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2012年7月24日星期二

Valley Artists Highlight Bounded Venues through Paintings

Northridge citizen Shel Mosk gave up his dream of accepting a trained,National Molding Offers Plastic molding. bartering columnist for 20 years to accession his family.

But now, Mosk’s aback in the game.

The 1978 Brookes Institute of San Barbara alum was a part of 15 artists from the San Fernando Valley who alternate in an accessible abode and association art exhibition in Chatsworth on Monday, sponsored by Mitchell Englander, a Los Angeles City Councilman.

Englander,Looking for the Best Air purifier . who represents the 12th District which includes Chatsworth, Northridge and Porter Ranch, was aswell adulatory his aboriginal ceremony as an adopted official.

About 150 accomplished art paintings and photographs of the bounded breadth were briefly tacked assimilate appointment walls, some by Englander himself. They will abide there for six months and are up for sale, with all of the profits traveling to the artists.

They ambit from photographs of aliment trucks in Granada Hills to an acrylic painting of the Chatsworth Nature Preserve to barrio on the campus of California State University at Northridge and Shel Mosk's “Supermoon” over Northridge on May 5.

Mosk was able to abduction the “Supermoon” from Reseda Boulevard in Porter Ranch amid Braemore and Beaufait Avenues.

“The ‘Supermoon,’ or apogee moon is the better moon if it’s abutting to the Earth,” Mosk said. “I acclimated several exposures for the ablaze and aphotic areas of the image.”

His “Supermoon,Handpainted oil paintings for sale on Canvas.” abstract during a abounding moon if the Earth’s abutting angelic acquaintance arise almost 20 percent brighter and 15 percent larger, is a giclee, or inkjet book on canvas.

"The afflatus for the account was to see what you can abduction in an absorbing way, so others can adore the event," Mosk added.

On the added hand, Carla Bollinger, a Chatsworth citizen and lath affiliate of Santa Susan Mountain Esplanade Association, uses acrylics on a canvas and a board, to acrylic “Turquoise Morning, Chatsworth Lake” and “California Gold.”

“I corrective (Morning Glow) from my dining allowance window. I’m (concerned about) the vanishing landscape,” Bollinger said, abacus the two pictures were corrective “plein air” and not from a photo. “I try to abduction emotion, the ablaze and caliginosity (in my paintings).”

Bollinger angry to painting 20 years as a accent abatement from her active publishing and biking autograph career.

“I took a sumi-e (Chinese brush) art chic to relax. A acquaintance gave me her bandy abroad canvases and acrylics,” she said. "My aboriginal painting was a behemothic calla afraid from a photo at Descanso Gardens.”

Bollinger aswell said she took a “spiritual journey” to artisan Georgia O’Keefe’s New Mexico address breadth she corrective an adobe house, but change it from blush to terra cotta.

“I was off and running,” she added.

Photographer Alex Bellanger of Granada Hills began his accurate adventure as a adolescent if he affective a ancestors camera and started to breeze pictures as a hobby.

Bellanger started with 126 mm film, accelerating to 35 mm in top academy and switched to agenda if he bare to buy a new camera.

“The about-face from blur to agenda was simple for me,” Bellanger said. “I acclimated a Cannon 20D and 70, a wide-angle and a telephoto lens– on this aeriform attempt of the aliment trucks (in Granada Hills forth Chatsworth Street).”

Bellanger said he dabbles in things and places against portraits of people.

But now Bellanger is into aliment trucks that esplanade on Chatsworth Street every Friday night.

He busy a helicopter to yield aeriform shots of the Granada Hills aliment trucks afterwards accepting aggressive by Jessica Ambatz, an air-to-air columnist and instrument-rated pilot based in Santa Monica.otech Super Dry supplies desiccant dry cabinet.

“I like the colors, designs of the trucks. Some accept different advertising,” he said.Working or manufacturing aids such as cutting Tooling. “The humans who own or run them are absolutely personable. You are not alone accepting a meal out of them, but aswell a acceptable conversation. They accept adapted the breadth on a Friday night.”

Councilman Englander circuitous a part of the artists and accessible abode guests.

Since he has been in appointment this accomplished year, he said his top three accomplishments were absorption on acclimation the city’s blaze department, bringing a performance-based account arrangement to Los Angeles and demography the aboriginal accomplish to annihilate the gross-receipts tax.

2012年5月23日星期三

Cooperative Banking is the Exciting Wave of the Future

According to both the Mayan and Hindu calendars, 2012 (or something very close) marks the transition from an age of darkness, violence and greed to one of enlightenment, justice and peace. It’s hard to see that change just yet in the events relayed in the major media, but a shift does seem to be happening behind the scenes; and this is particularly true in the once-boring world of banking.

In the dark age of Kali Yuga, money rules; and it is through banks that the moneyed interests have gotten their power. Banking in an age of greed is fraught with usury, fraud and gaming the system for private ends. But there is another way to do banking; the neighborly approach of George Bailey in the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Rather than feeding off the community, banking can feed the community and the local economy.

Today, the massive too-big-to-fail banks are hardly doing George Bailey-style loans at all.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties. They are not interested in community lending. They are doing their own proprietary trading—trading for their own accounts—which generally means speculating against local interests. They engage in high-frequency program trading that creams profits off the top-of-stock market trades; speculation in commodities that drives up commodity prices; leveraged buyouts with borrowed money that can result in mass layoffs and factory closures; and investment in foreign companies that compete against our local companies.

We can’t do much to stop them. They've got the power,Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. especially at the federal level. But we can quietly set up an alternative model, and that's what is happening on various local fronts.

Most visible are the Move Your Money and Occupy Wall Street movements.Museum quality hand-painted fine oil painting reproduction on canvas. According to the Web site of the Move Your Money campaign, an estimated 10 million accounts have left the largest banks since 2010. Credit unions have enjoyed a surge in business as a result. The Credit Union National Association reported that in 2012, for the first time ever, credit union assets rose above $1 trillion. Credit unions are non-profit, community-minded organizations with fewer fees and less fine print than the big risk-taking banks, and their patrons are not just customers but owners, sharing partnership in a cooperative business.

The Move Your Money campaign has been wildly successful in mobilizing people and raising awareness of the issues, but it has not made much of a dent in the reserves of Wall Street banks, which already had $1.6 trillion sitting in reserve accounts as a result of the Fed’s second round of quantitative easing in 2010. What might make a louder statement would be for local governments to divest their funds from Wall Street, and some local governments are now doing this. Local governments collectively have well over a trillion dollars deposited in Wall Street banks.

A major problem with the divestment process is finding local banks large enough to take the deposits. One proposed solution is for states,Monz Werkzeugbau und Formenbau. counties and cities to establish their own banks, capitalized with their own rainy day funds and funded with their own revenues as a deposit base.

Today only one state actually does this: North Dakota. North Dakota is also the only state to have escaped the credit crisis of 2008, sporting a sizeable budget surplus every year since. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, the lowest default rate on credit card debt, and no state government debt at all. The Bank of North Dakota (BND) has an excellent credit rating and returns a hefty dividend to the state every year.

Meanwhile,All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats. there is a strong movement at the local level for sustainable, “values-based” banking—conventional banks committed to responsible lending and service to the local community. These are George Bailey-style banks, which base their decisions first and foremost on the needs of people and the environment.

One of the leaders internationally is Triodos Bank, which has local offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany. Its Web site says that it makes socially responsible investments that are selected according to strict sustainability criteria and overseen by an international panel of “stakeholder” representatives representing various community, environmental, and worker interest groups. Investments include the financing of more than 1,000 organic and sustainable food production projects, more than 300 renewable energy projects, 33 fair trade agricultural exporters in 22 different countries, 85 microfinance institutions in 43 countries, and 398 cultural and arts projects.

2012年5月9日星期三

Portugal is a well-kept secret

People, who travel regularly to sun destinations, probably don't know they could explore Europe often for the same price as at a four-star resort.

And if you want to spend a little extra, Club Class on Air Transat is pampering at its best. The flight attendants couldn't have been more helpful or attentive, and that included the flight back. There was so much food, I couldn't begin to tell you about it all. And yes, the seats were comfy enough to doze off.

Where were we flying? Portugal, a well kept secret according to one of the delightful flight attendants.Siebenwurst Werkzeugbau ist ein Unternehmen für Konstruktion und Fertigung von Werkzeugen im Bereich Stanztechnik und Umformtechnik.

Lisbon is a very sophisticated city, with lots to do, great shopping, fabulous restaurants and enough ancient buildings, not to mention history, to keep all appetites fascinated.

Transat offers a wide range of hotels to choose from and features many of the Vila Gale hotels.

Ours was the Vila Gale Opera, next to the docks area, with bars and restaurants, just a few steps from the Belem tower and the Jeronimos Monastery, and just 10 minutes from great shopping. Think great buys on shoes and purses.

This city is a walking city so be sure to wear sturdy shoes as you explore the historical neighbourhoods. I learned to look down as well as up and across. Why? The "calcada portugues,Spro Tech has been a plastic module & Mold Maker." is the traditional black and white stone mosaic design worth at least two pictures.

We were told the old district is very bright, light and open due to the earthquake. I wondered if I'd missed some news. No, actually the earthquake happened in 1755, but people still talk about it as though it was yesterday. They'll tell you the reason for so many buildings faced with tiles is because they're considered more fireproof, and the fires after the earthquake destroyed what the earthquake didn't. A second reason is that it keeps the humidity out. The beautiful exteriors beg for picture after picture.

This is a city of festivals, and we lucked into the Lisbon Fish Festival where the city's top chefs bring their stoves, frigs, and pots and pans and offer tasting plates for a reasonable price. Now officially called Commerce Square, the building surrounding it was King Joseph I's official palace.

We would have paid a good bit of money for this unique wine-tasting experience but we didn't have to -- it was free. Numerous wines from three different regions of Portugal are on offer each month, and you can select up to a total of four of them to taste. There were even some sparkling wines available. The samples are healthy servings.

This space's historic arcades have been fully restored and now house two restaurants, esplanades, an ice cream shop, and an exhibition/event area.

Eating is a delight,Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called Injection Mold.All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats. restaurants such as Restaurante Faz Figura, and 5 Oceanos with beautiful views, amazing interiors, and good food, seafood of every kind, and always one salt cod dish. Steaks are very popular.

No visit to Lisbon is complete with out a stop at the Pastel de Belem for their tarts. The bakery dates back to 1837 and there are always lineups,Enter the Indoor Positioning System (IPS). but it is worth the wait.

The Majestic is a famous old cafA. The first Harry Potter book of the series was written here.

No visit is complete without listening to Fado, the unique music of the city. A visit to the Fado Museum will give you a glimmer of the music, and the history of Fado that began in the second half of the 19th century in the narrow streets of the poorer neighborhoods. The singer accompanied by guitars sang mostly sad songs about urban life. Today there are often happier songs so you don't need boxes of Kleenex, but you do need to attend one. There are many Fado houses, mainly in Alfama or Bairro Alto. The narrow cobbled streets of Bairro Alto brags it has the most bars.

2011年7月12日星期二

Who Doesn't Like Heitz?

If you've been following along here at Wine Time on the Eating Our Words blog, you know that we don't drink a lot of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon at our house. Fact of the matter is we rarely drink monovarietal (i.e., a wine made from a single grape variety) Cabernet Sauvignon at all.

Cabernet Sauvignon (please don't say "Cab"!) is a robust tannic grape variety, most famously used in Bordeaux as one component in a blend of the three primary grapes of the appellation. Cabernet Sauvignon gives the wine its tannic structure, Merlot gives it fruit flavors, and Cabernet Franc gives it acidity and some aromatic character.

Of course, I am simplifying the equation here and there are many other variables that go into the formula, depending on the growing sites (in St. Emillion, growers favor Merlot, for example) and the growers and winemakers themselves (the 1961, Chateau Cheval Blanc that Merlot-hater Miles covets in the movie Sideways is actually made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc!).Has anyone done any research on making landscape oil paintings parts from scratch?

Honestly, most of the Cabernet Sauvignon grown in Napa Valley and vinified as monovarietal wine tends to be too tannic and concentrated for my taste. In my view, this is more the legacy of the Napa Valley "brand" and predominant commercial style than it is of the land.Detailed information on the causes of blu ray burner, When the luxury wine industry expanded in Napa Valley in the 80s and 90s, most of the carpet-bagger investors were Wall Street blowhards who embraced that age-old motto of rich folk: Bigger is Better (sound familiar?).

When my wife and I found ourselves in a fat cat steakhouse the other night, at a business/social dinner where politesse was the least expensive menu item,is the 'dstti revolution' upon us?For all DVS Bedding in PDF format. we ordered a glass of the 2005 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon to go with my garlic-smothered steak (I had no idea the "Cowboy Ribeye" would be served that way!).

Having grown up in California, I know the wine well. The Heitz style dating back to the winery's launch in 1961 is much more balanced than a lot of the wine I've tasted from California recently. The fruit, while present in the mouth of this wine, is not concentrated and bombastic. And the judicious use of oak aging doesn't overwhelm the wine with vanilla and cedar flavors the way some of the more flashy Napa Valley bottlings of Cabernet Sauvignon roll these days. And the wine had ACIDITY! The lack of acidity, I regret to report, is one of the defining elements of the contemporary California style. It seems that the powers-that-be (read a bunch of men so rich that they don't have anything better to do than to blow their money on a trophy winery) believe that we shouldn't have acidity in our wine. I'm happy to report that Heitz hasn't subscribed to this misguided dogma.

At around $50 a bottle retail in the Houston area,Replacement sculpture and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. Heitz is beyond the reach of our family household budget for wine (our Saturday night wine never exceeds $35 these days and most days we spend $15-25 on a bottle; $15 is the new $10, btw). But our server graciously poured a glass of the $30 by-the-glass Heitz charging us the half-priced happy hour cost (happy hours at fine dining destinations are a great way to taste wines that you normally cannot afford).

At $15, the 2005 Heitz delivered a true taste of California, with the elegance and class that the Napa Valley brand rightly deserves and commands.

2011年7月10日星期日

New caps and smartphones frustrate wine fraud

Wine connoisseurs aren't happy when they open their favorite wine only find it's a nasty counterfeit. In order to assure Detailed information on the causes of dstti,customers that they are actually buying the wine they think they are, Canadian vintners have discovered a new technology that allows customers to check the validity of the wine before they buy. A special cap and a smartphone app confirm the bottles authenticity.

Physorg reported that back in 1998 Canadian vintner,What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. Charles Pilliteri ran across a counterfeit bottle of his own wine in Taiwan. After that he was determined to find a way to ensure his customers got what they paid for. A variety of methods were used by the vintner to try and thwart wine fraud but only one worked.

Pilliteri now uses a silver bubble seal that can't be counterfeited on his wines. Customers with a special iPhone app (blackberry and android apps are due out by years end) can take a picture of the datamatrix code on the seal and verify the authenticity of the wine online. The silver bubble seal was developed by Prooftag, a French company.

In March of this year, CNN reported that a conservative estimate of wine fraud in China was five percent of the $13.7 billion market in China, or $685 million. According to an NTD story from last December, wine fraud in Russia actually amounts to 40 percent of imported wines. The Star reported that according to Wine Spectator magazine,From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires, five percent of the world's less expensive wines are counterfeit. Technologies to protect wine producers mentioned in the article include:

¡­prosecuting the fraudsters, manufacturers have resorted to using special tags, laser-engraving glass bottles and inserting microchips.

There are other technologies that are used by winemakers to authenticate wine. In a 2009 article in Wines and Vines, Suzanne Gannon reported on two novel anti-counterfeiting approaches, one using DNA and the other using hidden imagery. One encodes a DNA marker on the label that can be read by a rapid scanner, in-field kit or a tool in a forensic laboratory. The hidden imagery uses an invisible mark that can be imbedded in a variety of materials used to package wine. the invisible mark can be seen with a special lens.Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc.

While a variety of other technologies have been developed to discourage wine fraud, most require a science degree or specialized equipment.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services. Prooftag is the only one that has found an easy to use consumer friendly way of checking wine before you buy and that is using a smartphone and the internet.

Simple and easy works!