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Jan 9, 2022
As an experience architect for Accenture Interactive (ASGR region), Brian Corish has access to, what he calls, "the greatest toy set in the world". He and host Will Francis discuss how digital transformation is not about rushing into new technologies for the sake of it. Rather it is a transformation of mindset and culture, which is aided by creativity and attention to the customer. Brian also joined the DMI for a webinar on this topic, specifically discussing the aspect of people culture.
The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, among others.
Will: Welcome to "Ahead of the Game," a podcast brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute. This episode is a big Q&A, where we explore an area of marketing through a leading industry expert. I'm your host, Will Francis, and today I'll be talking to Brian Corish all about digital transformation. Brian is managing director of Accenture Interactive in the Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Russia region. Brian is an award-winning tech entrepreneur and has held senior digital roles at Bank of Ireland, Vodafone, and the creative agency, TBWA. Brian actually joined us for a webinar on this very subject recently, along with Barry Thomas, head of customer marketing and future of commerce at Coca-Cola. And that was a fascinating discussion too. So you can watch the replay of that at digitalmarketinginstitute.com. Anyway, Brian, welcome to the podcast.
Brian: Great to be here. I've been looking forward to this.
Will: It's good to have you on because, yes, digital transformation's clearly quite a big and important topic, and one that's affecting a lot of businesses. Just tell me what is it that you do at Accenture and how does that end up impacting the businesses that are your clients?
Brian: So this week...no, in Accenture, what I do is I work across Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Russia. So we have some very large clients for Accenture Interactive. And my role is sort of the term is an experience architect. So what we do is Accenture is probably the largest, and it is, the largest company of its type in the world in that we've 600,000 thousand people or so. And I describe it as the largest toy set in the world. It's got everything from amazing artificial intelligence to some of the best creative agencies in the world. I mean, my boss is a guy called Dave Droga. He's the most awarded creative, I think in history. And what I do is kind of look at everything from brand strategy to creative to the muscle that is Accenture, the ability to kind of scale and run things. And I work with clients just to kind of figure out what's their point of differentiation, how can we create cool experiences, and then how do I plug in all the parts of Accenture to build them? So we work with 83, I think of...oh, no, as of this week, 84 of the top 100 brands in the world. So most of the digital experiences that you see from the largest brands in the world are typically built by Accenture. So I get the exciting role of kind of running around a massive organization with loads of really cool toys and getting to plug them together to build cool new experiences.
Will: That sounds really interesting. So are you talking about things like, you know, innovative apps, web experiences, digital outdoor, you know, cross-media, stuff like that, AR? Are we talking that kind of thing?
Brian: Everything. We're literally currently working with some large companies that will have to remain nameless that we're building the metaverse for. We're doing really cool stuff with AR and VR, artificial intelligence is massive helping organizations migrate to the cloud, but then figure out what to do with it. So it's not just the case of just taking what you have and put it in the cloud. It's sort of, okay, well, now you're there and you've got this amazing infrastructure, how can we build these cool experiences? Through to scaling eCommerce, through to marketing operations, so helping really, really large brands just where it's really hard to get people and to put operating models in place. We do that.
Will: So what's the big challenge for them? Why do they need you? Where are they getting stuck most commonly?
Brian: Well, what we do is change and transformation. That's what Accenture does. And it can be loads of things, but depending on the industry, I mean, it kind of typically where we try to move clients from is I think over the past, I'll probably get in trouble for saying it, but over the past, you know, 15 years when we spoke about digital transformation, it was let's replace technology with new technology and then we're transformed somehow. What clients are trying to figure out now is, well, how do I kind of create competitive differentiation? And that requires creativity. And what's interesting is over the last couple of years, creativity has previously been sort of creative agencies that sat over making ads and you've got brilliantly creative people there, but they were never allowed near the tech stack of the business or the product function of the business.
So what we do is, well, we've been doing the tech stack of the business for a very long time, and Interactive is the largest digital agency in the world. I mean, it's $10.6 billion a year in revenue and I think around 60,000 people. So, we're taking creativity and technology and putting them together. And that's what we do. So the challenge that a lot of clients have is, okay, we're going through this journey of digital transformation that's been accelerated in 2020. What do we do? Where do we start? And it's increasing and we're saying, well, let's not start with technology. Let's not start with, "Hey, let's replace all your systems." Let's just start with, "How's your operating model, your culture?" I mean, and we do this stuff ourselves. I mean, I'm relatively new to Accenture, but like really cool stuff like the onboarding in Accenture now is done in virtual reality because of the pandemic. You can't go anywhere.
So they send you a headset and you've got this really cool metaverse where you actually virtually network with people and all of the systems in Accenture, which is probably something we should talk about more are amazing. I mean, everything is powered by artificial intelligence in the back-end. So that sort of stuff of like helping organizations understand what is digital transformation and how are they gonna be competitively different when they do that. If they want to just go and replace a billing system, I don't know, talk to someone else.
Will: Yeah, that's interesting though. I didn't really realize that because, yes, you're right, Accenture comes from a place of having all the...being greater than nuts and bolts stuff and the tech stack stuff, the infrastructure. And so they've realized, I suppose, over the years, there's an opportunity to then they're really well-placed to actually kind of execute on digital creativity. Whereas you're right, and I've been there, I've worked in and I've run an agency that was very much about innovation. And it's hard because you're chipping around the edge. It's like you're not quite allowed in the castle. You're trying to make the castle better, you know, and you just end up putting really pretty flags on the castle rather than actually being allowed across the moat, you know?
Brian: That's a really good analogy because literally, I had the same experience, right? You're the creative agency and you have really smart creative people who come up with ideas for the client of here are some...and they understand the brand and here's how we could change the brand. And then you kind of go to the organization, they're like, "Your guys are creative agencies. You make ads. Keep away from our technology stack, keep away from it because you guys don't understand all of these processes and the structure that's required." Whereas I think the really smart move that Accenture has done is combine the two, right? They have all of the credibility of we can run and scale things globally. We're the biggest in the world at it, but also let's...like the acquisitions that they've made in terms of creative agencies, they are the best in the world.
I mean, Droga5, I think I was always kind of a secret fan before Droga5 [crosstalk 00:08:06] Accenture is the standard of like one of the best agencies in the world. So what we're doing now, and it's different cultures kind of mixing is like, how do you get a bunch of like creative people and a bunch of kind of process-oriented people, because you need both of them, and stick them together? And so that's the hard part. And that's a part that clients are gonna have problems with too, right? Is at the center of digital transformation, you need that creativity, you need that thing that makes your brand different. Because I think I probably land in that camp more than the process thing. My wife would definitely say I land in that camp more than the process thing if you see the state of my room. But those people, they think differently. And if you're in a big organization, how do you acquire those people? How do you retain them? How do you create, like, a career timeline?
So if I'm a creative director, or if I'm a UX designer, or a developer, there's only so far I get in certain types of organizations and it's like, oh, kind of stuck now, whereas Accenture is sort of like, well, you can keep going because we figured that stuff out. But it's gonna take clients years to do that, to kind of change their model that way from marketing as a bunch of guys over there that do some nice ads, but like they're not making it to C-suite any time soon.
Will: I know that you say, well, it's not just about implementing new technology, but the fact that technology is always changing, that is the kind of nature of the opportunity, right? That is the source of the opportunity for some stuff. You know, for instance, we see, you know, AR and VR still kind of burgeoning and it's that kind of first move or advantage and all that kind of thing. So is that a source of opportunity in your eyes?
Brian: It depends on where you're coming at it from, right? So,it's a source of threat if I'm a very large organization. And what I mean by that is if you look at the cloud and you look at SaaS in the last decade, if I'm a startup, within 24 hours with, you know, my credit card, I can have the same or better infrastructure than most large enterprises have because I just go to a GCP instance or I go to Azure or AWS, and I have a scalable cloud infrastructure that's that cost me next to nothing until I scale. That was usually kind of a barrier for entry for large organizations, right? They had to invest tens of millions or hundreds of millions in their technology because they had to scale. And if you're a small startup...certainly when I had my startups, you couldn't compete with those guys. You were like, we can't build that infrastructure. We'd have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Whereas now, I could literally just hop on Google and switch it on. And that's a threat if I'm a big company because they have legacy infrastructure.
If I'm a bank, I've probably been around, you know, 50, 100 years and I have all of these different systems that have been built over time. It makes me slower because they're all on-premise and I need to move them to the cloud, whereas a FinTech can scale up and start taking my customers quickly and it takes years to compete, so it's a threat...you know, emerging technologies and opportunity. I was in augmented reality in 2011, way too early.
Will: It was raw.
Brian: Yeah. And the hardware wasn't ready. It wasn't there yet. So it was cool, but it was useless. Whereas now you're starting to see kind of practical uses for it. It's being put into cars. Your satellite navigation is literally put up on your windscreen in a lot of cars, heads up displays, starting to see practical uses. So, my very roundabout answer is it's both an opportunity and a threat, but I think organizations get a bit too caught up in the technology and they forget the point of deploying the technology, which is either adding customer value, that gives me competitive advantage, that grows my company.
Will: I'm interested in this legacy thing because, you know, how do you handle innovation at a company that has a huge body of legacy systems? Do you just go off and create completely separate ancillary stuff, experiences, and systems, you know, without spending five years plugging that into all the legacy stuff? Can you do that?
Brian: Can, but then you end up with disjointed customer experiences at some point, right? So you can build this beautiful app over here, and then...you know, if I just take banking as an example, now I wanna log in and check my accounts, oh, wait, no, that doesn't talk to that thing and that kind of falls over. But I mean, the approach that we are advocating for, I mean, we've got service design agencies like Fjord, and then here in Austria, we have a company called SinnerSchrader, who are building digital experiences for some very large automotive companies in Germany. What we're trying to do is say, look, let's start with understanding the customer need and reinventing the experience around it, not making it better, not just iteratively making it better, which is where organizations have gotten stuck for a while. And then let's light some fires. So let's start with little prototypes to make sure the thing that we're building is the right thing. And if isn't, having the courage to kill it fast.
Will: And that can happen in isolation, can't it? That prototyping, that MVP, you know, can be just done in the lab as it were.
Brian: Organizations haven't had to operate that way before. And they couldn't, right? These big legacy infrastructure. So the product team would come up with an idea that they think is right. They do some research beforehand, and then off it went to someone in IT who had to go build a thing. And it would take them two years to build it because they're building it on all these clunky systems and integrating everything. Then they released it to market and realize, "Oh, nobody really wanted it." And there's a huge amount of wasted money there. So if you can kind of rapidly try things, and look, that's what cloud allows you to do ultimately, but you can do it before then to make sure that okay, the things we're going to have to kind of throw over the fence and build are the right things. They are the things that customers actually care about. That's where I think there's a lot of confusion over agile, right?
So every organization that you speak to is going, oh, we're gonna be agile and we're following...you know, we're loads of scrum masters and loads. And it's like, okay, but how are you determining what's of customer value and how are you killing stuff that isn't? And that's usually where...well, we've built a new app and we did it in a series of sprints, but nobody actually spoke to a customer in the meantime. And well, nobody's using it. Like, it's that sort of...
Will: Yeah. I think that's the first major watch out with digital transformation to flag up for listeners. Isn't it? That unless it's customer-centric, which is an easy thing to say but, you know, it's a hard thing to really kind of stay true to. Unless it's customer-centric, you're right, it's useless and it's the wrong thing to do.
Brian: Yeah. Start with the assumption you're totally wrong is a good way to start, right? So go talk to customers and, you know, there's loads of methodologies, but it doesn't really...I don't really get caught up in design thinking this week and then some other one in the next week. And it's more about is the customer behavior changing? So is the thing we're deploying, changing customer behavior. Are users actually changing their behavior as a result of the thing that we've released? And if they're not, well, then it's kind of a vanity metric. We've done it for the sake of ourselves. And you can use design thinking to kind of find what are those hidden needs, things customers can't really articulate but it's a problem, they might tell you in research. But if you observe them doing something, you can figure, "Oh, there's a problem there." And then that's where you bring in the creative people who go, "Okay, well, let's just reinvent that, change the entire experience around that thing. And now let's go see if we're right."
And probably 80% of the time we were wrong. And that's where, you know, there's a huge cultural change in organizations there because in a lot of places, it's not okay to kind of say, "Yeah, I spent six months on this thing and actually it's a disaster that doesn't work," because you're kind of rewarded by pushing forward the best stories. So it's that culture of, you know, they always say fail fast and it's not as learning, right? It's that culture of how do you launch something, how do you test if it's working, and how do you, when it's not, have a culture where people can go, actually, that didn't work, but we learned these things for the next one?
Will: Yes. Exactly. You're right.
Brian: And people are rewarded for that. That's a huge shift.
Will: Yeah. Hello. A quick reminder from me that if you're enjoying our podcast series, why not become a member of the DMI so that you can enjoy loads more content from webinars and case studies, to toolkits, and more real-life insights from the world of digital marketing. Head to digitalmarketinginstitute.com/aheadofthegame, sign up for free. Now back to the podcast.
So it sounded like we're skirting around some of these things, but just give me the kind of what are the main pillars of digital transformation and picking up things about culture, things about technology and prototyping, sort of just for the listeners thinking, okay, what are the main kind of moving parts of digital transformation? Just lay that out for us in sort of simple terms.
Brian: You can kind of break it down into two parts. And I've been trying to articulate it for years really badly. And it's actually when I got to Accenture, I saw a piece of work and it was called Business of Experience, and I was like, "That's what I've been trying to say for the last couple of years." And there's sort of two parts, right? There's what's what every organization has been on this journey of customer experience and CX, and there's this other narrative that's called business of experience, which is how do you...customer experience is all about touchpoint optimization, right? So digital transformation has been around, how do we make things more efficient? Essentially is how digital transformation has been viewed for the last number of years. So, how do we make our marketing more efficient?
Will we do that through marketing automation? And we do that through better targeting. Will you do that through CDPs or DMPs? And we get really efficient at our marketing. And then, well, let's look at our customer journey and omnichannel customer journey where it's about like a single view of customer, and then it's about making that more efficient. But it's really been about efficiency to save cost. So that's the first phase of where digital transformation has been. I think 2020 has really been the tipping point where brands have realized, okay, we need to do that stuff because customer expectation's continually improving, but are changing, but it's not providing us with any differentiation. We're running to keep still, right? We're getting better every year, and brands are getting better every year, and customer experience is getting better every year, but there are very few brands that are really kind of radically differentiating. So that's kind of the next phase of digital transformation is how do you take the money you've saved through all of this efficiency stuff and reallocate it and double down on innovation that will drive huge competitive advantage for you.
And that's where there's a real kind of shift in how thinking around digital transformation needs to happen. I mean, like over the past kind of 20, 25 years, we've seen a huge shift in how brands kind of need to operate to remain competitive, right? I could be contentious and say, a lot of them haven't transformed enough. I mean, when I grew up in sort of the '80s and '90s, you could build a pretty crappy product and you could lean on the industrial advertising complex to provide you with that differentiation, right? So, you know, smart people in SoHo or Madison Avenue, they came up with this brilliant campaign. You know, and through budget, basically taking over TV and cinema and outdoor, you could convince people that your car, or your jeans, or your washing powder was the best or made them look the sexiest or whatever, and wasn't the case. And then along came this kind of great arbiter of brands, which was the internet. And with kind of a few one-star reviews, all of your hard work is just gone.
So, what's happened is products have gotten better because you kind have to. I mean, it's very hard to buy a car now that breaks down all the time whereas that was perfectly fine in the '90s. You know, like, the worst smartphone you pick up now has got a really good battery and a decent camera. You know, there's no bad products anymore. So we've all benefited from that. The is challenge there are a few brands that have figured out actually the product is getting a little better every year, it's the experience around the product that is where we differentiate. And those brands just dominate the industries that they come into. And you see kind of this really was the trigger for where digital transformation started. You saw brands like Netflix coming in and just...Product's the same, but we're gonna do personalization. And the value they're giving to customers like you can't compete with Netflix now. If you're a media brand, it's like, well, I expect to have billions of dollars of content every year for about $10 a month. Like, it's just how do you compete with those guys? So what they've done is they've reinvented the experience and they've looked at innovation around the experience.
Will: Yes. And they continue to do that. I think that's what's interesting about Netflix is they don't stop, they keep just really trying to lower the amount of friction. They're always on the attack looking for points of friction and just addressing those, you know, making it easy to find something to watch, easy to connect with the things that are likely to be relevant to you. And, you know, they didn't stop when they got all those movies into a digital interface.
Brian: No, and that's what's fascinating about those brands. I mean, you can be lazy and say Apple, but actually, Apple are pretty good at copying other people. But like those experience-led brands. You know, even if you look at Uber as an example, I know that they're not profitable, but if you look at what they did, I mean, nobody...do taxi ranks even exist anymore? I'm not entirely sure.
Will: In small towns, yeah.
Brian: But they didn't change the fundamental product initially, but the experience of booking it, they changed that. And then they went, okay, now you're in the car. Well, you can play your music and then you can set the climate before you get into the car. And then they went into Uber Eats, and then they went into like...they're continuously about experience reinvention and not experience iterative improvement. So that's the longest answer ever, but when you talk about digital transformation, I think the first generation of digital transformation has been around iterative improvement or efficiency. The next challenge companies have is, well, how do we take the money we've saved and stop just passing it back to the shareholder in terms of dividends? And then go, let's double down and reinvent the experience. I mean, some companies have done this really well. Disney did this really well.
Like, Disney was theme parks and the occasional movie, like they've moved into Disney Plus and really began to sort of eat into the streaming business and you see their share price going way up. They've kind of figured that out. They've figured out actually we're in the business of kind of entertainment and happiness. And how do we reinvent experiences with that as our North Star? But a lot of companies are kind of stuck in the efficiency part. How do we improve MPS? How do we make our call centers more efficient? Cool. That's okay, but I saw a statistic recently, I think is that Gen Z, I hate generalizing by generations, but I think 57% of them would prefer to go to a dentist than call a call center and to deal with an IVR. They just don't want to do it. So you can be as efficient as you want to be, but nobody wants to call you in the first place. So, how do you reinvent that experience?
Will: No, that's a good point. I mean, just to kind of push you a bit on this, let's say that I'm a listener and I'm like, okay, great, yeah, Netflix, Disney, they're great, but I run a florist in a medium-sized town or city. You know, is digital transformation on the table there for a business like that? And what kind of things, you know, should those small businesses be looking to?
Brian: Yes, because you look at the same thing, right? So you look at the customer journey, isn't the right word, but how customers consume your product essentially. And you look at experience reinvention around that, that will provide you with the differentiation. So if you're a florist, look at the distribution model. Do people have to go into your flower shop, which currently given all the lockdowns could be a bit of a challenge? If you look at subscription models, why do people buy flowers? Well, they want nice flowers in their house. Could you look at building a subscription model where every month you pay a certain amount a month and every month depending on the season, we send you flowers? So we send you different types of flowers for your house, or we color-coordinate the flowers that you have in your house based on the decor in your house. And you can start to use machine vision there, and you can start to use recommendation engine.
So, like, the great thing about the time we live in now is pretty much anything's possible with technology. It's the kind of the creativity, the creative solutions that will give your florist competitive differentiation over anyone else. And it may not be a digital thing. I mean, there's a bookstore in London and bookstores, you know, Jeff Bezos' having the world's largest midlife crisis has demolished bookstores, right? Amazon, the idea of you don't go to bookstores anymore, except these guys figured out that, well, what if we do curated recommendations specifically for you based on our understanding of you? So we talk to you, it's a very personal thing where we talk to you, we understand the books you like, you don't like. We're not using personalization and recommendations.
Will: No algorithms.
Brian: Nothing. And we will package these books for you because we know these are the exact type of books you like, and we'll send them to you every week or every month. And they charge, I think, £1,000 a year for that service. And they're booked out, bad, bad pun intended. But their business has transformed. Because if they decided, we're gonna be online too, we're gonna compete with Amazon. They don't have hope competing with Amazon. So it's understanding what makes your brand different. In their case, their people is what made their brand different. They were proper, constantly reading books, and their understanding of their customer.
Will: But it's a digitally available product presumably as well, you know? So they still had to articulate that through technology and make that subscription available online and what have you.
Brian: But very high touch, very personal. They speak to you. They're bookworms themselves. They really understand them. It's not just, hey, other people like you like this, it's really they get to really understand the things you love about books and love about specific authors. And then they go and find the books for you. It sounds really rudimentary, talk to your customer. It's just how many years have we been saying this and we always find some excuse not to? Well, it's all about data. No, just talk to your customer. No, it's all about AI. Again, talk to your customer.
Will: Yeah. Customer insight's crucial. I mean, it's like the florist thing, you know, I was just Googling there and there's a brand I see all the time called Bloom & Wild. And they've done incredibly well over the last couple of years because they created this product, Letterbox Flowers. And presumably, it's based on the insight that people worry about sending flowers and someone might not be in and the flowers get left outside the door. And so they basically created a piece of packaging that somehow keeps the flowers fresh, fits through a letterbox, and that has been their thing. And then on top of that, yeah, they created a really slick eCommerce store probably through something like Shopify, but they've done it insanely well. And so, you know, it can be that. And it's, again, based on that customer insight, customer concern, customer fear, what's keeping your customer up at night, what your customers really want. And you're right, it's all about talking to them, listening to them.
Brian, I've got to ask you, how did you get to where you are and what are the differences? Because you were building startups and now you, I suppose at the other end of the spectrum working for one of the world's big businesses. How did that trajectory happen and what have you kind of brought with you along the way?
Brian: Through a series of fortunate accidents, I think is how my career has turned out. Yeah. I started in startups, tech startups with my own companies through just simply observation. Realized that kind of...I was a DJ. That's how I started and started looking at restaurants and bars and got to know the owners. And they were all like, well, yeah, it's a real pain sorting out our music and not having that right. And then stores, same problem. And then we started to build a company out of that that started to use computer systems that essentially emulated what a DJ would do. Would understand where it was and what crowd would be there and would play music. And then we went, "Well, a lot of these places have screens. We should probably do some ads on screens for them." And this became a digital signage network. So when I sold that, I ended up building kind of creative solutions for brand experiences. So, that's what we did. Just like look at what was discretionary budget at the time, this being 2007, 2008, digital was not a thing. I'm going, how could we kind of create these amazing brand experiences with kind of bleeding-edge technology, which is how I know so much about being way too early in the market with certain types of technology?
Will: But did you do any Bluetooth marketing?
Brian: Oh God. Yeah. And then how do you get people to leave their Bluetooth on because the batteries were crap on phones at the time and they used to just switch them off. But now it's on all the time, so that's fine. But yes, I did. So I'm very familiar with being too early to the market with technology. But it was always about kind of what I'm trying to do is create interesting and exciting experience for people. I mean, I think as I was saying this before, DJing is probably the worst job you can ever start your career with because you turn up and expect like, you know, turn up about everything and expect, oh, there's 1,000 people just going nuts because I'm playing music. Why would I turn up to the office? Does this not happen? So it's always, look, how do you kind of put creativity and technology together? I've had a weird career. I mean, I've gone from there into creative agencies, where I saw the kind of the limitations of brilliantly creative people who I realized very quickly I'm not that creative when you talk to these people who are kind of shoehorned into go make a TV ad or go make a display ad.
And just seeing that industry and I was there around 2012 and just seeing what was gonna happen to that industry, which has. I mean, you're seeing the industrial advertising complex kind of collapsing upon itself at the moment into, "Okay, I'm gonna try this in big companies. I'm gonna try in Vodafone and telcos." And you realize they're big ships to turn, they're really difficult to get an entire industry or a massive player because it's just, to the points we spoke about earlier, you have huge amounts of infrastructure and millions of customers. And it's not as easy years I thought, if I just create this thing and we'll just launch it. And so it's always been about kind of trying to drive that change, which is how I've ended up through a series of kind of debates with very, very smart people in Accenture. Working in Accenture is this...because I think it's kind of I've landed in somewhere where I can kind of be creative and see the impact of what you're doing and having a machine with 600,000 people being able to build some of my more hair-brained ideas. Yeah, I don't know, I've had a very strange career.
Will: That's nice. No, that's nice that you are able to do that, to see those things executed, you know? And that must be really satisfying. So, but I suppose, what have you brought with you from startup life? What wouldn't you know if you hadn't had those startups?
Brian: Yeah. I've learned a lot in large organizations. I mean, what I figured out in startups was the point we were talking about earlier, just talk to your customer because we had no budget. We could barely pay our bills. We set up and we were building stuff that nobody had seen before. So if you didn't talk to the customer being the end client at the time, you didn't have a business. You couldn't pay your mortgage. So we were literally co-creating with our customers, going talk to them and going, "Do you want this?" "No, that's not exactly right." "Okay. Be back in a week. Do you want this?" No, that's... And what I figured out when you join really large companies is there are so many layers in the company, as company just scales, you have to do that, that quite often the people who talk to customers most, usually, people working in stores or people working in call centers are a couple of layers removed from the people who are building the products or doing the marketing. And my kind of thing from startups, which is really simplistic, is how do you put that customer...getting people to go talk to customers again?
And when you do that, the innovation starts really quickly. Organization start to realize, "Oh, yeah, didn't think about that." And I hate this idea of this unicorn, super creative people who kind of...this idolatry that we have of all these innovators, Elon Musk and his bunch of flying monkeys is driving me a bit crazy at the moment. You know, yes, he's a very smart person, I hate the fact that he takes credit for everything that Tesla does. It's not him. He's got brilliantly smart engineers. He's got brilliantly smart user experience designers who are attracted to the brilliant brand he's built, but it's not about that. I mean, anyone can be creative, they just need to be kind of closer to customers and understand that. So, that's the learning I brought to big companies. What big companies have taught me is, yeah, with your startup ideas, there is still a lot of structure that needs to be put into place to make that work at scale.
Will: Okay. Well, look, I can see time's ticking. We've got eight minutes till we're on the hour. So, there's a couple of important things I wanna ask you because I wanna get in here. The first one is I know we talked about this in the webinar a little bit, but what would you say to listeners who are becoming aware they need to, you know, implement some sort of digital transformation in their company? What would you say to those people as a sort of way to get started, as a sort of a critical path to get started with a digital transformation project?
Brian: Start with really understanding your brand. Start with really understanding...and it's usually, not usually, but quite regularly left out is digital transformation typically starts in technology and it starts with, "Hey, we need to replace this thing quick. Let's replace this thing and the business [crosstalk 00:36:50]." Yeah. "Why? I don't know, it's cool." But if you start with your brand, usually the marketing team or the brand team are typically pretty close to the customer and they should fundamentally understand the brand's DNA and what makes a brand different. And if you then translate that to the transformation you're undergoing, that's where you get your competitive differentiation. Porsche is an example of that. They understand their DNA. They understand what makes them different. And what's always made Porsche different is repeatability of performance. They could keep doing the same thing over and over again, and then you could drive home where other cars would've blown up. And it's about the driving experience.
When Porsche made an electric car, they made one that drives like a Porsche. When lots of other manufacturers made electric car, they made one trying to be like Tesla, whereas Porsche, and it's done really well for them have said, "No, no, we're going to keep the DNA of what makes our brand different. And we're going to apply that using new technology." That's the start. And it's usually the part people are left out, the marketing team and the brand team, the people who help you create that north star for what you're trying to do and how it's gonna be different and how it's gonna give you competitive advantage. Nobody in the organization cares other than the C-suite about your margin next year. Everyone cares about why would I stay in this organization? Well, that's the north star for what are we trying to do for society? What are we trying to do for our customers? What are we trying to do for our colleagues? And if you can articulate that everything else becomes a lot easier.
Will: And I remember talking on the webinar, you talked about how...you know, you really stressed the point that digital transformation isn't just about technology. Actually, the transformation is really a transformation of mindset and culture. And that's what anybody listening is gonna find themselves pushing against. So not like wrangling with bits of tech and getting them implemented, but actually kind of changing the culture in people's minds, right?
Brian: Yeah. Hugely. I mean, and, you know, you've heard of the last couple of years about purpose-led brands and what that means and purpose. Where that's kind of fallen down quite a lot is we talk about purpose and then it's handed over to the marketing department, right? So you guys go talk about our purpose and then here's a new purpose. Let's talk to internal coms and have loads of presentations about our purpose with some guest speakers talking about our purpose, not people who work in the organization. And where in digital transformation, that kind of setting a north star of here's what we're trying to do that's gonna get people excited. Why would I want to work for you as a company? That part will start to shift the culture. Look, you're not gonna bring everybody. There's gonna be people who are scared of change. I mean, actually, when you think, most of us really are a little scared of change, but it's that kind of this is where we're going, this is what it means for you and your career. These are the things you can do to kind of transform and learn new skills as we move forward. Because everybody's going to have to learn new skills if you cannot continue to do your job the same way because just everything is changing so quickly. Most of the roles that are important now didn't exist 10 years ago.
Will: Yeah. So, upskilling is kind of a big part of it as well. Isn't it?
Brian: Huge. And again, my bone of contention with unicorns is this, you know, there will be external skill sets you need to hire, and there will be different skill sets you need to hire, but don't forget the people who work in your organization. Like, they become less shiny somehow when they're in the organization. It's how do you bring those people along? How do you train those people? Like, because trying to acquire the best new digital analytics talent, for example, yeah, good luck. You'll get them for a while. It's really how do you kind of help the people internally understand that and how do you upskill them, and how do you make it less scary? So there's going to be change, yeah, but it's gonna be positive for everyone here as opposed to negative.
Will: And that change isn't always, I mean, we talk about digital transformation and the conversation naturally tends towards the big flashy kind of new technologies, but it's not always about that, is it? It could be about, you know, kind of...and it usually is about quite mundane-sounding stuff, the lower-level stuff, the changing our CRM system, changing our, you know eCommerce platform, or the way we do, you know, social media, or something like that.
Brian: Yeah. I mean, it is. But it's just put innovation at the center of what the consumers care about. And it's not about...look, operational improvements are important. Why? Because they free up the budget to do the exciting stuff.
Will: Yes. That's true.
Brian: But where a lot of organizations are getting kind of...is they're looking at the operational improvement as the end goal, and saying, "We're gonna digitally transform and our cost-income ratio is going to go from X to Y." Woohoo. We're going to do all this automation stuff in the back office because, well, it's gonna free up budget that we're gonna be able to create something really cool that when you go to work, you go, "I work for them. And I'm pretty proud about it." Those are the companies that are going to win. And it isn't always about technology, it isn't always about the latest, coolest, newest thing.
Will: Brian, thanks so much. Very, very interesting to hear your thoughts on digital transformation. One last question, where can people find you and connect with you online?
Brian: Probably not Twitter because I'm having loads of arguments with people on Twitter all the time. I spend less time there now. Just on LinkedIn, reach out to me on LinkedIn. The great thing of having a weird name is nobody else has it. So if you just look me up on LinkedIn, Brian Corish (or Brian Corish) on LinkedIn, and I'll be happy to chat.
Will: Great stuff. We'll do that. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Cheers.
Brian: Good. Cheers. Take care. Bye-bye.
Will: If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And for more information about transforming your marketing career through certified online training at digitalmarketinginstitute.com. Thanks for listening.


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Group Piano Class-Session 1
Fun beginner piano group class for children 4-6 years old!
- 248 US dollars$248
- South De Anza Boulevard
Service Description
One 45-50 minutes class per week, 6 weeks per session. Learn music through singing and fun activities with friends! Students will be able to read basic music notes, rhythms and a few folk tunes within session 1. Tuition is 228/Session (6 classes), and pus a $20 book and material fee.
Upcoming Sessions
Cancellation Policy
Student cancellation 24 hours before the event time is eligible to receive credit. Student cancellation within 24 hours before the event is Non-refundable. In the event that a session is cancelled by Bravo, due to state, county or school health orders or any other reason, we will refund the session fee on a pro-rata basis or you can receive a credit towards any other Bravo camp session.
Contact Details
10601 South De Anza Boulevard, Cupertino, CA, USA

subset: commoncrawl


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MLS Video clip Score: five / 5
25 thoughts on "Thierry Henry GOAL off a free kick against DC United, MLS – April 22, 2012"
you show with your commentary that you dont know nothing about football..in spain are very good teams, the two best in the world (Real madrid and barca) and the richest, the another 18 teams are very good, Spain has the best middle class clubs in europe and in the world (you only have to look the results in Champions league and Europa lague in the last 10 years, looking the spanish teams whitout R. Madrid or Barca) The last 5 teams in Spain SURERLY would win to the best mls team.
I give a shit….
He was awful all night, then boom moment of genius.
That was a piece of cake
– Henry -
hey thierry henry scored lets make a video about it. no one gives a shit.
LOL you are the biggest idiot ever! LOL thank you for giving us all something to laugh at.
HuntingPark7, any time between 71:00-71:59 is considered the 72nd minute. Think of the first minute of the game. kickoff to 0:59 is the 1st minute of the game. Hope that helps.
Look at the scoretime card 0:18! It says Henry scored at 72′, but the game is still in the 71st minute!!!!
So true bro. Although if cr7 came to the U.S.A, he wouldnt need much help.
Henry has also stated he wants to help popularize soccer (football) in america. I dont' think he has the "star" power that Beckham had….but as a soccer fan living in america, I appreciate anyone coming with that in mind. But its amazing where soccer is now vs. the late 90s.
Comoesa, You want to see Pontius' hat trick? Ask you ye shall receive.
He wanted more competition, i'm amusing. La Liga is just 2 World Class teams tearing apart 18 low class teams. EPL is 5 good teams and 15 crap teams. In MLS, however, All of the teams are almost evenly matched and it is a lot harder to win the title.
Now show the vid where he had a turnover that lead to the goal.
I believe they keep cars in it for advertisement. They have cars parking all around the outside of the field.
Henry wants that championship soo bad but the rest of our team isnt steppin up exept cooper
Come back to Arsenal
Walks back like a fkn boss
he would not sit on the bench with arsenal. and he good have stayed with barcalona for at least 2 more years and play weekly. i guess it's all about the money
He is past his prime, so instead of ending up fighting for playing time at Arsenal or any other major European club. He decided to play for NY'RB, he plays almost fulltime and gets paid good. Just like Anelka from Chelsea, he went to that Chinese club with same thing in mind.
it's a shame henry didn't come back to arsenal for good..
whats that house doing there? is it of any significance?
never understood why henry wanted to come play for a team like ny. henry is a legend
you must be retarded.
perfect thumnail
just walked it off like a boss.
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Brazil's government said late Thursday that a deal had been reached with truckers to suspend a 4-day-old strike that caused fuel shortages, cut into food deliveries, backed up exports and threatened airline flights.
Eliseu Padilha, chief of staff for President Michel Temer, told reporters in Brasilia that several unions that represent truckers agreed to suspend the strike for 15 days to give all parties time to negotiate a solution to rising fuel prices that drivers say have cut deeply into their earnings.
The deal came after a full day of negotiations with several of the largest transportation unions.
Diumar Bueno, president of the National Confederation of Autonomous Transporters, told the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo that he hoped the agreement would lead to drivers quickly dismantling roadblocks on highways and streets.
But it wasn't immediately clear how many of the thousands of truckers, who by the nature of their jobs operate with a good bit of independence, would heed calls to stop the strike.
Road transport
Brazil's economy runs largely on road transport, and the strike to protest rising diesel prices was beginning to have serious consequences, with highway police reporting blocked roads in nearly all of Brazil's states.
The airport in the capital of Brasilia allowed landings only by planes that carried enough fuel to take off again. The stop-gap measure hadn't resulted in any flight cancelations, but it was unclear how long it could continue before companies would have to ground planes. The civil aviation authority and airport authorities said they were monitoring fuel supplies carefully.
Long lines formed at gas stations, and some ran out of some kinds of fuel. In Rio de Janeiro, only about two-thirds of the city's buses were running Thursday, according to Rio Onibus, which represents the companies that run the various lines.
Local media reported food shortages and rationing in some supermarkets, and an association of supermarkets in Brazil's south warned that perishable food would run out in days if the strike did not end. The association said stores on average have a 15-day supply of dry goods, but fresh food would run out or spoil before then.
The Brazilian Association of Meat Industry Exporters said dozens of meatpacking plants were idling because of the strike, and 1,200 containers carrying beef for export were not being loaded on ships each day. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of meat in the world.
Truckers complain that rising diesel prices have cut deeply into their income and are demanding relief from the government. Diesel prices are being pushed up by rising world oil prices and Brazil's falling real currency.
Truckers reject Petrobras move
Truckers rejected the Wednesday decision by the state oil company Petrobras to reduce diesel prices at refineries by 10 percent. The company said the measure would last for 15 days and give the government time to negotiate an end to the strike.
"The government thinks truckers are illiterate and can't count," said Vicente Reis, who has been driving for 20 years. "In 2018, there has already been about a 25 percent increase in fuel prices. And now they want a 15-day freeze with (a reduction of) 10 percent. Truckers know how to count, Mr. President."


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Ozzy releases brand new song "Under The Graveyard"
Ozzy Osbourne has released his first new song in nine years, titled "Under The Graveyard." The track is the first single from his upcoming album, Ordinary Man, which is due out in early 2020. Ozzy said about the project, "This album was a gift from my higher power — it is proof to me that you should never give up."
The Black Sabbath singer collaborated on the album with producer Andrew Watt, who recently oversaw the sessions for a new Post Malone song called "Take What You Want," on which Ozzy contributed guest vocals. That led to Ozzy and Watt working together on Ozzy's 12th solo LP and first since 2010's Scream.
In addition to Watt on guitars, the LP features Duff McKagan from Guns N' Roses on bass and Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums.


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Image © Conaglen Estate
Some styles come and go over time, revived and reimagined after periods of semi-retirement. Tweed, on the other hand, has never so much as taken a holiday, instead transitioning from a heritage and performance fabric to a fashion essential, as revered by celebrities and style icons through the years as it has been by shooting parties and Highland ghillies. As our latest collection, 'Contemporary Tweed' hits our stores, we take a look at the incredible evolution of Tweed.
Everything from high street designs to the finest couture can take inspiration from the colours found in nature, but never has a match been so literal as with Tweed. Initially designed as a form of camouflage, Estate Tweeds are created with the surrounding landscape in mind. The traditional green and brown shades of grass and moorlands are a given, but pops of yellow might be required for an area peppered with gorse or purple might be applied in a habitat of Highland heather. We created our first Tweed in 1846 and continue to manufacture Estate Tweeds, typically worn by those living and working on particular estates. Since then Tweed has become as popular in the city as it is in the countryside.
Gordon Castle Estate Tweed modelled by the Ghillies in 1911. Image by Gordon Castle.
Tweed is a performance fabric, hardwearing and weather-resistant, and its versatility has allowed it to take various forms over the decades. Coco Chanel, eager to create stylish pieces that women could move freely in, transformed Tweed in the 1950s by creating her signature boucle Tweed jacket, with a loose fit and gently cropped sleeves. Since then, Tweed has remained a catwalk regular and a favourite of celebrities from Holly Willoughby to Anna Wintour.
This season, we explode traditional Tweed designs from our archives, using a combination of nature-inspired colours including olive green, a weathered grass shade and shots of red inspired by the rich berries of a rowan tree. An alternative colour option applies blue, grey and black, tying in with the china blue accessories of this season's edit. While Tweed is primarily associated with lambswool, our newest designs are made with the highest quality Merino Wool fibres – a thick, air spun yarn that gives the Tweed a textural appearance and accentuates the pattern.
Hero products that showcase our Contemporary Tweed include our Men's Chesterfield Coat, based on an original Tweed pattern from 1938, and our Women's Trench Coat. The same design utilises a lighter weight fabric in skirts, trousers and jackets. The first rule of styling these unique pieces is that there are no rules – enjoy them as statement garments, pair with coordinating colours or contrast with tartan or checks. Make them yours.
Tweed clothing may have started as a form of camouflage, but in our Contemporary Tweed collection, you'll feel anything but invisible.
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About Us


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Designed by Cadaval & Solà-Morales, the Sunflower House is located by the Mediterranean Sea in Girona, Spain. The studio was founded in New York City in 2003 and moved to both Barcelona & Mexico City in 2005. The studio operates as a laboratory in which research and development are key elements of the design process. The objective of the firm is to create intelligent design solutions at many different scales, from large projects to small buildings, from objects to city fractions.
The Sunflower House looks like a haphazard pile of toy blocks made of pristine white walls and glass windows. The unique design of the Sunflower House segments the interior spaces to create private nooks to enjoy the stunning panoramic view outside. "The house wants to identify each of the particularities of this magnificent landscape; with its geometry, the house frames a multiplicity of different and specific views, and builds up content spaces that inhabit great big framed views."
More projects here!
All Rights Reserved to Cadaval & Solà-Morales
All images © Sandra Pereznieto
(via ignant)


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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Answer Me This: Should I or Shouldn't I - the update
7 of you added your own colorful comments:
- Rachel said...
LOL, well, you ARE trying!!
- March 7, 2013 at 4:51 PM
- Pippa Parsons said...
loling, out loud properly chuckling :)
- March 7, 2013 at 5:03 PM
- Carol Swift said...
This is just so funny...wonder who you sent the original email to. So...has she peeked and seen how wonderful you are? :O)
- March 7, 2013 at 5:57 PM
- beaquilter said...
maybe you're in her SPAM folder!!
why don't you want to tell family???? - March 7, 2013 at 6:20 PM
- Carol said...
Too funny. You did try though.
- March 7, 2013 at 8:13 PM
- Needled Mom said...
Maybe you sent the e-mails to your family by mistake!!!!
- March 7, 2013 at 11:07 PM
- Tina said...
From THE sister.....I am so proud of my sister, Michele and her blog! This is very cool and I much appreciate her help with my re-entry into the quilting world. She did forget to mention one small thing. The reason I didn't catch on to this is that I run a computer school for a living and I am sick of computers by the time I get home. LOL I promise that I will be better about it now that I have a really good reason to look at a few blogs. Thank you all so much for your posts, I love them.
- March 11, 2013 at 9:35 AM


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"Awaken" Iceland
Award-winning drone pilot and director Mike Bishop creates aerial films that will blow your mind. "Awaken" Iceland is one of those films. Shot with a DJI Phantom 4 drone, it has it all, from Landmannalaugar, deep within the highlands, to Thorsmork, the hidden Garden of Thor. Here you can view Iceland's otherworldly landscape from the aurora borealis, to the cliffs and waterfalls. It's all captured in this epic drone production by MikeBishop, which was the winner in the Countries category for the first annual DVA's.
- over 7 years ago
- 33.2k VŪZ
271 - 106
- Report
An aerial exploration of a land galvanized in ice. Discover the unseen on a visual journey through the volcanic beating heart of Iceland's glacial landscape. From Landmannalaugar, deep within the highlands, to Thorsmork, the hidden Garden of Thor. View Iceland's otherworldly landscape through the lens of Mike Bishop and Donal Boyd along with friends Benjamin Hardman, Kiara Schwarz, Ben Rehn, and Raf Maes.
Directed By: Mike Bishop (www.mikebishop.tv)
Music: "The Gift Of Life" By Tony Anderson
Shot on: Phantom 4 Pro


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Traditionally, Canadian elections degenerate into a sort of a silly season, when the major parties start handing out goodies in order to buy votes. It is not just the parties that are to blame. It appears this strategy must work, or it would not be continued. Canadians seem to be willing to be bought with their own money. I was recently reminded of an old saying, which seems applicable here: if the mouse actually understood the true nature of "free" cheese, it would never get caught in the trap. So, to state what should be obvious: there is no such thing as government money; any money the government has control over comes from taxpayers.
Given the above, I was somewhat presently surprised by the United Conservative Party (UCP) tax platform for this election. It must have been very tempting for the UCP to look at the personal tax increases implemented by the Notley government over the last four years and simply say "we will roll them all back." Instead the UCP is saying that government finances are in such a mess with huge deficits and debt, that lowering personal taxes will have to wait until balanced budgets are restored. Even then, the UCP is not promising a return to the 10 per cent flat tax. Rather, once fiscal sanity is restored, the UCP is promising to appoint a Tax Reform Commission to seek a tax policy which is pro-growth.
This tax policy is based on the simple idea that, if a government can set a policy environment which helps the private sector create jobs, this will be good for the economy, and also good for government finances. So, if the government has no room to manoeuvre on personal taxes, how can the tax system be used immediately to set a pro-growth policy environment? The answer here is the UCP is proposing to kill some other taxes the Notley government has either introduced or meddled with during the last four years. In early March, Jason Kenney announced that, if elected, the UCP would lower the corporate tax rate from 12 per cent to eight per cent over the next four years. There is much literature on the economic effects of lowering corporate tax rates. This move would be pro-growth and it would create jobs in Alberta.
The UCP is also advocating another pro-growth tax policy in this campaign by promising to kill the carbon tax, if elected. Quite frankly, any environmental effects coming out of a carbon tax are outweighed by the negative effects on the economy caused by this tax. We are currently living this nightmare. Of course, the NDP, and all the other greenies, will argue the opposite. The problem here is that the left wing never sees a trade-off between economic growth and environmental policies.
It is quite refreshing to see a party that does not want to give out goodies during an election, but rather is taking a sane, sober look at the tax system and its impact on economic growth.
Frank Atkins is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.


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Materials : Bamboo fibre and wool
Density : Tuft, high density
Specially designed to be in a place with a view of the sky, «Cloud» is a dialogue between the ground and the sky.
The commission was to imagine a rug for an empty space located in front of a large bay window. The latter opening on the sky, Sara Badr Schmidt had the idea to reproduce on a rug, a cloud that she had painted on a canvas.
Oil paint has very particular characteristics. These qualities had to be reproduced with fibers. The challenge was to reinterpret a detail of an oil painting into a textile work. It is the balance between innovative design, traditional quality manufacturing and the choice of noble materials that makes this rug unique. The bamboo and wool fibers have been dyed according to the colors of the painting, in a subtle palette of blue shades. The blue wool sky gradually evolves into the white bamboo cloud to reproduce the depth of the sky and the brightness of the clouds, vectors of light. The rug was trimmed to a minimum to maintain a soft, vaporous cloud-like appearance. A craftsman capable of visually interpreting a design was specially appointed by the manufacture to carry out this work. A close collaboration between the artisan took place, with many exchanges and tests until the final result was achieved, transforming an oil painting into a textile work.


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"Hailey is our tough, little bug," said Tracie, Hailey's mom. "Nothing is going to stop her – she is going to keep fighting."
Tracie was thrilled when she became pregnant with Hailey. Her anticipation grew with every appointment; she was excited to meet her daughter. There were no complications or indications that anything was out of the ordinary or wrong.
That changed quickly.
Hailey was born with a heart condition – coarctation of the aorta. It is a narrowing of the large blood vessel that delivers oxygen-rich blood to the body. It forces the heart to work much harder. And it is both rare and life-threatening.
But coarctation of the aorta wasn't the only challenge Hailey faced. She struggled with pneumonia, ventricular septal defect, tracheostomy, feeding tube, and more. Her lungs are not fully developed and she deals with scoliosis. She also suffers from Noonan syndrome, which impacts her growth and hormones.
After traveling to South Dakota and Michigan for medical care…Hailey ended up at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
"Mayo Clinic is a wonderful place," Tracie said. "They care for their patients so well and provide a very personal experience."
"It's where we needed to be."
The family has visited Rochester and Mayo Clinic for their other two children as well. Their son was born two months early and required a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), while their other daughter had a negative reaction to an antibiotic and required hospitalization. Both fully recovered and are doing very well.
"Mayo is our saving grace," said Tracie.
Hailey has visited Rochester and Mayo Clinic more than 20 times for appointments, treatments, and surgeries. For 16 of those visits and a total of 171 nights…Tracie has stayed at the Ronald McDonald House of Rochester. She knew a little bit about Ronald McDonald Houses, but she learned a lot more on her first visit.
A few family members have stayed at the House occasionally, but Tracie said she has stayed by herself the majority of visits. Even Hailey has been inpatient more often than not.
"The House is such a blessing," said Tracie. "It provides comfort and security. Because Hailey is often inpatient…I am staying at the House alone. But I don't feel alone."
"When I leave the hospital…it feels like I am going home."
The times Hailey has stayed at the House, she has found so much joy and happiness. She formed a very special bond with the Family Activity Coordinator and is always excited for mailbox "treasures," which are donated by friends of the House.
"Activities and mailbox items are things for her to look forward to on our trips," Tracie said. "And she rarely keeps anything; she gives it to her brother and sister or her friends."
"She has such a big heart."
Other people with big hearts are volunteers. The House had 1,620 volunteers for 19,088 hours in 2019. Volunteers share time, expertise, and compassion with children and families and are truly the heart of the House.
"House volunteers are helpful, sweet, welcoming…wonderful," said Tracie. "So many people care for us – care for my daughter."
"The House is our home and the volunteers and staff are our family."
Because Hailey needs frequent care, they have also experienced the disappointment of being on the waiting list and not receiving a room at the House.
The Ronald McDonald House expanded from 42 guest rooms to 70 in 2019. Thousands of donors supported the expansion through the capital campaign and made the expanded House a reality. The House – which is now the largest in the state of Minnesota and one of the largest in the country and the world – hopes its added capacity will greatly reduce wait times for children and families.
"The expansion means so much," said Tracie. "As a family who needs constant medical care…it is a significant financial and emotional burden. The donors make it possible for us to be in Rochester at Mayo Clinic at the Ronald McDonald House."
"Their donations are saving her life."
While Hailey is doing very well, her future is still uncertain. As Tracie described: heart conditions are tricky. But the family takes it one day at a time, enjoys every moment together, and hopes for a full and complete life.
"It's a different world when you have a sick child," Tracie said. "But Hailey is incredible strong and brave."


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Building a house can seem like a daunting prospect – especially if you have no experience in construction or building. Will I get value for money? Will I get what I want? And will I stick to my budget? These are all very real questions that need to be answered as you tackle any project.
The good news – is that the Trenz Create a Home process is here to offer expert support through the concept, design, and build process.
Trenz Homes understand that our customers want to build a beautiful home in a way that is straightforward and simple, backed by experienced and expert advice as well as modern technology. Of course, the first step in any build is to find your ideal section. Once you have a site in mind, your local Trenz Homes team can meet you to discuss the options as part of a free site visit. It's a good idea to do this before committing to any section, just so you understand what's possible as well as what might not be when it comes to building on that particular site.
Once you've purchased your section, this is when the fun begins! This is when you start designing your future home with Trenz Home… so what should you expect?
A design for everyone!
Trenz Homes has over 50 popular designs that make a great starting point, with our plans offering from one to five bedrooms, and even up to four bathrooms! In every shape and size, Trenz Homes works with you to ensure your design meets the needs of you and your family, now and in the future. Our house plans are extremely popular because the layouts have been proven to suit kiwi lifestyles with open plan living and great indoor-outdoor flow.
Whilst your starting point is our range of popular plans, Trenz Homes promise to deliver a home to suit your specific needs and individual preferences. Your local Trenz Homes team have fantastic experience working with customers from your area in your local conditions, be it city, rural or beachside. They are up to date with the latest home styles and trends and can help you easily adapt each house design – It's totally up to your budget and lifestyle.
The best of modern technology
One of Trenz Home's key tools to assist in the design of your new home is our one-of-a-kind leading edge design software called utecture.
utecture is the only system in the world that provides you with a virtual representation of your future home, merging every single aspect of the design process, so you can see with your own eyes how your decisions are taking shape.
The utecture technology is not only visually exciting, but it also offers a real-time price for you to consider when balancing your budget. So as you make changes to the design, you can instantly see the budget impacts. Trenz Homes delivers a fixed-price contract to our customers, ensuring you are financially set up and secure when you start the build – no nasty surprises or unknown costs to worry about.
And it really is as simple as that. Once your drawings are confirmed and your pricing agreed, the next step is to submit plans to Council for consent, then begin your build. No pressure, no stress, just Trenz Create a Home helping you on your way to your home, your way.
At Trenz Homes we pride ourselves on building beautiful homes customised to your lifestyle. Please contact your local Trenz Homes team HERE to talk with us about your new home.


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"Nittai of Arbel says: Keep far from a bad neighbor, do not become connected to an evil person and don't ever give up on the notion of reward and punishment" (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:7). When someone is adopted they are sometimes blessed/cursed with the choice of staying connected to their biological family, and that
All posts by Leah Kresge
Grandparents. I have very few memories with mine, but I also have memories with people who stepped up when my were unable to or were gone. Brian has tons of memories of his grandparents and he relives them everyday. Often when coming to a hard decision we think of what advice they would give or
Judaism is a living contradiction. At some points we learned that we should never question Hashem, but should obey on blind faith. Look what happened when Moses hit the rock. Look at Nachshon walking into the Red Sea. Etc. Yet at some points Judaism is all about questioning, just look at the Talmud or Avraham
Today is my first Mother's Day as Amelia's legal mother. I don't care that it is a Hallmark holiday because I deserve all the cards and all the candy and all the flowers. Here is my "being a stepmother is the hardest thing in all the land so pity me" post. I warned you it
Somehow, Nezzie has learned her ABC's, she can count to 10, she can name some shapes and colors. She is also wearing a tutu that she refuses to take off and thinks that her "boppity boo" wand will make her dad magically appear.
Perhaps one day I will write why I believe being a stepmother is hardest of all, but not today and not one week from today. Next week is not about me, it is all about my daughter: what she is losing and what she is gaining. What I hope she is gaining is comfort, security, peace and love.


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- Posted by tomverlinden 09 Jun
- 0 Comments
SOLAS requirements – VGW
Dear Valued Customers,
International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, Chapter VI Regulation 2 – Cargo information regarding a mandatory container gross weight verification, together with associated guidelines published as MSC.1/Circ. 1475.
Effective 1st July 2016, all packed containers are required to have a verified gross weight declared by shippers. Starting 1st July 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will enforce globally the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention requirements regarding the verification of the gross weight of packed containers.
What does it mean to provide a Verified Gross Weight (VGW)?
The VGW is the certified Gross Cargo weight (including weight of all packing material) plus Container Tare weight.
Who is responsible to provide the VGW?
The Shipper is responsible to provide the VGW.
What is the date of implementation?
1st of July 2016.
When is VGW required?
VGW is required prior to shipment. Cargo will not be loaded onto a vessel unless a certified VGW is provided.
Why is VGW needed?
This is a Global IMO SOLAS mandatory regulatory requirement. VGW is used for vessel planning and safe stowage.
What happens if VGW cannot be provided?
Cargo will not be loaded.
It is of importance to note that all carriers represented by MarSea Services NV will be complying with the SOLAS requirements.
You may also wish to refer to the below links which provides more detailed background and information.
WSC IMO Requirement for Container Weight Verification
WSC Guidelines for Implementing SOLAS Container Weight Verification Requirement
We will keep you informed of further updates including VGW documentation requirements and communication.
Thank you for your continued support.
Nayivi, Wilfred and Tom,
MarSea Services NV


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Kat Maderazo is the woman behind the delicious baon treats prepared by Bento by Kat. Kat's bento training concept is the perfect solution for moms whose kids don't each much at school. The intricate designs of each bento are what make it a hit for kids, much to the elation of moms out there. Each bento meal is made not only with precision, but also with passion and love. In order to make the perfect bento meal, specific tools are needed. Here we listed down and reviewed the bento-making tools as used by Bento by Kat.
1. LexnGo Snack Box
The LexnGo Snack Box is the ideal storage for every Bento meal that you will make. With its rubber style, elastic compartment, and expandable container, you need not worry if your child's meal will clutter inside.
2. Torune Alphabet Deco Cutter
Have some fun creating your child's Bento meal using the Alphabet Deco Cutter! Use these to cut thinly sliced vegetables. Other than letters, you can also try shapes and faces like the cat face cutter. Designed and cut food will certainly be a hit with your child and encourage them to try these fun shapes.
3 & 6. Arnest Panda Rice Mold and Puncher
This is not your regular puncher; the Panda Rice Mold and Puncher are designed to make panda-styled cuts for your nori seaweed sheets with panda-shaped rice. Isn't that just too cute?
4 & 6. Arnest Cat Rice Mold and Puncher
Same as the Panda Rice Mold and Puncher, the Cat Rice Mold and Puncher lets you mold and style your cat rice with nori seaweed details. There are more than just panda and cat faces to choose from. You can also try an airplane mode for little aviation fanatics. We're pretty sure this will make your child's baon the talk of the class!
5. Torune Eyes Food Picks
This adorably designed food picks are used to make sure that your child's fruit and veggies are intact and will not make a mess when placed in the snack box. It just might make them try their greens.
7, 8, & 9. Torune Vehicles Food Picks, Torune Panda Food Picks, Torune Fruit Food Picks
We can't get enough of these cute picks! Fruit, cars, and panda faces? Kids will devour whatever these picks can hold, like veggies, fruit, and small pieces of food.
10. Arnest Assorted Punchers (Pack of 3)
Cut up nori sheets with friendly faces to put on rice or meat balls, even on fruit and veggies! You can even use certain pieces to make up your very own food art.
Go and have fun in the kitchen and prep yummy baon treats for the kids! It's even better if you create these with your little ones, so let your creativity shine while you bond over food. It's easy to purchase these tools, too. Just send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com and ask for the complete catalogue.


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the idea of being an authentic self is a key driver for me, yet sometimes i struggle to comprehend how we can be authentic in a world that is heavily curated and actively encourages us to be the 'best version' of ourselves. on the surface, there isn't anything inherently wrong with wanting to be the best you you can be, it's when we fall short of that, but don't want the rest of the world to know we are lacking, so we only post the "good" stuff that makes it look like we are living our best life as the best version of ourselves.
and if you're in the game that I'm in as a personal development coach, Instagram would have you believe that a prerequisite to being a good coach is that you're life is picture-perfect, not a hair out of place (which is easy to do when you're bald like me, hehe), but seriously, coaches are human and with that comes all of the fallibility of being human, all too human.
i like what Jung had to say about having a dark side:
and that to me is the crux of being authentic, embracing one's dark side as a source of strength, for without it, how can we obtain grace and greatness?


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No bail for accused in Rwandan general shooting
UN: Rebels turn in comrade accused in Congo rapes
Rebels handed over man arrested over Congo rapes
Rebel commander arrested for alleged Congo rapes
Some who flee to S.Africa are diplomatic challenge
SAfrica man shot by police after standoff
JOHANNESBURG — Police say a South African man fatally shot his son and injured his wife before police broke into the house and shot him dead.
South African police arrested for prisoner escape
Spain asks SAfrica to extradite ex-Rwanda general
SAfrican police arrest 11 suspected rhino poachers
S. African hospital charged in organ trafficking
Officer arrested in death of SAfrican teen
US church wants to resume Zimbabwe AIDS work
Swaziland activists march, 2 leaders arrested
Strike causes delays at South African courthouses
Congo leaders: We begged UN to protect civilians
Gunmen fire on plane carrying aid workers in Congo
10 now arrested in shooting of ex-Rwandan general
Some 200 women gang-raped near Congo UN base
In S.Africa, ex-top cop wants to appeal conviction
Search ends with 4 found dead in S. Africa mine
Mia Farrow tells court Naomi Campbell got diamond
Campbell's ex-agent: model flirted with Taylor
Mia Farrow: Campbell said gift was 'huge' diamond
South Africa journalists fight proposed media laws
Media clampdown fears in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG — Journalism groups say they are dismayed by the arrest of a South African reporter.
Model tells court: Not clear gift was diamonds
Mandela charity denies having Taylor diamonds
Vuvuzelas raise theft alarm in S.Africa, 3 killed
Ex-top cop in SAfrica gets 15 years in prison
Ex-students fined in SAfrica racist video case
Fifth suspect charged in Rwandan exile shooting
South Africa reports surge in rhino killing
WCup final pitch invader to appear in court
Doomsday scenarios that preceded World Cup fade
Soccer City site is historic anti-apartheid venue
Paris Hilton marijuana charges dropped in SAfrica
Paris Hilton seen in South African courtroom
Police: Paris Hilton detained in South Africa
SAfrica pegs foreigners for shooting Rwandan exile
S.Africa's ex-top cop found guilty of corruption
American tourist shot and wounded in South Africa
SAfrica: American shot and robbed in Johannesburg
Police chief: WCup replicas stolen from FIFA HQ
Police: England fan incident 'orchestrated'
4 suspects in Rwandan general shooting in court
JOHANNESBURG - Two Pakistanis, one a suspect in the Mumbai terror attack, were arrested in Zimbabwe as they tried to enter South Africa, a media report said Saturday. But a South African police officer denied they were terrorists.
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe police arrested two Pakistani citizens on suspicion of terrorism when they attempted to cross the border into South Africa, news reports said Saturday.
Restaurant serves lion burgers despite protests
Extra security for England-Germany World Cup game


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Thanksgiving Fishing – Flounder & Black Drum
Fall fishing is in full swing. Most (but not all) of the bait has moved south, and only a few stragglers are left from the hoards of mangrove snapper and mackerel that were so thick a few weeks ago. A few (very few) redfish, snook and grouper have been caught. But black drum and flounder have been on fire since the water turned cooler. The drum hang around the slips and under the dock at Merry pier, and will readily take a live shrimp (if the numerous puffers, filefish, and pinfish don't get there first). Flounder to 20″ have been caught on mud minnows, root beer & white jigs, and live shrimp.


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Session 4
This is a three-hour live instructor-led Zoom courses focusing on the developing and applying business focused scenarios for business benefit using operational risk software.
Many firms did not have a pandemic in their set of scenarios when Covid-19 struck. Used with care, stress tests and scenarios can show a firm the sensitivities of its risk profile to exceptional events. Some scenarios can be very damaging whilst others can be relatively benign. Benchmark your scenarios against those used by the industry.
Scenarios and stress tests have become the fourth tool with which to manage operational risk, after RCSAs, KRIs and Event Analysis. However, many firms take a long time to develop just one scenario. This course will show you how to use your existing data to develop business-relevant scenarios quickly. Attendees will learn how to develop scenarios that reflect a firm's own risk profile and apply the scenarios to that profile.
The course is based on the very successful post-graduate rated Interpreting, developing and applying stress tests and scenarios module of the Operational Risk Professional course which RiskLogix has run for over six years. It is suitable for operational risk professionals as well as new joiners to risk management. It is also fully aligned with those who have an interest in understanding the business benefits that can be gained through good risk management. Jargon is avoided (or explained where it is necessary to use it). No prior risk management experience is necessary, although an open and enquiring mind is essential. Questions from delegates at any time are encouraged and the course is deliberately open and participative.
You will learn:
How to build complex scenarios easily
Why scenarios confuse firms and how to avoid that
How biases can be detected and used positively for your firm
How to develop scenarios during the course that can be used by your firm afterwards
How to apply the differences between scenarios and stress tests for the benefits of the business
How to capture the firm's entire risk profile in a scenario, not just the events that create the scenario
How applying a scenario does not have to be a complex modelling task
Your instructor is Professor Tony Blunden who has worked in the City of London for over thirty years primarily within risk management and related areas in financial services organisations. Prior to joining RiskLogix, he spent four years as Director of Operational Risk within the Financial Services Risk
Management Practice at Ernst & Young. Tony's area of focus is the identification and development of clients' needs in risk management.
Client consulting engagements have included advising and guiding on risk frameworks, governance and culture, risk and control assessments, indicators of key risks, loss databases and their use, scenarios and stress tests, modelling of operational risk and risk reporting as well as risk appetite, the use of six sigma, ICAAP, ILAAP and enterprise wide risk management. Risk appetite frameworks and model validation have been a particular feature of Tony's work in the last few years.
Tony is a frequent conference and bespoke training speaker having spoken at over 150 international risk and compliance conferences. He is also a well-known author of articles, chapters and books on risk management and compliance. His previous book (co-authored with John Thirlwell) 'Mastering Operational Risk' sold over 12,000 copies, has been translated into Chinese and is published by FT Publishing. His new book (also co-authored with John Thirlwell) is 'Mastering Risk Management' and was published by FT Publishing in February 2022. He has been appointed an Honorary Professor by Glasgow Caledonian University. Tony is also a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.
Tony is recognised throughout the industry as a world leading authority on operational risk and brings deep domain knowledge and the practical experience of advising a considerable number of blue chip companies on risk management.
This course is part of a series of five each of which has clear learning objectives linked to the content. At the end of each course, delegates will be expected to be able to carry out the tasks stated in the learning objectives (see each individual course details on the RiskLogix website https://risklogix-solutions.com/risk-training ).
The series answers the following common concerns of many financial services firms and focuses on the business side of operational risk management:
Why are Risk Control Self Assessments (RCSAs) not making business sense?
Why do we have too many Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) and not enough business benefit?
What is the business point in loss analysis?
Aren't stress tests and scenarios one step too far for the business?
Is our risk appetite too quantitative, or too qualitative?
Each course is stand-alone and can be taken separately. All five courses taken together give an unequalled view of operational risk management.
Please click here for direct access to details on this course


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Shrewsbury (MA) Flower, Plant, & Gift Delivery
Perro's Flowers offers fresh flower delivery with the sophistication and style one would expect to find in a Shrewsbury, MA local florist. Shrewsbury Massachusetts is located east of Worcester bordered by Northborough and Westborough on the east, and Grafton on the south and northwest. Our floral design and delivery center is located just 7 miles from Shrewsbury's historic downtown. We make it easy to order flowers online or over the phone and have flower arrangements delivered to Shrewsbury residences and businesses, area hospitals, churches, residences, schools, funeral homes, mortuaries, and more. We have the perfect beautiful floral gifts for every special occasion & holiday, including expertly arranged floral arrangements for birthdays flowers, anniversaries, new babies, get well, congratulations, funeral flowers & sympathy, and corporate & holiday arrangements.
Flower Delivery to Shrewsbury, MA, and the Surrounding Areas
What makes Perro's a premier local flower shop in Shrewsbury? Our selection. Many of the flowers we sell come farm-direct from both domestic and international flower farms. Our size and volume allow us to purchase direct. Buying direct offers our clients a huge advantage. By purchasing directly from the grower, we can reduce the amount of time between when the flowers are cut and when we design them into an arrangement and deliver them to you. Our flowers come fresher to you, which means you will enjoy longer vase life from the flowers in your arrangement. The products we sell are truly upscale. Our floral designs are some of the most creative and unusual that you will find anywhere. The arrangements we create are packed full of gorgeous fresh flowers, and seasonal greenery and designed with a special style and panache. From farm-direct classic long-stemmed red roses to fresh flower arrangements, exotic tropical flowers like cymbidium and phalaenopsis orchids, colorful gerbera daisies, bright sunflowers, and elegant monochromatic bouquets, there is no shortage of floral delights at Perro's.
Express Delivery is Available on Funeral and Sympathy Flowers
We offer express delivery on all funeral flowers and sympathy flowers to funeral homes. Allow us to express your sentiments beautifully with our elegant funeral basket arrangement, easel spray, sympathy wreath, or casket spray. We have valued relationships with many of the area's finest funeral homes and work with them on every order to ensure your floral arrangements are delivered appropriately for the service. When words fall short, count on the language of flowers to help convey your condolences and sympathies, as well as your get-well wishes. Same-day flower delivery is available to Funeral Homes and Mortuaries 24 hours a day 7 days a week to an expanded delivery footprint in Worcester County. Can't find what you're looking for? Simply call us directly and one of our professional florists will happily create a custom bouquet of your recipient's favorite beautiful flowers. Our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee means that your chosen arrangement arrives to your recipient just as vibrant and fragrant as when it left our shop. Order online, give us a call, or stop in today to speak to one of our customer service associates. We are here for you!
ZIP Codes Served
01545, 01546, 01604


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The United Nations Secretary-General has selected a high-level panel from across the world to raise awareness on digital cooperation and to advance proposals on ensuring an inclusive digital future.
Antonio Guterres selected the panel of 20 members jointly chaired by Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Jack Ma, the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.
Three people from Africa were selected to join the panel and they all happen to be women. They include Nanjira Sambuli from Kenya, Akaliza Keza Ntwari from Rwanda and Bogolo Kenewendo from Botswana.
The three women will help advance proposals to strengthen cooperation in the digital space among Governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations, technical and academic communities and other relevant stakeholders.
They are also expected to raise awareness about the transformative impact of digital technologies across society and the economy, and contribute to the broader public debate on how to ensure a safe and inclusive digital future for all, taking into account relevant human rights norms.
The Panel will hold two in-person meetings in September 2018 and January 2019, and will meet virtually as required. It will draw expertise from expert communities across the globe, as well as call for contributions from the general public through virtual hubs and online participation platforms. Two regional consultations will be organized in Asia and in Africa.
The Panel will complete its deliberations and submit its final report, including actionable recommendations, within a nine-month period. The report will map trends in digital technologies, identify gaps and opportunities, and outline proposals for strengthening international cooperation in the digital space.
But, who are these three African women?
Nanjira Sambuli – Kenya
Nanjira Sambuli is a researcher, policy analyst and advocacy strategist who is currently the Digital Equality Advocacy Manager at the World Wide Web Foundation.
She leads advocacy efforts to promote digital equality in access to and use of the Web, with a particular focus on the Foundation's Women's Rights Online work.
The former iHub Nairobi researcher is a member of DFID's Digital Advisory Panel, board member at IRIN News, UK Citizens Online Democracy (mySociety) and Digitally Responsible Aid and served as a deputy on the United Nations High-Level Panel for Women's Economic Empowerment (2016-17).
Akaliza Keza Ntwari – Rwanda
Akaliza Keza Ntwari is a tech entrepreneur and a founding member of Girls in ICT Rwanda – a group of female ICT entrepreneurs and professionals.
She has also founded two companies offering multimedia design and technology services. Akaliza has also volunteered her time with several organisations including kLab and Global Shapers.
After graduating with a Master's degree from the Kobe Institute of Computing in Japan, Akaliza returned to Rwanda where she continues to offer her services as a multimedia consultant to clients around the world.
She was awarded the Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur in ICT Award in 2012 by the Ministry of Youth & ICT. In 2014, she was inducted into the Microsoft 4Afrika Advisory Board.
Bogolo Kenewendo – Botswana
Bogolo J Kenewendo is the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry. She currently serves in Cabinet as a Minister and in Parliament as a Specially Elected Member.
Honourable Kenewendo is the youngest member of both the current Cabinet and Parliament and is the youngest female Member of both institutions in the history of Botswana.
Her areas of expertise include Trade and Investment Policy, Macroeconomic policy, public debt management and regulatory & institutional frameworks for policy formulation. She holds an MSc in International Economics from the University of Sussex (UK) through the prestigious Chevening Scholarship.


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Chrysanthemum Hair Clip with Ribbons - Pink
Chrysanthemum Hair Clip with Ribbons - Pink
A handcrafted chrysanthemum flower decorated with sparkly ribbons and faux pearls, this kanzashi is perfect to pair with many outfits: kimono, yukata, and even Lolita dress!
Fabric: cotton chirimen crepe fabrics
Beads: faux pearls
Clip type: alligator clip
Approx. 3.5" x 2", with 2.5" drop
Shipping Service
Shipping Service
US: Always FREE! Canada: it's $9.99 for the entire order.
We do not ship to other countries at this time. Additional expedited shipping services are available for US addresses. Please check out our Shipping & Returns page for more info.
Handcrafted with Love
Our tsumami kanzashi hair clips are handmade using special Japanese fabric folding technique. You will fall in love with their uniqueness and beauty.
Subscribe and Get 15% Off
Sign up for our email list to get product updates and promotion alerts. Plus, you get a 15% off coupon code to use for your next purchase!


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'India must cut pollution to avoid Covid disaster'
By Vikas Pandey, BBC, New Delhi — India's dreaded pollution season has returned as air quality in the capital Delhi and other northern cities rapidly deteriorated in the last two weeks.
This is bad news for India's fight against coronavirus because several studies around the world have linked air pollution to higher Covid-19 case numbers and deaths.
A Harvard University study shows that an increase of only one microgram per cubic metre in PM 2.5 – dangerous tiny pollutants in the air – is associated with an 8% increase in the Covid-19 death rate. Another study by scientists at the UK's University of Cambridge also found a link between the severity of Covid-19 infection and long-term exposure to air pollutants, including nitrogen oxides and ground-level ozone from car exhaust fumes or burning of fossil fuels.
"Such pollutants can also cause a persistent inflammatory response and increase the risk of infection by viruses that target the respiratory tract," Marco Travaglio, one of the co-authors of the study, told the BBC.
PM2.5 levels in Delhi have averaged around 180-300 micrograms per cubic metre in recent weeks – 12 times higher than the WHO's safe limits.
This is a depressing reversal. Delhi residents were able to breathe clean air for most of the year because a stringent lockdown brought industries and traffic to a grinding halt.
There have been no studies in India yet to examine the affect of air pollution on Covid-19 infection or recovery rates. But doctors and epidemiologists have long warned that toxic air will only hamper India's fight against the virus.
The country now has the world's second-highest caseload (7.5m and counting) and the third-highest death toll (more than 114,000) from the virus, although deaths per million of the population are relatively low.
But experts say worsening air quality will likely increase these numbers.
Delhi, already one of the cities worst-hit by the pandemic, will probably bear the brunt because its residents have been exposed to hazardous levels of pollution for years.
"The situation in Delhi can get really serious this winter," Dr Francesca Dominici, professor of biostatistics at Harvard University and a lead scientist of the study, told the BBC.
The air is especially bad in winters, November to February, when several factors – farmers burning crop stubble to clear the fields, vehicular and industrial pollution, festive fireworks and low wind speed – contribute to what doctors say is a "deadly cocktail of poisonous gases". For complete article: Click here


text: Committed to the pursuit of excellence, extensive research in the world of hospitality and constant interaction with our guests has led us to believe that a hotel should be a living, breathing organism, subject to constant change. Looking closely at the Belvedere DNA, you'll find it's no different to a Cycladic neighborhood. The swimming pool – the hotel's sparkling centerpiece – is a stand-in for the village square that nurtures community and fires up summer passions. The rooms are strategically built around the pool, so even when sitting on your balcony, you still feel like you're part of a whole. The Belvedere's genius lies in the ability to create the illusion that guests are almost within earshot of each other, when in fact they're far enough apart to maintain their privacy. The eight buildings surrounding the pool are constructed on the perimeter of the estate, forming a filter between Mykonos' Chora and the guests – a veil of mystery that draws them even closer together. The inherent theatricality of the hotel places a strong emphasis on the individual, inviting guests to leave their own mark on the Belvedere brand every summer. Planting the seeds of reinvention every time you check in, we simply can't wait to hear what you have to say. You can be certain, we'll be hanging on every word.


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A section of the M6 has been closed for the majority of the day following a crash involving an overturned lorry.
The lorry, carrying plant machinery, crashed between junctions 32 and 31A southbound near Preston at 9.25am this morning (September 18).
A total of 200 litres of diesel leaked across all lanes of the carriageway spanning at least half a mile.
Motorists have been affected throughout the day with delays reaching over 80 minutes above normal journey times.
Trapped traffic has since been released passed the scene and diversions have been put in place.
Lancs Road Police have confirmed that part of the carriageway is set to reopen at 3pm today.
This is likely to be one lane.
A full closure of the motorway will take place from 8pm this evening for resurfacing works.
A spokesperson for Lancs Road Police said: "The M6 South between 32 and 31A will remain closed till approximately 3pm.
"At which point it is likely only one lane South will be re-opened.
"There will be a full closure again at 8pm tonight for resurfacing to take place."
Stay updated on this incident via our dedicated live blog here.


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Science, Do You Buy It?
Click right here Sunday shortly before 10 to join our next online service.
Charles Butterfield, former longtime local science teacher, asks how did a rigorous process for studying nature become a politicized belief system? What does that mean for us as we go forward in our search … read more.