text:
Would it be possible to have ".img" files recognized as mountable images (like cue/mds/iso etc). Unless I'm missing something, it's currently necessary to choose "*.*all files" in the dropdown box in order to have them appear as mountable images.
Sorry if this has been mentioned already...I wasn't able to use img as a search term.


text:
Daniel Humm
Eleven Madison Park (USA)
A native of Switzerland, Chef Daniel knew from an early age that his true passion was cooking. The son of an architect, Daniel took his inherited sense of structure and design and applied it to the kitchen. By the age of 14, Daniel had started his formal training with his first culinary apprenticeship. From there he went on to work at many of Switzerland's finest hotels and restaurants, including the Michelin three-star Restaurant Pont de Brent, where he met his mentor, Chef Gérard Rabaey.
Soon thereafter, Chef Daniel accepted his first executive chef position at Gasthaus zum Gupf in the Swiss Alps. During his time there, he earned a Michelin star, and Gault Millau named him "Culinary Discovery in Switzerland 2002."
In 2003, Daniel moved to the United States to take the position of executive chef at Campton Place in San Francisco. He immediately garnered attention for his innovative interpretation of contemporary French cuisine.
In 2006, Daniel joined Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group as the executive chef of Eleven Madison Park, quickly transforming the restaurant into one of the city's top dining destinations. Under Daniel's leadership, Eleven Madison Park was elevated to three stars by the New York Times in January 2007.
In 2008, the restaurant won a James Beard Award for "Outstanding Wine Service," and Eleven Madison Park was designated Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux, joining the ranks of one of the world's most prestigious associations of hotels and gourmet restaurants.
In 2009, Eleven Madison Park received four stars from the New York Times and was awarded its first Michelin star.
In 2010, Eleven Madison Park was inducted onto the San Pellegrino list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants and Chef Daniel received the award for "Best Chef: New York City" by the James Beard Foundation.
In 2011, Eleven Madison Park received the James Beard Award for "Outstanding Restaurant in America", moved up to #24 on the San Pellegrino list, and received three Michelin stars. It was in that year that he and Will Guidara purchased Eleven Madison Park from Danny Meyer.
In 2012, they went on to open the restaurant in the NoMad Hotel; Daniel Humm also received the James Beard Award for "Outstanding Chef in America, and Eleven Madison Park moved up to #10 on the San Pellegrino list.
In 2013, Eleven Madison Park was elevated to #5 on the San Pellegrino list of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants.
In 2014, Eleven Madison Park moved to #4 on the San Pellegrino list and the bar at the NoMad Hotel won the James Beard award for Outstanding Bar Program.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Applied EM Labs
Education and Background
Graduate Student Resources
LaTex Resources
Momentum (ADS) Resources
Research Group
Research Interests
ECE Homepage
NDSU Homepage
Fly Fishing
Car Projects
Cool Places I Have Been With Good People
Dr. Benjamin D. Braaten
Professor and Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Office: 101B
Phone: 701-231-7608
Email: email@example.com
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
NDSU Dept. #2480
PO Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050
Welcome to the homepage of Dr. Benjamin D. Braaten at North Dakota State University, Fargo ND. We specialize in phased array antennas, conformal antennas, antenna designs for RFID, electromagnetic interference (EMI), computational electromagnetics, antennas in complex radiation environments and metamaterial-based antenna designs.
Some of our latest work (updated 8/27/19):
Above is a picture of the electromagnetic properties of a cell incubator being measured in the full anechoic chamber.


text:
We have already seen that the first chapters of Genesis have much to teach us. In extending our dialogue to the Eucharist we move to a consideration of food, Divine food. Following Genesis: The Book of The Promise we see what is revealed about the food which God once offered to us through the law... Continue Reading →
Genesis: The Book of The Promise
We have been exploring some of the beauty of the Genesis text and what it has to teach us about life (Genesis: The Book of Life), about married life and love (Genesis: The Book of Love), and about our life chosen apart from God (Genesis: The Book of Life and Death). Let us now explore... Continue Reading →
Genesis: The Book of Life and Death
Throughout our previous two posts on Genesis, we have encountered some beautiful things. We have seen what it means for God to be the Creator of Heaven and earth and how we should read these accounts (Genesis: The Book of Life). We have also learned what it meant for the human being to go beyond... Continue Reading →
Genesis: The Book of Love
We have previously discussed the book of Genesis and how it is we can come to read this book (Genesis: The Book of Life). Here let us consider together what Genesis teaches about human relationships and about love, again, as rooted in the revelation of The Lord Jesus Christ. In the last century the champions... Continue Reading →
Genesis: The Book of Life
Let us contemplate together the first book of the Scriptures, a book we are likely all familiar with. However, the text of Genesis is also the source of much debate amongst Christians and even amongst those seeking to dialogue with Christians. Unfortunately, there exists much disagreement on how to read this text. One thing is... Continue Reading →


text:
Mktg Plan
The objective of this project is to give students an opportunity to think about and apply the marketing concepts covered in this course in comparing the marketing activities of two competing businesses. This research paper should be written in paragraph form, double spaced, in a 12 font with the preset (normal) margins. Please use the headings and subheadings listed below (1. History, 2.Industry Overview, etc.) to make your paper flow well. Topics to be addressed in this paper should include (but are not limited to) the following:
1. History and company descriptions
▪ History and background of each business
▪ How has each business changed and evolved over time? What is their primary business? What parts of their business are growing and generate the most revenue? ▪ Summarize each business' primary strengths and weaknesses, and support your assessment. ▪ What is each company's current image in the industry and in the minds of consumers? Is this image working for them? • What is the sustainable competitive advantage for each business? • What is the mission statements of each business and does it reflect the company's competitive advantage
2. Industry Overview
▪ Overview of the industry that the businesses operate in. What is the market size and who is the industry leader? ▪ What external market factors are affecting these businesses and the industry? ▪ What are the key success factors in the industry ▪ Competitive Analysis of the industry
▪ How has the industry changed as a result of ecommerce and technology? ▪ Who are the major customer groups for each business?
3. Marketing Strategy
a. Target Market
o Provide a detailed profile of each company's primary and secondary target market (demographics, psychographics. etc.)
b. Company Products and...
Please join StudyMode to read the full document


text:
We were surprised that a walk on this mountain track is rated as moderate to difficult; in our experience this was one of the easier walks in bushland we have encountered in Tasmania. While there are no directional or explanatory signposts on the walk, the track is in excellent condition, obvious and continuous. The rise is gradual and does not require steep steps or clambering up near vertical surfaces. Towards the summit the following gentle steps are in place – what could be easier?
In addition there were no waterways to negotiate nor thick bush to push aside. The reason for its rating may be that the return trip will take approximately 4 hours – but I think that walkers judge a track not by length of time rather by the obstacles and impediments that provide a degree of danger in their challenges. There was nothing dangerous about this walk, nor were there obstacles to surmount; no logs to climb or rivers to cross.
A number of websites provide useful information if you wish to walk this track. For example, go here . Note the red line on the map on this site is not the walking track, the roads are marked in white, and the walking track is not marked. The pinnacle of Mt Donaldson is to the left of the words Norfolk Road. You can read another walker's experience here. Walking Track Services shows the creation of the quality track on which we walked.


text:
These are not particularly exciting drawings, but I wanted to practice mixing skin tones with my travel watercolour palette. One thing that I noticed was that my brush is very powerful at soaking up water/pigment, while the metal palette is super hydrophobic. What this means for me is that it makes it very hard to do light washes because any/all colour pigment/water gets sucked up from the palette, into my brush. Anything liquid on the palette just globs into droplets because of surface tension. I might have to use a plastic palette to mix skin tone in the future, or pour water directly into the metal palette.
It's Austin and Jake again, this time in logger sports uniform in the locker room. This picture would make more sense after you read Motivation, Concentration oneshot comic. The theme was more or less, "passing the baton" to the next generation.
- Col-erase 20066 scarlet red
- Canson XL mixed media paper (7"x 10")
- Various from Pentel watercolour and SHINHAN SWC Premium Professional Artist Grade
Insider details
- I find ballcap bills to be extremely hard to draw, so I took photo reference of myself for these paintings
- The captain hat's mascot is a reindeer, inspired by a reindeer plush I got from Tokyu Hands in Tokyo ~2012.
- Their sense of organization is different
- Jake is overall not really into wearing hats, but will wear it for tradition's sake, during public competition only (it gives him hat hair)
The skintone here is a mix of red and ochre yellow from the pentel set. I put a bit more brown/blue in Austin's tone, and a bit more red undertone for Jake's.
My scanner freaked out when I scanned the pictures. I was applying pressure on the scan bed to flatten out the ripples. When I didn't apply pressure to the scan bed, it scanned as normal.


text:
You know what sucks? Daytime television. Now that it's summer, I have a decent portion of time between about 10:00 am and 5:00 pm in which I have almost zero responsibility. On most days, I get out to the golf course, but on days like today when it's raining and crummy out, I usually toss a load of laundry in and watch some TV.
One thing that I can say with absolute certainty is that there is next to nothing worth watching during the early afternoon. I hate soaps, there is usually nothing but SportsCenter reruns on ESPN, and most programming is targeted for children and senior citizens since everyone else is at work. So, what I used to watch in the summer was a heavy dose of good old fashioned cartoons. Call me a loser if you want, but I love cartoons. The good ones though, not this new garbage that kids are exposed to.
I love stuff like Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes, which were staples when I was a kid. Even though they were made 50 years ago, those old Warner Bros. cartoons are genuinely funny. Sure, most of them were inherently the same in theme, but that was alright. I was strangely comfortable watching Wile E. Coyote chase after the Roadrunner day after day only to fail every single time. Same went for Tom chasing Jerry all day as well as Bugs and Daffy trying to convince Elmer Fudd it was either duck season or "wabbit" season.
Now cartoons have to have a message and instead of watching Yosemite Sam fire off a few rounds from his revolvers, kids are watching some jackass named Bob the Builder put up drywall. Is that what kids should be idolizing – being a construction worker? I guess that's the message: Kids, you can be whatever you want, even a manual laborer! Apparently the old cartoons just weren't politically correct and portrayed images deemed inappropriate for children. I'm sorry, but if you feel like you need to shield your six year old from Foghorn Leghorn and Porky Pig, then we have deeper problems that I could spin into a completely different post.
Maybe it's me, but I miss Sylvester and Tweety, but instead I have Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer. That's just not cutting it for me. Not only has Nickelodeon gone soft on us, but the Cartoon Network, which was my last venue to see those old toons on, has dumped them in lieu of cartoons about robots and chickens.
I yearn for what I recognize because not only are these new cartoons weird, but they are completely incomprehensible. I'm almost 25 years old and I consider myself to be an intelligent person, but I tried watching one of these new age jobbies and I was completely lost the whole way through. Thank God it's almost college football season again, because Saturday mornings are getting to be too much to bear. It's a good thing I have DVR and a collection of over 300 DVDs or I would go nuts.
Well, I hope you all have a good weekend. If the weather cooperates, this might be the weekend I start my garage sale hunting for things I am going to need for my new apartment. At one time or another, I've thought of at least 20 major things, only I haven't had the genius thought to write them down, so I am going to go in search of the basics (i.e. kitchen table, furniture, perhaps a grill) and see where it takes me.
See you in June!
One love,


text:
As you may know, I have been laid up, recovering from some surgery. Last night I was surfing through etsy looking at essential oil blends and found some pretty horrific listings out there. You know I love to educate consumers of aromatherapy products so I want to post today about proper packaging and storage of essential oils.
One particularly sickening listing I saw was for 3 bottles of essential oil blends for $75. The number one ingredient in this sellers blends? Water. Now essential oil dilutions can be a good deal for expensive oils like jasmine, rose or neroli but they should be diluted in a carrier oil not water. And dilutions such as these are generally done to make them more economical. I don't consider $75 to be economical and diluting them in water and charging an outrageous price is just plain ripping off the consumer.
Now, when you buy essential oils you often see them listed with dropper tops for ease in dispensing. This type of dropper top is NOT what you want.................
The essential oil will eat this rubber dropper top. The dissolved rubber will then contaminate the essential oil-and yes this seller is selling PURE essential oils with this type of dropper. NEVER buy or store oils this way! Even plastic orifice reducers and eurodroppers can eventually be eaten away by some oils-I have had this happen with cinnamon bark, a very caustic oil.
Also I want to remind my readers that essential oils come from plants. There is no such thing as pineapple essential oil or essential oil of Egyptian Musk. There is a very popular FRAGRANCE oil called Egyptian Musk that is 100% synthetic. So please inform yourself and don't always rely on the seller for information. Far too many people don't comprehend the difference between fragrance oils and essential oils or the difference between TRUE aromatherapy and the "aromatherapy" that mass marketers are pushing. Again, Bath and Body Works is NOT aromatherapy-it's perfumery.
ALWAYS feel free to contact me if you have questions. I want everyone to experience the healing powers of TRUE aromatherapy and I am ALWAYS happy to help you on your journey!
Leave a comment or contact me through one of my stores for more information.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
3 comments:
- Gathered Roots said...
Good info!
- December 13, 2012 at 2:23 PM
- Unknown said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- June 11, 2014 at 9:10 AM
- Unknown said...
Where do u buy your essential oils ? Have u heard of edens garden ?
- November 11, 2015 at 12:18 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
"Out of Gitmo" - Preview
Preview: Season 2017 Episode 6 | 31s
In this report on the struggle over freeing prisoners once deemed international terrorists, FRONTLINE and NPR tell the dramatic story of a Gitmo detainee released from the controversial U.S. prison after 14 years. Also this hour: an exploration of the untold history of the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Aired: 01/31/17Video has closed captioning.
Buy Now:
Problems Playing Video?
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, The John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.


text:
As the creators and maintainers of Akka, Lightbend offers technologies, expert support, and additional services to enterprises using Akka for their mission critical systems. It's all part of a Lightbend subscription.
Part of Lightbend Platform
Akka forms the core of Lightbend Platform, providing concurrency, resilience, and clustering to cloud-based Reactive microservices and real-time streaming data applications built in Java and Scala.
Additional Capabilities
Lightbend subscribers get access to advanced tools for monitoring and telemetry, enhanced persistence, multi-datacenter support, network partition resolution, configuration correctness and more.
Expert Support
Guaranteed response times for support cases, plus direct, unlimited access to Lightbend's Akka engineers for break-fix support, general advice, how-to's, best practices, and beta programs.


text:
20. Provisions for risks and charges and contingent liabilities
|1 January 2015
|Transportation Liabilities
|Other changes
|31 December 2015
|Broken down as follows:
|Other changes
|31 December 2016
|Broken down as follows:
"Other provisions for risks and charges" mainly include:
- the provision for contractual risks and charges of €mil. 533 (€mil. 443 at 31 December 2015), mainly related to the Aeronautics sector;
- the provision for risks on equity investments of €mil. 3 (€mil. 6 at 31 December 2015), which includes the accruals for losses exceeding the carrying amounts of unconsolidated equity-accounted investments;
- the provision for tax risks of €mil. 133 (€mil. 190 at 31 December 2015);
- the provision for litigation with employees and former employees of €mil. 37 (€mil. 39 at 31 December 2015);
- the provision for litigation underway of €mil. 55 (€mil. 70 at 31 December 2015).
With regard to risks, below is a summary of the criminal proceedings that are currently underway against a number of Group companies or Leonardo itself, as well as certain former directors and executives, concerning acts committed during the performance of their duties at Group companies or at Leonardo itself, with specific reference to the events that occurred in 2016 and in early 2017:
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Rome against the former Commercial Director of Leonardo, for the crime under Articles110, 319, 319-bis, 320, 321 and 322-bis of the Italian Criminal Code, concerning the supply contracts signed in 2010 by AgustaWestland, Selex Sistemi Integrati and Telespazio Argentina with the Government of Panama. The proceedings are now in the trial phase. In relation to this case, criminal proceedings are also pending before the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome against Leonardo for administrative violations pursuant to Article 25 of Legislative Decree 231/2001, for crimes under Articles 321 and 322-bis of the Italian Criminal Code attributed to the then Commercial Director of the Company, in the context of the abovementioned criminal proceedings;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Rome against one former executive, three former Directors and an executive of Leonardo, for crimes under Article 110 of the Italian Criminal Code and Article 5 of Legislative Decree 74/2000 in relation to the position as director held in the then Finmeccanica Finance SA, as well as against various employees and executives of the company, for the crime under Articles 110, 646 and 61 no.11 of the Italian Criminal Code in relation, inter alia, to personal loans requested to the company in the period 2008-2014;
- with reference to the immediate trial before the Court of Busto Arsizio in relation to the supply of 12 AW 101 VIP/VVIP helicopters to the Indian Government, it should be noted that on 9 October 2014 the Court sentenced the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo S.p.a. (in relation to the position held in AgustaWestland) and the former Chief Executive Officer of AgustaWestland S.p.A. to a prison term of two years for having committed crimes under Article 2 of Legislative Decree 74/2000 (having submitted fraudulent tax returns using invoices or other documents from non-existent transactions) – limited to the May 2009 – June 2010 tax period, and ordering that the amount equivalent to such non-payment of taxes (on a taxable income of €mil. 3.4) be confiscated from AgustaWestland S.p.A., considered in determining the provisions for risks. In the same decision, the Court found the defendants not guilty of having committed the crimes under Articles 110, 112, paragraph 1, 319, 321 and 322-bis, paragraph 2(2) of the Italian Criminal Code (corruption of foreign public officials), due to lack of evidence. The decision is being appealed against.
On 7 April 2016, the Milan Court of Appeal sentenced the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo to four years and six months of imprisonment, and the former Chief Executive Officer of AgustaWestland S.p.A. to four years of imprisonment, for crimes under Articles 110, 112, paragraph 1, 318, 321 and 322-bis, paragraph 2(2) of the Italian Criminal Code and Article 2 of Legislative Decree 74/2000. On 16 December 2016 the Supreme Court repealed the judgment appealed against and referred it to another division of the Milan Court of Appeal for consideration of new proceedings. In respect of these companies, it is recalled that on 25 July 2014, pursuant to Article 58 of Legislative Decree 231/2001, the Public Prosecutor dismissed the proceedings against Leonardo, holding groundless, following the conclusion of investigations, the Company's involvement from both a factual and legal point of view. The Prosecutor also acknowledged that since 2003 the Company has adopted, actually implemented and regularly updated an Organisational, Management and Control Model that is conceptually suitable to prevent offences like the one in question and is also focused on compliance processes as to guarantee adequate standards of fairness and ethical conduct. In addition, on 28 August 2014 the Judge for Preliminary Investigations (GIP, Giudice delle Indagini Preliminari) of the Court of Busto Arsizio – in granting the motions put forth by the companies – imposed administrative penalties pursuant to Article 63 of Legislative Decree 231/2001 and Article 444 and ff. of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, amounting to €80,000 for AgustaWestland S.p.A. and €300,000 for AgustaWestland Ltd, and ordered the confiscation of the equivalent of €mil. 7.5;
The Indian Authorities also started their own criminal investigations in late February 2013 into this matter, which are still underway;
- preliminary investigations are being conducted in relation to the criminal proceedings pending with the Public Prosecutor's Office of Busto Arsizio, against two former chief executive officers of AgustaWestland S.p.A., for crimes under Article 2 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, Articles 81 and 110 of the Italian Criminal Code and Articles 322-bis, 81 and 110 of the Italian Criminal Code, as well as against a former executive of the company, for crimes under Article 2 of Legislative Decree 74/2000 and Articles 81 and 110 of the Italian Criminal Code. In relation to this investigation, on 23 April 2015 some search warrants were executed at the Cascina Costa office of AgustaWestland S.p.A. in order to collect contract, accounting and non-accounting documents relating to the relationships maintained by AgustaWestland S.p.A. with some companies incorporated under Italian and foreign law. Within these proceedings, the notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations was served in April 2016, limited to the offence under Article 2 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, against two former chief executive officers and a former executive of AgustaWestland S.p.A., regarding relationship with a foreign company. In the context of these proceedings, an executive of the company was also under investigation, but the proceedings against him have been dismissed;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Rome against the former Vice-Chairman of BredaMenarinibus, for crimes under Articles 110 and 646 of the Italian Criminal Code and Article 8 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, as well as against the former Chief Financial Officer of the company, for crimes under Article 110 of the Italian Criminal Code and Article 8 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, in relation to the supply of 45 trolley buses made by BredaMenarinibus in the competitive tender launched by Roma Metropolitane S.p.A.. The company, as a party injured by the crimes under Article 646 of the Italian Criminal Code, brought a civil action in the criminal proceedings. At the hearing held on 7 April 2016, the Court, after having combined these proceedings with those brought against the former Chief Executive Officer of BredaMenarinibus, handed down a dismissal of charge against the former Vice-Chairman of BredaMenarinibus as a result of the extinguishment of the offence. At the same hearing the Court also accepted the civil action brought by the company in the criminal proceedings against the former Chief Executive Officer. The case has now entered the trial phase;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Naples concerning contracts awarded to the then-Elsag Datamat (now Selex ES S.p.A.) and Electron Italia for the development, respectively, of the integrated traffic monitoring system of the city of Naples and video-surveillance systems for a number of municipalities within the Province of Naples. Under the proceedings, the former Chief Executive Officer of Electron Italia, the former Chief Executive Officer and an employee of the then-Elsag Datamat are charged with crimes under Articles 326, 353 and 416 of the Italian Criminal Code, and an employee of the then-Elsag Datamat and an employee of Electron Italia with crimes under Articles 353 and 326 of the Italian Criminal Code, as well as Selex ES and Electron Italia for having committed administrative offences under Article 24-ter, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 231/2001. Selex ES S.p.A. and Electron Italia, following service of civil summons issued by the Court at the request of the civil-action party, also entered appearance in the civil action. The proceedings are now in the trial phase;
- in relation to the proceedings are pending before the Court of Trani against a former employee of the then-Elsag Datamat for crimes under Articles 353 and 356 of the Italian Criminal Code, concerning a tender launched by the Municipality of Barletta for the construction of access control systems for the limited traffic area; on 5 February 2016 the Court declared the decision not to prosecute against a former employee of the then-Elsag Datamat, for crimes charged to him as they have become statute barred;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Genoa, concerning the overflow of the Chiaravagna River which took place in Genoa on 5 October 2010, involving a former employee of the then-Elsag Datamat (now Selex ES S.p.A.), for crimes under Articles 426 and 449 of the Italian Criminal Code. Selex ES S.p.A., following service of civil summons issued by the Court at the request of the civil-action party, entered appearance in the civil action. At the end of the trial phase, on 7 March 2017 the Court of Genoa found not guilty the former employee of the then-Elsag Datamat (now Selex ES S.p.A.) and the person civilly liable for Selex ES SpA;
- two criminal proceedings are pending in relation to the awarding of the contract for the construction and operation of the Control System for Waste Tracking (SISTRI).
Immediate trial – Bringing of civil action (Selex Service Management)
In the immediate trial before the Court of Naples against certain suppliers and sub-suppliers of Selex Service Management, at the hearing held on 7 November 2013 the company brought a civil action against the defendants. The proceedings are now in the trial phase.
Abbreviated trial - Bringing of civil action (Selex Service Management)
In the summary trial before the Court of Naples against the former Chief Executive Officer of Seles Service Management, for crimes under Article 416, paragraphs 1, 2 and 5, of the Italian Criminal Code and Articles 81-paragraph 2, 110, 319, 320 and 321 of the Italian Criminal Code and Articles 2 and 8 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, and a supplier of Selex Service Management, the company brought a civil action against the defendants at the hearing held on 21 November 2013.
On 18 July 2014, the Court sentenced the former Chief Executive Officer of Selex Service Management to a prison term of 2 years and 6 months and ordered him to pay damages to Selex Service Management. The aforesaid judgment is being appealed against. The proceedings are currently pending before the Naples Court of Appeal;
- with reference to the proceedings pending before the Court of Rome against the former Chief Executive Officer and the former Sales Manager of Selex Sistemi Integrati (now in liquidation), concerning the awarding of work contracts on the part of ENAV S.p.A., on 16 October 2015 the Court of Rome sentenced the defendants for the crime under Article 8 of Legislative Decree 74/2000, while acquitting them of the crime under Article 646 of the Italian Criminal Code. With the same decision the Court also ordered the former Chief Executive Officer and the former Sales Manager of Selex Sistemi Integrati to repay damages in favour of the company (the aggrieved party acting in criminal proceedings). The aforesaid judgment is being appealed against. The hearing before the Rome Court of Appeal is scheduled to be held on 24 May 2017;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Rome concerning the informal tender for awarding a contract in the ICT area for operational, contract management and procurement services launched by the Prime Minister's Office in 2010 and awarded to a temporary business combine (RTI, Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Imprese) established by Selex Service Management and a company outside the Leonardo Group.
On 1 July 2015 the Judge for Preliminary Hearings (GUP, Giudice dell'Udienza Preliminare) ordered the committal for trial of the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo, for crimes under Articles 81-paragraph 2, 110, 326, 353, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Italian Criminal Code, and of the former Chief Executive Officer of Selex Service Management for crimes under Articles 110, 319 and 321 of the Italian Criminal Code and Articles 81-paragraph 2, 110, 326, 353, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Italian Criminal Code, as well as of Selex Service Management itself for violations under Article 25 of Legislative Decree 231/2001. Leonardo brought a civil action as an aggrieved party. The proceedings are now in the trial phase.
In relation to these proceedings, the former Chief Operations Officer of Selex Service Management and former External Relations Officer of Leonardo were also charged with crimes under Articles 81-paragraph 2, 110, 326, 353, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Italian Criminal Code. The former COO was acquitted and the former External Relations Officer of Leonardo was found guilty pursuant to Article 444 and ff. of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Rome involving the Chief Executive Officer of the then-Selex Systems Integration GmbH (now Selex ES GmbH), with respect to crimes under Articles 110 and 223, paragraph 2(2), of the Italian Criminal Code, with regard to Articles 216 and 219, paragraphs 1 and 2(1), of Royal Decree no. 267/1942, in connection with the bankruptcy of a supplier. The proceedings are now in the trial phase;
- criminal proceedings are being conducted by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office concerning the provision of helicopters to the armed forces, police and other government entities on the part of AgustaWestland, involving certain directors of Leonardo (serving from 1994 to 1998) and certain directors of AgustaWestland (serving from 1999 to 2014) with respect to crimes under Article 449 of the Italian Criminal Code for violation of the regulations on the use of asbestos;
- criminal proceedings are pending before the Court of Milan involving certain directors of the then-Breda Termomeccanica S.p.A., subsequently Ansaldo S.p.A., who served during the period from 1973 to 1985, charged with having committed the crimes under Article 589, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, Article 40, paragraph 2, Article 41, paragraph 1, of the Italian Criminal Code, Article 2087 of the Italian Civil Code and Article 590, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, of the Italian Criminal Code, for violation of the rules governing the prevention of occupational diseases.
Leonardo, following service of civil summons issued by the Court at the request of the civil-action parties, entered appearance in the civil action. The proceedings are now in the trial phase.
Based upon the information gathered and the results of the analysis carried out so far, the Directors of Leonardo did not allocate any specific provisions beyond those indicated in the rest of the paragraph. Any negative developments - which cannot be foreseen, nor determined to date - arising from any internal investigations or judicial investigations being conducted, will be subject to consistent assessment for the purposes of provisions (if any).
With regard to the provisions for civil, tax and administrative disputes, it is underlined that the Leonardo Group companies' operations regard industries and markets where many disputes, both as petitioner and plaintiff, are settled only after a considerable period of time, especially in cases where the customer is a government entity. Pursuant to the IFRSs, provisions have only been set aside for risks that are probable and for which the amount can be determined. No specific provisions have been set aside for certain disputes in which the Group is defendant as these disputes are reasonably expected to be settled, based on current knowledge, satisfactorily and without significantly impacting the Group. Of particular note are the following disputes:
- the dispute in which Leonardo is defendant in relation to contractual commitments undertaken at the time of the transfer of the former subsidiary Finmilano SpA to Banca di Roma (now UniCredit Group), arising from an assessment report issued to Finmilano SpA by the Rome Direct Taxation Office, which disallowed the tax deductibility of the capital loss arising from the factoring without recourse of a receivable subject to deferred collection for an amount lower than its nominal amount. At present, after alternating outcomes in the various degrees of adjudication, which were mainly unfavourable for the Company and after numerous adjournments, we are waiting for the appeal to be discussed before the Supreme Court. Leonardo does not currently expect it will incur significant losses in this respect;
- in January 2017 some notices of assessment were served on Alenia Aermacchi SpA, as a result of the examination of the documents submitted for a request for refund of the Group VAT of Leonardo SpA for the 2011 financial year. Specifically, the notices report estimated higher taxable income for VAT and IRES (Corporate Income Tax), a higher value of net production and IRAP (Regional Production Activity Tax) withholdings, as well as penalties and interest (for a total amount of €mil. 17 on account of tax and €mil. 20 on account of penalties). In this regard the company has decided to consent to the assessment procedure subject to agreement in order to provide evidence of the groundlessness of the acts established in the conciliation phase;
- the litigation brought by Reid against Leonardo and Alenia Space (then ALS SpA, now SOGEPA SpA) before the Court of Texas in 2001, whereby Reid claimed that the former Finmeccanica-Space division failed to meet its obligations under the contract for the implementation of the Gorizont satellite programme. The dispute was settled in favour of the Group due to the lack of jurisdiction of the Court appealed to. On 11 May 2007, Reid served a complaint on Leonardo and SOGEPA, whereby it brought new proceedings before the Court of Chancery in Delaware. In the new proceedings Reid once again submitted the same claims for damages as those included in the papers of the previous case developed before the Court of Texas, without, however, quantifying the amount of the alleged damage.
In appearing before the Court, Leonardo filed a Motion to Dismiss, asserting that the case was time-barred, the statute of limitation had run out and the Court of Delaware did not have jurisdiction. On 27 March 2008, the Court issued an order which rejected the plaintiff's claim as the case was time-barred. The opposite party challenged this decision before the Supreme Court of Delaware, which issued a decision on 9 April 2009, granting the motion and referring the case to the Court of Chancery for a decision on the other objection raised by Leonardo and SOGEPA concerning the lack of jurisdiction of the Court of Delaware. Therefore, the discovery phase commenced, during which the witnesses requested by Reid were deposed. The preliminary investigations were completed in December 2013 and on 20 November 2014 the Court issued its decision on the question of jurisdiction, rejecting the objection raised by Leonardo and SOGEPA. Therefore, the case is proceeding on the merits and the discovery phase is currently underway. However, it should be recalled that the lawsuit filed by Leonardo and SOGEPA in Italy – aimed at establishing the inexistence of the claims concerning the facts and requests argued by Mr Dennis Reid before the Court of Delaware – is still pending before the Court of Appeal of Rome and said lawsuit is still at a preliminary stage;
- the litigation brought before the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Court in February 2011 by GMR SpA, as the sole shareholder of Firema Trasporti against Leonardo and AnsaldoBreda, was settled with a ruling stating the lack of jurisdiction in favour of the Court of Naples. On 28 April 2015 the suit was dismissed following the failure by GMR to reinstate the action in accordance with the time limits prescribed by law. On 23 June 2015, GMR then served a new writ of summons before the Court of Naples, whereby it once again submitted the same claims as those brought in the previous proceedings. More specifically, according to the plaintiff company, during the period in which Leonardo held an investment in Firema Trasporti (from 1993 to 2005), its management and coordination were carried out to the detriment of the company itself and in the sole interest of the Leonardo Group. Moreover, even after the sale of the investment by Leonardo, Firema Trasporti was allegedly de facto subjected to an abuse of economic dependence from the abovementioned Group in performing the various agreements existing with AnsaldoBreda. Leonardo and AnsaldoBreda appeared before the Court requesting that, on the merits, the plaintiff's claims be dismissed as clearly groundless, as a result of the non-fulfilment of any and all conditions required by law as requirements to bring an action against directors pursuant to Article 2497 of the Italian Civil Code. Moreover, the aforesaid companies also asked the Court to preliminarily hand down a ruling based on the principle of lis alibi pendens (i.e. the suit was pending elsewhere and then the claim was precluded) within these new proceedings with respect to the pending proceedings, between the same parties, before the Naples Court of Appeal. The proceedings described above are still underway and are still in a phase of preliminary discussion.
It is also recalled that Giorgio and Gianfranco Fiore also brought a third-party action against Leonardo and AnsaldoBreda within the proceedings brought by Firema Trasporti under Extraordinary Administration before the Court of Naples, against the engineers themselves and a number of other defendants. By an order dated 18 November 2014, the Court of Naples declared that both the claims submitted by Giorgio and Gianfranco Fiore against Leonardo and AnsaldoBreda and those submitted by GMR (the third-party that voluntarily intervened in the proceedings in question) were inadmissible; accordingly, the Court ordered that Leonardo, AnsaldoBreda and GMR be dropped from action. On 2 March 2015 GMR filed an appeal before the Naples Court of Appeal against this order. Leonardo and AnsaldoBreda formally entered appearance; at present the appellate proceedings are under the decision phase. While pending the aforesaid appellate proceedings, the judge responsible for preliminary investigations was replaced in the action brought by Firema before the Court of Naples; on 17 June 2015 the new judge reversed the previous ruling (with the related declarations of claim preclusion and removal from the lawsuit) and ordered the resumption of the discussion of the case, which is still underway;
- the proceedings brought before the Court of Rome on 4 March 2013 by Mr Pio Maria Deiana, on his own account and in his capacity as Director of Janua Dei Italia Srl and of Progetto Cina Srl against Leonardo in order to ask the Court to rule the invalidity of the settlement agreement signed in December 2000 by the aforesaid companies and the then-Ansaldo Industria (a company which was a subsidiary of Leonardo until 2004 and which is now cancelled from the Register of Companies). The aforementioned agreement had settled, by way of conciliation, the action brought before the Court of Genoa in 1998 in order to ask the Court to find Ansaldo Industria liable for breach of contract with regard to the agreements for commercial cooperation in the construction of a waste disposal and cogeneration plant in China, which then was not built.
As stated by the plaintiffs in the writ of summons, the abovementioned settlement agreement was concluded based on unfair conditions, thus taking advantage of the distress of Mr Deiana and of the economic dependence of the plaintiff companies with respect to Ansaldo Industria. The claim was submitted against Leonardo, invoking the latter's general liability arising from the control exercised by it on Ansaldo Industria at the time of the events being disputed. The damages being sought, to be determined during the course of the proceedings, is estimated at €mil. 2,700. On 25 September 2013 Leonardo appeared before the Court, arguing, among other things, that it lacks the capacity to be sued and asking, on the merits, that the Court rejects the plaintiffs' claims as they are entirely groundless in fact and in law. A minority shareholder of Progetto Cina Srl and a minority shareholder of Janua Dei Italia Srl intervened in the case, respectively, at the hearings of 14 May 2014 and 25 September 2014. The parties will be called upon to specify the conclusions that they intend to submit to the Court during the next hearing to be held on 22 November 2017;
- the dispute between Ansaldo STS and Selex ES (SES) against the Russian company ZST relating to a contract signed in August 2010 between ZST, which had been awarded the contract to build the Sirth-Benghazi railway line in Libya, and the Joint Venture comprised of Ansaldo STS and SES, which was the sub-contractor for the signalling, automation, security and telecommunications works.
On 12 August 2013, Ansaldo STS and SES filed a motion before the Court of Milan seeking a provisional remedy against the Russian company ZST, prohibiting it from enforcing the advance payment bond guarantees, issued by Crédit Agricole to guarantee the contract advances paid to the companies in the amount of around €mil. 70 for Ansaldo STS and €mil. 15.7 for Selex ES. The performance of the contract had been in fact suspended following the well-known events that occurred in Libya in early 2011. The preventive proceedings concluded with the Court granting the injunction only as to the amounts corresponding to the value of the activities performed up until the works were interrupted (equal to €mil. 29 for Ansaldo STS and to €mil. 3 for Selex ES). The bank therefore proceeded to make payment of the remaining amount.
Therefore, ZST started arbitration proceedings before the Vienna International Arbitral Centre against Ansaldo STS and Selex ES seeking repayment of the full amount paid on account of fees. On 6 May 2016 an award was issued, which ordered Ansaldo STS, jointly with SES, to pay an amount of €mil. 30, plus interest. Ansaldo STS and Selex ES, based on their respective shares of supply (€mil. 3.3 for Selex ES), have paid the amount required by the award and, therefore, the dispute can be considered to have been settled. It is also recalled that Leonardo has not provided any guarantee in relation to the aforesaid litigation within the transfer of Ansaldo STS to Hitachi.
Moreover, given their complexity, their cutting-edge technological content and the nature of the customers, the Group's long-term contracts are sometimes affected by disputes with customers in relation to the compliance of works with customer specifications and product performances. The Group adjusts the estimated contract costs for foreseeable issues, also taking into account the possible developments in the relevant disputes. With regard to contracts in progress affected by uncertainties and issues under discussion with customers, there are:
- the SISTRI five-year contract, signed between the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and Selex Service Management in December 2009 in relation to the design, operation and maintenance of the System for Waste Tracking until 30 November 2014, subject to the criminal proceedings described above.
The performance of the contract was affected by a number of legislative acts aimed at postponing the time at which it was to come into force, at a drastic reduction of the categories of persons under an obligation to adopt the system, at introducing simplification and/or optimisation measures of the system and at indefinitely postponing the applicable penalties. Such legislative acts had a significant impact on the financial stability of the contract, which was further impaired by the non-payment of a large part of the amounts due to the company.
Moreover, on 8 May 2014 the then Italian Public Contracts Regulator (Autorità di Vigilanza dei Contratti Pubblici) concluded the procedure that it had opened in July 2012 by resolution 10 whereby the Regulator ruled that the award of the SISTRI contract did not comply with Article 17 of the Italian Code of Public Contracts in the matter of contracts subject to a secrecy classification and ordered the papers of the case to be sent to the Ministry and to the Court of Auditors, as well as to the DDA (Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia) organised crime unit at the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office. The company appealed against this resolution before the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, challenging its lawfulness under various aspects and the related proceedings are still underway. In the wake of this resolution, the Ministry blocked a number of payments owed to the Company and asked the Government Lawyers (Avvocatura dello Stato) for an opinion on the matter. Partial payments were made in December 2014 in response, we assume, to the confirmation by the Government Lawyers that the contract is valid and legal. On 21 July 2014 Selex Service Management informed the Ministry that it was not its intention to continue with the operation of the system beyond the time-limit of 30 November 2014 set in the contract, forewarning that it would take steps to protect its rights in order to recoup the capital invested and obtain compensation for damages. Afterwards, Law 116 of 11 August 2014 as amended, which converted Law Decree 91 of 24 June 2014, by introducing certain significant changes to the wording of Article 11 of Law Decree 101 of 31 August 2013 (which had provided, inter alia, (i) that the payment of the amounts due would be subject to an audit of the fairness of the final costs throughout 30 June 2013 and to the availability of the amounts paid by users at that date and (ii) a financial rebalancing of the contract, which was then not carried out), extended the ultimate effective date of the contract with Selex Service Management until 31 December 2015, granting Selex Service Management the compensation for the production costs calculated up until the aforesaid date, subject to the fairness assessment by the Agency for Digital Italy (Agenzia per l'Italia digitale), to the maximum extent of the fees paid by the operators.
Finally, said Law also provided that by 30 June 2015 the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea had to start the procedures for the award of the service under concession in accordance with the provisions and methods set out in the Italian Code of Public Contracts. Decree Law 244 of 30 December 2016 extended again the ultimate effective date of the contract with Selex Service Management "until the date of entry of the new concessionaire (…) and anyway with the time limit of 31 December 2017". Following the refusal of jurisdiction of the arbitration panel served on the company on 19 February 2015 by the Government Lawyers, the Company brought a legal action against the said Ministry before the Court of Rome - Division specialising in business law. This action aims at seeking a declaration that the contract had expired on 30 November 2014.
By an order dated 17 February 2016, the Court granted the claims submitted by Selex Service Management pursuant to Article 186-ter of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure and ordered the Ministry to pay the plaintiff company an amount of €mil. 12, plus interest and VAT. By virtue of the abovementioned order, on 12 December 2016 the Ministry paid Selex Service Management an amount of €mil 17. The proceedings in question are still underway and the parties will be called upon to specify their conclusions before the judge responsible for preliminary investigations on 22 November 2017;
- the supply contract for 12 helicopters signed between AgustaWestland International Ltd and the Indian Ministry of Defence in 2010, worth around €mil. 560 in total, which is the object of the above described criminal proceedings. On 15 February 2013 the Indian Ministry of Defence sent a Show Cause Notice asking the company to provide information on the bribery alleged to have occurred in violation of the contract and the Pre-Contract Integrity Pact. In the letter, in addition to notifying the company that it was suspending payments, the Indian Government suggested that it could possibly cancel the contract if the company was unable to provide proof that is was not involved in the alleged corrupt conduct. The company promptly provided the information and documentation requested to the Indian authorities and also invited the Ministry to initiate bilateral discussions to settle the matter.
Not having received any indication of interest on the part of the Indian Ministry in beginning a dialogue, on 4 October 2013 AgustaWestland International Ltd started arbitration proceedings provided for by the contract in New Delhi. On 21 October 2013, the Indian Ministry served the second Show Cause Notice requesting further documents and once again claiming violation of the Pre-Contract Integrity Pact. In a letter sent on that date, the Ministry also challenged the applicability of the arbitration clause contained in the contract. On 25 November 2013, the company appointed its own arbitrator, the Hon. Justice B.N. Srikrishna, a former justice of the Indian Supreme Court, inviting the Ministry
to designate its own arbitrator within the next 60 days.
On 1 January 2014, the Indian Ministry of Defence formally communicated its decision to cancel/terminate/rescind the contract, reserving the right to seek damages, provisionally estimated at an amount equal to about €mil. 648, and simultaneously notified the company that it had taken steps to execute the guarantees and counter-guarantees given in relation to the aforesaid contract in the total amount of €mil. 306. On the same date, the Indian Ministry, altering its stance as expressed on 21 October 2013, appointed its own arbitrator, the Hon. Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, a former judge of the Indian Supreme Court.
On 7 August 2014 the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris appointed William W. Park, Professor of Law at the Boston University, to act as the third arbitrator. On 28 October 2014, the Indian Ministry of Defence filed a defence brief raising a number of preliminary objections challenging, among other things, whether the case could be referred to arbitration. The company, in addition to challenging such objections, will, once the decision on the preliminary questions is issued, restate the reasonableness of its claims, also in light of the ruling handed down by the Court of Busto Arsizio on 9 October 2014 in the context of the immediate trial against the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Leonardo SpA and against the former Chief Executive Officer of AgustaWestland SpA. The arbitration proceedings are still underway.
It should be recalled that, on 23 May 2014, in the framework of the proceedings pursuant to Article 700 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure brought by AgustaWestland SpA and AgustaWestland International Ltd to prevent the enforcement of the guarantees, the Court of Milan – in partial acceptance of the complaint submitted by the Indian Ministry of Defence – partially amended the order it had previously handed down and revoked its injunction with regard to the whole amount of the Performance Bond equal to about €mil. 28 and up to an amount of about €mil. 200 as regards the Advance Bank Guarantees, as only about €mil. 50 of the guarantees cannot be enforced (corresponding to the reduction that, according to the contract, was to be made from the Advance Bank Guarantees after the customer accepted three of the helicopters).
As to the portion of the delivery already made (3 helicopters already delivered, plus spare parts and support), which is only partially covered by the advances received and not subject to the enforceability of the guarantees, the recoverability of the net assets recognised in the Group's financial statements (€mil. 110), as well as the recognition of any compensation to be paid or received, are dependent upon the outcome of the proceedings underway.


text:
Please take a moment to tell us more about yourself and help us keep unwanted emails out of your inbox.
We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. You agree to our use of cookies by closing this message box or continuing to use our site. To find out more, see our Privacy Terms.
This guide provides basic knowledge of how the drill press, mill, lathe, EDM and cutting tools operate, as well as strengths and limitations of each technology to help improve engineers' designs.... Read more »
Electric discharge machining (EDM), laser cutters and plasma cutters offer you alternative ways to cut metal parts at different speeds. We share what you need to know about these machine tools.... Read more »
A taskforce comprised of orthopedic competitors and partners is working to create a welding engineering specification, focusing on instruments and an educational component. ... Read more »
Additive manufacturing software company Betatype significantly increased the production of 3D-printed metal orthopaedic implants using its technology platform and Renishaw's RenAM 500Q powder bed fusion printer.... Read more »
The manufacturer of stainless steel tubing is celebrating its 45th anniversary with a new logo, color scheme and website.... Read more »
The precision wire manufacturer will lease space formerly occupied by GE.... Read more »
Design for Manufacture and Assembly software allows engineers to evaluate, estimate and reduce manufacturing costs of a product in the design phase... Read more »
Considering surgical techniques, regulations and technologies together as a whole, expect to see significant changes in orthopaedics over the next decade. Here we present seven shifts that OEMs should consider when choosing new product development initiatives.... Read more »
The collaboration will deliver a new concept in factory automation that will enable manufacturers to efficiently produce complex metal parts.... Read more »
This capability enables robust processing of harder materials, such as spring tempered steel and heat-treated stainless steel.... Read more »
This alternative approach to Lean and Six Sigma allows executives to build business success by making decisions guided by practical, scientific principles.... Read more »
The company's new, larger home is located in Chicago, near its current facility.... Read more »
The company attributes part of its increase in gross margin to higher sales in the medical industry, specifically for coatings on implantable devices.... Read more »
"The laser is one of the most versatile tools an engineer has," one supplier says. "Lasers can not only be used for traceability and company identification (logos, names, etc.), but also incorporate anti-counterfeit measures by having permanent markings on products."... Read more »
The silicone-molded tools allow OEMs to distinguish themselves by offering ergonomic, customized handles and instruments.... Read more »
It is recommended to implement your optimal management of inventory, capacity and response time buffers to get the best possible solution for your unique challenges.... Read more »
Investments will be made in facility square footage and new equipment.... Read more »
Topics of interest included a deep dive into the role of advanced data analytics in manufacturing and the future of ceramics in the spine space.... Read more »
The Quick Ship Program provides expedited delivery of both French and standard catheter mandrels.... Read more »
The company specializes in CNC milling and serves several industries, including medical.... Read more »
The ultimate goal is to ensure that all medical device products manufactured or distributed in the U.S. are both safe and effective for human use. ... Read more »
The musculoskeletal health business accelerator adds expertise focused on manufacturing/operations, reimbursement and grant writing.... Read more »
The company is adding a fifth 3D printer to its manufacturing facility.... Read more »
New coating equipment will be utilized as well as new cleaning facilities in its coating center... Read more »
The $15 million center will employ up to 50 employees within the 29,000-square-foot facility.... Read more »
G&S specializes in titanium and specialty alloy wire and bar drawing.... Read more »
The Härryda, Sweden space will open in 1Q19 ... Read more »
The investment includes an upgrade of manufacturing facilities and other peripherals.... Read more »
This global innovation hub will advance AM technical standards, related research and development, education, training and more.... Read more »
The company received a Manufacturer of the Year award.... Read more »
The company now features an ISO Class 7 clean room.... Read more »
The orthopaedic device company is investing more than $7 million in manufacturing and research.... Read more »
The addition includes a new Class 8 clean room at their 70,000-square-foot facility in Litchfield, Minnesota. ... Read more »
To allow GE Additive to meet the growing industry demand for additive components, they are seeking to identify companies to become certified additive production centers by the end of the year.... Read more »
The collective brain power and skill set of the individuals within a company make that business successful. The orthopaedic industry faces hiring obstacles that hinder company and, ultimately, industry growth.... Read more »
The company machined 40,000 pieces in its Ohio manufacturing facility in 2016.... Read more »
FDA has issued final guidance on Medical Device Reporting (MDR) for Manufacturers. The goal of the guidance, says FDA, is to detect and correct device problems in a timely manner.... Read more »
In order for additive manufacturing to move from tinkering technology to widely-used process, it's imperative to prove its long-term benefits. In May, researchers, surgeons, device companies and additive manufacturing suppliers gathered to develop guidelines to build data and support reimbursement... Read more »
Saint-Gobain Abrasives has added a new line of centerless grinding wheels to its bonded abrasives portfolio.
The newly developed Norton Century45 centerless bond platform features an exclusive chemistry that improves grain retention in the wheel. Better grain retention means wheels are constructed ... Read more »
Invibio, the first company to sell implant-grade polyetheretherketone or PEEK, agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it violated antitrust law by using long-term, exclusive contracts to maintain a market monopoly.... Read more »
Methods 3D, a subsidiary of Methods Machine Tools, announced the addition of the ProJet® MJP 3600 to its line of 3D printers and direct metal 3D printers from 3D Systems.
Methods 3D has installed the ProJet MJP 3600 within its multiple technology centers across the U.S. to provide product demonstr... Read more »
Arcam, supplier of Additive Manufacturing (AM) equipment, announced that its powder manufacturing subsidiary AP&C in Montreal, Canada, is building a new powder manufacturing plant.
The new facility will provide manufacturing redundancy, short term capacity increase and long term expansion capa... Read more »
Acme Manufacturing, specialist in design and manufacturing of integrated robotic automation for polishing, buffing, deburring and grinding systems, has appointed Dan Sula, MScEng, as Director of Engineering.
Sula has over 30 years of experience and success in manufacturing engineering, flexible rob... Read more »
Saint-Gobain Abrasives introduced Norton QUANTUM3™ (NQ3) Depressed Center Grinding Wheels. Featuring a proprietary grain along with a tougher bond system containing a combination of fillers and bonding agents that allow for better mix quality in manufacturing, NQ3 provides faster grinding for ... Read more »
Adaptive designs have emerged as an attractive alternative to traditional clinical studies due to the potential to reduce resources, time and costs. However, several critical components must be considered to determine whether such a trial design is a fit for you.... Read more »
When it comes to outsourcing, the traditional role of suppliers is based upon their core competencies in manufacturing or specialty services.... Read more »
Additive manufacturing and the domination of digital communication and information transfer pose new concerns for manufacturers.... Read more »
For orthopaedic device manufacturers, new concerns are cropping up during the device testing process due to regulatory changes and the emergence of new materials and technologies in the industry.... Read more »
It is often difficult for orthopaedic device manufacturers to fill certain positions, due to the technical requirements and high-level skills needed for the job. Collaboration among stakeholders is necessary to secure qualified workers.... Read more »
Most companies may be satisfied with continuing to utilize the lean principles that they have implemented and, through continuous improvement, work to refine and improve their performance. But there is a key next step that businesses can take to further drive lean manufacturing improvements and resu... Read more »
Analysts have predicted that by 2018, 3D printing will result in a loss of $100 billion per year in IP globally. Here is a look at why enforcing one's IP against 3D printer infringers will be challenging.... Read more »
A manufacturer that fails to segregate indirect and support costs driven by the operation of equipment from those driven by the work of individuals will seldom arrive at product or process costs that reflect economic reality.... Read more »
Manufacturers often use a 200-year-old, outdated process to arrive at the cost of producing product. Failure to incorporate these 21st century cost components leads to inappropriate and unprofitable pricing and investments.... Read more »
Page 1 of 2
Resorbable Polymer Implants: Remove Risk During Manufacturing, Sterilization and Packaging
This white paper seeks to identify critical considerations for Work-In-Process Exposure vulnerabilities of resorbable polymers. A disciplined assessment of the different contributors to the Overall Exposure Risk supports fact-based decisions to establish repeatable and capable manufacturing, packagi...


text:
Thu, 13 August 2015
You can support UTMNT by visiting Patreon and donate and support UTMNT through issue one and hopefully beyond! Every little bit helps! Donations can be as small as $1! To find out more information go to http://www.patreon.com/UTMNT
Over 100,000 titles to choose from! Sign up and get a free audiobook and a 14 day trial by clicking here!
Or sign up by visiting http://www.audibletrial.com/GoodBadGeeky
Direct download: GBG_261_-_The_Frustration_About_The_Fantastic_Four.mp3
Category:TV, Movies & Popculture -- posted at: 12:31pm EST


text:
NFL Quarterback Club 2001 - Nintendo 64 *Ugly (Game Only)
Video Game Trader LLC
$ 4.99
SKU: acgd3877
Sorry, this item is out of stock
QC returns for another season. For the third time around, improvements over the previous titles include far more player detail and animations during plays (thanks to 1200 motion captured moves) and more moves and strategies.
In terms of gameplay, the usual assortment of options are included, from full team management (trades, drafting, etc.) to create a player and create a team modes. Play with 4 people in Tournament, Season, Playoffs, Pro Bowl and Exhibition games, along with the chance to re-live past Super Bowls.


text:
The word "Wasilah" (means) has a wide range of meanings which include anything or any action that helps get nearer to Almighty God. In view of the fact that the universe has been created on the basis of the intricate system of cause and effect, causes and caused for guidance and perfection of mankind, and just as man's natural needs are met through material causes, in the same way the ... Read More »
WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ISLAM/Imamate (Leadership with Divine Authority)
In the discussion of prophethood, it was proven that it was essential that God, the Wise, should dispatch messengers for the guidance of mankind, should provide them with the laws and commandments so that they could achieve prosperity and perfection; now we say that: Since the life of messenger is not eternal in the world and through his demise it is quite possible that divine commandments which came for the ... Read More »
Guarding the Creed
The Shiite creed, right from its expansion at the time of the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) and Imams (a.s.) was subject to attack by the enemies and more so during the time of occultation. This is because by the twelfth Imam's absence, they find the arena empty and thus utilise this opportunity by misguiding and deviating the people. Those who truly and sincerely await the Imam of the age (a.t.f.s.) are responsible ... Read More »
Unanimity for Assisting Imam az-Zaman
Numerous reasons have been mentioned for the occultation and concealment of Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.). Among them, we may mention the fickle and unfaithful attitude among the people. About Imam az-Zaman, Khwaja Nasir- uddin Tusi writes: "His existence is grace and his domination yet another grace; his occultation and concealment is due to us."1 If the people desire their Imam's advent, they must get united by heart in this respect and ... Read More »
Patience and Resistance Against the Enemies
Considering that the period of occultation has stretched too far, the enemies take undue advantage of the situation and taunt and vex the followers of Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.). Some say: He has not been born. Another group writes: He has come and left! Yet, some consider the Shias to be liars and label them as superstitious and ignorant people! As we truly know and conceive that Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.) is ... Read More »
Sorrow and Grief for Imam of the Age
Among the signs of love and affection for something or someone is that after missing or losing that thing or person, a person is overtaken by grief and sorrow and farther up, tears roll down his cheek. If we reflect nicely, we shall perceive that from the viewpoint of faith, Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.) is the most beloved personality to be loved and his absence a great calamity. Didn't the holy ... Read More »
Praying for Imam of the Age
Prayer for hastening Imam's advent is a command from Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.) himself. As he (a.t.f.s.) says: "And pray abundantly for hastening the 'faraj' (respite) [i.e. Imam's advent], for that is your very respite and deliverance from entanglements."1 The divine 'faqih', Mirza Husain Nouri writes: "Among the duties is to pray for the safety of the blessed life of Imam (a.t.f.s.) from the satanic evils of men and jinn and ... Read More »
Preparedness for Assisting the Imam of the Age
Allah, the Almighty says: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ "O you who believe! Be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful." (Surah Ali- Imran, 3:200) Imam Baqir (a.s.) interpreted this verse as follows: "Adopt patience while following the religious laws and forbear the harms inflicted by your enemies and be ... Read More »
Serving the Imam of the Age
Imam Sadiq (a.s.) was asked: 'Has the Qaem been born?' Imam (a.s.) replied: "No. If I were to meet him I would serve him all my life."1 Ayatullah Sayyed Muhammad Taqi Musawi Esfahani says: This tradition signifies that serving the Imam (a.t.f.s.) is the highest form of worship and the most beloved form of obedience. This is because Imam Sadiq (a.s.) who has spent his noble life only on the ... Read More »
Inviting the People towards Imam of the Age
The divine duty of every human being is to save his fellow creatures from perversion and wretchedness. And as certified by Imam Askari (a.s.), anyone who dies while not having recognized the Imam of his time has died in ignorance.1 Thus, those who have recognized their Imam and have faith in him have another duty of introducing Imam (a.t.f.s.) to others. Sulaiman-ibn-Khalid says: I informed Imam Sadiq (a.s.) that my ... Read More »


text:
EBA notes lack of common understanding of drug quality control rules by territorial bodies of State Medicines Service
The European Business Association (EBA) has noted a lack of common understanding by the territorial bodies of the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control of the rules of state control over the quality of medicines.
Executive Director of the EBA Health Care Committee Natalia Serhienko told Interfax-Ukraine there is a problem with the objective assessment by the territorial authorities of the medicines, which are imported to Ukraine in accordance with the established regulatory requirements.
"The same drug with the same package of documents, which the company provides to obtain conclusion on the quality, can be immediately released to the market by one territorial agency and simultaneously have a number of remark from another," she said.
Comments of the territorial bodies of the regulator are not accompanied by official letters and most often arise at the last stage of assessment of the package of documents of the importing company, according to which there appears a barrier to their access to final consumers as drugs are delayed in the warehouses without any justifications.
In her opinion, the comments of the department on the discrepancy of the quality certificate, which is adopted by the regulatory bodies of the countries of the European Union, indicate that "the country does not accept European practices on this part."


text:
The Orange Seal Versa-valves are the best tubeless valves I've tried so far. They're well designed, easy to seal and sturdy. If you're struggling to seal your rims with other valves on the market it might be worth forking out the rather salty £19.99 for a set of these.
- Pros: Easy to fit, sturdy
- Cons: Expensive
These valves specifically address some issues I've had with other valves. Firstly, you generally need to do them up tight to get a seal. That can be hard with the small lockring that you normally get, which often has me resorting to pliers, which can scuff the ring. The Versa-valve locking ring has flats machined on each side so you can do it up with a 9mm spanner, making the job a whole lot easier.
> Find your nearest dealer here
Secondly, I've had valves fail when the rubber grommet that seals the rim has pulled away from the shaft, having been bonded on. That can't happen here: the alloy shaft has an extended flat section the top, and the grommet just slides on and is held in place by that. You can choose from two types of grommet – conical and half-cylinder – and both are included, as are spare valve cores and a valve core tool.
The choice of grommets means they should fit pretty much any rim; I fitted them to Hunt rims and Reynolds rims and got a seal easily in both cases. The only issue was on the Hunt rim, where the asymmetric rim shape meant that the locking ring didn't sit flush and the rubber O-ring poked out a bit, but it still sealed fine.
The Versa-valves are available in four lengths up to 80mm so you should be fine with anything up to a 50mm section road rim. Orange Seal has clearly considered the issues with current valves and its solutions are very neat and work very well. They're expensive – £19.99 is more or less top dollar for tubeless valves – but they perform very well, and if you struggle with sealing your rims they're probably worth the extra tenner over a cheaper set.
The best tubeless valves I've used yet, at a price
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Orange Seal Versa-valves
Size tested: 32mm
Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Orange Seal says, "VersaValve consists of a valve stem with a large, sturdy base plate that can be fitted with different shaped rubber grommets. The large base plate ensures a solid contact with the rim bed and the adaptable grommets guarantee an airtight fit on all shapes and depths of rim. VersaValve will work on most rims: mountain, road or CX. Grommets are easily replaceable and the various stem lengths mean valve extenders are no longer necessary on deep section wheels."
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
From Orange Seal:
Universal fit. One valve for all rim types
Ideal for road, mountain, CX, and ALL presta valve applications
Four lengths: 32mm, 48mm, 60mm, 80mm
Replaceable grommets
Handy paired packaging includes VersaValve stems, two types of grommet, extra valve cores, RVC tool
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Very well: sealed every time and easy to use.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Design addresses three problems very well.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
They're more or less the most expensive ones out there; basic tubeless valves can be had for less than half this.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
They're the best designed tubeless valves I've used, but you pay for that privilege.
About the tester
Age: 45
I usually ride: whatever I'm testing... My best bike is: Kinesis Tripster ATR, Merida Scultura
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, cyclo cross, commuting, touring, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mountain biking, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.


text: Test Test post By Nancy Seybold|2018-08-31T19:43:58+00:00August 31st, 2018|Clinical Trials, Patient Stories|0 Comments Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditTumblrPinterestVkEmail About the Author: Nancy Seybold Leave A Comment Cancel replyComment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


text:
The Federal Budget has committed funding to create a national injury prevention plan following research and advocacy efforts by University of Sydney scholars and the Child Injury Prevention Alliance.
To read more head to http://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/05/29/research-impact–budget-funds-kids–injury-prevention-plan.html
We are happy to announce that the Australian government has pledged:
- $0.9 million over three years from 2018-19 to develop a new National Injury Prevention Strategy;
- $1.0 million over two years from 2018-19 for the KIDS Foundation to provide the SeeMore Safety program to 5,000 kindergartens and preschools;
- $6.3 million over four years from 2018-19 to develop the Safe Sports Australia program and a national sports injury database to improve the safety of sports participation by young people;
- $50.0 million in 2018-19 and $50.0 million in 2020-21 for a Health Innovation Fund to fund trials that support preventive health innovations and better use of health data.
We will keep you updated once we know more about the details.
In the meantime, the full Budget can be viewed via – bp2_combined
The National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell has written to Federal Health Minister the Hon. Greg Hunt MP endorsing the creation and funding of a National Injury Prevention Commission to drive a national injury prevention strategy and action plan. In her letter, Commissioner Mitchell urges Minister Hunt for his support to CHIPA in establishing a forward agenda to reduce childhood injuries.
The full letter can be viwed via – 18.04.10 Letter to Hon.Greg Hunt MP
Children have a statistically significantly higher risk of dying from their injuries if their usual residence is regional/remote Australia.
Children injured in transport incidents have twice the mortality risk compared to other injury types twelve months post injury.
Unadjusted child deaths following injury hospitalisation have increased (up from 108 to 149 deaths a year).
This FREE guide contains valuable information that could save a child's life.
Please download it, share this page with friends and family – make a difference!
"It takes a village to raise a child"
Transport-related injuries rank as the second most costly mechanism of injury for children.
Falls represent almost 40% of injury hospital admissions and are the most common injury for children across all age groups (0-16).


text:
Stephen Harper spent the better part of two decades hammering Preston Manning's Reform Party into a shape that could be palatable to a plurality of Canadians, in all regions of the country. His crowning political achievement was the Conservative majority victory of May 5, 2011.
The Canadian Trumpist movement, led by the charisma-challenged Kellie Leitch, the oleaginous Steven Blaney and soon the trash-talking Kevin O'Leary, is unraveling Harper's life's work by the day. The electoral effects promise to be devastating. Curiously, there's little the party can do to prevent it.
You may recall how, in the summer of 1991, Manning — with policy advice from a bright, ambitious young man named Stephen Harper — made a concerted push into Ontario, establishing riding associations and identifying potential candidates. Some of those early meetings were marked by what later became known as bozo eruptions; anti-immigrant, anti-Quebec, sexist or otherwise intemperate remarks that painted Reform in a xenophobic light.
Manning, who is anything but a xenophobe, worked hard to excise that element from his movement. But in a grass-roots party such as Reform was, the filter is limited. If you liberate speech you're going to get some nuts, as more than one early Reformer put it to me at the time. There were electoral consequences. Though Reform broke through in the 1993 election, taking 52 seats, only one was east of Manitoba.
This was a Western protest party. It would remain so, de facto, until a decade later when, renamed the Canadian Alliance, it merged with what remained of the Progressive Conservative party to form the Conservative Party of Canada. The principal architects of the union, Harper the Albertan and Peter MacKay the Maritimer, were emblematic of the regional and political synthesis they led. Together they ended the march of majorities won by the Jean Chretien-Paul Martin Liberals in the elections of 1993, 1997 and 2000. In 2004, with the Martin-led Liberals reduced to a minority, Harper began his ascent.
The history is relevant because it reminds us of the important ideological shift Harper made on his road to lasting power. He not only learned French, but became fluent. He set aside Reform's one-size-fits-all constitutionalism in favour of, in 2006, recognition of the Quebecois as a nation. Though reportedly an evangelical Christian himself, Harper repudiated any religious-conservative drift in the party, most notably tamping down efforts to revive the abortion debate. Excoriated by his critics as a warmonger, it was Harper who wound down the Canadian war effort in Afghanistan, beginning in 2010.
Most important, from an electoral standpoint, Harper and his "Minister of Curry-in-a-Hurry," Jason Kenney, embraced new Canadians. That effort, chronicled by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson in their 2013 book The Big Shift, was critical to the party's winning key Greater Toronto Area seats in 2011, delivering the majority. In that sense the party's most controversial gambit of the 2015 election, an attempt to capitalize on resentment of the niqab, the veil worn by some Muslim women, was not only reckless and opportunistic, but out of character. In 2015, new Canadians in Ontario shifted en masse back to their old home in the Liberal party.
Which brings us back to Leitch and Blaney. It would be unfair (to Conservatives) to suggest these two represent the mainstream of Conservative opinion in Canada. But Leitch, in particular, has consumed much of the oxygen in the party's leadership race, to be decided in May, due to her positions on immigration. She wants to test immigrants for Canadian values and make them pay for the test. Blaney wants to ban the niqab. Translated from the dog whistle, these are naked attempts to ride Trump's coattails. O'Leary (who has yet to officially enter the race but is expected to within days) is pro-immigration and an avowed pluralist. But his flame-throwing, brash, outsider style is all Trump.
O'Leary seems to believe that, if he talks enough trash about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the global populist wave will carry him up. The net effect is to draw attention and money away from other candidates much more in line with the principles of Harper-era conservatism; pro-free trade, fiscally conservative, socially progressive or neutral, pro-immigration. This list includes Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong and Lisa Raitt, among others.
Here's the problem this presents for Conservative supporters, in a nutshell: The electoral topography of Canada hasn't fundamentally changed. Liberal support in the aggregate remains at close to 44 per cent, according to poll aggregator ThreeHundredEight.com, with the New Democrats at just above 15 per cent.
Even assuming the existing first-past-the-post system remains in place in 2019, the Conservatives will need to move from under 30 per cent, to close to 40 per cent, for a win. The quest for those votes will lead them directly back to the new Canadians in the GTA they so assiduously courted in 2010 and 2011, and whom Leitch and Blaney are casually tossing overboard right now.
This may be the era of the Brexit and Trump. In Canada, electoral math is still electoral math.
firstname.lastname@example.com | Twitter: mdentandt


text:
Dark Lord Day 2010 – The Pre-Blog
The time is upon us. I'll be attending my first ever Three Floyds Dark Lord Day on Saturday.
Now I know what you're thinking. "Oh, you n00b. I've gone to like 5 of these. Where were you all this time?" Well, I've been living in California, that's where. Three Floyds unfortunately does not distribute there. But I do chuckle when I see people looking for trades asking for Russian River's Pliny The Elder, which the bar closest to my old apartment in San Diego had for $3 on Monday nights. Different parts of the country get different stuff. C'est la vie. Now, Pliny hasn't touched my lips for 7 months or so, but an allotment of one of the most badass Russian Imperial Stouts will be mine tomorrow.Weep, Californians. Weep.
BeerNews.org has a good post here with some links to more Dark Lord Day info. The highlight, of course, being that this year's Dark Lord is rumored to be a 15% ABV monster that packs 700 calories into a 22oz. bottle. Wow.
My camera is duct-taped up and ready to go, so hopefully I'll take some good photos and have a nice media rich post-event blog. Until then, cheers!


text:
The documents published by the Nordic Monitor website included secret statistical data kept by the intelligence department of the Turkish gendarmerie from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2016, and made clear that the Turkish courts had convicted only 224 people, 37% of the total 607 detainees.
In the same period, the Gendarmerie, which has wide authority as a law enforcement agency in the border and rural areas, arrested 311 Turkish terrorists, only 39% of whom were convicted by the Turkish judiciary, and the rest were released.
The Swedish site pointed out that these figures represent a small part of the real numbers, in light of the lack of intelligence documents to comprehensive inventory of the number of detainees, prepared by the police department.
The website said that the data did not provide any information on the number of detainees released during the trial, while the Nordic Monitor noted that the majority of individuals who were arrested on charges of belonging to Daesh and al-Qaeda organizations in Turkey were released quickly during the course of legal procedures in the court.
In the Turkish criminal justice system, the real number of convictions of terrorists was very low because of the lenient political environment provided by the AKP. It pointed out that the authorities provided a picture of the real figures based on official records about what happened in those years with regard to foreigners who arrived in Turkey on their way to join the terrorist organizations active in Syria and Iraq, especially Daesh and al- Qaeda.
The Swedish site confirmed that the period from 2014 to 2016 witnessed a significant increase in the number of foreign fighters who came to Turkey on their way to join the terrorist organizations in Syria, and added, "In 2014, only eight people arrived to Ankara, coming from Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Azerbaijan, and they were arrested by the Gendarmerie. The following year, the number reached 499, and the list of countries they came from expanded to include the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Japan, China, Russia, India and others."
The intelligence documents divided foreign detainees into terrorists, collaborators, sympathizers, and instigators, and did not have any information on how the Turkish army registered detainees according to different classifications, and what criteria were used to distinguish them.
The figures showed that the number of foreign and Turkish detainees reached 700 men, while the number of women was 202 women and 16 children.


text:
Sales can be the bane of a small business owner's existence. Limited budgets and limited time sometimes put a constraint on profits. So how can you sell more effectively? I caught up with marketing expert John Jantsch, author of the new book Duct Tape Selling - Think Like a Marketer, Sell Like a Superstar to get some answers:
CR: I am the daughter of an electrician, so I know how useful duct tape can be, but I never think of it in the context of sales. How does "Duct Tape" play a role in sales?
JJ: Well, duct tape itself doesn't apply like it might have to your father, but the concept of the value of duct tape certainly does. Now that buyers have access to almost perfect information there's no need to even engage a sales person unless she can provide something useful. For many people duct tape is one of the most "useful" tools around and sales people who take this view will be welcomed to the table.
CR: A lot of small business owners get confused between sales and marketing. What's the difference between them and what kind of attention should be paid to each?
JJ: In the most traditional sense, marketing created and owned the message with the market as a whole, and sales created and owned the relationship with the market on a one to one basis. The key to making these two functions work today is to understand that each must play a coordinated role in guiding every prospect on a highly personalized journey.
CR: What's changed most about sales over the last few years?
JJ: The thing that has changed most about selling over the last few years is buying. Prospective buyers no longer need a sales person to provide information, they can get that from a host of potentially more balanced sources. Today, they need sales people who can diagnose problems they don't even know exist, provide insights on markets and trends and make the process of buying a remarkable experience.
CR: You advocate for choosing your ideal customers. However, small business owners often want to take any business they can get just to pay the bills. How can they be more choosy?
JJ: Loyal customers are created by choosing the right customers. The only way you can do that is to fully understand who that is and, for some a much easier task, who that is not. By studying both the makeup and behavior of your most profitable clients and those that also refer business you will probably get a pretty clear picture of the type of client that is ideal for your business. When you take any business you can you get clients you can't actually serve well and instead of just paying the bills you end up creating detractors instead of loyal customers.
CR: Small business owners often have limited budgets for sales and marketing. What are your tips for them to do more with less?
JJ: The advice I give to small business owners, marketing department heads and independent sales people alike when it comes to making something out of nothing is to build a strategic partner network. When you assess all of the needs of your existing customers and look to build a "best of class" team that can serve those needs you have the seed of one of the most powerful marketing platforms possible.
For more information on Duct Tape Selling, follow John Jantsch on Twitter @DuctTape and download a free chapter of Duct Tape Selling - Think Like a Marketer, Sell Like a Superstar here: http://ducttapeselling.com/.


text:
I'm sort of a packaging junkie. I love find different kinds of packaging that I can use for everything, and anything.
Most of the time when Stampin' UP has something cute when it comes to packaging up goodies I purchase a several packs, and then I hoard them.
I recently did this with the cute new mini pizza boxes.
These Kraft Take Out Boxes where in the Holiday Catalog 2 years ago, and I still have a ton of them around. I thought I would use these to create something cute for you today.
{Quick And Cute Fall Take Out Boxes}
I really enjoyed creating these Watercolored leaves. I made sure to use Watercolor paper so that the all the different inks could soak into them shapes, and move around without messing up the paper.
It is not often that I want to dive into inky projects like this, however once I got started creating these beautiful leaves I simply couldn't stop.
This is the perfect project to get you in the mood for Fall! I think these would look amazing strung up as a banner in your home!
You can purchase any of these products in my online store HERE, or by clicking on the photo below. Please use Host Code: 4P3EPHK4 when ordering!
When you purchase $50.00, or more from me I will send you out this months appreciation gift. This month you will receive a Stitched Felt Tag Kit, The snowflake Embossing Folder, and 2 Card Kits.
I really don't like using retired product here on my website because the entire point of my sharing projects is so that you can recreate them if you want.
However, sometimes it just works out that way. If you don't have any of these cute take out boxes left from when Stampin UP! was selling them I have linked a few boxes that could work for you.
{Options For Take Out Boxes & Other Supplies I Used}
- 8oz Kraft Take Out Boxes – This a a awesome price. You 50 of them so you will have enough on hand to create amazing gifts to give out.
- 32oz White Take Out Boxes – These are smaller, but would work great as well.
- White Favor Boxes – These are not "take out" boxes, but they are super cute. This is a pack of 100 so you may want to go in with a friend for these.
- 8 oz Mason Jars – You can get these any where these day, your local Target or Walmart. This link will take you to Amazon if you want to just get some ordered.
- Perfect Pearls – This is amazing product. I love having it on hand.
I end up using treat boxes for so many different things. Mostly they end up going to my kids school, either for their class treats, or teacher gifts.
Handmade gifts are so fun to give!
Some of the other places I like to drop of treat is at our local bank, post office or even our local small market.
I would love to know what your creating these days! Head over to my Facebook Page HERE and share a photo with me.