Initiative 1098 is a ballot referendum asking the voters of Washington state the following.

Should the state levy an income tax on an individual income earner, whose income is $200,000.00 a year or higher, conversely, should the state also impose an income tax on couples filing jointly, whose earned income is above $400,000.00?

Since this blog will not only be read by Washingtonians, but also by those residing in the other forty-nine states. I need to inform the reader residing in states other than Washington, that The State of Washington, does not currently have any form of income tax.

Therefore, since the residents of other states are now on the same page, I will continue with my opining.

I was interviewed yesterday October 15, 2010, by a local television station in Spokane, Washington, concerning Proposition 1098. The primary question asked, “Will you vote to approve or will you vote against Proposition 1098?” Here is the video: http://bit.ly/dfgB37

Therefore, as a registered voter, someone asked, “How say you on this matter?”
My answer is straightforward. To levy a tax against one-group verses another group, is class warfare. History as and object lesson, if we allow such class envy, we are endangering of being the next target.

The idea to punish other people for being successful is not economically wise. If we as a nation or any state travel this road of punishing the efficacious entrepreneur, where would any of us be employed? Many may not like the truth; the poor generally do not employ anyone.

What has happened to the ideal whom every American, young, old, poor, or middle class desire to better their economic condition?

Do not all American’s desire their children to attain to a greater degree of success than they did?

Have we as Americans come to believe that the government is our road to success?

America’s economic strength isn’t understood, until you understand the American Spirit. The American Spirit found in the individualism, entrepreneurship, and the risk takers, of the people who populate this nation. America’s foundations are sunk into the bedrock of its people.

If we as a people surrender the very individualism, and defer to the government as its subjects, then the American ideal is lost. If we are mere subjects of the ruling class, no matter what party, subsequently we are no longer America!

America is great because we believe in our ability to be great.

Since the laying of the foundations of the United States of America, the world at large called our country a bastard nation. Why such coarse word to describe America? The word bastard does befit our identity. The idea of a bastard is a child without a father. We are a nation without genetic similarity to any other nation on the earth. We truly have no father.

America is the envy of the world. If this is not, so why is it that most of the people of the world want to come to America?
Then why would we as American’s want to be like the rest of the world.

Initiative 1098 ask us to declare war against our more successful brothers, and sisters. Let us not be like every other nation. We are Americans let us be the shining city on the hill, that everyone else wants to be like.

Revoke to attempt of government to make us their dependents. Government should be our tool not our master.

This editorial will be a view of liberalism, and conservatism systemic beliefs. Furthermore, what these two divergent philosophies impede or promote.

The terms’ liberal, and conservative I believe are really talking points. The more accurate terms are socialism, and individualism.

These two philosophies can and do mutually exist in the economic system in the United States. The danger is when we believe that either viewpoint must dominate the economic landscape.

Historically, we learned that pure unadulterated individualism without regulation failed. The runaway corporate greed of the late nineteenth century gave rise to the term “Robber Barons.” These tycoons thought of their own welfare. The regulation of “Antitrust Laws” enacted not only protected the common good. By reestablished the most important tenant of capitalism competition.

Nineteen seventeen began the grand experiment with the establishment of the communist form of government in Russia. This form of centralized authority naturally fit well with the socialist economic system. This undiluted socialist system truly was the antitheses of the pure individualism.

The two philosophies socialism, and individualism, left undiluted did, and destined to fail.
These two divergent economic systems so polarized, and on opposite ends of the commercial spectrum. Each ideal impedes the same economic necessity competition.

Socialism, and individualism seek to promote the same thing the common good. Both economic systems left unregulated overlooked one important fact the human condition.

The social welfare manipulated by the state with absolute power, as we know, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The historical footnote found in the tyrannical reign of Stalin over the Soviet Union, and the “Robber Barons” of the late nineteenth century. Both examples expose’ the human frailty of greed.

To believe that the state knows what is better for the common everyday person is a fool’s desire. That the individuals are not responsible for their own needs, but the state is, ends in slavery. The unbridled greed of the “Robber Barons” of the early twenty-first century or any century, leads to servitude, too.

As a business owner, I operate my business under this supreme rule. I treat other, as I would want to be treated. This phrase probably sound familiar; it should it is the golden rule utter two thousand years ago by Jesus Christ.

In closing, I ask should all of us not only be concerned with our own needs, but also the needs of others.

Many visitors have asked, “How did you learn to write”? The standard answer I offer is, “Writing is a learned skill, the more you practice, the better you write.” To all those would be authors start writing, compose something every day.

As an author I am embolden by the kind comments of the readers of Mr. Decal’s blog post. I am also thankful for those who analyze my writing talent.

Before September of 2009, I had not written any article, save the essays written in school. Since that first published article writing has become a passion. Two months ago, I challenged myself, to write a twenty-page narrative. The project had three purposes, first to write a story, two to develop characters, and three to write dialog. The fourth unmentioned objective that the story line, with characters, and dialog, would all work together to form a plot, and the readers are entertained. During this self-imposed undertaking, I did learn how to construct a plot using the three elements noted above.

A friend helped me identify another bright spot in my writing ability. He is an author and teaches writing at the university level. He recognized my talent of painting pictures with the written word. Something I always wanted to be able to accomplish.

After I completed the writing project, I found a hobby that I loved. Because of my experiences during the assignment, I did not want to stop writing. The next decision came from the newfound passion. I decided to write a novel.

Writing a novel is a daunting task. The average novel consists of 250,000 words, a narrative that is interesting, and keeps the reader turning pages. I find the task overwhelming, exhilarating and challenging. I write everyday a minimum of 500-1,000 words. I am learning the frustration of writers block, and taking advantage of the creative juices when they flow unabated.

Therefore, I want to thank all of my readers of Mr. Decal’s Blog for your kind comments and helping me launch my writing career.

There are two types of plastic security signs, the first a non-reflective, the second, is a reflective security sign. This article will highlight only the reflective security signs.

The reflective security signs are not to be confused with self- luminous materials. Reflective materials require light to illuminate or reflect. These signs are similar to the road signs we all observe while we are driving. The reflective materials used to manufacture a reflective security sign also employ the glass bead to reflective light.

The yard security sign is the best advertisement for the home owner, because the sign communicates to a potential burglar that this house is protected. Since most criminals are opportunistic and will gravitate to the path of least resistance. These home thieves’ will not attempt a B&E because of the security devices in situ in a home. Most burglars’ do not want to be caught they will move on to a home that does not have a security system.

The reflective security sign continues to advertise after dark that a home has a security system. The potential home invader then chooses a home without a security system to burglarize. The reflective security sign increases the security customers’ peace of mind.

There are two schools of thought of how a reflective security sign should be printed. The first idea states, that the sign must be printed with transparent inks, so the entire sign reflects light. This is similar to how road signs are printed; the whole sign reflects when automobile lights illuminate the sign.

The second proposal of how reflective signs should be manufactured. The inks on the sign should be opaque. The areas of the sign without ink will reflect the lights of an automobile.

The background of the sign would be printed, utilizing opaque inks. The letters or words of the sign would be reflective as they are reversed out of the opaque background. The following is an example of this process. If a sign had the imprinted message, HOME SECURED BY ABC SECURITY, only the words, HOME SECURED BY ABC SECURITY, would reflect the illumination of cars lights. The background of the sign at night would be invisible.

Both printing paradigms are valid, and will convey the message desired, by the security company and the home owner.

If I had to choose I would rather have a reflective security sign protecting my home.

Doug Bryant

The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.
Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

The night before brewing, I had to cold steep coffee in other words I had to take my ground coffee add cold water to it and let it sit overnight.  Then the next day we added that coffee mixture to the water.  Because the coffee has certain oils in it, it will actually kill the head of a beer.  So as part of the grain mixture we had to add carapils.  These make the head frothier to counteract the oils in the coffee

You start off with 6 gallons of purified water (which gets boiled off to 5 gallons).  Once you bring the 6 gallons to a boil you start adding the ingredients.  The first thing you have to do is add the barley grains.  You can use wheat but for my brew we used barley.  You use a grain bag which is essentially a mesh bag you use to put the grains in and steep the grains.  Much like you would steep a tea bag in a hot cup of water.  However this cup is 6 gallons.  After the water has cooled down to 170 degrees you put the grains in the bag and you steep them for about 20 minutes.  Basically you are adding the grains for color and flavor only.  You are not extracting sugar from the grains with the steeping (which is called mashing).  The reason you are not extracting the sugars is because I bought a recipe that had an extract in it.  Once you add the extract the mixture is now called the wort.

Once the extract is added then you bring the wort to boil.  Then once the mixture is at a rolling boil you start a timer for 60 minutes and you add the hops.  When you add hops this early in the boil you will not get any of the aroma or the flavor.  These are called the bittering hops.  They add bitterness to the beer.  The reason these are bittering the beer is because all of the boiling you have to do is extracting the alpha acids out of the hops.  Once you add those hops it gets boring because you are just letting the wort boil.

Just before the boil ends I had to add the lactose (which is milk).  I wanted to brew a coffee milk stout so I have to have lactose in there. Now the lactose has to be un-fermentable sugars because I wanted the milk taste in the beer.  I did not want the yeast to eat the lactose sugars.

Once the boil ends things get very fast and interesting.  You have to take the wort off of the burner and you have to put a wort chiller in the wort.  Basically it is a heat transfer system.  It is a very long copper tube that is twisted around and around in a circle and goes in the wort.  You run cold water through it and the cold water cools down the wort, to the point where it is safe to pitch (add) the yeast.  Basically you have to pitch the yeast at a certain temperature.  Too cold and the yeast takes longer to get active.  Too hot and the yeast dies.  You want to infect the wort with the yeast ASAP.  Basically you are infecting the wort with the yeast so that nothing else can infect the wort.

Once the wort is chilled, you transfer it to a car-boy.  A car-boy is a 5 gallon glass bottle.  Up until this point it has been very easy to keep things sanitized because everything that you are working with is at a boil so anything that got in there was killed instantly because it was boiling.  Now that we are no longer boiling it can get infected very easily, and everything must be sanitized.

Once the wort is transferred to the car-boy you pitch the yeast.  What the yeast is going to do is eat all the fermentable sugars and poop alcohol, and fart CO2.  That is how the beer gets its alcohol content.

That is basically how you brew a coffee milk stout.  Or at least it was my observation of the whirlwind of activity in the process of brewing beer

Jason Bryant

www.decalfactory.com

First we must set a baseline for the discussion about the fading of color printing. Fading of color is a dilemma common to all industries. The plain truth is all color fades. Products such as carpeting, cars, decals, signs, banners, and a host of other products printed or pigmented with color fade.

The question we need to ask, “How quickly does a products color fade?”  This answer to this inquiry depends on the method of how a product is tinted.

The product that is pigmented implies the product’s color  is imbedded into the substrate. The pigmented product such as carpeting fades very slowly, but the product still fades. The product that is painted such as automobiles also fades gradually, but still fades.

The products that are printed such as decals, banners, signs, and other products exposed to sunlight. The process of printing these products utilizes two methods of printing, digital and screen-printing. The other methods of printing such as, flexography, offset will not be considered. These techniques are exclusively for indoor use.

I will highlight one product line, the plastic security sign. The plastic security sign is printed using the screen-printing method of printing. This technique is extremely fading resistance, but as noted before everything fades.

The question again, “How quickly does a products color fade?” The answer to this query depends on a few factors. The security lawn sign printed correctly will never fade to white. The printed colors will lighten over time, red may morph to an orange, dark blue may lighten.

The factor that lengthens or shortens the fading effect of a security sign is placement. The sign that is mounted facing north will not have significant color modification for five or more years. The security sign that is placed on the southern exposure will see color transformations in shorter durations. The east and west placements also have varying times of color degradation.  

Little known fact

Screen-printing companies test the veracity of their inks, by placing the security sign on a test board facing south. Every month a sign is left on the test board is equivalent to four months of sun exposure.

To conclude plastic security signs will not fade to white. Color changes will occur differently due to sign placement. So the question,” How long will my plastic security sign last”?  The answer is a general between 3-10 years.

The Decal Factory’s first and foremost desire is to make sure our customers are satisfied. When we print your decal, sign, banner, or security sign, we desire to keep printing your products for ever. The company has a long history of servicing our customer for decades. The Decal Factory works for you.  

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

We as a society have become very specialized in our chosen expertise. We call the Plummer to fix our broken pipes because they are an expert. We use an accountant to file our taxes, because they are an expert in their field.

This idea of a fiduciary relationship is seen more clearly when you either sell or buy a home. Most of us understand that if you are purchasing a home, you enter into a purchase agreement using your own real estate agent. We would feel uneasy about purchasing a home from the seller’s agent.

The reason we employ our own real estate agent is because by law, they represents you in as fiduciary. Your, purchasing agent looks out for your interest, not the seller’s interest. In real estate by law there is a line of demarcation separating the selling agent from the purchasing agent.

The agent that represents the home seller and the home purchaser must by law inform the purchaser and seller that there is a dual fiduciary. By informing both parties of the dual fiduciary the agent is communicating that the fiduciary relationship is in question.

The captured sales agent for a printing manufacture has a fiduciary relationship to that manufacture. Those agents only sell what that company manufactures, and will not inform you if their products do not fit your need.

The Decal Factory® is not a captured agent of any manufacture. Therefore The Decal Factory® can promote and nurture fiduciary relationships, because we answer only to our customers.

The singular fiduciary relationship is practiced by many printing distributors like The Decal Factory®.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

The Flexo presses have different printing stations for each color. Some machines have three colors stations some have six color stations. The cost of a Flexography print machine is a function of the number of color stations and the web width; a 3-color press narrow web would cost much less than that of a six or eight color wide web Flexo press.

The Flexo press can have another attachment; that is known as a turn bar. A turn bar is an apparatus that turns the stock over so you can print on the liner without removing the print job from the press. The other styles of printing do not offer this feature, if a print job calls for a coupon on the liner, the screen-printing press operator would remove the stock then reload the stock to print the liner.

The Flexo press also has an in-line cutting station. The labels can be left on the roll or can be individually cut into single units. In the other styles of printing, cutting of the label is accomplished off-line.

The advantage of the Flexo printing is once the machine is set up to print, the press operator would not have to touch the stock again until the completed labels are taken off the press. The other advantage of this method of printing is it is very fast.

Flexography printing is designed for large quantities; because set-ups and make-readies are expensive, thus roll label printing is not a good solution for 500 labels. The normal minimums for this type of printing would be 1,000 labels. Large quantities for this method of printing would be 100,000-millions.

The disadvantage of roll label is not a good solution for small quantities. In addition, the inks used by most roll label manufactures are water based and will fade in direct sun light. 

Flexography printing can print on paper and plastic substrates, and is a great solution for inside applications. This type of printing is used to brand consumer products from salsa to televisions, and warning labels for inside factory machines.

Screen-printing is a very old type of printing invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD). This type of printing called silk-screening, because the mesh used to press the ink through was made of silk. The term silk-screening has not been used since the 1960’s. Currently synthetic threads commonly used in the screen printing process; the most popular mesh in general use is made of polyester. Special mesh materials of nylon and stainless steel are available to the screen printer. 

Screen-printing uses a mesh of polyester, which resembles a screen hence the term “screen printing,” the mesh coated with emulsion that is photo-reactive. When this emulsion exposed to light is leaves a stencil imprint of the graphic that is to be printed, each color to be printed has its own screen. 

Screen-printing method because resembles a stencil and forces ink through a screen deposits many times the thickness of ink onto the substrate being printed. Each color has to be printed separately after the first color dries. Since the ink deposited is thicker, the resistance to fading due to sunlight exposure is a benefit. Disadvantage is each color is printed by resetting a new screen for the next color to print.

Table below will explain advantages and disadvantages better than a host of words will.

Obviously there still will be many questions, please free to call or Mr. Decal aka Doug Bryant at dougb@decalfactory.com or (800) 369-5331, to ask your question, because nothing is ever black and white there are exceptions to the standard guide lines.

Call The Decal Factory (800) 369-5331 for more information on your label or decal requirements.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Brand loyalty is a quest that is pursued by all sellers of products.  A quest for brand loyalty is filled with many pitfalls and red herrings.  It is an arduous quest that is only matched once the pursuer of said goal is willing to forgo all conventional thinking and practices.

Wikipedia defines brand loyalty as -

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer’s commitment to repurchase or otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy

Those of us that have pursued such goals knows this is the outcome of brand loyalty, however it does not describe the process in which one such goal is achieved..

Brand loyalty is an emotional response to certain environmental, circumstantial, and experiential factors.

Lets take a look at a couple of examples of this.

Heinz ketchup:  Everybody knows what a bottle of Heinz ketchup looks like.  Why?  When is the last time you saw a commercial for Heinz?  Do they blast all available media outlets with commercials about their products?  No.  They have been around so long that everybody knows who they are.  Also people buy Heinz because that is what their parents bought, and their parents, parents bought Heinz also.  Another factor to consider is that there are really only two brands of ketchup available in the U.S.  Heinz and Hunts.  So this type of brand loyalty is two fold: circumstantial, and experiential.  Circumstantial because there are only two brands of ketchup.  Experiential because most likely the buyers parents bought Heinz if they are buying Heinz.

Let’s look at another one.

Macintosh: This one is very interesting because Mac buyers buy because they are compelled to.  A number of factors affect this emotional response, perceived reliability, perceived superiority, and going against the flow.  Mac buyers will argue with anybody that tries to dis-credit Macintosh.  It is almost like a religion, a Mac religion, and the only prerequisite you need is the idea that a Mac is far superior to any PC.  This type of brand loyalty falls under experiential.  This is experiential because of the good experiences the buyer has had with a Mac whether these experiences are perceived or not.

Now the question becomes:  How did these brands achieve this brand loyalty?  It really is simple: Brand recognition.  I was not alive when Heinz first started making ketchup; however I am sure there were many marketing campaigns to get their prospective buyers to just try their product.  Also they did something extremely important; they never changed their label on the bottle.  Have you seen how many different bottles of Heinz ketchup there are?  Even though there are so many different bottles of ketchup the label always looks the same.  They built a brand by being consistent with their labeling.

Mac has had a rocky life if Heinz was the steady grower then Mac is its antithesis.  Mac even got bailed out by none other than Microsoft at one point.  Only in the last decade or so have they started to come into their own.  Why?  Because instead of going head to head with Microsoft (which would be a losing battle) they went in a completely different direction.  They started to make their own way in the electronics world we live in.  Phones, MP3 players, all in one computers, and just recently ipads.  More importantly is that their labeling has been in a constant state of flux.  Now you see why I said they were the antithesis of Heinz.  However if you look closer at their brand you will see something that has not changed.  The apple shape of their logo.  Yes it has been different colors, different shapes, and in different locations, but it has been the apple at all times.  So they too have stuck to their brand.

I think we are starting to see a pattern here.  Basically if you build your brand with the same look and provide examples to your customers why they should choose you with an emotional response then you too will build brand loyalty for your company.

In what ways would you keep your logo consistent while changing your direction to attract new generations of potential buyers?

To use the decal as advertising medium to create brand awareness, the marketing team must find a way to involve the customer to apply the decal to most conspicuous application. Most people today when they purchase a desired product want to tell the world about the product they bought. The vehicle aftermarket industry provides decals for their customers to exhibit that their vehicle has this type of aftermarket product installed.

In the clothing, industry most of us draw a blank when we consider using a decal for a clothing line. In fact, there are many ways to use decals to build brand awareness in the garment industry.

A case history of one way a retail store chain that uses decals to promote their retail store filled with the articles for skate boarders. Such as skate boards, clothing lines, and accessories. This particular retail store chain employs a team of professional shredders that sponsor competition and expositions of skate boarding teams in the larger metropolitan markets. The retail store chain has decals made and distributes the decals from their retail outlets to promote the event. Therefore, all the local shredders in that metropolitan area attend the event. The sponsored competition is nothing more than advertisement to brand their retail outlets of equipment, clothing, and accessories for the skater. The retail outlets also have decals that they sell and hand out promoting the skate industry and their stores. 

Another case history going back into the 1960’s is about a surfing clothing line known as “Hang Ten.” This company did not have any retail outlets, but did sell their clothing line in specialty clothing outlets. This company used broadcast and print media to advertise their brand, but also wanted to utilize decals to complete their advertising blitz. The problem was how to get their kick butt logo design into the hands of their customers the surfers who purchased their surf clothing line.

The problem solved by using the hangtag that each garment had attached to it. The tag on one side had the brand name or sizing, pricing, but on the reverse side there was printed a “Hang Ten” logo as a decal. Now that the decal was in the consumers hands these decals where affixed to many different surfaces by the surfer. They adhered the logos to cars, lockers, notebooks, surfboards, and to the delight of the company, “Hang Ten” became the clothing of the surfing industry.

The success of the decal-branding program to the surf industry was so complete, the line of clothing known as “Hang Ten” went mainstream. The clothing line also marketed in major clothing outlets of the day.

The use of decals as a marketing tool in the clothing industry has been forgotten. Particular clothing lines marketed to the young consumer, in the skiing industry snow as well as water, and we should not neglect the snowboarding industry. Is anybody listening?

Alternatively, most marketing teams out there are only listening to their ad agencies. Ad agencies have no interest using decals because they do not understands or envision the decals worth in building brand awareness.

Sometimes a marketing team envisions the value of using decals as a way to take their brand from a subliminal reminder to a conscience awareness of the brand to buy. Using decals is so inexpensive, costing pennies, lasting years and promoting your product by the best testimony ever your customer. History has many testimonies of the use of the decal that can cause your branding message to go nuclear.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331