One of the lesser known duties of a mayor is to unite couples in marriage.

Since he took office Jan. 1, 2008, Cambridge Mayor Tom Orr has done so on 225 occasions through the end of last year.

"I feel honored to stand at all of them," Orr said. "I've done them in some very unusual areas. The covered bridge at the City Park. I've been at Seneca Lake and Salt Fork. I've had brides and grooms come off a boat. I've had them stand in that special place where they met. I've had them [at City Hall] in different offices. I've been at swimming pools in family yards. Stood in gazebos. I've done them Christmas Eve. I've done them in front of fireplaces at special occasions. It's been a little bit of everything, quite honestly. It's a unique experience."

Among Orr's most notable officiations: The marriage of Cambridge native and stage and screen actor Corey Brill with girlfriend and actress Joy Osmanski. The ceremony took place on the steps of the Guernsey County Courthouse on Dec. 31, 2009.

Officiating the union of a man and woman did not come easily for Orr in the early years.

"I really struggled with that when I got the job," he said. "I wondered if the good Lord really wanted me to do that. It seemed to me like it was the short version of what should be a little bit more in depth. But then I realized that's between the two people who take the vow. The vow is the most important thing."

Though a wedding is often thought of as a time for happiness at the prospect of a long life together, Orr admits to a few times wondering what the future would hold for newlyweds.

"The one's that are going off to the service," he said. "Maybe they only have a 24-hour or 48-hour window of opportunity. And you see the little kids looking, and the parents ... and you just get a feeling. And no matter what the world tells you, it's easier to do with two than it is with one."

Orr averages about 38 marriages per year. His first year in office was his most officious to date, with 60 weddings performed. His slowest year was in 2011, when he wed 25 couples.

Orr's fee? He asks only for a donation.

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Cambridge Mayor Tom Orr has officiated more than 200 civil ceremonies, some of them in rather unusual places

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects has recognized Richard W. Fawley among the 2013 AIA Florida Class of Citizen Architects.

The program was developed by the National AIA to recognize architects who use insights, talents, training and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition.

Fawley has served the Manatee community for more than 30 years. In that time he has volunteered for many local organizations such as Goodwill Manasota and the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. Fawley is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Manatee Education Foundation, the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund, and the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce as well as several task forces and committees for other local Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Corporations.

"I am proud to be recognized as part of the Citizen Architect Class, a distinguished group of professionals who, by their actions advocate for higher living standards, the creation of sustainable environment, quality of life, and the greater good." Fawley said.

John Neal Homes opens new Palmevera model

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- John Neal Homes opened its Palmavera model in the Haddington section of Country Club East at Lakewood Ranch.

The Palmavera is a new 2,884 square-foot floor plan with three bedrooms plus a den, and open great room layout.

Haddington features private roads, including its own transponder-controlled "residents only" gate, paver sidewalks and community landscaping. Neighborhood amenities will include three gazebos and a kayak launch. Homes will range from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, with home and home site packages beginning in the high $400,000s.

MSC Foundation donates nearly $20,000

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- The MSC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Michael Saunders & Co., handed out about $20,000 in year-end charitable grants for 2013.

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Business briefs, Jan. 22, 2014

It's a neat idea, sure, but don't expect 3D printers to replace builders, bricks and mortar any time soon.

Pictures of 3D-printed houses keep popping up in the news. I've written about three such projects before forWired, including Enrico Dini's impressiveD-Shape, a gantry large enough that it can print out gazebos. There are other examples of such systems under development that work on similar principles, like Contour Crafting at the University of Southern California, or FreeForm Construction at Loughborough University. Nasa is even working on robots that may be able to construct bases on the Moon by melting moon dust into blocks and walls using lasers.

It's not a wacky gimmick, in theory. Developing societies across the world struggle to cope with the demands of urbanisation: China's urbanisation ratewill reach 60 percentby 2015; a 2007 UN reportfoundthat between 2000 and 2030 sub-Saharan Africa's urban population could be expected to double, whileat least 72 percentof the urban population was living in slums. A way to quickly produce homes that are more livable than slum shacks would be a valuable tool in combating poverty. (And as for moon bases, laser sintering is a much better idea that flying concrete all the way up there.)

These printers are, basically, scaled-up versions of desktop models, and they work the same way - a nozzle, on some kind of robotic arm, is programmed to follow a design which separates a three-dimensional objects into a number of two-dimensional slices. Thin layer upon thin layer of material (usually plastic on desktop, usually concrete in construction) goes down until it's built up the full object.

Anything that'll spurt out of a nozzle and set hard will work, but some materials are better than others for different uses - chocolate's great for 3D-printing food, for example. For buildings, the normal material (or "aggregate") is usually a kind of concrete. The nozzle moves back and forth, laying down material for the first layer, then it moves up (say, 5mm, or 10mm) and lays the next layer, and the next, through to the very top. Voila, a house.

The problems that researchers are having with scaling 3D printing up to the scale of houses should be pretty obvious - concrete isn't very strong on its own. A house that's 3D-printed might stay up (and some of Dini's structures are certainly impressive) but they're nothing on concrete houses built with such boring, traditional things like reinforcing rebar. Even a wooden frame is better, because then there's the possibility of having a second floor.

Nevertheless, these systems are generally said to be able to build the frame of the house in roughly two days at top speed if you're after something like a small bungalow, or maybe doing 20 or so larger buildings a year. And, because the walls and so on are done in one go, there's the potential to design certain things into the structure - like routes for ducts, or piping and wiring routes - that are fiddly, and have to be attached to a building's frame during a normal construction.

That's quite important, as the things that take up most of the time when building small homes is the fiddly, small stuff - wiring, windows, fixtures, fittings, plastering, that sort of thing. It's also quite cheap - again, in theory. There's just a problem in that it acts a replacement for the bit that's already quite cheap and quick when it comes to building homes. In rapid-build affordable housing projects the fiddly stuff could be cut back on, but that would be somewhat self-defeating.

There's quite an illustrative lesson from history that we can rely on here. Architect Wallace Neff was famous in the 1920s as a designer of mansions for the stars of Hollywood, and became instrumental in developing southern California's distinctive architectural style. However, in the later stages of career he tried to turn his hand to the problem of affordable housing. America's post-WII population boom demanded cheap housing that could be built quickly.

His solution, inspired by the resilience of bubbles of shaving foam in his bathroom sink, were "bubble houses" - concrete homes (using low-density, high-strength concrete called gunite), built by spraying a mix of water and cement at high speed over a large balloon. In 48 hours the concrete would be dry, the balloon could be deflated and dragged out of the front door, and there would be a perfectly solid and large building, ready to be used as a home.

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The Energy Debate

Gazebos Mar del Plata - Operativo de Verano 2014 - Arba

By: Jonathan Durisotti

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Gazebos Mar del Plata - Operativo de Verano 2014 - Arba - Video

Although its name makes it sound like just another quaint little seaside village like any other in Terengganu, it does possess all the trappings of a small town, and then some.

After all, not many villages can claim to be within walking distance to Terengganu's main airport and two universities.

One of the reasons that compelled me to move to a housing estate here three years ago was its proximity to the airport.

The Sultan Mahmud International Airport is so near, you can hear the plane that you will be boarding coming into the airport, and that serves as a reminder to better get to the airport already before it leaves with one passenger short.

The main road is not the preferred way to get to the airport for those who live here, as there is a much shorter picturesque seaside road linking Tok Jembal to it.

If you're still wondering, the village is indeed blessed with a long, casuarina-lined beach, complete with a thriving fishing community.

However, the beach has deteriorated badly due to coastal erosion brought on by the huge waves of the monsoon season.

One of the more popular seaside picnic areas bore the full brunt of the destructive waves in 2011, dragging four gazebos and countless casuarinas out to sea.

Fortunately, the state government acted fast to stem the erosion by building a wall of granite boulders before the waves claimed the two remaining gazebos as well.

However, more will have to be done as the coastal erosion has moved further north and is now threatening the beach at the rear of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, one of the two state universities situated just outside Tok Jembal.

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Seaside town with rustic charm

Contry Side Gazebos - Design Your Own Gazebo!
http://tiny.cc/countrysidegazebos Gazebo designer Contry Side Gazebos Amish Style Gazebos Gazebo design Gazebos for sale buy gazebo garden gazebo patio gazeb...

By: James Wheeler

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Contry Side Gazebos - Design Your Own Gazebo! - Video

City Council Monday night passed an ordinance that amends city regulations to allow for sheds to be a permitted accessory structure in all residential zoning districts, but it did not have unanimous support of the members.

District 2 Councilman John Carioscia voted against the ordinance amendment. Sheds were only allowed in back yards before now.

The ordinance regulates the placement of the sheds to the side yard or back yard, as long as required setback are observed. Sheds in a side yard must be screened from view by using landscaping, a wall, or combination of both. They also are restricted to a maximum of 160 square feet.

Sheds were added to the list of permitted accessory structures for single-family or duplex residential property, but not for vacant lots. The list of permitted accessory structures now includes sheds, garages, satellite antennas, sun shelters, gazebos, play houses and recreational facilities.

In other action:

* A resolution urging tobacco retailers in Cape Coral to voluntarily restrict the sale and marketing of candy-flavored tobacco products aimed at young consumers also met with mild resistance, but passed by a 6-2 vote. Island Coast High School students representing Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT), made a brief presentation to council about the health hazards associated with tobacco products. However, the resolution does not restrict the sale of those products in any way, just asking for voluntary compliance.

* An ordinance authorizing the city to enter into a five-year lease agreement with D&D Matlacha Bait & Tackle on Pine Island Road for the use of city property along the canal waterfront adjoining the shop for boat storage, parking and docking purposes passed unanimously. The agreement generates a share of the revenue for the city from rental and storage fees charged patrons by D&D. The monthly rental fee to the city includes a modest increase to $3,000 per month.

* Council unanimously approved an ordinance allowing pre-existing single family residences that are used as a model home in the Marketplace Residential district to retain their status as pre-existing residences under certain conditions.

* Council corrected an error regarding property on Northwest 37th Place owned by Alvis and Joan Dobson. For unknown reasons, the city was inadvertently added by a title company as a grantee on the warranty deed conveying the property to the Dobsons in a 2003 sales transaction. The city voted to execute a Quit Claim Deed document removing all claim to the parcel.

* Council and City Attorney Dolores Menendez recognized attorney Brian Bartos for 15 years of service on the city attorney's staff, describing him as an invaluable asset.

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Shed regulations amended

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Festivalgoers fail to clean up after Rhythm and Alps music festival, held in Wanaka on New Year's Eve.

Empty tents, upturned gazebos and chilly-bins sit abandoned while air-beds and broken jandals litter the ground.

A new video has emerged showing the large amount of waste and camping equipment left behind after the Rhythm and Alps music festival, held in Wanaka on New Year's Eve.

Alex Turnbull, general manager of Rhythm Group Entertainment, the company behind the festival, said the mess is becoming increasingly typical of concertgoers worldwide.

''I think it's the new reality where people think that it is OK to just leave things because someone else is paid to clean it up," he said.

''I doubt after staying at your friend's place you would just drive off and leave your stuff on their front lawn.''

In a temporary city, built for 10,000 people and evacuated after 48 hours, it is inevitable that some things will get left behind, but Turnbull thinks the increasing availability of cheaper camping equipment is contributing to the growth of the mess.

''In the weeks before summer some places advertise these cheap tents specifically for music festivals and not for serving wet or windy conditions.

''They often don't last, zips break or it's too much of a hassle so it is just easier to abandon them there.''

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What festivalgoers leave behind

Empty tents, upturned gazebos and chilly-bins sit abandoned while air-beds and broken jandals litter the ground.

A new video has emerged showing the large amount of waste and camping equipment left behind after the Rhythm and Alps music festival, held in Wanaka on New Year's Eve.

Alex Turnbull, general manager of Rhythm Group Entertainment, the company behind the festival, said the mess is becoming increasingly typical of concertgoers worldwide.

''I think it's the new reality where people think that it is OK to just leave things because someone else is paid to clean it up," he said.

''I doubt after staying at your friend's place you would just drive off and leave your stuff on their front lawn.''

In a temporary city, built for 10,000 people and evacuated after 48 hours, it is inevitable that some things will get left behind, but Turnbull thinks the increasing availability of cheaper camping equipment is contributing to the growth of the mess.

''In the weeks before summer some places advertise these cheap tents specifically for music festivals and not for serving wet or windy conditions.

''They often don't last, zips break or it's too much of a hassle so it is just easier to abandon them there.''

The site has since been cleared and cleaned by local community groups and schools looking to fundraise.

''Our focus after the festival is getting it cleaned up as fast as possible and keeping the locals happy," Turnbull said.

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Festivalgoers fail to clean up

Picture: David Bailey Koombana pontoon a sure bet

Beachgoers jumped for joy with the installation of Bunburys first floating swimming pontoon, as the city sweltered through a scorching weekend.

Located in the boating prohibited area at Koombana Bay Beach, the swimming pontoon features non-slip UV resistant decking, two ladders, and low-maintenance lightweight fabrication.

Beachgoer Shontaye Hempelis, 12, said she had already jumped off it about 50 times.

Its really good, she said.

I want to use it heaps this summer.

Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said the pontoon was a fantastic addition for families and individuals who frequent Bunburys beaches.

This pontoon will benefit swimmers of all ages over the summer months, he said.

Leisure beach activities such as this help to encourage people to visit our beaches and complement other beach activities such as the recent Stand Up Paddleboard operator and the gazebos and shade sails already at Koombana Beach.

If the hot weather at the weekend is any indication, Bunbury beaches are sure to be packed this summer.

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Koombana pontoon a sure bet