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North Korea just reopened a communications channel with South Korea after nearly two years of silence, a move that could lower the chances of an accidental war between the two longtime foes.
North Korean military officials spoke twice with their southern counterparts on January 3. They first chatted at 3:30 pm local time and "checked technical issues of the communication line" for about 20 minutes, according to South Korea's Ministry of Unification. North Korea then called South Korea around 6:07 pm simply to say "let's call it a day today," the ministry said.
It may not seem like much, but those brief conversations over the phone line have the potential to calm the growing tensions between the US and South Korea on one side and North Korea on the other — tensions that could lead to a catastrophic war.
President Donald Trump took credit for the talks on Wednesday, tweeting, "does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total 'might against the North," adding that "talks are a good thing!" Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told reporters on Wednesday that "we don't know if [the offer of talks are] a genuine olive branch or not."
Many experts believe North Korea's decision to start talking again isn't solely a gesture of goodwill. Instead, they say the North likely is using the once-defunct communications channel for more concrete reasons.
First, Kim Jong Un wants his athletes to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea. Second, he wants to see what South Korea might agree to, like canceling all military drills with the US. And finally, he may hope that speaking directly to South Korea will make Seoul decide America isn't a necessary participant in future peace talks. That could potentially drive a diplomatic wedge between Seoul and Washington.
"The fact that North Korea wants to talk to South Korea makes me cautiously optimistic, but I don't have high expectations," Jung Pak, a former US intelligence official who is now a Koreas expert at the Brookings Institution, told me in an interview. "We need to be careful about not blowing this out of proportion."
What is the communications channel?
The communications channel is actually a phone line that lower-level military officials at the border can use to talk with each other in case of escalating tensions. A chat between the North and South can help assure there are no miscues between the two sides that could potentially spiral into an open war.
For example, if a North Korean soldier defects into the South — as happened last November — the phone line could help both sides understand what took place. After all, North Korean soldiers shot at the defector around 40 times, and one even stepped over the border. It's possible one South Korean soldier might've felt the shots were part of an attack and therefore decided to fire back. Having the phone line would let both sides know immediately what was happening.
But Pyongyang decided to shutter its end of the line in February 2016 because South Korea closed a joint industrial complex over the North's missile tests. That business park served as a way to for the two countries to establish closer ties as North Koreans and South Koreans worked closely together. After the closure, South Korea continued to ring its northern neighbors at 9 am and 4 pm every weekday — but North Korean officials didn't answer.
The line's reopening comes after Kim said during a New Year's Day speech that he wanted North Korean athletes to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who has long advocated for an ongoing dialogue with North Korea, quickly reacted to Kim's speech by saying it was "a response to our proposal to turn the Pyeongchang Olympic Games into an epoch-making opportunity to improve inter-Korean relations and establish peace."
Just a day later, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said both countries should meet at the border village of Panmunjom on January 9 to discuss the Olympics and their relationship. North Korea has yet to accept the offer.
So there is a chance that these calls could improve ties between the North and South, potentially lower the chance of a still-unlikely US-North Korea war, and pave the way for North Korean athletes to attend the Olympics. And while that's already ambitious, it's probably not all Kim is after.
This could all be a "ruse"
Experts noted that North Korea likely isn't calling just to avoid war or to ensure North Korean athletes can participate in the Olympic Games.
"We need to be very cautious about our expectations given North Korea's long history of effectively using these talks to drive a wedge between South Korea and its partners, and to push for concessions Seoul couldn't possibly accept," Mintaro Oba, a former Obama State Department official who worked on North Korean affairs, said in an interview.
That's potentially Kim's plan now. "Kim's ruse is simple: He will demand some sort of economic assistance, sanctions relief, or a straight bribe" in exchange for not disrupting the Olympics, Harry Kazianis, an Asia security expert at the Center for the National Interest, told me.
On top of that, Kim could leverage the Olympics to convince the US and South Korea to stop their joint military drills. There is definitely an opportunity for Kim to exploit. On December 19, 2017, Moon requested that the US and South Korea halt all military exercises until after the Olympics. And just last Thursday, Trump accepted that offer. It's unclear if North Korea's recent calls had anything to do with Trump's decision, but experts note that Kim might decide that future calls could lead to other drill cancellations.
And if that happens, it could potentially help accomplish one of North Korea's top goals: driving a diplomatic wedge between South Korea and America. There is a small chance for Kim to achieve that too.
"President Moon's administration has talked of 'balanced diplomacy' to hedge against being overly dependent on the United States," retired Marine Lt. Gen. Chip Gregson, the Pentagon's top Asia official from 2009 to 2011, told me in an interview. In other words, Moon might be receptive to finding a path to peace solely by talking to North Korea and keeping the US at arm's length.
But Pak doesn't think that move is likely to work. "Whether Kim's move drives a wedge between the US and South Korea is up to the US and South Korea — not North Korea," she said.
So there is some reason for optimism — after all, the opening of the communications channel could lower the chance of war — but all of this could also just be a North Korean ploy. The question of how serious North Korea's overture is remains open — just like the phone line.


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Connected load for high-voltage lamps 110 – 230 V as well as for low-voltage operation (LED). Installed as a basic fitting all around rooms in the wall-ceiling joint, paintings can be hung at all heights and distances. At the same time, the electricity for a painting lamp is also conducted. The suspension pendants made of 6-mm round aluminium are available in different lengths. By simply turning them 90°, they are locked in the busbar slot and suppli ed with electricity. The load of each pendant is 5 kg. For higher loads, several pendants should be u sed where necessary. A heightadjustable picture hook is mounted at the lower end of each pen dant. With this equipment, you can custom decorate and illuminate each vernissage. Ideal for walls with wood panelling or fabric covering.
Design: Horst Lettenmayer

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The gardens
Staying at the Yron Priory gîte, between two branches of rivers, is like staying in the middle of thematic gardens in an exceptional and preserved natural space.
The plant species chosen correspond to the theme of medieval and monastic gardens to give meaning to the whole site:
Vegetal cloister for meditation and mind maintenance.
Gardens of the simple for the care and maintenance of the body.
Orchards, vegetable gardens and old berry gardens for food.
The plants are all of local and historical origin.
The park of the priory has been planted with species whose foliage brings all the nuances of colors and shapes. While it responds to the theme of "the painter's palette of colours", it offers beautiful pedestrian traffic.
Night lighting licks the transecular buildings.
From the priory, you can reach the Emile Zola park, following the variant of the Santiago de Compostela path, by the spring path. You can admire the Yron River, which rises above the Priory, and a completely renovated washhouse.
This large wooded park of more than 7 ha, located between two arms of the Loir, offers various paths presenting the lives of six local writers, and a vegetable labyrinth leading to a raised observation area.
The music kiosk hosts concerts (Estivales, Fête de la Musique,...) whose program is to be requested from the Maison du tourisme.
Parc Émile Zola is home to the Henri IV Tower and several washhouses, including a two-storey washhouse, unique in Eure-et-Loir.
Benches and picnic tables are available, as well as several playgrounds for children.
In the evening, the lighting of the Park and the banks of the Loir transforms the paths and amazes the eyes. photo copyright Angéli.
After crossing a unique iron and steel footbridge, you can discover the arboretum of Dinoue, a veritable conservatory of wetland species, planted in islets, by family: alders, dogwoods, ash trees, liquidambars, willows, cypresses.
This arboretum also contains Sichuan Metaquoia, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Very beautiful walks and discoveries !


text:
Opaque Handcrafted is Tasmanian based, a design duo and collaboration between Husband and Wife.
Wife (Lilla Szczerba) with a design background and Husband (Daniel Szczerba) a Sculptor/Artist.
Using reclaimed Tasmanian Timber / Eco Resin with our signature matte finish, incorporating a variety of textures and elements. We hand make composite pieces sustainably and ethically creating Jewellery, Lighting, Furniture and Home Decor.
Our philosophy is, simple in form yet with an elegant and timeless design.
Each piece is 100% handmade, hand cut, laminated, poured, sculpted and sanded. Unique pieces created to adorn yourself and designs to compliment your interiors.


text: On 12/22/15 5:47 PM, Maxim Dounin wrote: > Hello! > > On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 05:21:26PM +0300, Sergey Matveychuk wrote: > >> Hi. >> >> * It looks like strings are supposed to finish with '\0' char to be >> compatible with C strings. So ngx_pstrdup() must allocate and copy len+1, >> not just len. >> >> * ngx_copy() returns different values for different preprocessor conditions. >> >> PS. I have no idea how trac.nginx.org works. I tried to fill a ticket, but >> it just lost. > > Trac works fine, and I've just replied to you in the ticket. > Here is a copy of the response: > > No, your assumptions are wrong. Strings in nginx are not expected > to be null-terminated in general. The ngx_pstrdup() function is >From Emiller's guide: Note: an ngx_str_t is a struct with a data element, which is a string, and a len element, which is the length of that string. Nginx uses this data structure most places you'd expect a string. http://www.evanmiller.org/nginx-modules-guide.html [...] -- Maxim Konovalov


text: Numerous individuals avoid traveling as much as possible since in current years; it has become a bit complicated. However, a few of us can't stay away from it since it is required for our business. Whether your business trip is local or overseas, it's always vital to have a complete travel checklist, yet what ought to be on it? We've assembled some business travel tips to start. On the Web Flightlayaway is a well-known flight booking site that book flight tickets at an affordable price. By booking flight tickets at installment plans you can save a huge amount for other tasks. Here you will get complete detail about flights, check-ins, etc. Learn more about how Flightlayaway.com provides airfare installment plans so you can buy your next trip without financial worry. Our layaway vacations are easy to purchase and secure. Call to start planning your trip! You can expedite each travel purchase, after saving you information or detail. Everyone from frequent flyers to onc


text:
Our service numbers:
Fon +49 (0) 2373 / 1780210
Fax +49 (0) 2373 / 1780211
Recourse through access to specially lubricants and cleaners and the basic research of our partners, we provide a high problem-solving skills to our customers.
In solving customer-specifc issues, ofcourse the experience of our emploees in the application technique, as our own laboratory are helpful.
Finally we are very well networked with different manufacturers, institutions, consuants and field experts.
Because this concept we are a welcome party not only exclusive in Germany.
Good problem solving skills
Excellent network of specialists
Vendor-independent solutions
Consideration of the entire process chain
Selection of optimal lubricamts and cleaners


text:
Andrew Hart
Andrew Hart | |
Noted subjects | generalism |
Past colleges | Minnesota (2006-13) |
High school | Chaska (2005-06) |
HSQB profile | theMoMA |
Stats | HDWhite • NAQT |
Andrew Hart is a former player for University of Minnesota. Career accomplishments include winning the 2011 ICT, two runner-up ACF Nationals finishes, three ACF undergraduate titles (2008-10), two NAQT undergraduate titles (2009-10), two Chicago Open championships (2009 and 2011) and seven overall top-three Chicago Open finishes, eleven consecutive top-bracket finishes at ICT and Nationals from 2008 through the end of his career in 2013, and 35 outright tournament victories (excluding side events).
Andrew is also known for his writing and editing, spearheading such well-received sets as the 2014 Chicago Open, the 2017 ACF Regionals, and the 2018 ACF Nationals.
From 2008-2010, he was a member of a Minnesota team including Brendan Byrne, Rob Carson, and Gautam Kandlikar, considered among the best undergraduate teams of all time. Along with those three, he was a runner up at the 2010 ACF Nationals, which Andrew Yaphe's Stanford team won in a close final. In 2011, Andrew was, along with Rob Carson, Gautam Kandlikar, and Mike Cheyne, on the champion Minnesota team at ICT and the runner-up team (to Yale) at ACF Nationals. With Brendan, Rob, and Matt Weiner, he won the 2009 Chicago Open, a title he won again in 2011 with Seth Teitler, Selene Koo, and Jeff Hoppes. With Rob, he holds the dubious distinction of being a College Bowl national champion.
Andrew is a full member of ACF, a member of NAQT, a former member of PACE who served as head editor of the 2009 NSC, a founding editor of HSAPQ, the head editor of the 2014 Chicago Open, and a co-creator of two formerly annual UMN events: Minnesota Open and MUT.
In June 2015, Andrew wrote a long essay for Deadspin about his quizbowl career and the game in general.
In April 2016, Andrew won the Carper Award in recognition of his contributions to collegiate quizbowl.
High school
Andrew played for two years for Chaska High School in Minnesota. Career highlights include a 3-14-13 line at HSNCT in 2005 and a runner-up finish at Chip Beall's 2006 national tournament. Rob was one of his high school teammates.
College career
Andrew joined the University of Minnesota team during his freshman year along with Rob. Their college careers both got off to a slow start, as the Minnesota team attended few circuit events. Andrew played the Matt Cvijanovich Novice Tournament at Illinois in the spring. With teammates Ezra Lyon, Meredith Johnson, and Rita Otto, Andrew and Rob won the 2007 College Bowl National Championship. In July, Andrew and Rob played their first circuit event together at the Chicago Open.
After playing few circuit tournament during 2006-07, the Minnesota team became one of the most active in the country in 2007-08. Andrew served as the club's president during a year in which a new crop of Minnesota players won its first tournament (EFT at Chicago), played eleven circuit events, and won the ACF Undergraduate Championship. Gautam Kandlikar and Bernadette Spencer both matriculated to Minnesota and became key members of the team.
In 2008-09, Minnesota added Brendan Byrne, who had transferred from Drake. Brendan put on an impressive performance at the 2008 Chicago Open, leading the field in scoring and carrying a team also consisting of Rob, Andrew, and Gautam to third place; that lineup became Minnesota's regular A-team over the next two years. Andrew won nine regular events playing with various Minnesota teammates; regular Minnesota team member Mike Cheyne also came to Minnesota in the fall. Playing Cardinal Classic with various regulars of the Brown team, Andrew achieved a grail over a Berkeley team. The Minnesota team took fourth place at both the 2009 ICT and ACF Nationals, repeating as ACF undergraduate champions and winning the ICT undergraduate championship vacated by Harvard.
In the 2009-10 season, Andrew won the 2009 Chicago Open playing with Rob, Brendan, and Matt Weiner. After a successful regular season that included three circuit tournament victories, Minnesota placed third at the ICT and defeated Michigan in the undergraduate final, 515 to 125.
At the 2010 ACF Nationals, Minnesota was one of the two undefeated teams in the preliminary round robin, with a record of 13-0. After a loss to Maryland in the playoff round robin, Minnesota had to win its final playoff game, against defending champion Chicago, to make a one-game final. Andrew had his best game of the tournament, answering five tossups to propel Minnesota into the final against Andrew Yaphe's Stanford team. In the final, Stanford jumped out to a 195-0 lead, as Andrew Yaphe answered six of the first seven tossups. Brendan answered the final three tossups of the half to draw Minnesota closer; the halftime score was 190-70. In the second half, Minnesota mounted a furious comeback. All four team members scored during a six-tossup rally that spanned tossups fourteen through nineteen. Minnesota appeared to lead by forty going into the final question, which Stanford converted. After Stanford twentied the bonus, the final score appeared to stand at 270-260 in favor of Minnesota. But a pending protest on Rob's buzz on tossup 12 was resolved in Stanford's favor. The final score was 260-225, Stanford. By virtue of appearing in the final, Minnesota defended its ACF undergraduate championship.
In fall 2010, Andrew began law school at Minnesota. In the 2010-11 season, he played and won five regular-season events with various Minnesota lineups. The usual Minnesota A lineup of Rob, Gautam, Andrew, and Mike won the 2011 ICT, going undefeated, after the title was vacated by Harvard. That same lineup lost a one-game final to Yale at ACF Nationals. In summer 2011, Andrew won Chicago Open with Seth Teitler, Selene Koo, and Jeff Hoppes, defeating a team of Matt Weiner, John Lawrence, Matt Bollinger, and Gautam Kandlikar in the second game of an advantaged final. The tournament ended Matt Weiner's four-year reign of dominance atop the CO standings. In 2011, Andrew was a finals win at ACF Nationals away from becoming the second player after Ezequiel Berdichevsky to achieve the single-season Triple Crown; Matt Bollinger, Evan Adams, and Tommy Casalaspi later equaled Zeke's feat in 2014.
In the 2011-12 season, Minnesota overcame the graduations of perennially top-ranked players Rob and Gautam to win four regular-difficulty tournaments. The continued emergence of Mike Cheyne as an elite player and the team's youth movement spurred by team president Eliza Grames kept Minnesota in the running at national tournaments as well. At ICT, Minnesota (Mike, Andrew, Gaurav Kandlikar, and Robin Heinonen) was one of three teams to emerge unscathed through the prelims and wound up sixth; at ACF Nationals, the team placed eighth. Andrew won scoring prizes at both nationals and, with teammates Mike Sorice, Jeff Hoppes, and Gautam Kandlikar, finished second at Chicago Open.
In 2012-13, Andrew led Minnesota teams to two regular-season victories. In postseason play, Minnesota placed fifth at ICT, and Andrew played ACF Nationals solo and finished 12th after reaching the top playoff bracket; he is one of a handful of players, alongside perhaps only Matt Weiner and Matt Lafer, to qualify for a top bracket at a national championship playing solo. Andrew ended his career having made the top playoff bracket at eleven straight national championship tournaments, beginning with ACF Nationals in 2008.
Post-college playing career
After graduating, Andrew has continued to play scattered events. In spring 2014, he was permitted to play a final tournament under the aegis of Minnesota, College History Bowl, because of the tournament's cancellation the previous year; the Minnesota team finished fourth. Also in spring 2014, he won his 30th career tournament, Cane Ridge Revival at the University of Chicago, playing with Jerry Vinokurov, Charlie Dees, and Richard Yu. He missed his first Chicago Open in seven years to edit the tournament, but won the Chicago Open History Tournament riding the immense coattails of Jeff Hoppes.
In 2015, soon after Andrew's Deadspin essay was published, he tied for third at Chicago Open with Rob, Shan Kothari, and Adam Silverman. He won his second history subject tournament, SHEIKH, at the Michigan mirror of VCU Open, playing with Mike Cheyne, Carsten Gehring, and Will Nediger. He won the Minnesota mirror of Missouri Open with Rob, Carsten, and Will Ladner; for the 5.25 games before he had to leave, he and Rob broke the Hoppes-Mikanowski limit.
In 2016, Andrew teamed up with Rob Carson, Jerry Vinokurov, and Jay Bhasin to win the Stanford mirror of "stanford housewrite." In April 2016, Andrew won the Carper Award, and Andrew and Rob were named as among the 25 best players in the first 25 years of ACF, with former Minnesota players Gautam Kandlikar and Brendan Byrne earning honorable mentions. With Rob, Tejas Raje, and Billy Busse, Andrew finished tied for second at Chicago Open.
In his post-playing career, Andrew has played many open tournaments with a loose collection of individuals known as "BHSU," often comprising Andrew, Rob, Tejas Raje, and Billy Busse; Andrew has also played several pop culture tournaments with a team typically comprising Rob, Carsten Gehring, and either Mike Cheyne or Sam Ross.
From 2017-22, Andrew's BHSU teams finished no lower than 5th at Chicago Open. In 2019, Andrew won a mirror of Penn Bowl with Rob and Evan Brown. In 2021, he won the main site of Illinois Open with BHSU; in 2022, he won a local NASAT mirror with Rob.
Editing and writing
Andrew has been (or is currently serving as) a central editor for 62 collegiate events since 2007, and has also been a major contributor or editor for many high school and middle school tournaments in that time.
- He is a full member of ACF and has edited seven ACF events: Fall 2007 (visual fine arts, social science), Fall 2008 (head editor), Winter 2010 (head editor), Fall 2013 (geography and social science), Regionals 2017 (head editor), Nationals 2018 (head editor), and Nationals 2019 and 2021 (social science). He served as ACF's Meeting Chair from 2012-14 and has held an informal advisory role on several iterations of ACF Fall. He is currently the chair of ACF's Carper Award committee.
- He is a member of NAQT. He has served as a set editor of SCT from 2012-23, a set editor of ICT from 2014-23 (not held in 2020 due to covid), and a set editor of the Collegiate Novice series (comprising two packet sets in its first two years and one beginning in 2017) from 2015-23 (not held in 2020 due to covid). He is the director of NAQT's online Buzzword platform and a set editor of the Popular Culture and Sports games.
- During his time at the University of Minnesota, he has been a central editor and/or writer for 14 Minnesota events: four iterations of Minnesota Open in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012; nine versions of MUT from 2008-16; and 2007 Deep Bench.
- He was the head editor of the Early Autumn Collegiate Novice tournament, which ran from 2010-13 before becoming NAQT's Collegiate Novice series in 2015.
- He was the head editor of 2014 Chicago Open; other editors included Ike Jose, Gautam Kandlikar, Gaurav Kandlikar, Austin Brownlow, and Jacob Reed.
- With Rob Carson and Carsten Gehring, he wrote and edited the Chicago Open Trash Tournament in 2016, 2018, and 2022, with a fourth event planned for 2024.
- He has produced four collegiate side tournaments: the Illinois Open Literature Tournament in 2007, the Impossible Speed Check tournament played at the 2008 Illinois Open, the 2008 Minnesota Open Literature Tournament, and the Bob Loblaw Law Bowl for summer events in 2011.
- At the high school level, he has served as the editor in chief of the 2009 PACE NSC, a founding editor of HSAPQ, and an editor and writer for several independent high school events. Since 2011, he has edited various sets and categories of high school and middle school questions for NAQT.
- Starting in 2018, he has organized Let's Remember Some Guys, an annual side event at HSNCT with guerrilla tossups on mediocre athletes such as Luke Scott.
- Served as chief administrator of the HSQB forums from 2013-14.
- Observed a trend in NAQT packets that led to the creation of the BEEEES! meme.
- Designed the QB Wiki logo.
- Came up with the idea for the BEeS stats program.
- Since 2014, he has served as the writer and presenter of "Justice Jeopardy," a quizbowl event on Minnesota legal history put on by the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society.
- Brother of Matt Hart.
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More startups bought other startups in Q1 2022 than in any other first quarter in the past decade, Crunchbase data of disclosed deals shows. At the same time, public companies appear to be pulling back on their acquisitions of startups as the equity markets remain volatile, though that could pick up again if macroeconomic conditions improve.
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The two trends indicate that the turmoil of the public markets haven't quite hit the private markets yet, at least when it comes to M&A activity.
There were 124 acquisitions of VC-backed companies based in the United States by other VC-backed companies in the first quarter of this year, up from 118 deals of that kind in the same period in 2021, Crunchbase data of disclosed deals shows. That's the highest number of startup-to-startup acquisitions in the first quarter of the past decade.
On the other hand, acquisitions of U.S.-based VC-backed startups by public companies in Q1 is down from previous years, with 99 acquisitions in the first quarter of 2022, down from 150 during the same period last year.
Public companies pause when buying startups
While startups have still been acquiring each other, public companies appear to be slowing down their startup M&A activity. That makes sense, given the turmoil in the public markets. Concerns about inflation and rising interest rates coupled with geopolitical issues like Russia's invasion of Ukraine have made investors skittish, prompting stock selloffs. And it was crickets from the IPO market in the U.S. in Q1, with only 18 companies going public.
"I think you're seeing the earlier-stage M&A activity or the private M&A activity continuing because they've just raised a round, it was at a nice valuation, they've got plenty of cash," said Michael Torosian, a partner in the corporate division of the law firm Baker Botts. "Whereas in the public markets you're seeing the volatility and folks are maybe slowing down on the shopping spree that was going on."
For one thing, rising interest rates means cash isn't as cheap, giving companies less incentive to scoop up other companies, including startups.
The public markets also react more quickly to events than the private markets, though the latter usually takes some time to catch up to the public markets' reaction.
"The public markets are on one end and the private markets have been following the public markets, but not in lockstep," Torosian said. "It's been more of a lag."
Despite public companies' apparent pullback in M&A activity, there have been some notable deals. Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard, for example, would be the largest acquisition in gaming and one of the largest acquisitions of the year, even though Activision is a public company.
"I think (public companies) got a little more selective in the companies they were willing to acquire, given it took more to get a deal done," said Louis Lehot, a corporate partner at law firm Foley & Lardner LLP. "It had to be a more compelling story, not just acqui-hires."
Possible pickup in Q2
Lehot noted that the first quarter of the year is often quieter for public companies, where they're looking for acquisition targets they can pull the trigger on in the second quarter. With that in mind, the pace at which public companies make acquisitions could pick up in the second quarter, according to Lehot.
There's also plenty of companies in the IPO pipeline, and as soon as one big IPO happens, others will follow and go public. That means more money available for M&A.
Global venture investment last year reached a record $643 billion, per Crunchbase data. But while plenty of venture-backed startups are flush with cash, those same companies could re-examine any acquisition plans they had for 2022, depending on how public market multiples affect private markets, according to Torosian.
Companies may start to ask themselves, "' How do I want to think about my program? Do I want to continue to snap up other companies or do I want to look at this for the rainy day that may come down if the party of 2020 may be on hold for now?' " he said.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.


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Mexico Schools Providing Extra Counseling to Students After Tragic Loss of Freshman Emma Azdell
Students and staff at the Mexico High School and the Mexico community continue to grieve and are trying to process the loss of 15 year old freshman Emma Azdell who was killed on Saturday due to an ATV accident.
Mexico High School Principal Brad Ellebracht has communicated with parents and staff members that additional counselors will be at the school, and they will be available to meet with students win groups or individually as needed and local pastors in town have been contacted to be on standby.
Mr. Ellebracht says it is important to remember that death can impact students in many different ways.
Being available to listen to your child's feelings and concerns will help them work through what can be a confusing and emotional experience.
Some common reactions to grief include:
- Feeling sad or crying
- Feeling worried or scared
- Asking repeated questions about the death
- Feeling tired or overwhelmed
- Being withdrawn
- Having difficulty eating or sleeping
The Mexico High School Girls Soccer Team will start their game against Hannibal Thursday night with a moment of silence for Emma.
A visitation for Emma will be held tonight from 4-8 and funeral services will be tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 11am at the Bethel Presbyterian Church, North of Mexico.
Memorial donations may be made to the Emma Azdell Scholarship Fund.
They may be sent in care of Arnold Funeral Home, 425 S. Jefferson, Mexico, MO 65265.


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July 8, 2013, Vancouver,
B.C. – Ledcor Resources and Transportation, and Mainland Sand and Gravel signed
a long-term exclusive agreement for marine transportation services.
Ledcor has invested about
$18 million worth of equipment towards this agreement and will haul crushed stone and
aggregate from Mainland's riverside storage facilities to their ramps and
distribution points along the Fraser River.
Before service begins on
January 1, 2016, Ledcor will construct six new barges and augment its fleet of
tugs that will be dedicated to Mainland Sand and Gravel.
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text:
Keoladeo National Park
Factors affecting the property in 1994*
- Invasive/alien terrestrial species
- Water (extraction)
- Other Threats:
Decline in the population of Siberian cranes
Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports
- Insufficient water delivery
- Possiuble invasion of Paspalum grass
International Assistance: requests for the property until 1994
Total amount approved : 0 USD
Missions to the property until 1994**
Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 1994
[Oral report during the session]
Summary of the interventions
Decisions adopted by the Committee in 1994
SOC: Keoladeo National Park (India)
Keoladeo National Park (India)
The Committee recalled that this site was inscribed on the World Heritage List because of its importance as a wintering ground for the Siberian crane. At the time of inscription in 1985, there were 41 cranes which wintered in Keoladeo National Park. The Committee was informed that in 1994, no Siberian cranes wintered in Keolodeo; it was thought that due to hunting along their migratory routes in Afghanistan and Pakistan the population which used Keoladeo for wintering appears to have been extirpated. The Committee therefore requested that the Centre write to the Indian authorities expressing its concern and requesting that the status of the Siberian crane population be monitored for another year. The Committee noted that in the event that there are no signs of the return of the species to Keoladeo in 1995, then it might consider the prospect of delisting this site. In that case the Committee would request IUCN to make a detailed presentation on the subject at its next session.
No draft Decision
* :
The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger ("ascertained danger") or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property's Outstanding Universal Value ("potential danger").
** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.


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Kitchen Renovation: The A-Z Guide to Revamping Your Space
A kitchen renovation project can transform a bleak, rundown room into the heart of your home. Our complete guide covers everything you need to know from start to finish
A kitchen renovation is likely to be high on your agenda when you buy a property as a project. That's because modern kitchen designs are larger, as they tend to be the hub of family life, while in older properties, they can be pokey and dark, designed just as a space for cooking.
However, a kitchen is one of the most challenging spaces to tackle when renovating a house, especially when planning a multi-functional space that works as a living, socialising and dining space, as well as a place to prep food.
This guide walks you through the A-Z of kitchen renovation projects, from planning a design to extending your home, heating, plumbing, electrics and more.
Structural Changes for Kitchen Renovations
A part of your kitchen renovation, in order to make a small space larger you'll need to undertake some structural changes to your property. This may include building an extension or knocking through to turn individual smaller spaces into a larger one.
Depending on the type of extension and how complex the design is you're looking for, you'll have some choice in who designs and builds your extension. An architect is a popular choice for a more forward thinking design, while architectural technologists and design and build companies may offer simple but effective house extension ideas.
It's worth remembering that even a small kitchen extension can be transformative to a space, allowing you to fit in a dining table or snug where the room was only a kitchen before. The likes of side return extensions are particularly popular for terraced and semi-detached houses.
Knocking down internal walls will require a builder and a structural engineer if the wall is load bearing. They will calculate measurements for steel inserts to be used to support the weight of the floor above safely, subject to Building Regulations. Sign off will be required by a Building Control inspector.
Designing a New Kitchen for a Kitchen Renovation
A kitchen supplier is the most common route for your kitchen renovation. By approaching a specialist kitchen company with your ideas, they will usually come up with several designs for you to look at, based on the dimensions of your space and your individual needs. There should be no obligation for you to buy your kitchen from them and there is rarely a charge for these designs.
However, as part of an overall kitchen renovation, it's unlikely that a kitchen supplier will provide anything other than the kitchen installation, such as any extensions, structural changes required and new glazing. However, you could ask your architect to come up with a kitchen design for you as part of the overall scheme. Alternatively, there are design and build companies, and interior designers, who would be able to do both jobs.
How to Make a Kitchen Renovation Brief
In order to get the kitchen of your dreams, you will need to come up with a concise brief, listing all your requirements. Start with the basics:
- Every kitchen needs a cooker, fridge freezer and sink. Start with these items, and add other features around them.
- Look at what you already have — are there any interesting architectural details that could be incorporated into your new design, such as old beams or alcoves?
- Adequate kitchen storage space is a must. Base your storage needs on the size of your household, how much kitchen equipment you own, and how and where to store your food
You will also need to take into account what activities will take place here other than cooking:
- Will you be using your kitchen only as a room in which to store, prepare and cook food, or would you like it to double up as a room in which you can sit and eat too?
- Will this also be an entertaining space?
- Would you be satisfied with a breakfast bar or island unit with stools, or would a full-size table for family gatherings be better?
Assess the dimensions of the room and then make a wish-list — in order of priority.
How to Remove an Old Kitchen
The more careful you are with the removal of the old kitchen, the easier it will be to install the new one.
Removing the old kitchen is the first step of fitting a kitchen, but before you begin ripping out the units, bear in mind that there may well be some items worth salvaging.
If you are remodelling your kitchen on a budget then it will be worth taking a look at what kind of condition your unit carcasses are in — whilst the unit doors may be in a bad state of repair or not to your taste, you might find that the carcasses can be reused by replacing kitchen doors.
Order of Works to Renovate a Kitchen
- Remove wall units
- Remove worktop and base units
- Remove flooring
- First fix electrics
- Reroute plumbing
- Lay new flooring
- Install wall units
- Install base units
- Second fix electrics
- Fit worktop
- Fit sink and complete plumbing to taps, drains and appliances
- Install appliances
- Fit extractor fan
- Tile and decorate
Installing New Heating in an Old Kitchen
Choosing a new heating system takes careful consideration and planning. Whilst some people choose to have no heating at all in their kitchen, feeling it unnecessary in a room that often becomes hot whilst cooking, those that use their kitchens for more than just cooking, have several options:
- The cheapest and simplest is to fit a radiator with a thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) so that it can be easily adjusted, but you will need sufficient wall space
- Plinth heaters fit neatly into the space between the bottom of the base units and the floor. Plinth heaters can be electrical fan convector heaters operated by a switch, or can be linked to the rest of the central heating system
- You could use heated towel rails, complete with pegs for tea towels — there is a range of radiator companies providing designs that can make the most of the tightest of spaces
- Underfloor heating (UFH) is another popular choice for even and comfortable heat. Opting for an electric underfloor heating system as opposed to a water heated system means you can tackle the installation on a DIY basis, but it's more expensive to run.
Good ventilation will ensure your kitchen is a pleasant place to be, removing smells and steam and keeping the temperature even.
The size and strength of your cooker hood or fan will largely depend on the floor area and how much cooking you do.
Installing New Electrics in an Old Kitchen
Before your new kitchen is fitted, first fix electrical work needs to be carried out. Your electrician will need to check the existing system, as in many renovation projects a complete rewire is called for anyway.
Give your electrician a plan showing the quantity and the position of all electrical switches and sockets. You will need sockets for all your appliances and even then it is best to have some extra.
Although a qualified electrician will carry out the majority of work, you can save money by doing some jobs yourself. Chasing out the walls for the new metal boxes and casing for sockets and wiring will cut down the amount of time an electrician will spend on the job.
The electrician should return to carry out second fix electrics, such as connections to plug sockets, before the worktops are fitted. When purchasing your sockets, bear in mind that some appliances, such as your cooker, will require a breaker switch which allows you to turn it off without having to pull it out and reach a socket.
Fitting Kitchen Plumbing
The plumbing in your kitchen needs to perform two functions — providing a water supply and taking away waste.
You will need a hot and cold water supply and there needs to be a waste pump from the sink to outside and a hot and cold water supply feeding the kitchen tap.
If you have a washing machine in the kitchen, this will need to be either connected to the hot and cold water, or just to the cold water, whilst most dishwashers only require a cold water connection.
Ask a plumber to take a look at your pipework and decide whether it is worth saving it or starting again.
Your main consideration will need to be whether the existing arrangement of the pipes is going to get in the way of your planned layout for the new kitchen — unless you are putting everything back in the same place, you are likely to find that pipework will need to be rerouted.
Check old pipes for kinks and dents and inspect the joints, looking out for green marks, which indicate leaks.
Kitchen Lighting for a Renovation Project
Good kitchen lighting ideas are essential — this is a space where a multitude of tasks are carried out.
- Look at how much natural light there is in the room. If there is very little, consider ways of getting more, such as a rooflight or with a set of bi-fold patio doors
- Avoid central pendants. The light they produce is not targeted enough and they tend to cast shadows around the sides of the room. Several pendants set a lower level over island units and breakfast bars work better
- Downlights and track lights that can be adjusted are the best option, but think through their position and talk it over with your electrician, as these can be affected by shadow unless located correctly. Recessed fittings are practical as they will not get covered in dust or grease as with some other forms of lights
- Use under-cabinet lighting to highlight worktops and, if your extractor hood does not incorporate lights, ensure there is sufficient lighting over your hob
- Dimmable lights are best for kitchen diners, allowing you to vary the mood to suit cooking and entertaining alike
Which Flooring is Best for Kitchens?
Base your flooring choices on practicality and durability. You new kitchen floor needs to be able to withstand moisture and stains.
Smart types of flooring to choose include:
- natural stone, such as slate or limestone (both of which will require sealing)
- linoleum
- vinyl
- ceramic or porcelain tiles
- engineered timber can be used, but it will need to be properly acclimatised before being laid and can be more prone to moisture damage that other hard flooring
(MORE: Kitchen Flooring Ideas)
It might be that you already have an existing floor that simply needs restoring. Quarry tiles were popular in Victorian and some Edwardian houses. They may well need insulating and cleaning.
Small Kitchen Renovations
If you only have a small space, consider whether certain functions, such as the laundry, could be carried out elsewhere, and think about whether it may be worth knocking down internal walls to create an open plan kitchen diner or living area to create a greater sense of space.
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Natasha is Homebuilding & Renovating's Associate Content Editor and has been a member of the team for over two decades. An experienced journalist and renovation expert, she has written for a number of homes titles. Over the years Natasha has renovated and carried out a side extension to a Victorian terrace. She is currently living in the rural Edwardian cottage she renovated and extended on a largely DIY basis, living on site for the duration of the project. She is now looking for her next project — something which is proving far harder than she thought it would be.


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Yesterday Tadei Tomorrow
For nearly half of the last century in the evolution of modernist – and today we are compelled to say, post-modernist – discourse, sculpture as it has been known since the dawn of mankind has been steadily undergoing a process of disembodiment, the ethereal replacing the concrete as cerebral concept takes the place of that traditionally been held by stone. Sculpture in our time has gone from land based to airborne forms. The first fixture to be jetisoned was the pedestal, separating the work from the ground; after that, everything else was up for grabs.
This aesthetic upheaval is something comparable to the erosion of coastal coral reefs which many would wish to attribute to worldwide climate change: the fault of which is, experts tell us, all to be laid at the doorstep of the patriarchal colonial capitalist Occident – but that is a different story from the one we are addressing here. We are talking instead about the demise, and the fortuitously inevitable rebirth, of mankind's oldest art form, which is sculpture. Marialuisa Tadei over a span of more than two decades has been progressively emerging as one of the steadiest sculptural hands at work in Italy today.
She has achieved making visually manifest in palpable material form, in weightless insubstantiality, in elaboration of body and soul, her spiritual beliefs. Mastery of the sculptor's craft is here, but also an intuitive grasp of the most recent vocabulary of contemporary art praxis, but it is her central theme that is not altogether in conformity with the dogma that "politically correct" conformity has imposed on all aspects of human comportment, and particularly on the world of art.
The artist has based her entire sculptural enterprise, it might just as well be said from the outset, upon a strong personal Christian faith rarely encountered in the worldwide ideological arena referred to as "contemporary art".
The term, "contemporary art" itself is a deceptive label dating perhaps from as early as the late Fifties when new artists began appearing into the already overcrowded world of the Modern; therefore a new category, and along with it new institutions, were brought into life to accommodate this hopeful brighteyed new post-war generation of creative spirits. Inadvertently the conclusion of modernism as an historical epoch was declared, without considering the consequences of establishing a dynasty of the historically instantaneous, l'éternel contemporain: an eternal dynastical plateau of the contemporary.
With modernism, we had lived under the illusion that the creativity of highly personal talents would be year after year surprising us with unexpected marvels; under the diktat of the Contemporary an endless plateau stretched out before our eyes with all the immobility of the dynasties of ancient Egypt. Although both are dead, Marcel Duchamp remains forever contemporary; Georges Braque regrettably is not. Marialuisa Tadei has, by the sheer captivation of the beauty and the aptness of her work, adroitly sidestepped what could have been serious hazards of censorious exclusion if the central motivations driving her endeavour had been fully understood by the radically secular constituents of the politically correct regime of conformative Contemporarism. Her masterful command of the postmodern idiom alone and her profound religious faith shielded her from suffering such a mishap, and the impact of her accomplishment itself perhaps distracted those empirical materialists whose dogma is essentially anti-religious.
The work of Marialuisa Tadei simply sweeps away all other reactions than those pertaining to the encounter itself. There has always existed this aspect of legerdemain, magic, that accompanies the sculptor's craft, as the pioneer artist and writer Gianfranco Baruchello magisterially laid out in his essay Cosa guardano le statue – What do statues look at?.
We can encounter this tantalizing metaphysical enigma at Tivoli, or when we come into the Boboli Gardens, in Florence; or walking into the cool precincts of National Museum of Archaeology at Naples; and we rejoice in it out of the gleeful surprise of suddenly entering into the sunlight out of dark streets into the Piazza Navona and circling in our steps the great joyful dance of water and marble crafted by the hand of Bernini, that Shakespeare of all sculptors.
It may well be that Marialuisa Tadei herself was aware of what she was doing. But then again perhaps not. It could well be that the confidence in her faith itself was enough to propel her sculptural program forward without secondary doubts. Hers is an ever-renewing, ever-expanding beatitude. Before continuing, however, let us go back four decades to the source of the dematerialization of modernist sculpture and attempt to disentangle the social and philosophical influences that led to the dominance of disembodied image over concrete sculptural form. In the late Sixties, artists, along with a large part of all young people, went on a sort of all-inclusive general strike against conventional bourgeois society as it had long been known. This generation, sons and daughters of those who had suffered through economic depression and World War II, now were being compelled to attend another little picnic planned all for them, the war in Vietnam: just when the music was starting to get really good.
The youth revolt of 1968 was in a sense a cyclical reoccurrence of the libertinism of the Illuminists which galvanized the tragedy of the French Revolution, and it demonstrates once again that revolutions fail or succeed based on the sexual frustrations of an inordinantly large demographic mass of young people.
Sculptors got it into their head that making art that could fit into millionaires' living-rooms was something they were not going to do anymore. They moved out into the desert, as the Biblical prophets before them, and likewise they took dominion over the Word, expanding their domain into language itself and sculpturalizing linguistics in a process, whereby a statement became a form. Words could represent concrete shape. The lexicon replaced the chisel and hammer.
It was essentially a Marxist revolution to sabotage the whole commodity market of art galleries who "exploited" a proletariat of "art workers" and to free themselves from the chains of capitalism and finally make valid art that defied any attempt to consider the labour of artists as a product that could be sold. John Gibson, a young art dealer in New York who had a great passion for photography, along with few others scattered around the world including Marian Goodman, René Block, Nicholas Logsdail, all those who zealously followed Marcel Duchamp and John Cage.
There are those who believe that it was Gibson who opened the Pandora's box that converted sculpture into photographic form. He was totally behind the project of the radical conceptualist artists in Europe and America but he nevertheless needed something to sell in his gallery back home in New York. So he encouraged them to provide large photographs documenting art works which may have, in their real size, encompassed two square kilometers.
Thus bronze, marble, wood, were relegated to history and conceptual photo documentation ruled the day, simultaneously relegating "conventional" modern photography to the dustbin. Developments which seeped from the nouvelle cuisine of French philosophy into the nouveau roman of French literature, together with the nouvelle vague of French cinema, took care of the rest.
The booster rocket of this space ship came from advances in communications technology. In the Seventies, video cameras were huge machines the size of the head of a baby hippopotamus; people sent letters with postage stamps. No cellphones, no fax, no email. A Polaroid camera or a Selectric IBM typewriter were the hi-tech status symbols of the era; the idea of a home computer was only a dream of the future.
It's also important to recall that the Soviet Union was very much still up and running and by all appearances in excellent health. It was only in the year 1989 with the fall of the Soviet Union that the entire dome of reference that had encapsulated the cultural context of any work of art suddenly fell to pieces under its own weight. Without any other rope to hang onto, the rising cybernetic tide grabbed the lifeline of computer technology, as artists had embraced the realm of conceptual photonarrative art one generation before. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett would never be seen in the same light ever again.
Marialuisa Tadei, after a long apprenticeship, entered into the world of art at a particularly ambiguous moment in the late Nineties, when ideological forces were regrouping behind new lines, and socio-aesthetic guidelines were still wobbling under the geo-political shock of the loss of the Communist flagship, the USSR.
It can be said that the guiding principle of her Catholic faith has been from the outset the primary factor that has somehow taken her blindly by the hand in order to navigate through these troubled waters with confident serenity, at a moment when the carpet of anti-Occident Marxism had been pulled out from under the feet of so many suddenly disoriented artistic practitioners who scrambled to seek professional refuge in makeshift ideologies of ecology, feminism, no-globalism, genderism, and others unworthy of mention.
There is, indeed, it can be detected, even a sort of ingenuous innocence, a fundamental simplicity bordering on the childlike which offers her a rarely encountered serenity and strength. There is even, one may venture to say, a Biblical self-replenishing fortitude effortlessly sustaining and renewing her endeavour as an artist, in its state of divine weightlessness.
It can be said that it is this effortless ability of continual renewal which drives her creativity, deriving its fuel from the renewable energy source of her faith. But if one may wish to employ a word often used by artists who would consider themselves first and foremost postmodern, her "strategy" has been that of consistently appropriating the tactics of reification and disembodiment devised by the revolutionary artists of the late Sixties. In a sense, she is fighting fire with fire and beating them at their own game by applying their own methods toward different goals: taking the title of Harald Szeemann's trailblazing exhibition of 1969 When Attitudes become Form and turning it into When Faith becomes Form.
Since Pope Paul VI saw fit to take the boldly visionary step of inaugurating a museum of modern art to complement the venerable collections of the Vatican, other pontiffs have seen fit to renew this effort, most significantly in Benedict XVI's formal reception of artists active today beneath the frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel during which he exhorted this creative crowd, a tribe that is not the first community to spring to mind when the question of avid church attendance arises, to return to the Church and reconsider it once again as a welcoming arena for their creative quest. This commitment has been more recently underscored by the breathtakingly bold step of implementing an official Vatican pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Marialuisa Tadei reveals herself as being one of the most successful artists at work today to have come closest to resolving the dilemma of manifesting a profound Christian belief using art's contemporary vocabularies.
The challenge of religions across the world has always been, after all, offering hope, consolation, and definitive responses to the most solemn questions which mortal men and women face in life: all forms of artistic expression have always, however obliquely, been in active and direct participation in this dialogue with the divine.
Yet modernism at its very source sought to express its disenchantment with all forms of traditional belief, with the exception perhaps of the materialism of Epicurus and his follower Lucretius. Thus the inherent weaknesses in all modernist attempts to formulate faith and express devotion through the vocabulary of the Modern. Few have been successful in either devotional or artistic terms. Perhaps it can be said that all artists, whether they know it or not, are unconsciously striving to achieve this goal.
Marialuisa Tadei has succeeded in recontextualizing one hundred years of modern and postmodern vocabularies in order to place them at the service of 2000 years of Christian faith.
As she has said: I seek to conjugate the forms of nature, and the anatomy of the human being in order that they become mystical. To create a mystical anatomy, with reference to both to human nature and to nature itself. By nature I refer to flowers, stars, galaxies, rocks. Because, in the end, the limitation between the figurative and the abstract is not a clear demarcation. If you look at the palm of the hand or at the veins in a leaf they resemble an abstract composition, our interpretation depends on the point of view we wish to assume. I wish to bring contemporary art and its public the awareness of another dimension beyond the material worldly one. Simone Weill said 'beauty has the task to take us beyond ourselves'. Therefore I seek to take the spectator beyond himself so that he enters another dimension. And entering another dimension becomes aware of spirituality, sacrality, that is connected with himself. It is not an abstract thing far from mankind. There is a correspondence between God and Man, a dialogue that can be expressed through works of art. I want to make human beings achieve a leap so that they can see the connection between the absolute and the infinite.
The balancing of the weights and measures of the material world in metaphysical terms is central to the sculptural practice of Marialuisa Tadei, and this is one of the central lessons which she brought back with her from Düsseldorf, where she had the great good fortune to be invited by Jannis Kounellis for a period of eight or nine months, an experience from which she gained lessons which remain with her to this day. One theme which she recalls Kounellis emphasizing was poetry, and its juxtapositions of lightness and heaviness: something light and something heavy when placed together creative a poem, the buoyancy of composition.
As a very small child her ambition was to one day be able to construct a machine that could visualize during the daylight the dreams she had had during her hours of sleep, thus being able to capture her visions at will. Marialuisa Tadei's childhood desire to capture dreams in concrete form has today been fulfilled.
When I first saw the work of Marialuisa Tadei my appreciation of her multifaceted work began immediately in a transformational sensation of visceral recognition. The variations in scale, material and technique, were augmented by the bravura in her use of color, magnetically chromatizing forms, as color has been used by sculptors such as Alexander Calder and Jeff Koons.
The artist employs vertical axes and horizontal spans which create extensions from the earth to which they are magnetically held yet away from which they struggle to free themselves.
There is something Gothic is this polarity of tensions, and of weights and lightness. Many of her works seem to transform the frequent use of tension between openness and enclosure, creating a "beyond" in intimations of the infinite; they define the cosmological space around them not as void, but as an expansive field, much as Calder did both in his "Mobiles" and "Stables".
Marialuisa Tadei, between 2006 and 2009, executed a sculpture in stainless steel and polychrome acrylic paint which demonstrates the unity yet wide range of her work. In its naturally spiraling and undulating form it brings to mind the Laocoon of Greek mythology as well as the Tree of Knowledge in the Book of Genesis, both allegories that picture serpents in the motivating role. This work is entitled Creative Wisdom and, although ground-based, evokes flotation.
Ten years earlier, in 1996, the artist, having absorbed the lesson of her teacher Jannis Kounellis regarding lightness and heaviness as sculptural states, executed a group of untitled freestanding works in which tent-like cones supported each in its interior a large nest-like vessel of white feathers in evocation of body and soul.
Charged by some magnetic gravitational energy, in its relationship with the floor, there is an unmistakeably sacral character in this phenomenon, that speaks the language of cathedrals and chapels, a monumental spatial force regardless of scale, a force activating the aspiration toward flight, toward levitation.
Like polished surfaces of certain freestanding sculptures of Lucio Fontana, likewise spherical in form, these works exude a magnetic field, autonomously or in collusion. Here both artists are addressing the periphery of surfaces and detail with equal interest.
There exists a geological, one could even go so far as to say pharmaceutical Geology, nature to sculpture. Since ancient times we see evidence of stone being transported over great distances, and we encounter specific medicinal properties, or virtù, attributed to certain stones, endowing them with protective or curative powers, with baseness or nobility in a heraldic hierarchy: porphyry, for example. Albertus Magnus was not only a theologian and great father of the Church, but a "diagnostical geologist" at the same time, who could give a prescription of emeralds as a cure for insomnia. One feels that Marialuisa Tadei is aware of the properties which radiate from the materials she handles.
It is time that works of art, as Joseph Beuys believed, should be thought of as a necessity, essential to the well-being of mankind, and no longer be regarded as luxuries, status symbols, commodities. She had the good fortune to take her degree, one of many, at the Academia di Belle Arti under the tutelage of Giorgio Cortenova who later dedicated a beautiful essay to her work, in which he wrote:
Beauty or elegance? Both together, both capable of representing and transmitting virtue, wisdom, humanitas and richness of sentiment; in other words, of giving a positive and social sense to the luxury, to the gold, silver and cobalt blue, to the graces that were such because of their ability to communicate the virtue, rhythm and vitality interwoven in lines that were curved and embroidered or angular and darting, like flight that impudently defies the wall of wind.
When encountering the work of any artist for the first time we must take the utmost care as we proceed step by step to establish a platform from which to begin our explorations of unknown creative terrains, a starting point from which to initiate a new and unfamiliar chronology for future guidelines, all in order to ensure that we do not set out wide of the mark from the outset, as Christopher Columbus did when he mistook America for India. This is particularly true when it comes to the myriad of expressive functions which Marialuisa Tadei employs in the wide spectrum of her vocabulary devices.
Since the large-scale cybachrome photographic prints, issued in editions of 15 mounted behind plexiglass, derive from watercolors, let us begin with these: in a recent exhibition at the Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, Marialuisa Tadei along with nine other contemporary Italian artists, paid homage in a show entitled "Our place in space" to the visual revelations of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched into outer space in 1990.
The artist's watercolors and subsequent cybachrome prints bear a striking resemblance to those which the photographic instruments on board the Hubble spacecraft beam back to scientists on the ground.
A cybachrome dating from 2011 entitled Abissi Rosso (diasec 180x134 centimeters) is exemplary of these works. Astrological extravagances which on first encounter resemble the semi-abstract floral pastel drawings of Odilon Redon and on second examination would seem to be a symetrical Rorschach test. Abissi Rosso, like other works in this series bearing titles such as Farfalla, Lampo, Viola possess an ethereal otherworldly charm. "All of my forms are inspired from the forms of nature, and in fact I use the circular line, symbol of the infinite, when creating my works". It is reasonable therefore to conclude that watercolor in its seemingly ephemeral range of tonalities provides an inevitable medium for Marialuisa Tadei's graphic investigations. Furthermore the wedding of sculpture and photography is a perfect match and has in the past been used as a working tool by sculptors a century ago such as Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas and Constantin Brancusi, and furthermore with regard to watercolor Marialuisa Tadei finds herself in the company of Rodin, a consummate watercolorist as seen in his nude portraits of Isadora Duncan. In these ethereal watercolors Rodin demonstrates the weightlessness of watercolor and, as again with Marialuisa Tadei, draws into relation the theme of lightness and heaviness which Janis Kounellis underlined. We must also mention here the concrete clairvoyance of Joseph Beuys in his approach to both watercolor and photography, using both interchangeably as one single medium. Like Joseph Beuys, Marialuisa Tadei seems to use watercolor as a medium of intuitive free association, although with a brighter spectrum of color, however, no spectator is likely to mistake her for a German expressionist.
If we arrive at the sculptural work of Marialuisa Tadei from the watercolors and cybachrome photographs we immediately react to her propensity for apt equilibrium, and her exemplary knack for the disposition of masses to make up a whole, something which is an aspect in the present day that students rarely look for, artists neglect, and the public seems to ignore altogether. This propensity is a direct outgrowth of the study of nature which the artist herself has pointed to as her primary manual or guidebook. In these sculptural works, form would seem to follow shadow and emulate content as the glove embodies the hand and become one single thing.
In her exuberant work entitled Meeting, 2015, a freestanding sculpture in hot glass blown and shaped in the furnace, she, as in the work Creative Wisdom, brings us again into contact with the serpentine in the realm of the Laocoon, and calls to mind to those who have ever witnessed it the end of hybernation in springtime of a nest of snakes, or the esoteric Easter Sunday snake-handling ceremonies enacted in remote Catholic Churches in Calabria. All of her recent sculptural works are exuberantly polychromatic, such as Together, Sospiro, Life, Meteroite, Fluid, all from 2017, and unlike the "found" colors in the metal sculpture of John Chamberlain, instead make use of the polished pop spectrum of purples, iridescent blue, green, orange and yellow which one expects to see in the work of the American maestro Jeff Koons or in the lesser known sculptural works of the painter Roy Lichtenstein.
Sculptress and stubborn prophetess, Marialuisa Tadei creates works that radiate energy from no apparent source, a quality she shares with a contemporary painter in Rome, Alberto Di Fabio, whose paintings require no batteries.
Pablo Picasso once said that Art washes the dust of everyday life from the soul. This is the dictum that Marialuisa Tadei has put into practice. Fashioned in an equilibrium of alabaster, steel, aluminium, onyx, bronze, mosaic matrixes and feathers, the "visionary machine" of which Marialuisa Tadei had yearned to invent as a child, one that would record real dreams, is in full working order.
Venice 2017
Text by Alan Jones


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Summer Stories
Summer in San Francisco can often be cold, windy, foggy and frustrating. It's often the best time to get out and explore other cities to get a taste of summertime. My good friends Terry and Ray Paetzold hosted a summer garden party for me, to introduce 12 Small Things to friends at their beautiful home in Lafayette. Terry's parents and my father were best friends in their later years living in southern California. As our children have grown and our parent's have passed away, Terry and I have grown closer with each milestone. Terry is a terrific chef, having cooked and catered with some of the best in the Bay Area, and has started a cooking school called In Terry's Kitchen. Terry served a variety of appetizers to complement my artisan products from around the world, including India, Africa and Mexico. The weather was hot, the guests were lovely and everyone seemed to be having a good time enjoying Terry's delicious food and wine while shopping generously in support of artisans in need.
I'm pleased to introduce two new products to my 12 Small Things collection for summer. The delightful floral note cards on my homepage are handmade by women in El Salvador, imported by the fair trade company Hope for Women. In 2001, massive mud slides and a devastating earthquake left many families in the highlands of El Salvador homeless and jobless. With their fields destroyed, many people began traveling to low-paying factory jobs in the capital. As an alternative, a group of enterprising women formed Arte Comasagua, an artisans' organization that handcrafts stylish designs from native flowers and plants. These women now work locally, caring for their families and saving for their future. Hope For Women, run by Evan Goldstein and his dad from their office in Connecticut, is a socially responsible organization committed to providing sustainable employment for economically disadvantaged women worldwide. I met Evan when we were both attending the artisan gift show in Lima Peru in 2008, and have been following the great work he does for women artisans in India and South America.
The other new product I am pleased to feature, is hand-painted bamboo balancing dragonflies from Vietnam, imported by Far East Handicrafts in Vermont. I met one of the partners, Kirk Richmond, at the New York gift fair last summer and among all their interesting products from artisans in Nepal and Tibet, were a few brightly painted dragonflies that Kirk balanced for me on his fingertips. The dragonflies are made by Reaching Out Handicrafts, located in Hoi An, near Da Nang on the Coast of Vietnam. This self-organized crafts group provides employment and an extended family for many people who were affected by the defoliant Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam war, that caused innumerable birth defects among the population. Reaching Out Handicrafts is a great example of people working together, helping each other through very difficult life experiences. Far East Handicrafts Importers were founded on Fair Trade principles in 1988, and work directly with crafts people to ensure fair wages and good working conditions.
My latest summer adventure took me to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the annual Folk Art Festival. Never having been before, I wasn't sure what to expect except for warm weather, which there certainly was in abundance. The other thing in abundance was people! Bus loads of people, anxious to shop from all the different collections brought by the artists themselves from all over the world. I tried to work my way in and out of all the tented booths featuring the products for sale, but often had to pass by for all the crowds in front of me. While perhaps a bit uncomfortable for my shopping pleasure, the crowds were a great advantage for all the artisans who can support their family and fellow workers for a whole year from the proceeds they earn at the festival. I met my merchant advisor and good friend Karen Gibbs and her partner, Colvin English from By Hand Consulting. They were volunteering at the artisan booth "A Million Hearts for Haiti", helping to raise money for Haitian artists, along with their friend Keith Recker, the editor of HAND/EYE magazine. Keith had also worked the opening party the night before where he sold rum drinks to help benefit HAND/EYE Fund's Artisan Grant program. Between the party and two days of selling stone, metal and fabric hearts for Haiti, Keith and friends were able to raise significant funds for artisans in the devastated country.
Fortunately for me and others in need of a break from the crowds and heat, Santa Fe has two amazing folk art and history museums right there in the fairgrounds at Museum Hill. At the International Folk Art Museum I was able to catch the a bit of a presentation given by one of the women from the Gahaya Links Cooperative in Rwanda. Gahaya Links was one of the ten women artisan cooperatives featured by the museum in their special exhibit, "Empowering Women: Artisan Cooperatives That Transform Communities". I toured the museum's creatively displayed collections featuring miniature sculptures of entire towns and village scenes from New Mexico's history plus small puppet theaters, dolls, ceremonial objects and clothing all presented imaginatively for the public's pleasure and education.
Fortified by air conditioning and a meditative break, I rejoined the crowds to finish my tour of the booths and listen to live music first from Cuba and then an African group sporting none other than bagpipes. On one of my last stops I finally met Anna O'Leary, my contact for Echery Pottery and Barro Sin Plomo, the organization working with ceramicists in Mexico to help transition them to lead-free glazes for their pottery. I was first introduced to this beautiful collection of Mexican pottery through Aid to Artisans, who launched the project with the help of scientists, doctors and designers including Mimi Robinson from San Francisco. Anna invited me to a benefit that evening for Barro Sin Plomo hosted by Chris and Patti Webster at their amazing Santa Fe home. After guest introduced themselves to one another while listening to live music, we were given a demonstration by one of the ceramists from Mexico who showed us how she sculpted intricate candelabra. Her family is currently being sponsored by Barro Sin Plomo to switch over from their hot, lead glaze kiln, to a new lower temperature kiln that works with lead-free glazes. Not only is this new system safer for the artists involved, it is also safer for the family living around the glazes and kiln and cooler for the household.
Anna and her father, Eric O'Leary, a well-renown sculptor himself, spoke to the guests about the years of dedicated work by all involved with Barro Sin Plomo and the success stories resulting from their efforts. As I stood listening to the speeches, watching the candle votives flicker in the darkness, while faint sounds of thunder rolled in from the desert, I felt so lucky to be associated with people doing such great work for others. As I returned to the Folk Art Fair Sunday, the crowds were much thinner and I had a great chance to meet with potential partners for my business who are all about helping artisans around the world. But that's a whole other story, yet to be told this summer.


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Jesus Christ pulled off some pretty impressive brand stunts in his day: turning water into wine; healing the blind; feeding the multitude with the loaves and fishes. But when it came to one of the biggest stunts of His career, He turned to Montreal's 1one Production—at least, according to this "never-before-seen original footage" of Christ and his marketing team from a couple thousand years ago.
As self-promo films go, it's pretty well done. "With the evolution of media, and the viewer becoming more intelligent (and cynical) towards traditional advertising, we need to create stunts that can't look like anything short of amazing," says Jean-René Parenteau, executive producer and associate at 1one. "When it comes to doing that, you want an expert, not someone who's just hoping they can pull it off. This has been our focus for the past five years. Stunts aren't a new trend for us. It's what we've always done and focused our expertise towards."
Client: 1one Production
Agency: lg2
Copywriter: Philippe Comeau
Director: Pierre Dalpé
DOP: Barry Russell
Producer: Jean-René Parenteau
Production House: 1one Production
Music and Sound Design: 1one Production


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Keep your mind on the money and the money on your mind.
By Self.com — Written on Jan 25, 2023
Photo: Mike Laptev / Shutterstock
Money and finances are very taboo topics, although they shouldn't be.
Because people don't talk about them, that means a lot of people don't know about them, or how to handle them responsibly.
Your money and your finances are key to creating the life you want, and it certainly takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what works, like how much your credit card limit should be and what the hell an IRA is.
It's okay that you don't know anything about money because it seems so hard to know what to even do with it.
Here are 15 unsexy things you should know about money before you hit 30:
1. Buying coffee every day does legit add up over the year, so maybe dial it back with the lattes
A $5 coffee a day is $1,200 a year. Love your pumpkin spice? Then look for places where you can cut back without feeling the pain, suggests Joe Duran, author of The Money Code. For example, keep the AM coffee, and ditch the random Saturday night takeout order.
RELATED: 5 Investments You Can't Spend *Enough* Money On
2. Try to put something in savings every week, even if it's just $5
"I hear so many people say it's not worth it to just save $20 from a paycheck. What people don't get is it's not just the money you save, it's the habit you're getting yourself into," says Kathleen Hastings, CFP, a portfolio manager in Bethesda, MD.
3. Keep track of your credit score
Find yours at Annual Credit Report. Not only do you know where you stand, but it keeps you on guard for unusual activity that could signify identity theft.
4. Put a 401(k) and a Roth IRA to work
A 401(k) is work-sponsored with pre-tax dollars, a Roth is an individual retirement account set up with an investment firm
If your work offers it, you should absolutely contribute to your 401(k) no matter what. A Roth IRA can be a smart choice if you want to diversify. Unlike a 401(k), a Roth IRA allows able to withdraw funds penalty-free for certain things, like a down payment on your first house.
5. Don't assume that just because you're making more money now, you need to upgrade everything in your life
As your income rises, so do your expectations, explains Manisha Thakor, financial advisor and co-author of Get Financially Naked. Were you fine with DIY manicures in college but now find yourself going to the salon a few times a month? That's lifestyle creep. If it was good enough for you in college, it's good enough for you now.
RELATED: 4 Money Behaviors That Sabotage Even The Best Marriages
6. Understand what your dollar is worth
Take a look at this map from the Tax Foundation. There are low-price states and high-price states, and knowing where you live will give you a real idea of the relative value of your paycheck.
7. Make a budget and try to stick to it
Financial experts often recommend beginning with the 50-30-20 rule: 50 percent toward expenses, 30 percent to discretionary spending, and 20 percent to savings, says Duran.
8. Add up what you're really spending on food. Because it's probably a lot more than you think
This is one super-sneaky expense that can add up. "So many people think they're spending $100 a week on food when they could easily be spending five times that amount," says Duran.
For a week, write down exactly how much you're spending on Seamless, snacks, or juice runs and add it up. Then try cutting back—ideally, you should only be spending 10 percent of your paycheck on food, including restaurant meals.
9. Use credit cards, but in a smart way
Financial experts agree: Used right, plastic is a tool. Learn how to use it to your advantage, including how to pick the one that'll give you the biggest perks (cardratings.com can help you begin to suss out the differences between offers).
10. Work on your fierce negotiating skills
The more you practice, the better you'll be at talking the talk in your boss's office. Nervous? Experts suggest beginning small and outside work: Asking for a discount on the slightly misshapen muffin at the corner café in the AM will give you that much more confidence to talk money with a hiring manager.
RELATED: Science Reveals The Exact Amount Of Money That Buys Happiness
11. Get all your money into one central location
Have a few forgotten 401(k)s in your past? Bad move, say experts. Instead, roll them over to an IRA. Same with any lingering bank accounts. Close them out and make sure your money is in one central location.
12. Make sure you've got all the necessary insurance coverage
Health insurance, renter's insurance, and disability insurance are musts, says Duran. And consider life insurance as well: Even if you're single without dependents, buying a life insurance plan now is far less expensive than it would be down the road.
Related Stories From YourTango:
13. Actually do some research about this stuff, because it's not something you should just ignore and hope it goes away
Head to a financial planning workshop (often run by local banks), read a book, or listen to a podcast, but learning the language of investing—index funds, mutual funds, portfolios, etc—can help make things seem less overwhelming.
14. Be honest and upfront with your partner about money, and expect the same in return
Money-related disagreements are the leading cause of stress in relationships, according to a study from Kansas State University. Regardless of whether or not you're pooling your cash or keeping it separate, you've got to be able to talk about debts, goals, and paychecks with your partner.
15. Know what you want from your money
"At the end of the day, I ask clients to think about how they want to use their money," says Gretchen Cliburn, CFP, a senior wealth manager in Springfield, MO. "When we know that, not only do we have more incentive to save, but we also know what we're working toward."
Yes, it sounds New-Agey, but write down what you want to use your money for—whether it's your dream home, exotic travel, or making sure you never have to stress again, it'll help keep you on track.
RELATED: The 7 Best Places To Live Rich — Without Much Money
SELF is the authority on health, fitness, beauty, and style for the woman who wants to achieve her personal best in all aspects of her life.
This article was originally published at SELF. Reprinted with permission from the author.


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Welcome to Fred Nicholson School
Welcome one and all to Fred Nicholson School, where we look forward to working together with you on Building Successful Futures for all our young people.
We offer education to a diverse community with wide ranging complex needs. As an experienced multi-skilled team of nearly 130 we enjoy working in partnership with all our families, supporting both you and your child is important to us. Setting high expectations, we work to motivate and inspire our young people to be the best they can be through an exciting and innovative curriculum. We believe you will find us open and easy to communicate with; being solution focused we are always willing to spend time supporting families to achieve a positive outcome. We believe in encouraging our pupils to be part of the decision making in and direction of the school and celebrating their contributions through all it's forms.
Orchard is our specialist county provision within Fred Nicholson School for 19 pupils specifically experiencing autism along with learning difficulties and associated complex needs who have not yet been successful in other specialist or mainstream provisions. The work of Orchard is accredited by the National Autistic Society, we are proud to be the only school in Norfolk to achieve this level of specialism. Please click on the Orchard tab at the top of this website for more details about this provision.
We are also privileged to run a county funded residential element to our offer for up to 28 of our young people. Here we build independence and broaden life experiences through an extended curriculum. Please visit our Treehouse area on the website to find out more.
Please contact us to arrange a tour of the school or watch our video if you are a parent or professional who wants to know more about us. We look forward to seeing you in school soon.


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UML divides portfolio of general convention organizing committee members
Kathmandu : The CPN-UML has divided portfolios of its 10th national general convention organizing committee members. A meeting of the organizing committee held at the Prime Minister residence Baluwatar today allocated work responsibilities of the committee members.
However, leaders close to senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal have not been entrusted with any responsibilities. According to the new portfolio division, Chairperson KP Sharma Oli has been designated the in-charge of party department of school while general secretary Iswar Pokharel with the responsibilities of party central office in-charge and Valley special committee deputy in-charge.
Likewise, Bishnu Prasad Poudel was designated the in-charge of the department of organization; and the department of finance and planning. Ram Bahadur Thapa was given the portfolio of in-charge of Bagmati province and the department of national security promotion. Lekharaj Bhatta was entrusted with the responsibilities of Sudurpaschim in-charge and the chief of the department of industry and commerce.
The committee has decided to designate the portfolio of the in-charge of department of urban planning, Nepal Federation of Professionals and Nepal Intellectuals Council and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi with the portfolio of in-charge of fronts and organizations. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has been designated the responsibility of the party spokesperson and in-charge of publicity and publication department.
Subash Nembang has been given the in-charge of province-1 and the department of parliamentary affairs. The meeting has allotted the responsibilities of the in-charge of the department of foreign affairs and Diaspora sector to Dr Rajan Bhattarai, Agni Prasad Kharel with the in-charge of election department and Bishnu Prasad Rimal with the in-charge of economic department and General Federation of the Nepalese Trade Union.
Similarly, Surya Thapa has been designated the responsibilities of the deputy in-charge of the publicity and publication department and in-charge of Press Chautari Nepal. Influential leaders close to Madhav Kumar Nepal, including Jhalanath Khanal, Bamdev Gautam, Bhim Bahadur Rawal, Astalaxmi Shakya, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Yogesh Bhattarai, Bhim Acharya and Gokarna Bista were not allocated with any responsibilities. Sher Bahadur Tamang has been entrusted with the responsibility of central party secretary.


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The peculiarity of our Braid bag is the braided handle, which gives a touch of originality to a bag with essential lines.
It is a perfect bag for every day thanks to its capacity and the possibility of being carried on the shoulder!
It closes with a zip and is equipped with an additional internal pocket.
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How to Prevent Flooding in Your Home: 10 Ways to Try (updated 2023)
Water gushing through your home can wreak untold havoc on your property. This threat is posed by stormwater, floods, or plumbing issues. If you live in a flood zone area, this risk is greatly increased.
What can you do against the unforeseen or unstoppable forces of nature? How about flood damage as a result of a blocked drain or another plumbing disaster?
First things first, consider preventative measures to prevent flooding in your home or business (we'll cover this and more within this post). Also, protect yourself and your property with flood insurance. Many people are unaware of what their homeowner's insurance policy covers. Will it cover water damage from an overflowing bathtub or sink? What about damage from a natural disaster, storm, or hurricane?
As leading experts in home damage and restoration options, we recommend these steps to minimize or prevent flood damage.
Read more: How to stop basement flooding
1. Get Technical
One of the advantages of technology are the constant developments that result in protective measures for your home. One way to prevent flood damage is to install flood detection or water sensor systems. These alarms, sensors, and systems will detect water early, notifying you of troublesome leaks or water in your business or home.
Experts like those at All Dry USA can help install these systems directly into your smart home or home security set-up. This will give you the earliest notification of pending damage so you can stop the water in its tracks.
2. Regular Testing
Your home sump pump should be tested regularly. A sump pump is equipped to detect rising water pressure or levels in the pump system. If the water gets too high, the pump will automatically remove the excess water away from the property through a discharge line and to a designated drainage area.
When you regularly test the sump pump and ensure it is in proper working order, you will know it is removing water at an adequate rate. This is especially important during heavy rains when water is weighing heavily on the system. You can also install a battery backup, so if there is a power outage, your sump pump will continue operating without power. Some sump pump systems will arrive with a battery backup integrated.
3. Clean the Ditches and Drains
While fall is beautiful, those falling leaves can spell a debris pile-up in your yard that flushes into sewage drains or blocks drainage paths. The same can be said if you have other debris or mulch in the yard.
The best approach is to regularly rake the yard, bag the leaves, and set them out for pick-up. Inspect any storm drains to make sure they are clear of debris, mulch, and leaves. Make sure to remove any visible blockage in the storm drains. If it is a severe blockage, you will need to contact your county/city sewer or water department.
4. Clean Gutters and Downspouts
It's often that cleaning the gutters is the one task that always stays on the to-do list and never receives that checkmark of completion. In the interest of protecting your home against flood damage, you will want to check it off at least once a year. You will need to clean gutters and downspouts more frequently if you have a lot of trees near your home.
However, you do have options to clean the gutters! You can:
- Use a leaf blower
- Get hands-on with gloves and a hose with high water pressure
- Outsource the efforts and hire a landscaping or lawn professional
Keeping the gutters and downspouts clear ensures water has a path to follow rather than overflowing and completely taking the gutters out.
5. Improve Drainage and Grading
After a solid rain, take the time to investigate around your home for any problem areas. You will want to note any accumulated water around the home and where it is, especially near the foundation.
Ideally, the ground around the foundation of your business or home should slope away from the structure. This gives the water a place to flow away from the base of the building. If this is not the case, you may need to install drainage in those troublesome areas to redirect the water away during heavy downpours.
6. Reinforce the Foundation
At least once a year, inspect your foundation for cracks or seal openings where water might make its way in. Seal openings may include openings around windows, doors, exhaust penetrations, and utilities. Both seal openings and foundation cracks should be promptly addressed. This could be done by sealing foundation cracks with mortar or masonry caulk or replacing seals.
7. Get to the Basement
During these home inspections, do not overlook the basement windows. These windows are close to the ground, and any weaknesses here can quickly lead to a flooded basement.
Improve the water-resistance of low-level windows by ensuring they are properly caulked and sealed. If the windows are older, it is worth considering a complete replacement. Newer windows will have a better seal and can reduce the possibility of water finding its way inside. On the plus side, new windows can also assist in increasing energy efficiency.
8. Examine the Drains
It stands to reason that if water cannot be drained properly, it will simply continue to rise until a sink is overflowing or a bathroom becomes an indoor pool. Regular inspections and cleaning of the drains will help prevent this.
If your current drainage system does not have one-way valves for backflow prevention, now might be the time to consider them. Always have these installed by a licensed plumber. These valve types will prevent sewer backups from reappearing in your home, which means you will not see any nasty sludge rising from the drains even if your system is overloaded.
9. Install Flood Barriers and Skirts
Much of this advice revolves around drainage and small-scale flooding, but what about natural disasters? What do you do in the face of a hurricane or unprecedented storm surge?
One step against nature would be to install flood barriers or skirts around doors, windows, and air bricks. These are designed to flood proof your home and keep rising water at bay. Think of it as a small-scale dam to seal doorways and entrances and prevent rising water from entering. These barriers are often reusable and can be quickly placed in an emergency.
10. Keep Sandbags on Hand
Another tried and true method to fight off flooding are sandbags. If you have rising water approaching your structure, sandbags may be a preventative measure. Place them around areas likely to flood, especially vulnerable points like low windows or doorways. If you are in a high flood risk area or flood plain, it is a good idea to keep sandbags on hand.
We also recommend acquainting yourself with your risk level. This FEMA Flood Map can show you if you are in a flood zone and lets you explore your area's flooding history. Always note the year the flood map was made so you can determine if this is relevant or outdated information.
Flood levels are the height at which waters could possibly rise during inclement weather, and ideally, your home will be above this level. If it is not, it is especially important to follow the measures here, keep sandbags on hand, and maintain contact with professionals and insurance coverage.
Some of the zones you will see on this map include:
- Blue Zones: This represents areas with a 1% annual chance of flooding and are likely to have damaging floods at least once a century. It is considered a high-risk zone, and you should have ample flood protection measures in place.
- Orange Zones: These are areas with a 0.2% annual chance of flooding – which translates to significant flooding about once every 500 years. Your flood insurance rates will likely be lower, but normal threats like leaks still exist.
- Yellow Zones: These areas have an undetermined flood risk. The best step to take here is to research the area's flood history, talk to neighbors, and ensure the property is built to withstand flooding.
- Blue with Red Stripes: These flood areas are often located near a river and floodplain and will be kept clear to allow drainage from the nearby zones. However, if your house is in the regulatory floodways, you will need to take extensive precautions against flooding.
Final Tips and Advice
If your concerted efforts are thwarted by mother nature and flooding is imminent, follow this advice to minimize water and flood damage.
- Disconnect the water line if this is the source of the flooding
- Clear drains and gutters to allow water to flow freely
- Place sandbags to block vulnerable areas or gaps
- Move furniture, rugs, electronics, and other valuable to a higher floor or elevate them
- Shut off electricity from the breaker panel, especially if water is close to the electrical system
- If the rain has ceased, open windows to promote airflow
- Engage the sump pump or use a shop vacuum to begin removing water
- Document via pictures or videos to provide evidence of flood damage to share with your flood insurance provider for your damages claim
In the face of nature and unforeseen emergencies, even your best efforts may still leave some damage to address. If you have experienced flood damage or are simply preparing for the worst, let experts at All Dry USA help advise and support you. The aftermath of a heavy rain can be a busy time for home restoration experts like us, so contact us early. Building a relationship now can help get you answers and help later.
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