archive
stringlengths 79
515
| text
stringlengths 1.31k
86.1k
| compression_bin
stringclasses 3
values | density
float64 0
2
| summary
stringlengths 77
3.04k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160731193327id_/http://www.msnbc.com:80/msnbc/obama-grammys-delivers-message-about-sexual-assault
|
President Obama made a surprise appearance at the Grammys on Sunday night – in the form of a powerful PSA for the White House’s sexual violence awareness campaign, “It’s On Us.” In the ad, President Obama tells viewers that nearly one in five American women will be raped, and nearly one in four will experience some form of domestic violence. He then urges viewers to take responsibility for ending rape and sexual assault, saying: “It’s not okay – and it has to stop.” Obama also called on artists at the Grammys to get involved, telling viewers, “Go to itsonus.org and and take the pledge. And to the artists at the Grammys tonight, I ask you to ask your fans to do the same too.” “It’s on us – all of us - to create a culture where violence isn’t tolerated, where survivors are supported, and where all our young people – men and women – can go as far as their talents and their dreams will take them,” Obama said. The ad is part of the White House’s ongoing sexual assault awareness campaign, “It’s On Us.” The White House launched the campaign in September as part of an effort to fight the campus sexual assault epidemic. Their first PSA, released in September, featured dozens of celebrities, including actors John Hamm, Kerry Washington, Joel McHale, and Rose Byrne, musicians Common and Questlove, and Vice President Joe Biden, urging Americans that “it’s on us” to end sexual assault. The ad has over 2.7 million views on YouTube. Immediately following Obama’s PSA, Brooke Axtell, a survivor of domestic violence took the stage and delivered a moving spoken word piece about surviving domestic assault at the hands of her partner, and eventually leaving him. “Authentic love does not devalue another human being. Authentic love does not silence, shame, or abuse. If you are in a relationship with someone who does not honor and respect you, I want you to know that you are worthy of love. Please reach out for help. Your voice will save you,” Axtell said. After Axtell’s performance ended, singer Katy Perry took to the stage to perform her song “By the Grace of God.” In an interview with Slate, Axtell said she had been contacted by Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the Grammys, who told her that the producers of the Grammys wanted to highlight the issue of violence against women at this year’s awards show.
|
medium
| 1.869565 |
President Obama and other White House officials starred in an anti-rape PSA that aired during the Grammys on Sunday night.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160801163354id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/07/30/nyregion/a-voiceless-man-whose-spirit-spoke-volumes.html
|
The man who lost his voice was a gentle man who didn’t ask terribly much of life. He lived in a miniature space in a single-room-occupancy residence on the corner of 74th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan, above J. G. Melon, the popular restaurant and bar known for succulent hamburgers. And he was a New York story. He was a New York story because he didn’t have a lot and yet he gave a lot. And in return he got what New York for all its busyness so often offers those who could use a good dose of it — kindness. The city can be cold and aloof and you can live crunched amid its population and remain lonely and overlooked. You can also be someone unremarkable and be made to feel like Mr. Big Shot. The name of the man who lost his voice was Bernhardt Wichmann III. Sounds like an old-money name for sure, but any money ever attached to it was no longer visible. His story revolves around a pair of doormen. In 1994, Jorge Grisales became a night doorman at the Mayfair, an apartment building at 207 East 74th Street. His shift began at midnight, when the city slows down but keeps breathing. When you are a doorman, you notice things. You especially notice recurring people. Mr. Grisales became aware of a man who almost nightly ambled past the building. He had a glistening face with a trimmed beard and he sported a big smile. Six-foot-something. As he walked, he would bend down and dutifully scoop up litter, tidying up the neighborhood. One sweaty summer evening, the smiling man waved at the doorman and paused. Mr. Grisales said, “How are you?” The man clutched scraps of paper. He wrote something down and handed it over. It said: “Hi, my name is Bernhardt but call me Ben. I can’t talk, but I can hear.” Something instantly clicked between them. There was a delicious spirit about Ben. Two years later, Juan Arias joined the door staff, and Mr. Grisales introduced him to Ben. They, too, clicked. They talked. He wrote. On his notes, he always drew a smiley face. Over time, the two doormen learned some blurred snippets about Ben Wichmann. That his parents came from Germany to Davenport, Iowa. That he was born in 1932. That he had served in the United States Army and was in the Korean War. That he came to New York and became an architectural draftsman. That, among other things, he worked on closets as well as decks and porches for houses in the Hamptons. That he loved opera and classical music. That he was gay. That he had a sister. That his parents and sister were dead and he had no family. And that in 1983 he had polyps removed from his larynx, and that he had not been able to speak since. He wasn’t entirely sure why. They discovered that since 1991, Ben had lived in that tiny third-floor room down the block that cost $10 a day. He had few possessions and eked by on Social Security. In a city where so many have so much, he had practically nothing. Yet it was enough, always enough. And inside him beat a heart bigger than a mountain. He seemed unrelievedly happy. That happiness bounced off him and settled on others. People up and down the block came to know Ben. He always petted people’s dogs. Admired the flowers. His cheery presence made East 74th Street brighter than it would have been without him. “He charmed people,” Mr. Grisales said. “He always smiled. He never complained. He was just wonderful.” Mr. Arias said: “He had plenty of reasons to be unhappy. But I never saw him unhappy.” Now and then, he would stop in at J. G. Melon, plant himself at the bar and have a glass of wine and maybe a salad and converse through his written expressions with customers and the staff. He would bring the doormen coffee and a Spanish newspaper. And they would fall into meandering exchanges — spoken words from the doormen, scribbling from Ben. Oh how they relished one another’s company. Mr. Grisales was shaky with his English. That was why he worked the midnight shift. Ben tutored him. If Mr. Grisales mispronounced a word, he would write out how to say it, which syllables to emphasize, what words it rhymed with. Mr. Grisales polished his English and graduated to an earlier shift. The doormen gave Ben gifts — shirts or shoes, things he needed. So did others on the block. Joan Gralla, a reporter at Newsday who lives near the Mayfair, gave him sweaters, hats, a yellow rain slicker. For years, she got him a ticket to the Metropolitan Opera. He would dress up in his best clothes and have the time of his life. She would tell him the ticket was from her dog, Clementine. Once, when the seat was exceptional, he wrote that Clementine must have some pull. “Ben was just magical in bringing out the best in people,” Ms. Gralla said. Ben had many medical issues. He came to rely on the doormen to make — or cancel — doctor appointments. If something was urgent, he would write out the note to them in red ink.
|
medium
| 1.454545 |
Bernhardt Wichmann III, a Korean War veteran, possessed little except a big heart, and he spread kindness up and down his street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160804222109id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/08/03/realestate/commercial/the-town-center-regains-significance.html
|
The Georgetown Company, the real estate firm based in New York that is Easton’s master developer and financial partner, just completed a three-story, 240,000-square foot office building for Alliance Data. Two more Alliance Data projects, an 86,000-square-foot building to be completed this year and a second 240,000-square-foot office complex, are scheduled to be finished in 2017. Construction of a 215,000-square-foot building for Abbott Laboratories is scheduled to be completed early next year. The total cost of the four buildings is $135.6 million. Last August, the nearby 54-acre, 600,000-square-foot Easton Gateway opened. The $150 million shopping center, anchored by Whole Foods Market and Dick’s Sporting Goods, also includes restaurants. Over the next decade, about 2,000 residential units are expected to be built within the district. Developers and architects say Easton has contributed to several influential turn-of-the-21st-century trends in land use and community design. It helped to reintroduce density as an attractive and profitable real estate design principle. All of the clusters in Easton are tightly aligned outdoor districts. The dominant structure is the $50 million, 600,000-square-foot Station building, with a towering ceiling, space for dozens of stores and a cinema complex. It copies the scale and open-air design of a 19th-century train station shed and adjoins the 90-acre Town Center, the hub of the development, which features 240 retail stores and restaurants, a grid of sidewalks and narrow streets, fountains and a central square. The Town Center breached the dominance in retail of indoor malls, with its emphasis on storefronts and pedestrians, instead of vehicles and parking. And such town centers nationwide are adapting Americans’ buying habits and entertainment patterns. A number of town center developments with similar design principles were constructed in or near major cities in the early 1920s. The most durable, said Mr. Leinberger of George Washington University, is Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Most of the initial mixed-use developments, though, succumbed to the advent of suburban indoor shopping malls, starting in the mid-1950s, which were built along major boulevards, and elevated climate control, retail uniformity and acres of parking to top shopping priorities. “You could say that the period from 1950 to 1990 was an urban planning aberration,” said Yaromir Steiner, the chief executive of Steiner and Associates in Columbus, who moved to the area to help design and develop Easton Town Center. “We are finally correcting all of this.” Mr. Steiner was the developer from Istanbul with whom Mr. Wexner worked on the Easton concept. He had developed CocoWalk, a popular open-air shopping and restaurant district in Coconut Grove, Fla. The other developer was Marshall Rose, chairman of the Georgetown Company. The shift in urban planning turns out to have robust financial returns. To date, Easton’s districts have cost $1.7 billion to build, including $235 million in road, water, and other infrastructure expenses. According to the Georgetown Company, the development attracts 30 million visitors a year and generates over $1 billion annually in total retail sales. More than 32,000 people work at the various stores and offices. Over all, Easton returns $138 million annually in state, city, county and school tax revenue. “This development generates $150 million annually just in food sales,” said Adam R. Flatto, Georgetown’s president and chief executive. “People respond to Easton as a social experience. They enjoy being here.” Lee Peterson, an executive vice president at WD Partners, a national design consultancy based in Columbus, estimated that after the development of Easton, roughly 120 other mixed-use town centers have been built across the country. Town centers, he said, are defying the trend of declining retail store sales nationwide. “Town centers fit the scale that people like,” Mr. Peterson said. “Bigger isn’t better. Better is better.” One of the newest projects taking a cue from Easton Town Center is Liberty Center, north of Cincinnati. Constructed on 64 acres, where Interstate 75 and State Route 129 converge, the $300 million project opened late last year and encompasses 800,000 square feet of retail space, 75,000 square feet of office space and 240 residences. Liberty Center was developed by Steiner and Associates and Bucksbaum Retail Properties. Steiner and Associates collaborated with Olshan Properties, formerly Mall Properties, to also develop the $300 million Bayshore Town Center in Glendale, Wis., north of Milwaukee. Bayshore opened in 1954 as a strip mall. In 1974 it was rebuilt as an indoor mall. Sold in 2004 for $40 million to Mall Properties, Bayshore Town Center opened in 2006 with a one-acre central square, 1.2 million square feet of retail space, 180,000 square feet of offices and more than 100 apartments. Though the town center has proved to be profitable and durable, the idea of building such districts was just an experiment when Mr. Wexner, chairman and chief executive of L Brands, began thinking about it a generation ago. Mr. Wexner was among the first retailers to note flagging interest among mall shoppers at his L Brands stores. In a speech in 1989 to a trade association, Mr. Wexner examined how American malls were boring to shoppers. He projected the approaching end of the mall era and called for a fresh approach. “The novelty was gone,” Mr. Wexner said in an interview this spring. “Going to the mall ceased to be an event. Life occurs in cycles. I understood that there had to be something next.” With 400 acres still undeveloped, Easton’s planners are focusing on more residences close to the development’s office and retail centers. The concept, said Mr. Flatto of the Georgetown Company, fits “the live-work-play evolution occurring throughout the country.” A version of this article appears in print on August 3, 2016, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Before Automobiles, This Is How America Was Built’. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
|
high
| 1.266667 |
Easton, a mixed-use project in Columbus, Ohio, that began construction in 1993, was inspired by principles that distinguish American towns built before 1900.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160807194317id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/men/thinking-man/11929565/The-death-of-the-Playboy-nude-is-a-tragedy-of-our-times.html
|
At school in the library, all oak panels and stained glass, we used to “read” Playboy surreptitiously wrapped in the covers of The Economist to dignify our puerile voyeurism. Now that money has replaced sex as our chief preoccupation, that subterfuge would today be reversed. The conservative and genteel Playboy might disguise our reading The Economist, a paper that lasciviously deals in real-world venery, dirty politics and lust of a coarsely material sort. Hugh Hefner with bunnies Holly Madison, left, and Bridget Marquardt Photo: AP Playboy was always exceptionally decent. Hugh Hefner was helped by a start-up loan from his mother, not Satan. And Playboy had an impeccable record of literary publishing. Ray Bradbury’s epochal Fahrenheit 451 was serialised in 1954 and the magazine hosted, at various times, Vladimir Nabokov, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, P.G. Wodehouse, Kurt Vonnegut, Doris Lessing, John Le Carre and John Updike – not at all a shabby list. Presumably, they did not think themselves slumming. • 12 iconic Playboy front covers Photographers at work on Playboy included Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts and Annie Leibovitz. The magazine interviewed major political figures including Martin Luther King and President Carter. It was the latter who mournfully explained in 1976 that he had “committed adultery in my heart many times”. I think he must have meant “head”, because the big truth about erotica is that the real action takes place above the collar, not below the belt. Hence, Playboy’s late decision to cover-up its nudes does very little to defuse eroticism. In the contest between concealment and display, concealment is almost always more sexy: this is why classic Playboy nudes are actually so deliciously chaste. Playboy front cover August 1968 Photo: Playboy There were critics. In 1963, Gloria Steinem published “A Bunny’s Tale”, exposing the dehumanisation of Playboy’s working women. Less sophisticated feminists ritually damned the magazine’s nudes for “objectifying” females, which is just another way of saying what Playboy did was to perfect their image. What you are looking at in a nude centrefold of the sixties and seventies with big hair, clear eyes, perfect skin, airbrushed flesh, serious make-up and an engagingly vacant smile with no hint of lubricity is the exact equivalent of an automated American dream kitchen: something designed as a slick package to be enjoyed. Before any feminist accuses me of debasing womankind by equivalence with a waste disposal unit, that is not my point at all. It is simply that, at its peak, American civilisation wanted everything to appear squeakily clean and plastically perfect. It is idealism, not sexism. "Internet porn is a poor replacement for a magazine that sponsored literature and art" Similarly, Detroit cars of the period were never seen dripping oil, belching smoke or rusting, and were always presented with an other-worldly sheen, so Playboy’s nudes never had spots, poor dental hygiene or needed a manicure. Realism has its place, but not in the imagination. You’d be stupid to deny it was all a fiction, but why is fiction a bad thing? So much of Playboy culture was a harmless dream world. Hugh Hefner’s calling card was a striking black DC-9 with Art Paul’s “bunny” logogram painted on the tail. Except it wasn’t a calling card at all, it was a presentational device. With great artifice, Hefner had chartered the plane, painted it for the photo shoot and the world’s media dutifully reported that Playboy had acquired an aviation division. On the ground, Playboy elevated “low” culture into something rather finer. In 1960, the architectural historian Reyner Banham published an article called “I’d crawl a mile for … Playboy”, drawing attention to its dignified typography and layout. Playboy championed great designers including Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. And in 1966, London’s Playboy Cub opened at 45 Park Lane. Two years later, tracking the Zeitgeist, the Club hosted the wedding reception of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. The Playboy Club building, in one of the great and glorious incongruities of architectural history, was designed by the austere Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus. It was one of the great man’s last buildings, and it amused him to say so. Which is more damaging to the women’s cause, the highly conceptualised and meticulously edited Playboy, or the atrociously lively and totally amoral internet? True, Playboy venerated a simplistic and limiting idea of womanhood, but it was never unkind. Pornography involves violence and coercion: there was none of that here. I doubt anyone was ever inflamed to gross anti-social beastliness by close scrutiny of Playboy. Internet porn is a poor replacement for a magazine that sponsored literature and art. Playboy taught those with eyes to see that the world should be full of pleasure and great writing.
|
high
| 0.692308 |
As Playboy covers up its pictures of naked women, Stephen Bayley defends the magazine's superb writing and fundamentally decent view of beauty
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160907141901id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/09/06/07/15/preliminary-don-dale-inquiry-hearing-today
|
The Northern Territory royal commission into the detention of young indigenous children could be a watershed moment for Australian justice, the lawyer for one abused boy says. The inquiry being led by co-commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda sat on Tuesday to outline what would happen over the next few months. Lawyer Peter O'Brien appeared in the ABC program which sparked the royal commission, after showing footage of youths in Darwin's Done Dale centre being gassed, stripped naked, hooded and tied to restraint chairs. "This is a watershed moment potentially, not only in the history of detention in the NT but potentially also right across the country," he told reporters outside the Supreme Court in Darwin. Mr O'Brien said the treatment of two of his clients, Dylan Voller and Jake Roper, in the system was "deplorable" and that they were willing to give evidence. Mr Gooda and Ms White plan to proceed "with a high degree of cultural competence" to create a safe environment for people giving evidence to the commission, which will examine the treatment of juvenile offenders over 10 years. "Many wrongs have been committed in the past which have caused great trauma and lasting damage to many people," he said in his opening statement on Tuesday. "Despite being a painful process, for the community to move forward, it must come to understand where these wrongs have occurred and ensure those wrongs are not repeated." The commission will look at the years between August 2006 and August 2016. "There can be no one in our community who is not anxious to find out if there are ways to bring about a significant reduction in child offending," Ms White said in her opening statement. Before the commission was first announced, Mr Gooda was criticised for being biased after he called for the sacking of the now ousted NT Country Liberal Party government. He again rejected this, assuring stakeholders of his impartiality. "I wish to assure those people and the community that I will look only at the evidence and other information given to the commission and that nothing extraneous will affect the conclusions I reach with my co-commissioner," he said. The commissioners will start hearing public evidence from next month, ahead of a final report to be delivered by the end of March 2017. They've already visited Darwin, Alice Springs and Kalkarindji and met with more than two dozen stakeholder groups. The fallout of the Don Dale youth justice scandal over the past six weeks has been wide-ranging. The CLP government lost the minister in charge John Elferink before being ousted by Labor at the August 27 NT election.
|
medium
| 1.2 |
A directions hearing into the royal commission sparked by the Don Dale juvenile centre controversy will be held today.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161122182016id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/11/22/00/07/survey-shows-trump-brexit-effect-in-aust
|
The unrest that's driven the election of Donald Trump and the UK's shock Brexit decision could be bubbling away in Australia. That's the finding of a new survey showing quality of government and politicians is the second biggest problem facing Australia. It's ranked higher than terrorism and national security, immigration concerns and health and education, according to the latest annual mapping social cohesion report from The Scanlon Foundation on Tuesday. The economy and unemployment consistently ranks as the top problem and 2016 was no different, although the number of people who ranked it number one was down five per cent. More than 30 per cent believe the system of government needs major change. The survey of 1500 Australians also found a significant increase in the number of people reporting discrimination because of their race or religion, rising from 15 per cent in 2015 to 20 per cent in 2016 - the highest proportion since the survey began nine years ago. Overall, social cohesion has fallen, to 89.3 from 92.5 in 2015. But report author Professor Andrew Markus insists Australia's "Trump" elements remain at the margins. Australia is more like Canada and New Zealand at the moment than the US and UK, he says. "People are looking at the American election and what happened in the UK with Brexit and they're asking if that's happening here," he told AAP. "What about Canada? Is there much turmoil there? The answer would be no. "What about New Zealand? It seems to be reasonably stable except for the earthquakes." The report also found 80 per cent of Australians support euthanasia for people suffering terminal illness. It found 83 per cent support medicinal marijuana, 67 per cent support marriage equality and 70 per cent support reduced reliance on coal for electricity.
|
low
| 1.75 |
Australians have ranked the quality of government and our politicians as the second biggest issue facing the nation, according to a survey.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161224130303id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/television/2016/12/22/what-year-been-for-our-family/Fi8ibtEe2M1EplIeYtUiSI/story.html
|
Happy holidays to our many, many close friends and relatives! So very much has happened this year, big wonderful things we can’t wait to share with you in this, our annual holiday letter. Of course some of you have already seen our announcements and celebrations as they’ve appeared on our popular Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds, but here’s our fabulous, fun, and generally fantastic year all in one place. We’ve been quite busy, as you’ll see — no sitting back lazily in front of the TV for us!! First of all, our dear cousins Edith and Mary both had excellent news to share this year. Edith and her beau, Bertie, finally got hitched. So proud! And Mary is pregnant with her second child, who’ll join her beloved Georgie (who, by the way, has such a lovely connection with his manny, Thomas “Bawwow”). What is Mary doing in the meantime, before the baby comes? She’s taking a crazy road trip, but she’s on good behavior for sure. And how could I not mention our loyal maid, Anna, who’s had so very many legal troubles in recent years? She now has a child, a boy, after a tricky pregnancy that kept us all on edge. Get The Weekender in your inbox: The Globe's top picks for what to see and do each weekend, in Boston and beyond. Martha, our cherished friend, has up and moved to Russia! We are so delighted for her, and only wish she’d found more time to celebrate before her departure. She’s one of the most studious of secretaries, but she’s also a dreamer who follows her unfailingly wise impulses. We may not see her for a long time, but we take pleasure knowing that she’ll be with her long-distance comrade, Nina, chilling with their feet up. On the health front, my husband’s brother, Jon, has rebounded from his dire illness thanks to the fine work of Dr. Melisandre, who, by the way, retired after Jon’s case and moved south. We’re so glad that, at her very advanced age, she was still practicing when we needed her! She sure knows how to work her medical magic. Also, Jon, who was adopted, made a lot of progress on finding his birth parents! Mazel tov! Speaking of finding birth parents, our nephew Randall, an extremely successful money guy, tracked down his father, William, and they’ve become quite close. Just thinking about them spending time together, so dear to each other now, with Randall so tall and William down low, and with Randall’s wife and two daughters also close by, makes us cry. Almost everything about that darn Pearson wing of the family makes us cry — what a clan! We miss Randall’s brother Kevin on “The Manny,” but we can’t wait to see him in his next triumphant career move, a play called “Back of an Egg.” Changes, changes. So, you all remember our great and brilliant friend Bernard? He has changed his name! He’s now going by Arnold, for reasons that are very deep and personal for him and far too complicated to go into here. And Delores, part of that same group of friends? She, too, has changed her name! She now prefers to go by Wyatt, also for reasons too complicated to go into here. She’s a real doll, that lady, as well as a great host (we spent a week out west visiting her!). She is growing into more and more of an activist as time goes on, breaking out of life’s predictable loops. You go Wyatt! We know you’re all hoping for word of our cousins the Pfeffermans, since they’ve been in such transition of late. Let us say that we’ve seen Shelly’s one-woman show, “To Shel and Back,” and it is spectacular. It’s fun but it’s poignant, it’s musical but it’s bittersweet, it’s dark but it’s jubilant, yeah. She and Buzz broke up, alas, but Shelly has 100 Twitter followers and counting, so there. We don’t like to brag, as you all know. Christmas is not a time for boastful self-regard. But we have to admit, our growing friendship with billionaire Bobby Axelrod — we call him just Axe — has been awfully exciting. He took us to Quebec to see Metallica! Yes, I’m sure you’ve all read about his ongoing war with US Attorney Chuck Rhoades. Men! Anyhow, Axe has decided to do a complete redo of his offices, so he’s taken the walls down to their studs. We’re sure it will be gorgeous. We’re all tired of the election, I know, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention the biggest event of the year. We weren’t “with her,” which many of you know since we prayed openly that he would prevail. He is the kind of leader we need, the kind who refuses to play by the rules, a man who will make a lot of necessary changes to the status quo. OK, so he likes the ladies. That’s all just “bro” talk. We promise you, Jonah Ryan is going to be the best Congressman that New Hampshire has ever had. On that note, we’d like to wish all of you happy holidays and best wishes for the coming year, which, we hope, will be as special, wonderful, winning, spectacular, and bountiful as 2016 was for us.
|
high
| 1.666667 |
A holiday letter with so much to share — about Mary and Edith, Jon, the Pfeffermans, and so many more.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140719231328id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/aug/26/new-africa-nigerian-photographer-storyteller
|
Adolphos Opara: 'Nigerians are too tolerant. We need real change.' Photograph: Tuoyo Omagba Born in Nigeria in 1981, Adolphus Opara originally worked as a graphic designer for the small but influential Nimbus studio and art gallery in Lagos, a hub for local artists and photographers. "I bought a film camera in early 2005, but I threw it away after a month because the pictures I took were so terrible," he says, laughing. The following year, armed with a digital camera (a Fuji Finepix S3Pro) bought from his friend, the acclaimed Nigerian documentary photographer George Osodi, Opara travelled by road to Senegal and back, "shooting all the way, totally trigger crazy". Looking at the photographs on his return, he realised then that he had a love for photography but "no real understanding of what a series was or how to create one". That came soon afterwards with a project called Rugball, which captured in impressionistic black and white a bunch of young Nigerians on a beach in Lagos playing the rough-and-tumble hybrid game that merges the rules of rugby, basketball, soccer and even wrestling. Opara describes himself as "first and foremost a storyteller". The stories he tells with his camera have, he says, deepened and widened since he began taking photographs in 2005. "I never plan anything. I follow my instincts and often my projects start off as quite small, intimate explorations that grow into something more. By the end, there is always a bigger story underneath about Nigeria or Africa, about the forces that shape us either from within or from the outside." His most well-known series to date is the grandly titled Emissaries of an Iconic Religion, painterly portraits of the chief priests and diviners of the traditional Yorùbá religion, which was shown as part of a group show, Contested Terrains, at Tate Modern last year. The exhibition focused on "artists working in Africa who explore and subvert narratives about the past and present". The project began, Opara says, "from a conversation with a friend who was a traditional Christian and, like many Christians, thought that Yorùbá was a bad religion like voodoo. I began to think about how quickly we can leave our beliefs and culture behind us. I visited shrines all around the country and, as people came to trust me, they began to tell their stories. It is a story about Africa's past but also about Africa today." One of Opara's ongoing projects is called Shrinking Shores. "It is about where I live, Lagos, and how it has been affected by climate change and oil spills. There are 30 abandoned shipwrecks on our shores and all tell a tale of destruction, of villages destroyed, people displaced." When asked if he is weary of how Africa is portrayed by photographers from outside the continent, Opara is diplomatic. "As someone who trained and works as a journalist, I can see why people go where there is disaster and war, but there is another Africa, many other Africas." Is he optimistic for the future of his country? "Well, Nigerians are naturally optimistic, but we can never agree on anything. It is out strength and our weakness. It takes us too long to say, 'This is enough.' There are people who have been in power too long. In a way, we are too tolerant. We need real change. It does not just happen, it needs action to make it happen." Daniel Naude A young South African.
|
medium
| 0.869565 |
Former graphic designer Adolphus Opara has developed a passion for storytelling through images of 'the other Africas', writes Sean O'Hagan
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160131121328id_/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/apr/28/dulwich-gallery-reveals-fake-painting-among-collection-of-old-masters/amp
|
The visitors came in their thousands, staring intently at the Rembrandts, Rubens and Murillos in the hope that they would be able to spot the imposter hidden among the masters. Now, three months since Dulwich picture gallery challenged the public to “spot the fake” after replacing one of their collection masterpieces with a Chinese replica, the gallery has finally revealed the counterfeit. Since 10 February, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s 18th-century work Young Woman has been replaced by a hand-painted replica, produced in China and ordered over the internet for £70, which has hung in among 270 old masters paintings. The exhibition, titled Made in China, was conceived by American artist Doug Fishbone as a way to make people think about the way they look at, appreciate and value such artistic masterpieces. The gallery’s chief curator, Xavier Bray, described it as “an extraordinary experiment which has allowed people of all generations to reconnect with the collection and re-engage with it on a purely visual basis.” He said: “It was certainly quite provocative because it turns everything you assume you know upside down. A museum is a temple of art and as soon as you cross the threshold you expect everything you are told on a label is correct. So suddenly having this intervention from a contemporary artist that makes you question every piece can be quite unnerving, but in a positive way.” Yet of the 3,000 people who visited the gallery during the experiment, the majority are likely to be left mortified by the unveiling of the fake – only 10% guessed correctly. Bray said the “treasure hunt” challenge had proved very popular with the public and the gallery’s visitor numbers have quadrupled over the past three months. Bray also admitted he had been impressed that 10% had accurately spotted the fake, though noted with amusement that at least 6% of visitors had been convinced the imposter was a recently restored female portrait by Rubens. Bray added: “In the end it was in a very obvious place so most people would just walk past oblivious, which would always make me giggle. Some initially accused us of dumbing everything down but I’m pleased to say it proved the opposite, it actually led people to look afresh.” The key giveaways of the fake, he said, were instantly obvious to the trained eye. They ranged from the lack of warmth in the background canvas and the modern pigment of acrylic paints, to the expression on the face of the woman in the replica, which Bray described as “lacking psychology, just empty and flat”. The original was put back in its frame on Tuesday and hung beside the replica, allowing people to compare the stylistic differences between the two. But Bray said that he would miss the element of fun that the presence of the fake had injected into the gallery. “Weirdly, when it was hanging there, I almost got used to it,” he said.
|
medium
| 1.827586 |
After a three-month challenge to the public to spot the replica, Dulwich picture gallery reveals the work that was ordered for £70 over the internet
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160319173914id_/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2006/03/2008410113345357475.html
|
Nearly 1.6 billion barrels of oil, mostly in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and about 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, mainly in the Amu Darya Basin, could be tapped, Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Industry and the US Geological Survey said on Tuesday. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, described the estimates as "very positive findings", particularly since the country now imports most of its energy, including electricity. "Knowing more about our country's petroleum resources will enable us to take steps to develop our energy potential which is crucial for our energy's growth," said Karzai, whose government was created after the US-led invasion in 2001 and later won national elections. The $2 million assessment, paid for by the independent US Trade and Development Agency, was nearly four years in the making, said Daniel Stein, the agency's regional director for Europe and Eurasia. The total area assessed was only about one-sixth of the two basins' 200,000 square miles that lie within Afghanistan. Afghanistan's petroleum reserves were previously thought to hold 88 million barrels of oil and five trillion cubic feet of natural gas, based on Afghan and Soviet estimates for 15 oil and gas fields opened between 1957 and 1984. But just three of those have operated recently. "There is a significant amount of undiscovered oil in northern Afghanistan," said Patrick Leahy, the US Geological Survey's acting director. He said the other oilfields were abandoned, or the equipment there was damaged and rocks had filled the wells. More work remains to assess petroleum reserves, conduct seismic exploration and rehabilitate wells, say government and industry officials.
|
low
| 1.222222 |
Two geological basins in northern Afghanistan hold 18 times more oil and triple the natural gas resources than was previously thought, government scientists have revealed.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160607163533id_/http://time.com:80/3791176/malcolm-browne-the-story-behind-the-burning-monk/
|
Photographer Malcolm Browne, known for his shocking and iconic image of a self-immolating monk in Saigon, died on Aug. 27, 2012 at the age of 81. Browne was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting as well as the World Press Photo of the Year in 1963. In 2011, Browne spoke with TIME international picture editor Patrick Witty from his home in Vermont. Patrick Witty: What was happening in Vietnam leading up to the day you took your famous photograph of Quang Duc’s self-immolation? Malcolm Browne: I had been in Vietnam at that point for a couple of years when things began to look ugly in central Vietnam. I took a much greater interest in the Buddhists of Vietnam than I had before, because it seemed to me they were likely to be movers and shakers in whatever turned up next. I came to be on friendly terms with quite a lot of the monks who were leaders of this movement that was taking shape. Along about springtime (1963), the monks began to hint that they were going to pull off something spectacular by way of protest–and that would most likely be a disembowelment of one of the monks or an immolation. And either way, it was something we had to pay attention to. At that point the monks were telephoning the foreign correspondents in Saigon to warn them that something big was going to happen. Most of the correspondents were kind of bored with that threat after a while and tended to ignore it. I felt that they were certainly going to do something, that they were not just bluffing, so it came to be that I was really the only Western correspondent that covered the fatal day. PW: Tell me about that morning. You certainly weren’t expecting something so dramatic but you felt drawn because of a call the night before? MB: I had some hint that it would be something spectacular, because I knew these monks were not bluffing. They were perfectly serious about doing something pretty violent. In another civilization it might have taken the form of a bomb or something like that. The monks were very much aware of the result that an immolation was likely to have. So by the time I got to the pagoda where all of this was being organized, it was already underway—the monks and nuns were chanting a type of chant that’s very common at funerals and so forth. At a signal from the leader, they all started out into the street and headed toward the central part of Saigon on foot. When we reached there, the monks quickly formed a circle around a precise intersection of two main streets in Saigon. A car drove up. Two young monks got out of it. An older monk, leaning a little bit on one of the younger ones, also got out. He headed right for the center of the intersection. The two young monks brought up a plastic jerry can, which proved to be gasoline. As soon as he seated himself, they poured the liquid all over him. He got out a matchbook, lighted it, and dropped it in his lap and was immediately engulfed in flames. Everybody that witnessed this was horrified. It was every bit as bad as I could have expected. I don’t know exactly when he died because you couldn’t tell from his features or voice or anything. He never yelled out in pain. His face seemed to remain fairly calm until it was so blackened by the flames that you couldn’t make it out anymore. Finally the monks decided he was dead and they brought up a coffin, an improvised wooden coffin. PW: And you were the only photographer there? MB: As far as I could tell, yes. It turns out that there were some Vietnamese that took some pictures but they didn’t go out—they’re not on the wires or anything like that. PW: What were you thinking while you were looking through the camera? MB: I was thinking only about the fact it was a self-illuminated subject that required an exposure of about, oh say, f10 or whatever it was, I don’t really remember. I was using a cheap Japanese camera, by the name of Petri. I was very familiar with it, but I wanted to make sure that I not only got the settings right on the camera each time and focused it properly, but that also I was reloading fast enough to keep up with action. I took about ten rolls of film because I was shooting constantly. PW: How did you feel? MB: The main thing on my mind was getting the pictures out. I realized this is something of unusual importance and that I’d have to get them to the AP in one of its far flung octopus tentacles as soon as possible. And I also knew this was a very difficult thing to do in Saigon on short notice. PW: What did you do with the film? MB: The whole trick was to get it to some transmission point. We had to get the raw film shipped by air freight, or some way. It was not subject to censorship at that point. We used a pigeon to get it as far as Manila. And in Manila they had the apparatus to send it by radio. PW: When you say pigeon, what do you mean exactly? MB: A pigeon is a passenger on a regular commercial flight whom you have persuaded to carry a little package for him. Speed was of the essence obviously. So we had to get it to the airport. It got aboard a flight leaving very soon for Manila. PW: Did anyone from the AP, once the film arrived, send a message to you saying that the picture was being published all over the world? MB: No, we didn’t know, it was like shooting into a black hole. We learned that it had arrived only after messages began to come through congratulating us for sending such a picture. It was not run by everybody. The New York Times did not run it. They felt it was too grisly a picture that wasn’t suitable for a breakfast newspaper. PW: I’m looking at the picture now on my screen. Tell me what I’m not seeing —what are you hearing, smelling? MB: The overwhelming smell of joss sticks. They do make a very strong smell, not a particularly nice smell, but it’s meant to appease the ancestors and all of that. That was the overwhelming smell except for the smell of burning gasoline and diesel and the smell of burning flesh, I must say. The main sound was the wailing and misery of the monks, who had known this guy for many years before and were feeling for him. Then there was shouting over loudspeakers between the fire department people, trying to figure out a way to put him out, put out the flames around him without actually killing him or something. So it was a jumble of confusion. PW: I read once what President Kennedy said about your photograph. He said, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.” MB: Yeah, that could be, that sounds like an honest quote from the White House. PW: Would you consider the photograph your crown achievement in journalism? MB: It attracted a lot of attention, I’ll say that for it. It was not necessarily the hardest story I’ve ever had to cover, but it was certainly an important part of my career.
|
high
| 1.470588 |
On the 50th anniversary of Quang Duc's self-immolation in 1963, LightBox presents an interview with Malcolm Browne, the Associated Press photographer who captured the now-iconic image.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160721004619id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/culture/music/3671955/The-Cure-Ghouls-who-refused-to-die.html
|
In recent weeks, a number of their peers have been back in action. Both Siouxsie Sioux, and The Cult, featuring Ian Astbury, followed up excellent new albums with sold-out UK tours. Bauhaus, too, released a spirited reunion album. Meanwhile, last Monday, Nick Cave, who once self-mockingly crowned himself the Black Crow King in a song, referring to his unbidden goth audience, hit the album charts at number four - his highest ever chart position. If, in 1982, some fool had suggested that this motley gang of doom-mongers would be thriving in the 21st century, he would have been laughed out of court. With their deathly pallor and often narcotic lifestyles, these were not tomorrow's survivors-in-waiting. All now pushing 50, they each represent an ongoing refusal of the shiny-happy generalities upon which mainstream pop is founded. Robert Smith, The Cure's driving force, who is 49 next month, is goth's chief architect. Raised in Crawley, he was 16 when he first heard punk's early rumblings and formed a band called Malice, which soon morphed into the Easy Cure and then, simply, The Cure. Early on, his plan was to match the pop melodies of the Buzzcocks, with the darker sensibilities of Siouxsie and the Banshees, whose singer had elevated her own unique way with make-up and hair to a new art form. The Cure's debut single, 1978's Killing an Arab, pitted lyrics based on Albert Camus's existentialist novel, L'Étranger, against a catchy pop-punk tune, but Smith gradually steered the band's sound towards more enigmatic and challenging territory. Inspired by David Bowie's Low, as well as his own daily consumption of LSD, Smith made the fourth Cure album, Pornography, as if it were his last - a harsh and uncompromising expression of human destructive urges; an act of career suicide. The excruciating, dirge-like song, One Hundred Years, began with the line, "It's doesn't matter if we all die," before doling out images of slaughtered pigs and paternal bereavement. And that was just the opening number. On its release in 1982, the NME memorably described the album as "Phil Spector in Hell", but it duly went straight into the Top Ten thanks to the Cure's gathering fanbase. On their subsequent tour, the band wore white-face on stage, with red eyes, so that, when they sweated under the lights, it appeared as if they were crying blood. Later that year, Smith came back with a regrouped Cure, putting out a run of singles which at least outwardly shunned the macabre, nihilistic sound of old. [Let's Go To Bed], [The Walk] and, most alluringly, [The Love Cats] established him as one of the Eighties's most reliable hit-makers. Where the likes of Siouxsie, Cave and the Cult often angrily dissociated themselves from their uncool goth audience, Smith embraced it. With his abomination of black hair, sloppily-applied make-up and shapeless black clothes, he became their icon. Amongst the youth tribes that existed in the wake of punk (skinheads, mods, headbangers, New Romantics, etc), the goths were regarded by all as absolute losers, bereft of style, muscle, intelligence and social ability. As those cults faded one by one, goth somehow prevailed, its fashions and idea system entirely unchanged. It provided a constant, a comfort - a cocooned, apolitical retreat from the worries of the real world. Its popularity spread worldwide, from Germany to Japan, and its sinister tenets infected other subgenres, such as industrial, heavy metal and emo. For that reason, and other more personal ones, Smith has resolutely stuck by his vision. I once saw him in Regent Street, as he and his wife, Mary Poole, shopped in the Christmas sales. His hair looked like a fire had wrecked it, the middle of his face was splattered with lipstick, and he sported a gigantic pair of white trainers, as he did in all his videos at the time. He wasn't exactly sneaking around incognito. He often confesses that he perseveres with that look, because that's how his wife loves him. His fans, of course, would be equally horrified if he were to renège, even when he's seventy. In the quarter-century since [The Love Cats], his records have veered between the opposite poles of [Pornography]-style angst (see 1989's [Disintegration]), and out-and-out pop (hits like [Friday I'm in Love], [Lullaby], [In Between Days], etc). And so, despite numerous boozy bust-ups, and personnel crises arising from Smith's despotic leadership, the Cure still rule, darkly. [Pornography] is now revered as a benchmark of musical extremism. However, Smith, like all the aforementioned goth-associated performers, has not been content to sit back and milk his past. It's as if that negating, black-clad energy which drove them all to begin with, was ferocious enough to propel them right through, artistically, into later life. In the new millennium, as goth fashions invade the catwalks, the Cure's relevance only seems to multiply. With 2004's [The Cure] album, Smith teamed up with nu-metal producer, Ross Robinson, and scaled greater commercial heights in America. There, Smith is seen as a demigod of alternative culture. When I met Arcade Fire's Win Butler a few years ago, he was wearing an old Cure T-shirt, and enthused for some minutes about Smith. "As a kid," he said, "he showed me that there was music out there that wasn't being presented to me through the mainstream". Two years ago, I saw Smith's latest line-up play a humdinger of a Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Albert Hall. It lasted for three hours, taking in both the depths of [Pornography], the highs of [The Love Cats] - all ages of the Cure, from [Killing an Arab] through to a healthy smattering of new material. Reports from the current European tour suggest that tonight's show at Wembley will be much the same: a full-blown Last Night of the Proms for the black-eyeliner brigade. No-one with the faintest goth leanings should miss it.
|
high
| 1.142857 |
Back in the Eighties, no one would have believed that goth rock would be thriving 25 years later. As The Cure prepare to play Wembley tonight, Andrew Perry explains their enduring appeal
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160723151323id_/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jul/18/strata-tower-london-green-architecture
|
I am standing on the wind-buffeted tip of the Strata tower, looking out through the blades of what appear to be an enormous propeller, at the London skyline and the green basin beyond. St Paul's cathedral, across the river, seems close enough to touch. It's the kind of view, and the kind of heroically stylised building, you would expect to see in some 1930s sci-fi movie: the perfect place for a hero and a villain to have a rooftop showdown. At 147 metres, the newly opened Strata is London's tallest residential building. The nine-metre blades I'm standing beneath are housed in one of three wind turbines that crown this new tower soaring above Elephant and Castle, an area of the city not known for flashy penthouses. But Elephant and Castle is undergoing a massive, if slow, transition from a rundown miasma of noisy road intersections, underpasses and vast housing estates into what the Borough of Southwark hopes will be a £1.5bn model of inner-city regeneration. The plan was first made public six years ago and work is unlikely to be completed before 2020. It's a colossal challenge, as well as an opportunity, and the £113.5m Strata, the first of three skyscrapers planned for here, is a symbol of the dynamism and energy the project demands. And that energy must, of course, be seen to be green. It's early days, but if the turbines work as planned, and aren't too noisy for residents in the pricey penthouses beneath them, they should generate 8% of this 43-storey building's energy needs. This is roughly enough to run its electrical and mechanical services (including three express lifts and automated window-cleaning rigs) as well as the lighting, heating and ventilation of its public spaces, which include an underground car and cycle park. Strata is the first building in the world to incorporate wind turbines into its structure. Yes, the new Bahrain World Trade Centre in Manama, by the firm Atkins, also boasts three giant turbines, but these are set on steel struts connecting its twin towers, not part of the actual towers themselves. While I can vouch for the strength of the south-westerlies that will turn Strata's blades, whether its turbines will set a precedent for future British towers is less clear: this rooftop was exceedingly hard to construct, almost prohibitively so, every part of it having to be hauled up. However, what the three fans do, without a doubt, is give Strata a striking profile. Whether you find this exciting, disturbing or simply over-the-top will be down to personal taste, yet it's no surprise the tower has been dubbed the Electric Razor, not just because of its whirling blades but also because of its black and silver lines that seem to pixellate upwards; Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has called it the Lipstick. So what do green experts think? "You've got to take your hat off to the design team for delivering a building that captures the imagination," says Paul King, head of the UK Green Building Council. "I doubt wind power will become a common feature in high-rise inner city projects, but without this type of bold innovation, how would we ever know? Developments like this show that sustainability is increasingly becoming mainstream. That's something everyone should celebrate." Including the 1,000 or so people who have already moved into – or bought into – Strata's 408 flats (each boasting floor-to-ceiling windows). And there is a difference between the two. Nearly every flat was bought off-plan, before construction began, 50-75% of them by investors. This is a shame: the whole idea of the tower is that it should be a guiding light for new inner-city residential development. This is meant to be a home for local people, not a machine for property market profiteering. Indeed, 25% of the flats, on floors two to 10, are "affordable homes", for those on incomes of less than £60,000 (in central London that kind of money won't guarantee a home of your own); meanwhile, a three-floor pavilion to the side of the tower has been given to council residents leaving the soon-to-be-demolished Aylesbury Estate, a 1960s housing complex seen by most as an enormous failure. Tony Blair made his first speech as prime minister at this estate, in a bid to show his government would care for the poorest elements in society. To my mind, Strata's big propellers give the building the feel of an airship holding aloft the passenger cabins (or flats) below. Or perhaps it's more like an old-fashioned transatlantic liner with its complement of first-, second-and third-class passengers. I think of this as architect Ian Bogle, of London-based BFLS (formerly Hamiltons Architects), leads me through the tall, narrow lobby to the lifts that shoot silently up to the residential floors. 'You feel like you own the city' The views are spectacular. Most front doors open directly onto gaping vistas of London, framed by giant windows. They are not for the faint-hearted. Bogle goes to open what looks like a door at the side of a window and I think he might vanish into the ether. As it happens, he's simply opening a perforated screen designed to let fresh air in. "We've tried to get as much daylight and fresh air as possible into the flats," says Bogle. "You certainly feel as if you own the entire city from up here." Indeed you do. There are magic moments, too: way below, trains race in and out of buildings and seem to pass through the tower itself. It reminds me of the super-modern city drawn by Antonio Sant'Elia, the Italian futurist architect, shortly before the first world war. His Città Nuova was a dynamic, machine-like metropolis through which cars and even aircraft would pass, via openings in the buildings. His imaginings inspired film-makers, from William Cameron Menzie's Things to Come in 1936, to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner in 1982; they also resonated in city developments as dramatic and diverse as the Barbican, the Pompidou and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. And they echo today in these views from the Strata tower, and in its mighty turbines. But are they just a tokenistic green gimmick? Or will they propel us towards a new urban architecture, one that's cinematically thrilling and ecologically sound? Until its sibling towers rise and the redevelopment of Elephant and Castle is complete, it will be hard to properly judge Strata. Right now, it stands alone, a sleek silver sentinel, towering over the follies of the recent past.
|
high
| 1.424242 |
It is the world's first skyscraper with built-in wind turbines. But is London's Strata a green gimmick – or the future? Jonathan Glancey takes to the skies
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160806174641id_/http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-first-female-cabinet
|
08/05/2016 AT 08:50 AM EDT is already starting to think about putting together his cabinet if he wins. Asked who his first female pick would be, the 70-year-old businessman suggested someone close to his heart – his daughter "I can tell you everybody would say, 'Put Ivanka in! Put Ivanka in!' you know that, right?" , a cohost on First Coast News' afternoon program "She's very popular, she's done very well," he continued. Savage could be a good pick too, he went on to suggest. The 44-year-old previously worked for the Trump Organization, is a former Miss Florida and claims to have known Donald for "probably 20 years now." "There really are so many people that are really talented people," Donald said, "Like you – you're so talented, but I don't know if your viewers know that." "Is this breaking news? Am I going to be in the cabinet?" she joked. "Is that a yes?" "Sounds like it to me – looking good to me," he joked. Andrew H. Walker / Getty The GOP presidential candidate failed to name any other women he would add to the Cabinet of the United States – a group composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government. Cabinet members are nominated by the president and then confirmed or rejected by a simple majority of the Senate. The president may dismiss or reappoint cabinet members at will. on the campaign trail, Ivanka has been coy about whether she wants to explore a political career or would take a more formal role if her father is elected president. "My life is chaotic right now," the 34-year-old . "I'm exhausted 90 percent of the time." She does have a pretty full plate, between raising her three kids – Theodore James – with husband , working for the Trump Organization alongside her brothers, running a website devoted to helping working women, and helming her of Ivanka Trump shoes, diamonds and more. Of all those gigs though, she places motherhood first. "Being a mother is the most rewarding experience, but also the most wild and stressful," Ivanka said.
|
medium
| 1.35 |
When a female journalist asks Donald Trump what women he would put in his cabinet, he suggests Ivanka Trump
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160808113748id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/luxury/property-and-architecture/13463/the-revival-londons-great-estates.html
|
Large swathes of central London, including many of its most desirable addresses, are owned by a small number of estates: aristocratic fiefdoms each with their exquisite old money enclaves and distinct architecture. But even London’s great estates can’t survive on historic prestige alone. They need to move with the times and morph into dynamic “urban villages” where people want to live, work and shop. “Stewardship” is the key concept, according to Hugh Seaborn, CEO of Cadogan Estates, Chelsea and Knightsbridge’s main landlords who are currently overhauling Sloane Street by upping its luxury retail reputation and introducing multi-lingual "ambassadors" to guide visitors along the street. “Stewardship is about managing something for the benefit of future generations, while ensuring they meet the needs of the present generation,” says Seaborn. Most of London’s biggest land-owners take as their inspiration the Howard de Walden estate’s transformation of Marylebone High Street. In 1995, a third of the street’s shops were either vacant or occupied by charities. In went Waitrose, Conran and small, specialist shops, the Georgian buildings got a thorough jet-spray and now Marylebone is one of the most sought-after residential and commercial areas of central London, where property values has risen by 128 per cent since 2000, according to Martin Bikhit, MD of Kay & Co estate agency. Seeking to emulate its success – and bring its property values in line, having traditionally been about 15 per cent lower – The Portman Estate, which owns 110 acres of prime Marylebone, has invested millions in developing Portman Village around New Quebec Street. “They’re keen to monitor the tenant mix, granting five-year leases which give them the flexibility to make changes and ensure the long-term success of the area,” says Bikhit. “Now flats in the Portman Estate’s three main squares – Montagu, Portman and Bryanston – costs 22 per cent more than anywhere else in the local area.” Also imitating the Marylebone model, Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s estate, worked its magic on Mayfair’s Mount Street – which is hailed as another stellar example of how to breathe new life into old estates. “They cobbled and shined up Mount Street, inventing a new centrepiece for Mayfair,” says Roarie Scarisbrick, partner at buying agents Property Vision. “This has been repeated on Motcomb Street and Elizabeth Street, where you can browse the local artisan shops and get an excellent lunch from an eye-wateringly expensive delicatessen. It isn’t a model that would work everywhere, but this is what people want here, and the effect is clear to see.” Grosvenor are the most “pioneering” of the great estates, according to Ed Tryon at Lichfields, a prime central London property search company. “They have cottoned on to the fashionable pop-up trend and fill empty shops with spaces for up-and-coming designers and artists before the permanent tenants move in,” he says. “Having created a community through the Mount Street Association and the Mount Street Garden Party, they have created a mini destination just around that one street and that is a sure-fire way to improve house prices.” Now Grosvenor’s focus is North Mayfair, around Oxford Street, including 16 apartments to let at 65 Duke Street and trendy new retail tenants to be announced next month, all sitting in the sightline of Selfridges. The vision also includes The Beaumont, the first hotel to be operated by restaurateurs Corbin + King. In St James, south of Piccadilly, The Crown Estate has recently launched a £500m programme that will partly hark back to its history as a place for fine dining, with five new restaurants to open before Christmas, including Angela Hartnett’s Café Murano. The historic St James Gateway is also being redeveloped to include 11 flats to let and five for sale, with 125-year leases, from £3.95m through WA Ellis. But most excitingly, thinks buying agent Robert Bailey, is the Sultan of Brunei’s purchase of most of Queensway in Bayswater, including the white elephant that is Whiteley’s shopping centre. With Marylebone’s makeover as his inspiration, the Sultan wants to turn the strip of takeaways and mobile phone shops into a cluster of upmarket retailers. “The Howard de Walden estate has already proved that if you can get the retail mix right along the main shopping streets, the area will transform,” says Bailey. “With enough vision, the Sultan could easily replicate the successes of Marylebone, Grosvenor’s Motcomb Street and Cadogan’s revitalisation of Sloane Street and create another great London estate.”
|
high
| 0.842105 |
Historic fiefdoms continue to innovate, creating desirable urban villages with a pioneering mix of retail and restaurant developments
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161222185705id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/theater/reviews/a-storytelling-instinct-revels-in-horrors-fun.html
|
And he is certainly not exalting the teller of stories as a morally superior being. The play's protagonist, Katurian (Mr. Crudup, in a first-class performance), is a touchy, arrogant fellow, whose 400 short pieces of fiction (all but one unpublished) might be read, to borrow from the play, as a how-to guide of "101 ways to skewer a 5-year-old." The stories' existence are what have landed Katurian and his mentally defective brother Michal (Michael Stuhlbarg) in prison, since the killings described in his simply told fables have been replicated in the town where they live. The team of policemen who interrogate Katurian -- the sardonic Tupolski (Mr. Goldblum) and his explosive associate, Ariel (Zeljko Ivanek) -- aren't entirely off base in their disdain for what their prisoner has written. Artistic merit, however, is irrelevant here. So, for that matter, is fiction's significance as social commentary, autobiographical revelation or metaphysical map. As Katurian exclaims in exasperation, "I'm not trying to say anything at all." For what "The Pillowman" is celebrating is the raw, vital human instinct to invent fantasies, to lie for the sport of it, to bait with red herrings, to play Scheherazade to an audience real or imagined. For Mr. McDonagh, that instinct is as primal and energizing as the appetites for sex and food. Life is short and brutal, but stories are fun. Plus, they have the chance of living forever. Every character in "The Pillowman" is some kind of storyteller. The narrative styles range from Katurian's gruesome fairy tales (which, in successive coups de théâtre, assume wondrous storybook life before our eyes) to the deceptions practiced by the policemen; from the official, torture-punctuated interrogation that is the play's motor to Ariel's unexpected, maudlin fantasy of what his old age might be like. These forms of fiction are infused with the same dynamic, wherein information is parceled out in teasing increments and the line between fact and falsehood keeps shifting. The relationship between narrator and listener has its sadomasochistic aspects. And on one level "The Pillowman" recalls what the French director Henri-Georges Clouzot said about his 1955 cinematic chiller, "Diabolique": "I sought only to amuse myself and the little child who sleeps in all our hearts -- the child who hides her head under the bedcovers and begs, 'Daddy, Daddy, frighten me."' Under the carefully measured direction of Mr. Crowley -- with brilliant production work by a team that includes, in addition to Mr. Pask, Brian MacDevitt (lighting), Paul Arditti (sound) and Paddy Cunneen (music) -- the cast members act out different degrees of that relationship, as the characters tantalize one another in ways friendly, consoling, manipulative and vicious. Mr. Goldblum and Mr. Ivanek turn the classic good cop/bad cop formula into a coruscating vaudeville routine. Mr. Goldblum's trademark deadpan wryness has rarely been put to better use, as his Tupolski toys with Katurian like a jaded latter-day version of the police inspector in Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment." Mr. Ivanek, in turn, comes up with delicious variations on the cliché of the combustible, torture-happy cop with a secret past. Their dialogue is appallingly funny, and endlessly quotable, but never out of sync with their characters. The relationship between Katurian and his brother, the childlike Michal, is mostly rooted in a more amiable storytelling, as befits a fraternal relationship in which one sibling assumes the parental role. (What happened to Katurian's and Michal's Mom and Dad is, well, another story, and it is divulged in several versions.) Mr. Stuhlbarg boldly and expertly captures both the innocence and ugliness of Michal. Mr. Crudup's finely chiseled features turn out to be ideal for registering the seductiveness, defensiveness and pure vanity of an artist for whom writing means even more than the brother he has protected for many years. Katurian's self-enchanted satisfaction when he tells a story is that of a young magician, pulling off a tricky sleight of hand. And Mr. Crudup makes it clear that the flame of anger burns brightest in Katurian when his stories are criticized or threatened with extinction. An academic could make endless hay out of this play's narrative complexities and literary evocations (they notably include Kafka as well as Dostoyesvky), just as a sociologist or psychologist could go on about the sources and effects of fiction and its moral responsibility. You could even make a pretty thorough case for "The Pillowman" as an artistic apologia of sorts, directed at those who have dismissed Mr. McDonagh's previous works, set in a mayhem-prone rural Ireland, as pointlessly sensational and whimsical. But to pursue these lines of thought is to fall into the very traps Mr. McDonagh has set to mock such analysis. Asked by Tupolski to explain symbols and subtext in one of his stories, Katurian answers, "It's a puzzle without a solution." Which is pretty much Mr. McDonagh's credo. But, oh, how he enjoys his puzzles. In this season's most exciting and original new play, he makes sure that we do, too. 'The Pillowman' By Martin McDonagh; directed by John Crowley; sets and costumes by Scott Pask; lighting by Brian MacDevitt; sound by Paul Arditti; music by Paddy Cunneen; production manager, Arthur Siccardi; general management, Nina Lannan Associates; fight director, J. Steven White; production stage manager, James Harker. The National Theater's production presented by Boyett Ostar Productions, Robert Fox, Arielle Tepper, Stephanie P. McClelland, Debra Black, Dede Harris/Morton Swinsky, Roy Furman/Jon Avnet, in association with Joyce Schweickert. At the Booth Theater, 222 West 45th Street, (212)239-6200. Running time: 2 hours 45 minutes. WITH: Jeff Goldblum (Tupolski), Billy Crudup (Katurian), Zeljko Ivanek (Ariel), Michael Stuhlbarg (Michal), Ted Koch (Father), Virginia Louise Smith (Mother), Jesse Shane Bronstein (Boy) and Madeleine Martin (Girl).
|
high
| 1.64 |
Ben Brantley reviews Martin McDonagh play The Pillowman, directed by John Crowley; Jeff Goldblum and Billy Crudup star; photos (M)
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20120322044846id_/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/books/review/07WALLACE.html
|
There's an unhappy paradox about literary biographies. The majority of readers who will be interested in a writer's bio, especially one as long and exhaustive as Edwin Williamson's ''Borges: A Life,'' will be admirers of the writer's work. They will therefore usually be idealizers of that writer and perpetrators (consciously or not) of the intentional fallacy. Part of the appeal of the writer's work for these fans will be the distinctive stamp of that writer's personality, predilections, style, particular tics and obsessions -- the sense that these stories were written by this author and could have been done by no other.* And yet it often seems that the person we encounter in the literary biography could not possibly have written the works we admire. And the more intimate and thorough the bio, the stronger this feeling usually is. In the present case, the Jorge Luis Borges who emerges in Williamson's book -- a vain, timid, pompous mama's boy, given for much of his life to dithery romantic obsessions -- is about as different as one can get from the limpid, witty, pansophical, profoundly adult writer we know from his stories. Rightly or no, anyone who reveres Borges as one of the best and most important fiction writers of the last century will resist this dissonance, and will look, as a way to explain and mitigate it, for obvious defects in Williamson's life study. The book won't disappoint them. Borges in old age, in his home in Buenos Aires, about 1982. He was distressed by the rule of generals in Argentina and by the war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. Edwin Williamson is an Oxford don and esteemed Hispanist whose ''Penguin History of Latin America'' is a small masterpiece of lucidity and triage. It is therefore unsurprising that his ''Borges'' starts strong, with a fascinating sketch of Argentine history and the Borges family's place within it. For Williamson, the great conflict in the Argentine national character is that between the ''sword'' of civilizing European liberalism and the ''dagger'' of romantic gaucho individualism, and he argues that Borges's life and work can be properly understood only in reference to this conflict, particularly as it plays out in his childhood. In the 19th century, grandfathers on both sides of his family distinguished themselves in important battles for South American independence from Spain and the establishment of a centralized Argentine government, and Borges's mother was obsessed with the family's historical glory. Borges's father, a man stunted by the heroic paternal shadow in which he lived, evidently did things like give his son an actual dagger to use on bullies at school, and later sent him to a brothel for devirgination. The young Borges failed both these ''tests,'' the scars of which marked him forever and show up all over the place in his fiction, Williamson thinks. It is in these claims about personal stuff encoded in the writer's art that the book's real defect lies. In fairness, it's just a pronounced case of a syndrome that seems common to literary biographies, so common that it might point to a design flaw in the whole enterprise. The big problem with ''Borges: A Life'' is that Williamson is an atrocious reader of Borges's work; his interpretations amount to a simplistic, dishonest kind of psychological criticism. You can see why this problem might be intrinsic to the genre. A biographer wants his story to be not only interesting but literarily valuable.** In order to ensure this, the bio has to make the writer's personal life and psychic travails seem vital to his work. The idea is that we can't correctly interpret a piece of verbal art unless we know the personal and/or psychological circumstances surrounding its creation. That this is simply assumed as an axiom by many biographers is one problem; another is that the approach works a lot better on some writers than on others. It works well on Kafka -- Borges's only modern equal as an allegorist, with whom he's often compared -- because Kafka's fictions are expressionist, projective, and personal; they make artistic sense only as manifestations of Kafka's psyche. But Borges's stories are very different. They are designed primarily as metaphysical arguments; they are dense, self-enclosed, with their own deviant logics. Above all, they are meant to be impersonal, to transcend individual consciousness -- ''to be incorporated,'' as Borges puts it, ''like the fables of Theseus or Ahasuerus, into the general memory of the species and even transcend the fame of their creator or the extinction of the language in which they were written.'' One reason for this is that Borges is a mystic, or at least a sort of radical Neoplatonist -- human thought, behavior and history are all the product of one big Mind, or are elements of an immense cabalistic Book that includes its own decoding. Biography-wise, then, we have a strange situation in which Borges's individual personality and circumstances matter only insofar as they lead him to create artworks in which such personal facts are held to be unreal. DAVID FOSTER WALLACES most recent books are Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity and Oblivion: Stories.
|
high
| 1.3 |
The biographer Edwin Williamson turns to Jorge Luis Borges's labyrinthine stories to search for clues about his life.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140410055634id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/sep/06/design.coldwar
|
The dawn of the cold war was literally freezing. The winter of 1947 was the worst ever recorded in Europe. From January to late March, it opened a front across Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Britain, and advanced with complete lack of mercy. Snow fell in St Tropez, gale-force winds building up impenetrable drifts; ice floes drifted to the mouth of the Thames; barges bringing coal into Paris became icebound. There, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin found himself "terrified" by the city's coldness, "empty and hollow and dead, like an exquisite corpse". A slight thaw was followed by a further freeze-up, locking canals and roads under a thick layer of ice. In Berlin, Willy Brandt described how the icy cold "attacked people like a savage beast". Ghostly figures roamed parks looking for benches to cut up into firewood. The Tiergarten was hacked down to stumps, its statues left standing in a wilderness of frozen mud; the woods in the famous Grünewald were completely razed. Just as American journalist Walter Lippmann coined the phrase "cold war", the weather cruelly drove home its physical reality, carving its way into the new, post-Yalta topography of Europe, its national territories and populations mutilated, its ideologies braced in antagonistic poses. The Soviets were swift to move in behind the cold front, grasping the potential of the widespread instability of postwar Europe. With an energy and resourcefulness which showed that Stalin's regime could avail itself of an imaginative vigour unmatched by western governments, the Soviet Union deployed a battery of unconventional weapons to nudge itself into the European consciousness and soften up opinion in its favour. Experts in the use of culture as a tool of political persuasion, the Soviets did much in the early years of the cold war to establish its central paradigm as a cultural one. Lacking the economic power of the United States and, above all, still without a nuclear capability, they concentrated on winning "the battle for men's minds". America, despite a massive marshalling of the arts in the New Deal period, was a virgin in the practice of international Kulturkampf. But such innocence was soon to be forfeited in what high-level US strategists were already calling "the greatest polarisation of power on earth" (space, for a few years yet, was off-limits) since Rome and Carthage. "We have to show the outside world that we have a cultural life and that we care something about it," the diplomat George Kennan told an audience at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "I for one would willingly trade the entire remaining inventory of political propaganda for the results that could be achieved by this." And so it was that, against the backdrop of Europe's bombed-out cities, with all basic infrastructures in a state of collapse, a weirdly elaborate cultural life was constructed by the two superpowers as they vied with each other to score propaganda points. As early as 1945, when the stench of human bodies still hung about the ruins of Berlin, the Russians were staging brilliant performances at the State Opera, pomaded generals listening smugly to Gluck's Orpheus, punctuating the music with the tinkle of their medals. The Americans returned fire, opening the Amerika-Häuser, comfortably furnished (and heated) institutes offering film showings, concerts, talks and art shows, all with "overwhelming emphasis on America". Within a few years, the arsenal of unconventional weapons with which each side conducted its offensive and defensive operations had swollen to include highbrow literary magazines, paintings, sculptures, comic books, motorcycles, fashion, chess, sports, architecture, design. Everything, in truth (and this is what both sides claimed to have the monopoly on), including the kitchen sink. The kitchen as a site of ideological conflict was pointedly iterated by the "Kitchen Debate" between then US vice-president Nixon and Soviet premier Khrushchev at the American National Exhibition, staged in Moscow in 1959. The encounter - over a lemon yellow kitchen designed by General Electric - still registers as one of the iconic moments of the cold war. "Would it not be better to compete in the relative merits of washing machines than in the strength of rockets? Is this the kind of competition you want?" Nixon challenged Khrushchev. "We too have such things," Khrushchev bragged, though he failed to mention that the "we" was far from all-inclusive. Of the estimated 2.7 million visitors to the Moscow exhibition, only a fraction would have the opportunity to possess the kind of commodities on display. "Refrigerator socialism", harnessed as it was to a command economy, was never as widely available - or quite as attractive - as capitalism's glossy counterpart. But this was not the point: as Nixon and Khrushchev's sharp exchange shows, the question was whether items in the kitchen were mere domestic appliances, or rather the cultural equivalents of ballistic missiles, offensive weapons in the war of ideas. As the American National Exhibition explicitly stressed, a kitchen was no longer just a kitchen, but an enclave where "liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - the prizes of the Enlightenment, no less - could be attained through panel-controlled washing machines and electric waste grinders. The Kitchen Debate has been endlessly recycled as a story of basic antinomies to evoke the black-and-white, them-and-us chequerboard of cold war politics. Cold War Modern, edited by David Crowley and Jane Pavitt, and accompanying the V&A exhibition they have curated, introduces a more sophisticated narrative that explores the interstices of this all-too-familiar grid. American officials in charge of the American National Exhibition reported breathlessly on its "overwhelming success". But the visitors' comment books, according to design historian Susan Reid, reveal an ambivalent response: "And this is one of the greatest nations?? I feel sorry for the Americans ... Does your life really consist of only kitchens?" This is one among many critical entries. A small charge, but enough to detonate the official victor's history that the "freedoms" and innovations offered by the American National Exhibition were such to make all Soviet citizens salivate and long for more of the same. Was the American assembly line better than the Communist party line? Was the organisation of society around individual rather than collective desires or needs intrinsically superior? The designer Raymond Loewy, in a 1950 speech to Harvard Business School, was in no doubt: "The citizens of Lower Slobovia may not give a hoot for freedom of speech, but how they fall for a gleaming Frigidaire, a stream-lined bus or a coffee percolator." Possibly, but within a few years his fictional Lower Slobovians could drool over a P70 coupé with a Duroplast body (the prototype of the Trabant), or a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller KR200, or Hedwig Bollhagen's beautiful, Bauhaus-inspired black ceramic coffee set - all cold war classics produced behind the iron curtain. Or maybe people on both sides of the ideological divide actually preferred something altogether different - mock-Tudor, or German Gothic, or whatever was knocking about in the cutlery drawer. These vernaculars may not satisfy the narrative arc of "Cold War Modern", and the "questions of existence" - Existenzfragen - it posed, but they all coexisted and competed with it. Loewy, who worked as an industrial design consultant for Nasa in the 1970s, aligned himself as working not just in, but for the cold war, and hence saw things in rather simplistic binaries. But by the time of the Kitchen Debate, these binaries had lost their edge. Khrushchev had long since denounced Stalin, in the least secret "secret" speech ever made, and commenced the thaw that introduced a less restrictive, if still state-controlled, cultural agenda. Socialist realism, "the mask of Stalinism", was, if not a thing of the past, no longer the sole official art. Indeed, it makes only a brief appearance in the V&A exhibition (principally, the huge tapestry depicting the reconstruction of Warsaw, woven by students at the State High School of Fine Art in Lodz). In parallel, and somewhat counterintuitively, this was the moment when abstract expressionism, deployed as "free enterprise" painting by the cultural cartel of MoMA and the CIA, became fixed as the art officiel of the west, leading one American critic to complain that realists had to "live in basements and pass still lifes around like samizdat". We can savour the delicious irony now, but at the time, and with so much at stake, the cultural cold war was a terribly po-faced affair. Khrushchev's intervention in architecture also powerfully debunked the Stalin-era aesthetic, whose "American" skyscraper projects were one of the more bizarre inversions of the cold war. There were to be no more cathedrals in the cult of personality, with their classical cornices, lintels and ornamented porticoes (the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw is the example par excellence of these encrusted towers). Where Stalin's vicious cultural tsar Andrei Zhdanov had denounced modernist architecture as "shapeless boxes" expressing the "hunger of monopoly capitalism", obliterating all national character and destroying valuable historical complexes, Khrushchev now sanctioned the return of this style. Less, he said, was more, and he ordered architects to replace cornices with conscience, to deliver affordable, functional living environments worthy of the citizen of the Soviet utopia. What was delivered, on a massive scale, was more and more of less and less: endless avenues of prefab, multi-storeyed blocks, of weeping concrete and mildewed panel walls. Cold War Modern, as applied to mass housing, really meant "more modernism" - and it was a miserable legacy. In another context, however, Cold War Modern produced some architectural miracles. The Ostankino television tower in Moscow (1967-69), a scale model of which has been commissioned for the V&A show, projects a dizzying, optimistic vision, a technotopia. Such telecommunication towers, which sprung up in both east and west, combined technical wizardry with gravity-defying engineering. Important gauges in cold war competition, they served twin functions as high-tech instruments and visual symbols of power. Designed to attract the public, they typically included viewing decks, restaurants and hotels, features of the leisure economy. Like the Eiffel tower, they cast an irrational spell, becoming the focus of dreams and bodily pleasures - in the reach for mythical status, both the Ostankino tower and the East Berlin Fernsehturm were staffed by air hostesses dressed in synthetic uniforms. Because of its unique position in a partitioned city that had physically internalised the divisive logic of the cold war, the Fernsehturm acquired another set of meanings: for the communists, it was a crow's nest in a sea occupied by enemy powers; for the citizens of East Germany, denied the right to leave their own country, it provided a tantalising view across the wall into the lost domain of freedom. As the cold war progressed, much of its basic premise - of antithesis and constructed antagonism - was paradoxically both accelerated and undermined by such technological advances. Sputnik, which beeped its message of Soviet ascendancy in the space race across the world in 1957, also announced the beginning of what Marshall McLuhan famously dubbed "the global village", of a world connected by the "cosmic web" of communication technology. While much of this technology emanated from the highly competitive field of military research, it produced a kind of invisible membrane that covered both sides of the cold war divide. Earth, and now the space that surrounded it, was connected by technologies developed to enforce the ideology of separateness. This paradox encouraged optimism and despair in equal measure. As the philosopher Hannah Arendt observed in 1958, Sputnik signalled a modern desire to use human artifice to escape our earthbound condition. While some viewed this as the shape of the future, for Arendt this escape into artifice represented the path to worldly alienation. Escape - from ideology and its deadening diktats, from the threat of nuclear irradiation, from the industrial overload of the ecosystem - is inscribed in the genetic code of Cold War Modern. It's in Jackson Pollock's splurgy, tangled lines that reach across and over the edges of his canvases; it's in Eero Saarinen's Womb Chair (1948), a cocoon in which the body can hide; it's in the crypts, caves and bunkers drawn up by architects as they searched underground, beneath the sea, in space, for other habitats. Or in architect-designer Buckminster Fuller's defensive geodesic domes, and the bubble he drew covering part of Manhattan (1962); or in Oasis 7, a giant inflatable environment suspended in mid-air, complete with small beach and palm tree (by Viennese architects Haus-Rucker-Co, 1972). Powerful commentaries, all, on the fear of Doomsday and the attempts to survive or even domesticate it. If fallout was about anxiety, dropout was a kind of defiant rebuttal. Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes reappeared as hippy homes in Colorado's Drop City (1965-73), no longer futuristic membranes but present-day dwellings assembled, like colourful globular shanties, from discarded car parts and other junk. A retreat from consumerism and assembly lines that, playfully, ironically, reassembled the bits and recycled them out of their own obsolescence into a new living environment. If the bomb had fallen on Drop City, then the end of the world would have been a mesmerising, kaleidoscopic happening.
|
high
| 1.911765 |
What were the most important weapons of the cold war - rockets and missiles or washing machines and motorbikes? Everything became a battleground, including the kitchen sink, writes Frances Stonor Saunders
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140821031842id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/04/05/what-the-hp-board-should-do-next/
|
FORTUNE — Ray Lane’s reign at Hewlett Packard ended Thursday, and employees should be pleased. While the former HP chair and, more recently executive chair, will remain a director, he will no longer run the HP board. Ralph Whitworth, a shareholder activist and HP board member, will take his spot on an interim basis, HP announced. The company is eliminating the lead director position that board member Rajiv Gupta had held. Two other directors, John Hammergren and Ken Thompson, who Lane did not handpick, will be stepping down from the board. With their departure, Marc Andreessen and Rajiv Gupta are the only two independent directors that preceded Lane and have survived the mass exodus of directors that has taken place on Lane’s watch. The immediate impetus for yet another upheaval on the beleaguered tech company’s board was high shareholder votes against Lane (41% voted against him) and the two other board directors at the company’s March 20 annual shareholder meeting. (46% and 45% of shareholders voted against Hammergren and Thompson, respectively.) The interim time — with Whitworth at the helm of the board — may bode well for turning around HP’s board governance. But the $64,000 question is who is fit to become chair longer term? Whitworth has pledged that the board will recruit a chair presumably outside the ranks of existing members. This is a good thing given the role of the board in so many fiascos, most recently the Autonomy debacle. MORE: Why layoffs are for lazy corporate overseers Because of Lane’s hands-on approach to picking board members and the CEO — and his recent role as executive chair, his own independence as a board member is questionable. “This was my job. I have to take full responsibility for leading this,” Lane said of the board changes he’d made in an interview in February 2011 with the San Jose Mercury News. Less than a week after one of the newly nominated directors, now CEO Meg Whitman, was confirmed as a board member at the annual meeting, HP, with no forewarning to investors, announced that she would be joining Lane’s firm, Kleiner Perkins. It has been all too cozy. While the current board member shuffle may indeed help to revive oversight at the firm (and that is not certain), the company has certainly taken a twisted path to get here. In part, this is because shareholders and their proxy advisory services so badly read the situation early on. Both investors and their advisors were slow to recognize Lane’s role. In 2011, proxy advisor ISS recommended voting against the old-time members of the board’s nominating committee when Lane took over their role (contrary to board guidelines) while it supported Lane’s nomination in full. And even this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Lane was able to sweet-talk some shareholders into not going after him while the investors urged votes against Hammergren and Thompson. Where to from here? It is time now for Whitworth to show he is a real activist and the prickly devil’s advocate he says every board should have. To restore trust, we need to see a candid and complete report on the Autonomy debacle that outlines the culpability of HP’s board and management in the matter. No whitewash. MORE: Famed value investor dumps HP, taking a loss We also need to see a pay overhaul. Rewarding a CEO who has announced 30,000 layoffs with $15 million does not represent responsible board oversight. And with the aid of the nominations committee, Whitworth needs to rework the composition of the board. Lane must go. New board members who understand their independent roles must be hired. One of them must be capable of being the constructive chair HP HPQ needs. Existing board members must shape up or ship out. Will this happen? I’m not sure. The problem is that most people observing board members would view them as doing a passable job if they held large company middle-management positions, showing up and asking intelligent questions from time to time. But in board work, head bobbing (a la Automony) can be disastrous. Whitworth has written of Whitman and the board of HP in glowing terms. Let’s hope this is to help the medicine go down — and that despite the rhetoric, he will remain objective and guide the board toward wise decisions. Certainly, the employees of HP deserve no less than that. Eleanor Bloxham is CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance, a board advisory firm.
|
medium
| 1.65625 |
Ray Lane has stepped down as HP’s chairman, but he needs to leave the board entirely. And interim chairman Ralph Whitworth needs to rework the board’s composition.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150306012543id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/josh-hutcherson-project-imagination
|
updated 03/04/2015 AT 07:00 PM EST •originally published 03/04/2015 AT 04:15 PM EST Ever wonder who would play you in a movie? It could be actor and director Ron Howard are teaming up for . The contest is seeking submissions from film lovers of any skill level; all you need to do is create a trailer based on one of the everyday moments from your life. When the submission period ends on April 29, Howard and Hutcherson will pick a trailer to be transformed "Signing on as an actor before you know what the content is going to be is kind of a crazy thing to do, so I am along for the ride," the 22-year-old said. Hutcherson talked to PEOPLE about the exciting project and even offered contestants some tips on what he is looking for. (HINT: He really loves dogs!) Canon reached out. I knew about Project Imagination, which it had been doing with Ron Howard for a few years. I was so excited when they came to me and said they wanted me to be involved and work with Ron. It's been nothing but awesome since I started. I can't wait to get all the submissions and get my hands in there. It's hard to say just one thing. First of all, to work with Canon and Ron Howard is incredible. And then, on top of that, I am excited by the whole idea of the project. There are so many stories out there. So many people who have never tried making a movie, or tried telling a story to a camera – this gives them an opportunity to realize that. It gives people all around the world with different stories a chance to tell those stories. That's why I make movies, to tell stories of different lives and places. Through this project, others get that chance to share their voice. It's a great environment for new, fresh ideas to inspire a real project. Yeah! I have always been interested in producing and directing, just being a part of the whole story-making process. It's cool to join a group of people who are very good at it. I get to walk through this process with them and see how they bring stories to life. It would probably be something with . We have a very special relationship, and he is just the greatest thing in the world. I don't know what it would be exactly, but it would be starring my dog for sure. I feel like we will get a lot of animal submissions. I have always been a big fan of Edward Norton, especially his earlier movies. When you see an actor lose himself in a character and into that world, it's really interesting – so Edward Norton has been a big inspiration. Don't have a firm idea for what you want the project to be. For me, it's cool to discover it as you go. Have the root idea for the story, but don't put too many preconceived ideas in your mind. Let it flow out of you naturally. I think that's when you create the most honest and interesting stories, and that's what I would like to act in.
|
medium
| 0.833333 |
Hutcherson says he is excited to take a fresh idea and help turn it into an inspiring film
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150825030849id_/http://fortune.com:80/2012/01/05/who-owns-your-twitter-followers-maybe-not-you/
|
FORTUNE — It all started routinely enough. Noah Kravitz signed on with mobile device and app review site PhoneDog in 2006, and began using a company Twitter account to keep techno-gadget enthusiasts au courant with his often quirky views on new products and industry trends. Nothing unusual there: Most companies — 76%, says a survey by New York City-based powerhouse law firm Proskauer — now employ at least one, and often several, social-media mavens to carry their marketing message into cyberspace. Moreover, when he joined PhoneDog, Kravitz was already a popular Silicon Valley technophile with plenty of influence. What could possibly go wrong? A whole lot, apparently. In late 2010, Kravitz left PhoneDog — and, with just a slight change in his Twitter handle, took about 17,000 followers out the door with him. (He’s now editor-at-large at tech news-and-reviews site TechnoBuffalo.) So PhoneDog filed a lawsuit against Kravitz last July in federal court, alleging that those followers are, in effect, a customer list and PhoneDog’s property. The company wants Kravitz to cough up $340,000: $2.50 per follower per month for 18 months. A hearing in the case, PhoneDog LLC v. Kravitz, is scheduled for January 26 in San Francisco. It gets weirder. Remember when parties to a lawsuit used to decline to comment until after a judge had spoken? Forget that. This brawl (which also encompasses Kravitz’s grievance over partnership money he says PhoneDog owes him, and a couple of other murky issues) has got both sides in the lawsuit — and many opinionated observers — fulminating online, from tech blogs to law firm web sites. For good reason: PhoneDog v. Kravitz will likely establish some legal boundary lines, which are currently quite hazy, between employees’ personal use of social media and employers’ claim on those channels of communication. Courts have long held that client lists, built up over time on a company’s good name and using its resources, are company property. But do Twitter followers — or LinkedIn contacts, or Facebook friends — meet the same standard? “There is a huge gray area here,” says Elise Bloom, co-chair of Proskauer’s employment law practice. She expects many more lawsuits like the Phonedog case before the dust finally settles. “Because of the nature of social media, you have to share a certain amount of personal information and commentary in order to be effective,” Bloom says. “Attracting lots of followers and keeping them, which of course is what your employer wants, means that, yes, mixed in with the corporate messages, you are going to talk about planning your wedding or what restaurants you like.” Fine, but it does raise the question: Is it your employer your followers are really interested in, or is it you? Blurring the boundaries further, employees may assume that, if they use their own personal iPhones or BlackBerrys to tweet, connect, or friend, then whatever they’re doing or saying online is their own business — even if they use company-owned Twitter handles or other corporate-sponsored platforms to do it. One way to avoid the kind of legal hugger-mugger PhoneDog is embroiled in: Write up a company policy on social media that everyone understands, which Proskauer’s survey says about half of all employers have yet to do (even though 43% report “employee misuse” of social media). “The technology has moved so fast that policies have yet to catch up,” Bloom notes. Before unleashing employees in cyberspace under the company banner, she says, “sit down and think carefully about what you want to protect.” Then make sure employees get it. At the same time, for anyone who wants to steer clear of Kravitz’s predicament, Bloom offers this advice: “The same way you have your own personal email and Facebook accounts, separate from your employer’s, develop your own Twitter following with your own personal handle. Create your own distinct, individual online persona.” If and when you leave your current job, it just might keep you out of court.
|
medium
| 1.043478 |
The blogosphere is buzzing over a pending lawsuit that raises the question: At what point do your tweets become company property?
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151013041841id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/15/migrant-crisis-prompts-europe-to-toughen-border-controls.html
|
Barring any emergency meeting of heads of state and government, Nickel thought interior ministers may come closer to a deal at their next meeting on October 8. Whether an agreement can be found that placates the former-Communist bloc in eastern Europe remains to be seen, however. These "recalcitrant Europeans," according to Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research firm Eurasia Group, will drive a hard bargain. "The strongest opposition has come from eastern Europe…they have strong domestic resistance to accepting refugees, and see political benefits in taking a hard line against Germany. which means they'll try and exact a pound of flesh on other issues…It won't be pretty," he warned in a note Monday. Europe was less united than ever, and once again, as with the Greek financial crisis, it was cobbling together a short-term plan to deal with an "expanding" crisis, Bremmer added. "It's very much like the Greece (third bailout) deal - nothing more than a last minute, short-term patch that doesn't resolve an expanding challenge. As an actor on the international stage, 'Europe' has less cohesive norms, values, and governance than at any time since the union was created," he said. On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's (S&P) said that political uncertainty stemming from the refugee crisis was the biggest risk to credit ratings for EU countries at present. "An elusive compromise could indicate that the EU still has governance problems, which we consider a key factor when rating sovereigns," Moritz Kraemer, primary credit analyst at S&P said in a report on Tuesday. "If mishandled, Europe's approach to solving the refugee influx may lead to increased populism and xenophobia, diverting attention from budgetary and structural reforms."
|
low
| 0.576923 |
A raft of European Union countries have unilaterally re-imposed border checks and the region's justice ministers failed to agree on a plan.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151013051636id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/16/the-case-against-patenting-your-brilliant-invention.html
|
You've just invented the greatest product known to mankind—or at least you think so. And you know that you must quickly protect this brilliant idea with a patent because someone will surely steal it if you don't, right? Maybe not. For lone inventors, patenting may not be necessary at every step of the inventing process—and maybe not at all. "A patent can be a useful tool, but it may not be necessary. I have spent thousands of dollars on quality patents and had my products knocked off anyway," said Tamara Monosoff, inventor and author of "The Mom Inventors Handbook." Monosoff breaks down the patent debate into three key questions for inventors as they weigh the benefits of a patent vs. the costs—something all inventors need to do early in the product development process. 1. Is a provisional patent application plenty? A provisional patent application is like an invention placeholder—it gives you 12 months to file a full patent, known in the inventing jargon as a utility patent. The utility patent reverts to the date of your provisional patent application. There's an economic benefit to this approach—you can delay the cost of a utility application and continue with product development before you actually file. Fees associated with filing a provisional patent application can start at as little as $65, though there can be multiple fees in the filing process. A full utility patent can cost thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the applicant, the nature of the invention (apparatus, biotech, electrical, design, plant) and the process hiccups that can occur along the way as the patent application is examined, said James Crowne, deputy executive director of legal affairs for the American Intellectual Property Law Association. He added that the applicant does have the chance to make corrections to the filing during the examination process, but there are costs incurred every time that is necessary. Another benefit of the provisional application is that your product details are not public for the 12-month period, so potential competitors can't figure out how to design around your patent. "It's a powerful time because no one knows the specifics of what you submitted for patent, and once you file a provisional application, you can also label your invention as 'patent pending,' which in itself can be a deterrent to a would-be knockoff," Monosoff said.
|
medium
| 1.44 |
Think your brilliant idea needs a patent pronto? Think twice. Patents for lone inventors can be a waste of time and money.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160413213751id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/04/11/puerto-rico-unveils-new-restructuring-deal-cash-dwindles/ZfdAHgWUABJMcw6Uncof9K/story.html
|
NEW YORK — Puerto Rico reduced the amount of potential losses for creditors in a revised debt-restructuring proposal as island officials seek to accelerate negotiations while the commonwealth moves closer to default and Congress considers oversight of its finances. Puerto Rico and its advisers made public details of the offer first presented in March. General obligation and sales-tax bondholders would recover more of their investments under the latest plan. It would reduce the commonwealth’s $49.3 billion of tax-supported debt to between $32.6 billion and $37.4 billion, a smaller reduction than the cut to $26.5 billion in its earlier plan. That might not be enough relief for Puerto Rico as the island struggles to grow its economy and improve its finances, said Matt Dalton, chief executive officer of Rye Brook, New York-based Belle Haven Investments, which oversees $4.2 billion of municipal bonds, including commonwealth securities. “Nothing’s changed and without a drastic reduction of the debt service that Puerto Rico is under, I don’t know how they’re going to climb out of their hole,” Dalton said. “I still worry there’s still a long road ahead even if they did come to some agreement.” Puerto Rico and its agencies racked up $70 billion of debt after borrowing for years to pay its bills. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla in June 2105 said the island was unable to repay all of its obligations on time and in full. Two agencies have missed debt payments since then and its Government Development Bank owes $422 million May 1. The commonwealth and its agencies face a $2 billion debt payment July 1. The revised plan increases to $1.85 billion from $1.7 billion the amount Puerto Rico will spend on annual debt-service. Puerto Rico’s revised proposal offers a 74 percent recovery on general obligations and commonwealth-backed debt, up from 72 percent in its first plan that it unveiled Feb. 1. Sales-tax bonds, called Cofinas by their Spanish acronym, would recover 57 percent, up from 49 percent. It also replaces “growth bonds” included in the commonwealth’s first proposal, with capital-appreciation bonds, which delay interest payments until the debt mature. Growth bonds, by comparison, would only repay if Puerto Rico’s revenue exceeds certain projections. The commonwealth would allocate $2.4 billion to its pensions in the first five years of the plan. Puerto Rico’s largest pension system’s assets were less than one percent of the $30.2 billion it owes current and future retirees, as of June 2014. “A sustainable solution cannot place the burden on one stakeholder group alone, and we have the moral and legal obligation to protect the health, safety and well-being of our citizens,” Victor Suarez, Puerto Rico’s secretary of state, said in a statement. “These are the priorities we must balance while working to reach an agreement that will put Puerto Rico back on the path to prosperity.” Puerto Rico residents who hold commonwealth securities would be repaid last. The revised proposal offers those on-island investors a return of full principal beginning in 2065 and ending 2069. They would receive a reduced 2 percent interest rate starting in 2017. Garcia Padilla last week signed into law a debt-moratorium bill that allows him to suspend payments on all of the island’s debt through January 2017. He declared Saturday an emergency period for the Development Bank to preserve its dwindling cash, but declined to place a moratorium on the bank’s debt. Puerto Rico’s latest offer gives a 36 percent recovery rate on GDB bonds.
|
medium
| 1.521739 |
Puerto Rico is proposing to restructure part of its $70 billion debt to buy time to implement a fiscal growth plan.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160422034631id_/http://www.people.com/article/curt-schilling-fired-from-espn
|
04/20/2016 AT 10:00 PM EDT One of ESPN's biggest baseball analysts, , has been fired from the network, the Schilling was reportedly terminated on Wednesday, just one day after he was criticized for commenting on an offensive Facebook post regarding that bans transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms different from their gender at birth. Although Schilling did not post the message, he did leave a comment on the photo of an overweight man donning a wig and women's attire that had cutouts in the breast area, the reports. The picture included the words, "LET HIM IN! to the restroom with your daughter or else you're a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving racist bigot who needs to die." Schilling reportedly left the following message: "A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don't care what they are, who they sleep with, men's room was designed for the penis, women's not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic." In a statement obtained by the newspaper, ESPN denounced Schilling's opinion regarding the post. "ESPN is an inclusive company," the network said in a statement. "Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated." While Schilling did not offer a statement to the publication, he did take to his personal blog to air his thoughts on the situation in a titled "The hunt to be offendedâ¦" "This is likely the easiest way to address all of you out there who are just dying to be offended so you can create some sort of faux cause to rally behind," he started. "Let's make one thing clear right up front. If you get offended by ANYTHING in this post, that's your fault, all yours. This latest brew ha ha (sic) is beyond hilarious. I didn't post that ugly looking picture. I made a comment about the basic functionality of mens and womens restrooms, period." This isn't the first time Schilling's social media etiquette has put him in hot water with his employer. Last year, he was for a month for a comment he made on Twitter, which compared extremist Muslims to Nazis. However, this time, even Schilling's son Grant came to his defense, writing in a Facebook post that while his father may not be the "most well informed in the modern LGBT+ culture," he has worked hard to understand the community and has even allowed Grant's "trans friends to stay over [and] respected pronouns and name changes."
|
medium
| 1.52381 |
This was the second time in the last year that Schilling has been in trouble for comments made on social media
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160607031315id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/australia-news/2016/feb/24/malcolm-turnbull-faces-fresh-pressure-over-tony-abbott-style-tax-scare-tactics
|
Malcolm Turnbull has attempted to paper over the government’s mixed messages on tax reform, insisting the opposition’s negative gearing policy would deliver “two contradictory, massive shocks” to the residential housing market. Facing a third day of parliamentary questions about his claims of property prices being “smashed”, the prime minister went on the attack, denouncing “the most ill-conceived, potentially destructive policy ever proposed by any opposition”. Related: Turnbull's claim that Labor will 'smash' house prices shows evidence-free politics is back But the prime minister had to correct the parliamentary record after he made outdated claims about the property holdings of a Labor rival. Negative gearing is the practice of investors deducting net losses on their rental properties from other income on their tax returns. Labor, which is promising to rein in negative gearing by restricting it to newly constructed homes, accused the government of running an incoherent, Tony-Abbott style scare campaign. In question time on Wednesday, Labor seized on a comment by the assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, that the opposition’s policy would “increase the cost of housing for all Australians”. Turnbull previously said the opposition was “smashing home values” and would “cut the value of your home”. Dismissing “childish word games”, O’Dwyer told parliament the impact on established and new homes would differ. Related: Labor's negative gearing policy would push house prices up, says minister Turnbull also rejected claims of a discrepancy. “What the Labor party proposes to do is to administer two contradictory shocks, massive shocks, to the residential housing market,” he said. “They are proposing to remove from the market for established dwellings one-third of demand. All investors would be gone – and when I say all investors, I mean all investors ... The reality is the Labor party policy does not simply apply to net interest losses, it applies to all net rental losses ... This will eliminate all investors from the established property market, and that naturally will cause prices to fall. How can it not? The market is subdued. “And at the same time they then want to pour all of that investment into new properties, which can only be designed, presumably, entirely contradictorily to drive those prices up.” But, later in question time, Turnbull made a blanket statement that the Labor policy was “designed to reduce the value of every single home in Australia”. He also said the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, “owns two investment properties, both of which are geared”. “I don’t know whether they’re negatively geared or not but he is very well aware of the economics of this matter,” Turnbull said. Burke, who is also Labor’s finance spokesman, immediately challenged the claim, saying it was “completely wrong and made up”. Burke’s register of interests, filed on 10 December 2013, indicated he owned three properties, two of which provided him with rental income, but subsequent updates in 2015 indicated these had been sold. Turnbull owned up to the error a few minutes later. “I should just add in fairness to the honourable member for Watson: he is quite correct to pick me up,” the prime minister said. “When the parliament began he did record three properties, one of which was a residence and two of which were investment properties, and he has subsequently sold them all, so I missed the honourable member’s amendments.” Related: Labor promises to cut negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said the prime minister’s failure to mount an effective scare campaign showed the government was “in complete and utter chaos” on tax reform. The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, said Turnbull had abandoned his pledge to pursue evidence-based policy to adopt a campaign befitting Abbott. Turnbull replied that the principles of supply and demand were “economics 101”. It was, he said, “fundamental common sense” that a decrease in buyers would trigger a drop in prices. Labor announced its policy to rein in negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions nearly two weeks ago, saying the measures would raise $32.bn for the budget over 10 years. Negative gearing would be limited to newly constructed housing from 1 July 2017, but all investments made before this date would retain access to the deductions. Labor would cut the capital gains tax discount from 50% to 25% for assets purchased after 1 July 2017. The opposition’s policy measures have dominated parliamentary question time this week, with the government yet to announce its own detailed policies apart from ruling out an increase in the goods and services tax. On Monday, Turnbull told parliament that “increasing capital gains tax is no part of our thinking whatsoever”, but he later clarified his pledge applied only to capital gains tax for individuals and did not extend to superannuation funds.
|
high
| 1 |
Labor accuses the prime minister of resorting to his predecessor’s negative approach as the row over how to reform the tax system deepens
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160614034658id_/http://time.com:80/1410/why-i-took-my-7-year-old-to-a-tattoo-parlor/
|
Last month, following a long period of girlish cajoling, my daughter finally got her ears pierced in celebration of her 7th birthday. The setting was not the traditional mall kiosk staffed by some bored and minimally trained 16-year-old. Instead I took my daughter to a tattoo parlor. Surprised they even allow 7-year-olds in those kinds of places? Think again. A growing number of parents are apparently turning to tattoo parlors to bejewel their children’s little lobes. I didn’t come up with this crazy idea out of the blue; I’m a reporter, after all: I researched where to take Shira and weighed the pros and cons. I found that tattoo parlors — despite the blaring heavy metal music — were mom-approved by a local parenting email list. When even a nurse cast her vote in favor of the tattoo parlor, I deliberated no longer. “There is a stigma attached to tattoo parlors that they’re dirty and will be bombarded by foul-mouthed people,” says Sarah LaRoe, a mom with multiple facial piercings and tattoos creeping up her neck, who pierced my little girl’s ears so tenderly that she left her not in tears but with a big, happy smile on her face. MORE Why Spanking Doesn’t Work Contrary to what you might think, tattoo parlors — at least the one I went to — are actually bastions of cleanliness. Some states regulate them, and reputable ones use disposable needles and sterilize all their equipment in an autoclave. In contrast, mall piercers and many jewelry stores use piercing guns that have been associated with complications and can’t be completely sterilized. Armed with that knowledge, which would you choose? While some parents might be freaked out by the idea of taking their kid to a tattoo parlor, I looked upon the outing as an adventure, joking with my daughter about getting a Hello Kitty tattoo for mom. What I didn’t expect was that the experience would evolve into a lesson in tolerance. In that unnerving way little kids have of speaking their mind, Shira took an initial look at LaRoe and stage-whispered: “I think she looks ugly like that.” I immediately flashed her my scary mom eyes to signal her to clam up. But later, after we’d left the store, her comment served as an opportunity to point out that just because someone looks different, it doesn’t mean she’s not a good person. LaRoe, regardless of her unconventional piercings, was super-professional and extremely kind. For professional piercers like LaRoe, who stick needles through noses, eyebrows, tongues and nether regions, ears are the most mundane of piercing locations. But that doesn’t mean they don’t take it seriously. LaRoe spent nearly an hour with us, versus the quick in-and-out that I remember from getting my ears pierced at the mall as a girl. Before leading us into the piercing room — which looked just like a doctor’s office — LaRoe handed the birthday girl a bag with a lollipop, which expertly distracted Shira from being overly nervous about what was going on. The bag also contained non-iodized sea salt and instructions for mom on how to mix a saline solution to clean newly pierced ears. Unlike the alcohol that mall kiosks recommend for cleaning, salty water doesn’t burn. MORE Clean Needles Saved My Life. Now Congress Wants to Ban Funding for Needle Exchange Now for the gory details: at tattoo parlors, piercers use hypodermic needles to core out a sliver of skin, making room for an earring — a relatively painless procedure. In contrast, at the mall, the piercer uses a gun that painfully jams a blunt-tipped earring stud into the ear lobe; the process does not remove skin, but effectively pushes it aside. LaRoe is so convinced of the superiority of needles over piercing guns that she’s signed petitions to ban the guns; one such petition makes the case that “only cowboys use guns.” In her quest to reform the ear-piercing industry, LaRoe leaves her business card at schools and pediatricians’ offices. When she takes her own son to the doctor, she’ll frequently get questions about her multiple piercings; sometimes she gets customers that way too. Ultimately, though, change starts parent by parent, through word of mouth. “It kind of acts like a trendsetter,” says LaRoe. “All it takes is one little girl who goes to school and says it didn’t hurt.” It didn’t hurt? Well, maybe a little. But so little that Shira didn’t even blink when LaRoe pierced her first ear. During the procedure, LaRoe had her do some deep, yoga-like breathing, which Shira is familiar with from her weekly yoga class. In and out, in — pierce! Of course, the lollipop helped too. Read next: Tips for Every Age: How to Raise Grateful Kids Listen to the most important stories of the day.
|
high
| 1.28 |
Thinking about getting your kid's ears pierced? Why a reputable tattoo parlor may be safer than using the piercing gun at the mall
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160730222943id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2012/11/10/your-money/giving-time-to-schools-sometimes-beats-giving-money.html?emc=eta1
|
As I talked to people who were deeply involved in educational philanthropy, I realized that it was actually the time they gave that kept them involved, even if they could have written a large check and been done with it. Charles R. Bendit, for instance, had built his real estate firm, Taconic Investment Partners, into a successful portfolio of commercial buildings and apartments in the New York region. When he first became interested in giving something back in the 1990s, he said he didn’t have a lot of money but did have some business experience. A friend suggested he consider education and connected him with Pencil, a nonprofit group that brings business people into public schools. “I figured education makes a lot of sense,” Mr. Bendit said. “Educating our students best prepares them to take on the responsibility of becoming our business and political leaders.” After volunteering at a couple of different schools, Mr. Bendit was paired up with Sana Q. Nasser, the principal of the Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx. The result has been a partnership of more than a decade that has brought significant improvements in the school, which now has 1,900 students. Ms. Nasser said she had been a principal for five years when she met Mr. Bendit. At that point, she felt she had stabilized the school, which had been failing when she took over, and was ready to start making improvements. She wanted to start academies within the school that would draw on assets that were not being used, like a television studio and a planetarium. “I realized very quickly that I needed someone to help me,” Ms. Nasser said. “I didn’t know exactly how to do it. I didn’t have the wherewithal to negotiate all of this.” But she knew she didn’t want an executive to come in for a day and write her school a check. “I wanted someone who would stay with me for the long haul,” she said. “I wanted time, their knowledge and commitment, and a wide network of people. I wanted that business connection. I wanted internships for my kids.” Mr. Bendit said the two hit it off. But before they tackled her dream of having academies within the school, they began working on her ability to delegate to her assistant principals. Without doing that, he said she couldn’t think long term about the school. She said she trusted Mr. Bendit to teach her skills that she didn’t have. “It was almost a mindshift for me,” she said. “I realized he could help me as I tried to rebuild Truman to what it used to be.” Mr. Bendit said that for him, helping her start various academies within the school with focuses as different as law and cooking, meant using his contacts more than his checkbook. “It was about leverage,” he said. “I didn’t know much about television studios or catering, but I knew who to ask.” Today, Truman is a thriving school. But Mr. Bendit was quick to point out that he was able to make a difference without sacrificing other things in his life. He estimated that he spent no more than 25 hours a year with Ms. Nasser. “We sometimes don’t appreciate the impact we can have by just investing a little bit of our time and some of our resources,” he said. “She never said, ‘Could you buy me computers or could you buy me a new planetarium?’ It was more about, ‘What can you do to help me build this?’ ” Mr. Bendit said he gave the school money for a special program, however, and has donated to Pencil and many other educational organizations. The Bank of America study of high-net-worth households found that 89 percent of those affluent people said they had volunteered their time — up 10 percentage points from 2009, when the study was last conducted. Ms. Costello, the Bank of America executive, said researchers had also asked people about the level of personal satisfaction they derived from their charitable giving and found that it was linked more to engagement than dollars. This was no surprise to people who have been involved in educational philanthropy. Marguerite Griffin, national director of philanthropic service at the wealth management firm Northern Trust, said that people who wanted to be involved in education charities needed to be prepared to wait for results, and that could be frustrating for people who were not volunteering their time and seeing the small steps of progress. “Many of the best educational funders are also mentors in after-school programs or they volunteer,” she said. “They do something that keeps them in touch with the population they’re trying to help.” Donna Fontana, senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, said she was inspired to change her philanthropic focus by the documentary “Waiting for Superman,” about city students trying to get a better education in charter schools. She began teaching an after-school class through a program run by Citizen Schools, which helps students gain life skills and experience. She is in her third semester of teaching “Invest Like a Millionaire,” a course Fidelity developed, at a middle school in East Harlem. Ms. Fontana said the class focused on teaching children the basics of saving, spending and budgeting but culminated with students counseling real people (her friends) on their financial situation. “The children embrace it and rise to the occasion,” she said. “We knew we were getting through to them when we had one student talk to a client about compound interest.” She said she now found herself talking enthusiastically about the children and the program to all of her friends. Of course, there are those who can have it both ways, giving a lot of time and money each year. Trisha Perez Kennealy and her husband, Michael J. Kennealy, an entrepreneur and private equity executive, said they took a three-step approach to their educational philanthropy. They work with the public schools in Lexington, Mass., where their three children go, finance scholarships at their alma maters and donate to and serve on the boards of national educational reform groups. “It’s multipronged because we want to make a big change,” Ms. Perez Kennealy said. “You only go through third grade once. This is our future.” But like everyone else I talked to, the Kennealys, who put their annual cash giving in the six figures, are true believers in what a great education can do. “Everything we have in life we attributed to having a great education,” Mr. Kennealy said. “It’s gratitude. But it’s also the recognition that a great education is not available to everyone else.” A version of this article appears in print on November 10, 2012, on page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Some Prefer Giving Time, Not Money, to Schools. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
|
high
| 1.363636 |
Offering knowledge and experience by volunteering at a school can be far more satisfying for donors than simply writing a check.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160802152547id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/politics/2015/may/29/peter-robinson-northern-ireland-discharged-hospital-heart-scare
|
Northern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, has been discharged from hospital as he recovers from a suspected heart attack. The Democratic Unionist party leader was admitted to the Ulster hospital in Dundonald on Monday, before being moved to Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital (RVH), where he was fitted with a heart stent. After leaving the RVH on Friday the 66-year-old paid tribute to the hospital’s staff. “Happy to be discharged and back home. Thanks to the wonderful RVH cardiac team – everyone a star,” he tweeted. The first minister also thanked all those who wished him well during his five-day stay in hospital. Among those who visited him was the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, who brought a bowl of fruit to his bedside. “Many thanks to all who sent messages of support and encouragement in the last week. Your thoughts & prayers have been really appreciated,” he wrote. As a result of his illness, Robinson missed a crucial vote in the Northern Ireland assembly this week which threatens to destabilise cross-community power sharing in the region. The DUP attempted to push through a motion in the regional parliament to overhaul the local welfare system and implement austerity measures already in place throughout the rest of the UK. Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Green party’s sole assembly member vetoed the bill by triggering a “petition of concert”, which torpedoes any legislation that does not have sufficient cross-community/unionist-nationalist approval. Unionists and the cross-community Alliance party accused nationalists of refusing to govern Northern Ireland and now claim the failure of the bill has resulted in a £600m hole in the power-sharing government’s budget, which they say the UK Treasury will not be prepared to fill.
|
low
| 1.96 |
Northern Ireland’s first minister, who was taken ill on Monday morning, tweets thank you message to well-wishers and hospital staff
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160809021628id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/travel/destinations/europe/germany/2074452/Rugen-Germany-Brighton-for-Berliners.html
|
Besides the island’s many seaside eccentricities, everywhere there are little reminders of the Cold War. Rectangular, beachfront bungalows in GDR-grey sit alongside plush new apartments and the odd turquoise Trabant still chugs around the island looking for a mechanic and a garage selling its high-polluting fuel. Most visitors travel around on mountain bikes or aboard the island’s narrow-gauge steam train Rasende Roland and, with destinations called Spyker Castle and Cockroach Bay, it’s hard not to imagine you’re part of a Famous Five adventure. Johannes Brahms used to go for a dip in the warm sea off Sassnitz on the east coast. Its cobbled harbour was one of Germany’s main bathing centres in the 19th century; today it’s a centre for arts and crafts. The striped swimsuits have disappeared but there are plenty of boathouses smoking fish and, moored to the quayside, a huge, black submarine that was formerly part of the British fleet. No one seemed to know why she had ended up there, but HMS Otus is open to the public all year round. I kept seeing the dachshunds on every promenade and clifftop walk and they followed me to the great chalk cliffs of the upper-east coast. The vast white façades were made famous by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, who painted them during his honeymoon here in 1818. Large sections have since been eroded and, in the past two years, swathes of chalk have crashed into the sea. It is a great location for fossil-hunters but, just when the island has opened up to the world, it is starting to disappear. I already had a little piece of Berlin wall in a perspex globe and now I’ve got a tiny shard of Friedrich’s chalk to go with it. But I’m most proud of my Baltic amber, found lodged in a piece of driftwood on the beach near Sassnitz. Amber turns up all along the Baltic coast. “It’s best to hunt for it after a storm when the sea is cold enough for amber to float and everything has been churned up,” said Georg Heissler, director of the island’s AVR hotel group. “I don’t go for walks with my wife on the beach any more as every time I turn round she is bending over some rocks 50 metres away.” You can buy amber (or pretend you found it) in Rügen’s swish east-coast resorts. Restaurants there serve the usual beer-and-sausage spectaculars as well as large portions of perch, sander and — for one month only — the green-boned hornhecht that swims up from the south Atlantic, fills up on herring eggs and vanishes. “Because 99 per cent of the holidaymakers are German, you don’t find menus in English or with pictures of your food,” said Porter. In fact, it’s still very unusual even to hear an English voice on the island. It was nice to go into a hotel in Europe where you still need sign language to explain that you’ve lost the key to the minibar. The writer Christopher Isherwood visited the island in the early 1930s and described seeing a roe deer being chased through the woods by a Borzoi dog. You could still imagine seeing the chase. Nothing has changed. The beech forests are still thick and dark, hiding tall hunting platforms and wooden lodges where you can have a picnic and a proper swing. Handkerchiefs tend to be worn in blazer pockets rather than on heads. It’s a place where the sandcastle is still king and where the locals spend their afternoons talking to birds in thatched roofs and mending wicker baskets. Newcomers to the island (there is a new bridge linking it to the mainland) should head first to the seaside mansions in Binz or to pinstriped Sellin, just down the coast. I took the glass elevator down to the sand there and settled into a Strandkorb, a cross between a Brighton deckchair and something an illusionist would use to make his assistant disappear. The double seat tips backwards and there is even a locker underneath where you can store your towel and any amber trapped in your flip-flops. With swans tracking you from the sea, it’s a two-hour walk down the coast to Göhren. You need to be strong-willed not to stop for every glint of amber and also be aware that most people who bid you good day will not be wearing any clothes. Most will also be holding a glass of freshly pressed Sanddorn juice with an appropriately placed serviette. The amber-coloured Sanddorn berry (sea buckthorn) is meant to increase stamina and everyone on the island drinks it. You need to if you want to swim out to the Buskum rock off Göhren’s beach, a Lilo-foundering outcrop a few hundred yards from the shore. Newly-weds swim out and dance on it to ensure a happy life; in winter, when the sea freezes, you can skate out almost to Sweden. “In the summer, southern Rügen has the most sunshine and lowest rainfall in Germany and the ground temperature is the same as Sicily’s,” said Heissler, who came to the island 12 years ago and fell in love with a former Miss Rügen. Beauty pageants were banned elsewhere in East Germany but, as a holiday destination, Rügen was spared the worst excesses of the Stasi regime. Exercising and bathing were encouraged, but there was no going to the beach after dark. What has made Rügen notorious, however, is something left over from an altogether darker period. Running alongside one of the island’s finest beaches, Prora is a vast, reinforced-concrete holiday camp built by Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s to prepare people for the forthcoming war. The building stretches for more than three miles and it takes 20 minutes just to cycle along it. A six-storey seaside hotel for 20,000 people, Prora would have been dreadful to stay in despite the guaranteed sea-view. Construction was never completed and no one ever did have a holiday there. “The locals think of Prora more in terms of its use as a soldier training camp during the Cold War rather than as part of Hitler’s holiday plans,” said Heissler. The building currently houses Rügen’s largest discotheque, a youth hostel and museum. A large slab of it was recently sold to a developer from Hamburg who wants to turn the listed structure into — what else? — a budget holiday camp, although Prora’s ceilings are so low it might be better used as a retirement home for dachshunds. Rügen is certainly up there with the best family holiday destinations in Europe and, even better, most British holidaymakers have never heard of it. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies twice daily from Stansted to Lübeck (Hamburg) airport , which is a two-hour drive from Rügen. Berlin and Hamburg airports are both less than three hours away. There is also a train connection from Berlin or Hamburg to Binz (08718 808066, www.bahn.co.uk), with singles from €41. Hotel MeeresBlick, Friedrichstr.2, 18586 Göhren (00 49 (0) 38308 5650, www.avr.de/english/hotel-meeresblick/. The restaurant has the best reputation on the island and also offers courses in cooking with herbs. Double rooms €46-€81 (£36-£64) per person. Schloss Spyker, Schlossallee 1, 18551 Spyker (38302 770, www.schloss-spyker.de). Unusual to find a hotel the same colour as your passport; rates at this supposedly haunted castle are €50-€100 per person. Hotel Badehaus Goor, Fürst-Malte-Allee 1, 18581 Lauterbach (38301 88260, www.hotel-badehaus-goor.de). This 19th-century, colonnaded bathing house near picturesque Putbus has been turned into a smart hotel and business centre. Double rooms cost between €110 and €210, including breakfast and dinner.
|
high
| 1.086957 |
The Baltic island of Rügen has been a popular holiday destination since the 19th century. Jon Bryant finds out why.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161220043552id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/28/wealthy-chinese-and-russian-shoppers-flock-to-prague.html
|
This influx of visitors has resulted in a surge in spending in the last five years, assisted by the change in the make-up of the tourists – there are now fewer Western European travelers and more Russian and Asian shoppers in Prague, head of consultancy and research at Cushman & Wakefield in the Czech Republic, Michal Soták said. The Chinese middle class are leading the way – Asian tourists visiting Prague, with the majority from China, are mostly interested in fashion, Czech glass, watches and jewelry and based on information gathered from retailers, they form around 15-30 percent of the clientele of Pařížská Street, according to JLL data. Retailers have noticed the increased demand and have responded by hiring shop assistants that are able to speak Chinese, the group said. Read More'Game of Thrones' boosts this ex-communist country Russian tourists, which are the biggest spenders in total numbers among non EU countries last year and behind 50 percent of all spending, which were the second largest group visiting Prague . The average spend by a Russian tourist in Prague in 2013 was 6,771 CZK ($306), this compares with the average Chinese tourist spend of around 15,000 CZK ($678) according to recent Global Blue data. With over 13 million foreign overnight stays in the city a year, Prague is the most visited capital in CE, meaning its local tourism market is larger than that of Berlin or Vienna and has the combined volume of Budapest, Warsaw, and Bratislava according to Cushman & Wakefield. MasterCard estimated that tourists visiting Prague will spend $3.8 billion dollars in 2014 and the appetite from retailers is showing no signs of abating. Read MoreWhy a weaker Germany could hit eastern Europe "We keep on attracting the big names, I cannot tell you who they are, but there are still a number that want to enter the market," Mouton said. "We are not competing against Russia yet, but definitely against the likes of Madrid and other European capitals," she added.
|
medium
| 0.727273 |
Some 25 years after the fall of communism, Prague has become a favorite shopping destination of Russian and Chinese rich.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20060614145450id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2006/03/12/fashion/sundaystyles/12silicon.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=6009a7b1cde6630a&ex=1299819600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
|
"It's great for Daily Candy and exciting for the industry," said Sascha Lewis, a founder of flavorpill, a publisher of e-mail newsletters about cultural happenings. "But what we have to do today is keep the lights on. You've got to learn from the lessons of the past. All that is just noise until things happen." Not so long ago Silicon Alley was all but obliterated. Dozens of companies went out of business during the burst of the technology bubble, and the economic slow-down following the 9/11 attacks took still more. Employment in information technology in New York City plummeted to around 35,000 at the end of 2005 from around 50,000 in 2000, according to the New York State Labor Department. Along the way any semblance of a digital community in New York dissolved as well. Launch parties gave way to pink slip-parties and then to no parties at all. The Silicon Alley Reporter, a trade publication, folded, and the New York New Media Association, a focal point for the tech community during the boom, quietly closed its doors in 2003. Nerds went underground. "In 2002 it was definitely embarrassing to say you were doing Internet stuff," said Mr. Heiferman, who founded the Web advertising firm i-Traffic in 1995 and Meetup in 2002. "It seemed so passé." A number of factors have contributed to the rebound, investors and online executives said. Start-up costs and overhead for running a consumer-oriented Internet company have plummeted, as hardware prices have fallen and packaged or open-source software has taken the place of the programming departments that once had to build sites from scratch. New forms of targeted advertising from companies like Yahoo and Google have allowed small companies to sell adds online without sales staffs. And large established companies with hefty marketing budgets have been spending more on online advertising. But perhaps the biggest change on the Alley has been the shift from a culture of profligacy to one of financial discipline. While first-generation Web entrepreneurs once boasted of mountains of venture capital, massages for staff and Aeron office chairs for all, the current crop of Alley executives can't let a conversation go by without pointing out how utterly miserly they are. "I was crazy cheap," said Dany Levy, the founder and editor in chief of Daily Candy, explaining how she built her business. She said she has long urged employees to print on both sides of a sheet of paper, and that she bought candy for her company's media kits in bulk from Duane Reade just after Halloween, when it was on sale. In the SoHo offices of Thrillist.com, a three-man start-up that aims to be a kind of Daily Candy for men, Ben Lerer, 24, one of its founders, said his business plan "is all about saving every possible penny." He said he and his partner, Adam Rich, 25, pay their sole employee, a writer named David Blend, "beer money," a claim Mr. Blend disputed. "Actually it's half my beer money," Mr. Blend said. During the dark years, some first-generation Silicon Alley companies held on by laying off employees and cutting costs. Rufus Griscom, the chief executive of Nerve, the sexy literary site and Web community, said he employs half the number of people he did in 2001. Other true believers started pared-down companies from the rubble of the bust. Mr. Lewis and Mark Mangan, for example, were partners in an e-commerce company that sold furnishings and accessories and went belly up in 2001. As part of their marketing campaign, the two published a weekly e-mail letter about cultural events, which they called flavorpill. They continued to publish the newsletter from their part-time jobs Mr. Mangan as a Web developer and Mr. Lewis as a D.J. and organically built an audience before pitching big companies for advertising business. Since then, flavorpill has run ads for American Express, Audi and Anheuser-Busch. The company now publishes nine e-mail letters with 300,000 subscribers, and it has been profitable for the last three years, Mr. Lewis said. Last year revenues were close to $2 million.
|
high
| 0.681818 |
Though few new-media entrepreneurs would say it loudly for fear of jinxing themselves, Silicon Alley is buzzing again.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20120129162827id_/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57322003-503544/republican-debate-winners-and-losers-a-disastrous-night-for-perry
|
Wednesday night's CNBC presidential debate may well have given us the most memorable moment of any debate in quite a long time - Rick Perry's potentially calamitous inability to name the third federal agency he is vowing to abolish. It was like watching a car crash live on television. The game-changing moment has ramifications for all the presidential contenders, but it wasn't the only takeaway from Wednesday night. Below, our take on who's up and whose down in the wake of the debate: Mitt Romney: The Republican presidential race has officially become Mitt Romney's to lose. Though the polls suggest Herman Cain is a more significant rival, political insiders knew Perry was a bigger threat - he, unlike Cain, has a serious campaign apparatus and the money to keep contesting the race into March. And now, thanks to his possibly disastrous brain freeze Wednesday night, Perry may well be finished. That leaves Romney without a serious rival for the nomination - and will give him more leeway to shade his rhetoric toward the general election, not the GOP primary fight. (At left, Brian Montopoli breaks down the debate on CBS' "Up to the Minute.") Newt Gingrich: Gingrich almost made it into the loser column thanks to his apparent inability not to seem nasty, and his claim that he was paid by Freddie Mac as a "historian" - not a lobbyist - was hard to swallow. But Gingrich also had some nice moments, and his smartest-guy-in-the-room shtick seems to be resonating with a growing slice of the GOP electorate. Plus, Gingrich sits at third in the polls, and in light of Perry's difficult night at the podium and Cain's sinking prospects, he may find himself taking over the anti-Romney slot almost by default. Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum : About that anti-Romney slot: Social conservatives are desperate for a candidate to coalesce around to counter a frontrunner they don't trust, and Perry's mega-gaffe could prompt them to give a serious second look to Bachmann and Santorum. Both turned in solid performances, particularly Santorum, who created a forceful contrast with his rivals on the topic of government bailouts. If either of these candidates can convince social conservatives that they're the horse to bet on, they have a real shot at taking the Iowa caucuses in January. Rick Perry: What can one even say? Rick Perry provided a YouTube moment that will be talked about for years, and it may well be impossible to overcome. To fail to name the third government agencies that you yourself are vowing to eliminate - and to suffer that horrible awkward silence before admitting as much - is to announce to the electorate that you not ready for primetime. With one brain freeze, Perry seriously damaged his fundraising ability, prompted a coming flood of "is Rick Perry finished" stories and simply embarrassed himself in front of a national audience. Rick Perry fails to remember what agency he'd get rid of in GOP debate Herman Cain: It's hard to imagine what Cain could have done to change the conversation about his candidacy, which has been engulfed by sexual harassment charges. But he didn't do it. Cain brought no new ideas Wednesday night that might have helped him change the conversation, instead once again focusing on his 9-9-9 plan, which he mentions so often that the audience now laughs in anticipation of his bringing it up. On the plus side for Cain, Rick Perry at least diverted some attention from his troubles, and the audience's reaction to a question posed to Cain about the scandal - it was roundly booed - shows he still has the support of many conservatives. But the harassment story isn't going away, and Cain doesn't seem to have a new trick up his sleeve to shift the focus, and it looks like 9-9-9 just isn't going to cut it any longer. Jon Huntsman: Huntsman's only real shot at the nomination is a collapse by Romney, since their candidates are essentially predicated on the same argument to Republican voters: You may be skeptical thanks to my moderation, but I'm your best bet to win next November, so you better get over it. Yet Romney didn't seriously stumble, leaving Huntsman in the same place he was going into the debate: On the outside looking in during a presidential cycle in which his campaign simply doesn't seem to fit. Ron Paul: As always, Ron Paul was a strong voice for his libertarian beliefs. Too bad the Perry disaster means nobody's going to be paying much attention. A debate free of dramatic moments would have allowed for more discussion of the ideas bandied about in a debate focused on the economy and been a prime opportunity for Paul to make his case against the Federal Reserve and big government. It looked for the first hour or so that's exactly what was taking place. Then came the YouTube moment to end all YouTube moments, a screw-up so memorable that substance couldn't possibly compete. Herman Cain's nickname for Pelosi: "Princess Nancy" Cain blasts "character assassination" against him Charged with inconsistency, Romney points to his marriage Rick Perry fails to remember what agency he'd get rid of in GOP debate Republicans shift from scandal to Europe crisis
|
medium
| 1.794118 |
Analysis: Rick Perry's YouTube moment for the ages turns the Republican presidential race into Mitt Romney's contest to lose Read more by Brian Montopoli on CBS News' Political Hotsheet.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140824131110id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/24/ming-british-museum-empire-strikes-back-50-years-changed-china
|
Last month, in a small party led by British Museum curator Jessica Harrison-Hall, I went in search of Chinese treasure 600 years old. The quest was made in advance of the forthcoming British Museum exhibition, Ming: 50 years that changed China, which is devoted to the beginning of the 1400s, a crucially formative half century in the nation's enduring idea of itself. The tour took in museums and temples and historic sites in Beijing and Shanghai, Nanjing and Jinan; the treasures included dragon-embroidered silks and the finest gold jewellery; nine-masted ships and intricate, princely tomb relics – doll's house artefacts for the afterlife; scrolled calligraphy and – naturally – the peerless porcelain vases and vessels that are the headline acts of the early Ming era. Many of these objects will be leaving China for the first time for the London show, which opens next month. Collectively they represent a unique insight into the establishment of power and government in Beijing and beyond; they also, inevitably, cast light on the power and government of China's extraordinary present moment. Having spent a good part of the past century attempting to erase "decadent" evidence of China's imperial history – some of the irreplaceable exhibits in the Ming show were rescued from the scrapheaps and landfill of the Cultural Revolution – the party leadership in Beijing has lately made the celebration of that history a national priority. In the five-year plan of 2011 the Central Committee announced that culture is the "spirit and soul of the nation", and would become a "pillar industry" – representing 5% of GDP. The plan dictated that China was to build up to a thousand new museums by 2015, a target already achieved. Existing national and regional collections have been rehoused in vast marble halls. Private museums have been created to showcase the trappings of the newly minted elite. Liu Yiqian, for example, a cab driver before he discovered Shanghai's stock market and became a billionaire, bought the world's most expensive wine goblet – a Ming porcelain cup decorated with chickens – with his Amex card for £19.6m at Sotheby's in April and, having scandalised the curatorial community by drinking tea from it, will put it on display in his new £22m Long Museum. The repatriation of such items, as well as the industrial-scale excavation and recovery of Chinese history, represents a resurgence of national pride, but also a kind of national necessity – all the empty new museums need things to fill them. This surreal expansion provides another perspective on the epic scale of China's ongoing reinvention (the five-year plan also legislated, for example, for the creation of 45,000km of new high-speed rail track to link the nation's major cities, much of which is already being constructed – HS2 might eventually provide about 400km). It was by high-speed rail that we travelled south from Beijing to Nanjing, on the Yangzte. The colossal rebuilt Nanjing Museum contains 100,000 items from the former imperial collection. Nanjing was the ancient capital of China, and it was there that the Ming dynasty was established in 1368. In those days the journey between capitals old and new took 20 days. It now takes under four hours. That particular journey was emblematic of the changes of the early Ming (literally "brilliant" or "shining") period. Having overthrown the Mongol dynasty of the Yuan, the new ethnic Chinese emperor sought to live up to his own adopted name Hongwu, meaning "vast military power". To this end he created a society that supported an army of one million troops and established the navy's dockyards in Nanjing as the largest in the world. Those dockyards are in the process of a multimillion-pound excavation, and one huge pot-bellied Ming ship – then the cutting edge of naval technology – has been reconstructed, but little of the original remains. To get a real sense of the power of the Hongwu emperor – who began adult life as a wandering beggar – you have to travel outside the city to his mausoleum. We visited near dusk; a light rain was falling on the newly recreated pavilion roof that houses a monumental stone stele erected and inscribed in his honour. The stele marks the entrance to the 2km Sacred Way, a wide road to the emperor's tomb guarded by pairs of enormous carved animals (including camels, lions, elephants then native to China) to ward off grave-robbers. A hundred thousand men built the mausoleum site and its walls over two decades. Jungly vegetation has encroached around the great tomb itself, a closely guarded secret for centuries, and you can now get a golf buggy along the Sacred Way, but the original sense of granitic and autocratic power remains intact. Hongwu sought to spread that power to the four corners of his vast nation state by establishing the most capable of his 36 sons in regional power bases. He armed them with a set of written dynastic instructions concerning responsibility and filial duty. Some adhered to these tenets better than others. Zhu Tan, Prince Huang of Lu died aged 19 from the overdose of a drug he believed to be an elixir of eternal life. His tomb, excavated in recent decades with exquisite items preserved in the (new) Shandong regional museum and loaned to the London exhibition, gives a flavour of the life he briefly enjoyed – his best imperial primrose silk coat was laid across his body; his favourite zither, already an antique from the Tang dynasty by the time he came to use its jade tuning mechanism, was buried beside him. Neither did Hongwu's edicts survive his death. His chosen teenage heir, his nephew, the Jianwen emperor, was quickly overthrown by another son, Zhu Di, who became the Yongle (or "perpetual happiness") emperor in 1402. One of the seismic changes introduced by Zhu Di was to develop his own fiefdom, Yan, as a secondary capital and to rename it Beijing. Many thousand of artisans and slaves were press-ganged to work on the construction of the palace complex that became the Forbidden City. Zhu Di dispatched fleets of ships on voyages of discovery and trade and created a multicultural imperial court, with artists absorbing influences from wider Asia and the Middle East, to create work of enduring beauty. By the time of the accession of Zhu Di's grandson the Xuande "propagating virtue" emperor in 1426, much of the Forbidden City was complete (it has since been razed and rebuilt). The political heart of the imperial nation was not without its pleasures, as recorded in remarkable scrolls. One of these, six metres long, memorably unfurled for us at the Palace Museum of the Forbidden City, and which will be loaned to the London exhibition, depicts a kind of mini Olympiad. The emperor spectates at a version of football keepy-uppy among the beardless palace eunuchs, while other ink-on-silk panels depict archery competitions and see the emperor participating enthusiastically in a throw-the-arrow-in-the-jar challenge. The final panel shows the larger than life Xuande, with his wispy beard, borne away at the end of the day in a sedan chair, contemplating his idea of fun. The ideal of the early Ming emperors was to be "complete in the arts of both peace and war" – until the sixth emperor failed disastrously in the latter and was captured by the Mongol armies in 1449 to bring a relatively harmonious era abruptly to a halt. Prior to that, in pursuit of "wen", the arts of peace, the emperors were all devotees of porcelain, and the new techniques introduced into the dozen imperial kilns produced ever more delicate pots and ever more brilliant glazes. It is a heart-in-mouth moment to watch curators blithely handling an imperial Ming vase (the trick, Harrison-Hall observed, before expertly manipulating a wonderful large blue-and-white wine jar decorated with ladies of the court at play, is just to hold it as you would any other object of similar heft – and never once give a thought to its priceless price tag). The Yongle emperor, by necessity, and to propagandise his legitimacy, sought to spread his particular cultural revolution in different ways. When he appeared in public, a 2,000-strong choir sang and drums, cornets, cymbals and bells sounded (echoes of which we heard in the free-form harmonies of the 27th generation of imperial palace musicians, five of whom, trained in Ming notation, and playing authentic instruments, will travel to London to accompany the show). In an effort to extend his influence still further, the emperor enlisted a comrade from his original march to power, the eunuch Zheng He, to make seven great voyages to the Middle East and East Africa, and to establish a "maritime silk route". Zheng He, a Muslim, was Marco Polo in reverse, taking the idea of China to the world in a fleet of treasure ships, some reputedly 140 metres long, and spreading the word of the great wealth and power of the Ming empire. It is no surprise that Zheng He, virtually forgotten for centuries, has lately been reclaimed as a pioneering hero of an outward-looking and technologically advanced nation. The kinds of treasures he carried to foreign courts will once again be in transit this week, en route to the British Museum, generous loans from one gilded age of China's history that echo to the present. Ming: 50 years that changed China (supported by BP) runs at the British Museum, London from 18 September to 5 January. Tim Adams travelled to China on a press trip supported by Shangri-La Hotels
|
high
| 1.652174 |
Tim Adams reports on modern China's cultural leap forward and previews a historic show of treasures at the British Museum next month
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140923035428id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jan/15/ceramics-industry-waterford-wedgwood
|
One of Kaoru Parry's ceramic necklaces. Photograph: PR It is a sad irony that Waterford Wedgwood, the pottery company whose profits paid for Charles Darwin's scientific research, has gone into administration because it failed to evolve. When Darwin's grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood, first started his company's wheels a-spinning in 1759, he was innovating and adapting at a speed that left his competitors with soggy clay all over their faces. Inspired by the classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome, Wedgwood also kept a sharp eye on scientific advances and experimented constantly with new ideas, materials and glazes. It took over 3,000 painstakingly catalogued experiments to develop the distinctive blue jasper colour we now associate with the company. Wedgwood was also the first firm in England to cook up the perfect recipe for fine bone china. But when I drove up to Stoke to visit the Wedgwood museum last summer, the place was as dead as a cobwebbed dodo. A few old glories were displayed, like disappointed ancestral portraits, in the alcoves of one airless room. In another, a Japanese couple sat politely through a primary-school level film about the company's history – complete with twee olde English muzak. But it was the gift shop that depressed me most. There among the itsy-bitsy teacups and dinner services for eight, I saw what Wedgwood had become: a Brit-kitsch dinosaur whose china bones could no longer support it in today's economic and aesthetic climate. Two weeks earlier I'd attended the Ceramics in the City show in London, featuring the best new talent in a market that's been expanding over the past 10 years as graduates inspired by the likes of Grayson Perry and Richard Slee had poured out of the Royal College of Art and St Martins. I'd seen revolutionary shapes, colours and ideas. The punters were handing over their credit cards. So why wasn't Wedgwood buying in? "The problem with Wedgwood goes back to the 1960s," says Professor Emmanuel Cooper, editor of Ceramics Review. "The managers wouldn't listen to anything about the future. They didn't think they needed to." Although domestic demand for dinner services fell away, they sold their Merchant Ivory version of English history abroad, all cruet sets and statuettes in crinolines. Then the American market decreased as the pound grew stronger. "And they did something else silly," says young, Japanese-born ceramic artist Kaoru Parry, "when they moved their production to Indonesia. Because Japanese people loved Wedgwood, but they wouldn't buy it unless it was made in England." Parry was just beginning a project using bone china flowers, made by specialist craftswomen at Studio Hinks in Stoke when Wedgwood announced it was going into administration. Since Wedgwood was Studio Hinks's main client, it too went under. "It would be such a waste for us to lose those skills," says Parry. To see how potteries should have coped, take a trip to the Design Museum, which this month celebrates both the 1960s work of Portmeirion's Susan Williams-Ellis in a show entitled Pottery Goes Pop, and the 21st-century innovations of Spanish-born Patricia Urquiola. In 1953 Williams-Ellis, who died in 2007 aged 89, took over the loss-making souvenir shop at Portmeirion (the whimsical Italianate village her father Clough designed in the 1920s – and the backdrop to cult TV series The Prisoner). Like Josiah Wedgwood, she soon began experimenting with new glazes and laboratory moulds and in 1963 launched the psychedelic Totem range. Williams-Ellis also shared Wedgwood's love of history books. Her passion for Victorian natural history engraving led her to create the 1973 Botantic Garden range for which Portmeirion is still celebrated today. This range was groundbreaking because it didn't match. The hip young things of the 1970s could mix and match 28 different plant motifs. Patricia Urquiola's new range for Rosenthal shows how modern designers can work with industry to develop stunning, desirable objects that combine beauty and function. She laces loopy handles and tactile relief patterns onto the otherwise smooth, white components of her Landscape dinnerware. The range of textures build up throughout the set to create what she calls "a sensual compendium". Professor Cooper believes that collaborations between designers and industry can be achieved in the UK. "I do think the future is bright for British pottery. We still have some great companies in Stoke. The best British tile company – Johnson Tiles – is up there. We just have to start small again." Michael Czerwinski, public programmes coordinator at the Design Museum, is organising a debate on the future of British ceramics on 23 January. "We need to talk about the fact that there's been no formal relationship between all these talented, young ceramics graduates and the big potteries. We need to ask why these artists are not being commissioned by the big British companies, who have the resources to help them play with new technology." In other words: it's potty to let a ceramics industry with so much potential die out now. China's future in their hands: five ceramicists to watch Amy Cooper spent much of her childhood playing on the beaches of Cornwall and later became obsessed with "the infinite properties of clay and the myriad techniques that go with it". She now captures the detailed tactility and wonder of those Cornish beach memories in her shell-like porcelain lamps. She lives in Brighton and shares a studio in Hove. Cumbrian ceramicist Michael Eden decided to take an iconic object from the first Industrial Revolution (one of Josiah Wedgwood's classic tureens) and produce it in a way that would be impossible with conventional industrial techniques. The Wedgwoodn't Tureen was designed on Rhino 3D and FreeForm software and sent to a ZCorp 510 rapid prototyping machine that "printed" the piece out of artificial bone. Although its surfaces are food safe, I wouldn't try serving soup in it. Kaoru Parry was born in Japan, raised in the UK and graduated from Central St Martins College of Art and Design last summer. She has already given "bone china" a twist with her Homage range of jewellery, designed to incorporate a loved one's ashes into a wearable relic. Her Floret collection of cups and saucers featuring hand-crafted bone china flowers was a specific response to the declining ceramics industry. Louisa Taylor graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2006 with a master's in ceramics and glass and received a development award from the Crafts Council in 2008. Her crisply playful stacking tableware was "inspired by 18th-century porcelain vessels and the rituals of dining". Each piece is individually wheel-thrown at her Deptford studio. Allison Wiffen spent 15 years in advertising before retraining as a ceramic artist in 2000. She often uses photographic images in black and white, and is inspired by the 1950s fabrics of Lucienne Day with whom she shares a love of taut linear patterns. Her cufflinks celebrate the architectural and engineering triumphs of the Tyne Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral.
|
high
| 0.88 |
Helen Brown: As Waterford Wedgwood falls victim to the economic downturn, the industry needs to look to young talent to revitalise its fortunes
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141015230204id_/http://fortune.com/2014/10/15/wal-mart-trims-outlook-with-holidays-just-around-the-corner/
|
Wal-Mart Stores spent the day telling investors about how it will jumpstart its U.S. comparable store sales, which have been flat for six straight quarters. But after describing its big investments in e-commerce and plans to build more small-format Neighborhood Market grocery stores, Wal-Mart had some of bad news: the company lowered its sales forecast for the rest of the fiscal year. The company now expects global sales to rise by just 2-3% rather than its earlier forecast of 3-5% growth. The trimmed outlook unnerved investors, especially because the all-important holiday season is just around the corner. The retailer blamed a tougher-than-expected sales environment and cuts to a U.S. food stamp program. And Wal-Mart WMT does not expect especially robust growth through 2018. Sales will rise 2.5-3.5% annually through 2018, the company said, while profits will rise more slowly because of increased investment on e-commerce. “We have many customers that do rely on SNAP (food stamp program), so it did affect our sales,” Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said in a conference call. “There’s been a general weakness in the economy.” Last November, the government cut food-stamp benefits for about 47 million Americans. About 18% of all food stamp dollars in the U.S. are spent at Walmart. The company is unlikely to find relief abroad, the source of 40% of overall revenue. Fluctuating exchange rates means that sales abroad are being translated into a smaller amount of U.S. dollars. “Everywhere I travel, I see tough economies and stretched consumers, and that hasn’t changed through the course of the year,” Wal-Mart International Chief Executive David Cheesewright told investors earlier in the day. Wal-Mart’s lowered forecast wasn’t the only thing that might give investors pause after last week’s bullish holiday spending forecast by the National Retail Federation, which predicted that U.S. holiday spending will rise 4.1%. EBay EBAY lowered its sales forecast for the year, signaling a slow holiday season. And in the morning, before yet another bloodbath in the stock markets, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported weak September sales.
|
medium
| 1.269231 |
Wal-Mart lowered its full year sales forecast, citing a tough economy, and projected only slight better growth for the coming years.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141121021913id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/21/alex-pragers-hollywood-glamour-menace-and-heroines-dying-horrible-deaths
|
If you’re a certain person with a certain look having lunch in a cafe in Hollywood, don’t be surprised if an Anita Pallenberg-lookalike with a valley girl accent and a broad smile asks for your phone number. Chances are, it’ll be Alex Prager. The Los Angeles-based artist is often on the lookout for those with a distinctive look to include in her hyper-colour, hyper-stylised photographs and short films. Recently she spotted a young French boy having lunch with his mother. “I knew that if I left the cafe before asking him to be in the film that I would regret it forever because he looked so cool. Now he’s one of my go-to characters.” Prager’s first Australian solo exhibition has just opened at the National Gallery of Victoria. With intricate staging, meticulous attention to detail and inescapable creepiness, her work is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock or David Lynch, her glamorous noir-esque heroines dying horrible deaths by drowning, falling out of windows or suffering excruciating loneliness. The NGV exhibition includes 25 major works, including three newly acquired by the gallery. For Prager, it’s almost a mini-retrospective, spanning her early photographs from 2008 right through to her latest series Face in the Crowd, which was exhibited at Art Basel art fair last year. Seeing it all together, she can appreciate the evolution of her work and some of the themes she’s explored. “For me, as an artist, [it’s about] trying to keep myself challenged and evolving. It’s showing me that I am moving forward so that part is good.” It’s a long way from her first show in an LA hair salon in 2001. The self-taught Prager picked up a camera in her early 20s after seeing an exhibition of the US photographer William Eggleston’s work. She started with street photography but quickly moved to styling her friends in wigs and vintage Hollywood starlet getups and shooting them. Growing up in Hollywood meant artifice and glamour have always been part of Prager’s world and heightened drama often features in her work. “People can be murdered and there can be all kinds of violence and horrible seedy things going underneath all that glamour and people will still watch it and love it.” She uses saturated colour for the same reason. “I thought it added this strange lie on top of the truth that I thought was just a little bit creepier and more interesting to work with. When it’s over the top with saturation and blue skies and bright red lips, over-the-top Kodachrome, I think it plays into our nostalgia and our familiarity … but do we really know what’s going in that picture? It’s always that thing that throws you off balance.” Making short films was a natural progression, Prager says, after she noticed audiences asking for the backstory to the images. Video works including Sunday (2010) and Despair (2010) got plenty of attention and in 2012 she made an Emmy award-winning series of short films with the New York Times entitled Touch of Evil featuring Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Rooney Mara and others. Face In the Crowd is her most ambitious series, including large-scale photographs of staged crowd scenes and an immersive video installation. It was an epic shoot in every way, says Prager, with 350 extras, 150 crew members, four rotating sets and a tight schedule across four days. She directed the sea of extras by giving some specific characters, some photographic references and asking others to improvise. “You really feel like you are not quite sure what world you are in, if it’s real or if it’s fake and I think that’s something we can relate to in the world that we are living in right now.” The video installation stars the actor Elizabeth Banks wading through unrelenting crowds. Although her work often centres on a heroine, Prager says it’s not about women as much as about emotions she’s keen to explore. Using female characters is her way of being honest about a topic, she says, because she’s female. “I don’t know how men feel in the same way that I know how a woman feels. The emotional aspect is so important to me, that it rings true and that it’s honest. On top of it, you can put all the glamour and the stylisation and the facade of everything else, but underneath it, there has to be something real, otherwise I just don’t think I would be able to look at i; I don’t think it would feel right to me.” The artist adds a dose of reality by including family and friends in the shoots. She laughingly dubs her sister, the artist Vanessa Prager, her “Waldo” as she appears in all her work. “All these strangers walking around me, all in costumes, who knows who anyone is? Then I see my sister in there, and I know exactly who she is because we’re so close – it puts that bit of reality into the pictures.” Her next exhibition will be in Hong Kong at Lehmann Maupin in March, then she’ll begin on new work. Surely she’ll follow her Hitchcockian and Lynchian influences and make a feature film soon? “I haven’t even done a film with dialogue yet so I don’t know that that’s the obvious next step,” she says with a laugh. But it might be on the cards: “If you had asked me 10 years ago if I was going to do even a short film, I would have probably said no, so who knows what is going to happen in the future. I’m kind of open for anything at this point.” • Alex Prager runs from 14 November to 19 April at the National Gallery of Victoria
|
high
| 1.423077 |
The Los Angeles artist tells Alexandra Spring about her first solo exhibition in Australia, layering lies over truth and hiding her sister in her work
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150103042700id_/http://fortune.com/2012/11/15/the-romney-legacy-fuzzy-math-doesnt-work-anymore/
|
FORTUNE — Poor Mitt Romney. From the GOP primaries, when members of his own party labeled him a “vulture capitalist,” to the start of the campaign proper, when one of his top aides vouchsafed that he would follow an “Etch A Sketch” strategy, to the infamous “47%” video, in which he labeled half the country moochers — his campaign was a case study in unforced errors and futility. Today, though, I come to praise Romney, not to bury him. In failing in his quest to reach the White House, he unwittingly made an important contribution to the country’s future: He discredited fuzzy math. For decades now, politicians in both parties, but particularly the Republicans, have been promising voters the earth, using arithmetic tricks and outright whoppers to explain why they wouldn’t have to pay for it — why, in fact, they could have their cake and eat it in the form of new tax cuts. As night follows day, higher spending and lower revenues have led to bigger deficits and more debt. MORE: Obama will tax the rich more Romney promised more of the same. During the GOP primaries, under attack from his rivals for being too timid, he hastily put together a new economic plan, the centerpiece of which was a 20% cut in income tax rates: The 35% rate would go to 28%, the 28% rate would go to 22.4%, and so on. At the same time, he pledged not to cut a dime from Medicare or Social Security, and to boost the Pentagon budget by up to $2 trillion over 10 years. Asked how he would finance this largesse, he talked vaguely about reducing or eliminating tax breaks, but didn’t specify which and explicitly ruled out tackling some big revenue losers, such as the low rates on dividends and capital gains. In time-honored fashion, Romney was offering the American voters a free lunch, and why not? It worked for Ronald Reagan, who cut taxes and gave a blank check to the Pentagon; for George W. Bush, who cut taxes, started two costly wars, and introduced a prescription-drug program for retirees; and for Barack Obama, who cut taxes, boosted infrastructure spending, and introduced universal health care. For a while there, Romney’s tax strategy appeared to be working too. But then some nonpartisan authorities, such as the Tax Policy Center, started to question its figures, pointing out that the revenue raised wouldn’t nearly cover the cost of the giveaways. MORE: Missing from Romney’s tax plan – reality For once, the voters listened. The tax plan, far from winning the election for Romney, handicapped him all the way to Nov. 6. With even conservative commentators such as George Will saying it didn’t add up, he was forced to issue a series of clarifications — insisting he would neither balloon the deficit nor introduce backdoor tax hikes on the middle class. In the final weeks, he deemphasized tax cuts, focusing on his plans to boost domestic energy production and help small businesses. It was a tacit admission that his effort to flout the laws of arithmetic had failed. That, surely, is progress — as is President Obama’s insistence that the Bush tax cuts for the very rich be reversed. Going forward, there will doubtless be more presidential candidates who place tax cuts at the center of their platforms. But after seeing what happened to Romney, they will have to do some proper cost projections and specify where the money will be made up — what areas of spending will be cut, which tax breaks will be eliminated, and how much revenue will come from higher growth. Nothing less will be considered credible. The next step on the road to fiscal sanity is to tackle the shibboleth that in no circumstances, even a looming fiscal crisis, should taxes be raised on middle class people, where “middle class” is defined to include families earning upwards of $200,000 a year. So far, neither Obama nor anybody in the Republican leadership has been brave enough to go that far. But let’s be grateful for small mercies. In the election of 2012 a particularly egregious exercise in fuzzy math failed. This story is from the December 3, 2012 issue of Fortune.
|
medium
| 0.857143 |
Like three presidents before him, Mitt Romney told the voters what they wanted to hear about taxes. But this time they weren't buying it.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150319140513id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/03/16/tesla-range-anxiety/
|
Tesla Motors has used its embedded wireless Internet connection to solve a nagging problem for car owners: depreciation. Now it plans to use it to overcome range anxiety, one of the biggest obstacles preventing widespread adoption of electric cars. The Palo Alto-based electric car company TSLA has completed numerous over-the-air software upgrades to the Model S since the tech-centric vehicle was first released in 2012 to fix bugs, enhance safety features, performance and customize the driving experience. In short, the car gets better over time. Until now, these upgrades haven’t made any marked improvements in the battery, which already has the longest range of any electric cars on the road today. On Thursday, Tesla will announce an over-the-air upgrade that will solve range anxiety for good, according to a cryptic tweet from the company’s CEO and largest shareholder Elon Musk. What could this solution be? It could be as simple as better alerts that more accurately tell drivers how much charge they have left and where they can “refuel,” said John Gartner, director at Navigant Research. Or, it could be more meaningful changes. For example, Tesla might have figured out a way to access more of the battery capacity and allow for a greater depth of discharging, Gartner said. The algorithm between the electric motor and battery could have been improved to provide better fuel economy or the battery might be able to charge more quickly, he added. “These are all improvements that are possible by software upgrades,” Gartner said. Last September, Tesla wirelessly upgraded the software in the Model S and added a number of features, including a location-based air suspension that remembers potholes and steep driveways and automatically adjusts to avoid them. Other features added to Model S sedans through a wireless software upgrade, include traffic-based navigation that takes into account data shared by other Tesla vehicles on the road, a calendar that syncs with a driver’s smartphone, remote start, power management, and ability to “name” your car. Watch more business news from Fortune:
|
medium
| 1.32 |
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO and largest stockholder, will unveil an update to its Model S that intends to end range anxiety.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150609190147id_/http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/phoenix-mercury-diana-taurasi-to-sit-out-2015-wnba-season-020315
|
Updated FEB 04, 2015 12:02a ET PHOENIX -- Diana Taurasi, who earned Most Valuable Player in the 2014 WNBA Finals while leading the Phoenix Mercury to a third WNBA championship, will sit out the 2015 WNBA season, the team announced Tuesday. The Mercury released a statement saying her Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, is paying her to take the summer off. Taurasi reportedly earns close to $1.5 million in Russia, while her WNBA salary is believed to be near the league maxium of $107,000. "I don't think she's wearing down, necessarily," Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said of the 32-year-old. "I think this is a financial decision for her, not a rest decision. It was a decision she couldn't pass up." Taurasi has been a fixture for the Mercury for her entire 11-year professional career after being drafted No. 1 out of Connecticut in 2004. "This was a decision I felt was in my best interest, both now and for the future," Tarausi said in a statement released by the Mercury. "I look forward to being back on the court in front of the best fans in the WNBA in 2016." The team also issued a letter from Taurasi addressed to the Mercury's fans. Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello expressed support for Taurasi: "We understand Diana's choice not to play this season, a decision that undoubtedly will extend her career and will benefit the Mercury in the future. Obviously it is hard to replace someone of her caliber, but we are confident in our other key personnel on our roster continuing their development and rising to the challenge. Jim Pitman and I are actively pursuing quality free agents that will complement our players and greatly assist us in our quest to defend our title in 2015." The team expects to make additions to the roster in the next few days, Pitman said. By technicality, Taurasi will be considered suspended and her salary won't be on the books, and that's important as the team attempts to fill in the gaps with free agents. It's unclear as of Tuesday whether she will be able to participate with the team while she sits out, Pitman said. Taurasi is the second-leading scorer in WNBA history with 6,722 points -- 766 behind Tina Thompson -- an 11-time All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist. She averaged 16.2 points, 5.6 assists and 3.8 rebounds for the Mercury in 2014. "Her career is finite," Pitman said. "She's got to do what she feels is right for her and her family as she moves forward. It's a lucrative contract over there. I certainly don't begrudge her for that."
|
medium
| 1.304348 |
Longtime star for WNBA champions will be paid to sit out by Russian team but plans to return to Phoenix in 2016.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150812210307id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/28/the-big-investment-opportunityin-autism.html
|
(Read more: Pharma offering new hope for hepatitis C patients) Private equity and venture capital firms TPG Biotech, Shore Capital Partners, Bay City Capital, Great Point Partners and Google Ventures, plus hedge fund Scopia Capital Management are among the investors slated to attend the 2014 Autism Investment Conference next week in San Francisco. The event is organized by Autism Speaks in partnership with Google, which is offering a separate workshop for entrepreneurs doing autism-related work. "While autism has always been part of our population, as our economy has shifted from agrarian work, where everyone could contribute, to urban, social workplaces, this group has moved backward due their social disability. As an investor, I see the opportunity to capitalize on the talents and availability of this group of workers," said Brian Jacobs, co-founder of venture capital firm Emergence Capital Partners. One area where autistic individuals excel, Jacobs says, is software testing. He expects to back start-ups in the sector as an angel investor. Jacobs' initial interest comes from his son, who has Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism that allows relatively high function. "I am attending the conference in hopes of learning about additional entrepreneurial endeavors in this area," Jacobs said. (Read more: Hospital cuts out the middleman and sees success) Business opportunities range from drug development to educational iPad applications to employment and residential services. Finding products and services to benefit those with autism fits into a rapidly expanding segment of the health-care industry: human behavior. "We've seen a very steady and dramatic increase in deal activity in all things behavioral health care," said Dexter Braff of The Braff Group, a boutique investment bank focused on health care that will be sending a representative to the conference. Braff said that investors are especially interested in niches within the human behavior sector like autism because there's less competition. "You've got an investment community looking at a fragmented area—areas that are very niche oriented that they can create a competitive advantage in," Braff said. "There are a lot of good access points and good investment dynamics." (Read more: Private equity salivates at bullish 'middle market') Most of the investment firms attending the conference declined to comment or did not respond to requests. Google also did not respond to a request, but the company is part of the high-tech industry where certain types of autistic adults can thrive as engineers or programmers. Autism Speaks is quick to point out investors are increasingly attracted to the opportunity for profit—not philanthropy—despite the double benefit. "We see a real possibility to align the creation of value for investors with the creation of value for families in the autism space," said Robert Ring, chief science officer of Autism Speaks and former head of autism research at Pfizer. "There's a real opportunity landscape out there. It's just for us a matter of opening the eyes of the investment community to see that."
|
medium
| 1.272727 |
Autism Speaks and Google have teamed in an attempt to link private investors to inject innovative autism-related business development.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150816130119id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/07/us-created-175000-jobs-in-feb-vs-149000-est-unemployment-rate-at-67-vs-66-est.html
|
The poor employment situation has posed a quandary for the Federal Reserve, which is unwinding its monthly asset purchase program known as quantitative easing but holding to its zero interest rate policy for short-term rates. Though the central bank has set a 6.5 percent target for the jobless number before it will consider raising rates, it likely will have to reconsider and could so as soon as its March meeting. (Read more: 5 clues to the health of US job market) Previous declines in the rate had been a mix of middling job creation and labor force participation that has languished around 35-year lows. At the same time, long-term unemployment remains a major structural impediment, making the Fed's final decision on interest rates likely more reliant on an arbitrary qualitative impression of economic health. Indeed, the number of people without jobs for 27 weeks or longer grew 203,000 to 3.8 million—a group that now represents fully 37 percent of the unemployed. (Read more: Jobless rate to dip below 6% in 2014: Fed's Bullard) Weather had been blamed for weakness in December and January, though there was considerable debate over the validity of that argument. However, the number not working due to weather rose to 601,000 for the month, the highest rate since 2010. "If the economy managed to generate 175,000 new jobs in a month when the weather was so severe, once the weather returns to seasonal norms payrolls employment growth is likely to accelerate further," Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said in a note. Dales said the February job growth "pretty much guarantees" the Fed will continue to reduce QE, which is at $65 billion a month after consecutive reductions of $10 billion at the past two meetings. Biggest job gains in February came from professional and business services, which added 79,000 positions. Temporary help grew by 24,000. Health care was flat for the third consecutive month as the government continues its implementation of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Wholesale trade gained 15,000 jobs, bars and restaurants contributed 21,000 and construction added 15,000. Retail lost 4,000 jobs for the month while government employment was little changed. However, electronics and appliances lost 12,000, "the first sign of the impact of mass retail store closures across the country," said Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors. Wage pressure, absent through most of the post-recession jobs picture, showed up in February, with an increase of 9 cents an hour to $24.31. The average work week, though, edged lower to 34.2 hours. —By CNBC's Jeff Cox. Follow him on Twitter @JeffCoxCNBCcom.
|
medium
| 0.846154 |
Job creation accelerated in February, posting a better-than-expected gain of 175,000 despite expectations that weather would keep the count low.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150816200500id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/16/market-to-european-central-bank-size-of-qe-matters.html
|
The markets are expecting a very impressive QE, a la United States, a la Japan. Some investors may be playing both sides, and by that I mean playing for a big move. If they do come down with a big package, global markets will rally strongly, if they don't do much of anything, you could see markets fall apart," Nolte said. "There's a huge amount of anticipation, and a lot of volatility around this ECB decision on Thursday. It'll be a combination of what they say they're going to do, and their intentions after that," Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said. "I think the ECB will act next week, and make some type of announcement. But the market is likely to be disappointed by the magnitude that the ECB initially says they're going to do, as the market would like to see a trillion. Let's say they come out with 500 billion, and some sort of statement of more. Switzerland's central bank upended markets Thursday by removing its cap on the Swiss franc versus the euro, with the action viewed as a preemptive one to shield its currency from pressure should the ECB make a move. "I suspect (ECB President Mario) Draghi gave a wink to the Swiss National Bank and allowed them to get in front of that, the question mark at this juncture is the order of magnitude. The market is vulnerable to an underwhelming response. The key, basically, is trying to restore the balance sheet to 2012 levels, so we'd have to at least have to see 1.3 billion euros," Luschini said.
|
medium
| 0.736842 |
Earnings and economic data all take a back seat to the European Central Bank in the week ahead.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150929090410id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/18/gartman-greece-would-be-better-off-defaulting.html
|
Dennis Gartman said Thursday that Greece would be better off defaulting and exiting the euro zone. "If I were the Greek prime minister I would have defaulted long ago and left because at least I then know I can get my currency back, I can devalue it, my textile industry becomes competitive, my tourism industry becomes competitive again, my shipping industry becomes competitive," the publisher of the Gartman Letter said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Negotiations between Greece and its European creditors have broken down, and the Mediterranean country faces billions of euros in debt payments at the end of the month. "If I were [Prime Minister Alexis] Tsipras I would have told them to take it and shove it and walked off long ago," Gartman said. (Tweet This) Read More Why it's so hard to predict the impact of a Greek default Given Greece's small population and the size of its economy, a Grexit would be "relatively inconsequential," Gartman said. He acknowledged the event would cause "great concern" over the fate of the euro, but said investors would soon come around to the idea that a euro without Greece is more valuable than a euro with it. Not everyone is so sanguine. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development earlier this month said a Greek exit could derail the entire euro zone recovery. Others worry that Greece's departure could set a precedent for other European countries struggling under the burden of heavy debt loads and austerity measures. The only reason Greece has remained a part of the currency union this long is because Germany won't let it out, Gartman said. "Germany needs to keep Greece in the euro to keep the euro otherwise cheaper than it would be because Germany is an exporting country," he said. A Grexit would also be detrimental to France and Poland, he added. A weak currency makes a country's goods more affordable to foreign customers. Confusion is swirling over German sentiment on a Grexit because the public wants it, but the country's leadership and "cognoscenti" need Greece to remain in the union to support Germany's economic expansion, Gartman said. "Bayer needs Greece in. Thyssenkrupp needs Greece in. Daimler needs Greece in," he said. "And that's the problem. That's the confusion that people are talking about."
|
medium
| 1.333333 |
A euro zone exit would allow Greece to return to the drachma, devalue the currency, and become more competitive, Dennis Gartman tells CNBC.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160809023059id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2002/11/15/travel/journeys-on-baja-s-sea-seeking-adventure-with-a-fly-rod.html?pagewanted=2
|
What makes this fecundity all the more striking is its placement directly alongside so much seeming lifelessness. The sea itself lies in a deep cleft produced by the southern extension of the San Andreas Fault millions of years ago. It stretches for about 700 miles north to south, and is bordered on both sides by the hot Sonoran desert. Hike inland a couple of miles and you can find a Baja wilderness of dryness, muted color and eerie silence. But along the shore mudflats and shallows in the north support a wealth of animal and marine species. Steep undersea canyons farther south (some of them reaching depths of more than two miles) produce rich swellings of nutrients that anchor a food chain rivaling the tropical rain forests in diversity. Almost 900 species of fish live in the Sea of Cortez, along with some 30 species of marine mammals. There's plenty to catch from the beach in Baja -- inshore species like roosterfish and sierra will fight harder than any trout you've hooked in Montana. But the deep-water game fish are what dreams are made of. Finding them requires motoring out past a shelf where the water changes from pale green to deep blue and then trolling lines patiently (oh, so patiently) until the fish turn up. The first bolt of lightning comes when a dorado or tuna charges across the water to hit one of the flies. Once it does, the lucky fisherman fights the fish while the other one reels in and starts throwing handfuls of live sardines into the water. If the caught fish is part of a school, the sardines will lure others to the boat. Then you cast -- sometimes for an hour -- to a swirl of fish riled into a feeding frenzy. Often, though, the fish will surprise you. On our second day of fishing, we were trolling with fly rods rigged for dorado when a huge striped marlin surfaced suddenly at the back of our boat. The captain, Rosario Cota Rochan, known as Chayo, let out a yell and all at once the mate was rigging a conventional rod with a mackerel and feeding it out toward the marlin. He motioned for me to grab the rod and for the briefest of moments I thought about refusing in favor of continuing to troll with my fly line. When I came to my senses the marlin was already hooked and I spent the next 45 minutes fighting it for all I was worth. Let me just say that fly or no fly, it was wonderful. Every last minute of it. When the fish jumped we saw that it was huge -- 200 pounds or more -- and when it dove toward the bottom it was all I could do to stay on the boat. ''The Old Man and the Sea'' and other fishing clichés swam through my head as my back began to ache and my hands threatened to slip from the rod. It was just me and the fish, mano a pescado -- if you don't count the six-ton cruiser that Chayo was deftly maneuvering back and forth to help me win the battle. When the fish finally approached the boat wearily, Chayo asked if we wanted to keep it. We said no and he seemed happy to let it swim away after it had regained its strength. This is something relatively new in the Sea of Cortez. Not so long ago, marlin were routinely butchered, if only to supply the fisherman with a dockside photo to take home. This still happens all too often today, but efforts to encourage catch-and-release fishing for billfish are making big strides. And this is crucial. For all of its seeming abundance, the Sea of Cortez is indisputably under siege from gill-netters, long-liners and poachers. Fish stocks are nothing compared to what they once were. But there seems to be a growing realization in Mexico that protecting the environment is as crucial as development to Baja's future. The most promising project is a proposal by a coalition of Mexican government and nongovernment entities -- in conjunction with Scripps and other organizations -- to set up a system of marine reserves in the Sea of Cortez aimed at protecting important spawning grounds and underwater habitats. Getting the reserves established will not be easy politically, and protecting them from poachers would be harder still. But the effort remains a big step forward. ''The Mexicans involved in this process are nothing short of heroes,'' said Paul Dayton, a professor of oceanography at Scripps. Take a boat out fishing when the sun is rising over the Sea of Cortez and you'll know exactly what he means. Snorkel Above a Reef, Take a Desert Hike Of the unspoken satisfactions of calling yourself a salt-water fly fisherman is that you can lord it over all those other guys who catch fish using conventional tackle and bait. Never mind that bait fishermen tend to hook more and bigger fish. The important thing is that you've chosen the road less traveled by opting to stalk your prey with a whippy little rod and an impossibly thin leader. This experience, though, doesn't come cheap. Gary Graham (www.bajafly.com), a guide and outfitter, charges as much as $550 a day. If you don't need the expertise of a fly-fishing guide, renting a boat from your hotel can be less expensive. The Web site for the Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort has details (www.hotelbuenavista.com). Meanwhile, there are plenty of other things to keep adventurous souls occupied in southern Baja. Here's a sampling. Desert wilderness is never far away in Baja and the only way to enjoy it is to head out into it. You can hike into the hills right out of Los Barriles or Buena Vista. Maps are available at most of the area's hotels.. The Cabo Pulmo marine reserve south of Buena Vista offers some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving in Baja. You can swim with sea lions and turtles. Tropical fish are abundant. All-day tours from the Hotel Buena Vista cost about $70 for snorkeling and $121 for scuba diving and include all equipment. A few miles north, Punta Pescadero also offers great snorkeling, but the half-hour cliff-side drive to the town will make your hair stand on end. The secluded bays and beaches of southern Baja are perfect for sea kayaking. Daily rentals are available through the hotels in Los Barriles and Buena Vista. But for a real adventure, try a guided multi-day trip out of La Paz, an hour's drive north. Baja Expeditions (800-843-6967; www.bajaex.com) is a good bet, with half-day trips from $35 to $60, full-day trips from $65 to $75. Steady winds and relatively smooth, warm water make Los Barriles a prime sailboarding destination. Vela Windsurf Resorts (www.velawindsurf.com; 800-223-5443) organizes hotel and lesson packages at the Hotel Playa del Sol. A seven-day package at the hotel -- including all meals -- is $838 a person based on double occupancy. A two-hour beginner's lesson is $55. Photos: CHALLENGE -- Flies like the ones above are increasingly being used in the Sea of Cortez instead of the more usual deep-sea tackle. Right, Jesús Cota, a Baja fishing guide, displays a needlefish that a client brought in with a fly rod. (Photographs by Gerard Burkhart for The New York Times)(pg. F4); EARLY START -- A sport-fishing boat, below, is already out as the sun rises over the Sea of Cortez, off the Baja Pensinsula. From left, a shop in Los Barriles, the scene along the road between Cabo San Lucas and Buena Vista, and the Cabo bar owned by the rock singer Sammy Hagar. (Photographs by Gerard Burkhart for The New York Times)(pg. F1) Map of Baja highlighting Sea of Cortez. (pg. F4)
|
low
| 0.961268 |
AT 6:30 in the morning on a fishing boat in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico, all is wonder and sweet anticipation. To the west, stars still hang over the dark spine of Baja California desert. Pale blue dawn creeps its way up the sky to the east. Yesterday's wind has died to a whisper, leaving the offshore swells to roll by unruffled and rhythmic. And as your barefoot captain points the bow toward the deep underwater canyons where big fish are chasing small ones, the morning breaks into the magnificent spectacle of a sunset in reverse -- a hot red ball melting upward from a glass-flat sheet of shimmering gold. All of that is fine, but right now, there are more pressing matters. There are knots to tie and flies to choose; lines to keep straight and reels to check. This, after all, is a fly-fishing expedition and you're stalking big game in these waters. Dorado -- powerful, iridescent fish better known in the United States as dolphin fish or mahi-mahi -- are said to flash toward a fly in changing shades of yellow, glowing purple and aquamarine. Yellowfin tuna thrash the water chasing bait as they swim alongside vast schools of leaping, acrobatic porpoises. Marlin, sailfish, wahoo and roosterfish have all been known to charge a hook covered in feathers. To anyone used to catching a 12-inch trout on a good day, latching onto something so exotic seems about as wild as stalking lions in Africa.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160813100347id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3534073/Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-parade-Rick-Astley-performs-his-own-Rickroll.html
|
The Yorkshire singer's most unlikely performance came more than an hour into the annual American institution, which has a television audience of millions. Dressed in a black winter coat and gloves, Astley ran to the front of the Cartoon Network float to sing – or at least lip-synch – his most famous track next to a chorus of cheering children and a huge horned soft toy. His performance marks the pinnacle of Rickrolling, the internet meme which involves tricking people into watching clips of Never Gonna Give You Up by leading them to believe they are clicking on something more enticing. The stunt has single-handedly revived the pop singer's career – the video of his 1987 classic has been viewed more than 20 million times on YouTube – but Astley has until now been reluctant to exploit his unexpected popularity with a new generation. He declined to collect his Best Act Ever gong at the MTV Europe Music Awards in person earlier this month, which he received after a groundswell of votes from his army of internet fans. The Thanksgiving parade was the first time Astley has performed his own Rickroll, and may have been the most widely-seen Rickroll ever, thanks to the NBC cameras which filmed the event. Within minutes word had spread across the internet through websites such as Twitter, and fans were quick to toast the singer's good humour and Cartoon Network's success in arranging the stunt. "The fact that Rick Astley himself actually showed up makes this pretty much the most awesome thing ever," wrote one user of the Digg social bookmarking site. "World: 0, Internet: 1," commented another.
|
low
| 1.344828 |
The ultimate Rickroll, or the death knell of a internet fad that has long ceased to amuse? Rick Astley was the surprise star of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, emerging from the back of a float to sing his 1980s hit Never Gonna Give You Up.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160814013933id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8794277/British-man-mauled-by-shark.html
|
"It repeatedly bit at both of his legs and caused serious wounds on both the right and left side. "The man managed to make it back towards the shore and was stabilised on the beach. "He was then airlifted to hospital where his right leg was amputated above the knee and his left foot was partially amputated. "He remains in a critical condition." Local media today reported that a shark had been sighted several times before today's attack at Clovelly Beach near the popular holiday resort of Fish Hoek, around 20 miles south of Cape Town. A video uploaded on YouTube taken moments after the attack shows a shark lurking in the water. In it a huge shark can be clearly seen swimming within a few feet of the shoreline as frightened members of the public gather on the beach. A statement released by the organisation also claimed the swimmer had ignored explicit orders not to enter the water. The statement said: "On arrival on-scene a 42 year old man was found on the shore suffering complete amputation of his right leg, above the knee, and partial amputation of his left leg, below the knee. "It appears he was rescued from the water by a bystander who left the scene before we could identify him. "The 42 year old man is believed to be a British citizen but resident locally in South Africa, but this has not yet been confirmed. "The man was stabilised on-scene by paramedics and airlifted to Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic hospital by helicopter in a critical condition but he is now believed to have been stabilised. "The man was conscious when paramedics attended to him on the beach but was sedated on-scene by paramedics in their efforts to stabilise the patient." It added: "From what we understand the City of Cape Town shark spotters had flown the "sharks present – no swimming" flags since early this morning and bathers to Fish Hoek and the individual had personally been warned, by the shark spotters, not to swim due to the presence of at least three White Sharks visible in the water close inshore since this morning."
|
medium
| 1.791667 |
A British expat is believed to have been attacked by a shark while swimming off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161027130525id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/25/11/35/voters-in-dark-on-senate-changes-aec
|
Only one in five voters were aware the Senate voting system had changed ahead of the 2016 federal election being called. The Australian Electoral Commission research was revealed in its annual report tabled in parliament this week. Changes to the Senate voting system passed parliament in March, compelling voters to cast up to six preferences "above the line" or at least 12 "below the line", and abolishing group voting tickets. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull then called a double-dissolution election on May 8. The AEC report said that while there was a high awareness of the July 2 election, there was a much lower awareness of the range of voting options and "limited understanding about how to vote correctly". Having identified the problem, the AEC then spent $50 million on a campaign under the theme "Your vote will help shape Australia". By the end of the education campaign, understanding of the new "above the line" system had risen to 90 per cent and "below the line" voting to 76 per cent. AEC commissioner Tom Rogers said in the report there had been a "significant workload" to implement the changes "in a very tight timeframe". During the debate on the legislation in March, Labor argued the rush in making the changes would hugely increase the informal vote. The informal vote in the 2016 Senate election was 3.94 per cent nationally - the highest since 1987. Shadow special minister of state Don Farrell said the report proved the folly and cost of the government and Greens rushing the legislation through parliament. "The coalition and the Greens placed a $50 million taxpayer funded gamble on these changes, and both lost out," Senator Farrell told AAP. "After a $50 million advertising campaign to sell these changes, there was still an increase in informal Senate votes." He said it was a "rushed, desperate and misguided attempt to grab power from the minor parties".
|
medium
| 1.619048 |
Taxpayers forked out $50 million after the Turnbull government decided to change the Senate voting system before the election.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161104150244id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/11/04/03/34/hughes-findings-to-be-handed-down
|
After grieving under the belief his death was the unnecessary result of his cricketing mates' unfair play, the family of Phillip Hughes say they accept a coroner's finding it was a "tragic accident". The 25-year-old batsmen's parents Greg and Virginia, his brother Jason and sister Megan "are deeply hoping that no other family has to go through the pain of losing a loved one on an Australian sporting field", said a statement issued on their behalf on Friday evening. "As the coroner has noted, Phillip's death has led to changes that will make cricket safer." It added that they "hoped that this would be part of Phillip's legacy to the game that he loved so dearly". In handing down his determination, NSW Coroner Michael Barnes on Friday said the family's heartbreak had been "exacerbated by their belief that unfair play had contributed to his death". But he ultimately found no one to blame and hoped they could believe the "compelling evidence" that the rules were followed. Hughes' family outside court during the inquest. "Nothing can undo the source of their never-ending sorrow," he told Glebe Coroner's Court. "But hopefully in the future, the knowledge that Phillip was loved and admired by so many and that his death has led to changes that will make cricket safer will be of some comfort." Hughes died two days after he was fatally struck in the neck by a Sean Abbott delivery during a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG on November 25, 2014. Mr Barnes recommended changes to medical briefings procedures at games and a review of laws on short pitched bowling, while he found sledging to be an "ugly" part of the game. The inquest heard the Hughes family were concerned NSW player Doug Bollinger said something like "I'm going to kill you" to Hughes or his South Australian batting partner Tom Cooper before the fatal delivery. Mr Barnes said Hughes' composure was not affected even if the threat was made and that sledging could not be implicated in the death. But he questioned whether the sledging was worthy of the game, calling it an "ugly underside" to a "beautiful game" and saying evidence from players that no insults were thrown on the day was hard to believe. Hughes, who faced 20 of the day's 23 short balls, was an experienced batsman and no failure to enforce rules by the umpires contributed to the fatal accident, Mr Barnes found. "A minuscule misjudgment or a slight error of execution caused him to miss the ball which crashed into his neck," he said. The inquest heard nothing could have been done to save Hughes once he was struck but that there were problems with the emergency response to the incident. Mr Barnes recommended Cricket NSW and the SCG Trust further tighten medical briefings procedures and train umpires to ensure assistance can be summoned to the field. He also recommended Cricket Australia review "ambiguous" laws around dangerous and unfair bowling and urged the governing body to continue trying to improve protective headwear. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said the recommendations would be implemented as soon as possible but that neck guards wouldn't be mandated until there's evidence they're beneficial. Sutherland said his thoughts were with Hughes family. "They more than anyone have had to live with the sad reality that Phillip is longer with them," he said. "None of us can in any way underestimate the challenges they've got in dealing with the reality that Phillip's no longer with us." The Hughes family said they noted the coroner's recommendations and Cricket Australia's commitment to implement them.
|
medium
| 0.84 |
A coroner heading an inquest into the death of batsman Phillip Hughes will release his much anticipated findings after last month's emotionally charged hearings
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161219013124id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/12/19/05/43/police-ask-for-public-s-help-in-ploy-death
|
Ten years after Sydney woman Katrina Ploy disappeared and washed up dead at a Sydney beach, police have made one more appeal for information. The 25-year-old disappeared on December 17, 2006, after leaving her parents' Seven Hills home following a Hawkesbury race meeting that she attended with her mother and sister, Tanja. Her clothes, handbag and car were found at notorious suicide spot The Gap at Watsons Bay early on December 18 but her body was not recovered until Christmas Day at a nearby Sydney Harbour beach. A post-mortem revealed Ms Ploy's injuries did not result from a fall and her death was treated as a suspected murder. Police revealed on Monday Ms Ploy may have visited a tattoo parlour on the Great Western Highway in Wentworthville in the early evening before she went missing. Homicide Squad head Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said Ms Ploy had visited the area no less than four times in the months before her death, twice in a taxi and at least once in her own car. "She had some reason to be over there ... The mystery remains as to why she was in the area and who she may have been visiting," he told reporters in Sydney. Police are now offering a $100,000 reward in the hope new information may come to light. "Somebody out there knows something and we're hoping that this reward causes that person or people to come forward," Supt Willing said. A coronial inquest in 2010 could not determine how she died and handed the investigation back to police. Ms Ploy's sister Tanja said it still feels as though the tragic events only just happened. "It's been 10 years and it's almost like it was yesterday," she told reporters. "The ongoing effect of what happened as far as my family's concerned is just devastating." She said her sister gave her family no reason to suspect anything was wrong, as she was looking forward to Christmas and behaving normally for the most part the day she disappeared. "There was nothing strange about her. The only one thing that was odd was she didn't come (to the races) dressed up, which is very abnormal for her. She was a bit of a princess and that was something odd." Ms Ploy's former boyfriend Grant Millgate is understood to have told police that shortly after her disappearance he was told that she had wanted to die but couldn't kill herself so had approached a hitman to arrange her own death. Police would not confirm whether that story has been corroborated but Tanja said this was completely out of character. "This just came as an absolute shock, I've just got no answers to any of these questions. She's a completely different person than what all these circumstances make her out to be," Tanja said. Tanja also said her sister and her boyfriend seemed "very happy" before her death.
|
medium
| 1.083333 |
Police are appealing to the public for help in solving the ten-year-old cold case of a murdered Sydney woman.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20100706015645id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/active/bupa-team-telegraph/7864344/Bupa-Great-North-Run-2010-preparing-for-a-half-marathon-with-Bupa-Team-Telegraph.html
|
Any initial hopes I had of forgoing 12 weeks of running around the park for one and a bit days of sheer agony taking part in the Bupa Great North Run have been knocked on the head by everyone I have spoken to who has run one of these things. My "it'll be all right on the day" attitude is misguided. Some form of training is necessary. Preparation for that training starts with a visit to a physiotherapist at the Bupa Centre in the Barbican, London, for some expert advice. There I receive what only can be described as a very thorough examination. My physiotherapist, David Toy, has me doing stretches of muscles I never knew I had in positions I never thought were possible. A few things are spotted – a tight hamstring on the left leg, a stiff thigh muscle on the right and surprisingly poor rotation of the hips for a young man. Notes are scribbled furiously in my "report card" and I am given suitable stretches to do at home which will relax the muscles in no time, Toy assures me. Afterwards it is time to assess my walking and running style using a process called video gait analysis. So I walk barefoot at a normal walking pace on a treadmill while one camera films my feet from behind and another records the front. I then jog with my socks and shoes on at a leisurely pace. Again my style is filmed using both cameras before I run at the fastest speed on the treadmill. The purpose is to see at which angle and shape my feet leave and hit the ground when I am running. It's the best way of finding out which trainers will be suitable for me – probably the most important investment for a run of any length. Toy explains: "Video gait analysis allows us to see a more complete picture of the interaction of the levers that comprise the foot and lower limb and determine issues of potential failure. "We can see running in slow motion and review your running style to determine if any errors have crept into your gait which might lead to potential tissue breakdown and failure. "Such analysis can determine your predisposition to such things as knee pain, calf pain and tendonitis, gluteal muscle tightness and many more issues of the foot and lower limb." Toy's diagnosis of my style isn't disastrous, all things considered. It is fascinating to watch my awkward running style in slow motion as I pick up movements I never realised I made. My left foot behaves itself but my right foot points outwards slightly. The camera filming from behind shows my left heel with no toes visible on that side. But on the right foot a couple of toes could be seen. Having the foot pointing outwards places more pressure on the tendon at the top of the foot, causing it to collapse inwards slightly, Toy explains. It is the reason I suffer more painful shin splints in my right leg than in my left. There's little I can do about it, though. Only serious athletes work at trying to change their running style. What I need in the time I have is a pair of comfortable trainers which will limit the problems. "It's important to have trainers which match and complement the architecture of your foot," says Toy. "There is a massive increase in load through the foot during running. The correct trainers will ensure that any altered foot biomechanics do not undermine tissue tolerance leading to common failure issues." In other words, choose the wrong shoes and I could end up with blisters, calluses, tendonitis, joint inflammation or muscle overuse. So, at Runners Need, a chain of specialist running shops, I am fitted for the trainers that will, I hope, see me through 13.1 miles in under two hours. While there I kit myself out in some serious running gear – I may as well look the part. I buy a T-shirt featuring something called "USP fabric technology" which the sales assistant says will keep me dry during the run. A pair of Wrightsock double layer running ankle socks which should make my feet feel "snug" in my fancy new trainers are also purchased. I decline an offer to buy Lycra shorts. Later I pick up a copy of a book entitled Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. It features a 57-year-old Mexican tribesman who won a 100-mile race wearing only a toga and flip flops, and presumably without any video gait analysis. I'm keen to know how. Nothing wrong relaxing with a bit of reading before the real training begins.
|
high
| 1.5 |
Bupa Team Telegraph member Peter Hutchison finds there's more to preparing for the Bupa Great North Run than meets the eye.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140814112032id_/http://fortune.com/2013/07/08/the-party-could-be-over-for-stocks/
|
When he wants, Ben Bernanke can be a real party pooper. At his quarterly press conference on June 19, the Federal Reserve chairman signaled a potentially jarring shift in the highly stimulative monetary policy that the Fed began during the financial crisis and that has helped drive stocks to new highs of late. For Wall Street, his words were a major buzzkill. Bernanke announced that the Fed might start winding down its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases later this year and end the program entirely by mid-2014, provided that the economy keeps improving, as he expects. Over the next few days stocks, bonds, and commodities all plummeted in a synchronized swoon on fears that the now four-year-old bull market would stall without constant fuel from the Fed. Today many investors are asking the inevitable question: Is this the beginning of a major selloff or just a blip that creates a buying opportunity? Indeed, the week after Bernanke’s comments, stocks rallied. Now that the market has absorbed the bad news with minimal damage, is it time to go all-in on equities? Unfortunately the numbers say — definitively — no. This is not a temporary reversal, but the start of a tectonic shift that will be a major negative for stocks. Over the past half-decade the Fed has deployed extraordinary measures that have driven interest rates down near the rate of inflation. That has made investors crave equities, because the yields on bonds that compete for their money stayed so unenticingly low. The Fed’s policies inflated stock prices, but below the surface, the math never worked. The fundamentals for equities — their dividend yields and earnings potential — never justified those lofty valuations. Now financial gravity is taking hold. Just as the Fed’s stimulus spurred markets, the return to normal will punish them. Since Bernanke toughened his talk in mid-June, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes has vaulted from 1.63% in early May to over 2.5%, dropping prices by almost 7%. That’s making bonds look a whole lot more attractive compared with equities, a trend that’s bound to continue. But so far, the equity markets barely reflect the perils ahead. In the five trading days after Bernanke’s speech, the S&P declined by less than 5% before rallying. The financial math shows that stocks still aren’t cheap enough to promise more than piddling, single-digit returns. Even that scenario is optimistic. If investors become more sensitive to risk — and they might, given that today’s churning markets appear highly vulnerable to unforeseen shocks — then prices will suffer far steeper declines. Stocks have been on a tear since bottoming out in March 2009, gaining 150% through early June. Two factors account for the surge. The first is the spectacular rise in corporate profits. From the end of 2004 to early 2012, S&P 500 earnings per share jumped 50%, to around $89, a record high. But the sluggish economic recovery provided only tepid support for the profit bonanza over the past couple of years. The primary force was the ability of U.S. companies to book modestly higher revenues while substantially paring their costs, swelling margins. And lower labor costs were key to that formula. In 2012 the Fortune 500 earned a near-record $820 billion, 60% more than in 2004, with just 10% more employees. The second, and primary, factor is the regime of low or zero “real” interest rates. Put simply, the Fed has been juicing the stock market. “Monetary policy has dominated the equity markets more than earnings growth,” says Antti Ilmanen, a managing director at AQR Capital, which manages $80 billion in assets. “The low discount rate boosts all asset prices and is the main reason stocks have performed so well.” The historic rise in earnings and unprecedented lift from rates are highly unusual events that not only aren’t repeatable but are bound to reverse. The major threat is the Fed’s change in policy. Rising interest rates are a downer for stocks. That doesn’t necessarily mean stock prices can’t keep growing. But it’s possible only if earnings counteract the headwind of rising rates by growing at an extremely rapid pace. Here’s why that won’t happen: Today profits already stand at near bubble levels. For 2012 the Fortune 500 generated a return on sales of 6.8%, far above the historical average of 5.6%. “When you’re at peak earnings, you’d expect profits to go back to normal, not grow fast from these levels,” says Ilmanen. Indeed, since peaking in early 2012, S&P earnings have remained flat. Even worse, stocks today feature high prices on top of those earnings — making them more vulnerable to declines. The price/earnings multiple, based on the last 12 months of S&P 500 profits, stands at 18.4. That’s by no means cheap. But it substantially understates how pricey stocks really are. The best measure of whether equities are cheap or dear is the cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio, or CAPE, developed by Yale economist Robert Shiller. When profits are at a cyclical peak, P/Es can look artificially low. That’s just the case today. Shiller adjusts for that problem by using a 10-year average of inflation-adjusted earnings; the averaging smoothes out the spikes and valleys and better reflects a sustainable level of profits. Even after the recent correction, the Shiller P/E stands at 23.6. Since 1924 the CAPE has been that high less than 20% of the time. The problem is that the higher the CAPE when you buy in, the lower your future returns. Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR, extensively studied the returns investors have garnered over 10-year periods when they bought in at different CAPEs. With a CAPE at today’s level of around 23 as a starting point, Asness has found, investors have averaged just 0.9% a year, adjusted for inflation, over the following decade — a return that would generally lag far behind government bonds. That sobering number provides a valuable warning. But keep in mind that it’s an average, and folks fared better over many 10-year periods. So let’s consider the most favorable outlook first. If the P/E (today’s 18.4 number) remains constant — a big if, to be sure — the total return is the sum of the dividend yield and earnings growth. The current dividend yield is 2%. Over long periods earnings per share rise around 1.5% annually, adjusted for inflation. Adding the two gives a total real return of 3.5%. Include inflation of around 2%, and you get an expected return of 5.5%. Recall that earnings are at a peak. So they probably won’t grow at even 1.5%. Chris Brightman, head of investment management at Research Affiliates, a firm that oversees strategies for funds managing $142 billion, figures that earnings will expand around 1%, which adds up to a 5% return. That isn’t bad in an environment where 10-year Treasuries, as of today, are yielding around half that number. But, as Brightman acknowledges, there is also the very real possibility of a major correction that would drive future returns far lower. “Investors could suddenly realize that the projections for rapid earnings growth are not realistic and that the world is really a frightening place,” says Brightman. If that happens, stocks will need to get a lot cheaper to be attractive. According to Asness’s calculations, the CAPE must generally be lower than 16 for investors to expect average annual returns of 10% or more, including inflation. For the market’s valuation to get to that level, the S&P 500 index would need to fall by a third from its current level, to around 1,100. As devastating as that would be for investors, it would also be the first great buying opportunity in stocks since early 2009. Given the possibility of a dramatic collapse, this is not the time to increase your exposure to the broad market. The risks are just too great. (For more on how to protect yourself, see Insure your stocks against a crash.) But though stocks in general are really expensive, a few choice industries offer bargains. A notable example is health care. Pharmaceutical, medical equipment, and insurance stocks haven’t joined in the epic rally, chiefly because investors fear that looming health care reform will curb profits. But it’s more likely that the big subsidies contained in the legislation will lead to even bigger revenues and earnings. The star performers in these industries typically offer dividends well above average, a commitment to repurchasing shares, and, best of all, low P/Es coupled with solid earnings growth. A good choice in pharma is Pfizer, offering a 3.4% dividend yield and a 14 P/E. In medical equipment a winner is Medtronic, with a 2% dividend and a 15.4 multiple. And an insurance stock that’s on the rise but still a bargain is UnitedHealth, with a rapidly rising dividend, 8% earnings growth, and a P/E under 13. The byword is caution. You’ll need to save more to meet your retirement goals, given the low returns equities are promising. It’s also advisable to keep more money in cash, awaiting a rise in bond yields and possibly a fall in stock prices. Make no mistake: It’s a new era, one that may take us from “nothing to buy” to a panoply of bargains. The journey, however, could well be painful. This story is from the July 22, 2013 issue of Fortune.
|
high
| 1.12 |
The raging bull market was fun while it lasted. But a shift in Fed policy means that investors need to adjust their strategy.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140826220045id_/http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140825-inspiration-from-a-shark-attack
|
Lewis Howes, 31, was devastated when he sustained a wrist injury that put him permanently out of the game he felt destined to spend his career playing â professional American football. It would take him more than a year to recover physically, but it took even longer to bounce back mentally. âI realised I needed to get off my sisterâs couch and make money,ââ Howes said, but he wasnât sure how to do that. For Howes, the end of football meant a major identity shift; he had envisioned himself as a pro player since he was a child. âIt took me two years to get out of the funk, that the dream was over,â Howes said. âItâs a big blow for people who donât have a backup plan and go all in with that one dream.â But that time wasnât entirely wasted on a couch. Howes, like many of us, began to spend more and more time on social media websites like Twitter and LinkedIn. First, he focused on building his network in the sports industry, reaching out to people such ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, then to popular authors including Tim Ferriss of the 4-Hour Work Week. Howes said he was interested in learning how successful people made it to the top. Gradually, he found himself using the platforms to help connect other people. For example, heâd match athletes looking for sponsorship with his friend Ben Sturner who ran a sponsorship agency called LeverageAgency.com, or friends who needed marketing support with top-quality marketing agencies. In 2009, he decided to develop a series of online courses covering topics such as how to leverage social media platforms to drive website traffic and how to grow a community. He went from earning $40,000 per season playing arena football to bringing in over $1m per year in product sales through his company Inspired Marketing (he later sold it to his business partner) and consulting. Big names such as HootSuite and Citrix were clients. Today, Howes, who lives in Los Angeles, also runs a free podcast called the School of Greatness where he interviews big names in various industries on topics like âhow to achieve your wildest dreams.â "If people make a living around what they are passionate about, that is what is going to heal the world,â Howes said.
|
medium
| 0.740741 |
A shark bite, career-ending injury, a troubling childhood and more: how adversity led to big business ideas for these five people.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141005005631id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/jun/17/art3
|
A golden crop, a vintage year: that is the main news from Venice, with a better ratio of hits to duds than any biennale in decades. This is no small matter since the Greatest Show on Earth is now so huge - 800 artists, every continent represented - that it overflows one island and spills through six others, not including the fanciful 'occupation' of the city's floating necropolis by two artists demanding last rites for the Swedish monarchy. But the other good news is that this year's director, the well-respected Robert Storr, has organised such a strong international exhibition that it makes the tortuous miles of the Arsenale count as never before and puts the national pavilions in proper perspective. Storr's thesis in 'Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind' - that conceptualism is the lingua franca of global art - may sound obvious but it's allowed him to group together many giants of contemporary art. Where else are you going to find Louise Bourgeois, Ellsworth Kelly, and Sigmar Polke superbly displayed alongside the great film-works of Yang Fudong, the droll paintings of Raoul de Keyser and the fabulously groovy portraits of Malik Sidibe, the African photographer who has won this year's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (the prize for best pavilion is not announced until October), not to mention dozens of upcoming stars? If only the whole thing could be flown afterwards to Tate Modern what a momentous innovation that would be ... The pavilions themselves are full of surprises. America - shockingly, to some - chose a long-dead Cuban as its representative but the show is perfectly judged. Felix Gonzalez-Torres's delicate works had always seemed an elegy for the Aids generation but newly retitled (according to his prophetic will) they now address an entire country. His cascades of lightbulbs - America - are either fading to the floor or rising in glory. His lone bird flying through grey mist may be a harbinger of dawn or dusk and his famous liquorice spill - you take one, the art disappears: all that sweet life gone - suddenly seems more like a heap of miniature missiles. Russia knocked people for six with its half-dozen artists. A coruscating media shower in which zillions of TV images glittered down the cubicle walls was so up-to-speed it featured Gordon Brown alongside Paris Hilton. The butterfly-effect of Hong-Kong stock exchange riots caused a tidal wave that literally plunged, in its tank, towards you. And the biggest crowd at the Biennale was for a three-screen film combining live actors with superb animations that dramatised Armageddon: trains tumbling from cliffs, teenagers fighting to the death - a cross between Manga movies and Paolo Uccello. Queues at Venice don't always signify - there were none for the Finnish artist Maaria Wirkkala's boat perilously marooned on a sea of shattered glass, a vision of pure fear - and are often generated by bouncers and hype. Germany was allowing only 20 people at a time to see Isa Genzken's heavily promoted installation so the bathos was even worse when you got there. Old suitcases and souvenirs, backpacks and wheeled trolleys sprayed silver: a sort of disco apocalypse, everyone in flight I suppose, except that it felt more like a theme-park for rubbish. A thousand could cram into Genzken's pavilion at once and it wouldn't feel much less empty. It is customary for Germany to address its own past, but the art at the Giardini is mainly in the present tense this year. There are exceptions, of course - Japan's brass rubbings of the station platform at Hiroshima, like ancient headstones, one a year since 1945 - but history is less pressing than humour. I loved the pseudo-scientific skeletons of Korea's Lee Hyung-koo - Tom chasing Jerry, imaginary giants and whimsical imps based on his experience as 'an undersized Asian man' in America. And Iceland has a real humourist in Steingrimur Eyfjord, who has 'consulted' an elf to help find a hidden sheep for his magical sheep-pen (which naturally remains empty): a ludicrous odyssey in images and words that sends up the customs of the country. China was showing films of sacred statues somehow rippling with gentle laughter: everyday miracles. And I don't think Canadian David Altmejd's disenchanted forest was entirely serious: bird-headed men, human-eyed birds, a colossus of broken glass crawling with nasty critters and the whole installation endlessly reflected in mirrors so you kept coming upon yourself with some vile hybrid rearing up behind you. Surrealism parodied, but by a sculptor with a gift for reconfiguring anatomy; Altmejd is one to watch. 2007 remains, alas, a war-time Biennale and this was most apparent at the Arsenale. The propaganda is trite - Christ crucified on a US warplane - but there's artful consciousness-raising too. A former Israeli intelligence officer turned artist has some mordant photographs of soldiers trying, and failing, to grapple with appallingly disfigured dummies. And Emily Prince's sepia-drawn map of dead US soldiers - by colour and state of birth - reveals that the casualties of Afghanistan and Iraq are mainly from the north-east and not the poor black south. The Arsenale has the first African pavilion, controversial because it belongs to - and was partly paid for by - a single Congolese collector with allegedly sinister connections, but also because it is so unrepresentatively dull. By contrast, Giuseppe Penone's wonderful gallery at the Italian pavilion nearby is lined with flayed bark and marble carved to ripple that somehow feels like a living skin, an effect compounded by the split tree on the floor, the sap of life running brightly through it. The unluckiest contrast of all is between France and Britain, neighbours among the pavilions. Tracey Emin's show is too weak to peel a grape and certainly her poorest yet. There are scores more of her rachitic little drawings - the lone agonist centrespread, all vulva and legs, no head - and some pointlessly drippy paintings, plus meaningless witterings in broken wood. If only she would stick to installations or at least self-parody - viz a dejected Emin inspecting herself in a mirror with a touch of Ronald Searle - which is what she does best. France's Sophie Calle, meanwhile, is at her peak with a marvellously intelligent and inventive show inspired by a rejection letter, fraught with ambiguity, evasion and blame, she supposedly received from a lover. She sends it to 107 other women - psychoanalysts, private detectives, actresses, mediums, writers - for their interpretation and assembles their responses in words, images and videos. The English translator is outraged by the use of 'Vous'. The relationship counsellor seats the letter, absurdly, on a chair for cross-questioning. The ballet dancer stalks angrily about en pointe before collapsing in a heap, while the magician makes the letter disappear. The doctor won't give Calle antidepressants - 'You're just sad, for heaven's sake' - while the editor of Liberation won't publish it because it hasn't killed anyone or been written by a famous name. Like the Glove in Max Klinger's immortal series of etchings, the letter becomes a surrogate person and each woman reveals her own personality in return - the teenager who abruptly texts, the Italian housewife chopping onions who scoffs even as she weeps and then blows her nose furiously on the letter. Human lives, human hearts are ingeniously expressed through this simple but brilliant conceit and the installation is pure tragi-comedy. Among pavilions that rely on quick appeal to draw you in, this one is bold enough to resist the rush. You go in for a moment, just to see, and remain captive for hours. The Biennale is, of course, all about art. But at the three preview days, when the international art pack descends, fine art is only the half of it. The art of being seen is just as important. One must be seen supping prosecco in loafers (men) or unimaginably high heels (women) at as many parties as one's chartered speedboat will allow. And, judging by David Furnish's greeting to Tracey Emin at the British Pavilion, the proper way to salute acquaintances in public is with a double air kiss punctuated with a screeched 'miaow, darling, miaow'. So who put on the best bash? Germany gets the prize for sheer ambition, hosting a Scissor Sisters gig in a warehouse, while the Ukrainians' bash was shut down by police because the VVIPs, such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Elton John, turned up in such numbers at the backdoor-jetty that the mere VIPs clamouring out front became a safety hazard. At Canada's party for its much-lauded artist David Altmejd, Russian oligarchs danced to Queen and other Eighties classics, proving the adage that money might bring you eye-watering luxury, but it can't buy you rhythm. Speaking of Queen, Venice seemed in the grip of a strange affliction by which all party DJs were able to play only cheesy wedding standards, so special mention must go to the Welsh for their top tunes , as well as their downhome canapes: mini sausage rolls, egg sarnies and quiche. But Party-of-the Biennale honours go to Tracey Emin. Shrugging off the mixed critical reaction to her show, our Trace ripped up the dancefloor in a gothic black ballgown, while Naomi Campbell showed up in a dress which made her look like an elegant golden ostrich, and appeared genuinely delighted by the closing half-hour of Norman Cook's loved-up set. And while the Russian and French pavilions were the talk of the critics, the jetset were in thrall to 'Artempo', an off-Biennale show in the Palazzo Fortuny. Here, Belgian collector Axel Vervoordt has arranged his exquisite stockpile (including antiques, classical sculpture, oriental art and pieces by James Turrell and Anish Kapoor) alongside museum loans of work from contemporary art's biggest names. 'Axel, darling, you make me veep,' said one visitor, tears playing havoc with her make-up. It was impossible to tell whether this was down to the beauty of the art, or to sheer jealousy at Vervoordt's haul, but it was a very Venice moment.Sarah Donaldson Peggy Guggenheim CollectionMatthew Barney and Joseph Beuys square up. Chiesa di San Gallo Bill Viola's three-screen Ocean Without a Shore. Italia Future Centre Li Chen's Buddhist art for the 21st century.
|
high
| 1.276596 |
Art: From Russia's coruscating media shower, through Iceland's funnyman, to a marvellous French letter, global conceptualism wins hearts and minds in Venice, says Laura Cumming. If only Tracey Emin could have stuck to what she's good at ...
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141021012536id_/http://fortune.com/2013/02/10/silver-lake-and-the-deal-of-the-next-century-fortune-1999/
|
Editors note: Every Sunday we publish a relevant story from our magazine archives. This week we turn back to 1999, when Silver Lake Partners was an up-and-coming buyout shop in Silicon Valley. Last week Silver Lake led a $24.4 billion buyout of Dell. Mount Everest base camp, May 1999. In the frigid morning air, on a laptop charged up by a pair of car batteries, technology executive Charles Corfield furiously pecks out an e-mail to Silicon Valley: “You can get packages to me in Nepal via DHL to the expedition agent in Katmandu…. It takes two to three weeks to get documents turned around (from U.S.A. to Everest base camp back to U.S.A.). Assuming, worst case, that the logistics prove too difficult to handle the paperwork, do you want to leave a placeholder for me in the offering so I can complete the paperwork and financial arrangements on my return (late May)?” Hard to believe, eh? Here’s a guy about to risk life and limb climbing Mount Everest, and he’s getting all worked up over some “offering” on the other side of the planet. What’s up with that? As it turns out, Corfield isn’t the only one making a mountain out of this particular transaction. You see, Corfield is trying to get in one of the biggest, hottest deals ever to hit Silicon Valley, or Wall Street for that matter. It’s called “Silver Lake,” as in Silver Lake Partners, a humongous, new-economy LBO fund that is set to pour billions of dollars into buyouts of undervalued infotech companies. It’s a radical concept. LBO tech companies? The laws of financial nature say you can’t do that, right? And yet so compelling is the logic behind Silver Lake (and so skillfully has the fund been sold by its general partners!) that money has poured into it like a flash flood. You want to talk about buzz? Poke around a little bit and you’ll find out that everybody who’s anybody in Silicon Valley and Wall Street has invested in Silver Lake. Tech giants like Bill Gates and Michael Dell (through their money managers) and Larry Ellison have anted up. So have big players at all the major investment banks. And then there are the institutions: GM’s pension fund, Calpers, Stanford, and the World Bank. All told, the fund’s partners (who have never worked together before) have raised $2.2 billion in only a few months. “I think it’s a matter of an idea whose time has come, brought to market by the right people,” says David Stockman (yes, that David Stockman), a partner at Blackstone and the firm’s point man for its investment in the fund. Why is everyone gushing over Silver Lake? The simple answer is that the fund offers a whole new way of investing in the growth engine of our economy–infotech. (Say no more, right?) The fund is managed by a team of top guns from Silicon Valley and Wall Street, each with an overflowing Rolodex and resume. There’s high-voltage, Silicon Valley superstar investor Roger McNamee, whose firm, Integral Capital Partners, is partly owned by the venture capital juggernaut Kleiner Perkins. Then there’s former head Hambrecht & Quist banker Jim Davidson. Buyout maestro Glenn Hutchins from Blackstone BX . And Dave Roux, a one-time senior executive at Oracle ORCL and Lotus. Some have taken to calling the Silver Lake partners “the four amigos.” “The strategy of the fund is very interesting,” says Silicon Valley godfather Jim Clark, another investor, “but what attracted me was the team.” Before Silver Lake, investors who wanted to be in technology could basically either buy shares of public tech companies or buy into private companies through venture capital. Of course, both public and private sector tech investing have produced incredible returns over the past decade, which has attracted great piles of capital, which in turn has driven prices sky-high. So essentially, both traditional venues of technology investing are now saturated. Buyouts as a means of investing in technology really haven’t been on the map. For one thing, you generally don’t LBO companies with super-rich valuations (Cisco), or companies with no earnings (the Internets), or companies with volatile profit streams (Compaq). For years, the mantra of the LBO fund manager was: “We don’t do real estate. We don’t do oil and gas. And we don’t do tech.” But the Silver Lake partners believe they have discovered a huge anomaly that will allow them to do technology buyouts. They have no intention of going after highflying companies. Instead, they are setting their sights on a large group of slower-growth tech businesses, completely off Wall Street’s radar screen. “Until very recently, no way could you have done Silver Lake,” says John Phelan of MSD Capital (that’s Michael Dell’s private investment firm). There really weren’t enough seasoned tech companies with stable cash flows that make for good LBO candidates. But that’s all changed. Here are some numbers the Silver Lake guys like to throw around to buttress their argument. (Or, as Hutchins is fond of saying, “In God we trust. All others bring data.”) As a percentage of GDP, the technology industry has nearly doubled during the past 20 years to 8.2%. And as a percentage of the S&P 500 market cap, tech has more than tripled over that period to 18.1%. The U.S. information technology industry now comprises about 1,000 public companies with about $1 trillion in annual revenue and a combined market cap of $3 trillion. In short, the tech industry has grown up. The perception that tech companies are a homogeneous group of high-growth, expensive, unstable toddlers and teenagers is simply not true anymore. Scores and scores of tech companies are slower growth, less pricey, and stabler. The most stunning piece of Silver Lake’s data (what they call the “secret sauce” part of their research) shows that 50% of all publicly traded tech companies sell on average for one times annual sales or less. Amazing, huh? Of course, those companies aren’t growing like a Dell, but many are still posting top- and bottom-line growth of 10% or more. For an old- economy company that would be just ducky, but for a tech company in the Internet Age, that just doesn’t cut it. So, the Silver Lake guys say, it turns out that within the tech universe there is a huge body of healthy companies that are growing well above GDP yet are completely unappreciated by the market. That’s practically the definition of a company suitable for a traditional LBO. To take this point one step further, some of the most compelling opportunities the Silver Lake guys see are actually large, healthy subsidiaries of tech giants that are no longer perceived as core businesses. An example would be Lucent before it was spun off from AT&T T . “These are perfectly good businesses that now happen to be in the wrong place,” says Hutchins. “And because buyout funds wouldn’t do tech, these businesses often couldn’t be sold.” So you have this pool of mature tech companies, ripe for LBOs, and at the same time you have all those above-mentioned institutional investors scouring the capital markets for a less crowded and less expensive way to play technology. Perfect. New supply. New demand. A new market. And maybe the next great nexus of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. This was the great epiphany of the Silver Lake general partners. “To us it’s one of the most incredible opportunities we have seen in years and years,” says McNamee, who is scaling back his venture capital activity to focus on Silver Lake. Silver Lake seems to have come together in a flash, uniting some of the smartest money on both coasts. But it’s also the story of four old friends who found themselves in the right place at the right time with the right idea and were bold enough to act on it. Hutchins and Roux first became friendly nearly 25 years ago while undergraduates at Harvard (don’t hold that against them). In the early 1980s, McNamee, then at T. Rowe Price, was one of the first customers of Datext, a database publishing company of which Roux was the founder and CEO. McNamee’s funds were also one of the biggest shareholders of Lotus when Roux was that company’s senior VP of corporate development. Davidson’s wife met McNamee on a Deer Valley, Utah, ski slope during a Hambrecht & Quist conference and insisted that the couples meet that night for dinner. McNamee and his wife later became godparents of Davidson’s son. And so on. (By the way, “Silver Lake” is taken from the name of the main ski village at Deer Valley.) The idea behind Silver Lake began to take shape years ago. “Glenn [Hutchins] and I first kicked around doing a tech LBO fund back in the summer of 1994,” says Dave Roux. “We called the project Delta Capital, and we even had some money committed, but we concluded at that point the wine needed more cellar time.” And so Hutchins, who had been at the White House as a special adviser, went to work at Blackstone to do buyouts. Roux took a job as executive vice president of corporate development at Oracle, where he was in charge of Oracle’s mergers and acquisitions activity, its venture capital portfolio, and its investments in other companies. For years the mantra of the LBO fund manager was: “We don’t do real estate. We don’t do oil and gas. And we don’t do tech.” One guy in Florida heard about the partnership and sent Silver Lake a check for $10 million–the fund’s minimum–sight unseen. Naysayers point to the disastrous 1989 buyout of Prime Computer, which blew up on the Whitney Group–a watershed in tech LBOs. Skip ahead to the fall of 1997, when McNamee happened to mention to Roux that he was getting concerned about the rising valuations in venture capital and was taking a look at LBOs. In fact, McNamee said, he’d actually been doing some work to that end with Kleiner Perkins and Morgan Stanley; the latter was helping to underwrite Integral’s research effort. “I told Roger, ‘Well, I’ve been doing some of that too,’ ” recalls Roux. “And we got together to compare notes. Roger pulled in his friend Jim [Davidson], who I also knew, and we began a three-way conversation.” During the winter of 1997-98, Roux and Davidson in particular continued to noodle over the idea, often at San Jose Sharks and Golden State Warriors games. But at that point there were prior commitments, of course–as in real jobs. Roux, for one, had told Larry Ellison that he would be the CEO of an Oracle subsidiary called Network Computer, which was in need of a major turnaround. By the summer of 1998, though, Roux’s overhaul of that company seemed to be taking hold, and in October he asked Ellison for his leave. Okay, said Ellison, find a CEO for Network and you’re free. (A side note: Network Computer, renamed Liberate Technologies, just pulled off a successful IPO in mid-July. Roux remains its chairman.) Meanwhile, Davidson, as head of technology investment banking at H&Q, was also becoming excited by the plan. Davidson had previously suggested to other senior H&Q partners, including CEO Dan Case, that the firm move further into the buyout business by expanding its merchant-banking effort to include taking controlling stakes in companies. But ultimately Case declined, foreseeing conflicts with investment-banking clients if H&Q were to begin buying out whole companies. So Davidson too decided to pull up stakes and join what was then not much more than a concept, now called NBT Capital (for Next Big Thing). By that fall, other bankers like Frank Quattrone of CSFB were pitching in on NBT. Davidson, who had been working on the nuts and bolts of the project’s business plan, made an all-important presentation with McNamee to the Kleiner Perkins partnership. The verdict? The Kleiner crew gave it the high sign. Another major step forward. Meanwhile, Hutchins was increasingly finding himself out in Silicon Valley, scouting companies for Blackstone. His old buddy Roux would introduce him around and also hit him up for counsel on their burgeoning plan. The NBT team then began to call around on Wall Street to set up financing for the deal. A fund this size would need several layers of bankers, but none more important than a financial agent or an investment banker to help sell the deal. The two players in this particular business are DLJ and Merrill Lynch, and the Silver Lakers were wooed hard by both. DLJ’s salesman was none other than John Chalsty, the firm’s Sean Connery-sound-alike former CEO. Merrill sent Herb Allison, then its COO and president, out to Silver Lake’s Sand Hill Road offices to talk up the boys. Merrill won the business. Meanwhile, Silver Lake was approached by several big-league buyout firms, each with offers to partner. The Silver Lake guys declined to comment on this, but one of those offers came from TPG, Texas Pacific Group, the powerful LBO shop run out of Fort Worth by David Bonderman. TPG had already done a few technology buyouts (such as Zilog and Paradyne) as part of its general-interest funds. But the idea of a fund dedicated solely to tech was said to be as compelling to Bonderman as it was to the Silver Lake group. Bonderman could absorb Silver Lake into his firm and create a turnkey operation. “Bonderman told them they wouldn’t have to worry–he would raise about $700 million,” says a Wall Street source. And Silver Lake was supposed to come up with a couple of hundred million bucks from its contacts in the Valley. Although talks went on for weeks, the Silver Lake group ultimately said thanks, but no thanks. The idea of giving up control was too much. Even for a nine-figure check! While the idea of a billion-dollar first-time fund by a newly formed partnership in an area virtually devoid of LBO activity apparently didn’t bother David Bonderman, it was received with some trepidation by Merrill Lynch at first. “When we heard the plan, we immediately thought it was special,” says Kevin Albert, head of Merrill’s LBO fundraising practice. “We also thought it was big.” Recalls Davidson with a grin: “When we told Merrill we wanted to do a $1 billion fund, they sort of rolled their eyes and said, ‘How about $500 million?’ ” The bankers’ reticence has so far been unwarranted, at least in terms of raising money. In fact, the Silver Lake partners say that they could have collected $4 billion and that the biggest challenge so far has been cutting limited partners back. But to be fair to the bankers, when Silver Lake first approached Merrill, Hutchins, the only member of the team with any actual LBO experience, wasn’t even on board! “We knew we had to get someone with buyout expertise,” says Roux. “We kept hoping it would be Glenn because we were working with him informally anyway and because he’s the best.” Finally, late last year Hutchins relented: “He told us he was going to Deer Valley with his family skiing over Christmas,” says Davidson. “And the three of us said, ‘Gee, we just happen to be going there with our families too.’ ” Hutchins broke the news to Davidson on the slopes, and Davidson gave him a jubilant high-five. And so the team was set. One of the most important steps the partners had to take next was to ensure that debt financing would be available. For all its Silicon Valley sequins, Silver Lake is every bit a traditional LBO fund (the same kind of thing that KKR has been offering for 20 years). The way these babies work is that the fund’s general partners–the guys who run the thing–raise money from limited partners, or investors. That money is later coupled with a huge slug of bank loans and high-yield bonds (the leverage, or the L, of the LBO), which is a multiple of the cash raised. That blend of debt and cash is what’s used to buy out companies. By using mostly debt with a slice of cash, instead of all cash, the fund’s partners can maximize returns, much in the same way an investor in stocks can amplify his gains by buying shares on margin. But just like a stock bought on margin, an LBO is riskier than a plain-vanilla equity investment, since losses, too, are magnified. Generally, a slower-growing buyout prospect (say a food company) is leveraged at around four to one. Hutchins figures that the faster-growing companies that Silver Lake hopes to buy–and they are already looking at dozens–should be leveraged at more like two to one. That implies the partnership will be borrowing many billions of dollars during the fund’s six-year investment period. Some serious scratch. To secure that much LBO debt, the No. 1 place to shop on Wall Street is Jimmy Lee’s office at Chase Manhattan. Lee, a Chase vice chairman, is the king of this business. Fortunately for the four amigos, Hutchins had worked with Lee for years. Even more fortunately, Lee, too, was musing about tech LBOs. Says Lee: “When Glenn told me about Silver Lake, I said, ‘Funny you should call. We’ve just been looking at this area. Come on in.'” Hutchins did just that in the first week of February, and Lee quickly agreed to work with the fund. The next order of business was lining up limited partners–the not-so-small matter of getting the money. This was a process that resulted in some classic “Silicon Valley meets Wall Street” moments. For instance, Silver Lake told the Merrill bankers that they wanted to raise some 20% of the fund, at that point $200 million, from their well-heeled buddies back in the Valley. Smart, since they should be an easy source of capital–and presumably they would network for the general partners. Fine, said the Merrill bankers. But one question: Do those guys really have that kind of money? (Duh!) Another moment occurred when Silver Lake was presenting to the Blackstone partnership. Picture the four amigos on one side of the table and the Blackstone grandees, including Pete Peterson, Steve Schwarzman, and Stockman, on the other side. “It was all very Wall Street, and then there’s Roger [McNamee] being Roger,” says one participant. “He’s full bandwidth, multiplexed, talking 90 words a minute, while taking a call on his cell phone and simultaneously checking his pager. It was quite something.” (Blackstone subsequently made a commitment.) And there are other stories, a few almost as striking as our Mr. Corfield up at Mount Everest base camp. (He did get into the fund, even though the papers got lost in Katmandu.) There was the call to the team while they were pitching in Europe, informing them that the Roth schilds wished to participate. (And they are.) Or the guy in Florida who heard about the partnership and sent Silver Lake a check for $10 million–the fund’s minimum–sight unseen. (It was returned.) Or the time Hutchins was kept waiting by an investment committee of a major university because it was holding a meeting to approve the school’s buying into the fund, before Hutchins made his pitch! All remarkable stuff in a business where general partners often really have to work the dog-and-pony to raise money. Now the question is, Have these guys created the next Apollo moon mission or the next Hindenberg? There are detractors. On the one hand are those who cling to the idea that tech companies can’t be LBOed. This camp solemnly points to the disastrous 1989 buyout of Prime Computer by the Whitney Group. Prime, then with more than $1 billion in annual sales, blew up in Whitney’s face, a watershed event in the history of tech LBOs. Of course, the Silver Lake guys can tell you chapter and verse why they won’t make the same mistakes that Whitney did. On the other hand, there are those who say that Silver Lake is really nothing new. Funds like those run by Behrman Capital and Broadview, they say, have been LBOing tech companies for years, albeit on a much smaller scale. The Silver Lake partners say their fund is so much bigger that it isn’t even in the same league. Which brings up another set of objections: hubris and greed. Silver Lake, these critics say, is going big just for the sake of bigness. And take a look at what their management fee brings in! A mere 1.5% of assets annually for the general partners amounts to more than $30 million in this fund. Of course, Silver Lake’s response is that scale is truly important for its model; and in the age of the Internet, being first and having scale convey all sorts of competitive advantages. The bottom line, of course, is that nobody has any idea whether Silver Lake will hit or miss. Sure, the partners have been extraordinarily successful raising money, but that’s like winning the first round of the playoffs. You don’t see the Atlanta Braves celebrating that anymore. The only thing that really counts in the LBO business is successfully liquidating the fund and producing bigtime returns. Only then will the Silver Lake team truly be champs. It’s a late July afternoon, and Dave Roux has taken the day off to fly-fish the Calaveras River in the foothills of the Sierras, about 100 miles east of San Francisco Bay. It’s an unusual outing because Roux, a serious fisherman, is having absolutely no luck at all. After yet another hapless go at a promising stretch of the river, Roux looks up and says, “That’s the great thing about fishing. It teaches patience and humility–something that’s in short supply in the technology business.” How true. So far it’s been easy for Roux and his amigos to land the big ones. For the guys from Silver Lake to succeed in the long run, though, they may need plenty of what the river teaches.
|
high
| 1.96 |
The Silver Lake partners are wagering on a whole new way to invest in infotech--the biggest, baddest LBO fund ever to hit Silicon Valley. They've raised more than $2 billion in a matter of months. Can they make it work?
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141206060803id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jun/22/charles-jencks-life-mounds-architecture
|
The Life Mounds are the first thing you see as you drive through the gates of Jupiter Artland, a sculpture park in the grounds of Bonnington House, outside Edinburgh. Newly completed, these eight man-made hills have been shaped by the distinguished US critic, polemicist and designer Charles Jencks. Beautiful things, they rise in stepped ramps sheathed in emerald green turf, clustered around swirling ponds. Last week, I climbed and sat on top of the tallest of these escarpments, as swallows performed aerobatics over the insect-rich waters. The Life Mounds called to mind the landscapes of ancient standing stones and barrows, of south-east Asian rice terraces, of patterns seen through a microscope; there was something of the spiralling forms of far-flung galaxies. All of these things (perhaps not the rice terraces) are acknowledged influences. Over the decades – he is a notably young 70 – Jencks has written a number of spirited books on modern architecture. It was his Modern Movements in Architecture, published in 1973, which helped me see that what had passed for a monolithic, single-minded Modern Movement had been no such thing. It was Jencks who identified the shift away from the certainties of modernism into the vagaries and rich (and sometimes indigestible) experiences of postmodernism: The Language of Postmodern Architecture, written 30 years ago by Jencks, remains a bestseller. And it is Jencks who, I can't help feeling, has begun to tire of the intellectual thinness of much contemporary "iconic" architecture, and to look for something beyond its ephemeral nature. "Have I turned away from architecture? No, it's not that," he says when we meet at Portrack House, his home near Dumfries. "But I do believe architecture, and all art, should be content-driven. It should have something to say beyond the sensational. But, yes, the lack of culture in so much new architecture is worrying." Jencks wants to shape works that make us stop and think about our place, not just in the here and now, but in the cosmos. "It's something people have done even before they built Stonehenge, so why not now?" The biggest woman in the world Over the past decade and beyond, Jencks has fused a hungry interest in cosmology with his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of architecture and landscape art. This vision is explained in a new and engaging book, The Universe in the Landscape. "Not everyone will get it," he writes, with touching honesty. The Life Mounds at Bonnington are informed by cosmic patterns, as well as the molecular structure of cells at the point where, for good or carcinogenic ill, they divide. This stunning landform turns out to be a meditation on life and death. "I've been a lucky man," Jencks says. "I've only faced one real tragedy: the death of my wife, Maggie, from cancer in 1995." Maggie Jencks was an innovative garden designer; together, throughout the 80s and 90s, the couple created their Garden of Cosmic Speculation in the grounds of Portrack House. Maggie's Centres, a number of cancer care clinics designed by world-famous architects (Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers) were her idea, and is a scheme that has continued in her honour. Jencks is now working on an enormous project just north of Newcastle. He has been commissioned by a UK coal-mining company to create a land form that will soften and enhance an otherwise challenging landscape. "Northumberlandia" (the name is his, intended to suggest a land goddess) is currently under construction, and due for completion in 2013. A giant effigy, in clay and soil, of a recumbent naked woman rising 34 metres (her breasts) and measuring 400 metres from head to toe, she will, Jencks says, be "the world's largest human form sculpted into the landscape". Such figurative interpretations of earth goddesses could be seen as kitsch. But Jencks argues that she will fold, if not quite blur, into the landscape. Still, compared with the layers of cosmological meaning embedded into Portrack and Bonnington, this is clearly a populist work, one its patrons hope will become a major tourist attraction. The Gretna Landmark Project should be one, too. Details have yet to be unveiled, but this ambitious work will mark one of the key border crossings between Scotland and England. Developed by Jencks and the artist Andy Goldsworthy, the final design will also involve the disparate talents of designer and engineer Cecil Balmond, California artist Ned Kahn and British architect Chris Wilkinson. Expect the unexpected, and certainly the bold and eye-catching. Meanwhile, Jencks and his 30-year-old daughter, Lily, an architect and landscape designer, have been working on a design for CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) near Geneva. Their brief is to give this hidden wonder of the modern world (its workings are mostly underground) a physical presence. "There is no question," says Jencks, "that this Vatican of Science, with the visage of Heathrow Airport, desperately needs urban definition." As far as I can make out, the end result will be a pair of giant interlocking question marks made of grassed earth closing around, and interrogating The Globe – a hollow timber sphere originally designed for the 2002 Swiss Expo by architect Hervé Dessimoz. In Jencks's view, cosmic passion, or the desire to know and relate to the universe, is one of the strongest drives in sentient creatures. The power of neolithic henges and bronze-age barrows, of the Uffington White Horse and some of the greatest buildings of all time – the spiral minaret at Samarra in Iraq, the Pantheon in Rome – lies in their elemental qualities. Their meanings are not explicit, yet they send shivers of recognition down the spine. The Life Mounds at Bonnington, to my mind Jencks's best landform work to date, have that effect on me.
|
high
| 0.666667 |
His swirling 'land sculptures' are inspired by molecular biology and outer space. Architect Charles Jencks tells Jonathan Glancey about his most ambitious project yet
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150301093836id_/http://fortune.com:80/2011/11/22/at-hp-whitman-cuts-down-on-drama/
|
FORTUNE — On her first earnings call with investors since taking the helm last September, Whitman repeatedly said HP would get back to “business fundamentals” in 2012. What exactly does that mean? Fewer distractions, for one. It also means no big acquisitions like the $10 billion-plus purchase of enterprise software maker Autonomy. “We cannot continue to rely on acquisitions alone at HP,” Whitman said on Monday’s call. “It’s just the wrong thing to do. We’ve got a lot of runway with our own internal R&D capability, if we run it right and invest in it right.” The decision to avoid any big buys in 2012 seems solid enough. HP HPQ took a lot of flack when it announced it would buy Autonomy last August. Many investors just didn’t feel the hefty price tag was justified. Add to that a profit decline in the most recent quarter (caused in part by charges related to HP’s failed WebOS purchase) and a rising debt load and you’ve got good reason to tighten the purse strings. Whitman’s conservative approach will come as a relief to most investors. But steering clear of big, bold acquisitions could backfire. While she made the right call in opting to keep the company’s PC business, HP still needs to bulk up its software portfolio to compete with the likes of IBM IBM , Oracle ORCL and SAP SAP . Pouring more money into R&D won’t give HP the kind of boost it needs in this market, as it will likely take several years to see a return on internal investments. In the meantime, rivals with ample cash could buy themselves even more of a head start in enterprise software. Ousted CEO Leo Apotheker might have done a lousy job communicating his ideas, but he may have had the right idea — steering the world’s largest computer maker towards a more profitable software and services business model. To be fair, Whitman did say HP would consider making two or three smaller software acquisitions in the coming year, but nothing on the scale of another Autonomy. “If there is a great acquisition in the $1 billion range, maybe we will take a look at it,” Whitman said on Monday. “But we’ve got to be sure that it fills a hole, that we don’t pay too much for it and that we are financially disciplined about it.” Regardless of exactly how many acquisitions the tech giant ends up making in 2012, conserving cash is a probably a good starting point for rebuilding HP and making nice with investors. But it’s just a starting point. HP has been plagued by boardroom scandals, executive shuffles and a lack of clear leadership. In the fourth quarter, it suffered declines in core businesses like PCs and printers. Even worse, morale at the company has been down for years. Stability and financial discipline will likely be a good thing for HP. But if its newfound conservatism lets competitors get ahead, the going may get even tougher for Whitman in 2012.
|
medium
| 0.727273 |
Meet the new Hewlett-Packard -- prudent, frugal and, well, kind of boring. That is, of course, if new CEO Meg Whitman has her way.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150319185643id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/kate-hudson-goldie-hawn-oliver-birthday-kurt-russell-instagram
|
From left: Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson and Kurt Russell 03/17/2015 AT 11:20 PM EDT Tuesday was not only St. Patrick's Day, it was also a very important day in 's life – her dad In honor of her mom 's partner of more than 30 years, Hudson (whose biological father is Hawn's ex-husband Bill Hudson) posted a sweet picture of the man she calls "Pa" on Instagram. "Today in our family we not only celebrate St Patricks Day but the birthday of our Pa!" she . "Happy Birthday to the most dependable, strong, authentic, loving and fun Dad! I love you! This is a man who made his family his number one priority his whole life. Never missed a school play, a soccer game, a hockey game, a dance recital and the list goes on and on. No matter what he was doing in his busy life, he always showed up. Not because he had to but because there was no other place on earth he would rather be then with his family. We felt the purity of that our whole childhood and my gratitude for his love is immeasurable. Happy Birthday Pa." Her mom also chimed in with for her "Amazing wild and awesome man," as did Hudson's brother, Oliver. He posted a pic of Russell as "Snake" Plissken from his cult hit film , "Happy birthday to the greatest dad in Santa Monica.. I love you more than you realize.. Before you came into my life, I was only potential and you made me, forced me, to find my confidence, my independence and strive for the elusive fearlessness that you so matter of factly possess.. I look up to you and always will.. And when I told you I had a small penis, your answer was moving.. 'It's okay son, there's a snake in all of us.' " Today is my Amazing wild and awesome man...Kurt Russell's birthday! Happy birthday baby!!! I loved Ya so
|
medium
| 1.52381 |
The actor has been Hawn's partner for more than 30 years and an inspiration to Hudson and her brother Oliver
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150414172018id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/feb/22/jan-gossaert-national-gallery-renaissance
|
The small Belgian town of Mechelen is a quiet place. It grew rich on wool and once made the finest lace in Europe, but it's not hard to guess that the main attraction for many residents these days is its proximity to Brussels, just 20 minutes away by commuter train. The neat streets are studded, however, with a number of startlingly grand buildings, dating from the glory days – the decades in the late 15th and early 16th century when the town was the heart of the territory of the powerful Dukes of Burgundy, who had long since expanded northwards to control an area that stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea. It was also the home of an extraordinary artist: Jan Gossaert. Nearly 500 years on, Gossaert's paintings – now scattered in major collections across the world – are being assembled for a major exhibition of a man who was a star of his day, widely imitated by his contemporaries, and regarded by art historians as a crucial bridge between the Renaissance Italian style and the dazzling medieval oil painting of the north. "When I stand in a room full of his paintings, the sheer quality of the work is overwhelming," says Susan Foister, director of collections at the National Gallery, the woman who is curating the show at London's National Gallery. "His technique is extraordinary: the way he paints textures, so you feel every strand of fur, every hair. He is undoubtedly one of the giants." Yet for a painter of such talent, Gossaert's name is far less familiar than his great Flemish predecessor Jan van Eyck, or Peter Paul Rubens a century later. And when the new exhibition – shared with the Metropolitan Museum in New York – opens this week, it will be the first occasion in a lifetime that a show of this nature has appeared on these shores. It is a measure of the artist's elusiveness that the two institutions can't even agree on his name (in London he will be Gossaert, in Manhattan Gossart). As it happens, you won't find either in older art histories, which call the artist Jan Mabuse after Maubeuge, the town (now in France) where he was probably born in 1478. He signed his 1516 painting Neptune and Amphitrite, now in Berlin, "Joannes Malbodius". He is probably also the "Jan of Hainault" who was enrolled in the Antwerp painter's guild in 1503, and was also sometimes known as Jennyn van Hennegouwe. What Gossaert looked like is equally mysterious. The only full-face portrait, an engraving in a 16th-century book on Flemish artists, may not be remotely accurate since it was made from a profile medallion: it shows a rather grave figure, a long bearded solemn face, under an elaborate hat. And, tormentingly, there are only a handful of anecdotes about his life. Karel van Mander, a painter who published a book of biographical sketches of northern artists inspired by Giorgio Vasari's wonderfully gossipy tales, says Gossaert made and wore a painted paper robe for a state reception for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, presumably to show off his trompe l'oeil virtuosity. "And when the Marquis, as they passed by, asked the Emperor which damask he thought the most beautiful," Van Mander wrote, "the Emperor had his eye on that of the painter which – being very white and beautifully decorated with flowers – far excelled all the others." Charles reportedly had to touch the fabric to believe it was painted paper. Gossaert certainly knew the work of his slightly younger contemporary, the German Albrecht Dürer; and Dürer knew of him. However, it seems that they never met in person, even though Dürer made a special trip to see one of Gossaert's works in 1520, an altar piece at a church in Middelburg (now in Holland). He merely recorded laconically that the deposition from the cross was "not so good in its main lines as in the painting"; we can't check Dürer's assessment because the painting was destroyed in a fire just 30 years later. So why has Gossaert come into focus once again? Partly because he was an innovator. Thomas Campbell and Nicholas Penny, co-directors of the exhibition, argue for his "intense originality" as an artist – an originality that will be fully on view. Unlike earlier Adams and Eves, Gossaert's nude figures were blatantly secular, but nonetheless full of references which would have been picked up immediately by an educated audience. One of the paintings in the exhibition is Hercules and Deianeira (1517), the couple's legs uncomfortably intertwined, perched on a stone bench carved with a classical frieze – a clear gesture to Roman architecture and Greek philosophy, and of the new humanist philosophy which was sweeping across Europe. The Burgundians recognised that originality, and various members of the family were Gossaert's main patrons for decades. The dukes were avid for art, seeing it – as the Medici did in Italy – as an outward manifestation not just of immense wealth, but of their culture and learning. Gossaert suited them to perfection. His classical nude of Danae, on loan to the exhibition from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, now seems unremarkable, but in 1527 the work must have looked astonishing: an unarguably erotic figure gazing up with dreaming eyes and parted lips at the shower of gold falling into her lap, her gown falling from her shoulders to reveal one breast. It features a detail contemporaries would not have missed: her gown is a vivid, clear blue, one of the most expensive pigments of the day, which was traditionally reserved for the robes of the Madonna. Many of these references were gleaned from a trip the artist made to Rome in 1508, a highlight of his career, and also a major event in the history of European art. A century before Rubens, Gossaert became the first Flemish artist to bring back the style of Raphael and Michelangelo to the studios of the north. He went there as court artist to Philip of Burgundy, who was an exceptionally secular bishop, the illegitimate son of Philip the Good, an admiral and a diplomat as well as a churchman whose palace was decorated with erotic art. Philip sent Gossaert to draw the half-ruined ancient monuments and buildings and newly excavated classical statues, as well as the new works they inspired. His drawings reveal exactly what the artist came across. One sheet in the exhibition, on loan from a collection in Leiden, has on a single page a beautiful drawing of a famous Roman bronze, the Spinario, a graceful boy picking a thorn out of his foot. Gossaert has also crammed in two fancy parade helmets; a lion's head and a broken lion mask which he may have seen on stone coffins in the Forum; a slender leg in a laced boot; and a heavily muscled leg in a ludicrously elaborate open-toed boot which has been traced to a colossal statue excavated from the Baths of Caracalla. He mined his Roman drawings for figures and classical ornament for the rest of his working life. The new exhibition will also show his wonderful portraits, including his canny young merchant of 1530, on loan from the National Gallery in Washington, framed by stacks of invoices, painted in minute detail down to the slightly grubby nails of his fingers. Why, then, has Gossaert been neglected for so long? Foister suggests that he partly fell out of public consciousness because the works were so widely scattered, and because many of the panel paintings were too vulnerable to travel. "Because there were no major exhibitions, there have been few recent major studies of his work," she argues. "The catalogue for this exhibition, a major work of scholarship, should go a long way to redress that." Not that the fresh scrutiny has come free of problems – in the course of research, questions have been raised over the true authorship of the gallery's Adoration of the Magi, a spectacular work which has long been one of the gallery's most popular Christmas cards, with the three sumptuously dressed kings presenting magnificent golden gifts. "I stand by our picture," Foister insists. "I still think it is Gossaert. But that's exactly what this exhibition is for, to raise as many questions as possible about Gossaert – and, if possible, answer some of them." Maev Kennedy travelled in Flanders courtesy of Tourism Flanders.
|
high
| 1.268293 |
He may not be a household name, and his life is shrouded in mystery – but Jan Gossaert's paintings are among the most extraordinary creations of the northern Renaissance. Maev Kennedy travels to Flanders to find out more
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150823213617id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/03/is-volatility-over-with-market-signs-to-watch.html
|
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell below its 200-day moving average to trade below 18. The U.S. dollar also reversed its recent gains for much of the day, and the 10-year yield bounced from 1.66 to 1.78 percent. Kingsview Asset Management portfolio manager Paul Nolte didn't think Tuesday's reversal in key market components represented a long-term positive trend, but he expects the market to moderate after the recent swings. Read MoreWe haven't seen the worst in oil yet: Expert "We're in the process of finding a bottom here," said Nolte. "I think the dollar will continue to strengthen, and yields and oil will continue lower. The pace of the decline trajectory has been so steep that those are not sustainable. Now that you get a little buying, you get these outsized gains." U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday to close up more than one percent higher in a second consecutive day of gains, boosted by a surge in oil prices and alleviation of concerns in the euro zone. Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis unveiled proposals on Monday to end the confrontation with its creditors by swapping outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds, the Financial Times reported. On Tuesday, Varoufakis met with his Italian counterpart in Rome. Read MoreOil expert: This is a 'dead cat bounce' The Dow Jones industrial average surged 305.3 points in the last 15 minutes of trade to close up 1.76 percent at 17,666.40. All blue chips advanced, led by Caterpillar's nearly 4 percent gain. Exxon Mobil and Chevron followed, each rising nearly 3 percent or more. The S&P 500 closed up 29.18 points, or 1.44 percent, at 2,050.03, with energy leading gains across all sectors. The Nasdaq closed up 51.05 points, or 1.09 percent, at 4,727.74. Tuesday's gains came after a nearly 200-point surge in the Dow on Monday that recovered much of the index's 250-point drop last Friday. "It's made a little tough that we have these giant moves every day," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. "I think it will be difficult to follow through." "You'd like to see a few days of consistency before you make the call," he said. To be sure, despite regaining more than 70 percent of January's losses, the major indices are still down for the year. Consumer giants reporting after the bell on Tuesday gave a mixed picture of the U.S. economy, with Disney blowing past expectations and Chipotle disappointing analysts. "I think you have to go through a couple of months without (big) events," Ogg said, before markets calm down. Investors may get greater indications of the economy with Wednesday's kickoff to the week's employment reports. The ADP private sector payrolls come out at 8:15 a.m., which analysts see as a precursor to Friday's all-important jobs report. "It's not a 100 percent positive correlation, but a robust number would give the market more confidence going into Friday morning," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. She is also watching Greek banks as an "important barometer for European markets for confidence." Other economic data due on Wednesday include mortgage applications, the PMI services index and the ISM non-manufacturing index, all of which will contribute to the unfolding picture of the U.S. economy. Read MoreHalftime trader: Here's an odd play on jobs growth "We are seeing the very beginning signs of wage pressure and household formation. Really starting to feel more normal," Ogg said. "People have to be convinced that all these changes do not create a big black swan kind of event."
|
medium
| 1.148148 |
The last two day's oil gains are encouraging for the short term as investors continue to pick up more signs of coming stabilization in markets.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150826061547id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/cnbc-exclusive-cnbc-transcript-tiaa-cref-president-ceo-roger-ferguson-speaks-with-cnbcs-kelly-evans-on-closing-bell-today.html
|
WHEN: Today, Tuesday, August 25th Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with TIAA-CREF President and CEO Roger Ferguson on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET) today. All references must be sourced to CNBC. KELLY EVANS: FROM YESTERDAY'S SELL-OFF TO TODAY'S BIG RALLY AND THEN THE DRAMATIC SUBSEQUENT DECLINE, HOW ARE INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL? TIAA-CREF HAS OVER 5 MILLION CUSTOMERS AND NEARLY $900 BILLION IN ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT. IN A CNBC EXCLUSIVE, I AM NOW JOINED BY FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE VICE CHAIR ROGER FERGUSON NOW PRESIDENT AND CEO OF TIAA-CREF. WELCOME TO YOU. ROGER FERGUSON: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, KELLY. A PLEASURE TO BE HERE. EVANS: YOU'VE SEEN SO MANY MARKETS, YOU'VE STUDIED THEM AS DEEPLY AS ANYBODY. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT TODAY? FERGUSON: WELL, I SEE TWO OR THREE FORCES AT WORK HERE. OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS OBVIOUSLY THERE'S BEEN CONCERNS ABOUT GLOBAL MARKETS, GLOBAL GROWTH EMERGING PARTICULARLY OUT OF CHINA. THAT HAD A BIG IMPACT YESTERDAY AND THEN WE SAW THE MARKET SORT OF PULL ITSELF TOGETHER A LITTLE BIT. I THINK WHAT WE ARE SEEING MORE RECENTLY THOUGH IS A COMBINATION OF THE FACT THE U.S. ECONOMY IS STILL GROWING REASONABLY WELL, EARNINGS LOOK PRETTY STRONG. SO THAT THROWS INTO QUESTION, GEE, IS THE FED LIKELY TO MOVE? AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE STILL THE QUESTION OF ARE EXTERNAL WEAKNESSES GOING TO SPILL OVER IN SOME WAY THAT WE DON'T YET FORSEE HERE? EVANS: EXACTLY. PEOPLE ARE DRAWING COMPARISONS TO THE LATE '90s ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS. TODAY CHINA KIND OF POINTED THE FINGER BACK AT THE U.S. SAYING IT'S BECAUSE MARKET'S LISTENING TO THE FED AND THINKING ABOUT A RATE HIKE THAT ALL OF THIS IS HAPPENING. ARE THEY RIGHT ABOUT THAT? FERGUSON: LOOK, I THINK THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING GOING ON. FIRST, I DON'T THINK THIS IS LIKE THE ASIAN CRISIS. WHILE THE ASIAN CRISIS WAS DRIVEN BY FIXED EXCHANGE RATE, COUNTRIES THAT HAD NOT PUT ASIDE ENOUGH IN THE WAY OF RESERVES SUDDENLY GETTING SWEPT UP IN A DOWN DRAFT. WE SEE SOMETHING DIFFERENT NOW FROM THE EMERGING WORLD. CURRENCIES ARE FLEXIBLE. WE'VE SEEN CURRENCIES REFLECT THE WEAKNESSES OF SOME OF THOSE ECONOMIES. CHINA HAS BECOME A MUCH BIGGER STORY, OBVIOUSLY. WITH RESPECT TO YOU KNOW, IS THE FED PART OF THE STORY HERE? ALWAYS TO SOME DEGREE. THERE IS NO QUESTION WHEN THE FED IS TALKING ABOUT IN A PUBLIC SENSE THE POSSIBILITY OF RAISING RATES, SURE. THAT MIGHT HAVE AN IMPACT ON SOME EQUITY BUYERS. EVANS: IS THIS, IN YOUR YOU KNOW, JUST AS AN INDEPENDENT OBSERVER POINT OF VIEW, THE RIGHT TIME, THE APPROPRIATE TIME, FOR THE FED TO RAISE INTEREST RATES? FERGUSON: I LIKE THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE ME AS AN INDEPENDENT OBSERVER AND YOU INTRODUCED ME AS FORMER FED VICE CHAIRMAN. EVANS: WELL, WE HAVE HINTED AT THAT AS WELL. FERGUSON: SO LOOK, I THINK THE ANSWER IS THE FED IS CONFRONTING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FORCES THAT WILL PLAY INTO THEIR DECISION MAKING. FIRST, LABOR MARKETS CLEARLY HAVE BEEN STRENGTHENING FOR SOME TIME. MANY PEOPLE THINK, GEE, MAYBE WE ARE ALMOST AT FULL EMPLOYMENT OR AT LEAST THE SLACK THAT WAS THERE HAS BEEN REDUCED. SECONDLY, INFLATION HAS BEEN RELATIVELY LOW, BUT THE FED MODELS SUGGEST THAT THAT MIGHT PICK UP. AND THEN THE THIRD OBVIOUSLY HAS TO DO WITH THIS VOLATILITY IN MARKETS. AND SO WHEN THEY GET TO THEIR MEETING IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS, I THINK THOSE ARE THE THREE FORCES THAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE CONSIDERING. EVANS: BUT IF IT CAME DOWN TO TODAY AND TODAY'S CONDITIONS, JEFF GUNDLACH SAID IF YOU WERE ON MARS AND JUST LOOKED AT CONDITIONS TODAY, YOU WOULD NEVER SAY THE FED SHOULD HIKE RIGHT NOW. DO YOU THINK CONDITIONS ARE APPROPRIATE FOR THEM TO DO SO? FERGUSON: I THINK IF YOU LOOK AT TODAY'S CONDITIONS, YOU WOULD SAY LOOK, FINANCIAL CONDITIONS HAVE PROBABLY TIGHTENED A LITTLE BIT. THE DOLLAR IS A LITTLE STRONGER. INFLATIONARY PRESSURES FROM THAT THEREFORE ARE LIKELY TO WEAKEN. BUT WE KNOW THE FED IS CERTAINLY THINKING ABOUT IT. AND SO I WOULD OBSERVE, LET'S NOT TRY TO MAKE IT A CALL ON TODAY'S CONDITIONS. SEE HOW THE INCOMING DATA DRIVERS, WHERE DOES THE FED END UP IN SEPTEMBER, THE NEXT COUPLE OF MEETINGS. I THINK MARKETS WILL BE VERY INTERESTED. THOSE ARE THE CONDITIONS, THOSE ARE THE QUESTIONS, I THINK THAT ARE ON EVERYONE'S MINDS. EVANS: AND IN THE MEANTIME, YOU GUYS HAVE TO PUT MONEY TO WORK EVERY SINGLE DAY IN THESE MARKETS. SO TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE SEE A SHARP DECLINE LIKE THIS. DOES IT MEAN ACTUALLY TO HIT YOUR BALANCE TARGETS THAT YOU GUYS YOU PUT MORE MONEY INTO STOCKS? HOW DOES THAT WORK? FERGUSON: THE REALITY IS OUR PORTFOLIO MANAGERS EACH HAVE A LIST OF THE EQUITIES THAT THEY MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN. THEY MAY LOOK AT THESE PRICES AND SAY THAT LOOKS TO ME LIKE A REALLY GOOD TIME TO START TO BUY MORE, IF YOU WILL. BUT WE ARE VERY MUCH INTERESTED IN FUNDAMENTAL POINTS OF VIEW. WE ALSO CLEARLY ENCOURAGE AND TAKE A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE. AND SO WE DON'T GET OVERLY EXCITED ABOUT THE UPS AND DOWNS. AND THE FINAL THING TO RECOGNIZE ABOUT US, MAY DIFFERENTIATE US FROM OTHERS, IS WE ARE BROADLY DIVERSIFIED. SO IT'S EQUITIES, FIXED INCOME, ALTERNATIVES. AND WE THINK THAT IS PART OF THE MODEL FOR CREATING LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE BENEFITS. EVANS: AND WHAT IS THE SHARE FOR EACH OF THOSE PIECES? FERGUSON: THOSE SHARES WILL VARY OVER TIME DEPENDING ON HOW WE THINK THE OUTLOOK MAY LOOK AND WHETHER OR NOT THERE ARE SOME VALUES THERE. EVANS: I KNOW SOME OF YOUR ALTERNATIVES. PEOPLE MIGHT BE SURPRISED TO KNOW YOU ARE ONE OF THE BIGGEST OWNERS OF ALMOND TREES ON THE PLANET AND ONE OF THE BIGGEST OPERATORS OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE. EVANS: YOU KNOW, THERE ARE A VARIETY OF ALTERNATIVES HERE. AND A BIG EMPHASIS ON REAL ESTATE WHICH TIL LATELY, THERE HAS BEEN TALK ABOUT A BUBBLE BUILDING THERE ON THE COMMERCIAL SIDE A LITTLE BIT. SO ARE YOU COMFORTABLE STILL WITH YOUR EXPOSURE TO A VARIETY OF ALTERNATIVES IN THIS ENVIRONMENT? FERGUSON: WE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE EXPOSURE OF VARIETY OF ALTERNATIVES WE RECOGNIZE THAT EACH ONE OF THEM HAS A DIFFERENT CYCLE. SO LET ME TAKE ON THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE QUESTION. YES, THAT MARKET HAS BEEN PRETTY STRONG FOR THE LAST FOUR OR FIVE YEARS. HOWEVER, WE SEE CONTINUED STRENGTH THERE FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS. FIRST, LABOR MARKETS ARE IMPROVING. SECONDLY, WE SEE THAT VACANCY RATES ARE COMING DOWN. RENTS ARE INCREASING. AND SO WHILE CAP RATES LOOK STRONG WE WILL PUT IT THAT WAY, WE STILL THINK FOR THE RIGHT PROPERTIES IN THE RIGHT LOCATIONS, THERE'S SOME UPSIDE POTENTIAL. EVANS: NOW FINALLY ON CHINA TO BRING THIS ALL BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION THAT IS ON EVERYBODY'S MINDS HEADING INTO THIS EVENING, AGAIN, THEY HAVE CUT RATES FOR THE FIFTH TIME SINCE THE END OF LAST YEAR. MADE OTHER ADJUSTMENTS, BUT IT APPEARS NOTHING THAT IS REALLY SHORING UP INVESTOR CONFIDENCE GLOBALLY. DO YOU THINK THEY NEED A BIGGER BANG KIND OF MOVE RIGHT NOW TO HELP STABILIZE THINGS FOR EVERYBODY? FERGUSON: MY IMPRESSION OF THE CHINESE IS THAT THEY ARE VERY GOOD AT WORKING THROUGH AND MANAGING THEIR ECONOMIES. AND SO I WOULD EXPECT THEM TO CONTINUE TO FOCUS IN ON THESE ELEMENTS OF STIMULUS. SO I DO THINK THAT THEY NEED TO DRIVE A LITTLE BIT MORE STIMULUS THROUGH THAT ECONOMY TO TRY TO GET TO THE SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES. AT THE SAME TIME, THEY'VE GOT A LONG-TERM STRATEGY OF TRYING TO MOVE INTO MORE OF A CONSUMER-ORIENTED SOCIETY. MAYBE AWAY FROM EXPORTS SO MUCH. AND I THINK THEY ALSO HAVE TO DO THAT PIVOT AS PART OF THEIR LONG-TERM STRATEGY. BUT OVER TIME, I THINK THOUGH IT WILL BE TRICKY FROM DAY TO DAY, I THINK THEY WILL BE ULTIMATELY SUCCESSFUL. EVANS: ALRIGHT. ROGER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON A DAY LIKE THIS, ESPECIALLY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. FERGUSON: THANK YOU. MY PLEASURE. EVANS: THAT'S ROGER FERGUSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF TIAA-CREF. With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD , CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 371 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms. These include CNBC.com, the online destination for global business; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides real-time global market data and live access to CNBC global programming; and a suite of CNBC Mobile products including the CNBC Real-Time iPhone and iPad Apps. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/cnbc/.
|
high
| 1.807692 |
CNBC Exclusive: CNBC Transcript: TIAA-CREF President & CEO Roger Ferguson Speaks with CNBC’s Kelly Evans on “Closing Bell” Today
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150926073311id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/19/this-simple-math-points-to-dow-21700-analyst.html
|
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit yet another all-time closing high on Monday, marking the fifth record close for 2015. And according to Cornerstone Macro's head of technical analysis, Carter Worth, one simple equation could signal another 3,000 points to the upside for the blue chips. It all has to do with the Dow's price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, relative to that of the S&P 500, Worth said. On CNBC's "Fast Money" on Monday, Worth laid out his case for another big leg higher in the Dow by pointing out that the index is inexpensive relative to the S&P 500. "We know that the S&P is trading at 18.8 times and the Dow is trading at 15.8 times," he said, marking a 3-point differential between the P/E ratios of the Dow and S&P 500. "If you were just to put an S&P multiple on to the Dow, you're talking about 21,700." Optimize Advisors President and Chief Strategist Mike Khouw found data consistent with the trend that Worth highlighted. "Looking back a couple decades, when the spread between the price to earnings ratio of the S&P and Dow was 3.5 or higher, the Dow has averaged returns 40 basis points higher than the S&P 500 over the following 90 days." On the flip side, Khouw said, when the two indices traded at parity or when the Dow was more expensive on a P/E basis, it tended to underperform the S&P 500 by a similar margin. Worth identified three stocks that could help lead the Dow higher. One of those stocks was Goldman Sachs, the Dow's most heavily weighted company, which Worth said has "already started to break out." Goldman Sachs is outperforming the market year-to-date and is up around 30 percent in the past 52 weeks. Worth said the stock's chart looks very similar to that of the Dow, and he expected the stock to move another 10 percent higher. United Technologies could also lead the Dow higher in the near future, Worth said. "It's been a laggard this year," he said, but "the presumption is that we in fact break out and exceed the $120 level." Finally, Worth named tech behemoth Apple as another key driver for the Dow's going forward. "It's just a stay long, be long momentum kind of trade," he said. Worth said the chart's technical levels are setting up for another new high. When asked whether it's possible that the S&P is in fact expensive and should really be trading at a multiple closer to that of the Dow, Worth pointed to the lagging performance of "super-cap" names over the "better part of the last three years." That trend, he said, is now starting to change. "If one looks at the relative performance of the largest stocks in the S&P 500, they have started to outperform," he said. "We think that continues, and lends credence to being long the Dow relative to the S&P."
|
medium
| 1.708333 |
Carter Worth of Cornerstone Macro says the Dow could climb to 21,700 if it traded at the same multiple as the S&P 500.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150927184431id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/17/lost-seconds-cost-millions-in-online-shopping.html
|
Now, people will do a quick browse from a smartphone while on the move, then shift to a tablet while sitting in front of the TV and finally make a purchase from a laptop. Consumers expect shopping sites to adapt to their use of technology, but the older CDN services were built for a PC-centric world. "We were desperate to find another solution," said Greg Tatem, Wine.com's vice president of engineering. "This isn't about just one device anymore, and not just about mobile. We have to completely rethink that paradigm." For Instart, Wine.com was a very early customer. The Palo Alto, California-based company has since grown so fast that investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have been pouring in money, including a $26 million financing round in May. This is only the second holiday season for Instart since its public launch in mid-2013. The company now has about 100 customers, with 90 percent in online retail, said its founder and chief executive officer, Manav Mital. They include Dollar Shave Club, One Kings Lane and Stella & Dot. Washington Post is also a client. Read More'Boring' Akamai hot tech play Taking on market leader Akamai is no easy task, and if CNBC.com's series "Powering the holidays" were all about the biggest technology players, Akamai would capture most of the CDN ink. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company, founded in 1998, generated more than $1.5 billion in revenue last year and has more than 150,000 servers in 92 countries. Best Buy, L'Oreal, Microsoft and Staples.com are among the many large brands that count on Akamai to speedily delivery traffic to their sites. Given that 15 to 30 percent of Web traffic flows through Akamai, the company has an added security layer because it has seen many of the most sophisticated cyberattacks and can react accordingly. And for the first time, through a partnership with Cisco, Akamai is bringing its technology into stores, powering digital signage and product recommendations for retailers like Louis Vuitton. The company feels it handles the habits of the multiplatform shopper just fine. "We have a very broad set of capabilities that really address customer problems in three different segments," said Neil Cohen, an Akamai vice president. Last year on Cyber Monday, the company's network saw 11.2 million page views per minute at its peak. "When retailers need us the most, we deliver at scale for all of our customers," Cohen said. Read MoreDollar Shave's razor strategy As if going up against Akamai wasn't enough, Instart is also taking on Amazon.com, which has a product called CloudFront that's part of its fast-growing cloud services business. But Instart has one big advantage over most enterprise software start-ups that are trying to displace established incumbents: It takes almost no time to switch. Companies don't have to implement a big software suite and get employees trained on new tools. Rather, they just redirect how traffic comes to their site and within a few minutes, they start seeing the results. "Switching costs are shockingly low," said Mital, who started the company in 2010, after stints at Yahoo and Aster Data, which was acquired by Teradata. With that, "we make sure we enable the delivery of the best possible experience to users across devices."
|
medium
| 0.777778 |
Because consumers can click to another site or app to make their purchases, the Web buying experience has to be clean, fast and fun.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160508074949id_/http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/frisoni-glendale-s-case-a-lie-and-an-attack-on-my-credibility-061515
|
Former assistant Glendale city manager Julie Frisoni fired back at her accusers after city attorneys alleged in Maricopa County Superior Court on Friday that she may have violated a conflict of interest under Arizona statute that would allow the City Council to terminate its arena lease agreement with the Coyotes. "I am not a lawyer," Frisoni said. "I do not create legal contracts in my down time. I have never been involved in a multi-million dollar contract for a sports franchise, and to say otherwise is a blatant falsehood, a lie and an attack on my credibility." Arizona Revised Statute 38-511 allows a government entity to end a contract with another party if an employee who was "significantly involved in initiating, negotiating, securing, drafting or creating the contract" goes to work for the other party in the agreement. The Glendale City Council voted 5-2 last week to void its 15-year, $225 million arena lease and management agreement with the Coyotes. Its case appears to rest on Frisoni and former city attorney Craig Tindall, who now serves as general counsel for the team. Yvonne Knaack was Glendale vice mayor at the time the agreement was created. She called the city's assertion that Frisoni played a role "ludicrous." "She was never in any of those meetings," Knaack said. "She was our communications director. She had no access. She had no role. I'm absolutely baffled by the city's stance on this." Glendale hired Frisoni in July 2002 as communications director. She had worked for nearly two decades at Channel 12 News, serving various roles including executive producer and managing editor. She was promoted to assistant city manager in August 2013, one month after the city council voted to approve the arena lease agreement with the team. During negotiations, Frisoni said she functioned just as any other municipal or business communications director would function. "I took information that came out of those negotiations and communicated that to our residents and to the media," she said. "I served as the official spokesperson on behalf of the city after the lawyers and city management had negotiated the deal points." Councilmember Gary Sherwood said that when the council initially convened to discuss this last week, he asked the identity of the other person with a conflict of interest that the council was targeting, and they would not tell him. Nor were any of the alleged violations discussed. Frisoni's name first surfaced in court when city attorney Michael Bailey named her as the other former employee who had violated conflict of interest by going to work for the Coyotes. Frisoni resigned as assistant city manager in March to start her own P.R. firm. When the Coyotes elected to submit a bid to host the World Junior Championship, they asked Frisoni if she'd be willing to act as a consultant because she had worked on similar bids for the city, including hosting the NCAA Final Four. Before contracting with Frisoni, Coyotes CEO and president Anthony LeBlanc said the team contacted Bailey to make sure there were no issues, and Bailey said there were not. Because the correspondence occurred through email, the Coyotes say they have documentation of that exchange with Bailey. Three legal analysts contacted by FOX Sports Arizona expressed disbelief that Frisoni was part of the city's case against the Coyotes. "The Tindall claim was stupid enough," attorney Dan Barr of Perkins Coie said. "But claiming that Julie Frisoni, their PR person, had significant involvement in the Coyote deal? "I understand them desperately looking for a way to get out of the deal, but how this went beyond five minutes of consideration is unbelievable." Frisoni said she has hired a lawyer and will be watching this case "very closely." "If at any point in this process there is damage to my reputation or it results in any type of financial hit to myself or my family, the city will be facing more than the Coyotes' $200 million lawsuit," she said. "I never could have imagined that the city I live in and for which I have worked for many years would have resorted to an unbelievably desperate move to achieve their goal of getting the Coyotes to renegotiate their deal. "Mayor (Jerry) Weiers and (vice mayor) Ian Hugh are the kingpins in this. They are not supporters of the Coyotes, and they have been looking for an opportunity like this. They found it when they got two junior councilmembers (Lauren Tolmachoff and Bart Turner) who knew very little about the deal and the city. If they want to move forward with this, it's going to end very badly for them." Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
|
high
| 1.2 |
Former assistant city manager says she will sue city if case damages her reputation or results in financial loss.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160528222452id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/18/malaysia-discounts-possible-missing-plane-sighting-in-maldives.html?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Crelated%7Cstory%7Cstory&par=yahoo&doc=101506025%7CAnother+Crimea%3F+Ukraine%27s
|
A senior U.S. official said he was "not aware of any stones left unturned". Unless there is some kind of breakthrough, either in the form of new data or a sighting of the plane, the investigation appears to be drifting towards deadlock, sources said. Diplomats and safety experts said the investigation is hampered by the reluctance of many countries to share military intelligence. Asked how important such data would be to resolving the mystery, Hishammuddin said, "It is very important. But in the case of Malaysia, we have actually put aside national security, national interest to get to where we are today." A senior diplomat in the region said military and government leaders were studying Malaysia's request, but there was no word so far on whether any data would be exchanged. Malaysia says it will have to buy a new radar system after revealing what it knew of the path the airliner took after turning back across its territory. (Read more: Malaysian Prime Minister: Actions on board MH370 were deliberate) "It looks like the ball is in (others') court now and they need to decide what sort of military and other data they are willing to share with us," a Malaysian government source said. Analysts say it will be difficult to persuade others to do the same, especially if the result would be to reveal weakness in their own defences given the numerous maritime and territorial boundary disputes going on in the region. "Information and intelligence exchange is very sensitive in this part of the world where there is a lot of distrust and sovereign issues," said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "Countries are unwilling to share sensitive intelligence because if reveals their military capabilities - or lack of capabilities." (Read more: MH370 still without trace as search efforts double) The search covers a total area of 2.24 million nautical miles (7.68 million sq km), from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean. Because of its size, scale of human loss and sheer uncertainty over what happened, the missing airliner looks set to establish itself as one of the most baffling air transport incidents of all time. A breakthrough is still possible, experts say. Wreckage could be found, but the more time elapsed since the aircraft's disappearance the more it will be scattered. "It's a mystery and it may remain a mystery," says Elizabeth Quintalla, chief air power researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
|
medium
| 0.740741 |
Investigators probing the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board have discounted reports the plane may have been sighted over the Maldives.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160621112444id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/06/20/summer-price-drop-for-live-lobsters-may-come-early-this-year/GiIF4cyIWknCTAYfEForVN/story.html
|
Live lobster prices are high in New England and beyond as fishermen eagerly await the summer arrival of the region’s beloved crustaceans, which could come slightly early and send prices down. Lobstermen in Maine and Massachusetts, who supply the U.S. with most of its domestic lobsters, are coming off several years of high catches for lobsters, a signature food item for the region. Prices for lobsters also have been somewhat high for most of the last two years, with the consumer price currently in the range of $8 to $12 per pound at most retail outlets in Maine, the country’s biggest lobster producer. That’s a couple dollars more than a year ago. Prices vary around the country, but the arrival of New England’s lobsters will likely lower prices nationwide. Prices tend to fall every year in the summer when many lobsters reach legal trapping size and catches increase. Scientists have warned the bigger catches can come early this year — a circumstance that can disrupt the lobster supply chain and depress prices. So far, that hasn’t happened. Right now, lobsters are trickling in, said David Cousens, a South Thomaston lobsterman and the president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. ‘‘As long as they keep coming slow, there’s going to be a big demand for them,’’ he said. The busiest portion of Maine’s summer lobster fishing season typically begins around early July, coinciding with the tourist season. Scientists with the Portland-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute have predicted this year’s lobster season will start two or three weeks early because of warm ocean temperatures. Andy Pershing, a scientist with the institute, said temperatures in the central Gulf of Maine are running about one degree Fahrenheit higher than the 14-year average. He said the bump in lobster catches could happen any day now. A very early lobster season happened in 2012, and prices fell to their lowest point in almost 20 years. Steve Kingston, who runs a restaurant and lobster pound in Kennebunk, said that hasn’t been the case this year. Kingston, who buys lobsters direct from fishermen, said some have been held back from fishing by high winds and a surprisingly cold spring. ‘‘There certainly isn’t enough of them to start moving price down,’’ Kingston said. Lobstermen have experienced unprecedented production in recent years. The nation’s lobster catch was worth more than a half-billion dollars last year, by far the most in history. Lobster dealers are approaching this season as they would any other, said Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association. ‘‘If weather or volume or any other variable changes based on your best estimate of what may happen, you adjust your plans and act accordingly,’’ she said.
|
medium
| 1.454545 |
If lobster season arrives earlier than usual, it could disrupt the supply chain and drive down prices across the region.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160629130348id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2004/08/20/opinion/mastering-the-art-of-julia-child.html
|
If a dish goes horribly wrong, like a ''vile'' eggs Florentine she once made for a friend, Julia instructed, ''Never apologize.'' She considered it unseemly for a cook to twist herself into knots of excuses and explanations. Such admissions ''only make a bad situation worse,'' she said, by drawing attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings) and prompting your guest to think: Yes, you're right, this really is an awful meal. ''The cook must simply grin and bear it,'' Julia said firmly. Our conversation drifted to the Cordon Bleu, France's famous cooking school. In 1950 she was the lone woman in a class of 11 American G.I.'s learning to cook there under the G.I. Bill. Always considerate of ''the boys'' in person, Julia confided to her sister-in-law that the G.I.'s weren't serious enough: ''there isn't an artist in the bunch,'' she coolly observed. And when I asked about Madame Brassard, the school's formidable proprietor, Julia, who rarely spoke ill of anyone, snapped: ''She was a horrid woman. She hardly knew how to cook and was mostly interested in making money. Besides, she wasn't even French -- she was Belgian.'' When I asked her about the recent tension between France and the United States, Julia said she'd found it disappointing but not surprising. ''It was the same in 1949,'' she recalled. That year, an old American friend in Paris had blurted out that she considered the French mean, grasping, chiseling and unfriendly in every way. The friend, Alice, couldn't wait to leave France and said she would never return. ''Her words were still ringing in my ears the next morning, when I had a flat tire, broke a milk bottle and forgot to bring a basket for strawberries,'' Julia recalled. ''Yet every person I met that day was helpful and sweet, and one of them even gave me a fish head for our cat! Alice had been a good friend, but I just didn't understand her anymore.'' Julia, meanwhile, had decided that ''I must really be French -- only no one had ever informed me of this fact. I loved the people, the food, the lay of the land, the civilized atmosphere and the generous pace of life there. I saw no reason to leave, ever.'' Julia led a charmed life, but it wasn't perfect. In France she and Paul had half-heartedly tried to conceive, but, ''it didn't take,'' she said with a shrug. Resolutely unsentimental, Julia did not dwell on this. Instead, she directed her enormous energy into ''cookery.'' Paul, who was quiet but strong-willed, was fully supportive of her decision. ''If we'd had children, I never would have had the career I did,'' she said. ''I don't regret it.'' As Julia grew sleepy, and her black-and-white cat Minou chased butterflies around our feet like a mischievous sprite, my wife Sarah asked her: ''What was your favorite thing you've ever done?'' Julia paused a beat, and with eyes suddenly bright, answered: ''Cooking with other chefs!'' That deceptively simple phrase was quintessential Julia: clear, modest, committed, eager to participate, and happiest when she was sharing delicious food with others. ''It's been a very nice life,'' she said. And then she lay down to rest.
|
low
| 0.857143 |
Op-Ed article by Alex Prud'homme pays tribute to his good friend Julia Child; recounts conversation he had with her days before she died, when she recalled arriving in France in 1948 not speaking language or knowing how to cook; notes that six years later, she was fluent in French, ran cooking school and was co-authoring comprehensive cookbook that would later make her famous; diagram (M)
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160710130339id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/11/japans-energy-debate-rages-on-tsunami-anniversary.html
|
Yoshikazu Tsuno | AFP | Getty Images A tsunami survivor wipes away tears as he joins a search for the remains of missing people at Namie, near the striken TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture on March 11, 2014. Against this backdrop, Abe last month announced details of a plan that defines nuclear power as an important long-term source of energy for the world's number three economy. According to media reports, the new Basic Energy Plan will seek to restart Japan's nuclear reactors. "You have to consider the tremendous cost of the legacy of Fukushima, which may cost in excess of $125 billion once all the compensation is paid," said Edwin Lyman, senior scientist at the global security program of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. "The site is going to remain radioactive for decades and is still leaking radioactivity into the ocean. You have to wonder what you're buying by restarting those plants." The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 soon developed into a nuclear catastrophe as one system after another at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant failed. Three of the plant's six reactors suffered meltdowns, releasing deadly radiation into the sea and air. Following Fukushima, many countries put their nuclear energy plans under review. Western Europe saw 11 reactors close between 2010 and 2012, according to market research firm Euromonitor. (Read more: The next weak nuclear link? Here's where to look) Abe will have a tough time convincing voters that returning to nuclear power is in Japan's interests, analysts say. "We see a big gap right now between the political leaders and the average person in Japan. I think the solution might be the NRA [Nuclear Regulatory Authority], a new agency in charge of regulation will stall the process for a few months, and Abe hopes, during that period, people will calm down and see nuclear power possibility again," said Daniel Aldrich, associate professor of political science at Purdue University. A crisis in Ukraine, which has highlighted the risks associated with relying on energy imports from Russia, could help Abe win over public opinion. (Read more: Russia energy a threat to Europe, but not the US) "Of course oil from the Middle East and Russia make Japan more dependent on other countries and make Abe seemingly weak. But in actual fact, he [Abe] definitely will use that as an argument to try and convince people to come back onboard," Aldrich said. — By CNBC.Com's Dhara Ranasinghe; Follow her on Twitter @DharaCNBC
|
medium
| 1.037037 |
As Japan marked the third anniversary of the tsunami that sparked a nuclear emergency, debate rages as to whether it should return to nuclear power.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160721121729id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/sport/rugbyunion/international/ireland/8373920/Keith-Wood-Ireland-should-ignore-criticism-and-concentrate-on-improving-in-the-Six-Nations.html
|
It was an eye opener that dashed my sense of importance within rugby and rightly so. I had let the hype get to my head and now was suffering the withdrawal symptoms. It had been great to be lauded but it was gut-wrenching to be written off. On returning to play I resolved never to let that happen again, though to be honest, not always successfully. Sportsmen are selfish and have to be so. The introspection is essential to improve. It is only natural, though, that they want people to say good things about them, but to accept the plaudits you leave yourself open to the brickbats. Kipling sorted me out, as I learned to treat his two imposters the same. Contrary to what most sportsmen say in public, I always read the papers, but after my injury I went for an average opinion, akin to the scoring system in diving. The hyperbole and the wholly negative were discarded and I was left with what was for the most part a fair reflection of my game. My last determining factor was whether or not I rated the journalist or pundit, the implication being if I didn’t have respect for him I would dismiss his comments out of hand. To counteract that I also had a few old friends never shy of telling it as it was, essential info to keep me on terra firma. I felt it gave me perspective from outside the bubble. This has become the story of Ireland’s Six Nations. Brian O’Driscoll has bemoaned the fact that there is an air of negativity, generated by the media, hanging like a cloud over the team. Opinions, reactions and agendas are strewn all over the place. With all the new media, Twitter and Facebook in particular, two portals that I am comfortably ignorant of, criticism is not confined to the broadsheets or the airwaves. Opinion is directed straight to your computer. Unfortunately some of the players have responded to the taunts and have given some credence to these anonymous views and it is pretty tough and pointless to argue with someone virtually. In many ways the kerfuffle highlights some of the real issues Ireland have. They are trying to change how they play but for all the things they are doing right their attention to detail has been poor. They are scoring tries comfortably but they are butchering an equal number of chances. Their line defence is outstanding, but their ruck defence hearkens back to last year’s interpretation. They want and need to change but it is a painful transition. They got out of jail against Italy, spurned a realistic win over France and hung on for dear life to beat Scotland. Two wins and one loss is not a bad season, but it is the manner that is causing the tumult. Of course some of the reports are unfavourable. The team have raised expectations over the last 10 years and they have basked in that glory. Supporters and the media alike have had a taste for the good stuff and do not like the dip in handling or the increase in the penalty count. Of course they are grumbling. Very little of it is personal and the bit that is should be thrown in the trash. More time needs to be diverted to what matters, improved performance and continued winning. Ireland have to learn that the game they need to play is one they can be confident with, because at the moment they are caught between the old and the new. The answer? Tone down the expansive and make decisions on merit, not on how you would like to play. It’s not paranoia if they are out to get you, but most are not. Most just want you to play well and win.
|
low
| 0.744681 |
I learned my lesson about opinions very early in my career. I was selected as a callow-faced 20 year-old with a shock of black hair to sit on the Ireland bench in November 1992 for the match against Australia.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160808121255id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/general-election-2015/parliamentary-constituencies/ashton-under-lyne/11983331/Labour-MP-uses-Commons-notepaper-to-criticise-shoe-shop-for-failing-to-reserve-novelty-Star-Wars-shoes.html
|
"The store manager saw it and that wasn't nice, it was cruel. I wouldn't dream of writing a letter of complaint on company headed paper." Daniel Theophanides, head of retail at Irregular Choice The upset MP wrote a strongly-worded letter of complaint on House of Commons notepaper, saying: "I have only ever brought your shoes and I am loath to do so again, or recommend your shoes to others. I am writing to let you know that treating customers in that way will only cost you more in the long term." Daniel Theophanides, 32, head of retail at Brighton-based Irregular Choice, said he was 'personally very shocked by the complaint', adding: "It was the wording of the complaint on House of Commons headed paper. One was addressed to head office and the other was sent to the shop in Brighton. "The store manager saw it and that wasn't nice, it was cruel. I wouldn't dream of writing a letter of complaint on company headed paper." He insisted the MP mistakenly believed she was on a pre-order list but in fact the shoes were only available to people who turned up at their shops. He said: "There was a queue outside every single one of our five stores in the UK on Carnaby Street and Camden in London and in Brighton, Leicester and Norwich." He said he called her to say he was 'sorry she missed out' but did not get a chance to offer her a pair he had sourced from China as she 'hung up'. The MP tweeted about the incident, writing: "Shame they sold my pair after I waited months on their list & been a customer 4 years. Poor customer service." She told the M.E.N. in a statement: "There appears to have been a breakdown in communications with the company, which is regrettable." She added: "My complaint was about the poor level of customer service and the attitude of a member of staff, who appears to be seeking headlines in tabloid newspapers rather than concentrating on providing a decent service to customers." Her office pointed out rules permitted 'modest use of' House of Commons stationery for personal correspondence.
|
medium
| 0.611111 |
Angela Rayner uses Commons notepaper to complain that her novelty Star Wars shoes had not been reserved
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160808143215id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/technology/twitter/11181258/Twitter-wages-war-on-passwords-with-Digits-phone-number-login.html
|
“This is an entirely new native mobile sign up service that makes mobile-first sign-up frictionless, and creates an identity relationship entirely between you and your users,” said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, speaking at the Twitter Flight developer conference in San Francisco today. “We power it – we make it easy for you to communicate with your users – but that identity relationship is between you and them, not some third party. We power it and then we get out of the way.” Twitter is able to provide this service because it has relationships with almost every major mobile operator on the planet. This means that users can post to Twitter from pretty much any country in the world by simply sending a text message to their Twitter account. While Snapchat and WhatsApp have got ahead of the game by making their own SMS deals with mobile operators for identity verification purposes, Digits allows developers to leverage Twitter's existing distribution network, making the whole process quicker and less expensive. Digits is just one of feature of Twitter's new mobile development platform, called Fabric, which aims to give developers a comprehensive toolkit for developing apps that integrate with Twitter. The technology will be available in 216 countries and 18 languages, and will be free for developers to use. This also includes a new syndication tool, that makes it easier for app developers to embed filtered streams of tweets in their apps and web pages, and new crash-reporting tools from Crashlytics – a company that Twitter acquired in January. Mobile-focused ad exchange MoPub, which Twitter acquired last year, has also been integrated into Fabric, allowing app developers to take images and text elements supplied by advertisers and format them so that they integrate better with their own content, making the ads less intrusive for the user. App developers do not have to use all of the features of Fabric; they can pick the features they want and display them on a dashboard, giving them a high level view of how their app is performing and how it is being used. McDonalds, Wall Street Journal, Spotify and Jawbone's Jambox are all already using aspects of the Fabric mobile development platform to improve the performance and enhance the capabilities of their iOS and Android apps. “What we’re announcing today has been forged from components that are already in use across a spectrum of apps, servicing more than one billion iOS and Android users around the world,” said Costolo. In the UK, 11.4 million people accessed Twitter at least once per month on a mobile phone in 2014, according to eMarketer – or 84 per cent of all UK Twitter users. In the US, that figure is 40.7 million, also reaching 84 per cent of US Twitter users. Twitter accounted for 0.7 per cent of UK digital ad revenues in 2013, and is expected to reach 1.3 per cent market share this year. Digital advertising totaled £6.3 billion in the UK in 2013, and eMarketer estimates it will increase to £7.25 billion in 2014.
|
medium
| 0.956522 |
Twitter has announced a new service called Digits that allows users to login to mobile apps using their mobile phone number alone
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160814060003id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/SB10001424052748704129204575506032735502538
|
LOS ANGELES—Authorities arrested the mayor and most city-council members Tuesday in Bell, Calif., charging them and former officials with defrauding constituents of $5.5 million in outsized salaries and perks. The arrests, which landed all but one of the city's elected officials in Los Angeles County jails, came after revelations this summer that some part-time council members were paying themselves $100,000 a year. Former City Manager Robert Rizzo was the highest paid among those charged, taking home $1.1 million a year in salary and benefits. The blue-collar municipality of 37,000 mostly Latino residents is one of a cluster of small cities southeast of Los Angeles that has been wracked by corruption scandals for years. "This is corruption on steroids," said Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who filed the charges Tuesday. At a news conference, Mr. Cooley said more charges could be filed as the probe continues. He said the officials could face a range of sentences if convicted, and promised "substantial prison time for the worst offenders." All but one of the city's sitting elected officials were booked on criminal charges Tuesday. Bail hearings are set for Wednesday morning. Bell city-council member Lorenzo Velez, who hasn't been charged in civil or criminal court, was left to run the city with interim City Manager Pedro Carrillo. Mr. Carrillo said in a statement released after the arrests that he was "prepared to double down our efforts to continue to restore order, establish good government reforms" and continue to run the city. Mr. Rizzo was charged with 53 counts of misappropriation of $4.3 million of public funds. The district attorney's office said Mr. Rizzo "wrote his own employment contracts that were never approved by the city council." Other former and current officials were charged with 24 counts of misappropriating $1.2 million of public funds. The criminal case also alleges that Mr. Rizzo, hired as Bell's chief administrative officer in 1994, gave nearly $1.9 million of unauthorized loans to himself, his former assistant, Angela Spaccia, two council members "and dozens of others." Mr. Rizzo's lawyer and lawyers for some of the defendants said their clients' salaries and loans were not a secret because elected officials approved them. "Both of my clients intend to prove their innocence," said Stanley L. Friedman, the lawyer representing Mayor Oscar Hernandez and former city council member Victor Bello. "Given the general hysteria that is going on in Bell and the political environment in California, they're not surprised by the charges." Bell officials used taxpayer dollars "as their own piggy bank, which they looted at will," Mr. Cooley said. Mr. Cooley said most of the arrests were without incident. However, a battering ram was used to enter the house of Mayor Oscar Hernandez, who was "a little slow" in answering the door, Mr. Cooley said at the news conference. Bail for Mr. Rizzo, who stepped down in July after the scandal broke in the Los Angeles Times, was set at $3.2 million. The criminal charges come on the heels of a civil suit filed against former and current Bell officials last week by California Attorney General Jerry Brown seeking to recover millions of dollars of salaries and pension benefits from Bell officials. Mr. Brown agreed to file civil charges while Mr. Cooley pursued criminal charges. Both men are in the midst of political campaigns. Mr. Cooley is the Republican candidate to succeed Mr. Brown as attorney general; Mr. Brown is the Democratic candidate for governor. Each has been accused by opponents and lawyers for some of the defendants of using the Bell scandal to burnish their election campaigns. Mr. Rizzo's lawyer, James W. Spertus, accused Mr. Cooley of grandstanding by allowing the media to photograph Mr. Rizzo being taken into custody outside his home. "The arrest of Mr. Rizzo in a public spectacle was inappropriate and done for campaign purposes," Mr. Spertus said. The arrests were widely anticipated following this summer's revelations of inflated salaries. Angry residents had already managed to oust a few city officials, but had been clamoring for criminal charges, and mounted a recall campaign to unseat most of the city-council members. "I'm so glad this day is finally here," said Mario Rivas, a Bell resident and a member of the Bell Residents Club, which has been pushing for investigations of city officials. On Tuesday, Mr. Rivas and other Bell residents held a celebratory lunch in downtown Los Angeles. But Mr. Rivas said he and others are convinced "it's just the beginning." Mr. Rivas said he was disappointed that the former police chief, Randy Adams, whose salary was $457,000 a year, wasn't arrested. Mr. Adams was named in the civil suit. Mr. Cooley, who has been criticized for having a friendly relationship with Mr. Adams, said Tuesday that the probe so far hasn't led to charges against Mr. Adams, but didn't rule it out. "I would charge my mother if I had evidence," Mr. Cooley said. Meanwhile, some Bell residents are pushing for the city to be handed over to impartial receivers in the county or the state. "This is a crisis of confidence," said the Bell Residents Club's Mr. Rivas, adding that the only way for the city to move forward was for an impartial outsider to take over. The remaining city officials pledged to keep the city running. "It is a sad day for Bell that four current and two former members of the council also have been arrested," said a statement released by a Bell spokeswoman. The statement said the city believed Mr. Rizzo, as well as his former assistant, Ms. Spaccia, "were at the root of the cancer that has afflicted the City of Bell." Write to Tamara Audi at [email protected]
|
medium
| 1.72973 |
Eight current and former municipal officials were arrested as part of a corruption probe in Bell, Calif., where residents were outraged after learning officials were paying themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160814102713id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/08/12/sports/olympics/simone-biles-gymnastics-belize-rio-games.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
|
“We’re trying to put Belize on the map as much as we can,” Nellie, a retired nurse, said. “Simone is competing for the U.S., and we’re not taking any credit away from that. But the fact that she has dual citizenship, I don’t see why we cannot celebrate her second country also.” CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times And Belize seems happy to celebrate Biles. Formerly known as British Honduras, it gained its independence only in 1981. Belize has never produced an Olympic champion since it began competing in the Summer Games in 1968. A small contingent of three athletes was sent to Rio to compete with modest ambitions in track and field and judo. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Belize did have a big moment, celebrating and claiming three gold medals won in sprinting by the American Marion Jones, whose mother was born here. After winning the 200 meters, Jones held up a Belizean flag. Its coat of arms features two woodcutters, one with light brown skin carrying an ax, the other darker skinned and holding an oar, who symbolize the country’s ethnic diversity, history of slavery and its mahogany industry. Jones’s gesture brought international attention to Belize and widely endeared her to its citizens. The country later named her a sports ambassador. Though Jones’s victories were nullified and her career disgraced by doping and a check-fraud scheme, which brought a prison sentence of six months, she remains popular and appreciated here. Belize’s national stadium, long being refurbished, is called the Marion Jones Sports Complex. Belize’s relationship with Simone Biles is less entrenched so far, but also less complicated. She is a bubbly teenager who has traveled here regularly to visit and to go fishing and snorkeling on vacation. Last summer, she attended the wedding of her brother here, posed for a newspaper photographer, and was spotted doing back flips off a pier. Upon arriving in Rio, she traded Olympic pins with a Belizean athlete. “Simone said, when she gets married, it’s going to be in Belize,” Nellie Biles said. Ron Biles paused as he sat on a sofa at a hotel near Rio’s Olympic Park on Monday, his 67th birthday. “It’s going to be a while longer,” he said as a group of relatives broke into laughter. “Another 16 years.” As the Olympics approached, Simone was acknowledged by Belize’s ministry of youth and sports, interviewed on the popular Love FM radio, featured in the country’s largest-selling newspaper and followed widely on social media. “People are very excited, because she has Belizean parentage, she’s a great athlete and she acknowledges her Belizean roots,” Adele Ramos, the assistant editor of Amandala, Belize’s largest-circulating newspaper, said of Biles. “She is the next best thing for us after Marion Jones.” The American gymnast Simone Biles spoke on Friday after she won the women’s individual all-around gold medal at the Rio Games. Yet some feel conflicted, not about Biles, but about the way Belize, in their view, does not fully support its homegrown athletes. Karen Vernon, the theater director of Belize’s Institute of Creative Arts and the mother of two of the country’s top cyclists, said she was happy for Biles but did not “like the fact that Belize is waiting for her to win to claim her.” “We need to support our own athletes and artists,” Vernon said. “We have talent here.” The Cayetano family was not athletic, Nellie Biles said the other day with a laugh, though her father did claim ornately to have been a gymnast and the source of Simone’s versatile skills. “Everybody knows that Nellie’s father was a comedian,” said Florita Avila, 59, a cousin of Simone’s. As a girl, Nellie Biles said she played tennis and did the hop, skip and jump. Ron, her husband, shook his head. “You played hopscotch,” he said. His wife did not play sports but watched them on television, Ron added, before correcting himself and saying, “You didn’t have a television.” It is a true story, Nellie said. In 1973, at 18, she left Belize to attend nursing school at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Until then, she said, she had never seen a television in person, used a phone or flown on a plane. “It was, needless to say, culture shock,” she said. In 1976, she met Ron, who was stationed at Randolph Air Force Base outside San Antonio. (He is retired from the military and from his career as an air traffic controller.) In 1977, they married, and they have the playful banter of a couple who has been together for 40 years. Was it love at first sight? “No, oh no,” Nellie Biles said. “It was his good luck.” Ron replied, “She’s still here, isn’t she?” When the adoption of Simone and Adria, now 17, became official in November 2003, the Bileses returned home from meeting with a family judge outside Houston. Nellie told the girls that they could continue to call her and Ron Grandma and Grandpa, or they could call them Mom and Dad. Simone has said that she went upstairs, practiced in the mirror, then came down and said “Mom.” Nellie remembers Simone running back upstairs, probably giggling because it seemed funny. It was Mom from then on. Sam Manchester will guide you through the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Hey. It’s Sam from the NYT Sports desk. I’m at the Olympics in Rio (so you don’t have to be :)). Grab a limited spot and I’ll text you updates, answer your questions and share the behind-the-scenes stuff nobody else gets. Thanks! Talk to you soon. U.S. numbers only. Standard messaging rates may apply. Your information is used only to deliver messages about the Rio 2016 Olympics. “I think these girls did more for us than we did for them,” Nellie Biles said. “Simone centralized us as a family. We come together and do things and go places because of Simone.” While on a day-care field trip, Simone became interested in gymnastics. Her relatives in Belize remember her from those days as “little Simone,” a tiny girl in perpetual motion, a “spring chicken” and “a firecracker.” And they say she came to possess the same discipline, insistence, confidence and expectation as Nellie, the eldest sibling in her own family, who with three partners came to own 14 nursing homes in Texas before selling them last year and turning her attention to operating a gymnastics center. “She is Nellie’s child all over,” said Felix Enriquez, 47, Opal’s brother, who is scheduled to become the second in command in Belize’s ministry of defense. “A fair but stern personality. Always demanding that things be done in a proper way. A very big thinker. She doesn’t think small.” Ron and Nellie Biles have lived in their current home in Spring, Tex., for six years. Ron, a native of Cleveland, said he had never been in the pool until he jumped in when the Cavaliers won the N.B.A. title in June, the city’s first major championship since 1964. Would he jump in the Atlantic in Rio if Simone won gold in the women’s individual all around? “I’ll probably just cry,” he said. Nellie said she would watch nervously in the arena, grabbing someone to hold onto. Here, at the hotel bar, there was little tension, only clapping and cheering except for during Simone’s wobble on the balance beam. “I was panicking at that one,” Felix Enriquez said. Not to worry. Biles had a huge lead, which she secured on the floor exercise with elegance, strength and the stunning ability to land like a dart. “Oh my God!” Simplis Barrow, Belize’s first lady, said, putting her hands to her face, pumping her fists, and photo bombing a family picture. “Woooh.” “She has inspired us all,” Simplis Barrow said. “No matter where you come from, you can succeed. It is all right there in that small package.” A version of this article appears in print on August 12, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: As Biles Soars, a Tiny Country Rises With Her. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
|
high
| 1.136364 |
Her dual citizenship and family ties let Belize, 4,000 miles from the Rio Games, bask in her golden glow.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160817072651id_/http://www.cnbc.com:80/2014/10/13/cheap-oil-is-here-to-stay-at-least-for-a-few-months.html
|
It has taken a multitude of factors, all emerging around the same time, to create the volatility investors currently witness in the market, Hastings said. And it's precisely because of the complexity of all those risk factors that oil is expected to remain at lower prices for months. "You're looking at a lot of supply in a world that has a flat demand story," he said. Much of flat demand stems from worries of a recession in Europe and a slowdown in China. The euro zone is combating longstanding economic problems that have left it on the brink of another economic crisis. Meanwhile, growth in China has begun to lag, which is expected to reduce its thirst for crude. "In a slowdown, it's just natural that consumers would consume less," said Lars Knudsen, also a managing director and partner with HighTower Bellevue. "Even with lower oil prices, if unemployment is at 20 percent in Spain, those people are going to drive less and going to spend less. The same thing goes with China." Read More Why the oil price decline is failing to boost Europe Meanwhile, low demand for oil is being met by exorbitant supply. U.S. production of crude remains at all-time highs, which previously was of little consequence but now compounds the problem seen in the crude market. Simultaneously, political conditions have improved in Libya, allowing for oil production to ramp up in earnest for the first time since the start of the country's civil. Russia also plays the role of a spoiler when it comes to global crude supplies. Given the economic turmoil Russia has experienced due to its involvement in Ukraine, some analysts believe Moscow may cash in on its stores of oil to help keep the country's economy afloat. Normally, high oil supplies would push OPEC and other oil producing countries to cut production. Yet, recent reports suggest OPEC nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, are willing to keep prices low if that increases demand. "They have expectations of income," Knudsen said. "So they have increased production to keep their heads above water."
|
medium
| 0.92 |
Oil prices should stay at their currently low levels, or drop further, due to a "perfect storm" of risk factors.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161029105254id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/28/15/04/patients-still-face-hurdles-to-cannabis
|
Australia's medicinal cannabis industry officially gets the green light next week but the woman instrumental in driving the changes warns it'll be a long time before patients see the benefits. From November 1, cannabis for therapeutic use will become a controlled drug rather than a prohibited one. People will also be able to apply for licences to grow and manufacture medicinal cannabis in Australia. But Lucy Haslam, who became the face of the campaign for change after medicinal cannabis helped her late son Dan with the severe nausea caused by chemotherapy, says patients still face many hurdles to access. "I've got a lot of calls from patients saying how do I get it," Ms Haslam told AAP. "The reality is there's nothing to get yet." Elaine Darby, chief executive of medicinal cannabis company AusCann, says patients should be able to start accessing Australian-grown cannabis from late 2017. It's now up to other states and territories to enact their own legislation to enable access, as NSW and Queensland have done. But Ms Haslam says access from late 2017 is the best-case scenario. Once licences are granted, growers will need to import stock to get started, grow and manufacture the product, and then get it approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Until that happens, the only way to access medicinal cannabis is through the existing TGA special access scheme, which is complicated and "very problematic". There's also the issue of educating doctors who will need to prescribe the cannabis as they have been reluctant to get on board. "There's still quite a process that's going to take time - I think everyone is kind of making it up as they go along," Ms Haslam says. "It's very frustrating for patients that are wanting to access it now." Ms Haslam says Tuesday's changes are a significant milestone and eventually, Australia will have one of the world's best systems because it's been approved federally. But until it's up and running, she's pushing for a national compassionate access scheme for patients who need medicinal cannabis right now. Ms Haslam is calling for legislation to ensure patients needing to access the black market for now are protected, instead of relying on police discretion. "At the moment people clearly don't have a choice, people are still effectively breaking the law, and that's a really big burden if you're very sick." NSW already has a compassionate access system but it's deeply flawed because it's only available to adults and the terminally ill, Ms Haslam says. Patients, researchers and entrepreneurs are set to meet in Sydney on Saturday to brainstorm ideas on how to overcome the hurdles patients are likely to face in accessing medicinal cannabis. The organiser of the Seedlings event, entrepreneur Adam Miller who founded medicinal cannabis incubation program BuddingTech, says despite the many unknowns and barriers, there'll be plenty of opportunity. The Australian medicinal cannabis market is set to be worth around $150 million with massive growth predicted. "That's just based on a small number of patient groups - there are many other groups with supporting evidence that cannabis can help them too," Mr Miller told AAP.
|
medium
| 1.708333 |
The woman instrumental in the campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis says changes happening next week won't be a silver bullet for patients.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161207154912id_/http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161206-is-cycling-to-work-really-cheaper-than-public-transport
|
On the first day I commuted to work by bike, I woke up earlier than usual, overstuffed my backpack with snacks, clothes and towels and hit the road at 07:30. After a few miles, the GPS route I was following disappeared, forcing me to pull over to find the route again. Meanwhile, lorries and angry drivers were honking and overtaking me at high speed at a very busy junction. After more than an hour in the saddle, I finally arrived at the office, stressed out – but on time. For those of us who live in crowded cities with bad traffic and scarce parking, there are two main options for commuters: public transport and cycling. When you compare the two, it seems like an easy win for the former: cycling costs less and is good exercise. It’s these factors — along with expansion of bike lanes and cycling advocacy groups — that are helping drive growth in bike commuting in many countries around the world. In the US, the number of commuters by bike increased by 60% over the past decade In the US, according to the US Census Bureau, the number of commuters by bike increased by 60% over the past decade (from 488,000 in 2000 up to 786,000 during the years 2008-12) and 40% from 2006 to 2013 (from 623,000 to 882,000), even though they still account for just 0.6% of the total commuting population (a whopping 143 million workers). In London, according to the most recent census data, the number of cycling commuters more than doubled, from 77,000 in 2001 to 155,000 in 2011. In the UK as a whole in 2014 (the most recent year available), a record 183,423 employees participated in the Cycle to Work scheme, a Government’s scheme that enables employees to get bikes and accessories tax-free through their employers. . When I lived in in Turin, Italy I always cycled: compared to public transport, it was always faster and almost cost-free. I thought the same would apply in London. But that lasted only until I started to ride bikes for living (I was working for a cycling magazine). That’s when I gave up cycling to work. At the time, my office was 12 miles (19km) from my home – which meant either an hour in the saddle or an hour on the overground train. Although the time was the same, cycling was much cheaper: since I already owned everything I needed to commute by bike, the two-wheeled alternative was effectively cost-free. Public transport, on the other hand, was £146 (at the time, $210) a month. That simple calculation, though, didn’t take a couple of factors into account. For one, the need for consistency. If I relied on cycling and didn’t buy a month-long pass for the train – but then changed my mind one morning because, say, of bad weather – I was looking at an extra £11 ($15.80 at that time) round-trip. Doing that just twice a month added up quickly. On a bicycle, the traffic, the red lights and pollution made the ride a nightmare The calculation also didn’t include stress. On a bicycle, the traffic, the red lights and pollution made the ride a nightmare. Sitting on the train and reading was the more enjoyable option. Of course, that’s not true for everyone. But my experience made me wonder: is it really always cheaper and more convenient to commute by bike than with public transport? Theodora Robinson, 27, started to commute by bike in March this year, because she was “sick of paying for the privilege of squeezing through rush hour on the tube”, and wanted a healthier and cheaper option. The 27-year-old Londoner rides a Liv Avail – a mid-range road bike that she got free of charge through the UK’s Cycle to Work scheme. The bike, when she bought it, had a price tag of £750 ($950). “My commute is around 40 minutes, depending on traffic,” she says. “I might take the Tube on occasion, but I'm rarely put off by the weather. It's definitely cheaper overall and more convenient and this year will cost half what it normally does, and even less if I carry on next year.” She says maintenance has cost very little so far because she had three free check-ups in the deal for the first year. “The biggest outlay was upgrading the tyres for about £40 ($50).” Italian Marco Mazzei, 52, is a corporate social media manager from Milan and a keen cyclist. He started to cycle to work occasionally in 2010, but two years later he made an even bigger commitment. He sold his car. He currently rides 16km (10 miles) each way to get to work. Mazzei rides a folding bike that cost 1,100 euro ($1,200) – its small enough to take on the train when needed and easy to carry into the office. “I can bring it right under my desk and take the overground without paying for an extra ticket,” he says. He spends about 100 euros ($110) on yearly maintenance costs. “I know I save money,” says Mazzei, although he’s never done the pen-and-paper calculation. Even if not at the same speed as in Europe, commuting by bike is also finding new momentum down under. “Commuting by bike in Australia is small, but growing,” says Benny Horn, 34, who is responsible for cycling-development plans for one of Sydney’s city councils. Horn started to cycle to work in 2008, when he was tired of slow commutes, long walks and expensive train trips. His commute takes 15 minutes, and he estimates it costs him about A$200 ($150) a year to ride, on top of an up-front cost of A$700 (500 euros) to buy the bike. “Commuting by train in Sydney would set me back A$2,000 ($1,500) a year.” So, is cycling to work is always cheaper than using public transport, the answer – based on a pure data analysis – is: no. In the short- and medium-term (depending, of course, on where you live), public transport can actually be a better value. Using data from industry bodies, retailers and national transportation sites, BBC Capital compared the cost of cycling to the cost of public transport in 12 cities to find out where a two-wheeled commute could save you the most money. We took the average cycling costs for a country – the cost of a bicycle, accessories and maintenance – and compared that to the cost of a monthly travel card on public transport. We found that although cycling has a high up-front cost, those costs are soon recouped in a city with expensive public transport. The lower the public transport cost, the longer it takes for cycling to become cheaper than transit. If you live in an expensive city like New York or London, cycling is the most cost-effective option. It won’t take much time to pay off the initial investment of the bike, compared to the cost of monthly travel cards (assuming you just buy a brand-new bike for about £300 or $200, it takes 2.1 months in London and 1.7 months in New York to break even compared with a monthly transit card). In Krakow, public transport can actually be less expensive than using a bike regularly But in other cities, that’s not the case. In Krakow, Poland for example, public transport is cheaper than in other cities (equal to $22.90 for a monthly travel card) but the average cost of a brand-new bike in 2015 was still relatively high ($427). That means it will take much longer to recoup the cost of the bike alone: 18.7 months of taking public transport, to be precise, and that excludes other costs. Add in gear and maintenance, and in Krakow public transport can actually be less expensive than using a bike regularly. Even when you’re confident that you’re saving more long-term by cycling than with public transport, be aware of the “hidden” costs like bike maintenance – which is essential in order to keep the bike in good shape and make it last longer. Avid cyclists should plant to spend $320 to $530 for annual maintenance, says Ed Reynolds, a board member of the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association in the US. That cost covers biannual tune-ups and replacing parts like chains, brake pads, tires and cables. As for your bike, it should last longer. “The simple answer,” he adds, “would be five to eight years. That does depend on how well the bike is maintained – an old adage in the bicycle industry is: ‘There are two ways to kill a bicycle; ride it a lot or don’t ride it at all’.” To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
|
high
| 1.592593 |
For city-dwellers, it makes sense that cycling is always cheaper than driving or taking public transport. But is that actually the case?
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161208212259id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/26/jc-penney-leaning-toward-1-billion-equity-raise.html
|
Even after Penney reinstated its old pricing strategy in the spring, sales again fell. The company's shares tumbled 15 percent on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs said in a research note it expects the retailer's sales to improve more slowly than expected through the end of the year. In intraday trading on Wednesday, the shares dropped to a 13-year low. The note also raised questions about Penney's liquidity. (Read more: JC Penney's holiday hiring plans) "In order to safeguard against a potentially poor 4Q (fourth-quarter) holiday season, it is likely that management will look to build a bigger liquidity buffer," Goldman analyst Kristen McDuffy wrote in her note on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Goldman arranged a $2.25 billion loan for Penney to shore up its finances. Last month, Penney said it expected to have $1.5 billion in cash at the end of its fiscal year on Feb. 1, enough to have ample merchandise on shelves. (Read more: JC Penney stock is getting killed after tough Goldman report) The cost for insurance against a J.C. Penney default has shot back to near record-high levels during the last week. With about $2.6 billion in bonds outstanding, the company has a "CCC " credit rating from Standard & Poor's, reflecting a substantial risk in owning its debt. The company's benchmark five-year credit default swap contract price surged by more than 13 percent on Wednesday, according to Markit data. The cost to insure $10 million of Penney bonds against a default for five years now requires an upfront payment of about $2.2 million plus quarterly payments of about $300,000 for the duration of the contract. The contract's pricing reflects a default probability of nearly 65 percent.
|
low
| 0.933333 |
JC Penney CEO Ullman told investors the retailer does not see conditions for the rest of the year where it would need to raise liquidity, a source said.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20100911094222id_/http://www.forbes.com:80/2008/12/08/toll-meritage-homebuilder-pf-ii-in_jh_1208outlook_inl.html?partner=contextstory
|
December definitely started off on the wrong foot, but stocks bounced back from the worst of their losses amid grim economic reports that had the potential to send the market down to new lows. Job cuts plagued the Street last Thursday, as AT&T (nyse: T - news - people )DuPont (nyse: DD - news - people ), State Street (nyse: STT - news - people ), Credit Suisse (nyse: CS - news - people ) and Viacom (nyse: VIA - news - people ) all announced plans to trim their respective workforces. Friday revealed additional evidence that the job market is worsening, as non-farm payrolls suffered their sharpest monthly decline in 34 years. The Dow closed the week with a loss of 2.2%. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) finished the week with a 2.3% loss, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) shed 1.7% for the week. The 850 area on the SPX has established itself as an important region of support following the break below the critical 160-month moving average in the first week of October. Why are we viewing 850 as significant? First, this area marked the lower rail of the index's trading range during the final three weeks of October. Moreover, despite considerable movement around the 850 level since Oct. 10 (the date this support was first tested), the SPX has logged only six closes below this level during this time frame. Friday, Oct. 10, was also the day that the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) traded at its greatest premium to the SPX's 20-day historical volatility, since the break of the latter's 160-month trend line. It remains to be seen whether this premium is significant enough to mark a fear-based bottom. So why is the market finding support amid dismal economic reports that could have been a catalyst to send the broad market plunging through these important areas? First, the action in the home building and financial sectors has been impressive after the government's announced $200-billion Term Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility and the $600 billion Government-Sponsored Entities Purchase Program. There were additional reports last week of plans to push mortgage rates down to 4.5%, which could help spur housing activity. Additionally, it appears that short-term market players have grown pessimistic relative to the recent price action in the stock market, suggesting muted or short-duration declines on negative headlines and positive price action on news that offers a glimmer of hope. An example of this short-term negativity is reflected in the International Securities Exchange data that we monitor. Through Tuesday of last week, the SPX had lost 0.23% during the previous 10 days. When the SPX's 10-day return ranges between 0.0% and -2.5%, the 10-day ISE all-equity call/put ratio averages 136 (implying 1.36 calls purchased to open for every put purchased to open on this exchange). Through Tuesday, this ratio was 1.16, significantly below the norm. We have found that, during the past couple of years, when the 10-day SPX return falls between 0.0% and -2.5%, and the 10-day all-equity ISE call-put ratio comes in below 120--indicating more pessimism than usual--the SPX averages a 1.61% return in the following 10 days. However, when the 10-day all-equity ISE call/put ratio is 140 or higher at the same time the 10-day SPX return falls between 0.0% and -2.5%, the SPX averages a -2.09% return over the following 10 days. So while the broad market finds itself trading just above major support as we enter the new trading week, there are potential headwinds. Specifically, the SPX's 900 century level resides slightly above the index's close on Friday, and its 50-day moving average is declining quickly. This trend line comes into the week sitting at 929.64, down from 964.57 the previous week. Moreover, the VIX comes into the week at 59.93, significantly below the SPX's 20-day historical volatility of 74.00. During the past few months, the market's best short-term rallies have occurred when the VIX is trading at a premium to the 20-day historical volatility of the SPX. We continue to favor home building stocks, and select financial stocks, such as Wells Fargo (nyse: WFC - news - people ) and M&T Bank (nyse: MTB - news - people ). Continue to avoid the crowded energy, gold and technology sectors. Here is a brief list of some of the key events for the upcoming week. All earnings dates listed below are tentative and subject to change. Please check with each company's respective Web site for official reporting dates. Tuesday: The economic calendar is sparse, with only October's pending homes sales on the docket. On the earnings front, AutoZone (nyse: AZO - news - people ), Kroger (nyse: KR - news - people ) and Pep Boys (nyse: PBY - news - people ) will step into the earnings confessional. Wednesday: The calendar picks up today, with the release of October's wholesale inventories, the weekly crude-oil inventories and the November Treasury budget. In earnings news, CKE Restaurants (nyse: CKR - news - people ), FuelCell Energy (nasdaq: FCEL - news - people ) and Multimedia Games (nasdaq: MGAM - news - people ) will report their quarterly results. Thursday: Thursday will see the release of import and export prices for November, initial jobless claims and the October trade balance. Stepping into the earnings limelight on Thursday are Ciena (nasdaq: CIEN - news - people ), Costco Wholesale (nasdaq: COST - news - people ), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (nyse: KKD - news - people ) and lululemon athletica (nasdaq: LULU - news - people ). Friday: The week concludes with the release of the producer price index, November retail sales, October business inventories and the preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for December. Only ADDvantage Technologies Group (amex: AEY - news - people ) and Duckwall-ALCO Stores (nasdaq: DUCK - news - people ) report earnings. Click here for more ideas and recommendations, and to learn more about Bernie Schaeffer's Option Advisor.
|
high
| 1 |
Last week's stock rally on horrible employment news could be a good signal that we've found a bottom.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141110083713id_/http://fortune.com/2011/03/23/inkling-the-tablet-textbook-breakthrough/
|
Some technology advances change everything for their users in a way that is deeply visceral and memorable. I still remember, for instance, when I started using a Palm Pilot in 1997. The clunky device certainly was radical and all, but the epiphany for me was the sync-able desktop software that went with it, digitizing my calendar and contacts (but not email). I immediately realized that Palm had re-invented and obsoleted my Rolodex and Filofax, constant professional and personal companions for me at the time. I had the same feeling recently when I saw an iPad app from Inkling that replicates a college textbook in a digital format. Inkling, a San Francisco startup, recently added textbook giants McGraw-Hill MHP and Pearson PSO to its roster of investors, which includes Sequoia Capital as well as Felicis Ventures, Kapor Capital and Sherpalo Ventures. Interesting though the business story of Inkling is, what’s amazing is how the company has re-invented the textbook experience. Or, in the words of company founder and CEO Matt MacInnis, Inkling is “gently deconstructing the textbook and rebuilding it.” Inkling’s app, which for now works only on the iPad, is the college textbook you wish you had in college. It’s all digital but is more than a copy of a textbook page slapped onto a flat screen. The pages of the book scroll in a way that is optimized for a tablet, yet a feature allows the student to “jump to” a specific page number if, say, the professor says to do so. Interactive elements are seamlessly woven into the educational experience. In the venerable “Music: An Appreciation” by Roger Kamien, for example, a section on Beethoven allows the reader to listen to a symphony without leaving the text. While studying a graphic of the eyeball in Chapter 12 (on vision) in “Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology,” a standard for medical students, the Inkling app allows the reader to use iPad’s multi-touch functions to zoom in and see every last capillary. The possibilities are endless. Inkling lets readers electronically highlight passages, which automatically are saved in the cloud. Then, when the owner of the chapter logs into the app from another device in the future — say, a different iPad or the Web — the highlights will show up. It allows a professor to annotate a chapter, a kind of “director’s cut” version for students. Inkling also went back to the authors of the 14 titles it has recreated so far and persuaded the authors to contribute “test yourself” material, including wrong answers, so that their once static textbook now is an interactive learning guide. Inkling’s business model is revolutionary too. Students can buy single chapters of books for $3, allowing them to spread out the cost of expensive textbooks. Publishers will like this model as well because, if Inkling’s technology is widely adopted, the market for second-hand books will go away. Today, publishers only make money selling new books. In an Inkling future their revenue streams will recur with each new class. MacInnis, who worked on education products at Apple AAPL before founding Inkling, says the company has forged relationships with all the major textbook publishers. It intends for iPad to be just the beginning, he says. Inkling will produce versions of its books for Google’s GOOG Android and other platforms well utilizing HTML 5 web software. College students already are using Inkling, and it’s not a stretch to envision a classroom in the not so distant future where every student has a tablet in her book bag. “The big story is that publishers are moving beyond flat-panel PDFs,” says MacInnis. He says Inkling will focus on the 2011 back-to-school season but that “the market is to be won in fall, 2012.” He had me wishing I could go back to school as soon as the Beethoven symphony started playing.
|
medium
| 1.038462 |
The Silicon Valley startup reveals its establishment investors, an intriguing business model, and the future of interactive textbooks -- on iPads and beyond.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150324001024id_/http://www.people.com/article/florida-woman-knits-hats-for-disney
|
Samantha Mutschler with one of her hat recipients Courtesy Unraveled by Samantha Dawn 03/23/2015 AT 03:10 PM EDT Samantha Mutschler has turned her hobby into a way to help others. The West Orange, Florida, resident spends as much time and money as she can creating colorful and cozy hats for children fighting cancer, reports the Mutschler's mission to cover the head of every young cancer patient began when her family friend, Katie Karp, was diagnosed with bone cancer. Wanting to comfort the 12-year-old in some way, Mutschler, 24, decided to make a blanket for the girl. The creation was such a hit that soon Mutschler was being asked to make wraps for the patients of the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children through , a nonprofit set up by Karp's family that works to keep kids with cancer optimistic. Wanting to give more to the children she was cheering up, Mutschler began crocheting in 2011, making simple hats to include with her blankets. In a few months Mutschler had created her own cancer support program, Unraveled by Samantha Dawn, and was taking requests from young patients and their families for hats. From SpongeBob SquarePants to sharks, she has crocheted beanies featuring all kinds of characters and animals, with Disney princesses being a big favorite. Mutschler has donated more than 160 of her hats so far, sending some as far as Holland and Australia. Mutschler is willing to add and alter any details a child desires in order to make their hat perfect for them. To add even more magic to her gifts, she often makes care packages with stuffed animals and dolls to send along with her hats. Mutschler is currently working on turning this passion project into a nonprofit, and she has a to help support her drive to bring smiles to young cancer patients. "It brings joy to them; it brings joy to me," Mutschler said. "I know I'm doing what God wants me to do. My dream is to one day see a team of ladies working for me in getting more hats out to these precious warriors." If you would like to commission a hat from Mutschler or donate to her work, visit
|
medium
| 1.736842 |
Samantha Mutschler crochets hats that look like animals, superheroes and princesses to help keep kids with cancer smiling
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150717035330id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/27/mh370-search-by-australia-coming-under-scrutiny.html
|
Fugro, which was contracted by the Australian government to operate three ships pulling sonar across the vast 60,000-km search zone, has rejected claims it is using the wrong equipment, saying its gear is rigorously tested. Still, Nargeolet's concerns are echoed by others in the tightly held deepsea search and rescue industry, who are worried that unless the search ships pass right over any wreckage the sonar scanning either side of the vessels won't pick it up. Experts also question the lack of data released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) on the activities of the Fugro ships. Three of the bidders rejected for the MH370 contract, U.S. firm Williamson & Associates, France's ixBlue SAS and Mauritius-based Deep Ocean Search Ltd, have taken the unusual step of detailing their concerns - months down the track - directly to Australian authorities in correspondence viewed by Reuters. Several other experts are also critical, including some who requested anonymity, citing the close knit nature of the industry which has just a few companies and militaries capable of conducting deepwater searches. Read MoreMalaysia Airlines: One year after MH370 "I have serious concerns that the MH370 search operation may not be able to convincingly demonstrate that 100 percent seafloor coverage is being achieved," Mike Williamson, founder and president of Williamson & Associates told Reuters. Australia took over the search for the missing plane from Malaysia in late March last year, three weeks after MH370 disappeared off the radar during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The search area was determined by satellite data that revealed the plane turned back sharply over the Malaysian Peninsula and flew undetected for another six hours before crashing into the inhospitable southern Indian Ocean. The unchartered waters, buffeted by the Roaring Forties winds, stretch as deep as 6 km, hiding old volcanoes and cliffs in their depths. Australia, Malaysia and China earlier this month agreed to double the search area to 120,000 sq km. Whether Phoenix International, which has U.S. navy contracts and found AF447, will be part of that extended search area is unclear after the ATSB said that Go Phoenix, owned by Australian firm Go Marine, will cease operating on June 19. Phoenix International, which was contracted separately by the Malaysian government, did not immediately return calls about its position. The Malaysian government also did not reply to requests for comment. Two of the Fugro ships traverse up and down 2.4 km-wide strips of the sea floor, pulling via a cable a "towfish" that contains sonar equipment, in a technique often called "mowing the lawn". The towfish coasts around 100 meters above the sea floor, sending out sound waves diagonally across a swath, or broad strip, to produce a flattened image of the seabed.
|
medium
| 0.857143 |
Nearly a year after the disappearance of MH370, authorities and search teams are being criticized over their search approaches.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150731215655id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/31/bnp-paribas-net-profit-beats-forecasts.html
|
Philippe Huguen | AFP | Getty Images The logo of the French bank BNP Paribas on June 24, 2014 in Lille, France. The bank said the appreciation of the dollar against the euro had contributed to the strong results. Over the past three months, the dollar has risen 2.4 percent against the euro, and over the year to date it's gained 9.5 percent against the single currency. Revenue in the French retail banking division declined by two percent in the second quarter, however, which Machenil attributed to the continuing low interest rate environment. "If you are in a low interest rate environment, you have to constantly adapt yourself to it. That means you have to do things like repricing to reflect these low interest rates and at the same time you have to follow your clients' needs, and of course, (pursue) ever-continued cost-reduction and low cost of risk," he said. Highlights in the retail banking side of the business were the personal finance and international retail banking, he added. "This strong second quarter adds to the first strong quarter. When you look at the first six months, we basically have a return-on-equity of 10.1 percent," he said. In the second quarter, the cost of risk increased by 5.6 percent from the same period last year, which Machenil attributed to the acquisitions the bank had made. Despite a volatile quarter for the euro zone - with Greece teetering on the edge of the single currency bloc - the CFO said he saw "green shoots" in the region, and was confident about the global economic outlook. "What we do see is that we have green shoots, we will see if they materialize further going forward. And for the rest we are very focused on executing our industrial plan, as you can see from the results," Machenil added.
|
low
| 1.12 |
BNP Paribas reported better-than-expected profit on Friday, as the strong dollar gave the French bank's earnings a boost.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150816140718id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/11/most-economists-say-the-fed-is-wrong-about-growth.html
|
"The thing that is somewhat peculiar is we have a situation where we have significantly improved prospects in the U.S.," said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank and a former World Bank official who used to help draft the statement the organization released Wednesday cutting growth estimates. "Obviously, the rest of the world is wrestling with hangover issues from the financial crisis. It looks like more healing is needed." Read MoreWhy in the world do people keep buying Treasurys? Generally speaking, Slok adheres to consensus belief that U.S. growth will accelerate through the year, just not at a fast enough pace to match the lofty Fed expectations. "Two percent is not bad, it's just not three," he said. "What took us all by surprise was we had GDP growth in the first quarter that was so weak and is likely to be a significant drag on the annual number." In a statement outlining the growth downgrades, Kaushik Basu, the bank's senior vice president and chief economist, advised global policymakers to "prepare for the next crisis" by enacting structural reforms and tightening fiscal policies. Read MoreWorld Bank: 'Prepare for next crisis now' In that vein, Slok said he has two primary concerns that could get in the way of a sustained U.S. recovery: Housing weakness—and a policy mistake from the Fed as it seeks to unwind its monthly bond-buying program and, eventually, normalize interest rates. The central bank has kept short-term rates near zero throughout the recovery and is buying $45 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities as part of a quantitative easing program that has sent its balance sheet to nearly $4.4 trillion. "Should they rattle the tree now or...say we still need more healing?" Slok said. "The risk with the second strategy is they will stretch the rubber band even further so therefore the snapback will be even more quick. I don't have the answers on this, but this is what I am debating with investors all over the world." He is not alone in these concerns. Capital Economics, which has a generally sanguine view on the economy, said Wednesday it will be revising down its projections for 3 percent U.S. growth this year and expects the Fed to do the same. In something of a paradox, the firm also believes the Fed will have to lower its unemployment rate projection of 6.1 percent to 6.3 percent, where the rate already sits, and ratchet up its core inflation expectations, currently anchored at a benign 1.4 percent to 1.6 percent. Read MoreAmericans feeling better about economy The result, senior U.S. economist Paul Dales said, is that the Fed may have to raise rates more quickly than it currently projects, despite the 2014 disappointment. Capital's Julian Jessop said the current level of complacency about Fed policy and its ability to manage the economy and markets could prove dangerous. "Admittedly, there are no obvious triggers on the horizon for a major correction," Jessop said in a note. "However, the omnipotence of policymakers may be tested and found wanting by some new economic or financial shock, as yet unknown." It is, of course, always the unknown that poses the biggest danger to markets, and a Fed slip-up based on its misunderstanding of what's happening in the various economic crosscurrents is the greatest potential shock of all in the current climate. "The potential for significantly higher U.S. yields is likely to cause a re-run of last year's emerging market turmoil as the firmer borrowing costs are rudely blown offshore," Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers, said in a note. "As U.S. markets recoil from record highs, we're pretty sure we can hear investors complain that this isn't the way the recovery was supposed to work."
|
medium
| 0.965517 |
As if the Fed doesn't have enough to worry about, now it has to contend with the notion that its expectations for growth are too optimistic.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150823163901id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/26/charts-australian-dollar-faces-test-of-key-support.html
|
Over the past few years the Australian dollar has moved between broad trading bands defined by support and resistance levels. These bands provide a method to set the potential downside targets for the move below $0.8650. The weekly AUD/USD chart shows a strong support level near $1.0150. This level was broken in May 2013. The Australian dollar then tested support near $0.94. The width of the trading band between $0.94 and $1.015 was projected down to give the downside support target near $0.865. The fall below support at $0.865 was a critical move that showed a failure of a double bottom support pattern. The width of the trading band was again projected lower to locate the next support level near $0.79. This technical target was validated on a monthly chart. It acted as a strong resistance level in March and October 2004, from February to March 2005 and again from December 2006 to February 2007. The long-term chart confirms that $0.79 is a reasonable historical support level. This is well above the level around $0.62 achieved in late 2008 and early 2009. The Reserve Bank of Australia has a target near $0.75, so there is a possibility of some consolidation below $0.79 and above $0.75 This Australian dollar's fall is traded as a long-term trend. Our preference is to trade this downward pressure on an intraday basis using the ANTSSYS approach to limit risk. The continued collapse of the Aussie confirms its re-transition from a profitable carry trade between 2011 and 2013 to a currency at the mercy of commodity prices. The fall to the technical target of $0.79 confirms a significant structural change in the Australian economy as the commodity engine stalls. Daryl Guppy is a trader and author of Trend Trading, The 36 Strategies of the Chinese for Financial Traders – www.guppytraders.com. He is a regular guest on CNBCAsia Squawk Box. He is a speaker at trading conferences in China, Asia, Australia and Europe.
|
low
| 0.931034 |
A drop in commodity prices and waning demand from China pushed the Australian dollar to fresh lows, and now the currency faces a test of key support.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150825001024id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/13/mlb-commissioner-manfred-worried-by-bloated-player-contracts-not-a-rod.html
|
"We've had great cooperation from our players on the field. That's the key to moving the game along," Manfred said. Some have said the faster pace of play has hurt veteran players at the expense of younger players. Twenty-six first-time All Stars made the team this year, with big names like Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz missing out. Manfred said he was "neutral" on whether A-Rod should have made the team, despite his productive season so far: "The fans didn't pick him and the managers decided they had other qualified players." In addition to pace of play, Manfred has also been an advocate for growing the game through youth participation. On Monday, MLB announced $30 million towards youth programs, a small fraction of the league's $9 billion in revenue last year. In effort to draw in a new, younger demographic, Manfred is trying to get fans hooked on baseball early on. Last year's attendance was 74 million, which was the seventh-best attendance in history for the league, but an aging fan-base has has meant baseball must turn its focus on a younger generation. Read MoreNo IPO for MLB's digital arm: League media boss "It's important for us to use our players. They are a great asset to encourage youth participation in the game," he said, adding: "We need parents to take kids to the ballpark, because that's where they get hooked." One area where he won't be so aggressive in reaching young fans is through a direct-to-consumer app for watching games without needing a cable subscription. "We have been at the forefront of over the top for over a decade," said Manfred. "Our delivery with consumers will continue to evolve as the cable environment continues to evolve." With collective bargaining one year away, the Commissioner says one issue he's looking at is the rise of lengthy player contracts, with some, including those of Albert Pujuols and Robinson Cano, even lasting a decade. Manfred says these contracts "are a huge risk economically" and create disparity among teams. "Because we have teams in vastly different markets, some teams can afford to do 10 years and other teams can't. That's my biggest problem."
|
medium
| 0.892857 |
In his first All-Star game as MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred says he is encouraged by the efforts to speed up the game of baseball.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20150905093907id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/06/massachusetts-drops-obamacare-exchange-others-could-follow.html
|
But other states may move onto HealthCare.gov because of the cost of running a standalone exchange, Archambault said. Officials in Colorado, whose exchange was built in part by hCentive, are currently trying to figure out how that martkeplace will sustain itself financially after federal funding runs out. In the state house of Rhode Island, whose own exchange is faced with a similar problem, there is "a bipartisan bill to push their exchange to the federal exchange," Archambault said. He added, it could take several years for all of the states who end up moving to HealthCare.gov to decide to make that move. Read MoreObamacare hasn't freed up ERs: Hospital CEO Dan Mendelson, the CEO of the Avalere Health consultancy, said those coming years might offer even more incentive for some states to drop their exchanges and move to the federal marketplace. Over that time, Mendelson said, the federal government will "update their own systems" on HealthCare.gov to accommodate rule changes or to accomplish technological efficiencies. "The states will have to do that" on their own exchanges as well, he said. By turning over enrollment functions to HealthCare.gov, Mendelson said, those states will be off the hook for those system tweaks. If more than a handful of states end up chucking their own exchanges in favor of the federal exchange, it would further underscore the dramatic turnaround at HealthCare.gov. In its first two months of operation last fall, the federal site's technological troubles delayed enrollment for thousands. "It's interesting, because this federal system was really intended as a backup in case the states did not go down the road themselves" and build their own exchanges, Mendelson noted.
|
low
| 0.703704 |
Massachusetts' crippled Obamacare exchange is the latest to scrap its existing software, but experts said Tuesday, it likely won't be the last.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151003025842id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/02/11-predictions-on-the-future-of-social-media.html
|
Once upon a time, there was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. Our lives did not revolve around a stream of status updates, tweets, videos and filtered photos. That was just 10 years ago. Since Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in his Harvard dorm room on Feb. 4, 2004, we've seen social media evolve from a fad to a phenomenon that has triggered a paradigm shift in the way the world communicates. It has empowered individuals to voice their opinions and concerns and share content on their mobile devices in ways no one could have imagined. Along the way, geopolitics and the world of business has been radically transformed. We saw the dramatic impact social media wielded four years ago. It was a tool that helped spark the Arab Spring—a democratic civil uprising in the Middle East that began in Tunisia in December 2010 that helped force rulers from power in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Thanks to Twitter and other social media, people were able to protest and raise awareness in the face of repression. The revolution continues. No doubt, the power of social media is exponential. Numbers tell the story. Today there are 1.3 billion active Facebook users, with 82 percent of them coming from outside the U.S. and Canada. Twitter boasts 270 million active users that send 500 million tweets per day. And each day, 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube (that's 46,296 per second) and 60 million photos are uploaded on Instagram. The trend has helped these tech disruptors go public at hefty valuations. Facebook, for example, went public in 2012. At the time, it was the biggest in technology and Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of more than $104 million. At press time it had reached a whopping $206.4 billion.
|
low
| 0.346154 |
What will social media look like in 2039? Experts say by then it will be integrated into wearables that will track our daily habits.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151003142444id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/markets-turn-back-to-us-data-fed.html
|
The economic data Thursday will be watched for what it might mean to the Fed. Claims are expected to be the same as last week, at 270,000, and retail sales, released at 8:30 a.m., are expected to be up 0.6 percent. Without autos, sales are expected to rise 0.4 percent and core is expected at 0.45 percent. Import prices are also released at 8:30 a.m., and business inventories for June are expected at 10 a.m. "We're actually looking for a pretty good number mainly because of the solid auto sales report," said Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Barclays of the retail sales number. "The headline is mainly driven by the solid increase in both core sales and motor vehicle sales." "Auto manufacturing did 17.5 million units and that we think should carry over into retail sales," Gapen said, adding gasoline sales should be slightly lower. Read MoreThis could be correction stocks are waiting for Gapen said he does not expect the retail sales to be a factor for the Fed. "I think they will discount retail sales just broadly as an indicator. I think the auto sales number is more indicative for them," he said, noting the Fed is more interested in employment data and inflation. Gapen said the fallout from China is not enough to change the Fed's course at this point, and he expects a September rate hike. The futures market, however, shifted bets away from September, and the odds of a rate hike in September fell below 50 percent from Friday's 56 percent. Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at Lindsey Group, said the market is coming to grips with a view of the Fed hiking in September. "We're at a point where the Fed collected a lot of data and I don't expect much to change in the next month and a half to affect them either way…. I don't think it's the beginning of rate hike at every meeting. We're going to get barely any hikes. I think the market is sniffing out right now that even if they raise in September, it's not the start of an aggressive cycle."
|
medium
| 0.875 |
Markets switch their focus to U.S. matters Thursday, with fresh reports on July retail sales, business inventories and weekly jobless claims.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151010114448id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/06/with-rates-at-record-low-where-does-the-rba-go-next.html
|
"If these improving trends continue, as is our central case, we expect that the RBA will not need to deliver further cuts in this easing phase," said Bloxham. "However, low wages growth means that inflation is likely to remain benign, which is likely to leave the RBA with an 'easing bias'," he said. HSBC's expectation is for central bank to hold its key cash rate at a record low 2.0 percent for the next 18 months. While there are encouraging signs, the economy is not out of the woods just yet, with continued pockets of weakness in the mining and retail sectors. Retail sales rose just 0.3 percent on month in May, below the 0.5 percent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. The Australian dollar also remains a sticking point for the central bank, which would be more comfortable with the currency at around $0.68-$0.70 or roughly 10 percent lower than current levels, according to Bloxham. Other market watchers, however, agreed that the RBA was likely to hold fire on rates for some time. Read MoreThe Bufferoo portfolio: What Buffett would buy in Australia "The central bank has injected a significant level of stimulus into the economy, with the latest cut in May. Even though the economy is underperforming, there is reluctance to inject additional stimulus for fear of igniting already‐worrying pockets of the property market," Moody's Analytics wrote in a note. "The RBA maintains an easing bias to keep the shine off the Australian dollar, its preferred method of helping the economy rebalance away from mining investment." It would take a significant deterioration in economic activity to push the central bank to lower borrowing costs further, added Nizam Idris, head of fixed income and currencies strategy at Macquarie Group. "Economic data has stabilized somewhat so they have room to wait and see."
|
low
| 0.52 |
The RBA meets on Tuesday against a backdrop of improving economic conditions at home but increased uncertainty abroad as Greece drama continues to unfold.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20151012200537id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/cara-delevingne-model-acting-hate-her-body%20
|
08/17/2015 AT 01:30 PM EDT girl in recent years, but the British model says she's ditching the world of modeling for the big screen – and she can't get out fast enough. In a recent interview with London's divulged that she is "not doing fashion work any more." The reason? It made her "feel a bit hollow." "It didn't make me grow at all as a human being," she said. "And I kind of forgot how young I was. I felt so old." shot into the fashion stratosphere in 2011 when she landed a Burberry campaign and posed in a trench coat for a sultry shoot with Eddie Redmayne. But living in the limelight "wasn't a good time." "I was, like, fight and flight for months. Just constantly on edge," Delevingne said. "It is a mental thing as well because if you hate yourself and your body and the way you look, it just gets worse and worse.â And worsen it did. Delevingne said her demanding schedule led to a psoriasis breakout, a skin affliction other stars have also . Describing her struggle with the condition, she said crews were painting her body with foundation "every single show" in order to hide it. "People would put on gloves and not want to touch me because they thought it was, like, leprosy or something," she said in the interview. Delevingne also spoke of the sexually suggestive poses she was asked to do when she was just a teen. As a newbie in the industry then, Delevingne said she felt she couldn't say no to nudity or sexual poses. "I am a bit of a feminist and it makes me feel sick," she said. "It's horrible and it's disgusting. [We're talking about] young girls. You start when you are really young and you do, you get subjected to ⦠not great stuff." She realizes, though, that this facet of the industry will likely be present in her new line of work. The actress (who starred in John Green's and has four more movies coming out this year), says she has already experienced sexual harassment in the movie business – although it's "worse in modeling." But Delevingne says she doesn't brush these encounters under the carpet. "I am very good at standing up for myself now, and for other people," she said. "If there is injustice I will flip out. If someone is crossing a line, they will know about it and so will everyone else." While the star, who boasts famous friends like Rihanna and Taylor Swift (she's a card-carrying member of the ), spoke of the perils of making it in the modeling industry, she acknowledges her time in the fashion world prepared her for her new career in acting. "I am a lot harder than I was and I feel like all of that modeling, life, rejection, everything, was preparation for this, and now that I am doing this I am the happiest person in the whole world."
|
medium
| 1.318182 |
The model, 23, opened up about the drawbacks of modeling – and why she can't wait to get out
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160525182919id_/http://time.com:80/3667687/winston-churchill-life-portraits/?
|
On May 10, 1940, as Hitler’s Germany was invading Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, the British Conservative leader Winston Churchill took the reins of a coalition government after his predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, stepped aside. Churchill would, of course, ultimately help lead England and the Allies to a brutally fought, costly victory over the Axis Powers in World War II. But in the early years of the conflict, England stood alone against the Reich after Nazi forces swarmed across border after border in Europe. Churchill’s defiance in the face of what seemed, at the time, an invincible Wehrmacht juggernaut earned the aristocratic, independent-minded PM his enduring reputation as one of the greatest war-time leaders in history. Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of photos that portray Churchill the private man: painter, animal lover, country gentleman. The Churchill of these pictures is no less impressive, no less formidable than the man who so tenaciously defied Hitler during England’s darkest days. But there’s also a tenderness here — a soulfulness — that only adds to the great man’s singular, somewhat ornery charm. [Read an excerpt from Thomas Maier’s latest book, When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys] Now . . . as a reminder of Churchill at his greatest — at his most Churchillian — here are some deathless words from one of his most celebrated addresses, delivered quite early in the war, on June 4, 194o, and popularly known ever since as the “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech. If more stirring words were uttered by any leader, Allied or Axis, during the entire course of the Second World War, they’ve been lost to history. In phrases that range, brilliantly, from soaring to bracingly blunt and back again, Churchill lionized, galvanized and challenged the citizens of his “Island home” like no Briton before him, and certainly none since: I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old. Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
|
high
| 1.15 |
Photos of the British leader Winston Churchill in quiet, private moments, far away from the world of governance
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160614004301id_/http://www.cbsnews.com:80/amp/news/heres-how-to-get-your-keurig-kold-refund/
|
Jun 8, 2016 12:21 PM EDT MoneyWatch By Aimee Picchi / MoneyWatch The Keurig Kold may not have lived up to the hype, but at least its owners will receive their money back. Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR), which had billed the soda-making machines as its next big thing, said it will provide refunds for people who bought the clunky counter-top appliance. The $370 Kold fizzled after consumers complained that it was too slow, too big and too expensive. The Kold machine debuted late last year in time for the holiday season, but it was clear early on that the device wasn't likely to add any froth to the company's sales. Early reviews were harsh, with consumers complaining about malfunctioning soda pods, inconsistent taste and loud noises. The pods cost more than $1 to brew an 8-ounce drink, making it more expensive than buying soda at the store. "Our initial execution of Kold did not fully deliver on [consumer] expectations, particularly around size, speed and value," Keurig said on its refund site. The company stopped selling the machine and its accessories on June 7, although it will continue to sell Kold pods at a discount until the company runs out of them, it said. Keurig said it's offering a refund for the device because after it runs out of pods, the device won't be useable. "We ... believe that offering a refund is the right thing to do," the company said. To receive a refund, consumers should visit DrinkMakerRefundProgram and upload a photo of their Kold's serial number. Customers will also need a receipt or other proof of purchase. The company said the refund process also works for people who received the Kold as a gift. Refunds will take about two to three weeks to arrive. About 130 Keurig employees will be impacted by the Kold's discontinuation, with about 100 workers losing their jobs in Vermont, where Keurig Green Mountain is based. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said other jobs at Keurig won't be impacted by the decision. © 2016 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
|
medium
| 1.88 |
With its sudden nixing of the $370 soda-making machine, Keurig says giving refunds is "the right thing to do"
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160619171944id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2001/12/02/books/review/02ROBINST.html?
|
When Mae West starred on Broadway in her critically panned but crowd-pleasing entertainment ''Catherine Was Great,'' she apologized nightly for omitting many events in the rich and ribald life of the brilliant 18th-century Russian sovereign: ''Catherine was a great empress. She also had 300 lovers. I did the best I could in a couple of hours.'' In fact, according to Simon Sebag Montefiore, the reliable count of Catherine's lovers was more like a baker's dozen. But about which lover occupied the No. 1 spot there is no doubt, as Sebag Montefiore makes abundantly clear in ''Prince of Princes,'' a discursive, meticulously researched and mostly absorbing new biography of Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin. For nearly 20 years, until his death, Potemkin (1739-91) labored with superhuman gusto as Catherine's ingenious bed partner, sex toy, soulmate, military strategist and commander, party planner, empire builder, naval architect, diplomat, nurse, correspondent, literary adviser, art collector and even pimp, far outlasting other handsome and witty ''favorites'' in the perilous environment at the empress's glamorous yet crude court in St. Petersburg. Catherine (1729-96, reigned 1762-96) and Potemkin may even have been man and wife, although Sebag Montefiore, like others before him, has not found ''conclusive proof'' that they were ever married, as legend would have it. So formidable did Potemkin's personal and political power become that a memoirist who worked on his staff could reasonably call his boss ''czar in all but name.'' Others coined less flattering labels. The first book about Potemkin, published in Germany in 1794, was called ''Prince of Darkness,'' reflecting the strongly disapproving attitude most Europeans held toward this brilliant, scheming and ruthless statesman -- and even more toward his dissolute, debauched and ''immoral'' private life. (Among other indiscretions, his longstanding sexual involvement with his five comely nieces -- under Catherine's approving eye -- especially grated on less indulgent European sensibilities.) But an admiring Jeremy Bentham, the creator of utilitarianism, who was brought to Russia by Catherine and Potemkin to provide technical expertise in the newly conquered Crimea, overlooked Potemkin's excesses and extolled his friend as ''Prince of Princes.'' The poets Gavril Romanovich Derzhavin and Aleksandr Pushkin devoted many pages to Potemkin's exploits, while Lord Byron developed a near obsession with this larger-than-life ''natural'' personality, who so epitomized the values of Romanticism. Across the rapidly expanding Russian Empire Potemkin was known simply as ''Serenissimus.'' Serenity is not the trait I would ascribe to this restless, egotistical, voracious, gigantically energetic and boundlessly ambitious character after reading this monumental, densely detailed and at times dizzily panoramic biography. But then, Russians take a different view of serenity -- and of how rulers should behave. In his introduction, Sebag Montefiore, a British journalist and the author of two novels, points out how Potemkin's reputation has suffered ever since his death, owing to several factors. Most important was his ambiguous status. Although Catherine lavished numerous titles on him (Prince of Taurida, field marshal, commander in chief of the Russian Army), his real position was impossible to categorize. Initially, he was just one of Catherine's sexual ''favorites,'' or mignons. Later their relationship grew into what the French call an ''amitie amoureuse.'' ''Their love affair and political alliance was unequaled in history by Antony and Cleopatra, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Josephine, because it was as remarkable for its achievements as for its romance, as endearing for its humanity as for its power,'' Sebag Montefiore claims. Arguably Potemkin's greatest achievement was to lead Catherine's armies -- and new Black Sea Fleet -- to victories against the Ottoman Empire along the Black Sea coast and in present-day Romania and Moldova. He solidified these gains by designing and overseeing the construction of many new seaports (like Kherson and Odessa) that established Russia as a power in the Levant for the first time and set the stage for itss grand entrance into the center of European power politics in the Napoleonic era. After Catherine's death, her son Paul came to the throne. He hated Potemkin even more than he despised his mother, and set about besmirching his reputation. During the 19th century, succeeding Romanov rulers maintained a much more prim and rigid court life than Catherine, and regarded her highly publicized sexual adventures with distaste and embarrassment. After the Russian Revolution, and especially in the puritanical atmosphere of Stalinism, Soviet historians were forced to take an even dimmer ideologically driven view of Catherine and her entourage. So only now is it finally possible, Sebag Montefiore argues, to give Serenissimus ''his rightful place in history.''
|
medium
| 1.642857 |
Sebag Montefiore has written a life of Potemkin, Catherine the Great's military strategist, literary adviser, party planner and all-around main squeeze.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160708084258id_/http://www.thepostgame.com/nfl-virtual-reality-empathy-training-tolerance-stanford
|
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell put on a pair of Oculus Rift goggles last summer and was immersed in a brave new world -- remarkably similar to our own. Goodell was at Jeremy Bailenson's Stanford University lab to learn more about virtual reality empathy training. "The immersion in virtual reality was so convincing and compelling," said Michael Huyghue, a confidante of Goodell who accompanied him on the trip. "Roger was tremendously impressed." Goodell visited along with Huyghue and several executives -- including Patriots president and chair of the NFL's digital committee, Jonathan Kraft. The commissioner was so impressed that he had NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent tour the Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) a couple months later. Huyghue, a former Jacksonville Jaguars senior vice president, NFL Diversity Committee member and United Football League commissioner, suggested to Goodell that the empathy training, which promotes tolerance and helps counteract biases of ageism, race, gender, disability, etc., would be useful to the league. During his visit Goodell experienced multiple empathy-training demos. In one demo, his avatar became a black female, and he observed the way she was discriminated against in the workplace. In another, he saw himself as much older and overweight, allowing him to experience how obese people are treated in society. "Across many, many experiments, becoming someone else and experiencing prejudice firsthand," Bailenson said, "is more effective at changing attitudes and behavior than controlled conditions, for example, role playing or watching a movie." The NFL declined to make its executives available for interview, but such therapy could have particular meaning for the league, considering its off-the-field issues, particularly the high-profile domestic abuse cases of Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice. The Chiefs drew criticism for drafting Tyreek Hill, who pled guilty in 2015 to punching and choking his pregnant girlfriend while at Oklahoma State, in the fifth round this year. This cutting-edge virtual reality technology could help with NFL player treatment and assessment. And it could extend to coaches, front-office executives and league personnel. "(The NFL) is in the lead," Huyghue said. "I think they'll be the first to put a real comprehensive program together and I think the other leagues will follow." Virtual reality empathy training is a three-step process. The first step of body transfer involves physically moving around the room and seeing that the virtual body is moving with you. It can include a four-minute exercise where you extend your arms and see the different pigmentation or go to a virtual mirror to observe how your face has aged. "You need to feel like the avatar body is yours," Bailenson said. Then the treatment phase occurs, where the individual experiences some form of discrimination or hardship. In an ageism study, for example, there was a job interview, where it became very clear that the interviewer would not hire the applicant because of his or her age. Finally, it concludes with measurement or a way to test the effect of the simulation on changes in attitude or behavior. Sometimes the participant is measured by a reaction contest or a subsequent social interaction. "It's always a challenging thing to do because you can't just ask somebody," Bailenson said. "You've got to come up with creative and scientifically valid ways of measuring reducing bias." This process, which Bailenson has honed for more than a decade, is not intended to replace current diversity training methods. It's more about augmenting it with one empathy-training session lasting 15 to 20 minutes on an infrequent basis. "That's really enough to make you rethink things," Bailenson said. "It's really intense ... You wouldn't want someone to experience that intensity and drama in the physical world once a month." Because of the advances by the HTC Vive and the Oculus system, a team or an organization only needs a high-end laptop and some open space to conduct the training. Bailenson has provided demos to various organizations -- ranging from consulting firms to, as surprising as this sounds, the Russian government -- that have expressed interest in virtual reality empathy training. That includes representatives from other sports leagues like NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who has visited Bailenson's VHIL and studied empathy training. "Everyone is looking," Bailenson said. "The NFL, in my opinion, is really close to actually doing it." The Cowboys, 49ers and Vikings have signed deals with STRIVR (Sports Training in Virtual Reality), and the Patriots and Cowboys already have their own in-house VR labs. Bailenson, former Stanford and Bills quarterback Trent Edwards and former Stanford kicker Derek Belch co-founded STRIVR, a start-up that shoots 360-degree high definition video from a player's-eye-view, so that players can simulate plays without taking hits. While at the Stanford lab, Goodell also learned the details of that virtual football experience. Other VR applications for the NFL could include recreating the view from the sideline for fans or building a training suite for referees to prepare for game situations though repeated simulations. The empathy training, though, was the focus of the NFL's visit. "We are looking at a variety of ways to help train and educate our players on important issues," NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy wrote via email. In addition to potentially helping players avoid domestic violence, Bailenson's innovative technology could, among other possible benefits, help them better relate to teammates from different socioeconomic backgrounds or deal with raucous fans. If the NFL chooses to use empathy training, one challenge is that the technology is so sophisticated that it's not easily mass produced. It takes months to build a demo, and you have to specifically construct the storyboard, the avatar and situation to the person. Right now, they're being tailored to the 19-year-old Stanford students who are the main test subjects undergoing the empathy training. "The secret sauce is the details," Bailenson said. "The magic is sitting there with an organization, understanding the issues they're concerned with and than crafting a perfect scene that really encapsulates that, and that's hard." Given its interest, the NFL may become the first to pilot virtual reality empathy training, as no company or organization has implemented it yet. "It's not if," Bailenson said, "but when." More By Jeff Fedotin -- Will McDonough's Uniquely Accomplished Three Sons -- When Packers Considered Putting Dome On Lambeau -- Why Baseball Managers Wear Uniforms Follow Jeff Fedotin on Twitter @JFedotin. Empathy Training, NFL, Roger Goodell, Stanford Cardinal, Virtual Reality, VR
|
high
| 1.633333 |
Roger Goodell visited a VR lab at Stanford, and the demonstration was such an eye-opener that he wants the NFL to use it for empathy training.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160731225612id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/finance/personalfinance/savings/11133340/2.75-best-buy-savings-bond-pulled-in-a-day.html
|
The withdrawal of this account is yet another blow to beleaguered savers across the country who are in desperate search of an account that will give them a decent return on their savings. Over the past three years, the average rate on a one-year cash Isa has fallen by 40pc, while there has been a 60pc fall in the interest paid on one-year fixed-rate bonds over the past five years. This has come despite no movement in the Bank of Engalnd Bank Rate, which remains at 0.5pc. Easy access rates have also fallen dramatically (see graph below). Why savings rates keep falling Banks and building societies have less need for customer deposits as they emerged from the financial crisis of a few years ago. They have also been handed cheap money through the Treasury's Funding for Lending Scheme. Banking analysts say it is a process of returning to normal: before the crisis, savings rates were close to the Bank Rate. Because banks don't want the money (and it is costly to sit on deposits they can't use) they are keen to keep off the top of the best buy tables. Any time a deposit taker steps forward with a decent rate on a fixed rate bond, it is swamped with demand and the bond closes almost immediately. Recently, Yorkshire Building Society released a one-year Isa paying 2pc, the highest rate offered for almost a year, but had to pull the product after three weeks. Banks and building societies have been cutting their rates steadily over the past few years as their appetitive for savers' cash has waned. This means that today, savers have to settle for Isas or bonds paying low rates of interest, or find alternative savings accounts, such as current accounts, to earn a higher income. This article offers some advice: 'I get 3pc interest without tying up my money': meet the ingenious saver with 11 current accounts. >> More: The best cash Isa 'Nisa' rates >> Get a weekly alert on new savings best buys: Click here and enter your email
|
medium
| 1.038462 |
In another blow to savers, a two-year bond paying 2.75pc has been withdrawn after less than 48 hours due to huge demand
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160809012913id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11733484/Crime-is-never-far-from-you-in-Johannesburg-but-it-can-still-cause-a-stir.html
|
Eventually, a man was spotted out walking a German Shepherd with a bandaged leg. When he was identified as the Good Samaritan, he was thanked for his – and his dog’s – bravery on behalf of all of us. Ivory chess figurines for sale at the Panjiayuan Market, Beijing (Photo: Alamy) Apparently, many people in China believe that elephant tusks are simply shed by their owners – in the way that lizards lose their tails – and therefore there is no harm in buying trinkets made from ivory. It’s one of several misconceptions that the anti-poaching lobby is trying to tackle by harnessing the power of celebrity, both in China and in Africa. In China, the adored former NBA basketball player Yao Ming has been talking about a visit to Kenya during which he saw elephants’ faces chain-sawed away for their precious tusks. Yao Ming has an impressive track record – his work with the US charity WildAid to raise awareness about the evils of shark fin soup prompted the Chinese government to ban it from state banquets and led to a 50 per cent drop in the price as demand fell. In East Africa, WildAid is now trying the same tactics to engage public sympathy for the plight of elephants. Actress Lupita Nyong’o, best known for her role in 12 Years a Slave, popped up in her native Kenya in June as WildAid’s new elephant ambassador. Such campaigns are great if they can swing the public behind the decision-makers. But anti-poaching efforts often come into conflict with powerful vested interests in government. Until that issue is dealt with, celebrity tears can only do so much. South Africa's immigration officials are over zealous (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Hutchings) An American doctor and her three children recently had an unnerving encounter with the South African immigration authorities after being pulled over at Johannesburg airport at the start of what should have been an idyllic family holiday. Martina Mookadam had been due to travel with her husband – like her a doctor at the private Mayo Clinic in Arizona – but as they changed planes in London he had been called back to the US to provide urgent treatment to a member of a Middle Eastern royal family. As a result, Mrs Mookadam travelled as a lone parent and fell foul of strict new rules in South Africa designed to prevent child trafficking. She should have had all three children’s unabridged birth certificates, plus a signed police affidavit from her husband. After 48 hours of travel, and half a day in airport custody, the Mookadams were told they would be deported back to the US. Only when relatives of the family contacted Gift of the Givers (GotG), a major South African charity, were they allowed to get on with their holiday, after it put out a furious statement about the “huge embarrassment” caused to the country. GotG applauded the climbdown but noted that had Mrs Mookadam been a “street vendor from Chad” she might not have been so lucky.
|
medium
| 0.5 |
Johannesburg Notebook: A policeman told me that horrific crimes only really affect the townships, as though that made it somehow OK
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20160817102351id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/08/05/renee-zellweger-pens-response-to-plastic-surgery-rumors-i-must/21446089/
|
Renee Zellweger is speaking out about the recent, public back-and-forth surrounding her appearance. "I am lucky," Zellweger begins in an op-ed she penned for The Huffington Post titled "We Can Do Better." "Choosing a creative life and having the opportunity to do satisfying work that is sometimes meaningful is a blessed existence." The actress then dives into the unforeseen scrutiny that has come with her onscreen career, which includes films like Chicago, Jerry Maguire and the Bridget Jones franchise. "I am not writing today because I have been publicly bullied or because the value of my work has been questioned by a critic whose ideal physical representation of a fictional character originated 16 years ago, over which he feels ownership, I no longer meet," wrote the Oscar-winner. "I'm writing because to be fair to myself, I must make some claim on the truths of my life, and because witnessing the transmutation of tabloid fodder from speculation to truth is deeply troubling." The actress is referring to a piece written by Variety film critic, Owen Gleiberman, titled "Renee Zellweger: If She No Longer Looks Like Herself, Has She Become a Different Actress?" Read more: 'Bridget Jones' Baby' Trailer: Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey Compete to Become a Father In an essay for The Hollywood Reporter, Rose McGowan responded to Gleiberman's assertions in her own post, writing, "Renee Zellweger is a human being, with feelings, with a life, with love and with triumphs and struggles, just like the rest of us. How dare you use her as a punching bag in your mistaken attempt to make a mark at your new job." Actress Renee Zellweger attends the 2001 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards on October 19, 2001 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the 58th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 21, 2001 at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the Nurse Betty New York City Premiere on September 6, 2000 at Loews East Cinemas in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage) Actor Jay Mohr and actress Renee Zellweger attend the 16th Annual MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, 1999 at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends The Bachelor Hollywood Premiere on November 3, 1999 at Pacific's Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the One True Thing Century City Premiere on September 16, 1998 at Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Cinemas in Century City, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the One True Thing New York City Premiere on September 13, 1998 at Sony Theatres Lincoln Square in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the Jerry Maguire New York City Premiere on December 6, 1996 at Pier 88 in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage) Actress Renee Zellweger attends the Jerry Maguire Westwood Premiere on December 11, 1996 at Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) American actress Renée Zellweger and Japanese artist, singer, and peace activist Yoko Ono attend the preview for the Matt Nye Spring 2000 collection, New York City, USA, 1999. (Photo by Rose Hartman/Archive Photos/Getty Images) |luggage, waiting, airport, conveyor belt, conveyor, person, blue, white, gray, red, brown |luggage,|waiting,|airport,|conveyor|belt,|conveyor,|person,|blue,|white,|gray,|red,|brown|TR003867 Woman Sitting on Baggage Ramp Jack Hollingsworth color, horizontal, interior, left, transportation, travel, lifestyle, woman, anticipation, adult, caucasian, american, sitting, baggage, claim, chute, suitcase, bag, luggage, waiting, airport, |TR003867|Woman|Sitting|on|Baggage|Ramp|Jack|Hollingsworth|color,|horizontal,|interior,|left,|transportation,|travel,|lifestyle,|woman,|anticipation,|adult,|caucasian,|american,|sitting,|baggage,|claim,|chute,|suitcase,|bag,|TR003867.JPG| HOLLYWOOD - DECEMBER 20: Actor Jim Carrey and actress Renee Zellweger attends the 'Man on the Moon' Hollywood Premiere on December 20, 1999 at the Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage) UNITED STATES - CIRCA 2000: Renee Zellweger is on hand for the New York premiere of the movie 'Nurse Betty' at the Loews Cineplex 19th St. East Theater. She stars in the film. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Jim Carrey & Renee Zellweger (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage) Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger at the photo call for the film 'Nurse Betty' at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, 5/12/00.Photo: Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect |VON0018.JPG|VON|American Northwest|Cascade Range|Clouds|concepts|Cumulus|Daytime|Lakes|Landscapes|Light|Loch|Low clouds|Mount|North America|North America Continent|Oregon|Pacific Northwest|Pacific States|Peaceful|Reflections|Serenity|States|Tranquility|USA|Vertical clouds|Visions of Nature|Washington|water|Western North America| Renee Zellweger and director Neil Labute at the premiere for the film 'Nurse Betty' at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, 5/12/00.Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect Jim Carrey and Renee Zellweger at the premiere of 'Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas' at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles Ca. 11/8/00. Photo by Kevin Winter/ImageDirect 383127 11: Actress Renee Zellweger arrives at the 10th Annual Fire & Ice Ball December 11, 2000 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. (Photo by Chris Weeks/Liaison) Renee Zellweger (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage) LONDON - MARCH 10: American actress Renee Zellweger, British actor Hugh Grant and British pop star Geri Halliwell arrive at the UK premiere of the film 'Bridget Jones' Diary' at the Empire Cinema Leicester Square on March 10, 2001 in London. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images) UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 19: Renee Zellweger is on hand for the 2001 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards at the Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) HOLLYWOOD, : US actress Renee Zellweger arrives at the 74th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA, 24 March 2002. Zellweger is nominated for Best Actress for her role in 'Bridget Jones's Diary.' AFP PHOTO/Lucy NICHOLSON (Photo credit should read LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP/Getty Images) Renee Zellweger relaxes after her 22-minute run during 5th Annual New York Revlon Run/Walk for Women - to Raise Funds for Women's Cancer Research, Awareness & Prevention at Time Square & East Meadow of Central Park in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage) Renee Zellweger during Chicago Press Conference with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Bill Condon and Rob Marshall at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States. (Photo by Vera Anderson/WireImage) Renee Zellweger wearing Jil Sander during Anna Wintour and Harvey Weinstein Co-host Screening of Chicago at Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage) Renee Zellweger during Sundance Film Festival Archives by Randall Michelson in Park City, Utah, United States. (Photo by Randall Michelson/WireImage) Renee Zellweger during Chicago Special Screening to Benefit GLAAD and Broadway Cares - Outside Arrivals at The Ziegfeld Theater in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage) LONDON - DECEMBER 19: American actress Renee Zellweger poses at Cafe Royal in London in occasion of the UK 'Chicago' Premierr on December 19, 2002. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Getty Images) NEW YORK - JANUARY 10: *** EXCLUSIVE *** (ITALY OUT) Actress Renee Zellweger carries bottled water as she leaves her hotel January 10, 2003 in New York City. (Photo by Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images) Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger (wearing Chanel) at the 2002 National Board Of Review Of Motion Pictures Annual Awards Gala at Tavern-On-The-Green in New York City. January 14, 2003. Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images Renee Zellweger at the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, Ca., 1/19/03. Zellweger won 'Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy' for Chicago. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect) ITALY - FEBRUARY 10: Renee Zellweger in Rome, Italy on February 10th, 2003. (Photo by Eric VANDEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) UNITED STATES - MARCH 01: Renee Zellweger in the press room at the 55th Annual Directors Guild Awards at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, CA 03/01/03 (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES - MARCH 9: Actress Renee Zellweger poses backstage with her Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and Outstanding Performance by A Cast In A Theatrical Motion Picture awards for 'Chicago' during the 9th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on March 9, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) Renee Zellweger during Miramax 2003 MAX Awards - Inside at St. Regis Hotel in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by KMazur/WireImage) Renee Zellweger wearing a Neil Lane ring at the The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage) Renee Zellweger during Renee Zellweger Promotes 'Down with Love'Boutique at Bloomingdales at Bloomingdale's in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage) Renee Zellweger during 2003 Tribeca Film Festival - 'Down With Love' World Premiere at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by KMazur/WireImage) In the op-ed, Zellweger addresses the issue head on by calling out the tabloid media culture. "Not that it's anyone's business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes. This fact is of no true import to anyone at all," she writes. "Although we have evolved to acknowledge the importance of female participation in determining the success of society, and take for granted that women are standard bearers in all realms of high profile position and influence, the double standard used to diminish our contributions remains, and is perpetuated by the negative conversation which enters our consciousness every day as snark entertainment." Last month Jennifer Aniston also posted a self-penned op-ed — also published on the Huffington Post — which discussed tabloid journalism's personal affect on her life, especially in terms of perpetuated pregnancy rumors. Zellweger concludes her op-ed by writing, "Maybe we could talk more about why we seem to collectively share an appetite for witnessing people diminished and humiliated with attacks on appearance and character and how it impacts younger generations and struggles for equality." Read her full essay below. Read more: Rose McGowan Pens Response to Critic of Renee Zellweger's Face: "Vile, Damaging, Stupid and Cruel" (Guest Column) I am lucky. Choosing a creative life and having the opportunity to do satisfying work that is sometimes meaningful is a blessed existence and worth the price paid in the subsequent challenges of public life. Sometimes it means resigning to humiliation, and other times, understanding when silence perpetuates a bigger problem. In October 2014, a tabloid newspaper article reported that I'd likely had surgery to alter my eyes. It didn't matter; just one more story in the massive smut pile generated every day by the tabloid press and fueled by exploitative headlines and folks who practice cowardly cruelty from their anonymous internet pulpits. In the interest of tabloid journalism, which profits from the chaos and scandal it conjures and injects into people's lives and their subsequent humiliation, the truth is reduced to representing just one side of the fictional argument. I can't imagine there's dignity in explaining yourself to those who trade in contrived scandal, or in seeking the approval of those who make fun of others for sport. It's silly entertainment, it's of no import, and I don't see the point in commenting. However, in our current culture of unsolicited transparency, televised dirty laundry, and folks bartering their most intimate details in exchange for attention and notoriety, it seems that the choice to value privacy renders one a suspicious character. Disingenuous. A liar with nefarious behavior to conceal. "She denies," implies an attempt to cover up the supposed tabloid "exposed truth." And now, as the internet story contrived for its salacious appeal to curious minds becomes the supposed truth within moments, choosing the dignity of silence rather than engaging with the commerce of cruel fiction, leaves one vulnerable not only to the usual ridicule, but to having the narrative of one's life hijacked by those who profiteer from invented scandal. I am not writing today because I have been publicly bullied or because the value of my work has been questioned by a critic whose ideal physical representation of a fictional character originated 16 years ago, over which he feels ownership, I no longer meet. I am not writing in protest to the repellent suggestion that the value of a person and her professional contributions are somehow diminished if she presumably caves to societal pressures about appearance, and must qualify her personal choices in a public court of opinion. I'm not writing because I believe it's an individual's right to make decisions about his or her body for whatever reason without judgment. I'm writing because to be fair to myself, I must make some claim on the truths of my life, and because witnessing the transmutation of tabloid fodder from speculation to truth is deeply troubling. The 'eye surgery' tabloid story itself did not matter, but it became the catalyst for my inclusion in subsequent legitimate news stories about self-acceptance and women succumbing to social pressure to look and age a certain way. In my opinion, that tabloid speculations become the subject of mainstream news reporting does matter. Not that it's anyone's business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes. This fact is of no true import to anyone at all, but that the possibility alone was discussed among respected journalists and became a public conversation is a disconcerting illustration of news/entertainment confusion and society's fixation on physicality. It's no secret a woman's worth has historically been measured by her appearance. Although we have evolved to acknowledge the importance of female participation in determining the success of society, and take for granted that women are standard bearers in all realms of high profile position and influence, the double standard used to diminish our contributions remains, and is perpetuated by the negative conversation which enters our consciousness every day as snark entertainment. Too skinny, too fat, showing age, better as a brunette, cellulite thighs, facelift scandal, going bald, fat belly or bump? Ugly shoes, ugly feet, ugly smile, ugly hands, ugly dress, ugly laugh; headline material which emphasizes the implied variables meant to determine a person's worth, and serve as parameters around a very narrow suggested margin within which every one of us must exist in order to be considered socially acceptable and professionally valuable, and to avoid painful ridicule. The resulting message is problematic for younger generations and impressionable minds, and undoubtably triggers myriad subsequent issues regarding conformity, prejudice, equality, self acceptance, bullying and health. Ubiquitous online and news source repetition of humiliating tabloid stories, mean-spirited judgments andinformation is not harmless. It increasingly takes air time away from the countless significant unprecedented current events affecting our world. It saturates our culture, perpetuates unkind and unwise double standards, lowers the level of social and political discourse, standardizes cruelty as a cultural norm, and inundates people with information that does not matter. What if immaterial tabloid stories, judgments and misconceptions remained confined to the candy jar of low-brow entertainment and were replaced in mainstream media by far more important, necessary conversations? What if we were more careful and more conscientious about the choices we make for ourselves, where we choose to channel our energy and what we buy into; remembering that information — both factual and fictitious — is frequently commodified as a product, and the contents and how we use it are of significant personal, social and public consequence? Maybe we could talk more about why we seem to collectively share an appetite for witnessing people diminished and humiliated with attacks on appearance and character and how it impacts younger generations and struggles for equality, and about how legitimate news media have become vulnerable to news/entertainment ambiguity, which dangerously paves the way for worse fictions to flood the public consciousness to much greater consequence. Maybe we could talk more about our many true societal challenges and how we can do better. Read more: Jennifer Aniston Calls Out Decades of "Disturbing" Tabloid Rumors: "I'm Fed Up"
|
high
| 1 |
The actress has had it with the plastic surgery rumors that surround her -- and she wrote a touching essay about it.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20161013051742id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/04/meh-jobs-report-sticks-it-to-democrats.html
|
"All of it sounds kind of desperate to be honest," said one senior Democratic hand in Washington who did not want to be quoted by name disparaging his own party. "It's really going back and dusting off our old playbook." Read MoreWhy Democrats really need a stellar jobs report Friday It's also not at all clear that this "Fair Shot" agenda (which is very reminiscent of Al Gore's "the people versus the powerful" campaign) can keep Democrats from losing the Senate where they face tough races including in Louisiana, North Carolina and Arkansas where appeals to the base may not be enough to squeak out close victories. The White House on Friday was left saying what it has been saying for seemingly the last five years: This is pretty good but we'd like to see better. "This is consistent with the steady, solid recovery we've had," a grim looking White House senior economic adviser Jason Furman told CNBC from the White House lawn. But "steady" is probably not going to be good enough for a party saddled by an unpopular health-care law and unpopular president. There is also the fact that the party that controls the White House tends to lose seats in the sixth year of a two-term president's tenure. Read MoreShocked by Nate Silver's GOP Senate prediction? Don't be Since World War II, only one president has bucked that trend: Bill Clinton in 1998. But Clinton had a booming economy that was growing over 4 percent. Clinton also benefited from blowback against Republicans in the House who impeached him over the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Obama will likely benefit from some anger at House Republicans—the party is held in as low repute as the president—but it is the trend in the economy that will really matter in the voting booth and right now the story is not good.
|
low
| 0.892857 |
Democrats badly needed a blockbuster jobs report Friday to help them with the midterm elections. They didn't get it, POLITICO's Ben White says.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20140926024619id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/nov/12/photography
|
'Now, more than any other time, people should be pissed off about what's going on in the world. We need photographers who can show them what's really happening.' Photographer Julian Broad has firm views on the role of photojournalism and, as one of the judges for the 2006 Observer Hodge Photographic Award, in association with Olympus, he got to see first-hand how young photographers tackle today's important stories. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the award, which was set up in memory of David Hodge, who sustained fatal injuries while photographing the Brixton riots. It's aimed at photojournalists, aged 29 or under, with entrants submitting portfolios of images that tell a story, rather than just a single photo. 'It's fantastic that the Hodge Award exists, because there aren't as many photographers putting these sorts of stories together as there should be,' says Broad. 'It's much easier to concentrate on one image and make that great.' More than 300 photographers entered this year's competition, and first prize went to 27-year-old Stuart Whipps for Longbridge, which documents the deserted MG Rover car plant near his hometown of Birmingham. 'Stuart's photos were very enticing,' says judge Hannah Starkey, whose photography has been exhibited everywhere from the V&A to the Berlin Photography Festival. 'They seemed well constructed and, when you thought about the story, the emptiness, it was very emotional. Photographing absence is a difficult thing to do.' The winner receives £5,000, an Olympus camera and lens equipment and an all-expenses-paid assignment for The Observer. It will be Whipps's first commission from a national newspaper. He started his winning series of images in 2004, while MG Rover was still in business, but once production stopped he decided to document the workers' absence. 'This project was particularly important to me as my family has a history of working in heavy industry,' he says, 'but to do these photographic studies you need money, so the award will really help.' Whipps thinks this switch of focus from action to atmosphere is one of the big changes in photojournalism in the 20 years since the Hodge started. 'There's been a shift from decisive moments to the pre- and after events. I saw a Bob Dylan documentary a few years ago [World Tours 1966-1974] - there were no Dylan songs on the soundtrack and he wasn't in it, but the film showed everyone important around him. I think there's a parallel between that and what's happening now in documentary photography.' Runner-up Amanda Fisher shared this desire to capture the atmosphere around a life-changing event. Her haunting images of young women having cosmetic surgery investigate the divide between natural female bodies and cultural ideals of femininity. The other winners presented more traditional portfolios and their reports from around the globe recorded the lives of some unique communities. Student Photographer of the Year Stephen JB Kelly looks at youths given a chance to get away from the drugs and gang culture of Hong Kong in 'The Boys of the Zheng Sheng Rehabilitation Centre'; and Olivia Arthur's third-prize-winning portfolio documents the patients in Tibilisi Women's Psychiatric Ward in Georgia - 'Dealing with someone else's suffering takes real commitment,' says Starkey. 'As a photographer, trust is the most important thing you have.' Trust played a key part in the creation of Monica Stromdahl's portfolio, for which she won the Olympus Digital Photographer of the Year Award. The 24-year-old is still a student at University College Falmouth, but she went to New York in her holidays 'just to keep my camera busy' and stayed in a rundown residential hotel in Brooklyn, documenting the lives of its inhabitants. It took a week to gain the residents' trust, but in the end they accepted her 'because I'm young and human'. Stromdahl is determined to pursue a career in photojournalism: 'People are scared of what they don't know. I want to tell other peoples' stories.' She says winning an award has given her the confidence in her ability to do that. The sense of affirmation that comes with a prize is something that judge Broad understands. He thinks it makes the Hodge Award vital. 'The confidence that this gives young photographers is worth more than the money. A sense of justification - God, that's fantastic, better than any prize.' · The Observer Hodge Photographic Award exhibition is at The Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1 from 10 Nov to 19 Jan. · Click here for a gallery of the winning photo stories
|
medium
| 1.548387 |
From the desolate factory floor at Longbridge to women awaiting cosmetic surgery and boys in rehab ... Alice Fisher introduces the powerful winners of the 2006 Observer Hodge Photographic Award.
|
http://web.archive.org/web/20141003084751id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/apr/22/art
|
Rosalind NashashibiChisenhale Gallery, London E3, until 27 May David MaljkovicWhitechapel Art Gallery, London E1, until 6 May Rosalind Nashashibi won the Beck's Futures Award in 2003. She was the first woman to win the prize. I saw the four videos that thrilled the judges and even wrote about them in this paper, but to this day, and despite seeing other work by her since, I remember almost nothing about them. Not unusual, you may say, and video, of all art forms, surely deserves a mollifying pardon. For how can it hope to be always memorable? Spooling along in the soporific fug of the darkened museum, repeating itself in mandatory loops, avoiding narrative, climax, too much characterisation or plot, it works hard to be something other than cinema. And it has been a dominant way of working for so long now, 30 years and more, that most of its special effects - its special aesthetics - are tried and familiar. If you are a gallery-goer, your expectations of video by now, I guess, may be many and complex but they aren't likely to involve being struck to the marrow. There is, though, a very prevalent strain of video that actually aims to be forgotten, or perhaps half-forgotten - to set forth images that will slip into the mind and vanish, like a cormorant, only to reappear much further down the river. Seeing the premiere of Nashashibi's new film at the Chisenhale Gallery, before its showing at the forthcoming Venice Biennale, raised spectral memories of her earlier works. A woman slowly sorting through jumble-sale clothes to the soundtrack of an Egyptian lament; mothers making a vast dinner in a little room in Nazareth, a tiny window shedding light on the scene; an electric twilight picking out idlers on the streets of small-town Nebraska. These images returned to mind in a beautifully involuntary way, like sudden memories of far-flung places. The connectedness of all lives and places is among Nashashibi's main subjects as an artist and is probably why four short videos rather than one long one may be a better way to see her work. But Bachelor Machines, her 30-minute feature is, none the less, a good place to start. It is better structured, better paced and more sophisticated than anything she has made so far and balances very subtly between moving and static images. The opening sequence - a diagonal bowsprit beneath a pale moon (or perhaps a fading sun, for there are gilded clouds) - has the appearance of a still until the bowsprit suddenly dips and you realise we're all at sea on a vessel. Cabined, cribbed, confined: this is a film about the tight press of men on a cargo ship from Italy to Sweden via Portugal. The sailors come from all these countries, it seems, and a strict hierarchy of position and nationality appears to be in operation. Food-making, door-fixing, rope-throwing, waiting - these are the lowly tasks of those who smoke Marlboro Reds and have nothing but beer compared with the bottled water and wine in the captain's mess behind closed doors. Nashashibi's camera is oblique, over-the-shoulder, entirely unnoticed except by one flirtatious Italian. It stares closely at the strangest details: the scar on a sailor's poker-playing hand, the arrangement of locks on a cupboard that somehow resembles a face, the way these circular locks echo the portholes and the ladles and the design of the officers' epaulettes as if they were all part of some nautical family. And then her camera looks out through these portholes, noticing what the sailors do not see: the haunting seas and shores of the world beyond. For this is an in-turned life, the sailors plunged deep in their floating institution. The ocean shots are tranquil, silent; the interiors have a constant soundtrack of tense conversation. None of the conversation is translated (this is not a movie) and it wouldn't seem any less strange, one feels, if it were. Nashashibi's sequences are beautifully structured - dark figures bent over machines, backlit by sea-shine; radars pulsing green light; long corridors that you round to discover nobody there. The film is eventless, in a sense, bar a shot of smashed crockery and the life-raft suddenly quivering in midair, but its editing amounts to a nail-biting enigma. There isn't a cliched image in the whole film and it manages to be a new thing of its own - patterned, dreamy and as intensively composed, in its way, as a painting. To remain on the verge without collapsing into boredom: that is one trick for videos that want to get under your skin without seeming to do so. And that is surely what Croatian artist David Maljkovic was trying to achieve with his trilogy set in the country's Second World War memorial park built under communist Yugoslavia. Three young Croatians drive there in a foil-covered (futuristic?) car in 2045, searching for 'a future heritage'. Twenty years later, a boy approaches on foot through deep snow as if on some spiritual pilgrimage. The third video, of teenagers milling aimlessly around the central tower, completes the tedium and makes the whole thing seem finally meaningless. In fact, there is only one artwork of any interest in this hapless trilogy and that is the silver sci-fi tower: gleaming, undulating, deservedly forgotten, snow drifting through its shattered windows.
|
high
| 0.875 |
Art: Rosalind Nashashibi's beautiful new video is a real treasure, leaving David Maljkovic all washed up, says Laura Cumming.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.