Early College founding and future
Early college – leaving high school before the traditional age in order to enroll in higher education – is likely called that because “offering the option of college at the right time for intellectually curious and capable students” lacks pith. But the point is valid: for many students the age of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen is not early, it is simply time to attend college.
This is not necessarily a critique of high school, although the challenges of our high schools are well documented. It is a recognition that, despite the standardization of educational progress, young people mature at different social and intellectual rates. For those curious and capable, the right time for an engaged college experience may well arrive prior to the age of eighteen.
We should provide that opportunity. This is why the new initiative put forth by the National Center for Economics and Education has promise. The NCEE is leading an effort in eight states to assess the progress of high school sophomores. Those who pass the assessment will have the chance to attend early college.
The proposal is not based on a theoretical argument. For decades, some students attended college when they were intellectually ready; the University of Chicago offered an early college experience in1939. And since 1966, Bard College at Simon’s Rock has been dedicated solely to providing a rigorous liberal arts college education to bright, motivated students. For the vast majority of early entrants, this has been a good decision. A recent national survey, published in the New York Times, found that 88% of Bard College at Simon’s Rock alumni would choose this education again.
The NCEE effort is a significant step forward in expanding the success of this model. In launching this initiative, it will be important to shatter, rather than duplicate, the problems of our school system. Students must be challenged, and offered the opportunity for social and personal advancement. They should not be prematurely tracked into a profession, but offered a genuine liberal education – the chance for an education that liberates. If we succeed in doing this, we will not only provide individual opportunity for students, we will prove, yet again, that education is a significant path to supporting both our democracy and our economy.
Playboy celebrates 50th Anniversary of the world-famous Playboy Club and iconic Playboy Bunny
Year-long Festivities to Include the Largest Playboy Party of All Time in the Form of 50 Playboy Club-Themed Events Around the World, All on the Same Night; Limited Edition Products; Retail Partners; an Art Exhibition; and More
Playboy announced the launch of a global, year-long 50th anniversary celebration in honor of its iconic Playboy Bunny and world-famous Playboy Clubs. The company is marking this momentous occasion with commemorative merchandise and exclusive events around the world, including: 50 Playboy Club parties in 50 cities, all held on one night; a uniquely-commissioned Playboy art exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum; and newly designed Playboy apparel featured in some of the world’s top retailers.
Originally opening to the public on February 29, 1960 in Chicago, the Playboy Clubs quickly became the embodiment of sexy sophistication and one of the world’s most successful night club chains. The famous venues, which were home to the iconic Playboy Bunnies, allowed key holders to enjoy performances by some of the era’s biggest names in entertainment. Each club featured cocktail Bunnies, a camera Bunny, a checkroom Bunny, a cabaret Bunny, a gift shop Bunny, a bumper pool Bunny, a customer service Bunny, and floor Bunnies. In 2006 the Bunnies returned, and Playboy reopened its famous Club at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and plans to open two additional multi-faceted entertainment venues in 2010 in both Miami and Cancun.
In its June 2010 issue, Playboy magazine will celebrate the Playboy Clubs’ legacy while providing a sneak peek at the future of the famous nightclubs. Special features will also appear on Playboy.com and Playboy Radio. Additional anniversary celebrations will include:
The World’s Sexiest Party: June 10, 2010
On June 10, Playboy will be hosting a global celebration–50 Playboy Club parties in 50 cities, all held on the same night. Fifty select nightlife venues–in domestic and international cities including Las Vegas, Miami, Cancun, London, Hong Kong, San Diego, Chicago and Johannesburg–will open their doors as “Playboy Clubs” for one night only to celebrate the momentous occasion. For updates, and venue and ticket information, visit www.PlayboyClub50.com.
50th Anniversary Commemorative Products
In collaboration with its retail partners and licensees across the globe, Playboy will launch a collection of specially-created 50th anniversary merchandise both in-store and online. Products include a line of vintage-inspired Bunny tee shirts, special edition glassware, Bunny-inspired lingerie, and “The Hef” loveseat. Merchandise will be available online at www.playboyclubstore.com and at retail outlets across the globe including Ann Summers (UK), Urban Outfitters (US), and Top Man (UK).
Playboy Redux Art Exhibition
In collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum, Playboy has invited more than 20 emerging and established artists to reinterpret the iconic Playboy Bunny in mediums ranging from painting to video. Playboy Redux: Contemporary Artists Interpret the Iconic Playboy Bunny will be on display at the Pittsburgh museum from March 27 through June 19, 2010, and will feature works by artists including Gary Baseman, Scott Anderson, Jeremy Kost, Tara McPherson, Kalup Linzy and LaToya Ruby Frazier, among others. For additional information, visit www.Playboy.com/Bunny50.
Historical Background
In their more than two decades of operation, Playboy Clubs sold nearly 2.5 million membership keys and became one of the most successful nightclub chains in history. The Playboy Clubs, together with the hotel, casino and resort facilities, eventually included 40 properties in 25 states and seven countries. Entertainers performing at the Clubs included Steve Allen, Ann Margaret, the Count Basie Orchestra, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, George Carlin, Ray Charles, Bill Cosby, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Hope, Peggy Lee, Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Ginger Rogers, the Smothers Brothers, Mel Torme and Muddy Waters. The privileged Playboy Club key holders of today include some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, including P. Diddy, Kim Kardashian, Usher, Paris Hilton, Dennis Hopper, Dave Navarro, Jamie Presley and Michael Phelps.
The original Bunny Costume, worn over the years by more than 25,000 working Playboy Bunnies, was created for female staff at the first Playboy Club in Chicago and started as a modified one-piece swimsuit. It went on to become the first uniform to be issued a trademark registration by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Before they launched their careers, actresses Lauren Hutton, Julie Cobb, Lynne Moody, Sherilyn Fenn, Susan Sullivan, Jackie Zeman, Maria Richwine and Barbara Bosson all worked as Bunnies, as did rock star Deborah Harry. As one of the world’s most recognized uniforms, the Playboy Bunny Costume was redesigned in 2006 by Roberto Cavalli for the Playboy Club Las Vegas Bunnies and Playboy Club Celebrity Dealers, including Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra.
Chicago is worst city for auto repair
AutoMD.com Report Measures Affordability, Price Disparity Range and Shop Integrity
Chicago, Illinois ranked last overall in AutoMD.com’s Advocacy for Repair Shop Fairness Report, the first study ever to analyze how the top-50 most populated U.S. cities stack up when it comes to providing consumers with fair quotes for auto repair. Chicago ranked 46th for Affordability, 30th for Price Disparity Range, and 50th for Shop Integrity. Memphis was ranked as the best city.
For the report, AutoMD.com mystery shoppers conducted a fairness check of over 600 shops in the top-50 DMAs* (including a range of dealers, independent shops, and franchises like Pep Boys) by requesting quotes on a typical auto repair job: a front brake replacement job for a Ford Focus. To measure pricing integrity, the mystery shoppers called back two weeks later with an industry standard price estimate. The best and worst list was then calculated based on each city’s rankings for three critical factors, Repair Affordability, Price Disparity and Shop Integrity, weighted equally:
1. Repair Affordability: Chicago ranked 46th among the top 50 US markets for the average price/cost-per-job – with an average quote of $226 for the repair. Miami ranked #1 for affordability with an average quote of $127 for the job.
2. Price Disparity Range: Chicago ranked #30 when it came to the market’s variance in quotes for the same job. For Chicago, quotes ranged from $150 to $425, representing a 183% variance. Long Beach, California ranked #1, with the lowest Price Disparity Range of the 50 cities tested.
3. Shop Integrity Factor: Chicago ranked 50th for Shop Integrity, a measure of the percentage of shops that shifted their original quoted price by more than 5% when presented with an industry standard price estimate. One hundred percent of Chicago shops tested shifted their price. The top ranked city, Memphis, was number one for Shop Integrity.
With Chicago’s poor marks in affordability, price disparity, and shop integrity, AutoMD.com recommends that Chicago residents compare shops to make sure they receive the best possible repair shop quote before setting foot into the repair shop.
“Doing your research is critical to getting a fair shake at the repair shop,” said AutoMD President, Shane Evangelist. “Fortunately, car owners now have access to online tools so they can compare local repair shops, establish a local market repair invoice price and make sure that they get a fair deal.”
* Designated Market Area
NASA announces new rocket engine testing opportunity at Stennis
NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Stennis, Miss., unveiled an initiative today to chart the future of the nation’s premier rocket engine testing facility.
Stennis Director Gene Goldman announced plans for the center to test Aerojet AJ26 rocket engines for Orbital Sciences Corp. as part of a NASA partnership with the companies.
“We’re excited about this program and the opportunity to collaborate with two of the world’s leading space technology companies,” Goldman said. “This also helps pave the way to the future for Stennis. Testing the AJ26 engine not only supplies a service for the Taurus II program, it also provides Stennis a unique opportunity will help sustain the skills and capabilities we need for future test projects.”
The AJ26 testing is part of NASA’s new direction for space exploration. Under NASA’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget, NASA will work closer with commercial interests to develop space travel capabilities.
The Aerojet AJ26 is a prime example of that new direction and of the immediate future of Stennis, which completed engine testing for remaining space shuttle flights last July. The AJ26 is the first new engine in years to be tested at Stennis and representative of the commercial work the facility now is pursuing. The center also provides RS-68 rocket engine testing for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Stennis operators have been modifying their E-1 Test Stand since last April in order to test the AJ26 engines. Work has included construction of a 27-foot-deep flame deflector trench, which was toured by media during the Feb. 24 press conference.
Orbital is working in partnership with NASA under the agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportations Services (COTS) joint research and development project. Orbital is under contract with NASA through the Commercial Resupply Services program to provide eight cargo missions to the ISS through 2015. The AJ26 Aerojet engines will power Orbital’s Taurus II space launch vehicle for the supply missions.
“Our team is very excited to begin the ground testing of the AJ26 engine here at Stennis, one of the great rocket engine testing facilities in the world,” Orbital President and Chief Operating Officer J.R. Thompson added. “We have worked with the NASA’s Stennis staff and our Aerojet counterparts to develop and install facility upgrades to accommodate our particular needs, and we are pleased with the results. As currently envisioned, each AJ26 engine that will be used aboard our Taurus II rocket will come through the Stennis facility for prelaunch testing, prior to being integrated with the rocket.”
Source: NASA
IRS welcomes tips from current employees about corporate tax cheats
In an about face from its previous position that put a blanket prohibition on the IRS’s ability to accept some information from whistleblowers that were currently employed by a taxpayer, the IRS has now adopted a position that it should consider the facts and circumstances of each case before deciding how it can utilize this potentially valuable inside information.
The IRS previously said in Chief Counsel Notice 2008-011 that in the case of current-employee informant, the IRS may not use information provided subsequent to the informant’s initial submission and debrief and there could be no further contact with the informant, whereas the new Chief Counsel Notice 2010-004 (issued February 17, 2010) replaces that position with a facts and circumstances test to determine whether it can use such information and whether further contacts are allowed.
“In our experience, high-level employees – the insiders Congress hoped to attract when they created the whistleblower reward program – can best provide the type of information that ultimately leads the IRS to assess and recover unpaid taxes, and they obtain that information legally because it is in their job description to have it,” said Gregory S. Lynam, Tax Partner at The Ferraro Law Firm.
In Notice 2010-004, the IRS said it will now look at the facts and circumstances of each case before applying the “one bite” rule to current-employee informants.
The Ferraro Law Firm applauds this revised approach, and “we believe that with this new Notice in place the IRS will be able to administer the Whistleblower program consistent with Congressional intent and in a manner that makes use of the best information available,” said The Ferraro Law Firm Tax Partner Scott A. Knott. Lynam added, “By freeing itself from the shackles of the old interpretation, the IRS has righted its previous wrong and is no longer casting aside the highest value information from the highest-level insiders.”
Source: The Ferraro Law Firm
Majority of Americans want President to use Veto Power
82.7 percent of Americans support a presidential veto of legislation containing unnecessary Congressional spending
The Council for Retirement Security (CRS), a program of the nonpartisan, nonprofit grassroots citizens organization Our Generation, has released a survey that found that 82.7 percent of respondents support a presidential veto to prevent Congress from spending money from the Social Security Trust Fund on other government programs.
As part of its mission to improve the lives of senior citizens through awareness and advocacy, CRS mailed more than six million questionnaires on a variety of issues noted Rita Smith, the organization’s executive director. “One of the program’s main goals is to make sure the federal government is able to keep its promise to hardworking Americans. People who paid into the Social Security system should be able to receive the benefits they have earned,” Smith stated. “Unfortunately, these benefits are being threatened by Washington’s wasteful spending on pork barrel projects, our growing national debt and profligate deficit spending. President Obama should listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who think he should use his veto power to stop wasteful Congressional spending.”
Smith said the use of the veto, which President Obama did not use in his first year in office, is the only way to prevent Congress from adding “earmarks” for special interests onto the hefty $3.8 trillion fiscal year 2011 budget the White House recently sent to Capitol Hill. “This budget already contains a $100 billion increase in spending, and we simply can’t afford for Congress to ladle more unnecessary pork on top,” she added.
Smith’s group also urges President Obama to take more measures to curb out-of-control spending. In particular, CRS also supports the President’s call in his State of the Union address for a freeze on discretionary spending with statutory spending caps — as well as veto any expenditure exceeding that limit. “President Obama should keep his campaign promise to reduce earmarks or eliminate them altogether,” Smith said.
CRS is a program of Our Generation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 2009 to research, educate and promote long-term free market solutions to today’s public policy concerns.
America’s Top 10 most congested cities
Ten Tips for Saving Time, Money and Staying Ahead of the Pack on Your Daily Commute
INRIX released its 3rd Annual INRIX National Traffic Scorecard, http://inrix.com/scorecard/, revealing that traffic congestion and commute travel times in 2009 are back on the rise as the economy emerges from the recession. In fact, 58 of the Top 100 most populated cities showed increases in traffic congestion last year. According to the report, the Top 10 most congested cities in 2009 were:
1. Los Angeles, Calif.
2. New York, N.Y.
3. Chicago, Ill.
4. Washington, D.C. (up from 6th in 2008)
5. Dallas, Texas
6. Houston, Texas (down from 4th in 2008)
7. San Francisco, Calif.
8. Boston, Mass.
9. Seattle, Wash.
10. Philadelphia, Pa. (up from 11th in 2008)
These cities account for half of our nation’s traffic congestion with 4 of the Top 10 cities experiencing modest increases in traffic congestion in 2009 (L.A., New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.) Of the nation’s top 30 largest cities, Las Vegas, Baltimore and D.C. experienced more than 10% increases in congestion during peak commute periods year-over-year. The increase in Las Vegas congestion was primarily due to major construction along I-15 that began in the Summer of 2008, while congestion in the nation’s Capitol was indicative of a city bustling with activity as the federal government enacted policies and increased spending to combat the recession.
Turning Insight into Intelligence and Taking Action
INRIX is committed to working with its partners and customers better understanding the many issues that can affect the flow of traffic and provide consumers, businesses and governments with solutions for addressing these problems. With the holiday from increasing gridlock coming to an end, INRIX partnered with MapQuest, a division of AOL, Inc. to provide commuters with a list of tips for saving time, money and staying sane on their daily commute:
1. Use trip planning tools that show traffic conditions like MapQuest.com where consumers can check traffic before they walk out the door and easily drag their route to an alternative option. In addition, users of MapQuest can choose to avoid highways and tolls as additional ways to avoid traffic.. If you live on the East Coast and regularly travel through the I-95 corridor, visit http://www.i95travelinfo.net/. Sites like these can provide you with travel times and a snapshot of current traffic conditions so you see traffic jams and make plans to avoid unwanted hassles before you hit the road.
2. Take advantage of carpools, ride-share programs and public transit. Even if you only do this a few days a week, you can cut your weekly fuel costs in half and save your car unnecessary wear and tear. Many urban areas allow vehicles with multiple passengers to use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes which are typically less congested, further improving your fuel economy.
3. For iPhone and Android GPS Smartphone owners, use mobile apps like INRIX Traffic! Pro to save time on your daily commute. INRIX Traffic! Pro takes the guesswork out of the commute with fastest routes, best time to leave, travel times and ETAs for any destinations. Other navigation apps for your GPS smartphone that feature real-time traffic include NAVIGON Mobile Navigator, ALK Co-Pilot and MapQuest Navigator.
4. Talk to your employer about telecommuting one or more days a week or try to stagger your work hours to avoid peak travel times. Typically, these are between 7-9 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. To see the peak travel times specific to your city, visit http://scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard/.
5. Drive sensibly. Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas and can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Not only will you be safer but you’ll save money at the pump.
6. As part of your next car purchase, consider an in-car navigation system that provides real-time traffic information. Systems like Ford Motor Company’s SYNC with Traffic, Directions and Information that’s offered on new Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles make navigation more useful
everyday by factoring in real-time traffic conditions in determining the best route to any destination.
7. Avoid following the cars in front of you too closely and minimize distractions while driving. Following too closely and engaging in distracting activities like talking on your cell phone or texting while driving increase your chances of getting in an accident and being the source of the next traffic jam.
8. Drive the speed limit. While the natural tendency is to speed up when traffic opens up to make up for lost time, gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas.
9. Let music set your mood. Select music that relaxes you to reduce stress, angst and overall frustration when stuck in traffic. Choosing more calming music or talk radio is more likely to help take your mind off of the gridlock and ease the stress of your daily commute.
10. Gradually accelerate to waste less gas and use cruise control as much as possible because driving at a constant speed increases your gas mileage.
Pregnancy weight gain, especially in 1st Trimester, may increase a woman’s risk of gestational diabetes
Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, may increase their risk of developing diabetes later in their pregnancy, according to a study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research that appears online in the current issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Watch a video of the study author explaining her study: http://bit.ly/clLtlZ
The three-year study of 1,145 pregnant women from an ethnically diverse population found that women who gained more weight than is recommended by the Institute of Medicine had a 50 percent increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus, also known as GDM. The association between pregnancy weight gain and gestational diabetes risk was more pronounced among overweight and non-white women. The study included 345 pregnant women with gestational diabetes and 800 pregnant women without gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes is defined as glucose intolerance that typically occurs during the second or third trimester of pregnancy. It causes complications in as much as seven percent of pregnancies in the United States. It can lead to early delivery, C-sections and type 2 diabetes, and can increase the child’s risk of developing diabetes and obesity later in life.
This study is among the first to support a direct link between pregnancy weight gain and gestational diabetes risk. Previous research has shown that weight gain before pregnancy and being overweight or obese at the start of pregnancy are risk factors for gestational diabetes. This study was funded by the American Diabetes Association and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
The study followed women members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California region and examined their overall rate of pregnancy weight gain up to the time of screening for gestational diabetes (typically between 24-28 gestational weeks), as well as the trimester-specific rates of weight gain compared to the Institute of Medicine’s 2009 guidelines for recommended pregnancy weight gain. Based on a woman’s pre-pregnancy body mass index, the IOM developed the 2009 guidelines for obstetricians to counsel pregnant women on suggested weight gain during pregnancy.
After adjusting for age at delivery, race/ethnicity, previous births, and pre-pregnancy body mass index, the risk of gestational diabetes increased with increasing rates of pregnancy weight gain. Women who exceeded the IOM guidelines for weight gain had a 50 percent increase in the risk of gestational diabetes compared to women who gained within or below the IOM recommendations.
“Health care providers should talk to their patients early in their pregnancy about the appropriate gestational weight gain, especially during the first trimester, and help women monitor their weight gain. Our research shows that weight gain in early pregnancy is a modifiable risk factor for gestational diabetes,” said the study’s lead author Monique Hedderson, PhD, a scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. “Randomized studies are needed to determine the feasibility of this early intervention and the best methods to help women meet the IOM recommendations.”
Though the exact mechanism for how excessive weight gain may contribute to gestational diabetes is not known, researchers hypothesize that rapid weight gain early in pregnancy may result in an early increase in insulin resistance that leads to the “exhaustion” of the beta-cells in the pancreas that make and release insulin, which controls the level of glucose in the blood. This could reduce beta-cells’ capacity to secrete adequate levels of insulin to compensate for the insulin resistance induced by the progression of pregnancy and therefore lead to the development of gestational diabetes, researchers said.
A strength of the study is its representative and ethnically diverse population. However, some limitations should be considered. Pre-pregnancy weights were self-reported for most women. However, researchers have no reason to believe that the women who developed gestational diabetes would have misreported their pre-pregnancy weight more than control women and results were similar when looking at the sub-group of women who had a measured pre-pregnancy weight.
This study is part of ongoing research at Kaiser Permanente to understand, prevent and treat gestational diabetes. A recent published Kaiser Permanente study of 16,000 women in Hawaii found that more than 10 percent of women of Chinese and Korean heritage may be at risk for developing gestational diabetes. Another published Kaiser Permanente study of 10,000 mother-child pairs showed that treating gestational diabetes during pregnancy can break the link between gestational diabetes and childhood obesity. That study showed, for the first time, that by treating women with gestational diabetes, the child’s risk of becoming obese years later is significantly reduced.
The study follows other research at Kaiser Permanente regarding healthy weight gain during pregnancy. A recent published Kaiser Permanente study found that obese women who gain more than the recommended amount during pregnancy are much more likely to retain a portion of that weight one year after they give birth. Another published Kaiser Permanente study of 40,000 mother and baby pairs found that women who gained more than 40 pounds during their pregnancies were nearly twice as likely to have a heavy baby.
Assiamira Ferrara, MD, PhD, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., is the senior investigator on this study. Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, also with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, is an investigator on this study.
Source: Kaiser Permanente
UC Berkeley Extension announces free and low-cost public events for Spring 2010
Programs to highlight green chemistry, technology in education, the Obama administration, and interior design
The newest developments in green chemistry, the impact of technology on education, an in-depth analysis of President Obama’s first 15 months in office, and the latest trends in working with color are the subjects of this spring’s public lecture series from UC Berkeley Extension. These free and low-cost public programs are part of how UC Berkeley Extension fulfills its mission to bring the educational excellence of the University of California, Berkeley, to the community.
Can We Achieve a Sustainable Future? The Role of Green Chemistry
Discover the latest developments in green chemistry, a growing field that is reducing and eliminating the use of hazardous substances in the environment. Join Dr. Robert Peoples, director of the American Chemistry Society’s Green Chemistry Institute, for a lively dialogue about green chemistry’s role in weaning the public off petroleum and tackling the challenges of global sustainability.
Thursday, March 25, 6:30-8 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 105 Stanley Hall; free
The 29th Annual Panel on the Presidency: Obama Settles In
During his first 15 months in office, President Obama has faced a series of political challenges: an economic crisis, record-breaking unemployment, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and health care reform. Join political experts and commentators for a lively discussion of the president’s performance and what may lie ahead. Presented by the Institute of Governmental Studies and UC Berkeley Extension.
Monday, April 12, 6:30-8 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 155 Dwinelle Hall; free
How Technology Is Transforming the World of Education
Collaborative technology and interactive media are dramatically changing education in the classroom and how students learn. Join Chris Walsh, director of innovation and design for New Tech Network, for an inside look at the major trends in the use of Web 2.0 — from e-learning to professional development — as he outlines important steps that educators, parents, and students can take now to prepare for the changes ahead.
Saturday, April 17, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; UC Berkeley campus, 160 Kroeber Hall; free
The Power of Color
This fast-paced lecture offers insight into working with color, including how to use color indexes, how to pick colors for any space, and how to understand the latest trends in color. Through in-class exercises, learn how seeing and vision are distinguished, how light influences color, and how pigments are harmonized.
Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.; UC Berkeley Extension Art and Design Center, 95 Third St.; $10
For more information or to reserve a seat for any of these events, visit: extension.berkeley.edu/prog/public.html
Skyscanner reveals the world’s biggest spenders: Tourists who splash the cash
When it comes to international travels, who spends the most and where should travel and tourism organisations be targeting their marketing budgets to attract the big spenders?
Flight comparison site Skyscanner investigates which countries like to flash their cash the most when they travel – the Germans are in the lead, but China is hot on their trail. With the world economy apparently on the road to recovery, tourism will play a huge part in many countries’ income and competition is high to capture the biggest share of that market.
At number one, it’s the Germans who spend over $90 billion a year on their travels, a disproportionate amount compared to their population which numbers just over 80 million, less than a third of the next biggest spenders – the USA, who splash $79.7 billion a year on holidays. Known for tipping big in restaurant and bars, Americans certainly know how to spend.
In third place it’s the UK who splurge $68.5 billion to escape the UK on cheap flights each year. No doubt the lure of sun and sand plays a huge part in the mass exodus, with Spain by far our favourite holiday escape. This is also backed up by recent Skyscanner stats, with cheap flights to Malaga topping the most popular search list in January.
France, which is also the world’s most popular country in terms of tourist arrivals, empties their wallets of $42.1 billion per year, whilst the Chinese spend $36.2 billion annually on their travels.
Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and business director commented: “It will be very interesting to see how tourist spending changes since the downturn. So far, the latest figures show that only the Japanese spent less on international tourism than the previous year. China is fast rising, spending 21% more on their global travels, and are likely set to grow even more. Meanwhile, it’s the Germans who remain the world’s biggest spending tourists, and there would have to be significant change for anyone else to catch up with them.”
1. Germany – $91.0 billion (+2%)
2. USA – $79.7 billion (+4.4%)
3. UK – $68.5 billion (+4.4%)
4. France – $43.1 billion (+9.6%)
5. China – $36.2 billion (+21.4%)
6. Italy – $30.8 billion (+4.9%)
7. Japan – $27.9 billion (-7.9%)
8. Canada – $26.9 billion (+8.4%)
9. Russia – $24.9 billion (+11.8%)
10. Netherlands – $21.7 billion (+9.2%)
Source: Skyscanner