How To Sound Proof A Room

No verdict yet, as jurors focus on Tony Nelson case wiretaps

They had no verdict, but it was some of Tony Nelson's own words that jurors in his corruption trial seemed to zero in on Thursday as they debated his fate in a soundproof room.

Shortly after 2 p.m., the panel of 12 sent a note to U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan asking to listen again to two phone calls the FBI caught on a wiretap.

Related:   U.S. vs. Nelson

The expletive-laced recordings were calls between Nelson and Lance Young, the government's star witness. He testified against Nelson and is facing up to five years in prison after a plea deal.

On the first tape, the men seem to be talking about Young's plan to sell his dredging company Subaqueous Services Inc. Young says another company won't be smart or aggressive enough to figure out the kind of thing he and Nelson have been doing. Young complains about people who want handouts for no work and says very few people can separate money from friendship. Nelson tells him he believes if people are friends, they're friends.

In the second recording, Nelson and Young talk about working together in the future. Young tells Nelson he wants to be a silent partner and he'll make Nelson a "king." Nelson suggests they go in on construction work together. The two speak again about another port vendor, with Nelson telling Young that company won't get the same help.

Nelson faces a charge of conspiracy and another charge of lying to the FBI, along with multiple counts of bribery, mail fraud and money laundering. The government says he took bribes from Young in exchange for helping him with port business from 2006 to 2008. The defense says Nelson earned monthly consulting fees, as another port board member did before him, before Young paid him a $50,000 advance for a joint business venture.

Corrigan threw out the government's case against co-defendant Frank Bernardino this week, saying prosecutors hadn't proved the South Florida lobbyist did anything wrong when he funneled payments from Subaqueous to Nelson.

This trial is the first half of what's expected to be a two-part prosecution. Corrigan severed seven counts of mail fraud for another trial.

There are eight women and four men on this jury. Three appear to be African-American.

The defense has brought race into the trial, with Nelson's attorney saying during his closing argument that his client wouldn't risk his legacy as the port's first black board member and chairman by taking kickbacks.

Methods of sound proofing a room

There is often a need for the organizations or even the homes to reduce the level of noise or sounds which is coming into or going out of the rooms. This need could be for maintaining the secrecy of conversations, enjoying the acoustics of a home theatre system where you want least noise and even while you want to listen to the music that you might be playing on the guitar or other instrument. If the need for sound proofing is known in advance, before constructing the home or the office space, suitable materials can be used in construction for meeting this requirement. But, this majority of the cases and especially in case of rented accommodations, this choice may not be available. Therefore, the arrangement for making the room sound proof is done using the other means. One is to restrict the entry and exit of the noise into and out of the room respectively. The other approach is to reduce the reflections of the sound from the objects kept inside the room. It is noteworthy that the dampening the reflections of sound from the different material kept inside the room is important and this can be achieved to a great extent by careful selection of the furnishing. All the materials which will not be able to reflect the sound will be helpful in making room sound proof. So, what are the ways in which this can be achieved? Rough surfaces act as absorbent of the vibrations and these do not permit reflections. Walls also need to be covered with the rough texture and thick material which will block the sounds. Most commonly the blankets or wall carpet are tucked the ceiling for this purpose. There are special wall panels available for the same. Similarly, close attention is also paid to the items of interior decoration purchased for the room. So, the floor lamps that would make for wonderful decorative and lighting articles shall be made from materials which are more likely to be sound absorbers. Sound proofing can also be done by restricting the movement of air to and from the room. For this purpose, it is desirable to have solid doors and windows built. There is also a need to plug the gaps of the doorways as well as windows. For door gaps, you can make use of the weather strips. For bridging window gaps, double frame windows can be used. Do you're thinking that it's easier or a lot of troublesome to negotiate in powerful economic times? Well, it depends. I have been asked by several folks, if it's easier or a lot of difficult to barter throughout a recession. The answer I've given is it depends on how well someone can read body language, and the general negotiation skills they possess.

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