NORTHWOOD | Construction crews are making progress on an addition to the Northwood Public Library.

The approximately 2,200-square-foot addition will be used for a public meeting room. Benefactors Gregg Olson and his wife, Sandy Olson, are paying for construction.

The exterior is up and enclosed. Crews are working on the sidewalk leading to the building and the addition's brick exterior.

When completed, the addition will have a separate entrance and also be accessible through the library, 906 First Ave. S.

Officials are hopeful the project will be completed by the end of the year, said Library Director Connie Kenison. Construction began in early June.

The space also will contain a kitchenette and restroom. It will be handicapped-accessible.

Reservations will be made through Northwoods city offices.

-- Molly Montag

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Northwood library addition taking shape

Final Stages of the Family Room Addition

By: Lane Homes Remodeling

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Final Stages of the Family Room Addition - Video

This image from Microsoft Research's "Mano a Mano" paper shows how three projector/Kinect pairs can create believable 3D virtual objects from two different perspectives.

Microsoft may be taking an official wait and see approach before following companies like Oculus and Sony down the virtual reality headset path. That isn't stopping the company's research arm from looking into interesting ways to use Kinect and projector technology to create holodeck-style augmented reality experiences in the living room, though. Microsoft Research has prepared a number of interesting demos and papers on these lines for the Association for Computing Machinery's User Interface Software and Technology Symposium, showing off just how far those efforts have come and how they could lead to interesting new forms of gaming in the future.

The first project, RoomAlive, promises to "transform any room into an immersive augmented virtual gaming experience," as the researchers put it. The system uses six paired projector/Kinect units, mounted to the ceiling so they have somewhat overlapping fields of view. These units can auto-calibrate themselves with a series of projected light patterns, transforming their individual Kinect depth maps into a unified 3D point-cloud model of the room.

From there, RoomAlive translates the point data into a series of vertical and horizontal surfaces representing the walls and furniture, then translates that into a 3D environment in the Unity game engine. Using that virtual representation of the room, the system then figures out how to project a unified image on those walls and surfaces, warping the projection so it appears correct on each surface. The effect is akin to transforming the entire room into a computer screen or monitor, complete with player-tracking through the array of Kinect cameras.

In addition to some non-interactive demos, MSR showed off a few gaming concepts that use the system. In one "whack-a-mole" game, users, tracked by Kinect, can touch or shoot at critters that appear on the wall. In another, a gun-toting character controlled with a handheld controller runs across the wall, down on to a table, and then onto the floor while being chased by robots. The final demo puts virtual spike traps on the wall for users to dodge and bathes the room in red when and ifthey are hit.

In a similar ACM demo, called Mano-a-Mano, a team of two MSR researchers uses a trio of projector/Kinect combos to create an augmented reality effect that provides correct three-dimensional perspectives for two different users. Each projector displays virtual objects against the walls, floors, and fixtures in a room in such a way that they appear to float in the middle of the room. The apparent perspective and size of those virtual objects changes as the user's position and head angle are detected by Kinectto give the illusion of real depth and position in the middle of the room.

That's a decent faux 3D solution for a single user, but how can such a system account for two people looking at a virtual object from different angles? That's where the multiple projector setup comes in, giving each user their own view of the virtual scene. By "assuming that each user is unaware of graphics projected on the wall behind them or their own bodies," as the researchers explain, the system can show two different perspectives of the same scene that look correct to each user. In the demo, the system is shown for a simple game of catch and for a "combat style game" where a user can summon fireballs in their hand and fling them at the user on the other side of the room.

The last of MSR's ACM demos that might be of interest to gamers and game makers is Handpose, a system that adds a degree of detail and articulation to Kinect-based hand and finger tracking. With a new tracking algorithm, researchers appear to be able to distinguish individual fingers and hand gestures with much more detail than was previously possible with a standard Kinect v2 sensor.

Users are shown throwing complex finger positions at many different angles while the tracking system quickly and accurately tracks those positions in a 3D model of the hand. This tracking is "robust to tracking failure," works up to "several meters" away from the sensor, and works regardless of where the camera is positioned, even if the tracking camera is moving, the researchers say. In a video demo, users are shown using the system to easily grasp and move virtual objects simply by moving their fingers together and apart.

These kinds of augmented reality experiments aren't exactly new for Microsoft and Microsoft Research. MSR's latest demos pivot off of IllumiRoom, an impressive demonstration from last year that showed projectors being used to extend game action past the bounds of a TV screen. And let's not forget that Microsoft's 2012 "Project Fortaleza" leak and subsequent patents both point to an interest in heads-up augmented reality displays.

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Microsoft Research demos our potential, holodeck-style gaming future

By Ian Bauer, Milpitas Post

Owners of Bay 101 Casino have solely funded a Nov. 4 ballot measure that if passed by voters could allow the relocation of the card room from San Jose to Milpitas, according to campaign finance reports released this week.

Bumb & Associates Inc. and affiliated entities including Bay 101 contributed nearly $314,000 in the effort to bring their card room here.

By contrast, Voters Against Measure E, the grassroots group opposed to a card room's presence in the city, raised $5,550.

Filed on Monday, state-mandated Fair Political Practice Commission statements disclosed campaign monies raised by Milpitas' mayoral and city council candidates as well as both Measure E campaigns for the filing period July 1 through Sept. 30, for all who have committees.

The Bumb family, who filed their required campaign statements Tuesday and Wednesday, hope Measure E's passage will allow a card room to operate here. Proposed is a 10.5-percent card room tax that will result in approximately $8.4 million in annual general fund revenue to the city and possibly gross $80-million each year for the card room operator. If voters pass the measure, the card room would locate on the outskirts of the city, west of McCarthy Boulevard.

To counter the card room's advances here, No on E received a $2,000 donation from the group's spokesperson, former Milpitas school trustee Mike McInerney. Group member Jerry Epps also donated $2,500.

In addition, No on E also received $100 from K & P Reed Enterprises Inc. of Milpitas; $200 from Earl Riebold of Milpitas; and $350 from Elizabeth Cilker, co-owner of Cilker Farms and Milpitas Center -- a West Calaveras Boulevard shopping center not far from the possible card room site.

Mayor and city council races

Eleven people are running for Milpitas City Council this year, with three stepping forward as mayoral contenders. They are Daniel Bobay, 59, vice president of Milpitas Unified's Board of Education; Mayor Jose "Joe" Esteves, 67, who's running for re-election; and retired engineer Robert Marini.

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Measure E campaign discloses $250,000 in donations for card room in Milpitas

Photo by Shawn Linenberger. Enlarge photo.

Tonganoxie City Fire Department built an addition to its station that provides a full kitchen, men's and women's showers and bathrooms, four bunk rooms and a living room space. Firefighters did much of the construction work themselves. Pictured, from left, are Chief Dave Bennett, full-time firefighter Alexis Shanks and Deputy Chief John Callaghan. Bennett said the department is planning for an open house later this fall.

The red button is a popular conversation piece.

Inside the Tonganoxie City Fire Stations building addition is a red button.

Fire Chief Dave Bennett said the red button triggers a popular question.

What exactly does it do?

It shuts down the kitchen, Bennett said.

If firefighters are summoned to a call in the middle of preparing a meal, a push of the button turns off the stove and oven.

With firefighters hurrying off to a fire call, a push of the button ensures theres not a fire in the kitchen upon their return.

The kitchen is part of a 2,800-square-foot addition just north of the existing station that firefighters finished building at the beginning of this year.

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Tonganoxie firefighters enjoying quarters they constructed

The flickering flames can't seem to erase the chill that pervades the campfire. The plentiful goose bumps have nothing to do with the temperature. They're the result of the ghost stories being told.

The storyteller swears these aren't far-fetched fables but all-too-true accounts. There are, of course, doubters around the circle. Perhaps a midnight trip to the morgue will change their minds.

In the Arkansas Ozarks, the proprietors don't shy away from the Crescent Hotel's dubious past as a Depression-era hospital for cancer patients hoping for miracle cures. It's fodder for hair-raising, spine-tingling tales sure to delight, and terrify, guests.

For those who don't mind spending the night with one eye open, there are haunted hotels scattered across the country. When checking in, visitors should understand they may be sharing their rooms with spirits that never checked out.

The 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa (75 Prospect Ave., Eureka Springs, Ark.; 855-725-5720; crescent-hotel.com) bills itself as "America's Most Haunted Hotel" and has built the business by sharing the creepy past of con man Norman Baker's Cancer Curable Hospital. Guides in period costume lead visitors on nightly tours. On the third floor, they learn of how the squeaking wheels of a stretcher have lured guests into the corridor.

"They would see a lady in a starched white nurse's outfit pushing a gurney, with a body covered with a sheet, going down the hallway," recalled Bill Ott, the hotel's marketing director. "And then she would just kind of disappear."

As with the campfire tales, the tours end in the basement, where the morgue was in the 1930s.

"There's a lot more activity down there than other places in the hotel," Ott added of spirited goings-on.

The Otesaga of Cooperstown (60 Lake St., Cooperstown, N.Y.; 607-547-9931; otesaga.com) isn't far from the former home of Louis C. Jones, author of "Things That Go Bump in the Night." Fittingly, the hotel has had plenty of inexplicably eerie happenings, many of them linked to the years when The Otesaga also housed an all-girls school.

"They claim that children are running up and down our hallways, having fun and making noise," director of sales Bob Faller said of his co-workers' experiences.

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Take a room at these haunted hotels, if you can last the night

School District 279 (Official Publication) ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS PROJECT IDENTIFICATION: ISD 279 Osseo Area Schools will be receiving sealed bids for each of the following three (3) individual Projects in accordance with the Bidding Documents prepared by Armstrong, Torseth, Skold & Rydeen, Inc., Architects and Engineers, 8501 Golden Valley Road, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55427-4414: Earthwork and Site Utilities Contract for Additions and Alterations to Osseo Senior High School, 317 2nd Avenue Northwest, Osseo, MN 55369; Earthwork and Site Utilities Contract for Additions and Alterations to Maple Grove Senior High School, 9800 Fernbrook Lane North, Maple Grove, MN 55369; Earthwork and Site Utilities Contract for Addition and Alterations to Park Center Senior High School, 7300 Brooklyn Boulevard, Brooklyn Park, MN 55443. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Work at each Site consists of site demolition, erosion and sediment control, rough and finish grading site, site utilities and earthwork associated with the preparation of the building pad for each addition as follows: Osseo Senior High School 3 Additions: Classroom Addition: 4,070 SF Footprint. Weight Room Addition: 4,290 SF Footprint. Music Room Addition: 2,600 SF Footprint. Maple Grove Senior High School 2 Additions: Gym Addition: 9,460 SF Footprint. Classroom Addition: 3,140 SF Footprint. Park Center Senior High School 1 Addition: Classroom Addition: 5,450 SF Footprint. TYPE OF BIDS: Separate Bidding Documents (Drawings and Project Manual) have been prepared for each of the three (3) Projects. Bidders are not required to submit a Bid on all Projects but may elect to submit a separate Bid for the Project(s) they wish to submit a Bid on. Single Lump Sum Bids will be received for the total Scope of the Work included under each separate Project. Bidders are invited, if they elect, to submit a Combination Bid for the Work for all three (3) Projects. BID DATE: Bids shall be received on or before October 9, 2014 at 2:00 PM, local time. DELIVERY AND OPENING OF BIDS: Bids shall be delivered to and opened at the School District Educational Service Center, located at 11200 93rd Avenue North, Maple Grove, MN. Bids will be opened publicly and read aloud immediately after the specified time of closure for bidding period. Interested parties are invited to attend the opening of the bids. BID SECURITY: Bids shall be accompanied by a certified check, cashiers check or Bid Bond in the amount of 5 percent of the Base Bid submitted, made payable to the Owner, as a guarantee that the Bidder will, if awarded the contract, enter into a contract with the Owner in accordance with Bid submitted and the Contract Documents. EXAMINATION OF DOCUMENTS: Bidding Documents, including Drawings, Project Manual and addenda, may be examined at Architects office and at following locations: Minnesota Builders Exchange 1123 Glenwood Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55405 Telephone Number: 612-381-2620 Fax Number: 612-381-2621 PROCUREMENT OF DOCUMENTS BY PRIME BIDDERS: Prime Bidders may secure one set of Bidding Documents, from Thomas Reprographics, 801 2nd Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55404; Telephone Number: 612-374-1120; Toll-Free Number: 800-328-7154; Fax Number: 612-374-1129, upon submittal of a separate deposit check of $50.00 made out to Armstrong, Torseth, Skold & Rydeen, Inc., for each set of Documents. Deposit check will be refunded for each complete set of Documents returned to Thomas Reprographics,(NOTE: Do Not return Documents to the Architect ATS&R) within 10 days after bid date, in good condition as determined by Thomas Reprographics. Plan Holders List can be obtained by calling Thomas Reprographics. PROCUREMENT OF ADDENDA: Architect will produce and Thomas Reprographics will issue, free of charge, a copy of each addendum to holders of each set of Bidding Documents procured by deposit and to Exchanges/Planrooms. OWNERS RIGHTS: Owner reserves the right to reject a Bid which is incomplete or irregular, the right to waive informalities or irregularities in a Bid received, and the right to accept a Bid which in the Owners judgment is in Owners best interests. BIDS REQUESTED BY: ISD 279 Osseo Area Schools 11200 93rd Avenue North Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369 Jacki Girtz, Cler 284610 09/25/14 Advertisment for Bids

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The Dolphins locker room seemed more crowded Monday, and the training room likely a bit more spacious, as a handful of injured players, including center Mike Pouncey, took advantage of the bye week and appear on the brink of returning to action.

Happiest Ive been in a while, a grinning Pouncey said after practicing with no limitations with the starting unit.

Although plenty of work remains before Green Bay visits, its possible that Sunday also could mark the return of linebacker Koa Misi, running back Knowshon Moreno, defensive end Terrence Fede, defensive tackle Randy Starks and guard Shelley Smith from injury.

In addition, safety Reshad Jones is returning from a four-game suspension for violating the leagues drug policy and linebacker Chris McCain is back after missing the Oakland game for personal reasons.

So we have our complete football team, Pouncey said. So were ready to roll.

Samson Satele was signed Aug. 2 and has performed well at center in Pounceys absence, raising the possibility that one of them could see time at guard. Pouncey pointed out he was an All-American guard at Florida who was forced to move to center because of the Dolphins needs. Both men have said theyre willing to play wherever coaches decide.

The suspension of Jones was lifted, presumably putting the secondary intact for the first time this season, although cornerback Cortland Finnegan was not present for the portion of Mondays practice open to the media.

Jones return comes as the Dolphins are preparing to face quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has a 114.8 rating, 12 touchdown passes and only one interception.

I feel real good, Jones said. Went around, made a couple of plays. Its just good to be back out there.

Morenos status remains cloudy. He dislocated his left elbow Sept. 14 at Buffalo and last week told The Palm Beach Post he expected to miss another month, but signs are pointing toward a return sooner rather than later. Moreno was taking on a heavier workload in practice while wearing a wrap, and the Dolphins released running back Orleans Darkwa, leaving only starter Lamar Miller, Daniel Thomas and Damien Williams at running back.

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Miami Dolphins get healthy: Pouncey, other key players might return

New York Its a common enough dream for those who live in cramped urban spaces: Suddenly you notice a door you never realized was there and beyond it a room you didnt know you had or maybe an entire wing of your home, just waiting to be occupied.

Thats more or less what happened to Chris Cooper and Jennifer Hanlin last year. Only it wasnt a dream.

Cooper, 46, an architect, explains their discovery of an additional 325 square feet in their Brooklyn condominium as merely a matter of applying what he calls reductive simplicity. He and Hanlin, 44, an interior designer, were inspired by Japanese design, he said: In Tokyo, theres the hustle and bustle, and then you walk into a garden or a tatami room and theres calm. We wanted our home to be neutral, contemplative and calm.

True, that always makes a space feel bigger. But it also helps if you actually happen to have a room you had sort of forgotten about an unused mezzanine, say. To be fair, it wasnt exactly a mezzanine when the couple bought the apartment in 2005, for $675,000. Most of it was a crawl space that housed the water heater.

Cooper, Hanlin and their 11-year-old twins, Mia and Felix, live on the fifth and sixth floors of a Cobble Hill building that once housed the School of the Sacred Hearts and was converted into a 34-unit condominium in the 1980s. Before the conversion, their apartment was three separate spaces: a classroom, a boys bathroom and a mechanical room.

They began their act of reductive simplicity by gutting most of the apartment. To create a soaring living area that would feel bigger than it was, they raised part of the ceiling on the lower level. The rest of the lower-level ceiling was dropped, so they could insert a library and television room into the crawl space above. They used slatted wood partitions to bring light into those rooms from the living area below, and added lots of built-in storage.

And like magic, when the $300,000 renovation was complete, their apartment had gone from 1,375 square feet to 1,700 square feet not an enormous addition, but an addition nonetheless.

To ensure privacy, each of the bedrooms is on a different level.

Continued here:
Lost and Found: The Elastic Interior

RANDOLPH TWP. -- Mayor Jim Loveys and Library Director Anita Freeman welcomed the community to the library's newly constructed meeting room with an official ribbon cutting on Saturday.

With twice the amount of square footage as the previous room, the room was well received by visitors.

The library's funds paid for the work, which took seven months to complete, at a cost of $285,778.

The past space was 1,000 square feet and had 74 chairs that packed the room. The new space is twice that. Often, adult programs would be filled with attendees from an assisted living facility who would arrive by bus.

Some had wheelchairs or oxygen tanks.

"We had to start removing chairs to get them in. Some really popular programs would book solid. If you didnt register online you didnt get in and some people were not happy about that," Freeman said.

In order to follow fire code restrictions, the library needed to provide more room for their amount of visitors. The new meeting room now has two times the space with built in storage areas as well.

When the building was renovated back in 1985, every space was filled.

There was previously one closet which then became the technology room with computer equipment.

We could still store stuff but not the way we had hoped for, adds Freeman. With the various renovations weve done in the past six years -everything is improved with how we use the space. My maintenance person now has a closet that is big enough to hold her equipment and she has some storage as well which she didnt have before. Now we have more space for everybody.

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New meeting room dedicated at Randolph Library