Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Friday, January 2, 2015, by Spencer Peterson

Photo by Ken Hayden/Architectural Digest

Antiques dealer and interior designer Axel Vervoordt has been called one of the "world's most influential tastemakers," but mere words pale in comparison to another imprimatur his work has been stamped with: he seems to be the favorite interior designer of well-known decor fanatic Ellen DeGeneres'.

Or at least one of her very favorites. Case in point:

She and Portia own one of his tables. He was no. 9 on a list of things she "can't live without," on which occasion she wrote "I admire his designsanything and everything he does." This pin. She once, upon meeting him, called herself his biggest fan, and told him the moment was "so inspirational. It was really a dream of mine to meet you." A list of her favorite books on goop was 3/5 books by and about Axel Vervoordt. (1/2 if you count her upcoming book, which she plugged at the end.) To goop, she said Vervoordt "is kind of everything: Every time I think I'm finally done with a room, I open one of Axel's books and am inspired to start over completely."

That settled? Here's a handful of rooms he designed.

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DeGeneres Wire: Eight Rooms by Ellen DeGeneres' Favorite Interior Designer

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CHICAGO, IL --

The chain has not detailed the extent of the possible breach, or the number and locations of restaurants that are involved, but they have hired cyber security experts to investigate.

Meanwhile, a report has uncovered serious concerns about how businesses protect your data.

It seemed just about everyone received an email or letter in 2014 saying credit card information might have been exposed by a data breach.

Chicago-based information security company Trustwave, which works to help businesses protect customers' data, recently released its 2014 global security report and found that while 81 percent of businesses store customers' personal information, 63 percent of businesses don't have a "mature method" to control and track sensitive data.

"Everyone knows that data breaches are now on the map," says Trustwave's Abby Ross. "There are still serious security weaknesses businesses are facing and they are still not doing enough to remediate those weaknesses."

The study shows that one-third of businesses are not identifying where valuable data lives and moves.

"If businesses do not know where their valuable data is," Ross says, "how are they supposed to protect it?"

Many businesses also don't have enough manpower to manage important equipment.

"Our security testers have gone into environments where they see security technologies that companies pay all that money for sitting on the shelf in the package never deployed or installed," Ross says.

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Cyber security report find gaps in business data security

If home automation can reduce insurance claims due to fire, water damage and theft, insurers may become advocates for Internet of Things technologies.

That could change the business model for the Internet of Things as it applies to home automation. Insurance companies may one day subsidize the cost of installing the technologies, or possibly cover the entire bill.

That's why this week's announcement by American Family Insurance and Microsoft to work together on home automation technologies may be important.

The companies announced the creation of a Microsoft Ventures Accelerator that's focused on home automation. American Family Insurance, the eighth largest homeowners' insurer in the U.S., will be offering equity investments to startups accepted into the program.

American Family's interest in funding technology development grows out of its experience from an earlier technology venture, the Teen Safe Driver Program. Launched a few years ago, the program includes installation of an accelerometer and event recorder near a vehicle's rearview mirror.

The recorder is always on and records the interior of the vehicle and what's outside. When there is an erratic movement, such as a hard brake or rapid acceleration, the recorder saves the previous 10 seconds and the next 10 seconds of the video clip. The clip is transmitted to Teen Safe program professionals, who evaluate it and make it available to parents via a Website.

The accident risk of 16- and 17-year-olds is about nine times that of parents, said Dan Reed, managing director at American Family Ventures. The information from the video is used by parents to help coach their teen driver.

The economics of the program were compelling, said Reed. It cost the insurance company several hundred dollars to outfit a vehicle with an event recorder, and it paid the cost of doing so. But for teens in the program, it has reduced the risk of a crash by 70%.

"That opened our eyes to proactive protection," said Reed.

As a result of their experience with Teen Safe, American Family began searching for other opportunities to use technology to reduce risk. The search has led to home automation, said Reed.

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Microsoft, insurer, may make home automation inexpensive -- even free

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Question: I have noticed that some trees retain their brown leaves all winter. Why dont they fall off?

Answer: A majority of our deciduous trees shed their leaves in the fall. In late fall, the combination of cell changes and growth regulators form an abscission layer at the base of the leaf stalk or petiole to encourage leaf fall. However, as you have noted, some hardwoods retain their leaves throughout most of the winter season. To some, it is beautiful, while others hate the thought of raking leaves again in the spring. Our native American beech tree is the most common tree in our forest that retains its leaves throughout the winter. A forest full of American beech in winter is a beautiful sight to behold. Many young oak trees retain their leaves too. American beech and oak are related. They are in the Fagaceae family. It is only natural for family members to act the same way. The botanical term for winter leaf retention is called marcescence. The growth of new buds in the spring will push the old leaves off. I have noted that the leaves of American beech begin falling off the last week of February.

Question: All the leaves on my very expensive maple tree are brown and wilted. It has never done this before. Are they dead?

Answer: Japanese maples are slow to shed their leaves in the fall. It is not uncommon for the leaves to be green or red when we have our first hard frost. The damaged leaves will wilt and eventually turn brown. They will slowly fall off with winter rains and wind. I have one Bloodgood Japanese maple that finally shed its leaves during the week of Christmas. My green leaf Waterfall has yet to give up its dried leaves. I would call them tardily deciduous. You can use a leaf blower to hasten their departure.

Question: We planted beets this fall in our new garden. Why did so many of the leaves turn purple?

Answer: Purple leaves on beets and other vegetable plants usually indicate a low phosphorous level in the soil. Phosphorous is a major element in plant nutrition and is very low in our native soils. It plays a significant role in root development. Because phosphorous is very slow to move through the soil, it is important to till your fertilizer into the soil prior to planting. This spring use a fertilizer high in phosphorous such as 10-20-20 or 4-24-24. Apply 1 pound of this fertilizer per 100 square feet of garden and mix it thoroughly into the soil prior to planting. Return to your normal fertilizer schedule during the growing season. The purpling will soon disappear.

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Some trees retain their leaves all winter

Smith criticized Pittsburgh's playing surface, complaining about its overuse.

The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night at Heinz Field, with the weather forecast calling for heavy rain set to fall on the stadium's natural grass. Baltimore receiver Torrey Smith is not happy about the playing surface, saying it is overused and generally not good for footing, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.

"It's terrible. They need to go ahead and put some turf up there or something," Smith said Thursday. "Apparently the field gets a lot of use. That's good for them [as a business], but it's terrible for us [as players on both teams] playing this late [in the season]. I'm sure they'll do a great job prepping it."

A four-year veteran, Smith has had no issues in the past playing in Pittsburgh. In Baltimore's trip to the Steel City this year, Smith amassed 63 yards and a touchdown. In 2013, Smith had 61 yards and in 2011 as a rookie, caught five passes for 71 yards and a score. In fairness, bad footing is a major problem for his style of play. Smith is a burner who wants to take the top off defenses, something which can be negated by turf flying up and soggy grass.

This is not the first time complaints have been made against the Heinz Field grass. Former NFLPA president Gene Upshaw called attention to the issue after a players survey in 2006 rated the field second-worst behind Gillette Stadium, which received FieldTurf soon thereafter, per FieldTurf.com.

"I actually sent the results to Dan Rooney because we were having dinner one night and he said his players all told him that they like that field," Upshaw said. "I said, 'I bet I get a different result than you get. Were you handing them their checks when you asked them?' We would like to see them go to a different surface."

There is even history with the turf and these two teams specifically. Last year, Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore 19-16 with the help of some bad field conditions. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker explained what a nightmare it is to kick in Pittsburgh, telling Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the following:

[Ravens kicker Justin] Tucker said he works with the grounds crew at Baltimore's practice facility in Owings Mills, Md., purposefully destroying perfectly good sod in order to mimic conditions at Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

"It's tough on this field because the turf is so poor," Tucker said. "You can't really practice that type of kick on this turf."

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Torrey Smith is angry about the 'terrible' grass at Heinz Field