Tents and Marquees

2010 September 2
by squadron

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are for when you want to make a splendid 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 splendid
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 lively 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 dataabout 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 amazing, 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 rudimentry
and your budget may be tight. 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 range of sizes, and colours. Most plain colour Tents s range between $995- $2900. If you are keen to advertise yourself, you can have your names printed for around $150-$300. Printing logos usually cost a little more.

In the last 5 years, portable Tents have become important to businesses for their marketing. The key need for these buyers is a prominent and exact reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as boring 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 designing 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 brilliant array of astounding landscapes. Like enormous mountain ranges, majestic coastlines, abundant rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These panoramic wonders have all made New Zealand an inspired 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 outstanding online specialist travel operator and provides fantastic 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 scenic locations on the globe. Throughout the year adventurous and exciting 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 request 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. Larger 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 beautiful 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 great 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 majesticcountryside surrounding the city.

Auckland
Auckland, also known as the City of Sails, is situated 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 sweet life in the casino, surfing at lots of beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and luxurious 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 majestic, 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 fantastic holidaying experience. Visitors to Auckland adore visiting the Antarctic Encounter, which showcases the only penguins present in the sub-Antarctic region. More encounters 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 allow an amateur 24 hour carpet cleaner come to repair your carpets with water damage. These are the things you need to be careful of:

Overcharging. An amateur water restoration carpet cleaner may build the job up with superfluous inclusions. E.g. using dehumidification on the water damaged carpets isn’t always necessary.

Using the correct equipment. They may borrow equipment from hire companies to dry the carpet. This is all right, but an established water damage technician will own all their equipment to enable a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

Proper moisture metre. If they don’t have the choice moisture meter, they will not be able to know when the carpet is repaired. This enhances the problem of future mould growth. Removal of this may be required in the future.

Specialised. There are a lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do restoration jobs on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t the ones who take on this kind of task every day. Be careful of that. Repairing water damage to carpets is an art. Taking carpet off the gripper strips then reinstalling them needs to be done by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be permanently damaged.

You could be wondering, how do I locate a proper Flood Restoration techinician? Below I have selected some signifiers to check for when hunting around for a carpet flood damage business:

The size of their Yellow Pages advertisement: This can indicate how much repair work they are doing already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost more than $50 000. So if they have got a large ad, you can have some expectation that they will deliver the goods.

Where do they rank in Google? The higher they rate in Google, the more webpage clicks there have been for the business.

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

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

What kind of Equipment do they have? They should at least own 100 Air movers. If they own this many, this shows they have been established for a good while. We took 8 years to build up that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What sort of commitment can you get for them with a phone call? See if you can pin them down to a price for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they can’t give you a fee for this only, you know they are not interested in serving you, so go elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage Brisbane business commits to a 59 minute response time to water damage emergency. The repair needs to be done ASAP. Mould can grow during a 24 hour period.

If you focus on these tips you are sure to get a Flood Damage Restoration business who knows what they are doing.

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 frequently asked by patients if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to consider . There are many things to recommend a career in podiatry including:

  • You can be self employed: This is a choice that is increasingly being denied to other health care providers such as optometrists and even General Practitioners . 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 clients the bad news that their condition will be terminal.
  • Working Hours: Emergency call outs are very unlikely. This is good news 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 doctor or dentist , the remuneration is generally commensurate with other allied health providers.
  • Instant Gratification: One of the best facets of being a podiatrist is the instant gratification! People come in with pain and leave happy. You will experience 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 less stressful when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will afford you plenty of opportunity to help relieve the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatry provides a professional 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 demarcates relieves the need to find your ‘niche’ after university – as someone with a more generic Bachelor of Science degree might need to do.
  • Do you like to travel? There are many places across the world that do not produce their own podiatrists including Tasmania, the Northern Territory, all of Asia and all of the Middle East. If you want to travel the world, Australian podiatrists can be registered in any Commonwealth country and are especially in demand in Singapore, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and other far flung fields.
  • Variety: In any given day, a podiatrist will see a great range of complaints. There might be an ingrown toenail or two, a debilitating corn, a sporting injury, some back pain and at least a couple of painful heels . The key to being a good podiatrist is to bea good problem solver. Each patient is an individual with a unique complaint requiring a well considered solution.

How do you become a qualified as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist requires six 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 produced by a developer and comprehend the process it will save you money and get you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Knowing your business and how you are currently established in your market.
In order to author 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 loaded with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can attain 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 identify not only what type of site to actualize 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 accord them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by achieving 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 created, the developers will more than likely acquire the general layout of this concept and then formulate the inner page template. It is this template that will be repeated for most of your pages for your site.
Provide your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t get too creative with the document fonts etc. as these will not be kept 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 establishing with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; formulate a decent amount of content but present it in a way that a reader may achieve 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. it is essential that you know that you can utilize and know 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 operates and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, odds 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 bring your site onlive make sure you have completed the above testing step until you are pleased 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 discussed 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 imperative step to building a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face expresses the tone of your business, indicates the service and reveals the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the formation of their logo and walk away with no artwork files. Then a couple months down the track when they need to put signage on their new building they cannot track the design studio down that formulated the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it recreated. This is unnecessary and may cause complications when trying to replecate 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 obstacles.

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 conveying 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 looking for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A perfect example of this is the well-known and executed Fedex logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an essential decision as it not only could influence the output costs but can also margin your output use. Think about the end result and what you will be putting your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Make sure you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and assure that it includes all the files needed for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Insure 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 regulate. For example it is difficult 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
readable

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 graphic design Brisbane 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 received yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been fired up to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then caught that the crucial tag line is gone or your logo has been squashed.

There is only one way to prevent this from happening and that is to set up a style guide. Not only will a style guide help you steer the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you sustain 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 work 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 need 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 attribute 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 reprinted.

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

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

Step 7 : Make certain 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 affirmed as correct.

Make your Style Guide finished and as tight as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly suggest a training session – whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to use 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 buying a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: do I purchase an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, which stands for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, short for ‘digital light processing’ are the two top projector imaging technologies. With so many company brands and different types available, it can be overwhelming for consumers to pick between these technologies. It comes down to the fact that LCD projectors offer superior image quality and colour accuracy. The article below tells you why DLP projectors struggle with bringing up a comparable grade of image quality.

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

How the light source is processed from the point at which the projector is turned on to when the image reaches your screen is ultimately significant with regard to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors shine white light from the lamp by cutting it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which direct the coloured light to 3 individual LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels form the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then simultaneously processed in a glass prism to form the projector image. Something important to remember about LCD projectors is that all three colours are delivered onto your screen at the same time. The way a DLP projector functions is widely different and even the produced image appears is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is processed through a turning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This approach to creating an image forms a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors as described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to produce the image elements. The elements of the image are projected in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s vision will then combine each coloured element of the image into a complete image. With LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to deliver the top level of brightness and superb colour accuracy. In DLP, just one colour is available at any given time, resulting in lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some DLP developers have placed a white segment in the colour wheel to improve general brightness, but this further damages colour accuracy.

I hear in forums all the time that DLP provides a higher contrast ratio and as such 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 technology is capable of producing. DLP projectors do have high contrast specifications in comparison to a majority of LCD projectors. Initially, this must be a plus, however, in real life, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room when the projector is being used. Do not be tricked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you plan to project needs moving images, DLP projection technology also creates image marks, or ‘artifacts’. The most typical 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 displayed. LCD projectors do not have this characteristic because all colours are processed simultaneously. DLP developers have come up with 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to resolve the colour break up problem, but the cost of these projectors make them hardly practical for many businesses and consumers.

Another difference between LCD and DLP is how they match the balance for the refractive qualities of light. Think back to high school science, and remember when they taught you how different colours of light refract varied amounts when projected through the same lens. The downfall with DLP projectors is that they have the one same panel and the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are obviously not the same and refract light in a different way. Usually with a DLP projector, some yellow colour will be projected above and a spill of blue will be projected below an image containing something as simple as a lone black line. During manufacturing LCD projectors can be adapted to remove these effects on the projected image, because each colour is directed on isolated LCD panels.

The one true plus (excluding price) with taking a DLP projector is its smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant to mobility and cannot be traded off against the image plusses of LCD projectors. If the result of the picture quality is crucial to you, then the solution is a no-brainer. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will consistently show bright, colourful images with fewer image errors. If you need to find out more about LCD technology in more detail, check out this fantastic resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any more questions, visit Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager with Projector Central, Australia’s number one online store for projectors. Brisbane based, Projector Central has been servicing 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 preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht had been a pleasure craft used initially by royalty and later by the burghers for the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, arising as private challenges. English yachting started with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his return to the English royalty in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he called Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, ruled 1685–88), ordered for more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 punt. Yachting became classy with the rich and aristocracy, but after that period the habit did not last.

The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was instigated in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, with much naval panoply and gravity. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club endured, for the large part as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, after conglomerating with other clubs, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing began in some organized fashion on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV rose to sovereignty in 1820, it was then known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded after a racing argument, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht society 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 continuing setting of British racing. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, also at the ascension of George IV. Each member was required to have boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing tests for large bets were held, and the social life was splendid. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to bigger than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English gained dominance. Sailing was for the most part for fun and reached its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and set a benchmark of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in the area from the late 19th century. The first enduring American yacht group, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens began the New York Yacht Club while on board his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The first 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 style of bigger yachts was first greatly impacted by the success of America, which was created by George Steers for a association started by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) was named after its win at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and manufactured in a contemporary sense, with just a model used. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was labeled naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the employment of the study of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what science had previously done for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats were individually custom-built, there was a desire for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were made. Therefore, a rating rule was created, which is found in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and edited in 1919. In modern times, one of the most rapidly flourishing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to standard requirements in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing such boats can be held on an even basis with no handicapping required. A great example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on board for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

As long as yachting was done largely for the nobility and the affluent, expense was no object, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The promotion and popularity of smaller craft came in the later 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) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray demonstrated the hardiness of small yachts. Thereafter in the 20th century, notably after World War II, smaller racing and recreational craft became more popular, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, craft of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
After the decade 1840–50, at which point steam began to replace sail power in market vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed more and more in pleasure boats. Large power yachts were furthered to a high degree, and long-distance cruising was a favourite activity of the affluent. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; they then gave rise to yachts powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht standard for many years. By the later half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were solely power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

In the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the design of more sizeable steam yachts. Notably among 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 over 150. The Mayflower, bought 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 larger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were developed, many large craft were using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, employing heavy oil for fuel, was furthered for World War I. From the decade following, big power-yacht building flourished, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that point the biggest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The building of large power yachts declined after 1932, and the trend from then was toward smaller, less costly craft. After World War II, many small naval boats were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting had become a globally loved competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually manning and maintaining their own small recreational boats. The popularity of yachts and yachtsmen increased steadily, not only in the traditional locations by the beach but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

2010 July 8

Taxes can be differentiated by the impact they have on the allocation of income and wealth. A proportional tax is the kind that impinges the same relative onus on each taxpayer—i.e., when tax liability and income move in relative scale. A progressive tax is characterizable by a greater than proportional increase in the tax liability relative to the rise in income, and a regressive tax is recognised by a less than proportional rise in the comparative burden. Ergo, progressive taxes are seen as reducing a lack of equality in income distribution, while regressive taxes might increase these inequalities.

The taxes that are generally regarded as progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are initially progressive, however, could become less so in the upper-income categories—particularly if a taxpayer is permitted to lessen his tax base by nominating deductions or by removing particular income elements from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates when applied to lower-income classes can also be more progressive if such personal exemptions are made.

Income measured over a given year might not necessarily offer the best measure of taxpaying status. For example, transitory rises in income could be saved, and within temporary declines in income a taxpayer could elect to finance consumption by reducing savings. Therefore, if taxation is compared along with “permanent income,” it should be less regressive (or more progressive) than when it is held in comparison with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (excepting luxuries) tend to be regressive, because the dissemination of individual income consumed or spent on a specific good lowers as the amount of personal income rises. Poll taxes (also called head taxes), calculated as a flat amount per capita, obviously are regressive.

It is complicated to classify corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally because of a lack of certainty regarding the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of dictating who bears the tax burden is dependant for the most part on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being determined.

In assessing the economic purpose of taxation, it is necessary to distinguish between various ideas of tax rates. The statutory rates are those nominated in the law; generally these are marginal rates, but occasionally they are average rates. Marginal income tax rates signify the fraction of incremental income that is taken by taxation when income rises by one dollar. So, if tax onus grows by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax regulations usually contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that increase as income grows. Careful analysis of marginal tax rates need to review provisions as well as the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) falls by 20 cents for each one-dollar rise in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points higher than nominated by the statutory rates. Since marginal rates specify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the appropriate ones for regarding incentive effects of taxation. It is even more complicated to realise the marginal effective tax rate applied to income from business and capital, because it may depend on such considerations as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem holds that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is nil under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates indicate the part of total income that is taken in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for assessing the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate grows with income. Average income tax rates generally rise with income, both because personal allowances are permitted for the taxpayer and dependents and due to that marginal tax rates are graduated; on the flip side, preferential treatment of income received for the most part by high-income households can swamp these effects, forcing regressivity, as indicated by average tax rates that decrease as income increases.

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