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Report: N.H. energy efficiency lacking
Not only is New Hampshire the least energy-efficient state in New England, its energy-efficiency ranking also dropped the most nationally from last year, according to a recently released report that ranks states' energy efficiency policies. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., released the 2010 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which ranks states based on factors such as state government initiatives, appliance efficiency standards, utility and public benefits programs and policies and building energy codes and transportation policies.Every New England state except New Hampshire ranks in the top 10 of the nation's most energy-efficient states, with Massachusetts coming in second only to California (which claims the top spot for the fourth year running), Vermont in fifth, Rhode Island in seventh, Connecticut tying for eighth and Maine rounding out the list in 10th place. North Dakota came last. While New Hampshire compares not so favorably to the Northeast, the state is still doing slightly better than the national average, ranking 22nd overall.Along with Texas, New Hampshire had the biggest drop in ranking from last year of all the states, falling nine spots from its 13th place ranking in 2009. Other states have been boosting their energy-efficiency policies. The report found a near doubling of state energy efficiency budgets from 2007 spending levels and the adoption or pending adoption by more than half the states of Energy Efficiency Resource Standards, which aim to reduce or flatten electric and gas load growth using energy efficiency. Twenty-four states have EERS, seven of which were established in 2009, including Massachusetts, according to the report.New Hampshire is the only New England state without EERS. However, since 2007, the state has had Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, which in New Hampshire will require 23.8 percent of energy sales to come from renewable sources by 2025. Among the high points for the state's energy-efficiency ranking on the report: a newly amended building code that complies with the International Energy Conservation Code; energy-efficiency programs for state utility customers through NHSaves; and funds for increasing energy efficiency for business, municipalities and residents, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Business Loan and a Municipal Energy Reduction Fund.Among the categories bringing the state's ranking down are its lack of tailpipe emissions standards or policies for transportation system efficiency. "While steady progress on energy efficiency is evident across most of the country, several leading states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, have made plans to divert millions of dollars of energy-efficiency funds to balance the budget or reduce deficits, robbing their citizens of future energy savings and a more secure energy future," notes the report. — KATHLEEN CALLAHAN/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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India's Space Program and Deterrence Stability of South Asia
Syeda Saiqa Bukhari
Outer space has become a key component of military power projection for the world's major powers. The weaponization of outer space is also a global tragedy as it has always remained a neutral and 'shared heritage' for all of mankind. Only a few countries which include the US, Russia, China and India have been able to develop their space programs. Space resources facilitate military operations and also provide assistance in making crucial battlefield decisions. As a result, the increasing dependence of armed forces on outer space assets for communication and operational tasks make them increasingly valuable. In this regard, the world's great powers are attempting to militarize and command this sphere to pursue their strategic goals.
Military presence in outer space is one of the components of India's long-term hegemonic designs. In pursuit of its regional and global dominance, India is involved in several advanced missile development programs. India though claims to utilize space for peaceful purposes, but ended up in space weaponization. This shift also changes India's policy from simply having a presence in space to projecting power there. Colin Gray a renewed strategist described space power as 'a state's ability to use space while denying its reliable use to any foe'. In India's case, it has the capability to use space but not have enough counter space capability.
India first Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test on March 2019 is a considerable sign that India is on the verge of developing counter space capability. After its successful ASAT test, India has become one of the few countries after the US, Russia and China to have the capability to destroy objects in space. ASAT weapons are specifically designed to destroy the adversary's space assets, blinding them or disrupting communication networks, thereby providing India a major military advantage. The successful test of ASAT has thus made India more confident in its space program's capabilities.
In a recent development, India is going to conduct its first simulated space warfare exercise in July 2019. These exercises termed as'IndSpaceEx' are designed to gain a better appreciation of the existing and emerging challenges in the space security sphere by creating a real time war scenario. These exercises would be conducted to assess India's major space vulnerabilities, requisite space and counter space capabilities and also highlight the gaps within these capabilities during conflict. The conclusion of these war games would assist policy makers to develop space policies accordingly. These exercises will also help India in grasping its related strategic challenges and to take appropriate measures for effective deterrence in space.
Space modernization carried out by India shows that the country is steadily expanding its focus on missile development from the conventional and nuclear realms towards the space domain. It is also worth noting that these developments were also focused on gaining certain political objectives. It has been argued that India's anti-satellite test was only to hype the Indian public's emotions for political gains in the recently held general elections. But India's plans to conduct war-games demonstrate that India is on route to practically test its counter space capabilities to minimize the threats posed especially by China's growing space program.
India's quest for space weaponization touches a number of key issues which endanger the regional and international security environment. At the regional level, South Asia is marred by mutual hostility between India and Pakistan. These ongoing Indian space developments threaten to adversely affect the strategic stability in the region, which ultimately could lead to an inevitable arms race between both states in the domain of space. Pakistan should take these developments seriously as it forms a key of part of India's future military plans and take measures accordingly. At the global level, this creates a debate on outer space policy, politics, and the weaponization of space. The international community has also expressed its concerns regarding the resulting space debris from India's ASAT test, which would likely have a drastic effect on the existing operational satellites.
In all, space has become a new theatre for major military powers in pursuit of their military doctrines. Major Powers are in competition for securing space assets and to effectively utilize them for future warfare. These advanced space technologies could play a decisive role in modern warfare. India's desire of presence in space and the acquisition of advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems which are meant to facilitate military strategies for conducting offensive military operations at the present pose serious concerns for Pakistan as well.
Related Topics:IndiaPakistanSecuritySpace
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The Global Hypersonic Race
Vadim Kozyulin
Prominent Western politicians have launched a global discussion about the risks associated with Russia developing hypersonic weapons. Arms control experts are attempting to estimate the potential of these new weapons, but attempts at this stage are hindered by the absence of important technical data and the lack of specialized terminology in this field.
The discussion of the threats posed by hypersonic weapons was triggered by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who in his address to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018, described the impressive capabilities of Russia's new Avangard and Kinzhal strategic missile systems as follows: "The glide vehicle strikes its target like a meteorite, like a fireball, with its surface temperature reaching between 1600 and 2000 degrees Celsius, while remaining completely controllable at the same time."
Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas attempted to take the lead in discussing the destabilizing new technology. In March 2019, he hastily organized the "2019. Capturing Technology. Rethinking Arms Control" international conference in Berlin. In his opening speech, Maas said: "Manoeuvrable missiles travelling at many times the speed of sound barely leave time for considered human responses. The fact that we are not just talking about science fiction here is demonstrated by Russia's announcement that the first Avangard systems will be entering service this year. I would therefore also like to seize this conference as an opportunity to establish an international missiles dialogue that takes into account both the challenges posed by new technologies and the dangers of their proliferation. The experts gathered here today could form the backbone of this kind of global Missile Dialogue Initiative."
However, the subsequent discussion at the conference demonstrated that many of the participants were unfamiliar with the topic of hypersonic weapons. Recognized experts on missile control proved unprepared to hold a substantive conversation about hypersonic technology. As a result, the dialogue was reduced to discussing the INF Treaty.
At the end of the conference, the ministers of foreign affairs of Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden signed a political declaration stressing the "need to build a shared understanding of how technologically enhanced military capabilities may change the character of warfare and how this will influence global security."
In the United States, where hypersonic technology has already been developing at a rapid pace, including as part of the Prompt Global Strike programme, Putin's announcement was used as a pretext for investing more in the Pentagon's projects. "We have lost our technical advantage in hypersonics [but] we have not lost the hypersonics fight," said Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva. Meanwhile, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin, for his part, has identified hypersonics as his top priority and called for an industrial base to be established that could support the development and production of thousands of deterrence hypersonic vehicles.
Mike White, the Pentagon's assistant director for hypersonics, announced that the department had a three-step plan for the development of hypersonic weapons that involves investing generously in offensive capabilities, then in defensive systems, and finally, at least ten years from now, in reusable airborne hypersonic vehicles. The Pentagon's spending on hypersonic projects has increased from $201 million in 2018 to $278 million in 2019, and the overall cost of the program is estimated at $2 billion.
China has been no stranger to this "war of words," with several fantastic reports emanating from the country about "successful tests of hypersonic flight vehicles," the creation of a material capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 3000 degrees Celsius, and even the development of a universal engine that can accelerate a vehicle from zero to hypersonic flight. Japan has stated its intent to create a High-Speed Gliding Missile, an equivalent of Russia's Avangard.
Minister of the Armed Forces of France Florence Parly has announced the country's plans to use the ASN4G supersonic air-to-surface cruise missile as the baseline for the V-MaX supersonic glider that could travel at a speed of over 6000 km/h. The project is being led by ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, and the first test flight could take place in late 2021.
In the meantime, the global expert community has yet to come up with a clear scientific definition for the term "hypersonic vehicle." Hypersonic flight is conventionally understood to mean atmospheric flight at speeds higher than Mach 5, that is, five times the speed of sound. The second important feature of a hypersonic aircraft is its ability to maneuver with the use of aerodynamic forces, rather than merely adjusting the target accuracy. This entails longer atmospheric flight times and greater susceptibility to the destructive factors associated with atmospheric flight.
At present, only a handful of countries are close to creating effective hypersonic weapons. Hypersonic weapons engineers are faced with some very unique technical challenges. To begin with, there is the problem of ensuring controlled and sustained flight in a rarefied atmosphere whose density varies with altitude. Among other things, this creates difficulties for propulsion systems that consume oxygen.
Also, the friction created by the hypersonic airflow around the vehicle's surface generates a sheath of ionized plasma, with the nose fairing temperature reaching up to 3000 degrees Celsius. Even vehicles made of ultra-heat-resistant alloys or composites lose their shape and original aerodynamic characteristics due to the heating and ablation. For example, the U.S. Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude supersonic reconnaissance aircraft would become 10cm longer in flight owing to thermal expansion, and fuel would seep from its seams on landing.
Controlling a hypersonic vehicle from launch to target impact is a separate problem, as the plasma sheath blocks radio signals. Solving this problem requires complex and expensive research. Even US engineers have not yet found a solution to this problem.
Another challenge is linked to the fact that the plasma sheath significantly complicates navigation, which for a strike vehicle must be autonomous, prompt and very accurate. Plasma makes electro-optical and radio-frequency homing impossible. Inertial navigation systems cannot provide the required accuracy at long distances. A solution to this problem has yet to be found.
The traditional types of aviation fuel (jet fuel and methane) are unsuitable at hypersonic speeds. A hypersonic vehicle needs a special kind of fuel. Also, a universal propulsion engine capable of accelerating a vehicle from zero to hypersonic speeds has not yet been created. At present, militaries have to make do with rocket boosters or supersonic aircraft to accelerate vehicles to speeds at which their supersonic combustion ramjet engines can be engaged.
When it comes to the flight mode, there are three different types of hypersonic vehicles. The first type is an unpowered glide vehicle, which rides a ballistic missile to an altitude of approximately 100km, separates, and performs a maneuverable flight in the upper atmospheric layer at speeds between Mach 8 and Mach 28. By skip-gliding along the atmosphere like a skipping stone along the water surface, such a vehicle can increase its flight range by several times. The second type is a scramjet-powered vehicle, which can only fly in the atmosphere because its engine needs oxygen. The third type is a quasi-ballistic or semi-ballistic missile that mainly follows a shallow ballistic trajectory but can also maneuver to evade enemy missile defenses. One example here is the Russian Iskander-M missile, which flies at hypersonic speeds of between 2100 and 2600 m/sec (Mach 6 to Mach 7) at an altitude of 50km.
Experts sometimes use the term "aeroballistic." However, this definition is not applied to the speed of flight, but rather to the mode of travel: namely, it implies a combined mode of partially traveling along a ballistic trajectory and partially employing aerodynamic control surfaces and jet vanes for steering. An aeroballistic vehicle does not necessarily have to be hypersonic, as the term can also be applied to slower vehicles, although it is now widely used in the context of the hypersonic Kinzhal and Iskander-M missiles.
Hypersonic vehicles have one distinct feature which traditional exo-atmospheric ballistic missiles do not. While most ballistic missiles develop speeds of dozens of Machs (i.e., they also travel at hypersonic speeds), they are not described as hypersonic unless they or their warheads are capable of aerodynamic maneuvering in the atmosphere.
Some ballistic missile warheads are capable of terminal trajectory corrections. They are not classed as hypersonic vehicles, since the purpose of their maneuvering is not to increase the flight range or evade an anti-missile attack, but merely to reduce the circular error probable (CEP).
All hypersonic vehicles can be subdivided into five categories depending on their mission:
Manned aircraft (the first and so far only example here is the U.S. North American X-15, which set the world airspeed record of Mach 6.72 in 1967)
Unmanned vehicles (mainly experimental projects such as the Boeing X-43, which reached Mach 9.6 in 2004)
Scramjet-powered hypersonic missiles (such as the Russian 3M22 Zircon)
Hypersonic glide vehicles (the Russian Avangard or the U.S. Advanced Hypersonic Weapon)
Air- or ground-launched spaceplanes (the Soviet Buran and U.S. Space Shuttle vehicles, which reach speeds of Mach 25 upon re-entry).
Military hypersonic vehicles fall into the following three categories:
1. Reconnaissance vehicles
At present, only one purely reconnaissance hypersonic vehicle is known to be under development: the Lockheed Martin SR-72, which can theoretically travel at speeds of up to 7400 km/h. This vehicle is expected to be better at monitoring mobile missile systems than reconnaissance satellites. It could also eventually be equipped to carry a charge for a pinpoint strike.
Another experimental orbital hypersonic vehicle is the Boeing X-37B. Although little is known about its intended mission, it could also serve as a reconnaissance platform.
2. Hypersonic kill vehicles
Scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missiles that can be launched by an aircraft, a sea-surface ship or a submarine (the Russian 3M22 Zircon or the U.S. X-51A Waverider, which is currently under development) can be used to destroy enemy missile early warning systems, anti-aircraft and anti-missile defenses, airfields, hardened command posts and critical facilities.
Glide vehicles (the Russian Avangard; the U.S. Lockheed Martin Falcon, HIFiRE and HSSW/TBG [High-Speed Strike Weapon/Tactical Boost Glide]; and the Chinese WU-14/DF-ZF) are primarily intended as nuclear strike weapons.
Quasi-ballistic missiles (the Russian Kinzhal and Iskander-M; the Indian Shaurya tactical missile; and the Chinese DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile) are relatively difficult to detect by radar thanks to their shallow trajectory. Their warheads can change trajectory, so enemy missile defenses cannot calculate the exact target, and the warhead's maneuverability considerably complicates interception.
3. Hypersonic interceptors
These are surface-to-air missiles designed to intercept ballistic missile warheads, normally in their terminal, atmospheric phase of trajectory. The most advanced interceptors can engage ballistic missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes and even shoot down low-orbit satellites.
To stand a chance of intercepting a ballistic target, an interceptor must not only develop a high speed, but also launch promptly and maneuver actively. U.S. RIM-161 SM-3 Block IIA missiles of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System can travel at speeds of up to Mach 15.25; the Russian S-400 48N6DM missiles have a speed of Mach 7.5, and the future S500 77N6-N1 missiles will be able to reach speeds of up to Mach 21.
Advantages of Hypersonic Missiles
Hypersonic missiles have several obvious advantages over ballistic missiles. First, they follow significantly shallower trajectories, so ground-based radars detect them later into the flight. Second, thanks to their maneuvering, high speed and unpredictable trajectory, the enemy cannot be certain of the hypersonic vehicle's target, whereas the trajectory of a ballistic missile is currently fairly easy to calculate. Third, ballistic missile interception experiments have been conducted since the 1960s, and there are plenty of reports on successful trial intercepts. However, intercepting a high-speed maneuvering atmospheric target is extremely difficult and is believed to be impossible at present. Also, the mass production of hypersonic vehicles is expected to be cheaper than that of ballistic missiles. Despite the challenges associated with developing scram engines, such jets have virtually no moving parts and their cross-sections represent special configuration tubing. According to analysts at the U.S. company Capital Alpha Partners, "If hypersonic weapons can be produced with unit costs of $2 million, or less, they will impact some of the outyear weapons plans. A weapon that travels at Mach 5, or faster, and that can maneuver will see strong U.S. demand in the later part of this decade." Finally, the kinetic energy of a hypersonic missile is so high that its release will be enough to destroy certain types of targets even without using a charge. This gives experts reason to state that hypersonic missiles might become an alternative to nuclear weapons in certain situations.
Shortcomings of Hypersonic Missiles
As for the shortcomings of hypersonic missiles, experts point out that they cannot offer high target accuracy because it is almost impossible to fit such a missile with a homing head, and its high speed will result in an increase in targeting error. A hypersonic vehicle is believed to have a CER of between 30 and 50 meters. Furthermore, high-speed missiles will have a large infrared signature due to frictional skin heating, making them easily detectable by IR sensors. Designers will need to find a compromise between the high impact speed and the high probability of standoff detection. Also, a scramjet-powered missile must be initially accelerated to a speed of about Mach 3. This complicates the use of such weapons, which require a rocket booster or a high-speed air-launch platform. Experts believe that, due to a plethora of technological problems, hypersonic weapons currently have a relatively limited effective range (some 1000km for scramjet-powered missiles). However, the veil of secrecy surrounding this type of weaponry provokes rumors and excessive fears, and this destabilizing factor could prompt the enemy to resort to a pre-emptive strike.
Challenges for International Security and Stability
The U.S. expert community has carefully studied the potential of Russian hypersonic weapons in terms of how they could affect the balance of forces and concluded that, in general, they do not pose an existential threat to major nuclear powers. Thus, fitting Avangard missiles with glide vehicles will not increase the size of the Russian nuclear arsenal, nor will it extend the effective range of the missiles, their range of action or their strike speed. The United States and other nuclear powers will still be able to respond to a Russian nuclear attack.
U.S. experts admit that maneuvering hypersonic vehicles are almost impossible to intercept. However, given that the U.S. missile defense system has very limited intercept capabilities when it comes even to Russian ballistic missiles, the introduction of Avangard hypersonic missiles changes little in the nuclear war scenario. For the United States, this is more of a technological challenge, with which both the Pentagon and the White House are fairly unhappy. Dominance in military technology has remained a priority for the United States for decades, ever since the launch of the first Soviet satellite. Therefore, the news of Russia's hypersonic achievements does not sit well with Washington. At the same time, it has provided the United States with an opportunity to study the possibility of extending missile defense to near space. Megawatt laser weapons are believed to be capable of destroying both ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The current level of U.S. technology already allows for equipping different types of ground transport with lasers generating in excess of 50kW of power, while sea-based lasers can generate over 150kW. Under the current trend, laser power increases tenfold every three years. In this sense, within five years, we can expect U.S. laser technology to reach a level that where the Pentagon may be confident in the possibility of building lasers that are capable of shooting down hypersonic devices. The next step will then be to deploy laser weapons in the Earth's orbit.
In light of the above, the emergence of hypersonic weapons will introduce a number of destabilizing factors for international security. First, countries possessing such weapons will have an asymmetric advantage over other developing countries. Second, it will trigger the deployment of the space-based laser component of the missile defense system. Third, it will provoke a new global arms race, including with regard to laser weapons, hypersonic anti-missile systems, cyber-weapons, railguns and unmanned delivery platforms for strike weapons. Moreover, for non-nuclear powers, hypersonic missiles may become a serious instrument of deterrence or power projection. It should also be noted that hypersonic missiles could be used in a pre-emptive strike against an enemy whose main weapons are situated within their effective reach (at present, within a radius of up to 1000km). That is, the deployment of hypersonic weapons can be considered as a critical threat to the country's immediate neighbors. Finally, there are global risks to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The secret hunt for missile components such as fuel, alloys, electronics and airframe blueprints has never stopped. In the new environment, even those countries that are signatories to the MTCR are interested in obtaining prompt global strike technologies.
The current leaders of hypersonic weapons research are, in addition to Russia, the United States and China.
Despite its ambitious statements, China has not yet rolled out a reliable prototype of a hypersonic vehicle. Chinese engineers have developed the YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, but the country's military currently only has subsonic ground-based cruise missiles in service. It may be the case that Beijing hopes to leap from subsonic straight to hypersonic, skipping supersonics altogether.
China is believed to be working on at least two hypersonic programs. Since 2014, it has been testing the DF-ZF (dubbed Wu-14 in the United States) hypersonic glide vehicle complete with the DF-17 medium-range ballistic missile for the launch vehicle (eventually to be replaced by the DF-31 missile). The second project, the air-launched CH-AS-X-13 missile, is primarily intended against aircraft carriers. According to a representative of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Mechanics has created a turbine-based combined-cycle engine capable of accelerating a vehicle to Mach 6.
As part of the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) program, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force are working on three hypersonic concepts. The Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) combat vehicle riding a solid-fuel rocket booster, under development by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, is planned as an equivalent to Russia's Avangard. The Boeing Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) will have a combined-cycle engine (the turbine will accelerate the vehicle to Mach 2, after which the scramjet will further propel it to hypersonic speeds). According to some reports, the vehicle may be reusable. Northrop Grumman Corporation is working to design the combined-cycle Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE) for HAWC under a contract with DARPA. Finally, the reusable unmanned craft under development as part of the HyRAX project and the XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane program will be used as an inexpensive launch vehicle to insert dual-use satellites into low-Earth orbits.
The HSSW program is aimed at designing and testing a hypersonic strike vehicle by 2020. The key specifications include speeds of Mach 6 to 10, an effective range of over 1000km, a CEP of under 5m and a variety of warhead types (penetrator, HE-fragmentation or cluster).
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is looking into the possibility of creating a combined-cycle propulsion system for reusable vehicles, including by way of integrating scramjets with reheated bypass turbojets.
In addition to DARPA, hypersonic weapons are being developed by the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command in conjunction with the Sandia National Laboratory under the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon project, which calls for the creation of a hypersonic glide vehicle with a precision terminal guidance system.
Russia's breakthrough in the hypersonic weapons race may have shaken the global balance of forces, but it has not reshaped it. The United States is not far behind Russia technologically, and may even be ahead in certain aspects of hypersonic weapons, including when it comes to making combined-cycle or hybrid propulsion systems for hypersonic vehicles that would allow a reusable reconnaissance/strike vehicle to be created. Nevertheless, the Russian achievements came as an unpleasant surprise for all the leading world powers.
The situation appears different for those nations that do not command massive nuclear arsenals. The Russian example opens a window of opportunities for them. Hypersonic weapons may appear to be an excellent solution for ensuring a decisive military advantage over a technically lacking adversary. Those countries lagging behind in the arms race may perceive hypersonic weapons as a critical and potentially disarming threat to an unfriendly neighbor.
In the art of war, uncertainty often drives progress. As the leading analytical centers are working to collect relevant information and understand the scale of possible threats, politicians and militaries are approving investment in new defense programs. A new item on defense budgets around the world has appeared.
From our partner RIAC
The opacity of oil-drenched Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has failed to hide the blood-bath it has been shedding over several Middle Eastern nations, both directly and indirectly. A number of other countries have become suppliers to the Arab nation's barbaric objectives that have been causing grave instability in the MENA region.
However, with increasing death toll in the war-torn regions, brutal killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other human rights violations, Saudi's partners in crime began pulling out their support.
The latest in the series of "unfriending" the Arab nation is the United Kingdom, which is the second-largest exporter of arms to the Saudis, after the United States, as the statistics suggest. Last month, the British government put a halt to the approval of any new licenses for selling weapons, after the judges ruled that the ministers acted unlawfully despite being aware about the possibility that it could lead to the violation of international humanitarian law in Yemen.
According to the UN, the Saudi-led military coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, has "targeted civilians … in a widespread and systematic manner". While Saudis, with support of its major partner UAE, has claimed to have been fighting the rebels, rights groups have been protesting that their attacks have killed thousands of civilians in the last four years. Human Rights Watch reported deaths of 6,872 civilians as of November 2018, with 10,768 wounded.
The UK master of the rolls — Sir Terence Etherton, Lord Justice Irwin and Lord Justice Singh — ruled in favor of the campaigners, who have been against the arms trade. They concluded that the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, was "irrational and therefore unlawful", as he licenced weapons exports without judging if the past incidents broke international law and if there was a "clear risk" of future breaches.
Where the activists celebrated the courts of appeal ruling, the government is likely to challenge it and drag it to the Supreme Court. Fox stated that the government had suspended new exports licenses for the Kingdom and its coalition in the vicious war, but the existing grants would not be suspended.
UK's Contribution to Destruction
The move could have come sooner, but it is still a major setback to the UK's rearmament of Saudi Arabia. A day after the four-year-old war began under the regime of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and the Saudi-led coalition dropped first bombs in Yemen on March 26, 2015, foreign secretary Phillip Hammond told reporters that Britain would "support Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat".
Since then, the UK arms companies, BAE Systems and Raytheon, increased the pace to keep up with the deadly attacks that Saudis are launching on thousands of civilians, along with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. According to the BBC, Britain licenced export of over 4.7 billion pounds (nearly $6 billion) to one of the biggest human rights abusers in the last four years. Moreover, from 2008-2017, the British government granted a total of 9,003 export licenses to the UAE, which included 6,038 exclusive grants for weapons and military equipment.
Where the UK ban on arms sale is being associated to merely weapons, not many are aware about the extensive assistance that the British nation solely provides to Saudi Arabia. Among the weapons that the Kingdom and UAE receive from Britain are precision-guided bombs, sophisticated armoured vehicles, grenades, rifles, rocket launchers and fighter jets.
As per a report by The Guardian, BAE systems and UK Raytheon were under government contract to manufacture Paveway bombs that costs £22,000 a piece, Brimstone bombs costing £105,000 per unit, and Storm Shadow cruise missiles for £790,000 a piece. Moreover, BAE has long been under a government contract to assemble jets in hangars located just outside the village of Warton, Lancashire.
In addition to weapons, BAE has also been sub-contracted to deliver logistical support, ensuring the provision of engineers and weapons maintenance inside Saudi Arabia. Reports revealed that nearly 6,300 British contractors are stationed at Saudi's forward operating bases.
UK has been providing the Gulf nation with the personnel and expertise that is helping them to continue such barbaric wars. For years, the British government has been deploying RAF personnel to train Saudi pilots as well as to work as engineers.
According to the Stats, the United Kingdom had issued 103 licenses in 2016 with the value of 679 million and 126 licenses in 2017 worth 1.129 billion to export military goods to Saudi Arabia.
Beginning of Arms Trajectory
UK and Saudi Arabia share a long history of dealing in weapons. These weapons have been used to create chaos and deaths in several countries in the MENA region – Yemen, Syria, Libya and Sudan. The UK has been supplying arms to the Arab nation since 1960s. However, the first major deal was signed in 1985.
Becoming one of the biggest arms deal in history, it came to be known as The Al Yamamah. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the then-UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, son of former Saudi Defence Minister and Crown Prince Sultan.
Under the deal, the Saudis were receiving weapons supply from BAE Systems, which provided 48 Tornado IDSs, 30 Hawk training aircraft, 30 Pilatus PC-9 trainers, 24 Tornado ADVs, a range of weapons, radar, spares and a pilot-training programme, until 2007.
Years later, the Saudi negotiator, Prince Bandar came under allegations of receiving payments of £30 million every quarter for at least 10 years, from BAE. It was reported that the payments were a lobbying effort by the UK government— Thatcher and BAE Systems. The massive bribes were reportedly offered to persuade the Gulf nation to change its choice of French Mirage jets, leading the Kingdom to instead sign the deal for joint UK-French made Tornado.
While BAE Systems came under investigations, former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was quick to cover the matter under a black cloth. As his government came into power, Blair broke the law and abandoned the fraud investigation into a multibillion-pound arms deal, giving birth to newer controversies.
The scandals and lobbyists became successful in keeping the arms supplying route free of hindrances. The arms deal that began for strategic purposes soon turned into an economic agenda.
In 2013 and 2014, the British government issued three special export licences to BAE, which permitted the sale of an unlimited number of bombs to the Kingdom. Becoming an immunity for Saudi, these licenses exempted the requirement of disclosure of total sale. Despite the major sales not being on record, Britain's military exports to Riyadh augmented almost 35-fold in a year— from £83m in 2014 to £2.9bn in 2015.
While the UK weaponry was already being deployed for wars in MENA countries, the western nation became the major supplier of arms and military support for Saudi Arabia's campaign in Yemen in 2015. The Guardian had reported that a majority of the bombs that fell on the war-torn country belonged to Britain.
Increasing Criticism, Decreasing Support
The country, under Prime Minister Theresa May, has been continuing the arms support, despite the increasing death tolls in both Syria and Yemen. On the other hand, protests from the Labour Party, world leaders and rights groups, including the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Amnesty International, continued to soar.
"Theresa May must prove that she is willing to stand up to the kind of repugnant behaviour shown by the killing of Khashoggi and halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia immediately," stated Belgian leader Philippe Lamberts.
May has been criticised of supporting husband Philip May, who's an investment relationship manager at Capital Group, the largest shareholder in arms manufacturer BAE Systems. "While UK Prime Minister Theresa May supports Trump and Macron's military action in Syria, she is also helping her husband's investment firm to make a killing," said political investigative journalist Johnny Vedmore.
After the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi, where the UN recently reported to have "credible evidence" against Crown Prince MbS' links in the operation, several countries — Germany, Belgium, Norway, Canada, Denmark and Finland — have discontinued arms trading with the Saudis. However, the major suppliers of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi — the US, UK and France — decided to turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's increasing human rights violations.
British foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt, even tried convincing Germany to lift the ban. He wrote a letter to his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, stating, "I am very concerned about the impact of the German government's decision on the British and European defence industry and the consequences for Europe's ability to fulfill its NATO commitments."
The UK's diplomatic lobbying and relentless support for Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), raised doubts that for British leaders, an economy thriving on blood-money is more important than the millions of lives being killed brutally every day.
Re-routing arms to rogue elements
Several reports released in the past reveal a disturbing scenario. The investigations and analysis have revealed that the arms that the Saudis and the UAE received from western countries ended up in the hands of ISIS, al-Nusra/al-Qaeda, hardline Salafi militias, rebel groups and other factions in Yemen, Syria and Libya.
Robert Fisk, The Independent's correspondent, released a report in July last year, providing evidence that the arms sold by the United States to Saudi Arabia and the UAE were handed over to what the US State Department itself calls terrorist organizations'. He stated that 'the buyers' transferred several expensive weapons "to ISIS, al-Nusra/al-Qaeda … or some other anti-Assad Islamist group".
Months later, in November 2018, The Guardian reported that an investigation into the weapons used in the Yemen war exposed how the weapons traded to the Saudi and UAE-led coalition by the US and UK, end up in the hands of militias. A report by journalist Mohamed Abo-Elgheit and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalists (ARIJ) alleged that the weapons are also openly passed on to marginalised and feuding groups fighting their own territorial battles that serve the interests of the two Gulf nations.
The Arab powers — Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition — have strategically caused havoc through proxy wars. The US and the European nations have been equal contributors to the prolonged destruction, despite the resistance from their own people as well as the rights groups.
Recently, Switzerland banned its aerospace firm, Pilatus, from continuing its operations in Saudi Arabia and UAE. The restrictions came after the revelation that the Swiss company was providing "logistical support" to armed forces of the two countries. The move came after several other nations had already extricated their support.
While Saudi Arabia and UAE's major arms trading partners, the UK, has suspended export licenses, only the US and France remain as the crucial allies serving Saudis' merciless objectives. However, the US President Donald Trump is also facing soaring opposition from his administration and the Democrats over his unwavering alliance with the Arab nation.
The Saudi-led coalition, though, is increasingly losing the support it has been receiving from its international allies. The brutality that these Middle East powers have been inflicting may finally have become too much to bear for the global community.
Musawar Sandhu
War that is limited in terms of territory, the end objectives pursued, choice of weaponry adopted and where the use of weapons of mass destruction is avoided is widely regarded as a limited war. Since the nuclearization of South Asia in 1998 however, the region's security dynamics have changed with the threat of a conventional war increasingly moving towards a nuclear one.
It is widely argued that the presence of a nuclear deterrent between Pakistan and India has so far prevented a full-scale conflict. However, with India evolving its military doctrines to create ground for a more limited conventional war under the nuclear threshold, the prevailing status quo remains highly at risk. This notion has since paved the way for the Cold-Start doctrine of 2004, Joint Doctrine of the Indian Armed Forces of 2017 and Land Warfare Doctrine of 2018. All these military doctrines indicate a shift from a defensive to an offensive pre-emptive military posture specifically vis-à-vis Pakistan.
To enhance its pre-emptive and offensive military capabilities, India plans to train smaller, agile and more integrated battle groups with synchronized support from its Infantry, artillery and air force divisions. Its military planners are of the view that they would carry out quick punitive strikes inside Pakistan by using these newly developed limited battle-oriented divisions while keeping the conflict below the threshold of a potential nuclear exchange between both the countries. The formations of these integrated battle groups are a direct reflection of its limited war strategy that would strategically enhance India's response time vis-à-vis Pakistan.
Over last few years, Pakistan has also revisited its nuclear doctrine by moving from minimum credible deterrence towards full spectrum deterrence in order to respond to these developments. These include taking measures to develop its own tactical nuclear capable missile systems focusing on accuracy, enhanced mobility and quick response times. The operationalization of this missile system has purportedly served as a viable deterrent to India's ability to wage a limited war by significantly reducing the nuclear threshold.
It has been widely claimed that the addition of tactical nuclear weapons system such as the Nasr system has considerably limited the efficacy of India's cold start doctrine. This has arguably compelled India to adopt its much-touted concept of 'Surgical Strikes' as a new strategy to keep the space for limited war with Pakistan open.
India's surgical strikes narrative can be argued as being somewhat inspired by the US Special Forces' 2011 Operation Neptune Spear which had led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The operation which has since been characterized as one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated operations to have been carried out inside Pakistani territory has since left a lasting legacy on Pakistan's relations with the US.
Since this operation was conducted India has repeatedly claimed that it also has the capacity and capability to carry out similar strikes deep inside Pakistani territory. This for instance was evident when India claimed its first ever surgical strike against Pakistan in response to the 2016 Uri attack. This narrative has since found widespread domestic support within India. Whereas Pakistan has repeatedly rejected these claims on the pretext that any form ofa surgical or conventional strike on Pakistani territory would be considered as a red line which in itself represents its nuclear threshold.
It was this aspect that was put to test following the Pulwama incident when, India once again violated the sovereignty of Pakistan by conducting air-strikes at Balakot which is almost 4 to 5kms from its eastern border with India. Dubbed by its media as surgical strike 2.0, these strikes were aimed at portraying India's capacity and will power to carry out a conventional strike against Pakistan below the nuclear threshold. Pakistan regarded this asan act of aggression and a blatant violation of its territorial integrity. It however chose to respond via conventional means claiming that it would control the escalation ladder throughout the conflict. Whereas, tensions were diffused after the first ever aerial engagement between two nuclear weapon's states, such kinds of misadventures have the potential to turn a limited conventional conflict to a full-scale nuclear war that could prove lethal for the entire region.
At the present, it appears that India, under the cloak of its offensive pre-emptive doctrinal strategies intends to upgrade, modernize and enhance the capacity of its armed forces by increasing its military budget. In terms of modernization, India has signed a$5.43-billion deal with Russia for the S-400 air defence system. There are also reports suggesting that the US is prepared to offer India its fifth-generation F-35 aircraft if India were to scraps its S-400 deal with Russia. The acquisition of either of these state-of-the-art weapon systems would not only add to the Indian air force's penetrative and strike capabilities as part of its narrative of surgical strikes but also pose a direct threat to strategic stability in South Asia.
If India decides to start a limited war once again under the nuclear threshold there is a higher chance that it would have to face disastrous and lasting consequences as opposed to its more immediate objective of projecting power. Hence, because of its growing fascination with the surgical strikes narrative India runs the risk of potentially turning a limited war into an all-out conflict further risking escalation to nuclear strikes. Based on these dynamics it is imperative that strategic planners on both sides exercise restraint especially considering how such pre-emptive/ cold start and surgical strikes strategies are undermining peace and stability across the wider region.


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Meet the minds behind Ecoheal.
dani mouawad, md
Dani is a pediatrician who became involved in cracking the financial nut of green building because he began and ran a clinic in Southern Louisiana for over a decade and saw the health impacts on poor children and families stemming from toxic housing and poverty. When Dani moved to Chapel Hill with his family in 2010, he was determined to build a sustainable, natural, health promoting residence for his family of 6. Over the last 7 years, Dani has refined this building technique and gone the extra mile to envision and begin building an entire Microvillage, a model he wishes to roll out worldwide as a network within which residents could co-op and visit one another. In the process of designing the Ecoheal Center, Dani invented a forming system that reduces the labor costs of cob building by 30 fold, finally making earthen building a financial reality for everyone. Dani wishes to disseminate this patented invention with the world to bring affordable and health-promoting natural housing to everyone spanning the globe, particularly those below the poverty line.
Tim Watson
Vice President & architect
Tim is an eco-restorative architect who has been incorporating a body of Living Systems Design concepts into his professional work for over 10 years. His philosophy embraces the spiritual connection that universally exists between humans and the natural world. The teachings of indigenous people have helped Tim witness the sacredness of the Earth Herself. "The time of anthropologically focused buildings must come to an end. In our immediate future we must envision buildings and homes that directly serve both humankind, and the communities of life forms they impact."Tim is President of Earth Walk Kit Dwellings – off grid, reverse-assembly tiny homes. He lives and works in Hillsborough, NC where he often collaborates with his wife, Laura Baldwin, a restorative landscape designer and integrative health counselor.
Deanna Kerrigan, phd
Secretary & public health expert
Deanna is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has been engaged in public health intervention research with a focus on the study of social and structural factors influencing the adoption of health-promoting behaviors related to HIV prevention and care since 1995. A significant portion of her research has focused on evaluating the role and impact of environmental-structural factors related to HIV outcomes among marginalized groups, including female sex workers, people living with HIV and disadvantaged youth. She recently directed a large-scale, global HIV prevention operations research portfolio funded by USAID, Project Search: Research to Prevention (R2P). She is the Co-Director of the Prevention Core of the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).
Rula Freiji-mouawad, md
Treasurer & infectious disease/mph expert
Rula's motto is: "A healthy society begins with healthy children." Transferring from American University of Beirut to Georgia Tech, she simultaneously obtained her Master's degree in Public Health and became an MD in 1996 from Emory Medical School. After providing Infectious Disease and Public Health services to several community hospitals in Louisiana for over ten years, she and her husband/colleague, Dr. Dani Mouawad, relocated to Chapel Hill with their four children and is currently delighted to provide a holistic approach to pediatric care that integrates aspects of lifestyle such as home environment, nutrition, sleep, and discipline measures." Rula also nourishes the souls, bellies, and spirits of all Ecoheal staff and volunteers – even when she's on call. Thank you, Rula!
Board member & conscious builder
Since the mid 1960's David has been looking for ways to help the planet cope with the increasing population of humans and their ever growing misuse of the planet's resources. Self-sufficiency with a mindfulness of being in balance with everything is the spiritual philosophy that has guided him to become involved with Ecoheal. Through the years David has been handed many job and career opportunities that have given him a hands on education in being human in the modern age. Among those are apartment maintenance, motion picture processing, sailboat repair, graphic design, fine carpentry, General and Electrical Contracting. Each step has illustrated the marvelous technology that humans are capable of, but also the mindless waste that has come with it. David had the great opportunity to work with Dani and Rula as the General Contractor on their residence, an earth friendly and spiritually thoughtful home. From that sprung a close personal relationship with the Mouawads and their hopes and aspirations for a better future. David is looking forward to helping Ecoheal work towards creating a better relationship between people and Mother Earth.
Barbara Holloway
BOARD MEMBER &
PASSIONATE warrior for mother earth
Barbara is a passionate warrior for mother earth whose life changed dramatically upon reading "Oil & Honey" by Bill McKibbon. It was then that she began keeping bees, took a personal vow to heal the human-earth and the human-human relationships, and joined the local sustainability movement. For the past 8 years, Barbara has served as Director of Marketing & Outreach for the Emerson Waldorf School, where she merged her high-tech marketing experience with her teaching experience in Benin, West Africa and put her International MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management (aka Thunderbird) and BA in Economics and German from UNC-Chapel Hill to good use. Barbara enjoyed serving as Managing Director of Ecoheal for 4 months last year and is now involved with Ecoheal in an advisory capacity. Through Ecoheal, Barbara continues to fulfill her life mission and truly is the change she wishes to see in the world. Beyond bringing Dani's ingenious earthen building solution to those that span the globe, particularly those who have been marginalized, Barbara may be found consulting with NGO's, building websites for entities aligned with her life mission, building a farm in Saxapahaw with her partner, walking cross-country with her dog, enjoying the company of her 4 children, doing yoga, and indulging in good food & wine. But mostly, she just likes witnessing the miracles of nature quietly unfold throughout the seasons.
Jane Lorand
advisor & first green mba co-founder
As an entrepreneur in education, Jane was co-founder of the first accredited Green MBA in the USA in 1999. Her 15 years of designing and building Social Capital within the constraints of a university enabled hundreds to re-calibrate their future.
As member of the California Bar Association and former tax attorney, she advises large government agencies, public health institutes, and companies in strategy and leadership. She believes that the Capacity of a System is equal to the Sum of the Relationships to the Exponential Power of Trust. She sees herself as a social architect, designing and building Social Capital, the purring engine of sustainability. As a mother and global citizen, Jane strives to promote the joy of original thought, the freedom of working from a consciously chosen set of higher purposes, and the excitement of opening our hearts to the stories of our contemporaries.


Members draw from their experiences to provide unique perspectives and invaluable information.
Fraudnet member Martin Kenney discusses wilful default cases, in which sophisticated and ethically-challenged borrowers claim to lose loan capital through legitimate loss-making activity by seemingly getting involved in arm's-length trading counterparties hailing from one or more of the jurisdictions that recalcitrant debtors from India are drawn to.
FraudNet Executive Director Stéphane Bonifassi discusses with the ICC's Commercial Crime International how the Panama Papers highlighted a dark, but often overlooked, side of wealth management that can perpetuate corruption, as powerful people are able to hide their assets globally.
Executive Director Stéphane Bonifassi explains to BBC's World Business Report why the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, has been found guilty of negligence in France.
4. Brazilian Members Active in International Legal Strategies to Recover Assets.
FraudNet members for Brazil, Joao Accioly, of the Sobrosa & Accioly law firm in Rio de Janeiro; Antenor Madruga, Feldens Madruga law firm in Brasília; and Henrique Forssell, of law firm Krikor Kaysserlian Duarte e Forssell Advogados Associados, of Sao Paulo against fraud.
FraudNet members often are invited to make presentations at conferences or publish articles on fraud-related issues. Members draw from their experiences working on shared joint cases, multi-jurisdictional cases and cases in their respective jurisdictions to provide unique perspectives and invaluable information.
~FraudNet member Peter Maynard, senior counsel at Peter D. Maynard Counsel & Attorneys of Nassau, The Bahamas.


Here is a trio of images from June 1958 at Knott's Berry Farm. I love the navy blue polka dot dress of the lady in the first two photos. It is so "I Love Lucy"!
I can only assume that this is THE Doc Skinem in this photo.
He looks like the inspiration for Rex Harrison's Doctor Dolittle.
This photo of the guests posing with the dance hall girl statues just positively shouts vintage…in a good way!
See more vintage & current Knott's Berry Farm photos from my collection on my main website.
Continuing with my tribute to the nostalgic novels written by Martin Turnbull set in Hollywood, today's post shows the Hollywood United Methodist Church, originally known as The First Methodist Church. I guess it is better to be United than First.
The English Gothic United Methodist church is located at the intersection of Franklin and Highland Avenues in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Construction on the first building, the Recreational Hall, was started in 1927. The rest was completed on March 16, 1930. It was designed by Thomas P. Barber, and based in part on the English Gothic style of Westminster Hall in London. The structure is steel-framed concrete, with the sanctuary roof having an open hammer beam construction.
…and "Back to the Future." If you don't remember a church scene in "Back to the Future," that's because the facility's gymnasium (doesn't every church have one of those?) was used for the Enchantment Under the Sea High School dance sequence, where Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) performed with the Starlighters..
The Church celebrated its centennial in 2009.
See more vintage & current Hollywood photos from my collection on my main website.
Slipping back to September 1959, singer/actor Tony Martin is appearing at Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn. Not sure if The Dancing Waters poolside show is related to the one that ended up at the Disneyland Hotel, but there's a good chance that it is. According to what I found on Classic Las Vegas, "Dancing Waters" was a series of rising and falling fountains in the figure-8 shaped pool that were set to pre-recorded music and lit by colored lights."
This street shot looked boring until I zoomed in.
Love that Sultan statue atop the hotel; wonder where it is now?
Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter and view my most recent photos on Flickr. See more vintage & current Las Vegas photos from my collection on my main website.
Yet another new acquisition for my Disneyland Flying Saucer collection. Today's image from March 1963 shows the unbridled joy (and possibly frustration) for guests that were able to ride this Tomorrowland attraction.
The joy: those who were able to get the hang of the vehicles and glide effortlessly around the arena. The frustration: those who couldn't, and found themselves stuck in one area.
This previously posted image was most likely taken by the same photographer, as it features some of the same guests.
Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter and view my most recent photos on Flickr. See more vintage Disneyland Flying Saucer photos from my collection on my main website.
Opened January 30, 1940 by Billy Wilkerson (who also owned the Trocadero) on the site of the old Club Saville at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip. Much like the Trocadero, Ciro's really put itself out for its film business clientele; publicists arranging photo op dates could count on a good table and just the right light. Like the other smart clubs on the Strip (and the speakeasies and gambling parlors before them, Ciro's attracted the local gangster crowd, star gangsters like Tony Cornero, who owned the gambling ships anchored off of Santa Monica beach, Bugsy Siegel, and Mickey Cohen.
Ciro's had the longest run of any of the old clubs; its original life (it closed in 1957) plus another 20 or more years as the Comedy Store. It's not all laughs at the Store, though. According to a number of people who worked at the Store in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, parts of the building are home to some rather unusual guys. Employees at the club have reported seeing a group of ghosts in the backstage areas. These ghosts are all men, dressed in the height of 1940′s high new-money style: wide lapels, loud ties, French-cuffed shirts and shiny wingtips. They hover in the back rooms in the early hours of the morning, after the club has closed. There are rumors that a local 'banger, allegedly Mickey Cohen, arranged a hit on some rivals after- hours at Ciro's. If this is true, then the shades of 'bangers past are still very much at home.
How about a look at that Wine List; see anything you'd like?
Opened 1929, closed 02 APR 1993 – Located on top of the department store…Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were frequent shoppers… The dining area originally included a Tea Lounge, Club Room, two private dining rooms, one semi-private dining room and a Tea Patio. By the late 40s, the area was modified into the Tea Room and remained in place for 40-plus years. From opening day, fluffy coconut cream pie, baked daily, was a teatime specialty. At lunch, women shoppers favored sandwiches and dainty fair, including the Bombay Salad (mainly shrimp and crabs with a poppy seed dressing). During the run, the maitre d' Humberto Lara became an institution. Pompadoured and polite, the dark suited man was the Tea Room's ultimate greeter and hand-kisser for more than 30 years.
The buffet luncheon was 85 cents (in the 30s) There was also a table d'hote luncheon and a diet special for about the same price. By the way, this tea room is something you must be sure to visit. The desert motif is so very restful and the copper cactus on the window grating sets the tempo, which is so well carried out that even the slats on the Venetian blinds are painted alternately in pink and green and ivory to keep the decor! Even the vegetable plate is well-planned and will restore the good humor of the most unwilling dieter; grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, string beans, peas, asparagus, squash and celery – all of them delicious and you can do your duty by your stomach and enjoy yourself. There are such things as stuffed zucchini, cream cheese ring with assorted fruit, fresh strawberry dressing, and always orange bread and date and nut bread and cheese bread (ambrosial!) and a list of desserts to make one's mouth water. Tuesdays there is a fashion luncheon at $1.25, which is slightly more than the usual $I.00 affair, or a salad special at 85 cents or thereabouts. Out in the Desert Lounge, are cannily displayed the most decorative baskets of stuffed fruits, and the show case is always filled with delectable cookies; little fancy cookies which tempt the weak sisters anew, as well they may, with their enticing shapes and nutty goodness. The fruit cake is one of the house specialties at $1.25 the pound, and is very gay with its top dressing of candied fruits. At the moment, they are featuring agar-agar candy, again for the diet-conscious, which sells for $1.00 a pound and is simply extraordinary – ask them to let you taste it, and you're as good as sold.
Bullock's Department store was at 639-657 S. Broadway from 1906 to 1907 – then at 401-423 S. Broadway from 1912 to 1914 – then at 630 S. Hill.
If Bullocks wasn't your cup of tea (pardon the pun), you could have visited the Tick Tock Tea Room.
Located at 1716 North Cahuenga Avenue, the Tick Tock Tea Room opened in 1930, by Norwegian Arthur Johnson and wife Helen. Closed 1988. On the day they opened for business, they installed an old clock, a family treasure on the wall; hence the name. The final tally was 48 clocks plus the neon one out front.
The Tick Tock was a well-liked restaurant serving heaping portions of comfort food to the aspiring actors and studio craftspeople who could afford to dine in the city's tonier restaurants. In the 30s and 40s the restaurant was popular for it's 3-course dinners; in those days the Tick Tock served 2000 people a day. Only complete dinners were available, and came complete with a basket of beloved Sticky Orange Rolls, sweet enough to be desert. Dinners were usually canned fruit cocktail or tomato juice, sherbert, meat loaf, fried chicken, fried beef liver and onions with some sort of homemade pie or cake for dessert.
This series of posts pays homage to a trilogy of books written by Martin Turnbull that I recently stumbled upon. Set among some iconic (and sadly many no longer existent) buildings, shops, and restaurants that were part of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Turnbull's novels feature fictional characters woven into the fabric of real-life Hollywood, taking the reader through a nostalgic journey. The three titles include, "The Garden on Sunset," "The Trouble with Scarlett," and his most recent, "Citizen Hollywood." HIGHLY recommended!
Built in 1926, The Carthay Circle Theatre at 6316 San Vicente Boulevard was designed by Carleton Winslow and A. Dwight Gibbs in the Spanish Baroque/Spanish Colonial Revival style. With its iconic octagonal high bell tower and neon sign, it made a famous name of the newly developed Carthay residential district in the Mid-City West district of Los Angeles, California.
Its auditorium of 1500 seats was shaped in the form of a perfect circle, extended vertically into a cylinder, set inside a square that fleshed out the remainder of the building. Initially developed by the Fox studio, it was called the Fox Carthay Circle Theater and built as a silent movie theater, boasting an impressive Wurlitzer Theater Organ. The first movie played at Carthay was Cecile B. DeMille's "Volga Boatman" (1926).
Much of the theatre's art collection focused on the explorers of the wild west who settled California. A drop curtain featured an homage to the pioneer Donner Party, which perished crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains, called "An Emigrant Train at Donner Lake" by Frank Tenney Johnson. There were busts and plaques celebrating scouts, a man who carried mail over the Sierras, and Dan the Miner, which sat in the theater's vast forecourt as part of a fountain (seen in the photo below). Murals of historic scenes 40' tall, painted by Pasadena artist Alson S. Clark, impressed guests as they traveled through the theater.
and the Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power drama "Marie Antoinette" (1938), for which the gardens around the theater were enhanced to resemble the landscaping of the Palace of Versailles. Only Grauman's Chinese Theatre could rival the elaborate premieres held at Carthay.
For Disney's "Fantasia" (1940), the most elaborate audio system in use at the time, Fantasound, a pioneering stereophonic process, was installed at the Carthay.
Mike Todd showcased his 1956 blockbuster movie "Around the World in 80 Days," which caused some of the interior of the auditorium to be destroyed to accommodate the huge new Todd A-O screen. At the time, only two other theaters had the ability to show Todd A-O movies: The Egyptian and the downtown United Artists.
This photo can be dated to 1947, thanks to the marquee featuring the Paulette Goddard movie, "Unconquered."
The last movie shown at Carthay was "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (1968), starring Anthony Quinn and Laurence Olivier. The theater was demolished in 1969 and replaced by two low-rise office buildings and a city park.
Fortunately, this theater will live on as one of the vintage settings for Turnbull's upcoming fourth novel. Stay tuned for future announcements!
I am starting off the week with two new additions to my collection from March 1960. The Monorail was less than a year old when this photo was taken of it gliding above the Matterhorn Bobsled attraction.
This second image is a beauty, with the Richfield Autopia Eagle hovering over the foreground.
I had to zoom in for a look at its backside. I wonder if it survived in somebody's private collection?
Nothing to see here, folks; just a few mermaids taking a dip in the lagoon.
Even though it's a bit dark, I really like this January 1961 image of the Monorail, Yacht Bar, Skyway, and Matterhorn. So much to see!
Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter and view my most recent photos on Flickr. See more vintage & current Disneyland Monorail photos from my collection on my main website.
Santa's Village was a winter-themed amusement park in the Skyforest section of Lake Arrowhead, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first franchised amusement park, one of three built by developer Glenn Holland. The other two were located in Santa Cruz and Dundee, Illinois.
Holland was born in 1918 and grew up during the Great Depression. His parents died by his eighteenth birthday, leaving him to care for his younger sister. As an adult, Holland dreamed of giving his children and other children the type of Christmas he only knew in his dreams.
"He wanted Christmas to be just magical," said Holland's daughter, Pamela Holland Reece, 63, of Fallbrook, California. "He always thought that children should have adventures and great happiness in their lives. He wanted to make that come true."
In 1953, Holland was inspired to create Santa's Village after reading a Saturday Evening Post story about a project in New York called Santa's Workshop in a town called North Pole. Working at his kitchen table, Holland sketched out his idea of a Christmas fairyland filled with enormous candy canes, animals, and gingerbread houses. Holland contacted Walt Disney, who was involved in building his own theme park at the time, and the two men supposedly corresponded for a time.
Opening for Memorial Day in 1955, six weeks before Disneyland, the 220-acre park was one of Southern California's biggest tourist attractions. It featured kiddie rides, including a bobsled, monorail, and Ferris wheel. There was also a petting zoo with live reindeer. Children enjoyed feeding the goats and other smaller animals that freely roamed the property. The shops included a bakery, candy kitchen, and toy shop. The park was constructed at a cost of approximately $1 million in less than a year by Henck Construction.
I had to zoom in to see what the box was for; hot chocolate. Yum!
Reduced attendance and revenue shortfalls caused Santa's Village to close on March 1, 1998. The property sold three years later for $5.6 million, and now serves as a staging area for local logging operations. The park's faded candy cane signpost and dilapidated buildings have become a ghost town along the Rim of the World Highway.
Follow my Daveland updates on Twitter and view my most recent photos on Flickr. See more vintage Santa's Village photos from my collection on my main website.
A Shamrock Chiffon Pie Celebration!
Jane vs. Lana: Where's the beef?


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Palestinian workers in Israeli settlements: Contending with a regime of work permits and limited rights
Yacov Ben Efrat • February 25, 2014 •
Scarlet Johansson did not intend to, but when the Hollywood actress represented SodaStream, an Israeli company operating in the occupied territories, and claimed that the Palestinian workers receive the same full rights as their Israeli counterparts, she raised an international media storm. Responding to criticism that the plant's location in occupied territory violates international law, SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum claimed, "We are very proud of our plant in Mishor Adumim. It must be understood, the plant employs both Israelis and Palestinians. All workers have equal rights. We call this an 'island of peace'" (from Israel Hayom, 3 Feb. 2014).
However, reality in these industrial zones is far from an "island of peace." Since the 1970s, hundreds of Israeli plants, factories, agricultural businesses and construction sites have been operating in the West Bank settlements, employing some 20,000 Palestinian workers at any given time. For years these workplaces operated far from the public eye. Business owners were granted huge discounts on land leases and tax benefits, hiring workers at wages far below the legal minimum in Israel, without the required social benefits. This continued despite the High Court ruling in the 2007 "Kav Laoved" case, which determined that there was no reason to discriminate between Israeli and Palestinian workers, and that Israeli labor laws were applicable to Israeli employers in the settlements.
To work for Israelis, Palestinians must be registered and obtain special work permits from the Coordination and Liaison Office of the Civil Administration , and the permits must be renewed every few months (see this report on the bureaucracy of occupation). However, there is no oversight of employment terms or enforcement of labor law or safety regulations. Labor Ministry inspectors are currently authorized to investigate Palestinian employment conditions relating only to the minimum wage. But even this is rarely done. Not a single Israeli employer has been charged with labor law violations in the settlements. (Some court decisions in favor of Palestinian workers have been given in recent years, but none charged the employer with violation of the law.) In fact, the settlements have become a legal no-man's land, outside Israeli sovereignty and thus beyond the reach of Israeli enforcement authorities.
Wages in these areas are between one quarter and one half that of equivalent workers in Israel. Many receive their wages in cash, without a pay slip and without social benefits. SodaStream and some other firms now pay the legal minimum wage, but most workers are shamelessly exploited.
Struggling to establish a legal framework
SodaStream and Extal Aluminum are two of the large companies that were compelled to abide by Israeli law as a result of the long legal struggle that resulted in the 2007 ruling. However, this struggle is not yet over: these companies continue to appeal the High Court ruling, claiming they are bound only by Jordanian law, which was in force in the West Bank before Israel conquered the territory in 1967.
Thus, for example, Yamit Purification and Filtration Systems in the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone (near Tul Karem) dismissed some of its workers without paying them compensation. When the workers sued for compensation, the company's representative claimed in court that his client was subject to Jordanian law from 1966. Moreover, ruling on this case in November 2013, the Tel Aviv Labor Court determined that the workers had no rights under Israeli labor law and demanded that the Palestinian workers pay 20,000 shekels to Yamit.
Advocate Ehud Shiloni and the Workers Advice Center (WAC-MAAN) have recently appealed against this scandalous ruling. The appeal is based on the High Court ruling in the Kav Laoved case from 2007. In the appeal, Adv. Shiloni explains how absurd it is to apply the Jordanian law to these areas. "Israeli industrial zones in the West Bank are a tangle of legal systems," he wrote. "The owners are Israeli and subject to Israeli law; the workers are Palestinians and thus subject to the Palestinian Authority laws; and the Jordanian law which was applicable in that area before June 1967 is ineffectual in practice and obsolete" (from the notice of appeal, 2 Feb. 2014).
The absurdity of invoking Jordanian law is evident. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying force must refrain from making permanent changes on the ground or in legislation, except for temporary changes for military purposes. The businesses under discussion were set up on occupied territory, changing the status quo permanently with no "temporary military need." Meanwhile, the owners of the businesses make manipulative use of Jordanian law from 1966, which has long been invalid, even in Jordan. This is nothing but a nonsensical attempt to give legal legitimacy to the ignominious exploitation of Palestinian workers. If the court rules in favor of the business owners, it will grant a seal of approval for a system in which Israeli employers benefit from having no responsibility to their workers at all.
The terror of the work-permit regime
It must be noted that Palestinian workers from the settlement areas do not enjoy freedom of movement and have little choice regarding their place of work. The economic misery and high unemployment in areas ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) compels them to accept humiliating wages and poor employment terms. All import of raw materials and export of goods from the PA areas is dependent on Israel; clearly the 47 years of complete Israeli control of these areas has a decisive role in preventing their economic development.
In the settlements the Palestinians encounter other obstacles: obtaining a work permit from the Coordination and Liaison Office of the Civil Administration and making an Israeli contact. Work permits are required in the industrial zones, construction sites and agricultural projects in the settlements but are granted for a period of just a few months. Many Palestinians cannot work in these areas because the army prevents them from obtaining a permit for various reasons.
Moreover, even those with a permit are under constant threat of having it revoked. Many workers report that employers make manipulative use of the "security" process to revoke permits if they want to dismiss workers. A worker in one of the larger plants reported that after he asked about his employment rights and demanded he receive benefits as required by law, his permit was revoked. When he inquired at the Coordination and Liaison Office, he discovered there were no security claims against him. Nonetheless, he had to wait six months for the permit to be renewed. During this period he was unable to work and received no compensation. This worker and his fellow workers talked about the "atmosphere of terror" at their workplace, since at any moment the employer can get the work permit revoked.
This situation makes it very difficult for workers to organize. In some places where WAC tried to organize, we met people without permits who had a "deal" with the employer, who paid them cash with no papers. These workers feared that any step they took to obtain labor rights would cause the employer to stop their work, using the lack of a permit as a pretext.
The authorities turn their backs
The vast majority of Israeli plants and businesses in the settlement areas continue to take advantage of their workers. There are no clear statistics about these businesses, but for more than six years, WAC activists have reported incidents in which the authorities have ignored violations of labor law by employers. (See reports by WAC on violation of workers' rights in the settlements. See also Kav Laoved report from Oct. 2013 that lists names of employers in the settlements who clearly breach the law. See also the documentary "Seeds of Peace" that tells the story of Palestinian workers in the Tulkarm area who fought the Israeli employer to get their rights.)
In these plants, it has become normal to employ Palestinians without wage slips and without detailing hours worked. Workers receive some 2500 shekels a month (about half the legal minimum) with no social benefits. Arbitrary and peremptory dismissals are routine, and a worker injured on the job is sent away like a broken tool.
In May 2013, Tali Heruti-Sover, editor of the careers section in The Marker, published an article about the regular violations of labor law in the settlement industrial zones. (See the Marker, "An Israeli industrial park – a wild West Bank for labour rights.") Knesset Member Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) then demanded that Economics Minister Naftali Bennett investigate the rights of workers in Area C (the areas under Israeli control according to the Oslo Accords). This led to an inter-ministerial committee, including representatives from the Economics Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and the Justice Ministry, charged with determining the legal status of Palestinian workers in the settlements. The committee has yet to submit its final report, even though it was scheduled to do so in December 2013. It appears that the committee's debates have petered out quietly.
A tangible way to fight the occupation
Some claim that the very presence of Palestinians working in the settlements grants legitimacy to the occupation. Some even claim that demanding that Palestinian workers receive the same conditions as Israelis is tantamount to recognizing that these areas have been annexed to Israel. But for those Palestinians employed at the plants and construction sites, there is no employment alternative in PA areas, and thus they have no choice.
If we look at the issue from a political point of view, it is clear that the establishment of the PA in the West Bank did not change the reality of the occupation: Israel controls the borders, resources and economy, and it decides what will operate or be established in the region, including in the areas ostensibly under PA control. Those who call on the Palestinians to leave their jobs in the settlements are hurting the workers. The struggle against the occupation and the settlements requires a comprehensive political solution that will put an end to Israel's theft of land and colonial control over Palestinian lives.
The workers' struggle for employment rights and decent working conditions, supported by Israeli and Palestinian unions and organizations such as WAC and Kav Laoved, does not contradict the demand for Palestinian independence. On the contrary: the more such worker organizations expose the exploitation of Palestinians in Israeli businesses, the more they expose the character of the occupation. Thus they show the Israeli public the significance and implications of the occupation, raising awareness about these workers as they struggle for their basic rights. Palestinians who receive support in their demands for a fair wage become an active factor in the struggle to change reality and create the basis for an active, dynamic civil society in the future Palestinian state.
Translated by Yonatan Preminger
Tags: Area C Palestinian labor Palestinian workers SodaStream Wac-Maan
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Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
The Drive-By Truckers have been a favorite band of mine for some time. They are included on the list of what I think is the top tier of American rock bands (live and in-studio) working today which include Wilco, My Morning Jacket and Ween. The Trucker's accomplished a rarity in music today by creating three near-perfect rock albums in a row (2001's Southern Rock Opera, 2003's Decoration Day and 2004's The Dirty South). With the departure of Jason Isbell it would be difficult to replicate the quality of those records, even though Isbell was only present for the last two. Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley appear to have a few tricks still left up their sleeves, including having bassist (and Isbell's ex-wife) Shonna Tucker write and sing a few songs.
The Drive-By Truckers have always played Southern Rock but not until Brighter Than Creation's Dark have they sounded so Country. It's not just the consistency of pedal steel that gives this album the Country & Western vibe but all three songwriters seem to take the songs in that direction more lyrically. The Truckers have always had the honest, storytelling type songs reminiscent of C&W but here their much more obvious about it. Songs like Cooley's 'Lisa's Birthday' and the sweet harmonies of Hood and Tucker on 'The Opening Act' are straight off AM country radio.
Thankfully, there is still plenty of good ole Rock 'N Roll to satisfy longtime Trucker fans. Songs like '3 Dimes Down' and 'The Man I Shot' show they haven't changed too much. Patterson Hood really has the best batch of songs on the album, with Cooley and Tucker not far behind. One of the biggest complaints is at 19 songs it's a bit long and there are a few songs that probably could have been cut. Eitther way the Truckers continue to be one of the most consistent rock bands around, with another great studio album and one of the best live shows in the business.
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Posted by Matt at 6:23 PM
Labels: Albums
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Donald Trump on Sunday said he was "looking into" paying the legal fees for the man who sucker-punched a protester during a campaign rally in North Carolina.
The Republican presidential front-runner addressed a violent incident that took place Wednesday at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C. during his appearance Sunday on Meet the Press. John McGraw, a 78-year-old Trump supporter, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct after multiple videos surfaced showing him punching a protester in the face, authorities said.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday slammed Trump for appearing to condone violence by paying the legal fees of a supporter who "viciously attacked" a protester. "Trump should tone down his rhetoric and condemn the violence of some of his supporters," he wrote on Twitter.
Trump also discussed the moment another protester appeared to attempt to storm the stage Saturday at his campaign rally outside of Dayton, Ohio. The real estate mogul had falsely claimed the man who rushed the stage was connected to ISIS. "He has ties to ISIS. Should be in jail!" Trump wrote on Twitter after the incident.
He appeared to backtrack when Todd told him the video he posted on Twitter was a hoax. "What do I know about it? All I know is what's on the Internet," Trump said.


#58 in my book challenge for the year was The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez. It is the carefully crafted tale of Ann Drayton, an heiress with a conscience, who gets in trouble during the 1970s. Told by Ann's college roommate, Georgette, the narrative takes several interesting and unexpected diversions, which all contribute to a satisfying whole. I re-read many passages as I went, because they offered up more with each new encounter.
I have been blamed by others for my timidity; I have heard my passionate love of reading denounced as an addiction, a vice, a cowardly avoidance of the challenges, dangers, excitements, and even duties of real life.
A few things troubled me about the book. Part Five makes a daring switch from first person to third, and nearly pulls it off, except that there are too many things that the author couldn't have known. Otherwise, I thought the varied points of view in the novel were extemely impressive. A segment near the end written by a prison inmate was too long, and varied too much in voice. Finally, the last two paragraphs are a quote from The Great Gatsby, and a comment on it that didn't flow well for me from what went before, which was an interesting critique of that great book.
These things are small, though, especially compared to the richness of the story and the characters. The voices are strong, and their lives are compelling. It was a fascinating history lesson as well.
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 8th, 2006 at 2:28 pm	and is filed under 2006 Book Challenge, Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


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LUCIFER FALLING
Lucifer Falling a rather tiresome academic novel, occasionally enlivened by the author's flair for the epigrammatic, which describes the decline and fall of a Dublin university professor who, for twenty years, has occupied, without sufficient Justification, a chair of modern literature, bequeathed to him by a late 19th century poet and critic whose own standing depended more on intellectual bullying than ability. As Edward Jameson's protege and confidant, Arnold Power has been expected to produce the definitive work on Jameson but instead he has relied on his facile and showy performance as a speaker to sustain a flagging career, in the meantime publishing nothing. When he, in turn, is threatened by the intellectual challenge of a boorish but supposedly brilliant student, Trevor Grey, Power panics. By virtue of his position he has been forced to become a champion of Jameson whom he has always suspected of being a fraud. Now, confronted by Grey, he must either defend Jameson--an impossible task, or ally himself with his young enemy. The conflict is too great and Power cracks up at a public lecture, afterwards killing Grey. de Vere White's precise and studied prose is calculated to attach a great deal more importance to these characters than would seem to be their due. (His example of Grey's intellectual daring, for instance, is a proposed attack on Pound and Hemingway.) By contrast, the abruptness of his ending suggests that tedium finally overcame the author as well.
Pub Date: April 27th, 1967
Publisher: World


Potassium: How does it work? | WTF!?
Potassium: How does it work?
DO NOT leave me in charge of resurrecting humanity. I can barely get dressed in the morning. I'm not over here removing electrons from outer shells.
EDIT: The point... Who looks at the ashes of burnt plants and thinks, "I can make something from this".?
We are standing on the shoulders of giant minds.
Potassium is required for functionality in life in regards to the heart and muscles. Too little can cause cardiac arrest, too much can. Your kidneys hold the job of filtering out excessive potassium. However, prescription drugs, especially pain killers, can throw these levels out of balance along with other electrolytes in your body.
This is why electrolyte water is a scam and in a way dangerous. If you constantly challenge the kidneys abilities and limits of filtering, it adds wear and tear. Since you get most of the potassium you need in a day from many of your foods, you're in fact adding way more than you need with those smart waters. In my opinion, flooding the market with potassium chloride loaded waters is actually bad for your health. Not helpful. ESPECIALLY, if you are on various medications that change the balance.
Neal Kinsey's "Hands on Agronomy" and "Mainline Farming for Century 21" Dan Scow and Charles Walters both do a good job of summarizing the balance of potassium in nutritional systems, as well as providing a foundation of nutritional knowledge that most people should have but do not.


OTTAWA, December 18, 2017 — The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) along with many food and agriculture organizations has been actively in consultations with the Government of Canada developing a national food policy. This work looks at how the important question of ongoing governance of a national policy might be undertaken.
CAPI and other organizations contributed to the research, analysis and construction of a report written by Food Secure Canada (FSC).


The Minutes have had a deserving good few years touring Europe, Russia and the US on the back of good word of mouth and their debut album Marcata.
The album was recorded in Vancouver at Fader Sound Studios with produced by GGGarth Richardson, and the first single 'Cherry Bomb' (out on April 25th) definitely sports the man's classic rock credentials which include Rage Against the Machine's debut and Bify Clyro albums. I hear some T-Rex arena vibes on 'Cherry Bomb' too.


I have done some very specialized custom commercial AV work but currently catering to sound system work. I can do basic consulting with you and provide custom items but the normal procedure is described below.
Full service start to finish turnkey custom integrated audio visual solutions.
Building sound and display systems for boardrooms, courtrooms, churches, training rooms, retail stores, and various other venues since 1980.
The Rose Studios Audio Visual Division is a Design/Build company.
We are not selling parts and labor. Rose Studios provides a solution to your needs in the form of a well thought out complete system package integrated into your room.
A.2. Podium area and or any other speaking areas.
A.3. List of activities and location. Example: 5 board members with a podium for visitors or 4 singers, 30 voice choir and drums etc….
A.4. Basic finish materials on floor, ceiling, and walls.
B. Drawing showing elevations/ ceiling heights drawn to scale.
C. Your needs expressed by everything you do or plan to do and any problems you are now having in this area.
Note: drawings can be very basic on graph paper with pencil and pen as long as they are accurate. Anything you have ready in the way of drawings or blueprints help but typically we just come in and do it ourselves. We have to see actual construction to verify measurements and determine wiring and equipment mounting options.
The goal of this evaluation is to provide a proposed sound and display system package that fits your needs. Every room is different and the room is a component of the system combined with your needs requiring a unique and customized design. The room and application dictates what speakers and components we use. There is much necessary time spent in this research, design and pricing. The evaluation is more than just consulting and after this process you are invoiced for the time spent and presented with a proposal.
After the proposal is accepted our terms are typically 50% down and balance paid upon completion of project and your receiving invoice. Invoice and a statement for balance of payment will be given after installation. Prices and specifications are subject to change so confirm upon order.
Some rough design has been done in the evaluation process. We try not to use expensive drawings but just what it takes to get the calculations we need. The details are worked out in this stage for digital signal processing, precise locations for projectors, speakers, and many other details.
We do as much as we can in house. Mixers with digital signal processors are assembled configured and tested. We do as much pre wiring and fabrication as possible in our shop.
This has to be done on site in your room and we try as much as possible to work around your schedule. We also work with your crew or volunteers to keep cost down.
All the fine adjustments, calibrations, and critical tweaking of the system to get the best performance for you application are done including testing all functions. This step requires no one else to be in the room.