Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Bet You Didn't Know 13 October 2012

By John Marchel

Vingt-Et-Un Corporation developed a system called Blackjack II. It consisted of two separate dealing shoes holding six decks each. Depending on the color of the first card, red (diamonds hearts) a card would be drawn from the red shoe. If black (spades clubs) the 2nd card would be drawn from the blue shoe. It was designed to prevent card counting, but it never caught on with casinos.

When playing at a shoe game of blackjack you will play the same number of hands in one hour as you would in three hours against a single deck.

There are 96 ten value cards in a six deck shoe. Each deck has four - 10's, four - J's, four - K's, and four - Q's. Therefore each deck has 16 face cards. 6Six decks x 16 face cards = 96 cards with a value of 10.

Pai Gow Poker is one of the slowest table games in a casino with only about 40 hands played in an hour. Blackjack can have 60 to 100 hands per hour.

The first known blackjack player barred from playing the game was John Scarne. Ben (Bugsy) Siegel personally barred him from playing at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

A $500-a-hand blackjack player with only a 1% advantage (using a card counting system) could make $600,000 a year playing the game.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.

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Bet You Didn't Know

By JOLENE CLEAVER Dispatch Staff Writer Twitter: @DispatchCleaver

DURHAMVILLE Some Durhamville homeowners will vote Tuesday whether they want to borrow money to build a $4 million system to pipe their sewage to Oneida.

If passed, the proposition would provide for the establishment of the Durhamville Sewer District in the hamlet.

The resolution provides for the construction of a sanitary sewer collection system at a maximum estimated cost of up to $4.1 million.

This will be financed through a hardship loan from the state through the Environmental Facilities Corporation. The terms of the loan include no-interest financing, payable over the next 30 years, and could save the town nearly $1 million in interest payments.

Town officials say there have been issues with septic systems in the area for years.

Durhamville, bisected by Oneida Creek, is typically wet, and Town Supervisor Owen Waller has noted in the past that septic systems fail frequently, causing raw sewage to go into open ditches and other water sources. This causes health issues.

In addition, many properties in the hamlet do not have room to install a proper leach field for septic tanks.

If the project is adopted, each homeowners in the district will pay $471 per year, whether or not they choose to hook into the system. If they do hook up, they will pay about $300 per year in fees related to pumping their sewage to Oneida for treatment, said Waller.

There will also be a one-time connection fee and a DEC-regulated septic tank disconnection fee for those who choose to hook into the system.

Link:
Sewer system vote Tuesday in Durhamville

Plumber

Q: We have a classic 1950s ranch with one big pink bathroom that we are remodeling next year. We have a very long countertop with only one small sink and a medicine cabinet. When we install the new countertop, can we add a second sink and a medicine cabinet since we have all that extra space? Is this a bad idea since it is the only bathroom in the house? It seems to us that double sinks are a master-bedroom kind of thing.

Laura, Rhode Island

A: I say that whenever you can use a homes existing plumbing system to your advantage, go for it.

The good news is that you should already have the sink water and drain lines right there under the countertop.

So if your existing plumbing is in good shape, a licensed plumber should be able to twin in a second lav sink. Ive done jobs like this. As long as the second sink can be installed according to local codes, it can be a very nice addition to any bathroom.

Now about the practicality of double sinks in the only bathroom in the house.

Well, Ive lost count of the number of times Ive used my living-area bathroom, only to find some laundry soaking in the single sink for that bathroom.

Bottom line: Adding a second bathroom sink can be a good investment for you, and going from single to double hopefully should be no trouble.

Master contractor/plumber Ed Del Grande is known internationally as the author of the book “Ed Del Grande’s House Call,” the host of TV and Internet shows, and a LEED green associate. Visit eddelgrande.com or write eadelg@cs.com. Sorry no personal replies. Always consult local contractors and codes.

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Bath sinks: twice as nice

Opponents of a controversial plan to build a grandiose Catholic church in quaint old Mandeville scored a legal victory Friday when a state District judge ruled that the city's zoning board has the authority to block the project. Judge William Crain's decision upholds the Mandeville Zoning Board's denial of a permit to build a $13 million, 16,715-square-foot church across Lafitte Street from the existing Our Lady of the Lake Church.

The ruling marks a major milestone in the long, contentious debate between church supporters and residents and preservationists in the historic lakefront community.

Whether it ends Our Lady of the Lake's push to build a larger place of worship to replace its overcrowded chapel remains to be seen. Sarah McDonald, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, said that Crain's ruling was received by the church Friday and officials are in the early stages of determining what steps will be taken next.

"The (church) parish is working with the archdiocese on deciding how to move forward," she said.

Our Lady of the Lake, located three blocks from Lake Pontchartrain, is the largest Catholic parish in the local archdiocese, with nearly 3,000 registered families in the congregation. On average, about 6,500 people attend weekend Masses at OLL, officials said.

The turmoil began shortly after former OLL pastor John Talamo unveiled plans to build the new $13 million church, with its soaring towers and Gothic revival architecture. Supporters of the project said the existing 465-seat church is undersized , forcing the parish to conduct some weekend Masses in the adjacent Chotin Center, a multipurpose building that houses the OLL gym. The new church was designed to seat 1,028.

The church project was the subject of several heated public hearings where supporters noted the dire need for a larger church and opponents lamented the prospect of a building that would be outsized for the community and would impact traffic and drainage in the area. Critics created a website, Save Old Mandeville, to further their position. They commissioned a poll they said showed the new church did not enjoy widespread support throughout old Mandeville. The church controversy became an issue in some Mandeville municipal elections in the spring.

Supporters argued that the church had been a vital part of the city for 160 years, and the new building would not be a burden on the surrounding community. They said the church met all legal requirements invarious city zoning ordinances. Congregants recited a prayer during each Mass seeking blessings for the church project.

In October 2011, the Zoning Board denied the church's request for a special permit to build its new place of worship. On Nov. 4 of last year, OLL appealed the board's decision , and in April of this year argued before Crain that the church project was in step with all city zoning ordinances and that the board did not have the discretion to deny the permit. Crain, who was subsequently elected to the state's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge, took the matter under advisement, setting up this week's decision.

Mandeville City Councilman Ernest Burguieres, who represents old Mandeville and has been critical of the church's construction plans, said the divisive issue "pitted friends-against-friends and families-against-families" in the south Mandeville neighborhood. "I'm glad this dispute is over with. The community can now start to heal from the rifts...," Burguieres said.

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Louisiana district judge's ruling upholds board's decision to block old Mandeville church construction

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After seven years, Alma Plaza has a grocery store Veteran of Berkeley food scene opens Miki's Farm Fresh Market in Palo Alto

by Jocelyn Dong Palo Alto Weekly Staff

Photo

"You'll probably find 24 feet of mushrooms. Any mushroom you could want," he said of the soon-to-be-filled space.

Just one week before the grocery store's opening at Alma Plaza in Palo Alto, workers scurried to arrange cheese displays, set up the deli section and stock shelves of dry goods.

Werness grabbed some rice cakes -- gluten-free and vegan-friendly -- and rattled off the low price his buyers were able to get them for. Ditto the bottles of Looza fruit nectar, which lined shelves under the countertops like wallflowers waiting for the dance.

It's been seven years since Albertsons closed at 3445 Alma St., precipitating a much-discussed search for another neighborhood market. Some residents clamored for a Trader Joe's. Others speculated that JJ&F Market would move in from the College Terrace neighborhood.

Instead, Werness, a veteran of the Bay Area grocery scene, signed the lease with property owner McNellis Partners to open the independent store. At 17,000 square feet, Miki's Farm Fresh Market will be nearly 4,000 square feet larger than Albertsons. But unlike its predecessor, Miki's is aiming for a different niche: organic and specialty foods but with price points low enough to keep the family household on budget.

Werness rebuffs rumors that Miki's will cater to the cost-is-no-object yuppie crowd. Instead, the market will offer both the exotic and the basic: In the mustard section, gourmet brands sit alongside French's. Organic sugar nestles next to bags of C&H.

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After seven years, Alma Plaza has a grocery store

Nate Berkus Explains When to Call In an Interior Designer

Three Things a Designer Can Help You With:

1. Getting the scale right. "I can look at a photo and the dimensions of any piece and tell you if it's going to sit well with the four other pieces in your room."

2. Mixing styles. "If someone says, 'I love the glamour of Hollywood in the 1940s, but I also love the idea of a log cabin, and I'm happiest when I'm at the beach with natural colors,' I can combine all of that for them."

3. Access to resources. "It's my job to know what's available, from every retailer, catalog, website, antiques mall, and craftsperson. A good designer or decorator has to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge."

Three Things You Don't Need a Designer For:

1. Buying furniture. "You don't need anyone's help to buy a well-made sofa or chest of drawers."

2. Hanging artwork. "When I see a wall that's hung with different objects, framed or unframed, what I like about it is its fluidity and rule-breaking nature. Just experiment a bit."

3. Choosing colors. "I've always felt that color is intrinsically personal. It evokes a tremendous amount of emotion. If there's a color you respond to, that's something you can incorporate into your home. No one can tell you it's wrong."

Related

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Nate Berkus Explains When to Call In an Interior Designer

Zoysiagrass, a playing surface grass found at premier clubs, is being rolled out just like new carpet onto Maysville Country Club fairways.

It is so nice to begin the process of upgrading our product here at Maysville Country Club," Club President Glenn Brothers said. "The installation of zoysiagrass kicks off a campaign to upgrade our golf course as well as our clubhouse facilities to a new standard. I am happy for our members as well as the community of Maysville that we have begun this process.

Golf Course Superintendent Joe Kaczmarek explained that he is very excited for the membership as well.

I can already envision the finished product," Kaczmarek said. This zoysia, along with some of the other changes like upgrading our sand bunkers, putting in some new bunkers, adjusting a few greens, etc., is really going to make this place top-notch.

"It will also allow for a lower overall budget with regards to maintenance and water. The bluegrass we had would burn out in the summer and cause huge water bills each month just to try and maintain what we had. We also had to use a large dollar amount of chemicals to even try and keep weeds away. Not only will it simply look and play like a championship course, it will be easier and less expensive to maintain.

According to Kelly Yates of Kentucky Fairways, Zoysia is a hearty matted type of surface that once installed, is very tolerant to the hot summers, needs very little water, and is basically maintenance-free from disease, weeds and insects. It also requires less mowing and virtually repairs itself from wear and tear."

PGA Head Golf Professional Denny Nash looks forward to the improvements as well.

It is going to be nice for our members and their guests," Nash said. "The benefits to golfers will be obvious. What I am really excited about though is the effect these upgrades will have on our club's ability to attract future tournaments and events to the area. These improvements will not only benefit our club, but will benefit the whole community of Maysville.

Nash used the KHSAA state golf tournament held at Bowling Green Country Club last week as an example.

"It brought in some 1,500 visitors to that area last week in the way of players, spectators, media and press, etc., and the economic impact to the town of Bowling Green was measured at between $1-1.2 million," Nash said. Not to say that we will get events such as that overnight, but with an upgraded product we as a club can begin to think that way.

Link:
Maysville Country Club installing zoysia playing surface

Replacing home flooring can be a distressing and difficult experience for homeowners. Lance's flooring introduces a vast array of options including hardwood, laminate, stone, tile or carpets as part of their new Home Flooring Replacements Special.

San Diego, Ca (PRWEB) October 13, 2012

We understand how stressful it is to make a decision on what type of flooring fits certain rooms or areas of your house. Thinking about installation options only adds to the anxiety, Murphy states.

He points out, You wont have to worry about the technique of installation for your flooring choice, once you decide for us to install it. All you have to focus on is making a decision on the type of flooring and we will take care of everything beyond that.

There are different ways to install flooring and they are dependent on the kind of flooring that needs to be installed or replaced. For hardwood flooring, installation can be done through the floating technique, by nailing down or glued down.

Carpet installation can be done through stretch-in, double glue-down or direct glue-down installation. Stretch-in installation shouldnt be done in areas with extreme humidity or on inclines and ramps. Carpets with unitary backing or those with backing systems meant for glue-down installation should never be installed using the stretch-in method as well.

We will properly and professionally install your flooring choice for you and your family to enjoy for years at an affordable cost, Murphy says.

Renovating homes or replacing old floors has been made easier and simpler by Lances Flooring. They bring their showroom right into clients homes, so they can conveniently choose the kind of carpet, hardwood or laminate that goes best with their interiors. The flooring company does not charge their customers for this and they provide ample time for decisions to be made without putting any obligation on the customers shoulder.

Murphy pronounces, It is our intention to provide complete satisfaction to our customers. We do this through giving a wall to wall service and custom installation like no other.

The best thing about our services is that you dont have to go to the store and stand in line to see a flooring sample. We bring everything to your home. Plus, we install the flooring of your choice according to your needs and specifications, he adds.

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El Cajon Flooring Company Introduces Hassle-Free Home Flooring Replacements

R. Wayne Estopinal, AIA, ACHA, LEEDAP, President, TEG Architects, The Estopinal Group, a solution provider at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Fall 2012, on planning and designing healthcare facilities to be more efficient and productive.

New York, NY, Oct 12, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - For many years now, healthcare organizations have tried to find efficiencies in their supply chain and staff, but most have not considered the facility as part of the solution, according to R. Wayne Estopinal, AIA, ACHA, LEEDAP, President, TEG Architects, The Estopinal Group. The good news is that it is not necessary to build a new facility to achieve the efficiency and productivity gains that TEG Architects considers possible.

A solution provider at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Fall 2012, in Dallas, Texas, October 21-23, Estopinal discusses how better designed healthcare facilities can be the answer the industry has been looking for.

- How can healthcare facilities become more profitable?

Maintaining profitability, in spite of declining margins, is the biggest issue in the industry today. In our opinion, the only way that healthcare facilities can achieve the patient outcome, staff productivity, efficiency, to satisfy reimbursement metrics, is by utilizing innovative planning and design strategies, and letting facilities become part of the solution. This is a new weapon for successful and dynamic healthcare providers, titled Efficient Design+Productive Care, at TEG planning and design strategy.

- What innovative strategies could you share?

We have conducted many years of evidence-based design, research looking at how facilities can add efficiency, and planning and design with innovative clinical solutions coupled with facility metrics to reduce your staffing costs for decades to come. Understanding how a hospital's clinical utilization fluctuates throughout the day and year, we identify opportunities for more efficient departmental designs and adjacencies of departments which are supportive and in many cases diametrically different in functions. Designing departments for their peak capacity is unnecessary, if the same space can be used for different purposes at different parts of the day.

Healthcare construction in the US costs USD 300-600 per square foot. That is capital that does not need to be poured into bricks and mortar or inefficient designs that cause you to spend more on staffing that would be required utilizing TEG's Efficient Design+Productive Care Strategies.

Another way is looking at how departments function and flow, and identifying how staff can be cross-utilized, how adjacencies can improve patient care and outcomes and how clinical capacities can be increased while staffing remains the same or is reduced. Our time and motion studies of multiple hospitals has found that staff spend only 30 per cent of their time on patient care, the rest going on moving between locations and getting the materials they need to provide care. Hospitals must improve on this, but most do not consider the facility as being integral to achieving efficiency and productivity.

- If building a new department or building is not an option, can this be achieved easily by reorganizing and renovating an existing facility?

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Making the Facility Part of the Solution in the Healthcare Industry

Oxford Properties Group upped the ante on Friday among Torontos casino suitors with details of a $3-billion plus proposal for a swath of downtown real estate next to the Rogers Centre that would see black jack tables among a new hotel, residential, office space and a redeveloped Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The group hired Foster + Partners, the architects behind Abu Dhabis Masdar City Development, Washingtons Smithsonian Institute and Londons Canary Wharf Underground Station, to sketch out a master plan for Oxford Place, located on 11 acres on the south side of Front Street, between Simcoe Street and Blue Jay Way.

The plan, contingent on authorities giving a casino the go-ahead, includes a new and expanded convention centre, new retail, office and residential space, 4,000 new underground parking spots and an integrated casino and hotel complex. The casino would make up less than 10% of the project, Oxford said in a press release, and would be funded, built and operated by the casino operator selected by the provincial government, should it do so. The company is also contemplating a new 5.5 acre park over the existing rail corridor.

Although the casino itself represents less than 10% of the projects area, it is a necessary and essential catalyst for the entire development and is a use that will be complementary to Torontos core in the way that we have designed and conceived it, said Michael Kitt, Oxfords executive vice president in Canada, in a press release.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. in March announced plans to build a new casino in greater Toronto, but says it will not put one in a city that does not want one. The issue has triggered considerable debate in Toronto, with people voicing their support and opposition at a public forum this week. Paul Godfrey, chairman of the OLG and also chief executive of Postmedia Network Inc., the parent company of the National Post, has said that downtown Toronto is OLGs first choice. Caesars, MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp., Woodbine Entertainment and Onex Corp. have all expressed interest, with Caesars in particular saying it considers the Metro Toronto Convention Centre as the best site. MGM prefers Exhibition Place.

If the decision is made to have a casino in the City of Toronto, Oxford believes it can provide the best location and the ideal solution for all stakeholders, Blake Hutcheson, president and CEO of Oxford Properties, said in the press release. We have engaged an extraordinary team to develop the very best plan for this site and to transform this entertainment and commercial hub into a world class destination.

Oxford Properties The Oxford proposal.

The proposed location of the casino and hotel is on the western edge of the property. Renderings depict two hotel towers on that part of the land, with the casino at the base of one, and another two sky scrapers on the eastern side for commercial and residential. The company wants to phase construction of the new, state-of-the-art convention space before demolition begins. The expanded convention centre would result in over 22 acres of contiguous exhibit space, the press release said.

The company described its proposal as a well-conceived private sector solution that does not require public infrastructure or other funding.

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Downtown casino, new convention centre could hit Toronto after $3-billion proposal