In celebration of the International Day of Light 2021, Club member Natasha van Bentum has put together an informative website as an introduction to the topic of “Solar Winds”.
This website is for people of all ages who are looking to learn more about solar physics.
While admittedly “basic” (from the website creator herself), this website offers a complete summary of this fascinating topic:
It can be really easy to get comfortable in life and to only do things inside your comfort zone. You’re unlikely to get hurt here, you might get really good at doing the one thing you know you can do, and your expectations are likely to be in line with what goes on around you so you’re not disappointed.
But the magic doesn’t happen here. Nothing good in my life has ever happened from the safety of my comfort zone. It’s all those moments where you feel challenged, where you think ‘ahhhh, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea’ and then ponder giving up – if you can get through this stage of doubt and make it out the other side – I promise you, this is where the good stuff happens.
If life is starting to feel a bit samey and there’s a bit too much routine – try something new. This is the perfect time to start. It’s a New Year, a fresh slate, a chance to change it up. At Virgin we are always trying new things – this year we’re opening new hotels, launching new airline routes, pushing the envelope further with our space companies and beginning sailing our new cruise line, Virgin Voyages. I’m sure there are many new things waiting around the corner for me.
If you need a little inspiration, the theme of my autobiography, Finding My Virginity, is all about how we should never lose the thrill of trying something new for the first time. The book starts out where Losing My Virginity left off and tells the story of my life and the growth of Virgin over the past 20 years.
It reveals how my home moved from a houseboat to a paradise island, while my company has grown from a UK business to a global brand and my focus has shifted from battling bigger rivals to changing business for good. In this time I’ve experienced joy, heartbreak, hurricanes, business highs, grief, records, doubt and my toughest ever crisis.
Everything that has happened over the past two decades has happened outside my comfort zone – and it’s been an incredible journey. I hope you get out there and try something new in 2020.
All the best for 2020!
Sir Richard Branson
During the Apollo program of the 1960s and ’70s, NASA sent nine missions to the Moon. Six of them landed astronauts safely on the surface, the only times humans have visited another world.
July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first humans landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969 as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar mission.
Union Club member, Henri van Bentum was featured in Canadian Art Magazine in July 1969. In many ways, his comments are still timely today:
The International Day of Light (#IDL2019) is an annual event, a global initiative held on May 16th, providing an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy.
The broad theme of light allows many different sectors of society worldwide to participate in activities that demonstrates how science, technology, art and culture can help achieve the goals of UNESCO – education, equality, and peace.
Why May 16th?
May 16th is the anniversary of the first successful operation of a laser in 1960. The laser is a perfect example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare and many other fields. The International Day of Light however is not just about science – the themes cover all areas of light in its general sense including art, culture, and development.
Light Sprang Forth 2
Celebrating the work of Netherlands-born artist and colorist Henri van Bentum, and to mark the International Day of Light 2019.
https://vanbentum.wixsite.com/lightsprangforth
“Perhaps his background as a diamond-faceter’s son is responsible for the almost crystalline aspect of van Bentum’s work. His paintings have a luminosity, a radiance, that emanates from within.” By clicking the link above, you will be taken to a rotating gallery of some 21 “micro-macro” paintings, all created in the years before microphotography or images from space were available — all inspired from an inner vision. (For the title and year of each painting, hover your mouse over the bottom of the image.)
About Henri van Bentum
“The art of Henri van Bentum reminds us of organic processes on the cosmic and microcosmic levels. There are many organic processes embodied in the work; they help me sense the vastness, complexity and beauty of the cosmos.” Leslie Mezei
Artist Henri van Bentum was born in the Lowlands. His work is represented worldwide. He has travelled extensively, including three circumnavigations by ship as lecturer and art instructor, and also has made several snorkel expeditions to coral reefs. He is a member of the international Circumnavigators Club. Henri collaborated with NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory on a project called “Coloring Space”, juxtaposing images from space with his “Organiverse” Starry Night edition.
Ambience of unalloyed comfort gives way to challenge shared office market…
The Ministry, Ministry of Sound’s private members club and shared workspace on Borough Road, London
Soon after the launch of London’s lavish private members’ club 12 Hay Hill, its boss Stephanos Issaias had to throw out all the sofas and chairs on one of the floors and replace them with less comfortable seating. Unlike many traditional private clubs, 12 Hay Hill allows members to mix business and pleasure: laptops and smartphones are permitted in its lounges, luxury serviced offices are available to rent. But some of its members, who today pay £3,800 a year for the privilege, had complained that the comfy sofas that were perfect for reclining with a drink or a book, were not appropriate “for holding meetings”, according to Mr Issaias. Such are the dilemmas faced by a new type of club that is springing up in the UK capital. Dubbed “club-working” spaces, these offer the exclusivity and social networking of the City clubs of old, combined with the work-friendly environment of WeWork, the $20bn shared office provider. The rising popularity of working in places other than traditional offices has been driven by IT that has made it ever easier, and the growing cost of space in London. Rising rents have made it more expensive for businesses to offer an upmarket front-of-house for entertaining guests. Meanwhile, sole traders and start-ups have been reluctant to sign long leases, spawning a “shared office” boom: London is now the world’s largest market for serviced offices, with an estimated £16bn of space in 2017, according to Capital Economics. “Technology was the enabler in the sense that people were not tied to a big desktop computer — or even a laptop with a cable,” said Mr Issaias. “Clubs now see an opportunity to maximise their earnings.”
Many traditional clubs, such as those in London’s St James’ area, have always discouraged working on their premises, preferring members to socialise over their Michelin-starred food and their well-stocked bars. Even at Soho House, a relatively new chain of clubs that targets members from the creative industries, rules dictate that “members may not take or make phone calls and phones should be in silent mode”. But new models that disregard this separation are coming to life in many forms: in some cases, established clubs are relaxing their rules, while others, like Marylebone’s Home House, are launching specialised affiliates. Others, such as 12 Hay Hill, Devonshire Club, Mortimer House and The Conduit, have been created from scratch. Even serviced offices companies are branching into the market. Two weeks ago, IWG, the world’s largest serviced office group, announced that it was renting 40,000 square feet in London’s Battersea Power Station development to launch a private club. The trend is also catching on outside the UK. In the US, city clubs such as Jonathan Club in Los Angeles and New York’s The Union League Club “have been adding co-working areas into their interiors and updating their look to make it more modern” in a bid to attract millennial professionals, according to Zack Bates, chief executive of Private Club Marketing, which promotes clubs and hotels.
The hybrid club-working model is not for everyone
Many London projects have grown rapidly. The Ministry, a private club near London Bridge that markets itself to the creative industries, opened in July and has already filled about 500 of the 803 fixed desks it has on site, on leases of at least three months. The club is an offshoot of the Ministry of Sound record label and nightclub and one of the services it offers is a sound system that plays music designed to facilitate concentration. Simon Moore, The Ministry’s creative director, says there are major benefits to being an exclusive brand. “As a smaller organisation we can be flexible and adjust and [make changes] quickly,” he said. “You can’t do that as a WeWork.” North of the Thames near Bond Street, Home House, the social club that has had Madonna and Sean Connery as members, is launching a private club for entrepreneurs from March 2019. According to managing director Andrew Richardson, Home Grown will be “highly selective”, only accepting members whose firms are growing at 20 per cent a year — in sales or staff numbers.
“We want to offer the remedy for growing pains that entrepreneurs have when they are at a high growth stage,” Mr Richardson said, adding that Home Grown will cost £2,000 a year per member, or £1,500 for founding members, and is targeting 3,000 members in total. For customers, the set-up can be cost-effective. Hossam Alsaady, managing partner of Above Wealth, a wealth advisory business for the very rich, decided to rent space at 12 Hay Hill, having previously rented an office in Mayfair that included several meeting rooms. “Having a couple of meeting rooms in Mayfair and having it empty 98 per cent of the time was crazy — I was paying a lot of money,” he said, adding that he has “developed a couple of good relationships by being in this common working area”. Mr Alsaady, a former managing director at HSBC Private Bank, now has plans to invest in the club-working industry. “It’s going to continue to grow,” he said. Still, this hybrid club-working model is not for everyone. “Some clubs have started taking a more lax view on members overtly working in their premises,” a spokesperson for 5 Hertford Street, a Mayfair members club, told the Financial Times. “But actually being on the laptop and taking work calls isn’t conducive to a relaxed atmosphere for those who are there just to have fun.” Insiders warn that the business model can be difficult to get right. It differs from that of traditional clubs, which rely heavily on revenues from food and drink; instead, members need to feel able to have just a cup of coffee in the lounge while staying and working for several hours. This can mean raising prices: 12 Hay Hill has more than doubled its membership fee from the £1,800 a year it charged when it launched in 2015. Others note that the market is becoming increasingly saturated. “There are new entrants all the time,” said Adam Blaskey, founder of The Clubhouse, which provides meeting rooms in London for big companies including Morgan Stanley and BP and recently opened a fourth branch in Holborn. “What’s important is that your product is clearly differentiated in an already-crowded market . . . There’s bound to be some consolidation,” he said.
They are, for the most part, long-time leaders. They are the establishment, the obvious choices, the natural ruling parties. They are Canada’s 10 most popular vehicles through 2018’s first six months. Together, they account for only a small fraction of the available nameplates on offer, yet they generate one-third of the market’s overall volume.
With a 2 per cent drop in total sales in June, the first-half of 2018 ends as the second-strongest start to the year in history. “Second-best” isn’t often good enough for automakers, which typically build their business strategy on the promise of consistent year-over-year growth. At the current pace, Canadians will still buy and lease more than 2 million vehicles in 2018 for just the second time ever, but that’s with fewer total sales than in 2017.
Given that more and more consumers are acquiring new vehicles by adopting longer-term loans, having been lured in to showrooms by strong incentives (and in spite of their frequent need to roll existing vehicle debt into their new vehicle loan), the Canadian auto industry may not be as healthy as it appears on paper.
1.04 million new vehicles were sold between January and June, according to Global Automakers of Canada, but many of the most popular vehicles – the vehicles on which the industry depends for great swathes of volume – are suffering substantial demand decreases.
The market’s evolving palate nevertheless remains visible, even in a cursory glance at the best sellers’ list. Honda and Toyota, for instance, sold nearly 5,000 fewer Corollas and Civics in the first-half of 2018 compared with the same period one year ago. Yet the same two automakers reported 5,500 extra sales of the CR-V and RAV4. The most popular compact cars in the country can’t sustain recent levels of demand, while the most popular compact crossovers only briefly sit on dealer lots.
There’s more to Canada’s top 10 list than just cars and crossovers. Full-size pickup trucks consume 40 per cent of the limelight.
10. Nissan Rogue: 22,404, down 1 per cent
2017 Nissan Rogue
Faced with growing in-showroom utility vehicle traffic, Nissan Rogue volume fell slightly short of 2017 levels in the first-half of 2018. The good news for Nissan revolves around the success of its two other small crossovers. Together with the hugely popular Rogue, the Nissan Qashqai contributed 9,257 first-half sales, and Nissan sold its first 615 copies of the Kicks late in Q2. That trio accounted for just under half of the brand’s sales in June.
9. Ford Escape: 23,612, up 1 per cent
2017 Ford Escape Titanium
Historically, the Ford Escape was the preeminent SUV sales leader in Canada. That changed in 2016 when the Toyota RAV4 took over. Halfway through 2018, the Escape sits third among utility vehicles as the current generation approaches its seventh model year. Escape demand peaked in Canada in 2014 with 52,198 total sales.
8. Toyota Corolla: 25,166, down 11 per cent
2018 Toyota Corolla
Long a global powerhouse, the Toyota Corolla remains a leading passenger car in Canada, as well. The current model, however, is dated in many ways, and is therefore left to trade largely on a reliability reputation and advanced safety technology. Corolla volume is currently shrinking more rapidly than the passenger car market at large, in part because demand that once resulted in a Corolla sale is often shifting to vehicles like Toyota’s own C-HR.
7. Toyota RAV4: 26,606, up 5 per cent
2018 Toyota RAV4
In 2016 and 2017, the Toyota RAV4 was Canada’s most popular utility vehicle. Indeed, with the launch of a more style-centric RAV4 – the fifth iteration – later this year, hype could yet see the Toyota take the top spot again in 2018. For the time being, sales of the RAV4 continue to rise even in the current model’s sixth model year.
6. Honda CR-V: 28,022, up 18 per cent
2018 Honda CR-V
On track to end 2018 as Canada’s top-selling SUV/crossover for the first time ever, the Canadian-built Honda CR-V is tracking towards a near-60,000 end-of-year sales total. The shift away from vehicles such as the Honda Accord toward the CR-V and its cohorts has been swift and momentous. Less than a decade ago, Honda Canada reported fewer than 20,000 annual CR-V sales. Fast forward to 2017, and Honda Canada will sell more CR-Vs in the first nine months of this year than the company did in all of 2015.
5. GMC Sierra: 29,765, down 5 per cent
2018 GMC Sierra
Caused only by General Motors’ own decision to market the two trucks under different banners, the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado separately take the No.5 and No.4 positions on Canada’s best-selling vehicles list. The trucks are all but identical. Combine their sales and the duo’s 59,975 first-half sales places GM in the second position, still well back of the leader, but well ahead of the current No.2.
4. Chevrolet Silverado: 30,210, up 8 per cent
2017 Chevrolet Silverado
South of the border, it’s normal to see the Chevrolet Silverado generating far greater sales figures than its corporate GMC twin. GM Canada’s strategy, on the other hand, has always been different, typically resulting in Sierra leadership. That trend has flipped in early 2018, if only by the slightest of margins. Chevrolet is on track to sell more Silverados in 2018 than ever before and is therefore eating up significant chunks of full-size truck market share as chief competitors suffer sharp declines.
3. Honda Civic: 35,536, down 4 per cent
2018 Honda Civic Si Sedan
Only a remarkable second-half accomplishment by the No.2 Toyota Corolla would unseat the Honda Civic, which is set to be Canada’s best-selling car for a 21st consecutive year. The Civic, despite a predictable decrease in volume after 2017’s nine-year high, outsells its nearest rival by a surely insurmountable 41-percent margin.
2. Ram: 48,659, down 16 per cent
2017 Ram 1500
Quickly losing full-size truck market share during a year of generational changeover, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ line of Ram pickups remains a tremendously high-volume family. But compared to 2017, sales fell by more than 9,000 units in 2018’s first-half alone. Now dealers are tasked with clearing out remaining 2018 models while accepting the hotter, newer, flashier 2019 trucks, a task that will be accomplished with long-term interest-free loans and 25-per cent-off stickers plastered on the sides of crew cab pickups.
1. Ford F-Series: 72,308, down 8 per cent
2018 Ford F-150 diesel
Victory seems all but assured. By the end of 2018, the Ford F-Series will complete its tenth consecutive year as Canada’s best-selling vehicle line. As with its Detroit trio of full-size truck rivals, F-Series sales include a variety of full-size and heavy-duty pickup trucks. Production levels suggest between two-thirds and three-quarters of F-Series sales are produced by the F-150, a truck which now enjoys virtually annual updates. The F-Series’ reign atop the Canadian leaderboard did not occur by the Blue Oval resting on its laurels. Still, Ford has not proven able to sustain 2017’s record level of F-Series demand.
Artist’s rendering of lounge with terrace at the members-only Fitler Club planned at 2400 Market St.
When it was known as the Marketplace Design Center, 2400 Market St. was a lightly trafficked building in what remained a fringe neighborhood at the far west of Philadelphia’s central business district.
Hospitality financier David Gutstadt now wants to turn part of the building, which will also soon host Aramark Corp.’s new world headquarters, into a center for the social lives of the city’s emerging business, tech, and cultural elite.
Gutstadt’s $50 million-to-$60 million plan for what’s to be called the Fitler Club, unveiled at a press event Thursday, involves fitness facilities, fine dining, hotel rooms, coworking offices, event spaces, and other amenities encompassing 75,000 square feet over parts of the building’s lower three floors.
It’s a local take on the new wave of high-end private membership clubs – such as those making up the London-based Soho House chain – that are popping up in some of the world’s more prosperous cities. It underscores Philadelphia’s rising fortunes.
The decision to place it at Center City’s far-western edge overlooking the Schuylkill, meanwhile, highlights central Philadelphia’s shifting center of gravity toward University City.
Gutstadt, whose background includes working on hotel deals at Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley, as well as a stint devising a hospitality concept for a venture involving Related Companies and the Equinox fitness chain, said he hoped his Philadelphia club would the first in a national network.
His plan has attracted about 75 financial backers, including basketball hall-of-famer and former naval officer David Robinson’s Admiral Capital Group, he said.
“Why should we have to wait to import something? Why can’t we do something great that’s for Philadelphians, by Philadelphians?” he said. “Why don’t we get the best example of something first here, then we can be an exporter?”
The Fitler Club is scheduled to open in early 2019. It will enter a market long dominated by old-line establishments, such as the Union League and the Racquet Club, spaces filled with elaborate chandeliers, oriental rugs, classical statuary, and oil paintings.
“When you look at the aesthetics and you walk in and you see 100 years of presidents of the club and a majority are old white men, I think the younger demographic says, ‘I don’t want to join my father’s country club; I want my own identity,’ ” said Zack Bates, chief executive of Newport Beach, Calif.-based members’ clubs consultancy Private Club Marketing.
The Fitler Club will feature food and beverage services managed by Vetri Family restaurant group co-founder Jeff Benjamin, with chef Kevin Sbraga, whose since-shuttered eateries include the fine-dining namesake Sbraga and the Fat Ham.
Also onsite will be a 14-room five-star hotel; a coworking center with 20 private offices, and 65 single-desk workstations; more than 10,000 square feet of event space that will spill out onto a deck over the Schuylkill; a fitness center with a 75-foot lap pool; and a screening room that will feature first-run films, Gutstadt said.
“The whole theory is, you want people to activate the space all day, all night,” he said. “So what are the elements you can use to keep this space activated?”
The club’s management plans to build up its membership in phases, growing from an initial cap of around 1,000 to about 2,500 in coming years.
It will be priced in line with similar clubs in other cities, Gutstadt said. That translates to initiation fees of $1,500 to $2,500, plus monthly dues of $250 to $500, Bates said.
The number of Philadelphians able to afford those fees may be small compared with the likes of New York, Miami, and West Hollywood, Calif., But it’s growing: The number of Philadelphia households earning more than $100,000 a year increased 25 percent to 85,455 in 2015 from five years earlier, according to calculations based on U.S. Census data.
Jacob Cooper, a managing director with brokerage MSC Retail in Philadelphia, said he thought there would be solid demand for memberships from long-term residents and recent transplants seeking a place to have most of their social, business and exercise needs met under one roof, in like company.
The club will be well-placed on the Schuylkill waterfront to draw members from those in medical and technology fields in University City — which includes sites proposed to Amazon.com Inc. as potential locations for a second headquarters — as well as from the emerging business leaders in western Center City, where Comcast Corp. continues to expand, Cooper said.
Gutstadt happens to be the son-in-law of Philadelphia real estate entrepreneur Carl Dranoff, among the city’s first contemporary developers to discover the Schuylkill waterfront, and he previously worked for Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds, a co-owner of the 2400 Market St. building.
But he said the location rose to the top of list on its own merits during the six months he spent scouring Philadelphia for the right site.
“It really is the new center of Center City,” he said.
One of the best indications of how quickly the world is changing is how fast new job titles pop up on the scene to keep up with changing technology, scientific discoveries, market shifts and new ideas. Here are 10 job titles that only emerged in the past decade.
Scrum master
Assists an agile team in adhering to scrum values and practices, and coaches the team to be more productive. Scrum methodology originated in software development.
Virus designer
Makes use of patients’ stem cells to create antibodies or targeted therapies. Cells are grown, differentiated and processed using viral vectors. The designer engineers the viral vectors that activate the cells for targeted therapies.
Sustainability manager
Communicates and coordinates with employees, shareholders and customers to address social, economic and environmental sustainability issues and initiatives within an organization.
Chief commercialization officer
Strategically oversees the multidisciplinary pursuits required to commercialize a product. Requires technical knowledge, marketing know-how and strong business development skills.
Social media manager
Leads an organization’s social-media strategy to boost engagement. Develops strategy to guide online presence on various platforms, producing content, customer service, analyzing data, managing campaigns.
Big data scientist
Frames business problems as data questions, and then creates data models to answer those questions. Uses data to tell stories.
UX designer
Improves the usability and/or accessibility of a product (e.g., an app or website) by examining every stage of a consumer’s interaction with that product; tries to make the experience better at each point of interaction.
Information security analyst
Plans and administers security measures to protect networks and systems, (e.g., installing firewalls, updating software against cyberattacks).
Chief innovation officer
Ensures a certain percentage of company resources is directed toward innovation. Identifying opportunities and developing capabilities to serve them. Engages in change management.
Health coach
Facilitates wellness-related behaviour change. Uses evidence-based clinical interventions to engage clients in clarifying their values and taking action on their goals. Can include nutritional and exercise education.