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November 28, 2007
How Do You Make Decisions at Work?
Every workday is filled with a myriad of decisions to be made. Some have few consequences and are made without much thought: where to park in the morning, which pen to use, whether to have tuna or ham for lunch. Others are more complex: Should you have it out with your coworker? Is that interview you got called for worth it? How can you cut your budget for 2008?
A lot of people (myself included) make the ol' pros and cons list when deciding something major, weighing all the options to find the one that makes the most sense. But thinking that much may not be the best way to make such decisions, according to a new book called Gut Feelings. In it, psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute in Germany advocates trusting your gut more and such lists less.
Gigerenzer argues that cognitive shortcuts in our brains are there for a reason and help us through life. Says the Newsweek article: "Psychologists now believe that these cognitive shortcuts evolved over eons in the brain's neurons, probably because exhaustive and complex calculation was so often impractical for our early ancestors, who were always only one step ahead of their predators."
So how do you make decisions at work? Do you go with your intuition, or is it lists and deep thought all the way? Tell us in the comments below. And in the meantime, check out these Monster resources about the art of work-related decision-making:
- "Learn to Make Clear Decisions"
- "Identify and Avoid These Career Decision-Making Traps"
- "Compare Two Job Offers"
- "Audio: Know When It's Time to Quit Your Job"
- From the Monster Blog: "Is There Room for Intuition in Business?"
Posted by Christine on November 28, 2007 at 08:55 AM in Current Events , The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
November 26, 2007
What's Your Workplace Eating Style?
The first workday after Thanksgiving ushers in a couple of seasonal events. Today, of course, is Cyber Monday -- the day many people will take a break from work to do a little online shopping, costing employers an estimated $488.4 million in lost productivity.
But, aside from being a holiday milestone for retailers, today is also the official start of the holiday eating season, that special time of year when food is everywhere -- including the office. Last week, our department got a jump on the season when Chris, our tech guy, brought in his homemade cheesecake. That's just a taste of things to come, of course, as over the next few weeks, workplaces everywhere will be inundated with all sorts of unhealthy -- but delectable -- holiday treats.
Some of us will be able to resist the coming parade of cookies, cakes, pastries and pies, but most of us won't. Some of us will regret our indulgences, while others will simply enjoy every calorie-laden morsel, along with the associated office socializing.
Food and drink are favorite topics around here -- we've discussed the finer points of lunch and coffee consumption more than a few times in this blog -- but the prospect of even more food in the office got me thinking about not just what we eat at work but how. Here are five workplace eating styles I've observed:
- Healthy: Most of us aim for this, but let's face it: These are the people you love to hate -- the impossibly slender ones smugly collecting their low-fat yogurt and fresh broccoli florets out of the fridge (after their five-mile runs, of course) while you're walking by with your Big Mac and large fries.
- Stealthy: Do these people ever eat? You can't be sure, because they're supremely artful in concealing their food intake.
- Stressed: A contentious phone call, a disagreement with the boss or a tight deadline can send these types into a mindless eating binge. You can hear them angrily chomping away in their cube.
- Scavenger: These folks have a sixth sense when it comes to finding food anywhere on the premises. Watch for them picking through anything left over from an office function after everyone else is gone.
- Social: Easy to spot, the more socially minded work eaters have candy jars on their desks and are always rounding up colleagues for lunch.
What workplace eating styles have you observed? What style are you? Leave us a comment below.
For more on the topic, check out these Monster resources:
- From the Monster Blog: "Hungry Horrors in the Land of Plenty"
- "Desktop Dining Etiquette"
Posted by Ann on November 26, 2007 at 11:35 AM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
November 21, 2007
Get Ready with Monster's Guide to the Holidays
By nature, I am a planner. I'm happiest when I have plotted out my next moves and have a Plan B in case the original one doesn't pan out. And this year, when it comes to my favorite season, the holidays, my planning ways will come in handy.
As I've mentioned, I'm due with my first child around the turn of the year, so I'm either going to have a newborn or be nine months pregnant on Christmas Day. To soothe my worried mind, I'm starting my holiday preparations early this year. We've made our Christmas gift list and started shopping, and I've told family and friends my availability will be limited after mid-December.
So you can imagine how happy I was when we came up with Monster's Guide to the Holidays. This collection of articles covers everything from holiday party etiquette (with 90 percent of companies reporting they will have a holiday shindig this year, according to Challenger, Grey and Christmas, this is news you need to know) to career-related gift books you'll want on your shopping list. Check it out, and remember: Even if you're not having a baby, it never hurts to be prepared early. Just ask the guy who started hanging garland at the mall on November first.
Posted by Christine on November 21, 2007 at 10:05 AM in Current Events , The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
November 19, 2007
How to Be Productive at Work This Thanksgiving Week
OK, admit it: You're really not in a working mood this week. After all, the great American holiday of Thanksgiving is just three short days away, and there is no shortage of related items to distract you between now and then. For example:
- How early your boss will let you leave the office Wednesday
- Where you're flying for the long weekend
- Who's coming to dinner and which long-lost second cousin you'll have to be polite to this year
- How many extra helpings of stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce you'll manage to stuff down on Thursday afternoon
- Who's playing in the Turkey Day football games
- Whether those Friday shopping bargains are really worth rising before dawn and waiting in extra-long lines to cash in on.
But here's the good news: You're not alone. Your coworkers and colleagues around the country would similarly prefer to skip the standing team meeting or put off writing that report or proposal for at least a few more days.
But it's precisely because nobody else wants to be working all that hard that you have the chance to make this one of your most productive weeks of the year. Here's why:
- Mark my words: Some of those scheduled meetings you have in the next couple of days will be cancelled. Use the newfound free time to wrap up a bugaboo project -- one that has never been at the absolute top of the priority list but that will have you feeling much better once it's done.
- When we're at work but don't actually want to do the work we're supposed to be doing, we like to chit-chat. Why not turn the nation's collective gregariousness this week into your own gain by scheduling a networking phone call or lunch? You're ensured of having some lively -- and fruitful -- discussions that just might lead to new business partnerships or job opportunities.
- You'll stand out from the crowd. If you spend the next few days getting organized and cranking through all of your assignments while your coworkers resort to goofing off, who do you think will be sitting pretty in the eyes of your boss come next Monday morning?
So don't allow the visions of Thanksgiving Day delights to dance too loudly in your head, and stay focused right through Wednesday afternoon. The turkey will still taste just as good on Thursday.
Posted by Bryan on November 19, 2007 at 01:00 PM in Current Events , Networking , The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
November 14, 2007
What We're Thankful For, 2007 Edition
In a week, we'll all be gearing up for the big feed that is Thanksgiving. This time of year often gets us thinking about what we're thankful for -- if only to be ready for when Aunt Matilda asks everyone to go around the holiday table and say it.
I went around the Monster Career Advice table, as we've done in past years, and asked my coworkers what they were thankful for at work. Here are their (and my) responses. Happy Thanksgiving, and tell us what you're thankful for in the comments below.
Ann: Health insurance is my thing -- the thing I read about, think about and talk about pretty much all the time. (Yes, I make a fascinating party guest.) So I am thankful that we were able to host an online community event in April on health insurance issues. I am grateful to our guest experts, Bianca DiJulio of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Jacob Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift, for sharing their time and expertise with us, and to all of you Monster members who participated.
In July, I wrote about a friend whose family had lost health insurance just as a new health insurance mandate was going into effect here in Massachusetts. I am happy -- and thankful -- to report that my friend's husband has since found a full-time job with health insurance, and that they are now covered. But I will really be thankful when health insurance is no longer a major cause for worry in this country.
Brooke: As it is my first year out of college, I am thankful I have a job! I have been fortunate enough to be able to work in a challenging and dynamic environment right after graduating. I must admit it's been a pretty unique experience working for a career advice Web site at the beginning of my career; I've learned so much on many different levels. In the past five and a half months, other than career advice (which I've come to know), I've learned a whole new set of skills, and perhaps most importantly, I've discovered a lot about myself. And if a job can do all that for you, you know you have a lot to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving!
Bryan: I'm especially thankful this year that my wife and I found a good babysitter for my 1-year-old son. I can come to work knowing that he's in safe hands. I'm also grateful for the arrival of a new coworker, who's successfully encouraged me to stop skipping lunch.
Christine: There are a lot of personal things I'm thankful for this year, my husband's continued good health being high on the list. The biggest, of course, is my belly, or more accurately, what's inside it -- we're due with our first child in early January and are over the moon. This has made the whole concept of work/life balance come into full focus for me. I'm thankful I work at a company that understands life isn't all about work and has been accommodating for doctor's appointments, sick (make that exhausted) days and other fun pregnancy brings. And then there's after the baby comes...
Christopher: Last year at Thanksgiving, I was gearing up for my wedding, which occurred just two days after the holiday. I have to confess -- I was thinking more about saying my vows properly than reflecting on what I was truly thankful for. Shame on me, I know.
Nearly a year has passed now, and while my wife may tell you I am most thankful for turkey (which I do thoroughly enjoy), what I am really thankful for is her. She has given me the most wonderful year of my life and has made me an all-around better person. It was also her that urged me to start looking for another job earlier this year when I was clearly unhappy -- and because of that urging, I can now be thankful for a job that I look forward to coming into each and every day and the wonderful people I get to work with.
Norma: There's a lot for me to be thankful for, like my husband and son, my family, my great friends and that I am lucky enough to truly enjoy the work I do and the people I work with. So I could go all sentimental on that stuff, or I can talk about the diversions at work that I'm thankful for. All work and no fun makes me a dull employee, right? So here are the two diversions I am most thankful for: Pandora Radio, which plays the music I want to hear based on how my preferences mesh with the "Music Genome Project," and JibJab Starring You! videos, in which you take a JibJab movie and cast it with heads from your own pictures. Hours of procrastinating fun!
Posted by Christine on November 14, 2007 at 10:13 AM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
November 12, 2007
Is It Time to Fire All the Smokers?
A couple of years ago, our posts on whether a company had the right to fire employees who smoked -- Maya said no; Thad said yes -- caused quite a stir with our readers.
And with the annual Great American Smokeout happening this Thursday, coupled with the recent news that the smoking rate among Americans isn't dropping, I think it's time to raise the issue again.
Here's what we know:
- Smoking is bad for your health.
- Employees in bad health miss more work days per year than their healthier counterparts.
- All other factors being equal, healthy workers are better for their companies' bottom lines than unhealthy workers.
But just because you know you shouldn't smoke and your company would prefer you didn't (some even pay for stop-smoking programs), does that mean you should be sacked for smoking -- even if it's during your break and outside your work building?
I certainly hope not. After all, employees engage in plenty of other (potentially) unhealthy/risky behaviors on their own time that we're not talking about firing them for: eating too much red meat, driving without a seat belt, not washing their hands when they have a cold, etc.
If I had a magic wand, I'd wipe out smoking completely. It's a disgusting, unhealthy and smelly way to live. But since I'm no Harry Potter, the best I can do is encourage the few smoking friends and colleagues I do have to kick their habit.
But until they do, let's not have them in fear of losing their jobs because of their private, personal choices -- as unhealthy as those choices might be.
What's your take? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Posted by Bryan on November 12, 2007 at 02:17 PM in Current Events , The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (185) | TrackBack (0)
November 07, 2007
Female Absenteeism: It's Not Always Why You Think
Statistically speaking, women are absent from work more often than men. The knee-jerk reaction: They're caring for the kids. Indeed, according to this article, married and unmarried women with children report more absences than their childless counterparts. (Interestingly enough, married men with children report fewer absences than those without children.)
But hold on: There's more going on here than just family getting in the way of work. The article goes on to say: "[Eric] Patton and his coauthor Gary Johns found that elevated absentee rates for women could not be fully explained by health, family or job issues. Instead the researcher postulated that social expectations have created an 'absence culture' for women that may be a factor."
Absence culture? Not according to this mom, interviewed for the story: "Lauren, a Cleveland mother of two teenage daughters, finds she can never call in sick because she's worried about how it will be perceived at the equipment company she works for. 'Even when my daughters are sick, even when I'm sick, even when I have a myriad of pressing problems, even when I have the cable guy coming to the house or the chimney sweeper or the plumber, even when my mother is sick and needs me, even when my father-in-law is in the hospital, I don't call in sick,' she says."
My personal theory on why women are absent more often: They are more likely to do the right thing and stay in bed when they don't feel well. While there will always be those who abuse the system -- male or female -- I think staying home when you're sick is something to be encouraged.
And as for women who need to take time off to take care of the kids? As long as the work is getting done, employers should be more sympathetic. It makes for better work/life balance and as a result, happier, more productive employees. And when they can, dads need to step up to the plate to share the load.
For more on this subject, check out these Monster resources:
- From the Monster Blog: "Work/Life Balance Is Everyone's Issue"
Posted by Christine on November 7, 2007 at 11:31 AM in Women at Work | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
November 05, 2007
Our Love/Hate Relationship with Email
Email is the bane of the knowledge worker's professional existence.
OK, so pardon my grandiose pronouncement, but it's true, isn't it? There really is no escaping the love/hate relationship you have with your email inbox. For example:
- Love: Email is a cheap, fast tool for sending and receiving quick replies to/from colleagues.
- Hate: Because you're in the habit of answering your email right away, you expect others to do the same. In fact, if a coworker hasn't replied to your message within a half hour, you start to think you're being ignored.
- Love: Thanks to the ask-a-question, get-an-answer power of email, you can avoid those boring conference calls and unnecessary, time-wasting meetings.
- Hate: Somehow, the conference calls and meetings aren't slowing down -- and neither is your email.
- Love: If you're not a phone person, email is a more comfortable communications mode for getting some of your transactional work done.
- Hate: Because you didn't pick up the phone when you fired off that emotional email to your client, your tone was misinterpreted and you just lost a major corporate account -- as well as your job.
- Love: Your BlackBerry delivers your email to you anywhere, anytime!
- Hate: Your BlackBerry delivers your email to you anywhere, anytime!
There really is no escaping email -- we need it to do our jobs. But when we allow our inbox to manage us instead of the other way around, email becomes a terrible burden.
So what's the solution? How about email-free Fridays? Several companies are starting to adopt the concept as a way to encourage actual face-to-face interaction and to reduce the level of unnecessary email. If you think an email-free workday is a great idea, make sure you vote in this week's Monster poll (bottom of page).
Now I wonder who I should ask at Monster about putting the policy into place at our workplace?
What are your best practices for managing email? Drop them in the comments section below.
Here are a few of our resources on the topic:
- "Don't Let Email Steal Your Time"
- From the Monster Blog: "Five Workplace Email Etiquette Commandments"
- From the Monster Blog: "Email or Face-to-Face"
Posted by Bryan on November 5, 2007 at 12:40 PM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)


text:
Www.asef.org/images/docs/Mapping-Cultural-Diversity-DUK-ASEF-2010.pdf. Waking Up.
$ Life quality. Equlity. Children. Education. Environment. STEALTH.unlimited. Projects films. The Cathedral Archer Project - Localgiving.com. Enduring Voices Project, Endangered Languages, Map, Facts, Photos, Videos. New Talking Dictionaries The Enduring Voices team is pleased to announce the launch of Talking Dictionaries, giving listeners around the world a chance to hear some of the most little-known sounds of human speech.
Several communities are now offering the online record of their language to be shared by any interested person around the world. While you probably won't walk away from these Talking Dictionaries knowing how to speak a new language, you will encounter fascinating and beautiful sounds--forms of human speech you've never heard before--and through them, get a further glimpse into the rich diversity of culture and experience that humans have created in every part of the globe. Explore the Talking Dictionaries for yourself. Support National Geographic's Enduring Voices Project - Documenting the Planet's Endangered Language. CRASH Japan - Love On Japan 2011 - Christian Relief Assistance Support & Hope. The Official Site of Bernard J. Schaffer : KINDLE ALL-STARS PROJECT (Updated 8/22/11)
"Few projects slung my way, these days of electronic idiocy and bad writing, can perk me up and get the fireworks. This is one of the best, sweetest ideas I've heard in years. Nothing but the smiles of Success are due the project, the people putting it together, and the good kids who will benefit from every penny garnered. I am 100% and a bag of marmosets behind it! " BREAKING NEWS: In 1967, one man led a guerilla force of hungry, passionate authors into literary history with DANGEROUS VISIONS. In 2011, the revolution returns. About the GNU Project. This is the original announcement of the GNU Project, posted by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983.
The actual history of the GNU Project differs in many ways from this initial plan. For example, the beginning was delayed until January 1984. Ways to Improve Human Intelligence. This briefing is intended to pull into one convenient, single frame of reference a body of key information which currently is scattered across a great many different contexts.
Until recently, even the possibility of any such information existing was, for essentially political reasons and funding reasons, denied by most of our institutions, together with most of our educators and psychologists, so that such findings as were made in various contexts and circumstances never got discussed across a broader context. Now that it is evident that the brain, and one's intelligence, are highly changeable and that a wide variety of conditions, arrangements and techniques may be employed to improve both brain functioning and intelligence to even a profound degree, we need to make a start on getting a lot of this key information organized to where you and other inquirers can more readily get at it, understand it, and use it. PETITIONZ. Twitter. Global Oneness Project.

subset: commoncrawl


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Concrete Cutters like to use flat saws when the are cutting concrete in Atlanta Georgia. Concrete Cutters also core drill on some jobs. concrete cutters also Sawing concrete some call it concrete cutting . Concrete cutting is the same as sawing concrete. Concrete Cutters do concrete cutting Slab sawing and flat sawing is the same as concrete cutting which concrete cutters do in Atlanta Georgia. Concretecutters core drill concrete when they are not slab sawing concrete. Concrete cutters use diffrent types of concrete cutting saws and core drills. Concrete Cutters use Diamond Chain Saw, Slab Saws, Wall Saws Track saws. Concrete cutters cut concrete
Flat Sawing is the cutting of flat surfaces using a flat saw. These saws can cut through virtually any hard material, steel reinforced or not. Depths of 24" or more can be cut using large diamond segmented blades.
Flat Sawing is the best and most efficient way to get through concrete, asphalt, or other material or other access to the underground for installation of utilities or other work.
Inside buildings, floors are cut to allow for the installation of new pipe, conduit, or fixtures. Flat sawing results in a nice straight and clean edge instead of a jagged, broken edge like you would get from jack hammering or otherwise breaking the concrete. The saving in time for flat sawing versus breaking is usually substantial.
We use flat saws ranging from small patio saws to large 72 horsepower turbo-diesel saws. We operated gasoline, diesel and electric models that can work safely in any environments.
A1 Concrete Cutters LLC tm. Atlanta, Georgia.
Concrete Radar Scanning Consultants
X-Ray A Different Way! We Specialize in Ground Penetrating Radar
And Concrete Coring One Call Will Do It All !
Phone 770-301-1519
Wall Sawing
Wall sawing employs a diamond blade on a track-mounted system that can be used for vertical and horizontal cuts. This set-up can also be used for vertical and horizontal cuts. This set-up can also be used on steep inclined surfaces where a slab saw cannot be used safely. Wall sawing is typically specified to cut precise openings for doorways, ventilation units, and windows. Specialized applications such as finishing roughed-in walls can also be performed.
Wall sawing can be performed up to 24" deep indoors or outside. Cutting can also be performed from both sides of the wall, giving a total depth of up to 48". The wall sawing unit is highly portable and easily set-up for our trained operators. The applications for this type of sawing are endless.
Typical Applications Include:
Straight, smooth finished openings in walls, ceilings, and floors.
Accurately sized, fixture ready openings.
Bevel Cutting.
Core Drilling is used when a job calls for the drilling of circular holes in reinforced concrete, precast concrete, asphalt, brick, cinderblock and other structural materials. Most often the holes are made for electrical, plumbing, heating, sewer, sprinkler installations and structural anchors.
Diamond Core Drilling is dust-free, quiet and capable of cutting through steel reinforcing rods with little difficulty. Unlike rotary percussion tools, which can spread stress cracks through concrete and damage adjoing concrete. With the use of Diamond Core Drilling there are no vibration and consequently, no structural damage because reinforcing rods are not loosened.
Drillers and Cutters, along with top of the line equipment, allows us to core holes in diameters from 1/2" to 36".
The work is preformed using electric or hydraulic powered core drilling machines transported in specially modified, radio dispatched trucks that carry their own power and water supply.
We use a Dust-Free wet cutting system, which creates slurry that we vacum up, leaving a clean work area.
Our professional Core Drillers and Cutters are available 7 days a week 24 hours a day as needed to accomplish whatever Core Drilling challenge you have.
Concrete Hand Sawing
Chain and hand sawing is commonly employed when general wall sawing can't be performed. With our Chain saws, we cut small openings up to 18" thick.
Hand held units are equipped with diamond blades or diamond chains.
We use our diamond chain saws in conjunction with our wall saws when over cuts are an issue. We have hydraulic chain saws. This is an extremely versatile saw, we use this type of saw for cutting openings in poured foundation walls. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC openings. Ventilation and air conditioning openings.
Small, tightly accessed areas where cutting is needed. A1 Concrete Cutters Concrete Cutting Atlanta Georgia, Atlanta Georgia ,breaking ,wire ,slab, wall, core drilling, chain ,hand ,sawing floor . A1 concrete cutters, concrete cutting Atlanta Georgia, Atlanta Georgia, breaking ,wire ,slab ,wall, core drilling ,chain ,hand, sawing floor.
Weather Forecast
Click here to add text.Penetrating Radar:
Detection of Reinforcing Steel
We use GPR technology to locate post-tension cables and/or rebar within concrete prior to core drilling for electrical outfitting, plumbing, duct work, fire protection services, and drain installation. Once GPRC has located the reinforcing steel in your concrete structure, we will map a grid onto the surface of your structure to guide you as you drill. Utilizing this service will prevent damage to the integrity of the structure as our non-invasive technology eliminates the need for repair or patching work. Additionally, taking advantage of our expertise will minimize your risk of on-the-job injuries, accidents, and delays.
Detection of Embedded Electrical Services
We will use GPR to locate electrical services and/or conduit running within or below concrete structures in locations such as retail centers, hospitals, and manufacturing facilities. Working with GPRC prior to drilling or cutting into concrete slabs on sites like these will allow you to avoid the hassle of a building or facility shut-down due to electrical outage or failure during the job.
The subgrade below the floors of manufacturing and industrial facilities wears over time from the repeated impact of machinery, erodes or washes out from broken sewer or water lines, and/or settles over the life of the structure. The absence of subgrade creates air pockets undetectable on the concrete surface and increases the possibility of a dangerous and expensive floor collapse. Our GPR techs will locate these problem areas without any damage to the existing structures, thereby preserving the areas as they investigate. Additionally, this service will allow the repair and remediation processes to focus solely on the areas where void cavities exist instead of drilling multiple holes to determine the presence and extent of voids.
Training and Safety:
Safety is a top priority at GPRC. All of our technicians receive extensive on-site training, attend a mandatory manufacturer's training course, and complete OHSA 10-hour construction training. Specifically, our new techs ride with senior technicians to observe each application and learn to interpret the GPR data. After completing the manufacturer's training course, the techs will return to the field with the senior technicians who now act in a supervisory role as the techs hone their skills and prepare to enter the field fulltime.
Concrete Scanning - Before you start coring, cutting or demo of concrete find out what is below. Perform a ground penetrating radar scan to find post tension cables, power conductors, fire alarm cabling, rebar, conduit and much more. To find our more about our best practice scanning procedures click here.
Don't X-Ray your concrete!! Ground Penetrating Radar is not the same as Concrete X-Ray. Concrete X-Ray is time consuming and emits radiation which can be dangerous. GPR uses radio waves to produce the same visual result with no need to develop films and with no health hazards. We can scan your concrete with workers on site during normal business hours.
GPR has been used since 1970, first in geophysical fields and later in construction projects. Though the technology is called ground penetrating radar, the scanning process is completely non-invasive. The technology that we use at is the latest possible technology available developed by years of international GPR research and manufacturing. That gives us the clearest look at what needs to be avoided for your concrete cutting and coring needs. We offer both 2D and 3D imaging.
We specialize in providing accurate scans for concrete structural forms in commercial and government buildings. We are accustomed to government and high rise security procedures and loading dock protocol. Our technicians have passed federal background checks. We have worked for hundreds of customers including sites at Atlanta most high rise buildings in Atlanta. We are the preferred local scanning company because we keep a great service oriented attitude.
We can image concrete decks, slabs, columns, walls and balconies and locate the following the following:
Rebar and wire mesh
Post tension cables
Power cables
Fire alarm system wiring
Metal and plastic piping
We provide concrete scanning, concrete GPR and ground penetrating radar services for Atlanta, GA. A1 Concrete Cutters provides construction expertise for plumbing, electrical and mechanical subcontractors. We are here to assist the contractor on a multitude of fronts. Let us know where you want your business to go and we can help.
our company offers competitive rates and provides expert concrete scanning and ground penetrating radar services for Atlanta, Georgia.
Advantages of GPR over X-ray
Access to one side is needed for GPR while x-ray requires access to both sides.
GPR is a safe non-destructive survey that has no radiation hazards.
GPR can give you real time results with a direct read out of x-y locations. X-rays must be processed and then calculated.
A GPR survey can be performed at any time without disrupting any other operations and during normal working hours unlike x-rays.
Thousands of square feet can be scanned in one day whereas X-rays are performed in a step and repeat method limiting the number that can be performed in one day.
There is a lower cost associated with GPR due to set up time, no overtime unless requested, and the amount of scanning that can be performed in one day.
field experience, a wide range of top quality equipment and proprietary software we provide unmatched accuracy to scan concrete walls, ceilings and columns to:
Locate rebar – map rebar spacing and depth in concrete, including slab-on-grade with multiple layers of rebar/other embedded elements.
Locate conduit – map plastic and metal conduits with precision to avoid damage when drilling, cutting, or coring.
Locate post-tension cables – map post-tension cables with precision to avoid damage when drilling, cutting, or coring through post-tensioned concrete.
Locate voids – locate voids under concrete structures, behind walls, in tunnels, etc.
Measure slab thickness – determine and record the slab thickness for both slab-on-grade and suspended slabs, determine rebar depth to measure concrete cover in slabs, beams, and columns
A1 Concrete Cutters is a structural scanning company using the most advanced and mobile, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) concrete scanning technology. Unlike X-Ray equipment which requires jobsite evacuation and access to both sides of a concrete structure, GPR is a non destructive concrete inspection system that can locate rebar, post tension cables, pipes, and conduit in concrete structures, slabs, floors, and walls. This technology is much safer than X-Rays and can be performed without disturbing areas or occupants of structures. Our GPR surveys provide real time results which identify potential problem areas immediately prior to drilling or cutting into concrete structures
Damaging structural elements such as conduit, rebar, and post tension cable can be dangerous and costly, not to mention the expense of project delays. A GPR survey performed by A1 Concrete Cutters can isolate hazards in your concrete and reduce the risk.
Our services are routinely applied in hospitals, airports, universities, and numerous retail, residential, and industrial construction sites.
Our Concrete Scanning services combine the most experience people with the latest technology and the largest fleet in the region to provide the best service and quickest response time in the industry. Locating embedded objects in concrete prior to concrete sawing, drilling or breaking is vital to avoid embedded or buried obstructions such as reinforcing steel bars (rebar), wire mesh, post tension cables, conduit, utilities, drainage, water lines, radiant floor heating etc... Digital Imaging software allows us to generate a clear view of the concrete slab or wall for post survey data processing, review and analysis for pre-design and engineering purposes. we offer everything you need to safely scan before you cut.
Concrete Scanning & Imaging Services:
Embedded rebar, wire mesh, post tension cables
Conduit, utilities, drainage/ sewer lines, radiant floor heating
Rebar spacing, depth of cover and concrete thickness assessment
Concrete Imaging, post processing and Technical Reporting
Requires one-side access
Radar-based concrete scanning is the state of the art in concrete inspection technology, and provides the accurate results that you need when dealing with structures within concrete.
Our concrete scanning system locates structures embedded within concrete slabs prior to drilling, cutting or coring, to a depth of 24 inches or more. A 32" x 32" area of concrete can be inspected and its contents accurately marked in just five minutes. Only single-sided access is required to perform concrete scans (as opposed to X-ray inspection, which needs access to both sides), and thousands of square feet can be inspected in a single day. Faster, safer, and less expensive than traditional X-ray radiography, radar concrete scanning is the best method available for determining what objects lie inside concrete slabs – and exactly where they are.
Radar-based concrete scanning is much better – and much cheaper – than the old X-ray radiography method of locating obstructions in concrete for a number of reasons:
Concrete scanning is quick to set up and only needs access to one side of the slab; X-ray setup can take hours, and it requires access to both sides of the slab.
Data is collected rapidly with concrete scanning, and scans are available for viewing immediately; radiography takes time – and expensive film – to shoot, and then requires development before it can be viewed.
Concrete scan data and images are digital and copies can easily be sent to anyone who needs them; X-rays are on film and must be physically passed around.
Concrete scanning uses harmless, non-ionizing radio waves to gather data; radiography uses X-rays, which present a radiation hazard requiring the evacuation of the worksite.
Exact location and depth measurements of any objects within the slab are immediately available with concrete scanning; radiography requires careful measurements and calculations of the developed films to obtain location and depth data.
As an example, the picture at left shows Glen scanning a section of concrete floor at the Portland International Jetport. This particular section of the Jetport is warmed by radiant-floor heat pipes buried within the concrete: it's very comfortable heat, but the heat pipes make it tricky to work in the concrete without hitting anything. When the need arose to cut some cores into the concrete, we came in with our concrete scanner and found a safe place to core that dodged all of the radiant heat pipes - and rebar.
For years, the only way to perform subsurface structure location on concrete was to use X-ray radiography. Trouble is, X-ray concrete inspection requires lengthy preparation, the evacuation of the work site, and a great deal of time to actually shoot, develop and interpret the films. Not only does this limit how much area can be covered in a day, it drives the price up. Using our portable concrete scanning unit, we can quickly survey a large area at any time, with no radiation exposure risks and no need to clear crews from the site. Plus, we can immediately mark right on the concrete where obstructions lie and where the clear paths through the slab are. It's the fastest way we know of to dig safely through concrete.


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The OpenCyc KB is essentially a sea of constants and a sea of assertions. There are many different ways to locate and view both constants and assertions, as well as many different operations that can be performed on them. This section describes how to view and make modifications to the KB.
For each of the sections/tools below, there is most likely a corresponding section/reference in the "Using the Cyc Web Interface" tutorial mentioned earlier.
Searching for Constants
NOTE: The GREP facility is not currently available in OpenCyc, but it will be made available as soon as a programmer has the time to migrate it from the full Cyc version.
The easiest way to search for constants in the KB is to use the search facility located in the Toolbar Frame. Simply enter in a constant name (without the "#$") and click the [Show] button. It is also possible in this window to use strings (via wildcards or unix GREP) to search for constant names. For details on all of these options, see the Toolbar Help.
One final way to search for constants is to use the Alphabetical Search, which provides an alphabetical listing of constant names. The Alphabetical Search can be reached via the "A" link in the Browser, and will appear automatically if Cyc is unable to find a matching constant when using the search facility in the Toolbar. For details, see the Alphabetical Search Help.
Viewing Constants
To view a constant that appears anywhere in the KB Browser, such as in an assertion, in a constant completion list, or in the Browser History, simply click on the highlighted constant name. The one exception to this is in the left-hand frame of the Term Index, where constant names are actually assertion categories. For details, see the Term Index Help.
One other method of viewing constants is the Hierarchy Browser, which provides a hierarchical listing of constants. The Hierarchy Browser can be reached by clicking on the "Hier" link in the Toolbar or Browser Tools pages, via the red diamond link in the Browser, or as a link in the Cyc Navigator. For details on the Hierarchy Browser, see the Hierarchy Browser Help.
Creating Constants and Performing Operations on Constants
There are several ways to create new Cyc constants. Perhaps the easiest way is to use the Create tool, which allows the user to create a new constant as an individual operation. The Create tool can be reached by clicking on the "Create" link in the Toolbar or Browser Tools pages, as well as through the Cyc Navigator. Details on using this tool are provided in the Constant Creation Help.
Operations such as renaming and killing constants are relatively easy to do in Cyc (though they should be done sparingly). Simply display the constant in the KB Browser (see above for how to do this). Under the constant name in the Term Index will be links titled "Rename" and "Kill". Clicking on these will take the user to the Rename and Kill facilities, respectively. Be sure to read the help documentation linked to those pages, as well as the documentRenaming and Killing Constants.
Searching for Assertions in the KB
As mentioned above, the KB is a sea of assertions. How to find the one you want?
If you know one of the terms involved in the assertion you're looking for, the easiest way to find the assertion is to display that constant in the KB. You can then choose one of the categories in the left-hand frame of the Term Index to display a desired subset of the assertions involving that constant. Clicking on "All Assertions" will display all the assertions for that constant. You can use the search facility of your HTML browser (Netscape, Explorer) to scan through the assertions for the desired one. See the Term Index Help for descriptions of the Term Index categories.
If you know more than one involved term, there are several options. You can display one of the constants, and then use the second one as a Term Index category (if applicable) or as a search term in the HTML browser search. Better yet, the Index Overlap tool compiles a list of all assertions involving two or more specified constants. Simply use this tool to narrow down choice of assertions to those involving all of the terms specified. When you use the Overlap tool, it is necessary to include the "#$" in the constant names. See the Index Overlap Help for further details.
Viewing Assertions
There are several ways to view sets of assertions in the KB Browser. The standard way is to display a constant, and then use the categories in the Term Index to view the desired set of assertions for that constant, as described above. The second way is to use the Index Overlap tool, also described above. One final way is to use the Literal Query tool to display more assertions of a certain type. This can be done by clicking on the "+" icons next to category names in the Term Index. See the Literal Query Help for details.
To view a single assertion in more detail, click on the colored ball in front of the desired assertion. See the Key for Icons in the Browser for descriptions of the meanings of the different balls (and other icons).
Performing Operations on Assertions
Operations such as editing, deleting, and copying (asserting similar) assertions are fairly straightforward in the KB Browser. First, locate the target assertion and display it in detail by clicking on the colored ball next to it. You'll see a list of operations that can be performed. Here are a few:
Edit: allows the user to edit the assertion.
Unassert: deletes the assertion from the KB (for locally asserted axioms).
Blast: deletes the assertion from the KB (for deduced assertions).
Assert Similar: makes a copy of the assertion, allowing the user to edit the new version, while the original is retained in the KB.
See the Assertion Display Frame Help for a complete list of operations and more detailed descriptions. Also see the Assert Formula Help for help with the Edit Formula and Assert Similar Formula tools.
Adding New Assertions to the OpenCyc KB
There are several methods for adding new knowledge (assertions) to the KB. For single assertions, it's fastest to use the Assert Formula tool in the Browser; just click on the "Assert" link in the Toolbar or Browser Tools page, or access it via the "Browsing and Editing" menu of the Cyc Navigator. This tool allows the user to add one assertion to the KB. See the Assert Formula Help for details.
Loading a Transcript File
NOTE: There is no Master Transcript Server with OpenCyc. Synching knowledge with remote OpenCyc installations will be a challenging undertaking that will require several partial solutions. Several partial-solution candidates exist and will be discussed on the OpenCyc forums.
Operations in the current local transcript can be sent to the Master Transcript simply by sending stored operations from the Communication Status Area. However, it is sometimes desirable to load a transcript manually. (Examples of transcripts to be loaded manually include: transcripts from a previous OpenCyc image,, transcripts containing operations that were cleared instead of being sent to the Master Transcript, or transcripts from other OpenCyc images whose operations have never been sent to the Master Transcript, but it's desireable to have them included in the current local image. Manually loaded transcripts can be loaded up on the local machine and sent (or not) at a later time; the user is never committed to sending operations unless the communication status is set to "Send Immediately".
To manually load a transcript file, select the "Navigator" link from the Toolbar Frame or the Browser Tools page. Click on "Load Transcript File" in the "File Handling" section and follow the instructions there.
To view the current local transcript (or the Master Transcript), click on the "System" link in the Agenda Status Bar, and then click on the relevant highlighted transcript name. It is also possible to view all local transcripts for the current OpenCyc image in the Transcript Viewing Area. To get there, click on the "Viewer" link in the Browser Tools.
For more help with transcripts, see the Cyc Transcript Documentation, as well as the System Area Help, the Transcript Viewing Area Help, and theTranscript File Help.


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Cancer is the second leading cause of death in America, according to the American Cancer Society. Now is your chance to learn more about the disease, and the newest technology in cancer treatment.
New Hanover Regional is holding a free prostate and gynecologic cancers seminar Thursday night. Urologists and oncologists will speak about prevention, diagnosis and treatment. You'll even meet the new da Vinci surgery robot.
The seminar is from 6:30 to 8:30 at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Surgery Pavilion.
Reservations are required. Call Vitaline at 815-5188.


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Southern Miss. Golden Eagles (22-6)
@UTEP Miners (14-13)
Wednesday, February 22
Don Haskins Center
Attendance: 9,564
Southern Miss.
El Paso, TX (Sports Network) - C.J. Cooper scored six points in the second extra period to lead the Texas-El Paso Miners to a 76-68 victory over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a Conference USA double-overtime thriller at the Don Haskins Center.
Cooper finished with a team-high 16 points for UTEP (14-13, 7-6 C-USA), while Julian Washburn and John Bohannon added 14 points each. Gabriel McCulley got into the mix with 12 points while Jacques Streeter showed off his versatility with 10 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. The victory was the fourth in a row for the Miners.
Darnell Dodson paced Southern Miss (22-6, 9-4) with 16 points off the bench. Jonathan Mills recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, LaShay Page added 12 points, and Angelo Johnson scored 11 points as the Golden Eagles lost for the second straight time.
Southern Miss took a 30-23 lead into the intermission after it shot 40 percent from the floor and connected on 6-of-11 attempts from three-point range in the opening period. The Miners made 42.9 percent of their field goals in the first half, but fell behind after they missed all four of their three-point attempts.
UTEP battled back after the break by shooting 59.1 percent from the field and converting on 5-of-6 attempts from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles let their lead slip away as they made only 35.7 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes. Southern Miss led 56-54 before Cooper knocked down a jump shot to tie it up with 10 seconds left. After Neil Watson missed at the buzzer, the game progressed into overtime.
The Golden Eagles led 63-62 with 30 seconds left in the first overtime period before McCulley made 1-of-2 from the foul line to tie it up. Dodson missed a potentially game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer which send the game into a second overtime.
UTEP held a 39-25 advantage in the rebounding battle. Southern Miss shot 11- of-20 from the charity stripe in the contest, while the Miners knocked down 22-of-26 from the free throw line.
Mark Whitehead, Terry Davis, Duke Edsall;


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South Africa – a probable semifinalist, but…
South Africa is indeed a strong team. Captain Graeme Smith has proved his might in ODI several times. They have also Jacques Kallis in the team who is one of the best ODI players in the world. He can withstand any amount of pressure and perform. But, his team mates are easily susceptible to pressure. It is very difficult for a team to perform by depending upon just one player. Only Kallis can be considered as a match winner.
The team is lacking spin bowlers. Botha, though a spin bowler is not so powerful.
Batting is also not up to the mark. The middle and lower order batting lacks in depth. When a high-performing team fails to absorb pressure, the unexpected will happen.
South Africa is already strong in fielding. In this aspect, the point-fielder JP Duminy's role is much significant.
The South African Captain Graeme Smith feels that though they could win over Zimbabwe in the warm up match played in Chennai, the pitch was not up to the mark. In his opinion the low scoring by Zimbabwe was more due to the condition of the pitch than his bowlers. He felt that the pitch was not well prepared.
South Africa will be playing against England on March 6 on the same pitch and that also may be reason for the worry of the SA captain.
During the year 2010, South Africa won 9 out of 11 ODIs played. Though it is a very good record, but for one, all the matches were played against either West Indies or Zimbabwe and not against any of the strong teams.


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The Second Coming of Java: A Relic Returns to Rule Web
Just in Time for Twitter
On August 3, Twitter set a new record for tweets in a single second. As thousands of people in Japan jumped onto the service to discuss the television airing of the animated film Castle in the Sky, it hit a one-second peak of 143,199 tweets. That's a massive spike over the norm — about 5,700-tweets-per-second — and the site stayed up. "Our users didn't experience a blip," Krikorian recently wrote.
The moment was a far cry from the day Dmitry Medvedev visited Twitter HQ, and for Krikorian, it proves the worth of the company's new architecture.
Originally, Twitter was one, monolithic application built with Ruby on Rails. But now, it's divided into about two hundred self-contained services that talk to each other. Each runs atop the JVM, with most written in Scala and some in Java and Clojure. One service handles the Twitter homepage. Another handles the Twitter mobile site. A third handles the application programming interfaces, or APIs, that feed other operations across the net. And so on.
The setup helps Twitter deal with traffic spikes. Because the JVM is so efficient, it can handle much larger amounts of traffic with fewer machines. But the new operation is also more nimble. All these services are designed to communicate with each other, but if one goes down, it doesn't take the others down with it. The day we visited Krikorian at Twitter's offices this month, the Twitter homepage went dark for many people across the globe, but other services, including the company's mobile feed, kept on ticking.
From LinkedIn to Tumblr, many other big web names have adopted a similar "services architecture," and generally, they're building these services with Java or related languages. Java programmers are easy to come by, and compared to C and C++, the languages that rival its popularity, Java is rather easy to use. "It's the easiest of the fast languages," says LinkedIn's Kreps. But so much of this trend is driven by the JVM — and its ability to run more than just the Java language.
The JVM provides what's called "just-in-time compilation." After writing software code, you have to compile it — convert it into the native language spoken by the machine that will run it. Traditionally, developers compile their code into machine language and then ship it off to the computer in question. But with just-in-time, or JIT, compilation, you can compile code as it is executing, gaining some extra speed by tailoring the compilation according to behavior of the application. Java still can't match the speed of languages like C and C++, but according to Krikorian, it comes close enough.
Plus, the JVM is specifically designed to run multiple tasks — or threads — at the same time, an essential part of running web services in the modern world. "Concurrency is more important than ever," says Lee. "There is really no platform that compares to Java in that respect. It lets you write concurrent code — and extremely fast concurrent code." The JVM does this for Java code, but it also does this for Scala, Clojure, and more.
There was a time when many questioned the efficiency of the JVM. "I worked with Java a fair amount a long time ago," says Tumblr software engineer Mike Hurwitz. "I was glad to leave it behind." But nowadays, people like Hurwitz and Krikorian and Square's Lee sing a very different tune. "The great thing about the JVM is that there's a software library for everything," says Hurwitz. "If you want to solve a problem — no matter how goofy — there is likely something you can load up and use."
Ruby Derailed
In 2006, when Twitter built its micro-blogging service with Ruby on Rails, it wasn't alone. As the web experienced a rebirth in the mid-aughts, the programming tools of the moment were Ruby and PHP, two "dynamically typed" languages that let you build succinct code at an unusually fast clip. But time has shown that these languages just weren't suited to running the world's largest web services, and now they've taken a backseat to Java — at least on the big stage.
"Ruby on Rails was great to get us to the point where we could make the decision to get off it," says Krikorian. With Java, he explains, Twitter needs about ten times fewer machines to run its site than it would need with Ruby. And unlike the Rails programming framework, Java and Scala let Twitter readily share and modify its enormous codebase across a team of hundreds of developers.
The Java language isn't quite as easy to use as Ruby, but for Krikorian and his engineers, Scala is. "Scala seems like a more modern language," he says. "It makes the transition from Ruby easier — and it's just more fun."
The exception that proves the rule is Facebook. Facebook was originally built with PHP, and it still runs on PHP. But to solve the scale problem, the social networking site has taken a page from the Java book, moving its PHP code onto a custom-built virtual machine that provides just-in-time compilation.
Facebook enjoys this sort of in-house hack. But so many others have just moved away from their original languages. Much like Twitter, Square switched to Java from Ruby. Tumblr migrated to Scala after juggling several other tools. No less a name than Google has moved towards Java from C — though it still runs C in places.
Meanwhile, outside the programming world, Java is still portrayed as security nightmare that no longer runs applications on PCs, laptops, and phones. And there's some truth to this. Late last year, a spate of new security bugs shined a harsh light on Java as a way of running software on most personal machines.
But thanks to a brand new virtual machine built specifically for mobile devices — Google's Dalvik virtual machine, the Java language has found new life on Android phones and tablets, where it's the primary means of building applications. And on servers, it's helping drive not only big name web services, but countless software applications used inside other businesses.
Java has continued to evolve, even in the face of corporate dithering from the late Sun Microsystems. Sun, for all its faults, was clever enough to open source the JVM, and Oracle, which acquired Sun is 2010, has proved to be a more active steward for the Java platform — to the surprise of many.
As an open source project, the JVM is free for everyone to use, and anyone is free to build new software and even new programming languages that run atop it. In the wake of Scala, other developers are building a new language for the JVM called Ceylon, and if you like, you can even run Ruby atop the virtual machine, in the form of something called JRuby.
Companies such as Twitter and LinkedIn and Square are constantly building new Java tools from scratch, and in many cases, they're sharing this code with the rest of the world, much as Sun shared the JVM and other parts of Java. This open source code then spawns more open source code. And so on. "We all just pick and choose the things that meet our needs," says Square's Lee. "Companies like ours are building all sorts of custom infrastructure, but we also think it's very important to open source."
The added benefit — for all these companies — is that, when the time comes, they can more easily move their services onto new types of hardware. They're not writing code for specific servers or processors. They're writing it for the JVM. So, when the world embraces a new type of server — which is very much on the horizon — these Java houses needn't rewrite everything. They can just move it to a new version of JVM.
In other words, they're ready for the next renaissance.


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Will our nation's positive moves toward saner, simpler living and smaller homes fall victim to an im...
In May 2009, the Paid Vacation Act was presented to the U.S. House of Representatives. If passed, th...
In 1960, writer Ted Hughes described in a letter a "moral fable" that formed a permanent cornerstone...
Communicating via letters mirrors the pace of a handmade life.
A few years ago an old friend from the East Coast came to visit us. He enjoyed his stay in our modern country house, roamed our wooded hills, rode our saddle horses, swam in our pool and sunned himself on the terrace of our guest cottage. One evening after dinner — there was wine from a neighboring vineyard — we projected some color pictures of a recent trip to Mexico. This led to lively talk about the year we were soon to spend traveling in Europe. A refugee from a crowded New York City apartment, our guest was obviously impressed with our way of life. In fact, when he got home, he sent us a letter larded with envy.
"You had led me to believe you were a poor man," he wrote. "Now I know you have been deceiving me. However, I forgive you because I was glad to catch a glimpse of how a millionaire lives."
My wife Fran and our two youngest daughters were sitting before the picture window in our living room as I read this letter to them. When I got to the word "millionaire," my daughters burst into giggles. I looked at my wife. Her face was serious. "Shall I disillusion him?" I asked.
As most women, Fran seldom answers a question directly. "The funny thing is that it's all true," she said. "We do have these things, and we do take those trips. In fact, I'm not sure that we don't come closer to living like the rich than the rich do these days."
She was right. Fran, my four daughters and myself have for the past 16 years lived the life of millionaires — at least in most of the ways that we think count. We've had a handsome home in one of the loveliest parts of California. We've had plenty of space to move around in. We've had animals, we've had a pool, we've had many months of foreign travel. And we've sent two daughters to college.
But the curious thing about all this — and it's hard to make people believe it — is that during this time our total income has averaged less than $6,500 a year. As it happens, that figure is close to the average for American families. What's more, we have not supplemented our income by dipping into capital. We've never had much to dip into.
How have we done it? To answer that question, I must go back to the beginning to New York City in 1946 — just after the Second World War. I suppose the whole thing got started because I developed a habit of grinding my teeth in my sleep. I was an editor at the time. I was also a typical entry in The Rat Race. I had two daughters then (Kay was eight, and Carolyn six), and in an uncomfortable gray-flannel suit I used to commute daily to my desk, where I earned $8,500 a year. Weekends I lugged home a briefcase bulging with manuscripts to be read. My blood pressure has always been low, and so has my physical energy. The Race was taking its toll. One night when the teeth grinding was particularly ominous, my wife woke me. "This has got to stop," she said.
I thought she meant the teeth grinding, and I agreed. But it turned out she had other things in mind. "Let's get away from all this," she said. "You can go back to freelancing."
"You don't mean it," I said.
"Yes, I do."
Freelance writing and photography had supported me through college, but I knew it was a precarious way of earning a living. Besides, I now had a wife and children to support. I could probably earn a bare subsistence for them as a freelance, but little more. My wife said it didn't make any difference. "If there are to be any luxuries in our life, we'll just figure out a way to have them without much money," she said optimistically. I don't think she believed it at the time, but nevertheless that's what happened.
We decided to move to California and build our own house. Stiffening for our backbones was supplied by our neighbor, Paul Corey, novelist and pioneer do-it-yourself advocate, who promised to bring his family to join us the next year. We bought a secondhand trailer for $900 and attached it to the back of our 1941 sedan. We shipped a few personal possessions on ahead and lugged a few with us. Most of our belongings we sold. When we pulled out of New York City, we had about $4,000 in cash.
With our limited funds, we had little time to waste in finding a place to settle. Consequently, when we saw a section north of San Francisco known as the Valley of the Moon, we didn't hesitate. It was only five miles from Sonoma, where there were good schools, good doctors and good shopping, which we considered essential. We found 10 stony acres with a beautiful view of the California foothills, and we quickly bought them for $1,500. We parted with another $1,000 for a well and a pump. Parking our trailer on the grounds, we entered the kids in school and started to clear the property for our house.
I lost no time in unpacking my typewriter. Our cash reserves were down to about $1,000, and I had to put in a fair amount of time each day writing. Whenever I wasn't writing, I worked on the house.
Up to that time, my biggest construction project had been a bookcase and dining-room table. I found a house easier to build. Tolerances on a home can be fairly large — as much as a quarter of an inch; cabinetwork calls for more precision. Of course there is no comparison in the satisfaction one gets from the larger job. With hammer, saw, pipe wrench and sweat, I was able to create a home for my family. It was a heady experience, and it sustained me during the long hours of work, both building and writing.
I don't mean that I did it entirely alone. My family helped, and we had a small amount of hired assistance. We began by clearing the brush. No experts were necessary for that. Then we laid down a long concrete slab the length of the house. For this we hired three temporarily unemployed carpenters.
We originally planned to build a frame house but could not, because of the lumber shortage. Instead we threw up concrete blocks, which were cheap, durable, fireproof — and unrationed. We put in huge picture windows that gave breathtaking views of the mountains beyond. And to frame those windows, we bought some cheap but hefty redwood timbers from an old mansion being torn down. The day a trucker and I sorted, loaded, trucked and unloaded that wood was physically the toughest day in my life.
I had drawn a rough plan for the house, but I knew nothing about construction codes. Fortunately we were so far from town that there were none to worry about. In fear of building an unsafe shelter for my family, I went far beyond most codes in providing strength and safety — though I didn't know it until one Sunday morning when my neighbor, a plumber and construction man, came to watch me placing steel reinforcing in the walls. "If we have an earthquake and tidal wave," he remarked consolingly, "you can be sure your home won't break up. It will just float away in one piece."
Gradually our house began to take shape. I hired $75 in labor to lay down soil lines and a sewage system, an aspect of plumbing I didn't want to try myself. I hired a local handyman to build a massive fireplace that would take four-foot logs. All told, hired labor cost us $500. The kids dug holes, carried blocks and learned to swing a hammer well enough to nail on roof boards. Fran laid blocks, tooled joints and did all the painting. And the more we did, the more we learned.
Five months after we reached California, we had a house of sorts. It lacked partitions, the interior was unfinished overhead and underfoot, but it was fit to live in. And after living for months in the trailer, it was exhilarating to move into a real house — with a huge fireplace, a wall of glass facing those glorious mountains, and bedrooms for all of us. After we'd carried our suitcases across the threshold, we built an enormous fire in the fireplace and settled back to enjoy it. The refinements could come later. We had a home of our own at last, and we felt like royalty.
During all this time, of course, I continued to pound away at my typewriter, keeping our income at a subsistence level or a little better. It wasn't long before our family grew to five, and then six. And as we grew, the house grew. We kept right on building, adding a bedroom, a sitting room, finally a study.
It took us about 11 years to finish the house, and we enjoyed watching it grow slowly but surely. During those 11 years we never had to borrow any money for the house. All told, we put into it about $1,000 a year, roughly what we might have paid in rent. That was a good deal less than we had been paying for a house in the New York area, and the nice thing about our new setup was that all our money (and our labor) was going to build an equity. In the end, that equity consisted of a house of 1,300 square feet, plus two big porches, a carport, a shop, a detached study and darkroom and a guesthouse. If we had bought it, we figured it would have cost at least $22,000, or twice the amount of cash we'd put into it. And we had no mortgage.
There were unexpected dividends along the way. Other people came out and admired what we were doing and wanted some of our land. We decided to part with a few acres, selling them for what our whole tract had originally cost. And so, in the end, our land cost us nothing.
Part of that windfall we put into a swimming pool. Acquiring a pool can be a backbreaking expense, but for us it merely meant flexing a few muscles. By this time we had learned the shortcuts.
The excavation was a pick-and-shovel job shared with the Coreys, now our neighbors again. It occupied all of us for weekends during several months. We had to buy concrete and steel, but we put the materials in place ourselves, plastering the concrete onto the sloping earth sides. We brought the whole thing in, for less than $400, and to us it looked as inviting as Waikiki.
And now — about those saddle horses. Actually we owned only one: a mare that we purchased for $7. But the Coreys bought a horse at the same time, and we decided to share them, so we both felt as though we owned two horses.
Having the mare prompted us to build a stable. When it was finished, our horse scorned it. At first the structure became a playroom; eventually it evolved into a two-room apartment for our older girls. And when they went to college, it entered a new career as a guest cottage.
College, incidentally, turned out to be far less of an obstacle than we'd feared. We knew that a year at a good girls' college could run to almost half what our annual income had been during most years, but Kay won a scholarship that took care of one third of her expenses. Another third was taken care of by a college job, plus summer work. We put up $700 each year she was at Mills College, no more than it takes to keep a youngster at home and send her to high school.
Long before Kay had started college our family had entered upon a new and important phase of millionaire living — foreign travel. It started with a trip to Mexico. In 1955 we had almost a decade of California life behind us, and our house was all but finished. We were tired of being in one place, and the rest of the world beckoned. But how to travel on our budget with four kids?
For a while we were stumped. Then it came to us: Why not apply our do-it-yourself principles and camp our way across Mexico! A bargain fell into our laps via the advertising columns of our local newspaper. We acquired a camping trailer, with kitchen facilities and an attachable tent. It cost $175, but we got this sum back when we resold it at the end of the trip.
We slept and cooked in our midget rig and had no need for hotels or restaurants. What had looked like an expensive venture turned out to cost just about what it would have cost us to stay home. Our two months' trip ran to just under $800.
The Mexican journey piqued our appetites for travel abroad. After two years we could stand it no longer; in 1957 we left California for a year's trip to Europe.
After camping across the country and selling our station wagon in New Jersey, we sailed for Rotterdam in July, tourist class, on the handsome new Statendam. The fare was $237.5 each, with half price for our two younger daughters. But with that large expenditure out of the way, we found that travel in Europe need be no more expensive than in Mexico.
We picked up a used Volkswagen Microbus, and spent the whole summer camping — in Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal, plus a side trip to North Africa. We bought our food in grocery stores (equivalent to U.S. prices in France and Italy, but less elsewhere), and, instead of rent, paid camping fees. Charges ranged from $0.25 a night in a few places to $1.50 in Paris, Rome and the Riviera.
When the weather got chilly, we gave up camping for a series of rented houses, all of them near the sea. We had houses that winter in Majorca, Torremolinos and Naples. Rents averaged $60 to $80 a month, and food $40 to $45 a week, about one dollar a day per person.
Our youngsters missed a year in school — no great loss, really. We brought along school books for Laurie and Kristy, who were in the third and fifth grades. It was a bit alarming to discover that by studying only an hour or two a day they were easily able to keep up with the work of a better-than-average American public school.
Our eldest daughter delayed her college work by a year, but picked up a bonus — studying French in Europe. What she'd learned in France met two years of her language requirement.
As for Carolyn, our second daughter, the year turned out to be a decisive one for her education. She fell in love with Spain. She kept a sketchbook and polished her Spanish and, when she later entered the University of California, she majored in Spanish and minored in art.
Our stay abroad ended in September, 1958, when we returned home just in time for school. Looking back on it, Fran and I were convinced it was one of the most valuable educational experiences we could have given our children.
That trip, however, didn't satisfy our wanderlust; we soon began planning another itinerary. This week Kristy, Laurie, Fran and I will return to Paris. We'll pick up a car there and head for Greece and some of the Iron Curtain countries. Expenses shouldn't exceed $15 per day although we may run into some occasional discomforts.
As a matter of fact, our whole do-it-yourself way of living has frequent drawbacks. For one thing, there aren't many steaks in our diet. We seldom can afford the luxury of dining out. We also lack the money to buy even one tenth of the books we'd like; we have to wait until we can borrow them at the library.
Freelancing -— whether it's as a writer, plumber, electrician or carpenter — also has its drawbacks. We never knew exactly what our income was going to be. Some years it fell as low as $4,000, some years it soared above $8,000. It averaged under $6,500 and, when I subtracted business expenses the net came to a good deal less.
With that kind of money, we had to be canny shoppers. We read the grocery ads for weekend specials, and we began our Christmas shopping with the January sales. We did a bit of installment buying, but mostly we stuck to cash.
Our income limitations made us more closefisted in our charity contributions than we liked, but here again we decided to make up for it with a do-it-yourself approach. Since we couldn't give money, we gave ourselves. I have worked hard on school-building committees. Last year Fran devoted an afternoon a week to supervising the school library, and this year she has worked as an unpaid grader of high-school English papers.
In general, most of the drawbacks have been slight in our eyes, and we have done all the major things we really wanted to do. We have always wanted, for example, to live by the sea. Consequently we reached a big decision: to sell our house. In view of all the muscle strain, sweat and bashed fingers we had put into it, parting with the house was wrenching. But the pull of the sea was strong, and so was the itch to get building again.
We sold our Sonoma Valley place, along with several acres, for $19,000. Then we put $5,000 into two exciting acres of land — a blend of pinewoods and sand dunes overlooking a magnificent stretch of seacoast on the Monterey Peninsula. The rest of the money was just about what we needed for the concrete and lumber and glass and all the other things you need to build a house.
Our second house is now virtually complete. And although our brood of children has become smaller — the two older girls have already married — our new home has become larger. With its double garage, it comes to some 3,000 square feet. It has four bedrooms, a study, three baths and a hexagonal living room that looks directly over the Pacific.
Assessing the past few years, we feel our children have certainly thrived on our way of living. Last June our second daughter, Carolyn, finished college free of debt. Kay is now taking part-time graduate work along with her husband, who plans to be a college teacher. Kristy and Laurie show promise as students, and their aptitude, combined with the self-reliance they have learned from building and travel, makes us feel that college will not be a problem for them.
Of course, we never seem to have any money. However, when we examine our balance sheet, it's apparent that we have achieved a position no worse than most. In fact, when I filed a financial statement at our bank recently, I was surprised to find how much our assets amounted to:
That all sums to up to $64,600. The interesting thing about our balance sheet is that it shows roughly 10 times the net worth I could have claimed when we left New York City 16 years ago.
But if the balance sheet is gratifying, it's only fair to admit that we didn't really plan it that way. All we planned was to live the way we really wanted. Seldom — when we were building, or traveling, or studying, or riding horseback, or swimming, or just loafing — did we think much about money. In fact, if we thought about it at all, we felt we had discovered something far better.
MOTHER EARTH NEWS is the guide to living — as one reader stated — "with little money and abundant happiness." Every issue is an invaluable guide to leading a more sustainable life, covering ideas from fighting rising energy costs and protecting the environment to avoiding unnecessary spending on processed food. You'll find tips for slashing heating bills; growing fresh, natural produce at home; and more. MOTHER EARTH NEWS helps you cut costs without sacrificing modern luxuries.
At MOTHER EARTH NEWS, we are dedicated to conserving our planet's natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources. That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $12.00 (USA only).
You may also use the Bill Me option and pay $17.00 for 6 issues.


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The forecast calls for economic growth to gradually rebound in mid-2012 with
the economy advancing at a modest 2.5 percent to 3 percent rate. Modest gains in
exports, consumption and equipment and software investment will drive
the growth with the unemployment rate
falling to (a still high) 8.6 percent by the end of 2013.
Senior Economist David Shulman writes, "The
employment situation remains horrible. Job growth has stalled and we
forecast that the unemployment rate will soon rise to 9.5 percent. Thus, even
by the end of 2013 we will not be back to the unemployment levels of
late 2007."
In a related report, UCLA Anderson Forecast Director Ed Leamer focused on the job market, where he reminds readers that 46 percent of the 11.522 million lost jobs came in manufacturing and construction (the other two significant sectors for job loss are retail trade [11 percent of the total] and business services [14 percent]). Leamer concludes, "Given the evidence to date, the chance of a recession with declining GDP and declining employment levels remains low. Don't worry about that. Do worry about the complete absence of anything to offset the U.S. frugal consumer, and the consequent sluggish growth, which is likely to fall short of even the normal level of 3 percent per year. Include Europe in your prayers, and hope for robust final demand to come from somewhere outside the United States and give us healthy U.S. exports."
Shulman isn't predicting another recession. "The three sectors that would normally put the economy into recession are already depressed; housing, consumer durables and inventories. Even if housing starts drop to new lows, this sector of the economy has shriveled so much that it would only have a modest impact on economic activity. ... It is one thing for housing starts to decline from an annual pace of two million units to one million and quite another for starts to decline from 600,000 units to 300,000 units. If we are to have a new recession it would have to come from a collapse in exports, a generalized decline in consumer spending with a resultant decline in business investment. All plausible, but we are not forecasting that eventuality."


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Art Deco Cat Necklace
Item #45548
Sale Price: $39.99
Original Price: $50.00
Availability: Out of stock. This item is no longer available for purchase.
- Description
- Reviews
This elegant Art Deco Cat Necklace, with its artistic pose and gorgeous granulation, makes a timeless fashion statement. Hand-finished pewter. Made in the U.S.A. Chain is brass-rhodium plated. Pendant, 3"l. Chain 17.5"l.
Museum Provenance
Evocative of our National Museum of American History's costume collection and the many included pieces of Art Deco jewelry—which often imbued icons of ancient civilizations with modern sensibilities.
Every Smithsonian purchase will arrive with a museum provenance card explaining how it is adapted from or inspired by an object or objects in our collection.
View Size Chart
You may also like:
Black and White Cat Mugs$45.00
Double-Breasted Travel CoatOriginal Price: $200.00


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Running Shoes & Sneakers
Find your favorite Running Shoes & Sneakers from Sportsman's Guide and know you're getting a superior value. Whether you need Running Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Athletic Shoes or Sneakers, we have the brands, styles and colors you want at great low prices!
Men's New Balance 623 Cross Trainer Athletic Shoes
Buyer's Club $62.99 Non-Member $69.99 Compare at $75.00In Stock
Men's New Balance GORE-TEX Multi-sport Shoes, Olive
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Men's New Balance 759 Country Walker Shoes, Brown
Buyer's Club $67.49 Non-Member $74.99 Compare at $80.00In Stock
Guide Gear Lace-up Camo Walking Shoes
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Men's New Balance 750V2 Trail Runner Shoes, Gray / Blue
Buyer's Club $44.99 Non-Member $49.99 Compare at $84.00In Stock
Men's Guide Gear Grip-strip Walking Shoes
Buyer's Club $29.69 Non-Member $32.99 Compare at $60.00In Stock
Men's Guide Gear Lace-up Walking Shoes
Buyer's Club $26.99 Non-Member $29.99 Compare at $60.00In Stock
Men's Realtree Outfitters Cobra Athletic Shoes, Max 5 / Orange
Buyer's Club $49.49 Non-Member $54.99In Stock
New Balance® 969 Country Walker Athletic Shoes, Brown
Buyer's Club $107.99 Non-Member $119.99In Stock
Men's New Balance® 810 Trail Running Shoes, Gray / Yellow
Buyer's Club $80.99 Non-Member $89.99In Stock
Men's New Balance 750V3 Trail Runner Shoes, Gray / Lime
Buyer's Club $62.99 Non-Member $69.99In Stock
Men's New Balance® 840 Walking Shoes
Non-Member $99.99 Buyer's Club Discount Applied at Checkout!In Stock
Men's New Balance® 968 Country Walking Shoes, Brown
Non-Member $99.99 Buyer's Club Discount Applied at Checkout!In Stock
If you're looking for sports performance or style, we've got the shoes you want. Browse Men's Running Shoes and Sneakers from New Balance, Reebok, Gravity Defyer, Propet and more. It's all right here at The Guide.


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Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
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We first saw Implode! back in October. Now that the demolition game from IUGO, creators of the excellent Toy Bot Diaries series, has hit the App Store, I can say that it's truly a blast. A combination of physics and dynamite? Count me in.
Implode! is all about making buildings crumble. Touch and drag controls combined with a magnifying glass allow you to precisely place your sticks of dynamite with the "chalk-drawn" structure of a building. (Dear IUGO: I love you for including a lefty option for the magnifying glass!) As the game progresses, you'll eventually have two types of bombs—traditional and "blast" bombs—in your arsenal. Your goal is to cause the structure to explode (implode?) in such a way that the bits and pieces fall as far below the dotted line as possible. At the end of each level, you're given both a letter grade and a monetary "payout."
The premise is simple, but as with any good physics puzzler, developing a winning strategy takes time and patience. I've slowly worked my way from D and C averages to C's and B's, and I've snagged one A, but an A+ remains elusive for me. Thankfully, there are three difficulty levels: Causal, Veteran, and Expert. I'm battling through Veteran right now, and I've tried the other two; your bombs' effectiveness, among other functions, varies between difficulty levels. So, for example, a clumsy solution that sufficed in Casual mode will fail miserably in Veteran mode.
Implode! has an adequate number of levels: 60, to be exact, divided into six zones. (A set number of levels must be completed before the next zone unlocks, allowing you to bypass particularly difficult levels, to a point.) You can blow through those in a few days if you're devoted (and talented) but there's more than enough replay value to keep you occupied. The building structures also pack a good amount of variety, and new elements—like indestructible beams or nearby buildings that can't be affected—force you to shift your strategies.
There's also a "sandbox" cheat mode, in which you're given an unlimited number of bombs, but high scores are disabled. That's all fine and dandy, but you'll need to register with IUGO and successfully refer a friend to the game in order to unlock it. It's a pity, because using tons of bombs and watching the planks go flying is one of the best parts of the game, but you can certainly live without the feature.
The graphical style of Implode! is a nice touch, too. I'm always a fan of sketch-and-chalkboard themes, even if they are a bit cliche, and IUGO has executed this one nicely. (The little doodles hanging out in the background are favorites of mine.) The physics engine is solid, and the tumbling blocks look great. Sadly, the sound effects are lackluster and far from awe-inspiring, but at least you have the option to turn them off and use your iPod instead.
My biggest gripe is the lack of auto-save; that is, if you exit to the home screen, you'll lose your carefully-placed bombs. At least you won't lose much, but couldn't the game at least remember what level you were on? It's no deal-breaker, but I'd like to see this function in an update. (Really, this should be a standard…)
That being said, Implode! is a satisfying game. There's nothing earth-shatteringly new about it, but it's a solid, light-hearted physics puzzler that should elicit a grin from your destructive side. If dynamite and strategy sound like a good combination to you, IUGO's latest offering should suit your tastes.
Tagged with: $1.99, explode, iugo, physics, puzzle, toy bot diaries


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Banana Blueberry Bread Recipe. We had some bananas that were left over and too ripe to eat, so I went in search of a recipe to use them with.
I wanted to make a bread, but something different than the normal Banana Bread that I make. I found this recipe from Cooking Light and remembered that I had some blueberries in the freezer from this past summer. The recipe calls for grits, but even though I'm southern and love grits, I didn't want to chance a gritty texture in my bread. I swapped that part out for oats and the bread turned out fantastic!
10 Ways to Eat Pizza for Breakfast. I get bored for breakfast.
I know this is absurd. There are no less than four thousand cereal flavor options in the store. There are endless arrays of items that go on top of oatmeal and alongside pancakes. Celebrations at Home: Beautiful Brunch Table. Celebrations at Home Inspiration for Stylish Entertaining Beautiful Brunch Table April 25, 2011 by Chris 48 Comments.
Breakfast pizza. My son's favorite game in the whole world is Let's Play With The Other Baby!
You Know, The One We Keep In The Mirror. We bring him over to this giant mirror in the hallway and he goes berserk, he paws at the "other" baby, kicks his legs, squeals and laughs. It cracks us up too. Babies: they're so cute when they're kinda confused! It took us a few weeks to realize how sad this game actually is.


text: e3 v2 partsthese parts have been discontinued Last chance! Parts unique to the e3 strollers, including e3 v1, e3 v2 and e3 twin are no longer in production. Once the last of the e3-specific parts have been sold, they're gone for good - we're sorry! harness shoulder pads USD$ 5.99


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Books and Videos!
The Beekeeper's Home Pages is happy to make this brilliant listing of great beekeeping-related Books and Videos.
Bad Beekeeping is the newest best-seller in the beekeeping world!
This book earned a 5-Star rated book from amazon.com
and is a great introduction to beekeeping and
a fantastic story about the life of a beekeeper!
Learn what it's like to operate a thousand hives of bees
in Florida and Saskatchewan. Dream or Nightmare? You decide.
An editor of Bee Culture Magazine has called it "The best book I've ever read!"
Get a copy of Bad Beekeeping through Amazon.com.
The dramatic Peter Fonda movie,
Ulee's Gold is available
for about US$15 from Amazon.com -
the on-line book store.
Click Here to order this video now!
The Swarm
What would happen if 22 million
Africanized honey bees invaded the USA?
Ooops!! Too Late!
This 1978 scare-thriller tries to second-guess
the results of Killer Bees attacking the city of Houston.
Priced at about US$15, available from independent sellers through Amazon's site.
Winnie the Pooh: The Honey Tree
The 1998 Disney animation
Winnie the Pooh
is available
from Amazon.com -
order on line...
Click Here to order this classic video now!
by Richard E. Bonney
A popular general guide for
new and used beekeepers.
An excellent starter's book.
The New Complete Guide to Beekeeping by Roger A. Morse
New because it contains some of the latest on mite control and beekeeping trends; Complete because it very nearly is.
Intended for new and old beekeepers.
Includes buying a colony of bees; managing bees throughout the seasons.
Will help you at selecting equipment and a good apiary site.
How to do it advice on: Preventing swarming; Extracting, processing, and selling honey.
Tips on Controlling pests, predators, and diseases and Rearing queen honey bees.
Beekeeping : A Practical Guide
for the Novice Beekeeper -
Buying Bees, Management, Rearing,
Honey Production
by Werner Melzer
The title pretty well
covers the contents -
very inexpensive guide.
The ABC and Xyz of Bee Culture:
An Encyclopedia of Beekeeping
edited by Roger Morse and others.
This encyclopedia of beekeeping covers everything.
Owned by most commercial and hobby beekeepers.
This is the 40th edition of a classic in beekeeping.
Everything you need to know in encyclopdia form.
Books for Kids
Hooray for Beekeeping!
by Bobbie Kalman, Allison Larin, Niki Walker
The Beekeeper's Home Pages
(this site) had a small role
in technical support for this
excellent, large-format,
colourful kid's book.
Recommended for ages 4-8.
Priced well!
The Honey Makers
by Gail Gibbons
Prolific children's author
Gail Gibbons covers the
honey bees and describes
how they make their honey.
Recommended for Grades 1-4.


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23 February 2012
Peterborough City Council has approved a package of investments and savings at its annual budget setting meeting last night.
In what Councillor David Seaton, Cabinet member for Resources, called "the best way forward", the measures include:
Cllr Seaton told councillors at the meeting: "Here in Peterborough we remain committed to creating a vibrant, growing city which is better for everyone.
"We are a medium sized authority that punches above its weight with low tax and efficient services. "Whilst other councils have closed libraries, we have kept them open.
"Whilst they have increased the levels for their elderly and disabled to access adult social care, we have maintained ours.
"Whilst they have stopped improving schools, we are still investing in our children.
"Whilst they have given up on their youth, we are still working to provide jobs and apprenticeships.
"Whilst they have pulled up the drawbridge we are still planning for regeneration, growth and jobs."
All councils, including Peterborough, are facing further funding cuts in the next financial year as part of the Government's on-going austerity measures.
Under the Local Government Provisional Formula Grant, the city council will receive just over £74 million pounds from the Department of Communities and Local Government - £5.6 million pounds lower than last year.
Cllr Seaton told the meeting that since 2006, Peterborough City Council has made efficiency savings totalling more than £100million.
In the current financial year, the authority has delivered £28 million of savings and next year the council will make over £14 million of savings.
Councillors voted in favour of a council tax rise of 2.95 per cent.
Cllr Seaton said: "This council wants - and residents expect us - to continue to provide key services across the city.
"At the same time as providing those services, we are also dealing with a rise in our population far above previous expectations and substantial increases in the numbers of the elderly, the vulnerable, and the young needing our support.
"Our job is to do what is best for local residents. The Government's grant-freeze offer is for one year only.
"If we decided to take up the offer and freeze council again next year, it would take four years - and increases in council taxes of at least 3.5 per cent per year - to make up the shortfall or we would face losing £8 million pounds worth of funding.
"We recognise that these are challenging times for council tax payers but after careful consideration believes the best option is to decline the government's offer and, instead, increase council tax by 2.95 per cent for 2012/13.
"Here in Peterborough, we currently have the fifth lowest unitary council tax. It is £114 per year lower than the average, and £335 lower than the highest. Even with this modest increase, council tax locally will remain amongst the lowest in the country."
After the budget proposals were first published, a wide-ranging consultation took place. Presentations were made to groups including the Neighbourhood Committees, the Disability Forum, the Youth Council, a joint Meeting of the Scrutiny Committees, the Trades Unions, city council staff and Parish Councils.
Changes to the original proposals include:
Media contact: Andy Burrows, Corporate Communications Specialist- telephone 01733 452550 or email email@example.com


text: I quit drinking, it was killing me. I've found marijuana to be a less harmful substitute. It's how I relax and it helps me sleep. Why is it anybody else's business? And to think of the cash wasted and lives ruined of people who feel as I do is infuriating. Get with it America, it is a better choice than drinking.


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University of Michigan Hospital
Michigan Nurses, University Sign Ebola Contract
The University of Michigan Health System and the state's largest nurses union have signed a contract that protects nurses who care for Ebola patients.
H1N1 Outbreak In Ann Arbor: "These Patients Are Very, Very Ill"
Health officials at University of Michigan Hospital say they're dealing with a severe outbreak of the flu.
Tech Pleads Guilty In Hepatitis C Outbreak
A Michigan man accused of infecting patients in multiple states with hepatitis C through tainted syringes has pleaded guilty.
Mich. Man To Plead Guilty In Multistate Hepatitis Outbreak
A traveling hospital technician accused of infecting dozens of patients with hepatitis C through tainted needles told investigators he was "killing a lot of people."
University Of Michigan Hospital Ranked Among Best In Nation
The University of Michigan Hospital cracks the top 25 in the annual US News and World Report's list of Best Hospitals for 2013.
Ex-University Of Michigan Doctor Sentenced In Child Porn Case
A former resident physician at University of Michigan Hospital has been sentenced to three years in prison in a child pornography case that revealed a six-month delay in crime reporting.
Michigan Hospitals Linked To Hepatitis-C Investigation
State health officials say patients, between 2005 and 2007, who underwent procedures at four Michigan hospotals should probably be tested for possible exposure.
U-M Porn Case Reviews Could Exceed $500K
Investigations related to a six-month delay in reporting to police the discovery of suspected child pornography on a computer flash drive in a University of Michigan hospital lounge could exceed $500,000 in costs.
New Review In U-M Child Porn Case Underway
A new external investigation is under way into a six-month delay in reporting suspected child pornography to police after it was found on a computer flash drive in a locked University of Michigan hospital lounge.
The federal government has filed child pornography charges against an ex-resident physician at University of Michigan Hospital.


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Camp Staff Alumni Gathering - December 30th, 7pm - 9pm
All Camp Staff Members Past and Present are invited to attend the Annual Camp Staff Alumni Gathering. This year, the gathering will take place on Monday, December 30 at the Council Office starting at 7Pm. Join us for an evening of Food and Fellowship with other staff members. Please RSVP your attendance by December 27th so we know how much food to purchase.
Attendance is FREE, but we are starting a new program this year. We have an Alumni Camp Improvement Project that each Alumni can donate towards. Our project will be outfitting both camps with Genesis Bows. When you register, please consider donating so we can continue to improve our Shooting Sports opportunities for the Scouts!