UK Payments Council foresees mobile eclipsing plastic

The Payments Council, an organization representing the interests of the U.K. payment industry, has released a new report on the way Britons pay for things. According to the group, the trends are pointing towards a future when plastic is eclipsed by the mobile device.

According to the new report, called "The Way We Pay," paying for goods and services has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, with the use of checks dropping by half every five years.

Cash use has also dropped considerably. Since 2001, retail purchases made with cash have dropped from 43 percent to 30 percent. The difference is due to the rise of debit cards. Spending on debit cards has increased almost fourfold since 2001, the council said.

Additionally, the U.K. Payment Council said contactless payment technology is starting to become more familiar. The organization said that while most of those payments are made with cards enabled with the technology, it's possible to see more mobile devices do the job.

"We scarcely notice the steady changes in the way we pay, yet someone in their thirties today will see more change in their lifetime than in the entire history of money," said Adrian Kamellard,My experience of your company has been excellent and I would happily buy mosaic tiles. chief executive of the Payments Council.

"Even recent innovations such as payment via a mobile phone, which ten years ago some felt to be science fiction, will soon be commonplace."

Kamellard said the 2000s were the decade of the debit card but the 2010s are likely to be the decade of the mobile phone.

"Just as we can’t imagine how we ever did without the Internet, many people will soon wonder how we used to be so dependent on cash and check.Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps. Twenty years from now even cards may seem archaic," Kamellard said.Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. "The wallet could become a historical curiosity."

HERE’S something on the automated teller machine (ATM) scam that has already victimized many depositors of three big banks. As could be gleaned from the complaints that have filtered into the banking community, the global syndicate behind the scam used “sophisticated methods” to clean out cash from unsuspecting ATM holders.

This is how they did it, according to information we received. Small spy cameras were surreptitiously placed by the scammers at the back of the ATM machines of the targeted banks, enabling them to get the personal identification number (PIN) of the persons withdrawing the money. The white-collar criminals then clone the ATM cards—the contents of the magnetic strip at the back—through the use of sophisticated machines.

The cloned ATMs (most are globally interconnected) are then used by the scammers’ cohorts abroad, say, the United States, to withdraw vast sums of money from the victims’ deposits here. The scam is said to have victimized “many” depositors but because of the sensitivity of the issues involved, their identities have been kept under wraps although their banks have issued new ATM cards to them so they could key in their new PINs.

It is said that the three universal banks that have been victimized have reacted but banking insiders said the reaction was not the kind they expected that could shield depositors from such ATM scams in the future. The insiders say such scams are happening not because cybercrime syndicates were smarter but because the banks issuing the ATMs are not doing their work properly.

The draft provides guidelines on how financial institutions should approach and mitigate Information Technology Risk Management.

In particular, the BSP ITRM mandates that all ATM operators are required to comply with the 3DES—usually referred to as triple-DES—standard. 3DES is a not-very-new security standard for plastic cards using a magnetic stripe to store information such as a card number and the security keys to arrive at a PIN.

The requirement is for ATMs to be 100-percent compliant with the 3DES standard starting at: 1) The ATM (specifically the ATM PIN pad and the software of the terminal); 2) The hardware and software that comprise the ATM Switch that manages the ATM network; 3) A device called a Hardware Security Module (HSM). If any component is non-compliant, it represents a weak element in the transaction chain, eliminating compliance and rendering the security of the transaction suspect. It has been discovered that despite 3DES having been required internationally for over 10 years now, many Philippine banks are still on the old, obsolete single-DES.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business.

In fact, one highly reputable consortium offering an Outsourced ATM service is not compliant with the 3DES standard. One wonders what would happen to the banks that availed themselves of this consortium’s service once January 2014 comes around. Further exacerbating the situation, because of the growth of fraud on card-based payment services, the BSP now requires compliance with the newer and stricter Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard. It is doubtful that many Philippine banks intend to comply with this, too, considering their current records.

The BSP guidelines also call for the implementation of the EuroPay MasterCard Visa standard, the highest level of security for plastic cards, in three years’ time. It would be very interesting to see how fast the financial industry could move toward higher security for their customers. Meanwhile,A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose solar lantern by Gordon. the threat of another ATM scam remains because of the lack of sophistication of the banks issuing ATMs. The BSP has a big headache, indeed.

Hands On With the HTC One

HTC's gorgeous new flagship phone, the HTC One, doesn't look like any other phone on the market. It's a solid piece of aluminum with a next-generation processor and the densest, most colorful screen I've ever seen. It turns your photos into videos. It boots into something that looks like Flipboard. It runs hundreds of thousands of apps, and it'll be available on several major U.S. carriers.

We got to spend some time with the new HTC One, and it's very impressive. The phone is a block of tough, silvery aluminum with two inlaid plastic lines on the back; apparently, it takes more than three hours to mill and tool the metal for each phone. At 5.4 by 2.7 by 0.36 inches and 5 ounces, it's similar in size to most other flagship phones nowadays.

This is one of those phones you have to hold in your hand to understand. I had the same feeling about HTC's One S. There's nothing flimsy, nothing plasticky, nothing removable. It has the same precision-tooled solidity as the latest iPhones, but feels much more durable.

The "UltraPixel" camera on the back is slightly inset to prevent scratching. On the front, a thrillingly bright 4.7-inch, 1080p Super LCD 3 comes in at 468 pixels per inch,My experience of your company has been excellent and I would happily buy mosaic tiles. the densest I've ever seen. It's bracketed by loud, dual front-facing stereo speakers on the top and bottom with built-in amplifiers, and there's also a 2.1-megapixel, wide-angle camera above the screen. Dual-membrane microphones help the phone capture loud and quiet sounds without distortion. The power button on top of the phone doubles as an IR emitter, so you can use the One as a universal remote control.A ridiculously low price on this All-Purpose solar lantern by Gordon.

Inside, this is the first phone we've seen with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, a quad-core chip running at 1.7 GHz. The phone will come with either 32 or 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, and it's backed by a non-removable 2300mAh battery to support that very dense screen. There's no memory card slot and just two ports: a headphone jack and a MicroUSB that doubles as an MHL output for HDMI TVs.

At Tuesday's launch event in New York, HTC CEO Peter Chou said that "although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them." HTC plans to remedy that, it said, with a brand-new version of Sense, along with a number of new features like "BlinkFeed."

The HTC One runs Android 4.1.2 with HTC's new Sense 5, a very heavily customized skin. (Android 4.2 is coming soon,Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. but HTC said there isn't actually much difference between 4.1 and 4.2 on phones; I agree.) You know you're in Sense even at the lock screen, which has the famous HTC time-and-weather widget; your notifications shoot across the screen in stylish gray bars.

The most striking new innovation here is the BlinkFeed, which is basically Flipboard on your home screen. HTC can't say "Flipboard," because it doesn't have a deal with Flipboard, but it looks and works like Flipboard, mixing in news feeds, social media updates, and local information like calendar alerts into a shifting, scrollable set of panels. You can get rid of BlinkFeed and go back to the standard Android home screen, of course.

I don't love BlinkFeed, because I actually have things I like to put on my home screen. But HTC made a good argument that this is for people who don't think about their home screens much, and who just want a stream of default, readable content. In any case, Blink Feed won't make or break this phone—there's a lot else going on.

Dig down deeper and HTC has changed a lot of things. There are only two buttons below the screen, not three or four as on most recent Android phones: to get to the multitasking feature, you have to double-tap the home button. The app icon grid defaults to a spaced-out three by three with folders rather than the usual four by five. All of the standard PIM apps, like the dialer, contact book, and calendar, have "pivots" where you swipe left and right to see different categories of information.

But that's not all! The One also includes a "kid mode" with parental controls and a new Web-based setup and data transfer system that lets you easily customize your phone and bring data over from iPhones or other Android phones.

It's all very well-designed and elegant, a little bit understated, and with fewer odd "bloop" noises than you get on the Samsung Galaxy Phones. On the other hand, it isn't "stock Android," which will drive purists nuts.Compare prices and buy all brands of solar panel for home power systems and by the pallet. Frankly, we're not seeing much of the "pure Google experience" anymore.

We'll drill down on the One's camera features in a separate story. But HTC is trying to replace megapixels with "ultrapixels," cutting down the size of photos but using much larger individual pixels to sharply reduce noise and improve low-light performance. The idea here is to give you images that look like they were taken with a real digital camera, not a cameraphone, at a resolution that you'd actually use: 4 megapixels, more than enough for a 4x6 print or Web viewing. I saw a comparison of low-light pictures from the One, the iPhone 5 , and the Samsung Galaxy S III , and the One's images were far clearer and brighter.Online shopping for Cable Ties from a great selection of Lamps.

The phone also sets your photos in motion, with a new feature called "Zoe." Short for "zoetrope," the Zoe mode records three seconds of video every time you take a photo. You can look at the Zoes individually, or let the phone automatically sew them together into a 30-second "highlight reel" from an event or evening made up of photos, videos, and Zoes. When I saw a demo of the highlight reel, it looked compelling but still needed some tweaking; highlights from a day at a cooking class properly included shots of chopping vegetables and sizzling meat, but also threw in a couple of random shots of blank walls and floors. HTC is fine-tuning that intelligence, the company said.

Wake up and watch those credit cards

It can be the most comfortable, dazzling, accessible shopping mall of all, the Internet.

But even if you’re snug at home in your PJs, you could be the victim of a digital pickpocket, said Shelly Buller, senior vice president of Member Services at Fibre Federal Credit Union in Cowlitz County.

The best advice when using credit cards to pay online vendors, Buller said, “is to stick with familiar, established retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Macy’s.

“Online, people have a tendency to be more vulnerable. You’re looking for something, and you find it from a vendor you’re not familiar with. Maybe their security is not as strong as a big retailer.”

All kinds of vendors pass on consumers’ information for profit, Buller said. “When people shop for weight-loss products and vitamins, they may fall prey to ‘side sales’ — the vendor they order from sells their name and information to another vendor,” and that second party may sell it to a third party.

“It becomes quite a headache to stop the deductions from your account, for something you didn’t want to begin with,” she said. “With better security, there’s less risk ...

“Consumers are well protected using a credit card,” Buller said, and banks and credit unions usually cover losses when they are reported as soon as they’re noticed.

Aside from thieves who get credit card numbers by searching trash for receipts and other financial records, there’s also a risk when employees at smaller retailers or food vendors go away with a card and return in a few minutes — enough time to take a photo with a smart phone.

Echoing Federal Trade Commission guidelines, Buller said the best practice is to check your account balances and purchases regularly so you’ll notice odd charges.

The biggest risks are scammers who get people to willingly give them information or wire them money, said James Gorley of Fibre Federal Credit Union, who represents FFCU on the Anti-fraud Coalition of Cowlitz County, which includes about 70 members from law enforcement, finance institutions and retailers.

“If we band together,” Gorley said, “we can alert each other and work together to help stop fraud.”

The members hear stories all the time, he said, where common sense is thwarted by hope and a bright computer screen.

“A very common fraud is ‘phishing,’ ” Buller said, the use of email, phone, “even texting” messages that try to trick people into giving out information that can be used to access their accounts or create duplicates of their cards.

Sometimes the caller pretends to be the bank, a particularly insidious scam.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product - the most durable. The caller, concerned that your account has been compromised, needs your card number and security code to keep you safe.

On some sites, sending money before getting the product is not wise, Gorley said.

“Somebody on Craigslist says ‘Hey, we’re selling puppies’ or ‘I’m selling a 1983 Chevette from a collection in Dubai,’ ” Gorley said. The sellers then ask for airfare upfront to ship the bulldogs or vintage roadser. And people buy it.

“I know people who have taken money out of their retirement accounts” in cases like these, Gorley said.

The newest scam technique is to focus on vulnerable people, he said, “the elderly, the unemployed, people getting benefits.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. I don’t know where (the scammers) get the information. They may contact someone as many as three times,” pressuring them with a deal. Or they pretend to be a grandchild in dire straights who needs Grandpa to wire money right away.

People should never respond to these come-ons, Gorley said.

“We try to educate them, to explain the risk,” he said of consumers, but even publicized warnings do not stop some who are frightened about a loved one and want to do the right thing, or those who are desperate to believe they’ve won a windfall.

In the lottery scams, the thieves send a check that looks real and passes like a real check.

People say “ ‘Oh, I won the lottery in Europe!’ ” Gorley said. “I say, ‘Do you know foreign lotteries are illegal?’ They don’t. ‘Did you enter a lottery in Europe?’ They didn’t. ...

“If you cash that check, you will be responsible to cover it” when it bounces.Our precision manufactured lasers and laser systems deliver the highest possible laser cutter performance on a wide variety of materials. In the meantime, you’ve spent the money on bills, food or other items — and used it to wire “tax” or other “fees” to the scammer. “Now you owe it all back to the bank.”

Buller said she’s talked to “intelligent people who say, ‘I was duped. It seemed like such a great deal.’ I just got hosed.” She shook her head. “If it seems too good to be true, it (begin ital) is (end ital) too good to be true.”

One pitfall we all face is complacency, because it’s so easy to carry and use debit and credit cards.

“Cards are a negotiating instrument,” Buller said, “just like cash. You have to be cautious.

“If you give your card to a family member to go get bread and milk, and you share your PIN, you have just compromised your security.”

People who are ill or infirm and need help shopping should consider a “joint signer,” a trusted person authorized to use the card. “That individual would have their own card.”

Buller warned people never to leave credit cards, checkbooks and other pieces of identification where others can find them.

At parties (including at your own residence), bridal showers, funerals,wind turbine anywhere where a crowd gathers in a place where outsiders could slip in, there’s a risk.

“Guess what? Someone can go in that room and have a heyday,Our precision manufactured lasers and laser marker systems deliver the highest possible laser marking performance.” Buller said. “It happens all the time.”

It’s also easy to leave a debit or credit card behind when someone is distracted or in a hurry at the check-out line.

And, despite well publicized warnings, Buller said she still sees shoppers leave purses in grocery carts while they dart off to grab items. If the thief takes only your billfold, you may not even notice until you get to the checkout stand — and the varmint is long gone.

Another scam, in Vancouver and California, rigs ATM machines and gas pumps to skim data. “It doesn’t look any different, but the perpetrators install cameras. Then they create their own cards.”

Buller said it can be helpful to live in a community small enough that credit unions know their customers. “You can call up Red Canoe or Fibre Federal from England, and they will help you with your questions.”

She also reminded travelers to let their banks or credit unions know when and where they will be traveling, so a hold will not be put on their credit cards when out-of-town transactions pop up.

Gorley and the fraud coalition put on workshops to share information they glean from customers and hold an annual, public, free shredder event after tax day in April, to encourage consumers to shred old documents that have social security numbers and financial data.

South Shore and Cape feel brunt of today’s snowstorm

While snow has stopped falling in the Boston area, the South Shore and Cape Cod are continuing to see flakes and howling winds that are causing slushy roads, power outages, and some cancellations.

The Cape and South Shore are expected to receive the brunt of the accumulation with 6 to 8 inches of snow by the end of today. Brewster had received 6.3 inches of snow by late afternoon, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained.

The snow at Logan International Airport measured at 5.1 inches, the highest accumulation in Boston, he said.

National Grid reports more than 3,900 customers without power, most of them on the South Shore, according to the utility’s website. NStar reports about 375 customers who lost power throughout the region.

Morning ferry services to and from Martha’s Vineyard were cancelled but resumed by mid-afternoon, according to officials with the Steamship Authority.

The 2:30 p.m. ferry leaving Martha’s Vineyard to Woods Hole was back on track. And a ferry left from Nantucket to Hyannis at noon; depending on its arrival time, it may make the trip back to Nantucket,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, according to officials with the authority.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino talked to the city’s snow team this morning and will again be meeting with them this afternoon, said John Guilfoil, a city spokesman.

“A good thing about a snow like this is you’re not getting 2 or 3 or 4 inches of snow fall an hour,” Guilfoil said. “It’s much more manageable.”

This storm is far less severe than last weekend’s historic snowfall. And unlike last Sunday, cities and towns aren’t facing the intense pressure to clear all the roads and school parking lots and sidewalks for a rush of commuters and students. Monday is a federal and state holiday and students are off this week for February vacation.

Mark Powell, an employee of a property management company, said he spent about 20 hours over two days shoveling out last week’s snowstorm. He was back on Dorchester Avenue shortly after 10 a.m. today, snow still falling, strong gusts of wind blowing, expecting about 10 hours of work.

“Even though it’s been a mild winter,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. these storms, it’s hard to keep up on them,” he said. “On a Sunday morning, this is like the last place you wanna be -- shoveling.”

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has deployed a majority of its crews and equipment to the South Shore and Cape, said Sara Lavoie, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The Massachusetts DOT has more than 1,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet?800 pieces of equipment treating and plowing highways east of Worcester, she said.

“It’s Sunday morning,” Lavoie said. “Sunday morning is wonderful. They can just stay home.”

High winds will continue to be a factor after the snow stops, with west winds 20 to 25 miles per hour and gusts up to 45 miles per hour into tonight. Monday will be sunny and breezy with highs in the low 30s, said Dunham, at the National Weather Service.

“There’s a chance of rain Tuesday and Tuesday night as a weak system moves across the area,” he said. “After that, [there will be] fair weather for the rest of the week with highs generally in the 30s.”

"Cozy but comfortable" works as an interior description. Head- and leg-room are good, width is less so -- but balance that against less exterior width for maneuverability and ease of parking. And the Outlander Sport is a compact, not midsize, crossover. At SE level, it's a bit more than plain but still honest, with a variety of synthetic materials for everything but the steering wheel rim and shift knob, which are leather. The front seats are better than expected for the modest base price, manually-adjustable and with moderate bolstering and heatable cushions. Instruments are brightly-backlit for easy visibility in all light, with a useful information display between the tach and speedometer.

The tilt- and telescope-adjustable steering wheel has cruise, auxiliary audio, and (Bluetooth) phone controls, with shift paddles behind the horizontal spokes. With the navigation system come further information systems including calendar and altimeter, accessed through a hard button and touchscreen interface that is simple to use.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Climate control (automatic in the SE) is by simple rotary knobs below the touchscreen, not some sub-submenu. Audio choices include AM, FM, and XM radio, CDs in the usual formats, and a USB port. Interior storage is limited to moderate glove and console boxes and front-door pockets with bottle holders. Rear head and leg room are good considering the Outlander Sport's size; width and a moderate central tunnel make it better for two than three people -- as is true of pretty much every car or crossover of this size. Rear passengers do get full benefit of the view out the oversize fixed glass roof if that is fitted -- and the second benefit there is LED dome lighting. A space-saver spare is found under the rear cargo area.

Perpaduan Dual-SIM GSM dan CDMA

HTC merilis seri Desire VC bagi pasar Indonesia yang rata-rata setiap penggunanya memiliki paling tidak dua buah smartphone. Uniknya, untuk penggunaan CDMA,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. RUIM-nya tidak dikunci sehingga Anda bebas untuk menggunakan kartu apapun walaupun smarphone ini di-bundling dengan operator tertentu. Kenyamanan dalam menggunakan HTC Desire VC juga menjadi salah satu faktor mengapa smartphone ini cocok untuk dimiliki.

Desain HTC Desire VC berbentuk kotak dengan bentuk rounded di setiap ujungnya. HTC Desire VC memiliki layar sebesar empat inci berdimensi 119,5 x 62,3 x 9,42 mm. Dengan ukuran tersebut, smartphone ini masih nyaman untuk digenggam maupun dimasukkan ke saku celana. Material yang digunakan untuk melapisi HTC Desire VC adalah plastik yang dilapisi dengan karet bertekstur garis-garis pada bagian belakangnya sehingga tidak terasa licin ketika digenggam. Selain itu, ukuran layar yang lebar dengan kepadatan 233 ppi cukup memanjakan mata ketika sedang digunakan untuk memainkan game, memutar video, ataupun sekedar melihat gambar. Pada sisi bawah layar terdapat tiga buah tombol touch yang masing-masing mewakili back, home, dan recent apps. Di bagian atas layar terdapat earpiece memanjang yang merupakan ciri khas HTC. Di dalamnya, terdapat lampu notifikasi, sensor proximity,You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. dan sensor cahaya.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made.

HTC Desire VC dilengkapi dengan “otak” Cortex A5 dengan kecepatan 1 GHz dengan RAM sebesar 512 MB. Dengan interface HTC Sense 4.0 yang cukup berat, spesifikasi yang diusungnya masih dirasa kurang karena masih terasa berat ketika masuk ke menu utama. Namun, GPU yang digunakan oleh HTC Desire VC, yaitu Adreno 200 masih cukup bertenaga untuk memainkan game casual yang terdapat di PlayStore.

HTC Desire VC menggunakan kamera beresolusi 5 MP dengan lampu LED pada sisi bawah kamera. Hasil kameranya cukup memuaskan untuk indoor dalam kondisi cahaya yang cukup. Sayangnya, smartphone ini tidak dilengkapi dengan kamera depan untuk melakukan video calling. Secara keseluruhan, HTC Desire VC ditujukan bagi Anda yang menginginkan sebuah smartphone berlayar besar dan memiliki nomor telepon lebih dari satu.

Windows 8 was a radical departure. The start button was gone, everything was moved, there was a new graphical user interface and it was a brand new way to use your laptop and desktop computer… in the least efficient way possible. Windows 8 is a touch-based interface and when Microsoft jammed it into keyboard and mouse environment, the experience was somewhat sub-optimal.

Of course, Windows 8 was created to take Microsoft into the Post-PC world, so it needed some Post-PC hardware. Enter “The Surface with Windows RT.” It came out at the same time as Windows 8. The Surface RT ran crippled form of Windows 8 in a tablet form factor. The hardware was mediocre and the software was lackluster. It wasn’t very good – and I’m being kind.

The Surface Pro rocks an i5 processor, which is the same chip that’s used to power most of today’s mid to high-end laptops. Unlike the lesser Surface RT tablet released in October, the Surface Pro runs the full version of Windows 8, which means it can run any program designed for Windows: Microsoft Office, Adobe CS Suite, Intuit programs like Quickbooks Pro or Quicken, just to name a few. And, by the way, Microsoft One Note is really fun with a stylus.

The display is very nice. It has a full 1080p screen that gets even bigger (up to 2,550 x 1,440) when you connect it to an external display. The Surface Pro also comes with a USB 3.0 port, and has an external memory card slot, which is almost assuredly going to be used on a daily basis given the lack of free space after formatting and the restore partition has been allotted.

One other annoyance: the battery life on the Surface Pro is only about four hours. But since the device is WiFi only, the limitation can be worked around. Microsoft has already addressed concerns about the battery life and the space issue, though, and has also hinted that future accessories could improve the battery life.

If you’re in the market for a new PC, you suddenly have a new option. Instead of buying an Ultrabook for approximately $1,000, you can buy a Surface Pro with a keyboard for approximately $1,000. Not only are you buying a computer of similar power, but you’re also getting a high-end tablet bundled in the price.

While heavy for a tablet, it’s very light for a laptop. Even with the keyboard factored in, it’s still lighter than nearly any laptop out there … and far more portable. You can stick it in your purse, briefcase or backpack and almost forget it’s there.

Taking a plane ride to Barcelona with me for Mobile World Congress? You have an entertainment machine and a work machine in one sleek package. That’s exactly what you need in today’s Post-PC world.

Do you want a tablet for web browsing, games and a little work? You can buy an iPad for about half the cost and have access to the best App Store in the world.

Do you want a computer that delivers the most bang for your buck? You can buy an Ultrabook that’s a little more powerful for a few hundred dollars less.

But if you’re in the market for a new, fully functional Windows 8 computer,Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, and you like the idea of a tablet,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet? the Surface Pro was designed with you in mind. The ability to run every Windows program you have on a two-pound tablet feels like a game-changer. But, then again, we’re in the early days … a Surface Pro Mini can’t be too far off.

As downtown booms, Austin looks to improve Republic Square Park

On a sunny weekday in Republic Square Park in downtown Austin, two people chat below a tall oak tree, a woman walks a dog, and a man in a suit rushes to a nearby office building.

It’s a quiet morning, but parks advocates say they expect green spaces like Republic Square to become more popular as downtown booms with new condo, hotel and retail projects.

The city of Austin is putting the finishing touches on a plan to improve Republic Square, which is at Guadalupe and West Fourth streets. The aim is to make the park more inviting for events such as the Saturday farmers market and a summer movie series, as well as for everyday use by visitors and downtown’s 9,800 residents and 126,000 employees.

The parks department has $1.2 million set aside to write and carry out the plan. Most of that money comes from development fees paid by the federal government during construction of a new federal courthouse just west of the square.

Though Republic Square is less than 2 acres, city officials and downtown business groups say it is a crucial part of Austin’s park system because it is one of the few patches of green in the urban core.

“Especially over the last five years, with the densification of downtown Austin, it has become an important front yard and backyard for people living and working downtown,Can you spot the answer in the fridge magnet?” said Daniel Woodroffe, president of the Austin Parks Foundation board and owner of a landscape architecture firm.

The new federal courthouse, finished in December, has a plaza that opens onto Republic Square. Other big projects are planned for blocks nearby, including a new Travis County civil courthouse and a 24-story tower that will include luxury apartments and an upscale hotel.

The draft plan for Republic Square includes a large, open central space that is flexible enough to use for different events, a promenade and a plaza, concessions or an eatery, and restrooms.

“Downtown parks are highly coveted event spaces, but they are underutilized as daily public spaces,” said Melissa Barry, arts and parks director at the Downtown Austin Alliance, which represents downtown property owners.

The plan “has amenities that would create an environment where people want to stay and spend time in the park on a regular basis,” Barry said.

The city is paying Design Workshop, a national firm with offices in Austin, $150,000 to write the plan. The plan will go to the parks board Feb. 26 and then to the City Council for a vote.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Parks officials hope to start constructing the changes in the fall of 2014.

Republic Square is deeply rooted in the city’s history. It was one of four squares — three remain — included in the layout of Austin designed by Edwin Waller in 1839. Back then, blocks of downtown land were auctioned off beneath the square’s giant oak trees, now called the Auction Oaks.

In recent years, the parks department has planted trees and installed an irrigation system at Wooldridge Square, at Guadalupe and Ninth streets.Laser engraving and laser laser cutting machine for materials like metal, At Brush Square, at Neches and Fifth streets, the city renovated a historical home and built a new courtyard with public art.

Republic Square has gone through several incarnations. In the 1870s, it was the heart of Austin’s Mexican-American community, which celebrated events such as Diez y Seis there. It was an industrial area and then a parking lot in the 1930s to the 1950s. The city turned it into a park in the 1970s to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. But berms that sheltered the square from urban noise also closed off the space, discouraging visitors.

The nonprofit Austin Parks Foundation raised about $400,000 over the past few years and removed half of the berms, installed a lawn watering system and built a deck around the Auction Oaks to protect their roots and add seating.

The city’s plan calls for creating a large open area that could be used for performances and other events. Several paths would lead into it, and stone seating would surround it.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. On the square’s north side would be a gravel promenade with space for concessions and restrooms. There would be a plaza nearby for activities such as bocce ball and movable play equipment for kids or group gatherings,We've had a lot of people asking where we had our make your own bobblehead made. said Marty Stump, a project management supervisor in the parks department.

The square could also become a transit hub, with stops planned for a rapid-bus line and possibly a future urban rail line.

“What is there now has a ‘leftover’ feeling to it; it was not designed for the intense use that park sees today,” Stump said. “We want to create a space that is simple but can accommodate a variety of uses. So there are open spaces, but also pockets for seating and intimate gatherings.”

Mitchell McGovern, president of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, said the master plan is a good start, but he would also like to see better lighting and other safety features, a dedicated space for dogs, a children’s play area, public art and a performance area.

Ted Siff of the Original Austin Neighborhood Association, whose boundaries include Republic Square, said the city also needs to think more about how to pay to maintain the park in the long run.

The square “has the potential to be the heart of downtown, with activities that make people feel good, have fun and meet people,” Siff said. “The creation of a better space should be the first of a series of steps. Just as critical is how do you operate it?”

Sunset Memorial complaints return as litigation looms

Amy Andies never gave any thought about where she would be buried. She just assumed it would be at Sunset Memorial Gardens with the rest of her family. But, not anymore.

“Oh no,” she said flatly, when asked if she would buy any lots in the cemetery. “I don’t know, really (in which cemetery she would buy lots). It’s something I’ve got to look into.”

For the second time in about six months, body fluids have leaked from her grandmother’s crypt in the mausoleum.

Attorney Jim Logan said Monday he settled on an oral agreement that deficiencies would be corrected. This time, he will pursue litigation similar to the civil action taken against Fort Hill Cemetery owner Louisville Land Company.

“I’ve contacted Assistant District Attorney Stephen Hatchett and will be giving him the necessary petitions requesting that office to engage in prosecution of the violations,” Logan said. “It took us what, seven years to get (drainage) tiles installed.”

Dale Lawrence of the Lawrence Group of Dallas, Ga., did not respond to requests for an interview left at the cemetery sales office.

Sunset Memorial Gardens, located north of Cleveland on North Lee Highway, was the subject of complaints in 2011. The complaints focused then on heavy equipment used to dig new graves. The equipment leaves ruts in graves and knocks down vases, and outriggers used to stabilize the backhoe crack headstones.

Then, in late July 2012, the crypts leaked body fluids.

“The smell is just horrendous. I think what angers me so much now is we were assured this was resolved six months ago,” Andies said. “They gave their apologies. [They said] the front of her tomb had been removed and sealed correctly; here we are six months later and clearly, it wasn’t done. Clearly, their apologies were insincere.”

Long before a large stain on the carpet can be seen, the smell is overpowering. It is a stench that clings to clothing and penetrates nostrils and sinus cavities. The noxious odor continues to assault the senses long after leaving the cemetery and leaves one feeling nauseous.

“A sickening smell. It’s just horrible,” she said. “It’s a disgrace, not only to the immediate family, but all the family members who are represented here, inside the mausoleum, the grounds throughout the cemetery. This isn’t the first and probably won’t be the last issue we’ve had with them about not keeping the grounds here.”

Ralph Buckner Jr., Ralph Buckner Funeral Home and Crematory, complained to Burial Services of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance in July 2012. He filed the complaint after a bronze vendor emailed him photos of the three mausoleums showing leakage spilling onto the carpeted floor. The lights were burned out or broken, a single window air-conditioning unit was broken and the only ventilation came from two box fans. Also, the roof leaked, there was a broken window and the interior was generally dirty.

“Here we are again,” Andies said. “It’s very disheartening. It’s sad so much disrespect is shown to our loved ones,” she said.You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. “When we bury them, we like to think we can visit them and have a sense of peace, and it’s anything but that.”

Logan said about 25 people have contacted his office with various complaints. He said there has been a little work to cover up some of the mold,The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. but the mold is still there.

“We had entered into an oral agreement with the Lawrence Group,” he said. “I tried to get them to enter into a written contract. They have done some of the things they were supposed to do. They did clean what was found about six months ago. It was atrocious. It was very, very, very, very despicable.”

Logan said no ventilation system has been installed, the rear of the building where people park is still unsightly and the crypts were not sealed with plexiglass.

“The violations of those standards applicable to the operation of the mausoleum make it necessary for us to proceed (with litigation). We had high hopes that not only complaints here, but in Hilcrest Cemetery would be resolved long before now,Wear a whimsical Disney ear cap straight from the Disney Theme Parks!” he said. “There are some things that have been done, but they are minor in terms of the things that need to be done.”

In September 2012, the Lawrence Group was assessed the largest ever civil penalty issued by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Burial Services program. Over a two-year period in 2008 and 2009, the company made at least 20 withdrawals totaling $1.77 million from the Sunset and Hilcrest cemetery perpetual trust funds. The Lawrence Group agreed to pay $267,450 from four final orders from the state. Of that amount, $114,000 was paid directly to the improvement care funds, and $151,000 was a civil penalty paid to the department. The Lawrence Group also repaid the two trusts.

Look again. It is rather an incredibly charged and overwrought personal struggle with the view in front of Cézanne's eyes. Every dab of colour seems to be the result of days of thought and internal argument. Is this what is there? Is it like that? And what lies beyond what can be seen? By the time he has won his battle with the landscape, Cézanne has turned it inside out. We are looking at the geological structures of nature laid bare in the hot sun. Look closer still. Nothing is certain. In the distance, green-and-olive fields become squares and rectangles of green and olive, painted as the heat haze has simplified them in his eyes,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. transformed into abstract visual notations.

The modernist passion to look deeper, including deeper within oneself – to record not a simplistic picture of the world but a complex and hesitant perception of it – starts in the paintings of Cézanne. The abstract lines to which Arcangel can reduce a police thriller are born in that same fractured vision.

Looking at Cézanne's remade and fragmented visual world, I want to call his isolated colours "pixels". Anachronistic as it is, this word from the video age somehow seems accurate.Application can be conducted with the local designated IC card producers. Cézanne directly inspired Picasso and Braque in their Cubist experiments. But echoes of his revolutionary art reach further than that, from abstract painting to the strips of colour that float in Arcangel's art of the future.

Nominations open for 'Great Friend to Families' award

In an effort to recognize those who go the extra mile to make a difference, the staff and volunteers of The Children’s Playhouse in Boone are once again preparing to recognize “hometown heroes who offer sustained contributions” to the well being of young children and their families in the area, said the organization’s board president, Tara Stollenmaier.

Several of these High Country residents will be honored on Sat., Mar.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business. 2 as “Helping Hands” and “Helping Hearts;” one of the honorees will receive the overall “Great Friend to Families” award,Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. a piece of local art and $500 to donate to the High Country nonprofit organization of his or her choice.

Within the past four years, dozens of community activists and faithful volunteers have been nominated for the “Great Friend to Families Award” — and for as many reasons, said Kathy Parham, executive director of The Children’s Playhouse.

During the inaugural event, in 2009, Judith Winecoff, children’s librarian at Watauga County Library was among 16 nominees to receive the first Great Friend to Families award and designated the Hunger and Health Coalition as recipient of her $500 charitable donation.

In 2010, the award went to Pat Morgan, a longtime community volunteer who, for decades, gave of his time to read to children in local elementary schools, organized many events benefitting families, and took numerous rural children on educational trips to Washington D.C. Morgan designated his monetary award to enhance the children's collection of books at the Watauga County Public Library. Morgan was one of 20 individuals nominated for the award.

The 2011 Great Friend to Families Award was shared by two dedicated community volunteers, but kept in the same household when Dick and Joan Hearn were named winners. A dynamic duo, the Hearns are known for their far-reaching impact through High Country nonprofit agencies, ranging from the Watauga County Public Library "Reading and Rolling" program, to the High Country United Way, to the Guardian Ad Litem and many others. The Hearns were part of a 19-nominee pool.

For 2012, the Great Friend to Families Award took on a new look with Trish Lanier of the Appalachian Regional Health Department named the overall winner after receiving recognition in the “Helping Hands” category with the following individuals: Jim Atkinson, Nancy Blair, Barbara Case, Heather Jordan, Crystal Kelly, Margaret Mullins, Gay Lynn Williams, Mary Willis, and Joan Zimmerman.

An additional division provided the opportunity for the following individuals to be honored as “Helping Hearts:” Susan Bolash, Christopher Clark,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories! Kathleen Collins, Rebekah Cummings, Beth Darnell, Carolyn Garland, Betty Green, Jack and Karen James, Jo Anne Jenkins, Diandra (Lynn) Patterson, Bob and Wimmy Powell, Kim Roberts and Catherine Wilkinson.

Parham encourages the community to think of that “special someone” who deserves recognition and to nominate that person in the category that best describes the majority of the individual’s contributions.

“We want those making nominations to mention additional volunteerism or paid work which adds to our overall understanding of what makes the person so deserving of recognition,” she said. “Please note the length of time the individual has served families in the High Country and if he or she has worked in more than one capacity, or worked with more than one organization.”

Described by some as “a creative play space for families,” and others as “a nonprofit children’s museum,” The Children’s Playhouse is one and the same. Serving the High Country since 2002, it was established by a group of local citizens who wanted an enriching play environment for children from birth to age eight, while at the same time, giving parents and caregivers the “friendly support” they needed in the important job of raising children.

Founding board members Ann Kiefert, Beth Darnell, Kathy Parham, Cathy Riggs and Heidi Campbell have watched and worked faithfully through the years to see the playhouse become what it is today.

Located in a renovated house in Boone, The Children’s Playhouse offers a variety of child and family-friendly areas that promote education, creativity, health and happiness through arts, crafts, music,Service Report a problem with a street light. drama and various skill and team-building opportunities, as well as individualized development and other age-appropriate activities.

“We serve as an informal ‘town square’ for the High Country,” Parham said, “a place where natives and newcomers, out-of-towners and locals, experienced parents and eager first-timers —and people of all classes — are brought together to share the joy of playful learning with their children.”

The organization’s success is measured primarily through an annual parent survey, the most recent of which found responders reporting overall improvement in their children’s social skills, interaction, self-confidence, emotional maturity, creativity and ability to solve problems — and that participation helped to prepare the children for success in school.

One-hundred percent of adults surveyed indicated that the educational resources and support they receive helped to increase their understanding of parenting skills and helped them become more effective parents and/or caregivers.

State Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, took office for the first time in 2004, and he says the projected budget for the upcoming year looks much like it did nearly a decade ago.

The 2013 Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Focus opened Friday at Cherokee Elder Care with a discussion about the flat budget and the negative impact of tax cuts.

Legislators are expected to return to work on Monday to address these and other issues, and Brown is concerned funding for education and infrastructure may be affected.

“We’re just about back to a $7 billion budget. The problem is, the governor says that we’re going to have a flat budget,” he said. “Whenever I was first elected, we actually gave teachers a $3,000 pay raise the first year. The second year we came back and actually gave them another $1,200 pay raise We spent about $50 million extra on infrastructure needs – roads, bridges and transportation.”

Brown said that during his early years, access to mental health care was expanded, along with services in other agencies.

“ In the past eight years,We specializes in rapid plastic injection mould and molding of parts for prototypes and production. though, it’s been total cuts in each one of these agencies, including education. Education is probably taking one of the biggest cuts. Now we’re back to the point that we can actually start filling those gaps once again, yet we’re at a flat budget. The electorate needs to be asking why.”

Brown was the only elected official attending the event, as Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee, had the flu, and Rep. William Fourkiller, D - Stilwell, was attending a forum in Adair County.

Brown said the legislative leadership has burdened the state through its tax credits and cuts.

“We all enjoy a tax cut,” said Brown. “I think I enjoyed a $40 tax rebate the first or second year I was there. The second year, I think, we got a $20 tax cut or something like that, but education received about $200 million in cuts because of that.”

The Anti-Snobbery of 'Downton Abbey'

Julian Fellowes, the creator and writer of "Downton Abbey," doesn't take long to say what he thinks is the message of his smash television drama.

"I think the—well, not even the subtext, the supertext—of 'Downton,' " he says not five minutes after we sit down for coffee Monday morning at the Savoy Hotel in central London, "is that it is possible for us all to get on, that we don't have to be ranged in class warfare permanently—that for the general public, the fact that people are leading different lives with different economic realities and different expectations is perfectly cope-able with.

"If you can't deal with that," he continues, "then your life would be unlivable. And I think politicians try to encourage us to think in a hostile sense [of] people who have a different circumstance to our own. Which I find very unproductive and uncreative."

"Downton Abbey" chronicles the lives of the patrician Crawley family and their servants in a fictional country house in Yorkshire, in northern England. The first season opens with the sinking of the Titanic, in 1912, and ends with the declaration of war against Germany. The second season covers the war years, and the third season, which airs Sundays on PBS, takes us into the Roaring '20s. The show is a hit in Britain, the U.S.We specializes in rapid plastic injection mould and molding of parts for prototypes and production., Sweden, South Korea, Russia, Israel and beyond.

I've caught the 63-year-old writer and producer on his way to the House of Lords, where he was made a Life Peer in 2011. His full title is Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, Lord of the Manor of Tattershall, Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. He is properly addressed as Lord Fellowes.

"But do call me Julian," he says toward the end of our two-hour chat.

He talks freely and voluminously, his thoughts unspooling in long, liquid sentences. "I think America has dealt with—I mean,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable Mold Making supplies and accessories! this is simplistic and of course I don't live in America—but the impression I get is that there is not a kind of obligation to dislike those who are better off or be frightened of those who are worse off . . . The Americans, I think, are better at seeing themselves as a kind of community—that the important thing is to be American."

In Britain, he says, "we've had a century of being encouraged to dislike each other. And I suppose 'Downton' is in a different position to that."

This nonjudgmental embrace of the highborn life has exposed the show to the criticism, leveled widely, that it celebrates Edwardian opulence without due regard for the period's inequities. Lord Fellowes disagrees. " 'Downton,' I think, has achieved its success for the opposite reason, which is that all the characters are taken seriously," he says. "I don't think we patronize the servants, we don't make them comedic. Nor do we automatically hate the family or regard them as selfish and mendacious and so on."

He continues: "I like the characters to disagree and the audience can see both points of view, so that neither is being ludicrous or unreasonable. It just always seems to me more interesting if you're slightly torn as to which side you're on."

Hence "Downton" has characters who are skeptical of class hierarchy and ones who worship it. It has servants who are unflinchingly stoical and masters whose self-restraint deserts them. It has guardians of the old order and torchbearers of modernity, a whole gallery of them: an Irish socialist, feminists of various stripes, American nouveaux riches. It's a funny aspiration for a soap opera, ideological balance, but evidently a winning one.Service Report a problem with a street light.

The "Downton" creator admits that its appeal relies, to a degree, on not getting too deep into the messy realities of the history. "What you have to understand about period drama," he says, "is that it's history light. You can enjoy it, but you don't have to get up at five in the morning. You don't have to get on your hands and knees and clean out the grate. If you're upstairs, you don't have to change your clothes five times a day. You don't have to sit there in a corset. You don't have to leave food on your plate and pretend the man next to you is interesting."

He also makes no apology for feeding an escapist impulse. The "Downton" world "seems like an ordered world at times, and ours feels like a rather disordered world. This is an era of insecurity, both in a very real sense for a lot of people, economically. Their jobs are either gone or insecure, and they haven't got as much money to spend, which is very tough. And a lot of people are going through that.Laser engravers and laser engraving machine systems and supplies to start your own lasering cutting engraving marking etching business."

Beyond the financial insecurity in the air, he says, the "political structures seem a bit wobbly, and we don't seem to have quite the faith in them. I always remember that movie with James Cagney, 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.' He goes to see the president, and we see him sitting opposite the president.Find the best selection of high-quality collectible bobbleheads available anywhere. And there's a light on his face, as if the president is actually shining.

"I must have loved that, really. I love that faith in the institutions. And I don't think we really have that any more. We don't think our leaders shine in that way."

So is Julian Fellowes a fantasist or a fabulist? Does "Downton" offer comfort or critique? I suggest to him that his show is of a piece with the recent slew of stylish TV dramas set in rigid, patriarchal societies: "Mad Men," "Game of Thrones," "Deadwood." "A lot of these stories are about how to achieve your own personal goal within the rules," he says. "Most of us don't want to be outsiders. . . . We want our achievements, but we want still to be inside the tent. And you can make that impulse clearer in a world where the rules were clearer.

"I think it's still true, actually. But our rules are so nebulous. None of us quite know what they are. It's like 'casual chic.' We don't know what it is."

That's not quite a full-throated defense of a world in which people know their place. Wistfully sympathetic, maybe. The "Downton" characters bear witness to many innovations of the day: the telephone, women's suffrage, the cocktail party, the toaster—and the idea that one can choose one's own path in life, regardless of birth. I ask Lord Fellowes about the motto on his family coat of arms: Post Proelia Praemia ("After battles come rewards" in Latin).

That too few ordinary people's battles were rewarded in the era of "Downton" is "the indictment of the age," he replies, but the motto "is quite apposite for me." He labored in obscurity as a character actor and television writer for more than two decades until he was tapped by director Robert Altman to write the screenplay for "Gosford Park," a 2001 pastiche of the manor-house murder mystery. The screenplay won an Academy Award.

Le Vieux Village to host Lundi Gras party

"Last year was great. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we got a lot of feedback about the great setting under the lighted oaks," said Opelousas Tourism Director Melanie Lee-Lebouef of the event that will again be held at Le Vieux Village.

A special guest this year will be local artist Maa-Maa Seaux N. Seau, who creates art inspired by rural Mardi Gras scenes.

"Born Geraldine Soileau, she was taught the joy of painting by her father and continued her studies in art at LSU-Eunice. She paints memories of the many Mardi Gras mornings she spent at her grandmother Eliska Fontenot Soileau's home. For these very special pictures she uses the primitive Cajun style taught to her by her father, George Allen Soileau," Lee-Lebouef said.

Her work, including original paintings, prints and cards, will be on display and available for sale throughout the day.

At 7 p.m., the fun will take a short break when the winners of this year's Mardi Gras costume contest are announced. "We've got some great prizes this year," Lee-Lebouef said.

While the day will cover a broad range of activities, Lee-Lebouef said they all have the same theme — celebrating Opelousas' long and rich history.

"This event is dedicated to preserving and promoting our distinct Cajun and Creole culture," said Lee-Lebouef, who said Le Vieux Village, whose name translates as "the old village," is a perfect setting.

"Le Vieux Village is a historical park showcasing structures from Opelousas and other areas of St. Landry Parish. The village includes structures from the mid-1700s to the early 1900s which depicts the unique and diverse cultural heritage of Opelousas, Louisiana's third oldest city," she said.

Concert-goers are welcome to bring lawn chairs for seating. Because beverages sales go towards covering the cost of the band and event expenses, ice chests will not be allowed. Beverages and food will be available for purchase on site.

London Bay Homes' new Isabella II model home at Mediterra balances textured furnishings and references to nature with the gleam of glass and metals and the occasional injection of bold, saturated colors.

"The whole concept was to contrast earthy natural textures with more refined elements,Comprehensive Wi-Fi and RFID tag by Aeroscout to accurately locate and track any asset or person." said Jennifer Stevens, senior design director at Romanza Interior Design in Naples, who created the soft contemporary design for the single-family luxury model.

The three-bedroom, three-bath home, now open for viewing, is one of more than a dozen floor plans offered by London Bay as part of its Reserve Collection in Serata, a neighborhood of 36 lakefront homes in Mediterra, Naples' premier golf and beach club community.

Throughout the Isabella II's 3,We've got a plastic card to suit you.009 square feet of living space, visitors discover woven grass furniture, textured rugs, coral-inspired glass lamps and even a stump of petrified wood fashioned into an end table.

Walls, painted off-white with cool undertones, and the home's main ashlar-set light travertine flooring with a chiseled edge provide the backdrop for colorful expressions — vivid accents of orange, red and fuchsia in art, fabrics and accessories. The palette is introduced upon entering through the model's walnut-toned double doors, which have beveled glass accents and boast a clean architectural style.

Fine-textured bronze grasscloth in the foyer's arched niches and a table with an open metallic base resembling twisting tree branches preview the use of grain, natural elements and subtle shimmer. Ahead, the great room continues the textural and color references with bright accent colors in throw pillows, draperies and the fuchsia fabric of an armchair, grasscloth in the TV niche and the petrified wood table.Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing. Nature is also brought in through the great room's sliding glass doors displaying the pool, spa and the lake beyond.

In the dining room, six chairs huddle around the zinc-topped table. The room's main wall is accented with multiple beveled-edge mirrors framed in wood molding.

The adjoining kitchen features London Bay Homes' signature center island — low and large for additional prep space and easy seating on padded leather stools. It also provides a divided stainless steel sink and dishwasher, and is painted black and has an Arabesco granite counter top.

White perimeter cabinetry contrasts absolute black granite counter tops and the black gloss tile backsplash above the four-burner stainless steel gas stove. Glass adds to the gleam of the stainless steel hood. The kitchen also has a stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator-freezer and its microwave is incorporated into cabinetry flanked on each end by pantries.

Soft dove gray paint accents the coffers in the ceiling above the kitchen and adjoining cafe area. Loosely woven chairs and a hutch with a woven front introduce texture into the causal eating area, positioned at sliding glass doors opening to the covered living area.

The Isabella II's al fresco area has 18-inch terra-cotta paver flooring and a summer kitchen with a grill and under-counter refrigerator. Glass and stone mosaic tile in natural green, ivory and sandy earth tones add a soft shimmer to the pool's waterline and the raised spa's multitiered spillover.

The master suite introduces softer sepia and ivory tones with muted blue-greens and touches of orange. Espresso-colored woven grasscloth nightstands are topped by lamps with smoky taupe cast-glass bases that abstractly mimic coral. The bed is upholstered in ivory chenille and the dresser's dark wood is contrasted by ivory leather drawer fronts. The room's ceiling has shallow trays and crown molding.The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smart card can authenticate your computer usage and data. Windows display the spa; a door provides access to the covered lanai.

School proposal survives in Alton

Two amendments intended to give voters lower cost alternatives to a proposed $18.6 million Alton Central School renovation plan failed to pass at the Alton School District Deliberative Session on Saturday at Prospect Mountain High School.

This means that voters will decide on funding the renovation project at the polls by official ballot on Tuesday, March 12, at the high school. Of the town's 4,022 registered voters, 172 attended Saturday's session.

Warrant Article II asks voters to raise and appropriate $18,665,536 for "renovation, reconstruction, repairs and construction of an addition to the Alton Central School and for furnishing and equipment. Of that amount, the school board would bond $17,705,536 and pull the rest from an assortment of capital reserve funds.We've got a plastic card to suit you.They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets.

In explaining the rationale and background of the proposal, Steve Renner, a member of the volunteer Building and Grounds Committee, which has been working on addressing building, health and safety problems at the Central School for many years, said this year's proposal differs from a proposal that failed last year. It is less expensive, does not include a geothermal heating system and does not include a third floor. The renovation would address health and safety issues such as asbestos located in tiles under carpet in an older wing at the school; would remove five older and inefficient and modular classrooms and incorporate more classrooms into the renovation, and upgrade fire alarm systems to meet current code. Others at the meeting commented that the school's heating and cooling system is inefficient - or either too hot or too cold - and that the stench of sewage wafts in the area of the modular classrooms due to a problem with the system.

"The modular classrooms are an extreme security risk," added Renner. The addition of a gym would allow for expansion of the cafeteria, reducing the number of lunch periods from four to three.

Budget Committee member Barbara Howard said she was one of the three budget committee members who opposed Article II because of cost and timing.Where you can create a custom lanyard from our wide selection of styles and materials.

"I felt the taxpayers can't bear the cost of the bond," she said. Renner would later say the school project would add about $1 per $1,000 of assessed value on property taxes. Howard said the district has no grants or no financial assistance for this project. She said taxpayers also face the burden of funding the state retirement program, which faces a $2.2 billion shortfall.

Dozens of residents, many of those with children in school and others without, spoke in favor of the $18.6 million plan. Those opposed were vocal, as well.

Raymond Howard made a motion to amend Article II down to $4,460,Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing.000 and to bond $3,500,00 and use $960,000 in funds set aside in capital reserve accounts for some renovations at the school. In a secret ballot, the motion failed, 107-51.

Warrant Article III, a petitioned warrant article proposed by school board member Steve Miller, asked whether voters would raise and appropriate $7 million to repair the roof, replace the modular classrooms and address safety and security issues at the Central School. Neither the budget committee nor the school board voted to recommend this article.

Hitting the street on a recent weekend night, we started out old school, at Danny’s, an institution short on nonsense and long on local color. Danny’s was founded by Frank Mansfield (of the Mansfield insurance family) in the 1940s on the ground floor of the Hotel Savoy. Originally known as Mansfield’s, it was renamed Danny’s after Frank’s son, Danny, inherited the business. In 1975, the classic roadhouse-style bar moved to its current location: a former service garage across from the train station on Railroad Avenue.

“The only things that have changed since then are the hardwood floors, where there used to be carpets, and the ceiling tiles, that used to be gold-colored, from all the nicotine,” chuckled regular patron, Ryan Mayo. Aside from now being smoke-free, just about everything in between the floor and ceiling remains virtually unchanged — the pool table, the jukebox, the battle-scarred, rectangular bar, and the shuffleboard game in the corner, where a league of Westerly locals plays a version of the game called horse collar. And that, say Danny’s customers, is how they like it.

Equally cold beers and searing hot rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues are always on tap up at the nearby Knickerbocker Café, while just across the railroad tracks, at 23 Canal St., the Hilltop Café offers an old-school atmosphere similar to Danny’s, together with one of the best plates of cavatelli in town — perfect for fueling up before a night out.

Having paid our respects to Westerly’s classic elbow-bending circuit, we switched gears as we rounded the corner onto High Street to inspect some recent additions to the night-life scene. On the way, we noted that the newest eatery in town, Trattoria Longo, at the intersection of Canal and High, was packed as usual with diners looking for authentic Italian in an upscale setting that rivals just about anything Federal Hill has to offer in quality and atmosphere.Comprehensive Wi-Fi and RFID tag by Aeroscout to accurately locate and track any asset or person.

Once on High Street, we were happy to see that 84 Tavern on Canal (the former 84 High Street restaurant) was doing a brisk business, serving up cocktails and its standard hearty and creative fare that has drawn a loyal crowd for years. But we were ultimately drawn to the newest kid on the block, The Twisted Vine. Though this sophisticated, spacious and chic establishment only opened its doors in September, it already has a faithful following.

CNN’s Vermont rail story went way on the wrong track

Thanks to CNN, Vermont got a journalism lesson this week as the cable network devoted eight minutes and 38 seconds to a special report on the state’s stimulus-funded rail improvement project, one of the regular “keeping them honest” features on the “Anderson Cooper 360” program.

Alas, it was a very bad journalism lesson because it was very bad journalism presented by people apparently unaware of the irony of claiming to be “keeping them honest” dishonestly.

Which is not to say that its point of view was incorrect. Points of view may be wise or unwise, but almost by definition they are not incorrect. The segment’s bias was obvious, but biased journalism can be defended. Its advocates prefer to call it “advocacy journalism,” and there is a place for it.

CNN has not generally been considered one of those places, but that’s the network’s business. If it wants to undertake an ideological crusade – in this case arguing that the $10 billion spent nationally (about $52 million in Vermont) to improve passenger rail service is a boondoggle – more power to it.Wear a whimsical Disney ear cap straight from the Disney Theme Parks! In this case, a responsible, accurate, honest report might have been persuasive. But a responsible, accurate, honest report was nowhere to be found.

As a public service, then, and because they obviously need it, herewith a basic primer in journalistic practice and ethics for Cooper, investigative reporter Drew Griffin, and their bosses:

Lesson 1 — No cheap shots. Reporting from the Essex Junction Amtrak station, which he called “the busiest station in all of Vermont,” (which it may not be), Griffin noted that “11 people got off (and) no one got on.”

Well of course no one got on. That train just chugs a few miles up to St. Albans where it spends the night. Nobody takes the train from Essex to St. Albans. If Griffin knew that he was being devious. And he had no excuse not knowing it.

In fact, almost nobody takes the train from any Vermont station to another. Vermonters take the train to New York. So Griffin’s “revelation” that the project chopped only 28 minutes off the train’s voyage through the state was another cheap shot. If CNN had chosen to report out the entire story (see below), it would have figured out that the work is likely to save two hours for travelers heading to New York.

Lesson 2 – Don’t be cute. There is Griffin standing on the trainless track. “I could stand here all day long,” he says. “I could jog on the tracks,” and there he is, jogging on the tracks, and standing there as the sun set, still without seeing a train.

Forget for a moment that jogging along the tracks is illegal (criminal trespass) and dangerously stupid, thus prompting Joyce Rose, the president of Operation Lifesaver, to send Griffin a sharply worded letter reminding him that “more people are killed each year trespassing on train tracks than in vehicle-train collisions at crossings.”

More to the point here is that the rail improvement project neither envisioned nor promised oodles of trains. Its purpose was to improve the tracks so both passenger and freight trains could go faster and haul heavier loads.

Lesson 3 – Put all dollar figures in context. Yes, $52 million sounds like a lot of money. The average guy could probably live on it for a year or two. But just providing the figure and leaving it out there is meaningless.

Minimal context would note that the U.S. government spends some $69.5 billion a year on transportation, or more than six times the entire nationwide stimulus-financed rail improvement project, more than 100 times Vermont’s share. More than half of all those federal expenditures, about $41.5 billion, is spent on highways. Does this prove that the $52 million was money well spent? Not at all. But it is essential information.

Lesson 4 – Provide at least a little balance. To answer why this little state got all that federal money, Griffin relied on one authority, policy analyst Randal O’Toole. Properly,They manufacture custom rubber and silicone bracelet and bracelets. Griffin said O’Toole was associated with the “libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.” He did not point out that O’Toole has also been associated with the Thoreau Institute, which has been funded over the years by foundations with close ties to the petroleum industry.

O’Toole began inauspiciously. The Vermont project got the money, he said, because, “the federal government has one criteria when it comes to handing out high speed rail funds. And that was, had states done an environmental impact statement so they were shovel ready.”

There is no such thing as “one criteria.” There can be two criteria or 20 million. One of them is a criterion.

And according to some people, including Vermont Agency of Transportation Secretary Brian Searles, the state had to satisfy several of them before federal authorities approved the grant in an intensely competitive process.

“The real reason that we qualified was that it was one of the eight designated corridors in the country,” Searle said.

It’s entirely possible that O’Toole’s explanation would withstand scrutiny better than Searles’. What real journalists do in these cases, though, is talk to folks on both sides, then apply the scrutiny. It wasn’t as though Searles was unavailable. He said he “had extensive conversations (with CNN staff) over time and on that day. They came here with an agenda to attack the high speed rail program.”

Lesson 5 – Tell the whole story. Had Griffin put Searles on camera,Come January 9 and chip card driving licence would be available at the click of the mouse in Uttar Pradesh. he might have explained that the Vermont work did not stand alone. It was part of a regional project which included rail improvements in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That explains the projected two-hour reduction in the Vermont-to-New York trip.

But this project is not really limited to the U.S. Both the province of Quebec and the Canadian government are improving their rail lines in coordination with the U.S. effort. Both countries believe they have a significant economic interest in better rail links between the Montreal area, home to some 3.9 million people, and U.S. destinations.

Nor is it just passengers. The rail line improvements mean heavier loads can go over the bridges and overpasses. When completed, it will ease freight transportation between Montreal and the Connecticut shipping ports on the north shore of Long Island Sound. The potential economic development impact for the entire region could be substantial.

That’s why New England Central Railroad put up the state’s $18 million match for the project. Griffin did note that a private firm put up the money. He didn’t mention that it had a vested interest in doing so, meaning the possible economic impact here is far greater than cutting a couple of hours off the trip to Penn Station.

Jerry Vest, the vice president for governmental and industrial affairs for the Genesee and Wyoming, Inc., which now owns New England Central, said the rail improvement “will be a big plus for Vermont,” making it easier for the state to attract new business.

“Freight rail is undergoing a renaissance, Vest said, “and companies want to have access to high-quality rail service.”

Does this make the $52 million –plus some $140 million in the other states – worthwhile? Like any public policy decision, that’s open to debate. What is not open to debate is that it all should have been in the story.

In fairness to CNN, Griffin did acknowledge that the Vermont share of the work came in “on time and on budget,” and that it created some jobs. More specifically, Searles said (but CNN did not) it created 246 direct jobs and another 319 “indirect and induced.” Most of them were temporary jobs, but at the peak of the recession, even temporary jobs were useful,The USB flash drives wholesale is our flagship product. both to the people who got them and to the regional economy.

The CNN report did make one good point: at least in New England, these “high speed” rail projects will not bring real high-speed rail as found in Europe and Japan. Vermont’s stations are too close to one another, and the state wants to provide service to all those towns. Even Ross Capon, the head of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, agreed that the Obama administration was guilty of “hyperbole” in selling its program.

But that was the segment’s only valid point, which perhaps explains why Griffin and Cooper, in their post-tape chit-chat, kept belaboring it, thereby violating the immortal advice to writers from professor Lee Youngdahl: “Once something has been said, it no longer has to be said.”

But one more thing has to be said here. Every news story about public funding of transportation should remember – and should explain – that all forms of transportation are and always have been publicly subsidized. The Founders put it right in the Constitution, authorizing Congress to establish a system of “Post roads.” As America gets bigger and richer, more people will be doing more traveling. The alternatives to better rail service are more highways and/or more airports, all of which are expensive and all of which will be subsidized.Online shopping for luggage tag from a great selection of Clothing.

"Puckett Park" in Albert Lea

Baseball is a popular summer time activity for many kids growing up, but with so many kids wanting to play, fields can be tough to come by.

Well, two Albert Lea School District employees set out to make sure field space is not a problem.

Over the last few years, the city of Albert Lea has had more and more kids interested in baseball.

The problem is the city only has a few fields.

"Albert Lea just does not have a baseball complex. Snyder Fields are mostly softball and the Hayek Field, which is our main field, is for the varsity team," said Dennis Hamberg,As one of a leading zentai suits provider from China. coordinator of buildings and grounds of Albert Lea Area Schools.

Two school district employees saw this and decided to do something about it.

They rebuilt a field that had been vacant for decades.

"My only experience was watching people play baseball. My boss did this 20 years ago. His first time doing this was the first game of the 1987 Minnesota Twins season. He had the truck back here and he had the game on and he was getting the baseball field ready and that was the last time it's been used," said Spencer Dahl, assistant groundskeeper at Hammer Field in Albert Lea.

Groundskeepers Bob Hamberg and Spencer Dahl began building in June, starting with dirt and sand to fill the infield,We also offer customized Quicksilver. before lining up the bases.Choose from one of the major categories of offshore merchant account,We are professional oil painting supplies,

"We needed to come up with the measurements for base paths from home plate to second and first to third and the pitchers mound. So a lot of precise measuring," said Dahl.

Hamberg and Dahl worked on the field everyday, finishing the Brookside field in only about a month.

But before home plate was put in, Dahl had a special tribute.

Dahl said, "Right before we dropped this under I got a Kirby Puckett card and plastic case and I buried it underneath home plate quite a ways so he's kind of looking out over things here."

Dahl has unofficially named the field "Puckett Park" in honor of his childhood hero growing up.

Dahl says kids began playing on the field even before the bases were installed.

He hopes to continue working on the field and put in some benches in the future.Welcome to the official Facebook Page about RUBBER MATS.