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Follow these RV roof maintenance tips to protect your vacation vehicle
Make this rundown of the cleaning, protection, and inspection part of your routine.
As you take the time to clean, stock, and organize your recreational vehicle for that next vacation, fall foliage tour, fishing trip, or just a weekend away, don't forget a critical task — RV roof maintenance. Neglecting proper maintenance and inspection can lead to problems down the road, such as serious water damage.
A few simple steps can help you safely keep your roof in top shape and extend the life of your RV.
Cleaning and protecting your recreational vehicle
- Clean three to four times a year. This will help prevent deterioration and staining from tree sap, bird droppings, and algae and mold buildup. If you keep your RV parked under trees, clean it more often.
- Be safe. Check the owner's manual to see if the roof can be walked on. Be extremely careful of your footing because there are many things to trip over and wet surfaces can be slippery. If you aren't comfortable working on the roof, contact an RV service to do it for you.
- Use proper cleaning materials and methods. Check the owner's manual to see what type of soap or cleaning material is recommended for RV roof maintenance. Never use cleaners containing petroleum solvents, harsh abrasives, or citric-based acids on rubber or vinyl roofs.
- First, spray off the roof. Use clean water to remove any loose dirt or debris.
- Second, apply the cleaner and scrub in a circular motion. Use a sponge, medium bristle brush, wash mitt, or cloth to clean the entire surface. You may want to try working in 3' x 3' areas. Rinse thoroughly with clean water.
- Third, keep the sides rinsed off. This will avoid soap residue, streaking, and any damage to decals, graphics, and paint finish. If the roof is extremely dirty, you may want to cover the sides with plastic sheets to save on clean-up time later.
- Finally, apply protective treatment. If your roof is made of rubber — as most modern ones are — applying an additional treatment can help protect it from UV rays and dirt buildup. Wait until the roof is dry before application.
RV inspection tips before hitting the road
There are a number of different sealant and seam materials used in the RV industry, and it's important to remember that all of them will deteriorate as a result of exposure to the elements and thermal expansion.
- Check every six months. Most RV manufacturers recommend inspecting the seams closely every six months. Check your owner's manual for specifics on your model. A small crack in a seam today can, over time, turn into a costly repair that may not be covered by an insurance policy.
- Examine all seams. Scan the entire roof for cracks, areas that have pulled away or lifted from the material, scrapes or possible punctures, or any other sign of deterioration.
- Look for tears or cuts. Rubber roofing is also prone to tears in the actual roof material from things like tree branches.
- Inspect fixtures. Check the refrigerator roof and holding tank vents for any damage or obstructions, as well as the air conditioner shroud for damage and proper mounting.
- Consult a professional. If you notice any signs of cracks in the sealant seams or have any other concerns about damage, contact a licensed professional about repair options.
Don't let a little tear in your RV's roof turn into something big and expensive. Wash and inspect it regularly and get any problems fixed early, so you won't have to worry about the roof keeping you from motoring safely down the road.


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Shop Best-Loved Gifts
The never-ending Celtic knots depicted on our Rose Gold Amethyst Celtic Best-Loved Gifts Jewelry symbolize the interconnectedness of life. The designs of Celtic rings are inspired by the art and manuscripts of medieval Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Endless interwoven knots, looping braids, interlaced lines and distinctive crosses give Celtic rings their unique and distinctive style that appeals to people all around the world. The most beautiful Rose Gold Amethyst Celtic Best-Loved Gifts Jewelry and Celtic wedding rings have patterns inspired by the famous Book of Kells, an illuminated Gospel from the year 800 with exquisite illustrations. Claddagh rings, with a design of a crowned heart held between two hands symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty, are the most popular celtic rings. One of the most popular symbols in Rose Gold Amethyst Celtic Best-Loved Gifts Jewelry is the Triqueta, a three-sided symbol of the trinity. The triqueta also refers to the nature's air, earth, and water and man's mind, body, and spirit. Gemvara selects the finest possible materials to make our Rose Gold Amethyst Celtic Best-Loved Gifts Jewelry to order, just for you. Our precious metals are recycled or responsibly mined. Amethyst comes from the Greek amethystos which means not drunken because this gem is said to keep you sober. Amethyst is the February birthstone and the 6th anniversary gem and 17th anniversary gem.Warm 14 karat rose gold glows with an inner pink hue which flatters skin tones. Gemvara also offers many styles in luxurious 18k rose gold, which has higher gold content. Gemvara's fine quality Rose Gold Amethyst Celtic Best-Loved Gifts Jewelry are handcrafted to our exacting standards in America.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Twenty-two men and women of the 13th century talk about their lives in Laura Amy Schlitz's Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village (Candlewick, $19.99, ages 9 and up), illustrated by Robert Byrd, which won the 2008 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished work of American literature for children. Some of these fictional characters deliver their monologues or dialogues in poetry and others in prose. Here's an example of each:
Otho, The Miller's Son
"Father is the miller
As his father was of old,
And I shall be the miller,
When my father's flesh is cold.
I know the family business —
It's been drummed into my head:
How to cheat the hungry customer
And earn my daily bread …"
Nelly, The Sniggler*
"I was born lucky. Nay, not born lucky, as you shall hear — but lucky soon after and ever after. My father and mother were starving poor, and dreaded another mouth to feed. When my father saw I was a girl-child, he took me up to drown me in a bucket of water …"
* "A sniggler is a person who catches eels by dangling bait into their holes in the riverbank."
You can read a longer excerpt and find more information about Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! on the publisher's site www.candlewick.com.
(c) 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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Today in History - Oklahoma became the 46th state
Today is Friday, Nov. 16, the 321st day of 2012. There are 45 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 16, 1946, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded at the conclusion of a conference in London.
On this date:
In 1776, British troops captured Fort Washington in New York during the American Revolution.
In 1885, Canadian rebel leader Louis Riel was executed for high treason.
In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union.
In 1917, Georges Clemenceau again became prime minister of France.
In 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations.
In 1959, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway.
In 1960, Academy Award-winning actor Clark Gable died in Los Angeles at age 59.
In 1961, House Speaker Samuel T. Rayburn, 79, died at his home in Bonham, Texas, having served as speaker since 1940 except for two terms as minority leader of the Democrats.
In 1966, Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial of murdering his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.
In 1973, Skylab 4, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral on an 84-day mission.
In 1982, an agreement was announced in the 57th day of a strike by National Football League players.
In 1997, China's most prominent pro-democracy campaigner, Wei Jingsheng (way jeeng-shuhng), arrived in the United States after being released following nearly 18 years of imprisonment in his country.
Ten years ago: In an open letter to the Iraqi Parliament, President Saddam Hussein said he had no choice but to accept a tough, new U.N. weapons inspection resolution because the United States and Israel had shown their "claws and teeth" and declared unilateral war on the Iraqi people.
Five years ago: Senate Republicans blocked a $50 billion bill by Democrats that would have paid for several months of combat but also would have ordered troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 30 days. Marchers surrounded the Justice Department headquarters to demand federal intervention in the Jena Six case in Louisiana and stepped-up enforcement of hate crimes. Poland's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, formally took office along with a team of former anti-communist dissidents.
One year ago: President Barack Obama, visiting Canberra, said he would send military aircraft and up to 2,500 Marines to northern Australia for a training hub to help allies and protect American interests across Asia.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Clu Gulager is 84. Journalist Elizabeth Drew is 77. Blues musician W.C. Clark is 73. Actress Joanna Pettet is 70. Actor Steve Railsback is 67. Actor David Leisure is 62. Actor Miguel Sandoval is 61. Actress Marg Helgenberger is 54. Rock musician Mani is 50. Country singer-musician Keith Burns (Trick Pony) is 49. Tennis player Zina Garrison is 49. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Dwight Gooden is 48. Jazz singer Diana Krall is 48. Actor Harry Lennix is 48. Rock musician Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver) is 46. Actress Lisa Bonet (boh-NAY') is 45. Actress Tammy Lauren is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd) is 43. Actress Martha Plimpton is 42. Actor Michael Irby is 40. Actress Missi Pyle is 40. Olympic gold medal figure skater Oksana Baiul (ahk-SAH'-nah by-OOL') is 35. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (JIHL'-ehn-hahl) is 35. Pop singer Trevor Penick is 33. NBA player Amare Stoudemire is 30. Actress Kimberly J. Brown is 28. Rock singer Siva Kaneswaran (The Wanted) is 24. Actor Noah Gray-Cabey ("Heroes") is 17.
Thought for Today: "History is a combination of reality and lies. The reality of History becomes a lie. The unreality of the fable becomes the truth." — Jean Cocteau (zhan kawk-toh'), French author, director, poet (1889-1963).


text: DOWNLOADS Article (PDF-668KB) Long before governments around the world faced the current economic crisis, they wrestled with many difficult, complex challenges—health care, social security, education, national security, crime, and critical infrastructure. The demands on public services were growing, along with the burden on taxpayers, and there was no long-term certainty about how to pay the bill. Several countries ran large budget deficits, raising already high levels of public debt. In recent months, the pressures on governments have multiplied further as a result of a potent cocktail of interlocking emergencies—the financial and economic crises, major shifts in energy prices, climate change, food supplies, and natural resources. The combined effects threaten economic and social breakdown as consumers suffer and unemployment and poverty rise. Even the viability of capitalism has been questioned. Whatever the public sector's role has been in creating these crises, few doubt that it has a critical role in resolving them. Governments are not only intervening to an unprecedented degree in private markets—to rescue or reinforce banks, insurance companies, and automobile manufacturers, among others—but also accumulating financial covenants that threaten their long-term solvency in the process. Indeed, at a time when they have limited political, social, and financial room for maneuver, they are taking on a whole range of tasks beyond the scope of traditional policy and public services. So now more than ever, governments must discharge their functions efficiently and effectively. But few of them have an established track record or reputation for managerial excellence. Indeed, their historical performance running departments and agencies often arouses skepticism. Many public officials, knowing this, seek to reform the way government works. In our experience, these reforms typically fall short: with few exceptions, they skim the surface, cover too little ground, take too long, and leave much of the public sector relatively untouched. That's why we see a need for broader, deeper, and faster reform: what we call whole-government transformation. The current crisis provides both the necessity and the chance to improve the machinery of the state fundamentally—a challenge of vast scale and urgency. Sidebar LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email Case study: Public-sector reform in the United Kingdom Public-sector reform has been at the heart of the UK government's agenda since 1997 as a concerted wave of reforms significantly changed the way the whole sector works. Governments around the world are seeking to learn from this experience. The country's tradition of public-sector reform dates back to the 19th century, and such reforms have been a focus for successive governments over the past 30 years. The priority of the Conservatives, from 1979 to 1997, was privatization, refining the state's role, and introducing a more managerial culture to government. The focus on reform was renewed in 1997 with the electoral success of the Labour Party, which had put the quality of public services (in particular, schools and hospitals) at the heart of its campaign. This initial focus on the effectiveness of specific public services then expanded into a broader, more integrated reform strategy. Since 1997, the reform agenda—underpinned by an integrated approach to budgeting, targets, and performance management—has had five principal elements.At the core of the agenda is a set of published Public Service Agreements (PSAs): performance contracts, between ministries and the center of government, following a review of each department's policy objectives and budgets.The focus of the PSAs on the effectiveness of public services has been complemented by efficiency targets. In 2003–04, the government commissioned an independent efficiency review, chaired by Sir Peter Gershon, a former industry leader and head of the government procurement function. The review (like its successor, which reported in April 2009) gave each department well-publicized efficiency targets.The United Kingdom's government is one of the most centralized among major developed countries. A number of reforms since 1997 have aimed to disperse power to regions and local areas. In health care, for example, 152 local payer functions across England now set local priorities and allocate funding. High-performing providers have won greater autonomy.A series of initiatives have focused on improving skills in the public sector. One program established the core competencies required of senior civil servants—including skills in general management and the operational delivery of services, in addition to traditional skills in formulating policy. Since 2005, the strengths of each government department have been assessed through a centrally led capability review.In a number of areas of government, attempts have been made to give citizens greater influence over public services. Parents and patients, for example, have greater choice over which schools their children attend and which hospitals they go to, respectively. In each case, more data are available online to support these decisions. Since 1997, government reform has enjoyed visible leadership from senior politicians and civil servants. Prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have invested significant political capital in the effort. Especially in the initial years, centrally set targets played a significant role in prioritizing reform initiatives and shaping the debate on progress in delivering them. This approach was controversial; critics argued that it risked skewing resources to activities intended to meet targets rather than provide better outcomes. In response, a smaller number of outcome-focused targets now promote innovation by local agencies. Stronger resources for leading the reform effort were also created (in 2001) at the center of government: the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, 30 to 40 people who report to the prime minister on the most important reforms and play a hands-on role in helping to improve frontline delivery. The United Kingdom's public-sector reform still has far to go and faces new challenges as a result of the economic crisis. But the country's experience so far highlights many choices that governments elsewhere will need to address. There are relatively few instances of governments taking an integrated approach to reform, but those few illustrate the scale of the opportunity, especially for raising productivity. Under the prime ministership of Göran Persson, for instance, Sweden's government responded to its mid-1990s budget crisis by shaving 11 percent from operational budgets, with no apparent damage to performance, and then maintained tight control over future spending.1 1. See Alastair Levy and Nick Lovegrove, "Reforming the public sector in a crisis: An interview with Sweden's former prime minister," in mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2009. In 2004, Tony Blair announced the "Gershon targets"—led by Peter Gershon, then head of the Office of Government Commerce—which generated £26.5 billion a year in improved efficiencies. In November 2008, the UK government announced plans to save an additional £35 billion a year (see sidebar "Case study: Public-sector reform in the United Kingdom"). Similarly, the integrated transformation program of Nicolas Sarkozy's government in France aims to cut costs by €7.7 billion as of 2012 (see sidebar "Case study: Undertaking reform in France"). It's important to note that the adoption and implementation of these efficiency targets have gone hand in hand with reforms focused on significant improvements in outcomes, such as higher test scores in schools and reduced waiting times in hospitals. Sidebar LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email Case study: Undertaking reform in France In France, as in many European countries, controlling public-sector finances has become an imperative. The country's government debt ratio has reached 68 percent of GDP, and the trend in public spending is clearly upward. Nicolas Sarkozy, who made this a key issue in his presidential campaign, offered a symbolic commitment not to replace one out of two retiring civil servants. After taking office, in 2007, President Sarkozy worked with Prime Minister François Fillon to develop and implement a global reform program, la Révision générale des politiques publiques (RGPP), to achieve structural reductions in public expenditures. The program has other goals too: modernizing the state's organization, improving services for citizens and companies, ensuring that civil servants receive greater recognition for their work, and promoting a culture of results. Overall, the objective, as the prime minister has said, is to "do better with less." The program's expected €7.7 billion impact is to be captured by 2012—a target set before the world financial crisis began, so it doesn't address the further increase in public debt required by government rescue plans. Nonetheless, the program, comprising 370 initiatives selected after a spending review in each government department identified money-saving and efficiency opportunities, is an example of what we mean by a whole-government transformation. All of the initiatives were launched simultaneously. A wide-ranging government reorganization is implied by some of them, such as the creation of cross-departmental shared services, including the management of real estate, human resources, and pensions. Other initiatives (for instance, the implementation of a new, performance-based university funding system) have critical goals and still others (such as the acceleration of the naturalization process) symbolic ones. The reform effort pulls varied improvement levers, including lean-operations techniques, information technology, and performance management. Each ministry had to buy into the program—a key step early on. Empowered ministers, put in charge of developing action plans, set their own efficiency and service-level targets, and every minister's budget incorporated financial and productivity gains. To ensure strong, consistent, and high-visibility governance, a supervisory committee is led by the budget minister and the chiefs of staff of the president and prime minister. The committee has a formal progress meeting with each minister every three months. To encourage transparency, the government put measurement at the heart of its approach. The budget minister reports on each department's progress every quarter. (Citizens can stay up-to-date by visiting rgpp.modernisation.gouv.fr.) This kind of communication raises the odds that all ministries will focus on the reforms until they are implemented. The French transformation journey has just begun and it will probably take until 2012 to capture the full benefit. Several big challenges remain. For one, the reforms focus on administrative structures and processes and have yet to achieve visible improvements for citizens and civil servants. Demonstrating the reality of change—even on a small scale, such as reducing wait times for emergency treatment in hospitals—is critical to the success of reform programs. Second, human-resources practices should get particular attention. Civil servants must be helped to acquire new operational skills that will allow them to implement the reform program successfully. Departments must make sure they have the right people in the right positions. That means more coordination between ministries and greater flexibility to move people from one position to another, depending on needs. Third, the first round of reforms successfully addressed the ministries' running costs, but the effort must be expanded to cover all public spending. The government has already decided to broaden the modernization effort to 650 other state agencies. Covering the entire public-sector spending base is probably a five- to ten-year challenge. The size of the prize from government reform is so large that it more than justifies the enormous effort required. If the US government could achieve the 15 percent or more productivity improvement we typically expect from a major private-sector change program, for instance, the savings to taxpayers would exceed $134 billion annually (more than $445 per citizen) on 2010 federal addressable spending of approximately $900 billion.The right time for government reform Some people argue that governments have more than enough to do addressing the current crisis and can't afford to divert time and attention to seemingly less pressing matters like a whole-government transformation. Nor can such a transformation be undertaken lightly. Tony Blair famously said that "I bear the scars" from one particularly grueling round of reform. Change, never easy in any large institution, always seems harder in government, whose scale and complexity are daunting. So too is the challenge of initiating reform under the close scrutiny of the public, the press, and the legislature. It's tempting to postpone the reform of government until the crisis is resolved. Yet that would be a mistake. The crisis is actually the right time to undertake far-reaching changes.It's a necessity Reform is now a necessity, not a choice. As governments assume a broader, more significant role in response to the crisis, it becomes ever more important that they should be efficient and effective—otherwise, they would compound the severity of the problems. This crisis is the public sector's ultimate test. Yet few governments are equipped to meet it, either as a whole or at the level of individual departments and agencies. Too often, we find, the fragmented silos of governments work at cross purposes. Political appointees and civil servants have different goals and mind-sets. Confidence and tolerance for risk are low. There is little willingness to question historic practices and orthodoxies or to create a performance culture focusing on quality, costs, and access. Addressing these shortcomings in the middle of a crisis might seem like trying to fix an airplane in flight—but sometimes that's needed to land it safely.The fiscal imperative Before the crisis, many governments were already spending well beyond their means to meet current obligations (exhibit). Aging populations and the consequent pressures on health care, social security, and pension systems were sure to compound rising budget deficits and debt service burdens. Clearly, the crisis will reduce tax revenues for the foreseeable future and require most governments to invest extraordinary amounts of money to rescue failing institutions—even whole industries—restart the flow of credit, and stimulate demand. Exhibit Government debt continues to rise Governments were already spending well beyond their means before the crisis and probably won't reduce their debt in the near future. We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. Please email us at: email@example.com How will governments restore something like a long-term equilibrium to their finances? They could do so by increasing taxes—which would be unpopular with taxpayers and at least a short-term drag on economic growth—or by reducing transfer payments or other spending programs. Tax increases and budget cuts may be unavoidable in the coming years, but governments could minimize them by concentrating on raising efficiency and effectiveness, so that public spending yields the maximum benefit. In fact, improving the performance of government, though perhaps the most challenging of all available levers to implement, may be the most feasible politically. The improvement must take place across the board: uncoordinated, incremental initiatives couldn't possibly reduce the public sector's financial burden enough to meet the challenge. The public's expectations and demands Governments struggle to reconcile the desire for better public services with a reluctance to pay for them, and there was much dissatisfaction with their quality even in happier economic times. The increased role governments now play as a result of the crisis means that taxpayers will pay more for public services—now or later—and will expect and demand more in return.Opportunity for reform The idea that "a crisis is too good an opportunity to waste" is becoming commonplace. Businesses around the world are seizing this opportunity to rethink their operating assumptions and even reinvent themselves, often radically. Governments must do the same. The crisis may well mark what Professor Richard Rumelt calls a "structural break from the past—a moment when many of the critical assumptions that have driven our previous behavior and attitudes no longer seem correct or appropriate.2 2. See Richard P. Rumelt, "Strategy in a 'structural break,'" mckinseyquarterly.com, December 2008. " It may also force the long-overdue clarification of the roles of the private and public sectors in a modern economy. For these and other reasons, we now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to achieve a whole-government transformation.Raising the government's game The reform agenda will differ from country to country, but there should be important points in common. First, most governments will need to broaden their approach to reform: a dispersed, sporadic one—a single department or agency at a time—can't achieve the level of change now required. Few governments have ever adopted an integrated reform program, but most will have no choice. Such programs should reach most if not all departments and agencies. No doubt it makes sense to focus on the largest parts of the public sector—critical, high-cost services like health care, education, and defense. Nonetheless, small and little-known corners of government can yield significant breakthroughs and serve as pioneers or pilots. A broad approach to reform is also very useful to share the burdens and expectations it creates, to emphasize the shared pain and gain, to generate greater peer pressure, and to reveal the comparative performance of different parts of the public sector. A deeper approach to reform will also be needed. Most reform programs in the past didn't reach down into the inner core of governments, which will now have to make fundamental changes in the way thousands—in some cases, millions—of their employees work. Interaction and coordination among departments and agencies at the local, national, and international levels is important too. Since the silos characterizing government organizations make effective cooperation across their boundaries especially difficult, this must be a critical element of reform.Performance management In recent years, a number of governments have strengthened the way individual departments and agencies deliver their services and manage performance. But as we often see in the private sector, it's necessary to go further by establishing a true performance-management regime and culture across every unit. The essential elements include goals focused on outcomes, an integrated way of allocating the right quantity and quality of resources for each objective, clear accountability across agencies, accurate and consistent measurements of progress, and benchmarking against best practice. Intervention to address emerging shortfalls and tangible consequences for success and failure are important as well. The UK government, with its Public Service Agreements for each department, supported by the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit at the center, has implemented many elements of that approach. The French government is taking a similarly tough-minded one.Citizen-focused public services Although some people take offense when governments adopt the language of business—for instance, by referring to citizens as customers—citizens in many countries clearly do want to be treated as valued customers of the public services they pay for through taxes. Pioneering governments have captured this idea's power by redesigning key public services around the people who use them, transforming their effectiveness and, sometimes, their efficiency. Service Canada, for instance, has merged more than 70 services from a number of agencies into a unified customer service organization that groups its offerings around the needs of citizens. In the process, it has saved more than CN $400 million a year through increased efficiency and accuracy.Talent management Most government departments and agencies are people businesses that depend on the quality and capabilities of their talent. Yet many governments already have a talent deficit, notably for frontline roles such as doctors and teachers. They also face an impending demographic time bomb of retirements that threatens to widen the deficit and undermine their institutional memory. Several governments are therefore rediscovering the lost art of managing talent, to attract the "best and the brightest" and give these future leaders the managerial tools and methodologies they need to perform at the highest level. The United Kingdom's Professional Skills for Government program, for instance, has substantially upgraded the managerial training of senior civil servants. Niche enterprises such as Teach for America (in the United States) and Teach First (in the United Kingdom) have shown how the public sector can work with social entrepreneurs to attract distinctive talent. The challenge is great: governments face an urgent need—but also a great opportunity—to modernize their approach to managing talent. For starters, they must rethink their employee value proposition—the reason a talented person would want to work for them—identify and implement incentives to encourage superior performance and penalize underperformance, and establish productive, collaborative relationships with public-sector unions. The forthcoming increased rates of retirement should be used as an opportunity to renew the talent pool and establish new working models with less built-in overstaffing and redundancy.Lean operations Governments are starting to recognize that much of what they do is configured around large, complex service operations, often labor intensive and essentially static. Lean-operations techniques are improving the efficiency and effectiveness of some parts of the public sector—defense logistics, hospital waiting times, tax and immigration assessment processes, and even policy development, for example. The results frequently exceed expectations: one tax authority, for instance, processed 75 percent more returns while cutting assessment errors by 40 percent and processing lead times by 80 percent. As the pressures to deliver more with less grow, governments will need to deepen and intensify their use of lean techniques to transform service operations. Spending on external goods and services will have to be managed more carefully as well. These expenditures are rising significantly, yet few governments have modernized and professionalized their procurement and contracting. For many of them, now forced to stanch the outflow of funds, this is an immediate priority. Addressing it will not only ensure that governments get better value for money but also make their suppliers more productive.Information systems Most governments recognize information technology's increasingly prominent role and are committed to large, ambitious IT-development programs. Several tax authorities and social-security administrations that conduct much of their business online, for instance, have dramatically improved their efficiency and service quality. But large-scale public-sector IT programs have run into costly and embarrassing difficulties—notably in important areas, such as electronic medical records. Perhaps that's why governments tend to adopt new technology more slowly than the private sector does—indeed, more slowly than citizens in their homes do. It's hard to believe that the public sector can meet its current and future challenges if the technology gap persists. But to address it, governments must learn to manage large IT programs in a timely and cost-effective way.Leading reform in a crisis Government reform can and should be seen as a direct response to the economic crisis, not a distraction from it. In fact, it provides a powerful context for accelerating the pace. Sidebar LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email Why government reform is hard Despite good intentions, many government reform programs are too slow, take too long, and achieve too little. Some of the barriers to success result from the inherent differences between the public and private sectors. Government's sheer scale and the need to integrate reform across several tiers of agencies and departments, for example, create a unique level of complexity. Effective decision making is complicated by the need to balance political and managerial priorities and to operate under the gaze of the public, the legislature, and the media. Other barriers, arguably more of the public sector's own making, could be ameliorated if successful reform leaders focused on them by building capabilities and challenging inherited ways of working. There are five such barriers. 1. The slow pace of reform often results directly from an ineffective approach to change management. The leadership may not be sufficiently urgent and intense. Frequently, the objectives of reform and accountability for making it happen are unclear, and the management of reform programs is weak. What's more, governments tend to ignore the possibility of building momentum through early wins and lack a developed performance culture. McKinsey's private-sector experience shows the importance of these dimensions of change. 2. Reform programs often lack the stretching, sustained ambition that transformational change requires. Typically, governments must raise their efficiency and effectiveness by 15 to 20 percent rather than the 2 to 3 percent they often aim for. Organizations can achieve a real break from the past only by challenging existing parameters—structure, size, capabilities, or processes. 3. Public-sector leaders often lack the strong centers that their most successful business counterparts use to drive change through the organization. The scale of government and the legal separation of powers (for instance, among national, state, and local governments) mean that centrally controlled approaches to change can go only so far. This complexity, though, increases the need for sophisticated functions at the center of government and of major departments in order to set strategic priorities, allocate resources, manage performance, assess risk, and instill momentum for change across departments and agencies. 4. Governments are often awash with data but ill-equipped to use them in decision making. That makes it much harder for reform leaders to exercise the core functions of making and communicating effective decisions, whether about alternative models of service delivery or the allocation of scarce financial or human resources. The results of these shortcomings often include misspent resources, the loss of valuable time, and an inability to justify proposed reforms. 5. Not enough is done to engage public-sector employees. Transformational change requires a sustained and systematic effort to solicit the support, harness the expertise, and stimulate the creativity of the frontline administrative staff and of professionals such as doctors, nurses, teachers, and police officers. Government leaders—political or executive—can't delegate this responsibility or allow it to become diluted as change gets under way. Even so, there are complications. Government reform programs have a mixed track record, partly reflecting the fact that the public sector is larger and more complex than even the biggest commercial businesses. The ambiguous results also reflect the specific challenges facing governments—relatively limited capabilities and an ossified organizational culture, as well as strong political pressures that make it harder for government leaders to focus on the long-term transformation and make the tough choices it requires (see sidebar "Why government reform is hard"). Government reform faces another challenge too: this may not be the best time to raise productivity by cutting public employment substantially. With rising joblessness in many countries, there will be a natural desire to keep government payrolls high, even at the risk of delaying efficiency improvements. Leading from the front Especially in a crisis, it's essential that government reformers lead from the front. Transformational-change efforts are short of leadership capacity, money, and management talent. Only leaders can ensure that among the myriad demands the economic crisis has spawned, government reform gets its due. Equally, only leaders can inspire the public sector's workforce to undertake difficult, sometimes painful reforms. These employees are typically motivated much less by financial incentives than by a sense of mission and peer pressure. To create the required momentum and support for change, government leaders must relentlessly engage with agency managers, civil servants, frontline staff, and professionals. And that's not all—the leaders must also educate consumers of public-sector services and the citizen body as a whole about the need for reform and for tough decisions on priorities. A well-informed public that demands better services will create pressure for change. Not least important, change will happen only if government leaders develop and communicate reform strategies that identify the public sector's shape in ten or more years and show how to get there. These strategies will have to reflect trade-offs between what must be done to address urgent short-term needs, on the one hand, and to lay the foundations for a long-term transformation, on the other. A sustained drive to bring about rapid, tangible change must then follow.Embedding successful reform All too often, public- and private-sector reform programs alike make early progress but lose their initial energy and sense of purpose—often, when external conditions change. To make reforms endure, it will be necessary to weave them into the warp and weft of government. Political leaders alone can't provide the intense focus and unyielding persistence required to drive a reform program. They typically need help from the kind of small, high-caliber team that business leaders appoint to steer key initiatives. Both France and the United Kingdom, for example, have relied heavily on high-quality "delivery units," which can be indispensable in propelling large-scale, far-reaching, and enduring transformations. What's more, the momentum of change is more likely to be sustained if it's reinforced in tangible ways—in meaningful commitments to the public and the public-sector workforce and by the hard-wiring of reform objectives into budgets. Clear quantitative performance metrics and milestones are important too, so several governments (including those of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the US state of Virginia) have developed and applied detailed ones, which have helped them assess and communicate their progress in areas such as reducing crime and hospital waiting times and improving educational test scores. Such actions at the center aren't enough, however. Government's scale and complexity make it essential to encourage departments and agencies to assume ownership of the reform effort. It will therefore be necessary to invest in developing change agents—leaders who act as role models for new and better ways to work—and to place them in key government units so that reforms reflecting the public's needs come down to the front line. Finally, pilot projects provide a "proof of concept" and enable pioneers to demonstrate the possibilities of reform. If these efforts succeed—especially if they make an early impression on the public—they establish the case for broader, deeper reform.Undertaking comprehensive, deep government reforms at a time of national and international crisis may seem daunting—perhaps even a distraction from the essential tasks of restoring sound finances and long-term prosperity. In fact, however, a purposeful, concerted, and determined transformation of government is essential for both of those purposes as well.


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Welcome to Dragon Cave! Dragon Cave is an online adoptables game. Collect eggs, raise them to adulthood, and then breed them to create interesting lineages. New dragons are added regularly!
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Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling's wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.


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Member Events
- This event has passed.
August 26, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Join members as they gather for friendly competition on the new pickleball courts on Mondays (9:30 a.m. and 7 pm), Thursdays (9 am) and Fridays (7 pm). Bring your own paddle or come and borrow one from another member. Members who are interested in learning the game can receive free lessons by calling the Clubhouse for more information.


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ADELE, YOU SLY DOG. As it turns out, the old "sitcom star sits on the couch with a pillow over her stomach for the entire season because she's supposed to be an unlucky-in-love Single Woman Lawyer and they didn't feel like writing a pregnancy into the script" works occasionally! Although the singer announced her enceinte-ness with boyfriend Simon Konecki's kid as recently as June 29th, she's been hiding her pregnancy for seven months in order to keep it a secret from the press as long as possible. That means that a golden-piped magicbaby will be here in a scant two months. And THAT means you better start making a refreshing cucumber salad for the baby shower potluck with the following words crudely spelled out in dill: "Your Terrible Breakup Album Helped Me Get Over A Terrible Breakup Congrats On Popping Out Child :DDD" [The Sun]
"When I had my knee replaced just over two and a half years ago, I found a lover," begins Jane Fonda in the best way possible. "His name is Richard Perry, he is 70 and he is a music producer. The only thing I have never known is true intimacy with a man. I absolutely wanted to discover that before dying. It has happened with Richard. I feel totally secure with him. Often, when we make love, I see him as he was 30 years ago. At 74, I have never had such a fulfilling sex life. When I was young I had so many inhibitions - I didn't know what I desired." You heard it here first—Jane Fonda: Not a player, just fucks a lot, etc. [The Sun]
Lindsay Lohan is supposedly in talks to star in Scary Movie 5, the long-awaited sequel to The Pianist, The Pianist 2, The Pianist 3: Adrien Brody Goes To White Castle and The Pianist 4: Adrien Brody Escapes From Guantanamo Bay. Lohan met with Bob Weinstein last week about joining the film opposite Ashley Tisdale. The scariest thing about this is that people still trust Lindsay Lohan with jobs. [Page Six]
After taking a whiskey drink, a vodka drink, a lager drink and a cider drink, late '90s anthemic band Chumbawamba has called it a night. Let's all just take a moment. (Also, who knew there were two women in Chumbawamba? I did not.) [Guardian UK]
- Missy Elliott's new Lamborghini is being held hostage by an Illinois car dealership. [TMZ]
- Jamie Campbell Bower and Lily Collins are maybe dating. [Daily Mail]
- Kellan Lutz hung out with some alligators. [Monsters And Critics]
- Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell are still friends so DON'T WORRY, AMERICA. [Monsters and Critics]
- Bono recorded Lady Gaga's "Telephone" for his daughter. And Michael Bay was there, and Kobe Bryant was there, and Fabolous was there. [Monsters and Critics]
- A family friend is now under investigation for the Jet-Ski accident that left Usher's young stepson brain-dead. [NYDN]
- "What Do Penises Have To Do With Howie Mandel's Favorite Airplane Prank?" asks someone very good at writing headlines. [HuffPo]
- Kimye went shopping in hoodies. [Daily Mail]
- Kanye West: "I am flawed as a person. As a man, I am flawed. BUT MY MUSIC IS PERFECT!" Oh. OK. [Vulture]
- Khloe Kardashian Odom is being considered as a host for X Factor. [E! Online]
- Adam Lambert might replace Randy Jackson as a host on American Idol. [Fox News]
- Beyoncé posted a nice tribute to Frank Ocean on her blog. [E! Online, Beyonce.com]
- Within 11 days of filing, Tomkat's divorce is finalized. [KSLA News 12]
- Also: "Victoria Beckham's been a real tower of strength. Katie's seen how a normal marriage should function by being around Victoria and David Beckham, so she knew that something was wrong with her relationship with Tom." I'll say. [Now Magazine]
- HEY INTERNET GIRL, allow Aaron Sorkin to inform you that "Fox News lies and misleads viewers" as if this news is new or surprising in any way. Now go pratfall and not know how to use email. [Metro]
- Ray Romano is still making hilaaaaarious jokes about booooringgg marriaaaaaage. [HuffPo]
- Paul Rudd's coming to Broadway! [Examiner]
- Anne Hathaway clarifies that her weight in Les Mis was an unhealthy-French Revolution-homeless-waif weight and don't try it at home. [Express]
- Vanessa Paradis appeared in public for the first time since splitting with Johnny Depp and did not crumble into a fine powder and blow away on the wind, everyone is very proud of her. [The Sun]
- Mick Jagger and David Bowie used to fuck. Is anyone really surprised? Has nobody else seen Velvet Goldmine? [NYDN]
- Charlie Sheen sees ghosts. [The Sun]


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Woof! Meow! One thing before you go…
Do you need to find a loving home for your pet?
Shelters are often inundated with pet surrenders, and do not want to provide a simple outlet that takes away the obligation of responsible pet ownership. Therefore, they would prefer that people try hard to find a solution before resorting to surrendering their pet to a shelter. If you must find a new home for a pet, please try posting to our adoption portal before placing the burden on the shelter. Direct adoptions work well and allow everyone to share in the accountability of their community!
Affinity Rescue, Inc. (Pardeeville) Reviews
Pardeeville, WI
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Visit Affinity Rescue, Inc. (Pardeeville) >> http://www.affinityrescue.orgAdoptable Pets in Wisconsin
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Do you need to find a loving home for your pet?
No-kill shelters do wonderful work, but as a result, are often inundated with pet surrenders. In the unfortunate scenario that you have to find a new home for your pet, please read through the rehoming solution and articles on this page before contacting the shelter.
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text: :About: Scorecoin is a very promising alternative currency. Its main usage is to be a "in-game" currency for gaming. While it has been already implemented in some Browser games, such as Dragon Knights of Valeria 2, its been also listed on hundreds of cryptocurrency lists, integrated in payment gateways, mobile apps and websites. It enjoys the strength of a very strong community, consisting of thousands of followers. With the recent upgrade to a full POS coin, supporting Masternodes and the latest crypto currency technologies, we are very confident that Scorecoin will aim a seat between the global players. This target is also motivated by high trading volumes, partly up to 2 million US dollars, from the past.


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One of the things people often wonder about earthquakes is whether human activity can play a role in their occurrence. Sometimes that comes from a desire to assign blame, but often it's related to a bigger question: could we actively trigger small earthquakes to prevent the big, damaging ones from occurring? While that lofty piece of geoengineering may not be feasible (or even possible), it is true that humans can sometimes trigger earthquakes.
Earthquakes are fundamentally controlled by two factors. The first is the movement of rock, such as tectonic plates. This constant, gradual movement is the source of conflict in an active fault zone—one region of rock is being forced past another. If the two blocks simply slid smoothly by each other along the fault surface, this would be a pretty peaceful process. But this is where the second factor comes along—the friction between the blocks. The stress builds up until it's great enough to overcome that friction, at which point seismic energy is released violently as the blocks catch up on decades' (or centuries') worth of motion in just a few seconds.
For the most part, the accumulating stress that creates this situation is much too large for human activities to make a difference. We can, however, affect the friction that locks up the fault. Hydraulic fracturing, where fluids are pumped into the ground at extremely high pressures to crack rocks that release natural gas and oil, has been shown to do just that in certain situations. Increasing the fluid pressure inside the fault partially de-stabilizes the friction-lock, lowering the stress threshold necessary to trigger an earthquake just enough for one to occur.
The story of the May 11, 2011 earthquake near Lorca, Spain is a different one. This magnitude 5.1 quake occurred at a shallower depth than usual (less than 4 kilometers), leading to surprisingly strong shaking at the surface that caused extensive damage in the city and nine deaths. A study published in Nature Geoscience shows this earthquake was probably related to another geologic phenomenon in the area—unsustainable use of groundwater.
Records show the water table around Lorca has dropped a remarkable 250 meters over the past 50 years. Just as in California's San Joaquin Valley and the scenic city of Venice, depleting large volumes of groundwater actually causes the land surface to sink. This is because the sediments compact without the water pressure that helps hold spaces between grains open. As a result, the land surface around Lorca is dropping in elevation by as much as 16 centimeters per year.
But that's only half of the story. The removal of all that water also represents a large removal of weight that was pressing down on the rocks below. And just as a massive ice sheet depresses the land surface—and when it melts away, the surface rebounds—the loss of water causes the rocks to pop up a bit.
To see how all this related to the May 11 earthquake, the researchers turned to satellite data and computer models. The satellites recorded subtle changes in elevation near the fault that occurred during the earthquake. Together with seismometers, this helps scientists work out exactly where the fault slipped, and by how much.
Armed with this information, they used computer models to calculate the effects of the groundwater depletion. The model showed where the depletion altered the stresses along the fault—in exactly the location where the earthquake occurred. That could be a coincidence, but the researchers offer good reasons to think it really is connected.
The removal of the mass of groundwater, and the resulting rebound in the crust, acts to reduce some of the force clamping the fault closed. Like the example of hydraulic fracturing, this lowers the amount of friction that needs to be overcome for an earthquake to occur.
The rebound also created some motion parallel to the fault that probably contributed. To picture this, imagine a pad of paper with one edge placed against a wall. If you make the pad bulge upwards in the middle, the left and right sides will slide along the wall as they are pulled toward the middle.
Critically, all this may also explain why the earthquake was so shallow—and therefore, damaging. This was exactly the depth where the effects of the groundwater depletion were greatest.
It's not as though an earthquake wouldn't happen in this location without the groundwater depletion. The stresses that build up and create the conditions where an earthquake can occur have very little to do with human activities. However, it appears that this earthquake occurred where and when it did because of the groundwater depletion.
And that's what makes this story so important to seismologists. When evaluating the seismic risks in an area, it could be critical to understand how human activities are interacting with the natural processes at work. That's not an easy thing to do, but it may be necessary. When it comes to preparing for earthquakes, the very last thing you want is a surprise.
Nature Geoscience, 2012. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1610 (About DOIs).


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Theater review by Adam Feldman. Broadway Theatre. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Douglas Carter Beane. Dir. Mark Brokaw. With Laura Osnes, Santino Fontana. 2hrs 20mins. One intermission.
Those who attend Broadway's Cinderella expecting a retread of the Disney movie, or the 1957 Rodgers and Hammerstein TV movie (on which the show is actually based), are in for a few big surprises. This new Cinderella is still built around the lush score for which the R&H version is fondly remembered, including the swoony waltz "Ten Minutes Ago" and the plaintive ballad "In My Own Little Corner." But Hammerstein's original book—which seemed as creaky as an old rocking chair in New York City Opera's 2005 attempt to stage it—has been replaced with a cheeky new script by wit-for-hire Douglas Carter Beane. This is not a matter of tweaks; Beane has rewritten the whole yarn of ball, with an ear toward modern attitudes and attitude. The resulting confection of class and sass suggests a red-velvet cake nested in cotton candy.
Cinderella has gained viability but lost much of its fairy-tale heart in the course of its extreme makeover; our heroine's cheeks betray no hint of ash, her stepsisters are no longer wicked, and all is quickly forgiven and forgotten. (A subplot about democracy raises social questions and lowers emotional stakes.) But the show's young stars are hugely appealing: Laura Osnes beams with spunky virtue as Cinderella, and Santino Fontana, with his slightly skewed smile, is the rare Prince Charming with genuine charm. Mark Brokaw's deluxe supporting cast includes Victoria Clark, Ann Harada, Marla Mindelle, and matching villains Harriet Harris and Peter Bartlett; among Cinderella's other assets are a generous orchestra, vigorous choreography (by Josh Rhodes) and a gorgeous parade of costumes (by William Ivey Long). If this production is no more than a lavish escapist family entertainment, it's no less than that either. Hop the pumpkin carriage, enjoy the ride, and don't expect the magic to linger.
Follow Adam Feldman on Twitter: @FeldmanAdam
2013 Tony Award nominee. See our guide to the 2013 Tony Awards


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'Cookies' sound a lot more fun than they are… We use cookies to improve your visit to our website and to analyse our traffic. Nothing untoward goes on with this information, we're just sorry but you can't eat them. Want to know more? Read more.
Palermo Mint Vertical Blind
£ 8.40
Product Description
This Vertical Blind incorporates smooth-action technology and stunning detail to create an attractive and versatile blind. This blind has the option to be operated by Chain or Wand. The material used with this Vertical Blind is made from Polyester giving it Medium opacity. This blind is shown in a beautiful Palermo Mint green finish. ...read more
Additional information
Right-Size Guarantee
Sometimes you just need some peace of mind when you come to place an order for your blinds. With DotcomBlind's Right-Size Guarantee you can have just that. With our Right-Size Guarantee we will replace a blind with the correct size if you get the measurements wrong when you order. Please note, the Right Size Guarantee excludes Cassette Blinds.
Why do I need this Insurance?
We can't accept returns or provide refunds for blinds that are mismeasured because all of our blinds are made to measure and so the onus is on the customer to get the measurements right for their blinds. Sometimes you might just be having an off-day, get your centimetres and inches mixed up and end up with a blind that is nigh-on useless. With our Right-Size Guarantee we will take that blind back, remake it to the correct size for you and send it back, saving you from having to buy a totally new blind! The Right Size Guarantee covers all made-to-measure blinds and curtains except our Cassette Blinds.
How does it work?
✔ Purchase Right-Size Guarantee when you place your order
✔ If one of your blinds has been measured incorrectly, get in touch with us within 14 days and we'll tell you how to return the blind to us.
✔ Once your blind is with us, we'll remake it or adjust the blind to your correct measurements and send it back.
✔ Please read our terms and conditions for full details as you will incur additional costs returning the blind to us.
Buy Now Pay Later with Klarna
DotcomBlinds is pleased to be partnered with Klarna, providing you with more ways to pay.
At the checkout you will see Klarna provides two options: Pay in 3 Instalments or Pay Later.
Pay in 3 Instalments
With Klarna's option to pay in three instalments, you can spread the cost of your purchase across three interest-free monthly payments.
To pay with Klarna's 'Pay in 3 Instalments' option, you just need to be a UK resident over the age of 18 years old and have a valid payment card.
Pay Later In 30 Days
The second Klarna payment option you'll find in the checkout is to buy now & pay later with their 'Pay Later in 30 Days' option at the checkout.
With this payment option, you make your purchase now and don't pay until 30 days after we have shipped your product to you, giving you plenty of time to save up!
To pay with Klarna's 'Pay Later in 30 Days' option, you just need to be a UK resident over the age of 18 years old and have a valid payment card.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
How to Measure
Now, you can't mess this one up. It's what we call 'easy' here at DotcomBlinds. But just in case you need some help, follow this quick guide.
First thing's first, identify whether your blind is going inside or outside of a recess.
Inside the recess
A recess fit blind means you supply us with the width and drop of your recess – from top to bottom and wall to wall. We make deductions to account for the brackets to ensure your blind fits within the recess perfectly.
To measure a roller blind to fit inside the recess of your standard window, simply measure the full width and the height of the recess. Then input those measurements into the product page with your order selecting the 'recess' option. We'll do the rest, leaving you the well-deserved excuse to put your feet up, you worked hard for it after all!
Don't be tempted to deduct any measurements, we do this for you. Make sure you use a metal tape measure; a cloth one can stretch and give you more millimetres per centimetre than a pound-shop ruler. Also, take your measurements in three places and give us the smallest (if there is a smallest). You will find that some recesses shift and settle over time.
Outside the recess
A blind going outside of a recess is usually called an exact fit blind. An exact fit blind means we won't make any deductions to the width or drop measurements. Exact fit is the bracket to bracket measurement and is commonly found installed outside of a recess. The size you give us is the size your blind is made to.
If you want your blind to hang outside the recess, measure the height and width but be sure to add some overlap to reduce light leakage. This overlap should be about 70mm at the top and bottom and 50mm each side, ensuring you suffer no dazzling strips of sunlight once your blind is happily installed. Please select the 'exact' size option when ordering.
Choosing the best control option for you
We provide two control options with our vertical blinds, meaning you can choose the right means of operating your blind to suit your needs, location of the window and the room you choose to install it in.
A chain operated vertical blind is an easy way to operate your blind and how much light enters your room. This function is particularly helpful if access to the whole blind is limited. Simply stand to one side and use the cord. The smooth operation and stylish chain provide an easy and safe way to enjoy your blind.
A wand operated vertical blind allows you to move your blinds to exactly where you want them and adjust the louvres with a simple twist of the wand. The lack of cords or chains make this method of operation incredibly child safe. We have designed our wand operated vertical blind with ease of use in mind. A wand operated vertical blind is the easiest way to operate a vertical blind.
Child Safety
Ensuring our products are child safe is a priority for all of us at DotcomBlinds. As a result, our blinds are child safe by design, with built-in safety mechanisms to help reduce the risk of an accident. These mechanisms specific to vertical blinds are:
• All chains provided with our products are made at a maximum length of one metre
• Chain tensioners (or p-clips as they're also known) and cord tidies are supplied with every chain and cord operated blind
We offer a Child Safe Plus feature with our vertical blinds, which is an upgrade to remove the chain mechanism and replace it with a cordless means of operating the blind.
The wand operated function of the blind allows the louvres to be drawn across the window led by the wand and adjusted into place by twisting the wand. If child safety is a particular issue the chain that links the bottom of the louvres together can be removed easily too by simply unclipping them.
If you have any questions around child safety and our blinds, please do not hesitate to get in touch, we're always happy to help.
Vertical Blind Technical Details
Our vertical blinds consist of an aluminium, white painted headrail, which hold the mechanism that drags the louvres back and forth and rotates them. The louvres are 89mm wide and have weights at the bottom to ensure they hang straight. The weights are connected by a plastic chain that is clipped to the weight.
If you are fitting your blind within a recess and select 'recess' as the fit option, we will make the following recess deductions: 6mm deducted from the width and 12mm from the drop. The bottom of the louvre will sit 7mm above the windowsill once we've allowed 5mm for the top fix brackets. You do not need to account for our deductions, please supply just the recess width and drop measurements.
The 'stack' means when the louvres are at one end of the headrail. You have the option to choose whether the louvres can stack to the left, right or split, so they are stacked on the left and right side of the blind.
The size of the stack, with all louvres to one side of the blind, will be the below size:
A 1m wide vertical blind will have a stack size of 175mm. A 2m wide vertical blind will have a stack size of 305mm and a 3m wide blind will have a stack size of 435mm. Remember, if you choose a split stack option, this figure will be halved, with each half on each side.
You have the ability to tell us how you wish to fit your vertical blind when you come to order, which tells us which brackets to send with your blind. A top fix bracket is fitted to the top of the recess or to the ceiling and holds the headrail from above. A face fix bracket fits to the wall or above the window. A face fix bracket has the following dimensions: the footprint is 45mm x 31mm and the brackets projects 96mm x 20mm. You won't need to account for these sizes when you measure as we take care of this based on the information provided when you order.
3 Year Warranty
A blind from DotcomBlinds is made to the highest standards, designed to provide you with years of service and shade.
In fact, we're so confident and proud of our blinds, we offer a 3 year warranty on all our blinds. This is one of the longest warranties available and a clear sign of the quality of our blinds.
Obviously, there are a few exclusions:
✖ Damage caused by poor installation/not following fitting instructions (don't worry, installation is easy, read this.)
✖ Misuse or Failing to maintain the blind
✖ General wear and tear and fading (these blinds are exposed to very intense UV rays)
✖ Alteration to the blind
✖ Exposure to the elements or fitted in an unsuitable location (these are indoor blinds!)
However, if your blind stops functioning for any reasons other than those listed above, get in touch. Our warranty covers:
✔ Manufacturing defects
✔ Fabric/slat colour fading within a year
✔ Mechanical malfunction
✔ 2 year warranty on battery and mains electric motors used in electric roller blinds
So, in summary, avoid grossly mistreating your blind, show it a little TLC every so often and don't use it in ways it wasn't intended. If you do all those things and something goes wrong with the blind, you're golden – we've got you covered and we'll and repair or replace it free of charge.
Free Samples?Free samples are available on all of our fabrics and slats. Simply click the 'order free sample' button.
Your free sample will be added to the basket ready for you to checkout. You can carry on browsing, adding as many samples to your basket as you like. When you're ready, checkout – delivery is free too – and relax, our samples will be on their way to you in no time.
Why order samples?We always recommend ordering samples to ensure you fall in love with the fabric or slat. Screen resolution and brightness settings vary and you may find some fabrics look a little different in real life to how they appear on a screen. You can hold a sample in your hands, feel the fabrics, the weave and see the opacity before your very eyes, something you can't recreate online.
We've made every effort to accurately portray the fabric realistically, but you can never be too careful.
Quick TurnaroundWe pride ourselves on the speed with which we can get your free fabric samples to you. We send your samples with first class delivery to be with you the very next day. We often dispatch them the same day you place your order (and most certainly by the next working day if you order after hours or on the weekend). With our fast free fabric sample delivery you'll be one step closer to shading your home with some of our fabulous blinds in no time at all!
FeaturesMoisture Resistant
Moisture resistant blinds do not absorb or retain water, meaning they will not rot when exposed to damp conditions. Ideal for kitchens and bathrooms.
Wipe Clean
Super easy to clean and perfect for busy households, simply wipe with a cloth to keep these blinds look spick-and-span!
Fire Retardant
A fire retardant blind will only smoulder when presented with a flame and will self-extinguish once the heat source has been removed. This can be added to your fabric by selecting this add-on at the checkout.
Child Safe
All our blinds come with child safe features as standard but some are inherently more child safe due to the deliberate removal of chains and cords.
This Blind is available for Next Day Delivery. Order before 11am to have it despatched the same day to be with you the very next working day. All you have to do is select 'Next Day Delivery' when you checkout and we'll take care of the rest.
If you order after 11am, we'll still process your order as a priority and despatch it the next working day to be with you the following working day, but we can't guarantee that it will be with you the day after you place your order, unless we discover light-speed or time travel in the meantime!
Next Day Delivery only applies to selected blinds and isn't applicable to other non-qualifying blinds ordered at the same time. If you're located within the Channel Islands of the Scottish Highlands we'll still despatch in super quick time but the couriers may take a little longer to get to you, so please allow 48 or 72 hours for delivery.Why order before 11am?
Ordering before 11am ensures we are able to fit your blind into the day's work schedule for our factory to get it built ready in time to catch the courier. Your order will jump the queue of work and head right to the front where our expert team will build your made to measure blind in time for it to arrive at your home in 24 hours' time. Now, how's that for service?
Wider width option
We are able to make this vertical blind to a maximum width of 4000mm and a drop of 4550mm. This is larger than the largest size offered by many other retailers, who will normally split your vertical blind into multiple smaller blinds, whereas we will make your blind as one whole blind.
Available in other colours
- Palermo Ocean
- Palermo Sandlewood
- Palermo Onyx
- Palermo Sky
- Palermo Ivory
- Palermo Graphite
- Palermo Slate
- Palermo Redwood
- Palermo Cream
- Palermo Oxford Blue
- Palermo Smokey Mauve
- Palermo Coffee
- Palermo Pewter
- Palermo Chocolate
- Palermo Admiral
- Palermo Apple
- Palermo Ash
- Palermo Aqua
- Palermo Primrose
- Palermo Magnolia
- Palermo Tangerine
- Palermo Dusty Pink
- Palermo Rose
- Palermo Mulberry
- Palermo Brick
- Palermo Mink
- Palermo Scarlet
- Palermo Misty Green
- Palermo Cool Blue
- Palermo Stone
- Palermo Sunshine
- Palermo Taupe
- Palermo Turquoise
- Palermo Toasty Grey
- Palermo Gold
- Palermo White
- Palermo Lilac
- Palermo Peach
- Palermo Marsh
- Palermo Pine Green
- Palermo Fern Green
- Palermo Grey
- Palermo Cherry
- Palermo Coral
- Palermo Pink
Highstreet Price Comparison
Our highstreet price comparison calculator works on an average price based on similar made-to-measure blinds sold by highstreet retailers. We compare their blinds to ours using the same measurements, same type of fabric and same mechanism, doing our best to find a like-for-like system. To find out more, click here.


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Sell Fry's Electronics gift cards with the Raise gift card exchange. Depending on the popularity of your brand, we recommend you discount Fry's Electronics gift cards at least 10% off, but ultimately you control the selling price! If your gift card can be used to shop online at Fry's Electronics, Raise has already checked the e-gift card box below. Please fill out the rest of the listing form to sell your unused gift cards.
|Listing a Card
|It's always free to list gift cards for sale.
|Selling a Card
|15% is deducted from the selling price when the card sells.
|$2.75 or 1%
|We provide a prepaid shipping label for cards that need to be mailed to the buyer. The greater of $2.75 or 1% will be deducted from the value of the card


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Blue Diamond, NV! Sell Us Your Junk Cars
Sell your junk car in Blue Diamond Nevada
Do you have a damaged or junk car in Blue Diamond you're trying to get rid of? Perfect! We want to buy your damaged or junk car. Give us some basic information about your damaged or junk car, and we'll give you an offer instantly. Seriously, you could get cash for that junk car in your driveway! We want to buy all the junk, salvage, scrap, or damaged cars in Blue Diamond, NV.
Junk cars sold in Blue Diamond


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1-2 weeks
I'll do my best to meet these shipping estimates, but can't guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.
Just contact me within: 7 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 14 days of delivery
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
For Express shipping I have to provide contact information. The most efficient one is your phone number. I don't store your numbers, nor I'll ever call you. It will be used by your local courier to arrange delivery by EMS or DPD.
Information I Collect
To fulfil your order, you must provide me with certain information (which you authorised Etsy to provide to me), such as your name, email address, postal address, payment information, and the details of the product that you're ordering. You may also choose to provide me with additional personal information (for a custom order garments, for example), if you contact me directly.
Why I Need Your Information and How I Use It
I rely on a number of legal bases to collect, use, and share your information, including:
as needed to provide my services, such as when I use your information to fulfil your order, to settle disputes, or to provide customer support;
when you have provided your affirmative consent, which you may revoke at any time, such as by signing up for my mailing list;
if necessary to comply with a legal obligation or court order or in connection with a legal claim, such as retaining information about your purchases if required by tax law; and
as necessary for the purpose of my legitimate interests, if those legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests, such as 1) providing and improving my services. I use your information to provide the services you requested and in my legitimate interest to improve my services; and 2) Compliance with the Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use. I use your information as necessary to comply with my obligations under the Etsy Seller Policy and Terms of Use.
Information about my customers is important to my business. I share your personal information for very limited reasons and in limited circumstances, as follows:
Etsy. I share information with Etsy as necessary to provide you my services and comply with my obligations under both the Etsy Seller Policy and Etsy Terms of Use.
Service providers. I engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to my shop, such as delivery companies. I will share your personal information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these services.
Compliance with laws. I may collect, use, retain, and share your information if I have a good faith belief that it is reasonably necessary to: (a) respond to legal process or to government requests; (b) enforce my agreements, terms and policies; (c) prevent, investigate, and address fraud and other illegal activity, security, or technical issues; or (d) protect the rights, property, and safety of my customers, or others.
Data Retention
I retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide you with my services and as described in my Privacy Policy. However, I may also be required to retain this information to comply with my legal and regulatory obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce my agreements. I generally keep your data for the time required by Latvian law.
Your Rights
If you reside in certain territories, including the EU, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. While some of these rights apply generally, certain rights apply only in certain limited cases. I describe these rights below:
Access. You may have the right to access and receive a copy of the personal information I hold about you by contacting me using the contact information below.
Change, restrict, delete. You may also have rights to change, restrict my use of, or delete your personal information. Absent exceptional circumstances (like where I am required to store data for legal reasons) I will generally delete your personal information upon request.
Object. You can object to (i) my processing of some of your information based on my legitimate interests and (ii) receiving marketing messages from me after providing your express consent to receive them. In such cases, I will delete your personal information unless I have compelling and legitimate grounds to continue using that information or if it is needed for legal reasons.
Complain. If you reside in the EU and wish to raise a concern about my use of your information (and without prejudice to any other rights you may have), you have the right to do so with your local data protection authority.
How to Contact Me
For purposes of EU data protection law, SIA ZOLNAR is the data controller of your personal information. If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact me at email@example.com. Alternately, you may mail me at:
SIA ZOLNAR, maskavas 259/1-53, Riga, Latvia
Most of the time SIZE TABLE is the last picture of the listing. If you fall in between sizes or you're not sure about your size, you can order a custom size garment. Please, make sure you've included your measurements in your request message:
1) Chest / Bust
2) Underbust
3) Waist
4) Hips measured at the widest point
5) Height
6) For gloves Around knuckles measured without the thumb + wrist/forearm/upper arm depending on the length
Clothing and accessories:
Cold Machine Wash 30C / 65F
Do Not Bleach
Do Not Tumble Dry
After wash, it's better to hang the garment on a hanger and let it dry. You can iron the garment from inside out when it's a bit wet.
Regular ironing, steam or dry, may be performed at Low setting (110C, 230F) only. Iron from inside - out.
Care instructions for softshell:
1) Empty all pockets
2) Close fasteners, including zippers
3) Turn the garment inside out
4) Use a special washing powder
5) Do not use bleach, fabric softeners, water softeners
6) Wash separately, 30°C/86°F, gentle wash
7) Let it rinse properly
8) Never spin-dry it in a washing machine nor wring it in hand
9) Avoid dryers – instead, leave it to dry on a clothes hanger
If you want me to cancel your order, please let me know as fast as you can as I may ship out some items same day. If you want to cancel an order that is already in production, I may discount the cost of production that took place already.
Sale items orders are final and can't be canceled.
Accessories are usually shipped in 1-3 days.
Other made to order items are made and shipped in 1-7 business days, but sometimes it can take up to 14 days. If you are interested, contact me and I'll tell when your order is scheduled to be made and dispatched.
In the case of an increase in processing time, it will be announced in the Shop Announcement. Please check it before the purchase to get the information on the current processing time.
All the products are shipped with a TRACKING NUMBER so there is a really small chance for the package to get lost. If it doesn't show up in a timely manner, I'll contact Latvijas Pasts post office to file a case of non / wrong delivery. Your local post will contact you in a few weeks to get more details and will give back an answer in 1-3 month. If your post will claim the parcel as lost I'll refund you in 14 days after receiving the confirmation. If the post office replies that item was received before the date when the parcel search was ordered, or, if the parcel is delivered by tracking info, opening such case will cost you 5 EUR that will be refunded is the parcel admitted as misdelivered by the official letter of your local post.
I do custom and personalized orders. Please, don't forget to add your chest/bust, waist, hips, and height measurements with your request for clothing and around knuckles, wrist, forearm, upper arm for arm warmers. Customized and adjusted garment couldn't be returned or exchanged. Thank you!
Accessories like necklaces, earrings, rings aren't the part of the listings, but I can whisper where I got them. Arm/ leg/ neck warmers, bags are sold separately.
Sale items are usually leftovers that we have in stock, if your size is not available, it won't be possible to make it. I can offer you the same design made with different fabrics. It usually costs the original garment price + 10%. Such garment can't be returned as it's a custom made.
Orders shipped in December are stuck at sorting centers around the world as the flow of parcels that has to be processed increases dramatically during the holiday season. Usually it takes about 10-15 days for parcels to be delivered, but during the holiday season it's
The tracking number is included in the email about order dispatch. Etsy doesn't show it in your order page for some reason, but I can assure you all parcels dispatched have a tracking number. Canada and Australia posts do not show tracking online, but you can require information about parcels whereabouts by contacting your local post office.
You can track your parcel here: https://www.track-trace.com/post
We also offer EMS/ DPD/FedEx express shipping as a SHIPPING UPGRADE for an additional cost. If you can't find upgrades for your country, please contact us prior to the purchase, we'll look up the rates and add make it available. If shipping upgrade county won't match destination country, we'll have to ship your order via Latvian post. No refunds will be given for wrong shipping upgrades.
Delivery Estimates after dispatch:
DPD for EU countries only:
Poland, Finland: 2-4 b.d.
OTHERS: 4-6 b.d.
Romania, Spain: 5-7 b.d.
Bulgaria, Portugal 6-8 b.d.
Greece: 8-11
FedEx: 2-4 b.d.
PLEASE, leave your PHONE NUMBER as a NOTE so the courier could arrange delivery. It may take longer to be delivered for parcels without one.
All the parcel returned back unclaimed or with wrong address will be reshipped at a cost of a buyer.
NOTE! By the rules of Latvian post, all international mail is sent as A priority with tracking number and requires a SIGNATURE upon receiving. If you messed the delivery you should reschedule the delivery or pick up the parcel at the post office.
May 14, 2021
It's a stunning jacket, but unfortunately my measurements didn't quite fot into the regular size 38. Eva was very helpful in making sure we got the measurements right for a custom made version. She has been very quick in her replies, very professional and accommodating. Thank you!