Latest News and Views

Salon Furniture Must Create a Luxurious Environment From Concept To Design

Elliot Travis — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:23:29 +0000

– What makes a good salon great? What is likely to draw customers and create word of mouth recommendations? A recent survey revealed that people go back to their salons as much for the general experience and atmosphere, as they do for the stylists and therapists themselves. First and lasting impressions about what people see in a salon is therefore imperative.

There’s no doubt that the stylists and the service as a whole are important, but hairdressers, beauty parlours and nail bars have come a long way over the last decade. Salons today must have clean, functional and most importantly chic and unique furniture. Comfortable yet stunning salon furniture is another must there’s nothing worse than having to ‘endure’ a pampering in an uncomfortable setting or ‘suffering’ in a tortuous wash area.

This is something that Kevin Lewis of Concept Salon Design has recognised. His company have long been supplying leading salons with the latest salon furniture designs. These products help salons establish themselves as the places for the fashion conscious to be at. Consistency in all salon furniture is also key, and Concept Salon Design distributes themed salon furniture so that salons can kit out all their furniture needs consistently using a themed range. A full range of wash area, seating, storage, styling area and beauty area can be mixed and matched to give salons that wow factor.

Providing a competitive advantage to new and existing salons is also a fundamental issue at Concept Salon Design and the company offer price matching and will try to beat existing prices. Visitors to the showroom are welcome to view the salon furniture range at their showroom. Concept Salon Design also provides a large range of chairs and stools, wash area and electrical furniture and equipment.

ABOUT CONCEPT SALON DESIGN SALON FURNITURE

Concept Salon Design was established by Kevin and Francis Lewis to provide the latest designs in salon furniture. Their website is a one stop destination for existing and new hair salons and beauty treatment centres to fully kit out their premises. Salon furniture can be bought by individual items or as complete bundles to fully furnish premises.

CONTACT

Concept Salon Design

Unit E Rocket Trade Centre

Bowring Park Road

Liverpool

L14 3ND

0151 230 0380

sales@salonfurniture.co.uk

http://www.salonfurniture.co.uk

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Concept Furniture Design was established by Kevin and Francis Lewis to provide the latest designs in salon furniture. Their website is a one stop destination for existing and new hair salons and beauty treatment centres to fully kit out their premises.

Queen’s Baton Relay and Marwah Studios Team at Agra

Ben Taylor — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:11:29 +0000

– AGRA, 21 September 2010: The Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi along with multimedia team of Marwah Studios has reached the historic city of Agra, capital of Mughal dynasty. The baton entered Uttar Pradesh on Monday amidst much fanfare and exuberance. The baton convoy travelled around the city producing a wonderful spectacle for the people lined up along its route.

The baton was received by distinguished sportspersons like International Power lifter Hardeep Singh and Arjuna awardees for Hockey and Olympian Jagveer Singh among others. Thereafter the baton headed towards 509 Army Base Workshop and was honored by officers of different ranks.

The relay was flagged off with great joy and over hundred Baton bearers took part. Incessant rains could not fetter the pace of the relay.

Evening saw a cultural program being organized at Sur Sadan, where a special postal stamp was released to honour the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi. The program included traditional dance performance and a fashion parade showcasing designs themed “Go Green’.

“The multimedia team of Marwah studios has covered 88 days of tour and coverage with Queen’s baton relay without even a blink” said Sandeep Marwah, President of Marwah studios.

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Aaft is the first ten best film schools of the world.attracting students from 75 countries of the world.offering 40 media courses from 3 months to three years.

Birth Place of Hip Hop

John Hanson — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 05:49:53 +0000

– The Bronx has long been regarded by many, if not all hip hop fans as the birthplace of Hip Hop. However even with this status not since the days of Big Pun has the genre looked to its birthplace for its next emerging star,that is until now.

Hip Hop new comer has been on a rampage in the tri-state independent music circuit this past year. Winning showcase after showcase and electrifying audiences. His high energy performances have gotten him tons of attention. Most notably from independent Music Label TSOB Records. So impressed by Lutes’ performance that labels owner requested him to

perform in the labels invitation only showcase competition. The prize a single deal distributed by TSOB.

Vegas did in fact win the competition and the result is the ode to the classic cognac entitle “Sipping on the Henny”. The song is a laid back track that can make you feel as relaxed as the brown booze itself. Lutes’ lyrical stylings do add flare to the track making it an almost instant classic. “Sipping on the Henny” is available now i tunes, amazon, napster, rhapsody or via the labels website www.TSOBRecords.com.

For more information on TSOB Records and Lutes Vegas please visit http://www.TSOBRecords.com. For interviews, reviews, bookings or drops please contact TSOBRecords@aol.com

“Sipping on the Henny” on i-tunes

http://tinyurl.com/lvsothitunes

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Full service Management company, specializing in artist development, branding, marketing and public relations.

Vaudeville’s Community Theater Director

John Hanson — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:25:53 +0000

– Fair Haven, NJ – A top-notch director is community theater’s most valuable resource and the serious theatergoer’s best friend. Before the curtain or lights go up, such a director has already set the production’s course and often won half the staging battle. The cast selected and guided by that director-and crew take it from there.

John R. Dunnell has directed several performances up and down the East coast and as far west as the Mississippi. This week he is directing a Vaudevillian Theatre production with the plot being about The Players Club in celebration of the 100 year anniversary of what is now called the Shrewsbury River Yacht Club in Fair Haven, NJ and of which John is a past commodore.

“Many times especially in the real community theatre, the club types of things, they’re doing it just for the fun of it. So they can have parties afterwards or have social gatherings. How well they do the play sometimes isn’t, unfortunately, the main thing. However casting this production with current members of the SRYC was a pleasure ” said Dunnell. ”This SRYC cast is dedicated, enthusiastic and have put together a great show!”

“The key to directing in non-professional theater is to motivate people….Since they’re doing it for the fun of it, experienced actors want to have starring roles, big parts, and the rest of the cast fill the smaller roles and my job is to keep those people motivated.”

“If I dedicated myself to anything, it was to make sure the play was as good as it could ever possibly be. So that… I wouldn’t be ashamed of it, the people in it wouldn’t be ashamed of it and the audience wouldn’t think they were being ripped off, because they have to pay money.”

For Dunnell, staging a play meant “almost always” at least 20 rehearsals, more for musicals. It means getting the cast’s respect. Parts are cast in the director’s mind before the tryout. Such a procedure may even be necessary to ensure the play is castable. He said. ”I had no idea who would particapate from the club and I have met some people I would never have met that are members and are very talented. Great voices and wonderful dancers.”

“I’ve been very fortunate, I think, to work with not only some fine actors but some wonderful people.” And in this production it is true as well, “I don’t care how well I know them, how good a friend they are, they know when they come to the three hours worth of rehearsal that I’m the director and for those three hours they’re going to listen to me. Even my beautiful wife Liz can a test to that!”

“Not that I don’t allow them to bring their own ideas. I want them to bring their own ideas.” He added “But it’s give and take and give and take, but the final analysis, whether they like it or not, is my decision”.

“The true fun” he added later, is that wonderful feeling that after the first performance and after every other performance, you can say, “My God, I’ve done a fine job”.

The show this weekend will include musical numbers of the Vaudeville genre, as well as dance and comedy skits. It will be presented on Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25 for members of the community as guests of the Club. It will begin each evening at 7:00 PM with refreshments available, followed by the show starting at 7:30 PM. Show tickets are $10.00. Reservations can be made by calling 732-747-9873 and asking for Lee or leaving a message.

-END-

Guitar Hero Adapted for People with Disabilities

Alex Young — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:06:41 +0000

– Hawthorne, NY September 21, 2010 Enabling Devices today announced that it has adapted the bestselling music video game, Guitar Hero.

According to Steven Kanor, Ph.D., President of Enabling Devices: “One of the goals of our company is to adapt bestselling games and toys so that people with disabilities can enjoy them along with their family and friends. We are thrilled that we have been able to adapt the electronics of Guitar Hero and create an easy to use tabletop control center.

Gail Cocciardi, Director of Product Development, says: “Our development team at Enabling Devices wanted to create a device that would allow our customers to have easy access to this popular game. Now there is no need to strum a guitar to join in on the fun. What makes it even more exciting is that the user can play at different levels of difficulty from beginner to expert all with our tabletop controller. We’ve put together a great package which includes the tabletop control center, two software packages, and a guitar, all at a very reasonable price.”

To view our Guitar Hero Controller #4065 and accompanying video, visit:

http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/toys_for_disabled_chi …

Features:

Our brand new unique state-of-the-art tabletop control center allows you to play five colored buttons in sync with the musical notes.

Control has select button, an up arrow to select the song and a start/stop button

Easy beginner level allows the user to hit any colored button to go to the beat of the music without having to follow a pattern

The guitar is fully functional so others can join in the fun

Package includes: Control Center, Les Paul Guitar, and Two Playstation 3 software packages: Guitar Hero World Tour (with beginner level) and Hero Legends of Rock

The control center can also be used with your Playstation 2 and Playstation 2 software

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Enabling Devices develops, manufactures and sells educational and assistive technology devices for children and adults with disabilities. Products include communicators, adapted toys, switches, and assistive technology kits for classrooms.

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable Announces: The 2010 Mvp2 Award Winners

Michael Christianson — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:37:53 +0000

– WASHINGTON, DC The 2010 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (MVP2) awards presented by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) celebrates the successes of innovators in the areas of pollution prevention and sustainability. The MVP2 awards are presented annually during National Pollution Prevention Week. National Pollution Prevention week is September 20 26, 2010. Since P2 Week became a national event in 1995, NPPR has been advancing pollution prevention awareness through its efforts to encourage and promote widespread participation during this week. The theme for this year’s P2 week is “Celebrating the Past and Building to the Future”, to recognize the 25th Anniversary of NPPR and the 20th Anniversary of the Pollution Prevention Act.

The 2010 MVP2 recipients represent a broad range of backgrounds, including federal government agencies, academia, industries, non-profits, and individuals that have demonstrated significant accomplishments in pollution prevention. These prestigious awards were presented at a ceremony in Washington, DC on September 21, 2010.

Awards are given out for four categories. This year’s winners for Projects/Programs were AW Chesterton, BAE Systems, IBM Burlington, IBM Fishkill, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Maryland Department of the Environment, and the U.S. Forest Service. The Publications Award was presented to the Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center for their publication, “Kentucky Forum: Carbon Sequestration through Agriculture and Forestry Management”. Dr. Tim Lindsey with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and Phil Kaplan a recent retiree with U.S. EPA Region 5 took home the awards for P2 Champion. Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Andy Bray from the Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association.

Jeffrey Burke, Executive Director of NPPR, stated, “These organizations have clearly demonstrated that pollution prevention is beneficial to both the environment and the economy. They are being recognized for their leadership and commitment to promoting a sustainable future.” The MVP2 awards demonstrate how organizations can become more competitive, form partnerships, realize cost savings, and enhance environmental quality all at the same time.

For more information on the 2010 MVP2 winners, the awards, and NPPR go to www.p2.org.

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The mission of the Roundtable is to provide a national forum for promoting the development, implementation, and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate, or reduce pollution at the source.

Kindergarten and Pre-K math game launched for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

Alex Young — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:37:53 +0000

– MathZee, a K-5 math education startup, has launched its first math game, called Piggy Math that covers Pre-K, Kindergarten and Grace 1 math skills like counting, skip-counting, addition, and subtraction.

For most students, mathematics means lots of symbols, memorization, and no relation to common sense, intuition or the real world. This leads to negative attitudes towards mathematics at an early age. MathZee is solving this problem by giving kids fun games that help them learn and truly enjoy mathematics and understand how math applies in scenarios that are more fun and interesting for them. They do this by focusing on “Application based problem solving,” and “Non-intrusive assessments.”

The company’s initial focus is on mobile devices, particularly iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. “We decided to initially focus on mobile devices when, in our tests, we realized that kids find these mobile devices more engaging, and the touch-interface is more natural to them,” said Namit Yadav, founder of MathZee. The company intends to expand into Android devices, and web-based Flash games by end of the year.

“There are two features that set us apart: very high quality game-play and art-work, and a passive formative assessment service that monitors kids’ actions in the games, and generates detailed performance reports to give parents valuable insight about their strengths and areas for improvement. These reports include grade-level proficiency, progress toward meeting national standards, identification of areas for improvement, and personalized recommendations to address those areas.”

The company intends to launch one game every month, covering different math skills for the Pre-K, Kindergarten and Grade 1 kids.

Math skills covered by Piggy Math:

A Numbers

A-1 Up to 10

A-2 Up to 20

A-5 Number words and numerals

B Counting

B-1 Number line / table

B-2 Up to 10

B-3 Up to 20

B-6 Up and Down

C Skip-counting

C-1 Count by 2s

F Addition

F-1 One-digits sum up to 10

F-2 One-digits sum up to 18

G Subtraction

G-1 One-digits

More information about MathZee: http://mathzee.com

More information about Piggy Math game: http://mathzee.com/piggy-math/

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About MathZee: MathZee (http://mathzee.com) is a mobile and web platform that teaches K-5 math through fun games by utilizing audio, visual, and kinesthetic cues. The games are based on rigorous national math standards (NCTM), and focus on application of math, and developing critical thinking skills while assessing a child’s performance in a non-intrusive manner. The company was created in the beginning of 2010, and it showed early promise when Excelerate Labs, a Chicago based incubator, chose to invest in MathZee out of 300 companies.

Vaudeville Theatre A Slice Of Two River History

John Hanson — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:47:29 +0000

– The Twin Rivers of New Jersey and their neighboring communities have a storied history. Of equal historic note and probably less known is the history of what is now called The Shrewsbury River Yacht Club, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Located on the Navesink River in Fair Haven, this boating club of 125 members started as The Player’s Club in 1910, founded by a group of New York Vaudevillians as a summer haunt to rehearse their acts and present some shows to the people of the community. The driving force behind the group was a gentleman named Tony Hunting, who served as “Commodore” from 1915 to 1935. Four years later, The Players Club officially became a boating club and named The Shrewsbury River Yacht Club (at that time the Navesink River was known as the North Shrewsbury River).

The spirit of Tony Hunting is alive and well at the SRYC today. The Yacht Club is in preparation to relive its past with a Vaudeville Show to be presented by its members in September. The show will include musical numbers of the Vaudeville genre, as well as dance and comedy skits. It will be presented on Friday and Saturday, September 24 and 25 for members of the community as guests of the Club. It will begin each evening at 7:00 PM with refreshments available, followed by the show starting at 7:30 PM. Show tickets are $10.00. Reservations can be made by calling 732-747-9873 and asking for Lee or leaving a message.

This Vaudeville Show is as much a part of the history of Fair Haven and surrounding communities as it is of the Yacht Club itself. Vaudeville had a home here in the early years of the 20th Century, and as Tony Hunting says near the start of the show, “the performance represents the spirit and flavor of those days gone by the days when show business was king and the players were royalty”! The Shrewsbury River Yacht Club hopes you will agree and join them as they present a little slice of area history.

Green Tax Credits and Financial Incentives

Elliot Travis — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:09:05 +0000

– Green Financial Incentives

There is currently a set of federal tax credits that are available covering a host of green and energy efficient projects. In addition, many states, municipalities and utilities have financial incentives including rebates, tax credits and tax deductions for green and energy efficient projects.

What Projects Are Covered?

In short, energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy projects are covered. Energy efficiency improvements include energy efficient water heaters, heat pumps, air conditioners, appliances, windows, doors, insulation, and many others. The credit for these improvements can be as much as $500.00 to $2500.

Renewable energy projects include solar hot water, geothermal heat pumps and solar and wind power. These projects can receive a federal tax credit of up to 30% in addition to any state, municipal or utility incentives in your area. One of the biggest changes concerns residential renewable energy projects like solar panels. The federal tax credit for these alternative energy projects was previously capped at $2000.00. However, this cap has now been removed. This potentially reduces the cost of a solar PV system for a residential application by as much as $10,000.00. Go to the Resources section of the GreenProDirectory.com site for links and information on federal, state and local green and energy efficiency tax credits and financial incentives applicable to you.

Who to Call?

Green Pro Directory provides a selection of local green pros across a comprehensive range of service types in your area. Use the green directory (http://www.greenprodirectory.com) to find and contact green pros in your area to help you determine what incentives are available and which green or energy efficient projects may be of interest to you. You can also find more detailed information on current green financial incentives at the links on the Resources section of the GPD site.

Contact

Carrie Mills

media [at] greenprodirectory [dot] com or (646) 504-5258

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New Leaf Group works behind the scene enabling our clients to flourish in the green economy. If you are serious about realizing your full potential in this growing sector, call or email New Leaf Group (www.NewLeafGroup.net) today.

Sophie’s Gallery and Gift Shop named San Diego’s Best Local Art Gallery (to buy)

John Hanson — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 07:16:17 +0000

– San Diego, CA, September 9, 2010-Sophie’s Gallery and Gift Shop, an extension of St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center, has been named “Best Local Art Gallery (to buy)” in San Diego, earning the 2010 Readers’ Choice Award from The Union Tribune in the Shopping and Services category.

Since it began in 1996, SignonSanDiego.com has hosted the contest to encourage San Diego residents and visitors to promote and select their favorite spots throughout San Diego County.

Sophie’s Gallery & Gift Shop in El Cajon displays an extensive range of original pieces of artwork and crafts made by St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center students.

Artists with developmental disabilities are provided opportunities to create art, from paintings and mosaics to clocks made from albums, and compete for awards with artists throughout the community.

“With the tremendous effort we put into ensuring our students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic expression, the title of ‘Best Local Art Gallery in San Diego’ reaffirms our confidence that the San Diego community appreciates the beauty and uniqueness of Sophie’s Gallery and Gift Shop just as much as we do,” announced Debra Turner Emerson, Executive Director of St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center.

The 2010 contest voting took place from June 5th through 27th with winners announced in an August issue of The Union Tribune and online at SignonSanDiego.com.

Rounding out the top three for Best Local Art Gallery (to buy) was Spanish Village Art Center, in second place, and Wyland Seaport Village, in third, followed by seven other local art galleries.

View Sophie’s Gallery & Gift Shop in the top spot, here.

You can visit Sophie’s Gallery & Gift Shop, El Cajon at 109 Rea Avenue or stop by our new Sophie’s Gallery gift shop located at 2690 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 19, San Diego, CA 92106.

For information regarding our galleries contact Wendy Morris at 619-593-2205 or 619-578-2207.

For more information about St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center, visit www.stmsc.org.

About St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center

A way of life…

A world of difference.

St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center (SMSC) has helped people with developmental disabilities, their families and communities, discover, explore, and nurture potential – giving thousands a chance to live life to the fullest. The Center truly provides a “Life Program” that allows students to learn and grow, and enjoy friendships and social activities throughout their lives. Students come to SMSC’s five-acre campus in the foothills of El Cajon, California, daily to learn or upgrade marketable skills, develop creative outlets, earn some money, make new friends, and gain a sense of independence and self esteem.

For more information about St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center, visit www.stmsc.org.