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Employers both big and small, in the private and public sectors, and in all industries are susceptible to high overtime costs. But you've probably got nothing on the FBI. According to a U.S. Justice Department audit that was released in December, the FBI paid $7.8 million in improper wages to agents temporarily posted in Iraq from 2003 through 2007.
The report states that FBI agents uniformly claimed overtime for working 16 hours per day, every day of their 90-day assignments, even when they worked fewer than 16 hours. "We found that, on the whole, few if any employees in Iraq worked exactly 16 hours a day," said the report.
Here's where the agency went wrong, and what your company can do right to keep OT costs down.
1. Supervisors encouraged and condoned the practice of recording 16 work hours per day in an effort to maximize compensation for agents who volunteered for duty in Iraq and to reward them for en...(register to read more)
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« Why We Find it Hard to Change Our Behavior | Leading Blog Main Page | 5 Things Smart Risk Takers Do Well »
At Work, "Yes" is Great, but at Times "No" is Even Better
This is a post by Michael Carroll, author of Fearless at Work.
At work, we want our jobs, assignments, projects and "stuff" to move along smoothly: achieving objectives, getting promoted, winning contracts. It's almost a twitch reflex to want our jobs to behave themselves. And if we are honest, sometimes we may even secretly wish that the workplace could deliver a continuous, uninterrupted "yes"—"yes" I got the plum job; "yes" the budget was approved; "yes" the redesign has been accepted.
And not only do we want "yes" from our jobs, we also want to deliver "yes" in return - especially when results are expected: "yes" we can deliver doubled digit growth; "yes" we'll exceed the deadline and come in under budget; "yes" we can close the deal.
But, as we all know, work doesn't behave this way. It's far too unruly: deadlines are too tight, salary increases are too small, business deals wither. And often instead of saying hello to "Yes", we find "No" at the front of the line offering personnel conflicts, career disappointments and project derailments. But rather than treating "no" as an annoying intruder on our journey to "yes", maybe we could take a different approach—maybe "no" isn't such a bad guy after all—maybe "no" is exactly what we've been looking for. And here are three reasons why.
Emphasizing "yes" can dull our edge
When we impulsively look for "yes" from our subordinates, colleagues, vendors and others, we tend to emphasize harmony over clarity; convenience over excellence; perception over results. Such seeming harmony can dull a team's creative edge and mask issues that need our attention.
Are we emotionally confident enough to hear the facts rather than a "managed narrative"?
Do we rush past problems in order to get to a solution or can we linger and explore difficulties thoroughly?
Do we invite "no" from others when we sense that it is being held back?
When we appreciate the importance of "no", convenience becomes irrelevant, our intelligent "edge" is permitted to clarify problems and getting a realistic picture takes priority.
Avoiding "no" represses candor and causes team problems
It is typical for team members to test boundaries and try to form reliable relationships and inevitably, such testing creates friction where individuals say "no" to certain group demands and limits. We all know what this looks like: Why does Sally get to lead this effort, why not me? Those budget estimates are way too low, but no one listens to me. I authored the sales plan, why can't I present it? When we are uncomfortable with the emotions accompanying such conflict, we may tend to avoid the required candor, hurrying toward a false "yes" of familiar routines and politeness. When teams choose avoidance over candor, we can end up repressing feelings that later arise as simmering frustrations or at times active resistance. Too often, by avoiding "no" we disguise problems rather than solve them.
"No" creates much needed psychological space
Finally, when we are constantly chasing "yes" -- trying to become smarter, faster, cheaper, and more profitable -- we can at times speed past the very things that need our attention. Such speed to succeed can blind us, but "no" can slow us down and offer some psychological space:
Can we describe the top three difficulties our customers are having with the new release 4.0?
What is the employment turnover with our key sales folks and should it be lower?
What are the three main motivators for our medical affairs physicians and are we focusing in on them? These and hundreds of other similar business questions require us to slow down in our relentless pursuit of "yes" and consider "no" as an ally. And when we make friends with "no", we discover psychological space and time to reflect, not just on where we are going but, as importantly, on how we are getting there.
So, in the end work is very much about "yes" -- "yes" I can take that stretch assignment; "yes" I'll work extra hours; "yes", the project is on track. But if work is all about "yes", chances are we are avoiding some vital issues, and we may need to make friends with "no".
Fearless at Work, worked on Wall Street and in the publishing industry for over two decades, holding executive positions at Shearson Lehman Brothers, Paine Webber, Simon & Schuster, and the Walt Disney Company. Founding director of AAW Associates, Carroll consults with major corporations on bringing mindfulness into the workplace. He is a longtime student of Buddhist meditation and an authorized teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. Carroll has taught mindfulness meditation at the Wharton School of Business, Columbia University, Kripalu, and the Cape Cod Institute. For more information please visit http://www.awakeatwork.net, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Bilateral oligopoly and quantity competition
Bilateral oligopoly is a market game with two commodities, allowing strategic behavior on both sides of the market. When the number of buyers is large, bilateral oligopoly approximates a game of quantity competition played by sellers. We present examples which show that this is not typically a Cournot game. Rather, we introduce an alternative game of quantity competition (the market share game) and, appealing to results in the literature on contests, show that this yields the same equilibria as the many-buyer limit of bilateral oligopoly, under standard assumptions on costs and preferences. We also show that the market share and Cournot games have the same equilibria if and only if the price elasticity of the latter is one and investigate the differences in equilibria otherwise. These results lead to necessary and sufficient conditions for the Cournot game to be a good approximation to bilateral oligopoly with many buyers and to an ordering of total output when they are not satisfied. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013
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- Jaskold Gabszewicz, Jean & Vial, Jean-Philippe, 1972.
"Oligopoly "A la cournot" in a general equilibrium analysis,"
Journal of Economic Theory,
Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 381-400, June.
- JASKOLD GABSZEWICZ, Jean & VIAL, Jean-Philippe, "undated". "Oligopoly "à la Cournot" in a general equilibrium analysis," CORE Discussion Papers RP 106, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- Richard Cornes & Roger Hartley, 2005. "Asymmetric contests with general technologies," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(4), pages 923-946, November.
- Richard Cornes & Roger Hartley, 2002. "Asymmetric Contests with General Technologies," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2002/22, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University.
- William Novshek, 1985. "On the Existence of Cournot Equilibrium," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 85-98.
- Novshek, William., 1984. "On the Existence of Cournot Equilibrium," Working Papers 517, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
- Codognato, Giulio, 1995. "Cournot-Walras and Cournot Equilibria in Mixed Markets: A Comparison," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 5(2), pages 361-370, March.
- Gabszewicz, J.J. & Michel, P., "undated". "Oligopoly equilibrium in exchange economies," CORE Discussion Papers RP 1265, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- GABSZEWICZ, Jean & MICHEL, Philippe, 1992. "Oligopoly equilibria in exchange economies," CORE Discussion Papers 1992047, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- Gabszewicz, J. & Michel, P., 1992. "Oligopoly Equilibria in Exchange Economies," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 92.26, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
- Szidarovszky, F & Yakowitz, S, 1977. "A New Proof of the Existence and Uniqueness of the Cournot Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(3), pages 787-789, October.
- Stein, William E, 2002. "Asymmetric Rent-Seeking with More Than Two Contestants," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 113(3-4), pages 325-336, December.
- Szidarovszky, Ferenc & Okuguchi, Koji, 1997. "On the Existence and Uniqueness of Pure Nash Equilibrium in Rent-Seeking Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 135-140, January.
- Dickson, Alex & Hartley, Roger, 2008. "The strategic Marshallian cross," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 514-532, November.
- Alex Dickson & Roger Hartley, 2007. "The strategic Marshallian cross," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2007/13, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University.
- R Cornes & R Hartley, 2005. "The Geometry of Aggregative Games," The School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 0514, Economics, The University of Manchester.
- Busetto, Francesca & Codognato, Giulio & Ghosal, Sayantan, 2008. "Cournot-Walras Equilibrium as a Subgame Perfect Equilibrium," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 837, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
- Xavier Vives, 2001. "Oligopoly Pricing: Old Ideas and New Tools," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026272040x, January.
- Shapley, Lloyd S & Shubik, Martin, 1977. "Trade Using One Commodity as a Means of Payment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(5), pages 937-968, October.
- Giraud, Gael, 2003. "Strategic market games: an introduction," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(5-6), pages 355-375, July.
- David M. Kreps & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1983. "Quantity Precommitment and Bertrand Competition Yield Cournot Outcomes," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 326-337, Autumn. Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)


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100 Prints, 100 Nails, 100 Clamps
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
1st Solo Show- "A Small Retrospective of New Work"
"Istanbul (Not Costantinople)"
4 comments:
Oh That's 100 Prints cause I'm a 100% authentic.ReplyDelete
100%. Time to bury my feelings.ReplyDelete
Nice Jon, are the top things transfers or screened or something?ReplyDelete
Transfers, and thanks. I am actually learning how to screen print this weekend, so who knows where that will take me.ReplyDelete
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NRG Yield, Inc. Increases Revolving Credit Facility to $450 Million
NRG Yield, Inc. (NYSE:NYLD) ("NRG Yield" or the "Company") announced that its subsidiary, NRG Yield Operating LLC, closed a $450 million secured revolving credit facility with RBC Capital Markets as Sole Lead Arranger, and Royal Bank of Canada as agent. The bank group includes ten financial institutions and the facility's term was extended to April 2019. The facility, which will be used for general corporate purposes including financing of future acquisitions and posting of letters of credit, was increased to $450 million from $60 million and is currently undrawn.
"Along with our recent $345 million convertible note offering, this expanded revolver provides us with a flexible capital source with which to execute on our short-term and long-term growth strategy."
"The increase in our undrawn, secured revolving credit facility highlights NRG Yield's strong financial position," said Kirk Andrews, the Company's Chief Financial Officer. "Along with our recent $345 million convertible note offering, this expanded revolver provides us with a flexible capital source with which to execute on our short-term and long-term growth strategy."
About NRG Yield, Inc.
NRG Yield owns a diversified portfolio of contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets in the U.S., including fossil fuel, solar and wind power generation facilities that provide the capacity to support more than one million American homes and businesses. Our thermal infrastructure assets provide steam, hot water and/or chilled water, and in some instances electricity, to commercial businesses, universities, hospitals and governmental units in multiple locations. NRG Yield is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYLD. Visit www.nrgyield.com for more information.
Forward-Looking Statement
This communication contains forward-looking statements that may state NRG Yield's or its management's intentions, beliefs, expectations or predictions for the future. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions and typically can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "forecast," "plan," "believe" and similar terms. Although NRG Yield believes that its expectations are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct, and actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated above include, among others, general economic conditions, hazards customary in the power industry, weather conditions, competition in wholesale power markets, the volatility of energy and fuel prices, failure of customers to perform under contracts, changes in the wholesale power markets, changes in government regulation of markets and of environmental emissions, the condition of capital markets generally, our ability to access capital markets, unanticipated outages at our generation facilities, adverse results in current and future litigation, failure to identify or successfully implement acquisitions (including receipt of third party consents and regulatory approvals), our ability to enter into new contracts as existing contracts expire, our ability to obtain anticipated Section 1603 Cash Grants and our ability to maintain and grow our quarterly dividends.
NRG Yield undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could cause NRG Yield's actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements included in this news release should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect NRG Yield's future results included in NRG Yield's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.
For more information:
NRG Yield, Inc.
211 Carnegie Center
Princeton, New Jersey
United States, 08540-6213
Karen Cleeve
Media Contacts
Tel: 609-524-4608
Chad Plotkin
Investors Contact
Tel: 609-524-4526 or 609-524-4527


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I cut my developer teeth using Clipper and it still holds a special place in my heart. For those of you who feel the same way and have been waiting for the day you could use the xBase syntax in .NET, there are two products you may want to check out. There is CULE.NET, create by fellow Torontonian and Clipper illuminate Rod Da Silva, and there is Vulcan.NET created by… well… other people (no slam to the other people, I just don't know who they are). Anyway, if you long for ragged arrays, code blocks and switching indexes to sort your .NET dream may have come true.
It turns out the developers of Vulcan.NET are from GrafX Software, the same people behind the inclusion of COMIX DBFCDX and FlexFile into Clipper. See the comments for more information.


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Life Balance is an Act
Life really is like a balancing act and sometimes you just need to drop it all on the floor. Yep, that's it just drop it all on the floor in one big pile of a mess, it's already a mess, you're a mess and everything and everyone around you seems to be a mess too. So HEY! Why not just drop it all?
You can relieve yourself of a lot of unnecessary stress and strife. Just the simple act of dropping it all and then stepping right over it will help you to at least breathe for just a little while. I'm not saying leave it there indefinitely but you are allowed to make a mess, this is how you got into this current mess in the first place.
You were trying to do it all being SUPER human, SUPER serious, SUPER professional, SUPER dependable, SUPER DUPA FLY…oh just had to add that in. But you all get it right???
We try to do too many things and do them perfectly. No one in their right mind can be all things to everyone at all times and even a juggler drops his balls sometimes. He simply drops them, then he picks them up, puts them in the proper order and begins his act all over again.
This is my CHALLENGE to you. I want you to go back and look at that mess, yes it should still be on the floor.
Now sort through it.
Throw everything away that is not yours, it's not your responsibility, you didn't create it and it won't bring your life any PEACE. THROW IT AWAY!
Give everything a number on a scale of 1 to whatever, heck, I don't know how many numbers you need just do it.
Once you do this you will have a new improved Life Act to Balance. It should be one that is more pleasing to you, because it is about you. We work so hard trying to balance our stuff and other people's stuff too and this just causes a big mess.
Learn how to stop, drop and roll before you catch on fire. It will help you to maintain your sanity. Next time the scale gets to heavy or your load becomes a burden just DROP THAT MESS ON THE FLOOR…
I hope to hear from you leave your comments and I will get back at ya soon.
Peace & Blessings Coach Billie


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The stars in the Cuban and U.S. flags have finally aligned.
The Louisiana credit union embarked on the effort to help members deal with the impact of declining credit scores.
The Maryland and D.C. Credit Union Association has hired an Illinois credit union executive to take over as CEO in October.
The Maryland and DC Credit Union Association has hired John Bratsakis, senior vice president at $1.5 billion Baxter CU in Vernon Hills, Ill. as its new president and CEO.
All four credit unions in Joplin, Mo., were damaged and closed after a devastating tornado tore through the town Sunday night.
The Maryland & DC Credit Union Association has been considering a possible merger with the New Jersey Credit Union League as Credit Union Times first reported last Thursday.
Now that it has confirmed that merger talks are under way with its Maryland/DC counterpart, the New Jersey Credit Union League said Friday more regional compacts in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can represent a future trend for industry trade groups.
The Maryland/DC Credit Union Association, which since last year has been scouting for a new president/CEO, has also been looking at a possible merger with one of its Mid-Atlantic neighbor leagues.
Gary Jones, the former president/CEO of a since-merged Tulsa, Okla. credit union, is the new head of the Credit Union Association of Oklahoma.
The Credit Union Association of Oklahoma has a new president/CEO: Gary Jones, former head of a Tulsa CU who has been serving as interim CEO of the trade group since July.


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Bournemouth 0-4 Manchester City
Kevin de Bruyne starred on his return after two months out as Manchester City reinvigorated their top-four hopes with a sparkling win over Bournemouth.
Three of City's goals came in the first 18 minutes, with Fernando opening the scoring from a Jesus Navas corner.
De Bruyne made it 2-0 when he volleyed home David Silva's flick and Sergio Aguero headed a third soon after.
Bournemouth had no response and Aleksandar Kolarov blasted in City's fourth with the last kick of the game.
City's win means they are now 12 points behind Premier League leaders Leicester with seven games remaining but their recent form means it is more relevant they increased their lead on fifth-placed West Ham to three points, after the Hammers were held by Crystal Palace.
The Cherries, meanwhile, remain two points off the 40-point mark, but their 11-point cushion above the bottom three still looks a healthy one.
City find some form at last
A run of one win in their previous six league games had all but ended City's title hopes, and put their prospects of finishing in the Champions League spots in doubt as well.
Their away problems have been more longstanding – after winning their first three away league matches of the season, they took only 11 points from their next 11 games on the road, managing just seven goals.
There were no signs of those struggles at the Vitality Stadium, however, and they ripped Bournemouth apart with a devastating attacking display early on.
City head to French champions Paris St-Germain next, in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, on the back of a performance that will give them reasons to be optimistic that more goals will follow.
Pellegrini pleased with pressing game
City boss Manuel Pellegrini felt his side's high-tempo pressing game was behind the fast start that led to their comfortable victory.
Pellegrini told BBC Sport: "Our style of play was the way I like us to play. The most important thing was to return to our style of play.
"We played very well, especially the first half where we pressed very high, and scored three beautiful goals."
The move that led to De Bruyne's goal started when Bournemouth's Charlie Daniels lost the ball on the edge of his own area.
"Part of the mistake was down to the pressure we put on to recover the ball," Pellegrini explained.
"That was very important because we were a team that was pressing three four or five times just on that occasion. Then when we won it back we finished with the quality we have."
De Bruyne makes a brilliant return
At the end of a week where they discovered they could be without Yaya Toure and Joe Hart as well as skipper Vincent Kompany for their trip to Paris, a returning star gave City some reason to be cheerful.
De Bruyne has been sorely missed since he injured his knee at the end of January, with City winning only four out of 12 games without the £55m Belgian.
He marked his return with a superbly taken goal, a volley relying on placement rather than power from the edge of the box, and came close to an equally spectacular second when another volley was palmed away by Artur Boruc.
He came off after 57 minutes to a deserved standing ovation and, when he is fully fit, City's chances against any opposition are clearly improved.
Man of the match – Kevin de Bruyne
First goal hurts most for Howe
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said afterwards that he felt his side "caught City on a good day" but also rued some self-destructive defending.
Howe told BBC Sport: "The first goal was probably the most disappointing one because it was from a set-play, a poor ball in really, and we have not dealt with it.
"When you give a good team an early goal it gives them a lift and it makes it very difficult.
"It was a long game from 3-0 down so credit to the players that they did not cave in but it was a difficult watch, especially early on."
Bournemouth took 30 minutes to register their first effort on target – a Steve Cook header that forced a good stop from Willy Caballero – and did not manage another until Matt Ritchie let fly from distance in the 92nd minute.
What's next?
City head for Paris, then play host to West Brom next Saturday.
On the same day, Bournemouth will be in action at Villa Park, where a Cherries win and a combination of other results could relegate Aston Villa.
The stats you need to know
- Fernando bagged his first goal since March 2015 when he scored against West Brom.
- Only Sergio Aguero (17) has scored more Premier League goals for Man City this season than Kevin De Bruyne (6).
- David Silva (11) is second only to Mesut Ozil (18) for assists in the Premier League this season.
- No player has scored more Premier League goals in 2016 than Aguero (10, level with Harry Kane).
- Man City have scored seven first-half goals against the Cherries this season.


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Sony's New Xperia Phones Hands On: They Go Right For the Eyes
For a long time now Sony has made some of the best cameras out there. Love the iPhone 4S camera? Yeah, because it's got a Sony Exmor sensor in it. Sony's two new Xperias are also pushing the visuals mighty hard.