text:
OwnInvestGiveCollectExperience
https://www.barrons.com/articles/ice-hotels-rise-from-the-depths-of-winter-01638568044
Ice Hotels Rise From the Depths of Winter
Nadja Sayej
Dec. 4, 2021 8:00 am ET
Icehotel in Sweden opens mid-December with 44 warm hotel rooms, 28 warm chalets, 18 year-round open art suites made from ice, and 32 artist-designed suites made of ice from the nearby Torne River.
Asaf Klinger
This winter, the Hôtel de Glace in Quebec will be built from the ground up—entirely out of ice. Roughly 30 ice workers will construct a hotel from 40,000 tons of snow, while 15 ice sculptures will decorate the chilly rooms. It's the only hotel in North America made entirely from ice and snow.
Ice hotels are outdoor accommodations where guests sleep in igloos, while wrapped in fur blankets. But they're not a rough adventure—in fact, they're becoming more luxurious, paired with hot tubs, fine dining, chilly cocktails, and evening entertainment.
"Ice hotels are for travelers looking for an immersive way to explore off-the-beaten-path locations, but who would also prefer not to give up the creature comforts that come with a more traditional luxury travel experience," says Mark Nowikowski, founder of travel concierge company Flying Point. "I believe the ice hotel is the perfect winter extension of this increasingly popular 'glamping' trend," he says.
Hôtel de Glace, which is in Valcartier, a 20-minute drive from Québec City, takes full advantage of that frigid Canadian weather. It's not only a hotel, but a winter playground near the Village Vacances Valcartier hotel.
Since it opened in 2001, Quebecois entrepreneur Jacques Desbois has brought luxury amenities to this Quebec ice establishment, which features a Nordic relaxation area with hot tubs and a sauna under the stars.
The hotel boasts an Ice Bar with winter-inspired cocktails, an ice chapel, concerts, and ice sculpture workshops. As they approach the 20-year anniversary of the Hôtel de Glace this winter, they've seen roughly 2 million visitors and about 70,000 overnight guests.
Experience 365's SnowCastle Resort open year-round.
Experience 365
European Ice Vacation
It wouldn't have been possible without Sweden leading the way, however. The first ice hotel opened in 1989 in the northern Lapland region of Sweden, in a town called Jukkasjärvi.
"All the ice comes from the river and it goes back after, like a circle," says Luca Roncoroni, the creative director of the Icehotel in Sweden. "Knowing that you can try out a new idea next year is very liberating; it has an interesting effect on creativity."
This Icehotel opens mid-December with 44 warm hotel rooms, 28 warm chalets, 18 year-round open art suites made from ice and 32 artist-designed suites made of ice from the nearby Torne River. There are nine deluxe suites, as well. This year, the award-winning design duo Prince Carl Philip Bernadotte and Oscar Kylberg have designed a suite. "The goal is to design a room in a unique Swedish environment, on nature's own terms," says Kylberg, CEO of Bernadotte & Kylberg.
Across Scandinavia and Europe, other luxury hotels have followed. The Bjorli Ice Lodge in the Dovre-Sunndalsfjella National Park in the Sunndal region of Norway is built entirely of snow and ice. There are also luxury tents, snowmobile tours, and saunas for guests. Neighboring the Bjorli Ski Resort, it's a luxury ice hotel that has stylish, well-furnished rooms open from January until April. There's traditional Nordic cuisine, saunas, and hot tubs available nearby.
Not every nature-bound hotel is made of ice, however. In the Swiss Alps, there's the luxury Whitepod eco camp, which takes a different approach. Like at a five-star hotel, there's private saunas and sleek rooms filled with heavy blankets as part of their "hi-tech eco camp." Sleep in environmentally conscious geodesic pods, which are heated by pellet stoves in the middle of a snow-capped mountain.
In the Slovenian mountains, Eskimo Village can only be reached by a cable car, followed by a snowshoe hike up the mountain. Guests sleep in sheepskin on a snow-block bed in an igloo.
In Gstaad, a ski resort town in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, the Iglu-Dorg Gstaad is home to multi-bedroom igloos to stay for the night, which offers gourmet fondue served under the full moon, as well as group hikes around the terrain, as well as igloo construction workshops, detailing how these structures were built.
Resort Experience on Ice
Some of the ice hotels are full-fledged resorts, like the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in northern Finland, which pairs luxury igloos with adventures such as reindeer safaris, ice fishing, and snowboarding. Among their luxury suites, their Queen Suite is a classy chalet made of Finnish kelo wood, and features a sauna and jacuzzi, while the Traditional House is a century-old wooden home with a fireplace, built in traditional Lapland style.
There has been a spike in popularity over the past year, as more travelers are turning to remote locations for their wellbeing.
The luxury Whitepod eco camp in the Swiss Alps.
Whitepod
"Especially since the pandemic, I have found luxury travelers are increasingly drawn to new and real ways to find presence while reconnecting with nature," Nowikowski says. "Ice hotels provide an elevated, unique way to do just that in the winter season, and in locations that otherwise wouldn't have lent themselves well to this sort of experience."
Another option is Experience 365 in Kemi, a small town in northern Finland, which has a SnowCastle Resort open year-round. For those who want to gaze at the Northern Lights at night, their SnowHotel has been built every winter since 1996.
Among the luxury amenities, the Seaview Restaurant Lumihiutale boasts an arctic twist on local sea cuisine, and a Finnish sauna with private lounges and stunning seaside views. For a non-ice hotel, they have their Seaside Glass Villas, which are perched by the Bothnian Bay, open year-round.
AnnaSofia Mååg, a Swedish artist who has worked on the Icehotel in Sweden, says making a hotel room entirely out of ice is no easy feat. But it's a worthwhile challenge.
"To create a suite at Icehotel is genuine, excruciatingly tough, magic, and absolutely lovely all at the same time," Mååg says. "It's fascinating to see everyone gathering here during the building period, and the people who return time and time again to create another Icehotel, year after year."
This winter, the Hôtel de Glace in Quebec will be built from the ground up—entirely out of ice.


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Designed by Oliver Schick. Ronde has a pleasing bell shape with an opening at the top with an overhanging collar. The mainly downwards directed light from conventional pendant lamps does in this design also spread out of the spout-like opening and casts a smooth light gradient at the wire and ceiling. The hand-turned aluminium lamp shade with an ultra-matt lacquer has a ceramic like appearance.
The Ronde Pendant comes in two sizes and is available in five colours: Matt white, Rusty Red, Pigeon Grey, Anthracite and Charcoal Black.


Oh! What a grand book! I went to the library last Saturday for the first time in forever, and got this book, which I had jotted down on my to-be-read list and promptly forgotten all about (even including why I had put it on my list!). But I did not let myself down, because this was an amazing book. It had a great story, interesting characters, and enough going to write an English paper about, not just a blog post.
This book tells the story of David Zimmer, an English professor at a small Vermont college. His wife and two sons are killed in a plane crash, and his life falls apart. He spends six months slowly killing himself with alcohol and grief, thinking that his life is over. Then one night he catches a glimpse of a silent film, and laughs for the first time since he heard the horrible news. For lack of anything else to do, he decides to watch the rest of the films of the actor, Hector Mann. This requires traveling to a number of film archives, and a year later, he has written and published the only book on this obscure forgotten star. He thinks he has done with this task when he one day gets a letter, informing him that Mann is still alive and promising to explain the circumstances of Hector's mysterious disappearance from Hollywood in 1929.
I don't want to say more, because the plot is one of the charms of this book (Hector's story is worth the price of entrance alone), but I loved this book. There is so much going on, with repeating themes, and what makes narrative, and what it is to be a writer and creator, and oh my goodness it was great. But most of all this book is about grief. All the characters have lost someone and react in different ways, and in the end after going through all that he does, David finds away to survive his grief. Others don't. Oh, its too hard to explain - read this book.
Recommended for: People who enjoy books that have both story and substance; people interested in silent film; people who need something to turn to in times of loss that doesn't offer platitudes but does offer some hope.


text:
using NodeCanvas.Framework;
using ParadoxNotion.Design;
using UnityEngine;

namespace NodeCanvas.BehaviourTrees{

	[Name("Action")]
	[Description("Executes an action and returns Success or Failure.\nReturns Running until the action is finished.")]
	[Icon("Action")]
	public class ActionNode : BTNode, ITaskAssignable<ActionTask>{

		[SerializeField]
		private ActionTask _action;

		public Task task{
			get {return action;}
			set {action = (ActionTask)value;}
		}

		public ActionTask action{
			get {return _action;}
			set {_action = value;}
		}

		public override string name{
			get {return base.name.ToUpper();}
		}

		protected override Status OnExecute(Component agent, IBlackboard blackboard){

			if (action == null){
				return Status.Failure;
			}

			if (status == Status.Resting || status == Status.Running){
				return action.ExecuteAction(agent, blackboard);
			}

			return status;
		}

		protected override void OnReset(){
			if (action != null){
				action.EndAction(null);
			}
		}

		public override void OnGraphPaused(){
			if (action != null){
				action.PauseAction();
			}
		}
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


After my grandparents' Schengen visa got rejected for the second time (:'(), I had to refund their tickets, but unfortunately mine was non-refundable. Didn't want to waste the money, so still headed for Nice/Paris! However, I've been here before so may take a train to Slovenia and do some exploring there. Stay tuned!
… -> back to SF!


Cells, ecosystems and economies are examples of complex systems. In complex systems, individual components interact with each other, usually in nonlinear ways, giving rise to complex networks of interactions that are neither totally regular nor totally random. Partly because of the interactions themselves and partly because of the interaction's topology, complex systems cannot be properly understood by just analyzing their constituent parts.
Humans generate information at an unprecedented pace, with some estimates suggesting that, in a year, we now produce on the order of 10^21 bytes of data, millions of times the amount of information in all the books ever written. Processing this "data deluge", as some have called it, requires new tools and new approaches at the interface of statistics, statistical and machine learning, network theory and statistical physics.
Our goal is to push forward the boundaries of science. We are interested in addressing fundamental questions in all areas of science including natural, social and economic sciences. We put a special emphasis in the development of tools that aid scientific discovery through understanding and quantification of a specific phenomenon. To this end we have assembled a multidisciplinary team and have established solid collaborations with experts in biology, social sciences, ecology and economics.


text:
Любоми́рка — село Куяльницької сільської громади в Подільському районі Одеської області, Україна. Населення становить 1181 осіб.

Історія
Під час організованого радянською владою Голодомору 1932—1933 років померло щонайменше 86 жителів села.

7 вересня 1946 року с. Бірзула та с. Любомирка об'єднані в одне село Любомирка.

Населення
Згідно з переписом УРСР 1989 року чисельність наявного населення села становила  , з яких   та  .

За переписом населення України 2001 року в селі   .

Мова
Розподіл населення за рідною мовою за даними перепису 2001 року:

Видатні уродженці
 Блажевський Євген Вікторович — двічі Герой Соціалістичної Праці.

Примітки

Села Подільського району

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Learn How to Start a New Blog in 2018 For Free Without Hassle Just Follow These 5 Simple Tricks you will End Up Making Your Own WordPress Blog Within Next 30 Minutes Or Less.
Ohh man I visited a website Yesterday and the information was awesome on that site. I want to start My Own Blogging website or Online Carrer. how do I start? what things Io I need to start my blog? What content should I Post? Will I be able to Make Money On my Blog?. Don't Worry today I will Guide you and answers all the Questions you have When you start Your new Blog. My Name is Piyush and I was Beginner Too. I started my Blogging Career back in 2015 and trust me I had same questions that you have right now in your mind. How Do I Start? Whats the Best Things to Post on My Website Etc Etc.
So let's Talk about Why you Should Build your Own Blog and I will share Exactly what you should do and start your own First Blog. before we Start, Let me ask you some Questions or Ask your Self-same question. Why do you want to Join Blogging? Do you have Great Information that Needs to be shared with World?
"Let's say you have some great piece of information and Guides Which will Help People to Learn New Things." OR"You have an Awesome Idea of the Why and How" Then skip this and Read the Guide.
1.Blogging is the Most Popular Ways to Communicate and share Information and News Around World. If you Search On Google There are More then Million Blogs Available Online.
2.You Can Easily Learn and Grow Your Skills as well as your Writing Skills.
3. The Best Part Is you can EARN MONEY with your own blog.
Some of your question in your mind may solve whole reading this 5 steps. these are the five main steps you need to follow to get started with your new blog.
you might be wondering what is Platform? if yes then answer is you need to Select CMS( Content Management System ). A platform where you want to Build your Own first blog. I assume you've Heard of WordPress, and To be Honest it's the Best Platform for bloggers to start there blogging career.
WordPress is the Best and biggest Platform Used by Bloggers all around the world. WordPress Offers Simple User Interface, Plugins and Add-ons Which Help you to create Design and Add Functionality to your Blog. There are More than 90+ Million Active Users Who are Using WordPress for Blogging.
A) Blogger- Blogger is Hosted by Google and If you are Choosing WordPress as your CMS then I highly recommend you to select Blogger for your Blog.
B) Tumblr- Simple to Use, Divided Into two parts Social Media and Blogging.
3.Support from WordPress is Something which is next level.
You need web hosting in order to Create your Blog. Now you Must Me Wondering What Is Web Hosting Right? Well, the Simplest answer is Web Hosting Means Storage Space And Access for Website.
There are some limits to free blogs. You can't fully monetize it. you Can't Shows Ads and Can't Earn Money WIth Free Hosting.
also, you can Place and Ads and Earn Money With Paid Hosting. you can Have Unlimited Bandwidth for Images, Videos and for your Content.
Now, What the hell Is domain?Right? The domain is Basically the URL of your Website.
So there are many Domain Register Available Online Which Provides Lots of Useful tools and security.
When it comes to Design Our Blog We love this Part. There are Hundreds of Free Theme Available on WordPress to get started. I usually choose something that looks professional and pretty easy to customise. I would recommend you to go with Premium Theme as they Provide Greate Functionality for your Blog. Premium Theme Have Great Customer Support as well if you feel you need help just let them know and they will take care of rest.
These are the Best and Easily to Configure Theme for you if you are starting your new Blog.
Remember, your blog's design should reflect both you and your personality, but also what the blog is about. There's no point having a football-orientated theme if your blog is about tennis Quite Obvious Eh?
There are some very Talented People Out There Who Chose Blogging as Hoby and as Career as well, So Now What for Beginners? Here is some Useful Guide for Beginner's to Avoid Some Big Mistake when they start a New Blog.
That's It Now You Know How to Setup Your Own First Blog. if you Need any help or you stuck somewhere Feel Free to ask in comment section Below.
Great article piyush, You provided suggestion for hosting. Can you tell me the a single name as in hosting provider in India? Who is best according to you?


When we hear the word wizard, an image of an old man with a flowy white beard, bushy brows, wearing a long pointy, lopsided hat with long trailing robe crops up in our mind. The idea of magic has always fascinated the humankind; the ability to do extraordinary things with a flick of a wand has always been our fantasy. But what if we told you that wizards actually did exist on planet earth and could really do magic? As queer as it sounds but there were some people who succeeded in channeling the higher power and conjured demons and spirits and did many strange things beyond our imagination. Before you raise an eyebrow, read on the list of real-life wizards that we have compiled.
Abe no seimei (February 21, 921 – October 31, 1005) who originated from Japan, was recognized as the "Japanese Merlin". As opposed to the validity of existence of European merlin, he actually existed. He served six emperors and had a knack for divination and rituals which he used to protect the kings from illnesses and banish evil spirits. A rather famed Kabuki play, "Kuzunoha", tells that he inherited his magical powers from his mother. He was also known to have a "second sight" that he used to identify demons. The legend of his death is quite interesting; he was said to be killed by his rival. His rival, Ashiya Doman stole Seimei's texts that he was studying under a Chinese master wizard. Later, Doman challenged him to fight and succeeded in overpowering him and killing him using the knowledge he gained from Seimei's texts. The Chinese master wizard was famous to bring the dead to life; he resurrected Seimei by a series of rituals and Seimei took his revenge upon Doman and reclaimed his book.
Now, Potterheads may recall this name from the Harry Potter book series; a wizard who created the philosopher's stone and was over 600 years old when he and Dumbledore became pals. Interestingly, Nicholas Flamel (Pontoise 1330 – Paris, March 22, 1418) did exist in real life and legends say that he indeed created the philosopher's stone that could turn any metal into gold and produced the elixir of life. He was involved in alchemy and indulged in dark arts while travelling to Santiago de Compostera. Many believed that he and his wife became filthy rich after he became a wizard and used his magical powers to attain the wealth. While others claimed that he procured the wealth from two shops that were his wife's inheritance.
Michael Scot(1175 – c.1232) was a scholar and churchman of middle ages from Scotland who knew Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew. His knowledge about occult gained him the position of personal astrologer to the Holy Roman Emperor and was also the tutor to the pope. Legends claim that he used to have feasts with his friends on food brought by spirits from the kitchens of France and Spain. He was also known to have turned a coven of witches into stone and fight off demons. All the magic cost him dearly and he was said to be stuck in hell reserved for wizards as noted by Dante in The divine comedy.
Paracelsus (1493 – September 24, 1541) who was born as Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim in Switzerland was a prodigy who excelled in medicine, astrology, botany and alchemy. He was the one who gave zinc its name and was also known to discover the fact that some illnesses have psychological roots. He used astronomy and medicine to treat his patients and went as far as developing the 'alphabet of the magi', a language to call spirits who would help him treat his patients. He combined all his talents that included astrology, medicine, and alchemy to heal his patients and became famous for his "magical healing".
John Dee(13 July 1527 – 1609) was a genius from London who was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and philosopher, imperialist and was the royal advisor of Queen Elizabeth I. He also tried to communicate with angels and demons to learn about the language of creation. That's when he met Edward Kelley who became his fellow partner-in-crime and together both of them worked upon communicating with angels and demons. They traveled together across Europe displaying their magical abilities to the royalty while pursuing their dream of contacting with angels. In the year 1857, Kelley told Dee that he has successfully communicated with the angels who told him that they should share everything including their wives, which tore the duo apart. Dee left Kelley and returned to England.
Edward Kelley (1 August 1555 – 25 November 1597) was born in Ireland and was John Dee's accomplice in magic and they shared their passion for magic for few years in Europe. He was known to create the magic alphabet, Enochian, used to talk to spirits. He had keen interest in Alchemy and claimed to have discovered the Book of Dunstan in the 1850s, which gave him the spell on turning base metals into gold using a strange red powder. After he was abandoned by Dee, he continued with his work in alchemy. He was knighted by King Rudolph II but later he was arrested by the king on account of killing a man in a duel, but it was believed that the arrest was ploy used by the king who wanted him to turn metals into gold. The alchemist upon promising the same, was released but was arrested again when he failed to keep his word. He was given life imprisonment by the king until he could turn base metals into gold.
Hew Draper was an innkeeper in London and but he was seized and held captive in the tower of London because it was believed that he was involved in sorcery. He admitted that he really was interested in magic but he burnt all his alchemy books. Many prisoners before him had scratched graffiti on the walls of the prison and Hew decided to contribute to the wall. He scraped an astrological diagram on the wall of the salt tower which was complete with zodiac signs and signed his name and date, May 31 1561 under it. When the day arrived, he mysteriously disappeared from his cell; neither had he escaped nor was his body found in the tower.
Baal Shem (1700- 22 May 1760) born as Rabbi Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk in Okopy, Western Ukraine, has many legends surrounding him. It was believed that he could go without food for weeks and was actually able to teleport things. He would sell things and later the items would fly back to him; the story was more like to be related to a Jewish stereotype. Some say that once while travelling one of the wheels of his carriage broke and fell off, but the wheel followed him to his destination anyway. He was almost going to be burnt at stake for practicing magic in Westphalia but since he managed to escape his bad fate, he moved to London in 18th century.
One of the most popular occultist of his era, Aleister Crowly (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) from England was known to the wickedest man in the world. He was a brilliant occultist and represents the face of occultists in the mind of modern world. He was engrossed in alchemy and in the year 1898, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He believed in bisexuality which gained him quite a few enemies and due to his ideas and beliefs he was given a higher rank in the Hermetic Order. His ideas were the reason for squabble between the order's London and French branch. He later left the society and started his own occult group known as A.A. in the year 1907. The occult group was based on his ideas and beliefs. He claimed to have received a message from the Egyptian god Horus's messenger Aiwass that he was the new age prophet. "Do what thou wilt" was the law started by his society. He was known to have summoned the spirits from ancient Egypt and also for the regression of death. He also alleged that he recovered the memories of his past life as Elphias Levi.
a human person is a reflection of the universe on a tiny level and that they are linked and if they act on one, the other could be affected as well.
Elphias Levi died in the year 1875, the same year Aleister Crowly was born; creepy, right?


Best known as part of Marcus Shelby's Jazz Orchestra and a creative force on the Bay Area jazz scene for the past fifteen years, pianist Adam Shulman and his all-star sextet perform stimulating original compositions from his new album, Full Tilt.
A San Francisco native, Shulman studied music at UC Santa Cruz and soaked up bandstand wisdom from the late, beloved piano master Smith Dobson and work with Stefon Harris, Miguel Zenón, Luciana Souza, Paula West, Larry Coryell, Mark Murphy, and Bobby Hutcherson. He moved back to the city in 2002 and before long carved out a career as an essential sideman. It wasn't until his impressive 2007 debut album On Second Thought with saxophonist Dayna Stephens, bassist John Wiitala and drummer John Arkin that Shulman revealed an expert gift for writing arresting melodies. Trumpeter Mike Olmos joined the proceedings on the 2009's Patterns of Change, an album that captured Shulman's growing authority as a post-bop stylist inspired by Bill Evans. He delved into the endlessly enthralling world of Billy Strayhorn on 2010's Strays, a quintet session with trumpeter Erik Jekabson and saxophonist Patrick Wolff. Full Tilt showcases the chemistry of Shulman, Olmos, Wolff, and Wiitala, supplemented by Washington D.C. based saxophonist Lyle Link and drummer Evan Hughes.
Shulman and his all-star sextet perform stimulating original compositions from his new album, Full Tilt.
Shulman swings hard, exudes confidence and takes chances, while never veering too far off course.


A new exhibition opening on 5 October at Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, will bring together little-seen works and archival material by prolific (and perhaps the best known) British 'outsider artist' Madge Gill.
Working mainly on paper, card and textiles, Gill used pen to create maze-like surfaces with a glittering, almost hallucinatory quality that often reveal a female face. Ranging from postcard size to over 10 metres long, her work immerses the eye in a dark world of mystery, beauty and obsession. Her work has been included in previous Orleans House Gallery Outsider and Visionary art exhibitions, the Tate Gallery, and more recently at the Whitechapel Art Gallery , Museum of Everything and Nunnery Gallery.
The exhibition will be open to the public Tuesday – Saturday 1pm – 4.30pm and Sundays 2pm – 4.30pm.


Picking a speaker for a particular event can be complicated. Often, people go with the biggest name or an expert in a particular field. They go with the star athlete, the entertainer, the business leader, among others. However, when it comes to selecting a speaker for an event, care should be taken to be sure that the speaker you choose is the right fit for your organization as well as for the overall goal of the event itself.
New people come into organizations all the time. Too often, critical communication mistakes are made and opportunities are missed early on. Bad habits are developed and unhealthy patterns are established. If you wait too long, it becomes extremely difficult to fix the situation and those new employees become less than productive.
A lot of professionals confuse being busy with being an effective leader. People with a lot of responsibility at work often say things like: "I'm so busy, I don't even have time to think straight," or, "I have a million things to do, I don't know which way to turn." The late Dr. Richard Carlson, author of the popular series, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff," said that we all need to be aware of what he called the "burden of the busy mind."
Leadership is about a lot of things. Things that you have to be good at, and in some cases, excellent. Leadership is about being strategic, making tough decisions, motivating your people and challenging them, often with hard to hear, but important, feedback. It is about running engaging and effective meetings and delivering presentations with impact that get people to buy in to change when their instinct is to be resistant.


text:
COMMENT: Costa Chaos
Barcelona-based airline fails
Brest from London City
Britain's Farnborough for Qatar Airways debut
David Cameron gets Heathrow question
Emirates expands further
Etihad in Air Seychelles partnership
Gulf Air struggles on
Hands free for Lufthansa
Heathrow T3 gets new brasserie
Iberia sorts out union problems
Ljubljana to Luton
London City works for Skywork
Los Angeles new terminal
Lufthansa introduces Private Jet service in North America
Northolt in the media
Qatar Airways opens Heathrow T4 lounge
Shenzhen St Regis tops the lot
Toronto to New York air battle
ON TOUR: Eating well at San Sebastian – In the Basque country
CRUISE NEWS JANUARY 2012
AND FINALLY: Ruby Walsh don't get worried
CityJet is to launch services to the port city of Brest in Brittany from the start of the summer season. The Dublin-based airline, part of the Air France KLM Group, will at that time serve eight destinations across France headed by Paris Orly, plus Avignon, Brive, Deauville, Nantes, Pau, Toulon and Toulouse.
Initially the flights will operate on a Friday and Sunday, flown by one of the airline's 14-strong fleet of Fokker F50s. The twice-weekly schedule is thought best for business people commuting to and from London, and for weekend holidaymakers.
In total CityJet will offer 18 destinations next summer from London City Airport, with Amsterdam the busiest route offering eight flights in each direction in direct competition with British Airways. The longer routes are all flown by Avro RJ85 aircraft of which the airline has 22. www.cityjet.com
Barcelona is to become Emirates second passenger gateway into Spain from 3 July, after doubling frequencies to Madrid from the first of the month.
The 30th European destination for the airline will be served with a 360-seat Boeing 777-300ER, in a three-class arrangement. This includes eight First Class Private Suites and the award winning 'ice' entertainment system throughout all cabin classes.
Just two days before, on 1 July, in a further sign of commitment to Spain, Emirates will launch a second daily service to Madrid. This will also be operated with a three-class Boeing 777-300ER.
"Emirates is making a very significant investment in Spain. To announce a new destination and a doubling of services to an existing gateway at the same time demonstrates our belief in the market and our commitment to the country," said Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline. "Madrid has been a strong performer and the demand is there for a second frequency, while we need a second point serving the dynamic Catalonia region."
Catalonia receives approximately 25% of annual foreign investment in Spain and more than half of the Japanese, French, German, American, Italian and Dutch companies in Spain are located in the region, according to Barcelona City Council. www.emirates.com
Bahrain's struggling national carrier Gulf Air, hit by falling passenger numbers as anti-government protests continue in the tiny island kingdom, will shrink operations and seek cash from government funds, its Chief Executive said last week.
The move is in contrast to Middle East competitors such as Etihad, Qatar Airways and Dubai-based Emirates which have been expanding their networks.
"The downsizing will affect the network and affect the fleet," CEO Samer Majali said. "Staff numbers would not be affected." The airline could tap Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, which has a stake in the carrier.
"This is currently being debated," Majali said when asked if the airline expects to get any assistance from the government or Mumtalakat.
Bahraini newspaper Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday that the government is considering options including dissolving or shrinking the airline, or selling it and creating a new carrier at a cost of 460 million dinars (US$1.22bn).
Majali said the sale of the carrier or its dissolution was unlikely. "The country needs an airline... they will retain the airline but at an affordable level," he said. www.gulfair.com
IAG member airline Iberia has sorted out its problems with its flight attendants union, severely disrupting flights. It has reached an agreement on a two-year extension of employment guarantees and the transformation of some temporary hires into permanent ones, allaying employees' concerns over the impact on their jobs of the new Iberia Express airline unit.
Union representatives praised the accord, which must be submitted to workers' assemblies for ratification this week.
Under the arrangement Iberia will extend its employment guarantees until 31 December 2014, and pledges to extend them for an additional year on condition that a new collective bargaining agreement is signed before the end of 2014. The employment guarantees apply to permanent cabin staff and to 108 temporary staff who are to be made permanent in 2012. Previously the airline had announced that Iberia Express would begin operations at the start of the summer season 2012 using four Airbus A320s, with a two-class Business and Economy configuration. The number of aircraft is due to rise to 13 by the end of 2012. www.iberia.com
Last week, media were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the New Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles (LAX). As construction approaches the halfway mark, the press were invited to join Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) officials LAWA Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey and LAWA Deputy Executive Director for Airports Development Roger Johnson on a "hard-hat tour" of the US$1.45bn construction site including the north concourse and the massive core area where the terminal's Great Hall will be located.
Presently 34 airlines, including British Airways and the oneworld group, serve the Tom Bradley International Terminal and it handles 10m passengers per year. All three major alliances offer a lounge. www.lawa.org
International Pow Wow 2012 takes place in Los Angeles from 21-25 April. This will be the US Travel Association's 44th International Pow Wow, the premier USA Travel Marketplace. In many ways it is the equivalent of ITB in Berlin, and WTM in London, but a little smaller. What it might lack in size it makes up by razzmatazz, in typical American fashion.
Over 5,000 travel industry professionals are expected to attend, representing international leisure and meetings/incentive buyers, domestic buyers, press and US travel suppliers who will be networking, negotiating and conducting business. It is anticipated that this will generate more than US$3.5bn in future travel to the US.
The event offers five days of intensive business appointments, specialised sightseeing tours and three exciting evening events. Over 1,000 US companies will be exhibiting. Every state, major city, destination, hotel chain and CVB will be expected to participate. Highlights will be the all-new Transformers attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood and IRIS from Cirque du Soleil at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Centre. Registration closes 26 March. www.powwowonline.com
Air Canada is to launch triple-daily, non-stop flights between Toronto Pearson and New York JFK beginning 3 May 2012 and increase to hourly its flights to LaGuardia Airport. It will be the only carrier that operates to all three major New York City area airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Air Canada has been flying between the two cities for 71 years.
In a dig at Porter Airlines, who operate from Toronto City Airport to Newark, Air Canada points out it is the only Canadian airline offering Business Class service between the two cities.
Beginning 1 May Air Canada will add an additional daily return flight between Toronto and LaGuardia, providing an hourly service each business day.
The new Toronto – JFK flights will be operated by Air Canada Express using a 50-seat CRJ regional jet. The JFK service will have early morning, afternoon and evening arrivals and departures. With the new schedule Air Canada will operate a total of up to 38 return flights a day this summer to the New York metropolitan area from Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. www.aircanada.ca
Radio controlled camels
If you live in the wider world you may have missed it, but in Qatar the local 'health and safety' brigade have made camel jockeys redundant. It seems the little fellows kept falling off.
The racetrack animals are now remotely controlled from their trainers' cars. Little whips are mounted on the camels to act as jockeys, the experts travelling by car on a road that follows the 8km course. It gets quite exciting. And dangerous too. With 20 racers you have 20 cars/trainers. They tend to crash into each other.
Will it catch on at Ascot? Hardly likely. Ruby Walsh don't get worried.
The last AERBT in each month always features a cruise column. The steady increase of hits on the website confirms this leisure feature is well read. Such is the spotlight on the Costa Concordia disaster we feel well justified on focusing our COMMENT column on the sinking.
Whilst they are nearly 100 years apart a number of important comparisons can be made between the Titanic and Costa Concordia tragedies.
The loss of lives should never have happened. True on both occasions disaster struck at night, but the seas were calm and the impact did not actually cause any deaths, nor did the ships sink quickly. Help was available nearby. In both cases there are tales of heroism and Officers excelling in their duties.
A great deal was learnt regarding passenger and crew safety with Titanic. It would be hoped that the same will happen with Concordia. That will be a major plus for safety at sea.
There is a further parallel. The sinking of the Titanic did not stop people travelling by sea. OK, a century ago there was no alternative but clearly people must have questioned their need to cross the Oceans. The shipping industry of the time quickly got its act together and implemented a much better safety routine.
Did the loss of the Estonia in the Baltic Sea in 1994 with 852 lives cause a drop in ferry bookings? If it did it was quickly forgotten.
Your Editor has travelled on Costa Fortuna, a sister ship of Concordia. Getting on board that ship at Genoa was organised chaos. "Never again" regarding Costa was the conclusion. Fortuna was a stunning ship, perhaps a little over elaborate concerning its interior décor for English tastes, with service and organisation well below that experienced on similar sized vessels.
Without the results of the Court of Enquiry, but based on our own observations, AERBT would like to suggest the following vital recommendations.
• No passenger ship should put to sea without a safety briefing. This is the case with UK registered ships. An accident can happen from the moment the last gangway is lifted. The 24-hour rule is a total nonsense. Aircraft do not move off the stand until the cabin drill is complete.
• On a cruise ship you are checked in with your identification actually on board. With airlines the final passenger log is made landside prior to boarding (and backed up by the cabin crew). This way the record is held by the carrier's computer on land, and not, as it appears in this case, on a machine which probably went down with the ship. One must assume that the security was thus that no member of the crew could have got on board without checking in. This gangway check needs to be 'live' on land for instant referral.
• The evacuation commander must speak the tongue of the majority on board (and be multi-lingual). It is custom on Costa for announcements to be made in up to five languages (it drives you mad – especially repetitive 'sales' broadcasts). From the TV news items English seems to be the main means of communication. It can be guessed that the majority on board were Italians followed by Germans.
From a public relations point of view the UK-based Passenger Shipping Association found itself with a dilemma. As the industry's voice should it be seen and heard talking of the lives saved, or taking a low profile as the conveyor of condolences, allowing others to have their say? This needs to be sorted out.
Costa Concordia is owned by Carnival, a massive and responsible company with a first class track record. Its largest and most experienced European operation is at Southampton, a port synonymous with passenger shipping. Southampton should be put in charge of Costa, and quickly.
Your Editor intends to go to sea this summer, on ships big and small.
Malcolm Ginsberg
Ever the very effective airline showman, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker has chosen the Farnborough Airshow for the international debut of its lead Boeing 787. This year, with the London Olympics following, the event takes place early, 9-15 July. The initial aircraft will then go into service on the high profile London – Doha route
Qatar is due to take delivery of the first of a 30-aircraft order in late spring and will use the plane initally on regional routes. Three more are expected to follow this year, all with a two-class 22/220 layout. The carrier says that it is its policy to focus on a Business Class/Economy cabin in the future with the exception of the Airbus A380 which will have an exclusive First. Premium Economy has been ruled out, Mr Al Baker emphasising that, in his opinion, the airline's Economy offering, with a 34" pitch, is at least the equivalent of other carrier's mid-class product.
Speaking at the opening of the airline's striking new Heathrow T4 lounge (see below) Mr Al Baker said that he was particularly pleased with the success of the airline's recently introduced three times per week route to Chongqing in North West China. He found the municipality (28m population) "inspiring". www.qatarairways.com
The Government of Seychelles and Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding wherein Etihad will invest to acquire a 40% stake in Air Seychelles as part of a strategic partnership alliance initiative between Air Seychelles and Etihad Airways.
Under the partnership Etihad Airways will seek to increase frequency of flights between Abu Dhabi and Mahé from four per week to daily, as well as providing new services to the islands. There will be a comprehensive code-share agreement across each airline's network and the two frequent flyer programmes are to be integrated. Etihad Airways will also work in conjunction with Air Seychelles to develop a renewed fleet and network growth plan for the island-based carrier.
Etihad CEO James Hogan said: "This deal is consistent with our approach to expansion, which relies on the strength of strategic partnerships across the globe. The investment in the national carrier of Seychelles is a natural next step towards growing our operations in the increasingly important leisure markets of the Indian Ocean and Africa."
This agreement follows the December 2011 announcement that Etihad Airways would increase its stake in airBerlin to 29.21%, making it the single biggest shareholder in Europe's sixthlargest airline. www.etihadairways.com www.airseychelles.com
Lufthansa is expanding its automatic 'hands free' check-in service with immediate effect following successful trials. Passengers can now be dealt with automatically on some 400 routes within the Schengen (EU common passport) area.
Passengers with an existing booking are automatically checked in 23 hours before departure. They then receive their electronic boarding pass plus their reserved seat number, which they can choose to have sent to them by email or to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The service is available to all members of the Miles & More frequent flyer programme who have selected the automatic check-in option under "Travel services" in their customer profile.
Passengers travelling with baggage can check in their bags at a baggage drop-off counter or at a check-in kiosk on presentation of their boarding pass. They can also change their seat, as before, online, via a mobile phone or at a self-service check-in kiosk.
Lufthansa is thus extending its automatic check-in procedure, which has already proved successful in trials across Germany and Italy, to some 400 Lufthansa routes. There are plans to expand this check-in option across the network in the coming months and to make it available for all flight bookings. www.lufthansa.com
Slovenian national carrier Adria Airways is to re-launch flights to London from 28 March after dropping the route for the winter season. The airline will offer five flights per week between the capital (and largest city) Ljubljana and Luton operating Airbus A319 equipment. The airline will compete with easyJet from Stansted, who maintained a schedule throughout the winter.
The London route was one of a number of flights dropped by Adria Airways last year after it completed a restructuring of its route network to return to profitability. Adria has been a Star Alliance member since 2004 and a Lufthansa partner since 1996. Currently the airline has a 13-strong fleet consisting of three A320 series aircraft and 10 Bombardier CRJ series.
The airline can trace its history back to the 1960s when Ljubljana was part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. Established in 1991 Slovenia is today considered the most successful of the Slavic states, a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, NATO and OECD. www.adria.si
Working together with NetJets, Lufthansa Private Jet service is to be extended to North America from 1 February. Booking cannot be easier. It is done via the Lufthansa reservation system and will offer seamless connections either way at 21 North American destinations serviced by Lufthansa and SWISS. The coverage area includes over 3,000 airports.
"Lufthansa Private Jet has been hugely successful in Europe, enhancing the region's luxury travel options with service to more than 1,000 destinations in Europe and the Russian Federation," said Jürgen Siebenrock, Vice President The Americas. "Lufthansa and NetJets complement each other's product offerings and, with this partnership expansion, premium passengers in North America can also access the same flexible, convenient and tailored Lufthansa Private Jet experience."
With Lufthansa Private Jet, a dedicated customer care service team provides a unique single point of contact to fully address all passenger needs, from flight arrangements to ground transportation and special requests. Moreover, the price structure is based on the aircraft and estimated flight time, and imposes no additional charges per traveller or as the result of delays or other unforeseen circumstances.
Passengers also enjoy many exclusive ground facilities including a personal escort and VIP transfer service between the long haul Lufthansa and Private Jet flights. www.lufthansa-private-jet.com
Heathrow T4 has a new and most impressive lounge. Qatar Airways, who currently has four daily services to Doha (stepping up to five on 25 March) unveiled the facility last week. It is the airline's first outside its Doha hub. See Britain's Farnborough for ANA 787 international debut.
Designed to resemble a boutique hotel or private member's club rather than a conventional airport lounge, the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge has been created to provide the ultimate in luxury. It is opposite the airline's normal gate and has extensive views.
Qatar Airways recruited lounge staff from 5-star hotels and restaurants to work in the theatre-style Global Brassiere kitchen, innovative delicatessen, and Martini bar. Private shower facilities, free wi-fi and business services are provided.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker emphasised the importance of Heathrow. "London has long been one of our best-performing routes, so Heathrow was an obvious choice for our first Premium Lounge outside Doha," he said.
"With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place this summer, the international spotlight will be on the British capital. The lounge is the latest development in our expanding global network and will enable both loyal customers and those travelling with us for the first time, to take full advantage of the high levels of service we provide." www.qatarairways.com
To view a video of the new Premium Lounge at London Heathrow during its official opening ceremony, please click on the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNsZK-lpEd8
Jane Stanbury has been on her travels again, flying down from Heathrow to Bilbao, and thence by road to San Sebastian.
It is said there are more Michelin stars per capita in the Basque seaside town of San Sebastian than anywhere else in the world. The city boasts three 3-star establishments complemented by a host of other fabulous 2- and 1-stars. Not bad for a place supporting just 183,000 people.
According to Juan Mari Arzak the fourth generation owner of Arzak, 3-starred since 1989, "the source of great Basque cuisine is in the DNA of those from the region." Yet in reality Arzak is scientific in its approach to menu creation. A spice room containing over 1,600 flavours from around the globe demonstrates the dedication to flavours, taste and texture. Unimaginable dusts and grains such as Yucca powder, Hawaiian Sunset, Yoghurt dust and the inconceivable Werther's Originals line the shelves and are intriguingly blended to create a unique dining experience. Each container is carefully labelled and the fascinating space feels more like an experimental laboratory than the source of sublime dishes rooted in Basque flavours.
The sTcientific approach to food is not limited to Arzak. Perched dramatically above the torrid Bay of Biscay 3-star Akelarre's chefs demonstrate their uncompromisingly scientific approach to food. The workshop is a playroom for Borga and Enrique, head chef's Pedro Subijana's developmental team. Subijana, along with Arzak and others were responsible for developing the "Nuevo cocina vasca", the influential new Basque cookery style in the 1970s. Akelarre means witchcraft and there is much trickery in the food. A selection of hotel amenities on a plate was welcomed with mild bemusement until it became apparent the hand soap was in fact basil and tomato gel which was to be eaten with the onion "sponge". The moisturiser was in fact Zabal, a smooth but sharp tasting local cheese made from ewe's milk, and the mouthwash was champagne with pomegranate. This fun approach to haute cuisine informed the meal with unexpected combinations such as prawns cooked in flaming firewater "Orujo" on volcanic stones, lamb served on wine lees, and a personal favourite the beef dressed in copper which was carefully crafted potato.
Akelarre's relaxed but serious approach mirrors the Basque approach to gastronomy and underpins much of the local culture.
It has even been suggested that anthropologists should study the unique nature of Basque socialising.
The Txikiteo (chi-qui-teo) exemplifies perfectly the sociable nature of the Basques. Groups of friends gather before dinner to enjoy a tour of the old quarter's cobbled streets to sample an eclectic mix of pintxos (pin-chos). Bars dedicated to serving these local delights display counters strewn with brightly coloured plates offering an infinite variety of the San Sebasitan version of a tapa. In support of this style of eating Juan Marti Arzak says that the pintxo is "high cuisine in miniature form." Clients point to their preferred options which may include grilled prawns, king and spider crab beignets, stuffed mussels, sweet piquillo peppers stuffed with cod; or shout above the din for freshly braised veal cheeks, pigs ears and trotters, or succulent cubes of aged beef. Plates are accompanied by Txakoli (cha-ko-li), a local slightly effervescent wine or local sidra a light cider. Both are served, in modest amount, s in straight-sided pint glasses, and poured from a great height. Friends spend no longer than 10 to 15 minutes in each venue and as time passes the voices get louder and the drinking gets quicker. Bars range in style from the basic such as La Mejillonera which serves mussel based dishes and where you liberatingly throw your rubbish on the floor, to Cuchero de San Telmo which puts a modern spin on traditional dishes and provides forks to eat with, to contemporary Zeruko Bar, where the counter conjures memories of Willy Wonka's factory as the ultimate in designer pintxos are displayed.
San Sebastian is a foodie delight and there is no better way to discover all its joys than with San Sebastian Food run by Brit Jon Warren. He was so charmed by the city he has developed a business tailoring gourmet breaks to enable clients to discover the edible delights on offer. Many pintxos, sidras and txakolis later he has forged strong relationships with local culinary experts. Warren and his team will get you through doors otherwise closed. A fine example of this was his introduction to Alex Barcinella, a chef with fine gastronomic pedigree, who runs Ziaboga situated at the water's edge of the Bahía de Pasajes. Alex led me through La Breitxa market, explaining the myriad of fish, meats and cheeses before leading the way up a narrow staircase. A locked, slightly ramshackle door revealed the hallowed venue of a txoko (cho-ko). Originating out of sports or hunting clubs, this phenomenon sees groups of male friends renting a designated kitchen and dining space to create private banquets.
The rules at these closed dining clubs are simple, no women allowed (although there are a few forward thinking groups that now allow women to lunch), no political or religious discussions, but most importantly create great food. Male camaraderie is paramount as the men debate, discuss and elaborate the next lengthy menu. This is way more than a drinking club, the food is central to the txoko experience.
Warren can also arrange for budding chefs to spend time with Alex in his restaurant kitchen to discover more about the Basque cooking philosophy. Song thrushes are laboriously plucked, enormous hake are de-scaled, pigeons are dressed, and squid are prepared by a small inquisitive group soaking up the techniques to create perfect Basque dishes. Simplicity, focus and fresh ingredients are the base for most recipes. A morning's preparation is rewarded with a seven-course meal that leaves clients more than satisfied and slightly smug knowing the secrets behind the fabulous flavours.
A hotel that provides an oasis of calm after a hard days eating is essential for any visitor and Villa Soro offers just this. Not only does it offer a restored 19th century mansion providing commodious rooms, impeccable styling and individually designed room, delightful General Manager Jaione Gastañares is well connected, and can arrange tables at even the busiest restaurants.
Bilbao is the closest airport with Vueling a key airline. To serve the growing demand for the city and its environs the airline is now twice daily to Heathrow.
www.sansebastianfood.com
http://www.villasoro.es
www.vueling.com
Spanair, the independent Spanish airline, has ceased flying and gone into administration after a rescue package had fallen through. Originally set up in 1986 and a member of Star Alliance the carrier was at one time a full subsidiary of SAS but more recently was owned by Barcelona interests, 20% remaining with the Scandinavian operation. It had struggled financially for some time and in August 2008 suffered a major accident at Madrid Barajas Airport – an MD82 crashed on take-off and 19 people lost their lives.
Currenlly Spanair operates 29 aircraft, mainly Airbus A320 series in a flexible two-class configuration. The last few remaining McDonnell Douglas MD twinjet (DC9) series aircraft were being disposed of.
Iberia has issued a statement sympathising with staff and offering special deals for stranded passengers. Its own low-cost airline is due to start operations at the end of March. www.spanair.com
Malcolm Bruce, the Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon (Aberdeen) asked David Cameron during Parliamentary Question Time what on the face of it was a fairly innocuous question. "British Airways has announced that it has reached an agreement to take over British Midland International. Although this is being challenged under competition rules, what assurances can the Prime Minister give that the landing slots at Heathrow from regional airports such as Aberdeen will be protected if it is allowed to go ahead?"
BA would then be the only airline on the Heathrow – Aberdeen route. Clearly a genuine enquiry, but was there a request for the matter to be raised from 10 Downing Street. And if so was it used by the PM to show his interest in air transport and the bmi takeover?
The Prime Minister: "The Rt Hon Gentleman makes an important point, and I am sure that it is important to his constituents as well. I will look into the issue of landing slots – I know how important it is for regional airports – and get back to him." The response should be interesting.
A new full service carrier, privately-owned and controlled, connecting the Georgian capital Tbilisi to a number of destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, is to be launched later this year. The airline plans to take advantage of growing business and leisure traffic to the former Soviet state and help support the country's economic development. It will compete with Georgian Airways whose network covers nine international destinations, and which will be the main competitor to the start-up in the local market.
The Georgian market is currently dominated by foreign airlines, with Turkish Airlines (THY) holding the largest share of capacity (22.4%) from the country. The carrier offers more than 100 weekly departures linking Tbilisi with Istanbul and the country's second city Batumi with Ankara and Istanbul. Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit Airlines is the second largest operator from Georgia with flights between Tbilisi and Dontesk, Kiev and Odessa.
United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based consultancy TASC Aviation is involved with the operation with more details being announced in the coming weeks. http://fly-georgia.com www.tasc.aero
Tragus, one of the UK's largest casual dining groups, has introduced its iconic brasserie restaurant brand, Oriel, at Heathrow's Terminal 3.
The 115-cover art deco restaurant has been developed to reflect classic French dishes with a modern twist; alongside the all-day Petit Dejeuner, the menu includes Oeufs Royale, Omelette Arnold Bennett and Feuillete aux legumes.
Featuring a cosmopolitan bar and artwork celebrating the golden age of travel, the restaurant will offer a full range of breakfasts as well as a menu made famous by the original restaurant that operated in Sloane Square for over 20 years.
Ben Crowley, Head of Food and Beverage at Heathrow, said: "We are really excited to be able to offer our Terminal 3 passengers something a bit different by bringing an interesting brand like Oriel to the airport. We've been working hard this year on improving facilities and choice in Terminal 3 and this new opening is just one of the many departure lounge developments that will improve the experience that Terminal 3 provides." Last year 18.9m passengers went through T3. www.heathrowairport.com
Skywork, the independent Swiss airline, which in April will celebrate 12 months of London City operations, has launched a fresh new uniform for its pilots and flight attendants. The regional carrier is sporting apparel which brings a modern, contemporary look and a touch of glamour around its route network. The airline flies twice daily from London City and says that Friday, Sunday and Monday are proving to be most popular days. Flight time, with either a Dornier 328 or Bombardier Q400, is 1hr 50mins.
SkyWork was founded in 1983 and is one of the oldest airlines in Switzerland. Initially specialising in ad-hoc, business and charter flights, it now operates direct flights to 11 European destinations. The fleet, which began with a single Cessna 340, has expanded to three Dornier 328 and two Dash 8 Q400s. Three additional aircraft – two 328s and one Q400 will be added to the fleet in 2012. This summer the airline's network will embrace a total of 25 schedule routes from Bern. www.flyskywork.com
London Northolt (NHT), the favourite of AERBT as a further London airport if (as is the case at present) Heathrow's third runway does not go ahead, has been featured by The Guardian, not normally aviation friendly, but in this case with a well balanced article.
The piece in the newspaper, which was quickly taken up by the BBC and others, suggested that the Ministry of Defence is considering selling off all or part of the property. Assuming that a licensed runway would still be maintained this would still give the RAF a London airport home, but at vastly less cost than at present.
Currently, as an RAF operation Northolt does not have to meet CAA requirements, but is OK for business jets. Should the military pull out it would have to fulfil civil standards, either with the existing runway, or new one, which could be easily fitted in, and aligned with Heathrow 09/27. Northolt meets the Government's requirement "no new runways in the South East", but whether it tackles the BAA Heathrow slot dilemma in the medium term is subject to conjecture. Would a new NHT replicate London City in the west or be connecting airport? www.guardian.co.uk
Just north of Hong Kong, but on the mainland, is Shenzhen. Originally a fishing village, it has grown into one of China's most cosmopolitan and wealthiest cities. Just opened, the St Regis Shenzhen resides in the top 28 floors of the Kingkey 100 building. This stunning 100-storey tower of steel and glass, designed by the renowned architect Sir Terry Farrell, is the tallest building in Shenzhen and the eighth tallest in the world. There is a 28-metre swimming pool located on the 75th floor.
The St Regis Shenzhen features 257 rooms and 40 suites, each one with an iPad2 remote control, allowing guests to easily connect to any of the amenities within the room. The hotel is the only property in Shenzhen to offer a butler service to all guests – one of the St Regis hallmarks.
Each of the hotel's five restaurants and bars offer exceptional views and world-class cuisine. Decanter on the 100th floor has the largest selection of wines in Shenzhen. The St Regis Shenzhen is the fourth St Regis opening in Asia in the last six months following Bangkok, Tianjin and Sanya Yalong Bay. The St Regis Nanjing will debut in January 2013. www.starwoodhotels.com
This month's ship review: Celebrity Constellation
Cruise news update
Speaking in London, has called on the International Maritime Organization to undertake what she termed: "a comprehensive evaluation from the findings of the Costa Concordia investigation." In fact she was acting not only on behalf of her own organisation but also the European Cruise Council and Britain's Passenger Shipping Association who endorsed her views.
Christine Duffy emphasised the importance of the evaluation to ensure that: "the cruise industry remains one of the safest recreational industries globally."
She added: "the cruise industry is heavily regulated in compliance with the strict standards of the International Maritime Organization, the UN agency that mandates global standards."
CRUISE SHOW: It may seem quite distant but the well established annual Daily Telegraph (London) Cruise Show is only eight weeks away (24-25 March 2012). What is very clear is that the Costa Concordia disaster will still be on everyone's mind and the very useful lecture series will no doubt include one on safety and the improvements already in place and scheduled. Whether Olympia will attract record crowds (it has for the last four years) is anyone's guess but exhibitor participation is up on last year and the show grows and becomes more imaginative. Book the dates in your diary. Parking is easy particularly Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. More details next month but readers can go to the website and use the code JN to get a 50% ticket discount. www.cruisingshow.com
Our ship reviews generally follow a predictable pattern but in inviting past President of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, Ken Brookes, to contribute a piece what we did not foresee was a sudden change in itinerary. Here is his report.
ITINERARY CHANGE
Of all the major continental cruise ports Barcelona is probably the easiest to get to from the UK with new services coming on-line all the time (See AERBT 16 January). An autumn crossing of the Atlantic combining European ports, plus restful sea days proved a fine idea notwithstanding a change of itinerary.
Just a few days into the voyage, a proposed call at Funchal (Madeira) was cancelled because of a general strike in Portugal and substituted by a visit to Gibraltar on the previous day.
The wide open spaces of the imposing Constellation bridge are large enough to house an orchestra and hold a dance. In conversation there, Captain Athanasios Peppas explained that, although his schedule rearrangement was half-expected, the diversion to Gibraltar was confirmed with less than 24 hours' notice. In his department there were obvious navigational changes, but elsewhere there were shore tours to arrange in Gib and cancel in Funchal, and a host of consequential operational alterations, including a revision of the daily programmes and printing. If you had not known anything different you would never have noticed.
Unusually, in addition to his conventional appearances at parties, crew introductions and photo sessions, not to mention fluent mid-day broadcasts laced with anecdotes, Captain Peppas submitted himself to – and clearly enjoyed – a lengthy, no-holds-barred, public question-and-answer session in the crowded Celebrity theatre, where all the queries came from the audience.
With the special factors out of the way, let's look at a few statistics.
Built in St Nazaire (France), and registered in Malta, the Celebrity Constellation is a medium-size (by today's standards) cruise ship designed for up to 2,449 passengers in 1,019 staterooms and suites. More than half have balconies. Its crew complement is 941 from more than 50 nations, giving a roughly two-to-one passenger-to-crew ratio on an average voyage.
With length and beam nominally just a few inches or centimetres below the 965ft (294.1m) and 107ft (32.6m) limits to length and lock-level beam, the ship will just pass through the locks on the Panama Canal and is therefore "Panamax." Way above lock height, not only the bridge but also the buffet restaurant protrude on either side. In fact, if you are sitting at a window table, you are likely to find a horizontal glass "porthole" at your feet, through which in open seas you can see the waves about 30 metres below.
Though only 10 years old, in cruise-ship terms the 4-star Constellation would by now be regarded as a senior citizen. But it received a US$40m refit in May 2010, at which time its décor was restyled and its public rooms remodelled to match or better that of the later and larger Solstice-class ships in the fleet. Also now installed was a substantial diesel engine, giving the benefit of lower-cost fuel for at least some power requirements. In normal cruising, the Constellation now runs on one gas turbine plus the diesel and waste-heat steam generator. But the versatility comes with a price; the need for two kinds of fuel and twice the possibility of refuelling delays.
Close to the gangways, and occupying a small area, is what could easily be mistaken for an elaborate piece of artwork, in the shape of a dummy jet engine. It is, in fact, no dummy but a valuable spare LM2500 power plant that could provide much of the energy needs of the great ship that surrounds it. As far as I know, it has never been needed for that purpose.
The staterooms were originally decorated in yellow and turquoise, but the colours are now a restful combination of (mainly) beiges and browns. Apart from suites, the comfortable cabins are virtually all the same size, though a little smaller than on the latest cruising behemoths. Nonetheless, they have relatively spacious bathrooms, including a shower almost large enough for two to enjoy.
Around the ship, not only on stair landings and in public rooms, but also in restaurant alcoves, hiding behind elevators and everywhere in-between, is an eclectic and occasionally exciting collection of original artwork; paintings, drawings and a variety of sculptures. Many are accompanied by artists' credits on small brass plaques, but a surprising number seem to lack these modest tributes. Even more surprisingly, after a supposedly diligent search, no staff member managed to turn up an inventory or listing of the ship's art. Apparently I was the first ever to make such a request.
The two-level, two-sitting, San Marco main restaurant seats well over 1,000 diners, those with fixed times on the lower deck and others with more freedom (but no assigned table) upstairs. The four-course menus are typical for this class of ship, with complete changes for every day of the cruise, apart from ever-present optional staples, like grilled chicken breast and steak. There's also a good choice of vegetarian dishes.
In addition to the two main restaurants, there are a pair of surcharged dining venues, Ocean Liners, French cuisine based on the old Normandie transatlantic liner, and the Tuscan Grille steakhouse with wine. Good as were the steaks in the main restaurant, we found those served in the Tuscan a cut above, and the cosy ambience ideal for a special occasion. It apparently replaced a flower shop, but would have been a very out of the way location for the latter. The other stores, a concession like the spa and photo complex, are located together on one of the two decks where public rooms are concentrated. There are numerous other casual eateries dotted around the ship, including a poolside barbecue, coffeeshop and gelateria, each offering items not found on the inclusive menus.
Everyone knows about the vast quantities of food and drink that fill cruise ships' stores, but few give much thought to how the stores get there. For example, we never seem to see trucks and delivery vans waiting patiently in line on the quayside. In yet another interview, British-born Hotel Director Jamie Petts solved the problem for AERBT readers. So important is it to Celebrity that all ships in the line meet identical high standards that virtually all food, excepting the quickly perishable, is purchased, packed and assembled at its Miami headquarters, then shipped in specialised containers to base ports around the world.
For similar reasons, a photograph of every menu dish, accompanied by its recipe, is placed on an outsize noticeboard in the galley. This ensures that the same dish, when served on any ship, will as closely as possible look and taste the same. Observant diners will notice that the food preparation areas of the San Marco restaurant are located on neither level but on the deck below, with fast-moving escalators providing links for hardworking waiters and their assistants.
Celebrity takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. Roughly 50% of all water used on board (mainly for flushing toilets, never for washing, drinking or food preparation) is purified and recycled. Only clean treated water is eventually discharged into the sea. And any similar discharge of food waste, with the permission of the Environmental Officer, must be at least 25 miles (40km) from the nearest land.
Apart from food, the one thing that really matters on a transatlantic voyage, without even a glimpse of land for a week, is the standard of recreation and entertainment.
In this the customers were not disappointed, thanks in large part to the talented Cruise Director Sue Denning. She started her career as a teenage singer at the Abbey Road studios made famous by the Beatles. Her "official" biography says she was born and raised in Birmingham, but her Lancashire accent, reminiscent of Gracie Fields, gave away the fact that she, too, was raised in Rochdale. Her cruise organising experience includes stints with Fred Olsen, Thomson and Azamara as well as Celebrity.
Like eating and drinking locations, musical venues are dotted around the ship, hosting many individual and collective talents. At their best, the resident company in the Celebrity Theatre is well up to West End or Broadway standards. Special mention must, however, go to Danish-British club entertainer Perry Grant whose enthusiastic, mainly middle-aged fans would rush every evening from dinner to the limited seating accommodation, from which they'd refuse to budge until after-midnight closing time.
Stage and musical presentations are complemented by sports (in and out of the pool) and games, bingo and quizzes, instruction and informative lectures, the last-named from particularly well-chosen speakers.
PROGRAMME: Constellation will for the rest of the northern winter spend its time on 7/14 night cruises from Miami into the Caribbean before a 15-night transatlantic crossing to Amsterdam on 5 May via the Azores, Lisbon and Dover. Her summer programme includes Scandinavia, Russia and the Mediterranean. On 30 November, at the end of the season, it is Rome to Miami. www.celebritycruises.co.uk
CRYSTAL, in terms of its number of ships, is one of the smallest operators (just two super luxury liners), but always innovative a first-of-its kind check-in process that will ease embarkation procedures for all guests.
"Crystal Fast-Track Check-In" eliminates 100% of ship check-in procedures in port terminal waiting areas by utilising the barcode on the cruise ticket. As is customary porters load guests' luggage onto the ship and guests observe required local security procedures. However, instead of processing documentation in the terminal, guests are whisked through and ushered onboard to complete registration and receive their room keys/boarding cards with photo identification. www.crystalcruises.co.uk
DISNEY FANTASY, the fourth ship in the series, is well on its way. It should have by now completed its North Sea testing and be back in dock preparing for a transatlantic crossing to her home port of Canaveral, Florida. The 4,000-passenger ship will make her maiden voyage 31 March, joining Disney Dream, on alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean seven-night voyages. www.disneycruise.disney.go.com
MSC will operate from Cork next year, the first time that a major cruise line has based a ship out of the Emerald Isle for a series of cruises. The 59,000-ton Lirica will offer four new itineraries in August and September. A call at Dublin will feature in all the programmes. The itineraries vary from three to 12 nights. www.msccruises.co.uk
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES plans to base the brand new 144,000-ton, 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway at New York when she is delivered from the German Meyer Werft yard in May 2012. She will be the largest ship ever to use New York as her home port. Following a summer inaugural season sailing seven-night cruises from New York to Bermuda, Norwegian Breakaway will embark on a series of 25 seven-night trips to the Bahamas and Florida beginning on 13 October 2013. The ship will also sail two 12-night Southern Caribbean itineraries on 5 and 19 January 2014. Inclusive New York packages will be available too. www.ncl.co.uk/project-breakaway
OCEANIA is the latest operator to bring out its 2013 programme, in fact starting September of this year with what it calls "The Winter Collection" with new Grand Voyages, ranging from 23 to 71 days, and Caribbean and Panama Canal cruises onboard the line's new 1,250-guest, luxury ship Riviera. With the success of a maiden season's sailing the South Seas Marina will replace the smaller Regatta on cruises to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. The 20-day Ancient Legends (departing 27 December 2012) journey to Polynesia via South America will visit such exotic outposts as Robinson Crusoe, Easter and Pitcairn islands and Fakarava in French Polynesia. AERBT plans to report on Insignia in a forthcoming cruise issue. www.oceaniacruises.co.uk
STAR FLYER will be turning the heads as she makes her way down the Solent next May. The four-masted, full-rigged clipper is making a rare UK appearance twice in 2012, the first time one of the Star Clippers has been in British waters since her launch in 1992. Two days at sea to enjoy life under sail, followed by a full day in Amsterdam. The five-night cruise holiday, departing on 5 May 2012, costs from £1,095 per person, and includes a transfer from Hamburg port to the station; and rail travel home in an overnight sleeper from Hamburg to Paris, followed by Eurostar to London. If you have not experienced sail before it is a unique experience and to be recommended. A similar trip leaves 1 September to Lisbon. Inbound departure dates are 21 April including a transatlantic crossing from St Maarten, and 25 August out of Hamburg. www.starclippercruises.co.uk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Chief M. K. O. Abiola
Soyinka at 85… Kongi defying age with grace
3 days ago Saturday Magazine
Perched at the wooded end of a picturesque estate, the redbrick house was serene and welcoming this morning, when students from 21 states of the federation and some others mobilised from about 10 schools around Abeokuta, sat with him for an interactive session.
World leaders won't attend Buhari's May 29 inauguration, says FG
14 May Nigeria
World leaders will not be part of the May 29 ceremonies for President Mohammadu Buhari inauguration for a second term in office...
Constitutionality of posthumous awards and public holiday
31 Jul 2018 Law
The pronouncement conferring posthumous awards on some distinguished and notable Nigerian citizens by virtue of their sterling contributions towards the enthronement of our nascent democracy has generated some controversies. It will be recalled that the annulled June 12, 1993 general election has been adjourned as the most credible to be conducted in the political history…
I'm into sports sponsorship to help Nigerian youths – Frank Momoh
9 Jul 2016 Sport
Nigerians, who witnessed the 'boom era' of sports sponsorship in the 1980s and early 90s, will forever remember the role played by the former Pillar of Sports in Africa...
Four feared killed in Benue community attack
NOW Nigeria
How conflicts, poverty drive hunger, vaccine preventable diseases, by UN reports


CodeRED is an emergency notification service that allows emergency officials to notify residents and businesses by telephone, cell phone, text message, email and social media regarding time-sensitive general and emergency notifications. Only authorized officials have access to the CodeRED system. It is important to be signed up for CodeRED so you will always be informed and uptodate. Click on the links to learn more about CodeRED and how to sign up.


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Posted inEducation, The Grade
NCES Critiques Achieve Report Comparing State Scores to NAEP
by Alexander Russo May 20, 2015 January 8, 2022
Here's the response from NCES to the Achieve report I wrote about earlier this week, which suggests that the organization behind the NAEP tests and scores isn't entirely comfortable with the uses to which the Achieve folks put their work.
As you may recall from this post (What to Make of Last Week's Big "Honesty Gap" Report & Coverage?), there were at least a few questions about the Achieve report and the coverage it received. But I couldn't get any clear response from NCES, which produced the NAEP test that Achieve's report is built on.
All that changed yesterday afternoon, when I received word from NCES that indicates several issues with the Achieve report compared to similar but methodologically more sophisticated reports that it produces comparing state tests and NAEP results:
"Since 2003, NCES has published a series of reports that support Achieve's overall conclusion that state standards vary widely," said NCES' Acting Commissioner, Dr. Peggy Carr in an email via Arnold Goldstein. (Click here for a 2011 NCES mapping report using 2009 results).
So far, so good, right?
However, Carr notes that the NCES reports "map state proficiency standards onto the NAEP scale, rather than comparing percentages of students who attain proficient on the two tests." And NCES does not characterize states as "truth tellers" or with "biggest gaps," or necessarily assume that all states "should have the same proficient standard as NAEP."
According to Carr, NAEP's proficient standard could be considered aspirational, and NCES "does not assume every state should aspire to NAEP's proficient standard as Achieve does."
In essence, NCES is saying that Achieve shouldn't have tried to compare state proficiency percentages to NAEP proficiency percentages and thus make it seem like the comparison is apples to apples.
But that's not the only problem. According to Carr, Achieve's report goes beyond what it's methodology can support, comparing state results from 2013-2014 to NAEP results from a different year. Had Achieve matched up the years, the outcome would have been "different sets of states falling into their two categories."
It's also not clear to NCES whether Achieve used alternative test results, which NAEP does not include. And NCES dings Achieve for ranking states according to percentage proficient rather than standardizing the state proficient cutpoints "so states can be compared when placed on the NAEP scale, a common metric."
Read the full response below. As I read it, NCES isn't entirely endorsing the FairTest critique of the Achieve report but it's bringing up some of the same issues and suggesting that reporters who covered the study might not have fully understood the limitations of the appealingly simple comparisons that Achieve was making. Meantime, I'll see what Achieve has to say about this.
CES' Acting Commissioner, Dr. Peggy Carr, commented on the Achieve report on May 15 at the National Assessment Governing Board's quarterly meeting. She summarized the main conclusions of their report as follows:
State standards differ widely;
Some states were identified as "truth tellers," i.e., the difference between the percent proficient on the state test was close to the percentage proficient on NAEP;
Some states were placed in a "biggest gaps" category, as having relatively large gaps between those percentages.
Since 2003, NCES has published a series of reports that support Achieve's overall conclusion that state standards vary widely. The NCES reports map state proficiency standards onto the NAEP scale, rather than comparing percentages of students who attain proficient on the two tests.
NCES does not characterize states as "truth tellers" or with "biggest gaps." Achieve assumes all states should have the same proficient standard as NAEP. Although NCES reports show the state proficient standards in relation to NAEP's three achievement standards (Basic, Proficient, Advanced), we recognize that states have the option of setting their own standards, and they are not necessarily intended to be the same as NAEP's. In fact, NAEP's proficient standard is often called aspirational, as attaining it requires mastery over challenging subject matter. NCES recognizes that state standards are often designed to measure competency at the specific grade, and does not assume every state should aspire to NAEP's proficient standard as Achieve does.
Achieve's conclusions go beyond what their methodology can fully support. Achieve compares state test results from one year, 2013-14, to NAEP results from a different year, 2012-13 (NAEP did not produce results at the state level in 2013-14). A better alignment would have resulted if they had used data from both sources for the same school year. That procedure would actually have resulted in different sets of states falling into their two categories. (NCES, in their reports, does align the years, and in addition uses state test results from the same schools that participated in NAEP.) Also, Achieve may have used inconsistent data for the states, as it is not clear from their report whether the state test data they used included results for students taking alternate tests in some states but not others. Including alternate test results would also introduce an inconsistency with NAEP, which does not administer an alternate test. Finally, Achieve simply ranked states according to the point difference between the percentages proficient on the state test and NAEP, even though each state uses different tests and different scales. NCES, in its methodology, standardizes the state proficient cutpoints so states can be compared when placed on the NAEP scale, a common metric.
What to Make of Last Week's Big "Honesty Gap" Report & Coverage?
Academic Expectations Around the Country, in Two Maps
More State Tests are "Getting Honest" About How Few Kids are on Track for College, but There Are Outliers


Art Deco elegance and New American cuisine meld together effortlessly, bringing classic romance back to Orange County.
: This instant-classic-for-romance restaurant at San Juan Capistrano's train depot features three elegant yet down-to-earth rooms: the more traditional main salon with three large arched windows, the restored 1927 Pullman car with red velvet curtains and subtle Art Deco touches, and the original 1887 freight house. What makes Rendezvous even more special is the fact that it is run by a family. Longtime restaurateur Yanni Ikonomou and his charming wife, Char, oversee the front of the house with genteel hospitality. Their son-in-law, Peter Arachovitis, is the talent in the kitchen. His seasonal menus of what he calls "new American cuisine" are sumptuous renditions of classic European and California dishes with innovative twists using the freshest of local and flown-in ingredients. Soups, salads and a warm foie gras dish are bursting with flavor and color. Arachovitis is adept with balancing tangy with sweet in modern ways. For example, the signature sea scallops have a bit of spice from the chipotle crust, some tang from the goat cheese and a bit of sweet in the orange-honey butter glaze. There's also lots of game: venison, guinea hen and bison with a coffee crust and a smoky and well-bodied wild mushroom ragù sauce. For dessert, try the well-crafted soufflé, along with French-pressed coffee for two. Or opt for the goat cheese cheesecake surrounded by a Scotch caramel glaze. The wine cellar sits in the restaurant's airy train station-like hallway and is a rather good compilation of old- and new-world boutique wines. The service deserves special mention as it is as comforting and refined as the new classic food.


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TWDTT 089 – Stradivarius (S9E7)
by Brian Meloche | Nov 22, 2018 | Featured, Podcast, The Walking Dead | 0 comments
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Talking Through Stradivarius
This content has been moved and can now be found here.
On this episode 89 of The Walking Dead Talk Through, Mark and I discuss The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 7, which is titled Stradivarius. This was written by Vivian Tse, who is a new writer to the show, and directed by Michael Cudlitz, who I'm sure you all remember played Abraham. This season continues to be the best in years.
SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
The rest of this blog post requires a SPOILER WARNING!!! If you haven't watched this week's episode, then you probably should stop now.
Daryl's been searching… but won't ever find what he's looking for
It seems like Daryl has been out there, searching for Rick for the past six years, living alone, except for a new dog named Dog. It turns out that Daryl has the same X scar as Michonne does.
Speaking of Daryl and Michonne… and Maggie…
It was postulated that perhaps the rift between Michonne and Maggie could have been based upon Michonne finding out the circumstances behind why Rick was out there in the first place. If she found out that Daryl kept Rick out there to keep him away from Alexandria, and that Daryl's actions were in part to blame for Rick's purported death, then I could see there being a rift between Michonne and Maggie, and Daryl could have also been blamed. Maybe that's why Daryl never went back to Alexandria, in addition to the guilt Daryl has. It doesn't explain why they both have the same scar. I doubt that Maggie would have done that to them both.
The walkers are speaking now??? Or are they???
Continuing from the end of the last episode, we see Rosita being pursued by a herd of walkers that can speak. She somehow got separated from Eugene, and the episode ends with the search for Eugene, led by Dog!
Unfortunately, ratings have reached a new low…
This week, TWD only got a 1.80 in the 18-49, with 4.794 million, down from 2.02 and 5.396 million last week. The 1.80 marks the all-time 18-49 ratings low. There were two episodes lower in viewers in Season 1, but this episode isn't far ahead of them. With the mid-season finale airing on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it's highly possible that next week's ratings could go even lower, although I hope I am wrong. Charts below.
Please leave your feedback for The Walking Dead, Season 9 Episode 8, titled "Evolution", by 6 PM Eastern/5 PM Central on Tuesday, November 27, 2018. Check the Facebook group for any deadline changes.
Other Fun Stuff Completely Unrelated to Stradivarius
If you want to help pay for the editing of this and other podcasts, I mentioned a while back that you can donate credits to my Auphonic account, which I use to make these episodes sound so good! That link is: https://auphonic.com/donate_credits?user=bmeloche. Please remember to subscribe to us in Apple Podcasts. Subscribing to us helps us move up in the rankings, so it'll help us out tremendously! You'll also get new episodes when they're released. And while you're in there, leave us a rating or review! It only takes a few minutes and it helps others to find us! Have you checked out Amazon lately? That's one way you can support this network and help keep the lights on!
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Amusement Park Tickets on Sale Now!
2013 Hersheypark and Dorney Park tickets are now on sale in all our offices! Please note that tickets cannot be mailed and we cannot accept debit/credit cards for payment.
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The concept of intelligent transportation encompasses a huge range of systems and applications. Smart electric vehicle (EV) charging, citywide traffic monitoring, real-time traveler information, transit signal priority, and centralized fleet vehicle management can all be classified as forms of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) or smart transport. What makes them smart is the use of embedded intelligence to connect vehicles to each other and to infrastructure, as well as to central operational sites. Transportation systems are also considered smart when they are applied to achieve smart policy goals in the urban environment, such as enhanced mobility, lower emissions, reduced fuel consumption, improved safety, or economic competitiveness.
Demand for ITS will grow in both the developed and developing economies. Developed economies will see ITS as a cost effective way to maximize existing transportation infrastructure and improve city services. Developing cities will incorporate ITS as they build out their transportation infrastructure. Pike Research estimates that global investment in smart transportation systems will total $13.1 billion between 2011 and 2017. Most of this investment will be in intelligent traffic management systems, as this is the sector with the broadest range of potential applications. It is also the sector that is applicable for all cities and it is expected that interest will grow in developing countries in the latter part of this forecast period.
The Pike Research report focuses on four key smart transportation sectors: traffic management systems, smart charging for plug-in electric vehicles, public transportation systems, and vehicle-to-vehicle systems. The study provides a comprehensive examination of market drivers for smart transportation infrastructure investment, including an assessment of the various approaches being taken in key countries around the world. Key industry players are profiled and market forecasts for each region are provided through 2017.
What is ITS and what are the major applications?
What are some of the macro trends driving ITS investment?
Who are the key players in the ITS space?
What investment level is anticipated for traffic management systems, smart charging, public transit ITS and vehicle to vehicle systems?
For more information, visit the Pike Research website.


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Козло́во — деревня в Завьяловском районе Удмуртии, входящая в Подшиваловское сельское поселение. Расположена в 13 км к юго-западу от центра Ижевска. Через деревню протекает река Сепыч, правый приток Ижа.

История

До революции деревня входила в состав Сарапульского уезда Вятской губернии. По данным десятой ревизии в 1859 году в 14 дворах казённой деревни Кечьгурт (Козлово) при речке Сепыче малом проживало 99 человек, работала мельница и 2 кузницы.

При образовании Вотской АО, Козлово включается в Лудорвайский сельсовет, но уже в 1925 году при разукрупнении сельсоветов из него выделяется Козловский сельсовет, с центром в Козлово. В 1937 году центр Козловского сельсовета переносится в Сепыч, а в 1941 году сельсовет переименовывается в Сепычевский. В 1959 году Сепычевский сельсовет объединяется с Советско-Никольским в Подшиваловский, центром объединённого сельсовета становится Подшивалово.

Улицы
 Мира улица
 Свободы улица

Примечания

Населённые пункты Завьяловского района Удмуртии


Newton voted overwhelmingly on February 21st to become a sanctuary city. This means that Newton authorities will not cooperate with federal immigration officials in detaining undocumented immigrants unless there are extenuating circumstances such as an outstanding criminal warrant.
Newton is now part of the 15% of Massachusetts' that have declared themselves sanctuary cities. Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville are also on the list.
Technically, Newton is a "welcoming city" not a "sanctuary city but the move came just as the Trump administration announced plans to expand the number of undocumented immigrants for immediate deportation. Last month, the new president also signed an executive order that would have the government withhold funds from sanctuary cities. As of now, it's unclear how that might affect Massachusetts.


We are a church located in Brockport, NY that is impacting the greater Rochester area with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This podcast will feature all of our sermons, Bible studies, and other audio content. Enjoy!