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2012年2月19日 星期日

KVS Interior Design creating and executing interiors

KVS Interior Design's Tina Margrander,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down. ASID, NCIDQ and Design Assistant Julie Oswald, ASID, NCIDQ are creating and executing interior designs for two model residences being built by McGarvey Custom Homes in Quail West.

One of the models, McGarvey's Bardane villa in Quail West's La Caille neighborhood, is nearing completion.

The Bardane's two-story great room floor plan offers 3,Sika tooling & Composites develops and produces tailor-made synthetic resins,788 square feet under air and includes an oval-shaped foyer, four bedrooms, a study, a staircase leading to the loft, three-and-a-half baths, a gourmet kitchen,We offer custom plasticinjectionmoulding with full in-house tool making and tool maintenance. a free-form pool, spa and landscaped pool deck and a covered outdoor living area.

The model includes an optional outdoor kitchen and fireplace as well as an optional wine cooler in the kitchen. The large master suite has a sitting area that opens to the outdoor living area and offers golf course and water views.

The classic-transitional design style features a color palette that includes light, creamy backgrounds with chocolate browns and aqua blues as well as gold and white contrasts.Fantastic range of porcelaintiles, Tropical style art selections include a piece by Quail West resident Carol Weber. A combination of classic and clean-lined furnishings mixes wood tones with painted pieces to bring character to an interior design that is sophisticated, elegant and comfortable.

"The furnishings reflect simple lines with light fabrics and finishes to give the home a fresh feeling," said Margrander. "The combination of the simple wood tones with painted accent pieces provides additional interest in spaces throughout the residence."

Ceramic tile floors, crown molding, distinctive ceiling treatments and other elegant features and finishes are found throughout the Bardane.

The kitchen includes raised panel wood cabinetry, granite countertops, under-cabinet accent lighting and a Bosch stainless steel appliance package.

Granite or marble countertops are also found in the master bath along with his-and-her vanities, a tiled walk-in shower, a separate tub and his-and-her walk-in closets with built-in cabinets.

The four-bedroom with study Casa Fiore is being constructed in Quail West's Sunnyslope neighborhood. This home features cutting edge architectural details, ceilings that soar to 20 feet and floor-to-ceiling windows that amplify pool, golf course and lake views.

A soft-modern design style plays clean-lined neutral furniture pieces with darker finishes against accessories and artwork. Windows are stacked all the way to the island kitchen's 25-foot ceiling. The natural light enhances the room's rich palette that includes taupes and backsplash details that compliment lighter toned walls.

"McGarvey Custom Homes is known for its attention to detail," said Margrander, "and that will be evident throughout the Casa Fiore. The clean-lined trim package will include beamed ceiling details, 12-inch baseboards and two-piece crown molding around the perimeter and in the ceiling coffers in the dining room, kitchen, leisure room and master bedroom. A morning bar in the master suite, indoor and outdoor fireplaces with pre-cast concrete surrounds, a wet bar and a five-car garage with a motor court will be included. Mud-set stone flooring with numerous inlays and details will be featured in the kitchen, dining room and leisure room. Decorative stone or ceramic tile will be used in the bathrooms.

The study will be finished with hardwood flooring and will include custom built-in cabinetry. The leisure room will feature a custom built-in entertainment cabinet. An airy island kitchen will be equipped with a Viking and Sub-Zero appliance package. The breakfast nook will feature a view of the outdoor living area and pool and include a built-in breakfast bench. All of these features and finishes work beautifully with our soft-modern design style."

The Casa Fiore is perfectly suited to Southwest Florida's outdoor lifestyle. An outdoor living area will include an outdoor kitchen with a 36-inch grill, sink and refrigerator. The 615-square-foot pool will feature a heated spa. The pool deck will be surrounded by an aluminum fence.You can find best mould engineering solution china mouldengineeringsolution from here!

The evolving snowboard

As snowboarding gained popularity and acceptance throughout the 1980s, construction and equipment features changed to accommodate and encourage potential snowboarders — and ski areas — to join the sport's growing numbers.

The 1970s and '80s demonstrated a high level of creativity in snowboard construction and design. Winterstick's Roundtail and Swallowtail models were a major evolution as they had foot straps, leashes, sidecut and P-Tex bases. Robert Weber's Incredible Flying Banana was high-density polyethylene with a skateboard deck attached. Skosh prototypes used hydraulically laminated Baltic birch plywood veneers from Russia with fiberglass in between layers for flexibility and durability.Spro Tech has been a plastic module & moldmaker,

Surf and skateboard theory played heavily in snowboard construction. Jake Burton experimented with surfboard-style construction in prototypes, using foam and fiberglass, rounded top rails, fins and various tails. Tom Sims used fiberglass, different bases , and his 1985 Terry Kidwell Roundtail Pro Model brought a distinctive skate-inspired style to snowboarding with a revolutionary kick tail design.

Snowboard construction took on a series of unique features, continuing to draw from other sports. Snowtech used golf spikes for traction and two rubber straps as a foot hold, and in 1979 incorporated camber, a slight kick-tail and “wings” inspired by a boat design. Their Omega model drew from the Olin Mark IV Competition ski, featuring a laminated wood deck and fiberglass “runner.”

Gnu kept their design emphasis on riding hard pack and carving turns on edge, using a channeled base, ski-inspired shape and several fins. Gnu's deep sidecut would later be adopted across the entire industry and gave them an incredible edge for resort riding.Specialized of injection mold, plasticmoulds, Burton's Powder Gun 1984 experimental series is the first Burton board to ever have metal edges, also important for hard pack performance.

Looking to build an “indestructible” snowboard, Mike Troppman and Butch Bendele built Ultimate Control Boards from a single sheet of Tivar 1000, pure ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Early 1980s Avalanche boards were made of mahogany door skin veneers with Formica tops and bases,Learn all about solarpanel, and Myron Knapschafer created a nonstick surface, Hiper-Slick, for snowboard bases instead of P-Tex.

Bindings have evolved dramatically, with many early boards using creative solutions for foot retention; the Sims 150 Pro Model Skiboard in the late 1970s used a bungee cord strap. However, the 1980s ushered in an era of binding experimentation and improvement. Binding systems for use with hard shell boots were developed by Avalanche and Myron Knapschafer of Hiper Snowboards. Additionally, the Snowtech Quantum used an integrated track binding system inspired by windsurf-binding technology.

The mid-1980s proved to be a turning point for binding systems, as several different innovators developed highbacks. Louis Fornier experimented with integrated, fold-down highbacks in eastern Canada. Prop Highback Bindings, an early design, were created by Matt Donovan. Jeff Grell made 30 Hi-Baks, a device worn on the ankle over the boot, which inspired Sims to include integrated highbacks on his boards. Matt Nipper built a skiboard with one of the earliest examples of an integrated highback binding. Years later, Technine developed a binding meant to create a loose,Our oilpaintingsforsales is the best place to buy art online. skateboard-style ride, allowing the board to flex completely.

Many companies were widening boards,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down. including the Burton Backhill, a 1983 Gnu 5-Fin prototype, and mid-1980s Swift snowboards, to allow for flotation in powder. By the 1990s, board length was increasing as well, seen in Quinn Sandvold and Perry Coleman's 1992 board, Nitro Diablo 186. Aggression's TR70 Tarquin Robbins Pro Model, following the longer length trend, helped launch the new school “skate style” movement with an asymmetrical design and deeper cut on the heel side than on the toe side.

More recently, Lib Tech introduced a serrated edge concept in 1997 and received a patent for Banana Technology in 2005, their unique combo of rocker and camber.

With so much change in technology and equipment design, snowboarding evolved a great deal throughout the '80s and into the ‘90s, using experimentation, creativity and innovation.

2012年2月14日 星期二

Hip Implants U.S. Rejected Sold Overseas

The health care products giant Johnson & Johnson continued to market an artificial hip in Europe and elsewhere overseas after the Food and Drug Administration rejected its sale in the United States based on a review of company safety studies. During that period, the company also continued to sell in this country a related model, which earlier went on the market using a regulatory loophole that did not require a similar safety review.

It is not known how many people overseas received the replacement hip after the agency decided in 2009 not to approve it, nor the number who received the closely linked implant sold in this country. During some eight years on the market, the two implants were used in about 93,000 patients worldwide, about one-third of them in the United States. Both models were based on the same component, an all-metal hip socket cup that experts say was faulty in design.

The DePuy orthopedic division of Johnson & Johnson, citing declining sales, began phasing out both models of the device — formally known as an articular surface replacement device, which DePuy marketed under the name ASR — in November 2009 and formally recalled them in August 2010 amid reports in databases of orthopedic patients abroad showing they were failing prematurely at high rates.

But in a confidential letter, the F.D.A. told Johnson & Johnson in August 2009 that company studies and clinical data submitted to gain approval in the United States to sell the model available overseas were inadequate to determine the implant’s safety and effectiveness, according to a summary of the letter reviewed by The New York Times.

The agency also told the company it would need added clinical data to pursue the application, a process that would probably have taken a year or more. DePuy’s receipt of the notice came as regulators and surgeons abroad as well as doctors in this country were raising serious questions about growing failures of both models of the implant.

A spokeswoman for DePuy confirmed that the company had received the agency’s so-called nonapproval letter. But the spokeswoman, Mindy Tinsley, declined to release the letter or to respond to questions about when, or if, DePuy disclosed the ruling to doctors, patients, investors or regulators abroad.

A principal researcher on the clinical studies submitted by the company to the F.D.A.What is Faux China chinaceramictile? said he was not informed of the agency’s decision. Also,Get information on airpurifier from the unbiased, independent experts. a review of publicly available information indicates that the company did not discuss the agency’s nonapproval letter in financial reports or in presentations to analysts while the device remained on the market.

There is no suggestion that Johnson & Johnson broke the law. Regulatory standards in other countries, like those in Europe, for approving the sale of medical devices are typically lower than here. A spokeswoman for a British regulatory agency,Diagnosing and Preventing coldsores Fever in the body can often trigger the onset of a cold sore. the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said that companies like Johnson & Johnson were not required to notify it when the F.D.A. refused to approve a product that was used in patients there.

However, the F.D.A.’s rejection may further deepen the company’s legal and financial problems surrounding the ASR. Last month, the company took a special $3 billion charge, much of it related to anticipated legal and medical expenses associated with the recall. An estimated 5,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down.000 lawsuits involving the device are pending, including some from patients crippled by tiny particles of metallic debris shed by the implants.

William Vodra, a lawyer who specializes in F.D.A. regulation, said that, in general, drug and medical device makers typically disclose nonapproval letters if they might have a material impact on a company’s finances. Mr. Vodra added that apart from that financial calculation, there was no hard-and-fast rule about making such rulings public.

Mr. Vodra said that if a company decided to withhold a nonapproval letter that contained important safety information about a device used by doctors, it could face damage to its brand. “They have to think long and hard of the reputational impact,” he said.

The handling of the ASR highlights how the F.D.A., by keeping its approval process confidential, may affect the health and safety of patients. An agency spokesman, Morgan Liscinsky, declined to disclose the letter on the ASR, saying the agency had a policy of not releasing such notices because they might contain confidential business information.

The version of the ASR rejected by the agency was developed by DePuy for use in a hip replacement procedure called resurfacing, which is a bone-sparing alternative to standard surgery. DePuy started selling the implant abroad around 2003. But because resurfacing was a new procedure, the agency required the company to run clinical trials before selling the device here.Buy high quality bedding and bed linen from Yorkshire Linen.

2012年2月13日 星期一

Encountering interior art

Artists not only enrich interiors with their artwork, they also appropriate interiors as subjects for their paintings and drawings. As early as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, the most intimate of surroundings, the interior of homes and dwellings, has been depicted in art.

From sumptuous accoutrements to simple furnishings and window treatments, interior scenes exist somewhere between still life and landscape.What is Faux China chinaceramictile? Still life includes inanimate objects, and anything that may have once been alive, but is no longer. Landscapes most often include scenes of nature, in a sweeping depiction of horizon or a small, focused vision of the natural world. Interior scenes encompass all of these, and clever artists often find ways to make such inclusions more literal by use of mirrors framing reflections or open windows and doors which reveal the natural world beyond.

Even more interesting is when artists bring art history into the mix by referencing the masters of previous centuries, and the influences of popular media forms of the 20th and 21st centuries in their compositions.

On the north shore, landscapes predominate with figurative work and lyrical abstractions a close second. Perhaps the abundance of mass media on home improvement and décor discourages new treatments of the interior as a subject to be explored beyond the principles of design. The word “interior” is in itself loaded with meaning and associations that provide fertile ground for creative minds.Learn all about solarpanel,

Between Feb. 11 and March 10, we are invited to explore the way one artist addresses the subject of interior and still life from a particular point of view in a group of 26 paintings, drawings and collages at 325 East Lockwood St., Covington. The artwork of Michael Ledet must be experienced in person.If you have a kidneystone, Perhaps his skill in graphic design surfaces in photographs of his paintings, while his artistic abilities reveal themselves more fully in a direct encounter. The richness is derived from texture, color intensity, and attention to detail where paper meets support surface adding exquisite detail to trigger imagination. For the mind, Ledet tricks the eye by incorporating paintings of frames as part of the overall composition.

He paints images of reflective mirrors repeating highlights of smaller compositions within the whole. He creates a surreal sense of space by unusual placement of furniture and multiple viewpoints, challenging the viewers’ sense of balance before returning to stability with his particular command of composition. And then, there are the references to art history, from Matisse to David Smith to David Hockney,Online fine art gallery of quality original landscapeoilpaintings, all presented as detail. The artistic inspiration present in the work of art is also a game of discovery.

Interiors usually include objects. Through March 10, artist Lynda Katz displays an exceptional collection of vessels at 325 East Lockwood St. A native of Maryland who grew up in Pennsylvania, Katz has lived and worked in Louisiana more than 30 years. Inspired by nature, Katz is informed by intense studies in the history of ceramics, especially Chinese Song dynasty porcelains and Japanese folk pottery.

She works exclusively in porcelain, a medium requiring great skill in handling the high-fire white vitreous clay body. Each form is thrown and decorated by hand.My favourite city councillor,You can find best mouldengineeringsolution china manufacturers from here! Decorative techniques include incising, glaze trailing, and resist techniques. The initial bisque firing is followed by a second firing at approximately 2300 degrees Fahrenheit in a reduction atmosphere.

Throughout the process, Katz remains open to the possibilities of subtle variations which speak to the user of the human hand as well as the spirit. She makes each piece with attention to strong design because each of her vessels is intended to be used as well as contemplated. Direct encounter, once again, provides the greatest rewards.

2012年2月12日 星期日

Cabinet orders Biti to act fast to save ailing banks

This came as the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has also written to government urging Treasury and the Reserve Bank to intervene urgently to contain the worsening liquidity situation. A senior banker with BAZ said there was "grave concern and panic" within the banking sector because the situation was "fast deteriorating".

Bankers say most commercial banks are already struggling, due to chronic capitalisation problems and a prolonged liquidity crisis in the market.Kremer is known for his work and innovations using largescalemolds as a means to construct sculptural vessel forms.

Several banks are battling for survival because of poor economic performance, low-capacity utilisation by industry and depressed demand against a backdrop of low disposable incomes.

The current liquidity crisis is also attributable to volatile short-term transitory deposits and limited lines of credit. The problem of low savings due to poor salaries and wages,Monz werkzeugbau und Formenbau. low interest income against high operating costs and low capitalisation is exacerbating the situation.

Cabinet on Tuesday grappled with the crisis and ordered Biti to come up with measures to save most banks, including the big players underpinning the financial sector,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good and affordable alternative to buying a new sofa that is run down.Carrying the widest selection of projectorlamp, from running into bankruptcy.

Biti had tabled a report on the banking and liquidity situation which painted a grim picture of the situation.

Industry and Trade Minister Welshman Ncube confirmed that cabinet had discussed the issue. Ministers were put in a state of panic when they were told banks were no longer able to settle their obligations when due.

Given the recent failure of ReNaissance Merchant Bank, which is reminiscent of the 2004 financial crisis during which 13 indigenous banks ran into serious financial problems, Biti was told to move with speed to fix the problem.

Between December 2003 and June 2004, five banks were placed under curatorship, two liquidated and four placed in intensive care under the central bank's Troubled Banks Fund. Ministers fear once news starts spreading across the market that banks are in deep financial trouble, there could be a run on banks, triggering an overwhelming demand for cash by the depositors.

Since most banks are now failing to meet their obligations, a surge in withdrawals could trigger a collapse of banks. The situation is worsened by the fact that most banks have lent out lots of money to companies and individuals who are failing to repay.Omega Plastics are leading plasticinjectionmoulding and injection mould tooling specialists.

As the Sunday Times reported recently, the deposit to loan ratios of most local banks are unsustainably high. Bank loans have been used to finance relatively illiquid assets, while the financial institutions fund their loans with short-term liabilities.

Cabinet also discussed the issue of some banks maintaining huge balances in nostro accounts. A nostro account is a bank account in a foreign country held by a domestic bank, denominated in the currency of that country. It is usually used to facilitate settlement of foreign exchange and trade transactions.

Amid fears of looming bankruptcies in the banking sector, Biti and RBZ governor Gideon Gono recently moved in to calm the market, intervening through a series of measures including boosting lines of credit and the central bank's lender of last resort function.

Gono said last week while the banking remains "safe and sound" overall, there were serious problems posed to financial institutions by the negative operating environment.

"The banking sector remained in a safe and sound condition in 2011 notwithstanding underlying risks posed by the operating environment notably volatile deposits, absence of an active inter-bank market and lack of an effective lender of last resort function, market illiquidity, cash- based transactions and limited access to external credit lines," Gono said.

"The weak and troubled banks in the sector are few, small, and of low systemic importance. As at 31 December 2011, these institutions had a combined market share of below 5% in terms of total assets, deposits and loans."

Biti said recently Treasury was going to pour $110-million into the economy to boost liquidity through the funding of infrastructure, lines of credit, the central bank lender of last resort position and agriculture.

2012年1月30日 星期一

Warning over coffee husks as bedding

Coffee husks, often recycled into animal bedding, should not be used with horses because of the risk of poisoning, researchers warn.

In Brazil, coffee husks are an abundant by-product of the coffee industry and often recycled as animal bedding.

Research carried out by Diego José Delfiol and colleagues has found that coffee husks pose a risk of poisoning when used as bedding or as feed for horses.

The work, carried out at the of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science - Univ Estadual Paulista (UNESP), at Botucatu, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was prompted by reports that horses had become intoxicated after eating coffee husks used as bedding.

Six clinically normal quarter horse mares were recruited to the study.

They were observed continually,Choose from our large selection of cableties, and examined clinically every 12 hours. They were kept in individual stalls and fed a diet of free-access hay.

Each horse was offered two kilograms of coffee husks.A glimpse into the day of a plastic injection moldmaker. Every 12 hours any remaining husks were taken away and weighed and fresh husks were given. This continued until the horses started to show signs of toxicity, at which stage no further husks were giveDaneplast Limited UK are plastic injectionmoulding & toolmaking specialists.n.

The researchers noted that the horses were not very interested in eating coffee husks during the first hours after they were supplied. However, after ingesting the husks for the first time, the animals generally preferred them to hay.

The study, published in BMC Veterinary Research, lists the most evident toxic signs as excitability, restlessness, involuntary muscle tremors, chewing movements and constant tremors of the lips and tongue, excessive sweating and increased respiration and heart rates.

The authors report that, on average, toxic signs appeared 56 hours after exposure to the coffee husks. However, heart rates and respiratory rates rose 36 hours after access to husks, and only returned to normal 60 hours after removal of the husks.

All six horses showed signs of toxicity. The signs resolved once the coffee husks were removed,Sika tooling & Composites develops and produces tailor-made synthetic resins, taking 12 to 40 hours to wear off. No treatment was necessary.

The researchers excluded other possible causes of toxicity by checking there were no insecticides or fungal toxins in the husks. Analysis of samples of coffee husk found the concentration of caffeine concentration to be 0.9%.

They compared blood and urine taken from the horses before, and 56 hours after, exposure to the husks.

They found significant differences between the before and after samples in the concentrations of caffeine in both urine and blood. Caffeine levels found 56 hours later, when clinical signs appeared, were, on average,My favourite city councillor,You can find best mouldengineeringsolution china manufacturers from here! 3966 times greater in the plasma and 1300 times greater in the urine.

The researchers concluded that the high concentration of caffeine in the coffee husks make them toxic to horses. They warn that coffee husks should not be used as food or bedding material for horses.

2011年11月16日 星期三

Veterinarians see spike in dog parvo cases

Dogs with parvovirus are arriving at veterinary clinics and animal services programs across the city at increased rates, even straining medical supplies at some clinics.

"In the past few weeks we've seen a lot of parvo cases and,By billabongoutlet in billabong boardshorts. Jun. 30. unfortunately, by the time we see them, there's not much we can do to help," said Tracy Lewis, a pharmacy technician at Northeast Veterinary Clinic. "Treatment can be very expensive and many people can't afford it."

Commonly known as parvo, the disease attacks dogs' intestinal tracts and is transmitted through the feces and vomit of infected dogs. Parvo is contagious between dogs, but is not transmissible to humans or other animals. The virus can be brought home on people's shoes, car tires or even their hands.

Veterinarians recommend that puppies not be taken to public places until they receive the full parvo vaccination series.

The city's Animal Services Program also reports an increase in dogs arriving at the shelter with parvo over the past month. Animal Services typically takes an average of three parvo cases a week, and is now seeing about 10-15 dogs with the virus weekly, officials said.

"Historically, we see that increase in the spring and fall as the virus does best in temperatures during those times," Animal Services veterinarian Bernie Page said. "But definitely,This is a big issue for most people considering microinvertersystems As you may know I have a big beef with this sort of thing. we've seen those cases on the rise."

Symptoms of parvo include loss of appetite, vomiting, dehydration, depression, fever and diarrhea. Dogs most at risk include puppies younger than 4 months, those who have not been fully vaccinated against parvo and those with weak immune systems.

"When it hits these dogs, it hits them pretty rapidly,world in preventing cheapipodnanoes and curing blindness into energy people can use LeRoy is a partner in Forest Energy Group LLC." Page said. "It's an overwhelming disease."

Page said people can still adopt dogs at Animal Services, which holds dogs susceptible to the disease separately from the rest of the animals at the shelter. Most dogs at the shelter infected with the virus are euthanized, though "if we feel they have some chance, we do what we can to save them," Page said.

Treatment usually includes hospitalization, intravenous fluids and medications to control vomiting, diarrhea and secondary infections.Distributor of wholesalepetsupplies - pet supply product for aquarium, dog, cat, bird, small animal, reptile, pond.

Treatment could cost from $200 to $500 and is effective in some dogs, Lewis said.

"We've had some success with those dogs that are treated," Lewis said. "But there's no guarantee. Sometimes it works,Competitive Plastic Mould products from various China Plastic Mould manufacturers and plasticmouldsuppliers are listed below, sometimes it doesn't."

2011年6月16日 星期四

Hayward orders code crackdown

An initiative before the Pensacola City Council would increase code enforcement officers' power to correct neglected properties and would hold banks responsible for maintaining abandoned lots prior to foreclosure.

The proposed amendments to city ordinance, announced by Mayor Ashton Hayward on Thursday, strengthen existing city code by tightening property appearance standards, increasing fines and expanding officers' authority to correct nuisances.

Hayward said the changes are needed to enhance property values and preserve Pensacola's appearance and quality of life.

"One of my top priorities is making Pensacola a more attractive place," Hayward said. "It's not because we should look good for the sake of looking good ...As one of a leading China Projector Lamp provider from China. if we don't look like a great place to live and set up a business,Definition of hypodermic needle cannula in the Online Dictionary. then we're not going to grow.Park Assist is a global leader in Parking guidance system,"

Steve Wineki, administrative officer for Pensacola's code enforcement office,Complete Your honeycomb panels Magazine Collection for Less! said the city took corrective action on 700 properties last year, including many abandoned homes and foreclosures.

"Nowadays, you have a foreclosure epidemic. Where we used to deal with a handful of foreclosures a year, now we're seeing a handful of foreclosures a day," Wineki said.

The proposed ordinance requires mortgage holders, such as banks and financial institutions, to maintain abandoned properties prior to foreclosure.

Wineki said other cities have recently enacted similar laws. The laws could face legal challenges from mortgage holders, but Wineki said the foreclosure epidemic has forced the city to seek new methods of enforcement.

Another proposed change expands the city's authority to remove junk cars, boats and other property, such as old kitchen appliances, from abandoned lots.

Current ordinance gives the city wide latitude to correct violations like overgrowth, but it limits code enforcement's ability to remove and destroy other items stored outside on vacant lots.

"With the new ordinance, they can tow the vehicles, destroy the personal property and abate the violations," Wineki said.

The initiatives will be discussed at the city council Committee of the Whole meeting June 20.

Stephanie Wilhelm, a member of the North Hill Preservation Association,For all DVS Ventilation system in PDF format. welcomed increases in code enforcement's authority to abate nuisances.

"If there is something that's not within code, code enforcement does come out and post a sign, but then time passes and nothing changes. There are no teeth," Wilhelm said.

2011年3月31日 星期四

Source Code and Rubber

Crazy day. One minute you're in Afghanistan, fighting a war, the next you're on a commuter train to Chicago, sitting across from a woman you've never seen before who's nattering away like she knows you. She keeps calling you Sean. Which is not your name. Very strange. Then the train blows up.

Source Code is a tight little sci-fi thriller with a nice, knotty premise, and it does its job in a commendable 93 minutes. It's a lot of fun, and its time-crunching suspense, heightened by the efficiency of its execution—the nimble way it's been blocked, shot, and edited—sticks in your mind. The director, Duncan Jones, whose low-budget Moon was one of the niftiest surprises of 2009, has a natural facility for science fantasy, and here, given more money to work with, he brings off another small genre gem.

Jake Gyllenhaal is Colter Stevens, the man on the train, an Army helicopter pilot whose life only appeared to end in that fiery explosion. He subsequently finds himself someplace else, with a monitor near at hand on which an Air Force officer named Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) explains that Stevens has been on a secret mission into the very recent past—only a few hours previously—to find the bomb that blew up that train and, more important, the man who placed it onboard. The bomber, it seems, has planned an even more-lethal follow-up atrocity.

Stevens is still baffled. So Colleen's boss, a frosty doctor named Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright), joins her to help clarify what's happening. Stevens, it turns out, is part of a government experiment involving “source code,” a new technology that allows someone to be inserted into the mind of another person during the last eight minutes of that person's life. Asked exactly how this whatever-it-is works, Rutledge offers a timeless sci-fi explanation: “It's very complicated.”

The rest of the picture follows Stevens on repeated eight-minute missions back to the ill-fated train. Each time, hassling suspicious passengers and desperately searching for likely bomb-hiding places, he unearths a new clue. He also grows increasingly fond of the woman sitting opposite him, the bright, pretty Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). But his return visits are inevitably cut short by that ball of fire before he can solve the puzzle.

The structure of Ben Ripley's script, with its cuticle-chewing race against time, strongly recalls Alfred Hitchcock, as does Chris Bacon's nerve-pinch score, which is richly reminiscent of the master's favored composer, Bernard Herrmann. And what might have been a one-note tale blossoms with intriguing ramifications. Slowly falling in love with Christina, Stevens becomes determined to save her life. But Rutledge tells him he can't—she's already dead, the train having been destroyed a few hours earlier. (Here, in traditional sci-fi fashion, the story begins not adding up, but so what.)

Gyllenhaal, competent as always, gets solid support from his costars. Monahan, mainly confined to repeating the same lines of dialog each time Stevens revisits the train, radiates a beaming sweetness that grows on us as much as it grows on him—we understand his interest. And Farmiga, whose character is little more than a face on a screen, manages to convey deepening emotional shifts. But the sharp, tricky story is the real star here, and Jones, a director of clear gifts, knows just how to drive it home.