Tents and Marquees

marquees-pavillion-3Event Tents, such as wedding tents are for when you want to make a fantastic 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 remarkable
structures and Tent styles out there. Some are unique and make a statement of their own. Ask the rental company you’re working with for a list of the type styles they have on hand.

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

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

They are used by:

Inflatable Tents An exciting and entertaining 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 dataabout 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 fundamental
and your budget may be low. Look for cheap tents that offers a waterproof Polyester roof and a decent 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 advertise 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 premium reproduction of their logo. Sign written or printed Tents can be as boring as a website address or they can be a design extravaganza.

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

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

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

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September 2, 2010 • Tags: , , • Posted in: News • No Comments

New Zealand’s Top Holiday Cities

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

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

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

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

Christchurch
When choosing a place to stay in Christchurch look for hotels that give views over the wonderful Victoria Square, across the mesmerizing Avon River or towards the epochal 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 staying in the vicinity of the Christchurch Cathedral will find hotel rooms with a Manhattan-style feel. Tradition and elegance are everywhere in these hotels along with a keen eye on service excellence. Huge bedrooms with full-fledged kitchen facilities are common, along with hi-tech conference facilities, resort-like leisure features like spas, saunas, gyms, and swimming pools. Many of these hotels provided by Travel Online are located in the vicinity of the Technology Park, the International Antarctic Centre, and the airport. Travelers who want to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life will find suitable accommodation in the splendidcountryside 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 chance of sailing away on yachts to isolated nearby islands, living the sweet life in the casino, surfing at lots of beaches or tasting the exotic wines at local vineyards. Hotels come in stylish and comfortable studios, and luxurious executive / marina suites. Travel Online caters to the tastes of corporate and business tourists and can beat any price seen on Auckland accommodation advertised. Auckland harbor is majestic, and is seen perfectly from atop Sky City and the surrounding accommodation.

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

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

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

Don’t let an unprofessional 24 hour carpet cleaner try to repair your water damaged carpets. These are the cautions you should be careful of:

Overcharging. An amateur water restoration technician may load the job up with superfluous extras. E.g. using dehumidification for drying the damaged carpets isn’t always needed.

Correct equipment. They sometimes borrow equipment from hire businesses for drying the carpet. This is acceptable, but a professional water damage technician will possess all their equipment to enable a faster response and hopefully a better value job.

The right moisture metre. If they don’t have the choice moisture meter, they cannot know if the carpet is repaired. This increases the danger of future mould growth. Removal of the mould in future may be required.

If they aren’t specialised. There are many “Carpet Cleaners” in this industry who do water damage repair work on the “side.” i.e. they aren’t the ones who deal with this sort of repair every day. Be wary of them. Fixing carpet water damage is an art. Reinstalling carpets on the gripper strips needs to be done by a professional, otherwise carpets can be damaged incontrovertibly.

You might be pondering, how do I find a proper Flood Restoration professional? Below I have selected some things to look out for when you hunt around for a carpet flood damage business:

What size is their Yellow Pages advertisement: This can indicate how much business they get already. A full-size Yellow Pages ad can cost upwards of $50 000. If they have paid for a big ad, you can at least have some indication that they will deliver the goods.

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

What Qualifications do they have? The fundamental qualification they require 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 very good indicator. If insurance companies source them, the business is bound to be efficient at their work. Insurance companies will tend to use the businesses that offer them the best value for their client’s money.

How much Equipment do they have? They should own at least 100 Air movers. If they possess this many, this means they have been up and running for some time. Our business took 8 years to acquire that many wet carpet drying air movers.

What kind of commitment can you get with them through a phone call? Try to pin them down to a price for water extraction, water removal and initial inspection. If they wouldn’t give you a price for just this, you know they are not going to serve you, so look elsewhere.

Response Time – Our Water Damage business based in Brisbane works to a 59 minute response time for a water damage emergency. The job needs to be completed ASAP. Mould can grow after a 24 hour period.

If you focus on these tips you are sure to get a Flood Damage Restoration business who can get the job done 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.

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August 17, 2010 • Posted in: News • No Comments

Podiatry as a Career in Australia

As a practicing podiatrist in Brisbane, Australia, I am often asked by clients if podiatry would be a good career for a school leaver to enter. There are many things to recommend a career in podiatry including:

How do you qualify as a podiatrist ?

To qualify as a podiatrist which can be studied at available fromsix Australian Universities:

Last year, the entry score for the QUT was OP 8.

Stephanie Cosgrove graduated as a podiatrist from QUT in 1990 and with a Master’s degree in Applied Science (Podiatry) in 1996. Since 1991, she has worked in private practice as a Podiatrist Brisbane. She received three university prizes during her studies, including the award for excellence in design and manufacture of orthotics. Brisbane has been the site of her private practice since 1991 which has grown to four locations and eleven staff. If you want to Walk Without Pain consider a visit to Brisbane’s most innovative podiatry practice today. Call for an appointment now on 1300 A1 Feet.

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Eight Steps to Great Web Design

Take control of getting your site created by a developer and understand the process it will save you money and aquire you a site that actually works the intended purpose!

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

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

3. The creative process
Be armed with example sites and more importantly the elements of the site you like so they can attain an understanding of what you would like to see on your site and also what you find frustrating about other sites. This will construct a good profile and realise 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 give them in the beginning the more time you will save everybody in the long run by getting what you want 1st time round. Check with the designers on how many rounds of changes come with the contract, most will allow for a total conceptual redesign only once and 2 rounds of changes after that.

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

5. Development Programming and CMS
If your website contains Content Managed Areas (CMS) or has any other dynamic sections the developers will wrap your design around a content management program such as Joomla or Drupal or they may have a custom built system. Make sure that you get to see how the CMS system operate on another site they have developed or an example site they may have. it is essential that you know that you can utilize and comprehend 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 operates and test it as if you were normal website user. If it doesn’t make sense to you, chances are it won’t make sense to your audience. Make sure you test your website on more than just your browser, try to test it on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. All of these browsers are available to download on the internet for free!

7. Launch – going live
When the developers are ready to bring your site onlive make sure you have finished the above testing step until you are content 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.

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August 7, 2010 • Tags: , • Posted in: News • No Comments

Tips to Creating a New Business Logo

A logo is a central step to creating a business. It is the face of your business. And like your face expresses the tone of your business, gestures the service and reveals 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 need 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 recreated. This is unnecessary and may cause complications when trying to recreate the logo exactly as completed 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 suggested that if your service or product name is not in your business name then perhaps an icon will help in getting 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 sighting for a more illustrative finish without losing recognition.

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

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

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

Creative software updates frequently and some programmes become obsolete. Assure 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 arrange. For example it is hard to 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
Make sure 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
legible.

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

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

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

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

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

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How to Create a Style Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 7 : Ensure 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 completed and as secure as possible. Then have it saved in an email friendly file format and have a couple printed. Once this is done we strongly advocate a training session – whereby your design studio arrives and trains your staff on how to utilize the Style Guide and most importantly your brand.

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

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July 31, 2010 • Posted in: News • No Comments

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

The most typical question asked when buying a new projector for the home, office, or classroom is: should I get an LCD projector or a DLP projector? LCD, which stands for ‘liquid crystal device’ and DLP, standing for ‘digital light processing’ are the two most common projector imaging technologies. With so many business brands and models available, it can be overwhelming for customers to make a choice between the two technologies. The fact is that LCD projectors give better image quality and colour accuracy. The following article will tell you why DLP projectors struggle with projecting a comparable standard of image quality.

Visualise a set of blinds in your room over your bedroom window. By pulling on a rod you can have the shutters open or closed, depending on if you want to let light in or not. And that is exactly how an LCD projector functions. Each pixel operates like its own shutter on a set of blinds to either send light through or to block it. DLP on the other hand is formed of millions of microscopic mirrors or ‘pixel elements’ as the experts like to call them. Each pixel element functions to either reflect light or block it.

How the light source is processed from the point when the projector turns on to when the content reaches your screen is absolutely important 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 project the coloured light to 3 stand alone LCD panels. The 3 LCD panels form the elements of the image by turning each pixel on and off. The pixels are then simultaneously processed in a glass prism to send the projector image. Something important to remember about LCD projectors is that all three colours are delivered onto your screen all at once. The way a DLP projector functions is vastly different and even the produced image shows up is not the same. With DLP, white light from the lamp is directed through a spinning colour wheel with transparent red, blue and green segments, at speeds up to 11,000 rpm/s. This way of projecting an image requires a sequence of red, blue and green light. The millions of micro mirrors mentioned above reflect the coloured light on the pixels to produce the image elements. The elements of the image are cast in sequence on the screen, one colour at a time. The viewer’s eyes will then pull together each coloured element of the image into the single whole image. Using LCD projectors, all colours are available all the time to form the highest brightness and fantastic colour accuracy. In DLP, only one colour is available at any given time, and so resulting in lower colour brightness and accuracy. Some developers have added a white segment in the colour wheel to improve brightness overall, but this then damages colour accuracy.

I hear 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 technology is capable of. DLP projectors do offer high contrast specifications in comparison to most LCD projectors. At one glance, this must be a benefit, however, in reality, the true black level is determined by the ambient light in the room in which the projector is being used. Do not be tricked by contrast specifications on websites and in brochures.

When the content you wish to bring to life has moving images, DLP projection technology can also create image imperfections, or ‘artifacts’. The most typical artifact that a DLP projector forms with moving images is colour break up. Colour break up is incontrovertible in DLP systems because moving images change between the time red, blue and green colours are displayed. LCD projectors do not have this downside because the colours are processed at the same time. DLP designers have come up with 3DLP solutions using 3 chips to solve the colour break up problem, but the price tag of these projectors make them not practical for most businesses and consumers.

Another difference between LCD and DLP is how they compensate for the refractive qualities of light. Think back to high school science, and recall when they taught you how the different colours of light refract varied amounts when projected through the same lens. The problem with DLP projectors is that they have the one same panel with the same lens to project Red, Blue and Green. All 3 colours are not the same and refract light in a different way. Generally with a DLP projector, some extra yellow colour will come through above and some blue will appear below an image as simple as a lone black line. In building LCD projectors can be adapted to remove these effects on the projected image, as each colour is directed on isolated LCD panels.

The one actual advantage (excluding price) with deciding on a DLP projector is its smaller size and weight. However, this is only relevant for transport and has to be traded off against the image superiority of LCD projectors. If resulting picture quality is vital to you, then the answer is simple. Go with an LCD projector! LCD projectors will definitely make bright, colourful images with fewer image imperfections. If you want to know more about LCD technology in more detail, have a look at this fabulous resource website: Explore 3LCD. If you have any persisting questions, visit Projector Central and send me an email.

Jonathan King is the sales and marketing manager of Projector Central, Australia’s premier online store for projectors. Brisbane-based, Projector Central has been serving Australia for 15 years. For data projectors in Brisbane and Interactive Whiteboards, contact Projector Central today.

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Yachting and Yacht Clubs

As the Dutch came to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht became a pleasure craft used mostly by royalty and secondly by the burghers on the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing yachts was incidental, borne from private matches. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English throne in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) leisure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), made additional yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 wager. Yachting was found to be classy for the rich and aristocracy, but after that point the trend did not last.

The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, and had large naval panoply and gravity. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club went on, for the large part as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by merging with other organisations, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing began in some stipulated method on the Thames around the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland instigated the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV ascended to the throne in 1820, it was then named the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing fight, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht association had been started at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal funding made the Solent - the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight - the perpetual site of British racing. The club at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the accession of George IV. All members were required to have boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for great bids were held, and the club life was splendid. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats grew in size to bigger 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 had control. Sailing was mostly for leisure and found its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and established a minimum of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in those waters from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The first sailing yachts were within the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the latter half of the 19th century. The design of large yachts was initially heavily put upon by the victory of America, which was designed by George Steers for a syndicate headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) found its namesake after its win at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and built in the modern sense, with only a model being used. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come into being. Not until the 1920s did the employment of the study of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what such study had previously done for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had been individually built, there arose a need for handicapping boats as this was previous to the one-design class boats were designed. Hence, a rating rule was written, which resulted in the International Rule, adopted in 1906 and amended in 1919. In modern times, one of the rapidly growing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to single dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing such boats can be had on an even basis with no handicapping necessary. A perfect example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on for racers in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting was an activity primarily for the royal and the affluent, expense was no object, and the size of boats developed, in both length and weight. The promotion and preference of smaller yachts came in the second half of the 19th century in 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 made plain the hardiness of less sizeable yachts. Thereafter in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure boats became more common, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, when steam began to replace sail power in public vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in pleasure yachts. Sizeable power yachts were developed to a high standard, and long-distance sailing turned into a favoured occupation of the well off. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave rise to those powered by the fully submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht fashion for many years. By the second half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were only power yachts containing gasoline or diesel engines.

From the last decade of the 19th century there was a push in the construction of more sizeable steam yachts. In particular within these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was operated by a crew of more than 150. The Mayflower, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and was used in active service for World War II.

As bigger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were produced, many big yachts started using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, employing heavy oil for fuel, progressed in World War I. From the decade after that, large power-yacht building grew, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that period the largest auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The building of large power craft declined in 1932, and the style thereafter was in preference of smaller, less costly yachts. From World War II, many small naval craft were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread beloved activity enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally manning and maintaining their own small recreational yachts. The popularity of yachts and yachtsmen is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional areas along the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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Proportional, Progressive, and Regressive taxes

Taxes are differentiated by the effect they have on the placement of income and wealth. A proportional tax is the kind of tax that places the same relative burden on all taxpayers—i.e., in the case where tax liability and income increase in the same levels. A progressive tax is recognisable by a greater than proportional growth in the tax liability relative to the increase in income, and a regressive tax is characterized by a less than proportional rise in the comparable liability. Therefore, progressive taxes are viewed as reducing inequity in income distribution, but regressive taxes can have the result of an increase in these inequalities.

The taxes that are normally thought to be progressive include individual income taxes and estate taxes. Income taxes that are initially progressive, however, might become less so in the upper-income class—in particular if a taxpayer is able to lessen his tax base by claiming deductions or by taking particular income components from his taxable income. Proportional tax rates which are applied to lower-income demographics would also be more progressive if personal exemptions are made.

Income measured over the period of a year may not absolutely come up with the best measure of taxpaying requirement. For example, transitory rises in income may be saved, and during temporary declines in income a taxpayer might select to pay for consumption by decreasing savings. So, if taxation is compared alongside “permanent income,” it should be less regressive (or more progressive) than when made comparable with annual income.

Sales taxes and excises (except luxuries) are mostly regressive, because the spread of own income consumed or spent on a specific good lowers as the level of personal income is raised. Poll taxes (also termed head taxes), calculated as a fixed amount per capita, obviously are regressive.

It is difficult to classify corporate income taxes and taxes on business as progressive, regressive, or proportionate, due to uncertainty around the ability of businesses to shift their tax expenses (see below Shifting and incidence). This difficulty of dictating who bears the tax burden depends fundamentally on whether a national or a subnational (that is, provincial or state) tax is being debated.

In considering the economic purpose of taxation, it is relevant to distinguish between varied points of tax rates. The statutory rates are dictated in law; often these are marginal rates, but sometimes they are mean rates. Marginal income tax rates signify the fraction of incremental income taken by taxation when income rises by one dollar. Ergo, if tax liability increases by 45 cents when income increases by one dollar, the marginal tax rate is 45 percent. Income tax regulations generally contain graduated marginal rates—i.e., rates that increase as income grows. Careful analysis of marginal tax rates must review provisions as well as the formal statutory rate structure. If, for example, a particular tax credit (reduction in tax) reduces by 20 cents for each one-dollar increase in income, the marginal rate is 20 percentage points greater than nominated within the statutory rates. Since marginal rates indicate how after-tax income changes in response to changes in before-tax income, they are the necessary ones for regarding incentive effects of taxation. It is even more difficult to understand the marginal effective tax rate to apply to income from business and capital, as it may be dependant on factors such as the structure of depreciation allowances, the deductibility of interest, and the provisions for inflation adjustment. A basic economic theorem determines that the marginal effective tax rate in income from capital is zero under a consumption-based tax.

Average income tax rates determine the fraction of total income that is required in taxation. The pattern of average rates is the one that is relevant for considering the distributional equity of taxation. Under a progressive income tax the average income tax rate grows with income. Average income tax rates usually increase with income, both because personal allowances are allowed for the taxpayer and dependents and also due to that marginal tax rates are graduated; on the flip side, preferential treatment of income received predominantly by high-income households might dampen these effects, forcing regressivity, as indicated by average tax rates that fall as income increases.

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July 8, 2010 • Tags: , • Posted in: News • No Comments