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 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 varying 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 fundamental
and your budget may be low. 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 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 boring as a website address or they can be a design masterpiece.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build awareness 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 wonderful array of beautiful landscapes. Like huge mountain ranges, majestic coastlines, dense rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These picturesque wonders have all made New Zealand an inspired 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 slashed 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 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 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 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 cutting-edge 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 astounding 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. Spacious 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 radiantcountryside 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 flexibility of sailing away on yachts to isolated nearby islands, living the sweet life in the casino, surfing at endless 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 stunning, 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 love 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 amateur 24 hour carpet cleaner show up to repair your carpets with water damage. These are the worries you must be aware of:

Overcharging. An unprofessional water restoration technician may build the job up with superfluous extras. E.g. using dehumidification on the damaged carpets may not be needed.

Correct equipment. They might borrow equipment from hire places for drying the carpet. This is all right, but an established water damage technician will own all their equipment to provide a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

Does not have a proper moisture metre. If they don’t have the choice moisture meter, they cannot know if the carpet is fixed. This enhances the danger of future mould growth. Removal of this in future may be required.

They are not Specialised. There are many “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do restoration jobs on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t the ones who deal with this sort of task often. Be careful of that. Restoring carpets is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips has to be taken on by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be damaged beyond repair.

You might be pondering, how do I pick a good Flood Restoration techinician? Below I have set out some things to look for when you call around for a carpet flood damage business:

What size is their Yellow Pages ad slot: This can be a sign of how much repair work they get already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad slot can cost about $50 000. So if they have invested in a bigger ad, you get some expectation that they are established.

Where do they show in Google? The higher they rate in Google, the more webpage clicks there are for their business.

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

Do Insurance companies use them for their own water damage jobs? This is a top indicator. If insurance companies use them, the business is bound to be good at their job. Insurance companies often use the companies that offer them the best value for their client’s money.

How much Equipment do they have? They should at least own 100 Air movers. If they possess this many, this shows they have been going for a good time. Our business took 8 years to accumulate that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What type of commitment can you get from them with a phone call? Try to pin them down to a fee for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they wouldn’t give you a price for this in the least, you know they are not going to serve you, so look elsewhere.

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

If you go by these tips you are sure to come up with a Flood Damage Restoration business who can do the job right.

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 regularly asked by patients if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to enter. 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 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 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 less stressful when people leave you smiling.
  • Philanthropy: Podiatry will provide you plenty of opportunity to help eliminate the suffering of your fellow human beings.
  • Self – Determination: Podiatry provides 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 instruction of a doctor.
  • Clear Job roles: The only people who can claim to be a podiatrist are those with a podiatry degree . 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.
  • Feel the need to travel? There are many places around the world that do not train 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 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 painful corn, a sports injury, some back pain and at least a couple of painful plantar fascias. The key to being a good podiatrist is to be an effective problem solver. Every 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 provided by 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 charge of getting your site created by a developer and comprehend 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 established in your market.
In order to author 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 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 accomplish 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 give 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 created, the developers will more than likely collect 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.
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 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; provide 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 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, 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 avialable on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to bring your site live make sure you have completed the above testing step until you are content 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 central step to creating a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face represents the tone of your business, indicates the service and screams 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 created the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it redone. This is unnecessary and may cause complications when trying to recreate the logo exactly as created 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 desired that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help 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 perfect example of this is the well-known and executed Fedex logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an crucial decision as it not only could change the output costs but can also margin your output use. Think about 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
Ensure 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. Make certain 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 sure 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 certain that you receive 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 dispatched business cards to print and procured yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been enthusiastic to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then spotted that the crucial tag line is not present or your logo has been ruined.

There is only one way to stop this from happening and that is to use a style guide. Not only will a style guide aid you steer 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 put 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 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 requirecopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

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

Step 4 : Insure 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 repeated.

Step 5 : Insure to accommodate 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 agree with 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 : 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 confirmed as correct.

Get your Style Guide finished 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 advocate a training session – whereby your design studio arrives 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 common question heard when looking for a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: will I get an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, which stands for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, short for ‘digital light processing’ are the two commonplace projector imaging technologies. With so many company brands and different models available, it can be difficult for the buyer to pick between those technologies. Ultimately LCD projectors have far better image quality and colour accuracy. The next part of this article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with creating the same standard of image quality.

Think of a set of blinds in your room covering 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. And this is exactly how an LCD projector works. Each pixel functions 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 the 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 turns on to when the picture reaches your screen is vitally significant for image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors process white light from the lamp by cutting it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which project the coloured light to 3 separate LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels form the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then meshed in a glass prism to deliver the projector image. An important point to understad about LCD projectors is that all three colours are directed onto your projector screen all at the same time. The way a DLP projector operates is very different and even the way an image looks 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 way of creating an image creates a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to construct the image elements. The elements of the image are sent in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eye will then combine each coloured element of the image into the single total image. With LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to deliver the best brightness and spectacular colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at once, and so causing lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some manufacturers have placed a white segment in the colour wheel to improve brightness overall, but this goes and detracts from colour accuracy.

I find in forums all the time that DLP provides a higher contrast ratio and ergo must be superior. For those unsure, 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. DLP projectors do possess high contrast specifications as compared to the majority of LCD projectors. Initially, this can seem to be a plus, however, in real life, 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 wish to view needs moving images, DLP projection technology can also have image errors, or ‘artifacts’. The most often seen artifact that a DLP projector displays with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is to be expected in DLP systems because moving images change between the time red, blue and green colours are shone. LCD projectors do not have this disadvantage because all colours are sent at once. DLP developers have created 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to answer the colour break up problem, but the cost of these projectors make them almost impossible for the majority of businesses and consumers.

Another variance between LCD and DLP is how they compensate for the refractive qualities of light. Take yourself back to high school science, and recall how the various colours of light refract various amounts when shone through the same lens. The downside with DLP projectors is that they take the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are different and refract light at different levels. Most of the time with a DLP projector, some extra yellow colour will be projected above and some blue will show below an image as simple as a single black line. In manufacturing LCD projectors can be adjusted to reduce these effects on the projected image, because each colour is processed on isolated LCD panels.

The only real plus (excluding price) with taking a DLP projector is its smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant to portability and must be traded off against the image plusses of LCD projectors. If the outcome of the picture quality is vital to you, then the answer is easy. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will always show bright, colourful images with fewer image blips. If you wish to learn more about LCD technology in more detail, have a look at this spectacular resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any persisting questions, get onto Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager for Projector Central, Australia’s premier online store for projectors. Brisbane-based, Projector Central has served 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 initial yacht was a leisure craft used first 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 matches. English yachting started 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 presented him with 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, sovereign 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 punt. Yachting became classy for the rich and aristocracy, but after that time the trend did not last.

The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, and had much naval panoply and gravity. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” for which the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club went on, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, after conglomerating with other organisations, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some stipulated 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 ascended to sovereignty in 1820, it came to be known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded with 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 sponsorship made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the perpetual setting of British yachting. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the ascension of George IV. All members were 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. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to more 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 had dominance. Sailing was mostly for leisure and rose to its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and set a benchmark of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht club, 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 took the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the latter half of the 19th century. The craft of sizeable yachts was first largely affected by the victory of America, which was drawn by George Steers for a group headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) found its namesake after its success at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with just a model used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was called naval architecture come into action. Not until the 1920s did the use of the science of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what science had earlier done for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had to be individually manufactured, there was a desire for handicapping boats before the one-design class boats were made. Hence, a rating rule came into being, which is found in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and revised in 1919. Today, one of the rapidly flourishing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to standard specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between these boats can be had on an even keel with no handicapping at all. A great example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class adopted for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

As long as yachting was an activity primarily for the nobility and the wealthy, cost was no problem, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The ascendancy and desire of smaller craft happened in the later half of the 19th century from the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A journey around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray proved the value of smaller craft. Following this in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and leisure yachts 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
Post the decade 1840–50, when steam began to replace sail power in market vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly used in personal craft. Large power yachts were developed to a high degree, and long-distance cruising became a fond occupation of the affluent. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then made way to yachts powered by the fully submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant vessels, auxiliaries carrying both sail and power were the yacht archetype for a number of years. By the second half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were exclusively power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

In the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the design of more sizeable steam yachts. Conspicuous among these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, that had triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned 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 during World War II.

As bigger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were created, many large craft started using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, progressed in World War I. From the decade that followed, big power-yacht manufacture flourished, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that time the largest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The construction of larger power yachts fell away after 1932, and the style from then was in preference of smaller, less costly craft. Following World War II, many small naval craft were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a globally popular sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually sailing and maintaining their own small leisure yachts. The popularity of craft and yachtsmen increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas 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 effect they have on the allocation of income and wealth. A proportional tax is one that impinges the same relative requirement on all taxpayers—i.e., where tax liability and income move in relative levels. A progressive tax is recognised by a larger than proportional increase in the tax onus in regard to the increase in income, and a regressive tax is recognisable by a less than proportional growth in the relative burden. Therefore, progressive taxes are viewed as reducing inequity in income distribution, whereas regressive taxes may have the effect of an increase in these inequalities.

The taxes that are generally considered progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are nominally progressive, however, could become less so in the upper-income categories—especially if a taxpayer is able to reduce his tax base by claiming deductions or by leaving out some income elements from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates when applied to lower-income classes will also be more progressive if exemptions of a personal nature are claimed.

Income measured over the period of a given year might not absolutely give the most suitable measure of taxpaying requirements. For example, transitory growth in income may be saved, and during temporary declines in income a taxpayer could opt to finance consumption by taking from savings. Thus, if taxation is held in comparison along with “permanent income,” it would be less regressive (or more progressive) than when it is held in comparison with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (excepting those on luxuries) are usually regressive, because the portion of one’s income consumed or spent for a specific good declines as the amount of personal income increases. Poll taxes (also called head taxes), nominated as a fixed amount per capita, patently are regressive.

It is hard to term corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, principally because of uncertainty about the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of dictating who bears the tax burden rests essentially on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being considered.

In analysing the economic purpose of taxation, it is important to distinguish between several concepts of tax rates. The statutory rates will include those specified in the law; commonly these are marginal rates, but sometimes they are mean rates. Marginal income tax rates indicate the fraction of incremental income that is demanded by taxation when income is increased by one dollar. Therefore, if tax burden rises by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax statutes generally contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income grows. Structured analysis of marginal tax rates must regard provisions as well as the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) reduces by 20 cents for each one-dollar growth in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points more than nominated within the statutory rates. Since marginal rates signify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the relevant ones for assessing incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to understand the marginal effective tax rate applied to income from business and capital, since it may be reliant on factors including 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 show the fraction of total income that is taken in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for appraising the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate rises with income. Average income tax rates generally increase with income, both because personal allowances are granted for the taxpayer and dependents and also because marginal tax rates are graduated; on the other hand, preferential treatment of income received mostly by high-income households may dampen these effects, forcing regressivity, as shown by average tax rates that decline as income rises.

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