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Next Day Blinds Columbia Maryland offers high-quality window treatments, utilizing only the highest-quality goods for their wide range of window treatment products. All of their products are custom made in their own state-of-the-art factory in Jessup, MD (in the Columbia, Maryland area).

They now have 35 stores throughout the Washington, DC and Baltimore MD metro areas, showcasing a wide variety of window blinds, shades, shutters, and cornices in styles that suit every taste. They’ve also dedicated themselves to top-notch customer service, including low-price guarantees on their products. Their Columbia MD store has garnered rave reviews on their impeccable customer service.

So, what are you waiting for? Have you got drab rooms in your home that are desperately in need of an upgrade? Looking to create that perfect atmosphere for rest and relaxation?
Next Day Blinds is your answer. They also feature a FREE in-home consultation designed to best pin-down exactly the right style and color scheme for you and your home.

And if you don’t feel like leaving the comfort of your own home, shop Next Day Blinds online and have your window coverings shipped right to your door.

Next Day Blinds – Stylish, classy window treatments and acclaimed customer service. A winning combination!

When it comes to five-star hotels, Dubai offers something for everyone’s taste. There is certainly a consistency in quality, offering accommodations that are second-to-none in terms of taste and design, and exceptional in hospitality. Guests will be given the royal treatment, and are surrounded by luxury in one of the most exciting cities in the region. There are ample beaches, and a wonderfully complex urban life, and tourist explorations in any area will reveal more hidden jewels in this complex desert.

In the past few years there has been an unexpected boom in terms of culture and cultural production. The art scene here is thriving, and there is an elegance and sophistication here that makes for an active artistic community and an involved and educated public. One of the welcome products of this favorable mix is the BAF Art School. Part of BAF 2009, which is held in the historic district of Al Bastakiya, BAF Art School is the brain-child of Sara Raza.

Sara Raza, curator of BAF 2009 , has impressive credentials as the former curator of public arts programs at the Tate Modern. Based in London, she is also the co-editor of ArtsAsiaPacific Magazine, and she brings her visionary approach to BAF 2009. BAF Art School is a series of public programs presented in conjunction with the art fair, and consists of a series of panel discussions designed to investigate some of the more pressing issues of contemporary art that are specific to the UAE. Focusing on topics such as surveillance, collaboration, and the nature of artistic practice in today’s economy, BAF Art School is not just a presentation of ideas from scholars and practitioners, but is in fact a dialogue with the public. The intention is to promote lively discussion in conjunction with the well-attended and widely acclaimed BAF. By all accounts, the first Art School was very successful, and sets an impressive precedent for the art fairs to come.

Looking for a five-star hotel in Dubai? The selection is abundant, in this city where hospitality and comfort are tradition. Dubai is one of the most popular cities in the region, and it’s reputation is growing by leaps and bounds. Celebrities and business professionals alike recommend it with their preference for visiting this city over all others. It has a fantastic contrast of natural wonder and metropolitan stimulation, and there are plenty of things to fill your itinerary. If relaxation is on the menu, then there are spas and restaurants to fit the bill. If culture is desired, then there are dozens of galleries to quench your appetite.

One place to find a wonderful listing of the local galleries here is Art Dubai. This event, Art Dubai, is actually part of a larger vision that is significant in the cultural scene here. Sponsored by the DIFC, the Dubai International Finance Centre, Art Dubai is an annual event where the most lucrative art works are displayed in participating galleries around the city, and in some other strategic international locations. Art works and trends are discussed in round table forums, there are guest speakers, and a host of other related events dedicated to discussing the contemporary art scene. The focus, though, is the financial possibilities for the art works. While art and commerce may be forever at odds, the event does spark very lively conversation and debate.

Art Dubai is also a fantastic opportunity to get a feel for the contemporary directions in the local art scene. It’s a centralized event with multiple sponsors, and some of the more prominent galleries participate. So by simply following the gallery route for Art Dubai will lead to many unexpected finds. There are pockets of hidden treasures all around the city, and this is a splendid place to start looking. It is also a place to make inroads where there are already galleries that are well-connected to the international art marketplace.

For the seasoned traveler looking for the best of the best in a five-star hotel, Dubai graciously offers a sumptuous feast for the senses. The hotels are a splendid combination of old-world hospitality and new-world extravagance, to make sure that the guest is pampered and rejuvenated, and made to feel like a movie star. With the boom in reputation as a truly international city, with rising stars not only in real estate and technology, but also in global culture, there are plenty of movie stars around. Although the beaches and the shopping malls are enough to keep one distracted in world-class comfort, there is a culture of celebrity here that will please the trained eye.

One place where the lives of the movie stars are published in a rich, glossy format is Ahlan! magazine. This is the premiere magazine for celebrity news and gossip, and it also covers glamour and fashion. The result is magnificent eye candy, where all the latest trends are covered with an eye toward global pop culture. Following the most current waves in glamour, international celebrities find their way here for their boldest fashion risks, and some succeed exceedingly, and some fail magnificently. There is no middle ground here, of course, and the magazine’s experts are incisive and curious, qualities that lead the way in today’s global marketplace. Although the stories cover some of the most visible superstars as they travel the globe, the focus is especially keen toward Dubai culture and nightlife. Local stars, international celebrities who are staying in town, and global superstars of Hollywood and Bollywood who have a strong presence in Dubai will find themselves well-represented in these pages. Ahlan! speaks to the pulse of the complex world of the UAE, in its pop guises.

There is also a strong local investment in Dubai. Ahlan! always covers the most recent news on the DWC, or Dubai World Cup. The DWC is not only the world’s richest horse race, it is also one of the pre-eminent places to see and be seen in the region. National and international figures attend, and their presence is photographed for the pleasure of the readership. In March, 2009, the magazine sponsored a Glamour Studio, where the celebrity attendees could have their images captured by photographers who specialize in glamour. The lines were reported to be up to an hour long, and well worth the wait, judging from the quality of the work displayed on the magazine’s pages.

Why not take a relaxing cruise to experience all of the Hawaiian islands on your next vacation?  Enjoy islands such as the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, Lanai, and Oahu with their exquisite natural beauty and their exciting sights as you go from one magical isle to the other. Or take Hawaii cruises.

Visit the Kilauea Volcano, a still-active volcano on the Big Island, enjoy the famous Waikiki beach in Oahu, take in the lush rain forests of Kauai, the sumptuous flowers of Maui, and enjoy all the swimming, sunning, and snorkeling you can handle as you go from port to gorgeous port.

There is so much to do on a vacation to Hawaii, and seeing the islands from the point of view of a cruise ship is one of the best ways to take it all in.  With less stress than you might have on a land-based vacation trip, a cruise allows you to lay back and enjoy each port of call without having to make plans yourself.  And as you travel from one Pacific paradise to the other, your vistas will be from the comfort of the deck or roof of the ship as the crystal blue water leads you to an inviting sandy beach.  Disembark and you can roam, play, and explore to your heart’s content until the next Hawaii island beckons.

You can share with your friends, colleagues and other associates just what the sought-after data storage and backup company Carbonite can do for them, and probably get brownie points in return.

In addition to saving you TONS of worry regarding the loss of valued emails, documents, photos and the like, Carbonite offers special web-based protection, which acts like an accessible offsite server.

Carbonite, the data backup client offering data protection with a 15 Petabyte storage capacity, provides internet and computer users an indispensable service, at a bargain rate of only mere pennies a day. They offer a 15-day free trial, to introduce you to their services.

Carbonite uses a combination of encryption techniques, similar to those used by banks, to safeguard your data. Files are encrypted twice before they leave your computer and remain encrypted on our servers, making it virtually impossible for anyone to access your files without your secret password. Users are also given the option to manage their own encryption key.

If your computer crashes or is stolen, you can recover lost files to a new computer by visiting our website. Recovering small amounts of data (a few files here or there) will probably take only seconds or minutes. Restoring all of your data will take longer and depends on how much data you have and the speed of your Internet connection. Most DSL services will allow you to download about 600-800 MB per hour, or roughly 14-18GB per day. For an average user, complete data restoration is likely to take at most a day or two.

The Carbonite client is always looking for new data on your PC, once you’re online. When you add or modify files, Carbonite starts backing them up immediately. It backs up about 2GB per day over broadband. Carbonite’s backup solution works by placing colored dots on your files and folders. Different colors represent different “file states”:  1) If the file has been backed up, 2) will be backed up, or 3) will not be backed up.

Scientists have identified a protein that appears not only to be central to the process that causes Parkinson’s disease but could also play a role in muting the high from methamphetamine and other addictive drugs or to treat depression.

In a paper published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Columbia University have shown that oct3, a protein that shepherds molecules into and out of cells, plays a critical role, bringing toxic chemicals to the doorstep of the brain cells that die in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The team found that oct3 is involved in the brain’s response to addictive drugs like methamphetamine as well and it may be a way to treat depression.

The team showed that oct3 plays a role in the brain’s response to methamphetamine. Oct3 is critical for helping astrocytes soak up excess dopamine in the space around neurons. When dopamine isn’t removed as quickly or thoroughly as usual, people can feel euphoric, but they can also experience brain damage. The finding that oct3 may play a role matches other scientists’ observations that people in whom oct3 activity is reduced have a higher potential for addiction and the need for drug treatment.

The molecule might also offer a new target for treating depression. Many anti-depressants work by allowing the brain chemical serotonin to stay available in the brain longer than it otherwise would. Since one of oct3’s functions is to remove serotonin from the brain, blocking it may offer a new avenue to treat depression.

The chemicals that the team used to block oct3 in mice would be toxic in people, and there is no drug available for people now that blocks or boosts oct3, Tieu and Przedborski said. But such a drug might be useful for Parkinson’s, drug addiction, and depression and could play a role in a drug treatment program or drug rehab program in the future.

Many people are turning to lap band surgery abroad in Mexico because it’s less expensive (http://www.worldmedassist.com/Lap-Band-Surgery-Mexico.htm) and gastric bypass. With the advent of Medical Tourism, the million dollar business that assists would-be patients in finding the best hospitals and surgeons for their needs along with a relaxing vacation once they are released, it is not difficult to arrange the particulars. Sending your medical information including X-rays and the like, booking your flight and hospital, and arranging for consults with your selected surgeon before you arrive, are just some of the things that your agent will handle. With many Mexican surgeons receiving their post graduate degrees from North American and Canadian hospitals, care is as good as you would expect in your own country. With state-of-the-art hospital cropping up all over Mexico, you will have peace of mind regarding your procedure. In the case of lap band surgery, along with knee replacement surgery and the like, this is one of the most called for procedures in Mexico, especially with the cost being up to 60% lower than costs in the states. Because you can have a friend or loved one stay with you in your hospital room, you will save on a hotel room and at the same time have someone to travel with later should you decide to stay on and enjoy some of the beautiful Mexican beaches and towns.

There are many unspoken rules of etiquette in Singapore. There are three main cultures all living together in the country, the Chinese, the Malay, and the ethnic Indians. Each have their different forms of etiquette, and for many traveling for pleasure or for business and staying in the five star Singapore hotels, these rules can be a bit confusing. It is of importance however to understand these different customs as to avoid offense. This applies to the giving of gifts, for what one is not intending to cause when giving a gift, is offense.

When giving a gift to a Chinese person, it is important to note that they may refuse the gift, as many as three or four times. This is just meant for them to show that they are not greedy, so keep offering. Some of the presents one may give, have symbolic meaning and will cause offense. Gifts such as knives or scissors indicate that one would wish to sever the friendship or the relationship. The color of the wrapping paper is important as the darker colors tend to signify death, or funerals. Colorful and elaborate wrappings are most polite and most appreciated. Storks, in the United States, are often related to babies. However, the Chinese associate storks with death, so never give a child a stork or use wrapping paper with the storks on it.

When invited to someones home for dinner, never bring flowers or treats. Flowers again, are considered to be given to those who are ill or dying, and to bring even a desert cake will imply to the host, that they are unable to provide you with hospitality. It is best to bring treats for the hosts children, fruit or cakes. This way the feeling of giving is there however, there will be no offense taken. These are tips to provide one with the knowledge of the simple act of giving and receiving gifts to the Chinese locals in Singapore.

The English city of Bath is located close to the hills and quaint villages of the Cotswolds. Stone walls line the streets, and the Bath hotel, the market places and the tiny cottages in the town are made from this famous stone as well. Many visitors are soon taken with charm and the beauty of the region, and of the local hospitality. Many activities and festivals take place throughout the year in the Cotswolds, making this area one of the most desirable places for those in neighboring cities and now, those traveling internationally as well.

One of the medieval market sections, is Moreton in Marsh. This is a large open air market in the town with history dating back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. These markets are open every week, and are a festival in and of themselves. There are many restaurants, coffee shops and tea rooms located at Moreton in Marsh, and they provide the perfect afternoon spot for relaxation and a bit of a break from the shopping. Many bridges wind back and forth over the river as well, the perfect afternoon or morning walk with tea. Located in this area as well, is the largest collection of antique shops one will find out side of the larger cities, even more expansive than in London.

There are parks and gardens located just outside the marketplace. There is an arboretum that is most delightful during the changing of the seasons. The Dyrham House and Park is a favorite for picnicking, and many of the children, and adults alike, find the Wildfowl and Wetlands Reserve fascinating. This reserve has the most extensive collection of wetland birds and wild fowl in the world, and is a must see for those traveling through on vacation.

Goa India is a beautiful place to visit any time of year. Some vacationers chose particular seasons or exact dates to visit that will coincide with a specific celebration, holiday or festival. New Year’s Eve is one of the most popular and exciting times to be in this paradise of coastland. New Year’s is one of the oldest celebrations, which dates back about 4000 years to ancient Babylon. It is one of the many pagan holidays that was banned by the Catholic Church only to be reinvented as a secular celebration and continues today. Many guests are lucky enough to stay in a Goa luxury hotel that provides a great party right there outside their room. Some even have balconies with great views that allow people to watch the parades and fireworks while staying cozily tucked into their own space.

Although New Year’s is not a religious holiday today, the Church’s of Goa decorate for Christmas with poinsettias and colorful papers. They light many aromatic candles to illuminate and complete this beautiful ambiance. They leave these decorations up through New Year. Parties in Goa are extremely elaborate and festive and many of them continue through the night. One of the belief customs associated with New Year’s is the idea that whatever one eats or does on the first day will affect their luck throughout the year. Some people take this as seriously as many Westerners take the idea of resolutions. There are many ways to celebrate New Year’s in Goa, and one of the most popular is to attend the fabulous bonfires and barbeques at Pine Shack. This blazing party is specially organized for tourists and excitement and revelry fill the air and add to the flames. Another popular activity is a river cruise down the Mandovi River. Live music and dancing accompanies this scenic cruise.

New York City is more than the most populated city in the United States, it is, by many accounts, the greatest city in the world. It’s at the forefront of art and culture, and has a long reputation for being at the very cutting edge for hospitality. For luxury hotels, New York City sets the standard. New York City is the Rome of modern times, as many artists have noted. It is and has always been at the forefront of design, cuisine, and ideas.

There are more artists of all disciplines who have passed through here than could be accounted for, but one of the most famous immigrants here was John Lennon, who emigrated from London in the 60s and became a legal resident in the early 70s. He was attracted by the energy of the place, and of course, by the energy of his wife, Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono’s recent exhibit in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC is an amazing collection of her memorabilia of John Lennon. Here you’ll find fascinating ephemera such as production notes, hand-written lyrics to the song “Imagine,” and a haunting display of the package containing the clothes he was wearing when he was shot. She has arranged the items in the collection to make political comments, in carrying on the tradition she and John both began when they were together.

Also on display are his green card, eviction notices, and the famous New York City t-shirt that he wore in many notable photographs. There are also objects that stand as haunting shadows with weight and gravity: the instruments that he played. Guitars, and of course, the piano upon which he composed so many famous songs. All the proceeds from the exhibit, which is also traveling outside of New York City, go to one of Yoko and Lennon’s charitable organizations.

Customer complaints are often difficult for businesses to handle. The important thing is to not take them personally. They key is to not be defensive about the complaint. It is not about failure on your behalf, rather it is about finding ways to improve you offering.

So listen to the complaint with an objective viewpoint and make them understand that their view is being listened to and understood. Always apologize as this is what the customer wants to hear. Remember that it’s a great way to build customer satisfaction. This can result in repeat sales and customer loyalty.

So deal with complaint handling in a productive way. Address the problem, and don’t take it out on the individual who brings the news. Be as objective as possible – try to get to the root of the problem and how it can be handled. Also determine what you can do to satisfy the customer and help bring about resolution. Let them know how important their satisfaction is to your company.

New customers are important to a business – but often repeat business is the backbone that holds everything together. Word of mouth marketing and referrals come from this. Therefore keeping clients satisfied is of ultra importance.

By analyzing the types of complaints that your receive you may be able to identify recurring problems that may be costing your company. Therefore productive customer complaint tracking can lead to improved quality levels within your business.

First check out the following article from NECN:

Companies turn to Twitter for Customer service

Companies are now using Twitter as a means of speeding up their customer service.  Also using MySpace and Facebook as well. It remains to be seen if customers will take advantage of the new type of services.

The article notes that Bank of America and Wells Fargo are staffing Twitter accounts to offer help to customers, and others, like Citigroup and American Express have Facebook or MySpace presences. It’s not perfection – Bank of America and Wells Fargo have only one person monitoring their account.

Twitter as a customer service tool could be helpful, but it will not replace individuals who have customer service training and business training. Customers still enjoy meeting with people face to face it allows for questions to be answered that come up after initial information is given. Twitter is an interesting animal, who knows if it will just become another internet wasteland full of so many people the information is useless. Also, Twitter could use a better search function, because as of yet, it is very difficult to find an individual on Twitter.

How this could help the customer service industry is that it could get simple questions answered quickly. It would be interesting for these companies to add how long it takes these reps to answer a question. If every company did this there would be a need to train employees under a new type of customer service training model, or it could have the potential for job creation. All the good it would do only helps if people actually seek it out. So would you use Twitter for customer service?It could be used as a vaild way to multi-task perhaps while at work. But other than that there is nothing better than a little human contact. Leadership skills cannot be relayed via a computer screen.

Next Day Blinds is an environmentally-conscious company (the majority of their vehicle fleet will go hybrid by the end of 2009), and aims for absolute customer satisfaction in every aspect of their business. Shop Next Day Blinds online and discover a stylish, classy line of blinds, shades, top-notch service and more! See for yourself why people are raving about this company.

Next Day Blinds sells high-quality window treatments, utilizing only the highest-quality goods for their wide range of home decorating/design products. All of their products are custom made in their own factory in Jessup, MD. They have 35 stores throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area, showcasing a wide variety of window blinds, shades, shutters, and cornices. Their web site is a phenomenal showcase of window treatment items, which are available at discount rates. They have also dedicated themselves to top-notch customer service, including free in-home consultations.

Next Day Blinds offers low-price guarantees on most of their products, which include premium wood blinds, premium plantation shutters, pleated shades, roller shades, Roman shades, wood blinds, aluminum blinds, vertical blinds, vinyl shutters and more.

The company has taken interior decorating into interesting and exciting places with their stylish and attractive line of shades, blinds, shutters and cornices. Their web site offers a helpful “idea gallery”, which helps give home decorators appealing design options. Their “tips and tricks” page is similarly engaging for the interior designer at any level of ability. The bottom line is, if you are a home decorating aficionado with an eye for tasteful and appealing window treatments, then look no further – Next Day Blinds has the goods – and service – you’ve been searching for.

The Purcell Tire & Rubber Co. has acquired the assets of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Wingfoot OTR Retread Business. The two Wingfoot plants, located in Minnesota and North Carolina, manufacture a combined 40 OTR retreads a day, according to Modern Tire Dealer’s “Top 100 Retreaders” list.

The acquisition of the OTR Retread Business is a key step in Purcell’s strategic business plan, says the company, and will increase the size of one of its core business segments from 120 OTR retreads per day to 160 per day.

Purcell already was the largest OTR tire retreader in the U.S.; the acquisition jumps the company from number three on the “Top 100 Retreaders” list (which includes truck and light truck tire retreads as well) to number two, behind Goodyear and ahead of Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions. Purcell also produces an average of 1,300 medium truck tire retreads per day.

“This acquisition is a win for new and existing customers,” says Keith Butcher, executive president of Purcell Tire. “This is a core business for Purcell Tire and we are committed to investing and growing this business. We continue to invest in retreading as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly product class for our OTR customers.

“Our customers have felt the effects of a challenging economic cycle — as we have — and it is our responsibility as good partners to do anything we can to help them optimize their operations.”

“We’ve made a significant investment in helping our customers recycle tires and save money,” says Purcell Tire founder Bob Purcell. “Recycling tires, especially large OTR tires, reduces costs and saves resources. By helping our customers to reduce operating costs, we are also helping them reduce their carbon footprint,” he adds.

Purcell Tire will operate the business out of its centrally located, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Potosi, Mo. The addition gives Purcell seven retread plants in the United States. They feature Goodyear’s Unicircle, precure, mold cure and Flexcure processes.

A retread is a previously-worn tire which has gone through a remanufacturing process designed to extend its useful service life. Ask your tire specialist about your wheel and tire package options if this process is right for your service truck tires.

While the island of Ibiza is primarily known for its nightlife clubbing scene, water sports and natural adventures are a major attraction. Due to their location in the Mediterranean Sea, all of the Balearic Islands have beautiful views and are excellent places to enjoy beach activities such as diving and sailing. The Sea Horse Sub-Aqua Centre is one of Ibiza’s most prominent scuba diving centers. It was founded in 1995 and has been serving locals and tourists since. The best Ibiza hotels are excellent resources for information on the Sea Horse and can usually help to arrange for transportation.

The Sea Horse Sub-Aqua Centre offers year round water activities that are mostly centered around diving for all levels of experience. The crystal waters of the Mediterranean are the perfect location to jump in and view the diverse and amazing marine life just under the surface. Depending on weather conditions, the water is typically clear and transparent offering visibility for 25 to 30 meters. This provides for a once in a lifetime beautiful diving opportunity. The Sea Horse base is on the coast of Ibiza and many of the dives are within a few nautical miles of shore.

The dive boats offered by Sea Horse are fully licensed and safety equipped. The skipper is a professional with over 14 years of experience in the designated waters. There are many dive locations available with this company and one of the more popular places is Cala Olivera. This amazingly scenic spot provides an easy and clear dive with a big cavern to explore just 18 meters down. One of the more recent sites added to the dive list is Isla Redonda Este on the outer edges of the Bledas. The 15 meter decent is filled with rocky crevices and an abundant population of crabs and octopi. On a rare lucky day, divers may even have the opportunity to encounter a dolphin.

We are all aware of the rising costs of health care. With the economy in crisis, it is more crucial than ever to find alternatives to our conventional thinking. In this regard, medical tourism has become a rising industry, allowing more and more people who are searching for responsible medical care to look beyond the borders of the United States.

There are many countries offering high quality health care at more than reasonable rates. Countries such as India and Mexico offer some of the most excellent medical facilities, often with liaisons to important hospitals in the United States such as Harvard Medical and Johns Hopkins. Procedures such as knee replacement surgery and lap band surgery have become increasingly prominent outside of the United States, where costs can be cut by over 50% in most cases. The cost of knee surgery in Mexico is an attractive incentive to use a doctor in Mexico.

Additionally, traveling to another country to receive medical care yields other benefits, such as the ability to tour the area and learn about another culture. With the money saved on medical care, one can enjoy a small vacation that otherwise might be impossible. Excellent hospitals and clinics abound in India and Mexico, where surrounding areas can provide a glimpse of other customs and delights not necessarily experienced in one’s own land.

Known as the fashion capital of India, Bangalore blazes the trail for the newest trends. Famous for the nightlife, Bangalore has many young people who frequent nightclubs and discos. It also has a flourishing club culture. With all this partying, fashionable clothing is an absolute necessity. Lately something new is happening. There have been many resorts opening in five star hotels in Bangalore, creating an entirely new subculture, those who prefer a rest! Fortunately for the fashion industry, this demographic provides an opportunity for entirely new design challenge. Everyone wants to look trendy whether they’re playing hard or simply lounging. It seems as if the demand for clothing is endless. This also means that the demand for fashion designers and specialists in the garment industry is on the increase.

Given the longevity and the various manifestations of the industry, there have been great strides made in the areas of technology. For example, the very management of a factory is a time and motion engineering study. Knowing how to utilize energy (manmade and otherwise) to maximize quantities without sacrificing quality is a significant skill. Ergonomics, the usage of the body’s energy & motion, is a necessary skill in order to prevent injury. Nowadays computers do most of the actual pattern-making and cutting, that is, once the original pattern has been made by a technician. The area of textile design and manufacturing is very complicated, yet it all originates from a drawing done by a textile designer. According to the labor department in Bangalore, there is a shortage of trained professionals with the skills required to work in the more technical areas of fashion design and production. Efforts are being made to bridge the gap by preparing the manpower to do the job. As in many other Indian cities, Bangalore has schools with excellent programs of study. The Indian Institute of Fashion Technology (IIFT) in Bangalore offers educational programs to meet this need.

Barcelona is well-known and popular city in Spain. Its beautiful beaches and enticing cultural and entertainment aspects satisfy its many residents and continue to draw countless tourists. However, what is often overlooked about the city is its numerous parks and their relevance to the inhabitants and significance for visitors. The city of Barcelona has 68 municipal parks. This is an extremely large number particularly for such a heavily populated community. This is also, in part, what accounts for the great comfort and peacefulness surrounding the city and its urban area. Tourists often notice and enjoy the benefits of these parks, while also taking for granted their existence. Guests staying in the Barcelona Spain luxury hotels are encouraged to explore this wonderful and dynamic aspect of the city.

The 68 parks are divided by thematic orientation and size. Five of these are botanical, 45 are urban, 12 are historic and 6 are forest parks. The parks alone account for 10% of the city’s geography, which amounts to approximately 18.1 square meters of park per resident. Many of Barcelona’s residents get their daily exercise from running or walking through them, or participating in one of the available activities. Tourists also make good use of them in the same manner, or by simply enjoying a quiet picnic.

Montjuic, named after the mountain on which it is located, is the largest of Barcelona’s parks. The hill’s name is literally translated as hill of the Jews, though another possible interpretation is that it is named from the Roman Mons Jovicus, hill of Jupiter. The second largest park is Ciutadella Park, and is located at the site of the old military citadel. This is now the location of Parliament. It also has several museums and a zoo, which attracts many visitors. Labyrinth Park is another popular spot for locals and tourists alike. It is named after its famous garden maze, which continues to attract people.

Prior to the arrival of the Dutch, Cape Town, SA had a bad reputation as a hangout for sailors on leave. There were bars, gambling dens and brothels all competing with the respectable town folk for a piece of the local currency. After the Dutch settled in Cape Town, they made a sincere effort to establish a clean, respectable town. Eventually Cape Town came to resemble a pleasant Dutch Colonial town, complete with low white washed houses. The early houses in the Cape Town area were built in the Cape Dutch Architectural style and were organized in a neat grid with the borders of the mountain to the north and the bay to the south. The earliest houses were single-storied dwellings and purely utilitarian. They usually consisted of three rooms in a row and had steeply pitched roofs supported by rafters. They were built of local materials: walls consisted of clay or thick rubble (later of burnt brick), sea shells provided the basis for lime-mortar and wild reeds were used for thatch. At the beginning of the 18th century, with increasing prosperity in the towns and the development of wine farms, houses began to expand. They began to reflect the growing needs and individual taste of each owner. It was at this stage that the front gable began to make its appearance. The gables, largely in the hands of skilled craftsmen imported as slaves from the east, began to develop in a variety of styles and decorations. In time, the original floor plans took on new layouts. The evolution being the “U” shaped or “H” shaped plans. The “H” plan became the ultimate design in country houses and on which some of the Western Cape’s most elegant farmsteads were designed.

Nowadays country houses and farmsteads have been converted into the top Cape Town hotels. For examples of authentic Cape Dutch architecture, consider the Courtyard Hotel, Cape Town, Mowbry or The Greenways Hotel in Upper Claremont, SA.