Tents and Marquees

2010 September 2
by squadron

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are used when you want to make a fabulous outdoor scene. They are generally structures installed at a location for a period of time.

Why A Tent?
Commercial Tents are used as protection from the sun, rain or a gathering place. They can make a stunning and creative atmosphere for any event.

Tent Rentals
Tents can be rented or leased for a day, a weekend, weeks, months, etc. For one or two day events, the Tents are usually installed a few days before the event, depending on scheduling and weather, and remain until a few days after the event. Many rentals are quoted for the entire week, allowing for time to set up and design the interior and exterior. Some Tents are built for exceedingly long-term events and have been installed and remain installed for years.

What Kind of Tent Should I Rent?
Tent rental companies come in all sizes – from small-sized companies with just a few Tents to exceedingly large-sized companies – carrying dozens of several sizes and styles of Tents. Some general rental companies rent from tent rental companies to accommodate their client’s needs.

You may know you want to use a standard Tent for your event, or your event planner may already have in mind to use a Tent. You have options! There are lots of other spectacular
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

Usually, the different types of Tents available in most companies are (the names vary depending of the company):

Folding Tents Easy and fast to use and always in demand. Very popular, because usually is the less expensive tent. Fast, flexible, cost effective and long lasting.

They are used by:

  • Corporate brands across most industries
  • Government & Council buyers
  • SME business marketers
  • Franchisees
  • Agricultural exhibitors
  • Emergency services & community groups
  • Folding Tents create brand exposure opportunities.
  • You can reach your audience at the right time, in the right place with the right message.

Inflatable Tents An exciting and entertaining alternative Tent. Easy & fast to set up. Be sure they have removable printed roof because in that way you can share the investment with other licences.

What Size Tent Will I Need?

The size of Tent depends on a few factors:

1. The number of guests you expect
2. Layout or seating arrangements or the style of event:

* Reception with what type of tables?
* Speaker engagement with what type of seating?
* Will you need a dance floor?
* Will you need display areas for your products?

If you are interested in a Tent, you can expect to need about 2,000 – 2,500 square feet for 200-seated guests. That could mean a 40 x 60 size Tent (Always ask the Tent rental vendor directly and they’ll give you the best informationabout the size of Tent you’ll need).

Therefore, the key rule is; know what you are going to use your tent for. The choice of tents is astounding, almost on par with the choice of cars that you can buy.

So if you need a tent for the family BBQ, for example, your needs are fairly basic
and your budget may be low. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a decent warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a diverse range of sizes, and colours. Most plain colour Tents s range between $995- $2900. If you are keen to promote yourself, you can have your names printed for around $150-$300. Printing logos usually be a little more expensive.

In the last 5 years, portable Tents have become important to businesses for their marketing. The essential need for these buyers is a prominent and premium reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as dull as a website address or they can be a design masterpiece.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build recognition of your company with your printed Tent. Printed corporate Tents range in price from $1500- $4000. Good ones will really catch your eye.

Once you have decided on what sort of buyer you are and how you are going to use your Tents, a good Tents company will offer you a choice of frames, a warranty of between 3-5 years and help with formulating the printing-if you need it.

For more information about tents, contact Extreme Marquees. We have a range of cheap tents, for all sorts of home and business applications.

New Zealand’s Top Holiday Cities

2010 August 23

New Zealand has a magnificent array of amazing landscapes. Like imposing mountain ranges, majestic coastlines, bountiful rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These panoramic wonders have all made New Zealand an appealing destination for all kinds of holidays.

Amazing travel packages and holiday specials are available on quality accommodation in modern city hotels and luxurious wilderness lodges at slashed prices. Among the top holiday destinations in New Zealand, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland would definitely be there. Travel Online is a distinguished online specialist travel operator and provides astounding tourist services for New Zealand. Travel Online provides an instant quote and booking service for accommodation in cities right across the country.

Queenstown
The international resort town of Queenstown is situated on the shoreline of Wakatipu Lake. This beautiful region is among the most picturesque locations on the globe. Throughout the year adventurous and thrilling sports like jet boating, bungy jumping, and white water rafting take place. This town is the epicentre of the entire world’s bungy jumping activities too. With the advent of winter, the town gets transformed to an alpine wonderland with snowboarders and skiers from all corners of the world assembling at the annual Winter Festival.

There is constant demand for Queenstown Accommodation all round the year and Travel Online offers a select group of hotels best suited for New Zealand holidays. 1, 2, 3 or 4 bedroom apartments, with luxurious facilities, gyms, spas and fantastic views are available at various holiday retreats across the city. Bigger apartments with more bedrooms, tennis courts, private jetties and fitness centres are also available at a higher price. Luxury complexes with studio rooms in the vicinity of cafes, bars, and restaurants are also found in Travel Online’ Queenstown Accommodation selection.

Christchurch
When choosing a place to stay in Christchurch look for hotels that give views over the attractive Victoria Square, across the mesmerizing Avon River or towards the historic Anglican Cathedral. Situated on New Zealand’s South Island, this cosmopolitan city is always abuzz with colourful festivals, shopping spots, theaters and art galleries. Hotels overlooking Victoria Square provide visitors with an insight in to the city’s English history.

Individuals accommodated in the vicinity of the Christchurch Cathedral will find hotel rooms with a Manhattan-style feel. Tradition and elegance are everywhere in these hotels along with a keen eye on service excellence. Luxurious bedrooms with full-fledged kitchen facilities are common, along with hi-tech conference facilities, resort-like leisure features like spas, saunas, gyms, and swimming pools. Many of these hotels provided by Travel Online are located in the vicinity of the Technology Park, the International Antarctic Centre, and the airport. Travelers who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life will find suitable accommodation in the wonderfulcountryside surrounding the city.

Auckland
Auckland, also known as the City of Sails, is located in between 2 harbors and has more boats per person than anywhere on the planet. Within minutes a person has the choice of sailing away on yachts to isolated nearby islands, living the high life in the casino, surfing at winding beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and spacious executive / marina suites. Travel Online caters to the tastes of corporate and business tourists and can beat any price seen on Auckland accommodation advertised. Auckland harbor is splendid, and is seen perfectly from atop Sky City and the surrounding accommodation.

Affordable and comfortable apartments are available for casual tourists, equipped with kitchens, laundries, and balconies to provide a memorable holidaying experience. Visitors to Auckland adore visiting the Antarctic Encounter, which showcases the only penguins present in the sub-Antarctic region. More adventures include cage-bereft shark dives, scuba expeditions and snorkel safaris. New Zealand is waiting.

Travel Online has a wide range of Queenstown accommodation close to all the snow action and cosmopolitan Christchurch accommodation surrounded by all that theatre and art. For holidays in and around the water, Auckland accommodation is as good as anywhere in the world.

Repairing Flooded Carpet: A cheap job is a good job right? Wrong….

2010 August 18
by squadron

Don’t have an unprofessional 24 hour carpet cleaner try to repair your carpets with water damage. These are the cautions you have to be watchful of:

Overcharging. An unprofessional water restoration carpet cleaner may build the job up with unnecessary extras. E.g. using dehumidification to dry the flooded carpets is not needed.

Not using the correct equipment. They might hire equipment from hire places for the carpet. This is acceptable, but a professional water damage technician will possess all their equipment so they provide a speedy response and hopefully a better value job.

Proper moisture metre. If they don’t have the choice moisture meter, they won’t be able to know if the carpet is fixed. This increases the danger of future mould. Removal of the mould would then be required in the future.

Specialisation. There are many “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do water damage restoration repairs on the “side.” i.e. they don’t take on this kind of work everyday. Be wary of that. Repairing water damage to carpets is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips is best to be taken on by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be damaged incontrovertibly.

You could be asking, how do I locate a credible Flood Restoration professional? Below I have selected some signifiers to look for when you are calling around for a carpet flood damage business:

The size of their Yellow Pages advertisement: This can indicate how much business they are doing already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost upwards of $50 000. When they have paid for a large ad, you have some assurance that they are professionals.

Where do they come up in Google? The higher they are in Google, the more “online votes” there have been for the business.

What Qualifications do they have? The foundational qualification they require is a IICRC qualification about Applied Structural Drying and Water Damage Restoration.

Do Insurance companies hire them for their water damage jobs? This is a great indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is very likely to be superb at their skill. Insurance companies will use the providers that offer them the top value for their money.

What Equipment do they have? They should own at least 100 Air movers. If they possess this many, this means they have been up and running for a while. Our business took 8 years to build up that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What type of commitment can you get for them by calling over the phone? Ask if you can pin them down to a set fee for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they wouldn’t give you a package for this at the least, you know they are not going to serve you, so look elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage Brisbane business operates to a 59 minute response time for a water damage emergency. The restoration needs to be attended to ASAP. Mould can appear during a 24 hour period.

If you follow these tips you are sure to find a Flood Damage Restoration company who knows how to do the job.

If you have carpet water damage Brisbane, call us for flooded wet carpet drying. Brisbane storm season is approaching and you may need storm damage carpet cleaning. Brisbane and surrounding areas serviced.

Podiatry as a Career in Australia

2010 August 13

As a practicing podiatrist in Brisbane, Australia, I am often asked by parents if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to contemplate . There are many things to recommend a career in podiatry including:

  • You can be self employed: This is a prospect that is increasingly being denied to other health care providers such as optometrists and even Family Doctors. Big Business controls a lot of health practices. Consider how often you see an independent optometrist these days – can they compete on price with the multinational chains?
  • Legal Issues: In Australia (unlike the USA where things are very different), podiatrists very, very rarely get sued . The nature of podiatry practice does not lend itself to accidentally harming one’s patients. Also, you never have to give your patients the bad news that their condition will be terminal.
  • Working Hours: Emergency call outs are very unlikely. This is a desirable fact for those among us who like their sleep uninterrupted.
  • Financial Reward: Whilst it is true that podiatry doesn’t pay as well as being a medical practitioner or dentist , the salary is generally commensurate with other allied health providers.
  • Instant Gratification: One of the most fulfilling aspects of working as podiatrist is the instant gratification! People come in with pain and leave happy. You will see a plethora of bite-sized jobs each day, many with a cure you can provide immediately. From someone that has worked with unanimously grumpy customers in a past career, believe me when I tell you, it makes the day much more rewarding when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will allow you plenty of opportunity to help resolve the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatryallows a practitioner the power to determine their own course of action for the benefit of their patients. This is unlike a career in nursing for example where one acts under the direction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can work as a podiatrist are those with a podiatry degree . The clear roles that this defines relieves the requirement to find your ‘niche’ after university – as someone with a more generic Bachelor of Science degree might need to do.
  • Like to travel? There are many places around the world that do not make their own podiatrists including Tasmania, the Northern Territory, all of Asia and all of the Middle East. If you want to work your way around the world, Australian podiatrists can be registered in any Commonwealth country and are particularly in demand in Singapore, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and other far flung fields.
  • Variety: In any given day, a podiatrist will see a big range of complaints. There may be an ingrown toenail or two, a painful corn, a sports injury, some sacroiliac pain and at least a couple of painful arches . The key to being a good podiatrist is to be a great problem solver. Each patient is an individual with a unique problem requiring a well considered solution.

How do you train as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist which can be studied at available fromsix Australian Universities:

  • Curtin University
  • La Trobe University
  • Charles Sturt University
  • Queensland University of Technology
  • University of South Australia
  • University of Western Sydney.

Last year, the entry score for the QUT was OP 8.

Stephanie Cosgrove graduated as a podiatrist from QUT in 1990 and with a Master’s degree in Applied Science (Podiatry) in 1996. Since 1991, she has worked in private practice as a Podiatrist Brisbane. She received three university prizes during her studies, including the award for excellence in design and manufacture of orthotics. Brisbane has been the site of her private practice since 1991 which has grown to four locations and eleven staff. If you want to Walk Without Pain consider a visit to Brisbane’s most innovative podiatry practice today. Call for an appointment now on 1300 A1 Feet.

Eight Steps to Great Web Design

2010 August 7
by squadron

Take control of getting your site created by a developer and know the process it will save you money and attain you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Comprehending your business and how you are currently established in your market.
In order to establish a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full understanding of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to examine how you want to explain your business and what it offers in 7 seconds or less. Sounds impossible? Well that is the average time that a user will consider the point “is this site I searched for?”.

2. Budget and estimation
Have a budget in mind and don’t be afraid to let the developers know what it is. In saying this: BE REALISTIC, $500 will never see a great web site created, nor will they be anything left in the bank to market it.

3. The creative process
Be armed with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can get an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will build a good profile and realise not only what type of site to construct for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for efficient development. The more interaction and information you allow them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by getting what you want 1st time round. Check with the designers on how many rounds of changes come with the contract, most will allow for a total conceptual redesign only once and 2 rounds of changes after that.

4. Production and Content
After the home page design is made, the developers will more than likely acquire the general layout of this concept and then create the inner page template. It is this template that will be repeated for most of your pages for your site.
Submit your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t become too creative with the document fonts etc. as these will not be preserved when the content is copied into the code of the site. It is preferred that you do use bolding, underlining, headings and sub heading though ,as these highlights are transferred into the site and are very important later on in not only interacting with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; formulate a decent amount of content but provide it in a way that a reader may acquire a summary of what you are trying to infer across in the 1st couple of paragraphs and an image or to. The rest of the paragraphs that get into finer details ARE FOR GOOGLE !

5. Development Programming and CMS
If your website contains Content Managed Areas (CMS) or has any other dynamic sections the developers will wrap your design around a content management program such as Joomla or Drupal or they may have a custom built system. Make sure that you get to see how the CMS system works on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. You need to know that you can use and comprehend the system when your site is complete.

6. Testing and training
We work closely with the developers to test your site especially if there are any CMS or special programs that have been made for you. You can guarantee if it is has just been written for you then it will not operate 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program works and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, chances are it won’t make sense to your audience. Make sure you test your website on more than just your browser, try to test it on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. All of these browsers are on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to make your site onlive make sure you have completed the above testing step until you are certain that this website is the best representation of your business / product it can be. Remember even though you can change things after going live it is still a poor reflection on your business if there are spelling mistakes or broken images when you launch.

8. Marketing
There is little point in having a website if nobody visits it, make sure as part of you contract you have considered search engine optimisation and or search engine marketing as part of your website build. This is the absolute most important factor of the whole process. If you are the only one looking at your site then you are in trouble.

Remember Search Engine Optimisation is about 30% Onsite (getting your site correct for Search Engine to index correctly) and 70% Promotion. Any developer who tells you otherwise hasn’t been in the industry too long.

For more information about web design Brisbane, contact Web Site Blue. Our web designers understand marketing as well as design.

Tips to Creating a New Business Logo

2010 August 6

A logo is a crucial step to creating a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face conveys the tone of your business, indicates the service and screams the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the creation of their logo and walk away with no artwork files. Then a couple months down the track when they require to put signage on their new building they cannot track the design studio down that created the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it redone. This is unnecessary and may cause difficulties when trying to recreate the logo exactly as determined originally.

We have created some basic tips you for to think about when creating a logo. Hopefully these will help you from experiencing any future difficulties.

Tip 1
First things first – you need to decide if you would like your logo to have an accompanying icon. It is hinted that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in getting a clear message across to your target audience.

An icon can add an extra element to your branding in that you could use the icon on its own on collateral where perhaps you are sighting for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A good example of this is the well-known and executed Nike logo.

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

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

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Ensure you have a copy of your logo as a PDF – with the text converted to curves.

Tip 4
Using images in your logo is not very easy to manage. For example it is hard to to reverse into black and white. Images also have limitations when it comes to size – they can only be reproduced to a certain size before they start pixilation.

Tip 5
Using gradients in your logo is not recommended. This too can have limitations when it comes to output for ie: gradients are hard to reproduce when embroidering fabrics.

Tip 6
Assure sure the font is legible. Some logos need to be reproduced on small pieces of collateral ie: post stamps. It is important that in this case the text is
legible.

Tip 7
Make sure that you accept a copy of your logo in CMYK high resolution 300 dpi (for printing use) and RGB 72 dpi(for web use).

Tip 8
It is important to have a style guide of your logo. It will clearly show you how to use your logo so it looks exactly the same every time it is reproduced. This allows you to keep your corporate image consistent.

Tip 9
Make sure that you get a letter from the design studio declaring that you own the copyright to your logo.

If you follow these tips then not only will you accept a well-designed logo but you will also own the artwork. And when it comes to reproducing your collateral you will be doing it the most cost effective way.

For logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today for a free two hour consultation.

How to Create a Style Guide

2010 July 31
by squadron

How many times have you dispatched business cards to print and picked up yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been thrilled to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then spotted that the crucial tag line is nowhere to be found or your logo has been ruined.

There is only one way to stop this from happening and that is to create a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you direct the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you strengthen your brand recognition – which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.

We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.

Step 1 : Mark the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to use in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?

Step 2 : Mark what your output uses are. This is important because you will want different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.

Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may wantcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

Content rules cover all punctuation rules and how to refer to the business and team.

Step 4 : Ensure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding lies on all the different pieces of collateral that may be reproduced.

Step 5 : Assure to include any contributing logos or logos of business that are associated with you. It’s also important that you deliver a copy of the layout to these companies to ensure they accept the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.

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

Step 7 : Assure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they understand~know~discern~apprehend} that a proof needs to be dispatched~sent~mailed~commissioned}to you to be approved as correct.

Have your Style Guide completed and as secure as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly advise a training session – whereby your design studio comes in and trains your staff on how to put to work the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

For graphic design Brisbane, logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today. We help your brand build business.

Projectors: LCD Verses DLP (The downfall of DLP technology)

2010 July 19

The most typical question that is asked when acquiring a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: would I buy an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, standing for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, an acronym for ‘digital light processing’ are the two most popular projector imaging technologies. With so many brands and different types available, it can be challenging for consumers to make a decision between these technologies. The fact is that LCD projectors provide far superior image quality and colour accuracy. The next part of this article will explain why DLP projectors struggle with reproducing the same rate of image quality.

Imagine a set of blinds in your room on your bedroom window. By pulling on a rod you can have the shutters open or closed, depending on whether you want to let light in or not. And this is exactly how an LCD projector works. Each pixel works like a unique shutter on a set of blinds to either allow light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is created of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as pros like to call them. Each pixel element operates to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the point at which the projector turns on to when the content reaches your screen is absolutely significant to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors process white light from the lamp by dividing it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which direct the coloured light to 3 individual LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels make the elements of the image by switching each pixel on and off. The pixels are then simultaneously processed in a glass prism to send the projector image. A point to understad about LCD projectors is that all three colours are projected onto your projector screen all at the same time. The way a DLP projector operates is totally different and even how an image appears is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is processed through a spinning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This approach to making an image forms a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to form the image elements. The elements of the image are displayed in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eye will then put together each coloured element of the image into the single whole image. In LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to deliver the best brightness and spectacular colour accuracy. In DLP, just one colour is available at a time, causing lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some designers have placed a white segment for the colour wheel to improve brightness generally, but this further damages colour accuracy.

I see in forums all the time that DLP has a higher contrast ratio and thus must be better. For those unaware, the contrast ratio is a measure of a display system defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest white to that of the darkest black that the projector is capable of producing. DLP projectors do provide high contrast specifications when compared to a majority of LCD projectors. At first glance, this must be a plus, however, in reality, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room when the projector is in use. Do not be hoodwinked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you want to view includes moving images, DLP projection technology also has image marks, or ‘artifacts’. The most commonplace artifact that a DLP projector displays with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is unavoidable in DLP systems because moving images change between the time red, blue and green colours are projected. LCD projectors do not have this disadvantage because every colour is delivered simultaneously. DLP developers have come up with 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to fix the colour break up artifacts, but the expense of these projectors make them impractical for the large part of businesses and consumers.

Another point of difference between LCD and DLP is how they match the balance for the refractive qualities of light. Jump back to high school science, and remember when they taught you how various colours of light refract different amounts when passing through the same lens. The problem with DLP projectors is that they use the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are obviously different and refract light in a different way. Usually with a DLP projector, some yellow colour will appear above and a spill of blue will come up below something as simple as a lone black line. During manufacturing LCD projectors can be fixed to remove these effects on the projected image, as each colour is directed on separate LCD panels.

The only real advantage (excluding price) with choosing a DLP projector is its smaller total size and weight. However, this is only relevant to transport and has to be traded off against the image benefits of LCD projectors. If the result of the picture quality is crucial to you, then the answer is no-brainer. Choose an LCD projector! LCD projectors will constantly make bright, colourful images with fewer image imperfections. If you desire to ask more about LCD technology in more detail, see this fabulous resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any further questions, get onto Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager at Projector Central, Australia’s top online shop for projectors. Brisbane based, Projector Central has been serving Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in Brisbane and Interactive Whiteboards, contact Projector Central today.

Yachting and Yacht Clubs

2010 July 16

As the Dutch came to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the first yacht became a pleasure craft used mostly by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals as well as the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Yacht racing was incidental, coming out of private challenges. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English monarchy in 1660, the city of Amsterdam gave him a 20-metre (66-foot) leisure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, ruled 1685–88), made additional yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and returning, on a £100 bet. Yachting rose as popular among the affluent and aristocracy, but after that period the fashion did not last.

The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, and held much naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club persisted, for the large part as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by merging with other organisations, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some organized method on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland instigated the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV ascended to monarchy in 1820, it was then known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing dispute, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht group had been formed at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal funding made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continued setting of British yacht racing. The club at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the rise of George IV. Every member was required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing tests for great bets were held, and the social life was lovely. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to bigger than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting was first accomplished with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English took power. Sailing was largely for fun and found its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and created a minimum of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was started in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens founded the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts followed the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the later half of the 19th century. The craft of bigger yachts was first greatly put upon by the success of America, which was drawn by George Steers for a association led by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) found its namesake after its win at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with merely a model used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was labeled naval architecture come into being. Not until the 1920s did the application of the study of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what science had done earlier for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had to be individually built, there was a need for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were made. Therefore, a rating rule came into being, which ended up in the International Rule, adopted in 1906 and edited in 1919. Today, one of the most rapidly flourishing areas in sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to the same dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other elements (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing such boats can be had on an even par with no handicapping at all. A prime example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting was an activity largely for the aristocracy and the rich, expense was no problem, and the size of boats increased, in both length and weight. The promotion and preference of smaller boats occurred in the second half of the 19th century out of the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A voyage around the world (1895–98) led single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray made plain the hardiness of smaller yachts. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure craft became more popular, down to the dinghy, a preferred training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, during which steam began to take the place of sail power in public craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly used in personal vessels. Bigger power yachts were developed to a high standard, and long-distance sailing turned into a favoured occupation of the well off. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then made way to those powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. Like naval and merchant craft, auxiliaries carrying both sail and power were the yacht standard for many years. By the second half of the 20th century, a lot of yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were only power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

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

As bigger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were developed, many bigger boats began using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, advanced in World War I. In the decade after, big power-yacht creation blossomed, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that point the largest auxiliary yacht manufactured was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The manufacture of larger power boats fell away from 1932, and the fashion after that was in preference of smaller, less expensive craft. Following World War II, many small naval vessels were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread popular competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally owning and keeping their own small recreational craft. The popularity of boats and yachtsmen has increased steadily, not only in the traditional locations along the beach but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

2010 July 8

Taxes are categorized by the effect they have on the placement of income and wealth. A proportional tax is the kind that places the same relative burden on every taxpayer—i.e., where tax liability and income grow in equal scale. A progressive tax is characterizable by a higher than proportional rise in the tax liability in relation to the rise in income, and a regressive tax is characterized by a less than proportional increase in the relative onus. Hence, progressive taxes are thought of as fighting a lack of equality in income distribution, but regressive taxes are believed to result in an increase these inequalities.

The taxes that are generally considered progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are categorically progressive, however, might become less so in the upper-income categories—especially if a taxpayer is permitted to lessen his tax base by declaring deductions or by removing certain income parts from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates which are applied to lower-income demographics will also be more progressive if exemptions of a personal nature are claimed.

Income measured over a given year may not definitely offer the most suitable measure of taxpaying requirements. For example, transitory growth in income can be saved, and in temporary declines in income a taxpayer could elect to finance consumption by reducing savings. Thus, if taxation is regarded alongside “permanent income,” it will be less regressive (or more progressive) than if compared with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (save luxuries) are mostly regressive, because the share of own income consumed or spent for specific goods declines as the amount of personal income grows. Poll taxes (aka head taxes), nominated as a set amount per capita, patently are regressive.

It is not simple to dictate corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally because of the uncertainty surrounding the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of deciding who bears the tax burden is dependant crucially on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being debated.

In analysing the economic purpose of taxation, it is important to differentiate between differing concepts of tax rates. The statutory rates will be dictated in the legislation; generally these are marginal rates, but for some cases they are mean rates. Marginal income tax rates indicate the fraction of incremental income that is demanded by taxation when income grows by one dollar. Ergo, if tax burden rises by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax laws often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income grows. Structured analysis of marginal tax rates must take into account provisions apart from the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) declines by 20 cents for each one-dollar rise in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points more than specified in the statutory rates. Since marginal rates signify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the appropriate ones for assessing incentive effects of taxation. It is even more complicated to understand the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, as it may be dependant on such factors as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem shows that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is zero under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates indicate the part of total income that is paid in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for judging the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate grows with income. Average income tax rates generally increase with income, both because personal allowances are allowed for the taxpayer and dependents and due to that marginal tax rates are graduated; on the other hand, preferential treatment of income received fundamentally by high-income households can dwarf these effects, allowing regressivity, as displayed by average tax rates that lower as income increases.

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