Blaze started in one gondola and spread to another at the Highfield festival near Leipzig on Saturday night At least 23 people were injured when two gondolas of a ferris wheel caught fire at a music festival near Leipzig in eastern Germany The fire started in one gondola and spread to a second on Saturday night Four people suffered burns and one suffered injuries from a fall including first responders and at least four police officers were to be examined in the hospital for possible smoke inhalation The incident took place at the Highfield festival at Störmthaler Lake near Leipzig Police are investigating the cause of the fire One of the charred gondolas Photograph: Heiko Rebsch/APAs of Sunday morning police were still unable to provide concrete information about the condition of those injured The exact number of casualties had also not been determined The operator of the ferris wheel told dpa that no passengers were sitting in the gondola in which the fire started The Dropkick Murphys are shipping up to Boston next year The Bay State rockers announced the full lineup for their 2024 St. Patrick’s Day tour, which takes over Boston for four straight shows next year. The festivities kick off March 14 at Citizens House of Blues before heading to MGM Music Hall at Fenway March 15-17 Joining the Dropkick Murphys on tour is Pennywise with the punk rock group also serving as the co-headliner for the Feb Dublin rock group the Scratch will also serve as the tour’s opener but only through the March 15 concert in Boston A daytime, VIP mini-concert will also be held at MGM Music Hall March 16, with free admission for kids under 10 when accompanied by a parent or guardian with a paid ticket. Proceeds from the benefit show will go to The Claddagh Fund an organization founded by the Dropkick Murphys that helps underfunded nonprofits Openers for the March 16 and 17 shows in Boston will be announced at a later date The tour is also set to stop at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland Tickets to the Dropkick Murphys’ 2024 St. Patrick’s Day tour go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at DropkickMurphys.com. Fans who sign up for the presale ticket code can purchase tickets beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com. Home Delivery Gift Subscriptions Log In Manage My Account Customer Service Delivery Issues Feedback News Tips Help & FAQs Staff List Advertise Newsletters View the ePaper Order Back Issues News in Education Search the Archives Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Purchase Work at Boston Globe Media Internship Program Co-op Program Do Not Sell My Personal Information The excellent forum site… pianoworld.com (no relation) has set up a special tour of the Mason and Hamlin piano factory in Haverhill and it seemed a good idea to compile details of currently available piano factory tours Many of you will already have visited one or more of these facilities If so please add your comments at the end to help others This piece will hopefully encourage you to visit a piano factory If I have missed out any tours (which I probably have) please let me know and I will update accordingly I am awaiting information from some manufacturers and this will be added shortly I have tried to make this information as accurate as possible but please ensure you check details with the relevant facility before visiting owners and pianists/music professors can be arranged by appointment (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); but visits for customers and dealers can be arranged Germany does not offer a similar comprehensive tour information about this tour was obtained from previous visitors It is therefore most important to check all aspects of this tour directly if you are a piano manufacturer (including digital pianos) and we haven’t included you Some smaller piano makers don’t offer a formal tour but are happy to show you around their facilities A couple of manufacturers have asked not to be included in this article as they can’t accommodate a large number of enquiries and inspires you to discover just how amazing this manufacturing process really is please add you comments about your own tour experiences This post will be updated as and when new information arrives Previous How can you buy a brand new acoustic piano for 130 dollars Learn to Play Your Songs in Your Music Library Peregrine’s Pianos in London has arranged factory tours for British customers Those wishing to visit the August Förster factory (Lobau) or the Schimmel factory (Braunsweig) should simply let us know and we are the London representatives for both companies Videos of some of our past visits to these factories can be seen on our YouTube channel Technological change in the Saxon city of Brandis Testing of e-mobility and smart living for rural regions Their old commercial area is almost completely rented out and the demand for building sites for residential houses is higher than the supply “We need to cooperate.” Jesse is the mayor of Brandis he means the small municipalities in Partheland it lies between the economically strong city of Leipzig and the medium-sized towns of Grimma and Wurzen the municipalities want to remain attractive for inhabitants and companies and retain their autonomy This is why they created the Partheland region at the end of 2018 and are now cooperating on the ultimate issue of the future: digitalisation This is the third time in quick succession that Brandis has been awarded a grant in a federal or state funding competition Brandis secured the title of Saxon Innovation Municipality and has been one of nine Open Government pilot communities of BMI since 2017 The driving force behind the applications is Mr Jesse Formerly managing director of a marketing firm and mayor since 2013 he has been living in the small town in the Leipzig surroundings since 2002 A charging station for e-bikes is located between the town hall and the church In rural areas “our focus is traditional public services” Sensor technology plays a secondary role outside of densely populated areas the county is responsible for waste collection and open source platforms are not among the most pressing needs of residents Brandis is a kind of locomotive for the Partheland region Thanks to funding from previous competitions the town now has digital equipment that “we couldn’t have afforded either financially or in terms of manpower,” says Jesse Many administrative processes and even the municipal maintenance department have been digitalised city council functions largely without paper and the market square and railway station in Brandis-Beucha are wi-fi zones There is a citizens’ app and an engaging municipal website with a participation portal and a place to report problems Participatory projects using an app such as “Kinder entdecken Brandis” (Children Discover Brandis) have made the possibilities of technological change tangible The other towns in Partheland have yet to make this much progress But the German Federal Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz) also applies to these municipalities: by 2022 all municipal services must also be offered online even though the distance to the municipal administration is shorter it can still be more difficult due to a lack of public transport This is why the prospect of eliminating trips to local government offices is a welcome one for people who have difficulty walking representatives of the “smart cities” pilot region Partheland consulted with IT specialists and engineers to develop the first projects that stand a chance of receiving KfW support a test phase lasting several months is planned to explore how e-mobility can be organised in rural areas The plan is to set up a temporary rental service for electric cars and electric bicycles with a private partner One of the concerns here is that the municipalities have company cars that are not fully utilised Car sharing could generate savings in the operation of the municipalities’ vehicle fleets The “Smart Cities Pilot Projects” is a competition held by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior Building and Community (BMI) for cities and municipalities in cooperation with KfW the Federal Ministry of the Interior awards grants via KfW totalling EUR 750 million 13 projects were selected in the first round Applications for the second phase may be submitted until 20 May 2020 smart living will also be tested in Brandis digitally assisted living could keep the elderly from having to move into a nursing home Three blocks of flats owned by the city’s housing association which are scheduled for energy-efficient rehabilitation are to be connected as smart homes and equipped with digital services Smart living is considered a flagship project because the other municipalities can easily adopt proven concepts and quickly benefit from the Brandis experience A third example is the stationary digital laboratory It is planned to be set up in the former community centre in the Beucha district where the municipality also intends to establish a start-up centre and a co-working space “Raising awareness about digitalisation,” is how Jesse describes the function of the digital laboratory and says that it has “not yet really caught on” in rural areas residents can experience first-hand on the basis of prototypes what technological change might be like and what impacts it could have Several towns in Partheland are interested in these projects it could pretty much move from place to place This article was published in CHANCEN Kompakt spring/summer 2020 "Digitale Pioniere" the idea is to involve people in the decision-making processes in all of the projects The mayor of Brandis generally sees the “Smart City” project as an opportunity to “motivate residents to participate in city life” he is currently experiencing “an enormous process of change even if many citizens are not yet aware of it” which also includes the Partheland municipalities The population of Saxony’s largest city has increased by 100,000 in the past ten years has seen a 50 per cent increase in the same period The municipalities of Partheland have to leverage synergies to be successful because Jesse is sure that “it will not be feasible in the long run for every municipality to offer all the skills and expertise” Non-existent or dilapidated infrastructure hinders economic efficiency and thus engenders poverty by promoting environmentally-friendly means of transport Factories and industrial facilities should also ensure that production is in line with ecological aspects to avoid unnecessary environmental pollution All United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda in 2015 At its heart is a list of 17 goals for sustainable development known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Our world should become a place where people are able to live in peace with each other in ways that are ecologically compatible by the following photographers/photo agencies are used: