However, we highly recommend preparing the surface in advance using a primer/sealer product like Zinsser® Gardz® by Rust-Oleum®, which can be found at most hardware stores. Proper cleaning and dry time of the wall surface with a mixture of isopropyl alcohol (70%) and water (30%) MAY significantly improve the adhesion. Washable, durable, low-VOC and No-VOC paints may contain additives which can inhibit proper mural adhesion. Modern Paint Formulations: Some modern wall paints can make self-adhesive (peel and stick) murals more challenging to install. If you believe your wall surface may be a problem, please consider our pasted products, UltraStik™ (pre-pasted) and ProStik™ (requires paste), for a more universally compatible installation or take the necessary steps to properly prepare your wall surface as described in detail below. If you're unsure, we recommend ordering swatches of our materials to test adhesion prior to installation. There are endless combinations of wall paint and wall textures out there and we can’t test all of them. While we do offer materials compatible with varying wall surface types, some paints may inhibit adhesion of peel-and-stick products, and some wall textures may not provide enough surface area to stick a combination of those two make it even trickier. Our products are designed to work on ideally prepared surfaces, preferably smooth walls with a high-quality paint and primer. We strive to help you choose the right material for your wall mural project. Learn more about our materials and other specialty materials for masonry walls and exterior compatible options in our material comparison guide. QuikStik™ product with matte finish protective film laminateĪll materials come in matte finish. QuikStik™ product with premium dry-erase laminate for protection and erasability Removable and repositionable peel and stick woven fabric for lightly textured walls surfaces such as orange peel - *wall surface may require adding a primer/sealer prior to installation for material compatibilityįabric backed, Heavy Duty Vinyl for smooth and lightly textured applications, paste requiredĮco-Friendly Non-PVC Type II wallpaper for smooth and lightly textured applications, paste required Removable and repositionable peel and stick vinyl for smooth painted wall surfaces only - *wall surface may require adding a primer/sealer prior to installation for material compatibility Pre-pasted, water-activated wallpaper for smooth surfaces and lightly textured drywall wall surfaces Know your wall type before selecting a material. Read more.Choose a material compatible with your interior wall surface. Kollwitz’s instrument is the unique and unusual Chapman Stick, which he describes as “the perfect marriage between piano and guitar.” Kollwitz composed and performed all 16 tracks on “Serenity II.” The album is extraordinarily serene – aptly named – and melodic, speaking to us of gentle, warm breezes and flowing, peace inside and out. Album review by Dyan Garris for New Age CD.comįollowing the successful 2017 release of the album “Serenity,” Michael Kollwitz has done it again with his 2018 album release, “Serenity II.” This is his 22nd album, and his 2nd album release in the New Age genre. Serenity II offers 16 intimate, contemplative original tracks featuring lush MIDI-equipped Grand Stick and Stick Guitar.
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Ball’s predecessor as county executive, Allan Kittleman, responded with a proposal to buy and take down 10 buildings on lower Main Street to turn that flood-prone area into a waterfront park.īall, a County Council member who defeated Kittleman in last year’s election, opposed that plan, saying he thought a better balance could be struck between safety and retaining historic structures. But a number of businesses and residents have opted not to come back.įlood mitigation projects planned after the 2016 storm were still mostly on the drawing board when last year’s flood hit. The county has repaired the damage to public infrastructure, including one road closed for months after it washed out. The 2018 flood killed one person and washed out many of the same businesses and residents. But the community cleaned up, repaired and returned. The first flood claimed two lives, damaged 90 businesses, displaced nearly 100 residents and put hundreds out of work. In the past, flooding came from the Patapsco rising out of its banks, but the two most recent floods were “top-down,” meaning that rain falling in the 11-square mile Tiber-Hudson watershed burst from the channels of the streams that would normally carry it to the larger river. Over the years, Main Street has been inundated dozens of times, but there have been three major floods in the last seven years, including Tropical Storm Lee in 2011. Some of the buildings actually sit atop culverted stream channels. It was built in a steep, rocky valley where four streams come together before flowing into the Patapsco River. However, extreme rainfall events have become much more frequent across the Northeast since the 1950s, a trend scientists say is likely to keep happening as the global climate continues to change in the coming decades.Įllicott City has been flood-prone since its founding as a grain mill community in 1772. The floods that devastated old Ellicott City on July 30, 2016, and on May 27, 2018, were generated by “1,000-year storms,” with rains so intense that meteorologists consider them exceptionally rare and put the probability of their occurring in any year at 1 in 1,000. “When you look at the reality of it, there are some buildings that just have to come down in order to ensure the highest level of public safety possible,” Ball said in an interview. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball unveiled a flood mitigation plan in May that aims to keep Ellicott City “safe and sound.” It proposes boring a tunnel to siphon floodwaters away from the quaint shops and restaurants lining Main Street and building or expanding stormwater retention ponds and culverts farther up the watershed.īall’s plan would also demolish four of the historic buildings on lower Main and modify up to six more. Howard EcoWorks Executive Director Lori Lilly, during a tour of Ellicott City’s historic downtown in May. Most of the great melodic rock artists since the 60’s have come from the Mother Country. After Roy Orbison’s peak in the early 60’s and Brian Wilson’s collapse, the melodic emphasis became the least important of the three core components in American rock music. Like Orbison, though, The Beach Boys are hard to emulate: you need a bunch of guys who can sing well together, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.įrom my perspective, the reason why Buddy Holly’s death was so tragic was that American rock music lost a major champion of melody. Brian Wilson certainly had an abundance of melodic talent, but it was The Beach Boys’ glorious displays of harmony that defined their sound and proved to be the primary source of their influence. Buddy Holly’s music was more accessible: a kid could listen to Buddy Holly and think, “Maybe I could do that.” The sheer joy Buddy brought to his music only added more encouragement. Orbison was a problematic melodist because his three-plus-octave range combined with his uniquely intuitive songwriting style made it impossible for less gifted vocalists and songwriters to go where only Roy could go. The melodic emphasis in early American rock music manifested itself primarily in three artists: Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Brian Wilson. Although Chuck Berry wrote some pretty good lyrics, the words really wouldn’t matter until Bob Dylan came along. In that light, and considering for the moment only the American progenitors of rock, you could say that both Chuck Berry and Little Richard emphasized the groove. Production and arrangement are also secondary considerations. While harmony certainly matters (as The Everly Brothers, The Beach Boys and The Beatles certainly proved), harmony is dependent on melody. At the most basic level, any rock song has three basic components: the melody, the groove and the lyrics. While there are some artists capable at all three, the more common tendency is for an artist to be really strong in one area and at least adequate in the other two. To understand why the loss of Buddy Holly truly qualifies as tragic, you have to consider his contributions in the larger historical context. It’s always sad when someone dies before they’ve had a chance to experience life in all its stages, but the truth is that many of the fallen heroes who have become the subject of veneration had pretty much exhausted their musical possibilities before they died. I hate to be a cold bitch about it (not really), but only a very few of those deaths truly qualify as tragic from a musical perspective. There have been many rock heroes who have died young. When combined, however, the car can essentially feel like it’s driving itself on the highway, though not enough to take your attention away from the road. You’ll get adaptive cruise control and a lane-keeping feature, which have both become standard features in 2023. There are some handy driver-assist features to note too. While I’ve had some issues with connectivity in BMWs in the past, CarPlay connected immediately and consistently in the XM. Thankfully, the car does support wireless CarPlay and Android Auto. Legacy carmakers are starting to put more effort into their operating systems, but iDrive is still relatively dated-looking and difficult to navigate. Christian de Looper / Digital TrendsĪt the core of the tech in the XM is BMW’s iDrive 8.5, which is fine. It’s certainly not dated, but don’t expect the same level of tech as the cutting-edge EVs out there. The BMW XM may be built to be a modern driver, but it doesn’t necessarily offer the most modern tech. It gets up to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, rivaling many of the faster EVs out there. Even the base model offers 644 horsepower, and you’ll feel immediate punch when you hit the accelerator - thanks largely to the combination of the hybrid powertrain. Regardless of which mode you’re in, the XM gets up to speed in a hurry. Of course, most of the time you won’t charge it from zero, and if you can get used to charging overnight, the three-hour charge time won’t matter all that much. Alternatively, you could simply use the car in hybrid mode, which will make use of the combustion engine and battery to make for as efficient a hybrid experience as possible.ĭespite the battery’s modest 25.7-kilowatt-hour capacity, it still takes around three hours to fully charge it using the included charger. I work from home, so my “commute” is zero - but even my wife’s 10-minute commute is 8.3 miles, meaning that round-trip, she’d be using more than half of the battery per day. The XM is rated for around 30 miles of electric-only range, and that means that if you want to use it in electric mode, you’ll probably need to charge it after every outing. The car is considerably slower when you do so, but at least you won’t have to pay for as much gas. With an electric motor and battery, the car gets an extra kick if you put the pedal to the metal, but it also means that you can drive the car in battery-only mode - with the combustion engine only taking over when you run out of electric range. Not bad! An around-town electric SUVīMW is targeting big performance with this car, and in 2023, that means making a plug-in hybrid. You will only get two rows of seats (no 7-seater option available here), but there’s 18.6 cubic feet of space with all the seats in place, or a hefty 64.3 cubic feet with the second row down. Thankfully, there’s tons of space in the XM. In this case, however, I found that to be a good thing - I really liked the premium red leather interior, accent lighting, and generally high-end materials, even though they could all arguably also be described as gaudy. Of course, the interior is anything but scaled-back, at least in the version I drove. The slim rear lights look modern and stylish, and the rear overall feels a little more scaled-back compared to the rest of the car. I do prefer the rear of the XM to the front, though. BMW’s electric i7 is a screening room on wheelsīMW shipping cars without advertised Apple and Google features Tesla Model 3: Which EV sedan is better?īusiness upfront, 31-inch TV in the back. |
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