Alternative fuels including wind, solar, geo-thermal, ethanol, coal seam gas and natural gas.

Why You Should Hire an Architect

Posted: September 8th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments »

An architect is a well qualified professional who has experience in planning, designing and the construction of buildings and the oversight of construction projects.

Also, one is not considered an architect until he or she has properly passed all the necessary education and accredited programs to procure a license in order to practice architecture. When practicing architecture, the architect can have freedom to design the building or group of buildings, as well as the space around it that still counts as part of the property. These ideas form the planning stage of the project and can take months to finalise.

The reason why architects are so important to the success of any building plan is simple: they can put your ideas into a feasible and concrete reality. If you have great ambitions for your home or business, then an architect can ensure that those visions will come true.

But aside from the actual design of the building, there are so many other complex factors (beyond the scope of inexperienced people) that need to be examined, and these are also covered in the responsibilities of the architect.

For example, there are some architectural firms that not only design the building for you, but they also prepare the tender documents for the pricing of the entire project, and are the ones that most commonly talk to the contractors, stakeholders and any third parties involved in the assignment.

When you hire an architect, you will not have to be confused by by all the small technical details. All you have to be concerned about is if whether or not the building is coming along according to your plans originally established with the help of the architect.

The architect is also very helpful before construction begins. If you do not have an actual plan but do have an idea on what you want your structure to look like, then that is where the professional can help you on the project.

All you have to do is to present them with some ideas and they can be the ones to take care of site analysis, the assistance you may need in zoning and planning, any environmental impact studies you may need, tendering and contract negotiation with the contractor and his men, and so much more.

The architect that you hire will be involved in all of the aspects of your project. Essentially, you are hiring an architect because you require a trained professional to take carriage of planning and designing the building or dwelling as well as provide the necessary feedback and support throughout the entire project.

Hiring an architect is like taking on a business partner for your project, one who is knowledgeable, knows the risk areas around the project and knows how to minimize those risks, has the necessary people skills to work with contractors in order to hire additional resources within budget.

A good architect will treat the project as though it is his or her own and will devise creative ideas and plans to the manager, and discuss in great detail the advantages, disadvantages, any problems of a particular strategy.

These are just some of the many important benefits and key reasons why you should hire an architect. There are so many more reasons that really prove that any project worth going through with has to be under the supervision of a highly qualified architect. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that you have a dream construction project, and your architect is the person to make all these dreams become reality.

Looking for Brisbane architects? For renovation architects Brisbane, contact Dion Seminara Architecture. They are leading home improvement architects. Brisbane office is located in Morningside.


Tents and Marquees

Posted: September 2nd, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | No Comments »

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are for when you want to make a daring outdoor scene. They are generally structures installed at a location for a period of time.

Why A Tent?
Commercial Tents are used as protection from the sun, rain or a gathering place. They can make a stunning and creative atmosphere for any event.

Tent Rentals
Tents can be rented or leased for a day, a weekend, weeks, months, etc. For one or two day events, the Tents are usually installed a few days before the event, depending on scheduling and weather, and remain until a few days after the event. Many rentals are quoted for the entire week, allowing for time to set up and design the interior and exterior. Some Tents are built for exceedingly long-term events and have been installed and remain installed for years.

What Kind of Tent Should I Rent?
Tent rental companies come in all sizes – from small-sized companies with just a few Tents to exceedingly large-sized companies – carrying dozens of several sizes and styles of Tents. Some general rental companies rent from tent rental companies to accommodate their client’s needs.

You may know you want to use a standard Tent for your event, or your event planner may already have in mind to use a Tent. You have options! There are lots of other stunning
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

Usually, the varying types of Tents available in most companies are (the names vary depending of the company):

Folding Tents Easy and fast to use and always in demand. Very popular, because usually is the less expensive tent. Fast, flexible, cost effective and long lasting.

They are used by:

  • Corporate brands across most industries
  • Government & Council buyers
  • SME business marketers
  • Franchisees
  • Agricultural exhibitors
  • Emergency services & community groups
  • Folding Tents create brand exposure opportunities.
  • You can reach your audience at the right time, in the right place with the right message.

Inflatable Tents An exciting and fun alternative Tent. Easy & fast to set up. Be sure they have removable printed roof because in that way you can share the investment with other licences.

What Size Tent Will I Need?

The size of Tent depends on a few factors:

1. The number of guests you expect
2. Layout or seating arrangements or the style of event:

* Reception with what type of tables?
* Speaker engagement with what type of seating?
* Will you need a dance floor?
* Will you need display areas for your products?

If you are interested in a Tent, you can expect to need about 2,000 – 2,500 square feet for 200-seated guests. That could mean a 40 x 60 size Tent (Always ask the Tent rental vendor directly and they’ll give you the best informationabout the size of Tent you’ll need).

Therefore, the key rule is; know what you are going to use your tent for. The choice of tents is incredible, almost on par with the choice of cars that you can buy.

So if you need a tent for the family BBQ, for example, your needs are fairly basic
and your budget may be low. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a solid warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a range of sizes, and colours. Most plain colour Tents s range between $995- $2900. If you are keen to promote yourself, you can have your names printed for around $150-$300. Printing logos usually cost a little more.

In the last 5 years, portable Tents have become important to businesses for their marketing. The key need for these buyers is a prominent and identical reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as dull as a website address or they can be a design masterpiece.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build awareness of your company with your printed Tent. Printed corporate Tents range in price from $1500- $4000. Good ones will really catch your eye.

Once you have decided on what sort of buyer you are and how you are going to use your Tents, a good Tents company will offer you a choice of frames, a warranty of between 3-5 years and help with formulating the printing-if you need it.

For more information about tents, contact Extreme Marquees. We have a range of cheap tents, for all sorts of home and business applications.


Repairing Flooded Carpet: A cheap job is a good job right? Wrong….

Posted: August 18th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Don’t allow a novice 24 hour carpet cleaner try to repair your carpets damaged by water. These are the things you need to be aware of:

Overcharging. An unprofessional water restoration cleaner may pack the job up with extra steps. E.g. using dehumidification for the flooded carpets is not needed.

Using the correct equipment. They can use equipment from hire businesses for drying the carpet. This is ok to do, but a professional water damage technician will have all their equipment to enable a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

The right moisture metre. If they don’t have the proper moisture meter, they cannot tell if the carpet is dry. This enhances the problem of future mould growth. Mould removal would then be required.

Specialised. There are a whole lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do restoration repairs on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t the ones who deal with this type of job often. Be wary of that. Restoring a carpet is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips is best to be done by a professional, otherwise carpets can be permanently damaged.

You might be pondering, how do I decide on a credible Flood Restoration Business? Below I have listed some pointers to check for when you are calling around for a carpet flood damage business:

The size of their Yellow Pages ad slot: This can be a sign of how much repair work they are doing already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad can cost about $50 000. So if they have got a large ad, you get some expectation that they are established.

Where do they show up in Google? The higher they rate in Google, the more “online votes” there are for this business.

What Qualifications do they have? The fundamental qualification required is a IICRC qualification in Applied Structural Drying and Water Damage Restoration.

Do Insurance companies source them for carpet water damage jobs? This is a better indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is bound to be efficient at their work. Insurance companies will tend to use the providers that grant them the better value for the fee.

How much Equipment do they have? They should own at minimum 100 Air movers. If they possess this many, this could show they have been established for a good time. Our business took 8 years to acquire that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What sort of commitment can you get out of them by calling? See if you can pin them down to a rate for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they won’t give you a rate for at least this, you know they are not willing to assist you, so look elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage Brisbane-based business is premised to a 59 minute response time to water damage emergency. The job needs to be attended to ASAP. Mould can appear during a 24 hour period.

If you follow these tips you are sure to locate a Flood Damage Restoration technician who knows what they are doing.

If you have carpet water damage Brisbane, call us for flooded wet carpet drying. Brisbane storm season is approaching and you may need storm damage carpet cleaning. Brisbane and surrounding areas serviced.


Podiatry as a Career in Australia

Posted: August 13th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | No Comments »

As a practicing podiatrist in Brisbane, Australia, I am frequently asked by patients if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to contemplate . There are many things to recommend a career in podiatry including:

  • You can be self employed: This is a option that is increasingly being denied to other health care providers such as optometrists and even GPs . Big Business controls a lot of health practices. Consider how often you see an independent optometrist these days – can they compete on price with the multinational chains?
  • Legal Issues: In Australia (unlike the USA where things are very different), podiatrists very, very rarely get sued . The nature of podiatry practice does not lend itself to accidentally harming one’s patients. Also, you never have to give your clients the bad news that their condition will be terminal.
  • Working Hours: Emergency call outs are very unlikely. This is great news for those among us who like their sleep uninterrupted.
  • Financial Reward: Whilst it is true that podiatry doesn’t pay as well as being a dentist or doctor , the salary is generally commensurate with other allied health providers.
  • Instant Gratification: One of the most fulfilling facets of working as podiatrist is the instant gratification! People come in with pain and leave happy. You will see a plethora of bite-sized jobs each day, many with a cure you can provide immediately. From someone that has worked with unanimously grumpy customers in a past career, believe me when I tell you, it makes the day much more rewarding when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will give you a lot of opportunity to help resolve the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatryallows a clinician the power to determine their own course of action for the benefit of their patients. This is unlike a career in nursing for instance where one works under the direction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can hold themselves out to be a podiatrist are those with a podiatry degree . The clear roles that this defines relieves the need to find your ‘niche’ after university – as someone with a more generic Bachelor of Science degree might need to do.
  • Do you like to travel? There are many places in the world that do not train their own podiatrists including Tasmania, the Northern Territory, all of Asia and all of the Middle East. If you want to travel the world, Australian podiatrists can be registered in any Commonwealth country and are particularly in demand in Singapore, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and other far flung fields.
  • Variety: In any given day, a podiatrist will see a great range of complaints. There might be an ingrown toenail or two, an excruciating corn, a sporting injury, some lower back pain and at least a couple of painful plantar fascias. The key to being a good podiatrist is to bea good problem solver. Every patient is an individual with a unique condition requiring a well considered solution.

How do you train as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist which can be studied at available fromsix Australian Universities:

  • Curtin University
  • La Trobe University
  • Charles Sturt University
  • Queensland University of Technology
  • University of South Australia
  • University of Western Sydney.

Last year, the entry score for the QUT was OP 8.

Stephanie Cosgrove graduated as a podiatrist from QUT in 1990 and with a Master’s degree in Applied Science (Podiatry) in 1996. Since 1991, she has worked in private practice as a Podiatrist Brisbane. She received three university prizes during her studies, including the award for excellence in design and manufacture of orthotics. Brisbane has been the site of her private practice since 1991 which has grown to four locations and eleven staff. If you want to Walk Without Pain consider a visit to Brisbane’s most innovative podiatry practice today. Call for an appointment now on 1300 A1 Feet.


Eight Steps to Great Web Design

Posted: August 7th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | No Comments »

Take charge of getting your site created by a developer and comprehend the process it will save you money and get you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Comprehending your business and how you are currently positioned in your market.
In order to establish a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full knowledge of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to examine how you want to explain your business and what it offers in 7 seconds or less. Sounds impossible? Well that is the average time that a user will consider the point “is this site I searched for?”.

2. Budget and estimation
Have a budget in mind and don’t be afraid to let the developers know what it is. In saying this: BE REALISTIC, $500 will never see a great web site created, nor will they be anything left in the bank to market it.

3. The creative process
Be loaded with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can accomplish an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will construct a good profile and realise not only what type of site to construct for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for fast development. The more interaction and information you bestow them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by becoming what you want 1st time round. Check with the designers on how many rounds of changes come with the contract, most will allow for a total conceptual redesign only once and 2 rounds of changes after that.

4. Production and Content
After the home page design is made, the developers will more than likely take the general layout of this concept and then construct the inner page template. It is this template that will be replicated for most of your pages for your site.
Provide your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t become too creative with the document fonts etc. as these will not be kept when the content is copied into the code of the site. It is suggested that you do use bolding, underlining, headings and sub heading though ,as these highlights are transferred into the site and are crucial later on in not only getting the point across to the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; present a decent amount of content but present it in a way that a reader may accomplish a summary of what you are trying to get across in the 1st couple of paragraphs and an image or to. The rest of the paragraphs that get into finer details ARE FOR GOOGLE !

5. Development Programming and CMS
If your website contains Content Managed Areas (CMS) or has any other dynamic sections the developers will wrap your design around a content management program such as Joomla or Drupal or they may have a custom built system. Make sure that you get to see how the CMS system operate on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. You need to know that you can use and understand the system when your site is complete.

6. Testing and training
We work closely with the developers to test your site especially if there are any CMS or special programs that have been made for you. You can guarantee if it is has just been written for you then it will not work 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program works and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, odds are it won’t make sense to your audience. Make sure you test your website on more than just your browser, try to test it on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. All of these browsers are available to download on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to put your site onlive make sure you have finished the above testing step until you are happy that this website is the best representation of your business / product it can be. Remember even though you can change things after going live it is still a poor reflection on your business if there are spelling mistakes or broken images when you launch.

8. Marketing
There is little point in having a website if nobody visits it, make sure as part of you contract you have considered search engine optimisation and or search engine marketing as part of your website build. This is the absolute most important factor of the whole process. If you are the only one looking at your site then you are in trouble.

Remember Search Engine Optimisation is about 30% Onsite (getting your site correct for Search Engine to index correctly) and 70% Promotion. Any developer who tells you otherwise hasn’t been in the industry too long.

For more information about web design Brisbane, contact Web Site Blue. Our web designers understand marketing as well as design.


Tips to Creating a New Business Logo

Posted: August 6th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | No Comments »

A logo is a decisive step to creating a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face represents the tone of your business, indicates the service and demonstrates the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the formation of their logo and walk away with no artwork files. Then a couple months down the track when they need to put signage on their new building they cannot track the design studio down that created the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it recreated. This is needless and may cause obstacles when trying to replecate the logo exactly as completed originally.

We have created some basic tips you for to think about when creating a logo. Hopefully these will help you from experiencing any future obstacles.

Tip 1
First things first – you need to decide if you would like your logo to have an accompanying icon. It is advised that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in conveying a clear message across to your target audience.

An icon can add an extra element to your branding in that you could use the icon on its own on collateral where perhaps you are sighting for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A perfect example of this is the well-known and executed Fedex logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an essential decision as it not only could affect the output costs but can also limit your output use. Consider the end result and what you will be bringing your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Insure you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and make sure that it includes all the files needed for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Make sure you have a copy of your logo as a PDF – with the text converted to curves.

Tip 4
Using images in your logo is not very easy to manage. For example it is hard to to reverse into black and white. Images also have limitations when it comes to size – they can only be reproduced to a certain size before they start pixilation.

Tip 5
Using gradients in your logo is not recommended. This too can have limitations when it comes to output for ie: gradients are hard to reproduce when embroidering fabrics.

Tip 6
Ensure sure the font is legible. Some logos need to be reproduced on small pieces of collateral ie: post stamps. It is important that in this case the text is
legible.

Tip 7
Make certain that you collect a copy of your logo in CMYK high resolution 300 dpi (for printing use) and RGB 72 dpi(for web use).

Tip 8
It is important to have a style guide of your logo. It will clearly show you how to use your logo so it looks exactly the same every time it is reproduced. This allows you to keep your corporate image consistent.

Tip 9
Make sure that you get a letter from the design studio declaring that you own the copyright to your logo.

If you follow these tips then not only will you acquire a well-designed logo but you will also own the artwork. And when it comes to reproducing your collateral you will be doing it the most cost effective way.

For logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact graphic design Brisbane today for a free two hour consultation.


How to Create a Style Guide

Posted: July 31st, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

How many times have you commissioned business cards to print and procured yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been fired up to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then spotted that the crucial tag line is nowhere to be found or your logo has been wrecked.

There is only one way to prevent this from happening and that is to use a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you control the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you reinforce your brand recognition – which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.

We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.

Step 1 : Mark the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to utilize in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?

Step 2 : Mark what your output uses are. This is important because you will require different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.

Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may needcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

Content rules cover all punctuation rules and how to specify to the business and team.

Step 4 : Ensure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding sits on all the different pieces of collateral that may be repeated.

Step 5 : Make certain to insert any contributing logos or logos of business that are linked with you. It’s also important that you mail a copy of the layout to these companies to insure they approve the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.

Step 6 : Insure that grammar, spelling and contact details are correct.

Step 7 : Assure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they understand~know~discern~apprehend} that a proof needs to be dispatched~sent~mailed~commissioned}to you to be affirmed as correct.

Have your Style Guide finished and as tight as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly suggest a training session – whereby your design studio comes in and trains your staff on how to work the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

For graphic design Brisbane, logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today. We help your brand build business.


Projectors: LCD Verses DLP (The downfall of DLP technology)

Posted: July 19th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | No Comments »

The most typical question customers ask when acquiring a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: do I purchase an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, short for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, standing for ‘digital light processing’ are the two commonplace projector imaging technologies. With so many business brands and different models available, it can be challenging for customers to pick between these technologies. The fact is that LCD projectors give superior image quality and colour accuracy. The following article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with projecting a comparable standard of image quality.

Think of a set of blinds in your home covering your bedroom window. By a twist of a rod you can turn the shutters open or closed, according to whether you want to let light in or not. Such is exactly how an LCD projector behaves. Each pixel works like its own shutter on a set of blinds to either allow light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is formed of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as the professionals like to call them. Each pixel element functions to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the point when the projector switches on to when the picture reaches your screen is absolutely significant for image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors shine white light from the lamp by separating it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which send the coloured light to 3 stand alone LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels make the elements of the image by switching each pixel on and off. The pixels are then meshed in a glass prism to send the projector image. A point to remember about LCD projectors is that all three colours are directed onto your projected surface at the same time. The way a DLP projector works is widely different and even how an image comes out is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is processed through a rotating colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This method of forming an image requires a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to construct the image elements. The elements of the image are cast in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eyes will then put together each coloured element of the image into a single complete image. From LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to create the highest brightness and fantastic colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at a time, causing lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some designers have put a white segment into the colour wheel to improve general brightness, but this goes and detracts from colour accuracy.

I hear in forums all the time that DLP provides a higher contrast ratio and ergo must be superior quality. For those unsure, the contrast ratio is a measure of a display system defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest white to that of the darkest black that the technology is capable of producing. DLP projectors do possess high contrast specifications in comparison to the majority of LCD projectors. At first glance, this must be an advantage, however, in the real world, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room while the projector is used. Do not be hoodwinked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you plan to view needs moving images, DLP projection technology also has image imperfections, or ‘artifacts’. The most common artifact that a DLP projector displays with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is to be expected in DLP systems because moving images keep changing between the time red, blue and green colours are projected. LCD projectors do not have this problem because the colours are delivered with the others. DLP manufacturers have come up with 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to resolve the colour break up error, but the price of these projectors make them hardly practical for many businesses and consumers.

Another point of difference between LCD and DLP is how they balance for the refractive qualities of light. Jump back to high school science, and remember when they taught you how the different colours of light refract varied amounts when directed through the same lens. The problem with DLP projectors is that they use the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are obviously different and refract light differently. Generally with a DLP projector, an extra yellow colour will come up above and a superfluous blue will be projected below something as simple as a straight black line. In building LCD projectors can be adapted to reduce these effects on the projected image, as each colour is refracted on separate LCD panels.

The isolated actual buy point (excluding price) with going with a DLP projector is its overall smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant for transport and needs to be traded off against the image plusses of LCD projectors. If overall picture quality is crucial to you, then the decision is no-brainer. Choose an LCD projector! LCD projectors will consistently make bright, colourful images with fewer image errors. If you need to ask more about LCD technology in more detail, have a look at this tremendous resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any more questions, get onto Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager for Projector Central, Australia’s leading online provider for projectors. Based in Brisbane, Projector Central has served Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in the Gold Coast and Interactive Whiteboards, contact Projector Central today.


Yachting and Yacht Clubs

Posted: July 16th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | No Comments »

As the Dutch rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the first yacht had been a leisure craft used first by royalty and secondly by the burghers for the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Yacht racing was incidental, arising as private matches. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his reaffirmation to the English royalty in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) leisure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he then named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), made other yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and back, on a £100 punt. Yachting became popular among the affluent and royalty, but after that time the fashion did not last.

The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, with much naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to racing boats was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imaginary enemy. The club went on, for the large part as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when merging with other societies, it became the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was first seen in some stipulated manner on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland funded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to sovereignty in 1820, it came to be called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing dispute, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht association had been started at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal sponsorship made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continuing setting of British yacht racing. The society at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the ascension of George IV. All members were required to have boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing tests for great stakes were held, and the social life was wonderful. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to over 350 tons.

In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English held control. Sailing was largely for leisure and reached its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which cruised on the Mediterranean Sea and established a minimum of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in those waters from the late 19th century. The first enduring American yacht association, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts followed the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the second half of the 19th century. The style of bigger yachts was originally heavily affected by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a association headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) was named after its victory at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with only a model being used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the use of the science of aerodynamics do for the design of sails and rigging what science had previously done for hulls.

Because most of all sailboats had to be individually built, there was a requirement for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were designed. Therefore, a rating rule was written, which resulted in the International Rule, adopted in 1906 and revised in 1919. In the present day, one of the rapidly flourishing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to single specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other elements (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing those boats can be held on an even keel with no handicapping required. A prime example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class adopted for racers in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

For the time that yachting belonged primarily for the nobility and the affluent, cost was no issue, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The rise and popularity of smaller yachts occurred in the latter half of the 19th century from the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A trip around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray demonstrated the hardiness of less sizeable boats. Following this in the 20th century, notably after World War II, smaller racing and recreational yachts became more common, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
After the decade 1840–50, at which point steam started to take the place of sail power in market craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in pleasure yachts. Bigger power yachts were progressed to a high element, and long-distance sailing turned into a preferred occupation of the well off. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave way to boats powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. Like naval and merchant boats, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht fashion for many years. By the second half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were exclusively power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

From the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the manufacture of large steam yachts. In particular within these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, containing triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was sailed by a crew of at least 150. The Mayflower, bought by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and gave active service in World War II.

As larger and better quality internal-combustion engines were produced, many big craft began using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, was furthered during World War I. During the decade following, large power-yacht building grew, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that period the biggest auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The building of larger power boats lessened in 1932, and the style after that was toward smaller, less expensive craft. From World War II, a lot of small naval vessels were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting had become a internationally popular competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen individually sailing and maintaining their own small recreational yachts. The popularity of boats and owners is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional areas along the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

Posted: July 8th, 2010 | Author: squadron | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | No Comments »

Taxes can be categorized by the impact they have on the placement of income and wealth. A proportional tax is the kind of tax that puts the same relative onus on all taxpayers—i.e., in the case where tax liability and income move in the same scale. A progressive tax is characterizable by a more than proportional rise in the tax onus in regard to the growth in income, and a regressive tax is characterized by a less than proportional growth in the relative onus. Therefore, progressive taxes are viewed as reducing inequity in income distribution, while regressive taxes might have the effect of increasing these inequalities.

The taxes that are usually considered progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are declarably progressive, however, might become less so within the upper-income categories—in particular if a taxpayer is able to reduce his tax base by declaring deductions or by leaving out particular income aspects from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates when applied to lower-income demographics can also be more progressive if personal exemptions are claimed.

Income measured over the period of a year might not necessarily offer the most suitable measure of taxpaying status. For example, transitory increases in income might be saved, and during temporary declines in income a taxpayer could select to provide for consumption by reducing savings. Thus, if taxation is regarded with “permanent income,” it would be less regressive (or more progressive) than if it is held in comparison with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (save those on luxuries) are generally regressive, because the share of own income consumed or spent on specific goods declines as the amount of personal income increases. Poll taxes (also termed head taxes), calculated as a set amount per capita, obviously are regressive.

It is not easy to classify corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, due to the lack of certainty regarding the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of dictating who bears the tax burden depends crucially on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being considered.

In considering the economic purpose of taxation, it is essential to distinguish between several concepts of tax rates. The statutory rates will be specified in legislature; generally these are marginal rates, but sometimes they are median rates. Marginal income tax rates signify the fraction of incremental income demanded by taxation when income is increased by one dollar. So, if tax onus grows by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax laws often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income increases. Careful analysis of marginal tax rates must consider provisions other than the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) lessens by 20 cents for each one-dollar rise in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points greater than nominated within the statutory rates. Since marginal rates indicate how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the appropriate ones for assessing incentive effects of taxation. It is even more complicated to realise the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, as it may be dependant on factors such as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem holds that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is zero under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates display the fraction of total income that is paid in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is necessary for judging the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate rises with income. Average income tax rates usually grow with income, both because personal allowances are allowed for the taxpayer and dependents and also because marginal tax rates are graduated; conversely, preferential treatment of income received for the most part by high-income households may dampen these effects, allowing regressivity, as signified by average tax rates that decline as income grows.

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