News

Primary addition housing classes

By JOE CAGLE Wednesday, December 3, 2014 7:46 AM CST

The Arab Tribune

The new addition to the Arab Primary School has been completed and is being used for music and science lab classes.

Next school year principal Dr. Leah Keith plans on using the addition for much more.

We will have six, second grade classrooms by the beginning of next school year, Keith said. There will still be some second grade classes in the original building, however.

These new classrooms have several technological aspects which, Keith said, will be useful.

Each room has a projector and (smart) board, she said. Teachers in these classrooms will also have access to their own heating and cooling units. Were trying to keep these new rooms cutting edge and basically making them an extension of what we already do.

The new classrooms also have convenient technology such as motion detectors to control the rooms lights.

Read the rest here:
Primary addition housing classes

Iowa State University's C6 simulator can take you inside a burning house, an active shooter situation and even a fire aboard the International Space Station.

View video

The C6 is a cube-shaped room in Howe Hall on the ISU campus in Ames. Every side of the cube lights up with images and with the addition of 3D glasses people go through a realistic virtual experience.

"Remember, it's a really, really heavy thing to do to close the hatch," said Nir Keren, an ISU associate professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

"Everything becomes real," said Elmer Tse, a junior in Aerospace Engineering at ISU.

"Some of the video games are getting extremely good, life like, but what they're missing is a sense of depth, a sense of just presences and that's what the C6 brings," said Peter Carlson, a C6 project 3D artist.

The C6 is lit up by 100 million pixels, images made by a highly advanced projection system. Every single side measures 10 feet and each side of the cube-shaped room adds to a viewer's 3D experience.

"This is a very sophisticated lab that creates this real life experience," said Keren.

Keren and a kinesiology professor are using the C6 to study and test how humans make decisions and respond in stressful situations.

"We measure heart rate, blood pressure," said Keren.

See the original post here:
Cube-shaped ISU room is like nothing you've ever seen

Mutli-Level Addition and Renovation in Potomac, MD (time lapse)
As one of the original residents of the Avenel community in Potomac, MD, the homeowners had never made any changes to their home and dreamed of a much-needed renovation. After talking with...

By: BOWAVideo

Here is the original post:
Mutli-Level Addition and Renovation in Potomac, MD (time lapse) - Video

If you're shopping for a media-streaming box for your living room, you should include a Chromebox on your list of contenders in addition to the usual suspects (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, et al).

A Chromebox is a small desktop computer that runs Google's Chrome operating system, and you can use one to access virtually any streaming video service available on the web. They're considerably more flexible than those sub-$100 set-top boxes, but they can't do as much as a Windows-based media PC. On the other hand, they're free from security and update hassles and they're a whole lot cheaper. You can usually find models from HP and Asuson sale for less than their $180 list prices.

Chromeboxes practically beg to have their HDMI ports connected to televisions, so I asked Asus to loan me one for testing. (The company sent a much pricier Intel Core i3 model, but the cheaper Celeron-based Chromeboxes should suffice for basic media streaming.) The Chromebox quickly became a powerful tool in my media-streaming arsenal, going places that other set-top boxes can't. But it took some work to whip it into TV-friendly shape. Here's what I did.

Setting up a Chromebox is easy if you already have a Google account and use the Chrome browser on other devices. Just plug in your username and password, and the Chromebox syncs all your bookmarks and apps automatically. You could even use another computer to assemble a list of bookmarked streaming sites.

After setup, I ran into a problem that I'd fully expected: My Sharp TV was cropping out the edges of the desktop, so I could barely see the row of icons on the bottom of the screen. A lot of TVs do this for any device you plug in, but most set-top boxes and consoles build an alignment tool into the setup process. Fortunately, Chrome OS hides a similar TV alignment tool under Settings > Device > Display settings, letting me shrink the screen down to size.

Scaling the Chromebox's resolution back to 720 was a necessary sacrifice to make icons and menu options legible.

After aligning the display, the layout still needed improvement. Looking at my 40-inch TV from about 12 feet away, all the screen elementsfrom the the icons and the address bar to the actual Web pageslookedpuny. That's because the OS is primarily designed for desktop, not living-room, use. So I went back to the settings menu to consider my options.

Chrome includes two simple ways to scale web content: You can change the size of text alone, or you can set a higher default zoom level so everything looks larger. But these settings don't affect the size of the icons in apps, bookmarks, or the address bar, all of which was too small for my liking.

The only solution was a compromise: I went into the display settings menu, and reduced the screen resolution to 720p. This increased the size of icons and the address bar, and allowed me to keep page zoom at 100 percent at the expense of video quality. I also increased font size to Very Large and enabled Show large mouse cursor in the accessibility settings.

Once everything was set up, the first thing I did was visit Hulu.com. While most set-top boxes require an $8 per month Hulu Plus subscription to watch full episodes, Hulu's desktop website includes full episodes of many recent TV shows for free. For Hulu subscribers, this alone could justify the price of a Chromebox. You could ditch your subscription and have the hardware pay for itself after a couple of years.

See the article here:
How to turn a Chromebox into a video-streaming workhorse

CHRISTOPHER TRENTO/Photos

SSP Architectural Group CEO Jeanne Perantoni talks about plans for the district if the $49.8 million referendum question passes. School and municipal officials made one of their final pitches to residents at a community forum on Nov. 19, urging them to 'Vote Schools, Vote Kids' during the Dec. 9 bond referendum meeting.Fort Lee interim Superintendent Paul Saxton speaks about the school referendum. 'This, of all the plans, is not only the most creative but is financially and fiscally responsible and the

FORT LEE - With the Dec. 9 bond referendum to expand district space drawing closer, school and municipal officials made one of their final pitches to residents at a community forum on Nov. 19, urging them to "Vote Schools, Vote Kids."

The $49.8 million plan calls for a ten-room addition to School No. 2 for Pre-K and special needs students, the relocation of the district's fifth- and sixth-graders into a new 33-classroom wing at the middle school and upgrades to the high school track and field area.

CHRISTOPHER TRENTO/Photos

most efficient,' he said.

If approved, the expansions will end an overcrowding strain that has forced art, music and other classes into libraries and hallways and students at School No. 2 into trailers and provide enough space for the 400 students expected to enroll in the school system in the next five years.

The district has absorbed the addition of 350 students over the past five years with no new construction.

Mayor Mark Sokolich was also present during the Nov. 19 community forum to speak on the school referendum.

"This, of all the plans, is not only the most creative but is financially and fiscally responsible and the most efficient," said interim Superintendent Paul Saxton, noting that the reconfigured middle school will allow students to better identify with each other and create a school culture.

See the original post:
Officials make final pitches for bond proposal

Tuesday, November, 25, 2014 - 1:01:33 PM

Six-room addition at St. Therese to open in September

A six-classroom addition at St. Therese of Lisieux should be completed by the time school returns next September, says the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. A start date for the work has not been determined, the board says, but work is expected to be done by Sept. 1. The tender for the project was awarded earlier this month to DeFaveri Group, which had the lowest bid at $2.1-million. Expansion of the west Mountain elementary school was the top project on the boards wish list to the Ministry of Education in 2013. The addition will feature a number of energy efficient features such as extra insulation and sensors to turn off lightning when a room is not in use. There will also be parking lot improvements to ease congestion.

Excerpt from:
Six-room addition at St. Therese to open in September

Instead of following the typical studio apartment floor plan and outfitting Pila's place with a galley kitchen, closet-sized bathroom, and a bedroom the size of a prison cell, PKMN developed a solution that allowed her to have several spacious roomsjust not all at once. PKMN Architecture

Instead of following the typical studio apartment floor plan and outfitting Pila's place with a galley kitchen, closet-sized bathroom, and a bedroom the size of a prison cell, PKMN developed a solution that allowed her to have several spacious roomsjust not all at once.

A series of rolling storage units double as walls.

A series of rolling storage units double as walls.

Industrial tracks, typically used to support rolling bookshelves at libraries are given new life in this atypical application. PKMN Architecture

Industrial tracks, typically used to support rolling bookshelves at libraries are given new life in this atypical application.

The itinerant nature of the walls means each of these spaces can be larger, about 160 square feet, than if they were permanently defined. PKMN Architecture

The itinerant nature of the walls means each of these spaces can be larger, about 160 square feet, than if they were permanently defined.

Special features, like a hidden Murphy Bed, are built into the boxes. PKMN Architecture

Special features, like a hidden Murphy Bed, are built into the boxes.

More:
Moving Walls Transform a Tiny Apartment Into a 5-Room Home

4 hours 29 minutes ago

Junior League of Lafayette teamed up with the residents of the New Life Center, a shelter for women and children in Opelousas, for their fall service project. The New Life Center operates 365 days a year and shelters up to 58 women and their children in a hotel room style setting. The Center provides three hot meals a day, a licensed Class A child care center, a substance abuse program in addition to supportive services to help secure employment, permanent housing and other services that may be needed. The provisional class combined four projects into one comprehensive approach to make a real impact on the New Life Center, thereby allowing each Junior League member a fulfilling opportunity to utilize her own unique abilities and time to truly make the most impact in the lives of the shelter's women and children.

The project included two life skills classes consisting of tips for resume writing, interview skills, appropriate work wear and budgeting. League provisional member Kelly Grenier, who helped organize the life skills class portion of the project, commented that "the class was intended to last for 30 minutes, but the residents all showed such genuine interest and care in what we had to teach them that we ended up talking for an hour and half. Some of the residents have even emailed us their resumes to review."

The second portion of the project was a clothing/toy drive in which clothing, toiletries, shoes, purses, and toys were donated by active Junior League of Lafayette members and sustainers, and sororities within the community. Items were organized and delivered to the residents of the shelter.

Repainting and organizing the shelter's recreational room was another huge portion of the project. Several members teamed up to paint and build furniture for the recreational room which serves as an area for residents to hang out as well as an overflow room when the shelter is at maximum capacity. A large mural was painted on the wall complete with handprints of all residents and Junior League provisional members.

Last but not least, children of the shelter were treated to a morning of arts and crafts during which they enjoyed making Christmas stockings and toy snowmen.

Provisional Chairman Alise Hagan stated, "This year I selected the theme We Can Do It!' as the class motto, and the provisionals have shown us that yes, they can do whatever they put their minds and hearts to. Our provisional members have first-hand experience now being 'granted the joy of filling someone's needs'. The class advisers and I are immensely proud of the creativity, dedication, and generosity of time and spirit the provisional members have demonstrated. The League continues to be inspired by each of the amazing talents the provisional members graciously share with the League, the New Life Center, and the community."

Read the original here:
Junior League of Lafayette Provisional Members Make an Impact

Enlarge Image

Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press The Elma Hotel and Beverage Room has been closed and for sale for years. It remains padlocked along Highway 15.

NOTRE DAME DE LOURDES -- Angelo Mondragon remembers growing up hanging around picket lines in California with his mom and dad, who were union organizers.

His dad worked along side Cesar Chavez, the migrant farm worker who founded the Farm Workers Union in the United States, and who became that country's most famous Latino American civil rights leader.

Mondragon, as a child, would accompany his dad to Chavez's house, and was taken along on union rallies. "I didn't understand what these marches were about. I basically grew up in the (union) headquarters in southern California."

How Mondragon wound up in the heart of southern Manitoba owning a hotel beverage room -- and spearheading a drive to save small rural beverage rooms like his from vanishing off the landscape -- is another story. The small hotel bars scattered across the countryside have outlasted many a school, church and grain elevator, and are just as steeped in history, albeit a different kind. But the days for many of the small beverage rooms appears to be coming to an end.

"A friend of mine met a friend of hers," explained Mondragon, who is of Mexican descent, over a beer one afternoon in the Notre Dame Hotel.

His friend met a woman from Notre Dame de Lourdes, about 110 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, who was visiting California, and they ended up marrying. Mondragon flew in from California for the wedding -- that was 10 years ago -- and met the bride's friend. A long-distance relationship ensued. He and Tina Bourdeaud'hui married seven years ago. They tried living in California but Tina, who is a physiotherapist, missed home. They returned five years ago. "How do you decide where to live? She's the boss," replied Mondragon, who is 37.

In Santa Cruz, his early attempts at a career ranged from police officer trainee to stock broker. In Notre Dame, he embraced that rural ethic of wearing several hats. He worked in a pig barn, drove a combine for a couple summers, sold wind turbines, and, most recently, worked for Manitoba Hydro.

The couple have two children with a third on the way, and live on an acreage outside town. "What we have here we could never have in California," Mondragon said.

Read this article:
Closing time: The hotel beverage room is slowly disappearing from the rural landscape

Written by Gary Simeone, oysterbay@antonnews.com Thursday, 20 November 2014 00:00

What better way to celebrate a 100th birthday than by having a new room inauguration filled with local residents, live music and cocktails and scrumptious hors doeuvres. That is what happened at the Locust Valley Library Sunday evening, Nov. 9, as the community room was officially renamed the Matinecock Neighborhood Association Community Room. Proceeds from the event went to the restoration of the new room.

Speakers at the centennial celebration included Library Board of Trustees President Charles Brisbane, Library Administrative Director Kathy Smith, Locust Valley Historical Society President Herb Schierhorst and Matinecock Nation Chief Little Running Fox.

Its been 100 years since the Matinecock Neighborhood House was built through gifts of money from local residents, said Brisbane, who is also president of the Matinecock Neighborhood Association. The building featured a theater, an infirmary and there was a kitchen and a bowling alley in the basement. The basement also housed the Locust Valley Fire Department at that time.

In 1923, local resident Frank Doubleday added a library wing to the building and in 1936 the Matinecock Neighborhood Association turned over the building and grounds to the Locust Valley Library.

Brisbane said that people are making the library their neighborhood house once again.

The library offers multiple programs for people of all ages, was a place of refuge and a gathering place after Superstorm Sandy and the newly renamed community room attracts a couple of thousand people a year for events, said Brisbane.

Smith said that the people of the Matinecock Nation have been very generous with the library over the years.

They have done a lot of nice things as far as helping with the upkeep of the library and recently donated $25,000 for the renovation of this room, said Smith.

There are big plans in the librarys second century for renovations that will help to continually improve the look of the buildings interior and exterior.

Go here to see the original:
Library Celebrates 100th Birthday