You might not see that posting on Craigslist, but the Halfway Rock Light Station, off the coast of Harpswell, is up for grabs for the first time since it was built in 1871.
The federally owned lighthouse, on a barren, two-acre ledge in Casco Bay, will only be deeded to an eligible nonprofit group that pledges to maintain the structure, both as a navigation aid and as a resource for the public good.
"They are still very important as aids to navigation," Mike Johnson of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission said.
Under the new owners, the red, blinking light and foghorn embedded in the lighthouse (and owned by the Coast Guard) must continue to warn ships in the area of the hazards of the rocky coastline. In addition, the resource must be put to some educational, cultural, or historic use on behalf of the public.
An entity that has been deeded a lighthouse can then apply for various supporting grants to help develop a program that helps to maintain the unique romantic appeal of America's lighthouses.
"Lighthouses are important as far as the maritime history of the United States," Johnson said. "They're definitely a symbol of that history. They lend a lot of character to many coastal states."
In order to be considered, parties must submit a letter of interest to the General Services Administration of the U.S. government by July 16, which will mark the close of a 60-day window.
Then, representatives from all qualifying entities will be allowed to inspect the property, which today includes a 76-foot, white granite tower with living quarters, an iron dome-shaped top, and an attached boathouse.
Terri-Lynn Sawyer, deputy administrator for the town of Harpswell, said the town has been notified of the lighthouse's availability, and that the Board of Selectmen would make a determination about whether to try to acquire it.
"We intend to announce that at the May 31 meeting and look for direction, if there was any interest from the board, to pursue that on behalf of the town of Harpswell," Sawyer said.
According to Meta Cushing of the GSA, a successful transfer of the property would be the ninth in Maine since the government began actively conveying lighthouses to responsible stewards under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000.
Nationwide, 85 lighthouses have been deeded from the U.S. Coast Guard to other entities through the program.
Of the eight that have been transferred in Maine, five have been granted to qualifying stewards, while three have been sold.
The numbers mark progress in an effort to see more of Maine's 67 lighthouses transfer from the Coast Guard into the hands of groups that are willing and able to support them with the funds and care needed to preserve their character.
Most recently, in 2011, the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse off the coast of Cape Elizabeth was sold for $190,000 after a bidding war drove the price up from the qualifying bid of $10,000.
GSA officials said that they anticipated that at least one or two qualified nonprofit agencies would emerge; the property will only go to bid if no qualifying nonprofit is approved.
Moose Peak Light Station, a lighthouse on Mistake Island in Washington County, failed to attract qualified nonprofits last year; on June 4, minimum bids of $10,000 will be accepted by the GSA.
Smith's Food & Drug announces the “re-grand” opening of its $3 million remodeled store in Gardnerville on Wednesday.
A ribbon cutting is 8 a.m. with Smith's executives, Gardnerville Town Board and the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“This has been an exciting process for our 85 store associates, and we are delighted to share our exciting ‘new' Smith's with our customers,” said Chris Gauss, Smith's Gardnerville store director.
As part of the celebration, Smith's will present $1,000 donations to Gardnerville Elementary School, Carson Valley Middle School and Douglas High School.
In 2011, Smith's contributed a total of $2.38 million in food and cash to organizations and schools in Nevada.
The 56,597-square-foot Gardnerville store brings wider aisles; wood tables in the produce and bakery merchandise; and track spot lighting throughout the store.
Several new shopping features have been added to the remodel project including a wider selection of frozen foods; additional meat and seafood selections; a widely expanded produce department with a large new selection of organic fruits and vegetables; enlarged dairy cases; artisan specialty breads; new olive island and soup bar; and expanded beverage and liquor department.
The store has added new check stands and four self-checkout stations; remodeled the pharmacy area; offers a selection of fresh cut flowers and plants; and enlarged product offerings in the natural foods and nutrition specialty foods aisle.
The gaming area has been relocated to an enclosed room just outside the lobby area and Coinstar and U.S. Bank remain.
Frozen and refrigerated grocery cases use energy-efficient motion-sensitive LED lights that reduce energy usage by two-thirds. In addition, customers may deposit their used plastic grocery bags in the container at the front of the store to be recycled.
Smith's is a division of the Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer. Smith's 15,600 associates serve customers in 133 stores throughout seven western states including 38 stores and nine fuel centers in Nevada.
If you're constantly flailing around in the dark trying to connect your iPhone to its charging cable, you'll be glad to hear that your suffering has not gone unnoticed. Meet the CordLite.
At first glance you might mistaken the CordLite for just another iPhone charger, but it has a clever trick up its sleeve – pick it up and a set of inbuilt LED lights switch on to light your way.
There are no switches involved – just some fancy touch-sensitive tech built into the aluminium connector that results in instant illumination the second you pick it up (assuming it's plugged in, of course).
Designed by architecture practice Sheppard Robson, SCRM is the first large-scale, purpose-built facility of its kind in the UK and is set to become the first laboratory building in Scotland to receive a BREEAM Excellent rating. BREEAM is one of the world’s foremost environmental assessment methods and rating systems for buildings. Located at Edinburgh BioQuarter, the SCRM building will provide a sustainable environment for the study and development of new treatments for human diseases based on regenerative medicine.
Edinburgh BioQuarter, located in the South East of Edinburgh, is a medical science park built in partnership between Scottish Enterprise, the University of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, delivering commercial outcomes from the world-class medical research being undertaken in the University of Edinburgh and at NHS Lothian.
Professor Charles Ffrench-Constant, Director of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said: “Sustainability is central to the design of the new SCRM, and nowhere more so than in its science. An iconic building, visually striking and functionally state-of-the-art, this new facility provides the magnet we need to recruit the brightest and the best and so maintain our world-leading science and train the next generation of doctors and scientists in the exciting new field of regenerative medicine.”
Luke Thurman, associate at Sheppard Robson, said: “The building’s internal form mimics a ‘pebble in a pond’ effect with smaller, darker spaces, such as the cell culture rooms, positioned in the centre of the building while laboratory spaces are positioned in the middle and write-up spaces are located next to the outer walls, allowing for natural ventilation and lighting.”
The building has achieved SCRM’s objective of BREEAM Excellent rating through the choice of materials, active and passive sustainable systems and an efficiency of design and detailing.
“As well as the integrated approach to sustainability and the reduction of embodied energy, the placement of the plant on the mezzanine floor within the middle of the building has reduced service runs and simplified connections of the complex service requirements of the lab building,” said Thurman.
“This goes some way towards improving the flexibility of the building and its ability to change with developing technology; a key requirement of all end users.”
Externally, large openable windows at the ground and first floor ensure that natural light is maximised and an open window can provide local cooling and ventilation as required. These glazed screens are augmented with vertical fixed louvres or fins that provide the solar shading required to minimise heat gain. Active sustainability systems include rainwater recycling and a ground source heat pump, powered by the photovoltaic panels on the roof, to reduce energy consumption within the building.
Alienware is renowned for its high-end gaming systems with an individual design. If you're familiar with previous iterations of Alienware's laptops then there will be a distinct sense of deja vu when it comes to this year's Ivy Bridge-wielding Alienware M14x. The exterior design is unchanged from the last batch.
It's not that we don't like the design which isn't ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but it was and still is a bit on the chunky side. We were hoping the Alienware M14x would come in a new and more slender chassis. We measured the laptop and found it is 38mm thick and weighs just under 3kg.
The Alienware M14x is the smallest and most portable of the range since Alienware decided not to update the M11x. Our review sample came in a matt black finish called 'cosmic black' but it's also available in an altogether more standout 'nebula red’ finish.
The laptop has the distinct Alienware design combination of sleek yet aggressive lines – a love it or hate it type of situation. The finish feels like a cross between plastic and rubber which feels nice to the touch and helps with grip in areas such as the wrist supports.
The keyboard and trackpad are both of a decent size and there is the usual set of customisable lights spread around the laptop including four sections underneath the keyboard and surrounding the trackpad.
Robust is the best word we can think of to describe the build quality of the Alienware M14x. The chassis feels solid in all aspects with the screen offering a small but not worrying amount of flexibility.
Our only worry is the long term durability of the coating particularly on the lid which we feel could get marked or damaged if care is not taken.
Alienware seems to have this into account and supplies the M14x with a plush suede bag for transportation and storage.
The Alienware M14x breezed through our basic FEAR test, as we expected it to, with an average framerate of 84fps – the lowest we saw it drop to was 41fps.
Stepping things up to the next level, we ran Crysis at 1024 x 768 resolution with Low detail and DirectX 9. Here the Alienware managed an average framerate of 107fps.
As you can guess from the name, the M14x comes with a 14.1in screen, LED-backlit. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a relatively high resolution of 1600 x 900. This gives the laptop a good balance between a usable screen size and portability.
The screen offers crisp detail and has a glossy finish which making viewing the screen difficult at times. It reflects things like windows and lights all too easily; we would prefer a matt finish option here.
Connectivity is well rounded with VGA, HMDI, Mini Display Port, USB 2.0, microphone, headset and headphone ports plus a full-size SD slot and microSD slot, all on the left hand side of the body.
On the right is a Kensington lock slot, gigabit ethernet, two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports and a slot-loading optical drive.
Guam - The Guam Power Authority announces that they have successfully installed 850 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Street Lights on three of Guam’s major highways.
The LED lights, funded through a $2.5 million U.S. Department of Energy Grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are part of program that has already successfully installed 520 Induction lights in the Tumon Business District and a 33 light pilot street lighting project in various areas on island. Both LED and Induction technologies are estimated to save the Government of Guam approximately 54 percent of the total energy costs in comparison to the current high-pressure sodium lights (HPS) currently being used by GPA and the Guam Department of Public Works for the street light program.
“This project is having a positive effect on our motoring public as well as those visitors to our island in the Tumon area,” said John M. Benavente, P.E. General Manager, Consolidated Utility Services. “The modern lights will do much to ensure the safety of those on our major roadways and improve the safety and security of the tens of thousands of tourists who are here to get a taste of paradise.”
In cooperation with the Guam Department of Public Works, Guam Energy Office, Guam Visitor’s Bureau and the Governor’s Office, Routes 1, 8 and 10 have been prioritized for the street light upgrades. An additional 189 lights will be installed on Route 16 and other numbered routes to complete the project. Smaller wattage street lighting is also expected to be installed on the island’s roads next week.
“While HPS systems provide a very low first cost solution to an infrastructure that can be considered one of the most far reaching and quite literally visible, aspects of a municipality,” said Benavente, “The emergence of low wattage alternatives have presented a opportunity to provide significant reductions in energy consumption while providing better lighting to drivers and pedestrians.”
Implementing a modern day, energy efficient streetlight conversion, while reducing GPA operations costs, and maintaining annual streetlight appropriations is key to this successful process.
About 33,000 clip-on desk lamps with LED light bulbs, imported from China and sold exclusively at Lowe's home improvement centers nationwide, are being recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that the power cords can detach from the lamps' clamp, exposing the wires and pose dangers of electrocution to
He Shan Lide, the company that manufactures the LED lamps, has received five reports of cords detaching from its lamps--including an incident where a child received burns from the exposed wires.
The recall involves two models of He Shan Lide LED clip-on lights: a pink-colored lamp (model number F3044-AC-01) and a blue-colored lamp. Both were sold at Lowe's stores nationwide from May 2011 to December 2011 for about $20.
Consumers are urged to immediately unplug the recalled clip-on lamp from the wall outlets and cut off about two to three inches of the power cord from the power plug. The cut power plug and consumer's name, address and return shipping costs must be mailed to He Shan Lide (4570 Eucalyptus Ave, Suite C, Chino, CA 91710) in order to obtain a full refund.