text:
All of us here at Amesbury are grateful to the communities we serve and thankful for the opportunities they have allowed us. As successful members of the community, we feel it is our responsibility to help those less fortunate by contributing to the common good, because what is good for the community is good for us all. We are extremely proud of our employees and their families and thank everyone for opening their pocket books, rolling up their sleeves and giving unselfishly of themselves, as they help build the communities which we so proudly call home.
Post Office Box 3032
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Phone: 225.757.7111
Fax: 225.926.3305
The Amesbury leadership team has over 50 years of combined experience developing, constructing and managing multi-family and commercial real estate in the Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee markets. Amesbury's proven success has established an uncompromising level of trust with its client base which is made up of the industry's most sophisticated real estate investors. With a stable, experienced, and committed team who live, work and specialize in our core markets, Amesbury Management provides its investors, partners, associates and residents with the depth of experience necessary to create superior value.
As a result of our past success during all market cycles, investors, clients and residents trust that Amesbury Management will take care of them. Our long standing focus in key target markets gives us unmatched market insight, the ability to quickly respond to market indicators, and the unique positioning that allows us to see opportunities where others may not and to use that opportunity to create superior value.
Our depth of multi-family and commercial experience gives our clients the confidence of working with a leader. We offer the resources, local market knowledge, wisdom and staying power to successfully invest, operate, develop, manage and maximize value to our real estate investments. We capitalize on the highs, work through adverse conditions and continue to innovate, execute and evolve through it allx
Robert Peek, founder of Amesbury Companies, graduated with a Finance degree from Louisiana State University and has over 28 years in the commercial & multi-family Industry specializing in development, acquisitions, finance, property management and brokerage. Robert is responsible for the leadership of all Amesbury entities as well as advancing the company's strategic initiatives.
He has owned and developed Class A multi-family developments throughout the states of Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee, where he also holds real estate broker licenses. Throughout his career, Robert has experienced all aspects of a complete real estate cycle and through this experience has acquired the skills necessary to maximize asset value regardless of market conditions.
Robert is an active member of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and has served as board member of the Commercial Investment Division (CID) of the Baton Rouge Association of Realtors and the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition. Robert's dedication to hard work and his innate ability to complete difficult tasks have allowed Amesbury Companies to become a regional industry leader.
Denise Scelfo has been with Amesbury Companies since its inception bringing over 25 years of experience in the multi-family development and management industry. During much of her career, Denise served as a Regional Director for one of the nation's largest REIT's. She has managed large portfolios in major markets throughout the States of Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. Her expertise in new construction, debt resolution, and transforming distressed assets has played a pivotal role in Amesbury' success. As a Consultant, Denise has been engaged as a multi-family construction litigation expert in multiple large scale cases.
Denise has held board positions with the Orlando Apartment Association, Baton Rouge Apartment Association and Apartment Association of Acadiana and was a certified instructor with the National Apartment Association. She is presently a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management, Baton Rouge Apartment Association, Greater Nashville Apartment Association and Apartment Association of Longview.
Kurt Miller attended Loyola University and brings over 20 years of experience in every facet of residential, commercial and multi-family construction to Amesbury Companies. He is responsible for all aspects of the firm's construction activity including site location, site preparation, construction quality assurance, financial management and final construction delivery. His extensive experience and attention to detail provide an internal framework of checks and balances on each development to ensure timely delivery and a product of the highest quality possible. Kurt first became a licensed custom home builder contractor in 1990 and currently holds a Louisiana Commerical Contractor's license.
Kurt Michael Miller was licensed as a custom home builder in 1990 and thus brings more than 20 years of project management experience to PHL Construction. In his leadership role at PHL, Kurt supervises the construction of the project, including its organization, planning, and scheduling. He coordinates labor and supervises job activities to ensure the project is completed on time and within budget. Kurt maintains complete knowledge of all contract documents, drawings and specifications, schedules, labor agreements and local municipal and state regulatory codes related to the project. Kurt has completed multiple leadership, management and other workshops and training programs. His attention to detail provides an internal framework of checks and balances on the developments to insure a low threshold for risk. As a PHL supervisor, Kurt is responsible for facilitating project completion.


text:
Connected Cars13 February 2014
by eub2 -- last modified 13 February 2014
New European standards for 'connected cars', able to communicate with each other and with road infrastructures, are expected to appear on European roads in 2015.
Two European standards organisations, ETSI and CEN, confirmed on 12 February 2014 that the basic set of standards requested by the European Commission to make connected cars a reality has been fully completed. The norms which they have adopted ensure that vehicles made by different manufacturers can communicate with each other. The EU has invested more than €180 million in research projects on cooperative transport systems, whose results helped develop the standards. This is expected to put the European car industry, which provides 13 million jobs, out in front in the race to develop the next generation of cars.
1. What is the difference between a connected car, and a car we can buy today?
The cars that we can buy today include stand-alone driver assistance. It can help drivers to maintain a safe speed and distance, and drive within the lane for example. This has therefore positive effects on safety and traffic management. However, benefits could be further improved if individual vehicles were able to continuously communicate with each other and with the road infrastructure.
This is the aim of connected cars: they are able to communicate with each other and with road infrastructures. Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) can greatly increase the quality and reliability of information available about the vehicles, their location, their status and the road environment. Data available from vehicles are transmitted to a server for central fusion and processing. These data can be used to detect events such as rain (wiper activity) and congestion (frequent braking activities). The server processes a driving recommendation dedicated to a single or a specific group of drivers and transmits it wirelessly to vehicles. The system can, for example, warn you of an accident that has just happened, give you precious information at blind intersections or advise you on the best way to get to your destination avoiding traffic jams. Connected cars can therefore ensure safer journeys, save drivers' time and reduce energy consumption.
2. How will this be different from what a GPS system does already?
One major advantage is that connected vehicles will exchange in real time information about hazards and events that happen in their surroundings, in a very dynamic way, complementing and increasing the accuracy of the information that satellite navigation systems can provide. Some mobile applications exist today to share information on traffic jams for example. Information is also broadcast over FM radio. But the accuracy of these systems cannot be compared to C-ITS.
3. Will these new technologies be in-built to every new car sold, or is it an extra option?
The system will be progressively integrated into new vehicles coming into the market. It is also expected that mobile cooperative system stations based on the same standards will appear into the market, being able to retrofit the existing fleet.
4. How will connected cars make our lives more convenient, our journeys greener, and our roads safer?
Connected cars will allow efficient real time traffic management and curb traffic congestion. They will provide alternative options to drivers in case of traffic jams or accidents. Vehicles will be informed about dangerous situations, e.g. a slippery road or a heavy fog ahead. Vulnerable road users will give precious information about their position to vehicles approaching them. Blind spots will not be an issue any more.
5. How will connected cars benefit the European economy?
Important economic benefits – for citizens and companies – will be generated thanks to more dependable journey times and reduced traffic congestion.
With more than 200 million vehicles on European roads today, connected cars also represent a significant market for European industries. With the new standards, the European car manufacturers, their suppliers and the telecoms industry are in the lead. In a similar way to the GSM/3G standards, which have allowed the appearance of a bunch of added value applications due to their interoperability, connected vehicles are expected to generate a great number of services. These connected vehicles will produce an important amount of useful data. The potential is huge as the treatment of big data is key for the ICT industry.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
For the 2010 *fiscal year, Judge Paul Lang has disposed 359 cases at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) in Baltimore, Maryland. Out of those 359 dispostions, 78 were dismissed, 185 were approved and 96 were denied. This means that the percentage of dispositions that Judge Lang has approved in Baltimore for the 2010 fiscal year is 52%. The information below for Judge Paul Lang was last updated on 6/11/2019.
Please Note: This site is privately owned and is not administered by or affiliated with the Social Security Administration.
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SSA, Baltimore ODAR OfficeThe Symphony Center, Room 3001010 Park AvenueBaltimore, Maryland 21201-5600Phone: (866) 613-3960Fax: (410) 962-6999eFile Fax: (410) 962-2781


text:
Preparation time:
Cooking time:
Difficulty: Easy - for beginners
Serves: 2
4 large Eggland's Best eggs
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 plum tomato, sliced
2 tablespoons Feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
Combine eggs, spinach, oregano and salt in a medium bowl. Beat until well blended.
Lightly coat a 9-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray, heat over medium heat.
Pour egg mixture into skillet. Cook until bottom is lightly browned and firm, about 5-6 minutes.
With a spatula, flip the omelet to the other side and cook 3 minutes more.
Transfer omelet to a platter. Sprinkle tomatoes and cheese on one half (and onions, if desired) and fold over other half to cover.
Let stand 1 minute to warm tomatoes and cheese. Cut in half.


text:
Thanks Trilby, that was it! Now I have blazing fast web access!
Trying out luakit and liking it very much so far. My only issue is font size with different sites. The only thing I found in my searching was post #801 to about #808 in this thread and like him/her am finding some sites have proper font size but others, like arch, have very tiny fonts--in my case gmail also has small fonts. In midori there is a setting in preferences for minimum font size so I don't have this problem with arch on midori so it seems possible in a webkit browser. Any suggestions out there?
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
There are +/- default bindings for adjusting the text "zoom" which is an easy workaround, though it has to be continually redone. You could also use user stylesheets to set a default font size, e.g.
* { font.size: 14pt };
then set this style sheet in globals.lua under domain_propts.
"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" - Richard Stallman
There are +/- default bindings for adjusting the text "zoom" which is an easy workaround, though it has to be continually redone. You could also use user stylesheets to set a default font size, e.g.
* { font.size: 14pt };
then set this style sheet in globals.lua under domain_propts.
Thx Trilby, the +/- keybindings work well--hadn't seen that so far in my short usage of luakit. Your other suggestion is basically the same as in post #801 on this thread and it doesn't seem to work here. Some sites are fine but others--like arch--still have small fonts so using the + keybinding works well enough. I'm thinking some addition to the code would be required to set a minimum font for all sites like midori does. The global.lua settings and a custom.css isn't enough it seems.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
I just tested it here, and it didn't work at first. Two things I had to do (perhaps only the second is needed):
1) use the !important css keyword (and don't do font-dot-size like I first did - hey I don't css much):
* { font-size: 14pt !important; }
2) set the user_stylesheet_uri with the "file://" prefix:
This had it working everywhere, including these forums after restarting luakit. I started with 28pt to make sure I didn't miss a subtle effect ... there was no missing that.
"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" - Richard Stallman
You can also add a line like this to your "all" section in the domain_props:
minimum_font_size = "10",
This is getting a little frustrating. I've tried both Trilby and bratmaxe's suggestions and they are not working for me here. I've tried a fresh start and removed my ~/.config/luakit directory and recopied /etc/xdg/luakit to ~/.config to no avail. Obviously something on my end is not setup right if both Trilby and bratmaxe have success on their end. I am using the luakit from community if that has any bearing. +/- are working fine, though, so for all the effort it takes to hit those keys I'm alright with it, but I just like to get things working properly when I can.
Edit: Where does luakit get its website font setting from in the first place? It seems to be using dejavu sans like my firefox and midori browsers use. Sounds like a newbie question, right? My theme.lua is using terminus and I can change that no problem.
Last edited by bgc1954 (2013-01-27 18:43:51)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
Did you "uncomment" the domain_props section? It is commented out by default, so you have to remove the first --[[ and the last ]] to activate it initially.
Edit: The fonts are selected by webkit, but you can overwrite these in the domain_props, too. All webkit settings are documented here: http://webkitgtk.org/reference/webkitgt … tings.html. Just beware that you have to replace the - with _ if you use these in the domain_props section.
Last edited by bratmaxe (2013-01-27 19:11:22)
thx bratmaxe, I knew it would be something stupid on my part but the comments in lua are something I've not encountered before--I noticed them but didn't really *see* them. It seems every computer language uses different notations--oh well, lesson learned. I'll look into your link also. I see it's also referenced in the global.lua file--if I had been really looking. The minimum_font_size works well and is a little simpler than a custom.css but that works now also.
Last edited by bgc1954 (2013-01-27 19:30:01)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
Sounds like you need a good syntax-highlighting text editor, so commented blocks are more obviously commented.
"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" - Richard Stallman
@Trilby - thx for the suggestion--opened a whole new world for research. I thought I was going to be stuck with using vim again--which I can use but am not profficient with--but found some lua.nanorc suggestions that work well. Never thought I had a need for syntax highlighting but maybe I do.
Quite liking luakit--can kinda see why it is your default web browser in ttwm.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
Does anyone get supergenpass bookmarklet work in luakit? I found this: https://github.com/mason-larobina/luakit/pull/23 but it don't work with current luakit version.
What's a good way to download links? I've searched :help and the docs, but the best I can find is to use
and then paste in the link, which I could get from ex-follow using
. It seems it would be easier to have an ex-follow mode to download links. (From what I can tell, this is what vimprobable does.)
From the cheatsheet, it mentions an "s" keybinding to download links, but that doesn't seem to exist. I tried both the versions of luakit from community (2012.09.13.r1-5) as well as luakit-git.
I just struggled for a long while wondering why everything on github looked so horrible (fonts mainly). I started tinkering with my font configuration, tried various infinality packages/presets, and nothing made text on github.com look acceptable.
Oddly, this problem was only on my netbook while my desktop with the same settings looked fine. Then I relized I had luakit-git on the netbook. I replaced it with luakit from the repos and github looks great again.
I have no idea how to investigate further, and find this quite odd, but FWIW some difference in luakit-git from community/luakit seemed to "break" github.com rendering for me.
"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" - Richard Stallman
I had the same issue with dwb and looked through the css stylesheets of affected websites to discover that they all had "Clean" as a font family. Seems like it's bound to a bitmap font by default that looks horrible at higher sizes, so I blacklisted it in my fontconfig (~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<patelt name="family">
Thanks a bunch. This solved a problem I was having on sites, expecially expedia.ca, where some of the fonts looked horrible. I tried your fonts.conf file and, voila, ugly fonts gone.
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
(relative) newb here -- I've incorporated the mailto: and magnet: hooks (located on the luakit wiki) in my rc.lua, at the end of the file. I was wondering the best way to get luakit to navigate to a webpage after the luakit.spawn action in each of those. For example, after passing a magnet link to transmission-remote, it would be really cool if I could automatically navigate to the transmission-web interface. Right now it just says "Luakit could not display this link."
I've tried
and it doesn't seem to work. Am I doing this right?
Clever Linux quote.
I just started using this browser and so far its pretty good. I'm having trouble using the formfiller plugin though. It it possible for formfiller to create seperate 'profiles'/templates of forms varying from different sites to different forms on a site and have each profile/template in seperate files?
Newbie question,
I just moved to luakit version 2012.09.13-r1-32-g993d814 . I like the character (asdfjklmnioq) hints instead of the default numeric (0123456789) links.
I tried to follow advice from https://github.com/mason-larobina/luaki … wing-hints, but the file lib/follow.lua doesn't seem
to have either reload_hints or update_hints funtions. In fact, "grep reload_hints *.lua" does not return anything for the entire luakit code.
I am sure that I am making some rookie mistake here. But cannot figure it out. Any help will be most appreciated.
You don't need to change functions anymore, just check in rc.lua after the 'require "follow"' there should be a comment telling you how to change the character set.
@bootleg Thank you. Worked fine. Also, from a previous post in this
thread, I added following code to my theme.lua file for configuring the
appearance of the hints in the browser. This works on the older
luakit version (2012-03) but doesn't seem to do anything in (2012-09).
--theme.lua as saved in my .config/luakit/
theme.follow = {}
theme.follow.border = "0px dotted #ffffff";
theme.follow.frame_border = "0px solid #ffffff";
theme.follow.tick_frame_bg = "#ffffff";
theme.follow.tick_fg = "#840000";
theme.follow.tick_bg = "#ffffff";
theme.follow.tick_border = "1px solid #000000";
theme.follow.tick_opacity = 1;
theme.follow.tick_font = "13px terminus";
Other theme modifications in the same file work. For e.g. increasing the
font size of the status bar etc.
Last edited by dghate (2013-03-14 17:10:09)
Hello everyone, I've been trying for a couple of days to switch from chromium to luakit as my default browser, the only thing holding me back are a bunch of chrome extensions I have. I can give up to some of them but I have dowloaded replacements for other ones as java scripts.
Now, I know it's possible to use those on luakit but I can't figure out how, I tried to read the wiki, well actually I didn't just try, I did read the wiki but I just don't get what I have to do.
https://github.com/mason-larobina/luaki … serscripts
Here for example, it sayd a path, I don't know what that path is tho, I thought I'd just change it to the path I placed my scripts to but I can't find the path in the rc.lua.
I know I'm failing badly at this but could you guys help me out?
Thanks in advance
When I install usercripts from usercripts.org, then I just open the userscript in luakit and issue userscriptinstall command in the command mode.
If you download a script, then you can copy the userscript.js file manually to ~/.local/share/luakit/scripts/
Either way the script will be loaded when it is required.
You can also see the list of all the userscripts that are installed using :userscripts in the command mode.
But please remember that not all scripts downloaded from the userscripts.org work for luakit. I had to go through many scripts before I found a usable one for my
wikipedia reading mode.
I hope the adblocking one and the reddit ones I need works :-\
I know there is a luakit adblock widget thingy but I failed at installing it.
I'm such a noob
How do i run my own scripts with Luakit?
Do i have to embed them in some Lua script before Luakit can handle them?
Also, i've been trying to get the included formfiller script to work. Could someone who has please post an example of
a completed form. For example a configuration for automatically filling out the arch forums login boxes.


text:
For other uses, see Asphalt (disambiguation). Note: The terms bitumen and asphalt are mostly interchangeable, Commercial Paving Services in Randburg except where asphalt is used as a shorthand for asphalt concrete. Natural bitumen from the Dead Sea Refined asphalt The University of Queensland pitch drop experiment, demonstrating the viscosity of asphalt
Asphalt (/ˈæsˌfɔːlt, -ˌfɑːlt/), also known as bitumen (UK English: /ˈbɪtʃəmən, ˈbɪtjʊmən/,[1] US English: /bɪˈt(j)uːmən, baɪˈt(j)uːmən/)[2] is a sticky, black, and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used.
The primary use (70%) of asphalt Recycled Asphalt Driveway is in road construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete. Its other main uses are for bituminous waterproofing products, including production of roofing felt and for sealing flat roofs.
The terms "asphalt" and "bitumen" are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance. In American English, "asphalt" (or "asphalt cement") is commonly used for a refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils. Outside the United States, the product is often called "bitumen", and geologists worldwide often prefer the term for the naturally occurring variety. Common colloquial usage often refers to various forms of asphalt as "tar", as in the name of the La Brea Tar Pits.
Naturally occurring asphalt is sometimes specified by the term "crude bitumen". Commercial Paving Services Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses[6][7] while the material obtained from the fractional distillation of crude oil boiling at 525 °C (977 °F) is sometimes referred to as "refined bitumen". The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves of natural asphalt in the Athabasca oil sands, which cover 142,000 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than England.
The word "asphalt" is derived from the late Middle English, in turn from French asphalte, based on Late Latin asphalton, asphaltum, which is the latinisation of the Greek ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, ásphalton), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/pitch" which perhaps derives from ἀ-, "without" and σφάλλω (sfallō), "make fall". Best Quality Driveway Pavers the first use of asphalt by the ancients was in the nature of a cement for securing or joining together various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. Specifically, Herodotus mentioned that bitumen was brought to Babylon to build its gigantic fortification wall.[11] From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French (asphalte) and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt"). In French, the term asphalte is used for naturally occurring asphalt-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads.
The expression "bitumen" originated in the Sanskrit words jatu, meaning "pitch", and jatu-krit, meaning "pitch creating" or "pitch producing" (referring to coniferous or resinous trees). The Latin equivalent is claimed by some to be originally gwitu-men (pertaining to pitch), and by others, pixtumens (exuding or bubbling pitch), which was subsequently shortened to bitumen, thence passing via French into English. From the same root is derived the Anglo-Saxon word cwidu (mastix), the German word Kitt (cement or mastic) and the old Norse word kvada.
In British English, "bitumen" is used instead of "asphalt". The word "asphalt" is instead used to refer to asphalt concrete, a mixture of construction aggregate and asphalt itself (also called "tarmac" in common parlance). Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called "asphaltum",[13] but the term is less commonly used today.[citation needed]
Road surface
In Australian English, "bitumen" is often used as the generic term for road surfaces.
In American English, "asphalt" is equivalent to the British "bitumen". However, "asphalt" is also commonly used as a shortened form of "asphalt concrete" (therefore equivalent to the British "asphalt" or "tarmac").
In Canadian English, the word "bitumen" is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil,[14] while "asphalt" is used for the oil refinery product. Diluted bitumen (diluted with naphtha to make it flow in pipelines) is known as "dilbit" in the Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen "upgraded" to synthetic crude oil is known as "syncrude", and syncrude blended with bitumen is called "synbit".[15]
"Bitumen" is still the preferred geological term for naturally occurring deposits of the solid or semi-solid form of petroleum. "Bituminous rock" is a form of sandstone impregnated with bitumen. The tar sands of Alberta, Canada are a similar material.
Neither of the terms "asphalt" or "bitumen" should be confused with tar or coal tars.[further explanation needed]
See also: Asphaltene
The components of asphalt include four main classes of compounds:
The naphthene aromatics and polar aromatics are typically the majority components. Most natural bitumens also contain organosulfur compounds, resulting in an overall sulfur content of up to 4%. Nickel and vanadium are found at <10 parts per million, as is typical of some petroleum.
The substance is soluble in carbon disulfide. It is commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase.[16] "It is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large".
Asphalt may be confused with coal tar, which is a visually similar black, thermoplastic material produced by the destructive distillation of coal. During the early and mid-20th century, when town gas was produced, coal tar was a readily available byproduct and extensively used as the binder for road aggregates. The addition of coal tar to macadam roads led to the word "tarmac", which is now used in common parlance to refer to road-making materials. However, since the 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, asphalt has completely overtaken the use of coal tar in these applications. Other examples of this confusion include the La Brea Tar Pits and the Canadian oil sands, both of which actually contain natural bitumen rather than tar. "Pitch" is another term sometimes informally used at times to refer to asphalt, as in Pitch Lake.
Bituminous outcrop of the Puy de la Poix, Clermont-Ferrand, France
The majority of asphalt used commercially is obtained from petroleum.[18] Nonetheless, large amounts of asphalt occur in concentrated form in nature. Naturally occurring deposits of bitumen are formed from the remains of ancient, microscopic algae (diatoms) and other once-living things. These remains were deposited in the mud on the bottom of the ocean or lake where the organisms lived. Under the heat (above 50 °C) and pressure of burial deep in the earth, the remains were transformed into materials such as bitumen, kerogen, or petroleum.
Natural deposits of bitumen include lakes such as the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Lake Bermudez in Venezuela. Natural seeps occur in the La Brea Tar Pits and in the Dead Sea.
Bitumen also occurs in unconsolidated sandstones known as "oil sands" in Alberta, Canada, and the similar "tar sands" in Utah, US. The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves, in three huge deposits covering 142,000 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi), an area larger than England or New York state. These bituminous sands contain 166 billion barrels (26.4×10^9 m3) of commercially established oil reserves, giving Canada the third largest oil reserves in the world. Although historically it was used without refining to pave roads, nearly all of the output is now used as raw material for oil refineries in Canada and the United States.
The world's largest deposit of natural bitumen, known as the Athabasca oil sands, is located in the McMurray Formation of Northern Alberta. This formation is from the early Cretaceous, and is composed of numerous lenses of oil-bearing sand with up to 20% oil.[19] Isotopic studies show the oil deposits to be about 110 million years old.[20] Two smaller but still very large formations occur in the Peace River oil sands and the Cold Lake oil sands, to the west and southeast of the Athabasca oil sands, respectively. Of the Alberta deposits, only parts of the Athabasca oil sands are shallow enough to be suitable for surface mining. The other 80% has to be produced by oil wells using enhanced oil recovery techniques like steam-assisted gravity drainage.
Much smaller heavy oil or bitumen deposits also occur in the Uinta Basin in Utah, US. The Tar Sand Triangle deposit, for example, is roughly 6% bitumen.
Bitumen may occur in hydrothermal veins. An example of this is within the Uinta Basin of Utah, in the US, where there is a swarm of laterally and vertically extensive veins composed of a solid hydrocarbon termed Gilsonite. These veins formed by the polymerization and solidification of hydrocarbons that were mobilized from the deeper oil shales of the Green River Formation during burial and diagenesis.
Bitumen is similar to the organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites.[23] However, detailed studies have shown these materials to be distinct.[24] The vast Alberta bitumen resources are considered to have started out as living material from marine plants and animals, mainly algae, that died millions of years ago when an ancient ocean covered Alberta. They were covered by mud, buried deeply over time, and gently cooked into oil by geothermal heat at a temperature of 50 to 150 °C (120 to 300 °F). Due to pressure from the rising of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta, 80 to 55 million years ago, the oil was driven northeast hundreds of kilometres and trapped into underground sand deposits left behind by ancient river beds and ocean beaches, thus forming the oil sands.
The use of natural bitumen for waterproofing, and as an adhesive dates at least to the fifth millennium BC, with a crop storage basket discovered in Mehrgarh, of the Indus Valley Civilization, lined with it.[25] By the 3rd millennia BC refined rock asphalt was in use, in the region, and was used to waterproof the Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro.
In the ancient Middle East, the Sumerians used natural bitumen deposits for mortar between bricks and stones, to cement parts of carvings, such as eyes, into place, for ship caulking, and for waterproofing.[3] The Greek historian Herodotus said hot bitumen was used as mortar in the walls of Babylon.
The 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long Euphrates Tunnel beneath the river Euphrates at Babylon in the time of Queen Semiramis (ca. 800 BC) was reportedly constructed of burnt bricks covered with bitumen as a waterproofing agent.
Bitumen was used by ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies.[3][28] The Persian word for asphalt is moom, which is related to the English word mummy. The Egyptians' primary source of bitumen was the Dead Sea, which the Romans knew as Palus Asphaltites (Asphalt Lake).
Approximately 40 AD, Dioscorides described the Dead Sea material as Judaicum bitumen, and noted other places in the region where it could be found.[29] The Sidon bitumen is thought to refer to material found at Hasbeya.[30] Pliny refers also to bitumen being found in Epirus. It was a valuable strategic resource, the object of the first known battle for a hydrocarbon deposit—between the Seleucids and the Nabateans in 312 BC.
In the ancient Far East, natural bitumen was slowly boiled to get rid of the higher fractions, leaving a thermoplastic material of higher molecular weight that when layered on objects became quite hard upon cooling. This was used to cover objects that needed waterproofing,[3] such as scabbards and other items. Statuettes of household deities were also cast with this type of material in Japan, and probably also in China.
In North America, archaeological recovery has indicated bitumen was sometimes used to adhere stone projectile points to wooden shafts.[32] In Canada, aboriginal people used bitumen seeping out of the banks of the Athabasca and other rivers to waterproof birch bark canoes, and also heated it in smudge pots to ward off mosquitoes in the summer.
In 1553, Pierre Belon described in his work Observations that pissasphalto, a mixture of pitch and bitumen, was used in the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia) for tarring of ships.
Road surface
An 1838 edition of Mechanics Magazine cites an early use of asphalt in France. A pamphlet dated 1621, by "a certain Monsieur d'Eyrinys, states that he had discovered the existence (of asphaltum) in large quantities in the vicinity of Neufchatel", and that he proposed to use it in a variety of ways – "principally in the construction of air-proof granaries, and in protecting, by means of the arches, the water-courses in the city of Paris from the intrusion of dirt and filth", which at that time made the water unusable. "He expatiates also on the excellence of this material for forming level and durable terraces" in palaces, "the notion of forming such terraces in the streets not one likely to cross the brain of a Parisian of that generation".
But the substance was generally neglected in France until the revolution of 1830. In the 1830s there was a surge of interest, and asphalt became widely used "for pavements, flat roofs, and the lining of cisterns, and in England, some use of it had been made of it for similar purposes". Its rise in Europe was "a sudden phenomenon", after natural deposits were found "in France at Osbann (Bas-Rhin), the Parc (Ain) and the Puy-de-la-Poix (Puy-de-Dôme)", although it could also be made artificially.[35] One of the earliest uses in France was the laying of about 24,000 square yards of Seyssel asphalt at the Place de la Concorde in 1835.
Among the earlier uses of bitumen in the United Kingdom was for etching. William Salmon's Polygraphice (1673) provides a recipe for varnish used in etching, consisting of three ounces of virgin wax, two ounces of mastic, and one ounce of asphaltum.[37] By the fifth edition in 1685, he had included more asphaltum recipes from other sources.
The first British patent for the use of asphalt was "Cassell's patent asphalte or bitumen" in 1834.[35] Then on 25 November 1837, Richard Tappin Claridge patented the use of Seyssel asphalt (patent #7849), for use in asphalte pavement,[39][40] having seen it employed in France and Belgium when visiting with Frederick Walter Simms, who worked with him on the introduction of asphalt to Britain.[41][42] Dr T. Lamb Phipson writes that his father, Samuel Ryland Phipson, a friend of Claridge, was also "instrumental in introducing the asphalte pavement (in 1836)".[43] Indeed, mastic pavements had been previously employed at Vauxhall by a competitor of Claridge, but without success.
Claridge obtained a patent in Scotland on 27 March 1838, and obtained a patent in Ireland on 23 April 1838. In 1851, extensions for the 1837 patent and for both 1838 patents were sought by the trustees of a company previously formed by Claridge. Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company—formed in 1838 for the purpose of introducing to Britain "Asphalte in its natural state from the mine at Pyrimont Seysell in France",—"laid one of the first asphalt pavements in Whitehall". Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks,"and subsequently on the space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park". "The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (with a distinguished list of aristocratic patrons, and Marc and Isambard Brunel as, respectively, a trustee and consulting engineer), gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry".[45] "By the end of 1838, at least two other companies, Robinson's and the Bastenne company, were in production",[50] with asphalt being laid as paving at Brighton, Herne Bay, Canterbury, Kensington, the Strand, and a large floor area in Bunhill-row, while meantime Claridge's Whitehall paving "continue(d) in good order".
Commercial Paving Services in Randburg ?Driveway to a farm Driveway apron and sloped curb to a public street, all under construction
A driveway (also called drive in UK English)[1] is a type of private road for local access to one or a small group of structures, and is owned and maintained by an individual or group.
Driveways rarely have traffic lights, but some that bear heavy traffic, especially those leading to commercial businesses and parks, do.
Driveways may be decorative in ways that public roads cannot, because of their lighter traffic and the willingness of owners to invest in their construction. Driveways are not resurfaced, snow blown or otherwise maintained by governments. They are generally designed to conform to the architecture of connected houses or other buildings.
Some of the materials that can be used for driveways include concrete, decorative brick, cobblestone, block paving, asphalt, gravel, decomposed granite, and surrounded with grass or other ground-cover plants.
Driveways are commonly used as paths to private garages, carports, or houses. On large estates, a driveway may be the road that leads to the house from the public road, possibly with a gate in between. Some driveways divide to serve different homeowners. A driveway may also refer to a small apron of pavement in front of a garage with a curb cut in the sidewalk, sometimes too short to accommodate a car.
Often, either by choice or to conform with local regulations, cars are parked in driveways in order to leave streets clear for traffic. Moreover, some jurisdictions prohibit parking or leaving standing any motor vehicle upon any residential lawn area (defined as the property from the front of a residential house, condominium, or cooperative to the street line other than a driveway, walkway, concrete or blacktopped surface parking space).[2] Other examples include the city of Berkeley, California that forbids "any person to park or leave standing, or cause to be parked or left standing any vehicle upon any public street in the City for seventy-two or more consecutive hours."[3] Other areas may prohibit leaving vehicles on residential streets during certain times (for instance, to accommodate regular street cleaning), necessitating the use of driveways.
Residential driveways are also used for such things as garage sales, automobile washing and repair, and recreation, notably (in North America) for basketball practice.
Another form of driveway is a 'Run-Up', or short piece of land used usually at the front of the property to park a vehicle on.[citation needed]
MacadamA single brick A wall constructed in glazed-headed Flemish bond with bricks of various shades and lengths Raw (green) Indian brick An old brick wall in English bond laid with alternating courses of headers and stretchers Bricked Front Street along the Cane River in historic Natchitoches, Louisiana
A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote any rectangular units laid in mortar. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks.
Block is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks (also called lightweight blocks) are made from expanded clay aggregate.
Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 5000 BC. Air-dried bricks, also known as mudbricks, have a history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw.
Bricks are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds, collectively known as brickwork, and may be laid in various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure.House construction using bricks in Kerala, India The Roman Basilica Aula Palatina in Trier, Germany, built with fired bricks in the 4th century as an audience hall for Constantine I
The earliest bricks were dried brick, meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing earth or mud and dried (usually in the sun) until they were strong enough for use. The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC, were found at Tell Aswad, in the upper Tigris region and in southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir.[1] Other more recent findings, dated between 7,000 and 6,395 BC, come from Jericho, Catal Hüyük, the ancient Egyptian fortress of Buhen, and the ancient Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro, Harappa,[2] and Mehrgarh.[3] Ceramic, or fired brick was used as early as 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities.[4]The ancient Jetavanaramaya stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is one of the largest brick structures in the world. The world's highest brick tower of St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Germany, completed in 1500 Malbork Castle, former Ordensburg of the Teutonic Order – biggest brick castle in the world
In pre-modern China, bricks were being used from the 2nd millennium BC at a site near Xi'an.[5] Bricks were produced on a larger scale under the Western Zhou dynasty about 3,000 years ago, and evidence for some of the first fired bricks ever produced has been discovered in ruins dating back to the Zhou.[6][7][8] The carpenter's manual Yingzao Fashi, published in 1103 at the time of the Song dynasty described the brick making process and glazing techniques then in use. Using the 17th century encyclopaedic text Tiangong Kaiwu, historian Timothy Brook outlined the brick production process of Ming Dynasty China:"...the kilnmaster had to make sure that the temperature inside the kiln stayed at a level that caused the clay to shimmer with the colour of molten gold or silver. He also had to know when to quench the kiln with water so as to produce the surface glaze. To anonymous labourers fell the less skilled stages of brick production: mixing clay and water, driving oxen over the mixture to trample it into a thick paste, scooping the paste into standardised wooden frames (to produce a brick roughly 42 cm long, 20 cm wide, and 10 cm thick), smoothing the surfaces with a wire-strung bow, removing them from the frames, printing the fronts and backs with stamps that indicated where the bricks came from and who made them, loading the kilns with fuel (likelier wood than coal), stacking the bricks in the kiln, removing them to cool while the kilns were still hot, and bundling them into pallets for transportation. It was hot, filthy work." The brickwork of Shebeli Tower in Iran displays 12th-century craftsmanship Main article: Roman brick
Early civilisations around the Mediterranean adopted the use of fired bricks, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns,[9] and built large brick structures throughout the Roman Empire, stamping the bricks with the seal of the legion.
During the Early Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe, after being introduced there from Northern-Western Italy. An independent style of brick architecture, known as brick Gothic (similar to Gothic architecture) flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this architectural style can be found in modern-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Russia.
This style evolved into Brick Renaissance as the stylistic changes associated with the Italian Renaissance spread to northern Europe, leading to the adoption of Renaissance elements into brick building. A clear distinction between the two styles only developed at the transition to Baroque architecture. In Lübeck, for example, Brick Renaissance is clearly recognisable in buildings equipped with terracotta reliefs by the artist Statius von Düren, who was also active at Schwerin (Schwerin Castle) and Wismar (Fürstenhof).Chile house in Hamburg, Germany
Long-distance bulk transport of bricks and other construction equipment remained prohibitively expensive until the development of modern transportation infrastructure, with the construction of canal, roads, and railways.
Production of bricks increased massively with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the rise in factory building in England. For reasons of speed and economy, bricks were increasingly preferred as building material to stone, even in areas where the stone was readily available. It was at this time in London that bright red brick was chosen for construction to make the buildings more visible in the heavy fog and to help prevent traffic accidents.[10]
The transition from the traditional method of production known as hand-moulding to a mechanised form of mass-production slowly took place during the first half of the nineteenth century. Possibly the first successful brick-making machine was patented by Henry Clayton, employed at the Atlas Works in Middlesex, England, in 1855, and was capable of producing up to 25,000 bricks daily with minimal supervision.[11] His mechanical apparatus soon achieved widespread attention after it was adopted for use by the South Eastern Railway Company for brick-making at their factory near Folkestone.[12] The Bradley & Craven Ltd 'Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine' was patented in 1853, apparently predating Clayton. Bradley & Craven went on to be a dominant manufacturer of brickmaking machinery.[13] Predating both Clayton and Bradley & Craven Ltd. however was the brick making machine patented by Richard A. Ver Valen of Haverstraw, New York in 1852.[14]
The demand for high office building construction at the turn of the 20th century led to a much greater use of cast and wrought iron, and later, steel and concrete. The use of brick for skyscraper construction severely limited the size of the building – the Monadnock Building, built in 1896 in Chicago, required exceptionally thick walls to maintain the structural integrity of its 17 storeys.
Following pioneering work in the 1950s at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Building Research Establishment in Watford, UK, the use of improved masonry for the construction of tall structures up to 18 storeys high was made viable. However, the use of brick has largely remained restricted to small to medium-sized buildings, as steel and concrete remain superior materials for high-rise construction.[15]This wall in Beacon Hill, Boston shows different types of brickwork and stone foundations
There are thousands of types of bricks that are named for their use, size, forming method, origin, quality, texture, and/or materials.
Categorized by manufacture method:
Categorized by use:
Specialized use bricks:
Bricks named for place of origin:Brick making at the beginning of the 20th century.
Three basic types of brick are un-fired, fired, and chemically set bricks. Each type is manufactured differently.Main article: Mudbrick
Unfired bricks, also known as mudbricks, are made from a wet, clay-containing soil mixed with straw or similar binders. They are air-dried until ready for use.Raw bricks sun-drying before being fired
Fired bricks are burned in a kiln which makes them durable. Modern, fired, clay bricks are formed in one of three processes – soft mud, dry press, or extruded. Depending on the country, either the extruded or soft mud method is the most common, since they are the most economical.
Normally, bricks contain the following ingredients:[16]
- Silica (sand) – 50% to 60% by weight
- Alumina (clay) – 20% to 30% by weight
- Lime – 2 to 5% by weight
- Iron oxide – ≤ 7% by weight
- Magnesia – less than 1% by weight
Three main methods are used for shaping the raw materials into bricks to be fired:Xhosa brickmaker at kiln near Ngcobo in 2007
In many modern brickworks, bricks are usually fired in a continuously fired tunnel kiln, in which the bricks are fired as they move slowly through the kiln on conveyors, rails, or kiln cars, which achieves a more consistent brick product. The bricks often have lime, ash, and organic matter added, which accelerates the burning process.A brickmaker in India – Tashrih al-aqvam (1825)
The other major kiln type is the Bull's Trench Kiln (BTK), based on a design developed by British engineer W. Bull in the late 19th century.
An oval or circular trench is dug, 6–9 metres wide, 2-2.5 metres deep, and 100–150 metres in circumference. A tall exhaust chimney is constructed in the centre. Half or more of the trench is filled with "green" (unfired) bricks which are stacked in an open lattice pattern to allow airflow. The lattice is capped with a roofing layer of finished brick.
In operation, new green bricks, along with roofing bricks, are stacked at one end of the brick pile; cooled finished bricks are removed from the other end for transport to their destinations. In the middle, the brick workers create a firing zone by dropping fuel (coal, wood, oil, debris, and so on) through access holes in the roof above the trench.
The advantage of the BTK design is a much greater energy efficiency compared with clamp or scove kilns. Sheet metal or boards are used to route the airflow through the brick lattice so that fresh air flows first through the recently burned bricks, heating the air, then through the active burning zone. The air continues through the green brick zone (pre-heating and drying the bricks), and finally out the chimney, where the rising gases create suction that pulls air through the system. The reuse of heated air yields savings in fuel cost.
As with the rail process, the BTK process is continuous. A half-dozen labourers working around the clock can fire approximately 15,000–25,000 bricks a day. Unlike the rail process, in the BTK process the bricks do not move. Instead, the locations at which the bricks are loaded, fired, and unloaded gradually rotate through the trench.[17]Yellow London Stocks at Waterloo station
The fired colour of tired clay bricks is influenced by the chemical and mineral content of the raw materials, the firing temperature, and the atmosphere in the kiln. For example, pink bricks are the result of a high iron content, white or yellow bricks have a higher lime content. Most bricks burn to various red hues; as the temperature is increased the colour moves through dark red, purple, and then to brown or grey at around 1,300 °C (2,372 °F). The names of bricks may reflect their origin and colour, such as London stock brick and Cambridgeshire White. Brick tinting may be performed to change the colour of bricks to blend-in areas of brickwork with the surrounding masonry.
An impervious and ornamental surface may be laid on brick either by salt glazing, in which salt is added during the burning process, or by the use of a slip, which is a glaze material into which the bricks are dipped. Subsequent reheating in the kiln fuses the slip into a glazed surface integral with the brick base.
Chemically set bricks are not fired but may have the curing process accelerated by the application of heat and pressure in an autoclave.Swedish Mexitegel is a sand-lime or lime-cement brick.
Calcium-silicate bricks are also called sandlime or flintlime bricks, depending on their ingredients. Rather than being made with clay they are made with lime binding the silicate material. The raw materials for calcium-silicate bricks include lime mixed in a proportion of about 1 to 10 with sand, quartz, crushed flint, or crushed siliceous rock together with mineral colourants. The materials are mixed and left until the lime is completely hydrated; the mixture is then pressed into moulds and cured in an autoclave for three to fourteen hours to speed the chemical hardening.[18] The finished bricks are very accurate and uniform, although the sharp arrises need careful handling to avoid damage to brick and bricklayer. The bricks can be made in a variety of colours; white, black, buff, and grey-blues are common, and pastel shades can be achieved. This type of brick is common in Sweden, especially in houses built or renovated in the 1970s. In India these are known as fly ash bricks, manufactured using the FaL-G (fly ash, lime, and gypsum) process. Calcium-silicate bricks are also manufactured in Canada and the United States, and meet the criteria set forth in ASTM C73 – 10 Standard Specification for Calcium Silicate Brick (Sand-Lime Brick).Main article: Concrete masonry unit A concrete brick-making assembly line in Guilinyang Town, Hainan, China. This operation produces a pallet containing 42 bricks, approximately every 30 seconds.
Bricks formed from concrete are usually termed as blocks, and are typically pale grey. They are made from a dry, small aggregate concrete which is formed in steel moulds by vibration and compaction in either an "egglayer" or static machine. The finished blocks are cured, rather than fired, using low-pressure steam. Concrete blocks are manufactured in a much wider range of shapes and sizes than clay bricks and are also available with a wider range of face treatments – a number of which simulate the appearance of clay bricks.
Concrete bricks are available in many colours and as an engineering brick made with sulfate-resisting Portland cement or equivalent. When made with adequate amount of cement they are suitable for harsh environments such as wet conditions and retaining walls. They are made to standards BS 6073, EN 771-3 or ASTM C55. Concrete bricks contract or shrink so they need movement joints every 5 to 6 metres, but are similar to other bricks of similar density in thermal and sound resistance and fire resistance.[18]Main article: Compressed earth block
Compressed earth blocks are made mostly from slightly moistened local soils compressed with a mechanical hydraulic press or manual lever press. A small amount of a cement binder may be added, resulting in a stabilised compressed earth block.Comparison of typical brick sizes of assorted countries with isometric projections with dimensions in mm Loose bricks
For efficient handling and laying, bricks must be small enough and light enough to be picked up by the bricklayer using one hand (leaving the other hand free for the trowel). Bricks are usually laid flat, and as a result, the effective limit on the width of a brick is set by the distance which can conveniently be spanned between the thumb and fingers of one hand, normally about four inches (about 100 mm). In most cases, the length of a brick is about twice its width, about eight inches (about 200 mm) or slightly more. This allows bricks to be laid bonded in a structure which increases stability and strength (for an example, see the illustration of bricks laid in English bond, at the head of this article). The wall is built using alternating courses of stretchers, bricks laid longways, and headers, bricks laid crossways. The headers tie the wall together over its width. In fact, this wall is built in a variation of English bond called English cross bond where the successive layers of stretchers are displaced horizontally from each other by half a brick length. In true English bond, the perpendicular lines of the stretcher courses are in line with each other.
A bigger brick makes for a thicker (and thus more insulating) wall. Historically, this meant that bigger bricks were necessary in colder climates (see for instance the slightly larger size of the Russian brick in table below), while a smaller brick was adequate, and more economical, in warmer regions. A notable illustration of this correlation is the Green Gate in Gdansk; built in 1571 of imported Dutch brick, too small for the colder climate of Gdansk, it was notorious for being a chilly and drafty residence. Nowadays this is no longer an issue, as modern walls typically incorporate specialised insulation materials.
The correct brick for a job can be selected from a choice of colour, surface texture, density, weight, absorption, and pore structure, thermal characteristics, thermal and moisture movement, and fire resistance.
In England, the length and width of the common brick has remained fairly constant over the centuries (but see brick tax), but the depth has varied from about two inches (about 51 mm) or smaller in earlier times to about two and a half inches (about 64 mm) more recently. In the United Kingdom, the usual size of a modern brick is 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm (about 8 5⁄8 × 4 1⁄8 × 2 5⁄8 inches), which, with a nominal 10 mm (3⁄8 inch) mortar joint, forms a unit size of 225 × 112.5 × 75 mm (9 × 4 1⁄2 × 3 inches), for a ratio of 6:3:2.
In the United States, modern standard bricks are specified for various uses;[19] most are sized at about 8 × 3 5⁄8 × 2 1⁄4 inches (203 × 92 × 57 mm). The more commonly used is the modular brick 7 5⁄8 × 3 5⁄8 × 2 1⁄4 inches (194 × 92 × 57 mm). This modular brick of 7 5⁄8 with a 3⁄8 mortar joint eases the calculation of the number of bricks in a given wall.[20]
Some brickmakers create innovative sizes and shapes for bricks used for plastering (and therefore not visible on the inside of the building) where their inherent mechanical properties are more important than their visual ones.[21] These bricks are usually slightly larger, but not as large as blocks and offer the following advantages:
Blocks have a much greater range of sizes. Standard co-ordinating sizes in length and height (in mm) include 400×200, 450×150, 450×200, 450×225, 450×300, 600×150, 600×200, and 600×225; depths (work size, mm) include 60, 75, 90, 100, 115, 140, 150, 190, 200, 225, and 250. They are usable across this range as they are lighter than clay bricks. The density of solid clay bricks is around 2000 kg/m³: this is reduced by frogging, hollow bricks, and so on, but aerated autoclaved concrete, even as a solid brick, can have densities in the range of 450–850 kg/m³.
Bricks may also be classified as solid (less than 25% perforations by volume, although the brick may be "frogged," having indentations on one of the longer faces), perforated (containing a pattern of small holes through the brick, removing no more than 25% of the volume), cellular (containing a pattern of holes removing more than 20% of the volume, but closed on one face), or hollow (containing a pattern of large holes removing more than 25% of the brick's volume). Blocks may be solid, cellular or hollow
The term "frog" can refer to the indentation or the implement used to make it. Modern brickmakers usually use plastic frogs but in the past they were made of wood.Brick arch from a vault in Roman Bath – England A brick section of the old Dixie Highway, United States
The compressive strength of bricks produced in the United States ranges from about 1000 lbf/in² to 15,000 lbf/in² (7 to 105 MPa or N/mm² ), varying according to the use to which the brick are to be put. In England clay bricks can have strengths of up to 100 MPa, although a common house brick is likely to show a range of 20–40 MPa.
In the United States, bricks have been used for both buildings and pavements. Examples of brick use in buildings can be seen in colonial era buildings and other notable structures around the country. Bricks have been used in pavements especially during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The introduction of asphalt and concrete reduced the use of brick pavements, but it is used as a method of traffic calming or as a decorative surface in pedestrian precincts. For example, in the early 1900s, most of the streets in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, were paved with bricks. Today, there are only about 20 blocks of brick-paved streets remaining (totalling less than 0.5 percent of all the streets in the city limits).[22] Much like in Grand Rapids, municipalities across the United States began replacing brick streets with inexpensive asphalt concrete by the mid-20th century.[23]
Bricks in the metallurgy and glass industries are often used for lining furnaces, in particular refractory bricks such as silica, magnesia, chamotte and neutral (chromomagnesite) refractory bricks. This type of brick must have good thermal shock resistance, refractoriness under load, high melting point, and satisfactory porosity. There is a large refractory brick industry, especially in the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In Northwest Europe, bricks have been used in construction for centuries. Until recently, almost all houses were built almost entirely from bricks. Although many houses are now built using a mixture of concrete blocks and other materials, many houses are skinned with a layer of bricks on the outside for aesthetic appeal.
Engineering bricks are used where strength, low water porosity or acid (flue gas) resistance are needed.
In the UK a red brick university is one founded in the late 19th or early 20th century. The term is used to refer to such institutions collectively to distinguish them from the older Oxbridge institutions, and refers to the use of bricks, as opposed to stone, in their buildings.
Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona was noted for his extensive use of red bricks in his buildings and for using natural shapes like spirals, radial geometry and curves in his designs.[24] Most buildings in Colombia are made of brick, given the abundance of clay in equatorial countries like this one.
Starting in the 20th century, the use of brickwork declined in some areas due to concerns with earthquakes. Earthquakes such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the 1933 Long Beach earthquake revealed the weaknesses of unreinforced brick masonry in earthquake-prone areas. During seismic events, the mortar cracks and crumbles, and the bricks are no longer held together. Brick masonry with steel reinforcement, which helps hold the masonry together during earthquakes, was used to replace many of the unreinforced masonry buildings. Retrofitting older unreinforced masonry structures has been mandated in many jurisdictions.A panorama after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.


text:
New England editorial roundup
The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph, Jan. 11, 2013
Wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Keep your hands away from your eyes, mouth and nose.
The same things your mother told you as a child are still critical today as the nation experiences what is expected to be its worst flu season in a decade.
And it's early, too. The flu season just got under way two months ago and can run as late as April or early May.
That's precisely what has health experts on edge � that and the fact that the traditional flu season is being supplemented by the arrival of a new kind of intestinal bug and the worst outbreak of whooping cough in more than 50 years.
Overall, based on the week ending Dec. 29, all but seven states and the District of Columbia were experiencing a "widespread" outbreak of the flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Hampshire wasn't among the exceptions.
How bad is it? Consider:
� Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a public health emergency Wednesday in response to 700 confirmed cases of the flu � 10 times more than all of last year � along with four flu-related deaths.
On Thursday, he followed that up with 45,000 automated calls to Boston residents, urging them to get a flu vaccine if they hadn't already done so. Across Massachusetts, 18 deaths have been attributed to the flu.
� Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., has erected a heated tent outside the hospital to treat those patients with mild symptoms and keep them isolated from the more serious cases inside. The hospital has been treating 80-100 people suffering from flu-like symptoms a day. So far, 22 flu-related deaths have been recorded statewide.
� And Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has been treating so many patients with the flu � the most in at least a dozen years, officials say � that the hospital has been placed on "bypass." That means ambulances transporting patients in stable condition are being directed to nearby hospitals because of the high volume of flu patients.
In New Hampshire, 13 deaths were attributed to the flu in December, considerably more than in recent years. While none of the deaths has involved children, Dr. Jose Montero, the state's public health director, warned the virus can spread easily among schools and day care centers.
"The previous two years were really mild seasons. We only saw four or five per month, so seeing 13 is a huge jump," he said.
So what can Greater Nashua residents do to protect themselves during this nasty flu season?
First and foremost, get vaccinated if you haven't already done so, according to the CDC. Contact your doctor, your local public health department or an area pharmacy that offers that service.
You should also avoid close contact with people who are sick � and vice versa. If you are coming down with flu-like symptoms, stay away from work, school or other public places.
As we mentioned earlier, cover your mouth with your sleeve when you cough or sneeze, so that you can prevent the spread of germs to others. And avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose in case you touch something that has been contaminated.
Finally, wash your hands frequently � long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" twice is a common rule � with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer.
Apparently, your mom knew what she was talking about.
The Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin, Jan. 9, 2013
In an interview at the height of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was asked if the burden of command weighed heavily on him as he ordered troops into harm's way.
He replied that in the evening, while lying on his cot and looking at the ceiling, he was comforted in the knowledge that there were thousands of leaders making decisions and watching his back every day. "We call them sergeants," he said.
The sincerest of compliments from a commander who clearly appreciated the value and the wisdom of those on the front-lines who carrying out the orders from above.
On Monday, President Barack Obama took a page from Schwarzkopf's command book, announcing that he was appointing a sergeant to oversee the nation's Armed Forces � former Nebraska Republican Senator, and decorated Vietnam combat veteran, Chuck Hagel.
Hagel, if confirmed by the Senate, will become the first ever enlisted veteran � an ex-Army sergeant � to serve as secretary of defense, and the first Vietnam veteran. We think Schwarzkopf, a Vietnam veteran himself who died just weeks ago, would have approved.
Hagel is a controversial figure among some Democrats and Republicans because of past comments criticizing the Iraq War, gays in the military and suggestions of lukewarm support of Israel. And on some of those finer points, we, too, disagree with some of those statements and positions.
But foreign policy decisions are not the purview of the defense secretary, and public policy decisions related to the military are ultimately made by the commander in chief. The role of the defense secretary is to advise, recommend and carry out the orders from above. On those points, we believe Hagel is eminently qualified for the position.
But just as important, and maybe more, we find Hagel's sense of duty to our nation, and his deep commitment and understanding of the responsibility to the troops who will serve under his leadership, to be the strongest character traits that one can hope to find in a defense secretary.


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SUPERSEDED (click for Active standard)
Active (view current version of standard)
1. Scope
1.1 This practice describes procedures for making and using U-bend specimens for the evaluation of stress-corrosion cracking in metals. The U-bend specimen is generally a rectangular strip which is bent 180° around a predetermined radius and maintained in this constant strain condition during the stress-corrosion test. Bends slightly less than or greater than 180° are sometimes used. Typical U-bend configurations showing several different methods of maintaining the applied stress are shown in Fig. 1.
1.2 U-bend specimens usually contain both elastic and plastic strain. In some cases (for example, very thin sheet or small diameter wire) it is possible to form a U-bend and produce only elastic strain. However, bent-beam (Practice G39 or direct tension (Practice G49)) specimens are normally used to study stress-corrosion cracking of strip or sheet under elastic strain only.
1.3 This practice is concerned only with the test specimen and not the environmental aspects of stress-corrosion testing which are discussed elsewhere (1), in Practices G35, G36, G37, G41, and G44, and Test Method G103.
1.4 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. The inch-pound units in parentheses are provided for information.
1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. (For more specific safety hazard information see Section 9.)
2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.
ASTM Standards
E3 Guide for Preparation of Metallographic Specimens
G1 Practice for Preparing, Cleaning, and Evaluating Corrosion Test Specimens
G15 Terminology Relating to Corrosion and Corrosion Testing
G35 Practice for Determining the Susceptibility of Stainless Steels and Related Nickel-Chromium-Iron Alloys to Stress-Corrosion Cracking in Polythionic Acids
G36 Practice for Evaluating Stress-Corrosion-Cracking Resistance of Metals and Alloys in a Boiling Magnesium Chloride Solution
G37 Practice for Use of Mattssons Solution of pH 7.2 to Evaluate the Stress-Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility of Copper-Zinc Alloys
G39 Practice for Preparation and Use of Bent-Beam Stress-Corrosion Test Specimens
G41 Practice for Determining Cracking Susceptibility of Metals Exposed Under Stress to a Hot Salt Environment
G44 Practice for Exposure of Metals and Alloys by Alternate Immersion in Neutral 3.5 % Sodium Chloride Solution
G49 Practice for Preparation and Use of Direct Tension Stress-Corrosion Test Specimens
G103 Practice for Evaluating Stress-Corrosion Cracking Resistance of Low Copper 7XXX Series Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys in Boiling 6% Sodium Chloride Solution
G123 Test Method for Evaluating Stress-Corrosion Cracking of Stainless Alloys with Different Nickel Content in Boiling Acidified Sodium Chloride Solution
|Link Here
|Link to Active (This link will always route to the current Active version of the standard.)
Citation Format
ASTM G30-97, Standard Practice for Making and Using U-Bend Stress-Corrosion Test Specimens, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 1997, www.astm.orgBack to Top


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I think I also do not spend a lot of time on the Second Life road… but there was a Time I did.
Reading a Blogpost of Alicia, I decided to think about if I am a Couch Potatoe in my Second Life. Or should I rather call it Parcel Potatoe, Firefox Potatoe or Windows and Apllication Potatoe?
Alicia thinks that she should once again go somewhere in SL. Looks like she makes a Comparison and found out that there was more Activity back in her Second Life Days.
She noticed that´s not only her. Most of here friends just stand on ther Platforms as well. So talking about my Second Life related Activity, I must say this is my own experience I made in the past as well. I defenetly can agree cos if I login to Second Life, I hang out on my own Parcel (Sky- and Sandbox) most of the time too. And it´s true that I rather spend more time with Forums, SL Marketplace, Twitter, blogging and so on. Sure I call it my SL Activity as all this is mostly related to SL. But the good Point Alicia makes is that it isn´t Inworld Activity. And when she said that she noticed the same with her Friends, I just can sign it cos I notice similar behavior of my Friends.
So in my Case I can explaine it so… back in the Days, Second Life was so new to me that really everything was magical and interesting. I was just amazed about each Place I visited. I became somehwat addicted and soon when I met a Person who introduced me to her Estate, Club and Community, then I became all the more inlove with Second Life. I believe back in these Days I did not minimize the Viewer very often. I remember everything was pretty interesting so that the rest of the Internet just became a minor matter.
The Place where I mostly did hang out was an Estate with a Club and I know I got my first free Inworld Shop there as we became very good Friends soon. At this Time I did rather have a small Collection of Products and they all were everything but not Complex or something someone would need. 😀 Just my beginner Stuff. And also at this Time I did not spend much Time to produce new Stuff. So apart from hang out my own Products there I worked at her Club as well and I remember back that I got a very good Amount of L$. At least compared to what most of the Dancer´s and Host´s get today in SL. It was 1000 – 2000 L$ (really no Joke!) per Hours for working in her Club and much more then my little Shop income. Sure this was a Reason to stay inworld and it would be a Lie if I would say no. But everyday when the Club were closed we did still hang out together too. So I wasn´t hunting L$ only.. I just enjoyed the Time with my new Friends. We had always cool Topics when we did chat and we had defenetly a lot of fun. So I can say it was rather the Friendship which did bring me online. After some Month I had the feeling it was not just the Team of the Club but rather something like a Family and Federation. The bad End of the Story is that she one Day closed her Estate forever. I believe I would still hang out with her much but she did stop to login regulary and later she wrote me that she wont come online often in the Future as ReaLife keeps her on the Run. I can say I miss her much as it was my most active (inworld) Time in SL. Exploring, chatting, dancing, listening Music, shopping and I cant count it all. Sure is I did see a lot of Places in those Days.
So when my Friend did stop loggin in, I had some more Time to learn more about Conten Creation within Second Life. Soon I became a regular on these bigger Sandbox´s and did experiment a lot with Prims and LSL scripting. As I was still a beginner when we talk about creating Content and from now on very fascinated with all that but a very slow creating one, I would call this Time my second Level of inworld Activity. Even if I still was sad that a Friend leaved Second Life, I can tell you that I in fact now did spend more and more Time inworld. I rented my first own Land and started my Store and later a Mall which I did rent out for Tenants. Managing all this alone did result in much more Activity but not only on my Land. Making connections with other Landowner, renting AdBoards here and there affected me to see more and more Places inworld.
But some day creating things out of Prims became routine anyhow. I just learned to create things I have in mind and now didn´t need to think about it much. I just started to create thing´s I had in mind and this Process became faster then before. With much more finished Products then back in the Days I noticed that Xstreet got a bigger Economy-impact then my Mall. The difference of Sales was so huge that I just started to think about closing my Mall and rent a much smaller Place to just have my Magic Boxes rezzed anywhere and a Skybox for new little Projects.
So what about today? They just merged Xstreet to SL Marketplace and the old good impact of Xstreets Sales were just the beginning. My sales on SL Marketplace even increased compared to the closed Xstreet. And after reading other Blogs I now know and bet that a very heavy Amount of Sales go rather through SL Marketplace instead of Inworld Stores. Not enough… new Features like Mesh Import makes Content Creators stay outside of SL to create Content. I do so now too.
Today? I believe I can get these fascinating Essentials of Second Life without logging in much. And there is for me the Problem. It became creating Content outside of SL, managing these Matters outside of SL, advertise it outside of SL. When things are done, then they get just adjusted inworld and then dropped in a Magic Box. Oh and soon we dont even have to rent Land for a Magic Box as we soon can sell Thing´s out of our Inventory. I believe all this has a huge negative Impact on the Virtual Estate Business too.
For socializing it´s pretty much the same.. Social Networks, Forums, blogging… I believe I spend more Time outside of SL today. You get these Second Life related News and hot Topics outworld.. and you can discuss it with People even if you are not online on the Grid. Do I like it? No I think Alicia is right. We should explore more often again Inworld. What I did now was losing the Fascination of SL, I had early Days in SL . The Question is if we are the Reason for that.. if we are lazy? If we lost Ideas where to go? If we lost Friends inworld? Or is this all due to some changes LL made?
Really I like new Features like Mesh Import and the upcoming Features. So.. well.. I am not sure. I just know that Content Creation became a very importend Part of my Second Life and so I can just judge it from this Perspective. Linden Lab gave us Tools like SL Marketplace and the Mesh Feature to just handle everything we want but not inworld. So there seems to be just a minimalized Reason for Content Creators to stay online on the Grid. If I could handle all this only Inworld and there was a Time… then I would probably rather be anywhere around on the Grid. I dont want to say that I dislike the changes of Linden Lab. Great Features arrived and will arrive soon. It´s just for me clear that they have a huge impact. They change Second Life.
Ok. Looks like for me socializing became simply suppressed by creating Content for SL. And now I dont do it often inworld. Even if I still have fun with what I do.. I agree.. it´s anyhow sad because there is maybe so much more I could do inworld. I sometimes just dont know what and why if I can do it without being around on the Grid.
However I think Alica found a Topic which might be for some of us pretty up to date. At least for me. I am sure we all have differend Reasons to be Parcel Potatoe´s or People who just login to put some Thing´s up for Sale. Maybe some of us are still often inworld. But I believe fact is that there are a lot of People who aren´t and if then they simply hang out on ther Parcel and have no other Ideas. Maybe I should start again to explore what SL can offer me apart from what I do now. Or maybe all this is just a subjective Feeling as we did spend already so much Time inworld in the past.. maybe it just feels differend then before. The latter would be what I experiences in other Virtual Worlds like World of Warcraft and so as well.
7 Years ago I did explore any Places in World of Warcraft just because I was nosy what there could be behind that Hill on the Horizon. But today I know there might be nothing then some low Level Monsters which wouldn´t even hurt me. That cool feeling of exploring new Worlds comes again when new Content or an Expansion arrives. But also only for a short Period. The Focus of my WoW Gameplay is now mostly Player versus Player Matches, new Dungeons, Raid´s and so. The World is just nothing new to me…
But sure! The World of Second Life does always undergo modifications! Maybe I should write that on a Note in front of my Keyboard so that I sometimes do anything else then now. 🙂
So this is a Topic I did think about often in the past two or three Month. So that I lately did make a good new start with exploring the Linden Realms.. another Day I was listening and chatting in a Electronic Music Club. But then I got bored again.. I simply do not often have Ideas what to do in SL. But well… lets see… 🙂
Browsing WordPress for Second Life related Topics can be fun.
Sometimes if I am bored I just browse for Second Life Related Topics on WordPress and read interesting Storys of other User´s. Not that you only can read interesting Second Life Storys of differend People. Its rather so that it can also inspire you to find cool Topics you did not think about before. You know if you are interested in a Topic you could leave a comment there on the Blog. But why not answering on this Blogpost with your own Article and give them credits with a Backlink? In the past I found that method very interesting and I think you can make friends on this way as well. This is often a win win for both sided and exspecialy for both blogs. For sure this is working with other Blogproviders as well. Think about that 🙂
Found a Blogpost about Second Life which made me thinking.
I found the Blogpost A Variety of Reasons to Go Virtual… of RoseCityRemona. She wrote about some Reasons to go Virtual and also added an interesting Poll you should participate. The Blogpost made me thinking about which Reasons I had to go Virtual and which Reasons I see.
So let me write down why I use Second Life and what I do in Second Life
I use Second Life to discharge my ideas and my creativity and for a Virtual Business Adventure which is much simpler to achieve then in RealLife where you would need money, connections and know-how in bureaucracy. I am german and germany is a hardcore bureaucracy country where everything is written,composed and stamped for the purpose of just having it written down. There is no reason other then keep you busy and give you headache or keep you short and tax you.
So I never would start a Company in RealLife as I defenetly wont get a depression. In Second Life a Company is your own and fun and there is not much obligations other then those you give your self. Sure it is still work also in SL but its differend. You can see it as a Game if you like and I do so. And the main thing is I can do what I like to do. Creating 3d Content. This is for me not possible in germany unless you have doctor title or best diplom and again connections. As I said they keep you short. They dont care if you have already know-how in this area. They simply want it on paper before they hire or teach you. And if you dont have a diplom they never believe you neither they would think about let you test-working for a week. They simply dont care about you and your life. I´ve seen some of my abilities and wanted to learn a job which fullfils me with passion. But I didn´t success at this point because the yardstick is very high. Which means I had to learn another job which I hate. Yes you did listen right I hate the job I learned in RealLife. There are other tasks I would rather manage with passion. Not only creative areas.. there are simply many areas I would fit better in then what I learned and have to do today.
So using Second Life is my pissed answer about the freak show in RealLife. Sounds hard but I really find more recognition in SL then in RL which is an evidence of incapacity for the place where I live in RL.
So yea.. in short you could in my case also say I use Second Life as theraphy, lol. This virtual enviroment gives me self-determination even if I know its just virtual and even if I dont get rich in Second Life.. but it makes me free and strengthen me as well for RealLife. I learned about my abilities. I learned I can be creative, I learned I am good in managing things, I learned I have potential in marketing, I learned I am not that bad in writing english at least there is much potential while my english teacher in school said in those days "You´ll never learn any language". I in fact learned that I have abilities and potential although some people in my RealLife didn´t recognize it. This is what Second Life gave and gives me.
I´ve learned in Second Life that I could learn and do things in RealLife if a company would let me but they didn´t. The requirements are today set high, so that finding a Company which teach you or hires you always were a hard mission. Sure you could say "Why didn´t you study instead of just going to high-school?". My answer is: I always did believe that I need abilities, potential, passion and interests in Topic to find what I want. I had the feeling this is not the case in RealLife.. you rather dont need abilies, potential, passion and interests but instead it will help you if you have connections, the best diplom you can get (which is sometimes funny because they demand already highest degree for plainest tasks here in germany), hardness or a big trail of slaim behind you. The latter is something I can´t offer anyway. But I think here is enough rant now. 😛
So my Reason to go Virtual? I live my dream, I use my potential, I improve my potential and I discharge my creativity. I simply enjoy it sometimes to go Virtual. But there also many Reasons to leave Second Life sometimes. Sometimes there must be a brake too because other Activities need my time.
At least I must mention… Sorry for my hard words and the ranting. It just made me thinking. Usually I am kind 🙂 And no I am not unhappy with my RealLife. Maybe unhappy with my career. But overall I love Life. I love my Family, Friends, Pets and many other Activities. I enjoy my Life as there is much more apart from the career and money. And I am lucky that I found out what real luck and happyness is. 🙂
So what do you think? What are your Reasons to go Virtual?
So far,
Enjoy your first and second life 🙂


text:
The vertical supports enable the rigid or flexible flat collectors to be fastened into position in front of the needle for every static electrospinning application.
Made of Plexiglas, they feature a perforation allowing to install them on the modular supports with special screws for a secure and stable hold that guarantees electrospinning with accurate and repeatable geometries over time.
The use of dielectric supports in Plexiglas allows to correctly manage electricity-conducting collectors -with even small shapes and geometries- where to concentrate the electric field, and so the nanofibers, avoiding their being attracted by unwanted metal surfaces.
Dimensions (vertical face and thickness)
200X200 mm Tk=5 mm


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When the weather starts getting cooler, and it's suddenly dark at 5pm and pumpkin spice flavor is everywhere, it can mean only one thing…Halloween is around the corner!! It's time to start thinking about costumes (if you haven't already). At Cloud b, we chose our favorite characters and found fun, easy ways to make them […]
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It's August, it's summer and it's hot, but for families with school age children, the focus begins to shift from days at the beach to back-to-school. For parents, this means getting everyone ready and back on a regular schedule. For kids, there's usually a mix of feelings, from excitement (new clothes, new school supplies, seeing […]
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