text:
Archive for the 'Reporting Services' Category
Caching The Rows Returned By An MDX Query
Here's another tip for those of you struggling with the performance of SSRS reports that run on top of an Analysis Services Multidimensional cube. Quite often, SSRS reports require quite complex set expressions to be used on the rows axis of an MDX query, and one of the weaknesses of SSAS is that while it can (usually) cache the values of cells returned by a query it can't cache the structure of the cellset returned by the query. What does this mean exactly? Well, consider the following query:
{[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount]} ON 0,
[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount],
[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount])
FROM [Adventure Works]
Here I'm taking every month on the Calendar hierarchy of the Date dimension and finding the top two customers by Internet Sales Amount for each Month; notice also that I'm slicing the query by a Product Category. The results look like this:
On my laptop this query takes just over three seconds to run however many times you run it (and yes, I know there are other ways this query can be optimised, but let's imagine this is a query that can't be optimised). The reason it is consistently slow is because the vast majority of the time taken for the query is to evaluate the set used on rows – even when the Storage Engine has cached the values for Internet Sales Amount for all combinations of month and customer, it still takes the Formula Engine a long time to find the top two customers for each month. Unfortunately, once the set of rows has been found it is discarded, and the next time the query is run it has to be re-evaluated.
How can we improve this? SSAS can't cache the results of a set used on an axis in a query, but SSAS can cache the result of a calculated measure and calculated measures can return strings, and these strings can contain representations of sets. Therefore, if you go into Visual Studio and add the following calculated measure onto the MDX Script of the cube on the Calculations tab of the Cube Editor:
[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount],
[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount])
You can then use this calculated measure in your query as follows:
{[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount]} ON 0,
FROM [Adventure Works]
Having done this, on my laptop the query is just as slow as before the first time it is run but on subsequent executions it returns almost instantly. This is because the first time the query is run the set expression used on rows is evaluated inside the calculated measure ReportRows and it is then turned into a string using the SetToStr() function; this string is then returned on the rows axis of the query and converted back to a set using the StrToSet() function. The second time the query is run the string returned by the ReportRows measure has already been cached by the Formula Engine, which explains why it is so fast.
Couldn't I have used a static named set declared on the cube to do this instead? I could, if I knew that the Where clause of the query would never change, but if I wanted to change the slice and look at a different Product Category I would expect to see a different set of rows displayed. While in theory I could create one gigantic named set containing every set of rows that ever might need to be displayed and then display the appropriate subset based on what's present in the Where clause, this set could take a very long time to evaluate and thus cause performance problems elsewhere. The beauty of the calculated measure approach is that if you change the Where clause the calculated measure will cache a new result for the new context.
There are some things to watch out for if you use this technique, however:
- It relies on Formula Engine caching to work. That's why I declared the calculated measure on the cube – it won't work if the calculated measure is declared in the WITH clause. There are a lot of other things that you can do that will prevent the Formula Engine cache from working too, such as declaring any other calculated members in the WITH clause, using subselects in your query (unless you have SSAS 2012 SP1 CU4), using non-deterministic functions and so on.
- Remember also that users who are members of different roles can't share formula engine caches, so if you have a lot of roles then the effectiveness of this technique will be reduced.
- There is a limit to the size of strings that SSAS calculated measures can return, and you may hit that limit if your set is large. In my opinion an SSRS report should never return more than a few hundred rows at most for the sake of usability, but I know that in the real world customers do love to run gigantic reports…
- There is also a limit to the size of the Formula Engine flat cache (the cache that is being used here), which is 10% of the TotalMemoryLimit. I guess it is possible that if you run a lot of different queries you could hit this limit, and if you do then the flat cache is completely emptied.
Tuning Queries with the WITH CACHE Statement
One of the side-effects of the irritating limitations that SSRS places on the MDX you can use in your reports is the widespread use of calculated measures to get the columns you want. For example, a query like this (note, this query isn't on the Adventure Works cube but on a simpler cube built on the Adventure Works DW database):
{[Measures].[Sales Amount]}
[Date].[Day Number Of Week].[Day Number Of Week].MEMBERS
[Product].[Product].[Product].MEMBERS ON 1
FROM [Adventure Works DW]
…which wouldn't be allowed in SSRS, could be rewritten like so:
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[1])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[2])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[3])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[4])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[5])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[6])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[7])
[Product].[Product].[Product].MEMBERS ON 1
FROM [Adventure Works DW]
…to get it in an SSRS-friendly format with only measures on columns.
For the last few days I've had the pleasure of working with Bob Duffy (a man so frighteningly intelligent he's not only an SSAS Maestro but a SQL Server MCM as well) on tuning a SSRS report like this on a fairly large cube. As Bob found, the problem with this style of query is that it isn't all that efficient: if you look in Profiler at what happens on a cold cache, you can see there are seven separate Query Subcube events and seven separate partition scans (indicated by the Progress Report Begin/End events) for each calculated measure on columns.
The first thing that Bob tried to tune this was to rewrite the query something like this:
{[Measures].[Sales Amount]}
[Date].[Day Number Of Week].[Day Number Of Week].MEMBERS
FROM [Adventure Works DW]
…and pivot the data in the SSRS tablix to get the desired layout with the Day Numbers on columns. The interesting thing, though, is that for this particular report while rewriting the query in this way made it run faster (there is only one Query Subcube event and partition scan now) it actually made the SSRS report run slower overall, simply because SSRS was taking a long time to pivot the values.
Instead, together we came up with a way to tune the original query using the WITH CACHE statement like so:
'([Measures].[Sales Amount]
, [Product].[Product].[Product].MEMBERS
, [Date].[Day Number Of Week].[Day Number Of Week].MEMBERS)'
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[1])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[2])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[3])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[4])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[5])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[6])
([Measures].[Sales Amount], [Date].[Day Number Of Week].&[7])
[Product].[Product].[Product].MEMBERS ON 1
FROM [Adventure Works DW]
What WITH CACHE statement does here is load all the data needed for the query into the Storage Engine cache before anything else happens. So even though there are still seven different Query Subcube events for each column, there's now only one partition scan and each of the seven Query Subcube events now hits cache:
There's no guarantee that this approach will result in the best performance even when you have a query in this form, but it's worth testing if you have. It's certainly the first time in a long while that I've used the WITH CACHE statement in the real world – so it's interesting from an MDX point of view too.
Prompts for Reporting Services
I got an email earlier this week from Eric Nelson telling me about a new Silverlight parameter prompting application for Reporting Services called "Prompts for Reporting Services" that he's developed and open-sourced, and since it's got some features that look useful for anyone building SSRS reports on SSAS I thought I'd share it here.
Some of the features Eric highlighted in his mail are:
Internal/Global Prompts: An internal prompt is just a regular parameter. A Global prompt is a report that's parameters are used as a report (you can create the prompt once and reference it from multiple reports).
Tree Prompt: This prompt uses cascading parameters for fetching its data which makes it perform really well compared to an indented hierarchy parameter.
Cascading Search Prompt: This prompt fetches no data to begin with and only queries the cube when a search is executed. I have found this really useful when I parameter is required that has 1,000+ members that tend to lock up the web browser when rendering and are really hard for the user to navigate.
A few screenshots:
It's available for download here:
PASS Summit 2010 Day 1
So day one of the PASS Summit is drawing to a close, and what a day it's been. I did a session myself today, which went well (I think), but the real news is all the cool new stuff that was announced at the keynote and at sessions throughout the day and that's what I'd like to reflect on here. A lot of questions about what we've seen today remain unanswered (more will be revealed tomorrow, I'm told) but I thought I'd blog about what interested me and was relevant to BI.
All in all, I'm very excited. Let's face it – over the last five years, in SSAS and in the wider BI stack, there's been a distinct lack of anything really radical and new. But today saw several announcements that will completely change the Microsoft BI stack:
- There will be column-store indexes, provided by the Vertipaq engine, inside the SQL Server relational database. Simon Sabin has a link to more details here.
- There's a new, corporate BI version of PowerPivot, BISM
- Project Crescent is a new ad hoc query tool coming from the Reporting Services team
Let's consider what each of these means in turn. Based on the limited information we've got so far, column-store indexes in SQL Server massively increase the performance of reporting/OLAP style queries inside the relational engine; if we get column-store indexes in Parallel Data Warehouse, well, I can imagine we'll get astounding performance over huge data volumes. The pdf linked to in Simon Sabin's blog says:
Users who were using OLAP systems only to get fast query performance, but who prefer to use the T-
SQL language to write queries, may find they can have one less moving part in their environment,
reducing cost and complexity. Users who like the sophisticated reporting tools, dimensional modeling
capability, forecasting facilities, and decision-support specific query languages that OLAP tools offer can
continue to benefit from them. Moreover, they may now be able to use ROLAP against a columnstore-
indexed SQL Server data warehouse, and meet or exceed the performance they were used to in the past
with OLAP, but save time by eliminating the cube building process.
To paraphrase, if your data's in SQL Server that's where it should stay for querying and reporting – MOLAP no longer provides any performance benefit, so the concept of 'processing' a cube to get data into a different, OLAP database is gone. If you still want to do OLAP on SQL Server it will be a form of ROLAP, and to me this makes a lot of sense.
Very few details about BISM, the 'corporate' version of Powerpivot/Vertipaq, were released but we saw that we could develop BISM models in Visual Studio and the end result was exactly what PowerPivot creates when you deploy a PowerPivot mode to Sharepoint – I guess it's basically a different type of Analysis Services database. BISM can either hold the data itself in its own Vertipaq store (useful when the data comes from anywhere other than SQL Server, eg Excel, Oracle, text files and so on) or it can act purely as a semantic layer and allow querying data in SQL Server in a ROLAP, multidimensional way. So we'll be able to create an Excel pivot table, connect to BISM and use that as a thin layer to query data that's directly in SQL Server. This is clearly what the future of Analysis Services is going to be – while the Analysis Services we know and love today might hang around for a few versions, it's not got a long-term future in my opinion.
There was a full session on Project Crescent later on today, which I went to, so I have more details on this. It's essentially a new ad hoc query tool being built by the SSRS team – interestingly it seems to have nothing to do with the rest of Reporting Services, and it doesn't create rdl files that can be edited in Report Builder or Report Designer. It's all about flashy visualisation and interactivity and reminds me a lot of Tableau and other fashionable BI tools; I can also see how it can be a replacement for PerformancePoint for creating dashboards. It is only surfaced in Sharepoint (boo! yet another Sharepoint dependency!) and is built in Silverlight; also, it can only work with data sourced from BISM/PowerPivot models. Once you get past the flashy stuff it does much the same that every other ad hoc query tool has been doing since the year dot (Marco, sitting next to me, commented that it was doing much the same thing that Data Analyzer was doing 10 years ago) but the flashy stuff is very flashy indeed, and very impressive – for instance the ability to export views out to PowerPoint slides looks cool; but I do wonder whether it will be as practically useful as something like Tableau so we'll have to wait and see. I'm pleased to see that someone at MS has finally woken up to the fact that end users might want to use something other than Excel for ad hoc querying.
OK, time for a few drinks and to have some fun! There'll be another post with more news tomorrow…
SQL Azure Reporting: Reporting Services in the Cloud
So SSRS in the cloud has just been announced! See this post on the SQL Azure team blog:
…and also this 20 minute video from PDC giving a lot more detail:
Basically it's the SSRS you know and love with only a few limitations: for example it only supports SQL Azure as a data source and there's none of the developer extensibility options (like custom data extensions) available yet.
I can't wait for SSAS in the cloud…
Tuning SSRS-Generated MDX Parameter Queries
Sometimes you'll find yourself in the position of building SSRS reports where you have parameters with a large number of available values. Using the Adventure Works cube as an example, if you were to drag the Customer attribute from the Customer dimension onto the filter area of the Query Designer for a simple query and check the Parameters box like so:
…you'd end up with a parameter where you can choose any customer to filter on – and there are 18485 customers on that hierarchy.
If you right-click on your data source in the Report Data pane (in BIDS in SSAS 2008) and check the Show Hidden Datasets option, you can see the MDX query that BIDS generates to return the list of available values for the parameter query:
Here's what the query will look like for the Customers hierarchy for the Customer dimension:
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterCaption]
AS [Customer].[Customer].CURRENTMEMBER.MEMBER_CAPTION
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterValue]
AS [Customer].[Customer].CURRENTMEMBER.UNIQUENAME
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterLevel]
AS [Customer].[Customer].CURRENTMEMBER.LEVEL.ORDINAL
, [Measures].[ParameterValue]
, [Measures].[ParameterLevel]}
, [Customer].[Customer].ALLMEMBERS
FROM [Adventure Works]
On my laptop this query executes in just over 1.5 seconds. Not bad, you might think, for a query that returns a fairly large number of rows. But we can do better!
This query returns all customers on rows and three columns: the caption of each member, the unique name, and the ordinal of the level (which is used for indenting the caption of each member in the dropdown list for the parameter, so you can easily distinguish between members on different levels). These values are returned as calculated members, but they can also be obtained as member properties and this is the key to tuning the query. So, if you create a new OLEDB connection to the cube (ie you don't use the built-in Analysis Services connection type but you create a data source that connects to the cube using the OLEDB connection type)…
…and then create a new dataset with the following query:
, [Customer].[Customer].ALLMEMBERS
FROM [Adventure Works]
You'll find you get almost exactly the same data back, although this time the query returns in around 0.2 seconds.
A few things need to be noted here. First of all, although MDX allows you to put an empty set on columns, in the query above I had to create a dummy calculated measure that returned null because otherwise the query didn't return any rows from the OLEDB data source. Secondly, in the new query the All Member unique name and caption come out as nulls – that's normal behaviour for flattened rowsets (which is what you get when you run queries through an OLEDB connection), unfortunately, and again something we're going to have to work around ourselves. Thirdly, we also need to create a column with indented member names – the original parameter dataset did this using a SSRS expression in a calculated field – although in this case, where there's only one level underneath the all member, we could probably skip this and not hurt usability.
To trap the nulls and make sure the All Customers member appears as a parameter option, you can use a calculated field on the new dataset with an expression like this:
Fields!Customer_Customer_Customer_UNIQUE_NAME.Value is Nothing
, "[Customer].[Customer].[All Customers]"
, Fields!Customer_Customer_Customer_UNIQUE_NAME.Value)
And to generate the indented captions you can use an expression like this:
Fields!Customer_Customer_Customer_UNIQUE_NAME.Value is Nothing
, "All Customers"
, " " + Fields!Customer_Customer_Customer.Value)
You then need to delete the original parameter dataset, point the report parameter to the new dataset and bind these two columns to it value and label fields. And lo and behold, you have a report that runs just over a second faster than it did before. This might seem like a lot of hassle to go through for such a small gain, but if you have more than one large parameter the time savings will add up and your users will notice the difference.
SSRS and SSAS-Sourced Parameter Dataset Performance Issues
Ahhh, Reporting Services and Analysis Services integration – a never ending source of pain and frustration! Although I shouldn't complain because it's been quite lucrative for me in terms of consultancy work…
Anyway, recently I was tuning a SSRS report based on a SSAS cube for a customer. Looking at Profiler I could see a number of slow queries being executed, which was strange given that it was a fairly simple report. It turned out that during the design phase this report had had a number of parameters created in the SSAS query designer that had later been deleted; however, when you delete a parameter in the SSAS query designer BIDS does not delete the hidden dataset that it is bound to. What's worse is that when an SSRS report is executed all dataset queries are also executed, even if the datasets aren't used anywhere in the report, which means you get the overhead of running extra queries. It's an easy mistake to make and in this case the execution of unused datasets was adding several seconds to the execution time of the report.
You can reproduce this problem very easily by creating a simple report based on the Adventure Works cube. Once you've created the data source, open the query designer, drag the Internet Sales Amount measure onto the grid, drag the Customer hierarchy from the Customer dimension onto the filter pane and check the Parameters box:
Now close the query designer and reopen it, then remove the Customer hierarchy from the filter pane, close the query designer again and delete the report parameter. When you Preview the report you'll see the following in Profiler:
The highlighted row shows the hidden dataset is being executed. What you need to do to fix this is to right-click on your data source and check the Show Hidden Datasets option:
You'll then see the offending, automatically-generated, hidden dataset and you can delete it:
Luckily, BIDS Helper has functionality to find unused datasets in your reports for you:
And there's more! What I found really interesting about this parameter dataset query was how long it was taking to execute. In this example 2.5 seconds, even on a warm cache, seems like a very long time to me even though there are a lot of members on the Customer hierarchy. Once the report is deployed that goes down to a consistent 2.1 seconds, and when I run the same query through SQL Management Studio it goes down to 1.5 seconds. Why the difference in execution times? I'm not sure, but I suspect it's a combination of the connection string properties used and the use of a flattened rowset. In any case, 1.5 seconds is still slow and it's certainly not good if you actually do want to use a query like this in a dataset bound to a parameter.
Luckily, if our parameter datasets are causing performance problems, we can usually rewrite the queries involved to make them faster. Here's the original query from the parameter in the example:
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterCaption] AS
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterValue] AS
MEMBER [Measures].[ParameterLevel] AS
FROM [Adventure Works]
If we decide that we can make do without the All Member and the level-based indenting that goes on in the parameter dataset (this is an attribute hierarchy, after all, so there's just one level), we can use the following query in the dataset instead:
FROM [Adventure Works]
Once the first query above has been replaced with the second, and the report parameter has been hooked up to use the new fields, Profiler shows that the time taken to execute the parameter dataset has gone down to around 0.7 seconds:
That is, of course, almost 2 seconds faster than the original query in Preview mode and almost 1.5 seconds faster than the original query in the deployed report. Not a lot on its own but certainly noticeable, and if you have more than one large parameter the cumulative gain could be quite significant. If you create a separate OLEDB connection to the cube and use the second query in a dataset, the execution time is even faster, going down to around 0.45 seconds:
Incidentally, some of the more astute may be asking why I need to include MEASURES.DUMMY in the query above when I can use an empty set on the columns axis instead. Two reasons: one, if you use an empty set on columns in the OLEDB connection you get no rows returned; two, I noticed when the query was being executed in SSRS a Query Subcube event was raised suggesting measure data was being requested from the cube – this didn't happen when I ran the query in SQL Management Studio. I suspect both problems are something to with SSRS using a flattened rowset, so I'll investigate and post back here when I get an answer.


text:
Log Out
Call in to speak with the host
WTF? What's the Force?
Libertarians Unleashed V5N20
The force of most government activity is so common that many ignore it. Join us in revealing all the forms of government force.
Sorry we couldn't complete your registration. Please try again.
Please enter your email to finish creating your account.
old-style code for hosted blogs
Player Size 300 x 295 400 x 370 640 x 550

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Italian death metal band Humangled recently announced the "Odd Graphics" contest, wherein fans can submit original designs for the band's newest t-shirt. Submission will be open until August 15, and other fans will be able to vote on the best t-shirt on the contest's official Facebook page until August 31. To enter the contest, email [email protected] with an image of your original artwork. The image's theme can be anything related to band topics and lyrics according to artist view, and should be text free, in digital format 300 DPI resolution 25×25 cm./10×10 inches size. The "Odd Graphics" contest is sponsored by Abyss Records.
If you win the contest, you'll receive a t-shirt with your design on it as well as Fractal, Humangled's 2010 release, and Odd Ethics, their newest release. The runner-up will receive an award for participation, which is probably better than absolutely nothing. There's no fee to enter the contest, so you've got nothing to lose anyhow! If you need a little artistic inspiration, here's "Needles Of The Blind" — let the music wash over you and get to drawing!
Latest posts by she wolf (see all)
- TOP 5 ALBUMS I'VE LISTENED TO SINCE MY HIATUS - March 4, 2015
- TOP 5(-ISH) STORIES I'VE WANTED TO WRITE ABOUT SINCE MY HIATUS - March 3, 2015
- TOP 5 REASONS I'M BACK - March 2, 2015


text:
Looks awesome!
32 00:01:10
Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors - "The Spider-Verse: Part One" Clip
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Mar. 5 6:43am
Spider-Man meets Spider-Girl.
12 00:03:27
3-Minute Expert - POWERS
Posted by Andy Bauman | Mar. 3 9:00am
The live-action POWERS televisions series is headed to PlayStation Network. Find out what you need to know before watching.
1 00:06:58
Hands On: Stormtrooper Sixth Scale Figure From Hot Toys
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Mar. 1 12:00am
We take a close look at the latest Stormtrooper figure from Sideshow Collectibles.
1 00:02:49
Preview Theatre: GREEN LANTERN #40
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 26 12:00am
Is Hal Jordan a traitor? Why is he fighting Kilowog?
0 00:01:24
Teen Titans Go - "Let's Get Serious" Clip 1
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 19 2:55pm
Aqualad from 'Young Justice' tells the Teen Titans they've only brought shame to real superheroes.
0 00:00:44
Teen Titans Go - "Let's Get Serious" Clip 2
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 19 2:53pm
The Titans are convinced they must get serious. No more laughs or funny songs.
22 00:01:22
Meet the Voice Cast of Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" Animated Series
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 19 1:30pm
See who's playing who and check out if you think they've captured the essence of the characters.
7 00:01:27
LEGO Batman 3: Bizarro World Pack Trailer
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 17 7:13am
The latest addition to the Season Pass DLC is now available. Or should I say 'not' available since it's Bizarro...?
1 00:07:47
Hands On: Falcon Sixth Scale Figure From Hot Toys
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 15 12:00am
We take a close look at the latest 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' figure from Sideshow Collectibles.
9 00:01:09
Marvel's Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. "Big Green Mile" Clip
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 12 7:52am
Hulk and the others are locked up in a super villain prison. It's lunch time so that means FOOD FIGHT!
1 00:01:51
Preview Theatre: MOON KNIGHT #12
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 11 9:01pm
Marc Spector just jumped out of a plane. No parachute, no Spirit of Vengeance to help. Uh oh.
7 00:01:54
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY & X-MEN: THE BLACK VORTEX Trailer
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 4 9:08am
The Guardians of the Galaxy, the All-New X-Men, Nova, Captain Marvel, Cyclops and more are teaming up.
2 00:00:41
LEGO Jurassic World Trailer
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Feb. 4 7:49am
Experience Jurassic Park like never before.
2 00:01:42
Preview Theatre: THE PUNISHER #15
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 28 9:01pm
Frank Castle has been captured by the Howling Commandos. Looks like a family's life is at risk as well.
14 00:01:00
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis - Trench Fight
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 27 1:17pm
The Justice League find Aquaman, right in the middle of a fight.
22 00:07:39
What's in the Box? January Loot Crate Edition
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 23 8:43am
Check out what's inside and find out how YOU can win some stuff as well. SPOILERS!
2 00:00:17
HOWARD THE DUCK #1 - The Evolution of Howard Variant
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 23 6:38am
Check how Howard evolved throughout the years of his life.
20 00:01:13
Batman Vs. Robin Trailer
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 21 8:29am
Batman and Robin are having your typical father/son squabbles but what happens when the Court of Owls shows up?
1 00:05:23
Hands On: Little Groot from Hot Toys
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 18 12:00am
We take a close look at the upcoming figure from Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles.
7 00:01:18
STAR WARS #1 Featurette
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 16 12:32pm
STAR WARS is back at Marvel. Where does this story exactly fit into the timeline? What can we expect?
1 00:01:04
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Arrow Pack Trailer
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 13 6:11am
Now you can become something, green and pointy...and arrow-y.
2 00:12:29
Hands On: Spider-Man Sixth Scale Figure From Hot Toys
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 11 12:00am
We take a close look at the latest Spider-Man figure from Sideshow Collectibles.
5 00:06:02
Image EXPO 2015: Brian Buccellato Talks SONS OF THE DEVIL
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 9 9:25am
The book will now be released through Image. Find out what's coming up.
33 00:04:35
Image EXPO 2015: Marjorie Liu Talks About MONSTRESS
Posted by Tony 'G-Man' Guerrero | Jan. 9 4:00am
Find out the details on her amazing upcoming book with Sana Takeda.
- 47 Comments
With the amount of people in the West interested in Japanese culture and movies, it's not surprising that someone in Japan would be interested in Western culture and movies. I'm really from over at Giantbomb, but I can confirm that some of the best games ever made were made by Japanese interested in western culture and movies.
I'm happy that someone sent you guys mail! I would if I wasn't a broke ass student!
The Avengers was my favorite super hero movie of the summer. The interaction between Hulk and Thor was fun to watch. Also a part that I liked a lot and surprised me was when Black Widow tricked Luckie into tell her what he was after. Overall it was a great story line with a lot cool scenes.
Spiderman was the best. Everyone started with being pissed that they were already rebooting but it turned out to be an excellent darker interpretation of the spider man story. Beyond that they start linking pieces together of the spider man universe seen throughout the comic; prime example is Flash Thompson's spider man crush. One downside to the movie was that seeing Sony made it they weren't allowed to link other Marvel superheroes into it :(
The Dark Knight Rises was definitely my favourite, even if Emma Stone was in Spiderman. I thought TDKR was a great finale and was thoroughly entertained throughout.
I think the Avengers was the most fun to watch this summer because we've been waiting for so long for all of Marvel's films to finally come together. We get to see all our favorite characters on one screen in a very rare cross over film that both works out really well and gives each of it's heroes a point to shine. It towered over the other two because it didn't have to reintroduce our heroes as with spider-man and didn't have to build back up as with the Dark Knight Rises. We got to see some wonderful fight scenes and some great humor. It gave Hulk a new role that he hasn't had in previous Hulk related movies, changing him from a man on the run who is tasked with keeping himself from destroying everything, to being an actual hero like he's supposed to be. Captain America is still kicking butt and taking names 70 years later and we get to see him do his usual hero thing. Iron Man is still Iron man, doing what he does best, spouting off arrogance and witty lines wherever he pleases. Thor got to be a little more brash himself and even got a few laughs out of us. Black Widow and Hawkeye were given their rightly deserved more prevalent roles and they did not disappoint. So all in all, Avengers was the best movie of the summer.
(I think that should be sufficient. agree with me or not, I just wanted to say that. not really trying for the contest, but if I win, then yay.)
Hmm after thinking about it for a bit.... My favorite movie of the summer would have to be the Avengers!! While Batman was a great finish to the trilogy, i didnt have the urge to re watch it like i did after watching the Avengers. Joss Whedon did an amazing job with the character interactions and the final battle with all of them together was great. The fact that that the heroes were already developed in previous movies made Avengers that much more fun to watch.
Wow, a new Mailbag. Cool! Where do I send stuff to? I have stuff I want to send you guys.
The Avengers was my favorite movie out of the three because it was big and bright and superheroic like a comic book movie should be. Too often comic movies feel like they have to tone things down and make them more realistic. Costumes are darkened or turned into armor or black leather. Plots are changed from their comic version to a more "realistic" movie version. But The Avengers film wasn't afraid to use comic plots and colorful costumes and comic ideas in the movie. Seeing all the Avengers in one place was great too, the dynamic of the characters interacting, seeing Thor fight Hulk on the big screen, seeing Hawkeye sort of start out as a bad guy like in the comics, and seeing Captain America in full costume standing next to Thor and Iron Man and Hulk, it was so great. Whedon even added stuff that came from the comics that he then didn't feel like he had to explain in the film (Thanos), so that could be a downside, but for comic fans it was great. It was fun to, not just a big blown them up good movie either, it had a good storyline and was funny at times. My second favorite was maybe Spider-Man. And that could be because it was more like the original Ditko/Lee stuff and more fun while still being a sad and dark movie, where Dark Knight Rises was really dark and sort of bleak up until the end. I did love DKR but not as much as Avengers.
@emergency said:
The Dark Knight Rises was definitely my favourite, even if Emma Stone was in Spiderman. I thought TDKR was a great finale and was thoroughly entertained throughout.
Matt Rorie? Is that you? ;)
The Avengers. It shouldn't have worked out so well having all those personalities in the frame at once, with a director who had nerdcred but predominatly was known for low budget but well written horror/action shows. If one were to say what is a comic book movie I would point to at The Avengers. The Dark KNight Rises is its own thing and while not as good as its predecessor is still firmly an island in the chain of Nolan Batman films. The Avengers is a country.
Best movie for the summer out of the three has to be The Dark Knight Rises. Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man were good but The Dark Knight Rises was a perfect way to end the trilogy. Not only that but my girlfriend who had no interest in Batman or the series loved every second of it, wanted to watch the first two the next day and now is interested in Batman. But these three movies helped get more people into comics from what I've seen at my two local comic shops so that's another plus side to all these great movies.
I think Avengers was the best personally. The coordination of the action scenes and the portrayal of the characters behind the mask were very will done. I remember when I first saw this with one of my buddies who unfortunately isn't much of a superhero movie fan as I am, he was blown away and that's also way I feel like I liked it more because it united a lot of movie goers and every person I talked to comic fan or not loved this movie and were willing to talk and discuss this movie with me. I've seen avengers 7 times. Gotta a bootleg copy of it and I've already preordered the blueray of this excellent movie. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!!
All three movies were awesome in their own way. Avengers was a great action film. It put you on the edge of your seat with the last battle. It was great to see all of these marvel character interact with each other. Amazing Spider man was great because it told Spidey's origins in a completely different way. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone had great chemistry together. Dark Kinight Rises was an amazing suspenceful movie. Watching it for the first time you have no idea what will happen next. It was the perfect end to a perfect movie trilogy.
I have to say that I thought Avengers was the best out of the three. It just felt like a superhero movie. I was big, epic, and fun. I haven't seen Amazing Spider-Man so I can't comment on that movie. I will, however, say that The Dark Knight Rises was, like Sara said on the podcast, a "film" not a "movie." I left the theater after seeing the Dark Knight wishing that Warner had the balls to kill of Bruce.
My favorite Comic book movie, well, actually, THE BEST MOVIE EVER! Was The Dark Knight Rises. I feel that it was an epic ending to an epic story and I am so sad to see it end, even though we are getting to see Superman next year. Anyway, I loved it because 1. I am one of the biggest Bat-fans ever. 2. I loved all of the hints towards other characters that a lot of people were clamoring for, but couldn't make it in to the story because of the tone of it. Spider-Man was amazing (<---haha) and so was Avengers, but being an extreme Bat-fan makes me definitely say that The Dark Knight Rises was my all-time favorite!
Avengers was my favorite of those three this summer. I like Avengers because of the way it blended action and humor. I think that this format really helped to make the movie feel more like the comics that it is based off. Seeing a team of individual heroes unite on screen for the first time was also very exciting. It's success opens up a lot of options for both Marvel and DC to begin producing movies based on groups like JLA or Avengers, as well as possible team ups, like a Cap and Iron Man, or Batman Superman movie.
The best was Avengers, but I missed out alot when I was overseas in Europe for vacation (no subtitles in translated films D:).
But definitely my DVD collection's going to grow a bunch with Avengers, Spider-man, The Dark Knight Rises and more when they are released.
Personally, I thought that The Amazing Spiderman was the best out of the three, though no doubt the other two were great as well . I thought that the reboot was spectacular in both plot, and action. First off, I thought that Andrew Garfield's preformance was spectacular as both the nerdy dweeb at school, and the frendly nieghborhood hero. His dynamic chemistry with Gwen, May, and his uncle was fantastic. Also, I believe that the Lizard was a great choice for a villain. It's nice they kept it simple with only one villain, but told his story with great detail and bombast. All of the actors, ( and actresses') preformances were amazing!( No pun intended!) It was great and uplifting, so when you came out of the theatre, you felt both refreshed, and eager to see what comes next in this fantastic installment, sure to have a sequel, and superior to the original in every way. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO AMAZING SPIDERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
My favorite of the three as definitely The Avengers, it was just the perfect super hero movie that catered to comic book fans and had enough action and substance to make a genuinely great film. As far as movies for comic book fans and super hero fans goes, this was absolutely the greatest one. It was also just very satisfying finally seeing them team all together at last.
My favorite movie was "The Dark Knight Rises"!
I think it was a very good movie that can stand for itself and that combined all tree movies and end the "Nolan Trilogy" perfectly.
I really managed to avoid most of the internet rumors and didn't saw any teasers and trailers before the movie.
Story, characters, twists and turns, little references to the comic books, the things Nolan add to the Bat-Universe himself, the atmosphere and especially the music...just awesome!
I actually mailed a letter to Comic Vine a couple of weeks ago. It included a question for the podcast, and a little drawing of Psylocke holding an Archangel and Fantomex dolls. It was never sent back, so, I guess it got lost if it never arrived. That's kind of sad.
Here's some interesting bit of trivia for you. That Japanese AVENGERS's title when written literally in English is actually pronounced as アベンジャーズ "Abenjāzu", This is becasue the Japanese language doesn't have V sounds.
I never saw AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Sony releasing twenty minutes before the movie even came out kind of deflated my interest level. I'll see it when it's on DVD. I did however see and very much enjoy DARK KNIGHT RISES and AVENGERS. The AVENGERS movie was just a lot of fun. You really have to give a lot of credit for Joss Whedon for balancing out so many big names in one film. The chemistry was great and I got a lot of great, honest laughs. One of my favorite moments has to be when Thor and Hulk take out that behemoth together and there is this quiet moment. Suddenly, the Hulk knocks down Thor. Something about that moment sees especially like a Joss Whedon touch. Phil Coulson death was tragic since the audience has spent so many movies getting attached to him. That just made it more meaningful. It was especially touching how originally Tony didn't want to acknowledge he had a first name, but used the name Phil when he was talking to Loki.
Speaking of Loki. The family dynamic they crafted for Thor and Loki in these films is incredible. You can feel that Thor still cares for his brother despite his actions. He thinks he needs to pay for his crimes, but doesn't want to see him dead.
I know people have issues with DARK KNIGHT RISES, but I thought the end was perfectly fine for the world that Nolan had created. It gave appropriate closure to everyone in it. That isn't the comic world, and people need to stop trying to combine the two. Nolan more created his own version of Batman based off the comics. The only real complaint I had was with their use of Talia. She was rather unimpressive. Her entire motivation was a convoluted plot based around revenge for the father she felt betrayed her.
I have a lot of love for the story of DARK CRYSTAL. I probably watched that when I was way too young. That was so dark and creepy, but I remember really enjoying the story.
I think it's a tie between all of them, personally. The real winner this summer was us, the comic fans.
Dark Knight Rises was my favorite, one it focused on the more human aspects of Batman, and two all the comic story tie-in's. Now when we think Batman, most of us think of a phrase often used by Samuel L. Jackson that wa inscribed in the bottom of his lightsaber as B.A.M.F. That means ninja's and sh- stuff. But most of us forget that Batman was human, and although he was, is, and forever will be one of the greatest comic book characters to exist he has his flaws, he has emotions, he has weaknesses. Ok now let me break down Comic tie ins; the city is blocked off: No Man's Land, Bane breaking Batman's back: Knightfall, Minor nodds with Batman and the cain: Batman Beyond, Batman's "death": Batman R.I.P. "Robin" taking over: Battle For the Cowl. Now, I've heard people moan and groan about the Robin bit there because, "If a cop can take over then anybody can!" To this I must reply: Duh, what is it Bruce said over and over? Something like, I want to be a symbol, one that anyone can take over. And to top it all of they gave Batman an actual ending, an actual life! Batman had to be the best because it was the end of a masterpiece.
The Avengers is my pick of the three for the best movie. It was purely fun and entertaining while still having a pretty good story in my opinion. After watching Iron Man and getting the first hint of the Avengers movie, I've been super excited and dying to see it, and the best part is, it did not disappoint. The culminating event that marvelously worked in a large cast, good story, intense action, great effects, perfect amount of humor, is by far the best. I love how there was a lot of conflict between the characters which resulted in an all out brawl; true to the comics take on the uniting of heroes for the first time.
I'll go with TDKR. Although I loved Avengers, I expected to like it. I went into Batman 3 not really expecting much so it easily surpassed my unfairly low expectations. Begins was a great Batman story, but Dark Knight was a movie about the Joker to me. I didn't really care about the hero that much and didn't expect anything interesting from the next villain. Then the movie comes out and not only do I care about Bruce and Batman, but Bane is as compelling a villain as the Joker was. It was a great ending to a trilogy and surprised me quite a bit as I tried going in cold with the storyline. Good times, despite being in the front row of an IMAX showing.
While enjoyed the Avengers a lot, Dark Knight Rises is the the clear winner for best summer superhero movie. I didn't hate Spider-Man, and only because the villain wasn't a main focus. It was more focused on Peter and Gwen's relationship and setting up her death for the next movie and it also felt too soon for another origin story for Spider-Man. The Avengers was incredible because it was the first team superhero movie that worked, and it was the nerdgasm that everyone had been waiting for. As Patton Oswalt (Comedian) said, it's like Joss Whedon made a movie version of him playing with Avengers toys, and it was a dream come true for every comic book fan. That being said, it STILL wasn't the best summer superhero movie. The Dark Knight Rises was because it was, and most will disagree, the best of Nolan's trilogy. The only reason most will consider the Dark Knight better is because of the Joker, and while Ledger was amazing in the role, the Joker himself was always a great character. Bane, on the other hand, was only good during the time of Knightfall, and has had few good storylines based on him since. It also ended nearly scene for scene how I would've wanted it to end, and while people say it's too "happy" I disagree and think its the ending Nolan, and dare I say, Batman deserved. It all goes back to a line Alfred said in TDK: "Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." That's exactly why Bruce had a happy ending and could pass the cowl over to another man.
The Avengers is my favorite movie this year. When I watch a movie I really hope for funny moments and badass moments and The Avengers had them in spades.
My favorite was the avengers movie. It was just amazing how Joss Whedon could get all these character together in one movie and give everyone the equal amount of screen time. My whole family has a favorite superhero and all of ours are in the avengers so we all went to see it and it was just awesome to see everyone's hero in one big movie. It was a perfect mix of action and story, and it felt just like a superhero movie should.
Really putting me in a spot here trying to determine which among the main summer comic blockbusters was my favorite. Truth is I think they are all great for differing reasons, whether for a solid story or tight visual or just overall entertainment value. With that said, however, I would say that my favorite of the summer was The Avengers for the fact that it was a great action flick that kept me on the seat of my chair constantly and was the prime culmination of all the Marvel Studios films we had seen starting with Iron Man back in '08. We got to see all of the characters in the movies up to this point make the ultimate crossover to form one of the greatest superhero teams of all time, something that no one in their greatest imaginations a decade ago would have thought possible on the silver screen. It will be favorite movie not of the summer but of this year because it is another watershed event in theatrical history by which the entertainment industry can realize that a superhero team movie can be made without resorting to utter campiness. In summation, its safe to say that I found absolutely NOTHING wrong with the movie whatsoever. I could not find one thing to criticize about it and am only too happy that the DVD release date is coming soon enough.
i think batman won as best movie. While avengers had better action/fighting and comedy, batman was a better cinematic experience overall. spiderman just seemed a little off to me.
Avengers was more fun, probably more entertaining and more comic-like. I like that we got a team and serious team dynamic development. DKR broke more ground (superhero movies can be serious, etc), though. And if I had it pick, I'd rather DKR gets any golden globes, oscars, etc that come into the picture next year.
But if I ask myself what movie would I go see again right now? Avengers.
(Haven't seen spider-man... too soon of a reboot for me to go buy a ticket. I'll catch it later)
Either way, we were spoiled so rotten this summer, lol.
Avengers hands down is my favorite movie of all time(therefore also of the three choices here.) The achievement list speaks for itself. Things happen in both the movie and creation of the movie that have never been done in cinema. The casting is incredible and the chemistry is there. Joss Whedon is the man. I was not disappointed in anyway, loved every second of the film, and could watch it about every day and not get bored. I literally had 0 complaints about the movie. On a scale of 1-100 it would get a 100, and all my desire to push it beyond that. Saw it 4 times in the first week and the only reason I haven't seen it more is financial issues(Who can really afford to see the same movie more than that these days right?) Amazing Spider-man would be second for me, it was just a really fun movie and I like the reboot a lot so far, very well cast and written. 1-100 I would give it about a 92, since I did have a couple minor complaints about things, though I can easily overlook them. I have medium desire to see it again before blu ray release. Dark Knight Rises was great too but would be third for me. I had a few consistency complaints leaving the theater both from a film to film standpoint and the trilogy's stated purpose being kind of forgotten. I would still give it a 90-92 though. (SPOILER sorta...)Talia was a huge and pleasant surprise and one of the better plot twists I have seen in a long time. But I have little to no desire to see it again until the blu ray release.
Unfortunately I was only able to see Avengers this summer, so I can't really say which was my favorite. However, Avengers was a really fun movie that I was able to see with my wife and our daughter, so that made it really special and we all really enjoyed it. We have already put a pre-order in for the Blu-Ray, which is unheard of in our household, because my wife does not see what's so great about Blu-Rays. I can't wait to watch it all again, then dive into the special features.
So if I comment I win right? JK I love how they get me informed on the comics that aren't Marvel and DC its a shame thats all I can afford though.
The best movie of the three would have to be Avengers, just in terms of scale, and the magnitude of what the filmmakers were able to accomplish. But with that, I'd have to say I was personally more pleased with the Amazing Spider-Man. I'd been waiting since I was really little for a great Spider-Man movie, and I had thought the Raimi movies were going to accomplish that--they didn't I was left with an unfunny Spider-Man and a Peter Parker with no charisma. Consistently disappointed with each installment, I let myself get excited, even though I should have known better. The last straw was Venom, a character whom I enjoy enough to have tattooed on my leg, and he was given a pitiful representation on celluloid. With the new one, I was given a funny lead, who succeeded in finding the line between geeky and charismatic. Characters like Uncle Ben were given a stronger characterization, making them moreso endearing. New characters like Captain Stacy were fleshed out enough for people to actually be interested in their roles in the film. This is more than we got in three installments of Raimi's franchise. The Spider-Man I wanted finally showed.
Just saw Dark knight rises 4 days ago and although I loved Avengers, the Dark Knight Rises takes it for sure. Just thought the story and tone were great and some of the fight scenes (especially the first between Bane and Batman) were great. I am more of a DC guy with a particular love for Batman so I am certainly bias but I just thought it was a great end to the Nolan run of films (Probably my favourite series of films made, definitely beating out Star Wars for me).
The stamp is from Toho which is a theater in Japan. i am sending the new avengers booklet tomorrow.
I loved all three movies spider-man and batman are probably my favorite characters.
I feel for the Amazing Spider-man the same way I did for Batman Begins, finally someone got it right and the story can really get rolling. I like how they addressed his super strength which is often forgotten about vs his spider sense and wall climbing abilities. I Iike how he saved people on the bridge and saved all those cars, something only spider-man could have done not the regular cops no matter how many they had. Also I like how he was introverted by his own accord not ostracized by other kids. I think that's more realistic for a person his age with his genius. I don't like how he stole a Spanish person's ID to get into Oscorp. I know they did that for the joke of it but Spider-man doesn't lie and steal that was out of character. But I guess that was all before uncle Ben died. Bet was the chemistry on screen it seemed so real between Gwen and Peter. The ending fight was too predictable however the last scene with Dr. Conners hallucinating or getting a message in jail was a great twist.
Avengers was awesome, but I just have a question about war machine. Where was he? The earth is being invaded by aliens led by a god like being and there is another Iron-man level like person around and no one bothered to contact him or explain why he wasn't there. They could have said he was injured or busy fighting somewhere else, i don't know. That lose end bothered me. But the rest of it was so well done. I'm probably going to go see it again. Hulk smashing, Captain American not understanding stuff because he is form the 40s, Black Widow's amazing methods of interrogation, Tony's side remarks about everyone and his nerd play with Banner, Hawk Eye using a computer arrow, Thor becoming earth's protector, it all meshed well. The more of a comic book reader you are the more inside things you could pick up.
Dark night rises. This may have been the best of the three. However I dont understand why Bane didn't just kill Fox when he had him and thus assure his plan was irreversible. I know the joker died with Heath but it seems like with everyone getting out of jail a silhouette, or a door with his name on it or something could have been shown to connect the films. You still had the scare crow at large in the end as well. But the way they broke both Bruce and Batman was phenomenal. plus cat woman, bane, and the surprise at the end. This was one of my fav movies ever because I like dark films.
I took my son to see Spider-man he is only 3 but he enjoyed it and has been acting like spider-man since. I could or will not take him to see Batman even though it had the same rating because of the police being shot and the torture etc. Probably for the family Batman was not the best but for adult it could be.
Over all though I would say Avengers was the best it had the most comicbooky feel to it and had humor and great action scenes and a small jab at the military industrial complex as well as intelligence agencies. Plus I want to see it again. Batman was so deep and good I can't handle it yet for a while. I just don't believe Batman would go to fight Bane and not bring more powerful gadgets than flash pellets and mild body armor. The kid in me just really like the simplicity of Hulk Smash.
I seen all three movies at 12 on opening night. I cant really say witch was my favorite. I loved them all. It is awesome that comic movies are being treated seriouslly. Spider-Man was good because it gives me another chance at possibly seeing Venom on screen. I know he was in part 3 but that did not seam like Venom to me. It would also be awesome to see Carnage in a movie eventually. Avengers was awesome because it was a culmination of so many great stories and I really love how they worked everything together. It was really done well and no character was really left out it seamed they all had equal screen time. Wich was what I thought they would nt be able to do. Batman was awesome because it was so well done. The story was just more then i ever thought I could expect from a comic movie. I did nt really think that Bane would have been such an awesome character. But Nolan pulled it off and even with all the spoilers and everything I still ended up being suprised at the end. It was a great year to be a comic fan. I cant wait to see what great movies we get next summer season. Rocket Raccoon anyone. Who would nt love that.
Hey everyone, thanks for entering. I've chosen a winner (randomly) for the contest. If the individual does not respond accordingly with their address, I will choose another winner. Thanks again for entering!


text:
ING U.S. To Become Voya Financial In 2014
NEW YORK , Jan. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ING U.S., Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), today announced details associated with the company's rebranding activities in 2014. Stakeholders of ING U.S. will begin to see the new Voya Financial name in use during the second quarter of the year. The various ING U.S. businesses and legal entities plan to complete their transition to Voya throughout the year according to the following schedule:
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140113/CL45144LOGO )
- April 7, 2014 - ING U.S., Inc., ING U.S.'s publicly listed holding company, plans to change its name to Voya Financial, Inc.
- May 1, 2014 - ING U.S. Investment Management will rebrand to Voya Investment Management and the Employee Benefits business will begin using the Voya Financial brand.
- September 1, 2014 - all other ING U.S. businesses will begin using the Voya Financial brand and all remaining ING U.S. legal entities that currently have names incorporating the ING brand will change their names to reflect the Voya brand.
Until rebranding begins in April, ING U.S. will operate using its current name and logo. As the rebranding process advances between April and September, both the ING U.S. and Voya Financial names will be in use. Given the volume of material to change and the many aspects of the project to consider, the company chose to stagger the rebranding in order to accomplish an orderly transition for its 13 million individual and institutional customers. Even as it rebrands, nothing will change as a result of the rebranding with respect to customer accounts or policies, or the manner in which clients and financial professionals work with the company.
"The 7,000 ING U.S. employees who live and breathe our values each day will soon embrace their new roles as ambassadors of Voya," said Rodney O. Martin Jr., chairman and CEO of ING U.S. "Even though our name and logo will be different, the vision we have to be America's Retirement Company and our commitment to helping customers advance their retirement readiness remains the same. As we transition to Voya, the new brand will support our mission to make a secure financial future possible -- one person, one family, and one institution at a time." The Journey to Voya Financial On May 1, 2013, ING U.S. made its initial public offering as part of a program conducted by its Dutch parent, ING Group N.V., to divest certain global businesses. ING U.S. common stock currently trades under the ticker symbol "VOYA" on the New York Stock Exchange. ING Group currently owns approximately 57% of the outstanding common stock of ING U.S., Inc., and expects to completely divest its ownership by December 31, 2016. The Voya Financial identity represents a new era for ING U.S. At the same time, it closely aligns with what the company is already known for -- proactively and optimistically guiding Americans on their journeys to and through retirement. The name builds upon ING U.S.'s track record as a leader in key retirement, investment and insurance market segments.Check Out Our Best Services for Investors
Action Alerts PLUS
Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer and Director of Research Jack Mohr reveal their investment tactics while giving advanced notice before every trade.
Product Features:
- $2.5+ million portfolio
- Large-cap and dividend focus
- Intraday trade alerts from Cramer
Quant Ratings
Access the tool that DOMINATES the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500.
Product Features:
- Buy, hold, or sell recommendations for over 4,300 stocks
- Unlimited research reports on your favorite stocks
- A custom stock screener
Stocks Under $10
David Peltier uncovers low dollar stocks with serious upside potential that are flying under Wall Street's radar.
Product Features:
- Model portfolio
- Stocks trading below $10
- Intraday trade alerts
Check Out Our Best Services for Investors
Dividend Stock Advisor
David Peltier identifies the best of breed dividend stocks that will pay a reliable AND significant income stream.
Product Features:
- Diversified model portfolio of dividend stocks
- Updates with exact steps to take - BUY, HOLD, SELL
Trifecta Stocks
Every recommendation goes through 3 layers of intense scrutinyquantitative, fundamental and technical analysisto maximize profit potential and minimize risk.
Product Features:
- Model Portfolio
- Intra Day Trade alerts
- Access to Quant Ratings
Options Profits
Our options trading pros provide over 100 monthly option trading ideas and strategies to help you become a well-seasoned trader.
Product Features:
- Actionable options commentary and news
- Real-time trading community


text:
Ribar, Subler earn All-Big Ten honors; Watson receives Sportsmanship Award
Iowa topped Tennessee in all 5 regatta events
1V4+ and 2V4+ boats win with times of 8:01.40 and 8:05.40, respectively
Weather moves session 2 to Sunday morning
No. 2 Ohio State shows dominance, wins all races
2012-13... Competed in two fall events... placed first in the collegiate singles and second place in the 1V8+ at the Head of the Des Moines... placed eighth in the 1V8+ at the Head of the Iowa... competed in all three spring events... qualified for the 2V8+ petite finals and placed second at the San Diego Crew Classic... placed second in the 2V8+ and helped team take home second place in the team standings at the Dale England Cup... placed sixth in the 2V8+ and helped team take home sixth place in the final team standings at the Big Ten Championships... Named to the 2012-13 Dean's List... letterwinner. Before Iowa... Placed third in the Junior Women's double sculls and fifth in the Junior Women's single sculls at the 2012 Dutch National Championships... placed second in the Junior Women's quadruple sculls at the Dutch National Championships in 2011... high school coaches were Rob van Oppenraaij, IJsbrand Haagsma, Jurriaan de Vries, Marie-Jose de Groot. Personal... Born June 5, 1994... daughter of Michel Hendriks and Charlotte Leenaers... mathematics major.


text:
Alumni Interview - Lee Borgioli from Fresno Pacific University on Vimeo.
Share Tweet Facebook
Views: 85
Join Fresno Pacific Alumni Association
Welcome toFresno Pacific Alumni Association
Sign Upor Sign In
© 2015 Created by Fresno Pacific University.
Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service
Please check your browser settings or contact your system administrator.


text:
PGA Professional Michael Breed hits Hazeltine National Golf Club to give you some helpful tips on the best ways to get out of those dreaded fairway bunkers.
Fairway Bunker Shots
More Bunkers Video
Find a PGA Instructor
Your local PGA Professional is your best source for serious game improvement. Find an instructor near you and get personalized golf help.
More PGA.com Videos
Home » Fairway Bunker Shots


text:
If Tomlin said this...
How would you respond?
Obviously very disappointing, Shanahan said. When you lose a game like that, now youre playing to see who, obviously, is going to be on your football team for years to come. Now we get a chance to evaluate players and see where were at. Obviously, were not out of it statistically, but now we find out what type of character we got and how guys keep on fighting through the rest of the season. Read more: Shanahan assessing talent for next season after Redskins' latest loss - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2BMNTFCdx I'd call for Tomlin to be let go. (I don't care what Washington does) I can't think of a worse thing to say I'd rather Tomlin just yell "Playoffs? Playoffs?" and say we suck. |
Re: If Tomlin said this...
Snyder is actually overdue on his biennial coaching staff purge. Too bad he can't fire himself since he's the real root of the Redskins' problems.
Re: If Tomlin said this...
I think Tomlin learned a lot already through that 5 game losing streak in 09. I know a lot of people hate the cliches and supposedly empty speeches he "unleashes" in certain situations, but I think when things start to get bad - the good coaches stick to their guns - and I think they were trying to fight through it until the very last game, where they found out they were eliminated. The fact they ended that season with a 3 game winning streak said a lot about Tomlin and the difference in expectations with the Steelers.
Shanahan has terrible ownership to deal with, on top of a lack of offensive weapons. Yes - other than RGIII, do you think they win with the other personnel? No. When you are calling Cooley back for help, you're in trouble on that side of the ball. I think Shanahan is trying to put some guys on notice that aren't performing well, not necessarily packing it in. To me, it sounds like a message stating: "Just because we're 3-5 and will have a hard time making it to the post-season, you still have to show up and show that you want it, and you're playing to keep that job, not just for Ws or Ls." I like Shanahan - but he can't duplicate his success. He had a great D, HOF QB, a pro-bowl RB with a career that ended too quickly, and a HOF tight end in Denver,not to mention a pro-bowl caliber guard in Schlareth - there was some serious leadership on that team and I know I'm forgetting a few faces from that set of guys |
Re: If Tomlin said this...
If you were a free agent, wouldn't you bail?
Re: If Tomlin said this...
that is a good question - injury and not showing up to keep a job or play for another one elsewhere are equal risks
If I were someone like Cooley, I'd be gutting it out as much as possible, because he is out of chances IMO - I don't know his status, but some of those Redskin receivers are on their way to career oblivion, including Moss. Talk about not helping your guy out. I've seen a lot of business decisions made by his WR corp. |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:36 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Shoutbox provided by
vBShout v6.2.1 (Lite) -
vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2015 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
User Alert System provided by
Advanced User Tagging v3.0.8 (Lite) -
vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2015 DragonByte Technologies Ltd. Runs best on HiVelocity Hosting.
Navbar with Avatar by Motorradforum


text:
Friday, May 11
Great American Ball Park
Attendance: 37,255
Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - The Washington Nationals scored seven runs in the first four innings and held on for a 7-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds in opener of a three-game weekend set Friday.
Roger Bernadina hit a two-run homer and drove in three, Danny Espinosa launched another two-run shot and Adam LaRoche added two RBI as Washington won its second in a row on the heels of a three-game losing streak.
Gio Gonzalez (4-1) went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and four walks while fanning a season-high nine batters, including six straight at one point.
Mike Leake (0-5) was touched for six runs on seven hits over just three frames. Jay Bruce had two hits, an RBI and a run scored in the losing effort.
"I'm just not getting the job done. I'm just missing spots, not getting spots. I've just got to figure it out," said Leake.
The Nationals put up runs in each of the first four innings.
After Ian Desmond began the game with a single, Bernadina battled Leake until the righty left his 10th pitch of the at-bat over the middle of the plate. Bernadina smashed it over the wall in right.
Ryan Zimmerman then walked and came around to score on Adam LaRoche's double to push Washington's lead to three before Cincinnati came to bat. It was Zimmerman's 500th career run scored.
Wilson Ramos singled to open the second, moved to second on Gonzalez's bunt and was plated on Bernadina's base hit.
An inning later, LaRoche worked a walk before Espinosa belted Leake's first offering into the right-field seats.
"I knew I hit it hard. I didn't really watch it, I just knew I got it good," Espinosa said.
LaRoche recorded another RBI hit in the fourth, plating Desmond.
The Reds finally got on the board in the home fourth on Bruce's sacrifice fly that brought home Joey Votto, and pulled within five runs an inning later on Zack Cozart's run-scoring single.
Both sides were quiet from that point until Cincinnati's half of the eighth, which began with two singles before Ryan Ludwick brought home Bruce with a single to left. Cozart struck out with the bases loaded, preventing a big inning.
Nationals reliever Sean Burnett got three straight outs after a leadoff bunt single in the ninth inning to preserve his 0.00 earned run average.
Jeff Kellogg
Eric Cooper
Marty Foster
Tim Timmons


text:
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad criticizes West's sanctions on Iran at Venice filmfest |
TEHRAN -- Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani-Etemad criticized the U.S. and EU sanctions against Iran during a press conference for her latest film "Tales" at the 71st International Venice Film Festival on Thursday.
She said that the embargos "actually penalized the people in the country," AP reported.
Children with cancer and those who are suffering from very severe diseases like multiple sclerosis are the main target of the sanctions, she added and asked the West to lift the embargos.
The main members of the cast for "Tales", Habib Rezaii and Peyman Moadi also accompanied Bani-Etemad in her trip to Venice.
The film features mostly female characters from Banietemad's previous works, people who represent different layers of Iranian society.
It is competing with nine other films for the Venice Golden Lion in the International competition section.
Photo: Iranian director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad poses for photographers at the photo call for her "Tales" during the 71st edition of the Venice International Film Festival in Italy on August 28, 2014. (AP/David Azia)
Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader |
Last Updated on 30 August 2014 10:24 |


text:
Current Time
see + do
The Exumas
Tel: 242 393 1317
view web site ›
Tel: 242 393 1317
Concierge.com's insider take:
This 176-square-mile preserve, most of it underwater, is home to thousands of assorted species of marine life—fish, crustaceans, sponges, you name it. Established in 1958, it was the first marine fishery reserve in the world and is one of the busiest parks in the Bahamas. While scuba diving and snorkeling are popular pastimes here, the real draw is the sheer natural beauty of the park, with its pristine waters and beaches. Most visitors are private yachters who sail by day and make use of the park's mooring balls to bed down in the harbor by night. Accessible by boat only.
User Reviews
write a review ›BEEN HERE? TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Be the first to write a review of Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park and share your tips with the Concierge.com community.


text:
Attack on SSL Users Discovered, Tool Sources Released
SSL won't come to a rest: the newest attack isn't about encryption or errors in the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, it's about the weakest link in the chain -- the user.
Moxie Marlinspike had already developed sslsniff in 2002. Based on certificate chaining, the client proxy tool intercepts HTTPS traffic from the server and switches the certificate with its own. Assuming a correct configuration and current browser, the result of its use removes any associated attack opportunities. But, asks Marlinspike, what if the client browser doesn't do any SSL queries?
That's why the San Franciscan developed a further proxy named sslstrip (see his presentation slides). The sslstrip tool searches for embedded links, such as https://.../login.php, originating from server webpages and replaces all HTTPS links with like-named HTTP links, such as http://.../login.php, while remembering the original HTTPS target. When the user clicks the modified URL, the sslstrip proxy recognizes it and opens an SSL connection with the server, which sends the webpage, albeit over a nonsecure connection.
In this way the man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacker can access all information from the connection. Such a scenario has an obvious application for online banking where only an HTTP start page might appear, but with visible SSL links and icons that give at least a visual sense of security. Often users ignore warning dialogs and click through them. In the case of an sslstrip intervention, the user doesn't even get the warning dialogs, because no apparent invalid HTTPS connection is created. His browser simply doesn't create a secure connection. The kind of MITM attacks this can provide, and how users might be totally unaware of them, is clearly indicated in Marlinspike's "New Tricks for Defeating SSL in Practice" slides.
After some wide-ranging debate last week about sslstrip, the tool is now available for download. It comprises about 1,000 lines of Python code and is under GLPv3 licensing.
Issue 173/2015
Buy this issue as a PDF
Old Vulnerabilities Are Kept Alive Through Bad Configuration
HP's annual Cyber Risk report offers a bleak look at the state of IT.
Linus Torvalds Announces Linux 4.0
But what do the big numbers really mean?
Microsoft Frees CoreCLR
.NET Core execution engine is the basis for cross-platform .NET implementations.
New Trojan Attacks Linux Servers
The Xnote trojan hides itself on the target system and will launch a variety of attacks on command.
Cisco Releases Annual Security Report
Spammers go low-volume, and 90% of IE browsers are unpatched.
Zero Day Exploits Target Flash
Adobe scrambles to release patches for vulnerable Flash Player.
Intel Unveils Compute Stick
Four-inch-long computer on a stick lets you boot a full Linux system from any HDMI display device.
Obama Proposes Personal Data Notification Law
New statute would require companies to report break-ins to consumers.
TGXf Project Warns of File Transfer through Screen Pixels
Weird data transfer technique avoids all standard security measures.
Industry Giants Announce a Fix for the Password Mess
FIDO alliance declares the beginning of the end for old-style login authentication.


text:
I have an old fashioned soda fountain that uses soda water and hand pump syrup dispensers. The Coke syrup I use works fine but any syrups that I make myself spoil too quickly. Is there anything I can add as a preservative to keep them fresh? Tom
sodium benzodite or citric acid. sodium benzodite mix at 1:32 parts or citric acid at 1:512 would keep syrups from going bad. A home made syrup goes bad after 1-2 weeks with these chemicals it changes it to a year.
Hi bucket, I have a few questions. You said: sodium benzodite or citric acid. sodium benzodite mix at 1:32 parts or citric acid at 1:512 would keep syrups from going bad First off, I am wondering if you meant sodium benzoate, I have never heard of sodium benzodite. I would have assumed it was just a typo, but you typed benzodite twice. Is there such a thing? Then you gave the ratios, but failed to mention of that is by weight or volume. Which is it? If you were talking about sodium benzoate, I read that the max dosage is .1% by weight (limited by the FDA), and a 1:32 ratio by weight or volume, would be way off. Sodium benzoate usually comes in a solution I think, the source I looked at sold it in 25% solution. In that case, a liter of liquid (specific garvity of 1.0) would have 4 CCs or 4 grams of sodium benzoate, which is a ratio of 250:1. Thirty two to one would seem to be about 8 times the maximum dosage. Now, I admit that I have no idea what I am talking about so take all of this with a grain of salt ( we need to do our own research and not just take others words for it). That being said, I do not know how to implement these dosages into practicality. I believe the dosage as I specified it above, is intended to be the ratio in the final food product (not in a flavor concentrat for example. Now, here is why that might be important, at least this is my thinking. I assume that that ratio is sufficient to act as a preservative. That should be true (I think) whether that is in a flavor concentrate, or the final product (soda), though I am not positive of that. Since the preservative is is working to protect ingedients from spoiling, and water does not spoil, can it be that you can dose the concentrate at that ratio and not add more when it is diluted with water? Just a question. It is possible that that concentration needs to be in the final product (my guess) in order to be sufficent to offer protection. Also, since sodium benzoate and vitamin C form benzine ( a carcinogin ) being carefull with concentrations is a good idea. Health is an issue when messing with chemicals, so let's be careful. I also read that for Sodium Benzoate to be effective, it has to be in an acidic substance, that may be why citric acid is added to foods (besides the flavor). Even though acids have their own preservatice powers, they might be present to make the sodium benzoate effective. As little as I know about sodium benzoate ( and nothing about sodium benzodite ), I know less about citric acid. So I will not question the dosage you suggested there. Thoughts?
Actually 25% is 250g Sodium Benzoate and 750g water per 1000g solution, not even close to 4g per Liter. The 0.1% limit is on a weight basis for the finished product. (So something like commercial sodas) Bear in mind that this is the maximum level permitted in commercial products, and may be way over the effective level to achieve what you need. I'd recommend starting with that and backing down from there. If you have .1% or less in your syrup, it will only dilute further in your beverage. The actual rate of spoilage is going to be determined by your actual ingredients, sanitation practices, and storage/handling conditions. So you'll probably want to experiment. If you start at .1%, you will probably notice what's referred to as "preservative burn", a subtle stinging sensation/aftertaste at the back of your throat indicative of too much preservatives. If you're not familiar with this sensation, grab an energy shot like the Monster Hitman product and you'll see what I'm talking about. So if your basic recipe is something like 8 lb sugar ( 3.63kg) 1 gallon water (3.63 L) then you'd want 7.26g Sodium Benzoate in your syrup. With a 25% solution, you'd only need 29g of solution in your basic recipe, I'd guess that's somewhere between 1 and 2 Tablespoons. (1TBSP pure water = 14.77 mL, so your solution will be more dense meaning heavier per TBSP) I hope that helps.
Find Recipes on my blog: The Homemade Soda Expert I'd love some feedback! Now Available from Quarry Books -- Making Soda at Home: Mastering the Craft of Carbonation Like on Facebook!, Follow on Twitter, Add to Goodreads
Thanks MrFoodScientist
I would not mind reduced shelf life (is 2-3 months possible?) if I could forego using Sodium Benzoate. With the combination of sugar and citric acid be enough to preserve syrup and and bottled sodas?
what about using various forms of vitamin c as a preservative. how much mileage can be had through those means?
The commercial products typically contain sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and citric acid. The Monin Premium Gourmet brand contains absolutely nothing other than sugar, water & flavoring (at least the ones I bought, and they oxidize quickly compared to the ones with benzoate, sorbate & citric acid). When I make syrups for home use I make a citric acid based invert syrup, incorporate my flavor, and then stabilize with k-meta (potassium bisulphite at dose of 1/4 tsp per 5 gallons) and potassium sorbate (1/2 tsp per gallon). I get them from local/online homebrew store. I have had an open 750ml bottle kept at room temp, under vacuum seal, for six months and it tastes/looks just like a syrup made the same day. For long term storage you can bottle pasteurize and store for up to a year.
Motto: quel che sara sara


text: Hi all, I'm still trying to get kernel-mode pppoe to work on my LFS/BLFS system. Everything seems set up correctly and I get no error messages when I run "pppd eth0", but nothing happens. When I run XP on the same box, I can connect with no problem. When running LFS, I can connect to another box using static IP and a cross-over cable. I posted a question about this last week but never got any responses. In the mean time I've scoured news groups & web, including this list's archive, and tried many variations, but haven't found the solution yet. I'm hoping someone might suggest what to do next or where else I could look for help. I do appreciate any help, even a hint. I'm getting desperate! :-( My /etc/ppp/options file (I've tried a number of variations): user 12341234 at worldnet.att.net local lock sync debug plugin rp-pppoe.so connect /bin/true ipcp-accept-remote ipcp-accept-local usepeerdns noipdefault defaultroute hide-password nocrtscts noauth mru 1492 mtu 1492 lcp-echo-interval 10 lcp-echo-failure 3 My chap-secrets: 12341234 at worldnet.att.net * mypassword 0.0.0.0 >From my kernel config: CONFIG_PPP=y CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC=y CONFIG_PPP_SYNC_TTY=y CONFIG_PPP_DEFLATE=y CONFIG_PPP_BSDCOMP=y CONFIG_PPPOE=y >From daemon.log: pppd[100]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded. pppd[100]: RP-PPPoE plugin version 3.3 compiled against pppd 2.4.2 pppd[101]: pppd 2.4.2 started by root, uid 0 pppd[101]: send (sendPacket) ifconfig eth0 output (same before and after running "pppd eth0"): eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:DB:02:AA:AA BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:11 Base address:0xec80 Thank you! Tom


text:
Canon Fodder
What is it with Red Hat? Why, in the world's most open and choice-rich technology market, does Red Hat have Microsoft-grade market shares? If Linux distributions are bottled water, why does Red Hat move so much more digital H<->2<->O than Caldera, Debian, TurboLinux and the rest of them?
The answer, by acclaim, is that Red Hat has branded itself better than anyone else. Okay, it helped that Red Hat made installation of software easy with the Red Hat Package Manager, now used by pretty much everybody. And maybe it helped that Red Hat used Python as the scripting language for their system-administration tools. But the prevailing perception is that Red Hat is a branding success.
That success is extremely enviable. In fact, we are witnessing a record tide of brand envy right now. The whole dot-com world is gaga over this ancient and brutal marketing notion, and Red Hat is offered as a huge case in point. Thanks to the success of brands like Red Hat, branding is a huge marketing fad, fueled by apparently limitless billions poured through startups and into the media from swelling vats of venture capital.
This flood of dot-com advertising dollars is driving up the price of traditional media and driving out the traditional advertisers along with it. A billboard on Silicon Valley's Highway 101 now rents for upward of $100,000 per month: more than double the price from just one year ago. Gone are ugly ads for car dealers and office supply stores, replaced by artful ads for WhatEver.com, which is no doubt branding itself.
This begs the question: just what is branding, anyway?
Search for the subject at About.com, and you'll find links to nearly three hundred pages, all but one of which is devoted to body art ("branding & tattooing"). The remaining page is a set of marketing links, among which you won't find a word—or a link to a word—about what branding is, where it came from, or why it's so hot in the dot-com world.
The FAST search engine (http://www.alltheweb.com/) finds 1,699,630 pages with the word "brand" and 92,288 with the word "branding". Oddly, few of those pages are about artful skin burns. Or maybe all of them are. Because both brand and branding come to marketing from the cattle business, by way of the first company to adopt the term "brand", and the one that still understands it best: Procter & Gamble. From that company's history page:
P&G's brand management system began to take shape in the late 1920s. In 1931, Neil McElroy, the Company's Promotion Department Manager, created a marketing organization based on competing brands managed by dedicated groups of people. The system provided more specialized marketing strategies for each brand and Procter & Gamble's brand management system was born.
This development coincided with the birth of commercial broadcasting, which P&G did much to fund and define. In 1923, P&G's Crisco was one of the first radio program sponsors. In 1933, P&G's Oxydol sponsored the radio serial "Ma Perkins". By sponsoring other shows with other detergents, P&G helped create the label "soap opera".
In 1948, McElroy took over as president of Procter & Gamble. By then, P&G was already what they still call themselves today: the world's top branding company. P&G now has over three hundred brands, dozens of which are #1 or #2 in their categories: Tide, Cheer, Vicks, Pringles, Crest, Pampers, Tampax, Ivory and Clearasil are all P&G brands. What makes them brands is the fact that their identities have been burned into our brains.
Brand management isn't for cowboys. It's a military job. Companies like P&G are in a constant battle for shelf space, often pitting the company's own brands against each other. Because the fundamental nature of that battle has not changed for generations, the principles of branding have long since been proven. Always show the package in the first eight seconds of a TV commercial. Always repeat the name at least five times. Always promise a benefit.
When an advertising campaign breaks the rules, the rules it breaks are the ones P&G still teaches—along with the secrecy, the protectiveness, the paranoia, the company song (yes, like IBM, they have one) and all the other varieties from the canons of brand management.
While it's safe to say that most dot-com marketing folks don't come from this kind of mindset, it is also untrue. Marketing has always modeled itself on warfare. The verb "market" is a transitive verb. It acts on a direct object. Since markets tend to be competitive and we conceive competition as a kind of warfare, it is no surprise that marketing is thick with military thinking. In "Marketing Warfare", Al Ries and Jack Trout write,
The true nature of marketing today is not serving the customer; it is outwitting, out-fighting and out-flanking your competitors. In short, marketing is war where competition is the enemy and the customer is the ground to be won.
No wonder so much marketing treats customers like dirt.
Most of marketing and branding rhetoric today is of a kinder, gentler sort. But it is also kind of vague. "Identity, personality and reputation, while related, are not synonymous," one correspondent wrote to me. "Branding encompasses parts of all of them." Buzzwords are like that. They encompass, but they don't define.
If you can't define what you mean, at least use a good metaphor. That's something Red Hat's Bob Young has always done very well. In his book Under the Radar, he writes,
Our goal had always been to become the Heinz ketchup of the Linux world—low-cost, high-quality, reliable and predictable.
Bob Frankel, whose Big Time Branding site (http://www.frankel-anderson.com/) ranks high on most searches for branding, has this definition of the subject:
Branding is not about getting your prospect to choose you over your competition; it's about getting your prospect to see you as the only solution.
Again, why? I think it has to do with trust. My old partner David Hodskins once defined brand as "the capitalized value of the trust that exists between a company and its customers." As I write this, the capitalized value of Red Hat is $14,632,710,582, give or take the few hundred million Red Hat gains or loses on any given day. That's a lot of trust.
It so happens that natives of the Open Source world put a very high value on trust. You earn that trust (as you do anywhere) by being as open and honest as possible. I believe this is manifest in the high market valuations of highly trusted Linux companies. Agreed: the stock market is a very different place than the market for open-source code. But the stock market is also proving to be highly intuitive. It assigned high valuations to Netscape, Yahoo! and other Internet stocks long before the rest of the business world realized that the Net truly was going to goose up the whole economy. And now it is doing the same with Linux stocks.
What do they trust? It's more than just a few Linux brands. It's the explosive potential of what can't be owned, but can be shared.
So maybe Red Hat succeeded because it was on the radar all along.
In addition to serving as Senior Editor of Linux Journal, Doc Searls (email@example.com) is co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, the web site (http://www.cluetrain.com/) that is now a book by the same name from Perseus Books.
Doc Searls is Senior Editor of Linux Journal
As Linux continues to play an ever increasing role in corporate data centers and institutions, ensuring the integrity and protection of these systems must be a priority. With 60% of the world's websites and an increasing share of organization's mission-critical workloads running on Linux, failing to stop malware and other advanced threats on Linux can increasingly impact an organization's reputation and bottom line.
Sponsored by Bit9
Most companies incorporate backup procedures for critical data, which can be restored quickly if a loss occurs. However, fewer companies are prepared for catastrophic system failures, in which they lose all data, the entire operating system, applications, settings, patches and more, reducing their system(s) to "bare metal." After all, before data can be restored to a system, there must be a system to restore it to.
In this one hour webinar, learn how to enhance your existing backup strategies for better disaster recovery preparedness using Storix System Backup Administrator (SBAdmin), a highly flexible bare-metal recovery solution for UNIX and Linux systems.
Sponsored by Storix
Trending Topics
March 2015 Issue of Linux Journal: System Administration | Mar 02, 2015 |
March 2015 Video Preview | Mar 02, 2015 |
High-Availability Storage with HA-LVM | Feb 26, 2015 |
DNSMasq, the Pint-Sized Super Dæmon! | Feb 24, 2015 |
Localhost DNS Cache | Feb 23, 2015 |
Days Between Dates: the Counting | Feb 19, 2015 |
- March 2015 Issue of Linux Journal: System Administration
- High-Availability Storage with HA-LVM
- DNSMasq, the Pint-Sized Super Dæmon!
- Localhost DNS Cache
- Real-Time Rogue Wireless Access Point Detection with the Raspberry Pi
- Days Between Dates: the Counting
- You're the Boss with UBOS
- The Usability of GNOME
- Multitenant Sites
- Linux for Astronomers


text:
Lisa Hamilton agreed to talk with New Times after being contacted at her home in Lexington, Kentucky, where she works at a print shop. In the 26 years since these events occurred, she has discussed them with only a limited number of people: two police officers, an attorney, a therapist, a boyfriend, her husband, and her brother and mother. She speaks in hushed staccato phrases, never mentioning McIntire by name, instead using a pointed �he� or �him� or a selected epithet.
Here is her account: Early one morning in Pakistan, while her mother slept, Lisa was awakened in her bed by McIntire. Without staying a word, he positioned her on her back, lifted up her nightgown, and began to caress her genitals. Then he performed cunnilingus. Throughout the episode he repeatedly told her he loved her and asked if it felt good. She said nothing. After perhaps 30 minutes he left, riding into the city on his bicycle. �I knew what was going on,� Lisa says today. �I knew what he was trying to do. I knew it was wrong.�
And so began what Lisa Hamilton claims was a nightmarish cycle of abuse that lasted more than seven years. Typically, she charges, McIntire would come into her room in the late evening after her mother had fallen asleep. The �visits,� as Lisa calls them, lasted up to an hour. During some extended periods, they occurred almost nightly. On occasion they took place during the day while the two were alone in the house. She says McIntire frequently instructed her not to tell anyone. Once, while still in Pakistan, Lisa's mother left for a few days on business. �This was like his holiday,� Lisa remembers, her voice wavering. She was about eight years old. McIntire brought her into his bedroom and removed her clothes. He fondled her. He removed his penis from his pants and placed her hand on it.
Lisa learned to detach herself during the assaults. It was her only defense. �I froze,� she says. �It was like a blackness. I went away from my body. In fact every time I talk about it, I feel the same way as I did then -- everything seems like it exists in just two dimensions. Flat. I could feel it but it wasn't mine. I just didn't feel anything. I could turn it off, like a switch.�
As the abuse continued, Lisa developed a theory for why it was happening: �As a child you think it's your own fault. If I wasn't a bad person, he wouldn't be doing this to me. So it was my responsibility to put up with it, not to complain.� She worried that telling her mother would split apart the family. As much as she wanted the assaults to stop, she also wanted her family to stay together. A 1992 e-mail message to her mother explained:
�All I wanted was for nobody to find out, for him to stop doing it around Jack, and for you not to lose your marriage. I don't know why it was such a great thing to try to save, but I was afraid if you found out, you'd blow up at each other and you'd hate me for wrecking it.�
After four years in Pakistan, Alex McIntire and Linda Hamilton (both mother and daughter use the last name of Linda's maternal grandfather) accepted job offers from an English-language school in Quito, Ecuador. In 1978 they moved there with Lisa and Jack. McIntire, Lisa says, continued his visits. Her only respite came during a two- or three-month period when McIntire moved out of the house. (Linda says he was having an affair and briefly lived with the woman and her children.) Lisa claims the visits continued when the family moved to Miami in 1979. Three years later McIntire and Linda separated; subsequently he filed for divorce. Linda says she had been willing to patch up the relationship, but McIntire wasn't interested. �He said I wasn't enough woman for him,� recalls Linda.
During the separation McIntire demanded visitations with Lisa. Once or twice a week Linda dropped her daughter at McIntire's parents' home in South Miami-Dade, where he was living. Lisa says he abused her there, too, each time she arrived. Only after the divorce was finalized, in August 1983, did the assaults come to an end. Lisa was fourteen. She never saw McIntire again.
When Lisa Hamilton heard the news that Alex McIntire had killed himself, she broke down in tears, screaming in anger. This development did not follow the script she had played in her mind so many times. No resolution came with his death. �I wanted to confront him, but now I can't,� she says slowly, carefully choosing each word. �I don't get to destroy him, to see his life crumble away. I don't have control over it now. I don't get the release, the sentence, the execution, the ruining of his life. I don't fulfill the dream of castrating him. And now I don't get the rest that I need in my life.�
Telling her story, she now believes, may precipitate a resolution. It is part of her healing. She also believes a public airing will help illuminate the devastating effects of sexual abuse on a young child. No one besides other victims, she says, can comprehend the numbing pain she has endured for so many years. Although she is married now, she has had difficulty with relationships. �What is trust? What is love?� she asks.


text:
Posts filtered on Category
"Caribbean Garden" at the New York Botanical Garden
I'm in San Francisco right now with my brothers! I'll fill you in later on our wonderful trip to the Napa region where we were invited to visit the beautiful campus of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. We had a great time dining at their restaurant, participating in one of the school's unusual […]
[Read More]
Fabulous Desserts at Culinary Institute of America's Bocuse D'Or Gala
On January 29, 2012, it was time to celebrate after Richard Rosendale was declared the USA 's competitor for next January's Bocuse D'Or in Lyon, France! Now that their present obligations had been completed, the participants were now able to move about freely, and I was able to meet the chefs including Thomas Keller. Then […]
[Read More]
Culinary Giants At the Bocuse D'Or USA!
In 1987, Chef of the Century, Paul Bocuse, created the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Contest, and these culinary olympics have since been held once every two years in Lyon, France, the city of Chef Bocuse's premier restaurant, Auberge du Point de Collognes. Twenty three countries have competed to bring home the gold statue, but only […]
[Read More]
Show More