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Ask the Green Architect: Top Ten Green Building Questions
Emily Rabin
Introducing green-building guru Eric Corey Freed, whose "Ask the Green Architect" column will appear in this space each month. We're kicking things off by covering the basics -- Freed's top ten frequently asked questions. Next we'll need to hear from you. Email your building-performance puzzles, air-quality queries, and construction conundrums to [email protected].
Typically, I am suspicious of lists with an even number of ten items on it. It makes me think only eight or nine could be found and they made up a couple. Today, I am breaking my own rule and bringing you the ten most often asked questions I receive about green building.
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After nearly 15 years in green building, I have observed widespread misunderstanding of some basic principals of sustainability. In the future, all buildings will be green. It is inevitable in order for our species to survive. The sooner everyone comes to a basis of understanding how to be environmentally responsible, the better off we all will be.
These are the most common questions I receive in regards to building green:
Why do green buildings cost more than traditional buildings?
What is a "LEED" building?
What do you mean by a "green" building?
What is indoor air quality?
Which is better: a recycled material or a natural material?
How can I determine if a material is green or not?
Where can I purchase green building materials and products?
Are there any building code restrictions on the use of green materials?
Why should I care about green building?
Why aren't ALL buildings built to be green?
1. Why do green buildings cost more than traditional buildings?
This is not true and a common misconception promoted by ignorant architects and contractors afraid of building in a different way. A good architect knows how to save their clients money. The client sets the budget, and a project should come in below that budget. With a clear direction of budget, there is no reason you cannot build a green building for the same price or less than a traditional building.
The issue arises when you try to compare "apples and oranges." For instance, if you are comparing a building with solar panels to a traditional building without solar panels, of course it appears the traditional building costs less. This is focusing solely on the up-front cost of building. This model fails to take into account how the building with solar panels will immediately begin producing energy and lowering your monthly electricity bill. The lifecycle cost of the solar building will be much less. This monthly benefit, called a return on your investment, quickly pays for any additional up-front cost for purchasing the solar panels.
Numerous studies have shown investments into green products and systems will pay for themselves at least ten times over the life of the building. Luckily, the benefits and opportunities to save money on the operational costs are enormous. The combination of energy savings, water reduction and maintenance costs will catch the attention of building owners and translate to bottom line benefits.
The first step is energy efficiency. If every home in the U.S. used an Energy Star refrigerator, we could close ten aging power plants.
The next step is energy reduction. Replacing your burnt out light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road. Natural light easily replaces the need for lights in the first place.
The energy savings alone in a green building could pay for green improvements several times over with a return on investment within 1-7 years.
In the case where you are comparing similar materials, the costs end up being the same. For instance, a bamboo floor installs the exact same way as a traditional wood floor. The material costs are now the same, and use of the bamboo does not result in the clear cutting of a forest.
Finally, green buildings offer social benefits not easily seen. Student test scores are 15% higher in spaces lit with natural daylight. WalMart has discovered their retail sales increase in stores with natural light. Office workers report greatly reduced absenteeism in an environment with natural, non-toxic materials.
Although there are green materials that cost more than their traditional counterparts, there are also many more whose cost is far below the standard. Advances in recycling, new materials and better designs have allowed for a new generation of environmentally-friendly products that are less costly to produce. Of course, green materials also have a very important long term benefit of not destroying our planet's resources.
2. What is a "LEED" building?
Since it's founding in 1991, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has emerged as a recognized and respected leader among green professionals.
To help the construction industry define green building, the USGBC discovered a need for a method of scoring buildings to evaluate their "green-ness." LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is their green building rating system, which defines a voluntary guideline for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.
LEED has quickly become the industry standard for green building in the United States. Today, LEED buildings can be found in 12 countries and all 50 states. There are currently over 20,000 LEED Accredited Professionals trained in this rating system and nearly 2,000 buildings on their way to certification. This represents about 8 percent of the U.S. new construction market, and this number is growing quickly.
Still in it's early stages, some have found LEED to be confusing and difficult to implement. While LEED lists prescriptive requirements, there are no practical applications listed. A member of the construction team is left to guess how to meet the qualifications of each LEED point.
The USGBC had enough foresight to understand this, and the LEED system is structured to be open ended and consensus-based. The systems is continually being refined and draft versions are left open for comment and debate. In the near future, LEED will simply get better and better.
The LEED system works by dividing the building into five categories:
Indoor Environmental Quality
LEED lists opportunities for a building to earn points in each. The final number of points determines the green level of the building, rated as Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
To date, LEED has been adopted by 8 federal agencies, 20 states and 41 U.S. city and county governments as the green standard in the construction of all municipal facilities.
This widespread acceptance of LEED will ensure future versions will overcome any criticism.
3. What do you mean by a "green" building?
Buildings of the world consume:
40% of the world's energy & materials
25% of the wood harvested
17% of our water
The average American house uses:
13,127 board feet of lumber
6,212 square feet of sheathing
2,000 square feet of flooring
In the U.S., buildings account for:
36% of total electricity consumption
62% of electricity use
30% of greenhouse gas emissions
37% of ozone depletion potential
And, ironically enough, most of us spend 90% of our time indoors.
Our way of life is killing us. Our buildings consume over 40% of our energy and resources and their use represents 70% of our total consumption. The environmental damage caused in the last hundred years is a direct result from how our buildings are built. Architects, designers, and all building professionals are in a position to affect great change on our environment, moreso than any other group, since our buildings are responsible for most of the damage.
"Green building" (also known as "sustainable," "ecological," and "eco-designed") is a way of looking at buildings in terms of reducing energy use, conserving water, improving indoor air quality, and reducing dependence on our natural resources. Although the basic concepts for green building have been around for decades, it has only been in the last few years that we have seen this explosive growth in the greening of the construction industry.
Once only of interest to hard-core environmentalists, the rise in energy prices, our dependence on fossil fuel and growing concerns over the damage done to our planet has boosted green building into the spotlight of mainstream interest.
Today, those in the business of designing and constructing buildings are faced with the new challenge of environmental responsibility. The rise in energy costs, shortage of building materials and growing consumer demands are driving this market to seek out better and more efficient ways to build our buildings. In addition, new legislation, stricter building codes, and rising health costs are forcing builders to build green whether they want to or not.
Research has shown that although an overwhelming majority of designers feel a responsibility to offer green building solutions, only a fraction of them do so. They blame this discrepancy on a "lack of information."
More important than any statistic however, is the good feeling you have when you know you've done what's right for both your family and your community. Promoting continued health, financial savings, and social responsibility, Green building is the construction standard for the future, and the smart solution for today.
4. What is indoor air quality?
Asthma, once rated seventh, is now the leading chronic illness in children. One of the primary causes of asthma is indoor air quality. The toxic chemicals found in most common building materials have been linked to asthma and other respiratory problems. The importance and need for green building is increasing exponentially as our health is affected.
Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants.
There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution.
Apart from controlling the materials inside a building, the best way to control indoor air quality, especially in existing buildings, is through an increase in natural ventilation. With a lack of fresh air, pollutants will accumulate to levels that can pose serious health and comfort problems.
Asthma afflicts about 20 million Americans, including 6.3 million children. Since 1980, the biggest growth in asthma cases has been in children under five. In 2000 there were nearly 2 million emergency room visits and nearly half a million hospitalizations due to asthma, at a cost of almost $2 billion, and causing 14 million school days missed each year.
The consequences of poor indoor air quality go beyond mere comfort issues and extend into that of our future health.
5. Which is better: a recycled material or a natural material?
Recycled or natural? This question harkens back to the old "paper or plastic?" debate. In reality, most architects and contractors do not want to get into a philosophical (and perhaps even semantic) argument about the pros and cons between these two types of materials.
There is no perfect material. All materials have some negative impact on our environment. The key is in setting priorities for the project.
For instance, for a residential kitchen countertop preference might be given to non-toxic and non-off-gassing materials. The indoor air quality and the health of the inhabitants (I believe) are more important than anything else. In the walls, perhaps using recycled plastic vapor barriers makes more sense.
Our society is undergoing a difficult transition as we move out of the Industrial Age and into the "Ecotopian" age. I have many friends who would eschew any and all plastics, even if they were 100 percent recycled. I tend to be a little more practical. While we have this over-abundance of plastic heading for a landfill, perhaps it is wise to use this up in the form of recycled plastic products. I have set the next 5-7 years as a grace period for the use of recycled plastics in my own practice. After such time, and the supply of virgin plastics have been reused, the need for any oil based plastics will have been replaced with naturally based alternatives.
There are natural materials that off-gas (such as the natural occurrence of formaldehyde in wood). Simply being a natural material does not guarantee the health of that material.
As the designer, you will have to determine the appropriate material for the given installation. By setting your priorities for the health, energy use, durability and other factors will help you decide.
6. How can I determine if a material is green or not?
The biggest obstacle in the adoption of green materials is a lack of understanding of how to look at materials. Our old method of "price first, features second, appearance last" is short sighted and explains how we put ourselves in this environmental catastrophe.
The primary thing one must understand about green materials is to realize it is not black and white issue. There is no one perfect green material. All materials have both positive and negative environmental attributes. The key is in understanding which of these will benefit your specific project.
For example, many people will ask me if concrete is a "green" material. They want a simple "yes" or "no" answer. But the real answer is not so black and white.
If we look at the good things about concrete:
durable, (technically) recyclable, natural, non-offgassing, made from natural sand, stone, and water, and
we can see it casually appears to be a green material.
But on the other hand, the bad thing about concrete is it's chief ingredient, Portland Cement. Portland Cement is mined out of the Earth, heated to intense temperatures and as a by-product this releases tons of greenhouse gas. Suddenly, the green concrete you hoped for is a potentially bad source of pollution.
So how do we resolve this? How do you take a complex issue of concrete and look at it in a black-and-white way?
Perhaps you remember a few years ago, when dolphins were getting caught in the tuna fishing nets. There was a large outcry among consumers, "Don't buy tuna! It is killing the dolphins!" After all, dolphins are cute and deserve to be protected. (The tuna, I guess, were not cute enough for saving.)
With the news of Flipper dying in a tuna net, the public responded and tuna sales plummeted. The industry changed seemingly overnight. What would otherwise be a complicated issue of marine fisheries, agriculture and industry was reduced to the beautifully black and white dictum of "Don't buy tuna!"
So getting back to our example of concrete. How do we make concrete appear to be a black and white issue?
If the main problem with concrete is its content of Portland Cement, we can replace up to 50% of that Portland Cement with a material called fly ash. Fly ash is a by-product of the coal industry. It is typically buried in a land fill where it seeps mercury into our water table. By putting it into our concrete mix, it turns out the fly ash makes the concrete stronger and more workable.
Is concrete a green material? Fly ash concrete is a green material.
This is how you make something into a black and white issue. This is the process you must go through with every material in your building.
Is wood a green material? FSC-certified Wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council is a green material.
Is steel a green material? High recycled content steel is a green material.
Ask yourself these six questions when looking at any material:
Where did this material come from?
What are the by-products of its' manufacturer?
How is the material delivered and installed?
How is the material maintained and operated?
How healthy are the materials?
What do we do with them once we are done with these materials?
This is a shorthand approach looking at the entire lifecycle of a material.
(For more information on green-materials certification programs, visit Web sites for the Forest Stewardship Council, Green Seal and Scientific Certification Systems.)
7. Where can I purchase green building materials and products?
The primary complaint people make in regard to green materials is their inability to find them. Given the ubiquity of such systems as LEED and Energy Star, finding green materials has never been easier.
Several clear sources come to mind:
Internet Searches: A recent search for "green materials" on the Internet yielded thousands of results. The way to filter these into a usable form is to look to the experts.
BuildingGreen: The publishers of the Environmental Building News and GreenSpec have put all of their unbiased and perfectly presented information together in a wonderfully straightforward site. Their reasonable fee (one week subscriptions start at $12.95) will provide access to their wealth of research reports and product findings. Organized by CSI categories and Homeowner Categories, BuildingGreen has emerged as the Consumer Reports of green building.
GreenHomeGuide: Although targeted at homeowners, GreenHomeGuide provides reviews and descriptions of green products by the real professionals using them. Their Know-How sections provide all of the information you would need for greening a kitchen or a bathroom.
Sales Reps: If you already have relationships with the sales representatives coming to your office, communicate to them your desire for more green products. Start the conversation and you will be surprised by the suggestions they provide.
American Institute of Architects: For years, the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) has been a place where architects could discuss how to green their buildings. Although the resources and influence of the COTE varies by AIA Chapter, you may find a whole world waiting for you full of knowledgeable architects ready to help you.
U.S. Green Building Council: A valuable source for data in regard to green building, great for making the argument to skeptical developers and city officials. One of the reasons for the creation of the USGBC was to provide a credible authority on green building, so use them as such. You can point to their combined experience and knowledge to find hundreds of reports and case studies.
Local Showrooms: Each month new showrooms are opening up around the country offering green materials. While these initially opened up around the green buildings hubs (San Francisco, Austin, Portland) new stores are open in Santa Monica, Chicago, and even Fairfield, Iowa.
City Offices: Dozens of cities have a Department of the Environment or equivalent concerning themselves with green building, environmental justice and toxics disposal. If you cannot locate one in your city, look at the county and state level. Your local recycling collection company can also point you to a waste management authority or commission. Such departments are invaluable resources and will be able to provide you with information you never knew existed.
8. Are there any building code restrictions on the use of green materials?
One would assume a building code would favor green materials, given their tendency toward less toxic materials.
In reality, building codes have little input in regards to the finishes or fixtures in a building. Generally, codes exist to protect the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants. You should be able to use green finish materials as freely as traditional building materials.
The structural members in a building (walls, floors or beams), do impact the occupant health, safety and welfare, and, therefore, fall into the purview of the local building code.
Alternative materials such as straw bale or adobe, despite it's time tested history, are still not accepted by many building departments. Cost-saving measures such as the use of finger jointed wood studs are also frowned upon by the local building inspectors. You will have to check with your local building department before planning any construction project with these non-traditional methods.
Any wood intended for structural use must be inspected and grade stamped prior to use, or it will not comply with the building code. Ask the supplier for grade stamps, some provide this service in house for a reasonable fee. This does not apply to finish and non-structural wood.
That said, it is always best to check with your local jurisdiction before using any materials.
9. Why should I care about green building?
With most of us spending more than 90% of our time indoors, green building is the healthy, common sense choice for a better life. In traditional construction, the quality of our indoor environment is often far more polluted than outdoor one due to the building materials, inadequate lighting, and a variety of other variables.
Green Buildings are sited, designed, constructed and operated to enhance the well-being of occupants, and to minimize negative impacts on the community and natural environment. Our buildings consume 40% of the world's total energy, 25% of its wood harvest and 16% of its water. Compared to traditional construction, a green built home takes some of this pressure off the environment.
Logically, our society can no longer build this way. It is simply a matter of time before we run out of the resources needed. The sooner we change our habits and how we build our buildings, the better position we will be in to minimize the devastation.
In the future, all buildings will be green. This is inevitable. Soon, we will have no choice.
But perhaps the best justification of Green Building is how you cannot afford to not employ green principles. The occupants and owners of a building are losing money on every green feature they discarded. Architects are in a position to save their clients a great deal of money in the operational costs of a building. After all, a great deal more will be spent on the operations, maintenance and employees in a building than ever was spent upon initial construction costs.
In short, a green building has the potential to:
Provide a healthier and more comfortable environment
Improve long-term economic performance
Incorporate energy and water efficient technologies
Reduce construction and demolition waste
Bring higher resale value
Include renewable energy technologies
Improve indoor air quality and occupant satisfaction
Are easier to maintain and built to last
All of these will save your clients money. Do you think that will get a building owner's attention?!
10. This all seems to make logical sense to me. Why aren't ALL buildings built to be green?
Research has shown that 83% of designers feel they have a responsibility to offer green solutions to their clients, but only 17% do so. They blame this difference on "not enough information."
In truth, the construction industry represents 20% of the U.S. economy, comprising $1.27 trillion of our gross domestic product. With such large amounts of money and influence, the construction industry is inherently risk adverse. We have been building our buildings in relatively the same fashion for the last hundred years. What is the incentive for an architect, contractor or developer to add risk?
Luckily, the numerous benefits within green building are causing the industry to take notice. The initial acceptance was towards green finishes, where the risk is low. After all, it is the same exact process to install a bamboo floor as an old growth wood floor.
The next wave of adoption was in systems to add to the building. Solar panels can be placed on the roof without much risk. They are simply added to the project much in the way one would add a heating system.
The final surge in acceptance is now being seen in structural systems of the building. This final obstacle is slowly being overcome as developers realize a stuck frame building in Minnesota is different from a stick frame building in Arizona.
Platform and balloon frame construction have been around since the 1830's. Invented as a direct result of the mass production of nails and dimensional lumber, balloon framing allowed low skill workers to put together a building. At the time, this system was ideal for the rapidly growing population and their expansion westward. The art of joinery was almost completely lost and millions of new homes were able to be built in areas previously thought impossible.
Now we see the limitations and problems with such a system. Once you build out of sticks, the structure has to be insulated, sheathed, wrapped and waterproofed. All of these weaknesses are opportunities for you as the designer to minimize the ecological impact.
The trick to widespread adoption lies in showing the industry the benefits far outweigh any perceived risk. In order to build out of an alternative construction method, you will have to sell client and contractor on the idea in order to succeed. You can do this in three simple ways:
Experiment with a productized construction system: rather than start with building out of Adobe, perhaps an easier sell to your client would be an alternative construction system sold as a product. Green construction methods such as Structural Insulated Panels (SIP's) and Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF's) have emerged as a viable alternative to the 175 year old method of frame building.
Visit other construction sites using this technology; see firsthand how other builders are using these materials. Talk to them about the process.
Ask your sales representative for help: when reviewing any product, the sales reps are there to support your decision making. Ask them to present to your client or contractor in order to convince them of the viability of this material.
By more architects and contractors opening up themselves to new ideas, we will see more buildings built in an environmentally responsible manner.
Send your questions about environmental management issues to [email protected]
We can't guarantee that we'll answer every question, but we'll try.
Eric Corey Freed teaches the Sustainable Design curriculum at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Calif. He is currently on the board of directors of Architects, Designers & Planners for Social Responsibility and a committee member of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE). This article has been excerpted from his upcoming book, The Inevitable Architect: A Phase by Phase Guide to Green Building.
Ask the Green Architect: Tips for Greening Your Office; Alternative Foundation Materials; Specifying Green Products
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Durability: A Key Component of Green Building
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Photo credit: FOCO
LOOK: Limited edition Game of Thrones Cubs Bobbleheads Series 2
by Press Release - Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 2:22 PM
Somerset, NJ April 16, 2019 – FOCO is excited to introduce a second series of collectable bobbleheads that bring together the worlds of Major League Baseball and HBO®'s original series Game of Thrones®.
This series of officially licensed MLB Game of Thrones® Bobbleheads depict MLB stars along with new characters and settings from the award-winning series.
Series 2 features the MLB players donning the Night's Watch attire atop a miniature depiction of Castle Black. Each player holds a sword and stands beside a banner featuring Game of Thrones® imagery and a team logo.
** Support CubsHQ! CLICK HERE to get your Limited edition Game of Thrones Cubs Bobbleheads **
See all 50+ Chicago Cubs Bobbleheads here
Also included in Series 2 is the Kingsguard Bobblehead, which shows a detailed depiction of the protectors of the crown at King's Landing. He holds a sword-shaped baseball bat, and his armor features a team logo as he stands beside a banner featuring Game of Thrones® imagery and team logo.
In addition, Series 2 includes a White Walker Bobblehead, featuring a warrior from Beyond The Wall, riding upon a chilling zombified horse as he holds a staff with a team logo display. The base features a stone textured team logo plaque and a banner featuring Game of Thrones® imagery and team logo.
Finally, Series 2 boasts a Direwolf Bobblehead, featuring the loyal companion of the Stark family standing on a rock textured base next to a sword and a shield with a team logo display.
FOCO launched the highly successful Series 1 of their MLB Game of Thrones® Bobbleheads in February. The initial launch included bobbleheads featuring the Night King, Iron Throne, and Ice Dragon.
Each bobblehead is handcrafted to depict an exciting player or character sure to excite fans of both Game of Thrones® and MLB. Each bobble stands approximately eight inches tall, making these the perfect additions to any collection at home, or any desk at work or school.
"With the final season of Game of Thrones® upon us and MLB season in full swing, we felt now was the perfect time to launch Series 2," said Matthew Katz, licensing manager at FOCO. "We think fans of both MLB and Game of Thrones® will be excited to collect these and bring their favorite sport and favorite show together in perfect harmony," Katz continued.
These MLB Game of Thrones® Bobbleheads are just a few of many collectable bobbles FOCO continues to release that depict superstars, mascots, memorable plays and iconic moments throughout the world of sports and entertainment.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Trump administration offers plan to cover COVID-19 care for uninsured
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
Two emergency medical staff of a private ambulance company sanitize a hospital gurney after they dropped off a patient at the Cobble Hill Health Center April 20, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
SOURCE: Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images
The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured patients with COVID-19, but Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups are likely to press for more.Under the approach detailed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, hospitals and doctors would submit their bills directly to the government and they would get paid at Medicare rates.Uninsured people would not be liable for costs, and health care providers would not have to ask any questions about a patient's immigration status, an issue that's been cited as a barrier to care in communities with many foreign-born residents."This says if you don't have insurance, go get taken care of — we have you covered," Azar said in an interview.The money will come from a pot of $100 billion that Congress has approved to provide relief for the health care system, which is trying to cope with the high cost of coronavirus care while facing a cash crunch because elective surgeries and procedures have been put on hold. For COVID-19 patients who are covered by health insurance, hospitals and doctors accepting money from the relief fund would have to agree to not to send "surprise" bills for out-of-network services.COVID-19 treatment for the uninsured could cost from $14 billion to $48 billion, according to a recent estimate from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.Video: How health care workers are dealing with coronavirus stressAzar said the administration is not providing an estimate on what its plan will cost, but he is confident it will fit within the $100 billion allocated by Congress. Lawmakers are finalizing another coronavirus relief bill, expected to add $75 billion more for the health care system.Democrats and some health industry groups say the relief money approved by Congress should go directly to health care facilities, and the administration should cover the uninsured by expanding programs such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. An HHS press release describing the plan for the uninsured says payments for their care would be made "subject to available funding."About 28 million people were uninsured before the pandemic hit, and that number is expected to rise sharply. Consultants at Health Management Associates estimate that 12 million to 35 million people could lose workplace coverage in the economic shutdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.The plan for the uninsured was part of a broader announcement by the government detailing a second round of economic relief payments to hospitals, doctors and other health care service providers.Before Wednesday's announcement, $30 billion had been distributed. Additional funds now being released include:— $20 billion in payments across a range of health care facilities.— $10 billion targeted to coronavirus hot spots; New York will receive $4.4 billion.—$10 billion for rural health clinics and hospitals.—$400 million for Indian Health Service facilities.Azar said additional allocations will be announced for nursing homes, for hospitals and doctors that rely on Medicaid, and for dentists.
The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured patients with COVID-19, but Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups are likely to press for more.
Under the approach detailed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, hospitals and doctors would submit their bills directly to the government and they would get paid at Medicare rates.
Uninsured people would not be liable for costs, and health care providers would not have to ask any questions about a patient's immigration status, an issue that's been cited as a barrier to care in communities with many foreign-born residents.
"This says if you don't have insurance, go get taken care of — we have you covered," Azar said in an interview.
The money will come from a pot of $100 billion that Congress has approved to provide relief for the health care system, which is trying to cope with the high cost of coronavirus care while facing a cash crunch because elective surgeries and procedures have been put on hold. For COVID-19 patients who are covered by health insurance, hospitals and doctors accepting money from the relief fund would have to agree to not to send "surprise" bills for out-of-network services.
COVID-19 treatment for the uninsured could cost from $14 billion to $48 billion, according to a recent estimate from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Video: How health care workers are dealing with coronavirus stress
Azar said the administration is not providing an estimate on what its plan will cost, but he is confident it will fit within the $100 billion allocated by Congress. Lawmakers are finalizing another coronavirus relief bill, expected to add $75 billion more for the health care system.
Democrats and some health industry groups say the relief money approved by Congress should go directly to health care facilities, and the administration should cover the uninsured by expanding programs such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. An HHS press release describing the plan for the uninsured says payments for their care would be made "subject to available funding."
About 28 million people were uninsured before the pandemic hit, and that number is expected to rise sharply. Consultants at Health Management Associates estimate that 12 million to 35 million people could lose workplace coverage in the economic shutdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.
The plan for the uninsured was part of a broader announcement by the government detailing a second round of economic relief payments to hospitals, doctors and other health care service providers.
Before Wednesday's announcement, $30 billion had been distributed. Additional funds now being released include:
— $20 billion in payments across a range of health care facilities.
— $10 billion targeted to coronavirus hot spots; New York will receive $4.4 billion.
—$10 billion for rural health clinics and hospitals.
—$400 million for Indian Health Service facilities.
Azar said additional allocations will be announced for nursing homes, for hospitals and doctors that rely on Medicaid, and for dentists.


Ideas matter. Theory matters. Big data is not a theory-neutral way of circumventing the hard questions. In fact it brings these questions into sharp focus and it's time we discuss them openly.
I recently completed a doctoral program in agricultural science. Utilizing output from computation-intense programs and algorithms is, of course, deeply ingrained into the worldview in my profession. Our professors even stated that "with the computational power available today, having a correlation or well-fitted model takes the place of causation". Apparently understanding mechanisms and cause/effect relationships in ANY form is viewed by (some) as unnecessary.
Traditionally, agronomic science was subject to rigorous peer review and unflinching adherence to biometric methods. Today, computational power gives researchers a model that fits their data, they make conclusions in a relatively time-compressed manner, and go forward. It is small wonder that progress in understanding the relationship between genes and their physical expression takes place so slowly.


On Thursday, 27 September at 5 p.m. Piret Kullerkupp's and Liis Ring's joint exhibition "Line" will be opened in the small gallery of the Tartu Art House.
Piret Kullerkupp (b 1969) has a bachelor's and master's degree from the Painting Department of the University of Tartu but her interest in art started already in the end of the 1990s in Norway. Her previous personal exhibition in the Tartu Art House took place in 2011.
Liis Ring (b 1990) has graduate with a degree in music and sound production from the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama and has complemented her studies in the Liberal Arts Department of the Akademin Valand. She has earlier performed under the alias cirkl. Ring has published two records: "Fables of a Faraway Land" (2014) and "Satori" (2016) and soon another will follow.
The exhibition will remain open until October 21.


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Winners Announced in Counter-Terrorism Startup Competition
CardioScale Ltd. and Colugo Systems Ltd., both early-stage startups based in Israel, won top honors at the international competition sponsored by the U.S. and Israeli governments
The winners of a counter-terrorism technology competition backed by the Israeli and U.S. governments were announced today. CardioScale Ltd. won first place and $100,000 prize with a device that promises to help monitor the vitals of survivors of terrorist attacks and mass casualty events. Second place, and a $10,000 check, went to Colugo Systems Ltd., which is developing a hybrid drone that combines the features of a quadrotor and a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. Both companies are early-stage startups based in Israel.
The competition, known as the Combating Terrorism Technology Startup Challenge, took place in Tel Aviv, and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, Israel's Ministry of Defense and the Israeli chapter of MIT Enterprise Forum, a nonprofit affiliated with the eponymous university, that promotes tech innovation. CardioScale and Colugo Systems competed in a field of 130 startups from around the world.
CardioScale's founders. Photo: Dror Sithakol
ColugoCardioScaleTerrorismCounter-TerrorismDefense


WQA is dedicated to promoting the highest principles of honesty, integrity, fair dealing, and professionalism in the water quality improvement industry. It is equally dedicated to preserving the consuming public's right to quality water. This Code of Ethics sets standards of conduct for industry members in their dealings with their customers, among themselves, with members of related industries, and the public at large. Click here to download WQA's current Code of Ethics.
NOTE: The WQA Board approved a revision to the Code of Ethics in early 2019 that is to become effective January 1, 2020, allowing time for WQA members to review and implement. The new version includes an additional Marketing Guideline that says terms and definitions shall be used in accordance with terms published by WQA in the Knowledge Base Glossary. Click here to download WQA's revised Code of Ethics (effective January 1, 2020).
If you have questions related to the WQA Code of Ethics, please contact Quality Manager Tambra Thomas.
The Whistleblower Policy serves to protect WQA and all who are performing official duties on its behalf, in various capacities as WQA Representatives. The policy provides information on reporting potential violations regarding suspected improper accounting or auditing practices, illegal or unethical conduct or behavior, conflict of interest in finances or other aspects of WQA operations. Click here to download WQA's Whistleblower Policy.


I'm writing this at 2am ET. Kathleen just got to my place and Duana is on her way – she texted to ask us if we wanted drive-thru, LOL. We are gathering, OBVIOUSLY, for #BeyoncéHomecoming, joining hundreds of thousands of others around the world (millions, probably?) who are watching it the moment Netflix flips the switch and releases the documentary. I'm wearing my BΔK varsity jacket. Kathleen walked in wearing the Beychella yellow hoodie. I'm predicting Duana will show up in uniform too. We didn't plan this. It's just… what's expected in these moments. Are you rolling your eyes? It's work, OK!? We are going straight into the Show Your Work podcast right after it's over so that we can get the episode up as soon as possible. Because we are expecting that this is a documentary about WORK, the work of Beyoncé.
Remember, the servers were not ready for Avengers: Endgame. I would know because it took me 8 hours to buy tickets! So now, with just a few minutes to go before we hit "play" (yes it took me almost an hour to write this because Duana's been self-cropping her Beychella pink hoodie and making us watch), I have full confidence that our screening will be smooth, uninterrupted. HAPPY BEYONCÉ DAY!
PS – added right after we finished watching: NEW ALBUM OUT NOW!


Joe Locurto, business development manager at Spherion Staffing Services in Carson City, presents a $1,000 check to Lt. Mark Cyr of Salvation Army.
Each Spherion owner handpicked one or more organizations to "give back" to in advance of the holidays. Spherion has donated $124,000 to local organizations in the communities where it operates.


When I was four years old on vacation at my grandfather's farm, I got caught up in a thresher. For you city dwellers, all you really need know is it's a huge machine used to separate grain from crops. I was playing cat-n-mouse. You can image which was the mouse.
If not for the quick action of my grandfather and the shift of a not-so-ill wind, I'd be dead. Some, prone to exaggeration, said I should have died.
Obviously not, because I didn't.
The thresher, like a T. Rex, bent and snatched me by the foot, thrusting his head back in an attempt to gobble me up. I'm told I screamed louder than a human being is able. I refused the invitation.
The hallux of my right foot was mangled. Alien in contrast to my otherwise close-to-perfect body, my big toe is flattened and as if stamped with a die, looks like a happy face. It's my toe. I get queasy when I look at it.
I don't wear open-toed shoes and I never go barefoot in the park. You won't see me swimming.
Five years later, early in spring, I dreamed out the classroom window, wondering whether this year I'd be big enough to sit on the back of the T. Rex and guide his grain gobbling.
I heard the door open followed by the principal's voice. Mrs. Ellis, our teacher, said something. The collective gasp from my classmates finally pulled my hands off the T. Rex's lever.
A sense of violation washed over me. I busied with a book, math, my favorite subject. Where things in the world didn't make sense like war, hungry children in a rich nation, T. Rex's that attack children, happy face halluces and scar-faced boys, math made sense. Math was predictable and reasonable.
Raphael took the desk across the room. I didn't look. I didn't dare look. I knew he stared at me. I could make something up here. I could say I was noble, seeing Raphael as the human being he was and not the monster he appeared to be. I could say I saw beauty in his disaster, whatever that might have been.
I didn't want to see him. I wanted him to be home schooled. I wanted him to wear a bag on his head. Gosh, people get tummy tucks and eyelids tightened, crow's feet pulled back just so they can look four years younger for two years. I didn't know why Raphael couldn't have proper reconstructive surgery.
I wanted him to stop staring at me.
In the days to follow, shock turned to antagonism, at first manifest in jokes and teasing from afar, privately. Now, I can say I was semi-noble. I never stepped into the fray. I never joined with my classmates. Sadly, I never spoke against their insensitivity, either.
I still wanted him to stop staring at me.
I wanted to confront him. I couldn't bring myself to get that close. He walked home alone in the opposite direction. I thought I could catch up to him well away from school. Walking together, I wouldn't have to look at him, eyes ahead, watching careful steps. I could tell him I didn't like him staring at me. I could tell him to stop.
Okay. I admit it. I didn't want to be seen talking with him.
The antagonism matured before my eyes, poised on violence. Mrs. Ellis gave the class a lecture on diversity and understanding, which only made things worse. Raphael pulled down A pluses, feeding the monster. I stayed after class to express my concerns to Mrs. Ellis. I meant to tell her about the other kids. What I ended up doing was whining about Raphael staring at me.
Mrs. Ellis assured me she was aware of both, in the midst of dealing with it. She explained part of school was learning to get along with, to live with, people much different.
Midway between the school's front door and the crossing guard a block and a half up, a group of children, mostly from my class, circled Raphael, offering taunts, the festering antagonism finally in full bloom. Raphael, head down, tried to push out but was pushed back in.
Now, I can say I was noble. I rushed toward them. "Cut it out! Stop it! What do you think you're doing?" I didn't address anyone in particular. I was ignored. I sensed the final escalation, one of the larger boys stepping forward, his fist back.
I broke the circle, coming between the boy and Raphael. His fist came down, catching me below my right eye, just to the side of my nose. I flew backward, knocking Raphael to the sidewalk. Blood spilled from my nose. The circle of children froze. The air froze. Even the birds stopped singing.
The boy, standing over me looking down, mouthed: oh-my-God.
In that moment, I think we all got it.
Raphael had run off. I don't blame him. The boy who hit me gallantly tore the shirt from his back like Superman, placing it to my face as a compress. He apologized repeatedly all the way to the nurse's office, me clutching Raphael's abandoned notebook to my chest.
But don't dare call her a gimp!
Most beautiful person I've ever seen.


If your nation does not have nukes, you are not a sovereign nation.
Only nations with nukes have the nuclear option to discourage invasion, or other, more subtle, revocations of sovereignty. This is the modern world. Any nation without nukes is either a puppet of a first-world power, or is waiting to be conquered or used by a first-world power. Nuclear weapons are having a solidifying effect on the borders of nations which hold them.
Will the creation of lower order nuclear weapons allow smaller groups to become sovereigns? We have seen the democratizing effects of technology in the past. It has recently been suggested to me that monarchy fell to democracy because of the technological shift from edged weapons to firepower. With that shift, a single man with a single bullet could exercise his veto on any King alive. Then came democracy. With it's ever-shifting cast of characters, killing one bureaucrat simply results in his replacement by another. The cost-benefit of political assassination drops dramatically under democracy. Kill Kennedy? Here's Johnson. It is a feature of that political system that provides robustness.
A CEO is similar to a monarch, especially if he is the owner of the corporation and all of its assets. However, power does not necessarily transfer along a direct hereditary line as it does in a monarchy. Steve Jobs has died, but Apple is still the most valuable company on the planet. For now. The owners of Apple are not even the management. Killing the owners does nothing to the management structure of the corporation. Killing the CEO simply results in his replacement. Can the corporation prove to be as durable as democracy against assassination? Is a conglomerate of corporations more durable still?
Is the day coming when a corporations or conglomerate of corporations will take the step of defending their investment by arming themselves with nukes, and thus become a sovereign corporation? Could a sovereign corporation become poly-centric, with a number of company towns (city-states) distributed across a continent or the globe? Distributed knowledge, control and assets. Distributed firepower.
Previous Western city-states were markets created by aristocrats where production flourished. No city-state will currently be allowed to survive if it is not Cathedral compliant. Some live in fear that 'terrorists' might get nukes. Can some live in hope that Capitalists will do the same?


The John McGivney Children's Centre (JMCC) celebrated our 40th anniversary with our community partners, donors, familes and staff on June 12, 2018. It was a wonderful evening celebrating where we took the opportunity to look back on our rich history, celebrate our present and look forward to our exciting future! Long-term staff and departing board members were honoured, the John McGivney Bursary was awarded to two deserving former JMCC students who are enrolled in college for September, and guests had the opportunity to check out our awesome new JMCC video! Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!


Join us for a unique wine tasting experience. You will be welcomed into our winery and begin with a tour of our wine cellar. We will then head out on a short, guided walk through the vineyard where we'll give you a behind-the-scenes view of how we use natural farming methods to grow our grapes. The tasting is then held in our cosy cellar, or weather permitting, in the vineyard; the perfect spot to sample a selection of our still and sparkling wines. This is complemented by a cheese board, a selection of crusty bread and finished off with a cup of tea or coffee and a slice of our cake of the day.


For most folks, pre-school was an area wherever we have a tendency to preponderantly made merry and vie games. affirmative in fact, it absolutely was conjointly an area for learning, but the educational didn't appear tough or arduous as a result of we have a tendency to were forever amused and concerned at intervals a myriad of activities that got our inventive juices flowing.
At pre-school we have a tendency to conjointly tended to not suffer from the strain, anxiety and overwhelm that riddles our life expertise these days. Why is that?
Maybe it absolutely was as a result of we have a tendency to had a childlike approach to each new sensory learning expertise. or even it absolutely was the encouragement, support and freedom for inventive style that led to our stress-free existence.
When we have a tendency to reach highschool we suddenly realize our inventive capability press against a wall of criticism, judgment and social control.
One of the largest drawbacks of our current highschool education system is in its inability to assist students develop and expand on their inventive capability.
Within the highschool system students ar admonished for his or her mistakes, they\'re judged for his or her thinking and process of knowledge, and that they ar criticized for his or her weaknesses. All of this ends up in a nerve-wracking learning setting that preponderantly provides cluster attention and limits learning to solely the visual and sense modality sensory organs.
Psychological studies have unconcealed that in pre-school nine out of each ten children show a capability for inventive thought. However, as they progress through to highschool, that range drops to three out of ten. What within the world is going on to our inventive capacity? What ar we have a tendency to doing wrong? however ar we have a tendency to symptom our children with our teaching methods?


BEIJING — The blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng left the refuge of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for a hospital on Wednesday, but he was quickly cordoned off by Chinese police and reportedly seized by misgivings about his decision, as an apparent diplomatic triumph risked dissolving into a damaging episode in U.S.-China relations.
The confusing, chaotic episode coincided with a visit to China by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday with an entourage of diplomatic and trade officials intent on smoothing relations and increasing economic and cultural ties.
The Obama administration wants greater cooperation from China on trade, currency rates, Iran oil sanctions and North Korean nuclear weapons, but with the Chen case, the issue of human rights threatens to overtake that agenda.
Chen revived the human rights issue by escaping from de facto house arrest in his home village in Shandong province on April 22 and by seeking U.S. protection in the Chinese capital four days later. American officials said Wednesday that they accepted him at the embassy on humanitarian grounds.
Chen was already well-known to U.S. officials. According to WikiLeaks, between April 2007 and July 24, 2009, his name was included in at least 37 State Department cables. His was one of three "key cases" mentioned during the May 2008 resumption of the U.S.-China human rights dialogue after a six-year hiatus.
So U.S. officials were elated when the Chinese government said it would allow Chen and his family to move away from their village and pledged to investigate why authorities there allowed armed thugs in plainclothes to confine the activist and prevent others from seeing him.
Teng said on Twitter Thursday that Chen did not have all the information available to him when he was inside the embassy. He said Chen's wife, who had been isolated for years in their Shandong village farmhouse, also did not earlier have enough information to make appropriate decisions about their future, while they were negotiating for Chen to leave the embassy. Teng said he could no longer speak to the media.
Some China experts said they saw the pledges from Beijing not only as a human rights achievement but as an indication that — as in the recent case of Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai or last year's ouster of corrupt local leaders in a strife-torn southern town — the central government wants to assert its authority over renegade or corrupt provincial authorities.
In addition, the agreement appeared to take Chen off the bilateral agenda. American officials released a photograph showing a smiling Chen with U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke and insisted that the activist left the embassy of his own volition.
But friends of Chen criticized U.S. officials for leaving him unaccompanied at the hospital, where he was treated for a foot injury. Adding to the confusion, Chen told several reporters by phone from his hospital bed that he now wanted to move to the United States with his family.
Under intense international scrutiny, U.S. diplomats scrambled to provide their version of events.
Locke said the U.S. Embassy was prepared to house Chen for years, if that was what he wished, but that Chen insisted on leaving the embassy to be reunited with his wife. He spoke on the phone twice with his wife on Wednesday, said Locke, and she implored him to leave and join his family at the hospital.
Speaking at a press conference Thursday, Locke emphasized that the goal of U.S. officials was to determine what Chen wanted and then help him get it by acting as go-between negotiators with the Chinese government.
Locke said Chen wanted his wife to be brought to the hospital, where he would talk with her on phone and decide whether to leave the embassy or stay.
Chen spoke with his wife twice on Wednesday after she arrived at the hospital, said Locke. Chen's wife spoke in the presence of a U.S. Embassy employee and away from Chinese government officials.
"She was imploring him to come to the hospital to be reunited with the family," Locke said. Chen then decided to leave.
"I can tell you unequivocally that he was never pressured to leave. He was excited and eager about leaving when he made this decision," Locke said.
A senior State department official said U.S. officials were spending Thursay trying to establish what Chen in fact wants to do before exploring any further ways to help him.
Soon after Locke and State Department legal adviser Harold Koh dropped Chen off at the hospital on Wednesday, the diplomatic frictions grew.
Campbell said that the United States would not apologize but that Washington did not expect a similar incident to occur, a formulation U.S. officials hoped would be sufficient to mollify Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, Zeng Jinyan, the activist whose Twitter messages provided the most detailed information about Chen once he reached the hospital, put out another message Thursday saying she was now under house arrest in Beijing.
Zeng's Twitter message said police agents in a black car followed her Thursday morning as she drove her daughter to kindergarten. She said the police then followed her back home and said she was officially under house arrest.
Zeng later answered the telephone briefly at her home after noon Thursday and said quietly, "Right now my situation is not good. My situation is complicated ... I cannot accept interviews." Since then, her communications have been apparently cut off.
Zeng's husband, AIDS activist Hu Jia, is away from Beijing at a conference in another part of China, and said he had been unable to contact his wife.
As the high-level diplomatic and trade talks began Thursday morning, there was no public mention of Chen, but there were allusions to the case.
Opening the sessions, Councilor Dai Bingguo asserted China's right to determine how best to run its society.
Clinton broached the topic of human rights toward the end of her remarks after listing other issues on the agenda, including North Korea's nuclear program.
Chen's case had presented the United States with a thorny diplomatic dilemma. He wanted to remain in China to fight for citizens' rights, friends said. But with security officials rounding up the activists who helped him escape and who sheltered him, U.S. diplomats risked seeing Chen arrested if he left the embassy without some formal guarantees for his safety.
U.S. officials said the Chinese agreed to investigate the "extralegal" activities of local authorities in Chen's home town who have allowed armed men to effectively confine the activist to his farmhouse for 19 months, preventing celebrities, journalists and others from visiting him.
The officials said American diplomats "will take a continuing interest in the case of Mr. Chen and his family" and will check on him in "regular intervals" to confirm that the Chinese government's commitments are carried out.
Chen was no longer under U.S. protection, they noted. While U.S. officials said they had been promised access to Chen in the hospital, Britain's Channel 4 news quoted a conversation with him in which he seemed confused and upset that no American diplomats were around.
Mufson reported from Washington. Washington Post researcher Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed to this report.


Berger-Paints Stock/Share Prices, Buy and Sell Berger-Paints BSE Stocks – AxisDirect.
Berger Paints India will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 1 February 2019.
Net profit of Berger Paints India rose 5.34% to Rs 117.29 crore in the quarter ended September 2018 as against Rs 111.34 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2017. Sales rose 16.26% to Rs 1490.06 crore in the quarter ended September 2018 as against Rs 1281.71 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2017.
Net profit of Berger Paints India declined 3.33% to Rs 102.18 crore in the quarter ended September 2018 as against Rs 105.70 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2017. Sales rose 15.64% to Rs 1330.45 crore in the quarter ended September 2018 as against Rs 1150.55 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2017.
Berger Paints India will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 1 November 2018.


Rhythm Managment Group is a is a national provider of that helps the physicians to carefully watch the high-quality heart apparatus of their patients in the United States of America. If the patients want answers for improving the quality of life advantages that they can get from their implanted devices, our responsibility is to cater it. Our services were designed for all implantable cardiac devices like the following: Heart Failure monitors, defibrillators, single, dual and multi-lead Pacemakers, and the most recent insertable Loop Recorders.
All currently implanted machines for the heart are capable of real-time distant monitoring and is accessible all around the nation. Rhythm works with the machine makers and the doctors to know the information and inform on events and inconsistencies that can manifest between the regular appointments to the Doctor's office. The advantages are evident – much faster recognition of possible complications that will then be treated in an out-patient surrounding and potentially to prevent future urgent in-patient care.
Rhythm Management Group provides you monitoring and assistance for Cardiovascular Monitoring.


CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC 7 PRESENTS: AIR AND WATER SHOW WEEK, featuring a sneak peek of all the heart-stopping and thrilling acts that make this a must-see event in Chicago. Beginning the week of August 13 through the 18, ABC 7 Eyewitness News will capture the many behind-the-scenes stories leading up to the spectacular show that has become one of summer's most anticipated traditions. As the excitement builds before the show, ABC 7 Eyewitness News in the morning will report live from North Avenue Beach with Anchor/Reporter Terrell Brown and Meteorologist Tracy Butler on Friday, August 18 from 4:30-7:00 am and again at 11am. The Chicago Air and Water Show runs August 19 and 20 on Chicago's lakefront.
ABC 7 Eyewitness News will spotlight anchor and daredevil-in-waiting, Ravi Baichwal, who will fly high above Chicago at blazing speeds with the world famous U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
Other special segments will showcase everything from the courageous pilots behind AeroShell Aerobatic Team who have more than 100 years combined experience, to a man who traded life behind a computer for a job soaring through the clouds. ABC 7 Eyewitness News goes inside one of the WWII fighter planes and discovers just what it takes to become a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights - who manage perfect landings even when jumping out of aircraft at 12,500 feet above the earth's surface!
Viewers will also get insider tips for the best parking, viewing spots and restaurants to help them enjoy the amazing Chicago Air and Water Show weekend with the family.


Looking at buying an investment property? Buying a place purely for investment is very different to buying a house for yourself.
When you buy your own home I think it is ok to buy with your heart a bit. You want to be excited about where you're living, right? When I was house-hunting I saw places that were in my budget, in good locations, all neat and nicely renovated and they technically ticked all the boxes on my list – yet I just couldn't get myself excited about living in them, even though I felt like they 'should' be the kinds of homes I should want. It wasn't until I saw The Crap Shack, in all its unrenovated shag pile glory, that I felt that happy, crazed "this is the one!" moment.
Sadly not the Crap Shack. Photo Heather Robbins of Red Images Fine Photography.
If it had been an investment property I had been looking for back then, I definitely would not have bought The Crap Shack, with all the work and maintenance it needed (and still needs!) You don't have to be in love with your investment property, or enchanted by it – this is where you need to think primarily about money and how this property is going to benefit you. I'm no expert but I do know a ton of real estate agents who all agree that you should take heed of the age-old advice of buying with your head, not your heart.
Buying an investment is a numbers-based decision more than anything else. You'll want to consider things like your rental yield, capital growth and the median price of homes in the area for starters. It's not a bad idea to talk to a broker or agent and to write down exactly what you are after, how much you are willing to spend (and can afford) and what you want the investment to help you achieve.
Then you can begin searching! Homesales.com.au actually has a dedicated investment property search engine that helps you find the kind of investment property you are after – you select the criteria you want and search for places based on your property investment strategy. Just doing online searches in itself will teach you a lot about the areas you are interested in; like how much rent is reasonable, what prices properties are fetching and how competitive the market is.
That's just the tiny tip of the iceberg - so today I'm asking four of Perth's most savvy real estate agents to share their top tips on buying an investment property.
ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Real estate agents and property investment experts Clare Hickey-Shand, Matthew Podesta, Fleur Barrett and Stefanie Dobro.
"The first advice I would give someone wanting to buy an investment property is to set yourself a budget! Then do your research on property values, rental returns and areas that have the best growth potential. You can get most of this info online from the various real estate portals. You should be looking at long-term growth potential as well as the rental yields. Usually apartments are cheaper than houses to buy so it will depend on your budget, however, most apartments and units will have strata levies so you need factor those extra costs in.
"Age of the property doesn't matter. Let the location rule over the dwelling itself. The dwelling can always be renovated, improved or redeveloped if warranted. You can always add value but cannot change a property's location. Also, consider in some areas older character homes are becoming rarer and therefore, more sought after.
Photo Heather Robbins of Red Images Fine Photography.
I also advise people to decide whether or not the property acquisition is short-term or long-term and then plan your finances accordingly. Make sure you have a strong enough deposit/equity in the property to protect yourself from any downturn in the market. Ensure that you can afford the property and it is well within your means so you can be in control over whether or not you want to hold the property and not the bank. Remember the idea behind purchasing an investment property is to make financial gain so do your research and speak to those in the know to put yourself in the most informed position.
When looking at suburbs, consider the historical performance of values in the area. Seek out what new infrastructure may be planned for the locality. Determine what benefits your chosen area has over its competing neighbouring suburbs ie: schools, transport and shopping facilities.
With the recent changes to our granny flat laws, investing in a house could mean the potential to get an even better income from your investment by adding a granny flat in the future, such as this one by West Coast Granny Flats.
"In 2003 I bought my first investment property and I said to the property manager when appointing her back then that I didn't want someone who was just going to be around short term, I was looking to be looked after. That property manager Jill still manages that property for me today and she has been worth her weight in gold!
It really doesn't matter what service you are seeking, it pays to remember that you get what you pay for and that it is worth paying appropriately when you are asking someone to manage one of your biggest investments. Not doing so could cost you an awful lot more than the difference between a great property manager's fee and an average property manager's fee. And it's tax deductible.
In terms of tips for investors: Be strategic and informed when you decide to invest. Know what you are buying and why you are buying it (capital growth, negative gearing, to downsize to down the track) and make sure you know the tax implications of what you are buying and what benefits you are looking to gain from your investment.
In terms of location, do your research on things such as planned infrastructure in the area, refining opportunities, likely capital growth because of planned infrastructure or zoning changes, the depreciation opportunities of different properties and the rental yield versus what you might gain in capital growth or growth because of improvements to the property.
When it comes to choosing what kind of investment property is for you bear in mind that historically, over a longer time frame, price rises for houses are greater than that for units. However, you can usually receive higher rents for apartments which make up for the lesser growth. There is potential for subdivision or adding a granny flat or small studio to rent out when buying a house on a block, therefore creating more value and income. Houses however usually require more attention in terms of ongoing maintenance than apartments and villas. Houses tend to cost more to maintain than apartments because owners are responsible for the cost of repairs inside and out. However, houses have greater potential to grow more in value. Apartment complexes and villas tend to be built in inner urban areas, which usually demand higher rents, or the ability to capitalise on short term lets.
The newest apartment complexes often come with a range of facilities designed to be attractive to numerous potential tenants. Pictured are future gym facilities in the Civic Heart apartment complex to be completed in South Perth.
Units have much of the maintenance and upkeep managed through the body corporate and fetch good rents. The more things an apartment complex has, i.e. lifts, pool, security etc the higher the strata levies are. With an older apartment complex, you may find there are higher ongoing costs to fix and upgrade the complex therefore affecting your returns.
The advantages of buying an apartment or villa is that they can be easier to achieve positive rental returns and higher rental yields and are often located in areas with convenient public transport and nearby shops.
The purpose of an investment property is to make you money, whether that's through a good rental income or capital growth over time and the right location is imperative. The location should have appeal for a range of prospective tenants. You'll want to make sure your investment property is in close proximity to essential services.
You can never go wrong buying close to the ocean or river, however, being close to public transport, shop, parks, the proximity to the CBD, schools and hospitals is important. Investigate suburbs and enquire about any plans or changes in zoning. A good local real estate agent should be able to help if you need it.


In this article, we will look at some more concepts related to backbone models. We will try to see how we can override the default model behavior. We will look at the signification of model IDs, how we can validate a model and finally how a model can be persisted either locally or on a server.
Whenever we create a model, the backbone will call its initialize function. We can override this function to provide custom behavior to it.
Internally what happens is that whenever a backbone model is created, its constructor gets called. The constructor will call the initialize function. It is also possible to provide out own constructor and provide the custom behavior.
Now the problem with this constructor is that whenever the backbone model is getting created our constructor will be called. But the default constructor also does a lot of other activities at the time of object construction like calling the initialize function. So to make sure that our custom constructor works in unison with all that default behavior we need to let the backbone framework know that we still wants that default behavior. This can be done by calling Backbone.Model.apply(this,arguments); at the end of our custom constructor. This will make sure that our custom constructor will be called and then all the other activities that the default constructor is supposed to do are also done.
Note: For most of practical purposes overriding the initialize function will suffice. There is seldom a need to override the constructor but in case one decide to override the constructor, this should be the way to do it.
Every model needs to be uniquely identified. For this backbone gives us the model identifiers. The first one to look at is the cid. The cid or the client id is the auto-generated by backbone so that every model can be uniquely identified on the client.
Backbone also provides an identifier id to uniquely identify the model entity. This is the id that will be used to identify the model when the model data is actually being synced with server i.e. getting persisted. the cid is more useful for debugging purpose but the id attribute will determine the uniqueness of the model when it comes to CRUD operations on the model. Its fairly straight forward to set and get the id property.
Output for the above code will be: 3.
Now it gets a little confusing at this point. Since most of our models will have an attribute that will correspond to the primary key/unique identifier of the entity. Do we need to explicitly set the id value to that attribute. The answer if yes and no. We have to somehow indicate the backbone model what attribute should be used as id but we don't have to set the id explicitly. we can use the idAttribute to accomplish this.
Now in the above code we have specified that the ID should be used as id by specifying the idAttribute. Lets try to create a new model with ID value now.
And we can see that the id value is taken from the specified attribute.
and thus this makes it very easier for the backbone models to work with server side entities and makes the model identification seamless.
When we are working on business applications it is often required that we validate the model before persisting the data. Backbone provides a very easy way of validating the model data. We just need to implement the models validate function.
return "Invalid value for ID supplied."
What happens here is that whenever we try to save the model(which we will see in next section), the Validate function will get called. It will check the custom validation logic that we have put in place and validate the model. To test the validate method, we can use models isValid function.
What this will do is that this will not even allow setting of invalid values if the value that we are trying to set is invalid as per our custom logic.
How this validation works is that whenever the user chooses to save the model, the validate function will be called. if there is any validation error then the model save will fail. alternatively, the user can choose to pass validate:true whenever he want to restrict the setting of invalid values in the model attributes.
If we want to check the validity of the model at any particular instance, we can use the isValid function to test this. Having said that one important thing to know here is that whenever our validation function fails to validate the model an event invalid is raised by backbone. If we want to listen to this event, we can subscribe to this.
Lets try to hook up to this event and see the validation errors. We will do this in the initialize function of the model.
The backbone models inherently supports saving on the server using a restful web api. To save the model using a HTTP REST service, we need to specify the urlRoot in the backbone model. To actually save the model, we can call the save on the backbone model. The save method will trigger the validations and if the validations are successful, it will try to identify the action to be performed i.e. create or update and based on that action, it will use urlRoot and call the appropriate REST API to perform the operation.
So if I have a service running on my local machine, i first need to specify the urlRoot for the service in my model.
The save function also accepts success and error callback functions so that appropriate action can be taken based on the response from the server.
Now if we want to save the model on local storage rather than on a server, we just need to keep in mind that save function actually calls sync function to actually save/retrieve the model information. So if we need to save the model on a local storage, we need to override the sync function and provide the custom code to save on local storage.
Note: The code shown above(for save model) is syntactically correct but it will not work unless we have a REST service running at mentioned urlRoot. In coming articles, I will explain the model save using the REST service in details along with the sample service and HTML code.
So we saw a few more details about the backbone models. We have not yet looked at how to save the model either locally or via using a service. Perhaps in my next articles, we will talk about that only.
Published at DZone with permission of Rahul Rajat Singh , DZone MVB. See the original article here.


Over the past weekend Soul River Runs Deep traveled to pristine Idaho Falls, Idaho for an industry rendezvous trade show. The event brought out a few of Loop's Army including Loop's Shane Wootan and James Park, as well as Thad of Motive, Dr. Z., and Weapon. It was great to be among some industry leaders who share a forward-thinking approach to the industry, wondering what the next biggest concept or brand will be brought to the forefront intended to keep the fly fishing industry not just alive but thriving and pulsating with new, diverse generations.
Hanging out with James and Shane of LOOP has more of a deeper meaning than just talking about rivers, fish, or the latest gear. It is a genuine connection, complex, true to the soul and they are damn grounded in their focus on the less popular, the more critical – the real future of the industry! Chasing big fish is what a lot of anglers strive to do but sooner or later the pursuit becomes less about the chase and more about creating a healthy culture with deeper meaning amongst your connection to the outdoors – from puddle jumping, to wading in the river or simply siting along the trails to take in Mother Nature. What makes the magic happens with James and Shane and the rest of the family here is their deep strategic thought process behind fly fishing and management style within their facilities. The behind-the-scenes operation within the business rolls out an operation of fine-tuned management from shipping and product development to new business strategies. With a conscious give-back in hopes of seeing and growing the next generation of anglers, James and Shane never sit still but rather constantly stir ideas to support how we can change the way we fish, connect as inner-industry businesses and look towards a better tomorrow. Loop brands Soul River Inc with top notch fly gear such as the Evotech rods and reels which youth and veterans learn from on our deployments, enriching the experience of participant's lives as they learn conservation, explore our public lands and wade in wild rivers.
The Cross S1 in stock and shipping out as we speak.
The Cross SX in stock and shipping out as we speak.
Tim Norman – Emergent Outfitters chatting with Shane in the warehouse talking business.
With such a high caliber of quality and performance merged with consciousness and forward-thinking amongst these anglers, it is refreshing in all our conversations to know that even though the fishing can be so serious for many anglers, these guys take fishing light in heart with passion from the soul that reminds me of why we are here. It doesn't matter about how big the fish is. What matters is being out on the river, looking at the beauty around, chasing a small little brookie trout, holding nature's beauty in your hand. An hour from Idaho Falls, we pulled off the highway and Shane shared about the range and the long, windy river no more the six-yards in width looking like nature's vein cutting through the land. This was not what I am used to fishing in the Pacific Northwest but this river is a jewel of a playground from a beginner to the advanced angler. Its full of rainbow trout and brookies just wild and feasting on almost any type of fly you can throw. Every cast brings the kid out of you and makes you remember why you fish! And love fioshing 1 to 2 wt rods where I am used to 7 wt spey fishing! What a blast!
Fishing the small river in Idaho for trout with James Park.
Axe watching closely as I am fishing.


For example, you need to calculate a Gift Amount total based on Gift Date and Constituency Code. The Gift Amount will only be returned if the gift record meets both criteria for these two conditions.
If you have two formulas, one for the Gift Date and one for the Constituency Code, this article also helps you see how to combine those two formulas.


Just about every country around the globe has its own money system. Interchanging cash in Japanese speaking countries is really the most common banking desire for visitors. For this reason, it is essential that you will get the most for your money by getting informed about these familiar money terms in Japanese.
We have a list of Japanese phrases which can be applied when exchanging money in Japan or even just when acquiring a little something in stores.
Click on the hyperlinks below to see a list of beneficial Japanese holiday phrases which are arranged by group. For each travel phrase in Japanese, there'll be the actual English translation.


text:
Jean Lemierre (* 6. Juni 1950 in Sainte-Adresse, Département Seine-Maritime in der Region Haute-Normandie, Frankreich) ist Bankier, Ökonom und internationaler Spitzenbeamter aus Frankreich. Er war vom 3. Juli 2000 bis zum 2. Juli 2008 Präsident der Europäischen Bank für Wiederaufbau und Entwicklung.

Akademischer Werdegang

Lemierre hat die klassische Karriere eines französischen Spitzenbeamten hinter sich. Er studierte Wirtschafts- und Rechtswissenschaften am Pariser Institut der politischen Studien (Institut d'études politiques) in Paris, bekannt auch als "Sciences Po Paris", anschließend an der französischen Eliteakademie ENA und ging danach in den Staatsdienst.

Beruflicher Werdegang

Von 1980 bis 1989 erklomm Lemierre die Karriereleiter in der französischen Steuerverwaltung und war von 1989 bis 1995 als Generaldirektor der französischen Steuerbehörde ihr oberster Chef. 1995 diente er kurzzeitig als Kabinettsdirektor des französischen Ministers für Wirtschaft und Finanzen Alain Madelin und seines Nachfolgers Jean Arthuis. Anschließend war er von 1995 bis 2000 Direktor des französischen Schatzamtes. Zugleich war er von 1995 bis 1998 Mitglied des Europäischen Währungsausschusses und dann bis 2000 Vorsitzender des Wirtschafts- und Finanzausschusses der EU und Präsident des Pariser Club.

Am 3. Juli 2000 trat Lemierre sein Amt als Präsident der Europäischen Bank für Wiederaufbau und Entwicklung, EBWE (engl. EBRD), an. Er folgte damit auf den späteren deutschen Bundespräsidenten Horst Köhler. Im Jahre 2003 war er kurzzeitig als Chef der Europäischen Notenbank und im März 2004 auch als möglicher Nachfolger von Horst Köhler als Chef des IWF (Managing Director) im Gespräch. Nach zwei Amtszeiten von jeweils vier Jahren trat Lemierre am 2. Juli 2008 als EBWE-Präsident zurück. Ihm folgte der deutsche SPD-Politiker Thomas Mirow nach.

Am 24. Juli 2008 gab die französische Bank BNP Paribas bekannt, dass Lemierre bei ihr zum 1. September 2008 den Posten eines "Senior Advisors" ihres Präsidenten übernehmen wird.

Am 2. Mai 2015 wurde die französische Bank unter Führung von Jean-Laurent Bonnafé und Jean Lemierre erneut zu 140 Millionen US-Dollar durch US-Strafverfolgungsbehörden verurteilt.

Besoldung / Vergütung

Nach einem Bericht der französischen Zeitung L'Express vom April 2008 beträgt das Gehalt des Präsidenten der EBWE 428.000 € jährlich, zuzüglich Dienstwohnung in London und Dienstwagen mit Chauffeur.

Quellen

Weblinks

 Bericht des Handelsblatts vom 4. Juli 2008

Ökonom (20. Jahrhundert)
Ökonom (21. Jahrhundert)
Bankier
Franzose
Geboren 1950
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Google PIXEL XE
Brand: Google
6.0 inches, 1440 x 3040 pixels
Back: 48MP + Font: 12MP, [email protected]
RAM: 8GB + ROM: 128GB, Snapdragon 888
Google PIXEL XE - Full Specifications and Price in Bangladesh
PIXEL XE
Not Announced
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 6(900), 7(2600), 8(900), 9(1800), 10(1700/2100), 11(1500), 12(700), 13(700), 14(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 26(850), 28(700), 38(2600), 40(2300), 41(2500)
71(600), 74(1500), 75(1500), 76(1500), 77(3700), 78(3500), 79(4700), 80(1800), 81(900), 82(800), 83(700), 84(2100),86(1700), 89(850), 90(900/1500), 91, 92(800/1500), 93(900/1500), 94(900/1500), 95(2100), 257(28GHz), 258(26GHz)
HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (5CA) Cat18 1200/150 Mbps
Qualcomm SM8150 Snapdragon 888 (7 nm)
Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.78 GHz Kryo 485)
P-OLED capacitive touchscreen
144.7 x 70.4 x 8 mm (5.70 x 2.77 x 0.31 in)
Clearly White, Just Black, Oh So Orange
128GB (ROM)
[email protected]/60/120fps, [email protected], gyro-EIS
Wi-Fi 802.1ac a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Quick Charging 18W
Wireless Charging 10W
Google PIXEL XE - Reviews
Google PIXEL XE Price & Release Date in Bangladesh
The latest update of Google PIXEL XE Price in Bangladesh 2020. Check full specs of Google PIXEL XE with its features, reviews, comparison, Unofficial Price, Official Price, Expedited Price, Mobile BD Price, and this product every best single feature ratings, etc. Google PIXEL XE Expected to be launched in this country on December 2020.
Name Google PIXEL XE
Launch Date Exp. December 2020
Google PIXEL XE Price in Bangladesh
Google PIXEL XE price in Bangladesh is expected to be BDT. about 00,000. This is an 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage base variant of Google PIXEL XE which is expected to available in Clearly White, Just Black, Oh So Orange color variants online stores and Google showrooms in Bangladesh.
More Products from Google
Google PIXEL MINI


text:
Q: How to Send Input as a List Into Function? I trying to pass the input to the function but my code has a problem.
I have position with the (x, y) coordinates for each points.
I would be appreciate if someone help me to fix my program.
def distance(ball1,ball2):
  d=(((ball2[0]-ball1[0])**2)+((ball2[1]-ball1[1])**2))**(1/2)
  print(float(d))
ball1=[2,10]
ball2=[3,5]
distance(ball1,ball2)

Error has been fixed, But the output is not accurate and the result always is 1.
May you please help to fix that too? thanks

A: The issue is that you are accessing the third element in ball2, with ball2[2]. However, there are only two elements in the list. You need to change it to ball2[1]-ball1[1]:
def distance(ball1=[],ball2=[]):
  d=(((ball2[0]-ball1[0])**2)+((ball2[1]-ball1[1])**2))**(1/2)
  print(d)

A: def distance(ball1=[], ball2=[]):
    d = (((ball2[0] - ball1[0]) ** 2) + ((ball2[1] - ball2[1]) ** 2)) ** (1 / 2)
    print(d)

ball1 = [1, 1]
ball2 = [3, 3]
distance(ball1, ball2)

A: You cannot access the third element.
Code:
def distance(ball1=[],ball2=[]):
  d=(((ball2[0]-ball1[0])**2)+((ball2[1]-ball1[1])**2))**(1/2)
  print(d)
ball1=[1,1]
ball2=[3,3]
distance(ball1,ball2)

A: The 1 result is due to division.
In Python 2 1/2 does integer division with 0 result.
In Python 3 1/2 works computes to 0.5
Just replace 1/2 with 0.5 in your code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is a large city located north of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located almost entirely within Dallas County, except a small portion located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. Garland enjoys a rich history that has shaped it into the thriving metropolitan-area city that offers its residents and businesses a high quality of life, excellent educational and workforce development opportunities, and is enhanced by community leadership and partners. Garland is proud of its affordable and business-friendly climate.


Kerry Stokes' diversified media, mining gear and power group Seven Group Holdings has swung to an annual profit, and is cautiously confident that trading circumstances will stabilise this year. That leader would have around $50,000 to 100,000 a month (Organization Averages) to be paid to his or her Group – and by no means personally cut a single verify, and be advanced 75% of all Annual Life Premium as an interest free of charge loan, to construct their company.
I'm arguing that a private business or organization should be able to hire AND serve who they please…in the public sector of police and fire protection, no…but, in private entities, YES…I stated in my arcticle that it is personally repugnant and also, generally, bad business.
Granted, no one particular in government coughed up one dime for you to start off your enterprise, but as businessmen, you each know that money is not the only asset necessary for a effective company there are a multitude of intangible assets that have to be added to make a going enterprise a effective one.
Wages provided are very much impacted by the nationality of the applicant so an Indian IT graduate would probably be provided a substantially decrease salary than the equivalent from the UK.. As such several firms do recruit from the cheaper countries unless they are hunting for certain abilities and experience or are just attempting to show off that they have more westerners!
Weave a Mat (Milestones, Assumptions, and Tasks) Compile a list of the milestones you need to have to meet, assumptions that are built into your company model, and the tasks you want to achieve to produce your organization. Hi Sachin, As far as I am conscious a Saudi Visa in your passport will not affect you ability to go to either USA or UK. I posted this portion back at the extra cost of 9.ten (UK) but the seller accused the garage of damaging the component & would not refund. These languages are employed by Africans in South Africa and they are also written as can be observed above. Those are some of the most more than looked folks to speak to when folks are in this enterprise.


Simple Bird Applique Pattern - Simple bird applique creating A quilt…one stitch at A time. My contemporary trend, hummingbird in flight, is now on the website. Each And Every trend includes the templates already traced onto freezer paper. That is the trend that we will be able to be running on at the spring applique retreat. I ve 2 spots left for the retreat so if you want to return, sign up soon.


What does Software as a Service bring to Insurance Businesses?
Software as a Service (SaaS) has revolutionised industries such as marketing, finance and retail – and now it's the turn of the insurance sector. There are clear benefits to investing in SaaS for your business and many of the obstacles of cost and scale that have traditionally held the insurance sector back can now be easily overcome.
SaaS is made possible by cloud computing. It provides an alternative to having an on site infrastructure that you acquire and maintain yourself for business software. Rather than buying licences for software, and the hardware to run it, under your own business name, SaaS provides access to that software via the cloud, as and when required.
Client demand, seasonal changes and the impact of world events are just a few of the reasons why software and infrastructure need could ebb and flow for an insurance business. Responding to this via a traditional, on-site structure can be incredibly time consuming and is rarely cost effective. SaaS, on the other hand, enables scalability that is swift and responsive, giving your business a competitive advantage and making it easy to adjust. Whether you need to scale up or down, when you're working with SaaS this is simple and fast.
Switching to cloud based SaaS effectively removes the need to set up and maintain this infrastructure on site. Huge budgets for implementing, maintaining and upgrading infrastructure will no longer be required, as costs are considerably reduced thanks to the economies of scale that SaaS employs.
Flexible working and more agile business styles have enormous benefits for insurance enterprises. SaaS makes this possible with access to cloud systems from anywhere there is an internet connection. System security falls to the SaaS provider, an entity likely to have a great deal more equipment, expertise and experience to ensure that this is delivered at the highest level.
In addition to the digital security provided by the SaaS provider, working with cloud based systems means that you no longer have the risk of a data centre on site. So, your data is doubly protected because, should something happen to the physical business premises – such as a fire or burglary - all that information is nowhere near it.
SaaS delivers clear benefits in terms of providing access to the best possible quality and the latest upgrades for your budget. Thanks to the way that SaaS is set up you'll most likely be able to buy much better quality, more innovative software as a service than you would as a product. Plus, the responsibility for installing upgrades, patches and carrying out maintenance no longer falls to your business. Instead it's all bound up in the service you buy, ensuring that the software and systems you're using are always optimised and up to date.
To discuss how SaaS could work for your business please contact a member of the Mandon Software team.


At Dana, we offer the top-tier aftermarket products that adhere to rigid OE manufacturing specs for optimal performance and reliability, as well as the expert support you need to maximize the return on investment for your commercial vehicle.
We offer a complete offering of sealing and driveline solutions to commercial-vehicle customers in Europe, including Victor Reinz® and Glaser® sealing systems, Spicer® axles and a growing line of Spicer driveshaft offerings.
We have opened a new 6,000-m2 (65,000 square-feet) distribution center in Gyor, Hungary, which, combined with the existing distribution centers in Neu-Ulm in Germany and Zaragoza in Spain, further establishes our growing global aftermarket distribution network. Using an industry-leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, this facility ships and receives replacement parts from production facilities in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Spain and then ships them to commercial-vehicle service and distribution centers throughout Europe, ensuring an increased level of service and better product availability.


Traklight offers a software to help businesses identify business risk and intellectual property. MakerSource members can get started using Traklight's free Business Risk Assessment and can upgrade to the full ID your IP® platform for only $99 using the code MAKERSOURCE16.
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There will be mixed weather across Sussex today as a cold, damp morning gives way to warm, sunny spells.
West Sussex will be particularly grey this morning before brightening up into the day.
East Sussex starts brighter and will continue to get warmer as the day progresses.
Temperatures could reach as high as 25 degrees Celsius, but are likely to hover around 20.
The evening will be mainly clear at first but becoming very cloudy with outbreaks of rain to the west.
A warm night follows, with minimum temperatures of 16 degrees Celsius.


Associated changes in this document: 3, 3, 6.1, 6.1, 6.1, 6.1, 6.1, 8, C.
Identical to those of "application/xml" as described in [RFC3023] , ↑ I ↓sSection 3.2.
As defined in this specification. In addition, as this media type uses the "+xml" convention, it shares the same security considerations as described in [RFC3023] , ↑ I ↓sSection 10.
As specified for "application/xml" in [RFC3023] , ↑ I ↓sSection 3.2.
As specified for "application/xml" in [RFC3023] , ↑ I ↓sSection 5.
As specified in [RFC3023] , ↑ I ↓sSection 6.
julian.reschke@greenbytes.de 2006-07-21 Mention the potential issues with having user names appear in public content.
When mount documents contain user names (using the <dm:username> element defined in Section 3.4), servers hosting such documents (or clients creating them) should pay attention to the public readability of the document and related privacy concerns.
julian.reschke@greenbytes.de 2006-07-11 Escape the filename passed as a parameter before handing it to MSXML's load() method (which expects a URI (reference), not a filename).
Associated changes in this document: B.1, B.1.
Add and resolve issue "ms-impl-fn" (filenames needs to be URI escaped for usage in MSXML's load() method). Add and resolve issue "warn-username-visibility" (add security consideration regarding user names in content).