Tents and Marquees

2010 September 2
by squadron

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are used 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 fantastic
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 fun 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 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 rudimentry
and your budget may be tight. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a solid warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a selection 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 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 dull as a website address or they can be a design extravaganza.

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, sweeping coastlines, lush rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These picturesque wonders have all made New Zealand an appealing destination for all kinds of holidays.

Fantastic travel packages and holiday specials are available on quality accommodation in modern city hotels and luxurious wilderness lodges at reduced prices. Among the top holiday cities in New Zealand, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland would definitely be there. Travel Online is a prominent online specialist travel operator and provides wonderful 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 cutting-edge 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 wonderful Victoria Square, across the transfixing Avon River or towards the epochal Anglican Cathedral. Situated on New Zealand’s South Island, this cosmopolitan city is always abuzz with fantastic 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. Huge 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 brilliantcountryside 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 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 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 breathtaking, 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 wonderful 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 a novice 24 hour carpet cleaner come to repair your water damaged carpets. These are the things you have to be aware of:

Overcharging. An inexperienced water restoration carpet cleaner may pack the job up with unnecessary inclusions. E.g. using dehumidification on the flooded carpets may not be needed.

Not having the correct equipment. They might borrow equipment from hire businesses for drying the carpet. This is ok to do, but an established water damage restorer will have all their equipment so they provide a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

The right moisture metre. If they don’t have the right moisture meter, they will not be able to see whether the carpet is repaired. This furthers the problem of future mould growth. Mould removal would then be required.

They are not Specialised. There are a whole lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do water damage repair work on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t those who complete this sort of repair everyday. Be careful of them. Repairing carpets is an art. Taking carpet off the gripper strips then reinstalling them should be done by a professional, otherwise it can be damaged incontrovertibly.

You might be wondering, how do I find a proper Flood Restoration professional? Below I have listed some pointers to look out for when you hunt around for a carpet flood damage business:

How large is their Yellow Pages ad: This can be a sign of how much repair work they have already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost about $50 000. If they have got a larger ad, you have some promise that they will deliver the goods.

Where do they show in Google? The higher the rank in Google, the more click-ins there have been for the business.

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

Do Insurance companies hire them for carpet water damage jobs? This is a better indicator. If insurance companies use them, the business is probably going to be good at their skill. Insurance companies generally use the providers that provide them the best value for money.

What Equipment do they have? They should own at minimum 100 Air movers. If they have this many, this shows they have been going for some time. It took our business 8 years to own that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What type of commitment can you get for them on the phone? See if you can pin them down to a rate for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they can’t give you a rate for this in the least, you know they are not interested in serving you, so look elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage Brisbane business commits to a 59 minute response time for a water damage emergency. The business needs to be completed ASAP. Mould can come in a 24 hour period.

If you go by these tips you are sure to locate a Flood Damage Restoration company 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 often asked by clients 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 prospect that is increasingly being denied to other health care providers such as optometrists and even GPs . 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 face litigation . The nature of podiatry practice does not lend itself to accidentally harming one’s patients. Also, you never have to give your customers the bad news that their condition will be terminal.
  • Working Hours: Emergency call outs are very unlikely. This is great 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 dentist or medical practitioner, the pay is generally commensurate with other allied health providers.
  • Instant Gratification: One of the best facets of a career as 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 provide you an abundance of opportunity to help resolve the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatry affords a clinician 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 instruction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can hold themselves out to be a podiatrist are those with a podiatry qualification. The clear roles that this demarcates 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 produce their own podiatrists including Tasmania, the Northern Territory, all of Asia and all of the Middle East. If you want to work around the the world, Australian podiatrists can work 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 lower back pain and at least a couple of painful arches . The primary skill required in being a good podiatrist is to bea good problem solver. Every patient is an individual with a unique condition requiring a well considered solution.

How do you train as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist means 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 established by a developer and understand the process it will save you money and gain you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Comprehending your business and how you are currently positioned in your market.
In order to formulate a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full knowledge of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to acknowledge 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 furnished with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can achieve 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 build 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 bestow 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 construct the inner page template. It is this template that will be duplicated for most of your pages for your site.
Present your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t get 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 suggested that you do use bolding, underlining, headings and sub heading though ,as these highlights are transferred into the site and are crucial 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 formulate it in a way that a reader may achieve a summary of what you are trying to present 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 operate on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. it is essential that you know that you can utilize and understand 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 created 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, 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 put your site onlive make sure you have finished 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 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 decisive 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 demonstrates 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 require 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 needless and may cause obstacles when trying to recreate the logo exactly as completed 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 advised that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will assist in portraying 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 Fedex logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an crucial decision as it not only could affect the output costs but can also hinder your output use. Consider the end result and what you will be commiting 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 ensure that it includes all the files required for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Confirm 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 accomplish. 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
Make certain 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
Confirm that you get 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 get 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 commissioned business cards to print and procured yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been thrilled to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then recognized that the crucial tag line is missing or your logo has been wrecked.

There is only one way to stop this from happening and that is to use a style guide. Not only will a style guide help you steer the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you bolster 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 : Outline 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 requirecopy 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 : Make sure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding sits on all the different pieces of collateral that may be reproduced.

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

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

Step 7 : Insure 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.

Make your Style Guide completed 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 advocate a training session – whereby your design studio comes in and trains your staff on how 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 common question customers ask when looking for a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: should I get an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, an acronym for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, short for ‘digital light processing’ are the two top projector imaging technologies. With so many brands and models available, it can be difficult for customers to make a choice between these technologies. Ultimately LCD projectors offer far superior image quality and colour accuracy. The following article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with reproducing the same level of image quality.

It’s like a set of blinds in your home on your bedroom window. By twisting a rod you can make the shutters open or closed, according to if you want to let light in or not. And that is exactly how an LCD projector functions. Each pixel functions like a unique shutter on a set of blinds to either send light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is formed of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as professionals like to call them. Each pixel element operates to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from when the projector is turned on to when the content reaches your screen is ultimately significant to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors shine white light from the lamp by splitting it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which direct the coloured light to 3 separate LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels cast the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then projected in a glass prism to create the projector image. A significant point to realise about LCD projectors is that all three colours are projected onto your projector screen simultaneously. The way a DLP projector functions is very 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 projecting an image requires a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors mentioned above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to create the image elements. The elements of the image are cast in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eye will then draw each coloured element of the image into the single complete image. With LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to deliver the best brightness and great colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at a time, and so resulting in lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some designers have put a white segment into the colour wheel to improve brightness overall, but this further damages colour accuracy.

I read in forums all the time that DLP offers a higher contrast ratio and as such must be better quality. For those who are uncertain, 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 able to produce. DLP projectors do possess high contrast specifications in comparison to a majority of LCD projectors. At one glance, this seems to be an advantage, however, in the real world, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room where the projector is in use. Do not be fooled by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you want to bring to life has moving images, DLP projection technology can also create image imperfections, or ‘artifacts’. The most commonplace artifact that a DLP projector shows with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is inherent in DLP systems because moving images change up between the time red, blue and green colours are pulled up. LCD projectors do not have this disadvantage because all the colours are projected at once. DLP developers have developed 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to answer the colour break up artifacts, but the price of these projectors make them hardly practical for the majority of businesses and consumers.

Another differentiation between LCD and DLP is how they match the balance for the refractive qualities of light. Take yourself back to high school science, and remember how various colours of light refract different amounts when shone through the same lens. The downside with DLP projectors is that they use the one same panel for the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are different and refract light in different ways. Often with a DLP projector, some extra yellow colour will appear above and some blue will appear below something as simple as a single black line. In building LCD projectors can be set to take away these effects on the projected image, as each colour is projected on a separate LCD panels.

The one real buy point (excluding price) with choosing a DLP projector is its smaller total size and weight. However, this is only relevant with regard to mobility and needs to be traded off against the image advantages of LCD projectors. If resulting picture quality is crucial to you, then the choice is simple. Choose an LCD projector! LCD projectors will definitely create bright, colourful images with fewer image mistakes. If you need to ask more about LCD technology in more detail, see this spectacular resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any additional questions, visit Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager for Projector Central, Australia’s leading online shop 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 rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht was a leisure craft used mostly by royalty and secondly by the burghers for the canals and the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, coming out of private games. English yachting began 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 sent him a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure 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), built additional yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 wager. Yachting became classy among the rich and aristocracy, but after that period the trend did not last.

The first yacht club in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, with great naval panoply and gravity. The closest thing to racing boats was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club went on, mostly as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by merging with other organisations, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing began in some stipulated method on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to the throne in 1820, it was named 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 group had been formed at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal sponsorship made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continuing site of British yachting. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the accession of George IV. Each member was required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for great stakes were held, and the club life was lovely. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats grew in size to more than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English had dominance. Sailing was mostly for fun and reached its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and established a minimum of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in the area from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht group, the Detroit Boat Club, was started in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while on board his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The first sailing yachts took the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the second half of the 19th century. The style of large yachts was first greatly put upon by the victory of America, which was drawn by George Steers for a club led 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. Earlier yachts were not designed and crafted in the modern sense, with merely 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 application of the research of aerodynamics do for the design of sails and rigging what science had already done for hulls.

Because nearly all sailboats were individually custom-built, there came a desire for handicapping boats as this was before the one-design class boats were made. Thus, a rating rule was decreed, which resulted in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and revised in 1919. In modern times, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the field of sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to the same requirements in length, beam, sail area, and other elements (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between such boats can be done on an even basis with no handicapping required. A great example is the standard International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting was done largely for the aristocracy and the wealthy, expense was no issue, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The promotion and popularity of smaller boats happened 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 trip around the world (1895–98) led single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray made plain the value of less sizeable boats. Thereafter in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure craft became more common, down to the dinghy, a favourite training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, yachts of less than 3 m were sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Post the decade 1840–50, at which point steam began to take the place of sail power in market vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in personal craft. Large power yachts were developed to a high element, and long-distance cruising was a favourite activity of the wealthy. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then gave way to yachts powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. Like naval and merchant craft, auxiliaries carrying both sail and power were the yacht archetype for several years. By the second half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were only 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. Conspicuous 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 saw active service in World War II.

As more sizeable and more dependable internal-combustion engines were developed, many bigger boats were using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, advanced for World War I. During the decade following, bigger power-yacht manufacture flourished, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that time the biggest auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The construction of larger power craft lessened after 1932, and the style thereafter was toward smaller, less pricey craft. After World War II, many small naval craft were traded by private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread popular sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually manning and keeping their own small pleasure boats. The number of craft and owners has increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas on the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

2010 July 8

Taxes are differentiated by the impact they have on the allocation of income and wealth. A proportional tax is one that impinges the same relative liability on all the taxpayers—i.e., when tax liability and income increase in equal levels. A progressive tax is recognisable by a larger than proportional increase in the tax onus in relation to the rise in income, and a regressive tax is recognised by a less than proportional rise in the comparable burden. Ergo, progressive taxes are regarded as taking away the lack of equality in income distribution, while regressive taxes are seen to have the effect of increasing these inequalities.

The taxes that are usually believed to be progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are declarably progressive, however, may become less so in the upper-income demographic—especially if a taxpayer is permitted to reduce his tax base by claiming deductions or by taking some income components from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates if applied to lower-income classes would also be more progressive if personal exemptions are declared.

Income measured over the period of a given year does not necessarily come up with the most suitable measure of taxpaying requirement. For example, transitory increases in income might be saved, and within temporary declines in income a taxpayer might elect to finance consumption by decreasing savings. Thus, if taxation is held in comparison with “permanent income,” it can be less regressive (or more progressive) than if it is compared with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (except those on luxuries) tend to be regressive, because the share of one’s income consumed or spent on specific goods decreases as the level of personal income is raised. Poll taxes (also known as head taxes), calculated as a set amount per capita, patently are regressive.

It is difficult to classify corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally due to a lack of certainty regarding the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of determining who bears the tax burden rests fundamentally on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being considered.

In analysing the economic effect of taxation, it is important to distinguish between differing points of tax rates. The statutory rates are nominated in law; usually these are marginal rates, but occasionally they are average rates. Marginal income tax rates note the fraction of incremental income demanded by taxation when income is increased by one dollar. So, if tax onus rises by 45 cents when income increases by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax legislation often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income rises. Structured analysis of marginal tax rates should regard provisions as well as the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) lowers by 20 cents for each one-dollar growth in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points greater than specified by the statutory rates. Since marginal rates indicate how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the necessary ones for regarding incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to know the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, since 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 grants that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is zero under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates display the percentage 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 increases with income. Average income tax rates commonly rise with income, both because personal allowances are permitted for the taxpayer and dependents and also because marginal tax rates are graduated; on the flip side, preferential treatment of income received for the most part by high-income households might dwarf these effects, allowing regressivity, as displayed by average tax rates that decline as income grows.

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