Thursday, December 3, 2015

Rhino Shield Protects

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              How could your dog actually know Rhino Shield Jax protects your home enough to keep him calm during a thunderstorm? It's simple really. Your hairy addition to the family is very keen on his senses. Not only can they smell 200 times greater than a human, they also have the ability to know when something is not right with you. Dogs can sense fear, stress and worry by having a heightened sense of awareness.  If you are upset worried about your house leaking or getting the siding blew off he will know something is wrong and continue to bark or hide while it's storming, even when you tell him to calm down.

When you get your home protected with Rhino Shield Elastomeric Ceramic Coatings, it is like a tight flexible coat of armor shielding you against the elements. You will feel comfortable knowing your protected against rain, wind, snow and extreme heat. The difference in you can be recognized by your dog so the next time you tell him to calm down it's only rain, he might believe you!

                                                  







   

Monday, November 2, 2015

Painting the Town

WHEN the artist Byron Kim saw workers repainting a small bridge near his studio in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, he was concerned. “I watched them painting it Deep Cool Red,” he said, “and I kept thinking, did we pick the right color?”

Skip to next paragraph Richard Perry/The New York TimesTop,Third Avenue Bridge, Gowanus, is Deep Cool Red; middle, East 241st Street Bridge is Dark Green, and the Washington Bridge in Harlem, Munsell Gray; bottom, The Wards Island Bridge is Aluminum Green More Photos »  Top, Richard Perry/The New York Times; bottom, Uli Seit for The New York Times The George Washington Bridge, top, is painted George Washington Bridge Gray, and the Astoria Boulevard Bridge is Federal Blue. More Photos >
Along with having an artist’s eye for particulars, Mr. Kim is one of 11 members of the city’s Public Design Commission (formerly the Art Commission). He and his colleagues review permanent works of art, architecture and landscaping proposed for city property. Picking the color of a city-owned bridge fits squarely in their vast domain.
In New York, that is not a small task. There are 2,027 bridges in the five boroughs. The lion’s share of them, 783, is maintained by the Department of Transportation’s Division of Bridges. As such, they are subject to review by Mr. Kim and the rest of the Design Commission.
Unless the structure is designated as a landmark or exempt from the guidelines, there is a choice of only seven colors: Deep Cool Red, Federal Blue, George Washington Bridge Gray, Aluminum Green, Pulaski Red, Munsell Gray or Dark Green. These are nicknames used by the Department of Transportation and other city agencies for particular colors in the federal standard color system.
“We can’t have every color, or even dozens, because of maintenance,” Mr. Kim said. “The Department of Transportation has to keep so much volume of these colors on hand, it would be almost impossible for them to add even one more.”
When Mr. Kim started in 2003, the approved palette contained only three colors. “We kept having to assign Pulaski Red, Munsell Gray or Dark Green,” he recalled. “It was such a small range that when the D.O.T. gave us the opportunity to ask, we pleaded for some more vibrant colors.”
The color chosen for each bridge is reviewed by the Design Commission case by case, with the goal of establishing consistency along roadways as well as a dignified presence appropriate to the environment.
“Something like a bright yellow would be impractical, not only because it gets dirty, but because it’s too crazy,” Mr. Kim said. “Our charge is to have a color palette that makes sense and use it in a way that’s not too chaotic or boring.”
His favorites are George Washington Bridge Gray and Federal Blue. “They have a strong relationship with the sky,” he said. “That’s important. For me, visually, bridges are more about what’s above and behind than below.”
As for the small bridge crossing on the way to his Carroll Gardens studio, it turns out the Design Commission got it just right. “The school that abuts it was repainted not long after the bridge,” he said. “It happened to go very well — a good choice and some good luck.”

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Rhino Shield Jacksonville

In this blog I will display the gallery videos of Rhino Shield Jax. Choosing to go with a Ceramic Coating for your home instead of regular painting is a huge decision that you can only make once you have been properly informed. Due to the price difference, many might feel it is an unnecessary cost increase. Once you realize that you are making a solid investment that not only will save you money in the long run, but will increase the value of your home due to the 25 year warranty that is transferable among new homeowners. So how will going with Rhino Shield Jacksonville save you money in the long run? Let's talk about what causes your electric bill to go up in the summer. As the summer months approach many of us notice that the AC starts running longer and our bill gets higher every month. A poor insulated home will notice these changes more predominately. Most homes that are built today for $200K or less are thrown together so fast you would think they came per-assembled. One day you ride by what used to be a vacant lot and the next day there is a house standing on it. You know what I'm talking about. When a contractor builds your home he just has to get past the parts of inspection that must be completed by the county and then the walk through by the buyer. This leaves much wiggle room for cutting costs behind everyone's back. The painting is subbed out to the lowest bidder and he don't care about what happens to that house a few years down  the road. As long as the home looks freshly painted and is aesthetically pleasing then he gets a check. Game over for him. Move to the next one. If you don't specifically insist on the painter using am elastomeric ceramic coating to seal your home he is going to use the cheapest contractor grade paint made available period. That low quality paint doesn't last very long do to the Florida Sun beating on it with UV rays all year long not just the summer months. Floridians run their AC's for 8 months out of the year. If your home is not properly sealed your going to keep getting an increasing electric bill year after year. Rhino Shield Jax has the solution for you. The Ceramic coatings that are used contain Micro-spheres billions of them that bond together and form a layer that blocks and reflects back those harmful UV rays that are killing your home. This means a lower wall temperature in the daytime, resulting in the AC running less, lowering your electric bill. The coating will also last much longer since it is protected from the elements that's how Rhino Shield   can give you the transferable  written warranty, they know it's going to last.




Just look at the following.
You are buying mostly water when you buy paint but with a Ceramic Coating you are getting a much better product that won't deteriorate over time getting abused by the Florida sun. Rhino Shield products dry 8-10 times thicker than traditional paint. This means more protection on your biggest investment, your home. Take a look at the long term investment comparisons below.
If you are considering upgrading your home with the very best products available today, take a look at our gallery videos at all the other homeowners who took that first step in preserving their investment, and maintaining a beautiful home for years to come.
















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Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Elastomeric Ceramic Coatings Jacksonville







                           Elastomeric Ceramic Coatings  

 

 Just what exactly is Elastomeric Ceramic Coating ? Many people don't really know the difference between this and ordinary paint. I'm going to explain what the benefits are of choosing to go with a superior product. Elastomeric coatings look like ordinary paint and the application is the same, but the two are very different. Elastomeric ceramic coating  is far superior to traditional paints due to it's super thick elastic-like dried film which has outstanding adhesion, flexibility, and sealant characteristics. Then added are heat reflecting ceramic micro-spheres that protect the painted surface like a shield with a thick rubber like thermal barrier. That is why so many people are starting to use Elastomeric ceramic coatings on stucco, concrete and even metal roofs. It not only protects the house from the elements like wind,rain,UV rays, salt and rust corrosion, but it will lower your electric bill. That's right the reflectiveness bounces those harmful UV rays away from the house keeping the wall cooler and roof cooler if applied on the roof.


Rhino Shield is applied much thicker than the normal thickness of traditional paint approximately (16 ml's). That is thick enough to close all small cracks, but it also  will expand and contract with  varying temperatures. This helps to prevent more cracks in the future from popping up.  Elastomeric wall coating is blended with Hy-Tech Insulating Ceramic Micro-spheres which helps it to insulate enough to reduce sound transfer. Talk about insulation! The mildew-cides that are added will prevent mold and mildew from growing in all areas.




These coatings are highly recommended for stucco and concrete because both of these like to crack in the heat when it expands. The protective layer will expand instead, leaving the building intact.

Mobile Homes or Modular homes which ever you prefer are also in need of this product since they have a hard time in the hottest and coldest months. The thin, poorly insulated walls are in desperate need of some protection. Rhino Shield Jacksonville is a great company to get these products from. They have a variety of products for the exterior of your home as well as Super Shield for the roof. Backed by a written 25 year warranty you can't beat it. Never paint again!











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Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Justice Coalition begins new text message update service - text JUSTICE to 84464

The Justice Coalition is now a text message away from people who want updates on criminals and cold cases or the victims rights organization’s volunteer needs.
The non-profit agency launched a new text messaging system to stay in touch with the community and get its message out.
Announced on electronic billboards around Jacksonville, the new system asks people to text JUSTICE to 84464. The first response will be a link to a video explaining the coalition mission. The text messaging system also gives people the option of texting “Isupportjustice” to 84464 to create a mobile wallet so they can donate to the coalition.
Executive director Ann Dugger said the texting service will make it easier to update crime victims on all cases, or alert people to its needs or events like its Champions for Justice Awards Dinner on Nov. 6.
“If they have opted in, they will automatically get the information when it is sent out,” Dugger said. “If they want an update on a case, want to be involved in an event we are presenting or volunteer, this is much easier.”
The new texting service did cost the Justice Coalition, but Dugger said it will “pay for itself immediately” because a staff member won’t have to spend time sending out telephone calls or emails to multiple people on an issue or news alert.
“We are very short staffed,” she said. “With a very small organization, it helps us spread the word faster,”
The Justice Coalition was founded in 1995 by the late Ted Hires to help crime victims, guide them through the criminal justice system and work with law enforcement agencies to ask the public’s help in finding suspects in old cases. For information, go to www.justicecoalition.org.
Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549

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Saturday, October 3, 2015

Jacksonville firefighters rescue two injured in downtown accident

Jacksonville firefighters rescue two injured in downtown accident | members.jacksonville.com /*premium 729 ad spec */.adslot { width: 1006px;margin: 0 auto;padding-top: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px;}.adslot img {padding-left: 255px;}#block-block-71.wl-block.block-block { display: inline-block; margin-right: 20px; width: 728px;*float: left; /*targets ie7 */}#block-block-73.wl-block.block-block { display: inline-block; width: 250px;}#top-header { margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px 0; width: 1006px;}.adslot728 {float: left; display: inline-block; }.adslot250 {float: left; display: inline-block; }.adslot300 {float: left; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 20px; width: 300px;} Visit Jacksonville.com °Now°Tomorrow° eEdition Home News LocalCurrent >> Current Mandarin-St. Johns Town Southside-Beaches Areas >> Clay Beaches Southside South Georgia St. Johns Florida Nation World Weather CrimeTraffic Databases Health & Fitness Military Obituaries Pets Politics & Government Schools Transportation Values & Religion Sports Jaguars UF Gators UGa Bulldogs FSU Seminoles UNF Ospreys JU Dolphins High Schools Running Golf Suns Outdoors Auto Racing Money Blogs Real Estate Small Business Submit News Personal Finance Life Arts Comics Contests De Paseo Food & Dining PrimeTime Games Home & Garden Horoscope Lottery Movies Relationships Events TV Reason Opinion EditorialsRon Littlepage Forums Letters from Readers Opinion Page Blog Rants & Raves Savvy Citizen Site Help Obits Photos Photos Blog Entertainment Sports News Share Areas of Town T-U Photographers Community Photographers Groups Most Recent Videos News Entertainment Sports Jaguars Florida/Nation/World Great Parks MATTAboutJAX Community Video Classifieds Place an Ad Homes Autos Merchandise Garage Sales Pets Announcements Services Legals YouPayHalf Cars Find A Vehicle Find a Dealer Under $9,999 Research Vehicles Compare Cars Search by Lifestyle New on the Lot Pod Rods First Coast Gears Jobs Top Jobs Post A Job Resumes Contact Us Homes Deals Daily Deal Your Money Deals from the Web Grocery Coupons Couponing Tips Find Cheap Gas .nav .block-block .wl-container {display: block;}#staticnav .menu,#staticnav .menu ul,#staticnav .menu li,#staticnav .menu a {margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;outline: none;}#staticnav .menu {height: 35px;width: 990px;background: #CCD9DF;/*-webkit-border-radius: 0 0 5 5px;-moz-border-radius: 0 0 5 5px;border-radius: 0 0 5 5px; 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var addthis_config = { services_exclude: 'facebook,print,twitter,email', ui_open_windows: true, }; var addthis_share = { templates: { twitter: '{Jacksonville firefighters rescue two injured in downtown accident} - {{url}} via @jaxdotcom', }, url_transforms: { shorten: { twitter: 'bitly' } }, shorteners: { bitly : { login: 'jaxdotcom', apiKey: 'R_0aacfeacd69fcce282ac89b35fb3af1b' } } } Jacksonville firefighters rescue two injured in downtown accident
By Dan Scanlan Thu, Oct 2, 2014 @ 9:52 am | updated Thu, Oct 2, 2014 @ 10:37 am
Image provided by Jacksonville Association of Firefighters Photos Image provided by Jacksonville Association of FirefightersImage provided by Jacksonville Association of Firefighters More Law & Disorder News
Jacksonville firefighters worked a car crash Thursday morning at 1217 N. Pearl St. that left two people trapped, according to the Jacksonville Firefighters Union.
Police and firefighters were called to the scene at 9:25 a.m. to find a Nissan sedan lying on its side on the sidewalk. A series of dramatic photographs provided by the union shows six firefighters tending to the injured passengers near Florida State College of Jacksonville after the crash. Firefighters stabilized the wreck with wooden chocks to keep it from rolling over as they worked to extricate the victims. The next photos show the roof removed and firefighters tending to the injured
Two adults were transported to UF Health Jacksonville with no major injuries, according to the fire department.

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Northeast Florida youth groups, residents able to borrow lifesaving AED tool

An electric shock from an automated external defibrillator could have restarted Andrew Cohn’s heart, which stopped after the 15-year-old collided with another player at a 2010 baseball game.
He died of sudden cardiac arrest.
His parents, Harold and Becky Cohn of St. Marys, Ga., only found out later that a defibrillator — commonly called an AED — had been nearby. But it was locked up inside a school adjacent to the ball field.
That prompted them to expand the mission of the AED Alliance, which they had founded to help make the devices more accessible to the public. Their new initiative, the Borrow an AED Program, comes to Northeast Florida Thursday.
Thirteen of the devices will be distributed to health care-related agencies in five counties, where they can be borrowed for free by youth sports teams, church or Scouting groups and anyone else with CPR certification.
“An AED was locked up in the school next to where Andrew died. We don’t want to come across as bitter, but they need to be mobilized,” said Harold Cohn.
“Our ultimate goal is to gain traction with this ... to place at least one in the 3,140 counties nationwide,” he said. “We are willing to take the lead.”
An AED analyzes heart rhythm and prompts a user to deliver a shock when necessary, in conjunction with CPR. The device provides clear audio and visual cues telling users what to do and coaches them through CPR, according to the alliance website.
The Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program coordinated the new Northeast Florida AEDs, which were funded by the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation and the Jaguars Foundation.
The devices will be available for borrowing from Heartland rehabilitation centers on Amelia Island and in Jacksonville’s Northside and Middleburg; Preferred Physical Therapy in Orange Park; Baker County EMS; and Cora Rehabilitation, Progressive Step Physical Therapy, Select Physical Therapy and Atlantic Coast Physical Therapy, all in Jacksonville.
Another four devices have already been picked up by St. Johns County Fire Rescue.
Selecting the appropriate locations was key, said Robert Sefcik, executive director of Jacksonville Sports Medicine, who is also chairman of the Florida High School Athletic Association Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and an American Heart Association CPR instructor.
“We were looking for facilities that understand the importance of AEDs and also are closely tied to recreational and competitive young athletes,” he said.
Certified athletic trainers employed by the physical therapy facilities “routinely provide sideline medical services at youth sporting events,” he said. “They are very aware that having AEDs available at these events could mean the difference between life or death should someone suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.”
“These partners will help us get the word out to the community so athletic associations and other organizations serving young athletes will know the AEDs are available and so they will be used,” Sefcik said.
The borrow program has also been established in the Cohns’ home county, Camden, in Georgia, and in communities in California, Pennsylvania and Arizona, Harold Cohn said. The Cohns hope more government agencies, private organizations and nonprofits across the country will follow suit, he said.
Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109
AED ALLIANCE
To donate or get more information, contact Harold and Becky Cohn at the AED Alliance, 124 Point Peter Place, St. Marys, GA. 31558 or go to aedpetitionnow.com.

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Jacksonville corrections pension plan gets 'F' grade; Fernandina also scraping bottom

Jacksonville’s Police and Fire Pension Fund has drawn all the hue and cry in the city’s latest stab at pension reform, but according to the LeRoy Collins Institute, the city’s pension plan for correction officers is the one getting an “F” grade.
The think tank, located on the Florida State University campus, handed out a “D” for the financial health of the Police and Fire Pension Fund and a “C” to the city’s general employee pension plan.
Elsewhere in Northeast Florida, Fernandina Beach got “F” grades for its pension plans.
St. Augustine and Palatka stood out with “A” ratings for their police pension plans.
The recently released report card by the the institute took stock of 151 municipal pension plans across the state, updating a previous assessment done in 2011.
The report concluded that overall, the financial health of pension plans has gotten worse, with a bigger share of them falling into the “D” and “F” categories.
“Many cities are in urgent need of reform that will help reverse this decline in healthy pension funds and get more plans headed toward the honor roll,” said David Matkin, assistant professor at University of Albany-SUNY, who wrote the report.
Chris Hand, chief of staff for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, said Brown intends to propose reforms to the pension plans for corrections officers and general employees. But he said the first order of business will be the Police and Fire Pension Fund because the city will contribute $153 million to it this year.
The financial impact on the city’s general fund — which pays for daily city services, including public safety, libraries and parks — is less for the other pension plans. The city will fork over $21.5 million from the general fund for the general employees pension plan and $17.6 milion for the correction officers plan.
Fernandina Beach City Manager Joe Gerrity said his city will evaluate changes to its pension plans. “We’re very concerned about them,” he said. “We’re moving forward with at least doing a study, and I’m sure there will be some reforms coming out of that study.”
Fernandina Beach’s general employee pension plan has banked enough to cover 57 percent of its future pension obligations, and the funding level for its police and firefighter plan is at 55 percent, according to a report compiled by the Florida Department of Management Services.
In addition to funding levels, the LeRoy Collins Institute also measured the impact of pensions on city budgets, the rate of investment returns assumed by the pension plans, and how much employees contributed to their pension plans.
For instance, the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund and the city’s Correction Officers Pension Plan both fare poorly in terms of funding future pension obligations, with funding ratios of 43 percent and 45 percent respectively. But the institute report gave them credit because those enrolled in the programs contribute more than 5 percent of their salaries, which is the benchmark used by the study. Jacksonville Police and firefighters contribute 7 percent of salaries, while corrections officer contribute 8 percent.
The Police and Fire Pension Fund got up to a “D” rating because it adopted conservative assumptions for what its investments will earn. The study gives credit to pension plans that assume investment returns will be 7.75 percent or less. The Police and Fire Pension Fund projects 7 percent returns.
The LeRoy Collins report used data from the Florida Department of Management Services, which shows Jacksonville assumes 8.25 percent investment returns for the correction officers and general employees pension plans.
But the city has since scaled back that expectation and is banking now on 7.75 percent returns.
The Police and Fire Pension Fund is an independent city agency overseen by a five-member board.
The general employee and correction officer plans are run by the city’s retirement system administrative officer and have advisory boards.
The LeRoy Collins report does not assess pension plans covering county employees because they are part of the Florida Retirement System.
David Bauerlein: (904) 359-4581
Making the pension grade
The LeRoy Collins Institute handed out grades for the fiscal soundness of municipal pension plans statewide. The chart also shows the percentage of future pension obligations that pension plans can pay for over a multi-year period. The unfunded liability is the amount the cities owe their pension plans to fulfill that obligation. The figures are a financial snapshot and will change over time based on investments returns earned by pension plans.
Pension plan Grade Funding level for future obligations Unfunded liability
Atlantic Beach general employees C 74 percent $4.3 million
Atlantic Beach police D 65 percent $3.7 million
Fernandina Beach general employees F 57 percent $9.6 million
Fernandina Beach police/firefighters F 55 percent $11.8 million
Jacksonville corrections officers F 45 percent $150.1 million
Jacksonville general employees C 62 percent $947.3 million
Jacksonville police/firefighters D 43 percent $1.65 billion
Neptune Beach police/firefighters C 75 percent $2 million
Orange Park firefighters D 77 percent $1.3 million
Orange Park general employees D 54 percent $3.5 million
Orange Park police D 73 percent $3.7 million
Palatka firefighters D 71 percent $2.4 million
Palatka general employees D 72 percent $5.9 million
Palatka police A 90 percent $966,000
St. Augustine general employees B 74 percent $8.9 million
St. Augustine police A 95 percent $681,000
Sources: LeRoy Collins Institute, Florida Department of Management Services, city of Jacksonville. JEA, the city-owned utility, shoulders part of the pension cost for the Jacksonville General Employees Pension Plan.

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Friday, October 2, 2015

Hiroshima In Philadelphia

An installation of “Hiroshima,” a set of paintings by the artist Jacob Lawrence, will be on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia through Dec. 28. Mr. Lawrence, who died in 2000, was commissioned in 1982 to make illustrations for a book of his choice by Sidney Shiff, the owner of the Limited Editions Club in New York. The artist chose John Hersey’s “Hiroshima,” originally published as a single issue of The New Yorker in 1946, which describes the accounts of six survivors of the atomic bomb attack on Aug. 6, 1945. The result was “Hiroshima” (1983), a set of eight paintings, one of which, “Playground,” is shown at left. Mr. Lawrence became famous in the 1930s and ’40s for multipanel narratives based on key events in American culture and the African-American experience. For the “Hiroshima” series, he drew on his own experience in urban communities to imagine the bomb’s cultural impact.

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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Nasa Uses the Same Technology as Rhino shield Jax

Remember that grade-school riddle, "What's black, white, and red all over?" Depending on who gave you the punch line, the answer was "a sunburned zebra" or "a newspaper."

Here's an updated version: What's every color in the world, but still always green?

The answer is paint that includes an insulating powder that originated at NASA. Widely used on commercial and residential structures, it transforms any color of paint into an environmentally friendly insulation barrier that saves energy and cost.

The solution is simple: mix the powder into any color of interior or exterior paint, then break out the brushes. When spread on walls, ceilings, and roofs, it creates a barrier that deflects the sun's heat away from the house, plus it helps keep heating and air conditioning where they belong. This reduced need for energy is not only cost-effective, but also a kindness to the environment -- an easy way to create your own "green house effect."

Many businesses use insulating paint to coat air-conditioning ducts, steam pipes and fittings, metal buildings, and cold storage facilities, such as walk-in coolers and freezers. For example, Purina Feeds uses a version of the insulating powder to cover storage silos, helping to prevent feed spoilage. The poultry industry uses it to help regulate the climate inside its hatcheries. Samsung applies it on military vehicles, and Hyundai Corporation's shipbuilding division paints it onto ships. It's even been used to insulate electrical switch boxes on the outside of fighters jets to prevent overheating.

Thermal image of structure
Thermal image of an energy-efficient building that shows up in cool blues and greens. The building in the background glows yellow and red as heat is being lost. Image Credit: The Insuladd Company
This simple but powerful solution all began with space shuttle launches. During a launch, heat generated by wind resistance and engine exhaust can potentially be very damaging. In the 1980s, engineers at the Marshall Center developed a spray-on process to apply an insulating mixture to help protect the shuttle. The process involved mixing nine different chemicals into an adhesive that was applied to the boosters' forward assembly, systems tunnel covers, and aft skirt.

But there were challenges. Once the insulating material was mixed, it had to be applied within five hours. Any delay meant a batch of expensive materials was lost, requiring the time and cost to mix a new batch. The strength of the insulating material was also difficult to regulate, meaning it could chip during the shuttle's flight and splashdown of its reusable booster rockets. Adding to the downside, two of the nine ingredients in the insulating mix weren't environmentally friendly.

In 1993, Marshall created a solution by atomizing epoxy and other filler materials to create a fine, environmentally friendly insulation powder. The material -- known as MCC-1, or Marshall Convergent Coating-1 -- contained tiny, hollow glass spheres and particles of cork and epoxy. The application process was also changed. Instead of mixing the insulating powder directly into the paint, it was shot from a spray gun at the same time the paint was applied. This change in process eliminated the five-hour "time clock" to complete the painting.

The improved, eco-friendly insulation powder was first flight tested in 1996 on the STS-79 mission. It was so successful that it was adopted for all subsequent shuttle flights, with virtually no observed missing or chipped paint on the spent boosters during post-flight inspections.

STS-79 launch STS-79 shuttle launch. Image Credit: NASA
Bringing the NASA insulation powder to the public market resulted in an innovative partnership with Tech Traders, Inc. Months of testing and development created Insuladd®, a safe, non-toxic powder that can be added to any interior or exterior paint to transform it into a layer of insulation.

The powder contains hollow, microscopic ceramic spheres, and a unique process applies a coating to these "microspheres." When the paint dries, it forms a radiant heat barrier, converting ordinary house paint into heat-reflecting thermal paint.

You might say that NASA's contributions to insulating paint can keep green in your world AND in your wallet. That's a good reason to be tickled pink.   https://rhinoshieldjacksonville.blogspot.com/

You can read the entire article on the insulating paint powder on page 72 in Spinoff 2007.
> View PDF (11 MB)    http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/green_paint.html
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Thursday, June 4, 2015

George W. Bush: 'I think he wants to be president'

WASHINGTON — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wants to be president.
That's according to his brother, former President George W. Bush, who recently encouraged him to enter the 2016 presidential race during a private conversation at an event honoring veterans.
"I think he wants to be president," George W. Bush said in a Thursday interview on the Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," adding that he doesn't think his brother has made a final decision. "I think he'd be a great president. He understands what it's like to be president, for not only the person running or serving, plus family. He's seen his dad. He's seen his brother."
Much of the Republican establishment is encouraging Jeb Bush to enter the 2016 race, but his level of interest is unclear seven years after leaving the Florida governor's mansion. Other potential Republican candidates have been far more active in national politics recently, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the overwhelming front-runner should she enter the race.
"He's a very thoughtful man and he's weighing his options," George W. Bush said of his brother.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

SHOPPING WITH: STEPHEN FANUKA | Contractor's Choice

ON THE JOB Stephen Fanuka says expensive items are not necessarily of high quality.
ARCHITECTS seem to get all the glory. Their work is published in glossy magazines, where they wryly and confidently discuss the transformation as if they themselves had picked up hammers and smashed the remnants of those scary ’70s bathrooms.
But what about the contractor, the character in the renovation drama who knows that if you rip out an inconvenient wall, it may expose pipes that can’t be moved — yes, the very wall the architect has just zapped from the design with one mouse click.
Some contractors are made, others are born. Stephen Fanuka, who grew up in Fresh Meadows, Queens, said that at an early age he followed his father, a cabinetmaker, on jobs. “My father would take me and sit me on a paint can,” he said.
After graduating from college and working in advertising briefly, Mr. Fanuka went into his father’s business and in 1994 renovated an apartment for a member of Imelda Marcos’s family, and that started his contracting career.
Working for celebrities as well as schoolteachers, he runs around the city in his summer attire of choice, shorts and a T-shirt. He is never without the BlackBerry he uses to manage his 22 jobs (with an average price of $350,000).
At social gatherings — he lives on Long Island with his wife, Lisa, and their two children — people always want to know what’s hot. He agreed to share a list of materials frequently called for in high-end Manhattan renovations these days, along with a few caveats.
First, he said, expensive materials do not guarantee high quality. Some high-end appliances and plumbing fixtures need repair in the first week.
Nor does style equal function. A prime example is the honed Carrara marble so coveted for kitchen counters. One client who installed Carrara marble had friends over for margaritas and, not surprisingly, went to sleep before cleaning up. The next day, “There were 22 rings from 22 glasses.” The marble had to be sanded and resealed.
Sealant isn’t as strong as polish, which is removed when stone is honed, and if acidic liquids are not wiped up immediately, they leave a stain. (Mr. Fanuka’s own kitchen has polished granite surfaces, which stand up to abuse.)
Glass is hot everywhere, especially in bathrooms, where clients ask for glass tiles or with white milk glass laminating walls. But if not done properly, the glue will show through the glass. “You have to have a good installer,” he said.
He is often asked how to find a contractor. He suggests calling several candidates, taking note of how fast they return calls and whether they are punctual.
Don’t choose rashly, he said. “A contractor is like a cold: you’re not going to get rid of it.”

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Friday, May 1, 2015

Grace Hartigan, 86, Abstract Painter

Grace Hartigan, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist whose gestural, intensely colored paintings often incorporated images drawn from popular culture, leading some critics to see in them prefigurings of Pop Art, died on Saturday in Baltimore. She was 86.
Skip to next paragraph Marty Katz/baltimorephotographer.comGrace Hartigan in her studio in 1993 with her painting “Junk Shop With Egyptian Violet.” Grace Hartigan/Corcoran Gallery of Art"Summer Street," 1956.
The cause was liver failure, said Julian Weissman, a longtime dealer of hers.
Ms. Hartigan, a friend and disciple of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, subscribed to the Abstract Expressionist notion of the painterly brushstroke as existential act and cri de coeur but, like de Kooning, she never broke entirely with the figurative tradition. Determined to stake out her own artistic ground, she turned outward from the interior world sanctified by the Abstract Expressionists and embraced the visual swirl of contemporary American life.
In “Grand Street Brides” (1954), one of several early paintings that attracted the immediate attention of critics and curators, she depicted bridal-shop window mannequins in a composition based on Goya’s “Royal Family.” Later paintings incorporated images taken from coloring books, film, traditional paintings, store windows and advertising, all in the service of art that one critic described as “tensely personal.”
“Her art was marked by a willingness to employ a variety of styles in a modernist idiom, to go back and forth from art-historical references to pop-culture references to autobiographical material,” said Robert Saltonstall Mattison, the author of “Grace Hartigan: A Painter’s World” (1990).
Grace Hartigan was born in Newark in 1922 and grew up in rural New Jersey, the oldest of four children. Unable to afford college, she married early and, in a flight of romantic fancy, she and her husband, Bob Jachens, struck out for Alaska to live as pioneers. They made it no farther than California, where, with her husband’s encouragement, she took up painting.
“I didn’t choose painting,” she later told an interviewer. “It chose me. I didn’t have any talent. I just had genius.”
In the mid-1940’s she left her husband, placed their son, Jeffrey, in the care of his parents and moved back to Newark, where she trained in mechanical drafting and took painting lessons with Isaac Lane Muse. After moving to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1945, she became part of the postwar New York artistic scene, forming alliances with the Abstract Expressionist painters — although de Kooning reduced her to tears by telling her she completely misunderstood modern art — and poets like Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch.
Ms. Hartigan won fame early. In 1950, the critic Clement Greenberg and the art historian Meyer Schapiro included her in their “New Talent” show at the Kootz Gallery, and a one-woman exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery soon followed. “Persian Jacket,” an early painting, was bought for the Museum of Modern Art by Alfred Barr.
Barr and the Museum of Modern Art curator Dorothy Miller included her in two important shows, “12 Americans” in 1954 and “The New American Painting,” an exhibition that toured Europe in 1958 and 1959 and introduced Abstract Expressionism abroad. In 1958, Life magazine called her “the most celebrated of the young American women painters.”
After starting out as a purely abstract painter, Ms. Hartigan gradually introduced images into her work. It was O’Hara’s blending of high art and low art in his poetry that influenced her to cast far and wide for sources.
In 1949 she married the artist Harry Jackson, “not one of my more serious marriages,” she later said. The marriage was annulled after a year. In 1959 she married Robert Keene, a gallery owner, whom she divorced a year later. In 1960 she married Winston Price, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who collected modern art and had bought one of her paintings. After injecting himself with an experimental vaccine against encephalitis in 1969 and contracting spinal meningitis, he began a long descent into physical and mental illness that ended with his death in 1981.
Ms. Hartigan is survived by a brother, Arthur Hartigan of Huntington Beach, Calif.; a sister, Barbara Sesee of North Brunswick, N.J.; and three grandchildren. Her son, Jeffrey Jachens, died in 2006.
Ms. Hartigan’s move to Baltimore coincided with a drastic shift in artistic fashion, as Pop Art and Minimalism eclipsed Abstract Expressionism. Out of the spotlight, Ms. Hartigan embarked on what she later recalled as “an isolated creative life.” For decades she painted in a loft in a former department store and taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The college created a graduate school around her, the Hoffberger School of Painting, of which she became director in 1965. She taught at the school until retiring last year.
As historians and curators reassessed the history of postwar art, she experienced a resurgence of sorts. Her use of commercial imagery led her to be included in “Hand-Painted Pop,” a 1993 exhibition at the Whitney Museum, despite her loathing for the movement.
“Pop Art is not painting because painting must have content and emotion,” she said in the 1960’s. On the other hand, she reflected at the time of the Whitney show, “I’d much rather be a pioneer of a movement that I hate than the second generation of a movement that I love.”
Her work was exhibited as recently as May at the Jewish Museum in New York, in “Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning and American Art, 1940-1976.”
On an artistic path marked by twists and turns and restless experimentation, she maintained a fierce commitment to the modernist agenda and a belief in art’s near-magical powers.
“Now as before it is the vulgar and the vital and the possibility of its transformation into the beautiful which continues to challenge and fascinate me,” she told the reference work “World Artists: 1950-1980.”
“Or perhaps the subject of my art is like the definition of humor — emotional pain remembered in tranquillity.”
More Articles in Arts » A version of this article appeared in print on November 18, 2008, on page B14 of the New York edition.
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