SAN LEONARDO, Nueva Ecija Director General Alan L.M. Purisima, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), opened the gates of his controversial property here to journalists in an attempt to dispute the allegations that his resthouse is equivalent to a multi-million peso mansion.

It is situated in a 3,000-square meter land, has a beautiful landscape, a pool, and well-built main house with guest house.

The large group of journalists that Purisima invited to personally see his resthouse in Barangay Magpapalayok was also allowed access to the main house and the guest house.

Tito Purisima, a distant relative of the PNP chief, said that the property does not qualify for a mansion or even an expensive villa. Its for you to judge now if this is really a mansion. And as you enter the house, you will also see if the materials used for the construction are expensive or not, said Tito.

They said that the house itself is worth P30 to P50 million. But can we compare this to the houses in Forbes Park, Dasmarinas, Urdaneta, Magallanes, Corinthian Village, and Green Meadows?

But Tito said the property was acquired in 1998 and four years later, the main structures were built. A renovation was done in 2012.

The land area is 4.5-hectares and was acquired at P57,000 per hectare in 1998. The property is some three to five kilometers away from the town proper.

According to Tito, the cheap acquisition of the property is because the entire property is flood-prone. In fact, he said, the elevated portion where the rest house is located still experiences ankle-deep flood during heavy rainfall.

The first gate is an entrance to the property. A second gate is for the main resthouse with wood-like concrete fence.

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Top cop shows off mansion

Malcolm Fisher's glorious garden in Manly Vale. Photo: Robin Powell

People make gardens for all kinds of reasons.

For Malcolm Fisher, a garden is an opportunity to connect with the natural landscape. And not just any natural landscape, but the pre-development landscape of his home. His garden is on its way back to what Captain Arthur Phillip trekked through when he explored the area around what is now Manly Creek in 1788.

For Fisher, a resident of Manly Vale for 20 years, exotic species and clever new native hybrids bred for bigger flowers and easier gardening are anathema at best, weeds at worst.

Yet, Fisher allows the introduced species camping in his garden to be overtaken by the bush, rather than ripped out. His is a patient approach to wilding the backyard. His only intervention is to plant seedlings of local species and to occasionally battle the onion grass. So gazanias still bloom over the front wall, and the lemon tree that was once the only living thing in the long narrow backyard is still there, though now dwarfed by banksia and hemmed in by humming pines.

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Fisher's path back to the bush started with a campaign to stop the sell-off and development of part of the catchment above Manly Dam. The campaign failed but the Save Manly Dam Catchment Committee stayed together and took on the project of saving Mermaid Pool. The rock pool at a bend in the road leading to Manly Dam Reserve was named in the 1930s for the naked girls who used to swim in it. The idyll was smashed when suburbia arrived and the pool became a dumping ground for building rubble, general rubbish and garden waste.

It was here Fisher honed his bush regeneration skills, his awareness of the incredible diversity of Sydney sandstone and Cumberland plain flora, and his rage against introduced weeds.

The beautiful pool and its rock face surrounds were choked with garden plants gone feral. Lantana, the tradescantia that is variously called wandering Jew or creeping Christian, morning glory, ivy, monstera, agapanthus and others had monstered the bush, and the pool was full of water weeds and rubbish. Now the pool is coming back to life (though the mermaids are yet to make an appearance).

In his own garden, too, Fisher faces a long wait before the incredible diversity of the local bush re-establishes. But there are plenty of treats in the meantime: the scarlet lips of kennedia, spikes of fragrant rock orchids, giant clumps of swamp lily, weird local hakeas, hanging hands of hop bush and lots of wildlife. He welcomes signs of bandicoot action, the arrival of ring-tailed and brush-tailed possums, blue-tongued lizards, water dragons and geckoes. There are frogs in the pond and native bees busy in the lomandra. This is less a garden than an un-garden, and the very long time locals are loving it.

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Siren song of backyard wilderness in Manly Vale

If youre thinking about adding a swimming pool to your property, or if youre already the owner of a pool and want to make it more attractive, here are a few landscape design ideas that will help you make your pool a visual asset to your home.

Want to make a landscape plan for your pool? Consider your swimming pool to be a bullseye in the center of a dartboard with four rings. Even if your in-ground or above ground pool isnt built in the shape of a circle, the landscaping surrounding your pool should radiate outward. If you think of these layers around the perimeter of your pool as "rings," you can draw up a plan that treats each ring as a distinct part of a whole. Your first ring is the immediate area around the pool. The second ring is a transitional area. The third ring can hold gardens or plants, and the fourth ring can be a separate space such as patio or deck or it could be left natural.

Get design ideas for all your outdoor spaces.

If youve got an in-ground pool, this first "ring" around your pool is probably a hardscape area such as a concrete border or patio that immediately surrounds the pool. An easy way to beautify this space is to use two or four dramatic, oversized potted succulents that require little maintenance and wont shed loose leaves or other debris into the pool water. As your radiate out to the second "ring" around your pool, keep in mind what you use this space for: Is this a concrete or brick area where your lounge chairs and umbrella table reside? Or is this space natural yard, woods, trees, etc.? If youre looking to organize or emphasize this space, you could plant blue sapphire cypress trees in this ring to create a wall of privacy. Or perhaps youd prefer to have this ring transition to a formal garden.

Above-ground pools dont have to be an eyesore. The key is to integrate the pool into its surroundings and tie it into the style of your home and landscaping. For example, if you can afford to add hardscapes to the first "ring" around your above-ground pool, you might consider constructing a deck that covers the exterior of your pool and also acts as a transitional area to which the rest of your yard can connect. If dealing with a limited budget, consider painting the outside of your pool walls to blend better with the environment and plant short shrubs around the outside of the pool to minimize visual intrusion.

Use the bullseye approach to landscape your pool and remember to keep bushes, flowers and grasses away from the first ring around your pool to minimize debris. Whats the point in having a beautifully landscaped pool area if all of your plants end up in the water?

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Pool Landscaping Ideas : HGTV Gardens

Originally published October 1, 2014 at 8:11 PM | Page modified October 1, 2014 at 11:00 PM

WASHINGTON A giant portrait of a man has emerged in the landscape of the National Mall in the first such public artwork commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery.

Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodrguez-Gerada created the piece as a compilation of American faces after photographing 30 young men on the National Mall this year, he said Wednesday. The piece is titled Out of Many, One, the English translation of E pluribus unum from the U.S. seal.

The six-acre portrait is made of 2,500 tons of sand and 800 tons of topsoil and can be viewed from the Washington Monument or from space. At ground level, the artist said its like a Zen garden. All the materials were donated.

The artwork adds a new element to the mall, the stretch of green space, museums and memorials from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol, known as the nations front lawn.

Rodrguez-Gerada said he set out to create one of millions of possible faces of America, and he said men between 18 and 25 need to be embraced. It doesnt represent a particular race, he said, but was a compilation of faces that were black, brown and white.

Diversity is the backbone that makes this country great, he said. This is a great way of celebrating that.

He used GPS technology to mark 10,000 points with tiny pegs on an empty field and then linked them with twine to create precise lines for the portrait made of dirt.

From start to finish, the work took six months, with the installation taking only a few weeks. Key to the work is seeing different things from different angles, with the emergence of a face only visible from a distance.

Asked if the portrait was meant to be Latino because of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and his own background, Rodrguez-Gerada who was born in Cuba and raised in New Jersey said he was not creating a Latino face and his connection to the project was serendipity.

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Artist uses dirt, pegs to create huge portrait on National Mall

Megaworld has revealed details ofits newest luxury condominium tower called The Palladium,another exciting development by the real estate giant that willshape Iloilos rapidly changing urban landscape.

Standing 80 meters high at 22 storeys, it is poised to take the spot asthe tallest residential tower in Iloilo and the entire Western Visayas region. It will also offer another set ofunique, first-of-its-kind amenities and features such as its own skygardens that will have spectacularoverlooking views of the city, an infinity pool, and loft units.

Named after one of the earths rarest precious elements, The Palladium will be built as a stylish urban oasis with four skygardens where residents can relax and enjoy serene moments with nature.

Residents will also get to enjoy the state-of-the-art amenities that the tower offers. These include an infinity pool, a childrens pool, outdoor and indoor fitness center, day care center, lawn area for events, and a function hall.

Divided into its North Wing and South Wing, The Palladium will have a total of482 residential unitsranging from studio (from 29.50 square meters), executive studio (from 39.50 square meters), one-bedroom (from 49.50 square meters) to two-bedrooms (from 83.50 square meters).At the topmost floor of the tower, there will be exclusive loft units ranging from 76 square meters to 115 square meters.

The tower will risealong Megaworld Boulevard (beside Lafayette Park Square) with completion and turn over set in 2018.

The Palladium is the fifth residential condominium project revealed by Megaworld in Iloilo. The exceptional response from buyers onthe first three towers at One Madison Placeand the single-tower Lafayette Park Squareaffirms the consistent growth in the demand for residential towers in Iloilo Business Park.

Here are more photos releasedby Megaworld:

If you are interested to invest in your own home atThe Palladium, you may visit this page and subscribeto receive exclusive updates on unit pre-selling and prices.

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The Palladium luxury condo to rise as Iloilos tallest

(PRWEB) September 30, 2014

(ALEXANDRIA, VA) The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) announces a new partnership with Piscine Global, an international tradeshow for the swimming pool and spa industry in Lyon, France. Under the new agreement, Gold winners from APSPs International Awards of Excellence design competition will participate in Piscine Globals Pool Vision design program. The 2013 Gold recipients will represent APSP in France this fall. For its second edition, Pool Vision Awards now extends selection to the Middle East and Asia, in addition to European projects.

The APSP International Awards of Excellence program recognizes and rewards installations of pools, spas, hot tubs and water features that showcase the most beautiful and creative work in the industry. Hundreds of entries are submitted each year, representing member firms across the United States and around the world. This event is open to APSP members only.

Pool Vision is an international competition aimed at pool builders and architects and focusing on the design of swimming pools around the world. The purpose of this competition is to propose a wide range of pool projects to Piscine Global visitors in order to illustrate the large possibilities of design and building technologies available on the market.

APSP is proud to partner with Piscine Global and the Pool Vision Awards Program, said APSP CEO and President Rich Gottwald. We have a tradition of honoring the worlds premier pools, spas, hot tubs and water features and the Pool Vision Awards are a natural fit for elevating and celebrating the art of aquatic construction.

Twenty-four swimming pool installations will be presented at Piscine Global on the Pool Vision area and three of them will win the Gold Award in these categories: residential swimming pool, commercial swimming pool and spa.

For more information about the Pool Vision Awards Program, contact Noemi Petit. For more information about the APSP International Awards of Excellence, contact Lisa Grepps.

About APSP The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) is the worlds oldest and largest association representing swimming pool, hot tub, and spa manufacturers, distributors, manufacturers agents, designers, builders, installers, suppliers, retailers, and service professionals. Dedicated to the growth and development of its members businesses and to promoting the enjoyment and safety of pools and spas, APSP offers a range of services, from professional development to advancing key legislation and regulation at the federal and local levels, to consumer outreach and public safety. APSP is the only industry organization recognized by the American National Standards Institute to develop and promote national standards for pools, hot tubs, and spas. For more information, visit APSP.org. About Piscine Global

Piscine Global is an international trade show featuring swimming pool and spa industry exhibition for the private and public market sectors. The biennial event takes place in Lyon, France, November 18-21, 2014. This event brings together manufacturers, leading innovations from the industry and their distributors/ retailers, pool and spa builders/ fitters, architects, landscape architects, specifiers and private and public authorities. With more than 600 exhibitors from 35 countries and 1167 brands represented, Piscine Global showcases the sectors most comprehensive offering to 18,000 visitors from 90 countries. The exhibition is organised under the patronage of the French Federation of Pool Professionals (FPP). For more information, visit http://www.piscine-expo.com.

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APSP & Piscine Global Join Forces to Celebrate Swimming Pool Design

Nurdianah Md Nur | Sept. 29, 2014

Efforts include providing an ICT test-bed, co-developing cybersecurity master class, providing internship programmes and participating in a security challenge.

Security provider Symantec has partnered Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) in an effort to nurture the next generation of cybersecurity talent in Singapore and strengthen the republic's cyber ecosystem.

Under a three-year Memorandum of Understanding, the two organisations will jointly undertake four key initiatives.

Firstly, the Infocomm Infrastructure Security and High Availability Centre - which is jointly established by NYP and Symantec - will be equipped with an infocomm technology infrastructure test-bed. The test-bed will provide a platform for students and industry to design, validate and test secure ICT systems that can guard against the latest cyber security attacks. The platform will double up as a training environment for students to hone their cyber defence and response skills through realistic simulation of real-world cyber attack scenarios.

Secondly, NYP and Symantec will co-develop a cybersecurity master class.

Thirdly, Symantec will open an annual internship programme for NYP students to allow them to gain a broader understanding of the security industry.

Finally, NYP will be participating in Symantec's Cyber Readiness Challenge, a competition that models scenarios after the current threat landscape using realistic, virtualised IT infrastructure. As part of the challenge, students will be tasked to step into the shoes of hackers to better understand them and their thought processes. This virtual immersion is hoped to enable students to gain a better understanding of the global threat landscape and critical security intelligence needed to improve an organisation's security posture.

"Today's cybersecurity landscape is evolving at an incredible rate and the requirement for cybersecurity talent pool is rapidly increasing," said Tan Yuh Woei, Symantec's senior country director for Singapore. "Through this partnership with NYP, we hope to attract, develop and nurture future generation of cybersecurity talent by providing them with appropriate training and knowledge."

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Symantec and Nanyang Polytechnic to strengthen Singapore's cybersecurity talent pool

Beach Boys music welcomed several hundred Pinehurst Resort & Country Club members to the public unveiling Friday of a proposed $4.2 million pool complex that officials believe will help the club grow and sustain its membership for decades.

We will now have amenities for everyone, said Jay Biggs, senior vice president of golf and club operations for Pinehurst. Weve got a lot of amenities, and they are almost second-to-none in the club world. This is another piece of our plan to focus on the country club part of our business.

The complex will be built on 1.28 acres next to the clubhouse that fronts the 18th green of Pinehurst No. 2. It includes an adult pool and nearby hot tub, a zero-entry family pool with a water slide and splash zones, cabanas, an indoor cafe, an open-air bar, a fire pit and an event lawn.

Members got a preview of the scale and scope of the project because club officials used blue paint to outline the pools, placed tents where the cabanas and buildings will be located, had a grill serving hamburgers and chicken at the cafe site, had a cash bar at the open-air bar space, and placed an inflatable slide in the water slide area.

Lounge chairs surrounded each pool, a lifeguard stand was placed by the adult pool, and chairs encircled the fire pit.

Its always neat when the members can visualize and get excited about it, Biggs said. Were ready to swim.

Karson Van Scoyoc, 10, and his younger brothers, Kenan and Kolton, got in the spirit by repeatedly going down the inflatable slide.

This is going to be awesome, Karson said. The water slide sounds super cool, and the pool is really big.

His grandmother, Karen Mamuzic, said she is looking forward to bringing the boys to the pool.

Its phenomenal, Mamuzic said. The boys are very excited.

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Pinehurst Country Club Unveils Proposed $4.2M Pool Complex

The global geopolitical landscape couldnt be more complicated than it already is. There is a war in the Middle East engulfing Iraq. An international US-led coalition including Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia is hammering Islamic State, a terrorist outfit with wider ambitions of establishing a regional caliphate.

Meanwhile, Libyan oil production continues to stutter. Nigeria and other West African oil and gas prospection zones hit by the Ebola virus have their own catalog of troubles. The UK was until last week in danger of breaking-up had the Scots not voted against it. Several upstream and downstream facilities in wider Europe are undergoing seasonal maintenance. Yet the Brent front month futures contract for November delivery, a common proxy for oil prices on the world market, keeps slipping lower, trading below $97 per barrel at the time of writing this article.

And further it should slip, as supply-side analysts have been saying for better parts of 12 months. It was inherently frustrating to see rebuttals over the period from paper traders using the risk premium as a pretext and trumping supply-demand realities in the process. Some even confidently predicted that at least $10 worth of risk froth per barrel was something the market should get used to.

English: Oil Rig, Cromarty, Scotland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, why is it dissipating now with a tacit acknowledgement in most trading circles that shorting Brent is the right call for the moment? First and foremost, Brent is currently suffering from risk fatigue. As Price Futures analyst Phil Flynn concurred with me last year, there was always an inherent danger of the market repeatedly recording the risk and simply pricing in that level by default should there be no reduction in tension. That has pretty much been the case since the initial Iranian Nuclear standoff and onset of the Libyan Civil War in 2012. Simply put, risk no longer weighs as heavy as it used to.

Secondly, there is clear evidence that not only is the US consuming less crude oil, but it is also importing less on the back rising domestic oil production. The country is unlikely to export oil over the medium term. However, by importing less, the US has created incremental barrels in the global supply pool. Exporters, especially West African ones, are diverting crude oil cargoes destined for the US to Asia, something which OPEC has also acknowledged.

Thirdly, OECD demand has been tepid while of late Chinas demand has been as erratic as its macroeconomic data. All of this has tilted the balance in favor of buyers as hedge funds found out over the summer.

Using the often abused only way is long logic, back in June many hedge fund managers totally ignored the wider dynamic to collectively hold just short of 600 million paper barrels on their books. They were banking on backwardation when the Brent price was well into three figures.

However, intelligent buying by physical traders eyeing cargoes without firm buyers made contango set in. That left hedge funds with massive losses as the benchmark first slipped and then got stuck below $100. It felt great that real traders taught speculators a simple lesson you can only ignore the physical market up to a certain point. The lesson was duly learnt as net long positions for the Brent contract have been in general retreat since, according the ICE data.

In January, I forecast a Brent price range of US$90 to 105 for 2014 and will be sticking to an upper median of the said range. However, a floor of $95 or a dollar or two lower is very plausible at the moment and reflective of market reality. So theres no excuse for not going short over the short-term. Yet, the current state of affairs wont last into the winter.

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Going Short on Brent Futures Needs No Excuse

NORMAL The Edwardsville swimming team is no longer one of the best kept secrets in the southern Illinois swimming landscape.

The Tigers, who have never been able to compete as a team before this season, won eight of 12 varsity events on Saturday at the Iron Invitational in Normal to win their first-ever meet in their first try.

Thanks to the generous donation of Sharon Fruit, along with the tireless effort of the EGHM Foundation, EHS has its own pool the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center and its own team. Prior to this season, the Tigers only were allowed to compete in the postseason as individuals.

I feel like this was a collective of all the work put in over the last 50 years of Edwardsville swimmers in high school and club, said Edwardsville head coach Christian Rhoten, who swam for the Tigers during his prep career. In the high school world, this is the first time weve come out and shown our face. I think we proved that even though we are brand new, we are a strong team and we plan on making some serious waves this season and in the future.

Edwardsville won Saturdays eight-team Iron Invitational with 370 team points. The Tigers were followed by: host Normal Community (340), Lincoln-Way East (314), Metamora (276), Galesburg (261), United Township (177) and Normal West (165).

Saturday wasnt the first time the Tigers have been in the pool. Many of them have been with the YMCA Breakers a club team coached by Bob Rettle along with Water Works and Sunset Hills summer teams.

It was, however, the first time the swimmers have been in the pool with the Tiger paw on their swimsuits.

This kind of brings us to tears, because we have been waiting for this moment for so long, said junior Kate May, who won two individuals events, including setting a pool record in the 100-yard butterfly.

May continued, When it was confirmed that Sharon Fruit had donated so much and then we had others donate even more money and that we were going to have this really nice pool, I just thought about it one night and I was so happy.

May also won the 100-yard freestyle.

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GIRLS' SWIMMING: EHS swimmers make exciting debut