Union Jack Lotus Exige S

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The Union Jack Lotus Exige S was developed by Lotus Design and featured in Discovery Channel’s popular series ‘How Do They Do It?’.

The Union Jack scheme is the only Exige that will wear it. It took 10 hours to apply the vinyl wrap on the Union Jack Lotus Exige S with 4 installation technicians.

Press Release
Union Jack Lotus Exige S hits the great British roads

It’s not unusual for a Lotus Exige ‘S’ to turn heads, but one particular car is rousing more curiosity than most. Covered in a patriotic red, white and blue Union Jack design, one Exige ‘S’ is the recent star of the Discovery Channel’s popular series ‘How Do They Do It?’.

With its voluptuous curves and cut-away details, the Exige is one of the most distinctive and unique cars on the road, so it was a perfect choice for the ‘How Do They Do It?’ team who were looking for a challenging case study for their vehicle wrapping feature. ‘Totally Dynamic’ who specialize in the application of vinyl wraps were assigned the project and took 10 hours to transform the iconic Exige for the documentary which follows the project from brief to the finished car making its track debut.

The scheme was developed by Lotus Design to move away from the traditional static Union Jack to that of a flying flag to show the essence of movement and speed. The finished car is a real attention seeker and has amazing track presence.

Lotus has a fantastic history of producing one-off and collectors-edition cars and Union Jack Exige sits amongst Lotus most exceptional and extraordinary looking vehicles. Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus commented, “At Lotus we pride ourselves in spearheading the development of technology in the vehicle market and working on this project was a truly unique opportunity. Lotus Design captured a very special element of our heritage with the brief, ‘great British racing’. The Union Jack theme and the flying flag concept perfectly embody the Lotus spirit”.

‘Totally Dynamic’ supplied the expertise for the intricate process in which a team of 4 installation technicians expertly applied a vinyl wrap to the Exige ‘S’, transforming the car in just 10 hours. The process was exciting but extremely complex, as ‘Totally Dynamic’ MD Adrian Rope explained, “Our whole team was excited by the challenge that the Lotus Exige’s stunning contours presented us. It was a pleasure working on such a thoroughbred car and our experience with high performance vehicles was crucial to creating the professional finish it deserved.

“It was a real privilege to have been chosen out of all the vehicle wrapping companies in the UK by the Discovery Channel and Lotus and their faith in us demonstrates why Totally Dynamic is the cutting edge choice for vehicle transformation.”

For a limited time the Union Jack Lotus Exige ‘S’ will be joining the Lotus Roadshow which consists of the latest Lotus models and is visiting the UK network of Lotus dealers.

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How to Help A Child be Successful in Kindergarten

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Your child’s first year of school should be a fun and exciting time. Children who are comfortable with and prepared for this first school experience are more likely to have rewarding and productive years, and therefore associate positive feelings with education. Since parents are children’s first and most important teachers, you can play a key role in preparing your children for a successful school experience by pre-exposing them to key concepts they will experience in school. This can be done in a fun, enjoyable manner by making everyday play experiences learning experiences as well.

New learning builds on prior knowledge, therefore the more exposure or background a child has with a concept the easier it is for new learning and deeper comprehension to occur. Providing your child with pre-exposure to concepts such as the alphabet, numbers, following directions, listening, reading, cutting, tracing, etc. will help them feel more comfortable and confident when they experience these similar concepts in school, thus better enabling learning to occur. Schools are becoming more academic, dependent on standardized tests, and fast-paced. Giving your children some familiarity with concepts they will encounter can help lessen the anxiety and stress that often accompany these experiences. Children who are overly stressed or uncomfortable are less likely to be able to concentrate and learn.

Children have a natural motivation to learn and a curiosity about the world. You can enhance and nurture this natural motivation by making enjoyable play experiences learning experiences as well.

For example, children’s games are great resources for combining learning with physical activity. Duck, Duck, Goose can be a way of reinforcing concepts such as the alphabet by having children say the name of a letter in place of the word, duck, and a word that begins with that letter in place of the word, goose.

Hide and Seek can become a learning experience by hiding numbers, letters, colors, your child’s name, phone number, address, etc. around the house and asking your child to find them.

Simon Says is a great game to practice following directions and positional words such as on, above, below, etc.

Bingo can be used to reinforce number recognition, letter recognition, the difference between upper case and lower case letters, letter sounds, colors, etc.

You can have a treasure hunt while shopping, driving, or at home by seeing how many letters, numbers, colors, or shapes your child can find.

You can also play I Spy where you state, “I spy with my little eye something that is”, and you describe a letter, number, shape, color, etc. that you can plainly see. Your child then tries to guess what you are describing. Your child can also take a turn describing something (this helps develop verbal skills).

Children’s individual interests can also be incorporated into learning experiences.

Blocks or Lego’s can be used to teach patterns (have them build towers with alternating colors), counting, sorting (separate the blocks by colors, shapes, size), etc.

If your child likes to color, have them create rainbow tracings of letters or numbers by tracing them with as many colors as possible.

Play dough can be made into shapes, letters, and numbers.

An interest in cars and trucks can be used when learning how to trace by telling your child to keep his car (crayon or pencil) on the road (whatever is being traced).

An interest in animals or dinosaurs can be used when learning how to cut with scissors by relating the opening and closing of the scissors to the opening and closing of an animal’s mouth. You can pretend the animal is “eating” the lines on the paper.

Your child’s surroundings can also play a part in preparing them for school. Providing a number and variety of books for your child and taking time to read to them is one of the most important things you can do for their education. Reading to a child teaches them vocal skills, vocabulary, listening skills, left-to-right orientation, cause and effect, knowledge about the world around them, and pre-reading skills. Most importantly, it instills a love for reading and books which will benefit them throughout their entire education. After all, every subject (even math) requires reading.

Our brain absorbs information from our surroundings on a conscious and unconscious level, and between 80-90% of all information absorbed by the brain is visual. Therefore, providing visual displays in your child’s room or elsewhere can actually aide in learning. Things such as the alphabet, colors, numbers, etc. can be hung up or displayed in places where your child will see them. Even magnetic letters on the refrigerator can aide in retention and learning. This is why many schools have plenty of visuals displayed in the halls and classrooms.

Young children can also learn many concepts through music. For example, they usually learn their abc’s by the alphabet song. There are many children’s tapes available that teach concepts through music. Playing these while in the car or while your children play can aide them in learning. Even though they might not be singing along or seem like they are even paying attention, subconscious learning can be occurring.

You may also want to practice separating from your child for short periods of time, such as enrolling in a program or play group or having them spend time with a babysitter. Separation anxiety can be traumatic for some children if they are not used to being away from their parents, and this anxiety can inhibit their ability to learn and relax while in school.

Lastly, no matter what methods you try with your child, the most important thing to remember is to make them enjoyable. You want your child to associate positive feelings with learning. Take turns choosing activities; give your child some choice sometimes. This makes them feel less dictated to and more willing to learn. Also, offer them some variety in activities, do not always use the same learning methods all of the time as this can create boredom and disinterest. Choose the methods that work best with your child (every child is different) and have fun!

Children are like flowers, they all bloom at different times. But, parents can help nurture them by providing experiences that enable them to blossom into children who love learning and school.

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Remarkable Purr of Cat

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Have you ever wondered why a cat purrs and how? It really seems to be a mystery as to why that little rumble you hear coming from your cat occurs at any given time. I thought that a cat would purr out of contentment or happiness.

I have heard my own cats’ purr start whenever I begin to stroke or pet them while comforting or loving them. They also start to roar up a storm after jumping up into my lap and curling up to sleep. I thought that the only time they would purr was when they were cuddled up sleeping on my lap or from my soothing touch. At least until I walked by Tiggy lying on the bed by herself fast asleep, I could hear her little rumble.

I became curious after finding that it wasn’t just when my cats were around me that they would purr. So with my curiosity peaked, I started to search for information to answer my question - Why do my cats’ purr? I came across some different sources of information and all appeared to have a common answer. There is not a definite answer to why a cat purrs.

Little research has been done on this aspect of the cat. There may be more done in the future to answer the questions to those of us who are curious about a cat’s purr.

It is believed that a cat does purr when it is happy and content. I must agree with this, as I have witnessed my cats’ purring when they are content. At least it appears that they are content as they are curled up on my lap singing up a storm.

There are also some who believe that a cat also purrs when they are in pain, suffering, or even stressed. I have not experienced the purring when my cats’ have been stressed or suffering. Even with the loss of one of my cat’s, Cuddles, when she was sick I did not notice her purring out of stress or suffering. Her purring still occurred just as it did before, while sitting on my lap when I stroked or massaged her. I am not saying that this theory is not true; I am just stating that I have no actual experience of my cats’ purring when stressed or suffering.

Another burning question that I had wondered about was how do they purr? How can a rumbling sound make their whole body vibrate and get you to feel safe and relaxed. I find my cats’ purr to be very comforting and wanted to know how they did it.

A cat’s purr is believed to be produced by vibrating the voice box or larynx. This vibrating can occur at a frequency between 25 and 150 Hertz. This is also a frequency that is believed to promote healing and bone growth. Each cat will have their own tone of vibration. Some cats have a loud purr while others are barely audible, the only way you know they are purring is by touching them and feel the vibration of their body.

The mechanism in which the cat purrs can actually explain a lot when referring to healing. Cats are known to have “9 lives”, which can be explained with the frequency of the purr enabling the cat to heal itself. Most cat owners will also confirm that they experience less stress in their daily lives or are able to relax after a very stressful day just by sitting with their cat and stroking their silky fur and listening to the melodic tone of the purr.

I do believe that the purr promotes overall good health and well-being for both the cat and the owner or anyone who has daily contact with a loving cat. My cats have been a pure joy and definitely help to keep my relaxed at the end of a stressful day.

The next time you are next to your cat or any cat and you hear that little rumble, reach down and feel the vibration. Also, know that there is more to that little rumble than the noise that you hear pouring from your cat. It is a powerful tool for your cat to keep it happy and healthy.

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