Why You Should Hire an Architect

2010 September 8
by squadron

An architect is a well 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 crucial to the success of any building plan is simple: they can put your ideas into a feasible and concrete 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 thought out, 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 bid 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 engage an architect, you will not have to be bogged down by all the small 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, bidding 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 expert 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 use 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 spectacular
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

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

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

They are used by:

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

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

What Size Tent Will I Need?

The size of Tent depends on a few factors:

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

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

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

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

If you need a tent for a school or sports club you will need a 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 exact reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as dull as a website address or they can be a design masterpiece.

Remember, if it is for commercial purposes, the aim is to build recognition 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 radiant array of astounding landscapes. Like enormous mountain ranges, majestic coastlines, lush rainforests, deep fiords, snow capped mountains and steaming volcanoes. These panoramic wonders have all made New Zealand an appealing destination for all kinds of holidays.

Fantastic travel packages and holiday specials are available on quality accommodation in modern city hotels and luxurious wilderness lodges at reduced prices. Among the top holiday cities in New Zealand, Queenstown, Christchurch and Auckland would definitely be there. Travel Online is a distinguished 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 exciting sports like jet boating, bungy jumping, and white water rafting take place. This town is the epicentre of the entire world’s bungy jumping activities too. With the advent of winter, the town gets transformed to an alpine wonderland with snowboarders and skiers from all corners of the world assembling at the annual Winter Festival.

There is constant request for Queenstown Accommodation all round the year and Travel Online offers a select group of hotels best suited for New Zealand holidays. 1, 2, 3 or 4 bedroom apartments, with cutting-edge facilities, gyms, spas and fantastic views are available at various holiday retreats across the city. Larger 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 fantastic festivals, shopping spots, theaters and art galleries. Hotels overlooking Victoria Square provide visitors with an insight in to the city’s English history.

Individuals accommodated in the vicinity of the Christchurch Cathedral will find hotel rooms with a Manhattan-style feel. Tradition and elegance are everywhere in these hotels along with a keen eye on service excellence. Spacious bedrooms with full-fledged kitchen facilities are common, along with hi-tech conference facilities, resort-like leisure features like spas, saunas, gyms, and swimming pools. Many of these hotels provided by Travel Online are located in the vicinity of the Technology Park, the International Antarctic Centre, and the airport. Travelers who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life will find suitable accommodation in the 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 sweet life in the casino, surfing at endless beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and spacious executive / marina suites. Travel Online caters to the tastes of corporate and business tourists and can beat any price seen on Auckland accommodation advertised. Auckland harbor is stunning, and is seen perfectly from atop Sky City and the surrounding accommodation.

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

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

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

2010 August 18
by squadron

Don’t have a novice 24 hour carpet cleaner come to repair your water damaged carpets. These are the things you should be aware of:

Overcharging. An amateur water restoration cleaner may build the job up with unnecessary extras. E.g. using dehumidification on the damaged carpets isn’t always needed.

Not having the correct equipment. They may hire equipment from hire companies for the carpet. This is permissible, but a professional water damage restorer will possess all their equipment so they can offer a quicker response and hopefully a better value job.

Moisture metre. If they don’t have the proper moisture meter, they can’t see if the carpet is fixed. This furthers the risk of future mould. Removal of this would then be required.

Specialisation. There are a whole lot of “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do repair work on the “side.” i.e. they don’t complete this kind of work often. Be wary of this. Drying water damage to carpets is an art. Taking carpet off the gripper strips then reinstalling them must be taken on by a professional, otherwise it can be damaged beyond repair.

You could be pondering, how do I locate a professional Flood Restoration techinician? Below I have set out some pointers to look for when you are calling around for a carpet flood damage business:

The size of their Yellow Pages ad slot: This can indicate how much work they do already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad can cost about $50 000. So if they have got a big ad, you can have some assurance that they are professionals.

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

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

Do Insurance companies source them for carpet water damage jobs? This is a great indicator. If insurance companies use them, the business is probably going to be good at their skill. Insurance companies generally use the providers that provide them the better value for money.

How much Equipment do they have? They should own at least 100 Air movers. If they possess this many, this probably means that they have been established for a good while. We took 8 years to accumulate that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What sort of commitment can you get for them by calling over the phone? Ask if you can pin them down to a fee for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they don’t give you a price for at least this, you know they are not willing to serve you, so keep looking.

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

If you stick to these tips you are sure to come up with a Flood Damage Restoration company who knows how to 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 control of getting your site created by a developer and understand the process it will save you money and get you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

1. Understanding your business and how you are currently positioned in your market.
In order to create a site that truly meets your requirements; you first need to have a full knowledge of your business including your products, and/or services and more importantly their market position. You then have to consider 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 furnished with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can acquire 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 identify not only what type of site to build for you but your tolerance to colours, animations, layouts etc. for your requirements which will allow for efficient development. The more interaction and information you 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 created, the developers will more than likely take the general layout of this concept and then create the inner page template. It is this template that will be repeated for most of your pages for your site.
Submit your content in a pre-proofed word processed document; don’t become 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 crucial later on in not only interacting with the reader but for Search Engine Optimisation.
One last tip for content; present a decent amount of content but provide it in a way that a reader may acquire 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 works 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 work 100% first time round. This is a where things can get ugly in the process you must understand the way the program works 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 avialable on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to make your site live make sure you have finished 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 building a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face conveys the tone of your business, gestures the service and screams the professionalism or lack there of.

People spend a lot of money on the creation 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 created the original logo for them and so incur costs to have it redone. This is unnecessary and may cause difficulties when trying to recreate the logo exactly as created originally.

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

Tip 1
First things first – you need to decide if you would like your logo to have an accompanying icon. It is hinted that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in conveying 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 looking for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

A excellent example of this is the well-known and executed Nike logo.

Tip 2
Colour can be an essential decision as it not only could affect the output costs but can also limit your output use. Consider the end result and what you will be putting your branding onto in the future. Make sure your designer is aware of this as they should design accordingly.

Tip 3
Make certain you get a back up disk of your logo as a master file and make sure 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 accomplish. 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
Insure 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
Confirm that you accept 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 receive 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 mailed business cards to print and picked up yet another version of your corporate colour? Ever been fired up to see your advert in the latest newspaper and then caught that the crucial tag line is not present or your logo has been squashed.

There is only one way to prevent this from happening and that is to create a style guide. Not only will a style guide assist you oversee the reproduction of your logo – it will also help you sustain 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 : Outline the audience for your Style Guide. Is this for staff to use 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 need 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 wantcopy 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 certain you layout all the design templates so it is clear how and where the logo and branding lies on all the different pieces of collateral that may be reproduced.

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

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

Step 7 : Confirm 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.

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

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

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

2010 July 19

The typical question customers ask when purchasing a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: would I buy an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, which stands for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, short for ‘digital light processing’ are the two top projector imaging technologies. With so many company brands and different types available, it can be difficult for consumers to choose between these technologies. The simple fact of the matter is that LCD projectors have far superior image quality and colour accuracy. The next part of this article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with bringing up the same rate of image quality.

Think of a set of blinds in your house for your bedroom window. By pulling on a rod you can make the shutters open or closed, according to if you want to let light in or not. This is exactly how an LCD projector works. Each pixel functions 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 the pros like to call them. Each pixel element functions to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the time the projector is turned on to when the content reaches your screen is extremely significant with regard to image quality, brightness and colour accuracy. LCD projectors project white light from the lamp by cutting it into red, blue and green components, by three mirrors which send the coloured light to 3 different LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels create the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then combined in a glass prism to form the projector image. An important point to remember about LCD projectors is that all three colours are delivered onto your projector screen all at once. The way a DLP projector runs is totally different and even the way an image comes out is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is directed through a turning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This method of projecting an image forms a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors described above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to construct the image elements. The elements of the image are cast in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s vision will then put together each coloured element of the image into the single whole image. From LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to form top brightness and fantastic colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at a time, causing lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some DLP manufacturers have put a white segment into the colour wheel to improve overall brightness, but this goes and lessens colour accuracy.

I see in forums all the time that DLP has a higher contrast ratio and ergo must be better quality. For those who are uncertain, 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 machine is capable of producing. DLP projectors do have high contrast specifications compared to many LCD projectors. At a glance, this can seem to be a benefit, however, in the real world, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room in which the projector is used. Do not be tricked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you want to view requires moving images, DLP projection technology can also have image marks, or ‘artifacts’. The most commonplace artifact that a DLP projector displays with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is unavoidable in DLP systems because moving images change between the time red, blue and green colours are pulled up. LCD projectors do not have this characteristic because every colour is sent at the same time. DLP manufacturers have come up with 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to solve the colour break up error, but the expense of these projectors make them hardly practical for many businesses and consumers.

Another variance between LCD and DLP is how they compensate for the refractive qualities of light. Remember back to high school science, and recall when they taught you how the different colours of light refract various amounts when shone through the same lens. The downfall with DLP projectors is that they take the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are obviously different and refract light in a different way. Most of the time with a DLP projector, some yellow colour will appear above and some blue will appear below an image containing something as simple as a single black line. During manufacturing LCD projectors can be fixed to reduce these effects on the projected image, because each colour is refracted on separate LCD panels.

The sole actual advantage (excluding price) with taking a DLP projector is its smaller total size and weight. However, this is only relevant to transport and cannot be traded off against the image benefits of LCD projectors. If resulting picture quality is important to you, then the decision is easy. Take an LCD projector! LCD projectors will always create bright, colourful images with fewer image imperfections. If you desire to find out more about LCD technology in more detail, check out this tremendous resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any further questions, go to Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager of Projector Central, Australia’s top online retailer for projectors. Based in Brisbane, Projector Central has been serving 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 found preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the first yacht had been a pleasure craft used mostly by royalty and secondly by the burghers in the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing yachts was incidental, borne from private challenges. English yachting started with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his return to the English monarchy in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he then named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), made more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and returning, on a £100 bet. Yachting rose as fashionable among the wealthy and royalty, but after that time the trend did not last.

The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was instigated in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard association, with great naval panoply and rigour. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” for which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club went on, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when merging with other societies, it became the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some stipulated method on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland funded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to monarchy in 1820, it was then called 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 patronage made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the perpetual setting of British yacht racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the accession of George IV. Each member was required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for great stakes were held, and the society life was splendid. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats grew in size to more than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting was first accomplished with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English took dominance. Sailing was largely for fun and found its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which cruised on the Mediterranean Sea and established a standard of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in the area from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was instigated in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts took the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the later half of the 19th century. The craft of sizeable yachts was first heavily affected by the victory of America, which was created by George Steers for a group headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its victory at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and built in today’s sense, with merely a model for an outline. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was labeled naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the use of the science of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what such science had already done for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats were individually manufactured, there was a desire for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were made. Therefore, a rating rule was decreed, which is found in the International Rule, taken on in 1906 and amended in 1919. Today, one of the most rapidly blossoming areas in the field of sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are built to standard dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing these boats can be held on an even basis with no handicapping at all. A great example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

As long as yachting was an activity largely for the aristocracy and the rich, expense was no problem, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The rise and preference of smaller craft came in the latter 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 voyage around the world (1895–98) led single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray demonstrated the value of small boats. Thereafter in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and recreational boats became more common, down to the dinghy, a favoured training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, craft of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, when steam began to replace sail power in market boats, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in leisure boats. Large power yachts were furthered to a high degree, and long-distance sailing turned into a preferred activity of the affluent. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then gave way to boats powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. Like naval and merchant vessels, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht standard for a number of years. By the second half of the 20th century, a lot of yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were only power yachts with gasoline or diesel engines.

From the last decade of the 19th century there was a push in the construction of more sizeable steam yachts. Notably among these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, containing triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of over 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 in World War II.

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

The construction of big power yachts lessened in 1932, and the trend thereafter was in preference of smaller, less costly boats. After World War II, many small naval boats were traded by private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting had become a internationally popular sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually owning and keeping their own small recreational craft. The amount of craft and sailors is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional places by the beach but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

2010 July 8

Taxes are differentiated by the impact they have on the placement of income and wealth. A proportional tax is one that puts the same relative requirement on every taxpayer—i.e., where tax liability and income increase in the same proportion. A progressive tax is characterized by a more than proportional rise in the tax burden relative to the growth in income, and a regressive tax is recognisable by a less than proportional rise in the relative liability. So, progressive taxes are thought of as fighting inequity in income distribution, whereas regressive taxes are seen to have the result of increasing these inequalities.

The taxes that are usually believed to be progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are categorically progressive, however, could become less so within the upper-income class—particularly if a taxpayer is able to reduce his tax base by declaring deductions or by leaving out some income elements from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates if applied to lower-income categories will also be more progressive if exemptions of a personal nature are claimed.

Income measured over the period of a year does not definitely provide the most suitable measure of taxpaying requirement. For example, transitory growth in income might be saved, and during temporary declines in income a taxpayer may elect to provide for consumption by decreasing savings. Thus, if taxation is compared with “permanent income,” it will be less regressive (or more progressive) than if it is made comparable with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (with the exception of those on luxuries) are mostly regressive, because the dissemination of personal income consumed or spent on a specific good decreases as the level of personal income grows. Poll taxes (aka head taxes), calculated as a set amount per capita, patently are regressive.

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

In assessing the economic effects of taxation, it is necessary to differentiate between various ideas of tax rates. The statutory rates are those nominated in legislature; usually these are marginal rates, but sometimes they are median rates. Marginal income tax rates denote the fraction of incremental income that is taken by taxation when income grows by one dollar. Hence, if tax burden grows by 45 cents when income grows by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax legislature often contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that rise as income grows. Heavy analysis of marginal tax rates should review provisions in addition to the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) falls by 20 cents for each one-dollar growth in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points more than indicated within the statutory rates. Since marginal rates signify how after-tax income moves in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the appropriate ones for considering incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to understand the marginal effective tax rate applicable to income from business and capital, because it may depend on considerations such as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem holds that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is nil under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates indicate the percentage of total income that is demanded in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is in consideration for appraising the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate grows with income. Average income tax rates generally rise with income, both because personal allowances are granted for the taxpayer and dependents and due to that marginal tax rates are graduated; on the other side of things, preferential treatment of income received fundamentally by high-income households might dwarf these effects, forcing regressivity, as displayed by average tax rates that decline as income grows.

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