Holyrood’s dead wood replaced

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Holyrood’s dead wood replaced

0 Comments | Evening News (Edinburgh, Scotland), Dec 18, 2009

Byline: Ian Swanson Political Editor

Taxpayer to foot bill for 40 new bamboo-style window poles

DOZENS of the iconic bamboo-style poles which decorate MSPs’ windows at the Scottish Parliament have had to be replaced at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer.

When the “oak lattice” screens were taken down from the MSP block to be re-varnished after five years in position, 40 of them were found to be so rotten they could not be repaired.

Today, politicians warned the high maintenance costs of the GBP 414 million Holyrood building would annoy the public at a time when everyone was having to make savings.

The poles were taken down in September and sent for re- varnishing at a firm in Fife as part of the parliament’s GBP 409,000 a year fabric maintenance programme.

A year ago, 34 poles in the bamboo-style canopy over the parliament’s main entrance had to have sections replaced after just four years because they had rotted away.

Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald said people would be annoyed that, in a recession, large amounts of money were being spent on something which could not be classed as essential.

She said: “We’re stuck with the windows because they have become a recognised feature and they are on the tea towels.

“But maintenance costs, repair costs and replacement costs are higher because it is all custom-made. There’s no shop that sells bent bits of wood like these.

“It goes back to the impracticality of the design and, particularly at a time like this, people will shake their heads because everyone else in private life or in business is learning to cut their coat according to the cloth available.”

Edinburgh Pentlands Tory MSP David McLetchie said the bamboo-style “bars” had been an artistic flourish by architect Enric Miralles and it was “no surprise” that 40 of them needed to be replaced.

He said: “Many thought when these bars went up that Mr Miralles was paying scant regard to the severity of the Scottish climate and that has been borne out. However, given they are now an integral part of the design, it’s just another reason why the maintenance costs of the building are so high.”

Parliament officials refused to say how much it cost to replace the poles or carry out the re-varnishing.

But timber expert Peter Wilson said the bill would easily be in the tens of thousands.

He said: “It is an expensive and predictable problem, and one that will recur. All coatings on timber degrade, so if they want to keep that honey colour they are going to have to renew it every few years.”

He said many buildings featured uncoated timber, which weathered to a silvery grey.

“Oak is very durable and should last on its own without coating, but once you have coated it you have to do it again and again.”

Mr Wilson, of Napier University’s Centre for Timber Engineering, said the fact so many poles had rotted was down to “bad detail” – metal discs at the end of the poles which allowed water to become trapped.

A parliament spokeswoman said the poles had been varnished to make them as weather resistant as possible.

wood lattice

Posted on July 29th 2010 in Uncategorized

One of the mistakes people

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One of the mistakes people make when trying to lose weight is they fail to change their calorie intake. You must change the amount of calories that you consume due to the fact that as you lose weight you are burning fewer calories than when you began. For example, if your body is burning 3,000 calories at the start of your diet you may only be burning 2800 after a couple of weeks. You also have to set realistic weight loss goals of no more than two pounds a week.

Now you must understand that if you want to succeed in losing weight, you have to make changes in your nutrition plan. I recommend burning more calories, because being more active facilitates smaller calorie restriction and milder calorie expenditure drop.

It is very difficult to estimate the rate of the metabolic drop.
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Posted on July 29th 2010 in Uncategorized

Keep in mind that

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Keep in mind that the nursing home can’t discriminate aginist admitting your loved one based upon how the care will be paid for, whether it’s Medicare, Medicaid, long-term care insurance, an HMO, private funds or other payment plans.

Nursing homes, like other businesses have bills to pay, not the least of which is payroll. So naturally they will look for the maximum reimbursement possible to care for your loved one.

Your challenge now becomes deciding which nursing home you will place your loved one in, within the time allocated by the hospital. Note that the reason the hospital is pushing you to transfer your loved one to a nursing home is money. The reimbursement for the care received is about to run out. Keep this in the back of your mind; the hospital will find it extremely difficult to force your loved one into a nursing home that you are not agreeable with or that is out of your neighborhood, at an unreasonable distance for you to travel.

The best way to avoid confrontation with the hospital is to have a discussion with the discharge planner about which nursing homes have the best reputation in the area and in which one the discharge planner would place their loved one.
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Posted on July 29th 2010 in Uncategorized

WORK UNDER WAY ON ARTS EDUCATION CENTER

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WORK UNDER WAY ON ARTS EDUCATION CENTER

0 Comments | Palm Beach Post, Mar 17, 2008 | by RON HAYES

Three years ago next month, Tom Pilecki stood in the center of the former Gold Coast Skating Rink at 425 24th St. in the city’s Northwood neighborhood, waxing poetic about his dreams for the Center for Creative Education’s new building.

“Once you get the roller skaters out of your mind,” the executive director said, “how can you not think, ‘Wow, what can this become?’”

Last week, Pilecki was back with a simple message: It’s becoming. Two-thirds of the capital campaign’s $10 million goal has been raised, naming rights are being sold and renovation of the 18,000- square-foot building is under way.

Founded in 1994, the nonprofit arts agency has a simple philosophy: Don’t just teach the arts. Use the arts to teach academics. Teach a child to square dance, and you can teach geometry and fractions at the same time.

With an annual budget of $1.7 million — $700,000 from the Children’s Services Council, the rest from private grants — the center sends about 40 artists into local schools and community centers in two programs.

In Project LEAP, the painters and potters, dancers, musicians, drummers and puppeteers work with classroom teachers to blend the arts and academics in their lesson plans.

CADRE brings the artists and students directly together in after- school programs at elementary schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, the Police Athletic League and other community agencies.

The center operated in a drab former Army barracks across from Palm Beach International Airport until February 2005, when an anonymous donor paid just over $1 million for the former skating rink.

“The theater space will be the same width as the proscenium of the Kravis Center’s stage,” Pilecki bragged last week, “so other groups could have a similar space to rehearse.”

As construction workers labored at the building’s east end, where the Arthur and Sydelle Meyer Family Reception Area will rise, Pilecki described what the building will look like when finished — an art gallery stretching the length of the 24th Street front, an outdoor terrace on the Spruce Avenue corner and, the heart of the renovated rink, the Conrad N
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Posted on July 29th 2010 in Uncategorized

That way, you get many

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That way, you get many more decorations for one price. You can use the flowers on your tree, in garlands, and as enhancements to your gift wrapping.

6. You can make your holidays more meaningful, while reducing cost, by considering your personal family heritage when choosing a decorating theme. This includes making homemade decorations, using styles and techniques according to your family?s traditions. Combining ancestral cultures and honoring ancestors by creating handmade ornaments will make the season more meaningful and will help your children develop stronger ties with your family?s unique heritage.

7. You can further personalize the season by bringing your family?s interests into play when selecting a decoration theme. Take a photo of your family involved in a favorite activity, or something used during that activity, and surround it in a bed of greenery. For instance, if you love reading, display special books, bound together with a colorful ribbon.
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Posted on July 29th 2010 in Uncategorized

Skokie, Ill.-Based Cement Association Builds Showcase Home in Atlanta.

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Skokie, Ill.-Based Cement Association Builds Showcase Home in Atlanta.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, February, 2001

By Mary Umberger, Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 10–ATLANTA–Let’s see, now. We have this house with concrete walls, concrete flooring, concrete tiles, concrete countertops, concrete fireplaces, concrete driveway, concrete tornado shelter.

Do we see a pattern emerging here?

The Portland Cement Association sure hopes so. The trade organization, which is based in Skokie, annually sponsors a showcase home for attendees of the International Builders Show trade exposition and convention, which runs here through Monday. Each year’s house is intended to promote the use of concrete products in residential construction
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Posted on July 28th 2010 in Uncategorized

Q My husband has a problem [...]

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Q My husband has a problem [...]

0 Comments | Sunday Telegraph, The; London (UK), Jul 25, 2010 | by SARA STANNER

Q My husband has a problem with burping after meals. What can he do to prevent it?

Anon, email

A SARA STANNER WRITES:

Although excessive burping can be linked to medical problems, such as ulcers, it is mostly caused by swallowing air. Eating food rapidly, gulping liquids, eating on the run and talking whilst eating will make your husband swallow larger amounts of air. So encourage him to take time over his meals and chew his food thoroughly
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Posted on July 28th 2010 in Uncategorized

Extra snooze time

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Extra snooze time

0 Comments | Timaru Herald, Mar 30, 2010

Daylight saving ends this Sunday, April 4, when 3am becomes 2am. This year daylight saving will recommence on September 26. The change also signals a time for people to check their smoke alarms, household emergency plans and survival kits.

emergency survival kit

Posted on July 28th 2010 in Uncategorized

Republic – Repurpose castoffs to use in the garden [Derived headline]

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Repurpose castoffs to use in the garden [Derived headline]

0 Comments | Yakima Herald – Republic, Jul 25, 2010 | by Karen Troianello

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

That was my parents’ mantra. I was born in the depth of the Depression and we lived by these principles even after hard times of the Depression and World War II were long past.

Frugal is the word that best described my parents. One incident remains embedded in my memory. Myra and I had returned to Colorado to attend my father’s funeral. During breakfast on the day of the afternoon funeral service, Mom said, “The first thing we need to do this morning is to freeze the last of the spinach or it will go to waste.”

I told her to just forget it. Looking shocked, she answered, “What would your father think!” Mom, my brother, Myra and I finished breakfast and without further word, we pulled the spinach, washed and froze it.

During the Depression most families learned not to throw out anything that still had some use, whether it was an item of clothing or leftovers from the table. And when the war broke out, Americans on the home front had no choice but to use it up or do without. Gasoline, tires, meat and leather shoes were rationed, and many other consumer goods were in short supply.

After the war ended and normalcy returned, many Americans made up for lost time by demanding the latest, the biggest and the best consumer goods — whether needed or not. But not my parents.

I suspect I inherited more of my parents’ Depression mentality than I would care to admit. And it shows, particularly in my vegetable garden
frugal living

Posted on July 28th 2010 in Uncategorized

It has been

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It has been used by Native Americans since ancient times in a tea form as a daily stimulant. Its traditional uses were to aid against fatigue, nervous depression and pain. The herb is currently being used in the United States as stimulant for the central nervous sytem and as a dietary supplement.

Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D. calls Mate “An invigorator of the mind and body, a natural source of nutrition, and a health promoter.” He also states that Mate is used to “boost immunity, retard aging, combat fatigue and control the appetite.” Yerba Mate has the ability to increase mental alertness and acuity and to do it without any side effects resulting in more energy and vitality. Yerba Mate has become a favorite of body builders and anyone interested in the health benefits of exercise.

The metabolic effects of Mate include the ability to maintain aerobic glycolysis (breakdown of carbohydrates) during exercise.
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Posted on July 28th 2010 in Uncategorized