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Garth Brooks, is an American country pop singer-songwriter. His integration of pop and rock and roll elements into the country genre through multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances earned him immense worldwide popularity. This progressive approach has allowed Brooks to dominate the country single and album charts, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.
According to the RIAA, he is the best-selling solo albums artist in the United States, ahead of Elvis Presley and second to The Beatles, with 136 million domestic units sold. He is also one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 160 million records.
Brooks has released six albums that achieved diamond status in the United States, those being: Garth Brooks (10× platinum), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin' the Wind (14× platinum), The Hits (10× platinum), Sevens (10× platinum) and Double Live (21× platinum). Since 1989, Brooks has released 20 records in all, which include: 10 studio albums, 1 live album, 3 compilation albums, 3 Christmas albums and 3 box sets, along with 77 singles. He won several awards in his career, including 2 Grammy Awards, 17 American Music Awards (including the "Artist of the '90s") and the RIAA Award for best-selling solo albums artist of the century in the United States.
Brooks retired from recording and performing from 2001 until 2009. During this time, he sold millions of albums through an exclusive distribution deal with Walmart and sporadically released new singles. In 2005, Brooks started a partial comeback, giving select performances and releasing two compilation albums.
In 2009, he began Garth at Wynn, a periodic weekend residency show at Las Vegas' Encore Theatre from December 2009 to January 2014. Following the conclusion of the residency, Brooks announced his signing with Sony Music Nashville in July 2014. In September 2014, he began his comeback tour, The Garth Brooks World Tour, with wife and musician Trisha Yearwood. His most recent album, Man Against Machine, was released on November 11, 2014, exclusively to his online music store, GhostTunes.
Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 21, 2012. 5/1/16
An United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellites (LRO/LCROSS) rolls out from its Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., to its launch pad at 10 a.m. today. The rocket is now poised for a June 18 launch with three, one second launch windows of 5:12, 5:22 and 5:32 p.m. EDT. Photo by Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.
Image credit: United Launch Alliance/Pat Corkery
Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) :
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html
Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS):
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html
Follow the "New Moon Missions" blog from NASA:
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Yakovlev Yak-38 (Russian: Яковлева Як-38; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was Soviet Naval Aviation's first and only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft, in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It was developed specifically for and served almost exclusively on the Kiev-class aircraft carriers.
OKB Yakovlev had been constantly improving the Yak-38 design, seeking to push the aircraft's design limits. One initial step was the Yak-38M, which was tested in 1982 and subsequently introduced into service. Outwardly it differed little from the 1st generation Yak-38, bigger air recirculation dams were the most significant changes. But the air intakes were optimized and more powerful engines almost doubled the external ordnance load. Furthermore, wet pylons were introduced that would allow to carry drop tanks, extending the type's limited range considerably. The Yak-38M was delivered in the mid-80ies to the Soviet Navy, where it replaced the original Yak-38.
With the ongoing tests and the development of fourth generation fighter like the MiG-29 or the Su-27 in parallel (from both of which OKB Yakovlev had been excluded, failing to gain any development contract), OKB Yakovlev sought to improve the Yak-38 further and maybe attract foreign customers.
One direction, which was also aimed at the Soviet Navy, was to outfit the Yak-38 with a radar, so that the type could be more than a light attack aircraft or visual range fighter with R-60 AAMs. Studies were made to integrate the Fazotron N019 'Rubin' fire control radar, which had been developed for the MiG-29 tactical fighter.
It turned out to be feasible to install the equipment in the Yak-38, even though the nose had to be modified in order to carry the radar's antenna. But with this modern radar the Yak-38 became not only able to make interceptions beyond visual range against aircraft carrier attackers with more powerful, long range AAMs (like the R-77/RVV-AE missile), it could also be used in any weather condition.
This project was called Yak-38 MP ('modernizeerovannyy perekhvaht-chik' = modernized version, interceptor variant), and it not only carried the N019 but also advanced navigation and attack systems which enabled the aircraft to carry out night and all-weather attacks. Outwardly the Yak-38 MP could easily be recognized by its shorter, fatter nose with a pointed radome and the offset pitot sensor in front of the cockpit. This variant received the NATO code "Forger C".
The resulting aircraft held much potential, and for the export market a modified version, the Yak-38 MPK ('kommehrcheskiy' = commercial) variant was offered from 1987 on. It did not feature state-of-the-art avionics, but basically kept the new variant's air-to-air and all-weather capabilities.
In 1988 India showed interest in the Yak-38 MPK for its aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, and an agreement was settled to buy a total of seventeen aircraft - fourteen singe-seaters and three standard Yak-38U trainers.
The Indian Yak-38 MPKs were futher modified, featuring new, extended wing tips with integral pods for a Gerdeniya-1FU (L-203B) jammer and an SPO-15LM Beryoza radar homing and warning (RAWS) system and an OEPS-29 IRST sensor (the same which is also used in the MiG-29, flown by the Indian AIr Force) in front of the cockpit. The type still lacked an integral gun, though - tests of Yakovlev had been made but the problems of engine surging with a test-mounted GSh-23 could not be cured, so the Yak-38MPK had to rely on external pods, much like its predecessors. It is also uncertian whether the Indian Yak-38 MPK is able to carry tactical nuclear stores - like its Soviet/Russian ancestors.
India remained the only export customer for the Yak-38, even though China showed some interest, and these export Yak-38 shoudl be the last chapter of this S/VTOL aircraft. OKB Yakovlev had already been working on the supersonic Yak-41/141 STOL multi-role fighter for the domestic market, but the demise of the Soviet Union halted any further developments - and the Yak-38's design potential had been exhausted with the MP/MPK versions.
The small group of Indian Forgers soldiered on until 2003 (three were lost in accidents, one of them a trainer), when they were replaced by MiG-29K shipboard fighters. Rumor had it that China had shown interest in the remaining Yak-38 MPK fleet for its own carrier.
General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length (fuselage only): 15.44 m (50 ft 7 in)
Length (overall): 16.05 m (52 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 7.78 m (25 ft 5 1/2 in)
Height: 4.25 m (14 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 19.5 m² (210 ft²)
Empty weight: 7,385 kg (16,281 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 11,300 kg (28,700 lb)
Powerplant:
1x Tumansky R-28 V-300 turbojet, 66.7 kN (15,000 lbf)
2× Rybinsk RD-38 turbojets, 31.9 kN (7,870 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1.280 km/h (795 mph)
Range: 1,300 km (807 miles)
Service ceiling: 11,000 m (36,089 ft)
Rate of climb: 4,500 m/min (14,760 ft/min)
Thrust/weight: 1+
Armament:
No internal gun, but optional one or two UPK-23-250 pods fixed under the external pylons of wings.
4 hardpoints with a total capacity of 4,400 lb (2.000 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of various types of rockets (up to 240 mm), 2 anti-ship or air-to-surface Kh-23 (AS-7 Kerry) missiles, R-60, R-60M (AA-8 Aphid), R-73 (AA-11 Archer) or R-77 (AA-12 Adder) air-to-air missiles; two FAB-500 or four FAB-250 general purpose bombs under pylons, two incendiary ZB-500 napalm tanks, or external drop tanks on the inner apir of pylons.
The kit and its assembly
This model was inspired by a whif profile posted on whatifmodelers.com (not certain about the artist, though) some time ago: a Yak-38M in Indian Navy colors. I liked the idea of a foreign user, and India with its own carrier made a perfect candidate.
This project had been lingering for some time, until I came across a Yak-38M Tsukuda Hobby kit (Revell of USA re-boxing in a fantasy livery) and learned that OKB Yakovlev actually had many plans which would improve the type's potential - the "MP" variant had actually been on the drawing board, but never made it to the hardware stage. Unfortunately I was not able to find a sketch of the actual nose design for this project, I suppose that the real radome would have been bigger/fatter than my scratch conversion.
Anyway, from that base this whif kit was built. The Tsukuda Hobby kit is... wrong. In many ways, and fit is also rather poor. As an apology fot the designers, the kit has its origin in an era when the Yak-38 was only known from blurry pictures. Don't expect a "correct" model - 'clumsy' would be a good description. But the general appearance is O.K., and for a conversion the kit is just good enough. Anyway, if you want a good Yak-38, go for the Amodel kit!
There are many pitfalls to avoid on the Tsukuda kit. The cockpit is non-existent, the fin does not fit onto the fuselage shape, the front wheel is a joke, everything is rather solid and toy-like. I tried to remedy some of the se flaws with a new seat, a dashboard and a pilot figure, a completely new front wheel (from a MiG-21), and other minor conversions like lowered flaps, forward-canted lift engines, opened auxiliary blow-in-doors on the air intakes and new/finer antennae.
Another obvious major modification is the nose with its radome, donated from a Hasegawa F-4E. The resulting nose-up attitude and the overall shorter, less pointed profile changes the look of the Yak-38 completely. It reminds now much of a FRS.1 Sea Harrier, there's even some Buccaneer style to see? That new arrangement necessitated a new location for pitot and antennae, which were partly scratched.
In order to demonstrate the type's air-to-air capability I added a missile ordnance: a pair of R 77 "Adder" AAMs with their respective launch rails under the outer pylons. These come from an ICM aftermarket weapon set.
Painting and markings:
I used the aforementioned inspiring profile as benchmark. It shows an all-grey Yak-38M with some white areas like the flaps, rudders and the horizontal stabilizers. Unlike the late, grey Soviet/Russian Yak-38s the profile showed no darker lower tone on the undersides, but I nevertheless adopted that paint scheme, just with a lighter tone on the lower fuselage and under the wings, since I found the uniform grey to be too uninteresting.
I settled for Humbrol 165, Medium Sea Grey, as basic color for the upper surfaces. This appears as a good compromise between the profile and the real world's IN Sea Harriers, some of which actually carried this lighter tone for some time with a light grey underside (instead of the standard, RN-style [Extra] Dark Sea Grey and White). For the lower, lighter grey areas I used FS 36375, Ghost Grey (Humbrol 127).
These basic tones, esp. the upper surfaces, were later, after a black ink wash, considerably lightened through dry-brushing, in order to emphasize the panel lines and give the machine a worn and sun-bleached look.
The rudders were initially painted in a very light grey (Humbrol 196), leaving "room" for lighter shading with the dry-brushing technique in pure white. The radome was painted in Revell 47, a neutral grey, so that the radar nose cone became more obvious. This actually changed the whole look of the aircraft!
The cockpit was painted in Russian Cockpit Green, the landing gear and their respective wells in a mix of Aluminum and Khaki Drab (Humbrol 56 & 26, inspired by some IAF MiG-21bis' landing gears) - that's certainly not 'realistic', but I wanted to avoid ever more grey tones on the kit, and that brownish tone just fits well into the overall look)
National markings, codes and emblems come from a Model Alliance decal sheet for BAE Sea Harriers in RN and IN service. Some stencils were taken from the vast Yak-38M decal sheet from Begemot which I had in store for a different project - but it came in handy here, as the original Tsukuda Hobby/Revell sheet is ridiculous, only the white di-electric panels on the fin could be used.
All in all, I am amazed how much different the Indian markings make the Yak-38 look? Much like the profile that inspired this whif model, it seems like a natural livery for the type.
جزيرة القطان على طريق الساحل جده الليث
تبعد عن جده تقريبا 80 كيلو
منطقه جدا نظيفه الله يستر لا يخربوها اصحاب الشاليهات
cam : sony alpha 900 A
lens: zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8
ISO: 100
من ارشيف فلكري السابق :( الي تهكر
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Sunday 28th September 2014 saw improvements made by Arriva to their Guildford - Cranleigh - Horsham corridor services.
Previously, the three buses an hour had run as follows:
1x 53: Guildford - Cranleigh - Park Mead - Ewhurst.
1x 53: Guildford - Cranleigh - Park Mead short.
1x 63: Guildford - Cranleigh - Slinfold - Horsham.
This is revised from 28th September as:
1x 53: Guildford - Cranleigh - Park Mead - Ewhurst.
1x 63: Guildford - Cranleigh - Park Mead (double run) - Slinfold - Horsham
1x 63X: Guildford - Cranleigh - Horsham, not via Slinfold.
This increases the service level to Horsham to two buses per hour. In addition, journeys to/from Horsham now run later in the day.
Following Arriva selling their Horsham operations to Metrobus in October 2009, the 63 had extended from Horsham town centre to Horsham Hospital (previously, it ran across town to Oakhill, but this was dropped and given to Metrobus, them running a separate service 65).
As a result of the 28th September 2014 changes, the 63 was withdrawn between Horsham town centre and Horsham Hospital.
Bus stop provision at Horsham rail station is actually quite good, especially southbound, where buses have their own bit of road away from the main road itself. Here's Arriva Kent & Surrey 3930 (GK51 SZJ) seen with a 63 to Guildford, in the company of a Southern class 377.
North Street, Horsham, West Sussex.
In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 46-47 backup crewmembers Kate Rubins of NASA (left), Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) pose for photos Dec. 1 in front of the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft during a crew fit check. The trio is backing up prime crewmembers Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, Tim Kopra of NASA and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), who will launch Dec. 15 from Baikonur for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov
All you closet Klansmen out there, you would-be Bull O'Connors and George Wallaces, listen up: it is officially time to party! Get out your balloons and confetti, and iron your best white robes, because the Bush Supreme Court has officially declared that racial integration and diversity DON'T MATTER AT ALL. The Bush court says that not only is segregation totally cool (as long as it's the "natural" result of segregated housing areas), it's actively RACIST to oppose segregation. Why? Because racial diversity is AGAINST the spirit of Brown vs. Board of Education.
Yes, that's right--it's against the spirit of the decision that made it possible for children of all colors to go to school together to encourage children of all colors to go to school together. The only way to avoid racism is to DENY it and ignore it and NOT DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT. That's what being "colorblind" is all about!
As the NAACP's Theodore Shaw put it on The Newshour With Jim Lehrer tonight, it doesn't get much more Orwellian than this. This is Civil Rights Lite to the extreme. I think I'm going to be sick.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mikhaela B. Reid * Angry Cartoonist
cartoons@mikhaela.net * www.mikhaela.net
• Out now! | “ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT MIKHAELA!” by Mikhaela Reid, with foreword by Ted Rall. See why Fun Home author Alison Bechdel says "Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on!" Buy now at: www.lulu.com/content/781402
• Book tour dates | July 7: DC @ 2 p.m. (w/Ted Rall, Keith Knight, Ruben Bolling, Stephanie McMillan & more!); Sept. 28: Boston (Details TBA)
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WORDS: John G. Roberts, Jr. Elementary School; The Jim Crow Max Security Educational Facility. Just think, Pearl--if it weren't for the landmark Supreme Court resegregation decision of 2007, our little pumpkin might face the BRUTAL racist discrimination of being forced to go to school with those people!
CAPSTONE spacecraft, built by Terran Orbital and owned and operated by Advanced Space, being prepared for payload integration at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
Edda Ferd, PSV – Hybrid Platform Supply Vessel
The Edda Ferd is a platform supply vessel used to support oil rig operations in the North Sea.
A new build, the Østensjø Edda Ferd has been designed with a focus on quality, safety and efficiency. This is the first integration of a Corvus Energy ESS and Siemens’ BlueDrive PlusC propulsion system.
Name: Edda Ferd
Type: 92.6 m Platform Supply Vessel (PSV)
Duty: North Sea Offshore Drilling Platform Service & Support
Pack: 40 x 6.5kWh
Capacity: 260kWh
Bus Voltage : 888VDC
Partners: Østensjø Rederi, Siemens, Corvus Energy
Edda Ferd, PSV is based in Haugesund, Norway operating in the North Sea.
General
Operator:Østensjø Rederi AS
Built:2013
Builder:Astilleros Gondan. Spain
Yard no.:444
Call sign:LAZO7
Flag:NIS
Port of Registry:Haugesund
IMO no.:9625504
MMSI No.:259161000
Classification:DnV +1A1, SF, E0, OFFSHORE SERVICE VESSEL+, SUPPLY, DK(+), DYNPOS-AUTR, HL(2.8), LFL*, CLEAN DESIGN, NAUT-OSV(A), COMF-V3-C2, OIL REC, DEICE
Safety regulations:NMA, Trade Worldwide within GMDSS A3, Solas 1974/1978, International Convention on Load Lines, Pollution Prevention - MARPOL 1973/1978, INLS Certificate
Dimensions
Length o.a.:92,6 m
Length b.p.:82,2 m
Breadth mld.:20,6 m
Depth mld.:9,0 m
Draft max.:7,2 m
Air draft:32,46m
Tonnage - Deadweight
Deadweight:5122 t
Gross tonnage:4870 GT
Net tonnage:1462 NT
Deck loading capacities
Cargo deck:1038 m2
Deck equipment
Anchor chain:2 x 11 shacles.
Anchor Windlass / Mooring Winch:15,5 tons.
Mooring winch:Forward: 2 x 16 tons Aft: 2 x 10 tons
Deck cranes:Port: 1 x MacGregor SWL1,5 t@ 8m / Starboard: 1 x MacGregor SWL 3,0 t @ 10m
Tugger winches:2 x 15 tons.
Propulsion
General:Battery Hybrid Power Station and 2 x VSP each 2700 kW. 2 x AC asynchronous water-cooled motors each 2700 kW.
Main engines:2 x MAK 6M25C a` 2000kW - 2 x MAK 9M25C a`3000 kW
Fuel type:MDO /MGO
Auxiliaries / Electrical power
Generators:2 x Simens generator 2222 kW / 2 x Simens generator 3333 kW
Emergency generator:Caterpillar Emergency generator 158 kW
Speed / Consumption
Max speed / Consumption:abt. 16,0 knots
Main propellers
Maker:Voith Schneider propellers
Type:2 x 2700 KW
Thrusters
Bow thrusters:2 x 1400 kW FP , electric driven low noise tunnel thrusters. Plus 1 x 800 kW RIM tunnel thruster
Bridge / Manoeuvering
Bridge controls:5 control stands. (forward, 2 x aft, starboard, port)
Loading / Discharging:Simens IAS. Remote monitoring of all tanks including loading/discharging operations and start/stop of all pumps.
Dynamic positioning system
Type:Kongsberg K-Pos.
Approval / Class:DNV DYNPOS-AUTR. IMO Class 2
Reference systems:DPS 112, DPS 132, CyScan, Mini-Radascan
Sensors:3 x Gyro, 3 x Motion Reference Unit, 2 x Wind sensor
ERN number:99,99,99,99
Liquid tank capacities
Marine Gas Oil:1100 m3 included 2 chemical and 4 special prod. tanks connected to fuel system.
POT water:1000 m3
Drill Water/Ballast:2280 m3
Mud:Mud/Brine system 513 m3. Special product system 370 m3. Total 883 m3.
Brine:Brine/mud system 513 m3. Special product system 702 m3. Total 1215 m3
Base oil:Total 702 m3. When using combined tanks.
Methanol:Total 440 m3. When using combined tanks.
Special products LFL/LFL*:720 m3
Drill Cuttings:720 m3
Liquid discharge
Fuel Oil pumps:2 x 150 m3/h- 9 bar
Brine pumps:2 x 100 m3/h – 22.5 bar.
Liquid Mud pumps:2 x 100 m3/h – 24 bar.
Specal products pumps:2 x 100 m3/h – 9 bar.
Drill water pumps:1 x 250 m3/h – 9 bar.
Drill cutting pumps:4 x 40 m3/h – 9 bar.
Fresh water pumps:1 x 250 m3/h – 9 bar.
Methanol pumps:2 x 75 m3/h – 9 bar .
Slop system:1 x 20 m3/h
Tank washing system:1 x 30 m3/h
Discharge piping:5"
Bulk tank capasities
Bulk Cement Tanks:4 tanks. Total capacity: 260 m3
Bulk Discharge:2 x 100 t/hr
Navigation equipment
Radar:1 x Furuno FCR-2827 S /ARPA - 1 x Furuno FAR-2837 S / ARPA
Electronic Chart System:2 x TECDIS
Compass:3 x Simrad Gyro GC 80
Autopilot:Simrad AP-70
Echo Sounder:Furuno FE-700
Navtex:Furuno NX-700A
DGPS:Furuno GP-150
AIS:Furuno FA-150
Voyage data recorder:Furuno VR-3000
LRIT:Sailor 6130 LRIT
Log:Furuno DS-80
Communication equipment
General:GMDSS installation in accordance with IMO regulations for vessels operating within Sea Area A3
GMDSS Radio MF/HF Transceivers & DSC:1 x Furuno FS-1575
VHF:2 x GMDSS Furuno FM-8900 / 3 x GMDSS Jotron TR-20 portable / 3 x Sailor 6248
GMDSS EPIRB:1 x Jotron 40 S Mk2 - 1 x Jotron 45 S Mk2
GMDSS SART:2 x Kannad SARTII
UHF:6 x Motorola GM-360 - 6 x Motorola GP-340 ATEX
Sattelite system:1 x Inmarsat / 1 x Iridium
Accommodation
Total no. berths:38 x Beds
Total no. of cabins:27 x Cabins
Single cabins:16 x Single cabins
Double cabins:11 x Double cabins
Office:2 x Offices
Hospital:1 x Hospital
Ventilation/A-C for accommodation:High pressure single-pipe fully redundant ventilation system. Full heating/AC throughout the accommodation
Other:Messroom, Dayrooms, Conferenceroom, Gymnasium,Galley,Dry Provitions,Freezing room, Wardrobes.
Lifesaving / rescue
Approved lifesaving appliances for:40 persons
Liferafts:6 x 25 persons
Rescue/MOB boat:Alusafe 770 Mk2 - Twin installation.
Fire-fighting/foam:Water/Foam pump/ monitors covering cargo deck area
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), it is billed as the world's most expensive stand-alone casino property at US$ 5.7 billion, including the cost of the prime land.
Marina Bay Sands is situated on 15.5 hectares of land with the gross floor area of 581,000 square metres. The iconic design has transformed Singapore's skyline and tourism landscape since it opened on 27 April, 2010. The property has a hotel, convention and exhibition facilities, theatres, entertainment venues, retailers, and restaurants.
Marina Bay Sands was one of two winning proposals for Singapore's first integrated resorts, the other being the Resorts World Sentosa, which incorporates Universal Studios Theme Park. The two resorts aimed to meet Singapore's economic and tourism objectives, and have 30-year casino licenses, exclusively for the first ten years.
Bidders were assessed based on four criteria:
tourism appeal and contribution
architectural concept and design
development investment
strength of the consortium and partners
On 27 May, 2006, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was declared as the winner to develop the Marina Bay site in the prime new business district of Marina South. LVS highlighted its forte in Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions (MICE). LVS's founder Sheldon Adelson is a pioneer in Las Vegas and the key to his early business success.[3] In the Design Evaluation portion of the tender, a panel of local and international architects commended Sands' design as superior to other bids in terms of pedestrian circulation and layout, and it also fit in with the Marina Bay landscape best. They liked that the hotel towers were set back from the waterfront to open up expansive views of the city and the entire Marina Bay, making the skyline for Singapore's downtown more attractive and distinctive.Construction of the property commenced in early 2007 and was expected to be completed by 2009.
Singapore Tourism Board highlighted Sands' line-up of six celebrity chefs, such as Tetsuya Wakuda, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali.
LVS submitted its winning bid on its own. Its original partner City Developments Limited (CDL), with a proposed 15% equity stake, pulled out of the partnership in the second phase of the tender process. CDL's CEO, Kwek Leng Beng said his company's pullout was a combination of factors – such as difficulties in getting numerous companies he owns to comply in time, as well as reluctance of some parties to disclose certain private information in probity checks required by the Singapore government. However, Kwek was retained as an advisor for Sands' bid.
Las Vegas Sands initially committed to invest S$3.85 billion in the project, not including the fixed S$1.2 billion cost of the 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) site itself. With the escalating costs of materials, such as sand and steel, and labour shortages owing to other major infrastructure and property development in the country, Sheldon Adelson placed the total cost of the development at S$8 billion as of July 2009.
Las Vegas Sands declared the undertaking as "one of the world's most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built". It expects the casino to generate at least $1 billion in annual profit. Two months after the initial phased opening, the casino attracts around 25,000 visitors daily, about a third being Singaporeans and permanent residents who pay a $100 daily entry levy or $2,000 for annual unlimited access. Half a million gamblers passed through the casino in June 2010. In the third quarter of 2012, the revenues of the Marina Bay Sands fell almost 28 per cent from a year earlier.
For the economy, Marina Bay Sands is projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to Singapore's Gross Domestic Product by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and 20,000 jobs being created in other industries.
Moshe Safdie was approached to lead the design on this massive project. Taking inspiration from the form of card decks, led to the unique design of the three hotel towers. Other key structures of the property include the 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) ArtScience Museum, The Shoppes, Expo and Convention center and the casino. During the resort's planning and construction phases, feng shui consultants, the late Master Chong Swan Lek and Master Louisa Ong-Lee were consulted in regards to divination.
The engineering for the project was headed by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP/ELV). Arup had originally worked on prestigious projects such as the Beijing National Aquatics Centre and the Sydney Opera House. In spite of their experience in constructing challenging designs, the Marina Bay Sands project was described as the 'most difficult to carry out in the whole world' due to the amount of integration of the varied and advanced technologies needed to complete the project.
The extensive background music system was installed by Singapore based contractor Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd
The Marina Bay Sands hotel has three 55-story towers with 2,561 luxury rooms and suites, which is capped by the Sands SkyPark, which offers 360-degree views of Singapore's skyline. The SkyPark is home to restaurants, gardens, a 150-metre vanishing edge and the world's largest public cantilever housing an observation deck. This architectural marvel stands at the height of 200 metres and boasts 12,400 square metres of space. Dining options at the Skypark include local celebrity chef restaurant, Sky on 57 (by Justin Quek), restaurant and nightclub KU DÉ TA, and executive club lounge The Club at Marina Bay Sands.
To help the Skypark withstand the natural motion of the towers caused by wind, engineers designed and constructed four movement joints beneath the main pools, each possessing a unique range of motion. The total range of motion is 500 millimetres (19.68 inches). In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, hence custom jack legs were built and installed to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system. This jacking system is important primarily to ensure the infinity edge of the pool continues to function properly.[citation needed]
Connected to the hotel towers are the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands Casino and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has more than 120,000 square metres or 1.3 million square feet of meeting space, making it one of the largest and most flexible locations in Asia. It is also the biggest MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions) facility in Singapore, and the ballroom is the largest in Southeast Asia, capable of hosting up to 11,000 delegates. The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has five floors of exhibition and convention space, with up to 2,000 exhibition booths and 250 meeting rooms. It has hosted events ranging from banquets, theater-style conventions, to exhibitions and roadshows.
Located near the Sands Expo and Convention Centre is the Marina Bay Sands Casino. Spanning 15,000 square metres over four levels of gaming, the casino features over 600 gaming tables and 1,500 slot machines along with two noodle bars, The Nest and Tong Dim, and local Chinese eatery, Fatt Choi Express.
Another attraction found at Marina Bay Sands is The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. With close to 800,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is Singapore's first large-scale luxury shopping mall in the Central Business District with boutiques such as Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Cartier and Prada. Other luxury stores include Salon by Surrender, Gucci, Hermès, Emporio Armani, Chopard, REDValentino, Dior, Dunhill, Vertu, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent Paris, Salvatore Ferragamo, Montblanc, Blancpain, and an Hermès Watch Boutique. Also housed within the Shoppes are the five of the six Celebrity Chef Restaurants – Cut (by Wolfgang Puck), Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya Wakuda), Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza (by Mario Batali), Guy Savoy (by Guy Savoy), and DB Bistro Moderne (by Daniel Boulud).
Other attractions within The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands include a canal which runs through the length of the Shoppes, in the same style as the Venetian in Las Vegas, two Crystal Pavilions, one housing renowned nightclubs – Avalon and Pangaea and the other the world's largest Louis Vuitton boutique. An indoor skating rink (synthetic ice) measuring 6,500 square feet (600 m2) as well as the MasterCard Theatres, compromising of the Sands Theatre and Grand Theatre which seat 1,680 people and 2,155 people respectively can also be found at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The MasterCard Theatres has played host to many international acts and plays since its opening, with Broadway smash musicals like The Lion King, Wicked, Annie, and The Phantom of the Opera. Other acts such as Cirque Éloize and A. R. Rahman's Jai Ho, located in the latter during their world tours.
Visitors to the Event Plaza at The Shoppes can enjoy the nightly Wonder Full show, a 13-minute light and water show featuring lasers, lights, water movements and graphics, set against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands.
Marina Bay Sands is also home to the ArtScience Museum, With a form reminiscent of the lotus, the ArtScience Museum has been called "The Welcoming Hand of Singapore". It features an adjustable roof waterfall which uses rainwater collected when the roof is sealed in the day.
The resort also features an Art Path designed by Moshe Safdie, incorporating 11 installations by five artists including Zheng Chongbin, Antony Gormley, and Sol LeWitt. The 11 art installations were commissioned to integrate seamlessly with Moshe Safdie's iconic architecture. These art installations form the largest art commissions ever completed as part of an integrated architectual proccess
HPPT! Happy Pretty Pink Tuesday. In a potted pink geranium, there appears this integrated flower:) Blessings to each of you:)
The first booster of two that will be used on Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 is ready for flight. ArianeGroup teams completed integration of one of the two boosters that will provide the thrust needed for liftoff later this year. It has been moved from the booster finishing facilities to a storage building, to await transfer to the launch pad. The second booster is already being working on, having recently arrived from the propulsion integration building a little further away at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The P120C solid rocket boosters, each 13.5 m long and 3.4 m in diameter are Europe’s solid propulsion workhorse. Filled with about 142 tonnes of solid propellant, they provide around 4500 kN of maximum thrust. Working together the boosters will provide the majority of the thrust during Ariane 6’s launch to get it off the launch pad.
The P120C boosters also ‘double up’ as the first stage motor of the Vega-C rocket, burning for 130 seconds up to an altitude of about 70 km. Developing one motor for two rockets is an achievement of European industry, cutting costs and creating an opportunity for Europe to scale up production.
Ariane 6 is an all-new design, created to succeed Ariane 5 as Europe's heavy-lift launch system. With Ariane 6's upper stage restart capability, Europe's launch capability will be tailored to the needs of multiple payload missions, for example to orbit satellite constellations. This autonomous capability to reach Earth orbit and deep space supports Europe's navigation, Earth observation, scientific and security programmes. Ongoing development of Europe's space transportation capabilities is made possible by the sustained dedication of thousands of talented people working in ESA's 22 Member States.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Arianegroup/Optique Vidéo du CSG - T.Leduc
jsc2018e050010 (May 20, 2018) --- In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 56 backup crew member David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency runs through procedures in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft May 20 during the first Soyuz fit check dress rehearsal activities. Saint-Jacques is one of the backup crew members to the prime crew, Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA, Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency who will launch June 6 on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from Baikonur for a six-month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
Household objects are blended into the gardens at My Big Backyard to teach kids about how we use plants every day.
Memphis Botanic Gardens
Memphis, Tenn.
27 Jul 1963, St. Louis, Missouri, USA --- The St. Louis Board of Education was picketed by the NAACP after the Board issued a modified enrollment plan which the NAACP did not go far enough in integrating the schools. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
Shown here is an image of Case 1 of the "'The Inevitable Present': Integration at William & Mary" Exhibit located in the Marshall Gallery (1st Floor Rotunda) and the Read & Relax area of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary, on display from February 4th 2013 to August 13th 2013
The following is a transcription of the labels in this case:
In late 1950, the Dean of the Department of Jurisprudence, Dudley W. Woodbridge reinforced the statements of the Board of Visitors and the Alumni Gazette when he told a meeting of the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association that William & Mary would accept African American applicants.
Edward Augustus Travis was the first African American law student at William & Mary entering in the 1951 fall semester and graduating in August 1954 with a BCL degree, making him the first African American alumnus of William & Mary. Travis, born in Reed’s Ferry, Virginia, had attended Hampton Institute and graduated from Florida A&M before applying to William & Mary. Travis passed away in Newport News in November 1960.
While William & Mary had cracked open a door to integration, other battles continued throughout the nation, including in Washington, D.C. The Coordinating Committee for the Enforcement of the D.C. Anti-Discrimination Laws sent this flyer to William & Mary president Alvin Duke Chandler asking him to share the group’s boycott of department store Hecht’s with students. There is no indication in the records of the Office of the President if Chandler shared this information with students or others.
Hulon Willis was the first African American student admitted to William & Mary. He began in the summer 1951 term, pursuing his masters of education. At the time of his admision, Willis was already a graduate of Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) and a teacher in the Norfolk school system. He earned his degree from William & Mary in August 1956. The William & Mary Alumni Association’s Hulon Willis Association, a constituent group founded in 1992 by and for African American alumni, was named in honor of Willis, preserving his name and place in the university’s history for the future.
As a graduate student, Willis naturally had a different experience on campus than today’s undergraduate students. During the summers when he was attending classes, Willis lived on Braxton Court in a boarding house operated by Miss Gwen Skinner. When they attended football games at William & Mary, Hulon & Alyce Willis sat in the student section, not in the end zone where other African Americans were seated in the segregated stadium. When Willis was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi, an education honor society, according to Mrs. Willis another member told the group that he would be not be a part of an organization that admitted an African American. The group told this member he could leave and Willis was inducted in August 1956. As an alumnus, Willis joined the Order of the White Jacket, an Alumni Association constituent group for those who worked in campus dining halls, Colonial Williamsburg restaurants, and other dining establishments. After earning his graduate degree, Willis became an assistant professor at Virginia State University and then the director of campus police.
Like all students applying to William & Mary at the time, Willis was required to include a photograph of himself with his application. In a 2005 oral history interview with Jenay Jackson ’05, Hulon Willis’ wife Alyce, who had encouraged her husband to apply to William & Mary, recounted that upon receiving his acceptance letter in March 1951, she wondered if the photograph had fallen off his application. But a few weeks later, William & Mary released a public statement, announcing that Willis was the first African American student admitted to the institution. Willis was accepted not because the institution was opening its doors to all potential African American students, but because of the case brought by Gregory Swanson against the University of Virginia in 1950 after he was denied admission to the university’s School of Law. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Swanson could not be barred from admission because of his race. Willis was pursuing his master’s degree specializing in physical education and since that program of study was not offered by a state-supported institution accepting African American applicants, William & Mary could not decline to admit Willis based solely on his race. The college established a procedure to confer with Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. in Richmond on the admission of African American applicants beginning in the 1950s. William & Mary specifically wished to avoid a court case, while some, like A. W. Bohannan, who wrote to President Pomfret in May 1951 after Hulon Willis’ admission, saw forcing applicants to take the institution to court as the next step in preventing integration.
New Journal and Guide, 28 August 1954
This article is available through the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database at
proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview...
William & Mary’s first non-white undergraduate student was Art Matsu, ’28. Born to a Scottish mother and Japanese father, Matsu was an exceptional athlete who was successfully recruited from Cleveland by William & Mary to play quarterback and became captain of the football team. He also played basketball, baseball, ran track, became a member of the 13 Club and the Varsity Club, and took part in other student activities. But Matsu's attendance did not open the door widely to Asian American students. William & Mary’s student body would include only a handful of Asian and Asian American students throughout the 1930s-1950s.
The Colonial Echo, William & Mary’s yearbook, has been digitized by Swem Library and all volumes from 1899-1995 are available from the W&M Digital Archive at digitalarchive.wm.edu/colonialecho/.
Searching for a specific yearbook?
Contact Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090 to inquire if copies from your William & Mary years are available.
William & Mary admitted its first African American students under President John E. Pomfret. Pomfret would depart William & Mary soon after Willis and Travis were admitted due to the unrelated football scandal of 1951. He was replaced by former admiral Alvin Duke Chandler who was new to academia.
Correspondence, internal memos, and other materials relating to integration were filed by the Office of the President in the 1950s-1960s under the heading “Negro Education.” After being transferred to the University Archives, these folder titles were maintained to document the organization and practices of the office and the era.
You can both listen to and read Alyce Willis’ 2005 oral history interview at hdl.handle.net/10288/600.
The Swem Library and William & Mary’s Lemon Project conduct oral history interviews to document the stories and lives of college alumni, faculty, and staff. To volunteer, contact Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090.
Center for Student Diversity Records, UA 260,
Series 1: Office of Minority Student Affairs
Read more of The Black Presence at William and Mary at hdl.handle.net/10288/16118
The Flat Hat, 1 May 1951.
The Flat Hat student newspaper, first published in 1911, was digitized by Swem Library and is available from the W&M Digital Archive at digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/20
Jacqueline Filzen’s 2012 Charles Center Summer Research paper “African Americans at the College of William and Mary from 1950-1970” offers further information on this subject and provided much useful material for this exhibit. The paper can be read at hdl.handle.net/10288/17049
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/research/special-collections for further information and assistance.
Original abstract artwork
24x18 in.
Charcoal & oil pastel on Canson sketch paper
To purchase original please contact ajeffries101958@yahoo.com
Prints, etc. are available at www.redbubble.com/people/atj1958
Thanks for taking the time to look at my work.
Shown here is an image of Case 1 of the "'The Inevitable Present': Integration at William & Mary" Exhibit located in the Marshall Gallery (1st Floor Rotunda) and the Read & Relax area of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary, on display from February 4th 2013 to August 13th 2013
The following is a transcription of the labels in this case:
In late 1950, the Dean of the Department of Jurisprudence, Dudley W. Woodbridge reinforced the statements of the Board of Visitors and the Alumni Gazette when he told a meeting of the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association that William & Mary would accept African American applicants.
Edward Augustus Travis was the first African American law student at William & Mary entering in the 1951 fall semester and graduating in August 1954 with a BCL degree, making him the first African American alumnus of William & Mary. Travis, born in Reed’s Ferry, Virginia, had attended Hampton Institute and graduated from Florida A&M before applying to William & Mary. Travis passed away in Newport News in November 1960.
While William & Mary had cracked open a door to integration, other battles continued throughout the nation, including in Washington, D.C. The Coordinating Committee for the Enforcement of the D.C. Anti-Discrimination Laws sent this flyer to William & Mary president Alvin Duke Chandler asking him to share the group’s boycott of department store Hecht’s with students. There is no indication in the records of the Office of the President if Chandler shared this information with students or others.
Hulon Willis was the first African American student admitted to William & Mary. He began in the summer 1951 term, pursuing his masters of education. At the time of his admision, Willis was already a graduate of Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) and a teacher in the Norfolk school system. He earned his degree from William & Mary in August 1956. The William & Mary Alumni Association’s Hulon Willis Association, a constituent group founded in 1992 by and for African American alumni, was named in honor of Willis, preserving his name and place in the university’s history for the future.
As a graduate student, Willis naturally had a different experience on campus than today’s undergraduate students. During the summers when he was attending classes, Willis lived on Braxton Court in a boarding house operated by Miss Gwen Skinner. When they attended football games at William & Mary, Hulon & Alyce Willis sat in the student section, not in the end zone where other African Americans were seated in the segregated stadium. When Willis was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi, an education honor society, according to Mrs. Willis another member told the group that he would be not be a part of an organization that admitted an African American. The group told this member he could leave and Willis was inducted in August 1956. As an alumnus, Willis joined the Order of the White Jacket, an Alumni Association constituent group for those who worked in campus dining halls, Colonial Williamsburg restaurants, and other dining establishments. After earning his graduate degree, Willis became an assistant professor at Virginia State University and then the director of campus police.
Like all students applying to William & Mary at the time, Willis was required to include a photograph of himself with his application. In a 2005 oral history interview with Jenay Jackson ’05, Hulon Willis’ wife Alyce, who had encouraged her husband to apply to William & Mary, recounted that upon receiving his acceptance letter in March 1951, she wondered if the photograph had fallen off his application. But a few weeks later, William & Mary released a public statement, announcing that Willis was the first African American student admitted to the institution. Willis was accepted not because the institution was opening its doors to all potential African American students, but because of the case brought by Gregory Swanson against the University of Virginia in 1950 after he was denied admission to the university’s School of Law. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Swanson could not be barred from admission because of his race. Willis was pursuing his master’s degree specializing in physical education and since that program of study was not offered by a state-supported institution accepting African American applicants, William & Mary could not decline to admit Willis based solely on his race. The college established a procedure to confer with Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. in Richmond on the admission of African American applicants beginning in the 1950s. William & Mary specifically wished to avoid a court case, while some, like A. W. Bohannan, who wrote to President Pomfret in May 1951 after Hulon Willis’ admission, saw forcing applicants to take the institution to court as the next step in preventing integration.
New Journal and Guide, 28 August 1954
This article is available through the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database at
proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview...
William & Mary’s first non-white undergraduate student was Art Matsu, ’28. Born to a Scottish mother and Japanese father, Matsu was an exceptional athlete who was successfully recruited from Cleveland by William & Mary to play quarterback and became captain of the football team. He also played basketball, baseball, ran track, became a member of the 13 Club and the Varsity Club, and took part in other student activities. But Matsu's attendance did not open the door widely to Asian American students. William & Mary’s student body would include only a handful of Asian and Asian American students throughout the 1930s-1950s.
The Colonial Echo, William & Mary’s yearbook, has been digitized by Swem Library and all volumes from 1899-1995 are available from the W&M Digital Archive at digitalarchive.wm.edu/colonialecho/.
Searching for a specific yearbook?
Contact Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090 to inquire if copies from your William & Mary years are available.
William & Mary admitted its first African American students under President John E. Pomfret. Pomfret would depart William & Mary soon after Willis and Travis were admitted due to the unrelated football scandal of 1951. He was replaced by former admiral Alvin Duke Chandler who was new to academia.
Correspondence, internal memos, and other materials relating to integration were filed by the Office of the President in the 1950s-1960s under the heading “Negro Education.” After being transferred to the University Archives, these folder titles were maintained to document the organization and practices of the office and the era.
You can both listen to and read Alyce Willis’ 2005 oral history interview at hdl.handle.net/10288/600.
The Swem Library and William & Mary’s Lemon Project conduct oral history interviews to document the stories and lives of college alumni, faculty, and staff. To volunteer, contact Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090.
Center for Student Diversity Records, UA 260,
Series 1: Office of Minority Student Affairs
Read more of The Black Presence at William and Mary at hdl.handle.net/10288/16118
The Flat Hat, 1 May 1951.
The Flat Hat student newspaper, first published in 1911, was digitized by Swem Library and is available from the W&M Digital Archive at digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/20
Jacqueline Filzen’s 2012 Charles Center Summer Research paper “African Americans at the College of William and Mary from 1950-1970” offers further information on this subject and provided much useful material for this exhibit. The paper can be read at hdl.handle.net/10288/17049
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/research/special-collections for further information and assistance.
Integration in a photo.
Read more about FAO and Colombia.
Photo credit must be given: ©FAO/Justine Texier. Editorial use only. Copyright FAO
Irgentwie habe ich bei dem ganzen Studiofotografiere ganz vergessen, wo ich herkomme. Leider findet sich auch momentan nicht so die Möglichkeit fotografierend durch die Stadt zu laufen. Darum ein paar Fotos aus dem Archiv, um meine Bedürfnisse etwas zu befriedigen.
Guessed in the Guess Where Berlin Group by hcl!
The New York Palace Hotel (formerly The Helmsley Palace)
455 Madison Avenue at 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
Maloney & Porcelli Steakhouse restaurant leases 11,000 square feet in detached building on 50th Street owned by the New York Palace Hotel.
-----------------------------
The Villard Houses were brownstone residences built by Henry Villard in 1884. Villard was a railway promoter and financier, who took over the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1881. The architect was McKim, Mead & White. The firm also designed the Pennsylvania Hotel in Manhattan. The six residence building was clad in quarried brownstone and wrapped around a u-shaped courtyard representative of a 15th century Italian palazzo. Four homes opened onto the courtyard while two had entrances on 51st Street.
Villard moved into the corner residence at 451 Madison, at the corner of 50th Street for just a short while before declaring bankruptcy. Much of the interior decoration is still visible today in the restaurant Gilt (formerly Le Cirque 2000).
In the 1940’s the Villard House was known as Women's Military Services Club. It served women in the military that could stay there for .50 cents a night. By the late 60’s the Archdiocese of New York owned the complex.
In the early 70’s Harry Helmsley found the perfect location in which to build his dream hotel. The Villard House was located on New York's Madison Avenue, across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Helmsley negotiated a 99 year lease on the site from the the Archdiocese of New York and proposed gutting the interiors of the Villard and putting a 51-story hotel on top of it. The preservationists prevailed and Helmsley’s plan was changed to save most of the interiors of the Villard houses, though the buildings' rear facades were demolished and incorporated in to the new 51-story hotel. long-term ground lease, which runs for decades. The Archdiocese of New York receives $10 million annually in ground rent.
Helmsley commissioned architects Emery Roth & Sons and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer to design the modern structure and integrate the 1884 houses. The tower’s façade is a dark bronze reflective glass that was to blend with the Villard Houses. Started in 1977, the 905-room hotel project was completed in 1980.
Leona Helmsley spent a great deal of time and energy managing the decorating and staffing of the hotel. Leona took seriously her role as President of Helmsley Hotels and was determined to give her guests unprecedented service.
On September 15, 1980, the opulent Helmsley Palace Hotel opened. At the time The Helmsley Palace had the highest hotel rates in the city. An early print advertisement featuring Leona had the by-line: “It’s the only palace in the world where the Queen stands guard”
The hotel has four Triplex Suites. Situated at the top of the tower and occupying the four corners, each 2-bedroom suite is spread over three floors and include a private roof terrace.
In 1982, the limited partners in the Helmsley Palace Hotel partnership forced an arbitration proceeding after Harry Helmsley, in his role as general partner demanded more money from the limited partners for cost overruns in building the hotel. The limited partners said the Helmsley’s had mismanaged the business and had hurt the partnership through several self-dealing transactions. The arbitrators ruled in favor of the limited partners and forced the Helmsley’s to pay the cost overruns and an additional $3.5 million to the partnership.
Leona Helmsley, was convicted of income tax fraud in August 1989 - (“We don’t pay taxes … only the little people do”). Leona was convicted of 33 felony counts of trying to defraud the government and IRS, including mail fraud, tax evasion and filing false tax returns (essentially running millions of dollars of personal expenses through the Helmsley Palace and Park Lane books)
Harry Helmsley was indicted on similar charges in 1988, but was found too ill to stand trial. He died in 1997.
Following appeals Leona Helmsley was imprisoned from 1992-1993.
The limited partners in the Palace partnership were rightfully concerned during the Helmsley’s legal mess that the hotel was in desperate need for another general partner. The limited partners contended Helmsley Enterprises breached its fiduciary duties in managing and operating the partnership. They sought through the courts to remove the Helmsleys as general partner, and to appoint a receiver until a new general partner and manager can be found or the hotel be sold. They also sought restoration of any money the Helmsleys may have diverted to their affiliates through self-dealing.
Helmsley operated the Helmsley Palace hotel until 1992. She was known to fire managers from her jail cell.
Interstate Hotels was appointed by the court as the hotel’s receiver. The hotel changed its name to The New York Palace Hotel. The receiver received 6 qualified bids for the hotel.
In November 1993 The Royal Family of Brunei agreed to buy the New York Palace for $202 million (the highest offer). The agreement to buy the Palace is with Amedeo Hotels Limited Partnership, an investment company in Brunei. The Sultan of Brunei, through its development company, Amedeo Limited, contracted with Harman Jablin Architects for the complete renovation of the hotel and Villard Houses.
The hotel is comprised of three structures: the899-room 55-story hotel tower, the 5-story Villard House, and the 2-story Maloney & Porcelli restaurant.
The wealth of the royal family of Brunei, a tiny oil-rich sultanate on the island of Borneo, is controlled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, whose estimated worth of $33 billion makes him one of the world's richest men. He and his family also own the 263-room Beverly Hills Hotel in California, bought for $187 million in 1987, and the Dorchester Hotel in London, bought for about $85 million in 1985.
The Royal Family’s new wealth comes from a constant flow of royalties into their private bank accounts from Shell Oil, who they joint ventured with to extract Brunei’s only natural resource.
The Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah younger brother is Prince Jefri Bolkiah who was the finance minister of Brunei from 1986 to 1998 and thus the chairman of The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) responsible for overseas investments. He was known for his extravagant lifestyle, which included a private Boeing 747 and 2,000 automobiles. Hotels he controlled included The New York Palace Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and Plaza Athénée in Paris.
Following an audit in 1987 The Brunei government charged Prince Jefri with embezzling $14.8 billion and he was removed as chairman of BEI.
In July 2008 BEI signed management contracts with the Dorchester Group to operate the New York Plaza and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Prince Jefri’s two main legal and financial advisors, the British husband and wife lawyers Thomas Derbyshire and Faith Zaman were dispatched by the Prince to the New York Palace in 2004 to protect his interests. The two were involved in many aspects of Prince Jefri’s business affairs and they held powers of attorney to act of his behalf.
So In November 2005, Zaman claims Jefri gave them a 17-year lease on a 2,800-square-foot apartment on the third floor of the hotel, which rented as a suite for $20,000 a night. The prince gave the apartment to them rent-free for the first five years After that, the charge would be $500 a month, with an option to renew for 51 years. According the Vanity Fair this was done so the sultan if ever was successful in taking over the hotel, he would have to deal with them for the rest of his life.
In February 2006, John Segreti, the managing director of the Palace, dropped dead at 52 of a pulmonary embolism. Segreti formerly was the chief operating officer at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, in Hong Kon).
In March 2006 Faith Zaman was appointed Managing Director of the Palace. Her annual salary included 5 percent of the hotel’s gross operating profit, a car allowance of $100,000 per year, and free use of the company credit card for personal expenses. Also the prince gave her control of a second lease at a low price for the Maloney & Porcelli steak house on the hotel’s ground floor, on East 50th Street.
Meanwhile Derbyshire was working hard on finding a way for Jefri to cash in on two of his biggest assets the New York Palace and Hotel Bel-Air. A prospective buyer, Ty Warner (owner of the Four Seasons New York), was found who had agreed to acquiring the two hotels for $800 million. The sell certainly would have breached the government of Brunei’s freeze of Prince Jefri’s assets and further, what bank in the world could be used to deposit the proceeds and hide it from the government of Brunei.
The sell never occurred. Prince Jefri filed a suit against Derbyshire and Zaman seeking to recover $7 million in questionable expenses, Derbyshire and Zaman countersued for $13 million in contractual wages never received. In December 2010 the New York City jury awarded Derbyshire and Zaman $21 million.
Prince Jefri, a father of 17 with four wives, has swapped a decadent lifestyle for a fugitive existence. He is reported to have been allowed back in Brunei.
In 1997, with a new name--Le Cirque 2000--the restaurant moved from the Mayfair to the New York Palace Hotel and its landmark, the Villard Houses. Designer Adam Tihany gave Le Cirque its dazzling new look, and, as the opening approached, Siro Maccioni told New York magazine, "They're either going to give us a medal or exile us to Kilimanjaro."
In 2006 Siro Maccioni moved Le Cirque from the Palace Hotel to the Bloomberg building on East 58th Street.
John Segretti, the hotel’s managing director, decided The Palace Hotel should operate its own restaurant in the Villard space. In December 2005 it opened the 52-seat restaurant GILT with the interior design done by Patrick Jouin. The executive chef was Paul Liebrandt. The NY Times food critic panned Gilt two months after opening describing some entrees as “no larger than a hockey puck”. Shortly after Liebrandt was fired. In 2009 GILT was awarded Twp Michelin Stars under the direction of Executive Chef Justin Bogle.
In July 2011 Northwood Investors acquired the New York Plaza for approximately $400 million. The price is low by NYC standards – held down due to the $10 million dollar a year ground lease. The seller Brunei Investment Agency also owns the Dorchester Collection of luxury hotels. The New York Palace is no longer affiliated with the Dorchester Collection.
Northwood Investors is a privately-held real estate investment advisor that was founded in 2006 by John Z. Kukral, the former President and CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. It also owns the Alden Houston Hotel and The Radisson Hotel Boston.
Northwood has appointed David Chase to general manager of The New York Palace. Most recently he was the pre-opening general manager of Trump SoHo New York.
CAPSTONE spacecraft, built by Terran Orbital and owned and operated by Advanced Space, being prepared for payload integration at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
29 May 2018 - OECD Forum 2018 – Integrating Migrants
Nassira El Moaddem, Director & Editor in Chief, Le Bondy Blog
Sebene Eshete, Advocacy Coordinator, Generation 2.0, Equality and Diversity, Greece
Andreas Hollstein, Mayor, Altena, Germany
Mina Jaf, Founder and Executive Director, Women Refugee Route; Laureate, Women of Europe Awards 2017
Seema Malhotra, Member of Parliament; Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group on Assistive Technology, United Kingdom
Rui Marques, former High Commissioner of Migration and Integration, Portugal; Founder, Ubuntu Academy
Jean-Christophe Dumont, Head, International Migration Division, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD
Photo: OECD/Mariano Bordon
CAPSTONE spacecraft, built by Terran Orbital and owned and operated by Advanced Space, being prepared for payload integration at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
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A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy common booster core is transported by truck to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37 Horizontal Integration Facility after arriving at Port Canaveral. The Delta IV Heavy will launch NASA's upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission.
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Gangtok is a municipality, the capital and the largest town of the Indian state of Sikkim. It also is the headquarters of the East Sikkim district. Gangtok is located in the eastern Himalayan range, at an elevation of 1,650 m. The town's population of 100,000 belongs to different ethnicities such as Nepali, Lepchas and Bhutia. Nestled within higher peaks of the Himalaya and enjoying a year-round mild temperate climate, Gangtok is at the centre of Sikkim's tourism industry.
Gangtok rose to prominence as a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site after the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840. In 1894, the ruling Sikkimese Chogyal, Thutob Namgyal, transferred the capital to Gangtok. In the early 20th century, Gangtok became a major stopover on the trade route between Lhasa in Tibet and cities such as Kolkata (then Calcutta) in British India. After India won its independence from Britain in 1947, Sikkim chose to remain an independent monarchy, with Gangtok as its capital. In 1975, after the integration with the union of India, Gangtok was made India's 22nd state capital.
The precise meaning of the name Gangtok is unclear, though the most popular meaning is "hill top". Today, Gangtok is a centre of Tibetan Buddhist culture and learning, with the presence of several monasteries, religious educational institutions, and centres for Tibetology.
HISTORY
Like the rest of Sikkim, not much is known about the early history of Gangtok. The earliest records date from the construction of the hermitic Gangtok monastery in 1716. Gangtok remained a small hamlet until the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840 made it a pilgrimage center. It became the capital of what was left of Sikkim after an English conquest in the mid 19th century in response to a hostage crisis. After the defeat of the Tibetans by the British, Gangtok became a major stopover in the trade between Tibet and British India at the end of the 19th century. Most of the roads and the telegraph in the area were built during this time.
In 1894, Thutob Namgyal, the Sikkimese monarch under British rule, shifted the capital from Tumlong to Gangtok, increasing the city's importance. A new grand palace along with other state buildings was built in the new capital. Following India's independence in 1947, Sikkim became a nation-state with Gangtok as its capital. Sikkim came under the suzerainty of India, with the condition that it would retain its independence, by the treaty signed between the Chogyal and the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This pact gave the Indians control of external affairs on behalf of Sikkimese. Trade between India and Tibet continued to flourish through the Nathula and Jelepla passes, offshoots of the ancient Silk Road near Gangtok. These border passes were sealed after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, which deprived Gangtok of its trading business. The Nathula pass was finally opened for limited trade in 2006, fuelling hopes of economic boom.
In 1975, after years of political uncertainty and struggle, including riots, the monarchy was abrogated and Sikkim became India's twenty-second state, with Gangtok as its capital after a referendum. Gangtok has witnessed annual landslides, resulting in loss of life and damage to property. The largest disaster occurred in June 1997, when 38 were killed and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
GEOGRAPHY
Gangtok is located at 27.3325°N 88.6140°E (coordinates of Gangtok head post office). It is situated in the lower Himalayas at an elevation of 1,650 m. The town lies on one side of a hill, with "The Ridge", a promenade housing the Raj Bhawan, the governor's residence, at one end and the palace, situated at an altitude of about 1,800 m, at the other. The city is flanked on east and west by two streams, namely Roro Chu and Ranikhola, respectively. These two rivers divide the natural drainage into two parts, the eastern and western parts. Both the streams meet the Ranipul and flow south as the main Ranikhola before it joins the Teesta at Singtam. Most of the roads are steep, with the buildings built on compacted ground alongside them.
Most of Sikkim, including Gangtok, is underlain by Precambrian rocks which contains foliated phyllites and schists; slopes are therefore prone to frequent landslides. Surface runoff of water by natural streams (jhora) and man-made drains has contributed to the risk of landslides. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the town falls under seismic zone-IV (on a scale of I to V, in order of increasing seismic activity), near the convergent boundary of the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates and is subject to frequent earthquakes. The hills are nestled within higher peaks and the snow-clad Himalayan ranges tower over the town from the distance. Mount Kanchenjunga 8,598 m - the world's third-highest peak - is visible to the west of the city. The existence of steep slopes, vulnerability to landslides, large forest cover and inadequate access to most areas have been a major impediment to the natural and balanced growth of the city.
There are densely forested regions around Gangtok, consisting of temperate, deciduous forests of poplar, birch, oak, and elm, as well as evergreen, coniferous trees of the wet alpine zone. Orchids are common, and rare varieties of orchids are featured in flower shows in the city. Bamboos are also abundant. In the lower reaches of the town, the vegetation gradually changes from alpine to temperate deciduous and subtropical. Flowers such as sunflower, marigold, poinsettia, and others bloom, especially in November and December.
CLIMATE
Gangtok features a monsoon-influenced subtropical highland climate. Because of its elevation and sheltered environment, Gangtok enjoys a mild, temperate climate all year round. Like most Himalayan towns, Gangtok has five seasons: summer, monsoons, autumn, winter and spring. Temperatures range from an average maximum of 22 °C in summer to an average minimum of 4 °C in winter. Summers (lasting from late April to June) are mild, with maximum temperatures rarely crossing 25 °C. The monsoon season from June to September is characterised by intense torrential rains often causing landslides that block Gangtok's land access to the rest of the country. Rainfall starts to rise from pre-monsoon in May, and peaks during the monsoon, with July recording the highest monthly average of 649.6 mm. In winter temperature averages between 4 °C and 7 °C. Snowfall is rare, and in recent times Gangtok has received snow only in 1990, 2004, 2005 and January 2011. Temperatures below freezing are also rare. During this season the weather can be unstable, and change abruptly from bright sunshine and clear skies to heavy rain within a couple of hours. During spring and autumn the weather is generally sunny and mild. Owing to its elevation, Gangtok is often enveloped in fog during the monsoon and winter months.
ECONOMY
The hospitality industry is the largest industry in Gangtok as the city is the main base for Sikkim tourism. Summer and spring seasons are the most popular tourist seasons. Many of Gangtok's residents are employed directly and indirectly in the tourism industry, with many residents owning and working in hotels and restaurants.
Ecotourism has emerged as an important economic activity in the region which includes trekking, mountaineering, river rafting and other nature oriented activities. An estimated 351,000 tourists visited Sikkim in 2007, generating revenue of about Rs 50 crores (Rs 500 millions).
The Nathula Pass, located about 50 km from Gangtok, used to be the primary route of the wool, fur and spice trade with Tibet and spurred economic growth for Gangtok till the mid-20th century. In 1962, after the border was closed during the Sino-Indian War, Gangtok fell into recession. The pass was reopened in 2006 and trade through the pass is expected to boost the economy of Gangtok. The Sikkim government is keen to open a Lhasa–Gangtok bus service via Nathula pass. Sikkim's mountainous terrain results in the lack of train or air links, limiting the area's potential for rapid industrial development. The government is the largest employer in the city, both directly and as contractors. Gangtok's economy does not have a large manufacturing base, but has a thriving Cottage industry in watch-making, country-made alcohol and handicrafts. Among the handicrafts are the handmade paper industry made from various vegetable fibres or cotton rags. The main market in Gangtok provides many of the state's rural residents a place to offer their produce during the harvest seasons. The majority of the private business community is made up of Marwaris and Biharis. As part of Sikkim, Gangtok enjoys the status of being an income-tax free region as per the state's 1948 Income tax law. As Sikkim is a frontier state, the Indian army maintains a large presence in the vicinity of Gangtok. This leads to a population of semi-permanent residents who bring money into the local economy. The Sikkim government started India's first online lottery Playwin to boost government income, but this was later closed by a ruling from the Sikkim High Court.
In 2013 premier Indian publishing company Thomson Digital opened its production unit in Gangtok. Thus becoming first MNC to venture there and paving path for future private companies to explore potential of young workforce of Gangtok.
CULTURE
Apart from the major religious festivals of Dashain, Tihar, Christmas, Holi etc., the diverse ethnic populace of the town celebrates several local festivals. The Lepchas and Bhutias celebrate new year in January, while Tibetans celebrate the new year (Losar) with "Devil Dance" in January–February. The Maghe sankranti, Ram Navami are some of the important Nepalese festivals. Chotrul Duchen, Buddha Jayanti, the birthday of the Dalai Lama, Loosong, Bhumchu, Saga Dawa, Lhabab Duechen and Drupka Teshi are some other festivals, some distinct to local culture and others shared with the rest of India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.
A popular food in Gangtok is the momo, a steamed dumpling containing pork, beef and vegetables cooked in a doughy wrapping and served with watery soup. Wai-Wai is a packaged snack consisting of noodles which are eaten either dry or in soup form. A form of noodle called thukpa, served in soup form is also popular in Gangtok. Other noodle-based foods such as the chowmein, thenthuk, fakthu, gyathuk and wonton are available. Other traditional Sikkimese cuisine include shah-phaley (Sikkimese patties with spiced minced meat in a crisp samosa-like case) and Gack-ko soup. Restaurants offer a wide variety of traditional Indian, continental and Chinese cuisines to cater to the tourists. Churpee, a kind of hard cheese made from cow's or yak's milk is sometimes chewed. Chhang is a local frothy millet beer traditionally served in bamboo tankards and drunk through bamboo or cane straws. Alcohol is cheap due to low excise duty in Sikkim. Beer, whiskey, rum and brandy are frequently consumed by both locals and non-locals.
Residents of Sikkim are music lovers and it is common to hear Western rock music being played in homes and restaurants. Hindi pop songs are also common. Indigenous Nepali rock, music suffused with a western rock beat and Nepali lyrics, is particularly popular.
Football (soccer), cricket and archery are the most popular sports in Gangtok. The Paljor Stadium, which hosts football matches, is the sole sporting ground in the city. Thangka - a notable handicraft - is an elaborately hand painted religious scroll in brilliant colours drawn on fabric hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions. Chhaams are vividly costumed monastic dances performed on ceremonial and festive occasions, especially in the monasteries during the Tibetan new year.
CITY INSTITUTIONS
A centre of Buddhist learning and culture, Gangtok's most notable Buddhist institutions are the Enchey monastery, the Do-drul Chorten stupa complex and the Rumtek Monastery. The Enchey monastery is the city's oldest monastery and is the seat of the Nyingma order. The two-hundred-year-old baroque monastery houses images of gods, goddesses, and other religious artifacts. In the month of January, the Chaam, or masked dance, is performed with great fanfare. The Dro-dul Chorten is a stupa which was constructed in 1945 by Trulshik Rimpoché, head of the Nyingma order of Tibetan Buddhism. Inside this stupa are complete set of relics, holy books, and mantras. Surrounding the edifice are 108 Mani Lhakor, or prayer wheels. The complex also houses a religious school.
The Rumtek Monastery on the outskirts of the town is one of Buddhism's most sacred monasteries. The monastery is the seat of the Kagyu order, one of the major Tibetan sects, and houses some of the world's most sacred and rare Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and religious objects in its reliquary. Constructed in the 1960s, the building is modeled after a similar monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. Rumtek was the focus of international media attention in 2000 after the seventeenth Karmapa, one of the four holiest lamas, fled Lhasa and sought refuge in the monastery.
The Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, better known as the Tibetology Museum, houses a huge collection of masks, Buddhist scriptures, statues, and tapestries. It has over two hundred Buddhist icons, and is a centre of study of Buddhist philosophy.
The Thakurbari Temple, located in the heart of the city, established in 1935 on a prime piece of land donated by the then Maharaja of Sikkim is one of the oldest and best known Hindu temple in the city. The Ganesh Tok and the Hanuman Tok, dedicated to the Hindu gods Ganpati and Hanuman and housing important Hindu deities, are located in the upper reaches of the city. The Himalayan Zoological Park exhibits the fauna of the Himalayas in their natural habitats. The zoo features the Himalayan Black Bear, the barking deer, the snow leopard, the leopard cat, Tibetan wolf, Masked Palm Civet, red pandas and the spotted deer amongst the others. Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical Gardens, near Rumtek, houses many species of orchid and as many as fifty different species of tree, including many oaks.
EDUCATION
Gangtok's schools are either run by the state government or by private and religious organizations. Schools mainly use English and Nepali as their medium of instruction. The schools are either affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, Central Board of Secondary Education or the National Institute of Open Schooling. Notable schools include the Tashi Namgyal Academy, Paljor Namgyal Girls School, Taktse International School and Kendriya Vidyalaya.
Colleges conferring graduate degrees include Sikkim Government College, Sikkim Government Law College and Damber Singh College. Sikkim University established in 2007 is functioning in Gangtok; the university has been allotted land in neighbouring Yang Yang town for establishment of it own campus. The university offers a diverse range of courses and has a number of institutes affiliated to it. 8 km from here is the headquarters of the Sikkim Manipal University, which houses Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences and Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology. The Indira Gandhi National Open University also has a regional center in the city. There are other institutions offering diplomas in Buddhist literature, catering and other non-mainstream fields. District Institute of Education and Training and State Institute of Education conduct teacher training programs. Students usually go to large cities in the vicinity such as Siliguri or Kolkata in pursuit of higher education. Naropa University also oversees a semester abroad program located in Gangtok. Do not confuse with Sikkim University and Sikkim Manipal University. Both are different.
WIKIPEDIA