Build a Garden Tool Shed

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The age-old “shtick” about a rake handle smacking you in the face when you step on the teeth isn't funny. It's happened to me more than once. One of the problems is improperly storing rakes, hoes, shovels and other long-handled tools. They can be hung up in a garage or garden shed, but usually end up right at the door, where they fall down, and again become a dangerous problem. The garden tool shed shown solves the problem of long-handled tool storage and at the same time provides a separate storage area attached to a garage or garden shed with tools at hand. This shed could also hold trash cans. Adding shelves in one side can provide a place for storing fertilizers and chemicals. The shed shown doesn't have a back, but a back could be installed to make the shed free-standing if desired. However, it would be susceptible to toppling over very easily, so it should be “staked” or fastened in place in some manner.

Properly storing garden tools, fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides is important not only for safety, but also for ease of use. The lean-to garden tool shed shown is easy to build and takes the clutter out of your garage.

 

The siding of the shed is hardboard (barn siding) and requires two 4-by-8-foot sheets. First, crosscut 24 inches off the end of one 4-by-8-foot sheet. This creates the top. Rip the 6-foot piece to the correct width for the sides, and then cut their angled ends. Some of the framing is constructed of 2-by-2 (1-1/2 x 1-1/2 inch) materials. Rip the 2-by-2's from 2-by-4's. Cut the front and back support 2-by-2's to length. Fasten a side down over these framing members. Then measure and cut the bottom and top side pieces to length, making sure the angles are correct on the top pieces. Note the bottom pieces are 2-by-4's. Fasten these between the upright members. All siding should be fastened in place with non-corrosive fasteners. An air brad nailer works great for this step. Repeat for the opposite side.

 

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How do you choose a kitchen sink?

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Never before have there been so many amazing choices for the kitchen sink. Whatever you imagine, there’s a solution. That said, if you are like most homeowners, you’re looking for the same thing: simplicity, ease of maintenance, efficiency, aesthetics, and good value. Oh, and sometimes a place to bath the baby.

Many people look for exactly the same things in a sink; a simple, elegant design and easy maintenance. The most requested features include a pull-down one-handle faucet with a sprayer. Many homeowners are starting to ask for a single bowl and about 25% want a soap dispenser. An equal number want a hot water or filtered water dispenser.

Where do you start? There are hundreds of different types of kitchen sink designs and materials to choose from. Deciding which sink is best for you depends on

• how you use it
• what your kitchen priorities are
• where it will be located
• how it will be installed

Here are some of the most common sinks available

Stainless steel

For many homeowners, this is the first choice. It’s very popular, probably because stainless steel appliances have a very high tech, industrial look and they look really nice in a modern kitchen with clean lines. Unless stainless is custom fabricated, it’s generally reasonably priced. The key to a good stainless sink is the gauge of the steel. The lower the gauge, the thicker and more durable it is likely to be. Look for 18 or 19-gauge Type 304 stainless. It has extra chromium and is less susceptible to corrosion. Under mount and self-rimming versions are available in a myriad of sizes and shapes with and without drain boards, prep sinks, and accessories. Although good quality undermount sinks are much more expensive than top mount, keep in mind that you will not be able to change the sink unless you change the counter top so opt for quality.

Stainless is considered by many to be easy to clean, and if you drop a glass, it’s possible it won’t break. (That never happens with the cast iron sinks.) However, some people think stainless is cold and too easily dented. Another objection some people have to stainless is that it’s noisy. To prevent that, manufacturers have addressed this issue with sound absorption technologies. For the cost and the life expectancy though (between 15–30 years) stainless steel is a very good buy. There are many kitchen sink designs available in stainless steel, and also many different sizes so you can be sure to find one that is right for you.

 

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Thomas Mann infuses his new home -- in a former Uptown bar -- with his 'techno romantic' style

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Thomas Mann is one of the city's great jewelers. Part of his genius is that his designs always seem to be aiming in two directions at once: playful yet elegant, antique-looking yet futuristic, industrially severe yet funky.

He defines the dichotomy as "techno romantic," and his home has many of the same Janus-like charms.

You can't miss the place. It's the site of the former Rose Tattoo bar at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street, now painted sour-apple green, with pumpkin doors and white trim around the medicine-capsule-shaped windows.

A Pennsylvania native, Mann moved here in 1987, and in 1988 opened Gallery I/O, his signature jewelry and design store on Magazine Street.

He bought the old bar on Tchoupitoulas in the mid-1990s, when business was booming, with hopes of opening a coffee shop.

But it's in just the past two years that he's made the building his home, selling a high-mortgage house on Dominican Street as the economy started to decline.

"What I've lost in elevated lifestyle, I've gained in artistic inspiration," he said.

As in any home, the kitchen is the heart of Mann's living space -- miles and miles of heart. Appliances, equipment and work surfaces run the entire length of the old back bar, then the linear kitchen turns the corner and continues into the next room.

Mann, whose first business venture was a health food store and restaurant he ran with his brother decades ago, describes himself as a dedicated foodie.

For simple meals, he said, guests gather at the small round table. For more elaborate feasts -- what Mann calls "food events" -- he serves diners seated at stools along the old bar.

Mann did his research to find affordable alternatives to high-end cooking equipment. He's especially proud of his duel-fuel stove from Ikea. An electric oven, he explained, provides the proper dry heat needed for perfect baking, while the gas burners are best for range-top cooking.

 

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Sink Now High-Tech Waterworks

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The kitchen sink has progressed from being mere plumbing to becoming a high-tech water processor.

The faucet has come a long way, according to an article in the current issue of Esquire, since the days when it had two star-shaped twist valves containing small washers. The washers regularly started to leak and had to be replaced about once a year.

These gave way to single-lever mixer valves, the automatic transmission of plumbing that mixes hot and cold water and regulates volume by the swing of the lever.

The problem with most of the lever faucets is the crudeness of their touch. One careless tug can send a burst of water spraying everywhere.

The handles--chrome wings or flippers--tend to look like bad airport sculpture of the 1950s.

The latest kitchen faucets have come a long way. The top designs for providing water are European, and they are becoming as popular as imported European water.

The leading edge in faucets belongs to the firms of rival German cousins. Friedrich Grohe's company, Grohe America, has been on the U.S. scene since 1976. Klaus Grohe's firm, Hansgrohe, only a fifth as large, is just now arriving on these shores.

Their rivalry has produced excellence in the best capitalist tradition.

First, Grohe America introduced faucets of elegant arc and simple controls that also feature pull-out spray heads, combining the spray guns you used to find on the side of the sink with the faucet itself. This turned the combination into a high-tech, high-power, high-precision instrument.

Now Hansgrohe has topped its rival with the Allegroh and Uno models, also with spray heads, which are close to the ultimate kitchen faucet. One touch of the faucets, now being introduced in the United States, is like steering a fine car.

The top-of-the-line metal Allegroh comes in chrome, "satin" chrome, brown or white. The almost identical Uno is rendered in hard plastic in red, brown, white-gray and yellow.

The Allegroh and Uno were given shape by Frogdesign, the firm behind Sony Trinitron TVs and Apple Macintosh computers.

 

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Interbank Fx Become A Forex Trader – How To Make Triple Digit Gains In 30 Minutes A Day!

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Countries have constantly increased free trade during the last century. Commodities consumer electronics food luxury items energy human resources and currencies are the main products that have been used in trading. Most of the financial institutions such as banks big companies and other financial organizations obtain not only the best financial experts to analyze the market but invest in the development of automated Forex trader applications.

Are you fed up with the get rich quick scene. How about something TRULY revolutionary? Something that has never been featured on the world wide web ever before?

Forex Robotics are relatively new as a concept and only started picking up as more technology got incorporated in the world of forex trading. It is something that you should place all you money in but definitely something that you can consider if you are new to the world of forex trading.

Forex software or robots are being created to assist the trader. Developments to the initial robots are consistently being made and thus more and more efficient robots are being designed. Has the time come for these robots to replace humans? Is it really true that more and more traders are being without jobs because of the emergence of these new robots?

It seems every week a new Forex robot hits the market on the back of the surge in interest in automatic trading tools. Automatic trading software for the non professional Forex Trading market is fairly recent trend made possible by the Metatrader platform. Forex Robots which are automatic programs can do the hard work of trading for you decreasing the probability of you making disastrous emotions based trading mistakes leaving you anxiety free even in the toughest situation.

 

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How to Subvert Your House: Buying, Designing and Building Cargo Container Homes

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There are several fun and practical reasons to live in a cargo container home. First of all, it’s cheaper for a shipping company to buy new containers than to transport empty ones back to the origin, creating a stockpile of containers in port areas that container home builders in the right place at the right time can obtain for the right price.

Furthermore, most containers are made of metal which makes them sturdy even when stacked – not to mention resistant to weather, fires, and other natural (and unnatural) elements. They’re available in a variety of sizes (with most common being 8 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall by 40 feet long) that are ideal for modular housing and office use.

Finding a cargo container isn’t all that difficult. There are numerous online shipping/transportation directories like Sea Box and American Mobile Office that specialize in pre-fab offices based on former cargo containers.

So-called bulktainers make the best modules as they are made of metal and have been used to ship dry goods on transoceanic voyages. The container’s ID number can be used to determine the container’s age. Once a suitable cargo container (or containers) has been located and met the buyer’s specifications, you can negotiate a very reasonable price of a couple thousand dollars each, plus shipping to the purchaser’s location.

 

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Heavy-Duty For YEARS of Use!

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A charcoal bbq grill with a double walled firebox. A charcoal barbecue grill having right, left, and rear side walls with a one inch air space in between two steel plates. Independent charcoal racks can be placed on any of three separate levels of the charcoal grill . A full length slide out ash pan. Tejas Smokers is offering a charcoal barbecue grill which can be used as a steak bbq grill, fajita grill, or even as a smoker pit . The Tejas Smokers BBQ Grill series is impressive ... with a brushed stainless steel fold out shelf. Stainless steel spring handles that stay cool to the touch...simply barbecue grill heaven.

Length -> 59 1/2" with side tray folded down, 69 1/2" with tray up -Depth -> 29" front to rear -Height: -> 44 1/2" with top lid closed -Weight -> 382 pounds

BBQ Grill Cooking Grate Surface -> 20 1/4" x 48 1/2"

Charcoal Grill Standard Features:

full-size direct heat bbq grill barbecue grill cooking grate is framed and has handles barbecue grill has two or three independent charcoal racks two or three adjustable smoke dampers on lid of charcoal grill barbecue grill 12" high top lid with height enough for anything! removable firebox front doors ( below the bbq grill ) barbecue grill double-walled firebox on three sides (right, left, and rear side walls have a 1" air space between two 14 gauge steel plates) full sized ash pans at bottom of charcoal grill firebox 3 1/2" swivel and fixed wheels air cooled 302 stainless steel handle on lid to the bbq grill surface custom cleaning tool/ash rake for charcoal barbecue grill firebox edges of bbq grill are trimmed with stainless steel coupling adapter accepts swivel sauce bowl charcoal grill will accept a log lighter pipe temperature gauge receptacles for optional temperature gauge(s) We don't cut corners on quality!

 

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Importance Of Medical Billing

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Nowadays medical professionals are finding it difficult to manage day-to-day affairs, particularly administrative issues. Medical billing is one such area in which healthcare professionals are facing a daunting task of trying to cope up with the rapidly changing coding or billing rules and requirements. These days a lot of paperwork is involved that not only causes hindrance, but sometimes also become a cause for inordinate delays in payment and billing purposes.

Need For An Billing Software

There is an urgent need to have a good way of managing the electronic medical records. This task can only be made easy with the help of good practice management software. So, what do you actually seek from billing software? Well, the answer is simple. You would expect the software to make sure that the billing calculations are done accurately and efficiently. Besides, you will also want the software to be available to you on the Internet so that you can access it from anywhere in the world.

Practice management software (PMS) is a kind of software that caters to the daily operations of a medical practice. You can get this PMS software in the following ways. The first way is to contact a software company and ask it to make this software for your organization. The other option for you is to hire a group of software professionals to get the software made for you. Finally, you can also buy off-the-shelf software and get it customized according to your needs and requirements.

 

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Outdoor Patio String Lights

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If you are looking for a surefire way to add a festive atmosphere to your patio, then outdoor patio string lights are just the thing to liven up the mood and add a fun and festive feel to your backyard when the lights go down.  Whether you are having a party for many or are simply enjoying your patio after dark with your family, patio string lighting is a welcome addition to any patio.  And the best aspect of patio string lights is that you can find a style to suit your home, no matter what your mood, or what time of year it is.

Patio string lighting comes in many different decorative styles.  From flowers and chili peppers to snowflakes and Christmas trees, you can find many types of theme-related string lights for patio use.  If you want something a bit more subtle, you can find paper-style lantern string lights, patio globe string lights, or simply solid color or multi color patio string lights in various shapes and sizes.  Even just a string of basic clear patio light strings provides a sparkle to the nighttime air when lit.

The most popular type of lights are LED patio string lights.   These small bulbs emit bright light and are energy efficient as well as long-lasting.  They do not burn too hot, which is also an added bonus.  Another very popular patio string light style is solar patio string lights.  For solar models, the string of patio lights looks like any other type of decorative patio string lights, but rather than plugging the string of lights into an electrical outlet, there is a separate solar collector that soaks up the sun by day to provide energy for the lights to shine at night.

 

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Aperion's Zona Wireless Surround Speaker System cuts the cord (almost)

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The popularity of surround-sound audio has always been hampered by the amount of wiring you need to set it up, even if you're using so-called wireless rear speakers. Today at CEDIA 2010, Aperion announced its new solution to the problem, the Zona Wireless Surround Speaker System, which consists of two powered speakers and a wireless transmitter and is expected to ship on October 25 for $500.

Most wireless surround-speaker solutions use a wireless receiver placed in the back of the room, and speaker wire still needs to be connected to both of the surround speakers from the wireless receiver. Aperion takes a different approach, opting instead to use powered speakers that require no speaker wire and a wireless transmitter that stays by your AV receiver.

The first catch here (and there's always a catch with "wireless" audio) is that each of the speakers will need to be powered, so you'll still have a power cable running from each speaker to an outlet. That's a fair tradeoff to us, as it's often more convenient to find nearby power outlets than run speaker wire across a living room.

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3 Surefire Ways The South Beach Diet Exercise Can Work For You

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Some of you may have heard of the south beach diet exercise, especially if you have been known to stay up to date on the health industry. For those of you who are a little less familiar with exactly how the diet has grown to be so successful, its actually a really easy concept. The diet mainly works by doing one simple thing. It slowly starts to reduce the amount of bad carbohydrates and fats that you are currently consuming and replaces them with good ones. Perhaps the fact that this concept is so basic and almost common sense, is the same reason that it getting so much attention lately. Due to the fact that it is a rather new trend in the health industry, there are not many great resources available for people that can afford professional help. Luckily, for this very reason we have put together the following guide to show you exactly how the south beach diet exercise can work for you.

Tip#1: I know what your asking yourself, “What foods can we eat?” right? Well this is perhaps the best part of this diet. The foods that it allows you to eat are actually reasonable sized portions of foods that you are bound to already be eating. Some of the foods include fish, chicken, beef, turkey, shellfish, nuts, eggs, cheese, and vegetables. The south beach diet exercise suggest to eat three meals a day consisting of these foods as well as garden salad. The garden salad should only use 100% olive oil as a dressing. The diet is split up into three phases. All of the phases consist of eating these foods. The first phase however will get you to cut out a lot of the foods that are high in sugar including all baked goods, ice cream, beer and alcohol as well as foods like bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta.

 

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15 amazing coffee machine concepts

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For hundreds of years, making a cup of coffee was a deceptively simple process. Roasted and ground coffee beans were placed in a pot or pan, to which hot water was added, followed by attachment of a lid to commence the infusion process. Over the period, while the basic taste of the brewage has remained almost same, but the manner in which it can be prepared has gone from easy to easier. Check out some of the most amazing coffee makers that are sure to enhance your brewing experience.

Redeeming one of the most cherished home appliances worldwide, the Mypressi has introduced the world’s first fully portable espresso machine. Called “Twist,” the portable coffee machine is stylish, lightweight and effortless to use, while promising an extraordinary coffee experience on the go.

Taking the tang of the coffee to its best, designer Matt Morozov has devised a refined coffee maker called “The CoffeeMate” that makes use of a pH meter, a device widely used in laboratories, aquariums, beer and wine factories and food processing units, for measuring the level of acidity in your cuppa coffee.

I bow down in gratitude to Sang hoon Lee for concocting the most refreshing wakeup system. Shooing aside an array of alarm clocks that blare their way in to our beautiful mornings, Lee’s Espresso waker is designed to help you open your eyes to the smell of a cuppa espresso. Who needs a butler to walk in your room with cup of hot coffee to wish good morning?

 

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The Lemonade Diet: Day 1

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Part of an ongoing series where two staff reporters, who wish to remain anonymous for reasons that will soon become clear, navigate 10 days of purging toxins — and everything else — from their bodies.

We're proud to announce that we've survived eight hours of the Lemonade Diet and almost 24 hours without food.

How was Day 1? Well, calling it miserable and difficult would be an understatement.

Both of us felt exhausted and hungry all day. We were tempted by everything, from the smell of the bread aisle at Ralph's to the hot dog vendors on Vermont Avenue.

A friend who was trying to do the cleanse with us lasted all of four hours ("But," he maintains, "it felt like eight"). He broke his fast by eating, in front of us: an apple, a bowl of soup, bread, three biscuits, a turkey sandwich and a handful of Cheez-Its. Jealous.

We're both doubting whether we can even make it until Wednesday.

But on the bright side, we didn't cheat! And if that saltwater flush was any indication, we certainly eliminated some toxins.

Now, some individual reactions:

ELLEN
I am so hungry, I think my stomach is eating itself.

And I can't even describe how disgusting the saltwater flush was. The water tasted like someone just leaned over the Santa Monica Pier and filled a water bottle with sea water.

It's amazing how fast a quart of saltwater moves through your system: My stomach started churning almost immediately, and the trip to the bathroom 20 minutes later was um, runny. Not fiery, but very runny. And prolonged. I might even say explosive.

 

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The Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder records more formats with fewer headaches

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More formats means fewer problems. The Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder has simplified the format wars. Although you’ll hear a lot of talk about DVD formats and what's machine is compatible with what format.

The Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder has moved ahead to help solve this problem. This Sony provides DVD+RW/-RW/-R DVD Format Recording Compatibility. The benefit of multiple format recording is that it gives you the ability to record a DVD that you know will play in a specified DVD player.

In other words, you can call up your relatives find out what formats their DVD player is, then with your Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder create a DVD that you know will play in their machine. The guesswork is gone.

The rest of the industry can play around with which formats they prefer but the Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder has decided to deliver them all. Conversely when someone gives you a DVD they've burned , you know it will play in this Sony.

To get a feel of the Sony's pricing check Amazon's site. The Sony RDRGX7 DVD Recorder at Amazon. Their price is a good indicator of what this machine is going for.

You can look over this DVD recorder's operating manual by following this link (give it a moment to load) The Sony RDGX7's user manual

The Sony RDRGX7 DVD recorder is capable of producing excellent images and will record DVD-R and RW and DVD + RW. This DVD recorder's colors in its copies tend to be extremely clean, if a bit oversaturated, depending on the source. But the latter can be compensated for by using the video equalizer.

This feature is extremely useful and easy to use. With it you can adjust all important parameters and compensate for washed out colors and detail in the original source. There are instances where your copy will look better than the original. Quality falls off noticeably at the 180 minute record time but is still roughly equivalent to a well recorded VHS tape.

 

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Saline's Neal Zemba wins Nike Future Sole shoe design contest

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A creative young man from Saline who often doodled in his notebook instead of paying attention in class wound up at Nike headquarters in Oregon in late August, the winner of a national shoe-design contest.

Neil Zemba, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of Michigan, beat out 12,000 contestants to win Nike's Future Sole Contest. He won $5,000 worth of computer equipment, and his shoe design could become an actual shoe on store shelves.

Neal Zemba with his Nike shoe design.

The Future Sole contest gave high school and college students the chance to design an N-7 shoe, a Jordon shoe, or a T-shirt. Zemba's design was for an N-7 shoe, which Nike says is inspired by Native American and Aboriginal cultures.

There were two rounds to the contest. For the first round, Nike picked six designs to put up for vote on its website. Zemba's design, which he said looked "super futuristic" and "like a dragonfly," was one of the two most-voted on designs, so he took part in the next round.

For the second round, Zemba and another college student were given the same rubber sole of an N-7 shoe, and were told to make a new design. But this time, each was paired up with a Nike shoe designer.

Read more about shoe design classes on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Benefits of a vegetarian diet

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For decades I have used a plant-based diet as a powerful tool to promote good health. A good vegetarian-eating pattern is based on a wide variety of plant foods that are satisfying, delicious and healthy.

Vegetarians avoid meat, fish and poultry. Those who include dairy products and eggs in their diets are called lacto-ovo vegetarians. Vegans are pure vegetarians who eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs or dairy products. Vegetarian diets significantly reduce the risk of a broad range of health concerns.

Heart Disease

Heart disease, the number-one killer, is less common in vegetarians, who also have much lower cholesterol levels than meat eaters. Vegetarian meals are typically low in saturated fat and usually contain little or no cholesterol, since cholesterol is found only in animal products. A vegan, therefore, consumes an entirely cholesterol-free diet.

The type of protein in a vegetarian diet may be another important advantage. Many studies show replacing animal protein with plant protein lowers blood-cholesterol levels, even if the amount of fat in the diet stays the same. Those studies demonstrate a low-fat , vegetarian diet has a clear heart-healthy advantage over other diets.

Blood Pressure

1920s research show vegetarians have lower blood pressure than non-vegetarians. In fact, studies show adding meat to a vegetarian diet rapidly results in significantly raised blood-pressure levels. Individuals with high blood pressure, who change to a vegetarian diet, may able to reduce or eliminate their need for medication.

 

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Walt Disney World: New luxury pet ‘hotel’ is a sellout

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The newest resort facility to open at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., already has sold out its VIP suites every weekend until January, and spaces are filling quickly for next year.

That’s “VIP”  as in “very important pet.”

The Best Friends Pet Care “hotel,” which is exclusively for cats and dogs and certain other creatures (but no humans), opened Labor Day weekend with 250 pets and received more than 600 reservations in its first week of operation, spokeswoman Deb Bennetts said.

The upscale kennel, which holds up to 270 dogs and 30 cats for day care or overnight boarding, is already  getting booked up for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods.

“While we still have some space, anyone planning to visit Walt Disney World with a pet between mid-November and early January should call very soon,” Bennetts wrote Monday in an e-mail.

Dogs, aside from service animals, are not allowed in any of the theme parks, resorts or buses at the  Florida amusement park.

The pet palace, which sits opposite Disney’s Port Orleans Resort and covers 50,000 square feet, includes  rooms, suites, a dogs-only water park and an outdoor dog walk that skirts the natural wetlands around the park. Humans may take their pooches on walks in a dog-park-type setting.

 

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Macsimum Migration Kit: interior design software for the Mac

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For those new to the column, Macsimum Migration Kits round up Mac compatible products for specific industries such as dentistry, real estate, etc. This week we’re offering part one of our two-part look at interior design software for the Mac.

AC3D

AC3D is 3D software for creating imaginary models and virtual landscapes and cities, design buildings, home projects, land, sea, space, and air craft, and more.

ArchInvoice

ArchInvoice is invoicing package designed for architectural, engineering and interior design environments. Individual invoices can be produced for multiple program phases and billing types such as square feet, hourly, and/or fixed fee. Additionally, billing for consultant services and reimbursable expenses may be included. ArchInvoice tracks the billed to date for each project phase and checks maximum billing limits for a single phase and/or entire project if desired. ArchInvoice allows for multiple employees and billing rates.

EasyDraw

EasyDraw is a vector-based drawing application for Mac OS X. It offers a tool for technical drawings or illustrations. You can use EazyDraw to create illustrations, logos, floor plans and elevations, technical diagrams, flow charts, maps, web graphics and more.

IDX Renderer for Google SketchUp

IDX Renderer is a plug-in for Google SketchUp 6 and 7 that provides photorealistic rendering. It supports SketchUp 7 features such as dynamic components and allowing textures to be applied to nested groups and components. Renditioner works directly within SketchUp and lets you control the materials, advanced lighting components, environments, and background images.

Read more about computer design classes on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

The One-Page Business Plan – It Might Be All You Need

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One of the common things you’ll hear from people when you say you’re going to start a business is that you need to write a business plan.  And there is no doubt that planning is a vitally important part of the process when starting out.  You need to know where you’re going and how you plan to get there, and that’s exactly what a business plan should spell out.  The problem is, many would-be entrepreneurs have never written a business plan, and are overwhelmed at the very thought of it.  Sure, you can find “how-to” resources online that will spell out all the sections and what they should contain, but none of the examples are going to match your business and your circumstances exactly, and if you have a unique business model at all, good luck finding a decent resource.

Depending on what you read, you might think you need to come up with 30-50 pages of meticulously thought-out, detailed material, including comprehensive financial projections, market studies, contingency plans, and more.  So it’s no surprise that the idea of having to write a formal business plan has kept some budding entrepreneurs from taking the leap into business ownership altogether.

 

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Graphic Design Online

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Program Description

The online School of Graphic Design currently offers Master of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Associate of Arts degree programs, as well as an Online Award of Completion program. Our program emphasizes conceptual development, strategic thinking, technique, and presentation within an environment that stimulates innovation.

Students develop finely tuned skills in the areas of typography, print mediums, packaging, branding and identity, web design, and motion graphics.

View our Send Me More Information page to learn more about the Academy of Art University and the School of Graphic Design.

Career Opportunities

Corporate and Brand Identity
Website Design
Motion Graphics
Multimedia
Package Design
Print & Collateral

Firms Hiring Our Graduates

Addison
Apple
Arias & Associates
Addis
Axion Design
Broom & Broom
Cahan & Associates
CF Napa
Enterprise IG
The Ideas Group
Interbrand
Landor Associates
MarchFirst
Michael Osborne Design
Microsoft
Oracle
Primo Angeli
Sony

Read more about graphic design online classes on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Occasion: The All-Weekend Party

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If you want to spend all your Vegas vacation partying the night (and day) away, follow our plan and you'll have a weekend you'll never forget (or never remember).

Q: There's a bunch of us heading to Vegas for a wild weekend. What's the best place to stay?

 A: If you're looking for a hotel with a great atmosphere and lots to do, try Caesars Palace. You and your buddies can hang out in style -- and have a number of great restaurants an elevator ride away. Another hotel conducive to the partier is the Hard Rock -- with all the rock stars, celebrities and party types, you'll feel right at home. You'll find this vibe at The Palms as well. And you can't get more in the center of the action than in CityCenter. Stay at Aria, party at Haze, eat anywhere.

Q: I'm looking for a nonstop party. This means no boring restaurants. Where should I go to eat?

A: The restaurants in Vegas are anything but boring. Strip House is also a great option with some of the best steaks in town. You didn't hear it from us, but I hear some Peepshow divas have been known to dine at the restaurant, as well as a long list of celebrities. As long as you're in Planet Hollywood, hit a few places in the Miracle Mile Shops. Cabo Wabo and Blondies Sports Bar & Grill have that party vibe into the wee hours of the morning. 

If you want to multi-task, try a nice dinner sky-high at Nove Italiano. If you're nice, the people at Nove may be able to help you out and get you into the Playboy Club upstairs. 

 

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National Gallery students learn interior design secrets

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THE National Gallery is offering a course in interior design as part of its Continuing Education programme. The eight-week course, which takes place at Miss Lassie’s duplex in South Sound Road is nearly finished now, but it is anticipated that the course will be repeated, starting in September.

The course, facilitated by instructor Lisa Ebanks, is being held every Tuesday evening and tells students how to understand floor plans and how to select fabric and furnishings for floors and walls by providing a basic understanding of interior design principles. Each week focuses on a different aspect of design and decorating.

During the course, students are encouraged to pick one particular room in their home to work on as a ‘project,’ to redesign or redecorate, and to use the final session at the end of the eight weeks to present the result of their design, by pasting photographs of their transformed room onto a storyboard.

The first session covered the six principles of interior design, which are: Colour, texture, line, shape, form, and space.

On the evening Cayman Net News visited the group, the topic was kitchen design, and began by covering important issues such as ergonomics- or how comfortable a particular environment makes you feel.

Read more about design classes online on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Oral Presentation Advice

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Things to Think About

 

1. Oral Communication is different from written communication

   Listeners have one chance to hear your talk and can't "re-read" when they get confused. In many situations, they have or will hear several talks on the same day. Being clear is particularly important if the audience can't ask questions during the talk. There are two well-know ways to communicate your points effectively. The first is to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Focus on getting one to three key points across. Think about how much you remember from a talk last week. Second, repeat key insights: tell them what you're going to tell them (Forecast), tell them, and tell them what you told them (Summary).

    

2. Think about your audience

   Most audiences should be addressed in layers: some are experts in your sub-area, some are experts in the general area, and others know little or nothing. Who is most important to you? Can you still leave others with something? For example, pitch the body to experts, but make the forecast and summary accessible to all.

    

3. Think about your rhetorical goals

   For conference talks, for example, I recommend two rhetorical goals: leave your audience with a clear picture of the gist of your contribution, and make them want to read your paper. Your presentation should not replace your paper, but rather whet the audience appetite for it. Thus, it is commonly useful to allude to information in the paper that can't be covered adequately in the presentation. Below I consider goals for academic interview talks and class presentations.

    

4. Practice in public

   It is hard distilling work down to 20 or 30 minutes.

    

5. Prepare

   See David Patterson's How to Give a Bad Talk

 

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ATTIK Crafts New Website for Leading Architecture and Design Firm Perkins+Will

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Global creative agency ATTIK is very proud to announce the launch of a new website presence for the renowned commercial architecture and design firm Perkins+Will.  The new site, designed and developed completely in-house at ATTIK, goes live with full functionality today at.

Perkins+Will is a global interdisciplinary design practice that provides architecture, interior design, urban design, branded environments, adaptive reuse and strategic planning services.  Currently celebrating its 75th year in business, from humble beginnings, the firm has built its reputation worldwide by prioritizing client relationships, as well as architecture and design excellence.

To clearly present Perkins+Will, and showcase the principle of "ideas + buildings that honor the broader goals of society," ATTIK's director of interactive services Robyn Glennon and her colleagues completely redesigned and rebuilt the renowned firm's website, including a custom content management system (CMS), front-end site code, and the development of unique tools tailored specifically for its business.  ATTIK also optimized the site for iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphones.  Anyone accessing the site with these devices will access key content produced especially for mobile users.

"We had very ambitious goals for this project," said Phil Harrison, CEO for Perkins+Will.  "We wanted the site to feel simple and intuitive—to be visually beautiful—while also demonstrating the full breadth and complexity of our large and diverse practice—using advanced technology.  We feel that ATTIK's team was able meet these goals by integrating superb design with robust technology."

"The target audience for Perkins+Will's website is current and potential clients, but it must appeal credibly to the design/architecture community as well," said Glennon.  "Given the firm's extensive body of work and numerous areas of expertise, delivering a large volume of content through a system that simply and proactively answers users' needs was extremely challenging.  Another priority was allowing each project to retain its own individuality in a manner that didn't become redundant.  We worked collaboratively with the Perkins+Will team throughout the project to achieve success. The new website provokes interest, motivates discovery and connects people."

Read more about web site design classes on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Want To Live In A Shipping Container?

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If you’re a regular reader of The Greenest Dollar, then you probably already know that I’m enthralled with the idea of living in a micro home. For the uninitiated, a micro home is pretty much the backlash against the McMansion movement of the past twenty years.

The trend now is in the opposite direction. Hallelujah! We’re going Small. Green. Efficient.

That’s micro home living.

So, it is with the utmost excitement that I share this idea with you. And, the idea is constructing a home using old steel shipping containers.

Now, before you throw your mouse at the screen in disgust because those steel shipping containers are just too ugly to even think about being used as a house, just take a look for a moment at what’s possible and then we’ll talk…

Pretty amazing, right? All of those images are from ContainerCity.com, which is the website for Urban Space Management, a group of builders in London who are building entire communities, schools, and farmer’s markets using old freight containers.

These container homes funky, green, amazingly affordable, and comfortable. If you want to see more images (all of which will knock your socks off) they have a really amazing portfolio of past projects on their website. Again, which you can find here.

There’s also this really amazing clip from Modern Marvels that you can watch. It’s all about Container City, how the builders did it, and how much it costs to live there (you’ll be amazed at how cheap it is).

 

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London Design Festival 2010: The emerging design nations

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When it comes to great design, the superpower nations are well known. But this year’s London Design Festival has gathered exhibitors, designers and ideas from beyond the established hotspots of Italy, Spain, Japan and Holland. Becky Sunshine highlights today’s emerging design nations and where to see them during the festival.

USA

It has been a while since the US was considered a major force in product and furniture design, but with quite a presence at the festival, it seems to be bouncing back. And about time, too. The American furniture company Bernhardt Design  will present new work by the young American Brad Ascalon as well as pieces by its roster of international designers including Monica Förster, Jephson Robb, Suzanne Trocmé and Jaime Hayón, at Brands, 99 St Johns Street, EC. The Italian brand Skitsch is launching Home, a storage system by the brilliant New York designer Harry Allen. The design borrows its shape from a traditional house, but rooms and garden become storage and display. It can be arranged and rearranged in countless formations. For its launch, Allen has created an installation at the Skitsch showroom, 270 Brompton Road, SW3 . Another New Yorker in London for the festival is the furniture designer Sang Hoon Kim , who is presenting his new work Phenomena at 100% Design, Earls Court, September 23-26 . The range includes an architectural, organic-shaped room divider and table, both in wood, which explore the way light and shadows are reflected and refracted. A slightly off-beat sounding show is Gastrotypographicalassemblage: The Designs of Lou Dorfsman. Held at the Kemistry Gallery in Fitzrovia, the exhibition celebrates the 40 years’ worth of Dorfsman’s graphic design work for the American television network CBS. Until October 30 at 43 Charlotte Street, EC2 .

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Cornell juniors' class project in design results in full-size, indoor mini-playgrounds for child-care centers

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Two Cornell University interior design classes didn't just build scale models, but the real thing -- indoor play zones for child-care centers.

The undergraduates planned, designed and built four child-care learning and play activity centers, or mini-playgrounds, that will become available to participating area child-care providers. The designs include "magnetic mania," where children play with magnet shavings that are under a plexiglass floor panel, a "fabric jungle," in which strips of brightly colored fabric attached to poles can be interwoven; and a "star wall," a dark corner with flashing lights meant to resemble a spaceship. Each play zone focuses on a different developmental need of young children, including cognitive; manipulative; art, music and fantasy; and motor skills.

The projects were based on collaborations between two classes in design and environmental analysis: Associate Professor Paul Eshelman's Intermediate Interior Design and Professor Gary Evans' Environmental and Social Behavior. The students in Evans' class researched the social, behavioral and psychological needs of young children in day care and developed design guidelines from which the design students developed their play zones. In addition, the student teams collaborated with about eight day-care providers, brought together by Lita Remsen, who was the training coordinator at the Day Care and Child Development Council of Tompkins County, and Shared Journeys, a nonprofit organization committed to improving the quality of care-giving relationships, including both paid professional and unpaid familial care.

"Shared Journeys promotes everyday practices, policies and environments which support quality care," says the organization's co-founder and vice president Eric Clay, a 1981 Cornell graduate and now a doctoral student in city and regional planning at Cornell. "Shared Journeys' role is to ignite a passion for innovative and loyal relationships at work, home and the wider community."

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TV dishes serve up an aesthetic dispute

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A stray white cat, eyes burning yellow, drags its tail along the uneven sidewalk; flies frolic about the chipped green patio frame tenuously attached to one of the rowhouses; and on the front facade of the structure - tucked between clumps of black tar and a disconnected water pipe - hangs a satellite dish that city officials are working to exile about six feet to the left.

"Not getting people to school or fighting more crime - they're worrying about satellites," says Williams, 22.

She pauses, glancing back toward the block's cascade of plastic crescents.

"I mean, it is ugly."

City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke has introduced a bill, expected to come to a final vote Thursday, intended to curb the presence of such technological eyesores for city residents.

In recent years, Clarke says, the proliferation of satellite television - like "rabbit ear" antennas before it - has littered the Philadelphia streetscape.

On his small Fishtown block, four satellite dishes are clustered within feet of one another, barely above the doorways of two neighboring homes.

"Having to have a dish on the front of the house when you're pointing it to the sky - I don't understand that," Clarke said. "This is a reasonable approach to maintaining . . . the aesthetics of our city."

Among the bill's key provisions: Property owners must either move dishes off front facades or submit a written statement, signed by the satellite installer, indicating that no other spot yields a quality signal based on "actual testing conducted at the site." Another clause calls for property owners to remove inactive dishes.

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Zombie Nutritionist Recommends All-Brain Diet

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In a dramatic reversal of decades-old medical wisdom, the late Dr. Albert Rossum, director of the O'Bannon Institute For Postmortem Nutritional Studies, recommended an all-brain diet for zombies Tuesday.

"Our research indicates that live human brains are not merely the cornerstone of a healthy diet; they are, in fact, the only food an active adult zombie should consume at all," Rossum said during a press conference at the institute, located at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. "A daily three-pound serving of brains supplies all the vital sugars, neurons, and ganglia essential to promoting zombie fitness and slowing the decomposition process."

The Rossum Plan challenges the traditional zombie food pyramid, which consists of five to seven daily servings of human hearts, three to four servings of livers or eyeballs, and two servings of brains. Instead, Rossum advocates a four-level pyramid, with all four levels consisting of as many servings of brains as possible.

"Ideally, the brains should be consumed fresh from the head of the victim," said Rossum, widely considered the nation's leading expert in the field of undead nutrition. "However, precious scraps of brain may also be pried from the fingers of other brain-crazed zombies. Failing that, dropped brains may be slurped from the ground by a third party to such a scuffle."

 

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How Tattoo Removal Works

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So you didn't believe your Mom when she said you'd regret getting that tattoo -- the multicolored, fire-breathing dragon that starts at the small of your back, reaches up to your shoulder blades and wraps its orange flames around your biceps. Now, a mere seven years later, you have a shot at a terrific job in banking, still one of the more conservative businesses around, and you are concerned that your symbol of youthful self-expression could create problems in your new career.

Well, you're not alone. Tattoos have become part of American mainstream culture over the past couple of decades. Some estimate that more than 10 million Americans have at least one tattoo, and there are about 4,000 tattoo studios now in business in the United States (Read about the history of tattoos in How Tattoos Work). One busy physician who specializes in tattoo removal -- he's removed tattoos from some of the most famous tattoo artists -- estimates that about 50 percent of those who get tattoos later regret them. For years, these people had little recourse, and existing removal techniques were invasive (requiring surgery) and painful. But that's changing.

 

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Interior design program nationally ranked

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Purdue University's interior design program is ranked nationally by DesignIntelligence: The Almanac of Architecture and Design.

The Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts interior design program is ranked 14th. Purdue tied with five other interior design programs in this year's rankings, which were released this month.

Purdue's graduate and undergraduate programs ranked third and fourth, respectively, in DesignIntelligence's Midwest region rankings. Also, receiving regional recognition in the 2008 survey was Purdue's industrial design undergraduate program, which ranked 13th, and the graduate program 10th in the Midwest region.

The national rankings for interior design are based on the number of design firms and practitioners hiring Purdue graduates and the program's technology, studio and library resources.

More than 170 Purdue students major in interior design, and more than 110 students study industrial design. Both are part of the Division of Art and Design. The interior design program is accredited by the Council for Interior Design, and the industrial design program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

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Going green? Get expert advice at the New Orleans Home & Interior Design Show's Green Building Expo

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There's a world of information about green building out there, but how much of it is bogus?

That's what green-building expert Ron Jones will discuss today at the New Orleans Home + Interior Design Show's Green Building Expo. Jones runs a sustainable-design building company in Santa Fe, N.M., and he founded "GreenBuilder" magazine in 2006.

"I have a really strong personal mission around sustainability and energy conservation," Jones said.

"I'm really kind of on a mission to force the built environment and the folks who have control over aspects of that to be more transparent and have more integrity."

Having been in the green-building game for more than 20 years, Jones said his main concern about the modern green movement is that it focuses too much on products over processes and style over substance.

Consumers read about solar panels, geothermal heating systems and other flashy products, and either assume they can't afford to go green or invest money into upgrades for which their homes aren't prepared, he said.

"If you're really looking to improve your energy (consumption), you can put all the bells and whistles in the world on a junky house, but what you're going to have is a junky house with a lot of bells and whistles," Jones said.

Read more about green interior design on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Forex trading systems of milionaires – conclusions of the research

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“So many myths about extraordinary profits turned out to be real stories.” – says Dariusz Swierk, Ph.D., the author of groundbreaking book “Conversatins With Forex Masters”. While leading a two-year study on traders and trading systems that they use, Dr. Swierk identified significant number of systems that continuously and systematically generate huge profits, making their owners multimillionaires.

Both individuals and institutional traders have been put into examination. The main goal of the study was to discover the shortest possible way one should go in order to get from the beginner in forex trading to an expert level.

It is extremely important to ask what special features distinguish traders who achieve a stunning success on the market. Especially while over 90% of the novices, simply lose their deposit in the first year of trading. If only they could see how the bests trade and repeat their actions, the results could have been completely different.

Result like the one achieved by self-made multimillionaire who spent about half a year watching the markets and elaborating his own system. Then he just started to trade. Since August 2008 till November (exactly on November 11, when he called Dr Swierk) he turned a capital of $400 into more than $80,000.

 

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Pratt Institute - Program in Interior Design - Overview

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Introduction to the Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is one of the leading schools of art, design, and architecture in the country, and is recognized internationally for the quality of its faculty, students, and professional programs. Pratt has been educating professionals for productive careers since its founding in 1887.

A Wide Variety of Graduate Programs at Pratt

Pratt offers master's degrees in a variety of programs, including: MFA degrees in painting and drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, new forms; MFA in Digital Arts; MS degrees in art and design education, history of art and design, studio arts, communication design, package design, dance/movement therapy, and interior design; Master of Industrial Design (MID); and MPS degrees in art therapy/special education, arts and cultural management, and design management.

Pratt Institute's Research Facilities

The main Pratt Library contains: 186,589 bound volumes, serial back files, and other material (including government documents); 251,603 audiovisual materials; 3,996 microforms; and subscriptions to 925 periodicals.

Pratt maintains numerous studios, shops, and technical facilities for work in all media as well as computer facilities, and digital video and audio labs. Pratt also has extensive gallery space for exhibitions.

A new digital arts lab is under construction for research in the digital arts.

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AT&T Finally Selling Genus Satellite Cell Phone

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AT&T on Tuesday launched the Genus, a long-awaited combination satellite/terrestrial cell phone that combines a Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone with a satellite phone.

The $799 Genus will only be available to business and government customers. According to AT&T's press release, the satellite function will offer backup connectivity for users who go out into the wilderness or who work in disaster areas where the cell-phone network may be down.

The phone requires a special service plan on top of the standard AT&T smartphone plan, and satellite calls are charged per minute, per message, or per megabyte. Back in 2009, AT&T said the calls would cost $24.99 per month plus 65 cents per voice minute, 40 cents per text message, and $5 per megabyte of data.

I've been following the Genus since 2008, when it first appeared as a concept product from Elektrobit. In October 2009, I got a hands-on with the device. Its most impressive aspect is its utter normalcy: it's a slim, business-ready smartphone that just happens to be able to kick into a satellite mode when you find an AT&T dead zone.

 

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What does it take to be an FIU Interior Design student?

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Students in the Department of Interior Design recently put aside their design tools and tested out their filmmaking talents to produce a series of short films that showcase what it means to be an interior design student at FIU.

A short-film competition was held in the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture building on April 1 to determine who captured the experience the best. Lauren Shepard and Yamile Leon were named the winners and received a gift certificate for Texas de Brazil.

As part of the friendly competition, 10 teams wrote, filmed and produced a series of shorts intended to show future students what it takes to be an interior design student at FIU. Most videos showcased photos of students’ many fieldtrips and long-night stays in the studios in the Cejas building at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Read more about university interior design on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Learn About the Law Enforcement Field

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Many people have a preconceived notion of law enforcement based on the sensational scenes shown on the news or at the movies. But what is it really like to be a street cop? Or a federal agent? Or a conservation officer? There are hundreds of career paths within law enforcement and all are done for the love of it – not for the promise of fortune or fame. Find out the basics about law enforcement here, including:

• Types of agencies: local police departments and sheriff’s offices, investigative agencies, conservation law enforcement, corrections, etc.

• What they do: a quick look at the missions and job functions of each major component

• Where they are: a glimpse at the environment you can expect to work in

Local Police Departments & Seriff's Offices

Municipal and metropolitan police officers and county sheriff’s deputies, for the most part, are what people think about when they here the term “cop.” These law enforcement officers (LEOs) serve as the front line against crime on every street in every town in America. These are the brave men and women that you looked up to and admired as a child.

Police departments and sheriff’s offices offer the widest variety of opportunities available within law enforcement. Just about everyone who enters into the field will start as a patrol officer, but from there, the opportunities are endless. As your career progresses you may be given the opportunity to join a specialized unit, such SWAT, K9, bike patrol or the motor squad. Almost all departments now have community relations officers, school resources officers, and public information officers. You may have the opportunity to become a detective or investigator, responsible for investigating serious violent crimes such as murder.

 

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Interior design student awarded scholarship

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A former practicing attorney studying for a new career has been awarded a prestigious and valuable scholarship to cover all expenses of her senior year at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Dalton, Georgia, resident Cindy Tidwell is one of 12 interior design students from across the US to be selected for the Angelo Donghia Foundation, Inc. Senior Student Scholarship 2010 Award.  Her selection was based on a juried competition of portfolio submissions.

Tidwell, who celebrates her 40^th birthday as fall semester begins, said the project she entered was a combination of commercial and residential—a hypothetical art gallery with a residence for the owners (both artists) on two floors above the business.  Green design was an important element in her project.

“I interviewed Chattanooga artists Patricia and Rey D’Alfonso in Chattanooga for my ‘hypothetical’ artists so that I could get a sense of what a client would want,” Tidwell said.  “They had a lot of input about the style of furniture they like and their needs for a residence and gallery space.  They even made requests to accommodate their two bull mastiffs which I was able to incorporate into the design.  Knowing their cultural backgrounds and their tastes made it easy to choose colors and select furnishings for the project.  I used vibrant colors to reflect their rich cultural heritage (Patricia is from Venezuela and Rey defected from Cuba) and selected additional furnishings to compliment the classic pieces they already own.”

Planning, programming, sketches, AutoCad (computer-aided design) drawings, floor plans and perspectives were included in Tidwell’s project.  She spent a lot of time in summer semester   learning and creating a three-dimensional model.

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Prepare for a Career in Multimedia Design with a Computer Graphics Degree

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If your career goal is to become an expert in digital media, then a computer graphics degree will give you the skills you need to become technologically savvy in the design field so that you can create video files, images, and computer graphics. Individuals who specialize in graphic design work in careers such as desktop design, Web publishing, gaming, visual effects, and interactive digital media.

Degree Programs for Graphic Designers

Individuals may opt to pursue an online degree program, beginning with an associate of arts, to hit the ground running in a shorter period of time. Others may choose to get a bachelor’s degree and later, if they are interested in an administrative function, a graduate degree.

There are dozens of online degree program options out there, whether you choose to go to a bricks-and-mortar post-secondary institution of higher education or pursue an accredited degree online. If you opt for Web courses, do your homework beforehand in order to find the best online degree program that suits your educational goals.

Skills You’ll Learn

According to Education-Portal.com, here are just a few of the skills you’ll learn in a graphics design program:

• Web page layout
• General advertising knowledge
• Multimedia Skills
• Video editing skills
• Web design
• Computer illustration
• 3-D modeling
• Animation skills

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Fashion Icons, Interior Designers Share Space

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As runways were being assembled for the launch of Fashion Week at Lincoln Center the other day, fashion designer Elie Tahari was three blocks away in a glass-walled condominium on the Hudson River looking over an installation of mid-century furniture and textured grass-cloth wallpaper.

Down the hall, Diane Von Furstenberg, another big name in the fashion industry, was working on transforming a sprawling living room with river views into a complete studio apartment with a wavy striped brown-and-white rug, and a bedroom area just big enough to showcase her new designer collection of sheets and towels.

While the models prepare to strut at Lincoln Center, a group of fashion designers working with interior decorators have taken over five riverview apartments at the Aldyn, a new glass-walled condominium nearing completion on Riverside Boulevard and West 63rd Street, and redesigned them.

The "show house of fashionable interiors" is an unusual convergence of fashion, interior design and unabashed real-estate marketing all in the name of charity, timed to coincide with New York's major fall fashion event.

Organized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America to benefit HIV/AIDS organizations and breast-cancer research, it is also intended to launch sales at the Aldyn, a condo development that's hitting the market following a tumble in prices of new condominiums. Developer Gary Barnett already has decided to keep half of the units in the buildings as rentals.

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Provenzo's new multimedia design class

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Multimedia Foundations is one of the new classes offered this year by Information Technology teacher Christian Provenzo. It teaches the basics of music production using computer programs, such as Digi Design Protools and Propelleheads Reason 4.0.

IT students taking the course will learn how to manipulate new programs expertly. Also, the course will teach musicians how to blend and edit original personal sounds and those of fellow musicians together.

The three major areas of study covered in this class will be music theory, sound engineering, and live sound.

Junior Frank Gomez said, “[Provenzo] is easy to relate to and knows [the] subject very well. I’m really excited about learning to master the basic programs needed to make electronic music, especially with Provenzo as my teacher.”

Read more about multimedia design classes on www.interiordesignerclasses.com

Autodesk Brings AutoCAD Design Software For Macs Again

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AutoCAD is a CAD (Computer Aided Design or Computer Aided Drafting) software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting. It was developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC.

At that time, most other CAD programs ran on mainframe computers or mini-computers which were connected to a graphics computer terminal for each user. Currently, AutoCAD only runs under Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is available in 32-bit and in native 64-bit versions. Versions for Unix and Mac OS were released in the 1980s and 1990s, but these were later dropped.

AutoCAD can run on an emulator or compatibility layer like VMware Workstation or Wine, albeit subject to various performance issues that can often arise when working with 3D objects or large drawings. The New Autocad will be provided with Revolutionize plastic product design with Inventor in which Autodesk inventor will help you accelerate develpment,decrease tooling errors,and reduce your need for Physical Prototypes.

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Untitled

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Clients are the lifeblood of any interior design firm and a sound understanding of how to manage those clients is essential. Interior Design Clients is an informative yet fun read for entrepreneurial designers interested in gaining a better understanding of how to build and manage their clientele. Tom Williams, designer, author, and blogger, deconstructs the pitfalls and challenges that can waylay even seasoned designers. As many professional designers learn, clients can be intimidated by interior designers and sometimes can even be fearful of the process. This unreasonable intimidation can often hinder the designer-client relationship and can even stop clients from asking for what they want. This leads to clients being unsatisfied and then walking away with a negative impression of their designer. Learning why clients fear their interior designer and developing strategies to allay those fears is essential for gaining and keeping a satisfied clientele. Everything from good client, project, and time management to interview techniques and staff and paperwork organization can all lead to making client interaction as rewarding as possible and are important aspects of the business rarely addressed by the interior design community as a whole. Interior Design Clients covers the subjects rarely taught in design schools such as specific presentation and interview skills and how to sell to market. Through frank discussion and practical examples, Williams weaves the art of selling into his lessons on interviewing, presenting, and pleasing the client as a natural part of the design process. Becoming a residential or commercial interior designer is not an easy undertaking, but Thomas Williams’ Interior Design Clients: The Designer’s Guide to Building and Keeping a Great Clientele provides the fundamental lessons and innovative solutions to help designers succeed in the ultra-competitive world of modern interior design.

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