Spirituality and religion are two forever tangled terms which can always ignite one or the other controversy. Every religion has its own set of beliefs, do’s and don’ts and similarly, Hindu religion has its own versatile God family in which Lord Ganesha is the first of all to be worshiped as he is considered the God of all new beginnings.
Well, some media campaigns fail miserably to understand that an idea should be executed considering that it should not hurt anyone’s religious sentiments. Recently, an advertisement in Australia has ignited a lot of fire in the name of an ad campaign for MLA i.e. Meat and Livestock.
In this ad, religious leaders and Gods of different religions are sitting together and eating lamb. Without a doubt, Lord Ganesha pictured eating lamb is not going well with Hindus as it is really hurtful to see something totally opposite against our Indian teachings, being categorically shown in this ad.
Here’s the advertisement which totally lacks sensitivity towards their audience:
Yes, it’s provocative enough and that’s why people have tweeted to get it banned. Nitin Vashisht, the spokseman of Hindu community has said that the ad lacks ethics and should be withdrawn.
Here are few tweets from deeply hurt Indians living abroad:
— Ankit (@ankitkshukla) September 5, 2017
— Jaydev Joshi (@Joshi_Jaydev) September 6, 2017
https://t.co/cm8GfbrukW Wht an ignorant POS.That Indian accent adds 2 d insensitivity. hw cm Jesus aint talking wit a middle east'n accent?
— kasturi shankar (@KasthuriShankar) September 6, 2017
Putting up with a much-owed explanation, Marketing manager Andrew Howie clarified and said, “We know that lamb has been the meat that brings everyone together for decades, and what better way to celebrate the product than over a modern spring barbecue.”
Let’s see this gets banned or not.


A lead story in today's local newspaper is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a law passed in Maine, while having significant public health benefit, is invalid. In a unanimous decision, they stated "Despite the importance of the public health objective .... [federal law] says nothing about a public health exception ..."
I've read with interest, but not agreement, commentary by a handful of (non-CEO) association community bloggers that social media needs to have space with minimal (if any) conversational restriction, minimal thought of continued value/relevance of brands (including trademarks), and association staff need more freedom to express individuality without significant CEO concern of legal issues, particularly potential liability. Hmm ...
The headline could read, "Despite the importance of the social media objective .... the law says nothing about a social media exception ..."
It's difficult to debate utopian ideas when it's not about the merits of utopia, but rather the unpopular yet very real aspect of liability created by social media. Or as the legal community says, another word for social media is "evidence". It's more reasonable to anticipate any investigation will surely review all association communications, including social media, than to believe it's not going to matter or not be found. If association hard drives, servers and email have been subpoenaed for a very long time, why would any investigation skip the blog, text messages, Twitters, employee online rant, or Facebook site?
Of course social media needs to be subject to the same consideration of every other association program or way to communicate - the risk, liability, staff time, expense, interest of membership, etc. If it can't be printed in an association magazine, can't be discussed at an association meeting, can't be said to a member on the phone, can't be the subject of an association program ... then it really doesn't matter how much someone might want to rant it online instead or express their individual thoughts ... there are still conversations that qualify as "can't". And frankly, many of those laws are there for all the right reasons. They seek to protect the public from harm.
And as long as laws exist, then we have a job to do that recognizes the laws. Association integration of social media is necessary, but it's not an exception.
Hey Cindy. Thanks for the link, although I'm surprised that it is in a sentence that says bloggers suggest there is not a need to be concerned about legal issues, particularly liability. The last sentence in my post reads, "Questions of liability, anti-trust, or productivity won't go away, but we will probably ask (and, more importantly, answer) them differently."
Of course liability is real. It's a real concern. But it's not the only thing to think about, and I don't think it's the only piece of the fear/control issue in the association community, and that was the point I was trying to make.
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|10:20 AM PT11:20 AM MT12:20 PM CT1:20 PM ET13:20 ET17:20 GMT1:20 10:20 AM MST12:20 PM EST12:50 PM VEN21:20 UAE12:20 PM CT, May 19, 2019
SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Georgia Attendance: 36,548
Freeman, Braves look to stay hot, revive Foltynewicz
Milwaukee Brewers at Atlanta Braves
- Milwaukee has gone 11-2 against the NL East this season, hitting .271 as a team while posting a 2.40 ERA. Only the Rays (2-0) have a better record against the division in 2019.
- The Brewers have won 10 games in May, tied for the most in the National League (Cubs). The Brewers have a 2.75 ERA in May after posting a 4.94 ERA in April -- this is the second-largest month-over-month improvement in MLB (Mets, 5.423.02).
- Atlanta has won five of its last six, last beating St. Louis 10-2. Atlanta has had a double-digit run total three times this season -- just four NL teams have had fewer. Last season, the Braves had double-digit runs 17 times -- the Dodgers were the only NL team to do so in more games (18).
- Christian Yelich had 10 total bases on Thursday (two home runs, one double), making him the third player with multiple games of 10+ total bases this season (Joc Pederson, Mitch Garver). His 39 runs are tied with George Springer for most in MLB and his 40 RBI are one off the MLB leader Cody Bellinger.
- Freddie Freeman had three hits on Thursday, his fifth game with at least three hits this season -- only Nolan Arenado and Eduardo Escobar have more among National Leaguers (seven). He also scored three runs in the game after scoring five runs in his first 13 games of May.
- Mike Moustakas had his first three-hit game of the season on Thursday, and the Brewers are 8-3 in his multi-hit games this season. He's hitting .278 in his last 20 games after hitting .235 in his first 20, and he's a career .346 hitter against the Braves.
- Verlander to start Game 2, Greinke next
- Astros bats outside Altuve scuffling
- WS in Houston a homecoming for Rendon
- Veterans help Nats reach World Series
- Astros reliever Pressly expects to play
If Atlanta's struggling Mike Foltynewicz hopes to get his season on track, he'll have to do it against one of the top pitchers in the National League on Sunday.
Foltynewicz (0-3, 8.02 ERA) will oppose Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff (6-1, 3.72) in the finale of the three-game series at Atlanta's SunTrust Park.
The Braves have won the first two games of the series, including a 4-3 victory on Saturday courtesy of Freddie Freeman's 10th inning walk-off homer. Atlanta has won four straight.
Foltynewicz was an All-Star last year and expected to be the team's No. 1 starter. After being sidelined by a bone spur in spring training, the right-hander has not been able to find his footing. Foltynewicz has struggled in his first four starts and last week he allowed three home runs and eight runs in 4 2/3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"It's tough when you had success like that last year and then you come out of the gates and your first four aren't pretty," Foltynewicz told reporters. "It's something you've got to change quick."
Foltynewicz lost his only start to the Brewers in 2018, getting battered for five runs in six innings despite seven strikeouts. That poor effort was not typical for Foltynewicz. In six career appearances against Milwaukee, five of them starts, he is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA.
Woodruff has had no such problems for the Brewers, particularly in his four most recent starts. Since April 27, Woodruff is 4-0 and has not allowed more than one run in any game. His ERA over that stretch is 1.23.
In his last start, Woodruff worked six scoreless innings and limited the Philadelphia Phillies to one hit and worked around five walks. The Brewers gave Woodruff some early run support and he never eased up.
"The lead always makes it easier to just get yourself into attack mode," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. "That's really what he did. He dropped in some first-pitch strikes with some breaking balls, got free strikes, then attacked. Getting a lead for him does that or you. You can pitch like that."
Woodruff will be making his first career appearance against Atlanta.
"He's just now continued pitching well, taking another step and is really on the attack with hitters," Counsell said. "The fastball is really overpowering at times, it feels like. He's using it well, he's throwing his off-speed for strikes. It's a good recipe for success."
Woodruff will try to slow down Atlanta rookie Austin Riley. In four games since getting called up from Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday, Riley is batting .533 with two home runs. He is the sixth player in franchise history to have eight hits in his first four games.
Freeman, who has homered in three straight games, needs one home run to reach 200 and three doubles to reach 300. If he reaches those milestones, he will become the sixth Braves player to do so, joining Hank Aaron, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Eddie Mathews and Dale Murphy.
The Braves made a roster move on Saturday. They recalled left-hander Jerry Blevins from Triple-A Gwinnett and released veteran southpaw Jonny Venters.
The Brewers had to make a move in order to activate Chase Anderson in time to start Saturday's game and sent Jacob Barnes to Triple-A San Antonio.
--Field Level Media
Updated May 19, 2019


A view of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. File photo/Reuters
Japan’s nuclear regulator plans to reinvestigate the Fukushima disaster, in which three reactors at an atomic power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power melted down after an earthquake and tsunami eight years ago, it said on Wednesday.
The March 2011 disaster led to explosions and the meltdown of the three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station north of the capital, Tokyo, spewing radiation that forced 160,000 people to flee, many never to return.
In its investigation, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) will seek to establish where radiation is leaking from damaged reactor containment vessels, a paper it released showed.
It will also look at cooling systems set up to keep the melted fuel in the reactors from overheating, it said.
A spokesman for the utility, contacted by Reuters by telephone, could not immediately comment.
The disaster led to the eventual shutdown of all Japan’s reactors, which before the disaster had supplied about 30 per cent of the electricity in the world’s third-largest economy.
Several investigations since have looked into the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
One of them concluded that Fukushima "was a profoundly manmade disaster - that could and should have been foreseen and prevented, (while) its effects could have been mitigated by a more effective human response."
In 2016, the government estimated the total cost of plant dismantling, decontamination of affected areas, and compensation would be 21.5 trillion yen ($199 billion), or about a fifth of Japan’s annual budget.
Japan will for the first time next month lift an evacuation order in one of two towns where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located, officials said on Tuesday.
Tokyo Electric Power plans to allow overseas workers coming to Japan under a new visa programme to work on the cleanup of its wrecked Fukushima nuclear power station north of Tokyo, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima power plant on Monday began removing atomic fuel from inside a building housing one of the reactors that melted down in 2011.
Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the minister for climate change and environment of the UAE, emphasised cooperation in environmental sustainability among countries.
Nigerian novelist and poet Lola Shoneyin was at #BookTalks at Al Rawi Café in Sharjah discussing her multiple award-winning debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, which explores the structure and effects of polygamy in Nigeria. The event is part of the ongoing year-long Sharjah World Book Capital (SWBC) 2019 celebrations.
The UAE stands in solidarity with the Philippines in these difficult times and is ready to provide all support and assistance, tweetd Sheikh Mohamed.
Thomas Markle described the royal family as "one of the greatest long-living institutions ever," saying that when Meghan married Harry in May 2018 they took an obligation "to be part of the royals and to represent the royals."


McKenzie Weseloh and her Moberly partner Morgan McCall finished off the Kirksville duo of Vanessa Van Laningham and Noelle Mputu by a score of 10-5 to win the No. 2 doubles match Monday before their Lady Spartan home fans.
However, this would be the only celebration of victory Moberly would express as Kirksville returned home earning an 8-1 team dual win reported Lady Spartans coach Kyle Wiechens.
The top doubles team of Molly Greene and Madeline Meystrick lost a tough 8-10 decision to Kirksville's Christy Kuttenkuler and Olivia Halma. Also, in the three-spot Moberly's Lillianne Powell and partner Payton Wandrey lost by the same score to Hannah Steele and Annaliese Novinger.
In singles action for Moberly; Greene lost 7-10 to Kuttenkuler, Meystrik lost 3-10 to Halma, Weseloh lost 8-10 to Van Laningham, McCall lost 5-10 to Mputu, Powell lost 7-10 to Steele and Wandrey dropped a 4-10 decision to Novinger.
Coach Wiechens reported the Spartan netters won 11 of 12 matches played Sept. 6 against Hannibal.


US State Dept. Spox asked if US general's visit to Syria was legal
Turkish foreign ministry on Monday summoned US ambassador Jeff Flake to convey Ankara's discomfort about a top US general visiting northeast Syria over the weekend, Turkey's state news agency reported citing diplomatic sources.
Sources also said Flake was asked to give an explanation about US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley's visit to a region under the control of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who according to Turkish officials has ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated a "terrorist group" by Ankara.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed later on Monday in a press briefing that Flake did go to the Turkish foreign ministry, "for meetings and discussions."
Price added that General Milley reportedly met only with U.S. troops during his visit to Syria.
"Of course, when it comes to General Milley's visit, we'd refer you to the Department of Defense; however, it's our understanding that General Milley met only with U.S. troops while in Syria. It was only an interaction with American service members."
That is when a reporter cited "media that is close to the SDF/YPG" which said that General Milley "did indeed meet with Mazloum Abdi, the head of the SDF," and asked Price:
"So the US Army chief travels to an area controlled by the YPG/PKK, and they are headed - the SDF is headed by someone who we all know comes from PKK ranks, and he ordered the killings of Turkish and Kurdish civilians as well as NATO soldiers. So just the optics of that, the US Army chief just doesn’t pop up anywhere around the world, so what is really the explanation for the visit?"
"But the US Army chief does pop up around the world to visit with US service members. That's what he did in this context. Our service members are deployed in Syria in service of a goal that we share with Turkiye as well as with our other allies as well as with all members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS."
The reporter then asked Price if he would consider the area under SDF control "to be part of Syria," and when Price replied affirmatively, the reporter pressed:
"Did the chairman get a visa to go there, in Syria?"
Price said: "If that’s a serious question, I would encourage you to talk to the Department of Defense."
Reporter: "It is a serious question. How does he go – that – if that area, if you still recognize that area as being part of Syria, the top military leader in the United States of America, he goes there, in and out, without consulting with that government, without doing anything – correct?"
Price: "I would refer you to the Department of Defense if that is, in fact, a serious question."


Wasilla Hillbillies. The whole lot of them.
Levi Johnston says when Bristol found out her mother, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was expecting a baby she said she should be having a baby, not her mother. He says she told him in March 2008, “let’s get pregnant.”
His book, “Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Crosshairs,” comes out Sept. 20.
In Bristol Palin’s own book, “Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far,” released last June, she says she lost her virginity to Johnston on a camping trip when she got drunk on wine coolers, a claim Johnson disputes in his own book.
Johnston says he had “been too dumb” to use protection while dating Bristol but knew having a baby was “what she wanted.”
Johnston said when Sarah Palin first learned of the teen pregnancy she laughed, thinking it was a joke. He writes it was her husband, Todd Palin, who really showed his anger, raising his voice and telling him he needed to quit school and get a job.
Yes, quitting school is always the answer for a better life…


Articles for Tag: "hormones"
The fast food giant announced plans to stop purchasing chickens that are fed human antibiotics.
A recent study found that young children in the house can alleviate menopause symptoms.
Read how one Chicago man appreciates life even more after surviving cancer.
Our expert shares what all women need to know about their stroke risk.
Even years after the “change of life,” these symptoms can continue for many women. But there’s help.
Find out why a neuroscientist believes there is a best time of day to drink your coffee.
A new study shows that hormone therapy in men could cause cardiac problems.


Businesses, especially startups, are getting slammed by a shortage of designers. Venture capital firms are setting up programs to link talented creatives with firms, entire companies are being acquired just to capture the design talent, and Stanford University is attempting to address the shortfall by teaching "design thinking" to smart people from all walks of life.
Stanford MBA candidates Andrew Allison and Matt Stuart had impressive credentials—Allison worked as a political speechwriter and Stuart had been an investment banker. However, both wanted to contribute more to the world in the form of a startup that helped small businesses thrive. The only problem was they had no design expertise—even coordinating an IKEA run was beyond their skill set. "My apartment literally has noting in it but a bed, dresser, night stand, [and a] big living room with zero furniture," says Stuart.
Despite their lack of design acumen, they founded a startup that would help connect local businesses to customers. They developed a custom web app, signed up 30 pilot customers, and even raised some money to invest in development. Their idea was solid and simple: create local directories for small businesses. An auto body shop, for instance, could set up a profile on their site and drive potential customers to it. It was a solid idea, but it was flailing. So the pair enrolled in a design course at Stanford's d.School and learned valuable lessons that helped them transform it into a thriving service that manages social media for small businesses.
The course they took is called Launchpad: Design and Launch your Product or Service Zero to Revenue in Ten Weeks and aims to teach design thinking strategies like ethnographic research and rapid prototyping. Instead of focusing effort on classroom assignments, the lessons are applied directly to growing businesses and the class has produced some resounding successes. Of the 40 teams that have formed so far, successes include Pulse, a social news reader sold to LinkedIn for $90 million in 2012 and another company that was acquired by Dropbox. In total, 13 teams have gone on to raise venture capital and half a dozen more are still operating.
Through what they learned in the course, Stuart and Allison realized they were approaching the problem all wrong. It turns out what their customers really wanted was a way to manage comments on pre-existing, popular social networks like Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter, instead of getting a new channel to deal with. Additionally, these mechanics didn't want to deal with the social network du jour; they wanted to outsource the job, like they do with taxes. Stuart and Allison reoriented the service and a few short months later aced the course.
Before long they earned an even better mark—a thriving company called Main Street Hub that currently counts over 3,000 customers, 175 employees, and a $14 million investment from Bessemer Venture Partners, the VC firm behind Yelp, Shopify, and Pinterest.
For those that can't decamp to Stanford to learn these skills firsthand, the team at Main Street Hub have shared some of the secrets of their success.
Take Empathy to the Extreme
Ask any small business owner if they'd like to be more successful on social media and of course they'll say yes, but that's not the most important question. Instead, Stuart and Allison should have asked if they had the time to dedicate to Facebook marketing. The answer in short: no.
"We'd go into their shops and spend hours and hours with them in hopes of getting them in front of their computer," says Allison. "We wanted to get their feedback and get them on board, but we spent most of those hours chasing them around the shop under car, behind a desk, and talking to employees."
The first version of the product was well-designed by any standard measure. The information architecture was solid and the visuals were clean. Usability experts would have a hard time identifying what was wrong with their service. The problem was that it was built around faulty assumptions.
"That old product required customers to manage their own presence, and most mechanics don't have the time or resources to do that," says Allison. "Even if it would solve their biggest problem, obtaining new customers, they will not DIY their online presence."
This was a striking realization for a pair of Silicon Valley stars who were rarely offline for more than a few minutes. Moreover, many of their customers had no idea what a hashtag was, nor did they care. "Ultimately, designing a great solution is just a manifestation of empathy," says Allison. "Truly understanding the customer's needs and problems."
Look for Inspiration in Other Industries
Instead of trying to make an easier DIY software tool, Stuart and Allison created a “do-it-for-you” service. Think of it like tax prep—people don't want a better interface to deal with the IRS, they want to bring a shoebox full of receipts to an accountant and let them handle the details. Strange as it may sound, for many, managing social media is a chore, not a treat.
"When the pivot was made to 'do-it-for-you,' we really looked at what had previously gained traction in local," says Stuart. "All widely adopted marketing products for local businesses from the past 30 years were “do-it-for-you” solutions: print advertising is a hands-off experience for a business owner, 'webmasters' deliver finished and infrequently updated sites, online ad networks earn the bulk of their SMB ad dollars from resellers and agencies instead of direct spend, and the early daily deal success was built with hands-on sales, account management, and editorial staff."
Now, for $299 a month, Main Street Hub's crack team will respond to snarky tweets directed at their clients promptly and professionally. The design output isn't a new kind of user interface, instead it's a series of algorithms and reports used by account managers. It's still a design process, just not one that will set Dribbble on fire.
User Research Is Fine. User Behavior Is Better
Surveys and positive customer feedback are great, but they don't pay the server bills. An important lesson from the class was gauging success not by what customers said, but by how willing people they were to open their wallets. In other words, user research has its limits. User behavior though? It teaches a lot more than words ever will.
Allison and Stuart admit that most of the users of the first version of their product let the subscription lapse, but once the "do-it-for-you" change was made, the purchasing behavior followed quickly. "The first few customers we showed it to paid us with cash on the spot," says Stuart. "One guy was three dollars short, but we gladly accepted his payment."
Don't Wait for Feedback
Creative people are often sensitive and hesitant to show off their ideas before they're fully formed. "If you're building the wrong product, you'll hear no," says Allison. "You might as well hear it as early as you can." Laboring under false assumptions cost Stuart and Allison time and money that could have been saved if they had sought out negative feedback earlier.
Find the Paradigms That Deserve to Die
Plenty of services offer to help business hide negative reviews, but Main Street Hub takes a different approach—embracing them. "We received a call from an auto repair shop owner who said that he was getting new customers as a result of a negative review on Yelp because of how Main Street Hub responded to it," says Stuart. "His new customers were impressed by how much he cared about his customers’ experience and it shaped how we think about the opportunity for our customers in a response to a negative review."
Never Stop Iterating
While they've figured out the big picture, Stuart and Allison are far from finished when it comes to refining their service. "We've now crafted more than a million messages in total and have learned from our data what type of content is most engaging for different types of businesses," says Stuart. "We've been able to achieve engagement rates that are five times the industry average as a result."


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The systemic crisis arising from COVID-19 is giving rise to new avenues of inquiry for the responsible investor. If ESG factors didn't seem important before, they certainly should now. And it’s vital to ensure difficult decisions, such as cutting personnel costs, are executed in a delicate and ESG-friendly way.
Chief among new ESG filters are working from home stratagems, furlough policy, and, of course, sick pay compensation.
One particularly glaring example of a lack of ESG accounting comes from the UK pub chain JD Wetherspoons. After being forced to close all 850 of its pubs—following the UK coronavirus lockdown—the chain neglected to guarantee worker wages, sprouting a grassroots campaign of condemnation against Wetherspoons. The actions of premier league football club, Tottenham Hostpurs, is another. They have maintained player’s wages at millions a year, while asking taxpayers to pick up the bill for furloughed lower paid employees.
With any luck, investors won't have to place importance on these factors for too long. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to be prepared—which is, ironically, the primary concern of ESG investing.
Accounting for ESG amid systemic risk
Despite recovering over 15% from its mid-March lows, the FTSE 100 lost a quarter of its value in 2020, as investors turned tail toward less hazardous pursuits. Although the downturn looks far from over, accounting for ESG factors could help circumnavigate higher risk investments.
According to Guillaume Mascotto, head of ESG at American Century Investments, using ESG filters could aid exposure to higher-quality issuers.
"We believe that an investment-led and materiality-focused ESG integration program can help minimise downside risk otherwise not captured by traditional financial analysis," he said recently in press reports.
Similarly, Ben Palmer, head of responsible investment at Brooks Macdonald, said that companies harnessing ESG often "outperform the peer group and wider market."
The importance of integrity
While Covid-19 has thrown a veritable spoke in the wheel of value creation, a deep-rooted reputational risk remains the crux of investor concerns.
The media, business, and the government rank among the least trusted in society today. That's according to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, which exposed a profound public scepticism toward these sectors. For business, in particular, mistrust only leads to one thing: divestment.
The UK's corporate governance code recently underwent a revamp courtesy of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The new rules underscore the value of both corporate culture and remuneration reporting, to reinforce business integrity and minimise reputational risks.
Flexing the new mandate, the FRC recently rebuked numerous listed companies for complying with governance rules for compliance alone—rather than in an effort to deliver fundamental utility. The issue with feigned transparency is that investors can often see through it. Companies transcending what's required of them are few and far between. But when they do come along, it's an opportunity worth seizing.
Remuneration committees are developing a remarkable insight into this kind of value creation—making connections between appropriate remuneration policy and investor endurance. With the new regulations fresh in mind, remuneration committees have broadened the scope beyond the routine executive pay quotients and are starting to incorporate ESG factors. Now, remuneration reporting stretches across a litany of ethnicity and gender disparities, encompassing information such as job description and performance review, as well as the typical pay ranges and grades.
Diversity and equality
Equality—beyond all else—is a critical constituent of effective remuneration policy. In 2015, the UK government assented to a report which looked to bolster female representation on FTSE 350 companies to 33% by 2020. Despite the recommendation, the quota still hasn't been reached.
In the UK, gender inequality issues have flared up over the past few years. The country ranked as the 21st most equal nation in the world in 2019—six places down from the previous year. Moreover, according to the Global Gender Gap report 2020, the gender pay gap in the UK was 16%, almost 10% higher than that of Norway or Sweden.
It's perhaps no surprise. In the past few years, UK retail giants Tesco and Asda provoked numerous avoidable gender discrimination suits. In 2018, Tesco faced a $4 billion equal pay claim, after 10,000 female clerks demanded parity with male warehouse workers. More recently, in January, an employment tribunal ruled in favour of female Asda shop floor staff, following pay disparities with male contemporaries.
Not only did this affect the retailer's bottom line, but it also caused irreparable reputation damage. To add salt to the wound, these issues could have been avoided by adhering to ESG best practice. Harnessing data to identify variations in employee pay grades, and job descriptions, and demographics, could have curtailed claims and minimised investor value loss.
Ken Charman is CEO of HR and rewards data platform uFlexReward


PAS candidate Mohd Abdul Wahid bin Endut has been declared the winner of the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat by-election for a majority of 2631 votes. The results are as written below:
Mohd Abdul Wahid bin Endut (PAS candidate) – 32, 883 votes.
Wan Ahmad Farid bin Wan Salleh (BN candidate) – 30, 252 votes.
Azharuddin bin Mamat (Independent candidate) – 193 votes.
A total of 63, 993 out of 80, 229 voters cast their votes in the by-election.


Projected starter – Ricky Stanzi (6-4, 230, sr.)
Top reserves – James Vandenberg (6-3, 212, so.), John Wienke (6-5, 220, so.)
Futures – A.J. Derby (6-4, 225, fr.), Wyatt Suess (6-2, 200, fr.)
Stanzi’s touchdown-to-interception ratio isn’t going to land him any All-Big Ten votes, but this one statistic looks pretty good: He is 18-4 as a starter over the past two seasons. The Hawkeyes were 9-0 with him at the controls last season when he went down in a heap in the end zone against Northwestern. His 2009 season was marked by moments of electric efficiency punctuated by moments of amazing ineptness. Four of his Big Ten-leading 15 interceptions were returned for touchdowns, but his leadership qualities are unquestioned. He spent the off-season studying the interceptions and analyzing why they happened. Don’t be shocked if he is immensely improved this fall.
Vandenberg looked lost after replacing Stanzi in the Northwestern game, then staked his claim to the job for the future by nearly engineering an upset of Ohio State on the road the following week. Kirk Ferentz said Wienke may have been the most improved player on the team in spring drills so he may yet challenge Vandenberg for the backup job.
Derby was regarded by many as the top recruit in the state of Iowa last season, but there already are rumblings that his future may lie at some other position. But at the Kids Day scrimmage on Aug. 14, he looked to have as strong an arm as any quarterback on the team. Some of us fully expect him to remain at quarterback for the duration of his career.


After rehearsing every day for the past several weeks, once-shy 11-year-old Mishika Russell is ready for the curtain to rise.
Mishika, of Hartford, and nearly 65 other children who participated in a summer camp at Liberty Christian Center International will perform tonight in a play and dance about slavery.
Rehearsing for "Climbing Higher," a play written by Geraldine M. Pinkston, who is a member of the church, has helped Mishika feel more comfortable speaking before an audience and inspired her to consider a career in the bright lights. She said she hopes to be a professional dancer.
"Performing in front of people makes me feel happy," said Mishika, who will be a fifth-grader at Milner Elementary School.
Generation of Praise Summer Camp 2000 was funded with a donation from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. In addition to participating in the play, the youths aged 5 to 13 have gone on field trips to places such as Lake Compounce, Hammonasset Beach State Park and the Connecticut Historical Society.
"They walk away with a better understanding of themselves and a better self-image," said camp director Monica Satchell. The 6 p.m. performance will begin with refreshments and will be held at the church, 23 Vine St.
For information, please call 860-522-3296.
Brother Walter F. May III is giving a party and wants to invite the whole city.
The ministry of music at New Welcome Baptist Church will sponsor Joy Explosion 2000, an outdoor gospel concert that May promises with rock the city, spiritually that is.
The concert will take place Aug. 26 and will feature more than 25 city and state groups and several choirs from out of state.
"It's really about fellowshipping with other churches," said May, minister of music at New Welcome Baptist Church.
The concert, which drew about 300 visitors when it began five years ago, drew nearly 1,000 people, 20 gospel groups and 20 vendors selling food, clothes and arts and crafts last year. May expects an even bigger crowd to celebrate the event's fifth anniversary this year.
The free event will be held rain or shine at the church, 205 Bellevue St., from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For information, please call May at 860-833-0529.
The folks at the United Methodist Church of Hartford will be praying for plenty of customers but even harder for clear skies when they host their annual fall tag sale Sept. 9.
"We've been really lucky with the weather we've had in the past," said Dorey Boutwell, coordinator of the popular tag sale, which has been postponed to a rain date only twice in the past 15 years. "We've had some severe storms the Friday before, but it always seems to clear up."
The church's annual fall tag sale will feature more than 30 vendors whose wares will include clothing, jewelry, glass, electronics, collectibles and veteran tag sale vendor Joan Lancor's vintage linens.
"The linens that are older -- table cloths and towels -- are handmade," said Lancor, who along with her husband, Arthur "Sonny" Lancor, has been selling antiques for three years. "They have different textures."
The tag sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the church, 571 Farmington Ave.
The rain date is Sept. 16 at the same time and place.
For information, please call 860-523-5132.
Many local clergy are preparing to take a special lunch break on Sept. 1 when they visit city schools carrying a single book, the Bible, as they offer prayers for a safe and successful school year.
The third annual "Prayer on the Playground" event will welcome the start of the school year in Hartford on Sept. 5. The ministers hope thousands will join clergy members for short services at the city's more than 30 public and charter schools from noon to 12:30 p.m.
The noontime prayer session is part of a larger effort to encourage city students to show up at school on opening day and increase parental involvement.
"It's my dream and vision to have a least 100 people at each of the 39 sites, '' said the Rev. Susie B. Hinton, coordinator of the event. "Whatever number we get will be a blessing."
The prayer event is sponsored by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the City Wide Clergy Association and the Capitol Region Conference of Churches.
For information, please call 860-236-1295.


Pallbearers escort the casket carrying the body of the late Patrick Hoyos into the Chapel for the service of celebration.
Family, friends and colleagues turned out in their numbers yesterday to pay their last respects to veteran journalist and publisher, Patrick Ricardo ‘Pat’ Hoyos.
The life and achievements of Hoyos, who passed away on July 1 at the age of 67 after a short battle with cancer, were remembered during a service of celebration held at the Chapel of the Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens where Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, several Ministers of Government and members of the business community were among those gathered.
While widely known for his journalistic prowess, his best friend Tony Cumberbatch noted that Hoyos was also a talented artist and musician. Delivering the first of two eulogies, Cumberbatch spoke glowingly of the man he dubbed his “little brother”, who he first met when they both were employed at The Barbados Advocate. It was Hoyos, Cumberbatch explained, that was instrumental in changing the format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tabloid and introduced new publications to the media house.
His friend of 35 years explained that on leaving The Barbados Advocate, Hoyos returned to the “comfort” of Hoyos Publishing, where he would bring to life new publications, the likes of The Broad Street Journal and Who’s Who in Barbados Business – both “standards of excellence on the local business landscape”.
“Pat himself became the business guru, not only in Barbados but across the Caribbean – the one everybody turned to for information or analysis on anything from balance sheets, to start-ups to conglomerates,” he said.
Cumberbatch added, “As a journalist, Pat was not afraid to ask the hard questions. If you didn’t like it, the follow-up was even harder. Neither did he hesitate to speak his mind; he would let you know exactly what he thought – be you his peer or the CEO of a large and powerful company.”
He went further, speaking of Hoyos’ kindness and generosity to friends and staff. Cumberbatch added that the “family man” was devoted to his children, grandchildren and wife Sophie.
Friend and media executive, Vic Fernandes, also reminisced Hoyos, who he called the “maverick”. Delivering the second eulogy, Fernandes said that he and his friend from childhood, thought of the need to regulate the re-lationship between the media and the advertisers and with the help of the late Sir Fred Gollop, formed the Media Association of Barbados – with Fernandes as President and Hoyos as Vice President.
Fernandes also spoke of Hoyos’ stint as the host of ‘Down to Brass Tacks’. Fernandes, quoting Dennis Johnson who was his producer on the show, noted that Hoyos, while on the show, always maintained balance despite “intense pressure” from the “professional talk show agitators”.
“Never, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be one day standing at a mic in Coral Ridge paying tribute to a man I loved and respected for his intellect, his work, his work ethic and his great friendship,” Fernandes said.
There were also tributes in song delivered by his daughter Mandy Cummins, Operation Triple Threat, Tamara Marshall and Alan Sheppard.
Hoyos leaves to mourn his wife Sophie, children, step-children, grandchildren and brothers. (JRT)


It was not all that long ago when the Arizona Cardinals would have been considered a favorite in 2012 Super Bowl odds as they barely lost the championship game to the Pittsburgh Steelers in February of 2009. But since the retirement of Kurt Warner as their quarterback, Arizona has lost its identity and its championship form.
The winning formula may be coming back for Arizona, as after losing six consecutive games that followed an opening day win, the Cardinals have won 4 of their last 5 including last week’s 19-13 overtime win against the Dallas Cowboys. While the playoffs are out of the question for this year there is hope for the future in Arizona.
A big part of the resurgence for the Big Red has been running back Beanie Wells, who is closing in on a 1,000 yard season with 916 yards and a 4.6 yards per carry average along with a team best 9 touchdowns. Larry Fitzgerald remains one of the best receivers in football as he is also closing in on 1,000 yards at 943 with a 17.1 yards per catch average and 6 TDs.
The big question has been at quarterback where Kevin Kolb has been in and out of the lineup. Kolb was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles after they kicked him to the curb in favor of Michael Vick. The Eagles may wish that Kolb was back as their season has turned into a train wreck and coach Andy Reid may be fired at the end of the season for the collapse. Kolb had his best game of the season against Dallas as he had a 109.9 QB rating with 247 yards passing and a TD.
Arizona plays in the weak NFC West Division where only the San Francisco 49ers look like a dominant team in the years to come. This makes for a golden opportunity for Arizona to quickly build and get back into the hunt for 2012 as the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams are hard to take seriously as future contenders.
Defense remains a concern for the Cardinals although it has improved over the past month and has been a factor in the winning results. The Big Red ranks 19th in the NFL for points allowed and 25th overall for team defense but those numbers will have to be cut down if the playoffs are to return to the valley of the sun in 2012.


Brain Injury Awareness Month
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month! The Brain Injury Association of North Carolina hosts community awareness events throughout the state to provide an opportunity for the public to gain insight and awareness of brain injury.
Virtual Conference 2023
The Brain Injury Association of NC will be hosting a Virtual Conference, Shaping the Future, on March 29, 2023.
The Brain Injury Association of North Carolina hosts a camp event each year to provide an opportunity for individuals living with brain injury, their family members, and/or caregivers to enjoy fun activities, social interaction, games, arts and crafts, etc.


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Target: Krishna Abrams, Solano County District Attorney
Goal: Find and severely punish the person who used kittens as dog-fighting bait.
Two tabby kittens suffered extreme damage to their legs after being used as bait in dog fights, according to the animal rescue center where they were dropped off. Rescuers say their tiny legs were bound with rubber bands, which rendered them completely helpless as they couldn’t bite, scratch, or fight back in any way. The kittens were named Will and Grace by the rescuing staff, but gangrene set up in Grace’s legs and she didn’t survive. Will is still recovering, and the rescue center’s staff says that he should be ready for adoption soon.
An investigation is being conducted by the Solano Sheriff’s Animal Control Services to try and locate the unknown woman who dropped the kittens off. Outlets say the authorities are trying to uncover illegal dog fighting rings in the area. However, these innocent, tiny kittens deserve justice and the person who committed this sadistically cruel act should be behind bars.
Please sign this petition to demand that Will and Grace get their justice and that their abuser is found and punished to the most severe extent the law will allow.
Dear Ms. Abrams,
Two kittens were used as bait in pit bull fights. They suffered severe damage to their legs, which were bound so that they couldn’t fight back, and one had to be euthanized.
An investigation to uncover any dog fighting rings is being conducted by the Sheriff’s Animal Control Services. However, we’re calling on you to help bring these tiny animals justice by making sure that this sadistic kitten murderer is found and punished as severely as possible.
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Solano County Friends of Animals


The Free Webinar which took place on the 6th of June 2021 was aimed at providing great insights into the M&A issues to financial professionals.
The program is eligible for 1.50 qualifying CPD hours from ACCA.
Yahoo refused to buy Google for $1 million in 1998 and currently Google’s parent Alphabet is the fourth largest tech company with a market value above $1.6 trillion and Yahoo is becoming another Nokia. Google acquired YouTube in November 2006 for just as much as $1.65 billion and currently the estimated value of YouTube is $170 billion. Timing of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is the key in creating value for the shareholders.
However, the top 5 technology giants namely Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are being criticized for mergers, acquisitions and potential anticompetitive behavior. They are just too big and powerful.
Key Focus Areas of the webinar


Two years after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Nigeria and almost one year after the first shot of the vaccine was administered in the country, only four per cent of the 200 million population, that is 8,145,416 persons, have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
Unfortunately, Nigeria and most developing countries could not achieve the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) set target for all countries to vaccinate 10 per cent of their populations by the end of September 2021 due to inequity in the distribution of vaccines.
A consultant public health physician, an epidemiologist and Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Shuaib Faisal reported,
“As at the 25th of February 2022, 17,646,781 Nigerians have been vaccinated with the first dose while 8,145,416 Nigerians have received the second dose and are fully vaccinated. 682,108 Nigerians have received the booster dose. 4,317,621 tests have been conducted so far with 254,428 confirmed cases.”
Source: Chukwuma Muanya


News & Events
Eman Al Amri, Director of Aljazeera Media Institute
AJMI - DOHA
On Thursday, June 16, Al Jazeera Media Network announced the appointment of Eman Al Amri as the new Director of Al Jazeera Media Institute after being the Deputy Managing Director of Al Jazeera Documentary Channel.
Al Amri joined Al Jazeera in 2007 as the supervisor to one of the media research and marketing projects until 2009, then moved to working at the DG’s office with the Network’s internal communications department until 2010. She then joined the strategy directorate as a senior consultant for a year and a half.
Al Amri previously worked at the Institute as director of planning and projects from 2017 until 2020, and prior, as the director of the Institute's training department from 2012 until 2016.
Al Amri holds a Bachelor's degree in management and economics from Qatar University and an MBA from Aston University in London.


A mere sixteen months ago, Casey Holden's life was neatly stored within seventy square feet of cell space in the Colorado State Penitentiary. Released in January 2007 directly to the street after four years of 23-hour-a-day lockdown and a decade spent mostly behind bars, the 26-year-old seemed to be facing insurmountable odds in his quest to complete three years of parole, find a job and walk the straight and narrow — an odyssey chronicled in our blog series "I Shall Be Released.
But the news from Holden just keeps getting better. After struggling with a low-paying job at a Grand Junction pizza parlor, while trying to keep up with mandatory drug tests, classes and restitution, Holden finally persuaded his parole officer to let him roam a bit further in his search for decent wages and a stable home life. Last fall he moved on to a company that helps supply drilling companies in the Western Slope's gas fields, then to the drilling operation itself. Now he's a floor hand, pulling down respectable pay — and he needs it, for the burgeoning family he's started.
Holden's brand-new twins, Asten Snow Holden and Brett Morgan Holden, just came home from the hospital this week. Mother Shauna Lee and babies are all doing fine. Holden's driving a new Jeep Cherokee and grabbing what shuteye he can between feedings and duties in the field. It's an astonishing turnaround, given the parole failure rate, but Holden insists it's just a matter of finding confidence and pursuing your dreams.
"If you want to go somewhere, it's on you to do it," he says. In his case, his dogged pursuit of a roughneck's wages made a big difference, he adds. Too many parolees get stuck working marginal, below-subsistence-level jobs, where the temptations to give up or go back to a life of drugs and crime can be overwhelming. "When you have a good job, you don't have a reason to do anything wrong."
These days Holden has plenty of reasons to do things right. And two more just arrived. – Alan Prendergast


Chinese technology giant Tencent has disregarded rising tensions between Beijing and the West to invest in a British start-up building simulation software for the Army.
In a deal said to be too financially insignificant to trigger a National Security review, the Chinese gaming company took part in a £15m funding round for Hadean, which develops technology to allow tens of thousands of virtual soldiers onto digital battlefields.
In a further twist, Tencent joined the funding round alongside In-Q-Tel, a US venture capital investor backed by funds from the CIA.
Hadean has also secured funding from the Government’s Future Fund, the start-up rescue fund launched by Rishi Sunak during the pandemic. It is being advised by experts from the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF). London-listed Molten Ventures also invested.
Launched in 2018, the NSSIF invests in highly sensitive defence start-ups and is closely linked to GCHQ. It also offers start-ups access to security experts at the heart of Britain’s intelligence community.
The deal therefore means the British Government, a CIA-backed fund and one of China’s biggest technology companies are partners in the same venture.
Craig Beddis, Hadean’s chief executive, said the company had been “highly cognizant” of the origin of its investments and said shareholders such as Tencent would have “no access” to sensitive technology. He added that the stake was too small to warrant notification under the UK’s National Security and Investment Act, the spearhead of a clampdown on Chinese investments in Britain.
Mr Beddis said: “Tencent is obviously huge in the metaverse and gaming, which explains why we took the investment.”
Tencent has previously backed companies including Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, social media company Snap and digital bank Monzo. It recently snapped up UK-listed game developer Sumo Group.
The Chinese company’s prolific backing of Western companies has continued despite heightened tensions with Beijing and a growing crisis over Taiwan.
Whitehall officials have grown increasingly hawkish over Chinese investment, ordering Huawei telecoms equipment to be removed from 5G networks. Ministers are also investigating the takeover of a Welsh chip plant by a Chinese-backed company.
Tencent, however, has previously seen its investments in the US waved through by regulators in Washington DC and the UK.
Hadean has worked with games companies including Minecraft and Epic Games on technology that can add scale to support thousands of players at once.
The company previously broke the record for the most players in any one game environment, hosting a 14,000 player starship battle in science fiction game Eve Online.
Its “distributed computing” technology is also being used by defence contractors and the Ministry of Defence. In July, Hadean announced it had been awarded a contract with the British Army to develop a land warfare training simulator for soldiers.
Mr Beddis said: “The ability to replicate [virtually] what we do in the physical world lends itself very well to training for the defence sector.”
The start-up, founded in 2015, has positioned itself as providing backbone software for the so-called “metaverse”, a concept that sees virtual reality and the physical world increasingly blurred. It provides software to massive multiplayer video games, virtual concerts and digital conferences.
Despite a downturn in tech valuations, funding has continued to pour into companies seen as well placed to profit from spending on metaverse technology.
Earlier this year Improbable, which is also developing technology that can power giant multiplayer simulations, raised £115m from Silicon Valley investors Andreessen Horowitz.


Key lawmakers say the first salary boosts for New York judges in 13 years appear headed for approval in the upcoming state budget.
Sen. Stephen Saland and Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, who co-chair the budget conference committee on public protection, say Wednesday the judiciary’s budget proposal is mainly intact, including the first raises for 1,300 judges since 1999.
Saland says some other “nuances” in the 2012-2013 spending plan are being examined.[dmc-related-post-wp numitems="3" title="Also read"]
Lentol says the raises are safe. Saland says they are not an issue.
State Supreme Court justices in counties statewide are paid $136,700 a year. The new Judicial Compensation Commission has voted to increase those annual salaries to $160,000 next year, with proportionate increases for other judges.
The proposed $2.3 billion judicial budget has $27.7 million for those raises.
More breaking news
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A man has reportedly been mauled to death in front of his wife and child after he climbed into a tiger enclosure at Ningbo Younger Zoo, in east China as the big cats were feeding.
In an hour-long rescue effort, zoo keepers tried scaring the tigers with firecrackers and water cannons but not before they bit and clawed at the man’s head and neck until he perished. One tiger was reportedly shot and killed during the attack.
A witness told South China Morning Post: “I saw the tiger mauling the person, whose face was covered with blood. Every time he sat up, the tiger pushed him down again.”
Video below shows the terrifying scene as onlookers film the chaos on their phones.


(For part 1 of this series, click here.)
There’s a race underway in the broadcast industry. On one side are Canadian incumbent telcos like Bell and broadcasters like Corus. On the other is so-called “over-the-top” (OTT) provider Netflix, a service that streams film and TV content online. Netflix aims to reach a critical mass of subscribers that creates a kind of positive feedback loop. More subscribers mean more revenues which enable the purchase of more and better content, which in turn attracts more subscribers, which starts the loop all over again. If it works, Netflix may not only cement its market share but materially threaten the viability of some of the telcos’ broadcast and TV subscriber businesses. However, it has to get there before the incumbents can create similar offerings of their own. Given the advance of the on-demand or “TV everywhere” trend, which all parties agree is inexorable and inevitable, this means the telcos have to play in Netflix’s space.
Officially, Netflix likes to insist it isn’t the enemy. But that doesn’t quite square with remarks made by Hastings in a first quarter investor letter where he said, “[We] should be able to use our size and international scale to bring the best original and exclusive content from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. This is the real advantage over our regional competitors.”
Certainly, the company has shown flashes of relatively fierce competitiveness. In March 2011, it was widely reported that Netflix outbid Corus and Astral for exclusive 5-year rights to Paramount Pictures film content—a point repeatedly raised by the incumbents before the CRTC during hearings in 2011. (Both Corus and Astral declined to be interviewed for this story.) Around the same time Netflix similarly outbid HBO and AMC for exclusive rights to the highly anticipated original series and Kevin Spacey vehicle House of Cards. And in May 2011 at the annual L.A. Screenings where broadcasters buy studios’ TV content, Netflix for the first time had an executive dedicated to shopping for content for Canada. The company reportedly bought the TV rights to an unnamed show just to get the online rights while locking out broadcasters.
Whether it’s Bell, Rogers, Cogeco or others, the broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) and broadcasters seem to harbor a distinct fear of Netflix’s potential spending power and consequent ability to snag exclusive rights for both the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and formerly untouchable VOD/pay TV windows (see sidebar: “Release Windows”). Primarily because of heavy secrecy, it’s unclear exactly how aggressive Netflix is being in negotiations with the U.S. studios that supply the majority of content consumed by Canadians.
However, with virtually no exceptions, the BDUs and broadcasters are less sanguine. For the 2011 CRTC “fact-finding” hearings on the state of OTT, Rogers commented that because OTT is unregulated and therefore has a lower cost structure, its providers can pay more for the same studio content. “Licensed Canadian distributors will find it increasingly challenging to retain customers as these customers are enticed to access video content from … OTT services.”
The defined periods of time during which a given piece of content is shown, with a brief period at the window’s start that is typically exclusive. However, different combinations of rights/exclusivity can shift these windows in any number of ways. (What Netflix has been increasingly attempting to do is operate in the video on demand, pay-per-view and pay TV windows.) While TV is simplified, film generally follows a complex order that moves in a three-year+ cycle as follows:
theatrical: from month 0-4
airplane/hotel: mo. 3-10
cable VOD/pay-per-view: mo. 6-7 (primarily straight-to-video, e.g. IFC films)
home video DVD/Blu-ray: mo. 8+
home video discount/kiosk rental: mo. 8-10 (e.g. Netflix DVD, Redbox)
electronic sell through (EST), electronic rental (VOD): mo. 8+ (e.g. iTunes)
SVOD: mo. 8-11 and mo. 24+(e.g. Netflix)
pay TV: mo. 12-24 (e.g. HBO, Showtime)
network TV/cable: mo. 26+
free on demand: mo. 48+
And Peggy Tabet, director, regulatory affairs for Quebecor, which owns cable operator Videotron, wrote: “[The] more competition from companies such as Netflix will be present, the more customers of distributors such as Videotron will be encouraged to unsubscribe. If, for the moment, this threat has not yet reached its full extent, what will happen when, for some 1,100 [titles] currently available in Canada, Netflix will offer 11,000, as is currently the case in the United States?”
To hear Netflix tell it, neither side should consider the other the enemy. Like the convivial peacemaker at a dinner table full of inlaws, Netflix leadership has gone to great effort to portray the company’s business as complementary to existing BDUs and broadcasters, whether in Canada or the U.S. It may have a case—for now.
In September, Ted Sarandon, Netflix’s chief content officer, spoke at the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch 2012 Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference and touted the company’s positive effect on broadcaster AMC and others. “They have a particular programming sensibility that works really well on Netflix and we can take a lot of the risk out of the production of their shows. … I with great confidence will tell you that we brought a million new viewers to AMC for the new season of Mad Men and I’ll tell you we grew the audience for Sons of Anarchy on FX. We will grow the audience for Walking Dead on AMC—that access to the content in a catchup mode on Netflix is nothing but good for them.”
This echoes a similar comment made by Corus Entertainment’s EVP and General Counsel Gary Maavara, who commented to the CRTC that “OTT may actually be creating more demand for video programming.” (Corus owns W, Movie Central and co-owns HBO Canada among other properties and claims it hasn’t seen evidence even of cord shaving.)
It’s perhaps to be expected that the existing industry would sound a note of alarm as soon as anyone tried to horn in on its lunch. But like Maavara some are inclined to agree—in a roundabout way—that Sarandon has a point. CRTC worries aside, David Purdy, SVP, video product management for Rogers, says the great selling point of SVOD is the ability for viewers to engage in “catch-up” viewing for TV shows. This can lead to picking up the current season, which of course remains exclusive to cable.
“Binge viewing is becoming more and more a part of the cable viewing proposition. So House of Lies I watched over one weekend. Basically, I had a cold, I didn’t leave my house and I watched 13 episodes. And now I can hardly wait until the new season comes. So this type of service—whether it be Netflix or Rogers subscription video-on-demand—that allows you to binge view on previous seasons, is complementary and doesn’t hurt the ecosystem.”
All of this may be true, but at what point does Netflix move from complement to competitor? The industry and its observers agree this will happen when the right combination of subscribership and content makes Netflix something that, as Purdy says, is seen as “a replacement technology.” To get there, Netflix is in direct and perhaps increasingly aggressive competition with the incumbents for exclusive access to film and TV content. It has to because at the moment its library doesn’t exactly inspire terror in its opponents.
As Josh Scherba, SVP of distribution for DHX Media, says of himself and others he knows, “We’re content junkies. It would never cross our minds to actually cut our cord because then where am I going to watch my sports? And also, I want to watch the brand new HBO content and [broadcast TV is] the only way I’m going to get it.”
The fact is Netflix’s Canadian library just isn’t that strong. And Netflix seems to know it—or at least it’s possible to read as much into its late 2011 announcement that in 2012 increases in its content spend would make the Canadian service’s offering comparable to its U.S. counterpart. Data compiled for Canadian Business Online by Josh Loewen of iStreamGuide.com shows a total of 10,625 unique titles for U.S. Netflix and 2,647 for Canada (see sidebar: “How much greener is the grass at Netflix USA?”). The genre disparities are similarly wide, with 3,035 film titles in the drama category for the U.S., but only 829 in Canada, for example.
As for quality, consumers will find little in the way of the premium movies they can expect on a pay TV or video on demand (VOD) service. Instead it’s too often a slate of low-rent, straight-to-video unknowns such as 2-Headed Shark Attack and box-office underperformers like After the Sunset. Officially, Netflix says it doesn’t really play in the premium movie market, with TV streaming making up 70% of served content, but even there the selection in Canada significantly underachieves compared to the American library. Only time will tell if this is simply the temporary result of the Canadian library’s younger age. But in a Q3 2011 note, CEO Reed Hastings said the plan was to get content spending to the “population-adjusted equivalent” of the U.S. However, with a population only 10% of the States, that doesn’t seem to bode well for Canada’s content junkies or the company’s ability to grow its market share here.
The battle over content spend
If content is king, then what the ongoing confrontation between the two sides is about is what each can spend for content and when they can get it. As mentioned, Netflix has shown itself willing and able to make serious plays for content it believes will attract subscribers. Getting that content first and on an exclusive basis gives consumers just one more reason not to bother with their traditional cable subscription. To compete, the incumbents have to be prepared to pay a little more and according to the BDUs and other sources prices are indeed going up.
Some distributors say there is more money being paid by buyers as a result of Netflix’s presence. “I can definitely confirm that there is additional money being paid for these [digital] rights now,” says DHX Media’s Scherba. DHX, which recently acquired Cookie Jar Entertainment, produces, licenses and distributes dozens of children’s shows including Battletoads, Caillou and Yo Gabba Gabba. DHX in March 2012 signed a content deal with Netflix.
And from Corus’ Gary Maavara, who specifically identified Netflix in comments to the CRTC: “If Canadian broadcasters are to compete with such players for Canadian rights to popular content, the inevitable result will be a dramatic escalation in the costs of acquired programming and an erosion of operating margins.”
Joris Evers, director of corporate communications for Netflix, insists the company doesn’t “go crazy on pricing.” Of the Paramount deal, he says, “To be able to have Netflix in Canada, and make it an attractive service that people want to subscribe to at that $7.99 a month, we want to have a nice mix of content and some [pay TV] titles, like through Paramount, for example, are a key part of that mix. And we pay fair prices for content. We pay well for content people really love to see.”
Competitors in linear and other pay TV services have now woken up to Netflix’s power. Content providers now appreciate the growing value of digital rights—and the price keeps rising. It’s not a given that the company’s $7.99/month all-in model is sustainable; long term it may not be enough to buy the premium content it needs to attract subscribers or even maintain market share. Global scale might sustain it for a while yet, but for how long?
“That’s the billion dollar question that ultimately everyone is trying to figure out,” muses RBC analyst Drew McReynolds, co-author of a 2011 RBC report, “Pricing in a Potential OTT Inflection Point.” “And I would say from Netflix’s perspective that with their $7.99 model they could certainly afford to dabble in the premium content side of things, but ultimately they’ll need a lot more scale if they’re going to have the pockets to bid for some of the more premium stuff.”
Several years ago in the U.S., Netflix tried changing its price/value offering—to disastrous effect. The company now insists it’s going to stick to its current pricing. Asked if Netflix might consider introducing tiered service with a premium pricing point where subscribers get a better selection, Evers says the company isn’t thinking about that at the moment. “We don’t confuse people with different price points, with the ability to watch pay-per-view titles, with an upsell to now buy a download or something like that.”
So who’s spending what to acquire content? Based on filings with the CRTC, Bell leads the pack at $1.5 billion for 2011 (year ended August 31 and filings are delayed one year). In the middle is Videotron at $527 million and rounding out the bottom is Cogeco at $288 million (see chart: “2011 broadcaster/Netflix content spend”). Netflix doesn’t release its content spend figures, but it’s possible to back out a rough estimate using its financials. For 2011, the company came in at about US$2.4 billion for its consolidated operations.
Figuring out Netflix’s Canadian spend is trickier still, but an April 2011 report by RBC Capital Markets makes some conservative projections for future outlays between 2015-2020, which it says represents a tipping point for OTT in Canada. If we use the same formula, but for its current subscriber level of 1 million, we get a 2011 figure of about $65.2 million. Considering that RBC’s calculations are for a future where Netflix has grown to 2.7 million subs, its projected $176 million content spend at that point would still pale before that of the BDUs (although it would be competitive with broadcasters Corus and Astral). Today’s $65 million figure is even more miniscule. So the question becomes to what degree, if at all, is Netflix using its American muscle to plough its way into the Canadian market? Netflix is already on record as saying it uses its American revenue to fund its international expansions, but it also made a point of noting in its Q2 financials that its Canadian operations have reached “scale,” are now generating a “small contribution profit” and that it plans to “manage … content and marketing expenses to grow more slowly than members and revenue.”
“The company strategy [on Canada] has gone a little dark,” says Dan Cryan, research director, digital media at IHS. “Looking at what they have been doing internationally and the number of users, and given the expansion to [Europe] and so on, it’s not clear to me that Canada is the international priority it once was.”
Peter Miller, author of a report for the CRTC called “Developments in the Canadian Program Rights Market 2011,” says, “There’s really no scenario where Netflix can outbid a Canadian player on a rational basis. The issue is, are there strategic reasons for them ever to do it irrationally? Do they go out and spend a ridiculous amount of money to get exclusive rights to something that Canadians want, thereby driving up their subscriptions because Canadians say we really want that programming and Netflix is the only place to get to it? It won’t make any economic sense out of the gate, but if it grows their business it’s not a completely irrational thing to do.”
RBC’s McReynolds agrees. “There’s nothing I’m aware of that prevents that strategy from unfolding,” he says, although he points out that as a public company Netflix faces constraints. “But you would expect them to ramp up the spend at certain points and each time they would do that it would be incrementally negative impact on the incumbents here.”
But among the possible advantages Netflix has that makes up to some extent for its lower Canada-specific spend are that: it does not currently have to contribute to Canadian production funds such as the Canadian Media Fund; does not have to set aside program time for Canadian programming; and does not have to support any telecom infrastructure beyond its server clouds. Instead Netflix uses the infrastructure built and maintained by the telecoms. All of this naturally makes Netflix a much leaner operation than, say, a Rogers. The telecoms have identified these issues before the CRTC as sources of (unfair) competitive advantage that they would like to see addressed in some manner.
Netflix’s freedom of movement limited
Others say it’s a mistake to attribute too much power to Netflix. Catherine Tait, president of indie film & TV company Duopoly and part owner of recently launched pay channel Hollywood Suite, says Netflix’s freedom of movement is limited. She points out that existing output deals Canadian broadcasters/BDUs have with U.S. studios tend to be long-term and high volume. Paramount-type deals notwithstanding, Netflix is shut out, at least for now. “There’s no black and white here. It’s like the trenches in the First World War—you win 25 yards and then you go back 15. It’s a little bit like that. And Netflix is battling for each of those relationships in the U.S. and in Canada.”
Given that Netflix has been in the country only two years, these are the opening stages of the content wars and Canada’s incumbents have sounded an early alarm. It’s too soon to declare a winner, but a combination of market positioning, resources and even regulatory rulings are likely to play a part in deciding who comes out on top in the future.
In part three of this series, the options facing Canadian incumbents are revealed. Whether it’s Bell, Rogers or Shaw, none of Canada’s big players can be considered easy pickings. They all have considerable resources and other advantages they can bring to bear to fight off—or at least fight to a standstill—the challenge of foreign OTT services. But time may not be on their side.
The world of broadcast and telecommunications is filled with jargon and acronyms. Here are some of the key ones.
BDU: Broadcast distribution undertaking. A cable or satellite provider.
Linear TV: Programming aired at a certain time in a certain order with no ability by the viewer for intervention. In short, network TV.
OTT: Over-the-top. A reference to services like Netflix and Hulu, which serve content over the Internet to a variety of devices and bypass the systems of traditional broadcasters.
Output deal: An agreement by one company, usually a distributor, to sell/distribute a specified amount of content from another company, usually a studio, over a contracted period.
SVOD: Subscription video on demand. The viewer pays a periodic fee in order to access content à la carte, usually online.


encouragement to live in ministry houses and attend several meetings a week “creates more of a potential for controlling the environment,” said Steven Hassan, a mind-control expert and mental-health professional in Massachusetts.
Jake Leppert, 25, and a member, doesn’t see it that way.
“I think there are a lot of meetings,” said Leppert, who
lives in one of Xenos’ ministry houses near Ohio State’s campus. “I go to them because I want to. People have a choice to go to them or not.”
Leppert said he’s
read posts online about bad experiences with the church and wants to hear both sides.
“Some things people said happened don’t sound good ... if these things are true, I’d
like them out of our church,” he said.
In addition to grueling meeting schedules, some former members complained about the church’s use of what it calls “accountability
software” to monitor their internet usage.
“It’s insane; you’re an adult,” Alex Craig, 20, of the University District, said of the software program.
She said it has been used to monitor or block sites that aren’t Christian or are critical of the church.
the software program is optional and only used to make sure that those living in the ministry houses aren’t looking at pornography. It can be used to block certain sites, he acknowledged, but said those features have to be turned on by the person with
“The goal of behavior control is dependence and obedience,” said Hassan, who was a college junior in the mid-1970s when he was recruited into the Unification
Church, the so-called Moonies.
“You want access to followers ... you don’t want them exposed to things you can’t control,” he said. “You want to keep them
very busy with your own projects.”
Delia Grantham, 18, of Bexley, was a member of Xenos for two years during high school.
She left the church because she said leaders of her high school group told the then-16-year-old that she couldn’t be with her Jewish boyfriend forever: He was going to hell and she was going to heaven. Her salvation also was questioned,
she said, when she admitted she’d been depressed after a friend, a fellow Xenos member, died by suicide.


Walmart in Renewed Call for Greener Vendors
Home & Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, March 7, 2010
Walmart wants to reduce its supply chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint — and it has joined with an ecology organization as it calls upon its vendors for new initiatives.
Walmart has established an advisory team for the effort, led by the Environmental Defense Fund and including PricewaterhouseCoopers, ClearCarbon Inc., the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Applied Sustainability Center (ASC) at the University of Arkansas.
“Energy efficiency and carbon reduction are central issues in the world today,” said Mike Duke, Walmart president and ceo. “We’ve been working to make a difference in these areas, both in our own footprint and our supply chain.”
The new goal is to cut 20 million metric tons of GHG from the supply chain by the end of 2015 — which the retailer said is about 50% more than its projected “global carbon footprint growth over the next five years.”
“Walmart’s bold move will help companies identify steps to slash pollution and costs. As this story unfolds, it will transform a vast supply chain here at home, and around the world,” said Fred Krupp, president of EDF.
The reduction effort will identify GHG emissions by product category, and will monitor reduction means involving the sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, customer use or end-of-life disposal functions. The advisory team will calculate and assess the reductions made under the Walmart program.
Celebrity Branding at NY Home Fashions Market


BERLIN - Bettina Schardt knew that the combination of drugs she drank in the living room of her home in Wuerzburg last week would kill her, and she died alone.
STAUNTON, Va. - Three West African bushmen recruited to build a mud-hut village at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia have been denied visas because officials say the men were poor, didn't speak English and failed to convince them that their visit only would be temporary.
BEIJING - China wants the Dalai Lama to prove he does not support Tibetan independence and disruption of the Beijing Olympics, and told the spiritual leader's two visiting envoys that ''positive actions'' could lead to more talks this year, a state news agency reported Thursday.
Summer Sports Show for Thursday, July 3 - Presented by Farmers and Merchants Bank.
NEW YORK - The hedge fund cheat who tried to fake his own death before going on the lam told a judge Thursday that he really did try to kill himself with a drug overdose the day before he surrendered in Massachusetts.
GLOUCESTER, Mass. - The high school where the principal claimed girls formed a pact to get pregnant is one of the few in Massachusetts with a day care center, leading some to wonder whether that sent a message that teen motherhood is OK.
MONROE, Ga. - Investigators have spent two days digging at a property in northeast Georgia in search of clues advocates hope could lead to finding living suspects in the unsolved lynchings of four people in 1946.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A former death row inmate was freed from a Nashville prison on Wednesday for the first time in nearly 23 years after an anonymous donor paid his bail.
NEW YORK - Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday dismissed talk of a U.S. or Israeli attack against his country, calling the prospect of another war in the Middle East ''craziness.''
BOSTON - MoneyAisle is a free new Web service that makes a bold claim: It says it will maximize the interest rates consumers can get on savings accounts, by running online auctions in which banks bid for consumers' business.
ALBANY, N.Y. - Tiffany was 12 when her mother died. That was the same year she ran away from her sister's house, lived on the streets for six weeks and met the man who two days later became her pimp.
TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. - Citing a lack of federal leadership, the nation's Western governors want to draft a national energy policy they hope will influence the next presidential administration.
The 2008 Firecracker Fest at Mill Creek Regional Park will celebrate the Fourth of July with its annual mix of games, activities and fireworks on Friday from 4-11 p.m.
In Shakespeare's "Richard II," Lord Salisbury says, "O, call back yesterday, bid time return."
DEAR ABBY: "Sad Dad in Arizona" (May 2) wrote that he was concerned because his teenage son didn't want to attend his mother's funeral and preferred to remember her "the way she was."
There is a reason that, for over 30 years, customers continue to select Cottons Tire, now with locations in Statesboro and Sylvania, as their one ...
Pat Hirsch, president of ERA Hirsch Real Estate Team in Statesboro, is looking to expand and is currently recruiting new and existing agents who are ...
After 10 amazing years of serving our community, 180fitness founders and owners Angie Hitchens and Brandon Blair decided it was time to "turn the gym ...
Cottons Tire is your one stop shop for all of your automotive repair needs.
Who is the SACK Company? Do they make sacks? What does SACK even stand for?
Healthcare is more complicated now more than ever.
Man of the Decade


Abacus Running On Clouds At COMMON, Gives Free Trial
April 8, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan
It may have taken some major changes in technology and culture, but the long-awaited promise of cloudy infrastructure for OS/400 and IBM i workloads is becoming a reality.
Abacus Solutions, which launched an IBM i cloud at last May’s COMMON Annual Conference and Exposition, is back at this year’s COMMON event in Austin with customer Brooks Running Company to tell potential customers all about the benefits of putting their applications out on the Abacus cloud.
Scott Johnson, senior iSeries solutions specialist at Abacus, tells The Four Hundred that the company is teaming up with Brooks to fit prospective customers with a pair of custom running shoes at its COMMON booth. Brooks is a user of Infor‘s Lawson M3 ERP suite, and moved its operations to the Abacus cloud last year.
Johnson says that the cloud business is doing well for Abacus, with it having doubled the number of customers on its cloud in the past year. Moreover, there’s a lot of activity with tire-kickers at the moment, and much of it coming through its partnership with Infor, which was also announced at last year’s COMMON. The company has over 40 different customer environments running in its two data centers (in Marietta and Kennestone in Georgia), and given all the interest in running either homegrown or third-party applications in the cloud, Johnson says that the business could double again this year–or perhaps do even better than that.
To help get customers to give its IBM i cloud a try, Abacus is launching a 90-day free trial for capacity on its cloud service, which can be used for test and development to, say, move applications from i5/OS V5R4, which runs out of support in September of this year, to IBM i 6.1 or 7.1. It is not clear at press time how much capacity Abacus is giving customers to play with on its cloud to give it a whirl.


Company prospects inflated by approval: FDA approval of dual balloon system could ReShape weight loss options
The market for weight loss devices has seen a flurry of recent activity, most recently with the FDA approval of an intragastric dual balloon system from ReShape Medical® (San Clemente, Calif.).
The FDA approved ReShape‘s weight loss procedure in adults with a BMI of 30 to 40 kg/m2 and a related health condition who have not been able to lose weight with diet and exercise alone and do not want or qualify for bariatric surgery.
Single intragastric balloons have been available outside the U.S. for about 30 years, Rick Thompson, president/CEO of ReShape Medical, told Medical Device Daily.
“We know single balloons work, but there is room to improve,” Thompson said.
The ReShape Dual Balloon system is inserted in the stomach endoscopically and filled with saline. The balloons are left in the stomach for six months and then removed.
“The dual balloon design offers three big advantages over the single balloon devices”, he said. “First, because the system includes two balloons used at the same time, the ReShape system occupies more space in the stomach so patients eat smaller meals, with the goal of losing more weight. Single balloons hold about 500 CCs of saline, whereas ReShape‘s balloons hold a total of 900 CCs (about 450 CCs in each balloon)”, Thompson said.
The ReShape balloons are attached to a flexible shaft that allows the balloons to conform to the natural shape of the patient’s stomach. Thompson said the flexible design was intended to make the dual balloon more tolerable than single intragastric balloons, even though it’s bigger.
The ReShape Balloon also offers some safety advantages over traditional single balloon devices, Thompson said. He said the biggest risk with intragastric balloons is that they sometimes deflate prematurely and move into the intestines, causing a dangerous bowel obstruction that often requires emergency surgery. ReShape designed the two balloons in its system to be independent of each other so that if one balloon deflates, the other should stay inflated and act as an anchor in the stomach to prevent the device from moving into the intestines.
As another precaution, Thompson said the ReShape balloons have blue dye in the saline and patients are trained to call their doctor if they see blue dye in their urine indicating a possible deflation.
“This is the first non-surgical weight loss device approved in the U.S. since the mid-80s,” Thompson said.
As with most of the weight loss procedures currently in development or on the market, ReShape patients are expected to participate in a 12-month program to learn how to modify their behavior and eat smaller meals even after the balloon is removed. The idea behind the educational component of the process is to help patients maintain the weight loss long term.
Last year the company published a study that showed 50% of ReShape patients were still losing weight at the end of the 12-month program, even six months after the balloons were removed.
“With the right program you can be really successful with this, even though the balloon is out,” Thompson said.


In a savage display of animals challenging human authority, this sheep was caught on dashcam switching on its shepherd and unleashing a vicious attack which could have ended very badly indeed if not for these two guys showing up.
Featured Image VIA
The sheep goes berserk and bashes the old female shepherd to the ground, before delivering a couple more blows for good measure:
Nice of those German dudes to watch her get smashed three times before deciding to step in. That last bundle was an absolutely killer alpha sheep move. And what was the shepherd’s dog playing at just running around while the shepherd’s getting trucked?
Reminds me of that Greek cyclist that got surrounded by a pack of 25 angry dogs and nearly got eaten alive. Now that was a close call.


QLD Building Industry Hails New Dispute Process
A new building dispute resolution service in Queensland has been welcomed by the state’s construction industry, with a key lobby group saying builders were frequently having...
Queensland Plans Decades of Construction Success
Construction industry leaders are planning for decades of industry success as industry and government leaders meet to chart a long term blueprint for the sector’s future.
Queensland Overhauls Construction Payment Laws
Adjudicators to payment disputes will be appointed by the recently created industry regulator and different timeframes will be allowed for responses to payment claims under new...
Ex-Cop to Head Queensland Building Watchdog
A former detective has been named as head of Queensland’s new building industry watchdog.
Queensland Building Watchdog Comes to Life
Queensland now has a new building industry regulator as the government moves to enhance the accountability of construction industry regulation in the state.
Queensland Construction Watchdog Gets New Board
A new construction industry watchdog is set to take shape in Queensland following the appointment of its board of directors.
Queensland Seeks Leaders for New Building Watchdog
Queensland is seeking leaders for a new organisation at the centre of a large scale overhaul of building industry regulation in that state.


The Brooklyn Nets played a basketball game last night, though given how everyone (read: us too) is covering it, you might’ve thought that the Nets were hosting a Jason Collins-athon in Los Angeles. But no, there was real basketball along with an historic social barrier broken. So here’s five takeaways from the game that had nothing to do with Jason Collins.
1) The Nets, you know, won. The Nets beat a downtrodden Los Angeles Lakers team 108-102. That Lakers team started Kendall Marshall, Jodie Meeks, Kent Bazemore, Wesley Johnson, and Pau Gasol, their league-highest 18th starting lineup. The Lakers now have the worst record in the Western Conference, but a win is a win, and they led wire to wire on the second half of a back-to-back without Shaun Livingston and Kevin Garnett. (And, for that matter, Marcus Thornton.)
2) Deron Williams had his best game of the season. Williams dominated the likes of inferior defenders Kendall Marshall and Jordan Farmar, cruising to a season-high 30 points with a variety of crossovers and layups. He’s attacking again, eight of his sixteen attempts from within five feet of the basket, and he also went to the line 13 times. Williams won as a starter against the Lakers in Staples Center for the first time in his career, having lost his first 19 games.
He’s also killing it from midrange. Yes, the midrange shot is one of the most boring facets of basketball, and it’s used all-too-often by traditionalists as the marker of the game they used to watch 30 years ago that was so much more about the fundamentals and not this silly dunking and three-point shooting circus you’ve got going on now, but an effective midrange game isn’t useless, and Williams is killing it. He’s shooting 49.2 percent on “midrange” looks per NBA.com, only bested by Dirk Nowitzki, Stephen Curry, and Courtney Lee.
Williams’s final statline? 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and six steals, the first player to hit those numbers in a Nets uniform since Derrick Coleman on April 15, 1993.
3) Paul Pierce led the charge early. Pierce said earlier in the season that his shots have come as the product of excellent ball movement. From the perimeter, that’s true. He’s getting wide-open looks when the team swings the ball, and he hit three of them in rapid succession in the first quarter Sunday night. But he was also getting to the rim around a porous Lakers defense, dipping and diving into the lane like it was a cone drill.
4) Andrei Kirilenko works in the starting lineup… kind of. First, I’d like to reiterate this craziness: 6’9″ small forward Andrei Kirilenko replaced 6’7″ point guard Shaun Livingston (fighting a bruised tailbone) in the Nets starting lineup, after Livingston had replaced 7’2″ center Brook Lopez six weeks earlier. That’s just an incredible amount of versatility the Nets have.
Kirilenko looked solid in the Nets lineup in his usual box-score-stuffing ways, putting up a sneaky double-double with 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds (though that speaks more to Brooklyn’s poor rebounding than Kirilenko’s frantic chase-them-all-down methods), adding four steals and three assists. Even his missed three pointer cruelly popped out after rimming halfway down. There’s tantalizing potential in a lineup featuring Kirilenko and Garnett, but that’d likely relegate Shaun Livingston to the bench, who’s been playing at a high level in the starting lineup.
5) Andray Blatche is as good as his offense. It’s evident that the Nets struggle to defend the interior with Blatche on the floor. Though he has some good moments, they tend to falter as the quarters roll on, and his lackluster performance inside late in Sunday night’s game brought the Lakers within striking distance. His defense is normally excusable considering his ability to put points on the board, but he shot 2-10 against the Lakers and didn’t ever look comfortable on the offensive end. It only bolstered the thought that the Nets need help defending on the inside, which led them to sign…
Whoops. Almost said it. Sorry, guys.


Mobile computing has gone viral at UW-Madison while regular cellphones are going the way of the land line, according to the university's 2012 Student Computing Survey.
Two-thirds of respondents said they owned an Internet-ready handheld device such as a smartphone, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Android or iPod Touch, up from 56 percent in 2011 and 45 percent in 2010. About a third reported using a simple cellphone, down from 49 percent in 2011 and 62 percent in 2010.
And almost all students (97 percent of respondents) own a laptop while 36 percent own a desktop computer, down from 45 percent in 2011. A quarter of students use a tablet computer such as the iPad, Kindle or Nook, compared to 11 percent in 2011.
The survey found students are relying more heavily on Web-based technologies available with their devices — 70 percent use location-based social media services, up from 60 percent a year ago. They also want more features for the university's iPhone and Android app Mobile UW, such as more administrative services, mobile access to course and enrollment functions, cash management and payment options and library services.
The annual survey was delivered on the Web in spring 2012 using a random sample of 1,200 UW-Madison undergraduate, graduate, professional and special students, of whom 316 responded.
School of Education hires 18 new faculty members
The UW-Madison School of Education is welcoming its largest group of new hires in the school's 82-year history.
The addition of 18 new faculty is the result of an unusual number of retirements over the past two years, said Dawn Crim, associate dean for external relations.
The new hires include Melinda "Gay" Ivey, the Tashia F. Morgridge Chair in Reading and Literacy, who focuses her research on struggling adolescent readers; and Maisha T. Winn, the Susan Cellmer Chair in English Education, who has taught in urban schools, studied the Black Arts Movement, and researched the intersection of arts and literacy in the lives of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated girls.
Horn named rec sports interim director
John Horn has been named interim director of the UW-Madison Division of Recreational Sports, following the retirement of longtime director Dale Carruthers.
Horn has been the director of recreational programs and facilities since 2004, overseeing management, scheduling and contracting for the Southeast Recreation Facility (SERF), the Natatorium, outdoor activity spaces, and the division's programs. He graduated from UW-Eau Claire and received a master's degree in recreation management from the University of Arkansas.
A search for a permanent replacement will begin in the near future, the university said in a news release.