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Latest News
Women in Bat Conservation: Veronica Brown
Looking at bat poop can be cool! Veronica extracts DNA from guano to learn what our bats are eating - which is often agricultural... Read MoreCelebrating Women in Bat Conservation
Women have played a large role in bat conservation. We are celebrating their contributions as a part of Women's History month ... Read MoreIT'S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT WILDLIFE CRIME - 2015 World Wildlife Day
The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 3 March – as World Wildlife Day. ... Read MoreBCI Feature Videos

subset: commoncrawl


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Columbia, SC United States
As the University of South Carolina (USC) strives toward its goal of multiple championship seasons, beautiful architectural design and high performance materials are essential to its competitive strategy to attract talented players, build winning teams, and gain the continued financial support of fans and alumni.
Jumper, Carter Sease Architects teamed with JHS Architecture to create the USC Gamecocks' football stadium. As part of its winning design, Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. features multiple metal ceiling panel and suspension systems with custom finishes from Chicago Metallic® Corporation. The creative, collaborative approach to the complex ceiling project earned a 2011 Construction Excellence Bronze Award in the interior finishes category for the East Region from the Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA).
Winning awards and games, as well as inspiring a spirit of camaraderie, are important to the University and its fans. In its alumni communications, USC noted, "Our pursuit of championships will be mirrored with the accommodations provided for our fans, while cheering along."
Originally named Carolina Stadium and constructed in 1934, the facility initially seated 17,600. Following one of its largest expansions in 1972, the name changed to Williams-Brice Stadium as a memorial to Thomas H. Brice, a 1922-23 USC football letterman. Since the 2000s, another major renovation has been underway with USC investing nearly $30 million. Plans for future expansion include adding an upper deck in the north end zone, which would increase capacity to approximately 88,000 seats.
Beginning in 2009, Chicago Metallic has been part of USC's William-Brice Stadium building team working closely with the architects and the USC's athletics, facilities planning and construction departments. The company's products and involvement can be seen in such notable spaces as the:
* Barrel vault ceiling connecting the Players Lounge concourse and locker room, created using Planar® Linear Metal Panels with a Reflective Chrome Finish and Open Plenum CubeGrid™ in a garnet color to match the USC team colors;
* Chicago Metallic's 15/16-inch 1200 Seismic Suspension System is installed with 6-inch Infinity™ Perimeter Trim for a smooth finished look throughout the Players Lounge;
* Luxurious donors' and private suites, renovated USC Champions Club and Executive Club with Planostile™ metal ceiling panels with a MetalWood™ woodgrain finish;
* 600-level seating area's humidity-resistant, logo-embossed Eurostone™ Ceiling Panels.
"When football recruits and their parents walk into the newly renovated Players Lounge, they immediately see the commitment USC is making to sustain a program that battles for championships. For the players, the lounge is viewed as a reward for a job well done," says Brian Valdez, Chicago Metallic Corporation's product manager.
According to L. Todd Sease, AIA, LEED® Accredited Professional, architect and co-owner of Jumper, Carter, Sease Architects: "The University wanted the 'wow' factor in this space – an atmosphere that was extremely upscale and very sleek."
One of the most dramatic elements is the barrel vault ceiling that joins the Players Lounge concourse and the locker room. Valdez explains, "Chicago Metallic's linear metal panels, finished in a highly reflective chrome finish, convey a feeling of glitz and excitement that aligns perfectly with the high-energy atmosphere of elite-level college football."
A more subdued, sophisticated style is applied in areas of the Players Lounge delegated for watching the game on big screen televisions, playing pool or chatting with recruits and families. In these spaces, Chicago Metallic custom designed its Open Plenum CubeGrid in a garnet color to match the USC Gamecocks' team colors.
Matching the University's colors also was an important aspect in creating the stadium's alumni suites, Champions Club and Executive Club. Chicago Metallic worked closely with Morris Nussbaum, USC's director of building services with the facilities planning and construction department, who managed the ceiling system installation throughout Williams-Brice Stadium.
For USC's Champions Club North end, Chicago Metallic's Planostile ceiling panels were specified in a MetalWood laminated finish in Karri, a color that closely matches the university's colors. Infinity Trim in a custom designed WoodScenes® Burnished Cherry painted finish enhances the look of authentic wood grain with the low-maintenance, high-performance benefits of metal. "The ceiling areas look like wood, but have the durability that wood can't deliver," says Sease. "We're absolutely happy with the aesthetics and the durability."
The Executive Club also shares this aesthetic and durable performance using Planostile with the same MetalWood finish as the smaller Champions Club. A slight curve in the Executive Club's ceiling adds a distinguished characteristic and a special challenge. "Chicago Metallic was very helpful to us in finding a way to end the panels so the design vision was achieved and the installation went smoothly," says JHS Architecture's principal and director, Clint Burdett. AIA, NCARB, LEED Accredited Professional.
Burdett and his colleagues also designed the intimately sized suites for USC high-level donors. Offering an exclusive atmosphere for up to 24 guests, these private suites are appointed with wood accents and decorative curving ceilings. Once more, the architectural team turned to Chicago Metallic for its Planostile ceiling with a WoodScenes painted finish in the custom garnet color. Installed with a downward pitch, the ceiling directs the viewer's eye toward the playing field.
In the USC 600-level seating area, JHS Architecture's selected Chicago Metallic's Eurostone ceiling panels for this high-humidity area. The products are comprised of a non-fibrous perlite blend, which resists sagging and mitigates mold and microbial growth. In addition to Eurostone's proven performance, it offers a canvas for customization. Embellishing the otherwise smooth surface, some of the panels in the 600-level seating area are embossed with the USC logo and placed at random intervals for added visual interest.
"The University of South Carolina's game plan for attracting talented players and generous alumni proved to be a win for everyone," says Valdez.
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Hong Kong, China
Ronald Lu & Partners
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Foster + Partners, CBT Architects
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Tsoi/Kobus & Associates with Cooper Robertson & Partners
Orlando, Florida, United States
Stanley Beaman & Sears, Perkins + Will


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Fresh protests as Kenya crisis grinds on
Opposition supporters began what they said would be three days of nationwide demonstrations Wednesday.
Darko Bandic/AP
Nairobi, Kenya
Police in cities throughout Kenya used tear gas and batons Wednesday to quell opposition supporters on the first day of a three-day nationwide strike against the government of President Mwai Kibaki.
Kenya's political crisis – now in its third week after a disputed Dec. 27 election touched off a wave of ethnic violence that killed more than 600 people and displaced more than 250,000 – shows few signs of ending soon.
Populist opposition leader Raila Odinga maintains that Mr. Kibaki stole the election, and numerous mediation efforts by top global statesmen have failed to bear fruit. Yet the solution may come from a combination of internal fatigue and international pressure on Kenya's two top political leaders who, until now, have seemed unwilling to budge.
"There's no doubt Kenya needs a constant internal dynamic and international pressure to get these two sides to the negotiation table," says Francois Grignon, head of the Africa program for the International Crisis Group in Nairobi. "Had it not been for a robust statement of the US, the EU, and international election observers, and the similar reports of domestic observers, we might have a situation like under the days [of former President Daniel arap Moi], where there was blatant rigging, but there was no strong stand by the international community."


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A limited edition box set of audio interviews with rock stars and cultural icons, recorded between 1969-1972 and not heard since. Read more
A limited edition box set of audio interviews with rock stars and cultural icons, recorded between 1969-1972 and not heard since.
About this project
Help us get The Smith Tapes out into the world!
Between 1969–1972, Howard Smith recorded interviews with scores of rock stars and cultural icons. As a Village Voice columnist and radio personality on WPLJ FM, Smith sat down for revealing, personal conversations with Eric Clapton, Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Buckminster Fuller, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Hugh Hefner, to name just a few. He interviewed John Lennon and Yoko Ono no less than five times, and called in live dispatches from his Winnebago parked stage-side at Woodstock. Smith was at the center of culture during an era of extraordinary transformation.
Smith kept the original interview reels, hundreds of them, buried in a crate in the back of his New York City loft, and they haven't seen the light of day in over 40 years.
We're launching this Kickstarter campaign to produce a limited edition, hand numbered box set with more than 12 CDs of the cream-of-the-crop interviews. Out of more than 150 interviews that we found, we've selected 18 incredible conversations for this boxed collection.
The Smith Tapes will also be a larger project. After the release of this box set, we will independently release 100 Howard Smith interviews on iTunes. These will be available in themed collections, downloadable as albums or as individual tracks.
So, what's left to do?
We've already digitized everything, so the heavy lifting is done. What once were boxes of reel-to-reel tapes stacked in the back of a West Village loft are now thousands of files on hard drives. Sifting through them was a forensic process, like an enormous audio jigsaw puzzle. We listened for clues in the conversations to chronologically piece together hundreds of disorganized and sometimes unlabeled reels. Then, often using online archives and a multitude of fan blogs, we determined the recording dates… It's been a tedious blast.
We're asking for your help to raise funds for the cost of producing the box set.
As you can imagine, the audio editing, restoration and mastering on this project is intense. The tapes are 40 years old and were not stored with preservation in mind. Remarkably, most are in great shape, but the audio conditions do vary. Some reels have experienced magnetic tape degradation, and some had technical issues in the original recordings. We already have two incredible audio engineers hard at work on their restoration and mastering. They sound great.
This box set is going to be beautiful. We've teamed up with Art Director Masaki Koike at Phyx Design (winner of the 2007 Grammy Award: Limited Edition Box Set Category) to design it. The set will contain:
- 12 CDs of interviews
- A USB drive shaped like a vintage cassette tape
- A booklet featuring Howard describing each interview
- Identically reproduced photos and memorabilia from the original collection to recreate the feel of digging through the boxes of reels yourself!
Here are a few examples of the CD jacket graphics:
In the Box Set: Track Listing
- Disc 1 Mick Jagger 10/20/1969 & Eric Clapton 10/24/1970
- Disc 2 Jim Morrison 11/6/1969
- Disc 3 James Taylor 3/1970 & Lou Reed 3/26/1969
- Disc 4 Frank Zappa 6/6/1971
- Disc 5 Pete Townshend 6/8/1970
- Disc 6 John Lennon and Yoko Ono 2/5/1972
- Disc 7 Jerry Garcia 9/19/1970 & Janis Joplin 9/30/1970
- Disc 8 George Harrison Spring/1969 & Joe Cocker 6/1969
- Disc 9 James Rado and Gerome Ragni, HAIR 9/2/1969 & Abbie Hoffman 6/25/1970
- Disc 10 Jane Fonda 3/1971
- Disc 11 Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, Easy Rider 6/1969
- Disc 12 John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bed-In Montreal 5/29/1969
- Cassette tape USB drive Hugh Hefner 4/1968 & Live phoned-in broadcast reports from Woodstock 8/15-17/1969 & 1 hour of Howard wandering around Woodstock with a handheld tape recorder 8/15-16/1969
More about the Interviews
Smith had a knack for meeting with artists at seminal moments in their careers. He talked with Mick Jagger on tour a few weeks before Altamont; Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda directly after the Cannes Film Festival, in advance of Easy Rider's release; Pete Townshend during the two night run of Tommy at the Metropolitan Opera; and Andy Warhol after he was shot. He even taped Janis Joplin's last interview, just a few days before her death.
The Smith Tapes are time capsules, portals through which we meet each interviewee in his or her prime, uncensored, unedited and uninhibited. These tapes have an immediacy – and an intimacy – that is astounding.
Got another minute? Give a listen!
Janis http://snd.sc/RPHIMU
Pete http://snd.sc/NcyXMY
Check out our Facebook and Soundcloud pages for a lot more audio content!
And, of course, you can follow us on Twitter
Risks and challenges
The box set has had its technical challenges. We want to create a unique and beautiful collection, not merely a set of discs that fall into the generic templates we're used to seeing on the shelf. We want to share the experience of the collection: the authenticity and cultural context surrounding the interviews themselves.
The set will be lovingly hand-assembled and presented in a custom wooden crate containing 3 boxes for the CDs, loose pictures and reproduced ephemera from Howard's collection. In order to create such a unique and massive set (12 discs is sort of unheard-of in the box set world), we've had to source elements from many different vendors.
Our plan is to ship the sets by mid-December, and our production schedule is lined up to meet this goal. We have done our best to factor in sufficient lead time to avoid any foreseeable setbacks.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
We're definitely not ruling that out in the future! But at this time, the full box set will be the only way the CDs and USB drive are available.
BY POPULAR DEMAND! We're offering the digital box set. Check it out!
We are only making 750 numbered box sets.
Pledge $1 or more
19 backers
Thank you!!
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $3 or more
32 backers
Hear the Rolling Stones' press conference from November 1969. They are launching their tour which ends at the infamous Free Altamont Concert. - Downloadable via a private link.
Estimated delivery: -
Pledge $5 or more
35 backers
A Howard Smith button. It's Howard in all his afro-glory.
Plus the Stones' press conference!Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $15 or more
10 backers
The Smith Tapes official postcard, signed by Cass and Ezra - mailed to you.
Plus the Stones' press conference!Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $25 or more
19 backers
A special Smith Tapes iPhone 4/4S cover that looks like a Cassette Tape!
Plus the Stones' press conference!Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $40 or more
17 backers
The Bonus Bundle.
The iPhone cover, the postcard, the button and the Stones' press conference.
Woohoo!Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $80 or more
48 backers
We've been asked so many times that we have to do it. The Smith Tapes DIGITAL BOX SET.
This will be all 18 of the interviews and 2 Woodstock tracks from the box set, Plus the disc's cover art, Plus the incredible liner notes. Delivered digitally to you.
Plus the Stones' press conference.Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $100 or more
10 backers All gone!
A limited edition Smith Tapes poster, designed by Art Director Masaki Koike of Phyx Design.
Plus the button and the Stones' Press conference!Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $100 or more
36 backers Limited (454 left of 490)
The limited edition Smith Tapes' poster comes with the Digital Box Set!
(If you've already pledged for the poster, don't worry- you're in) Plus the button and Stones' Press conference.Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $300 or more
77 backers Limited (611 left of 688)
One limited edition, hand numbered box set. This is seriously boutique, non-plastic, detail focussed and beautifully designed. This is not like something you'll find on the shelves at Best Buy. We've sourced the different elements from 10 different places and Masaki and Ezra are hand assembling them just for you!
Plus the Stones' press conference!
Includes free domestic shipping.
Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $500 or more
3 backers Limited (2 left of 5)
SPECIAL! SoundCloud has generously donated Pro Plus accounts for a year! ($640 value)
PLUS the Box Set!
Plus the postcard, button and press conference-Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $1,000 or more
1 backer Limited (24 left of 25)
One box set numbered below 50, signed by Howard, Cass, Masaki and Ezra. Plus the postcard, the button and the press conference. And if you want anything else, just ask!
Free shipping to anywhere on the planet.Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $2,500 or more
2 backers Limited (8 left of 10)
Producer's credit in the box set. One box set numbered below 20, signed by Howard, Cass, Masaki and Ezra, and everything else! How fun is that!
Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world -
Pledge $8,000 or more
0 backers Limited (1 left of 1)
The authentic, one of a kind, actual Rolling Stones' press conference reel pictured in the video! Additionally, Cass and Ezra will take you out to dinner in NYC to give it to you.
Producer's credit in the box set. Plus 2 box sets numbered below 10 signed by Howard, Cass, Masaki and Ezra, and all the other stuff. And did I mention dinner?Estimated delivery:Ships anywhere in the world
Funding period
- (30 days)