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Hughes always looking forward, never back
After up-and-down tenure with Yanks, righty anticipating fresh start with Twins
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Phil Hughes is happy to be a member of the Twins, a tad disappointed in how he left the Yankees, but looking forward, always looking forward.
The right-hander will forever have his fondest memories. He played with the famed Core Four -- Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, particularly building a great relationship with Pettitte -- before their careers petered out.
There was the 2009 World Series title, the last thus far of 27 for the Yankees. Fond memories, but now just that. Hughes is the anticipated anchor of Minnesota's revamped pitching staff.
"The change of scenery can't hurt," Hughes told MLB.com while seated in front of his locker before working out with his new team at Hammond Stadium on Thursday. "Not to say that I couldn't have had success if I had stayed in New York, not to say that it was wearing on me, but there are certain times in relationships when you feel it's better to move on. So I think the change of scenery will do me some good and I'm looking for some big things here."
Hughes, now 27, is a Southern California kid and a lifetime Yankee. A first-round pick -- 23rd overall -- in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, he came up in New York's system. Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain were the young arms the Yankees staked the future on just like a generation ago the Mets had hoped to build an era around pitchers Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson. In both cases, it didn't happen.
The Yankees' trio of such promise is now scattered to the wind. Kennedy was traded by the Yanks to the D-backs and is now pitching in San Diego and, like Hughes this past offseason, Chamberlain moved on to the Tigers as a free agent.
"I mean, that's baseball," Hughes said. "In a perfect world, you all remain starters and you're winning 20 games for the team that drafted you. As you've seen thousands of times before us, that's just not the case. Sometimes the expectations for you are blown up so far it's hard to reach that level.
"But I have no regrets about my time in New York, whether I was supposed to be the next whoever. Sometimes that's hard to live up to. I'm not going to say that all my years in New York were disappointments, because I don't feel that way. I feel like I grew a lot there. I feel like I had some successful times, and obviously some not so successful times, too. Sometimes it's unfortunate that you leave somewhere on a bad note. That's how things ended up. But that's life."
Hughes, an 18-game-winner in 2010 and a 16-game winner in '12, struggled through a 4-14 record with a 5.19 ERA last season. It was one of those injury-plagued years for the Yankees and one of those off years for Hughes when almost every pitch he elevated seemed to land in the bleachers. The upside to Hughes is still his huge potential. If there's a downside, it's his propensity for allowing homers, 24 last year, 35 the year before and 112 in his seven-year career.
That should be negated somewhat with a home-field switch for Hughes from homer-happy Yankee Stadium to Target Field. The 142 homers allowed last year at the yard in Minneapolis was next to last in the American League and 25 less than the ballpark in the Bronx.
That fact certainly played into his decision about signing with Minnesota, Hughes said, after mutually determining that a return to New York was just not an option. The Twins, Angels and Mariners were his top three choices. Playing in Anaheim, just north of his hometown of Santa Ana, was enticing, but Hughes ultimately jumped at the three-year, $24 million contract offered by the Twins.
"The Angels were right there," Hughes said. "Seattle made a good push. But Minnesota gave me the years that I wanted, and obviously the ballpark is more conducive to my style of pitching. I just thought that was a good fit for me, so that was that. I felt like it was the right place."
And so, Hughes is training about two hours south of Tampa, Fla., and his old Yankees mates as he settles into his new digs. Hughes is looking forward to having a healthy and full Spring Training this year after back problems sidelined him all last spring, which he thinks might have been the root of his problems.
"I didn't have a Spring Training game last year and was supposed to make a rehab start, but that got squashed and I made my first start in Detroit," Hughes said. "Spring Training is there for a reason. It's a time to figure out what's going wrong. I just didn't have the repetitions and the innings I needed to get ready for a season."
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Hughes will have those reps and innings this spring.
Meanwhile, Hughes has watched with interest as Jeter announced his retirement and he continues to exchange text messages with CC Sabathia, one of his best friends on the team.
"That's the things you miss the most when you leave somewhere, those relationships that you've built," said Hughes. "You can't replace those things. Obviously with Jeter's last year, there's going to be a lot of hoopla over that. It'll be fun to see his going out party. I'm kind of glad I can view that from a distance."
Hughes knows. He was there last season for Rivera's grand finale tour and the departure of Pettitte, who Hughes called a lifesaver.
"We were real close," Hughes said about Pettitte. "He was like a father figure to me. Ever since my first Spring Training, he took it upon himself to be a mentor. We shared lockers for the last few years. He was a guy I could lean on if there were ever issues or problems. So I was glad to be there for his last season."
Now, suddenly Hughes is the young veteran, pitching for a ballclub that really needs him. Sitting in front of his new locker in a different environment, he is not the kid anymore. Hughes knows he may soon become the mentor to some yet-to-be identified young man.
Looking forward, always looking forward.


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Seakayaking- continuation course in Roslagens archipelago with Kajak och UtelivAdresse: Gräddö brygga , 76015 Gräddö Karte anzeigen
Adresse: Gräddö brygga , 76015 Gräddö
The courses is intended for people who have started with kayaking but want to learn more in a short time. In a safe and secure environment, we give you the knowledge that will allow you to paddle and enjoy our beautiful inner and outer archipelago.
Continuation course 1 - Forward Paddling:
Forward paddling technique is something we sometimes forget when we practice the perfect role ,high brace or the most effective sweep time. What we forget is that it is the technique we spend almost all our time on when we are out and paddling! The course puts most focus on just forward paddling , we will be practicing trunk rotation and getting an efficient and functional technique. In the afternoon we practice several stering stroke and self-rescue exercises.
Course elements : Efficient forward paddling , paddling backward , stop, lateral movement, low brace, paddlefloat rescue and buddy rescue.
Continuation course 2 - Technique
Have you been out on a few trips, begin to feel comfortable sitting in a kayak but would like to get a little better at maneuvering your kayak. What is the most effective way to get turned your kayak ? Do you now how to get support when a large wave breaks against your kayak ? In continuation course 2 the focus is mainly on improving various forms of maneuvering and support technique. We don´t paddle a great distance, but we focus more on the concept of " practice, practice , practice ... " At the end of the day we will also focus on some different rescue exercises.
Course elements : Efficient forward paddling, stern rudder, paddle in a figure of 8, paddling in a figure of 8 backwards, bow rudder, high brace, edging, paddlefloat rescue.
Continuation course 3 - Safety
Have you ever thought about what happens if someone collapses in the group you paddle with ? What if someone is injured or becomes so tired that it is not able to paddle all the way back ? Continuation course 3 is the course that focuses on safety when we are out and paddle . What dangers do we have out there and how do we avoid them in the best way . We focus on things like the right preparation , towing and buddy rescue and self-rescue . This is a wet course and several changes of clothes may be needed. Course elements : Theory and discussion on how we can reduce the risks of paddling , towing , edging the kayak , high brace , various types of rescues ( buddyrescue , paddlefloatrescue, role) .
Course include:
Kayak with right equipment, PFD, wet-suit, map, instructor, course certificate.
Own equipment:
Outdoor clothes (not jeans or cotton clothes), long johns and and a long sleved top t.ex. craft, wet-weather clothes, swimsuit, towel, watersafe footwear, sunscreen, sunhat, sunglasses, waterbottle, something warm to drink, lunch, snack. change of clothes, because you will get wet during this course.

subset: commoncrawl


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Warren Buffett's favorite bank isn't like the othersMay 20, 2014: 1:23 PM ET
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
Let's play a game. Please look at the image above and sing the following tune. Apologies to Sesame Street purists ...
One of these bank stocks is not like the others. One of these bank stocks just doesn't belong. Can you tell which bank stock is not like the others by the time I finish my song? Did you guess which bank stock was not like the others? Did you guess which bank stock just doesn't belong? If you guessed Wells Fargo is not like the others, then you're absolutely ... right!
Shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) are up about 8% so far this year. That's laudable in a rocky market. But it's even more impressive when you consider the awful performance of other big bank stocks.
- Citigroup (C): Down 11%
- Bank of America (BAC): Down 7%.
- JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Down 8%.
- Goldman Sachs (GS): Down 12%
- Morgan Stanley (MS): Down 5%.
What's going on? While investors in other bank stocks are pulling a Kermit The Frog and complaining about how it's not easy being green in 2014, the Wells Fargo stagecoach has continued to roll along because it isn't like most other big banks.
Even though Wells Fargo is now the largest bank in the country by far as measured by market value (it's worth $50 billion more than JPMorgan Chase) its business model is more like an old-fashioned savings and loan than a Wall Street titan.
Related: Wall Street's profit troubles will continue
Wells Fargo generated less than a third of its total profits in the first quarter from its so-called wholesale banking unit. That includes investment banking and trading. Revenue and net income both declined in that business from a year ago.
But that was more than offset by a 30% increase in profits for the company's massive community banking franchise -- mortgage lending, credit cards and the mundane business of accepting deposits and servicing checking accounts. Wells Fargo makes more than half of its profits from Main Street style banking.
Compare that to JPMorgan Chase. Jamie Dimon's bank is more about catering to the 1% than the little guy. Nearly half of its profits in the first quarter were derived from corporate and investment banking as well as commercial lending.
The story is similar at Bank of America and Citigroup. Both rely more heavily on non-traditional banking businesses than Wells Fargo. And let's be honest. Goldman and Morgan Stanley are really bank holding companies in name only.
In addition, once interest rates finally begin to rise (the Federal Reserve can't stay in easing mode forever) then profit margins for Wells Fargo's bread-and-butter banking businesses should improve.
The tried and true model for banks is to take in deposits at a relatively low level and lend it back out at a higher level. The difference, or spread, is where banks make their money.
Related: Buffett wishes he bought more banks following the 2008 crisis
It's deceptively simple. And boring ... which is probably a key reason investing legend Warren Buffett is a huge fan of Wells Fargo. The bank is Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA) (BRKB) largest holding.
That's why one fund manager who owns the stock thinks Wells Fargo may be the best financial stock to own if you truly believe in a long-term rebound for the housing market and American consumer.
"Wells Fargo is a way to bet on a substantially better economy over the next 10 years and a recovery in interest rates," said Bill Smead, manager of the Smead Value (SVFAX) fund. "It already controls a large part of the nation's mortgage and auto loans. The combination of loan growth and higher spreads is probably why Buffett loves it so much."
Speaking of Berkshire, that stock has been solid this year too. And investors in one of the most popular financial service sector exchange-traded funds must be glad about that. Wells Fargo and the Berkshire B shares are the two top holdings in the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) ETF.
The ETF is flat in spite of the lousy returns from almost all the other big banks.
Wells Fargo has several other things going for it.
The bank didn't bomb the Fed's stress tests like Citi did. It also didn't have to rejigger its capital plan due to a math error like BofA did. Wells Fargo was already one of the higher-yielding bank stocks heading into the stress tests. Its dividend now yields nearly 3% following a 17% hike in the quarterly payout last month.
Related: Citi's capital plan rejected by the Fed
What's more, Wells Fargo announced at its investor day Wednesday that it was increasing its payout ratio target -- the amount of money that it feels it can give back to shareholders through stock buybacks and even higher dividends.
But if there is a negative for Wells Fargo, it is clearly its valuation. The stock trades at a premium to all of its peers on a price-to-earnings and book value basis. In other words, the market already knows that Wells Fargo is the best of the bunch. So if you want to own quality, you have to pay up for it.
Some value investors may argue that the other banks are now better bargains. After all, the best time to buy bank stocks is when they are hated. But the woeful performance of the group this year shows that many investors still don't trust the numbers coming out of Wall Street's biggest institutions.
In a research note Wednesday, Baird banking analyst David George wrote that he felt Wells Fargo's valuation was justified because of the bank's "best-in-class track record."
George added that as a result of Wells Fargo's crisis era acquisition of Wachovia, the bank can generate superior returns because its "deposit franchise is now one of the largest and among the most attractive in the country."
To wrap up with one more Sesame Street reference, other big bank stocks may be trash that only Oscar the Grouch could love. Wells Fargo is the one stock in the sector that doesn't have that much of a stench emanating from it.
And if you've made it this far, congratulations. Your reward? Cookie Monster singing One of These Things. Enjoy. C may be for Cookie. But it's also for Citigroup!


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Players split on Match Play reform
It's easy to love the format at the Match Play Championship on Tuesday.
Opinions can change quickly Wednesday on the way out the door.
Thomas Bjorn flew halfway around the world to La Costa in 2005 just to play 13 holes. He took the next year off with a neck injury, then came all the way to Arizona in 2007 and again lasted only 13 holes.
Tiger Woods won three times. And then there was the year he lost to Peter O'Malley in the opening round, walking from the 17th green all the way to the clubhouse at La Costa with an army of reporters walking behind him, no one saying a word.
There is no such thing as an upset in Match Play. That doesn't mean there aren't 32 guys who are plenty upset when they lose in the first round. They call Ernie Els the "Big Easy." They might as well call him "Heisman" when he loses on Wednesday and sees a reporter approaching.
The do-or-die nature of Match Play is what makes it so compelling to fans — and so maddening to sponsors and fans.
This tournament operates in reverse. Any other event, the drama builds toward the back nine on Sunday. Wednesday is one of the most exciting days in golf at Match Play. Thursday is not far behind. Friday is pretty good, too. On Sunday, there are only two possibilities — one guy wins, one guy loses, and it's like that for four hours.
Now might be the best time for a change.
Accenture is in the final year of a title sponsor. This most likely will be the final year at Dove Mountain. With the never-ending, globe-trotting nature of the golf schedule, there's not even a guarantee the Match Play Championship will be at the end of the West Coast Swing on the PGA Tour.
As one top tour official said, the future of this World Golf Championship is wide open.
The tour is talking to one potential title sponsor, and so much would depend on that. It's not as simple as finding a great golf course to host 64 of the world's best players. The modern era of professional golf is about entertainment, and that includes a company that pays some $10 million a year to entertain clients.
There was chatter about Harding Park, but it was nothing more than that, especially after one potential sponsor was not interested. Colombia is at least in the conversation — the country in South America, not the golf club that hosted the 1921 U.S. Open outside the nation's capital.
Of more interest is the format.
Woods gets all the attention, and rightly so, as the player everyone hates to see leave on Wednesday. That has happened three times (though he didn't leave until Thursday last year because the first round was postponed by snow). And it doesn't help when he has company — three of the top four seeds lost in the first round last year.
The European Tour has a blueprint for its World Match Play Championship — four groups of four players, each playing 18-hole matches, and then players advancing out of those groups. But that's only 16 players. This WGC has 64 players. But if the tournament can move to a 36-hole complex, then there are more options. It's not about the course in match play. You're only trying to beat your opponent.
"You can have lots of fun with it," two-time winner Geoff Ogilvy said. "The format can be better, don't you think? Some guys are there for three hours and you go home. You can see why some guys don't want to go. I've been 5-under on the 14th hole and shaking hands. You're driving home saying, 'How fair is that?' I beat 30 of these guys and I'm going home."
Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els raised the idea of 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying, with the top 32 players advancing to match play. That's how the U.S. Amateur works (it uses two courses). That would keep players around for at least three days, and eliminate some of the luck factor.
"I see nothing wrong with that," McIlroy said.
Lee Westwood is among those — and it's a longer list than some might realize — who like it the way it is. His one beef is the consolation match for third- and fourth-place. The difference is $120,000, along with world ranking points (both important in a Ryder Cup year). But as Westwood points out, the points and money is easily split.
No one cares about the consolation match. It just gives TV something to show between shots of the championship match. One year, the consolation match was moving so slowly that it actually held up the main event.
Woods has lost in every round except the semifinals. Imagine him on the golf course Sunday playing for the third place. Who are the fans following? Who is TV showing?
We won't find out this year. Woods isn't around, and Dove Mountain plays no small part. Woods only saw the weekend one time in Arizona, and that was the year he won. He won't have to worry about that next year as the Match Play is sure to move — at least off the mountain.
As far as changing the format? That would be assuming it's actually broken.
"If you get defeated, you should be packing your bags and going home," Poulter said. "That's how I've always known match play, rather than a round-robin affair where you get a couple of bites of the cherry. The loser should go home. I think it's perfect. I think it's a great format."
He plays the opening match Wednesday against Rickie Fowler.


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One out of five IT staffers on the clinical applications team at Continuum Health Partners in New York is also a nurse, a pharmacist or another type of clinical specialist. For IT managers and directors, a clinical degree is a must.
[ 10 Business Skills Every IT Pro Must Master ]
At $1.3 billion Grange Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, CIO Michael Fergang exclusively recruits IT staffers with insurance industry experience.
Sam Lamonica, CIO at $750 million Rosendin Electric, has taken to luring experienced engineers and operations people in the field to work in IT. Lamonica also admits to "stealing shamelessly" from Rosendin's competitors.
It's not that San Jose-based Rosendin doesn't already have a fabulously talented and experienced IT staff, Lamonica says.
"We have a number of really smart analysts on our business applications team who are mathematics majors as well [as technologists]. The challenge is they're fairly clueless about what goes on at a job site on a given day," he says. And Rosendin typically is working more than 1,500 multimillion-dollar jobs simultaneously in any given month.
Candid CIOs from healthcare, financial services and manufacturing all tell a similar story. Fast-changing business processes, the need for speed, consumers' insatiable appetite for customization and the need to comply with a growing list of government regulations and industry standards are all working to complicate day-to-day operations beyond the most business-savvy technologist's ability to keep pace. Now what is critically necessary are not only technical skills and business knowledge, but also deep industry expertise, the kind that comes from calculating a quote and selling an insurance policy or calibrating and administering intravenous pain medication to a cancer patient, for example.
Think of it as IT-plus.
"At the end of the day, you need a person who gets it all," says Continuum CIO Mark Moroses.
Healthcare reform and the hyper-accelerated pace of change are two of the biggest factors driving the need for IT-plus credentials at Continuum, says Moroses.
"The healthcare industry is highly regulated," and adherence to those regulations is what makes or breaks the bottom line, he says. Under state and federal regulations, Continuum, a partnership of New York's Beth Israel Medical Center, St. Luke's Hospital and Roosevelt Hospital, reports to 11 regulatory agencies. On top of that, there are the hundreds and hundreds of regulations and reporting requirements imposed by insurance companies.
"Getting technical people to understand regulations is tough because it's a field they're not interested in," says Laurie Anne Buckenberger, Continuum's assistant vice president of corporate IT and a nurse practitioner. Clinicians, on the other hand, live and breathe healthcare regulations from the time they enter the field.
To retain certification, hospitals are required to follow and regularly report on 157 different quality measures. "On your first job as a staff nurse, you're taught about the requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations," Buckenberger says. "It's also embedded in you from the time you start [nursing] school."
Johanna Ambrosio speaks with IT leaders at this year's Premier 100 event to find out what types of people they are hiring to work in IT. More often, IT is going beyond technology skills to find the right pieces for their organizations.
That's why "you can't do it without clinical people," says Moroses. It's also why a clinical degree is a requirement for members of the applications support team at Continuum.
The need to work quickly is another key factor driving the clinical requirement, which Moroses says evolved over time.
"Before, programmers and analysts were separate. Then we took the IT person and put them in the business unit and called them a business analyst," Moroses says. "But at the end of the day, you need one person who gets it and does it. In healthcare, you need that clinical component and technical component. You have to eliminate the translation requirement because of the speed of business."
Consequently, Continuum has broadened the reach of its IT recruiting efforts. Company representatives now visit nursing schools to try to persuade students to consider careers in IT (see story below).
A nurse with firsthand clinical experience would, for example, be uniquely qualified to explain why a smaller, lighter tablet would be better than a laptop for a home healthcare provider, says Moroses. "In order to help the industry transform at this quick pace, you need this clinical part in IT," he says. "The [companies that] can transform the quickest [will have a] competitive advantage."
"It's hard for a pure IT person to understand what emergency departments and other clinicians need," he adds. "Yes, they need mobility, but not just mobility. They need mobility in certain ways."
IT-plus credentials can give IT staffers instant credibility in the eyes of users, says Moroses.
"If we're having a conversation about a system upgrade or bringing in new functionality, you need a nurse or physician talking to a nurse or physician," says Moroses.
Before Continuum started bringing clinical people into IT, "there was always skepticism that IT didn't really understand what we do," says Moroses. "The radiology group would have their own shadow IT department because they didn't trust anyone [in IT] to get the way things needed to be configured."
Now, in contrast, someone from IT "walks in with a clinical degree and there is a built-in credibility for talking to people in the clinical community."
At Grange, Fergang characterizes IT professionals with deep technical knowledge plus insurance industry experience as "foundational" to innovation.
"We have skunk works where IT people get together and come up with business solutions. We prototype these for presidents of divisions, but there's no business involvement. You couldn't do this without IT-plus business knowledge," he says.
In one of these projects, IT built a prototype that let Grange sales agents represent various policy alternatives in a single quote system. Agents could change key parameters such as deductible amounts, driver type and risk levels so customers could customize their own policies.
IT Plus
The New Face of IT
Laurie Anne Buckenberger, a veteran healthcare professional with a graduate nursing degree from Columbia University, has worked as a staff nurse, a nurse manager and a nurse practitioner. She got her start in IT as a so-called super user.
"Because I had worked [as a nurse] at NYU, where they had an electronic medical record, I got put on the EMR search committee at Beth Israel Hospital," she recalls. "I was very vocal about end-user workflow and what end users needed."
At the time, she was still treating patients. Today, Buckenberger is an assistant vice president of corporate IT and an active IT recruiter for Continuum Health. Her target hires are other nurses, pharmacists and lab technicians. She advertises in nursing journals.
"I'm actually looking for clinical people to teach them the technical side," she says.
"There have been a few technical people who have been successful in embedding themselves in the clinical workflow and understanding it, but a lot of technical people are really challenged because [healthcare] is a highly variable field," she says. "What you do for one patient you don't do for another. If an interface goes down at 7 in the morning, it's a crisis because it's rounds at the hospital. If it happens at 2 a.m., it has a completely different impact. Clinical people know this."
"Knowing our business, we could take a single quote and represent it in different ways," Fergang explains.
In another project, IT created a series of transaction-driven alerts for agents. The alerts notify agents about events that affect their customers and/or their sales performances. For example, an agent might be immediately alerted if a customer called the insurance carrier, rather than the agent, to make a change to his policy.
"We created the first six alerts knowing what the business needed," Fergang notes. Since then, there have been more than two dozen ideas for additional alerts.
"If you understand the business and the business strategy, I really do believe IT is in a unique position in that it can bring business solutions to the business that the business can't even imagine," Fergang says. But you have to have the right business aptitude, he adds. "My managers are better businessmen than technologists," he says.
Valuable Time in the Field
In the increasingly complex construction business, Rosendin's Lamonica says engineers and others from the field are much better qualified than IT specialists when it comes to building and supporting software applications and other automated tools used on job sites. They know about workflows, contractor scheduling and overall construction project management, he says.
This expertise is becoming even more important as the industry moves more toward the time-sensitive practice of installing prefabricated assemblies rather than building on-site.
"Prefabrications save a ton on time and money, and the project manager has to know when they have to go [on-site]," Lamonica explains. Most construction sites are space-constrained and don't have a lot of extra room to store an inventory of prefabricated modules. Instead, prefabricated components for big projects, like a 20-floor hospital building, are ordered, built off-site then shipped to the project site on a just-in-time basis. "We in IT wouldn't have a clue how that works," he notes.
Lamonica regularly dispatches technical IT staffers to the field to learn from construction workers who are using automated and mobile tools. He also recruits field staffers to spend a year or two in IT as a way to offer on-the-job training.
"These are people with construction experience" and knowledge that is critical to IT if the company is to design and deliver tools that are truly efficient and productive in the field, Lamonica says.
"But the big challenge is that we can have 1,700 jobs going on at the same time," which makes it very difficult to keep pace with demand, he says. On-the-job use of consumer and mobile technologies is making it even more essential for IT staffers to have bona fide construction and industry knowledge.
IT Plus
Turning the Tables on Vendors
Vendor management is one of the key areas where IT-plus credentials can yield a big payoff, according to Laurie Anne Buckenberger, assistant vice president of corporate IT and a nurse practitioner at Continuum Health Partners in New York.
For example, Continuum doesn't entertain canned sales pitches from software vendors. Instead, Buckenberger's team of clinicians in IT present vendors with very specific requirements, right down to the policies, regulations and individual workflows they need to have supported in automated systems used at Continuum's hospitals.
"All the software vendors have buttons to do X, Y and Z, but what we ask is if they can support our New York state regulations and the clinical outcomes we want to achieve," she says. "A clinical background helps tremendously."
This has been especially true in adhering to so-called "meaningful use" requirements set forth in federal regulations that funnel stimulus dollars to hospitals that comply with certain electronic health record standards.
Under the requirements, hospitals need to show not only that they are collecting patient information electronically, but also that they are using it in a meaningful way -- for example, by improving the ways in which they treat stroke patients. This requires the input of clinicians as well as IT professionals with deep clinical experience.
"It was truly a partnership between vendors, IT and clinical users, because you had to make the system useful to achieve the compliance goals," Buckenberger says. "It all adds up to millions of dollars."
"Our end-user community wants apps, and they want them fast and they don't care if they're well baked," Lamonica says. "In order to deliver what they need now, you need to know exactly what it is they're trying to do."
For example, a project manager will walk a construction site and plan the entire job with a mobile app. That information is automatically passed to a purchasing agent. "To build those kinds of mobile apps, you have to know intimately what they need and want," he says.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa is a prime example of a company that relies heavily on IT-plus professionals.
"At its core, Alcoa is a manufacturing organization, and within the manufacturing processes, we win or lose against our competition," says CIO Nancy Wolk.
Alcoa has a broad initiative under way known as Smart Manufacturing, which Wolk says heavily leverages technology to drive profitability through efficiencies in manufacturing operations. IT staffers and process control engineers work side by side in a global 250-person information processes group. The group is headed by CIO Philip Morrissette, whom Wolk describes as an "IT-plus expert" who is "very much an expert in our vertical industry."


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11 September, 2012 | (01 hr)
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Communicating change takes more than sending a memo—it takes the ongoing engagement of all stakeholders. We'll look at winning strategies to accomplish this and examples for communicating with all the people you need to engage—from employees and front-line supervisors to leaders, suppliers, and customers. Then we'll address real-life challenges from participants, devising solutions and the core elements of a change communications plan:
- Grabbing the hearts and minds of your stakeholders
- Identifying gaps – and filling them
- Aligning tactics with the 6 stages of engagement
- Leveraging digital and social media
- Sustaining change
Audience: If you are a change practitioner, or executive responsible for change and direction setting, participate in this webcast to gain practical advice and innovative strategies from market leaders—as well as to expand your knowledge of others who share these challenges.
Janice Y. Burnham
Jan Burnham is a co-founder and President of the ROC Group. For
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Hannah Sohn


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The mayor of Lackawanna on Tuesday gave the owner of the former Bethlehem Steel Administration Building 10 days to begin tearing down the historic structure, after an Erie County Court judge earlier in the day lifted a temporary stay of demolition.
Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski said he wants the abandoned, structurally impaired building to come down after years of delays granted to Gateway Trade Center, the building's owner, that have failed to produce a plan for reuse.
"The owners of that building have done nothing but stonewall a costly demolition. That is the bottom line. They don't want to pay for it, but they have to, and now if they don't they will be fined for contempt of court," Szymanski said.
Joseph S. Loraiso, Gateway's executive vice president, said the company would abide by the court's decision by beginning to tear it down in about two weeks.
Loraiso said the company considered pursuing a detailed analysis of the building but decided against it because of the cost involved. There were discussions with the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and others interested in saving the building, he said, but in the end the cost of turning the building around proved too high.
"It's unfortunate, but we are under a court order to start the [demolition] process, and that is what we are going to do," Loraiso said.
Preservationists have urged that the three-story, Beaux Arts-style 1901 building – with its ornate facade of graceful columns and Corinthian pilasters, pediments and dormers – be preserved as an iconic building from the region's industrial era.
A group of citizens from Lackawanna and Buffalo delivered a petition with about 600 signatures to Szymanski on Tuesday afternoon, hoping to buy time for the building by urging him to see the value of reusing a part of Lackawanna's history rather than knocking it down.
"We hope that through pressure on the mayor, the city will back off and give the owner more time to consider all the options. We also hope we can collaborate with Gateway, which needs the city to back off so they don't have to come up with the money immediately to demolish, and because citizens don't want the demolition," said Dana Saylor-Furman, the ad hoc group's spokeswoman.
But Szymanski said his mind was made up.
"It's time to move on. I think that building is a prime representation of this entire region. It used to be beautiful, it used to be full of work, and now it's abandoned, unsafe, unused, unwanted and it's time we got more progressive. Bring down that building, bring down the silos and bring down the grain elevators, and let's get this city moving," Szymanski said.
Told that the City of Buffalo was beginning to find new uses for its grain elevators, Szymanski answered, "That's why Buffalo looks like it does."
He also said he didn't believe a building abandoned for about 30 years and without heat could come back, noting that two structural engineering reports cast doubt on the building's future.
"That building has nothing but sentimental value," Szymanski said.
Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case had given Gateway a 90-day stay of demolition on Aug. 23, to provide more time to explore alternatives to the wrecking ball. But in Case's courtroom Tuesday, no alternatives were presented by the company's lawyer, who also didn't dispute the City of Lackawanna's contention – rejected by preservationists – that the building was not salvageable.
Instead, the attorney for Gateway, a subsidiary of New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co. of New Enterprise, Pa., argued that demolition was costly and more time was needed. The city's attorney argued that was not its concern.
Case said he had no alternative but to uphold the order of demolition since there was nothing legally improper about it.
email: [email protected]


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What is food irradiation?
Irradiation exposes food to a high dose of ionizing radiation, which is intended to kill bacteria such as E. coli or Salmonella. It also extends shelf life. However, studies have shown it depletes the nutritional content of food, and leaves behind chemical byproducts that have been linked to tumor growth and genetic damage.
How do irradiators work?
Irradiation facilities use gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams to expose food to ionizing radiation. This process is supposed to kill bacteria, extend shelf life, and kill pests like fruit flies. Many foods, like ground beef, are irradiated through their packaging.
Which irradiated foods are available in grocery stores?
While the FDA has approved irradiation for many types of food, a much smaller number of irradiated foods are actually commercially available. Some companies are selling irradiated types of:
- Spices
- Ground beef (a small amount of irradiated ground beef is offered by mail order companies like Omaha Beef and some grocery chains)
- Papaya
- Guava
- Longan fruit
- Rambutan
- Mango
- Mangosteen
- Dragon fruit
Certified organic food cannot be irradiated. In grocery stores, irradiated foods should be labeled with a symbol called the "radura" and the words "treated with irradiation." The label isn't required if the irradiated food is an ingredient in a processed food or on food sold in restaurants, schools or other institutions.
Are there any alternatives to irradiation?
Irradiating food is a Band-Aid for the much larger problem of poor sanitation in slaughterhouses and processing plants, which causes foodborne illness. Rather than put our food through this harmful process, we must work to stop bacteria creation at the source and better regulate the sanitary conditions of farms and processing plants.


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Reseller Demonstrates Commitment to Quality with Customers
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Autodesk announced that it has named IMAGINiT Technologies Canada as Reseller of the Quarter for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009. The designation recognizes the reseller not only for its sales performance and dedication to customer service, but also for the growth of its operations and its investments in the business of selling Autodesk software. Autodesk selected IMAGINiT Technologies Canada from among more than 100 resellers in the Americas.
"At IMAGINiT, we deliver custom solutions with Autodesk software and our professional services to improve productivity and increase revenue within customer organizations," said Joe Oswald, Canadian country vice president of IMAGINiT Technologies. "Being named Autodesk Reseller of the Quarter is great affirmation of our more than 20 years of experience in the engineering and design community providing superior technical capability while developing strong, long-term customer relationships."
IMAGINiT Technologies has helped many customers experience the benefits of 3D design. For example, IMAGINiT's professional services consultants helped move Bush Industries, in North America and China, from 2D to 3D design with Autodesk Inventor software. In addition, IMAGINiT North American consultants collaborated with IMAGINiT Singapore, sharing details on Bush's configuration, environment, unique challenges and design requirements. The result was a successful implementation of a global, web-based data and document transfer system, improving productivity and reducing product development lead times.
"Autodesk recognizes that reseller partners like IMAGINiT Technologies are the keys to our business," said Steven Blum, senior vice president, Americas Sales, Autodesk. "IMAGINiT's performance illustrates the results achieved when our resellers are invested in helping customers innovate."
The Reseller of the Quarter designation is based on factors such as quality of customer service and support, overall sales, vertical sales and overall growth. Customer adoption of integrated solutions and 3D design technologies from Autodesk has helped to propel IMAGINiT's growth.
About IMAGINiT Technologies
IMAGINiT Technologies, a RAND Worldwide Company, is a leading provider of design and engineering solutions to the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, and media and entertainment industries. With over 45 offices around the world, IMAGINiT is a leading provider of Autodesk software and the largest North American Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) partner. IMAGINiT delivers knowledge, expertise and design processes to clients through proven technical support, training and consulting services. Its locations are supported by a vast pool of engineering resources that are focused on developing real-life business solutions for their local clients. For more information please visit www.rand.com/imaginit.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.
Autodesk, AutoCAD, ATC, Autodesk Inventor, and Inventor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
(C) 2008 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050415/SFF034LOGO)
Press Contacts: Angela Simoes +1 (415) 547-2388 email@example.com
Web site: http://www.autodesk.com/


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A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Hamdan was at the center of a Supreme Court case that ruled that the Bush administration's military commission system at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was unconstitutional.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that Hamdan's conviction by a military commission for providing material support for terrorism had to be overturned because under the international law of war of the time, his actions — driving bin Laden around — were not defined as a war crime. Hamdan was bin Laden's driver from 1996-2001.
Material support didn't become a war crime until 2006, when Congress passed the Military Commission Act.
"When Hamdan committed the conduct in question," Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote, "the international law of war did not proscribe material support for terrorism as a war crime. Therefore the relevant statute at the time of Hamdan's conduct ... did not proscribe material support for terrorism as a war crime."
Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. His lawyers challenged his detention and eventually won the landmark Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The high court ruled that not only was the military commission system unconstitutional, but it was also in violation of American military law and the Geneva Conventions. Congress, as a result, rewrote the Military Commissions Act and, among other things, included material support as one of the charges that the commissions could level against detainees.
Hamdan was one of the few convictions at Guantanamo that came solely as a result of a material support charge. A military commissions jury acquitted him of conspiracy. He was eventually sent back to Yemen and released in 2009. So, in a real sense, the ruling doesn't affect him much.
Officials say where it may have a big impact is on cases at Guantanamo that have yet to be litigated. In particular, it could affect detainees who stand accused of being part of al-Qaida before 2006 but perhaps did not plot any specific terrorist act. Prosecutors might have been preparing to charge them with material support to get them through the system and empty the prison at the naval base. Now this ruling will make that process more difficult.
It is unclear how many detainees could be affected. There are still 166 men behind bars at Guantanamo and a fraction of them — anywhere between 16 and 60 — could be in the pipeline for a trial. Because the evidence against them hasn't been made public, it is hard to tell how many of them would now find themselves in limbo.
There is a sense that a good number of the men held in the various camps on the island were just foot soldiers for al-Qaida. Unless the Justice Department asks the full bench of the appeals court to look at the ruling again, that could mean Guantanamo prosecutors will have to find something else with which to charge lower-level detainees or, alternatively, hold them indefinitely. The Justice Department said in a statement that it is still studying the ruling.
The ruling is unlikely to have much of an effect on the marquee trials now under way, however. The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is still in pretrial motions, which have been going on this week. Clearly, the five are being charged with more than just material support.
The U.S. appeals court ruling could have a dramatic impact on lower-level detainees in another way. It could make a great argument for moving their trials into U.S. federal court where material support is a perfectly legal charge. Congress has made moving detainees to the U.S. for trial difficult if not impossible, so the unanswered question is whether that will be affected by Tuesday's ruling.
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Today, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver. His name is Salim Hamdan and this is not the first case with his name in the title. In 2006, in Hamdan versus Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration's military commission system at Guantanamo was unconstitutional. Hamdan was released from Guantanamo several years ago, but today's ruling could affect detainees who are still there.
NPR's Dina Temple-Raston is here to explain this. And, Dina, first of all, tell us more about what the court ruled today.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: Well, at the most basic level a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C., said Hamdan was wrongly convicted. He was found guilty of providing material support to a terrorist organization by the military commissions at Guantanamo. Material support is a charge that just means you helped a terrorist organization in some way.
Hamdan was Osama bin Laden's driver from about 1996 to 2001. And prosecutors said, and a military jury agreed, that amounted to supporting a terrorist organization.
What the court decided today was that Hamdan couldn't be charged with material support because he was bin Laden's driver. When he was bin Laden's driver, material support wasn't a recognized crime under the Military Commissions Act; that didn't happen until 2006.
SIEGEL: And what changed in 2006?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, the rules governing military commissions changed. And that was because of Hamdan, too. Remember the military commissions are those special courts for suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo. And Hamdan, as you had said, had appealed his detention at Guantanamo all the way to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court ruled that the commissions, as they were set up at that time, are unconstitutional.
So that's why Congress in 2006 had to rewrite these laws governing the commissions. And one of the things they did is add this material support as a crime. Today, the appeals court basically said if a detainee committed material support before Congress rewrote that law, they can't be charged with it in a military commission.
SIEGEL: Well, let's say now this would affect people who are in Guantanamo. Would it reverse convictions for others who had already been tried and convicted at Guantanamo?
TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, Hamdan is one of the few cases in which the only convicted charged material support. And, as you said, he was sent back to Yemen several years ago, so that doesn't really affect him much. Where it could have a really big impact is on cases that are in the pipeline. It could affect detainees at Guantanamo accused of being part of Al-Qaida before 2006, but of not plotting any specific terrorist act.
The prosecutors might have tried to charge them with material support and now they can't.
SIEGEL: Now they can't. How many people would this affect, do we know?
Well, that's the thing. It's unclear. There are 166 detainees still at Guantanamo and the number of those who are awaiting a trial is probably somewhere between 16 and 60. And we don't know what kind of evidence prosecutors have on them. But there was the sense that a good number of them were just, you know, foot soldiers and more likely to be charged with material support. Now prosecutors will have to charge them either with something else or hold them indefinitely.
So does that make today's ruling a big setback for the military commission system?
TEMPLE-RASTON: When it comes to the big marquee cases that people are really watching, probably not. The 9/11 trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the four other men accused of plotting the attacks on the Twin Towers and - they're still in pretrial motions. In fact, those are going on this week. And clearly, they're being charged with more than just material support.
But it's those lower-level detainees, it's possible the only way to try them was with this lesser charge. And now that really isn't available to prosecutors. It could make a great argument for moving these lower-level detainees into U.S. federal court. Material support is a perfectly legal charge there. But Congress has made moving detainees to the U.S. for trial difficult, if not impossible. So it's unclear whether this ruling might have sort of an ancillary effect on that.
SIEGEL: OK. Thank you, Dina.
TEMPLE-RASTON: You're welcome.
SIEGEL: That's NPR's Dina Temple-Raston. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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I got a slow cooker 3 weeks ago and LOVE it!
Tried this recipe the other night, perfect for when the snow is falling and cozying up. Hope you enjoy
5 cups of milk
1/2 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 cup of hot water
1/2 cup of Nutella
1. Combine sugar, cocoa, Nutella & hot water in a large pan, bring to a gentle simmer & transfer to slow cooker
2. Add milk & stir
3. Leave on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours!


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Spotting trends in financial services can be an interesting task, in part because it can help answer questions advisors may have about how they stack up against their peers. One question that continues to interest advisors and industry observers is what may happen in the industry if there is an extension of the fiduciary standard to all advice givers.
To get some insight from the field, fi360 and AdvisorOne have jointly conducted their second annual survey of investment advisors' and brokers' attitudes about the fiduciary standard. Participants in the 2012 fi360-AdvisorOne Fiduciary Survey are an august group. The great majority of respondents—74%—reported that they have more than 15 years of professional experience in the financial industry; 41% of participants said they had more than 25 years of experience.
Fielded in March and April of 2012, the survey was completed by 380 advisors from across the spectrum of advisor business models and affiliations. The survey not only sought advisors' opinions on the fiduciary standard but also gauged their understanding of what such a standard means now, or would mean, to their businesses.
Key findings in the first report on the survey pointed out that registered reps and investment advisors in the field believe that extending the fiduciary standard would not cost investors more for advice, limit access to advice or products nor price investors out of the market for advice.
In part two, we discussed participants' attitudes about pending or potential regulation, and assessed their beliefs about some of the myths surrounding the implementation of those regulatory changes.
Here, in part three, we focus on demographic trends from the survey: who manages the most assets, how participants are moving between business models, and how they are compensated.
Models and Supermodels
Survey participants were closely divided as far as current business model: registered investment advisors/investment advisor representatives (RIA/IARs) total 54.5% of participants, an increase from 41.4% in 2011's fiduciary survey, while a combined 45.5% are registered reps or dually registered (both registered rep and RIA/IAR) in 2012, down from 58.6% in 2011.
However, survey results showed that the number of registered reps dramatically decreased to 9.9% of participants in the 2012 survey, compared with the 22.0% who identified themselves as registered reps in 2011's survey. Dual registrants constituted 35.6% of respondents in 2012.
Participant Trend One: Toward RIA Model
It is interesting to observe how the progression of advisors between types of registration in our survey indicates a strong trend for advisors to enter the industry as registered reps or dually registered but then change to to an RIA/IAR model, rather than the other way around.
Only about a quarter of advisors who identified themselves as RIA/IARs in 2012 had entered the investment business as investment advisors. The majority, 74.3%, had previously been dual registrants (43%) or registered reps (32%) before making the change to RIA/IAR status.
This migration to the RIA model increases the number of advisors who are adopting the fiduciary model, as RIA/IARs are required to put client's interests first. But other types of advisors are also, individually, adhering to the fiduciary model. Over all, 63% of participants reported that they have fiduciary relationships with all clients, and breaking that down by compensation type shows 96% of fee-only, 85% of fee-based, 27% of fee/commission and 20% of commission-only participants said they have fiduciary relationships with all clients.
The path to dual registration is very different. Nearly 90% of dual registrants had been either registered reps before (56%), or started out as dual registrants (33%).
Most who identify themselves as registered reps in 2012 had entered the business as registered reps, 56.6%, or had been dually registered, 32.8%, while only 10.7% switched from RIA/IAR to registered rep.
Participant Trend Two: Toward More Assets
Assets under management (AUM) are trending higher for survey participants. In 2012, 36% of all survey participants have $50 million or less in AUM, versus 51% in 2011. In 2012, 9.4% of survey participants have between $250 and $499 million in AUM, up from 5.4% in that category in 2011. In 2012, 8.8% of participants manage $500 million or more, more than double the 2011 number of 3.3%. Even the $1 billion or more category of AUM has grown, to 9.4% of participants in 2012 from 6.1% in 2011.
Looking at AUM as measured by compensation model, the majority of participants, across all compensation types—fee-only (38%), fee-based (30%), fee/commission (34%) and commission-only (60%)—manage less than $50 million in AUM. But the percentage of participants managing the lower AUM brackets has fallen in each compensation category since the 2011 survey, indicating that AUM balances are growing for all participants. Where that changes is on the high end, where no commission-only participants manage more than $250 million.
Fee-only advisors have the most assets. They dominate the two largest AUM brackets in the survey: 13% of fee-only advisors have more than $1 billion in AUM in 2012, up 46% from 9% in 2011. Similarly, 12% of fee-only advisors have $500 million to $1 billion in AUM, up 142% from 5% in 2011. The largest area of AUM growth for fee-only advisors is the $100 million to $249 million bracket; 20% of fee-only advisors manage $100 million to $249 million in 2012, up 170% year-over-year.
Fee-based advisors held their own in the $1 billion-plus bracket, with 10% of them managing $1 billion or more, about the same as 2011. However, the percentage of fee-based advisors managing $500 million to $1 billion zoomed, up 194%, to 10% in 2012, from 3% in 2011.
Fee/commission advisors saw growth in the mid range of AUM, with 10% managing $250 million to $499 million in assets in 2012, up a whopping 206%, from 3% in 2011.
Participant Trend Three: Toward Fees From Commissions
Of those who are compensated in part or wholly by commissions, the majority (51.1%) said they have a "commission production" level of $100,000 or less, while 28% generate between $100,000 and $250,000 in annual commissions. Another 12.4% are at the $250,000-$500,000 level and 8.6% generate more than $500,000 in commissions.
Commissions account for 1% to 10% of annual revenue for 30% of those who include commissions in their compensation model (commission only, fee/commission and fee based). Another 20% indicate that commissions account for 11% to 25% of their annual revenue, while 27% say commissions account for 26% to 50% of their revenue. Finally, 21.8% say commissions account for more than 50% of their annual revenue.
Commission-only participants saw gains in AUM as well; 20% of commission-only participants manage $100 million to $249 million in 2012, jumping 340% from 4% in 2011.
The Three Trends Reprised
To sum up, among our fiduciary survey participants, we've discerned:
- Advisors are migrating from the broker-dealer model to the RIA/IAR model.
- Growth in levels of assets under management, with the growth at the highest AUM levels, $500 million-plus and $1 billion-plus, concentrated among fee-only advisors, most of whom are in the RIA/IAR, fiduciary model. Dual registrants have seen asset growth as well.
- Finally, there is a trend away from commission-only compensation to fee-only or a combination of fee-based or fee/commission revenue.
For more on the findings of the 2012 fi360-AdvisorOne Fiduciary Survey, see our survey home page.


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Official fighter weigh-ins for this week's "UFC on FUEL TV: Silva vs. Stann" event are slated for Friday (Saturday local time in Japan with the time difference) at Saitama Super Arena just north of Tokyo.
The same venue hosts the following night's show, which features a main event middleweight bout between Wanderlei Silva (34-12-1 MMA, 4-7 UFC) and Brian Stann (12-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC), plus a co-feature heavyweight tilt between Mark Hunt (8-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Stefan Struve (25-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC).
UFC on FUEL TV 8 has a six-fight main card on FUEL TV at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday (Sunday in Japan) following a five-fight preliminary card that streams online at Facebook and YouTube at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The first fighter steps on the scale at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, (1 p.m. Saturday local time in Japan). Doors open to the public at 10:30 a.m. JST.
Prior to the weigh-ins, fans are invited to a Q&A session with UFC featherweight Hatsu Hioki. The fighter will answer fan questions at 11 a.m. JST, and doors open to the public 30 minutes earlier.
In addition to the Q&A session and weigh-ins, both of which are free and open to the public, fans can attend an autograph signing featuring UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell and UFC light heavyweight Glover Teixeira prior to the official weigh-in event. The two will be on hand for the signing from 10 a.m.-noon JST on Saturday.
The full UFC on FUEL TV 8 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (FUEL TV, 10 p.m. ET)
- Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann
- Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve
- Takanori Gomi vs. Diego Sanchez
- Hector Lombard vs. Yushin Okami
- Mizuto Hirota vs. Rani Yahya
- Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Dong Hyun Kim
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, 7:30 p.m. ET)
- Riki Fukuda vs. Brad Tavares
- Bryan Caraway vs. Takeya Mizugaki
- Cristiano Marcello vs. Kazuki Tokudome
- Alex Caceres vs. Kyung Ho Kang
- Marcelo Guimaraes vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
For more on UFC on FUEL TV 8, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Hatsu Hioki)


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Winsted's Boar's Head Festival brings Epiphany's story to life
WINSTED >> The holiday celebrations continue into the new year as the First Church of Winsted will hold their Boar's Head Festival on Jan. 5 and 6.
The festival, which celebrates the epiphany, is entering its 23rd year at the church, retelling the story with song and dance. The festival's organizers have changed the procession every year, and that continuing tradition includes medieval instrumentalists and a tuba Christmas celebration for the 2013 version.
Originating out of England, the Boar's Head Festival recounts the story of a wandering scholar who was attacked by a wild boar. The scholar had no way to defend himself, aside from the book he was carrying at the time. The scholar jammed the book down the boar's throat, killing the boar. Subsequently, the scholar decapitated the boar and brought his head back for a procession and dinner.
The story of the Boar's Head Festival dates back to the 17th century, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and coming to America during colonial times. As a result of the long history of the festival, Debbie Storrs said at the 2012 Boar's Head commemoration that there were some limits on what the First Church of Winsted could do to add new wrinkles to the Boar's Head Festival.
"We changed up a lot of the music this year," Storrs said. "It made things a little different, which is good. It's the only thing we could change, because the story doesn't."
That music comes from local artists such as bagpiper Ken Storrs, who will be returning to the 2013 festival. Irish step dancers Dierdre and Una Shea and Tia Mongitore and Scottish sword dancer Karen Lavallee-Tente enhance the tale, as do farm animals from Commerford Farm in Goshen and the King family. The livestock will be incorporated into a living nativity, adding to the communal atmosphere.
"It's a big time event," said Tom Mazzei, who played King Wenceslas at the 2011 Boar's Head Festival. "It's great because people from here of surrounding towns can get together to celebrate the birth of Christ."
Reach Jason Siedzik at (860) 489-3121, ext. 321 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RCjsiedzik. Follow us online at www.registercitizen.com or on twitter.com/registercitizen.


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Feelings and Faith: Studying the Character of God
- Brian S. Borgman Author
- 2009 9 Jun
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life by Brian S. Borgman (Crossway).
The child, the philosopher, and the religionist have all one question: "What is God like?" At the outset I must acknowledge that this question cannot be answered except to say that God is not like anything; that is, He is not exactly like anything or anybody. -- A. W. Tozer1
We begin our biblical-theological foundation with the starting point of all true theology—God. The theology that does not begin with God will end in error. God is the beginning, middle, and end of all things (Rom. 11:36). In the Bible God displays a variety of emotions. We could even say that emotions are part of his divine nature or person. Matthew Elliott straightforwardly asserts, "It is clear that the Old Testament presents Yahweh as an emotional God. . . . God's emotions play a key role in many texts, as God feels with intensity."2 This is an important yet neglected area of the doctrine of God. It is, as Pastor Greg Nichols says, "uncharted water."
The unambiguous biblical portrayal of God is that he has absolute capacity to feel and has perfectly holy emotions. In the history of systematic theology, the mind and will of God have often been the focus. But the Bible speaks of God's heart, his emotions and feelings. Some circles deny that God actually has emotions. This is called the doctrine of divine impassibility.3 However, the sheer weight of biblical evidence demands that we see God as a being who has real emotions and feels intensely. Nichols defines God's emotional capacity:
God's emotivity is His supreme capacity to act responsively and sensationally; to feel pure and principled affections of love and hate, joy and grief, pleasure and anger, and peace; in accord with His supreme, spiritual, and simple Being and impeccable virtue.4
Immediately we must qualify our statements on God's emotions for the simple reason that we cannot experientially relate to this dimension of God because we are so different. The real danger is to impose our emotional experiences on God and thus be guilty of the indictment of Psalm 50:21, "You thought I was just like you" (HCSB). We must keep in mind that God's emotional capacities are both invulnerable and perfect. His emotions are not dependent on anything outside of himself. Although he responds to and is moved by human events, he is never emotionally vulnerable, never surprised by an event or overcome with emotion. His feelings are not subject to sinfulness, since he is holy. His emotions are perfectly righteous in their essence and exhibition. Elliott again notes, "God's emotions are always in line with His holiness and moral character. God's emotions are always correct, righteous and moral because He is always correct, righteous and moral."5
The legendary Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield has captured the importance of recognizing God's emotions: "A God without an emotional life would be a God without all that lends its highest dignity to personal spirit, whose very being is movement; and that is as much as to say no God at all."6
Throughout the whole Bible, we see a God who has and expresses perfect emotions. We cannot cover all of them, but we will expound some of them and, hopefully, in the process see God more clearly in the light of his Word.
God Loves and Delights in His Son
The emotions God has for his Son are experienced by us in small, reflective ways when we have children of our own. There is that innate sense of joy we have as we look at or hold that little one. There is a real delight that wells up within us as we watch their achievements, whether those be in sports, school, music, or the arts. There is a pride that can fill our hearts when we see our children do the right thing, treat someone kindly, or make a sacrifice for the greater good. All of these emotions, and infinitely more, are in God as he explicitly and perfectly loves and delights in his own Son.
In Isaiah 42:1, Yahweh says, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations." In this first Servant Song from Isaiah,7 the Father identifies the Messiah as his servant and his chosen. He is the one who is in subjection to the will of the Father and the one who will fulfill the purpose of the Father. Then the Father says that his soul delights in this chosen servant. The Hebrew word (ratzah) denotes a sense of being pleased with, taking delight or pleasure in. It is truly hard to imagine how this inter-Trinitarian language could be stripped of emotion. The text compels us to see that the Father infinitely values his Son. The text reverberates with his feelings of pleasure in his Son, who humbled himself in the incarnation to manifest the love of his Father and fulfill his purpose.
At the beginning of our Lord's earthly ministry and at the very end we have bookends of the Father's unbounded delight in his Son. At Jesus' baptism we read, "Behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased'" (Matt. 3:17). In our Lord's High Priestly Prayer we hear him say, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). John Piper has beautifully stated,
We may conclude that the pleasure of God in His Son is pleasure in Himself. Since the Son is the image of God, and indeed is God, therefore God's delight in the Son is delight in Himself. The original, the primal, the deepest, the foundational joy of God is the joy He has in His own perfections as He sees them reflected in the glory of His Son. Paul speaks of "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). From all eternity God has beheld the panorama of His own perfections in the face of His Son. All that He is He sees reflected fully and perfectly in the countenance of His Son. And in this He rejoices with infinite joy.8
God Delights in Justice and Righteousness
After the trial and execution of one of the most ruthless dictators of the modern world, I told my family, "Justice was done and we ought to give thanks." Why give thanks at something as gruesome as that? The reason is that Yahweh delights in justice and righteousness. He delights when his creatures demonstrate it. When a court hands down a just verdict, when a judge delivers a righteous sentence, when a man does a just act or a righteous deed, God is pleased. He loves justice because he is just. He loves righteousness because he is righteous. He has a passion for justice and righteousness. When his creatures reflect something of his character by exercising justice and righteousness, he delights in and loves such displays.
Psalmists and prophets echo this theme repeatedly. "He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord" (Ps. 33:5). "For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them" (Isa. 61:8). "But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord" (Jer. 9:24). This both resonates with and scares us.
God Rejoices in His People If we are listening, we constantly hear notes about how worthy we are, how we really are "all that" and a whole lot more. The notes play repeatedly in Christian books, sermons, and music. Our Christian pop music overflows with unbiblical perspectives on how worthy we are. There is a shallow, sentimental, "It's all about me" mentality. However, in our reaction to this unbiblical emphasis, wanting to underscore human depravity and wickedness, we may end up missing an important truth about how God feels about his people. God actually values and rejoices in his people, not because of who we are in ourselves, but because of what he has made us by his grace. In the words of Casting Crowns:
Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done.
Not because of what I've done, but because of who You are.9
Listen to the language of love and passion welling up within God:
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:5)
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;10
he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zeph. 3:17)
"I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul." (Jer. 32:39–41)
The language in these texts soars with emotion. When God wants to communicate how he feels about his people, he puts it in terms that are already emotionally percolating for us. The groom sees the bride; his heart leaps within, racing with excitement. He expresses his passionate delight in his people with words such as "rejoice over you with gladness." He paints the picture of being quiet over us with his love, as a parent lovingly yet quietly looks at his child. God goes from quietness to loud, joyful singing. Imagine, God singing for joy over his people! Jeremiah uses "all my heart and all my soul." The language throbs with emotional imagery, capturing God's deep feelings for his people.
God Takes Pleasure in Himself, His Ways, His Grace, and His People's Obedience
Psalmists, sages, and apostles celebrate these pleasures of God. "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases" (Ps. 115:3). "When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Prov. 16:7). "I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (Phil. 4:18; see also 1 Thess. 4:1). "[He] predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:5, NKJV).
God takes pleasure in his own will. What he wills to do pleases him, and what pleases him he wills to do. He delights in the obedience and generosity of his people as a reflection of his own grace. He took pleasure in freely adopting his children into his family, apart from any virtue in them. Again, the pleasure is the emotion of joy and delight in doing his will, demonstrating his sovereign grace and seeing his grace at work in his people. God is indeed the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:11). He is the eternally joyful, authentically happy God, who overflows with delight in his own perfections as they are perfectly reflected in his Son and imperfectly and dimly reflected in his creatures.
God Grieves and Experiences Pain and Sorrow
Just as God has joyful feelings, he also has emotions of grief, sadness, sorrow, and even pain. These emotions need to be qualified of course, but there is no need to relegate them to mere figures of speech.11 We cannot miss the depth of feeling in these passages. The unrestrained depravity at the time of Noah grieved God:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Gen. 6:5–6)
Even when his own people were on the rebellion treadmill, his love for them flowed over in a parental grief. "They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and He could bear the misery of Israel no longer" (Judg. 10:16, NASB). The father heart of God is unveiled repeatedly: "How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!" (Ps. 78:40). "Again and again they tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel" (Ps. 78:41, NASB). Just so God appeals to his people through Paul: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30; cf. Isa. 63:10).
There are also numerous texts where God expresses his grief and pain in terms of a husband whose heart has been broken by an unfaithful wife, for example, in Ezekiel 6:9: "I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols."12 Those who have suffered the awful reality of knowing that their spouse has been with someone else sexually will immediately recognize that the language God chooses carries with it the deepest emotional pain. As a pastor, I have seen the endless stream of tears and the trembling hands and have heard the quivering voice of a soul shattered into a million pieces because that one-flesh union has been violated. Another person, an outsider, has been in that sacred place reserved by vow and covenant only for the spouse. It is a violent violation. It is a cruel act, which goes far beyond the anatomy of intercourse. It is crushing. God uses this very language to give us a picture into his heart.
In these passages, God is grieved. He expresses sorrow, even pain. He comes to a point where he can no longer bear the misery of his people. He is grieved over his covenant people's rebellion. He is devastated by their infidelity. He is wounded as they give him a vote of no confidence in the wilderness. This language does not take away from God's sovereignty or immutability. To interpret these emotional terms in such a way that detracts from or nullifies his sovereignty or foreknowledge is to violate the whole counsel of God. Nevertheless, to interpret these strong emotional words as figures of speech with no emotional reality is to drain them of their meaning and force. The God of the Bible knows what it is to sorrow and grieve.
God Experiences Anger, Wrath, and Detestation
Anger management is in. Blow your cork at work and you will find yourself in a class designed to help people control their anger.
Although anger is a common and harmful sin, anger in and of itself is not sinful. In fact, our capacity to be angry is a reflection of the image of God in us. Unfortunately, we rarely know righteous anger. Thankfully, righteous anger is the only anger God knows.
God demonstrates his righteous care for the underprivileged by becoming angry when they are oppressed: "You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless" (Ex. 22:22–24).
He does not hide his detestation for evildoers, liars, and the violent. "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man" (Ps. 5:5–6). "God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day" (Ps. 7:11).
His hatred of certain sins is something he refuses to hold close to his vest:
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways." (Ps. 95:10)
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers. (Prov. 6:16–19)
"For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously." (Mal. 2:16, NASB)
Even as God loves justice, so he despises injustice, especially injustice done to the helpless of society: the widows, orphans, and unjustly divorced wives. There are certain sins for which God has a special hatred. As a holy God he also has a perfect loathing of evildoers and those who are willfully ignorant and will not trust him. Although there is a biblical doctrine of God's universal love, it should not be too hard to understand that the God of perfection is a complex being who transcends our ability to comprehend. That God can love and hate the same object at the same time is a reflection of his incomprehensibility and emotional complexity. "God does not love the sinner and is angry at the sin. Rather, God loves the sinner and is angry at the sinner when he sins."13 All theological nuances aside, the words used in these texts pulsate with the emotion of anger.
God Is Compassionate
My wife surpasses me in a multitude of Christian graces and virtues. She is far more spiritual than I am. One of the graces in which she surpasses me is compassion. Although there have been many times when I have felt pity for someone who was in a dire situation, my wife seems to have a consistent sense of compassion that compels her to action again and again. In this, she is much more like her heavenly Father than I am. It is beautiful. The Bible does indeed celebrate God's compassion:
"I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." (Ex. 33:19)
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Ps. 103:13)
"Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me." (Isa. 49:15–16)
The Hebrew word racham, used in each of the above passages and often translated "show mercy," is the word for compassion. It is a word of intense feeling and deep tenderness. It is a gut-level word, communicating a depth of emotion. This depth of feeling is vividly painted for us in the Isaiah passage. The Lord uses the deepest attachment known by humans, a mother and her nursing child. A nursing child derives its very life from its mother. The bond is almost mystical. This is a transcultural experience. It is universal.
The bond between mother and child is the most fundamental, affectionate, tender, inviolable bond we know. And yet "the love of the Lord transcends in permanence the best earth can offer."14
God Is Loving
God's love obviously relates to his compassion. However, there is a unique emphasis in the Bible on God's love. It is the love of God that is most closely connected to the gospel itself.
The Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. ( Jer. 31:3)
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old. (Mic. 7:18–20)
And of course the most famous verse in all of the Bible:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
We do a grave disservice to God when we say his love has nothing to do with feelings or the emotions. We diminish the dignity of God's person when we unwittingly relegate love to mere actions of goodwill or self-sacrifice. Such a definition of love is absolutely excluded by 1 Corinthians 13:3. The Bible condemns noble, altruistic deeds apart from love, so how can love simply be noble deeds apart from feelings? God's love has a strong emotional element to it. Whatever fragmented notes of beautiful feelings may be found in our love, these are merely distant echoes of the thunderous symphony of God's love.
This is a very brief survey, but the texts speak for themselves. They are a powerful testimony to the emotions of God. This is a significant theological foundation, which has important ramifications. God is not a static being (immutability does not mean static); he is a dynamic, personal being, possessing within himself perfect knowledge, a perfect will, and perfect emotions. He loves, he hates, and he rejoices. He is pleased, displeased, grieved, and angered. He has compassion, love, and pleasure. He interacts with and responds to his people within the framework of both a sovereign decree and perfect emotions, which reflect his values and evaluations, and influence his conduct toward them.
We are made in the image and likeness of God. In order for us to understand ourselves, we must understand God. Although there is an infinite distance between the transcendent, majestic, exalted God and us, his creatures, we can look to God and see the perfect, eternal one who possesses the glorious capacity to feel. In that capacity, he shows the dignity of his person and that we were made not only to think and do but also to feel. "Emotions are a good and legitimate part of man's character because they are clearly part of God's character."15
Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life
Copyright 2009 by Brian S. Borgman
Published by Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.


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The Samsung PNE8000 is easily the most full-featured plasma TV on the market; no other can touch its sheer doodad-ification. It's the opposite of a "dumb monitor," building in not only the most app-happy Smart TV suite available, but also voice and gesture control, account sign-in via facial recognition, a camera, a microphone, an upgradable dual-core processor, and a beefed-up Web browser. Its box is also accessory-packed, from the second touch-pad remote to the Bluetooth IR blaster to the two pairs of active 3D glasses. It's as if Samsung took every feature that could possibly appeal to anyone and added a few more.
Samsung didn't neglect the picture quality of its flagship plasma, either -- in short, it's spectacular. That brings up an interesting question, one I suspect most buyers who fell asleep during the paragraph above might be wondering (when they wake up). "Can I get that same picture quality, minus a boatload of doodads, in one of Samsung's less expensive plasmas, namely the PNE7000 or PNE6500 series?" Last year the answer was yes. This year the answer is also yes; the less-expensive PNE6500 series has basically identical picture quality. Both it and the Panasonic ST50, which also earned a 9 in picture quality, offer better bang for the buck. But if you have money to burn and want as "loaded" a plasma TV as you can get, the PNE8000 series is your boy.
Editors' Note June 11, 2012: The rating on this review has been modified from 7.6 to 7.9, and its Value sub-rating changed from 5 to 6, to reflect a price drop since initial publication. The introduction was also modified to reflect publication of the PNE6500 series review.
Series information: I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 60-inch Samsung PN60E8000, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have identical specs and according to the manufacturer should provide very similar picture quality.
|Models in series (details)
|Samsung PN51E8000
|51 inches
|Samsung PN60E8000 (reviewed)
|60 inches
|Samsung PN64E8000
|64 inches
If not for the funky splay-legged, chrome-plated stand, the PNE8000 would have the best styling of any plasma TV I can remember. Samsung finally ditched the gray frame color for actual black and thinned the frame a hair or two compared with the "D" models from last year. The transparent edge is even narrower and sleeker, and next to the ST50, the whole package is more refined and classier by a solid notch. Like most modern panels it's thin, too; our 60-inch review sample measured just 1.9 inches deep.
Samsung's 2012 TV menus look the same as last year and remain among the easiest to use. They're bright opaque blue with rounded edges and good-sized text. Each major menu item gets a text explanation, and I noticed really snappy response time despite constant animations.
Aside from Smart Interaction (see below), the other major step-up difference between the PNE8000 and the significantly less expensive PNE7000 is the remote control. In addition to a standard clicker, there's another that omits numerous buttons in favor of a touch pad that's supposed to ease navigation of the menus and Smart TV functions, especially the Web browser. It's a great idea in theory, and I loved that its Bluetooth connectivity meant I didn't need a line of sight to the TV.
In practice the touch pad is frustrating to use, alternating between too twitchy and unresponsive. The clicker is denuded of most buttons, relegating the number pad to a kludgy onscreen version and eliminating the Menu key altogether. The lack of buttons also made it necessary to select from annoying onscreen mini menus for functions as basic as Pause, Menu, and Chapter Skip. In short, I'm not a fan, and defaulted to using the standard clicker when I could. For using the browser, the pad is better than gesture control, but not by much.
I ended up using the normal remote whenever possible, although it's still not very good. The grid of buttons lacks sufficient differentiation, there are too many promotional keys (such as "Family Story" and Camera), and the central Smart Hub button is annoyingly just a logo. At least there's full backlighting, a feature absent from the Touch remote.
I also tested Samsung's optional wireless keyboard with touch pad ($99). Its touch pad is much more responsive than the one on the remote, and the full-sized QWERTY keyboard makes data input a cinch (but not in the dark; again, there's no backlight). Unless you're intending to use the browser extensively, however, it's not worth getting. Check out this video for more on Samsung's remote and keyboard.
|Key TV features
|Display technology
|LED backlight
|Screen finish
|Touch pad
|Smart TV
|Internet connection
|Built-in Wi-Fi
|3D technology
|3D glasses included
|2 pairs
|Refresh rate(s)
|60Hz, 96Hz
|Dejudder (smooth) processing
|Other: Smart Interaction suite includes voice and gesture control, facial recognition via built-in camera and microphone; dual-core processor; Smart Evolution kit; Bluetooth IR blaster for external device control; Bluetooth Touchpad Remote and standard multibutton IR remote; AllShare Play; optional wireless keyboard with touch pad (VG-KBD1000, $99)
The Kitchen Sink award for 2012 goes to Samsung PNE8000 plasma and UNES8000 LED TVs. I doubt any TVs that are more feature-festooned will appear this year, so this plasma deserves its 10 in this category.
Setup was tedious (pairing the blaster with the TV via Bluetooth took forever; it took three tries to get the right channel lineup; the TV initially said "source not connected" even though my player was plugged in), many direct commands (like a link to my DVR's recorded programs) are unsupported, and, worst of all, I had to use the balky Touch remote for everything, which meant fiddling with onscreen menus instead of hitting buttons directly. There's also no way to control an external audio device yet (so Volume and Mute affect only the TV) and power is not switched automatically. When I went from using the Blu-ray player to watching TV, the player remained turned on and spinning, whereas any decent universal remote automatically switches off devices that aren't in use.
The PNE8000 is the only 2012 Samsung plasma to get the company's dual-core processor, and the only plasma that can be upgraded via the Smart Evolution feature. Samsung says the TV's processor and memory can be swapped out and upgraded at a later date (as early as 2013) and for an unspecified fee to allow improved functionality.
Otherwise the PNE8000, PNE7000, and PNE6500 share very similar feature sets, and according to Samsung there shouldn't be much picture quality difference between the three. All offer a 1080p/24-friendly CinemaSmooth mode, the same Real Black Pro screen filter, and the same plasma panels. An engineer told me that the dual-core processor on the E7000 and E8000 might improve color accuracy to a certain extent, but I doubt it's major.
Samsung goes one better on TVs that have built-in Wi-Fi, allowing its sets to act as wireless access points. I really liked this extra since, if you take the time to run Ethernet to your living room to connect to the TV, you can get an additional WAP there to provide your nearby wireless devices with a stronger signal.
Like all Samsung 3D models, and unlike other major-brand TVs that use active 3D technology, the PNE8000 actually comes with 3D glasses: two pairs are packed into every box. The specs that came in my review sample's box were actually the SSG-3050GBs from 2011, not the newer Samsung SSG-4100GBs from 2012. Both retail for a scant $20 and they look exactly the same -- the main difference is that the 2012 glasses support the universal standard, so they should actually work with universal-certified 3D TVs like 2012 Panasonics. I don't have access to a set of SSG-4100GBs, so I couldn't test interoperability by press time. I also wouldn't be surprised if Samsung began packaging the newer glasses with its 3D TVs later in the year -- but for now, I was told all 2012 TVs will come with the non-universal 2011 glasses.
Smart Interaction: Smart Interaction is Samsung's unique new feature that makes use of the built-in camera and microphone to attempt to recognize your gestures and voice so you can control and interact with the TV. It's found on this plasma as well as Samsung's UNES7500 and UNES8000 LED TVs. I've already written an extensive hands-on about the voice and gesture command system, so I'll just quote from there:
"My takeaway? Smart Interaction has promise but feels half-baked and more like a gimmick than a compelling upgrade. Once the novelty wears off, its usefulness is limited (at best) to those times you don't have a remote in-hand."
For more check out my in-depth hands-on review or video. I didn't test the facial recognition feature, which is designed to automatically log different family members into their Smart TV profiles.
Smart TV: With the exception of Google TV, Samsung's Smart TV platform is the most content-rich and capable on the market. Its big Achilles' heel, aside from its cluttered interface, is lack of Amazon Instant, a service found on Panasonic, Sony, and Vizio TVs, but not LG this year.
Otherwise the available content is superb. The big standout is HBO Go, available on no other TV so far. It joins just about every other mainstream non-Amazon video service, as well as numerous niche video options and 3D-specific app. There's no traditional Internet radio app like vTuner or Shoutcast, but you do get Pandora and subscription music via Mog. Compare the major TV makers' app selections here.
The company's TV app store is the biggest outside Google's, with offerings like MTV Music Meter and ESPN ScoreCenter as well as umpteen less-impressive paid and free games, educational apps, screensavers, and so on. Skype takes advantage of the built-in camera and mic, as does a simple Camera app that you can use to, uh, save pictures of you sitting on your couch.
Samsung also has a few relatively rich proprietary apps, like Family Story, which is a way to "share photos, memos, and family events stored in the cloud," Fitness and Kids (both with custom VOD), and a Social TV app combining Facebook, Twitter, and Google Talk in a bar alongside live TV. There's also a new AllShare Play app coming soon to enable the TV to grab files from the cloud. Samsung boasts the best browser we've tested on any TV, although it's still slower and more frustrating to use than the browser on a laptop, tablet, or phone.
Our favorite proprietary app is Your Video, because it features a cross-app search that can now hit Netflix in addition to Vudu. HBO Go and Hulu Plus don't show up in its results, however, and neither do your own TV listings. It shows other information too, like biographical and production notes, acting as a sort of IMDB Lite. There's a separate "search all" option that hits local files (DLNA/AllShare), Your Video, YouTube, Facebook, Samsung Apps, history, and the Web browser -- and happily you can disable any of those search targets.


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Of course, including keywords in the product page title/description and associated feed. But what else?
Would be interested to hear your thoughts on:
- PageRank of destination page
- how product pricing affects placement
- how age of page affects placement
- images
EDIT: meant to say - the above are just some things that I'm wondering about, but any other general non-obvious tips also appreciated!


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Finally, don't miss my Web Handling and Winding classes, September 5-8 in Munich Germany or in November in Stockholm. Please note that web handling should be taken prior to the winding class. Those who can't get a signoff from their boss to travel to Germany can take the same material on their own computer and on their own schedule via video-on-demand training, also through AIMCAL's Converting School.
The Web201.47b YouTube clip link for designing materials to be more manufacturable is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EVsCF70ilY