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 highly trained expert who has experience in planning, designing and the construction of buildings and the oversight of construction jobs.

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 free reign to design the building or group of buildings, as well as the space around it that still counts as part of the project. These ideas form the planning stage of the project and can take months to finalise.

The reason why architects are so crucial 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 plans 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 bid 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 but important technical details. All you have to be concerned about is if whether or not the building is coming along according to the plans originally devised with the help of the architect.

The architect is also very helpful before the actual construction. 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 endeavor.

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, bidding 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.

Engaging 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 use 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 used when you want to make a fabulous 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 spectacular
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 different 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 lively 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 amazing, 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 rudimentry
and your budget may be tight. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a good warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a selection 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 essential need for these buyers is a prominent and premium reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as dull as a website address or they can be a design extravaganza.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build recognition 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 designing 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 attempt to repair your carpets damaged by water. These are the worries you must be careful of:

Overcharging. An inexperienced water restoration carpet cleaner may build the job up with extra steps. E.g. using dehumidification for the damaged carpets isn’t always needed.

Using the correct equipment. They sometimes borrow equipment from hire businesses for drying the carpet. This is all right, but an experienced water damage technician will have all their equipment so they offer a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

The right moisture metre. If they don’t have the right moisture meter, they can’t see when the carpet is fixed. This increases the problem of future mould growth. Removal of this may be required in the future.

If they aren’t specialised. There are many “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do water damage restoration work on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t the ones who take on this kind of task each day. Be aware of it. Drying carpet water damage is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips should be completed by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be damaged beyond repair.

You may be asking, how do I pick a good Flood Restoration techinician? Below I have selected some signifiers to look for when you hunt around for a carpet flood damage business:

How large is their Yellow Pages ad: This can be an indication as to how much work they are doing already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost around $50 000. When they have got a big ad, you get some assurance that they are professionals.

Where do they show up in Google? The higher their rank in Google, the more webpage views there are for that business.

What Qualifications do they have? The base qualification needed is a IICRC qualification of Applied Structural Drying and Water Damage Restoration.

Do Insurance companies source them for water damage jobs? This is a better indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is very likely to be excellent at their skill. Insurance companies tend to use the companies that give them the better value for their money.

How much Equipment do they have? They should own at least 100 Air movers. If they have this many, this indicates 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 for them over the phone? Try to pin them down to a fee for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they can’t give you a price for this in the least, you know they are not interested in serving you, so go elsewhere.

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

If you follow these tips you are sure to locate a Flood Damage Restoration professional who knows how to do the job right.

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 face litigation . 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 good 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 best aspects of working as podiatrist is the instant gratification! People come in with pain and leave happy. You will consult on 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 pleasant when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will give you a great deal of opportunity to help eliminate the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatryallows a professional the power to determine their own course of action for the benefit of their patients. This is unlike a career in nursing for example where one acts under the instruction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can claim to be a podiatrist are those with a podiatry degree . The clear roles that this delineates relieves the requirement to find your ‘niche’ after university – as someone with a more generic Bachelor of Science degree might need to do.
  • Feel the need 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 work your way around the world, Australian podiatrists can work 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 huge range of complaints. There might be an ingrown toenail or two, a painful corn, a sports injury, some lower back pain and at least a couple of painful arches . The primary skill required in being a good podiatrist is to be a great problem solver. Every patient is an individual with a unique problem requiring a well considered solution.

How do you become a qualified 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 established by a developer and comprehend the process it will save you money and gain you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Understanding your business and how you are currently established in your market.
In order to create a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full comprehension of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to acknowledge 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 armed with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can achieve an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will build a good profile and analyze not only what type of site to build for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for efficient development. The more interaction and information you allow them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by achieving 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 collect the general layout of this concept and then create the inner page template. It is this template that will be duplicated 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 interacting with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; formulate a decent amount of content but provide it in a way that a reader may accomplish a summary of what you are trying to present 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 comprehend 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 created for you. You can guarantee if it is has just been written for you then it will not operate 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program operates 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 live make sure you have finished the above testing step until you are certain 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 expresses the tone of your business, gestures 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 unnecessary and may cause obstacles when trying to recreate 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 hinted that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in getting 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 searching for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

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

Tip 2
Colour can be an extremely important decision as it not only could influence the output costs but can also margin your output use. Think about the end result and what you will be commiting your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Make certain you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and assure that it includes all the files required for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Assure 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 regulate. For example it is difficult 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
Make sure 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
readable

Tip 7
Insure that you get 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 obtained yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been thrilled 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 stop this from happening and that is to set up a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you steer 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 work 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 want 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 wantcopy 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 : Insure 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 reprinted.

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

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

Step 7 : Make certain 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 approved as correct.

Make your Style Guide finished and as established 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 arrives and trains your staff on how to put 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 typical question customers ask when purchasing a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: would I buy an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, short for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, short for ‘digital light processing’ are the two most common projector imaging technologies. With so many business brands and models available, it can be difficult for clients to choose between both technologies. It comes down to the fact that LCD projectors provide better image quality and colour accuracy. The next part of this article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with projecting a similar standard of image quality.

It’s like a set of blinds in your household covering your bedroom window. By pulling on a rod you can have the shutters open or closed, depending on if you want to let light in or not. Such is exactly how an LCD projector behaves. Each pixel operates like an individual shutter on a set of blinds to either send light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is created of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as experts like to call them. Each pixel element works to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the point at which the projector is turned on to when the image reaches your screen is absolutely significant with regard to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors process white light from the lamp by dividing it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which project the coloured light to 3 stand alone LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels form the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then meshed in a glass prism to deliver the projector image. Something to realise about LCD projectors is that all three colours are delivered onto your screen simultaneously. The way a DLP projector works is totally different and even the way an image shows up is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is directed through a spinning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This way of making an image casts a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors as mentioned 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 eye will then draw each coloured element of the image into the full image. From LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to offer high brightness and superb colour accuracy. In DLP, just one colour is available at once, and so resulting in lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some manufacturers have put a white segment into the colour wheel to improve overall brightness, but this also lessens colour accuracy.

I find in forums all the time that DLP offers a higher contrast ratio and therefore must be better. For those who are unaware, 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. DLP projectors do have high contrast specifications compared to many LCD projectors. Initially, this seems to be a plus, however, in reality, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room when the projector is being utilised. Do not be fooled by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you wish to view needs moving images, DLP projection technology can also have image marks, or ‘artifacts’. The most commonplace artifact that a DLP projector forms with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is unavoidable in DLP systems because moving images change up between the time red, blue and green colours are projected. LCD projectors do not have this disadvantage because all colours are processed at once. DLP designers have created 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to solve the colour break up artifacts, but the price tag of these projectors make them not practical for the large part of businesses and consumers.

Another variance between LCD and DLP is how they make up for the refractive qualities of light. Jump back to high school science, and recall how the different colours of light refract varied amounts when passing through the same lens. The disadvantage with DLP projectors is that they take the one same panel for the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are different and refract light differently. Generally with a DLP projector, some extra yellow colour will come through above and some extra blue will show below an image as simple as a single black line. In manufacturing LCD projectors can be adjusted to take away these effects on the projected image, as each colour is processed on separate LCD panels.

The one veritable advantage (excluding price) with choosing a DLP projector is its overall smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant to mobility and cannot be traded off against the image superiority of LCD projectors. If the outcome of the picture quality is important to you, then the answer is no-brainer. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will consistently show bright, colourful images with fewer image imperfections. If you wish to find out more about LCD technology in more detail, have a look at this spectacular resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any other questions, visit Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager for Projector Central, Australia’s number one online store for projectors. Based in Brisbane, Projector Central has been servicing Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in Brisbane 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 found preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht became a leisure craft used initially by royalty and secondly by the burghers for the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. 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 restoration to the English royalty in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), built more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 bet. Yachting became fashionable with the affluent and nobility, but after that point the trend did not last.

The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, and held large naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club went on, mostly as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, after joining with other clubs, it became the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was first seen in some ordered manner on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV ascended to sovereignty in 1820, it was then named the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing argument, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht society had been initiated at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal patronage made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continued site of British yacht racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the rise of George IV. All members were required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for great bids were held, and the social life was splendid. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to bigger than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting was first accomplished with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English took dominance. Sailing was mostly for pleasure and reached its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and established a minimum of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was instigated in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens began the New York Yacht Club aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts took the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the second half of the 19th century. The style of sizeable yachts was originally heavily affected by the win of America, which was created by George Steers for a group led by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its success at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and built in the modern sense, with just a model being used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was called naval architecture come into action. Not until the 1920s did the application of the research of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what science had earlier done for hulls.

Because most of all sailboats were individually manufactured, there arose 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, accepted in 1906 and amended in 1919. Today, one of the fastest blossoming areas in the field of sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to the same dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing such boats can be done on an even playing field with no handicapping at all. A prime example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on board for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting was done largely for the aristocracy and the rich, money was no problem, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The promotion and popularity of smaller craft happened in the second half of the 19th century in 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 made plain the value of less sizeable boats. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure craft 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
Following the decade 1840–50, when steam was set to replace sail power in public vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in leisure yachts. Bigger power yachts were developed to a high standard, and long-distance travel turned into a preferred activity of the rich. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave rise to boats powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. Like naval and merchant boats, auxiliaries carrying both sail and power were the yacht standard for many years. By the later half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were only power yachts with gasoline or diesel engines.

From the last decade of the 19th century there was a push in the manufacture of more sizeable steam yachts. In particular of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, that had triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of at least 150. The Mayflower, purchased by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and was used in active service during World War II.

As bigger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were created, many large boats began using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, advanced in World War I. In the decade after that, bigger power-yacht manufacture grew, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that point the best auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The building of large power yachts declined from 1932, and the style from then was for smaller, less costly craft. After World War II, a lot of small naval boats were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting had become a globally loved activity enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally owning and keeping their own small pleasure yachts. The number of boats and sailors is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional areas along the beach 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 allocation of income and wealth. A proportional tax is a kind that puts the same relative onus on all the taxpayers—i.e., in the case where tax liability and income grow in relative proportion. A progressive tax is recognisable by a more than proportional rise in the tax liability relative to the increase in income, and a regressive tax is recognised by a less than proportional rise in the relative burden. Therefore, progressive taxes are regarded as taking away inequity in income distribution, while regressive taxes are found to have the effect of an increase in these inequalities.

The taxes that are generally thought to be progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are declarably progressive, however, can become less so in the upper-income categories—in particular if a taxpayer is permitted to reduce his tax base by claiming deductions or by taking some certain income elements from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates when applied to lower-income categories can also be more progressive if such exemptions of a personal nature are claimed.

Income measured over the course of a given period may not necessarily provide the best measure of taxpaying requirements. For example, transitory increases in income might be saved, and within temporary declines in income a taxpayer could opt to provide for consumption by decreasing savings. Therefore, if taxation is compared with “permanent income,” it should be less regressive (or more progressive) than when it is compared with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (excepting those on luxuries) are mostly regressive, because the share of personal income consumed or spent on a specific good decreases as the amount of personal income is raised. Poll taxes (aka head taxes), nominated as a standard amount per capita, patently are regressive.

It is not simple to determine corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally due to uncertainty around the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of nominating who bears the tax burden lays essentially on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being determined.

In regarding the economic effects of taxation, it is essential to differentiate between several ideas of tax rates. The statutory rates will be dictated in law; commonly these are marginal rates, but occasionally they are average rates. Marginal income tax rates indicate the fraction of incremental income demanded by taxation when income increases by one dollar. Therefore, if tax burden rises by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax legislature often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income grows. Careful analysis of marginal tax rates must regard provisions in addition to the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) lowers by 20 cents for each one-dollar growth in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points more than indicated in the statutory rates. Since marginal rates specify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the relevant ones for appraising incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to nominate the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, as it may depend 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 nothing under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates indicate the fraction of total income that is taken in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is important for considering the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate rises with income. Average income tax rates commonly grow with income, both because personal allowances are granted for the taxpayer and dependents and also because marginal tax rates are graduated; on the other side of things, preferential treatment of income received fundamentally by high-income households can swamp these effects, allowing regressivity, as signified by average tax rates that fall as income rises.

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