Three white-brick chimneys rise from this house in Virginia, which US studio T W Ryan Architecture designed to reference a modernist Mies van der Rohe house and a nearby plantation.

Three Chimney House comprises a series of structures that are organised in a Y-shape on a 45-acre (18-hectare) property outside of Charlottesville in horse country.

The slender, white chimneys reach 30-feet (nine-metres) high in the sky, enhancing the home's varied construction. Two double-height structures have gables while a low-slung, single-storey volume is topped with a slanting roofline and links to a flat-roofed portion.

Unifying the design are brick walls with flush mortar joints painted white and copper roofs that extend down to form exterior walls and which will patinate over time.

T W Ryan Architecture designed the residence for a young family with deep roots in the region that wanted the house to link with the natural landscape and the area's historic colonial homes.

"We wanted to create a house that is pure and primitive in form, defined by chimneys, walls and roofs," said studio founder Thomas W Ryan.

"The hope was that the construction success of the house would be measured against the nearby colonial forbearers rather than the modern houses under construction today."

In response, the studio took cues from a variety of local sources such as Thomas Jefferson's nearby Monticello house, which has as a natural copper roof, and the chimneys of the 18th-century plantation Stratford Hall not far from where the clients grew up.

"The architecture takes inspiration from traditional Southern colonial houses," Ryan added.

"Abstracting and re-interpreting these materials and archetypal elements, both the client and architect envisioned finding a timeless yet contemporary voice for Southern architecture in America."

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Brick Country House that he conceived 1924 but never built also formed a precedent for the project. It influenced the white barrier walls that extend from the house to mark the sloping terrain.

"It serves as an inspiration for how the natural landscape can be made clearer by the built construction, while not being tamed," Ryan added.

Upon entering via the single-storey structure, called the Main Hall, is a large room with a soaring ceiling. A fireplace divides a sitting area on one side and a shared kitchen and dining area opposite.

Sliding glass doors access a patio and provide unobstructed views of the Shenandoah Mountains and the sunset. A powder room, two closets, a laundry and a living room are nearby.

Connected to the Main Hall to the south is a volume with two bedrooms on the ground floor and a master suite upstairs called the Residential Wing. A detached volume is on the north side and contains an art studio and a guest suite.

Interiors are pared-down with white walls and pale wood floors. Vertical cedar boards with a black stain clad feature walls as a nod to the property's black cedar post fencing, as well as barns and farmhouses.

A variety of window sizes in square and rectangular shapes frame country views and usher in natural light.

Other homes in Virginia include Deep Point Road residence by BFDO, a black home by Architecturefirm and Buisson Residence by Robert Gurney.

T W Ryan Architecture has also renovated a black home Surf House in Montauk, New York for a family from Ireland.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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Modernist and Southern colonial styles meet in Three Chimney House - Dezeen

From Zombie flicks to handlebar moustaches, miniskirts to macram pot plant holders, and winklepicker shoes to paisley ties, every fashion trend eventually makes a comeback.

Its just that some trends, such as hanging dried flowers from your rafters or embalming your wedding bouquet, take much longer than others to witness a resurrection.

It has been over a decade since I first predicted a popular revival for dried flowers. I was wrong then, and in 2011, when I gave them a hurry-up in NZ Gardeners special edition, Homegrown Flowers, and again in 2015, when I wrote in my Sunday Star-Times column that it was definitelytime to give botanical taxidermy another go.

In a case of better late than never,my prediction has now come true,as anyone on Instagram can attest.

READ MORE:* This florist's hacks will help you create lovely, long-lasting arrangements* Why dried flowers are back* The best plants to use for a pink garden

Search for #driedflowers and morethan half a million photos of driedflowers and foliage will pop up.

These, however, are not the driedflowers of old, which had all the lifeslowly sucked out of them in trays ofkitty litter or tins of silica gel, so thatthey remained as life-like as possible.

Thankfully, preserved perfection isno longer the ideal. These days, driedflower arrangers tend to celebratetheir subjects lack of uniformity,embracing the beauty of wrinkledleaves, crooked stems and age-spottedpetals that have shrivelled up likecrumpled crepe paper.

In the coastal Wellington suburb ofMiramar, florist Annwyn Tobins weeshop, Floriade, is famous for its driedflower room (one customer describedit as a dried flower fairy cave).

Annwyn, an Australian landscapearchitect, began her floristry businesstwo years ago but when I asked herhow long she has loved dried flowers,she told me all my life.

I grew up in a house with a hugegarden in Sydneys inner-west. ForMum and me, our idea of fun was hanging out at a garden centre thengoing home to plant whatever we hadbought. I made my own potpourriand dried flowers from our garden.

Im passionate about everythingbotanical, adds Annwyn, but unlikelandscape design, where you deal withplans and wait for plants to grow,working with flowers has a wonderfulinstantaneous nature to it.

Her design process now begins, notwith a site visit or brief, but with thematerial she sources from the flowermarkets, growers, the local coastlineor fellow gardeners.

Friends tidyingup their gardens might offer a carloadof hydrangeas otherwise destined forthe compost heap, or shell forage forwild bunny tails (Lagurus ovatus) onthe sea shore, or salvage the skirts ofold fern fronds from her own garden.

I dont like waste, not just from anecological perspective but because itsnot economic for a floristry business.

"If something doesnt sell when fresh,Ill transfer it to the dried flower roomat Floriade so I can reuse or repurposeit in a different way, she says.

Ever since I was a child, Ive likedto make things and to keep them,she adds. I suppose Im a botanicalhoarder. Im always collecting upbranches and offcuts that otherswould probably send off to the tip.

No two dried bouquets are thesame.

Sometimes Im in the moodto make something delicate, soft andairy like a cloud, with limonium andbabys breath, and other times Illcreate something robust and chunkywith proteas or lotus pods.

When the Duke andDuchess of Sussex now betterknown as Archies Mum and Dad visited New Zealand on their RoyalTour, Annwyn was commissioned tocreate some of the official floralarrangements at their functionsupporting youth mental health atthe Maranui Caf in Lyall Bay.

I did a large dried arrangementin a recycled olive oil tin, referencingthe coastal landscape with thingslike native toetoe, leucospermum,craspedia and wattle.

And when American rapper Eminencame to town for his concert in2019, his dressing room and otherentourage-only backstage areas wasadorned with fresh flowers mixedwith dried toetoe and copper beechbranches. (Interestingly, Eminemsmanagement team discoveredAnnwyns work on Instagram.)

BETTER OFF DEAD

When I asked Annwyn to list someof her favourite species for drying, herlist was as long as it was wide-ranging.

She namechecked a few Aussiecompatriots, such as waratahs andbanksias, as well as dainty Englishladies (Alchemilla mollis), tropical lotus pods, dried native ponga frondsand golden sheaths of wheat.

Delicate favourites to give bouquetsan ethereal, everlasting femininityinclude astilbe, dainty gypsophila, Queen Annes lace and so-calledsea lavender, which is actually a typeof statice. Sea lavender (Limoniumlatifolium) has drought-tolerant greenfoliage topped with billowing headsof small, ever-so-pale-blue flowers that lend it the appearance of silvermist. It must have free drainage andsuits a rockery situation in a hot, dryspot, though do keep it wateredduring its first season. Limoniumis available from parvaplants.co.nz,owairakaseeds.co.nz and bmn.co.nz.

Papery-petalled strawflowersor everlasting daisies (Helichrysumbracteatum) dry beautifully andretain their vibrant colours, thoughthe stems tend to weaken as theyshrivel, so larger blooms often needwiring for the vase. But short or evenstemless strawflowers can still be hotglue-gunned to wreaths and othercraft projects, or used as decorationsfor cakes, so simply deadhead thoseto dry in a single layer on an old soilsieve or fine mesh stapled over a box.

Blue delpiniums and larkspursboth hold their colour well duringthe drying process.

The prickly pom-poms of perennialglobe thistles (Echinops ritro) andspiky sea holly (Eryngium planum)both retain their eerie colour, dryingto shades of steely-blue, while thehalf-hardy safflower (Carthamustinctorius) has tangerine thistle topsthat are prized as cut flowers eitherfresh or dried. Egmont Seeds sellOrange Grenade, which is easy toraise from seed in spring or summer.

Craspedia globosa, aka billy buttons,has cute yellow bobbles that canbe incorporated, fresh or dried, intofloral arrangements. Source fromEgmont Seeds.

Bachelors buttons (Gomphrenaglobosa), which come in white andpink and have clover-like buds onshortish stems, are also charming,and make natty buttonholes.

For white or green bobbles, seek outthe button bush, Berzelia albiflora(previously known as brunia), whichhas needle-like foliage on slenderstems. Pick it in tight bud. Note thatthis South African shrub has a fairlytemperamental nature; its ofteneasier just to buy bunches fromflorists to take home and dry than totry to grow it yourself. With smallerbobbles, Berzelia lanuginosa is thespitting image of the Australian riceflower, Ozothamnus diosmifolius,which Ive found far easier to keepalive. Prune it hard(ish) to encouragelonger stems as nipping awayat it produces short, stubby growththat isnt much use for picking.

Good luck with love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) in either its traditional blood red or pale greenalternative. Its spectacular dried but,again, easier to buy than grow.

Plant celosias, both the brain-likecockscombs and the fluffy argenteaforms (I planted the latter in a bedwith colourful Rainbow Lightschard over summer).

Dry the seedheads of ornamentalgrasses such as miscanthus, sea oats(Chasmanthium latifolium) and nativetoetoe (our indigenous cortaderiasare known as austroderias).

HUNG OUT TO DRY

Not all flowers dry well overblownblooms will drop their petals andanything too fleshy or green will rot, but theres nothing to be lost bytrying. Keep in mind that anythingthat quickly wilts in a vase (such ascottage annuals in spring) or has alot of sap (like bulbs) wont dry well.

JASON DORDAY/Stuff

DIY: How to make a flower vase sleeve

Its best to cut flowers for dryingwhen most of their buds are on thecusp of opening. Do this on a warmday as soon as the morning dew hasdried off. When harvesting seedpods,wait till after theyve shed their seeds.

Hang largeflowers, such as proteasand delphiniums, individually todry. Slender-stemmed and smallersubjects can be hung in bunches.

Always tie the stems together withrubber bands, rather than string ortwine, before you hang them to dry.

The stems will shrink as they dryand even tightly tied bunches canloosen and fall apart and if they hitthefloor from a height, theyll break.

To retain the best colour, hangflowers upside down in an airy,warm location out of direct sunlight.Condensation is the enemy of driedflowers; keep them away fromwindows. The rafters of a gardenshed or garage are ideal, or geta freestanding coat rack.

MY DEN OF ANTIQUITY

In Hunua, the deep blue shepherdshut in our vegetable garden doublesas a damson-and-dried- flower den.

Its where I house my collection ofplum-themed crockery alongsidean upside-down selection of lastsummersnest floral moments.

Mop-headed hydrangeas, opiumpoppy seedheads, delphiniums,larkspurs and statice in all shades bar white (which in my experience driesto an insipid pale brown) hang froma recycled offcut of steel reinforcing mesh. I painted the mesh the samepale blue as the interior beforehooking it to the curving ceiling.

When the flowers arefirst hungin summer, lying on the bed belowis enough to induce a hayfever attack, but by the end of autumnthat fusty haybarn smell has fadedand I can finally stop vacuumingfallen seeds off the bedspread!

My dried flower choices are fairlyexperimental. Achillea in particularwas disappointing and just madea mess. But having successfully drieda bunch of store-bought ornamentalallium flowers a few years ago,I figured Id have a go at drying someof the gone-to-seed leeks from myvege patch. It worked; their blobby,ball-shaped blooms look groovy.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Buy and dry straight away,is Annwyns advice for getting thebest results from storeboughtflowers.

Mix and match exotic fresh flowerswith homegrown foliage, prunedbranches and seedpods. Seedpods that dry well include opium poppies,love-in-a-mist, many grasses, grainssuch as barley and wheat, andornamental corn cobs such as MiniBlack and Strawberry popcorn.

If you have grown your ownflowersto dry, make sure you clear the stemsof as much foliage as possible beforeyou hang them, as this will turnmouldy or rot. Buy flexible rubber rose strippers (the metal ones canbruise the stems, advises Annwyn)from craft orfloristry supply storessuch as oceans floral.co.nz.

Roses and peonies can be driedin bud, or open, but theres an artto it. Annwyn pops hers in the oven, set to the lowest heat. Red, purpleand dark pink hold their colour best.

Original post:
Return of the living dead: How dried flowers made a comeback - Stuff.co.nz

Skyline Champion Corporation (NYSE:SKY) ("Skyline Champion"), will release its earnings results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2020 after the market closes on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Skyline Champion will hold a conference call to discuss the results the following morning, Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

Interested investors and other parties can listen to a webcast of the live conference call by logging onto the Investor Relations section of Skyline Champions website at http://skylinechampion.com. The online replay will be available on the same website immediately following the call.

The conference call can also be accessed by dialing (877) 407-4018 (domestic) or (201) 689-8471 (international). A telephonic replay will be available approximately two hours after the call by dialing (844) 512-2921, or for international callers, (412) 317-6671. The passcode for the live call and the replay is 13703501. The replay will be available until 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on June 4, 2020.

About Skyline Champion Corporation:

OUR COMPANY

Skyline Champion Corporation (NYSE: SKY) was formed in June of 2018 as the result of the combination of Skyline Corporation and the operating assets of Champion Enterprises Holdings, LLC. The combined company employs approximately 7,000 people and is the largest independent, publicly traded, factory-built housing company in North America. With more than 65 years of homebuilding experience and 38 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and western Canada, Skyline Champion is well positioned with a leading portfolio of manufactured and modular homes, park-models and modular buildings for the multi-family, hospitality, senior and workforce housing sectors.

In addition to its core home building business, Skyline Champion operates a factory-direct retail business, Titan Factory Direct, with 21 retail locations spanning the southern United States, and Star Fleet Trucking, providing transportation services to the manufactured housing and other industries from several dispatch locations across the United States.

Skyline Champion builds homes under some of the most well know brand names in the factory-built housing industry including Skyline Homes, Champion Home Builders, Genesis Homes, Athens Park Models, Dutch Housing, Excel Homes, Homes of Merit, New Era, Redman Homes, Shore Park, Silvercrest, Titan Homes in the U.S. and Moduline and SRI Homes in western Canada.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200506005531/en/

Contacts

Investor contact information: Contact: Sarah JanowiczEmail: investorrelations@championhomes.com Phone: (248) 614-8211

Original post:
Skyline Champion Corporation Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call - Yahoo Finance

While today wraps up the 2020 Hurricane Preparedness Week, and no tropical cyclones threaten the U.S., now is a great time to develop a written plan for what youd do when a storm does threaten in the future. Image: NWS

Hurricane Preparedness Week, which began last Sunday on May 3, is drawing to a close. On this day, government agencies like the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center are urging people around the country that live in areas that could be impacted by tropical cyclones to have a written plan of what theyd do should a storm materialize in their area this upcoming season. Central Pacific and Atlantic Hurricane Seasons both start on June 1. Tropical cyclones like hurricanes or tropical storms can impact Hawaii, the U.S. Gulf Coast, the entire U.S. East Coast, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands in or even outside of season.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), The time to prepare for a hurricane is before the season begins, when you have the time and are not under pressure. If you wait until a hurricane is on your doorstep, the odds are that you will be under duress and will make the wrong decisions. To be prepared, the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center want people in storm-possible areas to take the time now to write downa hurricane plan.

The NWS further advises: Know where you will ride out the storm and get your supplies now. You dont want to be standing in long lines when a hurricane warning is issued. Those supplies that you need will probably be sold out by the time you reach the front of the line. Being prepared, before a hurricane threatens, makes you resilient to the hurricane impacts of wind and water. It will mean the difference between your being a hurricane victim and a hurricane survivor.

With the COVID-19 Pandemic continuing, its also important that people refresh written plans they may have prepared in the past to reflect this new reality. Follow CDC guidance and be sure to protect yourself from the virus before, during, and after a tropical cyclone strikes. This may mean having more masks or perishable supplies on-hand. It may also mean having more disinfectants and sanitizers as part of your storm preparation stock.

Hurricanes arent the only danger from the tropics: while lacking the potent winds that hurricanes have, tropical depressions and tropical storms can be devastating too.The primary hazards from tropical cyclones (which include tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes) are storm surge flooding, inland flooding from heavy rains, destructive winds, tornadoes, and high surf and rip currents.

Hurricane Matthew stormed through the Caribbean during the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

Storm surge is the abnormal rise of water generated by a storms winds. This hazard is historically the leading cause of hurricane related deaths in the United States. Storm surge and large battering waves can result in large loss of life and cause massive destruction along the coast. Storm surge can travel several miles inland, especially along bays, rivers, and estuaries. You dont need to live on a beach to fall victim to storm surge flooding, as residents of New Jersey and New York learned in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Flooding from heavy rains is the second leading cause of fatalities from landfalling tropical cyclones. Widespread torrential rains associated with these storms often cause flooding hundreds of miles inland. This flooding can persist for several days after a storm has dissipated.

Aerial views of flooding the day after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Photo: Jocelyn Augustino, FEMA, katrinadestruction.com

Winds from a hurricane can destroy buildings and manufactured homes. Signs, roofing material, and other items left outside can become flying missiles during hurricanes. Depending on local building codes, many homes may be built to only withstand winds of 100mph; major hurricanes have much higher winds than that and could lead to catastrophic destruction of even strong homes.

Tornadoes can accompany landfalling tropical cyclones. These tornadoes typically occur in rain bands well away from the center of the storm. While not as strong as tornadoes that form in supercell complexes, these tornadoes add an additional element of danger to a landfalling tropical cyclone.

Dangerous waves produced by a tropical cyclones strong winds can pose a significant hazard to coastal residents and mariners. These waves can cause deadly rip currents, significant beach erosion, and damage to structures along the coastline, even when the storm is more than a 1,000 miles offshore.

BEFORE

Before a hurricane or tropical cyclone threatens your area, you should be prepared and have a plan.

DURING

When a hurricane threatens your home,be prepared to evacuate if you live in a storm surge risk area. Listen to the guidance of local officials; if winds are strong enough, they may encourage you to evacuate too. Otherwise, they may recommend that you shelter in place if you arent in danger of flooding. Be sure to allow enough time to pack and inform friends and family if you need to leave your home.

AFTER

Many dangers remain once a storm passes through.

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Read the original here:
NHC: Put a Storm Plan in Writing - Weatherboy

There has always been an inherent danger in the notion of abandoning fossil fuels, especially proposals by governments and institutions to clear their environmental conscience by divesting from oil and gas. After all, we need fossil fuels for everyday life. Now, as communities worldwide continue to deal with COVID-19, the value of fossil fuels has come into even greater focus.

Most of the public knows that fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal remain important parts of keeping the lights on and the economy running. But often overlooked is the role of fossil fuels in other aspects of everyday life. For example, many dont know that natural gas is also a critical feedstock for producing petrochemicals like isopropyl alcohol and polypropylene. Manufacturers cant make much of the personal protection equipment now in high demand without polypropylene. Isopropyl alcohol, too, is an essential ingredient for hand sanitizer and many disinfectants that are currently in scarce supply. In other words, the world needs products manufactured by the fossil fuel industry to help combat the spread of this virus.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial detailed how ExxonMobil has been focused on COVID-19 relief and support. Its been a hundred years since scientists with Standard Oil of New Jersey, the predecessor of Exxon, invented isopropyl alcohol. Now, more than a century later, Exxon has ramped up IPA production at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, facility by 3,000 tons per month, enough to produce 50 million 4-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer. The company is also increasing its polypropylene production by around 1,000 tons per month, enough raw material to produce 200 million medical masks or 20 million gowns. By teaming with Boeing, Exxon is helping manufacture as many as 40,000 masks per hour right here in the U.S., avoiding the foreign supply chain hiccups that have led to shortages.

Other fossil fuel companies are pitching in, too. BP has announced it will supply three million gallons of jet fuel to FedEx Express charter flights and Alaska Airlines free of charge to ensure that personal protective equipment and other essential goods get to those who need it most. Chevron-funded Fab Labs has plans to produce more than 20,000 face shields and masks for hospitals, nursing homes and first responders and has donated 100,000 surgical masks to California hospitals. Dow Chemical is collaborating to produce 100,000 face shields in Michigan. Phillips 66, Shell and Marathon have also stepped up in a big way to ease the crisis for communities and help those on the front lines.

Of course, that hasnt stopped some from continuing to bang the divestment drum. In a twist of irony, New York has turned to Exxon to supply isopropyl alcohol, even as New York City Council members introduced a resolution recently to divest the city from banks that invest in fossil fuels. Yet Exxon still intends to provide its hand sanitizer to the Empire State for free.

Fossil fuel companies often make easy targets for those with political agendas, but the reality is that the energy and products they manufacture are part of the solution today for dealing with COVID-19. And they will be part of the solution tomorrow as the American economy begins its steady march to recovery. The oil and gas sector, in particular, has been a bright spot for the American economy in recent years, creating jobs and situating the U.S. as the worlds top producer of these important commodities.

Despite the value of fossil fuels, misguided cries for fossil fuel divestment have only grown louder in recent years. Some universities, pension funds and local governments continue to advocate withdrawing all financial support of fossil fuel companies, a move that helps neither shareholders or the planet. Now, in the middle of this crisis, those voices are more misguided than ever.

Natural gas producers have actually played a leading role in addressing climate change. The Energy Information Administration found that the transition to natural gas for electricity generation has helped reduce carbon emissions by 28 percent between 2005 and 2017. This fuel source should be recognized as a leading climate solution.

Fossil fuel manufacturers arent the enemy; theyre part of the solution by making products consumers want and helping the planet. Theyre also providing vital raw materials for products our nation desperately need right now. We should be embracing companies that are part of the solution, not targeting them.

Paul Griffin is the executive director of Energy Fairness, a nonprofit agency that believes the future of energy must include discussions about the cost of energy choices as well as their benefits. He divides his time between Boulder County, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.

Excerpt from:
Paul Griffin: Fossil fuels are a hidden weapon in COVID-19 fight - The Durango Herald

The massive economic disruption brought by COVID-19 has revealed that for many, economic security is an illusion. And our biggest vulnerability is housing costs - the biggest expense for most households.

This fact is pertinent when we consider the crucial task of how to create a more resilient and sustainable economy after the crisis.

We mustnt forget COVID-19 is actually a crisis within a much bigger and more complex crisis climate change and environmental degradation.

But housing costs make many of us utterly dependent on a return to business-as-usual, despite the catastrophic environmental consequences.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday flagged the first stage in loosened coronavirus restrictions, expected to boost Australias economy by more than A$3 billion a month.

But we believe bouncing back to a path of untrammelled economic growth is no solution at all.

Rich nations such as Australia must permanently reduce and stabilise economic growth and with it, resource and energy demands to maintain a liveable planet.

But here lies the tragic paradox. How can we deliberately orchestrate an economic slowdown, when the COVID-19 experience has caused so much personal pain and left many unable to pay rent and bills?

Read more: Want an economic tonic, Mr Morrison? Use that stimulus money to turbocharge renewables

Treasury forecasts suggest unemployment in Australia will jump from around 700,000 to 1.4 million as a result of COVID-19. Casuals, many of whom are not eligible for the JobKeeper payments, are already at serious risk of becoming homeless.

Governments and banks have taken immediate steps to keep people afloat, such as stimulus spending on unemployment benefits, a six-month freeze on mortgage repayments and a ban on certain rental evictions.

These stopgap measures show the emerging housing crisis is unprecedented and serious but they are merely band-aid solutions to personal economic insecurity.

Whats more, they ignore the obvious environmental devastation wrought by a growing economy. Its clear we must look for other solutions.

We propose that federal and state authorities offer unemployed people the opportunity to access public housing and a participation income.

The voluntary program would first be offered to eligible people either living in public housing, or at the top of the waiting list. If a pilot proved successful, and as public housing investment increased, the program could be offered more widely.

Participants would be paid a modest living wage in exchange for about 15 hours of local community service each week. This work could include growing food, maintaining the neighbourhood, helping to run sharing schemes such as a community tool bank, or even building new homes under expert guidance.

Read more: Why it doesn't make economic sense to ignore climate change in our recovery from the pandemic

The payment and associated activities would replace a persons unemployment benefits and job-seeking obligations.

Such a program would provide a secure home and livelihood to the poorest members of society. It would also provide real-world examples of alternative ways of meeting basic human needs, and governing access to land.

This proposal is built on the basic premise that land (just like air and water) was not created by the market and so should not be a commodity. Access to land for housing should be a human right granted to all, not just to those who can afford it.

A scheme such as ours could show how people are liberated from their reliance on economic growth when land is not commodified.

Urban commons, such as the R-Urban project in Paris, demonstrate how everyday citizens can create an alternative economy. There, several hundred people co-manage land that includes a small farm for collective use, a recycling plant and cooperative eco-housing.

Read more: Using lots of plastic packaging during the coronavirus crisis? You're not alone

This is not a new concept. Local collaboration on common land is humanitys oldest and most widespread mode of economic operation. For First Australians, it underpinned their way of life for tens of thousands of years.

And in Britain, people lived and locally collaborated on common land for many thousands of years before it became privatised.

Our proposal is about creating new futures based on common land, not a return to the past. It would initially involve the unemployed in public housing. But it could be expanded to include others alienated from the market: victims of the automation of jobs, the globalisation of labour such as manufactured goods being increasingly produced in developing nations or the decline in polluting industries such as fossil fuels.

Scaling up new land governance arrangements to the point where they influence the broader economy would require a huge expansion in public housing.

COVID-19 has highlighted Australias public housing shortage. Social welfare advocates, unions and the building industry have recognised the problem.

Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe says Australia must exploit low interest rates to invest in infrastructure. The stimulus following the Great Depression and the end of World War II offers a precedent: it led to the golden age of Australian public housing.

We call on governments to be innovative and ambitious. Building a more resilient and sustainable future requires the courage to experiment with new housing and living arrangements. Now is the time to act.

More:
Coronavirus shows housing costs leave many insecure. Tackling that can help solve an even bigger crisis - The Conversation AU

The death toll in the United States from COVID-19, the deadly respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, rose above 75,000 Thursday.

About 26,000 of those, or just over one third, happened in the state of New York, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. But the death toll is rising in other states as the coronavirus pandemic goes on. New Jersey has reported 8,801 deaths, the second highest number in the nation. Massachusetts and Michigan have each recorded more than 4,000 deaths.

More than 1.2 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Globally, the number of infections has climbed above 3.8 million and more than 267,000 people have died.

Health experts have repeatedly warned that the number of deaths and infections in the U.S. and other countries is likely higher than reported, due to lack of testing, differences in how deaths are recorded and other factors.

United States:

-New Jersey is sending National Guard troops to assist nursing homes hard hit by coronavirus. It wasn't clear what role the troops would play, but Gov. Phil Murphy said on Twitter that they would "assist in our COVID-19 mitigation efforts." The governor added: "We dont take this step lightly, but the crisis in our long-term care facilities requires us to take it." The state will activate 120 National Guard troops, The Associated Press reported. One facility in Andover, New Jersey, became so overwhelmed in April that police found a makeshift morgue on site with 13 dead bodies. Nursing homes nationwide have been wracked by coronavirus infections, and some are under investigation for failing to handle the outbreak appropriately.

-The number of people on ventilators in New Jersey declined and the number of patients in critical or intensive care units dropped to its lowest point since April 4, Murphy said.

-Most of the states that have started to reopen their economies or plan to do so soon do not meet criteriarecommended by the Trump administrationto resume business and social activities, according to a New York Times analysis. The guidelines for Opening Up American Again are presented as what states should consider before reopening, but they are not binding. They suggest states should have a downward trajectory of documented cases or of the percentage of tests that come back positive. In more than half of states easing restrictions, case counts are trending upward, positive test results are on the rise, or both, according to the New York Times.

-A 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework, was created to give more detailed step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places, but the report has been shelved by the administration, The Associated Press reported. The Washington Post reported that an anonymous coronavirus task force official said the report was overly specific and the White House had asked for revisions.

-Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will allow personal services like hair salons, barber shops, day spas, or nail salons to reopen beginning May 15. Outdoor dining will reopen on the same day, and dine-in service will resume May 21.

-Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced the state's stay-at-home order will expire Saturday. Social gatherings will remain limited to five people until May 22, Raimondo said. Employees of office-based businesses may go into work on a "very limited basis." Restaurants can now offer beer and wine with their takeout service.

-The NBA said franchises may open their facilities Friday in areas where local restrictions have been eased. On a voluntary basis, up to four individual players may use the facilities.

-The U.S. Labor Department announced another 3.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the past week. More than 33 million Americans have filed for benefits since the economy was largely shut down.

-Cell phone data shows an additional 62,000 people traveled to Georgia one week after the state allowed many businesses to reopen while they remained closed in nearby states, the Washington Post reports. University of Maryland researchers who analyzed the data said it shows that reopening some state economies ahead of others could potentially worsen and prolong the spread of the novel coronavirus.

-Moderna announced it has Food and Drug Administration permission to begin a phase two study of its coronavirus vaccine candidate with 600 participants soon, CNBC reported. The company, whose vaccine candidate was the first to enter a phase 1 human trial in March, said it is finalizing plans for a phase 3 trial as early as this summer. The first doses of the potential vaccine, which was developed by researchers at Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, are expected to be manufactured in July.

-Geneticists have determined that as the number of New York City coronavirus cases grew, infected people seeded outbreaks as they traveled to other parts of the country, the New York Times reports. Before officials imposed restrictions, the New York version of the virus helped to fuel outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and as far away as the West Coast.

-Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, making it the second major retailer after J. Crew to do so during the coronavirus pandemic.

-President Donald Trump said he will be tested daily for coronavirus after one of his valets tested positive for COVID-19. He said the episode underscored the fallibility of using testing exclusively to determine safety. "What happens in between when you got tested and just a couple of days later?" he asked, saying there were "a number of days missed" between when the valet was last tested and when he discovered he had coronavirus. Trump said he'd had "very little personal contact" with the man, a member of the U.S. Navy, who tested positive. Like the president, who has yet to be seen publicly wearing a face covering, the valets have not been wearing masks in the White House.

Worldwide:

-The Acropolis and other ancient sites in Greece will reopen May 18 and museums will end their lockdown June 15, The Associated Press reported. Visitor limits would be imposed at most of the reopened sites.

-Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon say the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in her country need to be extended to May 28 because any easing now would be very risky indeed. Sturgeon, the first minister, said her preference is that all four nations of the U.K. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland move at the same pace on easing the lockdown in order to present a consistent message. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce some minor easing of the lockdown for England on Sunday.

-Residents of Moscow are now required to wear masks and gloves when using public transit and visiting public spaces now that industrial plants and construction sites in the capital have been allowed to reopen, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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Coronavirus Updates: US Death Toll Tops 75,000; National Guard Troops Being Sent to Help New Jersey Nursing Homes - The Weather Channel

Last week, the Lancashire Post carried a feelgood yarn about a great British success story. Its plane sailing for BAE Systems with a little help from Carol Vorderman, ran the headline, accompanied by a picture of the smiling former Countdown maths whizz sitting in the cockpit of a plane.

Lancashires biggest private sector employer had designed and built a ventilator to aid treatment in the coronavirus pandemic, and theyd done it with a bit of help from the beloved TV personality, who said that her small private plane had delivered some of the vital components.

You had to read to the end of the article to find out that, in fact, the worlds sixth largest arms-producing company had simply manufactured 2,700 ventilator parts, and that ventilator design did not eventually go forward to full-scale production due to the drop in the need for ventilator technology.

All of which represents another great day at the office for the communications team of a company that made $21bn in sales in 2018 95% of them to military customers and whose Typhoon and Tornado aircraft have been key to devastating Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, which have killed thousands of civilians and contributed to what the UN calls a humanitarian catastrophe.

A key element of coronawashing is, of course, the performance being seen to be supportive in the face of a national and global tragedy

The word coronavirus has entered our vernacular in the space of a few months now its also swiftly become a shortcut to brand self-awareness and vague corporate caring, with many companies quick to jump on board. A Whos Who of polluters, tax dodgers and outsource vultures are urging us to #StaySafe, pumping out soft-focus branded content that makes Forrest Gump look like an episode of Chernobyl.

In a neoliberal society in which private companies need to project an image of public-spirited compassion, a global pandemic means back-to-back strategy Zoom calls for corporate communications teams. The mission objective is: how do we look like legends without impacting our profits?

More than that, these are often businesses that helped create and profit from the weakened public services and diminished standards of living that the outbreak of Covid-19 has served to expose, and which have hampered the UKs response. These feelgood pieces of PR, then, are exercises not just in making it look like corporations are fighting the crisis, but that they also are definitely not culpable in having helped worsen it.

We have become used to sportswashing, greenwashing, pinkwashing and even wokewashing. We are now in the first wave of coronawashing, in which corporations trip over themselves to clap for key workers, before packaging the footage up into moving nuggets of shareable content and promoting them on several social media platforms. In the background, these same companies are asking for government bailouts and taking advantage of a crisis to push for favourable legislation and the slashing of regulations that are more necessary than ever.

And so we have Holly Branson, doing her best Ivanka Trump, tweeting about Virgin ventilator design while her father, Richard, lord of the boomers, moves on from taking legal action against the NHS to pleading for government money.

Then we have HSBC, which, among much else, has been heavily fined in the US for facilitating tax evasion and money laundering and was found to have helped clients dodge millions in tax. The banking giant is now showing its caring side by filling newspaper advertising pages with messages of support in this time of crisis. Yet at the same time it has decided, at Ramadan, to block donations to a Palestinian aid charity.

Meanwhile, on YouTube, in a video entitled Thank You For Not Riding, plaintive piano lines soundtrack footage of ordinary people in their homes during pandemic. Its not until you get to the end of this moving tribute to the common man that you realise it was made by Uber, a company with a litany of questionable work practices, which is now using coronavirus sick-leave measures to argue against giving its drivers employee status.

Examples of coronawashing are everywhere. Amazon, the selfless buddy who does a favour for you behind the scenes and then tells you and all your mutual friends about it, was recently revealed as a mystery 250,000 donor to UK bookshops. Amazons CEO Jeff Bezos makesmore than $8m every single day. His company has been deemed worst for aggressive tax avoidance and has long been widely blamed for the destruction of the very independent bookshops it is now so generously and mysteriously donating to.

A key element of coronawashing is, of course, the performance being seen to be supportive in the face of a national and global tragedy. Primark donated care packs to staff at Londons new Nightingale hospital, established to treat coronavirus, but in Bangladesh it was cancelling production of $273m-worth of goods, leaving already immiserated workers destitute. (In the face of adverse publicity, Primark reversed its position.)

All of which recalls a line from, of all people, Peter Buffett, son of investor billionaire Warren. In an essay entitled The Charitable-Industrial Complex, Buffett described taking over some of his fathers philanthropic work and finding himself sitting around the table with power players searching for answers with their right hand to problems that others in the room have created with their left.

This is a neat description of the coronawashers: these corporations obviously werent responsible for the global pandemic, but they spent decades eviscerating the public sphere, which, in turn, has reduced the states ability to respond to large-scale problems. Now they hope to be patted on the back for throwing out some loose change and clapping the NHS (in an inspiring social media clip that you can like and share).

Oscar Rickett is a journalist and writer

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Coronawashing: for big, bad businesses, it's the new greenwashing - The Guardian

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) -- Not all nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle are in hospitals or clinics.

Some make house calls to provide needed care.

Thats why one nurse was on the road when she suffered an unexpected expense.

An experienced hospice nurse, Cindy Crane travels a lot but she didnt know how to treat a bad drive.

What I should have done I guess is come turn here and go up to the clubhouse and ask them to help me get a cart to go chase down the offending golfer, Crane said.

A week ago Monday afternoon, Crane believes a golf ball shattered her side window as she drove south on 120th Street past a hole at The Knolls.

But she didnt stop at the clubhouse until two days later.

I was focused. I was focused on getting to my next patient, Crane said.

Omaha's golf director says Knolls staff would have gladly hopped on a cart to help track who might have hit a bad ball if Crane had stopped right away.

The hospice nurse has hundreds of dollars in medical equipment in the back of her car and shes worried that the shattered window isnt going to stand up to the weather much longer.

So the shattered window had to be replaced but with a $500 deductible, the cost of $467 came out of her pocket.

Even though I need new tires, Ill have to put them on the back burner, which is worrisome because I drive this car for my job, Crane said.

She doesnt golf but Crane learned one rule of the game: its not the course but the golfer who is responsible for damage and report it right away to have any shot at getting them to admit it.

Omaha's golf director says across the citys eight courses there are only a total of about five reports a year of an errant shot breaking a window.

The traveling hospice nurse sees a half dozen critical patients a day and thats why she didnt stop right away and report the damage to her car.

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Bad drive leaves hospice nurse paying for window smashed by golf ball - WOWT

The latest data from NetMarketShare shows that from March 2020 to April 2020, Linuxs desktop market share increased by 1.5%, and Windows share decreased by 2%.

For a long time, Linux has been regarded as the best substitute for the Windows system. However, although the data shows that Linuxs market share and installation rate are increasing significantly, as far as the Chinese market is concerned, it still takes some time to build a Linux distribution that can replace the Windows system.

Also Read: Huawei MateBook Series Linux Version Went On Sale

Liu Xinhuan, general manager of Tongxin Software Technology Co., Ltd. said in an interview, For a good operating system, you must have a long time to prepare psychologically. And to really compete with foreign operating systems, it will take at least 3 years, 5 years or even 10 years. So I think it is better to do our products well and do our own things, rather than staying in the verbal battle, because the final market still depends on product quality and service capabilities.

Tongxin Software has been in the research and development of operating systems in China. It focuses on the development and service of basic software such as operating systems. It has developed various operating system products based on the Linux kernel.

In fact, the pace of Linux replacing Windows in the Chinese market is still quite slow. StatCounter data shows that there are still not less than 86.67% of desktop computers still running Windows in the Chinese market. At the same time, Apple macOS accounts for 9.94% and Linux only accounts for 0.6%.

Liu Wenhuan said that from a relatively long-term perspective, the company hopes to gain more than one-third of Chinas market share in the field of general-purpose operating systems. In general, Linuxs desire to replace Windows in the Chinese market is not overnight.

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It Will Take 3-10 Years for Linux to Replace Windows in China - Gizchina.com