Breaking News: President Obama Announces That US Will Convert to DC Power

In a early morning press conference this morning, President Obama announced that the United States will convert the national power grid from AC or Alternating Current to DC or Direct Current. “Talking with the industry experts and electrical engineers, we feel that converting to Direct Current is a viable solution for solving America’s power crisis” states President Obama. “If we are to lead the world in innovation and green solutions, we must do so by revamping and overhauling our power distribution network.” adds the president.

In a surprise move which brought a shock and awe feeling to the national power grid association and power companies around the nation, advocacy groups are quick to bring praise to the president but question his timeline. “I was pleasantly shocked by the announcement until he mentioned the July 4th deadline.” states US power grid authority Dennis Rhinehold. “DC is absolutely the way to go, but just three months? What was the president drinking last night?” adds blogger and Washington insider Prez Hilton.

Details are still being worked out on the President’s new initiative to transform the national power grid. Major news networks were quick to point out that the new plans make it seem as though the county will be powered by the Energizer Bunny.  Comments were also made that this bold move leads some to think that this is an “Etch-A-Sketch” like media blitz for the President’s re-election campaign.

See more here:

CNN: Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room – Special Edition

NBC Today: DC Power for US, The President’s New Plan

CBS: Break Morning News

ABC: This Week Sunday Morning Show

Fox News: President Wants WHAT?

C-Span: Breaking News from the White House

 

Breaking News: ETC Enters Rigging Market

WOW, talk about big news!  ETC really is raising the bar just as their ad’s have been saying! It was just announced that ETC is entering into the Rigging Market with a new division of the company, ETC Rigging.  You can find more about ETC Rigging by visiting their website at www.etcrigging.com.

I am going to let the Offical Press Release tell the rest of the story:

Already leaders in the entertainment-technology industry with their respected lighting fixtures and control systems, ETC will unveil a line of innovative motorized hoists and hoist-control systems for theatrical and architectural use. The product family is called ETC Rigging™, and its first offerings — on view at LDI — will be the fixed-speed ETC Prodigy™ hoist systems and ETC QuickTouch™ controls. (More specific information on the benefits and features of ETC Rigging can be found on the new Web site www.etcrigging.com , which offers detailed video and animated illustrations of the products.)

ETC Chief Executive Officer Fred Foster explains this major corporate move: “ETC has always been driven by the pursuit of a better way to do things – to create products that represent real progress in entertainment technology. We have developed this new range of rigging systems with the same spirit of pioneering technological innovation that brought the industry our Source Four spotlights. Our ETC Rigging systems literally and figuratively raise the bar – engineered to set new standards for safety and smart design, while being affordable.”

Experts for almost 35 years in the stage world, with thousands of lighting installations worldwide, ETC has closely scrutinized the state of the art of rigging. “We found significant opportunities for improvement,” says ETC Vice President of Business Development Bill Gallinghouse. Sophisticated technical features such as slack-line detection, status feedback, load cells, and absolute position encoders, are standard — not options — in ETC’s rigging product range.  “We have rethought the fundamentals so that more kinds of venues have access to cutting-edge automated rigging,” says Gallinghouse. “The range of applications for this first series of ETC Rigging will go from grade schools to high schools, colleges and universities, to houses of worship, community theaters, and TV.”

ETC Rigging includes unprecedented innovation in technology — a smaller powerhead, unique cable management system, an innovative compression tube backbone. Prodigy hoists retract compactly into 30 inches of plenum space, fitting into low-ceilinged venues while preserving sightlines and aesthetics. Venues whose architecture could not support other hoist systems can now access motorized rigging: ETC compression-tube technology imposes no additional lateral-load stress on buildings. And new buildings with limited budgets can choose affordable ETC Rigging instead of having to specify expensive catwalks or other structures to gain easy, safe access to their truss and stage equipment.

Known for their award-winning control systems in the lighting world, ETC has taken this expertise into the rethinking of better controls for hoist automation, with the result being the powerful, scalable, yet simple to operate ETC QuickTouch series.

Gallinghouse emphasizes, however, that technological innovation is just one part of ETC’s overall plan to serve this market: “ETC is partnering with the most experienced and qualified rigging installers and supporting them with our unmatched project management, customer and technical service, and manufacturing to provide complete, safe and economical rigging solutions.”

ETC says that orders are already being taken for ETC Rigging systems, and the company plans to begin shipping the products in January.