The new location offers extra convenience for customers to sell cars in Dubai.

In 1920, as its population began to explode, Los Angeles was a largely pastoral city of bungalows and palm trees. Thirty years later, choked with smog and traffic, the city had become synonymous with urban sprawl and unplanned growth.

Yet Los Angeles was anything but unplanned, as Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod reveals in this compelling, visually oriented history of the metropolis during its formative years. In a deft mix of cultural and intellectual history that brilliantly illuminates the profound relationship between imagination and place, Inventing Autopia: Dreams And Visions Of The Modern Metropolis In Jazz Age Los Angeles (Berkeley: University Of California Press, 2009) shows how the clash of irreconcilable utopian visions and dreams resulted in the invention of an unforeseen new form of urbanism--sprawling, illegible, fractured--that would reshape not only Southern California but much of the nation in the years to come.

At 401 pages, it could seem like a daunting read, but those interested in Los Angeles history, urbanization, or the rise of the automobile will find this enjoyable. It's a great compliment to the Metro Library's historic transit and transportation studies collection. Many of these documents, which date back to 1911, have been digitized and are available on our website in full-text PDF.

Axelrod focuses on the 1920s when Los Angeles was growing at a fast clip. As we noted back in July, the number of automobile registrations in Los Angeles County quadrupled between 1914 and 1922 - making it very clear that the city's embrace of the auto would set the stage for decades of congestion and other issues.

Going back further in history is another equally seminal story about transportation in the West. Acclaimed historian Walter R. Borneman has written a dazzling account of the battle to build the first transportation system across America.

Rival Rails: The Race To Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad (New York: Random House, 2010) is an action-packed epic of how an empire was born—and the remarkable men who made it happen.

After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the rest of the country was up for grabs, and the race was on. The prize: a better, shorter, less snowy route through the corridors of the American Southwest, linking Los Angeles to Chicago.

Borneman lays out in compelling detail the sectional rivalries, contested routes, political posturing, and ambitious business dealings that unfolded as an increasing number of lines pushed their way across the country.

The author brings to life the legendary business geniuses and so-called robber barons who made millions and fought the elements—and one another—to move America, including:

William Jackson Palmer, whose leadership of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad relied on innovative narrow gauge trains that could climb steeper grades and take tighter curves;

Collis P. Huntington of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific lines, a magnate insatiably obsessed with trains—and who was not above bribing congressmen to satisfy his passion;

Edward Payson Ripley, visionary president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, whose fiscal conservatism and smarts brought the industry back from the brink; and

Jay Gould, ultrasecretive, strong-armer and one-man powerhouse.

In addition, Borneman captures the herculean efforts required to construct these roads—the laborers who did the back-breaking work, boring tunnels through mountains and throwing bridges across unruly rivers, the brakemen who ran atop moving cars, the tracklayers crushed and killed by runaway trains.

From backroom deals in Washington, D.C., to armed robberies of trains in the wild deserts, from glorified cattle cars to streamliners and Super Chiefs, all the great incidents and innovations of a mighty American era are re-created with unprecedented power in this new work destined to be a classic.

Turning now to urban planning, author Patrick Condon discusses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design rules that can, if followed, help save the planet.

Seven Rules For Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies For The Post Carbon World (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2010) clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. This book takes on a wide range of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to convincing and practical solutions.

Of particular importance is how city form affects the production of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The author explains this relationship in an accessible way, and goes on to show how conforming to seven simple rules for community design could literally do a world of good. Each chapter in the book explains one rule in depth, adding a wealth of research to support each claim. If widely used, Condon argues, these rules would lead to a much more livable world for future generations—a world that is not unlike the better parts of our own.

In Last Exit: Privatization And Deregulation Of The U.S. Transportation System (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2010), Clifford Winston reminds us that transportation services and infrastructure in the United States were originally introduced by private firms.

The case for subsequent public ownership and management of the system was weak, in his view, and here he assesses the case for privatization and deregulation to greatly improve Americans satisfaction with their transportation systems. How can this be done?

Writing in the New York Times, Harvard University economics professor Edward L. Glaeser points out that:

Because the public sector controls almost all roads, airports and urban transit, we see the downsides of public control on a daily basis, but we don’t experience the social costs that could accompany privatization. A private airport operator might try to exploit its monopoly power over a particular market or cut costs in a way that increases the probability of very costly, but rare, disaster.

The complexity and risks of switching to private provision means that Mr. Winston is wise to call for experimentation rather than wholesale privatization. An incremental process of trying things out will provide information and build public support.

Yet many of Mr. Winston’s recommendations are incremental and can be done without privatization or much risk.

The book covers privatization and deregulation of roads, airports, air traffic control, mass transit, intercity buses and railway networks.

One the most exciting new books in a long time has been released this month: Glen Creason's Los Angeles In Maps (New York: Rizzoli, 2010).

Creason is the Map Libraran at Los Angeles Public Library and co-curated the landmark 2008-2009 exhibition L.A. Unfolded: Maps From The Los Angeles Public Library.

This new work guides the reader through the variety of maps created for Los Angeles, from the 1849 Plan De La Ciudad De Los Angeles ("Ord's Survey") to modern day interactive maps.

The book works on a number of levels: as history lesson, as a beautiful coffee table book with intriguing graphics, as a thought-provoking work showing how spatial depictions have changed over the past century and a half, and how Los Angeles can be viewed in historical context in ways other than chronological.

It is organized into chapters that tell the various stories of Los Angeles, such as Early Growth, Social Life, Water, Age of the Automobile, Tourism, etc.

Fortunately for us, there is a Transportation section, where we learn the story of Laura J. Whitlock, official mapmaker of Los Angeles County - and the only female map publisher in the United States when she was working in the early 20th century.

Pirated copies of her work were widely distributed without her consent, and she filed suit for copyright infringement. We'll leave it to you to discover what happened with this landmark case, but it did set a precedent for map copyright -- an important contribution to American map history made here in Los Angeles.

The rest of the transportation maps and information are equally interesting, as are the other subject areas covered, but you'll have to read the book yourself to find out more.

This is so beautiful...spreads love all around.

Beautiful work. R u based in Muscat. So am I. Could u pls tell me where u purchase the crochet threads.

This is beautiful Nima. Looks great on your wall. Glad you are in a better time. Through it all God is with you.

Your quilt is beautiful Nima. It looks so bright and happy there on your wall. Even the B&W photo is very striking.

Thats beautiful nima.

It's beautiful Nima! Love the neon colors .

Beautiful work as always Nima. I love the rich colours you used.

Wow beautiful projects there Nima. Peacock is one of my fav subjects to stitch too.

A multi-functional & multi-utility state-of-the-art Ethereum MainNet wallet

Paulson brings more than 30 years of commercial real estate brokerage experience, including investment sales, and landlord and tenant leasing.

Real Estate And Foreclosure Defense Attorney Roy Oppenheim Will Hold Court On Financial Survival Strategies For Businesses And Individuals During The COVID-19 Crisis in his upcoming webinar Tuesday, March 24th at noon.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has shown the dire need to have essential health goods manufactured in the United States, rather than places like China. Startup company SerraeX is aiming to change this with their ambitious new crowdfunding campaign

Announces Marshall Heitzman to Lead New Program Efforts

New interface features better security, accessibility

New funding round follows a successful Reg D round

The Spotify-owned company’s new tool may help businesses get more out of their webinars and online conference content.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

The companies are part of a shift toward deeper integration between online and offline operations.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

Lack of exercise or any type of physical activity not only causes high blood pressure, cardiac arrests and diabetes but also leads to elevated levels of stress, anxiety, insomnia and depression and, in some cases, even early death. It also leads to loss of focus, lack of attention and concentration along with decreased levels of energy and feeling of lethargy. Incidentally, women and older adults are more prone to lead an inactive lifestyle compared to men.

The post How is an Inactive Lifestyle causing your Health Problems? appeared first on Perfect Skin Care for you.

By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that if provinces move too quickly to reopen their economies, a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic could send Canada "back into confinement this summer." Trudeau, who represents a Montreal, Quebec riding, said on Saturday that he is concerned about the virus' spread in that province, the country's epicenter. Canada's death toll rose 3.5% to 4,628 from a day earlier, while cases approached 67,000.

The post Trudeau warns premature reopening could send Canada ‘back into confinement’ appeared first on Firstpost.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test. The emergency use authorization was issued late Friday to Quidel for the Sofia 2 SARS Antigen FIA, the agency said.

The post U.S. FDA grants emergency use authorization to Quidel for first antigen test for COVID-19 appeared first on Firstpost.

Pankaj Ghemawat, Harvard Business School professor.

Bill George, Harvard Business School professor and author of "True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership".

Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, founders of Strategic Horizons LLP and authors of "Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want."

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times.

Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the HBR article "Building Resilience."

Scott Berinato, HBR senior editor, featuring the ideas of Yale economist Robert Shiller, journalist Gregg Easterbrook, and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman.

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

Mark Blyth, professor at Brown University and author of "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea."

Lisa Rosh, assistant professor of management at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, explains how to build trust through skillful self-disclosure.

Amy Bernstein, editor of HBR, offers executive summaries of the major features.

Amy Bernstein, editor of HBR, offers executive summaries of the major features.

Bill George, Harvard Business School professor and author of "Discover Your True North," gives advice to both new and experienced leaders.

Erin Meyer, professor at INSEAD, discusses management hierarchy and decision-making across cultures. Turns out, these two things don’t always track together. Sometimes top-down cultures still have strong consensus-driven decision-making styles — and the other way around. Meyer helps break down and map these factors so that managers working across cultures can adapt. She’s the author of the article, "Being the Boss in Brussels, Boston, and Beijing" in the July-August 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Scott Kelly, a retired U.S. astronaut, spent 520 days in space over four missions. Working in outer space is a lot like working on earth, but with different challenges and in closer quarters. Kelly looks back on his 20 years of working for NASA, including being the commander of the International Space Station during his final, yearlong mission. He talks about the kind of cross-cultural collaboration and decision making he honed on the ISS, offering advice that leaders can use in space and on earth. His memoir is “Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery.”

Ibotdis.com offers significant discounts and coupons in time for prime holiday shopping season.

Committed to bring continuous excitement to reading, FarFaria adds musical component to already stellar library.

Wags-n-Whiskers-Giftbaskets.com showcases a wide range of gifts and gift baskets dedicated to pet lovers concerned with the health and welfare of their four-legged companions.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Perimeter hotel, near Sandy Springs, GA, offers close lodging to guests attending upcoming auctions at Gallery 63, featured on the Discovery Channel show Auction Kings.

Harris Seeds is offering sweetheart deals with the launch of its Valentine's Day Shop at www.harrisseeds.com.

Collection's European and Asian antiques have remained in private hands for 60+ years

The creations shared in "my Sicilian kitchen" have been prepared by members of the Bilo family for generations, and now are passed on to you and your family. Buon Appetito."-Linda Bilo-Brechtel

Red Horse Signs the leader in custom vintage signs launches newly redesigned eCommerce website at www.redhorsesigns.com. Also announced is their selection of over 300 customiuzable signs and free shipping on orders over $250.

In partnership with APW Asset Management, McTear's announced that more than 10,000 bottles of New World's finest wines will go under the hammer in Glasgow. The sale has attracted considerable interest from collectors from across the globe.

After last year's popular Nashville Diamond Week, King Jewelers has opted to dedicate the entire month of April to diamonds and diamond jewelry. Nashville clients can benefit from discounts, gift card offers and a chance to win a special gift package

For tradespeople, farmers and others who frequently need to cover and uncover their shoes (to protect interior surfaces from mud or worse), disposable booties are an unsustainable solution. They're also a pain to take on and off. This reusable and automatically-wrapping design seems much better:

I've been searching for something like this for a long time. On our free-range farm, I inevitably step in the shit of some animal on a daily basis, and pulling my boots off and on every time I need to go back inside to retrieve something gets old.

However, these wouldn't 100% work for my application. While getting them on looks easy, getting them off requires a fair amount of manual manipulation…

…meaning every time I removed these, I'd wind up with animal feces on my hands.

Question for you: How do you reckon these work? I figure inside the fabric is a polypropylene sheet molded into a sprung shape, with raised tunnel-like seams serving as hinges, and when you collapse the tunnels by stepping on them, the spring action is released. [Edit: I believe reader Kyle Lamson has figured it out. See his comment below.]

(Lastly, I was not able to find what company or designer invented these. There are tons of variants on the market. It's possible they were invented by a fellow named Joel Fersaci, whose Step in Sock model is featured in the video above.)