Archive for August 2009

 
 

Kihnu Island in the Baltic

Kihnu lies 12 km (7 mi) off the coast of Estonia and is the largest of more than a dozen islands in the reefs and shallows of the Gulf of Riga. It is 16 sq km (6 sq mi) in area with a low ridge running down the middle and only 9 m (30 ft) above sea level at its highest point.

The island farmsteads are enclosed by forest, which prevents soil erosion as well as protecting the islanders from the bitter northeast winds.

Huge broadleaf trees stand like sentinels in the coastal meadowlands that lead to a 36 km (22 mi) long shoreline of dunes and shifting sands where the scent of juniper is everywhere in the air. The island is a nesting place for hundreds of bird species and the coastal reef is home to the last grey seal colony in the Baltic.

The first historical documents relating to Kihnu date from the late 14th century but excavations show that the island was inhabited, at least during the summer months, from around 1500 BC.

It has at various times been under Danish, Swedish, Estonian, Polish and Russian rule, reflecting the turbulent history of the Baltic.

Since time immemorial the men here have been seafarers and fishermen, skilled at woodwork and shipbuilding, while the women are wholly responsible for working the land and keeping alive the rich island culture of music, dance and poetry.

A trip to Kihnu transports you back in time into a fascinating folk culture. The inhabitants speak their own language and wear traditional homespun costume. Each woman makes her familys clothes with intricately knitted, woven and embroidered patterns symbolising ancient legends.

The islanders are symbiotically bound up with their harsh environment, their survival entirely dependent upon cultural loyalty and community sharing. Against all odds, they have managed to hang onto their heritage at the same time as welcoming strangers to their shores.

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Marlborough Town, Wiltshire

Marlborough Town

Marlborough is a market town in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. It is well known for having the widest high-street in Britain.

The first sign of human habitation is the pre-historic mound (tumulus), in the grounds of Marlborough College. It is possibly of similar age to the larger Silbury Hill five miles to the west. Legend has it that the Mound is the burial site of Merlin[1] and that the name of the town, Marlborough comes from Merlin’s Barrow. The town’s motto is Ubi nunc sapientis ossa Merlini – Where now are the bones of wise Merlin[2].

Further evidence of human occupation comes from the discovery of the Marlborough Bucket an Iron Age burial bucket, with decorations of human heads and animals on sheet bronze.

Roman remains and coins have been found two miles to the East of Marlborough, at Mildenhall (Cunetio).

A later Saxon settlement grew up around The Green and two early river crossings were made at Isbury Lane and Stonebridge Lane.

The first written record of Marlborough dates from 1087 when the Domesday Book was finished. The borough received its charter to hold a market in 1204.[3]

    * In 1067, William the Conqueror assumed control of the Marlborough area and set about building a wooden motte and bailey castle, sited on the pre-historic mound. This was completed in around 1100 and stone was used to strengthen the castle, in around 1175.

    * William also established a mint in Marlborough, which coined the William I and the early William II silver pennies. The coins display the name of the town as Maerlebi or Maerleber.

    * William I established the neighbouring Savernake Forest as a favourite Royal hunting ground [4] and Marlborough Castle became a Royal residence. Henry I observed Easter here, in 1110. Richard I (Coeur de Lion) gave the castle to his brother John, in 1186. Henry II stayed at Marlborough Castle, in talks with the King of Scotland. King John was married here and spent time in Marlborough. He even established a Treasury. Later, Henry III was also married here.[5]

    * Henry III held Parliament here, in 1267, when the Statute of Marlborough was passed (this gave rights and privileges to small land owners and limited the right of the King to take possession of land). This seven-hundred-year-old law states that no one shall seize his neighbour’s goods for alleged wrong, without permission of the Court. It is the oldest piece of English law which has not yet been repealed.

    * The castle fell into disrepair by the end of the 14th century but remained Crown property. Edward VI then passed it to the Seymour family, his mother’s relatives.

    * The 1204 Charter granted the Borough an annual eight-day fair, commencing on 14 August, the vigil of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (15 August), in which “all might enjoy the liberties and quittances customary in the fair at Winchester”. He also established that weekly markets may be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. These continue to this day.[6]

    * In 1498 Thomas Wolsey was ordained priest in (the now redundant) St Peter’s church. He later rose to become a cardinal and Lord Chancellor.

    * In 1642, Marlborough’s peace was shattered by the English Civil War. The Seymours held the Castle for the King but the Town was for Parliament. With his headquarters in nearby Oxford, King Charles had to deal with Marlborough. “A Town the most notoriously disaffected of all that Country, otherwise, saving the obstinacy and malice of the inhabitants, in the situation of it very unfit for a garrison… this place the King saw would prove quickly an ill neighbour to him, not only as it was in the heart of a rich County, and so would straighten him, and even infest his quarters.” The King sent Lord Digby to take the town of Marlborough. He left Oxford at the head of four hundred horses, on the 24th November. When he arrived, he chose to parley first, thus giving the inhabitants a chance to prepare defences and to recruit troops. They mustered about seven hundred poorly-armed men. At this point, the Town issued a reply to Digby. “The King’s Majesty” he declared, “providing he were attended in Royal and not in war like wise, should be as welcome to that Town as ever was Prince to People; but as to delivering up the good Town of Marlborough to such a traitor as Lord Digby … they would sooner die”. After some early skirmishes, Royalist troops infiltrated the Town down its small alleyways. The Town was captured and looted and many buildings were set ablaze. One hundred and twenty prisoners were marched in chains to Oxford. The Town was later abandoned by the King and took no further part in the war.

    * On 28 April 1653, the Great Fire of Marlborough burnt two hundred and fifty houses to the ground.[citation needed] Fire swept through the Town again in 1679 and again in 1690. This time, an Act of Parliament was passed “to prohibit the covering of houses and other buildings with thatch in the Town of Marlborough”.[7]

    * In 1689, William III created Sir John Churchill, the distinguished Army general, Earl of Marlborough. In 1702, William’s successor, Queen Anne created Churchill Duke of Marlborough.

    * Nobel Prize winning author William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, grew up in the town. Golding lived on a house in the Green. Golding was educated at the former Marlborough Grammar School, where his father was a science master.

In 2004, Marlborough Live celebrated 800 years of its Town Charter, among the celebrations was a street play by the Marlborough Players entitled “Wheels of Time” and a visit from HRH Prince Charles. During the rebuilding of the town after the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653 which destroyed almost the entire town, the high street became what is claimed to be the widest in England. This allows ample space for a local market which is held twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Every summer the town holds a jazz festival with local pubs, clubs, hotels and various other venues playing host to live jazz music over the course of a weekend. Every October the high street is closed for the two Saturdays either side of 11 October for the Marlborough Mop Fair. This was originally a hiring fair for agricultural workers seeking employment but now has become a funfair. The right of the town to close the road to hold the fair is set down in the Charter.

On the north side of the high street is the Merchant’s House, which is currently under restoration but part of which is open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays in summer. The house was built following the Great Fire of 1653. It was the property of a silk merchant and, rarely for a house of this type in a town centre, still retains its original room pattern. Of great interest are the wall paintings recently uncovered, which are undergoing careful conservation. One room painted in a striped pattern, copying silk hangings, is perhaps unique in Great Britain.

DeLonghi HHP1500 Mica Panel Radiator is landing in homes everywhere.

We’ve been using a DeLonghi HHP1500 Mica Panel Radiator in our 16′ x 20′ bedroom for 6 weeks to save big $$ by turning the central heating way down at night. It works very well to heat the room throughout the night and is virtually silent. There are some tiny expansion noises when it is heating up, but it has never made any noise to wake us during the night and we are light sleepers. Just need to turn it on about 30 minutes before bed to warm up the room. The room stays pleasantly warm even on the 750W low power setting with the built-in temp control turned less than half-way to max. It heats without moving air around (no fans) so it takes a while to distribute the heat. For us, silence is golden and this heater provides silent heat which is fully adjustable. It is also light weight and moves easily by either carrying (has built-in handle) or rolling on the supplied casters. I wish I had bought this DeLonghi heater earlier. When my baby boy was born three years ago, I used a classic ceramic room heater which was noisy and bright. It would wake him up and wake us up went it went on in the middle of the night.

I researched oil-filled heaters from DeLonghi, but I ultimately settled on this HHP1500 Mica Panel heater, and I have been very happy. It is quiet and makes no noise. Hence, you can sleep through the night with it on. It generates no light, and thus it does not distract you either. I think it is a great product. I bought two, and am thinking about buying another.

Using a Flash Indoors

Over the years, you’ve probably seen plenty of indoor flash pictures that have a pitch black background and a washed-out, overexposed subject. Many factors conspire to produce these stark, unflattering shots, but one of the major contributors is, once again, your camera thinking on its own. You’re letting it decide when to turn on the flash and which shutter speed to use.

First of all, you don’t always need the flash. Indoor photography offers many opportunities for stunning existing-light portraits and moody interior shots. And when you do have to turn on the flash, you can make certain adjustments to preserve the ambiance of the room so that your background doesn’t fall into a black hole.

Flash shots may have a pitch-black background for a couple of reasons. The first problem is that the light from a typical digital camera’s flash reaches only about 2 to 3 metres. Anything beyond this range, and you’ve got yourself an accidental ambient-light photo.

If your camera has a manual mode that allows you to dictate both the aperture (f stop) and shutter speed, you can easily overcome these problems.

Once in manual mode, try this combination as a starting point for flash photography indoors:

• Set your film speed to 100
• Set the aperture (f-stop) to f-5.6.
• Set the shutter speed to 1/15th of a second.
• Use the forced-flash mode. (Don’t use the red-eye reduction feature)

When you use these settings, hold the camera as steady as possible or better yet, use a tripod. At these slow shutter speeds, your shots are more vulnerable to camera shake, and therefore to blurriness. Your flash will help freeze everything in its range, but the background, not illuminated by the flash, may blur if the camera isn’t steady.

If your camera doesn’t have a manual mode, all is not lost. Almost every consumer model has a night time or stow-synchro mode (look for a “stars over a mountain” icon). The intention of this mode is to let you shoot portraits at twilight. But you can also use Nighttime mode indoors to open up the background. Granted, you don’t have as much control with this setting as you do with manual mode, but you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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A South Beach Diet Shopping List

Have you been looking for a great resource for a shopping list for south beach diet foods? Unfortunately, due to the fact that this diet has become so popular so quick there aren’t many resources available online for this sort of thing.

The good news is that we have put together the following tips when preparing to shop for foods for the south beach diet, although you may find that your doctor would categorize it as a high cholesterol diet. The jury is still out on that point.

For those readers who are familiar with the south beach diet it might come as a surprise to see some of the foods on our shopping list for the South Beach diet. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the foods that are recommended are foods that most people are currently eating anyways.

The first thing that you should do before shopping for the South Beach diet is examine the foods that you currently buy. You can start by removing any of the foods that the diet recommends staying away from. Some of these foods include breads, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruits, and sugary foods. The diet also recommends completely cutting out beer and alcohol. If you want a diet to lower cholesterol this might not be for you, so if you suffer from high cholesterol it might be worth investigating a little further.

Some people that start this diet have a problem with stopping beer and alcohol completely. It important to note that during the second phase of the diet you can start to reintroduce some of these foods.

The key to the South Beach diet is that the first phase will cause you to lose a lot of the cravings you had to begin with. In fact, a lot of people after the first phase will not have cravings for beer and alcohol at all. Now it’s time to start forming a shopping list for South Beach diet foods so you can begin phase one of the diet.

The shopping list for south beach diet foods should not stray too far away from your regular shopping list other than the foods you have cut out during phase one. Some of the foods that you should typically find on your shopping list include chicken, beef, turkey, fish, nuts, cheese, eggs, cheese and vegetables. The beauty of a shopping list for South Beach diet foods is that you don’t have to get any specific foods.

You want to stay away from buying products that already contain these ingredients or preservatives. As long as you stick to these foods and only buy fresh, natural foods you should have no problems.

If you want a shopping list for south beach diet foods, you should stick to the foods that the diet recommends. It is also important to note that during the second phase you can slowly start phasing the foods you cut out during phase 1 back into your diet.

The most important thing to remember is that the third phase of the diet will be your diet for the rest of your life, so any lack of self control during phase 2 will hinder your ability to be successful with this diet and effectively lose weight. Remember that a diet to lower cholesterol is not necessarily what this is, so remember to take professional medical advice, before starting this, or any diet.

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Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment or making any changes to existing treatment. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information on this site or any sites linked to or referred to or mentioned on this site.

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What about Blogs that Make Money?

Blogs that make money are few and far between and the true make money blogs are typically specialized and target a certain niche market. It all started when they were online most likely, possibly late at night scouring the internet for opportunities and mostly finding the empty promises of people selling the “get rich quick” dream.

Then they may have come across a few honest internet marketers that offered them real knowledge in the form of articles and explained how with a little time dedication and hard work successfully learn how to make money online.

It is also wise if you spend a few weeks studying proper search engine optimization techniques. This will be extremely crucial if your goal is to learn how to make money online . It was only natural to be skeptical but when people really read what these internet marketing experts had to say, their eyes were opened to a whole new world and a new way to make a buck, finally they understood how to be successful.

Have you took a moment and just thought about what it would be like if you could make money in your sleep? Wouldn’t it be great to become a problogger? All these strategies if applied will give you more freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it! Why wait to live your dreams and to give yourself the advantages and blessings that you truly deserve and desire? It’s not bad to obtain nice things and experiences for youself, in the end it may make it easier to do the same for others… 

Stop being controlled by others and take control of your life and your financial situation… It’s not for everyone but the people that are successful in this effort seem to be extremely happy. If you don’t take steps now to empower yourself, it will be the same as receiving awful plastic surgery and regretting your decisions for the rest of your life!

Why subject yourself to the monotony of being a wage slave when you could go to mexico or the carribean islands and sip on margaritias while surfing the web and doing a bit of work with sattelite wi-fi? If you don’t start to build residual income streams now, you will never be truly free from this financial cycle that catches many in its path. The power and control is completely your’s if you choose to take it. It will require patience, discipline and determination among other things but the fruits of your labor will be extremely sweet.

I was someone who had acne a few years ago.

Combating acne can be one of the most frustrating struggles to experience. Although almost everyone gets zits at some point in their lives, this fact isn’t reason to just “accept” it and have no problem with with living with acne.

I’m someone who had brutal acne. I was a patient who was considered to have severe acne. I know exactly how devastating this can be to your life. There were many days that I wouldn’t want to leave the house because I was so disgusted by the way my skin appeared.

I saw that people were taking a look at me and thinking about the way my skin had acne. Of course, nobody came up to me and said it, but I knew people were starting at times.

As you can imagine, I never even thought about trying to have a girlfriend. Yeah, I liked girls, but I had absolutely no confidence in myself and figured no one would want to date me.

Acne affected so many aspects of my life. It wasn’t just my skin that was in bad shape – I was in bad shape as a whole. My lack of self-confidence affected my friendships, my lovelife and the way I felt about myself.

Thankfully, I found an acne treatment that worked for me. I’m able to live acne free nowadays. I tried a lots of different acne treatment products before I found the cure. My suggestion is to make sure you use a treatment that actually treats all of the causes of acne. Otherwise you won’t get the results you want.

A big piece of advice – don’t use prescription drugs. They are ineffective in most cases, but many of them have some nasty side effects.

The key is not to get discouraged and to take action! Check out some acne treatment reviews, find the best acne treatment for you, and stick to it.

Disclaimer: This posting is based on information freely available in the popular press and medical journals that deal with acne.  Nothing herein is intended to be or should be construed to be any sort of medical advice. For medical advice the reader should consult with his or her physician or other medical specialist.

Professional Cleaning Companies are they an unnecessary business expense?

We need to cut back drastically on our business costs! Don’t you know the world is facing a credit crunch? I need to chop some expenses from our budget!

One of the ways some are looking at is to do their own office cleaning in Aberdeen using existing office based staff. This seems at first a logical method of saving the overheads of the professional office cleaning company but would it work in practice?

Obviously your staff may not be happy about having this extra duty placed on them when they may already feel under pressure to do their normal job. But what other issues do we need to consider?

Firstly you will need to start buying a number of different cleaning chemicals and some equipment on a fairly regular basis and hope you don’t run out if people are using too much. Someone will need to go out and buy these from the store. This is a time and cost expense in itself.The professional cleaning service in Aberdeen will already have a stock of their own professional grade cleaning products that are used for a number of jobs.

If you are not going to hire an extra person to do the work then it is likely you will be utilising one of your existing admin staff members taking them away from their regular duties. This could have an extra cost effect on your business if their normal work is not being done effectively and on time.

The job may even need doing twice if the person is not shown exactly the right way to do the task. You also need to consider whether using an existing staff member is the best use of their time. They definitely will not be using the expertise that caused you to initially select them at the interview or spent time since developing their new skills for the job. How much did it cost you to train that person in real terms not just the cost of the training programme?

In addition the potential for damage to your office interiors increases as the person does not understand the use of some materials and the surfaces being cleaned. I recall going into one office complex and seeing that the cleaner (also employed as a book-keeper) had squirted some strong bleach on a floor and it had burnt the floor almost beyond economic repair. Are you aware of the dangers of mixing cleaning chemicals (even household strength cleaning products)? Did you know mixing some toilet cleaners together can give off poisonous Chlorine gas?

• Do you have full access to all the relevant Health and Safety procedures for all the cleaning jobs to be carried out?
• Do you know enough about the role to do a professional Risk Assessment as required by law?
• Do you have copies of the COSHH data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase in the event of an incident? Your local superstore will not supply them for the general household products they sell!| Can you be certain that you have the required COSSH safety data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase? Your local supermarket or corner store will not be able to supply these legal documents and you will need them on site in case of an safety incident.}

If the choice was down to me as an office manager I would be asking myself the following questions

• ” Will I lose more money by taking staff away from the main business focus than I pay to use a professional cleaning company”

• ” What are the currently unbudgeted costs I will need to add on to cover for time spent cleaning the office twice, additional costs for repairs due to mistakes, increased insurance premiums and cost of compensation for breaches of health and safety including accidents to staff? ”

Given the option of mistakes it certainly can work out cheaper to employ good professional cleaning company in Coatbridge in the long run.

 

The Pros and Cons of DIY Kitchens

The kitchen is the most important room in the house. It is the nerve centre of what keeps the family ticking over. So when it comes to giving the kitchen a facelift, should you go for a professional or are DIY kitchens in you?

In the current economic climate, there is no doubt that many of those on the fence may well actually try their hand at a DIY kitchen. If you are handy with tools, then perhaps this is a good choice. For those that struggle to put shelves up though, making a decision such as this is fraught with danger!

If you plan on a major overhaul of the kitchen, then the choice is perhaps not so stark. You will need some specialist tools and will also require some specialist skills. The former could be purchased, or perhaps hired at a cost, but the latter is not something that you can acquire overnight, unless you have a suitable skilled friend to help you.

However, a DIY kitchen facelift is something else, and certainly within the capabilities of a lot more people.

Simply sanding down wooden cupboard doors might be enough to revitalise a kitchen. The same can be said of a worktop, as long as it is wooden. A lick of paint on wooden panels can make a huge difference as well.

Changing the floor can also be a very effective makeover ploy. Changing lino, or even applying new tiling can change the aspect of a kitchen completely. Cork tiling is an interesting choice. The material is soft, so dropped plates have a greater chance of survival. It is also warmer on the feet too.

A simple redecoration of the walls can be very effective as well, though done in conjunction with a cupboard makeover or flooring facelift, can give the impression of a complete new kitchen. The combination of ideas does make the idea of DIY kitchens a lot more appealing!

Generating Corporate Logos For Construction Companies

logo design should have a connection with the products and services of the business concerned. Furthermore,, it should portray the quality of tangible and intangible products created by companies. Logos designs wide range from anything such as animated alphabets, symbols and even cartoon based characters. They all functions the same purpose; that is they impart a helping hand in creating an overall professional look to the company. Logos designs must be implemented to match the products of a company. Such as, a logo with a depiction of an animated car will have no meaning in a construction company dealing in the development of household property or complex electrical equipment.

I have just received a job to generate a logo for a local construction company. They had no idea at all on what they demanded or how they wanted their logo to display like. Therefore we had to think in order to be able to suggest excellent logo samples.

Firstly, we have an interview with the customers to get to share more about their company such as who is their target market, what sort of work they do such as renovations, build houses or apartment buildings. Besides that we also would have the general size of the company. These details are very useful as with a larger company we would need a more “professional” and sleek look of the construction logo design. Most vital is we need to know who is their prime target customer. Once we have connected all these information it is much more easier for us to come up with construction logo design samples.

Besides knowing all the primary details about the company we need to examine into 4 different creatives concept

1. Construction Logo Fonts

usually leans on the formal, Times New Roman or Sans Serif style category. This is the prime factor in displaying that corporate outlook, that definitive business-clinching attitude that says your company can deliver the service within the agreed time. The fonts reflects the company name so its the first thing that will consciously register on the viewer’s mind.

2. Logo Images in Construction

are preferred to be geometric solids, three-dimensional shapes, or blocks such as cement spade, buildings, cement mixer and so on. These speaks of elasticity and order, saying that a construction company can do its job perfectly. Graphs, eye views and blueprints are also welcome and fresh images, most of which are prepared up today in younger, up-and-coming construction firms. They appeal to a wide range of people who unconsciously seeks of the great and the new and still having that businesslike and tremendous character.

3. The Colors in Construction Logos

tends to be repress and established, as most creation veer away from loud and bold colors that are usually attributed as disorderly and formless. Blue, black, and brown are popular over the rest, usually as the controlling colors in the logo design. Other colors can also be of use and an expert logo designer will be able to channel out its full possible with careful concepts and approaches.

4. Styles in Construction Logos

are, in truth, varied and free-forming. This is often the filed of logo design where the look of technology, of abstract, of landscape meets and diffuse into one. custom logo designers are always upcoming with excellent ideas to move the trend forward, submitting construction logo a truly memorable sign or reliability and progress.

A truly helpful construction logo design stays in the mind, symbolic of urban living.