Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

MEBANE A North Carolina small business's work is in the spotlight Monday on HGTV.

Alamance County's Signature Flooring is being featured in an episode of the home makeover show Love It or List It.

"We were very surprised, very excited," said sales and design associate Vicki Whittemore.

Its a big deal for the small business in the heart of Mebane.

It definitely shows our tile work and some finished work we have done in a home that is in the Research Triangle Park area, Whittemore said.

"We are a small business, said co-owner Charles Harding. In fact, there are only six of us here. We are all part of a big team, and we all feel like family."

Leaders with the full-scale flooring company, which installs everything from tile to hardwood, call their experience with the show fantastic. While the owners at Signature Flooring couldn't go into details, they say their relationship with HGTV will go well-beyond Monday night's episode.

They're hoping the national exposure to the way they do business will give them even more of a boost.

The HGTV folks approached us personally and asked if we would like to be involved, Harding said. We were originally just going to do one project. They approached us, and I'd like to think it's because of a lot companies forget about, like cleanliness, the way folks are dressed, the vehicles they drive, the way they represent their business "

Monday night's episode of Love It or List It was the show's first this season.

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Mebane Business Featured on HGTV Show

MILAN--Students arriving at Milan High School for their first day back from break received a surprise.

Superintendent Bryan Girbach said a faulty water pressure valve on the building's sprinkler system was the cause of a false alarm on Monday, Jan. 5. The faulty valve caused a malfunction in the school's fire alarm system.

"The kids were never in any danger," he said, adding that the valve has since been fixed.

Lt. Fred Evans with the Milan Area Fire Department said the department received the call at 7:05 a.m. Monday, Jan. 5. Classes begin at 7:30 a.m.Firefighters arrived on the scene only to discover it was a false alarm.

There was no fire, no injuries, nothingits the kind of calls we like, he said.

The department was on scene about 15 minutes, which allowed them time to investigate and make sure there were no issues, he said.

Superintendent Bryan Girbach said a faulty water pressure valve on the building's sprinkler system was the cause of a false alarm on Monday, Jan. 5. The faulty valve caused a malfunction in the school's fire alarm system.

"The kids were never in any danger," he said, adding that the valve has since been fixed.

Lt. Fred Evans with the Milan Area Fire Department said the department received the call at 7:05 a.m. Monday, Jan. 5. Classes begin at 7:30 a.m.Firefighters arrived on the scene only to discover it was a false alarm.

There was no fire, no injuries, nothingits the kind of calls we like, he said.

Originally posted here:
Technical issue causes fire alarm to malfunction at Milan High School (UPDATED at 12:24 p.m.)

Crude oils slide below $50 sent the Standard & Poors 500 Index (SPX) to its biggest drop since October on Monday as selling spread from the energy industry amid concern that cuts in capital spending will hurt earnings.

Energy shares in the S&P 500 plunged 4 percent as West Texas Intermediate sank to the lowest since April 2009. Exxon Mobil Corp. lost 2.7 percent and Chevron Corp. retreated 3.9 percent. Caterpillar (CAT) Inc. declined 5.3 percent and an index of railroad stocks lost 3.2 percent on concern that the energy slump may hurt spending on capital equipment and crude transportation.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.8 percent to 2,020.90 at 4 p.m. in New York, for its first four-day losing streak since 2013. The gauge fell below its average price for the last 50 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 327.49 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,505.50.

Carlo Allegri/Reuters Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Commodities are really a leading indicator as to the health of the global economy, Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Milwaukee-based RW Baird & Co., which oversees $110 billion, said in a phone interview. The concern is that the global economy will hurt the US stocks, S&P particularly, because theyre made up of a lot of multinational companies.

While all 10 major industries on the S&P 500 retreated today, with materials producers industrials each tumbling more than 2 percent, energy shares paced declines to extend a selloff that began last June. Denbury Resources Inc. sank 8 percent and Noble Energy Inc. tumbled 9.6 percent for the biggest drops in the S&P 500.

Bear Market

The gauge of 43 energy producers has plunged 23 percent since an all-time high in June, as oil prices entered a bear market amid a supply glut spurred by the highest U.S. output in three decades and OPECs refusal to cut production.

Oil declined for a third day today, falling as much as 6.7 percent in London and sinking below $50 a barrel in the U.S. for the first time since April 2009.

It looks as if oil prices are going to continue to see lower lows in the course of the next couple weeks, and it puts together a risk-off trading environment within the markets, said Chad Morganlander, a money manager at St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which oversees about $160 billion.

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Dow Sheds More Than 300 Points as Oil Slumps

European equity markets were down across the board yesterday as political uncertainty surrounding Greece and falling oil prices pushed markets lower.

The main Greek index was down 5.6% at the close. The main bourses in France, Spain and Portugal were down over 3.0% while the Italian market was down 4.9%. The Iseq was down over 1.2% at the close. It shed 63.68 points to close at 5,165.01. Yesterday also saw the price of oil drop to its lowest level since April 2009.

In Irish financials, Bank of Ireland decreased by 2.8% to close at 30.8c while Permanent TSB decreased by 3.2% to close at 6.1c. AIB was flat on the day, closing at 8.4c. FBD decreased by 1.4% to close at 11.60.

In the agri-food stocks, Aryzta decreased by 0.6% to close at 63.30, Glanbia decreased by 0.8% to close at 12.70, and Kerry Group decreased by 2.0% to close at 57.10.

In the constructions stocks, CRH was down 2.5% to close at 19.20, while Kingspan was up 2.3% to close at 14.58.

Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

Originally posted here:
Iseq sheds 1.2% as it follows European downward trend

Kirstie Alley, known for her yo-yo dieting throughout the years, has shed yet another 50 pounds and is looking thin and trim. How did she do it this time? She went back on the Jenny Craig plan on which she lost 75 pounds while serving as the companys spokesperson.

It was so easy for me when I did it before, Alley said during a recent interview with People magazine.

Kirstie Alleys last significant weight loss came while she was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars. The constant rehearsals and romps on the ballroom floor had her looking and feeling amazing. But when the show ended, so did the dancingand the weight came back.

The former Cheers star only set out to lose 30 pounds this time, but kept going. She dropped from a size 12 or 14 down to a six six or eight.

Theres this certain place I hit where I felt really energetic and agile. I was like, I want to keep going with this! she said.

The actress knew if she didnt incorporate both the diet plan and the exercise this time, she would yo-yo yet again.

I thought, how am I going to solve the problem of hitting a goal and having enough fun to keep that going? she asked herself.

The answer came in the form of a bicycle.

I got a yellow townie bike and I ride over to friends houses. I bribe people. Ill say, lets ride to this restaurant and Ill pay for dinner, she said. And believe me: If I bike four miles to a restaurant, I dont wreck it with my order!

Having a consultant through the Jenny Craig program has proven noteworthy this time.

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Kirstie Alley Sheds 50 Pounds, Again

The Canadian dollar was lower Monday, dragged below the 85 cent US level because of continuing weakness in the price of oil, which dropped below $50 US a barrel for the first time since 2009.

The plunging oil price hammered the Toronto Stock Exchange, which was off by more than three per cent or 380 points in the afternoon. Commodity-based shares were especially hard hit, with the energy subindex off six per cent and metals and mining off more than four.

The TSX closed down 360.95 points or 2.4 per cent at14,392.70.

"Investors (are) trying to figure out what the new equilibrium is for oil and commodities in general," said Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist at Edward Jones in St.Louis. "I think we will feel our way through that for quite some time."

The loonie dropped to its lowest point since May 2009 on Monday, changing hands at 84.90 at one point,although it recovered to close at 85.05 cents US later in the day. Much of that is because of strength in the U.S. dollar as opposed to weakness in the loonie because the U.S. greenback has been gaining ground against virtually every other world currency for several weeks now.

The euro hit a nine-year low against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading under 1.20 for the first time since 2005.

But much of the loonie'sweakness was the same old story: an oil price that can't seem to find a bottom.

The price for a barrel of the benchmark North American oil known as WTI lost $2.65 to close at $50.04 on Monday, but traded below the $50 threshold earlier in the day.

That's the first time oil has been that low since the summer of 2009, when the world economy was just starting to come out of a devastating recession.

Dirk Lever, managing director of Institutional Equity Research at Altacorp, says Monday's oil weakness wasn't tied to any new data, but rather a reflection of people coming back to work from the Christmas holiday and catching up on their trading. "This is the first day we've had a real reflection in the market with everybody back at work," Lever said, adding he expects oil to find a floor price soon.

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TSX sheds 380 points as oil trades below $50 a barrel

In a new study that sheds light on space weather's impact on Earth, Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues show for the first time that plasma waves buffeting the planet's radiation belts are responsible for scattering charged particles into the atmosphere.

The study is the most detailed analysis so far of the link between these waves and the fallout of electrons from the planet's radiation belts. The belts are impacted by fluctuations in "space weather" caused by solar activity that can disrupt GPS satellites, communication systems, power grids and manned space exploration.

The results appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. A PDF is available on request.

The Dartmouth space physicists are part of a NASA-sponsored team that studies the Van Allen radiation belts, which are donut-shaped belts of charged particles held in place by Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetic field surrounding our planet. In a quest to better predict space weather, the Dartmouth researchers study the radiation belts from above and below in complementary approaches -- through satellites (the twin NASA Van Allen Probes) high over Earth and through dozens of instrument-laden balloons (BARREL, or Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses) at lower altitudes to assess the particles that rain down.

The Van Allen Probes measure particle, electric and magnetic fields, or basically everything in the radiation belt environment, including the electrons, which descend following Earth's magnetic field lines that converge at the poles. This is why the balloons are launched from Antarctica, where some of the best observations can be made. As the falling electrons collide with the atmosphere, they produce X-rays and that is what the balloon instruments are actually recording.

"We are measuring those atmospheric losses and trying to understand how the particles are getting kicked into the atmosphere," says co-author Robyn Millan, an associate professor in Dartmouth's Department of Physics and Astronomy and the principal investigator of BARREL. "Our main focus has been really on the processes that are occurring out in space. Particles in the Van Allen belts never reach the ground, so they don't constitute a health threat. Even the X-rays get absorbed, which is why we have to go to balloon altitudes to see them."

In their new study, the BARREL researchers' major objective was to obtain simultaneous measurements of the scattered particles and of ionoized gas called plasma out in space near Earth's equator. They were particularly interested in simultaneous measurements of a particular kind of plasma wave called electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and whether these waves were responsible for scattering the particles, which has been an open question for years.

The researchers obtained measurements in Antarctica in 2013 when the balloons and both the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Van Allen Probe satellites were near the same magnetic field line. They put the satellite data into their model that tests the wave-particle interaction theory, and the results suggest the wave scattering was the cause of the particle fallout. "This is the first real quantitative test of the theory," Millan says.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Dartmouth College. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Electromagnetic waves linked to particle fallout in Earth's atmosphere, new study finds

Meridian Hills Room Addition by Cliff #39;s Construction
Room Addition project completed in the Meridian Hills area of Indianapolis.

By: Cliffs Construction Home Remodeling

Excerpt from:
Meridian Hills Room Addition by Cliff's Construction - Video

Belkin has announced several new sensors for its WeMo home automation line, including the Door and Window Sensor, the Keychain Sensor, and the Alarm Sensor, the last of which triggers if an existing security system goes off. Another addition is a new Room Motion Sensor, which can track heat signatures up to 30 feet away within a 90-degree arc. The unit should ignore pets, and (through the WeMo app) not only let people set alerts or links with other devices but check the last detected movement in a given room.

Something still in development is the Water Sensor. That device will attach to a plumbing system and track a house's overall water usage, as well as any pressure changes. The product is still in field testing however, and no release date is on the horizon; the other new WeMo sensors are scheduled to ship in the second half of the year.

In the meantime Belkin will be shipping a collection of mobile charging accessories, such as the Wireless Charging Pad -- which will should support any Qi-compatible phone or case -- and two battery packs, the Power Pack 2000 and the MIXIT Power Pack 400, rated at 2,000mAh and 4,000mAh, respectively. Other new MIXIT products will include home and car chargers and a variety of cables. The Wireless Charging Pad will arrive in April for $40, while the new Power Packs are due in June for $20 and $30. The remaining gear is expected in May at prices between $20 and $30.

By Electronista Staff

Continued here:
Belkin launches more WeMo sensors, mobile charging accessories

Jamie Mitchell Times Record - Lonnie London works to remove a window frame Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, from the store front at 613 Main St. in Van Buren as part of a remodeling project next door for Firefly Boutique at 609 Main St. Once completed, London said the Firefly Boutique remodel will double the boutiques floor space, as well as allow London to access his upstairs residence by way of an existing staircase opening onto Main Street.

Jamie Mitchell Times Record - Lonnie London works to remove a window frame Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, from the store front at 613 Main St. in Van Buren as part of a remodeling project next door for Firefly Boutique at 609 Main St. Once completed, London said the Firefly Boutique remodel will double the boutiques floor space, as well as allow London to access his upstairs residence by way of an existing staircase opening onto Main Street.

Jamie Mitchell Times Record - Lonnie London works to remove a window frame Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, from the store front at 613 Main St. in Van Buren as part of a remodeling project next door for Firefly Boutique at 609 Main St. Once completed, London said the Firefly Boutique remodel will double the boutiques floor space, as well as allow London to access his upstairs residence by way of an existing staircase opening onto Main Street.

Original post:
Paneless Project