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MediaDailyNews Issues for May 2014
MediaDailyNews - Friday, May 30, 2014
FreeWheel, Adap.tv Partner, Will Collaborate On FourFronts Marketplace
Fox Entertainment Chair Reilly Is Out
IPG Shares Continue Run-Up, Volume Soars
InMobi Partners With Rubicon To Launch Mobile Native Ad Exchange
Cross-Media Campaigns Register Slight Uptick Over Indie Efforts
Hulu, Netflix Seen As Good Value, Trad TV Stats Dip
Dish Network To Become Largest Company Accepting Bitcoin Payments
Samsung Tries To Preempt Apple With Open Mobile Health Platform
'Newsweek' Partners Up For Foreign Licensing Deals
PCH Launches Mobile Ad Optimization Service
Hard To Be Offended By Ad You Can't Find
Michael Sussman Promoted To President Of BAV Worldwide, Y&R
Hispanic On Demand Unveils Digital Ad Platform
Mag Bag: Conde Nast Circulates Native Ad Guidelines
Programmatic Spend Up Across The Board; Travel, Telecom Verticals Become More Competitive
MediaDailyNews - Thursday, May 29, 2014
Consumers Accept Declining Privacy
Nielsen To Expand Local TV Market Samples
Apple Buys Beats Electronics For $3 Billion
POG A 'Shattered Dream,' Levy Says
TV Cord-Cutters Have No Regrets
Targeted Victory Teams With Rentrak For TV Data
Bittersweet Bert: Even If You're Sick Of Reading About 'Mad Men'...
Google's Self-Driving Car - And Marketing Execs Who Will Or Won't Buy One
'Cosmo' Mag Launches Conference Series In October
'WaPo' Attracts 100+ Newspapers To Digital Partner Program
Study: VOD Users Watch More TV
Google Settles Portion Of Lawsuit About Gmail Ads
Wrestling WIth The Native Advertising Debate
MediaDailyNews - Wednesday, May 28, 2014
NYC To Collect Tax On Times Square Billboard Ads
Prime Time Shows Dips For Holiday
ESPN's Bodenheimer Exits Cabler
Nestea Back On TV; Updates 'Plunge' Campaign
FTC Says Web Sites Should Inform Consumers About Data Brokers, Allow Opt-Outs
History Channel First To Use Peel's Channel-Changing App
Dentsu Aegis To Buy MKTG For $52 Million
Episode 707: Waterloo: One Small Step For A (Mad) Man, One Soft Shoe (Or Sock) For Bert Cooper
BuzzFeed To End Partner Network, Focuses On Video
The Confusion With Cross-Device Retargeting
Correction: ARF Not Giving Second Board Seat To comScore
MediaDailyNews - Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Updated: ARF Continues Board Expansion: Adds comScore's Abraham, mcgarrybowen's Cooke
Will The FCC's Revised Net Neutrality Proposal Kill The Online Ad Industry?
Soft Pedal: How Brands Are Helping Pro Cycling Win Its Own Race
AOL, Convertro Team To Help Marketers With Data, Analysis
'SNF' Scores For Key NBC Demo
Comcast Hires One Of Biggest Teams Ever To Lobby For Merger
Hispanics Over-Index In Mobile Video, Second-Screen Consumption
When Is An Ad An Ad? Only Time Will Tell
TiVo's Earnings, Subscriber Levels Rise
MediaDailyNews - Friday, May 23, 2014
California AG Issues Guidelines For New Online Privacy Law, Pushes Mobile-Friendly Formats
IPG Mediabrands Management Shakeup
Bill Koenigsberg Elected Chairman Of The 4As Board
Dentsu Strikes Accord With Pinterest Japan
Bob Benson At Stonewall? Theories On Last 'Mad Men' Episode Of 2014
Would 'Jack' Abramson Have Been Treated Any Differently?
Top Magna Targeter Jumps To Target, Argyilan Joins Retail Giant
Media Buyers Cautious Of Facebook Video Ads
TV Everywhere Has Visibility Issues, But Can Up TV Viewing
Mag Bag: 'Time,' 'Sports Illustrated' Put Ads On Cover
'Idol,' 'Survivor' End Seasons, Ratings Dip
Honey Maid's Gary Osifchin Talks Real Families
Paid TV, ISP Consumer Satisfaction Rates Dropping
Criteo Names Buckley Head Of Sales
Cars Matter - A Lot, MRY Survey Finds
Conde Nast Expands Google Partnership To Further Programmatic Sales Approach
Ad Groups Push For Data Breach Law
Facebook Walks the Privacy Walk, And Walks It Back -- At the Same Time
MediaDailyNews - Thursday, May 22, 2014
Programmatic Internet Of Things Right Around The Corner
AOL Pushes Into Linear TV: Acquires Audience Targeter PrecisionDemand, Merges With Adap.tv
Local Brands Adopting Programmatic, Financial Sector Spends Big In Q1
Media Planning For An 87-Year-Old Man, Awake Or Asleep
ANA To 'Acquire' Brand Activation Association
Worldwide Pay TV Hits $221B In 2013
Cannes Lions Revamps Rules For Media Agency Competition
Time Warner, Comcast, Hit Bottom In Customer Satisfaction Survey
'Voice,' 'Dancing' Head Season On Downbeat
ABC Will Win First May Sweep In 14 Years
Sweet Dreams: KBS+ Takes Tech Approach For New Simmons Campaign
SpotXchange Sees 350% Boost In Programmatic Video Spend In Q1; Hires, Promotes 3 For Regional Leadership
Dunkin' Donuts Ties Mobile To Traditional Media
Judge Gives Green Light to Clear Channel Lawsuit In Baltimore
MediaDailyNews - Wednesday, May 21, 2014
NBC Is No. 1 In Prime Time, First Time In A Decade
Facebook Expands Video Ads Internationally
Nearly $18B In Digital Ad Budgets Forecast To Be Earmarked For Mobile
Better Business Bureau Tells Taboola To Make 'Sponsored Content' Disclosures More Prominent
Europe's Online Ad Market Reaches 27.3B Euro In 2013, Mobile Display Accounts For Over 10%
Google Sponsors Chicago Museum Robotics Exhibit, 2015
Episode 706: The Strategy, Or Design For Living
FCC: Cable Prices Continue To Climb, Even In Competitive Areas
Tribune Publishing Revs Down, Broadcast Soars
Clear Channel Picks Up Small Market Radio Stations
Blue State Digital Helps Brands To Keep Social Campaigns Real
Vindico Launches DSP For Video, Features Built-In Tech To Grade Ad Quality
Big Data, Small Data, Smart Data
Tremor's Wesly Charts The Quiet Revolutions In Connected TV
MediaDailyNews - Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings Releases Demo Data
Patch Perks Up Post AOL
Mag Publishers Bring Apps Back From Dead With Freemium Model
Publicis, Facebook To Share Data, Images, And Video
MDC Shares Continue Downward Drift As Nadal Completes $81 Million Sell-Off
The Brave New World Of Biometrics
'National Journal' Eliminates Public Comments For Most Stories
Rubicon Project Unveils 'Programmatic Direct' Platform, Launches In Mobile-Only Beta
TV Audience Only Partially Attentive To Ads
Thinknear Bows Location Accuracy Index For Mobile Ads
The Reinvention Of Media And The Content Tipping Point
PubMatic Puts Mobile In Motion, Acquires Ad Server Mocean Mobile For $15.5M
Baidu Appoints Ng Chief Scientist, Opens Silicon Valley R&D Lab
AT&T & Comcast: Change Partners
ImpreMedia Launches 'Quiero Mas Futbol,' Soccer Newspaper Mag
iPhone Users Allowed To Proceed With Lawsuit About Address-Book Uploads
Google Plucks Ross From Fashion Industry To Work On Google Glass
MediaDailyNews - Monday, May 19, 2014
AT&T Announces $48.5 Billion Deal To Buy DirecTV
CBS News Plans 24-Hour Digital Network
Data Puts New Tynt On 'Dark' Social, Sheds Light On Unseen Power Of The Long Tail
Pinterest Raises Additional $200M To Turn Site Into Discovery Platform
OVGuide, Google Release Video Streaming App For Glass
Memorial Day Travel to Hit 9-Year High
Radio Revenues Flat in First Quarter, But Digital Rose 16%
The Times, It Is A-Changin'
Most Companies, Except Snapchat, Increasing Efforts To Protect Consumer Data
Google Acquires Quest Visual For Image Translation Tool Word Lens
Publicis Groupe Joins NYC Media Lab
Heavy TV Viewers More Likely To Buy Cars, Clothes
AMC To Add 3 Unscripted Series
Web Giants Score Wi-Fi Win On Capital Hill
Huffington Post Founders Settle Lingering Lawsuit
Programmatic To Account For 20% Of TV Ad Spend By 2018
MediaDailyNews - Friday, May 16, 2014
Internal Memo Shows 'NYT' Under Siege
T-Mobile, Univision Team To Reach Hispanics
IAB To Sync Ad Specs For Cross-Platform Campaigns
CW Aims For Inclusiveness, Adds 2 New Shows, Grows Digital Platforms
Univision Unveils New Cable, Digital Shows at Upfront
Seacrest, Advance Publications Invest In Video Biz
Yahoo Movies Debuts As Digital Magazine
The Internet Suddenly Becomes A Happy Place
Connected TV Households Climb To 42 Million
Social Media Ad Revs Forecast To Hit $15B By 2018
Broadcast TV Media Buyers Missing Search Data Opportunity To Connect With Fans
Mag Bag: Time Inc. To Go Public On June 6
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AMA Calls For Ban On Drug Ads
TV Ad Revs Strong In October, Digital Soars
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Yet whenever two or more authors of the genre are gathered together they.
Korean genre master Bong Joon-ho explores one parent'.
A drab addition to the posthumous romantic comedy genre.
All are examples of proficient genre filmmaking and none could be.
The thing that makes a great genre movie is one that'.

subset: commoncrawl


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- Filed Under
Monroe police arrested a woman around 9 p.m. Wednesday, accused of shoplifting items valued at $644.
Anna Smith Spann, 28, 3609 Armant St., Apt. 2, Monroe, reportedly tried to leave Target without paying for items in the bottom of her shopping cart. The police report stated the suspect also had hidden items in her purse.
Police made contact ...


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Cory Monteith
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» Sunday: Trick or treating arrives a bit early with the "The Simpsons" 24th "Treehouse of Horror" episode. Among the highlights: Bart is decapitated in a kite accident. D'oh! 7 p.m., Fox.
» Sunday: A Victorian-era department store is the setting for love, comedy, and intrigue in "The Paradise." It's a seven-part "Masterpiece Classic" series based on a novel by Emile Zola. 8 p.m., PBS.
» Sunday: Will "Witches of East End" make for spelling-binding television? Julia Ormond stars as an immortal mom in this new drama series about a family of witchy women living in a quiet seaside town. 9 p.m., ...


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BPL Community Profile
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Scouting and the Outdoors
As a Boy Scout volunteer, I'm disappointed that Louv doesn't mention Scouting as a way to get kids out of the house and more involved in the outdoors. But I'm only about 80% of the way through...
All Reader Reviews by Fred Goodwin
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Golden Triangle Audubon Bird Alert, October 23, 2010
The Field Trip to Sabine Woods today (Sat Oct 23) was very successful, with 14 warbler species being seen. Most "out of season" were a very brightly marked male Canada Warbler and both male and female Hooded Warblers, which. however, were much less cooperative. Other species included Yellow-throated Warbler, Northern Parula, American Redstart, Tennessee, Black-thraoted Green, Black-and-white and Magnolia. In addition, there were Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers. But Palm Warblers were absolutely everywhere, probably 30 present, and Nashville were also numerous. A good showing of raptors included a pair of Crested Caracaras, which, like last weekend, perched in the dead trees in the northwest corner. Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawk were both present, as was a Merlin. Sparrows seen included Vesper, Lincoln's. Swamp and White-crowned. Late were a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and a female Baltimore Oriole. The strong south wind will likely dissuade any migrants from attempting a southbound Gulf crossing tonight.
Swallows were migrating, and Tree and Northern Rough-winged were seen. A few Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were a little west of Sabine Woods.
Sea Rim was interesting. More than 40 Snowy Plovers were along the west beach, along with 11 Piping Plovers (one color-banded). An unusual gull about half-way along the west beach seems to best fit a very bleached 1st cycle California Gull, based on its overall long-winged look, bill shape and pattern, but it was exceptionally white for that species at that stage of development. The Gambusia Trail had a good number of shorebirds, including six Marbled Godwits, and a large number of calling Long-billed Dowitchers. One expects Dowitchers just next to the beach to be Short-billed, but these were calling (contact call and alarm call) and were clearly at least mostly Long-billed.
The flock of gulls just south of the privately owned boat ramp south of the Keith Lake cut contained one Franklin's Gull.
John A. Whittle


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Published by admin on 18 Sep 2015 at 04:32 am
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- "Phineas And Ferb" Episode "Last Day Of Summer" Airs On Disney Channel June 12, 2015
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "The Love God" Airs On Disney XD November 26, 2014
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "Blendin's Game" Airs On Disney XD November 10, 2014
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "Society Of The Blind Eye" Airs On Disney XD October 27, 2014
- "Phineas And Ferb" Episodes "Lost in Danville" And "The Inator Method" Premiere On Disney XD September 29, 2014
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "Soos And The Real Girl" Airs On Disney XD September 22, 2014
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "Sock Opera" Airs On Disney XD September 8, 2014
- "Gravity Falls" Episode "The Golf War" Airs On Disney XD August 11, 2014
- Disney Channel's 2013 "Fa-la-la-lidays" Includes "Jessie" And "Good Luck Charlie" Crossover
- "Austin & Ally" Episode "What Ifs & Where's Austin" Airs On Disney Channel November 3, 2013
Disney Channel And Disney XD Having Open Call Auditions In North Carolina September 2013
Nationwide Search for Actors Ages 10-17 for Upcoming Series and Movies Produced for Disney Channel and Disney XD Continues
On the heels of thousands of hopefuls auditioning at Disney's open call in Texas, Disney Channel and Disney XD announce another opportunity for tweens and teens to attend an open call audition on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 and SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 in Wilmington, N.C. The search for new talent ages 10-17 is part of Disney Channel's and Disney XD's ongoing initiative to find cast and develop diverse young actors for series and movies produced for the kid-and family-targeted channels.
Judy Taylor, senior vice president, Casting and Talent Relations, Disney Channels Worldwide, said, "We received an incredible response to our recent open call audition and want to give even more kids and tweens the opportunity to be seen by a professional casting director with this second open call. We look forward to seeing even more young talented actors eager to demonstrate their ability and helping make their dreams come true."
The open casting call auditions will be held on Saturday, September 21 for last names beginning with A-M and Sunday, September 22 for last names beginning with N-Z from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on both days at the Wilmington North Carolina Convention Center, 515 Nutt Street, Wilmington, N.C. 28401. In addition to street parking, attendees can park at the convention center for a fee.
An application and monologue will be provided upon arrival, and minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. There are no guarantees of employment and there will never be any fee to audition for Disney Channel or Disney XD. For more information, applicants can visit DisneyChannel.com/talentsearch.
Disney Channel is a 24-hour kid-driven, family inclusive television network that taps into the world of kids and families through original series and movies. It is currently available on basic cable in over 99 million U.S. homes and to millions of other viewers on Disney Channels around the world. Disney XD is a basic cable channel and multi-platform brand for Kids age 6-14, hyper-targeting boys and their quest for discovery, accomplishment, sports, adventure and humor. In the U.S., Disney XD is seen on a 24-hour, advertiser supported network that reaches over 80 million households via its basic cable affiliates. Disney XD channels are in the UK, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Greece, Turkey, India, Latin America, Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Canada. Disney Channel and Disney XD are part of the Disney/ABC Television Group.
Source: Disney Channel


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Having dealt with that office for the past 4 years - I promise you that you had an easy ride. My study permit took 3 times longer than their fairytale posted time frame. And the my legs still ache from the hoop jumping. Their excuse is that they're understaffed. But that doesn't explain everything. That office is sitting on a very high horse and having spoken to numerous people who have had dealings with them, the story is ALWAYS the same.
You got it easy
Friday, February 10, 2012


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Mac Dodson, President
I'm now settled in after three weeks on the job. It is already apparent that my predecessor, Rush Deacon, has left me with a smart, dedicated staff. That, of course, makes my job much easier. I give special thanks to Rush for working with me to create a smooth transition. It's also been a pleasure meeting and working with our board. They, along with our professionals, are an integral part of ADFA's success.
We are facing many challenges in 2002. As our economy sputters, our programs are needed more than ever. We are constantly stretching our resources while concurrently looking for new and unique opportunities. In fact, one of those new opportunities will be introduced to the state next month in the form of a new venture capital project.
Stepping into this position and seeing the staff, board and professionals work on complex financial transactions reminds me of a story about a famous sculptor who was asked by a gawking admirer, "Is it difficult to sculpt?"
"No," the great man replied. "Not at all. You simply buy a block of marble and chip away what you don't want."
It is the staff's job at ADFA to chip away at the complexities of the resources offered here and to make them seem effortless to use in order to give the people of Arkansas the best service and financial products possible.
I am looking forward to working with you, as our State's representatives, as well as ADFA's many other constituents. My door is always open, so please feel free to contact me any time you think ADFA can be of assistance.
Board actions
(October/November/December meetings)
ADFA Board of Directors took the following actions during its October, November and December board meetings:
Approved the issuance of ADFA guaranteed Economic Development Revenue Bonds for the purpose of providing permanent financing for the following four projects:
* Rich-N-Tone Calls, Inc. $265,000 -- Stuttgart
* H & O Investments, Inc. $350,000 -- Wynne
* Team Ward, Inc. $1,500,000 -- Monticello
* AEDD/Community Living Inc. $$1,910,000 -- N Little Rock
Approved a conduit bond issue for Community Water System, Inc. for the purpose of renovating and expanding its office facility and building a new water storage tank. CWS provides potable water throughout many communities located on or around Greers Fairy Lake.
Approved $3,750,000 in tax-exempt Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds for Emerald Properties I, L.P. to construct a 96 unit apartment complex for families of low and moderate income in Saline County, Arkansas.
Approved $6,675,000 in tax-exempt Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds for ChapelRidge of Cabot to construct a 144 unit apartment complex for families of low and moderate income in Cabot, Arkansas.
Gave contingent approval for a tax-exempt bond issue with an ADFA guarantee in the amount of $2,587,500 to JMS Processing, Inc. located in Blytheville, AR. The funds will be used to purchase land, a building, machinery, equipment and to make renovations.
Gave contingent approval to the Russellville Economic Development Partnership, Inc. to receive a $354,080 loan through ADFA's Speculative Building Loan Program. The funds will be used to construct a 40,000 square foot speculative industrial building in the East End Industrial Park in the city limits of Russellville, Arkansas.


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- Filed Under
A man is dead and Shreveport police are searching for the man who shot him late Friday night.
The shooting occurred in the 3800 block of Huston Street. When police arrived around 10:30 p.m., they found Marcus Wright, 41, laying in the front yard suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body.
Wright was ...


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Ordering swatches is quick and easy! You may select 5 swatches for a S&H fee of $3 (a $5 charge will be applied to Canadian orders). When you place your order in the future, the charge will be deducted.


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So I was doing a lecture on sql server query optimization at UCLA yesterday, and one of the topics I was covering was statiscs. As we know, statistics is information that the sql server collects about the distribution of data in columns and indexes, and they are used by the query optimizer to determine the best execution plan. If the database option to update statistics automatically is on, which is the default, statistics will be updated as soon as the need is discovered. In general, if your table has over 500 rows in it, and at least 500 plus 20% of the rowcount rows have been modified, statistics are out of date. Therefore, when that happens, and a user does a select, sql server will first update the statistics to get the best execution plan, and then work on returning your query results. While that sounds good in theory, in practice, it kills your query performance because wating for statistics to update when you're trying to get data returned to your application is very costly. I talked about being proactive in updating statistics with good maintenance plans, etc. I also talked about the possibility of turning on the option of updating statistics asynchronously on the database. What that will do, is alow your query to return data using the old execution plan, while the statistics are updating on the different thread.
As I was discussing these issues, a great question came up. Is updating statistics sufficient to make sure that our stored procedures use the latest and greatest execution plan? The answer is, not necessarily. Before SQL Server 2005, the execution plan for a stored procedure was saved during initial compile, and if you changed your table structure or added new indexes to a table after that compile, you would have to make sure to recompile your stored procedure in order for it to generate a new and better execution plan. Since the 2005 version, there has been a slight improvement to when the optimization of your procedure's execution plan occurs. Now, the optimization happens automatically when the first time a stored procedure is executed right after SQL Server services are restarted. It will also happen automatically if an underlying table used by the stored procedure changes. However, if you add a new index from which a stored procedure might benefit, and you do not want to wait till the SQL Server is restarted for your stored procedure to reap the benefit of your new index. In this case, you might want to force the stored procedure to recompile the next time it executes, and for that you can use the sp_recompile system stored procedure.
Tags: SQL Server
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overacuppa.co.uk » The Kids in the Kitchen » Ozzie's Best Burgers
Ozzie's Best Burgers
Oscar being a SpongeBob fan likes the thought of crabby patties, without the crab!
So for the last year or so, Oscar has been chief burger maker in the house. All the trimmings Oscar and I prepare together when the burgers are cooking.
Burgers are so easy to make, I am sure now Oscar won't ever buy burgers from a packet when he is older.
Oscar likes his burgers with all the trimmings, so here is what you need to make Ozzie's Burgers.
Makes 8 small or 4 large Burgers.
You will need:
500g of beef mince (Oscar uses lean steak mince)
1 egg
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
A pinch of mixed herbs (optional)
A little freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Note: We don't add salt as it tends to draws moisture out of the burgers.
For the Oscar essential burger trimmings and to make beef style 'crabby patty' you will need:
2 Tomatoes sliced
Cucumber slices
Shredded lettuce
red or white onion sliced into rings
Some cheese cut into thin slices
Burgers Buns or any rolls
Tomato Ketchup or relish
Ready to start, now Oscar has super shiney clean hands!!!
1. Put the mince meat into a bowl.
2. Crack the egg into a small jug or container and give it a good beat.
3. Peel and chop your garlic until fine. I usually finish this off for Oscar.
4. Add egg, garlic, herbs and pepper to the minced beef.
5. Now the messy part (that Oscar loves!) mix all the ingredients together. The easiest way is to get your hands in there and squish it all together. Lovely lovely!!!
6. Once it is all mixed up together you can start shaping your burgers.
7. Oscar usually makes 8 burgers, take some of your mixture. For 8, it's about the size of a kiwi fruit. Once you have the mix in your hands shape into a ball then flatten to make a burger shape.
8. Pop your burgers on a plate, so they are ready for cooking.
Now for Oscar to give his hands a really really good wash!
Oscar just turned 10 so the cooking part is over to me now.
9. Place the burgers under a pre-heated medium to hot grill for approximently 16 mins, so 8 mins a each side.
10. Place burgers into a roll (Oscar favourite being sesame seeded burger buns!)
We usually take them in rolls to the table so everyone can put in there own extra's.
But, here is one Oscar made up just for you!
Then the best bit eating it!
Filed under: The Kids in the Kitchen · Tags: children, children cooking, homemade burgers, recipes
4 Responses to "Ozzie's Best Burgers"
Ohh I forgot how much your comments hate me! Let's try again.
Oscar is gorgeous, he looks so happy with this burgers. I must cook burgers with my kids they may then deem to eat them if they have made them.
Nice to see you again, have added you to my blog roll so I do no lose you again!
Mich x
Those burgers look pretty special to me. I will get my kids on the case this week. I need some ideas to prevent me going round the bend. Just one more week to go…


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A comment for Function Grapher
Function Grapher is very easy to use. Although it may be too simple for graphing more complicated equations, it works...
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Function Grapher is very easy to use. Although it may be too simple for graphing more complicated equations, it works extremely well for its intentions. Function Grapher is an excellent tool for someone who may not be able to afford a graphing calculator or just needs a quick and simple graph. It is also useful if a student wants to print out a graph to include in an assignment or a paper. Technical Remarks: The different functions available in Function Grapher are very well defined and clearly available for students to access. It is also very easy to navigate around the graph and zoom in on specific sections of the graph. I gave it four stars because I think it is a great site, but could use a few more advanced features.
Sarah Cady (Student)
Date Added:
Sep 29, 2003
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By >Daimaou - G.G-B
Abee releases a new Luxury Aluminum case in Japan
The first case that I bought once settle in Japan 8 years ago was an Abee aluminum case, and 8 years later I still own this case and still use it, so when Abee Japan send us a press release we are doing our best to make sure to spread the word.
And today Abee releases a new versatile and reliable case the AS Enclosure 900 featuring Abee new System HD Holder made to optimize your main HDD cooling airflow. Capable to store up to 10 HDD in totals, the AS Enclosure 900 also support a wide range of Motherboard going from the Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX and Extended and giving you enough room (350mm) to put your favorite video card without needed to worry too much on available spaces (up to 3 Card in 3WAY SLI).
Anyway if you are living in Japan or know a company reselling Abee cases in your country, do not hesitate a minute, they are really worth your money.
- - Ripple Korea new Desktop, the Spires (December 9th,2009 at 5:14 PM)
- - Noblesses K-2 "Ebony", an All in ONE ATX Case from GMC (July 30th,2008 at 11:35 PM)
- - Century new dual 2.5" HDD enclosure with Raid support is just perfect for your desktop. (November 27th,2009 at 3:49 PM)
- - Elecom's Huge Hello Kitty Line-up (October 15th,2009 at 3:55 PM)
- - Digital Cowboy Introduces a New Acrylic CowBoy Tower (September 28th,2009 at 3:41 PM)
- - Japan Probe – News from Japan (Subscribe)


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Alien Bomb Attack
We are under attack!! Alien bomb attack is a strategy based game you will have to shoot down the bombs in the correct order as you face wave after wave of bomb attack. These evil aliens are intent on the total destruction of the human race. Play across five different levels and protect Sydney, Dubai, New York, Rio De Janeiro and Tokyo from total annihilation.FEATURES: *Simple one touch controls*Alien Bomb Attack has stunning graphics*Original soundtrack*Quick thinking strategy game*Survival strategy based game play*Destroy bombs in order*Easy to play yet difficult to masterEnjoy Alien Bomb Attack and please feel free to submit your suggestions for new levels on our facebook page. www.facebook.com/technoirgames


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I like to know if I'm not alone in this matter !!. I was a former future owner of the model S in Europe , but i had to back down from getting the Model S at this time .
I normally buy 2nd hands cars and now i have a BMW 330D , i bought it with 3 years and it cost me 31.000€.
My point is: for the person i bought the car, the BMW in 2010 was 68.000€ ( in Portugal we have big taxes in cars :(
I bought a 3 years old car , for half the price and with 5.000€ extras.
I'm tinking of doing the same thing in 3 years or less with a P85 Model S...I´m the only one thinking like this ?!...
I don't think you are the only one thinking like this, but I don't know of any early adopter who is planning on getting rid of theirs within 3 years.
You might have hard time finding used Teslas since... who wants to sell a perfect car? :)
Elon is actually betting his money that Model S depreciate slowly (see the new financing threads), which is safe based on the high price of 3 years old Roadsters.
Buying a car 2-3 years old allows for the majority of the depreciation to occur. Although it may be difficult to find a Model S, it will likely be a much better deal used.
Depends on how MS evolves... if in 3-4 years MS offers a 120 kWh battery I would consider buying a new one, but we'll probably keep the current one as the city car.
I alredy see ppl seling the Model S (dont know the resons):
Personally i agree that the car is a "keeper" but there are always some reasons for ppl to sell them (need money, some accident, have to leave the country,....)
Here in Europe i almost went i bought a 2nd Roadster:
Comparing a 2500 limited production car with the 20.000 per year Model S i think its to early.But my be I'm right about the 3 years and i can go and buy a P85 for about 50.000 to 70.000€
Lease companies will certainly be selling, and there will be more when some switch to Model X, and by then the GenIII should be impacting the market. Your odds are pretty good, IMO.
After 1 year maybe i have an beter ideia , so far i only have the roadster to compare...it also depends on the GEN III Tesla Car and price, If Tesla is going to make a 30k GEN III starting price car , maybe the performance version ( mybe BMW M3 competicion ) will be at 60k,!! by by Model S performance ;)
I think it is pretty clear you'll be able to get a "2012" or "2013" Model S for much less once it is used in a couple of years. People pay more to a) be early adopters and b) own a new car (versus buy used or lease). No real debate here. Some people have already waited years to get the Model S.
I just whanted to know if im the only one thinking like this ...
Don't expect the GenIII to be a miracle car; it will have lower performance and fewer features than the Model S.
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Escapees get two life terms eachComment on this story
Bloemfontein - Four men were sentenced to two life imprisonment terms in the Bloemfontein High Court on Friday for murders committed during an escape from court in Harrismith.
High Court Judge Corne van Zyl sentenced the men to life imprisonment for the killing of Constable Meshack Cebekhulu, 29, during the escape from the Harrismith Magistrate's Court in May 2011.
The men are Nkosana Zondo, 37, Joseph Ntoni, 33, Richard Phakoe, 35, and Thami Ramahlokoane, 27, who were found guilty on several charges including two of murder.
They received another life imprisonment sentence for the death of Harrismith businesswoman Avelene Botes, 52, whose vehicle they hijacked outside court and crashed in neighbouring Qwaqwa.
Botes died from injuries suffered in the crash.
The men were further sentenced to between six and 20 years imprisonment individually for attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, and escape from custody.
All the sentences would run concurrently.
Judge Van Zyl said it was pure luck that more people were not killed on the day of the escape.
She described the men as dangerous, who had planned to eliminate anybody in the way of their escape. The judge said the men had shown no respect for life or society.
Van Zyl said the arrogance showed by the men in planning and executing an escape from a place with a high police presence was a telling factor.
The crime was executed in its most severe form, the court held.
Van Zyl said the life imprisonment sentences were also justified in the light of the high number of police officers killed on duty. - Sapa
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|October 22, 2012
|Elder Scrolls Online Preview and Studio Tour
By Jason Van Horn
Depending on the class you chose, you'll unlock new abilities as you level,
which aren't permanent but rather always changing and adapting to how the player
wants to develop their character. One move the Dragonknight receives is Slam,
which when activated does 24 points of physical damage. After you've used the
ability enough it will level up, and suddenly you'll see yourself using a Slam
that now does 25 points of physical damage. Once an ability has reached level
five, the ability will then split and it's up to the player how they wish to
further develop the ability based on their play style. If we stick with Slam,
once it reaches level five you can choose to upgrade it to either a
Reverberating Slam or a Shattering Slam; each version will still give you a
starting 26 points of physical damage and 50% bonus damage after blocking, but
if you choose to go with the Reverberating Slam you'll also stun the enemy for
1.8 seconds and knock them back 800 cm, while the Shattering Slam will stun the
enemy for 3 seconds and reduce their armor by 50% for 5 seconds. Both of the
upgraded Slams have their advantages, so it's all a matter of personal choice by
way of the player, which once again stresses you playing the game how you want
and making your character your own.
There are a total of eight ranks by which you can increase your character's
proficiency, and while any character can use any weapon, it seems that you'll
want to focus on mastering only one or two at best.


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HTML5 and ArcadiaCharts
On this page we show you how to create a HTML5 Document and insert a basic JavaScript chart.
How does a HTML5 document look like?
Let us start with a plain empty HTML5 document:
<!doctype html>   <meta charset=UTF-8" /> <title>empty HTML5 document</title>
Compared to earlier versions, HTML5 has a noticeably simple doctype declaration as you can see it in the first line. Here is an example of an old HTML 4.01 doctype:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
New semantic elements in HTML5
HTML5 means cleaner code since you don´t need to rely on an vast number of
 tags. Instead, you can use semantic elements which improves readability so you can reduce development costs and focus on designing your HTML5 chart. Instead of...
...
 ...

 ...

 ...
 ...

 ...

you can use:
...   ...   ...

 ...
 ...
  ...
New media tags
Instead of using plugins like Flash to display videos or play audio, you can use elements like <video>, <audio> and <canvas> tags to embed media natively into your web site. By the way, ArcadiaCharts also uses canvas to display your HTML5 chart.
Advantages of using HTML5
- Less need of plugins - Just like ArcadiaCharts, using HTML5 makes you far less dependent on plugins like Flash, Silverlight or Flex to include animations, streaming video or interactive content into your website.
- Cleaner, better code - It´s by far easier to work with meaningful elements than with dozens of opening and closing
 tags. The improved semantic value reduces development costs helps search engines to crawl your site, which leads to a better SEO.
- Improved HTML5 forms - HTML5 allows you to use fancier, more elegant forms and makes validation native to HTML.
- Better Accessibility - A better structure improves accessibility. It helps people with disabilities which rely on screen readers to understand your web site and follow your content.
Including the ArcadiaCharts library into your HTML5 page
Before using any ArcadiaCharts library function, you need to insert the include command ‹script type="text/javascript" src="arcadiacharts/arcadiacharts.nocache.js"›‹/script›. It can be inserted anywhere inside your page, but please make sure that it is called before any chart functions are used. The arcadiaCharts-library must be loaded completely in order to create your HTML5 chart.

As soon as this has completed the event-handler "onChartLibLoaded" will be called. The following example shows, how to put the code which creates the HTML5 chart directly into a routine which is assigned to the event handler:

Chart creation with JavaScript
The creation of the HTML5 chart is done by the ChartBuilder.
Complete example:

Further details of the chart creation are identical to our guide "Create a JavaScript chart.


text:
RV show starts this week with Forest River and Thor as industry leaders
ELKHART -- During one of the worst recessions to hit the recreational vehicle industry, two manufacturers have consistently outpaced their rivals and are emerging stronger and more dominant in the marketplace.
Forest River, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, and Thor Industries Inc., parent company of many towable and motorhome makers, have acquired manufacturers, opened new operations and gobbled marketshare throughout the downturn. As the entire industry prepares for the 48th annual National RV Trade Show, set to open in Louisville, Ky., this week, Forest River and Thor combined control 63 percent of the retail RV market.
Representatives from various sectors of the industry are neither surprised nor concerned about the long shadows these two companies are casting. Other manufacturers have been in the top spot before and if they do not continue to pay attention -- treating dealers well, building quality units for the consumers and providing a supply to meet demand -- they could shrink or close altogether.
"In the RV business, integrity matters and wrong decisions have consequences," said Debbie Brunoforte, former chair of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association.
Forest River and Thor had resources, namely capital, going into the economic storm. Consequently, they were able to add to their portfolios while other RV makers were closing, contracting or just trying to hold on.
Forest River acquired industry flagship Coachmen in 2008 and has since opened towable manufacturers Prime Time and Shasta. Meanwhile, Thor scored a major win when it took over Heartland in September for $200 million and has entered the high-end fifth wheel market with the launch of Redwood RV.
"These two companies have found the magic out there," said Tom Walworth, president of Statistical Surveys Inc. "Both of these companies have used the resources that are available to them well."
Charting Forest River and Thor as they exist today, Walworth found the manufacturers have 63.2 percent of the retail market. And while they lost ground in 2008 and 2009, they still turned in better numbers than the industry as a whole.
Having the market dominated by just two companies is the "new normal," said Mark Bowersox, executive director of the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association and Recreation Vehicle Indiana Council. "It's a reflection of the fact that the industry is in a consolidation mode right now."
Forest River and Thor are bringing stability to the industry with their access to capital and growing marketshare, Bowersox continued. In addition, they are offering programs to help dealers, many of whom remain in fragile condition, that other smaller manufacturers are not able to do.
Walworth believes the duo survived the recession in such good shape, in part, because of their size and they carried less debt. Also, he said, the units they put on dealers' lots may not be the cheapest but they are giving consumers the best value.
However, in the RV industry holding the pre-eminent position does not guarantee permanent success.
Forest River and Thor could be vulnerable as production kicks up in the spring and summer, Walworth said. Historically, as the market improves past leaders have become stressed trying to meet customer demand, which would open the door for smaller manufacturers with similar products and shorter lead time to capture more marketshare.
Competitors like Jayco in Middlebury and Newmar and Gulf Stream Coach in Nappanee are not slouches, Walworth noted. They could increase production and gain additional retail sales.
Also, Forest River and Thor have to remember that relationships matter in the RV industry and any misbehavior will be regulated by the market, said Brunoforte, president of the Arizona-based Little Dealer Little Prices. For example, if either or both of the big players start dictating terms to dealers, like the automakers direct their networks, RV dealers would likely bolt and carry units produced by other companies.
Dealers are not under pressure to be especially accommodating to Forest River and Thor, Brunoforte said. The individual manufacturers that comprise both giants operate autonomously and independent from the corporate office so having a problem with one company does not translate into having a problem with the entire family.
"It's a small industry so you always want to make nice," she said. "You certainly don't want the reputation as someone who's difficult to do business with."
Rarely do buyers go to a dealership and specifically mention Forest River or Thor by name, Brunoforte said. Instead they refer to the towables and motorhomes by the brand names or, most commonly, arrive with no knowledge of brands or manufacturers and only have a list of features they want.
Still, Brunoforte conceded, some of the better known brands are made in Thor and Forest River factories.
While dealers, at least in theory, have the option of walking away from the dominant pair, suppliers are in a more precarious position.
The companies that make or distribute the components that go into an RV got squeezed hard in the ailing economy, Bowersox said. Consequently, with Forest River and Thor having somewhat of a monopoly on the industry, the danger arises that suppliers could be forced to sell at greatly reduced prices or cutting special deals for those two.
To Mike Rospopo, sales manager at JSI Corp., switching prices between manufacturers is the best way to for a supplier to kill its business.
Purchasing agents at all companies always inquire if they can get a better price, Rospopo said, adding he sees it as part of their job. But giving a cheaper rate to just one manufacturer can stir trouble for a supplier. Employees in the RV world are very mobile and when they sit behind the desk of companies that are not receiving sweet arrangements, the supplier could lose customers.
"You don't want to burn a bridge in this industry," Rospopo said.
Despite having the strength, Bowersox said Forest River and Thor are not flexing their muscles and strangling opponents in the market.
"I haven't seen anything where I would say they have intentionally done anything to slow down the industry or hurt a competitor," he said. They are growing marketshare by selling their products and not by stopping competitors from selling.
Although the other manufacturers are clamoring in the remaining 37 percent of the retail market, they are not insignificant and incapable to making important contributions. In particular, Brunoforte noted many of the new products and innovations creating the pre-Louisville show excitement are coming from the smaller companies rather than Forest River and Thor.
Evergreen RV in Middlebury and Earthbound RV in Marion are examples of two companies -- small, startup manufacturers -- pushing the green movement in the RV industry, she said.
Bowersox and Walworth expect Forest River and Thor to maintain their kingpin status for the foreseeable future. More acquisitions and new operations are possible from the big two but, Bowersox said, the "entrepreneurial mindset" of Elkhart County will keep new RV manufacturers springing up.
Inevitably, Bowersox said, someone at Forest River or Thor will get an idea. He or she will think of doing something different and leave to start a new company.
Forest River has 28.4 percent
Thor Industries has 34.8 percent
* August 2008 to August 2009
Forest River down 24 percent
Thor down 23 percent
Industry down 29 percent
* August 2009 to August 2010
Forest River up 16 percent
Thor up 7 percent
Industry down 6 percent
* 2008 January through August
Forest River: 42,790
Thor: 57,806
Industry as a whole: 203,778
* 2009 January through August
Forest River: 33,099
Thor: 44,119
Industry as a whole: 143,897
* 2010 January through August
Forest River: 38,511
Thor: 47,219
Industry as a whole: 135,792
Source: Statistical Surveys Inc.


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Luke 21:9-10: [Jesus said] "When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom."
"Against all odds, the frameworks of the world's economic, political, and social systems are being shaken and are beginning to crumble."
-Jim Bakker in "Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse"
4:47pm: So who is Lucas Papademos, the man most likely to succeed George Papandreou as Greece's next prime minister?
Helena Smith, our Athens correspondent, has the inside line on Papademos, the renowned economist and former vice president of the European Central Bank who is well respected in the EU:
For a country not only burdened by debt but closer to default than ever before, his appointment at the helm of a transitional government in Athens would be widely welcomed.
In the corridors of power in Paris and Berlin, the capitals that count in deciding Greece's fate, he is seen as a safe pair of hands, more capable than most at navigating the crisis-hit nation away from the shores of economic Armageddon. Even better, say EU officials, the 64-year-old fits the bill of being a "neutral" non-partisan personality who can stay out of the snake-pit that is the Greek political scene.
"He's pro-European, he knows Europe and the Europeans know him," said prominent political commentator Paschos Mandravelis. "He would be the perfect choice."
Papademos was educated in the United States, where he earned his first degree in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds a second degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in economics, and held academic posts at Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Athens.
A specialist in macroeconomic theory and policy, he still teaches as a visiting professor in the US.
As we reported earlier today, Papademos was actually in America when the political crisis broke, forcing him to race to a plane to fly back to Greece. The country is now eager to see if he accepts the post.
Those who know him well said he is unlikely to agree without careful consideration – and as a man who is "naturally cautious" that could take days.
4.27pm: Silvio Berlusconi is to stake his government on a confidence vote in parliament, John Hooper tells us.
Italy's prime minister has telephoned the newspaper Libero which quotes him as saying:
Tomorrow, there is a vote on the public accounts in the Chamber [of Deputies]. Then I shall call a confidence vote on the letter sent to the EU and ECB. I want to look into the faces of those who are trying to betray me.
That raises as many questions as it answers, however, as John explains:
Tomorrow's ballot is not a confidence vote, so in theory – even if he loses – Berlusconi will not be forced to resign. But when, and where, the crucial confidence vote will be held is not yet clear.
Libero assumed the test would have to be in the Chamber of Deputies, which is where the government is most vulnerable. But when? According to some interpretations, Berlusconi is planning to turn tomorrow's division on the 2010 public accounts into a confidence vote. Others believe he will call a separate and subsequent ballot to decide whether his government lives or dies.
Either way, it might allow him to wrest the initiative away from the opposition which has been threatening a motion of no confidence to get him out.
Earlier, the deputy editor of Libero implied on Twitter that Berlusconi intended circling his wagons around the letter that the ECB sent him back in August, which would have been distinctly odd as I commented at the time.
But the quote on the paper's web site suggests he is talking about a letter sent at the end of last month to the European institutions offering a series of pledges of economic reform. That is altogether more logical.
4.12pm: The rise in Italian government bond yields hasn't just hit the Berlusconi government and Italian taxpayers. It has also pushed up the cost of borrowing for Italian companies to painfully high levels.
My colleague Patrick Collinson warns that this makes Italian firms uncompetitive against their European rivals, and badly damages their chances of economic recovery. Nicholas Gartside, who manages $130bn in fixed income investments at JP Morgan Asset Management, told Patrick that:
Rates above 6.5% on Italian government bonds are not sustainable in the long term for Italy, although in the short term it can probably cope. The wider problem is that it raises the cost of capital for corporates and banks, which tends to be priced off the government yield curve.
So if you are an Italian company used to borrowing at 2% over the rate paid by the government, the cost of capital has now become very high. For example, Telecom Italia is having to pay more than 7% on its 2017 bonds. That's a very expensive price to pay.
Problems are worst in the so-called 'junk bond' market, where companies with ratings below BBB have to pay 3-4% above government rates. It's estimated that there's around $325bn in European junk bonds that need to be refinanced between 2012 and 2015, and if rates continue to rise, many companies may default.
Currently, the market for refinancing their debts is virtually frozen while the turmoil continues.
4.05pm: Thanks for the many excellent comments. We were particularly impressed by this comment by MacNara (and with 102 recommendations, and counting, we're not alone).
MacNara suggests eight innovative ways that Greece could rebuild its economy, including
* Demand that Europe co-operate in destroying tax havens.
* Strong and explicit European guarantees that would allow Greece to shrink its army
* Penalise countries who run a trade surplus year after year
The whole post is well worth a read. My immediate thought, though, is that Europe's leaders may be too transfixed by the debt crisis to consider many long-term solutions.
Maybe once Greece's government is in place and the €8bn aid tranche is paid, Italy's political future is secure and a way has been found to increase the European Financial Stability Facility to €1trn or more……
3.50pm: George Osborne, the chancellor, is already in Brussels and meeting Conservative MEPs to discuss the crisis before heading off for a dinner organised by his Czech colleague and involving the ten "outs" who are not in the eurozone.
Those 10 countries, who are all members of the European Union but not the single currency, appear to be forming a tighter partnership. David Gow has more:
This is now becoming a regular occurrence, and David Cameron went to a similar dinner of the "outs" when he was last in the EU capital. The clear aim is to plot tactics ahead of tomorrow's Ecofin meeting – and ensure, above all, that the eurogroup "caucus" doesn't steamroller the rest with pre-cooked decisions that are against UK, Czech, Swedish etc interests. The "two-speed" Europe once abjured by all EU leaders is now a reality.
And it looks as if the "ins" of the eurogroup have pencilled in yet another meeting this month – November 17 – as well as tonight's and one already planned for November 29.
This second November meeting would assess progress made – or otherwise – in "leveraging" the EFSF and put flesh on the bones of the €1tn plan adopted on October 27 and rubbished by the US, China et al at the G20 summit last week.
3.41pm: David Cameron is updating the House of Commons on the eurozone crisis, following last week's G20 summit in Cannes. He says that:
The G20 sent the Eurozone a clear message: sort yourself out and then we will help, not the other way around.
The prime minister told MPs that "it is clearly in our national interests for the eurozone to sort out its problems", and that the bailout deal agreed in October was "welcome progress".
Now, Cameron added, the eurozone needs to implement these decisions urgently as the collapse of trading partners, whether in Europe or beyond, would have a damaging effect on our economy.
Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition, responds — criticising Cameron for trying to describe the Cannes gathering as a success (not, as appears more accurate, a flop).
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering the full statement in his Politics Live blog today.
3.22pm: More in from Greece, or rather Brussels, where the Greek minister of finance Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement going into a eurogroup meeting:
After a difficult week, we now have a new political situation, a new political frame in Greece. We have a new government of national unity and national responsibility. This is the proof of our commitment and our national capacity to implement the program and reconstruct the country.
Helena Smith reports that Greeks are hoping a decision will be taken to release a long-overdue €8bn package of rescue loans at the much-anticipated meeting.
Athens says without the critical aid instalment it will be staring at bankruptcy in a matter of weeks.
Incidentally, "difficult" doesn't really sum up how last week panned out for Venizelos. On Tuesday he was submitted to hospital with stomach pains, later said to be appendix-related. When Thursday morning came, he hopped off a plane to single-handedly shoot down Papandreou's referendum plan, and by Friday night he was playing a key role in the drive to create a unity government.
3.05pm: In Italy, one of Silvio Berlusconi's ministers has claimed that the beleaguered prime minister may still hold a majority in the Italian parliament.
With a resignation seemingly off the table for today, the parliamentary mathematics will probably determine Berlusconi's future.
Gianfranco Rotondi, a minister without portfolio, met with the Italian PM today – and told reporters in Milan that the battle goes.
I'm optimistic and I think we'll hold on to the majority
If we have the majority we'll carry on, otherwise there'll be elections.
2.31pm: As we reported earlier, France announced a tougher fiscal consolidation programme this morning.
In the short term, the plan is designed to save an extra €7bn so that the country hits its deficit targets despite much weaker growth in 2012 (the French economy is likely to stumble along with 1% growth, not the 1.75% forecast this summer).
Economists have warned that France's AAA rating could be at risk. Francois Fillon (left), the French prime minister, admitted himself that the country must take serious steps to remain ahead of Europe's debt crisis:
Fillon said:
The time has come to adjust France's efforts. With the president, we have only one goal: to protect the French people from the serious difficulties that many European countries are now facing.
I believe that our citizens are now aware of the risks to our livelihoods and futures caused by deficits and debt "Bankruptcy is no longer an abstract term. Our financial, economic and social sovereignty require prolonged collective efforts and even some sacrifices.
From Brussels, our correspondent David Gow reports that the prospect of more French austerity has alarmed some of the country's media:
It hasn't escaped anybody's notice here – and certainly not in Paris – that the Germans are cutting taxes, albeit "only" by €6bn all told in 2013 and 2014, while Sarkozy and Fillon are taking a further axe to the budget to preserve the country's and their own triple A status.
Le Monde's correspondent is, not without an elegant irony, very jealous. Tax yields in Germany are likely to be €40bn up on 2010 at €571.2bn.
In Greece they think the Germans are getting ready to buy up their entire country when they're kicked out of the euro and forced to re-adopt the drachma, as German travel company TUI envisages.
2.09pm: In Greece, public opposition to the prospect of yet more austerity is growing. A militant labour group with communist links has already called a mass public rally for Thursday.
While warring politicians in the country's two main parties have managed to take the historic step of laying down their arms long enough to form an interim administration, many politicians are questioning how long an interim government could last for.
Helena Smith reports from Athens:
"Every decision, every conversation, every move, will I am afraid, be taken not so much with the good of the country in mind but political cost for the parties involved given that we are heading for elections so soon," said Adonis Georgiades an MP with the populist far-right LAOS party.
The prominent politicial commentator Ioannis Pretenderis has also raised the red flag.
"Cooperation is not a solution. It is a method. And a method, in itself, is not enough to lead us to a solution," he writes in today's mass-selling Ta Nea.
"What exactly will this government do? Will it be limited to simply negotiating whatever was agreed on 26 October?" he asked referring to the latest bailout program painstakingly hammered out by EU leaders in Brussels last month. "Or will it exercise normal government?
Nor does it seem that the new interim administration will necessarily go down well with Greeks now exhausted with wave upon wave of austerity. Unionists are also drawing the line in the battle sands, with the militant communist-aligned labour organisation PAME announcing a mass rally for November 10th.
"The new government that they have assembled has nothing to do with the people or their problems," it says. "It is a government that is deeply hostile and has as its mission the defence, by every means, of saving monopolies and destroying the peoples' movement. They want to vote through the new agreement, with its new austerity measures, with the least possible social reaction. They have no right to vote this new agreement with new barbaric measures that will be enforced until 2030 and then take us to elections. We demand elections now!"
1.34pm: Turning attention away from Berlusconi temporarily and back to Greece – I'm afraid we must report that the talks on the formation of a coalition government have hit a snag — the favourite candidate to replace George Papandreou isn't even in Greece.
Helena Smith, our Athens correspondent, tells me that Lucas Papademos, the front-runner for the job and former vice president of the European Central Bank, is now racing back to his homeland. This threatens to delay the vital process of choosing the new leader.
Helena reports that:
The 64-year-old Papademos was in the US when he was informed of the ground-breaking political developments in Greece and is now making his way back to Athens poste-haste.
Formally the governor of the Bank of Greece for almost eight years, from October 1994 to May 2004, Papademos is widely regarded as a "neutral figure," who is well respected in Europe and would be a safe pair of hands at the helm of government. But friends who know him well have told our correspondent that Papademos, who is also a well-respected academic, is unlikely to agree to the job without carefully weighing things up first.
"As things stand, the leaders of both political parties want to give him his cabinet, tell him what to do and let him go by the end of January. It's a recipe for disaster," said Stefanos Manos a former conservative finance minister.
"Lucas is a thoughtful person, an honest guy, a clever person but he's also very cautious … he's going to want to lay down his terms and as they stand I very much doubt that he will accept. I don't think for a moment he is willing to be a puppet PM."
The confusion may well mean that nothing is decided before this evening, when markets in Europe have already closed and Wall Street could be getting edgy.
So in short — Greece is far from getting a government that will guarantee political stability.
1.05pm: What a dramatic few hours in the European debt crisis. Here's a round-up of the key events so far:
• Silvio Berlusconi has denied planning to resign today. The embattled Italian PM insisted that he remains in charge — apparently after talks with his children
• Italy's borrowing costs have spiked alarmingly, suggesting that the country could soon be dragged deeper into Europe's financial crisis. The yield on 10-year Italians debt hit 6.66% this morning – devilishly bad news for Berlusconi?
• Greece remains in political limbo, as talks continue over the creation of a unity government. George Papandreou, and his old rival and US college friend Antonis Samaras, are locked in negotiations
• France promises more austerity. Another €7bn of tax rises and spending cuts announced today
12.34pm: Has the mystery of Berlusconi's apparent about-turn been solved?
From John Hooper again:
One of the two senior journalists behind the rumours of Berlusconi's departure has just tweeted that the media magnate changed his mind after a lunch in Milan with his children by his first marriage (both of whom hold key posts in his business empire) and the chairman of his Mediaset TV empire. What other prime minister would be doing that at a moment like this?
Franco Bechis, who is the deputy editor of Libero, wrote on Twitter that Berlusconi would be challenging "even his own people on [the basis of] the text of the ECB letter".
That is a reference to the humiliating missive Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi sent the Italian government back in the summer, detailing the reforms they expected of it. Turning it into the standard under which Berlusconi rallied his troops to the good fight would certainly require some chutzpah. But then he has never been short of that!
In another amusing development, Silvio Berlusconi appears to have updated his Facebook page to deny he is planning to quit. His most recent entry now reads: "Le voci di mie dimissioni sono destituite di fondamento" ("The rumours of my resignation are groundless").
Mark Twain would approve.
12.19pm: This looks like being a day of wildly contradictory rumours and denials. Fabrizio Cicchitto, Berlusconi's leader in the lower house of parliament, has now DENIED that the media tycoon is to resign.
He said:
I spoke a short while ago with prime minister Berlusconi who told me that the rumours of his resignation are without foundation
Stock markets are sliding back as I type, while Italian bond yields are rising again (we're back over the 6.6% mark – a bad sign).
From Rome, John Hooper informs us that Berlusconi flew this morning to Milan following a late-night pow-pow with some of the leading figures in his coalition:
TMNews, an Italian news agency, is quoting sources in his party as saying that he will hold a meeting later with Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League, the junior partner in his right-wing condition.
Meanwhile, the pressure on him is mounting. The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, just appealed to Berlusconi not to try to "scrape by".
But – and this is an important point for the markets – the leader of one of the opposition parties, Pier Ferdinando Casini of the Union of the Centre (UDC), is reported to be ready to join a new government led by Berlusconi's right-hand man, Gianni Letta. So things might not change quite as much as might be assumed.
Assuming they change at all…..
12.09pm: The escalating crisis in Italy comes as Europe's finance ministers prepare for two crunch meetings in Brussels.
Finance ministers from across the euro area will gather at 17:00 CET (4pm UK time), with the full Ecofin Council group of European ministers due to meet at 09:00 CET (8am UK time) on Tuesday.
My colleagueDavid Gow, who is racing to Brussels from Athens, points out though that the levers of power are really in the hands of a third, more secretive group:
GdF used to stand for Gaz de France (the state-owned gas group now locked in fusion with utility company Suez). Now it stands for Groupe de Francfort or Frankfurt Group, an ad hoc, entirely unaccountable cabal of Sarkozy, Merkel, Juncker, Draghi, Barroso, Van Rompuy, Rehn and, the real powerhouse, Lagarde.
It was formed at the October 19 Mozartfest in Frankfurt's Alte Oper to say goodbye to Trichet as president of the ECB. This octet controls, or think it does, the eurozone and – memo to Dave and George – the EU. To whom do they report on their talks, say, with Obama or Wen Jibao?….
The group should not be confused with the Frankfurt School: the philosophers Adorno, Marcuse, Horkheimer et al who mounted a sustained critique of American cultural imperialism in the 1960s. Times change.
11.55am: Berlusconi has survived so many challenges before., so why is this time different?
John Hooper explains:
The timing of any resignation by Silvio Berlusconi is tied up with tomorrow's expected vote on the 2010 public accounts.
Their rejection by the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, is what prompted the last Italian crisis in mid-October. President Giorgio Napolitano, the head of state, is pressing for the accounts to be approved because, otherwise, Parliament cannot give the thumbs-up to the austerity packages (plus amendments) okayed earlier this year.
But if Berlusconi were to resign before the vote were taken, that could block further action by parliament.
11.30am: Rome correspondent John Hooper has full details of the speculation that Silvio Berlusconi's long occupancy on the prime minister's chair may soon be over:
The origin of the rumours is a comment by Berlusconi loyalist and confidante Giuliano Ferrara, the editor of the daily Il Foglio. On its web site, Ferrara says that it is clear "that Berlusconi is about to step aside. It is a matter of hours, some say even of minutes."
Another journalist close to the Italian prime minister, Franco Bechis, deputy editor of Libero, tweeted that an overnight summit of coalition politicians ended with the understanding that by the end of tomorrow Berlusconi would announced his resignation and propose a government headed by his right-hand man, Gianni Letta.
The rumour continues to cheer the financial markets, with most stock markets off their lowest points.
As Jamie Chisholm, the FT's global markets commentator tweets, that's one more indignity for Berlusconi.
@FTGlobalMarkets: Embarrassing for a CEO when his/her company's share price jumps when they go. Mr Berlusconi's mooted departure is seeing the WORLD rally!
11.25am: Breaking news from France. Europe's second largest economy has just announced a new round of austerity measures, including an extra €7bn of savings and tax rises for 2012, rising to €11.3bn in 2013.
The total package will be worth €65bn by 2016.
The measures include:
• Raising the French retirement ages to 62 in 2017 — a year earlier than planned.
• A temporary 5% increase in company taxation
• Hiking the lower VAT rate to 7%, from 5.5%
France has previously planned around €12bn of savings next year, but clearly felt this was not enough.
The new measures could be controversial – a year ago, more than one million people took to the streets to protest at Nicolas Sarkozy's reforms to the pensions system.
11.05am: Rumours are sweeping Italy, and beyond, that Silvio Berlusconi might be forced to resign today.
The speculation, which is being reported in several Italian media outlets, has sent the country's main stock market — the FTSE MIB — rallying by nearly 2.5%.
Italian government bonds are also recovering, with the yield on the 10-year debt down to 6.567%.
My colleague in Italy, John Hooper, points out that the Il Corriere della Sera newspaper only gave Berlusconi a 1 in 20 chance of surviving this crisis, after his interior minister admitted that the government had "perhaps" lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.
More as we get it….
10.47am: Italian 10-year bond yields have continued their alarming climb this morning, hitting a new euro-ero high of 6.67% in the last hour.
As we reported earlier, Italian yields (the interest rate on its debt), has been rising alarmingly this morning on fears that the political crisis in Rome is about to get a whole lots worse).
The word in the City is that the European Central Bank has, once again, begun buying up Italian debt in an effort to drive yields lower. Little evidence of success yet, though.
10.29am: One interesting element of the talks between outgoing prime minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras is that the two men have been rivals, and sometimes friends, for decades.
Our Athens correspondent, Helena Smith, points out that Samaras has much in common with Papandreou on a personal level. The two men, though (pictured below at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in the 1970s where they were room-mates) have a very different political outlook:
Samaras doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, he feels as comfortable speaking English as he does Greek and like Papandreou was born into a family of privilege and pedigree. Both men attended the same school and universities in America, hung out with the same people, reputedly shared the same girlfriends and now live in Athens' affluent northern suburbs.
Just like Papandreou, Samaras has also had to resurrect his party from the ashes of crushing electoral defeat.
But the similarities end there.
While Papandreou is a progressive socialist, sixty-year-old Samaras is a hard-core fiscal conservative with nationalist views. The Harvard-trained economist is the first to say that despite their past friendship, he has nothing in common with Papandreou's outlook on life, his policies and politics – – not least the leader's "slavish" endorsement of the recession-inducing austerity measures demanded in return for the aid Greece so desperately needs from the EU and IMF.
Personally, we reckon Papandreou wins the points for coolness (although it doesn't help that Samaras is hovering, almost invisible from the neck down).
Alan Beattie of the Financial Times, though, has another view on Papandreou….
10.19am: Speculation over the identity of Greece's next prime minister is rife this morning.
The current front-runner appears to be Lucas Papademos, the 64-year old former vice-president of the European Central Bank. Greek media reckon he could be appointed within hours.
Papademos left the ECB in May, and has since been offering informal advice to Papandreou.
Papademos also served as the governor of the Bank of Greece for almost eight years, from October 1994 to May 2002. This means he was at the helm when the country joined the euro on January 2001 — a decision described as 'mistake' by Nicolas Sarkozy last month.
9.41am: Finland's prime minister just ratcheted up the pressure on Italy and Greece.
PM Jyrki Katainen told a conference in Tampere, a city in the south of Finland, that there is significant danger of a Eurozone country defaulting. Further more, the financial markets are behind the curve.
From his speech:
"The very real risk of default has not been priced in."
Katainen also blamed the crisis on countries failing to follow Europe's own rules and treaties.
9.03am: The alarming rise in Italian bond yields has triggered a deeper selloff in the stock markets, with the FTSE 100 now down 76 points, or 1.4%, at 5448.
The Italian stock market is suffering more – losing 2.4%, while Spain's Ibex has tumbled by more than 3%.
8.34am: This should get Silvio Berlusconi sweating — Italian bond yields have soared to their highest levels in 14 years this morning.
The yield (or interest rate) on a 10-year just hit 6.66% – which, according to Reuters data, it its highest point since 1997 (when Italy was suffering another financial crisis) – from 6.353% overnight.
That is a huge move in the context of an average day in the bond markets. For context, 6% is generally seen as the start of the 'danger zone' where the cost of borrowing becomes prohibitively expensive (although the Bank of Italy argues that it can cope with 8%).
Italian bond yields have closed above the 6% mark for the last six days, despite the European Central Bank buying up tens billions of euros of Italian debt last week.
The steady rise in Italian bond yields is alarming the City. As Gary Jenkins of Evolution Securities explained this morning:
As calls grow for Silvio Berlusconi to step aside, he faces a key test of his leadership on Tuesday with members of the lower house of Parliament due to vote on public finances.
There has been a lot of speculation that a different leader would lead to a sharp retraction in Italian bond yields. That might well be the case in the short term but considering the starting debt position, the economic outlook and the general lack of confidence in Italian debt it promises to be a challenging period of time for any Italian leader.
Last Friday, Berlusconi denied that the Italian economy as in trouble, pointing out that its restaurants remain full.
Jenkins is unconvinced:
Unfortunately while their leisure industry might be doing well nobody is particularly interested in buying their bonds…
8.22am: French president Nicholas Sarkozy is expected today to take significant austerity measures to rein in the country's deficit, and ensure that the debt worries hanging over the eurozone periphery do not spread towards the centre.
A series of newspaper reports over the weekend have sketched out what the cuts, or tax hikes, might involve. The move to a higher retirement age in France of 62 will be brought forward to 2016 or 2017, rather than 2018. Automatic rises in welfare benefits could also be hit, Le Figaro has suggested, while there could be a rise in VAT in certain areas. Large companies could face a higher tax rate, meanwhile.
In recent months France's credit rating has come under pressure. But any cuts are politically as well as economically risky for Sarkozy, six months away from an election.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon will announce the new measures at 11am.
8.14am: European stock markets have opened, and shares are falling.
The German Dax fell 1% at the start of trading, with France's Cac and the Italian FTSE MIB both losing around 1.2%.
In London, the FTSE 100 is down 55 points at 5471, a fall of almost 1%.
This is the first time that European markets have been trading since the Greek confidence
vote, which the government won, but there's no sign of a relief bounce.
Terry Pratt of IG Markets argued that Papandreou's resignation was at best a "mixed blessing" for markets.
The clock is now very much ticking towards the big interest repayment that's due on Greek bonds on December 19th, so the unity government needs to get the austerity measures ratified to ensure the release of the next tranche of bail out funds.
7.55am: Here's a rundown of the key events today:
The negotiations between George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras over Greece's new unity government resume this morning, with the name of the next prime minister expected to be announced before the end of the day.
We are expecting details of French austerity measures – reports over the weekend suggest €8bn of cuts/tax hikes. The announcement is expected at 11am. The cuts come on top of €12bn of savings announced only three months ago.
The eurozone's finance ministers are meeting in Brussels later today to agree the technical details of the operation of the ramped-up €440bn EFSF.
The Italian centre-left opposition is preparing a vote of no confidence in prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The media mogul faces a difficult vote tomorrow on the public finances – we will be following developments today ahead of that vote.
The Eurozone Sentix index, an indication of investor sentiment in the Eurozone, is out at 9:30am GMT.
There are few big US corporate announcements this week. Cisco reports on Wednesday and Disney on Thursday, but we will as ever have an eye on the US markets to see how events in the eurozone are impacting globally.
7.45am: ….And in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi remains under mounting pressure as more MPs defect or demand his resignation. He has just one day left to shore up support before a vital budget vote on Tuesday.
Eurozone finance ministers will be watching the political situation in Athens and Rome closely, as they meet in Brussels later today to discuss the crisis in Greece and the EU's bailout fund.
As usual, we'll bring you the latest news, reaction and analysis. Let us know what you think too.
7.45am: Good morning, at the start of a new week that will probably be dominated by the eurozone debt crisis.
In Greece, political leaders will resume their negotiations over the creation of a new unity government. Prime minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras are due to meet again today — having failed to agree a successor to Papandreou last night. The Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, has said that a new prime minister will be named today — paving the way to the implementation of the bailout deal agreed last month….
Source: The Guardian – European debt crisis: Berlusconi denies resignation plans as Greek coalition talks continue – live


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Next Generation Oil and Gas Summit Confirms High-Profile Attendees
The upcoming Next Generation Oil and Gas Summit has announced that Brian Rovelli, President and CEO of Total E&P Research and Technology USA, LLC, and Stephen Lipari, President and CEO AASLAP/EVP Aspect Energy, have confirmed attendance.
The summit, beginning June 3 in Englewood, CO, focuses on how oil and gas companies can combat the economic crisis and contribute to a quick turnaround.
Other notable attendees to the summit include BG Group Head of Well Engineering John de Lange, Bill Barett Corporation Onshore Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Executive Wilfred Roux, Bonanza Creek Energy EVP of Engineering and Planning Gary Grove, and Ellora Energy's Vice President of Exploration Valerie Walker.
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How Boundless uses CC licenses
Cable Green, August 8th, 2013
As the open educational resources (OER) movement continues to grow, students and educators alike can benefit from openly licensed content. The use of Creative Commons licenses in education has allowed learning resources to travel farther, reach more people, and be repurposed to meet local needs.
I recently spoke with Ariel Diaz, CEO of Boundless learning about how his company utilizes Creative Commons CC licenses. This is a summary of our conversation.
So how does Boundless use Creative Commons licenses?
"Creating high quality textbooks is no easy task. It would have been impossible for Boundless to create close to 20 subjects worth of open textbooks without the availability of openly licensed content. While we can also use information that is in the public domain, the license on the content we predominantly use is called Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). CC BY-SA allows us to tweak and build upon the work of others, even for commercial purposes, and we are required to license our derivative works under the same license terms. To maintain a connection to the original author, we give attribution/credit and mark our content with the same license.
"To create our open textbooks and study tools, our team of expert "Edcurators" find the best content that is openly licensed. They revise and remix the best parts of the best content so that it is aligned with the key concepts of a corresponding traditional textbook for subjects like Marketing, Chemistry, and Writing. In other words, we take openly licensed content and add our own layer of pedagogy (important because our audience is students) and copy editing (important because students deserve to have materials written in a consistent voice that is fit for their grade level). Once the curating process is finished, we've officially crafted a resource that helps students at over half the colleges in the U.S. excel. Our educational content is openly available to all students anywhere in the world."
Why are Creative Commons licenses important to Boundless?
"Creative Commons has revolutionized the process of sharing information. Open resources available under a CC license broadens the distribution of knowledge, allowing people of different ages, socioeconomic statuses, and geographic locations to share and benefit from high quality content. It's amazing to be part of this revolution.
"In addition to helping us find, curate, and remix high-quality educational content, the CC license helps us stand up for an important belief core to our mission: educational resources should be free and openly licensed.
"We make good on this belief by freely posting our open textbooks on the web, without any registration required. Any student, educator, or self-learner can access, quote, and remix our textbooks for their own purposes thanks to the CC BY-SA license. Openly licensed educational resources means that digital textbooks like ours will continue to improve over time, allowing students the chance to unlock the knowledge they deserve."
Where can I access Boundless textbooks?
"In addition to the web, Boundless is has released these books for free in one of the world's most popular ebook stores: the iBookstore (with Kindle support coming soon). The company's iBooks include titles like Boundless Introduction to Marketing, Introduction to Statistics, and Introduction to Writing. Students can now access Boundless' high-quality, college-level content online, offline, on any device, at anytime. The Boundless App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch."
2 Responses to "How Boundless uses CC licenses"
"Boundless is better than your assigned textbook" _ http://lnkd.in/i_Gk35 _ "Students deserve better than the status quo of ineffective, overpriced textbooks, [] but are burdened with poorly-designed products or ancient technology when they get their education." said Ariel Diaz, founder and CEO. __First year Students can't afford to regret not using their University Faculty's Textbook choices. It's good advice to ask Student to review & compare textbook options to judge for themselves. Ariel Diaz-Boundless could make an honest effort to support claims that "Boundless is better than your assigned textbook" by providing a presentation comparing screen-shots of pages from both Boundless Alternative Textbooks and the Faculty Recommended Textbook
Great new word you invented – Edcurators. I have a feeling we will need more new words to language the coming concepts that expand perspectives. Looking forward to Boundless "Introduction To Marketing".