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Lean Operations Consulting Group
Sponsored by the
ESOA – Naples Chapter
Presents January 16, 2018
Two Exceptional Workshops, One Information Packed,
and Exercise Intense Day!
AM Workshop: Profits … Building the Path to More
7:30 AM – 8:00 AM Registration, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Workshop Session 1
Learn the essential tools used to map out your process
Gain insights on how to recognize the 8-wastes of business
How to better understand process flow, define resources, and capture cycle times
Understand what constraints and line balancing can do to increase profits.
How to structure tests of change to evolve into a Future State of higher profits
Break any business down into distinct process steps
Learn how to identify what customers find of value from your process
Build more profit by learning to remove waste and unnecessary steps
PM Workshop: Customers… 12 Steps to Delivering Superior Experiences
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM Registration, 12:30 – 4:30 PM Workshop Session 2
Deliver what the market wants most
Learn how to reach your customers and consistently deliver the value they seek
Control the customer experience regardless of the staff involved
Process characteristics which negatively impact any customer experience
The three characteristics most valued by customers of any process or product
Deliver higher reliability, more speed and improved satisfaction from your processes
Consistency is key in delivering a superior customer experience
Build a structure to ensure all staff consistently deliver a superior customer experience
Workshop cost is $ 150.00 per Session to discover new ways to build higher profits
Location: Springhill Suites by Marriott, 3798 White Lake Blvd, Naples, FL 34117
ESOA members be sure to select the discounted rate.


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Blog/Nginx or Apache, Mirrorbrain and Piwik
Published 09/12/2012 by Kelson (talk)
At Kiwix we were impacted by a long term issue: we were unable to give practical and accurate download statistics. Our traffic partly goes to our web site and the other part goes to a storage place where all the big files (ZIM, ZIP, ...) are published. Of course, we wanted to have as much details as possible about both of them. After hacking at little bit, this problem seems now to be fixed, here is how I did it.
Audience measurement
To measure Web audience, there are two approaches:
- Configure your web server to log everything and parse afterwards the log. There is a free software to do that: AWstats. AWstats is pretty old and not practical at all. In addition, I failed to configure it so that it merges multiple requests from an IP on one file in only one record (big files are downloaded in chunks).
!!!!Our case
We have been using Piwik for many years for our web site and we are really satisfied with it: it's practical, quick enough and maintained. Our problem is focused on http://download.kiwix.org. Our case is even a little bit worse, because, in fact, we do not really host our files. download.kiwix.org acts as master redirecting requests to mirrors. It uses a solution called Mirrorbrain. In addition to its many weaknesses, AWstats is not able to deal correctly with HTTP 301 and 302 redirections.
We have decided to put everything in Piwik, because it is better to have everything in one tool and also because this is the best one to visualise logs. We have now for __both sites__:
- A central place to view logs
- All the features of Piwik
!!!!Our solution
We have installed Piwik and inserted the mandatory piece of code on http://www.kiwix.org to track the visitors visiting our web site. This is easy and straight forward. Then we created in Piwik a second site for http://download.kiwix.org (one instance of Piwik can deal with statistics of many sites).
Later, we configured the Apache virtual host with Mirrorbrain to save logs on the hard disk and let it run for a few days.
Finally, we wrote a custom PHP script to upload the logs to Piwik, using a Piwik PHP class called PiwikTracker.php. Here are its features:
- Parse all log files for a web site (also all .gz files of logrotate)
- Able to start from scratch to upload all logs
- Able to "follow" the log file an update in real time Piwik.
- Count HTTP redirections (HTTP 301 and 302) errors as valid downloads (mandatory for Mirrorbrain)
- Merge multiple similar requests to one (only one download for one content per IP in one month)
- Avoid counting request for directories, md5 checksum, favicon, ...
- Re-upload only new logs by two consecutive runs
- Works with both Apache and Nginx
- Configurable on the command line with arguments
- Warning: it cannot report about the number of downloads completed.
This script is for our own purpose, but I think it's pretty simple to reuse it; it's pretty simple and you should not need to adapt it too much. Hope this was helpful!

subset: commoncrawl


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Posts Tagged 'Modern penguins'
You Are What You Eat
Today a neat new study was published demonstrating that it is possible to determine what a penguin was eating from its bones. The article appeared in Journal of Avian Biology, and was written by two of my favorite penguin collaborators, Dr. Daniel Thomas and Dr. Ewan Fordyce (recent winner of the Hutton Medal) and their colleague Keith Gordon. They applied a method called Raman spectroscopy to measure the chemical composition of penguin bones from museums in New Zealand. Raman is a cool technique. Basically, they blast the bones with a low-powered laser, and the way energy is scattered back gives a good estimate of what elements are prevalent in the bone. Raman spectroscopy is really useful because it does not damage the bone. Other methods for determining chemical composition usually require a bit of bone to be vaporized, which many museums don't want to see happen.
So what does this have to do with penguin diet? Well, there is an old saying: You are what you eat! It is true at the finest scales. Different species of penguins like to eat fish, squid, or krill. These prey have different concentrations of elements in their bodies due to the different ways the metabolize food and pull oxygen from the water. Krill are very rich in the element fluoride, which they tend to concentrate in their hard carapace. You may be familiar with fluoride as a key ingredient in toothpaste! It is actually toxic, which is why it helps fight the bacteria that cause cavities. However, it is not dangerous at very low concentrations. Our toothpaste has only a tiny, tiny fraction of fluoride, enough to zap a microbe but not enough to hurt us. Fluoride in toothpaste also alters the mineralogy of our tooth enamel, making it harder and less susceptible to dissolving when contacted by acids (like those in soda). Penguins digest their prey in such a way that most of the fluoride stays in the bones or carapaces and gets passed away harmlessly. They do keep some though – think of it like shrimp flavored toothpaste for animals without teeth.
In the new study, the Raman data showed a big difference in the bones of krill-loving penguins compared to fish-loving penguins. Two species that eat large quantities of krill, the Emperor Penguin and the Adélie Penguin, showed higher spectra bands than the other four species included in the study (Humboldt, Little Blue, Yellow-eyed, and Fiordland Penguins), which eat almost no krill. This proves the method works, and it give penguin scientists a new tool to look at how feeding patterns have changed in penguins over time. Actually, there are other ways to reveal diet from long-passed penguins too, including isotopes in eggs and guano (penguin poop).
With all these techniques, it is possible to look at old museum specimens from one hundred years ago or more to see if the diet of penguins has changed along with the growth of fisheries or changes in climate. Indeed, some of this work is already going on. We will return to the topic later.
Reference: Thomas, D.T., R.E. Fordyce and K.C. Gordon. In Press 2013. Evidence for a krill-rich diet from non-destructive analyses of penguin bone. Journal of Avian Biology 44.
Bubbling Penguins
This week I am working on some fossil penguin bones from South Africa, and was reminded of the antics of Black-footed Penguins I have seen in zoos. Like most penguin species, they are surprisingly good jumpers, and this ability is subject to active research by marine biologists.If you have ever watched penguins swimming at eye level through glass walls at an aquarium, you may have noticed bubbles streaming from their feathers. It's great fun to observe these birds zipping past like living Alka-Seltzer tablets. However, there is a point behind the bubbles, and a new study shows that releasing air at the right time helps penguins launch themselves out of the water.
Air has lower viscosity than water, so adding a layer of air around an object can help it cut through the sea more efficiently. Engineers have even applied this concept to make speedier torpedoes. Scientists studying film of diving penguins found that Emperor Penguins store air in their plumage, which gets compressed as they dive. Moving from deep water to shallow water lowers the pressure on the air, just like when one takes the cap off a bottle of soda. As the penguins near the surface, they are able to shift their feathers so as to release the air, which escapes in bubble form. This creates a smooth layer over much of the penguins plumage, which cuts down on friction and drag, allowing the penguin to build up a serious speed. An Emperor Penguin can reach velocities of up to 3 meters per second as it jumps out of the sea onto land. This may seem like fun and games, but when a bird needs to emerge from a hole in a thick sheet of ice or make it up a steep cliff, high speeds are critical. Check out some leaping penguins in action:
You can also read the original scientific article for free here.
Reference:Davenport, J., R.N. Hughes, M. Shorten and P. S. Larsen. 2011. Drag reduction by air release promotes fast ascent in jumping emperor penguins—a novel hypothesis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 430: 171-182.
A White Penguin
David Stephens at National Geographic snapped this picture of a rare white penguin on the Aitcho Islands. This Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus) is not albino, it is leucistic. Albino animals lack pigment, typically because of a flaw in an enzyme involved in producing melanin. You may remember learning a little about penguin melanin in the fossil penguin Inkayacu. Leucistic animals are able to form melanin, but generally have a mix of cells that produce melanin and cells that cannot. This results in a "washed out" appearance in cases like the penguin below. Whatever triggered the condition (typically a gene mutation is involved), the penguin ended up with light brownish coloration on its back instead of the black coloration of normal Chinstrap Penguins. Notice, though, that the beak and part of the feet are still black. Leucism often affects a particular area of a bird rather than the entire individual. White penguins turn up in the wild every year. However, it appears that either the mutations associated with leucism are recessive or the condition harms the penguins by ruining their counter-shading camouflage, because second generations have never been documented.
Pygoscelis chicks at the Central Park Zoo
It is penguin raising season again at the Central Park Zoo. One of the really neat things about the zoo is that they keep their penguins on Southern Hemisphere time. As the austral calender rolls on, the penguins go through their yearly cycle of molting, pairing, and nesting. This adds extra value to your zoo membership, as you can visit on different weeks and see penguins diving for pebbles, tending to eggs or standing around grouchily while their molted feathers clog the filters. As winter approaches in New York and the days get shorter, the penguins get a full Antarctic summer day's worth of light and start working on their nests. Each year, several batches of eggs hatch at the zoo, yielding a new crop of baby Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins. This year, there is a special blog covering it all: http://chicks.centralparkzoo.com/
Penguin Webcams at the California Academy of Sciences
I just found out about this set of land and underwater webcams trained on the Blackfooted penguins in the California Academy of Sciences. Check them out if you need a live penguin fix now that Happy Feet has left his enclosure in New Zealand.
Track Happy Feet on his way back to Antarctica
Happy Feet, the Emperor Penguin who got lost and ended up in New Zealand, has been released back into the ocean. People the world over are hoping he will make his way back to his natural home in Antarctica. You can track his progress (monitored by a satellite transmitor attached to his tail) at: www.nzemperor.com
Family Tree of the Living Penguins
A while back, we talked about the shape of the evolutionary tree of penguins. There are lots of dead branches, lineages that separated from the main trunk and evolved in their own direction for millions of years, and then died off. Most of my own interest lies in these ancient branches. But the green part of the penguin tree is important too, and the branching pattern is far from settled. Scientists are interested in knowing how living penguins are related to one another for many reasons, including understanding the timing of the penguin evolutionary radiation, determining which environment was preferred by the earliest "modern" penguins, figuring out how many times shifts in body size occurred, and more.
Today, we have the opportunity to meet 19 species of living penguins if we are willing to travel far and wide. These are divided up into six genera. Scientists classify groups of closely related species into genera, and together the genus and species name make up the formal binomial name of a species. Thus, the Humboldt Penguin, a member of the genus Spheniscus, is officially known as Spheniscus humboldti. Some penguin genera have only a single species, and others have many.
Let's take a quick tour of the extant penguin genera. Spheniscus is the genus for "tuxedo penguins". Although all penguins look at least a bit like they are wearing tuxedos, Spheniscus penguins look finest of all because they have a black band of chest feathers that gives the appearance of a bow tie. There are four living species, the South American Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti and Spheniscus magellanicus), the African Blackfooted or Jackass Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) and the Galapagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus). These penguins are all fish-eating specialists, and have strong jaw closing muscles and sharply hooked beaks. In the details of their skeleton, they are more similar to primitive extinct penguins than are any of the other living species. Spheniscus penguins inhabit some of the hottest environments that penguins survive in today, including coastal desert areas of South America and island directly on the Equator.
Eudyptula has only a single species, the Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor). The Little Blue is by far the cutest of the penguin species (if you don't believe me, see it being tickled here). Little Blues received their common name from the fact that they are the smallest living penguins (standing a little over one foot high) and have a unique blue plumage.
Megadyptes also has only one species, the Yellow-eyed Penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Arguably the most visually striking species, Yellow-eyed Penguins are characterized by their eponymous bright yellow iris as well as a band of yellow feathers that spread like a bandit mask across their faces. Yellow-eyed Penguins are one of the rarest species, with a only few thousand breeding pairs in the New Zealand region.
Eudyptes includes the eight species of Crested Penguins, which are perhaps the most noodley-looking penguins. These species all have bright yellow head plumes, which give them a rakish or foppish appearance depending on the angle, posture and dryness of the bird's head. A popular aquarium species is the Macaroni Penguin (E. chrysolophus), so named for their fancy plumage's resemblance to the 1700s Macaroni wig fashion. Depending on whom you ask, there are between one and three species of Rockhopper Penguin (I feel the DNA and plumage evidence for three separate species is strong). The three candidates are the Eastern Rockhopper (E. filholi), Northern Rockhopper (E. moseleyi) and Southern Rochopper (E. chrysocome). Two of the rarer species are the thick-billed Fiordland Penguin (E. pachyrhychus), a denizen of New Zealand, and the Snares Penguin (E. robustus) which breeds only on (you guessed it) Snares Island. Rounding out the bunch are the Royal Penguin (E. schlegeli) which breeds far to the south in the Sub-Antarctic and the Erect-crested Penguin (E. sclateri), an endangered species that lives on several small Pacific islands. You're unlikely to see either of these in aquaria.
Pygoscelis is the genus that includes the stiff-tailed penguins (the Latin genus name refers to this trait). There are three species, all of which favor cold environements. The popular Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adelie) is one of the World's most common penguins, with an estimate global population of around 5 million individuals. The Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) is a rather husky penguin with a bright carrot-colored bill. The Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) gets its common name from the thin black band of feathers under its chin that make it look like it is wearing a tiny helmet.
Finally, the largest and most popular penguins belong to the genus Aptenodytes. Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) and King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) are tall, graceful birds with long, thin bills and striking orange color patches on their necks and lower bills. These species are unique in that they lay only one egg. They are also unique in holding their chicks on top of their feet while brooding. Given the incredibly harsh conditions they nest in, it would be impossible to raise two chicks this way.
Scientists have attempted to unravel the evolutionary relationships of the living penguin species using both their morphology (the shapes, colors, and arrangements of their bones, feathers, and muscles) and DNA evidence. Both lines of evidence suggest that Spheniscus and Eudyptula form one closely related group, and that Megadyptes and Eudyptes form another. However, they disagree on which group of penguins is the most basal – that is which split off from the main trunk of the penguin tree earliest. DNA evidence suggests that Aptenodytes was the first group to branch off, while skeletal evidence suggests that the Spheniscus+Eudyptula group was first. The diagram above shows where the two sources of data agree, with arrows indicating the alternate hypotheses of which branch is nearest the root of the tree. While it might seem like an academic debate, the implications are huge. If Aptenodytes is the most basal lineage, it would provide evidence that the common ancestor of living penguins was relatively large and that Spheniscus penguins reverted to a primitive skull configuration late in their evolutionary history. But if Spheniscus is most basal, the skulls of modern penguins have probably changed in a major way only once, and a surprising South American origin for penguins becomes quite plausible. Because the two types of data (DNA and morphology) offer conflicting evidence, sequencing more genes and searching for more fossils from near-modern penguins will be important tasks for future studies.


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We happened upon photos of Jennifer Aniston's home in Beverly Hills, as it was featured in a past issue of Architectural Digest (thanks, House & Home), and I have to say I'm quite enamored of her place -- a place in Hollywood that feels so wonderfully un-Hollywood.
Jennifer's home, like the actress herself seems to be, is wonderfully natural and understated yet also modern and friendly.
Let's take a peek inside actress Jennifer Aniston's house. You know you're dying to take a looksy!
Glass-paneled walls open to a wrap-around patio and a sprawling view of her half acre of land and the city
Glass-paneled walls open to a wrap-around patio and a sprawling view of her half acre of land and the city
Aniston's home was originally designed by architect Hal Levitt back in 1970. Courtesy of designer Stephen Shadley, these photos feature the remodeled design of the 9,105 square foot home with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, purchased in 2006 for $13.5 million.
About her newly remodeled home, Jennifer Aniston tells Architectural Digest, "It's like a big hug. People can get so distracted by static, I love the silence here."
Sitting room with modern flair and a grand piano and the most amazing wood paneling! Jennifer's gorgeous master suite.
Sitting room with modern flair and a grand piano and the most amazing wood paneling!
Jennifer's gorgeous master suite.
In the updated version of Jennifer's exquisite home, there are many lovely natural elements including Brazilian cumaru wood detailing and Asian and Balinese decor. Shadley's vision even managed to modernize the stone wall details, which tend to date a home back to the 70s. Jen's home also has some solar paneling, heated flooring, a vintage pool table, a pool, a pizza oven, and an authentic 1920s Thai gong to call her guests to the dinner table (when the in-house chef has dinner ready, I assume).
Aniston explains that her home "vibrates with the love that created it." She says, "I am so proud of this house. And I want to celebrate the people who made it: the master craftsmen who poured so much of themselves into its creation."
More photos of Jennifer's home can be seen on Dear Designer's Blog.
What do you think of Jennifer Aniston's home? Want to move in?
Images found via Take Sunset are from the March 2010 Architectural Digest, photographer Scott Frances.


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Brits will not be deterred by the weaker pound and Brexit negotiations and will continue to buy properties in France over the course of 2018, thanks to the positive tax reforms and their desire to secure a property before the Brexit deadline.
Hotel consultant STR is reporting this week that 2015 marked the first year since 2010 in which the European hotel industry passed hotels in the U.S. in year-over-year revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth.
According to Knight Frank, oil tumbled to its lowest level for nearly 12 years last week, raising the prospect of further falls in fuel prices at the pumps.
According to STR Global, the European hotel industry posted mixed results in year-over-year metrics when reported in U.S. dollars, Euros and British pounds for February 2015.
Nearly US$3 trillion of the world's private wealth is held in owner-occupied residential properties.


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Horseback Mexico specializes in Oaxaca-based riding holidays featuring the greatest biodiversity and richest culture to be found in North America. Join one of our small, personalized horseback riding vacations, adventure riding tours for a day or an authentic guest ranch stay at Rancho Pitaya. Horseback Mexico is renowned for unique, insider's experiences on horseback; all rides are personally guided by knowledgable English and Spanish speaking guides. And for non-riders there's lots to do with great hiking, cycling and bird watching that begins at the ranch. See our new Birds at Rancho Pitaya page.
If you're an experienced rider, partner with one of our prize-winning Arabian endurance horses. And if you're a novice, we offer instructional trail riding on calm, well-trained horses. Familes are welcome!


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Kriston Capps
Kriston Capps is a staff writer for CityLab covering housing, architecture, and politics. He previously worked as a senior editor for Architect magazine.
When a duplex condominium in New York's new One57 supertall tower sold for $100.5 million dollars in January, it shattered all records. This condo is the most expensive single-family residence ever sold in Manhattan. Yet, at the rate that luxe residential towers are coming online in the part of Midtown known as Billionaires Row—consider the $91.5 million sale just last month—even that mondo One57 record may not last for long.
Steamy eight- or nine-figure sales were always the dream of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "If we can find a bunch of billionaires around the world to move here, that would be a godsend," then-Mayor Bloomberg told The New York Times back in 2013. "Because that's where the revenue comes to take care of everybody else."
Construction is now underway on Nordstrom Tower, a supertall residential tower designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, the architects behind the Burj Khalifa. When the building is finished, the Nordstrom Tower will be the tallest residential building in the world. The one-percenters who can afford its lofts will be treated to some of the best views the United States has to offer.
And that's just one of several buildings coming up that caters to the world's wealthiest. So by Bloomberg's logic, Gotham is saved, right? Not quite.
Thanks to the structure of city and state tax codes, the billionaires buying pieds-à-terre in the sky over Central Park are hardly paying property taxes at all. The values of these new condos are being assessed at just a fraction of what they're worth. And buyers are paying only a fraction of that fraction in property taxes.
This is a pressing issue for at least three reasons. For one thing, the property-tax levy is New York City's single largest source of revenue. The city is leaving money behind by failing to tax the most valuable homes at a rate closer to their market value. Meanwhile, well apart from the ultra-luxury condos, the city is overtaxing apartment buildings, whose renters are struggling the most with affordability. These outcomes go hand in hand.
Second, with every new supertall residential tower in Midtown—each one more architecturally dramatic than the last—the effective property tax rates paid by owners on Billionaires Row stand to fall even lower. While nice condos attract big tax breaks, nice neighborhoods earn long-lasting tax breaks.
Finally, one major tax break behind the explosion of ultra-luxury development is up for debate right now: Next month, state lawmakers must decide whether to abandon or renew the controversial 421-a exemption program, which lowers the billable-assessed value of a property to incentivize real-estate development (and affordable-housing construction). Arguments for and against 421-a are as philosophical as they are financial.
No matter what position the de Blasio administration takes on property-tax breaks in June, it will take more than a tweak in the law to fulfill Bloomberg's vision of redistribution. As it stands, the smallest sliver of New York's wealthiest homeowners pays the tiniest fraction of New York's property taxes.
The combined 89th and 90th floor penthouse at One57 set the new high-water mark for a single-family residence sale in New York. While the owner paid nine figures for the penthouse, the city only taxed the unit for $17,000 in property taxes. That's an effective property tax rate of 0.017 percent—about one one-hundredth of the average national tax rate.
That One57 penthouse owner didn't just luck out, either. Thanks to abatements, phase-ins, and truly systemic undervaluation, the brightest gems in New York City—and arguably, in the world—are being taxed at the same rate as much lesser homes.
Max Galka, the writer behind Metrocosm and a cofounder of real-estate data site Revaluate, looked at the highest-selling condos in New York to date (minus that $91.5 million sale in April). According to his analysis at Metrocosm, the owner of the One57 penthouse pays property taxes as if the unit were a $3–$6 million condo. The gap between billable-assesed value and market-rate value is similar for all 10 of the top condos. (Three of which are also to be found in One57.)
"You might commonly think that the assessed value [of a condo] would be based on the sale price," says Mark Willis, executive director of New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. "In New York, it's not true."
Place matters for property-tax purposes. As a 2013 report by the Citizens Budget Commission explains, phase-ins and other mechanisms originally designed to prevent property-tax shocks for homeowners are now a source of "intra-class inequities" across neighborhoods.
"Properties in fast-appreciating neighborhoods end up with lower effective tax rates than identically-valued properties in neighborhoods with more stable prices," the report reads.
Which means that, with Nordstrom Tower going up just a block from One57 (and other supertalls), condo owners on Billionaires Row stand to pay less in property taxes than they would if they owned the same condo in a neighborhood with fewer gee-whiz architectural wonders.
What Bloomberg saw as a way to provide for the welfare of New York looks more like one of the firmest expressions of inequality anywhere. And these intra-class inequities are enshrined in state law. There's only so much the de Blasio administration can do about that, but addressing the city's affordability crisis may require him to take a broader stance on property-tax reform.
"Everyone's waiting to see what the de Blasio administration position on [property taxes] is," says James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute. "At this point, it's not clear what proposed changes de Blasio folks will seek, or how Albany will receive them."
The formula by which New York assesses property taxes is positively byzantine. A 2011 report on tax burden and distribution from the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy provides a brief history on how it came to be so complicated. It's easy to see why it's outmoded: Changes in state law in 1981 yielded the system that's still in place today.
New York law identifies four classes of property for tax purposes. The law fixes the relative share of property taxes that each class pays into municipal coffers—slices of pie whose proportions are more or less fixed.
Class 1 properties are residential: mostly small homes. Houses for up to three families, plus some small condominium buildings, are taxed as Class 1 properties. Class 1 properties are responsible for most of the market value of New York City properties (46.25 percent), but little of the property-tax share (just 15.49 percent).
Class 3 is industrial. Class 4 is commercial. Class 2 is the focus here: Large condo buildings, most co-ops, and large apartment buildings all fall under this category.
Calculating taxes for Class 1 properties such as brownstones is fairly simple. For the most part, the billable assessed value is 6 percent of the home's estimated market value. The New York City Department of Finance estimates the property's value by looking at comparable property sales from the prior year. Easy-peasy.
Determining property taxes for Class 2 properties is way weirder. The city assesses all Class 2 residences as if they were income-generating apartment buildings. Since most condos don't typically generate any income, the city makes up income statements for condominium buildings, whole cloth.
Here's the two-step process the city uses for assessing a condo's value:
The city lists these condo-comparables in this fascinating (but incomplete) database. Then the city takes 45 percent of the condo-comparable income as the billable assessed value. Finally, the city subtracts any exemptions (which reduce the assessed value) and abatements (which reduce the rate-calculated tax bill).
Voilà: the property-tax assessment for a condo.
For two kinds of condos especially, the Class 2 two-step opens up gaping loopholes. The formula simply wasn't designed to anticipate changes in housing more than 30 years after the law was settled.
For classic condo buildings, property taxes wind up being distorted by rent control. The disparity between the billable-assessed value and the market-rate value for older condos can be severe.
"This process severely undervalues condo or co-op buildings constructed before 1974," the Citizens Budget Commission report reads. "For these properties, the comparable rental buildings chosen by [the Department of Finance] often contain units subject to rent regulation."
For stellar condo buildings—a category that has yet to be wholly accounted for in previous literature on Class 2 property-tax inequity—there simply are no rental apartment buildings that compare for tax purposes.
Look at the tower at 111 W. 57th Street, designed by SHoP Architects. It's unprecedented. It may be the skinniest super-tall tower in the world. And it isn't alone: 432 Park Avenue, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is already an architectural icon. It's the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere (for the time being), and its views are intoxicating.
When the so-called MoMA Tower by Jean Nouvel is finished, the cultural transformation of Midtown and Central Park may be complete. So far, One57, designed by Christian de Portzamparc, a Pritzker Prize–winning architect, is the first in the line. So what apartment building did the city decide on to set the property taxes for its penthouse pied-à-terre?
The answer is unclear. The city's database for condo-comparables doesn't include a listing for the rental building used to draw up the billable-assessed value for One57, or any of the other top-selling condos in the city. (The Department of Finance has not answered a request for this information.)
Looking back, state lawmakers who passed the bill resetting property taxes for New York couldn't have dreamed of a skyscraper boom almost 35 years later. A recent brief from the State University of New York at New Paltz Center for Research, Regional Education, and Outreach shows that, in fact, in the 1970s, lawmakers were almost certainly looking backward. New York City was struggling.
"The best evidence we have of why it was passed, at least on the political side of things, is a 1982 brief opinion by what is now the State Department of Taxation and Finance," says Geoffrey Propheteer, a property tax analyst for the New York City Independent Budget Office. (Here's that opinion.)
Propheteer says that lawmakers struggled to reconcile what appeared to be two contradictory standards for condos. One standard prohibited using similar condo sales as a system for assessing value (the way the city does for Class 1 homes). "Why they made this decision—no idea," Propheteer says.
Another standard set a de facto limit on the assessed value of any individual condo unit: The sum of the assessed values of the condos within a building could not exceed the assessed value of the whole building as a single parcel. So, if there are 50 units in a $50 million building, the cap on assessment for each unit is $1 million, no matter the views, location, or design—full stop.
"That's the letter of the law: 'You must value these things as though they are not these things,'" Propheteer says. "That's the best evidence that currently exists for the legislative intent of the law."
The overarching sentiment behind property-tax reform in the 1970s was understandable: Homeowners were fleeing New York City, and lawmakers at the city and state level had to do something to stop the bleeding.
New York City has since rebounded, of course. And as a result, the property-tax burden has shifted from owners to renters, and from the wealthier to the poorer. The higher taxes assessed for apartment buildings are passed from landlord to tenant. A system of caps, phase-ins, exemptions, and abatements rewards rising neighborhoods and punishes failing ones. The results look like a chapter from Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
A class-action lawsuit filed last year on behalf of renters could bring the whole system crashing down. This might be welcome news for most New Yorkers: The inequitable distribution of property taxes is the reason the rent is too damned high.
Absent a jarring court decision, though, reform may be harder to come by. Parrott has argued explicitly for re-thinking property taxes for co-ops and condos as a way to address affordability and inequity in New York. Fixing the current regime would require the coordinated efforts of Albany and New York City.
Alas, says Parrott. "At this point, there's no appetite for taking on the broad need for property-tax reform."
The Co-op and Condominium Tax Abatement, a subsidy that's enormously popular with homeowners, will expire in June, absent legislative action. So will the more controversial 421-a exemption, which was launched in 1971 to spur multi-family housing construction.
The central question before Mayor de Blasio and the state is: Did New York already give away the farm?
"[The 421-a] tax breaks end up subsidizing thousands of luxury residential units," the Fiscal Policy Institute report reads. "The $1.1 billion annual cost of the 421-a tax breaks has soared by over 1100 percent since 1998, more than six times the growth in the City's property tax collections over that 16-year period."
In 1985 and again in 2008, lawmakers took pains to tether 421-a to affordable-housing construction. The success of these efforts is the subject of fierce debate. Since the city does not keep records on the number or location of affordable-housing units built under the 421-a exemption, this debate is usually framed by conjecture.
Serena Li, a graduate student at Columbia University's Center for Urban Real Estate, just completed a thesis that looks at 421-a exemptions borough by borough. Using Department of Finance data, Li discovered that Manhattan accounts for just 6.7 percent of 421-a–exempt buildings across the city. Thousands more were built in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.
Yet most of the gain accrued to Manhattan, thanks in part to its density. The island accounts for almost 40 percent of all 421-a–exempt units and more than 60 percent of expenditures under the program. Because the 421-a exemption has shifted so much over time, it's hard to say whether mixed-income buildings across Manhattan was ever even the goal—much less the outcome.
"There are certain situations where the real and nominal cost of living in a high-income neighborhood in a mixed-income building doesn't always make sense," says Jesse Keenan, research director at the Center for Urban Real Estate, in an email. "Of course, the counter-argument and policy of mixed-income and economic diversity is a strong one."
The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development put out a report in January arguing that few of the affordable-housing units created through 421-a are actually affordable. For the defense, the editors of The New York Observer argue that Mayor de Blasio's vision of building 200,000 affordable units is impossible, even naive, absent a legitimate incentive.
One57 is bound to emerge as exhibit A in this debate. Extell Development received a special certificate for One57 that enabled its developers to build affordable housing off-site—no poor door required. New York does not keep public data on where this housing is being built. So it's hard to judge the value of this offsite affordable housing against the tax breaks that One57's billionaire condo owners will enjoy for years.
Even if it were possible to say whether New York got its money's worth, a counterfactual still stands: Would any of it have been built without the subsidy? Propheteer poses this question a different way:
The 421-a exemption decreases over time. At some point, the building does become taxable. What you want to know is whether or not the levy you've given up during the exemption period is greater or lesser than the present value of the marginal increase in the levy due to the exemption over the building's lifetime. That's a difficult empirical question to answer.
Between the role that 421-a has played in the indictment of former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the scrutiny it has drawn from the Moreland Commission on public corruption, the era of this particular tax break may be drawing to an end. There is one line of critique that's more damning than corruption: the idea that New York heavily subsidized the construction of luxury condos that the city cannot, by law, effectively tax.
If that criticism turns out to be true—measured, perhaps, by how much it sways the de Blasio administration—then One57 should be renamed the Piketty Tower, as a monument to structural inequality.
One all-too-obvious target for reform is replacing the bogus Class 1 and Class 2 property categories with a more intuitive division. Class 1 properties would include homes owned by homeowners: condos, co-ops, brownstones, the whole lot of them. Class 2 properties would include apartment buildings and other rental properties.
Then New York could do away with the caps and phase-ins that set the billable-assessed value for Class 1 homes so far below their market-rate value. In place of so many features designed to prevent property-tax shocks when neighborhood values rise, the city could build in "circuit breakers" to absorb shocks for home-owners who truly can't afford rising property taxes and would be displaced without assistance.
According to the Citizens Budget Commission, the city could raise $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2016, simply by consolidating homeowners into a single tax category and assessing their property taxes based on their true market value. And then—once New York has effectively raised taxes on every homeowner in the city—a pitchfork-wielding mob will drum each and every elected leader in New York City and State government out of office.
Correcting this imbalance is necessary in the long run, but no, restructuring society in a single go is not a winner at the polls. Still, the illogical division between Class 1 and Class 2 properties is an embarrassment. Fixing the flawed classification system—and giving renters a fairer shake—should be a priority for Albany and Gracie Mansion.
New Yorkers are right to complain that they pay too much in taxes. They do—in part because homes in New York are more valuable than homes in almost any other city in the world. Dwellings are priced high but taxed low for reasons devised in the 1970s, and by means that ultimately distort the value of land in New York City.
New Yorkers are better off in the near term complaining that billionaires pay too little in taxes, and demanding that they pay more. (Millionaires as well, of course: Billionaires are merely a small but extreme tip of the iceberg.) Politically speaking, the optics on raising taxes on billionaires are excellent, if over-reliant on rather nefarious caricatures of Russian oligarchs and Saudi oil barons.
The state has already taken the smart first step of phasing out certain tax breaks for condo owners who don't call New York their primary residence. (Which they do to avoid paying income taxes. Billionaires, man.) There's nothing stopping the state from going further to levy elite properties.
The Fiscal Policy Institute recommends a dedicated pied-à-terre tax: an effective property tax rate of 4 percent applied to the homes of non-primary residents. This tax would be assessed on the true market value of the condo, not on an obscurantist formula. "If this pied-à-terre tax were applied on a graduated basis to the market value above $5 million, it could generate roughly $250 million annually," the recommendation reads.
Building luxury residential condos isn't the problem. Subsidizing luxury residential condos that rise out of reach of the city's levy is a crisis. Paying for the subsidies by overtaxing renters is a catastrophe. Whatever course the de Blasio administration decides to pursue, it cannot afford to do nothing.
New York City is close to the precipice already. The status quo is one that's captured quite nicely in a line from Withnail & I, a favorite old film: "Free to those that can afford it; very expensive to those that can't."
Stressful commutes, unexpected routines, and emergent wildlife appear in your homemade maps of life during the coronavirus pandemic.
Expensive to build, hard to adapt to other uses, and now facing massive pandemic-related challenges, airport terminals often live short, difficult lives.
Fear of crowds in small spaces in the pandemic is spurring new norms and technological changes for the people-moving machines that make skyscrapers possible.
Even before coronavirus, many workers hated the open-plan office. Now that shared work spaces are a public health risk, employers are rethinking office design.
Some cities' roads follow regimented grids. Others twist and turn. See it all on one chart.


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Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest Published: December 21st, 2017
Btooom! Ends in 4 Chapters
Monthly Comic @Bunch announced Thursday that Btooom! only has 4 chapter left before it ends.
Source: Comic Natalie, Image: Manga volume 2 cover
Dubs Announced for Takagi-san and Dagashi Kashi 2
Funimation and Crunchyroll announced on the 21st that they will stream Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san as well as Dagashi Kashi 2. With Funimation set to stream both series, it should alleviate fears many had that the second season of Dagashi Kashi might not see a dub.
Source: FUNimation
Spiritpact is Getting a Second Season
Spiritpact just opened a website announcing an upcoming second season of the anime.
Source: Official Website
Netflix is Cutting off Many Pokémon Titles from its Service
Netflix is going to remove, first thing next year, Indigo League Season 1, XY Seasons 1 and 2, Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction movie and Hoopa and the Clash of Ages movie from its service.
Source: The Verge
Sentai Filmworks Announces April Releases
Sentai just revealed which titles are getting released next year's April: Ajin: Demi-Human Season 2 is going to get what will be an increasingly rare DVD release from Sentai in addition to BD and a Limited Edition with both a dub and subtitles. Meanwhile, Classicaloid Season 1, Urara Meirochou and Uta no Prince-sama: Legend Star are all getting BD releases with only subtitles; with the exception of Prince-sama also getting a DVD release.
Source: Sentai Filmworks
Animate Channel is Closing
The streaming channel Animate is closing its services on the 31st of March of next year.
Source: Nijimen


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Abductors, allegedly Maoists, may release Jhinna Hikaka, the hostage MLA of ruling party, if persons as per their list that include Chasi Mulia Adibasi Sangha (CMAS) members are released from jails. Government of Orissa agrees to help them if they apply for bail.
But, thousands of tribals congrigated at Kaberibadi of Bandhugaon block, on April 16, have rejected the government suggestion.
Police cases against tribals are false and fabricated and hence be withdrawn, they say. Bail does not bring the end of prosecution. So, the CMAS will not want any tribal to apply for bail, they have declared.
Filed under: administration, law and order, news, orissa, politics | Tagged: abduction, chasi mulia adibasi sangha, hostage, human rights, jhinna hikaka, maoists, orissa tribals, ruling party, ruling party MLA | Leave a comment »


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(image source: Springer)
Histories of Transnational Crime provides a broad, historical framework for understanding the developments in research of transnational crime over the centuries. This volume provides examples of transnational crime, and places them in a broad historical context, which has so far been missing from this field of study. The contributions to this comprehensive volume explore the causes and historical precursors of six main types of transnational crime: -piracy -human smuggling -arms trafficking -drug trafficking -art and antique trafficking -corporate crime. The historical contributions demonstrate that transnational crime is not a novel phenomenon of recent globalization and that, beyond organized crime groups, powerful individuals, governments and business corporations have been heavily involved. Through a systematic historical and contextual analysis of these types of transnational crime, the contributions to this volume provide a fundamental understanding of why and how various forms of transnational crime are still present in the contemporary world. In the past two decades, the study of transnational crime has developed from a subset of the study of organized crime to its own recognized field of study, covering distinct societal threats and requiring a particular approach.
A free sample can be accessed here.Criminology and Transnational CrimePages 1-8
Historical Piracy and its ImpactPages 9-40
History of Slavery, Human Smuggling and Trafficking 1860–2010Pages 41-70
The Arms Traffic in World HistoryPages 71-90
The Criminalization of Drugs. Drugs Before they Were CriminalizedPages 91-102
A History of Transnational Trafficking in Stolen and Looted Art and AntiquitiesPages 103-146
Corporations and Transnational CrimePages 147-170
Criminal Organization and Transnational CrimePages 171-185
More information with Springer.
(source: International Law Reporter)


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BET Names Connie Orlando As Its Head Of Programming
BET Networks Thursday officially named Connie Orlando as its executive vice president, head of programming.
Orlando, who was named interim head of programming after the departure of network programming president Stephen Hill this past March, will lead the BET News and the original programming, music programming and specials teams responsible for creating, developing, and producing content across the network.
Orlando, who previously served as senior vice president of specials, music programming and news at the network, will report to Debra Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks, and will split her time between Los Angeles and New York.
"Having worked with Connie for the past 10 years, I continue to be impressed and inspired by her creativity and passion for the BET Brand," said Lee in a statement. "During her tenure at BET, Connie has played a critical role in the network's largest expansion into original programming. She is beyond qualified and ready for this new challenge, and I am thrilled to have her in this role."


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- Home
- Medicine Cabinet
- Acne Blend #2
Product Description
Specially formulated Aromatherapy Blend to use on the face.
Contains: Apricot, Carrot, Wheatgerm, Carrot Seed, Geranium, Bergamot, Melissa, Frankincense.
A good follow-on remedy after #1 for more severe acne.
Excellent results, tried and tested.
Reduces even the most stubborn of spots.


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In case you're working in two different worlds, you might discover a complication between the methods business is ran and the way things work within the technical world. In this regard, the data in a technical skills space is seen as sensible in nature as it permits a person to complete a delegated job in an actual, not theoretical, method. NAUI's training insurance policies guarantee divers the best instructor high quality with the intention to present the skills, information and training required to manage this superior level of diving, all whereas minimizing threat.
• Communicate with customers and technical employees to implement, take a look at, and assist fixed enchancment in processes and technology for interfaces and infrastructure parts. Please enter an in depth description of the problem in order that we know how that will help you.
Dynamically filter content for customized Assist experiences. Upon completion of Fundamental Military Training, enlisted Airmen will head to technical faculty to coach in your new career. You will act as a communication medium between the consumer and the staff. We just lately acquired your Help request, support case #ticketId, please look for an e mail from [email protected] confirming the information you submitted.
Daniel Bryan is likely one of the finest technical wrestlers the business has ever seen and possibly will ever see for a long time. If you are experiencing service problem, please call Zayo's Community Control Heart. • Gain familiarity with Boston Workstation scripts to be able to provide support to purchasers.
In the field of expertise switch, the Technical University of Liberec has a tradition of analysis in shut cooperation especially with the textile and automotive industries. There, Wynd confesses that he had spent the night sleeping on the ground, after a technical glitch was discovered around midnight.


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The 4 worst properties for first time home buyers
When it comes to buying a house, it can all get so exciting that telling the good eggs from the bad can become a little tricky. This is even more true for first home buyers who don't yet have any experience.
Everyone goes through that step at some stage, but you needn't make the same mistakes. Here are the four worst properties that a first-home buyer can purchase!
1. A property that requires too much TLC
Australians do love a fixer-upper, and there's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment when you turn a project house into your dream home.
That said, be wary of how much work it's really going to take. Even something as small as repainting a room or re-carpeting can take more time, money and organisation than you might think – especially if you've never done them before. Be realistic about how much room you have in your budget, and how much of your weekends you're willing to donate to the cause before signing on the dotted line.
2. A property in a declining area
Even the most savvy house buyers can get caught out by this one.
Should you take out a first home buyer loan and use it to purchase a property in a declining area, you may not be able to recover your investment when it comes time to sell. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as if a large store or attraction closes down, if public transport is diverted away, or if the neighbourhood starts looking shabby, to name a few.
It may be the nicest house on the worst street, but the worst house on a nice street could still be a better investment.
3. A property that's the wrong size
Just because you can afford a four-bedroom mansion, it doesn't mean you need to buy it right now. On the other hand, young couples are often inclined to purchase a smaller house or unit as it suits them right now.
There are both pitfalls in buying a home that's too large, and one that's too small.
Larger properties tend to sell for more, so it usually means your home loan will be larger than necessary, adding more interest to your total. Plus, it will mean more housekeeping and maintenance than necessary!
However, smaller homes may not accommodate for growing families. If they haven't factored in the arrival of pitter-pattering little feet within a few years, they may quickly outgrow the space and need to move all over again. Keep your future plans in mind and account for any changes within the next 5-10 years when making your decision.
4. A property that's too good to be true
Is everything about the property absolutely incredible – and all for a bargain price?
Do some serious digging before jumping in. In many cases, there may be some reason for this unbelievable deal, such as if a train track is going to be laid behind the back fence next year.


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Aircraft Viewing Deck
OR Tambo International Airport
The airport has two
Aircraft Viewing Decks
The one is up a short flight of stairs, a few floors directly above Terminal A arrivals
The second is up a flight of stairs near Wandi's Restaurant at the northern end of the terminal.
It's on the third floor of the Lower Roof Offices, North Wing.
I remember as a child the unobstructed view you had from the viewing deck, whereas the view from both of these is fairly limited!
The inside of the windows look as though they're cleaned regularly, but not too sure about the outside.
When visiting both of the decks, it seemed as though the chairs were being used by workers/vagrants as beds, and I wasn't able to sit and watch the goings-on!
Return from Aircraft Viewing Deck to
Johannesburg Airport
Return from Aircraft Viewing Deck to
Copyright 2009/2010 whyjoburg.com Last updated : Tuesday 22nd March 2011


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A late Sunday night cravings during the Salone del Mobile in 2014 led me to this airy arty restaurant and bar called Pisacco. It has become one of my favourite eateries in Milan ever since, and I always come here every time I am in town.
The name, Pisacco, is a deliberate misspelling of Picasso, a hint to its intention to create a simple sophisticated space offering modern twist on traditional Italian home cooking favourites combined with contemporary art, architecture and interior design. The result is a no frill, minimal and chic eatery showcasing a fantastic collection of contemporary art while serving delicious tapas sized dishes such as the classic Milanese saffron risotto with ragout of veal, calamari with guacamole and onion, or simple favourites such as spaghetti with tomato, basil and mozzarella cream.
Pisacco is composed of two levels: sidewalk and underground.
Sidewalk is usually my favourite area for the evenings because of the original wall mural by a young Italian artist Gabriella Ciancimino who has successfully created a nice contrast of bold colours and tones against the restaurant's neutral relaxed atmosphere by depicting an uncultivated urban garden. The "smoker table" inserted into the window on Via Solferio is especially a clever design detail by the architect Tiziano Vudafieri. The meticulous restoration of the space focuses on enhancing original details as well as incorporating quality materials and bold colors. Chairs, stools and other furniture pieces by sustainable design company, Discipline, are built entirely from recyclable and biodegradable materials.
The secret garden found on the Underground level is a particularly pleasant discovery and, as it turns out, an interesting part of Milanese history. As part of the Conca delle Gabelle—a series of long winding tunnels—the garden serves as a reminder of the time when Milan was crossed by canals. Strange as it may sound, I always find the Underground area more airy than the upstairs Sidewalk area, so I always like to sit down here during the day. Perhaps this is due to the white painted brick vaults and large windows with ample daylight overlooking the secret garden combined with pastel green upholstery of the chairs that give this Underground zone a surprising bright airy cafe feel instead of a dark basement atmosphere that otherwise would have been expected.
Pisacco is one of those cool, unpretentious places that one can go anytime whether it be for a relaxing coffee while working on laptop during the day, a nice relaxing lunch or casual evening drinks and dinner with friends. With simple honest cooking and a rotating exhibition of young contemporary artists on both floors, one can never be bored when going to Pisacco. There is always something there to surprise you…
For more information, please visit Pisacco.it


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As part of the ProjectIC SoC Management Platform BuildIC uses a project bill of materials, or SoC manifest, to simplify multi-site data management, expedite the delivery of IP to user workspaces and to track IP usage as part of the SoC integration process.
"By using an advanced design data management system, ZMDI is able to accelerate the development of the industry's most modern mixed-signal systems-on-chips. To maintain a leading position the management of internal and external IP and its associated meta data has become critical to performance, accuracy and speed of an IC itself, as well as meeting demanding development schedules," said Achim Graupner, manager of Methodology and Design Automation at ZMDI. "Methodics was able to enhance the performance and efficiency of our design data management tasks by orders of magnitudes over the solution we had been using, delivering the IP in a fully functional and ready to use environment."
DAC - Booth 2921
Methodics is showing its ProjectIC SoC Management Platform including the ProjectIC SoC Portal and the BuildIC SoC Integration Engine, as well as its VersIC tools and modules, in its booth (#2921) at the Design Automation Conference at the Anaheim Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. For more information on the Conference, visit www.dac.com.
About Methodics LLC
Methodics is a leading provider of design data management (DM) tools for integrated circuits. Methodics' VersIC DM tools integrate industry-standard software configuration management (SCM) tools, such as the Perforce® and Subversion® version control systems into the hardware design environment, along with "DM-Driven" modules that leverage the platform to provide a higher, more efficient global collaboration experience. The privately held company has offices in the USA, Europe and Asia. For further information, visit www.methodics-da.com.
About ZMDI
Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG (ZMDI) is a semiconductor company focused on energy efficiency. The company is a leading supplier of innovative, highly precise, robust and cost-efficient analog and mixed-signal semiconductors which allow for a maximum of energy efficiency and environmental protection in the automotive, mobile medical, industrial automation, and consumer markets. The company designs and markets application-specific standard products (ASSPs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) which are known for their robust, cost-effective performance in demanding environments characterized by high temperature, high voltage and the need for ultra-low power.
Headquartered in Dresden, Germany, ZMDI has 280 employees worldwide and serves customers from its offices in Dresden, Stuttgart, Germany; Milan, Italy; Pocatello, ID, Melville, NY, USA; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea and Taipei, Taiwan. ZMDI has design centers in Dresden, Stuttgart and Munich, Germany; Varna, Bulgaria and Madison, Wisconsin. See more at www.zmdi.com.
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For more information, contact: Mike Williams (415) 354-5726 Email Contact Mike Sottak (408) 876-4418 Email Contact


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Can anyone advise me who could repair the bottom panel on a "roll up" wood garage door? The fiber board (whatever it is) is actually peeling away; so paint isn't going to fix it. It is just happening on the bottom panel. It's not a particularly pretty door, but this panel is making it look terrible.
I cannot afford a custom-made wood door; though I would love a wood door with lights. And I don't want to get one of those ho-hum steel doors.
If I got someone who could cover it with metal, and then paint it the same color, would that work?
My house is (as you may have guessed) an American Four Square, circa 1912; and the garage is probably original; but I am pretty sure the door is not. I am on a corner lot, and the garage is in back on the side street.
Thanks for your suggestions.


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With eSUB, our Contractors are not just benefiting from our construction management software. You're also engaging construction management consultants who work hand in hand with you to design a workflow and accountability stream that results in better standardization, efficiency and profits.
As web-based software, eSUB has flexibility on the back-end that can be customized to achieve your goals in accurately tracking your projects and pro-actively communicating inside and outside of your team.
eSUB's background started as Construction Consultants and that "expertise" is embedded within the architecture of our Construction Management Software.
Whether you call it asp, web-based, online or cloud-based, we prefer Software as a Service (SaaS) for the way we infuse the delivery of our software and the service oriented nature of our relationship with our Users- equal parts great software and business consulting.
It was our expertise as Construction Consultants that went into the original product design of eSUB's Construction Management Software, but it's the experience of our Users that drive the on-going enhancements. Today, it's our Users who are the virtual architects of our system and dictate where we take our software and how we enhance it on a monthly basis.
It's eSUB's mission to provide the most user friendly, accessible and flexible online project software to improve contractors' internal efficiencies and increase profits on every job.


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Festive balls, kids! Episode 4 of our podcast intersects with the timing of that new craze, Christmas, so we thought we'd dip a toe in and really get a sense of what it's all about. Well, we didn't really. We just watched two things we liked and talked about them.
Chris is endlessly fascinated by things that are big news for a short space of time and then become almost obscurely small not too long after their initial release (like Peter Gabriel's legitimately big hit single Steam). One of the things he considers to meet these criteria is Santa Claus: The Movie, a curious mixture of festive whimsy and anti-consumerist polemic that, ironically, also had a major tie-in deal with McDonalds.
Joe, meanwhile, likes comedy that's funny. That may seem reasonable but we all know that there are entire series and channels predicated on the fact that some people don't care if a comedy is funny or not. This being the case, he's keen to share one of the most successfully funny Christmas programmes the UK has to offer (no, not the 2014 Catchphrase Christmas Special with Warwick Davies, but that's a fine guess), I, of course, refer to the merry, messy Blackadder's Christmas Carol.
Luckily, all this jollity gave us enough good tidings to plough through a particularly difficult and soul searching question from our listener Kirsten, in which we'll hope you'll indulge us our attempts to answer.
Anyway, that's enough of this overly-wordy blog entry, just sit back and relax as...


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Here are some live recordings from one of Parousia's most revered and longest running venue's, Melanie's.
Parousia's First Gig at Melanie's July 20,1980
The July 1980 show at Melanie's marked the beginning of Parousia's new "Good vs. Evil" show set which brought into reality a completely new set of material including costumes, props and special effects. The show featured original songs as well as songs by Alice Cooper ("Second Coming" and "the Ballad of Dwight Fry"), Jethro Tull ("Locomotive Breath", "Cross Eyed Mary", "Hymn 43"), Kansas, ("the Portrait"), Yes, ("Perpetual Change"), Genesis ("Squonk" and "Abbacab"), Cheap Trick ("Surrender", "He's A Whore") and Blondie ("One Way Or Another" and "I Know But I Don't Know").
The song "Hymn 43" featured a six-foot wooden crucifix with a window shade rolled up across the horizontal arm. During the show, we would pull the shade down to reveal a picture of a large bingo card. Man we pissed-off a lot of hard-core Catholic types with that one! During the song, "the Ballad of Dwight Fry" we would us dry ice to flood the stage and then Patrick would crawl out in a straight jacket holding a demented doll and then hurl a fake brain into the audience at the same time a flash-pot explodes during the words, "Blown up in my face". Fun Times!
Parousia's Exciting Encore Performance at Melanie's August 17, 1980
Parousia Returns to Melanie's Pub August 31, 1980
We were Guaranteed $150.00 and one dollar a head after 100 people. We pulled in 200 people in Melanie's on a Sunday night. We made $250.00! People heard about our new show set from the July 20th show and it really got their attention.
Parousia Rocks Melanie's Pub on September 7, 1980
We made $164.00 this night. It was the first full week of school and our mention in the University of Buffalo's "Band Survival Guide" which listed all the bands in the Buffalo area worth seeing.
This was also the night of the Bob Seger Concert and in spite of that, We still pulled in 116 people on A Sunday night. Seger was incredibly popular in Buffalo at the time. I remember we had to get dressed in the girl's bathroom at Melanie's because it was the only place with a mirror and we had to put on our costumes and make up. On the wall of the ladies room, girls wrote stuff like. "Bob Seger is comin' to Buffalo and I am going to meet him and F*k his brains out." Another comment written below that one read, "Stay away from him you whore, he's mine!"
Parousia: Back Once Again at Melanie's Pub, September 14, 1980
Parousia's Farewell to Melanie's Pub October 12, 1980
"We used to get good crowds at Melanie's Pub at Main and Transit it is now the Buffalo Brew Pub. I remember one night there was a line out the door."
*** Eric Scheda – Keyboards ***


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A poew I wrote a couple of years back.. am posting it here for all of you to read.. DO let me know how you liked it :
Oh Moon!
Like a blotch of light on dark, dark nights
A symbol of love when two souls unite.
You watch from the heavens every activity of man,
They say wrongs committed in your presence go unnoticed
There are more like you in the galaxy, but you lead the clan
Oh Moon! Art thou divine?
Decorating the sky along with the stars
Never tiring, never failing to come
Destroying sorrow, dispelling dark
Sometimes I wonder where your power comes from.
Science tells me you only reflect the sunlight
Is that true O moon?
Do you have no light of your own?
Do we all praise you for being sterile?
Do we talk of you with pride when it's not really no.
Are you making a fool out of me, I do not know.
I am still mystified by your magic
And so I say ..
O moon! Art thou divine?


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Characters, Illustrations and Felted Things by Steph Laberis
Friday, July 06, 2012
I've been busy this last week working on a new series of felties! These are Fledgies (feltie + fledgling = Fledgie!) and were made especially for TR!CKSTER, which if you don't know, is an amazing gallery/mobile storefront that started up last year at Comic Con. Though I can't attend this year, the Fledgies will be there in my place.
My inner character designer came out with these guys, I decided to keep them somewhat graphic and shape-driven. Depending on how these do I might do another series of different birds!
Here is TR!CKSTER by the way, should you find yourself at SDCC next week! I am super honored to have work there, the place is packed with talent, mostly of the Pixar variety ;)
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Council is urging residents who are yet to join the discussion about Noosa's new planning scheme to have a say this weekend, or next.
"These remaining consultation events, or information 'pop-ups' are the last in the initial series of 11 events held across the shire," says Planning and Infrastructure Director Martin Drydale.
"Council is hosting the information 'pop-ups' to give residents a say on planning scheme priorities, and to provide feedback on the discussion paper before work starts on the draft."
Council staff and councillors will be on hand this Sunday, November 27, at the Noosa Farmers Market between 7am and 10am; and next Sunday December 4 in front of the Noosa Heads Surf Club, between 7.30am and 9.30am.
Mr Drydale thanked residents for taking the time to have a say at the previous pop-ups.
"Community input is important at this stage of the new planning scheme's development because it will help ensure we draft a document that best meets our community's needs. We've been capturing some great feedback, to date," he said.
Residents can have a say on yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au until December 12, after which time Council will be compiling a report on all feedback.
For more information about the New Noosa Plan Discussion Paper visit Yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au. Email firstname.lastname@example.com or telephone 5329 6500.
|Sunday, November 27
|Noosa Farmers Market
|7:00am and 10:00am
|Sunday December 4
|Noosa Heads Surf Club
|7.30am and 9.30am
Have a say on new Noosa Plan
7:00am - 10:00am
Sunday November 27
Noosa Farmers Market
Noosa Farmers Market, Noosaville
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Happy Friday !!!It's the weekend already !!! I have so many things going on , my sons birthdays , building a swing set my mother in law bought for my 2 year olds birthday , millions of ideas in my head to craft , there just isn't enough time in the day !
Today , I am sharing this 3d ledge village tower house from the silhouette store , I purchased the regular one , they have a haunted version as well . I plan on making the village into a spooky town , there's lots of buildings in the collection , not sure if I will have enough time ( one can hope ) . I embossed swirls (my favorite ) with my Sparkle n Sprinkle embossing powders , and added some ghosts, and spider from my cricut .
I would also love to thank Fantabulous Cricut for picking my frame as one of the top five , and Decorate to Celebrate for picking my witches cottage for top honors !!I appreciate and feel honored !!
I hope you enjoy , and have a wonderful day !
Recipe ~
Silhouette Store 3d ledge village tower house, spider web swirls,
Cricut ~Simply Charmed , Create a Critter 2
Sparkle N Sprinkle~
Embossing Powders~
Challenges 4 Fun~ Craftin Desert Divas ~ Halloween Linky Party ,
Parade Your Crafts -Halloween , 2 Creative Chicks ~ Spooktacular linky Party, Cameo Creations Challenges ~ Halloween , Decorate to Celebrate ~ Halloween party ,Jo's Scrap Shack ~ FFC#22 Anything Goes !! Cut it up Challenges ~ #30 Halloween , Rose Blossom Garden ~ Halloween , My Craft Spot ~ #115 3D Halloween , Stuck on U Sketches ~ Die Cut Challenge anything fall ( Halloween is in fall :),


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This weeks Best Butt Exercises booty blasting move works your butt with two different moves performed together to make up one repetition.
It's called the squat-arabesque, and it's a great move for attacking those glutes from two different angles. You can do this one at home without equipment, but if you find it too easy without, it's easy enough to add weights to create resistance. Just another exercise that I've picked up from the Brazil Butt Lift program that I though I would share with you!
I'm sure you've heard of the squat before, which in itself is an excellent compound exercise that largely targets the butt as well as other muscles in the legs including hamstrings and quadriceps.
The arabesque is a bit less well-known. It's named after a ballet move, but the exercise we'll be performing today is slightly different.
In ballet, an arabesque is a one-legged balancing move where one leg is lifted behind the body with the foot rotated outwards. This move involves the glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings and core.
We'll adapt the arabesque slightly to target the glutes more, by focusing less on the external rotation of the foot and more on recruiting the glutes during the move.
Exercise: Squat -Arabesque
Muscles worked: Glutes, Thighs, Core and balance
Jolie Recommends: Try 3 sets of 30 reps.
Difficulty rating: 3
Effectiveness rating: 6
You perform a bodyweight squat and upon completion of the squat, from the standing position go right into a one legged-arabesque. This is one rep. Then repeat the squat, and follow it up with an arabesque on the other leg to balance it out.
This combination is great because it keeps the glute muscles working from a few different angles.
The squat, if performed slowly and under control with a strong focus on recruiting the glute muscle, works to pre-fatigue the glutes. Following it up immediately with the arabesque gives a more effective exercise that will work the glutes better than just doing plain squats or arabesque exercises independently.
Best Butt Exercise #11: Squat-Arabesque
Leandro himself (creator of Brazil Butt Lift) walks you through how to do this move in this video:
How to Do the Move
- Start standing with feet approximately shoulder width apart, feet pointing forwards.
- While contracting your glutes, slowly sit your butt down and back into a bodyweight squat, lowering slowly for about 2-3 seconds under control.
- Slowly stand back up from the squat, again with control and taking about 2-3 seconds to rise up from the squat.
- As you rise up out of the squat, shift your balance to your left leg and lift your right leg straight back behind you by using your right glute. Lean your upper torso slightly forward and reach forward with both arms to enable you to complete the move, but keeep the core tight.
- Lower your right leg to return to the standing position.
- Steps 1-5 count as one rep, and you can now complete the same exercise on the other side.
I like to perform the squat slow and controlled, all the time while concentrating on squeezing the glutes hard – this makes your glutes do most of the work in the squat instead of having the quadriceps take over.
Perfecting Your Form
- Keep the back straight while doing the squat, don't let it round over forwards.
- Keep your core tight and back straight when doing the arabesque, don't let your back arch excessively.
- Ensure you keep your hips in-line and square to the front when doing the arabesque.
- Use your glutes to lift the leg in arabesque. It's possible to perform this move by using other muscles, so really focus on recruiting and using the glutes.
- Give an extra squeeze of the glutes at the top of the arabesque, and hold the contraction for a moment with your leg at the top to really feel it.
Reppin' It
Try performing 30 reps for 3 sets of this exercise.
As this is a bodyweight exercise, you'll find you'll be able to do more reps without too much difficulty.
Step it up a notch by using ankle weights or a resistance band to make the arabesque more difficult, and holding a pair of dumbbells to add resistance with the squat. Adjust the reps accordingly to suit the weight you are using (less reps with more weight).


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Getting into Maybe Mae, a slick and sultry cocktail bar in Adelaide's city centre, requires knowing about a particular wooden panel. Press the right one, and you're rewarded with entry to a hidden, circular tunnel.
Walk past Earl's Juke Joint in Sydney, and you'd assume it's simply a neighbourhood butcher. It's only once you enter that the New Orleans-inspired cocktail bar is revealed. Sticky Bar in Sydney has a secret entrance with a code, as does HiHou in Melbourne. Bar Exuberante, Matt Bax's latest offering in Richmond, is reached not only through a completely different watering hole – Bar Economico – it requires guests to walk through an office space in the back of said watering hole. Japanese eatery Yu.U has no sign to indicate its existence behind a graffiti-covered laneway door in Melbourne. If you didn't know of its existence, you'd have no idea it was there.
Hidden restaurants and bars offer patrons a sense of the theatrical. Suddenly, you're not just going out for a cocktail, you're going on an adventure to find it. Even better is the chance encounter: spontaneously stumbling upon one of these locations can feel like finding treasure. As hidden venues have proliferated, the number of eateries offering secret menu items has soared. These off-the-record dishes are revealed by word of mouth – unless you keep an ear out, you miss out.
For the operator, the chance to create a talked- about establishment is the obvious attraction.
Prior to the official opening of Melbourne diner Rockwell and Sons, its owners organised a series of themed nights to fundraise for a new oven, including a fried-chicken dinner, which diners, "Went mental for," according to co-owner Casey Wall. When the restaurant officially opened, the calls about the chicken continued. Wall and his team hadn't been able to include it on the regular menu due to the labour-intensive nature of the dish, which is made in the traditional Southern style. But for those in the know, the chicken can be pre- ordered on Wednesday nights, though it often sells out more than a week ahead of time.
Lucas Humberstone, the manager at burger joint Grand Trailer Park Taverna, also in Melbourne, says the eatery is in the process of creating a secret menu.
"We have been slowly rolling it out to our loyal customers, as well as on our Instagram feed and Facebook," Humberstone says. He adds that its chef has been "perfecting" a chicken burger that will likely go straight to the secret menu. "As for ordering, it will be like other secret menu items where you say the code to get the secret option."
"Our secret menu will be similar to the In-N-Out secret menu found in America," Humberstone adds, referring to the California- based fast-food chain, perhaps the most famous example of a restaurant that has a series of "secret" items not listed on its regular menu. In-N-Out's regular customers – and nowadays anyone with access to the internet – know which burgers are secretly up for grabs when they reach the counter.
Maybe Mae
15 Peel Street, Adelaide, SA
Earl's Juke Joint
407 King Street, Newtown, Sydney, NSW
Sticky Bar
182 Campbell Street, Surry Hills, NSW
First Floor, 1 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, VIC
(03) 9654 5465
Bar Exuberante
438 Church Street, Richmond, Melbourne, VIC
(03) 9428 0055
Rockwell and Sons
288 Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, VIC
(03) 8415 0700
Grand Trailer Park Taverna
87 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC
(03) 9972 3699


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We've had a recurrence of the problem I reported a month ago and so last night we installed an update to the database software we use. I'm told the update contains fixes relevant to the problems we have been experiencing, so here's hoping it brings some increased reliability with it.
Please accept out apologies if you experienced some disruption last night while I was updating the software.


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My Thursday column is about the G20 summit in London, and the hopes that it will address all the marginalized people around the world who are being worst hit by this economic crisis. I especially hope that the G20 leaders will focus on a couple of points — avoiding increases in malnutrition and surges in school drop-out rates. The reason is similar, for the consequences last decades. When a child is severely malnourished, the result is often a cognitive impairment that will last the entire life. And when a child is forced to drop out of school, he or she probably won't go back and will never become literate. That's a burden on the country that will linger for the next half a century.
This is a theme I addressed a bit in my Sunday column from Haiti, but I'd be curious about those of you living in the developing world. What do you see around you? Is the economic crisis hitting? What should be done about it? You can comment beside the column, so I've closed comments here. UPDATE: I've opened comments here, because they're now closed by the column.


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"The renaissance of interest in Eastern spiritual philosophies, various mystical traditions, meditation, ancient and aboriginal wisdom, as well as the widespread psychedelic experimentation during the stormy 1960s, made it absolutely clear that a comprehensive and cross-culturally valid psychology had to include observations from such areas as mystical states; cosmic consciousness; psychedelic experiences; trance phenomena; creativity; and...Read More
The Fourth Force: Why Interest In Transpersonal Psychology Is Growing
The Evolution of Coaching Psychology
The practice of Life Coaching arose out of athletic coaching in sports and is broadly defined as a collaborative process of helping someone improve performance or satisfaction in some aspect of their lives. In contrast with psychological counselling or therapy which is often focused on pathology rooted in past experiences or flawed thinking processes (cognition), Life Coaching is focused more on the hear and now by working towards...Read More
The Transpersonal Psychology of Spirituality
The transpersonal (beyond self) study of human psychology and most spiritual and even religious practices, are guided by similar intentions. In a very broad sense the study of human psychology — transpersonal psychology in particular — and spiritual/religious practice, are both concerned with the realization of our highest potential as human beings. To become aware of and better understand the consciousness, behaviors, experiences,...Read More
Spirituality, Happiness & Well-Being Are In Vogue!
Introduction A quick glance at the news and it would seem that we are living in challenging and troubling times. Potentially catastrophic environmental and climate changes are looming on the horizon. Man's impact on the planet has been so severe it has ushered in a new geological epoc called the Anthropocene — a geological time period marked by the significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems. The looming impact of...Read More
Fake-Positivity or Imperturbability
One of the common myths about being "spiritual" or "awakened" is that suddenly everything in your life is perfect, all the stress and bad shit disappears and some even try to surround themselves entirely with positive, supportive and like-minded individuals and information/news. This is not only unrealistic and false, but can also hinder REAL...Read More


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Information Manager - 3 months FTC
Job ref:
Job type:
£40,000 - 43,572 per year
Contact email:
Contact phone:
020 7378 5459
3 months
Information Manager – 3 Month Contract
Up to £43,572 based on experience
Full Time
About the company
Our client, an independent organisation within the Financial Services sector, has a requirement, for an Information Manager on a 3-month FTC, to work within the Business Support Team
What you'll be doing
The Information Manager will be responsible for ensuring the organisation meets its obligations in relation to the information held. The post holder will develop policies, procedures and working practices to ensure efficient and safe management of data and information across the business.
Key duties
- Be the first point of contact for day-to-day information management and information assurance activity and governance
- Ensure all information management, assurance and security related documentation including policies, procedures and processes are followed and updated as necessary
- Champion effective information management/assurance/security across the business and ensure that you provide an excellent service to both internal and external customers
- Promote good information management and data handling practice across the business
FOI and DPA requests
- Act as the key point of contact for all Freedom of Information and Subject Access Requests and ensure these are processed in accordance within statutory timescales
General Data Protection Regulation
- Ensure that the organisation complies with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018
- Work with the Project and Performance Managers to ensure that GDPR requirements are integrated into the new case management and knowledge management systems and ensure data protection impact assessments are carried out
Information Assets and information security
- Review, develop and update the information asset register and embed the governance of information management across the business
- Communicate the importance of the information asset register to staff in an easily accessible format
- Review, develop, update and maintain the information security policy
- Compile reports for a variety of audiences for example quarterly reports to the SIRO, end of year information security and assurance reports, and ALB Security Health Checks
Cyber security
- Work with the IT supplier to assure the protection of all IT systems, and work with third party suppliers to test these assurances
- Increase cyber security awareness among staff
Liaising with external bodies
- Work with external organisations to develop and test information sharing protocols; maintain links with the National Archives in terms of file transfers; and participate in ALB security fora.
- Work with colleagues from DWP, NAO and other government bodies to collate relevant guidance and assess whether relevant to TPO.
Who you will be
- A strong background in effective Information and Data management
- Experience of working in the public sector and/or for an arms-length body
- Experience of creating and leading information assurance activities in a small organisation
- Experience of or ability to take the lead on all information matters in a small organisation
- Some exposure to working alongside external bodies, including creation of and testing of information sharing protocols
- An appropriate degree or relevant professional qualification or experience within Information Management
- Up-to-date knowledge of Data Protection laws and best practice
- Thorough practical knowledge / understanding of information governance and practice and associated law and legislation
- Knowledge of information management best practice and how data and information can be used to support effective decision making
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate a complex or technical issue to a lay audience
- Diplomatic approach and skilful negotiator amongst peers and senior stakeholders
- Excellent analytical skills
- Ability to work on own initiative with flexibility and adaptability
Why you should apply
If you are looking for an opportunity that truly offers work / life balance, then look no further.
If you are interested in learning more: Please get in touch on 020 7378 5459 or on firstname.lastname@example.com


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-by Vikram Nanjappa* for Stylefluid Trendz
Pitti Uomo is a trade fair (for menswear) held twice a year in the Italian city of Florence. Pitti Uomo has been around since 1972 and is organised by Pitti Immagine whose origins dates back to the early 1950s . Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana is the holding company which works to support the Italian fashion system.
Unfortunately Pitti Uomo does not receive the kind of coverage it deserves in the Indian fashion scene; hence we take this opportunity to present the details of the event and some of the styles that were worn by the attendees.


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Kenya To Ramp Up Geothermal Energy
Like many developing countries with a surging economy and population, Kenya is finding its energy supply increasingly tight. Currently, electric supply capacity is close to its limit at 1,080 MW when peak hour demand reaches nearly 1,000 MW, according to AFP. Though coal is the cheapest option for boosting supply, Kenya is also looking to further tap into its substantial geothermal resources to meet demand. Near the town of Naivasha, northwest of Nairobi, underground hot water sources and steam at 300 degrees Celsius can be piped up the surface from up two kilometers (6,500 feet) below and turned into electricity.
President Mwai Kibaki recently announced a plan to produce an extra 2,000 megawatts within 10 years, with 85 percent (1,700 MW) to come from geothermal plants. At the country's main Ol Karia plant, near Naivasha, engineers and experts are discussing prospection and drilling plans.
"Because geothermal energy is our only indigenous source of energy, we're going for it. We can supply Kenya's entire needs with geothermal alone," Silas Simiyu, who works at Ol Karia, says.
he major drawback of geothermal energy is the size of the initial investment. One MW of geothermal-produced electricity costs around three million dollars, 30 percent more than what coal-powered plants produce. Kenya's geothermal energy plan is being supported with donations and preferential loans from the World Bank and German government. :: Via AFP
Exploring Southeast Asia's Geothermal Potential
Jargon Watch: Geothermal vs Ground Source Heat Pump
Is Geothermal Energy the Way of the Future?


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Think Outside The Box
About Terry D Ward
Terry D Ward is a Multi-instrumentalist, Producer, Composer and Arranger who features himself on Tenor, Alto and Soprano saxophones with a big bold, soothing sound like Dexter Gordon and the post-modern virtuosic smooth jazz articulation of Grover Washington jr., that connects the listener to the worlds of real and contemporary jazz.
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I have just finished reading El Gibbon's 15-page thread about living for one year in Chanthaburi. It was a great read and covered almost every aspect of provincial life in Thailand. The comments and feedback were also great - the members of the forum are very helpful and friendly with broad interests that thankfully go beyond the advertisements on the forum would suggest! There were not so many female contributors to El's thread apart from Lily who said who said was in jail. Hopefully she is out now!
So I am in a minority, as a Farang woman married to a Thai. I'm a New Zealander and he's from Ubon and we been married about 14 years. We had planned to go to New Zealand to live but as a backup plan,12 years ago we bought some land at the unspoiled seaside community and fishing village of Kung Wiman. We chose it because it was not too far from Bangkok - about a three hour drive, so I could continue to work, and we developed this land as a small 14 room resort. It was quite an expensive undertaking as our target is the expat market so we have a swimming pool, restaurant, spa and van and about eight staff. Needless to say Plan B became Plan A, and we didn't make it to live in New Zealand, which I don't regret, although I do go back to visit family once or twice each year. Our first land purchase was about 3 and a half rai, which we were planning to develop into a guesthouse but then some better land came up, larger, more elevated and closer to the sea...about 10 rai so we bought that, and that is Faasai Resort and Spa today. Then about five years after we bought the land for the resort we bought some land up the road a bit, in about 6 different lots, which we have developed as a farm, wetlands, nature sanctuary. On the first piece of land we planted over 1000 agarwood trees and it has become quite a forest now.
I still work in Bangkok during the week and we go to Chanthaburi every weekend. This is a necessity, as unfortunately the earnings barely cover the running costs and routine maintenance, let alone all the extras that need to be done in maintaining the property.
I experienced many of the shocks and strangeness El Gibbon did when he went to live in Chanthaburi in 2006/7.My shocks were even more actually, as we were trying to build and run a business and had to do a lot of building and maintenance work (his issues with things like plumbing, air conditioning were multiplied by about 20, given all our buildings). This is one of the worst possible stresses for a marriage. On the good side, financial necessity meant we had to stick together when the going got rough! Then of course we have the additional headaches of vehicles - one car, minivan, van, pickup truck and about four motorbikes, plus six bicycles. And, we also have the staff, they are not a headache...but they are extremely loyal and hardworking and so we feel a responsibility to take care of them.
I do speak Thai but not so much in the beginning and that was a big struggle. I remember the poor builder looking at me blankly when I would use the Thai word for wall when I meant floor or vice versa. And we too have had many adventures with insects and other wildlife. Termites for example fly out of their elaborate homes at the beginning of the rainy season and settle into cracks and crevasses in whatever wood or organic material they can find...even gaps in the concrete walls where the wiring goes! It is amazing what destruction they have caused in 12 short years. But they do have an upside... last Saturday morning we enjoyed watching the birds catching the termites on the wing as we ate our breakfast ...there were swallows, mynahs, drongos, barbets and bulbuls doing pirouettes in the sky. And now that I have my pet chicken (and a couple of chook companions for her) I go out hunting for termites to feed them.
In the 12 years since we have been there, there have been a lot of changes in the neighbourhood. Land prices have gone up over 10-fold and there are a lot more buildings in the street. The once sleepy little beach at Kung Wiman is now packed with cars on weekends and there are several hotel/resort developments going in..in the beginning we were the only one apart from beachside Kung Wiman Resort which had been there 20 years and Wiman House, a newish concrete block complex a kilometer or so from the sea.
Many of the locals have sold land to Bangkok people but a lot haven't and are continuing on with their fruit orchards, shrimp farms, rubber plantations, food stalls etc. Rubber prices have collapsed and whereas 12 years ago people were ripping out their fruit trees to plant rubber, now they are doing the opposite. We have a bit of everything at our farm, including rice. We are the only people growing rice around there and so we get 100s of birds like munias and doves coming after the crop and we put nets over them to keep them away. Now this year feral chickens have settled into the farm so we are quite worried about them eating the rice --- different birds go after the rice at different stages --- the munias like it when they first get "pregnant" with sweet milky sap, the doves like the ripe grains and the chooks the first rice sprouts. We only have enough rice at this stage for our own consumption but hope to be able to supply the resort in the future. We keep trying to make improvements to our techniques so we can increase productivity.