text:
Tokyo Electric Power Company
Tokyo Electric Power Company, Japanese electric provider
Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd. (東京電力株式会社 Tokyo Denryoku Kabushiki – gaisha?, TYO: 9501 ), and confessed being Toden (東電 Toden? ) or TEPCO, is a Japanese electric utilities servicing Japan ' s Kanto region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo. Its focal point are located network Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and international branch aid gel clout Washington, D. C., and London. Factual is a founding meed of planned consortiums related to energy innovation and research; selfsame whereas JINED, INCJ and MAI. Tokyo Electric Power Company
Mark 2007 Tepco was forced to shut the Kashiwazaki – Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant later the Niigata – Chuetsu – Oki Earthquake. That bout bodily lettered its rudimentary loss leadership 28 oldness. Corporate losses longish until the plant reopened effect 2009. Following the Footslog 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, its power plant at Fukushima Daiichi was the site of a abiding nuclear adversity, one of the sphere ' s most resolute. TEPCO could appearance ¥2 trillion ( $23. 6 billion ) prestige distinctive losses consequence the current biz age to Walk 2012, and Japan plans to put TEPCO below operative state power over a guarantee for compensation payments to humans affected by radiation. The Fukushima blow displaced 50, 000 households fix the evacuation segment seeing of radiation leaks into the air, smear and sea.
TEPCO was nationalized leadership May 2012. The total cost of the adversity was estimated at $100bn imprint May 2012.
Japan ' s ten regional electric companies, including TEPCO, were down pat spell 1951 bury the heel of the state – flight electric industry regime for public wartime call.
Weight the 1950s, the company ' s primary design was to hand-carry a rapid recovery from the infrastructure damage of Apple Warfare II. Abutting the recovery title, the company had to expand its supply capacity to grab up salt away the country ' s rapid economic extension by developing seasoned fuel power plants and a higher efficient transmission network.
Moment the 1960s and 1970s, the company faced the challenges of extended environmental pollution and oil shocks. TEPCO began addressing environmental concerns through expansion of its LNG fueled power plant network considering bushy-tailed since greater reliance on a ' deal bury the devil ' – nuclear engendering. The least nuclear unit at the Fukushima Dai – ichi ( Fukushima I ) nuclear power plant began workable begetting on Pace 26, 1970.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the extensive purpose of air – conditioners and Heartfelt / OA appliances resulted a space between lastingness and twilight electricity demand. Fix grouping to cut prodigal engendering capacity and intensification capacity utilization, TEPCO developed pumped storage hydroelectric power plants and promoted melting storage units. Tokyo Electric Power Company
Recently, TEPCO is expected to play a interpretation role grease achieving Japan ' s targets for reduced carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. It also faces difficulties related to the trend towards deregulation in Japan ' s electric industry as well as low power demand growth. In light of these circumstances, TEPCO launched an extensive sales promotion campaign called ' Switch! ', promoting all – electric housing in order to both achieve the more efficient use of its generation capacity as well as erode the market share of gas companies.
Corporate overview
- Capital stock: ¥676, 424, 197, 050
- Total outstanding shares: 1, 352, 876, 531
- Number of shareholders: 821, 841
- Electricity sales ( FY 2004 ): 92, 592 million kWh ( lighting ), 194, 148 million kWh ( power ), 286, 741 million kWh ( total )
- Peak demand: 64. 3 million kW ( July 24, 2001 )
- Number of customers ( ending March 31, 2005 ): 25, 120, 000 / 83. 89 million kW ( lighting ), 2, 630, 000 thousand / 39. 75 million kWh ( power ), 27, 740, 000 / 123. 64 million kW ( total )
- Revenue from electricity sales: ¥4, 637. 2 billion yen ( FY 2004 )
Executive compensation
The Washington Post reported, that compared to American and European chief executives, Tepco chief, " Shimizu earns a pittance. Tepco won't give his salary, but total remuneration for the president and 20 other directors came to $8. 9 million in fiscal 2009, the last period for which figures are available, " an average of $445, 000.
Community compensation
Tokyo Electric Power could face 2 trillion yen ( $23. 6 bln ) in special losses in the current business year to March 2012 to compensate communities near its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, according to JP Morgan.
Japan plans to put TEPCO under effective state control so it can meet its compensation payments to people affected by radiation leaking from its Fukushima I plant. Tokyo will set aside several trillion yen in public funds that TEPCO can " dip into if it runs short for payouts to people affected ".
Salary pay cuts
The company workers agreed to a management proposal to cut their pay as a sense of responsibility for the world ' s worst nuclear disaster Annual remuneration for board members will be reduced by 50 percent since April 2011, while payment for managers will be cut by 25 percent and workers by 20 percent both since July 2011 and bonuses since June 2011. The company expects to save about 54 billion yen ( $659 million ) a year from the pay cuts. Tokyo Electric Power Company
Source: Wikipedia.org and various sources


text:
Insurance firms have a lot of content to deal with, both present and past. There's things to consider like ancient archives, current backups and all the live information that comes pouring into the corporate infrastructure on a daily basis. Yet simply allowing these records to rotate through the data management lifecycle isn't the best way to make use of them. For that, firms need business intelligence solutions.
In the business intelligence landscape, there are ways to harvest insights from past content and apply them to current situations. There are also methods for projecting future outcomes based on past events. Both of these circumstances require that general professional liability firms are making use of the best storage infrastructure and positive enterprise storage solutions.
Building business
As Insurance Tech Online stated, "understanding the value of these resources is a good first step toward ensuring that companies are making the most of their inherent and in-house resources. There are much better ways to run current operations than what most large organizations in the general professional liability scene are implementing at present."
Specifically, the best business intelligence tools are able to help companies:
•Improve response time
•Reduce financial liabilities
•Boost retention rates
Such opportunities are appealing to insurers, but the ways to achieve these outcomes aren't always intuitive. These results don't come up with all the opportunities that businesses have to offer, thereby stunting the growth of organizations.
It's important to be open to everything that companies can do with their industry options. Lack of effective use is a common problem among insurance providers, as these corporations are very fixated on final outcomes rather than long-term results.
These kinds of ideas can help increase the effectiveness of short-term productivity, but they're not always useful in situations where firms want to be successful in the following years or decade. While business intelligence can help companies save money, this isn't the only outcome that corporations can aim for with their corporate insight resources. It's much better to think about why cost savings occur and how to better enhance these returns in the future.
Improving responsiveness
Producing a positive business intelligence plan requires organizations to think about these long-term outcomes, rather than just concerning themselves with what's right around the corner. To do that, firms should consider the variety of services and solutions currently impacting their operations, as big data can have a strong impact on all of these solutions.
Information Management Online stated that "there are considerable concerns about how companies can manage their data in the age of the Internet of Things. People are able to link to corporate information services from anywhere and at any time, resulting in stronger flows of content in enterprise servers. While this is beneficial to creating business intelligence results, it can also easily overwhelm general professional liability service providers."
Leveraging more content is easy when the volume of information available to a firm is always on the rise. In some instances, there's a four-fold resource for enhancing the level of insight and availability of these services, as the source noted. Such insight depth makes it easy to pick out content necessary for improving responsiveness and business intelligence, thereby ensuring that there's required content for short-term and long-term projections alike.
The more widespread these insights become, the easier it is for corporations to hone in on the information that is most specific to their needs. "Right now", Information Management stated, "there's a growing need for analytics, as the big data inundation has yet to cease. With all that content continuing to be born and transferred on a regular basis, it's necessary to have tools in place that can handle this rolling information deluge in a way that's easy to commute to business intelligence computing."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hi everyone!!
Christmas is right around the corner, how are you doing?? :)
I'd like to show you a page I made for Get it Scrapped today.
The challenge was to make a page about a place and represent the place with some way, maybe with a map, or an emblem, a sign that screams the place we were representing. Not easy. What would you do if you had to do something like that? You know, sometimes the challenges are such a good way to push me to create awesome pages. When I "only" create, I usually stick to what I know. When I have a purpose (other than my story and photos) in mind, I surprise myself. :)
So here's my page. I made it about the last trip I took with my husband before we had kids. I was 7 months pregnant and we went to Andalucia, Spain, for 4 days. It was an awesome trip and I don't know why I took so long to document it. Probably I was waiting for the perfect challenge. ;)
The symbols I decided to use: the bull (and I used a silhouette since I'm all about silhouettes!!), the flag (that I mounted on a black inked toothpick),
the hands of the flamenco dancer which impressed me so much(!),
and the map on which I stitched our road trip. I used my Silhouette to die cut the title and I used the image I found online, on the Andalucia tourist information website. With Photoshop, it's easy. :)
I used the puffy geotags to highlight the 4 cities where we stopped.
On the second page, the 4 cities we visited are highlighted with photos and special stories. I used a paper that had spot for journaling and pictures and I printed the photos so that they would fit in the designated spots.
I used stamps and different colors of ink to make stories pop up.
And I used letter stickers to make the city names pop up. :)
It's incredible. When I make the pages, they are just "one more page" but when I prepare them for my blog posts, weeks later, I revisit them and that's when I decide if I like them or not. If they talk to me, I do like them. This one was just another page, but I discover now that I like it SO MUCH!!! I realize that the pages that are more precious to me are not the most artistic ones, and are not the most beautiful ones, they are not the ones which will make me earn a place on a design team. They are the ones with real stories, and lots of details, and tons of photos, even if they are small. I like pages that tell a story. And I am lucky to be able to make these pages as part of Debbie's team at Get it Scrapped. I am happy to be able to make genuine pages that are really ME. :)
Thank you Debbie! :)
Thanks for visiting everyone!!
I'll have some December Daily's updates real soon. :)
Monday, December 16, 2013
Geographic pride
6 comments:
- valé said...
Waouh quel journaling!!!!
- December 16, 2013 at 4:27 PM
- Marie-Pierre Capistran said...
haha! Valé, Merci!! :) Moi mon problème c'est pas d'écrire, c'est d'arrêter d'écrire. ;)
- December 16, 2013 at 4:34 PM
- Ladybird said...
Un véritable trésor cette page! Tout plein de détails sur votre voyage... C'est merveilleux! Pis je n'en reviens pas que vous ayez eu froid en Andalousie!!
- December 17, 2013 at 7:19 PM
These are wonderful! You are so creative!
- December 18, 2013 at 1:29 PM
- Nounette said...
Je découvre ton blog et je me régale!!! J'en prend plein les yeux, tout est magnifique! Bravo!
- December 27, 2013 at 5:09 PM
I just love these pages! They are wonderful and I love using maps!
- December 30, 2013 at 9:03 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Sanctuary Magazine
1 month ago
Paintings about the sea: seascapes, maritime or nautical painting, marine art, coastal scenes.
Great combination of painterly and photographic, plus terrific sense of scale.
Hi Katherine.
I love these paintings. They would have a powerful presence in a gallery space. Takes a fair amount of courage to paint at that scale though.
Great composition, wonderfull, best regard from Belgium


text:
Join free now!
It is free to search over million locals
adult massage Black Rock, asian massage Black Rock, body to body massage Black Rock, chinese massage Black Rock, erotic massage Black Rock, happy ending Black Rock, massage parlours Black Rock, massage therapist, massage therapy, masseur, nude massage, nuru massage Black Rock, oriental massage Black Rock, sensual massage Black Rock, sex massage Black Rock, tantra massage Black Rock, tantric massage Black Rock, thai massage Black Rock, porn Black Rock, sex in Black Rock
In turn, she relocated her body to encounter his, allowing out a light groan. He rested up and also placed her face down on the bed, after that straddled her nude body. He might feel her whole body unwind and also she started to scrub her butt versus his penis. He propelled gently in action, and also proceeded to scrub her body. Her body loosened up also much more and also she ended up being also a lot more excited, raising her butt additionally in the air as well as grinding harder versus his dick.
Her body increased in action. In turn, she relocated her body to encounter his, allowing out a light groan. He started to scrub her back muscular tissues.
He relocated to her hips, the location right over her butt that was especially delicate. Her body kicked back much more and also she ended up being much more excited, raising her butt even more airborne and also grinding harder versus his penis. He relocated himself down so he was remaining on her calf bones, and afterwards started to dig his fingers right into her butt, right down up until he was massaging the muscle mass.
He rested up as well as placed her face down on the bed, after that straddled her nude body. He can feel her whole body loosen up and also she started to massage her butt versus his penis. He propelled gently in feedback, and also proceeded to scrub her body.
He kissed her back, after that her butt, as well as after that gradually place his fingers right into her pussy, getting to in as well as hooking his fingers till he got to that place along the back wall surface of her vaginal area. He proceeded to finger her and also she obtained wetter and also wetter up until she was saturating as well as his hand glided deep inside of her with little resistance. She started to moan as well as yelp and also groan as he thumbed her more difficult and also harder.


text:
Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick are on the cover of the June 2013 issue of Guitar World! Congrats to Chris, on his first Guitar World cover – it's been a long time coming!
50 years ago
Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr
© 2005-2019 Ms. A's Blog - All Rights Reserved.
Site Design by Ms. A.


text:
iTunes Receipt Validation Helper
There is lots of documentation, tutorials and articles covering iTunes receipt validation. This is not one of them.
Instead I'm offering an iOS client tool to help you and your server team develop iOS receipt validation faster.
Your exciting start up is ready to validate all purchases made on it's new iOS app and the server lead wants to know how receipt validation works. After showing them the documentation the first question will invariably be
"Can you give me an iTunes receipt?"
Which is immediately followed by
"What does Apple's receipt validation response look like?"
And so begins the painful process of generating iTunes receipts using phsyical devices and test sandbox users.
To streamline this process I created a simple iOS application
It does the following
- Generates an iTunes in-app purchase receipt.
- Validates the receipt against iTunes Connection sandbox server.
- Display validation response.
- Email receipt and validation responses.
Feel free to download and use this application to provide live data for your server team.


text:
Manchester United spent just over £118 million on new players in the summer transfer window, it has been confirmed.
The Red Devils signed six new players before the close of the transfer window, and broke the British transfer record in order to land Angel di Maria from Real Madrid in a deal worth £59.7 million.
Radamel Falcao arrived on loan on deadline day for a fee believed to be around £6 million, while Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw also being snapped up. The estimate on Manchester United's spending was previously put at around £150 million but the club's accounts have revealed that the number is significantly less.
Now Manchester United financial blogger @AndersRed has broken down the figures, revealing that from the start of the summer transfer window the Red Devils spent just over £118 million on signing players.
That seems like a surprisingly small figure given the calibre of player Manchester United were able to land over the summer, although they don't include performance based add-ons or the £43 million they'll have to pay to make Falcao's switch to Old Trafford permanent.
Related Articles
- German star admits he was luck to play for Manchester United
- Robin van Persie explains shirt celebration after Chelsea goal
- Wayne Rooney a doubt to face Manchester City
While clubs like Arsenal have huge cash reserves, Manchester United were forced to borrow money in order to finance the transfers - although their revenue, which stands at over £400 million and makes them one of the richest clubs in the world, means that approach is sustainable.
There is also the impending arrival of a huge sponsorship deal with Adidas worth around £75 million a season which means they should be able to maintain their spending going forward. A return to the Champions League will further boost the coffers.
Elsewhere in the accounts it was revealed that Manchester United's debt now stands at £341.8 million, while the cost of staff including player wages was just under £215 million.


text:
Our Services
Our complete painting services include all aspects of interior and exterior painting and special finishes. We pride ourselves on quality and workmanship. Please take a look at our complete list of painting services.
View Portfolio
Our experience shows in our wide array of home and commerical painting. Take a look at some of our most proud projects. Don't see what you're looking for? Give us a call today for more information about our vast painting knowledge.
Leo did an awesome job for me, always showed up on time and kept everything clean when he was working on this house..
— George Hoffman, West Seattle


text:
Everything is 15% off.
Make sure to take a look and see if there is anything you just need to have!
|The first page will be a VENN DIAGRAM that the students will add to as they learn about the different types of numbers
|Whole Number, Natural Numbers and Integers
|Fractions As Division
|Absolute Value and Opposite Numbers
|Rational Numbers
Ice cream Cone and Ice Cream flip up and explain why each type of number can be written as a fraction
|Ordering and Comparing Rational Numbers
|Coordinate Plane


text:
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Ready, set... sketch! Some takes from day 1
A sketcher documents the arrival of participants.
Thanks to sponsorships by Moleskine, Canson, Faber-Castell, Art Media and Legion Paper, every participant received a bag full of sketching supplies. "It's like Christmas," said Frank Bettendorf, a participant coming from Mount Vernon, Washington.
Tia prepares her display of sketches.
Presenters gather at PNCA's Commons to discuss sketching locations.
Patrick Forster, PNCA's director of continuing education, welcomes everyone.
A mention at the Portland Tribune.
Lapin's talk drew a big crowd.
Blog correspondents Liz Steel, Gérard Michel and Jason Das.
Blog correspondent Gerard Michel.
Frank Ching talks to each of the participants taking his Urban Architecture class.
More sketchers at Skidmore fountain.
Liz Steel ran into the Mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, and he autographed the sketch she did of him!
See more Symposium sketches and photos at urbansketchers-pdx2010 on flickr.
Posted by Urban Sketchers at 8:26 PM
4 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Customer Reviews
* FTC Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by contributors of the product reviews are their own and not necessarily those of Netrition.com. These reviews should not be taken as recommendations but rather customer opinions of the products that they may or may not have used. Furthermore, Netrition.com makes no warranty or representation, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information contributed by outside sources, and assumes no responsibility or liability regarding the use of such information. Netrition.com does not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any materials listed or linked to on Netrition.com.
May 01, 2015Reviewer: James in Michigan* These are quite tasty. The mint flavor is a bit subtle, but definitely present. I'd order cases of these if the wallet wouldn't cringe in the process. Personal preference would put the bison version below this, but just barely.This review is specific to Lamb, Currant and Mint, 1.5 oz.


text:
Motivational Keynote Speakers
Bob Garner is a funny keynote speaker, with one major difference between himself and others in the industry.
Bob Garner actually says something during his presentations.
More than "fluff" and feel good, humorous motivational keynote speaker Bob Garner delivers real information and usable ideas. That's why Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard asked Bob to create a book with them called "Blueprint for Success - Proven Strategies for Success and Survival." Plus, Bob includes amazing entertainment for just the right amount of fun. Additionally, each presentation is customized to meet your needs.
You can look at everything we have here on this site.
However, if you want to see Bob Garner in action or contact his office for more information,
go to Bob's official site: http://www.bobgarneronline.com or call 805-534-1576.
Funny speaker and mentalist motivational speaker Bob
Garner has been acknowledged by the Academy of Arts and Science in
Hollywood, CA as one of the best comedy magicians and mind readers in the
world. In the past, Bob has headlined at countless comedy clubs, over
800 colleges, on cruise ships (72 times), and at resort hotels and
casinos, worldwide.
In his presentation, Bob uses these entertaining talents and skills, as well as plenty of polite audience participation, to emphasize and reinforce specific points of his presentation. You see, funny motivational speaker and keynote motivational speaker Bob Garner not only captures and amazes the minds of his audience, but also tickles their funny bones - all at the same time. That's why he is considered to be one of the best humorous motivational keynote speakers in the business. He is humorous - actually very funny - and motivational with a keynote that will WOW your group.
As you read above, Bob provides real content. He customizes his presentations to meet your needs and creates a program that targets your objectives. Motivational keynote speakers need to be motivating and provide information. That also need to be entertaining or moving. Through Bob's entertaining skills, which include storytelling, along with fun demonstrations of mind reading, magic and comedy, Bob engages the audience on many levels.
You decide how much content and how much entertainment. After all, your the client and you know your audience. Bob will work with you to craft a presentation that is inspiring and fun. Many motivational keynote speakers just do the same presentation as all events or charge you extra to customize. That's not the case with Bob. He wants to help you hit a "home run" with your group.


text:
Bek is a gifted Clairvoyant and Oracle who talks directly to Spirit to pass on messages to those seeking counsel through readings and ritual. Her readings, along with her knowledge and skilled ability as a root worker, has enabled her to help many in finding answers, guidance, understanding, and healing in all areas of their lives; be it past or present circumstances or things in the future that have yet to manifest. She is a practiced dream interpreter and works with the spiritual messengers of her tribal Clan to bring clarity and insight to the information and communications the subconscious and spiritual world are trying to impart. Bek Crow comes from a lineage of Medicine workers from both her African and Native bloodlines. Since she can remember, Bek was in attuned to the voice of Spirit and to the Medicines of the Earth. With guidance, she forged a strong relationship with her Ancestors that helped her embrace her path and purpose of being a servant to Spirit and of Service to those around her. It is through these teachings and communications that Bek understood our existence within ourselves, each other, and the spirits around us as a kaleidescope of connection, with a balanced and reflective web between our realm and the spiritual one that she is able to walk with and between. She views her relationship with the spirits and the gifts they have bestowed upon her with the upmost respect, and feels a great responsibility to honor them with purity of intent and purpose both personally and professionally.
Education and Experience
Bek Crow has been taught and initiated in the verbal traditions of medicine, ritual, and healing on her Native side, and is an initiated member of the Haitian Vodou religion, and is the daughter of Fok nan Pwen Bo Houngan. She is also an initiated Reiki Master directly of the oldest and originating lineage- Mikao Usui, and keeps the Usui Shiki Ryoho tradition and practice.
Bek Crow is unavailable ... but you can arrange a call back!
$3.99/min - First Time Callers get 3 Minutes Free!*
Read Bek's Feedback! | Leave Feedback | Email Bek
* Free minutes available only to First-time Click4Advisor users.
Contact Us | How it Works | Join our Psychic Team


text: The glass is half-full Marktanalyse - 18-1-2019 Markets continued higher in spite of signs of a slowdown and persistent Brexit-related risks. (English version) Signs of an economic slowdown began to take shape both in China and the US. The Fed's Beige Book said the US was losing steam but also pointed to moderate growth in some regions. The report said the outlook was generally less optimistic because of equity market falls, higher benchmark rates and trade uncertainties. It added that growth in the manufacturing and energy sectors was tapering off in most regions. The shutdown, already the longest ever, only adds to these concerns. Business conditions in China continued to worsen while growth forecasts are generally shrinking. 12 out of 31 provinces have already released expectations and 8 have reduced growth prospects. All these signs of slowdown and political risk are mostly discounted by markets and investors seem to be banking on initiatives in some countries. China, for example, is striving to revive its domestic economy. Liquidity injections and repeated cuts to banks' required reserves are reassuring investors. Although the main goal is to stop funding drying up before the Chinese New Year, these measures also show that the PBoC is focusing on offering banks cheaper funding so that they can then lend to companies at lower rates. The US-China trade talks are ongoing and there is hope of at least a partial solution to the dispute. In the circumstances, we remain keen on equities. We expect China's economy to take a turn for the better thanks to the stimulus plan and we see further mileage in the European and US corporate profit cycle. European equities European markets continued to rally; taking a positive view of the UK parliament's rejection of Theresa May's Brexit plan and heartened by Beijing's monetary and economic stimulus measures. Autos, tech and financials led rises at the beginning of the period and the Italian market stood out after the government easily raised €10bn over 16 years. The book was oversubscribed more than 3 times (€35bn). But US-China tensions caught up with markets at the end of the week after Huawei was charged with stealing trade secrets from US companies. Subsequent profit talking was offset by news that US customs tariffs on Chinese imports might be partially or totally lifted. In related news, Berlin is reportedly keen to impose security conditions that Huawei could be unable to respect in its 5G roll-out. In mixed news from companies, Société Générale issued a profit warning, saying there would be a 20% drop in revenues after fourth quarter trading was hit by highly volatile markets. The news put fresh pressure on a sector which had recently performed well. Continental said 2018 results would be in line but revised down guidance for 2019 on lower auto sales in China. Renault and Peugeot unveiled record 2018 sales. But without Opel's contribution, Peugeot's sales would be down, albeit of better quality due to the group's successful move into the SUV bracket. Casino's fourth quarter sales were as expected despite the yellow vest disruptions and the news helped the sector rebound. Ryanair made its second downward revision to guidance in 4 months, citing this time a bigger-than-expected fall in winter fares. In company transformation news, Panalpina received an unfriendly bid at a 24% premium from Denmark's DSV. The Danish logistics company had previously been rebuffed by Ceva Logistics. Europe's payment companies Wirecard and Worldline gained from sector consolidation after Fiserv acquired First Data to create a global leader. Europe's regulator and Germany's BaFin supervisory authority would appear to favour a transborder deal for Deutsche Bank, rather than a tie-up with Commerzbank. US equities The S&P gained 1.5% and the Nasdaq 1.6%. While investors continued to suffer uncertainty from the longest-ever US shutdown, market sentiment was lifted by speculation that some members of Donald Trump's administration might want to change their approach to China ahead of the end of month meeting. Financials rose by a robust 4%, mainly on upbeat results from leading US banks. Citigroup, JP Morgan and Bank of America saw strong growth in traditional businesses like lending while credit quality was in line with expectations. However, investment bank figures unsurprisingly fell sharply after a particularly difficult fourth quarter. Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, said the environment was good for consumers and companies and the economy was robust. Only utilities lost ground over the week after California's PG&E (electricity producer) went bankrupt. The group was unable to meet costs arising from last autumn's fires. Japanese equities Japanese equities gained on Beijing's stimulus measures. Although the UK Parliament's rejection of Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal plan had no significant impact, investors continued to worry about the negative effects of US-China trade frictions on the real economy as seen in lower-than-expected November machinery orders. The TOPIX rose 0.88% for the week. Other Products was the top performing sector, led by Nintendo (+9.30%). Securities & Commodities Futures, Other Financing, Insurance as well as Precision Instruments also performed well in the rebound. On the other hand, Uniqlo (-8.03%) and furniture & interior goods retailer Nitori Holdings (-4.86%) retreated after recent strong performance. Leading motor manufacturer Nidec revised down its earnings guidance for FY2018 (ending 31st March 2019) from +12.8% to -14.0%. The group has been hit by sluggish sales growth due to rapidly declining investment in CAPEX among Chinese customers in November and December. However, the news had a relatively limited effect on the stock price as it had already been partially discounted. The estimated tourist headcount to Japan in 2018 was up 8.7% YoY to a record 31.2 million. Visitors spent 2% more during their stays, boosting the overall amount to a JPY4.5 trillion. Growth was led by Chinese tourists who accounted for 26.8% and 34.1% of spending according to the JNTO statistics. Emerging markets Optimism continued to play an important role this week as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is flying to the US on January 30-31 for more trade talks. Although no new official stimulus policies have been announced, targeted easing tones are getting clearer from officials at both central and local government level. After slipping in the previous 3 months, broad credit growth in China held steady in December, thanks to improved corporate bond issuance and bank loans, although exports fell 4.4% YoY in December vs 3.9% in November. On the other hand, the latest earnings results continued to indicate a slowdown: Luk Fook, the jewelry retailer in Hong Kong, reported same-store sales down 10% YoY last quarter; TSMC reported 4Q18 results in line but 1Q19 revenue guidance (-22% QoQ) was weaker than expected. Management is expecting a contraction for the first half of 2019 but a better second half and plans to increase cash dividends despite weak demand dynamics. ByteDance, the still private tech unicorn company in China, said 2018 revenue only reached the lower end of its initial goal while Alibaba is reportedly cutting travel spending and postponing some hiring. In India, December CPI was in line with expectations: 2.2% vs. 2.3% in November as food prices continued to reduce the trajectory. Infosys delivered a strong revenue beat in quarterly results last week but missed on margins. Management also raised full-year revenue guidance. Hindustan Unilever reported inline quarterly results, with 10% YoY volume growth continuing in the home care segment; a slight drop in gross margins contraction but a 140bp improvement in EBITDA YoY. Management remains positive on the demand outlook despite weak rural data points and slowing auto sales. Reliance reported better-than-expected results due to upbeat retail and telecom results. In Indonesia, December trade data disappointed with exports contracting by 4.6% YoY and import growth slowing to 1.2% YoY. This could mean a widening current account deficit in 2018, above the central bank's estimate of 3% of GDP. In Brazil, retail sales came in stronger than expected in November (+1.5% versus 0.2%), driven by Black Friday's sales. December consumer confidence was up 6%, the highest level since 2014. December malls traffic was also strong at +3.1% YoY. Another highlight was Petrobras's Board of Directors approval of the sale of control in subsidiaries. In South Africa, the central bank kept interest rates unchanged, significantly cutting inflation forecasts. Mr Price's 3Q results disappointed due to lower than expected sales growth (below guidance). Emerging markets funds saw $3.1bn in new money this week on cheap valuations, the Fed's dovish remarks and the PBoC's fine tuning. Commodities Brent crude stabilised at $60 and WTI at $52. Washington said it had no intention of granting new exemptions for Iran's oil exports. But based on previous, unreliable indications, markets are loath to anticipate developments. What is clear for the moment is that OPEC countries are doing what is required to reduce surplus supply. They cut output by 751,000 b/d in December compared to the previous month, with Saudi Arabia reducing by 468,000 b/d. This cut is a month in advance and the biggest fall since January 2017. And given the time tankers take to reach final markets, the decisions were reached before the December 7 meeting. OPEC countries have planned various meetings in coming months to monitor supply adjustments. Venezuela's production was down by 480,000 b/d to 1.22 million by December 2018 and could continue to suffer. Washington has told US refiners that sanctions might be imposed on crude imports from Venezuela (currently running at 500,000 b/d). But the most important news is that demand continues to hold up well, especially considering concerns over the global economy and China's slowdown. OPEC's monthly report has left forecasts for growth in 2019 demand unchanged at +1.3 million b/d. The EIA has also maintained its forecasts at +1.54 million b/d. China imported 10.3 million b/d in December, a 30% increase over a year. For 2018 as a whole, imports rose 10.6% to 9.3 million b/d. Nonetheless, to balance out supply and demand in 2019, OPEC will have to produce an average of 30.8 million b/d, or less than today's admittedly seasonal 31.6 million. Elsewhere, the gold sector kicked off 2019 as it ended 2018, i.e. with a significant merger. After Barrick's tie-up with Randgold, Newmont is to merge with Goldcorp. Four of the six biggest producers have now merged. The rationale behind this new deal is less clear but it suggests 2019 will be a very active year for the sector. Corporate debt Credit The market started the week lower after a sharp drop in Chinese exports raised doubts over global growth. The trend then reversed thanks to Mario Draghi's cautious comments on Europe's economic situation and the UK parliament's rejection of Theresa May's Brexit plan. Some investors are increasingly convinced that a no-deal Brexit is impossible. As a result, the Xover and Main indices tightened by 20bp and 6bp over the week. In Spain, press reports said several investors would be interested in Dia's recapitalisation plan. The group unveiled a restructuring plan at the end of December ahead of an increase in capital in early 2019. In retail, New Look (Ca/CCC) has reached an agreement in principle with a group of bondholders on its debt restructuring. The agreement involves a new £80m bridging loan to ensure short term business continuity. Italian press reports said Salini and major Italian banks were formulating an offer to buy Astaldi (Ca2/D). Telecom Italia (Ba1/BB+) issued a warning on its EBITDA for the 2018 financial year. The ECB continued to put pressure on Italy's banks to make provisions for non-performing loans. Banca Carige asked the European Commission for permission to use the State's guarantee for its bond issues. The guarantee was granted by decree at the beginning of January. Société Générale warned of a 20% drop in its market activities but there was no impact on its credit spreads. In new issues, BNP Paribas raised €2.25bn at 2.125% and £1bn at 3.375% with two Senior Non Preferred bonds. Both came with significant issue premiums. In investment grade, Engie raised €1bn with a hybrid bond at 3.25%. The issue performed well on the secondary market. Convertibles The good news this week on the convertible bond market is the revival of the primary market in Europe with a newcomer to the universe ; Takeaway.com (online food ordering) issued Euro 250 million of 5Y convertible bond (2.25% coupon, 35% premium). In the meantime, the company made a share placement of 8.35m ordinary shares. The overall proceeds will be used to fund the acquisition of Delivery Hero in Germany (announced in December 2018) and to pay back the euro 150 Million bridge facility (granted in 2018). In Asia, Lenovo (personal computing and handheld) sold $675 million of 5Y convertible bond with a 3.375% coupon and 40% premium. The proceeds are intended to be used for the repayment of existing 4.7% 2019 senior note and some general corporate purposes. In the rest of the news, China real estate sector was under pressure on Thursday after rumors that Jiayuan International would be unable to pay back its 8.125% 2019 bonds ; management confirmed later the payment of the bond. In Europe, Dassault Aviation signed a new Euro 2 billion contract with the French government to develop the Rafale's F4 standard, and got the confirmation that it could move forward with the production of the last 28 Rafale. Finally, in the US, Atlassian (software) reported its Q2 2019 numbers with revenues showing 4% upside, and customer growth of 23% yoy. Elément complémentaire Download the document


text:
WHEN MCDONALD'S Chairman and CEO Jim Cantalupo died suddenly of an apparent heart attack this past April, the hamburger chain was able to do something that many companies would be hard-pressed to do in the midst of the shock of such a loss: It immediately named a new executive team. Just hours after Cantalupo's death, the McDonald's board of directors named Charlie Bell the company's new CEO, a move that soothed the nerves of the company's jittery investors and employees.
But this was no impulse decision. When Cantalupo came out of retirement to take the reins of the fast-food giant more than a year ago, he requested that Bell be named COO so that he could groom him to eventually take over the top spot. Cantalupo understood that his legacy at the company would be judged by more than the number of new items added to the menu. It would be measured by how he prepared his successor and the smoothness of the transition of power.
Leaders often wrestle with the task of grooming a successor, and history is rife with stories of succession planning gone awry. Recent tales of Michael Eisner's travails at Disney show the hazards of having no succession plan whatsoever — although he claimed to have an emergency envelope tucked inside his desk containing the identity of his handpicked replacement. But, in reality, Eisner drove so many of his would-be successors out of the company that, after ousting him as chairman, the Disney board is still actively working on building a real succession plan.
And it's not just a part of disaster planning. As talented executives and managers graduate to larger leadership roles, they vacate positions that need to be filled by equally gifted people. As a result, executive succession planning has become a staple of corporate due diligence.
A study by executive search firm Korn/Ferry International found that succession planning programs are on the rise: Only 33 percent of American boards of directors reported having a CEO succession plan in place in 2001, but by 2003 that number had jumped to 77 percent. "We're clearly seeing more emphasis placed on things like business continuity planning," says Mark Polansky, managing director and member of the Advanced Technology Practice at Korn/Ferry's New York office. "But it's not only about physical security, cybersecurity and losing electrical power," he says, "9/11 taught us it's also about losing people. [Succession planning] is consequently becoming a more prominent and practiced art."
Although a CEO's successor gets the most media attention, a succession plan should be in place for all of a company's top executives, including the CSO. "If you lose one or two senior executives, it's a domino effect that impacts a whole series of people," says John Bruckman, managing director of the Change Management Group, a consultancy staffed by industrial and organizational psychologists. "You want to replace those people from within, and you want someone to seamlessly step in and take over as if nothing happened. You should have two to three successor candidates for every key position," he advises.
We spoke with CSOs and management consultants to glean their perspective on the challenges and benefits of developing a succession plan for the CSO. We present their tips for growing security leaders who will ably guide your team into the future, and we show you why attention to succession planning can make your tenure as the CSO even more secure.
Don't Fear the ReaperExecutives often delay succession planning or give the process short shrift for the same reason that people put off drawing up a will; it's uncomfortable to think about death and dying. In the corporate world, creating a succession plan raises the equally feared spectres of layoffs or retirement. It takes guts to tackle the issue head on.
A succession plan is more than a document containing the secret identity of your company's next CSO. It is a living mission statement that puts into writing the attributes that future security leaders must have. It also includes the development and training programs needed to nurture successors and a methodology for ensuring management's accountability to the plan.
A succession plan does not necessarily have to name an actual successor, although most CSOs we spoke with have candidates in mind that they have discussed with senior management. "The individual's identity is confidential to the point where it needs to be announced," says David Burrill, head of group security for British American Tobacco. "If you nominate someone too early, he'll think that what he does in the future doesn't matter." Instead, Burrill wants to keep his candidates hungry for the position. "[My candidates] will know that they're doing well, that they are highly regarded and will almost certainly know they're in the running for the job. But if there is only one person in the running, if there isn't a sense of competition, we have a problem."
The transparency of the process depends largely on the corporate culture that you're working within. Many companies keep their candidate list completely confidential, sharing it only with top management for fear that the process will become too political or open the department up to be cherry-picked by headhunters. Other companies make selecting executive successors a more open process where each candidate gets an annual or biannual review indicating what he needs to do to prepare himself to take on the CSO role. Regardless of which method you choose, the criteria for the CSO role should not be treated like a trade secret. If you want employees to aspire to be future security leaders, they have to understand the standards and expectations against which they will be judged.
The goal for Burrill and for many of the CSOs we interviewed is to build a succession plan that's so solid that they never have to look outside the company for a security executive candidate. "If we got it right, we should be able to home grow our own head of security," says Burrill. "If we had to go out to the public sector [to hire candidates], I would consider it a failure because they would have to adjust to our business environment and quite a lot of them never will. Over time that can cripple an entire function."
Plan from the Top...A good succession plan should be two things: mandated from the top down and then built from the bottom up. Management support and leadership are critical to validating the plan and creating accountability. Sound recruitment and retention policies are crucial to bringing good people into the system.
Few CSOs have the luxury of choosing their successors without a good deal of input from management, so it's important that the process is steered by corporate leadership. "It has to be driven from the top, by the board of directors, the chairman and the CEO. It can't be driven by the CSO," says Bruckman. "All he can do is make a really good case for one particular candidate."
At Merck, CEO Ray Gilmartin is within two years of retirement and has set an example of succession planning for his management team by announcing that his successor will come from within. Gilmartin has stressed the importance of developing leaders internally by acknowledging that when he was brought in from the outside in 1994 it was far more disruptive to the organization than an internal appointment would have been. Merck CSO Bob Moore believes that Gilmartin's strategy applies equally to the security function. "There is a lot of disruption when you bring someone in from the outside to head up security. And to be brutally frank, if a company doesn't develop from within, it points to a lack of planning on its part."
At British American Tobacco, succession plans are mandated throughout the company, and tied to the organization's career development meetings (CDMs) that take place between all employees and their managers. CDMs address an employee's performance as well as his potential and identify individuals with leadership prospects. Once a year, Burrill meets at corporate headquarters in London with a member of the board and a senior executive from human resources to discuss employees within security who are prepared to succeed into senior executive positions. This ensures that Burrill's hottest prospects are discussed with senior management while keeping him accountable for their continued development and progress.
...And Build from the BottomOn the other side of the spectrum, CSOs need to be diligent about attracting individuals with leadership potential into security and making it appealing for them to stay on and build careers there. The problem is that managers and executives tend to value people who are like them, says James Redeker, chairman of the Employment Services Practice Group at law firm Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen. And that fact is often reflected in hirings and promotions. This can be particularly true in security organizations, which tend to be populated by people with similar backgrounds such as law enforcement, three-letter government agencies and information security.
"The danger is that you start to create clones," says Burrill. "If everyone is trained the same way and everyone agrees with each other, then nobody is going to ask the rogue questions." Burrill values a staff with diverse backgrounds. "We want our security managers to come from the military, from law enforcement and the state department. We want some to be brought up through the business side and some who have never been in any of those groups. They all blend together to create a pot of gold," he says.
Building your own leaders also presents some unique challenges in the security world. Unlike other business units, security tends to be small and there are limited opportunities to break into management. Consequently, part of the price of building a strong succession plan with solid future CSO candidates is that you have to be willing to lose them. "Most security organizations are lean and mean until you get to the major companies," says Bill Wipprecht, CSO of Wells Fargo. He believes in cross-training his people to ensure that they have the leadership skills that will prepare them to take over when somebody leaves or retires. But he acknowledges that sometimes those opportunities will come up at another company before they do at Wells Fargo. "If somebody comes to me and says he's going to be security director at another company, that makes me proud," he says. "I don't mind promoting people out like that because it's a positive thing for the industry."
However, timing can also work in a company's favour. Jim Christian, vice president and head of corporate security and aviation at Novartis, has had employees leave for a better opportunity with a competitor, and then three years later a position will open up and Novartis can lure that individual back. "A lot of it is timing; sometimes we have the person and not the position," says Christian.
Derrick Barton, cofounder of the Center for Talent Retention, suggests that CSOs who want to hold onto their best people should consider creating career opportunities rather than waiting for positions to open up. This can mean designing a special assignment for someone who wants to build his or her skills in a particular area of security. Thus, employees who are hungry for development can get it without necessarily being appointed to a new job. "Make it a role that the person can execute and be compensated for," says Barton. "There doesn't have to be a ton of hierarchy for something to be a career-opportunity trigger."
The simple act of letting a person know that she is well thought of is also important to employee retention. "I can't tell you how many high performers were delivering great work, but no one ever told them. They decide, 'I'm out of here,'" says Barton. "Once that happens, there's a very high correlation with those people actually leaving, and they will deliver high performance until the moment they walk into your office and say they're moving on." CSOs can't put off these discussions, or they will find their best replacement candidates slowly trickling out of the corporation.
On a positive note, one employment trend benefiting CSOs is that the decade of the freelance nation is over. Employees are no longer as interested in hopping from one company to another as they were in the '90s. The desire for stability, and the opportunity to build a career at a single company, is more valued at this point.
Define the RoleWhen succession plans do exist, they are often based on the wrong criteria. Performance evaluations can identify talented people within your group, but they are records of an individual's past accomplishments. A good succession plan should be based on the skills and values that will define the CSO role in the future. The executive that has been a corporate superstar for the past 15 years is not necessarily the best-equipped leader for the challenges that are sure to arise in the next decade. CSOs who embark upon succession planning must first consider what the defining characteristics of the future security executive will be.
The first quality often cited is the necessity of fitting in with the organizational culture. This can be especially important in the security realm where success is highly dependent on the ability to change people's behaviour. David Saenz, vice president of worldwide security at Levi Strauss, is involved with the International Security Management Association (ISMA) Leadership Program, a yearlong executive development and leadership seminar for potential CSOs held at Georgetown University. He often coaches students to pay attention to an organization's culture when they interview for a top security job. "We've had people that have interviewed for positions [at Levi Strauss], and they had all the skills. But in terms of the fit and the culture, they wouldn't have been in sync."
Cultural sensitivity and fitting in have to be married with the political and business savvy that security departments have historically lacked. Security has often been perceived as the "dark shadow," notes Moore, in the sense that it is closeted away from the rest of the organization, creating the illusion that it is somehow different from other business units.
It's a problem that Saenz still sees in the writing projects done by would-be-CSO students. "The papers fail to link security work to the strategic objectives of the business," he says. "There is a lack of a sound financial analysis, other than saying we should do this because security is inherently good."
A company's CSO is just one of many executives competing for limited resources, and without speaking the language of financial impact and ROI, his batting average will be poor. "If you want to be a plumber, you learn the language of a plumber. Likewise, you have to learn talk the language of business — which is money," says Saenz.
CSOs also need a battery of less tangible skills to be successful: initiative, imagination, the flexibility to roll with business changes, and an understanding of and social proficiency with cultures outside of the United States. "Security is driven by the social and political realms as well as economics, and you have to have those different skills," says Moore. "Security professionals, in addition to being specialists, have to be generalists with special skills."
Develop High PerformersOnce you identify the skills that you want your security executive candidates to have, the next challenge is to create the opportunities and experiences that will inculcate those qualities into your leadership pool. Often this means pushing your most talented people outside their area of expertise to see if they sink or swim.
Communication skills are critical to a CSO and will only become more important as the security function grows in prominence. Wipprecht agrees that a CSO candidate must have the right technical skills. But getting to the top also requires people skills — especially the ability to communicate with management. "You've got to expose your future talents to management," says Wipprecht. "Management has to get to know you on a personal basis," he says.
Moore goes a step further, encouraging his top security managers to interact regularly with senior executives to eliminate some of the natural deference to seniority that often exists. "You have to move outside your comfort zones in order to prepare for those big steps."
Ensuring that their top performers get business and management exposure can also give CSOs valuable insight into their abilities. Moore gets feedback from the line-of-business clients and stakeholders with whom his people interact twice a year. He feeds information about their strengths and weaknesses back into the succession planning funnel to determine their progress and the areas where they may need improvement.
Giving employees global exposure is also critical. Merck is part of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a joint initiative between the U.S. government and businesses to protect the security of cargo entering the United States. And with far-flung operations around the world, it's important that Merck's security executives have a global perspective. To that end, Moore is sending three global staff members to Europe, along with a senior security executive, to work on C-TPAT compliance issues. Aside from the project work, his other motives are to give these employees some valuable experience, and to see how these three individuals will fare. "I'll get an assessment of who adapted better to working in a non-U.S. environment and how they dealt with jet lag, language issues, the vagaries of international travel and business. You have to do these things to give them a 360-degree view of the world and the company. They won't get that unless they get out there and mix with other regions and people."
Establishing mentoring and coaching relationships is another way to build employee skill sets, whether you are setting security managers up with executive coaches or with each other. Barton suggests a practice that he calls "talent networking," where high-performing employees identify two skills that they feel are their strengths and two that could use further development. High-performers are then matched up by complementary strengths and weaknesses to create mentoring relationships that enable them to grow in the areas they need to while leveraging their own expertise to help someone else.
Leadership opportunities don't just exist in the corporate setting. Saenz encourages his Levi Strauss security staff to create their own leadership experiences in everyday life, noting that the political dynamics of the corporate world aren't always conducive to a good learning environment. He advises CSOs to encourage their people to "look for opportunities to practice leadership in the community. Whether it's with a nonprofit, serving on the city council or on a board of directors, those experiences will broaden their horizons," says Saenz. It's no different than learning any other kind of activity or skill; the key is practice. "I take a piano lesson every Saturday," he says, "and if I don't practice, it's not a lot of fun when I see the teacher. But if I work a little bit every day, then next time I sit down with the teacher, I'm ready to move on to another level."
Finally, to develop their leaders, CSOs can focus on the growing number of educational programs springing up that address the needs of would-be security executives. Programs like the ISMA Leadership course at Georgetown are building their syllabi around the future skills that will be essential for CSOs. Encouraging active membership in groups like ISMA and ASIS, and the continued pursuit of appropriate certifications can also ensure that your staff keeps learning and developing the right skills for the future.
Create AccountabilityIf it hasn't occurred to you already, leadership development is almost a full-time job in itself. Even CSOs who are serious about succession planning acknowledge that it's often difficult to find time to stay on top of it. Saenz tries to meet once a month with each of his direct reports to check in with them, although sometimes his workload makes that impossible.
At Wells Fargo, Wipprecht's biggest complaint about the company's succession planning and Talent Review process is the time it takes to get through what he calls the bureaucracy. He has to assess each direct report, his current abilities as a security agent and what he needs to do in the next year to move up in the management hierarchy. The Talent Review then informs the succession plan. "It takes a lot of time," says Wipprecht. "I have to think about each individual, what he does well and what we can give him to create a better organization one year from today."
Building (and then consistently updating) targeted growth plans for each employee makes it easier to keep track of individual progress and to keep a succession plan alive. The danger with succession planning is that good intentions can succumb to the everyday pressures of the CSO workload. "Two out of three companies just have a bunch of development crap wrapped in their succession plan that doesn't add value," says Barton.
Though Wipprecht laments the amount of work that goes into succession planning, he crows over its results. "I have four directors, and any one of the four is smarter than I am and can do a better job than I'm doing," he says. "But that drives them on. They work hard every day and, from a competitive standpoint, all four know they have an opportunity at this position."
The lesson is simple: Treat succession planning as a regular part of operations, and the benefits will go far beyond the security of knowing that the future leadership of your business unit is assured. Your tenure as CSO will also be a more successful one. "You'll have a stronger organization with a lot more loyalty and buy-in from people," says Moore. "And at the back end, you're going to put out a better and more professional product for senior management."
Join the newsletter!
Follow our new social and we'll keep you in the loop for exclusive events and all things security!
Have an opinion on security? Want to have your articles published on CSO? Please contact CSO Content Manager for our guidelines.


text:
Blanca and her family learned about ConeXión Mosaico when we began working in her neighborhood, the "el Potrero" community of San Sebastián. Blanca has had a degenerative eye condition her entire life. Her vision started going bad in elementary school and has gotten progressively worse over time. As a child her mother took her to a number of hospitals, but at that time there was no treatment except for a cornea transplant. However, after moving to "el Potrero" a year and a half ago, her vision suddenly became much worse. Since they didn't have electricity in the house Blanca had to strain her eyes much more to do her normal tasks, which accelerated the degeneration. At this point, she has less than 20% vision in the right eye and 30% in the left.
"Living without my vision, I always felt unsure and unsafe, all the time," Blanca says. Her son would have to go with her to work, so he could tell her which bus to get on. When walking in the street, since she couldn't see what was in front of her, she would often trip, step into puddles or even fall down. She remembers that going to her children's school for a meeting with the teacher was particularly humiliating. She often couldn't find the classroom and, although she would ask for directions, people would point to signs that she couldn't see.
Her lack of vision also severely impacted her social relationships. When talking to people, Blanca couldn't look them in the eye, or even see their faces. When people would walk by on the street and wave she couldn't see them, even if they were very close. This caused many of her neighbors to accuse her of being unsociable and selfish, saying that she only talked to them when she wanted something from them.
As bad as things were, Blanca was not able seek treatment on her own due to lack of resources. When her vision got so much worse, she desperately wanted to see what could be done to help her, but living in "el Potrero" there was barely enough to put food on the table each month. She told herself that once they had finished paying off their plot of land, in 3 or 4 years, she would try to save up enough to go to the doctor. In the meantime, she could see no other alternative except to resign herself to her fate.
Fortunately, Blanca became involved with the ProSalud project. Upon finding out about Blanca's condition, ProSalud was able to obtain a voucher for her to have a free exam with a specialist. The doctor made her some contact lenses, charging her only for the material used to make them. Because hers is a delicate case, she is receiving ongoing follow-up with the specialist, who has agreed to keep treating her free of charge.
With her new lenses, Blanca's vision is now about 70%. The impact on her daily life has been nothing less than miraculous. She is now able to get around on her own, without depending on her children to help her. She feels more confident and sure of herself and no longer stumbles or falls when she walks. Now she can look people in the eyes when she talks to them and return their greetings as they walk by. Blanca reports that this has had a tremendous impact on her relationships with her neighbors, and she is now starting to develop some new friendships.
Without ProSalud's help in obtaining the voucher, Blanca says that she still would still be waiting at least another 4 years to get treatment. At the rate her vision was worsening, she feels like she might have lost her eyesight entirely by that time. Now, although they have not been able to cure her condition, she says the doctor is hopeful that using her lenses will significantly slow the degeneration.
Although there are public medical resources for low-income people in Mexico, many slum residents are unaware that they exist or how to access them. Therefore many poor people with special needs or health conditions, unable to afford private care, often simply forego treatment. That is why educating people about existing resources and connecting them to the appropriate providers is such an important part of Prosalud's work. Time after time we have seen a simple referral lead to a dramatic transformation in the life of a slum dweller with special medical needs, like Blanca. "There have been so many changes to my daily life," Blanca says. "It's so beautiful to be able to look people in the eye when I talk to them!"


text:
Truth be told, there's a little Jesus in all of us. I'm hoping that doesn't freak you out.
For nearly a decade I've been blogging about motherhood, faith, organization, prematurity, rockin' birthday parties and Texas Aggies. I've been sassy and honest, vulnerable and occasionally witty. But above it all, I hope I've been authentic. I hope I've met you where you are, in a judgment-free zone.
Often, when I write a post, I have a specific person in mind that I'm trying to reach. And, when I write the hard posts, those are the ones where I dig deep and ask myself, "What would I say if this person was sitting at my dining room table?"
I'm praying, hard, that you feel welcome here. Always. Maybe you're not Catholic or unchurched, or you're suffering from infertility, perhaps you're a Longhorn {gasp} or you hate organization. Or, maybe you just prefer Chuck E Cheese over a home birthday party and you drink Diet Coke instead of the 23 flavors. Whoever you are, whatever station in life you're at, please know I want you here.
I share all that because of a beautiful event Scott and I were privileged to attend this weekend. We saw Matt Maher in concert. If you're unfamiliar with Matt, he's a Christian artist who has one heck of a talent writing songs. When Pope Francis participated in World Youth Day in Rio, Matt played before the Holy Father. His music is relevant, upbeat, inspiring and awesome. But there was something he said at this weekend's concert that keeps coming back to me.
As Christians, we should always be looking for job replacements.
In other words, instead of putting people down and being jealous of their accomplishments and accolades, we should be lifting them up. It got me thinking how many times I've said an off-hand comment about a situation when it just really didn't need to be said. How many times have I missed an opportunity to let the Holy Spirit shine through me?
Of course, you can't lift someone else up if you aren't confident about who you are and how God made you.
As Scott and I stood in the audience and sang off-key, loudly, and with total joy, I took a moment to look around. None of us has it figured it out. None of us is "getting it right." We're all just sinners in need of grace.
Let this be your daily "go rock today like the boss you are." I'm looking for some job replacements. You?


text:
Purchase your favorite TJ Elevator Fan merchandise online!
Simply select the items that you want by clicking on the Add to Cart button under the item. This will take you to the Paypal secure shopping cart and your item will be listed. You can choose to click on Continue Shopping to come back to the store and browse more items.
Your shopping cart items may be viewed at any time by selecting the View Cart button at the top. When you are finished shopping, simply click on the View Cart button to go back to the secure shopping cart, then click on Proceed to checkout to complete your purchase.
We accept Visa,MasterCard,American Express,Discover and Paypal.
Welcome to TJ's Elevator Gear Online Store, the place to come for TJ Elevator Fan merchandise. Please check back
often, as items will be added periodically.


text:
1964 Chrysler
- Stock
- Engine Size
- Transmission
- 3 Speed Automatic
- Miles
- 57,608 (Unknown)
- Location
- Tampa
or give us a call at (813) 501-1630
1 OF 625 CONVERT., 440 V8, 3 SPD AUTO, PS, PB, COLD R134a A/C, NICE LETTER CAR!
Mopar fans know how important one little letter can be. It takes a nice full-size convertible and turns it into something that is rare, luxurious, and powerful. This 1964 Chrysler 300K has all the right luxury touches and an upgraded 440 V8 heart. So when you consider only 625 convertibles were produced, we know this classic won't last long at this price.
Aside from just being ultra rare, this Chrysler droptop is also a great looking premium classic. The front end manages to be aggressive and graceful at the same time. There was no need for side trim, because the sheetmetal had a masterful profile all on its own where the complicated design lines were smoothed into a sophisticated silhouette. There are signs of Virgil Exner's brilliance in the headlights and front fender sculpting and the soft Nassau Blue paint keeps it from looking too heavy. It was repainted a few years ago – long enough for it to have settled nicely, but recent enough that you get the great gloss of a modern application. They weren't quite ready to give up tailfins over at Chrysler in '64, so the ridges on the rear quarters add just the right amount of style. It all ends in a nicely formed rear end where the chrome bumpers, rear panel, and taillights all seem to blend together in a carefully crafted execution – a true sign this was a designer's era in American cars.
Beneath the power folding white top is a great matching white interior. These "letter series" Chryslers were all about offering both luxury and performance, and the best way to understand it comes the moment you sit in the cushy front bucket seats. You get the proper squared off steering wheel that came on the premium models, and beyond that is an instrument panel with big, bold, and easy to read with round gauges. This readout package offers everything you want in a sports car, except a tach. That's because it's down on the center console next to the gearshift for a true blending of performance and luxury. As a full-size convertible, there's plenty of room to carry family and friends. And this one even has a few subtle upgrades to keep them all happy. For example there is a CD changer in the very ample trunk, and also the air conditioning has been converted to modern R134a, so staying cool with the top down has never been easier.
The engine bay looks honest and nicely maintained (including a new alternator), but it also holds a secret. The motor for these cars was a 413 cubic-inch V8. That's a pretty powerful big block, but this one has even more Mopar movement thanks to an upgrade to a 440ci powerplant with four-barrel carburetor. This really helps to further the 300K's mission of being a performance car for the luxury set. On the road the extra wallop of power is handled gracefully by the three-speed automatic transmission and power steering. There's even modern Goodyear tires nicely disguised with classic wire wheel covers.
Rare classics with this much power and appeal are usually not this affordable. So you know you need to be quick if you want to make this 300K yours. Call today!!!
- AM Radio
- Defrost
- Power Convertible Top
- Air Conditioning
- Heat
- Vinyl Interior
- Power Brakes
- Power Steering
- Seatbelts
- CD Changer
- Exterior Color
- Nassau Blue
- Interior Color
- White
- Front Suspension
- Independent
- Rear Suspension
- Leaf Spring
- Front Brakes
- Power Drum
- Rear Brakes
- Power Drum
You May Also Be Interested In...
Why Consign with Streetside?
Because we make it easy for you to get more money in your pocket. Here are even more reasons to choose us…Learn More