A section of a parking garage under construction at a community
college collapsed Wednesday, killing two people and trapping two others
in the rubble, officials said. One worker was rescued amid the debris,
but there was too much concrete around the other to immediately get
him out.
At least 10 other workers were hurt when the roof of
the five-story concrete garage fell, creating a pancake-style collapse
on the campus of Miami-Dade College, officials said.
"It was a
floor upon floor, collapsing all the way down to the ground floor,"
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Louie Fernandez said.
The trapped
worker was pinned inside a vehicle. He was receiving oxygen, had an IV
inserted into him and was being treated by a physician and a paramedic.
Officials did not describe the extent of his injuries. They said it
could be hours — possibly even days — before they can rescue him.
"It's going to be a long, tedious effort," Fernandez said.
Dogs,
firefighters and other people in hard hats walked over piles of
concrete, plywood and metal to look for other possible victims.
Authorities believed at least one more worker was still unaccounted
for, and they were trying to make sure everyone else was OK. Many
workers left the site without telling authorities.
Victoria
Buczynski of Miami said she saw the collapse while she was working at
Gurkha Cigars across the street from the construction site at the
Miami-Dade College.
"It fell to the ground like a house of
cards," Buczynski said. "The construction workers started running out,
screaming. It was loud. Our entire building shook."
No students
were in the area at the time. They campus was evacuated and closed for
the rest of the week. Investigators planned to pick through the rubble
to see what caused the garage to crumble.
"We just know that the roof collapsed," Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Griselle Marino said.
William P. Byrne,Find the lowest prices on Air purifier.
president and chief executive officer of the garage contractor, Ajax
Building Corp., said an internal review was being launched to determine
the cause. Byrne said the company would embrace "any additional
protocols, policies and procedures that will enhance and ensure the
continued priority of safety."
Marino said three people were
initially trapped in the rubble, including the man who died. Another
eight were taken to a hospital, she said. Two injured workers were
treated on the scene.
One of the rescued was pulled out from
under a steal beam by four firefighters. His face and hands were bloody
and he was put on a stretcher and carried away, according to a video
shot by Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue and provided to The Associated Press.
The
construction site looked like a typical one. A large crane stood
beside the pile of rubble. Pickup trucks, trash bins and a
tractor-trailer were nearby, as were ladders, a cooler and piles of
wood.
Ground was broken on the $22.5 million project in
February, and the 1,855-space garage was to be finished in December,
according Ajax's website.
The first floor was to have classroom
and office space. The structure is next to the college's main office
building and nestled among other campus buildings.
The college
serves about 8,000 students and is one of several campuses in the
Miami-Dade College system. This campus opened in 2006.
2012年10月10日星期三
Gallery Delta Thrives Despite Odds
In a continued quest to nurture, support and encourage visual,
literary and performing arts-Gallery Delta continues to thrive despite
low business.Their latest exhibition "Landscapes and Landmarks"
assembles painters of all creeds and colours in a show which exposes the
range of artistic,emotional and psychological responses to the moods,
atmosphere, colours, textures, locale and spirit of the land.
Landscapes convey an appreciation of the beauty and chagrins of the natural and urban world. Here, each artist responds to the land in their individual psyche and medium of preference.
The exhibiting artists are drawn from both mature and neophyte artists who include Paul Wade, Kate Raath, Dian Wright, Simon Back, Darryl Nero, Richard Witikani, the late Robert Paul, Ljiljana Vlacic, Justin Gope, Freddy Tauro and Emma Venzery.
Professional artist Kate Raath explores the expressive and interpretive qualities of drawing in her exquisite ink studies of the flat topped Acacia trees of Zimbabwe.
Interestingly, this tree which is revered by the people of Africa, Australia,Find the lowest prices on Air purifier. Asia and the Americas has according to current botanical nomenclature been re-named Vachellia and/or Senegallia at a recent International Botanical Congress which had been proposed by Australian botanists in 2005.
The veteran art lecturer and graphic designer, Paul Wade, presents oil paintings in spontaneous "Pop" excursions, which are at once celebratory, witty and innovative.
His triptych entitled "Disruptive Robots" presents inverted and skewed paintings that hint at the failing infrastructure of Harare's metropolis and allude to the delusions experienced in drunken driving.
His, other urban mental landscapes entitled "Many Horizons", pursue the same automatism that guided the surrealist's artists procedure of using free association to express the workings of the sub-conscious.
Wade's work recalls the art of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012) the Spanish painter and lawyer and other proponents of Tachisme such as Pierre Soulages (born 1919) and Hans Hartung.The M3 Parking assist system has been designed from the ground up to solve traditional car park problems and more.
This art movement derives from the French word "Tache" meaning blob or mark, and refers to the squiggles and arabesque lines used by artists to present powerful and direct expressions of psychic states.
He also exhibits his artistic forte in a textile and steel woven sculpture, which hangs in the main area of the gallery.
"Young Turk" Freddy Tauro presents his works entitled "Plot in Ruwa", "Landscape" and "Back Shed".
His semi-abstract details of natural and architectural forms are achieved by luminous colour integrations that demarcate the landscape, buildings and sky in a liquid spontaneity.
Veteran landscape artist Diana Wright uses her unerring eye to capture the pattern and chromatic quality of natural forms and landscapes of the sub-tropical Zimbabwean vegetation.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
Her colourful pointillist interpretations of the land remain perennially charming.
The exhibition introduces a young talent, Emma Venzery, whose acrylic on paper works entitled "Your Tide", "My Wave" and "Closing In" explores the pathos of the human condition in imprimatura on white ground.
Her colourful forays into mental landscapes are articulated in fluid brushstrokes which hint at her artful dexterity. This new artist has the potential to rise
professionally in the visual arts with her bold signatory style.
Prominent artist and visual art expert, Dr Helen Lieros' presents new developments in her art works. Her exploitation of the varied surface qualities of her own handmade paper are best seen in her works entitled "Unknown Strata". Here,Gerresheimer Werkzeugbau Wackersdorf GmbH manufactures special lines and machines. the artist employs new collage techniques for expression. Her continued technical search to convey the greatest artistic effect with minimal artistic elements distinguishes her.
In all, the, memories, style and imagery depicted in this show are relative and subject to the artists' own fragmented view of their land, landmark and space they occupy or experience.
This 56-piece exhibition is a memorable diary of our existence on the land we call Zimbabwe and is worth viewing. But ultimately it is up to the viewer to reconstruct and fabricate their own personal narratives and rifle through the myriads of colour, form and texture that constitute these various vistas and states of mind we call the Zimbabwean landscape.
Landscapes convey an appreciation of the beauty and chagrins of the natural and urban world. Here, each artist responds to the land in their individual psyche and medium of preference.
The exhibiting artists are drawn from both mature and neophyte artists who include Paul Wade, Kate Raath, Dian Wright, Simon Back, Darryl Nero, Richard Witikani, the late Robert Paul, Ljiljana Vlacic, Justin Gope, Freddy Tauro and Emma Venzery.
Professional artist Kate Raath explores the expressive and interpretive qualities of drawing in her exquisite ink studies of the flat topped Acacia trees of Zimbabwe.
Interestingly, this tree which is revered by the people of Africa, Australia,Find the lowest prices on Air purifier. Asia and the Americas has according to current botanical nomenclature been re-named Vachellia and/or Senegallia at a recent International Botanical Congress which had been proposed by Australian botanists in 2005.
The veteran art lecturer and graphic designer, Paul Wade, presents oil paintings in spontaneous "Pop" excursions, which are at once celebratory, witty and innovative.
His triptych entitled "Disruptive Robots" presents inverted and skewed paintings that hint at the failing infrastructure of Harare's metropolis and allude to the delusions experienced in drunken driving.
His, other urban mental landscapes entitled "Many Horizons", pursue the same automatism that guided the surrealist's artists procedure of using free association to express the workings of the sub-conscious.
Wade's work recalls the art of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012) the Spanish painter and lawyer and other proponents of Tachisme such as Pierre Soulages (born 1919) and Hans Hartung.The M3 Parking assist system has been designed from the ground up to solve traditional car park problems and more.
This art movement derives from the French word "Tache" meaning blob or mark, and refers to the squiggles and arabesque lines used by artists to present powerful and direct expressions of psychic states.
He also exhibits his artistic forte in a textile and steel woven sculpture, which hangs in the main area of the gallery.
"Young Turk" Freddy Tauro presents his works entitled "Plot in Ruwa", "Landscape" and "Back Shed".
His semi-abstract details of natural and architectural forms are achieved by luminous colour integrations that demarcate the landscape, buildings and sky in a liquid spontaneity.
Veteran landscape artist Diana Wright uses her unerring eye to capture the pattern and chromatic quality of natural forms and landscapes of the sub-tropical Zimbabwean vegetation.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
Her colourful pointillist interpretations of the land remain perennially charming.
The exhibition introduces a young talent, Emma Venzery, whose acrylic on paper works entitled "Your Tide", "My Wave" and "Closing In" explores the pathos of the human condition in imprimatura on white ground.
Her colourful forays into mental landscapes are articulated in fluid brushstrokes which hint at her artful dexterity. This new artist has the potential to rise
professionally in the visual arts with her bold signatory style.
Prominent artist and visual art expert, Dr Helen Lieros' presents new developments in her art works. Her exploitation of the varied surface qualities of her own handmade paper are best seen in her works entitled "Unknown Strata". Here,Gerresheimer Werkzeugbau Wackersdorf GmbH manufactures special lines and machines. the artist employs new collage techniques for expression. Her continued technical search to convey the greatest artistic effect with minimal artistic elements distinguishes her.
In all, the, memories, style and imagery depicted in this show are relative and subject to the artists' own fragmented view of their land, landmark and space they occupy or experience.
This 56-piece exhibition is a memorable diary of our existence on the land we call Zimbabwe and is worth viewing. But ultimately it is up to the viewer to reconstruct and fabricate their own personal narratives and rifle through the myriads of colour, form and texture that constitute these various vistas and states of mind we call the Zimbabwean landscape.
Darien’s First New Home Community in a Generation
Kensett, the first new home community in Darien (CT) in a
generation, recently celebrated its Grand Opening. A ribbon cutting
ceremony included local dignitaries, State Representative Terrie Wood,
Senator Bob Duff, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson and Selectman John
Lundeen, among others. The event was hosted by Developers Bob Dale, Bill
McGuinness and Clarion Partners, as well as executives from First
County Bank, the construction lender on the project. More than 150
guests attended the event, including prospective homebuyers who were
able to tour two model residences, The Piper House and The Norwood
House.We offer over 600 landscape oil paintings
at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. The model homes were decorated
by one of the nation’s top interior design firms, Lynn Morgan Design of
Rowayton and New York City.
“We truly cherish the opportunity to create a new neighborhood in Darien, which is widely recognized as one of the premier communities in metropolitan New York,” said Bob Dale.Chances are, you've never setup a real time Location system. “Our goal is to craft homes with all the modern conveniences in a style that is appropriate for Darien.”
Kensett offers three- and four-bedroom homes ranging from 3,200 to over 4,400 square-feet, and priced from $1.3 to over $1.6 million. Each home is designed in a traditional New England style with dramatic rooflines, brick chimneys and other elegant and timeless details. The homes are set within nearly 16 acres of heavily landscaped grounds which will include walking trails and a conservation preserve.
“Kensett offers thoughtfully-designed New England-cottage style homes coupled with a spectacular amenity package unmatched in the area,” said Bill McGuinness one of the developers of the project. “Prospective buyers have a variety of floor plan options and the ability to truly customize their homes.”
Construction of the residences is state-of-the-art and energy efficient. Every home features custom quality finishes, including hardwood flooring throughout the main living areas, gas fireplaces with hand-crafted mantels, recessed lighting and generous closet and storage spaces. Gourmet kitchens include granite countertops, a full range of hardwood cabinetry and GE Monogram appliances. All homes feature master baths with tempered glass showers, double-sink vanities, marble or ceramic floor tile, and Kohler fixtures. Select homes include a spa tub with marble deck. Buyers may choose from a wide variety of designer packages, including all flooring, cabinetry,Gerresheimer Werkzeugbau Wackersdorf GmbH manufactures special lines and machines. plumbing fixtures, window coverings, flooring, countertops, and appliances. Each home has its own private outdoor space and includes an attached two-car garage.
The iconic-designed Meeting House is a dramatic 4,000-square-foot community clubhouse with a resort-style swimming pool, hot tub and outdoor fire pit. The well-appointed clubroom offers a catering kitchen, flat-screen television, oversized fireplace and luxurious furnishings. Also in the Meeting House is a fitness center equipped with aerobic machines, free weights, flat-screen televisions and a yoga studio with hardwood floors, mirrored walls and ballet bar.
“Kensett and the work of its development team are great examples of how the real estate market in lower Fairfield County is coming back to life in a big way,” said Rey Giallongo, chairman and CEO of First County Bank. “We were very impressed with the business plan and financial strength behind the project. Several of our clients are involved in new home construction in and around Darien, and we are very proud to be involved in these efforts.”
On Thursday, Dal-Tile officials announced the plant’s operations would be shifted to a sister facility in Gettysburg, Pa. The plants are Dal-Tile’s only manufacturers of mosaic tile. The Olean plant, located on the city’s east side, was in its 98th year of tile production.
Dal-Tile,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelain tiles. owned by Dallas-based Mohawk Industries, is the largest manufacturer of ceramic tile and natural stone products used in residential and commercial design and construction across North America.
Though details of the severance package are not being released, officials with the United Steelworkers Olean Local 151 G,Redpin is an open source indoor positioning system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. which represents most of the workers at the local plant, said the proposal included a payout based on the number of years worked at Dal-Tile, health care benefits and vacation time buyouts, among other things. Those close to the negotiations did tell the Times Herald that Dal-Tile corporate officials gave the union recall rights should the plant open within the next five years.
“We truly cherish the opportunity to create a new neighborhood in Darien, which is widely recognized as one of the premier communities in metropolitan New York,” said Bob Dale.Chances are, you've never setup a real time Location system. “Our goal is to craft homes with all the modern conveniences in a style that is appropriate for Darien.”
Kensett offers three- and four-bedroom homes ranging from 3,200 to over 4,400 square-feet, and priced from $1.3 to over $1.6 million. Each home is designed in a traditional New England style with dramatic rooflines, brick chimneys and other elegant and timeless details. The homes are set within nearly 16 acres of heavily landscaped grounds which will include walking trails and a conservation preserve.
“Kensett offers thoughtfully-designed New England-cottage style homes coupled with a spectacular amenity package unmatched in the area,” said Bill McGuinness one of the developers of the project. “Prospective buyers have a variety of floor plan options and the ability to truly customize their homes.”
Construction of the residences is state-of-the-art and energy efficient. Every home features custom quality finishes, including hardwood flooring throughout the main living areas, gas fireplaces with hand-crafted mantels, recessed lighting and generous closet and storage spaces. Gourmet kitchens include granite countertops, a full range of hardwood cabinetry and GE Monogram appliances. All homes feature master baths with tempered glass showers, double-sink vanities, marble or ceramic floor tile, and Kohler fixtures. Select homes include a spa tub with marble deck. Buyers may choose from a wide variety of designer packages, including all flooring, cabinetry,Gerresheimer Werkzeugbau Wackersdorf GmbH manufactures special lines and machines. plumbing fixtures, window coverings, flooring, countertops, and appliances. Each home has its own private outdoor space and includes an attached two-car garage.
The iconic-designed Meeting House is a dramatic 4,000-square-foot community clubhouse with a resort-style swimming pool, hot tub and outdoor fire pit. The well-appointed clubroom offers a catering kitchen, flat-screen television, oversized fireplace and luxurious furnishings. Also in the Meeting House is a fitness center equipped with aerobic machines, free weights, flat-screen televisions and a yoga studio with hardwood floors, mirrored walls and ballet bar.
“Kensett and the work of its development team are great examples of how the real estate market in lower Fairfield County is coming back to life in a big way,” said Rey Giallongo, chairman and CEO of First County Bank. “We were very impressed with the business plan and financial strength behind the project. Several of our clients are involved in new home construction in and around Darien, and we are very proud to be involved in these efforts.”
On Thursday, Dal-Tile officials announced the plant’s operations would be shifted to a sister facility in Gettysburg, Pa. The plants are Dal-Tile’s only manufacturers of mosaic tile. The Olean plant, located on the city’s east side, was in its 98th year of tile production.
Dal-Tile,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelain tiles. owned by Dallas-based Mohawk Industries, is the largest manufacturer of ceramic tile and natural stone products used in residential and commercial design and construction across North America.
Though details of the severance package are not being released, officials with the United Steelworkers Olean Local 151 G,Redpin is an open source indoor positioning system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. which represents most of the workers at the local plant, said the proposal included a payout based on the number of years worked at Dal-Tile, health care benefits and vacation time buyouts, among other things. Those close to the negotiations did tell the Times Herald that Dal-Tile corporate officials gave the union recall rights should the plant open within the next five years.
2012年9月24日星期一
An oil bonanza squandered?
On the streets of Caracas, vast slums blanket the hillsides while
squatters hang laundry in the windows of abandoned buildings.
Trash-strewn alleys are riddled with potholes and lined with broken
streetlamps. The city’s main waterway, the polluted Guaire River, is
known more for sewage than swimming.
While oil has ushered in spectacular construction projects for glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi,Experience real time location tracking with Zebra's real time Location system to track and manage your high-value assets, it’s brought relatively meager changes to Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Nearly 14 years after President Hugo Chavez took office, and despite the biggest oil bonanza in Venezuela’s history, there’s little outward sign of the nearly one trillion petrodollars that have flowed into the country.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school.
Venezuela has undoubtedly changed during Chavez’s tenure. The populist president has used the oil wealth to buttress his support through cash handouts, state-run grocery stores and a gamut of other social programs.TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. With more money in the economy, incomes are higher and the number of people living in poverty has fallen.Kitchen Floor tiles comes in stone,
Unemployment has dropped from more than 13 percent in 1999 to about 8 percent. The country has also achieved rapid improvement on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures a range of indicators from living standards to life expectancy.
“We’re applying a successful program — successful politically, successful socially, successful economically,” Chavez said at a news conference. “With flaws, of course, but it’s successful. We’re laying the foundations of a historic project that will take our entire lifetime.”
All of which makes him a tough incumbent to beat in the upcoming Oct. 7 election.
Yet some experts say Chavez could have done much more to improve the country’s infrastructure, boost its economy and invest in the very oil industry that keeps Venezuela afloat.
“It’s overwhelmingly clear that Venezuela has wasted the windfall,” said Francisco Monaldi, an economist and director of the International Center of Energy and the Environment at Caracas’ IESA business school. “You should have had much greater economic growth, much greater reduction of poverty.”
Among Latin American countries, the economies of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina all have expanded more rapidly than Venezuela’s since Chavez took office in 1999, recording average growth between 3 and 5 percent a year.
Venezuela, by contrast, averaged a 2.8 percent annual increase of gross domestic product between 1999 and 2011, according to International Monetary Fund figures. By that measure, the country was outperformed by every other member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries except Libya. Even war-torn Iraq posted higher growth.
Some Venezuelans, such as tennis instructor Naybeth Figueroa, say Chavez has simply channeled money toward his “Chavista” supporters while neglecting deeply ingrained problems such as soaring murder rates, inflation, crumbling infrastructure and poor government services. Venezuela now ranks among the most violent and corrupt places on earth.
“The country is falling to pieces,” Figueroa said. “Where is the oil money going?”
On a rutted unpaved road in the countryside outside Caracas, unemployed housewife Moreli Gonzalez lives in a shack with a dirt floor and walls made of rusting sheets of zinc. She is thankful to Chavez that she now receives a $280-a-month cash benefit through a program called “Mothers of the Neighborhood Mission.”
“Now we have everything,” said Gonzalez, who credits a government education program with helping her learn to read — and a state-run grocery down the road that has made food more affordable.
“We eat better,” she said, showing off cupboards filled with bags of rice and pasta. “My children didn’t used to eat snacks. Now they eat well.”
The government programs for the poor are why Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez recently boasted: “This was one country before President Chavez’s government, and a different one afterward.”
He was referring to the more than $300 billion that the government has spent during Chavez’s tenure on “social development,” including health care and education.
It’s been made possible by oil prices that have shot up, sending more than $981 billion in revenues to the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, between 1999 and 2011.
Some economists say that given the boom, it’s little wonder Venezuelans living below the poverty line declined from 50 percent in the first half of 1999 to about 32 percent in the second half of last year.
“There are people here who are eating meat who didn’t used to eat meat. But is that due to Chavez? That’s not due to Chavez. That’s the result of the changes in the price of oil,” said economist Angel Garcia Banchs, director of the consulting firm Econometrica.
The state oil company’s contributions to the government have more than tripled, from $16.5 billion in 2004 to $58.6 billion last year.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding.
And it’s not all going to social programs. Chavez has spent billions on the military, buying up Russian-made fighter jets, helicopters and rifles.
While oil has ushered in spectacular construction projects for glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world’s tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi,Experience real time location tracking with Zebra's real time Location system to track and manage your high-value assets, it’s brought relatively meager changes to Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Nearly 14 years after President Hugo Chavez took office, and despite the biggest oil bonanza in Venezuela’s history, there’s little outward sign of the nearly one trillion petrodollars that have flowed into the country.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school.
Venezuela has undoubtedly changed during Chavez’s tenure. The populist president has used the oil wealth to buttress his support through cash handouts, state-run grocery stores and a gamut of other social programs.TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. With more money in the economy, incomes are higher and the number of people living in poverty has fallen.Kitchen Floor tiles comes in stone,
Unemployment has dropped from more than 13 percent in 1999 to about 8 percent. The country has also achieved rapid improvement on the U.N. Human Development Index, which measures a range of indicators from living standards to life expectancy.
“We’re applying a successful program — successful politically, successful socially, successful economically,” Chavez said at a news conference. “With flaws, of course, but it’s successful. We’re laying the foundations of a historic project that will take our entire lifetime.”
All of which makes him a tough incumbent to beat in the upcoming Oct. 7 election.
Yet some experts say Chavez could have done much more to improve the country’s infrastructure, boost its economy and invest in the very oil industry that keeps Venezuela afloat.
“It’s overwhelmingly clear that Venezuela has wasted the windfall,” said Francisco Monaldi, an economist and director of the International Center of Energy and the Environment at Caracas’ IESA business school. “You should have had much greater economic growth, much greater reduction of poverty.”
Among Latin American countries, the economies of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina all have expanded more rapidly than Venezuela’s since Chavez took office in 1999, recording average growth between 3 and 5 percent a year.
Venezuela, by contrast, averaged a 2.8 percent annual increase of gross domestic product between 1999 and 2011, according to International Monetary Fund figures. By that measure, the country was outperformed by every other member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries except Libya. Even war-torn Iraq posted higher growth.
Some Venezuelans, such as tennis instructor Naybeth Figueroa, say Chavez has simply channeled money toward his “Chavista” supporters while neglecting deeply ingrained problems such as soaring murder rates, inflation, crumbling infrastructure and poor government services. Venezuela now ranks among the most violent and corrupt places on earth.
“The country is falling to pieces,” Figueroa said. “Where is the oil money going?”
On a rutted unpaved road in the countryside outside Caracas, unemployed housewife Moreli Gonzalez lives in a shack with a dirt floor and walls made of rusting sheets of zinc. She is thankful to Chavez that she now receives a $280-a-month cash benefit through a program called “Mothers of the Neighborhood Mission.”
“Now we have everything,” said Gonzalez, who credits a government education program with helping her learn to read — and a state-run grocery down the road that has made food more affordable.
“We eat better,” she said, showing off cupboards filled with bags of rice and pasta. “My children didn’t used to eat snacks. Now they eat well.”
The government programs for the poor are why Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez recently boasted: “This was one country before President Chavez’s government, and a different one afterward.”
He was referring to the more than $300 billion that the government has spent during Chavez’s tenure on “social development,” including health care and education.
It’s been made possible by oil prices that have shot up, sending more than $981 billion in revenues to the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, between 1999 and 2011.
Some economists say that given the boom, it’s little wonder Venezuelans living below the poverty line declined from 50 percent in the first half of 1999 to about 32 percent in the second half of last year.
“There are people here who are eating meat who didn’t used to eat meat. But is that due to Chavez? That’s not due to Chavez. That’s the result of the changes in the price of oil,” said economist Angel Garcia Banchs, director of the consulting firm Econometrica.
The state oil company’s contributions to the government have more than tripled, from $16.5 billion in 2004 to $58.6 billion last year.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding.
And it’s not all going to social programs. Chavez has spent billions on the military, buying up Russian-made fighter jets, helicopters and rifles.
Iowa broker built empire on a lie concealed
A small-town Iowa boy, raised in hard times by a widowed mother,
starts a business in the back room of a barber shop before setting out
to the big city. He strikes it rich and returns years later to local
glory, spending lavishly and savoring his role as the big man in a
little town.
It's a real story, but as became clear this summer, a dark thread ran through it. For most of the two-decade life of Peregrine Financial Group, a leading independent futures brokerage, founder and chief executive Russell Wasendorf Sr. was taking hundreds of millions of dollars of his customers' money to cover losses and live large.
His dual life came to light after Wasendorf, 64, tried to commit suicide outside his headquarters in July. Authorities discovered a four-page confession letter describing how he used a post-office box, a scanner and basic software to hide his theft for years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused him of making off with more than $200 million of customer money. Last week, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, lying to regulators and embezzling customer funds, crimes that could put him in jail for 50 years.
Interviews with dozens of former employees,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. colleagues and associates, as well as court filings and company documents seen by Reuters, offer the most complete account yet of Wasendorf and his career.Kitchen Floor tiles comes in stone, He is a man who came from little, made it big and then dipped ever deeper into customer accounts to finance a facade of seemingly unlimited wealth.
Part of Wasendorf's life was an open book: He brought celebrity speakers such as Ted Koppel to industry events and wrote columns for a glossy magazine he owned. Toward the end of last decade, he relocated his headquarters from Chicago back to Cedar Falls, bought a private jet and built a $24 million state-of-the-art office, touting the move as a template for revitalizing small-town America.
Less known were the personal tensions he faced,Experience real time location tracking with Zebra's real time Location system to track and manage your high-value assets, including a split with a brother, two divorces, a last-minute mystery wedding in Las Vegas and seething resentment against establishment rivals in Chicago. His pastor says Wasendorf knew his ruse was doomed several years before it unraveled.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding. A rift emerged with his only son, Russ Jr., who warned the Iowa shift was an expensive folly - and prepared this summer to move to Australia.
"Russ Jr. told him it was a mistake - that it was a mistake to spend $24 million on the building and a mistake to buy that jet,Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school." said Nicholas Iavarone, Russ Jr.'s lawyer and a longtime counsel to Peregrine. "It didn't matter.… He wanted to go back to Cedar Falls to be the big man."
Today, Wasendorf sits in solitary confinement, and under suicide watch, at Linn County Correctional Facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Authorities have found only $181 million of an estimated $400 million in customer funds Peregrine was supposed to have on hand.
Wasendorf and his lawyer, a public defender, didn't respond to requests for comment. Beyond the confession letter and the plea agreement, neither has made any public comments to the media.
The youngest son of a meatpacking plant foreman, Russell Ralph Wasendorf was born in 1948, named after a pastor and his son who offered the Wasendorfs shelter in their attic when money grew tight.
Arthur Wasendorf died when his son was in kindergarten. Russell's widowed mother, Ida, landed a job in marketing for a local securities broker to keep the family fed.
Wasendorf gravitated toward the arts. At high school in Marion, Iowa, he performed in plays at local churches. While at the University of Northern Iowa, he joined a local artist collective, learned to use audio-visual equipment and worked on documentaries about New Mexico's Pueblo Indians. That led to "a short, but successful career in the motion picture business" prior to entering the futures industry, according to a note he published in the glossy magazine he later founded, Stocks, Futures and Options, or SFO.
The peak came in 1974, two years after he left university: a 20-minute documentary on soybeans titled "The Gold That Grows," which later won an award from the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events.
At the time, Wasendorf was in an early job as an advertising and production manager for the American Soybean Association. The film was made to tell farmers how their dues were being spent to bolster exports, including shots of soybean meal being fed to chickens in Japan.
His first marriage was brief. He married Susan Richardson in 1969 while both were students at the University of Northern Iowa, according to an announcement in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
The couple had one son, Russell Jr., and later divorced. Richardson, who has since remarried and lives in Florida, declined to comment.
It was one of several family splits. Wasendorf maintained little contact with his siblings in recent years, including older brother Lewis, who lives just 80 miles from Cedar Falls.
"Russ chose to kind of divorce himself from the rest of the family. We respect his wishes," said one family member. "He was always flying around the country, around the world… We didn't want to live that lifestyle."
It's a real story, but as became clear this summer, a dark thread ran through it. For most of the two-decade life of Peregrine Financial Group, a leading independent futures brokerage, founder and chief executive Russell Wasendorf Sr. was taking hundreds of millions of dollars of his customers' money to cover losses and live large.
His dual life came to light after Wasendorf, 64, tried to commit suicide outside his headquarters in July. Authorities discovered a four-page confession letter describing how he used a post-office box, a scanner and basic software to hide his theft for years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused him of making off with more than $200 million of customer money. Last week, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, lying to regulators and embezzling customer funds, crimes that could put him in jail for 50 years.
Interviews with dozens of former employees,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. colleagues and associates, as well as court filings and company documents seen by Reuters, offer the most complete account yet of Wasendorf and his career.Kitchen Floor tiles comes in stone, He is a man who came from little, made it big and then dipped ever deeper into customer accounts to finance a facade of seemingly unlimited wealth.
Part of Wasendorf's life was an open book: He brought celebrity speakers such as Ted Koppel to industry events and wrote columns for a glossy magazine he owned. Toward the end of last decade, he relocated his headquarters from Chicago back to Cedar Falls, bought a private jet and built a $24 million state-of-the-art office, touting the move as a template for revitalizing small-town America.
Less known were the personal tensions he faced,Experience real time location tracking with Zebra's real time Location system to track and manage your high-value assets, including a split with a brother, two divorces, a last-minute mystery wedding in Las Vegas and seething resentment against establishment rivals in Chicago. His pastor says Wasendorf knew his ruse was doomed several years before it unraveled.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding. A rift emerged with his only son, Russ Jr., who warned the Iowa shift was an expensive folly - and prepared this summer to move to Australia.
"Russ Jr. told him it was a mistake - that it was a mistake to spend $24 million on the building and a mistake to buy that jet,Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school." said Nicholas Iavarone, Russ Jr.'s lawyer and a longtime counsel to Peregrine. "It didn't matter.… He wanted to go back to Cedar Falls to be the big man."
Today, Wasendorf sits in solitary confinement, and under suicide watch, at Linn County Correctional Facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Authorities have found only $181 million of an estimated $400 million in customer funds Peregrine was supposed to have on hand.
Wasendorf and his lawyer, a public defender, didn't respond to requests for comment. Beyond the confession letter and the plea agreement, neither has made any public comments to the media.
The youngest son of a meatpacking plant foreman, Russell Ralph Wasendorf was born in 1948, named after a pastor and his son who offered the Wasendorfs shelter in their attic when money grew tight.
Arthur Wasendorf died when his son was in kindergarten. Russell's widowed mother, Ida, landed a job in marketing for a local securities broker to keep the family fed.
Wasendorf gravitated toward the arts. At high school in Marion, Iowa, he performed in plays at local churches. While at the University of Northern Iowa, he joined a local artist collective, learned to use audio-visual equipment and worked on documentaries about New Mexico's Pueblo Indians. That led to "a short, but successful career in the motion picture business" prior to entering the futures industry, according to a note he published in the glossy magazine he later founded, Stocks, Futures and Options, or SFO.
The peak came in 1974, two years after he left university: a 20-minute documentary on soybeans titled "The Gold That Grows," which later won an award from the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events.
At the time, Wasendorf was in an early job as an advertising and production manager for the American Soybean Association. The film was made to tell farmers how their dues were being spent to bolster exports, including shots of soybean meal being fed to chickens in Japan.
His first marriage was brief. He married Susan Richardson in 1969 while both were students at the University of Northern Iowa, according to an announcement in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
The couple had one son, Russell Jr., and later divorced. Richardson, who has since remarried and lives in Florida, declined to comment.
It was one of several family splits. Wasendorf maintained little contact with his siblings in recent years, including older brother Lewis, who lives just 80 miles from Cedar Falls.
"Russ chose to kind of divorce himself from the rest of the family. We respect his wishes," said one family member. "He was always flying around the country, around the world… We didn't want to live that lifestyle."
What's the best software for online meetings?
It's become a maxim of modern business life: Your most important
meeting of the year won't take place in a conference room, but rather
online with all attendees viewing a common computer screen.
It's impersonal. It's detached. And it's often quite vexing. Simply joining the Web meeting can sometimes be a problem. But if you haven't checked out these online services lately, you might be surprised by how much they've improved, or their wide range of pricing and features.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding. Whether you're looking for simple screen-sharing to produce a PowerPoint deck, or whiteboard and collaboration tools for deeper interaction, chances are there's a Web app to fit your needs and your budget.
While some of these—WebEx, for example—have been around for several years, cloud providers are constantly updating. We test-drove four small-business-focused services that can help with various types of meetings, and were generally impressed by their current levels of finesse.
You start by running a Java applet that creates a little control window where you can specify whether to share the entire screen, an application, or a custom region. It's too bad that participants see a gray rectangle in the area covered by the control window, but you can at least move the window around so that it doesn't conceal important information.
If you share your entire screen, participants can see a navigation bar with information about you based on your settings, the name of your meeting, the dial-in number, and a chat window (if you've authorized one). You also get a list of participants, and MeetingBurner lets you make any one of them the presenter—though that person must download and run the screen-sharing applet.
Drawbacks? MeetingBurner's interface is cluttered and not always intuitive.
More importantly,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. the free version does not let you record the proceedings. To record a meeting and share that recording, you must subscribe to either the $40-per-month MeetingBurner Pro (for up to 50 participants) or the $100-per-month Premier edition, which supports up to 1000 users and adds analytics to the mix.
As for the control panel's chat window with audio options GoToMeeting by default uses a computer's built-in speaker and mic, but you can opt to get a phone line and audio PIN to use with your meeting number. Another button initiates a recording, which you can save for playback in GoToMeeting or Windows Media Player. You also see how much space is left for your recording.
GoToMeeting nicely lets you hide parts or all of the control panel. Also, you don't need to go to a website to get started: The desktop app has you up and running in seconds (although initial setup of the software does take a few minutes).Manufacturer of precision Plastic Mould for cameras,
Attendees at my test meeting complained that it wasn't obvious that they needed to click on a button to activate use of their computer's audio system (I didn't try the bridge line), but they otherwise reported that the app worked as advertised.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. Participants can choose whether to use the phone line or the computer.
GoToMeeting supports up to 25 attendees on Macs, PCs, iPads, iPhones, and Android devices. There's a free trial, but no free version: An organizer account that lets you hold unlimited meetings costs $49 per month or $468 per year, and Citrix offers pricier services for large crowds—say, for webinars. It's not a bad deal if you hold a lot of meetings where people collaborate on projects.Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called Injection Mold.
It's impersonal. It's detached. And it's often quite vexing. Simply joining the Web meeting can sometimes be a problem. But if you haven't checked out these online services lately, you might be surprised by how much they've improved, or their wide range of pricing and features.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding. Whether you're looking for simple screen-sharing to produce a PowerPoint deck, or whiteboard and collaboration tools for deeper interaction, chances are there's a Web app to fit your needs and your budget.
While some of these—WebEx, for example—have been around for several years, cloud providers are constantly updating. We test-drove four small-business-focused services that can help with various types of meetings, and were generally impressed by their current levels of finesse.
You start by running a Java applet that creates a little control window where you can specify whether to share the entire screen, an application, or a custom region. It's too bad that participants see a gray rectangle in the area covered by the control window, but you can at least move the window around so that it doesn't conceal important information.
If you share your entire screen, participants can see a navigation bar with information about you based on your settings, the name of your meeting, the dial-in number, and a chat window (if you've authorized one). You also get a list of participants, and MeetingBurner lets you make any one of them the presenter—though that person must download and run the screen-sharing applet.
Drawbacks? MeetingBurner's interface is cluttered and not always intuitive.
More importantly,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. the free version does not let you record the proceedings. To record a meeting and share that recording, you must subscribe to either the $40-per-month MeetingBurner Pro (for up to 50 participants) or the $100-per-month Premier edition, which supports up to 1000 users and adds analytics to the mix.
As for the control panel's chat window with audio options GoToMeeting by default uses a computer's built-in speaker and mic, but you can opt to get a phone line and audio PIN to use with your meeting number. Another button initiates a recording, which you can save for playback in GoToMeeting or Windows Media Player. You also see how much space is left for your recording.
GoToMeeting nicely lets you hide parts or all of the control panel. Also, you don't need to go to a website to get started: The desktop app has you up and running in seconds (although initial setup of the software does take a few minutes).Manufacturer of precision Plastic Mould for cameras,
Attendees at my test meeting complained that it wasn't obvious that they needed to click on a button to activate use of their computer's audio system (I didn't try the bridge line), but they otherwise reported that the app worked as advertised.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. Participants can choose whether to use the phone line or the computer.
GoToMeeting supports up to 25 attendees on Macs, PCs, iPads, iPhones, and Android devices. There's a free trial, but no free version: An organizer account that lets you hold unlimited meetings costs $49 per month or $468 per year, and Citrix offers pricier services for large crowds—say, for webinars. It's not a bad deal if you hold a lot of meetings where people collaborate on projects.Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called Injection Mold.
Networked Machines Sell More
Operators who are implementing these new methodologies in a
controlled and systematic manner are reporting good results and
anticipating even better ones in the future, thanks to several emerging
trends.
One is the willingness of patrons to pay higher vend prices for high-quality fresh food when they can pay with a card. Operators are responding by upgrading their offerings and equipping their food machines to accept cashless payments.
Likewise, many operators report they are attracting new patrons willing to pay a premium for better-for-you snacks and beverages. As with food customers, they are more inclined to do so when cashless payment is an option. And, while they experiment with upscaling their food selections and expanding their better-for-you menus, a growing number of vending companies are using telemetry to keep tabs on machine sales to ensure a mix of the best sellers and to minimize waste and staleage.
Like many vending companies, Imperial was prompted to invest in the technology when the economy began to turn down in 2008. Its founder, Paul Tims, and president Lance Whorton, recognized that greater operational efficiency would be vital to offset lower per-machine sales. The operators understood the role remote machine monitoring could play to help them achieve that goal.
"When the recession hit, the sales decrease was out of our control, but we knew we had to find ways to manage costs and reduce operating expenses," recalled Whorton. "We knew we could use remote collection of machine sales data to increase route efficiency and lower our operational costs by reducing the number of vehicles on the road and the related costs of fuel, maintenance and total labor, since drivers could visit more locations a day and spend less time at each." Whorton said the operational benefits his company gained through telemetry have far exceeded his expectations. He reported that it took Imperial two and a half years pay back its investment in telemetry through the cost savings it has realized.
Cantaloupe Systems' Seed platform gathers data from machines and transmits it wirelessly over the Internet, enabling optimized scheduling that delivers maximum route and merchandising efficiencies. By analyzing inventory levels, cash in the machine and geographic distribution, the Web-based application automatically generates efficient delivery schedule and pick lists based on real-time item-level sales data.
Among the most evident impacts of Imperial's systemwide Seed deployment is that its 70 current routes -- serving Oklahoma,Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called Injection Mold. Arkansas, northern Texas and southern Missouri -- were consolidated from 105 through the company's use of remote machine monitoring. "And our existing routes are tremendous, doing more business today than when we started with telemetry," Whorton noted.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding.
Systemwide deployment of the technology took two years from start to finish. It began in early 2009 with a test of Cantaloupe Systems' Seed platform in 200 machines on three routes in the Tulsa,Manufacturer of precision Plastic Mould for cameras, OK, area. Imperial's goal, to reduce them to two, was achieved, paving the way to extend the technology across its operation. Prekitting was high on Imperial Vending's list of priorities, once it had Seed in place. The company had experimented with prekitting product deliveries by forecasting with its vending management software, but found that its pick lists often did not match machine needs because sales can fluctuate unpredictably.
"The move to wireless technology immediately provided more accurate and up-to-date inventory data that made prekitting successful," Whorton observed.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. "The guesswork is eliminated for our warehouse personnel, because the wirelessly transmitted item-level sales data gives them orders to load based on the real-time needs of each machine."
Whorton emphasized that, with consumers increasingly accustomed to paying with credit and debit cards everywhere they shop and dine, developing a network to support card-based payment has been just as important as the operational efficiencies Imperial has gained through wireless remote monitoring. "We started with Cantaloupe telemetry,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. with a plan to migrate into cashless from there," he told VT. "As Cantaloupe launched Seed Cashless, we began rolling out their solution. It will be very important, moving forward, both to deliver consumers payment flexibility and to drive sales."
Imperial currently has cashless readers installed on 10% of its machines, but its goal is to extend that capability systemwide. "We are trying to understand costs and whether it's necessary to have cashless on every machine in the same breakroom," Whorton told VT. "Our initial goal is to make cashless available to all clients, and expand from there."
Enabling widespread use of card-based payments ties into Imperial's plan to expand its use of the Sprout prepaid promotion and loyalty reward card, which is available to members of the Vend Marketing Institute marketing and purchasing cooperative. "It's the first viable, scalable program of its kind in the market, and it continues to become more popular and attract more interest," said Whorton. "We know the move to telemetry is a good investment to make us more efficient and it's always dynamic, helping us continually improve. But we're also excited about the consumer opportunity, as consumers rely on cashless in their everyday lives, and our ability to offer promotions and rewards, which will continue to grow overall sales."
One is the willingness of patrons to pay higher vend prices for high-quality fresh food when they can pay with a card. Operators are responding by upgrading their offerings and equipping their food machines to accept cashless payments.
Likewise, many operators report they are attracting new patrons willing to pay a premium for better-for-you snacks and beverages. As with food customers, they are more inclined to do so when cashless payment is an option. And, while they experiment with upscaling their food selections and expanding their better-for-you menus, a growing number of vending companies are using telemetry to keep tabs on machine sales to ensure a mix of the best sellers and to minimize waste and staleage.
Like many vending companies, Imperial was prompted to invest in the technology when the economy began to turn down in 2008. Its founder, Paul Tims, and president Lance Whorton, recognized that greater operational efficiency would be vital to offset lower per-machine sales. The operators understood the role remote machine monitoring could play to help them achieve that goal.
"When the recession hit, the sales decrease was out of our control, but we knew we had to find ways to manage costs and reduce operating expenses," recalled Whorton. "We knew we could use remote collection of machine sales data to increase route efficiency and lower our operational costs by reducing the number of vehicles on the road and the related costs of fuel, maintenance and total labor, since drivers could visit more locations a day and spend less time at each." Whorton said the operational benefits his company gained through telemetry have far exceeded his expectations. He reported that it took Imperial two and a half years pay back its investment in telemetry through the cost savings it has realized.
Cantaloupe Systems' Seed platform gathers data from machines and transmits it wirelessly over the Internet, enabling optimized scheduling that delivers maximum route and merchandising efficiencies. By analyzing inventory levels, cash in the machine and geographic distribution, the Web-based application automatically generates efficient delivery schedule and pick lists based on real-time item-level sales data.
Among the most evident impacts of Imperial's systemwide Seed deployment is that its 70 current routes -- serving Oklahoma,Polypropylene and polythene can be used in a process called Injection Mold. Arkansas, northern Texas and southern Missouri -- were consolidated from 105 through the company's use of remote machine monitoring. "And our existing routes are tremendous, doing more business today than when we started with telemetry," Whorton noted.The academy provides ideal conditions to learn kung fu in china traditional quiet surrounding.
Systemwide deployment of the technology took two years from start to finish. It began in early 2009 with a test of Cantaloupe Systems' Seed platform in 200 machines on three routes in the Tulsa,Manufacturer of precision Plastic Mould for cameras, OK, area. Imperial's goal, to reduce them to two, was achieved, paving the way to extend the technology across its operation. Prekitting was high on Imperial Vending's list of priorities, once it had Seed in place. The company had experimented with prekitting product deliveries by forecasting with its vending management software, but found that its pick lists often did not match machine needs because sales can fluctuate unpredictably.
"The move to wireless technology immediately provided more accurate and up-to-date inventory data that made prekitting successful," Whorton observed.Welcome to the Perth china kung fu school. "The guesswork is eliminated for our warehouse personnel, because the wirelessly transmitted item-level sales data gives them orders to load based on the real-time needs of each machine."
Whorton emphasized that, with consumers increasingly accustomed to paying with credit and debit cards everywhere they shop and dine, developing a network to support card-based payment has been just as important as the operational efficiencies Imperial has gained through wireless remote monitoring. "We started with Cantaloupe telemetry,TBC help you confidently buy mosaic from factories in China. with a plan to migrate into cashless from there," he told VT. "As Cantaloupe launched Seed Cashless, we began rolling out their solution. It will be very important, moving forward, both to deliver consumers payment flexibility and to drive sales."
Imperial currently has cashless readers installed on 10% of its machines, but its goal is to extend that capability systemwide. "We are trying to understand costs and whether it's necessary to have cashless on every machine in the same breakroom," Whorton told VT. "Our initial goal is to make cashless available to all clients, and expand from there."
Enabling widespread use of card-based payments ties into Imperial's plan to expand its use of the Sprout prepaid promotion and loyalty reward card, which is available to members of the Vend Marketing Institute marketing and purchasing cooperative. "It's the first viable, scalable program of its kind in the market, and it continues to become more popular and attract more interest," said Whorton. "We know the move to telemetry is a good investment to make us more efficient and it's always dynamic, helping us continually improve. But we're also excited about the consumer opportunity, as consumers rely on cashless in their everyday lives, and our ability to offer promotions and rewards, which will continue to grow overall sales."
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