Why You Should Hire an Architect

2010 September 8
by squadron

An architect is a highly trained expert who has experience in planning, designing and the construction of buildings and the management of construction jobs.

Also, one is not considered an architect until he or she has properly passed all the necessary education and accredited programs to procure a license in order to practice architecture. When practicing architecture, the architect can have free reign to design the building or group of buildings, as well as the space around it that still counts as part of the project. These ideas form the planning stage of the project and can take months to finalise.

The reason why architects are so important to the success of any building plan is simple: they can put your ideas into a feasible and plausible reality. If you have great ambitions for your home or business, then an architect can make sure that those plans will come true.

But aside from the actual design of the building, there are so many other complex factors (beyond the scope of inexperienced people) that need to be examined, and these are also covered in the responsibilities of the architect.

For example, there are some architectural firms that not only design the building for you, but they also prepare the tender documents for the costing of of the entire project, and are the ones that most commonly talk to the contractors, stakeholders and any third parties involved in the assignment.

When you hire an architect, you will not have to be bogged down by all the small but important technical details. All you have to be concerned about is if whether or not the building is coming along according to the plans originally devised with the help of the architect.

The architect is also very helpful before the actual construction. If you do not have an actual plan but do have an idea on what you want your structure to look like, then that is where the professional can help you on the endeavor.

All you have to do is to present them with some ideas and they can be the ones to take care of site analysis, the assistance you may need in zoning and planning, any environmental impact studies you may need, tendering and contract negotiation with the contractor and his men, and so much more.

The architect that you hire will be involved in all of the aspects of your project. Essentially, you are hiring an architect because you require a trained professional to take carriage of planning and designing the building or dwelling as well as provide the necessary feedback and support throughout the entire assignment.

Engaging an architect is like taking on a business partner for your project, one who is knowledgeable, knows the risk areas around the project and knows how to minimize those risks, has the necessary people skills to work with contractors in order to hire additional resources within budget.

A good architect will treat the project as though it is his or her own and will devise creative ideas and plans to the manager, and discuss in great detail the advantages, disadvantages, any hindrances of a particular strategy.

These are just some of the many important benefits and key reasons why you should engage an architect. There are so many more reasons that really prove that any project worth going through with has to be under the supervision of a highly qualified architect. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that you have a dream construction project, and your architect is the person to make all these dreams become reality.

Looking for Brisbane architects? For renovation architects Brisbane, contact Dion Seminara Architecture. They are leading home improvement architects. Brisbane office is located in Morningside.

Tents and Marquees

2010 September 2
by squadron

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are for when you want to make a splendid outdoor scene. They are generally structures installed at a location for a period of time.

Why A Tent?
Commercial Tents are used as protection from the sun, rain or a gathering place. They can make a stunning and creative atmosphere for any event.

Tent Rentals
Tents can be rented or leased for a day, a weekend, weeks, months, etc. For one or two day events, the Tents are usually installed a few days before the event, depending on scheduling and weather, and remain until a few days after the event. Many rentals are quoted for the entire week, allowing for time to set up and design the interior and exterior. Some Tents are built for exceedingly long-term events and have been installed and remain installed for years.

What Kind of Tent Should I Rent?
Tent rental companies come in all sizes – from small-sized companies with just a few Tents to exceedingly large-sized companies – carrying dozens of several sizes and styles of Tents. Some general rental companies rent from tent rental companies to accommodate their client’s needs.

You may know you want to use a standard Tent for your event, or your event planner may already have in mind to use a Tent. You have options! There are lots of other fantastic
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

Usually, the different types of Tents available in most companies are (the names vary depending of the company):

Folding Tents Easy and fast to use and always in demand. Very popular, because usually is the less expensive tent. Fast, flexible, cost effective and long lasting.

They are used by:

  • Corporate brands across most industries
  • Government & Council buyers
  • SME business marketers
  • Franchisees
  • Agricultural exhibitors
  • Emergency services & community groups
  • Folding Tents create brand exposure opportunities.
  • You can reach your audience at the right time, in the right place with the right message.

Inflatable Tents An exciting and lively alternative Tent. Easy & fast to set up. Be sure they have removable printed roof because in that way you can share the investment with other licences.

What Size Tent Will I Need?

The size of Tent depends on a few factors:

1. The number of guests you expect
2. Layout or seating arrangements or the style of event:

* Reception with what type of tables?
* Speaker engagement with what type of seating?
* Will you need a dance floor?
* Will you need display areas for your products?

If you are interested in a Tent, you can expect to need about 2,000 – 2,500 square feet for 200-seated guests. That could mean a 40 x 60 size Tent (Always ask the Tent rental vendor directly and they’ll give you the best informationabout the size of Tent you’ll need).

Therefore, the key rule is; know what you are going to use your tent for. The choice of tents is astounding, almost on par with the choice of cars that you can buy.

So if you need a tent for the family BBQ, for example, your needs are fairly rudimentry
and your budget may be tight. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a solid warranty for under $600.

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a range of sizes, and colours. Most plain colour Tents s range between $995- $2900. If you are keen to promote yourself, you can have your names printed for around $150-$300. Printing logos usually cost a little more.

In the last 5 years, portable Tents have become important to businesses for their marketing. The key need for these buyers is a prominent and quality reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as boring as a website address or they can be a design extravaganza.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build awareness of your company with your printed Tent. Printed corporate Tents range in price from $1500- $4000. Good ones will really catch your eye.

Once you have decided on what sort of buyer you are and how you are going to use your Tents, a good Tents company will offer you a choice of frames, a warranty of between 3-5 years and help with formulating the printing-if you need it.

For more information about tents, contact Extreme Marquees. We have a range of cheap tents, for all sorts of home and business applications.

New Zealand’s Top Holiday Cities

2010 August 23

New Zealand has a majestic array of astounding landscapes. Like enormous mountain ranges, sweeping coastlines, dense rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These picturesque wonders have all made New Zealand an inspired destination for all kinds of holidays.

Awesome travel packages and holiday specials are available on quality accommodation in modern city hotels and luxurious wilderness lodges at slashed prices. Among the top holiday cities in New Zealand, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland would definitely be there. Travel Online is a celebrated online specialist travel operator and provides astounding tourist services for New Zealand. Travel Online provides an instant quote and booking service for accommodation in cities right across the country.

Queenstown
The international resort town of Queenstown is situated on the shoreline of Wakatipu Lake. This beautiful region is among the most scenic locations on the globe. Throughout the year adventurous and stimulating sports like jet boating, bungy jumping, and white water rafting take place. This town is the epicentre of the entire world’s bungy jumping activities too. With the advent of winter, the town gets transformed to an alpine wonderland with snowboarders and skiers from all corners of the world assembling at the annual Winter Festival.

There is constant request for Queenstown Accommodation all round the year and Travel Online offers a select group of hotels best suited for New Zealand holidays. 1, 2, 3 or 4 bedroom apartments, with modern facilities, gyms, spas and fantastic views are available at various holiday retreats across the city. Bigger apartments with more bedrooms, tennis courts, private jetties and fitness centres are also available at a higher price. Luxury complexes with studio rooms in the vicinity of cafes, bars, and restaurants are also found in Travel Online’ Queenstown Accommodation selection.

Christchurch
When choosing a place to stay in Christchurch look for hotels that give views over the attractive Victoria Square, across the transfixing Avon River or towards the historic Anglican Cathedral. Situated on New Zealand’s South Island, this cosmopolitan city is always abuzz with colourful festivals, shopping spots, theaters and art galleries. Hotels overlooking Victoria Square provide visitors with an insight in to the city’s English history.

Individuals staying in the vicinity of the Christchurch Cathedral will find hotel rooms with a Manhattan-style feel. Tradition and elegance are everywhere in these hotels along with a keen eye on service excellence. Huge bedrooms with full-fledged kitchen facilities are common, along with hi-tech conference facilities, resort-like leisure features like spas, saunas, gyms, and swimming pools. Many of these hotels provided by Travel Online are located in the vicinity of the Technology Park, the International Antarctic Centre, and the airport. Travelers who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life will find suitable accommodation in the brilliantcountryside surrounding the city.

Auckland
Auckland, also known as the City of Sails, is located in between 2 harbors and has more boats per person than anywhere on the planet. Within minutes a person has the choice of sailing away on yachts to isolated nearby islands, living the high life in the casino, surfing at lots of beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and luxurious executive / marina suites. Travel Online caters to the tastes of corporate and business tourists and can beat any price seen on Auckland accommodation advertised. Auckland harbor is majestic, and is seen perfectly from atop Sky City and the surrounding accommodation.

Affordable and comfortable apartments are available for casual tourists, equipped with kitchens, laundries, and balconies to provide a memorable holidaying experience. Visitors to Auckland love visiting the Antarctic Encounter, which showcases the only penguins present in the sub-Antarctic region. More encounters include cage-bereft shark dives, scuba expeditions and snorkel safaris. New Zealand is waiting.

Travel Online has a wide range of Queenstown accommodation close to all the snow action and cosmopolitan Christchurch accommodation surrounded by all that theatre and art. For holidays in and around the water, Auckland accommodation is as good as anywhere in the world.

Repairing Flooded Carpet: A cheap job is a good job right? Wrong….

2010 August 18
by squadron

Don’t let an amateur 24 hour carpet cleaner attempt to repair your carpets with water damage. These are the cautions you need to be aware of:

Overcharging. An inexperienced water restoration restorer may load the job up with extra steps. E.g. using dehumidification for drying the damaged carpets when it is not needed.

Not using the correct equipment. They sometimes use equipment from hire companies to dry the carpet. This is ok to do, but an established water damage restorer will have all their equipment so they offer a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

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

They are not Specialised. There are a lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do water damage restoration repairs on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t those who complete this sort of task everyday. Be aware of them. Restoring a carpet is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips is best to be done by a professional, otherwise the carpet can be damaged beyond repair.

You might be wondering, how do I decide on a proper Flood Restoration professional? Below I have listed some things to check for when hunting around for a carpet flood damage business:

What size is their Yellow Pages ad: This can indicate how much business they get already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad can cost about $50 000. When they have paid for a larger ad, you can at least have some expectation that they are professionals.

Where do they show in Google? The higher the rate in Google, the more webpage clicks there have been for this business.

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

Do Insurance companies source them for their carpet water damage jobs? This is a better indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is bound to be excellent at their work. Insurance companies will use the companies that offer them the top value for money.

How much Equipment do they have? They should own a minimum of 100 Air movers. If they own this many, this is a good indicator that they have been running for a while. It took our business 8 years to accumulate that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What type of commitment can you get out of them on a phone call? Ask if you can pin them down to a set rate for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they wouldn’t give you a fee for this only, you know they are not willing to serve you, so go with someone else.

Response Time – Our Water Damage business based in Brisbane is premised to a 59 minute response time for water damage emergency. The restoration needs to be attended to ASAP. Mould can grow during a 24 hour period.

If you go by these tips you are sure to locate a Flood Damage Restoration professional who can do the job right.

If you have carpet water damage Brisbane, call us for flooded wet carpet drying. Brisbane storm season is approaching and you may need storm damage carpet cleaning. Brisbane and surrounding areas serviced.

Eight Steps to Great Web Design

2010 August 7
by squadron

Take charge of getting your site established by a developer and know the process it will save you money and get you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Comprehending your business and how you are currently positioned in your market.
In order to formulate a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full comprehension of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to acknowledge how you want to explain your business and what it offers in 7 seconds or less. Sounds impossible? Well that is the average time that a user will consider the point “is this site I searched for?”.

2. Budget and estimation
Have a budget in mind and don’t be afraid to let the developers know what it is. In saying this: BE REALISTIC, $500 will never see a great web site created, nor will they be anything left in the bank to market it.

3. The creative process
Be armed with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can get an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will build a good profile and analyze not only what type of site to construct for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for fast development. The more interaction and information you accord them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by achieving what you want 1st time round. Check with the designers on how many rounds of changes come with the contract, most will allow for a total conceptual redesign only once and 2 rounds of changes after that.

4. Production and Content
After the home page design is made, the developers will more than likely acquire the general layout of this concept and then construct the inner page template. It is this template that will be duplicated for most of your pages for your site.
Submit your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t get too creative with the document fonts etc. as these will not be preserved when the content is copied into the code of the site. It is inferred that you do use bolding, underlining, headings and sub heading though ,as these highlights are transferred into the site and are very important later on in not only establishing with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; provide a decent amount of content but formulate it in a way that a reader may get a summary of what you are trying to infer across in the 1st couple of paragraphs and an image or to. The rest of the paragraphs that get into finer details ARE FOR GOOGLE !

5. Development Programming and CMS
If your website contains Content Managed Areas (CMS) or has any other dynamic sections the developers will wrap your design around a content management program such as Joomla or Drupal or they may have a custom built system. Make sure that you get to see how the CMS system operate on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. it is essential that you know that you can utilize and know the system when your site is complete.

6. Testing and training
We work closely with the developers to test your site especially if there are any CMS or special programs that have been created for you. You can guarantee if it is has just been written for you then it will not operate 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program operates and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, odds are it won’t make sense to your audience. Make sure you test your website on more than just your browser, try to test it on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. All of these browsers are available to download on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to bring your site live make sure you have completed the above testing step until you are certain that this website is the best representation of your business / product it can be. Remember even though you can change things after going live it is still a poor reflection on your business if there are spelling mistakes or broken images when you launch.

8. Marketing
There is little point in having a website if nobody visits it, make sure as part of you contract you have considered search engine optimisation and or search engine marketing as part of your website build. This is the absolute most important factor of the whole process. If you are the only one looking at your site then you are in trouble.

Remember Search Engine Optimisation is about 30% Onsite (getting your site correct for Search Engine to index correctly) and 70% Promotion. Any developer who tells you otherwise hasn’t been in the industry too long.

For more information about web design Brisbane, contact Web Site Blue. Our web designers understand marketing as well as design.

Tips to Creating a New Business Logo

2010 August 6

A logo is a crucial step to creating a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face expresses the tone of your business, indicates the service and reveals the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the formation of their logo and walk away with no artwork files. Then a couple months down the track when they require to put signage on their new building they cannot track the design studio down that formulated the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it redone. This is unnecessary and may cause complications when trying to recreate the logo exactly as determined originally.

We have created some basic tips you for to think about when creating a logo. Hopefully these will help you from experiencing any future difficulties.

Tip 1
First things first – you need to decide if you would like your logo to have an accompanying icon. It is advised that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in portraying a clear message across to your target audience.

An icon can add an extra element to your branding in that you could use the icon on its own on collateral where perhaps you are searching for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A perfect example of this is the well-known and executed Fedex logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an extremely important decision as it not only could alter the output costs but can also margin your output use. Think about the end result and what you will be bringing your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Make sure you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and make certain that it includes all the files needed for the different printing formats.

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Make certain you have a copy of your logo as a PDF – with the text converted to curves.

Tip 4
Using images in your logo is not very easy to manage. For example it is troublesome to reverse into black and white. Images also have limitations when it comes to size – they can only be reproduced to a certain size before they start pixilation.

Tip 5
Using gradients in your logo is not recommended. This too can have limitations when it comes to output for ie: gradients are hard to reproduce when embroidering fabrics.

Tip 6
Ensure sure the font is legible. Some logos need to be reproduced on small pieces of collateral ie: post stamps. It is important that in this case the text is
readable

Tip 7
Ensure that you get a copy of your logo in CMYK high resolution 300 dpi (for printing use) and RGB 72 dpi(for web use).

Tip 8
It is important to have a style guide of your logo. It will clearly show you how to use your logo so it looks exactly the same every time it is reproduced. This allows you to keep your corporate image consistent.

Tip 9
Make sure that you get a letter from the design studio declaring that you own the copyright to your logo.

If you follow these tips then not only will you accept a well-designed logo but you will also own the artwork. And when it comes to reproducing your collateral you will be doing it the most cost effective way.

For logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today for a free two hour consultation.

How to Create a Style Guide

2010 July 31
by squadron

How many times have you commissioned business cards to print and obtained yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been delighted to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then spotted that the crucial tag line is nowhere to be found or your logo has been ruined.

There is only one way to prevent this from happening and that is to use a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you control the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you reinforce your brand recognition – which many argue is one of the strongest selling tools.

We have placed the below steps together for you as a starting point.

Step 1 : Mark the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to work in-house or is this for suppliers and contractors to refer to?

Step 2 : Outline what your output uses are. This is important because you will want different logos and file formats for example, black and white publication adverts in comparison to vehicle graphics.

Step 3 : Define the tone for the copy and content required. For example you may needcopy rules for printed content and then copy rules for website content.

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

Step 4 : Make sure you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding sits on all the different pieces of collateral that may be repeated.

Step 5 : Make certain to take into account any contributing logos or logos of business that are affiliated with you. It’s also important that you mail a copy of the layout to these companies to ensure they accept the layout of their logo as they too may have their own Style Guide and hierarchy layout rules.

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

Step 7 : Make sure that when suppliers are using the Style Guide they understand~know~discern~apprehend} that a proof needs to be dispatched~sent~mailed~commissioned}to you to be confirmed as correct.

Make your Style Guide finished and as secure as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly suggest a training session – whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to utilize the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

For graphic design Brisbane, logo design Brisbane and web design Brisbane, contact Bydaughters today. We help your brand build business.

Projectors: LCD Verses DLP (The downfall of DLP technology)

2010 July 19

The typical question customers ask when looking for a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: would I purchase an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, short for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, which stands for ‘digital light processing’ are the two commonplace projector imaging technologies. With so many different brands and different types available, it can be difficult for customers to make a choice between these technologies. Ultimately LCD projectors provide far better image quality and colour accuracy. The article below tells you why DLP projectors struggle with reproducing a similar level of image quality.

Imagine a set of blinds in your room on your bedroom window. With the twist of a rod you can have the shutters open or closed, according to if you want to let light in or not. This is exactly how an LCD projector functions. Each pixel works like a unique shutter on a set of blinds to either pass light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is created of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as pros like to call them. Each pixel element operates to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the point when the projector turns on to when the content reaches your screen is absolutely significant to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors direct white light from the lamp by separating it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which send the coloured light to 3 different LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels form the elements of the image by processing each pixel on and off. The pixels are then projected in a glass prism to form the projector image. A significant point to know about LCD projectors is that all three colours are delivered onto your projector screen all at the same time. The way a DLP projector works is vastly different and even how an image comes out is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is sent through a turning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This approach to creating an image casts a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors as described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to produce the image elements. The elements of the image are projected in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eye will then pull together each coloured element of the image into a total image. From LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to deliver top brightness and great colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at once, causing lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some DLP manufacturers have placed a white segment into the colour wheel to improve overall brightness, but this then degrades colour accuracy.

I hear in forums all the time that DLP has a higher contrast ratio and as such must be superior. For those unsure, the contrast ratio is a measure of a display system defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest white to that of the darkest black that the technology is capable of. DLP projectors do offer high contrast specifications when compared to many LCD projectors. At a glance, this must be a plus, however, in real life, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room in which the projector is being utilised. Do not be tricked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you are trying to see includes moving images, DLP projection technology also creates image errors, or ‘artifacts’. The most typical artifact that a DLP projector shows with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is incontrovertible in DLP systems because moving images change up between the time red, blue and green colours are shone. LCD projectors do not have this characteristic because every colour is sent at the same time. DLP builders have formed 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to resolve the colour break up artifacts, but the cost of these projectors make them almost impossible for the large part of businesses and consumers.

Another difference between LCD and DLP is how they balance for the refractive qualities of light. Jump back to high school science, and they taught you how different colours of light refract various amounts when projected through the same lens. The problem with DLP projectors is that they use the one same panel and the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are different and refract light at different levels. Most of the time with a DLP projector, a superfluous yellow colour will come up above and a spill of blue will come through below an image of something as simple as a straight black line. In building LCD projectors can be set to remove these effects on the projected image, because each colour is processed on its own LCD panels.

The only actual benefit (excluding price) with deciding on a DLP projector is its smaller total size and weight. However, this is only relevant in regard to portability and has to be traded off against the image benefits of LCD projectors. If overall picture quality is crucial to you, then the solution is easy. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will always produce bright, colourful images with fewer image mistakes. If you want to find out more about LCD technology in more detail, have a gander at this tremendous resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any persisting questions, jump onto Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager with Projector Central, Australia’s leading online retailer for projectors. Based in Brisbane, Projector Central has served Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in Brisbane and Interactive Whiteboards, contact Projector Central today.

Yachting and Yacht Clubs

2010 July 16

As the Dutch rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the first yacht became a pleasure craft used mostly by royalty and secondly by the burghers on the canals and the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing yachts was incidental, borne from private challenges. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English monarchy in 1660, the city of Amsterdam sent him a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, sovereign 1685–88), ordered for more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 bet. Yachting became popular for the affluent and nobility, but after that point the habit did not last.

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

Yacht racing was first seen in some ordered manner on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV rose to monarchy in 1820, it came to be named the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing fight, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht society had been formed at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal sponsorship made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continuing location of British racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the accession of George IV. Every member was required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for high stakes were held, and the club life was lovely. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to more than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English took control. Sailing was largely for pleasure and rose to its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and created a minimum of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht association, the Detroit Boat Club, was started in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while on board his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts took the design of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the latter half of the 19th century. The style of bigger yachts was first heavily put upon by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a syndicate led by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) was named after its victory at Cowes in 1851. Earlier yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with just a model being used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come into being. Not until the 1920s did the employment of the research of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what science had done earlier for hulls.

Because most of all sailboats had to be individually manufactured, there came a desire for handicapping boats before the one-design class boats were made. Thus, a rating rule was created, which is found in the International Rule, taken on in 1906 and revised in 1919. In modern times, one of the rapidly flourishing areas in the field of sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to standard specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between such boats can be had on an even playing field with no handicapping necessary. A great example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

For the time that yachting was done primarily for the aristocracy and the wealthy, expense was no problem, and the size of boats developed, in both length and weight. The ascendancy and desire of smaller boats occurred in the later half of the 19th century out of the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A trip around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray proved the hardiness of smaller yachts. Following this in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure boats became more popular, down to the dinghy, a preferred training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, craft of less than 3 m were setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
After the decade 1840–50, in which steam began to replace sail power in public boats, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly used in leisure craft. Sizeable power yachts were developed to a high element, and long-distance cruising became a favoured pastime of the affluent. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then made way to those powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. Like naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht fashion for several years. By the later half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were exclusively power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

In the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the design of more sizeable steam yachts. In particular of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was sailed by a crew of at least 150. The Mayflower, bought by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and saw active service during World War II.

As more sizeable and more reliable internal-combustion engines were produced, many large yachts were using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, progressed for World War I. During the decade after that, bigger power-yacht creation grew, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that time the best auxiliary yacht manufactured was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The manufacture of bigger power craft fell away from 1932, and the style from then was toward smaller, less costly boats. Following World War II, a lot of small naval boats were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting is a globally popular sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually manning and keeping their own small recreational boats. The amount of yachts and owners increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas on the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

2010 July 8

Taxes can be distinguished by the impact they have on the allocation of income and wealth. A proportional tax is one that applies the same relative liability on every taxpayer—i.e., where tax liability and income grow in the same proportion. A progressive tax is characterized by a higher than proportional growth in the tax burden relative to the growth in income, and a regressive tax is characterized by a less than proportional growth in the related onus. Ergo, progressive taxes are viewed as removing inequalities in income distribution, but regressive taxes might result in increasing these inequalities.

The taxes that are normally regarded as progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are categorically progressive, however, may become less so within the upper-income group—especially if a taxpayer is able to lower his tax base by declaring deductions or by removing certain income elements from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates when applied to lower-income classes would also be more progressive if such personal exemptions are made.

Income measured over a given period might not definitely provide the best measure of taxpaying ability. For example, transitory rises in income might be saved, and within temporary declines in income a taxpayer could select to provide for consumption by decreasing savings. Thus, if taxation is regarded along with “permanent income,” it should be less regressive (or more progressive) than if it is compared with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (save luxuries) are generally regressive, because the share of own income consumed or spent for specific goods declines as the amount of personal income rises. Poll taxes (also known as head taxes), calculated as a standard amount per capita, clearly are regressive.

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

In regarding the economic effects of taxation, it is essential to differentiate between differing ideas of tax rates. The statutory rates will include those nominated in the law; generally these are marginal rates, but occasionally they are mean rates. Marginal income tax rates indicate the fraction of incremental income that is demanded by taxation when income increases by one dollar. Therefore, if tax liability increases by 45 cents when income rises by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax legislation commonly contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that grow as income increases. Structured analysis of marginal tax rates must review provisions other than the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) falls by 20 cents for each one-dollar rise in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points greater than indicated in the statutory rates. Since marginal rates signify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the important ones for regarding incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to understand the marginal effective tax rate to apply to income from business and capital, since it may be reliant on factors such as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem grants that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is zero under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates determine the percentage of total income that is paid in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for assessing the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate increases with income. Average income tax rates usually rise with income, both because personal allowances are permitted for the taxpayer and dependents and also because marginal tax rates are graduated; on the other side of things, preferential treatment of income received for the most part by high-income households could dwarf these effects, forcing regressivity, as signified by average tax rates that lessen as income grows.

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