Google Earth is a virtual globe program that can show you, at a continent, state, city or even street level, various locations on the planet, based on satellite images. You can follow streets as well as see popular locations. Provided your area’s been photographed recently by one of those loworbiting birds, using Google Earth, you should be able to see houses, including gardens in the back yard in your neighbourhood. One interesting thing about Google Earth is that it’s available free and supports Keyhole Markup Language (KML) which is an XML-based language for expressing geographic annotation, maps and even 3D objects. One feature of KML is the ability to plot a path using GPS coordinates. So if you have a source of coordinates, such as a GPS module, you can create a KML file with a little help from a BASIC Stamp® microcontroller module and a Parallax Memory Stick Datalogger.

The author took a short drive around the vicinity of the Parallax home base in Rocklin, CA. A screenshot of the Google Earth plot of the journey is shown in. The KML file of this trip can be downloaded with the source code and is called LOGDATA. KML. You can load it into Google Earth for a detailed look at the trip or you can open it using Notepad to see the structure of the KML data. Note that due to the margin of error in accuracy of GPS as well as differences in the Google Earth terrain map, at some points it looks like the car was driven off the road or in the oncoming lane. Rest assured it was driven safely.

Many other articles have detailed how to apply EQ to drums, so I’ll just mention a few special considerations. There are applications where precise digital filters excel, but EQ’ing traps, in particular, is not one of them. You want analog character and color. The Waves Studio Classics bundle provides dynamite models of vintage analog hardware equalizers that are the best I’ve heard yet for beefing up drums. In particular, the Waves SSL G Equalizer has an extended low end that’s great for creating punchy kick tracks. For a raspy snare drum with rocking midrange definition, the Waves API 550A 3-band parametric can’t be beat. And the Waves VEQ4 (which models the vintage Neve 1081) excels at shaping round, colorful toms.

As a mix engineer, I sometimes receive projects in which the drum kit was recorded using only two mics set up as a stereo spaced pair. In this case, the kick drum usually doesn’t have enough low-end punch. Boosting the low end with a static equalizer (one that is continuously active) can make the entire kit sound rumbly or boomy. The solution is to process the stereo drum track with a dynamic equalizer that briefly triggers a low-frequency boost only when the kick drum hits. The Brainworx bx_boom plug-in is an idiot-proof tool for this purpose. This plugin requires adjustment of just two controls: One sets the threshold at which the effect will kick in, and the other sets the frequency (32, 48 or 64 Hz) for the plug-in’s bandpass filter to boost. In seconds, you can make the kick drum thump without adding rumble to any other elements of the stereo drum track.

While there are instances in which the words “I’ll know it when I see it” are based on logic, there are other instances in which logic is totally lacking in this so called common sense dictum. Take the example of an instance in which the dictum is logical. Let’s say you lost your glasses while working in your garden. You can say with absolute logic you’ll know your glasses when you see them. Let’s apply this dictum to a customer shopping for a sofa who, up front, has just told her salesperson, “I’ll know it when I see it.” The customer may have been searching the internet and found something that looks appropriate. And if the customer’s most important need is based on something visible like color, style, or size, she may have a valid point. For that reason, you might reply by saying something like the following: “Since you seem to be looking for something in a sofa having to do with how it looks, would you mind if I asked you a few questions about what you’re hoping to see in the nice sofa you are looking for?” Having gained the customer’s permission, you can proceed to inquire about such things as the color, style, and size the customer might have in mind.

Yeah, well, partly because I needed to get my head emotionally around the fact that I was going to take on the family house. I didn’t have a workable studio at the time, and I’ve never actually traveled, outside of work, on my own and gone to places I’ve actually wanted to visit. I’ve done touring lots of Japan, lots of America, lots of Europe but it’s just the same routes that you go on. I just thought, well, I was 29, and I really haven’t been anywhere on my own and just traveled. It worked out great because I was in quite remote places.

I’d have to figure out the language because I was sometimes in the middle of nowhere in, like, the countryside of Japan and trying to find food that I recognized from the local shop. In a way, that was great because it took the pressure off of me just sitting in a room every day, saying, “Right, I’ve got to write a song.” It was like, “Right, I’ve got to go down and get some breakfast; how am I going to do that.

Richmond, the elegant and historic capital of this closer-than-you-think East Coast state, is a fine place to begin your tour. If you arrive in time for lunch, catch a cab to Cary town, the city’s nineblock shopping district known as the Mile of Style. Lively Can Can, at the end of a plaza, feels like a Paris brasserie with its spacious red leather and woodtrimmed banquettes, terrazzo floor and impossibly high ceiling. Locals stop by for a morning café au lait and freshly baked croissants at one of the bistro tables by the windows overlooking chic restaurants and boutiques.  Can Can’s lunch menu veers from sumptuously rich French onion soup smothered in melted cheese to warm charred Gulf shrimp on a nest of licorice-scented fennel ribbons, splashed with a lemony vinaigrette. Or share a platter of fresh local oysters along with a beer from the lengthy list.

Spend the afternoon visiting the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden or wandering through The Fan, the trendy fan-shaped residential district anchored by Monroe Park. In the midst of graceful Victorian homes, dating from the 1880s to 1920s, sits Bruce and Virginia Rowland’s simple 44-seat restaurant Rowland with its black awning. From late May to September, Chef Bruce serves soft-shell crab, plucked from nearby Chesapeake Bay in that vulnerable moment between the time it bursts from its too-small shell and grows a fancy new one. Served whole, legs and all it’s best not to think too much about it before you bite its sweet, fresh flavour needs no seasoning, says the friendly chef, who dusts it lightly in flour before a quick pan-fry.

From the planet’s second-longest barrier reef to dense tropical rainforests teeming with life, tiny Belize is a delightful place for families to explore Mother Nature’s myriad land and sea wonders in a single trip. Start at the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center for an introduction to more than 125 native animals including jaguars, storks and a tapir named April. The hair-raising roar of howler monkeys on the nocturnal tour gets kids talking, as does holding a boa constrictor if they dare. The chance to see a big spotted cat in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the world’s first jaguar reserve, is sure to be a hit. Hire a local guide for a hike into the broadleaf rainforest, ending with a refreshing dip under a waterfall. River tubing down the basin’s cool, clean rivers is a family favourite, as is canoeing or kayaking. With more than 70 per cent of the rainforest’s mammals being nocturnal including the jaguar and four other Cockscomb wildcat species: pumas, ocelots, jaguarundis and margays spend an adventurous overnight at one of the country’s numerous jungle lodges where guests can also participate on night treks and enjoy a host of nature and culture activities.

More adrenaline-pumping adventure can be had zip-lining like Tarzan through the Belizean jungle or on tamer canopy tours. Cave tubing expeditions through underground limestone caverns peppered with stalactites and stalagmites are uniquely Belizean. With scores of sandy cays dotting the Caribbean Sea between the 250-kilometre-long reef and mainland, the calm, shallow waters of Belize are ideal for paddling. Adventure tour operators offer single- and multi-day kayaking trips, which include camping Robinson Crusoe-style on uninhabited cays, in permanent tent base camps, or for those who like more creature comforts at shoreside lodges. Snorkelling, scuba diving and interactive marine ecology lessons round out this family aquatic adventure.

Create placements where a few attractive items are situated near each other in small clusters of no more than 3 or 4 items. Generally speaking, groups of accessories should not typically be displayed in even numbers, at even heights, or evenly spaced apart unless the setting is contemporary in style, or unless the style is strict in formality. Vary heights, shapes, sizes, and placement for added dimension. Odd numbers create interest, and groups of three work particularly well when placing accessories on shelves, tables, and case goods. Let’s consider a setting on a mantle shelf as an example. Suppose you had a large, chunky framed piece of art on the wall centered over the mantle. On one side of the shelf you might have a husky pottery vase or jar, and on the other, a collection of two or three smaller items that TOGETHER are roughly balanced in visual weight. For added texture and interest, you could set these accessories on a thick, textured fabric runner or mantle scarf. Pairs can be effective for adding interest, particularly in FORMAL settings where perfect symmetry is a key component. Those of you who attended our last two seminars on styles and furniture placement will be familiar with this concept. So, in formal settings you can use identical or very closely matched chairs, vases, plants, and art that flank each other or sit balanced on either side of larger pieces of furniture such as a bookcase, armoire, or a fireplace.

Mother, will you please look at me just once as though you really saw me?” So, what has it got to do with selling furniture? If you can use your imagination, a great deal. Because, many people who work in furniture stores and many shoppers have the same feeling as Emily Webb, the character in the play who uttered those words. Why? Because few furniture stores have great People Media. People Media begin at the top. They are character driven. You may be thinking: “Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t this article supposed to be about the digital age and branding my store? I don’t need a lecture about character.” I’m sure you don’t. But, the most important message store owners can take home today is that their store’s Brand begins with their own personal Brand. All of us have a Brand. We cannot fake it. Whether you are a CEO, or in sales, or are a vendor, or a delivery person, or any other associate, you also have a personal Brand. It has been said that the salesperson is the store to the customer. This is true enough. In fact, every associate in the store is, by degree, the store. So is the delivery captain, and to an even greater degree, the boss.

The common features of all lithium ion cells are that, in the charged state, one electrode contains lithium, and thatcharge is transported across the cell by lithium ions. A significant advantage of lithium-based cells is their high terminal voltage and good capacity-to-weight ratio. A wide range of recipes is available for the electrode material itself, each having its characteristic terminal voltage and other properties . The other factors affecting characteristics and cost are the choice of electrolyte and of separator. Liquid electrolytes based on organic solvents and conductive lithium salts can be used, as can solid or gel film electrolytes (as in lithium-polymer, or ‘LiPo’ cells). LiPo cells have a particularly high energy density and are available in a range of shapes; however, they do not perform well at low temperatures.

The choice of separator is an important factor in both the manufacturing cost and the safety of the cells. An interesting recent development is a ceramic separator called Separion already in use in cells by German battery maker Li-Tec. The separator can withstand high temperatures, and can thus help to prevent an internal short-circuit in the cell. This is a particularly important aspect as fully-charged lithium ion cells, in contrast to NiMH cells, cannot continue to be accept current without damage, including risk of explosion. The other side of this coin is the very high efficiency of the cell (90 % to 95 %). Safer types are the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells from A123 and GAIA, at the cost of around 10 % less energy density and terminal voltage.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the internal combustion engine started to take over from electrically-powered vehicles. Now, a hundred years later, electric vehicles are slowly but surely making a come-back. Development continues apace and the enormous potential is clear. The key to the success of electric vehicles lies, contrary to early expectations, in lithiumion cells rather than in fuel cells. It was an electric vehicle, driven by Belgian Camille Jenatzy, that was first to break the magical 60 mph (about 100 km/ h) barrier in 1899. His torpedo-shaped car was accelerated to 105.88 km/h by 200 V lead-acid batteries powering two 25 kW motors. Although not lacking in power, the vehicle fell rather short when it came to endurance. No less an individual than Ferdinand Porsche, working at the Lohner company in Vienna, was inspired by this to try to overcome the disadvantages of electric drive by combining it with a petrol engine, thereby inventing the first hybrid vehicle. The design was also the first to feature an electric hub motor and all-wheel drive.

From then on the onward march of the motor car, first with internal combustion petrol engines and then with diesel engines, seemed unstoppable. The most significant factor in their rise was the ready availability of cheap crude oil from which fuel could be made. A century later, conditions have changed for the internal combustion engine. Oil is becoming scarcer and more expensive, and there is pressure to reduce CO2 emissions significantly. In today’s hybrid vehicles the benefits now work in the opposite direction: the electric drive serves to help overcome the disadvantages of the internal combustion engine. And the prospects for these vehicles improve as batteries improve; ultimately the internal combustion engine may disappear altogether. This article presents an overview of current developments and the prospects for battery technologies in future electric vehicles.