low-quality goods or sub-standard services without fear of losing business. At times,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, this can put the health and lives of consumers at risk.

On the contrary, a free market with perfect competition (also called pure competition) has a large number of buyers and sellers where every seller is a ‘price taker’ as no single seller is big enough to influence the market price.

Keeping in view empirical evidence about market abuse, collusion and unethical practices by monopolists and in duopolies, most economies of the world, including many emerging economies, have enacted antitrust or competition laws and set up institutions to protect the interests of consumers as well as producers. These antitrust bodies are tasked with ensuring healthy competition in markets and protecting the interests of consumers as well as small and medium businesses.

Competition commissions/bureaus and antitrust bodies also act as nodal agencies for business alliances such as mergers and acquisitions involving large companies, and are equipped with executive powers to impose penalties on market abusers. Their aim is to ensure an equitable opportunity for small and medium businesses to participate fairly in the market, and to make the economy attractive to investors.

Recently, the European Commission imposed its biggest ever antitrust fine, of €1.47bn ($1.94bn, QR7.07bn), on seven electronics firms for fixing the market for television and computer monitor tubes.

The Commission ruled that for a decade ending in 2006, the companies — including Philips, LG Electronics and Panasonic — artificially set prices, shared markets and restricted their output at the expense of millions of consumers.

Another example is that of New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the creator of the Viagra pill. Because there was no other pill like Viagra available, Pfizer became a monopoly for a product that was in high demand. The company was able to dictate the price of the product and buyers had no choice but to pay it. This was what is called an incidental monopoly. Eventually, similar pills from other companies became available, ending Pfizer’s monopoly.

Another well-known antitrust case of the past decades is the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) case against AT&T, which resulted in the old American Telephone & Telegraph being broken up into seven regional companies and a much smaller AT&T.

One of the best known antitrust cases is that brought by the DoJ and 20 US states against Microsoft Corporation in 1998. The central issue was whether Microsoft could bundle its Internet Explorer web browser software with its Windows operating system. Bundling the two together is alleged to have given Microsoft victory in the browser wars and restricted the market for competing web browsers. The DoJ and Microsoft settled the case in 2001, requiring the company to share its application programming interfaces with third-party companies, but not preventing it from tying other software with Windows.

Competition bureaus of many economies have recently cracked the whip on airline companies with big market shares, who were ordered to split into smaller companies to ensure fair competition.

Pioneering free-market economies such as the United States and Britain have had competition laws in some form for centuries. In medieval Britain, with concern for fair prices, an act was passed in 1266 to fix bread and ale prices in correspondence with corn prices laid down by the assizes. Penalties for breach included fines and pillory.

Formal laws followed much later. The US enacted the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, making monopolies illegal. In Britain, formal legislation arrived in the form of the Competition Act 1998 and Enterprise Act 2002.

Competition laws prohibit anti-competitive practices such as horizontal and vertical agreements between enterprises that significantly prevent, restrict or distort competition for goods or services.

Horizontal agreements including price-fixing; market sharing; limit or control of production, marketing outlets or market access; and bid rigging are deemed anti-competitive. Restrictive vertical agreements include tie-in arrangements and exclusive deals aimed at putting up barriers against new entrants in an industry.

Globally, most public utilities, which supply electricity and water, are allowed to have monopolies because of the difficulty and necessity of supplying these services to all customers.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. Such monopolies are called natural monopolies and are characterized by a small market size, meaning the market cannot support more than one firm of an optimum size due to the high capital cost.

Place of birth

UNESCO were rather grave.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. The United States has a law requiring it to cut funds to any UN agency that recognises a Palestinian state. Therefore, the United States automatically withdrew its membership and along with it a large portion of UNESCO’s budget. But Palestine, as a member state, could ratify the World Heritage Convention and nominate its heritage sites to the world heritage list.

The entire nomination procedure was carried out in a few months, with the nomination document being submitted even before the site was inscribed on the tentative list. International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) recommended: “The Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage route, Bethlehem, Palestine should not be inscribed on the world heritage list on an emergency basis.” Still the World Heritage Committee during its 36th session in June this year did consider the situation an emergency and inscribed Bethlehem on the world heritage list and simultaneously on the list of world heritage in danger.

It is interesting to note the comments of ICOMOS concerning the comparative analysis. The analysis supposedly tried to find other similar examples instead of showing Bethlehem’s uniqueness. “It suggests that Bethlehem could be said to be similar to the Vatican of Italy,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. Lumbini of Nepal, and Takht-e-Suleiman of Iran.The oreck XL professional air purifier,” Every world heritage site is supposed to be unique. Yet to comprehend the many sites, we tend to club them into categories.

It is interesting to compare the similarities to other places of birth. Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha where Buddha Jayanti is celebrated during the full-moon day of the lunar month of Baishakh (April-May). Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius. However, the birthplace itself is located in a non-descript location outside the city. The cave which marks the exact spot is politely highlighted with a stone slab with a bright red sign. The real veneration to Confucius is provided at the centrally located cemetery, which is a world heritage property.

The significance of a place of birth can be expressed as a memorial to an important event, but could also be linked to the location itself. For example, all astrological calculations are carried out based on the exact time and place of birth. A person’s character is distinguished according to the position of the stars and planets at the time of birth. A place might have a

special aura, which might be characterised by the physical surroundings or the composition of the ground underneath. The relevance given to such concepts might depend on the beliefs and culture of the individuals; however, the sacredness of such places transcends cultures.

Theresa Spence gained an unexpected and passionately outspoken ally as a former lieutenant-governor of Ontario called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to "show that he's a leader" and meet with the Attawapiskat chief as she enters the third week of her hunger strike.

About 10 women are also standing "in solidarity" with Spence in Regina, beginning a four-day fast set to end Sunday.

Harper need not fear meeting with Spence to negotiate better living conditions for aboriginals would show any weakness, said James Bartleman, who served as Ontario's lieutenant-governor from 2002 to 2007 and is a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation.

"If he was to do something like that, he would be doing something that he could be proud of for the rest of his life, but if he doesn't do that, I would say shame on him," Bartleman told Postmedia News on Thursday.

"If she carries on like this, I would think she would die."

Spence's strike has become the focal point for Idle No More, an aboriginal rights movement that has garnered momentum among Canada's First Nations and received support from federal opposition parties,High quality stone mosaic tiles. several major unions, religious groups and academics.

Spence insists she'll starve herself to death if the prime minister doesn't meet with her. She had also sought a meeting with Gov. Gen. David Johnston, but he has said the issue is best left to elected officials.

"I would hope that prime minister Harper would show that he's a leader. It is not a sign of weakness to go and see someone who is suffering and talk to them," Bartleman said Thursday.

Bartleman said he appeals to Canadians to try to get the Conservative government to pay more attention to native issues.

Bartleman, 73 - who spent much of his childhood living in tents and shacks on the outskirts of cottage country in Ontario - was very much affected by the "appalling," "desperate" conditions he saw aboriginal children living in during his travels north and used much of his time in office to help aboriginal communities.

He has always had a streak of social justice in him, he said.

Now that he's retired he says he has a responsibility to speak out about the injustices he sees in the country - "particularly when they're so flagrant," Bartleman said.

His hope, he said, is that Spence's hunger strike and the Idle No More movement will go beyond a piece of legislation in the House of Commons.

"I've long said that native people are the invisible people, and native children in particular are the invisible children of Canadian society," Bartleman said. "What we need to do is raise the consciousness of the public, and raise the consciousness of the Canadian cabinet, that these are real people. And they suffer."

Spence began her hunger strike on Dec. 11. She wasn't taking visitors Thursday.

Claudette Alexson of Regina travelled to Ottawa recently for Idle No More protests on Parliament Hill. Alexson and her fellow Saskatchewan demonstrators made a brief detour to Spence's "sacred campsite."

Alexson did not meet Spence that day last week - the group was told Spence was too tired - but said Thursday being near Spence gave her inspiration for her current task in the ongoing aboriginal rights movement: a four-day fast in support of Spence.

"It just made me realize Chief Spence is doing this for her people. She's doing it for everybody, and for her community, especially," Alexson said Thursday before beginning her fast.

"On a personal level, for a leader to do that for our people, I just feel like my duty as a First Nations woman, as a grandmother, and someone that cares about my community and my people, I feel it's my duty to make people aware that this is for them and this is for us."

The group of about 10 women is planning to fast at an undisclosed Regina location until Sunday. A public celebratory feast is to take place Monday.

Shawna Oochoo helped organize the fast, which is the latest Idle No More demonstration in the province.Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products. .

"It's to stand in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence, and also to pray for good, peaceful protests that will hopefully urge the Harper government to come back to the table to do the honourable thing and consult with our leaders before passing legislation," Oochoo said in an interview Thursday.

2012年12月26日 星期三

The Arts in Italy Beyond Fascism

Rare is the exhibition devoted to Italian art during Fascism that does not mystify and prevaricate, and this show at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence is no exception. The aim is to consider the works “beyond ideological pressures or the artists’ own ideological stands”, as curator Antonello Negri puts it in the catalogue: when it comes to 1930s Italy, however, that attempt is misguided. At that time, all artists were working under a dictatorship which, through a grand public art programme and through institutional infrastructure – major exhibitions including the Venice Biennale, a series of prizes, and an artists’ union – controlled much of the territory.

To be fair, Italian artists were not alone in embracing a “return to order”. The rise of an art which looked back to ancient Rome by way of Renaissance masters had swept across post-war Europe as artists backed away from the disturbing ruptures of abstraction towards a calmer, more figure-friendly vision.

Certain artists, most notably Picasso, were making mischief with the ancients. In Italy, the trend was taken seriously. Its chief exponents – artists such as Mario Sironi, Carlo Carrà and Achille Funi – were part of the Novecento group whose patron was Margherita Sarfatti. An influential collector and critic, Sarfatti was also Mussolini’s mistress and she was thoroughly committed to an art that would convey, as she put it, “domination, audacity and empire”.

By the early 1930s, Sarfatti had fallen out of favour with Il Duce. If the Strozzi curators consider this sufficient reason for barely mentioning either her or the Novecento group, they are mistaken. Dozens of the pieces on display here are the work of her protégés, and the context in which they were produced is crucial. As it is, much of the show feels like a journey through a mythical Arcadia where neither history nor politics disturb the mood of timeless calm. Opening the exhibition, Mario Sironi’s “The Family” (1932) is a painting of a mother, father and child, the semi-naked, monumental figures planted stolidly in a barren, rocky landscape. Masterfully executed in dry, scumbled hues of black, umber, terracotta and grey with white highlights, its fresco-like character boosts the image’s archetypal power. A similarly hieratic quality invests Carlo Carra’s muscular “Fishermen” (1935), who appear to have been gazing at each other for centuries in front of their storm-green sea.

Such nostalgic reveries did not have a monopoly. A powerful yet poetic expressionsm emerged in the intense hues and melting contours of paintings by Renato Guttuso and Renato Birolli. A handful of artists ventured into abstraction. Represented by a 1950s reproduction, Lucio Fontana’s skeletal iron bar traces space as poetically as carbon on paper.China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. Osvaldo Licini mixes and matches Kandinsky-bright panels with jagged monochrome patterns to build his “Castle in the Air” (1933-36). The second wave of Futurists – Enrico Prampolini, Tullio Cralli and Osvaldo Peruzzi – paid homage to Mussolini’s fantasy domination of the skies with their fatally mannered Aeropittura. Public art schemes saw artists such as Sironi, Carrà, Arturo Martini and Fontana translate classical correctness into paintings, murals and sculptures that would shore up the image of victorious romanità essential to Mussolini’s propaganda.

This cauldron of styles was not wholly dependent on politics but it was not divorced from it either. The expressionism of Birolli and Guttuso, for example, came as a direct result of their involvement with the Scuola Romana (Roman School) which deliberately distanced itself from the classicism that had won Fascist approval. Yet rather than confront these tendencies directly, the curators devise a series of bewildering categories such as regional schools – where they make no mention of crucial ideological differences – the difference between the old and new generation, and Italian artists who travelled abroad.

There are virtues. Although too small, the section on public art is blessed with Lucio Fontana’s “The Harpooner” (1934), whose lithe, polished body seems to have leapt straight from the water.Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot. (It was designed to adorn the fountain of a fish market in Milan.) Also illuminating is a handful of works from Germany. Here two 1920s’ watercolours – typically bitter, sexual satires – by Otto Dix and a gruesome post-torture scene painted in watercolour by George Grosz in 1935 reveal what happens when artists choose not to lose themselves in search of temps perdu.

It is a coup too, to have “The Four Elements” by Adolf Ziegler, who was Hitler’s artistic advisor.This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. With its quartet of pristine Aryan nudes, this saccharine travesty of allegorical painting is hung alongside a work by the Italian Pietro Gaudenzi. Painted to glorify Mussolini’s “Battle for Grain”, this bombastic piece, peopled by grim-faced workers, won the Cremona award which was instituted by the politican Roberto Farinacci to encourage artists to glorify the regime. All one can say in its defence is that it lacks the hackle-raising kinkiness that infects Ziegler’s Stepford-like muses.

Although the wall texts do allude to the bureaucratic machine – exhibitions, prizes, etc – that underpinned much of the work on show, the information is communicated in disjointed fragments that confuse rather than clarify. The reality was that artists were operating in an atmosphere ripe with paradox, contradiction and instability. Certain artists, Fausto Melotti and Lucio Fontana, for example, swung between figurative and abstract styles. Certain Scuola Romana artists, and Birolli – later imprisoned for his anti-Fascism – had no compunction about exhibiting in the Galleria d’Arte di Roma, which was financed by Mussolini. In 1938, a Fascist publication, Il Tevere, condemned as “foreign, Bolshevik and Jewish” not only certain abstractionists and Birolli, but also the more classical painting of Sironi, Carrà and Giorgio De Chirico.

Had the curatorial approach been clearer, the quality and variety of the work on show would have made this a truly fascinating exhibition.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, Curators must give spectators the facts,Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. then leave it to them to decide whether or not the works transcend the ideologies of their time.

The World's Top 10 Retirement

Panama caters for foreign retirees like no other country in the world right now. Day-to-day living here is affordable, the approach to taxation is favorable, property prices remain reasonable, even a bargain outside the capital city, and the country boasts perhaps the world's most generous incentive program for retirees. It uses the U.S.High quality stone mosaic tiles. dollar as its currency, meaning no exchange-rate risk for retirees whose retirement income is also denominated in greenbacks.

Further, Panama is an international banking center and the best place in the world to start and run an international business. As the gateway to the Americas, Panama's geographic position makes it an important hub for both commerce and travel. This is part of the reason why, while other Latin American countries depend heavily on the U.S. economy, this is not the case with Panama. The country stands on its own legs, has a solid economy, and thrives as a major center for foreign business and investment, attracting investors from the region (especially Venezuela and Colombia) and around the world.

Panama City is unique in Central America, the only legitimate city in the region, being remade in real time right now thanks to myriad public works projects, including the expansion of the Panama Canal. Panama also offers some of the most advanced medical care facilities in the region, with many Panamanian doctors U.S.-trained. The more remote your location, the farther you'll be from the best facilities, but Panama City's hospitals are first-rate.

My top recommendation for retirement in Panama in 2013 is Coronado, a beach community on the country's Pacific coast about an hour outside the capital. Life here could be comfortable, convenient, and turn-key, as this area is home to one of this country's most established communities of foreign retirees.

Whenever readers ask for my recommendation for the best place in the world to retire, budget considerations notwithstanding, I recommend France. It's the world's best example, I believe, of getting what you pay for. There are reasons France sees more tourists than any other country in the world, almost 80 million of them annually. To accommodate all those tourists, the infrastructure of this country, from the airports to the train system, from the restaurants to the hotels, has to be top notch and it is.

France is not only perhaps the best place in the world to live, thanks to its food, wine, architecture, history, museums, parks, gardens, and cultural and recreational offerings, but it's also, thanks to its reliable tourist trade, one of the best places to think about parking some capital. A rental property in France, especially in Paris but elsewhere in the country, too, is about as recession-proof a real estate investment as you're going to find.

Specifically, for retirement in 2013, I'd recommend the "other" South of France. Not Provence (which, yes, is pricey), but west of there, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, between Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur to the east, the Midi-Pyrenees to the west, and the Auvergne to the north. Spain is a few hours' drive to the south. Not everyone is cut out for life in the Tropics or the developing world. If you prefer Old World living, this is perhaps your best option right now. This region is colorful, eclectic, always changing, never following a formula, and very open to retirees. This is wine country,The oreck XL professional air purifier, with a long history and a lot of heart.

Warm and welcoming, independent and private. Those four perhaps seemingly contradictory adjectives best describe both Belizeans and their country. Belize is also one of the safest countries in the world, despite what you may read about it. In some neighborhoods of Belize City, gang members and drug dealers do the things that gang members and drug dealers do, but those are small, contained areas. In most of the rest of the country outside Belize City, crime is nearly non-existent.

Belize was a colony of Britain until 1981, meaning the people here speak English. They also value their freedom, as it's relatively new.

In the nearly 30 years that I've been spending time in this country, I've joked that "the good news from Belize is no news from Belize.Purelink's real time location system protect healthcare workers in their daily practices and OMEGA interventions." This is a sleepy Caribbean nation with but 330,000 people and three highways. On the other hand, little Belize offers a whole lot of what many retirees are looking for -- a chance to start over on sandy, sunny shores. Prices for a bit of sand on Ambergris, the most developed of Belize's islands, are not cheap but cheaper than elsewhere in the Caribbean, and it is this island, home to the country's biggest expat community, with the services to cater to it, that I would recommend to any retiree dreaming of retirement on the Caribbean Sea this New Year.

Legal residency is easy to obtain in Belize, and foreign residents pay no tax in Belize on non-Belize income. I would not recommend Belize if you have a serious health concern or existing medical condition. Health care facilities and standards are improving but limited.

Lots of overseas retirement destinations tout the fact that they're just like the United States, that, retired there, you could settle into familiar surroundings. You won't hear that about Ecuador. Each day you spend in this country, you know you're in a different and wonderful part of the planet.

Ecuador is also one the world's best place to retire overseas on a budget and to live better for less. The cost of living is low, and the cost of real estate is near rock bottom for Latin America.High quality stone mosaic tiles. The health care is high quality, honest and inexpensive.

Specifically, I would recommend Cuenca, Ecuador, a beautiful colonial city with a fresh, spring-like climate 12 months of the year and a large and growing expat community that is one of Latin America's most diverse and well-blended. Ecuador has other colonial cities, but Cuenca is the cultural heart of the country, with an orchestra and active art, theater, even tango traditions that you can often enjoy free.

Perhaps the biggest draw to Cuenca is its cost of living, which is low in an absolute sense. The falling dollar has caused prices to go up sharply for overseas Americans in many countries where goods are priced in the local currency. This won't happen in Ecuador as long as the country continues to use the U.S. dollar as its currency. Real estate, too, is an absolute bargain. You can buy a small condo for less than $40,000.

The Orange went through what was scheduled to be a two-hour workout in thuds and helmets on the turf football field. Media access was limited to the first 30 minutes.

“I feel real cold, that’s how I feel right now,” junior tight end Beckett Wales, from Venice, Fla., joked. “If I can see my breath, it’s way too cold for me.”

Wales and other Orange players held the first of two practices at Columbia. On Friday, the team will have a walk-through at Yankee Stadium before Saturday’s 3:15 p.m. kickoff for the third New Era Pinstripe Bowl game against West Virginia.

Several players, and a few coaches, wore shorts in the chill morning air, in which temperatures struggled to reach 30 degrees. Most wore tights with shorts over them, or sweat pants.

One of those wearing shorts was redshirt senior quarterback Ryan Nassib, who exhibited a little Philadelphia toughness in the raw conditions.

“This is us. You know, we’re New York’s team and that’s how we market ourselves,” senior left guard Zack Chibane said. “We have a lot of kids from Florida, but I think everyone is loving the environment up here. We practiced a whole week outside (in Syracuse). It was like 20 degrees - colder than this.”

SU was able to get its practice in before a nasty, wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain hit the city in mid-afternoon. That weather drove the Mountaineers, who had an afternoon practice scheduled at Fordham University, to move to an undisclosed indoor location for their first bowl-week practice.

Wales said the Orange worked hard the past week in Syracuse trying to regain their focus and return to football shape after some time off.

“There’s no secret stuff,” he said of the closed practices held on campus the past two weeks. “Just getting our focus back, getting back into football shape. We had a couple of weeks where we weren’t really doing a lot of football.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china,”

Through The Eyes Of The Farmer And The Agro-Dealer

The fertiliser distribution initiative code-named “Growth Enhancement Support Programme (GES)” developed by the Federal Government to enhance distribution of farm inputs to farmers at a subsidised rate, has been applauded by stakeholders both home and abroad. Even farmers lauded the programme, because for some of them, it is the first time that they have directly benefited from any government agriculture initiative.

With the GES programme, major agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and seeds, are distributed to the farmers through an electronic distribution channel known as the Electronic Wallet Scheme (e-wallet), thereby discontinuing direct procurement and distribution of farm inputs to farmers.High quality stone mosaic tiles.

The conditions of the e-wallet scheme stipulates that a farmer, registered under the GES, is expected to pay 50 per cent of the cost of farm inputs, while the Federal and state governments would pay 25 per cent each.

A 75-year old farmer from Ogun State, Alhaji Adio Kareem, who spoke to the media during a media tour to some states in the Southwest said that “Ever since I began farming, this is the first time I have benefited from the government’s fertiliser distribution programme: we only hear it on radio, but it never reaches us. This time, it is another story entirely.”

Kareem said the agro-dealer have been forthcoming as she always, as she has constantly come to their farms to encourage them to register for the GES programme, and also to come and redeem their fertiliser and seeds at the agro-dealer centres.
“We couldn’t have had a better programme than this,but what we want government to do for us is to provide us with the farm inputs on time and adequately”, another farmer from Ogun State noted.

For Osun state, it was a different story altogether. The GES coordinator in the state, Mr. Kamil Gbolagade noted that the programme was a partial success, being that they already had a programme going on in the state which has worked very well for the farmers.

Gbolagade noted that the former fertiliser programme embarked upon by the state government worked well for farmers, as they were able to buy fertiliser at a subsidised rate of N3,000, compared to the Federal Government programme wherein farmers could only buy two bags of fertiliser at a subsidised rate of N5,500.

Stakeholders are of the view that government should deal with each state as an entity by isolating their problems and solving them completely, rather than opting for a top-to-bottom approach.

Farmers in Kwara State complained of the hijacking of the scheme by non-farmers, as most of them were not aware of the programme at first. By the time they got to know about the programme, so many market women who were not farmers had been already registered.

A farmer, Mr Kamiu Kolapo, who spoke to LEADERSSHIP in the state advised government to always involve commodity associations whenever they have any programme.

He said “We are the ones who know who the real farmers are,This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. especially those who are in our association, and we can always ensure they benefit from whatever programme the Federal Government is having for farmers”.

The programme manager,Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. Ogun State Agriculture Development Programme (OSADEP), Mr. Ibikunle Onasanya, mentioned that in Ogun State about 40,000 farmers were registered, and the first roll out was in maize, followed by cassava and cocoa roll-outs, over 8,000 farmers benefitted from the programme, receiving inputs like fertilisers, agro chemicals and agrolisers.

He explained that the reason for the number of beneficiaries was due to the timing of the roll-out. For instance, maize and cassava roll-out was done on the June 21, and farmers had already started planting between March and May.

“At that time, we had to convince them, and give them reasons to key into the project. Though they had already planted, the fertilisers could still come in handy for the late season”, Onasanya said.

He further mentioned that farmers were already registering for the 2013 farming season, and a lot of awareness via both the radio and television.

According to Onasanya, fertiliser and seeds would be given to farmers in areas ravaged by the floods, to enable them engage in late-season planting. He also added that the input will cover those who have registered and are yet to register, so as to increase food production in the state in year 2012.

The Osun State director, Agriculture Development, mentioned that 35,390 farmers were registered for the 2012 farming season; of this number 2,365 farmers benefitted from the GES scheme, because of problems related to redeeming the e-wallet messages from the centres.

He explained that six agro centres – in Iwo, Ede, Irewole, Ilesha, Ife and Osogbo – were effective during the season, despite the problem of aligning the messages on the agro dealers and the farmers phone posed a great challenge for the farmers, explaining that messages were supposed to be sent to the agro-dealer and the farmer, and that if the agro-dealer does not get the message, the farmer will be unable to redeem both the fertiliser and the seeds.

He went ahead to suggest the need to commence early registration of farmers for the next farming season.
The GES coordinator mentioned that his assessment of the programme is below average in the state, because the company commissioned to deliver fertiliser in the state was not forthcoming on the exercise.

The agro dealers were supposed to approach the bank for loan and payment made to the company to supply the fertiliser to the centres. The banks did not provide the loans for the agro dealers, making them unable to provide input for the centres.
About 17 centres were identified, and only six of them were able to operate throughout the period, because there was no enough supply of fertiliser.

He mentioned that Golden fertiliser and Notore were commissioned to supply fertiliser to the state while WEMA Bank was to provide the loan.

He said the system of getting the message across to the farmers was not perfect, due to a network problem which forced many farmers to spend hours waiting to receive the GES text message. Also, many of the farmers did not have contact telephone lines.

“The few who benefitted are happy with the programme: We gave them two bags of fertilisers, 40kg of maize and 50kg of rice. The insufficiency of the rice and maize seeds is the fault of the supplier.

“The companies commissioned for the GES programme were identified by the Federal Government, not the ADP, I will suggest they redesign the programme in the future. Instead of the bank giving loan to agro dealers, the money should go, straight, to the agro dealers to supply the company. Most of the banks are still trying to wrap-up the documentation till today, talk more of extending the loans to the agro dealers.

In Osun State, only Wema Bank agreed to work with us and it has not been a success story.
The field officers who were stationed at the redemption centres were poorly remunerated by Cellulant company for the three weeks that they were stationed at the centres and they are troubling us in the office to pay them their money”, said Onasanya noted.

“A farmer, registered for the programme at the OSADEP office, and when the programme commenced he was able to get alert on his phone, after which they ordered us to come with the messages, for collection of the fertilisers.

“I paid N5500 for the fertiliser, while they gave me seeds for free. The fertiliser was good but the grain did not germinate at all; it really disappointed me. The maize I was supposed to plant earlier so that it will mature, was a disappointment, because a week after then I realised that the maize did not germinate at all. I had to buy another seed for cultivation.

A lot of farmers who got the seeds from the same source also had the same problem, because I know some of my friends who also complained about the seed,” a farmer complained.

Another farmer, Mr. Oyedotun Oyewole, complained that the seeds and fertilisers were insufficient: “I have a large farm so, sometimes, I used up to 15 bags of fertiliser, and I will suggest that the government increase the number of fertiliser they are giving us”.

The managing director, Jordadar Farms, who is an agro-dealer at Ede local government area, stated that poor network coverage was one of the hitches. “Sometimes, the farmers get message, while the agro dealers did not get the message, yet it was supposed to correspond for them to collect the fertiliser and the grain.”

In Kogi State, the Kogi State agro input chairman, Mr. Oyeniyi Badejo,The oreck XL professional air purifier, complained that farmers were bitter that almost 10 per cent of them were unregistered, citing poor media awareness for the non-registration of the other 90 per cent.

“But we had problem with the banks”, Badejo began, “the Federal Government asked them to finance us, but later on the system changed, as they did not give us the loan. We had to seek for loans on personal grounds, with about 25 per cent interest rate”.
According to Stephen Ayaba, an agro input dealer, “we keyed into this programme and were trained by the International Fertiliser Development Commission. After the training, we were short-listed and some of us are beneficiaries.

“During the training it was a dream come through. With their entire requirement, I was able to meet up with the all the numerous and tasking requirements, which my bank manager also affirmed to. I was asked to pay 30 per cent counterpart fund which I did, after which I was given a loan offer from Zenith Bank, I spent over 1million to ensure I meet up with the requirement only for me to be told that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not provide the fund,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. and I was so frustrated.

“I had to go and source for fund, to ensure I get fertiliser for the farmers, because it had been widely broadcasted on radio and television that farmers should got to agro centres to collect their inputs. The farmers, on the other hand, started receiving alert for them to come and collect their inputs; the pressure was so much on us that we had to cover up. Despite our efforts, not up to 10 per cent of the farmers were informed about the programme for them to register. Till today we could not meet up to two per cent of those who were registered.

2012年12月24日 星期一

Online Retailers Vary PricesBased on a User's Location

"How can they get away with that?" said Ms. Frizzell, who works in Bergheim, Texas.

In what appears to be an unintended side effect of Staples' pricing methods—likely a function of retail competition with its rivals—the Journal's testing also showed that areas that tended to see the discounted prices had a higher average income than areas that tended to see higher prices.

Presented with the Journal's findings, Staples acknowledged that it varies its online and in-store prices by geography because of "a variety of factors" including "costs of doing business."

For years, the Internet, with its promise of quick comparison shopping, has granted people a certain power over retailers. At the click of a button, shoppers could find a better deal elsewhere, no travel required.

But the idea of an unbiased, impersonal Internet is fast giving way to an online world that, in reality, is increasingly tailored and targeted. Websites are adopting techniques to glean information about visitors to their sites, in real time, and then deliver different versions of the Web to different people. Prices change, products get swapped out, wording is modified, and there is little way for the typical website user to spot it when it happens.

The Journal identified several companies, including Staples, Discover Financial Services, Rosetta Stone Inc. and Home Depot Inc., that were consistently adjusting prices and displaying different product offers based on a range of characteristics that could be discovered about the user. Office Depot, for example, told the Journal that it uses "customers' browsing history and geolocation" to vary the offers and products it displays to a visitor to its site.

Offering different prices to different people is legal, with a few exceptions for race-based discrimination and other sensitive situations. Several companies pointed out that their online price-tweaking simply mirrors the real world. Regular shops routinely adjust their prices to account for local demand, competition, store location and so on. Nobody is surprised if,China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. say, a gallon of gas is cheaper at the same chain, one town over.

But price-changing online isn't popular among shoppers. Some 76% of American adults have said it would bother them to find out that other people paid a lower price for the same product, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

"I think it's very discriminatory," said Ms. Wamble, an insurance account manager in Boerne, Texas, who priced the Swingline stapler for the Journal this month. She was just 10 miles or so down the road from Ms. Frizzell, but she saw higher prices on the Staples website than Ms. Frizzell did for all five products tested. Items tested included a pack of Bic pens, a case of orange masking tape, a set of crimped-end mailing tubes and a big safe.

It remains unclear precisely what formula Staples used to set online prices. Staples declined to answer detailed questions about the findings. It told the Journal that "in-store and online prices do vary by geography due to a variety of factors, including rent, labor, distribution and other costs of doing business."

It is possible that Staples' online-pricing formula uses other factors that the Journal didn't identify. The Journal tested to see whether price was tied to different characteristics including population, local income,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. proximity to a Staples store, race and other demographic factors. Statistically speaking, by far the strongest correlation involved the distance to a rival's store from the center of a ZIP Code. That single factor appeared to explain upward of 90% of the pricing pattern.

What economists call price discrimination—when companies offer different prices to different people based on their perceived willingness to pay—is commonplace and can be beneficial. Movie theaters give senior-citizen discounts. One traveler's willingness to pay top dollar for an airplane seat might mean other people will pay less.

Basing online prices on geography can make sense for various reasons, from shipping costs to local popularity of a particular item. Some retailers might naturally cluster in specific areas as well—a prosperous suburb, say—boosting the competitive pressure to discount.

But using geography as a pricing tool can also reinforce patterns that e-commerce had promised to erase: prices that are higher in areas with less competition, including rural or poor areas. It diminishes the Internet's role as an equalizer.

In the Journal's examination of Staples' online pricing, the weighted average income among ZIP Codes that mostly received discount prices was roughly $59,900, based on Internal Revenue Service data. ZIP Codes that saw generally high prices had a lower weighted average income, $48,700.

Staples didn't comment on the income split beyond saying that the company offers a low-price guarantee.

Online businesses have experimented with tailored offers since the dawn of the Internet era. In 1997, a startup called Personify sold software that tried to personalize Web pages for shoppers. For example, people taking a certain path through a site could be tagged as price-conscious and be shown low-end items, said Eileen Gittins, Personify's former chief executive.

To find differences that weren't purely the result of dynamic pricing or randomized tests, the Journal conducted preliminary scans by simulating visits from different computers to a variety of e-commerce sites. If a website showed different prices or offers, the Journal then analyzed the site's computer code and conducted follow-up testing.

The Journal's tests, which were conducted in phases between August and December, indicated that some big-name retailers are experimenting with offering different prices and products to different users.

Some sites, for example, gave discounts based on whether or not a person was using a mobile device. A person searching for hotels from the Web browser of an iPhone or Android phone on travel sites Orbitz and CheapTickets would see discounts of as much as 50% off the list price, Orbitz said.

Both sites are run by Orbitz Worldwide Inc., which in fact markets the differences as "mobile steals." Orbitz says the deals are also available on the iPad if a person installs the Orbitz app.

"Many hotels have proven willing to provide discounts for mobile sites," said Chris Chiames, Orbitz's vice president of corporate affairs.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , Hotels on Orbitz mobile sites also offer discounts "that might target shoppers in a specific geographic region," as determined by the physical location of the user, as well as "other factors."

Often, sites tailored results by geography. In the tests, Discover, for instance, showed a prominent offer for the company's new "it" card to computers connecting from cities including Denver, Kansas City, Mo., and Dallas, Texas. Computers connecting from Scranton, Penn.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory., Kingsport, Tenn., and Los Angeles didn't see the same offer.

A Discover spokeswoman said that the company was testing the card, but that for competitive reasons, it wouldn't comment further on its "acquisition strategy" for new customers.Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot.

At home-improvement site Lowe's Cos., prices depend on location. For example, a refrigerator in the Journal's tests cost $449 in Chicago, Los Angeles and Ashburn, Va., but $499 in seven other test cities. Lowe's said online shoppers receive the lower of the online store price or the price at their local Lowe's store as indicated by their ZIP Code.

Homeless code-compliant housing issues remain in Casper

People still face waiting lists at shelters and low-income housing units in Casper, but code enforcement has made some progress with safety inspections over the past year.

Casper’s McKenzie Apartments and the House of Hope transitional shelter closed in 2012, while the Sunshine Apartments opened.Purelink's real time location system protect healthcare workers in their daily practices and OMEGA interventions. The new multiplex sits on the former site of the KC Apartments, which were closed in 2009 for code violations and demolished in 2011.

The city also rejected a low-income complex in Paradise Valley and ordered updates for a number of housing facilities, including Skyline Towers — a low-income senior housing center.

Meanwhile, federal numbers suggest homelessness in Wyoming increased by 75 percent between 2011 and 2012, according to an annual “point-in-time” count. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported in December that Wyoming’s total homeless population jumped from 1,038 to 1,813,Best howo concrete mixer manufacturer in China. although national homelessness numbers declined slightly overall.

“The needs haven’t really changed,” said Lu Ann Allhusen, executive director of the Casper Housing Authority. “What’s tough is when people are in crisis, they need housing then, and not always do they get the housing through the different agencies.”

The housing authority owns 75 housing units and operates assistance programs, serving more than 600 families each month. Allhusen said the waiting list for HUD vouchers has continued to grow, and the list for public housing is equally long. The voucher program had nearly 100 people on the waiting list in June, a number that ballooned to 1,200 by December.

Marilyn Dymond Wagner, executive director at Interfaith of Natrona County,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. said she has also noticed a steady need for housing. She estimated her number of clients increased by 10 percent between 2011 and 2012. Aside from the general surge brought on by winter, Wagner said Interfaith had an extraordinary amount of visitors in July.

“The influx of people from out of state that were here looking for jobs in oil and gas certainly attributed to that number,” she said. “Then just an influx of folks from out of state, period, [who] think that Wyoming’s economy is so much better than elsewhere.”

Administrators at LifeSteps Transitional Housing and the Wyoming Rescue Mission reported full shelters in December, a trend consistent for most of 2012.

Brandon Espinoza, program manager at LifeSteps and former coordinator of an annual homeless count, said the family housing works off a constant waiting list. The agency attempts to refer people when possible.

This year’s annual “point-in-time” homeless count, required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for areas that receive federal funding, is being coordinated by social workers at Interfaith.High quality stone mosaic tiles. Plans are underway for the one-day tally done by communities across the nation to estimate the homeless population.

“It’s going to be very well orchestrated in terms of logistics this year,” Wagner said.

The 2012 count had plenty of volunteers, but social services reported a difficult time mobilizing them. To combat that problem, Wagner said the Casper Area Transportation Coalition will provide two buses for use.

Wagner also said La Cocina has offered to serve free tacos to the homeless, Little Caesars will provide pizza, and the Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies will give out boxes of food at Set Free Ministries during the event.

HUD has also changed the rules this year regarding people who are doubled up, or staying with others because they don’t have a home of their own. They will not be counted as homeless in 2013.

Administrators of the transitional housing facility moved to Green River in late 2012 and are attempting to reopen. Bishop Charles Trimm, founder of the House of Hope, said he has identified two potential locations that would require a special use permit. The nonprofit expects to present their plans to City Council sometime in January.

Until then, Trimm said the agency will continue a partnership with Southwest Wyoming Recovery Access Programs to place people in hotels.

“I know it’s a Band-Aid, but that’s the best we can do until we get a permanent facility,” he said.

In addition to the House of Hope, the city of Casper closed the McKenzie Apartments for code violations in March. Code Enforcement Manager Doug Barrett said the building on Grant Street is now under new ownership and in the process of being remodeled by Trinity Builders.

A North Lincoln Street multifamily unit with prior reported problems that caught fire earlier this year is also being remodeled. Barrett said the city has worked with “several other units” to bring them to code in the past year.

A priority list of housing inspections created after code violations closed the KC Apartments in 2009 is still being addressed. Barrett said the city is currently focusing on high- and medium-risk locations but notes updates made to “problem properties” as proof the program is working.

"Our experience has shown that 57 percent to the players is too much," Daly said. "Particularly in an economic environment that's changed significantly in a situation where Canadian currency and the value of Canadian currency has changed dramatically, in an environment where generating revenues and the cost of generating revenues has become more significant.Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. And the bottom line is, 54 percent where we started with going to 57 percent where we currently are, is just too much."

2. Fehr on the resolve of the players with the lockout on the horizon:

"I've been involved in a lot of disputes before 1996, none since then until now," said Fehr, the former longtime baseball union head. "But there was a constant underestimation of the players' resolve. I don't know what to do about that but I just wish it wouldn't happen. It would make things easier."

The lockout commenced Sept. 15, followed by a few fruitless meetings in late September and early October.

Finally, there was a shot of adrenaline to the process on Oct. 16. The NHL came to Toronto and tabled a new proposal that called for a 50-50 split of HRR and an 82-game season beginning Nov. 2. But the deal was contingent on the players accepting it by Oct. 25.

The NHL also took the unusual step of releasing the entire proposal in detail on its website the next day, Oct. 17, in a clear attempt to make sure all 700-plus players got a direct read of it and not just the version that they would get from Fehr. This would once again illustrate the incredible distrust between the two sides in these negotiations.

Hockey fans, meanwhile, were swept up in a wave of hope, many of them believing this NHL offer could actually end the lockout.

Instead, on Oct. 18 at the NHLPA offices in Toronto, the players responded with three counteroffers, which were quickly rejected by the NHL.

Bettman told reporters after the short meeting that he was "thoroughly disappointed."

"I am concerned based on the proposal that was made today that things are not progressing," he said. "To the contrary, I view the proposal made by the players' association in many ways a step backward."

Bmore gets braggy

If we weren't opening a Ripley's "Odditorium," we were putting historic landmarks up for sale. When we weren't helping John Waters hitchhike across the country, we were hoarding Twinkies. We enjoyed watching the mids' "Gangnam Style" more than we'll admit, and we held our breath as Nik Wallenda tightroped the Inner Harbor.

The Ravens were in the Super Bowl!! OK, technically, not exactly. But you should have seen it,This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. our faces all but reflecting in the Vince Lombardi trophy, and perhaps also a few flecks of our saliva. Then there was the tiny, hardly noticeable matter of a missed kick. ... Did we mention that Billy moved away? Bless his heart.

Buck, Adam, Matt, Manny and the gang did us proud, reminding us of what a winning season feels like and also how to get to Camden Yards. Orioles magic! And the hot dog race? It had nothing on the park's newest attraction: streaker races!

Over the summer we hosted a smashing event — we're pretty sure we saw you there. The Star-Spangled Sailabration. Tall ships! Blue Angels! Thousands of visitors! Oh, and we also had that Grand Prix again. Yup.

We had the best time toying with the national media this spring after news broke that one of three winning tickets in that massive, unbelievable, record-setting Mega Millions drawing was bought right here. They said the real winners were three teachers who aren't giving up their names. We still think it's that McDonald's lady.

Speaking of betting, we got a casino upgrade! Instead of a Harrah's, we're now getting a Horseshoe. That's kind of like getting a Gap instead of an Old Navy. In any case, we'll soon be playing poker and blackjack — what happens in Baltimore stays in Baltimore! Woo hoo!

Our hearts swelled to watch our homegrown Aquaman, Michael Phelps, become the most decorated Olympian of all time. We were especially proud that unlike that other one, he wasn't wearing a grill.

Archaeological opportunity abounded as sinkholes cracked one city street open after another. Light Street. Fleet Street. A monster on Monument nearly swallowed Johns Hopkins Hospital. What lies beneath? Dirt, rotting pipes and sometimes stinky gas. Excavation revelation!

When Hollywood went looking for the nation's capital, we continued to be the location of choice — certainly at least the second choice. "VEEP" smartly opted for our Washington Monument instead of that over-exposed one down the street. And when "House of Cards" wanted political intrigue, where better, where cheaper, than Bolton Hill? #winning

Everyone sends their best from City Hall. Our top officials have worked hard this year to turn yawner Board of Estimates meetings into must-see TV. Madam Mayor. Mr. Vice President. The honorable comptroller. Barely speaking, shooting disdainful glances at one another and booting one another from the city's Ravens game skybox. Watch out, HBO — we're on cable now too!

The most recent experience and what may be termed ‘a Sri Lankan success story’ is what took place in the aftermath of the biggest operation launched by the Sri Lanka Security Forces in May 2009 that ended the near thirty years armed conflict in the country involving a group – the LTTE. The first step was the establishment and handling of reception centres which received the displaced civilians, administration of those who arrived at the reception centres, the establishment and management of secure relief villages for the internally displaced persons followed by the implementation of a master plan for the reconstruction of the Northern Province and the return and resettlement of the IDPs to their own homes is an experience Sri Lanka can be proud of.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,

The immediate challenge for the government of Sri Lanka was to look after the displaced civilians numbering over 250,000. The territory had been in the control of LTTE for nearly a quarter of a century and had to be made secure to ensure safety.If you have a fondness for china mosaic brimming with romantic roses, It was also necessary to be alert to the probability of LTTE cadres attempting to evade capture by posing as IDPs. The identification of such persons became complicated since they were mingling with the IDPs.One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. Quick action was required to put in place necessary arrangements to care for the displaced. Considering the very real security threat, accommodating the IDPs in the relief villages was the most efficient and safe option.

From mid 2008 civilians from LTTE controlled areas were entering government controlled areas. The government anticipated large exodus of people from the LTTE controlled areas when it defeats the LTTE and was preparing to locate them in suitable areas. The idea of keeping IDPs in one area with all necessary facilities was conceptualized as the number of people fleeing out of LTTE controlled areas had increased since 2008. By the end of 2008 there were nearly 48,000 IDPs accommodated in several welfare centres in Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya districts. It was decided that the location chosen should be in an area which could provide basic facilities and not far from a township, so that anyone could get there within a short space of time. Facilities considered necessary included sufficient accommodation, food, health services, water, transport,Thank you for visiting! I have been cry stalmosaic since 1998. and most importantly protection of IDPs from any probability of threat.

Having taken all those necessities into consideration, the area known as ‘Menik Farm’ was selected as the suitable location to accommodate IDPs. It is only 22Km away from Vavuniya town and accessible from Vavuniya in 30-40 minutes. The large extent of land in Menik Farm avoided congestion and in turn was conducive to prevent communicable diseases. By the time the mass exodus of displaced civilians commenced 85-100 acres of land in Menik Farm had been cleared and semi permanent shelters had been constructed and further 900 acres had been identified for clearance to establish sufficient number of relief villages. The Sri Lanka Armed Forces, particularly the Sri Lanka Army took the lead role, in this emergency humanitarian effort.

The influx of IDPs was about 80,000 per day towards the last stages of the operation. Sri Lanka was able to cope with the arrival of 80,000 people on the first day and another 100,000 in the week that followed. Immediately upon arrival in the government controlled areas the civilians had to be provided with food and shelter and if required medical attention.

Thereafter they had to be provided transportation to safe areas. This, invariably, took a day or two. However, within 5-7 days time, IDPs were processed and accommodated. Family members being accommodated together as far as possible. Until sufficient accommodation was made available, the government took all government schools and institutions in Vavuniya District with large buildings and accommodated IDPs in the 28 centres and thereafter transferred them to the relief villages set up in Menik Farm.

Administrative arrangements – The government took over the responsibility for the management of the welfare villages and took full control over all activities and its efforts were adequately supported by UN agencies and INGOs. The contribution of the Sri Lanka Army in overall management, supervision and maintenance of security has been a major contributory factor for the efficient and successful management of the relief villages.

2012年12月19日 星期三

United States Attorneys Standardize

Panzura, a leading provider of global cloud storage solutions, today announced that the Executive Office for United States Attorneys has awarded a contract to standardize globally on Panzura for its next-generation Storage-as-a-Service platform serving all United States Attorneys' Office locations nationwide. The solution will consolidate storage from approximately 265 USAOs, across all U.S. judicial districts, to an internal storage cloud. The Panzura Global Cloud Storage System will replace some legacy distributed storage infrastructure with a centralized repository to improve data access, meet stringent security and performance standards and dramatically increase operational efficiency.

The Panzura Global Cloud Storage System provides globally-distributed organizations with a consolidated storage infrastructure that offers cross-site LAN access to all files, integrated file locking, global deduplication, military-grade encryption, continuous snapshots, fast replication and DR, advanced access management and massive scalability in capacity. In addition, Panzura meets critical federal compliance requirements for FIPS 140-2, FISMA Moderate and USGCB certifications.

Government agencies and commercial organizations commonly store data on their own filers, incurring large costs associated with their purchase and maintenance and those for upgrades, facilities and personnel.

With electronic discovery pushing decades-old storage architectures and capacity to their limits, the widespread adoption of cloud computing amongst all U.S. federal agencies is an ongoing initiative by the U.S. General Services Administration to streamline the creation of sustainable, cost-effective IT services for the federal government. Addressing increasing storage costs and sprawl is one goal of this initiative.

The use of Panzura by EOUSA exemplifies the push to move mission-critical applications and data to the cloud to avoid spiraling CapEx, manual IT intervention and data retrieval delays,This document provides a guide to using the ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. while providing encryption features to support a public cloud option with all necessary security compliance.

With approximately 265 geographically dispersed USAOs and two existing data centers, United States Attorney locations share common characteristics, yet each district also features unique business mandates and varied storage footprints. The amount of storage ranges from approximately 3TB for smaller offices and up to 17TB for larger offices. Panzura storage replaces a siloed, dispersed infrastructure with a seamless, fast and centralized storage platform that is interconnected by a global file system and drastically reduces system-wide duplication of data.

With ubiquitous real-time access to all data globally, the Panzura solution allows EOUSA to leverage efficient cloud object storage to reduce CapEx significantly, while making users much more self-sufficient in finding and obtaining data whenever and wherever needed. Panzura's award-winning Global Cloud Storage System leverages cloud storage at the back end and presents a seamless NAS-like interface at the front end, which, along with all standard NAS features and controls, makes data feel local regardless of location. Data is securely accessed on a need-to-see basis, and chargeback capability allows IT to allocate internal costs according to usage.

"Panzura is proud to play a central role in the efforts of EOUSA to centralize data access across all United States Attorneys Offices, reduce costs, and meet stringent security requirements,The oreck XL professional air purifier," said Randy Chou, CEO of Panzura. "EOUSA is leading the way to tap into the benefits of the cloud for a globally-distributed organization while meeting compliance and SLA requirements. Panzura will fill a vital need for highly-secure access to the efficiencies of the cloud with a tightly-integrated NAS solution to meet these aggressive storage goals of EOUSA, all while reducing costs across the board."

You might not think the state’s most powerful politician would take the time to show up for Town Meeting, but John Lynch isn’t your ordinary Governor.

People in town say it’s not unusual to see Lynch show up to the annual session wearing blue jeans a sweatshirt. And you won’t hear any long-winded speeches in front of the other residents in town, they say. Lynch keeps to himself and leaves the town’s business to selectmen.

“It’s kind of nice to see him at Town Meeting, everybody just lets him be a citizen,Installers and distributors of solar panel,” said Hopkinton resident Sharon Rivard. “He’s just like everybody else when he’s there.”

Similar to his approval record, residents of the 5,500-person town smile and speak fondly about their popular leader and neighbor.

Lynch drives himself to the Colonial Village Pharmacy-Supermarket to shop for groceries, and is an active athlete, playing in neighborhood hockey games at Kimball Pond in the winter and cycling Hopkinton’s hilly landscape in warmer months.

“Sometimes you’ll see him out with his wife, walking his dog,” said Susan Hencke, a potter and Gould Hill neighbor of Lynch’s who has lived in Hopkinton for 18 years. “He’s just a regular guy in the community.”

Still, for other Hopkinton residents, Lynch’s iconic house on Gould Hill is the first thing that comes to mind when asked about their neighbor.

Lynch built his 11,000 square foot home atop Gould Hill, which sits 850 feet above sea level and offers the best views in town, some say one of the best views in the Granite State.

“Nobody here has a more beautiful view of the mountains,” said one resident who declined to give his name at Everyday Cafe in Contoocook on Saturday.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. “And he enjoys it. That’s all I know.”

The multi-million-dollar home was built with a 20-by-40-foot swimming pool, a tennis court, a cabana, and a detached three car garage, among other luxuries.

People in town took notice of the construction in part because of the owner, and also because of its location on the former Gould Hill apple orchard.

Some neighbors recall the troop of trucks that rumbled through Hopkinton to build on the magnificent, nearly eighty-acre property, with breathtaking views of Mount Washington.

Others bemoaned the loss of a small section of the orchard – which dates back to the 1700s – when the Lynches started construction back in 2006.

“It’s a big house, but there’s a lot of those around this state,” said Erick Leadbeater,The term 'hands free access control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. who owned and operated the orchard and sold the land to the Lynches through a revocable trust called “Gould Hill ‘B’” when Leadbeater planned to retire. “Some people criticized him for that.

“I think it was more the other party, the typical political sniping. But it’s a well thought-out place and can be very entertaining.”

Lynch built on a part of the Gould Hill Orchards that produced Macintosh apples, Leadbeater said, which were losing favor at the time.

Symform Forecasts Top 6 Cloud and Storage Predictions for 2013

The combined forces of digital data growth and the consumerization of IT will come to a head in 2013, and create a wave of increased investment and moves by IT to take back control of corporate data. Symform predicts companies of all sizes will demand that vendors and service providers improve on-ramps to the cloud and service level agreements (SLAs) around cloud services. The company expects larger investments in data management, big data, and distributed systems, and believes the use of rogue cloud services in the enterprise will come under increased governance. Based on conversations with customers, partners and industry experts from around the globe, these predictions will impact both large enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as the IT service providers who deliver solutions to them.

"As we enter 2013, the massive growth of digital data and the challenges around how to secure, manage and store that data is only increasing -- in spite of the many technologies and cloud solutions aimed at alleviating these issues," said Matthew J. Schiltz, CEO of Symform. "Last year, we correctly predicted the continued disparity between local and remote storage costs, along with an increased concern over the high cost and environmental impact of a record build out of datacenters to support centralized cloud platforms. This year, we will see even greater awareness of the wasted, unused capacity in our existing infrastructure investments and the need to embrace distributed, decentralized systems. This will enable IT's efforts to gain back control of rogue devices and cloud applications."

According to IDC, we are creating 58 terabytes of digital data every second, a number which is expected to increase to 35 zettabytes stored by 2020. Much of this data is a result of what Gartner calls the "Nexus of Forces," or the convergence of social, mobile and cloud information, which makes the upward trajectory of data volumes unstoppable. Similarly, the "Always-On Generation" -- pegged as the most insatiable group of digital media consumers in the world -- is contributing to the influx of data in droves. Given all of these factors, the reality of improved data management is settling in, and Symform predicts that 2013 will be the year that businesses invest more heavily to protect, manage and store that data. The heightened sensitivity around data accessibility and compliance requirements will motivate companies to better understand their data types and how to categorize, secure, and gain business intelligence from the data -- such as mission-critical, business-critical, sensitive or archival data.

An emphasis on data classification and management will help businesses match the appropriate storage requirements, including primary or secondary backup, archiving, and disaster recovery. This, in turn, will drive increased demand and market penetration of the currently burgeoning cloud storage on-ramp or gateway market. Movements toward this include Microsoft's acquisition of StorSimple in 2012, and actions by major traditional hardware vendors such as HP, Citrix, Dell, and major network attach storage (NAS) vendors, to embrace the cloud and extend their on-premise devices to cloud services. Customers, especially SMBs, will increase investment in local storage solutions that include a cloud storage or online backup component. This hybrid cloud storage strategy will prove itself in 2013 and start to move beyond the SMB to the enterprise segment, although large companies will still prefer a private over public cloud implementation. Capabilities such as single-sign-on (SSO), strong data encryption, and overall storage management will become more critical with this trend. Further details can be found in The 451 Group's report on the Cloud Storage On-Ramp Market.

A recent Symform survey found that 65 percent of companies "not in the cloud" still allow employees or teams to use cloud services, while 35 percent allow employees to put company data in cloud applications and on mobile devices. This lack of awareness, coupled with the sheer volume of mobile and cloud data, will fuel a renewed focus on protecting and securing that data. In 2013,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. Symform anticipates IT will regain control by implementing stringent security policies and access control rules for cloud services and employee-liable mobile devices. In many cases, especially among SMBs, third-party consultants or channel partners will be called in to determine whether the proper security policies are in place and being enforced.Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. Symform expects this shake up to result in the decline of popular unsanctioned cloud collaboration or file sharing services that threaten a company's ability to maintain regulatory compliance and adhere to their own internal security requirements.This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from.

With pricing wars amid big players in the cloud storage market, including Amazon and Google, a low-cost value proposition alone will no longer be enough to gain market share. Customers are looking beyond initial costs to consider the total cost of ownership as well as other intrinsic values of cloud services. These additional values include storage, a better leverage of existing infrastructure, extension of on-premise devices to the cloud, pricing flexibility based on SLAs, data recovery, access control rules, and other capabilities or features. With the improved focus on data classification, companies will look for cheaper alternatives to store inactive or archival data, while being willing to pay premiums for highly reliable, scalable and secure cloud storage for active data. This trend will move beyond early adopters of cloud storage,Our technology gives rtls systems developers the ability. such as consumer-facing Web 2.0 and eCommerce companies, to the overall business-to-business market.

In 2012, customers bore the brunt of outages from cloud vendors including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple iCloud, GoDaddy, Rackspace, Google, Microsoft and Twitter. It wasn't cheap. According to Ponemon Institute, the average cost of datacenter downtime across all industries was approximately $5,600 per minute. Similarly, the average reported incident length was 90 minutes, resulting in a cost per incident of approximately $505,500. In 2013,High quality stone mosaic tiles. Symform believes more companies will adopt the adage of "fool me once, shame on you -- fool me twice, shame on me" by demanding greater assurances from cloud providers around SLAs and uptime. In an effort to avoid escalating concerns and a potential head-on collision with the government, cloud providers will step up assurances or face the alternative of tighter regulations and increased taxation. Companies will also get smarter about how they architect their infrastructure as a service on cloud provider platforms, building in greater failover and redundancy. As noted above, companies will be willing to pay more for a higher SLA.

Last year, Symform correctly predicted the myth of the "green" datacenter for cloud computing would be debunked. Indeed, the "greenwashing" of infrastructure supporting cloud computing is ending with the move toward more transparent reporting and the utilization of alternatives such as co-location datacenters and distributed architectures. In 2012, both a comprehensive report released by Greenpeace and the New York Times' article "Power, Pollution and the Internet" validated that prediction. The Greenpeace report suggested that cloud computing datacenters account for about two percent of the world's carbon footprint, while the NYT article claimed datacenters worldwide use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants. In 2013, Symform expects that even as large vendors such as Google and Amazon undoubtedly continue rampant datacenter build outs, many businesses will look beyond traditional computing approaches for alternative solutions and architectures. Specifically, both vendors and companies will accept distributed and decentralized approaches to data management, not only for the green benefits, but for the improved utilization of existing infrastructure, increased performance, and global resiliency.